Desperate to lose weight, not sure where to start.

[Kingpin008]

Hey all - this is my first post besides my intro, hopefully I don't drive ya'll too crazy.

The long and short of it is this - I'm -seriously- overweight, and having a terrible time getting a handle on it. I'm currently dealing with a back injury, and the weigh is only making it worse. Hopefully you awesome folks can start me in the right direction.

A little about me: 29 years old, 5'10", 375 lbs. Historically not athletic in the slightest. I ruptured a disc in my lower back about two years ago. Rehabbed fairly quickly, went on weight watchers and lost 100 lbs. Convinced myself that I knew enough to keep it up on my own, quit WW and gained a good bit of it back. Re-injured my lower back about 8 months ago, and discovered two bulging discs in my middle and upper back. Rehab has been much slower this time around, to the point where I'm going to see my spine Dr. this week to discuss the possibility of injections.

Previously, my Dr. had not recommended injections or surgery, but instead ordered me to lose weight, and see a chiropractor. The chiropractic treatments have helped, but the weight is still an issue, and both docs are stressing the weight loss. Unfortunately, due to my injury I'm pretty limited in terms of physical activity. I take a short walk two or three times a day, but even that only adds up to a mile or less. It's sort of a catch-22 - I need to lose weight to help my back, but I have trouble being active because of my back.

I'm not really sure what kind of advice to ask about - my eating habits are all over the place due to poor meal planning skills and issues with food (emotional/mindless eating) and when I go online to find out info such as how many calories and how much fat I should be eating every day, each site I visit seems to have wildly varying numbers.

I suppose the place to start is finding out what exactly my daily requirements are, given my age/height/etc. Can anyone recommend a GOOD, accurate site where I can find that out? Or, if anyone here is comfortable enough with nutritional requirements to just tell me, that'd be fine too!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read all this - hopefully I didn't ramble too badly. I'm just so sick of being fat and being in pain it's driving me nuts.

[baldy]

If WW worked have you thought about going back? Do they cater for vegans?

Next best thing would be to go see a dietician and get a meal plan.

I would not get too hung up on the distance you walk. Walking 1 mile a day is a lot better than not walking a mile a day. Do the exercise that you can do and gradually build up.

[LisaB]

You can track your calories on a site like fitday.com or livestrong.com. I am not sure about fitday but livestrong will tell you how many calories you should be eating a day to lose up to 2 pounds a week given your height, weight, and activity level. It might be a good place to start. I wouldn't worry about adding your calories from exercise back in but just try to stick to your calorie goal and walk as much as you are able to.

[beforewisdom]

A few years ago I lost 48 lbs on a vegan diet and have kept most it off.

You can read about what I did and what I learned on my blog. See if it helps you:

http://beforewisdom.com/blog/wc/stick-a ... e-im-done/

[mabli]

Whenever Ive wanted to lose weight Ive just stuck to eating 3 meals a day, no pudding and no in between snacks, not even fruit... if you're strict it becomes a way of life pretty quickly and you stay slim (imo).

[DB]

I would also recommend Overeaters Anonymous since you mention emotional/mindless eating. There are most certainly underlying issues there that need to be dealt with and over eating is but a symptom of them. Here's a link if your even remotely interested.

http://www.oa.org/

Other than that, I'd second the recommendation for a good Chiropractor. It can be trying to find a good one, but when you do, they can work wonders. If you were in the San Francisco Bay Area, I could recommend an excellent back cracker.

[ha]

Firstly let me say that people tell me I over eat EVERY meal!!

Its not how much you eat, its what you eat! You dont specify what you eat but Id put money on it that you aint chubb'n out on steamed rice with veggies and banana/date smoothies! Im a personal trainer and have NEVER seen a fridge or pantry of an overweight person that is full of rice and fruits!

The fat we eat is the fat we wear. You weigh over 200lbs more than me. Today Im walking around KL with a 40lb back pack and my appetite is skyrocketing. I CANT imagine trying to carry around 200lbs extra and doing it on LESS calories than is needed. Thats like expecting a car to drive at 100miles an hour with extra weight on LESS fuel.

I wrote a blog about why Weight Watchers and co are just scammers and keeping people fat, lethargic, binge prone and depressed.

Read my blog 'why diets dont work'
www.durianrider.org

NEVER RESTRICT YOUR CARB INTAKE if you want become lean, strong and fit. Life aint a fashion show, life is about living hard and being the change you want to see.

[beforewisdom]

[quote="ha"]Firstly let me say that people tell me I over eat EVERY meal!!

[beforewisdom]

[quote="mabli"]Whenever Ive wanted to lose weight Ive just stuck to eating 3 meals a day, no pudding and no in between snacks, not even fruit... if you're strict it becomes a way of life pretty quickly and you stay slim (imo).

[spike]

I lost around 20kg a few years ago by changing my diet and doing more exercise.
For exercise, is it possible to swim with your back injury? I found exercise that I enjoyed doing for the sake of the exercise and i think that made a big difference.
When I first changed my diet it seemed like s drastic change and I grumbled about it til i got used to it. I cut out sugar and fried foods and increased the amount of salad and raw fruit I ate. I had fruit or s small portion of nuts as a snack where previously I wuld have had several biscuits. I measured out portions for my meals, I was shocked to discover that I'd been eating twice the suggested portion of pasts.
This worked for me. The weight loss got an added boost when I stopped drinking alcohol. I'd been consuming loads of calories in beer and wine.
Since then my weight has stayed pretty much the same, give or take a kilogram or two either side.
Oh, another thing that I found useful was to not weigh myself too often, I think just every few weeks, not several times a day!
Hope that helps.

[quote="beforewisdom"][quote="ha"]Firstly let me say that people tell me I over eat EVERY meal!!

[quote="ha"]
Even as a rice based vegan, I never had any weight issues and people said 'Oh you eat so much carbs wont you get fat?' I said 'yeah if I soaked them in oil and added animal products to em like everyone else that thinks carbs make you fat..'

[quote="beforewisdom"][quote="ha"]
Even as a rice based vegan, I never had any weight issues and people said 'Oh you eat so much carbs wont you get fat?' I said 'yeah if I soaked them in oil and added animal products to em like everyone else that thinks carbs make you fat..'

[Cecilia]

Kingpin, I'm hesitant to give you diet advice but there is one thing that works with any diet, including none, and especially if you have trouble planning: keep a food diary. Just write down whatever you eat when you eat it. This can help you with getting some regularity and also give you an idea about your current intake, which is essential in figuring out what your goal should be.

If you feel up to it, add a line about what you're feeling. Maybe writing it down can help you realize when you're eating for comfort instead of hunger, which is the first step towards not doing it anymore.

Good luck!

[mabli]

Ha looks fit to me...

BW those must have been huge snacks the main reason I suggest folk keep off snacks is they substitute unhealthy for healthy and then run the risk of going back to the bad ones if they dont have the healthy ones to hand. If the rule is no snacks (unless you're exercise regime demands it) then you dont fall back into bad habbits.

People never take weight advice off me but always off folk who are slightly less tubby than themselves, no idea why.