I use myfitnesspal.com . It is a great site, loads of support, if you want, and it is free. I have used weight watchers in the past & it also works.

I had good luck with weight watchers. I think its the accountability - they weigh you and write down the number. No fudging, excusing, postponing on my part. I did the thing where you paid for like 10 weeks at a time because I knew that once I paid for it I was more likely to go. If I paid by the week, it was too easy to skip a week, which then became 2 or 3 weeks (or months).

Polly

Weight Watchers is excellent. I've lost 110 lbs. Highly recommend it. Good luck. It's all about getting your head straight. The results will follow.

~~ db

I had great success with ediets, but it looks like the site has completely changed. I got very overweight (for me) in medical school. Went on the zone diet and lost 40 pounds. It was very easy and I was rarely hungry. Had to stop because I couldn't stop losing weight. I bottomed out at 107 pounds. I found it generally to be a very healthy way to eat.

Jodi

Wow! That's amazing!

I'll look into WW purely for the face to face accountability. It's too easy to cheat if I'm the only one who knows.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Another vote here for WW. And once you reach your official goal weight (by the WW standard, which is generous), you become a lifetime member and can attend as many meetings as you want to forever without paying another dime--as long as you stay within a certain number of pounds of goal weight.

You could post a food log on the main forum. There's no end to tough love and criticism if you fall off the boat there :D

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I haven't done an official weight loss program, but have spent many, many years calorie counting. And, from what I understand, the points system at WW is essentially calorie counting. Calorie counting can be very effective as a weight loss tool and empowers one to be in control of their consumption.

But the problem with calorie counting (or points) is that, in my experience, it encourages me to only eat foods that have a label so that I know exactly what I'm consuming. This leads to eating lots of things like non fat yogurt cups, weight loss bars, low calorie cereal, cans of tuna, non fat cottage cheese- food that is easily measurable, low-calorie, and not unhealthy, but I could eat better if I allowed myself to just make a green salad with loads of random vegetables, high quality oil, beans, etc. Especially for the busy person, who becomes obsessed (or just wants to be honest) with counting, I would be more likely to eat three non-fat yogurt cups for lunch rather than a salad that would take me awhile to count the calories (and would still be in error of +/- 100 cals), but would be a much more balanced meal, with more vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, etc.

Do whatever you need to do to lose weight, but in my opinion and experience, weight loss that occurs without calorie counting is weight loss that stays off longer, happens a bit more gradually, and is accompanied by a healthier life style decision, not just a calorie counting journal.

I do think a food journal (with calorie estimations- don't beat yourself up if you don't know exactly) including time of day and mood is much more useful. Further, post it on a public place and you can get your accountability, like others have said.

Good luck and keep us all posted with your adventure! And it doesn't hurt to start thinking about that major event you are going to do in the near future!

I just actually looked up WW, after posting above, and it does appear that they have other programs besides points counting, such as the "simply full" program, which looks legit.

Anyway, just wanted to point out my error and comment that it looks like WW has improved a lot since I last read about it and worth a shot.

good luck!

X2 here. I've been working to drop the weight I gained in Jan/Feb (surgery) and I've found it helpful to track my eating more rigourously.

Good luck. It's tough but hang in there.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

One thing that a lot of people ignore is the profound effect that aging has on weight loss/gain. Every weight loss formula boils down to simply ensuring that more calories go out than go in. And EVERY single well thought out weight loss from high protein to no protein and everything in between works. The variable here is how much calories our bodies need to sustain our weight, or cause our bodies to lose weight.

Since hitting my forties I have found that everything that ever worked for me to keep my weight in line no longer works. After ultraman I had a almost 8 month period of minimal exercise and the weight creeped on. I really am not excessive in my eating habits, or so I thought. The reality is that I need about 500 calories per day less now than when I was 40, a mere five years ago. For me, weight loss is all about portion control. That sucks, but it is reality. I can eat anything I want and maintain a little midsection "bloat" and weigh in at 185 and feel bad about myself ... or I can watch my calories, exercise and hit the race weight at 167-170, and feel great.

I guess my point is that losing the weight you put on may be simply your body telling you you need less food. It can be that simple. And before there is a flaming ... I do understand that thyroid issues, medication and other health issues can exacerbate weight gain, except that if you burn more calories than you consume ... your weight still decreases. Getting the right number is where the challenge lies.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

It isn't the what and how much to eat so much as having the accountability and face to face time. I do think, however, it will be a challenge to find the right balance as you say. I'm skipping big mileage until I get the weight under control. I can't fuel 40mpw while cutting calories. It never works out well.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

WW is great. They encourage slow weight loss. The e-tools, since you pay for them, are super user-friendly, they have to be or nobody would pay. I have tried the free software but nothing is as easy (for me) as WW. They have fruits and veg on there. It is pretty easy to 'build' a meal on the program, split it into portions, and then it is stored in memory. I thought that would be grueling, but it turns out I eat a lot of the same stuff over and over again.

All the propoganda is good. It all encourages healthy lifestyle...(good eating, recipes, sharing, camraderie).

For me, it was all about portion control. So used to eating like I run 60 miles a week. Reality check....I don't anymore..plus the aging factor.

You can go check out a WW meeting for free. You will probably be the fittest person there....there will be people there dreaming of their first 5k or a Danskin Tri. When I went to meetings I chose to STFU about fitness and keep that between me and my log book because ppl literally would faint if they knew the kind of training volume I had.

Good luck. Weight loss is so dang hard.

You already know that calorie counting & food tracking help also. I use myfitnesspal on my phone & online to track my eating. It keeps me accountable because I have friends that see my activity & what I'm eating. I've really found that if I don't log the food it's like it doesn't count to me...I tend to eat like crap if left to my own devices. (Though even when I'm eating decently it would probably still astound/concern/dismay most on here...) I take a day or two off from it each week just to have a break since I eat at weird times on the weekends anyway. It also tracks my weight - though I'm not sure if others see that.

Anyway...it's a helpful tool for me. If you happen to utilize it, I'm always game for more accountability...

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AW

I have been using fitday.com - they have an app for your smartphone if you have one.
I found it's not too bad to build meals with either... they have most ingredients and let you build custom foods if you eat a lot of the same things, which most of us do. It was free.
The only thing I found was weird was they had 300+ calories for a cup of quinoa... maybe they mean uncooked? googling found a cup of cooked quinoa to have about 200-something calories.
Aging is definitely a factor. I found I need to eat less than I used to.

I went to my gym, Gold's, for a free training session last night and it was great. We went through everything I eat, made a plan and I'll be meeting with her once a week for a workout, training plan for the week and weight-in. I have 2 months worth of sessions set up so we'll see how it goes. What's funny is how many people I knew there. Now they all know I'm coming regularly they will give me a hard time if I don't. My former Master's coach is there a lot too and he will make sure I get in the pool regularly.

I'm signing up for a completely different way of training that I haven't done in many years. Short, very high intensity cardio instead of my usual 2 hour easy runs. We've set a goal of 6 months to drop my goal 24lbs and about a year to get my bodyfat down.

I honestly almost cried when I saw the numbers and how far I've let myself go. I have a lot of work to do.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Hang in there. I'm sure you'll meet your goals! You have a plan, and accountability. Now is the time to start doing the work!

X2. Good luck Jen!

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DFL > DNF > DNS

An organized weight loss plan definitely works if you can find one that is suitable to you. I agree with you on the accountability aspect though. Team it up with effective guidance from a relatively easy weight loss program and I think you should be on the right track. There are a lot of weight loss aids available on the net nowadays but I personally like the Dukan diet. I’ve just started it – if you’re looking for accountability I think the DD might work for you. It’s remote and each day the team at DD sends you your diet and exercise plan. Each night you send your progress. Based on your progress the team prepares the next day’s plan. You have access to delicious recipes so you don’t really feel like you’re depriving yourself of good food. You can contact the DD team through emails or chats so you’re kept accountable at all times. I’ve heard it really works – I guess I’ll know for sure soon

JenSw,

Good on you for getting started at your gym. It sounds like a great accountability plan. I hope that you will report back on your progress so that we can encourage you.

I just chimed in to X2 the logging crowd. DH and I found huge value in logging our calories (we used the LiveStrong site - also free). It was eye-opening to see where the bulk of my calories come from (breakfast and beer). When I'm trying to get to race weight or take off the winter lbs, I have to log the food and (gasp) measure it too. I hate measuring. With long-distance tri training, you get used to eating such volume that it is hard to go back to normal portion sizes (or the puny portions that middle-aged women get to eat) without feeling deprived. We have watched our folks struggle with the decrease in portion size that comes with age and although we do not currently need to do it, we will hopefully be more mindful of portion sizes when the offseason comes.

In that same vein, I do have another trick from the "Mrs. Pigglewiggle" books I read as a kid: smaller plates/bowls. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find smaller cereal bowls! However, a filled-up smaller plate seems less offensive to me than a sparsely covered large one. And, we had to put the pasta bowls away and use only for giant salads.

Ms Pigglewiggle!!! I was just talking about those the other day!

Also you could try http://www.sparkpeople.com to log food and activity. Its free too!

Not really a diet 'plan' but I did ultras for a long time and never could shake the extra fat-despite running 50plus mpw and was not til I started shorter intense workouts, less than 40 min but hard, that is how I finally lost those 15 I tried to for years! And also in 40s and on thyroid meds, so sounds like you are on the right track-wish I did this yrs ago but spent every moment I had to train all running. Best to you!

Ultras here as well. In fact, always endurance stuff. Never much speed focus consequently I am damn slow but when in shape have a big engine. I've also always had bodyfat % on the high end of the athlete scale - 25-27% (please note I said athlete, not average woman scale) I don't want to talk about what it is now :-(

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Can you give some specific advice about the short intensity workouts? Less time + more fat loss sounds fantastic. Feel free to PM me if you'd like, although I suspect a lot of the womens would like to learn...

thanks!

-L