Hello.. I need help. I am 26 and considered "morbidly obese" and have been totally brainwashed by all the Infomercials on TV (the ones where these skinny people come on saying, " I lost over 100 pounds and if I can do it, so can you"..... blah blah blah). So I'm thinking about having my hubby order one of these 'weight loss miracles' for Christmas (we don't have the money to do it right now) but I'm debating between the Power 90 kit and the Michael Thurman body makeover kit. If anyone has had any success with either of these, please let me know. I don't want to waste money on CRAP, but at the same time, I am not a dietician and do NOT know the right foods or excerises that will get me where I need to be, so I've fallen into the hands of those nasty informercial moguls.

Everyone always says, "if you wanna lose weight, eat less carbs, more vegetables.... blah blah, but it's easier said than done. I ate healthy for one day and was dying for something sweet or a damn piece of bread. And if I don't get what I want, I am a b*tch to everyone. Food is like drugs and by the end of the day, I'll kill someone for a chocolate bar or a milkshake. I've literally had fights with my hubby for not stopping to get ice cream. I used to be a size 13 and in control of my life, now I am a size 24 and OUT OF CONTROL!!

Those things that are on the infomerricals work if you diet and exercise, if you look really really closely, they all say "when used with a diet and exercise plan" and "resluts are not typical"
It is easy to think there is an easy solution. But there isn't. When I was 14 I weighed a whole whole lot, I lost about 90lbs in a year though. I just ate less and exercised more. It's that simple, and I know it sounds easier than it is. The thing to do is remove all the stuff that is bad for you, the sugary stuff, candy, cake soda from the house it will be less of a temptation if it isn't there. Drink water, lots and lots of it. If you want something sweet try fruit, or even a bit of honey. Those aren't "empty" calories and won't leave you hungry and they have nutrionatl value. You dont' have to go cold turkey (no pun intended) so to speak, you can wean off of sweets, but personally I think going cold turkey off any addiction is the easiest way. Also, walk, run anything. Move constantly. When I lost all that weight, I started walking, but something I also did was if I was watching TV I moved my legs and arms constantly, or if I was lying down, i was doing leg lifts. Don't fall into those diets either, eat veggies, fruits, pork chicken fish, and yes even carbs. I have yet to figure out this no carb thing. My grandma and her family ate bread and potatoes at almost every meal, and none of them were fat, because they had no sugar and they had lots of movement. Same with asian people (still in Asia) they eats lots of rice, but you rarely see an overweight Asian.
I am much older now, lol, but I had a baby in June, since then I have lost all the baby wieght (28lbs) plus 30 more. I eat fruits, I eat yogurt, cottage cheese, lots of ham, it doesn't have many calories, even potatoes, and hte occasional candy bar. I walk at least a half a mile a day, and usualy a mile. When I am washing dishes I walk in place.
Good luck!

Everyone always says, "if you wanna lose weight, eat less carbs, more vegetables....

No, no, not everyone! And they're absolutely wrong. The bulk of your calories absolutely should come from complex carbs (the good ones, like whole grains, legumes, and such). Carbs are what give you energy! In fact, that may be part of your problem. You probably crave carbs because your body desperately needs them to function well.

I'm not familiar with the infomercials of which you speak. But, I can almost guarantee they're a scam. They probably come with a message that says, "COMBINED with a low-calorie diet, you will lose weight..." Well, yeah, I could sit on my rearend all day and lose weight with advice like that!

Here's what I would do. Save your money. Go to the library and look over all the books on nutrition. Read as many as you can. Then, you'll get a better idea of what you really should be eating.

Dear, please save your money. I'd almost bet you a million dollars that the the only ones benefitting from the sale are the salers, and their pockets will get fat -- from your hard-earned money!

Those things that are on the infomerricals work if you diet and exercise, if you look really really closely, they all say "when used with a diet and exercise plan" and "resluts are not typical"


Sorry cattieos, I didn't see your reply when I wrote mine. I agree wholeheartedly with you.

First of all let me say that I ordered the Michael Thurmond program. He does not claim to work miracles. He simply says this is a life style change and it is. You change your whole way of eating. Others say to cut back and exercise more which is right. But I needed someone to help me learn what foods would go with my body and that is what I am getting with the Michael Thurmond program. Although, if you are not ready to lose weight then nothing will work. You have to set your mind to it and just do it. I started on 8/1/05 and have lost 40lbs so far. Whatever way you go I wish you luck.

Thank you, Nutshell, for responding. I understand that it is a lifestyle change, but my problem is not knowing what kinds of foods to eat for my specific body type. And the biggest problem I have is willpower. I've been a lot better at not buying junk at the store, but somehow it finds its way into our home and ultimately, into my stomach... oops. And I just don't excercise. With a 6 year old and a baby at home, there's literally NO time to excercise. And when my hubby comes home, he doesn't help with the kids.

Well, I'm glad the program is working for you... best wishes.

I know about time. I have a 2 yr old and a baby who is going to be 1 next month who is a special needs child. You have to make time for yourself otherwise you will never be where you want to be. My husband helps me with the kids. Your hubby could help you also if he wanted to. I haven't been doing exercise here lately due to back problems and I am still losing. There are several of my online buddies that are not doing or have not done exercise until they lost a considerable amt of weight. The exercise they talk about on Michael Thurmond is only 15 mins for 2 days a week. And yes, unless you have the willpower then buying the kit would be hopeless. I really do wish you the best and hope you find time to take care of yourself. If you don't, nobody else will. You need to be healthy for your family.

BigMomma,

Learn to count calories with the aid of a library book. Get a food scale and keep weight track of EVERYTHING you eat (unless a package does the count for you.) The USDA publishes the nutrition listing of EVERYTHING for free, online.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/


The only free foods that don't require tabulating are water, diet sodas and Jellos, black coffee and tea (no sugar.) The Crystal Lite kinds drinks are good to always have in the fridge by the gallon.

For ANYTHING that requires sugar, use an artificial sweetner...pick the one that tastes best to you.


Ignore any quick-fix diets thay say ALWAYS eat YADA or NEVER eat YADA. It's the total calories, that is the total amount of FOOD, that is the determinant of whether we gain or lose.

Pick a sensible number and start there, for any obese women a good place for some FAST initial weight loss is something like 1500 calories to start. Since you are heavy, you burn a lot of calories just walking, so WALK, WALK, WALK!

Weigh yourself every morning and record the weight at the top of your calorie count for the day. After awhile you will be able to refer back to things you;ve already tabulated and just copy the calories for that dish.

You can't miss with this method IF you follow it.

A GREAT rule of thumb is that weight loss should SAVE you money, not COST you money. All you've REALLY GOT to buy is that food scale! We cannot eyeball in ounces or grams.

Good Luck.

You can exercise by just walking in place while washing dishes, doing laundry,ironing whatever. The best way to exercise would be to do an actual program, but I have a five month old so I know about time, but I use our playing time for exercise also. I dance around with him, jump with him, when we are playing on the floor I do leg lifts, etc...
I agree with Lenin, except about the diet sodas, while they do not have calories, I have read that they sometimes hurt people on diets, because they think, well I had a diet soda so i can have a piece of cake, or something like that.

And I just don't excercise. With a 6 year old and a baby at home, there's literally NO time to excercise.

Well, I trained for a marathon with not two, but four young children!!

Simply take them outside and exercise together. Put the baby in a stroller or front pack and let the six-year-old ride a bike or scooter. Or, both them both in a wagon and pull them. The possibilities are endless. I don't mean to come down hard on you, but people have exercised with a lot more obstacles than merely two children.

And if I don't get what I want, I am a b*tch to everyone. lol.. I hear ya..

Anyways, I don't really believe informercials. You mentioned you don't know how to adapt to a healthy lifestyle? You don't know what's healthy? Well, if you take out one afternoon on the internet... look-up some sites on google with that information. I find prevention.com and *** health really helpful. I'm sure there are loads of other health-based websites. There's also a board here 'The weight loss board' which offers advice from others here. If you know what a healthy lifestyle is, you can start making small changes every week. In the long run it will do a lot for you... If you don't have the money for these things, then don't waste your money on them. Just find your own way, and yeah of course if you start eating healthy all of a sudden, it's gonna be very hard. Small steps is the key, here. And by the way, just hang in there. You have a junkfood addiction, once you get over that (1, maybe 2 weeks of healthy eating) it'll get easier. Good luck.

For ANYTHING that requires sugar, use an artificial sweetner...pick the one that tastes best to you.
Come on, why the heck resort to chemical toxins? Just don't use any sugar at all... Or just a teaspoon of sugar. If you don't eat candy and everything it's not much at all, only 16 calories.

I read somewhere artificial sweeteners are disastrous for metabolism.

You asked what type of foods to eat for your body type, personally I don't think that really matters. What matters is eating fewer calories than you burn. You have to burn 3500 (i think) calories to equal a pound. So if you want to eat say a thousand calories of cake, it's still a thousand, but there is also fat and you only get a few bites. Or you could pick things like fruits, veggies, pork, chicken, fish and get little to no fat and get to eat a lot more.
It is a life style change, I totally agree.
And I agree with taking your children out and exercising with them, before it turned cold DS and I walked at least half a mile, usually a mile, every day. He loved it, I even got where I took our dog on a leash, he loved that too, and it made me feel better, lol.
There are programs that can help you, like weight watchers or even the Richard Simmons program, he has helped alot of people.
Good luck!

BM-

You should probably pay a visit to your physician and tell him/her what is going on. Ask for a referral to a registered dietician, so it could possibly be covered by insurance.

Fewer calories and more exercise will promote weight loss. One thing that has really helped me was to bite the bullet and give up all sweetened sodas and sweet iced tea.

If there's anyway you can get a treadmill, you could use it in front of the TV, and still be able to keep an eye on the kids.

wb

If there's anyway you can get a treadmill, you could use it in front of the TV, and still be able to keep an eye on the kids.Good idea, although I'd opt for an elliptical. Most women seem to prefer to exercise on that thing.

PS: Especially when you're obese... the elliptical would be a better option.

if you want to lose weight permanently without a battle with your bodies cravings and hunger cues and lowering of metabolism burning up of muscles, and upping the setpoint you have to understand how the famine feast cycle is causing this and how to get off, read my post under my wife is getting bigger what do I do.

side note, tho we have to eat less caloires then we burn to lose weight the difference I am advocating is getting the body to precipitate it, not you forcing it, getting the body to make you eat less, by reducing appetite, by decreasing desire for fat laden foods in large amounts, and bringing down setpoint, by increasing your desire to exercise, etc, this is body controlled eating at the instinctual level. it knows what you need how much and when we have to regain trust in our bodies and stop analyzing foods as good or bad, or deciding we won't eat this but we will eat that, our bodies pick up this and will takes steps accordingly to get what it wants and needs.

tho by giving controls back tot he body may get us fatter at first, (which will eventually happen to most anyway sooner or later) it is temporary, once the body sees famines are over it will make the needed adjustments to get rid of excess fat, as excess fat is a survival liability when you are eating enough on time on a consistent week to week month to month year to year basis,

our bodies make us fat (by increasing our appetite beyond immediate needs to have extra to store, by getting us to eat when depressed, or making us so hungry over time we can't stand it etc,) it can make us lean even against our will.

RR

OK I have lost 141 lbs and sorry to say but you have to eat well. You will get use to it. Dont cut everything out at once. You have to exercise and eat well and sorry to say but you sound a little like you dont really want to do it. You have to eat healthy it is not a choice anymore, you will continue to get bigger and bigger like I did. You will like to eat well after you do it for a while, I eat all organic and very healthy foods, I would be more than happy to talk to you about how to lose weight the way I did in a safe healthy way. It is your life and no one is going to do it for you.

Dreamer40 - The "my wife is getting bigger" chain seems to be missing. Could you repost your advice on the setpoint info in a new thread? Thanks.

wb

You need to call a Weight loss Doctor and Dietician to help you at this point for professional Help.All that extra weight are leading causes to heart diease,stroke & Diabetic problems......

i ordered the power 90 program and if that wasnt a scam i dont know what is.. i got the program that the informercial said i needed in order to lose a lot of weight in 90 days. after doing power 90 for about 2 weeks i noticed a very small change, but nothing huge. after visiting the website i read that in order to get FULL RESULTS i needed to order a new set of dvd's or tapes every 30 days. it was a total rip off. besides the fact that i was a scam... it took almost everything i had just to do the actual work out. if your motivated enough to get up and do it.. and order new work out tapes every 30 days, then go for it. but it's a lot of work and the actual work out was so tiring and it seemed as if i had a tape that was for someone who had been doing power 90 for years. not because i was out of shape.. but it was so fast paced. it would take months to actually get through the whole work out. i just wanted to let you know that i tried power 90 and it isnt as great as they make it seem.

Jen

My personal opinion.....if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. It is possible of course that a few of the things that you will find on tv are good products. A personal fav of mine is "core secrets" and winsor pilates. 2 reasonably priced things.
I have fallen for so many things that are sold on tv. I even fell for that so called, "miralce pill" that they sell that is supposed to reduce your cortisol levels or something...Yeah, followed their little "diet" for 2 months. And guess what? I GAINED 11lbs.

My point is this (lol, yeah, i do actally have a point).... No 2 bodies are the same. Those infomercials are designed to make us believe that if we order their product we will look like those women on the commercial. The truth about many of those women on the commercial....the have always been thin. They probably NEVER looked like us.

Find something that you LIKE to do. Go for walks and take people with you - get your hubby support. You can not do this alone. I mean, I guess you COULD, but to have family support, you may find that it is easier and much more fun.

I wish you so much luck!

Jen