I lost 17 pounds!
By dragon54u
@dragon54u (31634)
United States
July 19, 2009 7:36am CST
Part of it was post-operative blahs, not wanting to eat, but I know I made up for it later!
I cut out salt--well, most of it! My ex mother in law and I keep in touch and my ex father in law had a TIA, or mini-stroke. He's ok, thank God, but the doctor told him to cut out all the salt he could. They had always thought they were eating healthy--mother doesn't particularly like cooking so they ate a lot of Healthy Choice frozen dinners. Lunchmeat for lunch and cereal for breakfast. Guess what? There are TONS of salt in all of those foods!!! They started paying attention to salt and lost 10 pounds each in two weeks. They weren't really overweight, just a few pounds here and there where elderly people get them.
So I did it, too. I looked at labels and found that any processed food or frozen foods have lots of salt and preservatives! Do I cut all that out. I prepare everything myself, no cans and no frozen dinners. I eat less, because I'm too busy to cook a lot and I feel better than I have for a long time!
If you do nothing else, cut way back on your salt intake. I think 1100-1300 grams a day is what they recommend but most people get 3 times that much.
1 person likes this
6 responses
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
20 Jul 09
That's awesome, bro ..
I think the key to success in a healthy weight is moderation in our food intake. Awesome that you have found the balance to keep this going.
I've no problem with my weight, but I need to exercise to tone back some lame muscles, LOL ..
Hitting the gym soon. Thanks for this inspiration.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
20 Jul 09
I'm so glad you found some inspiration in my post! Salt is essential but we all consume way too much. I've found that reducing my salt and controlling my portions is the key to my own weight loss. Have fun at the gym! 
1 person likes this
@mzz663 (2772)
• United States
22 Jul 09
Wow!I'm going to have to try that!
I good way to keep track is joining sparkpeople.com or prevention.com they both have trackers of what you eat. I like spark better, they have a system that shows what calories you've used for the day and what you have left. prevention is a little simpler, I would just say check them both out and see what you think.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
22 Jul 09
I found fitday.com when I got serious about losing weight about 4 years ago. It helped me lost 65 pounds--40 to go! I lost that weight in about a year and have been maintaining since then but I'm ready to let go of the rest now. I joined spark people but I haven't really used it yet. Fit day has a place to register your activities and tell you how many calories you've used, how much it takes to just get through the day with no activity, etc. Maybe I'll look more at spark people and see if they have something different. Thanks for reminding me!
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
19 Jul 09
Wow congratulations on losing so much! I've been doing weight watchers for the last few weeks. i started may 11th and so far have lost 11.8 lbs. I go to my meeting tomorrow to weigh in again. I'm started to feel better even though so far I'm not noticing much of a difference in how my clothes fit. I can't wait till I get back into a healthy weight range. I'll have to start watching my salt intake, though I love putting salt on my food so it will be hard.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
19 Jul 09
Morton's salt substitute is pretty good once you get used to it.
I was in WW when I was in high school in the 70's. It was great! I was SO healthy when I reached my goal weight, most doctors will tell you it's the best program you can be on. I gained back a lot of it when I had children and all that stress but I'm taking it off again now.
Keep up the good work, you can do it!
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
22 Jul 09
oh wonderful. thats a very good thing if needed to lose. im slowly gaining all my weight back that i lost 3 yrs ago. i lost because of a sickness. i thought i wanted to lose but looked hagard and terrible. so, im glad im gaining back. dont think i could give up salt tho.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
22 Jul 09
I didn't give it up completely but I'm watching it closely. Even those Healthy Choice meals have about 1100 mg of salt and the recommended daily amount is around 1300.
Some people go overboard on weight loss. It doesn't matter what a chart says, it's where you are personally fit and comfortable and healthy. When I get down to my ideal weight I'll still be overweight according to the charts but I'll look great and feel really good, any more and I'll look like I'm undernourished. I'm glad you've gained enough to feel good again!
@doryvien (2284)
• United States
19 Jul 09
Hey, great job! I've been in and out of diet fads, weight loss programs, even diet pills. My weight goes down just for a while then it bounces back to it's old self, sometimes with a vengeance, because sometimes I get heavier when I gain back the lost weight. You're right, the key to weight loss is to cut back on salt. But how the h#$l can I do this when I just love eating salty foods? It all boils down to ones will to make that change, and to actually do it. As for me, the spirit is willing but the flesh is not. LOL.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
19 Jul 09
I started slowly. I cut out frozen dinners, which are full of salt, but kept my low calorie snacks which are also full of salt. Once I got used to cooking again, I started leaving out a few pieces when I counted out my chips or my pretzels. I replaced them with small pieces of cheese or apple slices. Soon, I looked forward to the replacements more than the snacks!
I still have some chips or whatever when I get a craving for them--if I don't, I'll binge eat!--but I'm glad I cut way down.
@maharlikah (1045)
• Philippines
19 Jul 09
I am only 97 pounds, I need more of what you have lessen ;-)
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
19 Jul 09
Love your body for what it is! Don't try to gain weight, your body is right where it wants to be. You'll probably start gaining weight in your 40's and 50's so don't mess up your metabolism now by trying to change it. You are very blessed to have that problem, believe it or not!
You are very blessed to have that problem, believe it or not!