Help!! I need some tips for losing weight

sbmolee · November 2008

There is a great book by Tosca Reno called The Eat Clean Diet. I think she has a cookbook and workout book as well. It is not a "diet" but a way to eat.

The website to look at the book and order if you want:

www.eatcleandiet.com

vivre · November 2008

For the first time in my life, I have been able to lose weight. The realization that fat produces excess estrogen, which feeds bc was the motivation for me to think differently about food. I have lost 35 pounds in the year since dx, without even trying hard. The secret: think of your food as medicine. Think of junk food as poison. No SNACs (that is sugar, nicotine, alcohol,caffeine). I do not think a lot about food, I just know that I need to avoid the main culprit for me, sugars, and anything that breaks down into sugars, such as potatoes and pasta. Once you get in the habit of better eating, it becomes easy. Here are some tips:

No diet drinks!They are triggers to eat more and the chemicals mess up the digestive tract.

No satuarated fats, use olive oils only and once in a great while, organic butter.

No dairy. Replace milk with vanilla flavored rice drink, skip the ice cream(use fruit smoothies instead as a once a week treat). Eat cheese sparingly and only hormone free, usually important varieties.

Always take an apple in the car. When you get hungry on the road, eat the apple. It keeps you from grabbing junk the minute you walk in the door.

Add lots of veggies to omelets. This fills you up and cancels the need to have toast.

Do not weigh yourself for a month after you start. If you are diligent, you will see good results and that be encouraging.

Oatmeal with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg and stevia or agave nectar for sweetening is a great pick me up.

Do not eat ANY of those diet boxed prepared foods. They are filled with salts and msg and other chemicals and are totally void of nutrition.

Eat 5-6 times a day. Small meals are easy to digest and keep your energy going. Nuts and seeds are great snacks.

Shop the perimeter of the grocery store where you will find the whole foods. The prepared foods are poison.Stay out of the middle.

Juice veggies for a great pick me up.

READ everything you can on health and nutrition. I find health books keep me motivated and are my constant reinforcement that this is not about the weight, but about preventing illness and promoting good health. Susanne Somers new book, Breakthrough, is great. It is not about a diet, it is about health and happiness.

Exercise, EVERY DAY, for a least an hour. Vary brisk walks, biking and other aerobic exercises with weight bearing exercises like free weights, and pilates. There are great DVD's to teach you how, and then you can do them while watching a favorite TV show, with no guilt.

NO fast food, EVER. It is such a sense of pride that I can pass all the fast food joints and not even have a taste for any of it.

I found the best way to get started , was cold turkey. I cut out all the junk at once. This is the only way to eliminate cravings. Especially sugars. If you treat yourself too much, you will never get over the desire for sweets. Moderate amounts of a good dark chocolate are okay, after you have done the cold turkey for a while.

This may all seems impossible, but once I convinced myself that this would make a huge difference in getting bc again, it was easy to make the committment. Eat to live, not live to eat!

car · November 2008

I've got to admit that I had a very active lifestyle pre-mast and was a size 4-6. The stress of dx and surgeries led to some weight loss, but my oncologist encouraged me to read up on Walter Willett's diet (he has written 2 books, and it's easy to Google his home page or go to Amazon.com) diets. He's w/Harvard and is the PI of the nurses and professionals long-term health studies. After some hesitation, I've adopted the diet (w/one day/month when I eat whatever I want) and continue w/my exercise (about 3-4 hours of cardio and 3 hours of pilates/week). Since dx I've droppped close to 25 lbs. and am actually a size 2.

Both my oncologist and PS have encouraged the physical activity (the bottom tier of Willett's pyramid), lean BMI, and diet (lots of vegetables, nuts, oils, etc.) saying that my risk of recurrence w/the 3 combined is reduced by about 40%. I think that's important because in consultation w/my oncologist we opted against tamoxifen. I also want to add that I had no chemo or rad, and know that my friends who have had such treatment have had more problems w/their weight.My treatment was purely surgical.

I know that it's hard, and that I was very phyiscally active pre-dx, but can't say enough about diet and exercise right now. Pilates especially is helpful in stress reduction.

Good luck!

lisasayers · December 2008

Ditto what the ladies had to say. I started eating clean about two years ago and it made a huge difference in my life. I highly recommend Tosca Reno's book, The Eat Clean Diet...it's not a diet but a healthy lifestyle. When I started eating clean the fat melted off! I eat more now than I did before, it is just the right stuff and I drink a lot of water. I also exercise regularly...since I started teaching Zumba about a year ago! LOL

EWB · December 2008

I have been doing a lot with nutrition/diet in an effort to improve health overall and give body the most I can to deal w/ bc and all the drugs. Another great book is The Fat Resistant Diet...ignore the name...it is more about like style, improving nutrition rather than diet, lots of info and food to deal with inflamation inside, really easy and very yummy recepies.

My stumbling block is the physical activity/exercise part of this. Sure I wouldn't mind losing weight but I am more interested in caring for myself--bone density, flexibility etc. Most of my joints hurt most of the time, its hard to do yoga/pilates because it really hurts to support myself on the joints, tried water aerobics but the instructor was not so good-water temp was cool and air temp was worse (not so good on joints), I have been oked to do non impact exercise.

Any suggestions?

vivre · December 2008

EWB-Have your tried theraputic saunas? Not only are they great for warming up the muscles, they detox and help a lot with the joint pain. Sweating is a great way to lose weight too.

Exercise hurts when you do not do it regularly. If you start slowly, and add exercises as you get more flexible, it is better. Mini tramps, or rebounders are also great. They get the lymph moving, the heart rate up, and are easy on the joints. Even watching TV while sitting on a balance ball is a good start to strenthen the core muscles. And I can't say enough about taking a walk. Even in bad weather, it is rejuvinating. It is about 15 degrees here today. I am just getting ready to bundle up and walk for an hour. No excuses!

car · December 2008

I can't say enough for walking--at your own pace--alone, w/friends, or a dog. Also, I and a number of my friends who are members of the local YMCA took some of the senior citizen exercise courses sponsored by the Medicare HMOs such as Secure Horizons during rehab. My first experience was when I was on a walker folloing a spinal lamenectomy just a few months before my dx (lucky me!), and I thought the classes were gentle, but enough to get me going. I did the same during the 5 surgeries related to BC (mastectomy and reconstructions). Take care.

EWB · December 2008

Thanks for suggestions ladies. Maybe I'll give mini tramp a try

Jorf · January 2009

Try some protein at breakfast. A little protein at every feeding is a good thing for the stability of our blood sugar and it helps decrease cravings throughout the day. Makes it easier to stick with good food choices.

Help!! I need some tips for losing weight

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