Board 8 > Help me lose weight guys. 41 yo and 325 pounds. Enough is enough.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Two ways you can approach a problem are system-based and goal-based solutions. A system-based solution focuses on the process by which you solve your problem, which in this case would emphasize healthy eating and/or exercise. A goal-based solution would put all of the focus emphasis on reaching a certain goal, or in your case, losing 150 lbs. Neither approach is necessarily superior to the other; however, when it comes to losing a significant amount of weight (and, perhaps more importantly, keeping it off), you definitely need to adopt a systems based approach. If you focus only on losing the weight the weight, you may be successful, but after you reach your goal you will likely revert to old habits and gain it all back. You need to realize that being a healthy weight is a life-long process. This means there is no magic tricks, like going on the broccoli diet to lose weight. Sure, it might work short-term, but if you hate broccoli you certainly aren't going to stick with it for any amount of time.

You mentioned your Factor V Leiden deficiency, and need to avoid Vitamin K due to being on blood thinners. At least as far as I am aware, this means you're probably on warfarin (Coumadin). Within the past ten or so years, there have been a lot of advances in new anticoagulants, such as Eliquis (apixiban), Xarelto (rivaroxiban), and Pradaxa (dabigatran). With these drugs, there is no need to avoid Vitamin K (plus, you don't need to get your INR checked every week. You can try to talk to your doctor to see if any of these would be an option for you. However, as this drugs are relatively new, they are not available as a generic. If you don' have good insurance, they might be a lot more expensive than warfarin.

You also mentioned Celiac disease. The need to avoid gluten will definitely make any diet more difficult to adhere to and reduce your food options. As far as I'm aware, your lack of a spleen shouldn't affect what you can eat, but I'm not sure about the colon. It might depend on why it was removed, and also might make some things, like a diet high in fiber more difficult for you. Maybe get some advice from your GI doctor on if there are any dietary restrictions you should have for this reason.

As someone who is a bigger guy, you can probably eat a decent amount of calories and still lose weight. According to an online calculator I pulled up, using the age, height, and weight you supplied, even if you do no exercise, you would need 2,882 calories per day to maintain your current weight. Obviously, if you exercise this number will go up, and with light exercise 1-3 times per week this number will rise to 3,302. Why do I mention this? You can eat 1,500 a day if you want, and you'll lose weight, sure, but you'll be miserable. Remember what I said in the beginning, it's a system-based approach you want to adopt here, and if the system makes you miserable, you'll give up on it.

You said in the original post you were giving up sugary drinks. I think this is a great place to start. If your diet is not very good right now I'd recommend, for starters, just trying to give up the foods that are blatantly unhealthy. Sugary drinks, oreos, doritos and the like. There are many foods where there is mixed evidence whether or not they are good for you. Maybe down the line you'll make more adjustments, but for now just try to quit the ones you know are terribly unhealthy.

Finally, consider keeping a journal where you write down everything that you eat. It can help you down the road to see where you are getting most of your calories, and see what changes you can make to your diet. Furthermore, by the act of writing it down you will be more inclined to avoid unhealthy foods, since you'll feel bad about eating 600 calories worth of cookies.

I know a lot of this might seem like vague advice, and if you have an specific questions feel free to ask, but I think the above advice is a good start if you have a significant amount of weight to lose.
---

honestly I feel like my body got tricked into thinking diet soda is regular soda now
if I drink anything its usually just light milk with some flavor

but really the evil thing here is carbs

also my dietician said not to weigh every morning, but every week
trying to see what changes every day is useless more often than not
---

and what really helped me was a schedule of light breakfast/snack/lunch/snack/dinner/snack for the whole day
(and that usually didnt consist of more than a handful of nuts, one piece of fruit, yoghurt stuff, 2/3 slices of bread and stuff.. and one plate of dinner)

depending on your metabolism, you might have to eat just no more than one fruit a day
---

KingButz posted...

Buy fresh, don't add salt

But what if you like food to taste good?
---

Buying fresh is easy over in my country
havent missed salt in five years
---

My grocery bill isn't that high. Maybe 400/month for 2 people and that is for 80ish meals per person.

Comes out to 2.50 per meal. Meal prep takes less than 6 hours per week.

I have it down to a very good science so those are probably optimal numbers but with practice you should be able to get close
---

KingButz posted...

My grocery bill isn't that high. Maybe 400/month for 2 people and that is for 80ish meals per person.

Comes out to 2.50 per meal. Meal prep takes less than 6 hours per week.

I have it down to a very good science so those are probably optimal numbers but with practice you should be able to get close

So you want me to jack my food per month from 400 for 4 to 800 per 4? That doesn't fit my budget.
---

Well, I don't care what you do.

It probably would not be a linear increase, though. Economies of scale and also I eat somewhat richly.
---

KingButz posted...

Well, I don't care what you do.

It probably would not be a linear increase, though. Economies of scale and also I eat somewhat richly.

I know you don't, but you did not beat the assertion it costs more and takes more time so it's a hard lifestyle for some.
---

I hear meth thins you right down.

No real advice.
---

Corrik posted...

KingButz posted...

Well, I don't care what you do.

It probably would not be a linear increase, though. Economies of scale and also I eat somewhat richly.

I know you don't, but you did not beat the assertion it costs more and takes more time so it's a hard lifestyle for some.

Of course it costs more to eat healthy, but $200 per person per month is not unreasonable. It is a very reasonable amount of money to spend on food.

So I am disputing your assertion that you cannot eat fresh/healthy food on a normal budget. $100 per person is incredibly low for a food budget. That is not a normal amount to spend on food and expect to eat well.
---

KingButz posted...

Corrik posted...

KingButz posted...

Well, I don't care what you do.

It probably would not be a linear increase, though. Economies of scale and also I eat somewhat richly.

I know you don't, but you did not beat the assertion it costs more and takes more time so it's a hard lifestyle for some.

Of course it costs more to eat healthy, but $200 per person per month is not unreasonable. It is a very reasonable amount of money to spend on food.

So I am disputing your assertion that you cannot eat fresh/healthy food on a normal budget. $100 per person is incredibly low for a food budget. That is not a normal amount to spend on food and expect to eat well.

You don't think it is hilarious that it costs significantly more to eat healthy?
---

I dont know how much the dollar goes for

but around 200 euros per month per person is what I spend on groceries
(though that includes the occasional catfood, and hygenic/dish/washing stuff)
its not eating healthy so much as eating biological that costs me more money
---

Corrik posted...

So you want me to jack my food per month from 400 for 4 to 800 per 4? That doesn't fit my budget.

It's impossible that you're getting less than $2.50/meal on average unless you're already buying fresh food in bulk and cooking
---

foolm0r0n posted...

Corrik posted...

So you want me to jack my food per month from 400 for 4 to 800 per 4? That doesn't fit my budget.

It's impossible that you're getting less than $2.50/meal on average unless you're already buying fresh food in bulk and cooking

I don't know what you are saying.
---

I'm saying that if you mostly buy package and premade food, your cost per meal per person is definitely not less than $2.50, which means Bartz's system is not only healthier but also cheaper than yours. But you're rejecting it because you don't know how numbers work.
---

foolm0r0n posted...

I'm saying that if you mostly buy package and premade food, your cost per meal per person is definitely not less than $2.50, which means Bartz's system is not only healthier but also cheaper than yours. But you're rejecting it because you don't know how numbers work.

You just told me I can't buy a month's worth of food for $400 for 4 people. But, I can and I do. Most I ever spend in a month is $500 which happens here and there.
---

Corrik posted...

You just told me I can't buy a month's worth of food for $400 for 4 people. But, I can and I do. Most I ever spend in a month is $500 which happens here and there.

Then follow Bartz's advice and you'll spend $300
---