Concept2 Forum

(this is a continuation of the thread on the old boards)
I wanted to jump right back into this so here goes

start wt- 282lbs
end of week 1 275lbs
end of week 2 272lbs
end of week 3 270.5
end of week 4 ------
end of week 5 ------
end of week 6 267.5

i kinda slacked off for week 4-5 and did not weigh myself (i over ate and was kinda nervous) but i still lost some weight and am feeling good (better than i have in a while)
i have a race this weekend and a erg test on wednesday i'm hoping to get sub 6:50 on it (split better than 1:42.5/500m) wish me luck and I will update this nextweek

Not sure what your goal is?

Here's some motivation or information if needed?

Calculate your Body Mass Index:

http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

LacticAcid wrote:Not sure what your goal is?

oh no, I am quite sure of my goal, 250 by may 30 (my 18th b-day)

OK.

10/29/2005---182
11/05/2005---179
11/12/2005---178
11/19/2005---176
11/26/2005---175
12/03/2005---173
12/10/2005---174
12/17/2005---172
12/24/2005---172
12/31/2005---171
01/07/2006---170
01/14/2006---168
01/21/2006---167
01/28/2006---166
02/04/2006---165
02/11/2006---164
02/18/2006---164
02/25/2006---161
03/04/2006---160
03/11/2006---160
03/18/2006---158

My goal is 150 and as you can see I am getting close. I row 30 minutes a day. I have been rowing since 2001 but I must admit I only started to lose weight once I included diet changes in my approach along with rowing. I use the methods in Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book 'Eat to Live'. Whole foods--veggies, fruits, nuts, and some whole grains. Avoid white flour products and processed foods. I also monitor my heartrate along the guidelines from the books by Dr. Philip Maffetone. At first I found the workouts too easy but as I improved my condition I found the workouts got tougher while keeping my heartrate in the same range.

Weekends I try to get in an extra 30 minute row if I can.

Start weight Feb 3, 2006 -- 203
March 19 -- 184

I use the methods in The China Study which is pretty much what Dr. Fuhrman recommends. I eat all the whole food, plant based foods I want, and since changing my eating on February 3rd, I have lost 19 pounds.

wow, those are some very successfull weightlosses, but do you still think you would have lost the weight if you didnt go on those diets?

Ben Rea wrote:wow, those are some very successfull weightlosses, but do you still think you would have lost the weight if you didnt go on those diets?

No. I have been a vegetarian since 1989 and rowing on a C2 Mod C since 2001 and while I have been in decent shape I remained overweight. Dr. Fuhrman's plan was easy for me to adopt because I was halfway there. I had to deal with my consumption of white flour foods. I was a big bread consumer as well as cookies, pretzles, and pastries. I found I could ease my urges snacking on fruit and sometimes nuts. I had to eliminate the large amounts of bread I used to enjoy with my meals. Now, I will occasionally enjoy a whole grain bread with a meal but it will be a small amount compared to the unlimited amount I used to allow myself. At the same time I do allow myself unlimited amounts of vegetables in my meals so I can eat until I feel full. I don't know if Dr. Fuhrman's plan would work for everybody but it does seem to be working for me. Still, it is my opinion that if you strive to lose weight you need a plan that includes exercise (C2 erg) and diet modification.

Ben Rea wrote:wow, those are some very successfull weightlosses, but do you still think you would have lost the weight if you didnt go on those diets?

Between April 1, 2005, and February 3, 2006, I had rowed over 2,000,000 meters and had lost maybe 10 pounds, then on February 3rd, I read The China Study and modified my diet accordingly. I started rowing much less, and the pounds started falling off. Before February 3rd, I ate too much of the wrong type of food; now I eat all the food I want and don't count calories. It's very much like WW's core plan instead of its flex plan.

Basically, I now eat all the whole, unrefined, plant based food I want -- it's great. But it's whole wheat bread without oil or just the whole grains, baked potatoes, vegetable soups, vegetables (raw and cooked), plenty of fruits but no juice (except for one ounce of pomogranate juice a day), nuts, seeds, and no added refined oils (or very limited), and animal protein is limited to no more than 10% of calories (so I eat sparingly meat, fish, milk, cheese, eggs), which actually is about 200 calories or 50 grams of animal protein -- so while most days I don't eat animal protein, when I want to it is easy to do. So when you eliminate the animal protein, the refined foods, and the cooking oil, you knock out about 600 plus calories a day and so you start losing weight -- without ever having to be hungry.

In a nutshell, without making a life change in how I eat, I would not have lost the weight, and I'm still working towards my goal. Here are the basics: eat all you want (while getting lots of variety) of any whole, unrefined plant-based food.

1.Eat all the

(a) fruits (orange, okra, kiwi, red pepper, apple, cucumber, tomato, avocado, zucchini, blueberries, strawberries, green pepper, raspberries, butternut squash, pumpkin, blackberries, mangoes, eggplant, pear, watermelon, cranberries, acorn, squash, papaya, grapefruit, peach),

(b) vegetables (flowers, stems and leaves, roots, legumes, mushrooms, and nuts), and

(c) whole grains (in breads, pastas, etc. -- wheat, rice, corn, millet, sorghum, rye, oats, barley, feff, buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa, kamut, spelt), you want to eat.

2. Minimize:

(a) refined carbohydrates (pastas (except whole grain varieties), white bread, crackers, sugars and most cakes and pastries),

(b) added vegetable oils (corn oil, peanut oil, olive oil), and

(c) fish (salmon, tuna, cod).

3. Avoid:

(a) meat (steak, hamburger, lard),

(b) poultry (chicken, turkey),

(c) dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt), and

(d) eggs (eggs & products with a high egg content (i.e., mayonnaise)).

Add exercise to the mix, and good things happen.

Dr. Fuhrman's and Dr. McDougal's and The China Study and WW's core plan are all similar, but Dr. Fuhrman's and WW's are the least restrictive as to the "avoid" foods. Basically, from the studies and anecdotal experience, if you eat all you want of any whole, unrefined plant-based foods, you will lose weight and gain the added benefits of normal blood pressure, low LDL and high HDL, etc.

If you look at WW's core plan, where you eat until you are full without counting points, all these plans are similar.

Mike

Well, I'm sure you're onto the right path. I can't seem to climb on. Lost one pound in the last 4 weeks-finally down to 200, and I've been keeping count of my calories-most days I'm under my goal, sometimes not. Row at least 10000 per day, sometimes more, skip a day once in great while, and try to keep my time about 45 min for 10000. Have added some weight lifting, but just in the last few days and very limited. I've looked at the China Study book, and plan to purchase. But the amount of shopping and preparation work must be quite an adjustment with this diet. Does your whole family participate? Not sure how well my teenage boys will appreciate the changes. Any words of wisdom? Thanks!

Meri wrote:Well, I'm sure you're onto the right path. I can't seem to climb on. Lost one pound in the last 4 weeks-finally down to 200, and I've been keeping count of my calories-most days I'm under my goal, sometimes not. Row at least 10000 per day, sometimes more, skip a day once in great while, and try to keep my time about 45 min for 10000. Have added some weight lifting, but just in the last few days and very limited. I've looked at the China Study book, and plan to purchase. But the amount of shopping and preparation work must be quite an adjustment with this diet. Does your whole family participate? Not sure how well my teenage boys will appreciate the changes. Any words of wisdom? Thanks!

Hi Meri,

Actually, The China Study is the easiest nutritional plan to follow.

Here's my results, I rowed almost 3,000,000 meters this year and did not lose much weight. I finally realized that I had to do something on the intake side so I started the WW flex plan and I lost 10 pounds in a month going from 213 to 203, and then I pretty much stayed there even though I was rowing 20,000 meters or more a day.

Then I decided that I need to change my workout program, but still not much happened.

Finally, I read The China Study, and visited Dr. McDougall's website, Dr. Fuhrman's, and on vegsource.com -- http://www.vegsource.com/ -- I listened to the free clips from various doctors and the author of The China Study, etc. I decided to adopt a whole, unrefined food, plant-based diet. I stopped counting points, calories, etc., and just ate as much as I wanted, and in 6 weeks I lost 19 pounds -- and my rowing dropped considerably.

Basically, the hard part is giving up meat, dairy, eggs, and oil -- using all very sparingly if at all. Dr. Fuhrman's plan "Eat to Live" has an extreme weight loss program for only six weeks; Dr. McDougall also has an extreme weight loss program for 12 weeks; Dr. Ornish basically just says give up oil and refined foods, and he also has the same results vis-a-vis weight loss. Dr. Campbell in The China Study sets out the all you can eat program but his ideas relate to health and not weight loss, although when we eat healthy we do lose weight.

As for your teenage boys, they don't really need to go the extreme plan unless they are overweight, but there are many weight lifters, track stars, and other athletes who eat a whole, unrefined, plant-based diet.

In a nutshell, Dr. Furhman's six week plan is eat all the vegetables and fruits you want and a cup of beans (the greens and beans diet), after the six weeks it's a pretty easy diet to follow. Dr. McDougall on the other hand recommends that you eat all the vegetables and grains you want but limit the fruits and beans. Dr. Campbell in the China Study recommends we eat all we want (while getting plenty of variety) of any whole, unrefined plant-based food: fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, while minimizing refined carbohydrates, added vegetable oils, and fish, and avoiding meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs. All these diets do have a common denominator: whole, unrefined plant-based foods with restrctions on oils, meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs.

The bottom-line for me was that I realized immediately that by changing my diet I was eliminating over 600 calories a day just be cutting out the meat, oil, and cheese. No more dozen egg omoletes, or eating a block of really great excellent cheese, or using tablespoons of olive oil. Actually, as I write this I must have cut out over 1000 calories a day. And even though I have increased fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and seeds, I don't even come close to equaling the calories I no longer eat from meat, dairy, eggs, etc.

The China Study shows that on a whole, unrefined plant based diet we can eat 30% more calories and still lose weight. I hope you get a copy of that book and read it through a couple of times. You may also want to read Eat to Live by Dr. Fuhrman and also the book by Dr. McDougall. These three books lay it all out and show that there is flexibility -- you don't have to be a vegan or a fanatic, but you do have to not be a junk-food vegan or vegetarian. Dr. Fuhrman has a formula he calls H=N/C. I think his formula should be H=(N/C) + E; viz., Health equals nutrient dense food divided by total calories plus exercise. His idea is if you have to eat why not eat the most healthy foods only?

As for shopping, instead of white bread you buy whole wheat; instead of refined grains you buy whole grains, you buy all the fruit and vegetables you want. You make Portobello mushroom "hamburgers" on whole wheat bread. Certainly, it does pay to read the labels: e.g., I now buy whole wheat bread that is made from whole wheat, water, and yeast -- no other additives. When I order pizza, I order a vegetarian pizza with some added pineapple and no cheese -- some pizzerias have whole wheat crusts.

I think you should give it a 6 week try and see what happens; you should lose weight and importantly have more energy than you have ever had and be able to row more; your blood pressure should drop, your cholesterol will drop, etc. If you have the same results I had, you should drop from 200 to 180 in the next few weeks and you will never be hungry -- you will never allow your body to go into a starvation mode because when you are hungry you will eat.

For snacks now, I pour myself a cup of whole grain dry cereal and just eat that while working at the computer or watching TV. I found some whole grain Kamut puffs, millet puffs, corn puffs, and oat rings today that are just the whole grains. One cup is 50 calories, no fat, and 2 grams of fiber. A perfect snack food. And for breakfast I have found that instead of using milk I just pour on a cup of orange juice and it is quite nice.

After a while, your boys will want to join in with this new and permanent way of eating. The only caveat is that you do have to take a B-12 supplement since B-12 is created by bacteria and except for places like India where they eat their vegetables using animal dung and still dirty our vegetables are just too clean to have an B-12.

I still have another 30 pounds to lose so I'll have to see what happens. Last night I rowed 25,000 meters and will start exercising more now that I have seen the results without rowing that much.

Mike

WIOTW -- 157lbs.

If I may make an addition to Mike's fine post:

On the Dr. Fuhrman plan you can eat all the 'WHOLE FOODS' you wish. He warns of 'processed foods'. He recommends staying on this plan for 90% of the food you eat. He does leave a 10% window for foods you desire that are off the plan. (this is after the first 6 weeks where you are on the plan 100%).

Remember though, bread is a processed food. If you decide to include bread THEN make sure it is whole wheat(grain) bread. Yes, read the ingredients--there are many products that claim to be 'whole grain' or 'whole wheat' that contain as much white flour as whole grain flour. Still, even whole grain bread is a processed food.

Fruit juce is another processed food! He recommends using juice and vinegar for salad dressing but rather you eat the whole fruit than drink a glass of juice.

I know for me, I used to eat a salad and consume the whole basket of bread and rolls that was served with it. Then, I couldn't understand why I was still gaining weight. I know better now. I still might have bread with a salad but it wil be small piece of 'real' whole grain bread.

Good luck!

nteeman wrote:WIOTW -- 157lbs.

If I make an addition to Mike's fine post:

On the Dr. Fuhrman plan you can eat all the 'WHOLE FOODS' you wish. He warns of 'processed foods'. He recommends staying on this plan for 90% of the food you eat. He does leave a 10% window for foods you desire that are off the plan. (this is after the first 6 weeks where you are on the plan 100%).

Remember though, bread is a processed food. If you decide to include bread THEN make sure it is whole wheat(grain) bread. Yes, read the ingredients--there are many products that claim to be 'whole grain' or 'whole wheat' that contain as much white flour as whole grain flour. Still, even whole grain bread is a processed food.

Fruit juce is another processed food! He recommends using juice and vinegar for salad dressing but rather you eat the whole fruit than drink a glass of juice.

I know for me, I used to eat a salad and consume the whole basket of bread and rolls that was served with it. Then, I couldn't understand why I was still gaining weight. I know better now. I still might have bread with a salad but it wil be small piece of 'real' whole grain bread.

Good luck!

Thanks Nteeman. Absolutely.

I noticed on Dr. Fuhrman's website, where you can post messages and he replies, he did say that even though he recommends no fruit juice (or vegetable juice), he does think that one ounce a day of pomegranate juice is fine because of all the health benefits of that juice. This is not in his book.

Also, I made a mistake vis-a-vis The McDougall Program: it is 12 days to dynamic health; not 12 weeks.

Both programs, and The China Study, agree that we can eat all the whole, unrefined, plant-based foods we want and lose weight. We just have to eliminate, as Nteeman pointed out, most of the refined foods: oil, juice, white enriched flour, etc. And eat animal protein sparingly.

Let's keep exercising and eating nutrient rich foods and get healthier and leaner.

Mike

weigh in day today ........ doing ww's .... started 6th March want to lose 50lbs ... lost to date 8lbs so going the right way ... 42 to go

All right Carole

WIOTW -- 157lbs

No change, but it did not go back up either.