[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by T4Texas

Let me begin by saying I am overweight and have been for about half my life. I have ballooned up over 300 pounds and dropped down to 150 at various times, been on more diets than you can shake a stick at and failed miserably at keeping the weight off. I eat very little compared to some but manage to maintain the weight somehow.
So after struggling with all this, I became diabetic about ten years ago and earlier this year was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Many of my health issues stem from being overweight which I recognize. My cardiologist told me I must make drastic reductions in my salt intake and so this prompted me to really sit down and think about how I needed to modify my diet.
The biggest problem was always the diet itself and the urge to cheat. I would last about a week and then go back to eating whatever I wanted to eat. I really had to change my mindset about eating and about cheating. So the first thing I did was to not look at it as a "diet", but more as the desire to eat healthy. Telling yourself you're on a diet is sometimes setting yourself up for failure if you lack willpower. The next thing I did was to cut out 99% of processed food out of my intake. I even stopped buying lean cuisine as they have more sodium than I wanted. Every freakin thing under the sun has salt in it I found out so it was a matter of choosing things with less salt. I try to stay under 1000mg salt a day which isnt all that easy considering one fast food burger might have that much in it. The way around that for me was to buy fresh. Fresh has no salt or very minimal in most cases. I dont cook with salt so it put me in control of how much sodium was going into my body. I have changed my basic diet to fresh fruit and vegetables, some meat and if I want something sweet its either yogurt or something sugar free. I cut out sodas other than an occasional coke zero and drink tea or water. Also, no more eating out, although I still have mexican food once a month as a treat. I found this eating regime much easier to stick to and have learned to be creative with the menu. I roast a lot of veggies in the oven like yellow squash, onion, bell pepper and zuccini or whatever combination sounds good at the time. I steer away from frying things in oil and oven bake chops or boneless skinless chicken breast to satisfy the meat need. I use a lot of spices like garlic or the no salt spice blends which really jazz up everything. Since february I have lost about 40 pounds just by modifying my diet. The best thing is I dont feel hungry or deprived, dont feel the need to cheat and when I go grocery shopping its more an adventure now to create something new that fits my demand. About 3 months into this, I returned to the cardiologist for a stress test and found out that my heart function which had been down around 20% had risen to nearly 50%. I feel better than I have felt in a long time and feel Im on a good road as long as I stay on the medications and watch the diet. My biggest problem has been lunch. I drive all day on the road and have to take my lunch since I cant run thru the burger places anymore except for salads without dressing so am always on the lookout for portable low sodium ideas.

Great, great job! Congrats!