You heard it here first, folks: Salmonella builds muscle.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I don't suggest eating raw eggs. :P But eggs are a healthy source of tons of nutrients, including a lot of protein. Animal protein (That is, meat) is the best source of protein for your body, but whey and egg protein should be included as well in a weight gain process. It can get expensive, though.
You heard it here first, folks: Salmonella builds muscle.
Sorry, couldn't resist.
I don't suggest eating raw eggs. :P But eggs are a healthy source of tons of nutrients, including a lot of protein. Animal protein (That is, meat) is the best source of protein for your body, but whey and egg protein should be included as well in a weight gain process. It can get expensive, though.
Eggs are super cheap in most places. A dozen contains 72g of protein, and that's 2-3 bucks at most. Pretty amazing deal.
oh dear, this weekend was nothing but crazy over indulgence.
I'm only halfway through adding the food from Saturday and i can feel the sparkpoints website glowering at me with contempt.
oh well, I'll just have to work harder this week to make up for it.
same here. I went to visit my folks at the lake for father's day, and as soon as I walk inside, my dad hands me a margarita. It just went downhill from there (but boy was it delicious! my parents are amazing cooks!).
I'm making up for it today though... I'm having lunch right now, and it's a huge spinach & avacado salad with olive oil and basalmic vinegar, and leftover bbq'd pork loin, which is relatively lean. Tons of protein, lots of healthy fats, and a good amount of fiber.
the worst part is realizing that i'm getting old. for too long have you relied on your high metabolism, says my body. I'm not used to not letting myself eat whenever i feel vaguely hungry.
No worries buddy, I'm in the same boat, and you've just gotta focus long term. That's why our weigh-in is in a month.
I'm sure you know this. Hell, it's been said already in this very thread, but I figured it'd be good to hear from another soul; we're in this together, and some days are gonna be better than others, but the short term (days and weeks) ups and downs just need to trend in the right direction over the months and years.
Some people here are going to reach their goals in six months, whereas some of us might be at it for 12 months, 18, or hell whole years at a time.
I'm noticing that now that I've been going as often as I have to date, I'm starting to look forward to my gym time more, and while I'm striving to be more social, am a little annoyed when I start losing days to it. Like, I'll be glad to go out for dinner with friends 2 nights this week, but that means only 3 nights rather than 4 or 5. I wonder if I've lost enough to start safely jogging, in which case I could just go for a run after the movie/dinner are over? Food for thought.
Forar on
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
oh dear, this weekend was nothing but crazy over indulgence.
I'm only halfway through adding the food from Saturday and i can feel the sparkpoints website glowering at me with contempt.
oh well, I'll just have to work harder this week to make up for it.
Ugh, gawd. Seriously. How is it that a few French fries and a moderate amount of liquor can undo a whole week of work? I so don't even want to add my "nutrition" to the Spark page.
If my friend hadn't forgotten to renew her ID, thus getting us kicked out of the bar, I'd say it would have been totally worth it.
Ellie on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
0
Options
HerrCronIt that wickedly supports taxationRegistered Userregular
oh dear, this weekend was nothing but crazy over indulgence.
I'm only halfway through adding the food from Saturday and i can feel the sparkpoints website glowering at me with contempt.
oh well, I'll just have to work harder this week to make up for it.
Ugh, gawd. Seriously. How is it that a few French fries and a moderate amount of liquor can undo a whole week of work? I so don't even want to add my "nutrition" to the Spark page.
If my friend hadn't forgotten to renew her ID, thus getting us kicked out of the bar, I'd say it would have been totally worth it.
New horrible discovery - a lot of the food i have is terrible for me.
Well, I'll still eat it, because i can't really afford to be throwing away food, I'll just have to adjust my meals and stuff to compensate for this. Then then they're all gone, never buy that shit ever again.
bloody hell this calorie counting stuff is hard work.
I'm interested in low-carb myself, but holy crap I have no idea how I'd organise such a diet. It seems like every item I look at has over 30g of carbs.
Dang, no change in weight. I actually thought this was one of my better weeks in a while too.
And after looking at a few pics from me over the weekend, I think I realized that part of my problem, appearance wise, is that I have too much loose skin from the weight loss. With clothes, I don't actually look very bad, but shirtless it's still quite a bit of work in progress.
Dang, no change in weight. I actually thought this was one of my better weeks in a while too.
And after looking at a few pics from me over the weekend, I think I realized that part of my problem, appearance wise, is that I have too much loose skin from the weight loss. With clothes, I don't actually look very bad, but shirtless it's still quite a bit of work in progress.
Unless you have a crazy ton of loose skin (like from gastric bypass), then working out will generally help it tighten up. Just keep at it and I'm pretty sure you'll see improvement over time.
I got back on the Insanity workout today after almost a week of inactivity. I didn't finish the stupid thing. I don't feel so bad because it was the beginning of month 2 (gets a lot tougher at this point), but I hate not finishing workouts. I've got to up my mental game.
HOO-RA!!!!!!!!!
ChillyWilly on
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
And after looking at a few pics from me over the weekend, I think I realized that part of my problem, appearance wise, is that I have too much loose skin from the weight loss. With clothes, I don't actually look very bad, but shirtless it's still quite a bit of work in progress.
You're definitely not alone. I'm in the same boat.
I'm amazed at how easy it is to eat more than the sparkpeople nutrition plan recommends.
However! Keeping within the recommended caloric range is starting to feel like a game to me. Like "Here's my target, if I shoot ...right... here! that's closer to the bullseye than last time. Alright! let's try again!"
.... yes, diet and exercise remind me of video games.
Ugh. I had to totally vent this frustration. The only thing that sucks more about the fact that my boyfriend has decided that 40 minutes is too far to drive to come work out with me (which is somewhat understandable, but I end up driving 45 minutes [with traffic] to watch him play Xbox), is that he's trying to gain weight. Completely opposite goals. Dude can have some of what I've got. There should be an exchange program for this.
I want to go on record saying that anything under 2 hours away and you can call him out on bullshit. Although thats just me.
Ugh. I had to totally vent this frustration. The only thing that sucks more about the fact that my boyfriend has decided that 40 minutes is too far to drive to come work out with me (which is somewhat understandable, but I end up driving 45 minutes [with traffic] to watch him play Xbox), is that he's trying to gain weight. Completely opposite goals. Dude can have some of what I've got. There should be an exchange program for this.
I want to go on record saying that anything under 2 hours away and you can call him out on bullshit. Although thats just me.
I know, right? The problem is that I drive North to his place, and we're essentially still in the Cities! He drives South to my place (which he hasn't done in something like five years, when we were just friends, he lived closer, and I didn't have a car) and we're in the suburbs. Oh, the horror of being away from the flashing neon and crowds. He's not the only one with this mindset that it's okay for me to go North (did I just make an #ebz reference? I think I did), but that going south is too long a drive.
When I said I was unhappy with my figure, he didn't do the typical boyfriend thing and assure me that he thinks I'm beautiful despite the extra weight. He said, "Well, we could exercise together." This has not happened yet. I think I need to rub it in his face that I've been at the gym six out of seven days of the week, while he's been playing Modern Warfare 2. It must be nice to be underweight.
I'm going to second the suggestion of the low carb diet. Its difficult getting used to no carbs and making meals without pasta/rice/bread, but I don't have the always hungry feeling I've gotten with normal diets. The thing that strikes me most is how eating the same 2 hamburgers sans bun, doesn't make me feel any less full than I would with the bun, despite saving over 200 calories. Plus the way the diet is structured <20g carbs a day, the 'just 1 won't matter' mind set doesn't fit in at all.
I've been on it for 3.5 weeks and have went from 205.6 to 190.4 with no regular exercising besides walking the dog, and a couple horrible horrible cheat meals(business dinners).
I wish I could follow a low-carb diet. I did so a few years back, but I have discovered that when I don't get my carbs, I get really, really cranky. All my favourite foods are carbs. And if I don't eat them, I eat other stuff to excess to try and curb the craving, so low-carb is a huge fail for me. Unfortunately this means that my current diet is a fail for my huge waistline.
Ellie on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
0
Options
VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
is there more to it than just not eating bread
the only bread I can't cut easily is I eat a bagel sandwich going to work 3 days a week. if that was all I was having trouble cutting out, though... I'd just do it, wake up early and make some eggs.
but I feel like there's complexity I'm not seeing? or why doesn't everyone just cut out bread.
the only bread I can't cut easily is I eat a bagel sandwich going to work 3 days a week. if that was all I was having trouble cutting out, though... I'd just do it, wake up early and make some eggs.
but I feel like there's complexity I'm not seeing? or why doesn't everyone just cut out bread.
Protien shakes has a thread on it, although its filled with the standard bickering. At the most effective weightless level(Atkins calls it induction stage) you should be consuming less than 20g of carbs a day.
The other thing is you don't realize how much sugar is in shit till you start looking.
BBQ sauce 2 tbsp 17g carbs
ketchup 4g carbs /tbsp
tomato sauce 16g per 1/2 cub
yogurt 19g for 6 oz
The thing that bothered me most when I started was milk(11g a cup) and despite rarely ever eating any I craved fruit like mad(sugar free Jello saved me here).
Basically you end up with a pretty restricted list of veggies you can eat, mostly greens plus stuff like broccoli and cauliflower, very restricted fruit intake(berries mostly), in addition to the obvious no-no's like bread/rice/potatoes/pasta.
That said once you are out of induction mode, into ongoing weight loss, the limit goes up 5g a week till you stop losing weight(40g-50g average limit).
The restrictions on the diet make it a challenge to start, but If I'm hungry I'll just go eat some tuna salad, or some sausages with mustard, or a chicken breast, or a salad with creamy Caesar dressing. Which is easier for me to stick with than a low-fat diet, where I have to watch calories, and then promise extra exercise or extra cutting tomorrow for an oreo or 6 today.
The way I got started was looking at the Atkins stuff and going "I will try this for 2 weeks", which is the minimum time for induction stage. Knowing that the hassle would only last 2 weeks made it easier to stick to, and by the end of 2 weeks I was down 7 lbs, and the cravings were gone so I kept going with it.
Is it too late to sign up for this? Cause I'd love to sign up for this.
I'm about to go join my work's mini gym, which isn't as massive as a big gym, but it has treadmills and crosstrainers, and I think that's all I can really see myself doing. That said though, I'm entirely new to the gym scene, so any advice, dos or don'ts are most welcome.
However! Keeping within the recommended caloric range is starting to feel like a game to me. Like "Here's my target, if I shoot ...right... here! that's closer to the bullseye than last time. Alright! let's try again!"
.... yes, diet and exercise remind me of video games.
Same for me! I actually spend most of my treadmill time watching the numbers and trying to nudge the calories per minute to break my last high score. Currently it's 435 calories in 45 minutes.
Backstory:
I've been gaining weight consistently since I first went to college (which is 5 years ago now). My family is one of those who say i look great no matter what, which is great for self esteem, but about 6 months ago I went to the doctor where I got weighed, and when the scale said 149 the nurse kind of gave me a "shame on you" look, and informed me that I could start getting health issues if this kept going up. I'm 5'2" and have a small frame. I started researching what my ideal weight should be for my age, height, sex, etc., and came to the sad and sudden realization that I needed to lose 25 pounds in order to even start being healthy. And then I started really looking in the mirror and seeing all my flab, and realizing that I haven't felt really pretty in about 3 years, and none of my favorite outfits have fit for ages. Add the fact that my boyfriend proposed and now I have a wedding to look fabulous for in less than a year, and I knew the time had come!
My schedule is still a little too packed to add in exercising for any decent amount of time, but I'm focusing on my diet, and I have already lost about 13 pounds (I'm down to 136!) since I started in March. I agree with what everyone's been saying so far: breaking out of the habit of bad eating was definitely the hardest part. Just starting to count my calories made me realize how huge my portions had become. I know barely have to count calories because I can estimate better, and I now know what an actual portion should be. I know I'm moving slowly, but I really want this weight-loss to last. My biggest worry is that when I reach my goal, i'll celebrate by eating all my favorite foods (scones, cake, burritos, pasta, bagels, etc) and gain it all back again! I don't care what people have said earlier, I still love the taste of these things! What I have found, though, is that I don't crave as much food as I used to. I feel quite satisfied with a decent portion now, when even a month ago I would still be starving and probably end up eating double what I should.
I did create an account on SparkPeople when I first started out, so I'll have to dig up that information again tonight, and officially sign up for this thing.
I plan to add in about 20 minutes of aerobic exercise each weekday very soon, since skinny but flabby is still not ideal. I know I will have to stop watching the scale and start using the tape measure when I do that.
Speaking of watching the scale... despite what people have mentioned about only weighing yourself every few days, I have found I have a much better idea of how I'm doing when I weigh myself daily (right when I wake up). It's not so much obsessive as a positive challenge, like a video game, to see where eating what I did the day before put me on the scale that morning. By watching the scale, I learned that junk/binge days are actually not so bad as you would think (unless they become too common), and you lose a ton of weight overnight if you suddenly binge, and when you go back on your diet the few days after you actually lose weight faster. Probably because your metabolism shot up on that day.
I'm drinking tons of water all day long, and cut out any drink besides water entirely. I used to love fruit juices, but despite sounding healthy, they actually contain a ton of sugar, and the calories I have to count for them are just not worth it.
I'm staying away from most starches, but not worrying too much about fat (or even sodium, although I know that's probably bad). Basically, I'm just trying to stay around 1200-1300 calories per day.
I wish I could follow a low-carb diet. I did so a few years back, but I have discovered that when I don't get my carbs, I get really, really cranky. All my favourite foods are carbs. And if I don't eat them, I eat other stuff to excess to try and curb the craving, so low-carb is a huge fail for me. Unfortunately this means that my current diet is a fail for my huge waistline.
I totally agree with this! However, I'm pretty sure that just taking out white starches like bread and pasta (basically anything with white flour in it) and maybe potatoes is almost as effective! The bread part just kills me, but i'm getting by with rice (lots of asian and mexican dishes).
One of the best things I have discovered is burrito bowls at Chipotle. I am a huge Chipotle fan (no pun intended), so I was awfully excited to discover that just taking out the tortilla lost about 300 calories from the meal. Plus it made it easier to take home - so now I eat half a bowl (with meat and cheese and tons of beans and everything) and I figure it to be about 400 calories, which is a perfect meal size for someone of my current weight and goal. Yay Chipotle!
My biggest pitfall is that my boyfriend basically eats nothing but pizza, pasta, and hamburgers, so when we're together on the weekends eating together has become a big problem, and I usually end up killing my diet. Neither of us can or wants to cook, so that's basically out.
But at least at work I eat a salad with chicken and Thousand Island Dressing (satisfies my craving for a creamy dressing but half the calories of Ranch!), for breakfast I eat activia light yogurt (also makes you regular, which helps with the weight loss) and a banana, then for dinner half a chipotle bowl.
Anyway, sorry for the huge first post, but I just want to say everyone so far has given me such motivation to be good again!
low carb diets have always seemed pretty bogus to me. As soon as you go off it the pounds come right back, and a lot of low carb stuff isn't even that healthy for you. I remember seeing kfc ads advertising how few carbs there were in fried chicken. how dumb do you have to be to fall for that. The best diet foods are always going to be bulky low calorie fruits and vegetables because they fill you up despite having a low amount of calories. There's only 100 calories in an apple(a lot of them are carbs) yet it fills you up a lot more than 100 calories of potato chips.
low carb diets have always seemed pretty bogus to me. As soon as you go off it the pounds come right back
That is true for any diet, period. Low-carb isn't special in that regard. In order to have a permanent effect it needs to become your lifestyle. The moment you think of it as a "diet" you set yourself up for eventual failure.
and a lot of low carb stuff isn't even that healthy for you. I remember seeing kfc ads advertising how few carbs there were in fried chicken. how dumb do you have to be to fall for that.
Fried chicken by itself is not unhealthy as long as it is not breaded.
The best diet foods are always going to be bulky low calorie fruits and vegetables because they fill you up despite having a low amount of calories. There's only 100 calories in an apple(a lot of them are carbs) yet it fills you up a lot more than 100 calories of potato chips.
You need to stop thinking in terms of calories. Your body is not a calorimeter. A calorie is treated differently depending on its source, time of consumption, and your body's need for it. Thinking "an apple has 100 calories" is completely meaningless.
Ugh. I had to totally vent this frustration. The only thing that sucks more about the fact that my boyfriend has decided that 40 minutes is too far to drive to come work out with me (which is somewhat understandable, but I end up driving 45 minutes [with traffic] to watch him play Xbox), is that he's trying to gain weight. Completely opposite goals. Dude can have some of what I've got. There should be an exchange program for this.
I want to go on record saying that anything under 2 hours away and you can call him out on bullshit. Although thats just me.
I know, right? The problem is that I drive North to his place, and we're essentially still in the Cities! He drives South to my place (which he hasn't done in something like five years, when we were just friends, he lived closer, and I didn't have a car) and we're in the suburbs. Oh, the horror of being away from the flashing neon and crowds. He's not the only one with this mindset that it's okay for me to go North (did I just make an #ebz reference? I think I did), but that going south is too long a drive.
When I said I was unhappy with my figure, he didn't do the typical boyfriend thing and assure me that he thinks I'm beautiful despite the extra weight. He said, "Well, we could exercise together." This has not happened yet. I think I need to rub it in his face that I've been at the gym six out of seven days of the week, while he's been playing Modern Warfare 2. It must be nice to be underweight.
He's probably worried that showing up once will cause him to go every time, thereby turning the whole thing into a commute.
I have just learned that I've been doing a "Stillman diet." Who knew?
Okay, so this has been a mixed week so far.
Downside: I've only worked out once a day each day thus far.
Upside: I've worked out every day, where as I've been sick or unavailable for exercise at least one or two days a week the previous two weeks.
Upside: Working out once a day also has been seeing steady improvement in how much I'm able to accomplish in a single 40 minute work out. I was able to just skate by with a 12 mile ride. I'm now pushing 13.5 miles in the same time, and it keeps getting better each day.
Downside: I started classes today for my new career change, so I wasn't able to work out first thing in the morning like usual, and felt pretty shitty all day until I got back home to the bike.
Downside: My appetite just went fucking insane yesterday, and I ate way too much shit that's terrible for me (which is odd, since I'm not really changing what I eat nearly as much as how much I eat).
Upside: Whatever the fuck happened yesterday apparently got it out of my system, and I'm back to normal thus far.
I am on a low carb diet now which has two notable differences than Atkins (which I was on previously):
1) there is more focus on eating healthy. On Atkins, it was "eat whatever you want as long as there aren't carbs" on this, in the beginning, it is eat low carb and healthy.
2) the extremely low carb phase is only 8 weeks. After this, the focus is on reintroducing the right carbs the right way.
The lady's theory is that some people simply don't process carbs the right way which affects their weight. The reasoning behind it and overall plan of working towards a long term healthy lifestyle make sense to me - far more than the Atkins approach. I lost about 90 lbs on Atkins, but it eventually stalled and was wreaking havoc on my cholesterol. So far this seems to be working. I won't weigh myself again until the July 15th date, but I can already feel a difference.
However! Keeping within the recommended caloric range is starting to feel like a game to me. Like "Here's my target, if I shoot ...right... here! that's closer to the bullseye than last time. Alright! let's try again!"
.... yes, diet and exercise remind me of video games.
Same for me! I actually spend most of my treadmill time watching the numbers and trying to nudge the calories per minute to break my last high score. Currently it's 435 calories in 45 minutes.
Nice!
I did treadmill for 37 minutes today.
My problem with the calorie portion is that the treadmill display says one amount of calories, and sparkpeople gives a wildly different number for the amount of exercise I think I'm doing... and I don't know how to change the settings on the treadmill so that it gives me useful information like the miles I've "traveled" or the speed (in MPH) at which I'm walking.
It's sad.
I got all of the tracked nutritional values within the correct ranges though!
Yeah, my bike is the same way. Sparklepeople gives me an incredibly different calorie count than my bike does. 450-490 calories for a 40 minute workout according to my bike, but it's more like 600-700 according to SP.
One of my friends works for a company that designs manufactures those things. He told me that the calorie counters literally exist to make people feel good about themselves, because if people couldn't see their progress as a continuously incrementing number right in front of them, many of them wouldn't get on a treadmill or a stationary bike.
So, is the caloric value of an exercise given on sparkpeople likely to be more accurate then?
Not likely. There are a tremendous amount of factors that determine how many calories you burn on each exercise.
Let's take those stair machines as an example. Their calorie counters fail right away since a 100lbs person isn't going to burn the same amount of calories going up one step as a 200lbs person. They are doing more work, but the calorie counter cannot measure that stuff. It just gives you a very, very rough estimate.
Treadmill - same thing. Heavier people use more calories when they run. There's also stuff like posture, which can have a tremendous impact on how efficient your running is (i.e. calories spent vs. distance ran), your heart rate (if your heart is beating faster then you're burning more calories, but you need to hold the handle to get a reading which fucks up your posture etc.). It's all a mess.
My suggestion: forget trying to calculate calories burned. It is impossible. Just watch what you eat, and when you go exercise make sure you focus on running/climbing/biking hard and fast for a short period, as opposed to slowly over a long period.
Posts
I don't suggest eating raw eggs. :P But eggs are a healthy source of tons of nutrients, including a lot of protein. Animal protein (That is, meat) is the best source of protein for your body, but whey and egg protein should be included as well in a weight gain process. It can get expensive, though.
Eggs are super cheap in most places. A dozen contains 72g of protein, and that's 2-3 bucks at most. Pretty amazing deal.
same here. I went to visit my folks at the lake for father's day, and as soon as I walk inside, my dad hands me a margarita. It just went downhill from there (but boy was it delicious! my parents are amazing cooks!).
I'm making up for it today though... I'm having lunch right now, and it's a huge spinach & avacado salad with olive oil and basalmic vinegar, and leftover bbq'd pork loin, which is relatively lean. Tons of protein, lots of healthy fats, and a good amount of fiber.
the worst part is realizing that i'm getting old. for too long have you relied on your high metabolism, says my body. I'm not used to not letting myself eat whenever i feel vaguely hungry.
No worries buddy, I'm in the same boat, and you've just gotta focus long term. That's why our weigh-in is in a month.
I'm sure you know this. Hell, it's been said already in this very thread, but I figured it'd be good to hear from another soul; we're in this together, and some days are gonna be better than others, but the short term (days and weeks) ups and downs just need to trend in the right direction over the months and years.
Some people here are going to reach their goals in six months, whereas some of us might be at it for 12 months, 18, or hell whole years at a time.
I'm noticing that now that I've been going as often as I have to date, I'm starting to look forward to my gym time more, and while I'm striving to be more social, am a little annoyed when I start losing days to it. Like, I'll be glad to go out for dinner with friends 2 nights this week, but that means only 3 nights rather than 4 or 5. I wonder if I've lost enough to start safely jogging, in which case I could just go for a run after the movie/dinner are over? Food for thought.
If my friend hadn't forgotten to renew her ID, thus getting us kicked out of the bar, I'd say it would have been totally worth it.
New horrible discovery - a lot of the food i have is terrible for me.
Well, I'll still eat it, because i can't really afford to be throwing away food, I'll just have to adjust my meals and stuff to compensate for this. Then then they're all gone, never buy that shit ever again.
bloody hell this calorie counting stuff is hard work.
And after looking at a few pics from me over the weekend, I think I realized that part of my problem, appearance wise, is that I have too much loose skin from the weight loss. With clothes, I don't actually look very bad, but shirtless it's still quite a bit of work in progress.
Unless you have a crazy ton of loose skin (like from gastric bypass), then working out will generally help it tighten up. Just keep at it and I'm pretty sure you'll see improvement over time.
I got back on the Insanity workout today after almost a week of inactivity. I didn't finish the stupid thing. I don't feel so bad because it was the beginning of month 2 (gets a lot tougher at this point), but I hate not finishing workouts. I've got to up my mental game.
HOO-RA!!!!!!!!!
You're definitely not alone. I'm in the same boat.
I'm amazed at how easy it is to eat more than the sparkpeople nutrition plan recommends.
However! Keeping within the recommended caloric range is starting to feel like a game to me. Like "Here's my target, if I shoot ...right... here! that's closer to the bullseye than last time. Alright! let's try again!"
.... yes, diet and exercise remind me of video games.
I want to go on record saying that anything under 2 hours away and you can call him out on bullshit. Although thats just me.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I don't need a faddy diet, i just need to pay more attention to what I'm doing.
I know, right? The problem is that I drive North to his place, and we're essentially still in the Cities! He drives South to my place (which he hasn't done in something like five years, when we were just friends, he lived closer, and I didn't have a car) and we're in the suburbs. Oh, the horror of being away from the flashing neon and crowds. He's not the only one with this mindset that it's okay for me to go North (did I just make an #ebz reference? I think I did), but that going south is too long a drive.
When I said I was unhappy with my figure, he didn't do the typical boyfriend thing and assure me that he thinks I'm beautiful despite the extra weight. He said, "Well, we could exercise together." This has not happened yet. I think I need to rub it in his face that I've been at the gym six out of seven days of the week, while he's been playing Modern Warfare 2. It must be nice to be underweight.
Not going to try to convince you, but it's not a "faddy" diet. You can do what you think is best without attacking other people's opinions.
I've been on it for 3.5 weeks and have went from 205.6 to 190.4 with no regular exercising besides walking the dog, and a couple horrible horrible cheat meals(business dinners).
the only bread I can't cut easily is I eat a bagel sandwich going to work 3 days a week. if that was all I was having trouble cutting out, though... I'd just do it, wake up early and make some eggs.
but I feel like there's complexity I'm not seeing? or why doesn't everyone just cut out bread.
Protien shakes has a thread on it, although its filled with the standard bickering. At the most effective weightless level(Atkins calls it induction stage) you should be consuming less than 20g of carbs a day.
examples:
1 banana 27g carbs
1 ear of corn 37g carbs
The other thing is you don't realize how much sugar is in shit till you start looking.
BBQ sauce 2 tbsp 17g carbs
ketchup 4g carbs /tbsp
tomato sauce 16g per 1/2 cub
yogurt 19g for 6 oz
The thing that bothered me most when I started was milk(11g a cup) and despite rarely ever eating any I craved fruit like mad(sugar free Jello saved me here).
Basically you end up with a pretty restricted list of veggies you can eat, mostly greens plus stuff like broccoli and cauliflower, very restricted fruit intake(berries mostly), in addition to the obvious no-no's like bread/rice/potatoes/pasta.
That said once you are out of induction mode, into ongoing weight loss, the limit goes up 5g a week till you stop losing weight(40g-50g average limit).
The restrictions on the diet make it a challenge to start, but If I'm hungry I'll just go eat some tuna salad, or some sausages with mustard, or a chicken breast, or a salad with creamy Caesar dressing. Which is easier for me to stick with than a low-fat diet, where I have to watch calories, and then promise extra exercise or extra cutting tomorrow for an oreo or 6 today.
The way I got started was looking at the Atkins stuff and going "I will try this for 2 weeks", which is the minimum time for induction stage. Knowing that the hassle would only last 2 weeks made it easier to stick to, and by the end of 2 weeks I was down 7 lbs, and the cravings were gone so I kept going with it.
I'm about to go join my work's mini gym, which isn't as massive as a big gym, but it has treadmills and crosstrainers, and I think that's all I can really see myself doing. That said though, I'm entirely new to the gym scene, so any advice, dos or don'ts are most welcome.
Same for me! I actually spend most of my treadmill time watching the numbers and trying to nudge the calories per minute to break my last high score. Currently it's 435 calories in 45 minutes.
Backstory:
I've been gaining weight consistently since I first went to college (which is 5 years ago now). My family is one of those who say i look great no matter what, which is great for self esteem, but about 6 months ago I went to the doctor where I got weighed, and when the scale said 149 the nurse kind of gave me a "shame on you" look, and informed me that I could start getting health issues if this kept going up. I'm 5'2" and have a small frame. I started researching what my ideal weight should be for my age, height, sex, etc., and came to the sad and sudden realization that I needed to lose 25 pounds in order to even start being healthy. And then I started really looking in the mirror and seeing all my flab, and realizing that I haven't felt really pretty in about 3 years, and none of my favorite outfits have fit for ages. Add the fact that my boyfriend proposed and now I have a wedding to look fabulous for in less than a year, and I knew the time had come!
My schedule is still a little too packed to add in exercising for any decent amount of time, but I'm focusing on my diet, and I have already lost about 13 pounds (I'm down to 136!) since I started in March. I agree with what everyone's been saying so far: breaking out of the habit of bad eating was definitely the hardest part. Just starting to count my calories made me realize how huge my portions had become. I know barely have to count calories because I can estimate better, and I now know what an actual portion should be. I know I'm moving slowly, but I really want this weight-loss to last. My biggest worry is that when I reach my goal, i'll celebrate by eating all my favorite foods (scones, cake, burritos, pasta, bagels, etc) and gain it all back again! I don't care what people have said earlier, I still love the taste of these things! What I have found, though, is that I don't crave as much food as I used to. I feel quite satisfied with a decent portion now, when even a month ago I would still be starving and probably end up eating double what I should.
I did create an account on SparkPeople when I first started out, so I'll have to dig up that information again tonight, and officially sign up for this thing.
I plan to add in about 20 minutes of aerobic exercise each weekday very soon, since skinny but flabby is still not ideal. I know I will have to stop watching the scale and start using the tape measure when I do that.
Speaking of watching the scale... despite what people have mentioned about only weighing yourself every few days, I have found I have a much better idea of how I'm doing when I weigh myself daily (right when I wake up). It's not so much obsessive as a positive challenge, like a video game, to see where eating what I did the day before put me on the scale that morning. By watching the scale, I learned that junk/binge days are actually not so bad as you would think (unless they become too common), and you lose a ton of weight overnight if you suddenly binge, and when you go back on your diet the few days after you actually lose weight faster. Probably because your metabolism shot up on that day.
I'm drinking tons of water all day long, and cut out any drink besides water entirely. I used to love fruit juices, but despite sounding healthy, they actually contain a ton of sugar, and the calories I have to count for them are just not worth it.
I'm staying away from most starches, but not worrying too much about fat (or even sodium, although I know that's probably bad). Basically, I'm just trying to stay around 1200-1300 calories per day.
I totally agree with this! However, I'm pretty sure that just taking out white starches like bread and pasta (basically anything with white flour in it) and maybe potatoes is almost as effective! The bread part just kills me, but i'm getting by with rice (lots of asian and mexican dishes).
One of the best things I have discovered is burrito bowls at Chipotle. I am a huge Chipotle fan (no pun intended), so I was awfully excited to discover that just taking out the tortilla lost about 300 calories from the meal. Plus it made it easier to take home - so now I eat half a bowl (with meat and cheese and tons of beans and everything) and I figure it to be about 400 calories, which is a perfect meal size for someone of my current weight and goal. Yay Chipotle!
My biggest pitfall is that my boyfriend basically eats nothing but pizza, pasta, and hamburgers, so when we're together on the weekends eating together has become a big problem, and I usually end up killing my diet. Neither of us can or wants to cook, so that's basically out.
But at least at work I eat a salad with chicken and Thousand Island Dressing (satisfies my craving for a creamy dressing but half the calories of Ranch!), for breakfast I eat activia light yogurt (also makes you regular, which helps with the weight loss) and a banana, then for dinner half a chipotle bowl.
Anyway, sorry for the huge first post, but I just want to say everyone so far has given me such motivation to be good again!
That is true for any diet, period. Low-carb isn't special in that regard. In order to have a permanent effect it needs to become your lifestyle. The moment you think of it as a "diet" you set yourself up for eventual failure.
Fried chicken by itself is not unhealthy as long as it is not breaded.
You need to stop thinking in terms of calories. Your body is not a calorimeter. A calorie is treated differently depending on its source, time of consumption, and your body's need for it. Thinking "an apple has 100 calories" is completely meaningless.
He's probably worried that showing up once will cause him to go every time, thereby turning the whole thing into a commute.
I have just learned that I've been doing a "Stillman diet." Who knew?
Downside: I've only worked out once a day each day thus far.
Upside: I've worked out every day, where as I've been sick or unavailable for exercise at least one or two days a week the previous two weeks.
Upside: Working out once a day also has been seeing steady improvement in how much I'm able to accomplish in a single 40 minute work out. I was able to just skate by with a 12 mile ride. I'm now pushing 13.5 miles in the same time, and it keeps getting better each day.
Downside: I started classes today for my new career change, so I wasn't able to work out first thing in the morning like usual, and felt pretty shitty all day until I got back home to the bike.
Downside: My appetite just went fucking insane yesterday, and I ate way too much shit that's terrible for me (which is odd, since I'm not really changing what I eat nearly as much as how much I eat).
Upside: Whatever the fuck happened yesterday apparently got it out of my system, and I'm back to normal thus far.
1) there is more focus on eating healthy. On Atkins, it was "eat whatever you want as long as there aren't carbs" on this, in the beginning, it is eat low carb and healthy.
2) the extremely low carb phase is only 8 weeks. After this, the focus is on reintroducing the right carbs the right way.
The lady's theory is that some people simply don't process carbs the right way which affects their weight. The reasoning behind it and overall plan of working towards a long term healthy lifestyle make sense to me - far more than the Atkins approach. I lost about 90 lbs on Atkins, but it eventually stalled and was wreaking havoc on my cholesterol. So far this seems to be working. I won't weigh myself again until the July 15th date, but I can already feel a difference.
Nice!
I did treadmill for 37 minutes today.
My problem with the calorie portion is that the treadmill display says one amount of calories, and sparkpeople gives a wildly different number for the amount of exercise I think I'm doing... and I don't know how to change the settings on the treadmill so that it gives me useful information like the miles I've "traveled" or the speed (in MPH) at which I'm walking.
It's sad.
I got all of the tracked nutritional values within the correct ranges though!
Oh well.
Not likely. There are a tremendous amount of factors that determine how many calories you burn on each exercise.
Let's take those stair machines as an example. Their calorie counters fail right away since a 100lbs person isn't going to burn the same amount of calories going up one step as a 200lbs person. They are doing more work, but the calorie counter cannot measure that stuff. It just gives you a very, very rough estimate.
Treadmill - same thing. Heavier people use more calories when they run. There's also stuff like posture, which can have a tremendous impact on how efficient your running is (i.e. calories spent vs. distance ran), your heart rate (if your heart is beating faster then you're burning more calories, but you need to hold the handle to get a reading which fucks up your posture etc.). It's all a mess.
My suggestion: forget trying to calculate calories burned. It is impossible. Just watch what you eat, and when you go exercise make sure you focus on running/climbing/biking hard and fast for a short period, as opposed to slowly over a long period.