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Even though we now have an entire subforum for this very topic, the weight loss megathread was an invaluable resource for many, and it can't hurt to recompile all that good information for further use. This thread is a general resource to discuss foods, exercise, trials, tribulations, victories, questions, etc. And by all means, post before and after pictures! Everybody loves seeing good results. As I sort through the old thread, I'll update the OP with any additional useful information. One more thing: for Christ's sake, keep it civil. No more weight loss :dramabomb: bullshit. Without further ado, I give you THE WEIGHT LOSS WISDOM OF THE AGES Before and After: darwin: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...6#post309256639 Devyl: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...4#post309182416 Devyl again: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...2#post307804887 Accipiter: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...4#post309195944 Sleapy weazel: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...2#post308697895 massofnameless: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...1#post308685626 Put It On The Wax: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...0#post308598033 GI Joe Dirtbag: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...9#post308361790 mister_gosh: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...8#post308326624 matte: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...5#post307968509 Mofette: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...3#post307893624 Oliver C: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...3#post307831728 kk ichi: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...2#post307798941 elwood: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post312006135 Paul Boz_: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post312064263 Dr. VonHugenstein: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post312097404 Pavlovs Dog: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post312553477 Newly added, 1/12: pogo: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post313370047 Finkie McGee: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post313851777 eternalbuffalo: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post317756002 Absorbing Yeti: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post319185120 rad1043ad: http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...=#post320037742 ________________________________________________ From the 3.0 OP, with minor edits: DeadlySpork's guide on page 1 of v2.0 (with some edits here and there) Weight loss is one of the harder things to do these days. Whether it be that we don't have enough free time on our hands or we have been misinformed on what to do while on a diet/exercising. These are the biggest downfalls to people who are/on diets, thus causing them to quit or cheat constantly on the diet, getting frustrated since it leads them nowhere but a horrible time. After my recent 57 *and still going* lbs of weight loss and feeling 50 times better than I did when i was 240 lbs I decided that I "and a few other goons who have been amazing by helping me with this mega thread" ought to inform all of our friends out there on what to do to get into the sexy manly self that is hiding under that fat. -------- Where to begin: Right here, right now. Dieting starts with you to accept the fact that you want to do something about your current state. Whether it be muscle wise, cardiovascular wise, or weight wise. Dedication is the biggest thing you will be combating with. Be positive with yourself, you don't lose weight overnight, it takes months, in some cases even years. STICK WITH IT!! Starting off: You need to begin by changing what you eat every day. As hard as it may seem, your days of drinking 50 cans of soda a day while chomping down on endless bags of doritoes have come to a halt, its time to whip yourself into shape and start to become the sexy looker that you are. So its time to get rid of all that junk food out there. Your worst enemy: Soda. If you look at the health facts of soda there are enough calories within that 20 oz cola to equal one meal. I used to be able to down about 3 of those at once, so technically within an hour I just ate 3 meals. No more, toss em or give em to a friend. Diet Soda: Still a no go. It may have zero calories but its also considered another one of a dieters worst nightmare. (Pineapple says: The acid in soda isn't good for your bones and you're not breaking yourself of the sweet tooth habit. You're conditioning yourself to crave sweets all the time and it's going to make dieting harder.) Snacking: We've all gotten that crave at 12:00 in the morning, when we wake up from our slumber only to feel our stomach twisting and turning yearning for those sweet sweet calories. Snacking is, although not a very good idea, something that we can still live with, GRANTED that something proper is put into that field. Veggies or a nice piece of fruit is a nice snack, A snickers bar and a bag of doritoes, very very bad idea. Continuing down the list I'll go into detail about snacking. Exercise: At least 30 minutes of physical activity a day is essential to being in good health. Eating healthy along with exercise is a powerful combination against the evils of fatness. Exercises can vary from jogging, lifting weights to playing football with the local schoolyard chums. --------- Eating right Finding the right foods today in the market is tough, thankfully our good pal General351 has formed an amazing guide on what to do when choosing the correct type of foods, and what to expect in the every day life of food when dieting. I recommend working towards a workable diet that you can do consistently, it is recommended you eat a specified amount of calories, we find this by taking your weight Multiplied by 10. (so 220 lbs X 10=2,200 calories). make a spreadsheet, count your calories, make a meal plan that works and that you enjoy and stick to it. Perhaps, even keep a food log of what you do eat, find a non-food reward for keeping your diet and fitness goals on a weekly basis If appropriate, get your gf/friend to adopt the same diet (accountability++), and keep daily track of how much each of you weigh, post this on your fridge. Otherwise, just do this for yourself. - no cheat days (don't 'reward' yourself with unhealthy or oversize portions of food) - avoid going out to eat (come up with other social interactions that don't revolve around getting fatter) - no fast food, ever (choose subway if you must.. there's a way to eat kinda healthy at some of these places, but you're better off avoiding them) - make a point to ban certain foods, and simply don't buy those foods, it's incredibly easy to avoid temptation when you don't have junk foods in your house, over time you won't miss those foods - don't skip meals, ever - get in the habit of reading the nutrition labels of everything you buy, avoid partially hydrogenated fats' 'trans fatty acids' - also, lose the tortilla chips, there's better snacks for you 1-2 Gallons of Water a day (if you are not the water "type", do what I do and buy those Splenda sweetened waters. They are very good! For example, Dasani makes lemon flavored water. It tastes like juice practically) Protein Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast Tuna (water packed) Fish (salmon, seabass, halibut, sushi, mahi mahi, Orange roughi, tilapia, Sardines) Shrimp Extra Lean Ground Beef or Ground Round (92-96%) Venison Buffalo Ostrich Protein Powder (Whey, Casein, Soy, Egg) Egg whites Low or Non-Fat Cottage cheese, Ricotta Low fat or Non fat Yogurt Ribeye Steaks or Roast Top Round Steaks or Roast (stew meat, London broil, Stir fry) Top Sirloin (Sirloin Top Butt) Beef Tenderloin (filet mignon) Top Loin (NY Strip Steak) Flank Steak (Stir Fry, Fajitas) Eye of Round (Cube meat, Stew meat, Bottom Round) Ground Turkey, Turkey Breast slices or cutlets (*no deli or sandwich meats) Complex Carbs (nothing enriched, bleached or processed if possible) Oatmeal (Old fashioned, Quick oats, Irish steal cut) Sweet Potatoes, Yams Beans (Black eyed, Pinto, Red, Kidney, Black) Oat Bran Cereal, Grape nuts, Rye cereal, Multi grain hot cereal Farin (Cream of wheat) Whole Wheat frozen Bagels, Pitas Whole wheat or Spinach Pasta, Whey Pasta Rice (Brown, white, jasmin, basmiti, arborio, wild) Potatoes (red, white, baking) Fibrous Carbs Green Leafy lettuce (red, green, romaine) Broccoli Asparagus String Beans Spinach Bell Pepers (Green or Red) Brussels Sprouts Cauliflower Cabbage Celery Cucumber Carrots Eggplant Onions Pumpkin Garlic Tomatoes Zucchini Fruit (if acceptable on diet) Bananas Oranges Apples Grapefruit Peaches Strawberries Blueberries Raspberries Lemons Limes Healthy Fats Natural Style Peanut Butter Olive oil, Safflower oil Flaxseed oil Fish Oil Nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts) Dairy Egg whites Low of Non-Fat cottage cheese, Ricotta Low or non-fat milk Low fat or non-fat yogurt Condiments & Spices Crystal light Fat free mayonaise Reduced sodium Soy Sauce Reduced sodium Teriyaki Sauce balsamic Vinegar Salsa, Jalepenos Hot peppers and Hot sauce, Cayanne pepper Chili powder and Chili paste Mrs. Dash Steak Sauce Sugar free Maple Syrup Mustard Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc) Low sodium beef or chicken Broth Plain or reduced sodium tomato sauce or paste For calories in each food go to http://www.fitday.com ----- I think a big key to diet success is to not be hungry or allow yourself to be... granted this is going to be very difficult for you at first as your body's perception of hunger is based on what it has been used to eating, and if you're eating say less than 5000 calories or whatever you were doing before, you're going to feel hungry, despite the fact that your body doesn't need that many calories to function most sources advocate 5 to 6 meals a day, and eating basically every 2 hours... this sounds tough, but when you realize what serving sizes are and what actually makes a 'meal', it's pretty simple once you've figured out what you're eating for breakfast, lunch (always bring it to work) and dinner, you've got to figure out what to do for snacks (IE preventing you from getting hungry) having these snacks readily available (IE pre sliced if necessary) is great way to avoid temptation snacks I suggest: - celery (this stuff is almost calorie less, so it's filler and it's got lots a fiber, so you can fight the hunger pains without having to work it off later) - cucumbers - sliced green peppers - apple - can of green beans - salad (low fat dressing) - bowl of cereal (use calorie free, sugar free sweetener - aspartame) - carrots (these are hi-glycemic, so you might want to phase them out with time) - bananas (post workout, these are hi-glycemic also, so you might want to phase them out with time) - 97% fat free popcorn - fat free, low calorie rice cakes - can of freshwater tuna, with Tabasco or bbq sauce for flavoring ------------------ Exercising Stretching First things first, we gotta get those tired muscles up and ready for us to use to our will. AppleCider was kind enough of us to find some comprehensive stretching guides, thus I will post now http://www.bath.ac.uk/%7Emasrjb/Str...tching_toc.html [url]http://www.bath.ac.uk/%7Emasrjb/Stretch/stretching_5.html#SEC38[/url Running/athletics: Break out the running shoes, its time to get in shape. Physical exercise will be another key essential to fight your battle of weight loss, but again one of the hardest parts to be faithful to, and can sometimes cause a person to crash and burn out of control. So the first part of the picking process is to find out what our activity will be. Running: Make sure you have a good pair of running shoes, injuries can occur from bad shoes thus creating more problems. I recommend footlocket, because they should be able to find a very good comfortable and safe shoe for you to wear. The best way to begin a running program is to find a good place to run. If you live close to a track or a park consider this to be your second home, since you need to visit this place every other day. Here is where you need to begin to push yourself and go the extra distance. Start out by running until you feel uncomfortable or so tired that you can't go any further. Record that time and distance. Continue to meet or exceed that every day. Every week try and add on a lap or two, or a certain distance to push yourself even more. Eventually after continually adding on more distance, and a few months into it you'll be able to run the distance from day one 30 times over before you get tired Try to do certain routines during the week. Some days run a certain distance, other days begin to do laps at different paces. lap 1: 75% normal running pace lap 2: 125% normal running pace Lap 3: 80% Normal running pace Lap 4 140% Normal running pace. Doing this will help your body be able to run at faster paces, and help you boost your overal running experience. Rinse Repeat. Walking: Running may not be your best point, but walking is no different. Start by finding a nice place to walk, preferably on a track or around a park, start walking a certain distance or for a certain time. I know people who can go for literally miles upon miles before they get tired, so possibly set a time. Continue to add on to this trend just like the running Portion. Walking isn't as strenuous as running but it still is a great way to lose weight. Sports/endurance: Keeping the heart rate constantly at a higher rate than usual and using a lot of physical motion *aka hiking, biking, playing a sport* will make your fat basically slide off of you. Doing this for a few hours a day will make you feel like a new man, possibly sore but feeling the burn. If you live by any trails which lead up high into hilly terrain, or own a bike and know of a few hills around the area I suggest you take advantage of all these points, pushing your body harder than it has been used to going is an excellent way to lost weight, and is always fun also whenever you get to do things that you have never done before. Just be sure to know your limits, and if you feel like you can't continue, stop walk around and cool off. ALWAYS HAVE WATER ON HAND. Dehydration is one of the biggest problems with athletics, so always have a source of rehydration. just so you know, diet coke and regular coke dehydrate you, so no its not an excuse to bring a 2 liter along for the hike... -------- Weight Lifting: Weight lifting is in its own category. If you plan on becoming a slim slender guy you will need to start lifting weights also, because even though you lost a lot of weight, you will basically look like a 140 lb piece of scrawny meat, whilst lifting weights will tone your body, and help you be more healthy. Our great friend Junior G-Man Was kind enough to write for us an outstanding weight lifting thread, which we shall read right now: Any firm plan to get into shape and lose that fat should include hitting the weights, else you'll look like a big bag of skin coming out of the diet and you don't want that right? First off, I'm not going to detail a specific workout session/exercise since i believe that workouts/exercises should be tailored to suit different bodies/levels of activity. Try to find a friend who wants to lose weight as much as you do. Two people supporting each other (eg. if I don't go he/she will be there and think I'm a loser) can last longer and get a better workout than you can alone. Be careful though and ask yourself if he/she really wants to go the distance. The first choice you have to make is which gym? If you have the luxury of choice shop around for a bit and find one that isn't filled with pro bodybuilders and makes you feel comfortable. You're there to lose that fat, not to get looked at and ridiculed while you're doing it, because if you're in a gym where people stare at you, you'll drop out soon. You also HAVE to keep telling yourself that you're doing it for yourself, for your body and peace of mind, because if you're doing it for someone or something else (the spouse/significant other/because you want to get a date/to be strong enough to do X) you won't go the distance. Get used to the gym, it'll be your place of work for the rest of you LIFE. I'm not kidding here folks, when you get a job/go to college/etc. and stop going those pounds will come back and they'll be twice as hard to lose. When you start going to the gym, exercise at a normal pace and don't strain yourself right out of the gate. Get some advice from the attending personnel, because that's what they're there for. Get at least 8 min of cardio in before hitting the weights, as this jump starts the blood pressure and you need a heightened blood pressure before building up muscles. Try to get corresponding muscle groups in the same workout. For example, if you do a chest & stomach workout you'll often use you triceps as a secondary group in the workout, so get those too. A chest press (your basic gym-exercise) is a great way of training your triceps, but also your chest provided that the bar touches your chest with each press. During the week i divide my muscle workout into three groups: day1: Chest and triceps. day3: Stomach and shoulders. day5: Biceps and upper&lower back. I don't exercise my legs as you see, since i walk a lot and go running 2x a week. If you want to do your legs too, fit them in the day with the most time to go to the gym and work 'em. *note: you still need to exercise your leg muscles whether or not you run, its always a good idea to work them legs* I never do less than three different exercises for each muscle group, but try to do four. You should try to commit as many muscle areas in the group as possible; for the stomach you can do the sides, the lower and higher abs and one more exercise that picks up all the different groups into one exercise. When trying to build muscles i do the following repetition scheme: 1x12 reps at weight A (say 40 pounds) 1x10 reps at weight B (say 45 pounds) 1x8 reps at weight C (say 50 pounds) 1x10 at weight B (again, 45 pounds) For the first 12 reps you should feel your muscles but they shouldn't be heavily strained at all. The second set should strain you and the third should burn, leading to a finish with the last set. Try to build up a good balance between building muscle tissue and sustaining it. You could do 100 (5x20 repeats) forward crunches straining against 150 pounds to build tissue and do another 100 sit ups at rapid pace to make sure those muscles stay taut and don't sag off when you're not exercising. You can exercise your stomach almost every day anyway since the muscle is big enough to take a bit of punishment everyday, but limit the hard workouts to 2x a week. Try doing sit ups and crunches each morning and night before going to sleep, make it enough to feel it but not to burn. Note that I always take a days rest between exercising, this is to relax the muscles and give them a chance to grow since muscles don't develop during the workout but rather in the period after them. Too much repetitive work on one muscle group will just leave it sore. One of the best workouts in the gym is to do cardio for about 30 minutes and then running a good muscle building string and then get back onto the cardio trainer for another hour (hope you have this kind of time). Not only will you be very well trained but all of your muscles should be humming glorious tunes too . Before doing any of the fitness machines CHECK OUT HOW THEY WORK, seriously, you'll sprain or pull muscles very easily if you don't use the machines as they state they should. You have no idea how many idiots i see with no muscle tone or experience who try to use the machine as a Nintendo (eg. push and pull and something will happen) or worse, try to do it at a high-weight setting. Be even more careful with free weights since you don't get any guidance or get bent into a certain form by the machine before you start. When you consider doing free weights, ask for some help from someone who works there for some good exercises/tips. Which brings me to another bit of advice: Don't go into little ego-fests! By this I mean; use the weight you're comfortable with, never mind that the guy next to you is pulling it at twice that. The contest thing, very prominent in gyms everywhere, is a sure-fire way to seriously hurt yourself. A little competition is fine when you're going with a friend, but with a stranger it can be disastrous. Don't expect no miracle results though. I've been doing muscle building for about a year and a half now and I've only doubled or tripled my starting weights, and that's with a loyal 2 to 3 times a week 1 hour workout. In 4 weeks you can definitely get a good shape going on and the first muscle tone should become visible. If your starting weights are on the really low side (Don't worry, almost everything starts small) you might be able, with good help and not skipping a day, you might be able to double those starting weights in about 6 weeks to 2 months. I'm still fat though so i don't see my six pack, as it's covered in grease , but I DO know it's there since i got punched in the gut some time ago and i didn't even feel it. Same with lifting heavy stuff and just pain feeling good about myself. When you've gone to the gym for a long time you get a big boost in confidence too since you just know you can take on 75% of the people you see and crush them. This sounds stupid and action-hero like but that's how it works for me. You'll never need to be afraid again. Ask some expert advice too, just explain your situation and they can usually create a complete program for you, which is handy and probably what you need. Tell them you want to drop those pounds and build up some good muscles. Most of all, have some FUN when you're doing it. You're doing it for you, you also game/eat for your own comfort, so why not so at the gym too? -------------- Maintenance and Weightloss Calorie intake figure-outter: Ok try this, calculate your BMR: Men: BMR = 66+(13.7 X wt in kg)+(5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years) Women: BMR = 655+(9.6 X wt in kg)+(1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years) A better way of calculating your BMR IF You know your amount of lean body mass (body weight - fat mass = lean body mass): For both men and women it's 370+(21.6 X LBM in kg) After that, multiply it by your activity factor: Sedentary = 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job) Lightly active = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days a week) Moderately active = 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days week) Very active = 1.725 (Hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/week) Extremely active = 1.9 (hard daily exercise, sports and physical job or 2X day training, marathon, football camp, contest etc) Ok so that's your maintenance level. If you eat that much you'll not lose weight but you won't gain any either (In theory) Take that amount, and subtract about 20-25% from it, and that's your weight loss level. Thank Mistriss_Khary for the above. --------------------------- Putting this all together is another key essential part to weight loss. You need to eat right, exercise and stay focused. The biggest thing people have problems with is committing to it, and I may sound like a broken record but the reason that people get off diets is because that they can't commit to it, or they feel they can't do it. Never ever think that, anyone here on the forums has the same ability to lose weight as long as they stick with it.. Get a friend to join in with you: Show him a few things on these forums and get on a program together, even start a friendly rivalry to see who can hit their weight goal first. Make a chart: Each week weight yourself, continue to monitor your trend and see whether or not you are losing weight faster or slower. If you see that your weight loss is gradually getting slower, change the format of your diet a bit and fixate it so that it works out that you get back to losing weight at a normal rate I will go ahead and admit its tough to stick with a diet. I caught myself once beginning to eat a cookie, as I took the second bite I realized it wasn't worth it, that the taste would be there for at max an hour then I would feel depressed, I spit it out washed out my mouth and got a glass of water.. I felt so good about myself the rest of the diet that I feel its the only reason I am still on my diet as we speak. Just don't give up: Get everyone to encourage you, tell people you are on a diet. It feels pretty good after losing a lot of weight and people come up to you saying "drat you look really good" Or "wow you lost a lot of weight, looking slim there" Its definitely worth it, especially whenever you can run a mile without getting winded, I'm still trying to comprehend how good of a feel that is. -------------- Below is a bunch of links out there for you all to delve into. The link tracker said a lot of these were already posted but I take this for granted since I want this to be a full fledged pile of information, on one thread. Lots of these below are self made diets, muscle building, foods, calories, eating right, everything you need to know. These are also essential and helpful to losing weight The more you know. An INCREDIBLY USEFUL free site to track your daily food intake and exercise: http://www.fitday.com Another INCREDIBLY USEFUL free site to track daily food/exercise; psychicattack swears by it and begged me, weeping, on his knees to put it in the OP: http://www.calorie-count.com Food and nutrition Information center http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/ Nutrition.org http://www.nutrition.org/ About.org *on nutrition* http://nutrition.about.com/ INCREDIBLY GOOD Nutrition guides http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/fruitchart.htm http://www.nutritiondata.com/ Healthy food list! http://www.fit4free.org/healthy%20foods%20list.htm Very good homepage for healthy diet recipies, including a lot of Information on diets and what to eat on those diets http://www.applesforhealth.com/recipes1.html About.org *on exercising* http://exercise.about.com/ mens fitness, mens health on exercising nutrition and working out http://www.bullz-eye.com/channels/fitness.htm from couch to 5k, A good beginners running guide *thanks ClumsyThief* http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml ________________________________________________ LET THE SLIMMING BEGIN! WE WILL ALL GO FROM  to  WITH STRENGTH, COURAGE, AND DISCIPLINE!
zaia fucked around with this message at Jan 12, 2007 around 18:22 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 16:26 |
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| # ? Feb 09, 2010 20:28 |
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And here's my epic fatty saga: Two years ago, in my senior year of high school, I went on Weight Watchers for about three months. I lost 15 lbs, going from 190 to 175 in time for prom and graduation. Alas, my serious error was that I looked at it as a diet, not a permanent lifestyle alteration. I gained back 10 lbs by the time I started college. The Freshman 15 is not a severe enough word for my lardiness in the first two years of college. Dining halls are the devil. Unlimited soda, pizza, grilled cheese, pastries, ice cream... awful. My primary social activities often revolved around food as well: going out to dinner, going out for coffee, going out for ice cream, etc. And gaming didn't help: six-hour sessions of sitting on my rear end drinking Coke and eating pizza. I gained at least 25 pounds by the end of my sophomore year. When I got home from college this summer, I weighed in at 209.5 lbs. I freaked the gently caress out, determined that I'd never break 210, and immediately swore off junk food and sloth. Thanks to the above information, I got my fat rear end in gear and started eating right and exercising. I've lost 16 pounds in the last 2 months, and I'm learning to cook vegetables, chicken, and brown rice. My primary problem is that I hate cooking and am terrible at it, and consequently have been living off nutrition bars for much of the day, but I'm getting better. Start date: 5/15/06 Start weight: 209.5 Current weight: 193.5 Goal: 145 Is that a reasonable goal weight? I'm 5'8", but I have a lamentably sturdy build for a girl (megaton Aryan childbearing hips). I suppose the only way to know is to get there and see. Edit: May as well post my daily diet for critique. 8:30 am: Delicious omelette recipe found in v. 3.0, 150 calories. Banana, 125 calories. Seltzer water. 11:30 am: PowerBar Pria, 110 calories. 1:15 pm: Chicken caesar salad, easy on the dressing & cheese: 500 calories (big meal for the day) 3:45 pm: Half a Luna bar, 90 calories. 6:00 pm: Pria bar, 110 calories. 6:30 pm: Workout: 40 minutes ellipticals, weight training on triceps, legs, abs. 8:00 pm: 6 oz. salmon, 1 cup steamed green beans, 1/4 cup brown rice: 470 calories. 2 snackwells cookies, 110 calories. Total: 1573 calories. My BMR with the exercise, according to the formula in the OP, is 1665, so I think I'm doing alright. I've just begun upping my protein intake to account for at least 30% of my daily diet, so I'll see how that goes at weigh-in. zaia fucked around with this message at Jul 12, 2006 around 19:16 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 17:03 |
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zaia posted:And here's my epic fatty saga: Sounds kind of like me, except I never lost weight in high school. I definitely had the Freshman 25 or whatever. I'm 5'2" and looking to be around 145ish as well. I also have megaton childbearing hips as well as D cup boobs, so even though both will be slimming down as I lose weight, I'm still going to have wide hips, large boobs, and probably a little tummy pudge. I'm doing weight watchers right now, after losing about 17 lbs on my own over five months. Now in the past couple of weeks with WW, I've gone down another four pounds. Start date: January, 2006 Start weight: 191, size 18, 40D bra Current weight: 170, snug size 14, or loose 16, 36-38D bra Goal: 140-145, or somewhere around size 10/medium, keeping the 36D is fine by me  It's a loving slow process, and I wish I could see results faster, but hey, I'm making a lifestyle change from chips, soda, CHOCOLATE, and other junk to way more fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy products, whole grains, and exercise. I feel immensely healthier than I did a year ago, my mood is a lot better, and I enjoy being able to be comfortable wearing sexy/revealing outfits that make my boyfriend go crazy. (Note that he's always liked me in skimpy revealing outfits, but just recently I've actually come to be a lot more comfortable with my body)
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 17:27 |
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Awesome new forum!!!! I'm down to 294.5 from 331 two months ago. I've finally managed to get a good run on losing weight by simply making the decision that it is the most important thing I can do on any given day. Once you rearrange your priorities it gets a lot easier! I'm feeling good, I've now knocked five new holes about 3/4 of an inch apart in my belt, though the tightest hole is purely to keep my pants on when I'm doing something strenuous, it's still quite tight. I also had to buy smaller underwear!!! That was a nice thing, to be able to give up the massive 3XL underwear for the far sexier 2XL haha. I sure hate being a fatty but this is an incredible feeling, finally making some progress. I'm doing a ton of different things to lose weight, a lot of pretty innovative stuff that's working well for me as well. Let's just say I've got THC working for me rather than against me now haha. I'm in the best shape of any of my friends now, and they all weight at least 100lbs less than me. I'm constantly getting them out to go for walks, play frisbee, play on playgrounds, anything, and I'm running laps around their lazy asses! I'm eating ten times better than I have in my life, and probably at least five times better than your average person! I'm going to continue pushing this thing as hard as I can. I've got poo poo that I've gotta do in my life that I can't do being this fat, like hurling myself out of an airplane.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 17:38 |
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May I suggest http://www.calorie-count.com/ if it's not been mentioned before? It's free, they have an extensive food list and nice weight tracking system. I have been using Fitday.com and find this site to be a lot better because of the weight tracking, more foods built in to the list (by brand names, etc) and a better breakdown/rating of your eating habits. This is great for those of us who could run 15 miles a day and not lose a pound unless every calorie is being counted.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 17:48 |
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My story: From age 10 I gained 12 pounds a year like clockwork. The problem is I peaked out heigh-wise at 5'10" at age 14, so I got fat... 245 pounds fat just after college. I hide my weight well though, which was a blessing and a curse because it made life as a fatty not too bad. In early 2004 I started on a low-carb diet and found that I was able to shrink my stomach enormously. Things like eggs, cheese sticks and 10 calorie Jell-O cups became staples of my diet. I dropped 55 pounds by August. Then I put 15 back on over the fall and winter. Last year, another diet, plus a lot more exercise got me from 210 on 2/21 to 168 on 6/10. Aaaaaand after my sister's wedding in July I almost completely stopped exercising and balooned back to 210 by earlier this year.  So far this year I've gotten down to 184, with a goal somewhere between 155 and 165. Although my weight has stagnated in the last month due to occasional bouts of overeating and not quite enough exercise, I have managed to make progress in increasing the intensity of my cardio workout (elliptical machine) so I definitely should be able to reach my goal this year. I'm probably never going to be ripped because I'm lazy, but being in decent shape and 'not fat' is within my reach with less than an hour a day of exercise and smarter eating. Other things I've found to be important include: -Calcium. Less muscle cramping is huge when it comes to cardio. -Water. Get the most out of what you eat, reduce hunger, better for you. -Proper form. Doing exercises the right way can be just as important as doing them. Good posture, smooth movements and targeted motions mean less joint stress and more muscle conditioning. -Stretching. It hurts but it's a controlled hurt for a small amount of time and it aids the muscles in recovering, enabling more frequent workouts. -Fat can come back ridiculously fast. Don't stop stepping on the scales, don't stop exercising. -Accountability. Serious, sustained weight loss can involve major behavior modification, and it's incredibiy difficult to do that on your own. Find some mechanism to provide carrots or sticks (especially sticks) so that you don't wander off the path, or at least very far off the path. For instance I use a financial incentive wherein I lose money if I don't exercise a given amount in a month. This will go on indefinitely so I don't pork it up like last year.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 18:15 |
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Only 2 beefs I have with the OP: The cheat days aren't that bad of an idea, even though the prevailing wisdom is starting to turn against the idea that they're metabolically beneficial. Being able to eat something really like helps keep you with a diet, especially in the beginning. I am against cheat "days" in which you just binge on crap all day, that won't help anyone, but a single meal doesn't impede progress, really. It does help psychologically and (possibly) metabolically, though. I agree with the idea to not go overboard on some big macs or whatever, but going out to eat once a week with some friends and getting a steak or a burger isn't gonna hurt you so long as you stick to your guns the rest of the time. Once you get down to low teens of bodyfat percentage, the cheat meals probably impede progress more, but above that it's not really a big deal. So, from my experience, whether you agree or disagree, cheat meals aren't a bad idea. My second beef, which is far more minor, is that weighing yourself everyday is a horrible idea, you gotta do it once a week, or less frequently even. There's bound to be days where you have a random burst of water weight or something and a random gain of 1 or 2 pounds over he course of a day is bound to be discouraging to most folks. Not to mention scales have a tendency to be weird at times. So I'd recommend charting weightloss progress weekly. Anyway, I've been on the standard 5-6 meals a day high protein diet, with fasted cardio 6-7 days a week and weight training 4-5 days a week exercise plan.(My daily caloric intake's right around 2000) Over about 5 months, I've dropped 63 pounds. I was at 290, I'm aiming for 200 for now. My ideal weight's probably around 190-195 so I'm sure I'll go for that afterwards. I've had minimal muscle gains as well, but nothing spectacular. I'm cutting after all! Anyway, to anyone thinking about losing weight, I have this to say: It seems overwhelming now, but it simplifies quickly. The diet stuff will become second nature within a month or so, and the more overweight you are, the less you really have to worry about it initially. You shouldn't eat less food, just eat as much or more of the healthy foods. They can be surprisingly tasty! And exercise. I hated the prospect of getting off my fat rear end and exercising and it was pure hell the first couple of weeks. After that, it started getting really fun. Don't get discouraged! If I can do it, I know any of you goony goons can. Believe me, you'll love it before long. Just take the time to figure out how to do this the right way. By that I mean lose fat, not muscle. If you do this right, your metabolism will murder most of the crap you shove down your throat and you won;t be gaining it back unless you start loving up really bad. T-Bozz Factor fucked around with this message at Jul 12, 2006 around 18:48 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 18:45 |
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I never would have started this diet if it wasn't for the "inspiration" found in v3.0 Start: Memorial Day, 2006 - 233 Pounds Present: July 12, 2006 - 204 Pounds Goal: 40 pounds cumulative by college (August 21st), 160-170ish final weight whenever Food: Usually ranges from 800-1200 calories per day Cheerios (same calories as Special K) Lunch: Various - 2 hot dogs, healthy choice, white rice, etc. Dinner: Whatever is being served at my house Exercise: Initially, I ran 4-5 times a week (2-3 miles), but now I have an active job and sweat all day, and do not feel like running
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 18:46 |
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Ozz-Factor posted:
I guess I'll clarify on my current routine. "Fasted cardio" is 30-45 minutes of cardio done in the morning right after you wake up, before eating anything. This cardio should be fairly low intensity. In other words, keep your heart rate at a reasonable level. I can't remember the formula, but for someone of age 22, the heart rate should be somewhere between 129 and 149. The idea behind this is that you burn fat almost entirely on an empty stomach and with a low intensity heart rate. It's not been empirically proven to be true, but the results suggest that it is. It also gets your metabolism churning pretty hard for the upcoming day. Then after that, I leave the gym but come back 5 or 6 hours later(or later, depending on my schedule) to lift weights. Two workouts a day gives you that rear end kicking metabolic effect twice a day without any real sacrifice of energy. In fact it's probably better for you in terms of energy used. This is what's worked for me in terms of exercise. I also take a week off every 6th week. By this, I mean I don't go lift for a the whole week and I only do maybe 20 minutes of fasted cardio 2 or 3 times during that week. The idea with this is that it prevents your body from getting too used to the exercise. I can't prove that's the case, but it works for me. I'm trying to talk solely about exercise in this post, but post workout nutrition is important, so I'll touch on that briefly. Directly after I lift, I drink a shake of protein powder mixed with dextrose. The amount of each differs from person to person. It basically optimizes the amount of muscle you can gain and rebuild. It's more complicated than that, bt I'd probably just complicate everything by trying to explain it. One more thing: The low intensity cardio isn't the only way to do it. (Neither is any of my routine. Different things work for different people!) Check out the thread about High Interval Cardio if you're feeling really gung ho, though I definitely wouldn't reccomend it to a beginner. When it says high intensity, it really means it. I might attempt it myself pretty soon because low intensity cardio is such a loving drudgery! T-Bozz Factor fucked around with this message at Jul 12, 2006 around 19:09 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:04 |
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Wow! Version 4.0 already! We needed it though I guess. Anyhow, update: I left off in v.3.0 at a plateau of 228 pounds. I've had a few bad days and some backsliding, plus I managed to get in a car wreck since then that wouldn't let me do more than 10 minutes of running before my right shin was nearly killing me. I've got that fixed now. As of today, my current weight is 225 pounds! Down from 307 that makes a total loss of 82 pounds! How bad-rear end is THAT? I'm wearing Large sized shirts and semi-loose 38" jeans now. To put it in perspective, when I weighed 307 pounds, I was wearing a size XXL / XXXL shirt & size 44" jeans. I'll post pics later when I get some good ones for ya'll! My current issue is exercise equipment. I think it's time I finally buy a weight bench & tree for my workouts. Any ideas on what I should get? I don't want to spend a bajillion dollars, so lets keep it decently priced, ok?
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:19 |
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Hello there new WL Megathread. Here I go again: Began: Late June of 2005, 6'1", 312 Lbs Now: Mid July 2006, 6'2", 197 Lbs. Difference: 12.5 Months, lost 115 Lbs. Pictures (with new After picture, complete with ridiculous farmer's tan)   I have to say, going from a 2XL shirt to wearing Smalls and Mediums is a pretty great feeling, as is going from a 46-ish pant size down to a 32-33. For me, this was really as simple as eating healthier and exercising more. I don't count calories to any great extent, I just read the nutrition facts and determine whether the food is good for me. Had I counted calories, I may have done everything more efficiently, but I am perfectly happy with my success so far, and I didn't kill myself crunching numbers. Lastly, I just want to say congratulations to everyone who has chosen, and are pursuing, a healthier lifestyle. (P.S. Weight lifting is fun)
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:24 |
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I guess I finally need to do this. I used to be about 200lbs (6'3")in high school, and as the football center and thrower in track, I was underweight. After my sophomore year I stopped doing sports, but lifting was my life. I dropped to under 190. After high school, I got sloppy with lifting untill it totally phased out of my life. Now after 2 years of college, both of which spent in dorms with a buffet style caffeteria, I've gotten to be 225. My best friend is going to sign for the army in 3 months, so he can get into shape. Everytime I've called him he's had some excuse not to go, and I can't wait up for him anymore. I'm gunna start by increasing meal frequency, and lower meal size. I'm gunna run/walk on the treadmill as I go through any and all TV series I can get on DVD. I'd like to be in decent enough aerobic shape by the start of next semester, and pick up lifting there when gym membership is free.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:45 |
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massofnameless posted:Hello there new WL Megathread. Here I go again: massofnameless, you look incredible! I'm incredibly impressed! In the previous thread (linked in OP), you said you were 17, right? No way did I have this much willpower and motivation when I was in high school. The weight you've lost has been right along the healthy decline of 1-2.5 pounds per week, so there shouldn't be any risk of you gaining it all back, especially if you keep working out and eating right. What do you friends/family think? My parents are very proud and impressed that I've lost just 20 pounds! I can't imagine what it must be like to see people that previously knew you as a , now that you've gotten so much smaller.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:50 |
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Repost and edit: I started losing weight at about 205 pounds as a junior in highschool. I am now 5'5" and weigh 155 pounds. I feel that if I can just lose another 15-20 pounds (or replace said poundage with muscle instead of fat), my body will be right where I want it. To that end, I'd like to lose ten pounds by the time school starts again in September. New beginnings and all that. Problem is, I am completely stuck but I am willing to bust my rear end for the rest of the summer. But in my opinion I have made so many sacrifices dietwise that I don't know what else to do to get where I want to be. Since I have started doing at least 30 minutes of cardio every day, pretty faithfully, I know most of my plateauing is due to my largely unchanged diet. I don't drink soda, processed snack foods, fruit drinks, chips, or candy. I wouldn't say I overeat. Why on earth am I still overweight? If any of you could help me in my desperation, it'd be much appreciated. Right now I'm just going to cut out some more calories and restrict my dinners to lean meat and steamed vegetables or salad, but I'm afraid this won't have the desired effect in the amount of time I want. Also, this thread has been an invaluable resource in just making healthy lifestyle choices. I reference the food list often to make educated eating decisions, especially.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:51 |
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I'm goign to agree that the "no cheat days" thing is a load of crap. Cheating correctly can help reset your leptin levels. This isn't to say go nuts and eat big macs all day, but eating a little bit dirty might help out in the long run. I'm going to try to put together a basic nutrition faq as well. Hopefully sometime this afternoon. MasBrillante posted:Repost and edit: Could you post a typical day for you dietwise? That would really help us figure out if you're going wrong somewhere. Also, are you lifting weights? Have you tried taking a week off from lifting to get out of the plateau you're in? twovansnotone posted:What do you friends/family think? My parents are very proud and impressed that I've lost just 20 pounds! I can't imagine what it must be like to see people that previously knew you as a It's actually kind of weird. I'm not good at accepting praise though and I'm doing it more as my own thing than trying to impress people I haven't seen for a while. FinkieMcGee fucked around with this message at Jul 12, 2006 around 20:02 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 19:57 |
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MasBrillante posted:Problem is, I am completely stuck but I am willing to bust my rear end for the rest of the summer. But in my opinion I have made so many sacrifices dietwise that I don't know what else to do to get where I want to be. Since I have started doing at least 30 minutes of cardio every day, pretty faithfully, I know most of my plateauing is due to my largely unchanged diet. As some good folks here have said, try varying your exercise routine. I don't actually know anything about exercise plateaus, but popular opinion seems to be that your body can become accustomed to the same old exercise, thus causing a decline in effectiveness. More importantly, though, it's time to start counting calories OCD style. Track every single crumb you put in your mouth, be completely honest, and see what your total daily intake is. Calculate your BMR and try to eat about 75-80% of that. When I just "eat healthy" and don't carefully track it, I don't lose any weight, because it's surprising just how fast all that healthy food adds up.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 20:04 |
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Devyl posted:My current issue is exercise equipment. I think it's time I finally buy a weight bench & tree for my workouts. Any ideas on what I should get? I don't want to spend a bajillion dollars, so lets keep it decently priced, ok? Check Craigslist. People give poo poo away on there in order to clear room in their house. Alternatively, look at Sears or a sporting good store. You can get 300lbs of weight for 200 bucks max. You can get a decent bench as well. Costco (surprisingly) had an insane bench and it was situatied at a crazy angle so you could squat with it for like 250 bucks (this was sometime last year). Unfortunately it's sold out.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 20:10 |
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MasBrillante posted:Repost and edit: I got to a plateu myself, after losing about 17 pounds just going to the gym regularly and changing my eating patterns. If you get into a routine that has you doing the same thing every day for food and exercise, your body will get too used to it after a while and stop getting rid of weight as quickly. Try mixing up your workout. Have you been running? Try swimming. Were you walking a lot? Try playing soccer. Been playing basketball? Find a place to do capoiara or kickbozing. Same deal with food. If you've been eating a lot of the same fruits and vegetables, go to an exotic food store or farmer's market and pick up things that you rarely eat. Maybe squash, pomegranates, bok choy, etc. Also, cutting just 100-200 calories from your current daily diet or adding an activity that burns an extra 100-200 calories daily will help your weight loss improve. I suggest cutting out just one serving of carbs in your day to start with. Even whole grains can eventually break down to basic sugars, which become fat after a while. If you're eating too many starch calories, subtracting one serving per day can help give you the extra oomph. If you find yourself still having a lot of trouble with this, try going to Weight Watchers for a few weeks. It's been a very educating experience for me in the past couple of weeks. You don't even need to be a part of the program for very long to learn the ins and outs of (their style of) weight loss. Really, the number one thing to do right now is not get discouraged. You have to realize that you've lost a really significant amount of weight and have every right to be proud as gently caress about it.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 20:25 |
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psychicattack posted:May I suggest http://www.calorie-count.com/ if it's not been mentioned before? It's free, they have an extensive food list and nice weight tracking system. I have been using Fitday.com and find this site to be a lot better because of the weight tracking, more foods built in to the list (by brand names, etc) and a better breakdown/rating of your eating habits. This is great for those of us who could run 15 miles a day and not lose a pound unless every calorie is being counted. So I'm signing up for this site now and it's telling me my goal weight should be 158 and i'm 5'11 with a large frame. After my freshmen year I weighed 180 going into the year at 220, I lost the weight incredibly unhealthily, basicly I was belemic, ate one meal a day because I was poor and spent my money on booze at night and normally vomited from drinking. Ok well anyways when I was 180 I looked pretty thin, too thin I thought. So if this site wants me to drop down to 158, I'd look emmaciated.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 20:52 |
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I keep reading reluctant recommendations of subway for healthy food. Usually along the lines of, "I guess if you must go to fast food you could sometimes eat subway..." What is wrong with subway? How is it not very healthy?
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:12 |
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twovansnotone posted:massofnameless, you look incredible! I'm incredibly impressed! In the previous thread (linked in OP), you said you were 17, right? No way did I have this much willpower and motivation when I was in high school. The weight you've lost has been right along the healthy decline of 1-2.5 pounds per week, so there shouldn't be any risk of you gaining it all back, especially if you keep working out and eating right. 18 now, but when I started I had just turned 17. But yeah I'm not extremely worried about gaining it back, because I like being healthy/looking good more than I like lovely foods. And I agree with FinkieMcGee, it's something I did for myself, though it is funny to run into people who hadn't seen me for a while and be all "HOLY gently caress." My favorite reaction was someone who didn't know me until after I had lost a lot of weight, and he asked why I only drank water. I told him because I had lost 100+ lbs, etc., he said "You used to be fat?" So that was encouraging 
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:26 |
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Sturm posted:So I'm signing up for this site now and it's telling me my goal weight should be 158 and i'm 5'11 with a large frame. After my freshmen year I weighed 180 going into the year at 220, I lost the weight incredibly unhealthily, basicly I was belemic, ate one meal a day because I was poor and spent my money on booze at night and normally vomited from drinking. Ok well anyways when I was 180 I looked pretty thin, too thin I thought. So if this site wants me to drop down to 158, I'd look emmaciated. I'd wager that if you have a good diet and regular exercise, then you could get down to 170-180 and be fine. 158 is probably pushing it. Anecdote: my mother has lost weight twice. The first time, quite a while ago, she just cut portions and didn't boost activity. She lost a lot of weight but she looked sickly and still had a decent amount of fat. The second time she got down to about the same weight but ate a lot more protein and veggies, and she exercised more. She looks much better now despite being ten years older than she did the first time.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:27 |
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I was doing well for a while and then some poo poo started happening and then I moved into a house with 3 roommates for college and we pretty much just have lovely food all about. SOOOO. I'm going to try to do my best from now on. Hopefully things go well.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:27 |
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FinkieMcGee posted:Check Craigslist. People give poo poo away on there in order to clear room in their house. Thanks to you, I scored a free weight set today.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:37 |
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Take your weight and multiply it by 10 for calorie intake? That seems pretty outrageous. That's suggesting 2,500 calories for me. I'm stuck around 250 after coming down from probably just over 300 about 14 months ago. I hit a serious wall at about 270 or so and this one is even worse. The thing is, I didn't exercise during the school year, and now I play basketball for 2 hours or so, full court, 2-3 times a week. My calorie intake often times fails to hit 1,500 and rarely is over (this is usually do to 1 weekend night a week where I go out drinking...I'll concede those calories/carbs, THAT is not going away any time soon) that. What am I doing wrong??? I'm eating nearly insufferable things for dinner like a lean pocket and carrots (MMM, loving DELICIOUS), and maybe a bag of popcorn later at night (none of that uber butter poo poo, this is like 330 calories a bag or so). My breakfast consists of either a couple pieces of toast and margarine, or at times a biscuit and a few small (barely 50 cent piece size) sausage patties. Lunch is usually something like a little bag of popcorn from the carryout here at work or some fruitcups (strawberries and pineapple). I drink nothing with calories in it. It's either water or Lipton Green Tea Citrus DIET version. I'm really dumbfounded. Additionally, I've been doing situps, and without the gut I would probably have a 6 pack. I also do pushups, which don't help for fitting into shirts (abnormally large shoulders :/), but I constantly hear that muscle burns more calories than fat, so I figure it's a small price to pay to burn down some of the fat. Is this just a natural wall or am I doing something wrong? Tomorrow I'll keep track of exactly the calories I take in - I figure the fruit at lunch is either low calorie or negligible because of the vitamins, and I doubt I could find health facts on those. I am losing motivation. I'm right at about 252 or 253, and if I could start seeing 240s on the scales I know that would boost my morale a lot.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:39 |
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Getting serious exercise for hours at a time is nice, but if you can find a way to do some cardio such that you're getting your heartrate up 4-6 days a week it'll do plenty of good. Only getting serious exercise 2-3 days a week really isn't enough for big-time weight loss.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 21:55 |
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pretend to care posted:Take your weight and multiply it by 10 for calorie intake? That seems pretty outrageous. That's suggesting 2,500 calories for me. Eat more than 1500 calories, 2000 or so a day at least. Just reading that I can tell that your diet is what is screwing you. For example, I weigh a little under 175 at 5'9 now, and I eat like a horse compared to you. I lift 3 days a week and run 3 days a week. code:And if you think 2500 calories is outrageous you should examine how much you were eating before you decided to start losing weight. I'm sure it will look less outrageous in time. And liftign is good. You're big enough that doing those bodyweight exercises is difficult and can add some decent muscle. Throw some pullups into the equation so that you have something to work the back. FinkieMcGee fucked around with this message at Jul 12, 2006 around 22:08 |
| # ? Jul 12, 2006 22:06 |
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pretend to care posted:Take your weight and multiply it by 10 for calorie intake? That seems pretty outrageous. That's suggesting 2,500 calories for me. It may surprise you, but you're probably not eating enough. If your body doesn't get the calories it needs to do daily stuff, it goes into "starvation mode" where it stores as many calories as possible as fat (something like that) and doesn't burn nearly as much as you want. It will sometimes also start to break down the muscle tissue and burn it before burning the fat. Things to make sure of food wise: Make sure you are getting enough protien. --do you eat 4 to 6oz of meat/poultry/soy/fish per day? --Try to get at least two servings of low fat or fat free dairy products every day. Do eat whole grains other than popcorn. --a lot of Kashi cereals are made from "Seven Whole Grains and Sesame" (c) and taste very good with skim milk or soy milk. Also, remember that the BodyWeight x 10 is total to maintain weight. If you want to lose weight, you should then subtract 1/5 or 1/4 of that. So you should probably be getting between 1875 and 2000 kcal per day. I think adding those extra few hundred calories will let your body know that you're going to continue feeding it enough, and it will start to increase your metabolism (how quickly you burn energy). Like Ditch said, try to be getting exercise more than 2-3 times per week. On the days that you don't play basketball, do a low intensity activity, such as walking, swimming, fast housecleaning, gardening, etc. Low intensity activity keeps your heart rate up, but low enough to be in the "fat burning" zone. (The lower your heart rate, the more likely it is to burn fat. If it's really high, then it needs energy really quickly to keep working, so it will just "grab" energy from anywhere. If it's lower, your body has time to "think" about the energy, and go for fat cells before protien [muscle tissue] cells.)
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 22:16 |
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twovansnotone posted:Also, remember that the BodyWeight x 10 is total to maintain weight. If you want to lose weight, you should then subtract 1/5 or 1/4 of that. So you should probably be getting between 1875 and 2000 kcal per day. I think adding those extra few hundred calories will let your body know that you're going to continue feeding it enough, and it will start to increase your metabolism (how quickly you burn energy). Just one addendum. That x10 or whatever crazy BMR calculation... they are innaccurate. It's good to use as a baseline but you should be adding/subtracting calories based on your progress. It's good to see around how many calories you may need, but to find your maintenance calories it takes a little bit of physical experimentation.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 22:27 |
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FinkieMcGee posted:Just one addendum. That x10 or whatever crazy BMR calculation... they are innaccurate. It's good to use as a baseline but you should be adding/subtracting calories based on your progress. It's good to see around how many calories you may need, but to find your maintenance calories it takes a little bit of physical experimentation. oops... Totally spot on Finkie. I forgot to say that. it works alright for me I think. If I wanted to maintain my weight, 1700 calories sounds about right, though it doesn't take exercise into consideration.
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| # ? Jul 12, 2006 23:14 |
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Alrighty, after a friend went through this process a year or so ago -- I've decided I'm going to join the club. I've always been a big girl. I have a lot of weight packed onto a 5'4" frame. But as a three-sport athlete throughout high school I was able to maintain a consistant 180. Not lovely by any means, but it allowed me to hold my own on varisty teams. College hit, as did a nasty check from behind that messed up my back for a spell. Coupled with the college lifestyle, the poundage started to build up. Now touting a beautiful 210. And today I've determined I'm finally finished with it. So. Start date: July 2006 Weighing in at: 210 Goal: 140
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 00:07 |
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Any suggestions for a low calorie breakfast? I've taken to eating a bowl of cereal (before it was usually nothing at all) to get some more fiber in my diet and maintain my metabolism through the day. I'm starting to feel like it's adding too many calories to my diet though (around 500 I estimate), since I'm not even hungry in the morning I would rather save that for a few snacks or a bigger dinner at night.
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 00:56 |
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500 calories of cereal?! Either your "cereal" is made of milk chocolate or you're eating it from a full mixing bowl. Eggs are pretty solid for high-protein breakfast, though they really need help. Thankfully you can do a ton with eggs, between small bits of meat, cheese, veggies, seasonings, etc. Two eggs and a lil' bit of extra will run you 150-200 calories, sate any possible hunger and should get you through to lunch.
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 02:00 |
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FinkieMcGee posted:I'm goign to agree that the "no cheat days" thing is a load of crap. Cheating correctly can help reset your leptin levels. This isn't to say go nuts and eat big macs all day, but eating a little bit dirty might help out in the long run. I really don't know what I eat on a typical day. I would venture to say that if I get up for breakfast (4 days out of the week) I will either eat an english muffin or a bowl of oatmeal, possibly with a banana in. For lunch, it's ridiculous how often I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Ridiculous. Dinner is the wildcard. Dinner is whatever my mom cooks though I won the nutrition battle and now have practically a carte blanche to reject anything that seems particularly unhealthy. Common dinners pre food-battle included: fried pork chops, spaghetti w/ground beef, steak, baked boneless skinless chicken breast, and fried chicken breast w/bones. Major side dishes (we usually stick with one. Second side dish is always a steamed or canned vegetable, so a list is irrelevant): mashed potatos (homemade), yellow rice, white rice with gravy, baked potatoes, and gosh, I'm drawing blank. Post epic battle!: Steak and chicken pretty exclusively for me. Sometimes when I'm closing at work, Mom cooks other things but I usually end up with a turkey sandwich from subway in worst case scenario, or chicken salad. Chicken is always baked. Still digging the mashed potatoes but my vegetable repetoire has increased tenfold, almost entirely steamed. Nix on the yellow rice, reduction on the white rice, salad (romaine), black bleans, and another mental blank. Today's food consumption: 1.5 cups Special K Redberries cereal .5 cup milk (I don't like milk) 1Tbsp Peter Pan peanut butter 1Tbsp Polaner Sugar-Free Strawberry Preserves 2 slices 100% Nature's Own wheat bread 3/4 cup cooked long-grain white rice 3/4-1 cup black beans (canned) 1 small thin cut chicken breast 1 black plum (highlight of my day) .5 cup ice cream. I work at an ice cream shop and I was starving. I couldn't help it. Calories rang in today at 1098. I think that's lower than typical. Yesterday was 1262. This is the beginning of my diet. I posted though because I'm afraid this 1200 calorie business might be counterproductive and I wanted to get some feedback before I dug myself a hole. Exercise today was 25 minute treadmill run in intervals followed by about 15 min very light weight training. twovansnotone Looking into trying swimming. Barrier = can't actually swim. Will running in intervals get me over my plateau for now? MasBrillante fucked around with this message at Jul 13, 2006 around 04:09 |
| # ? Jul 13, 2006 04:07 |
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MasBrillante posted:twovansnotone Looking into trying swimming. Barrier = can't actually swim. Will running in intervals get me over my plateau for now? I would say introducing anything new in your routine is good. But don't forget that you should start off slowly with anything new. The first day you go running, plan a short route, or go to a local track or small pond with a path around it. Make sure you stretch, of course, and just try to run for 10-20 minutes.* If that doesn't tire you out, then by all means, keep going. But if you feel tired after just 10 minutes of running/jogging, don't push yourself. If you're already active with intense activity, you'll be able to increase your running time/distance over a shorter time than if you were starting from nothing. Also, please listen to your body. If you're tired, cramped, whatever, that's okay, slow down or finish for the day. Achy muscles is a good sign (to a point) because it means you're using muscle groups that you haven't been using before. I wouln't try to run every day, because you should rest your muscles. Say you usually play basketball on Tuesdays and Fridays, and sometimes Saturday, start by running a shortish distance on Wednesdays and Sundays, so your muscles have a chance to relax between running and bball. As for swimming, I'll admit that I've never actually taken swim lessons in my life, which apparently my mom couldn't believe when I talked to her about it recently. My boyfriend used to be a lifeguard, and if I can get his butt in gear, he said he'll teach me some swimming techniques. If you don't have any friends around that are good swimmers, don't be afraid to find a local YMCA or Boys and Girls club and see if they offer adult swim lessons. I plan on taking lessons if my boyfriend can't find the time to help me. *10 to 20 minutes of running would probably be 2 to 3 miles, figuring 7 to 10 minutes per mile. This all depends on your cardiovascular and muscular fitness, of course. Hope this was helpful... Good luck!! edit- take a look at these threads, they may be helpful resources. Your Running Workout The Running Thread It's summer and I want to get back into swimming twovansnotone fucked around with this message at Jul 13, 2006 around 05:18 |
| # ? Jul 13, 2006 05:05 |
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kron.lyr posted:... I started at 210, also (5'6'') I'm down to 157. I started last March, and I've dropped 4 sizes (18 down to 12).Stick with it and don't get discouraged, because you really just need the will to do it. I wish you the best luck!
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 05:38 |
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I did 40 minutes on the elliptical last night, and I noticed that I was working a lot harder with a lot less effort. Maintained a steady 165ish heart rate for 30 minutes without feeling like I was going to die. For the very first time in my life, I feel something akin to fit. I look forward to working out, and I feel kickass. It's swell.  It's things like that that make it seem worth all the work.
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 15:40 |
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MasBrillante posted:Today's food consumption: A couple of things that might help you out. 1. Try to spread more protein out during the day. It all seems loaded at the end of your day. If you add it on to whatever you're eating now it won't hurt. You're eating very little as is. Something like 2 eggs at breakfast and eating a chicken sandwich instead of the pb+j. 2.White rice is the devil. 3.Change the weight training from something light to something more focused. 4. Have you done any extensive cardio at a steady heartrate for 45ish minutes, or have you been trying out interval training the whole time? If not, try switching over to the 45 minute lower intensity workout. I also feel that if you're going 25 minutes and doing interval training, you're not pushing hard enough. Go harder, but decrease the time to like 15-20 minutes. 5. If you try to do more intense weightlifting, do it before you run so you can dedicate your energy to it.
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 17:47 |
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Something that's incredibly important is to keep in mind that your weight loss WILL PLATEAU if you don't keep pushing yourself exercise-wise. A lot of people will push themselves to get into shape through running or whatever, and that's great, but then they'll be doing the same 30-40 minutes of cardio every day and wondering why the pounds don't fall off. You always need to keep ramping up the difficulty, always! Ways to do this: - increase distance: have a goal distance (make it about a mile more than your max now, and attain it in increments) - increase intensity: have a goal time (say, 7 minutes for your mile) and work for that, also do sprint cardio - increase the incline on the treadmill - increase weight carried - if you're really hardcore, run with a backpack full of weights! Remember, your goal is not to get to a point where you can run x miles or for x minutes comfortably, your goal is to keep pushing yourself so that you're exhausted at the end of every workout. Unless you bust your rear end you'll never really lose the weight you want to, and be in great shape. Another thing, I recently hurt my hip because I was running so much, and so to give it some recovery I've taken up swimming. I recommend this guide because it has the goal aspect (swimming a mile). Also, it's summer and swimming is a great way to enjoy the sun while giving both your muscles and cardiovascular system a workout, and with no joint stress. One more thing - this is diet-related. A lot of people are posting their diets/calorie intake and that's great, but I did that for a while and didn't really see any great results. I had MUCH more effective results when I stopped caring about calorie/macronutrient ratios and just started eating a lot of whole, natural food. Basically, I maxed out on veggies, fruit and lean meats. Calorie-counting may work for some people but I found that by basically just eating "good" food I can ignore portion sizes and calories and just go by how I feel, and see much better results. This was the article that got me started on this and I highly, highly recommend the whole series because Berardi is just fantastic. extra innings lovin fucked around with this message at Jul 13, 2006 around 18:59 |
| # ? Jul 13, 2006 18:49 |
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PolPotPie posted:One more thing - this is diet-related. A lot of people are posting their diets/calorie intake and that's great, but I did that for a while and didn't really see any great results. I had MUCH more effective results when I stopped caring about calorie/macronutrient ratios and just started eating a lot of whole, natural food. Basically, I maxed out on veggies, fruit and lean meats. Calorie-counting may work for some people but I found that by basically just eating "good" food I can ignore portion sizes and calories and just go by how I feel, and see much better results. This was the article that got me started on this and I highly, highly recommend the whole series because Berardi is just fantastic. You basically just stated exactly what the Weight Watchers Core plan is. Eat as much as you want of certain very healthy foods, and keep exercising. I really like to mix it up, and I don't always get to shop for produce before I run out, so it's easier for me to keep track of what I eat in the day. ps- I love your name!
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| # ? Jul 13, 2006 19:04 |
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