Losing 10 lbs--advice and encouragment needed

[fuffle]

Spring is sprung. I'm switching out my clothes for the change in weather and have come to the unpleasant conclusion that the Winter Fat Fairy has paid me a visit to the tune of about 10 pounds. So those of you with success stories: how should I go about shedding the weight?

Pros:
-I'm in generally good health, except for the chub.
-My eating habits are pretty good (almost no fast food, lots of fruits/veggies, low meat consumption, though I do love me some cheese).
-I've already cut my soda pop intake to 3x per week, max.
-I think my timeline is realistic: in six months I want to be at my ideal weight.
-I've never been a dieter--I feel it's better to eat your fill of good, healthful food than to starve yourself or count calories.


Cons:
-My job is sedentary. No hope for change there.
-I really, REALLY hate exercise. I hate getting up early, since I don't sleep well anyway. I also resent giving up precious evenings to do something boring, painful, and sweaty.
-I don't care for sports and don't have the time to commit to a team anyway. I like hiking, but it's hard to get away on the weekends.
-I've tried to build good fitness habits before, but they always fall apart. And I start small: "I'll wake up 5 min early every day and do some stretches for a month before adding on." I lasted three days.
-I've asked my PCP what to do, and she just says, "walk around!" Walking around is boring, especially given that I'm smack in the middle of a city. "Hey, there's that same one tree within this one-mile radius! Woo!"
-I can't get my girlfriends on board with me. Because I'm a naturally slender person and dress to hide the extra weight, they think I'm just being vain or "anorexic." "Oh, you don't need to lose weight, you're a stick anyway!" But I know my body better than they do and I know I need to trim down, or at least tone up.

So how does a person who is anti-physical activity (and let's face it, pretty lazy) learn to enjoy exercise, keep up the habit, and drop the pounds safely and permanently?

[Beadalin]

Wow, you sound exactly like me.

One thing that helps me (when I remember to do it) is to wear a pedometer. They're cheap and it's amazing how much it motivates me to walk more. You attach it to your waistband and it counts how mant steps you take each day. Your goal should be 10,000 steps each day. You're pretty much guaranteed to get in better shape if you hit that mark. It took me a bit to get up to that many, but again, it really helped to have that little doodad count steps for me.

[3waygeek]

I've lost about 20 pounds since Xmas, just by cutting my portions. Also, I eat a light lunch now, as opposed to skipping it in favor of a bigger dinner. I haven't done the exercise thing yet, as I apparently have a blockage in one of my coronary arteries, and the cardiologist has suggested I don't exert myself too strenously until it's resolved (which should be soon as I have a catheterization scheduled for Friday).

Walking a bit is good exercise -- years ago when I worked in downtown LA, I'd walk for much of my lunch hour. In later years, I'd walk through the neighborhoods around my apartment in the Valley. Nowadays, I live and work in the suburbs of Atlanta, where there are no sidewalks, so walking's a bit more difficult.

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

You don't mention your usual means of transportation - car, bus, subway? Think about biking to work or walking to work. If you walk, you can use an iPod/mp3 player, discman, whatever, as a reward for the effort. Even if walking all the way is an impossibility, parking further from work might do the stunt. Biking is great, but I wouldn't recommend the listening device - there's too much going on that needs your attention.

It sounds like your diet is pretty much under control, it's just a question of coming up with some way to increase your physical activity that's interesting enough and gentle enough to be sustainable. You mention hiking, but what I think you're after is something you can do often for short periods of time. Long periods of exercise once a week aren't as effective, in my experience. Is swimming, canoing or rowing a possibility in your neck of the woods? The trick is to find something that isn't 'boring, painful and sweaty' - leave that stuff to the masochists.

Good luck with it.

[scout1222]

Agreed with the last poster - fun types of activity. Do you like dancing? Rollerskating/blading? Ice skating?

[Hampshire]

Portion control has been a big help for me.
My eyes were always bigger than my stomach and even when I was full I kept on eating just to finish the portion.
Now I find I don't need the 12" sub, 6" is fine.
Half portions of pastas are fine.
If I have soda the small will do.
When splitting a pizza with my wife a small works good.
One scoop of ice cream rather than two.
The 1/4 pound burger is fine. Skip the 1/3 or 1/2 pounders.
A few fries won't kill me, a basket of them will.

I used to think doing this I would always be hungry. But after a few days your stomach shrinks down and you're not as hungry as you thought you were.

[Trunk]

We're not even in the same universe if you're that stingy on the exercise front.

Anyway, in another thread the other day, someone posted a link to this excellent fitness page, which contains lots of tips for beginners, especially tips in how to get going and try to enjoy it.

http://www.exrx.net/index.html

[SaharaTea]

I've given up soda completely--not even diet because I can't stand the taste of it. I drink water or low-fat milk with everything and I don't even miss soda now. I don't know how much you love soda, but if you can cut down to once a week or wean yourself off completely, the benefits are enormous.

[KSO]

If you can get yourself to start exercising, you'll probably sleep better. I think it's important to start with small manageable goals. So if you don't want to get up five minutes early, take five minutes at night to do some stretching. Or just take a walk around the block. Anything is better than nothing.

[Wee Bairn]

I was once advised that I could lose ten pounds of ugly fat by cutting off my head

[Kayeby]

Several years ago I used maybe 4 months of a 15 month gym membership. My eating habits are fairly good, but like you I'm fairly sedentary - I found that eating okay meant that I looked okay, but I wanted a more toned look, so I joined the gym again.

I started again this year and have been going 3x a week on average and 6x the past couple of weeks. I found the biggest difference is having a gym buddy - someone who will motivate me to go even when I'm feeling blah, and someone I can socialise with before and after so it feels more like fun than work. But the workout itself? Ugh. Thank God for my iPod - I have a playlist of just power tracks to motivate me during my boring 30 minute run.

As you can tell, I'm not one of those people who loves going to the gym. I find sports boring too, but the gym has the advantage of allowing me to make my own schedule. I don't enjoy exercise, but I enjoy what it does for my body.

What I do enjoy are the gym classes. There are step classes, yoga and pilates classes, crazy aerobic classes, dance aerobic classes, weights classes, etc. My gym buddy and I agree that the instructor and other participants make us to push a little further than we normally would, and it's a good way to mix up your regular workout. There's a stigma to classes cos they look like lame 80s aerobics and have mainly female participants, but they're great if you have trouble self-motivating.

[Valgard]

There's a regular monthly weight loss thread but with search disabled and forums currently going back all of one page I couldn't find this months...

My background - fairly active 37 year old male, I've lost approximately 40lbs and kept it off for over a year and seen a variety of benefits. I did it via Weight Watchers and just getting more exercise.

My personal feeling is that there is simply no magic to weight loss. Every single person knows what they need to do and it's the same basic advice that any doctor will give you - eat a healthier diet, eat less overall and increase your activity level. The devil is of course in the details.

IANAD and you should of course talk to yours before making any big lifestyle changes but here's my two cents:

Healthier eating - lots of fruits and veggies (the less-processed the better), whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat pasta and couscous, etc), lean proteins (chicken, fish, veggie proteins, lean beef), low-fat dairy, "good" fats. I really got rid of stuff like soda, chips, cookies and so on - it's packed with calories and crap and personally I can eat a whole bucket of cookies if they are sitting around.

Sensible portions - portion control is tough, it took me a couple of weeks of paying attention to get into the groove. I'm not oversimplifying too much when I say that I don't let myself feel starving and I don't let myself feel stuffed.

Exercise - Walking is great however the real key is to find something that you enjoy doing that just happens to be exercise as well. Don't worry about getting in an hour a day of vigorous weightlifting, that will seem like too much and just lead to failure. Take a walk at lunch. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Do some gardening. Take the dog to the park. Go dancing. Take a yoga class. Don't get bored, do different things. I like to walk and run and I found that getting an MP3 player made a huge difference.

Don't necessarily focus on "losing weight" - you are making long-term changes to your overall lifestyle that will improve your HEALTH. Make sure your friends know that and see if maybe that gets them interested in joining you - if they don't think it's about dropping to size 0 but it's about feeling more energized and healthy that's more fun.

It's a lot of little things and you just keep doing them - don't miss a chance to be a little healthier; walk to the corner store instead of driving this time, have an apple instead of a cookie.

To throw a little math into things, a pound of body fat stores about 3500 calories, so if your weight is stable right now given your activity level and your eating habits, you'd need to generate a 3500 calorie deficit to burn off a pound, through a combination of diet and exercise. 500 calories per day would account for a pound a week (1-2lbs per week is the general recommendation for a safe & sustainable rate).

Not that hard - if you drink a can of soda and have a bag of chips or a candy bar each day as a snack, you can switch to something like sparkling water (or diet soda, personally I can't stand the stuff but to each their own) and some fresh fruit or veggies (low caloric density - lots of bulk for a small amount of calories and you get the extra fiber and so forth) and probably cut 300+ calories per day right there. Walking a mile at any pace burns about 100 calories so take a short walk at lunch and do some other light physical activity and you'll come up with another 200 calories per day. Bingo, that puts you on track for a pound a week by making some very small changes to your life.

Remember that it's all about the long term. You didn't put 10 lbs on in a week so it's not coming off in a week - think a few months.

[fuffle]

I appreciate all the helpful advice so far. To answer some of the questions:

I do drive to work although I'm close enough that I could bike. My problem is that my commute is right through the center of a very bike-unfriendly city. I think I would be taking my life in my hands. I also live in the desert, where it can get to be 100 °C in the summer, easily. Pee-yew.

I like the idea of a pedometer, since that takes the focus off of the time spent walking ("Ugh...I still have 10 minutes left to go on my walk") and puts it on hitting the number. That seems more...well, not fun exactly, but at least quantifiable.

Valgard, you make a good point that showing my girlfriends that I'm more health-oriented than weight-oriented might help. But until then I'm stuck with "Why do you need to exercise? You're not fat." Which is extremely demotivating. My SO pays lip service to wanting to exercise, but he's even less motivated than me.

Trunk, that's a nice link. And I know there's already plenty of helpful info here on the boards somewhere, but I can't find any of it at the moment. (*ahem*) Thanks for posting that again. I understand the advice to keep it light, keep it fun...but honestly, no activities seem fun to me. I was never an athletic kid and I never learned to enjoy any physical activities. (Except one...) I know that's my major weakness, but I'm at a loss as to how to change that.

So since I think I've done all the easy stuff (no junky snacks, good diet, decent portions), it really boils down to this: how do I learn to enjoy exercise? I really just don't like even any of the "alternate" activities: pilates, dancing, swimming, whatever...it just isn't fun to me. None of these things get me interested or excited.

My problem is that I can't shake the feeling when I'm exercising that I'm doing something pointless and routine, and I already have plenty of that in my life. And yet I know millions of people are active and enjoy it...how do I become one of those people?

[Alpine]

I put audiobooks on my mp3 player, and that's a good distraction for me. If I pick a good book, I will look forward to listening to it, and that's just the little push I need for motivation. Whenever Harry Potter books were released, I would go for 3 hour hikes just to keep listening!

I find it's easier to keep it up once you've got some momentum, too. I'm trying for 6 days a week (of *something*), and that's actually less of a burden than 3x. I've really had to push myself past all the reasonable excuses and just do it.

I'm also trying to lose 10lbs. I eat well and exercise a lot. It's just not coming off... I know, how encouraging. YMMV, hopefully.

[CairoCarol]

Seven years ago I lost 10 pounds of post-baby flab by following what is sometimes called the Hellerman diet. (The name of the book is "The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet," but it is simply terrible -- written for people who think Good Housekeeping magazine is literature. Authors are Rachel and Richard Hellerman.) My husband lost 45 pounds. Both of us have mostly kept the weight off. It works.

And it is simple: two meals a day eat low-carb (perhaps an omelet with lots of veggies for breakfast; a chicken caesar salad without croutons for lunch) and for dinner, eat what you want as long as you consume it within a one-hour period and don't have more than 1/3 of your meal from carbs. That last instruction is a little mysterious - 1/3 what? Calories? Volume? Weight? and one reason why I don't recommend the book per se. However, the book will answer most of your questions about things like timing, snacking, etc. so I suppose you should read it if you decide to give the diet a try. But don't come after me when your soul shrivels and dies from the terrible writing.

One nice thing about the diet is that it is very adaptable to whatever health rules you care to follow. A health freak could have an egg-white frittata with zucchini and broccoli cooked salt-free in a small amount of olive oil for breakfast, a lunch of grilled tofu and a huge pile of lemon-flavored string beans, and dinner of whole grain bread, turkey, and salad. A junk-food junkie could have bacon and scrambled eggs for breakfast, a hamburger with melted cheese for lunch, and KFC chicken, a giant pile of cole slaw and a candy bar for dinner. Both would be following the diet and both would probably lose weight. (The authors tend toward preferring fairly natural, unprocessed foods themselves and have a decent cookbook that I actually do recommend.)

This diet has worked for everyone I know who genuinely followed it (and it isn't that hard to follow; it actually gets easier as you get into the swing of it). But of course, YMMV.

[gonzomax]

Adkins will wipe 10 lbs off in no time.
Buy a dog. He will insist on walking every day once he gets the rhythm.

[Idlewild]

Exercise is important for more than staying trim. It's also important for stuff like bone density in later life, and it has psychological health benfits. And there's a whole slew of studies about how not being sedentary will protect your overall health and ability to stay active down the line. Diet is important, of course, but getting active is really a good thing for all of your life, not just the ten pounds. Tell your girlfriends that! A bone density scan and a family history of osteoporosis sure got ME off my butt.

I speak as a couch sloth who has a lot more than ten pounds to lose and doesn't generally LIKE exercise. I've been making an effort though, and after several years of trying lots of different options, have found a couple of forms of exercise (walking with a pedometer, training for a long distance walk, and taking up a physically demanding self-defense course) that I can not only tolerate but look forward to. Keep looking until you find the activity that fits for you! It's worth it.

[Audrey Levins]

I lost--at a guess--between 35/40 pounds in the past year and a half.

I am a girl, five feet ten inches tall, and as a kid/teenager I never had weight problems. If anything I was "the skinny kid." (Vs. my brother, who wore "Husky" jeans and hated it. He has always had more problems with his weight that I have.)

But nonetheless I went from the skinny college freshman to the overweight twenty-something. It took about eight years for me to put on the weight, but it happened...a few pounds a year...plus a few years....it added up. To a size and a weight that I hated.

I am now 29 years old and I weigh about ten pounds more than I did as a freshman. I went from a size 16-18 to a size 10-12. Because of my height, people tend to think that I weigh less than I do; I've worked on my feet since I was seventeen and I have the muscle mass to prove it.

I gained the weight during an eight-year relationship that went south; I really do believe that when you don't like yourself, or where you're at in your life, you tend to gain weight. You eat because it's a simple easy way to make yourself happy. At least for a little while.

When I broke up with the guy, I lost the weight almost effortlessly. Eating what I wanted, when I wanted it. My only rule--and this is key--is that I never, ever ate after midnight.

I bartend for a living. I go to bed between five and eight in the morning, depending on my shift. To relate this to people with a "normal" job, I don't eat within five/six hours of my bedtime. If you go to bed at eleven, don't eat after five or six. Eat whatever you want--your biggest meal--as your first meal. And as the day grows longer, eat less and less. You're not denying yourself; you're just eating what you want to eat at a better time. If you want to eat donuts/ice cream/steak/loaded baked potatoes/whatever it is you love and crave, eat it. Just eat it first thing. You have the rest of the day to burn it off.

This advice may not work for somebody with a serious weight problem, but for somebody who's gained that extra ten/twenty pounds, it makes sense. You have a decent metabolism and you have good basic nutrition. You just need to realize what you're eating and when you eat it. If you're craving something later in the day, promise yourself that you will eat it first thing tomorrow. If you want to indulge, do it early. Cut back later in the day.

I work on my feet but I don't exercise, per se. And it works for me. It can't hurt to try.

[romansperson]

Originally Posted by fuffle

I really just don't like even any of the "alternate" activities: pilates, dancing, swimming, whatever...it just isn't fun to me. None of these things get me interested or excited.

My problem is that I can't shake the feeling when I'm exercising that I'm doing something pointless and routine, and I already have plenty of that in my life. And yet I know millions of people are active and enjoy it...how do I become one of those people?

If you are like me, you find exercise boring because what you are doing doesn't engage your mind. Just walking around mindlessly by yourself IS boring. So try doing something that also allows you to engage your brain in a way you enjoy.

The audiobooks suggestion mentioned earlier is a good one. If you've got an hour for lunch, use half of it to walk around listening to your book.

You could also try joining a gym and trying the treadmill - most gyms have a television you can watch while you are walking, and some treadmills even have a place for a book, so you can read while walking - there's a gym near me that has this style of treadmill for people who are walkers rather than joggers/runners. That way you can still do something you'd probably do anyway, but you are moving instead of sitting on your butt while you are doing it.

Do you like videogames? Get a Wii and do the interactive games - again, you would be doing something you would normally do, but you are moving while doing it. Just make sure you have plenty of room around you while playing!

As already mentioned, you will find that if you get enough exercise during the day, you will sleep better at night, so just keep that in mind as a side benefit. It may help you keep going if you lose motivation.

[yellowval]

Originally Posted by fuffle

My problem is that I can't shake the feeling when I'm exercising that I'm doing something pointless and routine, and I already have plenty of that in my life. And yet I know millions of people are active and enjoy it...how do I become one of those people?

I think a big part of it is making exercise a habit. It's hard at first, but once you get used to it, going to the gym becomes something you just do—no different from the other normal stuff you do every day like taking a shower, going to work, and making dinner. (I know you said you wanted to get away from the routine, but IMO that's what exercise has to become in order to stick with it.) That's how it worked for me. I didn't really like working out at all, but did it because I felt I had to. When we joined the local gym at the start of February I made myself go at least three times a week because if I do, my insurance will pay the majority of the bill. Going to the gym quickly became something I just did, not because I had to, but because that's what I do after work. Now I actually look forward to it, and don't want to miss a day. These days I'm going to the gym 6-7 days a week. I've lost five pounds since the beginning of February.

I will say that I don't know if I could do it without my iPod. Also, it helps to add a little variety. I switch it up so I'm not doing the exact same thing every day. For example, I do the elliptical and strength training three times a week, stationary bike two times a week, and combination elliptical and stationary bike twice a week. I also like to get outside when I can. I love to ride my bike and go for long walks with the dog.

[tagos]

Originally Posted by fuffle

I appreciate all the helpful advice so far. To answer some of the questions:

I do drive to work although I'm close enough that I could bike. My problem is that my commute is right through the center of a very bike-unfriendly city.

Hi - I lost about 50 pounds in 12 months and I put this substantially down to walking to work and back, seven miles or so round trip burning off 400-500 calories. That's over a days worth of food. Obviously I dieted as well but 10 pounds - you could walk that off without substantially changing your diet.

Agreed though - the summer heat may be a problem but dealable with and listening to music or a talking book turns it into entertainment rather than a struggle.

[MadTheSwine]

I have lost 12 pounds since March 1st.

Extremely low fat diet, less than 10 grams a day but usually keep it under 5 grams.

I drink a gallon of water every day and walk at least 3 miles a day but usually 5 or 6.

Works really good fer me. Started at 250 trying to get down to 220.

[robardin]

On the plus side (ha), you only want to lose 10 pounds and consider that your "ideal weight", and also mention that you gained this 10 pounds over the winter, which implies that you were at this ideal weight not long ago. It's much easier to get back into the kind of shape you used to be in than it is to get into "the best shape of one's life", and the more recently you were in that shape, the easier.

Your six-month timeline, generally good eating habits and relatively modest fat loss goal are also good indicators for your success. (Though I would say "low meat consumption" is not necessarily a plus, unless you mean "compared to the average American who eats 1 lb. of red meat or more a day").

Your best long term solution is to change your mindset regarding one of these statements of yours from the OP:

I've never been a dieter -- I feel it's better to eat your fill of good, healthful food than to starve yourself or count calories.

Yes, yes, yes, and no! You are right that you should not starve yourself. You are also right that you should "eat your fill" of good, healthful food. The question is, what do you define as "your fill"? Pleasantly stuffed, or just "not hungry"? The best habits will have you eating smallish portions (relative to what's typically given in the USA) 4-5 times a day, to the point where you're not hungry but without that "full feeling". You should not feel sleepy after a meal, and you should feel hungry again in 3-4 hours.

Also, for least for a period of a month or two, you should track your food and tabulate (yes, count) your calories. You gain weight by eating more food than you need to maintain your present weight. You lose weight by eating less and burning more calories. You stabilize/stay even by eating a maintenance level of calories. How will you know if you're over or under if you don't do the math? You don't need to do this forever, but you do need to develop an intuition for approximately how "expensive" different foods are.

This really isn't a big burden. Most people's diet boils down to having the same menu options in different combinations, especially during the work week.

-I really, REALLY hate exercise. I hate getting up early, since I don't sleep well anyway. I also resent giving up precious evenings to do something boring, painful, and sweaty.

The good news is, you can lose weight without increasing your exercise level too much. It'll come off slower, and regular exercise is good for you in other ways, but if you count calories, that'll do the bulk of the work.

On the other hand, you seem to think of exercise as a chore. I won't try to convince you otherwise, about how once you get "into", say, running, you get a high afterwards that makes it something you look forward to (though that is true). I will suggest instead to make it a non-optional part of your daily routine, something you do every morning (not evening -- get it out of the way).

Make it a rule, for example, that you cannot take a shower, EVER, without doing as many consecutive good-form push-ups as you can manage without collapsing, followed by a pause of a couple of minutes, then doing as many crunches as you can without spasming. Your morning routine gets extended by 10 minutes or so at most: instead of brushing your teeth, undressing and hopping in the shower, first you do the push-ups, then you undress, then you do nekkid crunches, THEN you brush your teeth, THEN you hop in the shower. You can give yourself a break on weekends and just do this Mon-Fri, or on alternate days, but at least 4 times a week.

Keep track of how many your do to make sure you're not coasting. You should be gradually doing more and more push-ups and crunches. You might start out only able to do 5 or 10 push-ups and 10-15 crunches. Give it 4 weeks and you'll be doing 25 push-ups. It really does become easier, it doesn't take long, you get a nice feeling of accomplishment watching the numbers go up.

[robardin]

Originally Posted by gonzomax

Adkins will wipe 10 lbs off in no time.

That works for my wife; she's done that every year for the last 3-4 years.

As you can infer from that statement, she goes off Atkins every year, gains it back, lather, rinse, repeat, etc. It's Yo-Yo City. For some reason she's OK with that.

I know of 10-12 people who have "done" Atkins, and not one of them has kept off the weight they lost, even though in most cases the loss was dramatic and relatively quick. Oh sure, there's a "maintenance phase" as part of the plan, but in my observation, they all just go back to their former eating habits sooner or later.

The key to long-term weight loss isn't in transforming what you eat but how much. As one fat loss guide I relied upon read, food is one of life's great pleasures, and abstinence from what you love is not wise and counterproductive.

[yellowval]

Totally agree about the food thing, robardin. I don't believe in dieting. I try to eat healthy but feel there is a time and place for everything in moderation. I personally use a free online calorie counter so I can log what I eat every day. This helps me keep my eating in check but also helps me to "budget" calories on those days when I really want pizza for dinner or if I'm going to a birthday party and want a piece of cake. If anyone is interested in the site, let me know.

[samm]

Originally Posted by fuffle

ISo since I think I've done all the easy stuff (no junky snacks, good diet, decent portions), it really boils down to this: how do I learn to enjoy exercise? I really just don't like even any of the "alternate" activities: pilates, dancing, swimming, whatever...it just isn't fun to me. None of these things get me interested or excited.

None of those alternate activities sound fun to me either to tell you the truth! But have you considered horseback riding? golf? co-ed baseball? tae kwon do? boxing? kayaking? rock wall climbing? roller skating? tennis? There's got to be something interesting to you! Good luck, I despise exercise too, but love riding my horse - that is the only exercise I get and it seems to do the trick.

[fuffle]

Well, I scouted out a different route to work today along some residential roads. I think summer will still be a problem, in that I'll have to drive just to keep from shriveling up like a little raisin. But I do enjoy biking and I may have found a way to do it safely without taking too much time out of the day. I'm going to drive the new route for a couple of days to get the feel of traffic that time of day, and if seems safe, then biking to work, here I come! (Drivers here are *very* inconsiderate to bikers, and I'd rather not get run over if at all possible)

Originally Posted by gonzomax

Buy a dog. He will insist on walking every day once he gets the rhythm.

Don't have a dog, but I do have a "Come with Me Kitty" harness. I could try taking the cat for a drag every day.

Several people commented on keeping the mind occupied with music, TV, or whatever, and I think the concept is starting to sink in. I gave it some thought last night, and it's true that whenever I do try any exercise, the whole time I'm thinking "I hate this. But it's good for me so I have to. This is boring. How much longer till I'm done? I'm tired. Whine whine whine." Knocking out that distraction would be, if not motivational, at least not demotivational.

robardin--Thanks for the extremely thoughtful reply! I understand your point about food. I do typically eat just until I'm satisfied and am ready for meals at regular times. However, it's true I do sometimes stuff myself on a particularly delicious dinner and I often eat late. Since I eat mostly unprocessed foods, lots of beans, grains, fresh veggies, etc., I guess I never thought that eating a lot would be a problem. It's worked for me so far, and it's all good for you, right?

With the calorie counting, you make a fair point about it being simple math--how do you know if you're burning enough calories if you don't know what you're taking in? Similar to the pedometer, I like how quantifiable that is, and if it's only a month I think I can handle that. But how difficult would it be to put in my typical (atypical?) meals? I don't do the "chicken leg and potato" type dinners. One of my favorite meals is a garbanzo bean salad with veggies and a lemon/herb dressing. How the heck do you calculate that?

yellowval--please do share the site you use!

My meat comment was just to indicate that I think my meals are pretty well-balanced. I eat very little red meat, and when I do eat meat it's usually chicken or turkey. Rarely is meat the main course--I tend to use meat more as flavoring or "bonus" ingredient rather than the meat/veggie/starch meals I was brought up on.

However, I'm leery about the advice to "just make exercise a habit." That's my whole problem, you know? I've tried to make it a habit, set very modest goals, but then I wake up late, or I don't feel like it, or I "deserve" a day off, and then that's the end of that. I think I need some major help in this area, at least through the crucial habit-building period, or until I learn to appreciate the benefits. Curves seems like they have an interesting approach to fitness--does anyone have any experience with them? Maybe 6 months with a club and I'd be ready to strike out on my own?

Thanks so much to everyone--I really appreciate all the help!

[fuffle]

Sorry, samm, missed your post:

You'd really think that there would be *something* I like, wouldn't you? And yet here I am, the big ol' activity hater. I think part of the problem is that I'm bad at physical things--I'm uncoordinated, inexperienced, and klutzy--and because I'm bad at this stuff I don't like it. But it's also that I haven't found anything that can keep my interest long-term. I'll try something, do it for a couple months, then get bored and quit.

[yellowval]

The site I use is www.my-calorie-counter.com. You can not only enter what you eat every day, but also put in the activities you do. You can even do custom entries if there are recipes or meals you eat often, or foods that they don't have listed. There are some great tools, too. If you're wondering about how many calories you should be eating, they have a BMR calculator so you can enter in your weight, height, age, gender, and level of activity and it will tell you how many calories you would need to stay at your current weight. The general rule if you're going to cut calories is to then subtract ~500 and eat that many calories to lose a pound a week. So, for instance, when I enter in my info and activity level, it tells me I'd need to eat over 2700 calories to stay at my current weight. I try to eat 2000 or fewer. It's not recommended for women to eat under 1200 calories a day.

[tremorviolet]

I've never been very overweight but I've always struggled with chubbiness and I weigh less now at 41 than I did when I started high school.

I do exercise a lot but I find diet makes the biggest difference in my weight. I play a sport with a weight class and every year I find myself 6-8 pounds over. My method is to eat 1/3 to 1/2 pound of vegetables before lunch and dinner and then eat my lean protein, not worrying too much about the amount. I don't worry too much about how the vegetables are cooked, as long as they're not slathered with cheese. I generally cut out starches, they're mostly just filler calories anyway and I eat fruit for sweets. (sounds like you're doing a lot of this anyway)

The other component is portion control, like others have mentioned. I often find that I'm satisfied with half of what I would normally order. Plus, dont' be afraid of being hungry between meals. I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a diet that you never feel hungry on. If you're losing weight, you're going to be hungry. Don't take it to extremems and startve yourself or anything; just realize being a little hungry between meals is a good thing and means you're eating an appropriate amount.

As far as the exercise thing, I was fairly non athletic when I was younger. Then I got into weight lifting and what kept me motivated was reading about it and researching new things to try. Same thing when I started running; I'd read about new workouts. Now I row which keeps me honest as I'm on a team and have to show up. Anyway, if something seems remotely interesting to you, do some research and maybe you'll get excited about it.

[Valgard]

Addressing some points you raised, Fuffle:

-Involve your SO. Do something fun and physically active together. Physically active does not have to mean mountain climbing, it's just anything where you're moving around and having a good time. Sex would be a great example. It's as vigorous as you like, low impact, fun and you won't have any problems getting him interested!

-I'm sure that your friends can come up with all kinds of excuses for why you don't need to exercise and why they don't want to join in. For the record, "overweight" does not necessarily imply "out of shape" and "thin" doesn't mean "healthy". The point is not to focus on losing X pounds but to get moving, break a healthy sweat and enjoy knowing that you are getting healthier.

-There's no way to force yourself to enjoy exercise; you have to try doing a bunch of stuff and you will find things that you get into. Maybe you'll try a gym for a month and it will suddenly click for you, or you'll be swimming one day and realize that you've got a "swimmer's high". Just try different things - you will discover what you enjoy and at some point along the way you'll realize that all those things you tried for a week at a time over the last three months means that you have been exercising for three months. Jack Lalanne (still a little dynamo in his 90s) is a big proponent of changing your routine every couple of weeks so you don't get bored - the best exercise is the kind that you actually do.

-It sounds like you eat pretty well. Personally I am not a big fan of "name brand" diets or anything that involves lots of bookkeeping or bizarre changes to what you eat. The fact that some author met a very healthy Eskimo doesn't mean that we should all suddenly go onto the blubber & blueberry diet. If you've got any doubts talk to someone who is qualified to discuss it - your doctor for instance.

[robardin]

Originally Posted by Valgard

Personally I am not a big fan of "name brand" diets ... The fact that some author met a very healthy Eskimo doesn't mean that we should all suddenly go onto the blubber & blueberry diet.

OK, I'll bite (mainly because it made me snort out loud in the office). Did you make this up, or was there really ever such a book? 'Cause I fully believe therecould be a B&B Eskimo Diet, which in some sense means there should be such a diet...

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

Originally Posted by robardin

OK, I'll bite (mainly because it made me snort out loud in the office). Did you make this up, or was there really ever such a book? 'Cause I fully believe therecould be a B&B Eskimo Diet, which in some sense means there should be such a diet...

I don't know about a book, but there is much talk about the traditional diet of the Inuit, Cree and Dogrib peoples, and how their modern diet brings on problems with diabetes, obesity, heart trouble and cancer. I found this article in the first 10 pages of a Google search, and it seems to reinforce something that I heard on the CBC's World at Six news program in the last couple of weeks. Much has been made of the similarity between a traditional hunter's diet and the Atkins diet, though I haven't heard much talk about the incredibly high level of physical activity involved in the traditional way of life.

[Malacandra]

I've lost ~70lb through a combination of portion control, high-calorie snack avoidance, and lots of walking. It started as a five-minute walk and grew from there once I realized what a mountain I had to climb.

[Contrary]

Originally Posted by yellowval

The site I use is www.my-calorie-counter.com.

Seconded. I have used this site since last July and it has made a WORLD of difference in my diet.

Think of your calorie counting in the same way you approach financial budgeting. You DO budget your money, right? Well do the same thing with your calories.

I am eating +/-1700 a day (48 y/o female with a fairly vigorous 6 day work out schedule), and it's really been easy and painfree.

Oh and you might end up finding out a few surprises about food you thought was good for you or misconceptions you had about yourself.

I would have told you last June I don't have a sweet tooth because I rarely eat candy or chocolate. But boy I do like my food sweet. That was a big eye opener ::hugs Splenda tightly::

[Valgard]

Originally Posted by robardin

OK, I'll bite (mainly because it made me snort out loud in the office). Did you make this up, or was there really ever such a book? 'Cause I fully believe therecould be a B&B Eskimo Diet, which in some sense means there should be such a diet...

I was being a little facetious although I had a friend present this basic line of reasoning to me. He went on a high protein/high fat/not much else diet for a while and lost a bunch of weight. I was skeptical and he said something like "Eskimos eat like this" (I've never heard of Eskimos eating lots of chicken, pork and cheese but maybe that's just me. And Eskimos are not generally regarded as models of sveltness. And they've got a few thousand years of adaptation to a different climate than most of us live in). Anyhow he dropped some weight and within a few months put it all back on. I've seen many friends try and fail with a variety of what seem like to me goofy diet ideas and they all came out of some very quackish-sounding book or therapist - you have to eat some incredibly limited range of foods, or nothing but avocados on Thursdays, that kind of thing. One of my friends, an incredibly intelligent guy, was "tested" by his accupuncturist (using applied kinesiology, look it up if you must) who pronounced him "allergic" to vitamin C. And "radiation". And proscribed an eating plan based on this.

I'm not an authority by any means but it kinda bothers me when I see my friends ignoring decades of research and mountains of evidence on what constitutes a generally healthy diet in favor of the Secret Magic Food That The Man Doesn't Want You To Know About!!!

I understand the thought process to some extent - if you ask your doctor what you should be eating and he says "Cut down on pizza and fast food and eat more salads, and while you're at it quit smoking and take a walk every day" it's not glamorous or exciting but I think it's what most people are expecting to hear, consciously or otherwise. But they're really hoping that their doctor will tell them about some amazing new study that says that if they just eat this one special thing then everything else will take care of itself. It'd be so much easier and they wouldn't have to feel like they are depriving themselves of anything. And that, I think, is why diet plans promising some astounding new breakthrough are so popular (until they repeatedly fail to work).

Maybe this makes me kinda stodgy. I just feel that there's a pretty clear consensus as to how we can stay healthy - sure the details will vary but the basic ideas are very consistent. I made what are in the grand scheme of things relatively minor changes to my life a few years ago and the results have been great and easy to maintain.

OK, that was kind of the economy size tangent :-) But there's your answer.

[fuffle]

So you're saying there's a new secret miracle diet that's guaranteed to work? Why didn't you say that in the first place? Sheesh!

[Valgard]

Originally Posted by fuffle

So you're saying there's a new secret miracle diet that's guaranteed to work? Why didn't you say that in the first place? Sheesh!

Five pounds of raw cabbage each day. The pounds will drop off. So will all of your friends.

[amarinth]

Originally Posted by fuffle

So since I think I've done all the easy stuff (no junky snacks, good diet, decent portions), it really boils down to this: how do I learn to enjoy exercise? I really just don't like even any of the "alternate" activities: pilates, dancing, swimming, whatever...it just isn't fun to me. None of these things get me interested or excited.

I have a very weird relationship with exercise - for the most part, the only activity I really, really enjoy isn't aerobic and is horrible for weight loss and is often associated with eating disorders.

So that's really no good. For me, on the exercise front, what has worked is goal-oriented exercise. A friend (or some friends) and I sign up (and pay) for a big event months in advance. The only way to possibly complete the event and not be horribly miserable is to actually train for it - so we have to get together at least once a week and exercise, and we have to exercise on our own in the middle of the week.

There is something called El Tour de Tucson this November for which you'll have to bike 109 miles. 109 miles isn't that hard - if you've built up to it.

[Viridiana]

Originally Posted by amarinth

I have a very weird relationship with exercise - for the most part, the only activity I really, really enjoy isn't aerobic and is horrible for weight loss and is often associated with eating disorders.

Ballet? Regurgitating stuff?

[Le Ministre de l'au-delà]

A long tangent, and highly opinionated, too - I think we've made an interesting change in our perception of health and fitness, and in my opinion, not necessarily a change for the better. Submitted for your consideration -
Ron Ely Johnny Weissmuller
Buster Crabbe (I'm hoping all of these links will take you to the pages of photos - if they don't, just click on 'photos' to see what I'm talking about.

So, these guys are in pretty good shape, and Weissmuller and Ely won Olympic medals as swimmers - 5 gold and one bronze for Weissmuller, one gold and one bronze for Crabbe. And yet, they don't have the same chiseled, sculpted body of Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jean-Claude Van Damme 20 years ago, or pick your favourite muscled action hero guy going right now. The modern guys have been using Nautilus and free weights and trainers (and Lord knows what medical or dietary supplements.) to look completely buffed, bulked and pumped. But are how many olympic medals did Jean-Claude Van Damme ever earn?

Once upon a time, we didn't exercise - we pursued our our interests, and our bodies looked like they did based on what we were doing. Now, we have changed our outlook so that we exercise in order to get those tight buns and 6-pack abs. I don't think that's necessarily fitness, I think that's cosmetics, and I don't see what useful physical skills one is picking up, either. Does it help you to throw a dart straight, shoot an arrow farther, swim longer, or do you have to work on those on a different shift? A pox on it all, I say!

And with that, I, L. H. Puttgrass, am off to the tub.

[Contrary]

Originally Posted by Le Ministre de l'au-delà

Once upon a time, we didn't exercise - we pursued our our interests, and our bodies looked like they did based on what we were doing. Now, we have changed our outlook so that we exercise in order to get those tight buns and 6-pack abs. I don't think that's necessarily fitness, I think that's cosmetics, and I don't see what useful physical skills one is picking up, either. Does it help you to throw a dart straight, shoot an arrow farther, swim longer, or do you have to work on those on a different shift? A pox on it all, I say!

Fair enough. But at least in my area of the country, normal life doesn't do much of anything to ensure I'm in good physical shape (setting aside the notion of tight buns and 6-pack abs). So I run, do yoga and lift weights, because otherwise my only source of exercise in day-to-day living would come from the small amount of housework I do and walking to and from my car. In Kansas City, our streets are decidedly not safe for bike riders, and most of us live too far away from jobs to consider walking, plus public transportation is a joke here.

As far as the useful skills you mention--well I'll grant you I can't throw a dart straight but then again I don't want or need to be able to do that. I do want to easily pick up my granddaughter, retain full range of motion in my joints, have stairs remain a non-issue, and keep my heart and bones strong. Those are my fitness goals

[Kalhoun]

I'd like to lose 10 to 15 lbs, and I have come to the realization that the only way it will happen is to get moving. I have a very "sitty" job and once the weather breaks I am going to start with the power walking an hour or so a day. I barely eat 1000 calories a day, but my metabolism has slowed since the Big M kicked in, and I need to just make time for movement. Fifteen hours a day in front of a computer just ain't cutting it.

I wish I had a walking buddy. It would be way more tolerable.

[LVBoPeep]

Hi,

I just wanted to chime in and also recommend the online calorie counter- my favorite is mydailyplate.com. I've been using it for the last month and it's a huge difference in how I look at my daily food intake. I have a lot more than 10 lbs to lose, but want to get away from dieting and just improve my habits. No food is off limits to me, but it does have to go into the calorie counter and I will have to cut down somewhere else if I indulge. I even re-set my calorie goal because I found I was consistently 200-300 calories under what the calorie calculator suggested, so figured I might as well shoot for that and go for more weight loss per week. I am snacking alot on fruit, veggies and 100 calorie popcorn but my meals are tasty as well- I make "fancy" salads, awesome turkey sandwiches for lunch and now that it's warmer- grilling alot of fish/shrimp and chicken along with smaller amounts of beef. Tonight I'm having pasta and breaded chicken- something I wouldn't have touched with a ten foot pole when I was dieting before, but I should still come in at 50-100 calories under my new calorie goal today. Also, it's fun to be just a little over your limit and then put in my new habit of walking the dogs for 30 minutes at lunch time- voila! 100 calories under again !

Portion size and balancing each meal out has really helped- I am not as hungry and I make sure and eat two snacks a day.

[fuffle]

Originally Posted by amarinth

I have a very weird relationship with exercise - for the most part, the only activity I really, really enjoy isn't aerobic and is horrible for weight loss and is often associated with eating disorders.

Yeah, regurgitation is the only thing that's coming to my mind...you may need to be more specific...

But I like your idea about being goal-oriented. I tend to think of exercise as something endless and pointless, but maybe that's mostly just the way I've been approaching it. It's not pointless if you have a goal and can measure progress. And I do have a friend that does the Tour every year...maybe I'll ask him if he wants to help a newbie train...