I really overdid it on the cookies this weekend, but otherwise did OK, especially since we were away from home from Wednesday until yesterday evening.
I know I’m bloated, but I’m not getting on the scale until Friday. Any real damage won’t show up until at least then, anyway.
I’m joining up!
I began my new habits in early November but I’m only just now feeling like I can DO this. Basically, I saw a nutritionist to discuss IBS recommendations and weight loss advice in early November. Since I got home from that visit I’ve been following her recommendations to a T. Two weeks later I had lost 5 (ish) lbs. I’m not sure exactly because I didn’t have an official starting weight. But I have been roughly 190-193 for the last 2 years. Last Friday I weighed in at 186.
In a way it is easier than I thought it would be. It’s common sense eating, but you just have to actually MAKE the correct choices. That’s the hard part.
My new rules are lots of fiber and low calories. My breakfasts (and I MUST eat breakfast!) are oatmeal with raisins and a splash of lactaid / all bran /comparable high fiber cereal w/fruit.
Lunch is a frozen lean cuisine/healthy choice/ smart ones meal with a piece of fruit (often pears) and Activia yoghurt.
Dinner is the hardest. I have a small amount of protein (deck of cards sized) with no more than a cup of starch and half my plate is veggies.
I can have a snack at work before I leave (I work 11-7pm so snacktime is 6ish) and another snack after dinner. Snacks are <100 cals.
But I need help with exercise! My work schedule sucks. I leave the house at 9:30 and don;t get home until 8:30 or 9:00. I don’t have a car and don’t live within walking distance of a gym. My only good time to go to a gym would be before work (ugh, that’s too early) but I don’t know of anyplace to go. Any at-home suggestions?
Welcome, Elysium! FWIW, I never exercise at a gym. I have several workout DVDs here at home (Tae Bo with Billy Blanks, and Leslie Sansone Walk Away The Pounds). The WATP videos are especially handy if you have very limited floor space, as most of it is just walking in place. The trick is to have a specific time you work out, or you’ll end up saying “Oh, I’ll do that later” and later never comes!
Videos are something I could work with. Any favorites around here? I figure it wouldn’t be too hard to get up 30-40 minutes early, do a video, and then shower and get ready for work.
It’s just hard to motivate my butt out of bed in the morning.
That’s one of the nice things about the Walk Away The Pounds videos. They have one-two-and-three mile walks. Often, when I’m totally not motivated to work out, I’ll tell myself “Okay, I’ll just do one mile, and then if I want to stop, I will”. But usually, just getting started is the hard part, and once I’m done a mile, I’ll stick through the rest of it. But even if I quit after one mile, well, at least I’ve done that much.
I bought myself an elliptical machine and a set of hand weights, I can get a hard cardio workout plus strength training without leaving my house. I do enjoy working out early, first thing in the morning before showering and getting ready for work–it sets me up for feeling strong and healthy all day long and makes it easier for me to make good food choices.
Also, I generally hate workout videos, but I’ve always wanted to learn to belly dance. I still haven’t worked up the nerve to join a real-life class, but there are lots of great instructional videos which also give you a very good workout. There are tons of other styles of dance available in instructional-video-workout form, maybe this would work out for you, too?
Today was my last day of the weight-loss study at Johns Hopkins. I’ll get the final results tomorrow (if she can get it done by then) as to my body fat percentage loss and such.
I’m my lowest weight as an adult this morning.
Yay!! I’ve got about 40lbs. to go before that happens for me. I’ve got another 30 to go before I weigh what my driver’s license says I weigh. 
By then, I won’t look anything at all like the person on my driver’s license.
Awesome news. Congrats!
I don’t know how, but I lost 4.5 lbs on TG weekend…from 267 (11/22) to 262.5 (11/27). I blame it on my newfound metabolism; there really isn’t any other explanation…well, I didn’t eat seconds of anything except for some carmel apple pie on Thanksgiving. I didn’t workout on any of the TG weekend (Thursday through Sunday), so I will just put this weekend in “Strange but True” file.
On the elliptical, I am now burning 1000 calories in the 53-55 minute range, 5 days a week. I will stay at this level for now until I get within 20 lbs. of my goal weight (which I don’t know yet…somewhere between 200-220 lbs.) and then I will start working on my upper body and decrease my time on the elliptical to compensate. I’m pretty happy with my results for the time being, but I have to resist my wife’s attempts at derailing me with ice cream and skipping my workouts at her whim. I usually give in on the ice cream, and that’s why I’ve bumped up my workouts to compensate.
While I didn’t have T-day to worry about, we were off in Korea eating, and eating and eating. I’ve started running a couple of weeks ago, but can only go for about 15 minutes so far. Yuck. I remember back when I could run like the wind. Anyway, I wasn’t able to run while we were on vacation.
Still, I’m down. I weighed myself after my run this morning and I’m down to 195! That’s 8 1/2 lbs less than my peak a month ago. (And yes, I understand that part of that loss is the sweat from my run, but still, it feels good to be lighter.
I’m cutting down the beer at night, eating more veggies and stopping when I feel confortable. My immediate goal is to get down to 187, and I plan on taking a month or so to get there but continuing to decrease calories and increasing exersize.
TokyoPlayer, how much Bul goki was consumed? I must know!
I’m down another half-pound today.
Back down to 199, but I had some additional help with a minor stomach ailment. My stomach is still rumbly, so I guess I will get back to 197 without as much effort as I expected.
Way Cool! Congratulations!
If you get the FitTV channel, you might want to record several of the workout programs and find what format/instructor you like.
I did this, and found that I really liked the shows by Gilad (Janklowitz) and Cathe (Friedrich). My wife also liked Gilad’s Total Body Sculpt, so we went with him and ended up tivoing about 20 hours of the workouts. About two months ago we went ahead and got his Quick Fit System (a set of four DVD’s and a workout/eating plan that goes along with them), and his three newest Ultra Body Sculpt DVD’s, as that follows the same format as the Total Body Sculpt TV show. The videos are superior to the TV shows, if only because the workout isn’t disrupted by commercial breaks.
Along the lines of what John T. Conklin has said, Comcast’s On Demand has a fitness and health section wherein they have that type of show as well.
OK, I’ve started the December thread here
UPDATE:
I am a 43 year old, 6’-3" man, who weighs:
July 1st: ~310#
Aug 1st: 297# (-13)
Sep 1st: 287# (-10)
Oct 1st: 281# (-6)
Nov 1st: 269# (-12)
Dec 1st: 263.5# (-5.5)
Yep, I’m still a loser… 