I know there was a Dec-Jan thread but it felt right to start a new thread for the new year.
So, after a long hiatus from these threads I am back. Unfortunately I sort of fell off the fitness/nutrition wagon in the second half of 2010, but the good news is that I did not gain back all of the weight I lost (just some) and am running regularly again as well.
I will throw out a plug for the SDMB/Giraffe group on Sparkpeople.com in case anyone wasn’t aware. Also, my user name there is the same one I use here if anyone wants to friend me. I’ve had very good success using Sparkpeople for weight loss support.
I set a personal fitness goal for myself of running 1000 miles in 2011, so we’ll see how that goes. I got in a 2.1-mile run this morning and am feeling pretty good about it.
I didn’t sort of fall off the wagon: I did it with style. Jumped off head first. Unfortunately, stress at home and at work has really kicked my ass, and I’ve started to revert back to some of my old habits. I’ve even gained 15 pounds back.
When I went into hospital in October I was 212lb (they weighed me on admission) and when I left four days later, 208lb. Then came three weeks enforced layoff, boredom munchies, scale-dodging, and of course we just had Christmas and New Year. 227lb. :eek: :mad:
Just keep gradually increasing your distance, Crowbar. I ran a half-marathon last year and plan to run two this year, and basically I just kept increasing the distance of my long run (for me my long run was on Sundays) and kept my mileage up during the rest of the week. I was using a slightly modified version of Hal Higdon’s Novice Half-Marathon Training Program and did pretty well with it.
Good luck! Assuming all goes well for me this year, and I have no reason to believe it won’t, my next stop is a full mary in 2012.
Not feeling too bad after the holidays. Gained back only three of the 38 pounds lost in 2010, and in the last few days I’ve climbed back on the wagon and feeling better already. 30 lbs to go, with a target date of June 21 (my 20th anniversary, aiming for the weight I was when I got married).
Got a bit of the winter doldrums and finding it hard to get my ass up for the treadmill & weights that are my primary winter source of exersize.
I also gave up trying the last couple months of the year. I think I even gained a couple extra pounds again but I’ve been avoiding the scale and just going by how tight my pants fit and since I refuse to buy more pants the next size up I have no choice, either I diet and exercise again or I can’t breathe in my jeans.
I plan to pull my bicycle out of the garage and start riding my bike to work when I work during the day (not for night shifts though), as weather permits.
Hanging on to my WW lifetime status for dear life. Holidays didn’t help: rich food, busy schedule, didn’t have/make time to run as much as I should have. Right now I’m about 1.5 pounds over my Lifetime status limit (we’re allowed to go 2 pounds over goal, and I’m at about 3.5 over). And weigh-in is tomorrow. I may end up paying, and having to reweigh at under the limit by the end of the month. Gotta hit the elliptical today and tomorrow before the meeting.
Oh, and MsWhatsit’s 1000-mile goal gave me the idea to start marking my daily mileage on my calendar, so I can see my progress. Gonna start marathon training in May and hope to run one officially in September. Go me!
Also, I recommitted to regular running with 2 runs this weekend (4 miles and 10K), in subzero wind chills. If that doesn’t give me bragging rights, I don’t know what does.
29.5 weeks pregnant and not allowed to try to lose weight… in fact I’m in the fast-gain part of the pregnancy. Unfortunately, at the rate I’m currently going, I’m going to be 20 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight even after the easy 25 pounds come off. Arrrgh.
I’m fantasizing about being able to exercise and restrict my food intake, though. That’s gonna feel awesome.
I’m doing Insanity for the next 60 days, I did it once before last year and really saw an improvement. I’m not trying to lose huge amounts of weight but gaining some more muscle definition would be super. It’s one of the few things I can do consistently even though I travel a lot for work.
So, around October, I was in peak shape; still had 15 pounds of flab but was tight, toned, and goshdarn good looking. I was squeeezing into size 6 pants, and my size 8’s hung off me. I was casually dropping into conversation with the SO “Gosh, do you think (our tailor) can take these in??”
Then I got bacterial bronchitis (several weeks) a cold (several weeks) the SO had a cold (several weeks) my brother stayed with me (one week, running him around cut right into my gym time) and lots of holiday traveling etc.
The size 8’s fit…barely. I feel bloated and pudgy. I don’t usually weigh, I do bodyfat percentage, which I’m sure is miserable.
Jesus, just thinking about last week - I had pie TWICE in one day. TWICE! The old me had low fat ice cream or homemade low cal treats. Who was I?
What makes me furious is that I’ve been away for 8 weeks largely through no fault of my own, missing the time when it’s most empty - the end of the year. Sigh. I’m sure tonight will be the purest form of hell with the Resolutioners packed to the gills.
I’ve been doing pretty good in spite of stopping recording foods and exercise (I still weighed weekly and recorded it). I stopped recording when I started doing a very physical job and was lifting boxes for eight hours a day, two days a week. I’ve basically been staying at exactly the same weight, so I’m going back to recording to get back on track. As usual, my first couple of days recording were eye-opening - “Okay, THAT explains why my weight is stuck.” I figured there was no point getting serious about it until the Christmas season was over, but now it’s time to ease up on the fattening stuff and eat more fruits, veggies, etc. I actually threw a bunch of Christmas cookies out this morning - I wasn’t really enjoying them, just eating them because they were there. If I’m going to take the caloric hit from chocolate or cookies, I’m damned well going to eat stuff I enjoy.
Oh hey, you’re me, except I gained almost 20! Fortunately my BMI is just barely into the “overweight” range. I’m aiming to bring my weight down a little further than before.
I re-updated my SparkPeople account, posted to the SDMB/Giraffe SP board, and have been using some iPhone apps:
There are two SparkPeople apps, one with their major food/exercise/weight tracking features, and one with the SP recipe database.
I’ve also been using FatWatch to track my weight using averaging, to smooth out those spikes and drops from water retention and such. It’s using the method from the Hacker’s Diet, which I’m also taking inspiration from. Currently it’s on sale for 4.99, but you can also get a cheaper app that does similar tracking called True Weight for .99.
After reading this article about how resolutions are better kept if the goals are shorter-term, I’ve committed to tracking what I eat on Spark People until February 6. I also plan to take measurements once a week - I don’t have a scale, and quite frankly I am a little afraid of one. I’m hoping that by February 6 I’ll have made enough measurable progress to motivate me further.
I could stand to lose a good 20-30 pounds and want to get on top of it while I’m still relatively young. Plus, it would be nice to spend the last few years of my 20s looking and feeling good.
This morning my BMI was below 30.2 for the first time. Last week my BMI/balance test was right on 50-50 balance for the first time.
My short term goal is to get the BMI below 30. Then hold it there. Then continue another 8 - 9 pounds from where I am now. My longer term goal is to have the gut down by May 1, so I can fit the tuxedo properly for my wedding in mid June.
Beyond that – keep my weight in the 165 to 180 range, the gut down, and the endurance up.
I started Weight Watchers in March of 2010 at 307.8 lbs. I reached a low of 248.8 in October. I haven’t been keeping up very well over Thanksgiving and Christmas, but after finally getting the battery changed in my scale, I was 250.8 this morning. I’m quite pleased that i haven’t ballooned up 10-15 lbs over the Holidays.
I re-joined Weight Watchers today. I lost a lot of weight in 2009, then went back to work full-time at a job that had me on the road and at the mercy of eight other people when it came time to pick the restaurant for lunch One of my ex-coworkers was so picky that that left one particular chain, and I swear they deep-fry their salad. Anyway, I gained all of the weight back and I am NOT happy about it.
We also got a Kinect for Hanukkah, and I’m excited about it. Airman and the sprog seem to be enjoying it.
The weight showing on the scale isn’t the whole story, but it does help A LOT with accountability - not being able to deny what you’re actually doing (or how much weight you’re actually gaining) - see also: “These (extremely stretchy) pants still fit just fine;” “These pants must have shrunk in the wash;” “Man, the sizes in this store sure do fit small.”
IMO it’s OK not to get on the scale as long as you’re taking some kind of measurement. Inches around your waist is a pretty good measure of progress also.
jacob, I’ve had very good success with just setting small goals and then continuing to set them: I.e., I started just by saying, “I’m going to make it through January without quitting this program. No matter what, I am definitely going to make it to the end of January.” Then at the end of January, I set a new goal of making it to the end of February. By the end of March, I’d formed a lot of new habits and it was a lot easier to keep on program.
I’m doing pretty well so far this year. I haven’t missed any scheduled runs and my eating has been OK. Not awesome or perfect, but OK, which is a lot better than I was doing throughout most of the holiday season.
Yeah, exactly. I’ve been wearing different pants for the colder months and thinking “lala, my pants fit OK… all right, maybe not so OK” and I’m past the 10 lbs over ideal that my other pants would signal me at. :smack:
This is one reason why I like using an averaged weight calculation to show your overall trend, rather than your day-to-day weight. It’s amazing how chaotic a daily weigh-in graph can look, but averaging to show a trend gives you a much better idea of what your real progress is, instead of weird spikes from water bloating or whatever. I’m still on the downward trend, slow and steady.
A little hand slap to me for today, for not packing nice protein-filled snacks. I had a lame lunch provided at a meeting (I could eat half a small veggie sandwich, being a vegetarian and having little to choose from), and was starving by 4 pm. So after a filling and protein-rich dinner, I’m very full, but haven’t had quite enough protein today to reach my target. Instead of forcing more food into my stomach and ignoring that signal, I’m going to just do better tomorrow.
