I’ve gained a lot of muscle over the past two months, so I’m not actually losing weight, per se. I’ve gone up 65 pounds on bench press alone! Woohoo! Now if I can pry myself away from my old friends Mr. Guinness and Sam Adams, I should be OK.
I’ve hit a roadblock, meself. With my new job starting, I’m finding it REALLY hard to exercise. I wake up at 7:30, and that’s about as early as I can make myself wake up. I work until 6 or so, so I get home at 6:30. And I do NOT feel like going back out and exercising. (Yep, being tired 24/7 is FUN! Really!) I don’t want to join a gym, because I’m trying to save money…maybe once I move I’ll feel more like using my complex’s exercise room. Since I won’t be 4 blocks away from it…
Anyway, just needed to vent, I guess.
I’m not sure how I’m doing because this is my, ahem, “bloated” week. At least my fat pants aren’t too tight. I’ve been walking everywhere instead of driving and I start the gym next week now that TinyTot seems to be squared away in school. I also ordered two yoga videos to do in my spare time.
As far as eating is concerned, I’ve been doing much better eccept that I made a great big muffaleta sandwhich the other night completely forgetting that I am the only one who likes muffaletas. So, I’ll probably be wearing muffaleta goodness on my hips for the next two or three weeks. But it was worth it!
mmmmmmmm…muffaletta! A true piece of heaven.
Uh… waking up at 7:30 and getting home at 6:30 is supposed to be some sort of grueling day? Bah.
That aside, it took me about 2-3 weeks of dogged determination not to quit working out before the fabled “have more energy & feel better” effects actually kicked in. But when they did, they did with a vengeance.
One thing I’ve noticed reading this thread- people look at getting fit as a spare-time thing. I think that may be the wrong way to go about it, because that puts it below everything else except other spare time activities.
Make it one of your priorities if it’s really important to you. Make a set time every couple of days. Get a partner & switch picking each other up to go to the gym. Make it where you can’t easily NOT go without sticking someone else out.
Also, and this one is the big one(for anything really…) set goals! Set yourself a goal of “I’m going to wear size 6 pants in 6 months”, or “I’m going to wear a size L shirt instead of XL in 4 months”.
That’s how you do it. The important part is the mental side- any cretin can exercise & eat right for a short period, but the really tough part is keeping it up for the long haul where you have to if you want to lose significant weight.
But it can be done! Don’t give up! Think positive!
Taken completely out of context, Coldfire wrote:
Well, I should hope not! Unless you’re a fish.
bump -
I have lupus. This means I’m exhausted 24/7. Hence my comment. I sleep for almost 16-18 hours a DAY on the weekend. During the week, I get 7. I’ve lived like this for almost 10 years now. You try doing it for a month, THEN get back to me.
Also - don’t tell ME about this being part-time. I’m currently spending $100 a WEEK to go to St. Joseph’s to help control my binge eating disorder. (Think bulimia, but I don’t purge.) I have to think about what I eat every second of every day, because if I don’t, I’ll binge. You think this is FUN?
So just shut the hell up, 'k?
(And yes, I’m pissy about it. One, I’m tired of the “just try harder” shit. Two, I had to redo something 3 times at work today because of our damn network.)
Michi here.
I have been stuck at 121 forever. It took me almost three months just to lose 9.5 pounds. I am only 6 pounds away from my goal of 115, but it seems so far away. I eat healthy and don’t feel deprived, and I exercise at least every other day with total body toning, step aerobics and regular “floor” aerobics. I am fitting into smaller clothes and I can just begin to see the outline of muscle underneath the soft flesh. So there have been some changes that I am very happy about, but this plateau I am stuck on is starting to depress me.
Also, I am going to be challenged next week when I am in Rochester for the Dopefest. It’s gonna be hard to resist splurging when I am going to be eating all my meals out. I figure I’ll allow myself one or two “bad” meals, but I am gonna have to be strong the rest of the time!
To whatever end it helps anyone:
I’m military, and got put on the Weight Management Program. It has given me an incentive to really work out, and because of the pressure, I’ve seen results. After dropping 30lbs since February, now I want to work out more, just to look better and perform better.
My point is, that once you can get started into a routine and keep with it, the results you see will motivate you to keep going on . . .
If you want details of my workout (it ain’t anything fancy) just e-mail me . . .
Tripler
HAHAHAHA!!!
Okay, I’ve lost 11 pounds so far. (Go me!) Except, I haven’t been eating right so it’s not doing me any good, as far as health is concerned. 
Oh well.
I’ve lost 8 pounds since the beginning of August, when I moved to Chi-town. I need to start a workout program in earnest, but the loss so far comes relatively small lifestyle changes: taking stairs instead of available escalators every single time, getting lost & un-lost in new surroundings (going everywhere by foot), and NO MORE eating out. I’ve cut way down on breads, pastas, rice, etc. although nothing drastic and I’ve been eating some sort of fresh green vegetable at almost every meal. When I’m over this cough ‘n’ cold, my ass is OFF the computer chair and my feet are ON the treadmill. I want to start lifting small weights to work upper body, and I bought a book on stretching exercises put out by the NYC Ballet - pretty cool!
I’m REALLY disappointed in everybody! Is it that you aren’t doing it, or you are so busy being active that you don’t have time to post? Hmmm?
Anyway, I received my “Yoga for Round Bodies” videos. Not too impressed so far, but I’m going to stick with 'em til the end. I figure if nothing else, what I learn from these I can apply to adapting any regular yoga instruction.
I also got a Pilates book. It looks really interesting so far, and again, a challenge for a big round body like mine, but I’m excited to give it a try.
I’ve been incredibly committed and consistent with my strangth training, walking, and swimming. I’m really enjoying it, even though I’m still new to it and weak and sore at the slightest effort. But nothing, absolutely nothing, brightens my mood and my attitude like getting active. Nothing.
Tomorrow, the final piece of the puzzle: I go back to a structured eating plan. It’s going to be a low-carb/high protein structure, but I think I’m going to cycle between different styles for variety and to see what works best. (Suzanne Somers, Carb Addicts, Sugar Busters. I think Atkins is just too brutal.)
So that’s ME…what about YOU?
Definitely the latter, not the former! That’s part of my weight loss plan- keep myself constantly busy so that I don’t have any time to just sit & eat.
Let’s see… I lift weight 3 times a week pretty religiously, eat considerably less than I used to- very little overeating, little beer/fried stuff/etc…and also do stuff like play softball, mountain bike, walk when I play golf, etc…
I’ve managed to keep this up for about 9 1/2 months now, and I’m currently down about 50 scale pounds from where I was in January when I started. I’ve also gone from a size 42 pants to a size 36 over that time frame as well! That has to be the most satisfying part of the entire thing. It’s such an immensely gratifying feeling to be able to buy size “L” pants rather than “XL”.
I still have about 25 lbs to go- that’ll put me at about 195-200, and hopefully into size 34 pants. I’ve sort of plateaued recently, but that’s due to some breaks in my routine where I’ve ended up eating more & exercising less than I ought to have. I plan to quit that in short order though.
Yesterday I went to the health club and lifted weights for the first time in almost six weeks - I have been out of commision due to a herniated disk but I got the ok from my ortho to start working out again. All I can say is “Owwwwwwww.” My muscles, particularly upper body, are really sore today.
I also have been off my eating program for the past few days, and feel really bloated as a result. I am back on my program today, so I’m hoping to be back to normal in a few days.
How is everyone else doing?
Well, as I said in this thread, I have lost six (6) pounds since we (re)committed to this journey of health.
Last week was rough for us (PLD & me) as we both weren’t feel too well and started running out of good, healthy food (in the house) to eat. I’ll let him report what and how he’s doing (its only fair :)). I only managed to do 3 out of 7 days of exercise last week because of the feeling ill/off, but I’m trying not to beat myself up about it because (1) I didn’t just give up and (2) 3 is better than 0 times.
I’ve also been working on picking out some good, low-fat healthier desserts from some of my low-fat/veg cookbooks (I’ll share those that turn out well) since I don’t want to give them up entirely, and this is supposed to be a new way of life, not just a fad diet–so I have to learn to integrate good things that satisfy my sweet tooth.
That’s where I’m at today…
I still miss my booze! I have hit the proverbial wall, but that’s normal, everyone goes through plateaus. I may not make my goal by Christmas, but I feeling a lot better.
It’s good to see that the “Get in Shape” threads didn’t completely die while I was gone (although they do seem to be in very ill health). I’m just back from Southern Utah, where I hiked 13 out of 15 days in Zion Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Arches and Capitol Reef National Parks. Today I took the day off (I am still really jetlagged, but tomorrow it’s back to the gym). I’m feeling pretty good and want to use this almost constant motion as a motivating force to continue working out at least 5 days a week.
For those who have never been, Southern Utah in early autumn is awesome! It sure inspired me to move around enough to see more of it. My husband and I burned serious calories, got our pulse rates up and worked those back and leg muscles carrying our day packs.
Maybe I’ll weigh myself tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll just skip it and stick with the post-vacation glow.
I can feel my clothes are a bit looser, and I think vball and avoiding half of the crap they serve in the cafeteria at school helps. I have no set weight goal, and I know that going down a size in clothes isn’t gonna happen unless my boobs fall off. That’d be funny. [::plop:: Hey!!! :eek:]
For those who are “hitting plateaus,” PLD and I were just discussing this morning the fact that we need to take our measurements and start keeping track of those too. As has been mentioned before, sometimes while you’re losing fat, you’re actually gaining muscle (from the work out), so you won’t see a difference on the scale, but you’ll see it on the tape measure. 
Stoidela said:
It’s cool that you got a book (I have one, too), but you really need to take a class. The class forces you to do the exercises correctly and for the recommended amount of time. I did the book for two weeks before starting my class and I had it all wrong. I’m not saying you will, but the class pushes you to your limit, whereas you may not.
Don’t be intimidated by your shape! There are people of all walks in the classes. I don’t think anybody cares.
I gained 3 pounds this weekend. Blame it on binge drinking and the pumpkin cupcakes I made. Either way, I’m still swimming every morning and doing 2 miles on the Precor machine. I lift weights three times a week. I’ve lost the chunk of fat between my arms and bra straps! Woo hoo!