Not a sidetrack at all. This is part and parcel of you getting healthy, and anything standing in your way needs to be dealt with.
Thank you, and big congrats to you too! Like Antigen I wish I could get excited about exercising. I just look at it as a necessary evil. Unfortunately, my wife has taken to calling my near-daily trip to gym an “obsession.” Not nearly.
Antigen, I’m sorry to hear of your mood problems. I am in a similar situation, but I fortunately am in therapy. I’m not altogether sure of its use, but at least talking to a psychiatrist every couple of weeks and getting a little validation and explanation for my feelings is probably a step in the right direction. I seem to have some strange reverse-body-dysmorphic disorder. When I was bigger, I never thought I was all that fat until I saw myself in pictures; now that I’m significantly smaller, all I see in the mirror is the fat still there and feel somewhat discouraged. In combination with the rest of my life, I question why I’m giving up something I like so much – fattening food – and not feeling great in return.
hey i just want to say that being fat is NOT something to be ashamed of. Its just more of you to love:) (well, atleast to the Non-male memebers)
Congrats to all who are seeing the fruits of their labors in looking and feeling better! Yay!
I’ve struggled with my weight all my life and got up to around 350 (I’m guessing, because my scale topped out at 330 but I know I kept putting weight on after). I hit my mid-life crisis last summer, quit my job and changed a whole bunch of things in my life. I didn’t realize I was changing eating habits, but I guess I did because shortly after I quit, I realized my clothes were getting looser. I dug out my scale and was very happy to see a number rather than ERR.
In the year since then I’ve paid more attention to what I eat, and I stop when I feel full. I’d been in a bad habit of eating everything even when I was already full. Not any more.
I’ve lost 40 pounds and have been hovering at the same weight for a couple of months. At least I’m not gaining it back. Best part was, 10 months after I quit I went back to my old workplace to have lunch with some of my former co-workers and they absolutely gushed at how good I looked. Apart from losing weight, I’ve definitely been much happier about my life (and stress-free), and I guess it showed. I’m able to get back into some nice clothes I bought many years ago but grew out of. I still have a very long way to go, but so far I’m really encouraged by needing smaller clothes, having a better complexion, decreased heart rate and BP, and just feeling very positive overall.
I just started college this past week, so I’ll be getting more exercise hoofing it around campus, and they have a huge rec center I’ll be going to.
I look forward to reading your victories, and sharing mine! 
This is the first time I’ve tried quoting, so I hope I’m doing it correctly! Anyway, I heard about Rosedale a couple of years ago and got his book, read it, and concluded this guy was about as nutty as all the nuts he has you eat on his diet! I set the book aside and went back to my old diet, that I just “knew” worked (I think everyone else has been there, right?) Well, it DIDN’T work. I was able to maintain my weight, but, good Lord, it was frustrating! I’ve battled my weight since I was a little kid. I was put on my first diet at 8 years old. I was raised to think that I had failed my diet, instead of maybe my diet failing me. A few months ago I went back on Weight Watchers. Not the WW of today, but the old 1978 program (I had lost weight on that as a young teenager). And guess what? IT DIDN"T WORK! I was on it faithfully for five weeks. I gained and lost the same two pounds several times. So I went and picked up the Rosedale book I had and gave it another read. This time I decided to give it a try, nuts or not. I’m still learning the diet, but, you’re right, you can have lots of fiber on it. In fact, right now I’m drinking what I call “fiber tea.” It’s put out by All Bran and it’s one of those mixes you add into a bottle of water. Has 10 grams of fiber per serving. You can get it at WalMart. I’m cooking dinner right now, which is seasoned baked chicken breasts, garlic cauliflower, green beans, and a green salad. That sounds healthy, doesn’t it? Well, fingers crossed here. I’m curious to see if I’m going to be able to lose any weight this week on this diet. One day down, six more to go until weigh-in…
So what’s everybody’s favorite go-to healthy snack?
Right now, my office fridge contains Frigo light string cheese, Motts Fiber Plus Cranberry-Raspberry Applesauce, White Cheddar Rice Cakes, and Greek yogurt & fresh mushrooms. I put a couple of spoonfuls of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix into the 6 ounce tub of Greek Yogurt for ranch-dip-like yumminess.
I like sliced apples with a tablespoon of caramel topping drizzled over them. I also like the Honey Nut Cheerios snack mix, because it’s sweet, crunchy and filling. And the Fiber One bars are delicious as well.
Fiber One bars here too, or 94% fat-free popcorn. Or hard-boiled egg. Of fat-free vanilla yogurt with canned fruit. Or small handful of hickory-smoked almonds.
I, too, have been having a FiberOne bar after lunch, but mainly it’s fruit.
Other snacky/dessert-type stuff I’ve been enjoying include Jell-O Sugar Free Dark Chocolate pudding (this is so good) and sugar-free Popsicles/Creamsicles/Fudgsicles.
Great breakfast food: toast made with Pepperidge Farm Apples & Grains Breakfast Bread.
Ah, yes. I have fat-free sugar free Jello Chocolate Fudge pudding with Cool Whip Free.
I like the 100 calorie Hostess cakes and the sugar free Jello chocolate puddings. Quaker also makes some nice 100-calorie granola snacks.
I also made my own hummus, and I’m munching through it so I can make some more with some new ideas I got.
You guys at SparkPeople, you know there’s a companion site, SparkRecipes.com? I found a recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew that was delicious!
89.5kg - first time under 90kg. Si does happy dance
Had a good weekend. I was planning to make Saturday a rest day, and my back was pretty sore (I went swimming on Thursday and Friday for the first time in 2 years and stretched my intercostals). But my stepson and his girlfriend arrived at 4-ish and wanted to go for a run. So I headed out with them to the local woods, and we ran in circles for a while (the woods are not that big). Given that I was running with some mid-20 year olds who carry much less weight than I do, and I had done a really fast (for me) 5 miles the day before (9 min miles) I kept up and was pretty on top of it all.
So I am really happy. If I can keep this up, maybe I’ll get down to 80kg after all. I just want to find somewhere to swim regularly. There is a gym with a pool just across from work, but it is really expensive (and I have a gym membership elsewhere) and they don’t do casual swimming. The pool near home is 20 minutes away and I just cannot fit it in. It will e weekends only, I guess.
Si
199 pounds. Teach me to feed a cold. It’s been mostly dried fruit, which is better than some possibilities but not good enough. Still, I thought I’d put on more than a pound and a half so I guess it’s not so bad either.
Oh, and it’s just a year since I figured I’d best be losing some, so 89 pounds in that time (at least… as I’ve mentioned before, I was dieting and taking mild exercise for a week before I even dared weigh myself).
It’s been a week, and I’m still holding at my goal weight!!
I’m still stable, no change. Sigh.
I need to step up the exercise and stop making excuses. It’s just so hard some days.
And the new coffee creamer I bought, while delicious, has nearly twice as many calories per serving than the one I’d been using, because it has half the serving size! So my morning coffee is now worse for me. Blah! I’m still going to use it, but I’m a little peeved at myself for not reading the label properly.
I need to join your group!
I had weight loss surgery (a full gastric bypass) four years ago as of October 1st. I lost a total of 172 pounds, but am concerned about maintaining. The thought of going through it all again scares the daylights out of me!
I’m just over 130 pounds right now, but I’m only 5’4", so I could really stand to lose another 10. I came this far, I’d love to finish it off. I’d also love to ensure that I don’t re-gain anything: aside from the obvious health issues, I’m also sick of buying clothes in different sizes. I can’t afford to replace my entire wardrobe again!
I’ll be checking here for tips! Does anyone use Fitday to keep track of their calories and nutritional intake?
I weighed in this morning at 208, down 1 lb from last week.
This weekend, I gave my husband a Wii for his birthday so he could play tennis at home (it runs him all over the living room–he loves it). I also bought him the Wii Fit, and then promptly took it over. I used it last night for practice, and then did a full 45-minute workout on it this morning. It was fun. I did the aerobics, strength training and balance games, but skipped yoga for now. The more you do the more games you unlock. So far I totally suck at the balance games. But it got me sweaty and tired so I guess I got a workout.
Weird question… does anyone else get what for lack of a better term I’ll call “exercise induced depression”?
It isn’t every time I work out. But not infrequently, on my way home from the gym or from a long exercise session, I end up depressed. Physically, I find myself struggling not to break down into tears. Mentally and emotionally, I feel crushed and weighed down for no particular reason. It goes away after a while (I usually exercise in the evening, and it wears off later that evening and is gone by the next morning).
Does this ever happen to anyone else? (I’ve tried to search for something like this - but usually, what I find is about exercise alleviating depression, not triggering it.)
For me it’s almonds or peanut-free mixed nuts. When unpacking groceries, the last thing I do is measure them out into snack-size ziplock bags at 1/4 cup each. It’s about 200 calories, but the protein and fat content means that snack can hold me for several hours. Plus, they’re extremely portable – great for the hiking that I like to do as my primary form of exercise right now.
Speaking of hiking…I was headed out to do a bit of that this weekend, and on a whim, I grabbed an old pair of shorts to wear. Shorts that I haven’t fit into in about a year or more. Shorts that, on that morning fit very well. Damn, but ain’t going down in clothing size a good feeling?
Is your exercise super-strenuous to where you are exhausted at the end? When I am overtired I tend to see things as unsurmountable or a lot worse than they are. Are you hydrated and eating enough to keep your energy up?