Posts by krissteinbauer

I've had the Sportline (think it's model 910?) for about a year now and I love it.  It matches the heart-rate on the good machines at work within 1-2 beats per minute every time.  Only when working HARD have I had to slow down to check heart rate - it does fine on walks but not always on runs.  Works great on elliptical also.  Paid about $70 at Target for it.  Don't know about battery changes, sure LOOKS like I could unscrew the back and replace it myself.

You can also try searching for the activity - I work as a cashier and stand the entire day at work, sometimes walking, carrying, etc.  I use the "standing, filing" option for my work hours - and burned 1200 calories today at work!

Another option is to invest in a heart-rate monitor watch.  I bought mine at Target for about $70.  It has a stopwatch function, and I can press a button to get my heartrate.  I can set it to monitor calorie burn over a period of time, checking heart rate occasionally to keep it accurate.  So far I haven't tried wearing it to work - it gets so busy I wouldn't remember to check heart rate - but have used it at the gym and compared the numbers to the information given by the exercise machines and it is right on!

Happy New Year!  Finally back on the logging bandwagon.  Stopped logging at Thanksgiving and started again this week.  Weighed in at Jenny Craig on Tuesday and got my official half-way photos done weighing 230 (down 50 pounds).  My counselor gave me my before and half-way photos to post on the web (I have to give them back).  I did NOT see myself that heavy when I looked in the mirror!  Official Calorie Count weigh in isn't until tomorrow, but I start a new job after 5 months of unemployment tomorrow so thought I'd make this offer today:

I am ready to let go of the size 18 ultra-tall jeans and slacks.  Free to good home (you pay the postage).  If anyone can use them, I have black, black pinstripe, brown and 2 pair of tan slacks; two funky shades of green cords (they say 16 but they lie); light and dark blue jeans and a pair of faded black blue jeans.  My 16s are starting to have some wiggle room and with my "before" picture posted EVERYWHERE to remind me NEVER to do that again, I don't need to hang on to these anymore.  They are all from JC Penney - most are St. John's Bay - and I hate to donate ultra-tall pants since it is so hard to find the length in the first place.  If you want them, let me know!

Kris

Original Post by silentdeadlyrose:

The episode isn't over yet, but lets just say I just developed a massive crush on Bob Harper in his 80's wear. LMAO!

 Who else remembers going to Jazzercise class dressed like that?  What an OMG moment - I had the Jane Fonda Buns of Steel workout, the Suzanne Summers thighmaster, the leg warmers - still have (and use) the Jazzercise tape.  What a blast from the past!  Don't think anybody got warm fuzzies about "retro" with that look!

In 2005 I did the Atkins diet and lost 67 pounds, but gained it all back (and then some) when my husband returned from Iraq, retired from the Army and did all the cooking for several months.  He couldn't understand that I couldn't eat all that fried/fatty food and was insulted if I turned down something he cooked.  Now he knows the choice is eat that way & look that way, or eat healthier and look hot!  I still am following a modified version (which is closer to South Beach than Atkins) but mainly trying to keep below 25% fat, around 25% protein, and less than 50% carbs - with Volumetrics (eating loads of veggies to bulk out the diet and keep me from over-indulging on less healthy foods).  One big no-no for me is to forbid myself from eating any particular food - I can eat anything in the world as long as I have worked off the calories BEFORE I eat it.  Usually I skip the high-calorie treats after having worked for them, and go for either a much smaller portion of what I was working for, or something better for my body.

Know what you mean, Dawn - I have been out of work since August so don't have the temptation of leftover candy at the office, but I did buy a truckload of candy at Wal-Mart today at 75% off.  I even bought the kinds I like.  Since I am not currently working but am doing an on-line medical transcription course which I can do at my own pace, whenever I want to study, I go for 1-2 hour workouts during the day, and have the ability to "finish off" my calories to reach the 1,000 calorie deficit at the end of the day.  I have noticed, however, that if I allow myself to eat candy - even if I am well within the deficit - that I have a tendency to stall my weight loss.  Don't know what makes those calories so different, but they sure are!  I won't eat anything that I don't have the calorie count for ahead of time (no surprises, thank you very much) and won't eat calories I haven't ALREADY burned off. 

Went to Red Lobster with my husband to celebrate the anniversary of the day we met 27 years ago, knowing I had 1,200 calories left before my 1,000 calorie deficit and was dissapointed that the only foods they have nutrition information available for are the ones on the Lighthouse Menu, which is posted on their website as well.  I left there with another 500 calories available, and would have loved to share a dessert with him but they don't list what the desserts "cost" calorie-wise, and the cake looks like 1,000 - 1,200 calories to me!  Someone said the law had passed and restaurants would be required to list nutritional info for all items on the menu by the end of next year, but I don't have confirmation.  Does anybody know?

Meg, I can't be anything other than an omnivore - if I try to skip any particular type of food that I like it becomes a huge craving which I will eventually give in to and binge - if I allow myself to eat ANYTHING as long as I have worked it off FIRST (I don't trust myself to work it off once I've eaten it) I generally either lose the craving, or am satisfied with just a taste of the treat.

Ooh, the thigh gap thing!  Yes!  Being able to walk or elliptical or whatever in shorts without having the shorts ride up due to thigh rub!  TOTALLY great goal!

I agree with UD - I like the weight control oatmeal, add 1/4 cup of plain quick oats, also add 1 scoop (2 tablespoons) of ground cold milled golden flax seeds and 1/4 cup of raisins.  Makes a big bowl of breakfast for 453 calories, and I generally eat around 2,000 per day to stay within the appropriate calorie deficit.

What a bummer - in spite of workouts and water, only lost 0.2 pounds this week.  Took all the leftover Halloween candy (I didn't eat any of it) to the comedy club and gave it away last night.

Has anyone else noticed that a calorie is not a calorie?  If I add sweets in to my calorie count I seem to stop losing.  I was at 1,000 calorie deficit every day this week, but with 1-2 hour workouts my burn meter has been at 3,000 or higher each day.  If I eat some of those extra calories in sweet treats (caramel corn, for example) I end up with a week of 0.2.  Is it just me?

Kris

OK this one is strange, but I wanted to be able to wear my cell phone on my waist without it digging into the belly instead of having to wear it on my pocket where it would fall off quite often - sure feels good to have it on my belt (and be able to wear a belt).

Other mini goal is to get a pedicure after losing 20 pounds - I've had two already.  15 pounds til the next one.

Not-so-mini goal was to loose the extra "boobs" that hang out from above the bra just below/behind my arms.  Those have shrunk, but are still hanging there.  Back fat disgusts me more than belly fat - and I have plenty of both at this point.  Getting better, though.

Welcome, Joe!

Congratulations on the progress so far.  My best thought is to increase your activity.  The last few pounds are always the hardest, but if you continue to eat correctly and add some more exercise you can tone up what you have. 

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calc ulator.htm

This links to a site that gives advice on zigzagging - calorie switching, whatever you want to call it.  I haven't hit a plateau yet this time around, but found the link through this site.  It suggests eating patterns to break a plateau and get your body losing again.

As a teenage guy, you might just need to tone up and grow into yourself!  I have three sons ages 17, 19, and 21 and none of them are done growing yet.  Good for you that you are learning to take control of your body and lifestyle at an early age.  Keep up the good work!

My HRM is usually pretty accurate, I think - hard to know what to believe.  If both are set for your gender and weight, I would be safe and take an average of the two readings.  The machines are not terribly accurate but I don't want to trust my HRM to be the accurate one and then end up eating too much.

I make a protein smoothie http://caloriecount.about.com/protein-smoothi e-recipe-r147691 that has 409 calories but you could easily make half a recipe at a time.  I use it for my mid-morning meal on days that I work out (1-2 hours).  Another favorite option is a breakfast casserole.  Mine makes a 9 x 13 pan (but it freezes nicely in individual portions).  Here's the recipe:

1 package Grands biscuits, reduced-fat; 1 pound turkey sausage; 1 cup shredded cheese; 16 eggs.

Preheat oven to 350.  Fry sausage until brown.  Layer biscuits on the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan - I pull each biscuit apart in the middle of the layers - and press to cover.  Layer with crumbled sausage and cheese.  Season to taste with garlic, onion, salt, pepper.  Scramble eggs and pour over crust.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until eggs are set in the center.  Makes 16 servings: 256 calories, 18 g. fat, 7.5 g sat. fat, 225 cholesterol, 468 sodium, 7 carbs, 1.4 sugar, 16 protein, 15% vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 26% calcium, 17% iron.

I make this nearly every weekend (I have 4 men to feed).

Another user supplied this recipe for a home-made version of the egg mcmuffin.  Also freezes well so you can make them up on your day off and just pop one in the microwave before heading to work.

http://caloriecount.about.com/fat-free-cheese -egg-mcmuffin-recipe-r125853

Any breakfast with higher protein will stay with you longer.  Considering that you don't have much time to eat during the day and are on your feet all day, I would spend a LOT more calories on breakfast and let dinner be the light meal of the day.  Breakfast like a king, lunch like an average citizen, dinner like a pauper!

Try adding essential Omega oils to your diet.  I take them in supplement form from GNC.  3 caplets per day in addition to eating fish and using flax seeds with breakfast every morning.  The oils leave my skin so soft I don't use lotions anymore, other than on hands and feet.  I live in the high desert of Colorado, where it is REALLY dry all year round - and once winter hits and the furnace kicks in I used to crack and bleed I was so dry.  Before I started taking oils regularly, I would use Petro-Carbo salve from the Watkins company (Watkinsonline.com).  It is an old farm remedy that my grandma used back in Minnesota, but they have refined the petroleum jelly now so it is no longer pitch black.  Has a carbolic acid in a petroleum base which moisturizes and has an analgesic effect as well. 

Different scales will do that.  I had a scale we used for years, then bought one that measures body fat as well - my husband wanted me to get the old one back since the new one "lies".  The new one, however, matches what i weigh on the professional scale at the gym, as well as the professional scale at the Jenny Craig office.

I would choose the new scale.  If you originally weighed in using the Taylor scale and want your actual weight loss reflected on this site, go back to your profile and edit your starting weight to add in the 4 pound difference for changing scales.  (I wouldn't want to give up 4 pounds lost - it's a psychological defeat!)

Good to chat with someone who could teeter-totter successfully with me - I weighed 236 this morning (and for me that is a celebration).

Kris