Elly 26 y/o female, 6' tall, start 227, current 161, goal 150

Posts by ellybell

Forum	Topic	Date	Replies

Fitness	Running plus anything else?	Dec 20 2007 20:45 (UTC)	1
Well, I'm a novice runner, but I'm very familiar with athletics, and I can give you some advice on your intervals, but it won't be what you want to hear. Unfortunately, vigorous activity (like running, or rowing, which is where my experience is from) really requires warmup and cooldown periods. I've had the best luck with my own body, and the bodies of my girls (was a crew coach for some time) with no less than a 5 minute warmup and 5 minute cooldown period, not counting stretching afterwards. Any less than that is opening yourself up to injury IMO. Some people get by on less; but I've found that to be roughly the right amount. If you can't give yourself at least 30 minutes straight for running (to get 20 minutes of running in) then I don't recommend running as an activity just because of the potential for injury. HOWEVER! Taking those 3x15 minute exercise breaks for something less dangerous on little to no warmup/cooldown, like elliptical trainer or brisk walking, will do you a lot of good in the fitness department. Anything is better than nothing. When you can give yourself more time to safely do workouts then the types of workouts you can do will expand. Some activities just take longer than others. As for the other question, I personally think weight training is an important part of any fitness regimen, largely from an injury prevention standpoint again. I always scheduled my girls to do it no less than twice a week and made an optional third weekend session (which sadly, few ever took me up on). I myself do a circuit 2x a week after a short run.
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 19 2007 21:56 (UTC)	2,054
Non weight loss related. WHO in the WORLD approves budget stuff -- TODAY -- for funds to be used before calendar year end? They are in for a big surprise if they think I am cancelling plans to spend the time between Christmas and New Years anywhere but at my mom's house with my brother and sister and mom and dad. It's been scheduled since June for heaven's sake. I'll squeeze in everything I can between now and week end, but at 5pm on Friday I have to hit the road, and whatever I'm doing is going to hit the desk without one pen stroke more.
Vegetarian	um...seriously??!!	Dec 19 2007 20:34 (UTC)	1
It's been a long time since we talked about this in high school so maybe I'm insane, but I thought insects (read: bees) didn't have hearts. Or blood for that matter. Or a circulatory system as such. I think they have some pulsing organ which ensures their um, insect-goop (some kind of lymph) flows around their insect-organs some, but I don't think anyone would call it a heart, so to speak. So if honey counts as non-vegan I think the heart argument won't work. Hmm. Wikipedia says I am not insane. Edit: Simplest thing in the world to prove though. Say 'Is it alive?' 'is it a plant?' 'Well if it ain't flora, it's fauna, and I'm not eating it/exploiting it, I only go after things with cell walls.'
Motivation	i HATE water! i just hate it.	Dec 13 2007 20:58 (UTC)	13
A straw in a cup helps me drink it. Maybe I'm a toddler at heart. Also I like my water room temperature, especially when working out. I hate cold water, it gives me a bellyache. That said, I also hate plain water in general - I drink an absurd amount of unsweetened tea and tisanes, mostly decaf but not all, and that's been working out great for me. Long story short, drink your drink, it's too good for you not to.
Foods	Office Eating Rant	Dec 13 2007 19:28 (UTC)	3
This was firmly tongue in cheek, although the suggestions for more professional orange consumption are appreciated. ;) I'm normally one of those 'compulsively-tidy' professional types, which makes it more comical for all my coworkers. I never actually cut it up though, there's something viscerally satisfying about dismantling the orange before eating it. :-D
Fitness	Allergic to sweat?	Dec 13 2007 14:43 (UTC)	12
I can think of a couple possible causes. 1) your skin is sensitive to being wet/oily. Carry a towel IMO. 2) you are eating something you have a dermal allergy to and don't know it, and sweating it out. Make extra sure your diet doesn't have anything funky in it. (Very unlikely) 3) you are using some soap/lotion/skin product that reacts poorly with your sweat/body oils, but not enough to bother you unless there is a lot of it. Try different skin products. Personally, I think 3) is the most likely.
Fitness	SO won't work out with me	Dec 12 2007 20:57 (UTC)	6
Hmm... flagrant bribery! I haven't tried that approach. ;-) I've never been the type to withhold though, so who knows if that will work. And yes, I've only been RUNNING a week, but it's an ongoing problem. I was still working out before I started running, and he still wasn't. It was just that I was very excited about us running together, and so it was that much more disappointing when he refused. That was a good article and really underscores that I have to wait for Sean to be ready to take his health into his own hands. "I had approached his weight gain like any other problem: If I worked hard enough on it, I could make happen what I wanted." Yep, that's me. I'll back off him. I haven't exactly been naggy but I know my disappointment showed when he said no again.
Fitness	SO won't work out with me	Dec 12 2007 17:48 (UTC)	13
Thanks for the support - I know it has to be his decision. It's just so hard to see him putting anything before his health. I love him and I want him to be happy and healthy. I also know I have it in me to be a little bit domineering and you're probably right that I need to just back the h*ll off him a little. I'll try to let him be and lead by example, but as our fitness levels grow further and further apart I know it gets a lot harder for him to start working out with me - because we are both so competitive. I can't manage to take it down to his speed, and he can't manage to tolerate me 'beating' him.
Fitness	Question for people with long hair....	Dec 10 2007 20:55 (UTC)	12
I can highly recommend the bun. I also have very thick hair which has the added frustration of being mercilessly curly, it's the only thing that works for me. I typically end up using 2 big ponytail holders, a fistful of bobby pins, and then wrap a scrunchie around the whole thing to ensure that the bobby pins don't come out. Of course, as a rower I was primarily worried about forward-back motion, and the runner has to deal with up-down motion more. But I CAN say nothing beats a bun for wind.
Fitness	The Lonely Rowing Machine	Dec 10 2007 15:45 (UTC)
I'm a longtime rower too. :) The ergometer (or erg as rowers affectionately call it) is an excellent fitness device, I recently (last year) saved up and bought a brand-new one (they sell the new machines after the crash-b's around here for cheaper). They last forever if you take good care of them. It is an unparalleled full-body workout, but technique is important even on an erg, you CAN hurt yourself on the rowing motion if you are doing it incorrectly, especially in your back and forearms. There's a million websites that detail the stroke and it makes your workout much less boring to hold a technique point in your mind to improve on. Also there are some basic drills you can do that help tremendously. If the machine is in bad shape, you ought to tell the people at the gym. They do need bands replaced sometimes, especially if people leave the handle on the hook instead of up at the wheel. The chain needs maintenance and the seat needs maintenance as well. If you can't read the monitor it neds cleaning and probably new batteries. Hope this helps!
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 07 2007 17:52 (UTC)	2,187
I cut butternut squash into little 1/2" cubes and add about 1/4 that much in apple cubes, then sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over it and bake it until everything is soft (the apple is just about liquefied by the time the squash is done, might add it later if you prefer your apples differently). My boyfriend LOOOOVES it and he grins when I bring home winter squashes. (It works well with fresh pumpkin too.) I've never tried it in the microwave but Molly's cooking techniques make me want to try it!
Fitness	Running Form	Dec 07 2007 14:04 (UTC)
I went and did some reading last night, both of health articles etc and of runner's websites/forums, and the general concensus (with a few vigorous dissenters) was that the Pose method of running was best to avoid injury. (Without buying the literature of both, I think it's the same as chirunning, btw. Similar 'general' statements.) Does anyone use this running form? What have your experiences been with this and other techniques? Is it a technique I can learn right from the start or should I build up some running endurance before I try to learn it, or will that just reinforce my current (untrained) stride habit?
Fitness	Starting Couch to 5K Run...Any Joiners?	Dec 06 2007 18:43 (UTC)	4
My fiancee and I are newbie runners just starting this program. We bought running shoes, we downloaded the podcast, we did Week 1 run 1 together for the first time this morning! I feel great! He has a little further to go so it's a little harder for him, but we finished without complaints. (I'm pretty sure that, being a boy, he'll catch up and pass me pretty quickly.) It's so good to see that a lot of people have succeeded with this program, we will too! Anyone have any suggestions for cardio on the off days? I am a long time rower, they are dissimilar muscle groups, do you think I would be ok alternating with rowing workouts?
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 06 2007 18:33 (UTC)	2,198
Yeah, I run in a super-incredibly-safe neighborhood, so I'm considering just running with music. Even if it cuts down on my environmental awareness, there are parts of my environment I'd rather be less aware of... My fiancee laughed when I complained about this at lunchtime and said 'well, they have to get their digs in while they can, it's not like you'll have an ounce to spare for much longer'. I couldn't stop helplessly giggling over that one. He's not the complimentary type, so I know he meant it as a bald statement of fact, which makes it about 1000 times better. Oooh, I HATE it when the size is wrong on something and it's far too small. Gives me the heebie jeebies like I didn't actually make any progress at all and they were just warping all the mirrors and changing the tags in my clothes.
Fitness	Running Form	Dec 06 2007 17:57 (UTC)	1
Thanks a lot for the input so far! I actually had no idea that the cadence was important, I'll think about that the next time I run. As a rower technique was something that was very important to me, it kept me from getting bored with the repetitive motion to constantly hold in my mind something I could improve upon consciously. I'm actually very pleased to hear that there is a good bit of thought and effort that goes into proper running form. I'll do my own research when I get home from work and post links to anything good I find, too. Seems like every time I ask a simple question there's more to running than I thought there was, hehe... I guess that's what being a true beginner is all about.
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 06 2007 17:32 (UTC)	2,204
OMG is it just a deep south thing? I thought everyone knew about apple/cheddar. We put CHEESE on our PIES here we love it so much. Hmm... you know, this might not be the best place to talk about my favorite ways to eat cheese....
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 06 2007 17:19 (UTC)	2,206
I don't know, maybe kiwi and cheese is better than we give it credit (it does sound pretty gross). You know, kind of like apple/cheddar. Individually tasted, you think no WAY those tastes go together. And yet it's superdelicious.
Motivation	MOLLY'S DIET RANTS! (ranting, raving, motivating & more)	Dec 06 2007 14:40 (UTC)	2,209
Long time lurker, first time poster. I've derived a lot of sympathetic amusement and motivation from this thread, it's wonderful. I'm generally pretty laid back but I finally have a rant to add... People who yell things out their car/truck windows at you while you're running. I'm in that odd phase right now where SOME guys think I have the right amount of fat on me to be 'curvy' and some other guys think I'm still a whale. So when I go for a run, sometimes I get whistles and catcalls (which, if I'm being really honest, are something of a self esteem boost) and sometimes get 'get in the pool shamu' screeches too. I mean seriously, I can understand making rude comments to people making poor health decisions. It's dead wrong, it makes the commenter a bad person, but at least I understand why it happens. Some of those poor, dumb, rude saps might actually think they are helping in some twisted way. But WHY IN THE WORLD would you antagonize a stranger who is CLEARLY trying to DO SOMETHING ABOUT the VERY THING you are mocking them for?!? In my experience everyone has always been super nice and supportive to me when I went to the gym while overweight, almost like they were trying to coax me back in there. No one jeered at me while I struggled on the treadmill there. Why is the sidewalk different? Is it just the avoidance of consequences? You never really know who yelled something dumb out their truck window?
Fitness	Beginner Running Couple with Questions	Dec 06 2007 14:08 (UTC)	1
We went to a Front Line in Knoxville, I ended up with New Balance straight out of the box after trying on a lot of different styles, and my fiancee actually ended up with some Asics and a special insole. In total the shoes and insole ran me $240. The guy who helped us was actually a longtime runner himself and had a lot of starting advice, one piece of which was to go get some slick spandex so as not to, ahem, chafe in bad places. I ended up spending the rest of my budget in workout clothes for both my fiancee and myself, mostly because I work out more if I feel like I look good doing it, maybe I'm weird. Maybe I just like the incoherent comments yelled by rednecks out their windows to be complimentary instead of derogatory. My fiancee was skeptical that the Week One workout I described was a 'real workout', but I think it's really the right place to start for us now, because he had some trouble with it when we did it this morning. No pain afterwards for either one of us though. I think we're going to stick with the program as written, for awhile at least. Thanks for the advice, it helped out a lot when we went out!
Foods	hot tea/tisanes... question!	Dec 05 2007 20:15 (UTC)	2
I actually worked myself up enough that I went ahead and called my doctor about this subject yesterday even though my appointment isn't scheduled for awhile. He said IF I ever got a kidney stone we could revisit the issue then if I wanted, and for now to drink all the tea I wanted, it was harmless. He also (not quite in so many words) told me to stop being so worried about everything, that my health has dramatically improved in the last six months, and that I wasn't going to lose all my hard work for drinking a lot of tea. I felt pretty childish about it which is why I didn't immediately post the issue's conclusion (for me anyway).
Fitness	Calluses	Dec 05 2007 20:09 (UTC)	11
Well, I don't know if your skin is just like mine, but after years of rowing you can't tell my calluses just from looking at my hands. I have a substantial callus pad at the base of the first three fingers of each hand, and the skin on top of the callus is the same texture as the rest of my hand. Now I think you could drive a nail into my hand there and I wouldn't feel it, there's pretty much no sensation there anymore, but it doesn't look or feel bad to other people. This is from holding an oar every day for a couple of hours for about six months though. And my calluses from rowing before weren't completely gone yet when I re-started, and that was a five-year stint. I'm afraid I'll be no help at all in telling you how long it will take for the calluses to completely form.
Fitness	Calluses	Dec 05 2007 19:41 (UTC)	13
As a rower I am INTIMATELY acquainted with calluses on my hands. I can tell you two main things about gloves. The first is that if you are frequently adjusting your grip (I don't know exactly what kind of weights you are doing), they will not help prevent calluses, all they will do is ease discomfort from the roughness of the bars. The second is that they will very likely just end up giving you more blisters as your hands shift inside them. However, there is good news. The first piece of good news is that once they are fully healed and developed, calluses are not crusty or scaly or nasty, they are just thickened areas of skin that should be virtually invisible on your hands. The second piece of good news is that there are things you can do to minimize the calluses you get. Keeping your hands dry (tough when you're sweating, I know) with a small hand towel will help some with callus development. The second thing you can do is try not to choose exercises that require a lot of grip adjustment. If your hand isn't sliding on the bar, your calluses will not be as tough.
Foods	Sugar addiction?	Dec 05 2007 15:12 (UTC)
I have this same problem. What I ended up doing was fairly drastic, though. I replaced all sweet tasting things (except fresh fruit) with something that tasted dramatically different. Diet soda became unsweeted hot tea, breakfast cereal became smoked-salmon onigiri (rice balls) etc etc. I doubt everyone has to do it cold-turkey like I did, where you NEVER eat anything sweet save for fresh fruit, but it's the only way that worked for ME. It took almost two months for the cravings for sweet junky things to stop. I just have no control if I take that first bite. I never got to the 'sweets disgust me' stage, but I can look at a cookie/cake/candy with indifference now at least.
Fitness	Beginner Running Couple with Questions	Dec 05 2007 14:21 (UTC)	5
Wow, thanks for the replies! I've never gone to a specialty running store or even heard of this gait analysis thing, but we'll go out and take a look tonight. I'll definitely look into the Nike shoes, I had heard Nike was mostly for fashion (high price, low quality) and had mentally ruled them out, I'm interested in a good account of them and I'll put them back on the maybe list. I think couch to 5k may start out a little too soft for us. I did the Week One workout yesterday (in my old trashy worn out shoes) and didn't even feel it, but I don't know how my fiancee would do on it, he hasn't been seriously working out for some time. We may end up adjusting but it's good to know there's something to use to ease into running if needed. Since I'm a rower I've never worn out the actual tread on a shoe, I always crush the cushioning dead before I wear it out on the tread. I guess it makes sense that if I'm actually running on it for my workout instead of leaving it sitting on the dock then you see the wear in the tread. That makes it easier. My current shoes don't look worn out but they are (I've had them nearly 3 years).
Foods	I work in a bakery and its ruining my life haha.	Dec 04 2007 21:30 (UTC)	13
I worked in a bakery for one summer. The only thing I found that kept my mind off the goodies was music, we actually weren't ALLOWED to chew gum. (I guess they were afriad we would drop it in the dough or something, who knows.) I was all alone in the back singing to the yeast bread all through the early morning. :) I can't carry a tune if you wrapped it up nice and put it in a bucket, so my boss made me stop when the customers started coming in of a morning, but everyone was pretty good-natured about it. You can't sing with your mouth full of bread!
Foods	hot tea/tisanes... question!	Dec 04 2007 20:15 (UTC)	5
That's interesting that you bring up the diuretic effect, royalldybg, because my understanding was that for tea it was due to theophylline/theobromine (the "caffeine" in tea) content which is absent from most of the tisanes and all of the 'decaffeininated' teas I drink. Also, my understanding was that the dose of the diuretic was such that in total, you end up more hydrated from drinking tea (i.e., the liquid absorbed is significantly more than the liquid lost). I admit to being a wikipedia scholar on this, my degree is in engineering, however. :) Also, while I appreciate the advice on the Crystal Light, I really can't eat/drink anything sweet at all. It just makes me want more sweet things, I binged regularly on such things prior to my dietary recasting. I really have little to no control over myself, even with artificial sweeteners. I've had nothing sweet-tasting in about six months, and I've replaced it mostly with umami. Personal quirk. I'm scheduled for my yearly checkup (shudder) in about two weeks, I'll definitely bring it up to my doctor. I'm pretty sure he'll be so weepingly pleased at my weight loss and kicking the soda habit that he wouldn't care if I did it with the blood of unborn children, so I'm not sure I'll get much more response than 'keep doing whatever you're doing'.
Foods	hot tea/tisanes... question!	Dec 04 2007 18:21 (UTC)	8
::sigh:: I had really hoped the replies wouldn't be 'well drink more plain water', as I really hate it and need it to taste like something, anything, even something bad (I'm the weirdo who likes those bitter tisanes.). I suppose there's no help for it, thanks for the input. I've noticed no ill effects other than the recent thirst, but I've chatted with my coworkers and apparently it's not news that the office is dry as a bone and everyone is thirsty. It's funny how we can immediately pick up on a temperature change of just a few degrees, but we're oblivious to the humidity until our membranes demand more liquid.
Vegetarian	What is your favorite vegetarian meal??	Jun 15 2007 18:14 (UTC)	8
I make onigiri just like this lady. The only hard part is finding medium or short grain rice. Long grain rice doesn't work very well and it's hard to get ahold of the others here at least. I use any old vegetable curry for the filling, or any savory dinner stew I make. I also fill with just chopped vegetables, yellow saffron rice, egg salad, etc etc.
Vegetarian	What is your favorite vegetarian meal??	Jun 15 2007 13:58 (UTC)	10
My very favorite lunch is onigiri (Japanese rice balls) stuffed with vegetable curry. I bought a couple of onigiri molds to make those triangular rice balls, that made the filled ones much easier to make. I find having a carb-heavy lunch wards off the three o'clock doldrums. If I load up on protein or greens then I am dragging by three. That might just be my own quirk though! For dinner my favorite is skewers of pan-sauteed tofu, roasted carrots and sweet potato, and steamed broccoli and drizzle a sweetish ginger-soy sauce over it sparingly. I serve that with rice too, I eat too much rice. I can get my boyfriend to eat this one, but I think he would eat shoes off of skewers, he's such a kid. :-)
Weight Loss	what do you guys think of diet sodas?	Jun 15 2007 13:27 (UTC)	39
Do your own research on aspartame if you are concerned, and weight your sources according to credibility. The article posted (like so many other internet articles) is very suspect - even if there is good information in there, it is mixed in with some out and out lies. The 'terrible compounds aspartame supposedly breaks down into' section is particularly amusing. That said, like everything else, artificial sweeteners should be taken in moderation. Different people have different reactions to them (like most chemicals). I wouldn't drink more than one a day in any case. I am not an aspartame activist by any means, but it is not the demon that many would have you believe. I personally keep diet sodas and have them as a treat when I really crave something sweet. It's better to drink a diet Dr. Pepper than eat an ice-cream or a chocolate and if you eat few enough sweets they can fill that niche.

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