Posts by sparkleriot

Cardioke?  That sounds ridiculously awesome! :)

I don't think I can go to the school gym, since I'm not in classes for the summer (can thank budget cuts in Florida for that one...), but I'll be doing stuff there again when I'm back in classes for the fall.  I wish I had a Wii!  I want to get one (and Wii Fit) eventually.  I play guitar hero and ddr old-school-style on my trusty PS2.

I never thought about picking stuff at the local organic farm.  Thanks!

I never really thought about pole/lap/chair dancing either.  The first two would be out, since I don't have a pole or a lap (at least not one I feel comfortable dancing for), but maybe I'll try the chair idea.

Great suggestions!  Thanks!

Without knowing what your typical day of food is like, I don't know that I can offer much help, but here's a list of suggestions:

1)  eggs, eggs, EGGS.  I usually hard-boil them in batches to make them easy to snack on or to boost my protein for a certain meal (usually breakfast, since I'm lazy and like cereal.)

2)  cottage cheese or yogurt, especially the low/no fat kind

3) almonds, peanuts, peanut butter, pumpkin seeds - watch out how many you eat though, since they can be high in salt and calories

4)  meat, tofu, cheese.

5)  barilla plus pasta has way more protein than regular pasta

6)  drink milk or soymilk

7)  use split peas, lentils, and/or soybeans in chili or soup or rice... or snack on edamame (you can find it in the frozen foods section of some stores or at an Asian market).

Helpful links:

http://www.ehow.com/facts_4793915_high-protei n-vegetarian-foods.html

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/ highproteinfood.htm

Hey :)  It's okay, weddingmama.  We all have those times where we just eat like crap.  The best thing you can do... is *not* stress over it.  Stress makes it harder for your body to let go of extra weight, so try not to!

Eating fast food is horrible for you, as we all know.  Don't get stressed, but *do* go back and look up the calories for everything you ate and total it by day, even if it isn't pretty.   *THEN* browse their information for better alternatives that would still satisfy you.  Write down those items for every fast food place you go and keep it on a list in your purse (kind of like making your own "eat this, not that" book). The restaurants you listed are all pretty good about listing their nutritional information on their websites (especially taco bell... they even list their limited time items), so it shouldn't be too hard to track down.  The point of this isn't to guilt you or make you sad or stressed.  The  point of doing this is so that you realize how bad this stuff is for you and to see what you can eat there that won't make you feel horrible after eating it.  Example:  At chick fil a, you can get a cool wrap or garden salad without dressing (or with the fat free honey mustard or light italian) and it clocks in around or under 500 calories with a much better calorie distribution than, say, a chicken sandwich and fries.

With that said, I often don't take my own advice.  Sometimes I'll go light, but yesterday, I got a queso crunchwrap from taco bell.  According to the website, 680 calories, mostly fat and carbs.  At least I *only* got that.  When I do eat crappy, I try to get exercise to even things out.  Despite *REALLY* not wanting to, I went and did resistance training on my upper body and 25 minutes on the elliptical.  If you don't have the time to do that (hence why you're eating fast food, right?) maybe you could take the kids for a walk at a rest stop so you can at least move around some and they can let off some of that steam from being in the car?

The most important thing is that you jump back on this week.  Don't give up just because of one bad weekend.  You and I had similar starting points, and you're about where I am.  Doesn't it feel great to see the scale drop under 170?  I'm at the point where I'm finally consistently under it, I think.  Next goal is to be fully under 165, and weigh as much/less than as my ex-boyfriend.

This weekend wasn't really good for that though.  I ate pretty badly on Saturday and Sunday.  Yesterday I had that crunchwrap, but I don't feel so bad, since I was under maintenance calories for the day.

LW:  168.2

CW:  169.4 (weighed at night though, instead of normal time)

I might repost my weight today if/when I go to the gym.

Anyway, good luck everyone.  Summer's busy, but don't forget to check in!  I envy all of you that get to go on vacations.  I get to move in three weeks (woo.) instead of taking a vacation.

LW:  168.4

CW:  170.2

I'm pretty sure it's the product of water/sodium/stress/depression.  I need to drink more water and watch my sodium intake more.

Sodium intake... challenge idea?

Thanks for the kind words everyone.  I'm sorry I haven't been very active recently.  It's just been hard, and I've been laying low at home and trying to do what I enjoy in down time (like play video games). 

Lots of people had stationary weights this week, but stationary isn't so bad.  Next week you'll probably be down a bit more.  Good luck everyone. :)

Wee I just went to the gym and weighed myself!  I'm down!  By lots!

LW: 170.8

CW: 168.4

After I worked out, I weighed 170.4, but I'm going to attribute that to the 50 oz of water I drank over the course of my workout.  I've been weighing in pre-workout, so I'm stickin' with the lower number.

I forgot to weigh myself at the gym again today, so I guess I'm stickin' with the weigh in posted yesterday.  I tried a japanese persimmon tonight.  They were on sale at Publix, so I picked a couple up.  They're pretty sweet, and they taste okay.... different.  Apparently they are packed with fiber, so that's good :)

It's been really hot here (Florida), too.  Whatever my new/revived activity is, it's going to happen tonight, and it's going to be fun.

 I haven't been logging cals, and I need to keep myself from eating when I don't need to.   Between the car, the (now ex-) boyfriend, organizing a recital for my piano students, school, my other job, and moving arrangements, I'm a little ball of stress right now, which is bad news for my weight-loss journey.  My body likes to hang onto every single calorie when I'm this stressed out.

Congrats to those of you who've completed your challenge objective!  Biking sounds like lots of fun!  I hope to join you soon. :)

Hey guys... Sorry I'm late on weighing in.  My car broke down, so I've been trying to arrange rides and a rental and work and school... and I've been failing miserably with getting it all together today.  I weighed myself at the gym yesterday though (before the car started producing helicopter-like sounds).

LW:  170.6

CW: 170.2

It's so hard to be healthy away from home.  It's even harder when I'm at my boyfriend's.  All he likes to eat is processed stuff and at chain/franchise restaurants.  It drives me nuts!  And he doesn't gain any weight! Sigh.

I think I'm going to play DDR for a warm-up and do some ab-exercises here at home, since I'm stuck here.

If you're that active, don't eat less.  Eat MORE!  Your body gets used to things after a while, so you have to mix it up a little.  I have a job that forces me to sit at a computer for hours upon hours.  So, with all this time, I did some calculations based on your stats (in detail below).

I just put some approximations in the burn meter.  I have no idea how old you are, so I guessed 35 (but i might've overshot that).  I put in your stats and clicked "sedentary", and out popped the number 1900, which is the amount of calories you burn just by sitting on your butt all day.

According to myApex.com (the website my trainer directed me to for calculators)  with the same stats, your resting metabolic rate (the bare minimum your organs and stuff need to function) is about 1650 and your daily caloric needs (like CC's burn meter) for being basically sedentary add up to about 2100.  So, in case you don't trust CC's numbers, there's another website's opinion to give you a ballpark. 

Now let's factor in the fact that you've got three kids (boys, at that!).  That bumps your activity level up to light activity, so let's add on a couple hundred calories to your burn meter... sooo that'll put you around 2100 - 2300 cals per day.  Add in another hundred calories for your walking.  Now we're at 2200 - 2400.  Let's take the average and say that you burn 2300 cals a day.  If you're eating a steady 1600, that gives you a deficit of 700 calories, which is just fine.

*however* when you factor in your Jazzercise, you burn more.  Jazzercise (slimnastics) burns about 400 cals/hour, and Aerobics (high intensity) burns a little over 500 cals/hour (according to CC's activity log... these numbers are approximations, since CC is set for my body and not yours, but it's probably fairly close).  The duration (in hours) of your jazzercise multiplied by 400 or 500 (take your pick) is how many calories you burn from that exercise.

1600 seems like an okay number for regular days.  I suggest that you eat back the calories you burn on the days you do Jazzercise.  That might be enough to get you out of your plateau.  Drink lots of water (if you don't already).  If you're still not feeling a difference in your waist band or on the scale, then you should try bumping your daily consumption to 1800 per day (plus the extra cals you burn from Jazzercise) for a week and then bringing it back down to 1600.  Sometimes your body just needs a jolt.  If you eat 1400 a day instead, you probably won't go into starvation mode, but you might feel kind of drained.

With all that said, I'm not a doctor, and I'm not a trainer.  I'm not a health professional.  I'm just a mathematics major with a really keen interest in nutrition, health, and exercise, so I'm only giving you what I know based on internet forums, articles, research, and some information from my PT.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Hey everyone,

I'm another new person to the group, and I'm glad to be here.  I've always been chubby or fat as far back as probably 1st or 2nd grade.  I slimmed down some in middle school, but I've always been on the big side.  With that said, I also tend to carry my weight pretty well.  I've never even had the temporary willpower for fad diets, so I think the best way to lose weight is definitely through increased movement and exercise and a binge-less diet that keeps me satisfied.  I haven't been too good about the gym this week, but I usually go at least 4 days a week (if not more).  Due to my lack of motivation and time, I made a personal training appointment, which is tomorrow!  I should really be asleep right now!

SW (highest weight):  180ish

CW:  167 (according to Wii Fit this evening, but probably closer to 170 on the gym scale, which is what I'll be going by weekly)

GW: 140ish  (which should put me in a healthy BMI range and get me out of borderline plus-sizey clothes)

If anyone wants a good fiber tip (since that's the goal, according to the first post), Thomas makes light english muffins that are wheat, soft, and 100 cals apiece, *and* they contain about 8 grams of fiber!  Yum!

"Refuse" refers to the parts of the mango you toss in the garbage (the pit and the skin).  So one fruit without the pit and the skin is what you'd log if you peeled, pitted, and ate a mango.  If you cut it up and measured it out, you could log it as an amount like a cup.  If you know the approximate weight, you could log it by its weight.

Hope that helps!  Mangos are tasty (and high in Vitamin C)!

Many people have commented on when and what you're eating, but you mentioned that you feel like you might be eating out of habit.  Habits are hard to break, and sometimes you need to think about things differently (and be doggedly determined) to break them.

I used to work in a restaurant, and my eating times were totally thrown off.  During the busy season, as a server and especially as a cook, it was hard to find time to eat during the entire day (we'd often work doubles).  So when you could eat, you ate.  I developed a mentality that when I can eat, I should be eating. Perhaps you have a similar mentality in between your classes?

Funny, I was on Sprintec (which is like ortho cyclen but genaric) for a month, and they switched me to Yaz, and I feel MUCH better.  I was feeling so sick every day (nausea, digestive-type sick).  This is my first month on Yaz (second month total on the pill), and I feel fine.  I've got another week or so before the blanks.  Hopefully everything will still be smooth sailing.  Different pills have different types and amounts of hormones, so it could just be that interacting with you.  Good luck, and I hope it lets up for you. :)  In another few days, I could be all sobby and reposting, but hopefully not.

It's probably more of an average between the two products.  Tortillas can range from about 90 calories to about 300 (is the highest store-bought I've seen).  It might not have been quite as bad as you think. :)  It must be difficult to count cals without having the nutritional info on the packaging.  I have a hard enough time figuring out stuff from local restaurants and products here....

I'm pretty sure I don't have allergies, and I drink enough water in a day to drown a whale, but those are helpful things to consider.  I think you might be right, killerqueen, I'm just not used to it.  Even when I keep a really slow pace, I get like that.

I pushed myself pretty hard at the gym today, and while I ran out of breath, I recovered quickly.  Whenever I try to go outside, it's much harder tp recover from that.  Last night, I still felt the feeling when I was just hanging out at home browsing CC.