Posts by nightc1

cellophane_star, very interesting response from that trainer.  I personally prefer going outside for running/walking exercise.   I, like that trainer, like that I'm doing something that has real world benefit... and running is a good defensive ability to have.

Save the money you'd spend on pills and buy a heart rate monitor.   This will benefit you much more in calculating calories burned than the possibility you may burn a few extra calories a day from a pill (or probably not).

As was said, all the work for losing weight is in your hands... you have to get out and exercise and count those calories.   Even the pill bottles say that they only work with proper diet and exercise... which is really all you need to begin with.

You know trhawley, you bring up some good points.  I mean, on people flying planes there's this whole thing with the eye.  As good as the eye is it's very limited in distance focusing, limited area possible to focus on, and even with good perpheral vision we are susceptable to objects from the side (like other planes).  It's amazing people built machines to fly and actually were able to pilot them before modern aviation instrumentation.  Add to that the amount of G's fighter pilots need to endure... it's just amazing how the body can do these things that it really shouldn't be able to do.   Like floating in space with out gravity.  WE were not designed for that yet we can survive without gravity... with certain exercises and whatnot added in.

I think the no-gravity side of things is probably the most convincing thing we aren't designed to do.  We were more designed to run than to float around in space.

No

Don't worry about it... it's ok and sometimes good to have one day where you eat extra. 

I like the idea of a horrible picture on the fridge.  Maybe also don't buy bad food so that when you do look for something to munch you can grab something healthy that won't affect your diet if you over indulge.   I like grapes, bananas, popcorn, and homemade oatmeal cookies as ways to avoid junk food.  Since I have a wife and 3 kids there's no way I'm going to get away from bad foods... and even with people it's only up to me to make the right choices of what to eat.  You need to sit back and reflect on your weight... and why you wanted to change to begin with.  Maybe put a weight chart on your fridge to challenge yourself and to keep the reminder there of the progress you have made... just start over.  There's no sense in dwelling on the past mistakes.  Try to focus on doing it right this time around.

I"m on try #2 after failing and backtracking... I don't want to be fat anymore.  Do you?

Add to all that... rapidly taking off weight is a good way to end up with a lot of excess skin.

$500,000.00 ... I don't know... that would pay off every debt (including the house) I have and put plenty in the bank for the kids college funds.

Just saying, that's a lot of money.  I wouldn't want to mess up my metabolism doing that but in these times... it would be tempting.

Anyway, the stuff on TBL is a crock.  It's a setup to destroy the person's metabolism.  Luckily though with some work these people could recover if they weren't so reignforced by doctors saying it's ok to eat so little and over work out.

I personally find that if I rely on others around me for motivation that I'm liable to do nothing.  You have to spend some time in front of the mirror... looking at pictures... thinking about how you would like to be.  It's good you are motivated atleast enough to want to find out some exercises.  I think what is suggested here is great.  I personally found the Learn to Run thread here (search, it should pop up) was a great help in getting me out to exercise with a goal in mind (to go from non-runner to being able to run a 5K non-stop ).   Sometimes getting away from everyone else and the negative influences can help.

Right now I'm getting back into the swing of things with running and exercise for my weight loss and overall health.  Helping me out is giving in to a few indulgences... I needed some new music to run to as I've been getting away from the negative influences found in much of todays mainstream music and so I bought the new tobyMac album last night... ripped MP3's and loaded up my MP3 player.   That's something I can take a little control over... it helps clear up the ole brainbox to remember things much more important and atleast if I've got a song stuck in there it's not something negative.

As for the not doing the same routine day after day... I don't completely agree with that.  It's ok to do the same thing day after day... but only if you change up the routine after several weeks or once a month.   I find the month thing works fine for me... I've lost plenty of weight doing that.   It doesn' t mean that I don't change anything up... but I stick to a pattern of running certain days and weight lifting others and though I may up my intensity or weights... I'm doing the same basic routine.  Then the next month maybe I don't run at all and I ride my bicycle, jumprope, hike or something else and I change up the weight lifting side to more pushups, pullups, crunches... etc.   People here say stuff about building muscle while losing weight and others here say it's impossible to build new muscle.  It's crazy.   I find overall running burns more calories in less time than weight lifting.  Weight lifting is a good help to make your existing muscles stronger but you can only do so much weight lifting before you've targetted so many muscles that everything else you do is ineffective for the target group.  So, I'm not saying it's bad or anything... no, it's actually really good to do but you don't burn more calories doing that versus running, jumprope, stairs, or something else high intensity.... and there's only so much you can do that's effective in one weight lifting session while losing weight.

Given what you want to do... I'd change to something like:

M: Weights (30min), Run (45min)

T: Rest

W: Weights (30min), Run (45min)

T: Yoga (1.5hrs)

F: Weights (30min), Run (45min)

This cuts down the time by just under 2 hours for the week (plus one day is now an off day).  Since you walk run, I think it would be better to up that and cut out the overall long walks.

Just my view.  I don't know your goals, weight, ..etc... or I'd tailor it more.

"Men seem to have the luxury of eating a lot more than we can and not gain. Thats just how it goes."

I was like that in college but the year before graduation and every year there after it hasn't worked out that way for me.   Then again my more sports oriented lifestyle and job where I stood the whole time changed to a behind the desk one... so it's a trade off.

Given what you are doing, and yet you aren't losing weight... is it that you aren't eating enough calories and getting enough sleep?

There's another often overlooked thing about eatting too little, it messes with the chemicals in the brain.   This often leads to depression, an ed, and an even worse self image regardless of how much weight is lost.   And to top it off, yes it will kill your metabolism which in turn will make it to where when you do start eating normal you will put weight on (people vary though at how well their bodies rebound but they do tend to rebound at some point back to a more normal state).

The reason this is a near one size fits all?  We were designed this way.   It may not be a perfect fit that 1200 is the magic number, but it is a fairly conservative number that helps protect MOST women (because the number is 1500 for men) from undereating.   You may find 1250 is your magic number.

As with food, water is the same thing.   If you don't drink enough water a day then your body will conserve what little water it gets.   It's a sort of starvation mode for water.  Your body is fighting back and as a consequense you can put on water weight.   Luckily this is pretty easy to correct by just increasing water consumption (not softdrinks... standard H2O).

And as someone else said, you hear this so much and it is the same basic story from person to person because we've all been there... trying to learn and nicely there were articles and people to inform.   Thankfully there were great people willing to help with a problem they too have had to deal with.  This is why so many of us that have been here tend to stick around.  Even those that reach their goals will stick around just to help keep some that for some reason (most likely failed past diets that were fads and not about a real change in the way you eat and live your life) have a hard time believing.

Hmmm... maybe I should have said "Maximum Recommended Heart Rate".   IF I go over it, it's not a good feeling.  Certainly I can go over it but there are consequences.  No heart attacks yet but it can be quite painful.

So I'll revise and say... Maximum Recommended Heart Rate.... or a "healthy limit".

My hrm uses a different formula for computing heart rate %'s.   First I get my resting heartrate by taking a measurement in the morning.  Currently that is set at 63bpm.   I put in my weight as well (though I think it is only used to compute calories.   I believe my max is currently lower than 220-age.  And my hrm has me pretty convinced it knows my max pretty well as anytime I go over it I feel it shortly after (light headed... seeing spots... something like that will happen).

So the easiest way IMO... use an HRM.  It is an investment but mine was under $50 (I think) from Walmart (it's a MioSport).   There are fancier ones that have cheststraps that I would suspect to be more accurate, but they are pricier too.

A Diet is what you eat not a temporary thing just for weightloss.  You need to make this a life long commitment.  Not a "till I get to a certain weight" kind of thing.  There was a size you used to be and something that made you wake up and look in the mirror... to really look in the mirror and see what was wrong and you went to such great lengths to get here.  So you slumped for a while, get back to it... make life changes so when you get to your target it will be easier to maintain.

Imagine if this were debt you were trying to get rid of.  Say you started out with 10K in debt and you paid it down to 2K... but then decided you had done so well that it was ok to charge some expensive stuff.  An extra 1K to pay off isn't that much.   See, that's the wrong attitude.  Financial or weight... it's got to be a commitment for more than just till this situation is over.

You have it in you to do the right thing for your health.

Original Post by dave98z3:

 I even provided a full listing of calorie, nutrition, fat, carb, sugar etc intake (daily intake) to prove stupid things like I wasnt eating any carbs....or I dont eat any fat....or I starve myself...I invited family and friends to sit down with me and eat one meal (just one) that I would eat that day to prove they were wrong....some walked away with how and where are you putting ALL that food...and others....said stupid comments (yeah but thats all healthy for you - and you are exercising) that make you go uhhh yeah DUH???  I finally conceded and said let them believe what they want to believe.

Yeah, there's nothing more to be done but laugh.  I mean, seriously... a hearty laugh.  Eventually someone will catch on... but it'll probably be after having some major health complication.  Sometimes it's those worst times in life that make a person wake up and realize all the wrong things they've been eating or doing and the consequences that go along with it.