Posts by clok1966

biking (and staying very busy so I didnt snack) where key for me. One big thing I noticed is the differnece in bikes. My friend bought a "fancy" bike (im useing a walmart bike). My bike at 12-14MPH will make you work and then some (mountian bike) even on level road. His bike (a bike made for speed and pavement) will go 15+ and I never even break a sweat. his bike is alot lighter then mine also (but that wont make to much differnce for plain old riding. When we swapped bikes i was convinced i wanted the "easier" bike .. till I thouhgt about it, i was doing it for excersise... so easy wasnt waht i wanted.

During Winter I got a stationary bike. I will admit it was another wallmart one, cheap.. I have a calorie and speedometer on all my bikes.. the road bikes (the feinds easy one and my hard one) all read about the same calories per mile..but I can tell you I'm working alot harder on the Mountian Bike. The Stationary reads when i adjust it to about the same tenstion as my mountian bike (no science, just a feel). The sationary read even more calories...

So I cant say there is any real way to know. use the guides, they all match the easy bike pretty close as far as i can tell.

one thing i will say, in winter riding the stationary, it seems 100% harder to do, not the actual peddeling, just sitting with nothing to look at ... man is it boring compared ot outside.

Any step to eating healthy (most "systems" require this) is a good one. But as a "I will try anything" person (and a internet addict) i read about them all. ALLI can rightfully claim it helps lose weight. The average weigth loss on people who used ALLI over a year was 4 lbs (per 3 studies  that ALLI lists so so they can advertise that- Google can be so helpfull). So if that holds true and you stick to the plan you should lose 30 lbs in 7.5 years. I hate to be negative, loseing wieght is already so dang hard, any help (pill, system, support) should be considered a step in the right direction.  I guess all i would say is TRY it, see if it works for you (no two of us are alike). If you are prepared for the known side effect and it works, maybe its worth it. Personally after 4 or 5 systems, i found the one that worked for me. UGH, healthy eating, counting calories like they where money and my life depended on them, minumium of 30 minutes a day on cardio (most days 1 hour) and not falling off the wagon EVER! it was dang hard for about 2-3 weeks, and slowly got easier.. BUT i have since fell off the wagon some... (40 gone in one summer, 7 back in 3 years).. i'm on a reboot as we speak... and I'm failing ..... cant keep away from pizza!

Almost the exact same story as me. I started here at 40, and 240 pounds, i had tried alot of stuff and didnt get very far. happy to say im 42 now and 200, but unhappy to say the first 40 all came off in one summer, and I have just been maintaning the last year and half. Actually gaind and lost about 5 pounds several times (not good).  My trick (if you call it that) was the old standby. I started eating 600 less calories then my stated maintain level. I watched and counted um like they where money. I then started riding bike, that first month was heck... But again did it every day. Exercise everyday of some form is very important in my mind. And the LIFESTYLE change, its just true. You have to start eating better, fruit, veggies, etc.. One thing I will add, i had a really hard time (impossible almost) sticking with it all to start. I found I made a list of all the stuff I needed to do, even made up some busy work. So after I got home from work ( the money making kind) i had my supper, and got to my list. I made sure I was kept busy for 2-3 hours ever night away from food and snacks. Did my bike ride, and soon there was a tired person, watching a little TV or doing something fun, then bed. I found it simple to not snack then. So my advice, stay busy so you wont be sitting in front of tv for 3-4 hours thining about a snack.  GOOD LUCK, its hard, but if you really stick to it for a month YOU WILL SEE BIG resaults.

I think the reason so many get "excited" about any diet that premotes not eating is the INTERNET. People think most anything they read on a somewhat Oficial looking page is correct and real (no this is not a knock on the OP, its a knock on people and the internet). People dont use common sence anymore, if its in print its OK, or alwasy right (its not). I have been here for a couple years and honestly credit it as helping me lose the weigth i have. I am one who likes to read all the ideas, hear all sides.  So many here think we all have the same exact body and the "standard" will alwasy work. Its just not the case. Some people can eat 3000+ a day and not gain, some can eat 1800 and gain (both are the extremes). All the knowledge here is a GUIDELINE most of us can use, and any drastic changes (less calories or fasting) should all be done when you have consulted a DOCTOR.

I myslef have read the studies on mice, very interesting. They have some studies on monks who do fasting somelace too (sorry goggle didnt help me so I have no links). The ones I read had some facts on nutrition also. there was some coralation that fasting had some longer life benafits. I cant remeber exactly but I think there was something about them all being at healthy wieghts, eating well balanced diets and active too (the last three might have been all it took to live longer). But the fasting did not seem to hurt them.

The one thing i see as flawed here (opinion only), if skipping a day, but then eating what you want works, why wouldnt the standard "eat correct amount and healthy"work?  All you are doing is cutting your calories down, So would you eat 1800 on your on days then? or 3000? Wouldnt just cutting back a few more calories on normal days do the same? Or is it all about the 24 hours without food, is there some benafit that your body is suposed to gain from this? I can see this working for some possibly, a very few. I sure wouldnt try it untill it was a last resort so to speak. Again, I know sometimes the "correct way" doesnt work for people. But working in an office full of dieters who all say "I cant lose, but I eat right and not to much!" then seeing them eat a good meal on monday, tuesday, then on wednesday eating Mcdonalds, thursday good meal, friday Burgerking, etc, can only imagine waht they do at night.. Most just simply DONT follow the rules. I myslef had this problem, I ate what I was assuming was correct, but when I FINALLY wrote very scrap of food down, i found my 1500 calories soon turned into closer to 2200+ hence i didnt lose and didnt gain. In my opinion this is the #1 reason people dont lose. Assuming you sorta guess what you are eating just wont work. A simple sandwhich, bread chease, meat, butter, all adds up really fast! (opps this is off track).

If somebody actually tries this (and consults a doctor!!!!!) i would be interested in the results. Again, i think it would be close to impossible for me, If i miss my meger breakfast I almost always break down and eat a snack before lunch. I cant see anyway i could make a full day.

If you are talking about the one on your homepage on this site i can explaine (I think). Its main number (little one on top) is the calories you would normally burn in a full day. This number is taken from the info you fill in (hieght/weight, lifestyle/age, etc). The large number is the calories estimated that you would have burned at the time the page refreshes. So if you are a 2200 calorie a day person, if at noon you looked at it it should be roughly in the 800-1000 range as that is a guess on how much the average person would have burned by that time of day.

Its really just a very rough guage to look at and compare to your eat meter. That help?

Now this might be slightly discourageing, but its not ment to be. I started about the 240 range, and am now about 190 and while i never really felt they where man boobs, they where not waht i would like. I would say they have disappered some, and are very noticbley less then they where, but still there. I do think as you make progress (you have made HUGE progress!!!) your idea of waht is ok/not ok, larege/ not large, etc changes.. I know i have changed size and am much better/slimmer then before but as time goes on i look at myslef now and know i need to do more so they may seem worse/larger/ wahtever then they are.  They do go down, they do improve, and i would hazzard to say you have improved greatly, its just now you want more.. keep at it.. the first 50 where easy for me, it the last 30 (if i get that far) that are tough.. I thouhgt this was all easy, i dropped 40 in no time, now its been a year for the last 10.. but if i keep on track, heck 10 a year.. Im good.

Clok

Walmart, target, all those major stores that sell bikes should have the $15 (or so) bike computers, pretty easy to set up and use. How acurate I dont know but they are a great motivator i must agree. I swear by bike riding, I lost 40lbs last summer bike riding (and calorie counting) and stalled all winter, now I'm back on bike (ya I slacked 3 monhts of summer) but in last month have dropped about 10lbs again (sounds like alot for a month, but i lost 14 the first month of bike riding last year, then is slows down alot). I recomend it...best advice i can give, start out slow, I thought i was going to die the first few bike rides, but it got better pretty fast. Also, dont be afraid to hit the bike store and get a wider seat (my butt was something awfull sore till i got one, and then it was still a bit tough (but much better) now its great, never bothers me at all.. Sorry for the long post but I LOVE MY BIKING!