Weight Loss Support

[shyguy]

Sorry to say I fell right of the wagon a few weeks ago. was a bit down, and started eating chocolate, and been meaning to cut it out again since, but always tomorrow. All the weightloss is undone, and back where I started Just building up willpower again, wil post here when I do.

[sscotty727]

Shyguy, Don't get down on yourself. Today is a new start. I just did 10,500 steps. Since I have to go back out of town for the month of October, my goal is to be back on track and be back in shape by November 1st. Pick yourself up and let's go! Scotty PS: Go rent the movie Super-Size Me for incentive!

[Fog]

Five years ago I was just over 10 stone, 142 lbs about 65kg, and could do 100 miles on my bike on a Sunday without too much trouble. Now I'm 12 and a half stone, 175 lbs and 79Kg, I ride my bike to the station. So it's high time to do something about it. Mrs. F and I have got a diet challenge going. The one who loses the most weight (I won't tell you hers - that wouldn't be gentlemanly - only to say she's dropped 10 dress sizes in three years - all credit to her. I couldn't believe it seeing her in her size 22 jeans. There are prizes to be got. If I win I get to wear whatever heels I want on our Christmas holiday to the French Alps, if she wins she gets a kitten. I have to prevent that happening!!! So far I'm 1Kg in the lead, so far so good. I'll keep you posted.

[sscotty727]

Ok, I got WAAAAYYYYYY out of my workout routine. I have regained weight, tired and sluggish and out of breath. It is time to get back into it and STICK to it this time. A co-worker mentioned to me that he and I are alot alike and a friend gave him this advice. I am the kind of person that I either have perfection or I have nothing. Once I missed a few workouts, I let everything fall apart. When I can't do a full workout, I do none. Well, I am going to end that. I will miss from time to time, but I won't let it derail me. If I miss a night here or there, I will just get back to it. When I can't do a full workout, then even a small workout will do. Today I started again with 30mins walking at work. I am going to try for 30mins everyday at work, however I need to realize I will miss now and then. If and when I miss, I will just get into it the next day. Another thing I am going to try to do, if I can wake up 30mins earlier, I can do 20mins of walking in place in the morning BEFORE going to work. If I am able to get into that, I can set the tone for the day PLUS start the fat burning. Anyway, I will keep you posted to my progress. Scotty

[sscotty727]

Ok, bumping this thread back up again. I REALLY need to get back into this. The extra weight is not good and I think I've gained more than I used to be!!!!! Not good. What I plan on doing is posting my weight here weekly with the results (gain/loss by how much). What I would like if you guys could do this for me is: 1) Don't let me miss a post! If I don't post where I am, get on me! 2) If I gain or don't lose, again, get on me. There is no excuse for me to NOT lose the weight. Knowing I have people expecting results should hopefully keep me honest and going. My goal is to be atleast down to 200lbs by Christmas (not sure if it's realistic, I am probably at or close to 250lbs now, will jump on the scale tonight to get the starting number). Thanks, Scotty

[Mickey68]

Sscotty727!! DON'T weigh in tonite, (not after eating all day), always weigh yourself in the morning. I was told one time 9 AM is the best time of day to get on the scale, (if there can ever be a best time). Now Dawn always gets weighed fully dressed - he says that is the way you get weighed at the doctors. Now I agree with that - but I get weighed "bare ass beach". It's a mind thing with me. Our doctor's scale is always 5-6 pounds more than ours anyway. We need to take up a collection from all his patients & buy him a good scale. It has always read that much more than ours, (ours is digital & I think more correct). Hey, I need all the help I can get when I get weighed. Good luck to you & don't do anything very drastic to harm your health. You have a lot of guts to want to post your weekly weight lost/gain. I sure could never do that - in fact I could not go to any of those weekly weight loss groups - and pay them to tell me I GAINED & NOT LOST ANYTHING. I have a short funny story about going to an exercise group at the YMCA when I was single, (many moons ago), anyway, I went as a guest of one of my girlfriends - after working our butts off the instructor said "TEAM TIME" but I thought she said "TEA TIME" & boy was I ever ready for a nice cold drink break. So I said to my friend where do we go for the "TEA TIME BREAK" - and after picking her up off the floor from laughing she told me it was "TEAM TIME". We needed to buddy up for the next series of exercises - what a "bummer". Needless to say I was not invited to attend the next week! TOOTLES!!! Mickey68

[Shafted]

I hate to say this Mickey68, but the triple beam balance scales that most doctors I know of are very accurate as they are based on a set of reference weights.

[sscotty727]

Hey Mickey, Brave? Nah, just tired of trying to only fail again on losing weight. If I don't lose this soon, I am going to start to develop serious heath problems, assuming I haven't already. What I am asking is for people here to push me and keep me honest. Knowing I have to answer to someone will make me rethink falling off the wagon. As far as weighing in the morning vs the evening, yes I will probably weigh LESS in the morning, but I don't think that matters as far as how much I lose as long as the weighing is done at the same time each week. Ok, starting weight on 10/10 is 245. Scotty

[Dawn HH]

Sscotty727:-) I had a doctor's appointment right before my stroke and weighed in at 200 lbs. Now for someone your height, that may sound good, but I'm only 5' 4.5" tall. I did lose weight during and after my stroke simply by cutting out a big bowl of ice cream every evening for dessert and a few other desserts. That has made a big difference as I have been inactive and sitting around a lot trying to get well. When I went for my check-up on Oct. 3rd, I weighed in at 192 lbs. I wish you good luck in your endevor to lose weight. I'm sure the Forum members here will keep you on your toes.. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[BlondeBimbo]

I lost quite a bit of weight last year, going out for a special do – I decided to wear an older favourite dress (Leather – so not much give) – no chance! Zip wouldn’t even start never mind zip up to the top! That was my kick up the bum to do something, it made me look in my wardrobe and realise I had gone up two sizes! Over time I had gone for bigger clothing, but never really thought about it. I could not stick to either routine exercise, or these impossible diets. The way we lost weight was quite simple – we just changed our lifestyle. Prior to this we would both come home, check email, post, sort this and that out, so in no time it was very late, just time for a ready made meal before bed. Next morning we were still too full from the late meal, so skipped it, but in the late morning found we were both starving, so ended up with a big lunch, and again the cycle begins, check email, post……. We changed our routines, Cereal, or fresh fruit for breakfast – not really hungry by lunch, so a yoghurt and banana or apple, then once we got home – we made a meal – not a “Quick meal” but a simple one made with fresh ingredients – especially more fish, chicken etc. For us this was simple to do, and not only did we both loose weight, we also felt better, removing all ready-made meals, cutting down on bread, and almost no take-away food we felt heather, had more energy and could actually do more at night than previously, we appear to have more time with Meal, check email, post… than check email, post… Meal. I got back to my normal weight (58-60kg) – about 130lb -it fluctuates day to day of course, and with no effort can keep it there. Once one starts feeling healthy – it’s nice to go for a walk, do the exercise that was too much effort and time-consuming before. My mum told me years ago “If you loose weight quickly – with great effort, then you will put it on just as quick when the effort stops” Wish I listened to her – instead I tried useless diet after impossible diet for ages! quite simply If you get hungry - you eat too much. Eat what you need and no more. Forget "best value".---- A 250ml drink is big enough - don't get 330ml or 500ml for only an extra 10p (cent?) - you are paying them to make you ill! So good luck if you are trying to loose weight & do what works for you and most importantly – find a method which you can stick to. BB

[sscotty727]

Dawn, That is great that you were able to lose some weight. The important thing is to be healthy. I had a co-worker years ago that was quite stout and overweight. He had a heart attack and was forced to go on a very strict diet. After a few months when I saw him again, he looked great and very lean. He said he never felt better in his life. I do think we get too carried away with our modern simply lifes and ignore the fact all that fast convientant food is slowly killing us! Good luck on your progress, you and Mikey are still in my thoughts and prayers daily! BB, I agree about the diet stuff. I too used to get caught up in the "fad" diets and tried them all. Until recently, I was trying to get back into the Atkins with no luck. I did it ONCE a few years ago and lost alot of weight. The problem with Atkins is once you have any carbs, you very quickly regain the weight. I finally decided for the last time to give it up and move on. I recently saw a book advertised online, I believe it was called the "No Frills Diet" but will have to look it up. Basically it said, all you need to do to lose weight is to just eat 1/3 less than what you normally eat. For example, if you normally have 3 slices of pizza, have 2, etc. That sorta makes sense, if what your eatting now sustains your weight, eatting less should cause you to lose it as well. But like you, I am also cutting other things out of my diet (the non-healthy ones) and trying to eat more healthy ones. For example, I used to bring Hot Pockets to work for lunch. By the early afternoon I was hungry again and started looking around for something to "snack" on. Being that I am a programmer by profession, sitting in front of a keyboard ALL day long is a professional hazzard. Also being stuck in a building all day, the vending machine turns out to be your only snack source. Anyway, starting this week I decided to start bringing salad to work with me and then I brought a large cup so I can have water instead of coffee/diet coke (yes 0 caleries and sugar, but you still have the sodium). So far so good, but will have to just take it day by day. I did get some low fat popcorn to snack on IF I get hungry, but if the weight loss slows or stalls, I will remove that as well. One of the hardest places to cut from is home. Having small children at home, my wife tends to get them snacks (cookies, etc) and when your sitting at home late at night hungry, a cookie or 2 (or 3 or 4) looks good. I think I need to have a talk with her to cut out all the "goodies". Anyway, as I stated, I will keep you all posted and I expect you to kick me in the behind when I don't progress or backslide, ok? Tough love and all that. Scotty

[BlondeBimbo]

I think most of the ready meals type stuff (What's a Hot Pocket by the way) actually make you more hungry. Most of the fast food places & ready meals - I am sure have something in them that makes you addicted, and feel like you want more than you need. I know kids are kids, but I guess the best time to learn to eat sensibily is when you are younger - so perhaps a good time to show them the way? Good luck (BTW I tend to manage a lot of software programmes - what language etc. do you do/use - we have just moved to .net C# - so all the programmes are running late - now we have moved to a better language!!) BB

[sscotty727]

BB, I work for a large database company as a consultant. Normally use the company written tools, although I am scheduled to (finally) learn and hopefully start to use Java! Scotty

[sscotty727]

Ok, as promised I will post my weekly update. Unfortunately, I appear to have GAINED weight, now 248. This is perfect though as now I can see I need to get stricter. I thought I was doing good cause of having a salad for lunch and snacking less during the work week, but I backslide over the weekend. Twice went out with the family and twice got talked into desert by the wife (I know, she has since told me that is it when I was out of breath taking the trash out this morning!). I didn't think two deserts would affect me over a 1 week period, but I can see now it does. Also, being a programmer with a long drive (about 2 hrs in and 1 to 1.5 hrs home - 50 miles each way) makes me pretty seditary. I can see I need to somehow incorporate exercise into my daily routine. Maybe at lunch time I can do some walking (like I used to do). We are on the 5th floor of an 8 floor buulding. Was thinking, I can walk down to the 1st, back up to the 8th, the down to the 5th. Atleast for a start. Anyway, posting here should keep me honest. Scotty

[Shafted]

It's true sscotty727 that exercise is required. There is no big secret to successful weight loss. The key is to consume fewer calories than you burn that way the body has to dig into its reserves (fat) to provide the additional energy. I would recommend however to avoid doing your exercise on the stairs as this can be a major strain on the heart if your not used to it. Instead go for brisk walks, and I think you will find these more enjoyable anyways. I'm just passing this info on to you from a personal trainer that I had.

[sscotty727]

I agree, however since I leave home very early and don't get home until late, working on my treadmill during the week isn't going to work. Walking briskly around the halls is going to look "odd". As far as steps, I am not THAT far out of shape, but I know enough to stop if I start to feel over winded. I will figure ways to get some exercise in, just need to get creative. Scotty

[Shafted]

I can see that you keep a difficult schedule to get exercise in. I can relate. If you just use common sense and listen to what your body is telling you, you should be okay.

[Dawn HH]

Sscotty727:-) What Shafted says makes sense, but what works for one person may not work for another. Basically you must find what works for you, then you may be able to modify what you are doing. Smaller portions and less dessert may make a difference, and no late night snacking. Possibly an appetite suppressant may help also. You may have to check with your family doctor on that one. You'll figure it out I'm sure. Good luck. Cheers--- Dawn HH

[sscotty727]

Hey Dawn, The late night snacking isn't too much of a problem (although, by the time I get home from work and eat dinner, it is about time to go to bed, so maybe I need to start eatting BEFORE I go home......) Anyway, a few areas I need to improve on: 1) Less Seditary - Maybe I can walk around the building or go up and down the stairs a few times during the day. Park further, etc. 2) Drink more water - I am a coffee addict!! I do drink half and half (half regular/half decaf) with NO sugar, but still should drink more water. 3) Get more sleep - I average 6 hours a night with alot of nights getting less than 6. This one is hard with the commute, although if I got in early and left early I could trim the drive time. The only problem is I am NOT a morning person. I have tried this many times only to eventually revert back to going to bed late and not getting up early. Anyway, as you said, I will figure it out. The important part is to monitor it and reporting my progress here gives me incentive to keep at it! Scotty

[sscotty727]

I am not even going to post stats today because I know I haven't lost a thing, perhaps even gained. The problem is lack of activity (daily commute, late by the time I get home). Also, weakened this weekend and had desert twice. Starting today, I am going to find a way to get SOME activity in, even if I have to do 15-20mins of running in place at night before going to bed or wake up early (this is almost impossible for me though, I am NOT a morning person). Also, I haven't been able to get any exercise in at work because been too much and all. Anyway, I will keep you all updated on my activity progress. Scotty