Way to go!
Ok Angel Bear, lighten up a little, huh? <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> This is a tough enough thing to do without dumping cold water on him already! I think he's doing GREAT!!
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Angel Bear
- Regular Poster
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Fri Jan 01, 1999 4:00 pm
- Location: Delaware, OH, USA
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Losing seven pounds in a week is an awesome start. Congratulations! I've never had to lose weight, but I'm sure I'd be terrible at it. (I just got back from swimming laps at the Y, and the first thing I did when I got home was to eat a chocolate chip cookie. Hey, my life doesn't have to make sense.)<P>So how are you (and Ben) doing it? What kinds of exercises are you doing? Share some weight-loss tips for your fans!
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by IronDog:
<B>Losing seven pounds in a week is an awesome start. Congratulations! I've never had to lose weight, but I'm sure I'd be terrible at it. (I just got back from swimming laps at the Y, and the first thing I did when I got home was to eat a chocolate chip cookie. Hey, my life doesn't have to make sense.)<P>So how are you (and Ben) doing it? What kinds of exercises are you doing? Share some weight-loss tips for your fans!</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well, first off, you have to keep in mind that the strips are done essentially a week in advance, so the friday update will actually be *last* friday's...
Anyhow, this week I lost-- nothing. I'm still at 258 after the second week; I have obviously hit my first "plateau." Nothing I wasn't expecting, so I react accordingly. It's merely a matter of my body reacting to the slight lowering of food intake by turning down my body's metabolism "thermostat" a touch.
The trick is to increase physical activity so that the body keeps the "thermostat" set good and high....
I have read in several places that the best form of exercise overall for human beings is walking. Plus it has the added benefits of costing nothing, and actually profiting you by getting you someplace <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> So I have taken to walking a little less than 1/2 of the way home on my workdays... a nice little 15-20 minute walk... and I plan on walking a bit further each week, till i'm walking the entire distance home (which will save me a few coins for bus fare.) On my days off, I plan on doing a bit more walking as well. Plus I work out (irregularly, but I'm working on it) with a pair of 25 lb dumbbells to build my upper body. Just a quick exercise routine, then the day is done.<P>As to diet... I'm not guzzling junk food like I used to, but I'm still not always keeping under 2000 calories a day. Getting a copy of the "picture perfect weight loss" book helps... knowing how to eat plenty and still count calories is useful. For instance-- I could eat two candy bars, for about 400-500 calories, most of which are from fat... or I could have *12* fudgesicles(tm), for the same amount of calories-- and fat-free, too. > <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> A chocolate sundae with icecream is pretty rich--- but you could have 4 identical sized sundaes, only substituting rice crispies for the nuts, and lowfat frozen yogurt, tofu or icemilk for the ice cream, for the same amount of calories.
A bagel with cream cheese could be replaced by pancakes, low-cal syrup, veggie links, and a plate of fruit slices. A single scone with butter vs *14* slices of raisin bread with fruit spread (the low-cal/low-sugar kind, of course.)
You get the idea.
Of course, it's also important to eat stuff that isn't just low cal but actively good for you. And don't be fooled by labels. Just because a food *doesnt* have calories doesnt mean it has anything *good* for you.
Final best tip I've been given: dont just work to lose weight, work to *build muscle.* Girls included... a well-toned body is a well-shaped body. Bigger muscles, even at rest, burn more fuel... and when you start out fat and out of shape and just burn calories, you end up *skinny*-- and still out of shape.
Nothing quite so fanatical as a recent convert, is there? <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">
Well, later all.... back to work for me...<P>------------------
<B>Losing seven pounds in a week is an awesome start. Congratulations! I've never had to lose weight, but I'm sure I'd be terrible at it. (I just got back from swimming laps at the Y, and the first thing I did when I got home was to eat a chocolate chip cookie. Hey, my life doesn't have to make sense.)<P>So how are you (and Ben) doing it? What kinds of exercises are you doing? Share some weight-loss tips for your fans!</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Well, first off, you have to keep in mind that the strips are done essentially a week in advance, so the friday update will actually be *last* friday's...
Anyhow, this week I lost-- nothing. I'm still at 258 after the second week; I have obviously hit my first "plateau." Nothing I wasn't expecting, so I react accordingly. It's merely a matter of my body reacting to the slight lowering of food intake by turning down my body's metabolism "thermostat" a touch.
The trick is to increase physical activity so that the body keeps the "thermostat" set good and high....
I have read in several places that the best form of exercise overall for human beings is walking. Plus it has the added benefits of costing nothing, and actually profiting you by getting you someplace <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif"> So I have taken to walking a little less than 1/2 of the way home on my workdays... a nice little 15-20 minute walk... and I plan on walking a bit further each week, till i'm walking the entire distance home (which will save me a few coins for bus fare.) On my days off, I plan on doing a bit more walking as well. Plus I work out (irregularly, but I'm working on it) with a pair of 25 lb dumbbells to build my upper body. Just a quick exercise routine, then the day is done.<P>As to diet... I'm not guzzling junk food like I used to, but I'm still not always keeping under 2000 calories a day. Getting a copy of the "picture perfect weight loss" book helps... knowing how to eat plenty and still count calories is useful. For instance-- I could eat two candy bars, for about 400-500 calories, most of which are from fat... or I could have *12* fudgesicles(tm), for the same amount of calories-- and fat-free, too. > <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> A chocolate sundae with icecream is pretty rich--- but you could have 4 identical sized sundaes, only substituting rice crispies for the nuts, and lowfat frozen yogurt, tofu or icemilk for the ice cream, for the same amount of calories.
A bagel with cream cheese could be replaced by pancakes, low-cal syrup, veggie links, and a plate of fruit slices. A single scone with butter vs *14* slices of raisin bread with fruit spread (the low-cal/low-sugar kind, of course.)
You get the idea.
Of course, it's also important to eat stuff that isn't just low cal but actively good for you. And don't be fooled by labels. Just because a food *doesnt* have calories doesnt mean it has anything *good* for you.
Final best tip I've been given: dont just work to lose weight, work to *build muscle.* Girls included... a well-toned body is a well-shaped body. Bigger muscles, even at rest, burn more fuel... and when you start out fat and out of shape and just burn calories, you end up *skinny*-- and still out of shape.
Nothing quite so fanatical as a recent convert, is there? <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/wink.gif">
Well, later all.... back to work for me...<P>------------------
You have gotten good advice. In my previous posts I didn't want to hammer home the weightlifting stuff too hard because (1) not many people like to lift weights, and (2) I was afraid it would sound preachy, that the reaction would be something along the lines of "It figures that this IronDog guy would advise you to lift weights, since he's been doing it for years and years, and he's trying to find a way of justifying his pathetic life." (All of which would be largely true!)<P>But the fact is that weightlifting DOES help you stay in shape, and precisely for the reasons you specified. It's not just for guys who want to get strong. It's also for people who simply want to get in shape.<P>I used to have trouble convincing doctors of the value of weightlifting. In college I had a doctor tell me that I was in better shape than anyone he'd seen all year, and he wanted to know my secret. I said weightlifting. He absolutely refused to accept that. He kept insisting that I had to be jogging or doing aerobic dance or playing soccer. Nowadays (since I'm old) I do a lot of swimming, but in those days it was nothing but weightlifting, plus some occasional stuff I did just for fun, like playing tennis, basketball or softball. Weightlifting provides more benefits than a lot of people think. Keep at it!
Ralph - if you find yourself hitting a plateau far short of your weight goal, that you just can't seem to get past, you may want to try what I'm doing now: Switch tracks, and get on that Dr. Atkins low-carbohydrate diet for a while. I've been doing it for about three weeks now (with a short lapse during Mephit Furmeet which, surprisingly, <I>didn't</I> send my weight zooming back up again!), and it's been slow, but steady - I started out at about 249, and am down to 234 as of this morning. (And, interestingly enough, I seem to have considerably more energy and alertness than I did on the low-fat regimen.)<P>Of course, as always, your mileage may vary. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">
I was on the low carb diet a couple of years ago--lost 34 pounds in about 3 months. I do want to warn you. It's easy to get caught up in not eating healthy while you are on that diet. Lots of meat and cheese,even butter and such, but with very little veggies allowed and practically no carbs. If you do that diet, pick the low fat meat. You can eat just about any kind of meat on that diet(bacon, sausage, hamburger, steak, etc) and still lose weight--which isn't good for you if you do that, obviously. But it does work. I just switched from that diet to a, I guess you could call it low cal diet. I like it better because I am losing weight, but I also feel better about the way I'm eating. Not afraid of giving myself a heart attack by 30 <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif"> Anyway, good luck everyone as you strive to beat the bulge!
Oh, I defintely don't advocate staying on the low-carb thing <I>indefinitely</I>, and you should take a full-spectrum multivitamin while you're on it just to be sure you're not missing any trace elements (though I don't think you need to go as far as the overpriced "trace nutrient complex" that Atkins Labs sells)... and I generally cook all my meats in one of those George Foreman grills anyway. <IMG SRC="http://www.keenspace.com/forums/smile.gif">