After ProgPower...

[gmartin314]

That is awesome. Good luck to you. I ran one 2 years ago and when you cross the finish line, it feels amazing. I limped for 2 weeks because my knees hurt so bad, but the rush lasted for months. Keep with it and you'll do great.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I work out 5x a week on average for about an hour ... It's amazing how much energy you gain by doing so, and working out becomes much easier.

I can literally be dragging before I go into the gym and be totally energized by the time I walk out. I agree with you 100%.

I tell people that I feel much better now at age 32, than I did back in college when I was 22. They look at me like I'm nuts, but it's the truth.

~Brian~

 

[Bryan316]

You're playing it smart to get the full checkout from the doc. That'll really boost the confidence and make sure you're doing the right exercises. Very cool, and very responsible.

Good luck, and \m/ \m/

 

[sh0kr0k]

Awesome goals, girl!! Good luck! Stick with it! ^_^

 

[Prog_Muse]

Congratulations! Those are some hard changes to make.

How often do you work out, and for how long? I find it hard to work out more than a couple times a week, but I am lazy.

Shaye

Thanks!
Well, what I did was to cut my caloric intake to about 1,000 a day (which is 500 less than what the USDA recommends).
I also cut my carb intake to about 50g a day (USDA is somewhere around 130g).
I cut out beer and soda and as much sugar as possible, so no sugar in my coffee or tea, etc and no sweets.
I jog for 20 min every morning after breakfast and every evening after supper, and I do 30 min of conditioning exercises like situps, pushups, etc every night before bed.
I also replaced all my beverages with water with the exception of alcohol when I am out, in which case I drink red wine (white has more carbs) or clear alcohols like gin or vodka.
I try not to eat before bedtime and I drink as much water as I can to keep my system flushed and hydrated.

This will absolutely work; in less than a month I dropped 2 pant sizes (from an 11 to a 9) and two inches off my waistline.

Seriously.

 

[Yippee38]

Damn! That's some motivation Prog_Muse!

I find it hard to stick to such extreme cutbacks in eating. Yardley too. Instead, we kinda gradually cut out some of the crap and are going more healthy. I stopped eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast every day and switched to a protein shake with a banana in it. Lunches pretty much haven't changed. Dinner are smaller portions - not a lot smaller, but more appropriate than what I was eating before. We've added more veggies rather than starches. We also switched to darker starches instead of the white starches. Add in a protein bar as a snack, and another snack that's high protein (a bit of cheese, or some unsalted nuts, or some yogurt) for the second snack. 5 or 6 meals a day makes it easy to eat less at each meal.

We still order a pizza every once in a while, but far less than before. We cut back on alcohol too, though sometimes we stray from that rule.

I've been working out about 35-45 minutes a day, six days per week. I alternate a cardio one day with a resistance workout. The results have been great. I've been slacking lately though. I've reached a plateau too. So I'm gonna have to change my workouts to get past it and finally get rid of this extra fat.

 

[nailz]

Thanks!
Well, what I did was .....

ALL THIS STUFF

I try not to eat before bedtime and I drink as much water as I can to keep my system flushed and hydrated.

Seriously.

I couldn't do all that stuff. I struggled a lot with hunger when I dropped down to 1400 calories. Of course, I'm a guy, and probably taller and with more muscle mass than you, so I guess that's about right. I can do 3 days of 1500 calories and 4 days of 1700-1800 and that seems to work well. When I did that along with my exersize I started dropping weight again. I've plateau'd at 183 for several months now, and I'm ready to start dropping again. I did cut out all sugary drinks save occasional fruit juice (100%, nothing with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it, that shit is disgusting.) and some Chocolate Soy Milk on the occasion to beat back sweet cravings. But I do drink as much water as I think of, but I should be drinking more.

Some tips for people trying to lose weight the healthy way:

1. Don't do what ProgMuse did - at least, don't do it immediately. It's only going to discourage you to try to make so many changes so fast. You need to ease into it. You can certainly get to her (amazing) level of dedication, but it takes time.

2. Switch to water. Cutting out Caffinated Sugar Drinks (read: soda) and Beer will probably help you drop 4 pounds in a month by itself. Don't know how much water you should be drinking? For the first few days or so, you should be peeing every 2 hours. Imagine this: Your body is 80% water, and a lot of the water your peeing out is filter water from your kidneys. If you don't drink enough to flush this water, it stagnates in it's disgusting dirty state. Ugh.

3. STOP. DRINKING. Seriously, Alcohol has so many empty calories it's sick.

4. You must measure and count calories. Yes, weight watchers works, but if you want to lose weight, you simply need to burn more calories than you eat. Take one day. Write everything you eat down. Don't cheat - and at the end of the day, count how many calories you've eaten. I asked a friend to do this after he claimed he only could possibly be eating 2500 calories a day.. turned out he was more along the lines of 3800. Find out how many you're eating and cut back. Currently, my goal is around 1600 a day for weight loss.

5. Move. Exersize is essential. There's no way around it. You HAVE to exersize. I used to be the fat guy who woudln't go to the gym out of embarrasment. I believed I couldn't do enough to be effective. NOTHING is farther from the truth.. You won't be able to do as much as everyone else and you will tire easily, but you WILL get stronger FAST. I dreaded the gym, now I look forward to going and pushing my limits... Believe me, this will happen!

6. Don't expect instant results. You'll drop a signifigant amount of weight at the beginning of any program, and just as fast, you'll stop losing big numbers. Don't let it discourage you! As long as you're losing, you're doing something right. Even when you're not losing, you're helping your body! I haven't lost any weight in damned near 6 months, but I still do the things I need to do because I know I'm getting healthier! Remember that at a certain point, it stops becoming about weight loss and more about living better, and the weight loss comes naturally. You will lose the most the first few weeks, but you won't see it anywhere other than the scale. If you continue to work hard, people will notice. It will be worth it when you get those complements.

 

[BABS]

Good for you Metalrose!

 

[BABS]

I need to stop eating like a teenager! I've been working 4-5 days a week at a restaurant (doing hosting and busing of tables) and literally am on my feet making rounds and doing laps (especially with busing), my only downfall is getting off of work late at night and either ordering something to go that is bad or relying on a drive up window.

Now if I could only get in the habit of going home and eating cereal or yougert that would make a difference!

Another host said that it looked like I was losing weight, but I don't buy that because she's pregnant and the whole world looks thinner when you are preggers (ha ha)!

 

[Yippee38]

Nailz, I don't agree that you have to count calories. I don't do it and I'm still getting healthier. I can tell when I'm overeating. I also know when I'm eating crap. If you avoid those two things, or for beginners, cut way back on them, you will still move toward your goals.

Don't forget to avoid measuring your progress by your weight. When I started working out recently, I didn't lose any weight for several weeks. However, all of my clothes got a bit looser. Muscle weighs more than fat. If you lose some fat and gain the same amount of muscle, you will actually gain weight. The muscle mass increase will increase your metabolism though. So building muscle mass is really important (even if your goal is getting smaller).

 

[Prog_Muse]

When I made the decision to do something about my weight and my physical appearance, I had to jump into it full bore or it wasn't gonna happen for me.
I seriously had just been kidding myself into thinking that I could still pull it off and look good in snug clothing, but I was depressingly out of shape.
I'm only 5'0" and I was at 140 lbs.
For my build, that's too much, and alot of it was due to excessive drinking of beer and eating things like spaetzle and prime rib and barbeque.
I drank way too much soda, I snacked constantly, slept off large meals, and wouldn't stop eating when I was full.
I really packed it on and after my relationship ended last month, I moved back up north and decided I was going to just do it and get it done.
I have no idea how much I weigh right now because I kinda sorta don't have a scale...heh.
But my measurements have spoken loud enough that I know it's paying off.
My caloric intake is super low, yes, but once I am down to where I want to be, I can start upping it slowly back to what is normal for someone my size.

 

[nailz]

sorry, I wasn't trying to critisize the way you did it, but to put it into perspective, really, if anyone who wasn't as committed as you tried it like that they'd get fustrated and quit. If it worked for you, and it seems it did, awesome, keep it up!

 

[LunaTEKKE]

Metal - Congrats - what a fabulous goal! The closest I've ever come to a marathon is a 12K that I used to run annually when I was much, much younger!

Nailz, I don't agree that you have to count calories. I don't do it and I'm still getting healthier. I can tell when I'm overeating. I also know when I'm eating crap.

That's excellent that you can make healthy changes just based on hunger and knowing what food choices make you feel good. However, a lot of folks (including myself) who are working to undo life-long habits of mindless or emotional eating really need the accountability of tracking their food intake.

My "night job" is working for Weight Watchers, and members have developed lots of mantras about journaling. My favorite is "if you hog it, log it."

 

[lady_space]

eating things like spaetzle

Damn, I love that shit... where on earth do you get it, or do you make your own??? *slobber*

Shaye

 

[MetalRose]

Thanks for the support everyone and I'll for sure check those sites out.

Hehe, no doubt, but if people are serious about making a change, there's no time like right the hell now

You can certainly take a few days off for PP, after all, this is a life change type thing, not a temporary thing.. I hope

I am in moderate training now and this week will up my work out schedule. However, I know myself and know that every time I've quit smoking with less than 3 months behind me I start at ProgPower again. So that's why I'm hitting it harder after PP... and I'm being realistic is all.

Currently I'm doing about 3 hours of cardio a week and about 30-1 hour of weight training, which I've been doing for about 3-4 months. But in order to keep myself off the tobaccy- I've got to have a bigger goal.

I know you're not arguing with me, but thought it's only fair that I point out my reasoning behind the "waiting" for the training. I'm not, just setting a quit smoking date really and a date to go full out.

But something's got to give. I quit soda and junk food and eat 1000 times better now than I ever did, but can't seem to shake the weight (which is another reason for the Dr's- checking my thyroid as I've had border-line issues with it).

I'll take a small break during PP, but have talked with someone already about possibly joining them at the gym if they go as well.

I figure by setting a goal of 2010 it gives me about a year and a half of training with a full year of hard training and spring gives me a little bit of fudging room so that if I'm not physically ready by April, I can try for June, etc.

Again, thanks everyone and congrats to all who have lost weight and changed their lives too.

-Metal

For anyone who's interested- a new blog for my training-
http://metalmarathon.blogspot.com/

Not much on there right now, but will be as I train.

 

[Yippee38]

WTG Metal! It sounds like you are on the right track.

I figured out why you were waiting until after PP.

 

[yardleybates]

Awesome MetalRose! I'm just a phonecall away if you want to chat.

You can run a half marathon and you are worried about the time it takes to run a marathon? Doesn't take any more time ;p

Actually, if I were to make a goal of a marathon at this point, I'd only have 2 days a week where I'd put in more than an hour of training. The other days would mostly be under 30 minutes.

That's cool for you, but it's not the way I train, as I get close to race time, I'm running 75-95% of the full distance once a week on my long runs and several times a week running 6-8 mile runs. If I was training for a full mary, those runs would all be significantly longer and that just doesn't fit my lifestyle. Everyone is different though.

I am super impressed by those that run full marys, but it's just not for me I'm content just kicking arse on my halfs - finished my last one in under 2 hours (1:57) and was pretty freaking happy about that!

 

[TwstDrSteph]

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you lose some fat and gain the same amount of muscle, you will actually gain weight.

OK, this is a pet peeve of mine that I have to address! I am Twisted "Dr" Steph, after all!

I'm not trying to single you out, Yippee, but this is a common misconception. Muscle does not "weigh" more than fat. One pound of muscle and one pound of fat are both one pound! The difference is in the density. Think of it this way: you have a one-pound brick and one pound of feathers. The brick and the feathers are the same weight -- one pound. However, the brick has a much higher density than the feathers -- therefore a one pound brick takes up a lot less room than one pound of feathers. They weigh the same, but the difference in density impacts the mass (size) of the object. The brick is denser, therefore smaller.

So in this situation, muscle = brick and fat = feathers. The muscle is much more dense than the fat, so one pound of muscle takes up less space than one pound of fat. So, it is possible to lose inches while not losing weight according to the scale (ie, trading weight from fat which takes up more space with weight from muscle which takes up less space). This is why it is possible to wear smaller jeans even if the scale doesn't budge much. Muscle mass is increasing and fat is decreasing.

OK, lecture over!

Steph

 

[LunaTEKKE]

But something's got to give. I quit soda and junk food and eat 1000 times better now than I ever did, but can't seem to shake the weight (which is another reason for the Dr's- checking my thyroid as I've had border-line issues with it).

Hey Metal – Sounds like you’ve been through the thyroid drill before, but just a suggestion to get a copy of your labs instead of having the doctor’s office tell you that you are “fine.” Because there are so many people who have undiagnosed thyroid issues, for a long time, it skewed the “normal” range for TSH screening. The new standard is 0.3 to 3.0 (over 3 suggests hypo; under 0.3 suggests hyper), although a lot of labs are still using the outdated 0.5 to 5.0 range.

Bottom line, if you don't feel right and your doctor blows you off, fire him/her and find another doctor who will actually listen to you.

 

[nailz]

I know you're not arguing with me, but thought it's only fair that I point out my reasoning behind the "waiting" for the training. I'm not, just setting a quit smoking date really and a date to go full out.

I see your point, and I'm certainly glad you're taking steps now. That's good.

But something's got to give. I quit soda and junk food and eat 1000 times better now than I ever did, but can't seem to shake the weight (which is another reason for the Dr's- checking my thyroid as I've had border-line issues with it).

Checking your Thyroid is all well and good, but in the meantime, have you considered calorie counting? It was my downfall for a while, as I never did, but then, when I started, I couldn't believe my consumption... I really believe it's something you should try, at least for 2 weeks. You have to measure everything, and it's a huge pain in the ass, but it may help a lot.

Also, when you go to the gym, it's really really important to mix up your routine. If you do the same thing every time with the same intensity or weight, you're not going to get any results. You have to change it around constantly. That is yet another thing I learned. Also, power blasting works well too, for example, get on a treadmill, and walk for 2 minutes, then run as fast as you can for 1 minute, then walk for 2, sprint for 1, and repeat 5 times at the end of a 20 minute (or however long your comftorable with) jog... this will rev up your metabolism HUGE and burn a lot of fat. Once you're ready, you can continue to jog, then sprint instead for even more intensity!

I really do wish you all the strength in the world in this endeavor, because it's been really really difficult for me, but it's now become ingrained in my mind and I feel better, I eat better, I'm happier and have more energy. Getting healthier is so totally worth what you put into it. When you start getting the 'Oh wow you've lost so much weight!" comments, you will beam. I have my final 20 pounds to lose, but I'm now determined to do so!