Dare to Lose weight

Congratulations:-)

Isn't it great to see your goal in sight!

Not sure what your workout routine is...but an excessive amount of cardio can actually burn the muscle you want to build in order to burn those extra calories. Weight training is a great way to lose fat:-) LS just had another article on this approach:-)

I agree with the weight training, I love it myself. I will say, Ive never tried it, but I have a friend who has never EVER lost weight in her life, never really even been motivated to do it, and she joined weight watchers 16 weeks ago, and is down 40 pounds. She loves the points system.

Insanity will help you work other muscles that you haven't been working on the bike - and probably help you loose several inches overall, thus improving the way you feel about how you look. I do TurboFire and I love the difficulty of the workouts because I feel so accomplished afterward. That said, I really have found that diet is 80% of weight loss and exercise only makes up the other 20%, so it you feel that your diet needs some help, I'd go with the weight watchers option. Good luck - 9 miles in 32 minutes sounds darn good to me!

Pebble! How do you like Turbo Fire! I am almost half way done with my second round of Insanity and I need to start thinking about what I am going to do next. Is it worth the money?

Floskie,
I am currently running 3x a week with some weight training in there too. I don't want to do too much to undermine my progress with running/get injured. I also love Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred so I plan to implement that also.

My diet...is OKay...not so much within the last week and half but overall very good. Maybe a little too many carbs but otherwise,I think its ok which is why I am on the fence with WW

I use Jillian as well for my weight training. I also picked up Ripped in 30. love it! I think I like it a little more than the shred... of course I have not made it past level 1 on either DVD because I focus more on getting cardio in... yes the weight training is important... need to build muscle, metabolism burns all day, and losing inches.. but when it comes to working out, I prefer cardio. :-)

WW is a good system. I have seen lots of folks lose weight on the system. Can you quit it and not gain the weight back?

I would put some serious time into reading through and also watching different videos off the following two sites. Literally, you can/should spend a few hours a week studying the pursuit of health/fitness. It will pay off in years to come.

physicalliving.com
nerdfitness.com

I think WW is a decent program...but..instead of putting money/time into something you already know how to do...eat healthy..I would put money/time into education and tools to achieve your goals.

Not sure how it would help to pay to have WW tell you what size a serving is versus Livestrong telling you the same for free, but maybe you would like to keep track in a different way or make more of a game of it with points. It still comes down to choosing to eat to your desired calorie target to lose weight. Perhaps going to group meetings appeals to you for support. If you are only going to do it online, I really think Livestrong and other sites give you all the same info and tools that you need for free.
Just my opinion - many people do well and swear by WW - many others give it a half-hearted try & go back to bad habits and then bad-mouth WW.

alright...so everytime I eat out with my boyfriend (ie once a week) I always use it as my cheat meal. I'm so good and then bam, Chili's, Applebees, Ihop, the list goes on and on.

I always choose wisely but snack on other things that he is eating mainly fries/chips etc.

This is a vicious cycle but I can't stop. :(

I think this month has been a major slip up so far in my progress but I won't know that for sure until after TOM...

On a positive note, there is the rest of my life to work on moderation and living a healthy lifestyle :)

Meesh--there is some really good thoughts in this article..

http://physicalliving.com/25-reasons-why-youre-still-not-losing-weight/#more-7221

and in:-)

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/10/why-people-suck-at-getting-healthy/

Among my friends who "want" to lose weight...none but two are serious about making the changes to do so...as its been said..its hard work bu

Meesh--there is some really good thoughts in this article..

http://physicalliving.com/25-reasons-why-youre-still-not-losing-weight/#more-7221

and in:-)

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/10/why-people-suck-at-getting-healthy/

Among my friends who "want" to lose weight...none but two are serious about making the changes to do so...as its been said..its hard work bu

dang...not sure what happened ... but it is well worth the effort:-)

I hope your uploading pics of that Berry!

That's excellent! And congrats on the new ink also!

Ok, I tried to add pics to my profile, but the site is acting wonky, so I just made it my avatar for now, (if you can see it). Its on my right shoulder, and there was a small coverup involved. It turned out beautiful :)

That looks fantastic. You chose a really gifted artist. I love it!

Thanks! He really did an excellent job. He designed the whole peice, I just gave him some ideas and he ran with it.

Thats really great!!! Kinda feels good to get out and dirty and sweaty sometimes :)

What's the question? Should you eat even when you aren't hungry, or should you be concerned with the once in a while pigging out, or should you adjust your calorie target lower?

i dont see it as a terrible thing

My opinion - no, you don't need to stress about not meeting your goal if you have too many cals left at the end of the day and are not hungry every once in a while.
As long as you aren't fooling yourself over/under up and down all the time and start to live full time in Inconsistencyland!
I have done the same thing - felt so virtuous and satisfied until later in the day with so many cals left I kinda went overboard the other direction & felt gross about it afterward (darn you, self-control, why did you bail on me with Ben & Jerry's in the house?)

I think if you are eating healthy and are full you don't need to sweat those last few calories. I know that fruits and veggies have far less calories than processed foods and so tend to keep the calories lower even though you are fuller.

I don't worry if I'm eating 6 times a day and the calories only reach 1,000 if I have honestly done the best healthy food choices and am truly full. I don't think a starvation mode would set in in this kind of case. Purely my opinion - I know it can be a "hot" button for some.

You could always drink pure juice or milk to kick up your total if you are concerned about hitting your magic number.

I'm guessing the hot button issue is directed at me, but anyway. "I was not hungry", and "I felt great" don't necessarily mean that your body agrees, it just means that you think you did good and you're pretty good at suppressing your hunger (whether intentional or not, but I think it usually starts as intentional and becomes a habit, even unknowingly).

I always take a more realistic approach. I know that my body has certain needs, and I'm not always able to interpret those needs with my emotions, so I rely on a more objective approach -- numbers.

That said, 900 a day short? That's a lot. Even I probably wouldn't try to eat that many in one shot just to make up my calorie target. I'd eat some, get close, but end up short for the day. Takeaway - be better at managing it the next day so I'm not 900 behind.

I would have a glass of wine or two if I had that many calories left. :-D You knew I was going to say it. LOL


If you are not that hungry, I would not force yourself to eat... then you may decide to eat the whole bag of heath bars or something ridiculous like that. If just once in a while, don't sweat it. Have a margarita and tell youself GOOD JOB! :-)

Im with coop, that glass of wine sounds great...lol

LOL Brian - my point was not to let a day make you crazy afraid of starvation mode setting in. I agree with JB about "Inconsistencyland" being where you don't want to go as a habit.

I think the difference is that I tend to think of starvation not as a mode, but more like a continuum.

I believe starvation is real, but I don't think it "switches". The body doesn't go "oh hey, it's been 8 hours since we last ate, let's starve now". It's handy to call it a mode to be able to explain it to people, but I think it actually works more like a dial on your oven, or a camp fire.

If you keep adding logs to the fire every 15 minutes, your camp fire is going to burn nice and hot constantly. If you stop, it will keep burning, but it goes down to a low simmer.

I think metabolism is similar, think of it in low vs high (for sake of simplicity). If I eat every couple hours, my fire never stops burning, my metabolism stays high. But if I go 10 hours without eating, maybe it goes to "low" and starts getting less efficient.

Eventually the body is going to really start freaking out about it. Maybe that happens in a day, maybe it doesn't, I don't know. But I think you can absolutely see starvation effects within one day if you subscribe to the theory that the metabolism gets less and less efficient the longer it goes without food.

This is probably by design, the body adjusts its metabolism with the availabe food supply. If there's less, it needs less. But if there's more, it burns more. And that's what we want for weight loss, to burn up that stored fat along the way. It doesn't mean the body can't function if you don't eat every 3 hours, it just means you're not being as efficient. And since we all want to get rid of this fat like yesterday, this is one way to get there faster without resorting to unhealthy means -- you're just using the way your body works to your advantage.

Thanks guys for all of the responses. This is not normally a problem for me - I usually have trouble staying within my calorie target - but do fine by just being aware of where I am at for the day.

Brian - I don't think adjusting my calorie target any lower is a great idea for me - I'm still at 213 and only have a calorie goal of 1450 - which is rather low for someone of my size - but the higher calorie targets just weren't working for me.

I was worried about my calorie target (note: I normally eat a larger supper than any other meal so to have a lot of calories is not completely abnormal for me) - and not hitting it. I don't want to undereat and cause damage - but I also shouldn't have used it as an excuse to go over board.

Brian-very interesting, I haven't heard it put quite like that. It makes sense and I think it's something that I'll keep in the back of my mind. However, eating every 2-3 hours would be a chore for me. I like taking my time and eating a full meal, and any kind of snacking is completely unappealing. I want to lose the rest of this weight the same way I plan on living the rest of my life. If it takes longer to get to the end result, I'm OK with that. If my metabolism isn't working at 100% but I'm eating healthy meals that I enjoy, that's fine with me. I don't think there's a hard and fast rule for everyone; you have to figure out what's going to work for you. But first you have to get as much information as possible, so I really appreciate your description. Thanks for the insight!

Kristi--you might find this interesting;-)

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/meal-timing/#axzz1v4o2cCIS

Very interesting - and oddly enough - about the way I was thinking. It seems to say - find what works for you - which is exactly what everyone should be doing. There is no one size fits all - because our bodies our all different.

You definitely can- it's all about how much you are willing to put into it!

What a great reward!

Excellent article :) Thanks for sharing!

Good, practical info! Thanks for sharing :)

Love it. Thanks!

Great article Floskie - thanks for posting. I actually saw myself in a number of those reasons listed - which I don't like. Time to work on them one by one!

Were you the one who shared the Can You Stay For Dinner blog? I'm a huge fan now and I loved her thoughts on salad. If you haven't read it, here's the link:

http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2011/12/14/how-to-make-a-delicious-400-calorie-salad/

Mmmmm mmmmmm! My favorite thing about spring & summer is all the wonderful vegetables & fruits available. My tummy actually growled reading your post, lol!

Mmmm, sounds great! I planted a pretty good sized veggie garden at my new house this year. My lettuces I planted from seed, so they are pretty small right now, but I did plant just a couple of more developed lettuce plants and picked some leaves the other day (3 different kinds) and made a big salad for the family. They all loved the fresh lettuce, even the kids :) (and didnt notice that I threw some spinach in there..lol)

I love home grown lettuce - I've got a great (although probably not that healthy) recipe for wilted lettuce - it's wonderful. I just don't see the point in growing it since I'm the only one that eats it!

Great job!

That's great progress! Don't be surprised if it slows down a little here shortly!

Thats amazing!

Great job!

Man - the heat - always gets to me too! Just do the best you can to keep the bedroom area as cool as possible!

That a girl handle it now! I gained 80 lbs in college, yikes!

I know the feeling. I gained the freshman 15 too. I went from 120 to 135 my first year. It was tough for me too since I was so tiny through high school. I sat at that 130-135 throughout college and then when I started taking birth control I gained 40 pounds in 3 months.

I've lost 14 of that. Now I'm 156 and ready to be back down to 140. I know I can do this! And so can you! You have the power of change.

i gained SO much weight starting sophomore year of high school from 135-182-im working down now and its taking forever but it WILL happen

You're already 10 lbs in, that's great! Just keep it up! Throughout college I gained about 35 pounds, but now I'm 10 under my high school weight. You can do it!

Thanks for all the encouragement :)

Just finished my freshman year too. I know where you are coming from! It's tough with all that junk food at your fingertips and the lack of time to count calories. I handled the cafeteria by eating a big salad and drinking a glass of water or cup of coffee before I went for the good stuff. Congrats on the progress! I myself want to get down to 130 by the end of the summer, and hope to keep it off next year. 14 to go!

You go girl! Way to lose!

Great job! I hit my 25# mark this week too. High five. It seem to take forever for me (2 years) but now feel so excited for the next marker. Keep up the good work - way to go.

Whoo HOooo! Congratulations!