06/02/2008 - Let's keep up the good work!

[Rastl]

OK - yet another week since some of us have decided to do something about our state of fitness/weight/health/etc.

 

Here's a new weekly thread for those who want to spend a little more space talking about stuff without clogging up the main thread.

 

I had suggested a quarterly 'weigh in' since every three months is a sane way to determine progress. I'll even be brave and start.

 

I cautiously stepped on the scale and it shot back a depressing number of 263. This was not pleasing to me. But I expected it.

 

I'm still doing my stair machine in the morning, cutting back on extraneous fatty/sweet foods and generally trying to keep things in the healthy range. I'm hoping to see that number drop to below 250 by the next quarter (10/01/2008) for those counting.

 

Let's hear what you're doing!

[Kheprera]

Please keep in mind that for a healthy weight loss, one to three pounds a week is normal. Expecting more than that is being unreasonable, even if it does happen. Normally I'll lose about five pounds the first week then taper down to 1-3 pounds each week after that. You will hit plateaus where you won't gain or lose for a while. This is completely normal and can usually be pushed along by changing your routine (different exercise, less calorie intake, change in food choices). Don't expect to lose all the weight in one year, even if you're looking at just twenty-five pounds. The less you have to lose the harder it is (which means for those of us with a whole person to lose, as you get closer to your goal it's going to be harder and harder to lose the weight).

 

With that said, my goals for the week are:

 

*If* my ankle holds up (it's still giving me problems) I'm going to start using my breaks and lunch period to walk at work. I'm going to start with one trek around the walk path each time. Why one? I have to start slow. Between my hurt ankle, back, and knee problems, I don't want to push and over-exert myself. One step at a time. Start slow and build up as I feel I can manage. I don't take pain pills (unless the pain is extreme - about a 9-10 on the hospital scale) just because the pain will tell me if I'm pushing too much.

 

I also brought my lunch today: leftover 1/2 of a boneless, skinless bbq chicken breast, Ranch Style beans, and lots of veggies (green beans, baby carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion cooked in a pepper sauce - and for the record I hate squash and zucchini). Apple Instant Oatmeal for breakfast. Dinner, IIRC, is scheduled to be chalupas (beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and salsa on a hard, flat, corn tortilla). Lots of protein today.

 

 

Oh, and if you want a tool to help you keep track, FitDay is a great resource. I'm considering ordering the package for use at home, but there's a free online tool you can use as well. It will help you keep track of how many calories you've taken in for a day and track your weight loss over time.

[Forlorn Hope]

Always harder for me a couple of weeks in, but I am still finding walking every day doable, although now I have had to start walking to work to finish a project, and so I am not walking with my wife anymore. I have found that being a one-car family makes it easier to commit to alternate (and healthy) ways to get to work.

 

I had to put on some MMA action on the TV last night to get motivated enough for my situps and pushups, but it worked, and I did the thing. My wife is not yet in awe at my musculature, but I think it is just around the corner. I have a loin cloth and big sword on order...

[Rodnik]

I started my little regime on Friday--May 30.

 

My weigh-in was done early morning, before breakfast after a good night's sleep.

238.5 lbs

 

My goal is to get to 210 for the first run. I'll take measurements again (body fat and dimensions) and decide what I'm going to do from there.

Generally, that's a maintenance weight for me---I'll be somewhere between 10-12% body fat, and then I just have to decide whether I'm going for the "cut" look. Cut for me is another 3-5% body fat.

 

So, 238.5 to 210=28.5 lbs as my target. I'm planning on eight weeks of a very strict (and healthy) diet, at which point I'll reassess and change up as necessary.

That's about 3.56lbs per week.

[tabascojunkie]

I don't remember exactly when, but about a week and a half ago I was 206. This past Friday I weighed myself and it was 201-1/2. Yesterday, 201.

 

Yay. We'll see how it goes. I know the time a couple of years ago that I mentioned, I went from about 215 to 192 in a couple of months.

[SaintRigger]

Well for me -

 

Saturday was a big sweaty paintball day, and I may go again this upcomming saturday.

 

I'm also just back from the gym where I did an hour of cardio, and some weight training.

I'm planning on going every day this week except wednesday which is painting night and saturday (if I play paintball)

 

I keep forgetting, but I'd like to weigh myself daily and take the weekly average so I can chart the difference.

 

I also need 2200 calories daily to exist (otherwise I blink out of existance in a puff of logic, I guess) - so I want to start really tracking what I eat and sticking between 1800 and 2000 calories daily.

 

I've also cut soda out, except for special occasions - those being conventions (I like my convention root beers) and the movies where I used to get a cherry coke, but I'll now get a diet coke. After a few weeks of no soda, when I do have one, I feel rather bloaty.

[dargrin]

OK, I got myself a pedometer and went out for a 2 mile walk this morning. I plan on setting up a food diary tomorrow to at least get a base line of what I am doing right now for intake and exercise. The one that I got is pretty good and can be left in my pocket so that I won't loose it.

 

As for my current weight, I don't know. My scale says "Error" every time I step on it. Might as well say "Get of tub-o." So my short term goal is to get the scale to at least give me an answer when I ask for one.

[SaintRigger]

I weighed myself after the gym and I'm 10 lbs down from when I last weighed myself - so I'm at a rather bulky 290 currently

[kit]

I start my cycling route in the morning. Sometime this week I'll also be setting up the drums so I can start alternating lower and upper body workouts. While it's not a weight issue for me, I'm not as young as I used to be: this is a heart health issue.

[Star Drifter]

I still want to weigh in every Saturday. It helps me to have the weekly goal of maintaining or losing.

 

Today: Delicious breakfast of frosted mini wheats and rice milk Usual healthy lunch. I also started a project for my dinners.

 

5 Dinners, monday - friday, $10 total for the whole week. The only thing that will be missing from day to day is variety, but if I keep it up then I can replace that from week to week. So, for the remainder of my week, my dinner will look like this:

 

• 1 Can of tuna or a few imitation crab meat tubes. Basically pollock and red food dye.
  
• White rice
  
• Steamed frozen veggies.
  
• Water
  
• One Nutty Bar (as in one stick for dessert, not the whole 2-pack)
  

I'm still full after two hours, 30 minutes of which included DDR with my son. I even broke an old record tonight. I am doing the $10 thing as an experiment in healthy eating on the cheap, because it sounded like a good time, and to prove a point. Hopefully the meals are cheap, filling, nutritious, and fast.

 

Plus chocolate. Sorry. I have to ration a little in.

 

But seriously, my food bill for all dinners combined, Mon-Friday was $9.67. Now I just need to see what it's like to eat it for a solid week.

[rgtriplec]

I bought a step counter. I guess most of us take about 2000-4000 steps a day. An active adult should take between 10,000 and 15,000.

 

I made grilled Tuna with corn salsa and aioli tonight. Tomorrow will be grouper. Downloaded a list of the 100 healthiest foods, bought several over the weekend to incorporate into our diet. Pulled out the iced tea maker, and have been brewing small batches of green tea everyday. I hate plain tea, but not as much as water.

 

I am going to start fasting one day a week.

 

In about 6 hours I will have been tobacco free for two weeks. No, its not getting easier. I crave a cigarette, or dip... at least 12 times a day.

[vejlin]

In about 6 hours I will have been tobacco free for two weeks. No, its not getting easier. I crave a cigarette, or dip... at least 12 times a day.

 

Quitting cigarettes was the hardest thing I ever did, but also the most rewarding. My cravings got worse for the first weeks and I was still having them every day months after quitting. At one point I was about to give up because I didn't believe it would ever stop. I was taking it one day at a time my goal being reduced from "never smoke again" (which got me all sad and panicky) to "hold out one more day", which seemed much more attainable and less depressing. And it worked. One day I realized that I'd not thought about smoking for a week.

 

Keep up the good work, and if you fall off the wagon, climb back on... I know I fell off and smoked a single cigarette (as an alternative to freaking out about our 2 month old colicy baby), not smoking the second cigarette was very hard.

[Rastl]

Still doing the stair machine in the morning. Today was the first day when I didn't want to curl up into a little ball and die after my time was up. That's a good sign! I'm giving it until the end of next week then increasing the time. I want to get back to half an hour. But I so need to fix the book holder on the machine so it actually holds a book open. Reading helps take my mind off the exercise.

 

I looked into taking a belly dancing class but they don't start up again until September. That will give me time to work on my cardo before trying that.

[Jubilee]

Despite getting up at 5am to take my friend and her toddler to the airport and not getting home until 7:30, I did about a 35 minute workout with the Wii Fit today (20 minutes of warm-up aerobics and 15 minutes of strength training). Tomorrow I'll do aerobics and yoga, and try to push myself to 45 minutes.

 

As of this morning, I weighed just a touch over 136 pounds. I would like to get to 132 by the end of the month (so in about 3 weeks).

 

Also, I made my own late this morning (instead of stopping at starbucks), which saved us a few minutes, me 2.55 and also had me drinking regular soy instead of vanilla soy (since it's only unflavored soy that's considered approved for my weight watchers diet). I had a banana before my workout and about 2/3 cup of cottage cheese afterwards (with avacado, yum!) =)

 

Now if only I could motivate myself to paint!

 

/ali

[Reaperbryan]

I got up early this morning and did some pushups (only 10! I should be ashamed!) and situps (10 also, alhtough I might have been able to manage 12).

 

I am giving up sodas as soon as I finish the last 3 in the firsdge so they don't tempt me.

I've already scaled back my portion sizes, but I;m still eating the food I love so it isn't as rough.

 

I'm taking the dogs on longer walks now.

 

I;ve lost 5 lbs so far. I'm currenlty at 225. My goal is 180. My short term goal is to be able to see the "200" on my scale while I am on it....