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Losing weight (Advice and encouragement)
I don't want to keep clogging up the LOVE thread with this, so thought I'd start a new one, just for this purpose.
So, I'm hoping to lose some weight and I've actually gotten excited about it after reading what was said in the LOVE thread. It will have to wait until Januari 1st though, since I really don't want to cut down on all the nice stuff over the holidays. Facing this task, I have a few struggles that I know will be difficult for me though.
I love coca cola. Huge addict. It's my only means of getting caffeine and I do get headaches if I don't get my coke on a somewhat daily basis. I am thinking about switching my coke for juices though. I love dinking water, but it's just nice with something with a flavor. We don't have Mio here in Sweden, so I think juices will have to do, as long as I check the sugar content before.
I eat one or two meals a day. HUGE mistake, I know. I need to learn to eat smaller portions and more often. I very rarely eat junkfood and eat a lot of vegetables and such, I just eat wrong. One big portion in the middle of the day and perhaps something small in the evening. I have health shakes that I bought before my operation and I am thinking about using those as a way to get breakfast to begin with, since I'm not a huge breakfast person. Perhaps, with a little training, I'll get used to it though.
And finally. Discipline. I very easily get lazy. I can't afford going to the gym, so I will have to find free ways to get my exercise, such as walking. I just need to put my foot down and actually go for a longer walk once a day, despite the weather. I also have a pretty high doorstep in the basement that I can use for stepups and one of those rubber bands that can be used as dumbbells and things like that. I just need to actually start doing it all and that is a big struggle for me.
Perhaps there are others out there in the same position, or you are one of those who has lost weight and are willing to help with advice and encourgement. Then this is the place to do it!
Comments
- Cut out soda completely. Don't replace it with juice either, juice shouldn't be a staple in your diet unless you squeeze if yourself. Always have a water bottle on hand- use lime or lemon to give it a little flavour if necessary. Make it a point to drink some water before every large meal.
- Try to buy snacks and sweets only in very small amounts, if you can't cut them out completely. If you need to buy snacks in a larger bag than what you should be eating in one go (which isn't a whole lot), split a it into smaller servings using airtight bags/containers.
- If you live alone or are usually cooking only for yourself, be careful that you only cook as much as you should be eating for any given meal. If you cook more, put the excess away in a container in the fridge before you start eating rather than afterwards- the latter is an invitation to overeat with second helpings.
On the subject of exercise, by far the easiest way to get started is to walk or bike everywhere. I'm very reliant on my gym otherwise, myself. If you happen to live in a university town/city, student gyms tend to be cheap and friendly, even if you aren't actually a student. Highly recommended.
I don't live alone and all meals are cooked together, which can be a huge issue, since I can't push my own eating habits on someone else. Drinking water before meals sounds like a great idea though, I must say!
And Kaeus, I had a look at that site. That. Looks. Awesome. I am so gonna use that!
Water water water water.
These exercise videos you can do in the comfort of your own living room with relatively little space. Do not be deceived by the simple beginnings, they will kick your ass.
^ I especially like Leslie Sansone. She starts out easy and intensifies her cardio workout. If you follow along at her tempo, you will be feeling it. She also has different options, so if you've done a lot that day, you can do the 1 mile video, or if you haven't done much at all, the 3 mile one (I haven't gotten there yet). My favorite is the 2.
I am 12 pounds down!
Thing 2: Bread, like sugar, is another killer when you're trying to lose weight. There are a lot of fantastic rice breads and rice based pastas out there now, and they've come a long way in making them taste not...gross.
Thing 3: If, and only if, you eat really, really seriously low carb all week, you really, really, really...should have one cheat day a week. Otherwise your metabolism is gonna grind to an unpleasant halt, and all the clean eating in the world won't help you. My best tip is eating really low carb allllll week long, and every time I have a craving, I write it down - and then I eat ALL my cravings on Saturday. It's a pretty great system, because the temptation to break your diet isn't as strong. Why cheat now, and feel guilty, when you can wait four days and not have to feel bad at all?!
Thing 4: Eat your protein. Fish, eggs, chicken, and turkey. DO IT NOW. And while you're out, have some bacon. Eating a low fat diet does baaadddd things to your brain (literally). Never, ever, ever eat saturated or trans fat. But bacon and nuts and all related containing-good-fat items are not -that- bad for you, contrary to popular wisdom.
Thing 5: The way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Clean up your eating first, and then start to add in exercise. You only have so much willpower to go around. Besides, if you eat clean, you'll have more energy to exercise. In the MEAN TIME, walking and lifting weights TOTALLY COUNTS.
The important things:
1) http://myfitnesspal.com
- Get yourself the mobile app. Update it religiously. This alone will make the biggest difference in keeping your diet in line. Do not go for a quick weight drop, you'll end up missing your goals, you'll get discouraged and stop.
2) Calories in, calories out.
- It doesn't matter if you eat once a day. Starvation mode is a myth. 'Higher metabolism' from more frequent eating is a myth. It does not matter when or how you eat. Do your calorie math and if you're coming out at a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight. That's all there is to it. Your macronutrient balance doesn't make a difference either, you can get your calories from plain butter and you'll still lose weight. But most importantly, you'll learn that you can't make up for diet with exercise. Two slices of bread means 30 minutes running on the treadmill. It's not worth it.
3) Despite point number 2, eat more proteins.
- Carbohydrates do not satiate you as well as proteins and fats do. Overeating carbohydrates also stimulates insulin overproduction, which can lead to unpleasant ups and downs in your blood sugar and to diabetes (insulin resistance). A good protein intake will also prevent you from losing much lean body mass. Soda is completely terrible in that regard, high in calories, next to no satiety and plays tricks on your energy levels while bloating your stomach and guts. If you MUST drink soda, drink diet. My suggestion would be to replace all your sugar with artificial sweeteners (aspartame is literally 0 cal and doesn't provoke an insulin response) and start drinking coffee if you need the caffeine.
4) Work out, but not to burn calories.
- Working out will prevent you from shedding lean body mass. We're talking resistance training here at the 5 or so rep range. You don't have a gym, but there's still a way for you to get your training done: http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/
- If you want to pick up an activity, pick up something that's fun for you to do. Running on the mill isn't fun and climbing stairs isn't fun. Dancing is fun. Tennis is fun. Basketball is fun. Karate is fun.
5) Your biggest issue will be motivation, once you know what works and what doesn't.
- Make it fun and make it so it doesn't weigh on you. Make it sustainable. You aren't going to go on a diet and then stop being on a diet. You are going to change the way you think about food and what you put into your body forever. If you're going into this as something temporary, don't bother. If you're doing it in a way that you have to 'just make it for x amount of time,' don't bother. Either make it sustainable or don't bother starting.
Okay, okay, in all seriousness, two years ago it became a necessity for me to walk about two miles (~4 km), added up between walking to school and then work after that. With no added exercise or change in diet, I lost about 30 pounds just from all that walking.
About a month ago I decided to capitalize on this, and hit the gym. Still no major changes in diet. I've whacked off another 10 from that, as well as gained some upper body strength so I can pick things up now.
I plan on lazing around over winter break, and when spring comes, hit the ground running. That exercise will still be there, and I'll start making changes in diet. Baby steps, people.
I usually find a sport or other physical activity to be a part of. Right now I'm interested in boxing. Boxing, kickboxing, or some sort of martial art might be a nice way to get involved. Not to mention it is a good way to hold yourself accountable! I used to be a size 24 and now I'm a size 16. At 4'10" I'm not anywhere near healthy but its a work in a progress. I'm the same way with soda only my vice is Dr. Pepper. The longest I quit was three years before picking up a soda around finals only for the extra energy. The way I quit last time was just stopping. Before that I tried to decrease the amount I drank until I wasn't drinking any but that didn't work. If you have issues with putting your footdown I recommend the cold turkey approach.
Also - making things easy for yourself. Pack your lunch the night before and leave in the fridge for the next morning. Assign obligation to taking it with you and reason yourself out of deviating. "I don't have the extra money to pick up that candy bar." "My ass will not shrink on its own. What's more important to me - wearing a bikini and feeling healthy or the five seconds of choco-bliss that brings me one candy bar closer to diabetus?"
Find that routine that works for you - write-up some self affirmations or find a skinny picture of yourself and tape it to the mirror.
Don't skip a day in the first four months of your new routine. The first four months are the hardest and studies show that it takes seven associations to encode in your brain. After the first four months it is likely you have practiced every part of your routine, rehearsed your self affirmations enough, and grown to enjoy the act of pushing yourself to your limit physically that you'll make a successful transition from unhealthy to healthy! (Four months sounds like a lot but it is enough time to figure in all of the fumbling to find a routine.)
Anyway - good luck!
"To be awkward or unkempt, to talk or move wrongly is to be a dangerous giant, a destroyer of worlds...any accurately improper move can poke through the thin sleeve of immediate reality." - Erving Goffman
"To be awkward or unkempt, to talk or move wrongly is to be a dangerous giant, a destroyer of worlds...any accurately improper move can poke through the thin sleeve of immediate reality." - Erving Goffman
You can't turn fat into muscle. You can lose fat or you can gain muscle, but you can't do both. So if you want to lose fat for now, just lower your calorie intake and don't worry about exercising.
If you're interested in putting on muscle, but you can't use your arms or your legs ... well damn, dude. I'm not sure you can do that. You can try some isolated exercises, but honestly? Just let yourself heal and stop putting stress on damaged joints and ligaments. You could make the injury chronic and that's going to mess with your exercising for the rest of your life. Just let it heal and then start lifting again when you're ok.
Calisthetics are awesome, and don't require a gym.
Try frying things in coconut oil if you heart fried things. I eat coconut oil by the spoonful. It is delicious and nutriotious.