Taking control my my weight again...

[EyeAmEye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Considering the amount of time your spend on that bike, you could probably read War and Peace in about a week! That, or watch a different movie every day!

Be hard to read with the vibrations and all, maybe I should try it

It seems like alot of time, but by now, it's become part of the daily routine, I don't give it much thought. Would seem odd not to do it, and since I work part-time, I have a nice window in the afternoon and then again at night if I wish to break it up instead of doing it straight. If I were around the house on Saturday, I'd probably do it 7 days a week.

 

[socrates63]

Wow, this thread has been informational and inspirational.

I graduated high school at 190, and after a couple of girlfriends (lotta lovin' and eating out), I went up to 235. Just prior to meeting my wife, I lost some weight and hit the scale at 198 -- under 200 for the first time in several years. But dating and marriage added about 40. My doctor advised me to be at 200 so that leaves another 25 pounds to go. At 6'1", 200 won't leave me stick thin but I don't need to be. With my current muscle mass, I probably need to go down to about 180 to be thin and lean.

Recently, my wife got us on an acupuncture + potation juice diet (my next door neighbor is an acupuncturist and got us into it). It's an 8-week program, and we have one week left (I've lost 7-10 pounds, and I'm currently 225). All in all, it's been good, and I've modified how I eat. I now try to eat as full a breakfast as possible, and eat every few hours throughout the day. I find that I can't eat as much as I used to, and I'm satisfied.

My motivation has been longterm health (and looking good on the beach for the Cayman meet). I want to prepare my body now (I just turned 37) for a healthy life 30-40 years later. I want to live a long and healthy life with my wife and kids. I've pretty much abused my shoulder, knees, ankles and feet from sports in my younger days, and it kinda scares me and makes me laugh at the same time when my dad (turning 66 this year) tells me about his aches and pains -- I'm thinking, hey, he's got the same aches and pains as I do. That's definitely not a good thing.

Wayne, the only advice I have is that you should eat more often. Eat a full breakfast and lunch with somethingin between, and have a nice snack between lunch and dinner. This will lead to decreasing your appetite so you don't do an all-out pig-out. You'll find that you can't eat as much as you used to. It's a win-win. You get to eat more often and be full.

Now I just need to add enough of this exercise thing into the equation and all will be good.

 

[Homeless]

So I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 5 months. I did 40 minutes on the elipitcal machine and some light weights to get back into it. I feel good today, not too sore...but I'm on my way back today just for some cardio...

 

[hyamaiata]

Hey Wayne, I haven't read all the thread and don't know if someone already suggested this but have you thought about getting into any sport? Many will say that you will do more exercise with excersices specifically intended to reduce weight and that's true but you have to take into account that you would be doing this exercises with the only purpose of reducing weight and maybe won't have fun at all. If you do any sport, you will have fun and won't be thinking that you need to reduce weight but rather enjoy the exercise. It doesn't needs to be anything extenuating like football; for example, I take table tennis lessons three times a week and it is awesome, I just forget about any problems or preocupations and enjoy the game. Just my 2 cents.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus I think the phrase is FF. Seems so much nicer that way, doesn't it? Now I hate to get all touchy feely with this, but it sounds like you've done some of the same things I've done over the years. In effect, you've found "reasons" not to exercise or to eat in a healthy manner, and it almost seems that during those times you don't "love yourself" enough to see it. This will happen at various points in your lifetime and you need to recognize it as soon as possible and figure out how to find time to fit in a modest exercise program, as well as "plan" your meals so you're not eating junk food on the run. In my case, the year 2002 will always be my example. I actually kept track of the hours that I was working on a daily/weekly basis in an effort to try to manage my time better and to find ways of doing "more in less time". The result? The LEAST hours that I worked in any ONE week during that entire year was 81. Most weeks were around 95 or so, and some over 100. Mind you, there are only 168 hours in a week. That entire year went by in a blur and of course I gained a bunch of weight. I was working a demending 40+ hour job in private banking, revising a textbook that I'm a co-author of, teaching a "one-man-show" CPA review course two nights per week and all day on Saturday, teaching a couple of classes at the local college two other nights per week, serving as a director for several local companies, serving as the dean of an online university with over 700 students, volunteering on various committees of professional organizations I belonged to, managing apartments, and more. Now that I think about it, the "mistake" that I made was in thinking that I "needed" to be doing all of these things. Teaching has always been a passion to me and it's where I think I fit in best, occupationally speaking. So it took a while, but evenntually I decided to give up my full time job (this was not at all an easy thing to do in terms of the "comfort" of a regular, and quite nice, paycheck). But it had to be done. I was actually doing so many "other" things that I wasn't attending to my "real" job at the bank the way I really needed to. I was the head of the department, so nobody really noticed but me. Yet, I'd pull an "all nighter" at least once per week to work on the book. Not a good thing the next day no matter how much Diet Coke you drink! It wasn't the "money" that was making me do all of these things, but the sense of being involved and making a difference. As it turned out, what I had the least amount of passion for was my "real" job, which of course paid the most. But I knew that would take care of itself, and it has. Long story, but the point is that there may be certain points in your life when you let your passions get the best of you, to the point that it means you've allowed yourself to get run down. Now that I've "been there" (and 2002 is just my "worst case" example, there have been other years that were quite similar), I can honestly tell you that I'd never let it happen again. If you can avoid this kind of crazy over involved schedule, do so at all costs.

Wayne - your right and I noticed this about a few weeks ago. Now that I have a less hectic schedule I am finding more time to exercise and eat healthier. However, while it is easy now, I hope I can sustain it in the near future when things get more hectic. I try to avoid crazy schedules at all cost but sometimes it is just too hard. Regardless, I will keep you posted on my weight loss.

I guess this is the official FFA thread now.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAP7 There's this thing called "diet" apparently.... Check it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAP7 Oh.... you need to "exercise" as well. Typing doesn't count

Not that such inane posts really deserve a reply, but are you always so smart and funny? Thanks for stopping by with your thread craps, butthead.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by socrates63 Recently, my wife got us on an acupuncture + potation juice diet (my next door neighbor is an acupuncturist and got us into it). It's an 8-week program, and we have one week left (I've lost 7-10 pounds, and I'm currently 225). All in all, it's been good, and I've modified how I eat. I now try to eat as full a breakfast as possible, and eat every few hours throughout the day. I find that I can't eat as much as I used to, and I'm satisfied... Wayne, the only advice I have is that you should eat more often. Eat a full breakfast and lunch with somethingin between, and have a nice snack between lunch and dinner. This will lead to decreasing your appetite so you don't do an all-out pig-out. You'll find that you can't eat as much as you used to. It's a win-win. You get to eat more often and be full.

Acupuncture! Now there's a new twist. This thread is getting interesting. Don't think we have one of those here in Cayman. If we did, I'm sure it would cost an arm and a leg. Interesting though.

Good advice about fewer meals and eating less at each one. This is what I called "grazing" and it was one of the keys to my 105 pound weight loss 10 years ago. Likening your stomach to a gas tank, it's not wise to fill it all the way up past full on the gauge (to the point where gas starts to spill out) and then run it down to the point that your car is sputtering and "running on fumes". You're better off getting comfortably full by bringing it up to 3/4 full, then letting run down to just past a half a tank, maybe to 1/4 of a tank but not lower, then filling up again.

All day long, every day, you give your body just enough fuel to get to the next meal. You never feel "stuffed" and you never feel "starved" but instead are always in a comfort zone to the point that you're not really thinking too much about food either way. If someone asks you if you're hungry, you could almost always say, "I could eat now, but we can wait another hour or two if you would like". This, of course, kicks up your metabolism and eliminates those big "monster cr@ps" as well (ewww!), which are always a sign that your digestive system was being taxed beyond its limits.

So ya, I'm familiar with the concept, and will make an effort to apply the techniques. You have to keep a lot of "grab" foods around. Things like apples, oranges, mini carrots, celery sticks, granola bars, and cups of yogurt.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homeless So I went to the gym yesterday for the first time in about 5 months. I did 40 minutes on the elipitcal machine and some light weights to get back into it. I feel good today, not too sore...but I'm on my way back today just for some cardio...

Wow!!! So this thread is working as an inspiration! Good job. Keep us posted. I didn't work out at all yesterday, and really need to get back at it today.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hyamaiata Hey Wayne, I haven't read all the thread and don't know if someone already suggested this but have you thought about getting into any sport? Many will say that you will do more exercise with excersices specifically intended to reduce weight and that's true but you have to take into account that you would be doing this exercises with the only purpose of reducing weight and maybe won't have fun at all. If you do any sport, you will have fun...

Yes, several people have mentioned this same thing, and I totally agree. Another thing that it will do for me, and very importantly, is to get me "out there" and meeting new people, interacting, making friends. Don't get me wrong, I've got lots of friends, and tend to be pretty social, but it's always nice to meet new people, especially those who tend to be younger and more physically active.

I've been "semi retired" for nearly 3 years now and live on a relatively small Island where you quickly get the sense that you've been everywhere and have done everything, so (like most people), after a while, I tended to go "out" less because of the "same old" type of feeling. The one exception, of course, was restaurants, because we have hundreds of those here, so there is always a new dining experience waiting for me. So I'm pretty young to be even "semi" retired and to have the restaurant circuit as my primary social network.

No doubt, sports can be a lot of fun. I'm thinking about playing some golf again, and do still play baskeball quite often. But then there is scuba diving and if you want to talk about fun!!! Also, lots of beach volleyball here, and all sorts of "rink" sports at the gym that I could get into (roller hockey, indoor soccer, flag football, and the like).

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF I guess this is the official FFA thread now.

Yes, the Fred Flinstone Association!

(...or at least something like that)

 

[Homeless]

Just got back from the gym again. I'm really glad I started going again...it's only been two days but I feel like I'll be back in the swing of things in no time.

One other thing that I thought was interesting regarding weight is perceived weight versus actual weight. I don't own a scale at home, and the last time I weighed myself I was 226 or so, which is what I stated in an early post as being my current weight. Anyway, I figured I'd have to be about the same (maybe a little more considering my lack of regular exercise) but suprisingly I was 218. This was before I even worked out yesterday...I weighed myself so I could keep track of any progress. So I'm kind of happy that my first almost 10 pounds are already lost...without any exercise!

I'll be back to the gym tomorrow...I have a feeling I'm gonna be hooked again...

 

[av98m2]

Count me as another FF who needs to get back into the swing of things. I hope to lose my excess baggage in about 6 to 12 months.

P.S. Will it frighten people if I post a "before" picture in here?

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by av98m2 P.S. Will it frighten people if I post a "before" picture in here?

No problem, but I think we would prefer a "shirt on" pic rather than a "shirt off" if you know what I mean. Hope you get started soon with a proper diet and exercise routine.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homeless I'll be back to the gym tomorrow...I have a feeling I'm gonna be hooked again...

Hey, cool. Two days in a row and plans already for a 3rd, plus an unexpected weight loss without even trying. That would be encouraging, for sure!

 

[av98m2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus No problem, but I think we would prefer a "shirt on" pic rather than a "shirt off" if you know what I mean. Hope you get started soon with a proper diet and exercise routine.

I was really just kidding.

Seriously, a shirt on pic of me will not tell much because I have pretty broad shoulders and large arms (from working out many years ago) which actually help disguise how bad my weight gain really is

. I'm 1.7 metres tall and weigh 91kg(about 200lbs), which is pretty frikking heavy for an asian. I've resumed regular gym workouts since 2 weeks ago, the diet part hasn't been planned. We'll see how it goes. I have to say, this thing called muscle memory is a wonderful thing.