Posted on 06/03/2009 12:36:48 PM PDT by fellowgeek
I elected to take a physical health assessment at work today and was not happy with the results.
Yeah, I have a digital scale. I’m probably the wrong one to ask about daily/weekly, though. I weigh daily. It’s about the only way I’ve been able to avoid having my weight shoot back up. I keep myself within a five pound range. If the morning number is low, I have certain food choices I can have. If it’s at the upper end of the five pounds, those choices are fewer.
“Quit eating bread and sugar. Problem solved”
And potatoes, pasta, and cereals.
Do away with as much carbs as you can.
Read Dr. Adkins book. You will never feel hunger again.
A better way to push your metabolism is to do 6-12 sprint type bursts of activity while doing your cardio work. So if you run for ten minutes, and every 40 seconds you burst for 20 seconds, and then slow back down, you'll get more out of your metabolism throughout the day than you would spending 20 min jogging at a level pace. I don't know what condition your knees are in, but I do this out in front of my house in the morning before work (or sometimes afterwards). You don't need to go far or long, exactly, but you do need to not stop or walk between bursts. Just jog-sprint-jog-sprint.
If you need a stationary bike or eliptical, then try that as well. (Stairclimber is pretty wicked too).
If you do go to the gym (which you should 3x a week if you can squeeze it) don't focus on little muscles like triceps or what have you. Squats are your friend; they work the whole body and keep your fat burning for hours.
An easy version you can do at home requires only a dumbbell (start light with a 25lb or so, then work up). Put it between your legs on the floor. Bend down with your knees, grab it with both hands, stand up and lift it over your head. Do 3 sets of that, six reps each. That's another great one you can do pretty much anywhere you have the right sized weight, morning or night.
Avoid long, long runs and Nautalis machines that focus on specific body parts. Neither is ideal for weight loss. If you want to be a marathon runner or weightlifter, look into that after you've slimmed down some. For now, intensity-intervals in cardio, and full body work for weights. Shouldn't take you more than 30 min a day. Make it a minor but steady change in your daily routine, and there's less chance you'll fall off the wagon.
Both. Weigh yourself a lot, multiple times a day at first if you can. Your weight actually fluctuates pretty dramatically through multiple cycles (daily, weekly and even monthly). Frequent weigh-ins will help you understand your body’s cycles, then you can figure out which parts of the cycle to focus on and you’ll know how much weight you’ve really dropped. For instance mornings I’m at my lightest for the day and Fridays I’m usually my lightest for the week, so I really pay attention to the Friday morning weigh-in (and these days that’s often my only weigh-in).
By the same token when you’re in a weight loss cycle you actually sometimes don’t lose weight but will lose girth. I actually went through an entire month when my weight wouldn’t budge, every morning was the exact same weight to the tenth of a pound, but I had to take two links out of my watch. I was burning fat but replacing the weight with muscle, which resulted in a loss of size but an immobile scale.
Getting in shape is simply a matter of making it a priority, other than those who truly do have health issues, (hypothyroidism etc.).
You know what you need to do, you just have to do it. Eat better and exercise. Stop eating whats convienent, make the thing that is right convienent. I’m sure your wife would be more than willing to send you to work with some carrot slices or celery so you don’t buy that bag of chips out of the vending machine.. Or if she won’t you can throw them in a bag to take with you.
Instead of the bag of chips, have a handfull or two of almonds...or other nuts. Far better for you even though they are higher in the calorie content.
Exercise, is a matter of simply making it a priority in your life... Hit the gym at lunch time, or before work, or after your kids are in bed. If the hours between 5pm and their bed time are off limits, then you have to do it after their bed time, before you go to work or at lunch.
Here is my typical week of exercise (and I have a under 2 and a 12 year old)
Monday’s Volleyball during season this game can be anytime, 6-8pm so it can fall into daddy time. I also play basketball from 9:30-11pm, tuesdays I play basketball at the local YMCA at lunch time, Wednesdays I play racquetball at 8pm, thursdays basketball at lunch time at YMCA and again 9:30-11pm. Fridays usually nothing, Saturday open, and Sunday in the summer I play sand volleyball, and in winter I play basketball 8:30pm to 10pm.
Now, this is a guy who literally had ZERO physical activity 12 years ago and hadn’t for years. Now however I am so used to doing this sort of thing, that if I go more than a few days without playing a sport, I get very antsy and go out of my way to find something to do. I know of all sorts of pick up things going on, so if one of my regular things can’t happen or gets interfered with I go do something else to make up for it.
In terms of losing the weight, eating right is the key, more exercise you do the mroe flexibility you get to eat things that aren’t so good for and the impact on your weight, but at the end of the day if you want to lose weight, you have to eat less, or at least less calories. Weight Watchers is a good program and will work if you stick to it, nice thing is nothing is off limits, so it teaches you how to understand input... if you want hot wings, go ahead, but you just have to eat light the rest of the day and can only eat so many.
Make it a priority, and get over the mental hurdle, and stick with it. Remember, they say if you do something every day for 17 days it becomes a habit... So, get out there and do it, and stick with it, and on exercise the key is find something you enjoy, if you make youself run on a treadmill but hate it, you are far less likely to keep doing it. I find sports far more fun and enjoyable and want to play them, plus you get to meet new people etc.. And even though you are married, nothing wrong with meeting a few cute gals on the volleyball court in their bikini’s once or twice a week...
Easy!
I've done two rounds of P90X and it is a great program. It is time consuming though with each workout about an hour.
The original poster said that he doesn't want to give up "daddy" time in the evenings and is not one for getting up at 5 and going to the gym. Hard to make a commitment to working out with those restrictions. My first round I worked out after the kids went to bed but missed the time with my wife. My second round I got up at 5 and went down to my basement. It was hard at first but I found I had more energy in the evenings with the kids and the wife.
Beachbody fitness has some great workout programs: ChaLEAN Extreme is good and not quite as intense as P90X; Tony Horton One on One; 10 minute trainer; Slim in 6; and a new one coming out this month called "Insanity" (I did one of the workouts from a trial DVD and it was the hardest cardio workout I've ever done).
Losing weight is difficult and there is no easy fix.
I like to use a thing called Calorie King. Its an internet program that really helps when writing stuff down but I understand - ITS HARD!!!
I read someplace that people who are over weight have a hard time telling the difference between hunger and thirst, also hunger and being tired. Just a thought. Good luck on your journey.
I hit a similar point as you. Not so much the weight issue, but just out of shape, and ate whatever involved the least amount of work. When I tried to research, I hit information overload, big time.
A few suggestions:
Coconut oil — truly a superfood, can be used for all frying, and helps you to lose weight. If you get the good stuff (extra virgin), its so good you can eat it plain. I have it on toast (w/ cinnamon), I make scrambled eggs with it, and I use it for cooking meat or stir-fry. Supposedly great for cholesterol issues.
Turmeric — add it to everything. Especially good w/ coconut oil.
Ground flaxseed and wheat germ — sprinkle on everything, and you won’t even notice it.
As far as exercise, the best bang for the buck is the Tabata method. Takes 4 minutes (104, if you count the time you lie on the ground praying for death), and is the best interval training around (works best with thrusters — a kind of squat/military press, but you can use it with rowing or running). If you aren’t up for that yet, 20 minutes of 2 minutes light/1 minute sprint interval training is probably best.
If you are interested, I have a very easy five meal system that involves little to no prep work, and hits almost all of the superfoods (a little of everything, so its varied). Plus, I also have a decent bodyweight daily workout that takes about 20 minutes per day (but is really designed to be used in conjunction with gym work).
Good luck.
Yeah Tony Horton’s workouts are the real deal. I’ve never seen results so fast from anything else like his circuit training. I’m on about week 4 of restarting P90 and I feel great. Everything else just falls into place when you start working out.
I’ve done well on mine, I’m all maintenance now. A lot of it is knowing who you are too. A friend at work dropped about twice as much weight in half the time, but I couldn’t possibly stick to his diet and exercise program. Any program you can stick too (assuming it actually does something) is better than any program you can’t. Learning your different hungers is good too, anybody overweight probably needs to shrink their stomach some, so those kind of hunger pains should by and large be ignored; but you need to know your low blood sugar signals (for me it’s small vibrations in my cheeks or fingers), don’t ignore those, that’s your body NEEDING food.
I have with me a Fiber One bar as a rule just in case. On Saturday I play a game with myself in that I have a window for my adult beverage. I can have it only between 4 and 6pm and if for some reason I don't have it by 6, my bad...have to wait until next week.
One thing I have noticed...my shoes are getting large...that is my feet have even shrunk. Oh and my wife is getting tired of buying me new pants, gone from size 42 to 36 and now looking at 34's.
Hey fellowgeek, Im a registered dietitian and there are some basic simple rules of what to eat and not to lose weight...no white flour or sugar, no soda, no alcohol, no sanck foods made from flour/sugar...increase the following foods: whole grains (love Thomas Lite English Muffins, 8 grams of fiber! also love Dreamfields Pasta, it is the ONLY kind that enters my mouth!), use light dairy products and eat a lean protein 5x/day. Do these things and you will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day, won’t have cravings and won’t “crash” in the afternoon. You will feel and look like a new man! Good luck!
pop, white bread, high fructose corn syrup, dry cereals, cream of wheat and other flour-based cereals, pasta, cake, anything with flour (especially white flour but even try to cut down on whole wheat and rye) and potato starch.
Complex carbohydrates are better than simple carbohydrates. Potatoes and rice are ok.
Oh, and get a dog and walk it yourself twice a day. You’ll be amazed at what a little regular exercise (dog walking) can do for you.
bookmark
I would suggest getting some of his One on One disks and P90X+. Great stuff! Be sure and check on Insanity when it comes out. The trailer on the website says it is “the most difficult workout program ever put on DVD.” After doing the trial workout (Plyo-Cardio-Intervals) I can say that they are not kidding. Unbelievably difficult. It’s a 60 day program.
Kudos!
I’m not to that point yet. I’m still huffing and puffing on Level 1 P90 cardio lol.
The “Eat This, Not That” book for the supermarket is my bible. My family wants to burn it.
Yeah, pretty much right. White bread is evil, though delicious, especially a crusty loaf slathered with butter. But then, I’ve been on the South Beach for a month and haven’t toothed either a crusty loaf or butter in that long. Kinda miss it... Lost fifteen pounds though.
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