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Oct 12, 2009 1:20pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I’m looking for a motivator to help me through a long-haul weight loss. I’ve lost weight in the past (60 lbs.), but I’ve since gained it back.
I have a fairly good grasp of what to do regarding exercise and nutrition, but I have a hard time actually doing it for more than 2-3 weeks at a time. Which means that any progress made during those 2-3 weeks is quickly lost when I fall off the wagon.
Anyone willing to be my cajoler/drill sargeant?
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Oct 12, 2009 3:06pm
sin2001
20 posts
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Hey im on the same boat. Lets do it. The only person that can do it is you. Be in it for YOU and YOU will succeed. Take it day by day. Are you going to a gym or only dieting it off? let me know that way I can help you. My weight is 340 right now down 20 so far. I want to get back down to where I was when I was a trainer. So any questions you have for me I wil try and answer.
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Oct 12, 2009 3:19pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I have an elliptical machine at home.
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Oct 12, 2009 5:01pm
TheAng
773 posts
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Welcome to DB! I am in a similar situation – lost a bit of wait a few years ago, gained it back and then some so now I’m here for the long haul – the rest of my life. If you need anything, let me know!
There are a lot of super helpful people here, try joining the challenges and the likes. Do you have a plan yet?
I’ve done the elliptical a few times and it always kicks my butt – wow, it’s quite the workout. Probably going to do it at the gym tonight, actually!
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Oct 12, 2009 9:12pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I’m loosely following the American Heart Association’s “No-Fad Diet.” I’m following the plan’s basic guidelines but adapting it to suit my tastes. (I guess I can be termed a picky eater.)
As far as exercise goes, right now I’m just trying to focus on doing some. :)
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Oct 12, 2009 9:57pm
TheAng
773 posts
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That sounds similar to what I’m doing, which is loosely following the DASH diet – I made a few modifications though since I don’t have a hypertension problem. Mainly just try and keep the sodium in check and balance out my other nutrients.
I’m really getting closer and closer to a real foods diet but I do enjoy the ease of paying someone else to make my dinner, lol.
Oh and for exercise I just started out trying to walk more than normal, like 15 minutes or so on break at work. The I decided to try for 10,000 steps a day – right now I try for at least 12,000 steps a day with breaks from time to time.
Walked my first 5k walk a week or so ago, someday I hope to be able to run but I have a knee injury that I have to pay attention to at this point. Waiting on weight loss to see if the problem corrects itself or if I need surgery :(
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Oct 13, 2009 1:23am
sin2001
20 posts
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I know about knee injury for I have one also. Weight and joints just plain ole suck. Me Im going for the put a few lbs. of Muscle on. For the fact Muscle burns calories 24/7. Then I will remain lifting and doing cardio. I belong to a gym here in Utah. $10 a month is good.
Im sure once extra poundage is off the knees will be feeling pretty good.
I say lets all set a goal. Walk fast paced 2 miles a day. Even if you break it up. Also I used to tech back in the good ole days. At lunch have your dinner and at dinner eat like its lunch. For the fact mid day is when you need the extra food for energy. After dinner like most of america we tend to wind down and not burn the calories and sleep with excess energy causing it to turn to the gooey stuff.
WE ALL CAN DO IT..
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Oct 13, 2009 7:41am
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I understand about knee problems too. My problems aren’t from a specific injury, though; my knee caps are apparently misaligned (??). And yet I want to run. I’m hoping that once I get some weight off and buy some good orthotics, I’ll be able to give it a shot. In the meantime, the elliptical machine is my friend (with whom I have a love/hate relationship).
BTW, I’m jealous — $10 a month for a gym membership? I was paying $30 a month (with a decent-sized discount). I cancelled recently because cost-averaging came out to be about $20 per visit.
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Oct 13, 2009 8:38am
Patti234
45 posts
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I’ll send an invite for a motivator. You can look at what I do for food and daily exercise for ideas, but I’m not going to yell at you lol. There are things you can do from preventing yourself from falling off the wagon or at least make the off the wagon days less devastating. Such as eating smaller quantities high-calorie foods you absolutely must have and/or eating them less frequently. Keeping high amounts of protein in your diet to keep you full. Find the most fun and/or convenient exercise to keep you motivated to actually do the exercise.
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Oct 13, 2009 10:23am
rnsteven
39 posts
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Yep, Know what ya mean. I too would like that 100lbs goal, but am gonna set a goal of 50lbs first. This website is a great site. Especially if ya have an Iphone. It has made my entries so easy. TheAng is a great role model. She has done far better that anyone else i have seen. My gym is trough my hospital/work. it also is only 10/month. I did spluge and get a rowing machine at a garage sale a month or so ago. BUT, My advice is do what ever works for you. I tend to focuse on excercise and a calorie limit. Also I like listening to Fat2Fitradio.com podcasts. They are on Itunes also. The fist 2 months was fairly easy and the weight kept coming off aboubt 3 lbs a week. Now not so fast, avg 1-1.5 lbs a week. I’m not starving myself. I feel really good. My B/p is down, but could be better. The one thing I have noticed is that when i walked up the steps from my parking lot to my work, I"M NOT SHORT OF BREATH ant more. That really started to scare me. Keep involed and make a few friends on the forums. You should do fine.
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Oct 13, 2009 10:58am
sin2001
20 posts
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One of the #1 tips I can also give is on the scale. Only get on it once a week of even once every 2 weeks. For the fact if your working out and doing great and you are not seeing results from day to day you may get discouraged. Sometimes when your body changes it will preserve and not allow for a fast weight loss at first. Sometimes you go real fast at first then slow down.
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Oct 13, 2009 12:07pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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Past experiences have taught me that I won’t really see any changes unless I include exercise, so it would figure that would be the most difficult thing for me to be consistent about.
rnsteven, I understand what you mean about being scared when you got short of breath on the stairs. I work on the fifth floor of my office building, so I decided one day to take the stairs. HAH. I started wondering just how frequently 30-year-olds actually have heart attacks.
sin2001, I’m still trying to find that happy balance on frequency of weighing myself. I have a hard time not obsessing about it daily when I’m paying attention to my eating and exercising habits.
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Oct 13, 2009 12:57pm
TheAng
773 posts
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My gym is costing me about $35 a month and that’s through work and includes the cost of a locker rental. It’s a really nice facility but it’s often too busy because it’s where all the students go too. It’s awesome in the summer though!
The elliptical kicks it for me though – last night I only made it 5 minutes and according to the heart rate monitor the whole time I was way above fitness levels – at like 180. Going to keep doing it though and hope eventually I start getting more stamina.
I do weigh in daily because that helps you get an average for the week and that’s the number I want to look at. Plus I’m a bit of a stats geek and like to see all the data in the charts, etc.
I also love being able to take the stairs now and not feel embarrassed! Still only doing the one flight but eventually I’ll move it. Though to be honest I enjoy the elevator because sometimes I get little quick “naps” between floors if it’s empty.
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Oct 13, 2009 1:05pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I can’t seem to decide if I want a gym membership. I like having the variety of exercise options and the better-quality machines (while not the bottom-of-the-barrel, my elliptical machine is definitely not top-quality). The down side of going to the gym, though, includes the cost, the crowds, and the inconvenience. I probably will return to gym life in January, though. My husband will be returning to college, so he will have free access to his university rec center, and I can buy a discounted membership as an alumni. At least then I would have someone to work out with.
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Oct 13, 2009 5:31pm
sin2001
20 posts
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It wil be good for you to try and get to a gym. Sometimes if you talk to the Gym they at times will donate service to you. Meaning they will say ok come on in and work out. Be careful on the Eliptical machine. For the fact the machine has a platform for your feet and forces knees into going the direction it wants causing pain.
Also try picking up some cheap weights if moneys a problem fill up empty gallons of milk with water and curl it and do presses with it.
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Oct 13, 2009 6:28pm
TheAng
773 posts
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One thing if you want stuff on the cheap, watch for clearance stuff at Target or other type stores – that’s how I get most of my equipment. It means waiting but it can really pay off with some nice discounts on last years equipment, etc. I got my exercise bike fairly cheaply because I bought the floor model.
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Oct 13, 2009 6:52pm
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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That’s actually how I got my first elliptical machine; I found a floor model on clearance at Sears around New Year’s one year.
Have either of you tried the Wii Sports Active game? I have a Wii Fit, but I’m not overly impressed with my cardio options in that particular game. I’ve had my eye on Sports Active since it came out, but I’ve waffled on it. If it can hold my interest, I think it would be a decent, moderately priced investment.
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Oct 13, 2009 7:39pm
TheAng
773 posts
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I have used Wii Active and it is a pretty solid game – I had to stop because I think it was making my knee worse because even the low impact used a lot of jumping. The resistance band seemed a little low to me but those are really cheap. It’s a lot of fun with the balance board at times, I really liked the kick boxing.
Thankfully I only borrowed the game from a friend and while I was doing it I felt pretty good – I liked winning the little trophies and getting the encouragement from the trainer.
I’ve read some good things about the Gold’s Gym boxing one but I haven’t tried it myself. That one is a lot cheaper than the EA Active.
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Oct 14, 2009 5:03am
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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I might have to give them a try—I’ve practiced karate in the past, and I loved it. The kickboxing in Sports Active seemed like it would be fairly reminiscent. I’ll check out Gold’s Gym Boxing.
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Oct 14, 2009 8:02am
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping focus on weight loss, even after a day or more of not-so-focused behavior? That always tended to get to me. Yes, I’ve been accused of severe all-or-nothing behavior.
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Oct 14, 2009 11:25am
TheAng
773 posts
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I have that all-or-nothing problem too but you just have to change the behavior – it’s taking me quite a long time to realize that what you do on one day doesn’t have that huge of an impact on your whole life. I think this is one of the most important lessons to learn – that you can always get back on track because if you strive for a healthy lifestyle you pretty much are always on track. Don’t look at things as good vs. bad but rather as things that happened.
If you feel things slipping away then step back and set a smaller goal – you need both small and large goals to keep you going. Even if it’s just things like, the rest of today I am going to focus on eating veggies, it’s a goal and an obtainable one at that. And if you can do xyz for one day, then you can do it for two, etc etc.
And when you are feeling really out of it – just come here and talk to people, everyone here helped me out when I got into a real slump. Great bunch of people here.
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Oct 14, 2009 11:36am
s_b_mcm
26 posts
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Thanks Ang; I have met some great people on here already (yes, you’re included in that statement!) .
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Oct 14, 2009 2:45pm
sin2001
20 posts
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I have found that puting a saying on the fridge helps me. When I go to open it up I can see it or even a picture thats negative.
I would have to agree small goals keep you focused on the bigger goals. Just remember when you fall stand back up and get on the band wagon. Many people fall from there goals and say they cannot do it. However its important to visuallize yourself after the goal is complete.
Know you can do it. Mind set is the best way to your future. If you have a craving go and drink 15 oz of water and wait 5 mins and if you still have the craving then you must need it but dont over do it.
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Oct 15, 2009 12:50am
morningmojo
3 posts
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I am really excited to be back “On the Wagon” ….. again. This time I want it to be different. This time I want to reach my goal and actually follow through. I am reading everyone’s comments and I feel like I can finally exhale. I’m not the only one out there. I am not the only one struggling with this. I am excited to find a group of encouraging and motivating people.
My question is… What kind of diet is everyone doing? Is it working? Do you feel like you have enough energy? What about a “pre-diet” cleanse?
Thanks for your help everyone!!
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Oct 15, 2009 12:07pm
TheAng
773 posts
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No need to worry about a pre-diet anything, I no longer think of what I’m doing as a diet because that indicates, to me, something that is temporary and I’m making a decision to have a healthy life.
With that in mind, the best way to start for most people is to go slowly and set small goals as well as larger ones. I’ve based what I do loosely around the DASH diet guidelines but mostly just been doing a lot of research on nutrition, listing to the advice of people here and doing my best.
Try picking one or two things you want to change, even if it’s as simple as writing down everything you eat for a week or two. Then you can make more changes – add more veggies, remove soda, remove processed junk food, fast food, etc. Over time the little changes will add up and you won’t feel as frustrated!
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49 post(s),
11 voice(s)
