Getting Fit: Shedding Pounds and Achieving Goals Together

[nazarbaz]

Have you hit your target weight yet or do you need to lose more?

It seems like whatever I do, I can't lose weight any further. 85 kg for 180 cm. It's a bit frustrating but I must live with it, since I'm against plastic surgery for philosophical reasons.
I like the way I am right now.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Surgery? I'm confused. What is your waist size?

 

[nazarbaz]

I don't know. It's a stressing factor and I chose since the beginning not to check my weight or my waist more than one time every three or four months.
When I started the whole operation my pants size was 62 and now it's 42 (european standards), though. Surgery could remove what's left of body fat but I don't want them to reshape my body according to their standards of "beauty". I did it to be healthy, not to look nice.

 

[Lisa!]

Hi Lisa! Why are you worried and unhappy, the political situation?

Hi Ivan! How are things with you and TSu
Not really! I'm not hopefull to get my favorite job and I feel useless.

 

[Psyguy22]

Easy way to lose ten pounds in a day..(I don't recommend it)
Go to j Robinson intisive camp in July when its 98 degrees, and sweat the ten pounds away.

 

[FreeMitya]

What works for me? Strength training Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (with an emphasis on leg/core exercises) and doing interval training on Tuesdays and Thursdays combined with, of course, good eating habits. Probably not ideal for most, but I figured I would throw it out there. For what it's worth, I went from having a jiggle to having a "six-pack" over a period of ~2.5 years, but there could be undiscovered variables involved.

P.S. I hope this doesn't come off as excessively vain on my part.

 

[zapz]

Easy way to lose ten pounds in a day..(I don't recommend it)
Go to j Robinson intisive camp in July when its 98 degrees, and sweat the ten pounds away.

Try being a counselor at the camp!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It seems like whatever I do, I can't lose weight any further. 85 kg for 180 cm. It's a bit frustrating but I must live with it, since I'm against plastic surgery for philosophical reasons.
I like the way I am right now.

Given how far you've come it is hard to imagine that you would need surgery to continue the loss. And it is normal to get stuck for a time. The one thing that came to mind was not to expect too much of yourself. You don't have to run 10K a day to be healthy. Like you said, take it easy on yourself. For a time I tended to beat myself up if I wasn't perfect each and every day. But eventually the lifestyle part of this sank in and I knew I had to follow a program I could live with indefinitely. And that meant accepting that I can't expect too much of myself - the one-day-at-time philosophy. Allow myself to have good days and bad days. Just be sure things are always heading in the right direction.

Just out of curiousity, have you ever checked your blood sugar, or have you ever experienced the symptoms of low blood sugar after a meal - to include any of extreme fatigue, dizziness, naseau, blurred vision, or like me, even unconciousness?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hi Ivan! How are things with you and TSu
Not really! I'm not hopefull to get my favorite job and I feel useless.

We're both doing great but I'm sorry to hear your are stressed about the job situation. I hope you get it. And if not then the next thing, right? Just try to relax and have faith. I'm sure you'll do great. It may just take a little time and patience.

 

[nazarbaz]

Given how far you've come it is hard to imagine that you would need surgery to continue the loss. And it is normal to get stuck for a time. The one thing that came to mind was not to expect too much of yourself. You don't have to run 10K a day to be healthy. Like you said, take it easy on yourself. For a time I tended to beat myself up if I wasn't perfect each and every day. But eventually the lifestyle part of this sank in and I knew I had to follow a program I could live with indefinitely. And that meant accepting that I can't expect too much of myself - the one-day-at-time philosophy. Allow myself to have good days and bad days. Just be sure things are always heading in the right direction.

Just out of curiousity, have you ever checked your blood sugar, or have you ever experienced the symptoms of low blood sugar after a meal - to include any of extreme fatigue, dizziness, naseau, blurred vision, or like me, even unconciousness?

I'm under close medical suveillance since I have several chronic autoimmune diseases (that's partly why I got so obese). I Know extreme fatigue very well : that's how I felt almost continuously for years before they found the right mix of drugs for me. My doctor often says that I'm a medical curiosity.
Diabetes seems to be an imminent risk in my case even if my blood sugar looks OK right now: pancreatitis is one of my illnesses. I confess being caught by a kind of "warrior syndrom", which is ridiculous, since the drastic improvement of my health condition. I felt like I had to reconquer control over my body. May be it's time to move on.

 

[Lisa!]

We're both doing great but I'm sorry to hear your are stressed about the job situation. I hope you get it. And if not then the next thing, right? Just try to relax and have faith. I'm sure you'll do great. It may just take a little time and patience.

Glad that you're both fine and thank you for your nice words!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

It has now been two years since I went Atkins; had a piece of bread, a french fry [well I have eaten three I think] or potatoes, pasta, processed sugar, or in general any carbohydrates beyond what I get from milk and vegetables, and those that can't be avoided in things like corn tortillas, up to an average of 50 grams a day or so. I normally don't eat fruit.

Still at my target weight and holding.

Cool, but there is another anniversary involved. It has been over two years since I got sick. I normally used to get sick [bad cold or flu] at least once, and often twice a year or more.

I keep threatening to try to sell Carl's Jr my story - I lost 55 pounds while eating a regular diet of Carl's, Six Dollar, Guacamole Bacon Burgers. With no bun, of course! I don't eat junk food!

 

[turbo]

My weight is holding. When I wake up in the morning, I often feel too ill to eat, so I try to eat a balanced evening meal. If you're coughing your guts out and dealing with plugged sinuses, nothing tastes good. Got to deal with it.

 

[lisab]

My weight has been steady, too. Still want to lose about 4-5 pounds though, so I started doing TRX. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a system that combines strength training with flexibility and balance exercises. Really great for someone my age!

All I can say so far is, WOW. I thought I was in OK shape before - turns out there was a lot of room for improvement!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My weight has been steady, too. Still want to lose about 4-5 pounds though, so I started doing TRX. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a system that combines strength training with flexibility and balance exercises. Really great for someone my age!

All I can say so far is, WOW. I thought I was in OK shape before - turns out there was a lot of room for improvement!

Yeah, I pulled a shoulder muscle badly and that got me out of my routine, I've been slacking lately and need to get with the program again.

Oooh, I actually have another confession. My evil mother sent us chocolate covered potato chips for Christmas. I only ate a handful but I couldn't resist. But no egg nog for two years and that alone is a miracle. Egg nog had me most worried this year. I really wanted some nog. That has always been one of my favorite treats.

 

[Drakkith]

My weight has been steady, too. Still want to lose about 4-5 pounds though, so I started doing TRX. In case you haven't heard of it, it's a system that combines strength training with flexibility and balance exercises. Really great for someone my age!

All I can say so far is, WOW. I thought I was in OK shape before - turns out there was a lot of room for improvement!

Lisa, by the look of your avatar you can't be more than mid twenties to thirties! You've still got a lot of green in that face and plenty of years to go before we have to get out the hoe and wack you outta the garden.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I had been gaining muscle mass and then lost some ground on the diet over the holiday - just eating too many calories and off of my exercise program. So my weight bumped up a bit and then held. But I've been back on track and am about to hit the 180 Lb mark. That's a 60+ lb loss. I could probably wear a 34 waist now but it would be too tight some days. Still, just a little over one waist size from my fantasy goal of achieving a 32" waist, which was my size at age 18-22, when I was super fit.

I've been on the diet for 26 months now, with four distinct periods of focused weight reduction, including the current phase.

The other day I was trying to remember what bread tastes like. It is all but a distant memory now.

 

[Drakkith]

I'm 5'7" and 135 lbs thanks to my adderrall and an issue with my throat that makes it difficult to eat. Took me upwards of 45+ minutes to eat my Arby's meal. Sucks when I'm hungry, can afford to eat anything I want, should probably eat more, but can't actually eat the food in front of me sometimes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I'm 5'7" and 135 lbs thanks to my adderrall and an issue with my throat that makes it difficult to eat. Took me upwards of 45+ minutes to eat my Arby's meal. Sucks when I'm hungry, can afford to eat anything I want, should probably eat more, but can't actually eat the food in front of me sometimes.

If you don't have a reason not to, I strongly suggest considering this, along with whatever you do for breakfast each day. Body Fortress - a whey protein mix.

I use that particular brand because it's fairly well fomulated and easy to find.

http://www.overstockdrugstore.com/product_images/l/074312443206.jpg

P.S. Their new vanilla cream is quite tasty. I only use water but it is still creamy. Most people use milk and add things like peanut butter, fruits, etc.

 

[Drakkith]

Thanks Ivan. If it gets out of hand I'll be sure to grab some.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thanks Ivan. If it gets out of hand I'll be sure to grab some.

Great stuff. Whey protein is now widely recommended for everyone from the elderly, to athletes, to people with restricted diets. The whey protein is easily assimilated and doesn't tax the body for energy as do most forms of protein, for digestion. That's one reason it is so popular with those who care for the elderly, who often have a hard time getting enough calories.

I need the extra protein to add muscle mass and to allow for the effects of ketosis, which can cause the loss of muscle mass if enough protein isn't consumed.

 

[Evo]

I'm 5'7" and 135 lbs thanks to my adderrall and an issue with my throat that makes it difficult to eat. Took me upwards of 45+ minutes to eat my Arby's meal. Sucks when I'm hungry, can afford to eat anything I want, should probably eat more, but can't actually eat the food in front of me sometimes.

Do you have esophageal dysphagia? I have that and eating some foods feels like it's clawing it's way down my esophagus, very painful. There is medication for it that helps.

 

[Drakkith]

Do you have esophageal dysphagia? I have that and eating some foods feels like it's clawing it's way down my esophagus, very painful. There is medication for it that helps.

Nah, more like my gag reflex wants to kick in unless I eat small bites. Thick or dry foods like bread or meat is really hard to eat.

 

[Evo]

Nah, more like my gag reflex wants to kick in unless I eat small bites. Thick or dry foods like bread or meat is really hard to eat.

So it's when you first try to swallow before the food enters the esophagus?

 

[berkeman]

Some folks swear by a remedy to suppress the gag reflex by putting your thumb on you palm and squeezing it with your fingers in a fist. I haven't tried it myself, though, so my comment is anecdotal.

 

[Drakkith]

So it's when you first try to swallow before the food enters the esophagus?

It's more like when I go to swallow, when the food gets to the back of my throat, but before the swallowing mechanism starts. When that happens I either can't start the swallowing process, or I feel like I'm going to choke. If that makes any sense.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Colbert talked about this tonight.

...Well, yes and no. One thing Gladwell didn’t mention is that the food industry already knew some things about making people happy — and it started with sugar. Many of the Prego sauces — whether cheesy, chunky or light — have one feature in common: The largest ingredient, after tomatoes, is sugar. A mere half-cup of Prego Traditional, for instance, has the equivalent of more than two teaspoons of sugar, as much as two-plus Oreo cookies. It also delivers one-third of the sodium recommended for a majority of American adults for an entire day. In making these sauces, Campbell supplied the ingredients, including the salt, sugar and, for some versions, fat, while Moskowitz supplied the optimization. “More is not necessarily better,” Moskowitz wrote in his own account of the Prego project. “As the sensory intensity (say, of sweetness) increases, consumers first say that they like the product more, but eventually, with a middle level of sweetness, consumers like the product the most (this is their optimum, or ‘bliss,’ point).”

...This contradiction is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” In lay terms, it is the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm the brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more. Sensory-specific satiety also became a guiding principle for the processed-food industry. The biggest hits — be they Coca-Cola or Doritos — owe their success to complex formulas that pique the taste buds enough to be alluring but don’t have a distinct, overriding single flavor that tells the brain to stop eating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/m...nk-food.html?ref=magazine&_r=0&pagewanted=all

 

[Evo]

Colbert talked about this tonight.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/m...nk-food.html?ref=magazine&_r=0&pagewanted=all

Prego just came out with a vodka sauce. I love vodka sauce, so I decided to try it. I could only eat a few bites, then had to throw it all into the trash. It tasted like candy, just sugary sweet, I wanted to vomit.

A couple of years ago, I had GERD surgery, and was told I'd have to be on soft foods for a few weeks, so I bought Gerber's junior chicken dinners in jars. I love the stuff, or loved it, for baby food, it was very tasty. When I took a spoonful of it, I had to spit it out, there was an awful sweetness to it that had never been there before. I checked the label, they had added pear juice to sweeten it! I looked it up on the internet, seems babies get hooked on added sugar, so Gerber decided to sweeten all of their baby foods by adding sugar in the form of condensed sugary juice. That is just so wrong. What they're doing, as a result of trying to increase their food sales, is training babies to crave sugary foods. I think people should be aware of this and boycot the company.

I read an article a couple of years ago, and it showed that a person, eating processed foods for three meals a day, was consumming, on average, upwards of 20 teaspoons of sugar a day due to companies adding sugar to everything. I have cut out most processed foods because they have become so sweet. There is just no reason for it, but many people have become hooked on everything tasting sweet. I had trouble finding a whole wheat bread where sugar wasn't the second ingredient, or third, if you count water (flour, water, sugar) Sara Lee 100% whole wheat was the sweetest, for me it was more like cake slices.

 

[lisab]

Prego just came out with a vodka sauce. I love vodka sauce, so I decided to try it. I could only eat a few bites, then had to throw it all into the trash. It tasted like candy, just sugary sweet, I wanted to vomit.

A couple of years ago, I had GERD surgery, and was told I'd have to be on soft foods for a few weeks, so I bought Gerber's junior chicken dinners in jars. I love the stuff, or loved it, for baby food, it was very tasty. When I took a spoonful of it, I had to spit it out, there was an awful sweetness to it that had never been there before. I checked the label, they had added grape juice to sweeten it! I looked it up on the internet, seems babies get hooked on added sugar, so Gerber decided to sweeten all of their baby foods by adding sugar in the form of condensed sugary juice. That is just so wrong. What they're doing, as a result of trying to increase their food sales, is training babies to crave sugary foods. I think people should be aware of this and boycot the company.

I read an article a couple of years ago, and it showed that a person, eating processed foods for three meals a day, was consumming, on average, upwards of 20 teaspoons of sugar a day due to companies adding sugar to everything. I have cut out most processed foods because they have become so sweet. There is just no reason for it, but many people have become hooked on everything tasting sweet. I had trouble finding a whole wheat bread where sugar wasn't the second ingredient, or third, if you count water (flour, water, sugar) Sara Lee 100% whole wheat was the sweetest, for me it was more like cake slices.

When my daughter was a baby I couldn't believe how many people told me to mix apple sauce into her cereal so that she would eat more (she was skinny, but *completely* healthy). But babies will eat what they need, and when they're hungry they'll eat pretty much what you give them. No need to get them hooked on sugar!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

One consequence of going low carb is that I had to give up [corn] chips and salsa - a lifelong favorite of mine. I can have a few chips but not many. Also, my meals tend to be pretty simple these days. Protein drink for breakfast, raw veggies for lunch, meat, cheese, veggies, milk, peanut butter or similar for dinner, but again, very simple.

Without realizing it I had eliminated most major sources of salt in my diet. Suddenly, foods that were favorites became overwhelmingly salty. For example, I was making pepperoni pizzas using a cauliflower crust - an Atkins friendly option. But before long the salt in the sauce and pepperoni were more than I could take. Only then did I realize how much less salt I was consuming, and how my tastes were changing.

Obviously this was a fantastic unexpected consequence of my diet. It is well known that salt plays a major role in high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems.