Lea's "Let's Get Healthy!" Accountability Thread

[Kasei]

Welcome! :)

Since a lot of us were confessing that we are overweight/out of shape/unhealthy and struggling with it, I made a place for us to come and encourage one another on our way toward a healthier lifestyle.

You can post anything here from encouraging quotes, links to nutrition sites, sharing your struggles, etc. The main thing is to keep each other encouraged to take charge of our less-than-good habits and exhcange them for good ones. If someone posts a success, even a small one, we celebrate! If someone posts a struggle, we encourage and offer advice. It's all about community support...so if you're really serious about wanting to do something about your health, then post away! Even if you have to post sometimes to report a failure, just keeping this thread active will help encourage all of us as it shows someone cares and is reading what we write. <3




What is accountability and why is it helpful?

noun: accountability
1. the fact or condition of being accountable; responsibility.

Basically accountability gives weight (no pun intended) to your decision to get healthy and is a great way to motivate yourself! By making yourself accountable to your fellow Lea members and sharing when you stumble, you add another motivator other than "man, I wish I was healthier."



As your accountability group, we are here to encourage you and share tips/celebrate/problem-solve with you. Of course, for this to work we all have to actually try and consistently make healthy choices for anything to happen...but, from my experience, having someone to report to when I do well or someone to be held accountable to when I fall off the path a bit can really make a difference when it comes down to that moment of "Do I eat that second helping of desert or do I save it for later?" =)

Tips for getting started:

Pick a routine that you can manage as far as posting personal updates in the thread. For example, I am going to mark my calendar to post once a week, regardless of whether I do well or not. In this way, I am accountable to the thread and to you all, which keeps me thinking about my goals throughout the week and (hopefully) helps me stay more on-target. If you want to post more/less than that, it's totally up to you.
Often times we get really gung-ho and hardcore right off the bat and try to change things too drastically & too quickly--thus setting us up to feel like failures when we do mess up, which will make us more likely to stop whatever program we've started and give up. Instead, try a single, simple change and stick to it for a few weeks. Once that is mastered, add a new change to your health routine and apply it for a while...in this way you will feel less overwhelmed with all the changes you want to make and can just tackle one at a time.
Don't give up! And don't be afraid to share a slip-up with us--that's what we're here for! We are all going to slip up at some point along the way. But if we listen to one another and try different things to help us stay on-track, we will all benefit.





So what does this look like?

Anything you want! If you want to post clothing sizes, do a before and after picture, share a goal, post your plan, track your weight loss or gain, go for it! Whatever you think is going to best help you stay motivated when you visit this thread. I called this the "Let's Get Healthy" group for a reason: you are not limited to just weight loss. Sometimes getting healthy has nothing to do with weight. For some of us it's a goal to be able to run a mile without stopping or to put on muscle or just work on healthier eating habits....any and all of these things are welcome! So post away, LeaHalaeans! :)



Edit: Thought I would add some helpful links if you are unsure of where to start. If you have any that you have used in the past or are using now to help you, feel free to share and I'll add them to the list!

Helpful links:
Spark People (http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/register.asp?from=friend&ReferredBy=6277029) - I used this site heavily a few years ago when I was learning about nutrition. It has TONS of great articles on just about anything health-related you can think of, not to mention great diet plans and suggestions for all types of needs. They even provide a fun way to track your food and weight gain...check it out!
Nutrition Data (http://nutritiondata.self.com/) - HUGE database with detailed nutrition info for pretty much any food imaginable. Need an alternative protein? A better source of calcium? This stie has got you covered.
Height and Weight Chart (http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm) - A simple height and weight chart that offers a range of goal weights depending on frame size. Probably not 100% accurate, but it might help give you a ballpark estimate of where you want to be.

[Kasei]

YOU CAN DO IT!!!
http://s2.favim.com/orig/28/disney-luau-the-lion-king-timon-uau-Favim.com-240352.gif

Here's Timon to get us started--nothing like a Hula Dancing Meerkat to encourage you to make better health choices, right? xD


I guess I'll kick us off! Right now I weigh about 160 lbs. My goal is to be in the ballpark of 140-145 lbs before the end of the school year. If I can achieve it before then, great! But since I don't go out of my way to exercise (a bad habit, I know...I just get so bored!) my regime is essentially food-based.

The Plan:

To drop weight in a healthy way through what I eat. To try to eat more filling, simple foods that will fill me up so I don't snack so much....basically eating things that are actual food and not things that have a list of ingredients full of stuff I can't pronounce. Here's what I'm think as far as how to achieve this:

-Cut unnatural sugars (ice cream, sodas, juices--pretty much anything with added sugar) and get my sweet tooth fix from fruit only
-Limit my fat intake to mostly healthy fats like nuts, avacados, seeds, etc and cut out fried foods, unhealthy fast foods, salad dressing, way too much cheese, etc
-ensure that I get something from all of the food groups each day (as I get better at this, hopefully this will change to getting the right amount of things from each group)
-eat more grains and less processed wheat foods like chips/crisps, cheap bread, crackers, etc
- DRINK MORE WATER. I struggle with this a lot.
- Learn some quick and easy recipes that are healthy and cheap that I can use to keep things interesting and not get tired of what I'm eating.

First goal:
-Limit unnatural sugars and drink more water.

Second goal:
-Try to get something from all of the food groups every day....with an emphasis on leafy greens/veggies since I never seem to get enough of those.



Man, it helps just writing all of that out. :D I'll worry about the other goals once I get these first two taken care of...I've already started the no sugar one for a week or so now and so far I'm doing pretty good with the exception of juices. I am addicted to the V8 fusion juice because it helps me get my veggie serving and also tastes deliciously sweet. ^^; I go through about 1 liter of that stuff in a week....may need to revisit that if I start drinking too much of it.

[lionloversam]

First off, great thread. Very well thought out.

For me, my starting weight is 220 lbs. My goal is 170 - 175 lbs.

For me, personally, I feel one of my biggest downfalls is my soft drink/soda consumption. I usually average 4 cans a day. That's the twelve ounce cans. Starting the first of this month, I have been trying (still am) to go one month without soda.

I find the best replacement, for me, is iced tea.

Also, the second thing I need to work on is opting for more healthy snacks and avoiding the candies, chips and large amounts of cheeses.

I also really need to start exercising regularly.

So, my plan of attack is to first, start exercising regularly and eliminate soda from my diet. Second, after accomplishing getting off the soft drinks, gradually replace my unhealthy snacks with healthy ones with a focus on fruits and vegetables.

[KanuTGL]

This is a good idea, I think I'll join in too :D

I'm the same as you, Kasei; I really don't like exercising for the sake of exercising. The jobs I had in 2011 were pretty physically demanding, so keeping fit came "automatically", but now I'm at university and both my education and my hobbies involve a lot of sitting still at the computer. Everything I need is also within short walking distance from my flat now, so in the last year I have put on a bit of weight and I'm starting to notice how some clothes slowly fit tighter and tighter xP I'm still thin apparently, as a doctor recently commented, but I don't want to have to buy a whole new wardrobe just because I've gained a few kgs, so I do want to do something about it. I've recently found out that I'm gluten intolerant as well, so I need to restructure my food anyway...

I don't have any scales, so I don't know how much I actually weigh or how much I'd like to lose, but my goal is to be able to fit comfortably into the nice clothes from two years ago again. Maybe even fit into my ball gown... And my swimwear. It's become only slightly too small and I felt really awkward at the beach this summer x_x So by next summer, I want it to fit nicely again, haha.

My goals are to get into routine that:
1. I'm only allowed to eat sweets on weekends = Saturday & Sunday. I'm allowed "fika" during the week if someone offers :P
2. Eat smaller portions of food for dinner and find (cheap) healthy snacks to nibble on between meals. Also be strict on the gluten free stuff.
3. Make sure I walk enough in a day. I think the recommended amount of steps you're supposed to take in a day is 10 000? I'm going to start using a pedometer to count the amount of steps I actually take on an average day. I fear it's gonna be a lot less than 10 000... xP

Further along the line I'd like to get longer walks into routine and look for healthy alternatives to some of the food I currently eat; more greens and less meat for example :P

[Sharifu]

This thread came at a good time... :p

No really, I need to lose a lot of weight... :( It's depressing. Well during all my childhood and teenage years, I was very thin, people called me skinny. But after I turned 21, I started gaining weight... But the time I was 23, I really hated that I gained so much weight, so I used Wii Fit (you know, that exercise game on the Nintendo Wii) I exercised every day, for 45 minutes. I changed the way I ate, well a little anyways. No snacks, no sweets, just breakfast, lunch and dinner. I maybe had one or two cookies a month, but that was it for sweets. I stopped drinking soda at home, even stopped drinking juice as often as I did, only drank it with meals. The rest of the time I drank water. I lost over 20 pounds in a few months by doing all this and then I was in normal weight in my BMI. I was so proud of myself, doing this on my own. I would of liked to lost a little bit more weight, but I wasn't really losing weight anymore, even though I was trying. But at least my BMI was showing a normal weight for me.

Well, after that I sort of got lazy, because I was exercising but not losing weight anymore. I slowly started exercising less, eating ice cream again at least a few times a week, eating chocolate more often, and having fast food more often during my lunch break at work (there is a Taco Bell in the same parking lot as the place I work at). :woe: Now, for a while, I stayed around the same weight, for almost a couple years, but after that I started gaining weight again, and I didn't realize I was gaining as much as a I did. My clothes were getting a little tight, but I still didn't think I was gaining as much as I actually did. I went without weighing myself for a while, and that was a bad thing. I gained so much weight back in the last two years, in fact not only did I gain back everything I worked so hard to lose back in 2008, but gained even more then that. (Like 10 pounds more) :( So I am the heaviest I have ever been. I don't look huge since I am kind of tall, but I think I still look overweight, and I am.

I have a Nintendo Wii U, and I just downloaded the newest version in the Wii Fit series, Wii Fit U. I am going to try to do what I did back in 2008 when I did lose weight. I think the hardest thing will be trying to exercise before work. That is what I used to do, because after work, my feet hurt too much to exercise, so I have to do it before work, and sometimes I work early in the morning. I am not a morning person so it is hard for me to get up early. Two days out of the week, I start work at 6:45 am, so I know those days I just wont be able to exercise before work. But at least if I exercise every other day of the week, that would be exercising five days out of the week.

Wii Fit U has a lot more new exercises and comes with a Wii Fit Meter. It's a pedometer, but it does a lot more then count your steps. It also has an acceleration sensor (to measure intensity) and an atmospheric pressure sensor (to measure altitude changes). This means the Fit Meter can more accurately calculate how many calories you burn, based on what you’re doing.

My goal is to at least lose a little over 30 pounds, I would like to lose more like 45 pounds, but I don't know if I'll be able to. I am going to try to exercise at least 5 days week, try not to eat ice cream and chocolate as often as I do. Maybe only once or twice a month. We also have a treadmill now, so I will try using that too. I have a few times. Just not everyday. I hope I can do this. I hate the weight I am at. I hate that so many of my shirts are getting too tight, and I just hate the way I look with this extra weight, especially in my photos. And I know I would just feel better health wise, maybe have more energy. I hope I can do this. I did it once before, but I wonder if I can do it again, I am older now, even if I'm only five years older then I was when I lost weight with Wii Fit the first time.

[lionloversam]

In my opinion, walking is the best exercise. But, my exercise will be limited. The job I currently have is physically demanding as well, so I will be trying to do a 10 to 15 minute walk daily as my exercise. I work as a custodian.

I tried wearing a pedometer a few days, and I averaged 40,000 steps a day. So, I would recommend trying to wear a pedometer throughout the day. You may take more steps than you think.

[Azerane]

And I know I would just feel better health wise, maybe have more energy. I hope I can do this. I did it once before, but I wonder if I can do it again, I am older now, even if I'm only five years older then I was when I lost weight with Wii Fit the first time.

Of course you can do it again :) Plus we're all here to help out to stop you from eating ice cream - we can eat it instead :evilgrin:

So... I'm Azerane, I'm 26 years old, and I'm a chocoholic :lol:

Seriously great thread Kasei, thanks for posting it. I feel like it's really beneficial to have a support group for this kind of thing, even if we all have different goals.

I define my problems as the following:
- A tad overweight, currently 73.5kg. Mostly I don't like the little pudgy tummy I have.
- Large money spend associated with chocolate and take-away food
- Spiders... seriously. I hate housework, and am unfortunately a naturally untidy person, and when I don't tidy this house seems to collect spiders.

My goals:
- Drop my weight back to ideally 65kg.
- Improve general fitness/stamina. There's a park near me with a 5.5km hike that I enjoy doing, there's one crazy epic hill that I really want to be able to make it to the top of without stopping for a rest at the bench halfway! It's not so much my legs that suffer, as it is my need for oxygen, lol.
- Save way more money. Possibly unrealistic goal of at least $200 each fortnight/pay period (though the bills come in next month...)
- Do more regular housework to reduce spider play time.

The plan:
- Cook more! A.K.A. Less chocolate, take-away food and soft drink. Should be relatively easy now that Pat's not here, he's the little demon on my shoulder when it comes to that stuff, lol. To start off with, maximum 1 can of soft drink every other day and one glass or 600ml carton of Iced Coffee a day. (Iced Coffee is my bane, gonna need to work on that one slowly).
- Chocolate, no more than one block/bar of chocolate every two weeks. *dies*
- Must walk the 5.5km hike at the local park once a week (going to get a little harder as summer hits as I'll have to do it very early morning)
- Come up with a cleaning roster. Not necessarily a roster that says, Tuesday is vacuuming, Wednesday is cleaning the toilet etc. More of a list of all the jobs where I can write the date I last did them, so I keep better track and feel bad when I leave it too long. I also want to focus my housework on the days I'm working so that my days off from work are actually days off!

I may be aiming a little high here to begin with having multiple goals and plans, but the losing weight, eating less junk food, and spending less are somewhat all tied into one.

Tips for others:
Just the one for now - if you feel like you want something sweet but you know you aren't actually hungry, have a teaspoon of honey (make sure it's good quality honey). I find it satisfies my craving for something sweet and delicious and since the honey I get is quite rich in flavour, I don't want more. Don't overdo it on the honey, though it's certainly better than having a chocolate bar ;)

[nathalie]

*waves*

Hi, I'm Nathalie, and I'm an emotional-over-eater.
I'm not ashamed to say my weight, if you look at me, you can kind of get the idea, lol.
My ideal weight would be around 60kg (132 lbs), and my weight now is about 84kb (185 lbs).
I'm a shorty, I'm only 1m64 (5 foot 3).

I feel like, the older I get, the lazier.
I'm not sure if it is connected with all the problems I have.
Because lying depressed on the sofa for an entire day, isn't really being lazy :alone:

I've been struggling with my weight for all my life.
I was never skinny, always just a bit chubbier, lol.

I hit my highest point in 2006/2007, when I was also what I am now, about 84kg, but back then, my face was blown up.
Where now, the fat is just more spreaded, haha.

I lost 15kg (33 lbs) when my first ex managed to hurt me quite bad, within 3 months or so.
I loved it, so I tried to keep at it, when I was doing better, and managed quite fine.

Met my 2nd ex, started gaining again, because our time together, even though we had great times, we also had sad times, and whenever I feel sad/depressed/alone, I start eating.
During 2008 I managed to get a job there, but had to quit do to depression reasons after 3 months. The job wasn't that great, but somehow I liked doing it, had to stand all day/walk around all day, walk to the factory and such, it helped a lot for my figure.
But after I quit, things just got worse and worse, and I gained a lot again.
But then the reletionship ended, and another 10kg or so (22 lbs) got lost in 2009.

Also, I had more then half of my teeth removed in 2008, I actually thought that would help, as I couldn't eat regular food for at least the first 4 weeks.
Somehow I actually managed to gain about 2kg in those 4 weeks o_O

At one point, I weighed about 65kg (143 lbs), which was great! I felt better about my weight, and was determent to drop just those few more kilo's to get back at 60kg.
My face looked so much better, nu double chin, skinny instead of blown up.

But then at the end of 2009 I finally got a job.
I loved this job with all my heart, but it was a very stressful one.
Sometimes I would take with me, a jar of cheerio's, just to snack during the day.
But if the jar would be empty after 2 hours already, it meant the day was terribly stressful.
Other days, I would still have some left in the jar at the end of the day, which meant it was a good day, lol.

Also, having a job that requieres you to sit an antire day on a chair, doesn't help, and due to me having to take public transportation, coming home at 7.30 pm every evening, and then still needing to have dinner, really didn't help!

Anything you eat after 7pm just stays on you like a parasite, because usually after that hour, you don't do anything anymore (unless you actually go to a gym, hehe), besides take a few steps inside the house and watch TV.

In the past 2 years, I've gone up 2 jeans sizes :(

I try to drink only water, but after 3 days I'm so sick of it, and my body just NEEDS sugar.
With everything going on in my life right now, depression, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, it has made my life so much more worse then it already was, not having a job, being bored out of my brains ...
When I'm bored, I go look in the fridge, freezer, cabnets, and I'll just stuff my face with anything I can find.
Because when I'm cooking, I'm busy for at least half an hour, and then half an hour eating it, so *yay* I managed to not be bored for at least an hour.

Kenny got me a Wii Fit last year for my birthday.
I was so exhited! He said he was doubting between one of those excersize bikes, and the game.
Looking back on it, the bike might have been a better idea, conserning my weight loss, lol.
I do like the Wii Fit, how it keeps track of your weight and such so easy.

I actually love doing aerobics / step excersizes, but the Wii Fit only has 1 excersize, and only lasts for 5 minutes.
I usually do it like 5 times in a row.

I started looking up gyms nearby that would give aerobics classes, but most were eather very early in the morning, or late in the evening.
Then I finally find 1 gym nearby that had classes at decent hours, and when I finally wanted to go in and see what it was all about, about membership and stuff, the gym changes name and is now part of another franchise, and they don't offer aerobics anymore.
*just my luck*

I then got the idea to just buy a DVD, or look something up on youtube.
A while ago, I did download an aeorbics video from youtube (it has Mark Brunetz in it, haha, from Clean House, as 1 of the trainers).
I was determent to do this!!!
I was going to put it on a USB stick, so I could put it in the DVD player, and watch it on TV.
Didn't work -_-
I converted the damn thing about 4 times, the DVD player kept saying it couldn't read the screen resolution or the file format.
I didn't want to waiste an empty DVD on it, but ended up doing so anyways, so converted it into DVD files, played it on the DVD player, and there's no sound *aaaargggghhhhhh*!
It's very hard to do an aerobics excersize, when there is no music, haha!

OK, so I'll just bring my media center next time I go home.
I did bring it back with me to Kenny's, all I need to do now is put the file on an SD card, and hook up the media center to the TV.

It's been at least 2,5 weeks now, and for some reason, I'm too lazy, and can't get myself to do it anymore.
I was so sure I was going to do that excersize every morning, I had even watched it a few times, so I could already memorize the steps a little, to make it easy on me.

I really need to bring myself up to it again, to actually start doing this.

I want to drop those 2 jeans sizes again, I wanna be able to wear nice things, because I tend to wear baggy stuff again, so you don't see all the curves.

The upper-2-things (lol, you know what I mean :p ) need to get smaller, but I've heard when people loose weight, those things mostly don't get smaller, and I absolutely hate what they are now :tears:
(always wished I was a boy anyways, different story, haha)

I think if I could just find a job again, not being bored so not being able to eat when I'm bored all day long, would help so much.
But no one will hire me, so the depression isn't really going anywhere eather.

My old phone has a built in pedometer, I loved it, lol.
I've been trying several apps now for my android, and none of them even comes close to what it should be.
The one on my old phone is quite accurate. I used google maps years ago when I got it, to see how far it would be from A to B, and then walk it with my phone with me, to see if it was kind of correct, which it was, haha.

I believe a regular person should take 7.000 steps a day, and not 10.000 like Audra mentioned.
But when you have an office job, try and get to those 7.000 steps ... I dare you ... ;)

I've took my old phone to Disneyland last week, and we did about 15.000 steps each day.
Which is about 11km, and losing about 700 ckal.
But, I ate quite a bit when being over there, haha, so I acutally gained about 400 grams :lol:

[ThiagoPE]

In my case, what made me get a lot of weigh was the stress of my work. I Always had some overweight but, since i joined my work, i jumped from 75Kg to 100Kg.

As now that we are working only half time, I already lose 5kg, as now i have space in my time to make some walks, and eat less, the only shame is that I can´t get rid of junk (fast) food, as i have to lunch in my break, which has only 15 minutes.

Anyway, is very nice see people making efforts to lose weight

[nathalie]

Why do you need to eat fast food during your lunchbreak?

Are you able to make some sandwiches before you leave work, for your lunch?

I would always have sandwiches with me to work for during lunch, but before 1pm, they would all be gone, and I would order a sub for lunch, lol.

[Guntur]

Man exercise, I remember back in 03 to 07 where I daily walk for a food, going to my college and school. I was pretty active back then like jogging every day for 2 hours around the house.

It seems I have zero intention to exercise again over mental issues. But the thinnest I ever got is around 53 KG/116 lbs over my anorexic issues.

I just can't wait to get skinny again though!

[ThiagoPE]

My problem is that i have college after the work now, so bringing anything from home is unpractical, but i plan to review that when i came back to work next year after my vacations.

[Kasei]

Yay! I'm glad you guys like the idea and we have a nice group building. ^^ *roots for everyone* We can do this you guys!!! Just gotta remember, to make this work we all need to post with some sort of regularity on how we are doing on our goals. That way as we go through our week we are thinking, "okay, if I break this rule I have to report it to Lea...is it worth it?" Hopefully that extra moment of pause with this thought will remind us of our goals and WHY we want to keep at them even when it is hard not to sink back into old habits. I believe in us!!


My problem is that i have college after the work now, so bringing anything from home is unpractical, but i plan to review that when i came back to work next year after my vacations.

I had that same problem in college. Basically I just took an apple or a granola bar with me. Of course, I had to resist them until it was time, hehe. Maybe you have some other non-perishable snack foods you can pack with you to help at least get something in your system to keep your metabolism going.

Nathalie, it sounds like this might help for you too: Back when I was really big (almost 200 lbs) I put myself on an eating schedule. I wrote down the times I could eat (every 3 hours) and made myself busy between those times. Maybe since you have no job you could find a place to volunteer? I have always wanted to volunteer at an animal shelter or something but never seem to find the time. Maybe you have a place like that you can think of? Because you're right, it is super hard to resist when the only thing you have to occupy your day is lay around or eat. I have found myself in that place a few times and it is no fun. So maybe a food diary/food schedule would help you.

Also, when I did eat I made it a point to make my biggest meal of the day breakfast and do smaller snacks throughout the rest of the day. Example:

7:00 AM - Wake up, eat big breakfast (grains, fruits, dairy, and lots of protein to keep me feeling full longer)
10:00 AM - Snack (fruit or granola usually)
1:00 PM - Light lunch (soup and sandwich or something)
4:00 PM - Snack (fruit,veggies, or maybe some air-popped popcorn lightly salted)
7:00 PM - Small dinner

I found that going to bed within 3 hours of my last meal helped teach my body this three hour routine, and I think it helped my metabolism in that way. Did this for a year and went from 192 lbs to 140 without exercise other than refusing to use elevators. xD Maybe you could try something like that? Of course, the hard part is actually sticking to the plan. You just need to get over the mental block and say, "Yep, I can do this because I deserve to feel awesome about myself!" :D *cheers you on*

[nathalie]

I'm being followed very strictly by the unemployment agency, I can't just do volenteer work, because when the checking-up starts, I'll have to be more at their office then I could actually do some work for someone.
And to be honest, I don't really want too. I worked my butt of in school, I really wanna do something with that, and earn money.
I feel like, that if I'm not good enough to get hired and to get payed, I will be good enough to do stuff for free?

I'm sorry, I have very different opinions on things in life :)

But today I got a letter saying, my last interview, I didn't pass *sigh*.
What did I do? Open the fridge and sob.

I also don't eat breakfast :eek: If I wake up at 7am, I cannot eat untill at least 10am, my stomach can't handle food in the morning very well.

My other problem is, I don't eat any fruits or vegs. Besides carrots and red cabbage.
So it's extremely hard to find some kind of diet-type-thing where I can still eat the things I do eat.

[Azerane]

Yay! I'm glad you guys like the idea and we have a nice group building. ^^ *roots for everyone* We can do this you guys!!! Just gotta remember, to make this work we all need to post with some sort of regularity on how we are doing on our goals. That way as we go through our week we are thinking, "okay, if I break this rule I have to report it to Lea...is it worth it?" Hopefully that extra moment of pause with this thought will remind us of our goals and WHY we want to keep at them even when it is hard not to sink back into old habits. I believe in us!!

I already hate this thread for that exact reason :lol: Had a moment this evening after it got dark and quiet, just feeling lonely and missing Pat etc, I really, really wanted to get a block of chocolate from across the road. Then I realised I wouldn't have a good excuse for this thread... so lame -_- :lol: Still, it means that it's working.

Nathalie, can I ask do you just not like the taste of fruit and vegetables, or can you not eat them because they upset your stomach? I don't eat much fruit at all (really should eat more) but sometimes I just crave a particular fruit so badly. I'm guessing my body just decides that it needs something that's in that fruit so it has to have it, I don't know. :p

That's another thing though, with all the different things that people can or can't eat and different places mentally, every approach to this is going to be different, so you have to do something that works for you.

[cleargreenwater]

Alright, okay-okay, I'll get on the bandwagon.

My goal isn't so much weight loss (I'm not overweight--spreading sideways with the weight I do have a little more than when I was young, but not over recommendations,) as it is a healthier lifestyle change.

I had the scare of my life this summer, a medication I was taking gave me high blood pressure. Like really scary high blood pressure, unstable heartbeats, sweating, headaches, nosebleeds, muscle weakness, nausea, dizziness, in retrospect knowing what the problem is now I am uncomfortably aware of just how close to a heart attack I may have been a few times this summer. Fortunately because it was medication induced, it was the kind of high blood pressure that you could actually feel to be aware of, usually it's symptom-less and silent, and eventually me and my doctor were able to figure out what the problem was.

I am extremely lucky in that since I stopped taking the medication, my BP has gone back down to normal and I don't feel deathly awful. It was a huge wake up call, though, because hereditary/genetic high blood pressure runs in my family--my father developed it *extremely* young when he was still in his twenties (despite always being twiggy), my grandfather died of a stroke, etc.--and I have been given the second chance opportunity to HAVE another chance at it unlike my other family members.

So I have 2 things I can/should do: Suck it up and start to seriously monitor my salt intake and diet choices, and/or begin aerobic-type exercises, which are quite possibly my least favorite kind of physical activity--I've had seasonal allergies all my life, I *hate* that feeling of being out of breath/gasping/wheezing.

I also know myself, though, and I have never had to think twice about food/diet in my life, to begin doing that now would be...it would not be sustained. If I want to eat something, I'm eating it and not giving it another thought except "mmm tasty".

Whereas I'm decently active, I do a lot of yard and volunteer landscaping work and regularly hike a 3.5 mile loop, just none of it aerobic and not the kind that gets your heart rate and breathing up.

So I think the "easiest" first step/first goal, for me, would be to start doing a little bit of exercise each day that gets the heart pumping and works out the breathing/aeration of the blood.

To do that, I'mma try to at least 2 times a week do the stairs at work to the top of the building, 10 floors, and back. That should be about 15-20 minutes of exercise, and try to get over my dislike of gasping for breath, because I'm sure I will be! x_x

Then next step possibly depending on how that goes increase it to 3-4 times then ultimately once a day.

But at least it's an indoors thing with lights that I can do in all weathers at any time of the day, it gets dark & cold early now so it's really the only way it could happen.

I just need to not look a gift horse in the mouth and get my heart in shape & exercised & aerated.

[nathalie]

Nathalie, can I ask do you just not like the taste of fruit and vegetables, or can you not eat them because they upset your stomach? I don't eat much fruit at all (really should eat more) but sometimes I just crave a particular fruit so badly. I'm guessing my body just decides that it needs something that's in that fruit so it has to have it, I don't know. :p


Apperently I ate everything when I was little, but when I started to grow up, from the ages of 5 I became more and more picky.
I did love sliced banana on a white sandwhich with brown sugar on it, but since my teens I haven't eaten it anymore, I simply don't like it anymore.
Kenny eats bananas all the time, and when he does, I try to eat a piece, and I just can't get it in my mouth.

Apples is a very strange thing, they have this kind of texture, it's not that I don't like the taste of them, but when it comes to swallowing it, I simply cannot do it, I dispise the texture of an apple, and simply will not go down my throat.

Since I met Kenny though, I have been starting to eat a bit more veggies.
Like lettuce. I usually ate that on my McChicken burger, haha, but now, I also eat it between a sub/sandwhich.
I do like cucomber, but without the skin (my stomach can't process the skin, it's like a paprika skin that some people can't handle).
And I do eat carrots.

I don't like spinach on it's own, but within mashed potatoes I will eat it.

I do eat vegetable soup, but it has to be mixed well, no chunks.

I actually love to eat yoghurt, but all yoghurts here have chunks in it.
There's a new flavour: pear & vanilla, it's soooooo good! But it has pieces of pear in it. So I'll eat the yoghurt, and leave the pieces.

[Kasei]

CGW: Woah. That's really scary. D: Glad you're okay! Nothing like a wake-up call to light a fire under you!! @_@ Sounds like a good plan to get you started though, can't wait to hear how you do this week! :D

Nathalie, have you ever tried baking the apple? *drool* baked apple is so good, tastes just like apple pie. <3 And the texture is very soft. Also, have you ever tried plain vanilla yogurt? I used to get tubs of that and just add whatever fruit flavoring I wanted using those little fruity powdered drink packets or powdered pudding/jello whatever...maybe not the healthiest, but it's a better snack than ice cream anyway. x3

Also, I just posted my schedule for an idea. If 10 is the earliest you can eat, start yours at 10. :) Just go 10, 1, 4, 7 or something for your eating times. ^^ The important thing is to get your body's metabolism going. Giving it something to chew on every few hours will help you burn more overall as you "engine" will not shut off all day.

Do you like tea or coffee? Or water with lemon? Any of those things will also jump start your metabolism in the morning if you can't eat.

So you can't even leave your house to go on a walk or hang out at a bookstore or something for an hour or so a day? Maybe take a book or sketchbook with you to distract you? I think just getting out of the house and a change of scenary each day instead of being stuck inside waiting on job news might help you a lot just to get started making some small changes. I mean, I could be wrong, but if you're having trouble thinking of changes you could start making, maybe it's worth a shot? Whatever you come up with that works for you I still beliiieeeevvveee!! *roots for you*


I already hate this thread for that exact reason :lol: Had a moment this evening after it got dark and quiet, just feeling lonely and missing Pat etc, I really, really wanted to get a block of chocolate from across the road. Then I realised I wouldn't have a good excuse for this thread... so lame -_- :lol: Still, it means that it's working.

xDDDD Haaaah! That's awesome! Yay mystical thread powers of influence!!!

http://mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Anchorman.gif

[lionloversam]

I seem to be having trouble with the giving up of soda. I know it is really bad for me. It just seems there is something about it that is hard to give up. It is not the caffeine part. I am still getting that from other sources. But, soda consumption has been down the past few days. Only two cans a day. I guess that is a good thing. But, none would be better.

Edit:

Also, another thing is I need to work on is my breakfast habit. I have been told by my doctor to have oatmeal daily, but I can't stand oatmeal. I know it is healthy, but it gives me nausea. It doesn't matter how you fix it. I tried everything even the steel cut oats.
I have also tried cold cereals. None really taste that good. The cold cereals are just too sweet for first thing in the morning.

Breakfast for me, is either just a coffee or coffee and a small cold cut sub. I want to make healthier breakfast choices though.

I may start with a apple with my coffee in the morning and see how that goes.

[Kasei]

Hey, two cans is lower than it could be, I say celebrate!! :D

For the oats thing, have you tried granola bars? If it's that mushy texture you don't like, maybe loose granola or bars would be easier. Or sprinkling loose granola on top of yogurt. I don't know how you like your oatmeal, but I do plain oats softened/heated with milk or plain yogurt instead of water and then I drizzle a little honey on top. Sometimes I cool it down with even more yogurt. xD I like to throw in some nuts/flax seeds too for extra protein and crunchy texture. I've also heard of blending oatmeal into a smoothie, though I've never tried it. :0

[cleargreenwater]

Hmm. Well, might not be the most healthy alternative, but Sam, have you tried having a bagel in the morning? It isn't sweet like cereal, it isn't squishy like oatmeal, feels like substantial food expanding when it hits your stomach, and yet isn't as heavy or as product-y as a sub? I swear, it's a pretty magic breakfast food, nearly the entire east coast lives on them for a reason! And maybe try tea or iced tea as a substitute for soda, I notice for myself that the nice acidic feeling tea leaves on my teeth is very similar to the acidic-carbon feeling that soda leaves in the after taste, it might be that "scoured" sensation that's making you miss soda. The carbon might be the big factor for you, not the caffeine.

(And uh, I have not attempted the stairs yet. I'm still brainstorming ways to change into socks and sneakers at work without attracting comments/attention x_x No spectators please :| )

[Azerane]

Oh man, baked apple. I forgot those things existed! I think we used to be able to do one in the microwave, but I've forgotten how, but it had raisins on it. Now I really want to try one again!

Nath I understand not liking the texture of certain foods, and apple I can understand, I especially hate when you get one that's a bit dry and floury, better when they're juicy. I absolutely detest rice, and most of it's about the texture, partially the flavour too.

Sam, two cans of soda a day is a great start! Pat also drinks a tonne of soda and I wish he would drink less, he doesn't seem to think it's too unhealthy but the cost just becomes so much when you have to buy so much soda all the time. Since he's been here, I've kinda gotten hooked on it whereas before I might have soda once a month, I'm used to having it maybe once a day. So that's something I have to cut back on too.

I love breakfast, I do get a bit bored with the things I eat sometimes since I don't have much time to prepare it when I start work early. But I feel ill if I'm doing something and haven't eaten breakfast. CGW, I wouldn't call bagels healthy at all :lol: But my gosh are they ever so delicious. I love the cinnamon raisin ones toasted with cream cheese on top! Fortunately, I don't eat bagels when I'm in Aus, strangely only when I'm in the U.S.

I was going to try and attempt the hike today, but by the time I woke up (8am), it was already 22 degrees C and it would have been an hour before I got to the park after eating breakfast etc, by which point it would have been at least 25 degrees. So I didn't think it was wise to hike 5.5km when it was forecast to get to 35 degrees ;) Heat stroke/dehydration is not something I wish to suffer. Instead, I got to do 3 loads of washing (breaks my housework on days off rule) but each load of washing dried in about 40 minutes, was fantastic. Plus, doing loads of washing isn't hard, you put them in the machine, ignore them for an hour, spend 5 minutes hanging them up, ignore them a while longer, then spend 5 minutes bringing them inside.

[Sombolia]

Great idea for a thread!

One thing that worked for me, for those of you that are trying to drink more water: what I did is I bought a big refillable plastic water bottle, and I keep it filled and with me all the time. That way when you get thirsty you have something on hand right away, so the urge to go to the fridge/the vending machine is less. It was hard for me at first but a few weeks later I've been drinking a lot more water and I only occasionally have a glass of tea or milk, and I only have soda if I go out to eat (like at a sit-down restaurant), which isn't very often.

As for me, well I don't own a scale so I don't really know how much I weigh or what my goal weight should be, but it definitely wouldn't hurt me to lose a few pounds. Last year I was practically bedridden due to health issues for a time and I started getting high blood pressure which was really scary... definitely was a wake up call, I don't want to go back to that.

I drink a decent amount of water I think, and I ride my bike a few times a week. It's a cruiser bike so it's not really designed for going too fast, though. I think my goal exercise-wise would be to start riding my bike more often, up to once a day, and then start adding in some aerobics exercises...

I think my biggest problem is food. I don't eat a lot but I what to eat tends to be junk more often than not, sadly. I definitely need to work on increasing my fruit & veggie intake, first of all!

[KanuTGL]

What's this I hear about baked apples? That sounds really tasty :p

I've got my pedometer going and I'm gonna let it count for about a week before I start going on my daily walks so I can get an average of steps taken per "normal" day. It's already not looking good for the count towards the 10 000... xP (That seems to be the recommended number according to the pedometer.)

My stomach has been behaving weirdly for the last couple of days; it's like I'm constantly hungry, even after I've recently had a meal. I hope it'll stop that, because the stomach ache I get when I'm hungry is nasty.

[nathalie]

Nathalie, have you ever tried baking the apple? *drool* baked apple is so good, tastes just like apple pie. <3 And the texture is very soft. Also, have you ever tried plain vanilla yogurt? I used to get tubs of that and just add whatever fruit flavoring I wanted using those little fruity powdered drink packets or powdered pudding/jello whatever...maybe not the healthiest, but it's a better snack than ice cream anyway. x3

Also, I just posted my schedule for an idea. If 10 is the earliest you can eat, start yours at 10. :) Just go 10, 1, 4, 7 or something for your eating times. ^^ The important thing is to get your body's metabolism going. Giving it something to chew on every few hours will help you burn more overall as you "engine" will not shut off all day.

Do you like tea or coffee? Or water with lemon? Any of those things will also jump start your metabolism in the morning if you can't eat.

So you can't even leave your house to go on a walk or hang out at a bookstore or something for an hour or so a day? Maybe take a book or sketchbook with you to distract you? I think just getting out of the house and a change of scenary each day instead of being stuck inside waiting on job news might help you a lot just to get started making some small changes. I mean, I could be wrong, but if you're having trouble thinking of changes you could start making, maybe it's worth a shot? Whatever you come up with that works for you I still beliiieeeevvveee!! *roots for you*

By "baking an apple" do you mean like, make slices and just put it in a pan?
Because I have done that in school, and always said I would do this again, lol. Sliced very thin, with a bit of sugar on top, and then just bake a little in a pan.
But then again, the sugar makes it not so healthy anymore, lol.

Yes, we have 1 brand of yoghurt, without chunks, but I only get that when I'm really in the mood for it.
We sometimes bring it, and then it just sits there in the fridge going bad :/
I also usually eat straciatella yoghurt (vanilla with chocolate bits).

I don't drink any coffee, the smell alone makes my stomach turn, I've never liked it.
I have a coffee machine (Senseo, don't know if it's known in the USA), you have to use pads for it and water, but I actually use it for hot chocolat, hehe.
Tea, I drink maybe once a year.
I do drink lots of ice tea (peach flavoured, mmmm).
I also don't drink any kind of water, lol, I love Chaudfontaine. You *can* actually taste a difference. The cheap water my mom always gets, if I drink too much of it, I'll get an upset stomach.

My boyfriend lives in a small village, and my home is in a town where nothing happens. They don't even deliver pizza there, that's how far it is from bigger towns, lol. So going out for a walk or something, isn't really something I do.
When I'm at my boyfriends, I go to Antwerp city a lot though, just walk around there. But with this weather now starting to go bad, that's not happening as much anymore eather.



Nath I understand not liking the texture of certain foods, and apple I can understand, I especially hate when you get one that's a bit dry and floury, better when they're juicy. I absolutely detest rice, and most of it's about the texture, partially the flavour too.

I loooooove rice, lol.
I could eat chicken curry with rice every day, haha!

[KanuTGL]

But couldn't you go out for a walk just to walk, Nathalie? :) Are there any parks or forests nearby? Those are always nice to have a stroll around. Even if there isn't, surely there are roads you could walk along? :p I can enjoy walking even if there isn't anything particularly scenic around, even though I naturally prefer it when there is, and it's good to just get a bit of fresh air :3

As for me, now at 9:15pm the step count is currently roughly at 2400. Barely a quarter of the required amount. Oy.

[nathalie]

There's a forest nearby, but I don't go there --> spiders everywhere, still in this time of year, when they should have all been gone!

There is nothing here really where you would wanna go for a walk, unless you actually go into town. Which is another bus drive, which requieres medication.

[nathalie]

I've been quite good today!

I'm soooo craving for junkfood lately, mainly McDonalds, lol.
And I went to Holland today, it's very closeby for me, 30 minutes by bus.
I went to a travel agency there, and went to get my Donald Duck comic books they don't sell in Belgium.
And I was soooo craving a Big Mac, haha, and I resisted!

I've read somewhere, if you can resist something for 28 days, then after that period, you don't crave it anymore.
I wonder if that actually works ... I've never managed to keep it up that long with anything, haha!

[lionloversam]

Congrats, Nathalie. I thought it was 21 days to form a new habit. That is what I heard anyway.

[nathalie]

If 21 days should work, then 28 days should definatly work :lol:

[Kasei]

By "baking an apple" do you mean like, make slices and just put it in a pan?

You could certainly do it that way I'm sure! Probably easier to flavor that way. I'm too lazy for that. xD I just stick it in the oven at about 250 Farenheit for a while and then consume it once it feels soft. Much like one would eat a baked potato. x3 I don't usually do much more than sprinkle cinnamon, but I always buy the really sweet apples so it's usually flavorful enough as is. If I am feeling really ambitious (or camping) I cut the top off/core it and fill it with peanut butter or nuts or something and it tastes delish.


And as for the month of resisting temptation=breaking a bad habit, I can certainly attest to that. That's exactly what happened to me in 2005 when I went on my big diet and cut out all sugars. I had MONDO bad cravings the first few weeks that it took all of my willpower to resist, but after the month had passed I was pretty much in control and could easily say no without a sweat. It's hard at first, but perseverance definitely pays off as I lost 40lbs that way.

[nathalie]

Oh, OK, so a baked apple is just an apple that's been in the oven for a while?

I'm home now for 8-9 days, which usually helps too, because my mom hardly gets any sweets in the house, and when she does, my dad gets away with them :p

But just heard it's Chinese for dinner, and that's just a pain ...
Whenever I eat rice, I can just keep on eating untill I explode, lol.

And usually about an hour after dinner when it's Chinese food, I'm already plating up again, haha.

[nathalie]

*yay* I was so scared this thread would have been lost, as it's been a long time, people posted so much in just 1 post, haha.

Anyways ... how is everyone doing?
I'm drinking more and more water again, and also Ice Tea. I looked at the calories on the packages, for 2L it only has 42 kcal in it, which is pretty good I guess, and it's just a switch of taste between all that water.
Have to admit, 1 Fanta at least every 3 days, lol, because I can just feel my body craving for sugar.

I'm trying not to eat as many sweets anymore also, which seems to be doing OK.
I did have a huge sin last weekend, lol.
Friday snackbar ... Sunday McDonalds, hehe, but those was because Friday I had a late doctor's appointment, and was just feeling to sick to actually stand up straight behind a stove, so quickly got some take out when I came from the doctor as it was only a 2 minute walk.
And Sunday, we went away for almost the entire day, and we were so hungry, we stopped at the first thing we saw :lol:

[KanuTGL]

Haha, yes, I'm also relieved that this thread has survived :lol:

I'm trying to make a change to my habits. I've been walking around with the pedometer for a few weeks now and it is basically as I feared :'D On average I take about a quarter of the amount of steps it recommends per day, but even when I've gone on a walk on top of my normal routine I couldn't get it even close to the 10 000 steps it wants. Soo taking 10 000 steps a day feels like an unrealistic goal now, because I simply don't have the time to take long walks every day. Instead I'm gonna try and do a bit of aerobics and yoga a couple of times a week. If I use the videos on YouTube I have no excuse since I don't even need to leave the room... :P

I'm also gonna try and set myself a regular eating schedule, like some of you talked about here before, and have several smaller snacks throughout the day in order to eliminate the huge dinners I've been having for the last year. That's something I need to do anyway now, what with the gluten intolerance and that...

The "only sweets on weekends" rule hasn't been holding up great, heh; I also sinned on Friday and bought a big bag of chocolates, followed by another lot of sweets on Saturday, so that was very bad... xP But I also felt guilty for doing it, so hopefully I won't cheat again anytime soon :lol: Do you guys have any tips for little snacks you can eat instead of actual sweets? Most of the time I want some sort of sweet dessert after dinner, so what is there besides fruit that could be a good substitute?

[nathalie]

I think the 10.000 steps a day is only doable, if you actually go for a jog or something after school/work/in the evening.
Because even in my previous job, where I would walk around the office a lot, and to the storage place and such, walk to the bus/office in the morning & evenings, didn't even get me to 7.000 steps a day.

I have to be honest though, I ordered myself a new pair of jeans, a size bigger.
It just seemed like the most easy thing to do at the moment.
I haven't been on a scale for the past week, will do that tomorrow morning, and then try to continue with the drinking water/ice tea, cut off sweets.
Last week, I actually ate sandwiches through-out the day, from Tuesday till Saturday whenever I was hungry. I hope that helped a lot too.
Because usually for lunch, I open a can of soup or something.

[Kasei]

I am also glad this thread is still here! I need this accountability. e_e Even though Lea was down I kept thinking, "okay...yes you want that ice cream, but remember! You have to report it if you eat it!" So that has helped. Also, I am glad it's up because I did not want to have to re-write that first post all over again. xD *copies and saves it for future use if needed*

I actually have been doing really, really good--but the frustrating part is it's not showing yet as far as my weight. :/ I know it would go faster if I just exercised along with my eating habits change but, as I've said before, I don't have a lot of time and it bores me to death to work out for the sake of working out. If only I lived somewhere that wasn't super flat and dead-looking so I could go for a hike...oh well. Colorado one day, maybe.

But yeah, as for food I was actually really proud of myself the past three weeks--haven't had any artificial sugar! Still working on drinking more water, but there is definitely a conscious effort involved. In fact, the only time I have been "bad" was yesterday and today as I flew up to Virginia to visit an old friend and we ended up making jello shots. xD And then on the flight back I had to get up REALLY early so I just ate whatever the airlines gave me which was peanut butter m & m's, some very sweet biscotti, and some pretzels. I don't even like pretzels, bleh. I was just soooo hungry. So that's my confession I suppose.

The great thing though I've been noticing is that now that I've passed the three-week mark with no unnatural sugars, my craving for sweets/chocolates/baked goods has been essentially ZERO. Which makes it so easy. I had an inclination to go raid my parents' fridge just now for ice cream, but that was purely out of years of habit, not a craving, so it was really simple to say no to myself.

As far as getting that sweet-tooth fix goes, Azerane, what works for me is V8 fusion (which is 100% real fruit juice, no addatives) and/or yogurt with honey and granola. But if you are not particular about whether or not what you eat is artificial sugar, there are lots of sugar-free jellos, puddings, and other things out there that I used to rely on for those weaker moments of need. ;) One of my favorites is actually this chocolate milkshake recipe using sugar-free chocolate pudding (http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=321507). If you have an ice cream maker I also have turned that recipie into some GREAT soft-serve by just putting it in there or combining the sugar free chocolate pudding with some plain yogurt and a bit of honey. Delicious!!! I know it's hard to do the no sweets thing, but I know you can do it if you keep at it! Besides, even attempting to break a habit like that is hard, trust me I know. x___x

Here is also a low-calorie sweet snack list (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/287597126177928628/) that I liked, maybe you will too.


And yaaaay Nathalie for working a walk into your schedule! :D Even though it's not that far, it still counts for something. Also good on ya for trying to cook more and make sandwiches and stuff. I am happy for you!

[lionloversam]

I have been doing well on my no soda thing. I have been mostly soda free since the eighth of November. The only soda I had has been a total of three cans of diet soda.

I also lost ten pounds. From 220 lbs to 210 lbs.

KanuTGL, not sure how healthy it is but, I sometimes just slowly eat a spoonful of honey if I want something sweet.

[Kasei]

:wow: Wow!!!! You already lost 10 pounds??? Man, I envy guys. You've got guytabolism for sure, that's awesome!!! :noogies: Congrats! I think a success like that deserves some dancing gifs....
http://img.pandawhale.com/37201-Carlton-dancing-gif-I2pZ.gif
http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA4LzA1LzFmL2hhcnJ5cG90dGVyLjYxNjYzLmdpZg pwCXRodW1iCTg1MHg1OTA-CmUJanBn/db79fc85/147/harry-potter.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4mln1iAeO1rwcc6bo1_250.gif

[nathalie]

And yaaaay Nathalie for working a walk into your schedule! :D Even though it's not that far, it still counts for something. Also good on ya for trying to cook more and make sandwiches and stuff. I am happy for you!

Don't know where you got that from, but I think you mis-read :p

I only pointed out, that it's impossible to get 10.000 steps a day, unless you do a job in the evening or something.
I didn't say I'm doing that :p

[Kasei]

Friday I had a late doctor's appointment, and was just feeling to sick to actually stand up straight behind a stove, so quickly got some take out when I came from the doctor as it was only a 2 minute walk.


:) Was just finding a positive in your story about take out. x3

[nathalie]

Oh, lol, well, the doctor is a 2 minute walk, and then the snackbar is another 2 minute walk, and then again a 5 minute walk back home, but then again ... with fries and such, I had 10x the calories, I had lost during that 9 minute walk in total :lol:

Funny thing though, I have been trying to be more healthy, and I stood on the scale this morning, and gained about a kilo o_O *sigh*

[Kasei]

Yeah, I blame that on our female-ness. I have also gained all the weight I lost that first week back, despite being very good the whole time. *sigh* That's just the nature of the female body. It WILL come off if we keep at it though, I know it, so don't loose heart!! *suppoooort*

[KanuTGL]

As far as getting that sweet-tooth fix goes, Azerane,

*Kanu ;)


what works for me is V8 fusion (which is 100% real fruit juice, no addatives) and/or yogurt with honey and granola. But if you are not particular about whether or not what you eat is artificial sugar, there are lots of sugar-free jellos, puddings, and other things out there that I used to rely on for those weaker moments of need. ;) One of my favorites is actually this chocolate milkshake recipe using sugar-free chocolate pudding (http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=321507). If you have an ice cream maker I also have turned that recipie into some GREAT soft-serve by just putting it in there or combining the sugar free chocolate pudding with some plain yogurt and a bit of honey. Delicious!!! I know it's hard to do the no sweets thing, but I know you can do it if you keep at it! Besides, even attempting to break a habit like that is hard, trust me I know. x___x

Here is also a low-calorie sweet snack list (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/287597126177928628/) that I liked, maybe you will too.
Many thanks for the tips! I'll definitely look into that and see what I can make. Also yoghurt is a good idea! :D I never thought of that as a "snack" since I associate it so strongly with breakfast, haha :lol:

Today I got some popcorn to nibble on, as I've heard from my health-guru grandmother that they are actually really good for you, so I'm happy to follow her advice on that, haha :p

[nathalie]

Yeah, I blame that on our female-ness. I have also gained all the weight I lost that first week back, despite being very good the whole time. *sigh* That's just the nature of the female body. It WILL come off if we keep at it though, I know it, so don't loose heart!! *suppoooort*

Could it be because I've eaten more bread? Isn't there something in bread that will make you spread? (I don't know how else to say it in English, haha)

Because, my sister, she mainly only eats "fatning" food, like potatoes and pasta, she has a really big butt, lolz.

I thought I was getting healthier, and I ate a sandwich each time I was hungry and needed something, so instead of crisps or making some soup, I took a sandwich, and still gained 1 kg -_-

[Simbaspirit]

:D :hugs: good job everyone - I just read through all your posts and it is very inspiring! You are all doing great :)
I won't be participating in this one since I have a history of anorexia, but I do know plenty of healthy recipes and ideas that I learned in recovery from my eating disorder. I'll post some recipes and tips if you guys want! Don't worry they're not tips for eating disorders they're the ones I use now to stay healthy without relapsing :p
Also, I think Nathalie brought it up but fitness DVDs are really good! Of course, if you're kinda just going through the motions no one can tell you to pick it up and it won't be a super vigorous workout (which is ok!) but if you fully commit and give the program your all you can definitely break a sweat.

[KanuTGL]

Yay, I've managed the week without buying any sweets, so now I can have some tomorrow and on Sunday without feeling bad :p My only "sins" are a few gluten free gingerbreads, but I always had some fruit with them so I don't feel that it was so bad, and I had a very chocolate-y hot chocolate yesterday, but it was "fika" with some friends, which is the one exception to my rule :P A hot drink is better than a slice of cake, right?

This evening I did have a McDonald's for dinner, but it's the first time in like a month that I went there, and I only had a very light breakfast and lunch today, so I feel I'm okay xD

The walking and exercising isn't going great; this week has been super, super busy so I've had huge problems fitting it into my schedule D: But I'm at least thinking about it, which is an improvement from before...? Maybe? xP

[Azerane]

Well, you can hold me accountable for being bad :lol: Yeah... I like chocolate an awful lot :p I also haven't been walking much but I've been so exhausted from work these past two weeks that I'm just dead. By the time I've been to work, organised some stuff around the house, and spent time with Bandit it's time for dinner, then I have to be in bed by 8:30 so I haven't been able to find much time. At the very least I do tend to walk quite a large distance at work, I'd be interested to know how many steps I actually take on an average work day, as I get the feeling that it's quite a high number.

[nathalie]

Ooooh chocolat ... Kinder chocolat ... It's Saint-Nicholas over here December 6th, and I still need to get my Godchild some chocolats. I'm pretty sure I'll bring an extra package for me too :lol:

I was healthy today though! We were at the grocery store, and I brought a Cesar Salad. I'm not a salad fan, but I do like the iceberg salad, because it's all crunchy (the one they put between burgers at McDonalds).

But ... Kenny wanted bacon/eggs for lunch to put between his sandwich, so I took some of the bacon and putted it in the salad, haha :p

[Azerane]

Also, since it's advent now... it requires me to eat one chocolate a day, says so on the calendar :p

Though I did buy some fruit yesterday, which is a big deal for me. Some nice juicy peaches, so hopefully next time I have a chocolate craving I can eat those instead. I've also been trying to switch out with yoghurt lately too, which is going pretty well. So it hasn't all been bad, haha.

[nathalie]

Also, since it's advent now... it requires me to eat one chocolate a day, says so on the calendar :p


Haha, I love those kind of excuses :p

[KanuTGL]

Also, since it's advent now... it requires me to eat one chocolate a day, says so on the calendar :p
Hahaha, yes, indeed! We must eat one piece every day now :p

[Kasei]

Aaaaah, so I was really bad this past week. @_@ Thanksgiving in the US is killer for diets. Especially in my family. Normal Thanksgiving lasts a day for most people, then you get on with you life. My family? Oh no. It started on Wednesday and did not stop until Sunday morning. To be totally honest I am surprised I only gained 2 pounds. :confused:

But man, I ate WAY too much sugar. That's also why I haven't been around in a while because I literally spent all of last week flying/driving around the US visiting friends and family on my week off from work (yaaay the only nice thing about teaching!). Went to Dallas for a conference and visited a friend, then flew to Virginia to stay with an ooold art buddy of mine I've known since the 8th grade then on to Oklahoma for family time. That was where the gluttony happened. e_e I have a bad habit of over-eating in those kinds of situations, so all things considered I suppose I didn't fare too badly. I have what I like to call "finish it off syndrome." Basically if there is just a little of something left, I have this compulsion to eat it to get rid of the bag/container and make room in the pantry. Granted, I don't do a lot to fight this compulsion, but it's still a bad habit I need to knock off. Even when I am eating healthy I do it. Dunno why, guess my Mom was strict about cleaning my plate as a kid or something. xD

I'm not ready to tackle exercise yet (mostly because it is cold outside and I am a wimp about being cold. Also I live on the third floor so at-home exercise is kind of limited) but I am really trying to get the more water thing going now that I've been good about no sugar for about a month (with the exception of last week. To prevent from breaking my streak I'm just going to say holidays don't count. xD). Been trying out lots of different teas in an attempt to get more H2O in my system. I am not really a tea drinker, but I hear it's a great appetite suppressant as well, so here's hoping!

(also, Kanu, air popped popcorn is one of my all-time favorite snacks! I would highly reccomend getting an air popper if you don't have one. It's cheaper to buy the kernals and you can flavor the popcorn however you want without worrying about tons of grease or fat being in there already)

Anyway! That's my super quick update. Good job everyone on keeping up with the posts! I really do think about you guys as I go about my day. xD So something must be working! Hope you guys are feeling supported too, and best of luck with your goals this week! <3

[Azerane]

Yeah, holidays are a killer. I'm going home to make honey biscuits with my mum this thursday, so some dough will be consumed :lol:

Weighed myself today. I've lost weight, granted it's not as much as I would have lost if I'd really been trying, but hey, 800 grams is 800g. Maybe I just haven't eaten as much today :lol: In all honesty, despite the fact that I had a bit of chocolate, I think I have been eating less. I was eating lots of chocolate before, so perhaps my consumption of that has gone down a little. Then in terms of meals, I think I'm having smaller portions of what I make myself at home. And I've been trying to turn my second lunch into more of a yoghurt and healthy snack meal than an actual second lunch. My meals are a little difficult because on days that I work, I have breakfast at around 5:15am, then by the time my break at work rolls around at roughly 9am, I'm absolutely starving again. So I'll usually have a sub or something substantial. Then when I get home after 12-1pm-ish. I'm often hungry again. So around actual lunch time, I'm trying to make that after work meal a smaller one and then have a slightly earlier dinner. Doesn't always work, but I think cutting back on that second lunch is helping.

Now I just really have to start putting in some effort to do routine exercises like crunches etc to tone my stomach.

[KanuTGL]

I've sinned today *sigh* But they had the Ritter Sport marzipan chocolate at the news agent's and they are soo difficult to find, so whenever I see one I buy it... xD

I'm guessing that the next week or so is gonna be bad in terms of my rules as well, as I'm visiting Adam in the UK, and we like to treat ourselves while I'm there :P I'm gonna try and fit the exercise in none the less. During most of the days Adam will be working, so I'll have plenty of time alone in the house.

[Kasei]

Ahhh I had a success today! =D We do this 12 Days of Christmas thing at work where each day people bring in different treats/foods....it's like a 12 day pot luck full of mostly sugar. x_x And I managed to resist today! It came close, I almost gave in when I saw the monkey bread, but I went for the fruit instead and walked away, woo hoo!!! This is good seeing as I had NO eating impulse control over Thanksgiving....

....now I just need some motivation to repeat the success for the next eleven days!!! e____e

[Azerane]

Out of all those posts, all I have to say is... Monkey bread?

[nathalie]

Same :lol:

I had to Wiki it


Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, pluck-it cake, bubbleloaf and monkey brains is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast. It consists of pieces of soft bread with cinnamon sprinkled on it. It is served at fairs and other parks as a treat.[

[KanuTGL]

Monkey bread, huh? Interesting :lol:

Well done for walking away from it though, Kasei! :D Keep up the good work!

I discovered something sad about my lovely marzipan chocolate; it "may contain traces of wheat", which means I'm not supposed to eat it... I guess that takes care of that temptation then xP

[cleargreenwater]

Hi guys, this was a nice thought but I think I'm bowing out gracefully at this point, my health goals have changed/been redirected and I just don't think I'm into participating atm. Maybe I'll re-address it after the holidays when my bathroom isn't under reconstruction x_x

[Kasei]

Out of all those posts, all I have to say is... Monkey bread?

xD Haha! I wondered if you guys would have heard of it, but I was in too much of a hurry to explain. It's a really popular treat to bring to pot lucks and such in the states. Just do a google images search for it and you'll come up with lots of delicious pictures. It's basically a donut-esque cinnamon pull-apart, so yummy!

Also, I resisted today too, woo-hoo! The big tempation today was oreo cake balls. e___e (again, google images search will reveal all xD). I LOVE cake balls/cake truffles. And school got cancelled tomorrow due to a huge ice storm that is coming in tonight and going to freeze over, so yay no temptations tomorrow! Just gotta be good at home.....also, this means I will get some drawing done this weekend, woo hoo!! :D I already have my art stuff strewn all over the floor and am doodling away and listening to music. ^^ *happy Kasei*

CGW - Sad to see you go, but I totally get it--sometimes life just gets too crazy to worry about one more thing. Hope things calm down for you soon! We'll still be here for ya when you need some motivation and support. ^^

[nathalie]

After eating a lot less this past week, no candy, and only drinking water, I gained another 600 grams.

I tried the aerobics video this morning too, finally ... I'll need some big practice, lol, since I already have difficulties knowing what's left and right at some times, it's really hard to look at the TV and seeing everything mirrored.

Can't believe the local gym cut the steps/aerobics classes when they were taken over by another gym-company -_-

[Kasei]

Nathalie, I'm so glad that you've been cutting out the sugars and sticking to some positive changes! Don't let the scale get you down--keep figuring out what your body runs off of best nutritionally and stick to it! I'm sure eventually you'll start seeing some changes. Normally when I make a diet change the first thing I notice is not weight (mine also goes up first, just like you) but I notice that I start feeling better in general and have more energy, focus, and (Eventually) enthusiasm. Maybe you could watch for those signs too? *Roots for you!!*

Aaah, I have a confession to make--I gave in to some sugar these past two days! :( It all started yesterday when I was reeeaally hungry and a student brought me a frosted cookie....I caved! And after that I had the terrible mentality of "welp, already broken my rule, might as well have a bit more!" and ate some of the teacher treats in the lounge.

The good thing is, I didn't do too badly and only had a few of the sweet treats that were laid out where normally I would've BIIIIINNNGGGED on them. So that's a plus? I don't know, I'm being really good with what I eat at home (with the exception of perhaps a few too many crackers last weekend when I was snowed in for 4 days...in Texas! XD ) and trying not to see this as a failure. Just a minor step backward? :C Only 6 more days to go of this 12 Days of Christmas thing at work...and it's pretty nuts! SO many homemade goodies and snacks. I think I can make it alright, with perhaps only a few other slip ups...just gotta make it to next friday! the hard part will be the Christmas and graduation Parties I'll be going to these next two weekends leading up to the holidays. e_e Need to brace myself for them...!!!

Haven't been on the scale in a while....am kind of afraid to. xD Last time I checked was a few days ago and I hadn't lost anything.

[Azerane]

After eating a lot less this past week, no candy, and only drinking water, I gained another 600 grams.

I tried the aerobics video this morning too, finally ... I'll need some big practice, lol, since I already have difficulties knowing what's left and right at some times, it's really hard to look at the TV and seeing everything mirrored.

Can't believe the local gym cut the steps/aerobics classes when they were taken over by another gym-company -_-

Small weight variances like that are tough, because I feel like amounts like that could even vary depending on how recently you ate, when you last went to the toilet etc. I know I mentioned I lost 800g, well now I'm back to where I started 73.5kg. But if I'm honest I've been getting quite a bit of take-out recently since I've been over-tired from lack of sleep so have felt like I've had the energy to cook dinner or do much of anything besides go to work and come home.

Sounds like you guys are doing great though with the healthier eating. I'm doing better, but I'm not doing well :lol: Still, it's a work in progress. Just have to try and stay positive and take every small achievement as a good one.

[KanuTGL]

I haven't been doing well at all for the last couple of weeks. I made an exception for myself while I was in England, but I've kind of carried on having a lot of sweet stuff since I got back. Not good! And tonight I'm baking loads of Christmas treats with my friends... xP And then it's Christmas itself... I guess we'll see how this goes, haha. Otherwise this will become my New Year's resolution I suppose :P

[TommyP32891]

I guess I can post about my weight loss success story as inspiration to you all.

What I did was simply cut out the fattier foods with excess calories. I also stopped having meals before bed, and having multiple regular sodas (For example I'd have 3-5 regular Cokes at McDonald's). I also started exercising whether it be a stationary bike or walking at a local mall. This all happened almost 4 years ago. I started at 290 lbs, but now I weigh in at 136 lbs, so 154 lbs lost. I feel a lot better now that I'm thinner. I was miserable overweight, and wanted to fix it. Of course now I eat whatever I want, but watch my calorie intake plus I exercise 3 times a week. All I drink is Diet Soda, Water & Crystal Light.

Best of luck to you all who want to or are trying to lose weight.

[lionloversam]

Well, for me, weight loss has come to a standstill. I am now starting on a version of the "paleo diet" to see if I have any success with that.

[Kasei]

Kanu - I am totally in your boat with the not really doing so well around the holidays thing. xD The 12 Days of Christmas thing at work (dubbed the 12 pounds of Christmas by the staff) has really done me in. I *feel* heavier. All my clothes are tight. Got on the scale this morning and came in at a whopping 166, aiiieeee!!! @_@ This is the heaviest I've been in a while, gah! So. I'm going to a Christmas Party tonight and am challenging myself to snack only on the veggie tray I am bringing. We shall see how it goes but...that weight is pretty terrible for my frame and lifestyle, so I really need to get back on the strict no-sugar thing I was doing so well on a few weeks ago. The good news is I am still not feeling those intense cravings I usually do, it's just lazy habit to eat the chocolate or whatever in front of me. I will be reporting in to let you all know how I do on this short-term goal. It's just 24 hours I need to go with no sugar, I can do this...!!!! e____e;;; But I certainly need your accountability to make it happen. ^^;

And Tommy, that's awesome! Thanks for sharing your success--exercise really does make this so much easier, I just wish I could find a way to enjoy it more and not feel like I'm mindlessly wasting my time. Very inspirational though, good for you for losing so much weight!

Sam - Wishing you the best in your all-natural approach. Try not to focus on the weight so much as the inches you lose or how you feel, it makes things easier for me anyway when I hit those weight plateaus.

[Azerane]

You can do it guys!!!

I've been struggling mostly with preparing decent meals at home, mostly because I don't do a big supermarket trip often enough, I just buy things as I think of them. So the other day I went to the supermarket and stocked up for a bunch of meals that are easy to make which will stop me from getting take-out quite so much. Also I bought some fruit, which I almost never do :lol: But it's apricot season and I love apricots. Also it's cherry season and I absolutely love cherries more than any other fruit but they're so dam expensive this year.

[nathalie]

I've been so down for the past week again, it's all down the toilet.
Trying to eat good, drink water, less sweets, and I gained! So that wasn't very helpfull -_- so I was like: then why bother? And then I got some news I wasn't happy about, felt so down again "hello McDonalds".

[Simbaspirit]

I don't know if any of you guys use pinterest, but it's a great source of healthy recipes and since they have such a variety there's bound to be some that sound appetizing :)

[Azerane]

So... I know I failed at Christmas :p But last night when we went to the moonlight cinema, I bought fruchocs to eat during the movie. I wasn't particularly hungry so I didn't end up opening them. I still have them, so will eat them at some point, but hoping I can space it out more than the all-out consumption that would have happened if I had eaten them during the movie when I wasn't even hungry. To me, not eating snacks during a movie when they're right there next to me is a HUGE deal :D

[KanuTGL]

Yesh, Christmas has been a disaster when it comes to this, haha :p After New Year's I'll be settling back into normal routine, so I'm going to get back to working on my goals then.

[nathalie]

Christmas was no problem for me at all, lol.

I ate 2 mini burgers as snacks (they are like flat hambugers, but mini size, lol).
And 2 or 3 other snack thinggies.

Then for the main food, only 3 tiny pieces of meat, and loads of cold things, rice, potatoe salad, bread, cucumber, lettuce, carrots.
I ate pretty decent and healthy, lol.

[Azerane]

That's fantastic Nathalie :) You showed us all up :lol:

[Azerane]

So I bought a pizza for dinner... but it's not so bad because I totally deserve it. Well maybe not totally, but I certainly feel like I deserve it. :lol: Friday at work I got a call saying I will be having an inspection tomorrow (wednesday) since the owner of the property is here on holiday from the UK. So I agree that it's fine, but am really tearing my hair out and having a stress fit on the inside :p Basically I was behind with housework and general outside appearance maintenance of the place (which I got picked up on last inspection) so every waking minute that I've been at home (Friday from 1pm, wasn't home at all saturday, sunday all day, yesterday from 2pm and today from 12pm) I have been weeding, and sweeping, and mowing and more sweeping, and scrubbing and vacuuming and mopping and washing and tidying like crazy. I have pretty much only stopped to eat, sleep and shower and go to work. So I'm basically completely exhausted, but it's been so much physical activity that it's felt like a workout (sore muscles every night) and I've been constantly on the go. So with that in mind (and the fact that I was too exhausted to cook anything and I feel like I've done a good job with this whole getting clean/organised thing) I decided to reward myself.

So now I have leftovers for work and for after work tomorrow too :p

Also, can I die now? :lol:

[nathalie]

I ate a bit more at New Year's Eve, lol. But the pieces of meat were tinier then the ones we got on Xmas Eve :p

I did eat 2 slices of creamcheese pie, which is like, a calory bomb! haha

I haven't really been eating that much lately, haven't been feeling all that well.
Also haven't checked the scales anymore, as the battery is dead :p and taking out the Wii is such a hassle to just check my weight, lol.

I'll just continue what I'm doing, less sweets, more water, and see in a few days or so what it did this time.

[Kasei]

Azerane, I'll bet you got yourself a huge workout! They say housework is one of the best workouts you can get because it's so full-body. So good on ya! You eat that pizza. xD Enjoy it for the rest of us, I certainly haven't done enough exercise to earn a slice of it.

As for me, I've wiped my slate clean of Christmas/New Years and can proudly say I have had no sugar at all this year, woo hoo! xD I know, I know...cheap since it's only been this year for a week. But I'll take it! Mostly cause it's a great way to gague my progress. Gonna see how long I can go without. Maybe even try out that 30 days to break a habit thing. x3

Also, I weighed myself this morning and I lost 2 pounds since last week, woot! So that's really good motivation for no sugar, lemmie tell you. ^^

Sibaspirit - Yesss, I use pinterest all the time. I follow some healthy foods pinners, so lots of yummies pop up in my feed each day. :3

[nathalie]

I just turned on the Wii Fit, lol.

It was 31 days ago, and according to it I lost 1kg.
Only 10,8kg to go :(

And my Wii Fit age was 34, lol.

[nathalie]

hmm, maybe this is going in the right direction ... using the Wii again, and it says I'm 0,2 kg less then yesterday (wearing the same clothes and everything) lol

[Kasei]

That is awesome Nath! I hope things have still be going well!

I kind of fell off the face of the Earth for the past couple of weeks, sorry guys. @_@ Real life gets hectic for me in the Spring. Not doing so good on my initial goal of posting in here once a week lately. Bad Kasei! Remedying now.

I have actually been doing MUCH better since the holidays. Haven't had any sugar at all since New Years with the exception of a piece of a cookie I was guilted into eating. xD The great part is that my cravings are non-existant right now. Part of that is probably because I like simple goals like, "I wonder how long I can go without sugar!" So it makes it into a fun game for me, in a way. xD I still eat a lot more than I should, but at least deserts and sweets aren't tempting me, and that's one of my biggest issues. So yay! *victory dance* Hope that keeps going! Still working on drinking more water....though I am being more conscious of it lately! Been trying healthy flavor packets mixed into my water to help, so far so good!

Hope you all are doing well on your goals too! And if not, share anyway! We can brainstorm a solution maybe. :3

[KanuTGL]

That sounds great, Nathalie! And Kasei! :D

My progress to getting to my goals has been going pretty terribly unfortunately, but I'm cutting down portion sizes and trying to calculate a little more closely how much I actually need to eat. So that's something, at least xP

[Azerane]

Love reading about how great you guys are all going, keep it up :)

Ugh, I've been avoiding this thread though. It's not just about eating bad food though, I've been in a really bad place mentally for the past three weeks, and I'm really struggling to get out of it. Had a lot of stress with work, money, dealing with living on my own and pat being away and feeling disconnected, needing to get a new car etc and I basically just shut down. For two weeks I got between 3-5 hours sleep a night, so my eating/cooking/food planning suffered. My exercise has suffered because my sprained ankle is only just healing up (3 week old injury now) and I've pretty much been incapable of just dealing with anything housework related, after getting 3-5 hours sleep, getting up at 5am, working for 7 hours then coming home.

I think the breaking point was finding out I needed to get another car last week. Everything else felt impossible to do, but then getting worse news kinda made those other impossible things seem a bit do-able despite the extra stress. So I've been trying to improve. The needing to get another car has made me have to work out how much money I have and realise that I can't buy food every day at work. So in the space of 6 days I had two iced coffees (instead of one a day) and I've been taking a vegemite and cheese sandwich to work instead of buying subway or a sausage roll. So there are improvements. At the start of it all I was pretty much binge eating on chocolate, then when I wasn't sleeping I just stopped having meals (except breakfast). And now I've actually started making basic meals again, cleaned out the fridge, trying to plan ahead a bit more.

It's hard, because I'm still really stressed, and really sleep deprived and feeling like everything is crashing down around me. But I just have to keep going, even though it's incredibly hard. I'm already sick of looking at cars online, and test driving cars etc, but it has to be done. I didn't want to get a loan, because I could technically just scrape enough money together to get a half decent car. But Pat suggested I should get a loan just so that I have money there still if I need it. Which isn't a bad idea, but the thought of getting a loan stresses me out more :lol: I think I'm just pretty breakable at the moment, haha.

So yeah... that's me right now :p On the plus side, I have dinner planned for tomorrow night, which is good. I haven't weighed myself, because I'm sure I put on weight at the beginning of all this with all the chocolate I was eating. Fortunately I've cut that down too.

Sorry about the venting, it just helps sometimes I think. Plus I thought it I posted it, it might help me improve.

[Kasei]

Vent away! That's what we're here for....especially if you don't really have that many other people in life to vent to. This is the "get healthy" not "loose weight" thread for a reason. Mental health is also uber important. <3

Have you tried making yourself a schedule/calendar? I had a lot of those same problems adjusting to getting organized so that I could be independant financially and just in general. Finding time to cook large amounts of food and freeze it to eat later is something that has been a big adjustment for me, but has saved me LOADS of money. I basically just buy those little 1-serving tupperware containers and portion out my rice/veggies/pasta etc into those then grab a couple from the freezer to mix and match every day at work. I have basically gotten to the point where the only money I spend on food is at the grocery store....and it all started with getting a dry erase calendar and scheduling out my week. Looking ahead and figuring out where I had the most time to do what. Cleaning is a whole other beast, however. Let me know when you figure that one out...because I still basically clean only about once a month. xD Life is just too busy and there's too much I want to do to waste time cleaning! I try to just make as little mess as possible and sort of clean up as I go, so that helps. Then I just have to do the big stuff like the bathroom and vaccum once a month instead of everything at once. Which is super overwhelming.

Hang in there Az. <3 Let us know how things are going, I hope everything starts looking up soon. Sounds like you're already making some good steps in the right direction. We're rooting for you!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmka1dEGLv1qii6tmo1_400.gif

[nathalie]

I made a huge sin 2 days ago, haha, was across the border in town, I had a McDonalds coupon, it was spaghetti night at my place, and I don't like that, so I took 2 Big Macs with the coupon :lol:

I cannot get my eyes open on this subject *sigh*.
I keep whining I'm too big (well, "fat" in my own words), but nothing is an eye-opener for me :(

[Azerane]

Vent away! That's what we're here for....especially if you don't really have that many other people in life to vent to. This is the "get healthy" not "loose weight" thread for a reason. Mental health is also uber important. <3

Have you tried making yourself a schedule/calendar? I had a lot of those same problems adjusting to getting organized so that I could be independant financially and just in general. Finding time to cook large amounts of food and freeze it to eat later is something that has been a big adjustment for me, but has saved me LOADS of money. I basically just buy those little 1-serving tupperware containers and portion out my rice/veggies/pasta etc into those then grab a couple from the freezer to mix and match every day at work. I have basically gotten to the point where the only money I spend on food is at the grocery store....and it all started with getting a dry erase calendar and scheduling out my week. Looking ahead and figuring out where I had the most time to do what. Cleaning is a whole other beast, however. Let me know when you figure that one out...because I still basically clean only about once a month. xD Life is just too busy and there's too much I want to do to waste time cleaning! I try to just make as little mess as possible and sort of clean up as I go, so that helps. Then I just have to do the big stuff like the bathroom and vaccum once a month instead of everything at once. Which is super overwhelming.

Hang in there Az. <3 Let us know how things are going, I hope everything starts looking up soon. Sounds like you're already making some good steps in the right direction. We're rooting for you!

Will write more later, just wanted to say thanks :)


I made a huge sin 2 days ago, haha, was across the border in town, I had a McDonalds coupon, it was spaghetti night at my place, and I don't like that, so I took 2 Big Macs with the coupon :lol:

I cannot get my eyes open on this subject *sigh*.
I keep whining I'm too big (well, "fat" in my own words), but nothing is an eye-opener for me :(

It's hard to find the eye-openers I think. And they are different for everybody. It was either some aspects of physics or chemistry that made no sense to me for two years of high school, then one day it was explained to me be a different teacher, and in 5 minutes it made complete sense. You've been doing very well though :)

[KanuTGL]

I got myself a measuring tape today to be able to properly get my measurements, because all my trousers are becoming way too tight and I want to know what size I actually am. The numbers were a lot worse than I thought, hah.

I'm gonna try harder from now on to be more active, but it's so difficult to find the time for it :/ I'm either at campus working (sitting by a computer) or at home (sitting by my computer) or too tired to do anything at all -_- So finding even one hour every other day to use for a bit of exercise is really hard. Blah!

[Azerane]

Sorry about needing to vent again, but aside from talking to Pat (who gets enough of me being upset etc :p) I don't really know where else to vent. Plus if I can get myself to post here more often, I feel like it may help lead to better habits. I apologise in advance for the following paragraph, it's a bit all over the place and disjointed.

This month has just been really hard. In addition to already worrying about money, and the fact that I need to get a new car (which I still haven't done) I filled up my car the other day to find it had a fuel leak. So the next day, I was forking out $400 that I didn't really have on a car that I'm not even going to keep... *sigh* However, at Pat's suggestion, I did bite the bullet and headed off to my bank to get a small loan for a car. Realised I just couldn't really afford one otherwise. So that in itself was somewhat stressful, though at the same time a relief to know that I have the money for a car now and don't have to worry so much about where my next meal is coming from and if I'll be able to afford my bills. All of the issues with Pat were a pretty big obstacle this month too, very draining, disheartening and confusing all at once. Things have very much improved, but it's not gone, if that makes sense. He just got himself a job, which is a huge deal and means we can really start saving for the whole moving to be together thing. Sorry, I'm kind of getting side-tracked, just trying to fill in the gaps for you all. I think what's hard also at the moment is I'm really losing/have lost my passion for my work. I used to find it a challenge, and now after being behind on work for three weeks (which is completely not my fault since they took me off my job for two days to cover something else but didn't cover me and my work load has been so huge I haven't had time to catch up) I initially felt swamped and stressed about it, to only then realise that I just don't care. I think if I can catch up, I'll be fine, but until then it's sort of "Why am I doing this?" I almost miss menial service jobs where once you leave work, everything's over until you start fresh the next day. If I leave work, I just have to pick up where I left off the next time I get there. Makes it pretty hard to get out of bed sometimes.

I've had to be a little better with house related things the last week or so since I have an inspection this coming Tuesday. I'm not really ready, and I'm not going to be, but I don't really care, haha. As long as it's mostly tidy and nothing is gross it'll be fine. Though I haven't been able to get out the stain in the carpet that she complained about last time. It's because it's not a stain though, it's just scuff wear from the chair legs, but it's quite dark, so that sucks. In regards to eating habits, it's been pretty terrible. With everything that happened with Pat and I, I wasn't even having proper meals or eating much at all, then if I did eat it was chocolate or junk food. In fact, I'm eating chocolate right now, lol. Currently, I literally just crave food constantly. Like if I'm not 100% occupied with something, I feel like I have to be eating, and it's been really hard. In the past week I've gotten a tiny bit better, cooked some meals again, and I've been fantastic at taking lunch to work instead of spending money on food, which is a plus. Also, I've been eating fruit. That may not sound like a big deal, but I hadn't bought fruit in many months, so to have actually eaten some again is a huge deal for me.

Generally I think what most of what my stuff boils down to, is stress from money and stress from living on my own. Despite the fact that I'm not at all a social person, and I love having lots of time to myself, I find it very difficult to simply manage everything on my own, and I think that occurring when Pat left became kind of a double struggle for me. I'm not miserable, haha, but 'm definitely struggling. It's times like this when I am infinitely glad to have a pet, Bandit really is my little saving grace right now, he's the reason I have to get out of bed every day, and he makes me smile (even if he's currently shedding enough fur for about 1000 rabbits!) For the most part I've been sleeping better, I think it simply got to a point where I was so exhausted that my body just kind of reset itself in that regard, but I would still love to sleep for a week straight.

Anyway... sorry that ramble got kinda long, I'll finish it off with some dot-point positives below:

-Pat has a job which means saving more money for VISA and living together
-I have a loan so I can actually afford to get a different car
-Going to look at several cars tomorrow morning, and I have a good feeling about it
-Have been really good with taking my lunch to work, which means saving lots of money
-I have my niece's birthday party tomorrow, 2 years old! Fun times!
-House inspection next Tuesday, a little stressful, but it means that from Monday afternoon, the house should be clean
-I've been doing sit-ups! Not many, but I have been doing them, and that's way better than the not doing them that was happening before!
-Oh and also, I finally put my Christmas Tree away... that was like a major thorn in my side/brain/everything. Middle of Feb and I still had the tree up.
-On Sunday it will be 9 years since Pat and I decided to become "boyfriend and girlfriend"
-On Monday it will be 1 year that I've owned Bandit <3

Oh and Kasei, I had thought about making a schedule for myself for cleaning in the past, but it's once again one of those things that I just never got around to drawing up :lol:

Kanu, you're braver than I, measuring yourself. Still, if you know what you are, you can more easily track your progress, which is good. It's hard to turn the negatives into positives, but we have to :) Maybe try not to think of the exercise as a whole hour task. I started by simply saying to myself, you know what... I have 30 seconds or spare time, let's see how many sit-ups I can do. And that's it. It may not be a lot, but you have to start somewhere. I used to do crouching exercises while brushing my teeth, lol, I should start doing them again.

[cleargreenwater]

Bringing your lunch to work every day is awesome! Really a deceptively huge thing, and SO DIFFICULT, omg. I try, and I'm good for the first maybe 3 days, but by Thursday I'm bumming :(

As for stuff to do, I completely shamelessly admit that I keep a dry-erase board. If I didn't write everything down in a sort of "life command center" at the base of my stairs, my mind would always be racing and things would get lost in the shuffle while I was obsessing elsewhere. Sure, maybe it makes me look mildly remedial having a list and two different calendars (one for appointments like doctors and programs/meetings/obligations, and one for household tasks like garbage days and when certain bills are due,) but everything is written down and not having to remember any of it so I can concentrate on important stuff is invaluable.

Anyway, I'm getting back on board with this health thing a little bit. The pre-hypertension/warning signs of high blood pressure that changing one of my medications fixed has been creeping back in, which means it really isn't just the medication and something I really need to think about a little bit now. At least the resting/bottom number is still normal, its just the top one that's borderline.

So I'm gonna try to make a point to not add any additional salt to things. I'm not going to go nuts with it, I know I can't maintain any kind of restricted diet and frankly I'm just not interested in changing how any cooking I eat is prepared or in fussing over it. But I figure not putting any extra salt on is a good basic across the board change to make, and see what that does for it.

[nathalie]

I've never used salt anyways on my food. Neither does my mom, and I got my cooking from her, lol.
I only put pepper on meat. I don't do salt on meat, fries, potatoes, soup, nothing.

[Sharifu]

Oh Bec, you poor thing. Everything you have been going through sounds majorly stressful. Honestly I think you deserve that chocolate... :lol: :hugs:

I haven't really been doing so well lately, I haven't been exercising or even checked my weight since I moved to California over a month and a half ago. I keep thinking I'll get back into exercising and eating less sweets, but it's been hard, to try to motivate myself to actually start exercising.

[KanuTGL]

Haha, yes, I agree with Audra; treat yourself to that chocolate, Azzy =P And keep check of all the positive things :) At uni last month we did this exercise called "The Joy Report" (to be part of a branding assignment) where we had to write down all the good things that happened to us every day for a week. Only positives, no negatives at all. I noticed after the week was over that I remembered the good things I'd written down, but I could barely recall any of those daily negative annoyances. So I've carried on keeping a diary of all the daily positives, big and small, and I honestly think that it's helping me stay in a good mood right now despite the huge pressure I'm under from all the assignments I have to do.

And, CGW, I think that seems like a very useful way to stay organised! I like lists that you can erase things from when you've done them. It feels great :lol: And I hope less salt will make a difference for you too, good luck with it :3

As for my progress here, I had a doctor's appointment the other day where they measured my height and weight and I don't actually weigh as much as I thought I did, haha. I've really not done well on the whole "cut down on the sweets" thing for the last couple of weeks, but I am cutting down my portion sizes and making a point of going for at least 40+ minute walks daily on the weekends. The exercise during the weekdays hasn't been going so well this week, but at least I'm thinking about it, which is better than it was before... Baby steps, but at least it's going somewhere xP

[lionloversam]

For the most part my weight has been steady.

Personally, I have found that eating less salt gets easier after the first few days. I have cut salt back before and should start on it again. But, some salt is needed in the diet. Just not the over abundance that is in the Standard American Diet.

[Kasei]

Man, I have been terrible about posting here lately. e_e; Sorry about that guys, life just ran away with me a bit. I stay too busy, I think.

I've been doing pretty good as far as my goals. Drinking more water, haven't really had sugar since New Years, though I have made some minor exceptions for celebrations/birthdatys/etc. The thing is, I'm not SNACKING on deserts/sweets throughout the week, I'm not craving them. And when I do have something sweet at a birthday dinner or something, I don't go back for seconds. I'm learning that that is a big part of my problem--OVERindulging. I have kind of tried to make a mental rule with all my foods, not just sweets, that one serving is enough. The only exceptions to that would be when I'm out eating at a buffet or something...but even then, I limit myself to two plates max. And no deserts unless it's fruit/something natural. I really have only had sweets this past week, up until now it's been zero since the beginning of 2014, so I think I'm doing good. It's not really showing on the scale as I still weigh in consistently at 159, but I feel/look better, I think. So that's what matters.

Also, this week being Spring Break and all, I have been jogging each morning. Not far, just a mile or so, but just the act of getting my heart rate up is beneficial...and even though I detest running with a firey passion, I know from experience that it is the quickest way to burn fat and look/feel better. So I'm sucking it up and just doing it. I refuse to run more than I feel like running and often will just walk and sprint occassionally to get my heart rate up. And that's fine.

To be honest, the only reason I am REALLY running isn't for health, it's becuae I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding on April 12th and I just ordered the dress today...the only size they had it available in is a size I can just barely fit into...so in an effort to not look like a pig in plastic wrap in every photo that I'm sure my friend will have hanging on her wall forever, I am sucking it up and just going to do something active each day. Whether it's a mile jog or a 15 minute workout video at home. I have to do *something.* So I need some accountability on this, since working out for the sake of working out is one of my least favorite things to do. xD Feel free to e-mail/PM me and ask me how it's going. Going to try to make it a point to come here more often and post, especially now that it's warming up and I am about to get outside and be active more easily.

[Azerane]

You can do it Kasei, that's certainly a worthwhile goal to be going for, pity the dress simply wasn't available in a better size, but I suppose it's one of those "this unfortunate thing happened for this good reason" kind of thing, where it's now gotten you more active. So glad to hear that you're doing so well with the non-eating of sweets etc. I have not only failed, but gotten worse in that department.

I went for a hike two days ago, I expected it to be really hard since I haven't actually walked/hiked since before I sprained my ankle in early January. But my friend and I decided to catch up and go for a walk with her dog, so we hiked 4.5km, including up the mega hill which didn't kill my legs, only took a short stop 3/4 of the way up to allow my lungs to stop burning, haha. But I'm really surprised at how well my body handled it. Given that when I started walking that hike middle-ish of last year, I could barely make it halfway up the hill before dying. So the fact that I haven't walked in months and made it 3/4 of the way up is a huge deal. Still, I'm destroying my body with chocolate, and that really needs to stop.

I have a friend coming to visit for a week at the end of next week, she eats fruit for breakfast (the nutcase), so hopefully some of her good habits will rub off on me. Reminds me that I really need to get this house tidied up... man I hate housework :p

[nathalie]

So ... it's been a while ... how's everyone doing on this subject?

[Azerane]

I'm buying less chocolate than I was previously, that has to count for something. Eating healthy dinner meals relatively regularly. Haven't weighed myself though :P

[nathalie]

I haven't really been doing something different.
I'm still very much an emotional eater.
Someone at work brings lots of candy and cookies every 2 weeks, but for the past 2 weeks I'm not on that floor anymore 3 days a week, so I guess that's helping that issue a lot more.
I am now a little under 82kg, and in march I was still close to 85kg, so I guess its good.

Though, I'd like to start using my Wii fit more again, and give it another try to not find comfort in food.

Going home on Friday, hoping that if I take my guitar back with me, I can use that as distraction.

[Azerane]

Does packing boxes for moving count as exercising? It sure feels like it because I get so drained afterwards :p I will weigh myself at some point this week before I pack the scales!

[KanuTGL]

Ugh, I haven't been doing well at all :lol: I do think about my goals a lot, but acting on them is a different matter entirely... When I'm at home I try to go for regular walks of at least 30 - 45 minutes and I was actually taking them nearly every day for a while in May/June. I believe having so much to think about at the time helped, hah; walks really helps me clear my head. But now I've been at my parents' for the summer and I've been incredibly lazy... xP Once I get back home I'm gonna pick up the walks again for sure and maybe give that "sweets only on weekends" thing a try once more. We'll see how that goes... xD

[King Simba]

Just come home from my first session at the gym. I got a month's free membership so I thought it'd be good to join and make some good use of it. Started off by doing some rowing and using the treadmills, then did the "body pump" class which basically involves a lot of weight lifting and press ups. I built up a right sweat, but that's the whole point, right? :p Going to do the "spinning" class tomorrow, which involves exercise bikes. I'm aching all over now though, so even typing this message is painful for me. :lol:

[Kasei]

Man, it's been a while. Life, why you so crazy?

Good job KS! And congrats Nat on losing weight, that's really great! And Azerane, I'd say moving boxes totally counts. xD I lost two pounds moving into my apartment last year, so you probably did burn a lot of calories! Kanu, I am with you on the daily walk thing. I hope we can all find motivation to keep it up and not look back!

As for me, well, I was doing pretty good until this week. Bought loads of ice cream on Sunday, and it's already all gone. D: I went to Colorado two weeks ago and did a bunch of hiking and lost about 4 pounds, so that was exciting.....pretty sure this ice cream escapade has put it all bad on though. e_e; I need to go to the gym probably. I was running every day for about a month to get in shape for Colorado, but now that I don't have that goal anymore of needing to have the stamina to climb mountains I am sort of at a loss. xD It's really hard for me to just get up and exercise for the sake of exercise. This is why I've contemplated moving to the mountains many times, because I would always be dying to go for a hike and it would be fun. Not boring and pointless like going to a gym. :/ *sigh*

I have been doing really good on my water intake the past few days though. I am trying to drink 3 liters a day.....a lot tougher than it sounds, it turns out! Hopefully I can at least keep the water thing going. Supposedly drinking lots of water helps keep appetites in check too, so maybe that will help with the sugar cravings. I am about to start school in a week though, very sad times. That means there will be a lot of junk food entering my body before too long. :(

..I'm gonna go do some housework. Maybe that will burn at least a few calories. xD My apartment is overdue for a cleaning anyway. I will have to report here and let you all know if I did it or not. In the spirit of the accountability-ness of the thread. x)

[nathalie]

My friend who did bodystyling (lying in some kind of tub, burning fat) also told me, that if you feel hungry, drink water.

Does not help one bit for me! It just makes my stomach more upset really, and one sip of cola does help for me. When I feel extremely hungry, I need sugar really bad if I don't have access to food.

[Kasei]

Okay, well, I did do the housework, yay! Still need to clean the bathroom, but I vacuumed the apartment, straightened up, and cleaned the kitchen. Should probably put the laundry away too, haha, but I was tired and went to bed...and now I have to go into work to set my art room up again because they made me take everything down at the end of last year...and then didn't even do the cleaning that supposedly required that I do all that work. *grumble* So it's going to take all day, probably. I will be moving lots of heavy objects so I figure that counts as a workout for me. ^^;

My water intake is still doing good, just drank a liter and will try to consume two more while I'm at work. Sorry to hear water doesn't seem to work for you Nathalie, maybe give it another try? Our bodies are 70% water so we definitely need a lot of it biologically. Maybe you body just isn't used to it/is having sugar withdrawals or something? Dunno, but either way good luck with making healthy habits! They are hard for all of us it seems. e__e

[nathalie]

I don't have to give it another try, its always been like that for me ;)

Though, I do drink water most of the time, its the only thing available at work (and since I'm more at work then it home), so I don't have a problem there. It just doesn't help for me when I'm hungry.

[King Simba]

Did the spinning class today. My butt is sore as hell. :scareek: But that's the whole point, right? To push yourself. And as they say, no pain, no gain. ;)

Off to do legs, bums and tums on Friday (for some reason I find that name funny. :lol:) Nothing planned for tomorrow, I think I need to recover. :zzz:

[nathalie]

that's like an aerobic excersize called over here "BBB" (breasts, tummy, butt, but in Dutch, those 3 words also start with a B :p )

[Azerane]

This might only be my opinion, but I don't think eating pizza and garlic bread today counts as a fault when it's my birthday :p

[Kasei]

Def. not your fault Az! And hope you had a happy birthday! :D

..I have been really bad lately, not gonna lie. Dunno if it's stress or me just "not caring" or both, but I've been eating ice cream and sweet things for like a week. And I've been eating pizza on the weekends...so not good! Too chicken to get on the scale, but I have a feeling I know what I'd see and it won't be good. Have been rocking the drink-more-water goal though, so there's that. Been trying to keep up the three liters a day thing, though some days I only get to two. I'll keep on keepin' on though, and I hope the rest of you are fighting the good fight as well! *battle cry*

[KanuTGL]

Oh, gosh, I haven't been doing well at all either xP While I think I'm doing okay with regulating portion sizes and such, giving up sweets on weekdays and going for walks and all things exercise have kind of gone out the window this summer. Now that I'm back home I should be picking it up again, but I haven't yet. The excuse is that things still haven't settled into routine and that a "state of exception" still is in place here, haha. After this week I should have a clearer idea of my schedule (and also should be less ill) so hopefully then at least my walks will resume. Summer's over - back to work :p

[Azerane]

I've been bad with this also, but fortunately my weight seems to be fairly stable.

However, I went for a jog today :D Only a short one, but I'm still proud. Aside from the fact that I'm probably about to buy pizza, but that's beside the point. It's 7:15, I haven't made dinner, and I need to shower and try to be in bed by 9pm. So pizza it is, it's my one take-out night this week though :p Yay jogging!

[Azerane]

Good news everyone! In the past month and a half I've lost 3kg :D I'd say it's mostly from eating way less chocolate, but also a weekly hike of 7-12km is probably helping. I was doing sit-ups for a while too until I strained my back doing some photography recently. I'm eating less food in general, which is good. But I'm also not eating overly healthy, although I have started eating fruit again which I pretty much wasn't eating at all before.

[Kirauni]

That's great, Azerane! Congratulations and keep it up!
I hope your back is better now. :pumbaahug:


I love holidays very much, but unfortunately there's always so much good stuff to eat... Choclate and other sweets and the things my mum cooks when we visit her... I just couldn't say "no". :p


The problem is, since I've been pregnant I gained a lot of weight. I know that's natuarl, but I'm still struggeling to become my "former self" again.
During the last months I've lost a few pounds which was good. I started reducing the calories in my meals and I ate a little bit less. I also started to do some exercises twice a week. However, the pounds I lost were soon back again. I don't know if it's the muscles or the fat, but I'm back where I started. On top of that these special occasions like my birthday or Christmas didn't help at all.

I have been quite proud of losing weight before a few years ago. So I hope I can do it again. But right now, it's worse than ever. It's not that bad, I'm only sleightly overweight due to the pregnancy and the lack of exercise, but right now I'm stuck and frustrated. I tried reducing the calories and eat a little bit less.


So, today I started to do some sports daily for the next 60 days. That's my little goal right now. I want to turn some of my fat into muscles. I don't know if I can keep this up yet, but I'll try my best. And of course I try avoiding to much sweets or lemonade if possible ;)

And how are you doing? I hope you didn't have to "suffer" from the holidays and the great food too much.

[nathalie]

It's not really gonna be a weight loss, but I do hope it'll get me a little bit more into shape, and just having a better condition.
Walking up the stairs sometimes, I feel like a 90-year old woman when I get upstairs -_-

So I've told myself, that I'm gonna start walking every single morning, just around the block, to get out there, fresh air, fresh start of the day.

I well, I have to be honest, for the past, at least, 3 weeks I have been eating like a pig! It's not natural what I've been eating lately.
I am sick almost every evening, just because either I ate way too much, or I ate way too many different things in 1 day.
That obviously has to stop too. I just need to focus!

[cleargreenwater]

I know, I don't have weather as an excuse not to at least walk a little bit now that it's getting warm out again. Stairs are evil, lol. And people are always like--take your dog for a walk! But my dog hates exercise and pants & drags almost as much as I do. :p

[KanuTGL]

That sounds good, Nathalie! Walks are so nice~

I'm really not one for exercise at all, but I really do enjoy going for long walks, so that's something I'm trying to encourage myself to do, hehe. I've taken to doing daily 3-4km walks now and my target for this month is to walk 150km before the 31st :goopher: I have an app that keeps track of how far I've walked during both each session and the monthly total, which I've found is a real motivator. Now I'd just like to find more trails to walk as I'm already getting a little bored of the ones I've got so far :lol:

Cutting down on the sweets and fruit juice during the weekdays is something I'm trying to do as well, which has been going so-and-so lately with Easter and all... xP But since I had a wisdom tooth removed yesterday I've barely been able to eat either, so I'll no doubt be way down on the calorie intake this week, haha. I do miss food though... :C

[Azerane]

Nice work, Kanu. :) A bunch of people at my work also use those apps for recording their walks/runs and how far they've gone. I usually walk at parks which have trail lengths so I base my approximate distances off of those.

I did end up losing more weight, I lost 5kg in total, and then I got into a bad state of mind and have put 1.5-2kg back on. Not good, but it's still a loss overall. I've just been eating more junky food than I was before, and not preparing proper meals. I'm still walking, not as much as I could be, but work is extremely draining lately because I need to get new boots as my current pair are killing my feet.

[ThiagoPE]

I also like to use those apps, my only problem is, even making some exercises, my weight doesnot drop! (at least it doesnot grow either), but i really feel unconfortable being a "3 digit" (+100kg).

I think i need a doctor...

[nathalie]

Lots of terrible things going on right now, not going into detail just yet, but I've managed to loose just under 2 kg in just 3 days ??
Even for me that seems impossible, even due to stress.

I hadn't eaten on Monday, ate a tiny bit on Tuesday evening, and a tiny bit Wednesday evening.
I had already noticed my jeans needed lots of pulling up, either it's really because of those 3 days, or I just hadn't noticed I lost a little already before Monday :lol:

[Kasei]

Sorry I totally fell off the face of the planet with this thread and just being around Lea in general. :< My life has been all kinds of crazy this past year, not the least of which being quitting my job and moving 800 miles away to attempt a new career path of illustration. e_e; However, since I am now no longer drowning in real life things maybe I can be a little more of an online presence than I have been.

In relation to this thread, I have been....okay. Things got REALLY out of control right before I quit my job. I gained almost 30 pounds over the school year due to all of the stress; to be honest it was a big part of why I decided I HAD to make a career change. Teaching, at least for me, is terrible for health. Thankfully, I worked hard over the summer jogging to train for a 14er and lost most of it. I'm still about 5 pounds heavier than I'd like to be, but my clothes all fit again and I can even squeeze into a few that I haven't been able to fit in for a couple of years, so that's encouraging. It helps that I now live in the mountains of Colorado which, aside from being a very active state, is high altitude and therefore my body just has to work harder to breathe/function and therefore burns more calories just by being here. I try to go on at least a short walk every day, though since the weather has turned colder it's been more like a few times a week. Still, I'm trying to do better.

Something I actually discovered recently that has motivated me to go out walking and exploring more is this game called Ingress. It's made by the same company that is releasing Pokemon GO and uses all of the same mechanics that PmGO will be using...so if you're into that series it's kind of cool to get a sneak peak. :) Even if you're not, it's a fun game that uses the real world as its sandbox. You walk around capturing portals for your team and they have a sort of back story for each team so if you decide to play do some research before you pick. I only play when I go out for walks, and guarding my portals/capturing new ones has definitely been an incentive to just go walking and have some fun while doing so. Here's the teaser video if you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss-Z-QjFUio

If you do get the app (it's free) feel free to chat me up @Rainechaser on the faction comm. :) If you feel like helping me out on recruit points, PM me your e-mail and I'll shoot you the recruit invite. No pressure though, I just wanted to share this game that has helped me get more active and have fun while out walking the same old routes day after day.

How are you guys all doing?

[Azerane]

I think it's extremely awesome and brave of you to just quit your job like that to move and work on your passion, very cool :)

It's time I gave an update here too. Since Pat arrived in July I've put a bunch of weight on (almost 10kg!) which is crazy because although I wouldn't call myself fat, it put me at the heaviest I've ever been. Which was needless to say a little bit depressing :p In the past couple of weeks I've really tried hard to cut back on bad things (chocolate and soft drink - because somehow Pat being here resulted in more chocolate eating because he always wants it too, and he drinks a lot of soft drink so I end up drinking it too just because it's there). I've been trying to eat more fruit too and smaller serving sizes at dinner.

Aiming to lose a few kg by Christmas. I haven't really been exercising lately because I hurt my back a few weeks ago, but I still keep pretty active with walking at work.

[Azerane]

Changed job roles this week at work to a more physically demanding role. I get the feeling I'll lose a fair bit of weight :D I can already feel it keeping me more fit :p

[Kasei]

Nice! That's always helpful when your job lends itself to physical fitness. Nothing like getting your workout naturally, really the best way. What is it that you are having to do now, if I may ask?

As for me, I've done okay. Just sort of been maintaining, so that's good. Part of the reason is it's gotten pretty cold up here in the mountains and walking around outside is sort of un fun unless the sun is out. And even then it's been snowing a lot lately so the ground has been icy. Which means I am spending a lot of my day inside and sitting, which is not ideal for physical well being. I still try to go for a short walk every day, but usually no more than a mile, so I'm not sure how much good it's actually doing. Oh well. If I can just maintain until I get through New Years I'll feel a lot better. Then all of the sweet temptations will be gone.

[nathalie]

Are people actually still doing this?

Since I've moved, my God, I really believed my weight would go down so fast, because who cooks for themselves? lol
Boy, was I wrong. My weight has been going up ever since.
I keep telling myself, I have to do something about it, every single day, but I just keep eating :/

I've actually started walking yesterday, thought I'd make it a habbit to do a 30-minute walk every evening, but it's like, 25°C right now with no wind and no air to breathe.

I don't have work tomorrow, so think I'll put on a DVD and the Wii Fit, and do some "walking" on the Wii board while watching a DVD, lol.

[Azerane]

^That's no good, probably snacking more instead of healthier meals?

In good news for me, turns out my new job role has helped me to lose a bunch of weight :D I also have been doing pretty well with my eating which has certainly helped. I've lost about 6kg, since Christmas but I don't think I've lost any more the past two months. But the great part is that I'm maintaining the loss well. :) Yay, go me. :p

[nathalie]

I wouldn't really call it snacking, more just eating 24/7 :lol:

[cleargreenwater]

I joined a yoga class about 2 months ago, its like non-sweaty exercise lite. It's just something to stay sane and healthy, office/desk jobs are absolutely terrible on your orthopedic health, after 12 years I have more inflammation, pinching nerves and misaligned joints than I ever would've imagined.

[Guntur]

I've been working like a month and half now, so far I only eat outside or having a big meal during the lunch break for budget purposes. But the good news is? I'm surprised that one of my old favorite jeans could fit in with my tummy, and I feel that my 36 inch jeans are rather loose now, I doubt my weight is changing but as long as my waist getting shrink day by day I'm a happy lad.

[A Balanced Breakfast]

(American) Football workouts are beginning for me, which means a lot of weightlifting, running, and hitting drills. I can feel a lot of strength coming back already, but my god does waking up in the morning hurt to no end.

[nathalie]

That also hurts without all those work-outs :lol:

[A Balanced Breakfast]

That also hurts without all those work-outs :lol:


It hurts the soul. :zzz:

[Zomok]

I am pretty much active most of the day I generally sleep about 4 - 5 hours a day I do 5 ten hour shifts Monday to Friday and gym for 2 hours a day 4 times a week. Then Work another 8 hours on the weekend while doing the occasional 10 or 20 mile bike ride now the weathers nicer and also ride to and from work daily. Also I cook about 84% of all my meals and mainly snack on fruit or couscous... I'm Surprised because I actually use to be really lazy and eat rubbish. I think if you get to the routine of it, it can really stick especially if you enjoy it too.

[Azerane]

Turns out I've lost another 1kg, go me :) Feeling pretty good about that. At this point I probably don't need to lose any more, but it wouldn't hurt if I did either. I could probably lose another 1-2kg before I started looking skinny, as in, bordering on too thin skinny.

[nathalie]

Wish I had that much willpower.
Though, I've started out good since Friday, and actually making my own food, instead of getting it from someplace.

[HasiraKali]

I'm good during the school year, but during the summer I don't really get out for exercise much. It's too hot and my sister works later because of their summer events.

[Guntur]

I just entered Martial Art class, Not just for losing weight buy sharpen my thoughts and getting a body builder like body.

[Zomok]

I have found An easy and brilliant way to get fit and loose a few pounds lately... It's called Pokemon Go app. Addictive.

[HasiraKali]

Unless you're like me and just drive around. :lol: It's too hot right now. Maybe in a few months, I can go walking to hunt Pokemon.

[Leorgathar]

I want that app to be available in Mexico so badly. Then I'll lose those pounds too :p

[Zomok]

There is an APK version for Andriod and a trick if it's IOS ;) I live in the UK where it has not yet been offically released but I've bumped into so many people playing it on the streets and have been asked countless times by strangers if I'm catching Pokemon....

I'm not ashamed to say no either especially at my age lol.

[nathalie]

I'm from Belgium and my sister has it also already. She's finally getting out of the house after 21 years and doing some excercise, haha :lol:

[HasiraKali]

Just be careful with the APK versions. There are apparently a lot of malicious ones going around.

[Leorgathar]

I think I'll just wait until it officially comes out on iOS here, in the mean time I'll keep enjoying the memes and news about it (they're all so hillarious) :p

[nathalie]

Right, I've taken all the lemonade out of my fridge! I do not touch anything to drink if it's not out of the fridge, and if I do, that's where my icecubes come in, and I haven't filled up my tray either, haha!

I've had about 18 bottles of water left, and putted a few in the fridge, forcing myself to use those, because they are cooled and the lemonade isn't, lolz.
Mind tricks, haha.

Also started to really make an effort, how lazy I may be (and I am super lazy!) to actually cook for myself. It's just so boring making dinner for 1 -_-

But all may contribute to a better lifestyle.

My parents were here over the weekend, and my dad saw my Wii-fit standing in front of the TV "so, did you loose weight yet ????" no, thank you for asking :( :lol:

[XoX]

I have found An easy and brilliant way to get fit and loose a few pounds lately... It's called Pokemon Go app. Addictive.

I'd be out and about 24/7 if I actually had a phone with data.
It's not as much fun at home and in the backyard :p



I don't necessarily need to lose weight, but my whole "I'll just eat a box of cereal"-meal plan is pretty bad for my health >p<
Although I have gained some weight since moving...
I want to try everything, leading me to eat absolutely everything :p

Also, I've been eating a ton of baby food.
DON'T JUDGE ME! D:
Dollar tree has a sale thing going on where you can buy 3 packs of baby food for a buck.
Each pack has 2 containers.
So 6 containers (with actual nutritional values!) for a dollar.
Basically, for the price of a box of cereal, I can get 18-24 containers of food. >p<

What's even better is that each container only has about 80 calories!

So I'm working on eating that, and more fruits and vegetables :p

And I'm also trying to get more cycling into my daily activities. I used to cycle everywhere, but there's no sidewalks or safe roads around, so yeah...
I'm pretty active (with 3 dogs and a house to keep clean), but it's not hard for me to gain weight :p

What kind of sucks though, is that I forgot to buy a scale, and currently don't really have a ton of money to spend, so I can only hope I'm losing weight >p>

[Zomok]

I'd be out and about 24/7 if I actually had a phone with data.
It's not as much fun at home and in the backyard :p



I don't necessarily need to lose weight, but my whole "I'll just eat a box of cereal"-meal plan is pretty bad for my health >p<
Although I have gained some weight since moving...
I want to try everything, leading me to eat absolutely everything :p

Also, I've been eating a ton of baby food.
DON'T JUDGE ME! D:
Dollar tree has a sale thing going on where you can buy 3 packs of baby food for a buck.
Each pack has 2 containers.
So 6 containers (with actual nutritional values!) for a dollar.
Basically, for the price of a box of cereal, I can get 18-24 containers of food. >p<

What's even better is that each container only has about 80 calories!

So I'm working on eating that, and more fruits and vegetables :p

And I'm also trying to get more cycling into my daily activities. I used to cycle everywhere, but there's no sidewalks or safe roads around, so yeah...
I'm pretty active (with 3 dogs and a house to keep clean), but it's not hard for me to gain weight :p

What kind of sucks though, is that I forgot to buy a scale, and currently don't really have a ton of money to spend, so I can only hope I'm losing weight >p>


I see you've done a lot of exercise on this forum already o.O

[XoX]

I see you've done a lot of exercise on this forum already o.O

Heh, I'm sorry :p

If I lost one calorie per word I typed, I'd be the skinniest person alive!

More on-topic though; Yesterday I only ate about half of what I got, so now I've got half a Chick-fil-A salad, and half a chicken calzone in the fridge :D
I'll probably finish those things, along with some fruits...

[KanuTGL]

Yeeah, my whole plan in relation to this thread kind of went out the window a long time ago :lol: I think I've been putting on some weight this year, but I stood on the scale the other day and I don't actually weigh as much as I thought. So that's nice, at least :P None the less, I do want to lose a few kgs and get into better shape, so I've also started doing what everyone else does - playing Pokémon GO xD The eggs really are a great motivation to get out and about. Loving the 90s revival too :p

[XoX]

Yeeah, my whole plan in relation to this thread kind of went out the window a long time ago :lol: I think I've been putting on some weight this year, but I stood on the scale the other day and I don't actually weigh as much as I thought. So that's nice, at least :P None the less, I do want to lose a few kgs and get into better shape, so I've also started doing what everyone else does - playing Pokémon GO xD The eggs really are a great motivation to get out and about. Loving the 90s revival too :p

That's a shame :p
(The whole "forgot about this thread"-part, not the latter >p< )

Looks like I'm really missing out by not playing a lot of Pokémon Go :emo:

A little more on-topic: I finished my calzone, considering it was a tiny one and counted as both breakfast and lunch, makes me feel no-so-guilty about it :p
No idea what I'll be having for diner, though. Probably just some fruit as I've got some watermelon, cantaloupe, and apples lying about ^-^

[Leorgathar]

I just started taking Krav Maga lessons! :D It's quite physically demanding, but I've found it really cool so far
For those wondering what that is, it's a form of martial arts developed in Israel, with a main focus on self-defense in various real life case scenarios (they teach you to disarm someone pointing a gun at you and stun them, for example). Some of the students are actually victims of mugging, which is sadly common here, but the instructor is a very encouraging person, and makes everyone feel welcome keeping the class very motivated and even fun.

I really needed the fitness, but they told me learning Krav Maga also helps as a way to boost confidence, which is a very welcome bonus :)

[nathalie]

Finally some good news to report... After a few years of only gaining, for the past month I've been only drinking water, done quite an amount of walking (outside and on my Wii fit, lol), watching what I eat, mainly the amounts, trying to stay below a certain amount of calories. I was sick a month ago, so it did help make a new start (again), and had to go to the doctor last week.
For some reason she weighed me, and turned out I had lost 2 kg in 35 days
(As 35 days was the last time I stood on a scale)
Really trying to keep it up.

Normally Sunday is fries-day, but in the past 4 weeks I've only gotten that once.
And smelling it everyday because my windows are open doesn't help, lol. There's 2 places I can get them from, in 2 minute walking distance, so I think I'm doing pretty well ^^