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 - 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 - 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 - 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!!!

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. 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

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...

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). 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

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

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

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 ) 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
(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

[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!" *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 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 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 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.

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.

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!

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 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 Still, it means that it's working.

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

[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!!

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