looking for a little support

I was in your same situation alittle over 6 months ago. I weighed 265 and really wasent happy. I was having relationship problems and really blamed myself and the way I looked for why things in my life were going wrong. I bought a bike and kicked all fast food and soda. I ate less (about 1500 calories a day) and road my bike at about 15 miles and hour 10 miles a day (took alittle over 30 minutes). In two months I was down to 228. I felt so great and my attitude changed about everything. Unfortunately I didnt maintain my excersice and eating regimen so now Im at 235. Seeing this post has motivated me to join you in your challenge. Just remember ELMO! Eat Less Move Often. Drinking alot of water is great advice. For a little boost of confidence if you drink at least 3/4 a gallon of water a day you could lose anywhere from 4-8 pounds of water weight in a few weeks. You have my full support! Good Luck!

 

You can do it... just remember to drink water. And if possible, cut out soda. I'm working on that now, but I have such a caffeine dependency.... good luck and you can do it!

 

you guys are *****s....

these are before coffee and a shave so go easy...

 

thanks for all the kind comments. as for the scale being my guide, i know that's not too accurate, especially if i'm lifting. i AM taking pictures and have some "skinny clothes" around to gauge progress but the scale is a decent enough marker.

as for diet, i do drink soda but always diet (matter of taste) but i've been told that this is even a no no. i'll try to cut that back.

as for sweeteners, some people frown on them. i dont know why other than cancer in lab rats and such. about all i use is Splenda in my coffee. is there any reason this is bad? luckily i'm not much of a sweet tooth and really can't stand candy or cookies. the problem is that i more than make up for it with red meat and potatoes... i'm trying to get a menu in order, and run to the grocery store. i'll swing it by you guys when i think i've got something that works

 

soda is a huge sugary mess, I used to drink 2 a day, not even realizing that adds up to almost 2lbs a week of weight. I now drink water and also Crystal light packets in fruit punch or iced tea. The fruit punch is actually pretty tasty and it's only 5 calories, the iced tea gives me a bit of the caffeine I miss from soda. Although some will say it has aspertain in it, I don't drink 10 bottles a day, maybe 6 a week or so.

I workout about 3-4 days a week, mostly cardio and weights. I was always overweight when young and after 30 my body wasn't bouncing back as quickly. I'd say within the last year I've really put my foot down and gotten in good shape.

My best advice is to get on a regime and do your best to stick to it. Set little excercise/food goals each day or week. Things that can be corny for some people but anything that makes you stay on track.

The kicker about excerise is that you can work out 8 months frequently and you will lose all you've worked for in less than half that time if you stop. Don't set impossible goals for yourself, don't ever compare yourself to anyone on tv/celebs with the perfect 6-pack. Always remember that we're all different, have different body types, etc.

best of luck, keep us updated!

 

good for you man! im working on the same thing. i just got a gym membership and some free personal training time.

i agree with what others said, sticking to your 'wifes diet' might actually hurt you. my personal trainer explained to me that low-cal diets can actually cause a persons body to store more fat. the body, after several days of low-cal intake, will start to store more calories as fat to be able to provide itself energy. i was eating about 2200-2400 cal a day prior to starting a workout routine (note: ive never worked out till now my ENTIRE life and im 28 and flabby). now, ive lost visible fat, gained weight on the scale (went down a waist size though) and consume around 3200 calories a day.

so, you gotta figure out what works best for you and your body.

its super hard to stay motivated. coming from a person that used to spend just as much time working as he did playing xbox, its hard to put that controller down to head to the gym to do something you know is gonna make you sore the next day

 

Artificial sweetners make your body want even more sweets than eating sugar itself.

 

You can do it just stick to your goals and don't let up. As stated before drink lots of water, if you can replace your soda intake with water do it. Eat several sensible meals a day ( I eat six) this will help keep your metabolism rocking, its like keeping wood on a fire if your exercising as well. Cardio is going to be your best friend. If you can, replace walking with jump rope a few times a week, It's one of the most intense cardio workouts you can do. Were pulling for you, keep us posted!

 

my personal trainer told me to stay away from that "crap" and stick to the basic building blocks and consume REAL sugar. first 20 min of my workout is burning up the sugar so my body can start using up the stored fat calories....

zjpeter - you'll feel like a million bucks a few weeks into your workouts... its great for the mind/body. plus you'll have 10x more energy. i used to feel like such a bump on a log.

 

This is sort of true... but a little off from the studies I've read. From my understanding, this will happen if you go low calorie AND don't eat often. (It also happens right at first, but after maintained, the body figures it out in probably about 1-3 weeks) It'll store the calories you eat but burn the calories in your muscles (sometimes before it burns fat oddly enough). IME, I went from eating about 2700 kcals a day to around 1700-1900 depending on my activity level. This is a main reason I eat small, but frequently. The body never gets in a mode of not being sure when the next meal will be. It keeps it from storing and keeps the metab burning.

I had my RMR tested and it came out to 1440. (That's how many calories I use a day just to be alive, let alone anything else). Days I work hard or play hard, I'll go way past 1700... but for a normal day in the office, I don't.

I've read many studies that supports this for *most* sweeteners. And for others (like HFCS), it tricks the satiety part of your brain... in conjunction with PHO's are the reason "you can't eat just one".

For me, bottom line, I avoid chemicals when possible. But I do realize it's impossible to be 100% on that.