Losing Weight
 

I really really want to lose about 20 lbs. and I need HELP!!!

I actually eat OK, I need to work out. The problem is, even though in my head I know how to work out, at the same time, I kinda don't know how to implement it. I am very *active* in my daily life, but I need to have a structured work out.

Anyone with either 1)success in this area or 2) a exercise science major want to help me out. I am aweful about making these decisions myself. I need someone to order me to do a specific routine. (For example-do pilates 3 days a week and work out with weights 2 days.-that is not specific enough for me! I am a loser!) I need to know what kind of wieghts, which muscles, how many reps, how many sets??? Which pilates tape, how long??

I do not and won't be belonging to a gym and prefer to work out in or around my home. I know this is frustrating!

Any takers???? It would be greatly appreciated. I plan to make periodic updates to let you now my progress. I'd like to be looking good by Christmas. I think that is a reasonable goal.

Whatcha think?

get a couple of different work out videos to do on days when it's rainy or too hot (or in the winter when it's too cold)

mix it up.....don't do the same video 3 times a week, switch off so you're working different parts of your body.....you'll burn more calories this way and gain more muscle

walking/running/rollerblading/biking is a great way of exercising. i don't know where you live but if you live in a place where i do where it's humid and hot about 8 months out of the year, then you understand how difficult it could be to get outside. try exercising outside either early in the morning before it gets hot out or later in the evening when it starts to cool down.

buy an exercise ball and some weights. you'll be amazed all the different things you can do with both of these. and most exercise balls come with a video. watch the video to learn some different moves to do on the ball.

Diamond- I too need to drop about 20 pounds (all gained while on the Dean campaign :-( )

I've heard that having an accountability partner when getting in shape or losing weight helps to keep one going- someone for you to get after while at the same time they get after you.

I think I can help!!! I have lost weight two different times (a few years ago, lost 50lbs...this summer, lost 15). And yes excersize is often the hardest part about weight loss.

Here's my advice.

1)What kind of fitness/activities interest you? If you pick something you like, you're more likely to stick to it. I enjoy running and because I do, I stick to it. I also found that I really like raquetball and now I play it from time to time.

2)How much time do you have? Fit in fitness into your schedule, just like you would class, meetings, etc. And don't think about whether you want to work out or not; just go do it! If your time is very limited, find ways to incorporate fitness: pace around while you talk on the phone, run up and down a few flights of stairs, etc etc.

3)Find a workout buddy! Honestly, this is what has helped me more than anything, because I know I'm letting my workout gals down if I don't join them.

4)Also, http://www.slim-fast.com is a FABULOUS resource! Even if you don't use their products, they have great articles and such on fitness, especially for beginners. They also have a weight chart you can report to weekly.

5)Buy a really cute pair of jeans or something in a size or two smaller than you can fit into. Use it as an incentive, and try them on weekly. It's really exciting to notice that week by week they start to fit a little better until you finally can wear them!

6)If you chose an activity like running, walking, rollerblading, etc...listen to music while you work out. It makes it more enjoyable.

PM me if you want any more advice!

please one thing before you help this girl.....it's EXERCISE ;)

thanks so much for advice, I really really appreciate it!

I really wish I could get motivated to work out. They just opened a gym literally 2 blocks and about a minute walk from my house but it is really hard for me to get motivated to go~~I always find better things to do. Now that I have a car again I drive more places where in the past I used to walk everywhere. And since I have a job where I am in the field 95% of the time it is much easier to go get fast food for lunch rather then bring something healthy. I don't think I am too overweight but I would love to get toned. I know me well though and I just won't be able to stick to a gym regimen. I also know that when I go home I find a million and one other things to do instead of work out. Grrrrrr, I am frustrated!!!!!

Girl I feel your pain! I am the same way!! Plus I just have this obsession with Dr.Pepper. And I CANNOT drink the diet-gotta have the real deal....so hard.....

I thought maybe if I ate all my meals naked in front of a mirror that would motivate me to eat less.....you get immune to it after a while..... ;)

I gotsta work out, it is the only way.....:mad:

Ack! I NEVER spell that damn word right. LOL :p

The trick with diet sodas is, you must get used to them. Meaning, you have to drink several before you actually like them. I think Diet Dr Pepper is the best diet one out there! Seriously, at least try it. When I switched to diet sodas is when I started losing weight (because of the empty calories).

I like Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Mt. Dew. I think they taste the closest to the real thing.

or you could do what i do and give up on soda completely. i did it 4 years ago and i lost 5 pounds instantly....you don't realize how much water and bloat your body holds due to the carbonation until you stop drinking it.

of course if you do go cold turkey, you'll get the headaches and yucky feeling for a couple of days but that fades. my advice, dont drink juice, don't drink soda, just drink water and skim milk. juice has a lot of sugar in it and that's not good for you. there are studies now that say drinking 3 glasses of milk a day can help keep your weight down

i joined a gym about 18 months ago. even though i am still in undergrad and get free access to our campus gym, it sucks and is always crowded. so i went private and i love it. it's never crowded and it's all women's so i can do my thing and not be bothered. i try not to spend more than an hour at the gym per day.....because after that you're really not burning anything.

I laugh at all these 'plans' to make you lose weight. It's simple: Eat healthy (no more snacks at night, eat your fruits and veges), exercise, begin running if you haven't started (Start out at about 9 miles a week if you're a beginner), and get out and do something (find an outdoor activity that isn't just work work work, have some fun).

Drink plenty of water. 8 cups a day? Minimum if you're exercising.

If you put some genuine effort into it, it doesn't take long to lose weight.

It's all about finding every little opportunity to cut/ burn calories. To lose one pound in a week, you have to have a 3500 calorie difference. Meaning you could cut 2000 calories/week out of your diet and then exercise/move to burn the remaining 1500. Or vice versa. When you consider that vigorous jogging, elliptical machine activity, or swimming burns 600+ calories/ hour you realize it doesn't take much. Say you do 30 min of jogging 3x a week and then lift weights for 20 minutes 3x/week. You'll burn over 1000 calories just doing that. Instead of parking close by, park further out. Instead of just plopping on the couch to watch TV, watch TV while you iron, fold clothes, or do jumping jacks.

Nutritionally speaking, you can find little ways to cut calories. Order things w/o cheese, butter, sour cream, sauces. Instead of fried, get grilled or baked. Cut back on the butter drenched dinner rolls. Get wraps instead of sandwiches. Try diet soda instead of regular. Unsweet tea instead of sweet. Water w/ every meal, in addition to whatever else you drink. I'm not saying deprive yourself and live off 500 calories per day. If you're working out regularly there's no way you can sustain yourself off of less than 1800. It's the little things that can add up.

I'm in the process of losing 10 lbs, so I'm with you in spirit! ;)

Yes, yes, this is all great advice! You don't even have to work out every single day; finding ways to INCORPORATE activity into things you already do help tremendously!

Also, don't do like I did the first time I lost weight. I actually was consuming too LITTLE fat (yes it's possible). If you do this, you're hungry all the time and much more likely to binge. What my doctor advised (and this works) is to incorporate healthy fats into your diet: a few nuts, olive oil, salmon, etc etc because fat is what makes you feel full, and if you eat the right kinds of fats, you don't crave fatty food as much.

It's weird...but it's so hard to start eating right. I was for me anyways. But once you do, you feel soooo much healthier, and a piece of fruit is much more satisfying than a candy bar. I just hope that once I lose the last 10 lbs I have to lose, I will continue to eat well.

thank god my mom never had junk food in the house. it was always granola bars and wheat thins. i cant imagine how hard it must be for some of you to lose weight when you were practically brought up on chips, cookies, and candy bars. to tell you the truth, i dont even like most of those things (except for the occasional cookie).

plus i'm lactose intolerant so i can't have the cheese or the butter or the gooey stuff that makes food soooo good.

another substitute you can try is switching out skim milk for soy milk.....less carbs and less calories and you can keep soy milk longer than skim milk. :)

Not drinking Cokes, coffees or other empty-calorie drinks tends to help me drop weight. I drink milk, water, and OJ.

I was a coxswain in college, and there was always a little undercurrent of pressure to at least maintain weight (120 is the minimum for NCAA Division I Men's, Women's is 110), and they want you as close to that as possible.

You guys are all so awesome for helping me! I rode my bike yesterday-not really fast, but I rode for about 20 minutes. I am joining weight watchers online later today (I have popel coming over now).

And I do try to "incorporate" activity whenever I can. I walk to my friends house b/c she lives only a mile away, I walk or stand at work constantly-that kind of thing.

I will give an update in another few days and let you know how I am doing!:)

Do the ironman competition.

I bet you lose like 50 pounds.

-Rudey

the bike is a great tool for cardio but turn up the notch......it's amazing how many more calories you burn when you crank it up a lot

Cardio - do interval training. It cuts calories faster and more effectively than just straight cardio, and it helps add variety to the routine. Try doing a minute of sprinting, a minute of jogging, and go like that as long as possible.

Incorporate some strength training into your routine - you need muscle to burn fat, and weight training is the best way to gain that muscle. That doesn't mean you need to get big like Hulk - but you do need some muscle before you can effectively burn fat and lose weight.

Finally, it's not necessarily about the carbs, but the right carbs. Look for foods that are high in fiber (like whole wheat bread, Kashi cereal, etc.). Like everyone else said, if you can cut a few calories per meal you'll see results.

I think it takes a bit of time to find a routine of eating and activity that is right for you. I've found bodybuilding books to be helpful because they help me find new lifting workouts and moves to use.

Before I say any of this, take what everyone tells you with a grain of salt. The only person who knows how your body feels is you! Figure out how to push yourself and what your limits are. You might get injured if you let instructors or weightloss zealousness get the better of you. Also, warming up, stretching and cooling down will help avoid injury.

For a beginner weight routine, you might do something like this 2-3 times a week. Start out once a week so your muscles can recover, then when you find you recover after a day or so, do it more often. If you have never lifted before, get a trainer at the gym to show you how to use the free weights and machines properly.
legs:
leg press- 3*12
calf raises- 2*15
leg extension- 3*12
leg curl- 3*12
abductor and adductor machine- 3*12 each

chest:
bench press- 3*12
flys- 3*12

shoulders/ back:
overhead dumbell press- 3*12
seated row- 3*12
lat pulls- 3*12

arms-
dumbell curls- 3*12
tricep press downs-3*12

abs-
3*20 crunches


(eta: I do this routine once or twice a week)
-M

Low carb did it for me after all those pregnancies. NOTHING else worked. Then the faculty where I teach decided to do low carb together and you wouldn't believe how different everyone looks--and we've kept it off too.:D

I actually lost too much weight; my body kept on even after I went off the second phase.

The low carb diet does work and works fast. But, I've found that the weight will easily slip back on if and when you go off the diet. Plus, I had a really hard time sticking to the low carb diet. I'm Irish and was brought up to LOVE potatos and other high carb foods. I'm on slim fast right now, and it seems to be working. It's going off slowly, but at least it's working! LOL :D

One of the things I enjoy to keep me in shape: bike paths. Next year I plan to ride RAGBRAI, but this year it's just me getting out once a week, twice a week and biking on the old rail-2-trail paths or through city and state park paths.

I really admire those of you who can lose weight on Atkins. Even at 20 - 30 carbs per day, I didn't lose. Six months of no cookies, bread, or fruit, and I stayed the same weight. Enjoyed all the bacon and macadamia nuts, though! We are all "wired" differently.

What works for me is getting enough protein (at least 60 - 100 g. per day), eating lots of fruit and vegetables, and limiting starches to one serving a day. Entering everything eaten into Fitday.com keeps you honest too, as does measuring everything. What I thought was two tablespoons was actually closer to four, and it makes a big difference when what's being measured is mayonnaise or peanut butter!

Cardio exerciseis great, but muscle is what burns calories, so weight training to increase muscle mass is just as important. And core conditioning, such as Pilates, improves posture so you look thinner too!

I've lost 20+ pounds since May! I've been doing "lower carb"...no white flour (pasta, potatoes, real bread, etc) and stopped eating sweets/candy (with the occasional break of the diet, but not many times). Working out is ESSENTIAL! I work out every day--40 min of cardio and 20-30 min of weight lifting. The cardio burns cals and then the weightlifting creates muscle makes you burn calories many hours after working out (and you get muscle tone, so you will lose inches and can wear smaller clothes, even if not losing as much weight!) Hope this helps! :)

I've been sick and the weather is kinda icky, so I haven't worked out since I rode my bike the other day-BUT-I have lowered (not cut out) my carbs a bit and upped the amount of fruit I eat (which was NONE). I forgot how yummy fruit could be!

Obviously no weight loss yet! But I haven't binged out or fell off the wagon yet!

Thanks so much for the advice-especially Xo Michelle for giving me the amount of reps and stuff to do. I do have some free hand weights so I am going to try to do those today after I do my Yoga video.:)

My husband ran a Ironman on Saturday and weighed more after than he did before. I guess it is because of the amount of fluid comsumed during the day

yeah for real......i would die without my carbs.

i think that it's just a matter of finding a healthy balance in your life. some people need to work out for an hour everyday and eat 1800 calories to stay in good shape and then there's people who could work out for 45 minutes 3 days a week and eat 2000 calories and stay in good shape. it's just a matter of finding where your body fits into all of that.

One thing that has really helped me is writing down what I eat and how much I work out everyday.
It helps me to keep track of where my calories are coming from, where I should cut back, and how my exercise is progressing.
It's motivational, too, because I really want to be able to record that I ran a little further or tried a new ab routine, etc.
Good luck!

Be careful no tto deprive yourself of too much though, that tends to cause people to fall off the wagon. You can have these things, just don't have them all the time. Keeping up the exercise is the main thing, because that will trump all in the longrun. Good luck.

I am an Exercise Science major, specializing in Health and fitness. If you want help designing a workout plan/finessing I would be glad to help you. you can PM me.

Just an FYI on the Atkins diet,

Atkins demands a high protein diet lacking in fruits, vegetables and carbs. They also advise more fat in the diet. proteins such as red meat and pork have a high fat content. The diet also doesn't specify the type of fats that you should be eating, some fats are better for you (LDS good cholesterol fat - found in olive oil, nuts, etc.). This diet while it may help you lose weight in the short term it is damaging to the circulatory system. Studies have shown that people following this diet tend to have a 5 to 10% increase in cholesterol levels. The effects of this diet are similar to those described in the documentary Supersize Me.

If you want to have a higher protein diet I suggest you read up on the South Beach diet or work with a licensed nutritionist.

about how long do you think I'll have to wait to see any weight loss?

Weight loss is dependant upon many variables.

On average you should expect to lose anywhere from .5 to 2lbs a week depending on your diet, amount and type of exercise, and your bodies reaction to these chages.

Anyone ever try weight watchers?? That's the points system, right?

I'm on weight watchers. I just started up again and so far have lost 3 pounds. When I was on it before I lost 12 pounds in 5 weeks untill I fell off the wagon and put it all back on.:(

It really does work because I really feel they try to help you change your lifestyle as opposed to just taking off the weight.

I'll agree with working out with a buddy. One of the new sisters (she pledged last semester, I'm an alum) and I go to the same gym. Not only do we get to talk about what she is experiencing in the house, we take classes together. We have been taking a dance aerobics/hip hop class. And I took her to yoga last week as well.

I hate weights. I used to do them all the time but now they are kinda meh. I'll do them if I have to. That's why I like yoga. It's relaxing and you work muscles with the use of your own body weight. It's more of a pilates/yoga combo, but I love it. And it's low impact, which is nice because I have bad knees.

Actually, one must eat vegetables on Atkins. Eventually, fruit is incorporated into the program.

In Phase One of Atkins called Induction, you eat meat and 3 cups of vegetables. You limit your carb intake to 20 grams which includes salads and certain vegetables. Phase one lasts at least two weeks.

In Phase Two called Ongoing Weight Loss, you can slowly add 5 more grams of carbs to your diet per week including some fruit such as strawberries and blueberries.

There are also Phases Three and Four. www.atkins.com will go into depth and clarify any questions you have.

I think the key to picking a lifestyle that helps you lose weight is by really trying to tailor it to YOUR life. If you are a huge fan of fries and shakes, and you just wake up one day and say, "no more fries and shakes", it will not work. The key is to limit the amount of fries and shakes that you consume, or burn the calories through exercise. Being healthy does not mean you have to eat sprouts all day, just that you are getting plenty of exercise while eating sensibly. You can still enjoy your food!!:)