<p>I still go to the same gym. There is a ton of equipment and exercise classes. Issue is my time with regards to classes. I go in the morning at 5:00 AM – yes AM. I get there as they open the doors. I don’t really LIKE to sweat or work out so I found for ME that going in the morning there isn’t much that can get in my way. I mean other than sleep :)</p>
<p>I still do 2 classes at night once a week so those days I get 2 hours in. My job is mostly sitting at a desk or walking to meetings for 9 hours a day (plus commute time) it doesn’t leave a ton of time left.</p>
<p>H weighs in at 135 and can eat anything and everything – he works out 2.5 hours a day and competes in duathlons and road races so we do have some junk food in hte house yet mostly stuff he eats and I don’t like.</p>
<p>Biggest issue - if I want something and it’s not in the house I will try to eat other things to get buy it and will continue to eat. I just need to have what I want and I’m done with it. Say I want ice cream – if I have it I’ll only have like 1/2 scoop but if I don’t have it I’ll eat everything in site until I just go to the store and buy it. Then I might eat the entire container. Dumb.</p>
<p>I liked the trainer that I was working with. Issue is that with snow and ice – my knee just doesn’t get along with an outdoor workout. He’s not associated with my gym and does most everything in an urban setting so it makes it hard to work out with him. I may just have to try a trainer at the gym. I have been doing some of the workouts that he gave me – just can’t do everything right now as no treadmill and limited walking.</p>
<p>I really need to watch what goes in my mouth and keep working out.</p>
<p>RochesterMom, just partake in the activities and exercises that work for you. That you will do. </p>
<p>I have my favorites. The elliptical works best for me.</p>
<p>"Biggest issue - if I want something and it’s not in the house I will try to eat other things to get buy it and will continue to eat. I just need to have what I want and I’m done with it. Say I want ice cream – if I have it I’ll only have like 1/2 scoop but if I don’t have it I’ll eat everything in site until I just go to the store and buy it. Then I might eat the entire container. Dumb’</p>
<p>I do this too. When you have a craving, just eat the damn thing. :)</p>
<p>iDad- I like the way you approached that slight gain you had. I think it’s important. Congrats.</p>
<p>When I did Weight Watchers in early 2008 I did NOT do the counting points thing and also needed large portions of some foods. That’s why I did the (then) CORE program which allowed unlimited (reasonably…) amounts of “good” foods like veggies and oatmeal. It worked for me. I need to get about 4 pounds off now and it is going to take some adjustments in my food intake.</p>
<p>Woot, iDad. Awesome. I have to say it is reassuring to hear you mention things like Halloween candy, Thanksgiving and Christmas cookies. </p>
<p>Made it to the gym (35 min. elliptical, 3.1 miles, hilly) and a second walk with sabadog. We have class tonight so that will be an hour of activity for both of us. He is eager for dinner but no dinner on class nights - he has to work for his food. My hip and lower back are sore today - I think the only residual effects of yesterday’s pratfall.</p>
<p>That gets to the exercise post I promised for RM. You can’t ask for a better example of how it’s a mistake to look at exercise as “burning calories” or contributing to fat loss. I mean, you’ve run every day more than a year. 2000 miles last year, if I recall. So, if exercise were the recipe, there is no way that you could gain 4 pounds. I mean, nobody is going to exercise more than you do!</p>
<p>That was a key point in Lustig’s new book. There’s never been a single study that shows exercise has any impact on weight loss. There are some studies that show that exercise increases the percentage of weight loss from body fat and decreases the percentage lost from muscle. But, the total weight loss is nearly 100% attributable to diet. Having said that, Lustig emphasizes that exercise is the single best thing you can do for your health. It’s even more beneficial that weight loss.</p>
<p>RochMom: You are finding what all of us find out about geezer fitness. Forget the books and the theory, it really boils down to what we can do without injuring ourselves. I am always amazed at the stuff they show on Biggest Loser and the idea that trainers nee to make you “feel the burn”. I know that when I started, I could not physically do a squat or a lunge or walk half a mile and no amount of getting in my face and screaming at me was going to change that! I just stuck to a reasonable game plan and did what I could do. Maybe it was half squats. Maybe it was just one set instead of three. Maybe it was walk a mile on a flat route. Then, maybe a mile with a nice hill thrown in. It took me a year to get the point where I could really start “working out” in a fitness sense.</p>
<p>Hops challenge, 2.85 mile walk, I might do the “day off” exercises from Rachel later.</p>
<p>I don’t really have cravings for ice cream, but there are things like cookies that I can’t have in my house because I can’t eat just one. I actually do have some logs of Christmas cookies that I’ve considered, but luckily it’s always seemed too much trouble to bake them. I’ll probably cook them just a few at a time. I do try to have snack foods that are reasonably healthy. Right now it’s mostly clementings, but today I got a treat - dh had leftovers from a dinner out - 3 sushi sized pieces of grilled tuna and a bit of fennel/arugala/orange salad. Yummy.</p>
<p>I was disgusted with myself on the Halloween candy. I just couldn’t stop eating it until it was all gone! Grab a couple every time I walked by the kitchen and then back to the kitchen for more. Same thing with a tin of those Christmas sugar cookies. I think that next year, I’m going to have to log my food starting the week before Halloween so I have to count every single Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup or Butterfingers! The problem is that the body can only metabolize a little sugar at a time. When I start shoving that stuff, it gets converted directly into body fat. It would be great to be able to have two little Halloween size pieces for a treat and stop, but I just keep eating.</p>
<p>Yay, idad.<br>
Saba, so glad to hear you’re not too much worse for wear after the fall.<br>
RMom, maybe the solution to a craving, like ice cream, is to buy the very best you can, and then plan on making it a treat. Sounds like deprivation will make matters worse. I have a bag of dark Dove chocolate squares sitting in this desk drawer. I might have one a day. Or not. I don’t worry about it. Based on the workout level you posted, your husband sounds like he’ll be very supportive of your efforts. Fantastic!</p>
<p>I’ll have about five miles of walking in at the end of today. I also did the squats along with a few arm weight exercises–maybe five minutes worth with 10 lb dumbbells. Off with DH for the last two walking miles. Also, I’ve been using the myplate app to track the food for the day. More later, but for now I say, Holy Carbohydrate!!!</p>
<p>I like to go to Trader Joes because of the samples. They have very small samples, sometimes ice cream, cake, tater tots, sugary stuff, salty stuff, yogurt, meat, etc. But the sample is quite small. And there’s a person that hands out the samples so you can’t have two.</p>
<p>Of course this approach doesn’t work if you actually go an buy the item and bring it home.</p>
<p>We have a lot of people in the office with candy jars or bowls on their desks. In general, the folks with these are overweight. I stay out of their offices.</p>
<p>The local supermarket has been running rotating specials on Tostitos, Doritos, Tostitos Artisan, and Lays. I consider chips to be a bargain at around $2.30/pound. Doritos have been around $2.60 per pound - in the past, Doritos was considered a premium brand and commanded higher margins. Now, they’re rotated through discounts (maybe SuperBowl-related) like everyone else.</p>
<p>The bread section is opposite the chips section at our supermarket. Talk about being tempted by carbs. So yes, I know chips. I’m sure that iDad and any other guy that has or had a big middle knows too.</p>
<p>BTW, Triscuits can be just as bad. They had a special on the big boxes - 2 for $5 and a $1 coupon. I can eat half a box just driving home.</p>
<p>Beautiful sunny day here…did a 5 mile run,some push-ups,planks and squats.whew.
Ate Chinese food on Sunday (after a 3 mile run and 4.5 mile walk) and gained two pounds overnight! Same thing happened to DH who walked w/ me. Had to be the sodium. The plates of food were small lunch size portions. Hoping that will slough off in the next couple of days.<br>
Dumping all white carbs/bad carbs completely really helped jump start my weight loss (50 lbs.). Since DH has to eat what I cook, he lost weight too (30 lbs) with his only exercise coming from weekend walks.</p>
<p>I might have to start counting cals in what I eat too.<br>
6.4 lbs, that is really amazing. Considering you have lost over 90 lbs. </p>
<p>From the end of my last biggest loser program to the beginning of this new one, I lose a total of 4 lbs. That is in 4 months and I was exercising. </p>
<p>The day after my 10K run, I did get an all time low. But it came back up the very next day. - must be just losing some water weight.</p>
<p>I used to think that I was eating “healthy” when I snacked on Stoned Wheat Thins with cheese or some kind of cheese spread or peanut butter.</p>
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<p>On Bobby Flays Burger Palace. I went to the D.C. location with my daughter. Good food. Kind of a good version of fast food burgers. Really tough to low carb, though. There’s the bun, which is OK as a treat. But, then the sides are fries or sweet potato fries or onion rings. They do have the craziest carb-load thing I’ve ever seen. You can “crunchify” any burger – add a handful of potato chips between the burger and the bun!</p>
<p>BCEagle, I love Triscuits. I don’t buy them anymore; rather, the Whole Foods Woven Wheats. They satisfy the craving</p>
<p>Using the MyPlate food diary, I tallied my intake for the day as best as I could. This is a first for me. The results:
Cals 2091
Fat 55 g
Cholesterol288 mg
Carbs 216 g
Fiber 33 g
Protein 176 g
Sugars 50 g</p>
<p>This was after a pretty typical day of eating. The only added sugar was a scant teaspoon of maple syrup on my nutty nuggets cereal. Most of the sugar in the total came from the Lara bar I had as a snack, and that’s from dates. Total carbs were 42 percent of the daily calories, fat from 23 percent. According to the site, I have 375 calories left to balance out the exercise I did. I’m sure I’ll devour them tonight. I am happy with the 33 grams of fiber. Very interesting, although nothing too surprising.</p>
<p>Alas, it’s not the 90 pounds plus 6.4 pounds. I had actually settled in at about 88 pounds below my highest weight after adding some visible muscle. I’m back right at that 88 pound mark this morning, although I think I’ll have to stay on the tight diet for a another few weeks to lock it down.</p>
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<p>Muddled my way through the daily HOPS challenge. I’ve been going back and forth between being hot and shivering (typical low-grade fever), so I waited 'til I was hot and wen to the very cold basement (51 degrees). Did three slow sets of 10 reps each with generous rest between sets. 10 reps sets of bodyweight squats and pushups are really easy now, so it’s not like I was pushing very hard. It actually felt pretty good to just stretch and limber up a bit. Although, I could barely pick up my 44 pound weight to start swinging it.</p>
<p>Just wanted to check in and say welcome to RochesterMom! Idad is such a great resource. He does all the research that I don’t have time for, but have benefited greatly from, except for today, where I am having an anti-diet/exercise/health kind of day. </p>
<p>My exercise today is multiple sessions of foam roller for my calves, which are very sore from my run on Sunday. I wore new shoes, Altras. I like them, but they change the angle of my legs, hence the sore calves. I’m not too worried, because this definitely feels like regular sore muscles, and not a repeat of my calf strain (I hope I hope I hope). And I have finally learned to not run when things hurt. To top it off, I have succumbed to a red velvet cupcake craving, and decided just to go with it :)</p>
<p>Welcome RochesterMom. I have to agree with blankmind, interesteddad is my go to resource-- so knowledgeable.
However, it was some tough love from BCEagle that “clicked” things for me regarding diet. I was whining about how unfair and difficult it is for me to adjust my diet to reduce all of my favorite carbs, there was quite a bit of self-pity and elaborate rationalizations on my part, and BCE just stated very simply something to the effect of pointing out the reality is that sometimes when we want one thing, we have to be willing to give something else up.</p>