MOfWC, I too would pick Naples over PA in April, especially if someone else is paying the Ritz bill. It is snowing here this morning, so FL or HI or Palm Springs (waving at dmd!) sound very good.
Thanks, all. Keep your fingers crossed! The house is in semi-livable condition. It needs new a roof, the siding needs to be patched and painted, a few new windows have to be installed, and the deck needs some work. Oh, and the roof rats have to vacate the premises before we move in, too. Nothing on that list deterred Mr., so now we are going to check a few more things… So fingers crossed!
Fighting hard to not be one of the Januaries, but it aint easy! Days I just want to back to plop on the couch and knit whilst watching Big Bang Theory…but alas, my skinny jeans await being worn again.
My gf is on Medifast Diet and has a nutritionist, the program costs a big chunk of change, but she looks great and doesn’t hafta huff and puff for 3 miles a night on the Stairmaster. Sometimes I think about joining her. I never know what to eat or how much. Some weeks I’m up and others I’m down, sheesh. The struggle is real.
@SalveMater - you know what we’re going to tell you…
First of all, great job checking in! Go ahead and watch Big Bang and knit - after you exercise!!!
Secondly, you KNOW what we’re going to say about your friend who is on that diet and not having to exercise (that’s the way I read it) - she is only helping her health “part way” AND let’s see if that weight is still off a few months from now AND you can get help on knowing how much to eat and NOT pay a big chunk of change.
Most times quick fixes are temporary fixes. Decide if you want the end result to be just about the number on the scale or if you want it to be that + overall health.
BB, crossing everything I’ve got for you and Mr. B and the house! And I don’t have any problem if this becomes the D/E/H/W thread + BB’s House Reno thread - I love hearing other’s home reno stories!
@abasket and MOWC I know, I know, however, I have been at this since October 15th and my belly’s still bigger than my chest . Anyhoo thanks for the encouragement. I need to stop looking at her fabulous Facebook photos of her Women’s marching in skinny jeans lol
@sabaray, yes I use the premium version of MFP. I don’t use all of the premium features but two that I like a lot are 1) that I can set my macronutrient goals by grams and not just percentages and 2) that I can turn off adding back in to my daily calorie allotment the calories that are burned through exercise. #1 gives me the ability to dial in my nutrition more precisely based on my protein and carb needs. #2 avoids the pitfalls of overestimating exercise caloric burn and sabotaging your energy intake/expenditure balance. One of the biggest mistakes often made is to think that a given exercise gives you license to eat “X” number of more calories. More times than not, the estimation of your calorie burn is off and you end up eating too much. What I do instead is to figure out my daily caloric needs taking into account all of my activity, including exercise, and then just eat that amount regardless of the exercise I do on a particular day.
There are other interesting premium features such as setting different calorie goals by day of the week and setting calorie goals by meal. These enable you to have even more structure but I haven’t played with them yet. Also, the premium version enables you to block ads.
Salve, I have been struggling with weight gain around my midsection as well. Changing metabolism as we age. I think that’s the diet Oprah used…and I don’t think it worked out so well for her. As a lifelong former dieter, I can tell you that any type of shake diet I have tried hasn’t been sustainable in the long run and it’s very hard to transition to eating normally. Remember, you are doing this for your health, not just for your skinny jeans!
After losing 23lbs I feel healthier, I do, but can I stop looking like jabba the hutt now? ugh 25 lbs to go, and I don’t think they’ll be that transformative, if I ever get there that is {munches on bagel}
If you truly looked like Jabba you’d need to lose a lot more than 25 pounds! I’m just curious, but how did you decide you needed to lose 25 more pounds? I eat bagels. I bet most of us on the thread do. I weighed myself yesterday and I was 143.4 pounds and I am 5’7. I would like to be thinner, but my weight is a lot easier to maintain between 140 and 145 pounds with normal eating - eating when I am hungry and drinking lots of water. Are you doing any resistance or strength training?
@sabaray I’m same height as you, I would kill to weight 143. I used the BMI chart online, it says I am obese, jabba the hutt status. I try to do resistance training following my cardio wo, but it’s not much, maybe 3x a week.
This is what I would do: for 30 days, I would keep a food log - write down what you’re eating, what time of day and how you’re feeling when you are eating. Are you hungry? Are you angry? Are you bored? Sad? You get the idea. I would also measure myself today - bust, waist, hips, upper thigh, calf…anything you want to measure. Weigh yourself. For 30 days, do 4 cardio workouts and 2 strength workouts every week. Give yourself one rest day. Michael had a great bodyweight workout posted a few pages back that you can do at home - try to do that twice a week. At the end of thirty days, look at your food diary. Have your eating habits improved? I found the more conscious I was of what I was eating, the better I ate. Weigh yourself. Measure yourself. I bet you will see changes - of a positive nature. You can do it!
Got a call from the person who coordinates the training program at the gym and she asked me about the trainer I saw and if I wanted to continue (basically a marketing call). I said he was a nice guy but our personalities didn’t mesh. She made a few suggestions and I’m going to workout with another trainer next week. That was easier than I thought and I’m glad I was honest.
Exercise today: power yoga (I am going back to classes that are hot–92 degrees). I was going to a studio that wasn’t heated because it was closer. I can really tell the difference in my ability to do the asanas (poses). After the class, I went to the gym and did a 22 minutes on the stair ladder climber. Working very slowly on increasing my time.
BB: good luck with the current house sale and new house acquisition!!
So great @Bromfield2 about the trainer. Glad it worked out so well!
I’ve skied every day this week. Got to ski when the snow is good. And the snow is great, not just good.
There’s a trail that it’s been my goal to ski this year as it’s pretty hard for me. Yesterday H and I went and I did it! He was very happy as it’s his favorite trail. It was hard and it wasn’t easy for me. But I did it! Still not my favorite but I won’t tell H :D/
Pat yourself on the back Deb! It’s been a while since I’ve x-country skied - what makes it harder? Longer? More hills? More rugged terrain?
@SalveMater, you celebrate those 25 pounds! Do you want them back? I didn’t think so!
I have some middle bulge too. I probably could do better with it if I ate more strict - but guess what, I’m love food and want to enjoy it to SOME degree.
Sabaray has great advice. What I’ll add to her comments is one thing that works for ME. Just like a fresh set of exercise clothes helps the mentality of exercising (as opposed to ratty old sweatpants and your husband’s stretched out tshirt) if you’re going to start a food/exercise journal, buy a cute notebook to log in. TJ Maxx has fantastic ones for under $5. (I’m addicted to these). That is YOUR journal. YOUR feelings, thoughts and actions in it. Own it!
Thanks for the pep talks, I’ll take all suggestions. I have a reunion of sorts next week and I so wanted to be slender for it dangit! lol. Guess I should have started a few years ago : /
@salvemater, a couple of thoughts. As MOWC noted, diets like Medifast can be effective for weight loss initially but over time, people who rely on diet programs where packaged foods are provided at some point have to decide whether they are going to stay on the program forever or cut the umbilical cord and figure out how to structure their nutritional plan with foods bought at your local market. Many people leave the program once their weight loss goals have been attained only to find that they don’t have the knowledge, behavioral changes and ability to make their own permenant nutritional lifestyle changes. They end up falling back into old habits because that’s all they really know and is ingrained in their behavior patterns absent the support and structure of the diet program. In its simpliest terms, it’s how do you transition from having someone else do it for you to doing it yourself. Most diet programs don’t give you the tools and skills for the latter.
Also, bear in mind that weight loss in the absence of regular resistance training makes it extremely likely that a good bit of the weight you lose comes from lean muscle tissue. Your body doesn’t care where the loss comes from. Put it in a state of calorie deprivation and it will lose the weight indiscriminately. There is a well document process call catabolism where you body breaks down muscle tissue when faced with reduced calories. To combat this, you must do resistance training designed to maintain and grow lean muscle. Remember, it’s not just about weight loss; it’s about changing your body composition by reducing body fat while maintaining or growing muscle tissue. There are a load of “skinny fat people” who think they’ve accomplished great things by mere weight loss but who have missed the boat by not doing anything to maintain their lean tissue mass.
Thanks @MichaelNKat, I was interested in Medifest only because I don’t have time to learn bionutrition and physiology, feel overwhelmed by all the info. Her program comes with a support person and guidance. But that’s neither here nor there, too much to spend while the kids are still in college.
I’ll take everyone’s suggestion and add more resistance training to build lean muscle. That much I can do!
Popping in to wish everyone a good weekend! I’ll try to get back on this thread more often - I’ve been neglecting it in favor of reading news and (other) social media trying to keep up with events. But I really need this thread with new job stress and current events stress leading me to bad habits.
Has anyone else tried the 7 minute workout app? Ive been trying to do it 5 days a week.
Well I ran tonight. Finished 2nd in the mile. 6:10. Almost bailed after lap 2. Went out to fast. 75 first lap so yo can tell I pretty munched dogged it the rest of the way. So used to 800 meters. Glad I ran though. The best part of the race? The finish!
Got some good selfies of Clayton Murphy (Olympic 800 meter bronze medalist- an Akron alum and Olympian Bridget Franek - steeplechaser now an Akron coach.
It is snowing here this morning, so FL or HI or Palm Springs (waving at dmd!) sound very good.
Nothing on that list deterred Mr., so now we are going to check a few more things… So fingers crossed!
. Anyhoo thanks for the encouragement. I need to stop looking at her fabulous Facebook photos of her Women’s marching in skinny jeans lol