<p>Idad, that was by myself tonight. He and I only worked out on Monday night (intervals).</p>
<p>You all will be glad to know that in two weeks, SabarayH has lost 14 pounds. He already looks better and was so pleased when he stepped off the scale this morning. Not eating/snacking after dinner has been a big step in the right direction for him.</p>
Yay, sabaray H! That’s amazing. Those evening snacks really will get you! Mine used to be a bowl of vanilla ice cream with bananas and peanut butter on it. I had all sorts of neat ways to justify THAT!
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<p>Wow. That is so awesome.</p>
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<p>He must feel like a million bucks. Getting started is the hardest part and seeing real progress like that is such a huge motivation. Then, it’s actually fun to not eat the junk because you are getting a reward. It’s the dieting that isn’t working that is such a struggle.</p>
<p>After work, I went over to Bed, Bath and Beyond looking for glass containers and small portion boxes. I have a Tupperware box (my wife bought it ages ago), and 3/4 cup of unshelled pistachio nuts will fit in there. I measure out 3/4 cup from a one-pound bag and take it to work. BTW, I’ve switched from Wonderful to Trader Joes. I find that Trader Joes is as good and they’re two bucks less per pound. Unfortunately I was buying whatever they had at Market Basket and the stuff they carried was usually 12 to 18 months old (differences in expiration dates between supermarkets can be really amazing).</p>
<p>So I looked at the GlassLock stuff. The bottom is glass and there’s a plastic four edge locking mechanism. They had lots of individual portion containers but they were $7.99 each. I noticed that they had a 5 container set (10 pieces) for $20 so I bought that instead. There is only one container that’s individual portion size - the rest hold too much food for me but we can use them for storage in the fridge and for taking out on trips. Right now, my wife tends to put a pot in the fridge or put things in a glass bowl in the fridge which is space inefficient.</p>
<p>I looked for more very small containers for portioning snacks but they didn’t have anything. </p>
<p>So I think that portion size is very important. I just started using the measuring cups last week and that’s going well. The small containers also push me to eating smaller portions several times a day instead of eating a lot once or twice.</p>
<p>One other thing: the glass containers with the locking tops are really popular in the office now. I’m frequently amazed at how most people bring the large containers - they usually have a layers of rice, meat and veggies. The containers are incredibly easy to clean and there is far less of the odor and leeching issues with plastic containers.</p>
<p>This was my week of running - I need another 7 miles to get to 30. Next week, I’m going to ratchet down the running quite a bit to maybe 15 miles and go back to weights and maybe an extra day of tennis.</p>
<p>One of these days, you guys will mention kettleballs so many times in one day that I’ll have to try one out. We don’t have them in the office. They do have them at the Y but I think that I’d rather use them in private at home.</p>
<p>Something I was thinking of getting for H was a bento box type of container for work, so your post was very timely, BCEagle. I think a key is having the right kind of food available when hunger/urge to munch strikes. He’d had a few days off this week and returned to chaos yesterday, so getting through the day without binging when he finally got home was a real positive. And seeing the results this morning will hopefully motivate him to keep with it (which I think it will). </p>
<p>People are always amazed with portion sizes. I like cereal and always measure, something H hadn’t done. He was easily eating 3 or 4 servings in a bowl. He came to the store with me this week and he wanted half and half for his coffee. He actually picked up a variety of types - fat-free, low-fat, regular and compared the nutrition labels. He couldn’t believe he was having over 100 calories and a lot of fat daily in his coffee. Now we have fat free half and half mixed with one percent milk. I think being able to make those smaller changes and seeing an impact is really going to help.</p>
<p>Don’t anyone have a heart attack. I am at the gym.</p>
<p>BC,
For dry snacks, like nuts and wheat germ for yogurt sprinkling, I use (and reuse) snack size zip locked bags.</p>
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<p>Hah. That’s nothing. I’ve had 240 calories a day of half n’ half every single day since I started this whole diet thing. I guess a cup of fresh ground coffee with cream is like my little 40 calorie snack that keeps me from noshing on donuts or cookies. It’s a great example of how we all have to apportion our calories differently.</p>
<p>I always had switching to black coffee as an option if I needed to kick it up a notch with weight loss, but – knock on wood – I never felt like I should be losing weight faster.</p>
<p>I looked at the multi-partition containers yesterday. One that caught my eye was fairly tall and about the horizontal face size of a large sandwich. It had two layers. The lower layer could hold a piece of fruit and a muffin and there was another space for vegetables and the top could hold a sandwich.</p>
<p>I personally prefer the individual containers though. Basically I take one container and consume the contents and then clean it and put it aside. I will put a few things in the fridge (which is a long walk from my office) so I have to be hungry enough to make the walk to get it. It also means that I can clean the container right away instead of waiting to have to eat everything and sometimes I don’t eat something so I can just take it home or leave it for the next day.</p>
<p>The smaller changes do add up because those small things really aren’t that small. 100 calories for a small amount of enjoyment can feel expensive. I used to drink two cups of coffee, with half and half and four teaspoons of sugar. That’s about 240 calories and a boatload of carbs. Times two. I just drink coffee black today. It’s an adjustment in taste - sure, but that’s 500 calories that I can spend elsewhere.</p>
<p>This thing with calories reminds me a lot of household budgeting. Using LiveStrong is like using Quicken.</p>
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<p>Yay! We expect a full report!</p>
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<p>Try it with a dumbbell. Not quite the same, but it’s close. That’s how I started… </p>
<p>800 KB Swings this month already…</p>
<p>Speaking of dumbbell swings, I’ve backed off on the weight the last two times and really started to feel the whole Dan John hard swing with a hip thrust at the bottom and the lat pull at the top. It helped to shorten up the top of the swing a bit. I was going too high.</p>
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<p>Yesterday was the first time I’ve recorded a heart rate chart for a straight workout of Swings and Burpees. It’s pretty eye-opening, not so much at the peak heart rate, but at the sustained high heart rates. Pretty clear why this sort of short cardio workout is so effective in fat loss.</p>
<p>This is 6 minutes of warmup, followed by three 6-minute sets (12 Swing - 6 Burpee - 12 Swing - 6 Burpee - 12 Swing - 6 Burpee), starting each exercise on the minute, every minute, with whatever rest it takes between sets to get my heartrate back down to 60% of max.</p>
<p>[Burpee</a> Fusion workout](<a href=“http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion6-9-2011.jpg]Burpee”>http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion6-9-2011.jpg)</p>
![http://i218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion6-9-2011.jpg]Burpee](http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc14/hwc_1000/BurpeeFusion6-9-2011.jpg%5DBurpee){kind=link}
<p>jym at the gym - yay! Way to go.</p>
<p>I should be back in the running business this weekend. The forcast is mid-50s and drizzle. Awesome.</p>
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<p>I found some snack-size plastic gladware at Target and have been reusing them for months.</p>
<p>They had the Gladware or similar at Bed, Bath and Beyond but only the big boxes which contained sets. I haven’t seen anything in the size that I want at my local grocery stores.</p>
<p>I just measured the box: 1.45 by 4 x 4.5 inches. It has a very secure top and just says made in Thailand - no branding at all. My guess is that my wife picked it up on one of her Asia trips. I should ask her if she has any more of them. I haven’t seen any around the house but sometimes she stores stuff away that isn’t used. I had a look at the Tupperware site and didn’t see anything.</p>
<p>We have a week of cooler weather coming up too so maybe some walking in Boston would be good.</p>
<p>Had my first dessert in many moons last night! I splurged and shared one piece of Frangelico pecan pie with H and D2 when we celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary. Now back to regular diet! Keeping my eye on fitting in to my dress for D1’s wedding. Couldn’t do my cardio or KB today as knee is still bad. I am being forced to just do upper body workouts. grrr…</p>
<p>We need to inite fallenchemist here. He’s lost 70 lbs!! <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12760848-post24.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/12760848-post24.html</a>
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<p>I dropped my car at my car place to check the brake rotors (which apparently are warped b/c the tire guys at Costco tightened the bolts too tight 
) and ran up to the gym, a short distance away. then did about 20’ on the treadmill and another 25’ on the exercise machines. I have now been exercising my dialing finger, as it were, talking to Lexus b/c their dealership told me, at 59K mi, I needed a new rack and pinion system ($$$$$$$$$) so I had them put it in, only b/c we were leaving to take DS back to college at that time and I didnt have time to go to my regular mechanic. Today my regular mechanic rolled his eyes and said there was no way the car should have needed a new system at 59K miles. We’ll see what happens. I am waiting for a call from the Costco Tire manager too. I won’t hold my breath (though that might be a good exercise too).</p>
<p>I am taking this very slowly. Weight hasnt really moved much this past week (up a bit, back down again) but I am conscious of my food intake and exercise. Thats a good start, IMO.</p>
<p>All this talk of kettleballs has me coming out of lurkdom on this thread.</p>
<p>Have done pretty much everything under the sun workout-wise. Bootcamp and tri workouts with Iron Man team mates, dance fitness, aerobics, step classes, sports conditioning, spinning, yoga, personal training with “big boy” weights, etc. etc. </p>
<p>A few years ago, when I was in my best form, I was a middle of the pack runner - have a bunch of halfs, 10ks etc and one full marathon under my belt. Was on a triathlon team and did a tri. </p>
<p>I have been struggling to get back into shape and take off the 20 plus pounds that have I have put on over the last couple fo years. My current approach is much like the previously posted hierarchy of weightloss.</p>
<p>Today’s workout:
Warm up - brief run, squats</p>
<p>12 minutes as many rounds as possible:</p>
<p>10 reps 45-pound bar push presses
10 reps 30 pound kettle ball swings
20 reps high box step ups</p>
<p>Managed 6 rounds. Longest 12 minutes of my life…</p>
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<p>I feel your pain! That’s an intense workout. The push presses alone would have me gasping for air. These simple little exercise circuits, using big muscles, done with short rest, will just suck the oxygen right out of your lungs.</p>
<p>I’ve finally realized that I have to break it into manageable chunks – six minutes, then recover, then six more minutes, then recover. And, I’ve learned to keep those kinds of high intensity interval workouts short and sweet. To talk myself into it, just keep saying, “It’s only 18 minutes…”</p>