<p>I can see this is going to be another one of those threads I’ll have to read regularly or the post count will get too high for me to catch up if I miss a day or two! Just scanned the last 3+ pages of posts and saw all the talk about “clean food.” Here’s a link to a great cookbook written by a woman from my town. She gave a presentation last year to a group I belong to. At that point she was self-publishing the book, but apparently has now found a publisher, and it’s available from Amazon.</p>
<p>I’m pretty good about exercising, but H is not – in fact he gets NO exercise what-so-ever. He needs to lose 30+ pounds, but refuses to cut back on his eating. I don’t what will be the ultimate motivation – heart attack? D is a certified personal trainer and set up a program for him, but he simply won’t do it. I’m out of ideas. I know the motivation has to come from him, but I’m afraid it never will. :(</p>
<p>Thanks for that book suggestion, CBBB. When I got home last night and looked in the refrigerator and pantry to assess what I was already buying, for the most part it looked pretty good. Already buying organic as much as possible (explains our very high grocery bill) but realized my freezer is pretty much stocked for having two teenagers at home. So cleaning that out will be a weekend project. I am feeling positive about 2010 and being “well” by the end of the year.</p>
<p>I have an ipod, but it only has 8G. One of these days I’ll put some playlists together, but in the meantime, I have it loaded up with free podcasts. Many of these programs are about an hour long, which is great. I’ll keep walking because I want to hear the end of the interview/short story/whatever. That said, I my collection of podcasts is outpacing my listening and deleting of them. My current excuse is that I have shin splints from 2 days ago when I did try to get back on the horse. Grrr. It was just walking and not one of my particularly long routes. I’m just that out of shape apparently.</p>
<p>mousegray, language lessons?? cool – I just went and downloaded a bunch right now. I’m hooked on NPR shows. I also enjoy New Yorker fiction and The Moth.</p>
<p>I have always loved books on tape when we travel by car…maybe I should try books on my ipod! Love espionage/thriller/mysteries. I bet this would keep me me motivated more than music. Thanks for the reminder!!! hmmmm…Wonder if there are any good free mysteries???</p>
<p>I find when reading or watching television I do not work out with the same intensity. Music definitely makes a big difference for me. I took a quick look at my iPod last night and found that I usually listened to (and no laughing, please) Duran Duran, Blondie, Prince and Lady GaGa while exercising. I can’t imagine I’d have the same enthusiasm for exercise listening to The Help! Or NPR which I enjoy under normal circumstances. I do not consider exercise to be a normal circumstance. Hopefully that will change over the course of the year.</p>
<p>It explains scientifically why so many are addicted to the combination you describe. No great revalation about how to stop, but it does explain that brain chemistry will change, and thus cravings will stop if you can keep off the stuff for a period. </p>
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<p>Me too. I read this years ago and every expert I asked said it was bunk.</p>
<p>I need this thread. In HS and college I was called the 100 lb weakling. I was stick thin with no muscle. I never exercised and could eat anything I wanted. My friends were so frustrated with me. Fast forward 30 yrs and I am no where near 100 lbs. The lbs have crept up slowly but I could use to lose close to 30 lbs to be at a nice healthy weight. I have never been one to exercise. I last belonged to a gym almost 20 yrs ago. I play a bit of tennis but not enough to just use that for my exercise. I am really starting from scratch.
My overall eating habits aren’t bad. Mainly lean chicken with beef once or twice a week. I don’t eat enough vegetables. My main problem is I love carbs. Bread, pasta, potatoes, tortillas and rice. In the past when I have lost some weight it was a result of eliminating the white carbs from my diet.
Another problem I have is I sometimes wait to long to eat and get starved and eat something unhealthy or overeat.
I have reached the point that I am uncomfortable doing some activities and know for long term health I need to make changes. With the New Year I definitely want to start fresh and make changes for long term health not just weight loss.
For those of you who have made changes what were some of the simple first steps you took?
Grocery items to add to our list?</p>
<p>I can’t figure out how to feel full without carbs.</p>
<p>Last month we had a firm meeting at a nice hotel. The lunch buffet was beautiful…lovely salads, nice meat…but zero carbs…no potatoes, no pasta, no grains. I did what everyone else did - had two desserts. The guy sitting next to me had five desserts.</p>
<p>I love carbs as well, and humans need carbs to function. For us, the trick was to cut down the size of a “serving” and eat only multi-grain carbs without added sugar or any artificial sweeteners, and no white bread at all! Everything is good in moderation. Artisan breads are yummy. Barley, buckwheat, oats, wild rice - these are all carbs, and they are yummy as well. Potatoes are not that high in calories, it is the butter and the rest of the toppings that make them calorie-laden bombs.
I remember reading in C&EN about a couple who practiced “caloric restriction diet”. I thought, “Man, that’s gotta be depressing - starving yourself!” Then I saw that the “restriction” was actually 2000 calories or so per day for a 5’9’', 135-lb woman. I might be off somewhat with the numbers, but you get the picture - it is not a starvation diet, and the lady did not look like a gulag prisoner! They definitely did not eat Costco muffins for breakfast but did not deprive themselves of food.</p>
<p>Mom60, I was exactly like you, stick thin with little muscle. I actually weigh more now than I did when I started my fitness program because I’ve gained so much muscle. In my case a good thing, I was too thin. I’m much happier about how I look at feel with the added muscle and it was very easy to develop in 3 45 minute sessions/wk. I hate gyms and do it at home, sometimes with a trainer and others on my own.</p>
<p>As for shopping lists–read labels, you’ll be shocked. Trader Joes has a brown rice pasta I assumed with be lower carb and higher fiber than regular pasta until I got it home and read the labels side by side.</p>
<p>Bread is the same story. What is truly whole grain–very few that have the name on their label.</p>
<p>I think carbs are not the enemy–calories are. Studies have pretty much shown that. You especially need carbs before working out to get a good work out, and you need protein within 15 minutes of a weights work out to maximize muscle development.</p>
<p>Jeez o man… I did not want to face all of this until Jan 1, but I’m already 7 pages behind? What the…?</p>
<p>As I’ve “confessed” elsewhere, I need to lose a good chunk of weight (50 lbs to be exact). I have never had to diet in my life, taught aerobics in my late 20’s and basically could keep a pretty even keel throughout the year. So now… this seems huge to me. BUT… I start tomorrow and I think a food diary will be huge. At that point, all Christmas crap that was in this house will be gone (son is making sure of it!). SIL brought this incredibly yummy candied nuts that were soaked in sweet with a hit of Cayenne – amazing. Hopefully H will polish those off tonight.</p>
<p>We’ve eaten Chinese food on New Years eve for the past 20-some years and so this will be my last gluttonous meal. 2010 has a goal and while I am not huge on New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve got some places to go this year that I want to have clothes to wear and since Ive been refusing to buy much more than the necessities for the past year, I really need to get back a few sizes or I will have nothing to wear - literally!</p>
<p>I’m another in the “used to be a stick” group. Now, I look more like a sturdy trunk! Would like to lose 30 lbs. Just requested two of Reno’s clean eating books from the library. I find that philosophy of only eating 'real" food very appealing. Also, my gym just moved and is installing brand new equipment tomorrow. That should make the gym experience brand new fun (at least I’ll tell myself it’s fun for as long as I can get away with it) But tonight- it’s champagne and other goodies. I can be clean starting tomorrow Happy New Year everyone! Here’s to our healthy, shrinking selves.</p>
<p>So, it is New Year’s Eve and I am on CC - how bad is that? Actually, I am quite content. Went out for a great Thai meal - Pad Nut Puck (vegetarian) and came home with DH. DD is downstairs with her boyfriend watching Twilight Zone marathon. They had other plans, but another couple cancelled, so here we are all. </p>
<p>I am a believer in a food/exercise diary - nothing fancy, actually I just print out a calendar each month and jot down what I did and whether my diet was good (or not). Just taking those notes really help me stay focused and help me from loosing track of when I exercised or when I had a really pig out day.</p>
<p>“Bread is the same story. What is truly whole grain–very few that have the name on their label.”</p>
<p>True, that’s why I don’t buy the “whole grain” thing, I go for the multi-grain arisan breads (the ones that look like they are made of a mixture of seeds and nuts). They are heavier, but have more nutritional value and taste compared to the whole-grain cardboard.</p>
<p>Lergnom’s post 78 is right on the money when it comes to eating out. There are so many hidden calories that you don’t even think about. That basket of bread sitting on the table as you hungrily await your food, the uncontrolled portion of dressing on your salad, the oversized portion of your entr</p>
<p>MichaelNKat - thanx! I have tried to obtain my maximum heart rate by doing sprints on the track, but I wasn’t sure if that was accurate. Your formula comes pretty close for me. I have a polar heart monitor and use it for different workouts, but I am thinking of “borrowing” the wonderful garmin forerunner I gave my DH for xmas. Love the pace function!</p>
<p>Several years ago NPR had a really interesting report on one doctor’s research on dieting, and how complex programs just get dropped too easily. This led him to invent the “no white at night diet.” He claimed that keeping refined white flour, rice, etc., out of the evening meal and snacks would help immensely with weight loss because of the way the body processes the insulin or something. I’ve wanted to try it, but can’t shake the habit of eating what the kids eat, which is lots of rice and pasta. Soon to be an empty nester, maybe I can find the willpower this year.</p>
<p>I’m another former “stick” who ought to lose 30 pounds. It’s really hard to change when you identify yourself, in your core being, as a skinny person who can eat anything!</p>
<p>At the risk of really sounding like an old fart, has anyone here tried the Curves program? A serious gym is just not my thing, but I wonder if Curves would be more palatable?</p>
<p>I went to Curves for a long time and enjoyed it- but never firmed up. Despite the outrageous calorie burned claims, the program in very easy. I think people actually burn a small fraction of the calories that Curves claims that you’ll burn. I switched to a real gym where you could work out at a higher intensity. Curves is great for socializing though. I still miss that aspect of it. You move around the circle together and chat as you go. But no one (at least where I went) breaks a sweat.</p>
<p>I know women who have claimed success with the Curves program. I do notice that the majority of them have not stuck with it and have reverted to their formal selves. Don’t know if that’s because of them or the program. </p>
<p>I like rice and pasta too. We’ve switched to whole wheat pasta for the most part and once you make the adjustment it’s fine. Whatever you do, don’t omit the salt when boiling the water. I think eating most things that have undergone minimal processing is going to offer a health benefit. The more complicated something is, the less likely I am to stick with it.</p>
but did not deprive themselves of food.</p>