<p>IDad - I started on January 2nd. Writing down what I eat - although I have slacked off in that department - need to start doing it again. I am eating much healthier food - thanks to the guidance of people on this CC thread. And walking - either outside or on the treadmill at the YMCA.
Thanks for the encouragement CC friends.!</p>
<p>That’s fantastic. So an average of about 2 pounds a week. From what I read, that’s just about the max rate that you want to lose weight and do it in a way where you aren’t setting yourself up to just throw it all back on. Some weeks probably a little more, some a little less.</p>
<p>I did some “cardio” on the bike last night after a rest day on Saturday. Just 25 minutes, but a good hard workout. I did five minutes warmup at “60 watts” – my comfortable cruise mode where my heart rate is up in the fat buring range, but I can still talk while exercising. Then, I did five intervals with 30 seconds at “120 watts” and 30 seconds recovery back at “60 watts”. That’s up in my aerobic range where I’m breathing heavily. Then, after a five minute recovery pace, I cranked up for a second set of five intervals: 15 seconds at “200+ watts” and 45 seconds of recovery in between. That’s pretty much as hard as I can pedal the bike and it gets my heart rate up in the 85% to 90% of max range. I’m pretty much done after those five intervals – just five more minutes of cool down and stagger away from the bike. Five and half miles or so it says.</p>
<p>I’m really starting to understand the wisdom of throwing in these higher-intensity intervals into cruising cardio workouts. They change the whole game. iPod nazi says you can do the same thing while out walking by doing jumping jacks for 15 seconds, followed by 45 seconds of walking (repeat five times). The higher intensity bits get your heartrate up for the remainder of the cardio as it never really falls completely back down.</p>
<p>I did my first day of P90X today. My roommate and I did the CardioX program for our first workout. It was about 45 minutes of butt-kicking… :)</p>
<p>If we want to give up on all this diet and exercise stuff, we could just move to Jamaica. NPR had a great story last night on how the ideal female shape in Jamaican culture is the “coke bottle” shape - large bottom, hips and thighs are coveted.</p>
<p>[Taking</a> Surprising Risks For The Ideal Body : NPR](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124700865]Taking”>Taking Surprising Risks For The Ideal Body : NPR)</p>
<p>That doesn’t help us apples, only the pears!!</p>
<p>Maybe we in the US could all have liposuction and then send our fat down to the women of Jamaica. :)</p>
<p>Apparently some Jamaican women are taking “chicken pills” (meds given to chickens to make them grow quickly) that contain arsenic to get big butts. Don’t they have Big Macs and Quarter Pounders with Cheese in Jamaica?</p>
<p>Arsenic? I have to say I like VeryHappy’s idea better.</p>
<p>Ive heard of people taking arsenic to get delicate complexions
[History</a> Of Cosmetics | The Quack Doctor](<a href=“http://thequackdoctor.com/index.php/tag/history-of-cosmetics/]History”>history of cosmetics - The Quack Doctor)
:eek:</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be popular in Jamaica, if I don’t keep on it- I am an apple not a pear.
But I notice that the Mexican men in our neighborhood like the apples ;)</p>
<p>Oh. no. !</p>
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<p>Okay, now we know that they really can’t increase their butt size via Big Macs. I read more about the chicken pills…they do use them to increase bottom size. One of the side effects is loss of bowel control for a few weeks…hmm, how attractive…</p>
<p>Supersized Jesus? :eek:</p>
<p>[Study:</a> Last Supper paintings supersize the food - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_last_supper_obesity]Study:”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_last_supper_obesity)</p>
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</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I heard on NPR today of a new study that was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Assoc. It’s a large study (over 30,000 women) with this conclusion:
middle-aged women have to exercise an hour per day just to stay at the same weight. Moderate exercise such as brisk walking will do. Here’s a link:</p>
<p>[Women</a> Must Exercise an Hour Each Day to Stay Lean, Study Says - BusinessWeek](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>I don’t know if I buy that. One hour of exercise, seven days a week is a lot. That’s bordering on athletic training. People aren’t going to do that, even if the government does order them to. People aren’t going to pound away on the treadmill, an hour a day, day in and day out.</p>
<p>I don’t know much, but from the reading I’ve been doing, there are two flaws in the logic:</p>
<p>a) You really can’t exercise your way to weight loss if you view exercise as simply burning calories during the exercise. It just takes too long to burn calories. </p>
<p>b) The real value of exercise (aside from just feeling better) is that it builds lean body mass, which increases metabolism and burns calories for up to 16 hours after exercising.</p>
<p>Just walking on the treadmill or pedalling a bike for hours at a time at lower heart rates is not going to do the trick. First, the body acclimates to that activity. Second, you need to intersperse that kind of low-level cardio with resistance workouts that engage large muscles and elevate the heart-rate to higher levels. As you get fitter, you have to increase the intensity of the exercise to get the same benefit.</p>
<p>*You really can’t exercise your way to weight loss if you view exercise as simply burning calories during the exercise. It just takes too long to burn calories. *</p>
<p>I think it * depends*.</p>
<p>For instance- I weigh about 3-5 lbs more when I am not going to the gym at all, to when I go 4x a week for 2-3 hrs at a time.
However- while I am wearing the same size, I have to * squeeze* myself into some of my jeans, whereas when I am a gym rat, they are loose.</p>
<p>Muscle is more efficient burning fuel, than fat- I am still active- but I haven’t been doing the aerobic work that gives me the energy.</p>
<p>You do have to push yourself more as you get stronger- but by that time- you * want it*.</p>
<p>This study was featured on the news yesterday. They interviewed a woman who was overweight despite walking/slow running on the treadmill for an hour per day. They didn’t really focus on what she was eating. </p>
<p>I think your diet is MOST important to weight loss. But spending your time walking on a treadmill every day doesn’t seem very efficient. Seems to me that adding weight lifting 3 times per week and doing some interval training would be a better use of time. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m seeing a personal trainer today…never did that before. I will go to her for five sessions and hopefully pick up some tips I can use for life. I’m struggling with a bad elbow and a creaky knee, so we’ll have to work around that. I have cleaned up my diet, and get regular exercise but the weight on my scale won’t budge (except for 5 lbs UP when I go out for a meal!). At least my BP and cholesterol numbers are good. But really, I would like to look better in my spring/summer clothes. Graduation is fast approaching! </p>
<p>This thread keeps health and fitness top of mind for me. And you all are very supportive! And we’re still going and it’s almost April. We have staying power!</p>
<p>Of course we have staying power- there shouldn’t have been any doubt! We are CC parents, after all! </p>
<p>I guess I fall in the camp of thinking that diet is most important as well. I definitely haven’t been exercising as much as idad with the ipod Nazi, but I am definitely exercising more than before. Haven’t reverted back to my bad fast food/donut/coffee cake habits either, although there have been plenty of times I’ve wanted to. </p>
<p>Personal trainer sounds like a great idea, toneranger. Help you finetune your workouts.</p>
<p>The study discussed in the link in post 1972 seems to make the point that the “hour a day of moderate exercise” (without dieting) serves to mitigate weight gain only for those who are already at a healthy weight. If you start out overweight, dieting must be included just to maintain the unhealthy weight.</p>
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<p>I think the definition of ‘moderate’ exercise needs to be firmed up.</p>
<p>Also, 5 pounds every 13 years or so does not sound like maintaining a healthy weight to me.</p>
<p>In my experience, the gist of the study is correct: if I slack off, I gain weight. Pretty quickly, too.</p>
<p>A new school of thought according to Jorge Cruise is that any more than 20 minutes of exercise a day will increase your appetite. I know this to be true in my case, but still insist on getting a run in every so often. Here is what I’ve been able to surmise without joining his personal training plan. </p>
<p>• This must be done first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach.
• Drink a glass or two of water before your walk.
• It only takes 20 minutes. Any more and you will increase your appetite.
• You need to do your walk exactly 5 times per week.</p>
<p>So grab a dog, get up early and hoof it for 20 minutes before breakfast. So opposite of what everybody thinks, but I am proof that you can lose without going to the gym. Of course firming up with weights is a must for me but I know I will eat more.</p>
<p>The only type of exercise that makes me ravenous is swimming laps. Back when I used to swim a lot, I’d know I’d had a good workout if I was craving beef.</p>
<p>
I have twice - once getting rid of the weight I’d gained in college, the next time to lose the weight I gained in grad school. Both times I kept the weight off until I stopped getting as much exercise. The first time I biked to work for a summer, the second time I added running about 10 miles a week. I ate normally including dessert for dinner every day. It took about two months for the weight to come off. I have never found that exercising makes me hungrier.</p>
<p>I think moderate exercise was a brisk walk. An hour’s walk a day does not make you an athlete.</p>
<p>I read that the cold water makes you hungry - it makes swimming a harder way to lose weight. Maybe you could try getting in the sauna to warm your system up?</p>