Ooh! Sounds good, KytKattin! And congrats on your workout today. I’ve not done much today but I’m keeping to the Bunday (eat like a bunny) though it was delayed to Tuesday this week. Dinner last night was a big salad of mixed greens, celery, cucumber, bell pepper, a sprinkling of dry roasted peanuts and a very small sprinkling of grated Monteray Jack cheese (with tomatoes for Mike).

Great idea! I want to tone up, too. Congrats on your new changes.

Today, I rode my bike to work and home again. I ate a sandwich for lunch, it was sourdough bread, light honey mustard dressing, turkey and ham and sprouts. Pretty tasty, actually. I plan to do a series of yoga/pilates moves before bed.

I have started doing a Hatha Flow Yoga program at home, I try to do it daily, but sometimes it makes my muscles so sore I have to take a day or two off!

Today I did 15 minutes of Yoga (it’s a 30 minute program, but I can’t make it to the end yet!)

When it warms up I intend to walk some as well, so you can catch me slacking there probably – I hate going outside by myself. lol

Congrats on getting started KytKattin!!

I need to get more active as well! I gave up my gym membership last year because I couldn’t afford it. And I’m now working 50+ hours a week, so it is wayyy to easy to be lazy in the evenings and my one day off. I need to get my butt in gear and suck it up though

I have been wanting to get up the motivation to actually do something. I need to start exercising again and I need to break my addiction to soda. I don’t like tea and coffee, so I drink soda mostly because I want the caffeine. Still, it’s not good. My tummy has started to develop a pooch and it’s enough for my husband to grab and jiggle and tell me how fat I’m getting. =(

I really like this idea! I quit gymnastics (I did it for 15 years). My sister and I have been trying to work lately on keeping up on stretches and practicing things like ariels and back handsprings, but it’s tough to actually get ourselves to do it. I also want to really push myself to do strengthening stuff for horseback riding, I’m starting more lessons per week soon.

I wish I had the discipline to make myself go for runs.

For lunch I had a spinach, apple, strawberry, leek, avocado, and feta salad with balsamic vinaigrette. My favorite meal (:

Neat! I went grocery shopping today and successfully avoided the snack foods aisle, haha. I’m reaaaally bad with binging on junk food if I have it at home; I can eat a frighteningly large amount of chips in one sitting. Lately I’ve been trying to cook ahead for exam weeks so I’ll have something fast and healthy to eat, otherwise I’ll spend the entire week filling up on fast food/junk food…eek!

LBJ, if you have a hard time getting off the caffeine maybe you could find some caffeine pills? They’re probably not great for you either but caffeine is probably better than caffeine + loads of sugar.

I keep telling myself I should go running more often, but it’s really on/off for me. I’ll run for a couple of weeks then stop for a couple of months before guilting myself back into the gym hehe. I want to try for a 5k before the end of the semester…I can do a little more than 2 miles and 5k is just a little over 3 miles. I just hope I can go often enough to actually build up distance.

I’m trying to exercise more too. I usually eat pretty healthy since I’m vegetarian, but I do fall prey to snacks! I’m also a stress-eater, which sucks because vet school is SUPER STRESSFUL. I usually eat non-stop during exam weeks.

I try to go to the gym every day if I can, but it’s hard being so busy. I take a yolates (mix of yoga and pilates) class twice a week, then do the bike, abs, and arm stuff on days I don’t have a set class. I have a workout buddy, which definitely helps.

On a side note, Hazel just hopped up to be next to me after eating a huge bunch of cilantro…she has very herby breath! Hahaha I can smell her from a foot away =)

Wow, I just ate a piece of fried fish and fries. Not good.

Posted By LBJ10 on 02/29/2012 06:35 PM
I have been wanting to get up the motivation to actually do something. I need to start exercising again and I need to break my addiction to soda. I don’t like tea and coffee, so I drink soda mostly because I want the caffeine. Still, it’s not good. My tummy has started to develop a pooch and it’s enough for my husband to grab and jiggle and tell me how fat I’m getting. =(

 Isn’t it frustrating! I got a hefty pooch going, myself… and I lost my neck. I grew 4 pant sizes in a year and half! I am still considered small, I suppose, but it’s not me. I think if my boyfriend hadn’t done the same, he would be grabbing my gut, too!

I’ve only grown one pants size since I was 18, all since I lost my job cause I am idle a lot more now – but if my boyfriend grabbed my fat and told me I was getting fat I would punch him, so he wouldn’t dare.

Motivation for exercise is a tough one though, I always found exercise really _boring_. A good trick I used to use is I would put like an exercise bike or treadmill in front of the TV instead of a chair or couch and exercise while watching my favorite shows. Relieves the boredom and if I got into the show, I could forget the burning in my muscles and do more than I normally would. I don’t have any equipment at the moment though, really need to get some!

Ok, so I am being bad today – had 2 slices of pizza and a pepsi for breakfast. lol

I have an elliptical and there is a TV parked in front of it. It’s down in the “exercise room” in the basement. We have a weight bench too, but I have a hard time even lifting the bar so I would always stick to my hand weights.

I like this thread! I’m trying to lose the 10lbs I put on gradually over the last couple of years. I finally got to my “perfect” weight at the end of college, but after living with it for 2 years I moved in with DH and gained 10lbs. Ick. I’ve been trying to lose it for a while, but I’m finding I need more concrete goals.

Starting in January I decided to track days I exercise (typically 45min of cardio at the gym, or an hour long walk outside with running occasionally) and days I don’t have alcohol. I looove wine and it’s one of the main reasons I can’t lose weight – just enough extra calories so that I maintain. My eating habits are generally good, though I tend to overeat even healthy foods. On my best weeks I get a score of 6 (adding up the non-drinking and the exercising days) and some weeks I’ve been down to 3. The weeks I get 6 or so, I usually lose half a pound to a pound, so I think it’s really working. I also like that it’s positive reinforcement. If I don’t do as well one week, I don’t beat myself up – I still have marks on my calendar for doing *something* so I just know I’ll do better next week. I know I tend to bring myself down for failures rather than build myself up for success, so I’m liking my new plan.

I tried to go to the gym yesterday, but it was snowy here and it was closed 🙁 (it’s a small town owned rec center, not a normal gym, so they can randomly shut down if they want). Boo! I got up all the motivation to drive there and they were closed. I’ll definitely go today though and make up for it a bit.

I don’t need to lose weight but I have been helping my mom by cooking low fat meals for her. I am trying to. Help her exercise more as well but it’s hard because she has fibromyalgia and aches all the time. She bought an exercise bike this winter and she is going to start using it again so that’s good.

Today’s lunch was a salad with, Romain lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, cucumber, green pepper, carrots, and tomatoes. A tip for those of you trying to eat salads to be healthy you have to be careful on what you put on it. Salad dressing is VERY high in fat. For just 2tbl. Of light ranch dressing there is 7 grams of fat!

Mocha, has she tried making her own dressings? You can make a really yummy vinaigrette with far fewer calories than the creamy dressings. There are also some good fat free dressings out there, though I think the calories are more important than the fat and fat-free doesn’t mean low cal necessarily.

Good for you for eating healthy with her! I’m sure it helps keep her on track.

If she likes the creamy dressings home made can help there too on calories/fat – you can use fat free milk, or less butter, lower fat cheeses, etc. I find making things home made always helps me on trimming calories, cause I can do things like when I make cookies cut the butter in half from the recipe.

I’m trying to lose weight too, I’ve been eating tons of apples, the mcintosh ones are so good right now, I usually get sick of them after 1 or 2 but not these. We also cut out most of our junk food and how many times we go out to eat ( our biggest issue ). My favorite breakfast is a bowl of raspberries, strawberries & blueberries with some yogurt. Also I love mashed cauliflower, its a pretty good substitute for potatoes.

The only exercise I did today was a lot of cleaning ( cleaning counts right? lol, cuz it felt like a workout ). When the weather is nicer I want to take advantage of all these mountains and state parks and go camping and hiking with my fiance and dog as much as we can.

Cleaning counts, well, it can depending on how long you clean. hehe That is all I did today, cause I had a lot of cleaning to do! Dishes, laundry, folding, scrubbing the buns room, cleaning the litter boxes, etc.

Something I like to do is take all the veggies I have in my fridge (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, bell peppers, carrots, lima beans, scallions etc etc) and put them in a large skillet with just the tiniest bit of olive oil (maybe a teaspoon) to keep them from getting dry and fry them til they are just about to burn (lightly browned on medium, usually about 15 minutes, covered) with some minced garlic and herbs. Yummmmy! If you eat meat you can serve it with a baked chicken breast or something on top, or if you are a veggie like me by itself, or with a little bit of rice.

A nice “to have on hand” dish I like to keep around is a soup I make at home. Caramelize onions and mushrooms for a base, add them to a stock pot with water (how much depends on how many onions you use and personal taste) and add in celery, carrots, bok choy, spinach, scallions, parsley, basil, cauliflower, lentils, fresh minced garlic and any other veggies I have around and cook on low/medium for about 2 hours. My mother puts chicken in hers, because she can’t eat anything without some sort of meat. Sometimes I add a little pasta or rice in it, or potatoes, but if you want no carbs you can do without. I keep it in my fridge so when I get a craving for food that I don’t have to cook, I can just heat that up and it’s healthy and fast and tastes yummy… keeps me from eating out more when I am feeling lazy like “Ugh, I so don’t want to cook… what is there that takes no effort”.

Oh that’s a good idea Elrohwen! I’m gonna steal that one, keeping “score” for healthy eating + exercise . I don’t think I really need to lose much weight (maybe 5 lbs but I’m pretty small already) though my lifestyle could be a looot healthier, heh.

Mashed cauliflower? Hmm never thought about that before, but I could totally see how it works.

[edit] ohh and for salads…I haaate salads haha.  College dining halls were the worst for me – the only veggie options were either salad or overcooked soggy greens, eww.  Dressings do make salad somewhat more palatable to me, but are so unhealthy.  What I find helps is mixing fruits in the salad, especially juicy ones like tangerines or berries.

I cannot stand the taste of anything that is vinegar-based. Ketchup, salad dressings, etc etc. If it has vinegar in it, I will not touch it. I gag at the taste of it. I eat my salads dry and people always look at me weird.

Peppypoo, I printed out a cute calendar at work and I mark an X on the days I exercise and a O on the days I don’t drink wine. It’s really fun to see the marks build up, especially the days I get double marks. My original goal was to have 7 marks per week, but I haven’t hit that number – I do get to 6 at least 2 weeks a month though.

Does anyone use Sparkpeople.com? It’s a tracking website that allows you to track food, exercise, goals, etc. I’ve been tracking my food much more since January. I don’t weigh or measure exactly, like I should, but I’m fairly good at estimating and I figure an estimate of calories is better than nothing. It’s especially helpful when I make a recipe – I can put all of the ingredients in, say how many servings it makes and it spits out the calories and nutrition info. I make most of my food myself, including bread for sandwiches, so it’s really helpful. I don’t stay in my calorie range everyday (it picks a range for you based on your weight, exercise, and how fast you want to lose), but it does keep me a bit more motivated to not blow my calories every day.

This is a great idea for a post!! I have been extremely low on energy, partly my new job that is incredibly boring, and partly cuz of a slight case of the debbie downer…I am going to do at least a few stretches of yoga tonight to help me relax. I want to get my energy level back to where it used to be, when I was working out all the time and involved in martial arts, but I think I need baby steps first

This is a great post. I started a week ago running. I have never ran before and would see people on the biggest loser running and thought if they can run I can run. I really don’t need to lose weight i do have a chubby belly because I don’t eat the healthiest food. So i asked my cousin how to run and she sent me a great website with a workout plan to run. I have done it for a week and I have to say today was hard. I just keep telling myself you can do this just a little bit more. I can’t wait till the 9 weeks are up and I can finally run a long distance. Its nice having a support group!

Good luck on your running! I’ve always had the hardest time running any more than a mile or two, so I really admire people who stick with it and are able to do races and things.

Good luck – I can’t run, it’s so uncomfortable for me, I just can’t find clothing that makes it comfy. I prefer walking/hiking. It’s great exercise though!

Elroh, I looked at that site and it’s interesting. I don’t measure though and don’t track my distance walking, so dunno how useful it’ll be, but an OK guesstimate. lol

I have a hard time drinking water, I much prefer juice/soda/sweet tea but I know all the sugar/calories are bad for me. So today I am going to try to just drink water. (ha, lets see if I can do it)

My mom uses http://loseit.com/ Any one else use this?

Stickerbunny. My mom LOVES diet coke. She struggles not drinking it like she used to, but now she started drinking Cascade Ice, She likes the carbonation and the taste! : http://www.cascadeicewater.com/

I don’t like flavored waters anything flavored for me has to be super, super, super sweet lol I blame my mother giving me coca-cola and chocolate milk in the bottle (she seriously did) … and we had sodas 24/7 in our house, if we ran out my father would go up to the store and buy more, so we never drank water as kids! It’s a hard habit to break. But I probably add about 500 calories a day to my diet just out of drinks alone. So would probably lose what I want just cutting that out. Glad your mom found something she likes though, the soda addiction is so hard to break, so I sympathize with her totally.

I added up my normal daily diet on Elrohs site and the food only comes up to 857 calories (roughly, I don’t do exact measures). 😮

Sticker, your comment reminded me of something someone told me recently – often our “normal” diets are low in calorie, but then you have to think of the days that are “not normal”. Often people don’t realize that in the course of a week they had many normal meals, but they also had days where they ate out and had much more than usual (it’s so easy to put away 1,000 calories at a restaurant). I know that’s an issue for me – I eat healthy every day, but a couple days I might have had a bigger dinner than usual, plus some glasses of wine or beer, and all of that adds up to just maintaining and not losing weight.

I don’t measure my food exactly either, but I do try to overestimate a little. I also use measuring cups weekly (for baking bread) so I’m pretty good about what a cup is, or a half cup. If you don’t measure things a lot, just try measuring one meal to see if you’re on target or not. Underestimating can make it look like you’re eating hundreds of calories less than you are, as can underestimating fats used for cooking (1 tbsp of oil or butter is around 100 calories and it’s easy to throw in a couple tablespoons)

Stickerbunny: It doesn’t taste like flavored water! It is very very sweet, to sweet for me to even drink it (I am weird, I can’t drink any think but milk or water) I think it would be worth a shot.

Elrohwen: Does the website have an app? It looks interesting and I would tell my mom about it but she doesn’t have a computer so apps are easier for her. She does have internet on her Ipad though.

Yes I use sparkpeople.com…been using it since 2008 I think?  Of course I go in phases where I don’t track religiously, but for the most part I use it daily.  It’s an excellent resource..  I also run daily, so for those that are trying to get into running, I think someone mentioned it?  just start easy and be consistent and you’ll definitely see improvements and be able to run longer and faster.  Trust me!  The biggest things are consistency and patience…you won’t go from 2 miles to a marathon overnight but if you keep at it, you WILL improve I’ve been a distance runner for well over 10 years and I’m still learning and trying to improve, but love every minute (usually…) of it!  

That’s just my 2 cents..  but I like to encourage running when I feel like people think they can’t…I think the hardest part is starting  I’ve seen so many of my friends go from hating it to loving it..    Please excuse me, I’m a bit of a running geek….

Mocha, they do have an app! I haven’t used it, because I’m on a laptop all day long, but I know it’s out there.

Ali, not sure if I’ll ever be a running geek, but your post reminds me of my feelings towards road biking. I start not knowing anything or being able to go any distance, to being able to easily go on a couple 30+ mile rides per week and even a 120 mile ride over two days. For some reason I can’t get into running and the times I try I just can’t seem to progress, but I do get that rush from biking. I’ve hardly gone out since we moved to our new house, but I’m excited for nicer weather so I can get out again!

I just downloaded ‘My Fitness Pal’ on the App store.

It tracks what you eat, your exercise, and such. Based on my height and weight, I should be consuming 1,830 calories a day. After breakfast and lunch, I’ve consumed a total of 730 calories.

Yes, eating out is easy to rack up calories. My brothers ex went out to Ruby Tuesdays and she always ordered a salad, cause she was trying to be “healthy”. Well… when they put the calorie counts on their menus, she looked at the calories the salads had and the one she ordered was as much as a Bacon Cheeseburger! Her response was “what do they soak the lettuce in oil?”. We only go out to eat in two places – one is a mexican restaurant, which has very tasty vegetarian fajitas (which aren’t that bad, especially since I can’t finish it, so it’s two days worth of food). And another is a chinese place, which I know I always eat way too many calories/fat when I go there (mmm veggie spring rolls…).

Now, see, for me, the fats aren’t a big deal – I grew up with my grandmother and she’s got heart disease/cholesterol so we never got used to using those to cook. We learned to just use water and herbs/spices to flavor. I spent five years without any oils in the house and at least a year without any butter and it didn’t matter to me at all. I mostly eat vegetables (which the bunnies probably want to know why I always eat their veggies, bad slave), which are pretty low cal and that site has them listed by cup, whole, stem, floret, etc. So it’s probably a pretty close estimate. I also never get hungry til dinner time, so I don’t really eat more than one meal a day.

But that is just the food part – as I said, the drinks probably add 500 calories a day to my intake. I’m really bad about not drinking enough water. lol Luckily, I don’t drink alcohol though (at all).

That’s a cool post! And here is what I do:
I recently have just been eating whole grain things, noodles and whole grain ones, in my opinion, taste the same! Also, I have just been running a half a mile a day! And riding my bike helps! It strengthens my leg muscles, and it helps me go up hills faster, ect. I love to go out side and run around with my bunny!(: Every little bit helps!

Salads are huge culprits when you eat out at restaurants! I’m glad that places are posting calories, but looking at the sodium content of some items scare me to death o_O I try to at least keep the sodium conent to 500mg per meal.

Fat isn’t too bad, it helps with vitamin absorbtion

I just made a kale, banana, green apple, and bartlett pear smoothie! ;D YUM!

Oh this is good timing, I started going back to the gym a couple days ago.

My main thing I’m working on though, is not boredom eating. I’m trying to replace snacking with drinking water, its helped a TON.

^That is great! I read that most of the time, we are thirsty O_O

ooooh what an awesome thread! (ps hi everyone!! I haven’t posted in a long time)

as someone mentioned, making your own meals as opposed to eating out is much healthier. I’m sure you’ve all heard me say how eating natural is the best way to go instead of putting chemicals and fillers into your body, etc.

recently I finally figured out how to cook lentils and I’ve been obsessed with them. you can buy a big bag of them in the bulk section of your grocery market for a couple bucks and they’re a great source of protein! I cook mine in chicken stock with some cumin, salt, pepper, and chili powder. I try to eat whole wheat whenever I can… also, the blender I bought a few months ago was the best investment I made. I noticed I was getting really bad colds every month and I wanted to get all my vitamins and nutrients in, so I’ve been making a smoothie every morning and I haven’t gotten sick in months! *knocks on wood* I use berries, pomegranate juice, spinach or kale leaves, and almonds.

as for exercise, today’s my rest day =P usually I warm up with 15 minutes of cardio, then I’m in the weight room, then another 20 minutes of cardio when I’m done. supposedly (I’m pretty sure my boyfriend knows what he’s talking about but not 100% sure) doing weights actually helps burn calories more than cardio. when you’re doing cardio, you burn calories for however long you’re doing it.. and that’s it. but when you’re doing weights, your body is tearing muscle and building up muscle even after you’re done, and that’s helping to burn calories or something.. regardless it’s a good way to build strength. I’ve also started indoor rock climbing and it is SO MUCH FUN!

^Ho hum! I love weights. I don’t see enough girls in there.. I am not shamed, lol.

I’ve been doing some yoga on my iPhone app, and I am going to get into Pilates via Hulu Plus on my PS3 Just mixing things up

Sticker, maybe it would actually help you to eat more meals in a day? It all comes back to calories in vs calories out, but there are studies that people lose weight better if they spread calories out through the day into multiple meals. At the very least, waiting to eat until dinner can set you up for a binge (at least I know it does for me!)

Angie, I’ve heard that about weight lifting too, but I don’t know if I believe it. I’m sure huge weight lifters burn a lot outside of a gym because they have lots of muscle, but 45min of weight lifting a few times a week isn’t going to build any large amount of muscle in me – I can’t see it burning more than 10 extra calories a day or something. I’d like to read more studies on it and see what’s really going on.

My general rule is that weight loss is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise, so I don’t worry about the specific exercise so much. Not sure how accurate that rule is, but for my own weight loss I’ve found it to be true. I know other people who keep their diets the same and work out more and lose the weight, but that’s never worked for me.

I’m never hungry during the day, plus if I eat when I am not hungry, I tend to eat a lot (cause my body has no signal to say “STOP!”). If I eat when I am hungry, I can eat until I am not hungry any more. My only problem is being idle due to being home all day (and lets face it, it’s really easy to just sit around on the computer or watching TV when you have nothing else to do) and not drinking enough water vs soda or tea. Being a vegetarian, it’s really hard to binge to the point of too many calories from food, unless I eat a lot of carb filled ones. When I exercise daily, I am a size 5, when I exercise sometimes, I am a size 7, when I am idle I am a size 8 … I just want to get back to 7, fine by me, I don’t need to go back to exercising hours a day to be a 5, did that at 15 and was way too much work!

I kept away from every thing but water yesterday successfully and for dinner we had roasted asparagus, mixed veggies w/lima beans and a tiny bit of mac & cheese (mainly cooked it for the boyfriend, since he thinks healthy dinners are bland without some sort of cheese, so I only took a little bit). For dessert I had a banana.

Angie – yeah studies say you continue burning calories for up to 36 hours after you stop weight training and increased muscle mass is supposed to be good for your metabolism. My boyfriend has weights, but the bars are so huge my hands can barely fit around them and makes it uncomfortable to use, been thinking of buying some smaller ones for myself.

Angie, I’ve heard that about weight lifting too, but I don’t know if I believe it. I’m sure huge weight lifters burn a lot outside of a gym because they have lots of muscle, but 45min of weight lifting a few times a week isn’t going to build any large amount of muscle in me – I can’t see it burning more than 10 extra calories a day or something. I’d like to read more studies on it and see what’s really going on.

 

Yeah, I was skeptical at first too, but my boyfriend’s lost 100+ pounds all through exercise and diet (lots of exercise) so I trust him haha. I do weights for about an hour each time. It’s not like you have to build a large amount of muscle, but when you’re doing weights you’re also toning the fat you have, and that process of toning supposedly continously burns calories. I’ve been doing light weight training for a couple weeks now and I’m already starting to see results, especially in my arms  For women, it’s not like you have to do craaaazy amounts. our bodies are different from men’s (unless you’re a female bodybuilder and you’re consuming 1239850285820582 calories a day on purpose haha) so just light weight training will serve as a great part of your work out. 

I can’t afford to lose any weight, lol. I barely weigh 100 pounds…

BUT, I tend to walk or take the bus everywhere instead of driving.
If I miss the bus, instead of driving the mile and a half to the store, i’ll walk.
The longest i’ve walked was a little over 3 miles.
It’s not difficult unless you’re carrying a load of 15-pound groceries in the hot sun like I am commonly doing.
I do it often so i’m used to it.

Oh, and i’m vegetarian.

I love lentils. Someone mentioned those. They are good with carribbean curry and rice. You can make it as a soup, too and add kale, freah tomatoes, thyme, etc.

Sticker, sounds like you’re at a healthy weight then! If you’re happy with your body, then what you do must be working pretty well 🙂 I’m a size 8 too, though I feel like my clothes are really tight, while 10lbs ago I wore an 8 and they fit really well (and I occasionally fit into a 6). Just need to get rid of this muffin top and I’ll be good.

Angie, that’s really impressive that your boyfriend lost 100lbs! I try to lift weights, but I just hate it and end up quitting after a couple weeks and going back to cardio. Maybe once we set up some weights in the basement (DH wants to get a bench and some free weights) I’ll be more likely to do it at home once in a while.

There are so many people doing it right (like you guys!), trying to get healthy and toned, but I just want to be 10lbs lighter – I don’t care about toning. lol I wish I had the motivation to do it to be more fit though – that would be healthier for me in the long run. I hope that once it gets warmer I’ll start riding my bike on the roads and I can set some goal like a long ride (I loved the 120 mile one I did a couple times).

Supercheese, I’m jealous that you can walk places! I used to live in a town where I could walk everywhere and it was just a great way to spend time.

Elroh, yeah healthy – just on the upper end of healthy so want to lose a little and muscle building would be great, especially if I start working again soon! I’m currently in the size 8 stage, cause for the past year I have been sitting at home doing little … bad, bad me.

Supercheese, yeah, walking places is great when I worked I walked to work every day, great exercise! Though a bit tiring after a long day to have to then walk home. lol One of the things I miss most about England is that I could walk or take the bus anywhere I needed to go.

That reminds me that I can easily ride my bike to work, but I always put it off. I just don’t want to show up to work all sweaty and gross and spend half an hour in the bathroom changing and making myself presentable again. Does anyone else ride to work? What’s your system?

My college had a really walkable campus, so I was walking 2-3 miles a day to/from my apartment and between classes (and pretty briskly too, if I was running late haha). But now I’m in more of an urban area, and not a very nice one at that…in addition, the way my housing and classes are arranged means that I hardly do any walking anymore these days .

Angie, for some reason it feels like a ton of people I know are getting into rock climbing these past couple of years! I tried going regularly about a year ago, and it was fun, but I just had such a limitation on upper body strength because I’m so weak haha.

Don’t feel too bad, even diet plans sometimes let you have cheat days as long as you are good later in the week to make up. I cheated too, had ice cream. lol

Elroh some places havering showers that public can use too. My college had public showers in case of power outs and people would use them after workouts. If there is a place like that near would give you a place to clean up.

This thread doesn’t seem to be working properly. Somehow I ended up eating a cheeseburger for lunch and pizza for dinner. LOL

Moving in with DH made me lazy too, even though he’s the most athletic person I know and is always bugging me to go to the gym with him. lol I had a pretty bad food weekend too. I did run/walk 4 miles yesterday (actually ran a full 3 miles of it! a recent record for me) so at least there’s that. I’m the same weight today that I was on Friday, so I got through it ok – usually when I eat crappy I gain a couple pounds of water weight, but not this time for some reason.

The shower situation is tricky. There is a town owned rec center across the street from my site with showers, and I have access to it, but I’d still have to get back on my bike and ride another 5+ min to get to my building (we have a huuuuge site). The other option is one shower in one bathroom a few buildings away from my own. It’s pretty dingy and sketchy and showering there doesn’t appeal to me. Plus it’s at least a 15min walk to my desk (like I said, big site). So I guess it’s possible, but it’s inconvenient enough that I’d just make excuses not to do it.

I think my best option would just be to go on days where it’s not too hot, and just use the bathroom near my desk to wash up a bit and maybe apply some makeup, and wear my hair in a ponytail. I wish they made it easier! One of the guys in my department rides his bike in, but he’s a guy so it’s easier for him to just splash some water on his face and be ready to go. Once it gets warmer I can do practice rides on the weekend to see how strenuous it really is. From driving the route I think it’s mostly flat or downhill, so I might not get too sweaty at all, at least on the way in.

KytKattin, I have fed Chacha bun a pomegrante raisin. In fact, I put it in her stocking for Xmas.

Women’s Health AND Time Magazine have ran features on the dangers of ‘ juice fasting ‘ lately. I do blend together fruits and vegetables, but I make it part of my meal. The article was scary. It states that a lot of the weight ‘lost’ is just water weight, and muscle is eaten up, because of the lack of vitamins and minerals +______+

John and I have discussed that we plan to take a karate class together when we move in together. We will both be in health professions, so it is important to both of us to be in tip top shape.

ChaCha, I agree that juice fasting is scary. First, juicing usually removes the fiber from the fruit, so you’re just getting the yummy tasting sugar and flavor. Why not just eat fruit? I can totally see doing it as part of a healthy diet (especially as a smoothie, since you keep the fiber), but drinking just juice as part of a fast is so dumb. I don’t see how people can think it’s healthy!

I blend to have fun with fruits and veggies, haha! My job has such weird work hours for me, that is why I blend. I made a green smoothie the other day: kale, green apple, pear, and banana. I’m going to add a avocado to it today

I am a firm believer that the body just cleanses its self O_O

Honestly, the best way to cleanse your body is just to eat natural foods, instead of processed… veggies, salads (no dressing or bacon bits), fruits, whole grains, legumes, etc and drink a LOT of water. The things like “lime juice for a week” are so silly and bad for you. Not to mention how HUNGRY you would feel all the time. Bleh.

I tried smoothies, I couldn’t finish any of them, my boyfriend has a smoothie for breakfast though on his way to work (he used to get a bag of chips out of the vending machine, but now I make him a smoothie to take). I prefer just eating the fruit whole lol so I make fruit salads for myself.

Elroh, if it’s just 5 min I would think you wouldn’t get too sweaty if you didn’t go too fast then you could just rearrange your hair in the bathroom at work.

Sticker, that’s true, 5min isn’t long. I just looked at a map – the ride to work is 5 miles, but 6.5 miles if you add in going to the rec center where the showers are. The ride from the rec center to my building is 1.5 miles. At my normal speed, the trip in would only take 20min so it seems like a waste to add that extra 3 miles in order to shower when I could just shower at home. Just a lot of extra time added in for what is basically a 20min bike ride.

See, these are all of the excuses I come up with. lol I just wish they’d have a decent shower in my actual building. I think I could shower at home though, but skip make-up, then do that in the bathroom at work after washing my face and changing clothes. Especially in the spring and fall when it’s cool in the morning, I probably wouldn’t get that sweaty. Now I just need a solution for carrying my laptop and lunch. Backpack I guess?

Backpack, yep. All the people at school who biked there carried backpacks for their stuff.

And I’m in total agreement that your body does all of the cleansing it needs if you eat good, clean, whole foods. All of the fasts people try are so silly and potentially dangerous.

I don’t think I’ve ever tried a “green” smoothie. How does it taste? Do you mostly taste the fruits?

Elhrowen, I try to put more fruits than veggies. The first one that I made tasted more like apple than anything haha

If you do weight training, do not focus on weight loss. Muscle weighs more than fat does, so focus on “Healthy” instead of “Losing weight.” The number on the scale doesn’t mean as much as you think it does.

True, MB. It is better to focus on losing the excess fat (especially belly fat, as it has been shown to cause the most health issues) than weigh yourself all the time.

Elroh, yeah I add some veggies to the ones I make for the bf and I have tasted a few, can’t really taste the veggies. I do things like kiwi, strawberry, banana, cucumber and banana, apple, kale. He likes the banana because it pretty much masks every other flavor and makes it really sweet. I have texture issues with smoothies, but they don’t taste bad. Just have to make sure not to add too many veggies and overpower the fruit.

Eek…fasts, cleansers (especially colon cleansers) and the like are really scary . Lately, learning about the delicate (and really complicated) balancing act that the kidneys and digestive system maintain, I can’t imagine what havoc these “health” trends are wreaking on peoples’ bodies.

Stickerbunny – it’s not just “belly fat”…to be more specific, it’s fat that accumulates around your organs (as opposed to fat sitting just under your skin) that is correlated with all sorts of health problems.  Though subcutaneous fat around the middle really is quite annoying too…*pokes own muffin top*

Oh god, speaking of “health” trends.. I know some people that go on and on about the HCG diet, which makes you only eat 500 calories a day. Ugh… when will people learn that OF COURSE you will lose weight if you only eat that amount. It isn’t the drug doing that! Not to mention that the sale of that drug for dieting is illegal. Ugh.

Not sure what that is. 500 calories a day though, well, yeah… though that doesn’t sound very healthy. o.O

My family is all doing P90X and rave about it. Not looked at exactly what is involved in that though, besides the exercise, but it is expensive for exercise DVDs!

its some stupid drug thats used mainly for fertility treatments, evidently people have talked about it as a diet drug since the 70s, but the FDA says no way, it isnt safe for use as a diet.

yet, people still use it for dieting. Ugh.

If you eat that little, then when you do go back to eating normally your body will want to conserve the “extra” calories and you’ll gain weight.

500 calories is is the amount that I eat for each meal lol. I had a customer once that told me his wife is on a 500 day calorie diet. Well, she will just lose water weight o_O and it will come back right after she begins eating normally.

I see all of the tabloids at work (I’m a cashier) and Dr. Oz recommends the juice diet.. *face palm*

P90X is very intense. I think there are lots of ways to exercise and have fun

Shape magazine keeps sending me letters to renew my subscription. I refuse to because their ads are for diet pills, and in the last issue that I got, featured a celebrity who lost weight from using a diet pill and exercise. It was shameful to me, a normal person. The celebrity WAS my height and weight. What was it telling people? You have to be extremely thin to be hot and accepted by society. That is not going to swing by me

I’m about 5’5”, 132-134 pounds, and I’m okay with that. A lot of people think I’m smaller than what my weight really is. Seeing that celebrity that was the same height and weight as me go to 5’5”, 111 pounds is crazy. Celebrities can do crazy stuff like that – they have the money, time, and resources to do that.

You don’t need to be 111lbs. You got muscle weight, not fat weight, Chacha

But yeah. 500 calorie diets can kill you. The body doesn’t need food just for the hell of it, we actuall NEED the calories. and yeah, after you’re done the diet, if you don’t eat and exercise properly, the weight comes right back.

Yeah, eating 500 calories a day will make anybody lose weight – you’re starving yourself! I can’t believe people think that’s ok, especially when they’re also putting a drug in their bodies. Those are the people who say “I lost 50lbs, then gained back 80lbs”

Thanks for the smoothie info! Like I said, I’ve never tried one (not sure if we even have a blender) but I’m always curious because they seem really popular for breakfast. Sticker, like you I think I have a texture thing with it, but I wouldn’t mind trying sometime. I do enjoy veggies much more than fruit, so I think I’d like any kind of green smoothie.

Speaking of fruit – what are your thoughts? I eat a lot of veggies, but I really just don’t like fruit that much. I guess I don’t have a sweet tooth for the most part and a lot of fruit is too sweet for me. I always figure that veggies and fruits are more or less equal – you’re getting fiber and nutrients, so it doesn’t matter which one you eat. I haven’t really seen any facts on this though – do you guys have any info? Should I be forcing myself to eat more fruits? Or is it ok that I just eat lots of veggies?

ChaCha, I feel the same way when I hear about models. I’m tall (almost 5’10”) and I have a fairly thin frame (little wrists, small fingers, etc). I felt really thin and awesome at 140lbs, but most models are the same height as me (or an inch or two taller) and weigh about 125lbs. That’s just ridiculous!

I was bad and skipped the gym today. I’m pretty sore from my run yesterday, so that was my excuse. lol I’m going to try to go tomorrow though.

I am not saying that I should be 111 pounds. I am stating ‘What does it tell women?’ Magazines try to help and and help women embrace themselves, yet the magazine is all air brushed, perfect models. There needs to be a balance Women’s Health used to feature women that nobody recognized, now it is the opposite.

The important thing is balance, so if you are able to make up what you lose in fruit, I don’t think it’s that important. You could try some of the more tart ones though if you dislike sweet – blackberry, kumquat, grapefruit, etc. My father doesn’t really like sweet, so he eats lemons (eek!) and he puts a little salt on his apples to take the sweetness away, besides watermelon that is about all the fruit he can stand. My mother doesn’t like any fruits, so she drinks fruit juice and takes supplements (not as good as the fresh food, but she’s picky). I love fruit, so I never really looked at what substitutes what you get out of them, but there are a lot of sites dedicated to proper nutrition that could probably give you some pointers on what to eat instead.

I also like watermelon! I can eat huge amounts of watermelon. I generally eat apples and nectarines when they’re in season, but otherwise I only eat a couple bananas a week with lunch, and that’s it. I guess that’s one reason I’ve been thinking about smoothies, since I might like that better, especially if it has veggies.

I’ll have to look up more info. I do eat a wide variety of veggies and I get quite a few servings on average, so I hope the lack of fruit isn’t too much of an issue.

I remember years ago when I was still really skinny (I was skinny all through high school and it continued into my early twenties). I was reading a magazine and a real life woman was saying how happy she was because she finally had curves. In her case, she had been really skinny until she had a baby. Her body changed and now she had some nice curves that her husband found very attractive. Well I didn’t have a baby, but I was thinking I didn’t look all that attractive because I really didn’t have any curves. Right around when I turned 25, my wish came true and I started filling out. I gained 10 lbs and I was finally at my ideal weight (I was technically underweight for my height before). Well, my husband sure as heck noticed and it wasn’t a new found love for my “curves”. *sigh* It’s been downhill since then. I think I’ve put on another 10 lbs since then. I don’t look fat as long as I don’t have a tight shirt on. Boy do I have a muffin top starting though. Now all I want is for it to go away. =(

I had tried exercising maybe a year or two ago and I got so very discouraged because nothing was “happening”. So I pretty much gave up. I’m not sure what I was doing wrong. I would go on the elliptical for 30-45 minutes, use the Power Rider thing that strengthens your leg muscles, and lifted hand weights in a variety of repetitions. Any suggestions? I tried riding my bike but I found it to be extremely painful in my lady parts, even with the “gel” seat I bought.

LBJ, I know how you feel. Not that I was that skinny before, but I was always thin and never noticed my weight, but after gaining 10-15lbs I definitely have a mini-muffin top and it bugs me like nothing else. I’d sad though that your husband noticed and not in a favorable way! I’m of the opinion that husbands should always tell their wives how beautiful they look 😛

In my experience, 30-45min on an elliptical is not going to create a visual change. Unless you’re going to put everything into working out (like biking or running multiple hours per day, power lifting, etc) you’re better off focusing on diet than exercise (at least IME). Diet is said to be 80% of the equation, so I think exercising is really the icing on the cake to take off a few extra calories, not the basis for losing a couple pounds (especially when you’re already at a healthy weight, like you are). Going on the elliptical for 30 min might burn 200 calories – really not enough to make much of a difference. My work out routine is similar to what you described, but I really focus on diet for the weight loss and hope my exercise burns up some of the “extra” calories I eat when I cheat on my diet.

What kind of bike do you have? Did you ever have it professionally fitted? I have a road bike with a small seat (not quite a racing seat, but certainly not a super padded one) and it can hurt my lady parts the first few times I go out, but it’s generally comfortable over very long rides. If you were having that much pain, it might just be that your seat is tilted too far forward and you’re putting pressure in strange places. Most bike shops will make adjustments for free. I find biking to be the most enjoyable way to toast tons of calories (about 500 per hour, and I’m comfortable doing it for a couple hours at a time) so it’s worth going for a fitting and then see if it’s something you would enjoy.

I never found a girls bike uncomfy but a guys hurt me in the same place … seats are tilted at different angles. There is usually a bolt on the seat to adjust it to be comfy. Also need to wear comfortable clothes, jeans tend to make it worse for me.

I found the best excercise is a mix up of things, instead of just using 1 or 2 machines for a while, that is why I like yoga. It goes to arms, to core, to legs, to back, back to core. If you are toning or trying to burn fat in certain areas working a different area doesn’t help much.

I was gonna eat a healthy dinner tonight but boyfriend wanted to go out for piazza, I did do yoga though so at least that is something lol my bf noticed when I gained but he likes it … he thinks I was too skinny before

My muffin is definitely noticeable. Like I said, he’s constantly poking and grabbing at it. Yes, husbands are supposed to tell you that you’re beautiful no matter what. I’d be dreaming though if I expected a lot from him. I think in his own weird way, he thinks if he makes fun of me it will motivate me to get off my butt and change.

The bike is just a regular Trek mountain bike. It has shocks in the handle bars so my boobs don’t bounce. LOL
The seat I bought said it was specific for women. The seat that came on it had no padding at all. This one I bought, you can’t tilt it or anything. You can only move it up and down. It hurts when I’m riding, with each bump eventually leading to agony. Then it will hurt down there, like it’s bruised, and I won’t be able to ride my bike for a few days. I guess I could go back to the bike shop and ask them if they have any recommendations. Then again, they are nothing but a bunch of college guys. How embarrassing would that be? “Yes, I’m looking for a seat that won’t hurt my lady parts. Which of these seats would you recommend?”

Kytkitten, I realized after I wrote that that it came out all wrong – I blame being cranky about work stuff 😛 What I meant is that it’s not going to create a physical change – in my personal experience, working out 45min on the treadmill or elliptical multiple times per week, my heart might be getting stronger, but I’ve never seen any changes. I do think it’s healthy in general, which is why I force myself to do it, but as part of a weight loss plan I don’t think it’s really the key part.

Does that make sense? Sorry for the way my previous post came out – no more typing while mad about work stuff. lol

Hmm, I know on the bikes I’ve owned the seat can be tilted forward and back, so if yours won’t tilt, you might need a new seat post that allows that option. A bike shop should be able to fit you for that. I have a woman specific seat too and I definitely like it better than the racing saddle my bike came with – there was no padding on that thing! It sounds like yours is really painful – I’ve had some discomfort, but it definitely shouldn’t hurt that much. I wouldn’t ride either if I had to ride through that!

I had to laugh at your description of going to the bike shop. Maybe just go in and tell them that your seat is uncomfortable and you need it tilted back further? They can either do that, or get you a seat post that will allow that. Hopefully you can be vague enough that it’s not embarrassing. You could also tell them you want a full bike fitting, from top to bottom, and not focus on the embarrassing aspect and hopefully they’ll adjust your seat as part of that.

Actually, my original scenario might be funny. Maybe I could take a hidden camera in there and get their reaction on video.

I put together a Food Processor that my grandma never opened or used.. bless her heart. She has passed, and it was one of the items that my dad found while we were packing to move into the apartment we now live in. Anyone wanna come over for black bean burgers from scratch?

Cardio has helped me a lot. My blood pressure has fallen from 130/75 (the second number has always been higher due to the fact that I have ADD, and the medication I take is a stimulant) to 100-110/75. I usually work out twice a week, even more if my dad and I’s work schedules work out the same.

I think I’ll go ahead and jump in on this one. I’ve gained 10 lbs since my knee surgery last year. =( We eat pretty healthy already. With all the allergies in our house everything we eat is made fresh. I’m kind of at a stand still on exercising as I’m looking at having some more ligaments in my knee repaired and can only do about 5 minutes on an elliptical or bike. It really stinks because I NEED to be able to exercise to help my Fibromyalgia.
I am making a few diet changes since researching Fibromyalgia. I will no longer eat any chocolate, drink coffee or any carbonated beverages. It’s not going to be easy either. Another thing I shouldn’t have is alcohol which I don’t have but a few times a year. So that won’t be difficult. I guess I’ll be making my own decaf iced tea and drinking a lot of water with limes and lemons.

El, I think it depends on your body. I can eat whatever as long as I exercise, my workouts consist of a 10 minute mile on the elliptical then on the treadmill, then a few stomach things on the weight machine/incline bench. When I run it firms up my muscles as well as tones my stomach better than any other workout, and the extra lbs melt off. I’ve never dieted but if I work out, I’m golden

Abbygirl, that sucks! I can’t imagine being forced off my feet with a knee injury – I imagine it’s so inconvenient to daily life, not to mention exercise.

S&L, I agree that there’s a difference by person. I’ve personally only lost weight through exercise one time, and I was doing an hour of spinning at least 4 times a week (I was bored and the gym was next to my apartment 😛 ) The other times I’ve lost 10-15lbs it was with almost no exercise, other than whatever walking happened in my daily life (sometimes a lot, sometimes a little). I do know other people who never watch what they eat, but can start going to the gym and see results. I do think going to the gym helps me maintain weight though – I can be just a bit freer with what I eat and not worry about it, so that’s mostly why I do it.

Tonight was broccoli, mushrooms, scallions, garlic (minced), green pepper, one teaspoon of olive oil, two table spoons of alfredo sauce and 1 serving of legume pasta (pasta made out of legume flour, LOTS of fiber and a good amount of protein, lower carbs). Yummy. And not too bad on the calorie/fat front. Usually when I eat pasta I want to fill the plate, but I was good and kept to a small serving. lol

I didn’t get to do yoga today yet, gonna try to sneak a few downward crunches in before bed.

Been at the yoga for 2 1/2 weeks now and so far noticing an improvement, my tummy is tightening so the little bulge is becoming less noticeable. I still can’t do the whole 30 minute program at once though, yikes it stresses muscles I have never used before. It is helping my balance and posture too.

I’ve never heard of legume pasta! How’s the texture? That sounds like a great option for vegetarian pasta meals.

Texture is just like normal pasta (it doesn’t stick much though), the taste is a little bit more meaty than regular pasta, but you can hardly notice it, just a little hint of lentil taste. I buy barilla plus, which is legume flour mixed with regular flour, but a lot healthier than the normal pasta. Not sure if they sell one that is wheat free… but yes it is great for vegetarian pasta meals. Boyfriend didn’t even notice I was feeding him anything different when I switched from normal pasta to that.

I should get some and try it. I’ve tried the whole wheat stuff, but I’m not convinced there’s enough whole wheat to make a difference. I can see more benefit in legumes though.

Wee! Good going Stickerbunny!

Get better KytKattin I always crave horrible stuff when I’m sick. ugh

Oh Kyt, I am with you there – I can’t do ANYTHING when I am sick, except lay on the bed and watch TV lol which is horrible for the diet. Luckily though, dairy and other fatty foods actually make sore throats and such worse for me, so I have that extra incentive to avoid eating bad stuff to make myself feel better, cause it actually makes me feel worse. :S Take lots of vitamin C, drink plenty of water and rest and feel better, you can get back to your work outs after you’re over it. A few days isn’t going to make or break your overall progress.

I got up to 20m of the 30 in yoga yesterday, but back down to 15 today, need to work on my arm strength… the one legged pushups and stuff make my arms so sore it’s hard to finish. Plus side, it’s warming up FINALLY ( I miss Florida it was 70 in January where my mother lives) outside, so I can start walking soon to supplement. Making vegetable soup today for dinner.

Oh I love it!! You guys are so healthy!!!

I FINALLY have an exercise room again. After moving out on my own there was no room. I used to exercise a TON when I lived at home with my rents because they had a work out room then I’d hit the hot tub after. No such room for four years…yikes!! I started running this fall but then it snowed and we got chased by coyotes so that put an end to it. I will start in the spring again, I used to run track and I love running-so peaceful.

We’ve just moved into a big house now and I set up an exercise room! I picked up an elliptical and treadmill and pulled my weight equipment out of storage. My gazelle is still in storage but I will add it eventually. It’s great and Mikey is going on the treadmill while I’m on the elliptical how cute!! And I love the peace of having my own time and space. It’s tough doing cardio after being so long without it. It’s reinforcing the need to get going! I’m getting on in age, it will only get harder so it’s time to get my butt in gear!! Great thread!