Anyone ready to ring in the new year...and lose weight/get fit?

[HHandbasket]

I am right with you guys on the want-to-be-healthier-not-necessarily-skinnier part! I'm fairly skinny already, kinda-sorta. My jeans are size 6 but my tops are size 8-10 (slightly busty), and I look/feel pretty good at 125.4 this morning! I'm not unhappy with my size or my weight, but I had a lot more muscle tone a year and a half ago & have kinda let my working out go to the wayside. The other day, I walked my dog and turned around after 3 blocks, making it only a 6-block walk! I used to walk her a mile to the park, then do the mile lap around the park, then the mile home, without even getting out of breath 18 months ago! Sooooo you guys are all totally inspiring me to get back to it and start working out again.

I completely love my Biggest Loser workout videos, too. Do we have any Biggest Loser fans in the group here??

 

[annaraven]

Quote:
What you used to do isn't as important as what you do today and tomorrow. You walked the dog. Good for you! (Even if it's 6 blocks, that's 6 blocks more than not walking the dog!) Keep up the good work.

 

[annaraven]

Does everyone have a journal (online or off) where you can record how much activity you're doing every day and/or what you're eating every day? If not, fitday.com or sparkspeople or one of the iphone/android apps or a notebook or *something* is a good idea. That way you know what you're doing so you know what's working and what's not.

Remember that one week to the next isn't sufficient to tell whether something's working - it's trends that matter. And that it takes 21 days to build a habit (28 for those of us who are a little slower...

)

Keep up the good work everyone!

 

[HHandbasket]

I used to journal all my food on thedailyplate.com (a Livestrong website), but they changed the way it works & now it's a pain in the neck to mess with it and wait for it to search (used to be much more efficient... sometimes making an "upgrade" ain't such a good thing). It's good that you bring that up, because I was going through my old journal the other day, the one I kept when going through my weight loss, and I realized that I need to get back to journaling to stay on track. In the preop/postop gastric bypass classes I took, they told us over and over that you cannot stress ENOUGH the importance of journaling regardless of how you decide to make a change for a healthier life, be it exercising more, eating better, losing some weight, whatever goal it is that you have as an individual. I'm glad I've kept my journals so I can re-read them now and know what I need to do to get back on track.

When it comes to weight loss, regardless of how a person chooses to lose weight, it takes a full lifestyle change to be successful. Journaling helps you get there & stay there.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
Did you count your calories? Did you see how much you need to cut or what your fat rate or protein or anything is for the day you can have to lose by your goal? That just seems like too few calories to me.

My first couple of days of my diet were horrible and cut way down, I found out after that time by putting all my info in at Sparkpeople that I cut my calories TOO much and I could eat more then I did. I still lost between 2-3 lbs a week. I felt much less cranky as my husband can attest to! LOL

I actually forgot something. I had a small bowl of pasta with a little sauce over it for lunch.

How do I found out what my fat rate or protein rate is for the day that I can have?

 

[BantamoftheOpera]

sparkpeople will help with all of your daily intake rates.

 

[HHandbasket]

Every body is different and has different fat/protein needs based on age, gender, activity level, lifestyle, etc. The American Heart Association recommends a dietary intake of 30% or less of your total calories come from fats in order to maintain heart health. To know how much of your calories are coming from fat, there's a formula to follow. That number also can be adjusted up and down depending on where your fats come from (i.e., your body will digest 6 grams of fat from healthy sources, such as from avocados or from olive oil, much differently than it's going to digest 6 grams of fat from bacon or steak).

Always check with your healthcare provider to see what they recommend, but use common sense too.

Another helpful thing that I was thinking of sharing here is to remember portion control! A healthy portion is about the size of the palm of your hand, and no thicker than your hand (i.e., don't call it a "healthy portion" of rice if it's the size of the palm of your hand but piled up 4 inches high on the plate). Because of my own personal dietary needs, my plate usually looks like a palmful of meat, a palmful of veggie, and a half a palmful of starch/carbohydrate.

 

[vfem]

Quote:
Did you count your calories? Did you see how much you need to cut or what your fat rate or protein or anything is for the day you can have to lose by your goal? That just seems like too few calories to me.

My first couple of days of my diet were horrible and cut way down, I found out after that time by putting all my info in at Sparkpeople that I cut my calories TOO much and I could eat more then I did. I still lost between 2-3 lbs a week. I felt much less cranky as my husband can attest to! LOL

I actually forgot something. I had a small bowl of pasta with a little sauce over it for lunch.

How do I found out what my fat rate or protein rate is for the day that I can have?

Yep.... sparkpeople.com you can enter your weight, height and goal amounts and time you want to do it. It will then suggest how much protein, fat, carbs and calories you can have to help lose that amount by such a time. Then you just enter what you've eaten and they will tell you if you were under over or spot on with ANY of those goals. It takes about 2 weeks, but eventually you see a pattern on what you eat, and your portions. Then you can go the day and look at something and just know it will put you over, or leave you short. Its a great feeling to be able to be capable of making those choices without having to do research on what you are doing.

I even get to enjoy my biscotti still!

Really makes me week there is room for real treats without guilt.

 

[annaraven]

Sparkspeople sounds like it's a good service. Fitday.com provides a very similar service.

Basically, you enter the food and the amount, and it tells you how much carbs, protein, fat and calories you've consumed. You can do it by meal, by day, by week, by month. You can also (on Fitday, I don't know about sparkspeople) enter your activity such as exercise (and informal activity like grocery shopping) and get calories for that and see your calorie balance. It'll help you track your progress toward your goal and give you an idea of how much you should be eating.

In any case, I highly recommend using one of these services. They really help a lot!

 

[piecemaker]

Well I did my weigh in when I got up this PM (work nights) very happy to report I went from 203 to 200.2. Blood sugar was 94 !!!!!!

Just think what I could lose if I got up off my lazy rear end. I have been trying to lose some weight starting around CHRISTmas when I found out I am diabetic. I know the first few weeks are easy so I guess I better get busy this week. no more excuses like my back hurts or DH gave me his cold or I HATE cold weather and they are saying we should be getting snow tomorrow !!!!!!!! Did I mention I HATE cold weather, give me 90 over 40 any day.
OH well congrats to those who lost and keep trying to those that had trouble this week

piecemaker