That's almost exactly what I'm doing. Pushups, situps, and cardio. Trying to get back into running, but right now it's more of a jog for a quarter mile, then walk it off until I catch my breath, and start jogging again. I do that for about 2 miles. I'm trying to drink alot of water, and if I'm drinking anything else it's 0 calories and 0 carbs. Im trying to eat alot of low fat foods with low calories. I've lost 10 LBS in a week but now I seem to be stuck. I haven't lost another pound in the last 4 days. Posted via Mobile Device
Just make sure you are counting your calories, and try to weighting yourself in the Am or when you just get up,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,after you go to the bathroom. Just make sure your burning more calories then your taking in and if after two weeks if your still are not losing weight then i'd go see a Doctor.
I don't believe obesity is a medical condition for 95-99% of obese people, but I think it can develop into a psychological addiction. That does NOT mean it's "not their fault" or it "can't be helped," because you CAN break psychological addictions...people do it all the time. It just means you have to be aware that you can't just eat less, you have to change your whole lifestyle. At one point in his late 50s, my father was borderline obese and developed adult-onset diabetes because of it...he had to change his lifestyle to lose weight and he did. I was overweight as a kid---not obese, and I was active, but I just ate too much crap. I decided I didn't want to be fat anymore and I changed it. But to do that, and to stick with it, I had to change my lifestyle. For one thing, exercise can't be something you do when you feel like it, it has to be an ingrained habit, like brushing your teeth---something that has to be done and that you do automatically, NOT something that takes a special effort or special occasion. At this point in my life, I feel weird if I am NOT doing some sort of exercise every day. Anyway, that's my two cents, from my experiences.
Obesity = single greatest health crisis in the history of the planet. Worse than the black plague. And its not going away and there's no vaccine against it. If I were the surgeon general or head of any health organization, I would make my priority fighting obesity.
The problem with calling it a "disease" is that it allows people who just eat too frikkin much to use that as an excuse and a crutch. I don't mean to be insensitive, but when it gets to the point where something happens to the person and a CARPENTER has to be called in before the paramedics to get their fat *** out of the house, then at SOME point while they were getting to be the size of a barge someone should have been mean to them and told them to stop eating. It's a VERY small portion of the population that can call it a "disease". The late comedian Richard Jeni once said "I have a new diet tape that's guaranteed to work. It's not audio tape....it's not video tape...it's DUCT tape. Put a piece over your mouth so the ice cream can't get in there, and watch the pounds melt away." Sound advice.
Pagan my brother this has to be the single worse post I have ever seen you post. Making fun of fat people only makes it worse, you dont "help" someone by insulting them, you make them fall deeper into the hole they have already put themselves in. And yes it is not a disease, IMO either. But it is a mental illness, no one REALLY wants to be this way, but when you have fallen off the wagon, just like alcoholics, and drug users, you stop caring.
Bro, I am not insulting those who seriously have a problem. That post is aimed towards the ones who use it as a crutch. There are more of them out there than admit. I come from a big Italian family my friend...we all tend to get heavy. I myself once went up to 215 pounds, and on a 5' 7" frame that's not exactly svelte. But I realized where I was headed and put a stop to it. It's a battle every day of my life, but I refuse to put that weight back on. I also stopped a $200 a day cocaine habit in the 80's cold turkey. It CAN be done. However, they can't be done by babying and enabling people because it's a mental illness. I tend to disagree with that. It's an addiction, pure and simple. "Mental Illness" is yet another crutch. I have overweight friends who tell me how they can't stand being as big as they are while they're stuffing their 3rd Big Mac into their mouths. Sorry bro, but I can't muster any sympathy for that. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I see it way too much to fall for the mental illness trap. I've seen people conquer it, and I've seen people succumb to it. It's all mind over matter.
I agree with you. My sister is obese. She lost her leg due to blood clots etc. (no diabetes) She sits in a wheelchair all the time. She does no exercise, and is afraid to try to use her artificial leg. She's afraid she'll fall. We have begged pleaded and even used some tough love, but nothing helps. She never did much activity before the amputation, she's always had a sedatary life style. She knows the dangers of losing her other leg if she doesn't move more, but she just cannot be motivated to do anything. All of us are scared to death for her. Her "so-called" husband does absolutely nothing to help her, in any way. So, it's probably part depression on her part to.
I agree man. Our points of view are very similiar on this issue. What we said earlier def can come accross as insensitive, but I really believe that it's true. Getting mentally/physically healthy is very much the same thing. I just feel that the "disease" label is a very overused excuse (in most situations, there are always exceptions). I also believe that it has to start and end with the person who has the problem being and staying motivated to do something about it. In cases like this, there is often very little others can do to help the person if they don't have the desire to lose weight or stay active.
I would actually recommend lifting weights as soon as possible. Believe it or not, intense anaerobic exercise reduces the body's overall stores of glycogen better than anything else, thereby causing the body to burn more fat. Aerobic activity, "cardio", doesn't do this. Don't get me wrong, you'll still lose weight, but your level of fitness and % of bodyfat can be reduced at the same rate with much less time put in. Also, instead of jogging, try sprint interval training. Sprint for 10 seconds, then walk for 30 sec. Do that four times (just under 3 minutes overall). If you're not suckin' wind after that, bump it up to 6 times. I GUARANTEE that you'll see better results, both now and in the long run, if you stop jogging. Your knees will thank you (and so will your heart). The tons of water you're drinking is great for you. The less soda and such and more natural juices and water you can drink in a day, the better. Just don't get discouraged. It's very hard to lose a pound (of anything) a day, and very unrealistic. 3-5 lbs. a week, measured at the beginning and end of the week, is going to be a little more in line with what your body can attain and give you some peace of mind as well. I'm not saying you can't lose more, but don't beat yourself up over losing 10lbs in two weeks. That's still a great number.
To add on to what JCS is saying eventually your body slows down the process of losing weight and many times after that initial weight loss comes off you start seeing only 1-3lbs a week come off. Just stay with it. Also, if you go get a colon cleanser its a cheap easy way to lose 5lbs. Your body stores stuff up, no pun intended, and its good to clean it out every 6 months or so.
i don't know if it's different for men and women but a good trick i've read lots about that works for me is called muscle confusion. when you stick with the same routine every day your body almost gets used to it. so by switching it up week by week or even every other day...it doesn't let your muscles get comfortable with the routine. almost every diet/exercise plan i've ever followed had varied exercise routines just for this purpose...
Or you could stock up on 1/2 lb burritos and Tim Hortons coffee for a 1 day diet that's sure to... unclog your system.
I've tried this, but I've actually found it makes me less likely to stick to a workout regimen. I like to have a predictable regimen that I do every week...I might add more weight or more reps or run faster, but I like to know what I am going to do.
I pretty much agree that it's all depends on the person and their situation. Here's my story... I've been relatively big all my life. Over the past few years though it got really bad, and I gained about 60 pounds. I knew it was my fault and never tried to blame it on anyone else. I was depressed, was in despair, and thought I was too mentally weak to make a change. I knew I had to though and used whatever I could as motivation. As of today, I've lost about 80 pounds and plan to lose another 20 or so. I feel much better and even though I may still be a little big, I'm more than happy being at my goal if I can keep the weight off. It's hard. Very hard. And the kicker to all my weight loss was that I did it without much exercise at all. I just changed the way I ate and drank tons of water and the weight started coming off. So to me, you need to want it bad enough to be successful in dieting.
at 215, im perfectly fine with my weight, although in a perfect world i would be 200. but my lifestyle doesnt dictate this. im like the exact opposite of some who gain weight when they get depressed. i tend to gain some weight when im having to much fun, going out every night. drinking and such. beer seems to be a killer for me.
I feel the same way. Once I finish off losing this 20 pounds, I'll be perfectly happy with my weight. I'll still be a little big, but it was nothing like it was before, and now I know I have to keep working hard in order to keep it off. So it's not like my eating habits will be back to being disgraceful.
Bro, that awesome! I heartily congratulate you on taking control of your body and what goes in it. It's not an easy thing to do. Bravo.
I hate to be a bit of a downer here, but there's no such thing as 'muscle confusion'. Muscles have no ability to think, therefore they don't get "confused". Muscles respond to stimulus (it doesn't matter what the stimulus is), and if the stimulus is great enough, the body responds by growing and strengthening the muscles. It really is that simple. 'Muscle confusion' workouts are for people who need variety. They get bored doing the same-old same-old, and they end up not putting forth the effort they normally would. So it's more of a mind trick on yourself than anything else. I have nothing against changing up the routine from one workout to the next, so long as it eventually comes back around to one you did before. That way you can gauge your progress and see how much you've improved. Just don't call it 'muscle confusion'...you'll get me confused.
I do have a bad habit of doing that. But then again, when your left hand looks like this: it's hard not to be one.
it has worked for me....and if you say it's all in my head, then I wouldn't be working out. i'd sit at home and say "stay fit" in my head over and over and over. women go through their whole lives dieting off and on for the most part, and i have tried a lot of workout programs. all of the ones with a variety of regimens, instead of the same one over and over everyday are the only ones i don't plateau on. you can't say that's all in my head. for me, it's a fact. that's how my body reacts, and i was only giving a testimony of that. i wasn't telling people that it's the only way to go, or they should only listen to me.
Dear, I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say that what you are doing to your body is all in your head, only the 'confusion' label being put to your muscles. What you are doing at the gym is still hard work and takes a lot of dedication and discipline. I applaud you for that. And I know the struggle women go through- I've been there with them as they've gone through it. I think it's awesome that you haven't plateaued on those workouts. But the fact of the matter is that everyone's body responds the same way at the cellular level to exercise. It doesn't matter whether you do the same thing every time or a different machine every workout for the next 20 years. The muscle cells are just a part of the whole though, and the numerous other factors involved are why this workout in particular has worked for you where others have failed. I will be the first to say that everyone is an individual, hence why something may not work for you but work for someone else. However, everyone is also a human being, and if we didn't all work (basically) the same, then there would be no medicine, biology, anatomy or any of the other sciences that deal with humanity. I didn't mean to offend you or belittle what you had accomplished, only to clarify what you had written so that others aren't getting false ideas about how their body works. I hope you understand.
there are thousands of articles written on the concept of muscle confusion, what i wrote was not misleading at all.
I know that- it still doesn't make them right. Up until two years ago, the AHA (American Heart Association) held the stance that weight training was bad for your blood pressure and cardiovascular system. Thousands of articles were published supporting this stance. Until they found out *read:finally accepted* it actually INCREASED blood both to and from the heart, improved VO2 max and overall cardio fitness, as well as lowered blood pressure. Just because a lot of people say it's right, doesn't make it so. Our country's recent celebration of MLK day and his fight for equality has borne that out. Again, I'm not dogging your chosen method of training, only the terms used to describe it.
in other words, that's your opinion. you can't say i'm making false statements just because you don't believe in it.
No, in other words, it's my belief because that's the way it is. I've read countless medical textbooks, taken numerous courses, and conferred with many doctors, nurses and professional trainers (that have a medical background) on this subject. I've made it a point to devote a good part of my life to the subject of health, fitness and how the human body works-the metabolic pathways, energy cycles and waste buildup and transportation concerning skeletal muscle. Everyone's muscles behave the same way in regards to stimulus. Muscles do not get confused- they react to stimuli. If you do 'A', they do 'B'. They don't care whether it's a pushup, pullup, crunch or dip- the muscles will activate the same way EVERY TIME. That is not confusion. That is textbook stimulus-response. I'm sorry you can't see that.
I can't see that you want people to believe what you say? Yes, I see that. You cannot possibly tell me that what has worked for me is wrong. I hit plateau's every single time in a workout regimen until I changed what I was doing. You're trying to force down my throat that what i've done was wrong. In your opinion it was wrong (and physically is not possible), but it worked. Spare me your text book responses, just because it hasn't been approved by the AHA or whatever, doesn't mean it doesn't work. I never claimed to be a personal trainer, I was just sharing what has worked for me. So, unless you are a muscle in my body that has just learned to type on the internet, quit trying to prove to me that what I do everyday is wrong. It's YOUR opinion. You're forgetting that...you have no facts to support it, therefore, it IS just that - an opinion. I haven't falsely claimed anything, so responding to "let people know" that what i've said is misleading is pretty rude.
Please, read me clearly: I NEVER SAID WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS WRONG OR DOESN'T WORK. Go back and read my second post. What I AM stating is that there is no such thing as 'muscle confusion'. Do you get the difference?? What you are doing is working, but NOT because your muscles are "confused". I am not trying to prove to you that what you are DOING is wrong, only WHAT YOU ARE CALLING IT. Can you see that now?? My post(s) were never and are still not meant to be a personal attack on yourself, your level of fitness, your knowledge of biology or your workout regimen. However, it WAS meant to be an attack on the PRINCIPLES on which you workout is based. Two TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS. I wholeheartedly ENDORSE changing up one's workout regimen- every time if necessary. That does NOT mean you are confusing your muscles every time you change your workout. If I am still not being understood, then I apologize. I am obviously not communicating my POV very effectively, and I hope at some point in time I will be able to do so. Until then, I wish you all the best in your quest for personal fitness and longevity. I am happy that you have found an exercise regimen that you enjoy and that works for you. That's miles farther than a lot people get.
I'll vote for that- your fervent tenacity has made me hungry, finsgirlie. I think I'm going to go be bad and have a spicy Jamaican patty before band practice...a salute to you, my worthy opponent. May the next one be just as spirited, if not more civil.
Pretty much, obesity plain out sucks. While I agree that some cases may be a disease or beyond someone's direct control but i feel the vast mafority is not. It is my fault that I am obsese but I have my reasones to be able to "justify" it. A huge question is, does anyone know of anything legit that truly controls one's appetite? There are pills galore out there that make that claim but I think most folks pretty well know they don't work. Reason for that is that if they did, i doubt we'd have any obebes ppl out there.
I grew up eating the equivalent of a 15 ounce steak, salads, potatoes, etc. in a single sitting. It wasn't until I spent 4 months abroad eating smaller portions that I was able to "slow down" my eating habits. Now I eat much slower (almost always the last one done with my meal and typically I have a smaller portion) naturally which has a ton of benefits. First of all I enjoy my meal more, it sits better, and I know when I get full and am able to stop...whereas if I just stuff myself I finish it and feel sick later as I never gave myself time to feel full. Crazy society we live in....fast fast fast..everything needs to be fast.
I know my problems start in my head. I want to be smaller, and healthier so bad I am obsessed with it almost. But for some reason I keep finding my way back to food. I have to make myself happy on the outside to make my self happy on the inside.
There's nothing wrong with eating all that food, provided you do something to burn it off. Now, if you eat all that and do no kind of exercise, you're going to have a problem.
Yup, that about describes me to a T. All my life, I've been a pretty big eater. Being retired from UPS, I used to be on the go, literally, almost all the time while being physically active in the process. However, the last couple eyars there, I had my knees fixed and was down for awhile, 6 months to be exact. I picked up about 20 lbs then and after getting back to work, I lost about half of it. Then my achilles went, had it fixed and the doc told me that it would be a minimum of 18 months before i could go back to doing what I did. That wasn't a good option so I had to option to retire in 4 months, so I did. A month after that, I had a bout with diverticulits, removed 18" of my colon, had a bowel resectioning down 3 mos later. Those 2 surguries caused a huge abdominal hernia to develope. That kept me quite inactive as well so in 07, I had that thing worked on albeit the end result not nearly being what I had hoped for. But during that process, I developed A-fib. After 3 unsecussful attempts to stay converted, i'm now waitng to have an ablation done, hopefully any day now. My point to all this is that I was able to stay trim while being active but as soon as I got down and can not exercise at all to speak of, the weight literally balloons. I used to be in the 240-25- range, now i'm pushing 310. way too much for my liking. Since I can't exercise, I've stopped drinking, cut back on eating as much as I am able to, altho I'll admit I should do more, but the weight remains. This leads me to conclude that the biggest culprit to me is lack of exercise. Right now, being in A-fib, I have literally no energy. I get winded just getting up to go pee. Anyway, hopfully, this new treatment will work, I'll regain some energy and become more active. In any case, I hope the appetite won't come back with it as that is where I'll struggle also. Here's hoping!!!
Careful, never say never!! When I was your age, i was rather skinny as well. I remember telling myself back then that I will never get fat. Most times, weight gain is in your direct control but there are some times when there is little you can do about it. I guess the whole thing is to be sensible about things. Generally, the older one gets, the less nourishment is needed and more exercising is required to replace a less active lifestyle. However, knowing what to do and doing it are two different things, sad to say!!
