Wardhog-I did a trial membership at my local gym an fell in love with the group ride class. I am saving to get my own bike so I can do it at home. (Can't afford the memebership fees right now.)
Foucault-Yay for your pounds lost. Don't you just love progress.
Kelly and mtiger-I've decided to run/walk fo the majority of my exercise program. I actually got up to get on the treadmill when I got really upset and stressed out last night. Normally I would have just gone to Jack in the Box for the comfort and oh so healthy benefits of their deep fried tacos.
Bumble- I'm with you on the walking/jogging workout. I can't afford to join a gym either, so I am finding things to do on my own. Today Kelly and I walked aftr school for a little over 15 min. She had to leave and I wanted a little bit more so I did some jogging for a little bit. Got my heart rate up and boy was my face red. Fun, fun!!
Wardhog- Sounds like you are really on track and staying motivated. Good job!! Keep losing.
Kelly-Don't fret over that extra food. I'll see ya tom. and we will work harder. Getting better everyday.
I am still trying to eat more. I am a bit afraid of going over 1300 calories. Then I hear how many some of you are eating and think I should relax about it.
For the record, I teach kindergarten and I have quite a rough group this year. They work me and my patience everyday. Sometimes I feel too tired to come home and work out. It's a good thing Kelly and I are doing it at school before we go home. Yeah for teamwork!!
mtiger-so what is a normal day of food for you then? I am aiming to keep my cals between 1300-1400. I always end up around 1500-1600. I'm just wondering what sorts of things you normally eat to keep you around a steady 1300. Any help appreciated.
mtiger - My daughter is in kindergarten (and my son is almost 4). I could never do your job!
bumble - Good job getting on the treadmill to beat the stress. That's a great way to replace a bad habit with a good one. FYI - I am eating around 1500 calories a day. I eat small amounts throughout the day otherwise I would be hungry.
Today I did a Group Power class (which seemed tougher than normal today) and 50 min on the elliptical. I stayed on my eating plan yesterday and I am on track for today.
I lost my first 20 pounds by walking about 2 miles everyday and keeping track of my calories. I'm only walking about 4 times a week now, and sometimes it is more or less than 2 miles, but I still think it is helping. The other days of the week are for strength training with weights. So, walking is an easy and good way to get in exercise. The longer (time-wise) you walk, the better. I usually try to get my speed up to 3 miles an hour.
Anyway, for you gals who are walking, I've found the pedometer on Google to be a great help. Here's the link. Just type in the zipcode you're walking in at the top and find the area where you're at. Then hit the record button and place points along the map to indicate your route. It will keep track of how far on the left.
As for the discussion on daily calorie intake - I eat between 1500 and 1800 each day. Usually, it's right around 1700, but on pizza days, it does go up to 1800. ;-) I want to be able to lower my calories when I plateau without eating below 1200 a day. I have cereal, fruit, and yogurt in the mornings. Soup, sandwich, wheat rolls, veggies, or something similar for lunch. Dinner varies. Some of the things I have a lot are soup, (healthy) cheese pizza, veggie avocado/apple sandwiches, rice and veggies, gyoza (Chinese dumplings) with rice, Boca burgers, etc. I usually have a side salad with balsamic vinegrette with almost every dinner. If anyone wants to post specifics about what they eat each day, I'd love to read it. I'm always looking for new ideas to change up my menu each week. If I don't switch things up, then I get cravings for bad food I shouldn't be eating.
I just want to say that everyone is doing so well. Yay for us! I have confidence this will be a great year in which we will reach our goals or be so much closer to them. I don't care if I see my target weight this year, but I would love to be under 200 by my b-day.
Oh, and does anyone do any dance fitness videos? I was looking at some online yesterday, but I don't know which would be best. Dancing for exercise seems like so much fun.
Foucault- I agree that menu options are tough. I have been doing ok eating the same as you for breakfast, cereal, fruit, yogurt type stuff. I found oatmeal to stick with me better. My problem is that I'm picky and don't like a lot of variety. I have a harder time with snacks, because as a teacher, I don't want to eat in front of my students when they're working. So I feel like I sit there and starve, then constantly think about food.
I caught myself unconsciously eating today! Sometimes when my class is working on a particularly tough math concept, we'll do a problem and I reward the kids with skittles or starburst for correct answers. Today, I passed out skittles to children and automatically popped three in my mouth! I think I ran down to Mtiger's classroom to tell her how stupid I felt. I didn't even realize I had done it until about 5 minutes later. Then it felt even dumber to sit there analyzing the package to find out how many calories are in 3 skittles. (By the way, there's about 160 calories in 1/4 cup) It really made me aware that I was eating way too much before and not even paying attention.
Walked today for 30 minutes and I didn't even die!
Hello. I've been thinking about all of you guys and working every day to stay on track. I've done pretty well. I've had about 6 Hersey kisses that I didn't plan on having, but they are written down and it was 6 over 3 days...not to shabby.
I had a small victory today where I was offered chocolate cake and I turned it down.
I'm one of the lucky ones who loves to workout and I've had a great workout week. I'm getting a 2 mile walk in every day and I'm doing some sort of weight training. Tomorrow is my weigh-in and my Zumba night. I'm looking forward to both.
I feel really positive because I just read all your posts. It is so helpful to know that there are people going through the same things I am and they are managing to get that weight off.
Please keep posting..the good, and the bad and the getting back up and the meeting those little goals. I will get here more often to post. I need to..it's helpful to me.
I have realized this week that I eat differently when I'm in school than not. Last week I ate a lot of sandwiches and fruits. Now that I am back to school I always have a frozen meal for lunch and less whole fruit, like apples. No time to eat them. I just need to eat quicker (I have about 20 min.) and I don't like to make and pack stuff to take.
Today- cereal at home, yogurt at school, Kids were having animal crackers for snack. I checked the calories and opted for pretzels. A frozen Lean Gourmet meal at lunch, later in the pm I had 100 calorie Doritoes. I made some cheesy,potatoe thing for dinner with cottage cheese. I have snacked on a few pumpernickel crackers. Splurged today and had a 200 calorie 3 musketeeers, chocolate was calling my name.Total 1350.
I walked with Kelly and a friend after school, but then I came home and did my cardio video also. I just don't feel like walking does enough. Tom. is the official start of our "biggest Loser" program at work. AHHH!! I have to weigh in with the nurse. Yuck!! Wish me and Kelly luck. We don't care about winning, even though there is $$ involved. We are in this to change our lives.
Thanks for the calorie info yall. I was starting to get lost in the details. I have regained my perspective. Hope everyone had a delightful kinda day. If not I hope you have one tomorrow.
Good morning. I made myself a promise that I would get here early today.
I'm hoping for good news at the scales tonight. What is great is that I'm feeling much better about myself because I'm not stuffing myself full and I've cut down on the sugar ALOT. When I eat a lot of sugar I suffer withdraw and it's not pretty for a couple of days. I know this and I don't know why I allow myself to overdo on it--it really does make me feel poorly, mentally and physically.
Mtiger/Kelly: How exciting that you can be in a contest together and that you are going to be able to encourge each other. I'm looking forward to reading about your success.
Bumble: Glad you regained perspective. You just affirmed why it's important to come here and get the support.
Focult: About dance videos. I don't do them, but I do take Zumba and it's dance and it's FUN! I've seen videos on line for Zumba and I'm thinking of getting one to try it so I'll have something on hand to do if I can't make my class or for an extra workout.
Ok, I must get to work. I'll see you all tomorrow.
Kelly - I'm the same as you. I find a few things that are good and keep me on track. If I start switching things up too often, then I'll end up eating something that is not-so-good for me. I don't binge, but I'll go over my calories or fat grams. Every week, I'll take a look around and try to add something new or make some switches in my menu just so I don't get bored with it and end up stuffing some (a loaf of) banana bread in my mouth. Isn't it crazy how much unconscious eating we do? I'm an unconscious eater, too. If somethings lying around, I'll eat it and realize what I've done afterward. That must be how I got here to begin with. As for the Skittles, for candy, they aren't that bad. Sometimes I'll even fit them in my calories for the day if I'm craving a candy bar or something.
Susie - Good luck on your weigh-in. I'm sure you'll do wonderfully since you've been keeping yourself on track. Come back and let us know how it went as soon as you can. I just looked up Zumba on the net and it seems like it would be fun and provide me with a great cardio workout. If I can't find it in one of the stores around town, I might have to order it online. I wonder if eBay has copies for a nice price.
mtiger - The thing I love about counting calories is that you can fit in pretty much anything you want, even candy. Sometimes you just have to have it. I hope you and Kelly can have fun and knock their socks off at your school's biggest loser contest. What a neat thing to do in the workplace. I bet it makes everyone work harder because they are accountable to everyone else doing the program.
bumble - I've found that calorie calculators are fantastic for helping you determine how many calories you can eat to lose weight. Here's a link to one I've used: Daily Caloric Needs. You just put in your stats and how often you exercise. It will tell you how many calories to maintain, lose, and lose faster. It will even do a calorie cycling program for you if you're interested in switching things up for your metabolism.
As for me... I'm still on track. Still planning my menus and sticking to them. My boss buys snack foods in bulk and keeps them in her office for everyone to snack on during the day. I've managed to avoid the room of doom for two weeks now. I do NOT need a Twix. I do NOT need M&Ms. I do NOT need potato chips. Bad, bad, bad. Today is my walking day. I can do about 1.5 in 30 minutes. That leaves me 15 minutes to drive home, 15 minutes to get back to work. I have a dog, so I have to go home and take him out to pee. He loves Tuesdays and Thursdays because he gets a nice walk in at lunch with me.
It sounds like everyone is doing very well! I don't do dance videos - too klutzy! LOL
Today I did 1.5 mi warm-up (18 min), then Group Ride class, then 31 min on the elliptical. I was a sweaty mess when I finished, too. It felt great. I stayed on my eating plan yesterday and I am on track for today. My "official" weigh-in will be tomorrow, so I hope to be down a little.
Hiya!! I walked tonight after school, by myself (boo hoo), and they were having a meeting. They were having pizza. Every lap around I had to go by that smell. Oh man!! Then my "roomie/ex-husband" (long story) called and asked if I wanted to get pizza for dinner. I yelled at him NOOO!! I just thought I can't eat pizza tonight, I didn't plan for it. Now if 1 slice is about 200- 220 cal. I probably could have had pizza. But it just threw me off so I just had a fit. Maybe I'll work some in this weekend because I love pizza and it sounds sooo good.
I have been walking every night this week, plus something extra when I get home. Was down on the scale this morning. I hope it doesn't go up tom. That is my official weigh in at home. I tend to do this down, up, down thing. We are weighing in on Thurs. at school so I might change to that. The scale at school is not kind. My weight was really up from mine at home. Yikes!!
Congrats to everyone and their individual successes. Keep up the good work.
mtiger-I was tempted with pizza the other night. I had worked all day and didnt feel like cooking so I said okay. Turns out it wasnt a bad call. We had dominos thin crust veggie pizza (140 cal per slice according to the daily plate). So that I didnt binge on the pizza and blow my whole day I made a big salad and ate that while waiting for the pizza to be delivered. I had two slices and stayed well within my calorie allowance. I even had calories left over for desert.
Wardhog-Same here. I tried to do a group kick class once. I wanted to cry I was so klumsy. I stick to the no fail no embarrassment methods. The group kick class did seem so fun though. I'll probably try again once I improve my fitness level and confidence.
foucault- I am very interested in this calorie cycling you speak of. Thanks for the info, I'm gonna check it out. ANd props to you for avoiding the evil snack closet. That is never easy, especially in a permissive environment.
mychoice-good luck on the weigh in. i'm with you on the sugar deal too. i find when i reduce my sugar intake everything about me improves.
mtiger - Great job getting out and walking! It becomes addictive after a while. If I go for more than two days without getting outsides and walking, I start craving it and become upset. I hope your weigh-in today is a success!
bumble - I think I inadvertently do calorie cycling myself. It isn't something I did knowingly, but I do tend to change my calories each day. I don't make an effort to add or take away food to get it to a certain level. Some days I eat 1500 calories, some days I eat 2000. I'm supposed to be eating around 1700 for a loss of 2lbs a week. Most days it falls around around that, but not always. That pizza from Dominos sounds good! I love veggie pizzas of all kinds.
I found that I crave something sweet after dinner when I realized I was eyeing a box of chocolates in the pantry a few nights ago. I went to the grocery store the next day and got little snack packs of rice pudding. It hits the spot when I finish up dinner. Plus, I eat less because I want to leave room for dessert. :-)
I bought this dance/fitness DVD a couple days ago. I watched the first portion of it last night (without trying to do it). Oh wow... choreography galore. I don't know if I can do it. I'm going to give it a go today. It looks really fun, but my memory and fitness DVDs don't go well together. We'll see...
Hey, Hey!!
