Time for a new thread!!!!

For those who are new, this is the longest running "daily chat" thread for calorie counters here at 3FC!

All of the big plans out there-Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, and what have you-they all basically all boil down to "calories in vs. calories out". They just have fancy names, contracts, special foods, books, and so forth to go with them.

Eat less calories, and move/exercise more. It is really the key to weight loss.

All are welcome-newbies, don't hesitate to join in the conversation! We offer not only support, but share tips, motivation, and share in our daily lives.

I am Aphil, and a moderator here at 3FC. Please join us!

good morning Aphil!

Just wanted to say thanks for helping all the newbies like me.
I am just getting started this week.
and I am still trying to figure out what to do first.

I will try my old treadmill in the garage today
had to clean it off first.
My dear husband buried it.











http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=littleredtree

You are more than welcome!!!

What calorie range are you trying for each day? At your current weight, I would probably start around 1600 a day, and see how you do with that. Since you are new, here are a few tips:

~Try and space your calories out through the day so you feel satisfied. Don't "save them up" for a huge dinner, while skipping breakfast, etc.

~On calorie counting, no food is "forbidden". However, you want to look at the quality of the food you are eating in general, and for the most part make healthy choices. It is okay to have a small bit of chocolate (2 Hershey Kisses, a sugar free pudding cup, etc.) if you have a really bad sweet craving now and then-but on a 1600 calorie diet, you don't want 400 calories of that to be in "junk"...even if it is "diet" junk, because that would be 1/4 of your daily diet.

~Exercise. If you are not used to exercise, the idea is to slowly make it a habit, and a way of life. It doesn't do you any good to start out so gung ho that you do 2 hours a day...and in a week you are so sore and burnt out that you throw in the towel and quit. It is much better, if you are sedentary, to start with 10-20 minutes a day, and stick with it. Once you have consistently made exercise a part of your life, then you can slowly start adding time to your workouts, and more intensity.

~Ease in slowly with dietary changes. If you don't normally ever eat fruit...start making it a habit slowly. One fruit a day. Get creative, and try different ones. After it becomes a habit, increase it to 2 a day...the same with water. If you are not normally a water drinker, it is going to be hard to drink 8 glasses a day instead of soda, or whatever you normally drink. Aim for 2 glasses a day this week...3 a day the next...take it slow. Create new habits for life.

Wow! thanks for all the info.

you can see what I ate yesterday , now took me a minute or two.

I always eat a couple fruits everyday. and some veggies too.
I went to the store yesterday.
Bought some Fruit bars, no sugar, spray butter so I can eat the veggies I love without butter.

do many people do the lean Cuisine dinners? seems like a good way to save a little time.

I will try for the 1600 cal. you mentioned.

My 2 problems are
love my coke and goodies.
not enough moving my butt.

We were all ther at one time and I still love my junk. One of my weakness are apple crumble but now i just bakes apples aith a little brown sugar and cinnamon and instaed of ice cream I have frozen yogurt. Now it is not everyday but once and a while for a dessert and the kids love it just as much as the traditional made with flour.

littlered-

I don't eat Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice type meals every day, but I do on occasion. Maybe about once a week. Basically, I use them now and then when I have a really bad craving for something, and it might be something that I can't cook for my "whole family" in a healthier version.

Like...every now and then I crave chinese food really badly...but it wouldn't do me any good to make a lower calorie stir fry or something at home-because my husband won't eat chinese food. So...when the urge hits now and then, rather than #1-do without, or 2#-cave and go to the local buffet, I might run up to the store and grab the Lean Cuisine egg roll entree, or the Healthy Choice General Tso's chicken. They are a processed food, and frozen meals are usually higher in sodium than what you cook at home-but now and then, if you have to have pizza or chinese food-and your options are to do it sensibly for about 300 calories with a Lean Cuisine, or end up at the local joint downing 1,000 calories instead...then obviously the wiser choice is the frozen one if it keeps you on track.

Aphil, thanks for the advice on the calories. I will try to keep it more in the 16 to 18 hundred range. I'm such a noob, I had no idea I'd have to cut them more later. Thanks!

Cheryl

Yes-the larger you are, the more calories your body uses doing everyday things. I use this analogy a lot:

If a 240 pound woman and a 140 pound woman both walk a mile, the larger woman burns more calories, because she is naturally carrying 100 pounds of resistance along with her.

Make sense? When you are heavier, it takes more effort to do everything-as you lose weight, that load is decreased, and it doesn't take as much energy. You are using less calories "existing" in your everyday life.

So, after you lose 10, 20, 30 or whatever pounds...your weight loss will probably plateau-and you will experience a couple weeks with no loss. When that happens, it is time to drop the calories a bit (try 100 a day), and maybe up your exercise slightly. Even adding 5-10 minutes a day can help-because that is 35-70 minutes over the course of each week.


Today:

Exercise was cardio-4 miles on treadmill

Food:

B-protein shake
S-yogurt
L-pasta with tomato sauce, fresh fruit salad (2 servings of fruit)
D-baked chicken breast, broccoli (2 servings)
S-SMALL piece of extra dark chocolate

I drank plenty of water...all in all it was a good day.

Hey All, I'm a newbie. Today was the first day I actually managed to stay in my caloric range and not want to binge horribly! Yea for small achievements. I'm still up and there's still time but I'm not going to ruin my day!
My range is 1200-1500 and I had 1017 today. Let's just hope tomorrow will be as good. I didn't get to deliberately exercise today cause my son is home from daycare with an upper resp. infection so I had my hands full with one or the other all day. I'll do better tomorrow I'm hoping. I did get some lifting in yesterday though. I'm a little sore from that but not too bad. Just waking up the old muscles again! I'm excited tomorrow I get to go vehicle shopping and I don't want to be a fat butt and leave big ol indentations in the seats so I have more motivation now. We're not buying new but new to us to good enough. I sold my minivan to my brother and his new wife that just got home from being deployed in South Korea for 2 years. They have to be in Lewis Washington around the 10th of March and are driving up there from MO! Not much time home and he says can I buy your van? I was a little blindsided and shocked as he is 22 and wanting a minivan. Oh yeah it's his first vehicle ever! Too Funny! If you only knew my brother. Anyways, since we're done having kids and I'm a little tired of driving minivans now, that was our 2nd, we're looking at Blazers and the like. I'm so happy. Ok enough rambling talk to you later.

When the young folks around here start families and buy minivans, they call them loser cruisers Hey, we could call our runners loser cruisers!

Hi Hillarie-welcome!!!!

Hi Hillarie-welcome!
Good morning to all.


I feel very happy and energetic today!


I have cut out all Pop out of my diet. Started on Sunday.

I started using Equal instead of Sugar, also.

For the most part I have cut more out of the fat too. I am trying to focus on the calories and fat.

A lot of my Changes are Thinking, preparing and Weighing the food.

Thank God I don't work right now!
I start Curves Tomorrow! Yeah!!!!)


Actually I am nervous, I am not the kind of person that likes to dance, etc in front of people. This part is going to be very hard for me. In fact doing this on line is a first for me and hard.

I have been keeping my cal. around 1400-1500. I will get the 1600 I was recommended to do. Today.


The cranberry almond crunch cereal is great! I ate This today. I eat it dry. Milk, YUK! and it takes a lot of chewing to eat it. Taste really good!


just walked for 15 min. @2 mph.
Not a lot for some. I am out of breath. Pulse rate ave 150

Where is the pulse rate supposed to be for a newbie?
and does it do much if you break your work outs up in smaller amounts?

Don't worry about the walking...15 minutes is better than nothing, and stamina WILL come over time, if you stick with it. If you can do 15 minutes a day of that walking like you did, in about two weeks you can either:

~do it for 20 min. at 2mph
or
~do it for 15 min, but bump the speed to 2.2, to make it slightly quicker paced.

Just slowly advance yourself over time. You can do it!

2024 yesterday...dang! The ridiculous part is, I wasn't binging or anything, I just messed up the math in my head, and thought I was coming in way too low, so I went ahead and had a burger with dinner, instead of something else, but when I added up the day's totals, I saw where I'd forgotten to write lunch down, and that put me over, lol. Still, I can't feel bad about it, because it's still way better than the way I was eating before!

I think I found my fitness goal, too. There's a bike ride in Puyallup, WA on June 25 this year. That is one day before my birthday. They offer a 12 mile or a 30 mile loop. Just because it sounds nice together, and I think it's hard enough to push me, but certainly doable, I'm going to shoot for 30 lbs down and the 30 mile ride by my birthday. That gives me almost 4 months to lose 30 lbs, and would put me at 199, under 200 for the first time in 5 or 6 years. I really needed a goal to shoot for, to motivate me to put in some new form of exercise (not counting what I already do, which my body is used to), and the weight goal will help keep me on track with my eating, too.

Cheryl

Ugh I lost my post, which is good since it was a long vent!

Summary: still not losing. I have been averaging 1350 on calories for the last 14 days. Nada Zip nothing! Ugh!

I have been taking SUPER doses of IRON for about a week and a half. Went and saw a hemotologist who put me on 1300 a day opposed to the double dose my doc had me on which was only 300 total. Could I be holding onto the weight because of that?

I was so happy to see 178 and now I am just bouncing from 182-178.

I started exercising 2 days ago, today will be day three of power 90. I am hoping that will help and i am also eating 5 MEALS a day instead of 3 with snacks. I seriously dont see how uping my calories anymore is going to help. I am definitly not in starvation mode at 1350 at my activity level (even with P90 I do nothing but sit on my but the rest of the day...LITERALY) I dont get it, the daily deficit works for EVERYONE else BUT ME!

Ok there is a summary, LOL --sumi