Big Guy looking to the Little Women for help!
 

Hi Everybody!

I just joined the site and am very eager to lose some weight! I've been fairly hefty for most of my life (I'm 34) but I'm getting tired of it. I was sitting around thinking about who I could turn to for good advice and support and it hit me! Women! :) I mean, I hate to say it, but most guys are all the big macho type who hate to ask for help of any kind and tend to laugh at those of us who do...maybe not to our faces but you get the idea...so I'm turning over a new leaf, coming to you with my hat in my hand and asking for help. I'm actually fairly new to this, I've tried a few things over the years but have never really put my heart into it. Any and all information, suggestions and support you can give will be appreciated beyond belief.(and if I ever win the lottery I'll remember each and everyone of you! ;) ) So first off, I'd like to ask your advice on different body types, setting goals and what kind of diets are there that really work. I do have to say that I am kind of interested in a vegetarian diet since as I get older I find that I eat less and less meat.
Well, let me let you answer that. I'm looking forward getting to know all of you and I'm eager to find some buddies to help me out.

Thanks in advance,
Pete

big guy
 

Of course women could help you more than men because they are always on diets and we know about everyone out there there is. I wish you much success with your losing and you can call it your way of life from now on and be happy with what you do. I am an older lady who is trying to lose a lot of weight and so far so good. I went on low fat and a little of weight watchers. I like meat and don't think i would good on veggie diet, but some of the people in here could probably could give you some pointers. I wish you all the luck in the world.

abigi7:carrot:

Hi Pete, Good luck in whichever 'diet' you decide on. However, I think one of the most important things you'll have to remember is that at our age (and I am older than you) is that it won't be a 'diet' any longer, it is a lifestyle change.
I'm currently doing Weight Watchers and I wish someone could have gotten it through my head years ago that it did work and I wouldn't have been overweight and miserable all these years!!
Do you eat chicken or fish? They would be helpful in your diet but not necessary, I don't think.
Good luck and there is plenty of support here for the asking - this is the best site I've found.

Hi Pete :)

You've found a great place for support! I don't know much (or anything :dizzy: ) about vegetarian diets -- although I do eat some foods that are made for vegetarians like Quorn and Boca Burgers. Do you have an ideas about what kind of exercise you'll be doing?

Hi Pete, welcome to 3FC!

If you're in need of a buddy, you can PM me. I'm not a vegetarian, but I tend to minimize the amount of red meat I eat. I usually try to gear my food towards what's being promoted as a Mediterranean diet ... lots of plant-based food (fruits, grains, vegetables), fish or poultry maybe once or twice a day, olive oil instead of butter, etc.

Good luck! I hope you find this site as useful as I have.

Hello Pete. I'm fairly new here too (I usually just post in the journals section). I've been trying diets since high school...but nothing really stuck until last year. I've lost 37 over the past year, and have 48 more to go for my goal. I think that as we get older (I'm 35) it gets physically harder to lose weight...but mentally it gets easier. We are better prepared in our minds to accept that it won't be a fast fix and that we need to keep it going for life. Maybe that's why it finally started working for me...although it has not been easy and there have been many set backs over the past year. For setting goals, I find it easiest to set 2 goals. One is the BIG GOAL. The place you want to be when all is done (mine is 150). But, I find it hard to keep motivated because it's going to take me a couple of years to get to the big goal. So, I set a second, smaller goal to keep me going. My first one was to get under 200. I've just accomplished that...so now I am focusing on my marriage weight (174). It's a smaller goal to manage and I don't feel like giving up because it won't take me as long to get there.

Best of luck to ya!

hi Pete, welcome to this wonderful site, you will learn so much here, It has finally dawn on me that most "diets" don't work, like everyone is saying it is a "way of life" just have to change the way you eat. I haven't been here very long but I have cut way back on red meat and am really going after the beans, veggies and fruits. Best of luck to you, just keep at it.
Lynda

Hey Pete!

Welcome! I used to be a vegetarian (had to convert bcak to white meat due to money issues, isn't that sad!). You must remember to take a B12 supplement-very important since you wont be eating meat. Also, don't forget protein. You wil have to eat a variety of sources as most plant based protein is not a "complete" protein...but not all, you will have to go to the net for the ones that are complete, I don't know them off hand. Also remember that just because there is not meat does automatically designate the food healthy...a lot of new vegetarians do this. Here is some of what I know

Fats- omegs 3 very important! Olive oil really good too.

Protein sources- ToFu, Beans, Veggie burgers ( I like Boca, Licks are good too but high in fat, Garden buger) Nuts (in moderation due to high fat, but good fats)

Complex Carbs-whole grain breads, grains in general, brown rice, Whole Wheat pasta etc. Try to stay away from the "whites" they don't do much for you anyway

Veggies and fruit-well these are self explainable!

here are a couple of links http://www.veg.ca/ http://www.goveg.com/

Oh and I highly suggest borowing a copy of a vegetarian cookbook from the liberay-make copies of the recipies you like, this will help with variety when starting out!

Hope that help a bit on the vegetarian part...

Hey Pete,
First let me congratulate you for making the first step!!! Coming here and wanting to do something about the weight!!Like someone said earlier this is a life long battle so treat it as such! I do not deny myself anything If I trully want it I have it then I try to make up for it by behaving at other meals and not going overboard! I dont let my slip ups get me down and set me up for bingeing . Anyone can do this there is no magic potion or special pills , It boils down to cals eaten to cals expended and if there is a deficit in cals then you will lose if not you know the alternative (we all do) Exercise and healthy eating are the keys , but putting your mind to it and doing it are tougher but also neccessary!! You can do this Pete!! Do it for yourself get your degree and get the new body youve always dreamed of !! Welcome and I hope you fulfill your goals!!!

Wow!

First off let me say thanks for the replies filled with encouragement and information(are you all just hoping for some of that lottery money? :) ) If I had known I'd get this much help, I would have been losing weight a long time ago. Secondly, I have to apologize for not getting back on here sooner, finals week is coming up and I'm not finding any time to do anything but study.

Someone did private message me and say that I needed to give out some more info so here it is:
height 6'3"
weight 285
goal weight 230
weight loss philosophy: hmmm...hadn't really thought about it but it's probably something along the lines of "nothing to fear but fear itself" if you can figure out how to apply that to weight loss...
exercise plan: I'm just going to start out easy right now. I used to be overweight but with great stamina...now I'm just overweight. I need to get that stamina back first.
diet plan: Of course I have already mentioned the vegetarian thing, and thanks for the advice about that fitgal2 that will really come in handy. oh and lovesbassets I eat the boca burgers to but i've never heard of quorn, what is that?

I'm aiming to really start this whole thing in January, although I will start the exercise part as soon as school is out. Keep the advice and encouragement coming! and if any of you ever need any in return just let me know!

Hi Pete :)

Quorn is made from mycoprotein (fungi protein), but don't let that scare you! It's absolutely delicious (IMO)! It comes in cutlets, "roast" form, nuggets, and even "hot dogs." You can basically do anything with it that you would do with chicken or other meats. I don't eat chicken (or any other birds -- long story :dizzy: ) so it's a nice way for me to still enjoy recipes that call for chicken. It's a fabulous source of protein -- one Quorn cutlet is 200 cals, 10 grams of protein, and only 20 grams of carbs. And that's the (very, very yummy) BREADED -- higher carb -- version. I have yet to find the non-breaded version here in the U.S. (which is pretty much all I ate when I lived in the U.K.) The only problem with Quorn is that it can be tough to find. You'll need to check out a health food store or maybe a place like Trader Joe's. I'm lucky because the local organic grocery store sells it.

Good luck and keep us posted on how you're doing :) .

Hey! Now there's an interesting coincidence! I don't eat chicken either!

You know, I think my biggest problem is the fact that I have no nutritonal sense whatsoever...pardon me while I remove the cats gnawing on my toes...anyways what I mean is that I have never learned about all the protien, carb and fats stuff. I guess that's what i'm here to learn the most about.

Pete

What would you like to know about them? :)

Okay, Chapter One -- The Basics:

Carbs and fats are energy sources -- "sugars" -- which are converted into glucose in the bloodstream. If you take in too many fats/carbs for your bloodstream to handle, that glucose is stored in your liver. If your liver gets overloaded, the glucose is converted into glycogen and is stored as body fat.

Proteins (made up of amino acids) are the "building blocks" of muscle and other important things like the linings of your internal organs -- which is why eating things like beef liver, kidneys, etc. is so good for you :) .

Fiber is cellulose (carbs) from plants. Humans cannot digest fiber. The only creatures that can do that are the little micro-organisms that live in the stomachs of grazing animals like cows, deer, and goats -- which is why they can survive on hay and we cannot :). We humans get very little nutritional benefit from eating fiber. It's basically "Drano" that keeps your system clear (and also "fills you up," which is why many people eat a lot of fiber while dieting).

That may not be the info you were looking for, but it's a start I guess! LOL.

And please pardon my nerdiness -- I'm taking an animal nutrition course this semester :dizzy: .

Another good basic nutrition tip is that less processed food is usually best. Shop around the edges of the grocery store and brush up on your cooking skills :) Eat a wide variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Get those 5-7 servings a day.

I'd really recommend walking as a great way to gently get back your exercise stamina. Exercise will really help keep your metabolism up, give you more energy and make the whole process of weight loss so much easier.

Welcome and good luck!

Wow! things do move fast around here...disappear for a couple of days and suddelny your page 3 news! :P

Seriously though, Thanks Kate, that information is helpful. Let me ask this, Is it important in the way you mix the different things...or rather, can eating certain types of them, like protiens and carbs together, be more harmful than beneficial?...That just doesn't sound right...I guess I mean are there any types of food that I should not eat together because they cancel each other out or amplify the bad effects of each other? and it's not nerdiness if you are asked for the information right? :)

That's also some good advice Tani. I've heard about the eating less processed food but never really thought about just shopping around the edges of a grocery store. It makes sense though. Walking is what I'm doing with a little bit of trail hiking thrown in to supply the "intensity" part right now.

I'm actually lucky in that my body responds fairly quickly to exercise...I mean I get my stamina back pretty darn quick, but it sucks in that it seems like once I have to run 5 miles to everyone elses three just to get the same benefits...did that make sense? ok ok enough whining!!

I meant to ask you Kate, if I may, Where in the UK did you live?

Pete

errr...that should have read "...sucks in that it seems like once I have it back, I have to..."

sorry, those darn english classes are starting to rub off

Hi Pete,

Well, that's the basis of Dr. Somebody's theory in the UK (I forget her name -- maybe there's a Brit on the board who knows her name). I read her book -- and she has a TV show over there. I can't remember exactly what the "rules" are for her diet, but it's complicated things like "wait 2 hours after eating protein to eat carbs" and "never eat fiber before protein" or WHATEVER. There's no way on God's Green Earth I'd ever be able to follow her method.

So my point is, yeah, some people are "into" separating out foods by nutrient group and eating them at specific times. I'd go bananas trying to do that. I eat high protein, low carb, low fat. The protein helps me build muscles (I weight train) and also helps me HOLD ON to the muscles while losing fat. Carbs and fats are energy sources -- that's basically what a "calorie" is, an increment of energy (I think it's the amount of heat needed to raise 1 kilo of water by 1 degree Celsius). And of course as we try to lose weight the goal is to not have excess energy because that will get stored as body fat. So if you take in less energy and also burn more energy through weights & cardio, viola -- you have fat loss.

I lived in Buxton, Derbyshire. It's just about halfway between Manchester and Sheffield in the Peak District. Very pretty place :).

That's cool Kate! (<----notice the alliteration :dizzy:)

I'd never be able to keep up with it either. I read on another site that you don't want to have a really large calorie deficit either or your body goes into emergency and starts protecting all of the fat it has and starts chewing on your muscles instead. That's the reason starvation diets are not supposed to work well. Kind of spooky if you really think about it. Anyways, this guy said you should aim for a 9 or 10 percent calorie deficit but not anymore than that.

Ok not sure what just happened there...apparently my computer decided to post on it's own...and I notice that my smily in the other post is not working the way I wanted it to...ah well does anything ever do?

Back to the script! :)

Hey Machelle, thanks for the support and I'm here for anything you need to but I have to disagree about the fat just falling off of me...I mean I have my mother's hips!! :P

I also heard somewhere that it's a good idea to eat a high carb meal right after a workout...is that true or was that me just fantasizing again?

Ok, I gotta ask, does anyone here have pets? I have three cats that are just bonkers. I'm not sure if they are really as loving as they seem or just biding their time and stalking me in my sleep. I wake up sometimes in the might to see all of them sitting around me and staring...it's kind of disconcerting...keeps me on my toes though. :)

I was just asking Kate because I spent a summer in England when I was a little kid...my parents had lived there and had friends in Leeds. I've always wanted to go back and see if my memories match up with what's really there.

Pete

Hi Pete,

By "American standards" Buxton isn't all that far from Leeds -- only about 2 hours. Of course, that's considered a fairly long drive in the UK. One of my friends (who I lived with) was born in Leeds, and her Mum and Dad still live near there. So I've been up there a few times :) . I love Yorkshire -- the people there are fantastic (although sometimes I struggle to understand the Yorkshire accent :) ).

And you asked if anyone has pets. Ah, yeah. I've got a few :dizzy: .

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...roolSigFNL.jpg
Here's Kippy, Persie, Horatio, Winston, Zeke, Hector, & Paris.

I'm what you might call "an animal person" :D .

hmm...is that horatio hornblower, winston churchill, hector and paris of troy and persie which would be short for perseus?

LOL...okay:

Kippy came with his name (he's a rescue), "Persie" is short for Persephone -- the ancient Greek goddess of springtime, Horatio is named after Horatio Cain on CSI: Miami, Winston & Zeke are named for characters on TV shows that were cancelled YEARS ago, and yes, Hector & Paris as in The Iliad :) .

I used to teach ancient history ;) .

That's cool. There's absolutely nothing wrong with ancient history...we'd probably have less trouble in the world if more people payed attention to it since we pretty much just make the same mistakes over and over:mad: ...although now that I think of it I'm not sure you can claim "ancient" for a name from a "TV" show hmmm... :) (Persephone is the one who takes of to hades to spend half the year with Vulcan right? and I'm racking my brain trying to remember tv shows with zeke and winston in them...zeke really rings a bell and I know of about 3 winstons from tv. :?:

Anyways being an animal lover is cool! I'm one myself. The only reason I don't have more right now is because I don't see myself being able to take care of them the way they should be with me getting ready to move and all.

I hate to say this too because most people look at me really funny when I do but I would much rather have animals as my kids than to ever have real :barf: kids. :o excuse me...

LOL...I should have said, "I used to teach ancient history & I watch too much television" :D .

And yeah, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and (because she ate 6 pomegranate seeds) she had to live with him 6 months of the year. Her Mom (Demeter) was the goddess of the harvest and her depression during those 6 months means nothing grows -- therefore, we have seasons. I named Persie after Persephone because half of her face is white and the other half is brown -- very strange markings for a Basset.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...nkat/AvtrD.jpg

And to solve the mystery: Winston is named after the character Winston McBride on a 1990s show that I think was called "The Marshal." The show starred Jeff Fahey, who I had a crush on at the time. Zeke is named for Zeke Anderson from "Tour of Duty," which was cancelled in 1989 or so. I had a crush on him, too (Terence Knox).

I think I'd rather have animals than kids, too. At least at this point in my life. I love to travel, and you can't just toss children into a boarding kennel.

:)

Hey! I remeber the show "The Marshal" or was it "The U.S. Marshal" ? I really liked that show. I always got a kick out of him running around in the Converse Hi-Top sneakers(which of course were "THE" thing about that time. HA! I gave serious thought to joining the U.S. Marshals because of that show. :) I remember "Tour of Duty" also but I didn't get into it as much. I think I was mainly watching "Lois and Clark" and "The X-files" in 1990's...Teri Hatcher and Gillian Anderson don't you know :) Yeah I watched tv waaay to much too.

Ahh...persephone and hades(whose ROMAN name was vulcan) I thought it was something like that...I just couldn't remember where everything fit together. I tend to get all of the Greek, Roman and Norse pantheons mixed up and when you start throwing in Chronus and his titan crew I begin to break down and cry...kind of ugly really...about the time I start pulling my hair out…lip swollen from chewing on it…the cats have long since left the room when my eyes get that slightly mad look from trying to keep all of the gods and goddesses, demi gods and monsters and plain heroic mortals straight. Good thing I don't study ancient history (hey! ever notice that this is one of those exceptions to the rule I before E except after C...or did I just misspell it?) ok I'm just babbling now...I'll stop...no more about that...kind of annoying isn't it?...'k I'm done...

So travel is your forte? I like to travel to...let me ask this if money were no objection where would be the one place you would go?(and the question is open to everyone) I think I would make a major excursion around the world with long stops in the UK, Nepal, New Zealand, China and Tibet...of course I wouldn't want to leave out Australia, Spain, France and Russia...ok well suffice it to say the only thing I'd leave out right now is the Middle East.

About pets, I'm hoping to get my degree in Political Science and than make a career out of campaign elections (legacy of watching to much West Wing on tv :) ) So I've been thinking about what I'll be able to do with the cats while I'm doing that because I know that it will involve wuite a bit of travel right? and I'd hate to kennel them that much. I've come up with paying the neighbor kid to take care of them while I'm gone...which carries with it the possibility that all I'll really be doing is providing a home to the neighbor kids pets or taking them with me which carries with it other troubles. Of course this is in the future so I have time to work it out but you get the idea. Any suggestions?

I didn't say it before but you have great looking animals!

does anyone know anything about tendonitis? specifically tennis or golf elbow?

I think the title of this thread is offensive. "little women?" puhlease

How come it's a guy that finds it offensive when all the women on here have not seemed bothered by it? I think everyone else understood that I wasn't making fun of any of the women on here, in fact I admire them and am hoping that they will share a little of their wisdom and support with me. I'm not sure that they would appreciate you trying to make something out of nothing.

by the way, when you stand a foot taller than most other people, saying the word "little" isn't offensive it's factual.

I am not a "guy". I am a 37 year old female. Eddie is my son's name. I'm not trying to make something out of nothing. I find the title offensive and stated so.

I apologize for assuming you are a guy then and I'm sorry you feel that way about the title. I didn't mean anything offensive about it.

Pete

Thanks Pete. I too apologize for saying it was offensive. Maybe I am hormonal! lol :)
Georgie

hmm...I think I might be hormonal now-a-a-days too. :)

Seriously though, does anyone know anything about tendonitus? specifically tennis or golf elbow?

Hello all,
Krynallyn, I don't know much about tendonitis but I suffer from runners knee (patellofemoral syndrome) and quadricep tendonitis. I injured myself when I was weight lifting about a year ago. I was apparently lifting too much weight. I researched remedies and finally found a website that said that a person with quadricep tendonitis probably has to have their muscle released by a neuromuscular massage therapist, which is what I plan on doing. What type of tendonitis do you have?

I'm not sure what type it is but I know whenever I lift weights the muscle along my forearm just past my elbow and the tendon that passes along the back of my elbow swells up and feels sort of like when you have shin splints. The odd thing about it that I can rest it and ice it and everything else but whenever I go back to lifting it does it again. it doesn't matter if I use light weights either. I was wondering if it's sort of like once I have it it never goes away or if I'm not rehabilitating it correctly or something is wrong and it's not healing right.