I can answer weight loss/exercise questions and give nutrition tips!

[hrdlife1]

As most everyone knows here, I recently lost 86 pounds (went from a size 22 to a size 3-sometimes 5) and have devoted myself to living a healthy positive lifestyle I also learned many things from a personal trainer and would love to share those tips with you I can also provide lots of support and motivation if you need it

[cutie_pie]

Congrats on your success

I need to lose weight. My main trouble spot is the spare tire around my midsection. I am fine other than for that!

I have cut my calories, stick with lots of low fat yogurt (for calcium, since I hate milk and most other dairy), eat lots of veggies and salad (I hold the dressing, to avoid even more calories), walk about 2 miles every other day, do step-aerobics each morning, and ride a stationary bike while watching tv, and drink TONS of water.......and I still have not lost a pound! I am 29, am I perhaps at an age where weight is harder to lose?

I am very frustrated. I have been doing htis for about 3 weeks now, and was hoping to see some physical result.....I do notice I have more energy and all that, but I want this fat gone. I know results aren't instant, but even at a pound or two a week, I am thinking I should be seeing some loss.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.


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[hrdlife1]

WOW!! THAT IS FANTASTIC WHAT YOU ARE DOING....now some questions:

Have you just started, you say you've been doing this for 3 weeks now, is that it? So far you are doing really well, however don't start out doing so many things or you're going to burn yourself out...you'll do really good for a month or 2 and then you may just not want to do it anymore...I started out with WALKING on the treadmill for 45 minutes and doing 200 situps a day (baby tummy times 2 ya know ) EVERYDAY....well, after about a month and half i got so burned out and frustrated for the same reason as you...and that's when i started talking to a personal trainer well actually a few that worked at the gym LOL!! and they told me that it was good i was so motivated but i may have been OVER working my body more than working it...so i cut back to walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes 5 days a week but i still did my situps everyday (which i still do, i dunno what it is but it seems like as soon as you have a baby you just lost that elasticity (sp?) in your ab muscles) and i really started to see results!! once my body got used to being active after i had been inactive it really started to respond to it when i took it a little more slowly...you may want to try walking and just walking for a bit...after about 2 months i was able to go from walking on the treadmill for 45 minutes to running for 20

now about the food...it blew my mind when i learned this and i couldn't believe it but it's true...be VERY careful and read ALL your labels on the fat-free/light/lowfat foods...most of the time they add A LOT of sodium to make up for the 'taste' that the fat added to the product and if that's the case just buy the regular...it's actually better for you that way, seriously...i went NUTTY on the fat free stuff, that's all i would buy...and when food has alot of sodium in it it's almost just as bad as all the fat because the sodium is gonna stay in your body and turn to fat whereas your body naturally bypasses A LOT of fat right through your system...so what i would do would be compare the sodium amount in the regular product and the amount in the fat-free, you'd be amazed!! now if it's low fat and low sodium you should be ok but a lot of fat-free/light/low fat products may take out the fat but they are gonna compensate somehow for the 'taste' so watch out for that....

also something that i learned that took me awhile to get used to is actually EATING all day long...i couldn't believe this, before i had been going all day and then just eating supper, well when you do that you are putting your body on "starvation mode' so when you do finally eat you are ingesting EVERYTHING that is in that food...ALL THE FAT..ALL THE SODIUM...all that yucky stuff that if you weren't "starving" your body would just flush right through ya...the key is to get your metabolism going lickety-split first thing in the morning..if you just eat supper your metabolism doesn't have time to get going before you go to bed...yep, i had to relearn how to eat, it was very odd LOL! one place that does have fantastic tips on eating and portion sizes (portion sizes are also VERY important) is [Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] my mother in law has been doing that and walking everyday for 8 months now and has lost 54 pounds herself!! she also had to learn how to eat
this is what i eat in a typical day:

breakfast: a piece of toast or a yogurt...and LOTS of coffee (lol )

snack: some crackers and cheese, or a peach, or bag of carrots, or wasaba 'bread' and strawberry cream cheese OR some grapes.

lunch: some kind of microwave meal (i work so i can buy 5 of these for a week and stick 'em in the freezer at work which is good costs me about $5 for the week for lunch or i'll bring a turkey sandwich with mustard (i hate mayo so that's good, it's funny though i didn't hate mayo until the personal trainer told me it was like eating straight LARD and ever since then it makes me sick to look at it lol) some kind of fruit (a peach or grapes most of the time lol) and some applesauce or something...sometimes i'll bring the little lipton soups and eat those...

snack: sometimes i skip it (bad) but most of the time it's crackers or grapes if i'm hungry lol

dinner: whatever the heck i want LOL...seriously at suppertime i cook like i normally would for my family and myself...and i eat a nice supper always

now sometimes i may snack on some carrots or something after that but not always...i DO power drink water after that too, it has an amazing way of filling you up that's for sure LOL!!

another good thing i did because i know myself was that i picked one day out of the week to have a "cheat day" and on my cheat day i ate WHATEVER i wanted..it mostly ended up being saturdays...and if i wanted a piece of chocolate cake well by god i ate that piece of chocolate cake and didn't feel a bit guilty about it...if i wanted a beer or a real soda or whatever then i had it and that was that....that way i didn't feel like indulging for the rest of the week because i always know i have my cheat day coming and i do SO well staying away from the bad stuff the rest of the week

the BEST thing i did however, was i switched from regular soda to diet soda, drank more water than a fish (like you're doing VERY GOOD!!!) and cut FAST FOOD COMPLETELY OUT...for the first 3 months i ate NO fast food...and then on my cheat day if i wanted pizza then i had it, or taco bell or whatever.. LOL...you would not believe how BAD i mean just bad fast food is for you ugh! i used to have somewhere a list that the personal trainers gave me that has exactly how much fat and calories are in fast food and all the food you can eat (i mean even APPLES lol) and if i can find it i'll email you and if you'd like i can make copies of it for you and snail mail it to you it really helped me out a lot!!

i know it's frustrating, i got so frustrated so many times, thankfully i only took it out on myself on my cheat days LOL...but i know...it took me about a year to lose all the weight i wanted to lose but i did it...and now since i have been doing it so long it seems weird to be "bad"...once you start and stick with it you'll never want to go back...it does happen but like all things it just takes time...but the first time you go in to try on clothes...and your size literally falls off you...it will be SO worth it...i just about cried the first time i could fit into a size 10 again...my best friend katie was jumping up and down and crying with me when i came out of the dressing room screamin "omg look LOOK IT FITS!!!" LOL!! you stick with it cutie-pie and i'm right here if ya need me, or you can email me anytime, i know you can do it, you've already made an OUTSTANDING start!!!


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[cutie_pie]

I started walking from time to time over the summer (not too regularly though). I have only been doing the whole shabang for about the 3 weeks.

WOW!!! I can be eating MORE. Well, isn't the body funny. I thought the less I ate the better, when really I have been setting myself up for starvation mode.....figures!

Those tricky food labels Who would have thought the real thing could be better for you. I just mentioned this to my sil and she said she heard awhile back that some low fat versions have MORE calories than full fat (she couldn't have told me this earlier
lol!!)

Sit-ups are my worst thing to do. I have been working at it and can only do between 20-25. I tried those side to side ones.....OMG!!!! they hurt like crazy! Was lucky to do a couple. But I guess I can work my way up to a decent amount. Gotta
p-a-c-e myself, I guess

I would love to know about the fast food.....I know that it isn't healthy, but just how unhealthy should be interesting!

Thanks again. I will let you know when that darn old scale budges It is irritating seeing no weight change, but I will give it time, after all i know i didn't gain this overnight, so I cannot expect to lose it overnight either (though it WOULD be nice to be able to, lol)



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[Jennifer M.]

If you are willing to pay this booklet is one of the best I have found. It has just about everything you want to know about fast food and their nutritional values. I was quite impressed!!

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Another thing I learned (the hard way) the Market Fresh Sandwiches @ Arby's are LOADED with calories and fat. They sure seem healthy...but I banned those from my life completely! LOL


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[cutie_pie]

Originally posted by Jennifer M.


Another thing I learned (the hard way) the Market Fresh Sandwiches @ Arby's are LOADED with calories and fat. They sure seem healthy...but I banned those from my life completely! LOL


[/size] [/b]

Doesn't it figure! I am surprised to learn of all of the things that are tauted as being healthy but really sabotage all our good efforts. I haven't had a Market Fresh Sandwich, but the ads do make them seem healthy, now I know better

My pet peeve about fast food is the salads----if i am out shopping with a friend and we stop to eat, I think okay, I will be good and get a salad, but so far, both McDonald's and Wendy's have had the soapiest tasting salads, not to mention the tendancy to not be all that fresh. I personally do not find wilt, or a 1/4 inch of water at the bottom to be appetizing. I skip the dressing, so wow, the soap flavor is very noticeable.

Tricky labels, misleading ads, Why do they have to make it so difficult?


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[Jennifer M.]

Straight From The Arby's Website!

Roast Beef & Swiss - 810 Calories / 42 Fat Grams
Roast Ham & Swiss - 730 / 34
Roast Chicken Caesar - 820 / 38
Roast Turkey & Swiss - 760 / 33
Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon - 880 / 44

You are right about the salads. Actually McDonald's used to have wonderful salads. I loved their Chef Salads. Then they went to those "McShakers!?!" What's up with those? They really messed up when the went to those.

The only thing I ever eat @ Wendy's is a small chili. I'd rather eat grass than even attempt their salads LOL YUCK!!

Other than that, no other fast food place besides Subway even attempts to have a healthier menu or even have a few items worth eating!


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[tealight]

O.k., not trying to weazel out here, but I absolutely hate the taste of water. Tastes like dirt to me, tried various bottled~~dirt! I have to try something in it's place for it to be a long term deal for me, so.... Is it ok for me to make that water into kool aid and use the pink packets as sweetner? Or maybe a lemon or orange with the pink packets?

[cutie_pie]

those new flavored bottles of water.

I saw them at Wal-Mart and their ad(s) on TV.

I have never had them, so I don't know what they taste like.

I think pretty much all of the main bottled H2O companies have their versions, so there should be a good variety.

Me, I prefer the plain bottled water, I LOVE it, even my son loves water, if we go out to eat, he asks for water (or milk, which I cannot stand--blach, milk!) I guess it is an aquired taste, as I used to prefer soda/iced tea (sweetened of course). Now, soda and the tea are rarities (anyone notice Coke and Lipton stock plummeting, lol,???)

I hope you find something you like Oh, I think the flavored water has the artificial sweetener in it.


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[Jennifer M.]

I can hardly stand to drink water either, but I just put a slice of lemon in it, squeeze in some of the juice and it goes down ALOT better!!


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[rafala]

My dh lives on the veryfine, fruit2O. It is flavored water with splenda, think they just changed to that recently. they have lots of flavors, orange, strawberry, rasberry, lemon, lime, grape. but if you dont mind squeezing the lemon and putting in the packet of sweetner i see no reason whay that would any different, and would probably cost less As long as water is the main ingredient it is water i would think, although i always wonder if tea is considered water???

happy drinking

karen

[hrdlife1]

I buy that for the kids instead of koolaid...but as for adding sweetner (lemon or orange or whatever is ok) to water i don't think that's a good idea because the sweetner may negate the good effects of the water....like the fruit 2 0 is good but i think it does have a little sweetner in it....the idea about drinking the water is to keep your body hydrated and the more hydrated you are the better your chances of CELLULITE breaking up in your body....so if you add the sweetner you may have to drink 2 glasses of water instead of just one to compensate....i may be wrong though, i'll have to check but i could have sworn i was told that when i wanted to put sweetner and lemon in my water LOL!!

now as long as it has lots of ice to munch on when i'm done, i can drink lots of water


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[VALPAL]

HELLO, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME....BUT I AM JUST STARTING TO EAT RIGHT AND LOSE SOME WEIGHT. I HAVE LOST 6 POUNDS IN THE LAST 2 WEEKS SO THAT IS A START. MY QUESTION IS THIS. I WALK EVERY NIGHT AT THE HIGH SCHOOL AND I NEED TO KNOW IF I AM TO EAT BEFORE OR AFTER I EXERCISE. PLEASE HELP! THANK YOU

[mjlallen2004]

my problem is i can go on a diet but then i cheat and it's so hard to get back on it. how do you handle relapses?

[misothere]

Hate plain water?

TRY THIS.......
Use the flavored bottled water to "add" to plain water just for a "hint" of flavor.

OR......
Try Herb Tea with Honey chilled (many flavors & my favorite is "Perfect Peach").

I'd stay away from diet sodas as much as possible too.