The Great Loose Weight Thread

[Mad Matt]

Depinux, yer welcome, mate. These things take time and dedication. Baby steps, mate. Yer doin' good, so far. Jest keep it up. Even working in a kitchen. Get in the habit of keeping celery or carrot sticks in the fridge with ranch dressing. I had one day I ate that ALL day long and not much else (a couple hard-boiled eggs, I think). That day alone I lost 5 pounds. Not recommending doing that on a consistent basis, but whenever you get the urge to eat and don't want to cram yer gullet full of Mac 'n' Cheese.

In Re: Scales.

If you're going to use a scale, don't use a regular scale. Spend 60-80 bucks and get one that measures body fat. That way you don't have to worry about whether you're measuring body weight or muscle weight. Look at 'em online or check out your local home goods store (Linens 'n' Things, etc.). The military used to use BMI and my weightlifter roommate was told he was "fat" according to the BMI.

Broadside, you're taking a good step. There are TONS of bodyweight exercise only people. There's no need to go to a gym unless you want to do weights, aerobics or cardio machines. There's another good book for bodyweight exercise written by Pavel Tsatsouline. It's called "The Naked Warrior". You can check it out at dragondoor.com or see if your library has it. Pavel has written many books (as you will see) and is a regular columnist in SEVERAL bodybuilding (natural, I might add) and fitness publications.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

[LongTom]

Welcome aboard, Mr. Long! Glad to see yer signin' the articles here. Your regimen sounds like a good one.

Depinux, what Matt and "Broadside" said. The hardest part is to just keep going in the face of no apparent progress. Sometimes you seem to be getting nowhere, then you have a breakthrough.

I was feeling discouraged at the beginning of this week, because after a vacation the scale was all the way back up to 190, erasing half my loss since February. Four days later it reads 182 again. I'm not sure how that happened (screwy scale, maybe? extra water from eating salty stuff?), but hey, I'll take it.

I've also had times where the scale isn't budging at all for weeks at a time, but my clothes fit differently, and my body is visibly changing. I'll trust the mirror and the new notch in my belt. Scales don't know fat from muscle. When my spare tire is gone, I'll call it good, and throw the scale off a cliff.

[LongTom]

My 2 cents on the subject of water: a good filter does wonders. Many places the tap water is just nasty. W.C. Fields notwithstanding ("I never drink water. Fish fornicate in it.") , actually making it pure and clean before partaking might change your opinion of the stuff.

[blackjohn]

Humid walk today... and my walks keep taking me into Borders, where I've been checking out a new book on pirates that looks very good!

[blackjohn]

My 2 cents on the subject of water: a good filter does wonders. Many places the tap water is just nasty. W.C. Fields notwithstanding ("I never drink water. Fish fornicate in it.") , actually making it pure and clean before partaking might change your opinion of the stuff.

Ha! I don't think I have ever heard that one! Makes me want to resurrect my WC Fields avatar!

Nice day for a walk. Humidity and temps are quite lower than yesterday. And I got to see the line of Harry Potheads forming up at Borders!

["Broadside" Long]

Broadside, you're taking a good step.  There are TONS of bodyweight exercise only people.  There's no need to go to a gym unless you want to do weights, aerobics or cardio machines.  There's another good book for bodyweight exercise written by Pavel Tsatsouline.    It's called "The Naked Warrior".  You can check it out at dragondoor.com or see if your library has it.  Pavel has written many books (as you will see) and is a regular columnist in SEVERAL bodybuilding (natural, I might add) and fitness publications.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

I think I have almost all of Pavel's books, LOL! I plan on adding weight training soon, but first I'm trying to become "proficient" with my own bodyweight. If you're also interested in the low-tech approach try these websites:

www.rosstraining.com

www.gymjones.com

Ross Enamait is a boxer I think. He's in phenomal shape and has some good tips on developing functional strength.

Mark Twight runs Gym Jones (they trained the Spartans for the movie 300). He's also a mountain climber so fitness is literally a matter of life or death for him. He posts the day's workout on the website so that you can follow along. He has some very interesting ideas on fitness such as never doing the same workout twice so that you're body has to continually adapt. It's also worth visiting they're site to see the transformation of some of actors from 300.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

The military used to use BMI and my weightlifter roommate was told he was "fat" according to the BMI.

I wishes the person who devised BMI all manner of ill will. Life insurance companies will give ya the shaft too even though ya be far fitter than their baseline average. Crikey, I gots a 39.5 BMI

[LongTom]

Pulled weeds all weekend. Groan. Thirty bags of crabgrass to dispose of, and still not done pulling. At least the fire department will be happy with the fuel load reduction.

On Saturday I got up and the scale read 185. By the end of the same day it read 180. (And no, I didn't completely forget to hydrate.) Scale weight is mighty variable; don't take it too seriously. Trends, yes; day-to-day, no.

[Mad Matt]

The quickest way to get discouraged is to weigh yourself often. I look once a week.

[Red-Handed Jill]

I don't look any more - at one point, I was getting smaller, but the scale said I was weighing more. So I guage it on how well my pants fit.

[blackjohn]

I know that one well. If I haven't stepped on a scale, I can judge by how well my reenacting clothes fit. At the event on Saturday, my waistcoat felt a little looser than at the last event.

Walking... I can get into this!

[blackjohn]

Did my walk again today. Didn't notice the heat and humidity when I started out, but by the time I got back it was getting scorchio!

["Broadside" Long]

Okay, I was unable to workout for four days in a row! I worked out Sunday - Thursday last week and figured I'd take Friday and the weekend off to avoid overtraining. Then my dog got sick (again!) and I had to take Monday off as well.

Tuesday was a kick in the pants. I thought I was well hydrated over my break, but my workout proved otherwise. And I just felt slower and lethargic overall.

I'm back in the saddle now though and I won't be taking that many days off in a row if I can avoid it.

[blackjohn]

That's the key, or a key, stick-with-it-edness! Keep on truckin'!

I did a walk early today, because by the looks of the sky, it may rain today. Of course, 70% of the corn in Maryland is bust because of the drought we are experiencing, and I can't think of the last time I saw a rain shower...

[LongTom]

I went rock climbing last night, and after (all too quickly) wearing out all the muscles pertinent to climbing a wall, finished up with the rest of my regular weight workout.

I kind of fell out of the habit of the weights, after vacation schedules interfered for a couple of weeks. I recommit to three FULL weight workouts every week. Not only do I lose weight more consistently when I do the weights as well as the biking and walking for my commute, but I look better keeping the muscles in working trim (cue Arnold Schwarzenegger voice "Ve ah heah to pomp you op!")

It's not all backsliding, though. I'm up to 35 situps per set, or 105 per workout.

[Red-Handed Jill]

My ribs are starting to feel okay enough that I've started doing my crunches again (200, three times a week.) I started walking again last week and I think after this weekend I'll be able to get back into lifting weights.

And I've been figuring out ways to gently cut out even more calories, so my medium pants are starting to not feel so tight. It's a long way to my fighting weight, though - it's damn near impossible for women at my time of life to lose any appreciable weight but I'm determined.

["Broadside" Long]

Thanks for the encouragement Blackjohn. Keep puttin' one foot in front of the other!

LongTom, I tried indoor rock-climbing once. Holy crap what a workout. I'd like to try it again, but no rock gyms around. Wait...I do live near the Rockies!

I also need to start some serious ab work. I used to think the core workouts were just a lot of hype, but boxing really put that into perspective. It involves the core muscles a lot.

["Broadside" Long]

I've been trying to kick the coffee addiction this week. Pounding headaches really sucked but I think the worst is over.

Still did my workouts everyday though!

Next I'll try to kick the Dr. Pepper habit. I think that's gonna be tough.

[blackjohn]

Ooooooooooooooo... you have my sympathy. I've tried kicking the coffee habit with little success. The best I did was six months. And yes, I know that headache well. After trying for years, I modified my commitment from kicking the coffee habit to kicking the $tarbuck$ habit. That was easier to do. But still, when I walk buy one like I did just now on my lunchtime walk, I do feel the slightest tug. Not that I've given up $tarbuck$ completely, I do hop in now and again, but five times a week gets a little crazy!

So, good luck!

[Jacky Tar]

Started runnin' again, after almost twenty years. Me legs feel like lead. The family was impressed, first time out I ran almost a mile wit' out stoppin'.

This is crazy, but I'll try fer three times a week. Runnin' an walkin' over three miles, wish me luck.

[Mad Matt]

Welcome aboard, Jacky! Way to go! An entire mile without stopping is GREAT! Even if it's just a little shuffle instead of full-on running!

Your body will take time to adjust to the impact again. Please, take it SLOW!

For those, like Jacky, who are just starting to run, there is an excellent scheduled plan available here:

Couch Potato to 5K

["Broadside" Long]

Kicking the coffee was hard. I've been dragging in the morning. Just this morning I woke up looking forward to a cup then I remembered...oh yeah, I'm trying to quit.

I used to work in a coffee shop, that's how my "addiction" started.

Good job on kicking the Starbucks habit, Blackjohn. I'll bet you have many more doubloons now!

I would like to start running again like JackyTar, but I've been having some hip problems the last few years. Could be Army service related, I don't know. I miss running.

Crappy workout today. Felt like I was gonna hurl after just a few minutes. But at least I did something!

[LongTom]

Weights last night. Bike 5 mi/walk 1.5 mi to work all week as usual.

I've been trying to add a serving of protein in the morning. That seems to help with hunger early in the day. Without it, I tended to get into my lunch supplies at 10:30 or so, and then have to struggle with the rest of the afternoon.

I also bought a big bag of carrots for when I'm feeling munchy in the evening. Better than crackers or the cereal box. Chewing gum helps too (sugarless of course).

[blackjohn]

Four hours to cut the grass is just way too much exercise...

["Broadside" Long]

I didn't have a chance to workout on Tuesday, so I had a brutal workout on yesterday. Today I just jumped rope for 20 minutes.

Uh, I should say I attempted to jump rope for 20 minutes. I can go about 1.5-2 minutes before I step on the rope. But, that's a huge improvement over a month ago.

Planning another intense workout tomorrow!