2019 Weight Loss Group


SpiritDragon
 Share

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, pam said:

I don't have any of those but can always purchase.  Yes you are right.  I have Crohn's disease.

You certainly won't need to buy anything to start with. They offer some convenience and new variety of options, but truly are not a requirement for general fitness. The hardest muscle group to work without equipment is the pulling muscles of the back (technically all muscles are pulling muscles, but we often think of certain groups as pushing and others pulling) and the elbow flexors that typically work together with the back in upper body pulling exercises. However, with some common household items you can find ways to work your whole body reasonably well - it just sometime requires a little ingenuity. For instance, to work those pulling muscles you can do an inverted rowing exercise underneath a sturdy table (this would be like an upside down push-up where you lie face up and grab onto the ledge of the table while holding your body stiff like a board and pulling your chest to the underside of the table). If this is too advanced at first you can bend you legs  so that the leverage is more favourable and you are pulling less of your body weight. You can also get some assistance from your legs at certain angles with your legs bent. Another option could be as simple as using soup cans for biceps curls or a back pack full of text books and cans from your food storage and doing bent over rowing.

Also, pushing exercises like push-ups are great for building your upper body pushing muscles, but they may be too hard at first. Try doing them against a wall where you really don't have much to push. If that's too easy, and the floor is too hard try various levels on your staircase so that your feet are at the bottom and your hands at perhaps the third or fourth step, as these get easier you can lower down to the second and then the first step before ultimately doing them on the floor.

For you leg muscles doing body-weight squats is a great way to start as well. when you need more weight you can always add that back pack with encyclopedias and so on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, SpiritDragon said:

You certainly won't need to buy anything to start with. They offer some convenience and new variety of options, but truly are not a requirement for general fitness. The hardest muscle group to work without equipment is the pulling muscles of the back (technically all muscles are pulling muscles, but we often think of certain groups as pushing and others pulling) and the elbow flexors that typically work together with the back in upper body pulling exercises. However, with some common household items you can find ways to work your whole body reasonably well - it just sometime requires a little ingenuity. For instance, to work those pulling muscles you can do an inverted rowing exercise underneath a sturdy table (this would be like an upside down push-up where you lie face up and grab onto the ledge of the table while holding your body stiff like a board and pulling your chest to the underside of the table). If this is too advanced at first you can bend you legs  so that the leverage is more favourable and you are pulling less of your body weight. You can also get some assistance from your legs at certain angles with your legs bent. Another option could be as simple as using soup cans for biceps curls or a back pack full of text books and cans from your food storage and doing bent over rowing.

Also, pushing exercises like push-ups are great for building your upper body pushing muscles, but they may be too hard at first. Try doing them against a wall where you really don't have much to push. If that's too easy, and the floor is too hard try various levels on your staircase so that your feet are at the bottom and your hands at perhaps the third or fourth step, as these get easier you can lower down to the second and then the first step before ultimately doing them on the floor.

For you leg muscles doing body-weight squats is a great way to start as well. when you need more weight you can always add that back pack with encyclopedias and so on.

This is awesome.  It lets me know that at least I was on the right track in how I can get started with the easier push ups at first and the squats.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, SpiritDragon said:

You're awesome. It sounds like you've already started!

I'm winging it on my own.  I really have no idea what I'm doing.  hahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jan 2 Food:

Lucky Charms and almond milk

rice, grilled chicken breast, grapes, diluted pineapple juice (1/4 juice to 3/4 water).

Snack size bag of potato chips and 7-up (I was thinking this would suck to have to write on the journal if I give in to the chips craving.  I get an F for self control.)

Honey glazed chicken wings and rice

pandesal dipped in coca cola (I was dreading laundry as my washer was broken for a few days and left a mountain to wash.  Ate the pandesal a few minutes before midnight because I was feeling sorry for myself).

I’ll do better tomorrow.  I bought some carrots.  Yeay me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, pam said:

I'm winging it on my own.  I really have no idea what I'm doing.  hahaha

If you start with three main exercises to get your major muscle groups you'll have solid foundation. 

Might I suggest the body row sometimes called the inverted row, the push-up with some level of modification as required and squats. You can set a kitchen timer for 1 minute and do each exercise for 1 minute straight. If you do this simple three minute routine almost every day you'll build a great foundation of limb strength and endurance. You can feel free to repeat the sequence for more sets to get more results, but even one set of each will be enough to create adaptations if you are working to the point that your muscles are near fatigue at the end of 1 minute.

Here's some videos to help demonstrate:

You can also consider doing them from your knees among other possible modifications as needed. Let me know if you need some help with any of these.

Three minutes on most days of the week should be enough to really let you start to feel stronger. Just make sure that your working muscles feel some fatigue at the end of one minute of each exercise, if not try to make the exercise harder or be sure to repeat for two or three sets. You'll get the biggest return on investment out of the first set, especially if it is done right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

57 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Jan 2 Food:

Lucky Charms and almond milk

rice, grilled chicken breast, grapes, diluted pineapple juice (1/4 juice to 3/4 water).

Snack size bag of potato chips and 7-up (I was thinking this would suck to have to write on the journal if I give in to the chips craving.  I get an F for self control.)

Honey glazed chicken wings and rice

pandesal dipped in coca cola (I was dreading laundry as my washer was broken for a few days and left a mountain to wash.  Ate the pandesal a few minutes before midnight because I was feeling sorry for myself).

I’ll do better tomorrow.  I bought some carrots.  Yeay me.

Excellent. I appreciate the honesty as well. It will also help if you can document the amounts, i.e. 1/2 cup and so on as well as what you were doing when you ate it, or just prior to eating. This becomes important because there might be a pattern of a certain activity triggering eating certain foods. It helps to identify those patterns so you can build strategies to address concerns. For instance, I've known people who eat several candies throughout the day because they keep a dish of M&Ms and so on in a high traffic part of their living space. By getting rid of the dish, they get rid of the extra munching that it brought about. Some people tend to eat while watching TV, this may mean they need to rewire a habit of watching TV while drinking water, or better yet watching less TV. A generally true rule is that it takes a habit to overcome a habit, so be looking for good habits to replace old ones that aren't so good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, SpiritDragon said:

Also, pushing exercises like push-ups are great for building your upper body pushing muscles, but they may be too hard at first. Try doing them against a wall where you really don't have much to push.

I second this notion.  Pushups rock.  I had to recover from shoulder surgery with 6 months of painful physical therapy.  Eventually they had me try one standing wall pushup.  I just stood next to a wall arms length away, put my arms on the wall, and lean towards the wall and back to standing.  It was embarrassingly difficult, I was sweating after doing one.  The next day I did two.  The next day, three.  Eventually I stood further back from the wall, which made it harder.  Then I started doing them against high tables.  Then a chair, then a stool, then a really low step.  Day after day, week after week.  I did not push myself hardly at all, my only goal was to do just a tiny bit more than I had the last day.  My muscles had atrophied and I was building them back slowly.

It felt really good 3-4 months later, doing my first real pushup I had ever done in my life.  There in my mid '40's.  Now I do 30 of them once or twice a week, and 30 from my knees when I fall out of bed in the morning.  It's a great sense of accomplishment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I thought the Pepsi withdrawal was over after Saturday. I was wrong. I was comically, catastrophically, absurdly wrong.

All I want to do right now is sleep. My head hurts, I have zero energy and if anybody says anything to me that's annoying they may well go through the plate glass window behind me near my cubicle. I work on the 8th floor.

 

I'll start today's food log now, and edit the post as the day goes on.

Breakfast: A tuna sandwich 

Nursing a bottle of lemon water

Lunch: Brought a bowl of leftover black bean soup

Snack:  A couple hunks of beef jerky

Dinner: Gonna have some fried rice, General Tso chicken, and a spring roll.

 

Edited by unixknight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, unixknight said:

So I thought the Pepsi withdrawal was over after Saturday. I was wrong. I was comically, catastrophically, absurdly wrong.

All I want to do right now is sleep. My head hurts, I have zero energy and if anybody says anything to me that's annoying they may well go through the plate glass window behind me near my cubicle. I work on the 8th floor.

 

I'll start today's food log now, and edit the post as the day goes on.

Breakfast: A tuna sandwich 

Nursing a bottle of lemon water

Lunch: Brought a bowl of leftover chili

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with lemon water today. Water should help flush your system of anything causing withdrawals, although sometimes they seem to be not physiological, but psychological. Either way sufficient time should do the trick. Hang in there!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, SpiritDragon said:

That'll do it, but it isn't pleasant or healthy. I do hope you're mostly kidding :)

No worries, I was.  I have a specific diet I have used many times which has been successful for me.  This will be the third time I will have used it over the past 5 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, SpiritDragon said:

I'm sorry to hear that. Good luck with lemon water today. Water should help flush your system of anything causing withdrawals, although sometimes they seem to be not physiological, but psychological. Either way sufficient time should do the trick. Hang in there!

Oh I'm hanging in there... I have to.  I actually feel slightly revolted by the thought of having a Pepsi right now, mainly because I'm mad at it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jan 3 Food:

Woke up 9AM

1PMish:  2 cups rice, 1 can tuna, 1 tbsp soy sauce, approx 16 ounces water with about a tbsp of orange juice.

4PMish:  chicken pot pie (chicken, green beans, carrots, onions in pie shell and sauce), approx 16 ounce water with about a tbsp of orange juice.

6PMish:  2 choc chip cookies and approx 16 ounce Coke zero.

9PMish:  4 pieces of tortilla chips, ~16 ounces water with ~1tbsp orange juice

12AMish:  1 animal cracker and ~4oz water.

Went to bed 3AM

Hubby asked me to go to the gym with him.  I wanted to say yes but ended up saying no because... there are lots of mirrors in his gym.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, unixknight said:

Today's food log:

Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana sandwich

Lunch:  Dunno yet

Dinner: Frozen pizza probably, as it's D&D night

And lemon water to sip all day.

As it plays out if you can share the time you are eating and how much of each food item that will create a better picture of what changes to make. This is still helpful, it's just a lot more useful with a few more details. For instance, did your sandwich this morning have a whole banana, a skim of peanut butter and two thin slices of bread? Was the bread white, whole grain, home made? Tonight how many slices of pizza, what size is each slice etc. Are you eating the pizza while playing D&D and so on.

Edited by SpiritDragon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, SpiritDragon said:

As it plays out if you can share the time you are eating and how much of each food item that will create a better picture of what changes to make. This is still helpful, it's just a lot more useful with a few more details. For instance, did you sandwich this morning have a whole banana, a skim of peanut butter and two thin slices of bread. was the bread white, whole grain, home made? Tonight how many slices of pizza, what size is each slice etc. Are you eating the pizza while playing D&D and so on.

Gotcha.  Yeah can do.  Maybe it would be better for me to just post the whole thing the next day as others have done.

The sammich appears to be regular white bread, a whole banana and a couple tbsp. of peanut butter.  (I didn't make it so I'm estimating.)  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, unixknight said:

Gotcha.  Yeah can do.  Maybe it would be better for me to just post the whole thing the next day as others have done.

The sammich appears to be regular white bread, a whole banana and a couple tbsp. of peanut butter.  (I didn't make it so I'm estimating.)  

Estimates are the best any of us can do with most foods :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Midwest LDS No pressue, but it sounded like you were planning to join our weight loss journey and I haven't seen you take part yet. I would like to know how best to help you get going.

@JohnsonJones It appears you are also planning to work with us here. I'll look forward to hearing more from you and seeing if the group and I can't help you along. It sounds like a great thing you have going with the university gym.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have high hopes.  It seems that I was doing really well for decades, and then around 10 years ago I just started gaining a lot more weight.  It's been a few pounds each year, would have to lose around 20 KG (~45-46 lbs) to get back to what I weighed 20 years ago at this point. 

I'm thinking about including intermittent weight training to what I do rather than just running around in circles on the track.  I should probably also buy a scale at home rather than just relying on the ones at the university to help me.  I can weigh myself at home regularly then to see how much I am succeeding or failing.

One big obstacle I probably will face is that I love to go out and eat at the nearby restaurants during the day.  It probably will be healthier for me to eat a sack lunch or food from home than eating out each day.  That one may be the toughest of all the items to do as it just seem so much easier to go out and eat than preparing and than taking a lunch (plus if I eat in the office people will want to talk to me when I am eating my lunch whether or not I claim it as a lunch hour or not).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, JohnsonJones said:

I have high hopes.  It seems that I was doing really well for decades, and then around 10 years ago I just started gaining a lot more weight.  It's been a few pounds each year, would have to lose around 20 KG (~45-46 lbs) to get back to what I weighed 20 years ago at this point. 

Have you had a chance to watch the video I posted earlier about the importance of strength training for weight loss. It covers the very thing you are talking about. As we age we tend to pack on the pounds more easily and it considered to be largely due to slowing metabolism, but 90+% of that is simply due to lost muscle. So while gaining muscle now, won't quickly turn things around, it will help stem the tide and help you stop gaining at the same rate.

1 hour ago, JohnsonJones said:

I'm thinking about including intermittent weight training to what I do rather than just running around in circles on the track.  I should probably also buy a scale at home rather than just relying on the ones at the university to help me.  I can weigh myself at home regularly then to see how much I am succeeding or failing.

I half expected you to say you were going to start intermittent fasting. I'm not quite sure how you define intermittent weight training, but it sounds like a great idea. from my perspective since rest days should naturally be incorporated I would suppose almost all weight training to be intermittent from the perspective that it isn't performed continuously and endlessly. If your plan is to train with weights 2-3 times per week with rest days in between, I think you're moving in the right direction. Running circles on the track can still be useful too. It doesn't have to be strength instead of aerobics or cardio instead of weights, it can definitely be an effective blend of both. Same for diet, no reason to pit diet against exercise, just use sound nutrition and exercise together.

1 hour ago, JohnsonJones said:

One big obstacle I probably will face is that I love to go out and eat at the nearby restaurants during the day.  It probably will be healthier for me to eat a sack lunch or food from home than eating out each day.  That one may be the toughest of all the items to do as it just seem so much easier to go out and eat than preparing and than taking a lunch (plus if I eat in the office people will want to talk to me when I am eating my lunch whether or not I claim it as a lunch hour or not).

I hear you there. That is the biggest challenge for most people. It's really hard to put the instant gratification of yummy food on hold for the ongoing satisfaction of general health and weight management. Especially since the effects aren't quick so you don't notice an immediate decrease in vitality from over eating or surge of new health by eating one salad, but you do notice that a bacon double cheese burger calls out to your taste buds. I have talked a bit in some of the other posts about the importance of making a vivid picture of your default future if you continue on the path you're on. This can help to overcome the draw of instant gratification by poignantly and painfully putting an image of yourself in a few years by giving in. It also helps to make plans to help redirect your attention. For instance, it might be worth investigating changing the route you drive home if it takes you past a great temptation daily. By not going right past it you are far less likely to just happen by.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/3/2019 at 8:05 AM, NeuroTypical said:

 It was embarrassingly difficult, I was sweating after doing one.  The next day I did two.  The next day, three...

 Now I do 30 of them once or twice a week, and 30 from my knees when I fall out of bed in the morning.  It's a great sense of accomplishment.

... and this is why my friends have taken to calling me Milo of Croton :)

Keep it up and you'll be amazed at where you can end up. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share