2019 Weight Loss Group


SpiritDragon
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6 hours ago, SpiritDragon said:

I'll be out most of the day, but look forward to reading about how it goes.

It took about 15 minutes to do the four exercises, 15 reps each (except the reverse lunge, which I did 16 times, otherwise one leg would have to do more than the other, and that's hardly fair), 3 times.  It left me breathing hard and straining ye olde muscles by the end of each round - I'm assuming that's the goal.  I'm actually looking forward to making this a habit and seeing improvement.  (It's kinda shocking how quickly the muscles atrophy without you noticing it until you need to do something that used to be easy years ago.)

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2 hours ago, zil said:

It took about 15 minutes to do the four exercises, 15 reps each (except the reverse lunge, which I did 16 times, otherwise one leg would have to do more than the other, and that's hardly fair), 3 times.  It left me breathing hard and straining ye olde muscles by the end of each round - I'm assuming that's the goal.  I'm actually looking forward to making this a habit and seeing improvement.  (It's kinda shocking how quickly the muscles atrophy without you noticing it until you need to do something that used to be easy years ago.)

Awesome. Yes the point is to be working hard enough that you do more than your body is accustomed to so that it adapts. From the strengthening and endurance side of things that is lifting heavier loads and doing more repetitions, from the cardiorespiratory fitness side of things that is creating a need for increased oxygen delivery requiring increased blood distribution which is accomplished in the short term by increasing heart rate to keep up demand, but in the long term adaptations take place where all throughout the circulatory system your body gets better at handing off oxygen where it's needed and the heart adapts by being able to pump more blood per stroke so the heart rate doesn't have to increase as much at the same workload. It sounds like you worked at a sufficient level to elicit adaptations in all of these areas which is wonderful.

Now you'll have to let us know if you experience any residual soreness in the next few days. A little is good, and I'm strange enough to kind of like it, but too much is just unpleasant and likely means one has overdone it. I suspect in a short but intense 15 minutes you may have a little soreness, but hopefully nothing crazy.

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Good news: I got in an extra workout before curling by pebbling 4/5 sheets, which was basically walking along the entire practice hockey arena with a tub of hot water strapped to my back while waving a metal spraying rod back and forth the whole time. Bad news: it was my first time, so I was sloppy and got my shirt so soaked that it was still wet two hours later. Also, my entire right arm is sore. 

Good news: I got a bit of exercise when I shoveled the driveway before work this morning. Bad news: I don't think it helped the arm any (although sleeping on it during an after work nap probably did more damage) and it kept snowing, effectively making my work ineffective.

Good news: I have consumed way fewer calories than normal this weekend. Bad news: it's mostly because there is a nuclear attack on my sinuses that hit me Fiday morning. My eye has leaked at least five times and I've gone through a quarter box of Puffs already today.

Edited by seashmore
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I have been doing so much freaking digging that I'm thinking I just might end up with a classic triangular torso.  But I gotta keep working on those situps.

I went out to dinner with the Empress for date night.  I had an interesting way of keeping the calories down.  At Olive Garden, I had two bowls of soup, one breadstick, and a few bites of the actual meal.  I took the rest home and had it for lunch today.

And I've been having a lot of grapefruits lately (with the big haul from our tree).  So I thought with all that, I'd see some improvement.  Nope.  Gained 5 lbs in the past two days.  Gotta be water.  But I've really been dehydrated lately with all the physical labor I've been doing.

I can't make sense of it.

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Well, this week I went out once to Taco Bell, and a second time I took my wife out to a lunch date at a steak house...

Then last night also went on a Dinner Date with my wife to a Diner, had chicken fried steak. 

Ate a little better though, slowly.  Had some meals brought from home for lunch this week.  I felt hungry many times in the afternoon.

Haven't lost much weight yet...people in this thread seem to lose weight quickly.  I'm no match for them.

I DID buy a scale for my home, I suppose that's an improvement.  I still have to take it out of the box.  I think I'll put it in the bathroom as that seems to be a popular place for them.

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Are we still food logging?

On 1/11/2019 at 3:51 PM, SpiritDragon said:

Wow, You guys have been busy today. @unixknight thank you for your trust in the group and courage in getting personal. I think the better we all know each other the stronger our bond and the more effective we can be keeping each other accountable as well as an increased sense of responsibility to help each other.

This thing needs to work.  I have a bunch of things I've been putting off for years because of my girth.  I want to skydive, I want to ski and I'm a big fan of IndyCar and Formula 1 racing... there's a track not far form here where you can actually drive an open wheeled race car around the track... but you have to be able to fit safely in the car...

I'm 44.  Young enough that I can still do these things safely, but old enough that the clock is ticking.  And while my doctor tells me all my blood work is good, that ain't gonna last forever unless I get fit.  It's a miracle I'm not diabetic.

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Amen Unix!  I caught this bug around my early-mid 40's too.  Now I'm 5-6 years into it, and have many successes to show.  

- At my best, I was 30+ lbs under my all-time high.  (Right now I'm 15-20 under.)
- My 3-digit weight had a "2" in it for the first time since high school.  For almost a year.  (It's back to a "3" now, hence all the effort I'm putting into this thread.)
- For the first time in my 4+ decades, I am doing real pushups, not just from the knees.  (I even can stick my legs on a bench, and push up from the floor, though not much.)
- Many benefits of pushups, but probably the most rewarding is that when I'm eating right, my chest sticks out more than my belly. (Without me puffing the top one out and sucking the bottom one in.  That's lying!)  That hasn't been a thing since 1986.
- My original motivation back 5-6 years ago: I had joined my work's medical response team - and as we went to our first real call, all the timid people were letting me lead the way, and I was out of breath and slow just walking across the building.  I figured never again.  Now I can do a cross-building speed walk justice.

Effort brings consistency and habits.  Those lead to a changed lifestyle and reaching those life goals.  You can get yourself into skydiving shape and rock that indy car.  All it takes is a short period of time of painful effort, and then a long period of time of refusing to let go of your better lifestyle.  You got this!

 

 

Edited by NeuroTypical
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7 hours ago, JohnsonJones said:

Well, this week I went out once to Taco Bell, and a second time I took my wife out to a lunch date at a steak house...

Then last night also went on a Dinner Date with my wife to a Diner, had chicken fried steak. 

Ate a little better though, slowly.  Had some meals brought from home for lunch this week.  I felt hungry many times in the afternoon.

Haven't lost much weight yet...people in this thread seem to lose weight quickly.  I'm no match for them.

I DID buy a scale for my home, I suppose that's an improvement.  I still have to take it out of the box.  I think I'll put it in the bathroom as that seems to be a popular place for them.

Everyone loses weight at different rates so don't get hung up on that. A lot of the time it's due to water retention, bloating, inconsistent bowel elimination - especially when the weight fluctuates often and quickly. Try not to feel like you are being left behind if others appear to be making faster progress. Consider when Roger Banister did "the impossible" and ran a mile under four minutes, the record only lasted a couple months, because suddenly the impossible was possible. So while he ran that distance faster than ever recorded before, instead of getting discouraged, other athletes took that as their cue that they could do it too. Try to think of it in the latter frame of mind. If others can do it, you can do it too.

I'm glad to hear that you are eating a little better, how did you feel about the week? 

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6 hours ago, SpiritDragon said:

Everyone loses weight at different rates so don't get hung up on that. A lot of the time it's due to water retention, bloating, inconsistent bowel elimination - especially when the weight fluctuates often and quickly. Try not to feel like you are being left behind if others appear to be making faster progress. Consider when Roger Banister did "the impossible" and ran a mile under four minutes, the record only lasted a couple months, because suddenly the impossible was possible. So while he ran that distance faster than ever recorded before, instead of getting discouraged, other athletes took that as their cue that they could do it too. Try to think of it in the latter frame of mind. If others can do it, you can do it too.

I'm glad to hear that you are eating a little better, how did you feel about the week? 

Overall, it is busy.  Work is spinning up again and everything had to be good to go.  This coming week is going to be even crazier I think and then, hopefully everyone settles into the routine of things for the next few months.

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26 minutes ago, JohnsonJones said:

Overall, it is busy.  Work is spinning up again and everything had to be good to go.  This coming week is going to be even crazier I think and then, hopefully everyone settles into the routine of things for the next few months.

That certainly makes things tricky, especially when starting on new behaviours. Over time you should have it mastered enough that even during a hectic weak your default is fairly healthy and balanced for energy. Try to keep it simple with one key focus over this next hectic week.

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On 1/12/2019 at 7:15 PM, SpiritDragon said:

Now you'll have to let us know if you experience any residual soreness in the next few days. A little is good, and I'm strange enough to kind of like it, but too much is just unpleasant and likely means one has overdone it. I suspect in a short but intense 15 minutes you may have a little soreness, but hopefully nothing crazy.

Yes, some soreness, but not too much.  We'll see how it goes as I repeat the process.

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@SpiritDragon, mark me for a big fat F last week.  And the event last Saturday pretty much concludes the challenges I'm facing.  So, last Saturday, I went with my son to the farm so he can put the plaque on the pig pen structure that he built to conclude his Eagle Project (yeay!).  I walked around the farm and almost passed out.  I believe it was bile reflux (felt that acute stomach pain, clammy cold feeling, bile rising to the back of my throat, then my vision hazed, felt lightheaded, and almost passed out).

So yeah.  Don't ask about a doctor.  My doctor is in the Philippines.  I'm not headed there until June this year.  Meanwhile, I'm going to have to experiment on myself with my health goals - so you're probably going to pull your hair out yelling on your computer - Just see a doctor, woman!  Ain't happening until June.

Edited by anatess2
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4 hours ago, anatess2 said:

@SpiritDragon, mark me for a big fat F last week.  And the event last Saturday pretty much concludes the challenges I'm facing.  So, last Saturday, I went with my son to the farm so he can put the plaque on the pig pen structure that he built to conclude his Eagle Project (yeay!).  I walked around the farm and almost passed out.  I believe it was bile reflux (felt that acute stomach pain, clammy cold feeling, bile rising to the back of my throat, then my vision hazed, felt lightheaded, and almost passed out).

So yeah.  Don't ask about a doctor.  My doctor is in the Philippines.  I'm not headed there until June this year.  Meanwhile, I'm going to have to experiment on myself with my health goals - so you're probably going to pull your hair out yelling on your computer - Just see a doctor, woman!  Ain't happening until June.

That is exciting for your son.

As for you, let me start by asking you about a doctor :) Is your doctor in the Philippines a situation where the doctor in the Philippines is the only one who you trust, or is there a situation where you can't really be seen by an American doctor for some reason? I respect your right to make decisions for yourself, but if we were meeting in person I'd have to stop working with you until you had a doctors note explaining you're okay or setting limits on your activity - especially because of the feeling lightheaded and almost passing out which can signal heart trouble.

As for giving you an F, I want you to remove that type of thinking. Instead of looking at the week as a failure, I want you to look at it for information that is empowering. Look for the times where you did not follow through on your plans and try to determine the critical moments that lead up to each one. Perhaps, if you could give some specific examples of where you fell short of your plan, I can help you find some of those critical moments. If you look at days/weeks where things do go well and those when they don't you should be able to find extremely useful information that will help you move forward. Thus, I'll gladly give you an A for information gathering so long as you choose to take a look at what events lead to what and work on strategies to limit the risk of it happening again.

 

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A note to everyone about critical moments -

Critical moments are moments of decision that lead to either a single event/action or cascade of events and actions. It is really helpful to look at what critical moments lead you to positive and negative actions. 

Examples:

The person who over-eats when eating out at such'n'such with so and so. This person may need to either not socialize with the person who tends to be an accomplice in over-eating, or work to turn this accomplice into a "friend" of the desired behaviour. This is an important distinction because often friends are the worst accomplices when it comes to poor behaviour patterns. Another option may be to simply eat somewhere else. By changing the environment, the pattern of events may be broken. It could be worth exploring this first or doing both. Perhaps, the eating somewhere else means not eating out at all, but eating in.

The person who struggles with pornography viewing late at night all alone with a screen. This person is much less likely to break down into this habit by simply not allowing themselves to be alone with a screen after hours. The critical moment preceding inappropriate searches is simply being at the TV or computer/device alone. This may mean planning to get any work or games done when family or room mates are around.

 

Edited by SpiritDragon
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Just now, SpiritDragon said:

That is exciting for your son.

As for you, let me start by asking you about a doctor :) Is your doctor in the Philippines a situation where the doctor in the Philippines is the only one who you trust, or is there a situation where you can't really be seen by an American doctor for some reason? I respect your right to make decisions for yourself, but if we were meeting in person I'd have to stop working with you until you had a doctors note explaining you're okay or setting limits on your activity - especially because of the feeling lightheaded and almost passing out which can signal heart trouble.

As for giving you an F, I want you to remove that type of thinking. Instead of looking at the week as a failure, I want you to look at it for information that is empowering. Look for the times where you did not follow through on your plans and try to determine the critical moments that lead up to each one. Perhaps, if you could give some specific examples of where you fell short of your plan, I can help you find some of those critical moments. If you look at days/weeks where things do go well and those when they don't you should be able to find extremely useful information that will help you move forward. Thus, I'll gladly give you an A for information gathering so long as you choose to take a look at what events lead to what and work on strategies to limit the risk of it happening again.

 

The stomach issue is something I've always battled with since I was a little girl.  My dad had the same issue.  You know my dad is awake because you can hear him burp from any part of the house.  This is something that is a result of several things but in my case it is usually these things - 1.) Unbalanced nutrition causing hyper acidity - like drinking soda (which I've been doing lately), or 2.) Lack of oxygen (can happen when I'm in a throng of people, or in a place that has unpleasant smells so I take shallow breaths, or when I'm oxygen depleted from exercise), or 3.) Stress.  So last week, I started the week with flu-like symptoms (I'm in a part of the country where we are turning on the heater during the night time and turning on the AC during the day time, and the weeds can't decide whether to sprout or dry up.  This usually causes me some physical challenges trying to acclimate), and I'm still battling SAD, and then I had that stomach issue.  All in one week.  Nothing I haven't dealt with before.  It's just annoying.

American doctors do not know how to treat patients.  They don't look at you as a person with a medical history, they look at you as an insurance card holder.  So, unless you already got a major diagnosis - like if you're a cancer patient, or a cerebral palsy patient, etc. - American doctors trying to diagnose a patient is like watching a 3rd grader trying to solve the problem of what is pi squared using the Insurance Policy Approved Protocol.  And usually, they just end up pushing you a prescription to deal with the symptoms instead of looking at the problem holistically.

 

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Good news: I weighed 2 lbs less this morning than I did the last time I weighed myself, and I was wearing shoes this time.
Bad news: my arm is almost completely out of commission for the next 3-5 days according to my PA.  It hurts all over (forearm and bicep/tricep) when I try to extend it in any direction, so even yoga is out.  She thinks I did something to irritate a nerve that's along the side, kind of near the armpit.  It most likely happened while napping, since I know I would have said something to the Dr. at work on Saturday if it had hurt even half this badly at that point.  Came home, took a nap, woke up in pain.  Who knew napping was an extreme sport?  Nap safely, my friends.

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I've given back 2 of my 3 cheat day gain.  2 more to go, to continue towards my goal.

I'm eating well and exercising.  This is not a "starve myself thin" diet.  Today: Breakfast-yogurt.  Lunch-chili. Snack-apple.  Got 1400 cals for the day left on my plan, I'll shoot for 1000.
Exercise: 30 morning pushups.  Wellness center before lunch, 3 sets of different weight exercises.  Focused on upper body today because I have a sore calf for some reason.  

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31 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

I've given back 2 of my 3 cheat day gain.  2 more to go, to continue towards my goal.

I am taking thins to the extreme; I had a perfect opportunity for a cheat day on Friday (Movie theater outing with work), and I took a pass.  I am going to try and reserve my first cheat day for when I am really craving it; we'll see how it goes.

That said Keep it up!  Alas, I have not yet been exercising as part of my weight loss this year.

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