VJ Losers ;)

[Fandango 1,440]

*bump* because I have something to say, and also because I'd like to keep this thread going too...

Ok, here it is. I am in serious need of all of you to kick my butt, encourage me, yell at me, scare me, whatever works. Yes, I have made some changes the past couple of weeks...I've eaten a lot more fruits and veggies and no potato chips...but I've slipped many times too. I've had a LOT more water and very little Coke...(just a few, but I used to drink 1 to 3 a day!!) I have NOT, however, exercised, at ALL. I lost 50 pounds before simply by modifying my eating and walking...I know without the exercise it's not going to come off and I just cannot seem to get my butt motivated! I think about it, talk about it, and don't do it. I know, IVERY MUCH KNOW it's just an excuse, but I"ve always been one of those people who is VERY warm in the summer..all the time...I feel like I'm melting. Well, it's been about 90 degrees even way up north here very day this week and no letup until midweek next week...I'm hot sitting down much less walking...then there's the back thing and whatever else is going on with me and blah, blah, blah, blah, BLAH. I know they're excuses, because even if I couldn't do as much as quickly as I did before, I could at least walk a *little* bit and get going. I need some *serious* motivation.

In a little bit I'm going to read this entire thread again...I thank ALL of you who have posted some great tips here...I'm going to see if I can get "pumped up" again by going over them.

I have been depressed over my weight anyway, and then since I quit smoking I've gained TWENTY pounds!!!! Most of my clothes from last summer don't fit, and I was nearly in tears this afternoon trying to find something to wear to my friend's house to help her get ready for her son's graduation party last year. I normally just wear jeans because I'm embarrassed over my legs (that are too chubby!) but it was so hot today I just couldn't..and it was SO depressing trying on my summer clothes. That should be motivation enough, but UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. This is, just like I thought, *nearly* *but not quite!* as difficult for me as quitting smoking was. (Which, by the way, has been over for me for FIVE months on the 22nd!!!)

Please help everyone...YELL at me or something!!!!!!!! Any doctors that can scare me about my weight and bmi that is WAY too high??? M.

Michelle, what I'm about to say is harsh, but meant in a non-nasty way. I hope you take it in the spirit in which it's intended.

No one can make you do this but you. You've put forth all the reasons WHY you need to do it...you know already. So why is that not enough for you? Don't get me wrong, I know everyone loves support of 'you can do it' and I do applaud you for your quitting smoking & weight loss thus far. You are on the right track. But nothing here can MAKE you exercise if you don't want to.

You don't need a doctor on here to yell at you for your bmi....if you feel it's wayy too high, then you know it already. Yell at yourself. The accountability lies with you.

I'm not saying this to be a biotch...ironically, I think the most motivation you can get is realizing that this only matters to YOU...in the sense of it's no sweat off anyone's nose here if you weigh 100 or 500 lbs. Whether you do it or not won't make a diff to anyone here but you. YOU need to be your main source of motivation or else this is going to be impossible. It's a hard hard road...most of us know that. And I am a firm believer in the fact that if you don't want it so bad you can taste it...then it's not going to happen.

I relate it to money...it's strange, but true. How many of us here see things and are like 'If I had a million dollars, I'd buy...' Well your weight loss costs nothing! You don't need to pay for it in dollars, only sweat. And guess what...you have an unlimited supply in that, lol. This might not make a lot of sense to anyone but me...but it's like getting the most valuable thing you could never afford to buy for yourself...and you don't have to pay for it, you only have to sweat for it!

I wish you all the best of luck & hope you are successful in your quest.

[Marilyn. 340]

I found this site the other day .... Cooking Light

it looks like it has a bunch of good recipes... and there are also reviews from people who have actually tried the recipes.... i have plans to try out some of them....

[de_sjiem 0]

Count me in as well.. I would like to lose about 40 - 50 lbs... I've been biking and doing some strength training exercises, and am on day 10 today... (yay!)

Steve is definitely right about the hfcs problem here in the states... its everywhere and it just makes you fat... my hubby and I are both working towards keeping it out of our diets...

My main problem is how much my weight fluctuates... It can vary by as much as 5 pounds within a day! Makes it kinda hard to keep track of my weight, but eventually, there is an average decrease...

[Aymerlu 3]

Yeah!!!! I'm down another pound! I kinda thought it would be more since I walked a total of 10 miles last week. Hopefully next week will show more than a pound gone.

[Mrs.J06 4]

What it comes down to is that I'm fed up with being a "fat girl". One of the guys at work passed comment on how hot one of my colleagues is the other day, and although he didn't mean anything by it, it sat in my mind and has actually given me quite a crisis of confidence. I know that once upon a time I used to be pretty (although I was never "hot"!), and I just don't feel pretty anymore.

I think ChristinaM mentioned the best motivation you can have for losing weight: Being not satisfied with yourself any more + health issues due to weight. If one has reached that point it should be possible to stick with exercise and healthier eating.

I mean really being dissatisfied, not just mildy unhappy! Some people reach that point very quickly after they only gained a few pounds, it takes longer and more pounds for others. For me, it's last year's summer clothes. If they don't fit any more, I've had it. I start exercising and eat less. Plus, getting a thruthful answer from my husband ("yes, it would be nice if you'd lose a few pounds") did it for me, too. I know he loves me, but he thinks I'd be hotter if the winter pounds would be gone again! Fair enough, he's almost 50 and looks ways better than most men I know in their 30s.

Michelle, I think the hardest part on getting more exercise is getting started. Once you start going to the gym/going swimming, walking or bicycling or whatever you are doing it makes you feel so much better about yourself, and you WANT to go!

It just that first time of getting into a routine that is hard. Try what you like doing best and fix three days a week to do it - no excuses! Better yet, find somebody to drag you along!

[Itsmeitsmeitsree! 0]

I'm down about 2lbs in the past couple of weeks.

Was on the treadmill way early this morning, and my pedometer registered 12,000 steps by 8am!!

My last appointment for the 6 month medical weight loss (required by my insurance company for gastric bypass) is July 5. The changes I've made in the last months will make the TOOL (not a quick fix, but a tool) of GB be successful for a lifetime.

[MichelleandCraig 1]

Congratulations on you two for losing..woooooooooooooot. You LOSERSSSSSSSSSS.

Lisa, I'm not offended. I know you're right, and actually, I knew all that already, but it never hurts to hear it I suppose. Thanks for the wishes.

I'm bound and determined to do better this week and have so far I think. Not showing any weight loss yet though. I know exercise is going to be absolutely *key*. M.

BTW, MrsJohnson, totally agree with your entire post.

Edited June 20, 2007 by MichelleandCraig

[one...two...tree 2,762]

(For those who've been struggling with excess body fat all their lives)

Apologies for stating what seems the obvious, but those of us who have dealt with excess fat all our lives can and should look at two things over our lives' history - diet and exercise. There's just no getting around that. The other harsh reality is that if we're already well into adulthood, it will be extremely difficult to do a completely radical change in our lifestyle...because that's what it is about - lifestyle. Those who tend to be sedentary are not going to feel motivated to suddenly cram their weekends with one physical activity after another. If you prefer a bacon double cheeseburger over carrot sticks, you're almost guaranteed to fail repeatedly. In fact, most of us here already have histories of trying to lose excess fat and failing.

IMO, the focus should be about reinventing your lifestyle, or gradually evolving into one where you are more physically active and eating more nutritionally, not on losing fat. The fat loss will follow. Instead of measuring progress based on weight changes, measure your progress based on keeping an honest diary of your diet and exercise.

Focusing on weight reduction is addressing a symptom (only one of several symptoms - just is the easiest one to see) instead of treating the disease (unhealthy lifestyle). Diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, gall stones, etc., should be bigger motivators for change, but unfortunately they rarely are.

[rob&ana 0]

For me the worst about gaining weight is my self esteem, I don’t want to go anywhere, I don’t feel pretty in anything (even if it’s brand new) and I don’t feel sexy anymore. I started going to Zumba classes, which I love I have to say, it’s really good cardio exercise. I am not doing anything about portion control or dieting… yet. I’ll get there, one step at a time (been travelling, it doesn’t help that Italy has some really great food).

And it’s also true that once you start exercising and it’s something you like you’d stick to it. That’s why I like the Zumba and aerobics classes. I’d love to go bike riding, but I know I am definitely old now, that the thought of falling off a bicycle gives me terrors, but I guess that my advice is to just think about something active that would be really fun for you, and try it. If you enjoy and it’s good exercise then repeat.

It’s also true that our body kind of adapts to exercise and refuses to work calories off when you stick to just one thing. I had a trainer, that told me: when in the treadmill try to give you body some jolts, as in, if you’re walking at a speed of X miles per hour, try running for a minute, and then go back to walking again. It’s supposed to burn more calories. The same applies to weight training, you want to change your routines (either by changing muscle groups or by using different machines), so your muscles don’t retain the information and work out as if it were the same time.

I am not going to preach about food, because I am certainly not doing well at all as of right now. But luckily I will get there when I come back home, and also I will have a week off where I’m going to organize my pantry and do some food preserving (healthy food) and I will exercise more.

The thing about losing weight is, that when you’re not losing you’re not motivated, but when you do, then you want to keep doing whatever it is that you’re doing to keep on losing… I haven’t lost… I am not sticking… but I will, I promise…

Congratulations to all you losers… and keep on losing… to the ones of us that aren’t losing, let’s loosen up (maybe not) and starting losing….

[MichelleandCraig 1]

Great posts, you two. Couldn't agree more. But didn't you mean...losen up and start loosing? Hehehe.

My Dad worked at GM for over 30 years, so he gets an employee discount. I know it has to come from within and all that...I DO get that...but I also know I/we want/need a new car reaaaaaaaally bad..with my past credit (couldn't be helped, but not going into it! ) I won't get one on my own anytime soon. Going to ask Dad if I lose 65 pounds and have a full-time job for six months if he will cosign one of the cheaper GM models for me. I like a few of them, and I don't have to have an expensive car to be reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllyyy happy with it...just a niceish newer one that runs without drawing all kinds of attention to us! (The muffler just fell off our older one )

Anyway, hopefully that will be my motivation..we'll see what he says. M.

[Krikit 1,165]

Great posts, everyone. Couldn't agree more with the statement that once you start exercising, you begin to feel good about yourself and it makes you want more. The danger is going beyond more than one day of not exercising. Do NOT take more than one day off if you can help it. You'll end up right back where you started.

The way I see it, the main impediment to my success is to lose my sense of discipline. I need to remember that discipline means structure, and I need to structure my days to purposely make time for exercise.

The one thing I've noticed about exercise is that I gain more energy the more I do, which means that I can get more things done in a day than if I'm not exercising. Having a sense of accomplishment is important to me. If I don't feel I've accomplished something then I begin to feel bad about myself. When I feel bad about myself I lose motivation. When I have structure and discipline I have a sense of accomplishment and regain motivation.

Here is my structure for this morning: Do a quick review of VJ then GET UP AND GET SOME EXERCISE!!!

Ciao VJ'ers!

[Mrs.J06 4]

The one thing I've noticed about exercise is that I gain more energy the more I do, which means that I can get more things done in a day than if I'm not exercising. Having a sense of accomplishment is important to me. If I don't feel I've accomplished something then I begin to feel bad about myself. When I feel bad about myself I lose motivation. When I have structure and discipline I have a sense of accomplishment and regain motivation.

I absolutely agree! When I exercise in the morning, before going to work, I'm able to concentrate much longer, and I don't seem to fall into the 11 o'clock hole like I do when I don't exercise. I'm also more motivated to get a light, healthy lunch on those days, since I already feel good about myself and don't want to spoil it by eating a fried fast food lunch!

We'll see how the get-up-and-exercise-in-the-morning routing goes in winter, when it's dark and cold....

[Cassie 8]

I've done something kinda silly, but I think it will help to motivate me. I've made up a list of rewards for each milestone (each ten pounds lost), with each reward getting better as I get closer to my overall goal. I'm looking forward to crossing off everything on the list!

[ChristinaM 0]

Cassie, I don't think that's silly. As long as you don't give in and treat yourself when you don't make the goals, it's an excellent motivator. In fact, it's such a good idea I'm going to sit down and think about what I really want too, so that I can do the same!

[Cassie 8]

Cassie, I don't think that's silly. As long as you don't give in and treat yourself when you don't make the goals, it's an excellent motivator. In fact, it's such a good idea I'm going to sit down and think about what I really want too, so that I can do the same!

hehe the hubby won't let me! I had lots of fun making the list