Diet and Exercise?

Duke wrote: So, what's the protip for when you hate exercise and always have? And for finding time to do it anyway when you area already an hour short of sleep a night?

I despise exercise as well. Good thing that I love hockey and golf. Don't mind swimming as much as any other exercise, but it sure isn't my favorite. Find something you like to do. Think outside the box--water skiing, wave runners, digging a hole, splitting wood, bike to work, walk to work, take a walk during your lunch break, take the stairs and not the elevator...

Try starting your day with 15 pushups and 25 situps right out of bed--shouldn't take more than 5 minutes--add in a 15 minute walk at lunch, parking in the farthest spot you can, and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. You've just burned xyz more calories.

I find that riding a bike is the best way for me for now. The only issue for me is finding a good local place to do it. We have a middle school up the street from our house that is fitting the bill for now, and there's a really long uphill winding driveway to get there. We have been throwing the bikes in the truck, driving up the hill, and riding circles around the school with the dog lately, but I'd like to be able to climb that hill without the need for the truck. That's my short term goal.

I joined Weight Watchers in Dec 2012 at almost 400lbs. I was always fat but active until I started driving buses, then I really gained weight. WW breaks everything down into points and then gives you an amount you can eat daily based on weight height ect. It really put into perspective how bad certain things are like the big cookie I would grab in the train station every day that is about 1/3 of a days points. They also have an app that had the value of pretty much everything including almost every restaurant and you can track everything right on the phone.

Once I started losing weight I started walking more and lifting some weights. I am down 90 lbs so far and would probably lost more but I tend to do poorly when I get too busy and stressed, like this past week when I ate almost nothing but grease and sugar while running around.

April 2012 was 6'6" and 245.

Cut sugar, cut portions, ate lots of salads at dinner, ate a banana and a protein shake and protein bar for breakfast instead of "lumberjack breakfast"...and began riding stationary bike 30 min/day. By June was 215. Still about 220 a year later...eating same but working out less.

By the way, I should add one thing about the nutrition thing. If you find it very hard to eat clean, then set regularly scheduled "cheat meals" and/or find a way to work a little something you enjoy into your daily nutrition. That will give you something to look forward to while eating clean, it's a good mental break...and it'll taste that much better. For me, it's one meal a week. When I was logging calories years ago, I found a way to work a tiny bit of low fat frozen yogurt and/or ice pops (15 calories each) into my daily nutrition, so I look forward to those too. So while I eat very clean, it's not torture. I'm 170lbs with low body fat. If I wanted to do competitive bodybuilding, I'd have to give that stuff up (and hit the weights even harder), but I have no interest in it, so I'm quite content with what I'm doing.

That and when I'm at a LeMons race, I eat whatever I damn well want.

In reply to Klayfish:

I found that after a couple weeks without the garbage - the garbage made me sick. I seriously cannot stomach greasy fast food anymore. I carry some Clif bars around so I don't end up going thru the drive-thru and spending the rest of the day gassing everyone.

+1 on the fruit popsicles too... I get these Edy's pomegranate, lime & blueberry 100% fruit things from the grocery and they are friggin' awesome dessert.

My one remaining weakness I haven't found a better substitute for is beer. The only solution to that I have found is to just drink it. To compensate I add an hour to the exercise schedule. If it has to go in the hole... sweat it back out.

My coworker and I have instituted "Fat Kid Fridays" or "FKF", which also has it's own theme song to the tune of the 1980's metal band (and Tipper Gore's favorite band) W.A.S.P.'s Wild Child, called Fat Child. Still working on the lyrics.

That is my "cheat day".

Also, Blackie needs to hit the gym too.

mtn wrote:

BradLTL wrote: Look at a paleo type diet. I joined a cult... I mean gym called IronTribe. It is a crossfit clone but they add in a focus on diet. I've gone from 230lbs to 198lbs since April and am much stronger. Most of the weight loss came from diet. Here's the TL;DR.... Don't eat: bread, pasta, dairy, potatoes, sugars, chips, or processed meats. Eat: fresh veggies, salads, fruits, nuts, lean meats. Good luck!

Wrong. Most of the weight loss came from the fact that you were eating less calories and working out as well. EDIT: Why was this all bolded? I only wanted to bold the "Most of the weight loss" bit Second EDIT: Fixed it.

Wasn't excluding portions. Diet being holistic. I only eat paleo about 75-80%. Mostly it is just about eating clean and controlling the things that aren't of nutritional value.

I should also say that weight loss was/is not a goal of mine. It has been a result of getting healthier. My goal was to get active and in shape. 15 years of a computer desk job were taking a toll on me. There certainly is a bit of "fad" to paleo, but I am an "all things in moderation" kind of person. Paleo just gave me a framework to eat clean. The result of diet (all of it) and exercise 5 days a week has been a much healthier, stronger, and lighter weight version of me.

SilverFleet wrote: Also, Blackie needs to hit the gym too.

It might be time to drop the 80's wig too.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Yeah, that thing looks like the ones you buy around Halloween at the party store.

mtn wrote:

Duke wrote: So, what's the protip for when you hate exercise and always have? And for finding time to do it anyway when you area already an hour short of sleep a night?

I despise exercise as well.

Yea... +1. Exercise is like math class. It's never fun, but you know you need it.

My thing is that I go everyday, and try and go at the same time. That way I don't have to think about it, it is just what I do at 11:30 on weekdays. I block off the time on my calendar and really try to make it a habit. I know me, and if I left it up to my desire to go... I would end up not going at all.

BradLTL wrote:

mtn wrote:

Duke wrote: So, what's the protip for when you hate exercise and always have? And for finding time to do it anyway when you area already an hour short of sleep a night?

I despise exercise as well.

Yea... +1. Exercise is like math class. It's never fun, but you know you need it.

You're wrong again. Math class was fun. Or at least Geometry, Trig, Calc, and Graph theory were. The linear algebra and abstract algebra stuff was not, and I do not see where I'm going to need them either.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to Klayfish: I found that after a couple weeks without the garbage - the garbage made me sick. I seriously cannot stomach greasy fast food anymore. I carry some Clif bars around so I don't end up going thru the drive-thru and spending the rest of the day gassing everyone. +1 on the fruit popsicles too... I get these Edy's pomegranate, lime & blueberry 100% fruit things from the grocery and they are friggin' awesome dessert. My one remaining weakness I haven't found a better substitute for is beer. The only solution to that I have found is to just drink it. To compensate I add an hour to the exercise schedule. If it has to go in the hole... sweat it back out.

Yeah, you can definitely lose a taste for the really bad junk after not eating it for a long time. Even in my cheat meals, it's pretty rare that I'll eat something deep fried. It's typically something like a cheeseburger, a couple slices of pizza (I smoosh it with paper towels to soak up grease) or Subway footlong. That and a stupid amount of store brand fries...baked in the oven.

I have to fight my kids off for the fruit popsicles. Since they're sugar free and have no real calories, we let them eat them. We go through a lot.

mtn wrote: You're wrong again.

For exercise I try and pick work where I am outside and can walk around a bit and as long as its not raining heavily I will usually spend 30min of my 45 minute meal walking. To make it interesting I take different streets each time and look for things to take pictures of. One good thing about New York is that it is very walkable and there is always something to see.

I think many people have already covered every good point under the sun. One thing I will add is to drink plenty of water. Water will flush out your system.

pinchvalve wrote: My European friends tell me that portion control is the biggest issue that Americans face.

Finish your dinner! There are poor people starving in this world!

Since I turned 18, anyone that EVER mentions me leaving food on my plate, I look at them point blank and say, "I'm a god damn adult thank you, I'll eat whatever and however much or little I want". Don't like it? Tough.

When I first started dating my girlfriend, she did this to me. Unfortunately, I'm not going to precisely weigh out my food portion to determine what the exact amount of food I eat will be. So if there is a little left over, and I am full, I am not eating it and it goes in the trash. She learned quickly lol

Edit- And yes, restraunt portion sizes are huge. I also point out to people I paid for the berkeleying meal, I'll eat however little of it I want.

In reply to HiTempguy:

A lot of places I go now I get a box and the wife can take it for lunches. There's one Italian place by me we can get four decent meals out of one plate.

HiTempguy wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: My European friends tell me that portion control is the biggest issue that Americans face.

Finish your dinner! There are poor people starving in this world!

It's weird, I was never treated like that as a child - never guilted or pressured into eating more than I wanted. I just really like eating, and if it's sitting there, I'll automatically eat it (assuming it tastes good), even if I'm "full". I have to actively and constantly tell myself not to eat something if it is in sight.

In reply to Wally:

The WW thing is just another version of calorie counting, and you're right about those cookies. Once you're familiar with the good and the bad, you can spot a calorie disaster a mile away. One of my coworkers was eating a pkg. of two cookies from the machine at work last night. I bet him that it alone was almost as many calories as I ate throughout our whole 12hr shift. It was 600 - for two small cookie

One thing that surprised me was the value of even moderate exercise. Not to replace real exercise as part of your routine, but I found that if I come home from a 12hr shift, and eat (I try not to), if I don't do much before I go to bed, I see it in my weight. If I eat, then do anything but sit around and do nothing, my weight is stable. When I've eaten too much, I ramp up the exercise to burn it off, and it works.

I weigh myself the same time everyday. I read that (after the fact) people who do that lose more weight. Doing that, doesn't take long to see what you're doing right, and what you're doing wrong.

Duke wrote:

HiTempguy wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: My European friends tell me that portion control is the biggest issue that Americans face.

Finish your dinner! There are poor people starving in this world!

It's weird, I was *never* treated like that as a child - never guilted or pressured into eating more than I wanted. I just really like eating, and if it's sitting there, I'll automatically eat it (assuming it tastes good), even if I'm "full". I have to actively and constantly tell myself not to eat something if it is in sight.

You are just like my dogs. If I drop a rock they will try to eat it.

My fiance runs what she calls Obesity clinics for obese children. The real name is something politically correct.

She says that she has kids in there that don't know what hungry feels like. They have never had a pang of hunger in their memory; they don't know the slightly painful, uncomfortable feeling of being hungry. They literally just eat all the time.

In reply to Duke:

Same here. I just love food.

It's a good thing I like a lot of the healthy ones.

Zomby Woof wrote: It's a good thing I like a lot of the healthy ones.

That is (IMO) the trick food companies and advertising have played on us since were were little. A berkeleying fresh apple or orange tastes better than flavored candy. A home made grilled chicken tastes better than a McGrill. You just can't tell if you have been eating that E36 M3 for a while.

Good food actually does taste better - but we (U.S.) mostly get fed a steady diet of extreme salt, sugar and whatever else they put in food to make it LOUDER unless you are the sort of person who pays extra for "clean" stuff. It takes a couple weeks to get your tastebud sensitivity back to the point where you can taste anything else.

from what i can see, there's only 2 ways long term success happens for folks.

this is purely observational, so take it as you like...

1: incremental planning for success. this is true on both the diet side and the exercise side. Replace coffee with herbal tea, then water. park futher away intentionally, then add a lap to the parking lot. but you have to plan them with purpose or you wont incorporate them into your lifestyle long term

2: inflicted lifestyle change. This is where something as proportionately drastic as your current problem enters your life and can't be ignored. receiving a bad diagnosis tends to go with this one, but it can also include those who try 'cold turkey' changes with no other prep.