Hi Deadbear! i've been reading through your forum and it looks like you give great advice. i'm 20 years old and i really want to ideally lose about 30 lbs. i just can't seem to motivate myself to exercise. my health is not in the condition i'd like it to be - i have a tendency to stay up very late at night and sleep in halfway through the day. i know this is bad, but i just can't seem to change my habits! i have been doing this for so long. also, i am a vegetarian, so i find myself eating alot of carbs because they are more "filling" than just a salad or fruit. i really want to be healthier. i want to look in the mirror and content with my body and my size. i have large hips and thighs (which run in the family - damn!) that i want to get rid of! do you have any tips? any target exercises? any help would be appreciated. THANKS!
thanks maybe i should rephrase that. i don't want to get RID of them.. but i'd like to tone em down a bit meh, i guess its just one of those things that bothers me sometimes. i used to be much more self concious about being curvy, but as i got older i have grown to accept 'em. basically i just need to get healthier.
pink floyd- i can say i was in ur situation at the beginning odf the year, i weighed a ltitle over 200 lbs and was very voer weight, i went on the atkins diet(and i know u are instantly thinking meat=bad but let me explain u dont have to eat meat to loose weight) but anyways i lost about 40 lbs in 5 months by doing simple stuff, basiclly wat u are going to want to do 1st fo all is cut out all alcohol, i know it may be hard but that is the 1st thing, all alcohol is really endless calories and carbs, 2nd of all greatly decrease ur bread and pasta intake if not completely loose it, these where 2 of my favorite thigns and i had to drop them, it really sux at first btu trust me it is worth it, seeing that u are a vegetarian i would suggest eating eggs, getting low carb bread that has liek 8 carbs in it, eating a limited amount of fruits and vegetables( believe it or not they r full fo sugar and carbs to which if u eat to much is actually bad for u ) im nto sure wat vegeterian food is carb and sugar wise, but over all u need to cut down ur carbs, for the first month i was etaing l,ess then 20 carbs a day compared to my usual 500-1000 carbs a day, after about a month of this i upped it to 30 carsb a day and so on until i started to gain weight back, that is when i knew i could have so many carbs with out gaining weight, so basiclly cut out alot of ur carbs, wen u shop for food buy stuff with no carbs or very few carbs, get low carb items, o ya i also forgot u cant drink milk or have yogurt, that si full fo carbs to, and u cant eat cereal either cause that has carbs, and as for exercise wat i would do every day is i would run for about 5 minutes and then walk 5 minutes and so on for about an hour, then i would come home and do about 50 sit ups and 50 push ups a day, and eventually increased in everythign as i got stronger, so ya it all comes donw to limiting ur carb intake and the amount of exercise u do,
bah, don't do that low-carb stuff. if your gonna cut your carbs, cut the ones you dont' need. this includes, but not limited to white bread, white rice, rice cakes, etc., food like that is high in carbs, but low in fiber and other nutrients. eating whole grained foods, brown rice, vegetables and fruits are good for you. your body needs carbs for the energy it needs to burn. just cutting carbs is only going to make you lose water weight. you need to properly eat. cutting alcohol, that's upto you...i wouldn't cut beer. beer is high in vitamin b and is nutritous, in moderation though. that's another topic though. i'm guessing, that you want to tone your muscles around your hips and lose that extra fat...your gonna want to put some protein in your diet if you haven't because you don't want to lose any muscle mass, just the fat. so eggs are good, some people eat the yolk, some don't, thats up to you. then onto the fatty food intake, you want to limit your intake of saturated fats and trans fatty acid foods. instead, you want monounsaturated and polyunsaturated foods that are also high in omege-3 fatty acids. thats pretty much eating right...your a vegetarian so i can't really recomend what to eat since i'm not one. exercising, you want to burn more calories than you have taken in. eating healthy is half the battle, you gotta exercise to get over the mountain. i would do cardio, running or swimming since your target area is your legs. stretchign could tone and elongate your leg muscels, reducing the fat in them. doing squats, step ups are helpfull. flutter kicks work well. running stairs also work. be creative in your work outs. make them fun and you will have fun.
Hi Pink Floyd, I know where you are coming from, I'm curvy myself, sometimes I wonder if it is a gift or a curse! But I have come to the conclusion it is definitely a gift and I wouldn't trade it for the world, even when I'm trying on jeans!! To answer your question, as far as foods for veggies, it just so happens, that there is an excellent board here for veggies where I'm certain you could get some super ideas of foods to eat besides the typical salad. I can tell you that I personally love all of the Morningstar Farms brand meatless products and I make all sorts of stuff with them from sloppy joes (using the veggie crumbles) to spaghetti, to sausage (bocca makes sausage too) to pizzas, to "chicken" patties, to veggie burgers to hot wings. There is so much out there, I can't even begin to list it all meatless! Ask around, they are very kind and will help you. I don't support the Adkins diet in any way shape or form. I have read the book (twice) and it is not medically sound, which is why so many people have trouble keeping the weight off. Though I find it amusing the stories I hear of everyone who knows someone who has done it and lost weight. Guess what, I have also, and I know not one person since the fad began that has been able to keep the weight off for more than a few months. And when it comes back, it comes back in doubles. You don't have to take my word for it, if you want to run it by your doctor that is cool. I know that my doctor recommends Weight Watchers, and that is personally what I do. I know you all are sick of me talking about it, but unless you have the money to hire a nutritionist and a cook, and a food therapist (to discuss why you actually eat), it is the best and cheapest program. I find it to be healthy as well because it doesn't restrict anything it just makes you aware of what you are eating and holding you accountable for it which is the problem many people these days have. I can tell you there is no quick fix and you will not lose weight over night. If you don't want to do Weight Watchers that is cool too, not like they pay me to endorse it or anything. LOL. But if you want to go at it on your own, here is what I suggest: Find low fat, high fiber recipes. Don't cut out all of your fat, you need some fat, plus no fat food is often less filling. Calories count!!!! Sure a Slurpee has no fat in it, but it also has like 500 calories! I love food journals. Write down everything that you eat. If you are good (hey I'm not even this good) plan your meals, write it before you eat it, then stick to it. Find lower fat/calorie alternatives, for example ice cream and bread, they have light varieties, and wheat bread is better than white, as is wheat pasta. Watch your portion sizes! If it says one cup is a serving, only eat one cup. If you go out to eat a lot, put half of your meal in a box to go, before you start eating. They always give you way too much food at a restaurant or split a meal with a friend. I noticed that you are concerned with your sleep habits. Rightly so. It doesn't really matter what your habits are, as long as you get plenty of rest and you feel good when you wake up, ready to start the day. And you are absolutely correct it is a habit thing. It really will make you feel better, but it will just take some time. Figure out what time you want to wake up each day and then count back 8 hours to find what time you should be in bed by. (assuming you need 8 hours of sleep, don't get less than 6). Regular exercise and better eating habits should help with this, but it is primarily up to you. Now on to exercise. In order to lose fat, you will need to do cardio. I know everyone hates cardio, except for nuts like me! Find something fun you like to do, I personally love volleyball and I play in a league here and pick up games whenever I have a free hour. There are videos you can get from the library if you want to try Tae Bo (I did that for a year and loved it, it really works) or Step Aerobics or you could just ride a bike around town, or go hiking with some friends (take bug spray!!). If you can afford a gym membership, or the Y then maybe go there and try some of the machines. Next, you will have to lift weights in order to tone up. No, this will not make you bulk up, unless of course you are taking steroids. You can get some fairly inexpensive weights from Walmart (even though I hate Walmart). I don't know how strong you already are, so I can't tell you where to start. Just pick up some weights and find ones that are perhaps seemingly too light for you, some that feel just right, and one or two sets that are a bit heavy for you. I'll use my sister for an example, because she has never worked out before this week (mainly because she is thin!). I started her on a 5/8/10/12 rack of weights. You should work your biceps, triceps, shoulder muscles (there are 3), back if you can, abs of course, then your thighs (front and back, inner and outer) and your calves. I swear to all of you I will start posting exercises just as soon as I get my internet up and running at home! Right now I have to get back to work before they fire me! I hope this helps get you started. I'll try to be online tonight. Take care of yourselves!
Pinkfloyd i'm your ditto like many others. I don't stay up though, or at least I don't consider it staying up. My circadian(sp?) rythym points me to always being awake(like now) from mid evening to early morning. Then I ,like you ,sleep for long periods of time. I think that has something to do with it, esp. timing of meals (umfor me snacks in the day esp. before we sleep. then the food doesn't 'sweat off' it just sits and makes baby fat cells to store My bit is this. the pop saying 'No food tastes as good as being thin feels.' well i've tasted food, but ..... Life and love... handles!
Good Morning All: Just a quick tidbit about eating and sleep. Food is fuel, like gas in an automobile. If you run out of gas your car just clunks out (unless you have one of those overpriced fancy hybrid electric cars). So here is the thing, when you are tired, but you don't go to sleep, your body is like WTF! Then it is like well damn, if I can't go to sleep you better give me more fuel so I can keep chuging along. That is when you get hungry. I know a lot of people who won't eat after 7 pm. That doesn't work for my schedule, because most nights I don't get home before 10 pm. What you really need to be focused on is whether or not your body is getting the proper amount of all of the nutrients you need to live. That is not to say you can't have junk food every once in a while, but it really isn't necessary to have all of that processed junk. (I know it tastes good!) I always recommend a diet full of fruits and veggies, high in fiber, and a medium amount of protien and carbs. For example, I usually eat at least 4 or 5 servings of just veggies per day, then on top of that I eat about 2 or 3 servings of fruits a day. Sometimes even more. When you are eating all of that, there really isn't much room for anything else. I usually have a little bit of starchy food and a little bit of fish or meatless meat product (tehehehe sounds funny). OH I almost forgot, dairy. I know this is hard for the vegans here, but you guys should know where to get this from. I usually have 3 servings of lowfat dairy per day as well. Usually in the form of light yogurt or cottage cheese with raisins (yummy!) or fat free milk (with vanilla extract in it, or you can do amaretto or almond extract) And I promise with all of my heart tonight after my last workout I will be on here posting exercises. I have them all laid out right here. Take care of yourselves!
heyhey guys, all you junk food heads out there lemme give you a bit of advice: if you were to stop eatting processed foods for 2 weeks and then go back one by one to the snack foods you used to love you'll see that that refined sugar and rehydronated oil and such just doesn't taste good. as you eat more naturally good food your tastes change... now when I eat a hostess cup cake my mouth feels coated with oil and the sugary sweetness I used to crave tastes like shit... when I eat potato chips (even though I still like them cos I'm a salt craver) the oil sometimes makes me sick. homemade snackfoods like fried potatoes, banana bread, and other sorts of cakes taste much better and are MUCH better for you no matter how much fat and sugar are in them. Refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup are bad for you and dont taste as good.
Hi Rainy, You are absolutely correct! Good for you on cutting out the processed foods. It isn't easy at first, especially if everyone around you is eating in an unhealthy manner, but your body will love you for it later! After a while you just don't crave that junk food and your body works like it is supposed to. If you want to Rainy, go ahead and post some healthy recipes/meal ideas. I have books upon books but I haven't had much time to sit down and type some in here. That goes for anyone who has something healthy to post. Go for it! Take care of yourselves!
DeadBear (and everyone else who gave advice), Thank you so much for the information you gave me. You really inspired me to start becoming healthier. Since I last posted, I have been doing Tae-Bo every-other day and PM Yoga conditioning every night. I realized how much I LOVE YOGA! I feel a million times better after that stretching! I have also become very aware of what I am eating. I have reduced my caloric intake and am also trying to eat LESS carbs, but not to the point where it is "Atkins". I've been eating a lot of Boca products (mmm.. protien), eggs, fruits, and veggies. Also I've been drinking a ton of water. It has only been a week (or is it two?), but I am already feeling better about myself. I can notice changes in my body already, just from a week of proper diet and exercise. I have even been waking up earlier! I woke up at 9 am today! I think that is a record for me. Just wanted to thank you for helping me and giving me support/advice. You rock! Sarah
Hi Sarah, I'm very happy to hear your good news! You rock as well! Keep up the good work, and don't forget to keep us posted. Yay!
