Losing Weight So far so good (any tips)

[Dr. Derpface, J.D.]

Just be careful you don't lose TOO fast. 2-3lbs/week is fine, but 5 seems a bit on the quick side.

Personal update: 11lbs gone so far, running is coming along nicely, and I'm no longer tired at 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

[Qyot27]

For months I've been telling myself I need to start exercising, but I always put it off because I couldn't find a way of notifying myself of when to do it, timing myself during, and the compulsive urge to perform my morning routine. I need to lose about 35 pounds, so I can get back down to ~132 like I was in senior year. It's also necessary because I've always had problems with lung capacity and so I need to raise that even more than I need to lose weight (although losing weight would help with that, both from physical attributes and because cardio helps both situations).

Anyway, I finally got sick of it and set up a cron job to do the notification. I'll have to overcome the mental part with the routine either way, so that just leaves the matter of making sure I can time myself.

cron.tab:

Code: Select all

0 7-19 * * * START /MIN /B "" sh exercise_pinger.sh

exercise_pinger.sh:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

RUNPROC=`qprocess | awk '{print $NF}' | grep mpv.exe`

if [ "${RUNPROC}" ] ; then
    PROCSTAT=
else
    PROCSTAT=no
fi

if [ "${PROCSTAT}" ] ; then
    msg \* Go outside and run for 10 minutes.
fi

I don't plan on doing this 12-13 times a day, more like 6-8 times - basically mimicking the amount/duration of rushing from class to class the way we used to in school. It's just that I'd prefer to do it during daylight and my sleep schedule constantly skews, so I need to account for all daylight hours. It also makes sure that it doesn't throw the message if I happen to be watching something.

Now it's a matter of seeing whether this actually makes an impact.

[The_McLaughlin]

I upped my running distance on the treadmill Saturday. I ran the full mile instead of about 3/4ths of one. It took me about 20 minutes, which is pretty slow, but in my defense after I got through my normal 3/4ths I started to feel my leg cramp up a bit so I did stop and re-stretch my legs before running the last 1/4th... so a mile in about 15 to 20 minutes that's not too bad considering in high school when we had to do those runs for gym it would take me almost the entire class period... and that I haven't run that much in about a year now due to my tendonitis.
With the workout schedule I've been doing recently the tendonitis hasn't been bothering me too much. I've switched to doing the Focus T-25 workouts over INSANITY or P90X like I had been doing since Focus T-25 is much shorter and gives you ways to modify if your knees are bad like mine, and it still gets my shirt slightly wet with sweat (around the collar and on my back... I've never been much a sweater usually my forehead, back of my neck, and forearms so my shirt when I did the more intense workouts never really got soaked in sweat like the people in the videos but I'm still sweating at least as much as I had been without hurting myself so I think its working pretty well so far)
Since Focus T-25 is only a 5 day a week program on Saturdays since my parents just bought a treadmill and a multi-weight exercise machine (I'm not sure what it's called you can change the weight and it has different stations for different moves kind of like what you see in gyms but instead of being different machines they're all in the same one) I've been running on the tread mill, as mentioned earlier I'm up to a mile once a week now, then I've been doing 10 reps at each station on the weight machine twice through. Afterwards because it only has one station for your legs I've been doing 60 squats (No weights) 60 Lunges on each side, and 60 calf raises on each side and 60 calf raises with both legs at the same time.
I haven't dropped too much weight since doing this but I have at least leveled out and am now maintaining my weight in the 227lbs - 230lbs. I think part of that is my diet since I'm broke at the moment I'm not able to afford too terribly much (ramen is quite cheap and while I know its not the healthiest food its in my budget so I've been eating a lot of that) also these last two weeks have been full of family and friends birthdays so I've eaten out with family and friends a lot these last two weeks which haven't helped with the weight loss I'm sure. The rest of the month all the way up to Thanksgiving is holiday and birthday free though so hopefully I'll see my weight go down a tiny bit even if it's not that much.

[Dr. Derpface, J.D.]

Seriously, look for ANY option to stay away from ramen. It's absolutely LOADED with sodium. A quick check shows that the chicken flavor has 830mg PER SERVING. And one serving is listed as HALF of a brick. That means for every packet of ramen you eat, you're getting 1660mg of sodium, when the recommended daily max is 2300. So if you're getting enough calories from the ramen every day, you're putting your sodium levels through the roof. Among other things, that can cause water retention, which means you're not going to lose weight.

You really want to look for things that are lower in carbs and higher in protein, as the protein helps build or maintain muscles, and will also keep you feeling full longer. Might wanna take a look at budgetbytes.com, since she's got a TON of low-cost receipes, and quite a few that are pretty healthy. Something like Honey Sriracha Chicken Thighs is nice and filling at 437 calories (if you have one with some jasmine rice and broccoli), and has a decent amount of protein in it. The best part? If you use low-sodium soy sauce in the marinade/glaze, it's only 400mg/serving.

I'd highly recommend using MFP or something similar (even an excel spreadsheet) to log EVERYTHING you eat/drink. Once you start doing that, it's really eye-opening, and helps you make informed decisions on what you can/can't have at a given moment. It showed me just how ridiculous my own sodium intake is at times, and forces me to think more about what I'm eating.

tl;dr - sodium is bad, BAD juju in high amounts.

[Dr. Derpface, J.D.]

Addendum to the above: Getting the right amount of protein, combined with enough exercise = builds muscle. Your weight might go up from this, but since muscle is more dense, your dimensions will still shrink.

[The_McLaughlin]

Seriously, look for ANY option to stay away from ramen. It's absolutely LOADED with sodium. A quick check shows that the chicken flavor has 830mg PER SERVING. And one serving is listed as HALF of a brick. That means for every packet of ramen you eat, you're getting 1660mg of sodium, when the recommended daily max is 2300. So if you're getting enough calories from the ramen every day, you're putting your sodium levels through the roof. Among other things, that can cause water retention, which means you're not going to lose weight.

You really want to look for things that are lower in carbs and higher in protein, as the protein helps build or maintain muscles, and will also keep you feeling full longer. Might wanna take a look at budgetbytes.com, since she's got a TON of low-cost receipes, and quite a few that are pretty healthy. Something like Honey Sriracha Chicken Thighs is nice and filling at 437 calories (if you have one with some jasmine rice and broccoli), and has a decent amount of protein in it. The best part? If you use low-sodium soy sauce in the marinade/glaze, it's only 400mg/serving.

I'd highly recommend using MFP or something similar (even an excel spreadsheet) to log EVERYTHING you eat/drink. Once you start doing that, it's really eye-opening, and helps you make informed decisions on what you can/can't have at a given moment. It showed me just how ridiculous my own sodium intake is at times, and forces me to think more about what I'm eating.

tl;dr - sodium is bad, BAD juju in high amounts.

Ah, you're the best now! Next paycheck I'm going to buy the cheap foods that aren't instant ramen noodles. I'm going to book mark that... Also breakfast burritos ( I browsed the site a bit) for less than a dollar per burrito, That is most definitely in said budget and since t makes multiple servings I've got breakfast for less than a dollar per day... Yep I'll finish up my Ramen and then the next time I get paid, I can eat something else! Thanks for the link.

[Dr. Derpface, J.D.]

Well, as of this morning I'm down 15lbs - proof that you don't need a gym membership to get in shape.

And as Joey said, switching to water only when you're thirsty makes a huge, HUGE impact. More hydration, less additional crap. Soda tastes like pure sugar to me anymore, and I'll only drink sweet tea if I'm out and need the extra calories to stay above 1200. Other than that, it's water any time I'm thirsty.

[pan_dbgt01]

Yoga.....

[ZephyrStar]

Avoid processed foods at all costs.
They put sugar in EVERYTHING these days, and while you may not taste it, and while it may only be a gram or two when you look at the nutrition label, it adds up throughout your day. You get a candy bar or two worth without even realizing it.
The key is, you gotta do what works for you, and you have to make the change for life. You can't just go on a fad diet and expect that to work, you'll be miserable. You gotta start to slowly trade your bad foods for good foods (and not pay attention to anything that states that it's "low fat", "organic", "low sugar", etc, these things are generally just as bad as the real stuff, they just come up with different ways to market them so they sound healthy.)
Carbs are not evil, they are the primary fuel our cells need.
Processed carbs are a bit more evil. Google "slow carbs" for a list of go-to carbs.
Realize also what proper serving sizes are. Rice is not a bad food, a serving is 1/2 to 1 cup. 4 cups of fried rice is not a good idea.
You should not eat a whole plate of spaghetti. A cup of it will do just fine as well.
Fat is not bad for you. Repeat after me, fat is not bad for you. What it is though, is dense in calories, so use it sparingly. I'd rather eat real butter and use a little bit than use processed vegetable oil or margerine (margerine is a terrible thing, hydrogenated oils were banned for a reason).
You have to do your research, and do it well.
Everything in moderation.
Count calories and be honest, keep a journal of what you eat, as well as what you do for exercise (especially useful for weightlifting so you can alternate your days so you work all your muscle groups).
Don't use food as a reward, don't eat extra just because you exercised or were "good," you need to be "good" 24/7, 365.
That means finding replacements that you like or can learn to like for those terribad foods (donuts anyone?)
Pick one day a week as your "treat" day and eat something junky. Vacations are good for that too.
Drink water, and lots of it. Your go-to drink of choice should always be water.
Drink green tea and black coffee, brew them yourself, don't add anything to them (you'll learn to appreciate and love the complex and bitter flavor!)
Drink alcohol sparingly. Pick one day as beer/wine/shots day, and stick with only a couple of drinks (unless at anime conventions).

Documentaries you should go and watch right now:

The Men Who Made Us Fat
Hungry for Change
Fathead
Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

[Gene Starwind 21122]

Well I'm holding steady at 160 lbs. Which is good. I just now need to continue working out and stay away from fast food at all cost. If it's a convention I usually try to find a health choice of food if possible.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Gene