Lots of good advice on this thread....1 thing left out though.... ELIMINATED ALL SODAS!!!!!! Only drink Water. It can be tough to do, but once you get into the habit, it's an extremely effective way to lose 5-10 lbs quickly. Plus, you will instantly feel better in a week.
The thing that sucks is that I never drank Cokes to begin with. I just drink 64-80 oz of water a day. I did drink a crown and diet coke this weekend though.
Yeah diet cokes aren't optimal, but they won't add to your weight. You really should only drink water...but that can be boring.
You can buy those Crystal Light to go packs for portable bottles of water to mix it up - only 5 calories per packet. OJ may not have sodium but it is loaded with sugar and you don't get the fiber benefit. Just eat an orange and a couple of clementines - they're easy to eat and taste delicious. If you do go for juice, make sure you don't get juice cocktail - read the label. That's key - you can find lower calorie versions, usually - grape juice, for example, that has 2/3 fewer calories.
Another key is planning... plan out your meals... think ahead. You can have very filling meals that aren't completely calorie intensive. Ex: My breakfast today... 4 scrambled egg beaters with some roasted bell pepper, capers and olive tapenade (150 cal) 1 light n fit yogurt (60 cal) with a small amount of dried blueberries (35 cal) 1 tall nonfat latte w/Splenda (100 cal) That's a pretty filling breakfast (for me) on 355 calories with 39g of protein and 39g of carbs. Using FitDay or The Daily Plate, you can keep track and know where you stand. Yeah, it takes effort but getting (and staying) in shape isn't necessarily easy.
You have to be disciplined. I prefer to count calories and target a daily calorie goal. On that Daily Plate website there is a calculator. If you want to lose 2 lbs a week, it will basically tell you what your calorie intake should be in order to lose those 2 lbs a week. Another good rule of thumb, don't eat anything late at night. I always try to never eat anything after 7pm. I can be real disciplined when i get into a schedule and basically prepare my own meal, but it is the social aspect of eating that always ruins me. Going out with friends and such. I almost have to become a monk when i am trying hard to lose some pounds.
I am glad this thread came back up because I wanted to update everyone. I am still doing the bootcamp and haven't missed a day. I went to HEB and shopped just the perimeter and bought only healthy foods. I have been sticking with not eating crap and have not eaten any fast food once. I have been using Saturday as my day to be bad. The first Saturday I had a couple crown and diet cokes and ate a filte mignon at Macaroni Grill ( My favorite) instead of getting mashed potatoes I substituted extra grilled asparagus. Then last Saturday I really was bad. I ate a small pizza at B.J.'s with family and couldn't help but have a couple Leffe blondes. It was good but got back on track Sunday. I jumped on the scale this morning and was at 207. Now granted the weight will flucuate but I am happy with that. I am 2 1/2 weeks in and according to that I have already lost 9 pounds. I have along way to go to get to 180 but I am on my way. I also feel like my gut has really gotten smaller. I feel better and not as bloated. I do have cravings but not for fast food anymore. The first week I was wanting bad food and I think it is getting better. Now if only my boss wouldn't have brought in Girl scout cookies today it would be easier. I can't stop looking at the boxes when I go to the bathroom. I have held strong so far though. Haven't eaten one. I will keep you guys up to speed on my progress but I was hoping to lose my weight and get under 200 by February...looks like I am on track and could reach my goal of 180-185 before I thought. The workouts are getting harder but I think I am hitting the wall and need to turn it on. I am not really sure why I am hurtung so much during workouts but I am thinking I need to get over this hump.
Ryan- you probably will hit a wall. Most conditioning programs have a "recovery week" every 4th week where you reduce your workouts and give your body a rest. Usually if it's an incrementally increasing workout regimen where distance/time is added each week at a 10% or less increase. On the recovery week you go back and do a workout similar to what you did two weeks prior, then you adjust back up the following week to the level you would have increased to without the recovery week. HOPE that makes sense. If you DO NOT take the recovery week to let your body rest to get ready for another 3 weeks of every increasing effort you won't see the gains in conditioning over time that you would see by giving your body that week to recover. Doesn't seem like that's the way it would be, but that's the truth. I've dropped about 9 pounds mainly just being pretty consistant with the diet and walking (starting to add some running) from 45 minutes to an hour 5-6 days on, one day off for just over 2 weeks. My goal is peeling off 7 pounds a month until mid Summer. Of course I started off at just over 240 so I was a complete fat ***. I am just trying to be consistant and not go too overboard this go round. usually I take Ryan's route and try to kill myself for the quick results but I am just being consistant and trying to make better CONSISTANT choices regarding my food intake.
I am doing the same thing but just added a workout program that helps me stay motivated. If you miss a day then the whole group is penalized so I make sure and get my *** out of bed. I would say that I am not eating very much, my sister says to eat more when I describe my day but I am too cautious of what I put in my body now. It is really strange because I used to not give a damn what crap I put in, now every single thing I eat I make sure is good for me or I just make a time for eating something not so healthy.
I wanted to update on my status.... I have now lost 24 pounds since January 7th. I am still doing the early morning boot camp and I'm training for the capital 10k... I am running about 4 miles a day and have not eaten fast food once since I started. I am still 10 pounds away from my goal of 185, so still alot of work to do. I am doing ab workouts and push ups everyday. There is still a layer of fat on my stomach, but everywhere else has tightened up and my jeans are ridiculously loose. The stomach area has some fat around it but not what it used to be. It appears I have the muscle underneath building but have to get rid of my gut. I think this is going to take much more work than the past 24 pounds. Any tips on how to get rid of that last layer of fat around my stomach? My goals have become to lose that stomach fat, get to my target weight (180-185) and to tone my muscles all around. Mostly in my chest and arms though. Then work at getting a nice 6 pack for the summer. Should I just keep doing what I am doing? It seems to be working...should I start taking supplements now??
Don't do abs everyday. I know how bad you want to get there. I'm in the same boat. A personal trainer told me you can't do abs everyday. It's no different than chest muscles. You wouldn't bench everyday. Run, do your abs every other day if you want, mix in your weights, continue eating right -- and enjoy something every once in a while -- and you'll be fine. Don't be a Nazi with this stuff or you'll burn yourself out.
Ryan, I'm prayin' for ya. You've had a good start. Getting converted over to a new lifestyle will take lots of long term discipline. I would suggest, again, setting some time goals on top of your weight goals, and be strict about how many weeks you are going to be really good, schedule in a week of break, then another how many weeks of good, etc. I started last mid Sept as an old fat slob at 219. I was real good, taking only a bit of Thanksgiving weekend off, and by Xmas was down to 188. Then was real bad around that holiday week and backtracked some. I've managed to lose only 8 pounds or so in the two months plus, but have stayed "pretty good". Point is, you always have to be on the program, even if your frequency of departures goes up and down. Always on the program, in your head. Anyway, I'm down a net 36, with perhaps 25 to go. At the recent pace, it will take the rest of the year. Perhaps til football season. But working on it a year or more will, I think, prove very helpful in converting over to the lifestyle change, truly. So, set some time goals. Including long stretches of being "on". Maybe it will stick.
Ryan, Those last 10 lbs or so are very hard to rid of. It's like your body just doesn't want to let go of those last few fat stores. There are methods to "trick" your body into burning more fat and to get rid of those last lbs. You could try upping your caloric intake by about 500 calories per day for about a week. That is quite effective for revving up your metabolism. I just started my "cut" phase of my program. I decided to start it after my birthday so I could eat whatever I wanted and not worry about it. I'm at about 200 right now and I would like to get to about 185 by June.
I am down 45 lbs since mid Sept. And I did two 1/2 marathons in the last six weeks. I still eat pizza, beer, bbq, n stuff, just not all the time. Only problem is I lost about 30 yds off the tee and 2 clubs off my irons.
If you are on a fixed restriced calorie intake your body will adapt and make it HARDER to lose weight. You should vary your calorie intake over the course of the week. Have bigger and leaner days that averag out to be about what you want your intake ot be. The increases in the calorie intake prevent the body from adapting fully to reduced calorie intake. Down more than 25 since january 8th, but haven't done a whole lot the last week, so i am going to call it my rest week.
79 speaks the truth. Don't try and intake the exact same number of calories everyday. Shoot for the average for the week to be at the number of calories you want.
