restarting

[attriel]

OK, so we just joined a fitness club and we're doing weight-watchers (and I'm FINALLY switching to diet soda, which makes it so much easier) sooo ...

Starting: 220 (as of 8 April 2005)
Short Term: 210 by July
Long Term: 150ish by X-mas '06

I'm sure I'll revise the long term date :o

--attriel

[DinbinFanfoom]

OK, so we just joined a fitness club and we're doing weight-watchers (and I'm FINALLY switching to diet soda, which makes it so much easier) sooo ...Good to hear! By the way, I find that Coke C2 stuff to be pretty decent... not as "diet" tasting as diet coke.

[attriel]

my major problem with diet is the aspartame. C2 had the aspartame AND the calories :o

Diet DrP and Vanilla Coke manage to hide the taste (but not the aftertaste unfortunately, but i'm getting used to it now).

[GD_]

Actually Atty, diet coke is just as bad. Its the carbs in it that you need to eliminate. I would suggest trying to start the habit of drinking more water. Check this bit of info about carb dieting out.

The Atkins Diet (http://www.netfit.co.uk/atkinsdietsdoctoratkinsondiet.htm)

[attriel]

Atkins would kill me.

My diet consists, in large part, of Bread and Pasta's.

[DinbinFanfoom]

C2 has half the carbs of regular Coke... I thought that was what the selling point was... Just get lots of exercise and don't gorge yourself, that's pretty much my philosophy... I don't really have a diet. Stick to one plate of food at big meals, common sense like that.

[attriel]

Yeah, that is the selling point of C2 (C/2 technically)

Except my problem wit hDiet is jsut the aspartame. C/2 has the aspartame, but isn't as light as diet, so it's the worst of all worlds for me :o

[kullen]

Just eat healthy and remember that weight isn't everything. I've been in a regular diet and workout routine for over a year and it took a full six months before I started seeing results.

Currently I weigh 209 with 21% body fat.

Thats 43.89 Lbs of fat and 165.11 Lbs made up of muscle and body mass.

My goal is the gain another 10 lbs of muscle and reach 10-15% body fat. So more likely my ideal weight will be somewhere around 190.

As far as the soda issue is conserned, I don't drink diet from a bottle but I don't mind it from a fountain drink. What I usually try to do is drink two glasses of water per every one glass of sweetened beverage.

[Erudite]

Just get lots of exercise and don't gorge yourself, that's pretty much my philosophy... I don't really have a diet.

Dinbin and I have the same philosophy, generally. I don't really watch what I eat. My one concession to this, though, is that I generally make an effort to not drink calories. Water, coffee, tea. (Okay, I do *cough* occasionally drink beer, but I justify that with it's potassium content.)

[Zyzzyx]

That's about what I've been doing, I just need to eat more often. I still have too much of a tendency to skip breakfast, or just have something small; then have a decent sized (but not oversized) lunch; and then hardly anything for dinner. Since I'm starting to put more miles on the bike, I really should work at timing my eating better.

<looks over at the poppy seed muffin and banana currently awaiting a mid-morning snack, my equivalent to breakfast>

And I still have my Mt Dew or Dr Pepper at lunch, but I've cut it out at home and during the day at work.

[Kiir]

Actually Atty, diet coke is just as bad. Its the carbs in it that you need to eliminate. I would suggest trying to start the habit of drinking more water. Check this bit of info about carb dieting out.

The Atkins Diet (http://www.netfit.co.uk/atkinsdietsdoctoratkinsondiet.htm)

We are not doing a low carb diet, just a low calorie one. Neither me or atty is interested in giving up carbs :).

[DinbinFanfoom]

Dinbin and I have the same philosophy, generally. I don't really watch what I eat. My one concession to this, though, is that I generally make an effort to not drink calories. Water, coffee, tea. (Okay, I do *cough* occasionally drink beer, but I justify that with it's potassium content.)
Hey nothing wrong with carbs/beer, just don't overdo it. I've been finding that I'm actually a lot more hungry when I wake up in the morning than I used to be... I'm chalking that up to the fact that I think I've sped up my metabolism a bit. Stuff I did:

1) Eat breakfast every morning, emphasis on carbs and a bit of protein. You NEED carbs in the morning. I'd think this a bad time to do Atkins unless you like "hitting-the-wall" by midmorning...
2) Eat an apple or something at about 10:30am. Sometimes a coffee. (With milk instead of cream; I stopped noticing the diff long ago)
3) Light-ish lunch at 12am. Usually a frozen entree of the pasta/meat variety.
4) Dinner is healthier than it used to be. Emphasis on protein-high stir-fries, etc. I haven't been to a fast-food restaurant (burgers/fries, etc) in 4 months, and you know what? I don't miss it. I HAVE been to Subway a couple of times, but I now get a 6" instead of a 12", and try to get leaner meats on it.
5) If I workout in the evening (I do weights 3 times a week, but different muscles each time), I follow up with a protein supplement shake avec 1% milk and a couple of ice cubes in the blender. It's insanely easy to digest (you feel a bit bloaty right at first, but that goes away fast). Doesn't even bother my sleep, I find, whey is very absorbable. The key there is to get protein/glycogen into your system for the key over-night muscle repair/growth phase.
6) Cardio 3 or 4 times a week. I'm to the point now where I can jog at 6mph for 20 minutes straight, and with the weather getting better, I'll be on the road soon.

I still eat pizza every once in a while, but stay at 2-3 slices instead of 5-6 (I used to be a SEVERE pizza monster). I've never been a fan of JUST dieting... it's too restrictive and frankly, NOT fun, and it's WAY slower than exercising and watching what you eat. I say "watching what you eat" instead of dieting, because I think they are two different things. The former is more like "don't eat a whole cheesecake" whereas the second is "skim milk for breakfast, salad for lunch, soup for dinner". I'd rather be active and get to eat pretty much what I feel like eating. :biggrin:

[attriel]

The search for carbs :o

http://www.ozyandmillie.net/2005/om20050104.html
http://www.ozyandmillie.net/2005/om20050106.html

:)

[Erudite]

Cardio is really all I do. Five miles a day every weekday. If the cat succeeds in waking me up before Mel on Saturday, a longer run Saturday morning. But only spring/summer/fall. I'm old and creaky and can't abide by running in the snow any more. I use a treadmill to get my miles in during the winter, and loathe every minute of it.

[Serani]

I've been doing Weight Watchers for over a year and it's an excellent diet for those that have other dietary restrictions (I can't handle grease or spice very well). I've lost 60 pounds so far. Now, that's not completely typical, because a big part of that was baby weight. However, it's worked very well for me, so far. I've got about 10 pounds left to go.

The problem is that I drifted away from it. I've had this last 10 pounds for quite a while and I suspect it's because, while I've increased my activity, I haven't actually done any real exercise.

I listened to Evenstarr when she told me that aspartame was an acquired taste - now I drink Diet almost all the time. In fact, as long as I don't go back to regular coke, it doesn't taste odd to me at all. I won't go to the lengths of saying that regular is too sweet (it still tastes good to me), but it's not bad.

Rubi recently tried Atkins. He's not going back to Weight Watchers with me. Atkins touts that you're supposed to be able to lose several pounds during "Induction" (the first two weeks - and the most extreme). However, he lost a few, and summarily gained it all back before induction was over (while sticking STRICTLY to it). So, he's going back to Weight Watchers with me, starting Sunday.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Wow! 60 lbs! Impressive! Good work! I found exercise a bit tough at first, motivation-wise, but once you start seeing actual results, it gets a LOT easier. Then it even gets FUN.

[Aananla]

Wow! Good job Serani!

[GD_]

The thing about Aspartame is that Aspartame converts to dangerous byproducts that have no natural countermeasures. A dieter's empty stomach accelerates these conversions and amplifies the damage. Components of aspartame go straight to the brain, damage that causes headaches, mental confusion, seizures and faulty balance.

Interesting information regarding Aspartame:

Aspartame was not approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years the FDA refused to approve it because of the seizures and brain tumors this drug produced in lab animals. The FDA continued to refuse to approve it until President Reagan took office (a friend of Searle) and fired the FDA Commissioner who wouldn't approve it. Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes was appointed as commissioner. Even then there was so much opposition to approval that a Board of Inquiry was set up. The Board said: "Do not approve aspartame". Dr. Hayes OVERRULED his own Board of Inquiry.

Shortly after Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., approved the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages, he left for a position with G.D. Searle's Public Relations firm.

Long-Term Damage. It appears to cause slow, silent damage in those unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions and a reason to avoid it. It may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years, but it seems to cause some reversible and some irreversible changes in health over long-term use.