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[pmcd9]

I was being slightly faceteous about the minimal clothes AD.  I couldn't resist the urge to invite SS to show us her giant boobies.  Something like this is what I was actually suggesting.

~Paul

[theinevitable]

man. too bad guys can't make a similar statement.
"I would lose weight but, you know... my wife just wouldn't be satisfied."
and all the guys on the board would be thinking "wait... it would get bigger if I gained weight? is that what he's saying?"

obviously this is not true, though, as I am quite skinny and... well, I won't go into too much detail.

[Lister]

I refer to this as the "straw problem."  A straw that is in a small cup of soda sticks out very far, but if you put that same straw in a large cup of soda, much less is visible.

This can be a problem for those of us who are large cups by nature.

[wombat]

Paul has an extremely tasteful concept of minimal clothes.  But, how much of that weight is mustache?

[jough]

AD, I like the idea of "wellness" rather than just focusing on the weight loss, which is itself not really a measure of health.  Don't get me wrong, I need and want to lose weight - and weight loss will be the natural consequence of eating and just being healthier, but if I focus on the weight it will be a road to failure.  Plus, right now just feeling better would be a plus.

[pmcd9]

AD, I like the idea of "wellness" rather than just focusing on the weight loss, which is itself not really a measure of health.

How was the first day of the rest of your life?

For me, awesome!  I stayed on program and I got in some physical activity (walking and bike riding).  I also handled a tough diet scenario.  I was invited to dinner and managed to make good choices in a situation where I didn't have control over the menu.  Yay for me.

I hope everyone had as great of a day as I.

How's your breathing today Jough?

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

AD, I like the idea of "wellness" rather than just focusing on the weight loss, which is itself not really a measure of health.  Don't get me wrong, I need and want to lose weight - and weight loss will be the natural consequence of eating and just being healthier, but if I focus on the weight it will be a road to failure.  Plus, right now just feeling better would be a plus.

My ideal is that although there is always discomfort, annoyance, and inconvenience associated with a major health change, you are entitled to the highest quality of life possible. And all those wellness dimensions are structures that support your quality of life.

Paul, I guess what I meant was that maybe some people aren't as comfortable as you sharing their before pictures and that maybe a more discreet location would be more acceptable. Maybe I'll post a picture of my pre-partum gut. I think I'm a victim of couvade syndrome.

[side_show]

Yay!  Everyone on board for the TOUAMBIE-Add-More-Days-Between-Today-And-The-Day-You-Die Train (or TOUAMBIEAMDBTATDYDT)!

I think we should all set our own goals, and no, Jough, I do not think this needs to be weight-specific - if you prefer to work toward a wellness goal, which is more fitting with what you want anyway, perhaps there is some specific physical feat that you hope you might accomplish in three months that should be your thing.  

I prefer to remain somewhat lady like and not reveal my weight.  Also, I am not really up for a before and after picture.  As I've said before I hate being photographed and would likely be made unhappy by my after picture, even if it showed marked improvement.  I did just measure my boobs with a piece of string though - you know, for science - and have a piece of string that is exactly my current body-around-fullest-part-of-boob circumference.  I will check periodically for changes in boob size and report back.  Also, I would be happy to award the boob string to the winner, if the winner is not me.  

My goal is two fold:  

Weight Loss:  With today as my starting date, I wish to lose 20 pounds (or more) by Sept 9th.  My doctor and all health sites I checked in to seem to say that for a woman of my height and age that it is safe to lose 1-2 pounds per week, so this is right in the safe zone.  

Fitness:  Return to running 3 miles in under 30 minutes on the elliptical machine.  I used to be able to do this a couple years ago, but now I down to 1.5 in 30 minutes, and I want to get back up there!

Also, today as I was topping off my veggie pita with the healthfood-store bought, low-fat, no-soy ( I'm allergic) flax-based dressing, I noticed the brand name of said dressing for the first time: Wellness.  Yep it's actually in italics on the label.  And we're all about the italics here now aren't we? I took this as a sign that things are awesome.

Personal triumph for the day?  I woke up in utter pain this morning, limped to the bathroom, gave myself a pep-talk while peeing, and convinced myself to walk the 50 minute walk to work even though I hurt sooo much.  I always feel much better when I get my expensive, well designed shoes on anyway.  With huge boobs and horrible joints, the addage is the same: proper support is everything.

Tip to others working toward wellness:  don't be afraid to spend a lot of money on a really good pair of shoes.  I've found with both my kick ass boots, and very supportive runners (Merrell Brand is awesome), that I have made the best purchases of my life.

[side_show]

Maybe I'll post a picture of my pre-partum gut. I think I'm a victim of couvade syndrome.

You have a baby gut?  Here I was thinking you had a baby-eating gut.

I'm sorry.  It's not even funny to me anymore.

[Mite]

Congrats to everybody for doing a thing. Jough, my heart sorta jumped when I started reading this thread, and I'm really glad you're starting on this sooner than later. Of course, then the hard part is continuing to do it, but you'll burn that bridge when you get to it.

My secret weapon is fitday.com. It's a great website, and it's free. It counts any sort of nutrient you could want, records your exercise and (approximately) how many calories you burn just by being alive, and helps you track goals and such. All you have to do is watch your portions and enter them in. I love it, and use it (nearly) every day. Having anal little charts to fill in really help me focus. Buy an extra set of measuring cups and spoons for pontion control - you'll be using them a lot.

Secret weapon number two - water. Buy a half gallon bottle with a squirt top. Keep it with you at all times - at work, on the bus, whatever. Drink the whole thing every day, more if you need it. You'll be amazed at how much water you want to drink once you're used to always being hydrated. It makes you feel a little bit full, sates some food cravings, and the squirt top helps with the oral fixation part of overeating (yeah guys, you can bring your jokes, but it's god's truth). I want to constantly put something in my mouth (all joking aside), it might as well be water. Plus, all that walking to the bathroom can't hurt.

Any routines take time to become routines. When I'm off exercising for awhile, I'll forget how much I like it. And I really do like it - it's all a matter of finding something you enjoy. For some reason, I love to run, and now that my shin splints/cramps are gone (I bought new shoes! It worked! Thanks for the advice!), I'm working towards a 10k on August 5th, with maybe a half marathon later on in the fall.

I'll be pulling for all of you, and you've inspired me to really kick my sugar habit. Both my folks are fairly overweight, and while they're in relatively good health, I'm still concerned about them not living to see their grandkids. I don't want to end up that way, too.

Oh, and Mel - my boobs are always the first to go, which is disappointing for me - there's not a lot there to begin with. So there's hope! Of course, my hips could survive a few years in a hard labor camp unscathed....

[wombat]

Oh, now that the boob string is the prize, I want to join this contest.

My last day of work is allegedly June 18.  (Unless a doctor refuses to sign a form for the person who's out injured whose job I have, but let's assume she will find some doctor to do it pretty soon if he doesn't.)  I am in pretty good shape after six months of being on my feet hauling things around for six or seven hours a day.  My goal is to figure out how to stay this way without the job, and incidentally not to go crazy from boredom. 

Does that count?

[AugustWest]

You have a baby gut?  Here I was thinking you had a baby-eating gut.

I'm sorry.  It's not even funny to me anymore.

No, of course it's not funny anymore.  But it's an old skool TOUAMB cliche, so we have to be faithful to it.

[AugustWest]

Oh, and since all the cool kids are doing it, count me in too.

Most of my goals are just to continue what I'm doing.  I won't set a weight or measurement goal, because the changes I'm trying to make are all about how I approach eating.  I want to stay off the sugar and the booze and quit being run by my belly.

Exercise-wise:  Right now I swim 20 laps in just under 30 minutes (28.5 or so on Wednesday).  I want to continue to swim 30 minutes, so I will start swimming more laps so to fill up the remaining time.  I'll also keep doing my ab workout whenever I swim and do one leg workout and one upper body workout per week.  On days when I don't swim and lift, I will take at least a 30 minute walk.

I will stay on the path.  I may stumble or make very slow progress, but I will not give up.

Six weeks ago I weighed 275.  I weigh 264 now.  My big ##### are back to being slightly loose as is my wedding ring.

Hang in there Jough.  It can be done. 

[jough]

Well, the good news is that my heart is both regular size, regularly beating, and seems to be "surprisingly strong."  Oh happy day.

They did, however, decide to cancel my stress test because my modest exertions in the office left me out of breath and with a too-fast-heart-rate.  How my heart can be healthy and yet beat out of my chest so quickly is beyond me.  Maybe the heart itself is okay but the rest of the body is fucked?

In any case, my breathing was improved with a nasal inhaler immediately.  I still get ridiculously out of breath from things such as walking up a flight of stairs, but I can actually sit here and not sound like Darth Vader now. 

Oh, I also found out that I have allergies now to pollen and stuff.  Never did before.

Next week are blood tests, cholesterol, BMI, and all sorts of other fun stuff.  It's costing me a fortune but at least I'll have a baseline and will know how to monitor myself somewhat.  When I exercise I'll be wearing a heart beat monitor so I can keep myself in my target heartrate zone.

This probably means that I'll be walking two steps per minute at first, but I'm hopeful that I will get stronger rather than die from this. 

I haven't exactly been eating "right" but I've been eating "better."

I still need to plan how to eat so that I can live a life and not just get fed up and stop doing it in a month.  I think basically I need to figure out things like side dishes.  Hear me out.

Usually I will plan a meal with several components: meat, starch, vegetable.  Sometimes I will also have a little cup of soup or a salad.  Sometimes a Big Salad replaces the vegetable. 

Anyway, every "side dish" that I eat regularly is pretty much death to me - mashed/baked/au gratin/french fried (I never make anything deep fried at home, though), stuffing, pasta, rice, you get the idea.  Starches.  Gotta cut WAY down on them, and pretty much cut out anything processed (white flour, etc.).

But what do I eat instead?  I know, more vegetables.  I'll do that for a week.  Then what?

So I need something that I can not just tolerate for a short time, but a way of eating that doesn't feel like punishment that I can sustain because it is delicious, or at least doesn't taste like ass.

Eating out will really be a challenge.  I'm out and about a LOT and need to figure out how not to kill myself at places where humans can buy food.  I think I can do pretty well at Subway if I was pressed, although that's hardly health food either.

I tend to overdo things for a short time and then drop them as I get busy or interested with something else.  I'd like to think that I'd be more conscientious with my health, but that hasn't really been the case so far and if it feels like torture then I'm probably not going to stick with it. 

Anyway, the good news is that light exercise, done right, will likely not kill me.  So there's hope.

I should learn more about how the body turns food into energy so that I have a better understanding of what will and what won't be bad for me.  It's easy to take someone else's word, of course, but since I'm going to be eating things that are high in nutrition and low in carbs and fat, I'm going to have to monitor myself more closely so as to make sure I'm not doing more harm than good.

I have the time to devote to my health right now, so what the hell.  I have nothing to lose but my excess weight in stored fat.

[wombat]

On side dishes:  If you are going to eat more vegetables, they have to be good vegetables.  Most of the vegetables you can get in the supermarket taste like shit.  Is there a farmer's market that you can get to? It's summer, so you should be able to take advantage of fresh locally grown produce.  It's worth it to make the effort, because you really can find vegetables that don't taste like suffering. (Remember, this is coming from someone who defined vegetables in another thread as the class of foods that you wouldn't eat if they weren't good for you.)

This is even more important for fruit. Locally grown peaches, for example - and at my market, locally grown includes peaches that come from Pennsylvania, Jough, so you can get the same ones - can be awesome, as good as any ice cream.  (But of course, there's another of our problems -  it takes an effort to find a really good peach, and you can only get them two months out of the year.  Whereas Ben and Jerry's is always there and always tastes the same no matter where you buy it.)

Our weekly farmer's market has a wider variety, too - kinds of peppers and summer squash that are only grown by small growers, so don't show up in the supermarket.  And the other thing about buying locally grown is that if you eat seasonally you don't have the problem that you eat more vegetables for a month and then get bored.  Because next month, something different will come into season.  I think it's really done our health and cuisine a disservice that we are able to get, for example, shitty tomatoes all year round - better to look forward to and enjoy wonderful tomatoes in the right season, and eat something else in the other seasons.

I can't imagine life without starch, though,  Surely whole grains are acceptable?