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[jough]

Dude, this place near me with all of the fit good looking people in it... I walked in the door, and everyone in the place STOPPED what they were doing to look at me.  I just turned and walked immediately out.

[AlohaDawg]

I uh, don't know how to swim.

These classes are always in the shallow end. The water maybe up to your chest. The idea is the resistance of movement in the water plus the buoyancy of the water taking pressure off the joints.

Sometimes they use water noodles or other floatation items to kick or paddle to the other end or what have you, but you never need to know how to swim and besides, there is a lifeguard around if there are people in the pool.

Try it out.

[KeithHernandez]

You should be alright.  It is just your mind telling you that.  There is no way anyone can make fun of you or whatever for being fat at a gym.  You are there to get in shape, so they have to understand your trying, etc.

Anyways, as has been previously mentioned, the YMCA is an amazing place.  Everyone there is there to workout and get the fuck out, none of that gym politics.

[pmcd9]

I agree with the sentiments about the YMCA.  I chose to go with 24 Hour because of portability.  Had I been able to take my YMCA membership to other locations without having to pay an insane fee I would have gone with them.  Alas, there is no 24 Hour Fitness in Price Utah.

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

Really? I never thought the fee was insane - and they had an 'Away' membership that wasn't that bad as I recall. How much is it now?

[AugustWest]

I uh, don't know how to swim.

So take this opportunity to learn!

Alternately, there are water aerobics classes where you stand there and do stuff.  Also, walking in water is good exercise.

[side_show]

Hey jough, It's really important to celebrate the small victories too.  Every day of progress is totally worth noting and celebrating - you are extending your life, and actually earning back time you would have otherwise lost.  That is a big, big deal, man.  You've extended your life by all your hard work over the past few weeks, and that's no small feat.  That's a big fuck*ng deal.  You've pushed yourself to break out of your old routine in spite of the fact that humans are creatures of habit - a major success.

I was walking to work this morning, and feeling kind of tired after a super stressful day yesterday,  thinking that I was too sore and tired and that I should just catch a bus, but then I remembered that in walking to work I was extending the time between now and when I'm in a wheelchair, and it gave me a surge to move on and not just hop on the next bus that passed.

I know your weight loss feels like small potatoes right now, but what might help is potatoes.  No not eating them.  Next time you're at the grocery store, check out the size and girth of a five pound sack of potatoes (or any other food or vegetable sold by weight).  When you're holding five pounds in your hands, and know that you either have lost or will lose this amount of poundage it is actually a really great marker of your accomplishments.  (Like I mentioned before, I like to go to the dairy isle and pick up the amount of one-pound blocks of butter in a number equivalent to the amount of weight I've lost.  I like to hold it and think - this is the amount I no longer need to carry around every day.)  Weight loss isn't your main goal (or mine) but it's a really easy way to measure progress.

I know I keep harping on this, but it can be a really strong motivator and self esteem builder to value the progress you make every day, every hour.  It can be a lot easier to give up if you're only focusing on some far, non-specific future goal, vs saying "Today I'm going to drink 8 glasses of water and walk 3 miles," and then hitting your bed at the end of the night knowing you succeeded just a little bit.

I just want you to know that I'm totally impressed and inspired by you, and that you motivate me (cue the sappy music).  What you've already accomplished - the possibility of change, has been a huge gift to me.  You're talking about your goal of wellness like it's this place you'll get to some day far off, when I see you here, taking steps every day that encourage me to believe that wellness is possible for me too.  I was told I have a degenerative disease three weeks ago now, and I've had a few moments of sadness, but I've had entire hours, days, where my focus has been on the possibilities of good stuff - both right now and in the future.  And it's because you had the courage to post this thread that I began reexamining my self and to believe that my fate isn't sealed.  I totally know that you have moments where you feel like the person you want to be is so far away that you may never see that guy.  I totally know how that is.  I had a morning like that yesterday.  But I also believe, more than ever, that you can get there, and that you and I are both a little more "there" every day.  That's exciting and worth celebrating.

Also, I couldn't agree more with everyone saying the YMCA is awesome.  At my Y there are people of all different fitness levels and bodies types - and I mean all types from wheelchair bound post-surgery recovery people to elderly ladies, children, the fitest to the first-time-at-the-gym folks.

[jough]

Your progress and support has meant a lot to me too, Mel, especially considering your recent trials and tribulations.

I was serious about starting up a site other than this forum for people to share their fitness progress and offer each other support - I already registered the domain and I think it will be my next project.  I don't know how long it'll take to get the nutrition and diet stuff up and running (probably quite a while) but in the meantime a place to share blog/journal posts and offer each other encouragement is needed, I think.  I should partner up with another web developer.  We could get stuff done so much faster and better with two people.

Let's all plan to get together about 50 years from now at a huge party where we can celebrate our health and have it catered with healthy and delicious foods.

What do you say?  How's 20 June 2054 sound to the rest of you?  It's a Saturday.

[side_show]

I'm there.

[jough]

Oh, also, yesterday I made homemade "gyros."  I put it in quotes because it didn't actually resemble an actual gyro as much as I'd hoped.

But I made my own tzatziki sauce with yogurt, cucumbers, vinegar, spices, etc.  And instead of that pressed lamb/beef meatloaf meat they use I just used a little spiced skirt steak, but rather than have MEAT and then some veggies to accent it I just used meat like a spice to flavour it.

Also, the pitas at my supermarket really suck (they're these tiny pita pocket things that are awful) so I used low-carb whole-grain wraps instead.  Thank dog for the Atkins diet and all of these great products that are reasonably healthy (well, at least not *too* bad for you - these are still 250 calories a wrap).  Also, the addition of high-flavour stuff like black olives in addition to romaine lettuce, tomato, and onion, were welcome and made the things really delicious.

I also made homemade potato salad yesterday again (I am bringing most of it to a cookout) and did have about half a cup, which is fine.  I added up all of the ingredients in terms of calories, fat, and carbs, and figured that my "serving" was about 300 calories, which is a lot, but not when compared to french fries or potato chips.

Anyway, I'm trying to make some "substitution dishes" that are like regular food, only with healthier substitutions.  I'm still not on any kind of diet or meal plan really.  Just making better choices.  I still use a little real mayo on sandwiches, I just use less of it and get the Hellmann's stuff made with Canola oil rather than... whatever it is that they use in their regular product.  Less saturated fat.  Still loads of calories. 

I also tried making my own mayo once from extra virgin olive oil and it was too good.  You're not supposed to want to eat mayo by the spoonful.

I'm still trying to find a site that offers comparisons between brands in terms of healthy choices.  And trying to find out real nutritional info on say things like bread is really hard.  My dad thinks the labels lie and that they hide bad for you stuff in the "natural flavours" part of the ingredients list.  Maybe.  But I'm finding that there's a big difference in "made from whole grain" (i.e. there is a little bit of whole grain flour in the bread) to "100% whole grain".  Sometimes you'll see a mix of the two, like "Made with 100% Whole Grains" where the first ingredient is "Processed bleached wheat flour" and way down on the list is "unbleached whole grain wheat flour".

Also, the amount of sugar in even "healthy" breads is sickening. 

Right now I'm just eating less bread.  But I really like bread, and sandwiches and stuff.  So at some point I'm probably going to make my own so I know what's in it.  But who has that kind of time?

[wombat]

The amount of sugar in American bread is not only sickening for health reasons, it also tastes bad.  Bread is not dessert!  Apparently as a nation we've developed the palates of children who want to eat nothing but candy.  It's worst with the supermarket whole wheat breads - I guess they think that whole wheat tastes so nasty that we need a spoonful of sugar per slice to make it go down.  That stuff shouldn't even be dignified with the name of bread.  It's just an edible napkin to keep the sandwich ingredients off your hands.

Really, bread is another thing that you should go to a specialist for.  Not to beat the farmer's market thing like a dead equine but some farmer's markets have bakers at them, if you don't have a high quality bakery nearby.

Sorry - the whole bread situation brings out the Pat in me.

[side_show]

I'm the opposite.  I'm not much into eating bread in general, and in following Canada's Food Guide, I find that I really struggle with getting in the minimum daily recommendation of grain foods.  I've resorted to eating low-fat whole wheat crackers at the end of the day just to "catch up" on what I'm "supposed" to be eating in a day.  I'm aiming for working in some unprocessed whole grain items like couscous and brown rice, but I'm just not all that into them.  I'm more than happy to eat grilled giraffe and salmon for dinner, and to me, rice is just a bland additive that I don't really want to eat, bread is bland unless slathered in butter (which defeats the purpose).  I'm thinking I'm going to try to eat a larger breakfast of whole grain fortified cereals.

[wombat]

I don't think most couscous is made from whole grain.  And be careful with reading the label on those cereals.  That's another thing that even if it's whole grain usually has several pounds of sweetener.

Are you sure your problem isn't that you are eating lousy bread?  Eat better bread!  Staff of life! Support your local baker!

[Limmo]

I was serious about starting up a site other than this forum for people to share their fitness progress and offer each other support - I already registered the domain and I think it will be my next project.  I don't know how long it'll take to get the nutrition and diet stuff up and running (probably quite a while) but in the meantime a place to share blog/journal posts and offer each other encouragement is needed, I think.  I should partner up with another web developer.  We could get stuff done so much faster and better with two people.

I have the web development skills of a daffodil, so I can't offer my services, but if you set it up, I'm right there with you.  I want to lose 70 pounds by the end of the year.

[CortJstr]

The amount of sugar in American bread is not only sickening for health reasons, it also tastes bad.  Bread is not dessert!  Apparently as a nation we've developed the palates of children who want to eat nothing but candy.  It's worst with the supermarket whole wheat breads - I guess they think that whole wheat tastes so nasty that we need a spoonful of sugar per slice to make it go down.  That stuff shouldn't even be dignified with the name of bread.  It's just an edible napkin to keep the sandwich ingredients off your hands.

Really, bread is another thing that you should go to a specialist for.  Not to beat the farmer's market thing like a dead equine but some farmer's markets have bakers at them, if you don't have a high quality bakery nearby.

Sorry - the whole bread situation brings out the Pat in me.

My problem is that good bread won't stay on the shelf long enough. If I buy bread or rolls at Safeway they'll at least last the week. Stuff from Whole Foods or the farmer's market is moldy after like two days. I'd rarther eat chemical preservatives than spend extra money for nice bread that can't survive long enough to have more than one sandwich.

I loves me some rice, though. Whenever I make convenience foods I have to halve the meat because otherwise I run out of rice/noodles way too soon. Sit-down Chinese places that won't give you extra rice free make baby Jesus cry.