seeking advice on weight loss

[Jeff726]

Hey all,

Right now I am 6 feet 2 inches tall and weigh about 265-280 pounds. And I am obviously trying to cut that down, but what the problem is is that in this heat I feel zero motivation to go outside and exercise. Now I know going to a gym is just as easy, but the nearest one is 15 miles away and I don't always have a way there. And also I know I have to eat better which is no problem for me, but the healthier foods are so much more expensive. What I am trying to ask is what would be a good way to try and cut weight considering these circumstances. I mean like would drinking a gallon or more of water a day help or something?

Any POLITE advice would be very appreciated! Thanks.



Jeff
without love, without truth, there can be no turning back

 

[Xander]

Well Jeff first of all. You have to get out and do some execise, even if it's only a little. You have to get outside and work up a sweat.
Water is good. Hold the soda pops. None of that for starters.
As for the diet, you need to find something that will kick your metabolism into overdrive.
usually pasta, and rice dishes can help you with that. Hold the fat pasta sauces and that kind of thing.
Oh and eat plenty of fruit and veggies.

But all of this is without effect, if you don't go out and execise a couple of days each week. Hot, rainy, windy. Not an excuse. Just do it! (Hmmm did I just sound like a Nike commecial?)

Hope it helps.

 

[Sonora]

The program I'm following (have lost over 50 pounds since I started) stresses exercise (even just walking a little), water (64 oz/day), and low (not NO) fat. Veggies, fruits, poultry, fish mostly. What I found is that my food bill has actually gone down. I was doing the fast food, pizza, throw a frozen something in the microwave thing which is much more expenxive.

 

[RonG]

Weight loss is normally a matter of eating less and exercising more. If you can only do one of those, take the exercise route.

One thing during weight loss that screws everybody up is the fact that weight loss involves burning fat and your body fat is where a lot of toxins are being stored in your body. So the minute you start losing weight, you end up feeling like garbage and you blame it on the "diet". The way to avoid this trap is with lots of water. Good quality lowfat yogurts seem to do a decent job of neutralizing this feeling also (my experience and others).

 

[Earthgoddess]

go jeff

jeff I am on a low carb,high protein diet and that is working well for me(over 30lbs in 6 months and no feelings of depravation)but more importantly through simple exercise I have realy changed my body mass index...I hate exercise but I do it a little everyday,try simple stuff at first.
In this heat Mall walking(big east coast thing) is great-it is cool,safe and well lit. Plus most malls here have a walker's info pack-i,e, distance,and a walking club-really motivational... I persoanlly love to swim, is there a YMCA near you-prevention magazine also has a weightloss site where you can get all sorts of diet tips and even get a cyber diet buddy...
Best of Luck-as Xander said-Just Do It

 

[Beebeeblue]

Walking worked for me. Lots of walking. And try not to eat after say 6 or 7 pm. Water, gallons of it. Cut out little things like extra mayonnaise, that last frence fry...etc. You dont have to necessarily eat salads and chicken all day long. You have to control your eating habits.

I lost close to 70 pounds when I was 24. Got pregnant and put 30 of it on afterwards, so as of tomorrow, Aug 1st, Im off to the land of diet and exercise. Got me a Taebo tape(beginner of course) and lots of water. Im supposed to quit smoking too, but we shall see how that goes.

Good luck Jeff!

 

[Ezzie]

Great suggestions by everyone!

Now I'll tell you what works/worked for my mother and myself.


My mom is not the typical "Go to the gym" type person so she went to a garage sale and bought an excercise bike for like 20 bucks. That combined with Richard Simmons excercise tapes and drinking lots of water helped her achieve her goal in about 11 months.

Now my method is strange but true (might be a woman thing though lol) It seems everytime I start dating someone or fall in love, my appetite decreases and my energy level shoots through the roof. When I met my first true love, I lost 30 pounds in under 3 months. Met my now ex husband, lost 25 pounds but got pregnant and gained it all back. lol And now I'm dating a good guy(Well, he's a good guy when my mood isn't swinging lmao) and pregnant at the same time but I still don't have an appetite and I'm always on the go. What a corny way to lose weight huh? LOL

Anyway hon, my advice is to do what you and your body can tolerate. You don't have to go out into the heat and kill yourself when there are other ways to work up a sweat. And little changes in what you eat will always help. Someone said fruits and veggies and lots of water, I think that is some great advice.

 

[Jade]

JEFF

DRINK TONS of H2O

EAT ADEQUATE AMTs of FRUITS AND VEGGIES

(TRY MY FRUIT DIP RECIPE if you don't like fruit much... it is in the QUICK RECIPES thread and it is low fat if you use low fat cream cheese).

DON'T overdo the walking right away
otherwise you will be more likely to get discouraged and give up.

STart the first day with just about a 5-10 min. walk, then the next day go 10-15.

Do 15 min. walks 3-4 times a week the first week or two.

Slowly build up to 30 min. walks 3-4 times a week, increasing by a few more minutes every week or so.

Once that is comfortable try walking faster and making it feel more like excercise.... (eg: swing arms, wlak up hills, etc.) or just increase amount of time.

Nothing beats walking if you feel out of shape and want to lose weight.

OH and if you are of MEDIUM build, (which I haven't seen you so don't know)... you can safely be up to the 220s and still be healthy, but of course if you are like a body builder or something haha then it would be more.

One final thing... don't eat LATE or before going to bed and if you HAVE to do that... eat fruit or another light low fat healthy snack.

Good Luck

 

[Guest]

Hey, Jeff. I had a bit of money a few years ago when a band I was in was doing fairly well - more money than I'd ever earned before working normal jobs. I ended up putting on quite a lot of weight. I think of that period as my Vegas years. Haha. I wasn't exercising enough. When we were out on tour I was eating junk food and drinking too much beer. I live a half-hour walk from the centre of town. When I wasn't out with the band I was taking taxi cabs up into the town. I hardly ever drank when I was at home but I did eat quite a lot of rubbish food - mainly due to boredom and the fact that I'd always been a bit of a comfort eater. I'm 5ft9. At my worst I weighed 14 and a half stone - 203 pounds, I think. (Do you multiply stones by 14 to get pounds - is that right?).

I've often tried exercise regimes and various diets in the past but never stuck to them much longer than a couple of weeks. You get an initial surge of energy and enthusiasm but this soon trails off and you go back to bad old habits.

In the end, what did the trick was lack of income. I recommend the poverty diet. The band started getting less and less money from the beginning of 1999 onwards. We were dropped by the record label last August and I've had very little money since then. I started getting into the habit of buying cheep food - tins of baked beans, tins of vegetable soup, tuna fish and bread. I could now buy my food for the week for under £10 ($15-20). I had previously been spending £50-100 ($75-200). I couldn't afford taxis anymore so I began walking into town several times a week instead. I ate as much as ever but it was much healthier food. My diet was now fairly well rounded. Baked beans have protein, fibre and vitamins. I get lots of vegetables in the soups I eat and bread is full of carbohydrates. Tuna fish is also fairly healthy. I only really eat other types of meat if I'm out somewhere. I should probably eat more fruit (I occasionally have bananas or apples) and, because I never really buy milk, I'm probably a bit lacking in calcium. I take vitamins with added calcium to try and supplement this. I stopped buying cheese at all, which probably helped a lot. I used to eat way too much cheese.

Over time my metabolism changed and my appetite decreased. The more weight I lost the more self-confidence I gained which made me more enthusiastic about exercising. After New Year I began doing sit-ups in the house, dancing manically to mad noisy music (nobody must ever see this) and regularly walking up into town. (I've just given you all some pretty frightening images of myself, haven't I?)

At the start of the year I was 13 and a half stone (189 pounds). I'm now just under 12 stone (168 pounds). That's around the average recommended weight for a man of my height. I haven't been this weight since I was around 19 years old, so I feel the best I have for over twelve years.

The only real advice I can give, Jeff, is to set yourself realistic goals that you know you can stick to for a long period of time. It takes a while for your metabolism to change.

You could try what I did - living on soup (preferably vegetable soups), baked beans, tuna fish and bread. To start with you can eat as much of these as you like 'cause they're probably healthier than what you're eating at the moment. They're also fairly inexpensive to buy. If I want a snack I usually just have toast now. In the past I would've had biscuits (cookies) and crisps (chips). (BTW - I hope y'all appreciate my little translations in the brackets there.)

Exercise is probably the most important part of it all. Try exercising in the house so you can do it without anyone seeing you. Dance manically to noisy music if you feel like it - maybe a whole album every day. Try walking places instead of driving, or taking the bus or whatever.

Like people have been saying, drink a lot of water. I'm quite lucky in that I've always tended to drink water or coffee in the house instead of cola and other soft drinks.

If you don't expect drastic changes in your weight too quickly you can probably keep your diet/exercice going. Over time you'll see real lasting improvements. That'll probably give your self-confidence a real boost.

 

[CreamyLady]

Jeff, I know about the lack of motivation in the heat thing . . . here's what I'm doing.

I walk, very late at night or extremely early in the morning, when it is cool. This has another advantage: in the beginning, when one is huffing and puffing, there are very few around to see it. Also, we antisocial curmudgeonly witches aren't that fond of people. It is far better to enjoy the night without them.

Drink lots and lots of water. Sodas are killers. Diet sodas aren't so good for you either.

My fluids are water, nonfat milk (a cup a day) and tea. I am something of a tea addict; I must have two cups a day. In the evening, though, I switch to herbal.

Practice grazing: instead of three big meals, try six smaller meals. Keep lots of crunchy veggies about for "free" snacks. Fruit, too.

Don't be silly about it, and go for the quick fix. Figure out what it is that you really like to eat, and work with it.

Good luck!

 

[teresafannin]

Hi Jeff

Hi Jeff, I am in Texas & it is so hot I do my walking at night or in the morning.I lost a lot of weight last fall, then gained back more, so trying to firm up & lose a bit myself. Like everyone said, water is the best thing to drink. It will help flush your system. Most people can eat what they want if they eat small portions. During hot weather, heavy meals are harder to digest. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[Mensa]

Just a suggestion.

I knew a man once who went to a gym, lost twelve pounds, and made two million dollars doing it. The machine ripped his leg off and he sued.

 

[Bliss]

Hello Jeff,

Here are a few ideas to add to the previous replies:

1) Try replacing (most of) the sugar in your diet with a natural substitute, like Stevia. About the only place this doesn't cut it is coffee.

2) If you aren't big on the idea of drinking 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight a day, concentrate on eating more natural raw fruits and vege's, still chock full of their own "water".

3) Look into cleansing your body. Nuff said.

4) When you feel like having extra treats, like say, maybe all of the items in Jade's Quick Recipe post, make sure you take extra enzyme supplements.

5) Buy a leash and take your dog, cat, or iguana for long walks. Fido's will have to be taught that the routine is "walk, walk, walk" and not "sniff, hike, mark".

This big giant library we all surf has tons of information, very useful for finding the right combination of diet and activity that suits your personality and lifestyle. Try http://www.search.com

Best Wishes!
Payne

I knew a man once who went to a gym, lost twelve pounds, and made two million dollars doing it. The machine ripped his leg off and he sued.

Thanks! I always wondered what chocolate milk coming out of my nose, while I had the flu, would feel like. http://smilecwm.tripod.com/net/rolling_eyes.gif

 

[~justin]

so, uh, what do you do if you're tall, lanky, and about thirty pounds underweight for your height?

i.e. i'm a fricking stick *laughs*

6'1 1/2 and 150 pounds.

 

[Expertise]

Eat one of Rolands burgers from the White Castle thread. Problem solved.

 

[Ezzie]

Hey Justin, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I know plenty of women including myself who find thin men very attractive. hehe

 

[~justin]

*blushing furiously* thank you

i'm not saying i want to be musclebound or anything, just a little less sticklike. i'll always be tall and slim.

 

[Bliss]

One more thing, Jeff.

About your idea that healthier foods cost more. On the surface, it sure seems so, but in the six months since we've been eating more naturally, our grocery bills have actually decreased on a monthly basis. Maybe we were eating a lot more junk than we'd like to admit to?! Get thee behind me, you damned Twinkies!

By the way, Justin, my fiance was 6'3, 170 lbs, and he's gained 15 since then. Just a thought. And remember, this thread is about helping Jeff, studly.

~~~~~~~~Running away from the Thin Man~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Ezzie]

*Perk* Tall and thin? C'mere Justin, I'll help you give your upper body the best work out possible and put a little muscle on ya. *Smiling wickedly*

Ezzie http://smilecwm.tripod.com/net/smileysex5.gif

 

[Jeff726]

sweet!

Thanks guys for all the suggestions, they help alot. I might just take up Roger's idea of the poverty diet too. And Payne's idea of 1/2 ounce water per pound of weight per day would be.....just over a gallon oh water per day and I can do that easy!

Thanks again yall are the bestest friend's a virgin can have!


Jeff
http://www.sponcom.com/anarchy

 

[~justin]

just a comment...

oddly enough, the advice one would follow to lose weight seems rather similar to the advice one would follow to gain weight...

wow, who'd 'a thunk exercise might actually be a good thing...

maybe i'll start following the advice everyone's been giving Jeff... heck, shouldn't we all be doing that stuff anyway? healthy lifestyle and all that...

Ezzie... watch out, or i may just take that as an invitation...

 

[*Eve*]

Actually there really is quick fix, if you want to lose weight and keep it off, you have to be patient. At one point I was about twenty pounds overwieght (they say in college you get the freshman 15, it was like the freshman 30 for me), I tried all kinds of diets and then, I tried the no carb thing and that worked very well, I lost about 35 pounds, but it was too quick and I gained a lot of it back, so I just cut down the carbs. I still ate them but I didn't go overboard. If I wanted bread with my meal I would have it, but I stayed away from a lot of pasta. You really can't deprive your body of anything or it will crave it more. I also cut out the sugar, and that's a big part. Every now and then you can treat yourself but don't go overboard. Exercise plays a big part. I wasn't really motivated to exercise either, but it was either fit into my jeans again or give up an buy a whole to wardrobe. I found something that I liked to do. Exercise could be, rollerblading, walking a few miles, biking or shooting some hoops with your friends, as long as you get out and do something. I know it's probably not the quick fiz you'd like to hear about but diet and exercise on a regular basis is really the only way to lose and keep the wieght off.

 

[Thephantomprincess]

Volunteers!

Ok Jeff, Just imagine you were a woman trying to lose weight. It's twice as hard. I'll be your dieting buddy if you want one. I'm lacking modivation too. My advice (what has worked in the past) High fiber, lower carbs, lower fat and lots of greens. My favorite helper on the diet trail has been Kashi's Good Friends cerial. It's high in fiber (8 grams/half cup) and has almost no fat. Fruit is good, but has a lot of sugar in it, so you have to watch how much you eat. Overall just watch your portions. A fistful of pretzels, chips etc is about an ounce (typical serving size). The size of your palm from the base to the first knucke is about 1/4 of a lb of meat. The size of your fist closed is a serving of fresh fruit. Read your labels, and watch how much of you eat as well as what you eat.

Anyone for stating a Literotica weight support club?

 

[Blues]

Jeff

I strongly reccomend the high protien/low carb diet. Using this diet i went from 5'9" 255 to 195 in 6 months. (As well as drastically reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels.)

AVOID SUGAR!!!

Drink lots of water, and do some form of exercise, walking or lift weights at home.

There is a terrific book out there called "Protien Power" which gives some great insight into how the body works, and an easy to follow plan.

BLUES

I don't want to be a fat man
I don't have the patience to endure all that...

JETHRO TULL

 

[Jeff726]

Re: Volunteers!

I'll be your dieting buddy if you want one

I could use as many buddies as I can get, dieting or not. But yes I will be yours.


Hugs,

Jeff