Tirytory

Nuts not good for dieting- mostly very high in calories..

magnumpi

Now I am older I have the same issue, I have a routine of coffee at 5:30 am or there about and while I am sat in my car all day I take milk and have a bowl of cerial every day. PM is usually a couple of 3 yogurts and a banana or ritz biscuits and tuna.

If my subject is active on TTC I'm good, I can get exercise just running after some one, if they use a car !!! Not so much, so after a day that I stay in my car I come home and do 20 mins on my stationary cycle before I go shower and finish my notes. To be honest I do this more for blood pressure reasons not weight loss reasons.

Exercise is key to weight loss, or a steady weight IMO I am 6 foot 1 inch and 200llbs - 210 lobs, not bad for some one who sits in a car all day :@) But not perfect, I can live with being a few pounds over and try not to become too obese as I age.

Shard

Can't you get into some fist fights with baddies, that should boost exercise levels?

Shard

Don't i know it! The point is to eat a small handful, although even that will be 50 kcal +, because is stabilises hunger. It's one of the tools in that book "You on a Diet".

BristolUK

I made thread the other day about chickens here often being cheaper (by weight) than the lowest, multi-purchase option in Tesco.
I find plenty of offers where the price compares favourably and I buy three or four for the freezer.

That aside, frozen chicken breasts can often be had (Co-op, Giant Tiger, Walmart even Loblaws/Sobeys sometimes) for a reasonable cost. Co-op here sells them regularly (boneless, skinless) in 3 kg boxes for $15-$18. Not the most attractive and even sizes like in the fresh packs with the outrageous prices but they cook the same way.

Oink

You might want to try this. You just downloaded it to your phone. The bloke is such an annoying twat that it makes you want finish the runs so he'll shut the naff up.

couch to 5k


Sorry, I just re read your op and see you have knee problems. Is there a local community swimming pool, or is that too spendy also?

magnumpi

Ha ha Yeh that may be great for weight loss, not so great for blood pressure

Shard

Are you one if those people who can eat whatever they want but not gain weight?

Oink

And drink beer. That said, I work out fairly regularly and I have an HID that makes me eat turnips and lentil soup if I've spent a bit too much time at the curry house or the kebab shop.

Oink

He lives near the Pacific Ocean, surely fish is cheap enough? Just buy it from the aboriginal people.

WEBlue

Yes, if you can't have a dog of your own due to no-pets living situation, this is an excellent solution! Most animal shelters are happy to see volunteer dogwalkers, as their dogs need more exercise than the staff can give them.

I've started walking friends' and relatives' pets, some for money and some for free (within reason). Bigger dogs are fantastic for getting your heart rate up on a walk, and even the smaller dogs like to run sometimes. Try trotting a couple of blocks with a terrier three times a day--that's a real workout!

Yes, it really depends on which type of oatmeal you eat. I can't stand the processed instant flake-type oatmeal. I like to cook up either the whole oats (like McCann's in the metal tin) or oat bran, which one used to be only able to get in health food shops but now can find in many larger grocery stores. Both these are low GI, which is key if possible diabetes and blood sugar are a concern.... The lower GI everything you put into your mouth is, the better.

My husband has real blood sugar problems like you--he can't eat plain processed cereal of any kind (though he loves them). It's a pain to cook up the old-fashioned oatmeal (takes 30 minutes to get it the way I like it, unless you soak it overnight, then a little less). The oat bran cooks up quicker in the microwave, maybe 4 minutes. But both will satisfy him for at least 4 hours without causing that sudden, violent blood sugar drop. So I've forbidden him to eat regular cereal, even if it's from the health food store--most is just too processed....

SchnookoLoly

Hey Jsmth... I feel like I can actually help out here. Here's my weight loss journey.

Short version: 2 years 2 months at it. Down 2st. Healthy BMI now. It's a lifestyle change, not a diet. Mantra is "eat a little bit less, move a little bit more".

Longer version:
About two years ago I got on the scale and was NOT happy with the result. Hit a new personal high, and was really not happy about it. I felt terrible, I wasn't sleeping well, I had no energy, my clothes didn't fit... I was pretty mad at myself for letting my weight get so bad.

At a training course with work, I ran into a colleague I hadn't seen in ages. She used to be huge. Properly obese. And she was looking fantastic - she'd lost 2.5 stone (about 35lbs) in a few months. How? Counting calories and exercising. Not anything huge. Eat a little bit less, move a little bit more.

I re-evaluated myself... I didn't have 2.5st to lose, I figured losing 1 or 1.5st would be fine, and if she can lose 2.5 with a goal of another 2.5 then surely I can get my ass in gear to lose 1.5st.

So I started doing what she was doing. Ate a little bit less, moved a little bit more. Like you, I hated - and still hate - running. I knew I wouldn't stick with that. So instead I went to the local pool and got a membership there, and resolved to do 30-60 minutes of lengths 2-3 times a week. Not a huge commitment. I scheduled it in my calendar and made sure I stuck to what I scheduled.

I bought a food scale and started paying attention to what I ate, and I logged everything in MyFitnessPal, which makes logging really easy. I set MFP to lose 1lb/week. I figured that was doable and sustainable. It started me on 1390 calories per day. Totally doable.

I was very, very careful not to miss anything I was eating. I went as far as weighing the milk that went into my tea. 50mL of 1% milk isn't a ton, but I still accounted for it. If I went past my lips, it got counted.

I started making healthier choices. I'd still sometimes indulge in some things I liked, but I'd have healthier versions... there was a burrito shop close to my work that I adored... instead of getting a normal burrito I'd get it as a salad instead, and I'd skip the cheese and sour cream and ask for extra salsa. It was still really tasty. I bulked up dinners with more veggies, and switched to lower-calorie starch alternatives, like sweet potato and squash instead of regular potato. I'd make two other veg sides instead of just one (broccoli, beans, carrots, cauliflower, whatever). I cut out pop and started drinking more water. Buying a sodastream helped with this as I love fizzy water.

I used BBC Good Food a lot for recipe ideas. They have a great filter where you can filter by calories. I'd look for dinners with 600 calories or less per serving, and I could usually pare it down a bit further by making a few substitutions to the recipes. I made a lot of brothy soups and stirfrys.

It didn't take long to start seeing improvements. As happens early in a diet, the weight came off relatively quickly. My stamina started getting better. I wasn't hungry as often as I used to be. I stopped craving sugar and was happy with other snacks - apples, pears, berries, and so on.

In January 2013 my brother got me a FitBit for Christmas, and that also really helped. It made me aware of how much I was walking during the day, and I loved that it gave me calorie credits in MFP if I walked a ton. So on days where I couldn't go swimming, I'd try to get in a long walk at lunch or after work, particularly when I had something on in the evening.

I stuck with it for two years. The weight loss was slow and steady. Around August 2013 when we were moving from the UK to Canada I stopped logging as diligently - life got really chaotic. But by then, eating like a smart person was second nature - certainly a 'lifestyle change'. Between August 2013 and January 2014 I managed to maintain my weight within a 5lb window. In January 2014 once we were settled in Canada I got myself back on track. I got my parents on board as well. Since January 2014, Mom has lost 30lbs and Dad has lost 40lbs. I lost about 12lbs, and my husband lost 10lbs. My dad dipped under 200lbs for the first time in about twenty years at least. He was so proud. Mom is down to a weight she hasn't been since my brother was born - 25 years ago. I'm back down to where I was when I graduated high school. My husband is down to his weight when he was doing lightweight rowing in university.

I also learned not to feel bad about cheat days. They happen. I was just careful to limit them, usually one a month I didn't get worked up about. You still need to be able to live, and need to be able to have a cheat day without falling off the wagon completely. Holidays, birthdays, weddings, etc - no way I'm going to count calories at those places. However, I still logged in MFP - I'd just say "Dinner: 4000 calories" and just left it at that. One bad day isn't going to result in putting 5lbs back on, but 5 days in a row will, so logging even the bad days helped me stay focused.

It's been 2 years and 2 months now. I'm down 2st (28lbs). Twice my original goal.

At the two year mark, I dug out a picture of me from two years ago and compared it to me now. I couldn't believe the difference. I also couldn't believe I let myself get as big as I was.

About a month ago I switched to maintenance mode. I am still about 7lbs away from my goal weight, but we are preparing to move into a new house so I decided to switch to maintenance mode to make sure I "know how to do it", so to speak. For me, that's about 1600-1700 calories a day. (I work a desk job and don't walk nearly enough. My FitBit stats are embarrassing.)

Because I am a massive nerd, I keep a graph of my progress. (I know MFP does graphs, but you can only get one year max.) The blue line is my actual weight measurement. The green line is an average of the 5 weights on either side - so it smooths out erratic measurements and gives an average moving weight. I haven't put the actual values (sorry!), but each horizontal black line on the graph is 5lbs.

Happy to elaborate further on anything, or to friend you on MFP and/or FitBit. It's totally doable if you put your mind to it, and it doesn't have to mean denying yourself all the time.

Good luck, you can do it. For sure.

Tirytory

[QUOTE=Oink;11462159]You might want to try this. You just downloaded it to your phone. The bloke is such an annoying twat that it makes you want finish the runs so he'll shut the naff up.

couch to 5k


Sorry, I just re read your op and see you have knee problems. Is there a local community swimming pool, or is that too spendy also?[/QUOTE]

Ha ha go reread op post again!! Your post did make me laugh!

Oink

[QUOTE=Tirytory;11462188] Ah. Although fat people do tend to float well, so I doubt it would be hard to learn.

JamesM

I'm no expert but I do suffer from knee issues as well if I run on hard services for more than 20 minutes or so. That is down to foot alignment and can be fixed with the right soles.

But if that is not an option I would suggest running on a field. It burns more calories than road running and the ground is softer.

I've never seen an effective treadmill in any one's home. They just never match the quality of the ones at the gym.

A better option may be a cheap bike???

Anyway just food for thought.

I'm actually trying to do something similar. I was buying jeans on the weekend and could not find a pair of 34 inch waist to fit. That was a wake up call.

My goal is 15 pounds. I've cut to 1500 calories a day as I'll burn 300 every other day at the gym.

The big challenge is going to be cutting the booze back.......