I know it seems crazy for me to put more advice out there while I'm cutting back on exercise and only barely able to keep from gaining (none so far, but I feel like it's just around the corner...The longer I go without exercise, the easier it is to skip it.)
If you are stuck on a plateau, however, or if you are starting a regimen and not seeing results, there are a few things you can try. I have found some of these to be very helpful, but I would recommend trying them in the following order.
1. Reassess:
A. Look again at what you are eating. Are you counting all calories? Mayo added to a sandwich must be counted along with all the incidentals we sometimes forget. A lot of seasonings are zero calories, but check those mixtures. A packet of onion soup mix added to your yogurt dip is 50 calories. "I'm just going to have a couple of my kid's french fries" turns into 6-10 fries? Count it. I am pretty lax about counting calories now (I will eat 2 fries and not count them), but in the beginning or when re-booting your eating habits, it is important to count every little item. If you haven't changed your caloric intake, but you've lost a few pounds, it might also be time to cut another 200 calories. Just remember; according to most medical advice and nutritionists, you should eat at least 1200 calories a day. If you were eating 1200 calories and you think that's the problem, you may have to skip to the last resort (below).
B. Are you still exercising the same as when you began? We started going for walks, but have slowly increased speed. At one point, we both slowed weight loss so much that it was practically stable. That meant it was time to add distance. If you've become accustomed to your workout, it might be time to push a little harder or add a little more. Second idea, change it out. I also found that by adding some strength training into my routine 2-3 times a week, it jump started me back onto the path.
2. Stress:
Easier said than done, that's for certain, but try to reduce stress levels. Sometimes this requires looking over aspects of your life and reminding yourself not to worry about the things you cannot change. At the very least, if you are worried about a plateau, then you may be covered in stress you can control. Relax and just start over with your thoughts on why you started, what your goals might be, etc. Look at how far you have come and find joy in simple things.
3. Last resort:
If you still cannot seem to boost things along, you may have to take a break. Keep counting calories, only eat more. Add a few hundred to your allowance and make sure you eat that much for 3-5 days and no more. If you have been eating 1800-2000 calories, bump up to 2500. If you have been with us and only eating 1200, bump up to 1800-2000. After that time, cut your calories again and push your exercise routine just a little.
It can be frustrating at times, but I do believe results are possible. I used to think I was one of those people who couldn't lose weight because I did try diet and exercise as well as a few other fad tactics, but either it wasn't successful or it was impossible to sustain. It takes great commitment and sometimes you have to repair your body and mind in order to be ready to lose weight, but I now believe it can happen. Whatever method you choose, make sure you can maintain and sustain.
Showing posts with label getting started. Show all posts
Showing posts with label getting started. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Getting Started
I know it seems a little nuts to put something about getting started as the 30th post and nearly 2 months into the blog. These moments have passed for me, so I don't think about them as much. It is important, though, to get off to a solid start - to take a moment and think about what you are doing.
1. Record.
Begin by NOT changing. For at least a week (not more than two, I should think) continue to eat and exercise normally. Grab a small notebook that you can keep with you and make sure you have a pen. I recommend dividing it into three sections.
Section A is what you eat. Record everything. "If you bite it, write it" is the phrase I've heard. Picking a french fry off your kid's plate should be noted. Calculate calories of these foods to the best of your ability. Most nutritional guides can be found online, but don't look them up until after you have eaten out because it can affect your eating habits whether it's out of guilt or more of a subconscious reaction.
Section B is where you record your activities. Make sure to note what the activity is and the time it takes you to complete it. Note things like resistance (weights in weight training) or distance (walking, biking).
Section C should be dedicated to notes. You can put anything you like: how you feel on a given day, what your goals might be, how you feel about weight loss, what psychological hindrances you think may have helped you get to the weight you are, ANYTHING. You should examine things like why you want to lose weight and what is going through your mind. I find these things help me sort out the truths in my mind even though I may not be ready to face some of them until much further along.
I did something similar to this when I started losing weight at Curves several years ago. Although I only lost 30 lbs over the course of 18 months, I did find that I learned a lot about myself. I wish I had done it again before starting this time because I find myself thinking back and wondering about the differences. Things are working this time so I suppose the notebook isn't necessary, but what's the harm? You'll know your before and after without having to wonder.
2. Goals.
We don't believe in end result goals, per se. When you are as overweight as we, smaller goals are more realistic and visible. Saying that we will be in the ideal weight for our height is intimidating as well as unrealistic. Scott's first goal was to get down to the weight he was when we got married in 1997. For me, I didn't even like having goals at all. They just add stress when it doesn't happen as fast as I want and I go a little crazy if the scale moves up just one pound when I have goals. My goal was to generally be declining instead of increasing. I suppose I still made tiny goals once in a while. If the scale started reading 287-288, I would tell myself that I did not want to see 29+ again. Right now I have just dipped below 238 so I do no wish to see anything over 240 when I get on the scale.
The point is, you have to know yourself and what works for you. Do you need to see where the end will be in order to reach it? Do you prefer to just see results? Try to figure that out before you go in, but be flexible if you find it's not working for you.
3. Resources.
I found Spark People to be a great resource, but I also learned quickly that these group activities don't work for me. I joined, but it was a few months later before I used the tools. I found out how to calculate the mileage of walks in my neighborhood. I hunted down videos to help with strength training and super short workouts for when I just wanted to add a little 10 minute activity to my regularly scheduled exercise. There are recipes and calorie counting guides in easy to use, convenient trackers. I used it faithfully for a month. I didn't lose a single pound the entire month. I don't know why, can't explain. I found articles of motivation and short pieces about how to overcome plateaus. I used everything I could imagine and still stayed in the same place. I didn't relate it to the webpage at first because I could see awesome graphs showing how well I was eating and nifty charts to show that I exercised even more than I had before using it. Surely it couldn't be that. Well, at one point I decided to take a break from tracking for a week and see if it made a difference. I immediately started losing weight again.
Group weight loss isn't for everyone, but I still might recommend signing up on of these pages. I still go there occasionally to update my weight and measurements, but mainly to look things up when I need them. A new workout can be useful at times and when we try a new walk, I like to record it so that I know the distance. It's useful to have a go-to webpage for the bulk of weight-loss research.
4. Ready, Set, Go.
Now that you've got the tools, goals, and recent activity to lean on, it's time to start the actual plan of attack. Yes, we are doing this to be healthy, but let's face it, weight loss is an important part of that. Make sure you are mentally ready to commit to these new goals and to the changes you will have to make. I took a while to get started last summer for various reasons. I liked my life, felt okay, and had no medical scares. I compared myself to my husband and had deluded myself into this weird thought process. "He's eating a big huge burger with beef, pastrami, and sauces spilling out. He's downing the largest french fries available. I'm eating this little gyro which is leaner meat, yogurt sauce, and a type of flat bread. On the side, though fried, what's underneath is mushrooms or zucchini. I'm eating healthier." "Well, he gets winded coming up stairs. I get out and walk once in a while. I'm exercising more. I must be healthier."
Healthier, my friends, is not the same as healthy. It took me quite some time to figure that out.
When he had his medical scares and decided it was time to do something about it, we walked together. It took him a few months just to get up to the speed I walked normally. It was actually hard for me to walk that slow! At first I changed some eating habits a little, but I hadn't quite started counting calories.
Suddenly, he started melting and I lost all of 5 pounds. We started buying foods based on his diet and the supplies of chips, sweets, and other junk in the house began to dwindle. His walking speed increased and, with a Disneyland trip I had planned coming quickly, we increased our distance as well so we would be sure to be ready. NOW I was ready to jump into the pool instead of just dangling my toes.
For some, you can just begin and start changing your life immediately. For the ones like me who need more time to adjust, I recommend the following steps:
A. Cut out obvious junk foods.
If you like to sit with half a bag of oreos dunking them in milk while watching a movie, try taking just the serving size and making the milk a little smaller. If you like to relax after work with a bag of chips and a container of dip, try taking a handful of chips and putting them in a bowl - leave the bag in the kitchen - and make that yogurt dip I've mentioned or scoop out just a tablespoon or two and leave the rest in the fridge. I liked to buy candy bars from time to time and eat 1-2 in a sitting. I stopped buying them and instead opted for a bite sized one from other people's houses (with Halloween coming up, everyone was offering). Examine those especially bad eating habits and cut them out or, at least, cut them down to one serving size per day.
B. Change activity level.
If you go walking once a week, add in a second day. If you go three times a week, try doing yoga, lifting weights, or just jogging during in place during your favorite show on television. We started by going for a 1/2 mile walk, but we did it every day. At first it took over 30 minutes. By the time Scott was up to speed, it was down to 20. Now we can do 1 mile in 20 minutes, though our goal is to go at least 1.5 -2 miles at least 3 times a week.
C. Still not ready to jump in the hole?
If you still feel you have room to improve before taking on the full challenge, I would next recommend cutting visits to restaurants and fast food joints by half. When you go, never order fries; opt for any fruit or vegetables they might offer like broccoli, apples, etc. Also, look for ways to burn extra calories; walk into the bank instead of using drive-through. Save the money and go into a grocery store to buy soda instead of buying the overpriced smaller ones at the gas station. When you crave something at home, jump up and get it instead of thinking about it, putting it off, or saving it as an activity to do several things at once.
D. Jump in!
Do the above for a week or two, then start counting your calories. If it helps, write what you eat. Make sure you are cutting at least 20% off the calories you ate during that first week of recording. Increase your activity double if possible. If you are as large as we, it was recommended we eat 2200-2500 calories (more for Scott). Had we done that, over the course of weight loss we could continue to cut our calories along the road and maintain slow weight loss. It's probably the healthiest route. The problem is that years ago when I recorded calories, I found I only ate 2000-2250. I had messed up my metabolism in such a way that my body could not burn a normal diet. By doing this diet at 1200 calories and being much more careful to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner (though I still lapse. Yesterday I ate a small breakfast and forgot to eat again until 9 pm) I seem to have fixed my metabolism. It functions the way doctors and nutritionists say it should function now (YAY!) That's another plus. Scott wanted to go 1200-1500 because he felt he needed that strict discipline or he would cheat. The problem this causes, of course, is saggy skin as well as the fact that we're both slowing down a little on sending those pounds on their journey to Canada or wherever weight goes when it isn't on my ass. I've got tricks around that, though, and tricks around plateaus which I will detail another day.
So, make sure you're ready to commit to yourself. You can go to weight watchers, join online groups, or just tell all your friends you want to lose weight, but it's you that needs the commitment. Talking out loud solidifies that process, I've heard, but I think talking about it is more about being mentally ready than it is about making it known so you have to answer to someone. Your friends will love you no matter what and you know that so it's not much of a promise if you make it to them. Unfortunately, you will always know when you've cheated yourself (too bad you can't hide the candy bars from yourself, eh!?) so it's got to be internal for it to really work.
Best of luck. If, like me, you think of all these things AFTER you've started dieting, it's not too late. You can still take a moment to record goals and write journal entries about why you may have gained weight or why you want to lose it. Start thinking about other activities you may want to add in order to stave off boredom. Ask yourself tough questions, but don't answer them for a few weeks. You might surprise yourself.
1. Record.
Begin by NOT changing. For at least a week (not more than two, I should think) continue to eat and exercise normally. Grab a small notebook that you can keep with you and make sure you have a pen. I recommend dividing it into three sections.
Section A is what you eat. Record everything. "If you bite it, write it" is the phrase I've heard. Picking a french fry off your kid's plate should be noted. Calculate calories of these foods to the best of your ability. Most nutritional guides can be found online, but don't look them up until after you have eaten out because it can affect your eating habits whether it's out of guilt or more of a subconscious reaction.
Section B is where you record your activities. Make sure to note what the activity is and the time it takes you to complete it. Note things like resistance (weights in weight training) or distance (walking, biking).
Section C should be dedicated to notes. You can put anything you like: how you feel on a given day, what your goals might be, how you feel about weight loss, what psychological hindrances you think may have helped you get to the weight you are, ANYTHING. You should examine things like why you want to lose weight and what is going through your mind. I find these things help me sort out the truths in my mind even though I may not be ready to face some of them until much further along.
I did something similar to this when I started losing weight at Curves several years ago. Although I only lost 30 lbs over the course of 18 months, I did find that I learned a lot about myself. I wish I had done it again before starting this time because I find myself thinking back and wondering about the differences. Things are working this time so I suppose the notebook isn't necessary, but what's the harm? You'll know your before and after without having to wonder.
2. Goals.
We don't believe in end result goals, per se. When you are as overweight as we, smaller goals are more realistic and visible. Saying that we will be in the ideal weight for our height is intimidating as well as unrealistic. Scott's first goal was to get down to the weight he was when we got married in 1997. For me, I didn't even like having goals at all. They just add stress when it doesn't happen as fast as I want and I go a little crazy if the scale moves up just one pound when I have goals. My goal was to generally be declining instead of increasing. I suppose I still made tiny goals once in a while. If the scale started reading 287-288, I would tell myself that I did not want to see 29+ again. Right now I have just dipped below 238 so I do no wish to see anything over 240 when I get on the scale.
The point is, you have to know yourself and what works for you. Do you need to see where the end will be in order to reach it? Do you prefer to just see results? Try to figure that out before you go in, but be flexible if you find it's not working for you.
3. Resources.
I found Spark People to be a great resource, but I also learned quickly that these group activities don't work for me. I joined, but it was a few months later before I used the tools. I found out how to calculate the mileage of walks in my neighborhood. I hunted down videos to help with strength training and super short workouts for when I just wanted to add a little 10 minute activity to my regularly scheduled exercise. There are recipes and calorie counting guides in easy to use, convenient trackers. I used it faithfully for a month. I didn't lose a single pound the entire month. I don't know why, can't explain. I found articles of motivation and short pieces about how to overcome plateaus. I used everything I could imagine and still stayed in the same place. I didn't relate it to the webpage at first because I could see awesome graphs showing how well I was eating and nifty charts to show that I exercised even more than I had before using it. Surely it couldn't be that. Well, at one point I decided to take a break from tracking for a week and see if it made a difference. I immediately started losing weight again.
Group weight loss isn't for everyone, but I still might recommend signing up on of these pages. I still go there occasionally to update my weight and measurements, but mainly to look things up when I need them. A new workout can be useful at times and when we try a new walk, I like to record it so that I know the distance. It's useful to have a go-to webpage for the bulk of weight-loss research.
4. Ready, Set, Go.
Now that you've got the tools, goals, and recent activity to lean on, it's time to start the actual plan of attack. Yes, we are doing this to be healthy, but let's face it, weight loss is an important part of that. Make sure you are mentally ready to commit to these new goals and to the changes you will have to make. I took a while to get started last summer for various reasons. I liked my life, felt okay, and had no medical scares. I compared myself to my husband and had deluded myself into this weird thought process. "He's eating a big huge burger with beef, pastrami, and sauces spilling out. He's downing the largest french fries available. I'm eating this little gyro which is leaner meat, yogurt sauce, and a type of flat bread. On the side, though fried, what's underneath is mushrooms or zucchini. I'm eating healthier." "Well, he gets winded coming up stairs. I get out and walk once in a while. I'm exercising more. I must be healthier."
Healthier, my friends, is not the same as healthy. It took me quite some time to figure that out.
When he had his medical scares and decided it was time to do something about it, we walked together. It took him a few months just to get up to the speed I walked normally. It was actually hard for me to walk that slow! At first I changed some eating habits a little, but I hadn't quite started counting calories.
Suddenly, he started melting and I lost all of 5 pounds. We started buying foods based on his diet and the supplies of chips, sweets, and other junk in the house began to dwindle. His walking speed increased and, with a Disneyland trip I had planned coming quickly, we increased our distance as well so we would be sure to be ready. NOW I was ready to jump into the pool instead of just dangling my toes.
For some, you can just begin and start changing your life immediately. For the ones like me who need more time to adjust, I recommend the following steps:
A. Cut out obvious junk foods.
If you like to sit with half a bag of oreos dunking them in milk while watching a movie, try taking just the serving size and making the milk a little smaller. If you like to relax after work with a bag of chips and a container of dip, try taking a handful of chips and putting them in a bowl - leave the bag in the kitchen - and make that yogurt dip I've mentioned or scoop out just a tablespoon or two and leave the rest in the fridge. I liked to buy candy bars from time to time and eat 1-2 in a sitting. I stopped buying them and instead opted for a bite sized one from other people's houses (with Halloween coming up, everyone was offering). Examine those especially bad eating habits and cut them out or, at least, cut them down to one serving size per day.
B. Change activity level.
If you go walking once a week, add in a second day. If you go three times a week, try doing yoga, lifting weights, or just jogging during in place during your favorite show on television. We started by going for a 1/2 mile walk, but we did it every day. At first it took over 30 minutes. By the time Scott was up to speed, it was down to 20. Now we can do 1 mile in 20 minutes, though our goal is to go at least 1.5 -2 miles at least 3 times a week.
C. Still not ready to jump in the hole?
If you still feel you have room to improve before taking on the full challenge, I would next recommend cutting visits to restaurants and fast food joints by half. When you go, never order fries; opt for any fruit or vegetables they might offer like broccoli, apples, etc. Also, look for ways to burn extra calories; walk into the bank instead of using drive-through. Save the money and go into a grocery store to buy soda instead of buying the overpriced smaller ones at the gas station. When you crave something at home, jump up and get it instead of thinking about it, putting it off, or saving it as an activity to do several things at once.
D. Jump in!
Do the above for a week or two, then start counting your calories. If it helps, write what you eat. Make sure you are cutting at least 20% off the calories you ate during that first week of recording. Increase your activity double if possible. If you are as large as we, it was recommended we eat 2200-2500 calories (more for Scott). Had we done that, over the course of weight loss we could continue to cut our calories along the road and maintain slow weight loss. It's probably the healthiest route. The problem is that years ago when I recorded calories, I found I only ate 2000-2250. I had messed up my metabolism in such a way that my body could not burn a normal diet. By doing this diet at 1200 calories and being much more careful to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner (though I still lapse. Yesterday I ate a small breakfast and forgot to eat again until 9 pm) I seem to have fixed my metabolism. It functions the way doctors and nutritionists say it should function now (YAY!) That's another plus. Scott wanted to go 1200-1500 because he felt he needed that strict discipline or he would cheat. The problem this causes, of course, is saggy skin as well as the fact that we're both slowing down a little on sending those pounds on their journey to Canada or wherever weight goes when it isn't on my ass. I've got tricks around that, though, and tricks around plateaus which I will detail another day.
So, make sure you're ready to commit to yourself. You can go to weight watchers, join online groups, or just tell all your friends you want to lose weight, but it's you that needs the commitment. Talking out loud solidifies that process, I've heard, but I think talking about it is more about being mentally ready than it is about making it known so you have to answer to someone. Your friends will love you no matter what and you know that so it's not much of a promise if you make it to them. Unfortunately, you will always know when you've cheated yourself (too bad you can't hide the candy bars from yourself, eh!?) so it's got to be internal for it to really work.
Best of luck. If, like me, you think of all these things AFTER you've started dieting, it's not too late. You can still take a moment to record goals and write journal entries about why you may have gained weight or why you want to lose it. Start thinking about other activities you may want to add in order to stave off boredom. Ask yourself tough questions, but don't answer them for a few weeks. You might surprise yourself.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Are you giving good advice or being a dismissive jerk?
If I have to hear this - or any variation of it - one more time, I sometimes think I might lose my mind!
In order to lose weight, you just have to burn more calories than you eat. No kidding. Really? What are you? A genius?
Do you really think saying that (or "eat less, exercise more", "keep active and watch what you eat", etc) makes you sound smart? Like some kind of weight loss guru? Come on! It's the most dismissive thing you can say to someone. It actually makes you a little bit of a jerk.
You can count calories fairly easily these days. On the internet you can get ideas of how many calories are in all those foods that don't come with labels (fruit is the first thing that pops into mind). You can also find charts that give an idea of how many calories you are burning per activity, but those rarely take into account things like your weight (if you weigh more, you'll burn more since you have more to carry around. Thinner people can replicate the numbers by adding weights), your previous activity level, how fast your heart is beating and how much sweat you are building. Many things can affect your calorie burning, but none of it is taken into account. Additionally, you burn calories just by getting our of bed, taking a shower, and even breathing. How on earth are you expected to calculate those calories? It's impossible!
In a general 30 minute workout - which is all that is really asked of an obese person starting out - we probably only burn about 150-250 calories. Are we meant to only eat 200 calories a day to offset that? Of course not! That perspective is what makes that "advice" dismissive and bordering on rude. Funny how the people who give that advice are not the kind of people who have ever spent time counting calories and calculating how many they burn in a day. Oh, right, because they think simply by understanding the concept they are somehow smarter than those of us actually doing the work. Guess what? I already knew that stupid thing you just said. I just understand it better than you.
When asked casually how we're losing weight, though, we do respond with a variation. "We're eating less and exercising more." Of course, this is only used with the same people who ask "How are you?" and only want to hear "Fine" because it's a polite question that does not require a sophisticated answer.
It's easy, but it's complicated. It's possible, but it's not always fun. It does, I have found, get easier and more fun as it all becomes part of life, though.
I just want people (in my ideal, unrealistic, utopian world) who say these things to realize that their comments are cliche, redundant, useless, and completely dismissive to a real struggle that someone else is having. I want people to know that a simple "you look great" compliment goes a long way and does not need to be related specifically to weight. I wish people understood that even if they like their comment about burning vs. eating calories, when the subject comes up and that person is on the thin side talking to someone who clearly isn't, it is perfectly okay not to say anything at all.
Hmm. That last bit could be true in an entire world view, couldn't it? Not just regarding weight, exercise, or even health, but also politics, religion, and day to day living. Sometimes it's okay not to say anything at all!
In order to lose weight, you just have to burn more calories than you eat. No kidding. Really? What are you? A genius?
Do you really think saying that (or "eat less, exercise more", "keep active and watch what you eat", etc) makes you sound smart? Like some kind of weight loss guru? Come on! It's the most dismissive thing you can say to someone. It actually makes you a little bit of a jerk.
You can count calories fairly easily these days. On the internet you can get ideas of how many calories are in all those foods that don't come with labels (fruit is the first thing that pops into mind). You can also find charts that give an idea of how many calories you are burning per activity, but those rarely take into account things like your weight (if you weigh more, you'll burn more since you have more to carry around. Thinner people can replicate the numbers by adding weights), your previous activity level, how fast your heart is beating and how much sweat you are building. Many things can affect your calorie burning, but none of it is taken into account. Additionally, you burn calories just by getting our of bed, taking a shower, and even breathing. How on earth are you expected to calculate those calories? It's impossible!
In a general 30 minute workout - which is all that is really asked of an obese person starting out - we probably only burn about 150-250 calories. Are we meant to only eat 200 calories a day to offset that? Of course not! That perspective is what makes that "advice" dismissive and bordering on rude. Funny how the people who give that advice are not the kind of people who have ever spent time counting calories and calculating how many they burn in a day. Oh, right, because they think simply by understanding the concept they are somehow smarter than those of us actually doing the work. Guess what? I already knew that stupid thing you just said. I just understand it better than you.
When asked casually how we're losing weight, though, we do respond with a variation. "We're eating less and exercising more." Of course, this is only used with the same people who ask "How are you?" and only want to hear "Fine" because it's a polite question that does not require a sophisticated answer.
It's easy, but it's complicated. It's possible, but it's not always fun. It does, I have found, get easier and more fun as it all becomes part of life, though.
I just want people (in my ideal, unrealistic, utopian world) who say these things to realize that their comments are cliche, redundant, useless, and completely dismissive to a real struggle that someone else is having. I want people to know that a simple "you look great" compliment goes a long way and does not need to be related specifically to weight. I wish people understood that even if they like their comment about burning vs. eating calories, when the subject comes up and that person is on the thin side talking to someone who clearly isn't, it is perfectly okay not to say anything at all.
Hmm. That last bit could be true in an entire world view, couldn't it? Not just regarding weight, exercise, or even health, but also politics, religion, and day to day living. Sometimes it's okay not to say anything at all!
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