What have you done today...

The Wanderer

in paths untrodden
Joined
October 31, 2006
Messages
573
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Icewind Dale.
... to make me feeeeeeeeel proud!

Some of you might recognise this as beeing the opening line to a tv show known as :

The Bigest Loooooooooooser! :)

At my job, starting tomorrow, there is a contest.

In 3 months, the participants have to lose the most body fat of all whom participates.

The last time i weighed meself I made the balance tremble at 232 pounds of fat.
My healthy weigh should be at 150 m'kay?

I've challenged meself to lose 30 % of that excess body weight.

The winner gets 70 % of the contest's 20 $ entry fee.

I'll post a picture of my fat self in the thread that you all know.

I challenge all of you here, regulars or not.

May the most willing player win!
 
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
573
Location
Icewind Dale.
Good luck. IMO that's not the right way to go about it, though; you'll just gain it all back after the three months are over. The only way to make it stick (or, rather, to get it to un-stick permanently) is by making small but permanent adjustments to your diet and lifestyle. That's hard, because humans tend to be lazy, lacking in willpower, and very set in their ways. And while you'll feel the positive effects quickly, it'll take a lot longer than three months to lose 70 pounds.

(Who am I to say? No-one, really, never having had a real weight problem; my father has been constantly struggling with his weight for as long as I remember, though, so I've watched it up close. Personally, I did manage to make some adjustments to my lifestyle about four years ago that got my waistline from size 36 to size 34, and got it to stay that way -- but that's hardly in the same league.)
 
Joined
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I do not have enough time nor energy atm. I have to keep mentally sharp and focused for the next 5 months as I believe that this term will be more challenging than the previous one.

I actually lost 50 pounds a few times during my life and it usually ended up with me going up again. Recently I crashed due to the heavy amount of homework that didn't allow me to workout like before.
 
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Joined
Oct 26, 2006
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It's really funny you should post this today, as my husband and I just had a long talk about tackling our long forestalled health improvement plans (He needs to quit smoking and I need to quit eating. (Well, you know what I mean. :) )

The idea of a challenge/reward system especially backed by group participation, is a good motivational one to begin with and you have to start somewhere. However, having spent all of my adult life on and off diets, enodenroH, I agree with Prime J that three months is a very short timeframe to lose 70 pounds. It isn't necessarily bad to challenge yourself with a high goal, but don't set yourself up to fail by imposing unrealistic conditions on yourself. 2 lbs a week is the CW for a reasonable weight loss that can be maintained over time(70 lbs @ 2 lbs per week = 35 weeks = 8.75 months.) Being younger and male, you will lose it very easily at first. Then it will sit there on your body taunting you, no matter what you do, until you dive headfirst into a hot fudge sundae--or a beer, pizza, or whatever is your own food hell.

I've gained and lost hundreds of pounds in my life, 10 and 20 lbs at a time, and I can truly say it's all about attitude--it all comes from within, and is executed in the physical. But it isn't just a question of will power and discipline, it's a question of your whole life changing permanently so that you eat and behave like people of ideal weight eat and behave, which is harder than it sounds because of course one has no idea how they do that. :p It's like learning to ride a bike when you've never even seen one before.

But it really can be done--the last thing you need is any discouragement and I hope I haven't given you any. Be firm but kind to yourself and consistent, and you'll get there. A group competition is a great start, just be prepared for it not to end when the contest does.

Hope you take home the prize--and how come the winner only gets 70% of the fees? Is some non-dieting person taking a cut???
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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I never really gain weight (stays around 170 pounds max) no matter how much or what I eat. I dont even exercise or anything or use anykind of diet. I always felt lucky in that aspect. I remember somthing that eating often but little is the best diet. Lately I have tested it occasionally by eating only as much as I need to remove hunger.

I did quit smoking though after many years.. Tried to quit and failed many times but it was suprisingly easy in the end though - I simply grew to dislike the habbit so much that I couldnt stand it anymore. Everybody else smokes where I work even - but I simply dont feel like its worth the stress to smoke. It doesnt improve my work capability and if it comes to that Id rather quit the job if its so stressful than start smoking.
 
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Joined
Dec 28, 2006
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Europa Universalis
the holidays put a few extra pounds on me this year!

My secret for keeping ideal weight is walking, I started getting a little heavy there for a while (6' @ 220) and I was able to get it down to 175'ish thru a bit of intense dieting (soups, veggies, cereal) and walking. Yep, just plain old walking. Walk to go get lunch if you work in an office and go down the street to the deli or something. Go for an evening walk after dinner. Walk on the weekends, for miles and miles. It really helps, and you may be surprised how enjoyable it is to go out for a walk, outside of the usual run of the mill routine of your day.

And just watch what you eat of course! Getting it off is one thing, but then make sure you keep it off by not going back to bad habits like eating past 7pm. You dont necessarily eat to get full, you eat to sustain yourself.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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For a almost two years I was living with a roommate that loved to cook huge meals for me and, coupled with my love of alcohol, it eventually took its toll on my waist.

I was around 200 pounds (I'm about 5'11'' to 6' depending on the alignment of the stars) in April when I went underway on a submarine for about six weeks. My routine was sleeping (or at least lying awake in my rack) for 12 hours, eating a high carb meal, sitting on my ass for 6 hours, eating another high carb meal, and sleeping for 12 hours to start it all over again.

Surprisingly that somehow worked out for me. When I got home I was about 176. I'm guessing that's my body's ideal weight since that's exactly what I weighed going into boot camp and exactly what I weighed coming out of boot camp.

During those six weeks I never had soda or alcohol which I think is the key. Lately I've been drinking a sailor's fair share of booze and I've noticed it coming back so I'm going to cut back and see what happens...

Anyway, good luck, hornedone. A friend of mine was a little chunky but he ran almost everyday for a few months and lost almost every ounce of fat. But, after he reached that point he just sort of sat on his laurels and started drinking mountain dew by the gallons. Now he's bigger than before... So, as PJ was saying, don't expect the battle to be over once you lose the weight.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
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Pearl Harbor, HI
I have the opposite problem, I eat and eat and eat, and shock people by how much I eat.......... but I can never gain weight. I even contacted a help site for weight problems, and they said like, we don't help people like you.

It's funny because in china the ideal is to be very thin, but in sweden many think that too thin looks like a skeleton and do not find it attractive at all but a chinese man would.
 
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Oct 25, 2006
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And just watch what you eat of course! Getting it off is one thing, but then make sure you keep it off by not going back to bad habits like eating past 7pm. You dont necessarily eat to get full, you eat to sustain yourself.

There's nothing wrong with eating past 7 pm, if you don't also eat at 5 pm, 3 pm, 1 pm, 11 am, and so on. It's common in lots of countries to have dinner at 9 or 10 pm, and most of them aren't particularly fat. (FWIW, we usually have dinner between 8 and 10 pm).
 
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We're also talking about someone who's overweight, and trying to lose. Eating dinner later on in the evening when your metabolism slows down is not a good idea if you want to lose weight.

Giving your system time to properly digest and maybe even get a little walk or something in and doing something with those calories is key to losing weight. During the day or early evening youre still expending energy, thus burning calories. At night (unless you have a nice workout regimen or lots of sex), youre theoretically storing them for winter. You know, producing fat.
 
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I actually can't gain any weight, even if I want to. My weight is like a constant number... it doesn't matter if I ate a lot during the day, my weight just sort of resets during the night (and I usually eat supper at 1 AM when I get hungry while gaming). I'm not sure if that counts as lucky, though.
 
Joined
Dec 24, 2006
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Milky Way
22. Thanks for the warning! O_O
I am so skinny, though, that I wouldn't mind gaining some weight. But I suppose I should be careful what I wish for.
 
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Milky Way
I ain't done shit.
 
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Jan 10, 2008
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Austin, TX
We're also talking about someone who's overweight, and trying to lose. Eating dinner later on in the evening when your metabolism slows down is not a good idea if you want to lose weight.

Giving your system time to properly digest and maybe even get a little walk or something in and doing something with those calories is key to losing weight. During the day or early evening youre still expending energy, thus burning calories. At night (unless you have a nice workout regimen or lots of sex), youre theoretically storing them for winter. You know, producing fat.

Actually, this has been repeatedly debunked in controlled experiments. The only thing that matters is the ratio of calories taken to calories burned; it makes no difference when you take them.
 
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Actually, this has been repeatedly debunked in controlled experiments. The only thing that matters is the ratio of calories taken to calories burned; it makes no difference when you take them.

I read a contradictory study, that the body metabolism is working much less effectively while you are sleeping. I do not know which ones are right, but to me it appears quite logical that even the metabolism rests for a bit while the body is sleeping.
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2006
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Sure, the metabolism is slower when you sleep -- but the calories you absorbed in the evening will get burned up once you wake up.

References: [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3263249.stm ] [ https://healthlibrary.epnet.com/Get...4-c284-4b3a-8f7c-867fd12b36ee&chunkiid=156995 ]

This is a tricky one—technically, the time of day you eat doesn’t affect how your body processes food. What matters is your total calorie intake and how much you exercise during the day. However, people who eat late at night tend to choose high-calorie foods that their bodies can do without. If you are one of these people, avoiding food after dinner may help you deter weight gain—or even promote weight loss. But, if you miss a healthful dinner at 6:00, there’s no reason not to eat it at 9:00!
 
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Hmm, well in that study it did not say what time the monkeys slept, If you are an owl that do everything by night it is quite natural to eat at night also. On an intreessing note, they said that night workers tend to be fatter, since they have to eat all their food at night, at which time the human body is less active due to lack of natural sun light, making the metabolism slower, thus it was hopeless to lose weight as a night worker.

I think it is not good to eat just before going to bed, I do not know whatever it cause weightgain but I don't think the food laying there all night or day unprocessed is good for your health. After I ate big and went to bed I woke with a sour stomach and a bad breath due to the food lying there for so long.
 
Joined
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I think the after 7 rule refers to snacking more then anything. Your metabolism does slow while you sleep, but I don't think the impact of eating your normal 3rd meal after 7 is going to be much to worry about weight wise. It is a simple matter of what you eat and how much. That and increasing exercise are the safe way to do it.

That 3 month challenge would be good if you were all seeing a doctor or dietician about how to do it. It is a little short if you are making a real life style change you can stick to. Good luck and don't do a starvation diet just to win. We want to keep you posting here for a long time.
 
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