ASOIAF Weight Loss Challenge II

[lady narcissa]

Haha, for me, it's the PAIN! The ever-sufferin' pain. Oh, it's horrible. But, maybe the breathing will help me through that. :)

Pain is never good. Where do you experience it when going up stairs? In your legs? Stomach? Chest?

[Black Walder]

Pain is never good. Where do you experience it when going up stairs? In your legs? Stomach? Chest?

I must strongly disagree - Pain is often good, for several different purposes.

A mild "burning" type of pain is perfectly normal during and especially a day after exercises that build muscle, and indicates that you have made progress. Exercises that build muscle in this case can include starting a program of cardio if you were previously not exercising at all. This level of toning up is very beneficial even if your goal is to slim down and not to increase the bulk of your muscles, because it will enable you to exercise more, support your joints to prevent injury, and burn calories every day to sustain its existence. Note that muscle is much more dense than fat, so toning up in this manner will slow down the loss you see on the scale and you shouldn't worry about that. Shoot for liking what you see in the mirror, not the reduction of a number.

The type of pain that is never good is joint pain. If you experience joint pain greater than or in different places from what you expect from old injuries, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT DO IT THAT WAY AGAIN, because you are about to create a new injury by overdoing it or using bad form.

[s'vrone]

The good - gave my running something to be excited to train for: a half-marathon trail run in the mountains

The bad - chubbed hard today. Cherry coke and peach cobbler, with a burger. Nom. I feel like a schlubb though. Also did not exercise at all today.

[Commodore]

LINK

A team led by Brenda Davy of Virginia Tech has run the first randomised controlled trial studying the link between water consumption and weight loss. A report on the 12-week trial, published earlier this year, suggested that drinking water before meals does lead to weight loss. At a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston this week, Dr Davy unveiled the results of a year-long follow-up study that confirms and expands that finding.

The researchers divided 48 inactive Americans, aged 55 to 75, into two groups. Members of one were told to drink half a litre of water (a bit more than an American pint) shortly before each of three daily meals. The others were given no instructions on what to drink. Before the trial, all participants had been consuming between 1,800 and 2,200 calories a day. When it began, the women’s daily rations were slashed to 1,200 calories, while the men were allowed 1,500. After three months the group that drank water before meals had lost about 7kg (15½lb) each, while those in the thirsty group lost only 5kg.

[Commodore]

That's part of what I love about The Economist. They cover such a wide range of subjects. I would have to imagine that drinking more water would be one of the easier tweaks out there, and one of the cheapest.

Ocean Spray diet cranberry juice is awesome, 5 calories per serving. It's strong enough that I dillute it with about 5 parts water to 1 part juice. Tastes very refreshing. They have a bunch of flavors now.

[lokisnow]

I'm loving the wii fit, unfotunately I do it after I get home from work which makes me sweaty which means I have to shower which meant on tuesday I went to bed with damp hair and woke up with a scratchy throat and stuffed up nose. Dammit.

Considering we're soon entering cold season, it's worth noting that one of the fastest ways that bugs spread around an office is not sneezing but from people filling up their aquafina/arrowhead etc narrow necked waterbottles from the communal water jug. They put their waterbottle right up on the spigot of the jug dispenser and fill it up. All the germs from their mouth go onto the spigot and into everyone who gets water after them (and it's worth noting that water fountains do not have this problem. they are engineered to shoot a spout of water out in an an arc away from the spout so that germs don't fall back on the spout and infect everyone else). Wide mouthed nalgene type bottles and glasses/cups are of course not a germ problem the way the the narrow necked bottle refillers are a problem.

[JungianQueen]

It's the burning pain, I think. Me = wuss! :)

[Guest Raidne]

Okay, I am totally failing due to illness, anxiety, and work stress, so I'm going to get it together this week. Here's the new tweak: no more than 1600 calories 5 days a week. In addition to this, just to reiterate for myself, I have no beer 6 days a week, yogurt and fruit for breakfast, I think, 4 days out of the workweek.

[Commodore]

Dreyer's has some low calorie fruit bars that are great for when you have a sweet tooth.

[lady narcissa]

I did pilates yesterday and a 6 mile walk and managed to eat reasonably well. I've got a lot of work to do today so I probably won't manage much activity. But I will make a valiant effort not to snack.

[Kymeera]

My newest tweak will be increasing the number of reps I do in my daily exercise. I'm now up to 30 of each type of crunch and leg lift, and up to 20-25 push-ups. When I first started I could only do about 10 of everything before it got really painful.

[QuietColours]

Okay, I'm getting back on track after a week of insanity. My tweak for this week is 20 minutes of cardio, three times a week. My week two tweak didn't work at all--I just felt like I was slacking any time I took the time for it with everything else there was to do (and still is), and I was gone from about 7 am to 9 pm every night that week. For now, I'm going to modify it to 10 minutes of stretching after my cardio sessions. I am a little concerned about the cardio. When we moved in (five hours of carrying boxes and furniture up to the third floor, no breaks), I felt horribly nauseous and exhausted almost immediately. I've been warned I'll probably feel the altitude change (Columbus to Denver) when I try to work out--does anyone know anything more about this? Is it really a big deal, or was I just completely stressed out and tired when we were moving it?

I've lost two pounds in the last week for a total of three pound overall. For some reason, I just haven't been nearly as hungry or interested in food recently. Which probably isn't a bad thing--I'm eating a lot more like I did in college, which worked pretty well for me, and a lot more naturally. When I'm hungry, I want something nutritious. I eat it, stop when I get full, and put anything I don't want away. Why wasn't it this easy two weeks ago?

[Phoenix]

Okay, I'm getting back on track after a week of insanity. My tweak for this week is 20 minutes of cardio, three times a week. My week two tweak didn't work at all--I just felt like I was slacking any time I took the time for it with everything else there was to do (and still is), and I was gone from about 7 am to 9 pm every night that week. For now, I'm going to modify it to 10 minutes of stretching after my cardio sessions. I am a little concerned about the cardio. When we moved in (five hours of carrying boxes and furniture up to the third floor, no breaks), I felt horribly nauseous and exhausted almost immediately. I've been warned I'll probably feel the altitude change (Columbus to Denver) when I try to work out--does anyone know anything more about this? Is it really a big deal, or was I just completely stressed out and tired when we were moving it?

I've lost two pounds in the last week for a total of three pound overall. For some reason, I just haven't been nearly as hungry or interested in food recently. Which probably isn't a bad thing--I'm eating a lot more like I did in college, which worked pretty well for me, and a lot more naturally. When I'm hungry, I want something nutritious. I eat it, stop when I get full, and put anything I don't want away. Why wasn't it this easy two weeks ago?

QuietColours, yes the altitude effects are real. I had the same problem when I moved here 4 years ago. It takes about 3-6 months to adapt fully. I had to work up to serious cardio fairly carefully. But it will get easier. The key to living here is water, water, water. I can go through 4 litres easily in a day if I'm working out or hiking or whatever.

Also, Welcome to Denver! Enjoy.

[JungianQueen]

QuietColours, yes the altitude effects are real. I had the same problem when I moved here 4 years ago. It takes about 3-6 months to adapt fully. I had to work up to serious cardio fairly carefully. But it will get easier. The key to living here is water, water, water. I can go through 4 litres easily in a day if I'm working out or hiking or whatever.

Also, Welcome to Denver! Enjoy.

As someone who grew up in Denver (and now lives in Fort Collins), whenever I go to lower altitudes, I'm amazed at how much more stamina--in terms of cardio--I have. I have never, that I know of, felt ill when returning to Denver, but I would imagine if I can feel the opposite (and feel better at a lower altitude), that moving from low to high altitude wouldn't be so much fun.

[QuietColours]

QuietColours, yes the altitude effects are real. I had the same problem when I moved here 4 years ago. It takes about 3-6 months to adapt fully. I had to work up to serious cardio fairly carefully. But it will get easier. The key to living here is water, water, water. I can go through 4 litres easily in a day if I'm working out or hiking or whatever.

Good to know, thanks. I did a little reading on training, but everything seemed to be about training at 8000+ ft, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I will definitely take it slow. I also feel somewhat better about myself about moving in--two stories with thirty or so extra pounds is always a bit of effort, but I was feeling like a wimp for being nauseous from it. My husband and I have both noticed feeling constantly dehydrated. Our water intake's increased quite a bit, but probably not enough given how we both still feel.

Also, Welcome to Denver! Enjoy.

Thanks!

[Phoenix]

Good to know, thanks. I did a little reading on training, but everything seemed to be about training at 8000+ ft, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I will definitely take it slow. I also feel somewhat better about myself about moving in--two stories with thirty or so extra pounds is always a bit of effort, but I was feeling like a wimp for being nauseous from it. My husband and I have both noticed feeling constantly dehydrated. Our water intake's increased quite a bit, but probably not enough given how we both still feel.

Thanks!

You'll get there. Don't worry. Plus, if you enjoy beer/wine/whatever, it'll be cheaper for awhile. :cheers:

[Black Walder]

I've been warned I'll probably feel the altitude change (Columbus to Denver) when I try to work out--does anyone know anything more about this? Is it really a big deal, or was I just completely stressed out and tired when we were moving it?

I have nothing new to add here (waterwaterwater), except that if you decide to enjoy our fair city's official food, beer, you might want to drink more slowly than normal and assume nothing about your tolerance for the first couple of weeks. Welcome to Denver!

I've lost two pounds in the last week for a total of three pound overall. For some reason, I just haven't been nearly as hungry or interested in food recently. Which probably isn't a bad thing--I'm eating a lot more like I did in college, which worked pretty well for me, and a lot more naturally. When I'm hungry, I want something nutritious. I eat it, stop when I get full, and put anything I don't want away. Why wasn't it this easy two weeks ago?

Depends on what you're doing differently. If eating more like you did in college includes eating a lot less sugar, then two weeks is about how long it takes to get the metabolic yo-yo effect out of your system and feel hungry when you actually are hungry. If you're exercising tighter portion control, your stomach (the organ, not the abdominal region) will actually get smaller from not being stretched to maximum capacity regularly so you'll feel full after eating less.

It's the burning pain, I think. Me = wuss! :)

Soon you will crave the endorphins. ;)

[delete this account pls]

I'm down another half a kilo (which is ... 12 galoons, I think, in American measurements). that's two weeks worth though, so a little dissapointing. But I'm nearly a third of the way there, I guess.

Tweak for this week - eat some fruit every day. I'm going to try have an apple or whatever every afternoon.

[smegma]

Rough week. Despite my good behavior for most of the week, my bad on Thurs and Fri and Sat caused me to regain 5 lbs. So my tweak for the week: return to consistent good eating and activity.

[lady narcissa]

Well I did stair climbing yesterday so I did manage a bit of exercise. I caved and had one snack but otherwise ate fairly decently.

This week my weight is the same...which I would be slightly miffed about except my pilates instructor told me I'm developing a core of steel (!) which weighs more than what was there before. So I guess as long as I'm shrinking and not gaining, all is good.