I need help

[MrTwain]

Are there any fitness guru's out there in BN land? I need some help/advice badly. At the Frisco concert I saw several old friends who haven't seen me in a while and (I'm serious) they all politely informed me that they notice how much weight I've gained lately.

Here's my predicament. I have gained about 22 pounds in one year. I am now officially over 40 and I sit at a desk job and I don't get the opportunity to move around much during the day. I work out-of-town and only go home on the weekends, for the most part. My thyroid has failed but I take medication daily to counteract the weight gain (I am monitored by my doctor closely). Additionally, I have a hard time finding the right foods to eat because I am in the office all day and only eat for myself at night.

I am looking for easy, filling, tasty meal ideas that don't require me to cook a lot because the little apartment I stay in is only an efficiency thing with a microwave, a toaster oven and a couple of burners for cooking. I have a local club membership, but jogging & walking a 1.5 miles 3 times a week just doesn't seem to help.

Seriously, I need someone to point me to some kind of book or diet regimen or meal plan that will help me. Are any of you in a similar boat as I am?

I feel like such a slug.

[srkmrd]

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67895&hilit=health ... start=2400
Lots of info and support on the above thread.

[conched]

Probably not the exact answer you are looking for, but I found that using a pedometer and MAKING SURE you get 10,000 steps in per day really, really helps. And yes, sometimes I just do steps (in place-while listening to music or watching tv) in a hotel room or the house.) Exercising is time consuming and takes a commitment of more than 3 times per week...if you try to exercise every day, you can ideally hope for 5 times a week. Try to walk a mile twice a day...start each day with a walk and end each day with a brisk walk.

Always eat breakfast to get your metabolism going! Oatmeal and blueberries. YUM...

Try to eat greens, nuts, beans, oatmeal, blueberries, and CHOCOLATE every day.
Lowfat yogurt, turkey burgers, laughing cow lite cheese, apples, good salads with limited amounts of dressing.
(Look into some of the ideas in South Beach diet.)

Limit alcohol to just weekends or just have one (red wine) per day.

Keep on keepin on! There is a Healthy Living thread in OFF TOPIC.

I'm a little conched...I like it that way...

[conched]

There is an app called Lose It! for iPhone and you can type in Dairy Queen and it will give you the amount of calories for most items on their menu.

My staple there is grilled chicken salad=510 calories

Wendy's staple is baked potato with a small chili=about 500 calories.

Whataburger has 67 items listed...Olive Garden has 143 menu items...and on and on.

Counting calories isn't all that hard anymore.

[conched]

Eat this...not that...

There are all kinds of sites as well as those books to help you choose foods.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis ... n-america/

[MrTwain]

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67895&hilit=health ... start=2400
Lots of info and support on the above thread.

Wow... thanks for pointing to me to that thread. Paige's (pbans') info on page one about strategies is the best.

Thanks to you, too Nancy. I'm definitely going to get the nutrition app. And I love the idea about the pedometer. 10,000 steps per day, huh? Is that a standard of some sort? I've never heard it before but I like it. I'll bet on average, I'm not getting more than 2,000 steps in. Just a guess, but I KNOW it's nowhere close to 10,000.

[conched]

Great pedometer: Omron-HJ-112-Digital-Pocket-Pedometer

http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-112-Digi ... 299&sr=1-1

I think 10,000 IS just a number someone pulled out of the air...I think in Japan where pedometers were made...is what I read. But since then, more and more health sites are saying 10,000 is a good number to aim for and then add or subtract steps as you work out your program.

Walking SITE with info about why 10,000 steps:
http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html

Another site: Shape Up America
http://www.shapeup.org/shape/steps.php

[sunseeker]

Go to livestrong.com

This is Lance Armstrong's website. If you go to MyPlate it has a calorie tracker- that really is the key to weight loss ( I know I'm trying to lose 20lbs myself). It also has a section on nutrition...and the kicker....IT'S A FREE SITE. You can pay something like $30 for 6months and it gives you more options and I think recipes....but I have found the free sit very useful

Also when I've been successful in the past with weight loss, I"ve done alot of weight training. It is true....muscle will increase your matabolism therefore increasing your fat loss (I say fat loss instead of weight becasue with muscle you may gain more wight)

Email me if you have specific questions and I'll be happy to be a support system to you (if you will support me)

[Bicycle Bill]

With a handle like "Bicycle Bill" you know what I'm going to suggest.....

Bur seriously, if you can find a way to get out and ride, even if it's just back and forth to work a couple of times a week, it can help. It's also a good form of exercise, and not as stressful or with as much impact to the body as jogging or running.

-"BB"-

[Left Field ParrotHead]

http://bodyforlife.com/

Worked for me. And my ex-wife, who had a thyroid problem.

[rmissbrook]

I have the same problem about cooking for myself. A dietician I was talking to over the weekend told me that the Healthy Choice frozen meals are very good and very low in sodium compared to others. They are a little pricier than others but are better tasting.

She also told me that if you want to lose a pound a week, which is what most professional dieticians recommend, you need to cut 500 calories a day from your normal intake. I could do that by giving up the three Dove candy bars I eat every day!

[blackjack]

I am 5'10" and 42 years old.

Last January (2009), I was 255 pounds. I have been maintaining (or trying since September) and this morning I was 189.4.

No fads. Calorie counting/portion control (about 1800 a day) and exercise (3-5 times a week).

[sunseeker]

I am 5'10" and 42 years old.

Last January (2009), I was 255 pounds. I have been maintaining (or trying since September) and this morning I was 189.4.

No fads. Calorie counting/portion control (about 1800 a day) and exercise (3-5 times a week).

yep - I agree- after trying almost every diet out there....the good old fashioned "counting Calories" is the way to go. And that's why I LOVE the lance armstrong site....not guessing I just plug it in....

[sonofabeach]

Weight Watcher's works for me. I lost about 80 pounds in 06 and have kept it off give or take a few pounds here and there. You can still eat a lot of good food. Basically it's about portion control. Lately I've been into the elliptical walker.

[MrTwain]

Holy crap. I just checked out Lance Armstrong's site. It looks like it's exactly what I'm looking for really.

So here's the deal. I weighed myself this morning. I am at an all-time heaviest point of my life at 251 pounds. That may not sound like an enormous amount to some folks, but I'm not naturally a big-framed guy, so it's a huge deal to me. Case-in-point: when I got married I was a svelte 158 pounds. Now you get the picture, eh?

Anyway. I ordered the pedometer from Amazon that Nancy recommended and I'm going to seriously try to re-wire my brain to just think more reasonably.

I LOVE the 20% rule outlined by Paige (pbans) in the referenced thread. It goes:

1. Dish out 20% less than you think you might need, you probably won’t miss it

2. Eat until you are 80% full

3. For fruits and vegetables think 20% more.

It might seem a bit nerdy for me to put this out there the way I am, but somehow I feel like if I have some of my friends interested in my progress (and you guys really are my friends, I think) then I'll have a greater chance of success. I'm not the type of person who looks for praise and admiration, but I am the type of person that does better with encouragement. So if you wouldn't mind just checking in with me from time to time, then I'll try to keep this thread updated with my progress.

Thanks for all the ideas. Keep them coming. My next task is to find foods that I can keep here at the office that I can snack on that will help me instead of hurting me.