Lose Weight/Excercise

[LJay]

Try counting carbs. That lunch you are talking about has rice. Check the label to get the carb content. Try to keep your carbs to 60 per meal and try to eat about 30 grams of fiber per day.

The ting that I miss most as a diabetic is juices. They are loaded with carbs and are quickly absorbed. That's a no-no. I have learned to drink water. I do have my coffee in the morning but the rest of the time it is water. It can take a few days to wean yourself away from Coke, but you can do it and will be amazed at how the absence of that sugar changes your cravings for something to eat. [See insulin cycle.] Your breakfast sounds almost like mine. The only real difference is that I use frozen blueberries with the oatmeal. Those cranberries, which I love, are sugared. Check the label. I get theblueberries at Costco in five pound bags and they are about ten bucks. Not bad. Mix them in with the hot oatmeal and they thaw quickly.

Ending this polemic: apples or other whole fruit can be great for dealing with the need for a snack. You want fiber and no added sugar. When they are reasonably priced, I eat strawberries without any sugar or topping, too. Avoid bananas, dates, prunes, raisins because they are all pretty full of quickly absorbed carbs. I love veggies, so I have no problem eating lots of them. Read food labels. It is a great way to learn what you are eating.

I will shut up now. I could go on and on and on...

[InbetweenDreams]

Yeah I know the "craisins" are sugared...but I have another huge 2 lb bag so it will be a little bit before I replace it with frozen fruit...which is a good idea...I'll have to settle with Wal Mart because we don't have a Costco anywhere near here....

I think one is cutting out the sugar, that is going to help in itself... From there I'll have to tweak things as I go along...

[MikeW]

[MENTION=20947]MikeW[/MENTION] They're 20 lb -- They're heavy enough to be beneficial at least starting out anyway.

Actually they're a bit on the heavy side, IMO.

The main thing about weight lifting is you have to know what you're doing and WHY you're doing it. When I started getting into it a few years ago, I had no idea how "complex" the whole thing can get. Of course it doesn't HAVE to be that way... It can be kept fairly simple. But I like to "get into" things like this and when I do, I really do.

So... I'm trying to get a picture in my brain of how to proceed with the working out part of this. ...

WHY "work out"?

Well... there are so many reasons it is difficult to know where to start.

Fundamentally what it is about is *changing your body composition*. And "body composition" includes not only your body's muscle/fat percentages (you want to increase the former while decreasing the latter), it includes changing the CHEMISTRY inside your body.

Our bodies are chemical factories. Working out changes the chemical *environment* within our bodies. This is why it is good not only for building muscle and burning fat, but helping to elevate depression, anxiety, and, over all, boosting one's sense of self-esteem. It can do all that and more. IF... IF... it is done correctly.

ETA: ugg f-ing auto correct. Not "elevate depression"... ELIMINATE depression.

[InbetweenDreams]

Well... I think so far today I'm off to a good start...

I did some dumbbell curls...I lost count but I think I did 20 reps...I only did one set...mostly so I could use my arms the rest of the day and not be like this...




From there I did 20 push-ups...which honestly I was surprised I could still do them...

Then this afternoon I went on about a 5 mile walk... Tomorrow I'll probably run and do some other stuff...

[Pcolakuntryboy]

Lifting weights and push ups will help you build muscle and get toned, but it will not make you lose weight, 90% of weight loss is what you eat and drink. As others have said, cut out the sugar, try drinking Coke Zero instead of regular Coke. For an average man, it takes about a mile of fast walking to burn 100 calories, so if you drink one 20oz Coke you'll need to walk 2.5 miles to burn it off. If you drink multiple sugary sodas a day, just imagine how much you need to walk or run to burn them off, and that's not even counting what you eat.

Besides bread and pasta, which are carb heavy, try to stay away from stuff like peanut butter, full fat mayo, full fat dressings, etc. Even if you do eat a Whopper from BK for example, you can cut about 11 grams of fat just by getting it with no mayo. Little things like that add up.

[InbetweenDreams]

I can definitely agree that cutting sugar helps a lot... In 2012 I lost a good bit a of weight but didn't stay off because I sort of stopped doing all the things I was doing and everything I worked for slipped away.

Now one thing I seem to come across is that weight lifting doesn't make you lose weight but does help you burn fat...which is really what I need to get rid of...

I'm going to put some effort. I think cutting out the coke and just not over eating is going to be a verg good start. Going to ease into this.

So far...no Coke in the last 36 hours and going to replace it with drinking water. So with any luck with the added activities and that will get me off to a good start.

[MikeW]

[MENTION=23180]axle2152[/MENTION] It's true, lifting weights -- the way most people do it, anyway -- doesn't burn that many calories.

IMO... at this point, you don't need to worry or even think about this overly much. What you're doing is beginning to get yourself back into doing *something* (almost anything is better than nothing). The trick to loosing fat is "move more, eat less"; with the emphasis on the "eat less" part. I'll talk about the "move more" part further below.

Of course "eating less" should be qualified to : "consume less low or non-nutritive calories." That's why one cuts out the cola. It has no nutritional value but a lot of calories. (BTW... you can also try substituting sparkling water to which you can add a bit of lemon or other fruit juice. Careful with the fruit juice, though, not too much or it will defeat the whole purpose.)

I suggested earlier that you keep a record of what you DO eat. Just write it down. Make a list. Begin to track how much stuff you eat every day. What you ate, how much, when you ate it.

Once you have that, you can begin to see where you can substitute more nutritional foods. So, then, even if you're caloric intake is the same, at least you're getting some valuable nutrients from the act of eating.

This is where the concept of "macros" comes in. Have you heard of IIFYM (if it fits your macros)? It's a strategy used by some to construct a *relatively* healthier diet. It's a flexible diet because it doesn't limit WHAT you can eat, only how much.

When you're ready to think about it, what you'll want to do is calculate how many calories it takes to keep your body at its current level of composition (fat/muscle ratios). Once you know that, you can calculate how many fewer calories you'll want to eat in order to loose a specific amount of fat in a given period of time. IOW, it could be a daily or weekly or monthly set.

Oh, damn, just realized I have to leave for work. :/ Normally I'd have another hour but this time of year we open early so I have to run. I'll get back to this later tonight or maybe tomorrow.

[Pcolakuntryboy]

You have to really learn to watch those labels too, because similar items can vary greatly. For example, Campbell's Chunky Soup (which I buy often), some flavors only have around 2 grams of fat, but then there are others that have up to 11 grams of fat (usually the creamy ones). Same thing for cereal, Special K is around 2 grams of fat and 24 grams of carbs per serving, but others that have lots of nuts and sugary dried fruit can have 7 grams of fat and 47 grams of carbs.

My bf hates shopping with me because I look at nearly every label, he is one of those people that thinks if it looks good he should buy it. Many times he'll throw something into the cart and I'll have to say "wait, let me see it first". LOL

[InbetweenDreams]

Yep, the "Healthy Choice" entrees I had to look for several minutes...some of them had 19 grams of sugar...

Not overly worried about fat...but the sugar in my book is enemy no. 1

[InbetweenDreams]

Just a little update...been two week without a coke...1st week was hell and had a headache...moody...made a few bad choices...but much better now... Also in the two weeks have lost 8 lbs already...I don't know how I did it...but can't complain about that...so 67lbs to go...

Had been sick most all last week...soooo going to try to get back on the exercise routine in the mornings now that I'm not hacking up bits of lung.