I Need Help Lighting a Fire

unmitigatedbadassery

I have been on MFP for nearly a month. Things have been good. My weight loss is on par with my "scheduled goal" MFP set -2lb/week.

I try to walk at least twice a week - averaging 2mi each time. I am severely overweight - 5'9'' and currently 323lbs. I have a history of high BP and some coordination issues from a stroke in 2009.

I know a steady pace is best but what can I do to boost my results for a bit? Just to get a solid kick-start to build momentum. I WILL NOT take any energy supplements or anything like that due to my heart problems.

Any ideas?

beckusjane

You may have already seen this message. I put it as a blog on my page. I truly think this helps when people feel like they are stuck and not sure what to do to continue. I dont want you to give up. I KNOW you can do this:) I also know there is strength in numbers so feel free to message me anytime if you are having issues throughout the day. I can check in daily with you if you would like:)

Just so you know, this may turn into a novel:) And dont go strictly by any of this. What works for one person may not work for someone else. We did a "Get Fit, Get Healthy" challenge at my work for 8 weeks. I lost about 22 lbs. and 5% of my body fat. We had to do certain things to get points for the challenge. These are the things we needed to do:

*64 oz. of water each day. This does not include coffee, juices or kool-aid. Now you can have 64 oz. + juices but you must drink 64 oz. When you do drink juices, they have to be 100% juice. Easy enough right? Grape juice, apple juice, orange juice. Tomato juice too but the sodium is ridiculous in it. I'm sure if you want some of that it would be ok for a change. Just dont make it your only juice.

*7 hours or more of sleep. This can be hard if you have small children or just a hectic schedule. If you are able to lie down for a nap during the day, you can count that, but it is much better if you can get 7 hrs straight.

*Eat breakfast within 2 hrs of waking up. This is a hard one. Some people just cant stand eating first thing in the morning. I usually grab something quick like an apple or a banana.

*5 servings of fruits/veggies a day. Pretty straight forward. Again this is where your juices come in. You can use 4 oz. of fruit juice as a serving of fruit. For the record, jelly beans are not a fruit even if they are fruit flavored.

* 210 minutes of cardio a week. Now you can get this walking, biking, swimming, yardwork (raking and push mowing count) snow shoveling is a BIG one but obviously it will be a few months til we can do that again and I dont mind a bit!! Now it doesnt matter how you break this down as long as you do a minimum of 10 minutes for any time you are counting it. You can do more than 210 minutes of course if your schedule allows.

*Toning with free weights or stretch bands 3 times a week for 10 minutes a piece. You can definitely do more than 3 times. That is only the minimum. Sometimes I will use my free weight and incorporate them into my aerobic routines.

That's it. Those are the simple rules I am following and the weight is coming off. You dont want it to fall off all at once. If it does, then you're doing something drastic and the chances of sticking with it are slim. Working it off slowly is the best ticket. Making small changes makes it easier to become lifestyle changes not temporary fixes.

Also, I tend to stay away from white flour. You can eat breads, potatoes and pasta in moderate amounts but it is much better for you if you eat whole wheat breads and pastas or sweet potatoes. Dont get worried about the fact that there are about as many carbs in whole wheat pasta as there is in the regular. It's better for you~trust me!!

Another trick that helps? If you have time, measure out a serving of your snacks. Use ziplock baggies and have them ready to grab and go. I usually have pretzels, animal crackers stuff like that ready so that I dont have to think about it. If I just try to sit with a bag of pretzels, pretty soon Ive eaten half the bag but if I have a true serving size packaged, I know when to stop.

If the idea of this process is overwhelming, dont try to change everything at once. Maybe work on 5 fruits/veggies and once you have that figured out, then try 64 oz of water. Keep adding a step to it til you are on your way to healthier choices.

Good luck. Hope this helps:)

Becca

Jenscan

Dude, you're off to a great start - just keep it going!

hillview2

Try walking another time or 2 a week? I find walking actually really makes a big difference for me. Congrats great work!

unmitigatedbadassery

Thanks for that. I do follow several of those rules.

the extra sleep is a tough one. I have a 2 year old. He isn't having trouble sleeping anymore but I own my own business AND work a 9-5 so I try to spend as much time with him as I can and end up working late into the night (1am or 2 sometimes) then I get up at 7. I will work on it thought.

I drink water like it's my job so I'm good there.

Thank you for the detailed response. I'm not giving up in any way - I was just looking for suggestions to give me some momentum.

cammons

I know that it's a little silly...and a tremendous waste of money but there have been times when I had a really hard time sticking with some part of a plan and I've used incentives such as instant lotto scratchers. I bought myself a $1 scratcher for every pound lost as an incentive to continue to weigh myself, I waited until I hit a specific goal to cash them all in and the rule was that whatever I used them for had to be frivolous and just for me. (I'm the type that uses birthday money to pay bills or buy things for others, so that part was hard.)

These days I have a jar set up at home that I pay into once a week ...it is little amounts but the act of paying myself is symbolic, really. For each day I followed my scheduled workout I give myself five cents. If I tracked all seven days of the week I get a quarter, if I tracked five or six days I toss fifteen cents in the jar. I try to keep official desserts to only twice a week I'm working towards once a week), so if I can manage to do that I give myself another quarter. If I eat breakfast within an hour of waking up every day for a week I get another five cents and if I get in five fruit/veg servings a day I get yet another nickel. I also give myself one dollar for every pound lost, but I use dollar coins from the bank....those are less likely to be pulled from the jar and spent. It feels a little bit like an allowance but I figured that I could be spending $15 a week at WW, or even more on some other plans so I'm worth a buck or two a week; this is especially nice as it forces me to look back at my week and really evaluate my eating and exercise habits, and I think that feedback is key in this process.

There are lots of podcasts out there that are fitness oriented and can be very motivational, if you're into that type of thing. I love the No Excuses Workouts with Jonathan Roche system and weekly blog talk radio show where you can actually call in with questions or updates. I'm also stuck on several running podcasts because I'm a running nerd, but I let myself only listen to those when I'm exercising as incentive to get up off of the COUCH OF DOOM.

You might want to insert micro-exercise breaks in your day as well. I don't have a trash can in my office so if I want to throw something out I have to get up and walk to the hallway. I also keep my water food and snacks in my car, which is parked in the farthest spot from the door that I can find, so I can get a little extra walking in during the day. It might not hurt to set a timer to go off every half hour or so to remind you that it is time to at least stand up and stretch a little bit.

You're off to an amazing start, keep it up!