How do you get motivated diet -wise?
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A lot of your weekend activities seem to revolve around food and alcohol. Perhaps start with one or two days a month to try something different such as indoor rock climbing, a bicycling club, museum, etc. If these are things you do with a certain set of friends, you may all try something new together perhaps even cooking at each other's house and enjoying the evening around the fire pit. I personally wouldn't give up brunch w/girlfriends, but since you go every week you should know what they serve. Log it ahead of time and stick to your menu choices.0
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Have you considered instead of beer, wings and pizza to have a salad? Take the wings and use them to top the salad or have a side salad with a slice of pizza.
If you're having brunch out skip the alcohol and pastry type foods. If they have an omelet bar load up and egg white omelet with veggies, maybe some seafood or whatever else you desire.
I personally wouldn't give up the wine and cheese pairings but perhaps you could drink less of the wine or eat half the cheese?
Just a couple options there from my brain. I'm sure with a little modification you'll find your own personal balance.0 -
I've not got a lot to lose either at the very most 10 - 14lbs and its hard. I too am a gym freak totally love it. My down fall is alcohol and I have a sweet tooth. As of today I'm going to 1400 calories without eating exercise calories back, part of these calories includes an alcoholic drink. I tend to go off the rails at the weekend also with the wine but as an experiment I'm going to let myself have more calories at the weekend for 2/3 bottles of wine so I'm thinking on Fri, Sat and Sun allow 1800 calories per day. Either way I would say I'd still be consuming less calories over the week in total.0
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Missbodyrocker wrote: »I've not got a lot to lose either at the very most 10 - 14lbs and its hard. I too am a gym freak totally love it. My down fall is alcohol and I have a sweet tooth. As of today I'm going to 1400 calories without eating exercise calories back, part of these calories includes an alcoholic drink. I tend to go off the rails at the weekend also with the wine but as an experiment I'm going to let myself have more calories at the weekend for 2/3 bottles of wine so I'm thinking on Fri, Sat and Sun allow 1800 calories per day. Either way I would say I'd still be consuming less calories over the week in total.
I like this plan
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Is there any amount of exercise that you guys think would allow me to continue my habits and still lose about 0.75 lbs a week?0
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Have you looked into meeting with a personal trainer? Also it can depend on what you are doing at the gym. If you are only doing cardio without any weight training it may not be as beneficial. I totally understand how hard it is when you want to enjoy stuff like pub food and drinks. The important thing is to eat clean as much a possible and not just during the week. I find it helpful to educate myself on what others are doing, especially people who are fit. They will enjoy cheat days, but they are usually between longer spells of clean eating. I hope this helps. Good Luck0
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Can't have everything. Sacrifice leads to results. If your not willing to do that be thankful you didn't gain any weight over the past year.0
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LOL! Wait til your 44.. I started hormone replacement therapy this week. It just seems to get harder to do the right thing the older you get. I'll run to "earn" dinner. Its sad.
YASSSS. I'm 46, am short, been on HRT for 2 years, propping up a dead thyroid with medications. I KILL myself in the gym and weigh every bite I eat due to these factors.. Better to start the good habits now and get used to them than to have to turn it around in middle age. I achieved my goal in 2014 and am staying there but I won't lie and say it's easy or anything. A packet of instant oatmeal can put me over. WHARRRBLARGL lol
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For me, seeing how all my hard work at the gym is paying off, is motivation enough!0
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herrspoons wrote: »Jankatherton wrote: »Is there any amount of exercise that you guys think would allow me to continue my habits and still lose about 0.75 lbs a week?
Given you're training five days a week already, no.
I have to agree with this. Theoretically, COULD you do enough exercise to keep the same eating habits? Possibly. For a short time. Then you risk over use injury or just injury in general. Then what happens if you're reliant on that amount of exercise and cannot do it for a while? Then you will REALLY have a hard time changing your eating habits. Might as well start making small changes now, as other posters have mentioned.0 -
I have a hard time with over indulging, especially on my favourite things.
Could it be the experience that you love? Maybe you could eat before going to the pub and then limit yourself to half of what you'd usually eat and maybe do one drink to one water. Same at brunch, eat super clean before you go and limit your intake. This way you're still having the enjoyable time but with half the calories?
As for the wine and cheese, sounds like me with tea. It's just something I really enjoy and almost get a relaxed sensation from. I like a nice scoop of sugar in there so I know it's really contributing to my weight gain.
Good luck!0 -
I have a hard time with over indulging, especially on my favourite things.
Could it be the experience that you love? Maybe you could eat before going to the pub and then limit yourself to half of what you'd usually eat and maybe do one drink to one water. Same at brunch, eat super clean before you go and limit your intake. This way you're still having the enjoyable time but with half the calories?
As for the wine and cheese, sounds like me with tea. It's just something I really enjoy and almost get a relaxed sensation from. I like a nice scoop of sugar in there so I know it's really contributing to my weight gain.
Good luck!
Sounds like you get where I'm coming from. It's definitely the experience that I enjoy and that sensation of unwinding at the end of the week. I will try your idea of eating before we go to the pub next weekend. Maybe then I could just enjoy a couple beer without all the fatty food. It's still wouldn't be perfect but would be a start.
As far as the wine and cheese I actually have to sample them ( well the wine at least) for the course that I'm taking ( WSET)
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Have you looked into meeting with a personal trainer? Also it can depend on what you are doing at the gym. If you are only doing cardio without any weight training it may not be as beneficial. I totally understand how hard it is when you want to enjoy stuff like pub food and drinks. The important thing is to eat clean as much a possible and not just during the week. I find it helpful to educate myself on what others are doing, especially people who are fit. They will enjoy cheat days, but they are usually between longer spells of clean eating. I hope this helps. Good Luck
I don't have a personal trainer but I have joined a women's weight lifting group on Sunday's. It's a group of about 8 ladies and run by an excellent trainer.
I've revamped my training a little recently and it now looks kind of like this:
Monday - kettlebell class
Tuesday- ballet barre/pilates or spinning
Wednesday - off
Thursday - ballet barre
Friday - crossfit style class ( real crossfit instructor but done with a ladies only group
Saturday - spinning
Sunday - weight lifting group
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Try subbing out your Tuesday or Thursday with weight lifting. If you gain more muscle mass, you could potentially afford more calories in the long run. Perhaps that will tip the scales to allow you a pub night a week.
But yes, twice a week sounds like a lot to me. I allow the "non-log" or splurge days to only be 1 day/week and that is usually only one meal for the whole day (so I can eat all the calories at once). But that is me. Not everyone can eat just once and be ok with it.
Good luck on finding your solution to this dilemma!
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I have lost 64 pounds or so over the past two years while having 1-2 alcoholic drinks on most days (sometimes more) cheese 2-3 nights a week as a dinner course, and the occasional pizza, burger, steak frites, etc.
Here's how I do it: I've never been a huge breakfast eater, so I have a couple cups of coffee with 1% milk and a slice of buttered toast. Keeps me going until noon. I have a light, fiber- and protein-rich lunch (e.g. sandwich with whole-grain bread and turkey, or hummus with lots of raw veggies). I exercise most days for 45-60 minutes, and when the weather is decent, I bike 6 miles (round trip) to work. Finally, I eat my treats in moderation: when I have cheese at dinner, I'll cut a one-quarter ounce piece from each of three different cheeses, and then move the plate back to my wife's side of the table. I'll have one or two slices of pizza. I'll drink a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage (well, that's the plan, at least!).
I also do some endurance cycling events. When I've burned 3000 calories on a 6-hour long bike ride up and down steep gravel roads, I eat whatever I like for the next couple of days!0 -
I have lost 64 pounds or so over the past two years while having 1-2 alcoholic drinks on most days (sometimes more) cheese 2-3 nights a week as a dinner course, and the occasional pizza, burger, steak frites, etc.
Here's how I do it: I've never been a huge breakfast eater, so I have a couple cups of coffee with 1% milk and a slice of buttered toast. Keeps me going until noon. I have a light, fiber- and protein-rich lunch (e.g. sandwich with whole-grain bread and turkey, or hummus with lots of raw veggies). I exercise most days for 45-60 minutes, and when the weather is decent, I bike 6 miles (round trip) to work. Finally, I eat my treats in moderation: when I have cheese at dinner, I'll cut a one-quarter ounce piece from each of three different cheeses, and then move the plate back to my wife's side of the table. I'll have one or two slices of pizza. I'll drink a glass of water for every alcoholic beverage (well, that's the plan, at least!).
I also do some endurance cycling events. When I've burned 3000 calories on a 6-hour long bike ride up and down steep gravel roads, I eat whatever I like for the next couple of days!
I definitely like this!
Do you log everything? How often are you eating pizza? I would be willing to sacrifice a lot to keep my pizza and alcoholic beverages!
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I wonder if just adding an extra spin class would help? I was thinking of maybe doubling up one day a week0
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Jankatherton wrote: »I definitely like this!
Do you log everything? How often are you eating pizza? I would be willing to sacrifice a lot to keep my pizza and alcoholic beverages!
Of course I log everything. My log is my honest report to me of what I have eaten, and how much. If I didn't log everything, I'd be lying to myself.
I do have to say that my pizzas, 3-6 times a month, are usually frozen pizzas for lunch these days, usually 400-500 calories for my share. I work from home 2 or 3 days a week and I like a warm lunch from time to time. For dinner, I usually cook something, and rather than make a pizza, I'll do something like beef Stroganoff (tonight), coq au vin (yesterday), or tacos (Monday). None of those are exactly low calorie, but if you measure ingredients accurately, you can figure out how much you can eat while still sticking to your calorie goal. When I do have pizza for dinner, I work it into my weekly calorie goal and enjoy it without guilt.0 -
I look at exercise as putting my skin in the game. If I overeat, all that exercise was wasted effort.0
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I have a picture of a very nice picture of the Vivian Westwood handbag I am going to buy myself 30 pounds from now. I put it as the background on my phone. I look at it when I go to the pubs or restaurants or grocery stores and I have little treats (a shot of Jameson, dark chocolate) but I really try to stay away from the bad stuff.0
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