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Before I start making my oatmeal, I chop up an apple into small chunks, throw it in a cake pan, douse liberally with cinnamon, and toss it in the oven. About the time my oatmeal is done, the apples are ready to be mixed in.

Skydiving!

We all have setbacks from time to time. Some of them take us back to square one (or worse), just take a deep breath and begin again. For those of us not blessed with speedy metabolisms, loosing weight and getting in shape really does take a change in lifestyle, not a temporary diet. If you choose to look at your path ahead…

You can lose weight without exercising. It's simple math, calories in versus calories out. If you burn 1700 calories a day sitting on your bum and only eat 1500, that is a 200 calorie deficit. That being said (or written), you will get better results by adding in some extra exercise into your daily routine. Even just…

I picked up a Polar FT4 from a sporting good store a couple of days ago. So far it seems to work just fine. I am far from an expert and only did a minimum of research, but I (along with everyone else I talked to) would recommend getting one with a chest strap as they are far more accurate. Also, as with most things in…

Welcome to the site and best of luck to you.

I caught this thread because a friend of mine replied to it. I am an admittedly poor speller (it makes for challenging times when playing Scrabble), but I at least make the effort. If I occasionally swap a "lose" for a "loose" it can generally be blamed on quick typing or an over eager autocorrect on my phone (many an odd…

You're still burning calories even when you are not "working out". When you take a short break between sets, your heart rate doesn't immediately drop back down to normal. Keep your HRM on and count the entire workout. If you really want to be super accurate, wear the thing for the entire day.

I'm in.

I'm currently over 45 pounds less than what my license states. On one hand it's great, on the other hand people keep having a hard time believing that it's actually me.

My "gift" to myself once I get down to a happy, manageable weight (aside from the gift of health) will be to go skydiving. It's something that I've always wanted to do, but couldn't because of my weight. I might actually splurge (if I can afford it) and take a certification course.

If you lost three inches, then you lost weight. What has most likely happened is that you replaced fat with muscle. Remember that muscle is denser than fat so if you replace one pound of fat with one pound of muscle, you will be leaner but still weight the same. Don't get discouraged, you're doing great. I've gone for a…

It may be a little ambitious, but I'd like to lose another ten pounds in November. If I could start December only five pounds from my (current) goal, I'd be a happy camper.

I weight myself everyday first thing in the morning. It's more about establishing a baseline than anything else. My weight can also fluctuate from day to day so I don't believe any weight loss until I see it on the scale for a few days in a row.

Just to throw in my two cents here. I think Mangorabbit is fairly close on this, people who are comfortable with themselves tend to be more attractive. It's more of a vibe thing than physical attributes. The women that I have been most attracted to in my life have been varied in appearance, but all had a similar confidence…

First off, get out of your kitchen and get out of your house! Not that we have that out of the way, any idea why you"ve fallen off of the wagon (so to speak)? If you can identify what has triggered your anxiety attack, you may be able to stave it off the next time. As far as the weight gain, don't stress. It's unrealistic…

Thank you for your quick replies. This is a pretty recent thing (the last few weeks). I do drink plenty of water (at a minimum, 8 large glasses a day). I don't think I'm under any more stress than normal. I work freelance, and the days when I've had to be up early, I didn't have much trouble (I even had a fine energy level…

Calories in vs. calories out. I track everything that i eat. If I were to let a few things slide I'd feel like I was cheating myself.

Just to let you know, it DOES get easier. I used to have a serious problem with sweets (I live around the corner from an amazing donut shop). One of the more interesting things that I've found after only a couple months into this is that my body is far more sensitive to sugar than it used to be. For instance, I had a donut…

Anything that seems like a "miracle cure" or too good to be true, probably is. Taking pills to jack up your heart rate (so you'll burn more calories) can't possibly be good for you. The true test for your coworker is to see what happens when she stops taking the pills. Unless she has been making serious lifestyle changes…

If you burn an extra 400 calories, your daily intake can go up to 1600. I say "can" for two reasons. One, if you don't eat your workout calories you'll end up dropping the pounds faster (you can find a lot of discussions on the boards about who eats them or who doesn't...it's really up to you). Two, the site has the…

I'm not familiar with the workout/challenge. Are you trying to consume less than 1000 calories a day, or trying to burn an extra 1000 calories? I would completely avoid the former. As mentioned by Dafrog, you'll probably end up putting your body into starvation mode. At the very least you'll end up throwing your metabolism…

Have you ever spoken to a trainer regarding your workouts? If you haven't done so in a while (or ever), perhaps that might help.

LMHuff, a purely practical question for you. Are you doing any weight training? If you're not toning up your muscles, it won't really matter how much weight you lose: things will still look "fat". Meagalayne referred to is as "skinny fat" If you're not doing any weight training, try putting some into your fitness routine.…

First off, welcome to the site. As already mentioned here, watch what you eat and get moving. If you have gym access, try the elliptical machines. You can crank up the intensity to get a high calorie burn without killing your joints (really saves your knees). As Steph mentioned, learn to cook (if you don't already do so.).…

Just remember how many years of bad habits it took you to get here. You can't erase all of that in just a few weeks. Just keep plowing ahead, you'll get there soon enough.

Don't worry, just give yourself some more time. You've lost at least five pounds of fat so far (possibly more, if you've put on some muscle). You're body is going to take away from the stored fat from just about where ever it wants to. For me, my legs are the first thing that tone up, and my gut is the last to go. Other…

I don't. Sometimes if I workout a lot, I might go over my daily allowance a little bit, but I rarely have more than 1600 calories a day. My workouts are generally burn around 1000 calories (I'm kind of a gym rat). I don't think there is anything wrong with eating some of your workout calories if you're hungry, but for me,…

As long as you are being honest with yourself (and accurate with your portion sizes), your body will end up responding. Sometimes is just takes a little extra while for things to happen. Don't lose faith in yourself. We've all been in the same situation at one time or another. Just keep plugging ahead and you'll get there.

I'm with Aeriel on this one; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If (and or when) you hit a wall with your weight loss, try changing things up. Right now you seem to be doing just fine. Congratulations on the weight loss!