TheRoseRoss Member

What helped me was someone sharing an anecdote: Two people join Alcoholics Anonymous. One of them does so because they’ve lost their career, they’ve alienated their family, and they’ve hit rock bottom. The other joined because their partner nagged them until they did. Both attend the same meetings, receive the same advice,…

These are your coworkers and they mean well for the most part. There are people that are legitimately threatened by your dedication, and to feel better about themselves they consciously/unconsciously try to sabotage you. Also, I don’t feel it’s as simple as “I said no! Why isn’t that good enough?” People hold grudges, and…

With regard to morning versus night routines, it depends on you and your life. Personally, I work from 8am to 5pm. I pick up my daughter, go home, home work, dinner, and then get her to bed. After all of that, it didn't make sense to then take time away from my wife to go to the gym. Plus, my work outs were lackluster…

Caffeine (not a crazy amount. I just take a caffeine pill before heading to the gym), and getting to bed on time. If 10p rolls around and I'm not already asleep, it's gonna be a rough day.

I've been at this in one way or another for going on 3 years now. Each year I looked back at the year before, realized all of the mistakes that I made that I didn't realize I was making, and said "crap! Imagine how much further along you would be if you knew then what you know now." This year I said to myself: 2013 you…

"Married?" Are you crazy? :) Well, if you're gonna go down THAT road, you might as well look good doing it. I'm joking, of course. Feel free to add me if you'd like. I'll do all that I can to help.

Here's an anecdote: - Two people go to alcoholic's anonymous in order to quit drinking - One person because they've hit rock bottom and want to turn their life around - The other person attends because their significant other brow beat them into going - They're both attending the same classes, and using the same…

I don't recall my weight when I (re)committed (182lbs, maybe), but I was delusional. I fancied myself a pro body builder, and said "I'll bulk up to 230lbs in 6 months,, then I'll cut down to 205 pounds of pure muscle in time for summer." I had bulked up to 215lbs, all of it gut, and the beginning stages of "man boobs." I…

Look into training your forearms/grip in isolation. Grab hold of a pull up bar and simply hang for as long as you are able. Another technique is to hang with an overhand grip, then switch one grip to underhand. Then switch the other so that both are underhand. Switch one back to overhand, and then the other. Just keep…

I've experienced it first hand, seen it happen, and read posts on here of it happening. That said, I think it's simply a catalyst of some other underlying problem. My wife was overweight. She underwent gastric bypass surgery, lost a lot of weight, and while our relationship didn't change, her relationship with her female…

We only have part of the picture, and I will concede that perhaps you have made lifestyle changes that he perceives as "drastic." But everything needs context: are the changes that he notices drastic, or are they "drastic when compared to before?" I went from "not exercising" to "waking up at 3am in order to go to the…

You may feel better if you're able to come to terms with the difference between "losing weight" and "losing fat." You don't want to lose "weight," you want to lose "fat." The scale doesn't tell you how much "fat" you've lost. It tells you how much "weight" you've lost. Imagine 2 people that each weigh 200lbs and are 50%…

You will regret giving up.

It was put to me like this: "What if someone told you that they would give you 1 million dollars if you arrived at a destination by 11am the following day. The only rule is that you cannot leave the night before, and the destination is a 10 hour drive from you. What would you do?" The answer would probably be along the…

I crave salt. I eat an apple, and drink a glass of skim milk. I don't know why, but I usually don't want to eat anything afterward.

Different strokes for different folks.

I'll do you one better: "Have you ever seen a hater that's doing better than you? Me neither."

I think it comes down to the individual. We're in a locker room at half time and our team is losing. The coach is giving his "pump you up" pep talk. Some buy into it and are excited to get out there in order to turn the tides. Others roll their eyes and think "yeah, whatever. Can we just get this over with?" Both heard the…

You're stuck doing variations of crunches, bicycles, and leg raise type exercises. Anything involving laying on your back and while engaging your core. You wrote 7 months ago. Did you mean "Weeks" as opposed to "months?" Because if you meant months, you really need to have that looked at.

I know A LOT of women that would kill (if they thought they could get away with it) to have your "after" physique. That's not saying "stop. You should be happy where you are." That's saying "what you're doing is working. Good job. Keep going."

I'd prefer to kill em with kindness. Sniping back at her isn't worth the animosity that it will create in the environment that we have to share. I work with several people that are overweight, her included, but she's the only one that picks on me. Whatever her reasons, or whatever her issues, they're hers, no mine. If…

I hate quoting those cliche phrases that you see in people's email signatures and what not, but this one helped me get started: "We're products of our pasts, but we don't have to be prisoners of them." Again, I didn't suddenly just "get over it" once I read that, but it helped me to begin to think "start moving forward." I…

While I understand exactly what you're saying, and agree on most of it, I have to disagree with how to handle it. I would try to not instigate a fight with my co-worker, and making comments like "what I eat is none of your business" is a great way to make an enemy. One that you may not need down the road. Workplace…

What's worked for me is "lying." In my experience, people get offended when you say "I can't eat that because I'm watching my weight," or something along those lines. It's almost as though they feel you're saying there's something wrong with their food, or that you're "too good" for their food. It's been amazing, but…

I have witnessed and experienced this a few times. It's slightly different for me because I am male, but my wife lost over 100 pounds and has experienced this very thing with her "friends" and colleagues. She has a male friend that she has been close with for years. Once her weight loss finally plateaued, his wife forbid…

I saw an interview with a pro body builder that was eye opening: he said that he was at a competition and a new face was back in the locker room waiting for the show to begin. Being a vet, he was used to the guys that show up every year, so he knew this one was new to this competition. There are a lot of things that the…

If you can, train you core directly (via exercises like different kinds of planks) and indirectly as it stabilizes you during compound movements. I wouldn't rely on indirect core training to get my abs into shape any more than I would depend on eavesdropping to learn a foreign language. You will benefit greatly from direct…

The BMI doesn't work, period. Not the way it is most commonly used: "When taken as what it was intended to be -- a general set of data describing the relative fitness of an entire population -- the BMI is mostly fine. It's certainly due for a revamp, considering that it was devised by a Belgian mathematician (read: not…

I've become a bit jaded to it after all these years. Folks at both work and home would ask me what I thought about raspberry ketones, acai berry, green tea extract, etc, since I was clearly being diligent about making changes. At first I was excited to discuss health, fitness, and trends, but quickly realized that these…

Personally, I think we often sabotage ourselves with the "the scale would reflect that" mentality. Unfortunately, I haven't come up with a good analogy for it, but here goes: Try to take the composition of your body into account: would you prefer to weigh 225, with 10% body fat, or would you prefer to 190, with 30% body…