Help me figure out a sustainable exercise and nutrition routine
November 11, 2013 9:10 PM Subscribe
I used to exercise a lot, generally violent sports like rugby or boxing, but several years ago I got injured and two years ago I got pregnant and I haven't really done much since. I really want to figure out how to get back on the horse -- and while I'm at it eat a little better -- but every time I try to just think about it, the many layers of interacting constraints exhaust me. I'd really appreciate help thinking through these, or ideas about what might work.
There are a bunch of details, but the main questions are at the bottom.
Exercise
- Main issue here is I have a 12-month-old who wakes up pretty early in the morning. For a variety of reasons that won't change, I'm the one who wakes up with him. He also doesn't have a super-consistent wake-up time: it varies between 6am and 7:30am. This means exercise routines that are in the morning but take me far from the house aren't feasible; I can't be guaranteed that he won't wake up when I'm out unless I get up at some horrible hour like 4am. I could wake up at like 5:30 and exercise near the house and listen to him on the baby monitor. Thus…
- I'm thinking of getting a big boxing punching bag and putting it on my deck. I have done a little bit of boxing, several years ago, and I remember that it was great for both strength and cardio. Plus I liked it. Problem here is that when I began I was at a far higher level of fitness to begin with than I am now, plus I had a coach, so I'm not sure how to work up to that level again. Is there a CouchTo5K equivalent for boxing? I don't know how to do an "easy" boxing workout, but I'm sure if I start too fast I'll either lose motivation or give myself an injury. I googled around but most things I found weren't very specific and/or made reference to exercises that I don't know by name; when I last did boxing I did what my coach told me to do but I don't remember what all the exercises were all called. I'd need something that had pointers about form etc, as a reminder.
- I'm not in great shape. I'm about 20 pounds over my ideal weight and the only exercise I get is running after my son and/or walking about half a mile to work. That said, that's not a tiny amount of exercise -- he is very active and we go out two or three times a day, plus usually I end up carrying him around a lot (he is 25 pounds, and hates a stroller). But none of it is cardio; I don't get winded, and it's very specific strength (just arms/shoulders, not much core). While I might be able to run a mile without stopping I think my time would suck, and it would be no fun.
- The injury that stops me from rugby shouldn't stop me from doing anything other than violent sports involving tackling. Other than that I have no health considerations that I know of.
- Exercising after my son is asleep is out. I'm flat-out exhausted at the end of the day, there is no way I will be able to keep that kind of routine up.
- Based on prior experience, I think I'll be most successful at keeping up with this if I just force myself to do something every day, even if it's mild. Again, though, I don't know what kind of workout to do -- it has to be on my deck or in my house. I'm not sure it's a great idea to do the same boxing workout all of the time, and I want to vary cardio and strength stuff. Strength-wise, although I have done a lot of weight-lifting, it's always been with equipment and I don't have a lot of weight-lifting equipment or room to put it.
Nutrition
- I eat pretty well for dinner because my husband cooks quite healthily. But breakfast and lunch are an eternal issue, and I have a really huge sweet tooth as well as lots of picky eating issues and some weird food intolerances. I have never been able to come up with an eating plan that is sustainable. As a result, I don't eat horribly, but I definitely could eat far better.
- My main worry about my diet, aside from my too-frequent lapses into fast foods, is that it's a lot of carbs due to aforementioned sweet tooth. I've really found it to be very very difficult to give up or have very little sugar. I've never been able to lose weight by simple calorie restriction plus limited sweets (not that I have a lot of experience dieting, but I've made several months-long attempts where I logged everything, to no effect). Should I be trying to go entirely carb-less? Even aside from the sweet tooth issue, I can't imagine making a carb-less diet work if I also can't eat many nuts. On the other hand I don't really know what I'm doing. Are there good resources for this?
- I drink 2-3 cans of soda per day but it's all diet. I've heard that diet soda is bad but have never been told clearly why it is (other than for one's teeth). Should I try cutting it out? If so I need some other source of caffeine, and I find coffee and tea to be terribly bitter unless it has loads of sugar (like, 4 spoonfuls per glass) which seems to me to be worse than diet soda.
- Breakfast: I'm always really hungry in the morning, but I dislike any form of milk (including soy milk), can't eat granola or muesli or anything with whole grains or nuts in great quantity (i.e., not every morning) because I am intolerant to the nickel in these foods, need to eat something fast because I'm also trying to get my son ready and feed him, and really really need protein and a largish meal otherwise I'm hungry again in an hour. Eggs + toast would work but cooking eggs takes too long, and that's a lot of cholesterol if I have two eggs every day. What I usually do now is get my son ready and then eat a Subway sandwich on my way to work. This is okay: although it gets more expensive than I'd like, it's not much more expensive than having all of the ingredients on hand to make myself equivalent sandwiches in the morning, plus I don't have time to make and eat them while also watching my son.
- Ideally I would like to do something where it's the same every day because the complexity of planning it out, on top of everything else, greatly increases the probability that I just won't do it.
- Lunch is usually okay: I have sushi or vietnamese cold rolls or something which are reasonably healthy. Generally I'm really hungry by mid-afternoon, but most traditional snacks that people recommend for that sort of thing are out because of the nickel issue (like nuts, or peanut butter) or don't touch my hunger (like fruit). Sometimes I manage to ignore my hunger, but often I will break down here and have some candy or something. If I have a more heavily protein- and calorie-laden lunch, like McDonalds, I can usually skip the afternoon hunger rush, but that doesn't feel like an improvement.
- I really dislike almost all sauces or strongly-flavoured foods of any sort. This means my diet is fairly monotonous. That's fine with me if I can find something that fills me up and won't cause problems (e.g., nickel allergy) if I eat it every day.
- If I try to go more than a couple of days without something really sweet like ice cream or chocolate, I have serious cravings. Serious.
- I have about 2-3 glasses of white wine a week, no other alcohol.
- I sleep pretty well, about 8-9 hours a night, sometimes broken due to baby but not usually.
My questions:
Exercise: I think the plan of a punching bag and boxing workout early in the morning is a good bet, but I don't know what to do as a workout. Ideally there would be something I could do every day (or at least 6 days out of the week) for 20-40 minutes. Would want both cardio and strength (though I don't have much room for weights), hopefully somewhat variable day-to-day, and not a too difficult starting level. I would love suggestions on where to find such a workout.
Nutrition: I really don't know what to do here. It's tempting to say that I should just power through the hunger and the cravings for sugar, but I've done diets that restricted these things for months and months and the desire for them never, ever went away (plus I didn't lose any weight at all). I became pretty obsessed with food and it was generally pretty bad for my mental health. I can't live like that for the rest of my life and I want something that is actually sustainable. I haven't tried going no-carb but I feel like the craving issue would be even worse. On the other hand, I could be wrong: are there good no-carb resources I should know about? There is just so much crap available on this topic I don't know where to start or who to trust. If not that, any suggestions for how I can handle breakfasts and lunches given the issues above? I don't know why I get so hungry but I'm pretty sure it is actual hunger, not just mindless snacking or eating away stress. The only thing that really keeps me from being hungry is lots of protein, which is difficult given the nut issue and the not-having-much-prep-time issue.
Thank you for reading this all. I realise it's a bit all over the place but that's sort of where I am. I just feel stalled on this but want to start some good habits that are actually sustainable in the long term.
There are a bunch of details, but the main questions are at the bottom.
Exercise
- Main issue here is I have a 12-month-old who wakes up pretty early in the morning. For a variety of reasons that won't change, I'm the one who wakes up with him. He also doesn't have a super-consistent wake-up time: it varies between 6am and 7:30am. This means exercise routines that are in the morning but take me far from the house aren't feasible; I can't be guaranteed that he won't wake up when I'm out unless I get up at some horrible hour like 4am. I could wake up at like 5:30 and exercise near the house and listen to him on the baby monitor. Thus…
- I'm thinking of getting a big boxing punching bag and putting it on my deck. I have done a little bit of boxing, several years ago, and I remember that it was great for both strength and cardio. Plus I liked it. Problem here is that when I began I was at a far higher level of fitness to begin with than I am now, plus I had a coach, so I'm not sure how to work up to that level again. Is there a CouchTo5K equivalent for boxing? I don't know how to do an "easy" boxing workout, but I'm sure if I start too fast I'll either lose motivation or give myself an injury. I googled around but most things I found weren't very specific and/or made reference to exercises that I don't know by name; when I last did boxing I did what my coach told me to do but I don't remember what all the exercises were all called. I'd need something that had pointers about form etc, as a reminder.
- I'm not in great shape. I'm about 20 pounds over my ideal weight and the only exercise I get is running after my son and/or walking about half a mile to work. That said, that's not a tiny amount of exercise -- he is very active and we go out two or three times a day, plus usually I end up carrying him around a lot (he is 25 pounds, and hates a stroller). But none of it is cardio; I don't get winded, and it's very specific strength (just arms/shoulders, not much core). While I might be able to run a mile without stopping I think my time would suck, and it would be no fun.
- The injury that stops me from rugby shouldn't stop me from doing anything other than violent sports involving tackling. Other than that I have no health considerations that I know of.
- Exercising after my son is asleep is out. I'm flat-out exhausted at the end of the day, there is no way I will be able to keep that kind of routine up.
- Based on prior experience, I think I'll be most successful at keeping up with this if I just force myself to do something every day, even if it's mild. Again, though, I don't know what kind of workout to do -- it has to be on my deck or in my house. I'm not sure it's a great idea to do the same boxing workout all of the time, and I want to vary cardio and strength stuff. Strength-wise, although I have done a lot of weight-lifting, it's always been with equipment and I don't have a lot of weight-lifting equipment or room to put it.
Nutrition
- I eat pretty well for dinner because my husband cooks quite healthily. But breakfast and lunch are an eternal issue, and I have a really huge sweet tooth as well as lots of picky eating issues and some weird food intolerances. I have never been able to come up with an eating plan that is sustainable. As a result, I don't eat horribly, but I definitely could eat far better.
- My main worry about my diet, aside from my too-frequent lapses into fast foods, is that it's a lot of carbs due to aforementioned sweet tooth. I've really found it to be very very difficult to give up or have very little sugar. I've never been able to lose weight by simple calorie restriction plus limited sweets (not that I have a lot of experience dieting, but I've made several months-long attempts where I logged everything, to no effect). Should I be trying to go entirely carb-less? Even aside from the sweet tooth issue, I can't imagine making a carb-less diet work if I also can't eat many nuts. On the other hand I don't really know what I'm doing. Are there good resources for this?
- I drink 2-3 cans of soda per day but it's all diet. I've heard that diet soda is bad but have never been told clearly why it is (other than for one's teeth). Should I try cutting it out? If so I need some other source of caffeine, and I find coffee and tea to be terribly bitter unless it has loads of sugar (like, 4 spoonfuls per glass) which seems to me to be worse than diet soda.
- Breakfast: I'm always really hungry in the morning, but I dislike any form of milk (including soy milk), can't eat granola or muesli or anything with whole grains or nuts in great quantity (i.e., not every morning) because I am intolerant to the nickel in these foods, need to eat something fast because I'm also trying to get my son ready and feed him, and really really need protein and a largish meal otherwise I'm hungry again in an hour. Eggs + toast would work but cooking eggs takes too long, and that's a lot of cholesterol if I have two eggs every day. What I usually do now is get my son ready and then eat a Subway sandwich on my way to work. This is okay: although it gets more expensive than I'd like, it's not much more expensive than having all of the ingredients on hand to make myself equivalent sandwiches in the morning, plus I don't have time to make and eat them while also watching my son.
- Ideally I would like to do something where it's the same every day because the complexity of planning it out, on top of everything else, greatly increases the probability that I just won't do it.
- Lunch is usually okay: I have sushi or vietnamese cold rolls or something which are reasonably healthy. Generally I'm really hungry by mid-afternoon, but most traditional snacks that people recommend for that sort of thing are out because of the nickel issue (like nuts, or peanut butter) or don't touch my hunger (like fruit). Sometimes I manage to ignore my hunger, but often I will break down here and have some candy or something. If I have a more heavily protein- and calorie-laden lunch, like McDonalds, I can usually skip the afternoon hunger rush, but that doesn't feel like an improvement.
- I really dislike almost all sauces or strongly-flavoured foods of any sort. This means my diet is fairly monotonous. That's fine with me if I can find something that fills me up and won't cause problems (e.g., nickel allergy) if I eat it every day.
- If I try to go more than a couple of days without something really sweet like ice cream or chocolate, I have serious cravings. Serious.
- I have about 2-3 glasses of white wine a week, no other alcohol.
- I sleep pretty well, about 8-9 hours a night, sometimes broken due to baby but not usually.
My questions:
Exercise: I think the plan of a punching bag and boxing workout early in the morning is a good bet, but I don't know what to do as a workout. Ideally there would be something I could do every day (or at least 6 days out of the week) for 20-40 minutes. Would want both cardio and strength (though I don't have much room for weights), hopefully somewhat variable day-to-day, and not a too difficult starting level. I would love suggestions on where to find such a workout.
Nutrition: I really don't know what to do here. It's tempting to say that I should just power through the hunger and the cravings for sugar, but I've done diets that restricted these things for months and months and the desire for them never, ever went away (plus I didn't lose any weight at all). I became pretty obsessed with food and it was generally pretty bad for my mental health. I can't live like that for the rest of my life and I want something that is actually sustainable. I haven't tried going no-carb but I feel like the craving issue would be even worse. On the other hand, I could be wrong: are there good no-carb resources I should know about? There is just so much crap available on this topic I don't know where to start or who to trust. If not that, any suggestions for how I can handle breakfasts and lunches given the issues above? I don't know why I get so hungry but I'm pretty sure it is actual hunger, not just mindless snacking or eating away stress. The only thing that really keeps me from being hungry is lots of protein, which is difficult given the nut issue and the not-having-much-prep-time issue.
Thank you for reading this all. I realise it's a bit all over the place but that's sort of where I am. I just feel stalled on this but want to start some good habits that are actually sustainable in the long term.
Best answer: I do not feel well-versed in most of these topics, but there is one place where I can help you: breakfast.
I recommend giving these freezer breakfast burritos from Budget Bytes a shot. On Sunday, I scramble some eggs and then pile them into a bunch of tortillas (just skip the whole wheat ones) with black beans, cheese and salsa (do you like salsa? Perhaps a mild one?). Then I roll them up and grill them a bit in a pan to seal them up, and stick them into the freezer. The whole process takes 20 min. max to make breakfast for the whole week (about 10 min. active prep time) and all you have to do in the morning is pull one out and stick it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. It's a really simple-to-make and reheat, yummy, and protein-heavy breakfast that I actually look forward to eating every morning. And so much better for you (and better tasting) than one of those grocery store egg burritos or a fast food breakfast.
posted by imalaowai at 9:39 PM on November 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
I recommend giving these freezer breakfast burritos from Budget Bytes a shot. On Sunday, I scramble some eggs and then pile them into a bunch of tortillas (just skip the whole wheat ones) with black beans, cheese and salsa (do you like salsa? Perhaps a mild one?). Then I roll them up and grill them a bit in a pan to seal them up, and stick them into the freezer. The whole process takes 20 min. max to make breakfast for the whole week (about 10 min. active prep time) and all you have to do in the morning is pull one out and stick it in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. It's a really simple-to-make and reheat, yummy, and protein-heavy breakfast that I actually look forward to eating every morning. And so much better for you (and better tasting) than one of those grocery store egg burritos or a fast food breakfast.
posted by imalaowai at 9:39 PM on November 11, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I would experiment with cutting out all fast food, to start. It really doesn't take much time at all to boil or scramble 3-4 eggs in the morning (to hard boil, put some eggs in water, bring to a boil, throw a lid on the pan, turn off the heat, and come get your perfect eggs 7 minutes later). Smoked salmon, hummus, sliced turkey breast, protein bars, chicken breast (can be made ahead of time by roasting in the oven en masse), frozen chicken tenders, bean burritos, etc. etc. are all high protein, low-fuss options.
The issue with diet soda is that artificial sweeteners have been shown to increase craving for sweets (which sounds like it's an issue for you) and there's also controversial evidence that it may encourage more "efficient" calorie storage from other sweetened foods.
posted by aspen1984 at 9:52 PM on November 11, 2013
The issue with diet soda is that artificial sweeteners have been shown to increase craving for sweets (which sounds like it's an issue for you) and there's also controversial evidence that it may encourage more "efficient" calorie storage from other sweetened foods.
posted by aspen1984 at 9:52 PM on November 11, 2013
If you eat meat, can you have meat as a snack? I've found that if I'm really hungry for a snack, some cold cuts with maybe a few crackers is a really satisfying snack. You could sub in any kind of meat you enjoy cold and just cook up some in bulk or buy it prepared and keep some at work.
posted by MadamM at 10:52 PM on November 11, 2013
posted by MadamM at 10:52 PM on November 11, 2013
Man, there's a lot here. My first suggestion would be to slow down and worry about one thing at a time; of course it will seem overwhelming if you try to change your whole diet and also start a new exercise regimen that has enough cardio and strength training and et cetera.
Re: diet soda, you could replace it with seltzer water and get your caffeine fix from caffeine pills of some kind, or Penguin Mints. Or experiment with milder teas like genmai cha (green tea with puffed rice.)
For exercise in the morning, could you put Kid in a stroller and jog with it? I see people doing that fairly regularly on the bike path that goes by my house.
posted by fermion at 10:57 PM on November 11, 2013
Re: diet soda, you could replace it with seltzer water and get your caffeine fix from caffeine pills of some kind, or Penguin Mints. Or experiment with milder teas like genmai cha (green tea with puffed rice.)
For exercise in the morning, could you put Kid in a stroller and jog with it? I see people doing that fairly regularly on the bike path that goes by my house.
posted by fermion at 10:57 PM on November 11, 2013
Best answer: I don't know about boxing, but I like the beginner body weight workout from nerdfitness. I think the only equipment you need are a chair and a container that you can lift.
Re breakfast: you can boil up a bunch of eggs and have them over the next few days. Or switch up with toast + avocado if you don't want to eat too many eggs.
Re lunch: could you pack leftovers from dinner? I know your lunch is fairly healthy already, but a "dinner" type food might be more sustaining.
Re sweet tooth: completely my own opinion - but I think sweet drinks (both the sugar and diet types) are the WORST in terms of cravings and being ultimately unsatisfying. Have you tried cutting those out, but having a sweet fix every few days with a small amount of chocolate, icecream or cake? The idea is that you can still have some sweets, but you re-train your brain to accept that not everything you drink needs to be sweet. Tea will be less bitter if you use a milder brew, don't steep it very long, use slightly cooler water and add milk. Over time your tastebuds will adjust.
posted by pianissimo at 11:10 PM on November 11, 2013
Re breakfast: you can boil up a bunch of eggs and have them over the next few days. Or switch up with toast + avocado if you don't want to eat too many eggs.
Re lunch: could you pack leftovers from dinner? I know your lunch is fairly healthy already, but a "dinner" type food might be more sustaining.
Re sweet tooth: completely my own opinion - but I think sweet drinks (both the sugar and diet types) are the WORST in terms of cravings and being ultimately unsatisfying. Have you tried cutting those out, but having a sweet fix every few days with a small amount of chocolate, icecream or cake? The idea is that you can still have some sweets, but you re-train your brain to accept that not everything you drink needs to be sweet. Tea will be less bitter if you use a milder brew, don't steep it very long, use slightly cooler water and add milk. Over time your tastebuds will adjust.
posted by pianissimo at 11:10 PM on November 11, 2013
There's a lot here so I'm just going to hit the main points.
Eliminate all soda. It doesn't help that it's diet. If you need caffeine then drink coffee or tea and learn to like it with one spoon of sugar or less. I'm sorry if this is hard.
Breakfast: Eggs are fine. Don't worry about cholesterol. Buy local farm eggs if you're really worried about it. I can't imagine that cooking 2 eggs takes longer than buying a Subway sandwich, but if it really does, hard boil 25 of them on Sunday night, keep 'em in the fridge, and grab 2 on your way out the door. Pre-peel them if you have to.
The sweet tooth is defeatable. I've noticed in myself, multiple friends in your exact situation (new mother with a major sweet tooth) have noticed it, and have seen some evidence for it. You don't need to eliminate all carbs but try going sweets-free for a month. No cakes, no desserts, nada. Refusing sweets is a skill that needs to be practiced, and it gets easier the better you are at it.
Before going carb-less, focus on cutting out fast food by cooking bulk meals at home. Ask your husband to make double the portions he makes for dinner, and brown-bag the leftovers for lunch the next day. Leftovers are awesome.
Pick a form of exercise and do it. A pair of 20 pound dumbbells (or even a set of 15s, 20s, and 25s) doesn't take up much room--certainly no more than a punching bag--and is cheap. Do clean and presses, squats, lunges, rows, and swings. Three sets of five to eight for each of those exercises, heavy but with good form, is fine.
Or, get a running stroller and go for a midday run, whether it be for a mile or half a mile followed by five 100-yard sprints or a 5k. Or just do CouchTo5k itself. Or search AskMefi for any of the many quick, minimal-equipment bodyweight workouts people do. Or buy the boxing bag and hit it for 10 rounds of 2 minutes with 1 minute breaks. Wear gloves and wraps if you do. Honestly, if you don't remember good form from when you trained, the whole punching bag thing sounds like a lot of money to drop on something that's more sport-specific than it is meant for general fitness, but half an hour of wailing on it will indeed make you tired.
The problem here is not a specific plan, it is that you are trying to develop a Perfect Plan before doing it. Stop sweating the small stuff. Pick an exercise thing, do it five times a week like your life depends on it, re-evaluate after three months. Hit the major diet points--soda, sweets, fast food--and worry about fine-tuning later. You can do it!
posted by daveliepmann at 12:56 AM on November 12, 2013
Eliminate all soda. It doesn't help that it's diet. If you need caffeine then drink coffee or tea and learn to like it with one spoon of sugar or less. I'm sorry if this is hard.
Breakfast: Eggs are fine. Don't worry about cholesterol. Buy local farm eggs if you're really worried about it. I can't imagine that cooking 2 eggs takes longer than buying a Subway sandwich, but if it really does, hard boil 25 of them on Sunday night, keep 'em in the fridge, and grab 2 on your way out the door. Pre-peel them if you have to.
The sweet tooth is defeatable. I've noticed in myself, multiple friends in your exact situation (new mother with a major sweet tooth) have noticed it, and have seen some evidence for it. You don't need to eliminate all carbs but try going sweets-free for a month. No cakes, no desserts, nada. Refusing sweets is a skill that needs to be practiced, and it gets easier the better you are at it.
Before going carb-less, focus on cutting out fast food by cooking bulk meals at home. Ask your husband to make double the portions he makes for dinner, and brown-bag the leftovers for lunch the next day. Leftovers are awesome.
Pick a form of exercise and do it. A pair of 20 pound dumbbells (or even a set of 15s, 20s, and 25s) doesn't take up much room--certainly no more than a punching bag--and is cheap. Do clean and presses, squats, lunges, rows, and swings. Three sets of five to eight for each of those exercises, heavy but with good form, is fine.
Or, get a running stroller and go for a midday run, whether it be for a mile or half a mile followed by five 100-yard sprints or a 5k. Or just do CouchTo5k itself. Or search AskMefi for any of the many quick, minimal-equipment bodyweight workouts people do. Or buy the boxing bag and hit it for 10 rounds of 2 minutes with 1 minute breaks. Wear gloves and wraps if you do. Honestly, if you don't remember good form from when you trained, the whole punching bag thing sounds like a lot of money to drop on something that's more sport-specific than it is meant for general fitness, but half an hour of wailing on it will indeed make you tired.
The problem here is not a specific plan, it is that you are trying to develop a Perfect Plan before doing it. Stop sweating the small stuff. Pick an exercise thing, do it five times a week like your life depends on it, re-evaluate after three months. Hit the major diet points--soda, sweets, fast food--and worry about fine-tuning later. You can do it!
posted by daveliepmann at 12:56 AM on November 12, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks, all. I'm aware I'm over-complicating it so I appreciate the simplification everyone is offering.
Just to clarify -- it has to be exercise on the deck or near the house; I can't go running. I work and there is no time to take my son running with me before I go to work - I have to exercise before he wakes up. And because of the kid, I am really trying to spend as little time away from the house at work as possible, so I don't want to rob time from work in the middle of the day to go on a jog then. I really appreciate the suggestions people have offered of workouts I can do on the deck. (And I remember good form in boxing; the thing I forgot is the names of various exercises. Though I am probably overthinking that and it doesn't matter; just whaling away on a bag will do a lot).
I kind of want to get most of it sorted at once because I have previously tried just fixing one thing at a time and have never really seen results, which is pretty demotivating. I know it will take some fine-tuning but if I start in a good place hopefully it won't take too much.
Subway sandwiches are faster because of the eating time involved, not the prep time. I can't cook and eat and clean while watching my son -- maybe amazing parents with calm children can, but he'll only sit still with his own food for the time it takes me to do one of the above. (Please don't offer childrearing advice). If cooking + cleaning takes more than 2-3 minutes I can't eat. With Subway, I can eat it while I'm walking to work or do some work while I'm eating it there.
Looks like I'll have to eliminate diet soda and sweets, at least to see if that helps. Darn it. But y'all have convinced me it's worth a try.
Thanks again. If you have any other suggestions please share, especially re: breakfast. Just having people simplify it down to a few essentials is helping me figure out a priority list and a plan.
posted by forza at 1:21 AM on November 12, 2013
Just to clarify -- it has to be exercise on the deck or near the house; I can't go running. I work and there is no time to take my son running with me before I go to work - I have to exercise before he wakes up. And because of the kid, I am really trying to spend as little time away from the house at work as possible, so I don't want to rob time from work in the middle of the day to go on a jog then. I really appreciate the suggestions people have offered of workouts I can do on the deck. (And I remember good form in boxing; the thing I forgot is the names of various exercises. Though I am probably overthinking that and it doesn't matter; just whaling away on a bag will do a lot).
I kind of want to get most of it sorted at once because I have previously tried just fixing one thing at a time and have never really seen results, which is pretty demotivating. I know it will take some fine-tuning but if I start in a good place hopefully it won't take too much.
Subway sandwiches are faster because of the eating time involved, not the prep time. I can't cook and eat and clean while watching my son -- maybe amazing parents with calm children can, but he'll only sit still with his own food for the time it takes me to do one of the above. (Please don't offer childrearing advice). If cooking + cleaning takes more than 2-3 minutes I can't eat. With Subway, I can eat it while I'm walking to work or do some work while I'm eating it there.
Looks like I'll have to eliminate diet soda and sweets, at least to see if that helps. Darn it. But y'all have convinced me it's worth a try.
Thanks again. If you have any other suggestions please share, especially re: breakfast. Just having people simplify it down to a few essentials is helping me figure out a priority list and a plan.
posted by forza at 1:21 AM on November 12, 2013
Kay. What works for me may not work for you but this is my experience with weight loss.
About 5-6 years ago, I used to weigh 220. I weigh 154 now. I am about your height. When I first started to lose weight, I did a high protein, low carb, low sugar, low fat, high cardio diet. I was on 1600 cals, then when I lost 15 lbs, I lowered my cal intake. I was practically killing myself, and it was very very tough to maintain and keep up.
I immediately lost about 30lbs within a 6-9 month period.
Then I hurt my back (unrelated to the exercise) and even though I was eating healthfully, my metabolism was completely shot. Anything I ate, my body clung to, and before you could blink, I'd gained 20lbs back. I was 200 and I was pretty miserable, because I'd practically killed myself to lose that weight.
I realized that the way I was living was kinda warped-- that going low-fat, low-carb and low-sugar basically meant I could barely eat anything; that I wasn't listening to my body, and that I was contributing to the kind of yo-yo fad dieting that doesn't work. Also, I didn't feel any better. So I stopped.
But I wanted to lose weight again. So I looked into what not to do, which was basically everything I was doing.
What I did do:
- Accepted my body, gross bits and all. Realized it may never get better than that, and it was okay.
- Didn't put my weight loss on a time limit. Made sure to do one good thing every day.
- Introduced complex carbs back in, in the form of low GI foods, whole grain, etc. Always made sure to eat when I was hungry.
- Stopped myself when I was full.
- Introduced 'good' fats into my diet, whole milk, nuts, avocado.
- Ate mindfully, so if I had a pizza on the weekend I'd eat very light a few days during the week (steamed fish and vegies, or salads.)
- Became very aware of where my energy was coming from (I'd done this already with a food diary when I got down to 190, so I was pretty aware of what I could eat and what I could eat a bit less of)
- Stop vilifying any kind of food, even junk food and takaway. Indulged when the mood strikes me.
- Began actively eating Omega 3s and 6s, Iron and Vitamin D (which I was deficient on).
- Began drinking coffee in the mornings and eating a good breakfast. (Oatmeal, or Eggs and Bacon).
- Instead of cardio, I do interval training and weight training. I exercise about 5 minutes a day now, with rest days inbetween for the weights. Weights are important, because you lose muscle mass as you lose weight, especially on cardio.
- I have 'cheat' days (although it's not a diet, so it's not really cheating) but I make sure to 'refeed' every couple of weeks to keep my metabolism working well.
- I still have refined sugar sometimes, (you could substitute with Stevia though, or soda with stevia if you like), diet drinks, and/or cheetos when I feel like it.
- Took it really slow. Visualized. Stopped beating myself up for transgressions.
The weight began slowly but surely falling off, I've been on this for about 2 years, where I lost the majority of my weight, and I've been consistently losing-- even now I'm not that 'strict' about it (I stopped exercising as much) and my body is maintaining pretty nicely. I haven't gained any back. I actually have a bit to go from a personal standpoint; I know I'll get there. Not only was it crazy easy compared to my first regimen, people don't tend to believe me when I say I eat everything. But I do.
Edit: Oh, and the first half of this year, when I was about 175, I started some CLA supplementation, and that helped a lot too. However, It's got side effects and I don't feel it's for everyone.
I get that it's hard to find time for yourself to exercise. But studies show interval training is preferable to cardio and it's pretty easy to do. All you need is about 15 minutes; you can do cycles of two minutes with 1 minute sprints. That's 5 intervals. Does your baby nap? It's a good time to do stationary bike, or treadmill, or even skipping if you don't wanna invest in an apparatus.
You can do it, good luck!
posted by Dimes at 1:47 AM on November 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
About 5-6 years ago, I used to weigh 220. I weigh 154 now. I am about your height. When I first started to lose weight, I did a high protein, low carb, low sugar, low fat, high cardio diet. I was on 1600 cals, then when I lost 15 lbs, I lowered my cal intake. I was practically killing myself, and it was very very tough to maintain and keep up.
I immediately lost about 30lbs within a 6-9 month period.
Then I hurt my back (unrelated to the exercise) and even though I was eating healthfully, my metabolism was completely shot. Anything I ate, my body clung to, and before you could blink, I'd gained 20lbs back. I was 200 and I was pretty miserable, because I'd practically killed myself to lose that weight.
I realized that the way I was living was kinda warped-- that going low-fat, low-carb and low-sugar basically meant I could barely eat anything; that I wasn't listening to my body, and that I was contributing to the kind of yo-yo fad dieting that doesn't work. Also, I didn't feel any better. So I stopped.
But I wanted to lose weight again. So I looked into what not to do, which was basically everything I was doing.
What I did do:
- Accepted my body, gross bits and all. Realized it may never get better than that, and it was okay.
- Didn't put my weight loss on a time limit. Made sure to do one good thing every day.
- Introduced complex carbs back in, in the form of low GI foods, whole grain, etc. Always made sure to eat when I was hungry.
- Stopped myself when I was full.
- Introduced 'good' fats into my diet, whole milk, nuts, avocado.
- Ate mindfully, so if I had a pizza on the weekend I'd eat very light a few days during the week (steamed fish and vegies, or salads.)
- Became very aware of where my energy was coming from (I'd done this already with a food diary when I got down to 190, so I was pretty aware of what I could eat and what I could eat a bit less of)
- Stop vilifying any kind of food, even junk food and takaway. Indulged when the mood strikes me.
- Began actively eating Omega 3s and 6s, Iron and Vitamin D (which I was deficient on).
- Began drinking coffee in the mornings and eating a good breakfast. (Oatmeal, or Eggs and Bacon).
- Instead of cardio, I do interval training and weight training. I exercise about 5 minutes a day now, with rest days inbetween for the weights. Weights are important, because you lose muscle mass as you lose weight, especially on cardio.
- I have 'cheat' days (although it's not a diet, so it's not really cheating) but I make sure to 'refeed' every couple of weeks to keep my metabolism working well.
- I still have refined sugar sometimes, (you could substitute with Stevia though, or soda with stevia if you like), diet drinks, and/or cheetos when I feel like it.
- Took it really slow. Visualized. Stopped beating myself up for transgressions.
The weight began slowly but surely falling off, I've been on this for about 2 years, where I lost the majority of my weight, and I've been consistently losing-- even now I'm not that 'strict' about it (I stopped exercising as much) and my body is maintaining pretty nicely. I haven't gained any back. I actually have a bit to go from a personal standpoint; I know I'll get there. Not only was it crazy easy compared to my first regimen, people don't tend to believe me when I say I eat everything. But I do.
Edit: Oh, and the first half of this year, when I was about 175, I started some CLA supplementation, and that helped a lot too. However, It's got side effects and I don't feel it's for everyone.
I get that it's hard to find time for yourself to exercise. But studies show interval training is preferable to cardio and it's pretty easy to do. All you need is about 15 minutes; you can do cycles of two minutes with 1 minute sprints. That's 5 intervals. Does your baby nap? It's a good time to do stationary bike, or treadmill, or even skipping if you don't wanna invest in an apparatus.
You can do it, good luck!
posted by Dimes at 1:47 AM on November 12, 2013 [4 favorites]
The sweet tooth is a habit, not set in stone. You're an adult. You choose what you eat, and you can choose whether you eat sugar or sodas. It's tough to transition, but over time your palate will adjust and you won't crave those foods any more.
I recently finished a Whole30, and while there's a lot that I don't like about the program (the rigid rules; the all-or-nothing thinking; the joylessness about food; all that meat) it did really reset my appetite and habits. I totally stopped drinking and eating sugar, and for the first two weeks my inner monologue was 100% brat - this sucks, I deserve a glass of wine, this is hard, this is the worst. But you just power through. Sweet potatoes are my best friend in this regard. I roast up a bunch on the weekend and add some to most meals to even out my blood sugar, give me a dose of carbohydrates (I definitely can't go low carb) and just boost my mood a little.
I'm in the process of transitioning back to being a vegetarian for environmental reasons but I still follow the Whole30 template. This means 3 big, balanced meals a day with at least 2-3 cups of vegetables, a protein source, and a LOT of fat, and basically no snacking. As a rule I don't eat wheat, sugar, dairy or alcohol except for very exceptional circumstances, like a friend's wedding. For me fat is absolutely key, perhaps more than protein. If I do snack, I make the effort to make it a smaller template meal - for instance, I'll have a boiled egg with a sliced capsicum and a few olives. I keep these things at work. I am so much less hungry now, I can't even tell you. I can go up to 5 hours without eating comfortably. I was a chronic snacker and sugar addict before. It's done wonders for my joints and inflammation issues, but it does involve being tough with yourself.
For me what helps is a lot of pre-preparation. I cut up all my breakfast vegetables and keep them in zip loc bags in the fridge. Then I just wake up and toss everything into a pan for my morning kale-with-whateva and a couple of eggs. I always eat leftovers for lunch, and factor that in to what I cook for dinner. I keep an Evernote folder with recipes and make a meal plan every week. It sounds like a lot of work, it's really not. It becomes habit, like snacking or eating sugar.
posted by nerdfish at 1:57 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
I recently finished a Whole30, and while there's a lot that I don't like about the program (the rigid rules; the all-or-nothing thinking; the joylessness about food; all that meat) it did really reset my appetite and habits. I totally stopped drinking and eating sugar, and for the first two weeks my inner monologue was 100% brat - this sucks, I deserve a glass of wine, this is hard, this is the worst. But you just power through. Sweet potatoes are my best friend in this regard. I roast up a bunch on the weekend and add some to most meals to even out my blood sugar, give me a dose of carbohydrates (I definitely can't go low carb) and just boost my mood a little.
I'm in the process of transitioning back to being a vegetarian for environmental reasons but I still follow the Whole30 template. This means 3 big, balanced meals a day with at least 2-3 cups of vegetables, a protein source, and a LOT of fat, and basically no snacking. As a rule I don't eat wheat, sugar, dairy or alcohol except for very exceptional circumstances, like a friend's wedding. For me fat is absolutely key, perhaps more than protein. If I do snack, I make the effort to make it a smaller template meal - for instance, I'll have a boiled egg with a sliced capsicum and a few olives. I keep these things at work. I am so much less hungry now, I can't even tell you. I can go up to 5 hours without eating comfortably. I was a chronic snacker and sugar addict before. It's done wonders for my joints and inflammation issues, but it does involve being tough with yourself.
For me what helps is a lot of pre-preparation. I cut up all my breakfast vegetables and keep them in zip loc bags in the fridge. Then I just wake up and toss everything into a pan for my morning kale-with-whateva and a couple of eggs. I always eat leftovers for lunch, and factor that in to what I cook for dinner. I keep an Evernote folder with recipes and make a meal plan every week. It sounds like a lot of work, it's really not. It becomes habit, like snacking or eating sugar.
posted by nerdfish at 1:57 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks again. I'm thinking a lot about everyone's answers, including the more recent ones, but I have two follow-up questions:
1. If I were to do interval training with a punching bag 3 days a week (N minutes on and M minutes off), and the other 3 days some sort of weightlifting, would the boxing be working too many of the same muscles as the weightlifting? I know it's bad to lift 6 days in a row. (Again, I can't actually run to do the interval training; it needs to be something I can do on my deck. I'd rather not buy a treadmill.)
2. I assume quitting diet sodas also means also quitting artificially sweetened drinks, like Crystal Light or the equivalent? i.e., the bad thing about diet soda is the artificial sweetener, right?
posted by forza at 2:54 AM on November 12, 2013
1. If I were to do interval training with a punching bag 3 days a week (N minutes on and M minutes off), and the other 3 days some sort of weightlifting, would the boxing be working too many of the same muscles as the weightlifting? I know it's bad to lift 6 days in a row. (Again, I can't actually run to do the interval training; it needs to be something I can do on my deck. I'd rather not buy a treadmill.)
2. I assume quitting diet sodas also means also quitting artificially sweetened drinks, like Crystal Light or the equivalent? i.e., the bad thing about diet soda is the artificial sweetener, right?
posted by forza at 2:54 AM on November 12, 2013
Response by poster: I swear I'll stop threadsitting, but one more thing: the reason I like the punching bag idea, besides the fact that I can do it on the deck, is that I love hitting things. It gives me a visceral pleasure that biking or running or swimming doesn't, and therefore I think I'm a lot more likely to keep it up. So I'm still eager for advice on good workouts for that, if anyone has ideas.
posted by forza at 2:58 AM on November 12, 2013
posted by forza at 2:58 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: Quitting soda doesn't mean quitting diet soda, it means quitting sugar drinks. Personally I consider everything except coffee, milk, and water to be treats for myself. (And I drop the milk when I'm trying to lean out.) So yes, Crystal Light is out. It doesn't matter if it's artificial sweetener or natural.
An enjoyment of hitting things is a really, really good reason to get the punching bag. Enthusiasm for the workout is awesome. A lot of people find it's very cathartic and works as stress relief.
Boxing works some of the same muscles as the weightlifting, but it doesn't have to be a problem. Interval training in the range of 3 on, 1 off, or 2 on 1 off, for a total of ten to thirty minutes is fine to do on alternate days with a modest amount of dumbbell work. Ease into it instead of jumping into it:
First week: day 1 box ten minutes, day 2 weightlift, day 3 rest, day 4 box ten minutes, day 5 weightlift, days 6 and 7 rest (rest can include yoga, walks, even hikes, but nothing super-strenuous)
Second week: box ten or fifteen minutes, weightlift, rest, box, weightlift, rest
Third week: box fifteen minutes, weightlift, rest, box, weightlift, box, rest
...and so on. Gradually switch rest days to workout days over the course of several months. Start with shorter total boxing time, and work up to longer intervals and longer total time.
posted by daveliepmann at 3:56 AM on November 12, 2013
An enjoyment of hitting things is a really, really good reason to get the punching bag. Enthusiasm for the workout is awesome. A lot of people find it's very cathartic and works as stress relief.
Boxing works some of the same muscles as the weightlifting, but it doesn't have to be a problem. Interval training in the range of 3 on, 1 off, or 2 on 1 off, for a total of ten to thirty minutes is fine to do on alternate days with a modest amount of dumbbell work. Ease into it instead of jumping into it:
First week: day 1 box ten minutes, day 2 weightlift, day 3 rest, day 4 box ten minutes, day 5 weightlift, days 6 and 7 rest (rest can include yoga, walks, even hikes, but nothing super-strenuous)
Second week: box ten or fifteen minutes, weightlift, rest, box, weightlift, rest
Third week: box fifteen minutes, weightlift, rest, box, weightlift, box, rest
...and so on. Gradually switch rest days to workout days over the course of several months. Start with shorter total boxing time, and work up to longer intervals and longer total time.
posted by daveliepmann at 3:56 AM on November 12, 2013
You might like shovelgloving. Do you have a gaming system? It sounds like you might like Just Dance or wii cardio boxing (these are the only cardio routins I've successfully stuck with).
For breakfast, I really think that eggs are your best bet--the handful of minutes they take to cook is easily what it takes to stand in line at Subway! I wonder if your toddler and you both wouldn't benefit from some supervised solitary play for him--wake him up a few minutes earlier, get him breakfast and sit him down with some nesting cups to play with and cheerios to feed himself so that you can take the 2-3 requisite minutes to fry an egg.
If I were in your position, I'd probably be switching to black tea (which, unlike soda, has antioxidants in it, at least). The first week, put sugar to taste in it. The second, cut back by one spoonful. If you like the taste, you can also use a stevia sweetener instead. Eventually you should be able to acclimate yourself to the bitterness.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:33 AM on November 12, 2013
For breakfast, I really think that eggs are your best bet--the handful of minutes they take to cook is easily what it takes to stand in line at Subway! I wonder if your toddler and you both wouldn't benefit from some supervised solitary play for him--wake him up a few minutes earlier, get him breakfast and sit him down with some nesting cups to play with and cheerios to feed himself so that you can take the 2-3 requisite minutes to fry an egg.
If I were in your position, I'd probably be switching to black tea (which, unlike soda, has antioxidants in it, at least). The first week, put sugar to taste in it. The second, cut back by one spoonful. If you like the taste, you can also use a stevia sweetener instead. Eventually you should be able to acclimate yourself to the bitterness.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:33 AM on November 12, 2013
I assume quitting diet sodas also means also quitting artificially sweetened drinks, like Crystal Light or the equivalent? i.e., the bad thing about diet soda is the artificial sweetener, right?
Someone more knowledgeable than me can talk about what's good and bad about artificial sweetener. But from my point of view (IANA doctor, dietitian or even a nutritionist) the bad thing about sweet drinks, no matter how they are sweetened, is that they condition you to crave sweet things. So yes, I'm sorry, but I think you should quit artificially sweetened drinks too. Like I said above, maybe let yourself have something sweet every so often, just not in the form of drinks or lollies.
posted by pianissimo at 7:45 AM on November 12, 2013
Someone more knowledgeable than me can talk about what's good and bad about artificial sweetener. But from my point of view (IANA doctor, dietitian or even a nutritionist) the bad thing about sweet drinks, no matter how they are sweetened, is that they condition you to crave sweet things. So yes, I'm sorry, but I think you should quit artificially sweetened drinks too. Like I said above, maybe let yourself have something sweet every so often, just not in the form of drinks or lollies.
posted by pianissimo at 7:45 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: If you can eat breakfast at work, you have so many options. Basically, it needs to be protein-heavy, and if you don't like had-boiled eggs you can bring greek yogurt, cheese, meat, hummus, peanut butter... I know how hard it can be, I struggle with breakfast too. Right now I'm eating from the stash of almonds and instant oatmeal that I keep at work for days like today when I can't deal with figuring out breakfast.
If you keep greek yogurts in your fridge you can totally grab one, or grab two pre-boiled eggs, or even grab some lunch meat and stick it between two slices of nutty, wholegrain bread on your way out the door (which I guarantee you is way better for you than Subway bread -- I don't know what's in that stuff, but I can eat a footlong and be hungry an hour later, like they somehow managed to get air to have calories and taste like a sandwich).
My best mornings, though, are when I have actual dinner for breakfast. A leftover chicken breast with some sweet potatoes and broccoli, or a salmon caesar, or some pot roast is what I have when I can. Make more dinner than you need and get some single-serving sized pyrex with lids and stick one in the microwave in the morning (unless it's salad!) and you're golden.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:55 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you keep greek yogurts in your fridge you can totally grab one, or grab two pre-boiled eggs, or even grab some lunch meat and stick it between two slices of nutty, wholegrain bread on your way out the door (which I guarantee you is way better for you than Subway bread -- I don't know what's in that stuff, but I can eat a footlong and be hungry an hour later, like they somehow managed to get air to have calories and taste like a sandwich).
My best mornings, though, are when I have actual dinner for breakfast. A leftover chicken breast with some sweet potatoes and broccoli, or a salmon caesar, or some pot roast is what I have when I can. Make more dinner than you need and get some single-serving sized pyrex with lids and stick one in the microwave in the morning (unless it's salad!) and you're golden.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 7:55 AM on November 12, 2013 [1 favorite]
I started eating paleo because I was having lots of carb cravings, and upping my protein and (good) fat intake pretty much stabilized my metabolism and appetite. I do eat carbs and some sweets, but they're all healthy sources like fruit or paleo recipes that use almond flour and dates or honey for sweetener. That means I don't feel deprived and it makes "eating healthy" sustainable. (Plus, lots of nuts! did I mention all the roasted nuts I snack on? and paleo granola?) Just another thought, once you've given your sweet tooth a bit of time to adjust...
posted by acm at 8:19 AM on November 12, 2013
posted by acm at 8:19 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: What a great metafilter question! I am in the process of redefining my diet and routine as well, but I started gradually changing things since last march. So far I have lost almost 10 lbs, and have been kinda half-assed doing a proper diet, but I now know at least what I SHOULD be eating, and have managed to curb a lot of my bad habits and cravings.
I started by learning a ton about nutrition. I don't have a ton of time, but I listen to a lot of podcasts and audio books. Part of the problem is that the nutrition info we all were taught in the 80's and 90's is now proving to be false. North Americans eat WAY too many processed carbs, not enough healthy fats, and way too few vegetables. I have been working on doing these things and have found that it makes a huge difference. Once I started to understand how blood sugar works, and what impact it was having on my energy and hunger, I was able to make better choices to keep myself full and not worry about calories anymore. I never was able to understand before how I could go to subway and eat a whole footlong for lunch, but still be hungry 2 hours later. Now I know that breads, sweets, and other non-veggie carbs spike your blood sugar quickly, and since you can't use up all that energy at once, it will store it as fat. But then later your blood sugar drops drastically and you get really hungry again, causing an endless cycle. A slice of white bread spikes your blood sugar as much as a candy bar!
I cut out the vast majority of my processed carbs, but not all. I just eat WAY less bread, and still have some sweet potato or a smaller portion of pasta, etc at dinner instead of it being the main part of my meal. I never had a sweet tooth, but I used to snack on chips or other junk food a lot. If I eat lots of protein and healthy fats throughout the day, I don't have those cravings anymore. All through my youth I was taught that fat makes you fat. The new science is saying quite the opposite, that we need to train our bodies to burn fat instead of sugar. (As long as it is good fats like butter, olive oil, avocado, not trans fats or deep fried anything.) I didn't believe this at first, but I have been eating WAY more fat and calories than before but am still dropping weight slowly.
I am still working on improving my exercise routine, but I really hate the gym so I am doing pilates videos at home, and that seems to be improving my muscles and core. I think you should be able to come up with a great routine to do on your deck, there have been some good suggestions above.
For breakfasts, I eat 2 eggs every day. Don't worry about the cholesterol, again that is one of the things we have been told all our life but isn't really true. Eating tons of processed carbs and breads and sugar will do it, not eggs. Sunday night I take out a muffin tin, put a slice of ham into each one, and crack an egg on top. I bake them and put them in the fridge and have 2 each morning. Keeps me way more full than the subway or starbucks breakfast sandwiches I was eating before.
If you have time today or this evening, pop over to Creativelive.com they have Jonathan Bailor on there. I listened to most of his presentation yesterday and he was teaching all of the things I have been learning lately about nutrition. Similar to paleo, but less strict and using a lot of science behind it to get results.
I hope some of these things help. Don't get too overwhelmed, just start making gradual changes and it does get easier when those things become a habit and you start missing your old ways less and less :)
posted by photoexplorer at 8:54 AM on November 12, 2013
I started by learning a ton about nutrition. I don't have a ton of time, but I listen to a lot of podcasts and audio books. Part of the problem is that the nutrition info we all were taught in the 80's and 90's is now proving to be false. North Americans eat WAY too many processed carbs, not enough healthy fats, and way too few vegetables. I have been working on doing these things and have found that it makes a huge difference. Once I started to understand how blood sugar works, and what impact it was having on my energy and hunger, I was able to make better choices to keep myself full and not worry about calories anymore. I never was able to understand before how I could go to subway and eat a whole footlong for lunch, but still be hungry 2 hours later. Now I know that breads, sweets, and other non-veggie carbs spike your blood sugar quickly, and since you can't use up all that energy at once, it will store it as fat. But then later your blood sugar drops drastically and you get really hungry again, causing an endless cycle. A slice of white bread spikes your blood sugar as much as a candy bar!
I cut out the vast majority of my processed carbs, but not all. I just eat WAY less bread, and still have some sweet potato or a smaller portion of pasta, etc at dinner instead of it being the main part of my meal. I never had a sweet tooth, but I used to snack on chips or other junk food a lot. If I eat lots of protein and healthy fats throughout the day, I don't have those cravings anymore. All through my youth I was taught that fat makes you fat. The new science is saying quite the opposite, that we need to train our bodies to burn fat instead of sugar. (As long as it is good fats like butter, olive oil, avocado, not trans fats or deep fried anything.) I didn't believe this at first, but I have been eating WAY more fat and calories than before but am still dropping weight slowly.
I am still working on improving my exercise routine, but I really hate the gym so I am doing pilates videos at home, and that seems to be improving my muscles and core. I think you should be able to come up with a great routine to do on your deck, there have been some good suggestions above.
For breakfasts, I eat 2 eggs every day. Don't worry about the cholesterol, again that is one of the things we have been told all our life but isn't really true. Eating tons of processed carbs and breads and sugar will do it, not eggs. Sunday night I take out a muffin tin, put a slice of ham into each one, and crack an egg on top. I bake them and put them in the fridge and have 2 each morning. Keeps me way more full than the subway or starbucks breakfast sandwiches I was eating before.
If you have time today or this evening, pop over to Creativelive.com they have Jonathan Bailor on there. I listened to most of his presentation yesterday and he was teaching all of the things I have been learning lately about nutrition. Similar to paleo, but less strict and using a lot of science behind it to get results.
I hope some of these things help. Don't get too overwhelmed, just start making gradual changes and it does get easier when those things become a habit and you start missing your old ways less and less :)
posted by photoexplorer at 8:54 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: Exercise:
If you love boxing, I think you should definitely put up a punching bag on your deck. One of the key items for a successful exercise plan is motivation and it sounds like a punching bag hits that sweet spot for you. So, put it up, bring the baby monitor with you, and go at it.
In terms of a CouchtoBoxingCircuit, you may want to check out some books at the library or just have them ordered from Amazon. I don't have any particular recommendations. Youtube has some good introductory videos, and there are lots of workouts online. Here's a not-quite-beginner one from Men's Health - note the warmup at the end of the article. Stretching is going to be key in not ending up injured.
With regards to doing something every day, could you do some cardio on inbetween days? For example, getting a jump rope and going out on the deck and doing some drills; maybe throw in some burpees, jumping jacks, anything that gets your heart racing for twenty minutes.
posted by valoius at 9:08 AM on November 12, 2013
If you love boxing, I think you should definitely put up a punching bag on your deck. One of the key items for a successful exercise plan is motivation and it sounds like a punching bag hits that sweet spot for you. So, put it up, bring the baby monitor with you, and go at it.
In terms of a CouchtoBoxingCircuit, you may want to check out some books at the library or just have them ordered from Amazon. I don't have any particular recommendations. Youtube has some good introductory videos, and there are lots of workouts online. Here's a not-quite-beginner one from Men's Health - note the warmup at the end of the article. Stretching is going to be key in not ending up injured.
With regards to doing something every day, could you do some cardio on inbetween days? For example, getting a jump rope and going out on the deck and doing some drills; maybe throw in some burpees, jumping jacks, anything that gets your heart racing for twenty minutes.
posted by valoius at 9:08 AM on November 12, 2013
I can't speak to the training issue, because I'm honestly further behind in that respect than you are.
However for breakfast, one of my favorite easy things is Egg Beaters. I get the Southwest ones, pour in a small bowl, microwave for about a minute, and either eat it right out of the bowl or shove them in a tortilla and turn them into a quick burrito. They are low cal and most versions have no cholesterol, I think the cheesy ones have a bit of cholesterol.
I've also tossed an english muffin in the toaster while they are nuking and thrown them on that as soon as it's toasted. It's a close approximation of what you're getting with Subway, and for me, it's as fast and easy to eat.
posted by teleri025 at 9:59 AM on November 12, 2013
However for breakfast, one of my favorite easy things is Egg Beaters. I get the Southwest ones, pour in a small bowl, microwave for about a minute, and either eat it right out of the bowl or shove them in a tortilla and turn them into a quick burrito. They are low cal and most versions have no cholesterol, I think the cheesy ones have a bit of cholesterol.
I've also tossed an english muffin in the toaster while they are nuking and thrown them on that as soon as it's toasted. It's a close approximation of what you're getting with Subway, and for me, it's as fast and easy to eat.
posted by teleri025 at 9:59 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: Can you prepare foods on the weekend and then eat them throughout the week? My favorite breakfast food is mini frittatas, which are easy to make and reheat well. This recipe calls for milk, but I make mine without, and you can mix whole eggs with egg whites if you prefer. If you bake up a whole muffin tray of them on Sunday, you can have breakfast for the week by popping a couple of them in the microwave each morning.
When you've quit eating sweets in the past, did you continue to consume diet sodas and other artificial sweeteners? That would explain why your cravings never went away. Can you try tea or coffee with milk to ease yourself into the flavor? I used to drink diet soda and switched to unsweetened tea years ago and now even diet drinks taste alarmingly sweet to me.
posted by bedhead at 10:13 AM on November 12, 2013
When you've quit eating sweets in the past, did you continue to consume diet sodas and other artificial sweeteners? That would explain why your cravings never went away. Can you try tea or coffee with milk to ease yourself into the flavor? I used to drink diet soda and switched to unsweetened tea years ago and now even diet drinks taste alarmingly sweet to me.
posted by bedhead at 10:13 AM on November 12, 2013
Best answer: Oh Jesus, just drink coffee with sugar. Tea won't give you the caffeine kick you're looking for. Sugar's a lot better than the unknowns in diet soda, or even HFCS in regular soda. Sugar gets metabolized and used to power your body. Along with your coffee, have a glass of skim milk or 2 eggs or toast with peanut butter or leftover turkey or whey powder in water. Aim for 2-4:1 carbs:protein. Why? Because The Internet says that that's best for recovery. (On a related note, there appears to be no great link between dietary and serum cholesterol, so eating 2 eggs/day isn't the artery-clogging death the 90s wanted us to believe.)
I personally think that running is an awesome exercise, so naturally everyone in the world should run to stay in shape. Except I guess not everybody feels the same way. Weirdos. But if you love hitting things, then that's the ideal exercise for you. Alternating weightlifting with bag work isn't bad; the question becomes one of efficiency (specifically, cardio tends to interfere with building strength, but HIIT minimizes the time spent at cardio levels, so bottom line yes you can alternate lifting with punching and not have it be a waste of time). Here's the first of many results found when googling "boxing workouts". Looks like fun.
Given that you don't have weights, look into 5BX or Your Body Is Your Own Gym. You can do plenty with pushups, planks, squats, and lunges. And don't discount the abdominal workout 20 lb of wriggling meat can supply. Strap him on your back and do squats and lunges, go for a short hike, it's more than you think.
One thing that was a huge benefit to me was child watch at my local Y consortium. Free with family membership! For 75 min at a stretch! Seriously, if I go once a week, that's half my membership cost right there, and they get to play with different toys and different kids, and we go in the pool afterwards, so we're all huge fans. I know the times might not work for you right now, but something to keep in mind for the future.
Good luck!
posted by disconnect at 11:04 AM on November 12, 2013
I personally think that running is an awesome exercise, so naturally everyone in the world should run to stay in shape. Except I guess not everybody feels the same way. Weirdos. But if you love hitting things, then that's the ideal exercise for you. Alternating weightlifting with bag work isn't bad; the question becomes one of efficiency (specifically, cardio tends to interfere with building strength, but HIIT minimizes the time spent at cardio levels, so bottom line yes you can alternate lifting with punching and not have it be a waste of time). Here's the first of many results found when googling "boxing workouts". Looks like fun.
Given that you don't have weights, look into 5BX or Your Body Is Your Own Gym. You can do plenty with pushups, planks, squats, and lunges. And don't discount the abdominal workout 20 lb of wriggling meat can supply. Strap him on your back and do squats and lunges, go for a short hike, it's more than you think.
One thing that was a huge benefit to me was child watch at my local Y consortium. Free with family membership! For 75 min at a stretch! Seriously, if I go once a week, that's half my membership cost right there, and they get to play with different toys and different kids, and we go in the pool afterwards, so we're all huge fans. I know the times might not work for you right now, but something to keep in mind for the future.
Good luck!
posted by disconnect at 11:04 AM on November 12, 2013
I am a huge fan of Weight Watchers, and I think it may be worth trying it in your case. Here's why I like it:
- It takes all the complicated, confusing info out there about sugar, carbs, protein, etc etc etc and makes it super simple. You get a set number of points every day and that's it. There are a few other guidelines (eat 5 servings of veggies/day, servings of water, etc) but for the most part, you just focus on tracking your points. I really like this simplicity.
- There's a lot of support. If you can carve out an hour a week, you can go to meetings, which can be really awesome for tips and solidarity (there are always new moms in WW, and people definitely bring babies to meetings). If not, then there are lots of good resources on their site. They have a really good smartphone app as well.
- They've recently retooled the program based on behavioral science research, using a lot of the more recent knowledge about motivation, willpower, habit change, etc.
- They have a new fitbit-type thing that allows you to directly turn your activity into extra "points." I haven't used it, but a lot of people at my regular meeting say it helps motivate them to do more random moving around (ie, taking the stairs, going for a walk around the block, etc), and that stuff really adds up.
I find that when I stick with the program (ie, tracking what I eat, staying within about 10% of my point allotment for the week, getting my fruits and veggies), I lose about .5-2 lbs/week without too much effort or stress.
Again, what I like most about the program is that it takes all the complications out of the equation.
I think this also takes a lot of the weird emotional value judgments out, too. I mean, cutting out sugar 100% does work for some people, but it doesn't seem like you're one of them, and that's fine. You don't have to be a totally perfect human being to be healthy and in shape. I like the points system because it helped me put some parameters on it.
Like, sure, go ahead and have that serving of Ben and Jerry's! That's totally within my points "budget." But if I eat the whole pint, it doesn't make me a bad person who will never lose weight, it just means I won't have any points left for other treats for the rest of the week. So if I know I'm going out for dinner Friday night, I'll either want to cool it with the Ben and Jerry's on Wednesday, or plan on an extra workout Friday and Saturday to earn those points back.
posted by lunasol at 11:33 AM on November 12, 2013
- It takes all the complicated, confusing info out there about sugar, carbs, protein, etc etc etc and makes it super simple. You get a set number of points every day and that's it. There are a few other guidelines (eat 5 servings of veggies/day, servings of water, etc) but for the most part, you just focus on tracking your points. I really like this simplicity.
- There's a lot of support. If you can carve out an hour a week, you can go to meetings, which can be really awesome for tips and solidarity (there are always new moms in WW, and people definitely bring babies to meetings). If not, then there are lots of good resources on their site. They have a really good smartphone app as well.
- They've recently retooled the program based on behavioral science research, using a lot of the more recent knowledge about motivation, willpower, habit change, etc.
- They have a new fitbit-type thing that allows you to directly turn your activity into extra "points." I haven't used it, but a lot of people at my regular meeting say it helps motivate them to do more random moving around (ie, taking the stairs, going for a walk around the block, etc), and that stuff really adds up.
I find that when I stick with the program (ie, tracking what I eat, staying within about 10% of my point allotment for the week, getting my fruits and veggies), I lose about .5-2 lbs/week without too much effort or stress.
Again, what I like most about the program is that it takes all the complications out of the equation.
I think this also takes a lot of the weird emotional value judgments out, too. I mean, cutting out sugar 100% does work for some people, but it doesn't seem like you're one of them, and that's fine. You don't have to be a totally perfect human being to be healthy and in shape. I like the points system because it helped me put some parameters on it.
Like, sure, go ahead and have that serving of Ben and Jerry's! That's totally within my points "budget." But if I eat the whole pint, it doesn't make me a bad person who will never lose weight, it just means I won't have any points left for other treats for the rest of the week. So if I know I'm going out for dinner Friday night, I'll either want to cool it with the Ben and Jerry's on Wednesday, or plan on an extra workout Friday and Saturday to earn those points back.
posted by lunasol at 11:33 AM on November 12, 2013
If you love boxing, you should box.
But if that doesn't work for some reason, you might consider workout videos. I saw noticeable results with the Insanity videos. It was intense enough to feel like a workout, short enough to fit in your time frame, does cardio and strength, and doesn't require any equipment. They're expensive, but many of the libraries in my area had them.
I'm sure there are a lot of other videos out there, but this is the only one I've tried.
posted by oryelle at 6:52 PM on November 12, 2013
But if that doesn't work for some reason, you might consider workout videos. I saw noticeable results with the Insanity videos. It was intense enough to feel like a workout, short enough to fit in your time frame, does cardio and strength, and doesn't require any equipment. They're expensive, but many of the libraries in my area had them.
I'm sure there are a lot of other videos out there, but this is the only one I've tried.
posted by oryelle at 6:52 PM on November 12, 2013
I have cut out sugar several times in my life and the cravings were ever present throughout those periods. The only time I was able to make the cravings go away was when I also cut out white flour and cut my carbs way down. It sounds like you don't really need to do this -- since you can't eat a lot of whole grains, this would really be radically shifting your diet. If you can figure out a smaller change, like just the sodas, for now, keeping the every few days dessert, until you get used to less soda and figure out if you can keep the desserts or not.
For breakfast, I used to make mini-crustless quiches -- basically make the inside of a quiche recipe and bake it in muffin cups; you can put in cheese, chopped meat, lots of chopped or pureed veg to make this extremely healthy. I always made a batch ahead of time and then there's just the one to heat up or not in the morning. (I've never thought there was time to fry eggs in the morning with a kid either; that's for weekends.) If you have toast, eat it with cheese to make it more filling. Or if yogurt grosses you out less, a full fat low sugar kind should help fill you up. If you are finding recipes calling for nuts for more protein, substitute sunflower seeds or flax. (Oh, and if you eat fruit for an afternoon snack, have a string cheese with it to fill you up.)
I've done Healthmonth a few times when I've wanted to make a concrete change. You could see if something like that would be helpful to you. And if not, still try to do the thing they suggest -- pick up to three things you will change only and give yourself a month. (And three little things, not I will do all exercise and eat everything healthy as two things, but I will try caffeine pills instead of soda, I will box twice a week, and I'll make breakfast on the weekend. And if you wanted to just pick one thing for the next few weeks, that's good too.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:44 PM on November 12, 2013
For breakfast, I used to make mini-crustless quiches -- basically make the inside of a quiche recipe and bake it in muffin cups; you can put in cheese, chopped meat, lots of chopped or pureed veg to make this extremely healthy. I always made a batch ahead of time and then there's just the one to heat up or not in the morning. (I've never thought there was time to fry eggs in the morning with a kid either; that's for weekends.) If you have toast, eat it with cheese to make it more filling. Or if yogurt grosses you out less, a full fat low sugar kind should help fill you up. If you are finding recipes calling for nuts for more protein, substitute sunflower seeds or flax. (Oh, and if you eat fruit for an afternoon snack, have a string cheese with it to fill you up.)
I've done Healthmonth a few times when I've wanted to make a concrete change. You could see if something like that would be helpful to you. And if not, still try to do the thing they suggest -- pick up to three things you will change only and give yourself a month. (And three little things, not I will do all exercise and eat everything healthy as two things, but I will try caffeine pills instead of soda, I will box twice a week, and I'll make breakfast on the weekend. And if you wanted to just pick one thing for the next few weeks, that's good too.)
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:44 PM on November 12, 2013
Pure Barre is helpful for tightening up problem areas for women.
Don't beat yourself up if you had an injury and it's taking you some time to get back in the swing of things time management-wise. Try walking on a treadmill for maybe 30-40 minutes and seeing how that feels, then slowly increase your speed over time until you're back where you used to be.
posted by lotusmish at 11:05 PM on November 12, 2013
Don't beat yourself up if you had an injury and it's taking you some time to get back in the swing of things time management-wise. Try walking on a treadmill for maybe 30-40 minutes and seeing how that feels, then slowly increase your speed over time until you're back where you used to be.
posted by lotusmish at 11:05 PM on November 12, 2013
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, again. I've figured out a plan and I decided to put it here -- mainly as another way to keep myself accountable, but I figure it might also be interesting to anyone in a similar boat.
I realised while having breakfast recently that my son totally sits still for more than 5 minutes while eating. That made me realise that my resistance to anything involving cooking is more on my end; I just can't face cooking and cleaning, no matter how simple, while juggling him, after having just woken up. So everyone's suggestions of easy breakfasts that just involve microwaving are very appreciated.
Anyway...
Step 1: Modify food intake
I'm going to do this all at once because it's all intertwined... quitting sugary drinks without quitting sugar elsewhere will accomplish nothing in the way of retraining my palate, and not quitting fast food will make it so much harder to quit diet soda, because that is where I get my diet soda half the time. So, starting Monday, I'm going to:
1. No sugary drinks (artificial sweetener or not, diet coke, etc). For caffeine when I really need it, coffee or tea with 1 spoon of sugar or less if I can take it, if not, caffeine pills.
2. No sweets. In a month I will try to start eating them again in extreme moderation, but I think it will be simplest to just stop completely for a month, which will hopefully retrain my tastebuds a lot.
3. No fast food.
Tricks to make this possible
1. Other than these rules, I can eat whatever I want, however much I want.
2. I will not weigh myself or worry about how I look or feel or anything. Just aim for these goals.
3. If I slip, that's not an excuse to slip further. It was a bump in the road.
4. I'll take the breakfast and snack suggestions made by many here. Breakfasts made on Sunday and frozen, snacks including things like cheese/meat/crackers, nuts in moderation unless the nickel intolerance gets too bad.
5. On Thanksgiving I am allowed one piece of pumpkin pie. (My favorite!)
6. For now, I also won't worry about exercise.
Then, in 2-3 weeks...
Step 2: Exercise
I'm also going to do this all at once because I think getting myself into the habit of just waking up at 5:30am every day, rather than having some days where I sleep in more, will make this a lot easier.
1. Punching bag on the deck MWF. Start really really easy. Few and short intervals, not many of them. Jump rope warm up.
2. Weights on deck TThS. Also start really really easy - few reps, body resistance or low weight dumbbells.
3. Rest on Sunday. If sleeping in later starts to make it harder to wake up the other days, still have to get up at that time, but can just relax.
Tricks to make this possible
1. Main goal is always just to actually wake up and get out there on the deck. Generally once I'm there I'll want to do stuff but the first goal is simply to go out there.
2. Start slooow. Historically I have burnt myself out by doing too much, too soon. In the first weeks I should end the workout feeling like I have a lot more to give. Then gradually ramp up.
I'll report back in a couple of months, hopefully with news that I'm keeping to it. Thanks again for helping me think through this - it's been super useful.
posted by forza at 5:13 PM on November 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
I realised while having breakfast recently that my son totally sits still for more than 5 minutes while eating. That made me realise that my resistance to anything involving cooking is more on my end; I just can't face cooking and cleaning, no matter how simple, while juggling him, after having just woken up. So everyone's suggestions of easy breakfasts that just involve microwaving are very appreciated.
Anyway...
Step 1: Modify food intake
I'm going to do this all at once because it's all intertwined... quitting sugary drinks without quitting sugar elsewhere will accomplish nothing in the way of retraining my palate, and not quitting fast food will make it so much harder to quit diet soda, because that is where I get my diet soda half the time. So, starting Monday, I'm going to:
1. No sugary drinks (artificial sweetener or not, diet coke, etc). For caffeine when I really need it, coffee or tea with 1 spoon of sugar or less if I can take it, if not, caffeine pills.
2. No sweets. In a month I will try to start eating them again in extreme moderation, but I think it will be simplest to just stop completely for a month, which will hopefully retrain my tastebuds a lot.
3. No fast food.
Tricks to make this possible
1. Other than these rules, I can eat whatever I want, however much I want.
2. I will not weigh myself or worry about how I look or feel or anything. Just aim for these goals.
3. If I slip, that's not an excuse to slip further. It was a bump in the road.
4. I'll take the breakfast and snack suggestions made by many here. Breakfasts made on Sunday and frozen, snacks including things like cheese/meat/crackers, nuts in moderation unless the nickel intolerance gets too bad.
5. On Thanksgiving I am allowed one piece of pumpkin pie. (My favorite!)
6. For now, I also won't worry about exercise.
Then, in 2-3 weeks...
Step 2: Exercise
I'm also going to do this all at once because I think getting myself into the habit of just waking up at 5:30am every day, rather than having some days where I sleep in more, will make this a lot easier.
1. Punching bag on the deck MWF. Start really really easy. Few and short intervals, not many of them. Jump rope warm up.
2. Weights on deck TThS. Also start really really easy - few reps, body resistance or low weight dumbbells.
3. Rest on Sunday. If sleeping in later starts to make it harder to wake up the other days, still have to get up at that time, but can just relax.
Tricks to make this possible
1. Main goal is always just to actually wake up and get out there on the deck. Generally once I'm there I'll want to do stuff but the first goal is simply to go out there.
2. Start slooow. Historically I have burnt myself out by doing too much, too soon. In the first weeks I should end the workout feeling like I have a lot more to give. Then gradually ramp up.
I'll report back in a couple of months, hopefully with news that I'm keeping to it. Thanks again for helping me think through this - it's been super useful.
posted by forza at 5:13 PM on November 15, 2013 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Just wanted to do a month-later followup, since I got the automatic email reminding me. I'm still planning on doing a 3-4 month follow-up too! Not sure anyone cares but it is good for motivation, and might be useful to future people who find the question.
The good news is that I've managed to stick with the dietary changes. No diet sodas at all for a month, and these I don't miss either, other than a little bit first thing in the morning. I actually just cut out all caffeine and I don't miss it much -- plus I'm sleeping better too. I've also managed to stick to the no junk food rule, which was made much less difficult thanks to having a breakfast that works for me. That's getting a bit monotonous but I'm livening it up with spaghetti and other proper meals that I make on Sunday and freeze, so I think I can sustain it.
I also completely abstained from sweets aside from the Thanksgiving pie and though I miss them, the craving isn't anything near what it was last time I tried quitting them -- I think the points people made about how artificial sweeteners cause a craving have certainly proved true for me. I think I'll soon go to allowing myself one or two a week, because I want something that is sustainable and the thought of never having sweets again makes me cry. But I think 1-2 a week will be plenty, and will ensure I actually have the most deliciously yummy possible sweets rather than just crap just to eat.
The really good news is that just by doing these things, I've lost about 10 pounds! I have been feeling better and just stepped on a scale now. Wow, I didn't really expect that.
On the negative side, I haven't gotten to starting with the exercise yet. We had some unexpected things come up, and I also scheduled a plane trip in a few weeks which means that's going to wreak havoc with any routine I create. I don't know if it's better to just wait until I'm back, rather than trying to get into something, losing it for a few weeks (because in addition to jetlag etc, I don't have a punching bag where I'm going), and then trying to resurrect it again. I am dithering. Either way, I'm confident I'll get to it. The punching bag is purchased and set up and I've figured out some easy-intro workouts to try.
posted by forza at 5:23 PM on December 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
The good news is that I've managed to stick with the dietary changes. No diet sodas at all for a month, and these I don't miss either, other than a little bit first thing in the morning. I actually just cut out all caffeine and I don't miss it much -- plus I'm sleeping better too. I've also managed to stick to the no junk food rule, which was made much less difficult thanks to having a breakfast that works for me. That's getting a bit monotonous but I'm livening it up with spaghetti and other proper meals that I make on Sunday and freeze, so I think I can sustain it.
I also completely abstained from sweets aside from the Thanksgiving pie and though I miss them, the craving isn't anything near what it was last time I tried quitting them -- I think the points people made about how artificial sweeteners cause a craving have certainly proved true for me. I think I'll soon go to allowing myself one or two a week, because I want something that is sustainable and the thought of never having sweets again makes me cry. But I think 1-2 a week will be plenty, and will ensure I actually have the most deliciously yummy possible sweets rather than just crap just to eat.
The really good news is that just by doing these things, I've lost about 10 pounds! I have been feeling better and just stepped on a scale now. Wow, I didn't really expect that.
On the negative side, I haven't gotten to starting with the exercise yet. We had some unexpected things come up, and I also scheduled a plane trip in a few weeks which means that's going to wreak havoc with any routine I create. I don't know if it's better to just wait until I'm back, rather than trying to get into something, losing it for a few weeks (because in addition to jetlag etc, I don't have a punching bag where I'm going), and then trying to resurrect it again. I am dithering. Either way, I'm confident I'll get to it. The punching bag is purchased and set up and I've figured out some easy-intro workouts to try.
posted by forza at 5:23 PM on December 12, 2013 [3 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by forza at 9:31 PM on November 11, 2013