Random Forum Guy

I've got to go on hiatus for a bit, too much craziness in life right now! I'll be back soon

Week 1 was pretty good. Will have an analysis of my tracking a bit later. But I learned a couple of important things already 1) Too much alcohol leads to... too much eating! I need to limit myself to no more than a couple of drinks, otherwise I get the munchies! 2) I'm a social eater. I don't go to big outings often, but discovered that I tend to snack a lot to keep myself occupied until I warm up to the crowd. Doesn't help that at social gatherings there's usually food EVERYWHERE!!! 3) Most of my problems occur at dinnertime and after, + weekends. If every day consisted of only breakfast and lunch, I'd be thin as a rail

No, simply because I won't be denying myself anything -- everything in moderation, though I will try to not each so much of the processed crap. For example, the other day I wanted ice cream. So I got one of the little tiny Edy's light tubs (I think it's maybe 1/4-1/3 cup ice cream). That was enough to satisfy my ice cream craving, and I didn't have to feel guilty as I didn't eat a pint

Hi all! I wasn't able to be on the forum as much last challenge as I liked. Going to try to read 2-3 people's challenge updates again regularly this time. Let's do this!

Long-term Goal: Fit into those pants! Current Goal: Drop fat so I can do yoga (Not do yoga so I can drop fat!) Most people want to exercise to lose weight. Well, of course I do too. But really, since discovering that yoga is just about the perfect exercise for me, I've realized that being overweight really sucks when trying to do yoga! So my goal this time is to really knuckle down on my diet, dropping excess fat so that I can work in a bigger range of asanas. I seem to have a hard time focusing on diet with multiple goals, so this will be my only stated goal. I will still be trying to walk (or other exercise) three hours per week and aiming for 2-3 hours of yoga (spread over at least three days per week). I've tried just about every diet under the sun, diet defined as any way of eating that limits certain foods. So yes paleo is a diet, not a "lifestyle" in that respect. And they all fail eventually as I just love different foods too much. At this point I'm convinced that moderation, though difficult, will be my only path to long-term success. So I will be focusing on moderate eating, which isn't easy to define or measure! The only thing I can say is that I know when I'm moderately full and when I've overeaten, so I will follow my stomach and not my eyes. One problem I have is eating second helpings. So one fixed rule I'll have is to eat using a small plate. After finishing, I will set a timer for 15 minutes, and I cannot get any more food (but can drink water/tea/coffee) until that time's up. That will give my brain time to catch up with my stomach and help keep me from overeating. I'm still going to try to limit refined grains/sugars, junk food, alcohol, and other "empty" foods, but I will not deny myself entirely. In order to keep myself honest and also relate my physical/mental state to certain foods, I'll be keeping a food journal. Given that I have a smartphone and never go anywhere that doesn't have network access, I'll expect myself to update a tracking spreadsheet after every meal/snack. Each main entry (meal/snack) will count as one point, so my final score will be based on a % (# of moderate meals/snacks over total). tl;dr -- Eat moderately, wait 15 minutes before getting more, keep a food journal (and keep walking/doing yoga) I hope to drop a pant size by the end of the 6 weeks, which I think would be roughly 10lbs. I'll take new measurements/weight Sunday evening. Here we go (early)!!! Before Stats: (sadly these returned to pre-previous challenge levels ) Weight: 212 Waist: 46" Hips: 39.5" R. Thigh: 26" R. Bicep: 14" Neck: 16" Chest: 42.5"

Heh several times Posting here hasn't worked as well as I hoped. I'm instead tracking everything in a spreadsheet so I can get a better overview. I'll post results at the end of each week.

Half piece of banana bread and pumpkin cookie, decaf coffee

1 twizzler

Dinner, taco salad with ground beef, lettuce, avacado, salsa, chips. Ate two servings without waiting 15 mins, so that's a big X. But was crashing so bad from sugar withdrawal that I was compelled to eat more

Other 1/2 dark chocolate bar...weaning myself off all that Halloween candy...going through sugar withdrawal!

Cup green tea, same bag

Cup green tea

Cup of green tea, same teabag

Cup green tea, same teabag

Hershey's dark chocolate bar 1/2

Diet coke 12oz feel pretty crappy after this...confirms my suspicion that artificial drinks mess me up

Cup green tea

Leftover Chinese, about a cup of chicken fried rice and four small fried chicken balls Feel a bit logy, still recovering from cold

3rd cup green tea same teabag

2nd cup green tea (same teabag)

Cup green tea

Breakfast 1 egg fried in pat of butter

Pre-week challenge food log

Just saw that there will be a TWO week break until the next challenge. That's too long! So I'm going to start a 7-week challenge on Monday Long-term Goal: Fit into those pants! Current Goal: Drop fat so I can do yoga (Not do yoga so I can drop fat!) Most people want to exercise to lose weight. Well, of course I do too. But really, since discovering that yoga is just about the perfect exercise for me, I've realized that being overweight really sucks when trying to do yoga! So my goal this time is to really knuckle down on my diet, dropping excess fat so that I can work in a bigger range of asanas. I seem to have a hard time focusing on diet with multiple goals, so this will be my only stated goal. I will still be trying to walk (or other exercise) three hours per week and aiming for 2-3 hours of yoga (spread over at least three days per week). I've tried just about every diet under the sun, diet defined as any way of eating that limits certain foods. So yes paleo is a diet, not a "lifestyle" in that respect. And they all fail eventually as I just love different foods too much. At this point I'm convinced that moderation, though difficult, will be my only path to long-term success. So I will be focusing on moderate eating, which isn't easy to define or measure! The only thing I can say is that I know when I'm moderately full and when I've overeaten, so I will follow my stomach and not my eyes. One problem I have is eating second helpings. So one fixed rule I'll have is to eat using a small plate. After finishing, I will set a timer for 15 minutes, and I cannot get any more food (but can drink water/tea/coffee) until that time's up. That will give my brain time to catch up with my stomach and help keep me from overeating. I'm still going to try to limit refined grains/sugars, junk food, alcohol, and other "empty" foods, but I will not deny myself entirely. In order to keep myself honest and also relate my physical/mental state to certain foods, I'll be keeping a food journal. Given that I have a smartphone and never go anywhere that doesn't have network access, I'll expect myself to update my challenge page after every meal/snack. Each entry (meal/snack) will count as one point, so my final score will be based on a % (# of moderate meals/snacks over total). tl;dr -- Eat moderately, wait 15 minutes before getting more, keep a food journal I hope to drop a pant size by the end of the 7 weeks, which I think would be roughly 10lbs. I'll take new measurements/weight Sunday evening. Here we go (early)!!!

Finish Walking = 96% Yoga = 78% Moderation = 70% For the lofty goals I set, I'm very happy with the outcome for Walking, satisfied with Yoga (although was hoping to get over 80%), and pretty disappointed with my Moderation. And as I have done in the past, what I was worst in will become the focus of my next challenge! What I learned (or rather reinforced) is that yoga is excellent exercise for me, and I need to keep doing it. So, I will try to do 2-3 hours of yoga per week during the next challenge even though I won't make it a formal goal. Ditto for 3 hours of walking (w/ 30 minutes at least 4 times a week at work) or other exercise per week. I knew this would be tough, and it was, but I'm glad I made things a little tougher this time. Looking forward to the next challenge!