balloonfiasco

Great suggestions friends! I've definitely started bringing some nuts with me to work and so far everything is working out brilliantly! I'm still kinda hungry but now it's a lot more bearable compared to before! THANKS!!!

Updates!!! Wow, so I totally fail at getting around to regular updates on here. But regardless of that fact, I'm back and ready to get posting again and hopefully being held a bit more accountable for my actions! So here are the updates: 1) Weight: Started at 233.0 lbs. --> Am now 228.0 lbs.! 2) Work Interferences: Turns out that so far my work has been pretty forgiving this summer with regards to how much time it takes up. That being said I am not letting work be an excuse for why I don't work out! 3) Flexitarian: I am ballparking my success with this one at about 85%. Not super-amazing, but still a definite decrease in my overall meat consumption. Somedays it's unavoidable to eat meat more than once in a day (thank you small town Alberta), but other days its no big deal to not eat meat at all. Sorta evens out... 4) Bike: Soooooo close to getting it! Paychecks have been used to buy frivolous things like groceries and rent, but my next paycheck next Thursday has been budgeted out to cover the full cost of the bike. Also as a random side project I have decided to build my own bike from scratch from used parts obtained at a cheap price through the Edmonton Commuter's Society where the mechanics teach you how to repair and do maintenance on your bike! Overall thoughts: So not gonna lie, not feeling super confident in my ability to reach 15 lbs. weight loss as its still 10 lbs. away in almost as many days. That being said I'm still very happy with the progress that I've made as I've noticed that I'm getting a bit more toned and my clothes are fitting a bit better. Improvements can obviously be made, but I'm proud at how easy it was to accept the little changes in my lifestyle. Only a few more days until this challenge is done, but I'm not giving up yet!

Thanks for the suggestions! Mainly the issue is that its not so much the urge to snack, its more the fact that I do actually need to eat something. I'm really just trying to find some good healthy snack ideas that I can carry around with me to work and stuff.

Hey peeps, so through the process of switching my diet around and eating quite a bit healthier to lose weight, I've hit a roadblock that I would love some help trying to punch through. Snacking. I find that between meals, especially between breakfast and lunch and after supper, I'm craving more food. I've tried just going without, which left me grumpy and probably more inclined to make a bad decision. I've tried eating more food for breakfast or lunch, which left me too full to get anything done. So I'm left with trying to find some good snacks during the day that don't include granola bars or raw carrots. Now, I'm not going Paleo (nothing against it really) so generally I'm not too picky so long as it can be relatively low-cal/low-fat since I am here for weight loss. Would love to get as many suggestions as possible!! Thanks!

Hmmm...I am now intrigued...I see how this may have to happen now. I'm a pretty open-minded type of person, so it should be interesting!

I just have to say that 5 days in, and I'm loving this! My energy has been increasing, I'm finally feeling less burned out since school ended, and I've been able to get in some great workouts! Now I'm not saying that it's the decrease in amount of meat in my diet, but its totally due to the decrease in amount of meat in my diet! My last paycheck from Starbucks came in the mail today, so I was able to buy groceries for the first time in a few weeks (eating feels good...). As a bonus I have some extra spending cash to either save up and put towards my life goal of getting that snazzy new bike, or I can get some personal training sessions and work towards my 15lb. weight loss goal....hmmm decisions decisions. Thoughts?? Nothing crazy happened lately, met some great new people/friends at my new job, and tried a veggie patty for the first time tonight. It was sooooo good! I'm about *this* close to finishing up the weekly challenge, so I'll get some updates going with that within the next two days or so here. As a side note, I've come to the realization that I'm really hungry in-between meals and always craving some snacks. Considering I need to be eating healthier, and yet getting really annoyed with being hungry all the time, does anybody have any good healthy snack ideas that aren't granola bars?

As mentioned quite a few times now, BMI = useless for most individuals. Body fat measurements can have some crazy errors in them, especially the bioelectrical impedance method used in many scales or in the handheld devices. It's because these types are a) cheap, and they pass a small electrical current through your body to figure out how much muscle/water a person is carrying. Water and muscle are good electrical conductors, so the more you have the faster the charge goes through your body, and vice versa for fat. This means that if you're dehydrated when you get on the scale at the gym (which you hopefully aren't because you're a smart NF rebel), it will spit out a lower weight than normal, and a higher body fat percentage. However, these are all just analysis and tracking tools. In the long run, especially for weight loss or weight gain, it's not the actual number that matters every day, but how that number is changing over time. Sure the BodPod or DEXA body composition measures are pretty darn accurate, but even they have error margins! The point is that if you are looking for weight loss, is the body fat percentage going down if you check once a month or so??

According to my nutrition classes and my food chemistry class, boiling or blanching of vegetables does lead to some nutrient loss through the water. However, you can get around this sometimes through steaming the vegetables, or by reusing the water to cook another dish (say pasta or rice) where the product will actually reabsorb some of the nutrients back into the food. For grilling/frying, yes fat can be a good thing every now and again. However the average person adds waaaayyyyy too much oil to the pan to begin with (daily recommended intake is no more than 2 tsp. of added oil per day to your foods) so for weight loss be aware of exactly how much oil you use. With chicken, make sure that you're cooking it all the way through, while also minimizing how much gets burned while BBQing (burned bits are tasty but have some nasty by-products that can reap havoc in your body). I'm a personal fan of baking things, such as chicken or potatoes or vegetables (think stuffed peppers...mmmmm). Sure, you lose out on some small quantity of B vitamins due to heat (same goes with all cooking forms), but you don't need to add fats and it makes cooking simple when you just put it in the oven and walk away!

I can definitely understand how frustrating it is to want to lose weight really fast! I've been there and about the best thing that I can possibly suggest is the full-body workouts. I haven't looked at the RFG or RSG (but really really want to!!), but I'm guessing they have stuff on circuit training and supersetting workouts. You should definitely be utilizing them for fat loss, not to just save time at the gym, but because it also gives you more of a cardio boost and gets your metabolism rolling a bit better. Body weight exercises are a lifesaver here!! As for working out more/longer, its totally a doable option, but I would suggest increasing in small increments each week (max 1 hour extra) so that you don't just burn out after a week or two of really intense training. You have to build up to it since the world doesn't work like the Biggest Loser. Also as a headsup, if you do start working out more each day, I would suggest adding in a few extra carb sources each day (stick to paleo, but just a few extra grams of carbs) to support the extra endurance work that you'll be getting from the workouts. Also, after about 2 weeks of the increased training program you may start to feel a tad fatigued. Push through it, its just your iron levels getting lower than usual due to exercise induced anemia (caused by increased blood volume), and will level out really quick on its own. I mention it only because its around that time in a training program that people start to backslide into their old habits. Push through, keep up the great diet, and do what makes you feel good!

Wow thank you so much!! I've only read the Rachel Morgan books, but everything else has just been added to my "Must Read Now!" list!! I'm all about super addicting book series, as well as anything urban fantasy. I'm not really sure what steampunk is or what it entails, but since it's been mentioned quite a few times now I think it might be time for an exciting foray into the genre! Woot thanks again!

I. Love. Vampires. I realize that you've done a few other posts about them on this thread, but any other helpful suggestions you have would be amazing!! I'm a big fan of YA, as well as fantasy and especially urban fantasy type settings. Favorite Books: His Mortal Instruments series, Kim Harrison's witch bounty hunter series, Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. TV series: True Blood, Dexter, Smash, Drop Dead Diva (Sad I know, but so funny and addicting!) Dislikes: Twilight (Though only because its been ruined by the generation), Not a huge fan of the House of Night series, but it wasn't too bad. No restrictions on sex or violence or anything. I will honestly like most books that are not non-fiction or overly descriptive like LOTR. Amazing idea for a thread, you are my new hero!! Can't wait to hear what you have for me!

A post or more information on keeping to a diet/workout plan with a nontraditional job would be amazing!! I hear you with the crazy hours and lack of food storage/prep/heating. I work for the summer outside as part of the "street team" for events and festivals in a booth, with usually 10 hour shifts being the average. Most times the only foods available are festival/carnival foods (never healthy), and often packing a healthy lunch means grains, fruits and vegetables that can be easily packed around. Granola bars, especially Larabars (!!!!!), are a great option that i've found. However I am also not going Paleo-styles like many others here. I'm in it for the weight loss benefits, but sadly it is sooooooo not good to not eat very much during the day/shift in order to keep up a healthy diet.

As Day #3 comes to a close, I thought I might give a bit of an update: First off, part of this whole life revamp that I've been going through over the past few weeks involves being less obsessed with my weight and any small changes that seem to be occurring on a day-to-day basis, especially in regards to the scale (seriously, I was getting a bit OCD about it!). So as for weight loss goes, a big struggle for me is to start letting go and only weighing in once a week on Mondays. As such, I'm starting off this challenge at 233 lbs., and hopefully should see that number drop a few digits (or at the very least see my waist circumference drop a few numbers) over the coming weeks. Let's face it however, losing weight, though important, is not nearly as important as developing healthy habits and making good lifestyle choices. As for the "flexitarian" bit of things, it's been tough to say the least. Training for my new summer job (member of a street team to promote recycling at events and festivals around the province) has been going on down in Calgary (my original hometown is 3 hours away in Edmonton), and all the food is provided for us. However, this also means the choices are quite limited. The first two days were OK with just trying to minimize the meat products to a single meal, and less on focusing on caloric or nutrient value of the foods. So far so good. Until this morning. Woke up, went down for the breakfast buffet and completely didn't notice until after the plate was empty that I had grabbed sausages! Not that I normally care a great deal (not the focus for the first few days), however it kindof threw off the rest of my day meaning I couldn't have any more meat. Then to top things off, lunch was served. I went in for the relatively healthy choices, grabbing soup and a egg salad sandwich and a small cookie. Once again, I stress that our meal choices were not expansive here. It wasn't until about half way through the delicious soup that someone finally speaks up and mentions "wow, this beef barley soup is really great!". Well, there goes my lunch plan too! Dammit haha! It is not the end of the world. Really. Life doesn't stop if you mess up a bit. So we'll try to do better tomorrow, maybe cut meat out entirely for the day.

Thanks peeps, can't wait to get the wheels turning in the next 6 weeks!

It seems that destiny has decided to take subtle hints to the next level in my life. As school has finally ended for the current year, my post-exam rest period is coming to a close, a purchase of the new RPG "Tales of Graces F", and my total lack of funds looks to be evening out with the initiation of a new summer job, this challenge has cropped up to punch me in the face. Message received. As my first challenge, I'm hoping for big changes and a great head start to a better, healthier lifestyle. For starters, I have always struggled with my weight, and even more so after losing 48 lbs last year (and kept it off!!). But recently after much life discovery I have come to a better place of newfound motivation to get healthy and lose this weight! As an adventurer myself, I feel very connected to this amazing group of people as I try to hone my skills while forging new ones whenever and wherever possible. No major character classifications for this fellow however, as my life ADD prevents me from settling and mastering any single skill. As such, my attributes have been divided as follows: Strength: 2 Dexterity: 2 Constitution: 2 Stamina: 4 Wisdom: 3 Charisma: 2 As for my goals set out for this period (Attribute assignment in bold): 1) Lose 15 lbs. ~+1 to all except WIS. 2) Don't let being away from home/traveling/work interfere with my workouts and training plans (to be talked about more later). ~+1 STR, WIS & CON, +2 STA. - as my work requires traveling around Alberta all summer for at least 4 days a week, this one shall be difficult to complete. 3) Adopt a "flexitarian" lifestyle, with no more than 1 meal per day containing meat products. ~+3 CON. 4) Buy a kick-ass bike. ~+2 WIS. Stay tuned for more amazingly nerdy things coming your way! If I stay strong and true to myself, I'm positive that I can kick these goals out of the ballpark and win this challenge!!