Hi guys! Myself and emerald eyes have decided to start a thread to help each other lose weight the healthy way. That means no pills, fads or life threatening behaviours! So if you want to be a part of it just post here!

I'll start:

I am 26 years old. I have been struggling with my weight since high school. It goes up, I freak out and then lose some and then it goes up again. It has been a pattern like this for nearly ten years! So now I want it to go down and stay down. I know this will only happen if I change my lifestyle so here are my goals:

1. To do a high intensity cardio workout at least three times a week.
2. To eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables.
3. To lose thirty pounds. (That would put me back into my healthy weight range.)

I want to lose weight and be a healthy strong person. I want to feel proud of the way I look and my accomplishments.

If you want the same things then sign up! Encouragement and understanding can only help, right?

Hi to all, I think at certain times in our lives we experience something dramatic, life changing or just have a hard time struggling with something. I always think it is good to have someone to help out in these hard times. That is why Mrs. Pennell and I thought it would be great to have some kind of weight loss support and/or goal thread here. For those of you that have a hard time losing weight or just need someone to be there for support, this will be good thing for all of us to come together to help out each other. For myself, I do need something like this to help me get the ambition and encouragement to lose some weight that I've been struggling for 5 yrs now.

My name is Jessica, I'm 25 yrs old and my goals are:

1. To push myself harder to exercise more: exercise 3-4 times a week
2. To start eating more healthier: Begin a 2,000 calorie diet
3. To lose in total 60lbs...but start off with a small step of losing 10lbs this month of March

My reasons in losing this weight is #1. to be healthy, 2. to look & feel better about myself and 3. to look more sexier for my bf

I need to start changing my bad unhealthy ways of living, eating and thinking...I pray that this can really help me to accomplish my goals in getting there.

If you are struggling with weight problems and looking for help, support and encouragement please come and join us... all you have to do is write out your goals, tell us about yourself and at least once a week login here to tell us how you're doing and how's your progress to losing weight is going or if you would like someone to talk to, Mrs. Pennell and I will be here! :D Hope to hear from you...Take Care and God Bless! ~jessi

Hi,
I am not on a weight program, but would like to suggest Weight Watchers.
Two friends who did not have the "mentally stay with it" attitudes, signed up for the program. According to them, it is really good, and they are losing weight, with encouragement from others in their local area program.
I do wish you the best of luck, and hang in there.

I find it easier to discipline myself to keep my dogs lean than my self. Maybe I need to put them in charge of my portions. Losing 30 pounds would still leave me 5 pounds over what I was as a lean, young man. Likely had more muscle mass then too.

Nobody inspects my weight monthly like my Nita is. My puppies always do well, often pointed out as an example to the others at our meetings.

These are my opinions on losnig weight.

Things like weight watchers, diets etc. don't work for a simple reason - after you get to your ideal weight you stop. You go back to your old habits and you put the weight on again. I remember watching a program on the fattest people around. Richard Simmons (the American fittness guru) was on there and people were saying to him "how long do I have to do this for?". The answer was simple - for life.

The two ladies that posted have got exactly the right idea so well done to them. You don't need pills, diets etc. So here are my tips


Get regular exercise.

I would suggest at least 30 minutes (at a minimum) of cardiovascual exercise, 3-4 a days per week.

Obviously, don't over exert yourself. Start slow and build up your level of exercise. Join a gym or go running etc. with a friend. You won't be motiviated to do these things on your own.

Many gyms will do your fitness programs for free. Take them up on this - it gives you something to work towards. Gyms also offer you fitness trainers. I tend to book a session in with a trainer every 2 months. It's really worth it as they know the best way to work you etc.

Eat healthy foods.

Stop eating McDonalds, cut down on the mayo - those kind of things. Try to incorporate lots of fresh fruit & veg into your diet. Find other ways of cooking it different to boiling. Boling your veg just takes the nutrients out of the veg and into the water cooking it.

Eat your 5 poritions of fruit a day. If you need a snack - don't go for that chocolate bar. Go buy some fruit. Have a bunch of bananas on your desk etc.

Also, drink in moderation. A few pints every week really doesn't help.

Quit smoking.

If you smoke - quit. True you may put on weight at first (this is probably because people tend to replace their cigs with snacks) but in the long run you'll be in much better shape for it.

Vary your diet

Try new things. Eating the same old stuff will demotivate you. So be experimental and mix it up a bit.


That's my advice anyway.

These are my opinions on losnig weight.

Things like weight watchers, diets etc. don't work for a simple reason - after you get to your ideal weight you stop. You go back to your old habits and you put the weight on again. I remember watching a program on the fattest people around. Richard Simmons (the American fittness guru) was on there and people were saying to him "how long do I have to do this for?". The answer was simple - for life.

The two ladies that posted have got exactly the right idea so well done to them. You don't need pills, diets etc. So here are my tips:


Get regular exercise.

I would suggest at least 30 minutes of cardiovascual exercise, 3-4 a days per week - at a minimum.

Obviously, don't over exert yourself. Start slow and build up your level of exercise. Join a gym or go running etc. with a friend. You won't be motiviated to do these things on your own.
Eat healthy foods.

Stop eating McDonalds, cut down on the mayo - those kind of things. Try to incorporate lots of fresh fruit & veg into your diet. Find other ways of cooking it different to boiling. Boling your veg just takes the nutrients out of the veg and into the water cooking it.

Eat your 5 poritions of fruit a day. If you need a snack - don't go for that chocolate bar. Go buy some fruit. Have a bunch of bananas on your desk etc.

Also, drink in moderation. A few pints every week really doesn't help.
Quit smoking.

If you smoke - quit. True you may put on weight at first (this is probably because people tend to replace their cigs with snacks) but in the long run you'll be in much better shape for it.
Vary your diet - try new things. Eating the same old stuff will demotivate you. So be experimental and mix it up a bit.
Be patient.

You won't lose all the weight you want instantly. It'll take time.


That's my advice anyway.

I am not a expert by far...some of the advice on here is really good. I would just like to add. Just have fun with it, and enjoy eating healthier and being healthier. Good Luck to all of you.

Hi guys! I think its great that every one is offering up healthy suggestions! I just wanted to let every one know how this week has been so far. I started going to aquasize again after not going for a couple of years. I forgot how much I enjoyed it! Today I took my puppy Nico for a walk before hitting the road...we are talking a little trip. The eating healthy thing is going pretty well...nothing really bad to report except for a cheeseburger on Monday. Oops...but no sense in dwelling on it, right? Anyways...I invite the rest of you to post how you are doing. Good luck!

Things have changed a bit since I am pregnant, but I wanted to share what has worked for me to keep healthy and keep the weight off.

Regardless of the weather, I walk everywhere within a distance of 5 km(sometimes more!), or when the weather is nice, I ride my bike. Rather than getting a large quanity of groceries, I walk to the store several times a week, pick up the things I need, and carry them home in a backpack. I always take the stairs. In the summer I swim laps every day. I started out only being able to do 10 laps without a break, but now I can do over 100. Also in summer I like to mountain bike about 20-30 km, at least twice a week. It took me a while to get to the point where I could do that much, but I started slow and added a km every time I went out. I also enjoy other outdoor summer activities such as hiking, bird watching, canoeing, kayaking, and rock climbing. In winter I love to cross country ski and snowboard. I try to do an outdoor activity everyday if I can.

When the weather is lousy and/or I don't have time to go out, I have 6 exercise DVDs. Three are pilates, and three are kickboxing. In each case, there is a beginner, intermediate and advanced DVD. That way I can alter the intensity of my workouts, depending on how I feel. I do pilates one day, kickboxing the next, alternating.

As far as food goes, I eat whatever I want, and as much as I want, with a few exceptions:

- I only choose no-fat dairy products like skim milk and 0% fat yoghurt.

- I only choose whole grain breads and cereals. My favorites are multigrain breads and buns, sunflower flax bread, shredded wheat, bran buds and bran flakes. I also eat whole wheat pasta exclusively.

- I don't eat ANY sugar. If I want a sweet I very occasionally will eat something sweetened with splenda, but usually I just eat fruit.

- I eat 2 good sized salads a day, as my "first courses" for lunch and supper. I use a mixture of three different types of lettuce to keep it interesting, and after eating the salads I find I am less likely to want to eat a lot of other things. I'm not a big fan of cooked vegetables with no butter or gravy, so eating the salads helps me to get my veggies for the day too.

- I eat only extra lean cuts of meat, and trim skin and fat. And I try to eat fish at least 2 times a week.

- My snacks are generally fresh vegetables, fruit (fresh, in a cup, or juice) non-fat yoghurt and rice cakes. I eat seeds, nuts and dried fruit when I'm going on a long bike ride or doing other heavy exercise.

- I don't drink any alcohol or caffeine, and I limit salt intake. I always try to choose products that say "low salt".

- I drink LOTS of water. I have my water bottle with me everywhere I go.

As with the exercise, I started out slow, adding a new change to my diet every week or so. Now though I find I can eat as much as I want and I never gain a pound.

Hi guys! I think its great that every one is offering up healthy suggestions! I just wanted to let every one know how this week has been so far. I started going to aquasize again after not going for a couple of years. I forgot how much I enjoyed it! Today I took my puppy Nico for a walk before hitting the road...we are talking a little trip. The eating healthy thing is going pretty well...nothing really bad to report except for a cheeseburger on Monday. Oops...but no sense in dwelling on it, right? Anyways...I invite the rest of you to post how you are doing. Good luck!

I love aquasize... it's great exercise and it's fun, too! I also haven't done it for a while, but I always enjoy it when I do.

I have a tip for you regarding the cheeseburger... if you are really craving something like that (I crave McDonald's about once every 2 months or so, err), do a challenging workout of about 45 minutes just before you go out to eat your cheeseburger. After working out vigorously, your metabolism will be doubled for about 2 hours afterwards. So chances are that even though you are cheating, the calories from the cheeseburger will be burned up.

Enjoy your trip! :)

Good tips Orange! I am also an active cyclist/swimmer/walker. Maybe once I get my eating on track that'll help with the weight loss! I love sugar...I think that's my biggest problem. But thanks for all the food tips. I will try them!

Thanks to all on the advice. Here's the problem I have....I eat my fruits and veggies(luv them), I don't drink any sodas maybe only sprite(sometimes) I always try to stay away from caffeine. I eat wheat instead of white bread. I'm always drinking water. I just have a hard time figuring out what to buy at the grocery store. I mean I heard so many things about which food is right but then I'll hear from someone else that it's not good to eat that. I'm not a expert on nutritious foods. I also don't want to be on this very strict diet, tried it before and just hated that fact that I couldn't enjoy the foods I like to eat. I'm Hispanic and I think everyone here knows that some Mexican food are greasy and fatting. But I don't want to feel that I have to give up on my Mexican cultural foods, it's a part of me. So how do you divide that into making selections that are healthy and foods that I enjoy eating like Mexican food? What do you have to look for when shopping for groceries? I don't know what kind of diet works for me, I've tried to figure it out. I do know everyone's bodies are different and different things work for people. So how do you figure out what works for your body to react to diets and exercises well? I know without a doubt that exercise is good for you but which exercises are the best for you? When it comes to fitness and to know exactly what foods to eat that are healthy for me, I'm totally clueless! lol! This is really frustrating for me, I hope I didn't sound to mean here. I apologize.

I do have to admit I've be struggling here on my goals. Though I have taken 2 30 min walks in my neighborhood this week. The first 3 days of this week was keeping good track on my 2000 calorie diet but failed when I started getting stressed out and depressed. I ate McDonald's and had a pizza hot-pocket yesterday. I'm feeling better today, my buddy here Mrs. Pennell brought my spirits up. She's a sweetheart!

Take Care to all!

You're right, being on a very strict diet is just going to make you frustrated and crave foods more. What I eat isn't a diet; it's true that I avoid certain foods, but I am comfortable with that. I'm counting on eating what I eat currently for the rest of my life (with some alterations, like for example now, because I am pregnant I need more calories and vitamins). Everyone is different, so you need to find a food and exercise plan that works well for you. It can be a long hard process, but how I did it was read, read, read the advice of others on exercise and nutrition, use the things I liked, and leave the rest. Eventually I developed a plan that I could live with.

I love Mexican food too! :) I would suggest cooking your favorite Mexican foods at home rather than eating them in a restaurant or take-out. And when you use a recipe, substitute the higher fat ingredients for lower fat ones. For example, if your recipe calls for ground beef, sour cream, cooking oil and cheese, I would use extra lean ground beef, low fat sour cream, a "good" cooking oil such as safflower or sunflower oil, and low-fat cheese. Just by doing that, you're eliminating a lot of unnecessary calories and you're still able to enjoy a meal you love.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great if you keep working at it!!

Orange is definitely right here! Making things at home where you can control the ingredients is a great because you can use lower fat, higher fiber ingredients. When you eat out, you just don't know what you're getting!

Does any body have any good mexican recipes? I LOVE mexican!!

Yeah, don't worry about the cheeseburger. You're not going to change overnight :) Just think oh well and make sure you do enough exercise to burn it off.

And I don't think I know any mexican recipes but if you ever want any oriental recipes - that I can do :P

No one's posted in here for a while, but I just discovered a new tip so I thought I'd share...

Maybe this is a well-known tip, but it was news to me, and I love it... "Salad in a Bag": You take a clean vegetable bag, like what you get at the grocers, and place all your salad ingredients inside. Then pour in a very small amount of salad dressing. Blow up the bag like a balloon, and shake the contents. Even though you have used only a small bit of dressing, the dressing coats every part of your salad, making it a lot tastier. I'm doing this all the time now! :)

Orange, you may already know this, but based on what I've read, I tend to believe the primary vital steps toward weight loss must commence with changing the body from acid to alkaline. As though that wasn't sufficient 'challenge', according to my reading, our fat cells act pretty much as a 'frontal guard' whose job is to identify, take up, store & thus keep acid away from the body's major organs so the organs & body is protected against damage/death; which would otherwise result when we eat or drink acidic items. :o On top of that, it seems fat cells multipy and get larger as the cells continue to take up & store acidic 'material'. ok... so assuming that's true, how to back-peddle & reverse the process? A lot seems to depend on water; specifically, the type, quantity & 'quality' of water; having the properties capable of 'pricking' open the cells, & then hydrate & flush all of the stored acidity 'stuff' from the accumulation of enlarged fat cells. To me it seems logical & makes sense, but there's other 'schools of thought' and I can't scientifically prove that's the actual process even though my gut level instinct says it's accurate. Uh... are your eyes GLAZING over yet? That's probably weird sounding enough ... and SUFFICIENT for you to 'chomp on', mull over for now. I'd be interested in other' thoughts you and others may have on the topic... Anyway, 'nuff for the time being.;) ... We can perhaps explore the matter further if you'd like. ~ Best thoughts...MarjAnn

Hmmm... actually no I've never heard what you're talking about MarjAnn... does it have a name haha? You can explain it to me if you like, I'm always interested to hear new things. Just to let you know though, I'm not overweight, I actually have often struggled with being underweight... but I did manage to achieve a normal weight during my pregnancy, and now I'm just interested in maintaining my current weight range and sharing tips with others. I'm already on quite a strict diet, since I'm recently discovered that I'm allergic to milk and gluten, and I also don't eat any meat or sugar anymore.

Keep drinking the water. My wife had bad ankle swelling and water is said to help with that.

http://free.000angels.com/spalmi/weightloss.html