It is official

[gretzky is denied]

yeah, keep it up people, it's really just a mind game,have to rethink things, been going now for a month and a 1/2, to the toe factory,it's hard to concentrate on workouts,when some of the gym members are already in super shape,so just keep plugging away, you'll get there.

 

[Duckslayer100]

The hardest thing for me, honestly, was booze. Which makes me sound like an alcoholic. But I'm pretty sure I'm not? At least, I wasn't getting drunk every night. But first thing I craved coming home from work and while I was grilling or making supper, was a cold beer. Or maybe a brandy/pepsi with lots of ice. I'd sip on that, then have one more before bed. This went double on the weekends. So what's that...like, what, 18-20 drinks a week? That's a load of extra calories with ZERO health benefit.

Cutting down the booze was tough at first. The urge was strong. But now I don't even think about it. My wife usually makes me a cocktail Saturday out of the blue, and that's a treat.

If you really want to tackle weight and health, the first thing you should try to do is cut back on the booze and fizzy drinks. Pop, beer, and your half-frap-extra-cream-latte-espresso drinks are basically like drinking a Big Mac, without the benefits of vitamins or minerals. Substitute with water. It's boring as hell, but you'd be surprised how much you can lose just by cutting that crap out of your life (or, at least, moderating it better).

 

[Bowhunter_24]

The hardest thing for me, honestly, was booze. Which makes me sound like an alcoholic. But I'm pretty sure I'm not? At least, I wasn't getting drunk every night. But first thing I craved coming home from work and while I was grilling or making supper, was a cold beer. Or maybe a brandy/pepsi with lots of ice. I'd sip on that, then have one more before bed. This went double on the weekends. So what's that...like, what, 18-20 drinks a week? That's a load of extra calories with ZERO health benefit.

Cutting down the booze was tough at first. The urge was strong. But now I don't even think about it. My wife usually makes me a cocktail Saturday out of the blue, and that's a treat.

If you really want to tackle weight and health, the first thing you should try to do is cut back on the booze and fizzy drinks. Pop, beer, and your half-frap-extra-cream-latte-espresso drinks are basically like drinking a Big Mac, without the benefits of vitamins or minerals. Substitute with water. It's boring as hell, but you'd be surprised how much you can lose just by cutting that crap out of your life (or, at least, moderating it better).

booze, soda and lattes r bad

if u cut that out and do some exercise u will lose fat

 

[Kurtr]

I am going to start a group it seems we have a bunch of people that are interested in this. I like seeing ideas and reports on what works for people and foods. I am not interested in looking like arnold being fit enough to get up and down the mountain is my goal.

 

[Bossman]

Yes the booze I also need to cut out..It's soooo good and tasty though...So, for you that are battling the "NIC-Bitch" like I was take a look at killthecan.org....I chewed/smoked for almost 20 years and finally after MANY failed attempts I felt like I needed support from others that were going through the same battle so I went and found this community. As of today I am 83 days quit..Even if you do not join there is still a TON of stuff you can read about....Quitting chewing has been the hardest thing I have ever done, butit's supposed to be hard right? That way we never want to start again...Anyways, good luck with all the battles we face..

 

[shorthairsrus]

pop caffeinated coffee little or no sleep beer 30 packs at a time eating out every night pizza yes pizza. You get rid of those things and you will lose weight. I had a little help -- one could say I was scared thin. Not exactly thin still obese - 237lbs 6'1.5" notice that .5 inch -- every bit helps. Switch pop to water - go get some decaf and shots of tequila.

 

[ndbwhunter]

booze, soda and lattes r bad

if u cut that out and do some exercise u will lose fat

This is a great start, and you MAY lose a little fat. You'll need to make changes to the diet to really kick the fat burning into gear though.

 

[DirtyMike]

A guy could fill a football stadium with books on what you shouldn't eat. Pop and sweets should be eliminated from everyones diet. They do absolutely no good for you. Don't get me wrong, there's something about an ice cold mountain dew at the end of a pheasant hunt. Telling someone they can't have something anymore is like inviting them to binge on it within 24 hours. You need to have cheat days and enjoy the smaller things in life. However, those things should only take up about 0.5% of your diet in a given year. Carbs are not evil, but you need to be burning them off before the body decides to store them for later use. As much as I hate quinoa, it's a pretty good filler for a lot of meals. My wife makes pasta with spaghetti squash and it's actually really good. I don't drink much for pop but I will hammer some whiskey cloudys every once in a while. The alcohol is trouble on two fronts. Not only does it dehydrate you (by way of shutting off the production of antidiuretic hormone), but it also makes your body try to burn the sugars in it, which aren't the right type of carbohydrate. It also causes your liver and kidneys to work double time trying to rid your body of the metabolites. Again, every once in a while, do it up.

The most important thing to do is weight train. Muscle is hungry and will burn a lot of calories. Working them out only increase muscle density, causing them to burn more calories. Cardio is 2nd on my list but it should be paired up with weight training.

The people at the gym that have muscles on top of other muscles do not intimidate me at all. They live at the gym. That's their hobby. Catching fish and shooting things is way more fun. The gym helps me perform those hobbies a little easier. On top of that, your genetics might not allow you to have that same body type, so you're setting yourself up for failure if you set that as your standard.

Get to the gym or walking path a couple times a week, take the stairs, drink more water, and eat a little healthier. Pretty simple to do actually.

 

[Duckslayer100]

This is a great start, and you MAY lose a little fat. You'll need to make changes to the diet to really kick the fat burning into gear though.

Let's try a hypothetical: Average Joe starts the morning with a ran to Starbucks for a caramel latte. He's not a pussy, so it's not fat free. During the day he has one Mountain Dew. At night, he comes home and has a beer with dinner. Then another beer before bed. Just so everything is square, let's say each one of those drinks averaged 200 calories apiece (which is pretty conservative). He's drinking (not eating) an additional 800 calories a day. That's on top of what is probably a crappy diet of processed food, fat and little to now fresh vegetables or fruit.

So while it may be best to go whole-hog and change diet to get fat burning in gear, for guys who are intimidated by a complete 180, starting easy by eliminating or minimizing those needless drink calories can be a huge step down the right path. Just doing that with 30 minutes of exercise a day and no change to diet will yield results, especially for people with a lot of weight to lose.

 

[ndbwhunter]

So while it may be best to go whole-hog and change diet to get fat burning in gear, for guys who are intimidated by a complete 180, starting easy by eliminating or minimizing those needless drink calories can be a huge step down the right path. Just doing that with 30 minutes of exercise a day and no change to diet will yield results, especially for people with a lot of weight to lose.

I'm not saying they have to do a complete 180. In fact, doing so would likely lead to failure and disappointment. Cutting out the simple things will yield some results, but it's not just about losing a little, or a lot, of weight. It's about being healthy. Eliminating the pop and alcohol is great, but if you continue to eat fast food and gas station snacks everyday you'll still be unhealthy.

 

[fly2cast]

I'll give you what I believe is the best advice for losing weight which you won't find in any stupid book.

1. It's all about calories and you need to know how to count them. Stay below 2000 a day or better yet 1800.

2. I don't care what your friends say, exercise will not help you lose much weight. Many studies have verified this. I'm a believer that if a diet is too hard you won't stick to it. And working your ass off exercising will only make you frustrated and you will give up easier.

3. Get rid of the sugar in your diet. Soda and juice are so bad for this. It takes about 2 weeks for that sugar craving to go away.

4. Get rid of the booze. Sorry. This was really tough for me too. The problem is not so much the calories in the booze. It's the stupid shit we do when we drink. We eat a lot more and get hungry when we drink.

5. Weigh yourself every day. You need to see the progress.

6. Don't get discouraged about not losing weight fast enough. Some days you may see an increase in weight. Remember if you eat something salty you will retain water 24 hours later which will show up as a weight gain.

7. If you are not losing weight, you really have to evaluate why not. Be honest with yourself.

8. An easy way to determine if you shouldn't eat something that will contribute to your calories is check the grams are per serving. If the amount of calories is less than the amount of grams per serving, you can eat a lot of that. For example a serving of breakfast cereal is usually around 30 grams. The amount of calories is about 115. Thats more than 3 times more calories than grams. You can eat it but the calories will add up faster. Instead for breakfast eat eggs and fruit which will be more food for less calories.

9. Don't let your friends tell you to cut out carbs. That's just stupid. Cutting carbs can work if you stick to the Atkins diet religiously. Otherwise cutting some carbs here are there doesn't do shit.

10. Great foods for diets that actually taste good: eggs, baked potatoes, apples (or any fruit and vegetable), fish, and chicken.

11. There is nothing magic about losing weight. It's just tough as hell. You will have to modify your eating and eating habits which really means you have to change your lifestyle.

12. Try to stick to losing at least 2 pounds per week. You might be able to do more because of your weight but as you get thinner, those 2 pounds per week get hard.

12. I'll bet you $10 you can't lose 50 pounds by August 1. Let me know if you want to take the bet.

Good luck.

 

[Kurtr]

I'll give you what I believe is the best advice for losing weight which you won't find in any stupid book.

1. It's all about calories and you need to know how to count them. Stay below 2000 a day or better yet 1800.

2. I don't care what your friends say, exercise will not help you lose much weight. Many studies have verified this. I'm a believer that if a diet is too hard you won't stick to it. And working your ass off exercising will only make you frustrated and you will give up easier.

3. Get rid of the sugar in your diet. Soda and juice are so bad for this. It takes about 2 weeks for that sugar craving to go away.

4. Get rid of the booze. Sorry. This was really tough for me too. The problem is not so much the calories in the booze. It's the stupid shit we do when we drink. We eat a lot more and get hungry when we drink.

5. Weigh yourself every day. You need to see the progress.

6. Don't get discouraged about not losing weight fast enough. Some days you may see an increase in weight. Remember if you eat something salty you will retain water 24 hours later which will show up as a weight gain.

7. If you are not losing weight, you really have to evaluate why not. Be honest with yourself.

8. An easy way to determine if you shouldn't eat something that will contribute to your calories is check the grams are per serving. If the amount of calories is less than the amount of grams per serving, you can eat a lot of that. For example a serving of breakfast cereal is usually around 30 grams. The amount of calories is about 115. Thats more than 3 times more calories than grams. You can eat it but the calories will add up faster. Instead for breakfast eat eggs and fruit which will be more food for less calories.

9. Don't let your friends tell you to cut out carbs. That's just stupid. Cutting carbs can work if you stick to the Atkins diet religiously. Otherwise cutting some carbs here are there doesn't do shit.

10. Great foods for diets that actually taste good: eggs, baked potatoes, apples (or any fruit and vegetable), fish, and chicken.

11. There is nothing magic about losing weight. It's just tough as hell. You will have to modify your eating and eating habits which really means you have to change your lifestyle.

12. Try to stick to losing at least 2 pounds per week. You might be able to do more because of your weight but as you get thinner, those 2 pounds per week get hard.

12. I'll bet you $10 you can't lose 50 pounds by August 1. Let me know if you want to take the bet.

Good luck.

All good stuff for just losing weight. Problem is with out working out your going to be skinny and out of shape. To be functional in the field a person needs some kind of weight and cardio training to go along with the clean eating. If i lost 50 pounds i would be down to 122 so dont think i will take that bet

 

[BUCK83]

Cool to hear about all the weight loss journeys. Around the end of January I stepped on the scale and saw 240lbs, most its ever been. I am 6' tall and have always had a thicker build. I'm not really one to make sure I get to the gym 4-5 times a week, so I found a set of the T25 workouts on bisman online and bought it for $60. The program was 10 weeks and each exercise DVD was around 28 min if you wanted to follow the 3 min cool down at the end. I didn't follow any nutrition guide and missed a couple workouts along the way. Just finished up last week and was down 14 lbs and feel much better! I do use some supplements from Jim Stoppani and plan on doing his 6 week "short cut to shred" program.

 

[fly2cast]

I'm not saying they have to do a complete 180. In fact, doing so would likely lead to failure and disappointment. Cutting out the simple things will yield some results, but it's not just about losing a little, or a lot, of weight. It's about being healthy. Eliminating the pop and alcohol is great, but if you continue to eat fast food and gas station snacks everyday you'll still be unhealthy.

I agree with this but I would also add, if you really want to lose weight you most likely will have to do a complete 180 in your eating habits. You will see very little results in just cutting out a couple of sodas out of your diet. The problem with just cutting out a few things here and there is that you feel like you are making sacrifices not eating what you want but you don't see any progress. Then you give up all together because you think you can't lose weight. You really have to commit to losing weight or you will be disappointed. In addition, get rid of the sugar in your diet and your craving for sugar will go away in two weeks. But if you have that soda or juice or other sugary crap, your body will constantly be craving it.

Also, the $10 bet was for the original poster of the thread. But I will bet anybody with 100 pounds or more to lose that they can't do it. Putting a bet on your weight loss can be a great incentive.

I should add, that there is nothing wrong with exercise. Walking a couple of miles a day makes me feel great. And it will make you healthier. But it really doesn't do much for losing weight.

 

[ndbwhunter]

Cool to hear about all the weight loss journeys. Around the end of January I stepped on the scale and saw 240lbs, most its ever been. I am 6' tall and have always had a thicker build. I'm not really one to make sure I get to the gym 4-5 times a week, so I found a set of the T25 workouts on bisman online and bought it for $60. The program was 10 weeks and each exercise DVD was around 28 min if you wanted to follow the 3 min cool down at the end. I didn't follow any nutrition guide and missed a couple workouts along the way. Just finished up last week and was down 14 lbs and feel much better! I do use some supplements from Jim Stoppani and plan on doing his 6 week "short cut to shred" program.

Short cut to shred is a great program, but it does require commitment. Stick to the nutrition plan a close as you can, and don't worry about all the supplements that he recommends. While they may help some, they are not needed and can get very costly. Stick to the basics (protein, creatine, fish oil, multi-vitamin), and add the caffeine if you're comfortable with it. I don't drink coffee, so I was taking half of what he recommends. This program is very fast paced and will kick anyone's ass! Be sure to consult your physician prior to beginning any workout regiment. My heart rate was well over 200 during most of the workouts, and there were times that I felt dizzy and nauseous. The first two weeks are definitely the most difficult. Good luck!

- - - Updated - - -

Is there anyway that we can sticky this thread? This could be a great motivator for those looking the shed a few pounds. I fell off the wagon after elk season and am about to hop back on. I need to lose 20-30 by September.

 

[NDwalleyes]

I absolutely love milk and never paid attention to the calories. I used to drink a lot of 2% milk, more than a quart a day. I would easily drink 3 cups at a meal at 125 calories/cup x 3 meals = 1125 calories from milk per day just from milk.

I cut way back several months ago. I might have a glass/week now and have steadily been loosing weight.

Eating healthy is tough. Avoid eating out, especially when your coworkers are all going out to eat. I always pack lunch from home, people call me cheap, but whatever. However, who ever invented donuts and chocolate covered long john's filled with custard should be shot. Every man has his dietary Kryponite.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and my milk drinking did not include cold cereal....that was additional.

 

[BotnoJoe]

recently had a weight loss challenge with some family members. I ended up going from 259 to 226 in two months. Basically i cut out all carbs and watched the calorie content of the foods i ate. Ate breakfast every day (apple or orange), salad with fresh veggies in it for lunch, plain greek yogurt with raspberries and/or lean meat or fish for dinner and cardio for 25-35 min 4-6 times per week and drank LOTS of water throughout the day. I think the water was a huge factor as it helped make me feel full and after my body got used to drinking so much water it was really easy to keep up. This diet was kind of extreme and I don't think I could maintain those eating habits long term but hopefully what helped me can help somebody else

 

[BUCK83]

NDBWHUNTER, I have been a little apprehensive to start the program based off of the commitment I know it takes. Did you follow the program to a "T"?? I take projym, the multi vitamin, fish oil and did use the Shredjym for a month(gives me a headache). I can consistently get to the gym 4 days a week, not sure if that is enough to give shortcut to shred a fair shake. I have been also considering the HIT100 workout that he designed. Thanks for your previous reply

 

[norm70]

I've been on the roller coaster my whole life. I was about 260 in high school, started taking creatine during my college years to bulk up for football ended college at 340. Ive been on the roller coaster before, about 6 years ago I estimated I must have been in the 380 range (I was too scared to weigh myself) Did a weight loss challenge and got down to about 330, I have kept most of that off. about 3 years ago I went through the insanity program twice and got all the way back down to 250, was in the best shape of my life, but one thing they dont tell you with those intense programs, unless you love exercise when your done, your done. You could start over again but going through the pain of the workouts and accomplishing something make you feel like you have met your goal. I went back all the way up to 340. About January this year I again just got sick of feeling like poo all the time. I started to do something about it again.

One of the best things I did, is I made a commitment to accurately logging my calories and knowing what I eat. If you havent used myfitnesspal your missing out. Enter your weight age and activity level and it tells you appox how many calories you can eat a day to maintain your current weight. Common sense tells you if you come in under that you lose weight, also gives you nutrtion info for how ever long of a period you want it.

I also "tone down" my exercise. I do something every day. Some days ill go to the gym sometimes I do Insanity or T25. Some days Ill just go for a walk.

Its worked for me so far, down from 340 to 325. Havent felt hungry either. Just another option for you guys out there


Oh and I chew too, for few more days anyway, Told my wife I would quit when our 1st kid is born, shes due on Friday......

 

[NDwalleyes]

I've been on the roller coaster my whole life. I was about 260 in high school, started taking creatine during my college years to bulk up for football ended college at 340. Ive been on the roller coaster before, about 6 years ago I estimated I must have been in the 380 range (I was too scared to weigh myself) Did a weight loss challenge and got down to about 330, I have kept most of that off. about 3 years ago I went through the insanity program twice and got all the way back down to 250, was in the best shape of my life, but one thing they dont tell you with those intense programs, unless you love exercise when your done, your done. You could start over again but going through the pain of the workouts and accomplishing something make you feel like you have met your goal. I went back all the way up to 340. About January this year I again just got sick of feeling like poo all the time. I started to do something about it again.

One of the best things I did, is I made a commitment to accurately logging my calories and knowing what I eat. If you havent used myfitnesspal your missing out. Enter your weight age and activity level and it tells you appox how many calories you can eat a day to maintain your current weight. Common sense tells you if you come in under that you lose weight, also gives you nutrtion info for how ever long of a period you want it.

I also "tone down" my exercise. I do something every day. Some days ill go to the gym sometimes I do Insanity or T25. Some days Ill just go for a walk.

Its worked for me so far, down from 340 to 325. Havent felt hungry either. Just another option for you guys out there


Oh and I chew too, for few more days anyway, Told my wife I would quit when our 1st kid is born, shes due on Friday......

Great work. As far as the chewing, Commit Lozenges are your friend. They worked great for me.