I'm here to validate this. It's my story, too, and the curse of a super-efficient metabolism.

My doctor told me that I will need to live the rest of my life at 800 cal./day. My granny was like this. In order to stay normal weight, she drank an awful lot of hot water when other people were eating.

On the positive side of things, I just bought myself a dressmaker form. Wanted one for years, just bought it now. I fiddled with the dials, got the mannequin's measurements to match mine, and stepped back. You know, I'll never be on the cover of Vogue (their loss) but now that I see me in 3-D, it ain't so terrible.

Remember, millions of years of evolution guided by scarcity have made it such that we are fat storage machines. Our body is super efficient at storing excess energy, and we crave the foods that are most efficient at providing it. Losing weight is a battle against what our bodies are designed for, so there's no way it's going to be easy.

I don't know whether it would warrant its own thread, since I'm not sure anyone else is really watching it, so I'll just respond right here.

This is my first season of really watching it. I'd watch it periodically, and when I was out here with J, visiting for an entire week. While I was in school, I was working and doing too much to really ensure I'd catch any shows regularly, so I made a point to not get hooked into anything.

That said, I've been watching this season pretty religiously. It's the first reality contestant show that I've watched... never could get hooked into the others. I was part-surprised and part-expected Jackie to get booted off. That team got both 'players,' IMO, and trust issues were bound to happen, sooner or later. I'm not glad, not sad, just sort of amused. But, the biggest 'player' - Mark - around got to stay in the game. The rest aren't so much players, they're competitive. Mark is really going to have to work something out with them to prevent getting dropped. I also wonder if Dan's going to have some serious issues with the entire team.

Guess I'll just have to watch tonight to find out... Barring any national event, there won't be any interruptions this time. :)

That is right, the part about the divorced couple was cut out because of the primaries!! Dah!!! {I guess the clip could be on line?}

Mark~dang but he is one lucky MF. He has pissed people off but he does manage to lose the weight and earn immunity.

Jackie~ I hadn't really looked at her as a 'player' {as the fellows who voted her off said, 'This person has really shown us this is a game'}. When the pink team was voted off, I didn't think too much about her walking around with her coffee cup, chatting up the yellow team, telling them who she thought should go.

But, last show, when she decided that Trent should go. Whoa. That wasn't right. She just basically took it upon herself. I was uncomfortable with that. I didn't like how she made them swear and then threw it in their faces. I think they didn't argue with her as she was coming on too strong. She was the one who had lost the least weight.

I am glad to see she kept up the work at home, I think she needed to go home. She probably fell in to the mother hen role, being the only woman on that team as well as Dans' mom.

I think Dan will have some issues but I was proud of the men who told him they knew he would but that they are a team. I hope that he will become more strong without his mom. And, learn that he can do it without her.

Okay, enough of that but I can't wait for tonight. I am addicted to this show.

3894~ That is amazing to have to consume so few calories. It isn't even 10 a.m. and I've already had about half of that.

And, GD you are so right. No matter what we want, the facts are there how our bodies run. {I forget that you ever had a weight problem}

I've never had a weight problem, but I'm predisposed to it based on my parents. I have been good at catching myself slipping towards a problem and doing something about it short term. But each time, it takes longer to lose the few pounds I put on and would like to take off. So I need to start being serious about managing it now before it becomes a problem.

Oh, thanks for esplaining that.

I guess I thought you had an 'problem' because I've seen you post before about losing weight and how you'd done it. I've personally never known you to be overweight, so, I figured if there was something it was prior to any time we'd met.

I guess for some people, it is just management. Catching it before it becomes a problem.

Ah, so your physical activity is not brought about by a desire to lose weight, just to be/stay fit. {I think I've caught you play soccer? or something like it...}

I think that is where I need to work on it. I loved working out, still do...when I get into it. But, getting into it is harder. I think that we do need to have activity each day, the days I don't I feel more tired than on days I do something.

I do look at it as fun...but, getting back into a program isn't easy.

I picked up playing soccer again after a decade+ of not because I love playing soccer. Exercise was a side benefit. I only play once a week, it's not enough to do me much good (as evidenced by my 15 lbs increase over the year that I've been playing).

I guess you could say that desire to lose weight is my motivation in that when I notice myself straying too far above what's been my average weight for a while, it reminds me of my risk of becoming obese and the health problems that go along with it. The health factor is the biggest motivator, but I do admit that it's an image thing as well. I do not like looking fat. When I tend toward overweight, it's very visible in my face. I cringe when I see photos of myself and can see it in my face.

Ain't that the truth. I can't "work out". Any sort of purely exercise-based activity I will not stick to. Whether it's running, swimming, biking, gym exercise, it grow monotonous and I will find excuses to skip it. I wish I had more opportunity to play soccer, that I would stick to as the activity itself is what engages me. But bless the Wii. It's exactly what I needed.

See, damn it! I want a Wii! ;)

I like participating, but I've found that working out just on a machine allows me the sort of mindless time that I require while benefiting myself with the post exercise endorphins.

While working at 24 Hour Fitness all those years I did in the Long Long Ago, I heard time and time again that it takes 21 days to develop a good habit. I've heard it elsewhere, too. Now, I don't think it means seven days a week of going to the gym, but I've taken it to mean that if you develop a schedule of sorts with the gym, etc, it takes three weeks for it to be solidified, or at least more solid than not. It takes way less time to break it, I've learned, personally. Also, I forget the number of days, but it's less than a week for, say, stopping a strength training regimen, to bring your muscle strength back down to its starting point. I think it's way less than a week, more like 4 days, but I can't remember.

I am finding that my greatest challenge here is the limited amount of workout equipment at my apartment facility. I use it because, without a full time job, I don't feel that I can afford a gym membership at the moment. I don't like the equipment at the facility because, while it provides the basics, it doesn't allow me to pick and choose different workout routines, I don't care for much of the cardio equipment since it messes with my bad knee, and it's a small room and makes me claustrophobic. I am better about it, but anything that comes around that makes me have a reason not to go makes it way too easy to not make the right choice.

That's why rehab is 28 days. ;)

Heheh, the choice of equipment is even more limited inside my apartment. But if it weren't there, and I had to go to a gym, my workout would never happen.

As it is, the convenience has allowed me to develop a nice habit of working out 4 days a week, which I stick to pretty well. But I don't do any cardio, bah, because I hate machines for that stuff. The monotony kills me. Even Wii wouldn't work. I need a real, honest-to-goodness activity. I don't skate anymore, which was perfect. And the swimming I do in Spring and Summer is a half-assed substitute.

Still, I'm in better shape now in my mid 40's than I ever was at any other time in my life.




But still just as short. :p