Body Image...

[tracilicious]

Another thing worth mentioning is that your body needs good fat to lose weight. At least mine does. Your liver has a lot to do with weight loss and the right kind of fats are what keeps it functioning. I find it very hard to drop pounds without half an avocado, or a bunch of olives, or olive oil, or flax oil every day. I learned a lot by reading both Fat Flush Plan and some other book that I can't remember the title of right now that talk about how your internal organs relate to weight loss.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Losing weight is *not* simple for some people. Pru, I'm sorry people treat you so badly.

[MouseWife]

I think it is a double edged sword~ when you are overweight, you can feel uncomfortable to eat. But, if you don't eat, you won't lose weight.

My friend whom I am walking with, I have to tell her to eat. She tells me how she forgot to eat breakfast, how she ran around doing errands but forgot to eat. I try to eat before we go walking. That way it will give me something to burn.

I know with some people, saying you are hungry in front of them will only invite comments. I recall driving around with my mom, Hubby and I had skipped breakfast in our hurry to get the kids out and then to take her on errands. We kept passing delicious smelling Mexican restaurants. I said 'Oh my gosh, can you smell that?' to which she replied 'That is why you are so fat. You want to eat everything.'

So, it ain't easy.

And, back to looks {and not weight}: noses. *sigh* Let's just say, growing up, our family had the nickname 'The Nose Family'.

I'm just sayin'.

[wendybeth]

I know for a fact that losing weight can be problematic. I never, ever had to diet until I hit my 30's. Never. I did go through a super-skinny (anorexic) phase in my mid-teens, but I snapped out of it within months and never did anything so stupid again. I wore an average size (9/10 juniors) until I had Tori, and I actually got pretty close to that size again after with a bit of work. Well, when I hit around 38 it started to creep up on me, and my sisters as well. Quitting smoking, while a definite plus, also zapped my metabolism and now I'm learning the hard way how weird our systems can become with as we age. I work just as hard as ever, eat far less than before, and yet I just can't seem to lose anything. My doc says it's just part of getting older, but at the same time tells me that losing 15-20 pounds would be a healthy thing to do. (Yes, I want to choke her when she says that- the last time I said perhaps a little nicotine would rev up my metabolism, and she quickly backpedaled on the preaching). I don't eat sugar, I eat very little bread or fried foods, and I know I seldom exceed 1500 calories a day. I have just become resigned to doing the best I can for as long as I can, and so long as I am doing that nothing anyone says is really going to get to me. (Now, I just have to stop getting on myself....).

[Nephythys]

Honesly it is less about what I weigh (since muscle weighs more than fat anyway) it is about the way I look.

I can handle a few extra pounds if it was not flabby and saggy on my body.

[Ghoulish Delight]

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.

[blueerica]

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.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by blueerica

I heard time and time again that it takes 21 days to develop a good habit.

That's why rehab is 28 days.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by blueerica

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.

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.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh yeah, skating! My dad dug up my old roller blades while cleaning out a closet. Once I get those from him, I may put them to use.