Exercise, Diet and Trying to Lose Weight...

[homesteadmomma]

I have been feeling awful lately and I know it is due to my diet, eating habits, drinking too much Coke and lack of exercise. In a way taking care of this now would be self sufficient because I won't have to pay for doctors, medicine, tests, and other medical stuff lately, hopefully.

Anybody else trying to lose weight or exercising?

 

[FarmerChick]

Luckily I already lost my weight and keeping it off now

Lost 70 lbs and I ain't going back to fatland LOL

ditch that Coke...soda is just awful for ya big time. I was a diet pepsi addict literally. the minute I stopped drinking that soda the weight began to drop. I didn't exercise much cause I own a big farm and I literally do enough exercise around here...lol

best of luck for you

good eating, any mild exercise is the best combo in the world to get yourself feeling better.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

(hey FC!)

HSM - i think FC and i had the same experience - we both ditched corporate lives and the weight just fell off. honestly, i didnt even try. in fact, during the summer i eat a lot of ice cream! yikes! but the weight still comes off.

really this is the most important thing you can do without any other huge changes:

ditch that Coke...soda is just awful for ya big time. I was a diet pepsi addict literally. the minute I stopped drinking that soda the weight began to drop.

i said this to FF a few day ago - start by drinking only half a coke and pour the rest out. you'll gradually wean yourself off of it. when i want something fizzy i drink plain sparkling water. and dont fall for the sugar free crap... its all poison that you dont need. you'll also see a lot of savings too.... take all that $$ you woulda bought soda with and buy something for your barnyard.

once you get off the sugar from soda and processed foods you'll start cringing when you see it because you'll feel so bad after having it... you wont want to go back.

lots of folks here are low carb. i cant do that but i'm "protein heavy" and complex carbs (whole grains not white flour anything). you might have to figure out what works for your body.

another thing that grabbed my attention - even when i was living my city life i switched to organic milk... and dropped 5 pounds without doing anything else. honestly that was probably my first step toward this life. it really convinced me that the "food" we get at the store kinda isnt food at all.

if you need an excuse to get more walking in.... take the dog and walk your property line. not only will you have time to take in what needs to be done, imagine what could be done, but you'll set a perimeter for the dog so he knows his boundries and will keep predators out, and get some extra steps in. its a good routine to be in.

dont have a dog? go and get a good one - i couldnt do the work i do without my hardworkin' farm dogs. its like having an extra pair of hands.

 

[Javamama]

Just don't get and ADHD dog like I have

I try to do what OFG does. I attempted locarb but it wasn't working for me (because of feeding the family) and I simply don't want to give up foods I love. So whole foods, lower carb, more veggies if I feel like it, and try to cut out processed nonfood. I still have a few pounds I could remove, but I'm not bothered by it. I go by how I feel. Right now I feel good. Lots of energy and I'm sleeping better than I have in a long time.

I do a program called T-Tapp for exercise, it's like a pilates, calisthenics, aerobic, muscle toning all in one combo you can do in as little as 15 minutes. I need to do it to keep my spine aligned and muscles relaxed. It has a great website if you want to check it out.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Good for you for making that leap! And good luck, you really will feel much better when you get your new eating habits established.

Let me start by saying I have gone from a women's size 12 to a 6 in the past year. I have dropped 30 pounds (or more, I don't keep track of my weight so much, I look at my muscle tone, how my clothes fit and how I feel). I went protein heavy, like OFG said, ate more real food, cut waaaay down on my sodas and most of the other carbs. I went from drinking a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper a week to 1-3 a week.

Recently, Urban Dreamer and I made a pact to quit Dr. P entirely. I've been drinking something like a half-gallon of water a day. When I want something sweet/flavored to drink, I drink homemade chai tea with a bit of sugar and kombucha. Even DH (self-proclaimed sugar addict) says the chai tea needs less sugar because it has more flavor. Score!

I changed nothing about my exercise routine, I either do a lot out in the yard or I lift weights/do cardio. Not both on the same day. But I'd been doing that for many years, with little to no change in my weight from the birth of my 8 year old til recently.

So, like others have said, the absolute best thing to do is get off the soda, cut out the non-food, the junk food, the sugary stuff and eat real, honest to goodness food.

 

[FarmerChick]

good post Ohio!



ya, when you start to get that "I feel crappy" and "sluggish" everyday feeling, you have to make the food changes....the difference in how you feel pretty fast is amazing.

this is your first step Homstead

you feel gunky....now just eat right and seriously that great feeling is enough to keep you going.

tons of water
I drink so much water per day it is insane lol

 

[tortoise]

I'm with ya Homestead! I'm fighting high cholesterol and weight gain (don't have it yet, but my medication is will cause it if I'm not careful).

I've just starting walking. At first I only walked a 1/2 mile and not every day. Yesterday, I walked 4 mile round-trip to the grocery store to buy milk, and then another mile with my neighbor.

The 4 mile trip, my dog pulled a cart with my 3 yr old son, water, etc and she carried 2 gallons of milk back.

If I *just* go for a walk I and bored to tears and frustrated. But if I'm going to get something, or to train the dog, or to talk with a friend, then I don't notice how time passes and it feels good.

I've cut out soda a while ago. I need to work on my sweet tooth some more - I've slipped up a lot since May-June when I was doing really well.

I have 40 lb to go... I chucked my scale (it broke). Jeans don't lie. My jeans tell me I'm not gaining weight. That's a start!

 

[bjmstahl]

Hi,

I started on my weight loss journey on September 29, 2010. I have lost 5 lbs. (155 to 150). The tool that helped me was Livestrong.com website. You can track your calories and fitness. I couldn't believe how many calories I was consuming when I thought I was doing pretty well. I still have a ways to go but I feel much better and my clothes are fitting better. The website gives you something to look at and see how you're doing (as far as eating and exercising). I tend to be a very visual person so this is important to me. I now have a network of friends using Livestrong so I have a little competition going. Just another thing to keep me on track.

Good luck to everyone else that is on this journey. Keep posting so we can encourage each other.

 

[Wifezilla]

Low carb advocate here

I am a big giant amazon and even though I love exercise, it never helped me lose weight. It just made me HUNGRY. Low carbing by keeping carbs under 50g/day made the weight just fall off.

If you can't dump the grains (many can't...they are addictive after all) you should at least prepare them in ancient, traditional methods like those outlined in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

Weston Price in the 30's traveled the world trying to figure out why some cultures were extremely healthy even without modern medicine and discovered they all had one thing in common...the way they prepared their grains and legumes.

The soaked and fermented them first. This made nutrients more bioavailable and also took care of anti-nutrients in the grains. Grains, seeds, and beans all contain phytates, lectins, and protease inhibitors...all which can rob your body of nutrition. Modern preparation methods DO NOT take care of the anti-nutrients. They just get artificially fortified.

If you feel better following a book, I strongly recommend these:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Natural Health and Weight Loss by Barry Groves
Protein Power Life Plan by Drs Mike & Mary Eades

 

[i_am2bz]

No one has mentioned this yet, but alcohol really packs on the calories. I lost 45 lbs in the last 6 months without trying, & was afraid I was sick. After multiple medical tests (CAT scan, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc), everything came back negative. My SIL pointed out one day that I don't drink anymore now that I telecommute. (The first thing I did when I got home from work every day was fix myself a stiff one! :/) I have to assume that's the cause, it's really the only change I've made.