Monday, October 20

And One, Two, Three!

I have several friends right now who are trying to take better control of their bodies through diets. There are some pretty creative ideas out there on how to lose weight. How about the Alternate Day Diet, where you basically alternate between starving and indulging. Just thinking about the Cabbage Soup Diet makes me nauseated. There's all those single food diets, where you pack your gills with one food, like watermelon or grapefruit. There's a million choices: Adkins, Weight Watchers, low-carb, low-calorie, pills, powders...it is a dizzying array.

Here comes confession time. I have gained 20 pounds in the last few months. *cheeks blushing, head shaking side to side* Excuses aside, my health needs to be kicked in gear once again. Here's some interesting things I found on Psychology Today:
The government has long espoused moderate daily exercise—of the evening-walk or take-the-stairs variety—but that may not do much to budge the needle on the scale. A 150-pound person burns only 150 calories on a half-hour walk, the equivalent of two apples. It's good for the heart, less so for the gut.
I don't like where this is headed.
"Radical changes are necessary," says Deirdre Barrett, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School and author of Waistland. "People don't lose weight by choosing the small fries or taking a little walk every other day." Barrett suggests taking a cue from the members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a group of more than 5,000 successful weight-losers who have shed an average of 66 pounds and kept it off 5.5 years. They had one thing in common: vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. She estimates they burn an extra 2,800 calories a week.

Did you catch that? Vigorous exercise for at least an hour most days of the week. I didn't think this was going in the direction I was hoping, which involved more Heroes watching and blog writing. Well, alrighty then. I want to be motivated. I want to be healthy. I want that for my friends as well. So let's get to it, shall we?

8 comments:

Cheryl Russell said...

20 pounds? Where? I didn't see it! I will pray for you and your desire to be healthier!

Kristi said...

Maybe you would have noticed when a kid at PUMP excitedly announced (during a particularly quiet moment), "Kristi is going to have another baby!" His poor mom was mortified; I was humbled. LOL

Jason Hill said...

I'm in. I need to be able to keep up with Colorado hills this February and I haven't consistently exercised since May.

Maybe you could just tickle the kids for an hour each night? That sounds vigorous.

phyllis said...

Can I join the gang--even if I'm not a friend? Seriously, I need to lose 20 lbs and/or lose that roll around my waist! Getting older is no excuse, I know, but vigorous exercise most days? Wishful thinking doesn't do it!

sarah said...

oh I hear ya! I have been thinking about exercising and thats about where it ended. I'd like to say I don't have time but I have been siting on the computer for an hour!!Ah man...

Johnathan M. Thomas said...

This is fun... I have been turning over and over about this for a few months.

At the beginning of summer, a few friends and I challenged ourselves to a weight loss competition.

I started at 190 and ended at 171.

I managed to make it to 168, but it seems as if nothing will get me past this mark! It's killing me and I'm beginning not to care.

I missed a whole week at the gym last week... I manage to make it Tuesday through Friday with weekend rest.

Now, having said that... The one thing that most affected my loss, I believe, was Calorie Count http://caloriecount.about.com/. A daily calorie journal. I was amazed at how many calories I was consuming in one day.

Dawnette uses Sparks People http://www.sparkpeople.com/

It's not as hard as it looks. I highly suggest it.

I need the push to get down... not 20 pounds, but I'll do 10 more.

peace.
johno~

Leah said...

"Never Say Diet" By Chantel Hobbs. Focuses on moving before food. Teaches about having a "Brain Change". LOVE her stories and that she strongly ties the fact that we have to rely on God through it all. Can't say enough about it!

Love Spark People. Great for prepared foods and fresh foods but you have to calculate your own calories for multi-ingredient meals that you home make and manually enter it. Once you enter it, you can refer back to it. Over all a great website. Lots of resources available AND you get points! But... I never figured out what the points were for.

Calorie counting PLUS movement is the key.

I'm game. I have... a LOT to loose, but a whole new life to gain. Let's do it!!

You are so gracious in not divulging the kid's name, Kristi. Somebody ought to teach that kid some manners!

KMiV said...

I have had the hardest time getting old. I used to have a super high metabolism and ran competatively until about 35. Now the weight stays on too easy.

I find that my runs are moderate exercise. Your blog has inspired me to put in intervals tomorrow on my run. That is If I can get out of bed.