Concept2 Forum

I thought I would start this thread as a way of "brainstorming" ideas and practices regarding a weight loss campaign.<br><br>Its easy start a weight loss campaign, but its can be difficult to keep going UNLESS you have the right motivation, realistic goals, and know how to deal with pitfalls and obstacles. <br><br>And its all individual. What motivates one person might not work for another, or requires modification to fit the others lifestyle. <br><br>So I thought I would just share my concepts that I use for motivation, goal setting, and what obstacles I face and how I get over them. <br><br>Firstly, the obstacles: <br><br>Work - shiftwork, classed as office work (sitting most of the time). I got over this by buying my own C2. <br>Family - no kids, but my wife is not sympathetic to exercise and hates the noise of the C2. Well, this is a difficult one but we manage to negotiate . <br>Food - I love it. But fortunately it took only a few days before I lost my addictions to the food that were doing me the most damage. For example, the smell of McDonalds now makes me sick. <br><br>Motivation - Stats, stats, stats - I crunch the numbers from weight, and exercise, whatever it is. I keep a simple Excel spreadsheet with graphs, showing a trend towards my goal weight. I concentrate on my weekly weight change, and not day to day. <br><br>Tech- toys: HRMs, PM3, anything that can produce the numbers that I can crunch.<br>Imagery: I constantly imagine all the things I want to do, no wait...WILL do when I have lost my weight. <br>Clothes: I still have the clothes I used to fit into when I was at my ideal weight. I constantly try them on, and they are slowly starting to fit. This is probably my best motivation.<br>Comments of others: I take the comments of my friends, colleague and family as inspiration to do better. <br>Listen to your body: It will always tell you when you are doing or eating too much, too little, or just right.<br><br>Goals: I have set a realistic end goal (82kg). I set myself small way-point goals and reward myself for reaching them. I don't punish myself for mistakes or slips. I keep in mind that the last few kilos will be the hardest, and I prepare myself to break through the "flat spots" . I keep in mind that fundamentally this project is a way to a longer, healthier, happier life and lifestyle. <br><br>So, what are you doing to stay on track?

Lots of good points here. I'll just comment on a few:<br><br><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'><span class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></span> </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Food - I love it. But fortunately it took only a few days before I lost my addictions to the food that were doing me the most damage. For example, the smell of McDonalds now makes me sick. <br><!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <br><br>Other food changes:<br>1) I've retrained my palette away from sweets and toward good fats instead. For instance, no more jam, I use Smart Balance instead. When I need a sweet now, dried or fresh fruit is plenty sweet. Sugar and the stuff it's baked or cooked into with trans fats causes more weight gain than good tasting, healthy fats. <br>2) I substitute nuts for chips. Raw vegetables make as good scoopers as do crackers. I don't have to give up all the dips and cheese if I don't use crackers and chips to scoop them. <br><br><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td class='genmed'><span class='genmed'><b>QUOTE</b></span> </td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Listen to your body: It will always tell you when you are doing or eating too much, too little, or just right.<br><!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table> <br><br>I can listen to my body, if I SLOW down. Sometimes I have to consciously take a smaller portion and wait to see if I'm still hungry after stopping for awhile. I'm trying to lose my sense of urgency and fear of scarcity. If I don't eat that chocolate cake today, it doesn't mean I never will again! <br><br>Other motivating STATS:<br>Cholesterol - lowered from 263 to 191. Keep tabs on it.<br>RHR - lowered from 62 to 46. <br>Blood pressure - always pretty good, last time 104/56.<br><br><br>

I would add a few motivators for those of us overweight. <br><br>I think good rowing clothes for the C2 are a must. I am overweight and I started with bad clothes which cut and chafed me terribly. Having a saddle sore is the quickest exercise killer. I have found my #1 purchase is comfortable rowing shorts. (Although, I would never wear them anywhere but in my home... ALONE. Maybe that is a motivator too, one day I can walk out of my home with my rowing shorts on and not cause gales of laughter Uhmmm)<br><br>I also found that good cross training shoes made my knee pain go away. I believe it is that they have a very stable platform and my other shoes allowed my feet to rotate side to side during exercise. <br><br>I recently added a scale with body fat percentage. <br>I added a food scale. <br>I use a Blood Pressure Monitor to keep tabs on my Blood pressure and Resting Pulse.<br><br>Rowpro software is great for me <br>I love being able to row against my previous rows. <br><br>DietPower software is also great for me<br>I am just learning to keep track of my food and water intake. I also notice that it adjusts to your metabolism. That makes it easier for me. I see that if I had used a static formula, I would be off by almost 600 calories a day. That is a lot. <br><br>Ohh and watching the meters climb in my rowing log keeps me exercising. <br><br>Ken<br>

What motivates me to keep losing the weight?<br><br>The chance to challenge for a medal at the World Championships.<br><br>After being an also ran against the 6'10" 120kilo types, this is indeed a big incentive.

Great work guys. It sounds like you all have clear and focused goals and it's always good to share those ideas and thoughts with others

I find that I can eat properly as long as I maintain the excercising. The online rankings help me a great deal. I hate to see so many people ahead of me. I will work hard to move up a few pages.<br><br>Other motivators are as Cityeast said. Keeping logs and spreadsheets and having the gadgets. I just upgraded to the PM3 on my Model B and find watching the HRM fascinating. Also setting distance and watching the meters count down instead of watching time going up helps a lot.

I think the best motivator is seeing results, it really is amazing to see sub 90k, sub 80k, sub 78kilos, a feeling of achievement.<br /><br />the best feeling will be sub 75 kilos or 164 lbs. can't wait

Hmmmm... Funny that I ran across this topic today. I have really been struggling over the last 4 or 5 weeks. I spent all of 2004 working my butt off (literally). I lost about 60 pounds, but now I find myself creeping back up. I think it was death by chocolate. That first indulgence over the holidays has been my downfall. Now I can't seem to pass up any of the sweets around me. <br /><br />All of those motivators listed above just aren't working right now. I am still getting comments from people in the gym who haven't seen me in a while. You would think that would be enough to get me back on track. Argggghhhhh! I'm still being faithful to my workout schedule - lifting and rowing. Of course, Helga - the trainer from h*** - would kill me if I slacked off there. But - when left to my own devices, I'm out of control! Hopefully this will pass. I wish the smell of McDonalds made me sick, but no such luck.<br /><br />Thanks for any input!<br />Sue

Here are a few suggestions:<br /><br />Make sure you're getting enough good fats in your diet - nuts, fish oil (as in broiled salmon steaks, yum!), Smart Balance spread, olive oil. <br />Snack regularly so your blood sugar doesn't get low - on the good stuff, of course - celery w/peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, almonds, dried apricots, low-fat string cheese sticks, whole fruits.<br />Stay well-hydrated - drink water and tea. Stay away from fruit juice - too much sugar and too many calories. <br />Get outside and enjoy the pleasure of a body that weighs 60 POUNDS!!! less than it used to. (Amazing! Give yourself big congratulations and accept those from others.)<br />Allow yourself a small bite of something REALLY special you've been missing at least once a week - dark chocolate? That's mine. <br /><br />We're cheering for you to stay the track. Erg on. <br /> <br /><br />

All what Linda says is great, 5 or 6 small meals a day really made the difference for me.<br /><br />Keep a diary and log all you eat; mine goes something like this;<br /><br />1) 1 grapefruit and 5 almonds + some pinapple 100grammes = 200 cals<br /><br />2) meat and salad and piece of dry bread = 600 cals<br /><br />3) 5 almonds and 5 grapes = 100 cals<br /><br />4) dinner 150 grammes of steak and broccolli = 500 cals<br /><br />5) small fresh fruit salad = 200 cals<br /><br />Total in 1600 cals<br /><br />total out 3050<br /><br />result happiness <br /><br />PS avoid walking past Mcdonald's Although how you can eat that s**** when you know what is in those burgers.................

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll keep at it. I really don't want to go back where I came from.<br /><br />Hey Rocket Roy-<br />So far I haven't given in to Mickey D's, so I have escaped putting that stuff into my body. Now Hershey's is a different story! I guess the key is getting back to logging things in a food diary.<br /><br />Linda -<br />For now, I can't even allow myself the luxury of one bite of something tempting. I don't know the meaning of one bite! And - there's no one here to take the rest of the bites away from me! <br /><br />Thanks again,<br />Sue

1. Use NetAthlon software and race against imaginary competitors. This cut times down by 15% and doesn't allow me to slack off.<br />2. Cut sugar intake from about 120 grams a day to 20 grams.<br />3. Cut chocolate consumption by 90%.<br />4. Eat 50% less than before.<br />5. Weigh myself whenever I feel a new base has been reached. Weighing every day is not good as some days you go up.<br />6. Get pissed. I am fed up with being overweight, nothing short of injury will stop me.<br />7. Starting to develop the "high" of runners, this is very addictive and keeps me thirsting for more exercise.<br />8. I use tennis shoes, socks and shorts, no shirt. Why waste a shirt sweating into it? Much cooler this way.<br />9. Chart progress on race times and race against my former stored times.<br />10. Make it a habit to row every single day without exception, after 30 days it became more routine and 30 minute rows seemed short.

<!--QuoteBegin-H33+Feb 1 2005, 11:00 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(H33 @ Feb 1 2005, 11:00 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->6. Get pissed.  I am fed up with being overweight, nothing short of injury will stop me.<br />7. Starting to develop the "high" of runners, this is very addictive and keeps me thirsting for more exercise. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br /><br />I love these two. <br /><br />I used to run every day and remember that runner's "high". Running so much damaged my hips and so I stopped ... 40lbs later I am pissed! Don't get me wrong, I don't berate myself and feel glum about it, I am simply using that as motivation to take care of my body.<br /><br />I have fallen in love with my C2, and pine for it when I'm at work. I love the sweat, the determination, the muscle aches, the rhythm ... boy, I'm hooked, and I've only been doing this for a week!<br /><br />

I read a really good book recently entitled " Inner Eating". (can't remember the author, but it was in the library). I would recommend it to anyone who is sick of the constant preoccupation with food, diet, counting calories, etc., etc., and would like to learn to think about eating in a way that will free them from the "tyranny of food". It has helped me immeasurably. I eat what I please, and have found that I can stop when I'm satisfied. I can tell when I'm satisfied and have no interest in eating unless I'm actually hungry. I used to be a "chocoholic" but now if there's chocolate available I don't feel compelled to eat it; I used to take enormous servings and then eat every bit, but now I'm fine about stopping before the plate's empty. <br /><br />My weight has dropped to about where I want it--could lose say 5 more pounds, but I don't really care--and it was all accomplished with a natural progression of increasing workouts on the C2 and a whole change of thought about food and eating. I read the book last March, about when I got a cast off my wrist, and started working out then. I was 188 (I'm 5'11 so that isn't as bad as it sounds) and am now 166. I didn't diet, count calories, nothing like that. You just have to read this book. <br /><br /><br />Of course if you are a guy that normally weighs 175 without a lot of fat to trim and are trying to make lightweight, you can't succeed doing it this way, but if you have 20-30 or so pounds of flab to dump, you can.

<!--QuoteBegin-seat5+Feb 5 2005, 07:08 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(seat5 @ Feb 5 2005, 07:08 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Of course if you are a guy that normally weighs 175 without a lot of fat to trim and are trying to make lightweight, you can't succeed doing it this way, but if you have 20-30 or so pounds of flab to dump, you can. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />I agree with Carla here, my first 30 lbs was done with little counting calories. I didn't read a book, just figured out how to tell myself that I had eaten enough. The last 15 (especially the last 10) caused me the most trouble. I am doing it all: 6 meals per day (counting everything with nutrition software), erging, monitoring body fat. The key for me will be figuring out the formula for me to get beyond my 17% body fat "wall". I have started weight training to see if that is going to help. I'm taking suggestions if it doesn't work for me.<br /><br />Steve