Weight Loss tips and techniques

[Tugboat]

18 hours ago, CBears019 said:

And when I do dedicate myself to both, some twisted and demented form of karma causes something bad to happen at work (detective) and all of a sudden I'm working around the clock for the next week and eating all sorts of greasy crap and not working out at all.  Also, my normal schedule changes every 4 weeks - I'm either working 8am-4pm, or 1pm-9pm.  The 1-9 schedule always leads to me staying up late at night since I just need some alone time to decompress after work.  Staying up late leads to an extra drink or two (bourbon) and then some late night snacks.  So, extra empty calories and less sleep - no bueno.  And in addition to all that, I take in waaaaaaaay too much caffeine.  Coffee in the morning and energy drinks in the afternoon/evening.  Even though the energy drinks say they're low calorie and "zero sugar," I'm sure there's more in those ingredients that act as sugar.  Energy drinks are the next thing on my list to cut from my routine/diet.

I

- Cut back/eliminate alcohol.  Even if I have a drink or two after work, that's easily 200-400 calories a day that can be eliminated (on the low end).

- Eliminate energy drinks, cut back on caffeine.  Energy drinks to be gone.  If I NEEED caffeine, I'll drink coffee.

All of the above will lead to more/better sleep.  If I can do that for, say a month, then I Can start getting more nitpicky about what I do eat throughout the day and other changes that need to be made.  

 

That sort of erratic flip/flopping schedule can be an absolute killer to overall health and happiness.  Humans just aren't really built to flip sleep rhythms on a dime like that back and forth on an arbitrary calendar induced basis.  Not only can it lead to bad habits like you touched on, it can fundamentally change the way your body even processes food and stuff.

My health and wellness is always so much better when i can just settle into a more stable routine.

 

Not really sure what the solution is, but it's a major challenge to tackle.  Probably merits a real plan to counteract as best as possible.

 

Cutting out alcohol is huge.  But like @ramssuperbowl99 suggested, if that's your main "decompression" strategy, cutting that out completely might not be sustainable either.

 

 

Don't really have any answers for you though.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

7 hours ago, MWil23 said:

Perhaps this will be helpful and if not, feel free to ignore me, but:

I saw my father die of a massive heart attack. I watched peramedics do CPR on him, I saw my mom and sisters freak out, I had to call my brother and let him know what was going on. I was at the hospital when they pronounced him dead, I witnessed the personal/emotional/family fallout.

I knew he died young, I didn’t know you had to watch and tell Nate.  I can’t even imagine.  I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

 

[CBears019]

4 hours ago, Tugboat said:

 

That sort of erratic flip/flopping schedule can be an absolute killer to overall health and happiness.  Humans just aren't really built to flip sleep rhythms on a dime like that back and forth on an arbitrary calendar induced basis.  Not only can it lead to bad habits like you touched on, it can fundamentally change the way your body even processes food and stuff.

My health and wellness is always so much better when i can just settle into a more stable routine.

 

Not really sure what the solution is, but it's a major challenge to tackle.  Probably merits a real plan to counteract as best as possible.

 

Cutting out alcohol is huge.  But like @ramssuperbowl99 suggested, if that's your main "decompression" strategy, cutting that out completely might not be sustainable either.

 

 

Don't really have any answers for you though.

Yeah the schedule is definitely not good, but I recognize that I make it worse for me than it is.  As for alcohol, I don't plan on cutting that out complete permanently.  Maybe a month or two of no alcohol, then bring it back slowly.  

[CBears019]

12 hours ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

What's your plan for coping with stress or outlet to replace the stress relief from bourbon/chew/caffeine? And what happens if the other person who keeps you accountable isn't around?

My concern reading this plan is that you're addressing all of the stress behaviors - nice work quitting chew that's a beast right there. But, you've got a pregnant wife and a kid and a full time job that's emotionally draining with hours all over the place.

Maybe I've got the wrong read here, so feel free to tell me I'm off base, but this feels like a recipe for burnout.

You're not off base at all, stress is definitely something I deal with a lot.  I'm just not entirely sure what you're asking I guess.  

[MWil23]

9 hours ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

I knew he died young, I didn’t know you had to watch and tell Nate.  I can’t even imagine.  I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

 

I was in a coaches’ meeting when I got the call he collapsed (19 year old sister).

I got there within 5 minutes, in time to see the paramedics working on him.

Yeah it was tough on everyone and some days it still is, thanks. I more or less just wanted to share the other side of the coin which perhaps some people might find helpful when it comes to healthy working out and other habits.
 

Dad guilt is absolutely a real thing and it’s okay to workout and such. I’m blessed in having a very supportive wife and we just have tried to instill some things in our kids about that as a priority.

We will say things like “why do mom and dad workout?”, and they will answer with “to be healthy and get stronger”. We try to steer clear of the word diet or to talk about our own body frustrations in front of the girls because we are acutely aware of body image issues and the unhealthy views and how early they can start if we aren’t careful.

[LETSGOBROWNIES]

1 hour ago, MWil23 said:

I was in a coaches’ meeting when I got the call he collapsed (19 year old sister).

I got there within 5 minutes, in time to see the paramedics working on him.

Yeah it was tough on everyone and some days it still is, thanks. I more or less just wanted to share the other side of the coin which perhaps some people might find helpful when it comes to healthy working out and other habits.

 

it’s appreciated.

1 hour ago, MWil23 said:

Dad guilt is absolutely a real thing and it’s okay to workout and such. I’m blessed in having a very supportive wife and we just have tried to instill some things in our kids about that as a priority.

We will say things like “why do mom and dad workout?”, and they will answer with “to be healthy and get stronger”. We try to steer clear of the word diet or to talk about our own body frustrations in front of the girls because we are acutely aware of body image issues and the unhealthy views and how early they can start if we aren’t careful.

I’ve got boys and it’s much easier I’m sure.  We can all joke about each others weight and such and no one’s feelings get hurt or feel any sorta way.

That said, it’s more or less the same approach.  Exercise isn’t to look good for others, even if that’s a perk.  It’s about feeling good, being healthy and having fun.
 

My oldest (17) is heavier, likes to eat, etc and will pack on weight easily.  He and I joke about who’s fatter and make fun of each other for our fat sht behaviors. When he was younger I had to make him exercise 3-4x per week.  Treadmill, weights, whatever.  Very sedentary kid who didn’t enjoy playing sports and mostly just liked video games.  I explained exercise isn’t a choice, it’s something we do to feel good both mentally and physically and to keep us healthy.  He didn’t like it for a while but now he’s pretty religious about going to the gym on his own after school and on the weekends without any prompting, he just enjoys the benefits of exercise.

My youngest (13) is the polar opposite. He’s a tall, lanky string bean of a kid who’s always wanting to do something active and can (and does) eat everything not nailed down and doesn’t put on weight.  My oldest and I hate him lol. He motivates me and forces me to get off my arse at times though. I truly want to whip his butt playing 1:1 for as long as possible. He’s little sht talker (he comes by it honestly) and I’m not going to be able to cope with him being able to beat me 😂.  Prolly only gonna be another year or two, but who knows lol.

I do talk with them about body frustrations, being fat, whatever, from my perspective, as I want them to know it’s a choice.  It doesn’t define you as a person and all that, and there are some limits obviously, but if you’re not happy with your physical appearance you can do something about it. 

[naptownskinsfan]

8 hours ago, CBears019 said:

You're not off base at all, stress is definitely something I deal with a lot.  I'm just not entirely sure what you're asking I guess.  

I think what he’s getting at, and he might have missed where you said incremental changes, but that’s the key.  If you try to do everything you’re planning at one time, you aren’t going to do it.  

I lost 200 pounds over two years, and have kept it off over the third, because it was incremental changes.  I started by removing myself from a situation where I got all fast food for 2-3 meals.  I was able to take off a bit during covid and fix my diet at its base, and cut out sodas.  I made better choices over the next couple months when I went back to work and adapted meals accordingly.  I started to walk 3-4 times a week once my diet was fixed.  When I got into that habit, it was walking 6-7 times a week.  After a year of walking, I started to run (that was in 2021.). 

So that whole journey started in April 2020.  Here I am today, running 5 days a week, going to the gym 3 times a week.  I’ve completed six half marathons since my first in October 2022, and I’m training for a full marathon in a month.  A month after the marathon, I’m doing the Spartan Beast (13.1 mile obstacle course race) which I’ll keep up my training for.  I’m already signed up for another marathon training group next spring.  

You can do it, but my caution is going to be to take it a couple months at a time with each bullet point.  Especially when you have a schedule that Yo-Yo’s, because I had one before these changes, and sometimes still have to work longer days, so I can relate 100% to that.  

To close, I will say that it was my choice for a long time of what I put into my body, and what my lack of exercise would do.  But sleep apnea eventually took over, and things got worse pretty quick and many of the choices I made from 2018-2020 were forced on me, because I lacked the energy to do much more than I was doing.  So make sure you do this for you, and make sure you do it for the long-term and try to go slow.  

[CBears019]

9 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I think what he’s getting at, and he might have missed where you said incremental changes, but that’s the key.  If you try to do everything you’re planning at one time, you aren’t going to do it.  

I lost 200 pounds over two years, and have kept it off over the third, because it was incremental changes.  I started by removing myself from a situation where I got all fast food for 2-3 meals.  I was able to take off a bit during covid and fix my diet at its base, and cut out sodas.  I made better choices over the next couple months when I went back to work and adapted meals accordingly.  I started to walk 3-4 times a week once my diet was fixed.  When I got into that habit, it was walking 6-7 times a week.  After a year of walking, I started to run (that was in 2021.). 

So that whole journey started in April 2020.  Here I am today, running 5 days a week, going to the gym 3 times a week.  I’ve completed six half marathons since my first in October 2022, and I’m training for a full marathon in a month.  A month after the marathon, I’m doing the Spartan Beast (13.1 mile obstacle course race) which I’ll keep up my training for.  I’m already signed up for another marathon training group next spring.  

You can do it, but my caution is going to be to take it a couple months at a time with each bullet point.  Especially when you have a schedule that Yo-Yo’s, because I had one before these changes, and sometimes still have to work longer days, so I can relate 100% to that.  

To close, I will say that it was my choice for a long time of what I put into my body, and what my lack of exercise would do.  But sleep apnea eventually took over, and things got worse pretty quick and many of the choices I made from 2018-2020 were forced on me, because I lacked the energy to do much more than I was doing.  So make sure you do this for you, and make sure you do it for the long-term and try to go slow.  

Oh ok yeah that definitely makes sense.  Yeah I’m not trying to make all these changes 100% at once.  Right now it’s cutting out energy drinks and replacing with water (also increase water intake altogether).  Then once my schedule switches back to a more normal 8-4 I’m planning on cutting out alcohol for a while.

My hope also is that those changes will have multiple effects - less snacking, better quality/more sleep, more energy to workout, etc.

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, LETSGOBROWNIES said:

My oldest and I hate him lol. 

As the youngest child, this hits home. lol

 

28 minutes ago, CBears019 said:

Oh ok yeah that definitely makes sense.  Yeah I’m not trying to make all these changes 100% at once.  Right now it’s cutting out energy drinks and replacing with water (also increase water intake altogether).  Then once my schedule switches back to a more normal 8-4 I’m planning on cutting out alcohol for a while.

My hope also is that those changes will have multiple effects - less snacking, better quality/more sleep, more energy to workout, etc.

Snacking doesn't have to be a bad thing either, just having healthier options are a major positive. Yesterday I cooked a ton of chicken thighs, I have tomato plants, and have a low carb bread I really like. I'm going to absolutely enjoy snacking on grilled chicken the next 2-3 days and my lunch is going to be a heavily loaded chicken sandwich. I have a strawberry fluff that I'm going to put down like 5 servings for about only 300 calories later. Took like 5 minutes to make and now its all just setting in the fridge, and I made it while annoying my kids before school. lol  Tomorrow my daughter is having a party so I know I'm making pizza, so I already know I'm going to do IF to (mostly) compensate for the pizza I'm going to be eating. Or I might just make a lowcal personal one (or two/three since I'm going to stuff my face), since I found a guy on YouTube that does a ton of low cal recipes and I've liked several so far. 

Some things like rice cookers, ovens, air fryers take a while but are pretty hands off too, so you can make a few things at once to save time. I find 2 hours once per week allows me to have a good bit of food prepped for the entire week, especially if I can season it however I want when I reheat it. And I'm not starving  by any means. My egg sandwiches might be eggwhites but I season them heavily, use low carb bread, add tomatoes, lettuce and onions, and hot sauce. For about 400cals I have two massive sandwiches. If I make an omelet it may be whites only but I season, add veggies, and salsa (the salsa is like 40 cals with me loading it on). If you enjoy your food, then its sustainable. If you keep wishing you were eating other food its going to suck. 

Also try thinking of your cals in a weekly sense rather than every day. Makes that one cheat meal seem WAY less significant if you see you're still under your weekly calorie goal. I use to get mad when I had to run through a drive through because of a crazy work day or forgetting my lunch, but rather than be ticked about it and feeling like I royally screwed up the day I got my "treat" and still made my target for the week. A lot of self-bitterness could have been avoided if I zoomed out from that meal, so to speak. 

[ramssuperbowl99]

39 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I think what he’s getting at, and he might have missed where you said incremental changes, but that’s the key.  If you try to do everything you’re planning at one time, you aren’t going to do it.  

Practically, 100%, but also there's an attitude component too.

42 minutes ago, naptownskinsfan said:

I lost 200 pounds over two years, and have kept it off over the third, because it was incremental changes.  I started by removing myself from a situation where I got all fast food for 2-3 meals.  I was able to take off a bit during covid and fix my diet at its base, and cut out sodas.  I made better choices over the next couple months when I went back to work and adapted meals accordingly.  I started to walk 3-4 times a week once my diet was fixed.  When I got into that habit, it was walking 6-7 times a week.  After a year of walking, I started to run (that was in 2021.). 

So that whole journey started in April 2020.  Here I am today, running 5 days a week, going to the gym 3 times a week.  I’ve completed six half marathons since my first in October 2022, and I’m training for a full marathon in a month.  A month after the marathon, I’m doing the Spartan Beast (13.1 mile obstacle course race) which I’ll keep up my training for.  I’m already signed up for another marathon training group next spring.  

You can do it, but my caution is going to be to take it a couple months at a time with each bullet point.  Especially when you have a schedule that Yo-Yo’s, because I had one before these changes, and sometimes still have to work longer days, so I can relate 100% to that.  

This, right here. Because you are giving yourself time to not only make sure the change is sustainable and the habits are ingrained, but celebrate it and process that step emotionally.

It's the difference between the guy who gets up at 5:30 to grind workout and the guy who gets up at 5:30 because he realized that when he does that he's so much happier. There's a gap between when you start the habit and when you realize the benefits from the habit, and if you keep piling on and piling on that's when it can become overwhelming and you stop.

 

 

To answer @JohnChimpo's question about the moment the light switch flipped, for me it was understanding how impactful my diet not only was on my mental health, but that it was a great barometer for my mental health. When I'm eating like crap, I'm probably sad, or angry, or frustrated, or stressed. And no matter how much I work to mitigate the food, if I choose to not use food to manage those emotions, they're going to come out in some other way or otherwise preoccupy me so much that before long I'll be exhausted enough that comfort eating becomes inevitable.

Which is why I relate very much to statements like this:

On 9/21/2023 at 12:57 AM, CBears019 said:

One of my biggest issues is I can either dedicate myself to working out 5+ days a week consistently, or I can dedicate myself to eating healthy.  But rarely can I dedicate myself to both.  And when I do dedicate myself to both, some twisted and demented form of karma causes something bad to happen at work (detective) and all of a sudden I'm working around the clock for the next week and eating all sorts of greasy crap and not working out at all.

Or this:

On 9/21/2023 at 12:57 AM, CBears019 said:

The 1-9 schedule always leads to me staying up late at night since I just need some alone time to decompress after work.  Staying up late leads to an extra drink or two (bourbon) and then some late night snacks.  So, extra empty calories and less sleep - no bueno.  And in addition to all that, I take in waaaaaaaay too much caffeine.  Coffee in the morning and energy drinks in the afternoon/evening.  Even though the energy drinks say they're low calorie and "zero sugar," I'm sure there's more in those ingredients that act as sugar.  Energy drinks are the next thing on my list to cut from my routine/diet.

I mean hell, here's me in this thread:

On 6/10/2023 at 6:43 AM, ramssuperbowl99 said:

This is interesting to me because you clearly have the knowledge and the habits to eat healthy, but have this weekly pattern. I have the same thing, I've talked about here how I need a cheat meal a lot, and it really comes down to wanting to give myself a proactive reward for managing work/stress.

 

I think the core of my post is that I hope @CBears019 is avoiding the cycle of negative self-motivation -> over-grind -> failure -> self-loathing -> negative self-motivation. I'm prone to the cycle myself, so I tend to see it in others (there's a stereotype about alcoholics that applies here). If that's wrong and my read is off, my bad!

[MWil23]

I can relate to the desire to emotionally eat as @ramssuperbowl99 said, and to be honest, football season was always awful for me and one of the reasons I’m not coaching anymore.

16 hour Fridays and 8 hour Saturdays coaching and game planning with film study and an elevated HR and just smashing food to cope with the nerves, while being so unbelievably gassed that I was physically unable to workout to the degree I needed.

It’s hard to beat that awesome adrenaline rush you get from coaching, but the cost/benefit just wasn’t there for me anymore. If any of you have ever experienced fatigue that’s mental, emotional, and physical all at the same time and yet complete inability to fall asleep because of the adrenaline or fear of not setting up your players for success (or insert anything else here), you can relate to this.

I would lose 10 lbs in a week one week then gain 10 lbs another.

[ramssuperbowl99]

13 minutes ago, MWil23 said:

I can relate to the desire to emotionally eat as @ramssuperbowl99 said, and to be honest, football season was always awful for me and one of the reasons I’m not coaching anymore.

16 hour Fridays and 8 hour Saturdays coaching and game planning with film study and an elevated HR and just smashing food to cope with the nerves, while being so unbelievably gassed that I was physically unable to workout to the degree I needed.

It’s hard to beat that awesome adrenaline rush you get from coaching, but the cost/benefit just wasn’t there for me anymore. If any of you have ever experienced fatigue that’s mental, emotional, and physical all at the same time and yet complete inability to fall asleep because of the adrenaline or fear of not setting up your players for success (or insert anything else here), you can relate to this.

I would lose 10 lbs in a week one week then gain 10 lbs another.

I've found that asking myself 'what am I afraid of if I don't eat this food?' helps to process where those impulses are coming from.

It's amazing the things that have popped back asking that. Truly, it's run the gambit of "I'm feeling lonely" or "I don't feel recognized by so and so for this thing I did", and often (maybe always) there's a proactive way to make sure that need is being met elsewhere.

Edited September 22, 2023 by ramssuperbowl99

[MWil23]

12 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

I've found that asking myself 'what am I afraid of if I don't eat this food?' helps to process where those impulses are coming from.

It's amazing the things that have popped back asking that. Truly, it's run the gambit of "I'm feeling lonely" or "I don't feel recognized by so and so for this thing I did", and often (maybe always) there's a proactive way to make sure that need is being met elsewhere.

For me I think it was almost more dangerous, because I can recognize why I’m eating _______ and it’s just that in that moment, I don’t care.

Down 21-0 at halftime, box of donuts in the coaching office? 3 glazed donuts will give me a dopamine rush to take the sting away, then the self loathing kicks in.

The amount of stable people I coached with who would become 10-11 week functioning weekend alcoholics to cope with what film they were watching, the results they were seeing, or just to help them get to sleep was incredible, and it was scary.

[Sugashane]

2 hours ago, MWil23 said:

For me I think it was almost more dangerous, because I can recognize why I’m eating _______ and it’s just that in that moment, I don’t care.

Down 21-0 at halftime, box of donuts in the coaching office? 3 glazed donuts will give me a dopamine rush to take the sting away, then the self loathing kicks in.

The amount of stable people I coached with who would become 10-11 week functioning weekend alcoholics to cope with what film they were watching, the results they were seeing, or just to help them get to sleep was incredible, and it was scary.

The Bears have given me an apathy that scores don't even affect my appetite. Is that good or not? lol   I've missed big chunks of the games because I was grilling or shooting/throwing around with my kids.

[Heimdallr]

I think the biggest thing is drinking. 6 (good) beers is typically 1000 calories. 12 ounces of whisky is about the same. That adds up.