Bloody hell, Piink!!! I go away for a couple of years and when I come back you've ninja'd it all away! I am SO happy for you!
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
Long-haul flights in economy in anything larger than size 18 is horrifically uncomfortable for me. Heck, even short-haul's only just bearable. Now there's great motivation for the weight-loss! 10+ hours in a seat that isn't supposed to accomodate 6ft size 24 women! :D
Haaaa, fantastic! *Prepares the brain-picker!*
I write horror, fantasy, scifi as fiction, but do plenty of non-fiction stuff - sometimes for magazines, sometimes websites, sometimes for a day job, boo!
FMA is awesome. I've been reading the Manga for years (now ended, abloobloobloo), and wasn't too keen on the first anime because it caught up with the manga then they had to make up their own storyline because they were out of printed material to adapt. FMA: Brotherhood is truer to the Manga...
I used to draw a lot more when I was younger. So much so that when I try it now it takes me forever to do anything and the results irritate me.
I should really get back into the habit!
Interested? Yes. But I'm a writer, so I might start picking your brain on blood splatter analysis :D
MWUHAHAHAH!
Edited to add: I don't watch shows like CSI, because quite often the science in them is total bobbins. And Crime Scene Investigators aren't police officers! They don't go around...
*Performs Thread Necromancy*
Japan. Every time I look at how much it would cost me to spend a week or two in Europe, I end up realising a fortnight in Japan costs the same and I go back there! :D
Is this £250 per adult, or for everyone? Might be stretching it, but let's see what we can google...
73 Sun Street - Contact Us is £277 in Low Season. Their weeks are from Friday to Friday.
Holiday cottages in the UK, France and Ireland | cottages4you is a nice searchable database, could be of...
Hey Meredith, welcome to MiniMins!
Have you been sticking to the SW plan nonstop in those 8 months? If so, then the old WW plan seems to have worked better for you.
I can't compare the two - only ever tried SW in the past - but I do find that SW encourages you to fill yourself up with "free"...
It can be disheartening, but don't panic. It's been one week, and I'm guessing it didn't take you just one week to gain the weight that you'd like to lose. It took me well over 20 years to eat myself this heavy :D
Be patient. Relax. And remember to drink plenty of water with SW. Stick to it and...
A quick check of my stats from last time shows I'm still 21lbs off my original starting weight, which for spending about a year and a half eating anything that stood still is pretty... not good, obviously, but at least not thoroughly disheartening.
Last time around I lost about 5st, then hit...
Ohai! For those who remember my insane enthusiasm for losing weight a couple of years ago... I ate most if it back on! Yay me! :D
Time to lose it all again, and more! So hello again, and hello to all the lovely people I have yet to meet!
We CAN do it! :sign0151:
Just finished the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks. Taking some time out with Una McCormack's Doctor Who novella before I start on something meatier.
Well, I did all right this week. Lost 0.2lb, which considering the amount of rubbishy food I've eaten (TOTM, so I always shove food in a day or two before) I'm pretty pleased with!
It just goes to show that going to the gym five times a week really does make a difference :)
I had a no-glasses swimming near-miss the other day. The door from our gym's changing rooms out to the pool doesn't open fully. I'm going out, a one-legged lady on crutches is coming in, and we get jammed with this half-open door, her stuck this side of the barrier, me stuck between her and...
My back hates me, and I hate my back. The ostiopaths I've seen over the years say it's just weak muscles, so when I lose weight and my posture shifts accordingly I'm putting strain on the muscles which are used to doing very little.
Allegedly, then, the problem should go away the more exercise...
Mmm, Fluoxetine. Those were the days. I did the foolish thing and came off them cold turkey instead of gradually.
Don't do it, kids! Obey the nice doctor! :D
Not sure I wanna get felt up by biscuits =^-^=
Righty! Breakfast ideas:
Oatso Simple: Comes in a variety of flavours, about 250 calories a serving if made with semi-skimmed milk. All pre-measured, so it's an easy thing to make at bleary-o'clock.
Toast: Two slices. I'm keen on Kingsmill Oats &...
Haha, I'm blind as a bat, Jen! It's great - means you can't see whether people are staring at you!
Give 'em a real treat: Don't shave your legs or armpits either. That'll distract 'em :D
I thought I'd drop in and give people the view from about halfway along this route. I started eating healthily and counting the calories last September, and have lost 63lbs so far. That's about 4.5st.
I've had a slow period since January. Lost about 8lbs from Jan through to April, but I lost...
Thanks. I've been avoiding refined sugars since day 1 - It just sets up a false diabetic effect that creates more sugar cravings, so better to do away with the lot of them :D
I eat little in the way of fats or carbs, really. I've not actively determined to cut carbs out, because the body needs some of them, but I'm avoiding fatty foods - especially now that as I've been eating healthily for a few months my stomach reacts poorly to fat.
Waaaaaaah!
I'm open to any and all suggestions. Other than Slimming World or Weight Watchers - I don't play well with groups :D
I drink about 1.5 - 2ltrs of fluid a day. This is usually water, but sometimes some tea.
I'm sure it'll pass, but I'm highly frustrated that I've only lost about 8lbs since the year began. And, yes, there have been lots of birthdays, celebrations, commiserations and such. Moan moan, excuse excuse, and so on.
Still, I've been back on the wagon for about a month (and at least didn't...
Worryingly, nobody seems to be suggesting the obvious: Increase your fluid intake.
Your bowel needs water to be able to create poop properly, and to get rid of it easily. You require two litres of fluid a day (note, this fluid can come from food as well as drink), so if you're getting less...
See, that's my concern, Karen. Eyesight deteriorates naturally over time anyway, so it's quite a large sum for only temporary gain.
It's whether or not people consider the temporary gain worth the outlay :)
If you're suffering workplace bully, LM, speak to your HR department about it. Seriously. And if they don't work, speak to a damn lawyer.
Been there. Done that. Got the T-Shirt.
Cor, that's a lot of time to spend in Malta. It's about the size of a peanut :D
I've never been, but Mr. CrazyBrit has, and his mum goes back there once a year - she has friends out there, so it's not quite "on her own", but she does spend a lot of her time out and about alone. She's in her...
I can confirm that doing a long-haul holiday for only one week is a killer. You don't really adjust to the timezone out there, then you don't really adjust when you get back either. I ended up spending about three weeks in a semi-comatose fugue state after one week in Tokyo last year.
What kind...
I approve of sarcasm! Hello and welcome!
It's only 4 weeks, but I'm going to kick you up the bum anyway. We can't help you if you don't turn up more often :D
BMI is not a suitable indicator of your fitness or health. It's a guideline, nothing more. Really not worth getting worried about.
Worry more about your weight and getting fit. The BMI will take care of itself :)
I find this an excellent book, and the only "diet" book that I'll recommend.
For breakfast I have:
- One sachet of Oatso Simple. I like doing this because it's pre-measured and I know how many calories it is. I can't suffer portion creep with it.
- or two slices of toast, with Clover. Again...
It's a fact. When you start a diet, you shed the pounds. Then you get where I am - plodding along at around 1lb per week and knowing you've got a year of this ahead.
Fun fun fun! :D
I've had many situations where glasses have saved me from receiving a poke in the eye. So I'll keep them.
I have a thing where my eyeballs expanded too fast during growth, so are quite fragile and could rupture under significantly less pressure than most other eyeballs.
Twice, only to Toronto and the surrounding area though. Hoping to hit either Vancouver or Churchill at some point.
Actually, what I'd really like to do is the rail route between Toronto and Vancouver :)
Back on to the 1,200 a day target this week, even after the weekend's cake-fest. Hopefully because I spent a couple of months levelling out at 1,800 - 2,000 it'll start shifting again :)
While actively eating 1,200 calories a day, yes. I avoid chocolate, crisps, pastries, all that kind of rubbish.
I've spent the past two months on maintenance calories of about 2,000 a day, so I've used chocolate as a tool to hit that calorie goal without bulking out my volumetric intake too...
Fair enough.
Will you be working as a trainer with another school before setting out on your own? Or are you going to leap in and go for it? (I always reccommend the latter :D). Whichever you go for, good luck! You seem to really know your beans :)
D'oh! I see what you mean :D
Don't forget, though, that he usually only uses the punishment techniques for dogs who have already ingrained poor behaviours and need discouraging from them.
Naturally I defer to someone who's actually got a degree in the subject, but I think positive...
Are you watching the same Dog Whisperer as the rest of us? Just curious, because I've never seen Cesar Millan "punish" a dog. Distract from undesirable behaviour with a "shh", or a tap to the shoulder, yes. Punish? No.
I considered Vegas last year, as my Mum really wants to see the Grand Canyon, and there's very little else to do in the area BUT go to Vegas.
In the end we went to Hong Kong.
That's not very useful, is it :D
WOOHOO! SNOW!
My maintenance period will end this week (I've been eating maintenance calories of about 1,800 - 2,000 a day for a few weeks), and I'll be hitting the 1,200 again as of next week.
Well, what would you rather do? Become ill, or just talk to your parents?
Trust me, no matter how you feel, they do want you to be happy and healthy :)
I found this with Slimming World. And after losing 5st in a year I lost so much motivation that I gained it all again (and another couple besides).
This time around I'm just watching the calories. And after only five months I've already lost 4 stone and am going through a maintenance month...
Yep. The way to increase your metabolic rate is basically eat more :D
The slow way is to build muscle mass, as muscle requires more energy to maintain than other body mass types (such as fat), so building more muscle will raise your BMR. But this takes time :)
Next go up to size 20, and have a petite section. You might have to find a large shop, or their website, as they tend not to stock over 18 in their normal stores.
Ann Harvey, but they can be a bit frumpy.
SimplyBe have an eveningwear section.
Hope that helps :)
I really have no idea. It happens to the fella, too, so there's a clear link between eating the fatty rubbish and then having tummy trouble.
I like to use it as a reminder not to go back to the bad old ways :D
As for the Lee Janogly books, I've only read Only Fat People Skip Breakfast, but...
That said after five months off the fatty foods, when I DO now have something needlessly fatty it goes right through me. Which can leave me scrabbling frantically for a loo if I was foolish enough to stop in and have something fatty while out shopping.
Keeps you on the straight and narrow...
I'd go with a longer necklace. You probably don't like most necklaces because they draw attention to, you know... erm... there's no nice way of saying "double chin", so, er... That. But if you get an 18" or longer chain you can tuck the necklace in down under your clothes.
Never buy thin chain...
Drat. I was in M&S over the weekend and didn't think to look. Next month, then :D
My fella too is telling me that it's certainly coming off. And I believe him. My clothes are too big, the "smaller" jeans I bought are now too big... Somehow just convincing the brain that all the evidence is...
I enjoy giving gifts at Christmas. I like giving gifts and making people happy, but if you do it randomly throughout the year people get quite sensitive about it and start thinking they owe you something in return.
Christmas legitimises my gift-giving instincts and lets me get away with it :D
It basically came about during the protestant reformation. Protestants largely dumped all observances such as Lent, denouncing them as inventions of the Romans.
When evidence of pre-Roman observances came to light many Protestant denominations began re-adopting the abandoned observances. But...
Haha, tell me about it! My fella and I, while at university, would stop of at McD's for an "afternoon snack" of 20 McNuggets, some hash browns, and possibly a hot pie each.
Ugh!
What a cunning plan!
Silly me, I bought a Samsung Jet because it came in purple. But because it doesn't run Android (Samsung wrote a proprietary OS for it) there are naff all apps available for the bloody thing.
Ace phone otherwise though :D
I have an excellent solution for when family call you fat. It works particularly well if you are not by nature a potty-mouth.
Tell them to f*** off.
If you aren't a pottymouth by nature, the shock of you swearing makes them realise they've gone too far.
If you ARE a pottymouth by nature...
*heehee*
I'm with everyone on the portion control. I'm horrified nowadays when I think back on how much I used to be able to eat, and how much I thought was a "reasonable" portion. Now that I'm eating 500 calorie portions, it's actually a very comfortably-sized meal. But if you'd dished it up...
Crikey. Erm. I have a little book of calorie values at home, but I'll be b*ggered if I can remember what it's called. If I remember, I'll check later for you :)
4lbs a week is insane.
The problem with 1lb is purely a psychological one. Frankly the number 1 isn't terribly impressive :D
Count in ounces instead. "Oh wow! I lost SIXTEEN ounces this week!"
Trust me, it works :D
There's a surprising amount of therapists who might be excellent at helping with bereavement, anorexia, depression and phobias but who suddenly turn rubbish when a fat person arrives and says "I can't control my eating". Obesity is one of our undefeated bigotries - it's still socially acceptable...
Ditto on IrishMum's advice. Let your body adjust, maintain for a few months, then con your body by "starting another diet" :D
I'm at that stage now, where I'm just coasting along. Gently losing half a pound here or there, but for the most part eating about 2,000 calories a day and maintaining...
Fixed :D
Have some buddhism. I find it usually helps:
"View all problems as challenges. Look upon negativities that arise as opportunities to learn and to grow. Don't run from them, condemn yourself, or bury your burden in saintly silence. You have a problem? Great. More grist for the mill...
I eat when bored, and tiredness increases boredom.
Simple cure? Go to bed :D
Seriously. If you're tired, it means you need to sleep. If you have obligations keeping you awake (and I mean real ones, not wanting to watch the telly), then keep yourself busy to distract you from the snacky urge :)
I'm struggling a bit with this at the moment. Even though I've lost over 50lbs since September, I think my plan to make my clothes last as long as possible before "downsizing" is starting to backfire on me.
Worse, I've lost 50lbs but still can't even think about wearing some of the size 18...
Shelz, shelz, shelz. That 1lb of human fat is 3,500 calories! By "only" losing 1lb, you've burned through 3,500 calories more than your body required.
You just shed 13 Mars Bars' worth of calories in a week if you've lost 1lb.
Has anyone here actually tried picking up something which weighs...
I love cooking. Not so keen on weighing ingredients, mind you. But I don't do any baking, so it's less important (more art, less chemistry :D).
I don't really think it's a dying art. We're all just fat because we eat far too much ;)
I think I'd have to skip the moths. They look too cute to be eaten.
I have a friend who's travelling SE Asia at the moment, and we were chatting on Skype the other day. Apparently a ladyboy in a bar had challenged her to eat some of her dried crickets.
Friend says they were repulsive :D
It depends on:
What recipe you use / what manufacturer's readymix powder you use
What milk you use
How you fry it
Whether you add sugar / syrup / other toppings
How large you make the pancake
And so on.
It could be as little as 50 calories, as massive as 350!
Should be back on the wagon today *cough* :D
This morning: Oatso Simple cinnamon
Lunch: Sandwich, probably about 300 calories (they're handmade at home so don't come with a label)
Dinner looks like it might be Oyakodon. Nyomnyomnyom!
Good to be back... Especially as I had pizza, crisps and chocolate for most of last week and still lost 3lbs.
I'm evidently at the stage where my BMI has slowed to accomodate a 1,200 cals diet, so upping to 1,800 has got it going again :)
おかげさまで。
Japanese isn't at all hard. There's a myth (largely circulated by the Japanese themselves, who like to believe their language is terribly complex) that it is, but it's actually a very structured, logical language with very clear rules. I'd go so far as to say that English is the more...
Ah hah, of course *slaps forehead*. And because muscle-building is actually muscle-repair, and because getting fit is muscle-building, then, yes. Totally.
Gawd, I'm a 'tard sometimes! :D
I thought protein was more essential if you wanted to build muscle from exercise. If you just want to exercise to get fitter and lose weight it doesn't matter much about the source of the energy.
I could be wrong. Much as I'm usually Wikipedia personified, this I don't actually know :D
I just wasn't hungry this morning, and I'm still not hungry. So no breakfast. I'll force lunch down though, 'cause going without food for a day is silly.
Depends. Do you want to lose weight?
It really is that simple. There's no "naughty" or "good" about it. Labelling things as "naughty" only makes them more appealing - we're drawn toward misbehaving in little ways (well, the English are, anyway). If you view things as "naughty" then sooner or...
You do absorb water through the skin, but only at a teensy rate. Maybe you're loafing in the bath too long :D
And yes, there's a first-aid tip there if you find someone in such extreme dehydration that they're unconscious ;)
I had to shop around a little to find scales which would tolerate my starting weight, so be sure to check that. The ones you're linking to go up to 28st, so should be fine! :)
A black, sugarless coffee is about 5-6 calories for a regular sized cup.
Last night was falafels! Yum yum! I really do love them :D
This morning was a break from Oatso tradition and I had two slices of toast instead. Again it'll be a sandwich for lunch :)
Aye, the Wii Balance Board is an entertainment device. Add that to the fact that most people place it on a rug or on carpet and you get an unreliable set of scales whose main purpose is to ensure you're not over 23 stones (which is the Balance Board's maximum tolerance).
Ensure the scales are on a flat, level surface. I can't stress that enough. Use a spirit level if necessary, and don't place scales on carpet - it shifts under weight and isn't level.
Use scales which can measure in tenths of a pound, not just whole pounds. Sometimes you may lose 0.4lbs in a...
I dodged the snacks through judicious use of chewing gum. Hurrah! Dinner last night was about 500 calories of chilli, so all is well.
Today: Oatso simple, sandwich, and mystery dinner!
Woah. Never, ever weigh in daily. Once a week at most. I could wax lyrical about how your body works, but frankly you can just google that. Plenty of factors conspire against you if you weigh yourselves daily and it gives you a totally unrealistic view of your weight loss.
Once a week. Same...
How much exercise are you doing, and how often? Is it intensive, or sedate?
If you are taking 1,200 calories in per day, but spending 1,000 a day in exercise, that doesn't leave you very much to live on (you'd need another 1,000 or so just to breathe and sleep over 24 hours).
Try slowly...
Exactly as above. You're viewing diets as a tool to lose weight. What you're not doing is accepting that your lifestyle is making you fat.
So what happens? You use a diet - evidently very successfully. Then you revert to your "normal lifestyle", because your "diet is over". And, of course...
I personally started out at about 320lbs and am now down to 275ish since the beginning of September 2009. I do this by eating anywhere between 1,200 and 1,400 calories a day. Sept - Dec I was also attending the gym three times a week for about 40 minutes each time, but over December we've pretty...
Very wise. My other half's mum accidentally left the zoo with a baby wallaby in her pocket once. She was halfway home in the car when it emerged. Apparently it's quite common for the little beggars to clamber into any dark place, so the zoo was often getting returned wallabies from handbags...
Aww. I do love my dad. I just accept that he had the occasional temper flare-up. But that was his generation. I could hardly claim to have been an abused child :D
I'd eat when upset, when celebrating, when bored (this is still my number 1 threat, as it's something you can do at your desk to...
And try not to weigh daily? I know it's tempting, but if you hop on the scales every day you're opening yourself up to unnecessary dissapointment just because you happen not to have pooped yet or something daft :D
Alas I've never been, but a friend who went for her honeymoon absolutely loved it.
As I understand it, malaria isn't an issue. It's dengue fever which is the problem. Eurgh.
I sketch with pencils, I use Corel Painter for CG, and I used to paint with watercolours, oils or acrylics but haven't bothered with wet media in years.
Photoshop for me is mainly limited to cleaning up some misjudged photos.
Essentially what the above have said. Don't "fill up" on rice, though, as it's 150 calories per 100g.
If the worst comes to the worst, fill up on a salad before you go. That way you won't be tempted to eat half the buffet cart :D
Have you recalculated what you need to maintain after all your weight loss?
Calorie Calculator
Use this calculator. Figure out how many calories you require to maintain your current weight with your desired exercise level.
Then stick to that for at least one month, but I would reccommend...
Boiled rice isn't as "fine" as it sounds. Plain white boiled rice is about 150 calories per 100g, and 100g isn't as much as it sounds. 100g is about 28 1p coins (that's 28 one pence pieces), is exactly 20 20p coins, and is roughly 10 £1 coins. So a plateful of rice could easily come to 300...
I have thighs the width of a man's head, so my problem's more that the waists fit but they're too tight around the legs (if they even get up past the epically massive fat stores my femurs are clinging to).
Mostly I got hit round the back of my head by my Father if I was misbehaving, then bought food as a consolation by my Mother.
Ah, many happy childhood memories of crying into a burger :D
My best friend is, conviently, my fella. Therefore he describes me as gorgeous, sexy, beautiful, intelligent, kind and wonderful.
Or he does if he knows what's good for him :D
I must say that I wouldn't reccommend dropping the amount of exercise that you do. If you do, your fitness level will drop accordingly.
Use this calorie calculator to see how much you should be eating to maintain your current weight: Calorie Calculator
Eat that much for a month, then hit the...
The rituals aren't as silly as they appear. Ensuring that you have the environmental factors as similar as possible between weigh-ins is extremely important for comparable results.
For instance, I've found that if I place my scales slightly to the right of where we usually put them (yeah, I...
On the plus side, being at home yesterday meant eating well (no vending machine :D). I've gone in to work today (idiotically), but brought fruit with in the hope of staving off the boredom snackies with something better than crisps.
Alas I spoke too soon. No gym this morning. I didn't sleep very well and I've got a lingering cold that won't shove off so I'm spending the day loafing about in bed.
It's a 4-week challenge TJ. I took that to mean 4 weigh-ins after the initial start-point one.
I suspect I'm going to do quite poorly when I weigh in tomorrow :D
It's a shame it's come from surgeons and not the wider medical profession, since what we're really missing out on is some decent mental health assistance too.
Sure if we're anorexic teens they'd leap over backwards to help us. But fatties? Nah. We're not worth it :p
I find that doing a decent amount of something other than eating distracts me from the cravings. It's not so easy at work (because, by its very nature, work is boring - else they wouldn't have to pay me to turn up :D), but in non-work time that's as simple as playing a game, reading a book, or...
Heh heh heh! :D
Why not contact the company who owns the location and ask what kinds of items are included in the buffet? That way you can think ahead and plan to fill the majority of your plate with salad items, then just tuck a little protein on the side :)
Has anyone who's had it done found they keep poking themselves in the eye when attempting to move glasses which are no longer there?
I do that whenever I wear contact lenses :D
DH? Is that some obscure shorthand for "Mein Fuehrer"?
Who cares who approves of you dieting? If you want to lose weight, you go right ahead and do it. If MF doesn't like it, he can kiss your pert little bottom :D
One thing that used to catch me out at SW was, believe it or not, drinking large amounts of water before my group. I'd go all afternoon without a drink, be ludicrously thirsty, and put down half a litre or more on the train home from London. So come weigh-in I was full of water and weighed a...
Olive oil isn't really "healthy". It's healthier than vegetable oil at - and here's the important bit - room temperature, but once it's been heated beyond its smoke point the monounsaturated fats break down and it becomes just as horrid for you as any other oil. Cooling it down again doesn't...
Bah, it's been a bingey week. It's been cold and grey and miserable outside, and your brain's going "Eat food. You're gonna need it. Winter's coming. The cave's going to get even colder. You're a mammal. Food keeps you warm. Eat, eat, eat! More calories! Now if you don't want to die!"
Don't...
I "cheat" on motivation. I have a bit of an attention deficit thing going on anyway (that is, I get bored extremely quickly, even of losing weight), so I have to con myself with different motivations.
First thing I'll do is massage my perceptions of my weight loss so far depending on what...
It's impossible to target specific areas of fat in your weight-loss. You can target specific muscles to improve through exercise, but fat is stored in, and taken from, the places your body deems appropriate.
If you want to lose the stomach fat, you simply need to work at losing fat in general...
DM, DM, DM! Very wise, I think :D
Your hunger could also have been sparked by this week's abrupt drop in temperature just as the country was warming up again - your brain equates temperature drops with the need to eat as many calories as possible to store up fat for long winters, so I wouldn't...
I was terribly naughty yesterday. Nandos chicken breast in ciabatta for lunch, then Dominos pizza for dinner. I had a day of cravings! :D
Still, not to worry. My stomach was upset this morning, reminding me that it really hates fatty foods these days. I'll pay for it when I weigh in on...
Boo, I gained about 0.4lbs last week. I have a bit of a cold, and being ill tends to halt my weight loss.
So yesterday I went to Nandos for lunch then had Dominos pizza for dinner. Erm... Yeah... This week might not be great either :D
One of my cats is a right little fatty. She'll overeat to bursting, then vomit, then eat a top-up. She seems driven to eat all available food just incase the other cat gets any, but the other cat won't challenge her for it - she'll walk away if she sees fatso at the dishes.
She's highly...
Hmmm. Decisions, decisions. Whether to pretend not to have noticed Lou's stealthy entrance, or to glomp her like she's never been glomped before...
Hmmmm! :D
Ah, be careful with alcohol. I don't want to pour a total dampener on your evening, but it's not just the calories in the drink you need to worry about. Alcohol turns to acetate in your body, which effectively stops you burning fat so readily.