• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Getting fit

RosieReal said:
my work has just decided to pay for 10 yoga classes for a few of us...which i think is really neat. i've always wanted to learn, and now i get to do it with the people i spend the most time with. i'm hoping that this will be a good start. :)
Click to expand...

i also ment to add, i'll let you know how it works out for me...maybe its something to concider. :)
 
Does anyone know if diet soda or zero calorie soda is ok? I love Dr Pepper but have been limiting my soda intake. But, I really like diet root beer.

I do a pretty good job of maintaining my weight. I lost 20lbs about 2 years ago just by changing my diet and working out. I am pretty active anyway, I spend my summers working outdoors conducting wildlife research. But, I get lazy in the winter. I am too broke to go to the gym and I can't run much anymore due to an injury I got two summers ago (plantar fasciitis) so now I have to be careful about my diet.

I took the dogs out for a walk today though, so that's better than nothing, right? :D
 
I've heard on the grapevine that the larger doses of artifical sweetners in diet soda's can make it harder to take lbs off...even though they dont add any.
i have no sources for this info, and no idea if its accurate in anyway...but i think moderation is the key to fitting anything into a diet. I bet you could still have bacon and cake as long as its not every day or large amounts.
As long as its not like 2L of diet pop a day, what could it possibly hurt? I would think that a zero cal. glass of pop would HAVE to be a better option than the 500cals you get from a normal glass of pop...at least thats the theory i work with. i try to only have pop on weekends...it works pretty well for me as far as keeping the cravings for it down. I did cut it out all together for a while and that was when i noticed the most dramatic weightloss...but i was also working out regularly then.
 
I've read that diet sodas can actually still cause weight gain, because the artificial sweeteners still disrupt your insulin levels and feelings of satiation (fullness). It's not recommended for diabetics because of this, and isn't very good for your kidneys either.
So, as with all health advice, I suppose it's best only in moderation, like most things that are nice to eat or drink!
 
lucillle said:
Do you have any articles on that? I have a hard time picturing how that would happen. And I drink immense amounts of Diet Coke/Pepsi.
Click to expand...

Here's an article going over the different effects of diet sodas and why people are under the impression that they are bad. The artificial sweeteners in the sodas are still considered safe by the FDA and doctors will still recommend diet if you're trying to lose weight because if you're drinking a bunch of regular soda they figure you can cut the needless calories by drinking diet.

This is just a personal opinion - no facts being claimed - but I think the reason people are getting the impression that diet sodas make you gain weight rather than lose it is because they feel like they don't need to exercise or worry about an extra portion because they had their diet soda rather than a regular one.
 
Thank you for the article.
Fitness includes changing ones eating habits, but sometimes, one can't manage and I can't give up diet pop.

If it's gonna work, I'm thinking one has to construct a lifestyle one can live with. I'd never go to the gym, but I can, and have been, making small but steady changes to increase my activity level.
 
lucillle said:
Thank you for the article.
Fitness includes changing ones eating habits, but sometimes, one can't manage and I can't give up diet pop.

If it's gonna work, I'm thinking one has to construct a lifestyle one can live with. I'd never go to the gym, but I can, and have been, making small but steady changes to increase my activity level.
Click to expand...

And that's all you need! Do something that YOU'RE happy with which will be more successful in the long run than what the rest of us are trying to tell you. :) Some of us just aren't gym people :shrugs: (myself included). But if you're feeling good about your fitness and where it's going, then I wouldn't worry about the way everyone else does it.

PS: I'm an avid Coke drinker. Regular coke. Can't kick it and don't even want to TRY!
 
lucillle said:
Bobby, ask Mom to test you regularly, you might be diabetic. If your glucose stays high, you might consider consulting a doctor.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Lucille. I'm way ahead of you. I was testing regularly and found my numbers to be consistently high, even after fasting. My doctor and I agreed that the best course of action for now was to treat it naturally, and bring the glucose numbers down with diet and exercise (which is working very well). There's a chance that I may have to use medication after I get down to a more ideal weight, but I doubt it considering the progress I've already made in that department.

As far as diet sodas go, they're harmful to your body on a cellular level as you're introducing chemicals to your body that don't belong there. That's it, in a nutshell. As far as weight goes, the excess sodium could cause weight retention if you drink a lot of soda. Diet sodas do not affect insulin/blood sugar levels, but that doesn't mean they're not bad for you.

Edited to say: Keeping my intake of sodas to a minimum has helped me out a lot. Instead I mainly drink a LOT of water throughout the day. This makes me crave foods less and fill up faster during meals. What also helps is when you prepare a meal for yourself, just put a small to medium sized portion on your plate. After you finish, consider whether you're still hungry or if you just want more because you enjoy stuffing your face. You can always get more if you're actually hungry, but you'd be surprised how often you come to the conclusion that you really just don't need any more food.
 
BobbyHill said:
As far as diet sodas go, they're harmful to your body on a cellular level as you're introducing chemicals to your body that don't belong there. That's it, in a nutshell.
Click to expand...

I dunno. There's LOTS of stuff that adds chemicals that are not native and don't belong. They are not all harmful, some are beneficial:

Most medications
Beer
Vaccinations
Sperm/zygotes/fetus
Chocolate
Caffeine

and of course,
Diet Coke/Pepsi :)
 
I recommend eating nothing but plain beans and rice for a year and drinking nothing but water by day and straight rum by evening. ;)

No, but seriously. I always carry around a bit of extra weight. But I found that coming off of a really bland diet with almost no fat and no sugar, I appreciate all kinds of foods a lot more than I did before. I enjoy eating fresh veggies now, and I actually feel kind of yucky if I eat too much sugar. I have no regular desire at all anymore for diet sodas, so in the daytime I drink almost exclusively water. So that has helped since I've been back--I'm liking healthier foods a lot more than I did before (I even prefer my corn on the cob now without butter and salt.)

I've also been exercising semi-regularly since before I came back and even if I gain some weight, I still FEEL much better because underneath it I'm stronger. Some friends and I started doing pilates in camp for 15 minutes before showers, and at first I hated it because I couldn't actually do a sit-up without having my feet held down my something, when everyone else could. I felt like a beached whale and I was definitely not overweight at that point, just weak. But I stuck with it and after two weeks of every other day trying, I could. It's amazing how fast you can FEEL the results of a little working out before you can see them.

After coming home I started jogging and going to the gym. I started out jogging 8 minutes. Then 8 minutes without slowing to a walk. Then 10 minutes. Then 15 minutes. Then I started paying attention to mileage. I found that jogging is not for me, because although I can jog 2.5 miles now without feeling like dying, my knees hurt for days afterwards (I have two recently replaced ACLs). So I'm stuck with the gym. Having a gym partner (my wife) helps me stay motivated enough to go if I really do have the time but am just feeling lazy. And sometimes we don't do much--just 20 or 30 minutes of some type of least-heinous cardio--and sometimes we do, depends on how energetic we're feeling.

The main thing, though, is that I weigh myself with a good scale every day before breakfast. This helps me make decisions. I love food. And I love fattening food. I've eaten nothing but junk for the last week due to traveling and my wife's birthday, and I've gained 3-4 lbs because of it. But knowing that I've gained that weight is going to help me eat salads and small portions from now until Thanksgiving. If you don't know exactly how much you're gaining due to your indiscretions and losing due to your hard work, it's hard to stop putting off that next gym visit or that first day of I'm-going-to-stop-eating-cookies. When I weigh myself every day, I don't procrastinate as much about making changes that will keep me where I want to be. It's better to make informed decisions, I think, even if that decision is, "Why, yes, I think I WILL have another cookie . . ."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top