It's your window to weight gain!

[substitute]

According to my physician, I am at risk for, or may already be in, insulin resistance syndrome. It's now called "metabolic syndrome" which seems insufficiently precise to me. But he makes a convincing case.

Therefore, the best thing I can do for myself is to get to my target weight of 200 lbs in one year. This will be ~50 lbs, or 1 lb per week.

I repeat, I have to lose 50 pounds in one year.

Aiiigh.

I'm already eating a much better diet than I was a year ago. This is why I weigh ~250 rather than 275, which is where I started on this journey. However I suck at the exercise. There is an exercise machine in the house that my mom used before that I can make use of, so I shall. I sweat like a freaking PIG when I exercise and hate to do this in front of strangers so the health club is a big washout. Paxil is great for making the depression go away but it makes me into a kind of perspiratory fountain apparatus.

And walking is to smile. It burns like 1 calorie per 1000 miles. Anyone else tells me to try walking, I'm splattering lipids all over them from my bulging midriff.

It surprises me that I am overweight. I was always a skinny kid. Stupid depression, stupid depression meds. Blurg.

Comments

[flipzagging.livejournal.com]

lots of good advice here especially from Der Stimps and Der Marmot. My $0.02 cents. Over the past 2 years I've oscillated between 240 and 190 lbs, but am now forging into the 180s.

I found calorie-counting software to be a major help. Once I started recording what I ate, the cost of snacking was a lot clearer. You don't have to wait a month to find out your pants don't fit; instead every night you see if you hit target. I'm using FitDay (http://fitday.com/), which is free and acceptable, but I think I'd prefer real desktop or palmtop software.

Also, while I've done a ton of exercise this year and am planning for more, the math shows me that it's negligble w/regards to weight loss. I'm a decent runner now but the most I can burn in a day through exercise is something like 800 calories. That wouldn't even burn all the way through a McDonald's meal. On the other hand with diet control I can easily manage a 1000 calorie deficit every day, and not notice the effort.

Diet control is the important part for weight loss, but I wouldn't give up the exercise either.

a) It is an inexpensive hit of natural antidepressants -- I really notice when I haven't done anything physical in a week now.

b) It has all those burning-calories while you sleep benefits,

c) When you have no muscles at all there are a lot of little defeats every day that don't help if you are already prone to depression. Climbing stairs. Not being able to run for the bus. Etc.

d) It makes life more fun. IMPORTANT!!! Find something to do that is FUN. I don't care if it's tiddlywinks, exercising your thumbs consistently is better than flagellating yourself to get on an exercise bike and never doing it.

BTW: Nobody gives a damn if you don't look good doing it. This is a common fear, it keeps people away from team sports and gyms, but it's totally groundless.

[srl.livejournal.com]

I am gym-avoidant. I also grew up being The Fat Kid, for various reasons. It wasn't until I started commuting by bike on a daily basis that I learned to like doing things with my body. What brev said--- cheap natural antidepressants--- was absolutely true for me--- and part of why I started riding in the first place.

In the last 2 years, I haven't lost /that/ much weight--- maybe 15 pounds total--- but I've converted a lot to muscle. I haven't altered my eating habits appreciably either. Even if I'm only burning 200 calories extra in a day that I bike, over the course of a 20-workday month that's a pound lost. Not bad for someone who's basically lazy :)

Best of luck. I'm happy to provide suggestions for building biking into your life, or whatever.

Yes bikes!

[initial.livejournal.com]

Bike-riding is an excellent for of exercise. I highly recommend it, especially if you can use it in a commuting situation.

I've never tried counting my calories; maybe I'll give it a shot.