Dids's WSOP '05 Get Less Fat Incentive Plan.

[B Dids]

Posting this, if only because knowing that other people are aware of it will make it harder to mess up

I'm fat, I need to be less so. I have a plan to make that happen.

Thoughts, advice, abuse?

[turnipmonster]

seems like a worthy goal! another thing that might work well is, if you like to run, sign up for some local road races where you live. sign up for a 10k race in a couple of months, and it will give you a goal to train for. you would be amazed at what you can accomplish with a good, reasonable training program. I never thought I could run a marathon, but I got in to the nyc one a couple years back and now I've run two! hal higdon has a bunch of good, free training programs on his website, www.halhigdon.com

--turnipmonster

[Monty Cantsin]

You might already know this but The South Beach Diet is far, far superior to raw Atkins.

Good luck.

/mc

[regisd]

go you!

suggestions:
a whole lot of folks i know are doing the south beach diet -- it's carb-restricted, like atkins, but it doesn't have that "what, so you'll never eat a cookie again?" level of restriction. i don't know much more about it because i kind of tune people out when they start south-bitching (as we call it). another bunch of folks i know continues to swear by weight watchers (both at regular meetings and online), but really, it doesn't matter what the diet is as long as it's healthy and you can live with it and won't get all frustrated and go binging.

you might try reading the book "intuitive eating". it's more about dieting in general and the stuff that goes on in your head (and why people "screw up" diets) than just the "here's what to eat".

if you're looking at running, the marathoners i work with strongly suggest http://www.coolrunning.com/

i've been doing the "work out a few times a week and eat less crap" diet plan and it's been doing pretty well for me.

but it sounds like you've got an achievable goal and a good plan. good luck!

[razor]

Exactly a year ago, I realized I was in horrendous shape (I knew it wasn't good but I didn't realize it was as bad as it was). I had been doing the treadmill thing - walking briskly (my knees don't take kindly to running) about 20 minutes a day, 4 days a week. But that wasn't doing my cardio any good and wasn't getting me any weight loss.

Once I realized how bad things were, I started doing a bit of research on the internet. I bought myself a cheapo polar heart rate monitor. I don't think they make the one I bought anymore, this Polar F1 is similar. Over the next couple weeks I increased the length and intensity of my workouts, until I was doing 45 minutes 4 days a week.

This site discusses fitness walking and this link in particular Target Heart Rates and how they are used for weight loss.

Once I increased the length and intensity of my workouts my weight started dropping and my heart got more efficient. I dropped about 27 pounds in the past year and got my bodyfat percentage to a more reasonable 17.5% (still could use more work there). Most of my weight loss was in the first 6 months. The last half year has been fairly stable, although I expect that diet improvements would yield further good results. Although I eat healthier than before that is one area that still need a lot of improvement for me. But I don't much like cooking or taking the time to prepare lunches, so I eat out far too much for lunch and don't eat as well as I should for dinner.


Site I found helpful:

The Walking Site

Rockport Walk Test

ExRx.net

MyBodyComp.com


GOOD LUCK!!!

[Gamblor]

Thoughts,

Don't be a fat ass man. There are enough people on this planet that may not judge you on your appearance alone, but certainly will get their first impression from your belly and multiple chins (more than the chinese phone book). I, for one, see a fat guy and think "doesn't he even care about his health?"

advice,

Don't worry about lifting weights and all that. You can't get rid of a belly with situps. Do stuff that's fun.

Play basketball for an hour every day until you're drenched in sweat. Then the next day organize a football game. Call up friends who you know are mildly athletic and suggest roller hockey. Working out is way more fun when you're trying to beat someone at it. When nobody is around, go for a 1K/2K/5K/10K run in the nearest park and try to beat your best time. But sports are the best way. sign up for a rec basketball league.

The key: if you're not sweating profusely, you didn't work out hard enough. Although something tells me you don't need to run to sweat.

Diets will only kill your motivation, and a good diet never ends. Believe it or not, you get used to salad and chicken and stuff like that - I used to hate that stuff, and over time it just becomes normal, as if there was nothing else to eat. You drive by McDicks and want to puke when you think about the [censored] in there.

Frankly, it's easy to love junk food - McDonald's, Oreos, etc. While I've never been anything close to overweight (actually a little too thin if you ask me), I finally over time got sick of junk food - probably a result of knowing what junk food really is; it's food made in test tubes, not real food that someone killed or harvested.

Next time you grab a piece of junk food, think about the scientist who sat there mixing chemicals into a test tube until he finally found the combination that would make it so chemically dangerous that bacteria died when they tried to eat it so it would stay preserved. Then, he poured in a little chocolate, and wrapped it in tin foil for $1.00.

Now, I can't even stand the sight of it.

abuse?

Fat ass. Get to work, you miserable piece of giant flab, then make me eat my words (are words junk food)?

[turnipmonster]

they're right, coolrunning.com has a great free running log!

gamblor had some great advice re fast food and team sports. I hate team sports, always have, so running/swimming/biking is way more fun to me. you just have to figure out what type of person you are.

one more thought regarding your diet. going on a diet implies a temporary thing, something that you're going to go off of. what you want to do is change the way you eat in your regular life, from now on. not eating any fast food (and maybe learning to cook) are a great way to start.

eat stuff you like, but just eat less of it. if you snack, then snack on fruit.

--turnipmonster

[Zetack]

Hey good luck.

I myself have decided to drop about 45 lbs. Which will put me in territory I haven't seen in about 12 years.


I've dumped about 10 lbs so far, though since I'm working out pretty hard, I've also gained some muscle, so maybe its a bit more than that in fat loss (I like to think so at any rate--but in the long run it doesn't matter as long as I keep working toward the goal--the exact numbers at any given time arent' that important).

Here's a thought about snacking. Don't buy snack food. Ever. If its not in the house you can't eat it. If snacking is a must, fruit is good--I think grapes are kinda like candy.

When I feel the urge to snack I make myself a healthy sandwhich, if the thought of the sandwich isn't very satisfying, I figure I'm not hungry enough to need anything. Maybe I'll just have a glass of water.

Oh, and I got a big boost by pretty much cutting soda out of my diet--and I was a huge soda fiend (I'll still have one if I go to a movie or something but there aren't any in my fridge). So if you have some regular but unecessary calories in your life that you can cut out like that, its a good jump start.

--Zetack

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
Posting this, if only because knowing that other people are aware of it will make it harder to mess up

I'm fat, I need to be less so. I have a plan to make that happen.

Thoughts, advice, abuse?

[/ QUOTE ]

My honest advice: Focus on the exercise more than the diet. You might lose some weight on a diet, but you have to stick to it basically forever. If you become more active, you'll lose weight and feel better all the time. And you don't have to worry as much about the foods you eat.

But here's the key: Pick an exercise that you actually ENJOY. If you hate running, don't try to be a runner. You'll just get frustrated and quit.

I happen to like basketball, so that's my exercise of choice. But almost anything will work, as long as you participate frequently and work up a good sweat.

Here are some ideas:

Basketball
Soccer
Tennis (maybe even Ping-Pong, if played vigorously enough?)
Volleyball
Cycling/Mountain Biking
Swimming
Tetherball
Ultimate Frisbee
Batting Cages/Softball
Weights
Breakdancing
Martial Arts
Hiking

I could go on and on. You could probably head to the local community center or Y and sign up for a league, or just play pickup games of your sport of choice. It might be intimidating at first, but there are often leagues based on beginner skill levels and/or non-competitive leagues.

The point is, if you enjoy your exercise, you'll do it all the time without complaint.

Exercise enough, and what you eat becomes less important. Although I'd refrain from putting bacon on your ice cream.

Hope this helps in some way. Good luck!

[lowroller]

Dids,

We're Brothers, Man!! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] As a matter of fact, today I started up my exercise program again (put off starting it last week [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]) to lose about 10 lbs that I've put on in the last couple of months (since I started playing poker regularly).

One of the things I HATE about poker is that it is VERY easy to fall into an unhealthy lifestyle. Hours upon hours of sitting, sitting, sitting, eating unhealthy food (if at all), (sometimes) smoke-filled rooms, booze...

Prolonged exposure to this is not any good for you/me/anyone, and I've been having a real problem with it for the last couple of months. In alot of respects, I think it's been the toughest part of my game to handle. Part of me wants to play and put in the hours to learn/improve/win, but part of me hates myself for allowing myself to become so lazy and put my health in jeopardy.

Don't let it happen to you, either!!

Take control of your life and your health. It is, truly, the only thing you have in life.

The biggest thing I can say, has already been said: SWEAT

You MUST exercise vigorously in order to lose weight!! Don't just go through the motions (like so many do) and think you are getting it done...it won't happen. At first, I think you need to ease into it. But after the initial period of your body adjusting to the "shock" of exercise you need to keep pushing yourself. You will be so happy/proud of yourself!!

Lastly, you may want to check out www.mattfurey.com. He advocates using body-weight exercises (rather than free-weights) that you can do at home that are VERY effective at building strength as well as endurance (cardio conditioning).

I ran onto his site a couple of years ago when I was looking for a fighting/conditioning program and although I am not fighting anymore, I still use it to this day. If you have any questions PM me.

If you want something more tradional (free-weight oriented), I recommend The TRUTH, by Frank Sepe. This is a great book that promotes a graduated weight training and cardio program along with solid diet advice (carbs are OK, you just have to watch them).

Best of luck to you, Dids! I am rooting for you, and will be checking your blog to keep up with your progress.