Cookers Weigh In---FridayThrow Down 11-30

[Cooker]

Greetings Losers!!! It is good to be home and hopefully back on track with proper eating and exercise!!! I hope we will all have a successful few weeks between now and Christmas!!! I am starting this weeks thread early. Some need to post early due to travel, now that's commitment!!!!

I see we have a new home!!! I think being moved to Active Lifestyles & Cardiac Rehabilitation is a good fit!!! There is no doubt that most of us have made a real effort to increase our physical activity as well as eat properly. Anything we do to keep active and improve out post op health will payoff and hopefully be an inspiration to those who may need to do the same. We all have much fun with all of this but we need to remember that the end goal is improved health and the ability to keep moving!!! Most of us are not runners, skiers, swimmers etc but it take all kinds to make the world. Who knows we might have a few losers graduate to these high levels of activity!!! I'm sure that some of out marathoner's started with walks around the block........you have to walk before you can run.

Starting today we have 28 day till Christmas!!! That ought to be time for some of us to recover from Thanksgiving and time for those who LOST over the holiday to lose even more!!! Ok folks, back on track!!!

 

[SumoRunner]

I only monitor the active lifestyle forum, so I haven't posted to this thread before. I'll introduce myself with two pics from my annual 15 Km road race. The first one from Nov. 2006 and the second from Nov. 2007. It's about a 40 lb difference and 12.5 minutes faster.

 

[Wise]

Hi Jack,

Good job man! Did your 40 lb. weight loss happen as a result of running only OR did you also alter your eating habits? Any good ideas would be helpful.

Wise

 

[Karlynn]

Wow! Congratulations!

 

[Superbob]

Hey Jack, welcome! Your thoughts will be very helpful here. I was a runner some years ago -- 5Ks, 10ks, even a few marathons. It's hard to see me getting back into running -- not really because of the OHS but mainly because of a moderate case of spinal stenosis and an old football knee. However, I do a lot of walking/hiking and want to step that up. Will look forward to your posts.

 

[SumoRunner]

Weight Watchers.

My valve replacement was 16+ years ago and I had steadily gained a few lbs each year since. I've been a runner for 30 years and never stopped except for a few months waiting for my surgery. The 15K race I was running in those photos I've done 24 times since 1978.

I had tried WW several times but always failed after a couple months. For some reason this year it just kept working for me. That is, I stayed on course (with this past weekend a notable exception). I haven't really strayed off the program from April until last Thursday. That'll be just a temporary gain.

I'm back to my 1991 weight now, or where I was at this time of year after the OHS. I have to get down another 20 lbs to be where I was the year before the OHS. That would still leave me about 20 lbs "overweight", but I'm also a shot putter, so that ought to be muscle.

The running in and of itself does nothing to reduce weight. I gained all those lbs while still running about as much as before. You just get slower and slower as you carry more and more baggage. Only watching what you eat trims the fat. Of course, as you lose the wt. the running does get easier, or rather you can make it more intense as well as do more. So as the wt. goes down the fitness goes up and one feeds off the other.

I found that weight-lifting made the wt. loss go slower due to added muscle mass, but it made a much greater difference in body image. I have a series of these photos from several road races. From Apr. to Sep. the look is not much different than the one from a year ago even though I had gone down more than 25 lbs by then. But the 3 mos from Sep. to Nov. when I was doing more lifting in addition to the running, the gut shrank significantly even though the lost poundage was less.

 

[Cooker]

Welcome Jack! I have to agree that exercise without (proper) diet does not drop pounds and diet with out exercise does not seem to work well for me either. When I stay on my exercise routine it seems to help me stay in the correct state of mind for overall good health. I ask my self ?why diet without exercise or why exercise without diet?? All of this new found health consciousness has me questioning several things in my life that don?t seem to fit in with a healthy lifestyle (baby steps).

I am looking forward to more testimonies that confirm that there is no ?over night? fix to being out of shape and or unhealthy life habits. All of us who have just started on this journey need to remember we did not get out of shape over night and we ain?t getting back in shape over night either. Rome wasn?t built in a day, but I gain six pounds in a week.

 

[Gnusgal]

I think you guys can stop congratulating me on my loss over Thanksgiving... When I got on the scales yesterday I was UP 4 pounds! I am seriously thinking it must have been fluid weight (which means it must have been REALLY bad) because I was also having chest pains when I got too active. I know, I should have called it in to my doctor... But it's such a pain! And I THINK most of it is gone today... I'll check in the morning to be sure. (BTW- the only reason I check my weight every day is to track fluid build up with CHF. Not because I LIKE to. ).

 

[SumoRunner]

Now that brings up an interesting point. Not exactly chest pains, but I get irregular heart beats - PVCs - when I overeat. That is, when my stomach is really, really over-full as if the bloated stomach is trying to crowd the heart out of the chest cavity or something. Some antacid and a couple hours to let it empty out and they go away.

Of course, high stress and caffeine will also cause PVCs but this feels somewhat different perhaps because of the bloated feeling. Luckily, in the last 6 mos, my overeating episodes were confined to just this past weekend.

 

[Superbob]

Weight Watchers.

My valve replacement was 16+ years ago and I had steadily gained a few lbs each year since. I've been a runner for 30 years and never stopped except for a few months waiting for my surgery. The 15K race I was running in those photos I've done 24 times since 1978.

I had tried WW several times but always failed after a couple months. For some reason this year it just kept working for me. That is, I stayed on course (with this past weekend a notable exception). I haven't really strayed off the program from April until last Thursday. That'll be just a temporary gain.

I'm back to my 1991 weight now, or where I was at this time of year after the OHS. I have to get down another 20 lbs to be where I was the year before the OHS. That would still leave me about 20 lbs "overweight", but I'm also a shot putter, so that ought to be muscle.

The running in and of itself does nothing to reduce weight. I gained all those lbs while still running about as much as before. You just get slower and slower as you carry more and more baggage. Only watching what you eat trims the fat. Of course, as you lose the wt. the running does get easier, or rather you can make it more intense as well as do more. So as the wt. goes down the fitness goes up and one feeds off the other.

I found that weight-lifting made the wt. loss go slower due to added muscle mass, but it made a much greater difference in body image. I have a series of these photos from several road races. From Apr. to Sep. the look is not much different than the one from a year ago even though I had gone down more than 25 lbs by then. But the 3 mos from Sep. to Nov. when I was doing more lifting in addition to the running, the gut shrank significantly even though the lost poundage was less.

Jack: Great post. Great screen name, too. Guess I was a SumoRunner when I ran, too. Certainly heavyset, though I trimmed down considerably, back then. (Guess the skinny guy inside me escaped and ran those marathons.

Question about weights. When I was in cardiac rehab in '05, the nurses had us finish our exercise circuit in the weight room, using very light weights. Was a very congenial group, and I probably could have continued to participate and get their advice, but we moved. Now I have just a pair of 7 pound barbells down in my exercise room, with the thought that I would do some light toning, but I find it easy to forget them.

If you don't mind me asking: Do you get advice and supervision at a gym about weights? Use a personal trainer? Follow some sort of scripted program? I was thinking I ought to push myself more in this area but want to do it at a sensible and gradual pace.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[gadgetman]

Does this hyar qualify as postin' in mo'e than one Fo'um???

Cooker,

ah see yo' done picked up somebody noo already. Yo' might be hankerin' t'pop up on "Small Talk" an' let ev'ryone knows th' "noo" locashun of th' Throw Down.

Losers Unite!!

Bubba

 

[SumoRunner]

Jack: Great screen name,

I didn't think it up, it was thrust upon me by a running buddy. I wasn't even all that heavy back then either. Compared to some runners though, even normal size looks sumo.

If you don't mind me asking: Do you get advice and supervision at a gym about weights? Use a personal trainer? Follow some sort of scripted program?

I workout at noon time alone most days. We have a gym in the basement at work (unsupervised) and I go down a bit earlier than the other guys so I can lift for a bit then go out to run. I can't lift heavy free weights if there's no spotter. On the universal gym with all those plates and cables and pulleys, I can set it to whatever I want. I won't do any serious lifting until the winter, Jan to March, until then it's just sort of maintenance.

I have no program, no advice, no plan, I just do a bit of this and that. I also have a 300 lb set in the basement at home that my son bought at a garage sale once, but I've never used it.

 

[Granbonny]

DRUM ROLL./...I broke the 170 barrier this morning.. it was 169... .Making it now a total of loss of 9 lbs for me.. Bonnie

 

[Mary]

DRUM ROLL./...I broke the 170 barrier this morning.. it was 169... .Making it now a total of loss of 9 lbs for me.. Bonnie

Way to go, Bonnie!
I guess we're on a roll, because I lost two pounds since last week's weigh-in!
Let's keep it up! (or down, I guess! )

 

[Karlynn]

Way to go, Bonnie!
I guess we're on a roll, because I lost two pounds since last week's weigh-in!
Let's keep it up! (or down, I guess! )

Congratulations to both of our losers today! You aren't on a roll - you're losing rolls!!!

 

[Cooker]

Way to go Bonnie and Mary!!!! Losing during the Thanksgiving week, amazing!!!! I am trusting that no banned substances were used?? I am trying my best to get back to where I was at the last weigh in, don?t think I will make it but we will see.

I think we will all continue to lose and become more active as time goes by!! Some of us have committed to donate $1 per pound lost between the beginning and the last weigh in before the reunion so Hank needs to cheer us on!! It most likely won?t be a huge sum but every little bit helps I?m sure.

Sidebar: The donation part of this thread is totally voluntary. Also, if there is anyone who is not able but would like to participate in the donation per pound, please PM me at the time of the tally and it will be covered with full anonymity.

 

[Karlynn]

My beloved fellow losers, if you get a chance, watch Oprah today. It's a show on her Hall of Fame weight loss people. The stories and the before and afters are incredibly motivating. If they can do it - so can we!

 

[Mary]

Way to go Bonnie and Mary!!!! Losing during the Thanksgiving week, amazing!!!! I am trusting that no banned substances were used?? I am trying my best to get back to where I was at the last weigh in, don?t think I will make it but we will see.

I think we will all continue to lose and become more active as time goes by!! Some of us have committed to donate $1 per pound lost between the beginning and the last weigh in before the reunion so Hank needs to cheer us on!! It most likely won?t be a huge sum but every little bit helps I?m sure.

Sidebar: The donation part of this thread is totally voluntary. Also, if there is anyone who is not able but would like to participate in the donation per pound, please PM me at the time of the tally and it will be covered with full anonymity.

That sidebar was as clear as mud, Cooker!

But I won't worry about it!

Yes, I will gladly, happily throw in a dollar for each pound I lose between now and the reunion. I hope it's a huge amount!

 

[Cooker]

That sidebar was as clear as mud, Cooker!

Are you serious?? I thought it was as clear as good moonshine

 

[Superbob]

Granbonny and Mary, SUPERBOB is mighty proud of you both! You GO, girls!

SUPERBOB is delaying his own weigh-in til Friday morning, however. (Sadie, go get your leash -- we've got to get walking to keep up with these ladies.)

Mary, hope you have a safe and enjoyable swing through the Southland. Sounds like you have received some good directions on navigating Hot-lanta. I have used my powers to try to limit temptations in my childhood state of Tennessee. Remember, that in the land of Rocky Top folks get their corn from a jar.

And, yes, Cap't Cooker,SUPERBOB will happily make a donation per pound lost to good ol' vr.com.