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While I can not speak to anything you are doing some things I have been doing for my Feb 09 wedding is a food journal. I write down everything I eat and drink, plus I plan everything that I eas so I know in advance what I am eating that day. Can't eat what I don't have! :)
Since I live in a cold environment, I have moved my activities inside. I currently use Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred and add an additional cardio video 3 times a week.
I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck!
I am certainly no expert on the topic, but what about workout videos?
My girlfriends and I have had some success with them, and they are cheap (or free! if your library has them).
I like 8 minute abs, buns, arms and legs. I think I paid $10 at Target for all four videos. It's a small investment and the variety of exercises keeps it exciting. The "Silk" kickboxing video has kicked my butt more than a few times.
Also, pilates videos are less impact and they build muscles gently -- you'll do low-impact stuff and feel the burn the next day, but you usually won't find yourself out of breath while doing it!
Another non-exercise idea -- add more oil to your diet, as well as a robust supplement/vitamin regimen. Many "diet" books I've read have recommended it and I lost 15 pounds in 3 months by increasing olive oil and following French Women Don't Get Fat principles (eat what you want in moderation, eat slowly) -- and I didn't exercise at that point.
Take vitamins daily, add fish-oil supplements (I take the gummy ones). I hear prenatals are fab for hair and nails, but I'm not in a place to recommend them.
Another resource you could tap into is SparkPeople.com. They have tons of ideas and resources for weight loss - even online workout videos and online exercise/diet tracking! Good luck!!!!
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Gotta love Pilates! It's the only workout I've done that is very low impact, but your muscles work overtime. I do a Pilates video three times a week in my living room for 20 minutes before I get ready for work. Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred is a buttkicker, but it makes you feel like you're really accomplishing something!
Also, although you eat 2000 calories a day (which is average for weight maintainence), you're not really burning any of that energy if you're not exercising. Thus you maintain your current weight. Adding exercise or lowering your calorie intake (at a safe level of course) will help drop lbs. If you combine exercise and lower your calorie intake, you'll probably find it easier to lose unwanted weight. A safe goal is to lose about 1.2 lbs. per week for your body size. Try myfooddiary.com, it tracks your food intake, exercise, and gives tips and advice on how to change your habits for a more healthy lifestyle. I have so much more evergy since I started using it, and I've lost 6 lbs. in 5 weeks.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress! That's the great thing about this site...built-in support! :)
I'm another lazy exercise person...just out of curiosity, with all those diet pills out there, do they work? Are they safe?
oy I totally feel you on the bad knee and the lack of exercise. the thing that has ALWAYS worked for me is a keeping a food journal. We highly underestimate the calories we eat each day. If you write down EVERYTHING you eat, (including condiments and tiny snacks), you'de be surprised how many calories you're consuming. A great website to help you figure out how many calories you should be eating and helps you keep track of them all is http://caloriecount.about.com/. You creat a profile and enter your stats and your life style and the websites suggests how many calories you should be consuming to lose weight by a specific weight. They have a huge database of foods that you can selec to add to your food journal and it's overall very easy.
Also I've had great success with workout tapes, especially kickboxing, (billy blanks or beachbodies). They're cheap and easy on the knees and they make you sweat! Cardio is the most important thing for you because that's what causes overall weightloss. situps are nice but even if you have tons of stomach muscles they won't be visible if you have fat over the stomach. I'm only saying this with the outmost desire to help seeing as I've definitely been in your situation. I wish you the best of luck. you can do it!. If you have any question feel free to message me.
I lost about 40 pounds between March and July 2007 using Weight Watchers Online. It cost me only $17 a month (versus $13 a week for meetings). I found it easy to follow and to use. Hope that helps!
Hi,
I'm not an expert on this, but from what you've described it sounds like the weight you've gained is probably some extra stress-relatd fat. You say you eat healthy (veggies and fruits), but it may be that your metabolism would do better with a higher protein diet. If you're not doing a lot of aerobic excercise, then the carbs you're eating (even fruit and veggie carbs) are probably being converted to fat instead of burned. You definitely do not want to cut out all carbs or go on a starvation diet, but I would suggest bumping up your lean protein consumption (egg whites, lean chicken, white fish, etc). If you're vegetarian this will be harder, but I would suggest upping the lentil intake. On such a diet, I suspect you'll also feel full quicker and be able to reduce your caloric intake (though I second the notion that it shouldn't be by too much, but at your height/weight I think 1700calories would still be safe...try googling 'maintenance caloric intake' to find a good calculator). To be clear, I'm defnitely not advocating an extreme starvation diet, just something to make you a bit leaner before your wedding. Personally, I'd cut out most fruits and limit myself to whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat) etc, but that's a personal decision. You definitely want to continue with the strength training and keep up your protein intake as it's important to build muscle or you'll gain it all back when you reintroduce foods into your diet. Though in general if you're drastically increasing protein I would definitely say it should be lean, I'm guessing you don't already eat a lot of fat so you probably don't need to be too careful there. The main thing is you should not be feeling hungry or tired all the time...if you are the diet is *not* healthy. Overall 20-30 pounds is a lot to lose so I'd recommend talking to a doctor and/or nutritionist, but what I've described above is sort of an atheletic "training" diet which isn't too extreme and so should still be pretty healthy.
Definitely a popular topic on the weddingbbe boards! If you look at yesterdays posts, you'll see two more!
For me, I'm a freak about lean cuisines and special K, soudns stupid but it worked fo rme!
Also, Jillians 30-day Shred is AWESOME. I heard about it here, and love it! its only a 20 minute work out but it KICKS YOUR ASS. its only like $15.
I am all about eating healthy and exercise to lose weight and maintain. Sit ups will add muscle, but not help you lose weight, cardio is needed for that. Push-ups are a good idea. But what I'd suggest more than anything is to go on Weigh Watchers as someone else mentioned. It really really worked with my sister! Also, get a gf to help motivate you and walk with you or do exercise tapes with you. Good luck! Remember YOU CAN DO IT!
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I have a friend who is 5'2" and she lost weight for her wedding but didn't exercize her arms. She did not look skinnier. This about what you see in a wedding dress....face, neck, arms. This isn't spring break. Eat a balanced diet and do exercizes for toned arms. People will notice the arms, not the abs.
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I definitely second sparkpeople, it has been incredibly helpful for me. I highly recommend using sparkpeople to track you calories. Using sparkpeople, I try to stay aroun 1200-1300 calories, do 30-day shred and cardio and it's made a difference. Also, just a couple of tricks that have worked for me, lots of water, limited carbs at night, early dinner and working out!
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"Drink 8 glasses of water each day" is what we hear all the time but what weight loss benefits do we get from drinking water? Can anyone answer my question please?
I like what Lucyyoutoo said.. it's true, face, arm, neck... sadly for me... i'm top heavy, cone shaped... even at my skinniest, my arms, face aren't that thin.. :(
Water, lots of it
Small portioned meals every 3 hrs
Limit calories but ensure you get your protein
Exercise... cardio and strength training.
Don't get frustrated... remember its a marathon not a sprint
I use sparkpeople too, it does help.
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I totally second the Sparkpeople.com recommendation. If you're an all-day computer user at wrok, it's easy to keep the page open and minimized and add EVERYTHING that you put into your mouth. Those little snacks that you don't even think about add up, and drinking enough water is HUGE in helping shed the weight.
@MissyJen--I tried the whole Alli thing. Yes, it's a great way to help you lose weight BUT you have to stick EXACTLY to the guidelines or you'll end up needing an emergency change of clothes. Any diet pill that recommends wearing dark colored clothing for the first few weeks because "accidents happen" is not for me! However, it will help the pounds come off easier than just dieting alone!
Dolo, water provides two benefits. The obvious is that it fills you up so you eat less. The more important is that it helps out your liver. The break down of fat in your body happens in your liver. But the liver also serves to process and remove many toxins from your body. If you drink a lot of water you help your liver by flushing out toxins so that more of it is free to break down fat.
a lot of people have left great tips already, here are a few more:
-drink more water. more water, more water, more water.
-if you're eating salad frequently, be sure you're paying attention to the calories in your dressing. if you love ranch dressing, it's easy to make salad a high-calorie meal.
-find high-fiber foods - i like those rye crisp crackers, and can have them and hummus for a filling snack under 200 calories
-use measuring cups for portion control. no one has ever poured themselves a "standard" serving size of cereal without using a measuring cup.
-do you have Netflix? they have streaming exercise videos. or you can rent exercise dvd's from them. i do netflix instead of cable, so it's cost-effective, too.
-work the wedding dress areas - arms & shoulders. pushups are great. if you're concerned about your waistline try oblique crunches - drop both knees to one side and do crunches like that, contracting your *side.* then do it on the other side.
Hi there -
One thing that may be contributing to weight gain, even if you are eating healthy, is food allergies. I was diagnosed last year with several food allergies/intolerances and now that I've avoided those foods the weight dropped off. If you have health insurance it's definately worth pursuing...and if not, or if your doctor is not being helpful and you want to move forward you can go on a dairy/soy/gluten/egg/treenut free diet...
I've written a lot about this on my blog so if you want to check that out, or send me a message I can give you more information.
Since addressing these allergies I've finally found that working out is easier AND more effective...and totally 2nd the Jillian's 30 Day Shred.
Good luck!
I know people are pushing the water, but don't overdo it. There IS such a thing as too much; it can dilute your electrolytes, causing serious harm (in extreme cases death). Water is of course healthy but you do not need to "hydrate." Drink as you're thirsty. After a work-out, etc. There is no actual research supporting 8 glases a day. (all this supported by a dartmouth researcher: http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml)
As far as losing weight, I'd look into weight watchers. It's pretty inexpensive and I've known a lot people that see good results with it. It's great that you want to exercise, but the first step to weight loss is truly adjusting your diet. You can exercise 3 hours a day, but if you're consuming all the calories you've just worked off, there is no weight loss. Weight watchers will give you a realistic weight loss plan. Then, start muscle toning. You can even use soup cans as weights. More muscle=more calories burned because they require more energy than fat. The cardio is a little tricky since you can't go to a gym and can't run. If you own a bike, do that. An aerobic video would work as well, just make sure you're getting out of breath :)
From my own experience, losing weight and slimming down is 70% food and 30% exercise. IMHO investing in a nutritionist rather than a gym membership would be much more helpful in losing weight.
But you have access to really great nutrition info on the internet for free! To lose one pound, you need to burn 3500 calories. Experts say that a healthy weight loss rate is about one pound per week, so this means you need to decrease your overall caloric intake by 500 calories a day.
Here's what I would suggest. Cut your daily food to about 1550cal and spread them out through the day. You wanna eat 3 meals of ~450cal each and 2 snacks in between of ~100cal. Make sure there is protein in each meal and snack. Stick to lean meats and soy, and try some protein bars for the snacks. Protein helps keep you satisfied and prevents you from getting hungry faster. Also, cutting your regular carbs intake by half can go a long way. Just try decreasing your carbs portion sizes and beware that most fruits are actually very sugary and caloric. Eat something every 3 hours. The goal is not to feel hungry, because when we feel hungry is when we binge.
Exercise 3 times a week for at least 1hr each session. Try jump-roping at home for cardio or any of the other suggested work out videos. To tone your arms, tricep exercises are probably the most important for a bride. Do high number of reps with lower weights to help burn the fat rather than build muscle.
I hope that helps!!
Three Words: South Beach Diet!
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Try this! I've been losing weight for the past year(ish) and this is how I've done it.
It's all about portion control for me. I eat really small meals and I eat them 5 to 6 times a day. That way I only eat what I need. And I only eat when I'm definitely hungry. If you're on the go a lot, try carrying snacks with you. I like fruit cups and granola bars for a quick pick me up.
Also, I've been doing more toning type exercises. By increasing my muscle I increase the number of calories I burn each day, plus it looks nice.
I've actually been using resistance bands. http://www.bodylastics.com is a good resource for some nice one. They're definitely cheaper than a gym membership (and better on joints too). You can also check out amazon.com or maybe Target or Walmart and see if they have similar bands? They key is figuring out how to use them, and the 1st website has some good tips.
So... portion control and toning... nothing fancy :)
Hope this helps! Best of luck to you.
Most people end up eating way more calories than they think every single day, and if you aren't counting your calories your best estimate is probably way off. To accurately measure your calories you need to save all of your wrappers from your food, and get a food scale for when you eat portions of food. Sparkpeople.com or Fitday.com give you the ability to plug in the numbers.
It's going to take a lot of really hard work to lose 30 pounds before your wedding, that is a weight loss of around 2.14 lbs/week.
You actually don't need 2000 calories day. I used the PC program "Fitday" to do the math for your situation. To lose the weight you want to lose, without exercising intensely, you would need to eat about 1200 calories/day. Which trust me, is NOT a lot. On a day where I ate 1,241 calories I ate:
1 slice of bread with 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon honey
.5 cup grapes
Frozen meal (Healthy choice lemon pepper fish)
1 can of tuna mixed with 2 tablespoons of may spread on 60 grams of Kashi Tasty Little Crackers
5 grams of chocolate
That is not a lot of food, and it takes a lot of discipline to eat so healthy every day. The only way to feel full on that many calories is to eat as much fiber and protein as possible.
I personally don't believe in "get thin quick" diets, or any type of diet for that matter. I believe that portion control and calorie counting are the key to losing weight, and excercising daily will help you tone up faster. Good luck!
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Looks like we have the same wedding day/weekend! Totally know what you are going through...
In addition to what everyone has said, just think this way - move more, eat less.
Go for a walk everyday. Park far away in parking lots. If you have stairs at home, go up and down them for 10-15 minutes and do calf raises. Do the workout videos, but you dont need anything to get down and do as many pushups as possible when you wake up in the morning. Squats or wall sits while brushing your teeth.
I also recommend yoga to help with the stress and to tone as well.
As for foods, Pick foods such as fruit, salad w/low fat dressing, lean proteins that will fill you up with the least amount of calories.
Most of all, remember what this day is about. Its easy to say and hard to do, instead of worrying about being a skinny minnie, make sure you are healthy and feeling good for the day.
If I dont drop one pound before the wedding, but feel great all day and look beautiful...that's what matter more. ;)
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build muscle! it'll help you burn calories faster (even if you are just sitting there). i'm a huge fan of pilates but any way you can build muscle will help you tone up and drop pounds.
as an avid exerciser.....I think that's what you are lacking. You seem to have the nutrition thing down. Now you need to get your heartrate up and sweat!!
can you go to a local ymca and use the pool ( since it's too cold to work-out outside?)
also, the workout video suggestions are great. get your heartrate up at least 3x per week along w/ your nutrition program and you will see results.
good luck!
Two words: South Beach.
Have you tried that? I've lost 10 lbs and I was never really overweight. It's difficult at first, but it gets easier!
have smaller portions for breakfast, lunch and dinner. also eat every 2 hours. so that means breakfast within the first hour of waking up, then snack, lunch, snack, dinner. it also helps to drink a lot of water throughout the day. if you feel hungry drink water and see how you feel afterwards. also try lifting free weights and do yoga.
I actually have hired a trainer for my wedding, and have started a blog to share all of her fitness tips with other brides - the blog also follows my progress with Weight Watchers:
you guys are great! i'm bookmarking this post so i can write down all the good tips!
i started a new blog to help keep me accountable..http://soon2behealthybride.blogspot.com/
i may need some encouragement :)
A few pearls from my own weight loss efforts:
1. Weightwatchers.com Great way of learning how to cook healthy. If you join, they have an online food diary and you can track your daily point.
2. small goals work best Example: don't say I will do 100 sit ups a day. Just do sit ups for 1 minute every day. Read a study where women made small goals (push ups or sit up for 1minute EVERY day for 30 days) and they lost on average 7lbs just by exercising ONE minute every day
3. Don't obsess. You'll set yourself up for failure.
Good luck!
Sorry if I am repeating I didnt have a chance to go through all the comments -- but it's super important for you to talk to your doctor too. He/She can help you find the best way for your body to get to where you want it to be. They can help get you on a diet, or suggest a nutritionist or a specific food to avoid. Primary Care Physicians know more then you think -- use them!
Good luck! Weight loss is tough but if you put your mind to it you can accomplish it!
Everyone has such great advice! I think a couple of posters mentioned that the arms, neck and face are the parts of the body that will be most visible on your wedding day.
So with that, does anyone have good advice on how to tone the arms? Because I've had wrist problems on and off, push ups aren't a great option for me. Light hand weights work though! Any good exercises that help get rid of that unwanted arm jiggle?? thanks!
I have to agree with other posters....excercise helps out a lot, but to lose serious weight it has got to be about changing food habits. I lost about 40 pounds doing WeightWatchers, with the points, and it was hard but totally worth the results. I don't want to be a shill for them, but it was what worked for me.
I am trying to get back into it but with the holidays here it is so hard! I have a little over 100 days left so I am right there with you! We can do it! We might just have to wait until December 26 to start. 
Crispysgirl,
It's been a month since your last post, how are you doing??
My tip:
Maybe for your wedding you don't care about weight as much as size. You may want to try neoprene shorts; Bally makes comfortable ones. They make you sweat when you work out your buns and thighs. They also make arm bands and belly bands that do the same thing. They make you lose water, and thus make the fat cells in those areas accessable. It'll help you slim down in that area if you have a problem with water retention. Also cutting down on sodium and increasing your potassium will reduce your tendency to retain water.
I like Walk Away the Pounds with Leslie Samsone. She is kind of cheesy, but she motivates me and it isn't too bad, but it gets you fit. I also like Tae-bo to change things up. I used to do it in highschool and broke it out again for wedding dress fittings.
Special K Protein Water (powder), Food Journal, Jillian Michaels = you'll be good to go!
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To make a long story short, I can't afford a gym membership. I'm getting married in March 09 and I need to lose 20-30 lbs. I don't eat unhealthy at all..I guess it's been the stress of the past year and a half that has made me put on weight. I eat lots of fruit and veggies now as always and I'd say my daily consumption is under 2k calories. Right at 100 days to go and I want to be thinner. I don't smoke and I've not been exercising but I would like to do 100 pushups and 100 situps each day if I know that will help. I've gained my weight around my midsection (tummy, bottoms and thighs). I don't look as heavy as I am. I weigh about 170 and I'm 5' 6". What can I do to drop some of this weight? I have a bad knee so I can run but I can't get motivated enough to walk and right now, it's pretty cold where I live.
Help!