Posted 9/9/2009 3:34 PM (GMT 0)
If you are looking to lose weight even now, then one thing I do to pack on burned calories without working too hard is, in addition to my 3 miles every morning(which takes me about 55 minutes), I also try to do 10 minute sessions throughout the rest of the day, for example, 10 minutes just walking around the yard, or 10 minutes bouncing on the mini-trampoline. What I do on the minitrampoline is, I am using primarily calf movements, but at the same time, I work in 50 jumping jack movements with my arms, then 50 butterfly movements(squeezing the chest muscles) then 50 pushdowns(extending to work triceps), 50 arm curls for biceps, and then 50 movements where I hold my arms up level and pull them back(working the back muscles). This might sound intense, but it's not, I do it slowly and lightly enough that I do not even come close to intensifying breathing like you would expect from jogging. I "endeavor" to do those types of 10 minute sessions 6-7 times throughout the day, but in practice I can only force myself to do them 2-3 times. Which is still enough to keep the weight coming off, but still never manage to do my on-paper plan of 6-7 times a day.
I also calorie count, but I don't follow weight watchers or any commercialized near-scams like that, I went through and researched foods/nutrients in books/internet, picked a bunch of things that I can both tolerate eating and that should provide a good base of nutrients, and divvied it up to eat throughout the day, and here is what I do:
First off,I drink 90% water now. I only indulge in pepsi on Sundays, and I usually allow myself to eat whatever I want on Sunday(or meatloaf, spaghetti, hamburgers, whatever family cooks). While I do drink orange juice and other juices for the nutrients, I measure liquid calories right along with food calories. A typical day will see me do the following: 1) 200 calories of Kashi go lean cereal with 65 calories milk 2) 530 calories hardees biscuit and gravy(this is my daily indulgence to prevent insanity) 3)half cup orange juice 55 calories 4) tuna sandwich 310 calories 5) half cup grapefruit juice 65 calories 6) can of chicken noodle soup 150 calories 7)half cup of apple juice 60 calories 8)smoothie with 45 calories of strawberries, 55 calories yogurt, 85 calories grape juice mixed in 9) dinner is 150 calorie piece of grilled chicken with about 200 calories of collard greens, spinach, broccoli, and mixed corn/carrots/peas/beans and I also chew some raw garlic with this meal(usually I stick it inside a big bite of chicken, raw garlic is hard to eat lol). That's about 1970 calories right there, and by the time I've gotten to the chicken and vegetables its about 7 or 8pm, so if I need anything else I might eat a couple of 45 calorie popsicles. I may also drink a half quart of diluted gatorade(yes, it doesn't taste good diluted, but you get used to it) while I'm walking in the morning, that is an extra 60 calories or so too.
Now, I am an extremely picky eater, I hate most fruits and all vegetables. The vegetables that I've listed above, I basically throw them frozen into boiling water and then try to strain them out at a point in time after they've been melted but before the water starts boiling again(to avoid boiling out nutrients). Since I hate all vegetables I literally have to eat bites of chicken(which I do use barbecue sauce with) along with mouthfuls of the vegetables. You, most likely, have a wider appetite for fruits and vegetables, and could thus eat salads and other things that I would never touch - due to my pickiness the above is pretty much the only healthy things I can eat, otherwise I'd be off to get burgers and fries.