Body Building/Body Sculpting!

I'm getting over this stuff. None of my own plans are happening the way I wanted them to. I miss my family, my animals . . . and my daughter's birthday was today.

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I like working out, and usually go to the gym 3 times a week. I will fel bad if I am not doing anything

Ditto. I love to work out every day. I use to take Sundays off, but I can't afford to do that anymore.

Do you lift weights?

Foster, how's it going, dear?

I just ate some cookies

I just did reverse curls and one arm dumbell extensions because I was bored waiting for a game to download. Tomorrow is supposed to be an off day, but I've really been feeling lifting again and have been doing it almost daily.

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I walk Boris 4 days a week

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Something really gratifying happened earlier this week.

One of the things that motivated me over the winter was softball. Not just being in better shape, but getting a little stronger, in particular. I hit a couple of home runs last year, but I also hit a whole bunch of balls off the wall, or near the wall. I remember thinking that, if I could just get 10% stronger, that'd make a lot of difference. I thought about this almost every time I felt like skipping a day.

The first few games, I probably only hit a couple of balls particularly hard, and none came close to going out. But on Monday I hit three home runs in three at bats. It was really nice to make the extra effort for a specific reason, and get tangible evidence that it worked.

So I'm posting here largely to say that having tangible goals like this makes dieting and exercise a lot easier. For a lot of people this is something like a class reunion, or avoiding/minimizing health problems or pain, and that's better than nothing. But if you can find something ongoing (and competitive sports are a great example of that, because you can play them forever), you should! It really helps, motivation-wise.

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On the weight loss side, things have more or less stabilized. I'm still around 190. This is a good 10 lbs. from my lowest, though that was a very temporary (and probably unrealistic for now) mark. I've relaxed some eating habits, and though it's hard to be sure, I think at least a few of the pounds are muscle instead of fat now. At least, I'd hope/expect so.

I'm not sure where I want to end up exactly: if I stay around 190 but add some muscle and get to relax my diet a bit, I can live with that indefinitely. But I think I'd like to stabilize in the low or mid 180s, so there's a good chance I'll make a concerted effort to drop another 5 or 6 sometime in May or June. But for now, I'm just experimenting here and there, and seeing what I can get away with now that softball's in full swing again.

Life sucks when you have an eating addiction.

I'm trying to get that under control and slowly move into eating healthier and exercising. Exercising is a pain in the ass for me, so right now it really just consists of walking long distances with my friend... but, thankfully, the dude is really pushing me to eat healthier and exert myself more. IE walking back to his house we have to walk up a large hill, so now every time we do he makes me run up it instead.

But I need to take care of my eating before I really focus on exercise. Mainly because my dilemma is that if I don't eat before I exercise, I'll start to feel really weak and hungry, but if I do eat, I get side aches and stuff.

Maybe I'm a lost cause, but I certainly hope not. I really want to lose weight and be healthy - I recently found out I have high cholesterol. I hate all the BS I have to deal with health-wise, at f*cking 23 years old. Aren't I supposed to deal with this crap when I'm like, 50?

Swan, I've seen pictures of you. You look good. You could be skinny and look terrible.

Don't obsess over this and that. Eat your damn food. Eat healthier if you can, yes, but don't starve yourself. You were probably made to be big. It's programmed in you to pig out. Let nature take its course. You're never in control, I say.

You're definitely right re: eating before exercise. Obviously it's good, but it takes a lot of exercise to work off food (walking a mile burns, like, 100 calories, IE: less than half a candy bar), and sometimes it just makes you hungrier.

I'd definitey, first and foremost, try to find a couple of foods you can eat a decent amount of that you at least moderately like. If you can replace pizza with grilled chicken, even if it's a fair bit of chicken at first, that's a really good first step before worrying about portion control and stuff.

One of the biggest things for me was internalizing the fact that fat is literally just food sitting on your body. Being hungry sucks, but the really hard part is when something in your brain is telling you you're starving, or makes you feel like you're literally not supposed to be doing this. It's a lie. The food is literally sitting on you, you just need to force your body to burn it, because it won't unless it has to.

Thanks Sexy. I think my eating and health has become a problem, though. I'm worried I'll have a heart attack in a few years, which means I really need to work on being healthier in general. It just sucks that eating right and exercise is so difficult for me.

That's a freaking fascinating way to look at it. I do think mindset is important, too. I'm going to read that paragraph over from time to time, until it's engrained in my brain.

But it's okay to eat sometimes because food can put you in a good mood. While sitting around and waiting for your body to digest fat clothes you're wearing... isn't always so pleasurable.

I say the more you fight it, the worse off you may be. Overall. Only starve yourself if you truly don't mind it. If you truly feel like you don't need the food. And you can make this happen by eating healthier and eating enough that makes you feel full and good. Sometimes all it takes is picking the right foods to eat.

Ridiculous. Won't work. Waste of time. Stress inducing. It'll make you hungry.

I had that same problem. I like to jog most days. I think the best thing to do is eat a short while before exercising, like maybe half an hour before. And also eating something that won't make you feel really heavy like a salad or some fruit. That is what works for me. Weight loss is not an easy thing. I was overweight in high school but have managed to lose all the excess weight and thankfully keep it off too. I know how difficult it can be. Especially eating clean.

Not trying to alter the convo, just saw the thread title and say theres a girl on current season of Survivor whose a professional bodybuilder, and is breathtakingly gorgeous. Cydney Gillon

Totally true...at first. But after awhile it feels a lot better.

When I started hitting my weight loss goals, one of the first things I thought was "I am so dumb for not doing this five years ago."

As you adjust to the changes, it can turn into something you can deal with. I made some changes myself recently and I've surprisingly adjusted. But I don't know if you should always try hard to starve and feel it. You can starve yourself and see a big improvement in weight loss after awhile. I know that's worked for me, at least. I used to never have issues like this, but I guess I got older and my body says I need more weight on me. You know what? Whatever, body. 160 lbs. - hell, I was under 150 lbs. ten years ago - was right for that time. But if I can't get back to that (and I doubt I will), whatever. This is me now. I was once a baby, I was once a kid, I was once a skinny minnie, now I'll be a bulky hulky.

Which you should totally change my username to - Bulky Hulky. I like that. I want that. Please.

Last time I checked, I had lost four pounds. Seems the constant walks are paying off.

Now that my mustache is gone I feel really optimistic about getting into shape!
Once I have my cheekbones and hair back I'm going to be so damn good looking, I think I'm at risk of becoming a narcissist.

It's all relative, I used to always think I was too fat even when I was 6'3" 170 lbs.
I've been fat and mustached forever, even 200 lbs would feel skinny to me now.

I forgot what it was like to feel attractive
Not that i feel that way now, but I look in the mirror and I can remember lol.