I walked a mile in 20 minutes this morning.

[Tobin S.]

Not bad for a fat guy. Last fall I lost 50 pounds by walking and keeping my calories at about 2000 a day. I've since put 30 of it back on, but I remember when I started walking the last time that I could barely make it that same route that I did today. I was really struggling. Today, I did it with ease barely breaking a sweat. So I'm not totally out of shape.

GreenPartyVoter, who has the 130 pound weight loss thread here in the lounge, turned me on to www.myfitnesspal.com. It's a food diary, an exercise diary, and food stat counter. The food stat counter tracks just about everything you can think of- calories, carbs, protein, sodium, fat, sugar. I've read from a different source that people who keep a food diary are more successful at weight loss than those who don't. They also have a message board and a news feed that's set up a lot like facebook with friends and all that. I'm Tobin1972 over there if you'd like to join and look me up. Thanks, Coach, for hooking me up.

So I weighed in at 330 yesterday. I need to be at about 220. That's my long term goal. I'm hoping I can get there in a year.

[woodsprite]

1. Congrats! I don't know if I could do a mile in 20 min or not.

I can do short spurts at 3.0 in a controlled environment (read 'treadmill'), but I really baby my knees when walking because I've dislocated both at one time or another. My nutritionist said that the 30+ minutes of fast walking or aerobics per day is really important for both blood sugar and heart. At the 30 min, your body works its way into the 'fat burning' zone and your metabolism will stay pumped up for a few hours after ending exercise. She wants me to work up to 40-50 min/day. I'm still working on that. Those food/exercise logging programs are great (I use SparkPeople). If you have a smart phone, 2 other apps I've found helpful have been "Plant nanny" (it tracks the water you drink and sends you reminders), and HeartRate Free. You hold your finger lightly over the camera lens and it tells you your heart rate. I use it in conjunction with meditation, slower breathing, etc., to bring down my BP and lower stress.

I have no doubt that you'll be able to reach your goal, but you might want to break it into mini-goals rather than looking at that whole number. I've lost 46 lbs since last October (22 of those since the end of January) by aiming for 20 lb goals at a time. I'm doing a modified low carb diet because I was also diagnosed as diabetic in January. I'm going a bit lower carb this week to try to jumpstart my momentum again (think South Beach Diet). I kinda plateaued for awhile, but I'm ready now to keep heading down the scale. I'm at 220 right now and am aiming for 165. My A1C went from 8.4 in January to 6.4 in May. I don't get that tested again until September. Hoping it might even get a bit lower.

My doc is hopeful that once I get close to goal, that I'll get off the metformin 500mg 2x/day (for insulin resistance) and 10mg Lisinipril (blood pressure meds) that I take daily.

Best of luck!!!

[Wounded Bear]

2. Good job!

I try to walk every day, for at least 15-30 minutes, sometimes more. My peak was 3 miles one day.

If you lose about 50 of those 330, your BP just might improve a bit.

Good work. Can I ask how tall you are, for a little perspective?

[Tobin S.]

3. I'm 5'10" with a large frame.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Ok...

Even with a large frame, that sounds pretty heavy.

Best of luck! You've proven your stick to-it-ive-ness around here, and I'm sure you'll get a lot of moral support.

[Tobin S.]

5. Yes, it's heavy. That's why I'm dieting and exercising.

Were you thinking that I might be 7 feet tall?

But the large frame is why I'm fit at 220.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Well, if you were 6'6" or so...

it wouldn't be such a problem.

I'm about 5'10" myself. And yeah, at my height 330 would be very heavy. I peaked at about 265. I'm kind of stuck at around 232 right now, trying to get down into the 220's again. Hit one of those plateaus, you know.

Best of luck, though!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. That's the problem, you're too short.

If I could figure out how to get from 5'8 to 6'3, my weight would be perfect.

There oughta be a drug for that. Get busy, big pharma.



Good luck!

[Thor_MN]

11. Personally, I figure that I'm getting taller every year.

The ground keeps getting further away and my hair can't keep up with my height gain.

[WinkyDink]

8. Excellent! I've got to start walking again, too, to lose weight and build up bones!

[Mendocino]

9. I'm 5'11", was up to 230.

Exercise, careful vegetarian diet and almost no alcohol have dropped me to 175 with consistent BP around 115/65. I've maintained this for over ten years.

It takes a plan, and seems you have a good one. Keep it up!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. So did I.

We have similar goals- my dual goals are to get down to 200 lb (I'm at 231 today) and to throw this wheelchair away.

I 'wheelchair walked' around the track for the measured distance of one mile. I didn't clock myself, but I believe it took me about 35-40 min. I also used my walker to walk approximately 1200 ft. without stopping.

Good luck to you.

The indoor track I use 3x weekly