Hello all, newbie from UK in need of motivation and sympathetic ear

C

Chocaddict

New member
Hi,

I reached a low point around Christmas after over indulging and weighed 14.5 stone. Since then I joined WeightWatchers and hit the gym and lost just under 2 stone. I feel better but found WW uninspiring as I didn't like a prescribed diet that I felt was limiting. I just got a new programme at the gym in an effort to shake up my fitness regime.

I'm great at keeping it up during the school holidays but as a secondary teacher I am very guilty of emotional eating during term time because of stress. Any words of advice would be fantastic!! I really want to continue with this energetic feeling all term long
 
Hi, and welcome :)

Do you have a rationale for your diet now? If you don't, may I suggest calorie counting? I know it's unfashionable, but it's working for me (and you don't have to stick to a rigid diet- you can eat whatever you want as long as it's around or under your calorie goal- for example, tonight I had chocolate, and not "skinny" or "diet" or "sorta kinda", actual chocolate- and you should still lose weight, although obviously for nutrition reasons you want to eat healthily). In order to do that (or at least to have an awareness of calories in food and how they fit into your weight loss goals), I recommend searching for a BMR calculator and working out your daily calorie requirements (taking into account activity level- for example with the Harris Benedict Formula), then reducing that by 500 calories for 1 pound loss a week, or 1000 for 2 pounds loss (never under 1200 if you're female or 1800 if you're male- and remembering this is an estimate so you may need to adjust depending on results). At a minimum, I'd recommend choosing lower calorie and more satisfying foods (for example, I swapped my toast for porridge- much more filling, and given how much toast I used to eat, much lower calorie). I don't recommend starving yourself or sticking to boring foods, that won't work (as I'm sure you know).

Here, I'd recommend you do two things. First, read the stickied posts in each of the forums (at least the first couple of pages, or the input by the original poster), as you'll get some really invaluable information out of them. The second is to head over to the diary section and read some of diaries for inspiration and ideas (feel free to steal ideas from me- I list recipes and go into my calorie counting in detail). If you want to and/ or feel brave enough (although there's nothing to be afraid of), make a diary of your own for motivation, accountability, and support.

Best of luck :)
 
HI choca. Welcome to the site. Congratulations on making a good start.

I totally understand what you are saying about stress. You should probably consider working with a counsellor to deal with your stress especially if crisis points are coming up. Discuss what exactly causes the stress and figure out better styles of thinking and maybe working so that you are less stressed.

Since you've identified stress as a major problem, then i strongly recommend taking up yoga as your main form of exercise.

Take up meditation and you only have to do it for a few minutes a day but you need to do it ever day, perhaps even twice a day to get the benefit of it. A regular habit of meditation is not easy. But when you've got stress its brilliant. Some people say they can't do it. That's bunk. Everyone can do it. As i said its not easy. Its a matter of learning how to do it and not expecting miracles - in that learning to control what's going on in your mind is not easy but the results are somewhat miraculous if you ask me.

Learn about mindfulness as your way into meditation. You can do mindfulness meditation anywhere any time though its good to do it for a few minutes sitting still in a quiet room on a regular basis.

You can try any one or all of these recommendations and it will all help.

My sister is a teacher. She seems to handle the stress though when she first started she hated her job, didn't like working in the school system and gave it up for working with adults in teaching as a foreign language. She's managed her career really well and has had a very good life doing what she loves. Maybe there is that to be considered for you also. She's been teaching now for more than 20 years i'd say.

Back to the yoga. Yoga can be very strenuous so it can burn just as many calories than working in a gym but I believe it has greater psychological benefits. I think it may also have greater physical benefits as well as works absolutely all parts of the body. There are a number of different types of yoga. My favourite is Iyengar. My least favourite so far is Ashtanga. And i don't like the sound of the one that requires you get hot and sweaty either. Usually a class goes for 1.5 hours. Its mentally very interesting. I wish i could afford to do it all the time.
 
Hi fortyfour,

I really like your holistic approach to this. I did yoga for a while at my last school as one of the teachers there was an instructor but since last summer I haven't been to one class and I don't know why. I think when my job becomes too stressful I just can't seem to find the time but when I'm feeling rational during the break I know I have to make time. I'll enroll in the class at my gym now before I start back at school and see how I go.

Can you explain for a novice how Iyengar is different to other forms of yoga?

I can relate to your sister, I've been teaching for 4 years now and it really is a baptism of fire. Where abouts does she teach?
 
Hi Amy,

calorie counting does seem to be the easiest option and as a legacy to WW it did teach me to swap instant hit foods for slow burners. I also eat a lot more fruit and vegatables now as a conscious effort.

My gym instructor advised me to eat most of my carbs at lunch time so that I have a chance in the day to burn them off and he says that this will mean I have the energy to go to the gym after work.

Keep an eye out for a possible diary soon, that's a great idea! x
 
If you're going to calorie count, I recommend using a calorie counting program to track what you're eating. I use one called cron-o-meter (I downloaded it as a program, but it can also be used on their website), but fitday is also mentioned a lot around here (both are free. I've also heard of myfitnesspal, but I don't know anything about that). With the program I use you can either use their database (which is large, but US based) or enter your own foods (which it then remembers), or both (it's a little bit time consuming at first, but I don't enter very much on mine anymore). On my program, you can set your calorie goals (as well as nutritional and macronutrient goals) or allow the program to set it for you (although if it sets it for you it'll set you to maintenance, so you'll need to change it, and keep in mind that the goals on the food log are from the minimum rather than the maximum end of the range). It does seem to work in metric apart from the calories though (which suits me fine, so do I).

I'm not sure what the rationale is for eating carbs or whatever at certain times of day. My understanding is that a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit is a calorie deficit. I eat what I like when I feel like it (well, what I like that's low calorie choices that I know I like and will keep me full, so there's a fair bit of repetition), and I'm losing weight relatively quickly (I aim for a 500 calorie deficit but most days hit somewhere between 500 and 1000 deficit)- I've lost 3kg, or just shy of half a stone, in three weeks, and I don't follow any "rules" (well, low calorie, and things like having at least 5 and preferably more serves of fruit and veg a day).

I also heartily recommend looking for low calorie (or, on some websites, like my favourite site, low kilojoule) recipes online (but double checking the calories through a recipe calorie calculator- the one I favour is at Calorie Count, although there are others- which is a useful tool to have at your disposal in any case). It's a great way to keep your food interesting and varied. (As I said earlier, you're also welcome to steal from me. I post where I find my recipes, any adaptations I make, and I try to post the calories in a serve)

Hope some of this helps.
 
What your gym instructor said about carbs is utterly silly and wrong. Carbs can stay in your muscles for along time before turning to fat. Carbs are the most important source of energy. You should eat them at any time of the day.

My sister teachers at a university in the UAE. She did her masters in linguistics which is what helped get her up that level. She started off teaching in a foreign country in Brunei.


Iyengar teachers have to go through a long and strict process of training so all iyengar yoga teachers are going to be well trained. They don't really do sequences. They do discrete poses and the teacher talks to you the whole time helping you perfect your pose so you get the most out of it. They use equipment in the classes to help you too. Iyengar yoga is centred in Pune. Iyengar was the guy who started this school.

Ashtanga originates in Mysore in india. The class i did was a series of sequences that are fast and i found i had to fumble my way through them watching the teacher - a bit like an aerobics class. Its hard to keep up when you don't know the poses and sequences and it feels less good when you are new at it.

Hatha yoga is i think the original branch of yoga. Probably most of the poses that you will do any type of yoga originate in Hatha yoga.

If you want ot know more about all them you can do some net research. I found out a lot about iyengar when i was looking for a class in my local area from looking on line.

I totally understand how you might be tempted to drop your fitness once you start a heavy work schedule. Its a shame you have to work so hard that you feel it necessary to drop a class. Do you not htink though that if you are so tired and stressed you don't really function so well so you should keep a bit of time for taking care of yourself.
 
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