Hello everyone,
My name is Pete or Petey (whichever you prefer). I decided to join this forum since I've recently gotten into dieting/exercising over the past few months. I just turned 21 last month and decided a few months before that, it was time to change my life.
In March, I went to my doctor because I needed to get my ears cleaned out. I have a knack for never getting sick so the only time I go to the doctors office is to get my ears cleaned (I have a knack for having water destroy my ears from the shower). Because of this, I usually never actually had to see my regular doctor, always a nurse or second doctor. Well this time, my primary doctor was the one there. My family and I kind of nicknamed him "The Gustapo" because of how thorough but strict he is. He told me he wanted to see me in either a month or six weeks (my memory sucks so I don't remember exactly) because he was concerned with my slightly high blood pressure (I have a family history on both sides of high blood pressure/bad hearts, including my father) and the fact that I was extremely overweight. I'm just about 5'7", and was 272 lbs at the time. He told me my diet needed to change and that I should exercise.
My diet was awful. I didn't eat breakfast, and only sometimes ate lunch. This led to me eating a huge dinner and eating late at night since I was so hungry. I also used to eat poor foods. At night, I would feast on chips. I used to go out to eat a lot at restaurants such as TGI Friday's where I'd eat a lot of food. About once a week (sometimes more) I'd go to McDonalds and get a ridiculous amount of food. Huge appetites are something that runs on my dads side of the family that I wound up inheriting. I also ate a lot of frozen dinners when I did eat lunch which are just laced with sodium. On top of all this, I would frequently eat dinner late because I work full time at a retail store, and I usually closed which meant I would be getting out at 9:30 PM.
It was time to cut all of that out. Since that fateful day at the doctors office, I haven't had fast food. I don't really go out to eat anymore (I still go out, food just generally isn't involved). If I do eat, it's early and well before I go to bed, and I don't do it all that often (generally just occassions like Birthdays). I haven't eaten the frozen foods since that doctors appointment either. I make it a point to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have Cheerios with Skim Plus Milk and a multi-vitamin for breakfast. I have either two eggs on rye bread, a roast beef, turkey, or buffalo chicken with light mayo on rye for lunch, and usually some form of red meat or two sandwhiches for dinner. I'll sometimes have a small cup of yogurt in-between lunch and dinner about three times per week to just take the edge off. I do not eat after dinner which is usually between 6-7 PM. I've often read that more frequent, smaller meals is better but working full time, I really don't have the ability to do that. The fact is, I don't look at my breakfast or lunch to be that big anyway and I really don't get hungry unless it's meal time. My blood pressure (which wasn't outrageously high, but since I was young shouldn't have been high at all, even if it was slight) has since returned to normal.
As of right now, I weigh 234 lbs which means I've lost almost 40 lbs since the end of March. To go along with my dieting, I work out about five times per week, walking around my neighborhood for about 40 minutes per day. When I first started walking, it was still kind of chilly (I live in New York on Long Island, about an hour and a half East of New York City), but I have no problems breaking a sweat now. I started off at 25 minutes, then increased to 30 minutes, then increased to 40 minutes. I love walking outside as it's far more exciting then a treadmill but I know that once it starts to get cold, I'll have to resort to the treadmill. I wear a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a sweatband when I walk. I've been walking for 40 minutes per day since probably May. I should note that I lost two weeks of exercising during the first two weeks of June as I had started taking a golf class (which caused me to wake up early and thus I couldn't exercise cause I'd have work after and thus I didn't work out, but I dropped this class after one week), and then I had laser eye surgery. Also, in May I started cheating on my diet somewhat frequently as my friend and I often went out to eat after our class to celebrate the semester coming to a close. I also in general only exercised about twice-three times per week during March, April, and May as I'd often have school work to do which took first priority.
My regiment is that I walk as soon as I wake up. I've been wanting to do other exercises as well (I also have a BowFlex that my Dad got but doesn't really get used) that will help me lose weight/tone my body. Obviously I'm not at the stage of trying to add muscle, I would just like to do some stuff to tone my body to the best that I can. I heard it's best to exercise on an empty stomach (any exercise time is obviously a plus, but I heard that the benefit is maximized if done when you first wake up). I also just recently started taking Hydroxycut Hardcore. I haven't really noticed an increase in my heart rate or jitters or anything, but I have noticed that I do have the ability to extend my workout if I choose to (which I didn't before).
Anyways, I hope to meet some good people on this forum, and learn some new tips for making myself as healthy as I can be. The self-esteem boost from feeling productive is great.
My name is Pete or Petey (whichever you prefer). I decided to join this forum since I've recently gotten into dieting/exercising over the past few months. I just turned 21 last month and decided a few months before that, it was time to change my life.
In March, I went to my doctor because I needed to get my ears cleaned out. I have a knack for never getting sick so the only time I go to the doctors office is to get my ears cleaned (I have a knack for having water destroy my ears from the shower). Because of this, I usually never actually had to see my regular doctor, always a nurse or second doctor. Well this time, my primary doctor was the one there. My family and I kind of nicknamed him "The Gustapo" because of how thorough but strict he is. He told me he wanted to see me in either a month or six weeks (my memory sucks so I don't remember exactly) because he was concerned with my slightly high blood pressure (I have a family history on both sides of high blood pressure/bad hearts, including my father) and the fact that I was extremely overweight. I'm just about 5'7", and was 272 lbs at the time. He told me my diet needed to change and that I should exercise.
My diet was awful. I didn't eat breakfast, and only sometimes ate lunch. This led to me eating a huge dinner and eating late at night since I was so hungry. I also used to eat poor foods. At night, I would feast on chips. I used to go out to eat a lot at restaurants such as TGI Friday's where I'd eat a lot of food. About once a week (sometimes more) I'd go to McDonalds and get a ridiculous amount of food. Huge appetites are something that runs on my dads side of the family that I wound up inheriting. I also ate a lot of frozen dinners when I did eat lunch which are just laced with sodium. On top of all this, I would frequently eat dinner late because I work full time at a retail store, and I usually closed which meant I would be getting out at 9:30 PM.
It was time to cut all of that out. Since that fateful day at the doctors office, I haven't had fast food. I don't really go out to eat anymore (I still go out, food just generally isn't involved). If I do eat, it's early and well before I go to bed, and I don't do it all that often (generally just occassions like Birthdays). I haven't eaten the frozen foods since that doctors appointment either. I make it a point to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have Cheerios with Skim Plus Milk and a multi-vitamin for breakfast. I have either two eggs on rye bread, a roast beef, turkey, or buffalo chicken with light mayo on rye for lunch, and usually some form of red meat or two sandwhiches for dinner. I'll sometimes have a small cup of yogurt in-between lunch and dinner about three times per week to just take the edge off. I do not eat after dinner which is usually between 6-7 PM. I've often read that more frequent, smaller meals is better but working full time, I really don't have the ability to do that. The fact is, I don't look at my breakfast or lunch to be that big anyway and I really don't get hungry unless it's meal time. My blood pressure (which wasn't outrageously high, but since I was young shouldn't have been high at all, even if it was slight) has since returned to normal.
As of right now, I weigh 234 lbs which means I've lost almost 40 lbs since the end of March. To go along with my dieting, I work out about five times per week, walking around my neighborhood for about 40 minutes per day. When I first started walking, it was still kind of chilly (I live in New York on Long Island, about an hour and a half East of New York City), but I have no problems breaking a sweat now. I started off at 25 minutes, then increased to 30 minutes, then increased to 40 minutes. I love walking outside as it's far more exciting then a treadmill but I know that once it starts to get cold, I'll have to resort to the treadmill. I wear a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a sweatband when I walk. I've been walking for 40 minutes per day since probably May. I should note that I lost two weeks of exercising during the first two weeks of June as I had started taking a golf class (which caused me to wake up early and thus I couldn't exercise cause I'd have work after and thus I didn't work out, but I dropped this class after one week), and then I had laser eye surgery. Also, in May I started cheating on my diet somewhat frequently as my friend and I often went out to eat after our class to celebrate the semester coming to a close. I also in general only exercised about twice-three times per week during March, April, and May as I'd often have school work to do which took first priority.
My regiment is that I walk as soon as I wake up. I've been wanting to do other exercises as well (I also have a BowFlex that my Dad got but doesn't really get used) that will help me lose weight/tone my body. Obviously I'm not at the stage of trying to add muscle, I would just like to do some stuff to tone my body to the best that I can. I heard it's best to exercise on an empty stomach (any exercise time is obviously a plus, but I heard that the benefit is maximized if done when you first wake up). I also just recently started taking Hydroxycut Hardcore. I haven't really noticed an increase in my heart rate or jitters or anything, but I have noticed that I do have the ability to extend my workout if I choose to (which I didn't before).
Anyways, I hope to meet some good people on this forum, and learn some new tips for making myself as healthy as I can be. The self-esteem boost from feeling productive is great.
