I was wondering what your diet and exercise routines were? What foods do you eat/not eat? -Krysta
Very timely question. Over the winter, I’ve allowed myself to slack off and stopped exercising. When it’s cold outside, I tend to go on a see-food diet: I see food, I eat it. As a result, my body got a little too happy converting all the extra calories I was feeding it into fat – I gained weight. I developed a sweet tooth and was having a desert with every meal, sometimes cooking my own (!) pies. The more sweets I ate, the more I craved it seemed.
I’m quickly returning to my normal weight now, but I had to make a few adjustments to my eating habits and level of physical activity. I currently follow a Moderation Diet: I eat everything I like, but limit the portions/frequency of the ‘naughty’ stuff. There was a study where 3 groups of overweight people were put on a low-carb, low-fat, and low-protein diets in order to determine who will lose weight faster. The only requirement was that they exercise 30 minutes a day (very reasonable). The results were somewhat surprising: they all lost the same amount. It doesn’t matter what diet you’re on, it’s all about calories-in, calories-out! Most people find it’s easier to control their calorie intake by staying on a high-protein, low in carbs/fat diet as it gives you the necessary nutrients without making you feel hungry all the time. If your diet leaves you hungry, you’re on the wrong kind of diet!
Foods that comprise the larger portion of my diet are:
- grains
- veggies
- chicken
- pasta
- dairy
- fish
- fruit
On occasion I’ll eat eggs, pastries & chocolate, drink fruit juice & tea. I avoid beef, pork, lamb, alcohol, sodas and coffee.
Exercise is trickier for me. I love badminton – I’ll play it in the park, in my living room, at the airport (I once threw out my back playing in JFK, haha). Unfortunately, it’s not a winter sport and I wasn’t able to find a suitable indoors location in my area. Weights, stationary bike and jogging all bore me to death – I never have enough incentive to continue. I think it’s super important to find your glee exercise, something you enjoy doing enough to actually keep up! For me, it’s badminton in the summer and hula hooping/skipping rope in the winter. The latter two are awesome because you get to watch TV simultaneously – before you know it, you’ve put in a whole hour! I exercise about 3 times a week.
Of course, everybody is different so different things work for different people. Deerlings: do you follow a diet/exercise?
One thing that helped a lot was becoming a vegetarian. I did not become one to lose weight – I became one after finding out what happens on factory farms; it’s heartwrenching, and I couldn’t go back after that. But I lost 10 pounds easily in the beginning. It also made me more aware of what ingredients I had been putting into my body in general, and I eat a lot healthier overall than I used to. I do still eat fish, and eggs IF they are free-range, though sometimes I’m a little on the fence about it. I take vitamins and eat a lot of nuts and beans and monitor my iron levels. You can be a vegetarian and still be unhealthy, and I strive to do it the smart and healthy way. I eat PLENTY of food, believe me…I just make good choices about what it is.
I also work out at Curves twice a week…it’s all women, so there is nothing intimidating about it, you don’t have to look nice, and you can gossip and gripe with them about your workday. Dog walking is also a big thing, especially on weekends. I used to hate exercise, but these are things I enjoy and that are doable (and walking is crucial for my dogs, so I have to do it whether I feel like it or not). More than just better muscle tone, exercise REALLY has improved my state of emotional well-being tenfold.
I lost almost 35 pounds over the course of about a year and have kept it off for about two years, I think. I didn’t set out to be “thin”; I set out to be HEALTHY and get my BMI down because I wanted to feel good, have energy, and live a long life. I think that’s the most important factor to losing weight, for one thing because it takes the pressure off, which makes it easier to do. People sometimes have the misconception that thin equals healthy, but it’s not always so. Someone who isn’t “thin” but exercises is healthier than someone who’s tiny but a couch potato. And there’s so much more to life than trying to be thin anyway!!
And I agree 100% with your moderation theory. I do not cut out chocolate or whatnot from my diet; in fact, I eat some every day. I am not too hard on myself if I miss a workout or eat too much one time. Life’s too short to spend it consumed by my weight! Food is meant to fuel our bodies and to be enjoyed. I’m elated to know that even in your industry, you are not obsessed with being skinny, just healthy (you are skinny, just not consumed with it). Way to go for being an excellent role model!!!!! :) Girls everywhere need to stop being obsessed with being thin and just focus on taking care of themselves; you don’t have to be thin to be beautiful.
I do 60 minutes with Crosstrainer, everyday. I always avoid eating pasta and white bread. I don’t eat red meat, nor chicken, but I favour fish and shrimps. I don’t eat eggs, as they contain a lot of fat. I try to avoid eating sweets, which is difficult. The rule that I constantly brake is “one ice cream/chocolate in a week.”
I don’t drink alcohol, as it contains so many calories. I don’t drink anything with sugar(juice, sodas) but I drink pepsi max which’s sugar free.
I’m a little bit on the side of being overweight, so apparently I eat too much. I don’t think that exercising is the key to keeping/loosing weight. You’d have to be at it for hours to loose enough calories. What you eat is the key I think.
Oh, and another note: I’ve been a vegetarian for 7 years or so, before starting to eat fish. And I didn’t loose weight, I gained it. Vegetarian diet is not what one should be on to loose weight. The atkinson diet works better for that.
I hula-hoop all the time! It’s my favourite exercise ever, & the hoops are cheap to make!
I don’t really diet. There is no point because I have both eating and thyroid disorders keeping me obese and i have to sort all that out 1st. Besides if you’re always hungry or not allowed to enjoy flavor you’re not living life to the fullest.
I eat similar to you Doe but a lot more junk. I avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup (THE DEVIL!!!!) when i can, I won’t eat baby animals or particularly cruel meats. I avoid Lobster because I’d rather my food not boiled alive. I mostly just eat cow,chicken, turkey and Fish for protein. I tried soy chili and it was horrid. I also hate mushroom, milk, beets, lima beans and brussel sprouts. other than that i see it and I eat it.
I take chromium and Cinnamon supplements to keep my blood sugar down and avoid Diabetes. I also take multi vitamins and several other supplements as well as incorporate veggies into meals to stay healthy.
My “glee exercise” s are: Belly Dancing, “comedic dancing” (entertaining people with goofy dance moves similar to Cheri Oteri on SNL) and just dancing like crazy to fun pop music with a fast beat.
I also lift weights…when i can find them, use a stepper to music or hit my punching bag listening to angry heavy metal.
@ Lumen. Everyones body is different some lose more weight eating lots of meat and some find vegetarian diets cause weight loss. It’s just in your genetics. there is even a theory on determining that through your blood type and i believe it because it was true for my family. I think extremes such as those are ridiculous unless your very desperate.
Oh and EGGS and ALCHOHOL? you have it ALL WRONG! Eggs may be full of fat but it’s good fat that doesn’t cause weight gain any more than another protein. All that is bad in eggs is if they are factory farmed and contain antibiotics there mothers are given.
And Alcohol contains many calories but also lowers your blood sugar balancing things out.
And I hope that Pepsi has no fake sugar otherwise you’re poisoning your body with chemicals far worse than sugar.
sorrry sorry sorry
I was distracted i meant to say “the egg laying hens are given”. not “there mothers” which isn’t even spelled right and obviosly eggs are simply eggs and were never alive and don’t really have mothers.
OOPS!
I ‘work out’ a lot when I am at work. But thats what you get for playing with kids in water for 3 hours most days!
And now I have wii fit… so that gets a 30 minute usage daily.
As for eating, I eat what I want, when I want it.
I’ve always been on see-food diet. I eat whatever comes my way, if I so choose. In fact, I eat a LOT. Granted, I have a high metabolism, and on top of that I dance 2 to 4 hours per day (I’m a professional dancer and train 5 days per week)
I guess, for me, it works to be lazy when it comes to what and when I eat, but I’m diligent with exercise! Calories in, calories out, right?
Lately I’ve been losing a lot of weight because I’ve drastically changed my diet and exercise routine. At only 5’5″ my highest weight was an embarrassing 200 lbs but that was my wake up call and I promised myself to NEVER get there again and now I’m 157 lbs, although I know I still have more to loose and my ultimate goal is to 125 lbs, or at least concidered healthy/average. Now, I’m in Weight Watchers with my boyfriend and eating lower calorie foods and we are both exercising more by biking to and from college instead of paying the $4 a day to take the bus! Plus, we do exercise tapes/go to the gym and I’m hoping to take a dance class this summer! ^^
I go for long walks every day its nice enough outside to do so. I pet the neighbor’s cat and there is a cute pair of dogs I say hello to. One is a brown little dog and one is a scruffy little poodle looking thing. I say hello to my boyos and then I put on the ipod and walk around some more. Podcasts are a lot of fun when you walk and it keeps me out longer because I want to hear everything they have to say. I think less about the exercise. I don’t know how safe your neighborhood is though but mine is pretty safe. I did get jumped by some mormons one time. It took awhile to shake those hoodlums! You ever keep trying to say you have to go but keep getting interrupted? Yeah.
Sadly my exercise today was a walk to Taco Bell.
>:-)
Yes! i love the idea of glee exercise! My Glee-Exercise lately has been bellydancing (yes, with Neena and Veena videos :) ) and doing crazy dancing/jumping jacks/jumping etc to loud music in my room (i.e. P!nk’s Funhouse, select Blackmore’s Night, No Doubt, or The White Stripes). It’s so much fun I don’t even realize it’s excercise until I stop and find out that I’m out of breath!