hi all,

my aunt continues to have success with the lap band. she is now down 121 pounds as of 11/22/04!

now, her 22 yo daughter is in the process for getting a band! truthfully, her husband and son could use one too, but they are not interested.

and the whole family has just joined a great hospital gym associated with my uncle's job.

i haven't given much advice to my cousins about weight loss, et al., because i didn't want them to think it was all i saw. but now that they are taking steps to improve their health, i wrote down the top 10 things i've learned about exercise and body size/image over the years. i didn't share my thoughts on diet. i'll save that for another top 10 list.

i thought y'all might like to see it too. so here goes!

• EXERCISE SHOULD BE FUN! There are so many ways to burn calories that there is no reason to do any exercise you don’t like. I love rebounding, walking uphill, and jogging slowly. I do not like stationary biking, running, the stair-climber, and most aerobic-dance classes. Find a few activities you like and stick to them! Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t challenge yourself or try new things. You must do that! Giving exercise your best effort is REQUIRED to get the results you want. But if you find that you don’t like a particular exercise, then don’t do it! And don’t let anyone tell you different.
  
  
• Exercise at least almost every day. And exercise everyday if you can! Yes. We don’t move around a lot if our jobs don’t require it. That inactivity, coupled with extra eating, makes it so, so easy to gain weight. If we had active jobs, we wouldn’t need gyms and scheduled time each day to work out. But we don’t. So we must make the effort to move our bodies every day.<O:p</O:p

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• Wear a pedometer. The federal government recommends taking at least 10,000 steps each day for good health. If you don’t work out, you’ll be surprised at just how few steps you will take in a day. Cheap pedometers are not very accurate, but they will give you a decent approximation—within a few hundred steps. A pedometer helps to keep you aware of how active you are. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.<O:p</O:p

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• Longer at a moderate (NOT EASY!!) pace is ALWAYS better than shorter at a fast pace. Even trainers disagree amongst themselves about this. Some say that if you exercise very hard for a short period of time (20 – 30 minutes), you’ll burn roughly the same amount of calories during the activity and for a few hours after as someone who exercises for a longer time (40 – 60 minutes) at a moderate pace. But I prefer moderate because it is easier to do, and you won’t dread having to exercise the next day because the day before was so hard. Plus, the more movement you do in a day, the better it is for your health. So make every exercise session at least 40 minutes long.<O:p</O:p

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• Strength training is a must. First and foremost, eating healthy, small portions and lots of aerobic activity are what you must do to lose weight. But strength training is important because it makes the shape of your shrinking body look and move better. If you don’t strength train, you’ll get smaller, but you’ll be flabby! Fortunately, there are a few different methods of strength training to choose from: resistance machines, free weights, resistance bands, Pilates (on a reformer machine or on a mat), yoga, stability ball, and functional fitness/body weight. There is too much for me to say about all of these, but I just want you to be aware that strength training is important and there are many types to choose from. So research them online and ask the trainers to tell you more about them. Then make your choice(s). I have tried them all, and I prefer stability ball, functional fitness/body weight, and Pilates on the reformer machine. Pilates and yoga also incorporate flexibility conditioning.<O:p</O:p

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• Take the emotion out of weight loss. It is so easy to feel bad about yourself for being overweight, not losing weight fast enough, overeating one day, etc. And if you tell yourself that you’re a failure and other such negative things, it makes starting over that much harder. And pretty soon, you’ll start doubting if you can really lose the weight—even while you’re losing weight! And then you’ll start sabotaging yourself, either because you don’t want to feel like a failure again or because you don’t think that you can really reach your goal. But if you take the emotion out of weight loss (I’m a failure, I can’t do this, why don’t I have any willpower) and focus on the mechanics of it (eating right, exercising every day), then you will be successful. THIS IS HARD TO DO! I know from years of experience. But one trick I’ve learned is, whenever you start thinking a negative thought, refute it out loud. Don’t let the thought keep replaying in your head. For example, if you start to think “I’m never going to lose this weight.” Say out loud, “What I was just thinking is not true. If I eat right and exercise, the weight will come off.” It’s like shining a light under the bed and realizing there is no bogey man underneath it. The more you attack negative thoughts, the more confidence you will gain.
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• Keep a journal. Write down what you eat and how much you exercise. I said it before, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Awareness is so important. Also, write down your feelings. Write down your goals. Write down your motivational daydreams. It is inspirational!
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• Set goal markers. Weight loss at first, and then good health later, is a never-ending process that can seem overwhelming.Make it easy and fun by breaking it up. I like to work towards mini-goal dates. Use events in your life as goal markers to work towards. Pull out a calendar and plan ahead. For example, in February, I have several events to attend. I’ll use these events as extra motivation to get in all of my exercise and to keep my eating on track.
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• Love your body, part 1. Okay, so you may not like how your body looks right now. But as you start losing weight and really get into exercise, you’ll be amazed at how much you can do. Acknowledge and Celebrate every accomplishment.
  
  Love your body, part 2. Please, please, PLEASE, do not compare your body to anyone else’s. Be realistic about how your fit, healthy body will look. Your fit body will not be the size of 97% of the women on television and in the magazines.
  
  Rely on three things, in this order, to let you know that you are fit and healthy: (1) your body fat %, (2) your clothes, and (3) the scale. Your body fat % will give you a realistic weight to shoot for. And that weight will change as you gain muscle.
  
  Once you get to your goal weight range, your clothes size will probably range between 2 and 3 sizes, depending on the clothes manufacturer. One designer’s size 8 may be another designer’s size 12. DO NOT get caught up in clothes size. I know from experience that this can be hard to do. I mean, here I am working out and eating right, and this crazy designer still classifies my body type as LARGE. ARRRGGGHH! It can be frustrating. But just remember that every designer uses a different size fit model on which to base its sizes. Every designer starts with a size 8 and then works up and down—usually an inch per size.
  
  Plus, I choose which designer to give my money to. So if I come across a delusional designer who thinks that Nicole Ritchie is a MEDIUM, then that designer does not get my money!!
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• LOVE YOURSELF. As corny as it sounds, it is so true. Body image and self image are two different things. You can have a good self image and also want to improve your body. But if your self image is poor, it will wreck everything you try to accomplish. So take pride in you for just being you. For being kind, smart, funny, loving, a great cousin to Rory… all of it. And then take that self love and accomplish all your goals—weight ones included.

Thanks for putting in writing those great tips!

Thanks for the tips! It's always great to hear from a successful bandster and how they are able to succeed.

Those are great tips.

The only other thing I'd add is that incidental exercise is so important.

Nothing drives this home more than when we go on holidays and stop the everyday running round - the supermarket, the housework, the kid's sports, the walking in and out of the school twice per day, all that stuff. Add the 5pm drinkies and nibbles and I easily packed on 6kg in a 2 week holiday. After two years of that I vowed to exercise during my holidays - we often go to Eden on the southern NSW coast which is very hilly and I hiked the treck from the wharf to the end of the beach every single day, or ran along another beach, about 3kms all up.

I came home every year feeling great but ALL that achieved for me weight wise was to avoid gaining, I never lost. My husband walks 7kms in 40 minutes every lunchtime with a colleague but it barely makes up for 2 hours a day in the car and 9 or 10 hours at a desk. He has real trouble losing weight even though he doesnt eat a lot.

So we've made a resolution this year to devote our weekends to household projects, to just do active stuff - we want to redo our backyard, window cleaning, car washing, gutter clearing, heavy housework etc.

And guess what, Doug's weight has started moving finally. That everyday stuff really really adds up. So everytime you sit down in a chair or at the computer, ask yourself if you've earned the rest and if there's a better way to be spending your time.

quote Jachut:So everytime you sit down in a chair or at the computer, ask yourself if you've earned the rest and if there's a better way to be spending your time.

__________________That hit the nail on the head for me! Thank you Jacqui! I needed that. Now I am going outside to clean my truck!

yes, jachut. a study about fidgeters found that they burned more calories than sedentery people. not surprising.

all movement burns calories and is helpful for losing weight.

Great post/Great ideas! Thanks!

This needs to be a sticky - FANTASTIC post, Rorysmom!!!!

wow! thanks!!

Thanks for sharing...words to live by.