Tag Archives: recommendations

Dec 6 2010

Do Life.

Do Life.

I call this look Hurry up and take the picture already!

I found Ben Does Life several months ago after hearing about him in a LiveJournal community I belong to. Ben started his journey on January 1, 2009 at 358 pounds. He weighs significantly less than that today and has completed a slew of races (including an Ironman and several half marathons).

My exercise has been lacking, and Ben shows me that there’s no reason for it. It’s inspirational.

Go read Ben’s blog, if you don’t already. He’s awesome. And cute, 358 pounds or 230!

Don’t tell the Boy I said that!

Nov 5 2010

Video Inspiration

Sally recently made some really smart, inspirational videos about what she’s learned in her first year after having her RNY. Much, if not all, of these apply to everyone, not just RNY or other weight loss surgery patients. I really recommend you watch them.

May 11 2010

Easy Way Out

I still owe you all a post on what I’m afraid of in regards to weight loss. Unfortunately, I’ve been chipping away at a time-consuming project at work and I’m battling a cold. My brain is too fuzzy to write very long, but I have been working on the post here and there.

I wanted to provide you all with a link to Lyn’s latest post at Escape from Obesity: Crutches and the Easy Way Out. Lyn eloquently put words to my bumbling thoughts on using tools, including weight loss surgery, to get healthy. Go check it out!

May 3 2010

Gym Essentials

Michelle of the Sangria Sisters wrote a post on Sunday that something was bothering her about her exercise routine: what I call “the jiggly bits.” You know, the parts of your body that you can feel moving up and down, side to side, and ’round and ’round.

I’m still establishing my workout routine (I’m up to making myself do at least 30 minutes of cardio every other day), but I can tell you that I wouldn’t go at all if I hadn’t found ways to help neutralize the jiggly bits. Here’s what I wear (for reference, I’m 5’4″, carry my weight in my tummy area, currently ~235 pounds, and think I wear an 18/20 but I still haven’t gone clothes shopping):

An Enell sports bra. They’re expensive, but I feel not as overheated when I wear my Enell because of the wicking nature of its synthetic fibers and my boobies go NOWHERE.

Alternatively, I wear two less expensive cotton sports bras: one a size too small under one that’s the proper size. I get three of these Fruit of the Loom bras at Walmart for less than $10. I feel stickier when I wear these, but sometimes I don’t have the patience to hook the Enell up.

Flexees Tummy Toning Tank

My next layer is a Flexees Tummy Toning Tank by Maidenform. I get these in a size XXL from Costco for less than $20 each and have worn them for the last 15 pounds or so. They’re super tight on me, but that’s my goal! It’s long enough that it overlaps my compression capris (see below) so there’s no wiggle room for my fat.

My last layer on top is a C9 by Champion® Duo Dry Tech Tee, which I get for under $10 at Target from the men’s section. The size XXL is pretty big on me, so my rear is covered!

On my lower half, I buy capris similar to these for about $20 at Target. The things I look for in capris are: a polyester/spandex blend (no cotton) and a tight fit (I wear XLs). I don’t like shorts and I don’t like full length pants when I’m exercising, so capris are my compromise–I don’t wear that length of pants otherwise!

*redface* I don’t wear panties! (Did I just share that with the entire Internet?)

C9 by Champion® Duo Dry Tech Tee

I’m still struggling with finding socks that work well for me. I can tell you that, as with the rest of your workout gear, you want to get socks with synthetic fibers and NO COTTON! Why all of the cotton hate? It’s a good fabric for everyday use, but it tends to hold moisture against your skin. This causes chafing and general discomfort when you’re moving around a lot. Synthetic fibers, on the other hand, pull moisture away from your body and allow it to evaporate more quickly.

Other things I can’t live without when I go to the gym are:

  • Body Glide Anti-Chafe Balm. I slather it on my feet to help with blisters. It’s also great if your thighs rub together and your bra band irritates you. A 1.3oz stick was about $10 at a local sporting goods store.
  • A music player of some sort. I love the red iPod nano I got for my birthday! My gym playlist full of upbeat music helps distract me from what everyone is doing or saying. An 8GB nano is $150.
  • My nook from Barnes and Noble (I made out like a bandit on my 27th birthday!). The only time I allow myself to read fiction is when I’m at the gym, which gives me an extra incentive to exercise. I bump the font size up to “Extra Large,” which makes the text easy to read even though my head is bouncing with the rest of my body.
  • A towel for wiping sweat off of my face. I got a pack of four fluffy hand towels and four fluffy washcloths at Costco for about $7.
  • Clorox or Lysol wipes. You never know what the person before you did on that machine!
  • A bottle full of a half water, half Pedialyte blend. Fewer calories than sports drinks and I actually feel somewhat hydrated at the end of a workout, which doesn’t happen when I drink water alone.

Wow. I guess I’m kind of high maintenance when it comes to exercise! I don’t NEED an iPod or nook to exercise, but my workouts just aren’t the same if I don’t have both music and a book to keep my brain occupied! I DO need the compression and layers of workout clothing because when I jiggle it’s all I can think about and I quit after 10 minutes or so.

What about the rest of you? What are your exercise essentials? Tell all, from the frivolous to the necessary!

Mar 21 2010

Cool Website: skinnyr.com

I’ve got this Numbers (it’s a program like Excel but better and for Macs) spreadsheet with a table of my weight loss. Every week, I add the data for my latest weigh-in to the table to give me an easy way to see how I’m doing.

Except sometimes it doesn’t help me that much. It is, after all, only a column of numbers. See?

It's just a bunch of numbers! What do they mean?

Sometimes I just want an easy-to-look at graph to confirm that I really am losing weight (you know, for those days when I just don’t feel like it’s happening). Ticker Factory, the place where I input my weight every week to get that neat little ticker, keeps track of historical data and offers a graph, but it’s neither pretty nor informative for someone who has a lot of weight to lose and a long history of tracking:

I can see that there's a general downward trend, but it looks so small!

Today, however, I stumbled upon Skinnyr. It generates an awesome, ego-boosting chart. Am I losing weight? Yes I am! Click the picture to embiggen:

Easy to see data points, clean design. Awesome!

As you can see, Skinnyr allows you to input your historical data, so you can add it if you have a detailed account of your weight history. Thanks to the website’s clean design and easy-to-use interface, I added 43 weeks worth of weigh-ins in fewer than 30 minutes. There’s even a version of the graph you can embed on your website, which offers a truncated weight history:

This is what the embedded version looks like.

I spent $2 (USD) for one month’s worth of paid membership, which allows me to set a goal weight and unlocks a few other features. I’m going to play with it, but I think I’ll probably pay the whopping $12 for a year’s membership to the site. I’ve dabbled in programming applications and writing code for websites; for the amount of work and especially the thought the developer has put into the project, I think that’s a fair price.

I know that a pretty graph representing my weigh-ins isn’t strictly necessary in this weight loss game, but I’ve been inactively looking for something like this for quite a while. It really helps me visualize how far I’ve come and how far I have left to go:

Here's the graph of what I've lost so far with my goal weight included. I've got a ways to go still!

Mar 17 2010

School Lunches

Mrs. Q, a teacher in the midwestern United States, has started eating the same lunches her children get every day. All I can say is EWWWWWW!!

I haven’t had a school lunch since I was in the eighth grade, which was close to 13 years ago. Things have changed since then. There weren’t prepackaged individual servings where I came from; our lunch ladies (all of them were actually ladies) actually made the food. I’m not saying that the food was the best from a nutritional standpoint, but I’d wager that it’s better than what kids are getting now.

Read Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project. Have things changed since you were in school?

Jan 21 2010

Banded Bloggers: i heart the band

I wish I made Banded Bloggers posts more often! The problem is that a rule I’ve made for recommending another person’s blog on here is that I have to read every post…. It takes a lot of time to go back and read archives!!

In any event, I stumbled across i heart the band not too long ago. Gen was banded in September and has lost as much weight as I have (I have a three month lead on her)! She’s rocking it by exercising and watching what she eats. She’s candid about her life as a telecommuter with four kids in a rural area with no lap-band doctors nearby.

That’s what appeals most to me about Gen’s blog–she lives in southwest Colorado, USA. I grew up within a 100 mile radius and lived in the city where Gen lives before I moved to Phoenix four years ago.

When I was banded, I accepted it as reality that I would never be able to move “home” again. The nearest lap-band doctors are, as far as I know, in the major cities in the nearest states: Denver, Salt Lake, and Phoenix (New Mexico doesn’t have any bariatric surgeons who preform lap-band surgeries, which means the closest city, Albuquerque, is out of the equation). To get a fill would require a long drive or a very expensive flight. Gen makes it work, though, and it impresses me. I feel reassured that I’d be able to make my band work if I ever lose my mind and decide to move back :)

Go check out Gen’s blog. She’ll inspire you no matter how close (or far) you are from her.

Nov 3 2009

I’m Gonna Be a Runner Someday

Several weeks ago, I went to a chain running store in a nearby shopping center. I’d been to this store before and was fitted with Saucony Progrid Hurricane 10s. I needed a new pair of shoes both because the Hurricanes were discontinued and because they just weren’t a good fit for my feet. I supinate when I walk, and the Hurricanes made the motion worse–my shoes made it look like i was literally walking on the sides of my feet. I was concerned that, since I was planning on starting my exercise regimen, I was going to injure myself by twisting my ankle.

I went into the previously mentioned store and waited for assistance. There was a cute, blonde, athletic girl in there, however. Guess who got the attention of the two male employees on staff? Not the fat girl. I was able to get one of the guys’ attention and got him to bring a few pairs of shoes out, but it took no time at all for me to tell that nothing they had to offer was going to work.

Great. I left, not wanting to disturb the cute girl and two employees further than I already had.

I came home and did some research to find other running stores in the Phoenix area. I read some good reviews about Runners Den. “Okay,” I thought, “I’ll go in and give them a chance.” Honestly, I expected a repeat of my experience at the chain store. A staff member would look at me, point to the shoes, and (if I was having a lucky day) bring a couple of pairs out for me to try on.

Barry blew me away with awesome, though. He watched me walk barefoot and immediately brought out three pairs of shoes to try on. He told me that the first pair would probably be the most comfortable for me, but that I should try all three on before making a decision.

(Interesting factoid: when you put your shoes on, tap your heal before you lace them up and tie them. This will help your foot rest in the right place in your shoe.)

After walking around inside and outside, I decided that the first pair was indeed right for me. I bought the ASICS GEL-Fortitude 3s that evening and haven’t looked back! My foot pain is almost gone, even without the orthotics I’m waiting on.

The only problem is that I wear the shoes all the time, not just for exercise (thank God I have a casual dress code at work)! I really need to purchase another pair; I just don’t know when I’m going to have the money to get them. Hopefully I’ll be able to make the investment with my next check so I can rotate my shoes out and help them last longer.

If you’re planning on starting an exercise regimen, I really encourage you to find a local running store where you can buy your shoes. Look on Google and Yelp to find one with good reviews. If you live in a small town, make a trip to a larger area if you can. Really, this can save your feet. Good shoes that are correct for your feet are vital to prevent injuries to your feet, legs, back, etc. It’s worth the investment!

Barry also gave me some tips for getting started toward the path of running, which I will share with you in an upcoming entry.

Have recommendations for running stores in your area? Tips for shoe searches? Leave a comment and let us all know!

Oct 28 2009

Banded Bloggers: Once Upon A Time…In the Land of Cheese and Sunkist

Seriously, go read Once Upon A Time…In the Land of Cheese and Sunkist, bandster Amy W.’s blog.

She’s awesome. And cute. And honest. She posts pictures and vlogs and recipes. She’s honest and tells about her journey with the band–both the good and the bad. She’s working it well and has lost almost 100 pounds since she was banded in January!

Amy, thanks for the blog, the information, and the awesome. I always look forward to your posts :)

Readers, do you have a blog you’d like me to tell others about? Leave a comment so I can check it out!