Roc3's Blogs

Gone Fishin

2008-04-07T09:14:00Z

What a weekend! As cabin fever was about to get the best of me, mother nature gave me a reprieve and some nice weather. I got to take the day off Friday and head up north to fish for the first time of the 08 season. I went by my uncle’s and it was well worth it. The temperature was in the mid 60’s with plenty of sun and hardly any wind. The water was still very cold but it’s warming steadily. My uncle is one of my best friends and we talk about anything and everything when were out fishing together. He was asking about NS and how I like it now after being on it for some time. We talked about how the food becomes tiresome and selection seems to dwindle as my tastes grow more selective and sensitive to tomatoes sauce. I still have the same number of choices; I’m just becoming more finicky as I roll on.

In my time with my aunt and uncle, my aunt cooks all the meals for both my uncle and me. When she went shopping prior to me arriving, she shopped very lean and try to get non-fat or low-fat everything. She told me she didn’t want to be the reason for me breaking my diet and falling off the wagon. I’m grateful to have a family that wants nothing but the best for me, but it’s so hard to explain to them that it’s not a diet and when I reach my goal, I’m not going to revert to an old lifestyle.

I can eat anything I want as long as the portion size are controlled and the foods I eat are nutrient dense. If I want to have bacon, I can have bacon. I just can’t have a pound of it with biscuits and gravy, hash browns and buttery toast. We went out to eat and I showed them how to make healthy choices at a restaurant that is known for high fat food. My aunt really liked the asking for a to-go container just after ordering. When I got my food I immediately cut it in half and put the other half of it in the container. I actually couldn’t finish the half I kept on my plate and sent it back when I was finished. We did split dessert, but it was my birthday and you got to have cake on your birthday! http://blog.members.nutrisystem.com/photos/roc3/picture149481.aspx

Roc

The way I do

2008-04-03T09:03:00Z

I’ve received countless emails in the past couple of days asking what the secret to my success is. At first I was dumbfounded by the people asking me this! I received the emails on the NS website. My secret is simple and easy to do. Stick with the program and exercise. It’s that simple.

When I first started with NS, I knew I needed to get a refresher course on how I should be eating. I took the approach to NS as I would take a class in college. I’ve never viewed it as a diet or the sole reason for doing it to loose weight. I wanted to change my attitude, the way I viewed my relationship with food and what’s going to be the optimal way for me to eat and be healthy. The exercise part comes easy for me. I’ve always liked to exercise and be active. It makes me feel good, really good. I like to sweat and feel my muscles tremble after a good workout.

NS works and it takes time for it to work. I read blogs and emails all the time saying they’ve been on the program for a week or so and they’ve only lost 2 pounds! People, you lost weight! Granted it may not be as much as you want, but you still lost. The other issue I hear a lot about is the food and the way it tastes. It’s a program designed to teach you how to change your relationship with food and get control of your portion sizes, NS doesn’t claim to be gourmet food or five star cuisine. The food tastes good in the beginning because it’s new. The inverse holds true as well. The food may not taste very good to start, but you have to make some concessions to get to your goal. If it were that easy, you wouldn’t have ordered the food to start.

The program gets easier to follow and adhere to the longer you stay with it. It gets to the point where you don’t fear going out to eat or attending a party where you know there’s going to be tempting treats. You’ll get to the point where you’ll just be able to enjoy the company of those around you and graciously smile as people tell you how good you look.

Roc

Busy little beaver

2008-04-02T10:05:00Z

Summer hours have started for me which puts a greater strain on my free time and tests my ability to prepare and be organized. I wanted to let everyone know I will be posting some new pics tomorrow and have a fresh blog! I’m so excited to be creeping towards my goal and I can hardly wait to hit it!!!!

Roc

Hi guys! Daddy's home!

2008-03-27T08:33:00Z

I needed to take a break for a while. It’s been about 2 weeks since my last post and I’ve missed you guys. I never thought opening up and baring my soul would take so much out of me. With the challenge being over and having some time to reflect, I wanted to come back and let everyone know I’m doing great. I crossed the 60 pound mark and I’ve never felt better! Although I haven’t posted for a bit, I have been reading blogs and cruising the NS site.

Easter dinner couldn’t have gone any better! I was a bit disappointed at Christmas, the last time my whole family got together. I received some comments and pats on the back about how good I looked. With another three months gone by, the relatives that didn’t say anything last time were the first to say something this time.

I’m normally the first one to arrive and one of the last to leave for family functions. I was fashionably late for dinner this time. I was running late because I couldn’t find any pants that fit me. Most of the pants I have need to be cinched in the back and hang off me like I’m wearing Jared’s pants from the Subway commercials! When I walked into my parent’s house it was packed. I took off my baggy coat and revealed my new “look” to the family. “Holy crap Roc! Look at you! WOW” I smiled from ear to ear knowing my hard work was finally paying off. I look noticeably different since the last time most of my family has seen me!

The rest of the night I sat at the sign up table taking contact information for NS. Just kidding! I did talk a lot about the program and how it has changed my life and my perception of food. Everyone watched as I ate dinner, what choices I made, how fast I ate and when it was time to push my plate away with satisfaction. I had no room for dessert or second helpings. I’ve been training myself long enough not to be tempted with cookies and cakes. I certainly didn’t have to mentally prepare myself for what I was going to eat, I could just show up and enjoy the company of my family and friends. What a GREAT feeling!

Has it been 9 weeks?

2008-03-14T09:44:00Z

Congratulations to everyone that made it to the end of the LLC! Everyone should pat themselves on the back for doing such a great job. To stay on track for 9 weeks is no small task. Even if you didn’t hit your goal, you should be proud that you finished! WOOOOHOOOO. Just think if you didn’t participate in the challenge where you would be at. The challenges are great ways to get some accountability, exchange ideas and lend support to others that need it.

Thank you to Cheri, Keith and Amy for doing their parts for the challenge to run smoothly.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount about myself throughout the course of the challenge. I’m grateful I could be part of something is great. Thank you to all who lended me your support and well wishes, you’ve all helped in my success. I guess it’s only fitting for me to report I lost 5 pounds this week!

Good luck to all of you in your weight loss journey, you now have a head start on hitting your goals!!!

Roc

Women and resistance training

2008-03-09T07:13:00Z

This is a great article published that we all can follow, men and women. The principals are the same as far exercising is concerned. If you’re serious about your commitment, take the time to read this and ask any questions in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer as soon as possible. I’ve included a link to the ACSM site which has many articles and is a great resource to have on hand.

http://www.acsm.org

WOMEN AND RESISTANCE TRAINING

The Right Program Brings Results for Females

Who Train

by Gary R. Hunter, Ph.D., CSCS, FACSM

Feature

Women can gain a number of very positive benefits from participating in a well-constructed resistance training program. Many women, however, do not put enough effort into their training.

They mistakenly believe that training with low weights for high repetitions (greater than 20) will achieve optimal increases in energy expenditure and body composition. The main advantage

in resistance training over other forms of training is the ability to progress the resistance. To achieve optimal gains in muscle size and strength, women must train at a relatively high resistance (usually somewhere between 65-80 percent of maximum) for six to 12 repetitions during two to three workouts each week. At least some of the sets each week must be to exhaustion or near exhaustion. Resistance should be increased when a repetition goal (somewhere between six to 12 repetitions) for an exercise is reached. Although women can definitely increase muscle size, it should be understood that there is little chance of a woman

becoming a behemoth and ending up with a body like Arnold Schwartzenegger. Without drug use or some very specialized training is undertaken for many years, women who resistance train normally just become very fit looking. During maturation, women develop much less muscle mass than men. This means that an untrained woman has fewer muscle cells than an untrained man.

This is especially the case for the shoulders and arms. Most if not all muscle growth in an adult occurs through increases in size of existing muscle cells, so the total potential for growth in a woman is less than in a man, especially in the arms and shoulders. Other factors may

contribute to a slower increase in muscle size in women following a resistance training program, but they are largely unknown. On the average, a woman can expect about a 10 percent increase in muscle size for a muscle that has been resistance trained for three to six months. Strength will normally increase between 30-50 percent.

Quite a bit of variability in how much a woman can expect to increase in strength and muscle size exists, with some women increasing in muscle size very little and others increasing as much as 20 percent. Factors such as genetic predisposition, nutrition, general health of the woman and effort put into the training probably contribute to the variation.

Even though women may not have quite as much potential for strength and muscle size improvement as men, they actually may have more to gain from a functional standpoint. Women are much weaker than men. When matched for body size, the average untrained woman is 35-45 percent weaker in the arms and shoulders and 10-25 percent weaker in the legs and hips than untrained men. Consequently, untrained women generally experience more difficulty in doing daily tasks such as walking, climbing stairs, and carrying children or groceries. Recent research suggests that difficulty in doing these tasks predispose individuals to decreasing free-living physical activity. A reduction in physical activity has two very important negative outcomes. First, low levels of physical activity are associated with increased likelihood of weight gain, and second,

the decrease in physical activity can cause a further decrease in muscle mass, fitness and increase in difficulty during physical activity. The problem is complicated with the further increase in difficulty for moving a heavier body that occurs with weight gain and the loss of muscle mass and fitness that naturally occurs with age. By the early 50s, and certainly by the 60s, most sedentary women experience increased difficulty during physical activity as well as decreased quality of life. Research has demonstrated that ease of performing tasks such as carrying a child or bag of groceries, standing from a chair, and walking can be improved by 40-60

percent following a resistance training program, improving the function of a 65-year-old woman to a level similar to that of a sedentary 30-year-old woman.

The Aging Issue

The amount of energy that we expend decreases as we age. This is partly due to a decrease in muscle mass, but it also seems to be partly due to an independent aging effect. Muscle

tissue is about three times more metabolically active than fat tissue. It is not unusual for a woman to gain two to four pounds of muscle following four to six months of moderate resistance

training, causing energy expenditure at rest to increase 100 kcal or more/day. Further, modest increases in total energy expenditure may occur because of the energy expended during training

and increased participation in a more active lifestyle. This may be important for women, especially older women, in maintaining body weight as they get older. It is important to point out that little increase will be gained in muscle or energy expenditure unless intensityand effort are sufficient. Although increases in muscle and strength occur quite easily during the first eight-16 weeks of training, continued increases are normally more difficult to achieve. The more “trained”

an individual, the greater the training stimulus needs to be to create changes in strength and muscle size. Maintaining a sufficient resistance and effort that will cause a muscle to fatigue

in six-12 repetitions is important to achieve optimal progress. Although progress can be made in the early stages of training on only one set/ exercise, both empirical and research data suggest continued improvement for the “trained” individual is not only dependent on maintaining a high

relative resistance but on multiple sets. in other words, continued improvement is dependent on a combination of maintaining sufficient intensity/effort and volume of training. Gains in strength, muscle size, ease of being physically active, and energy expenditure as well as fat losses occur

with resistance training. However, it is important to maintain a relatively high intensity and effort in training to achieve these benefits.

Day 130

2008-03-08T08:56:00Z

I took some advice from members that have been doing this a while. I was having a problem with severe hunger pains and wanting to go on burger runs at 2 AM. I moved my dinner back a couple of hours and my dessert too. This helped with the hunger and the cravings a little bit. I was good and didn't go out for food. What’s keeping me driven to stay on track is the promise that I made to myself. I set clear, concrete goals that are attainable. I feel that I also have stake in this community. I hope to be a bigger part of that, and I don't want to let myself and all the people that have supported me down. I know I don't have to answer to anyone but myself, but it’s the accountability that can't suffer.

It was my choice to get to my current weight and it’s going to be my choice to get to my goal weight. I read lots of the blogs, just to get the pulse on the community and see if I can help. I read a lot of negative things about how the food sucks or choices are not what they thought they were. I want to offer help and positive feedback, but sometimes I want to email the nay-sayers with an ear-full. It was your choices that led you to where you’re at right now. Not one person was forced to eat and let themselves go. Yes, there are exceptions to that, but majority of the people that complain or give negative feedback are the ones that are looking for an easy way out. NS may market how easy and great it is to loose weight with their program, but the key ingredient is you! You are the one that has to make the right choice and put forth the effort to achieve your goals. NS is NOT gourmet food. The food has one purpose, its fuel for your body, designed to shed weight. It’s not a "supper club" or claiming to be the best food you've ever eaten. You will have to sacrifice some taste, portion sizes, and variety. That’s the deal. Your bad decision making and poor habits got you fat, overweight, and lowered your self-esteem. NS has offered you a tool to change all of that. They also have set up this community to support you and guide you to get to your goals.

I love to cook, eat and eat some more. It has been a big change for me to stop eating the way I was. I'm making those lifestyle changes so that I am a healthy person and with time, I know that I can achieve all those goals. I'm not looking to get ripped or compete in a fitness competition, I just want to lower my BP and drop some unhealthy fat.

Many people, including myself, throw up road blocks as excuses to keep them from reaching goals. Just know that you are a driving force that breaks down barriers and pushes forward. Whine and complain all you want, but it’s your decision to change.

Roc

Snap!

2008-03-07T08:40:00Z

Good morning challengers! Today is weigh in day and you know what to do. Make sure you email me with your totals by the end of business today. I’m happy to report I’m down 2 pounds for the week. My body has finally and officially come off the plateau and dropped 2 this week. I have 25 pounds left to go before I hit my goal. WOOOOHOOO!

Roc

Just some thoughts

2008-03-06T09:27:00Z

The boxes are color coded for you to easily follow. Inside the color coding is labeling that tells you what meal that particular entrée is designated for. Unless you’re color blind or illiterate, it’s pretty easy to follow the program. Let’s say you order the program and you don’t get the welcome packet and the daily planner to track all your food. You can call NS and they will send you a new one. Till then, you can also go online and use the NS website and print one directly form the site. If all else fails you can write down the foods and add the calories up yourself. The point is, you have to help yourself. Eating the food alone will help you lose weight, but you have to do some work on your end too.

We all know that the right attitude can go a long way. If you’re skeptical from the very start, NS may not live up to your expectation. The program is designed to help you lose about 1-2 pounds per week. The human body is a tricky machine to dial in. They say know one knows your body better than yourself. This is true to an extent. Most people know bits and pieces of how their body works, but it’s not an exact science. What works for one person, may not work for the next. NS is a template for following a routine that will aide in your weight loss journey. Will you struggle, yes. Will you be tempted, yes. Will you cheat, yes. Will you gain weight, maybe. The program works, no matter how you get there, if you follow the guidelines you will reap the rewards of your hard work.

Take a look at Bandmaster, Natasha, wanna_be_a_diva, and myself. We’ve all lost significant amounts of weight. If you were to look at how we got there, they would all be different. There is no right or wrong way to get there as long as you do. NS is more than pre-packaged food. NS offers a great community for support and direction no matter what stage of the game you’re at.

http://blog.members.nutrisystem.com/blogs/roc3/archive/2008/02/08/112505.aspx

This is a link to a blog I posted about exercise.

Roc

PS The new gym was awesome!

A family affair

2008-03-05T09:05:00Z

When you have the support of others around you, you can be more successful than you ever thought possible. The hardest part is taking the first step in the right direction. Most of the time, this is where some of your best excuses and scape-goats are born. Most of us will try to reason and find a way to justify it anyway possible. I’ve heard all types of excuses or reasons why you can’t or don’t want to, myself included.

I have been going to the gym and not too many people know, I hate the gym I go to! It’s hard to admit this, but I can’t stand going to this place. I pull into the parking lot everyday and I’m always greeted with the task of finding a parking spot with 20 others cars. If a spot opens up, every guns for it causing fender benders and “birds” flying across the lot. If you’re lucky enough to find a spot, when you walk into the gym, every piece of equipment is being used and it’s tough to get a workout in. I mentioned before how this happened to me and I was forced to use different machines I wouldn’t have used if “old faithful” was being used. Last night was the straw that broke my back. I’m not going to this particular gym anymore.

I packed my gym bag for the first time in months and I’m going to another facility a little farther away. I love the ambience of the gym, but when it’s so crowded you can’t get your workout done is extremely frustrating! I hope to use this opportunity to change things up and utilize my knowledge to implement some new exercises. A change of scenery always does me good and helps me focus on the task at hand. My momma always told me “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” So, off to a new gym today for a fresh start and to make some lemonade!

To update all of you on my family, I have some good news! My sister Angie has lost 13 pounds and is exercising on a regular basis. WOOOOHOOOO Angie! I’m so proud of you. Pops, my dad, has made it to his therapy and has been exercising consistently for the last 2 weeks! GO DAD! I’m proud of you too! Both Angie and Pops told me how inspiring I was to them and wanted to experience the same joy and happiness I have over the past couple of months. Pops was telling me how hard it has been for him lately, but he knows it will be worth it in the end when he’s around to baby-sit the grandkids. (I have no kids, with none on the way, and Angie has no kids, with none on the way.) I’m going to leave it up to Angie to have kids first! Were becoming a “fitness” family and it’s a welcomed change from the years of overindulgence and being sedentary.

Roc