What works for me on my elliptical is finding weekly podcasts that I really like that are 45-50 minutes long, followed by about 10-15 min of really energetic dance music to give me a boost toward the end of the workout. I use a heart monitor to ensure that I'm working hard enough (I like to train in the cardio zone). I have the machine programmed to alternate 4min of high resistance with 4min of low resistance, something that many stationary bikes can do as well. When it gets hard, I try to focus on the podcast or music



My current favourite podcasts are the Quirks and Quarks science show and the Best of Ideas philosophy / literature show, both from CBC http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/ .

I had that happen too; it wouldn't let me upload a filename that had spaces in it. I renamed the file and everything worked.



Great picture by the way, I noticed the change from your previous one!

Excellent, Fred! You have every right to be proud of yourself, keep it up!

I monitor my weight daily, and I use the tools available from http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/comptools.html . They calculate a trend line based on the weighted moving average of the data; basically, the more recent the measurement the more it influences the trend line. This smoothes out the daily fluctuations and lets you see whether the trend is upwards, downwards, or stable.

I'm going on vacation too in a couple of weeks. I'm pretty apprehensive about it - I'm going to visit family who are excellent cooks, so you're not alone



You didn't say what the purpose of the trip was - is it tourism? family? a little of everything? Is there a way you can plan for a walk every couple of days, say from the hotel to the museum? I've never been to San Fran., but is there a bike rental near a park where you could spend an afternoon going around the bike paths? Just some thoughts... there are lots of healthy things to do while on vacation



As for food, try to make healthy choices, but don't beat yourself up too hard if you eat a little more than you should. The important thing is to get right back ON the wagon as soon as you get home, and the vacation will only be a tiny blip in your overall weight loss plan

One of the things that really helps me stay on track is having a "cheat day". The idea doesn't work for everyone, but it helps me put things off if I can wait a couple of days and have it then. My current favourite is chocolate covered blueberries from Sugar Mountain (a bulk candy chain); I look forward to them all week and it keeps me on track knowing that I *can* have them at some point.

Congrats Heather! Those photos are very eye-opening and a great visualizing aid, thanks for posting them!

Those goals sound like a great plan, and congrats on your progress so far!

Wow, even more improvement! Congrats on the fabulous results!

I'd check with your doctor, but swimming sounds like it's probably your best bet since there's no weight or stress on your feet. Even cycling might hinder your recovery, since you're still putting weight on the majority of your foot even if you avoid putting your toes on the pedals.

My guess is that they say peanuts are bad because they are relatively high in calories, which for the large number of overweight / obese people is bad. Peanuts have lots of protein and nutrients, though.



I'm not a dietitian, but I'd say that there's nothing wrong with your peanut butter sandwiches You might try other nut butters for variety, like almond butter, as well.

I use Iso-Pro Low Carb vanilla protein powder with 1% milk on days when I know I'm not getting enough protein for whatever reason. I bought mine from a sports supplement store; that's the only supplement-ish thing that I use other than a multivitamin.



If you're doing intense weight training, the formula a lot of people use is one gram of protein per pound of body weight per day. I don't get nearly that much, but I do mainly long-duration cardio with some upper-body weights.

Hi Laura,



Another thing that might work for you is frozen veggies, which can be cheaper than fresh since there's less spoilage and waste, and you can stock up when they're on sale. Also check out whether there's a farmer's market near you; the one near me has fresh local produce for less than the supermarket.



Congrats on your lifestyle change! I know how much being laid off sucks, hang in there

It could be added muscle or you could have drank more water than usual the day before; lots of factors can influence your weight.



The important thing is that you're sticking to your plan (yay salads!) and you're staying active. Keep up the good work!

The changing speed that you're doing is a great way to increase your cardio efficiency; it's called interval training. The idea is to push yourself really hard, say by sprinting up a hill, then catch your breath by going slowly, and repeat. This will do wonders for your endurance, and I find it's much more interesting than going at a steady pace.



I don't know about the lack of sleep, though. Like Roger said, you probably should check with your doctor.

Neesha that's great, congrats on the muscle gain and fat loss, and thanks for the reminder!

Wow, amazing progress! Don't worry about the BMI, it doesn't show all the muscle you have added!

Michelle, I ran my first 5k in years and years in late May, and I had been mainly training on the elliptical machine so was using different muscles. I registered online 4 weeks before the race, and then felt obligated to go because I had spent the money



The trick is to listen to your body, not go beyond your normal workout pace if you're not too sure of the distance / route, and have fun!



I also use a site that uses Google Maps to map out my routes, at http://www3.sympatico.ca/jasonbarney/ottawa.html . It's set up for my home town, but you can scroll and zoom the map to another city and still use the route mapping features.

Congrats, Tim! It feels really great to break out of a plateau doesn't it?

Welcome Tia, I'm also getting back into shape after medical issues. Good luck with reestablishing your healthy lifestyle!

Josephine that is a great goal!



I can't do one now (40 lbs to go), but I went to a military university, and one of the "acceptance criteria" for the girls (for the guys to think you were OK and deserved to be there) was the ability to do chin-ups. It took me almost the entire first year to do my first because I'd never worked my upper body, but boy was that a good feeling!



To get there, I second doing the pull-downs on the lat machine, and the negative reps (as slow as you possibly can) work well too.

Great lists!



1. Guys who scratch themselves in private places and "rearrange" things. A quick scratch is understandable, but a long rub is just gross.



2. People who don't rack, that is so true Meghan about having to ask for help.



3. People (either gender) who don't wipe down the machines.



4. In my gym, there is an "adult women" change room and several individual "family" change rooms. Please don't bring your 6 and 8 year old boys into the adult women's change room.



5. I hate seeing people "toss" the weights, especially the gel-haired Mr. Studly types. If you were serious, you'd use good form.



6. People who take 6 different sizes of dumbbells to do 6 different exercises, then do 3-4 sets of one, followed by 3-4 sets of the next, and so on. If you were going to work all your sets together, alternating exercises, that's one thing, but you're not, you're just hogging all the weights.

Awesome progress, congrats!

Here's to a brand new day, now that all that stress is behind you, you can do it!

Congrats on your progress so far, and on your motivation!



Are there stairs where you work? I'm just thinking that you could get off a few floors early and walk up a few flights to add something more to your day. When I was working on the 4th floor it was just about perfect; I never allowed myself to use the elevator, and it adds up if you go outside for a short walk a couple of times a day.

What a difference, keep at it!

Congrats! Great job on all your hard work!

Regarding weight averaging and trend analysis:



I use the PalmOS tool from The Hacker's Diet http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/ . It calculates an exponentially smoothed weighted average of my daily weight, great for trend analysis. There's also an Excel version of the software, and a WWW version. It's available from the "Computer Tools" menu item on the left of that link.



For the author's explanation of how this works, see the "Signal and Noise" chapter / menu item on the left of that link.

Mayonnaise is basically a high-fat flavouring. It's made from beating egg yolks, oil, and spices. Most of the calories come from the fat in the oil. It's "natural", I guess, if it's homemade, but the stuff you buy in the store has all kinds of preservatives, emulsifiers, etc. There are no health benefits to it that I know of.



Peanut butter is also relatively high fat, but it has a lot of protein too, and a lot of nutrients. If I were choosing to spend my calories between peanut butter and mayonnaise, peanut butter would win hands down.

I often add cinnamon to my oatmeal, yum!