I gained 40 pounds in 9 months...

[Jeff7181]

... and I'm not a pregnant woman. Holy shit... I'm disgusted with myself. The temptation of all the free snacks and soft drinks in the break room at my new job has gotten the better of me. Plus spending 2+ hours a day in the car driving to and from work has taken up the time I used to use for working out.

I'm going to try to ease back into P90X by doing some of the 15 minute workouts in Tony Horton's book. Much easier for me than going to a gym since I tend to be anti-social.

 

[blackdogdeek]

how tall and how heavy are you? if you're 5'6" and are at 250# that's really bad. if you're 6'6" and at 250# that's less bad.

if you don't have the time to workout you can at least focus on eating better. a good strategy might be to bring in your own healthier snacks like nuts, seeds, and fruit. and while this isn't necessarily any better, you could try the diet versions of the soda if you can't kick that habit altogether.

 

[JL514]

Eat better, eat less, and be asocial instead of anti-social. Anti-socials are unabombers and serial killers

 

[Schfifty Five]

Eat better, eat less, and be asocial instead of anti-social. Anti-socials are unabombers and serial killers

That's synonymous to being anti-social isn't it?

 

[JL514]

no, asocial means preferring to be alone, or withdrawn. Anti-social means against society. Kind of nittery, but I have two English teachers in my family 🙁

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/asocial.html

 

[Jeff7181]

I'm 6 feet tall and 225 pounds.

At 185 pounds I still had at least 10 pounds of fat to lose, maybe as much as 20, to get into single digit body fat percentage.

 

[JL514]

Start drinking diet soda or unsweetened tea if you want to drink something free other than water. I think 185 is a pretty healthy weight for 6' but you know your own goals the best. It sounds like you work and commute long hours so getting a involved gym regimen is going to be difficult. You can definitely make serious strides through diet changes!

A guy I know went on a pretty crazy diet (which I'm not suggesting for you) and has a log here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34/other-other-topics/2011-weight-loss-adventure-983225/

He's lost an insane amount of weight and reading the story is pretty motivating. If you want to skip the long thread and just see results (so far), here is the post w/ before and after pic:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=27911262&postcount=520

 

[Jeff7181]

Yeah... even diet changes are difficult but I'm trying. The problem is that I have at least an hour drive each way to get to work, and I work in IT and I'm on-call 24/7 so if something happens at 3 AM I have to get up and deal with it. Or sometimes I work late and end up getting home at 8 PM. It barely leaves time to make/eat dinner and let it digest a bit before hopping into bed to get enough sleep to get up at 6 AM to eat and shower and leave by 7 to get to work on time at 8 AM. Thankfully I'm on flextime so my schedule isn't THAT strict. I can afford to be 30 minutes to an hour late every now and then.

Oh... and I do drink diet Pepsi. Occasionally, maybe once a week, I'll have a Mountain Dew that's not diet. I really want to get away from artificial sweeteners too because while they may not be sources of calories, they're definitely not making me more healthy.

 

[JL514]

Oh... and I do drink diet Pepsi. Occasionally, maybe once a week, I'll have a Mountain Dew that's not diet. I really want to get away from artificial sweeteners too because while they may not be sources of calories, they're definitely not making me more healthy.

I agree with this but first order of business should be reducing calories and losing weight. If you like soda but can tolerate the low/no cal versions then I would start drinking those. Try not to bounce around and fix all the 'problems' at once. Focus on diet and consume less.

 

[Jeff7181]

Yeah, one of the reasons I've gained weight is that I don't bring my food with me anymore. If I start bringing my snacks and lunch with me I'll be able to better control how many calories I consume. There's been days where I've had three blueberry muffins at 370 calories a piece and a few candy bars at about 200 calories a piece in addition to my lunch.

 

[cerebusPu]

Yeah, one of the reasons I've gained weight is that I don't bring my food with me anymore. If I start bringing my snacks and lunch with me I'll be able to better control how many calories I consume. There's been days where I've had three blueberry muffins at 370 calories a piece and a few candy bars at about 200 calories a piece in addition to my lunch.

probably just the bolded part alone can account for the weight gain. thats like 1 pound a week in calories.perhaps start by snacking and eating out less. then see where in your schedule you can put in some exercise.

 

[Jeff7181]

Yeah, that doesn't happen often... but the things I do snack on could be better. They generally have a high caloric density. I need to start bringing veggies to work as a snack again.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Start with the fat loss sticky, if you have not already done so. That said, I am sorry to hear about your weight struggle. You have always been a good guy here, and I hope you are able to get back to a healthier lifestyle.