Newly addicted to DDR

[3apa3a]

I've seen a couple of people post on here about DDR, but I figured I might as well post anyway and introduce myself.

I'm 224lbs (as of 20 minutes ago), andaround 5'10. So, I'm a big guy. I've been struggling with this whole weight thing for a while. I was on top of it up until I went to college. those who are in or have been through college know how hard it is to do anything healthy, especially during first semester.

So, this is where the game comes in. I figured that even if I don't lose any weight with the thing, some movement and excercise on a daily basis is better than nothing. I got some crappy soft pad and DDR max. Now, a week later, the soreness in my legs is starting to go away. I started on light, shot through that, and am making my way through standard and heavy now. I usually get on the pad for a set of songs or two, and end up on it for 2 hours or more. It's been like that every day since I got it.

The one thing I figured out is that you don't feel tired until you get off of the pad - I like to stretch before, during, and after. But if you get back on, you forget all about it.

The question is, I'm already limiting myself to a halfway decent diet with which I've been able to keep my weight steady, if not bring it down a few pounds (save for the three-week sleep-deprived 10-pound finals gain). I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on what I can do, stuff I might run into that I shouldn't do, pretty much anything.

[abrannan]

First off, find a school that doesn't run finals for three weeks!

Honestly, I'm very surprised that you can keep up 2+ hour workouts. That's impressive. I am curious what you consider to be a halfway decent diet, though. There's a lot of things that could mean, from good to bad, and without really knowing what you're doing there, it's hard to give you sound advice.

[3apa3a]

The finals run for a week. It's the studying and professors that love to run quizzes beforehand. And as far as stamina goes, I've got that. I figure I'm decently fit for my size.

I tried the Atkins thing, but figured that that that was too deficient in vitamins to be effective. It leaves you exhausted and unable to get up after four or five months - no energy replacement if you exercise at all.

So, I'm basically going for a reduced-calorie reduced-fat reduced-sugar diet. I used to lift on a fairly regular basis, and plan on getting back into that, so it's also a fairly protein-rich diet. I'm still eating two medium-sized meals per day. I've been trying to switch to a small-meal system but can't figure out a way to break those meals down into several different ones.

Otherwise, just cutting down on the bad stuff to one day a week or tiny portions of chocolate with tea.

[Laura Moncur]

When I was in college, I tended to skimp on my sleep schedule. Not a good thing.

You are concentrating on two things right now. Getting good grades and losing weight. That is where your focus should be. Getting at least eight hours sleep every night will help you in that endeavor. If you are tempted to skimp on your sleep for social reasons, think to yourself, "Is it worth getting bad grades or gaining weight?" I can bet that yaking it up with the guys over TV isn't worth it...

You're worth more than that.

[abrannan]

I'd recommend you take a look at the South Beach diet. It's pretty much as you describe, good fat, good carb, lower calorie. It can be very hard to stick to with college area food (yeah, I remember what *that* was like), but it can give you ideas of what to stay away from, and what may be surprisingly okay for you.

[3apa3a]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the south Beach. And I know what you mean about sleep. The week that we actually had finals, I went for about 60 hours without sleeping. After I was done with my last final, I just dropped and slept for something like 16 or 20 hours straight. I'll try that out, see how the energy levels stay up. Thanks again.

[Aury_Black]

South Beach is great and has in my experience worked. I know what you mean about finals week though. Finals/Midterms are over for me as of yesterday.

For the week prior and the three days of finals I didn't get much sleep and when I did it was on a wierd and erratic schedule. I had been dieting and exercising the whole time but for some reason I couldn't even loose one pound and instead gained one. I couldn't understand what was happening. Well once my final exam day hit I got some extra hours and then yesterday night and last night I got a good 8 hours of sleep for the first time in two weeks. Well, that was what did it. I immediately dropped two pounds. So yes, I now can truely believe that sleeping helps.

I read an article this week which talked about how studies were finding that people who sleep more tend to be skinnyer and are not as obese, so make sure to catch a good night of sleep everyone!

[ImpFreak7]

Hey there, i'm in much the same situation as you. I just started my second semester of college. Finals week and the weeks before were killer, all kinds of stress and hardly any sleep just made me lose any kind of motivation for dieting and exercise.

I have however, been getting back on track. I'm taking karate classes at the gym twice a week, and i've been trying to get back on a reasonable diet.

I find it easier for me to stay on a diet when i'm at school because I can be more consistant in my diet. The food on campus is always the same, so once I get a general idea of the calorie counts of things, I can usually stick to a pretty good diet.

I have stopped keeping all food with the exception of nutri-grain bars out of my dorm however, having snackfood there during study sessions is just too tempting for me.

Last semester I managed to get somewhat of a small meal eating pattern down. I had a nutrigrain bar for breakfast at 9, at 12 I went to the cafeteria and got a sub or chicken sandwich, around 3 I had another nutrigrain bar or some small snack, and then at 6 I had a chicken sandwich or sub for dinner. I don't know how your cafeteria works, but something like that might work for you. This eating plan and an hour of DDR 3 days a week helped me lose 10 pounds in a little over a month's time (which finals and christmas break promptly helped me gain back ), perhaps it will work for you.

I'm also going to look into the South Beach Diet, my mom has had two of their books at home for a while, I just havent taken the time to read them yet, but after hearing all the positive things about the diet, I will have to borrow them from her.

Good luck with your weightloss, and if you find anything that helps us make our college lifestyles healthier, be sure to post on here and let me know!

[penguinfanatic727]

Hey! i'm seeing a nutritionist right now because I was also concerned about how to switch to eating more frequently and eating smaller meals. The best advise that they have given me is to remove white and enriched flour from your diet. only eat wheat flour products. It isn't hard to do as many restaurants are very accommodating. (Applebees and Ruby Tuesdays, and Fridays especially) Also you should be consuming about 80-100 grams of protein daily and to keep you metabolism up I was suggested to eat every 2 hours. 3-4 mini meals and 2 snacks

But every person is different and this is what has been working for me! The protein and flour advice holds true for every1 I believe... Well I suppose the protein varies with age and height. neways hope this helps!

Jlebean

[3apa3a]

So far, I haven't weighed myself. Waiting till I've been doing this for a bit longer to do that. But I've found out one very important thing - don't stop the routine.

I'd developed a routine of putting in at least an hour, hopefully two hours, aiming at three hours, per day every day. When I hurt my foot, I'd start on the easier songs and make my way up to a pain threshold and then back it off a notch. I got through that in about four days. It was fine for a while with steady progress from 5 to 6 and now almost to 7 feet in a matter of four days. I had to take a break yesterday - we threw a party and I didn't have a chance to put my time in on the pad. When I got onto it today, my shins just started throbbing (even after stretching and a slow-song warmup).

The way to get rid of a pain (muscle pain that is either a cramp, or from inactivity, not a serious injury) that I've found works best is work on two sets of songs, and take a 20-30 second break between the songs in the set to stretch out whatever muscle is bothering you, and then get back on. The stretching and heating up of the muscle with movement helped me out.

So, what I've learned is - stretch and keep a routine.