New to this - would appreciate help and advice!

[~*mandy*~]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this. Most of my life I was the skinny fit small girl. I was always proud of that, and because I was a gymnast I could still hold my own when it came to weightlifting and working out in general in gym class. I never really had to work at this either, and I would eat families out of house and home lol.

OMG!!! My mother and my Grandmother were right!!! It's coming back to bite me in the ass. I hit 20 yrs old and it was okay I was a bit bigger than I was used to. But slowly over the last two years I've managed to nearly match my Mom in weight. All the sudden now everyone can tell were related. THIS IS HORRIFYING!!! I DON'T want to look like my mother!!!

The hard part is I LOVE FOOD, I love cooking it, I love baking it, and I love eating it. Over the past couple months I have tried to become a healthier eater. Instead of having a burger for dinner I now have a veggie burger. We eat 12 grain instead of white or whole wheat bread. For about a year and a half I have been doing Yoga(I know this doesn't help to loose weight). And I got myself DDR for my beloved Wii. I was FLABBERGASTED at how warm I got the first night trying it out and suddenly thought hey this could be a fun way to try and loose the weight. Mentioned it to the boyfriend and he was like ya I know this guy who lost 60 lbs doing it. The boyfriend is military so he is fit as a fiddle, which just makes me feel worse about myself. I'm hoping this will not only help me but maybe some other aspects of my life too if you know what I mean lol.

I would love to hear any tips and suggestions you all have. Such things like how long should I play for and how often? What is a good target for kcals to burn per session? Anything you think would help a beginner I would more than appreciate! ;D

Ciao for now

[abrannan]

Welcome! I know how it is to be used to being thin and have weight "creep up" on you. I was a martial artist in high school, and could eat like, well, a typical growing teenage boy and not gain a pound over 135. Flash forward 13 years and I'm 200+.

The real secret to DDR weight loss (and something I'm still working on) is consistency. Get on that mat every day. Even if it's just for a quick couple songs. The other key is to keep pushng yourself. Your workouts should be challenging. Of course, just starting out is a challenge in and of itself, but you'll find that you start to get used to the songs, and they'll get easier and easier. That's a sign to find a song that takes you outside your confort zone. Keep pushing yourself, and you'll keep improving.

It's fantastic that you love to cook, because even some of the not-so-good things that you cook will still be healthier than stuff from eating out. Just watch portion sizes, and try to keep the recipes on the healthier side.

Basically, you're already off to a good start. Just keep plugging away, and we'll be here to answer your questions as they come up!

[~*mandy*~]

So I tried two different things today

First i tried counting the calories on the stuff I ate.

I make dinner for more than myself, and my counterpart likes his food, and he never seems to gain weight.

Anyways, so I calculated about 1556 calories. And that was taking a much smaller portion for dinner than I'm used to

So while I was waiting for dinner to cook, I threw on the workout mode of DDR. I played for just over a half hour on basic, (I'm still not too good at the game) and it says I've burned 72 calories. And I'm here sweating. That's it? 72 calories per half hour? I feel like I should've burned more than that. If not I'll be trying to play for 6 hours just to burn the extra calories I've eaten. I really didn't eat that much today. Am I doing something wrong here? Do i have wrong numbers for how many calories I should be eating/burning? Cause I don't have enough time to play for 6 hours every day. I got school, a part time job, and a tiny small social life. Plus i don't enjoy playing if the counterpart has people over cause we only have one TV and it's in the living room. I made a list of the stuff i ate and the estimated calories for each one. I used an online application to figure out some of the calories, others I just got off of the packages.

BREAKFAST
255 - raisin bran with 2% milk
80 - Regular flavouring in coffee
50 - milk 2% in coffee
1.58 - coffee
SNACK
65 - pepperette
LUNCH
170 - 12 grain wrap (whole wrap=301.5)
75 - turkey
3.6 - tomatoes
5.4 - lettuce
27.5 - cheese
20 - italian dressing
65 - pepperette
1.58 - coffee
60 - Fat free flavouring in coffee
55 - milk 2% in coffee
SNACK
125.4 - banana bread
60 - fat free flavouring in coffee
27.5 - milk 2% in coffee
1.58 - coffee
DINNER
140 - chicken
75 - soup
32.5 - milk 2%
160 - bizmati brown rice rice
-----
1556.64

And yes I know I could use 1% or skim milk but i gotta use what we have first before I can buy lighter stuff

Sorry this is soo long... HELP?!?!?

[xstatic]

I know this is gonna be hard to take but... Less coffee, more water. I know I know, it's frustrating but as an avid coffee drinker, I feel your pain. Try to keep your coffee to morning/midday and stick to water after that. The water is not only A:good for you, but it will B: aid your weight loss

Oh and FYI the calorie counter in DDR is not accurate so you can't factor that into your caloric intake vs burn equation.

[~*mandy*~]

Okay so the calorie counter in DDR isn't accurate. Is there a way to estimate the amount burned?

I don't really like water. I had to pretty much force myself to drink a glass last night... Can I drink juice instead? Or maybe even just add a lilttle fruit juice to it for taste, or even lemon?

[abrannan]

It's better to go by time played, rather than the DDR calorie counter. I've written long treatises elsewhere on these boards about why. As long as you are getting your heart rate up, and working up a good sweat, the calories will take care of themselves.

Stay clear of juice, there's too much sugar in them to be good (sometimes more than soda). Adding lemon is fine, or even making tea if you don't use sugar (sugar substitute is okay, though)

[xstatic]

also there are water flavorings like everywhere in the grocery stores now.

[angie]

mandym333 said:

Okay so the calorie counter in DDR isn't accurate. Is there a way to estimate the amount burned?

I don't really like water. I had to pretty much force myself to drink a glass last night... Can I drink juice instead? Or maybe even just add a lilttle fruit juice to it for taste, or even lemon?

I love water, but I didn't used to. It's an acquired taste I think. However, you should look into Crystal Light water flavorings. They are like 10 calories per packet, and flavor a whole 16.9 fl oz. bottle of water. They are amazing and taste GOOD! I highly recommend the raspberry lemonade flavor.

And yes, you should really cut out most beverages like coffee, juice, etc. if you want to lose weight. Beverages like that really hinder your progress because the serving sizes are usually small and it's easy to drink more than 1. If you need milk, definitely switch to skim ASAP, and no more juices! They are loaded with sugar calories... for your caffine fix, you could always use the Crystal Light energy drink mixes...those come with vitamin B and caffine, and are still 10 cals.

Also, I would suggest you find out what your RMR is by going here: www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php Based on that, you can determine how many calories you need to cut out of your diet per day to help you lose weight while you exercise.

[xstatic]

www.caloriesperhour.com is an amazing site and I encourage anyone and everyone to use it.