Happy Thanksgiving Day to all...

[flraceguy]

Happy Thanksgiving day to all... I hope and Pray that everyone has a good time whether you are with Family or friends or both... Good times come and Good times go... Hard times come and hard times go...

Please understand that not everyone may think that things are grand, but life is short and one must make every second count... So please take a moment today to say hello to everybody and enjoy the company you are with...

Have a great day all...

[Old Sunshine Fan]

Well spoken DE-WANE... and you know how badly it hurts me to agree with you.
We need to be thankful for what we have and not look at what we don't.

There happens to be two families having to deal with their sons not with them this Thanksgiving, both went to Univ. of Tpa.. one was shot while being robbed and the other was killed while walking near the Univ. (hit and run).
Both of these families were looking forward to their sons coming home for the holidays and now they are making funeral arrangments.

As if that wasn't enough for UT... two nights ago, three students were in a terrible (One vehicle) wreck and are in critical conditions and at least one may not make it.. It always seems around the holidays things like this happens.

Embrace your families/friends and be Thankful for the time you have them..we don't know the MAJOR PLAN, so love em while you have em.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

[Andy S]

but life is short and one must make every second count...

Absolutely! I'm very proud of myself today and wanted to share it with my friends on here. Two years ago none of you would have recognized me (well, those that know what I look like now, anyway!) as I weighed nearly 150lbs more than I do now. After a heck of a load of hard work, and will still more to come, I ran my first ever 5k this morning, and if I hadn't got blocked by a family who suddenly stopped to have an argument right in front of me (!) I would have finished it in less than 30 minutes.



Like Duane says, life really is short and it gets much better when you take it by the scruff of the neck and make it work for you!

Have a great day everyone. Despite being British and coming into this celebration a little late, I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of them all!

And Duane, have a great day and thanks for everything this year...

[flraceguy]

Andy... Astonishing fact and I will offer my sincerest congratulations to you on your hard work and your successful run of the 5K this morning... As I have told everyone that I work with, meet, and deal with... All anyone has to do is ask and I will lend a hand or just about anything else...

Can't wait to meet up with you and your lovely spouse again and have a pint or two... Hopefully I will have time in the next week or so...

Have a great evening and again my congrats to you on both your goals that you have accomplished...

As you Brits say, Smashing good job Mate!!!

Off to cooler for a pint I go....

[Jane]

That is absolutely AWESOME Andy. If you don't mind me asking, what finally made you start to lose the weight?? My oldest son, who I love dearly, is almost 440 pounds. He has diabetes and a very bad back but I can't seem to get him to lose any weight yet. I have tried everything and don't want to have to bury him because of his weight. If you can give me any helpful hints about how you got so motivated, I would greatly appreciate it.

As for me, today was a very unusual Thanksgiving with dad in the hospital but I know how blessed I am to have my dad still. I thank God every single day for my parents and I know how blessed I am. It is not what we have in life that counts at all. It is our family, our friends and the love we have for each other - unconditional.

Hopefully Christmas will be much better and dad won't fall and get hurt. Just sorry he is in so much pain but they have him pretty medicated so he does not move. Now, I have to start decorating mom's house for Christmas so when dad does come out, Christmas cheer will be all around him.

[AB195]

long distance running--

Andy--
Mayhaps you might enjoy some of the exploits of a long distance running club that I am quite familiar with; Hashing, or Hash House Harriers.
Maybe you've heard of it, it's worldwide--a running club that drinks a keg of beer at the end and eats a bunch of food, more of a social organization(dis).
It's a game of hounds and hares,
Really, Google it up, we're everywhere, and I have hashed alot of places. It's pretty cool. Almost exactly like the party at the Gov. Cup weekend, with a couple of 4-mile runs beforehand. Give me a shout, and I'll dial you into your nearest Club.

[AB195]

And, to add to that UK/USA hashing thing earlier, why don't you join a group of us that skydives often. It's a blast. It might be right up your alley. Ring me.
r.

[flraceguy]

Ahhh Roger.... Just my kind of running club... Lots of beer, skydiving, and a little bit of movement thrown in... Hmmm how much better could it get...

LOL....

[Cara]

Good for you Andy!!! I really wanted to do the run yesterday morning but knew with me being the only one in the family that cooks, there was just no way to do it. I don't run but I like to race walk but know that I am very much out of shape right now. Congratulations on losing so much weight. My husband started that mission over two years ago because of a cruise through Ford Motor Company that we were sent on and as of today he has lost 60 lbs. I am so proud of him and he rides his bike to work everyday including as cold as it was this morning. I wanted him to drive because of the cold weather but he said he ate too much apple pie yesterday and needed to work it off. We did attend the Central Fl. Auto Show last night which help work off some of the big lunch we had. Now for me to get really serious about losing weight also.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

[Andy S]

If you don't mind me asking, what finally made you start to lose the weight?? My oldest son, who I love dearly, is almost 440 pounds. He has diabetes and a very bad back but I can't seem to get him to lose any weight yet. I have tried everything and don't want to have to bury him because of his weight. If you can give me any helpful hints about how you got so motivated, I would greatly appreciate it.

No problems, Jane. Hope no-one else minds this little thread-jack, but hopefully it may help.

My turning point was like lots of people's in that it was a combination of lots of little things that one day got me to breaking point. In no particular order the things that started nagging away at me included seeing a couple of photos where I couldn't believe how bad I looked, suddenly finding clothes I'd been embarrassed about the size of a few months before suddenly being too small, generally starting to worry about getting older and how much time I had to turn it around, and I think the final straw was getting a really bad foot injury where being so overweight was one of the main contributors to is happening and then not healing. Everything just combined and I decided there and then that things had to change.

Initially I just made some small adjustments, based on lots and lots of research and crosschecking on the internet - the checking is important as there's 10 times as many bad or dangerous 'tips' out there as there are good ones. I did simple things at first, like changing to diet soda (I drank 4 or 5 cans of Coke a day), changing from sugar to Splenda, and basically going through everything we bought at the grocery store and wherever possible changing what we bought to a low fat, low sugar or zero calorie version. It took two to three weeks to get used to it, but in the end you soon realize it makes very little difference. I decided to cut out fast food out as much as possible, meaning once or twice a month, and cut out any desserts I was having, or any appetizers when we ate out. Then I just made decisions whenever I could for healthier options, like not having fries with meals, not going for fried food in diners, having cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, things like that. Believe it or not, that combined to lose me 50lbs in the first 3 months.

After that, and knowing how much better I felt, I decided to get serious and started looking much more closely. I began to seriously calorie count and understand the different things I ate and how they helped or hindered me. So I insisted on having high-fiber breakfasts, had a small (100 calorie like a granola bar, piece of fruit or packet of raisins) snack in the morning and afternoon, drank LOADS of water throughout the day, then the two proper meals I had in a day I made sure were regular portions and as healthy as possible.

After a couple more months of this and a slight slowing of my weight loss I joined my local gym up in NJ, had a couple of initial sessions with a trainer to set some routines, and started there 5 or 6 times a week with a mixture or weight training and walking/jogging. This kick-started me again and by the end of the first year of trying I'd just just about 100lbs.

A combination of having friends staying the entire summer and then moving to FL meant I lost track of this for a while, especially while trying to settle in down here, and I put 15 to 20lbs back on, but never got close to being as bad as I had been. So in April I joined the gym near where I work, got back into eating properly, and since then I've lost that 20lbs and about another 50. So now I eat properly, and understand my eating on a daily and weekly basis, and do two or three big weight training days a week combined with running 20 to 25 miles a week too. My diet is well tuned now that it even includes changing my eating on Monday and Tuesday to set myself up to have an Italian Sausage at OSW on a Friday night!

I'd love to say there's some secret to it all, but there really isn't. Ultimately it all comes down to a few factors:

* Really wanting to lose weight and being committed to doing what it takes to achieve it.
* Being honest with yourself about what you do eat - I'd easily convinced myself that I really didn't eat a lot more than 'normal' people, but looking back now I know I regularly had lunches at McDonalds that were over 2,000 calories and a ton of fat. I just convinced myself that everyone else was having them too.
* Realizing that there's no end point to this. Once you start eating properly and looking after yourself you're doing it forever. The people who fail tend to see it as a 'diet' and that once you reach a goal you can go back to how it used to be and be fine. The reality is that what you have to do is change your entire lifestyle and then stick with it
* Committing to do what you have to do and not making excuses or blaming anything else. That means running on days when you really don't want to, turning down a dessert when you really want to, and knowing you can probably never go back to having ice-cream every single day if you did before!

Other than that there are some other little tips that really help I picked up:
* weight training really helps - you won't grow muscles (that's incredibly hard to do while cutting calories) but the muscles working revs up your metabolism and burns the calories you take AND the toned muscle helps support your body where the fat has gone
* There is no way to 'spot reduce' on your body - it burns fat from wherever it feels like it. So just doing hours and hours of sit-ups could end up just giving you thin arms and calves.
* Drinking lots of water helps a lot - I drink at least 2 liters a day
* Diet is everything, and you won't get anywhere unless you're eating right and getting fewer calories. All the exercise in the world can't help eating too many calories and too much sugary and fatty food.
* Consume as few 'empty calories' as possible - i.e. If you want 2,000 calories a day don't waste 500 of them on sugary soda or a single candy bar. If you go out for steak, have the rice and veggies over fries and then you can have a bigger steak!

That's it really. That all worked for me at least. Hope it helps anyone out there who needs a shove. And I'm sorry, but it really is all down to hard work. You have to concentrate all the time, and be brutally honest with yourself. There are no easy days, and no day when you know it's over and you can go back to how you used to eat.

All I know is how much better it feels like this, and how glad I am I've done it. If I'm honest, one of the reasons I want to get into a race car at some point next season is because I know now that I can actually get in!

I also found this series of books are really useful, especially when deciding what to eat in restaurants or at fast food places. Careful choosing there can make a world of difference:

'Eat This Not That' books

Definitely worth putting on the Christmas list!

[Jane]

Thank you Andy very much. For Danny's birthday, I got him a book about a man his size that lost half his body size but changing his diet. He had the same bad back, diabetes and turned his whole world around. I guess Danny is not at that point yet, I don't know, but I don't want to bury him before me. I did for awhile have him cut down on soda and more water but then he was sneaking soda on me. I try to buy healthy for him and getting him to eat fruit and not sugar but it is hard. But thank you for being so honest with me and I will definitely look at the books. The one I got him for his birthday was really good also but getting him to actually read it is the hard part. I just don't want to bury him before me.

Thanks again - Jane