Starting Shugging and No-S Today
Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:28 am
I discovered this website completely by accident on Saturday, and it really struck a cord. I'm 27, 5'11, 235 lbs. Computer programmer with 3 kids, and pretty much out of shape.
When I was 17, the summer before I started college I was around 220, and I lost a total of 55 pounds over a year and a half doing the Hacker's Diet and walking all over the place (lived on campus, pretty much had to). But I gradually put the weight back on over the last 5 years or so.
I injured my left knee in college (slipping on some ice), and it bothered me for a very long time, so I have issues doing any kind of biking or running, and then I badly sprained my right ankle a little over a year ago (fell down a steep set of stairs while carrying suitcases). I've probably put on 20 of those pounds in the last year, in large part due to mobility problems - I could barely walk up stairs for several months. I was going to the gym for a while, primarily on a cycle, but I couldn't really get up much intensity, due to my ankle/knee still bothering me a fair amount.
No-S appeals to me in part due to its simplicity - I've gotten so sick of tracking points/calories/whatever, and can't seem to stay with those accounting-type systems for very long, especially because eating out (and even eating in if you cook, which I love to do) gets to be such a huge pain. Hacker's Diet worked for me in college because it was very easy for me to eat the same type of thing every day (cafeteria food) and there wasn't really a lot of chance for snacking all the time. But now, in my current situation I *know* that a large part of my problem is snacking, and especially on weekdays/evenings. My work has a well-stocked kitchen with all kinds of snacks - chips, cookies, several kinds of granola bars, dried fruit, hot cocoa, bagels and english muffins (with cream cheese), sausages, cheetos, cheez-its, gummy snacks.... That may not even be everything. Let's just say, if you forget lunch, it's not the end of the world. I drink a lot of tea/coffee/herbal tea, and it's very very easy to grab something while refilling my mug. The last few times I've tried dieting, it's just been *so incredibly hard* to keep myself away from those things, and keep track of them.
So, having a very hard and fast rule - "no snacks" - alone will probably make as much difference as anything else.
Yesterday, I picked up my hammer (an 8-pounder, it was all they had). I've had a cold this weekend, and woke up this morning barely able to breathe, aching all over, and with an 8 AM meeting. Let's just say I didn't shovel anything this morning. But I did well on No-S, and was feeling better this evening, so I shugged for my 14 minutes. Kicked my butt - I don't know if I could have done 14 minutes with a 12-pounder, but I imagine I'll be wanting to upgrade in a month or so. I'll probably be sore in the morning, though - did I mentioned it kicked my butt?
So, I have 2 greens on today's calendar... my wife thinks I'm nuts (but is glad I'm doing something physical). Looking forward to seeing how this works out - it certainly can't do any *worse* than what I've been doing before (which is essentially nothing).
When I was 17, the summer before I started college I was around 220, and I lost a total of 55 pounds over a year and a half doing the Hacker's Diet and walking all over the place (lived on campus, pretty much had to). But I gradually put the weight back on over the last 5 years or so.
I injured my left knee in college (slipping on some ice), and it bothered me for a very long time, so I have issues doing any kind of biking or running, and then I badly sprained my right ankle a little over a year ago (fell down a steep set of stairs while carrying suitcases). I've probably put on 20 of those pounds in the last year, in large part due to mobility problems - I could barely walk up stairs for several months. I was going to the gym for a while, primarily on a cycle, but I couldn't really get up much intensity, due to my ankle/knee still bothering me a fair amount.
No-S appeals to me in part due to its simplicity - I've gotten so sick of tracking points/calories/whatever, and can't seem to stay with those accounting-type systems for very long, especially because eating out (and even eating in if you cook, which I love to do) gets to be such a huge pain. Hacker's Diet worked for me in college because it was very easy for me to eat the same type of thing every day (cafeteria food) and there wasn't really a lot of chance for snacking all the time. But now, in my current situation I *know* that a large part of my problem is snacking, and especially on weekdays/evenings. My work has a well-stocked kitchen with all kinds of snacks - chips, cookies, several kinds of granola bars, dried fruit, hot cocoa, bagels and english muffins (with cream cheese), sausages, cheetos, cheez-its, gummy snacks.... That may not even be everything. Let's just say, if you forget lunch, it's not the end of the world. I drink a lot of tea/coffee/herbal tea, and it's very very easy to grab something while refilling my mug. The last few times I've tried dieting, it's just been *so incredibly hard* to keep myself away from those things, and keep track of them.
So, having a very hard and fast rule - "no snacks" - alone will probably make as much difference as anything else.
Yesterday, I picked up my hammer (an 8-pounder, it was all they had). I've had a cold this weekend, and woke up this morning barely able to breathe, aching all over, and with an 8 AM meeting. Let's just say I didn't shovel anything this morning. But I did well on No-S, and was feeling better this evening, so I shugged for my 14 minutes. Kicked my butt - I don't know if I could have done 14 minutes with a 12-pounder, but I imagine I'll be wanting to upgrade in a month or so. I'll probably be sore in the morning, though - did I mentioned it kicked my butt?
So, I have 2 greens on today's calendar... my wife thinks I'm nuts (but is glad I'm doing something physical). Looking forward to seeing how this works out - it certainly can't do any *worse* than what I've been doing before (which is essentially nothing).