Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jjurabong]

I have about 50 pounds to lose, and plan to do it by next summer. The other weight loss thread on this board seemed to have a lot of good information, but was quite male-oriented with a lot of bodybuilding tips.
I'm wondering if there are female posters who are in a similar situation as I am and would like to form a support group of sorts. Any interest in something like this?

[maxxx_power]

If Calories in are less than calories going out you will lose weight, guaranteed.

Diet + Exercise = Happy Fun Land

Surf the real women's health websites if you want opinions and fad diets. Not Cosmo.

[Ody]

[jjurabong]

Maxx power - you're absolutely right - I'm not looking for a fad diet. I am interested in making healthy lifestyle change but if it were as simple as your formula, I would have been thin long ago.Ifyou are dealing with stress eating, or emotional eating, or any of a dozen other reasons, then a support group could be very helpful.


My idea for the group? Well, just being accountable to someone else may be motivation enough for some people. Working out together may be an idea. Exercise video swapping...or recipe swapping..etc.

Ody, my weight gain has been gradual over the last seven years. I think that I used "comfort food" as a way of dealing with the day to day stress of being a foreigner here.

Congrats on the baby - and I'm glad to hear you are interested.
I've also received a pm from another interested person not yet here, so we'll see how this goes.

[Ody]

[Saxiif]

[justagirl]

I think you will not get positive responses from the male posters on this site. I know what you are talking about--eating and weight gain for women are not just about eating less than you burn. There are emotional/psycological factors involved.

The less informed, or unsympathetic will simply say you're a fat cow for eating too much. They have no clue what eating disorders are. They are the same sort that say depression can be fixed by just getting up and "getting over it."

It's interesting to note that unlike other bad habits, or addictions (ie: alcoholism, biting your fingernails, nicotine, drugs), you cannot stop eating.

Gotta run--
justagirl

[jjurabong]

Saxiif - good advice, the problem is that it's not that easy to just cut that out!!

Although I appreciate the weight loss advice, I know what I have to do to lose weight, and wasn't posting for that type of advice.

I just wanted to know if there were other overweight women who were interested in getting together to support each other through the weight loss.

For Ody, I'm in Seoul.

[Corvid]

Suggestions and topics from a male poster:
I am a skinny guy who gained a flat tire around the waist in the last year. My unfortunate experience is that you cannot localize weight loss. If you want to lose inches from your waist, the pounds will melt away from elsewhere. If you want them from your thighs... the same. So, with 50 lbs to lose, try not to look for changes on your bod, but instead, focus on the scale.
What do you ladies think of this suggestion? Put your scale away, and only weigh yourself once a week... or maybe twice? (To keep on track and measure progress.) A couple of pounds of water weight could be very discouraging, I would think.
And, taking the fruit snack idea a step further, what do people know about doing a fruit fast on one day during the weekends? The fruit will give energy for exercise, but no fat and easily burned calories. (Be careful though, I've done fruit fasts for detoxification purposes, and you must have a bathroom within a kilometer at all times.) (Or maybe that was the toxins acting up. )
And finally, regarding the last post, I think support is great, but it won't keep you from wanting that little snack. Support is a welcome distraction that will help when it's available. When it isn't around (I think) you'll need a plan of action, like sugarless gum, or fruit, or ...?...

I'll already bet a million (won ) that you'll lose 20 lbs. Have goals, but be emmensly satitisfied with results, too

[marista99]

I also need to lose weight--realistically close to 100lbs.

I'm near the airport in Incheon so if anyone wants to work out or anything, let's do it I plan to sign up for the gym as soon as I get my first paycheck, so that should help a lot.

[paperbag princess]

first of all, if you're looking for a good site, www.shape.com is an awesome one (it's the website for shape magazine, which is the best women's health rag out there).

that being said, what you need to do a combination of exercise and lifestyle choices. you have to decide to be healthy, that means working out 3-5 days a week and eating a low fat diet. anyone who tries to sell you on the atkins has there head screwed on the worng way. you need to go in baby steps, start out by working out lightlty (eg walking on the treadmill on an incline for 30 minutes at a light pace) and start chosing healthier foods. if you are a junk monkey (as i am) don't deprive yourself. try to find other alternatives to the chips and twix.

good luck and have fun! the best way to be healthy is to make working out a fun activity. if you hate the gym, go hiking or rockclimbing.

[LK]

To get you started, check my post on this thread (page 34):

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=15020&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=495

You have to learn a lot about nutrition and exercise, and there are web sites to help you do that:

www.bodybuilding.com
www.fitday.com
http://www.glycemicindex.com
http://www.stumptuous.com/weights.html - particularly on women's fitness, fun to read, too.

Most sites on fitness and bodybuilding have discussion forums; register there, ask questions - that would be much more effective than discussing it here.

[The Great Toad]

[jjurabong]

Well, I appreciate all the well-intentioned advice, and the website references are great.

I've received quite a few pms from women who are interested in forming a group, and so I think the best thing to do is to take it off this board and set up a separate online group.

Once I've set up the group, I'll get back to everyone who pm'd me. Anyone else who would like to join, just let me know and I'll give you the info.

Some ideas for the site?
- each person could keep an online journal - logging workouts, measurements or thoughts ( the accountability may be motivating )

- Sharing resources ( healthy shopping, workout equipment and routines, exercise videos, helpful websites etc.) This would be better than other established online sites because it would be specific to us living in Korea.

- meeting up for workouts / setting exercise challenges

- Having a place to post before reaching for that can of pringles
Often just writing through the feelings knowing they will be read by a supportive audience will help.

- Cheering each other on, cheesy as it sounds.


Any other ideas?

-

[crazylemongirl]

I've lost a couple of dress sizes here so this is my advice.

To quote a bad hair commerical from back home, it won't happen overnight but it will happen. Ie. don't set unrealistic goals for yourself instead of thinking I need to lose X weight by X time. You need to look at it in the context of making small behaviour modifications in order to improve your standard of living. I was skinny until I hit university and then after a few years of bad diet and inactivity. I did the crash diet fanatical exercise stuff for a little while but would get burned out by the sudden changes and give up.

So don't go from a constant junk food grazer to a celery muncher overnight as it will be too much a shock to your system. Think of your metabolisim as a car that you want to get started in the dead of winter, you got let it warm up a little before you get results. Start with something small like going for a brief walk everyday. Then maybe cut out that afternoon snack. I finally gave up coke several weeks ago (I drunk over 2 litres of coke a day at one point) and am now on orange juice which is starting to be watered down. Hopefully from there I will get myself to the point where I'll be drinking only water.

Get a rice cooker and try and eat korean as much as possible. Bibimbab is real easy to make at home. You can get the vegetables needed in packs at the supermarket add in some gouchu jang and egg mix and eat. Bulgogi is ready made too. I broil mine amd add some lettuce when I serve it. Also try get the omu dishes. They are these little black bowls with a lid. You boil about 1cm water in them when they are boiling you add egg and some thinly sliced vegetables really yummy.

Try and elimanate all the snacky stuff from your house so that your less likely to graze when you are bored. It's amazing how much crap you eat without even realising it. Replace it with some fruits instead. Also if you find your self in the I want to eat a box of chocopie stage... go for walk. I've replaced a lot of my emotional eating.

Ditch the booze. Not only is fattening but it's bad for your skin.

Try and find an exercise partner. I'm really lucky that I have a neighbor that is my exercise partner. We bang on eachother's doors and keep eachother motivated.

I personally don't think that you should spend time obessing about what you put in your mouth as I think that leads to you starting to think hey I'm also missing out on....

Join a sporty club. There are heaps of clubs out there for you to exercise with.. expat or korean. Not all of them are uber competitive either so you can start off slow.

Don't give up if you fall off the wagon. We can have our off days but you just pick up where you left off.