Addicted to food?

LegacyUser

As the title says, I wonder if I'm addicted to food. I got a job last year that pays well n ever since I think I've put on about a stone. My diet is rubbish, and I can't seem to change. I think I associated money as being able to eat loads when I was in college, I was pretty much broke all the time, so I only bought the essentials, but now that i've money in my pocket, I can't help but buy several items of junk food a day.

I've become someone I never wanted to be. I'd watch the weightloss programmes on TV and listen to how people would eat packets of biscuits in one go and would eat bag after bag of crisps, and that's me now yesterday I finished a bag of haribo in about 20 minutes. I am disgusted with myself.

I'm in a job that's not boring, but I'm never over the top busy that my mind is distracted. I know I have to diet, I know I have to exercise, but I feel like there's a wall stopping me. I'm going on holiday in September with three girls who are all skinny, and I'm going to look like a whale beside them I'm attending councelling and it has come up once, but there's just other issues i need to deal with first before I go on to deal with my issues with food. Thing is, I love food, and I love eating. I'm going to be huge if I don't stop now, what do i do?

LegacyUser

I don't have much advice for you except to say that I feel your pain. I'm a guy and I used to weight over twenty stone because of poor eating habits and snacking. I'm down around thirteen stone now and feel very good. For me, I just learned to wait out the 'pang' of really wanting that sweet or fatty thing. Distraction is key. Keep telling yourself you can have something if you want but you're going to sit it out for now. I'm at the stage where I 'sit out' every pang with ease and stick to main meals for the most part and it doesn't bother me. I can only advise you that you can get to this place if you try and it really does get easier. You could also give up one thing at a time rather than giving up everything cold turkey.

LegacyUser

Poor thing. I know how you feel because I have put a phenomenal amount of utter trash through my mouth. I don't like fruit or vegetables very much which doesn't help.

Here are some things that are helping me

I love food. Not just junk food but tasty ordinary food. Now I make an effort to do a proper weekly shop so that there is always something in the house that I can have. Look online for healthy meals that you can cook and freeze. What I also do is buy one or two better quality ready meals (the Marks & Spencer ones, for example) and have them sitting in the fridge or freezer for when I'm wrecked and can't be bothered cooking.

Try to substitute these sweets for something else. I'm a recent convert to those fruit salads that you can buy in a plastic container in Dunnes or other supermarkets. I also like the tubs of nuts/seeds. They're munchable and better for you than sweets. I love strawberries this time of year. Or grapes - put them in the freezer to make them chewy.

I find that eating protein fills me up. Try to fill up with natural yogurt or those cooked chicken pieces for example. They're sort of snacky but ok.

If you struggle with will power, how about going to a slimming class e.g. WeightWatchers, UniSlim. They're expensive but if you go each week and know you are going to be weighed, it might make you think twice about what you put into your mouth.

Ask your friends for help. Do they ever go walking or do other sorts of exercise? I've recently joined a gym and it's the best thing I've done for myself in ages. I sometimes have to force myself to go but I do walk out of there feeling very pleased with myself. In fact I'm buzzin' as I type this.

You say you're in counselling. Maybe you should mention it again? If you're like me, you use food as a reward or as something to fill boredom. I know exactly how you feel about eating a bag of Haribo or wolfing down the crisps. It's not enjoyable at all but it's hard to stop.

She Who Dares Wins

Firstly I think you shouldn't label yourself with an addiction prematurely because then your mind will reason "well Im an addict so what I can I do....i have to have this cake".

Then try to get a strategy to leave yourself with other options. So have eggs & a grapefruit smoothie for brekkie, have a banana for break, bring lunch and an afternoon snack, plan dinner.

Get chewing gum and big bottles of water so keep your mouth active all day. Dont put yourself in situations where there is temptation. Talk yourself out of it. Use the myplate function on livestrong website to record your calories daily.

As regards exercise, getting a skipping rope and a kettlebell will go a long way in a short space of time. If you're exercising and calorie recording you'll be much more conscious of not undoing your progress.

Also keep a diary of your moods and temptations and see if there's a pattern.

LegacyUser

fattyfattyfatty wrote: »

As the title says, I wonder if I'm addicted to food. I got a job last year that pays well n ever since I think I've put on about a stone. My diet is rubbish, and I can't seem to change. I think I associated money as being able to eat loads when I was in college, I was pretty much broke all the time, so I only bought the essentials, but now that i've money in my pocket, I can't help but buy several items of junk food a day.

I've become someone I never wanted to be. I'd watch the weightloss programmes on TV and listen to how people would eat packets of biscuits in one go and would eat bag after bag of crisps, and that's me now yesterday I finished a bag of haribo in about 20 minutes. I am disgusted with myself.

I'm in a job that's not boring, but I'm never over the top busy that my mind is distracted. I know I have to diet, I know I have to exercise, but I feel like there's a wall stopping me. I'm going on holiday in September with three girls who are all skinny, and I'm going to look like a whale beside them I'm attending councelling and it has come up once, but there's just other issues i need to deal with first before I go on to deal with my issues with food. Thing is, I love food, and I love eating. I'm going to be huge if I don't stop now, what do i do?

You need to discuss this with your counsellor. You may be using food as a crutch, no different than an alcoholic that consumes alcohol. I am no way labelling you as addict as I hate using such a term. But they are both compulsive behaviours. Overeating is the most common eating disorder. Your overeating can be the side effect of the issues you are working with.

Do you reward yourself with food? Whenever you accomplish something whether a deadline at work or some other project why not treat yourself to a manicure or buy a new lipstick? More often people would reward themselves with a pint of ice cream or chocolates. Try rewarding your efforts that does not involve food.

Write a daily journal as to what you eat and why. Did you eat those crisps because you were actually hungry? Or bored? Stressed? Frustrated? More often than not people eat out of boredom or stress. Reading your post it sounds that you are not consciously eating. I never eat in front of a computer or while working. I take a proper break; sit down and focus on my meal. I found that way I was satiated and less likely to indulge on a larger portion. Today I have seen so many people eat at their desk not aware until after the fact they ate an entire bag of crisps or cookies!

Plan your meals and stick to it. I had very little time and motivation to cook and used to eat out after a shift and felt bad. Now on my days off I cook for the week. I organise my meals and snacks with me to work. I always made sure they were nutritious and nourishing. Snacks would consist of an apple, handful of nuts, carrots or celery sticks with peanut butter. Always have water at all times. In fact most of the time when someone is hungry they are more dehydrated. I drink up to 3 litres of water a day and has helped alot with not overeating. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks. Now my energy levels improved, no more headaches and fatigue. I found that the planning and organising helped me not indulge or go to snack machines for a fix. If you have your meals prepared and made maybe this will be your first step to getting back on track? I got a weight watchers cookbook at a used bookshop. It's excellent. The meals are planned along with snack ideas that are organised by dieticians which are healthy, satisfying and low fat. Start with that. If you cannot find a weight watchers one a diabetic cookbook does the same. The diabetic diet is very well balanced and most recommended. These cookbooks also have great recipes and meal plans.

I would encourage you to discuss this with the counsellor. You don't have to spend an entire session over it. If your issues are stress and anxiety related than perhaps you are eating for comfort? As for the exercise, start with walking to work. This is what I do. It is a 40 minute walk to work and I love the fresh air. I save on petrol and I get my exercise. I save on a gym membership fees and pay for a Pilates class once a week. So with the walking to and from work is over an hour 5 times a week and Pilates for strength training is plenty. Most of all it isn't boring and I am able to stick to it.

Mighty_Mouse

It's a habit.
Habits can be formed or broken over time.

Create a food log. Figure out how many calories you need per day.
www.myfitnesspal.com.
If you want to lose weight it will be somewhere around the 1500-1800 mark.
Once you have a target, you begin to learn what foods work best to stay under.
Basically what is most nutritious for the lowest amount of calories.
This naturally points towards the healthy options like porridge in the morning etc.
That's the education part.

The habit part is psychological.
You associate eating crap with different activities, times of the day, shopping habits.
Start to break them slowly. The food diary will help.
You begin to flex the will-power muscle.

I know the problem seems big but the answer is in day-to-day baby steps.

Overheal

Dr. Phil is a tool, but someone Ghost-wrote for him The Ultimate Weight solution. Good, good book for thinking about food psychology.

Aside from that, switch yourself over to better quality foods. In Ireland you already have abundant access to free range and organic produce and meat. Take advantage. Because you do have a better income, this should become your staple diet. Organic free range chicken tastes completely different and has a completely different chicken to the mass-farmed crap. Same goes with beef, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It's also healthier for you. My go to "junk" food, is something called a Clif Bar (one f) and if you can get them over there, try them on. They're very filling, and full of good stuff. In the last week I've almost subsisted entirely on a single grocers visit consisting of Ripe banana's (ripe is way cheaper, and frankly has more flavor), grapes, Organic Peanut butter, almond milk and flax seed. I had my wisdom teeth all pulled so I've been throwing these together with coffee and making a very tasty smoothie concoction.

After that you start looking at other foods and they just become less appealing. fast food is still good occasionally but its still junk, I try to avoid it if something else can be obtained - on lunches I've picked going into the shop for a clif bar over the mcdonalds (1, the clif bar is healthier and just as filling and 2, the McD meal would be $6, the clif bar is just $1).

I remember in high school reading the UWS book and I havent looked at junk foods quite the same way. I've still eaten them, but hardly with the same satisfaction/addiction to them. You end up going off them for a while and when you go back to them, the first thing you notice is the overwhelming presence of refined sugar and other ingredients.

Bottom line OP: don't buy mass quantities of cheap food - focus on High Quality Foods. You can afford it, take advantage.

noah45

I can relate to this, I am totally addicted to food, will binge even when full. Seriously need to overcome this but not sure what to do next or how to go about it.

username123

Mighty_Mouse wrote: »

1 stone is a lot but it is the edge of a cliff.
You are about to leave fat & enter obsese.

What? My weight constantly goes up and down by a stone my entire life. Im not fat, Ive never been fat, and Im certainly not entering obese even when that stone is on. A stone is nothing in the scheme of things!! Thats just scaremongering.

For an average woman a stone is roughly 10% of her bodyweight - adding 10% of most peoples bodyweight to them is not going to put anyone on the precipice of obese!

OP - you have been given some good advice already on how to address your diet, I can only add to keep it simple, cut out the junk, plan your meals, eat less, move more!

LegacyUser

Hi OP, I'm in a pretty similar situation to you myself at the moment. It's brought on depression which I've never suffered with before and I'm finding things very difficult. I'm seeing a counsellor too. He has also suggested for me to try group therapy, such as Overeaters Anonymous, which I'm looking into at the moment.

It's all well and good people telling you what to do to change, but for me that doesn't help at all. I KNOW exactly how to lose weight, I've done it plenty of times in the past. I'm fairly knowledgeable about nutrition and how to have a healthy diet. The problem is finding the motivation to actually do it. I want more than anything to change, but no matter how hard I want to do it, I still find myself reaching for the crisps or chocolate when I'm in the shop, making myself massive dinners, eating in secret, lying about what I've been eating. I've always been overweight and have always had a big appetite but it's never affected me so much as it is now, and it affects every part of my life.

I don't know if it's the same for you, but for me, people advising me on what to eat or how to lose weight is not helpful at all. Overeating is an eating disorder, much the same as anorexia or bulimia. You wouldn't say to an anorexic person "Have a few burgers there, you'll be grand". I think people find it much more difficult to accept overeating as an actual mental illness. They just think it's greed and gluttony (which a lot of the time is how I feel myself, I disgust myself most of the time tbh).

I can't really offer much advice I'm afraid but I just wanted to offer you a bit of support from someone in the same boat. Please do talk to your counsellor about it because it is a very serious issue. I've been amazed from talking to my counsellor to see the connections between my eating disorder and other issues in my past and present. It's very early days for me but I'm hoping more than anything that I can learn to love myself enough to change. I hope you do too, best of luck.

LegacyUser

throwawayaccount wrote: »

Hi OP, I'm in a pretty similar situation to you myself at the moment. It's brought on depression which I've never suffered with before and I'm finding things very difficult. I'm seeing a counsellor too. He has also suggested for me to try group therapy, such as Overeaters Anonymous, which I'm looking into at the moment.

It's all well and good people telling you what to do to change, but for me that doesn't help at all. I KNOW exactly how to lose weight, I've done it plenty of times in the past. I'm fairly knowledgeable about nutrition and how to have a healthy diet. The problem is finding the motivation to actually do it. I want more than anything to change, but no matter how hard I want to do it, I still find myself reaching for the crisps or chocolate when I'm in the shop, making myself massive dinners, eating in secret, lying about what I've been eating. I've always been overweight and have always had a big appetite but it's never affected me so much as it is now, and it affects every part of my life.

I don't know if it's the same for you, but for me, people advising me on what to eat or how to lose weight is not helpful at all. Overeating is an eating disorder, much the same as anorexia or bulimia. You wouldn't say to an anorexic person "Have a few burgers there, you'll be grand". I think people find it much more difficult to accept overeating as an actual mental illness. They just think it's greed and gluttony (which a lot of the time is how I feel myself, I disgust myself most of the time tbh).

I can't really offer much advice I'm afraid but I just wanted to offer you a bit of support from someone in the same boat. Please do talk to your counsellor about it because it is a very serious issue. I've been amazed from talking to my counsellor to see the connections between my eating disorder and other issues in my past and present. It's very early days for me but I'm hoping more than anything that I can learn to love myself enough to change. I hope you do too, best of luck.

Wow you are just like me. I also find it extremely annoying when people tell me what to eat and what exercise to do. Like you, I know all about it, it's just finding the motivation to do it. There is something seriously wrong in that when a previous councellor suggested I start walking, even then I was thinking "ugh the effort". The problem with this is that because you know it and aren't doing anything about it, it makes it worse! How can you distinguish between it being an eating disorder and just plain greediness? I heard of this eating disorder about how bigger people can see themselves thinner than they actually are and then indulge in lots of food, and I have thought several times that that is me!

Is there actually a thing called overeaters anonymous? that would be good to go to. I have come to hate the word diet, and instantly switch off if my mum tries to get me to talk about exercising. But then I feel really guilty because I know she is only trying to help

LegacyUser

fattyfattyfatty wrote: »

Wow you are just like me. I also find it extremely annoying when people tell me what to eat and what exercise to do. Like you, I know all about it, it's just finding the motivation to do it. There is something seriously wrong in that when a previous councellor suggested I start walking, even then I was thinking "ugh the effort". The problem with this is that because you know it and aren't doing anything about it, it makes it worse! How can you distinguish between it being an eating disorder and just plain greediness? I heard of this eating disorder about how bigger people can see themselves thinner than they actually are and then indulge in lots of food, and I have thought several times that that is me!

Is there actually a thing called overeaters anonymous? that would be good to go to. I have come to hate the word diet, and instantly switch off if my mum tries to get me to talk about exercising. But then I feel really guilty because I know she is only trying to help

I've only been seeing my counsellor about 2 months (the first time I've ever been to counselling) and I thought things were going well, I really liked him, but then this week he suggested that I drink water and eat an apple when I feel hungry. That was so frustrating to hear, I was really quite upset. My eating isn't related to feeling hungry a lot of the time. It's related to emotion, guilt and self-hatred, and I'd felt up until then that he'd understood that. It's made me consider changing counsellor tbh, but I'll give it another few weeks.

Yes there is such thing as Overeaters Anonymous http://www.oahope.com/. It's exactly the same principal as Alcoholics Anonymous, with the 12 steps. However there is a very strong religious undertone to it. I mentioned this to the counsellor when he suggested it and he said it wasn't necessarily religious, but they encouraged believing in a "higher power", which I was very cynical of. However on their website "God" is mentioned in their 12 steps so it's not something I'm going to be doing. Instead, I looked into eating disorders and help in my area and I actually found an eating disorder clinic not too far from me that offers group therapy, so I'm going to give that a go. It would be worth having a look online to see if there's anything similar in your area.

Another thing I haven't looked into yet, which my doctor suggested when I originally went to her about this, was cognitive behavioural therapy. I haven't really explored this any further yet though, so I really should!

It's a really difficult thing to go through as food and the guilt that surrounds it is literally at the forefront of my mind constantly! I want so much for someone to just wave a magic wand and make me better I don't have enough self-belief to think I can do it, and that scares me so much. I've so many reasons to feel motivated (my health, my boyfriend and family who worry about me, etc) but those things just don't seem enough and it makes me feel useless. Anyway that's what I'm trying to work on at the moment. I'm trying to see the positive in that I've taken the first step and am trying to do something about it That's why I do think you should speak to your counsellor about it, and definitely look into eating disorders and someone you might be able to speak to in your area.

LegacyUser

throwawayaccount wrote: »

Another thing I haven't looked into yet, which my doctor suggested when I originally went to her about this, was cognitive behavioural therapy. I haven't really explored this any further yet though, so I really should!

.

I'm actually attending CBT counselling. It's been very helpful in the other areas of my life that I need help in, and my councellor is so nice. It's like he can read my mind. I'd definitely recomment it to you.

Daisy78

I think you just need to replace your recent bad habits with good ones. After a lifetime of being skinny I started to pile on the pounds after a started a New job in Dublin a few years ago. Like you I love food for its flavours and wouldn't have considered myself greedy as such, just a little more indulgent than I should have been. Anyway after putting it on the longfinger for ages I joined weight watchers two months ago and I have lost a stone (yay still can't beleive that!) They really educate you as to what you should be eating, what you can have in moderation and what to avoid. It takes s bit of dedication on your part but you do do see the results. Maybe its something you might consider?

Mighty_Mouse

Negatively reinforcing habits -
put on weight, feel crap about it, eat more, energy levels reduce, motivation decreases, letargy, apathy versus bouts of mini-depressions, self-conscienceness in public, feel miserable, feel helpless, eat more...........

Positively reinforcing habits work in the opposite manner.
If you can begin & stick with it after a point it just takes over.

Yes it's difficult, yes it requires will-power, self-belief, determination but all these things start with self-respect.

Nothing in life worth anything comes easy.

LegacyUser

Maintaining weight in your 20s is a very hard thing to do. I gave up cigarettes 4 years ago and put on 4 stone in 6 months but i finally had enough of my weight and started eating healthier and training regularly. I lost 2 stone and put on a lot of muscle and I ain't shy taking off my top in front of people anymore. Losing weight isn't an easy thing to do but if your determined and work hard you'll get there.

Its not going to happen over night but if you keep training after a few weeks you will notice the differences. As for your food addiction I suggest you record everything you eat for 3 days. Write down what you ate and at what time then after the 3 days make a plan for yourself.If you ate breakfast at 8am then had a snake around 9.30am for the first 3 days then write out a plan for the next 3 days and have it that your going to eat breakfast at 8am and have a snake at 10am and keep making the times longer between meals as you progress. Buy a watch with an alarm at set it between meals to help you keep track and try replacing your snacks with healthier ones like granola bars instead of chocolate and cashew nuts, homemade popcorn or picassio nuts instead of tayto. Also replace some junk food with a handful of raisins.

Also something a lot of people don't know is water is a great way of keeping hunger away. A lot of the times when people feel hunger its just their body wanting water because food contains a high percentage of water. You can live weeks without food but only a week or so without water and the water in soda drinks is wasted because of all the added sugars and additives.

Overheal

throwawayaccount wrote: »

I've only been seeing my counsellor about 2 months (the first time I've ever been to counselling) and I thought things were going well, I really liked him, but then this week he suggested that I drink water and eat an apple when I feel hungry. That was so frustrating to hear, I was really quite upset. My eating isn't related to feeling hungry a lot of the time. It's related to emotion, guilt and self-hatred, and I'd felt up until then that he'd understood that. It's made me consider changing counsellor tbh, but I'll give it another few weeks.

Yes there is such thing as Overeaters Anonymous http://www.oahope.com/. It's exactly the same principal as Alcoholics Anonymous, with the 12 steps. However there is a very strong religious undertone to it. I mentioned this to the counsellor when he suggested it and he said it wasn't necessarily religious, but they encouraged believing in a "higher power", which I was very cynical of. However on their website "God" is mentioned in their 12 steps so it's not something I'm going to be doing. Instead, I looked into eating disorders and help in my area and I actually found an eating disorder clinic not too far from me that offers group therapy, so I'm going to give that a go. It would be worth having a look online to see if there's anything similar in your area.

Another thing I haven't looked into yet, which my doctor suggested when I originally went to her about this, was cognitive behavioural therapy. I haven't really explored this any further yet though, so I really should!

It's a really difficult thing to go through as food and the guilt that surrounds it is literally at the forefront of my mind constantly! I want so much for someone to just wave a magic wand and make me better I don't have enough self-belief to think I can do it, and that scares me so much. I've so many reasons to feel motivated (my health, my boyfriend and family who worry about me, etc) but those things just don't seem enough and it makes me feel useless. Anyway that's what I'm trying to work on at the moment. I'm trying to see the positive in that I've taken the first step and am trying to do something about it That's why I do think you should speak to your counsellor about it, and definitely look into eating disorders and someone you might be able to speak to in your area.

I truly despise how 12 step programs plug in "God" as a cheat. Replace all instances of God and Higher Power with your Highest Inner Self. A bible didn't prescribes to me my morals and ethics, I doesn't. Or something in me does. "God" has f'all to do with it.

Taltos

Overheal - while I appreciate your sentiments please keep your replies on topic to the issue at hand, lets not drag threads off topic.

Thanks.
Taltos

Stavro Mueller

Might be worth contacting these people? http://www.bodywhys.ie

Other than that it sounds like you need professional help. People here gave some practical advice which I think went beyond the basic move more, eat less premise but you don't seem to have wanted to read any of that.

Morag

Spend some of your money on a personal trainer, get yourself moving and burn off what your eating.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Overheal

Taltos wrote: »

Overheal - while I appreciate your sentiments please keep your replies on topic to the issue at hand, lets not drag threads off topic.

Thanks.
Taltos

sorry i meant that in the context that OP you shouldnt dismiss those programs because of semantics (like "God"): supply your own. I've just given examples. No offense intended to anyone. Those programs still have the potential of being helpful and shouldnt be dismissed for terminology issues.

LegacyUser

cymbaline wrote: »

Might be worth contacting these people? http://www.bodywhys.ie

Other than that it sounds like you need professional help. People here gave some practical advice which I think went beyond the basic move more, eat less premise but you don't seem to have wanted to read any of that.

I am getting professional help. I mentioned in my first few posts that I'm attending CBT. It's really helping me, and I've been thinking a lot about my eating habits over the past week and with the help of my counsellor, hopefully I'll be able to find some background to this and move on to a more healthy eating lifestyle. I appreciate all the comments to far, and honestly, it feels such a relief that people feel, or have felt. the same way, and have come out stronger.

It's all down to me, and only I can change me. I've done a lot of soul searching over the past few months and I'm finally finding myself again. I think this is going to help with my food issues. Thanks to everyone who's helped so far.

silverharp

op, have a look into low carb diets, you might not be addicted to food but instead are addicted to sugar. I see it at work a lot, the overwight girls in particular seems to be constantly eating "low fat" food which can be read as high sugar/carb food. High carb food makes you crave sugar and other highly processed food wheras low carb food essentially supresses your desire to snack.

movingsucks

I had a job I loved and a routine everyday - healthy homemade smoothie for breakfast, walk to work, water at break time, decent lunch no chocolate or biscuits (I used to have two galaxy bars for breakfast and another two for lunch).
I lost a pile of weight felt better than ever. (i've since had a baby and all that has gone out the window but I will get back on track - I hope!)
I don't know what will work for you but I'd suggest small goals maybe? Every Tuesday is "no chocolate Tuesday" and maybe put the money you'd spend away for your holiday? Then every Thursday as well and build up that way? Think of something else you'd like to buy?
Experiment with different "healthy" foods or make your own as well.

Overheal

fattyfattyfatty wrote: »

I am getting professional help. I mentioned in my first few posts that I'm attending CBT. It's really helping me, and I've been thinking a lot about my eating habits over the past week and with the help of my counsellor, hopefully I'll be able to find some background to this and move on to a more healthy eating lifestyle. I appreciate all the comments to far, and honestly, it feels such a relief that people feel, or have felt. the same way, and have come out stronger.

It's all down to me, and only I can change me. I've done a lot of soul searching over the past few months and I'm finally finding myself again. I think this is going to help with my food issues. Thanks to everyone who's helped so far.

One thing I found extremely helpful is working out OP. I only kicked my ass into this after I found the time (dropped one of my classes) and primarily because I had just bee shot down - again. Extremely fed up with being shot down, and being out of the league for girls which I was otherwise on the personality side, perfectly eligible for.

You may PM me only for my before and after photo. I don't solicit advice off the thread. Nor give it.

My only additional advice I forgot to add was with the working out, and of that the one machine which got me hooked on it was the Elliptical, a machine which not only removes joint-pain out of the workout (unlike a treadmill, and hello shin-splint) but the machine I had access to automatically throttled the resistance it put out based on my heart rate which meant I stayed constantly in the "fat burn" target HR zone: that HR zone in which your body as the name implies burns the most fat.

Try to go at least twice a week if not three times a week and for at least an hour if not two. I regularly try to go 2 times a week for 2 hours each visit and do about half cardio and half weights but your individual plan should cater to your situation, respective of your health and any unmentioned conditions (eg. heart murmurs etc.).

My own gym just bought a stairmaster machine too. Fcuk me that thing tries to kill you. Well, the glute does too, but I wont be denied my goal of a rock hard butt.