A new beginning

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wevie

New member
Greetings. I've decided to make the lifestyle change to become a healthier person. Rarely in my life have I ever concerned myself with my health or weight. I feel I need to utilize all the tools available to me and this shall be one of them!

So... several years ago my job changed and I began sitting behind a desk all day. The pounds started to pack on. Recently my knees began to complain. At 5'4" and 190 lbs, I was heavier than I had ever been.

I've kicked aside the sodas, walked away from the vending machine at work, and started an exercise routine.

Tool #1: Caloric tracking. I seem to like livestrong.com for food tracking.
Tool #2: Exercise - start with jogging and a GPS distance tracking app on my blackberry
Tool #3: This website for motivation, encouragement, and guidance

Goals:

1st goal, 174 lbs. That's a BMI under 30%
2nd goal, 169 lbs. My weight in 2007 when I took on this job.
3rd goal, long term, 145 lbs - BMI under 25%

In mid-may I began at the stated 190 lbs. This morning the scale read 179 lbs!! I know I can't maintain that level of weight loss for long, but it is definitely nice to see results so soon!!

Yesterday's intake:

Breakfast: One serving Quaker oats
Mid-morning: 1 oz string cheese
Lunch: 1 can tuna in water, drained, with one packet mayo
Afternoon: 6 oz lite yogurt
Late afternoon: 1 hot dog (at the ball diamonds with my kids)
Dinner: 2 oz deli turkey on wheat bread with monterey jack cheese and mustard

No veggies or fruit yesterday. :( Unusualy for me, actually.

This morning: Jogged 1.5 miles in 18 minutes. Must work on extending this.

I have before pics I'll post when I have some in-between pics.
 
Whew. Wednesday was a BUSY day. So busy, in fact, that I ran a considerable caloric deficit.

Yesterday's intake:

Oatmeal and raisins
Skim milk

String Cheese

Chunk Light Tuna in water, drained
Mayo packet

Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt

1 oz Deli Turkey
1 slice Pepper Jack cheese
Mustard
Wheat Bun

12 oz V8 juice

Again, another day without veggies. I grabbed a V8 at dinner just to have something.

After my morning jog, work was insane. My plant has a six story "tower". I had to make extensive repairs on equipment at the top. Many, many trips to the top. Overall I spent over 30 minutes climbing stairs yesterday! Between that and the jog plus the low 985 calorie intake, it should have been a good fat burning day, but not the healthiest day overall.

Today, I'm in to work at 4 am so no morning jog. I'll find time to hit those stairwells today to make up for it!

**My wife said last night she could see a difference in my waistline. :D
 
Hiya Wevie

Nice Diary! You look like a seasoned vet writing like that! Well done!

Congrats on the weight loss!

I see you like oatmeal too! Nom Nom Nom!

I do alot of frozen veggies....throw them in the microwave and nuke for a few mins. Extremely boring but at least I get some veggies (more often than I used to.) (I learned potatoes are not really considered a veggie when they're deep fried and loaded with salt ketchup cheese and gravy! lol)

Good work man! Keep it up!
 
Any argument for frozen veggies vs. canned? I love to pop open a can of peas, green beans, etc. and nom nom!!

Analyzing yesterday's intake:

31g Fat
58g Protein
110g Carb
7g Fiber

Fiber seems low and carbs seem high. Half my carbs were in the one wheat bun and one serving of oatmeal! Tell me that's OK and not to worry about it!

Anyone tried making a TVP oatmeal to cut the carbs down? How about Soy Milk instead of Skim Milk?
 
wevie said:
Any argument for frozen veggies vs. canned? I love to pop open a can of peas, green beans, etc. and nom nom!!

Analyzing yesterday's intake:

31g Fat
58g Protein
110g Carb
7g Fiber

Fiber seems low and carbs seem high. Half my carbs were in the one wheat bun and one serving of oatmeal! Tell me that's OK and not to worry about it!

Anyone tried making a TVP oatmeal to cut the carbs down? How about Soy Milk instead of Skim Milk?
Click to expand...

Seems like a really good start, and some impressive results as far as weight loss!

Frozen veggies are better no doubt, but if you wash off with water the
canned veggies are fine (better than none at all...lol)

Fresh veggies are obviosly the best, and the more you eat the better
for your organism.

As far as the carbs, protein, fats -- what matters is where they are coming
from, in other words the quality of the foods that you are eating.

The more whole-foods that you can eat, the more weight you will lose and
the more healthier you will feel. Whole foods, like lean protein, vegetables,
fruit, whole grains, nuts/seeds (in very small amounts due to high calories),
and plenty of fresh water is what provides the body with what it needs to
function properly.

The more you can incorporate these foods into every meal of the day, the
better results you will see. And, the soy milk is better than regular milk,
at least from everything that I read about this topic in medical journals.

And increasing fiber (fresh veggies and vegetables) can go a long way, and
help to make you feel more full after a meal, and also clean your digestive
tract which will increase your overall health and well-being.

Good luck to you, it seems that you are on the right path, and won't be long
until you reach your major health goal.
 
Thumbs up on the above post Alex. Dead on!

I am a firm believer of regular oatmeal. (steel cut is best)

I wouldnt change it for anything. Its meant to have carbs...good ones. Meant to get your day started. And has more fiber than you can shake a stick at!

My opinions only....but I have gone from oatmealphobic to crazy about it.

If you want to cut carbs back....do it elsewhere....and increase the protein for balance. Just my thoughts again.

Have a good one!
 
I'm feeling some fatigue today. I think I need to raise my caloric intake.

At 5'4" and 180 lbs, between lightly and moderately active, I figure I'm probably burning 2400-2500 calories a day.

This month, my intake:

1st: 1371
2nd: 985
3rd: 815

I didn't really realize my intake was so low! I think I'll pick up some protein powder tonight to make sure I get over 1k calories a day.

Jogged 1.5 miles this morning averagine 4 mph. I do this before my oatmeal breakfast. It was hard to keep going. At work this morning I just feel tired.
 
Yesterday I received a package from Amazon of resistance bands. I once tried using some cheap ones from Walmart and was hoping a quality band would be different. They are not as good as free weights, but I think I'll be able to get good use out of them considering they are cheaper and take up less space.

I mentioned my jog yesterday morning. Then in the evening I did some chest and back work - push ups plus some experiments with the bands. I did raise my intake, but maybe I over shot. I ate 1550 calories yesterday! Mainly it was dinner. I had two hard boiled eggs in the fridge and wanted to get rid of them. Egg salad on wheat. Should have eaten one sandwich, but didn't want the rest of the egg salad laying around.

This morning I'm in to work at 4 am. No morning activities. I'm not fatigued today - a healthy caloric intake sure helps. But, I am tired!! Five hours of sleep. Ughhh.
 
Oh boy, did I blow it yesterday!! Everything was going as planned until I attended a city celebration in the evening. Carnival, live music, etc. I ate before I left so I wouldn't be tempted by the fried foods, but the beer got me. :( Then afterwards, everyone wanted to go for "breakfast". I ended up at 3200 calories for the day after pancakes, eggs, syrup, hashbrowns :( It will be depressing now to analyze my week. :(
 
Nobody's perfect bud.
Tommorows another day....as is the next and the next.

Chalk it up to being a bad day and try to learn from it.
There will be more days just like that one, the difference is how you will handle them.

Till then, try your darndest!!! Its that simple!

Good luck!
 
Really? What the heck??

This journey began three weeks ago. In the first two weeks, just changing to healthy food and gradually increasing my activity levels I dropped 12 lbs. I know this is not sustainable, I know this is common in the very beginning.

So, last Tuesday I record 178 lbs. I stay off the scale for seven days. This morning I was hoping for 2 lbs, would be ecstatic with 3 lbs, would be satisfied with 1 lb. But NO... I actually weighed in this morning at 180. 2 lbs HEAVIER than last week. Are you kidding me????

Over seven days I consumed 10,479 gross calories averaging 1500 per day. My one BAD day on saturday surely skews the results. Net calories after subtracting my INTENTIONAL exercise routines comes to 7784 for the week averaging 1112 per day.

1.) Was my one over the top restaraunt meal interfereing with my results?

2.) Has my increased activity already increased my lean muscle to offset some fat loss?

3.) Am I doing anything wrong? Should I continue on this road or change course?

4.) How many of you track your progress in inches instead of pounds?


This week I'm working 84 hours - 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. No time to jog. :( I'm offsetting that by hitting the stairwells here at work repeatedly throughout the day. One stairwell is 115 steps to the top, the other is 130. I obviously can't spend an hour a day up and down the steps, but if I make 8 trips up and back a day, it's better than nothing.

Average daily intake:

Breakfast: Oatmeal or Malt-O-Meal with 1/2 banana
Mid Morning: Hard boiled egg
Lunch: One can tuna with one mayo packet
Afternoon: 1/3 cup cottage cheese or a string cheese stick
Dinner: 1/2 can of veggies, or turkey sandwich, or chicken breast
Can of V8 sometime during the day
 
I weigh in every day. My scale is my worst enemy! I curse it, kick it, jump on it and everyday I am back on it.
Somedays Im up, (last week 3 friggin pounds one day)....and today I am 207...which is only one pound higher than my lowest.
But on average I am usually going down. I think I am gaining some muscle, thats why I am goin up right now...but we'll see. I'm giving it a month.

So don't sweat it. Your going to be doing this for the rest of your life. Get used to it lol! You'll have lots of time for adjustments and checking results.

One meal didnt swing your weight. Sodium might have something to do with water retention so dont go crazy. And muscle weighs more than fat so yes...you could be making a gain there.
It took me 2 months to drop a pant size but I was taking my time with my diet. You might want to track inches to get a more accurate feeling of how your doing.

But again...dont get excited...just keep at it and do the best you can.
Good Luck!!
 
Well, tomorrow is my weekly weigh in. This past week has been rough, but not so much diet wise. I had to work 84 hours on a different shift than I normally work. Work was extrememly busy and stressful.

I did splurge last night - at the end of the week and the end of a large project, my employer supplied pizza for all. I didn't go overboard, though.

With all the hours, it was very difficult to find time for exercising although I kept moving quite a bit at work.

I'm looking forward to the scale in the morning.
 
wevie said:
Anyone tried making a TVP oatmeal to cut the carbs down? How about Soy Milk instead of Skim Milk?
Click to expand...

Oatmeal is good. I have been taking it plain for breakfast and also for dinner. But dinner, I add it on to soup instead of taking it plain. Soup varies from mushroom soup, fish soup, corn soup, seafood soup etc and etc. Whatever soup you can come up with, just boil it and when it is ready, add on the oatmeal to boil for seconds or 1 min depending on your preference of the oatmeal. Personally, i only boil for about 1/2 min. And guess what? I did the same during my pregnancy and my gynae says i'm on a healthy diet and also I did not gain much during my pregnancy. So, I have little weight loss to do after my delivery. :rotflmao:

And guess what? This is something that many do not know. One of the reasons why our stubborn belly fat never go away could be due to our high intake of soy based product and beer. So, avoid these!!

Good luck!
 
Wayne said:
Oatmeal is good. I have been taking it plain for breakfast and also for dinner. But dinner, I add it on to soup instead of taking it plain. Soup varies from mushroom soup, fish soup, corn soup, seafood soup etc and etc. Whatever soup you can come up with, just boil it and when it is ready, add on the oatmeal to boil for seconds or 1 min depending on your preference of the oatmeal. Personally, i only boil for about 1/2 min. And guess what? I did the same during my pregnancy and my gynae says i'm on a healthy diet and also I did not gain much during my pregnancy. So, I have little weight loss to do after my delivery. :rotflmao:

And guess what? This is something that many do not know. One of the reasons why our stubborn belly fat never go away could be due to our high intake of soy based product and beer. So, avoid these!!

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I definitely know about the beer! I'm only an occasional drinker anyway, so avoiding alcohol is no problem for me.

I've never heard the soy claim. That's interesting!


So this weeks update:

I missed my weigh in on Tuesday morning. Completely forgot. On Wednesday I weighed in at 178. This is what I measured two weeks ago, then it was up two pounds to 180 last week. Now back to 178. I think I probably had an inaccurate reading two weeks ago, but I'm encouraged to see that number again. I'll double verify it probably in the morning or the following day.

Intake levels stayed consistent this past week. I think I averaged 1200-1300 calories per day. I actually have to remind myself every couple hours to eat something! Also I have no time to sit around the computer/TV in the evenings so I don't get the munchies!

Overall I'm happy with my progress. Haven't been jogging for a week due to work. Will start hitting it hard again this weekend and continue on every other day. Also bought a bicycle and a weight bench. LOVE to pedal. The weight training will commence once I get the necessary weights.
 
First thing this morning I double checked my weight. The scale read 176 today.

1.) I use a mechanical scale so there could be some user error involved.

2.) I suppose I may just naturally have a 2 lb weight swing

I'll leave my current weight at 178, the high end of my current measurement.


Looking forward to the next couple weeks! I have two weeks of vacation after Friday. I have a whole list of projects so I will be very busy. One of them is finishing up the weight room which has me quite excited.
 
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