Okay, here goes:
Here's my situation: I'm 26, 5'8'', somewhere between 146.5 and 148.5, about 26.7% bodyfat. I started somewhere between 155 and 160 (hard to say because my old scale SUCKED - I now have a good one). I'm about 10-15 lbs off where I want to be now, I think - I say that just because I was around 130-135 four years ago, and looked about like how I'd LIKE to look now! (And the few times I used to drop below 130 I didn't look healthy - scrawny, skeletal, anorexic-looking - I don't want to look like that again, just thin and fit!) I was substantially more active then, and ate whatever the heck I felt like, but I didn't usually care for super high saturated fat things - didn't like how they made me feel (but don't mistake than for a general plan of healthy eating). I've been a 'bread-atarian' for my entire life.
So, life happened, desk job, grad school, quit dancing and yoga, etc and BOOM. Up two sizes and 20 lbs and half my clothes don't fit. I was still eating anything I wanted, whever I wanted, but at least I'd stopped GAINING weight a year or so ago, so I'd stabilized somehow.
SO - Labor day I decided to do something about it finally. I want to drop those two sizes, and I want to do it ASAP!! Gave up the cigarettes, gave up soda (probably drank 1.5 liters of Dr. Pepper daily). Then about a week later I did a tiny bit of reading about calories, etc, and went nuts - cut to around 900 calories a day, did that for about a week. Yes, now I realize that was stupid, but I jumped in the lake with my clothes on. Thought I could speed up the process, ha! Had a crappy scale too, but I think I lost a few pounds, anywhere from 4-7 in the two weeks after Labor day. Then I got a better scale, and weighed in at 147.5 lbs. Starting exercising in earnest, and upped my calories to around 1200 - which I read somewhere was the lower limit. I thought this meant I wouldn't depress my metabolism, but then I keep reading that "1200 calories is what they feed coma patients." So then I upped the calories to 1500-1600. We'll see how that goes.
I take about one cheat day/meal a week (usually dinner out and drinks). I'm doing 6 days a week cardio - I'm trying out HIITS, just started today, we'll see if that does any good.
I'm doing strength training also, splitting lower and upper body on different days. And I'm taking one full day off of both cardio and strength training.
I only have access to a bodyfat scale every so often, and it went from 26.8% two weeks ago to 26.7% one week ago, which I consider to be statistically insignificant. Which is depressing, but ONWARD!
So - why am I doing this? Really? Because I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a family member's wedding and - uh, I'm vain. Seriously. Well, the bride's younger than me (23) and smoking hot. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to outshine her -- I seriously don't think I could even if she were hit by a mac truck, but she she's a dancer, and all the other bridesmaids will be dancer friends... I don't want to be "the fat bridesmaid", or even "the obviously not-smoking-hot bridesmaid". I know that sounds totally awful, but it's real. Okay, so I also want to get back to a place for me where I put on sexy clothes (to go out, or, *ahem*, to stay in) and love the way I look in them. That hasn't been true for maybe two years, and I think the hit my self-esteem has taken has hurt my relationship. So here's to fixin'.
So, the wedding's not for a while, but my goal is Christmas. It had been Halloween, but I don't think I'm going to make that, so I'm trying to be a little more realistic.
So that's me.
Here's my situation: I'm 26, 5'8'', somewhere between 146.5 and 148.5, about 26.7% bodyfat. I started somewhere between 155 and 160 (hard to say because my old scale SUCKED - I now have a good one). I'm about 10-15 lbs off where I want to be now, I think - I say that just because I was around 130-135 four years ago, and looked about like how I'd LIKE to look now! (And the few times I used to drop below 130 I didn't look healthy - scrawny, skeletal, anorexic-looking - I don't want to look like that again, just thin and fit!) I was substantially more active then, and ate whatever the heck I felt like, but I didn't usually care for super high saturated fat things - didn't like how they made me feel (but don't mistake than for a general plan of healthy eating). I've been a 'bread-atarian' for my entire life.
So, life happened, desk job, grad school, quit dancing and yoga, etc and BOOM. Up two sizes and 20 lbs and half my clothes don't fit. I was still eating anything I wanted, whever I wanted, but at least I'd stopped GAINING weight a year or so ago, so I'd stabilized somehow.
SO - Labor day I decided to do something about it finally. I want to drop those two sizes, and I want to do it ASAP!! Gave up the cigarettes, gave up soda (probably drank 1.5 liters of Dr. Pepper daily). Then about a week later I did a tiny bit of reading about calories, etc, and went nuts - cut to around 900 calories a day, did that for about a week. Yes, now I realize that was stupid, but I jumped in the lake with my clothes on. Thought I could speed up the process, ha! Had a crappy scale too, but I think I lost a few pounds, anywhere from 4-7 in the two weeks after Labor day. Then I got a better scale, and weighed in at 147.5 lbs. Starting exercising in earnest, and upped my calories to around 1200 - which I read somewhere was the lower limit. I thought this meant I wouldn't depress my metabolism, but then I keep reading that "1200 calories is what they feed coma patients." So then I upped the calories to 1500-1600. We'll see how that goes.
I take about one cheat day/meal a week (usually dinner out and drinks). I'm doing 6 days a week cardio - I'm trying out HIITS, just started today, we'll see if that does any good.
I'm doing strength training also, splitting lower and upper body on different days. And I'm taking one full day off of both cardio and strength training.
I only have access to a bodyfat scale every so often, and it went from 26.8% two weeks ago to 26.7% one week ago, which I consider to be statistically insignificant. Which is depressing, but ONWARD!
So - why am I doing this? Really? Because I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a family member's wedding and - uh, I'm vain. Seriously. Well, the bride's younger than me (23) and smoking hot. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to outshine her -- I seriously don't think I could even if she were hit by a mac truck, but she she's a dancer, and all the other bridesmaids will be dancer friends... I don't want to be "the fat bridesmaid", or even "the obviously not-smoking-hot bridesmaid". I know that sounds totally awful, but it's real. Okay, so I also want to get back to a place for me where I put on sexy clothes (to go out, or, *ahem*, to stay in) and love the way I look in them. That hasn't been true for maybe two years, and I think the hit my self-esteem has taken has hurt my relationship. So here's to fixin'.
So, the wedding's not for a while, but my goal is Christmas. It had been Halloween, but I don't think I'm going to make that, so I'm trying to be a little more realistic.
So that's me.