aManicCookie vs. Her Weight

A

aManicCookie

New member
Who is aManicCookie?
First off I'd like to say I'm really excited I found this site! I hope it will help me stay commited to loosing this weight. Second, if you look at the ticker in my signature you'll see that I need to loose quite a bit of weight. I'm not sure how long it will take but I'm ready to get it off.

I'm a 22 year old nursing student who started her battle at 323 pounds. Which is a lot and I've struggled my whole life to keep it down but no matter what I do...I couldn't get it under control. So I cracked the mental whip on myself starting in July.

My Game Plan
Well the first week of July I had to mentally prepare for this diet. At first I kept a food journal so I could see exactly what my problem areas were. It came down to too much Soda and huge portions. Thank God I do not have a sweets problem. Here is what I've been doing:

--Walking 3 times a week for 30 minutes at a moderate pace and believe me that's hard for me.
--Eating whole grains, veggies, and fruits 3-4 times a day in small portions.
--No pop, only a serving of milk in the morning and water the rest of the day.

My Weight Loss So Far:
Started on 7/12/2010 at 323 Lbs.
7/19/2010 weighed in at 316.8 Lbs
7/26/2010 weighed in at 309.2 Lbs
8/2/2010 weighed in at 308.6 Lbs.

Reflecting...
I can honestly say I feel proud that I've lost 14.4 pounds so far, but I'm not sure what has caused me to only loose 0.6 pounds this week. I did everything like I have been I haven't cheated and it was a little crushing to see that I didn't loose at least a few pounds... So I am feeling a bit upset and depressed over it all... The only thing I can think that would cause me not to loose weight this week was my salt intake.

Questions?
Does anyone have any suggestions for me?
Is there any reason why I shouldn't have lost more this week? I mean I think I weigh too much to already be struggling with weightloss.
Help..lol
 
Hi there, and first of all welcome to the site :)
You've done brilliantly so far, don't be put down by the smaller loss this week, it could be due to a number of things and hey, a loss is a loss right?
Are you near your TOM? That seems to be a big factor in weightloss for a lot of the women on here, I know mine slows down when I'm on and some people then have a biggish drop after they come off.
Also, are you calorie counting/weighing your foods? Subconciously you might have been rewarding your weight loss with slightly larger portions without realising?
Like you said as well, sodium intake has a big part in it too. Make sure for the next couple of days you're really drinking water and flushing out your system.
Another thing, again a little TMI, but have you been able to go properly? I know when I changed my diet relatively drastically it affected my "routine" and my weight loss slowed.

Anyway, onto much more pleasant things..
14.4lbs :O WOW! That is so good, and it's a huge loss for just the short amount of time you've been doing it!
Also, look at your BMI, 2.4 down is a huge step towards being healthier.
Focus on these things, the good points, and the rest will follow.

Have a look around other peoples diaries, a lot of us struggle with losing small amounts, it is disheartening but look how far you've come already!
There is plenty of support on this forum and everyone is in the same boat. No one judges, and every one is helpful, be it offering support or critiquing your meal plans.

Good Luck and I hope the rest of your week picks up for you :)
 
Thank you Redpiggy.
It's not my TOM that was last week actually, when I dropped the biggest amount of weight!
As for the going properly...I haven't been going as much as I used to...but I thought that was because I haven't been eating as much.
As for salt...I love salt. I'm going to up my exercise this week as well.
I haven't been counting calories...but just eating healthy serving sizes.

How long should it take to loose 146 more pounds? :(
 
aManicCookie said:
Thank you Redpiggy.
As for the going properly...I haven't been going as much as I used to...but I thought that was because I haven't been eating as much.
As for salt...I love salt. I'm going to up my exercise this week as well.
I haven't been counting calories...but just eating healthy serving sizes.

How long should it take to loose 146 more pounds? :(
Click to expand...


Hey, welcome to the site I am new myself. Losing 146 pounds is a big step I wont lie, BUT! it has been done and on this site you can find all kinds of photos of before and afters shots it really is amazing.

As for salt it is my weakness as well. I found out recently that when I cut down on the salt I lost the craving for it. Perfect example is when I made some nachos yesterday and put Salsa, the cheese, olives the works. took a bite and I jumped back and thought "holy crap someone added salt to the chips?" Opened another bag and it was the same, too much salt. The hardest part of losing weight i.m.o is the first month. After that it becomes a habit and a lot easier same with salt.

I was skeptic of counting calories, but wow it makes a difference. Give it a shot for a couple days and you wont go back. Some people even go as far to count fat%, Carbs%, and all kinds of things.

GL, Lou
 
I'm not sure how many calories to count like what should I try to stay under and how do I know what is something worth in calories? That's where I get lost.

Just got in from my evening 30 minute walk! Feel like I'm dying!
 
Also does anyone think that I should just try to hit 200? Or should I go for the healthy weight range goal of 160?

I'm going to break my big overall goal into small goals. For instance when I started this I said I just want to get below 300. So my first mini goal is going to be 299! Which would mean 24 pounds lost. However as for my overall longterm goal what should it be? Any ideas?
 
Look online for a BMR calculator.
It works out how many calories a day your body burns just by living, and then you lower that by about 500 or so to lose weight.
A good indicator someone mentioned on here was your weight in pounds x10. Which is usually roughly right.
However, if just changing your food and meal sizes works, stick with it a little while longer, you've done well with it so far, if you don't lose much again by next week think about counting from then maybe?
You could be retaining water from after your period. Not entirely sure how stuff like that works to be honest.
With the calorie counting, if you do decide to give it a go, fitday is really helpful for me. It has loads of food in their database and you just pick the amount etc.
And if something is missing you can put in your own information for it, just the stuff you find on the backs of packets.

Helpful links
This is a really basic one.
This has more in it, like including exercise.
This one actually tells you how many calories to lose a certain amount
I love fitday, you can put in calorie goals in there too
I know some people like to use Daily Plate too

These are just some that I've picked up from around the forums and my own internet searches.
Hope these help, if you need any more information there are always people willing to answer questions.
redpiggy x
 
Question with counting Calories...

As you loose weight over a period of time...Like say I loose 5 more pounds do I recalulate to see how many calories I get again? Do you understand what I'm saying? HelPPP?
 
Last edited:
Yes you'll need to recalculate, around every 10 pounds or so I would reckon.
Don't feel down about a minimal gain, I was 1.4lbs heavier this morning than yesterday myself.
It's an ongoing struggle, I know how hard it gets not seeing the numbers you'd like, it's taken me months to lose just over a stone, when some people can lose that in two weeks.
The main thing is, despite that small apparent gain, you've still lost overall!
If you look on the weigh yourself everyday club, you can see in the posts that some peoples fluctuates every single day, no one can weigh less every single day, you might need a wee, or still not have fully digested the last meal, or had a heavier meal the day before than usual, even staying in your calories.

Don't be put off by that, it will go down again.

redpiggy x
 
RedPiggy,

You said you loved Fitday. If you go under WeightGoal...and put in your starting weight and your goal.. At the bottom if you see Calorie Balance is that correct? Does it change as you loose weight have you used it? Do you use it?

For instance my starting weight is 323...and I want to loose to 200 pounds by July of 2011. According to fitday I need to eat 1470 calories a day to do that...will it change or will I do that same calorie amount for a year?
 
You would probably be able to eat that many calories almost all the way through and still lose weight.
I would start with a smaller goal though, Thats almost 4lbs a week!
Why not aim to do it in 18months instead?
Start by working out your maintenance calories and drop 500 a day from that, that will lose you 1lb a week, as yours will be quite high because of your weight I wouldn't suggest going straight down to 1470, maybe try 2500 if you're wanting to see quickish losses, just make sure you aren't cutting out anything essential.
What is your maintenence BMR by the way? Drop 1000 from that to lose around 2lbs a week, which is slower but healthier than dropping 200 in a year.
I don't actually use fitday anymore, I'm doing the new atkins diet so I count carbs not calories, so I don't know if that changes.
 
My BMR according to everything is 2600 roughyly. 2 pounds a week would be 1600 calories a week. lol I might as well do the 1400 a week...

so if i used 1470 a week that'd just be 2.5 pounds a week...
 
But with exercise and food content for thsoe calories, it could be more or less some weeks.
I'm going to assume with that BMR you have an active job/lifestyle?
Mine was near enough that but I never move :p
Don't get too hung up on calories just yet, try what you were doing for another week or so, or just add some more exercise into it, that might be all it takes to kick your weightloss off again.
Good luck with whichever you decide
 
Now for me, when I put in your details, the first one I tried gave me 2420 to lose 2lbs a week, 3420 for maintenance.
I'll try some more see what they say...
2790 for maintenance for a different one...
2780 for maintenance...
2200 on this one
2250..
It varies massively from site to site.

Personally I would start around 2000 a day and see what happens, maybe try a fortnight at 2000 and drop lwoer if nothing happens?

I'm not trying to prove you wrong or anything I just want you to be doing it safely.
Remember if you drop right to 1400 now, when it comes to readjusting your intake you won't have many calories left.
If 2000 can help you lose weight for now, then it might be worth sticking at that for a while.

redpiggy x
 
Well I talked with my doctor today.

At this moment I'm really motivated and I printed out the Fitday.com stuff and he said if I stuck to 1400 calories it would start coming off really fast so I'd need to make sure I was exercising a lot to keep up with my muscles and also skin.

So today I exercised for an entire hour. I split it...I swam freestyle laps back and forth for 30 minutes this morning and then did brisk walking for 30 minutes around my neighborhood with my mom.

1400 calories is a lot when I'm eating healthy...I'm having a hard problem eating them all as is so I'm not sure I could get all 2000 calories when my Mom is bringing all of this healthy food into the house. It's hard to get it to add up. Today I had.

Cup of Multigrain Cheerios
1/2 Cup Skim Milk
2 slices of bread
2 slices of ham
Bag of Baked Doritos

2 Wheat Soft Shell Taco with lettuce and 1 tbsp of sourcream and 1 tbsp of salsa each

2 Cups of Red Cherries raw

All of that totaled up to be...1197...

I think I had a hard time getting the rest of them because I over slept this morning so we'll see how it goes tomorrow.
 
Well if your Doctor has approved it go for it :)
Maybe when you get fitter you can build up to a 30 run not walk? I know I want to eventually run but I don't think I could even jog right now lol
Do you like peanut butter? I know some people on here, if they've struggled to meet their intake in a day they'll have a spoon of peanut butter to boost it every now and then.
It's not a habit you want to get into every day but once in a while it'll help keep your calories high enough, or maybe add cheese to your sandwich if you think you might end up low for the day.

Good going on the exercise front though, and you've really made me want cherries now :p
redpiggy x
 
A little update! My weigh day was this morning! I am very pleased with the results yay!!! So...

1400 Calories per day + 1 hour of exercise per day + Nonstop water consumption=4.6 Weightloss! Wooo.

Makes me at a total of 19 pounds lost in under a month. I think that's pretty good. My first mini goal is getting below 300. Only 4 more pounds!!!
 
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