Beyond 200

slimmom

slimmom

New member
Hi,
I'm Vanessa. I'm a 35 year old, married mom of a one-year old son. I'm very happy with much in my life, but not my weight. I've been somewhat overweight since high school. I'm now 205 lbs, 5'8". I named this diary beyond 200 because when I was pregnant I worried that once I crossed 200 pounds, I would never get under 200 again. I think this type of thinking is part of what keeps me right up at 200.

I've been exercising at least three times a week since late December. I've also changed a number of my eating habits, including using smaller plates at dinner and adding lots more fruit and veggies. Recently I've made an effort to eat dinner earlier (by 6:30 instead of 9) and as of last week I no longer have wine with dinner - except on the weekends.

My efforts have paid off - for my husband. He looks great! His jeans are baggy and he fits in a leather jacket that he nearly gave away last year, sure it would never fit again! As for me, I can tell that I've lost inches around my middle, but the scale hasn't moved and I'm down about that.

I'm joining this forum to help with positive thinking and support. Thank you!
-Vanessa
 
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Hi, and welcome.

Losing inches around your middle is a fantastic start, and it means you're making progress. It sounds like you're doing lots of good things in changing your diet and getting some exercise.

You're right about your thinking. As soon as you think you're not going to succeed at something, you make it that much harder for yourself. Of course you can get below 200lb. You were there before you became pregnant, weren't you. You can get there again. (This is the kind of thing I keep telling myself in my quest to become a UK size 10.)

As far as your diet goes, do you know exactly what and how much you're eating? There's a good free calorie tracker at that a lot of people here use. It's a great way to keep track of exactly how much energy is going in. Then all you have to do pretty much is make sure you use more energy each day than you have going in, and you should start to see some weight loss.

But I don't really think the lack of weight loss is anything to worry about at the moment. As long as you're losing inches, you're obviously making good progress, so don't get too hung up on what the scale has to say.

Anyway, hang around here and get to know some people. We're a really friendly bunch, and there are plenty of really knowledgeable people here to give advice too.
 
I understand about the husband losing more weight! Maybe it is because of the muscle mass of a typical male vs. female. I believe you will do great with slow changes rather instant loss, that weight tends to be water loss. Try drinking your daily allotment of water to help flush your body out. Do you stay home??just wondering becasue snacking can be mindless and cause trouble. but of course inches are awsome and and just as great as the scale loss....try not weighing in to often if you know that a certain number will bum you out. Dont be discouraged if one day you gain a bit even though you could be doing great...it happens...especially to females with hormone fluctuation..typically it comes right back off. good luck and fill your head with positve things about yourself. you are doing great, its good that you care.
 
Thanks very much for the replies! I don't stay at home - I work four days a week - and I don't snack unless I'm spreading out my lunch throughout the day (like today: string cheese @ 10, pb&j and carrots @ noon, fig newtons at 1, banana at 3). Part of my frustration is that I don't have some of the pitfalls I read about in that I don't drink soda, I drink lots of water and I enjoy exercise. But I'm still holding on to a lot of extra weight here.

I'll check out that calorie-counting website and keep up with the changes I've made. Thanks again for the encouragement! You're right - it's not nothing that I've reduced some rolls around the middle. I'm usually a weekly weigher but I'll try to wait till the first of each month. In the meantime, I'll just admire how much more nicely my shirts are fitting . . .
 
Hello and welcome:) It sounds like you are taking all the right steps to start your weight loss journey. There are so many people here with great tips and valuable experience. Keep up what you are doing and I bet you will continue to see your waist line shrinking. Good luck and we will be here to support you all the way!
 
Diary: Beyond 200

Hello,
Just checking in. My focus on this weight loss journey is exercise with modifications to my eating. So far so good.

This morning started with a pilates class at my gym, which I rode my bike to. Last week I worked out 5 days doing a variety of things such as a pilates class, pilates video, strength training session, and 2 or 3 workouts on the treadmill doing a walking/hill routine I found in an old issue of fitness magazine. When doing cardio, I rely on my heart rate monitor to make sure I'm in my target zone.

The diet changes are going well. No alcohol except on weekends. Bringing my lunch or, if I have to buy lunch, having soup or salad. Having fruit and/or veggies at every meal. I still struggle with smaller servings at dinner, but now that I jump on the treadmill later in the evening I have a strong incentive to keep dinner light.

No weight loss on the scale yet, but my clothes feel looser and I no longer feel the need to wear jackets to cover my midriff rolls . . . that's gotta be progress, right?
-slimmom
 
April 25

I didn't exercise yesterday and I felt a little guilty about it. I also had a hard time with dinner. My husband works late, till 8 or 9 p.m., so I'm on my own with our son on weeknights. Frank, 13 months, doesn't eat anything green (so far) but will happily devour pb&j or grilled cheese (on wheat bread) or pizza crust (which means I eat the pizza). He gets his veggies from baby food, which he still loves. So, after I get Frank to bed (7), and walk the dog, I'm either deciding that whatever I ate while feeding Frank (pizza, goldfish crackers, maybe a yobaby yogurt) was dinner, or I'm starting dinner by myself after a long day without any idea when my newspaper reporter husband will get home.

I'm sorry I'm complaining but it stinks. I've got the salad greens in the fridge, I like the veggies I've got in the freezer, but at the end of the day when I'm still on my own I'm not inspired to pull it out and make a real, healthy meal.

Anyway, though I didn't exercise yesterday, I did get on the treadmill this morning and did a good hill routine (35 minutes total, 25 minutes in my zone), then did a short weight routine with 5 lb handweights and 15 situps and 15 reverse situps on my exercise ball.
 
m.a.d. can relate to slimmom

Hello all.
I am actually sitting in my cyber ed. administration class right now and I'd rather be exercising. I'm the mother of two beautiful daughters, I love my husband, just got a new job, and I'm sick of being fat! I can't seem to quit going to school and the first thing I sacrifice when my already busy schedule gets worse is my personal health. I eat like the teenagers I teach and can find any reason in the world to pamper myself with really good food. I love to cook and entertain, but my wonderful best friends are all size 6's. Hmmmmm. Guess I'm feeding myself. I love to exercise, but can only tolerate so many 4:45 mornings before I begin to burn out. Right now my life is meeting after meeting and I am in a huge rut! This is ridiculous, I, too, am at my last pregnancy weight again, and my "baby" is almost 3. I'm tired of making excuses and am looking for support in maintaining healthing eating and exercise habits.
 
April 26

Good to hear from you m.a.d.
Here I am, sitting at my desk, and I'd rather be exercising too. But it's VERY tough to have that same impulse at 8 p.m. or 5 a.m. I'm trying, though! It's taken some real creativity to sneak exercise into my day. One thing I did is swich my commute to a train station that's further away - a half mile walk away as opposed to a train that literally stops at my building. The more little workouts, or just moving, that I have snuck in, the more motivated I have become to get on that treadmill in the evening or early morning, because once I'm doing it (or done) it feels so good to move.

I did better at dinner last night, I had a sandwich (ham, cheese & lettuce on wheat) and a salad as my baby had his pb&j. I felt good about being done with dinner at 6:30ish, rather than waiting to eat at 9 with my husband, who ordered Thai food, ate way too much, and felt stuffed and icky when he was done.

I haven't exercised today, so I'm planning to get on the treadmill after I get the baby down & walk the dog - should be @ 8, the dreaded "I'd rather just chill out" hour. Good luck to the rest of you guys out there - especially you, m.a.d.!
 
May challenge

I just signed on for the May 2lbs a week challenge. I'm nervous about it. It will require a lot of self-control about what I eat. I'm nervous. If I succeed, even partially succeed, I could see the other side of 200 pounds. I haven't seen a number starting with "1" in so long. I'm trying to tell myself that I can do this.
 
April 30

We had a beautiful weekend in Chicago this weekend, and I spent a lot of it on my bike with my son Frank. On Saturday I went on a long ride with Frank and my husband. On Sunday my husband works, so Frank and I went out on our own all afternoon, with stops at two playgrounds. We had a really nice time.

I did not curb my eating this weekend but I was conscious of what I put in my mouth, anticipating the May challenge and the discipline I'm going to need. We celebrated our second anniversary on Saturday with a very nice dinner. Instead of dessert we went for a long walk after eating.

Here's my eating for today:

Breakfast:
omlette w/ 1 egg, 1 egg white, chopped tomato, chopped spinach, & 1.5 pieces Jarlsberg cheese.
2 slices whole wheat toast w/ butter
@ 1 c. o.j., 1 c. coffee with milk

snack: @1/2 c. carrots, 4 oz. lowfat cottage cheese

Plan for later:
soup for lunch
yobaby yogurt for snack
protein shake for early dinner (6 p.m.) while baby eats
small plate pasta w/ husband after 30 minutes on the treadmill
 
April 30th - evening!

Thanks Mal! I'm breaking with tradition and logging in at home in the evening. I had trouble with dinner & decided to grab a pen and paper to keep track of what I was eating.

Here goes:
Walked in the door @ 5:45, hungry. Gave Frank a bottle of milk. I ate a banana. The rest of my dinner, such as it was, was consumed while making Frank his grilled cheese:

1.5 c. skim milk
14 mini peanut butter sandwich crackers, 250 calories
tomato & spinach mix left over from making this morning's omlette
1 c. protein shake, 160 calories (I had this while feeding Frank)

after getting Frank to bed, @ 7:
2 fig newtons, 200 calories
1 1/4 c. Skim milk

Also, I read the label of the mini sandwich crackers and discovered that these have trans fat & high fructose corn syrup - I won't buy these again & will look for a healthier version at Trader Joes or Whole Foods

So, now it's 7:35, I'm done eating for the night. I'm suprised at how many calories I took in on the fly. Overall I feel o.k., I'm not wildly off the mark from what I planned to eat. I set the treadmill up before I logged on, so I'll just walk the dog, change & get up there.

Eating responsibly, meaning healthfully, in an appropriate amount, seems like such such hard work. But looking back, the only truly unhealthy thing I had today was those damn crackers. If Frank didn't like them too, I'd throw them out. As it is, I just won't buy them again unless I find a trans-fat free version.
 
May 1

I had a good workout last night, did my treadmill hill routine, 30 minutes in my target HR zone, then a short weight routine with 5 lb hand weights. It was helpful logging in in the evening, writing down what I'd eaten, and writing down that I was done for the night. Having put it out there for you all to read kept me accountable. I absolutely would have had something else in the evening had I not announced in my diary that I was done. Thanks for supporting me.
 
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May 1 meal plan

What I've eaten so far today:

7:30 a.m., split an omlette with my husband that was 2 eggs, 1 egg white, @ 1.5 T. milk, 1.5 slices Jarlsburg cheese, 1 roma tomato, @ 3/4 c. broccoli, a little basil.
2 slices whole wheat toast with butter
1 cup coffee w/ 2% milk

10:30 snack, 4 oz cottage cheese, 90 cal, @ 1/4 c. carrots
11:30 snack @ 1/4 c. carrots
noon large soy latte

Plan for the rest of the day:
@1:30, Bombay chicken salad w/ 1/2 the dressing, 310 cal, 17g fat, 14g carb, 28g protein, 4g fiber

6pm, protein shake, 160 cal, & banana while feeding baby
treadmill hill routine
@8pm 1 hamburger (w/ ketchup, mustard & relish),
broccoli or green beans as a side
skim milk to drink
 
moved this thread to the diary section since it's more of a diary than a welcome post now :)

looks like you're having a pretty good day :)
 
Thank you Mal!

I tried to move this thread earlier today but I couldn't figure it out. Thank you!
 
May 2

Last night went really well. I had a good workout on the treadmill, did a short handweight routine, stuck pretty close to my meal plan. I had 2 hamburgers instead of one, but they were small, no bun, and I afterwords I could tell that one (maybe one and a half) would have satisfied me. One and a half of those burgers would've been the size if my fist, so I think that's on target portion-wise. I was very tempted to have a beer with dinner (the 2 burgers and a lot of green beans) but I resisted and had some skim milk instead.

This morning I did a pilates class. I'm lucky to have a medical fitness center near me. I take advanage of all its perks. I feel positive about making some progress with my new, more careful eating - this diary helps enormously.
 
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