LaCoquette
New member
hello!
i am a newcomer to the forum. i just went through some of your threads and i think this is a great way to keep motivated. i've done this weight loss thing before. about two years ago i lost 75 lbs and was still heavy, but not ridiculously so (5'8" and 180 lbs). of course, i've regained about half of that and i want it to stop NOW. ideally i want to return to where i was, and lose another 25 lbs or so. so it's an uphill battle right now, but i know that if i did it before, i can do it again.
i really did lose weight the right way the first time. before i started, i had absolutely NO IDEA what i was putting into my body. i didn't feel like i ate incredible amounts of food, but i was definitely eating the wrong food. so i cut out juice and soda and started keeping track of my calories. i also went to the gym pretty religiously. over a year i dropped those 75 lbs. miraculously it only took me about 15 months to regain half of them! last year, i was in a very rough spot with a bad marriage (that i just got out of - yay!) and was binge drinking (which usually also means binge fried food eating). it also meant i was too hungover to ever go to the gym.
i realized about a month ago that none of my clothes fit me anymore. there is nothing more depressing than not being able to zip up a pair of stretch jeans. so after a brief dip into depression, i decided to head back to the gym. i started two weeks ago walking 45 minutes (at 4mph) on the treadmill 4-5 days a week. i've also incorporated 30 minutes of weight training 3 days a week. i've been keeping my calories to about 1400 - 1500 with a lot of small meals full of GOOD food. i know this is higher than the 1200 everyone throws around, but when i'm burning 300 or 400 calories at the gym, i get dizzy if i don't eat that much. it's also a range i'm more likely to be able to maintain in real life. i also now bring my lunch to work, which saves calories and money.
in the past 2 weeks i've lost 4 pounds. not only that, but i FEEL better. going to the gym has definitely upped my endorphins and my spirit and i haven't had to take my anxiety medication since i started going. my pants fit better, my arms and legs feel tighter.
this is an average day of food for me:
breakfast:
special K w/ milk (about 200 cals)
small glass light juice (50 cals)
snack:
fruit/grain bar, or a Pria (130 cals)
lunch:
turkey sandwich on whole grain bread (350 cals)
100-cal pack of snack mix (100 cals)
small peppermint patty (40 cals)
pre-gym snack:
1 slice of whole grain bread with peanut butter (120 cals)
carrots/celery/cut veggies (50 cals)
dinner:
frozen meal, lean pocket or canned soup (300 cals)
small salad w/ low-fat dressing (150 cals)
i find that if i consistently eat 200 - 400 calorie "meals" more often throughout the day, i get less hungry. i would like to make real food for myself at dinner time, but i work a lot of hours, and i'm living alone. it's hard to justify spending time and money when i know that a portion of whatever i cook will always get tossed. of course living alone also gives me plenty of time to go to the gym, time to make sure i get to the grocery store and no one to tempt me with "bad" food.
what i think is so interesting is that when i was 180 lbs i still felt really HUGE. i look at pictures of myself from that year, and i see how average i was! i fit easily into size 14 clothes, my muscles were huge, my face looked so thin. i'm very, um, curvy, so i had a wonderful shape to me. now, i know that there is no place in life for regrets, but it's really unfortunate that i wasn't able to keep on trucking from that point. now i've backtracked and have to make up so much ground. argh.
anyway, my first goal is to lose 12 lbs by my birthday, which is two months from tomorrow. this is a very achievable goal. my next goal is to be down a total of 32 lbs by the 4th of july. this gives me about 5 months to be just about back where i was. i won't project any further than that at this point, but i would hope that i'll be down to my final goal of 155-160 by xmas.
so, i'm motivated, i'm informed and i'm on my way. and this time, there's no going back!
i am a newcomer to the forum. i just went through some of your threads and i think this is a great way to keep motivated. i've done this weight loss thing before. about two years ago i lost 75 lbs and was still heavy, but not ridiculously so (5'8" and 180 lbs). of course, i've regained about half of that and i want it to stop NOW. ideally i want to return to where i was, and lose another 25 lbs or so. so it's an uphill battle right now, but i know that if i did it before, i can do it again.
i really did lose weight the right way the first time. before i started, i had absolutely NO IDEA what i was putting into my body. i didn't feel like i ate incredible amounts of food, but i was definitely eating the wrong food. so i cut out juice and soda and started keeping track of my calories. i also went to the gym pretty religiously. over a year i dropped those 75 lbs. miraculously it only took me about 15 months to regain half of them! last year, i was in a very rough spot with a bad marriage (that i just got out of - yay!) and was binge drinking (which usually also means binge fried food eating). it also meant i was too hungover to ever go to the gym.
i realized about a month ago that none of my clothes fit me anymore. there is nothing more depressing than not being able to zip up a pair of stretch jeans. so after a brief dip into depression, i decided to head back to the gym. i started two weeks ago walking 45 minutes (at 4mph) on the treadmill 4-5 days a week. i've also incorporated 30 minutes of weight training 3 days a week. i've been keeping my calories to about 1400 - 1500 with a lot of small meals full of GOOD food. i know this is higher than the 1200 everyone throws around, but when i'm burning 300 or 400 calories at the gym, i get dizzy if i don't eat that much. it's also a range i'm more likely to be able to maintain in real life. i also now bring my lunch to work, which saves calories and money.
in the past 2 weeks i've lost 4 pounds. not only that, but i FEEL better. going to the gym has definitely upped my endorphins and my spirit and i haven't had to take my anxiety medication since i started going. my pants fit better, my arms and legs feel tighter.
this is an average day of food for me:
breakfast:
special K w/ milk (about 200 cals)
small glass light juice (50 cals)
snack:
fruit/grain bar, or a Pria (130 cals)
lunch:
turkey sandwich on whole grain bread (350 cals)
100-cal pack of snack mix (100 cals)
small peppermint patty (40 cals)
pre-gym snack:
1 slice of whole grain bread with peanut butter (120 cals)
carrots/celery/cut veggies (50 cals)
dinner:
frozen meal, lean pocket or canned soup (300 cals)
small salad w/ low-fat dressing (150 cals)
i find that if i consistently eat 200 - 400 calorie "meals" more often throughout the day, i get less hungry. i would like to make real food for myself at dinner time, but i work a lot of hours, and i'm living alone. it's hard to justify spending time and money when i know that a portion of whatever i cook will always get tossed. of course living alone also gives me plenty of time to go to the gym, time to make sure i get to the grocery store and no one to tempt me with "bad" food.
what i think is so interesting is that when i was 180 lbs i still felt really HUGE. i look at pictures of myself from that year, and i see how average i was! i fit easily into size 14 clothes, my muscles were huge, my face looked so thin. i'm very, um, curvy, so i had a wonderful shape to me. now, i know that there is no place in life for regrets, but it's really unfortunate that i wasn't able to keep on trucking from that point. now i've backtracked and have to make up so much ground. argh.
anyway, my first goal is to lose 12 lbs by my birthday, which is two months from tomorrow. this is a very achievable goal. my next goal is to be down a total of 32 lbs by the 4th of july. this gives me about 5 months to be just about back where i was. i won't project any further than that at this point, but i would hope that i'll be down to my final goal of 155-160 by xmas.
so, i'm motivated, i'm informed and i'm on my way. and this time, there's no going back!
