End of the fail?

B

bluecat

New member
I've been trying to lose weight for ages now. I started last summer, going swimming three times a week, walking, and watching what I ate. It didn't work, and I gave up. This summer, I've been calorie counting, started running, and so far still nothing. So I figured if I have a diary, and people reading that diary, it would help me realise what I'm doing wrong, and hopefully end the fail of my weight loss.


I'm 24, 5'4 and 182lb. When I came to uni two years ago I was about 140lb and I put 40lb on in about a year. I feel terrible, none of my clothes fit, my asthma has come back. It's getting to me. Recently I've been walking loads, started running three times a week (having a break for a week due to leg problems but will get back to it on Sunday) and have been counting calories, aiming for no more than 1500 a day. So where am I going wrong?


So day 1 of the diary. I'll edit as the day progresses.

Breakfast: Three ryvita crackerbreads with a teeny amount of butter. 77kcal. (I know I should eat more, but I find it hard to have an appetite when I get up.)

Lunch:

Dinner:

Snacks: 1 maple sugar sweet. 32kcal


Total:


Exercise:
 
Welcome to the forums. Great start keeping the food diary, it definitely helps shed light at the start.


Remember to track fluid intake and keep noting the small items like the teeny amount of butter that all add up over the day :)
 
Thanks feelinggooder! I haven't been tracking fluid intake so I will do from now.


Yesterday turned out to be quite bad. My boyfriend took me to Slug and Lettuce for lunch and I can't find anywhere the sort of calories I ate. I had a salad for dinner so hopefully there wasn't too much damage control.


Today however is much better:


Breakfast: Nothing (yeah, I know)

Lunch: 360kcal: Salad, 6 ryvita original cracker breads with a small amount of light butter, light salad cream, 1 poppadom and a low fat chocolate mousse.

Dinner: ~800kcal Home made pizza: Thin base, low calorie pesto, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms with half a mushroom, cream cheese and garlic toasted wrap

Snacks: 200kcal: Low fat chocolate mousse, a few sweets I had leftover

Drinks: 100kcal: Very weak apple and mango squash, half blueberry and pomegranate juice, water.


Total: 1460kcal


Exercise: Week 3 day 1 of C25K programme. One hour of wii fit plus.

Estimated total: -350kcal


I'll come back and edit this when the day is over. I have a real problem with drinks. Apparently I really don't drink enough, but as soon as I up the amount I drink I end up needing the toilet constantly! I'm never really very thirsty either. I also don't really like drinking water, so I tend to opt for weak juice or squash instead.
 
Looks like you're identifying potential issues already which is a great step. Figuring out what needs to change is a big part of the battle.


Eating at restaurants is tough. Some are better than others about publishing their calorie content but it always makes me wonder about the ones that don't make the information available when you go looking.


Drinking water is tough to get used to. Maybe try some crystal light or low/no calorie sweetener to help get off the juice if it becomes an issue.


Keep up the food logging and wii fit. Enjoying the C25K program so far?
 
I actually have a problem with artificial sweeteners. In that some make me ill, or I just hate the taste of others. I do however sometimes put a splash of lemon and/or lime juice in water which I really should do more. I do tend to do that more in the summer though.


I'm loving the C25K programme! Just before I came to uni two years ago I succeeded in running 30 minutes without any walking.. Unfortunately when I came to uni, as much as I tried to keep up the running, it slipped away. I'm finding it easier this time around, even though I'm much heavier, which surprises me. I have had some trouble with my leg but as soon as I realised it wasn't the usual soreness/ache, I rested it for a few days and it seems to be better now. I'm glad as I was missing the running already! Can't wait for w3d2 on Sunday!


I've had a look at your diary. Congratulations for doing so well so far! I hope your knee problem is solved soon!
 
Originally Posted by bluecat


I actually have a problem with artificial sweeteners. In that some make me ill, or I just hate the taste of others. I do however sometimes put a splash of lemon and/or lime juice in water which I really should do more. I do tend to do that more in the summer though.
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Any drink or artificial sweetener with aspartame in it makes me feel so gross! and tastes nasty too. The only non calorie drink I found I like is the Mio drink mixes. They don't have aspartame in it (though probably has other similar crap in it, haha) but it doesn't make me feel nasty and for a zero calorie drink, tastes pretty good too (specially with freezing cold water). It has been a real life saver too, cause I used to be addicted to the sugar iced tea. Could have 4-6 glasses a day of it and it sure wasn't low calorie!! Now I just drink Mio's


We are close to the same height and age and started at fairly close to the same weight. I was 168 at my heaviest. Now I am at 159.4 (though thanks to my cold not letting me exercise this week I have been stuck here for the last 3 days, grr)
 
AHey there, I've just started back here, and welcome to you? :)

On first look at your food, I wonder if you should be including a little more protein, it's something that really helps me with weight loss. I try to have some with every meal, either eggs or a little cheese, of tinned fish is good.

Have a good weekend.
 
Originally Posted by MysticRealm




Any drink or artificial sweetener with aspartame in it makes me feel so gross! and tastes nasty too. The only non calorie drink I found I like is the Mio drink mixes. They don't have aspartame in it (though probably has other similar crap in it, haha) but it doesn't make me feel nasty and for a zero calorie drink, tastes pretty good too (specially with freezing cold water). It has been a real life saver too, cause I used to be addicted to the sugar iced tea. Could have 4-6 glasses a day of it and it sure wasn't low calorie!! Now I just drink Mio's



We are close to the same height and age and started at fairly close to the same weight. I was 168 at my heaviest. Now I am at 159.4 (though thanks to my cold not letting me exercise this week I have been stuck here for the last 3 days, grr)
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I haven't heard of Mio drink mixes, but I'll keep an eye out for them thanks! Nice work, I hope you recover from your cold soon!


Originally Posted by anna.banana

Hey there, I've just started back here, and welcome to you?
smile.gif

On first look at your food, I wonder if you should be including a little more protein, it's something that really helps me with weight loss. I try to have some with every meal, either eggs or a little cheese, of tinned fish is good.
Have a good weekend.
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Thanks for the tip, I'll have a go. I do generally have a little protein, but I'm not a great lover of meat and eggs can make me feel a little off. I'll have a go though, certainly!


In other news I lost a pound today. Yay! 181lb! 2 more to go and I'll have got below the 180 mark for the first time in ages. Now I've started running again, even though it was just one run, it's surprising how much more energy I feel like I have. I'll try and aim for an hour on the wii fit today, then another run tomorrow. Thanks for your support everyone!
 
I've not been feeling 100% today. Just a little funny, nothing too major.


Breakfast: Nothing

Lunch: 300kcal: Cheese, ham and pesto toasted sandwich, chocolate mousse.

Dinner: 350kcal: Instant mashed potato with peas and super light mayo. 2 poppadoms (may have more later.

Snacks: 25kcal: Crackerbread with small amount of butter

Drinks: 100kcal: Half water/juice, weak squash


Total: 775kcal


Exercise: -200kcal: Wii fit+


I think I'll try and eat some more later as I'm somewhat lower than I thought!
 
Hello!


Welcome to the forums and congratulations on the lost pound - I hope you never find it again :rofl:


Looking through your food log I wonder if you might benefit from dropping the snacks and using those calories for a bigger (and maybe more satisfying) lunch? Just a thought! I pretty much stopped snacking and have had two or three good sized meals instead, and I've found it very satisfying!



I also suffer from asthma and wondered how you've been going about controlling it when running? Years ago when I weighed what you weigh now I ran a couple miles here and there but found my poor lungs didnt cope too well!


Hope you're feeling better today


Naif
 
Thank you, I've now lost another one!


I don't always snack, it depends what I'm doing. I'm normally pretty satisfied with my lunch, but yes I see what you mean, sometimes I do sometimes have too many snacks!


To control my asthma, I do a brisk warm up walk, then take my inhaler. I stretch while I wait for it to work, and then I run and don't get a problem. My doctor recommended taking it before activity rather than when an attack has already happened (even though I only have the reliever not the preventer) and it seems to work. She did however recommend two puffs but a single one seems to work for me. To be honest my asthma isn't that much of a problem usually as I seem to have grown out of it somewhat, thankfully! It's more of a problem when my allergies kick in, so in the summer I make sure to take antihistamine too!
 
Yay another pound gone today! 12st 12 now, 180lb! Saying I'm happy is certainly an understatement!


I've not been counting calories as religiously as I was, yet I'm losing weight faster which I find interesting. I haven't been overeating or anything, but I've had things like a big roast dinner, which seeing as I made everything from scratch, was very hard to calculate! I find if I get too caught up in the counting and trying to work everything out it can get me down a little. I've started drinking a little more, and cutting back on the snacks a little which may be helping.


Also today, not only did I complete week 3 day 2 of C25K easily, but I didn't just do the last three minute run. I felt good so kept on running, and ended up running eight minutes instead of three! Making not 12 minutes in total, but 17! I know it doesn't sound much, but it's a lot for me. Plus I only stopped because I ran out of path. I know I'm not supposed to do things too quickly, but if things carry on like this maybe C25K is a little too slow progress for me? I don't know, I'll stick with it for a bit longer.
 
Thought I would join for support :) I've always been afraid of running. Not sure why. But good for you! Keep going!! :)
 
Wow, sounds like you're doing great! Make sure not to go too low on the calories. I don't count calories much either, but every now and again I do a bit of a check and sometimes I'm like 'whoa, way too low!'. It just seems to happen sometimes, so I make sure to have something to bring the calories up, especially if I am working out that day.
 
Originally Posted by misty22


Thought I would join for support :) I've always been afraid of running. Not sure why. But good for you! Keep going!! :)
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Hi :) I was too, especially after seeing a friend who runs at least two half marathons every year. I think the key is to ease into it slowly.


Originally Posted by MysticRealm


Wow, sounds like you're doing great! Make sure not to go too low on the calories. I don't count calories much either, but every now and again I do a bit of a check and sometimes I'm like 'whoa, way too low!'. It just seems to happen sometimes, so I make sure to have something to bring the calories up, especially if I am working out that day.
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Thanks! I'm feeling loads better now. I'll count them once a week or so just to make sure, that's a good idea. Today I don't think there's any fear of that though...my boyfriend is making a curry (home made) and I'm making breads to go with it. It should be fairly healthy though as he's trying to lose weight too.


Today I ran again and did it a little differently. After the last three minute walk I joined the 90 second and 3 minute runs together, then just carried on some more. Also, I lost another pound! 179lb! Now I need to figure out my next goal. I think to get into the 'overweight' BMI rather than 'obese' would be a good goal. That's about 10lb away I think.
 
Good for you! I hope I can get to 1 lb lower by the end of next week too! Keep going, you are doing great!!
 
Ugh, put on 2lb today. It has to be water retention though as there is no way I ate that much yesterday even though I made muffins! I even went for a run, and burned 200kcal on the wii fit! I was pretty thirsty yesterday. It's annoying, but hopefully if I eat extra healthily today it'll disappear over the next few days.
 
Originally Posted by bluecat


Ugh, put on 2lb today. It has to be water retention though as there is no way I ate that much yesterday even though I made muffins! I even went for a run, and burned 200kcal on the wii fit! I was pretty thirsty . It's annoying, but hopefully if I eat extra healthily today it'll disappear over the next few days.
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It happens. Don't get discouraged & go N2 downward spiral like I did last year after taking off nearly 70 lbs. Just keep at it and you will make your goal. I highly recommend Martin Katahn's books even if you don't do the rotation diet. They are the best I've read about healthy diets and exercise.
 
Weight loss seems to have stalled again. Maybe I'm not giving it my all. But then I've been in a weird mood lately so I'm not really giving anything a huge amount of effort. I've been keeping up with the running though. Having a couple of rest days at the moment as my legs felt really bad after the last run. Tomorrow I'll do w4d3 though. I still didn't fail the last run, even though it was pretty painful. I'm just feeling a bit 'meh' lately due to various things that are going on.
 
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