Facing, Dealing and Losing/Winning!

[Ann1]

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my new diary. I've been on forums before, but never on something for weight loss, so this is sort of new to me. To start off I would like to say that any opinion, tips or advice is more than welcome, even if it might be though to hear. It will help me so much to keep motivated.

So today is June 9th, I'm 5"8 tall and weigh 197lbs.
My goal is to reach 165lbs preferably before the summer is over and I go back to school on September 1st.

For the past year I've been a live in Nanny. I eat a big breakfast at 7, bring the kids to school, go back to bed, have an early lunch between 10 and 11, watch some shows on Hulu or browse around on my computer, have a late second lunch at 2, have a snack with the kids when they get home, and then eat way too much at dinner with the family, because I eat much faster than the rest and can not stand sitting at the table and not eating. I often eat until I feel sick, though I never throw up. When I'm writing this down I'm just realizing how extremely unhealthy my schedule really is. I rarely exercise at all, and always take the car. When friends go exercising or hiking I often don't want to come because I am afraid I won't be able to keep up.

The change that I will make from now on will be the following:
- I will drink a glass of water before every meal
- I will drink at least 8 glasses of water each day
- I will take a Deep Water Aerobics class for an hour on Thursday evenings
- I will exercise (walk trails and run on the treadmill) at least half an hour each day, burn at least 250 calories.
- I will take a multi vitamin pill each day
- I will eat something different than my family for dinner, a small portion
- I will eat left over dinner or a warm meal for lunch instead
- I will eat carrots and other cold vegetables as snacks
- I will eat 2 servings of fruit each day
- I will eat slower
- I will not eat portions bigger than my hand
- I will not put extra salt on my foods
- I will not drink alcohol
- I will not eat more than one cheese sandwich a day
- I will stay away from eating chocolate, cookies and other kinds of candy
- I will try to get 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night, no more, no less
- I will walk instead of drive for an errand at least once a week
- I will serve more myself more vegetables and less of the other stuff

My other goals are to log onto this site everyday and monitor my progress. I want to weigh once a week. Also I would like to find myself a collection of simple recipes for my renewed small evening meals and my lunches. I know there's plenty of not too unhealthy but still yummy ideas out there. I just need to make sure I have the ingredients and recipes at hand, so that it's not just plain so much more easy to grab the unhealthy stuff.

My struggle point will definitely be motivating myself to exercise. I have loads of free time but I always already get tired just thinking about all the thing I need to do before I get on the treadmill. Get changed, do a warm up, have my iPod charged and then I also need to shower afterwards. The treadmill is right in our garage next to my room, so at least getting there is not the problem, but I still find other reasons to keep me off. Does anyone have any tips for this? Although, just desperately wanting to lose weight now should be enough. Man, I'm 20 and I've got stretch marks everywhere, have gallbladder disease and a fatty liver. Time to make some changes!

- Ann

 

[Ann1]

Schedule Wednesday June 9th

9:30am Do the laundry.
10:00am Take a nap (I will skip these in the future but really need one today to keep standing).
12:00pm Do the laundry.
12:15pm Eat warm lunch (not bigger than my hand).
12:45pm Look in to possible breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas for the rest of the week.
1:30pm Do the laundry.
1:45pm Pick up kids from school and have the afternoon routine. Don't eat snacks with them, just fruit or vegetables.
5:45pm Do the laundry.
6:15pm Eat small dinner, like fruit or crackers.
7:00pm Clean up bathroom.
7:45pm Computer and relax time.
9:00pm Take a shower.
9:30pm Go to bed.
wake up at 5:30am next day

Is it healthy to just eat fruit in the evening?
What else is useful that I can do before bedtime?

Edit:
See.. Now I totally forgot to plan any exercise. I will do my exercise today before taking a shower and going to bed at 8:15pm.

 

[shawnnam]

9:30am Do the laundry.
10:00am Take a nap (I will skip these in the future but really need one today to keep standing).
12:00pm Do the laundry.
12:15pm Eat warm lunch (not bigger than my hand).
12:45pm Look in to possible breakfast, lunch and dinner ideas for the rest of the week.
1:30pm Do the laundry.
1:45pm Pick up kids from school and have the afternoon routine. Don't eat snacks with them, just fruit or vegetables.
5:45pm Do the laundry.
6:15pm Eat small dinner, like fruit or crackers.
7:00pm Clean up bathroom.
7:45pm Computer and relax time.
9:00pm Take a shower.
9:30pm Go to bed.
wake up at 5:30am next day

Is it healthy to just eat fruit in the evening?
What else is useful that I can do before bedtime?

If you stick to your calories you can eat whatever at night, you don't want to over eat though or under eat for that matter. Some will say it doesn't make a difference but I don't eat 3 hours before I go to bed. Again, many say it doesn't matter if you eat right before bed, but I notice in my experience that I feel bloated and gross in the morning if I eat then sleep right away.

 

[Ann1]

If you stick to your calories you can eat whatever at night, you don't want to over eat though or under eat for that matter. Some will say it doesn't make a difference but I don't eat 3 hours before I go to bed. Again, many say it doesn't matter if you eat right before bed, but I notice in my experience that I feel bloated and gross in the morning if I eat then sleep right away.

Thanks Shawnnam. Yes, I think you're right in not eating 3 hours before going to bed.
I haven't done it yet, but I guess I should figure out how many calories I should be able to eat everyday. It's just so confusing. Cause it also depends on how much I exercise right?

The more I read the more confused I get about things that I should or shouldn't do. Eat 5 small meals a day? Or does that not matter at all? Are banana's bad for you? Are eggs bad for you? Does canned tuna count as eating fish and is it healthy for you or the contrary?

 

[shawnnam]

You can do what feels best for you. I eat every few hours to keep me from getting hungry, but you could eat one meal with all your daily calories and it is still the same.

With certain fruits being bad it is in reference to the amount of sugar, I believe. Bananas are loaded with sugar, versus a plum or some strawberries, but you can eat them anyways, just don't over do them. Like I said all depends on calories. If you are looking into your micro nutrients then the sugar would come into play, but in general it is not a big deal.

Also, eggs are very healthy. I don't really like yolk so I eat egg whites, but don't think eggs are bad from cholesterol... its a bunch of BS if you don't have cholesterol problems. And, I eat canned tuna quite often, the amount of mercury in tuna is so minimal... to get sick from you you would need to eat like 10 cans a day, everyday for years straight. And, it does count as fish, but salmon has some really great essential fatty acids so it is also nice to eat.

 

[Ann1]

You can do what feels best for you. I eat every few hours to keep me from getting hungry, but you could eat one meal with all your daily calories and it is still the same.

With certain fruits being bad it is in reference to the amount of sugar, I believe. Bananas are loaded with sugar, versus a plum or some strawberries, but you can eat them anyways, just don't over do them. Like I said all depends on calories. If you are looking into your micro nutrients then the sugar would come into play, but in general it is not a big deal.

Also, eggs are very healthy. I don't really like yolk so I eat egg whites, but don't think eggs are bad from cholesterol... its a bunch of BS if you don't have cholesterol problems. And, I eat canned tuna quite often, the amount of mercury in tuna is so minimal... to get sick from you you would need to eat like 10 cans a day, everyday for years straight. And, it does count as fish, but salmon has some really great essential fatty acids so it is also nice to eat.

Thanks! That's great help!
I just calculated that my calorie intake should be 2229 a day to keep my normal weight. I figure I'll eat 1929 each day, cut off calorie intake by 300 and try to exercise 250 off each day.

 

[Verobc1]

That sounds like a great plan!!!! Some people say stuff like bananas and eggs are bad for you , I thinks it's mostly too much of a good thing is still too much! Look into the portion size dont eat a 3 egg omelette every morning you know! Check your portion like 3oz of meat according to some in one portion and is about the thickness and size of your palm. Also about the no chocolat and no candy thing, are you sure you can live with those completly out? If you want to lose weight and keep it off you have to make changes you can live with, more of a lifestyle thing, mabe keep one day or one meal a week as a cheat (you know nothing off limits) as long as you keep the portion size reasonable, that works better for me annyways for you it might not so it's just a suggestion!

About the exercise thing I am still struggling, but if you schedule it in and stick to it......also on here people said that if you find an activity that you enjoy doing you are more likely to make it a part of your routine! So it the threadmill is not for you mabe running outside or bikking, swimming! There are so many options. The most important thing is if you fall off "the wagon" and have a bad meal day week month, don't quite just get back to it, this is your life you are talking about.......you can do this!

 

[Ann1]

Thanks Verobc! Actually chocolate in candy is not the reason that I gain so much weight, its especially normal food that I LOVE. I could eat cheese and pasta's in huge portions all day. I think I will every once in a while cheat a little bit of chocolate, but it's not my biggest problem. I think it's good that you say that I can cheat a meal but keep the size normal one meal a week. I often have the problem that once I let myself go because I think I earned it, I eat a BIG meal, and then later I think I need more and more to eat.. And we're back to one. So I think this is a good one, reward myself but by eating something yummy, not by eating something a lot.

I actually just changed my schedule for the day and decided to go running on the treadmill now. Who needs that extra hour of sleep to cure a minor hang over anyway? It's always so hard to motivate myself to get on it, but actually I do really like the treadmill. I can listen to music, be in the privacy of my own home and I love the feeling afterwards when I know I worked hard. So today I did 10 minutes of stretching and half an hour of the Weight Loss Work Out programmed on my treadmill. Burned 237 calories! Not 250, but I say that's close enough for today. I'll park nice and far from the store today when I go there with the kids.

I'm so embarrassed that my BMI now actually says Obesity, this really needs to be handled right now.

 

[Verobc1]

Great job with the work out!!!! Walking is also excellent if you take the kids to the play ground there are actually a ton of jungle workout you can do while the kids are playing! Just Google it! I am wanting to try those but my kids are both 3 and under so I can of have to be all over and can do the actual circuit but they really look fun!

I love pasta but I eat it rarely cause I too have a hard time eating it in small amounts!! You are off to a great start!

 

[Ann1]

@Verobc Haha, I read the jungle gym stuff, but I don't know if I would be confident enough to do that while the kids are playing. It's a small down and always lots of other (judgmental) moms around .

So today was my first day of trying to lose weight. I did pretty good I think. Exercised for half an hour, instead of taking a nap, drank loads of water and had a small lunch and dinner, which I both ate with slow, small bites.
Less good was that around 4pm I started getting light in my head, but no idea what to eat. I already ate fruit and was not really in the mood for more, so had a carrot. An hour later though I was more hungry still, to the point where I just felt nauseated and had a really bad headache. Snacked on some small rice crackers and a little bit of cheese. I guess tomorrow I should plan my snacks between meals a bit better so that I don't come to a point where I'm just extremely hungry. Maybe the reaction to less food, even though it wasn't extremely low, was also because my body is so used to eating super much at every meal. Tomorrow I'm also gonna try out the medium breakfast, "big" lunch and small dinner approach and gonna start counting those calories.

 

[Ann1]

Schedule Thursday June 10th

8.30am Fold laundry + put new laundry in
9.00am Clean breakfast stuff
9.15am Work out on treadmill half an hour
10.15am Eat half an apple
10.20am Shower
10.45am Do laundry
11.15am Play piano
12.00pm Eat lunch
12.30pm Do paperwork for insurance and school
1.10pm Do laundry
2.40pm Go by store to get some soup and carrots
3.00pm Get kids from school
4.00pm Eat snacks (cucumber, carrots and broccoli)
5.30pm Fold laundry
6.15pm Eat chicken soup and crackers for dinner
7.30pm One hour Deep Water Aerobics at the swimming pool
9.30pm Go to bed
Get up at 5.30am Friday

This morning I tried having a "big" breakfast, in a healthy portion. So I drank 2 glasses of water, then made two scrambled eggs, with broccoli, tomato and unions added. I added black pepper, but no salt. Put on two toasted pieces of bread. And had half an apple with some cinnamon. I really don't like apples at all, so I can't really eat more than half at a time.

 

[Ann1]

A little behind schedule, but DID exercise. Burned 207 calories. Not as much as I would have liked, but I just did the weight loss program and then it ended after half an hour. Should next time continue until I have 250 burned calories, but today I'm also doing Deep Water Aerobics and burn some.
Just stood on the scale this morning and actually I weigh 192.7 instead of 197 (what I thought..). So that's good news, less to lose. But still a long way from 165..

 

[Verobc1]

Hi Ann

I noticed that there isn't much proteine in your meals and snacks and that could be the reason for feeling light headed. Mabee just adding like a cup on nuts with a meal or your fruit could help with that. The egg in the morning is great but with the exercise you do, you burn a lot of it off so lean meats, or something like lentil or chick peas added in soups or salad could help fill you up more! It's always such a suggestion. Personally if I don't eat a good breakfast I am just hungry all day long, and I usually dont go for the good stuff you know! Water Aerobics sound like so much fun!!! Let me know how it goes!

 

[Ann1]

Hi Ann

I noticed that there isn't much proteine in your meals and snacks and that could be the reason for feeling light headed. Mabee just adding like a cup on nuts with a meal or your fruit could help with that. The egg in the morning is great but with the exercise you do, you burn a lot of it off so lean meats, or something like lentil or chick peas added in soups or salad could help fill you up more! It's always such a suggestion. Personally if I don't eat a good breakfast I am just hungry all day long, and I usually dont go for the good stuff you know! Water Aerobics sound like so much fun!!! Let me know how it goes!

That's really helpful advice! So, should I also add more protein to the breakfast if I'm going to work out before lunch or does that not matter? Should I try to have some with every meal?

 

[jjjay]

Just wanted to say well done Ann on deciding to make a change - its the hardest step and from now on the rest is focus and fine tuning. Find what works for you. I get light headed unless I eat carbs for breakfast so a bowl of porridge or a toasted bagel is good for me, but I make sure lunch is salad based and then dinner tends to be more protein.

 

[Ann1]

Thanks jjjay! I really hope I will keep with it, cause honestly if I wanna have a healthy life I'll just have to. It's just so hard. Already my mind starts wandering off to eating yummy large plates of pasta and cheese!

Today was okay. To be honest I feel like I ate a lot, but I guess since it was healthy stuff and not too big portions the whole time it was still okay. For lunch I really wanted to make chicken breast for protein but didn't have some in the house, so I had a yummy yummy cheese and chicken quesadilla. It was sooo good. I don't know how bad it actually is for me, I think it wasn't too bad. So and then I had one quesadilla and a self-made salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, rinsed tuna, and couldn't resist that one spoon of salad dressing. Even if that might not be so good, it makes the salad so much more better and still when I compare it to what I normally would eat it's a huge improvement. Then I made myself a healthy snack box separately from the kids's snacks with broccoli, cucumber, almonds and a few slices of apple. I had a really hard time when time came for the kids to have a chocolate chip cookie and to not have one myself. So than half an hour after I felt so much craving for something yummy that I had like 10 small rice crackers with cheese. I meant to just have 2 or 3, but I just couldn't stop myself. In the end ofcourse, I ate more calories by eating the crackers with cheese than I would have had I eaten just one chocolate chip cookie. Blegh. As dinner I had chicken noodle soup with some crackers. I was surprised how full I was after the soup though. I normally don't eat soup and expected it to be really light, but it wasn't really. I wonder if next time I should have a smaller dinner?

Anyway, then I went to Water Aerobics. Which unfortunately was not that good. Last week I tried another Water Aerobics class, taught in the morning by someone else, and after that I really felt like I'd done a good work out. After this I felt like I spend more time talking with the other ladies, who kept asking me tons and tons of questions, than actually working out. Plus we were just simply doing way less different exercises and doing it all very slowly. I wish I could do the morning class but now it's summer vacation and I'll have to work! I don't know if I really wanna pay money to stay in this class though. I know it's better than doing nothing, but it seems rather expensive for a not that good work out.

So I did get through the day without going completely off my preferred eating schedule. I did half an hour on the treadmill, an hour light water aerobics and according the the calorie counter I ate 2,116 calories. And the cheese and crackers were about 650 of that -_-. Without that it would have been perfect. I'm not gonna give up and give it another shot tomorrow, and the day after and the day after that!

 

[amsterdam1]

Heyyy!
One teaspoon of salad dressing never hurt anyone!! But try making a homemade one! Add whatever spices and stuff you want, and im sure theres plenty of recipes online that can be healthy and such. Or you can just buy the "light" versions of the ones you like!

If you're craving something, here are few tricks: (they may/not work...)
-drink a glass of water when you get a craving
-chew gum
-buy some of those hard candies (i know crystal light made some and they were so good, it was like 20 calories for 4 of them...i cant find them anywhere though!) or wether's originals... Yes, they're sweet, but 20 calories is better than 1 cookie!
-Just eat whatever your craving... (hahaha its not really a trick), but follow the serving size!

One bad day won't stop you from having a great loss for the week, just keep it up, and tomorrow, kick some butt!

 

[Ann1]

Thanks for the tips Amsterdam. It's funny, I'm from Holland, so I like your name .

Today is a hard day. I think I started off wrong with my breakfast. I ate two kiwi's and two slices of bread, one with peanut butter and one with cream cheese. I was actually already having the full feeling after I finished the kiwi's but then forced myself to eat the bread, because I figured my new schedule was gonna be a big breakfast and else I'd get hungry before lunch. I don't know if that was a good decision. All in all, calories from breakfast already went over 650. Then I had the same lunch as yesterday, but because I was so hungry I couldn't help just having a bit more salad dressing and a bit more salsa and a bit more tuna.. Now we're going out for sushi tonight and I will wanna eat so much cause I love it. But I should restrict myself to not more than 12 pieces, and that's going to be hard. Sushi is my favorite food in the world and I can eat tons of it.
With every meal I had so far I strangely feel like I'm full before I finish my plate with the big breakfast and medium lunch thing. But then I just force myself to eat it and my stomach feels uncomfortable. I'm just so afraid that I'll get really hungry for snack times and then end up taking 5 regular meals a day, instead of meal, snack, meal, snack, meal.

This morning I was all ready to start my exercise when I got a letter from the government, saying that I owed them 1200 euro's, because they had paid me too much in the past. I got extremely upset and cried a lot. I'm just a student and don't have that kind of money, so it really felt like someone slamming my body against a wall. Luckily I talked to my mom shortly after and it turns out they have made a mistake and she helped me write a letter to them. Still it got me thrown off balance for a long time and we talked for hours about money and living situation and all kinds of stuff. I love my mom for always being so supportive of me. I still owe her money for my drivers license, but already she's saying that the first half year I'm back in Holland she'll pay everything for me. I won't even have to get a job. She'll pay school and rent and food. She isn't rich though, and I'm too much wanting to be independent to take her money. But it's so good feel that I have a safety net behind me. I'm going shopping now and then in a little bit, the kids will be home. I'm thinking I still wanna do my work out on the treadmill after we come back from dinner, but I don't know if I can motivate myself. I should though. I'm also wondering if I should eat more than 12 pieces of sushi if I'm going to exercise afterwards. And should I eat something after the exercise even though I will try to go to bed as soon as possible afterwards?

 

[Ann1]

Yesterday evening turned out to be sort of a disaster. I ate WAY to much sushi. Even after I felt full I just kept eating and in the end my stomach was really hurting from eating so much. I went home and did not go on the treadmill because I felt so tired and disgustingly full.

Today is another day though and so far, so good. Again had scrambled eggs, with carrots, tomato and onions on two toasted slices of bread for breakfast. Along with half an apple with cinnamon. For lunch Organic Chicken Noodle Soup and self made salad, this time a lesser amount and without the salad dressing. Actually it also tastes good without! For snack I had a small hand with mixed nuts. It's weird though. So far only 785 calories and only have dinner to go, which I was planning to be small. Now I'm thinking I should eat some more than I had planned because else I won't go over the 1200 calories, and even that seems on the low side. It's so strange that this is happening cause I feel like I've eaten so much. I guess it was just all not really calorie rich foods. My family will have a dinner party tonight and it will take some strength to say no to the hamburgers. I will just make my separate dinner. I think I'll have a quesadilla again for lack of a better idea, along with some fruit some crackers. I should really look into some different dinner ideas.

So today I will do my work out! RIGHT NOW !

 

[Ann1]

Today went really well I think. I ended up still eating with my family. I counted my calories and saw I still had quite some left to eat. I restricted myself to one hamburger, on the lowest calorie bun we had, with lettuce and tomato, but without any bbq sauce, mayonaise, mustard or ketchup. I had some salad that my hostmom made, which is supposed to be healthy stuff, but I have no idea what it's called. Kiwa or something? I snacked a lot on carrots before dinner because they had been put right in front of my nose, so I did have a few carrots with hummus too many, but still within reason. I skipped the desert, ice cream with cookies and strawberries. It really took me a lot of effort to say no and to keep myself busy with clean up while everyone else was eating their yummy-ness. Ofcourse I could have eaten just some strawberries but I was already really full and was afraid I couldnt resist the ice cream once I ate the strawberries. Before and after our dinner party I helped as hard as I could with clean up, in my head thinking this would burn off some extra calories, it was great. Also went on the treadmill and burned 263 calories, go me!