Here comes the skinny bride?

R

Rachel1022

New member
I’m getting married on August 1st and I have realized today that I really need to get serious about reaching my goal. I’m 22 years old, just shy of 5’10” and when I weighed myself about five minutes ago, it said 186.0 pounds. Considering that I weighed 209.4 in November, that’s not so bad, but add to that that I want to weigh 150 for my wedding, it’s not so good either. A couple of weeks ago, I was at 183.2 and got so excited about that, that I started slacking off on the diet and exercise. So now I’m here, trying to get really serious about this and needing someone to be accountable to. I have some self-esteem issues, so I don’t really want to announce to most of the people that I know that I want to lose 36 pounds for my wedding, so I’m relying on the semi-anonymity of an online community.

I would be lying if I said that I only wanted to lose weight to be healthy. Yes, I do want to be healthy, but I already feel pretty healthy. The main reason that I want to lose weight is to look and feel good on my wedding day. I want to be able to enjoy my day. I don’t want to have to spend my whole wedding day worrying about having my chin held at the correct angle to make my face look thin or trying to keep my upper arms from pressing up against my body, making them look wide. I want to lose this weight before my wedding is so I can relax and have fun on my day, knowing that I will look great in my pictures almost regardless of how I stand or hold my arm, et cetera. Plus, if we are spending x-amount of money on pictures and I plan on having them for the rest of my life and giving them to our grandkids one day, I want to look as good as possible in them.

I have an elliptical machine in our bonus room, which I hope to exercise on at least 30 minutes at least five days a week. I also plan on cutting my caloric intake drastically, but as of now, I do not plan on recording exactly everything I consume daily. If there is a need for this practice in the future, I have no objection to it, but for now, I hope that it won’t be necessary, just because I’m a very busy person and I hope that losing weight won’t have to consume my life. Also, I take a one hour ballet class once as week and I take Alli—something that apparently some people consider “cheating”, but I just consider an aide.

Also, I have committed to being completely honest in this journal. I’m sure that some days, being dishonest will be very tempting, but full disclosure is going to make the exercise of keeping this journal most successful. The truth may not always be glamorous or easy to confess, but this is truly my weight loss journey down the aisle.

DAY 1: 186 lbs
 
I just got off of my elliptical after working out for 30 minutes and then worked out my upper arms with free weights. Luckily, the Best Damn Hooters Swimsuit Pageant was on while I was working out—not that I love looking at half-naked women, but it was great for motivation. However, before that, I had a moment of weakness and went with my sister to Taco Bell for supper. I immediately regretted that decision, but I’m trying to not let it get my down.

I have my wedding dress in my closet and I may put it on in the next couple of days and get someone to take some pictures for me to put on here. That should make for some pretty interesting before and after (and in between) pictures.

Also, a few weeks ago, I ran out of Equal for my coffee and decided to use sugar. Since sugar tastes sooo much better, I kept conveniently forgetting to pick up some more Equal when I went to the store. Well, I went by the store this evening just to get some Equal. I know that this doesn’t sound like a very big deal, but I drink a lot of coffee.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better weight loss day!

Also, I’m needing to make a new exercise playlist for my IPod. Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
About the Taco Bell, don't regret it, just do something about it. It feels so much better to maybe go for a light jog then to beat yourself up about making a mistake with your food.

Some great artists I like to exercise to are:

Basshunter
T.I.
Lil Wayne
Chris Brown

Basically anything with a good beat
 
Thanks for the positive input. It's just that I knew I shouldn't have been eating that, even before I put it in my mouth, but I did it any way. That's pretty much my weight problem... I put off actually thinking about what I'm eating until after I have eaten it. But I'm working on that and keeping my head up!
 
Welcome and congrats on your weight loss thus far!!

Even though you prefer not to log what you eat in your daily journal, for now at least, it could be a huge motivator--in the fact that "I'm not eating that piece of cake because I don't want to write it down in my log and let everyone know I ate it." Or the fact that you won't want to go over your calories if you have to write it down, unless you just don't write it...although I'm not saying you'd do that. Just a suggestion though. I know if I have to write things down it makes me want to eat more healthy foods and skip the unhealthy foods.

Don't stress about Taco Bell. If I eat something 'bad' I just exercise for a bit longer. So if I was going to run 4 miles, I run 5. I doubt it makes a huge difference, but it makes me feel less stressed about it. And you can't dwell on today cause tomorrow's a new start, so just try to eat better tomorrow.

My music taste is a bit, mostly because I get bored if I listen to the same workout playlist over and over again. I listen to a lot of Akon, T.I., The Used, Matchbook Romance, Britney Spears, Counting Crows, Eminem, Fergie, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Nelly, Panic At The Disco, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi...pretty much any sort of upbeat pop music, any dance remix I can find, techno mixes, and any song I can think of that makes me mad/pumped up. Oh and Outkast is one of my favorites...jogging to "The Way You Move" then sprinting to "Bombs Over Baghdad." I listen to those over and over again.
 
Rachel1022 said:
I’m getting married on August 1st and I have realized today that I really need to get serious about reaching my goal. I’m 22 years old, just shy of 5’10” and when I weighed myself about five minutes ago, it said 186.0 pounds. Considering that I weighed 209.4 in November, that’s not so bad, but add to that that I want to weigh 150 for my wedding, it’s not so good either. A couple of weeks ago, I was at 183.2 and got so excited about that, that I started slacking off on the diet and exercise. So now I’m here, trying to get really serious about this and needing someone to be accountable to. I have some self-esteem issues, so I don’t really want to announce to most of the people that I know that I want to lose 36 pounds for my wedding, so I’m relying on the semi-anonymity of an online community.

I would be lying if I said that I only wanted to lose weight to be healthy. Yes, I do want to be healthy, but I already feel pretty healthy. The main reason that I want to lose weight is to look and feel good on my wedding day. I want to be able to enjoy my day. I don’t want to have to spend my whole wedding day worrying about having my chin held at the correct angle to make my face look thin or trying to keep my upper arms from pressing up against my body, making them look wide. I want to lose this weight before my wedding is so I can relax and have fun on my day, knowing that I will look great in my pictures almost regardless of how I stand or hold my arm, et cetera. Plus, if we are spending x-amount of money on pictures and I plan on having them for the rest of my life and giving them to our grandkids one day, I want to look as good as possible in them.

I have an elliptical machine in our bonus room, which I hope to exercise on at least 30 minutes at least five days a week. I also plan on cutting my caloric intake drastically, but as of now, I do not plan on recording exactly everything I consume daily. If there is a need for this practice in the future, I have no objection to it, but for now, I hope that it won’t be necessary, just because I’m a very busy person and I hope that losing weight won’t have to consume my life. Also, I take a one hour ballet class once as week and I take Alli—something that apparently some people consider “cheating”, but I just consider an aide.

Also, I have committed to being completely honest in this journal. I’m sure that some days, being dishonest will be very tempting, but full disclosure is going to make the exercise of keeping this journal most successful. The truth may not always be glamorous or easy to confess, but this is truly my weight loss journey down the aisle.

DAY 1: 186 lbs
Click to expand...


I completely feel ya on the whole anonymity of an online blogging or journaling.. I would be humiliated if people I know and care about found me on this site. I hope that you find what you are looking for.. you definately will have the support of people with same goals and struggles that you face. Your goal is doable.. Keep faith. I think the main thing is keeping honest with ourselves more than anything at all.
 
Hi Rachel and congrats on your upcoming wedding. You have enough time to reach your goal if you are consistent with excercising and good nutrition. Your reasons for wanting to lose weight are 100% understandable and you should not apologize for any of them. Almost all of us want to look better and feel better over anything else. We all know that better health is the bonus. There are so many other benefits too that you will slowly discover as the pounds come off. Enjoy them all.

Just try to keep making improvements each week. Be somewhat analytical and look back on the week and ask yourself "what can I do better next week?" Then, next week, make it so! It can be as simple as that at times.

Also, don't lose site of your overall goal even if you have a lot of success early on. Many of us have fallen into that trap. We get "close" to our goal, celebrate what we have already accomplished and then think we can go a few weeks without excercising and even eat a lot of our favorite yummy foods again. The problem with that is a lot of times we eventually find ourselves back at our starting weight or even higher. I am guilty of that twice in my life. There won't be a third time.

What worked for me was to set 10 lb mini goals. Sure, I gave myself a big pat on the back each time I reached a new milestone. However, I quickly forgot about it and focused hard on the next 10 lbs. If you keep that mentality, rewarding yourself a little but not too much, then focusing hard on continuing on, you will reach your goal by August.

Just promise that you won't quit after your wedding. Your husband, and kids someday, will appreciate a happy and healthy momma! ;)
 
As for music, I don't listen to music while I excercise but I have been writing down some songs over the past couple months just for that purpose. I just haven't accumulated enough songs yet to bother purchasing them online. I plan to buy the MP3 downloads online and have about 1 hours worth.

A few on my list I can remember right now:
Never Surrender by Cory Hart
Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
Little Wonders (soundtrack version) by Rob Thomas
Wave on Wave by Pat Green

Finally, Jordin Sparks has quite a few great songs on her CD that just make you dance so I'm sure they would be good workout songs too.
 
Hey Racho1022! I like your Diary so far and have to say you are definately on the right track. Do not stress about Taco Bell because if you limit yourself too much, you are going to go crazy and binge on fattening foods. Looking great for your wedding is very understandable, as I too, wanted to lose weight because we were spending $3,500 on pictures. Needless to say, I only lost 20 pounds and stopped a few months before and went right back up until October of last year. I was so disappointed in myself and I regret not getting fully there on my wedding day. My pictures turned out ok, but I definately regret it and I don't want you to! So stick with it, exercise is key and you can do it!
 
Thanks for all of the kind words of encouragement and support. And yes, I totally plan on keeping this weight off for longer than just my wedding, not only for myself and my husband, but also for our future kids. We don’t plan on having children any time soon, but it is something that we are really looking forward to in the future and we know the benefits of being physically healthy before and during a pregnancy. I would hate to wake up five years from now and think “damn, it’s time to start trying to have a baby, but I have 50 lbs (again) first.”

Well, for now it’s just day by day though and today, while not great, has been better than yesterday, diet wise at least. I had Kashi GoLean cereal for breakfast (at our house, we call it the “dirty cereal” because it literally tastes like it has dirt in it, but it’s good for us, so oh well) and coffee with Equal. I slept WAY late this morning and had to have fast food for lunch so I went to Zaxby’s but I only had one “Nibbler” as they call them and water—no fries or anything! Then, on the way home from school, I had a McDonald’s small iced coffee. Like I said, the day wasn’t great diet wise, but it has been better than yesterday.

I’m about to go to my weekly ballet class and work my booty off for an hour. Don’t be fooled by your local community production of the Nutcracker… ballet can actually be a great workout!! :)

Once I get home from ballet, I’ll have to work on a Psychology term paper. The topic is the teratogenic affects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, so it won’t be fun. I already know that I’ll be craving yummy food like chocolate and pizza when working on it. That’s another one of my problems—I try to balance out not-so-fun things (like writing papers) with fun things (like eating). I’ll try to check back in later tonight and report on what I eat for supper and related topics. Also, I think I’ll try journaling as the “fun” to replace eating in balancing out the torture of the term paper… hopefully it will suffice.

DAY 2: 185.4 lbs
 
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Well, I’m home from ballet and haven’t convinced myself to start working on my paper yet, but I also haven’t started pigging out. I had a Greek salad from Panera for supper, which had a ton of feta on it and I ate it all. I just have a really hard time saying “no” to feta—it is absolutely one of my favorite foods! Anyway, I wanted creamy tomato soup, so I don’t feel too bad eating all that feta.

I’m sitting here, drinking about a gallon of Crystal Light peach tea—I’m being facetious, but only slightly—and I know that it isn’t calorie free and it doesn’t have a lot of nutritional value, but considering that I would rather be eating a gallon of ice cream or drinking a few gallons of beer (or both), I think that Crystal Light is an acceptable option as the less of three evils.

Here’s to a very productive day for all of us tomorrow.
 
I feel like I’m retaining some water today, and it’s always those days that turn into “fat days”. I had a chocolate chip bagel from Panera for breakfast. I’ll be working on my term paper pretty much all day today, but I’ll actually probably be using all of my energy trying to resist munching while writing.

DAY 3: 185.6 lbs
 
ahhh panera bagels...so bad, yet so good. <3 my absolute favorite breakfast food.

now i'm gonna crave it! ha :)
 
Well, I had a banana, half a bell pepper and a diet Dr. Pepper for lunch. I know that it didn’t have very much nutritional value, but it was pretty low calorie and I was really busy and not that hungry, so that’s what I went with. For a snack I had a crostini with 2 teaspoons of real butter—I know, I shouldn’t have had it. I cooked spaghetti for my family for supper tonight. I tried to make it healthy, but I can only make it so healthy before my family won’t eat it any more. It had tons of veggies in it and a little olive oil, but it had ground beef in it, but I washed as much grease off of it as possible after cooking it. I got one of the baby plates down off of the top shelf and just put some spaghetti on that—that was my attempt at portion control. I sprinkled a little reduced fat parmesan on it and had three crostinis with it—but they are pretty small, like a 2 inch diameter. I’ve already made my healthy lunch to take to school with me tomorrow so I don’t have to either have fast food or starve. I’m still working on this darn paper, but I’m going to do my best to squeeze in some time on the elliptical.
 
Well, it’s been a bad few days in diet land. Without going into too much detail, this weekend involved a lot of beer, food, a bridal shower, and no exercise. I’m going to be very busy this week, but hopefully I will get my act together—diet wise at least. On the way to the shower, someone rear ended me on the interstate and my back is killing me. Plus, my semi-new puppy got out of the front door and ran into the street this morning and I ran out of the house barefoot to chase him and I fell in the road on my knees. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but it was like when a 4 year old is running and her feet get away from her and she falls on her knees first and then the palms of her hands and all four are bleeding. Well, I was that giant four year old in the road this morning. Anyway, pretty much my whole body hurts today, but hopefully I’ll be able to work out tonight.

DAY 8: 183.2 lbs
 
Thanks! I seriously thought about giving it up after this weekend, but then I just thought "screw this, I can be honest about the beer and grease of this past weekend and move on and get back on track!"
 
Rachel1022 said:
Well, it’s been a bad few days in diet land. Without going into too much detail, this weekend involved a lot of beer, food, a bridal shower, and no exercise. I’m going to be very busy this week, but hopefully I will get my act together—diet wise at least. On the way to the shower, someone rear ended me on the interstate and my back is killing me. Plus, my semi-new puppy got out of the front door and ran into the street this morning and I ran out of the house barefoot to chase him and I fell in the road on my knees. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal, but it was like when a 4 year old is running and her feet get away from her and she falls on her knees first and then the palms of her hands and all four are bleeding. Well, I was that giant four year old in the road this morning. Anyway, pretty much my whole body hurts today, but hopefully I’ll be able to work out tonight.

DAY 8: 183.2 lbs
Click to expand...

Wow, sounds like a rough couple of days, but hey, you're still losing! That's great! Keep your chin up girl!
 
I think learning to be honest, both with yourself and with a bunch of anonymous strangers here, is key to getting one's eating habits under control. So, your post was a great victory in the battle of the bulge! :)
 
Ok, I’ve totally been falling behind on my journal, but I have really been busy with trying to finish up this semester, get my best friend married, and plan my own wedding. I’m definitely going to try to do better, but I can’t make any promises until after this week. I have broken down my big goal down to smaller goals per week, with the “weigh in” day being Friday. The goal for last Friday was 182.2 and my actual weight was 181.2!! I was totally stoked! My goal for this Friday is 180.2. The bad news is that my elliptical machine is broken. My cleaning ladies decided to move it for some reason and the broke it’s axel. My favorite time to work out is REALLY late at night (like 2 a.m.), so this is posing a problem, but I’m working on it.

DAY 11: 181.2
 
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