Here we go, time to get in shape!

sweet_tooth

New member
Hi guys!
I've decided it's time to get in shape, and as I severely lack in motivation, I thought a weight loss diary would be great to help keep me going! I've read some of your diaries and everyone is doing so well, I hope I can be as inspired!

The last time I weighed myself (around 18th December), I was around 168 pounds - this was a complete shock, I hadn't weighed myself in a looong time and I thought I was around 154 pounds!! I'm 21, about 5'8 and my BMI is 25.5 at the moment which is in the Overweight zone - I need to change this!
My problems are that I'm at university at the moment, and the food I eat in halls is not the healthiest, but also, the portion sizes can be quite big, and I was always brought up to clear my plate - not the best thing to do if you want to lose weight!
There's also a shop in the building where I live, so studying in the evenings is tough, it's often cold and I'll go and buy some chocolate for comfort, and also because it serves as a study break which gets me out of my room!
I also don't own scales - I'm ordering some asap.
I always push exercise to the back of my mind when I'm studying, as that always has the higher priority. I'm learning, though, that being fit and healthy is just as important, not only for my confidence, but also for my mind!

My plan is:
- Exercise! Even if I don't feel like it most days, I know I always feel a lot better afterwards. I know I need rest days as well, but I definitely need to start moving if I want my waistline to shrink!
- Reduce my the size of my portions. I don't need to eat as much as I do. If I slow down when I eat, then hopefully I will be fuller sooner!
- Reduce snacking. Some chocolate once in a while won't hurt, but I need to start eating fruit as a snack instead of fatty foods. Not good. Most of the time I snack out of boredom, which is bad.

This is a new year for a new me! I've been eating healthy this week while I'm still at home from university. It's the exercise I need to work on! Hopefully the next week will be as successful diet wise and I can incorporate movement into my days!

Wish me luck! And happy new year to everyone!
 
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hey sweet tooth!
it's good that you're taking the steps necessary in order to get in shape! I totally understand the exercising vs studying dilemma you're having. I too always put priority on my studies, but i've also realized that a half hour of me wasting time on the computer or watching tv can be spent at the school gym or just by doing one of those quick workout dvds. Also, you can always bring a few notebooks to the gym, lay them out on the treadmill, that way you're not looking at the time passing by, and you can do two things at once haha

good luck! you can do it!:)
 
Hi! Thanks for the support!
I know, it's so true, the amount of time I waste on youtube/facebook when I could be exercising! I'm going to try and start getting up and exercising before breakfast - fairly ambitious plan, so we'll see how that goes!
That's a good idea with the books! Ideal multitasking!
 
Good luck! Losing weight in college may seem impossible to some people but it's really not! It's just about making good choices and taking advantage of the fitness center on campus!!! (If you have one).

Stick with it! You can do it :D
 
Thanks skkroll! I know I can do it if I put my mind to it. I'm going back to uni next week so definitely will be going to aerobics classes/ yoga classes/swimming, and maybe joining the gym, although I might try power walking first, I'm not a huge gym fan and would prefer to powerwalk/jog outside and then do workout dvds in my room.

Had a setback yesterday with the diet. You know when you just NEED chocolate? Well it was one of those days. Urgh. Yesterday I ate:

Breakfast: Porridge
Lunch: Can of vegetable soup, and a banana. Then I had a small chocolate bar.
Then I went to help out my dad at work and it was getting late and I was sooo hungry, and he offered me digestive biscuits so I ate 2 (they were about 70 cal each.....such a waste!!)
Dinner: I was still starving....so I had quite a large portion of spaghetti bolognese with half of a garlic bread.
And then I was busy studying and still craving chocolate (what the hell was wrong with my cravings yesterday?) so I ate a Caramel chocolate bar and a Flake.
Oh I'd eaten some grapes earlier on as well.
Coupled with NO exercise, yesterday was a bit disastrous!

I've been keeping a food diary since New Year, and generally I've been really good at eating fruit instead of snacking on crap, and trying to limit myself. Yesterday was the first real setback. I definitely need to eat little and often, and not wait until it's really late to eat, because then portion control goes straight out of the window!

Today was better. So far I've had
Breakfast: Standard porridge. Probably not the least calorific breakfast, but it's slow releasing energy which I like, because it keeps me fuller longer)
Lunch: Tin of baked beans 2 slices of toast (weight watchers bread) and butter.
Snack: Kiwi fruit.

Then I ate a slab of Galaxy chocolate.....once again, lack of control!

I'm about to have dinner, having some kind of chicken and bacon oven bakes. 211 calories each, with some pasta and maybe sweetcorn.
For snacks this evening I'm only allowing myself grapes as I study!

I have a lot of work to do tonight, so exercise wise I'll be doing sit ups, leg raises etc for about 20 mins, and then plan to do some cardio for about half an hour - whether it's a workout dvd or just high energy dancing around!
I need to get my exercise routine sorted out, but I feel as if I can't do that until I go back to uni, which is in less than a week. So I'll make do with the dancing and sit ups until then!

Oh also yesterday, I bought some white tea, which I started drinking today instead of green tea. It doesn't necessarily help you lose weight, but the benefits are so good. Plus, it fills me up between meals!


Here's hoping tomorrow is better! :D
 
Hi guys!
I've been so busy with studying I've neglected my diary - bad!

Eating's going ok; on Wednesday I ate
Porridge
Lunch: Cottage pie with carrots & peas; followed by a kiwi fruit
Ummmm but then I had 3 chocolate biscuits with my cup of tea. Oops!
I went out for dinner to see a friend and only ate about half of what I ordered (it wasn't that great), so I had rice, a rib, chicken wing and 3 spring rolls, and a large glass of red wine.
Then when I came home I had a low cal chocolate bar and a pint of water

Yesterday was porridge again, for lunch was 2 boiled eggs + WW toast, and butter,
and for dinner chicken and mushroom pasta with cheeeese.
I felt kinda guilty about the cheese - but I've been trying to stay off it because it is sooo fattening, but I figured that since I'm going back to uni next week, and I don't really eat it there...a little bit wouldn't hurt!

It's the exercise which is a prob lately! I keep getting so stressed about uni work that I can't justify time to myself to exercise - which is just silly!
However, I just found out about a new dance/aerobics class starting at my uni so I'm definitely going to give that a go...combined with an aerobics class at least once a week, some yoga, and power walking (I'm going to get myself a pedometer...I'm a sucker for a gadget!), hopefully I should start to see results. I need time for ME, otherwise I'm going to go crazy, and exercise is good for your mind as well, I know all this. I just can't seem to put it into pracitse! Well....all that's going to change.
I'm just about to order a set of scales too, so I can finally see where I am in relation to before Christmas!
I should probably check measurements soon too, to see if I've made any progress in two weeks.

I think, to maximise my day, I need to be getting up earlier. How do you motivate yourself to get up? I have a real problem with this!

Ooooo, I almost forgot, today's food diary:
Breakfast : Porridge (as always!! :p)
Coffee + milk + two sugars.

Going to try and eat well for the rest of the day :)

Have a nice day everybody!

xxxxxx
 
So the rest of todays food log:

Baked beans on WW toast with butter for lunch, plus a cup of coffee with milk and sugar
Dinner: Jacket potato topped with cheese and onion
Snacks: Chocolate
And just about to make myself a white tea

It's the cheese and chocolate which is soo tempting!
 
The thing with cravings is that most of the time you wont need to eat a whole bar to satisfy it. Do an experiment and next time you're craving chocolate just have 1/4 of a bar instead of a whole bar and wait 15 mins. You'll probably find that the craving has gone.

Also, maybe switch to dark chocolate? Less bad for you :)
And switch to low-fat cheese, if you're not using it already? Or, if you mix cheese in with pasta, use a little philidelphia cheese spread instead, cause that's really yummy!

I'm at Uni as well and it's so easy to eat crap, but we must stay strong!

Hope you're good!

Hana x
 
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