Hopefully Not Hopeless

LOL thanks qjay. Yeah I've been trying to do he whole not eating out thing, and lets do something sort of active but it is really difficult in a small town. I wish I was back in manhattan, cause at least theres a ton of stuff to do that doesn't require food or alcohol. I did the mall thing, and shopping thing a lot. And I've been doing it a lot more. My cousin is trying to lose weight so I tell her we should walk around the mall or we go to the movies a lot. I've seen about 5 movies in the past two weeks. But everything tends to get expensive, including eating out.

I don't really like shopping that much except for old navy and I know as soon as I go in there I'm going to buy something even if I don't mean to. But luckily I checked my weight again today and I didn't gain anything which is good. I've been trying to eat a lot of salad whenever I get a meal when I go out, so that I fill up more before I eat the bad stuff. My mother is deathly afraid of dogs for some reason but I've been trying to convince them to let me have one for 5 months now. I'm hoping to ask around my birthday again and see. I keep telling her yes there's responsibility but there's benefits. I think a dog will give me an excuse to be more active and would be a great companion for support.
 
Last edited:
too much cheating

So yesterday was ok. Yes I didn't have the healthiest lunch but I worked out hard. I did interval training again only got up to 30 minutes and then did the elliptical for 20. I burned 500 calories. But I've been cheating a lot more lately and I'm not really even sure why. I've eaten ice cream sundaes a lot more lately and white bread. Its like my body is suddenly saying "GIVE ME SUGAR NOW!!!!" So yesterday I was doing not so great but not too too bad and then at 10pm my brother brings home two big boxes of soft cookies chocolate chip and sugar. I ate three sugar cookies. They were so good and I hadn't had cookies in like I don't even know 6 months maybe? And they're sitting downstairs right now and I'm thinking about them. I told my brother i don't like him lol. But with all this cheating I have been hitting the gym hard. Like before if I did 400 calories I was like ok whatever thats fine. But now I make it a point to hit 500 cause I feel so guilty about everything.

Its weird like when I eat white bread, or ice cream or a cookie its like I can actually imagine my tastebuds screaming with joy. Thats how good it feels. I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm falling back into my old habits. Not completely but I have been drinking soda more than usual lately. I went cold turkey for two and half months with the soda and then soon after I was fine, having it rarely. But I've been having it a lot lately. I think I might go cold turkey again for two weeks. Or allow it once a week. This week no more soda I've decided.

So far today I've had cereal, soy milk, and water. I'll be going to the gym in 20 minutes. Lifting weights and cardio today. Then I think I'll be having vegetarian chili, sad thing is I really want some white bread with my veg. chili. I'll see if I can resist today. I really want to get to 230lbs by the end of this month. Thats my mini-goal. I hope I can get there. Maybe I should start calorie counting or something.
 
Too much denial! Just factor in a sweet snack, get yourself used to it, whatever you have to do, but for godsakes quit talking about COOKIES! AAAAH! Okay, that's better, you can talk about cookies again. :p
When I find myself obsessing about a particular food, I just decide to have some of it the next day. I am able to put off the craving while I am having it, and can then account for it the next day as part of my daily intake; and I DO watch those servings. Luckily for me, I often don't WANT it the next day, so I will either buy a small, incredibly expensive preportioned single serving of said treat, then toss it in the freezer until late that night when the craving hits again. Well, even luckier, I don't often crave candy/ice cream; but sadly I DO crave large portions of food that is REALLY bad for me... Like meat, cheese, gravy, etc.

At least I am finding a system that works! I hope some of these ideas might help you. Oh! When I do wind up buying a large bag, like chips or cookies, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS package it up into snack size portions. Just give yourself single or double portions of whatever it is (especially chips, because 1 oz is NOT a serving!) and use a marker to write the calories on the bag.

It's not a perfect solution, but it's probably better than the one you're using now :p
 
Hahaha..im sorry I was tired last night when I checked on you and didnt read your before post abt your weight and eatign out and such...you said you have been stepping it up, you can also try throwing somethign different into your routine...that usually works for me...I do a number of differnet things...our bodies get use to the same old, so to speak...I had that prob for awhile till I really stepped up my exercise routine...

As far as the give me sugar thing, LOL....that habit is so had to break but also so easy to get back into eating...I stopped eating white bread when I heard ti refered to as a junk food...Id prefer to eat junk food, LOL...I try hard to stay away from alot of sweets and such because once I start I cant usually stop or allow myself to think it is ok to continue to eat and then I sabotage myself...it is all abt learning your poison...

Hope things are going better for you...have a good day

 
Thanks guys for your feedback!

I did alright yesterday, until I went out to eat again! Anyway, I burned about 600 calories in the gym with cardio and weights yesterday. And I didn't have white bread with my vegetarian chili! And I didn't have sugar cookies either.

But then I went out to dinner and I totally had carbs, carbs, carbs. See I knew I was going to go out to eat but I thought I was gonna go to an indian restaurant and I knew exactly what I was going to eat there and I knew what carbs I was going to have there, some basmati rice and a piece of naan. Thats why I didn't have any bread with lunch. BUT then my friend flipped it around and said she couldn't handle spicy food today(as in yesterday) and so we went to Olive Garden. And here's the thing I love a certain pasta dish at Olive Garden, and they have my favorite dessert ever so I had lemon cream cake.

See my lifestyle change(not diet) was working well for quite some time. I was eating healthy and I would still go out with my friends but it wasn't as often as it has been the last two weeks and I would get things I really really wanted but I would limit myself. Like if I wanted a sandwich I would eat half the sandwich and get rid of the rest. If I wanted cheesecake I would eat a few bites or half and then be done. It was my way of not restriciting myself from anything but treating those things like treats.

I finally went grocery shopping haha! But I don't eat meat on thursdays which is always hard for me. I always eat the worst on thursday cause I never know what to eat if I can't eat chicken. But I One-a-day weight smart vitamins. I'm not good at keeping up with the veggies or fruits. I'm also broke so there won't be much going out I hope.

LOL you know what I realized this diary makes me sound like I should be gaining weight like crazy. Trust me I'm much better than it must seem. In fact I lost another pound. But I never count weight loss until I've lost 5 pounds. Even my trainer was like are you losing weight again? And I was just like "I don't know but I haven't been eating so great lately."

Oh and Qjay thanks for the portion size comment. Actually I eat every 3 to 4 hours. And I don't really eat snacky type foods, so I don't really have to measure out anything. If I'm eating a sweet its cause I'm straight up cheating lol. But my snacks are usually a Kashi bar or almonds. I do measure out my almonds, I only have 5. Oh but you know what I may do that, actually I bought a bag of gummi bears. Cause I was like obviously I like sweet stuff and I haven't been restricitng it from my diet completely but for some reason I've been craving it a lot recently, so I'll put those into baggies. Normally I just look at the serving size and count. I've gotten pretty good at telling myself to stop but i'll divide those up so thats a good idea. I got them cause they had the least sugar and the least calories for the amount I could have and the least carbs. LOL I really read those labels huh! Even if it is candy :p I'm lucky with chips though cause I never really liked potato chips so I never have to worry about craving them.

Oh you know what I'm really pissed about though! I tried to buy Special K vanilla almond yesterday and it wasn't there and apparently they haven't gotten it in. If its discontinued I'll be soooooo mad! Cause sometimes when i was really craving a sweet snack that cereal really hit the spot. But I love it, now they have this chocolatey delight or whatever. WTF! Why would I want to eat chocolate for breakfast? I was irrationally angry it was kind of ridiculous.

Anyway, I gotta hit the gym today. Drink more water. And hopefully see how my eating goes. Not too bad I hope. :/
 
With the snack stuff, get the smallest plastic bags you can find, I have some little ones that are about 1/3 the size of a sandwich bag, made just for snacks like that. Ziplock seals, small bags, good stuff :D

I'm glad you have a good handle on things, but I don't think I would even BOTHER to eat 5 almonds! lol, I'd have to go get more; I love those things.
 
Speeding up my metabolism?

So during this whole weightloss process there are obviously certain things I needed to do for my body. First I started with coming home from college. I was also put on Phentermine and I dropped 11 pounds. I think mainly cause I was eating food cooked at home. Then I started with exercise and dropped about another 7 pounds. I didn't really change my diet at all at that point. Then I slowly started changing things in my diet. Such as no more white bread, no more soda, smaller portion sizes, more vegetables, less sugar and sodium, more protein, and finally trying to eat every 3 to 4 hours.

I was the type of person that was never hungry, until I was ready to eat a meal. So I would go 5 to 6 hours not feeling hungry at all and then I would eat a huge meal full of carbs that were bad for me. So learning to eat every 3 to 4 hours was really really tough for me. However, its suppose to speed up your metabolism right?

So things I've done to speed up my metabolism:
1. Eat Breakfast
2. Eat every 3 to 4 hours
3. Drink Green Tea
4. Exercise both cardio and weights

Now here's the problem, I went from never being hungry to always being hungry. When I'm not eating I'm thinking about eating. I'm counting down three hours until the next time I can eat. Its sort of ridiculous.

Yesterday was ok, my meals were fine but I did a lot of picking and snacking. I burned 610 cals at the gym. I know eventually as my weight goes down I'll only be able to burn less and less calories.

For Breakfast: Grapenuts (gross! but filling) with soymilk ->300 cals

Lunch: Vegetarian chili (beans, soy granules, chili seasoning, kidney beans, red pepper, and onion) with a little shredded mexican cheese and six harvest wheat bite size crackers --> I think this whole meal was 500 cals, but I always round up.

Snack: South Beach protein bar(first time I tried one not bad) 210 cals

Dinner: Freschetta Individual size Five Cheese Brick oven pizza --THE MOST DELICIOUS THING EVER! I am so happy I finally found a frozen pizza that doesn't taste like complete crap and isn't that bad for you!! I read all the labels and this pizza was by far the perfect size and way better tasting than that lean cuisine crap! Now I can have pizza once in a while and not feel guilty yay!! They say the serving size is 1/2 a pizza but I mean come on if they're indiviual size why would you only eat half of it that's lame. Anyway calories for this 420.

Snack: Individual size popcorn --> 110 cals

I also tried that Special K protein water --> 50 cals
I bought fruit juice water from tropicana -->20 cals

I'm allowed 2000 cals a day to lose weight. So with the meals I actually planned I ate about 1610 cals but then if I add in all the picking I did yesterday I probably ate 2000 cals. Good thing I worked hard yesterday and burned 610 cals right? lol

Well today is a new day unfortunately it's Friday and I know that means going out. So I'll probably eat less during the day today just incase I eat poorly tonight or drink alcohol.
 
What is it about drinking that always makes me get the munchies? I know about the "need to slow absorption of the alcohol by mixing it with a bunch of food" aspect of it all, but it seems like most folks have a snack and are good with it. For me, it involves being hungry until I have stuffed myself with carbs or deep fried foods.
Going out is fun, but can be hard on your food intake. If you go dancing, remember to count it as exercise :p
 
1/8/07

So the weekend was fun. Of course I ate poorly cause I went out but good news is I didn't gain ay weight! Today i was measured and weighed again at my gym. Since October I lost 3% body fat. So I think since I started my weight loss journey I've lost about 5% body fat. And since October, I've lost 17 lbs. It was a good day. I burned 600 calories at the gym. I also lost more inches but my thighs and biceps have apparently gotten bigger which is frustrating cause I definitely have a ton of fat on my inner thighs and under my arms like where a tricep is suppose to be.

The bad news, of the pounds I've lost, I lost 5 lbs of lean mass. This is good on one level since my lean mass is so high for someone my height. The bad thing is that I'm only going to be able to eat even less now cause it means my body isn't burning as many calories. It also probably means I'm not eating enough protein which I already know I'm not. I think I'm going to make my ultimate goal 200lbs. And try not to lose anymore lean mass. That would put me at 20-22% body fat which is really good and still healthy. Its weird that I can't be under 195 at 5'8" right? I still don't understand why my body composition is so strange compared to the average woman. But you know what I'm glad about is that I'm doing this my way and the right way. I'm eating healthier and exercisizing. But I still have fun with my friends on the weekends. I don't deprive myself of anything and I'm glad I didn't go to extremes to lose the weight. However, I do think I'm going to have to work a little harder now and less cheating because to reach my ultimate goal I need to lose 35 more pounds and I think they are going to be much harder to lose than the first 35 pounds I lost.

I recently bought a couple south beach diet frozen meals. They're really good. Has anyone ever done the south beach diet? I'm thinking about trying it cause I heard you lose weight from your stomach first? Is that true?
 
Part of the lean mass lost is going to be because you ARE losing weight, and your natural daily activities will provide you with less "free" exercise. If you get less winded going up stairs, it is both because you are in better shape AND because you are carrying less poundage up with you.

Don't be afraid of losing a little muscle, just remember not to focus on it; you want to lose fat first, but if some muscle comes off with it, should you really be worried?
 
Working vs. Working Out

So recently I got this part time job, very part time. It's only 4 hours but i leave about an hour and half early to get there just incase I hit traffic or I can't find a free parking spot right away. But I seriously don't know how people work and work out. The two days I went to work i didn't go to the gym. But when I was at work on Tuesday I walked around for about an hour and a half. Which is more than I would walk at the gym. But I Don't know if I'm burning as many calories or not cause I'm not sweating. Does that make sense? At the gym, I sweat like crazy. I push myself. I can't walk like that to or from work or even at work because A) I would smell really bad and B) I have to wear painfully uncomfortable shoes. I've always been a sneakers kind of person. So business casual really really sucks for me. I think its one of the things that should be eliminated. People are always like yeah my heels are really comfortable or my boots blah blah. I'm sorry but that is not comfort. I don't even wear heels, i wear flats to work and still I come home and my toes are bleeding from having to walk too much in them. Sneakers are waaaaay better. On Thursday I did about 30 to 40 minutes of walking and a lot of heavy lifting of boxes full of books. But still I get worried what if I'm not burning as many calories as I would be at the gym. Both days I got home after the gym closed. My diet hasn't been great this week but not too too bad either. Its steady but could be better. I've also been eating this new South Beach Diet Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein bars. They're really good and great for that snack I need to eat. I don't get a break at work but I have to eat something at some point so I bring those.

Oh I also found out I'm allowed to eat every 2 hours now cause of my metabolism being increased. I was eating every 3 to 4. I still think I'm going to keep at every 3 to 4 until I really feel like I'm so hungry I need to eat every 2 hours.

So I've been to the gym Monday and Wednesday. Working Tuesday and Thursday. And I'm definitely going to the gym today too. Its weird even though I didn't go to the gym as much as usual this week my body still feels sore and like its been working hard. But that go also be from walking in those damn shoes and having to keep my legs flexed the entire time i'm walking in them ugh! Anyway I'm suppose to meet my friens for lunch but I think I'm going to eat here first and then just eat a salad when I'm with them. I can't afford to eat more junky food today. Plus its friday and that might mean going out so I Don't want to eat outside food twice.

I also haven't drank any water today which I really need to do.
 
You made that all sound so confusing!! LOL Both are workouts as far as I'm concerned. Going to the gym is probably more intense. You are doing fine just watch what you eat!! :)
 
Your new job is using muscles which you are not accustomed to using, consider it to be endurance training or toning, while the gym is more like cardio or muscle building. It will help you understand the two different types of effort and soreness.
 
Working and working out are hard...I hav a physical job and then I work out alot, I really need to push myself...but it is the only way I can loose weight!!! I agree with what Mechelle said above...have a good weekend!!!
 
Aahhhhh!

I just ate like 11 crab rangoons! Shit!! I've cheated before but this is the first time I've binged in like 8 months. I think I must of ate 3000 calories today!! Bah!
 
Looks tasty, if it wasn't crab, lol


Well, nothing for it but to get back on your plan, right? :p
RIGHT?!
 
I just ate like 11 crab rangoons! Shit!! I've cheated before but this is the first time I've binged in like 8 months. I think I must of ate 3000 calories today!! Bah!

Dont beat yourself up, tomorrow nad hte next day and then next day are all new ones...take this remeber how you felt/ feel and use theat for next time around...
 
Coming Back

I haven't been around in a while. I somehow lost 2 pounds last week. I don't know how really because I haven't been eating great at all. And this week was probably the worst. I went to NY last weekend where I drank a lot of alcohol. More than I had in a long time. And my eating wasn't the greatest but I didn't overdo it with my food. If anything I probably went over my calories with alcohol. And this week I ate fast food from checkers for the first time in i don't even know how long. I really wanted a Spicy Chicken sandwich. It was really good but at the same time I was like wow I can only do this every once in a while for sure because then I don't get to eat as much during the day at all. I'm hungry about every two hours now since I increased my metabolism. I still try to eat every 3 to 4 though so that I'm able to keep my calories in check.

I think I'm going to have to start counting or something to see more of a weight loss. Like counting my calories as well as counting how much I burn at the gym. I'm suppose to eat 2100 calories a day, no more, and no less to prevent my body from storing food. I'm not losing a pound a week but thats what I'm averaging out to. But I want to lose more, and I want to lose it faster. After reading more on this site I'm seeing people who have lost the same amount of weight as me but in half the time. I've been stuck int he 230's forever! I can't seem to get into the 220's I'm getting closer but two pounds could come back just like that so its still very frustrating. Well I'll keep pushing, hopefully I can lose another pound this week.
 
Back
Top