Jamie's Healthy BMI Countdown

T

TrkrGrl83

New member
Okay - I already posted in the newbie forum this morning, so here is the quick rundown on me.

I'm 24 - 5' 6" and currently 170.4 lbs (my BMI makes me officially "overweight.")

I know I am an emotional eater and yo-yo dieter. I've lost and regained the same weight over and over again.

My goal is to reach the healthy weight range for my height by July 1, 2008. That range, for a 5' 6" woman is something like 124 - 154.9 lbs. So, I'll make that goal 150 lbs. (My "fantasy" weight is 140 - I was 142 when I met my husband and I was in 11th grade!)

I started my current weight loss effort on January 7, 2008 at 186.6 lbs (obese), and through calorie counting, some Slim-Fast, and exercising, am now down to my current weight.

The lowest I've been to date is 169.2, and in the past two weeks, I seem to have hit a plateau. I just bounce around from 169.something to 172.something.

This diary is for my own motivation and hopefully, some outside support. As a self-confessed yo-yo dietier, I know that in the past, the first lengthy plateau is when I'd give up, start eating whatever I wanted again, and regain all that I lost.

Not gonna happen this time!



Wednesday 2/20/08 (Day 1) Menu/Exercise Plan:

Breakfast
2 cups fresh strawberries/kiwi with Splenda
2 cups skim milk
12 oz Diet Mt Dew
16.9 oz Water

Lunch
3 oz reduced sodium turkey lunch meat
4 oz salad mix (lettuce, carrots, cabbage)
3 oz cucumber slices
2 tbsp light Greek vinaigrette dressing
12 oz Diet Mt Dew
64 oz Crystal Light lemonade

Dinner
1 Portion Chicken Cordon Bleu
3.5 Oz baked potato with ICBINB spray
5 Oz steamed cauliflower
64 Oz Crystal Light lemonade
Women's multivitamin

Workout
60 Min Walking @ 3.5 MPH
16.9 Oz Water
 
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welcome to your diary... ncie to have you here...

How many calories are you aiming for in a day - because what you've eaten seems quite low...

enjoy your stay and do read around the forum - there's lots of great info to be had in the stickied threads - and ask questions if you have them..
 
:waving: Welcome! :iagree: with Mal; be aware of how many calories you are taking in and how many you actually need in order to be knocking your weight down. If you don't get enough, it just won't come off.

Congratulations on your loss to date!

Best wishes on your journey
ABBA
 
Day Two!

Good morning all!

Day two of my committed, "I'm gonna do this" journal begins!

First off - to Maleficent & ABBAgirl: time for a confession - I've only been eating a max of 1000 calories, and I KNOW I should be eating more. I use the home version of FITDAY and count everything I eat. I started so low because I was so incredibly disgusted with my weight and none of the clothes I owned fit. Now, I've reached a point where I'm still unhappy, but am content enough with my current weight to realize I need to make a change and start eating a little more BUT I'm terrified of the weight gain that will probably come with eating more. I know what I am doing is wrong, but I guess I don't know what move to make next...HELP...
 
Get your butt into the nutrition forum and read the stickied threads...

the only nutrition guideline will have a ton of good info -it's really not as complicated as the world would like you to believe..

Once you figure out your approximately number of caloriesyou need for the day - gradually iincrease them til youget to that point... 1000 calories a day will hurt your efforts long term... get them up to a reasonable quantity but do it over a few weeks...
 
Thank you Maleficent. I'm never offended by a good butt kicking when I need one. I was aware that what I was doing was harmful - it's just that the quick losses can get a little addictive. I've known the whole time it wasn't right and that I needed to make a change.

It does makes sense to increase my calories gradually rather than all at once. And maybe an increase is what I need to bust through my plateau.

Will do some reading on the nutrition thread and find out some more info...

Will also check FITDAY for its recommended calories per day for me.

Thanks again
 
if you are indeed on a plateau - the suggested advice around here - is to eat at mainteance for a while - then gradually cut back... you might gain a pound or two but your long term results will benefit...
 
Brr....it's freezing in PA today! The temp this morning when I got up was 2.9! Again, I say brrrr....

However, it is absolutely B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L outside! Bright and sunny with pretty sparkling snow! It all just puts me in a fantastic mood today.

Last night I ate what I planned for dinner; however, my workout did not go as planned. I wanted to walk for 30 mins at 3.5 MPH, with a 5 min warm-up and cool down at 3.0 MPH, BUT my legs were pretty crampy, so I just walked at 3.0 MPH for 60 mins instead - a pretty good substitution in my book.

As of this morning, my weight was 169.4. 0.2 lbs above my lowest weight to date, although, as of the last two weeks, I've just been bouncing all around from 169.2 up to 172.4.

Based on the advice of Maleficent and ABBAgirl, I am going to find out more how much I really should be eating and get on a healthier track than I am currently on.

Will post today's menu and exercise plan directly...
 
Thursday 2/21/08 (Day 2) Menu/Exercise Plan:

Breakfast
2 cups fresh strawberries & kiwi with Splenda
2 cups skim milk
12 oz Diet Mt Dew
16.9 oz Water

Lunch
4 oz lettuce mix (lettuce, carrots, cabbage)
3 oz cucumber slices
2 tbsp light sesame dressing
4 oz turkey breast
12 oz Diet Mt Dew
33.8 oz water

Dinner (Planned)
5 oz baked, breaded, boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes
1/4 cup canned chicken gravy
3 oz steamed fresh sugar snap peas
3 oz steamed fresh carrots
64 oz Crystal Light lemonade
Women's multivitamin

In total, my food for today comes out to 1137 calories. Low, yes, I know, and I've been told. I am working my way back up to higher calories. If you read above, since Jan 7th, I've had 1000 calories per day max...so yes, it's low, but it's a step up in the right direction.

Exercise (Planned)
Treadmill - walk for 40 mins at 3.0 MPH
16.9 oz water
 
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Testing my new ticker....

Thought I could get some use out of this useless post:

Today has been such an awesome day - I think because of this journal and the fact that I actually had two people who commented - nice to know somebody cares!

I had been feeling pretty down lately...starting to get frustrated and feeling the at old urge to throw in the towel...so feeling motivated and energized is a welcomed change.

Even though I'd been feeling down, my emotional eating has been pretty controlled lately....which is quite an accomplishment for me. Lately I've been turning to exercise...and as my earlier posts will tell, not eating to keep my emotions in check. How did that switch happen? I used to eat for comfort - now I find comfort in how little I can eat. Sometimes I feel like I have some serious mental issues when it comes to food.

I often say to my husband that rather than having the old "angel on one shoulder and devil on the other," I have a fat girl and a skinny girl battling it out for mind control. Thankfully, the skinny girl has been winning, but the fat girl still pokes her head up now and then and reminds me she's still there. Like when I'm watching TV at night and it seems like every other freaking commercial is some form of food advertising...this gets fat girl all hot and bothered...and my brain thinking about nighttime snacks.

By now, anyone reading this probably thinks I'm nuts, but I have actually stood in a grocery store before while fatty and the skinny girl fight it out inside my head over whether or not I should "splurge" and get something unhealthy. I liken this argument taking place in my head to the scene in the movie "Bringing Down the House" where Queen Latifa's character kicks the skinny woman's butt...although my skinny girl wins, and I leave empty-handed. (No disrespect to the Queen by the way - she's beautiful and I LOVE that movie!)

Oh well, at least I can laugh at myself and realize that I do, indeed, have mental problems....or at least a vivid imagination!
 
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Day 3

So...today totally sucks. The weather sucks (it snowed last night and now there's freezing rain)...my mood sucks (I could cry at the drop of a hat)...I feel like I look like crap (huge bags under my eyes, bad hair, bad skin, tried on half the clothes I own - none looked right), but suprisingly enough, I don't feel like I'm having a "fat day." My size 10 jeans even went on without aerobics and jumping jacks required just to get in them.

TOM started yesterday (if you didn't figure that out already)...and along with it comes those good old super fantastic raging hormones...that usually make me feel like the ugliest and fattest person alive! Great fun...

Last night...my dinner did not go as planned. Here's what I really ate:

5 oz baked, breaded, boneless, skinless, chicken breast
4 oz baked potato
1 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp reduced fat sour cream
2 oz steamed fresh sugar snap peas w/ICBINB spray
3 oz steamed fresh carrots w/ICBINB spray
64 oz Crystal Light lemonade
16 oz diet iced tea
women's multivitamin
1 small piece of chocolate

Also, since TOM arrived, I did not exercise...

So in summary, my total calories for yesterday were between 1200 - 1250, but I can't remember the exact number (1220 or 1230 something). That number is a marked improvement on my past month and a half at 1000 cals per day.

Will post my plan for today asap...
 
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Dinner last night looked darned good... What wasn't planned about it?

Nice to be able to get the jeans on without having it qualify as an olympic event :) nicely done :)
 
What I meant by it not going as planned was that it wasn't what I posted earlier as my plan for dinner. I had planned on mashed potatoes and gravy instead of baked potatoes. DH thought he'd suprise me by being helpful and putting them in the oven for me so they were almost done when I got home from work. (He's a sweetie!) It was all still healthy...it just wasn't what I had planned and posted for him and I to eat for dinner that evening.

Also, I kept hearing your advice and ABBA's in the back of my mind to eat more...so that's where the snap decision to use margarine instead of my usual no calorie ICBINB spray came from. I don't really have the appetite to actually eat much more...so I thought adding a little healthy fat here and there will be a good way to up my calories.
 
Good job...

Though be careful with some margarines... (I have a person bias against them and the sprays -most of them contain far too many chemicals) margarines tend to have just as many satururated fats as butter does and often contain trans fats (which are the ones you really want to avoid)

You might want to consider olive oil - it's a bit more calories but it's coming from good healthy fats and the flavor is insanely good... :)
 
Thanks again for the input - I often wonder what the heck is in that butter spray since it has no nutritional content whatsoever....that is another one of those things that little voice in my head keeps telling me I probably should quit using.

As far as the margarine, it was I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread which is supposed to have like half the saturated fat of butter (and I think maybe no trans fats - I'll have to look when I go home for lunch).

I do really like extra virgin olive oil too...I just don't think it would taste very good on a baked potato!
 
2/22 Meal/Exercise Plan:

Breakfast
2 c fresh strawberries & kiwi w/Splenda
1 chocolate Slim Fast shake
12 oz diet Mt. Dew
16.9 oz water

Lunch (Planned)
4 oz lettuce mix
3 oz cucumber
2 tbsp light Greek vinaigrette
4 oz turkey breast
12 oz diet Mt. Dew
33.8 oz water

Dinner - Will plan when I go home for lunch - will update after 1 PM

Okay - back from lunch - here's my dinner plan:

5 oz baked, breaded, boneless, skinless chicken breast
8 small chicken & vegetable potstickers with sauce
64 oz Crystal Light lemonade
1 small piece of chocolate

Total calories for the day come out to 1240 something

Exercise
Walk on treadmill 40 mins @ 3.0 MPH
 
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You'd be surprised about olive oil on a potato. A little oil actually does taste just as good as some butter or margarine if it's well mixed in. One way I have of doing that is making a garden baked potato, where I have some vegetables (corn, green beans, onion, whatever) sauteed with a little olive oil and then sort of mashed up with the baked potato flesh before shoving it all back in the skin. It's ridiculously tasty.
 
I must say, that "garden baked potato" idea sounds yummy...although I'm thinking of throwing a little fresh grated parmesan in there too! I will have to try that this weekend.
 
On a fun, goal related note, DH and I were just invited to a wedding on June 28th yesterday. I've been looking forward to this particular wedding forever! It's one of my favorite cousins and he and his awesome fiancee are finally taking the plunge!

This will help keep my butt motivated and on track since it will be totally AWESOME to show up at their wedding skinnier than I've been since college (even skinnier than my wedding day!)!! And the best thing of all, is my goal is so totally do-able!

Somehow, someway, my bad day has turned around and I'm feeling chipper and excited again. Please don't think I'm psycho...just hormonal...

Well, I think it's about time to sign out for this week. I can't get decent Internet access at home, so I don't have it (I live in the middle of nowhere!). So, wish me luck...patience...and sanity for the weekend to come! I'll be back on Monday with a full report!
 
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