jessd's diary!!

jessd

New member
Hey!!

Basically I used to be pretty happy with my shape and figure, I lost a bit of weight at the start of last year and it made me feel awesome! But last october I started uni, my course is very stressful and alot of work... and comfort eating has always been a weakness with me. This along with the usual excessive student drinking has resulted in me gaining a fair amount of weight, and I am no longer happy with what I look like.

I do a fair amount of sport, I always have done- basically my diet is the main issue, I tend to binge eat when I'm unhappy even though I know it will only make it worse :(

I really want to be back down to a size ten by the summer. I also really want to get fitter and better at my chosen sports! Plus I want to do this to make my boyfriend proud of how I look, I know he is already proud of me but even so. I want to basically look nice for the holidays!

Current weight: 66.6 kg or 147 lb
Goal weight: 59 kg or 130 lb, so a 17lb loss
Time Scale: I want to meet this goal by June 18th, ideally. That's 16 weeks, just over 1lb per week. But I wont get too het up if I miss this target, so long as I make some progress!
Height: 5 foot 7

These goals are provisional for now, as I will just have to see how I feel as (hopefully!) the weight comes off and judge how much I want to lose by that.

I'll be weighing in once a week, every thursday morning...

Thanks in advance for the support! :)
 
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Welcome to the forum!

You could try to keep a food diary where you record EVERYTHING you eat. That way you'll see where you could cut back on junk food etc. and you probably want to keep the food diary looking healthy so you don't want to have to write up a lot of nasty things in it.

Good luck with your weight loss! :seeya:
 
Thanks TikTak, I think I will keep a food diary here alongside a record of any exercise I do each day.

Day 1

Weigh in #1: 66.6kg/147lb

Today I already know is NOT going to be particularly healthy. I am going to a formal dinner tonight which I have been looking forward to for quite a while; there will be lots of food, and lots of alcohol. I plan to really enjoy tonight before starting completely fresh tomorrow! So the diet part of today is a bit of a write off, but I've already accepted that.

Exercise:
Resistance band exercises (upper body)
15 min cycle ride to lectures + back (I do this every day, so I'll probably just stop noting it down)

Diet:
Meh. (Eating healthily, starting from tomorrow!)
 
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Well I had an awesome time last night. Got a tad drunk and probably consumed way too many calories, but it's OK, I set out to have fun and now I can get down to business and get my body back to the way I want it to be!

Day 2

By the way, the calories I am noting down are approximates. I can't be bothered to note every calorie, I'll just be writing down these estimates to make sure I am roughly on track. I think I'm aiming to eat 1600 max each day, and preferably 1300-1500.

Diet:
Large bowl of muesli + semi skimmed milk 500 cal (still got the munchies after last night)
Heinz vegetable soup 200 cal
Porridge made with semi skimmed milk and chopped apple 500 cal??

Exercise:
Circuit training (squat jumps, burpees, sit ups, push ups and a few other exercises I can't remember/don't know the name of...)
 
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Thanks sunflower :)
Got a very busy day ahead of me. Saturdays are alway hectic!! I might not be back online until monday, if so I'll update the diary again then :)

Edit: pretty awful day diet wise. My friend came down, and we ate junk :(

Day 3

Diet:
Porridge made with semi-skimmed milk and one chopped apple 550
Chicken salad sandwich 400
Half pizza and cookies 900

Exercise:
2.5 mile walk into town for lectures
 
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Day 4
Time to get on track, I think.

Diet
Porridge 400
Chicken Salad and Ryvita crackers 300
Slice of roast chicken, couple of roast potatoes and a pile of broccoli ???

Exercise
none :( rowing was cancelled.
 
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Day 5

Diet
Porridge 400
Two apples and a tracker bar :/ 350
Breaded cod and salad, and an apple 400

Exercise
Resistance band exercises (upper body)
 
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Hey there!!

It's great that you're already participating in sports!! You said you do rowing? that sounds like a blast!!!

you're doing a great job! Recording everything you eat and drink is important! I would even recommend spending the extra time to count the calories. I know when i first started I just said, "oh, I'll eat healthier!" ...then I started counting the calories and I was floored at how much I was consuming!!! And that really gave me a shock! It's amazing how many calories you can consume in foods you think are healthy!!

Do you know what your BMR is? your BMR is basically the calories you burn during the day without exerting yourself :) I would find out your BMR, start counting your calories, and then compare the two! If your daily calorie intake is more than your BMR, then if you're not burning enough calories through exercise, you'll gain weight!

I also find if rewarding and encouraging! if i go a day where I'm under my BMR, AND i burn a bunch at the gym- I get psyched! I KNOW i'll see results in a few days when i step on the scale!!

As for a dinner out- we all need to treat ourselves! When you work hard to lose the weight, you need to reward yourself! Plus, you need to have fun! :)

You're doing a great job! Keep it up!! It's nice watching people through their progress :)
 
Good idea Tik, I just calculated my BMR, it's about 1470 calories. So hopefully with the amount that I plan to exercise and eat, I should be able to lose 1lb per week. :)

Is it true that you need a deficit of roughly 3500 cal to lose 1lb?
 
oh jeepers! I don't really know...it is my understanding that women do not want to go below 1200 calories- because that's unhealthy...however, I've also read that to lost weight, about a -500 calories deficit from your diet is good.

Since your BMR is quite low to begin with (mine is around 1800), I would stick to maintaining a 1200 calories diet (nothing lower than that)! Also, because you're exercising, you're going to be burning more calories!

Another important thing to make sure you're doing is getting enough in you for your work outs! You don't want to be working out or exercising on nothing!! And it's also important to have protein after your work out!!

You seem quite active- so just make sure you're getting enough energy in you for when you exercise!! :)

oh, and lots of water!

I hope that helps- I get confused with the calories intake stuff! But there's lots of people around here that know a lot! And they will be able to help you :)
 
Day 6
Someone gave me the chocolate as a cheering up present. Kind of ironic, as it is the last thing I need to cheer me up- I just want to lose a bit of weight and I'll be much happier! But I ate it anyway, it felt rude not to :/

Diet
2 bowls of cornflakes :/ 650
Breaded cod, salad and an apple 400
Small piece of chocolate 50
Salmon, beans and carrots 500


Exercise

Short HIIT session (running)- I did 6x30 second sprints with 90 second rests, plus a few minutes warm up/cool down. It was pretty horrible and I couldn't keep up my last few sprints for 30 seconds. I'm really annoyed at myself for letting my fitness levels drop so dramatically. I will probably start doing HIIT in the pool instead, I much prefer swimming to running and it goes easier on your body in general. I always have aching legs because of all the cycling I do every day, so going running is not always the best idea as it just makes my muscles even more worn down, and I have to be able to make it to lectures in the morning!
 
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Great workout yesterday! Keep it up!! You're going fantastic!

And isn't it funny- my friends/family always cook me things when I'm feeling down! And it I'm feeling down about my weight- it's no different!

"Here, have this giant chocolate cake, it'll make you feel better!" And it's like, 'no it won't!! it'll make me fatter!!!"

hehehehehe

Happy Tuesday!
 
Hello there! Welcome to the forum! I'm also 5'7" with a goal of around 130 (although my ticker says 135 still). Started out a bit heavier, though. Watching the diet is so important, I lost a decent amount fairly quickly by tracking my food really carefully for just a little while. Then you learn your weaknesses. My trick was finding healthier substitutes for those things I had trouble giving up.

Good luck!!
 
Thanks laura, looks like your weight loss is going great!
Im going to make today a good one, i want results when i weigh in tomorrow!

Day 7

Diet
Brown bagel 350
Prawn and black rice salad 200
Apple 50
2x Go Ahead Yogurt Breaks 150
Carrot and coriander soup 300
Total: 1050

Exercise

Rowing
1 hr football training
Resistance bands (upper body)
 
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Day 8
Well I'm fairly pleased with my first weigh in after starting this project, a loss of 3.5lbs. Sounds like alot, but I have a feeling much of that will be due to losing some of the water I will have been retaining, so probably only a proportion of that is actually body fat loss. I have been drinking alot more water and eating much less salt than I normally do. Anyway, I won't complain- I feel much less bloated than a week ago which is nice.

I should probably start eating more veggies. Feel like I kinda overdosed on fruit today, apples are fairly sugary so I shouldn't make a habit of eating too many each day. Having said that, eating 3 apples is a hell of a lot better than eating 3 mars bars, which is the kind of thing I was doing before I started this :(

Weigh in #2: 65.1kg/143.5lb (-3.5lb)

Diet
Porridge 400
Pasta salad, 2 apples 500
Chicken breast slices 180
Apple and banana 200
Total: 1280

Exercise
HIIT swimming- 7x30 second "sprints", with 60-90 second rest periods, plus a couple of minutes of warm up and cool down
 
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Day 9
I have a rowing race today so a large breakfast is in order :D I need that energy! I'll balance that with a smallish lunch and tea tonight.

Diet

1 pint skimmed milk 180
Cornflakes and All Bran 540
Banana 120
Slices of grilled chicken breast 200
Vegetable soup 300
Total: 1340

Exercise
Resistance bands (upper body)
Rowing race
 
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Thanks doubleclick! The race went pretty well, it was a qualifying race for another one...I don't think we will have made it through but I'm proud of how it went :)
 
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