Lazy No More! Nyara's Journal

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Nyara

New member
Nyara's Path to Healthy Living

Hi everyone, I'm Nyara. Welcome to my journey.

I'm 23 years old, 5' 6", and currently weigh 191 lb. My goal is to lose about 50 lb to reach 140 lb. I'd like to accomplish that goal by the end of 2007. Once I reach that point, I'll re-evaluate to see if I want to try and lose more or if I just want to try to maintain that weight. It's been a long time since I weighed only 140 lb, so it's hard to remember what it was like!

My plan so far is to try to eat better foods (no more frozen, microwaved foods for me!), consume less calories than I burn in the day, and exercise at least 20 mins per day. I've never been one for calorie counting, but I figure this is the time to start. I'll be aiming to consume about 500 calories less than I burn every day. From what I can find using online calorie calculators, that means I'll be aiming for somewhere between 1500 and 1800 calories per day. As for the exercise, I'm taking two hour-long exercise classes each week (one is yoga, the other circuit training), and for the rest of the days, I'll be doing yoga for 30 mins in the morning and walking/jogging for at least 20 mins when I get home from work. As part of this walking/jogging, I've signed up for a virtual "walk across Canada" so I can track my progress. Fun, eh? I haven't done a lot of looking into resistance/weight training yet, but I am planning on incorporating that into my workouts as well so that I don't lose weight only to have noodle arms. Right now, I think my goals are realistic, but I guess we'll have to see how things go!

Right now, my support system isn't very big. My boyfriend is supporting me, as he has a little bit of weight of his own to lose, but he doesn't really understand what I'm facing down here. I think my mom would be a good support, but we live in different cities, so that makes things difficult. It will be great to go home once in a while and have her see the difference though! I think the main reason I looked for a forum like this was for more support. I know myself pretty well, and I know that I need goals, encouragement, and sometimes a little pressure to really get me going. I think I'm really going to enjoy the monthly challenges!

Officially, I started today, though I've been slowly making changes over the past few months. I hit my peak weight over Christmas, going above 200 lb for the first time in my life, and staying there until about February. I have made a bit of headway now, but everything begins in earnest today. So:

Foodwise: need to start counting. I think I'll make a spreadsheet with all the foods I eat every day so that I can add it all up super quick! I guess that's my goal for this evening.
Exercise: got in a 25 min brisk walk after work
 
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Day 2

Well, things went pretty well today. Skipped out on the planned yoga this morning, but made up for it this evening by spending about an hour and a half finally planting all of the flowers I bought for my yard. I really need to learn how to get up in the morning (and go to bed earlier at night). I think if I could find the motivation to get up 45 mins to an hour earlier to get in a good workout in the morning, I'd be set.

Along with the planting, I got in my 25 min walk after work today. Did it before supper, as I had read on the boards somewhere here that exercising before you eat can help cut your appetite. And wouldn't you know it, I wasn't nearly as hungry for supper when I got back as I had been when I left. This is definitely a good thing. As for supper, I tried out one of the Kraft healthy living recipes that I have bookmarked, and it was pretty good. Made a point of eating very slowly so that I would have time to feel full. In the end, I didn't even feel the need for dessert. Now, that's a major accomplishment, since I grew up in a home where meals were ALWAYS followed by some form of dessert. I think I may give in shortly and have a spoonful of ice cream, but hey, that's better than a bowl!

I also made cinnamon buns this evening (they're in the oven now) to take to work tomorrow. It's my last day at the office I'm at now (I was working on a contract), so I'm heading back to my "real" employer as of Monday. The buns made from the ends are really small, so if the guys at work don't gobble them all up immediately, I may have one of those.

I think my biggest challenge in the immediate future is what I'm going to be doing from Sunday to Thursday of the coming week. I'm going to Baltimore with some people from work for a conference, and since we'll be staying in a hotel, this likely means I'll be eating out a lot for the next little bit. I'm hoping the hotel room has a fridge, because if it does, I'll be able to just eat smaller portions at the restaurants and take the rest with me. I do know that the hotel has a swimming pool and fitness facility with a jogging track, so I'll have to make use of those for sure. Looking at the weather forecast for Baltimore, it will definitely be warm enough to swim while I'm there!

Guess that's it for today. Still haven't sorted out this whole calorie counting thing, though I was careful not to snack on unhealthy things or eat too much of anything today, so I think I'm doing alright. I will be happy if I can get my counting spreadsheet up and running by the end of the weekend.
 
Not such a great week..

But like I said in my last post, I kind of expected it. Lots of seafood was consumed, as well as plenty of drinks (both alcoholic and not). It just amazed me how much of the food was fried/filled with cream/extremely salty. I'm not sure if it's just Baltimore, or the US in general, but if that's the way food tends to be down there when you eat out, no wonder there are a lot of people who have trouble with their weight. At least when we go out at home, there are a lot of healthier options like simple vinaigrettes, baked items, and smaller portions. I really don't mean to generalize or anything, but even the meal we had at one of the conference lunches was a VERY large piece of oily, fried chicken, covered in a super rich brown sauce. Of course, it was pretty tasty, but I didn't eat very much of it. I stuck to the vegetables and sweet potatos that came with it. In the end, I amazingly lost a pound this week. I suppose we only really ate two meals a day, breakfast and supper, but losing weight that way is not my goal. I want to do it healthily, not by eating too few calories and getting stuck in a rut.

I figure I made up for some like of exercise in the past week with my 1km sprint yesterday in Chicago airport. We landed an hour late and had about 5 minutes to get to our connector flight, which was halfway around the airport. It's really too bad that United doesn't update the status of their flights, because when we puffed up to the gate just as the flight was supposed to be leaving, it turned out that the plane wasn't even at the gate yet. C'mon guys, do your job! Anyway, this sprint really opened my eyes up to how out of shape I am. I know it was a sprint, but I had to stop and walk a few times, and was definitely feeling it by the end. I need to get going on that couch to 5k program.

Haven't exercised yet today, so I need to get out for a walk here shortly. Ate a pretty tasty vegetable/chicken stirfry for lunch, but again, I'm not so good at the calorie counting thing yet. I think I really need to start working on that, otherwise it will start to hold me back in my goals.
 
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Got it done

Just a quick update before I head off to bed. Got my 10 minutes walking and first set of the Couch to 5k running program done today. It actually wasn't too bad, though I need to figure out how to carry my housekeys with me without having to hold them in my hand the whole time. At this point, I think I may alternate walking/running program days, with days off when I have an exercise class. Then again, if the running goes well, I might try to do it 5 or 6 times a week. No need to dive in head first I suppose, but I definitely need to be getting exercise like that more than 3 times a week.
 
I think I needed a good kick in the rear...

Looking back at that last entry, I think I needed a real good kick in the rear. I was certainly off to a good start there, but I didn't stick with it for the rest of the week. Got work done in the garden, mowed the lawn, had my hour long yoga class, etc, but looking my results for last week's June Challenge, I can see that just relying on things like garden work and golf lessons won't cut it :doh:

So.. I have picked things up. Started the couch to 5k program again on Saturday, then went out and golfed 18 holes that afternoon. Had my last yoga class (1hr) on Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and today, got out for the week 1 set for the couch to 5k program. I think I'll do that until next week. It's actually going really well. I never thought I'd be a runner, but I feel so pumped when I get home after the half hour!

In a week, I'm off to Germany/Switzerland/Netherlands for about 2 weeks for a vacation. I'm actually not too worried about how this will affect my goals, because I know a good portion of those two weeks will be spent hiking up and down mountains, through old town centres, and generally wearing holes into my shoes. The last time I made a quick trip overseas (though it was 4 weeks) I noticed a significant reduction in my waistline by the end, so I'm hoping all the walking will result in a pleasant surprise on the scale when I get home. Guess we'll see though. In the meantime, I heard somewhere that it takes 28 days to build a habit, so I'm hoping that this trip won't sabotage my efforts to get through the Couch to 5k running program.

However, I've got a wedding to go to over the August long weekend, and my dress doesn't quite fit, so I have the motivation to keep going! I'll be so happy if it fits better than when I bought it in the first place.. so I have something immediate to work towards!
 
Enjoy your vacation! U can jam pack alot of workout in 2 weeks. Keep up those classes and workout.
I got a armpouch for my keys when I run at the park. U might wana get one. Or a wrist one. Or wear running shorts/pants with pockets? I wrap mine with tissue so there isn't any jingling noise when I run (before I got the armpouch).
 
Thanks for the tips about the keys, Pinkydolly. As of right now, I've been tucking my key into my shoe, which isn't so uncomfortable, but I might look into the armpouch so that I can put my MP3 player in there too.


So, signed up with FitDay finally, and I'm glad I did. Just looking at what I ate yesterday (which is what I eat pretty much every day), I can see that I'm eating about 1700 cals/day, whereas with my activities added to my BMR, I should probably be taking in closer to 2600 cals/day for maintenance. I am thinking that the reason I haven't seen so much in the way of results so far is that my body is hording the calories I am taking in... from now on, I'm going to increase my fruit/vegetable intake to get up to 2000 cals/day, partly to reach that intake goal, and partly because I know I'm not eating enough fruits and veg anyway.

I was pretty happy with the numbers in terms of where my calories are coming from, though it looks like I could stand to intake a bit more protein every day too. Funny how I never thought that there would be a problem with me not eating enough! But, looking at my weightloss so far (averaging something like 1lb every week and a half), I think maybe I need that boost. I think I'll try adding some fruit in at breakfast too, and really make an effort to get my exercise in the morning as opposed to the evening. Also, I need to make an effort not eat after 9pm or so. I don't do it too often, but somehow, I don't think that eating dinner at 8pm every night (which is a habit of mine) is helping.

Anyway, exercise is going well. I think it's almost time to step up to "week 2" of the Couch to 5k program, as I've noticed my time for the 2 mile walk/run that I've been doing has been dropping from the original 30 minutes to closer to 25 minutes. My ending location for the running has been getting closer to home as well, which means I've been covering more ground in my running.. leading me to think I've been picking up the pace.

Like I said in my last post, I never thought I'd be a runner. Maybe it was just the laziness, but I was sure it would hurt my knees (which I had problems with a bit when I was younger), and it would just be too hard in general. Now, I think I'm starting to get addicted to it! There's always that initial reluctance to get up and go, of course, but once I've got my 'workout clothes' on, I have no excuse and off I go! It's just such a good feeling when I get home.. something about those endorphins or something I guess.
 
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