Losing Myself, At least 40 lbs Anyway

lanadefemme

lanadefemme

New member
I'm starting this journal after a nice chat with Geam. Here's to getting started!

I'm a 5'2 Chinese female with a relatively sedentary lifestyle sitting in front of a computer all day. I hit the gym right now at least once a week but only because I have a personal trainer that I paid for and will track me down and force me to do more strenuous exercises than if I just came on time and willingly. I live by the beach and close to cute little bars that beckon to me to come and hang out with my friends and toss back a couple of drinks. I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world who loves my quirkiness and can deal with my sometimes unconventional ideas. I love to cook but sometimes the best foods are those that I shouldn't be having. And lastly, I'm a total brat.

-- How much weight do you want to lose? 44-47 lbs.


-- What is the time frame for reaching your target weight? At most 6 months, ideally less.

-- How do you want to accomplish your goal (what methods do you want to use)? I'm going to eat around 1200 calories making sure to get in 100g of protein, 25g of fiber and 7 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. An hour of working out/being active per day will also be part of it.

-- Who or what can support you in reaching your goal? I'm hoping this board will do the trick. Well, this board and a picture of myself that made me realize how big I've actually gotten.

-- How realistic is your goal? Difficult, but pretty realistic. It'll take a lot of pre planning.

-- When will you start? I'm going to start today, despite what a bad start today was.
 
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Yesterday my fiance and I had big plans to go to Disneyland for NYE. He ended up being too sick to go, which I can't really fault him for. Instead I decided to head out for a run with my Nike+ system, which I never run without. Turns out my iPod was out of batteries! So then I figured why not head to the gym? So I drive on down there and it's closed. GRRRR!!!

So instead I hit up the grocery store and stock up on lean meats, veggies, whole grains, etc. to meet my nutritional goals and ended up having a pretty good night with my sick guy after stopping by my neighbors place to hang out with a few of my friends. So great that I ended up sick this morning!

You know how they say that if you have heavy friends it's more likely for you to be heavy? And that women who are in relationships tend to gain weight too? I think it's because when I look at the people around me and how much they're eating I almost use it as a gauge of what my limits should be. If my friend is having soup plus filet mignon and bananas flambe I think, I should have that too. Or at least match the number of courses they're having so that they don't feel awkward eating while I'm not. I realized this morning that I need to change that. I mean, I'm 5'2. Where else would I put an extra 6 oz. of red meat aside from directly on my a$$?

So this morning when I woke up I made my fiance and myself some breakfast according to my meal plan that I had preplanned on fitday.com the night before. And instead of making out plates in the same portion, I made him an extra egg and an extra piece of turkey bacon. You know, since he's a growing boy. Lol.

Last night, looking back on my dietary goals this is how it all turned out:

Protein: 74 out of a 100g goal.
Fiber: 23 out of a 25g goal.
Veg/Fruit: 5 out of a 7 serving goal.
Calories: 1521 out of a 1200 calorie goal.

So I actually ended up doing pretty bad on my nutrional goals because of not eating enough lean meats, not having my preplanned salad and then downing a shot with my friends and splitting a bottle of champagne with my sweetie at midnight.

Oh well, I did much better today. Except I haven't start working out like I planned because I got sick. I'm heading to bed early tonight and hoping and wishing and praying that I wake up well enough to hit the gym in the morning.
 
I did pretty good tonight, preplanning my meals. I talk a lot about preplanning because I was told that planning is key to being able to stick to a healthy diet and because it's actually kind of hard to meet my dietary goals if I don't plan out how I'm getting my protein, fiber and veggies. I mean, I'm sure I could eat over 2K calories to get to the right amounts but getting to it under 1200 is actually pretty difficult!

My best friend did weight watchers a couple of years ago and I was amazed at how much she would have to eat because she had to meet the minimum amount of points. She's now super slender and I now understand that it's really difficult to eat enough of the right things to get to core goals. I mean, really, I'm surprise at the amount of meat I have to eat to get to 100g of protein. Of course, I used to be a vegetarian so the idea of having to eat meat is bizarre in itself. But I'm going to do what I was told works and see how it goes.

So according to fitday.com here's how my new year's day went:
Fiber: 24 out of 25g goal.
Protein: 130 out of 100g goal.
Veg/Fruit: 6 out of 7 serving goal.
Cals: 1241 out of 1200 goal.

I'm pretty sure if I had just had that extra orange I could have met my fiber goal as well as my veg/fruit goal. Lol. I might just have it anyway, I'm sure I'll still be in the 1200s range. And it couldn't hurt in getting over my cold either.

I think I'm doing a weight -in tomorrow for the new years to v-day challenge. I hope I haven't gained anything. Sometimes, I just have no idea what's going on with my body.
 
Hi! It's fun reading your posts because I can relate on many levels!! Our goals are pretty similar.

I'm also 5'2 so every extra lb really stands out on me and I should't eat enough to keep up with my 6'2" boyfriend!!! Your approach to breakfast sounds good. My boyfriend often wants a huge breakfast on Sundays-- I need to scale down my portions and not be right there with him with a HUGE plate! Also, I need to sneak in healthier options.. he'll probably never know!!


lanadefemme said:
Protein: 74 out of a 100g goal.
Fiber: 23 out of a 25g goal.
Veg/Fruit: 5 out of a 7 serving goal.
Calories: 1521 out of a 1200 calorie goal.

So I actually ended up doing pretty bad on my nutrional goals because of not eating enough lean meats, not having my preplanned salad and then downing a shot with my friends and splitting a bottle of champagne with my sweetie at midnight.
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Honestly, this dosen't sound too bad to me. Actually, pretty darn good concidering the holiday!

What I do with calories is I give myself a range: no less than 1200 calories no more than 1400. (I track it on Fitday also) You can set it as a goal on Fitday. I don't want less than 1200 cause I don't want my body to go into Survival Mode and start mass producing fat because it thinks I'm on a deserted island. lol. 1400 seems like a good top off point for me if I want to lose weight. (They recomend 2000-2500 to maintain weight for my height & build, so 1400 seems reasonable as a cap off for losing). At the end of the day when I check it on Fitday I'm usually around 1250.

I'm just starting this diet but thats also what I did two years ago when I lost 35 lbs.

Do you live in SoCal? I'm up in Tahoe. New Years was nuts here-- I hid in my house for a change! Two banks got robbed on New Years Eve and a Bomb Threat!!

Anyway, have a good diet day!!!
 
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Grr... I weighed myself this morning and I was up 1 lb!!! Which technically is up 3 lbs from the last time I weighed myself! I'm thinking of a million reasons to rationalize it, like the fact that I think my monthly visitor is due, and muscle weighs more than fat, and maybe I'm having a digestive problem. Blah Blah Blah.

I know what it really is though. It takes about 2 days for my body to reflect what I've eaten, and a few days ago, I wasn't a very good girl. But to my credit, that In-N-Out burger and fries were my last bad meal and I've been on the straight and sometimes narrow ever since.

I have to note though, my stomach is definitely shrinking. I generally gain the least weight in my midsection and more weight in my arms, legs and butt. So as I'm toning and losing, it seems that the results show first in my midsection. And I'm feeling pretty darn good about it!

Tomorrow I'll start training again for my 10K. I'm just too sick to try and work out tonight.
 
My personal trainer, Anthony, who is also now a pretty good friend of mine, texted me and my fiance to ask for 3 words that would describe his training. He said that the words "Hard, tough & evil" were off limits. So I started to really think about it.

I would say nausea inducing if it were one word. There are times when I'm done with a session with him and I am just so nauseous from the intensity of the workout. There was one time that I woke up on Sunday to go work out with him after celebrating my birthday the night before with what I swear felt like an entire bottle of Patron. I didn't feel hungover at all when I started the workout and by the end of the workout I went home to nurse what was the worst hangover of my life.

The next word I would choose is sadomasochistic. The guy literally enjoys it when his clients are begging for mercy. Once, I told him that the weight setting was too low and that I wasn't really feeling the challenge. He proceeded to up the intensity of the workout so that by the end I regretted saying anything at all.

I suppose the last word would be effective. Most of the time I'm sore for the next two days and I can see a difference in my midsection after one session. Plus, one 30 minute session can actually burn up to 500 calories, which is amazing.

Which I guess is why I keep going back and paying the guy. I mean, really, who wouldn't pay for nausea inducing sadomasochistic effective training?
 
Hey lanadefemme, I wanted to welcome you to the forum!

It seems like parts of your plan are really good and highly advanced, such as the 25g of fiber and the high servings of fruits and veggies. I'm reading a book now which theorizes that generalized inflammation causes excess weight and excess weight causes even more inflammation, a true viscious cycle. The author believes the inflammation causes leptin resistance, a hormonal condition that effects appetite and the speed of our metabolisms (leptin is the hormone produced by our fat cells which regulates our metabolism and appetite). Anyway, the author believes you can minimize and address the inflammation by eating 9 servings of fruits/veggies per day and minimizing saturated fat (which supposedly increases inflammation) while adding lots of omega-3 fats (like walnuts, ground flax seeds, certain types of fish).

But I was wondering how you arrived at the 1200 calories per day number. Do you not lose weight on more calories like 1500? Have you tried losing on more before settling on 1200?

With regard to eating like our men, I eat about twice as much as my 6'3" H. No wonder he's so skinny while I'm chubby. Oh well!
 
Hi Blancita, thanks for the welcome!

I settled on 1200 because it's the lowest you should go on your caloric intake. My trainer told me to get around 1200-1300 for the most efficient weight loss. I think I previously said no more than 1200 calories, but what I really mean is to come in between 1200-1300.

What book are you reading? I think I heard about those principles on TV when some news show was interviewing the author but I didn't catch the name. I tired getting 9 servings, but seriously, it was kind of overwhelming. Lol.
 
I dunno, I would tend to disagree with your trainer. I would keep the calories at the highest level possible that still allows for a 1 pound loss per week. Most people quickly get tired of eating so little fairly soon so why not eat more if it still gets the weight off? Also, your leptin levels may drop so much so quickly from this reduced calorie intake that it can cause your metabolism to slow down, which happens when your leptin levels decrease. I would figure out what calorie intake to use based on what you were eating before in an average day than some random number. Also, many people believe you'll plateau at some point and if you start off higher, then you can lower the number of calories once you hit the plateau. I'm not sure I agree with this principle necessarily but really, what do I know?!
 
The book is called The Fat Resistance Diet by Leo Galland. Not sure how correct he is as every single author acts like they have the magical cure to weight loss, but we shall see since his suggestions and recommendations are nothing more than a normal healthy diet anyway.
 
I've heard about the calories/plateau debate and it definitely did concern me! I'm so glad you brought it up. I thought about it and my goal weight is around 110-115 and 1200-1300 calories is what I would be intaking at that weight to maintain so I figure I should just get used to eating in that way. I'm just trying to get the hang of meeting those minimum nutritional goals at around that caloric intake so that it will become a habit. Kind of like training my body to crave the right foods in the right portions. You know, instead of craving flaming hot Cheeto's at 12am, maybe I could just crave a raw orange at 11am? (*hoping my body understands that*)

As for the plateaus, I was told that high intensity alternating workouts would blast through plateaus. But then again, I could have just been told that so I would buy more training sessions. Lol.

I'm happy to do some trial and error and stuff here and there. Hopefully with more successes than errors though. :)
 
I'd put your maintenance calories at goal at closer to 1,400-1,500 per day, based on .

Don't stress over day-to-day scale fluctuations. Even a hamburger and fries over and above maintenance calories isn't going to result in a pound of weight gain, much less 3 pounds. :)
 
lanadefemme said:
I'm happy to do some trial and error and stuff here and there. Hopefully with more successes than errors though. :)
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I agree. I think 'trial and error' is good. It helps you really figure out what really works for you personally. Also I think its really good to mix it up.. keep things interesting.

My plan is that when I get down closer to 130 lb I'm going to start increasing my calorie intake as well as increasing my workouts.

Last time, two years ago, when I lost 40lbs I lost my boobies completely. I mean, it was really sad. Here I was, feeling totally hot in my new bikini, but, when I took my top off "The Girls" would flop down like five more inches. I mean it was really, really, not pretty. I think my boyfriend was totally traumatized. So this time I want to experiment as I get closer to my goal by focusing more on exercise than diet. This may not work at all.

If not, and I NEVER thought I would say this before that experience, then I may get enhancement surgery. I mean, if I'm going to work sooo hard at losing all that weight I want to look hot for my boyfriend, I don't want to even think of trying to dress those stretched-out, skinflaps in sexy lingerie. (So sorry if any men are reading..lol)


Anyway thats my rant. I'm going to run to the gym now!
 
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Jessa, I totally agree about the boobs. I'm planning on getting an augmentation after I'm done having kids. (I won't be starting for another couple years.) I want to wait until then because breast feeding is supposed to be awesome for the babies and a great weight loss aid. They liquefy your calories and give them to your baby. Boobs are amazing. Lol.

I didn't do too bad today in terms of calories, but I did miss some goals again.

Fiber: 31 out of 25g goal.
Protien: 89 out of 100g goal.
Veg/Fruit: 5 out out a 7 serving goal.
Calories: 1260 out of a 1200 goal.

I splurged and had white rice and whole wheat stuffing around dinner time. It's funny that I'm not a big fan of white rice, despite being Asian, but when I try to avoid it it tastes like the most wonderful thing in the world. Lol. But I skipped out on some protein to make room for the rice and stuffing.

I totally missed my vegetable goal but it's because I really couldn't eat anymore. I think it was my fiber overload in the morning. There's this cereal that has over 50% the daily recommended fiber and it's only 100 calories. And it tastes as bad as it sounds. I think next time I'm going to only eat half a serving of that cardboard cereal and mix in some bananas. It can't get any worse than it already tastes. Lol.
 
lanadefemme said:
There's this cereal that has over 50% the daily recommended fiber and it's only 100 calories. And it tastes as bad as it sounds.
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Sounds aweful LOL . I can totally relate! Its hard for me to choke down that stuff! I try to alternate between nasty cereal and smoothies. I want to lose weight not become suicidal!! LOL

Have a great day tommorrow!!! Keep up the good work!
 
LOL. Is 115 really worth eating that fiber gunk called cereal? Eeeeewww. I get most of my fiber out of a canister. Its called Benefiber and its a tasteless white powder that can be mixed into any beverage or moist food and has no consistency or taste. I think it has 2 grams per tablespoon and I use 2 tbls in my tea.

For the boobs, start doing chest exercises with heavy weights (flys and bench presses/dumbell presses on both a flat bench and a small incline). You will not believe how much bigger and firmer your boobs get. You do not LOSE any fat and breast tissue that's there from increasing your muscle, but when you combine your regular fat (as opposed to the hard boobs like the body builder chicks on steroids) the muscle actually feels like firm breast tissue. I'm sure my muscle adds a cup size, though I've been doing it so long who knows at this point.

Unfortunately, dont believe the hype about the breast feeding, my weight sure didn't melt off from it--though everyone's different so there's hope. I lost 31 pounds (including the weight of the baby) in 2 weeks by doing practically nothing, bringing me to 167, but from there the really hard work began (though I still never averaged less than 1700 calories a day). Now I'm on a plateau and I guess I need to get my calories lower but I just get too hungry and cannot do it. I dont know how you're not starving right now!

TTYL :)
 
Lol, I had to laugh when you asked if my goal weight was worth eating that cardboard tasting cereal. After careful consideration, my answer is a yes! Actually, getting a lot of fiber for 100 calories is a really big deal. Since most carbs out there have a lot of calories but not a lot of fiber, if I didn't have something like that fiber cereal on days that I know I'm going to splurge in other areas (today I had lamb chops for dinner which is a higher fat protein than I usually eat.)

Don't get me wrong, I love food. I'm often in the kitchen cooking up things, my parents owned a restaurant where my mom was the chef when I was a toddler, and I'm obsessed with cheese. But I think about this phrase these days pretty often:

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.
 
Hi lanadefemme! Thanks for stopping by my diary. :)

You really must have the strongest will to keep at 1200 cals! I'm following a 1600 cals diet and sometimes I feel hungry. I don't think I'd be able to eat less than that!
 
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