Maddie's [Let's Go!] Diary...

maddiejay

maddiejay

New member
Hey-ya! Right, so my name's M-Jay and I've been feeling like a lost cause for quite awhile. I'm 17 years old, just about to start college and way ready to start a new life. When I decided I was going to be really serious about dropping a few pounds in October I was 156lbs, majorly heartbroken and not at all feeling good about myself. Since then I've lost, gained, and re-lost weight so that I'm now around 148lbs and a little bit discouraged. Stress, return of the ex :ack2:, etc. has both compacted the desire to finally be the weight I want to be, and made it impossibly hard. My goal? To get to 130lbs by the time I graduate at the end of May and to 125 by July.
The truth is that I have trouble making the commitments I need to make to stick to a decent diet for a decent amount of time. In the past I've usually crash-dieted for about four days, lost a good five pounds, and then totally broken the habit. Then for a while I tried setting a realistic calories per day goal and keeping track. This worked for a while... until I realized that I have to make a choice; take time to count calories, or take the time to breathe. It's just not possible in my life to keep a consistent documentation, especially while I'm in school most of the day. Fortunately I have the tendency to overestimate rather than underestimate my intake. Unfortunately, guilt and want totally screw me over at the same time! The truth is I just want to be comfortable in my own skin! I've made a commitment and I intend to keep it. I just hope that I can remember that!:newangel: It just feels like I've been waiting to change something forever and now I just can't take it anymore. I want this. I want to feel good about myself!
I want to end by saying I'm really glad I've found this site. I'm so sick of feeling like I'm the only person that struggles with this! I'm so ready to finally get going with this!!!!!

Please be my support!!!
 
Hi and welcome!
I just started my diet last week and im counting calories, Im doing 1200 a day. I have found that is relatively easy to count the calories and im able to eat several times a day.
There are so many low cal options now, I was super suprised when I went to the store at what I found.
Controlling making yourself stay under the calorie count for the day is the tough part.
The people here are very supportive and so helpful. You don't have alot of weight to lose, I am weighing 145 right now and my goal is 125 also.

If you need anything just ask, If I can't help you Im sure one of the other more experienced members can.
Good Luck!
 
Thanks for the encouragement!
Allright, Second entry.
I'm wishing I didn't have to share the same pantry with my nine year-old sister and junk-food addict parent. Nothing against them and their choice of food, but man does it make it hard to find things that I can actually eat! So because of the complete lack of gym and the freezing weather, today I went back to my natural, daily workout which consists of me dancing around the house to music that should have stayed in the 90's:party: So much fun.
Anyhow, despite the fact that I had to guess how many calories I actually consumed today I'm not feeling too bad about it and maybe I'll have a chance to actually calculate what I eat tomorrow instead of just hoping that I'm not as bad at math as I could be. I just keep reminding myself how much easier this is going to be without all the stress and dread and time management complications that accompany finals!!!:banghead:
LOL. But it's all under control... totally. :seeya:
 
All right, so I'm feeling totally ridiculous. I want this but it's so ridiculously hard that I don't even know how to handle it. From now on my plan is to stick within a 1400 calorie diet, exercise for at least thirty minutes a day, mostly cardio. The plan is skip breakfast since eating it only makes me more hungry during the rest of the day, have fruit and coffee for lunch, something that usually makes me feel energetic and full, and then to try to keep my reason at night. I have to admit that night-time is the absolute most impossible time for me to stick to any kind of diet. It's just like all of a sudden the junk food starts to have this magnetic pull... Chips and yogurt. And even though yogurt is relatively good for you the stuff that I love the most is one part dairy three parts sugar. But man is it good... Anyway, now that I'm feeling the total guilt trip for totally ditching the diet thing today I'm going to try to not give up and just move on. I'm thinking about bagging my food for the next day. Just planning out portions and counting the cals at night so that i'm not all over the place the next day and trying to compromise with myself. I think that might actually be a good idea, even though it doesn't really solve the problem of dinner which I either eat or get the guilt trip for not eating it. :rant:
I just wish I could figure out a way to keep in mind how much this means to me... because honestly when I'm craving something I seem to suddenly get the "who the heck cares anyway?" attitude.
Wish me luck with this... :cry:

 
You remind me so much of myself! lol
Isn't it funny how at night you are just drawn to the food? I can do great all day but once my kids and husband are home and dinner rolls around It becomes soooo hard! After everyone is off to bed I want to just fill up on junk while I relax!
Last night I watched a mivie with the kids and ate a package of powdered donuts! I felt so bad afterwards and I knew better in the first place!

I started out all GUNG HO on my diet but after about 5 days it got super hard! I have been so worn down, tired and my will power to stay away from the bad foods is breaking down!
I am feeling better now, and I know it's not going to be easy but I know it will be well worth it!
Planning your meals and bagging them up is a great idea and it helps when your feeling lazy or your in a rush to just grab something.
And if you already have the calories counted there won't be any question!
Good luck you can do this!!!!:D
 
:seeya: Hi M-Jay!

Did you mention your height? And have you checked out any on-line info regarding a healthy weight for that height, and how many calories you need to SAFELY lose weight?

You are at such a pivotal point in your life right now - nearing that threshold of adulthood. At College, if you are living away from home, you will be TOTALLY responsible for your nutrition. I am concerned about you skipping breakfast, knowing that you have had a propensity for "crash diets" in the past. You are still so young, and you need to be careful not to wreck any of your plumbing, if you get my drift!

Sweetie, you have come to right place if you are really interested in getting to a healthy goal! You sound determined, and with some planning, you can definitely get there! I wish you all the best on your journey.

Cheers,
ABBA
P.s. While "dieting" can be extremely consuming, try to remember that most of the gals you see on tv and in mags are either fake or very unhealthy! Keep other life goals in mind to help you stay/achieve balance. OMGosh, thus ends today's sermon!!! Sorry, babe. Good luck!
 
Haha, no worries about the sermoning, I really appreciate the concern, especially because I do need to be held accountable on that stuff. I'm actually about 5'7" and I did look online for the ideal weight thing and came up with a range between 127 and 159 approx. I also did a lot of searching for how many calories a day I should be eating and I came up with 1400, so I was just going to go on faith with that one and see how it affected me. As for the breakfast thing, I've never really eaten in the morning, actually when I started eating it recently it was because I thought that maybe it would help me stay healthier, but instead I just gained an extra two pounds and usually felt lethargic in the mornings.
But really, I'm here because I don't really know the right way to do this so if there's ever anyone with suggestions or concerns or anything at all I'll never be anything but absolutely grateful... Lol. :bigear: I'm all ears.
 
For the past two days I've basically given up. Ate a ton, did very little. I just want this to be easier and instead I'm totally exhausted and freaked out and feeling guilty about everything. At this moment I just want to run it all off and make it all ok. It kind of sucks when you know you've totally just screwed yourself over and are feeling like you'll never make it work, you know? It's hard to remember that there's another day tomorrow where you can make it up.
 
maddiejay said:
I also did a lot of searching for how many calories a day I should be eating and I came up with 1400
Click to expand...

That's about right if you're sedentary. If you're exercising 3 times a week, it's more like 1,600 calories a day. Your maintenance calories are about 1,800-2,000 a day, so you've got quite a bit of room to go up if you're getting hungry.

You've essentially designed a plan to keep yourself hungry and miserable all day long - it's no wonder food calls your name all evening. (I did the same thing as a teenager, so I get where you're coming from, though.)

First off, eating breakfast didn't make you gain two pounds. If you tried it for a week, and ate exactly as much food as you had been at the rest of your meals, you'd have to have been eating 1,000 calorie per day breakfasts to gain two pounds. You also cannot lose 5 pounds in 4 days. It's a mathematical impossibility; even if you ate absolutely nothing, the most you would lose in real weight would be two pounds. The scale will lie to you for lots of reasons, and pretty much any day-to-day fluctuation will be a lie.

Second, if you're eating the same foods you ate before, but smaller quantities, you're going to be hungry. Drink more water. It keeps you hydrated, prevents water retention, and keeps you feeling full. Caffeine isn't evil, but it is a diuretic, so if you have some coffee, add an extra cup of water to counteract the caffeine. Eat more protein. Like 75-100 grams a day. (This is a lot of protein, and takes work. But protein keeps you feeling full, and helps preserve muscle mass.) Eat more fruits and veggies. They're nutrient-dense without being calorie-dense. I personally do better when I minimize refined carbs (white flour, white rice, sugar).

Come up with a plan you can live with, and stick with it. Otherwise, you're going to find yourself 17 years older and 60 pounds heavier (alas) - it's a lot easier in the long run to to lose 20 pounds slowly and keep it off than to lose fast and regain fast for years on end. :)
 
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