My Diary :)

K

Katiebug33

Guest
Okie Dokie, here we go.

I'm Kate, 21 years old, 5'11 (180cm) and I started at 134.9kg (297 lbs). I started last week and have lost about 4kg, my current weight it 131kg (288 lbs).

I'm a full time student, ex-basketball player, i have a loving family and i'm fresh out of excuses for being overweight.

I've tried to lose weight a number of times. In high school i starved myself for three weeks, lost heaps of weight, then binged it all back on. In my gap year after highschool i went to a dietician, lost 10kg (22 lbs) but i hated the woman i was seeing there, and quit, eventually putting all the weight (and more) back on.

Now i am almost half way through my university degree and i have plans to go to canada when i graduate. Call me silly but i dont want to be "the fat australian girl" when i go over there. I have this huge adventurous side to me, this burning desire to see the world and do everything, experience everything, go everywhere... but definitely feel like my weight is holding me back.

Being as tall as i am, and appreciating that i get my broad shoulders from my dad, i have realistic expectations. My first target is to get down to 100kg (220lbs) and i cant even remember the last time i was there, but looking at my photos from highschool when i was playing basketball 8 times a week, im guess I was about 15.

Long term i am hoping to get to 85kg (187lbs), and decide if i still need to lose weight when i get there.

Knowing that my biggest problem is quantity and carbs, i've made a concious decision to take control of my life and EAT LESS. I heard a great saying once "eat to live, dont live to eat" and it really hit home. I want to stick to it, only eat what i NEED.

I have my mum and boyfriend on board too. Mum has offered financial incentive for weight loss (being a full time student living out of home leaves me pretty broke most of the time) so she has offered $20/kilo that i lose, the catch being that if i put the weight back on i need to give it back to her. My boyfriend has offered me a fishing trip for every 10kg i lose :) we both love fishing so i loved the idea! He also agreed to try and eat healthier meals with me when we go out for dinner, no entres or desserts, and healthier main meals.

While i truly dont have the time or patience for calorie counting i am keeping a food diary and being honest in it, i have a good and bad column, and my daily aim is to fill the good and have nothing in the bad. Not sure if i should post it up on here, i think people would get bored with it.

Definitely need some more recipes for quick, easy, cheap dinner meals, as now that i have cut pasta off the 'regular meal' list i feel a bit lost.

And i think thats enough for a first entry. Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers

Kate
 
Hi Katie!

Loved your first diary entry! Hope you have many more!

I like your idea of the good column and bad column for foods....I never thought of that. Sounds like a great simple way to keep on track.

And I read you are going (coming) to Canada. Great to hear....if you need directions, just ask. Been here 46 yrs! lol

So good luck on your journey and hope you make about 500 off your mom and fish like crazy! lol

Take care!
 
Hey, awesome first entry!

You and I are the same age :) Though you are Waaaaaay taller than I am :p
If you want, we can exchange comments on our weight loss diaries to help keep each other motivated though I wish I had someone on my end offering me $20/kg lost lol.

(I live in Canada btw, I saw something about Canada in Flumes post :p)
 
Great first post Kate! :) Unlike many newcomers, it sounds like you're starting out slowly and being smart by making small changes. Sounds like you have some good support too which is always a big helper. The biggest tip I can give you is to be patient, things aren't going to happen overnight! But that's also the biggest motivator (at least for me it was). Time is going to pass regardless whether you do something or not! So six months from now, wouldn't you like to be able to look back and see how far you've come?

Good luck on this adventure...but I don't think you need it. You GOT this! :)
 
I'm glad you've got the support of your mum and your boyfriend. As soon as I started my diet I made sure they were both on board and understood what I was trying to achieve. You'll need the extra support at some point along the way!
I'm 5'10 so I know what you mean about being the tall one! I carry my weight well so I never looked as big as I was but us tall girls stick out from the crowd so I was always so aware of myself.

As for recipes, I get a bunch from this site:

Very yummy and not bad for you :) You can still have pasta as well..I usually have 3/4 or 1 cup of brown pasta with home-made sauce (no cheese most of the time!) with a chicken breast that I'm baked with pesto and garlic and lemon juice all sliced up on top. It's not very bad for you and it's comfort food for me!!

Anyway, good luck and hope to see you post more soon xx
 
OK, update two. Replies first.

Flumes - will definitely take you up on directions (and maybe a short list of "must-see" locations?) I would love to travel across the country but hope to set up camp somewhere near vancouver or victoria for a year or so. Pretty keen to see a bear, haha!

Srynxie - would love to keep posting to each other's journals, i like the idea of sharing the journey with someone :)

Aravind82 - i've learnt the hard way that quick fixes never work, if they did, everyone would do it!! I like the idea of doing this by myself, and being able to take the glory for it when someone (one day) says to me "wow, you look great! how did you do it?" I dont want all the credit going to some protein shake or insane workout regime. I think it takes a hell of a lot of willpower to change your lifestyle and to be able to say i did it with nothing more than support from some friendly faces. Nothing increases my self confidence like achieving something that seemed impossible.

And sunflower - I know what you mean about sticking out!! I'm lucky that i scored my dad's charisma in the genetics department, i've always been reasonably confident and made friends quite easily. I found the bigger i got, the more i started to second guess myself, always telling myself that people wouldnt be friends with me because of my weight, luckily i have been proved wrong over and over, but i dont want those negative thoughts zooming around the back of my head every time i meet someone new for the rest of my life!! You can probably see in my photos that i tend to keep my weight around the middle (ye olde spare tyre?) haha so i would absolutely love to get rid of that!! And Thankyou so much for the link!! already checked out a few recipes and they look amazing! (and i looove basil pesto, might have to hunt for some more recipes with pesto)

And now for my actual update :p

So it has been an interesting few days, i have battled one of my ALL TIME greatest weaknesses yesterday. I was sitting on the side of a soccer field. In the rain. And the wind. Watching the team i work for play. And one of the spectators brought out the most amazing-smelling hot chips you could possibly imagine. The other sports trainer who works with me asked if i wanted to go halves in some chips. And i said no!! OK, might not sound impressive but it is definitely a first for me to turn down hot chips in a situation like this!!

The diet slipped a little at dinner last night, my brother was celebrating his 24th birthday and we had the entire family around at my parents place for fondue. I indulged in two white bread rolls and some roast potatoes amongst the cooked meat and vegies. Even had a small slice of birthday cake for dessert. I think i need to be able to enjoy myself at family gatherings like that, provided my definition of special occasions doesn't wander from "a little indulgence just for birthdays" to "well i walked fast to uni, i can celebrate with a mud cake", which is a mind-set i am all too familiar with (not necessarily an entire mud cake, but you get the jist).

Been good again today though to make up for last night's carbs. Feeling good and planning to go to the gym after dinner tonight. I went and bought a 2nd hand heart rate monitor and i like watching my heart rate as i exercise. We actually studied optimal HR during exercise in one of my classes at uni, so i know when to put in a little more or ease up a bit. Being 21, i'm trying to keep my average heart rate above 150 for half an hour every time i exercise. It's a bit higher than what they recommend, but it feels reasonably comfortable to me (i still work up a sweat of course) so i quite enjoy it.

I'd like to know the opinions about personal trainers? I'm considering getting a trainer once a week to do weights. I know that you burn more energy if you have more muscle so it has got me thinking i should try and crank out more than my current limit of 10kg on the bench press.. :s i think some upper body work might help me out with the soccer team too, because they always ask us to massage their legs as hard as we can and my arms get tired pretty quickly.

About to have a really stressful week at uni, it's that time of year when all the assignments are due and exams are just around the corner. I'm really hoping to keep up my current determination and not blame my stress for eating bad food. Again, if there are any past/current students who know how to divert their stress AWAY from binge eating, would love any tips or tricks to arm myself with.

Will be back on the forums this weekend, as i've cancelled my social life to study for both days :(

Cheers

Kate
 
Just a quick one this morning before i head off to uni, i'm under 130kg!! :D Why thankyou scales, today, we can be friends :)
 
Diary

I admit i didnt go to the gym last night. Something about the pouring rain and gusts of wind didn't seem inviting compared to my heated bedroom and blankets. I made up for it tonight though. The group fitness session i went to: the trainer was away so a replacement came in but he couldnt find the CD so we did his class instead. Body Attack. Oh.. it attacked alright. I think that's fitness-karma getting back at me for not going last night.

I'm actually really impressed with myself. I have spent literally YEARS without having an entire week of being seriously healthy, and as of this thursday, i will have done that. I have reduced my portion sizes and stopped eating excessive amounts of food in the afternoons. I have resisted temptation, i have decreased my carbs and increased my vegies and lean meat. I've stopped eating after dinner (with the exception of low cal jelly, 2 calories per serving, because sometimes i get a sweet tooth). While i cant see the results in the mirror yet (i know i have a long way to go) the pride i have for having the self discipline to stick with this for more than 24 hours feels amazing!!

My boyfriend is cooking me fish and vegies for dinner tomorrow night, i love that he has gotten onto the 'healthy' bandwagon :) makes life so much easier :)

Apart from the insaaaaaaaaaane workout tonight, i liked the group fitness environment, i grabbed a timetable for june classes tonight on my way out. might go to a few more :)


I know i still have a lot to learn, and being so early in my weight loss journey means im probably dropping water weight more than anything else... but something about this time, this attempt.. with so many areas of support.. i feel like im bombarding this problem of mine once and for all.

Thats all for now

Cheers

Kate
 
Hello Katie, good to see that you are starting off slow and want to lose the weight the right way. I'm so jealous of how tall you are! I mean, if I were your height, I'd probably be okay with my weight! I'm so short lol! Anyway, it is great that you have so much support from your bf and your mother. It's such a great motivator on top of your already positive energy. I'll be checking out your diary, good luck!
 
Awesome work Katie!

Even though you may miss a workout or have something a little extra on a special occassion doesn't mean you won't still be able to go forward on your weightloss journey. I am impressed with your ability to say "no" to an offer for tempting food, sometimes it's hard to do that right off the bat because, come on, we still remember how yummy something was. Still, if you keep it up, in the time it takes for you to make this healthy lifestyle a habit... you won't even crave those things because the veggies and lean meat and other good things will be what you want. :D

Keep it up girl!
 
thanks njoyabl!! yeah, i'm really thankful for having my mum and bf on board. not only does it mean i want to lose weight (or at least not put any on!) because i dont want to disappoint them, but having them there to brag to when i do well is great!! I'm very competitive, and i like getting praised for my hard work :)

And srynxie... you're absolutely right, although i cant imagine my love of hot chips to every truly disappear!! haha, i've done well to avoid them so far though, i had a couple with dinner last night, but then i went and filled shelves in a supermarket for 3 hours, so i think that balances out well :p

Down to 128.7kg as of this morning, pretty excited to see the numbers falling so fast, i'm being realistic though and not expecting them to keep falling this fast, it's definitely motivational to see this at the start though :)

Still not sure if i should get a personal trainer once a week... I think i need to include some resistance training in my exercise.. at the moment all im doing is cardio..

Kate
 
Wow, that's great that you are seeing losses already! I think you've got the right mindset about it- enjoy the big losses while it lasts!

I think you should definitely start adding in resistance training to your program. And if it takes getting a personal trainer to get started with that, absolutely do it! Strength training will help you keep your muscle mass as you lose weight, I think I've heard, and of course it's also great for other reasons like bone density or something, so it's very important. It's also a lot of fun, I've found!

Keep up the good work! :)
 
Had a splurge tonight. For some reason i just couldnt stop thinking about food the entire night. I had half my footlong chicken sub with salad, then four (reasonably small) home made veggie patties about 45 minutes later. Then a mini can of tuna straight after. Then the other half of my sub an hour later :( And my weigh-in is tomorrow morning!!

I think it's because i didnt have anything to eat between midday and 6:30pm. I usually have a snack or something to keep me going. But i feel pretty ashamed of myself. I'm going to put this binge down to the insane about of stress im going through this week because of all the assignments due, and im going to make up for it over the next few days.

Blergh.
 
So the one night splurge turned into a few days of splurge. but, as of tomorrow afternoon, im free of assignments/exams for almost two weeks, and promise to make up for the weekend of bad :)

This cold weather isnt helping, makes you want to snuggle up in bed and eat bad food while watching movies. Tonight im making home made pizzas (with minimal cheese and maximal vegies) then going to the gym, hopefully that will put me back on track :)

Kate
 
Back on track


Feel like i survived my first few bad days, unlike eeeeevery other time i've tried to lose weight, i refuse to throw in the towel at the first sign of weakness this time. Went to the gym tonight and got my heart rate right up, lots of running and jumping and sweating. Feel great for it!! Had a nice healthy day today too, and went grocery shopping and have lots of fresh fruit and veg in the fridge now.

Feeling great :) and the scales didnt show my binge, my weight is the same :) looking forward to another week of healthy eating and exercise.

Kate
 
Dont have time to post much tonight, I start work in half an hour, but just wanted to pop in and say i've had a good weekend :) splurged on pasta and popcorn on saturday up at my boyfriends house near the river, but apart from that feeling pretty good now that uni classes are over, and i'm only 3 exams away from finishing this semester!! So in 15 days im freeeee!! For 3 weeks anyway :p Haha!!

Oh AND (on a non-weight-related topic) I bought two baby bunnies the other day, they were only 4 weeks old so i have to wait a couple weeks till they are old enough to leave their mum, turns out it happens to be the same day my exams finish!! Very excited :)

Hoping to get down to my 10kg weight loss these holidays, Braedan is already planning our trip to coffin bay to celebrate :p

Hope all of you are on track, happy and healthy :)

Kate
 
Soooo i've had a tough couple of weeks. Exams are freaking me out, i've had my 1st official exam today and i think i did well. Next week i have an exam on monday night and on wednesday night. Thursday morning i pick up my baby bunnies and friday i have a mexican-themed party at my place.

Have been -trying- to eat well but haven't been very successful. Haven't been to the gym all week and feel guilty about that too. Was feeling really down about it the last few days, but have gotten good results from uni so i tend to justify my bad eating as "worth it to get good results" but even typing that out makes me realise how stupid the justification is.

Having said all that, i havent been as bad as i usually am in exam time, usually i have take-away every night and binge on chocolate etc, this exam period i've just had lots of pasta because its quick and easy, or meat with frozen veg and oven fries. SO i figure, its not good, but it could be worse.

Just want all my exams to be over and for holidays to start so i have more free time and less stress. Really want to use my 3 week break to get into good habits, try new recipes, try new gym routines and feel good about myself.

Thats all for now

xx
 
Katiebug33 said:
Was feeling really down about it the last few days, but have gotten good results from uni so i tend to justify my bad eating as "worth it to get good results" but even typing that out makes me realise how stupid the justification is.
Click to expand...

Helloooo from a fellow Aussie

Ha I've been doing the exact same thing through exams, I figure mountains of chocolate/chips/pasta/greasy thai food are the best way to keep myself at my study desk. Makes a little sense, but when I think about it I don't study any better/longer on the days that I eat normally than those where I eat to the point of feeling sick. Healthy eating just feels like less of a priority during exams. I finished mine yesterday and plan on using the next four weeks to go on a fitness/weightloss blitz, I'm actually pretty excited for it!

Anyway if I was you I'd just focus on exams for now then use the holidays to kick your weightloss into overdrive, its sooo much easier. Good luck with the rest of your exams and getting back on track in the holidays!
Emily
 
Hey Boslo, good to hear there are fellow aussies on this site :p I feel the same way, i'm excited about the holidays because i want to blitz this healthy/fitness thing, now i just need to stick with it!! Goodluck with your holidays, maybe we can keep in touch and compare results over the mid-year break?

_______________________________________________________

I know people say it should be a lifestyle change, not a 3-week challenge... but my competitive nature really seems to restrict me from accepting the steady 0.5kg/week as recommended.. I need to get back into my "one day at a time" mindset, but for now my brain is just exploding with stress about these exams, i just found out i need to pass them to pass the topic (which isn't always the case in my degree) and i really feel under-prepared so eeeeeeeek!! Only 48 hours until my 2nd exam, and in 4 days ill be on holidays, but i get the feeling its going to draaaaaaaaaaaaag!!

Anyway, today I had some healthy mexican wraps full of salad for lunch, which beats the pasta ive been scoffing lately. Little steps. Gunna try and prove to myself i'm strong enough to be good even at the worst of times, because if i can be healthy now, i reckon ill be unstoppable!!

Anyway, back to the books

Kate
 
Had a horrible last few weeks, i got two baby bunnies who make SO much mess and my housemate decided she didnt want anything to do with them afterall so i get to deal with the vet bills, food and cleaning all by myself now. I was so stressed (even though i was on holidays!) that i considered giving one or both of them back. I decided to give myself a week to decide and now they're grown on me so much i cant bear to see either of them go, i'll post a few photos later on.

I also almost broke up with my boyfriend, we kept having little fights and i wasnt happy with the relationship but i had a -massive- cry to mum (after quite a few days of binge eating/drinking) and then braedan was sick all week so we didnt get to chat until yesterday, but we talked it -all- out and we both feel much better now.

So, excuses, i know, but my diet went out the window. This week is my second week of holidays, im going to the gym for the first time in a few weeks tonight, and i went and bought heaps of fresh fruit and vegies for me and the bunnies this morning, so finally feel like im getting my life back on track.

OH, and zucchini slice rocks my world. It tastes amazing, its hard to believe its so healthy!! Yummmmmm


Kate
 
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