My very own Journey

T

The Journey

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I'm very excited about doing this! I have a weight loss blog which I share with a friend of mine, but she's kinda fallen off the weight loss wagon so it's not as motivating as it could be.
I'm counting on this giving me that extra accountability, encouragement and motivation that I need to achieve my goals.
I think my diary will operate a little differently from most.
First off, I won't be posting exactly what I eat everyday simply because I find it boring (for me personally) and so I know it's not something I will stick with.
I do however count my calories very meticulously (read labels, and use online calorie counters etc..).
I'll probably be writing more about my goals(long-term, monthly, weekly), measurements, weigh-ins, successes, mistakes(and how to avoid making them again), etc..
I'm a little long-winded so if anyone manages to keep up with me, I salute you :biggrinjester:

I started my journey on the 21st of July when I was house-sitting for some ppl and decided to hop on their scale.......... 80 kg! An all time high for me I couldn't even believe it, the last time I had weighed myself (granted it was over a year prior to the new weight) I was 72 - 73 kg! Somehow I didn't even notice I had gained that much weight because I felt just about the same. I thought their scale was broken! (it wasn't)

So from then till now I have gone down to 74 kg (6 kg lost) in two months and a half. I don't feel that's very much, and it's been especially tough recently to see the weight go down but I still feel very happy about my "win" when I think about how I could still be 80 kg or worse yet (and rather likely) more if I hadn't started taking charge.

I've always been a little overweight. I lost some weight when I was 15 and managed to stay around 60 kg until I was 17 at which point I started gaining weight pretty rapidly, and soon I was at 70 kg. I've been off an on diets pretty much my whole life starting at 10 years old. Only one of them "lasted". This time I"m really sticking to it though and with 2 months and a half of dieting already it's for sure the longest diet I've done in years! (although I like to see it more as a lifestyle change and it really is!)

I think in many ways I'm still in the experimental stages. I'm finding what works for me, how many calories I need to cut to lose weight without going into "starvation mode", how much exercise I need to do to lose 1 kg a week (my goal), etc...

Well this is getting long and I still want people to read this so I'll stop this post here. Next post I'll write about my successes thus far (always exciting!) and then where I want to go, what my goals are, as well as measurements and all that..

Lovely to be here, I like seeing real people losing real weight, and learning from their successes! It's so different from just reading some weight loss book that highlights the best case scenarios!
 
Ok so my successes thus far:

-As stated I have lost 6 kg so far!
-My body feels better, I have been doing a lot of exercise so I feel much fitter and I have more energy
-my mood has dramatically increased, I find tons more joy in the simple things of life
-Haven't lost sight of my goals, still moving forward and trying my best even after "disappointing" weeks
-I have felt a definite change in my muscle tone for the better (even though putting on muscle is not my primary goal for the moment as I think it's very difficult or nearly impossible to put on a lot of muscle while also losing a lot of fat.)
-I've felt a definite difference in how my clothes fit, especially around my stomach area as that's where I lose weight first
-I almost feel like I got a butt lift overnight :p, my butt is much tighter compared to when I started
-I make MUCH healthier choices food wise, For example, today I said no to brownies, and ate eggs with carrot and apple instead of the cheeseburger and fries everyone else was having! And yesterday everyone was having kebabs for dinner, and since it was my cheat meal I had one too, but without the fries (VERY proud of myself)
-I crave healthy foods more and more
-The longer on this journey I am, the more I feel like I can really do this! I'm not giving up!
-I've been doing things to make myself more accountable, such as writing on a blog and here to all you dear folks :D, I also write out my successes often when I feel demoralized
-Keeping track of calories, and staying within my calorie limits very successfully!

Anyways those are just a few of the "wins" I've noticed so far, looking forward to many more!

As a side note, I don't think scale weight is the "all in all", and in fact I believe it to be a very incomplete picture of how fit and healthy you are. However I do feel it gives you an indication as to how well you're doing, and helps towards a fuller picture when combined with how your clothes fit, what you look like in the mirror, your measurements, etc..
 
Measurements, etc

Age: 21
Height: 165 cms
Weight: 74 kg

(these measurements are from 2 or 3 weeks ago, as I only do measurements 1ce a month)
Neck: 33.5
boobs: 96
Underboobs: 80.6
waist: 77.7
Hips: 105.3
Butt: 109.2
Thigh right: 66.6
Thigh left: 66.3
calf right: 37
Calf left: 36.6
Bicep right: 32.3
Bicep left:33.2

Yes I know, my lower body is gianormous :p, but that's all going to change!
 
My long-term, monthly, and weekly goals!

Long-term goal:
I want to wear a size 36 (french size), I believe that's a size 6 american but I can't be sure..
Really my long long term goal is to go down to a weight that I feel comfortable with and stay that way for the rest of my life. Right now I'm shooting for 55 kg, but I might have to go lower than that to be a 36, I'm not too sure yet, so it's a bit of a find-out-as-you-go deal. I'll go down to 55 kg and see how I look/feel then.

Monthly goal: My goal this month is to lose 4 kg. I've signed up for the October challenge to help me with this, i'm very excited!

This week: my main goal that I'm keeping in the forefront on my mind this week is to do all the exercise I've planned on the day I planned to do it!
This is something Ive been struggling with, esp around the middle of the week I usually get a little lazy and skip a workout, so this week I'm aiming to do better!

Exercise this week: I'm doing P90 (an exercise program) and i'm in phase 3-4 (really kicking my butt!) so I do the program 6 days a week and I do extra cardio on top of that 7 days a week. I'm working back up to an hour of extra cardio because I just started phase 3 - 4 and it's MUCH harder than phase 1-2!
yesterday I did 45 mins extra cardio and today 30 mins. Tommorrow I'm going to try for an hour again!

Eating plan this week: 1800 cals on low days, 2400 maintenance days (I cycle calories 3 days low, 1 day maintenance)

My diet is still very much a work in progress, as in I haven't pinned down exactly what to do. I'm still experimenting with calories and how much I should exercise to lose a good amount of weight a week.
 
The why and the how

Now for Why I want to lose weight and How I'm going to do it.

Why:
-aesthetic reasons, I just want to look better, hotter, prettier, what have you..
-Health reasons, i want to have better health, be able to do more things, have more energy, and basically just feel better
-I want to feel like i'm at "the top of the food chain" lol... meaning I want to be a "catch" or whatever, someone that ppl look at and wonder how I ended up looking that good.
-I want to be happier, feel better about myself, and I also believe that if I win this battle it'll prove to me that I really can do anything

and I have a lot more reasons but I wouldn't want to bore anyone anymore than I already am.. :p

The How:

The How changes, but right now the plan is to eat 1800 calories (you can tell me this is too much, but I won't listen to you because I went down to 1500 cals and ended up in starvation mode, super hungry all the time, and my wieght loss completely halted till I stopped exercising as much and went up to 1900 cals.)
Aside from that I will exercise EVERY day, 7/7. I'm following the P90 program (I'm on day 45!!! halfway through!! woopie!), and besides P90 I will do extra cardio everyday (up to 60 mins).
I'm trying to be more active during the day as well by doing a lot of house cleaning and getting out of the house more (need to do this more!!).
I drink anywhere from 3 - 4 and 1/2 liters every day, trying to make it at least 4.

I am trying to lose 1 kg per week, so that means tweaking and twisting things around until I find something that works!
We'll see at my weigh in on Monday morning!

BTW I'd love feedback/encouragement/advice or even people to "join me" on my journey, if anyone is interested! I can't promise I'll implement everything you say or always agree with you, but I'll definitely listen! :)
 
The Journey said:
Now for Why I want to lose weight and How I'm going to do it.

Why:
-aesthetic reasons, I just want to look better, hotter, prettier, what have you..
-Health reasons, i want to have better health, be able to do more things, have more energy, and basically just feel better
-I want to feel like i'm at "the top of the food chain" lol... meaning I want to be a "catch" or whatever, someone that ppl look at and wonder how I ended up looking that good.
-I want to be happier, feel better about myself, and I also believe that if I win this battle it'll prove to me that I really can do anything

and I have a lot more reasons but I wouldn't want to bore anyone anymore than I already am.. :p
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Hello and welcome! I just finished reading your posts, and I have to say I love how up beat you are!

I was reading your "Why's" and I have to say, they all struck a chord with me. They could be almost word for word what I have in my head for why I'm losing weight as well. :)

Anyway, I'll keep checking in, and I know with your attitude, you'll be at the top of the food chain in no time! :)


p.s. you're not boring. :)
 
xorie said:
Hello and welcome! I just finished reading your posts, and I have to say I love how up beat you are!

I was reading your "Why's" and I have to say, they all struck a chord with me. They could be almost word for word what I have in my head for why I'm losing weight as well. :)

Anyway, I'll keep checking in, and I know with your attitude, you'll be at the top of the food chain in no time! :)


p.s. you're not boring. :)
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Thanks you for stopping by and for that encouraging comment!
Wish you the best on your journey, I know we can do this!!
 
Ok so yesterday wasn't very good. I didn't count calories most of the day and overate..
The good news is I realized that dieting and knowing I'm making progress is far more rewarding than eating whatever I want...
From now on I'm going to keep thinking "This burger, or permanant weight loss? what's more important to me?" I think that's really going to keep me on the ball!
The other good news is that even though I REALLY didn't feel like exercising I did, and it was great! I did a Turbo Jam exercise video for a change and it was amazing! I felt much better after I'd finished it, like I'd really accomplished something.

Weigh in this morning..(my usual day is monday but I'm doing the October challenge that starts today) and I'm 75.4 kg.. which is, well, BAD. I was 74.1 kg on Monday so that's a little discouraging, but I'm not going to give up, and who knows maybe by Monday everything will be back to normal...
 
Motivation, Motivation...

I'm starting to get obsessed with my scale, which really isn't good. I used to only weigh myself once a week, but now I'm starting to weigh myself everyday, and sometimes even several times a day!! This must stop, it's just stressing me out.
But I was pretty happy when I stepped on there this morning and I was 75.1, which technically isn't all that good seeing that last week I was at 74 kg, but since yesterday I was up to 75.4, I'll take it!

Anyways, yesterday I did good. I did P90, I ate 1600 calories, and I was pretty active all day (cleaned my house, went out shopping, even closed my door and went dance crazy for about half an hour!). I had a potential disaster while out shopping because we went to a store to look around for a gift for my mom, and some of my siblings were buying junk food for themselves..... We went to the chocolate/candy section, and I just wanted to buy ALL of it.. seriously, and then after that EVERY food section we went to I just REALLY wanted it all.
Thankfully I only ended up getting after eights with one of my sisters, so we shared, and I've only eat 5 of them so far (at 35 cals each), and I stayed withing my calorie limits. I also bought some low fat cheese and rice crackers, which are both healthy so I was very happy with myself for that!

Today is going to be another challenge, because it's my mom's birthday so we're going to have a party. The good news is I'm making the cake so I'm going to make her a chocolate/zucchini cake with no frosting. My mom is quite a heavy built woman so she could stand to eat healthy cake :), and I'm pretty sure she'll be happy with whatever I bake her.

Anyways the goal for today is to eat 1700 calories. I'm going to have half a piece of cake, only one scoop of ice-cream and 1 glass of wine for the Party.

So far I've had 700 cals today :)
Oh and of course I have to complete my P90 workout, fun fun fun! :)
Hopefully I'll have time today to read others diaries today and see what you're all up to, we shall see ;)
 
Yesterday went well. Two of my sisters mentioned to me that they can tell I've lost weight which really make me feel like a million bucks.
We were celebrating my mom's birthday so I wore a dress I hadn't worn in a while and it fit me awesome!! Last time I wore it it was tight everywhere, but this time it was very loose around the stomach area and fit well around my hips!! It was very tight around the boob area which I expected because I've always had big boobs :p.
My stomach is getting all nice and flat!!
I'm really happy because it's been a slow start for me and most weeks I don't lose any weight at all. But I'm starting to see results now, and I feel better in my body which is just awesome!
I've lightened up on the exercise a little because I was starting to not enjoy it and I also think I'd been overtraining myself, and since I've lightened up I've been feeling TONS better. I'm going to be slowly increasing the amount I do.

As for the party yesterday, I think I did well. I had a small piece of cake, as planned, a glass of wine, as planned, ice cream.. there were two flavours I REALLY wanted, so I took some of both but only a little bit, and I had some low fat whipped cream. I think I did pretty well! I also did my exercise as planned, and stayed active during the day.

The goal today is to do my P90 workout, eat 1700 cals, and be as active as possible! Wish me luck!!
Oh, and I stepped on the scale this morning (I know, i'm not supposed to till tommorrow) and i'm 74.9! Even though that's still 900 grams more than last week, I'm still happy because it's going down compared to yesterday (I was at 75.1) I'm really hoping that by tomorrow I'll be at 74.5. Which will still be an increase on last week, but 1: not a big one and 2: I feel GREAT, much better than last week so it won't matter that much that I went a bit up!

Have a really great day all of you! I hope you all feel as wonderful as I do!
 
Weigh in today: 75 kg
That's more than I would have liked, and it's 1 kg more than last week BUT I feel fantastic this week, I gave my muscles a good workout for sure because I'm sore! heh
and I feel like i'm losing weight again more than when I was 74 kg so there!

I did great on the exercise this week, completed all of my P90 workouts and 1 other cardio workout. I decided to take it slower on the exercise because I think I was just getting overtrained.. I was super tired ALL THE TIME and achey and I started to feel weaker and have lots of mood swings. Since I've started doing a lil less I feel much better and happier too, so I think it's a good thing! I'm going to gradually increase how much I'm doing.
As far as diet goes last week was good besides that one disaster where I stopped counting calories and ended up eating way too much. The other days were good tho

So, the goal for this week is to complete all of my P90 workouts and 1 other cardio workout (I'm thinking of trying Zumba) and as far as diet goes I'm going to do 1700 cals 6 days and 1 day at 2400, see how that goes

I'm aiming to lose AT LEAST 1 pound or 0.5kg by next monday! Wish me luck!

I'm starting to realize that it might just take a little longer for me to lose weight at least at the beginning and I have to just accept that, because otherwise i'm just constantly discouraged because I try really hard and don't see good enough results. I think I need to give it some time and keep doing what I know I need to without worrying so much.

Anyways, I wish you all the best of weeks and the best of luck with your goals!
 
Monday went well.. not much to report, and today was good too, ate well, did all my workouts.

I'm going to start a different workout program. I finished 51 days of this one instead of the 90 days you're supposed to do. I'm going on to something different because I'm just getting bored.. exercising is already hard work so if it's boring on top of that it becomes really really hard to keep up with. I think it's just time for something new.
So I'm starting Brazil Butt Lift, another beachbody program. This one has dancing etc, so I think it'll keep my attention longer. It's also only a month long program, which is a lot easier to go through. After the end of that month I can always see if I want to do another variation of the program or go on to something else... we shall see :)
 
Goal for today: 1700 cals and 2 exercise vids from BBL :D

400 cals so far, wish me luck. Also going to try to be as active as possible today !
 
yesterday was SHIT... all my fault tho.. I started eating, and then didn't stop..... yaaaaaaaay....
I feel very angry with myself about it,but I'm trying to get passed it.
It seems that once every week I kind of fall of the wagon and do something super bad for my body... I need to find a way to stop doing that.. ideas anyone??

I did however do all my exercise for yesterday, so yay me on that point.
BBL is loads of fun, still quite hard at the moment, which is good. I always thought I had a good amount of muscle on my lower body, looks like I was wrong, time to start kicking ass again!

Anyways to make up for my extremely flawed yesterday I'm going down to 1500 cals, that should make an extra deficit of 600 by the end of the week, which will not make up for all, but at least part of my binge.

Maybe I should do some extra exercise?? I don't want to overdo it too much because that's how I got into the "not losing any weight" mess last time. Maybe I could just take a 30 minute walk everyday along with my routine.. I think I'll try that.
 
Hey :) I really enjoy reading your diary. I think you're doing great. Don't beat yourself up too much when you have a cheat day; it's actually beneficial. I often find I can't lose weight unless I have a cheat day. :) Also, I think you're right about weighing yourself too much; you are! Don't get hung up on numbers. Weight loss is not mathematics. It's more like chemistry. Your body is building all kinds of new tissue and trying to get rid of others, e.g. new muscle is taking the place of capillaries that used to feed the extra fatty tissue. It's all going on inside you and it takes time and needs LOTS of energy! So don't starve yourself. Just maintain a healthy diet (Food Pyramid) and keep moving every day. I would also suggest, so you don't overtrain yourself, to alternate hard exercise days with easy exercise days. So if you do your Brazilian program one day, the next day go for something more leisurely, like a long walk at a steady pace or a leisurely bike ride or swim. And have a rest day. :) You'll find you get better results that way and you won't end up feeling so tired. Good luck and good going! :hurray:
 
Shinsplint said:
Hey :) I really enjoy reading your diary. I think you're doing great. Don't beat yourself up too much when you have a cheat day; it's actually beneficial. I often find I can't lose weight unless I have a cheat day. :) Also, I think you're right about weighing yourself too much; you are! Don't get hung up on numbers. Weight loss is not mathematics. It's more like chemistry. Your body is building all kinds of new tissue and trying to get rid of others, e.g. new muscle is taking the place of capillaries that used to feed the extra fatty tissue. It's all going on inside you and it takes time and needs LOTS of energy! So don't starve yourself. Just maintain a healthy diet (Food Pyramid) and keep moving every day. I would also suggest, so you don't overtrain yourself, to alternate hard exercise days with easy exercise days. So if you do your Brazilian program one day, the next day go for something more leisurely, like a long walk at a steady pace or a leisurely bike ride or swim. And have a rest day. :) You'll find you get better results that way and you won't end up feeling so tired. Good luck and good going! :hurray:
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thanks a lot shinsplint! I'll be taking your advice re: weigh-ins and about a rest day. :)

Weigh-in for the week was yesterday: 74.5
I've really been slacking off last week, it was pretty much a disaster. BUT that's all over so I'm moving on and starting anew today!

Will exercise 6 times this week and move back towards a diet mostly junk-free.
 
Ok so....

I've been off my diet / workouts for about a month to 5 weeks. Which is really bad BUT at least I am getting back to it which I'm very happy for.
I've completed my first week back on track and i'm already feeling much much better.

I worked out 5 days last week, not long workouts, because I wanted to start back up slow, so I don't give up, heh :D
I'm not feeling more like a challenge which is awesome.
I'm also very happy that in those 5 weeks I didn't gain too much weight back
Weigh in today was 76.4 kg, which isn't good, but it could still be a LOT worse. I know the kind of damage I can do to my body in 5 weeks....... not pretty
Anyways I have lost some of the muscle I'd put on in that time and my level of fitness is a little lower, but still higher than when I started in July.

I was reading something the other day which was pretty much a challenge to make the Year End holidays the leanest time of the year instead of what usually happens which is that people go off their diets and gain a lot of weight. I'm up for this challenge so I'm starting next week on the 22nd till January 2nd. Pretty much my goal is going to be to work out more and eat super well except for thanksgiving dinner, christmas dinner and new years eve which i'm allowed to pretty much pig out. But besides those times the goal is to make my diet as perfect as possible. I think it's going to be really fun.

I changed workout programs AGAIN. :p
I'm doing Turbo Jam now and I'm LOVING IT!! it's sooooo fun.. like freakishly fun! and It's really true I don't feel like I'm exercising at all, I find it easy to follow when compared to some other programs I've tried and while the music is not something I'd listen to normally it is excellent for working out!
So I'm doing that 5 times a week but I don't think it has enough Strength Training (besides for abs, i'm guessing coz that's what everyone is worried about these days) so I'm going to do some extra strength training from BBL, which I also liked. i think the two programs are fun to mix together coz they're both dancey but focus on different parts of the bodies (abs vs. lower body)

I'm also going to be exercising everyday. I know a lot of people think that's too much but the truth is that if I miss a day of exercise, even if it's and "allowed" day I am more likely to fall off the wagon and stop exercising altogether. Even if I do start up exercising again it's a lot harder to.

I'm only doing strength training 2 - 3 times a week and the rest is cardio so I don't think it's excessive, from what I've read for weight loss cardio 5 - 6 times a week is ideal and sometimes 7 is helpful as well... As far as strength training is concerned it seems 2 - 3 times for beginners, 3-4 times for intermediates and 4-5 times for advanced is best.

I'm doing about 5 days cardio and 2 - 3 days Strength training so that seems perfectly reasonable. I might even decide to add 1 or 2 more days of cardio later on, who knows. For now I think this is enough, but maybe later when I need to challenge myself some more.

This is book long, I know. It helps me alot when I write my goals and what I'm doing many times because it "reinforces" it in my head and makes it more likely that I'll do it. :D

Anyways, today I did a 20 minute workout, fun as hell! and I ate 1650 cals, which is good for me because my goal is 1800 - 1900 cals
Tomorrow I'll be doing the same workout as yesterday and an AB workout.
CAN'T wait to reach 73 kg! The number is significant because last time I stopped at 74 kg, so going beyond that will be really good for starters!

Oh, and I've also committed to only weighing myself 1ce a week! weighing in more than that is just discouraging for me personally, so i'm gunna stop doing it!
 
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