Well, I guess this is my Weight Loss Diary!
I'm at the halfway point of my undergrad degree, and taking stock of how my life is going, I've just realised that I have some work to do in a couple areas of my life, one being, obviously, my weight (or, more accurately, my fat, I guess!).
I don't have access to a scale right now, but I believe my weight is somewhere around 155. My reasonable goal is 120, and my shorter term goal is 130 (by my 21st birthday on June 10th).
I've put on a lot of weight since college, more than fifty pounds! I've really finally come to terms with just how much bigger I am now, and I do believe that accepting my body as is it is a great thing; but at the same time, I KNOW that eating ice cream by the gallon cannot be good for my body! I've picked up a couple of bad habits over the past few years. So here's what they are AND how I'm going to fix them:
1) erratic eating habits- I'll eat too little for half the day, get really hungry, and then way overeat later on. So I'm going to make an effort to eat at regular intervals during the morning and early afternoon, even if I don't think I'm hungry or think I can make it a bit longer, because I know it will just make me overeat later in the day!
2) less exercise- I still run, but not as much as I used to. It's a lot because running isn't as much fun now that I'm bigger and not as light, and also because I'm honestly a little embarassed, being around all the skinny runner girls that seem to dominate the population at my university. But I plan to shoot for three to five miles most days of the week, and I'm going to go to the gym and not care who is watching the fat girl run and do pullups!
3) emotional/boredom eating- I do that so much. Every day, practically! Eating has become almost a hobby. And that's additionally bad because the time I spend eating takes away from time I should be spending doing things like schoolwork, my research, my other real hobbies, and my social life. So, from now on, I'm going to do my best to eat only from hunger in the afternoons and evenings, and choose alternative things to do to cure my boredom: homework, reading, hanging out with friends, finding social activities
4) not enough water- I'm pretty sure I'm dehydrated! I love coffee and tea, but those have become pretty much all of my liquids. I'm going to carry a water bottle around with me, aiming for just one bottle per day, at first!
5) measuring too often- I use the scale and/or tape measure every day. All that does is frustrate me, really. So I'm going to stick to Thursdays ONLY. That'll be a tough habit to break, for sure...
6) eating dairy- I'm lactose intolerant, but that hasn't stopped me from eating dairy. Actually, I eat more dairy than anything else sometimes! Which means relying on lactase tablets or feeling really, really sick. But I want to be better to my body by just respecting the fact that it can't handle dairy, stick to lactose-free products.
And aside from losing weight, I'd like to keep track of other ways in which I improve my life too (I hope that's okay!). Because weight isn't everything.
1) reading- I love to read, but it's sometimes difficult to keep up with during school. I'm making a goal of one book per month. I realise that probably sounds paltry, but I'm talking about big books, here. Haha. I'm starting with Les Miserables for January.
2) schoolwork- I was the top of my class in high school, but I've fallen way behind in college. I'm just still not used to actually doing work outside of class! I can make B's without doing hardly anything, but I know I can do better. So my goal is to do some homework every day.
3) research- I have a great job doing biochemistry reserach, specialising in RNA. I can make my own hours, so sometimes finding motivation is difficult. I'm going to shoot for two hours, three days during the week, and then at least four hours on Saturday.
4) appearance- Aside from my weight, I know I could do a little better here. Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking, I'll wait until I'm thin again, and THEN I'll get new clothes/wear makeup/etc.
5) hair pulling- I think I've got a mild form of trich or something. I twist and break off bits of my hair compulsively, and it's giving me awful split ends. So I'm trying to quit that!
6) social life- I got pretty antisocial last semester particularly. My goal is to do one social thing per day, whether that be hanging out with a friend, meeting someone new for coffee, going on a date, church group, whatever.
So that's 12 goals total to keep track of. I don't know whether I'll update every one everyday or what...
January goals (starting off slow!):
-eat at least 400 calories before mid-afternoon, and take vitamins in the morning
-run three to five miles, six days per week, plus strength training every other day
-no eating after lunch for reasons other than hunger or meals
-drink one water bottle of water every day
-weigh and measure on Thursdays
-no dairy with lactose in it
-read a little bit every day
-schoolwork at least one hour every day
-research two hours, three days per week (not sure which yet), plus four hours Saturday
-wear makeup and not sweat pants most days
-no hair pulling
-one social activity per day
That's all for now. Things might get adjusted later on, especially in the weight loss category, if I don't see results. We'll see!
I'm at the halfway point of my undergrad degree, and taking stock of how my life is going, I've just realised that I have some work to do in a couple areas of my life, one being, obviously, my weight (or, more accurately, my fat, I guess!).
I don't have access to a scale right now, but I believe my weight is somewhere around 155. My reasonable goal is 120, and my shorter term goal is 130 (by my 21st birthday on June 10th).
I've put on a lot of weight since college, more than fifty pounds! I've really finally come to terms with just how much bigger I am now, and I do believe that accepting my body as is it is a great thing; but at the same time, I KNOW that eating ice cream by the gallon cannot be good for my body! I've picked up a couple of bad habits over the past few years. So here's what they are AND how I'm going to fix them:
1) erratic eating habits- I'll eat too little for half the day, get really hungry, and then way overeat later on. So I'm going to make an effort to eat at regular intervals during the morning and early afternoon, even if I don't think I'm hungry or think I can make it a bit longer, because I know it will just make me overeat later in the day!
2) less exercise- I still run, but not as much as I used to. It's a lot because running isn't as much fun now that I'm bigger and not as light, and also because I'm honestly a little embarassed, being around all the skinny runner girls that seem to dominate the population at my university. But I plan to shoot for three to five miles most days of the week, and I'm going to go to the gym and not care who is watching the fat girl run and do pullups!
3) emotional/boredom eating- I do that so much. Every day, practically! Eating has become almost a hobby. And that's additionally bad because the time I spend eating takes away from time I should be spending doing things like schoolwork, my research, my other real hobbies, and my social life. So, from now on, I'm going to do my best to eat only from hunger in the afternoons and evenings, and choose alternative things to do to cure my boredom: homework, reading, hanging out with friends, finding social activities
4) not enough water- I'm pretty sure I'm dehydrated! I love coffee and tea, but those have become pretty much all of my liquids. I'm going to carry a water bottle around with me, aiming for just one bottle per day, at first!
5) measuring too often- I use the scale and/or tape measure every day. All that does is frustrate me, really. So I'm going to stick to Thursdays ONLY. That'll be a tough habit to break, for sure...
6) eating dairy- I'm lactose intolerant, but that hasn't stopped me from eating dairy. Actually, I eat more dairy than anything else sometimes! Which means relying on lactase tablets or feeling really, really sick. But I want to be better to my body by just respecting the fact that it can't handle dairy, stick to lactose-free products.
And aside from losing weight, I'd like to keep track of other ways in which I improve my life too (I hope that's okay!). Because weight isn't everything.
1) reading- I love to read, but it's sometimes difficult to keep up with during school. I'm making a goal of one book per month. I realise that probably sounds paltry, but I'm talking about big books, here. Haha. I'm starting with Les Miserables for January.
2) schoolwork- I was the top of my class in high school, but I've fallen way behind in college. I'm just still not used to actually doing work outside of class! I can make B's without doing hardly anything, but I know I can do better. So my goal is to do some homework every day.
3) research- I have a great job doing biochemistry reserach, specialising in RNA. I can make my own hours, so sometimes finding motivation is difficult. I'm going to shoot for two hours, three days during the week, and then at least four hours on Saturday.
4) appearance- Aside from my weight, I know I could do a little better here. Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking, I'll wait until I'm thin again, and THEN I'll get new clothes/wear makeup/etc.
5) hair pulling- I think I've got a mild form of trich or something. I twist and break off bits of my hair compulsively, and it's giving me awful split ends. So I'm trying to quit that!
6) social life- I got pretty antisocial last semester particularly. My goal is to do one social thing per day, whether that be hanging out with a friend, meeting someone new for coffee, going on a date, church group, whatever.
So that's 12 goals total to keep track of. I don't know whether I'll update every one everyday or what...
January goals (starting off slow!):
-eat at least 400 calories before mid-afternoon, and take vitamins in the morning
-run three to five miles, six days per week, plus strength training every other day
-no eating after lunch for reasons other than hunger or meals
-drink one water bottle of water every day
-weigh and measure on Thursdays
-no dairy with lactose in it
-read a little bit every day
-schoolwork at least one hour every day
-research two hours, three days per week (not sure which yet), plus four hours Saturday
-wear makeup and not sweat pants most days
-no hair pulling
-one social activity per day
That's all for now. Things might get adjusted later on, especially in the weight loss category, if I don't see results. We'll see!
