No more mooing for me! Disneymomof4's weight loss diary.

disneymomof4

disneymomof4

New member
Hi everyone! I am so happy to have found this forum and am going to try and update my weight loss diary daily as I believe it will help me stay focused and motivated.

I am a single mom to four boys and I have been working from home for the last three years, which has made me pretty much sedentary. I have bounced up and down with my weight ever since I had my first son and I have made the decision to change my life for good now that I am done having children.

A week ago today I woke up and decided that I was tired of feeling like I should be walking around all day mooing. From that moment on I have made a conscious effort to stick to my plan and I am proud to say that it has not even been hard. I have had cake shoved in my face, bought my children fast food, and have a house stocked full of goodies that my boys can have if they finish their dinner. However, I have not cheated even once and I am so much happier so far.

Stats:

Starting weight 224
Current weight as of today 218.5
I am 28 years old and am 5'9"

For exercise I have been doing a combination of interval walking/jogging at nothing under 3 mph on the treadmill just to get my body used to exercise again.

Starting tomorrow the 22nd of March I am beginning the Couch to 5K program and will be doing that every other day and at least 45 minutes of aerobics and strength training work on the days when I am not running.

As far as diet is concerned, I developed the mentality this time around that I would cut out all sweets (I am not really a sweets person anyway) and not deprive myself of anything else. What I have changed is the amount that I eat. I have been very portion conscious and I have been using the my plate program on livestrong to keep track of my food intake and calories each day. I have even walked away from several meals without even finishing them, but have not cheated because I can still have anything I want I just have to sacrifice to get it.

For the past week I have not gone over 1200 calories in a day after exercise and I have seen a huge weight loss my first week. While I do not think this will continue, it definitely gave me the motivation I need to kick the exercise up a notch.

My next goal is to cut out some of the diet coke and drink my allotted amount of water each day. Any comments or suggestions are more than welcome!
 
Your a single mom to four boys huh?? wow, that should count as excersize by itself! lol Sounds like your on the right path! Let me know if you have any questions :)
 
You would think that cooking and cleaning and chasing around after those boys would count for something, but sadly it has not. No, I just basically was at a point where I wasn't moving and I was eating far more than I needed to. Thank-you for the warm welcome and I will be sure to take you up on your offer to answer questions lol.

I just finished my raspberry bliss Special K bar and am about to start Week 1 day 1 of my couch to 5k program. I downloaded a playlist that someone made with voice prompts that go with the program, so I can't wait!

For lunch today I will have a Subway 6 in. turkey sub with only lettuce and tomato and an apple. For dinner, I will be making a crockpot meal with boneless skinless chicken breasts, black beans, salsa, and one pouch of fat free cream cheese. The kids like this meal and I serve it over multi grain rice. Total calories for the day with those meals is 799, so I will probably add in a few healthy snacks throughout the day so that my calories do not drop too low.

Have a great day everyone and stay motivated!!!
 
Disney!!!! GLOMP

hehe sorry. Welcome to the forum! My only advice on what I read so far you already addressed. Don't dip your calories too hard. There are various calculating tools that will help determine your BMR. This is your calories needed to maintain your weight. Cut that by 500 and you will lose about one pound. Aim for around 2 pounds a week but everyone is different so also listen to your own body. We will love to help you, keep you modivated and remember

All it takes is faith and trust. The pixie dust is extra :)
 
Thank-you Jericho and Sunflower for the warm welcomes. I definitely don't want to dip too low on calories Jericho, so I added a low fat smoked Gouda and sesame stick snack and an English muffin yesterday. After exercise I was right at 1150 calories for the day.

I am still going strong as of today. I have no desire to cheat or eat more than what I have planned for the day and I never feel starved. I am only weighing myself on Sunday afternoons, so I have nothing to report on the weight front.

Yesterday I finished day one of my Couch 2 5k program and it felt wonderful. Well, truthfully the whole time I was doing it I was cursing my treadmill, but after it was done I realized it felt so good to accomplish something. I was on the treadmill for 35 minutes and ran 10 of those! My jogging was at a speed of 4.5 mph and my walking in between was between 3.3-3.5 mph. I don't know if that is any good, but I am sure I will get faster with time.

Today I will do an aerobic program off of Comcast on Demand and will also work on some weight lifting and strength training exercises. I have decided to run M,W and F and do exercise programs on T and TH. Eventually I would like to get the point where I do both each day of the week, but I want to build up slowly. Thanks for reading and remember to stay motivated!!!
 
Everything is going pretty great again today. I have maintained my eating plan. I did not get a chance to do a video yesterday because it was my monthly shopping trip and by the time I was done I had to pick up all the boys, do homework, dinner, etc and then I had to work all night since I didn't get my work done during the day.

I just finished day 2 of week 1 on the couch to 5k challenge and it was a lot easier than day 1 except for one thing. My right knee is killing me if I put weight on it. I have had surgery on this knee when I was young, so I don't know if that factors in, but it is only the one knee. I am going to buy a brace and hopefully it will feel better for my Friday run/walk.

I could really use the help of some of the experienced members. Ever since I started keeping track of my calories and eating more healthy I am finding it hard to get my calories to where they need to be. The problem is that I am just not hungry past my three healthy meals of the day.

For instance, today I had one package of Kashi heart healthy oatmeal and for lunch I am going to have a cup of fresh fruit salad and one 200 calorie portion of a Digiorno 200 calorie pizza. After subtracting the calories burned from exercise I am only netting 104 calories. It is buffet night for me and the boys at a local place so I just eat a plate of vegetables and a roll because their other options are not healthy, but there is no way I will even get up to 1000 calories with that.

So what do I do? Do I make myself eat even though I am not hungry? The idea is to create a healthier lifestyle and way of living which I have done, but what good is it going to do me if I make myself sick by not getting enough into my body? It has been really easy and I have no cravings and am not hungry, but I don't know what to do at this point. As always, I wish you all the best in your weight loss efforts and thanks for putting up with my long post lol.
 
Do you like nuts? Most nuts are full of protein and healthy fats and are also high in calories. You could measure out a serving in the morning and snack on them throughout the day. Then you aren't eating a lot all at once when you aren't hungry. Everyone says almonds are the best for you, but they are all good if almonds aren't your thing. Just make sure they are unsalted and not flavored (like honey peanuts, for example).
 
Yeah, there are plenty of little things you can add to your food that still has nutritional value. Nuts, olive oil, fruit, a little peanut butter, etc.

BTW, why the name? I'm a disney nut so I have to know.
 
Welcome to the forum!! :)

On days I'm having trouble getting my calories up, I add cheese to my sandwiches, have an extra egg, or if I'm just not hungry I'll have a protein shake... it all helps!!
 
I wanted to first thank all of you for the great suggestions. I would never have thought of the nuts and I just happen to have a big container of unopened mixed nuts lying around here somewhere so I think I will try that.

Jericho said:
Yeah, there are plenty of little things you can add to your food that still has nutritional value. Nuts, olive oil, fruit, a little peanut butter, etc.

BTW, why the name? I'm a disney nut so I have to know.
Click to expand...

The name is because I am a Disney nut too lol. The kids and I go to Disney World at least once a year and it is my happy place. If I can reach my weight loss goal by October, I want to reward myself with a solo trip to the food and wine festival for my birthday. I shouldn't have a problem making goal and maintaining by then, so yah!


Okay, so my knee is awful today. I don't know what happened to it, but it hurts like heck anytime I put weight on it, which is all the time because there are a million things I have to do for the boys all day. I am going to of course lay off the running and that and hope that it feels better by Monday. If so, I will just move on to Week two of the couch to 5k program as planned since I have done two days on week 1 and don't want to get behind.

I did manage to bump my calories up yesterday to net 1054, so that went well. I am going to do some sitting exercises with weights to work my arms and such and then I can do some ab exercises without hurting my knee too. It isn't much, but it is better than doing nothing. I found out that my last grandparent died yesterday, so it has not been the best week so far, but I am still really excited about weigh day!

Have a great motivated day everyone!
 
Cool! I go with my fiancee several times a year, even proposed to her there (I should put pictures up of it in my album). I like the food and wine festival too, there is this time in November that we plan to go where we can do food and wine AND the christmas party. that's going to be fun.


But that cheer aside, I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandparent. I lost my grandfather about 2 years ago, the first person close in my life to die. It was pretty rough. I know you will get to it. The one thing diet wise to focus on is don't emotional eat during this time. It's pretty tempting but I think you have the will to avoid that.
 
Jericho said:
Cool! I go with my fiancee several times a year, even proposed to her there (I should put pictures up of it in my album). I like the food and wine festival too, there is this time in November that we plan to go where we can do food and wine AND the christmas party. that's going to be fun.


But that cheer aside, I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandparent. I lost my grandfather about 2 years ago, the first person close in my life to die. It was pretty rough. I know you will get to it. The one thing diet wise to focus on is don't emotional eat during this time. It's pretty tempting but I think you have the will to avoid that.
Click to expand...

It's so awesome that you proposed there! Thanks for the kind words, she was the last grandparent I had left, but I have lost my dad and my ex-husband as well so I am pretty used to the grief.

I actually have not been tempted at all to emotional eat. It is like I just woke up one day and made the decision to completely change and from that point forward I haven't had to give it a second thought. Hopefully it will stay that way :smilielol5:.
 
That is really good to hear. It sounds like you are on the right track so keep it going. I bet you can lose a pound and a half this week. What do you think?
 
Thanks Jericho, I am pretty sure I can lose that much this week, but we will find out on Sunday.

There isn't much to report today. I have continued to keep my calories low and have not even thought about cheating. However, I can't do anything with my dumb knee the way it is. There is a rather large lump on the bottom part of me knee with a bruise towards the inside of my leg, so I have no idea what I have done to it, but it is impossible to even walk correctly right now let alone run.

Yesterday I did some work with free weights and I will do that again today, but I guess I will have to start the couch 2 5k program over again whenever the knee does get back to normal, because I don't want to move on to week 2 without completing week one without an injury. I also think this will put a damper in my weight loss. I know I won't gain because I am eating at 1100-1200 calories below maintenance. I just don't think I will lose very much without the cardio and it looks like it is going to be at least another few days.
 
Don't sweat not being able to exercise. Several people here say losing weight is 80% diet, 20% exercise. Keep your calories within your range and work with the free weights, you'll see a loss.
 
I did not have time to update yesterday because I took my boys to meet a friend and his kids and we took them to the park, fishing and did a whole bunch of other stuff. My knee felt better than the last few days and I walked a lot on it yesterday, but today it is pretty stiff and sore again. At least I got some walking in though.

Didn't have too much to eat yesterday because I was running all around and he cooked dinner, but I didn't have a way to count calories so I just had a turkey sandwich instead. So, I did come in under 1000 calories, but it was only for one day.

Today we are going to stay close to home for the most part, so I will have my calories straight and I am going to keep working with the free weights and see how my knee goes for the rest of the day. At least I will have strong arms lol. Have a great day all and thank-you mizzie for the encouragement!
 
Oh hey there!

I just read through your journal and I can totally relate to being mega-jazzed about an exercise routine and then hitting a wall of pain...

Last year I joined the gym, got a personal trainer, and started doing the Couch to 5K training myself... but within a week or two my left hip was just out of control painful. I could hardly walk!

I am now (after a not-so-brief hiatus filled with food and a sedentary lifestyle) slowly reintroducing activity to my routine. It's my tendency to be so excited to start doing something good for me that I over-do it, and if I'm not mistaken it seems like maybe you have done the same thing?

I'm now starting (again) small with walks and mega-beginner strength training. I started yesterday with 20 minutes of walking, today I'll step up to 22 minutes, tomorrow 24 minutes... We'll see how it goes!

Let me know how you're doing, I'd love to have a new friend in this weight loss journey!!


P.S. I live 30 minutes away from Disney... :coolgleamA:
 
Thanks Lady Foodaholic, I think that may be what happened, but I really didn't think I was taking it that fast. I have heard of people starting off with much more exercise than I have been doing and they were all fine. I will definitely be taking it slower now though. It must be awesome to live that close to the Happiest Place on Earth!

I am a little down today. I am not feeling to well and my knee is still making it hard to move around. I guess my plan of starting again today is not going to work. I am trying to do as much movement as I can without hurting myself more, but it just isn't enough to see the results I want to see so it is all a little discouraging.

Also, I was not able to weigh myself on Sunday as planned because my scale has died. I tried to buy one yesterday, but they didn't sell them where I went. The boys are out of school this week, so it will be a few days before I make it back into town to get one. I hoping to be down at least another two pounds through just the diet alone, but we will see.
 
I just realized that I haven't been posting much about what I eat and that is mostly because I keep track of it online and never go over, but it may be helpful to post it here as well. Right now, my calorie limit on the site I use is set at 1581, but I have only gone over 1230 once in the last two and a half weeks when I had a day that was 1490.

So, yesterday I ate 1 cup Jumbo rice crispy cereal and 1/2 cup fat free skim milk for 130 calorie total. I had a serving and a half of Campbells select harvest beef and roasted barley soup for lunch and two slices of whole grain pepperidge farm swirl bread with raisins for a total of 355 calories for lunch. At dinner I had two servings of Uncle Ben's parboiled and enriched long grain rice with 6 oz. of boneless skinless chicken cooked in the crock pot with ginger sesame marinade. The total for dinner was 580 calories. I also had two more slices of swirl bread for a snack which was another 160 calories to bring me to 1230 for the day.

Today I will have two slices of swirl bread for a mid morning snack since I missed breakfast for once. I will have a serving of left over rice an 3 oz. of chicken from last night for lunch to total 290 calories. I may have an apple for a before dinner snack if needed, but I haven't decided on what to make for dinner tonight.

I am going to look into buying an exercise bike this week, since it look like my leg is going to give me trouble for a while, and I think the bike won't put near the stress on it that the treadmill does. I hope to buy a new scale tomorrow as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top