Picture Diary: From 164 to 100!

Wild Vulpix

Wild Vulpix

New member
Picture Diary: From 164 to 99!

Date started: March 15, 2009

Current weight: 157lbs

Age: 20
Height: 5'0"
Starting BMI: 32.0
Starting weight: 164lbs

y = -.21x+164

Short term goal(1): 155lbs-----------------------------------[04/24/08]
Short term goal(2): 153lbs (BMI 29.9)
Short term goal(3): 150lbs
Short term goal(4): 148.5lbs (BMI 29)
Short term goal(5): 147.6lbs (Loss of 10% of total)
Short term goal(6): 146lbs (Half way between goals)
Short term goal(7): 143.5lbs (BMI 28)
Major goal(8): 140lbs* (Old weight)
Short term goal(9): 138.5lbs (BMI 27)
Short term goal(10): 133lbs (BMI 26)
Short term goal(11): 130lbs
Short term goal(12): 127.5lbs* (BMI 24.9)
Short term goal(13): 123lbs (average "ideal weight" for people like me)
Major goal(14): 121lbs (50th percentile)
Short term goal(15): 117.5lbs* (GoalG1)
Short term goal(16): 115lbs
Short term goal(17): 112.5lbs (BMI 22)
Short term goal(18): 105lbs
Short term goal(19): 107.5lbs (BMI 21)
Short term goal(20): 102.5lbs* (GoalG2)
Final goal(21): 99lbs* (Under 100)

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DAY 2 March 17, 2009. 159lbs.
Hello everybody!! I decided to start up my own journal too to keep track of my own progress. I'm going to post up pictures weekly or bi weekly of my progress (hopefully progress) to help myself go. I look a lot heavier than I had though!! :ack2: But, I'm 'technically' obese (I don't feel like it, but you know...) I dieted before, and very successfully... until I went to visit my boyfriend. He took me out to eat often, and it was impossible to say 'no' when he was eating that delicious food around me all the time! I was down to 140lbs and have been in denial for the last few months that I've put on any weight. But my boyfriend is away for a week, and so I'm taking the opportunity to jump back on the diet. I hope strongly that I can keep it up when it gets back.

Today I had two eggs, a slice of whole wheat toast, a half cup or less of chicken, a half cup of broccoli and cauliflower, and... that's about it. A total of, I think, 366 calories. Which isn't a lot, but I'm a very short girl, so I don't get to eat as much as someone else!!

So here's our first set of pictures, with me at 159lbs and 31.0 BMI. (I'll post pictures of my face through this journey once I finish. Until then, I'm too afraid to show my identity!!)
http://i41.tinypic.com/260sl1c.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/jp7t6s.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/f50h28.jpg
I've got my work cut out for me...

DAY 7 March 22, 2009. 156lbs.
Whoo! 9 pounds slayed in a week! But, I realize that most of this is water weight, and losing will be slower now than before... But that's no reason to frown! Anywho, I'll be updating this diary about once a week, usually on Sundays. Perhaps more, but no less. Pictures will usually come on when I meet certain goals. (Particularly the ones with asterisks (*) next to them.) My boyfriend his home from his vacation, and has taken it upon himself to continue to eat those yummy, yummy foods. But I'm not yet tempted by them!! I've been eating much better too. The change isn't bad or hard yet, so there's not much to report on. I added more goals though: Time goals. Meaning, Good Job at me if I continue dieting for x amount of time! Basically, it's just another reason to pat myself on the back. The week was long, but since it was Spring Vacation, and my lover was away, I expected it to drag on; this week should go by faster, but because of school, it'll probably be harder too... I have confidence that I can keep up the diet too. Sorry for the uneventful update! Next one shall be better!

DAY 14 March 29, 2009. 159lbs.
From 156 to 159? How'd that happen? Honestly, I'm unsure, but I do have hunches. First off, ALL WEEK I've been going from 155.5 to something higher, then back down to 155.5 over and over. I've been strictly counting calories too, but to be honest, I've been eating between 1050 and 1100 calories a day. Yesterday, I got sick of my lack of progress and decided to seriously get my calories up to 1200 at least. Now, the other reason I went up 3 lbs is because I got a new scale. Apparently, my other one was reading a little light :( (only 1-2lbs though. By my old scale, I'm 158 today... So I still went up.) I think my body is still just adjusting though, and I'm no where NEAR ready to throw in the towel! I'm glad I got a new scale too, because my last only read to the nearest half, but this goes to the nearest tenth. (I do weigh myself every day--but I only take my Sunday weigh-ins seriously.) I'm sad that I haven't gotten to my first goal yet though... Once I get to that one, I feel like all the others will follow quickly in fold, since they're so close together. *crosses her fingers* All I can do is wait though, and hope I'm on the right track.

DAY 21 April 5, 2009. 156.6lbs.
Hurray!! The past week has been very... interesting to me, as far as weight loss goes. I went up and up, then plummeted down. Wow. It was great. I'm so glad that I didn't give up. I'm eating 1200-1300 calories a day, and my body is loving it. My old scale (the one I started dieting with) said I weighed 153.5lbs today!! That's .5 away from my first goal!! The absolute best part though, was that yesterday I was SO hungry the whole day and SO bored, I just wanted to sit around and munch on food. But I resisted. And you know what happened? Between yesterday and today, I dropped a whole pound! Amazing!! Though, some of it will probably sneak up on me tomorrow, lol. But I don't care--I still lost weight, and I'm still inching toward my goal. Furthermore, Chef's challenge starts, well, now, and that should be super fun. I don't have confidence with winning, BUT who cares? If I come out with any weight lost, then I win. :) Long story short: It has been an AWESOME week. (I even got to have Sushi, and I didn't over eat that day!!! That's amazing for me!)

DAY 28 April 12, 2009. 157.2lbs.
I don't remember the past week too well, honestly. I ate right, but didn't excerise much, so I don't know. I think part of the gain was that last night I had to eat a lot of food later than I normally would have, because I had more calories that I needed to fill up. But I'm starting to see a pattern with my weekly weight loss of an up and down, up and down... thing. Plus, in a month, I went from 164 down to 157.2. That's 6.8lbs lost! You can't be too ashamed of that! I had to go out and buy two pairs of pants. They're a nice fitting (not too tight, not too loose) size 12 (but they're stretchy). Most of the pants I own are size 9 or 10 (not stretchy), and they don't fit that well, so I'm counting down the inches until these pants fit well (3 inches to go on the hips!) and I bought a bra that is, apparently, a bit too small around the chest. 2-3 inches off my chest should kill that problem though! I really can't wait to wear these clothes. This next week is going to be incredibly hard though. I'm visiting my boyfriend's parents for a week, I'll be out of reach of a scale, and food is a BIG thing with them. I expect I'll be eating out a whole lot, and I don't even know if I should count calories, or simply worry about portion control. We'll see this time next week, I guess...

DAY 35 April 19, 2009. 157lbs.
Wow. I'm impressed that I didn't gain weight--I was so sure that I would. We ate out a lot and I had a lot of fattening rice. The week was so fun though. I had all I could eat lobster, REAL Chinese food (and lots of it), as well as lots of restaurant foods. My boyfriend and I split everything that we ate though, so I never had a whole meal to myself, which worked awesomely for me, apparently. We also swam a lot, did a lot of walking, and played tennis a bit--so I was quite physically active. (At least more so than normally.) I still wish I had lost weight, of course, and I'm sad that I STILL haven't reached my first goal. It's also frustrating because it's like... I've been at a stand still for the past 3 weeks. Well.... Let's just keep trucking along anyways...

http://www.overstock.com/sizing.html
 
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Hi there! Grats on starting your journal!

I know how hard it can be to make good food choices when those closest to you are eating all the "good stuff." It's even worse when you pack on the pounds and no one else seems to gain a pound! lol

I'm looking forward to following your progress; though please tell me you're eating more than 366 calories today! :ack2:
 
Hey Vulpix, it's great that you've decided to start your weight loss journey! Getting started is the hardest part, so you're already ahead!

I totally agree with Schwa - even for a small girl, 366 calories isn't enough. You should check out the Nutrition part of the forum and read the stickies. I wish it was something I'd done when I first started out :).
 
you definately need to be eating more than 400 calories. you need to eat in order to get your metabolism going and to lose weight. try eating 3 small meals and 2 or 3 snacks throughout the day. i'm not sure how many calories you should be eating, but when i was about your weight i was eating 1200-1400 and exercising and still losing weight, regardless of the height difference. if you continue to eat this little your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto the excess weight, which you obviously don't want to happen...
 
Thank you guys so much for the help!! I'll defiantly eat more. I wasn't sure where I should draw the line at, and I felt that 400 was a lot. But now I know better! Which is great, because it means I can have popcorn and other yummies sometime during the day! Hurray! I'll try aiming for about 900-1000, since I don't exercise that much (right now, only a 1.5 mile walk a day). Do you guys feel that that isn't enough/too much/just right?
 
Sounds like you really have the right attitude!

I think 900-1000 still sounds a little low, but there are many tools available to help you figure out exactly how to get started.

First, I'd suggest reading this post, which provides an overview of what happens when you eat to lose weight:

http://weight-loss.fitness.com/topic/9468-starvation-calories-adaptations.html

To figure out how many calories you need, check out FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal - once you register you can enter height, weight, age and activity level (under the Activities tab) and get a pretty good idea of what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is. Then you should consume less than this amount of calories to lose fat weight. The post I listed above talks about this in more detail. So do many of the other stickied posts (mainly in the Nutrition and On Topic sections) throughout the forum. The more information you arm yourself with the better you'll be able to tackle and achieve your goals.
 
Hi and welcome. Listen to Shep03. You are going to totally defeat yourself at only 400 calories a day. Now, I seriously doubt you are ONLY getting 400 calories a day but don't worry about that right now. What is important is that you have a lot to learn and you don't realize you need a lot more than 400 caloreis a day. Just like she said, you need to eat 3 healthy meals plus a small healthy snack in between each meal. Also, just because you are allowed to eat more than 400 calories doesn't mean you can eat popcorn everyday. ;) Maybe give yourself one cheat day a week. One cheat meal per week would be better but if you need a whole day at first then so be it.

The good news is you have a nice body for being overweight and I don't see any stretch marks yet or other damage that will be permanent. The bad news is you have a lot to learn. BUT, that is the fun part! You are young so no one expects you to know these things. Everyone has to start somewhere. We all did! Just please realize that and try very hard to learn a lot. Just read and read and read. Not all advice you will get will be good advice and sometimes you have to use your own smarts to figure out what is best for you. But eventually you will start to see some basic fundamentals that are repeated over and over again. Those are key. Stick to the fundamentals and they will get you very far.
 
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There's tons of information on this site, about nutrition and exercising and anything else for that matter, so if you read the stickies or type in what you're looking for in the little search engine at the top, I'm sure something will come up.

Just because you aren't exercising a whole lot at the moment doesn't mean you can't change your diet. You could eat your eggs and toast for breakfast, maybe a salad for lunch, the chicken and broccoli for dinner but add in some brown rice, and do fruit, yogurt, and popcorn for snacks to up your calories for now. You can up your exercise whenever you have more time or feel comfortable doing that. The important thing is you're willing to take advice and take the time to eat right and exercise...and have the motivation, which is definately the first step!!

Good luck on your weight loss journey. We're here to answer any question we can that you have. :)
 
So I signed up for FitDay and it's telling me to eat 1050 calories per day, lol. Well, today I had about 1020 anyways. So, hurray! Thank you guys, again, for the help. It feels strange to be eating so much (since the stuff I'm eating is low on calories, it means I have to eat more than I'm used to--instead of 2 slices of deep dish pizzas, I have to eat like, 10 apples!) I guess the next step is to trade some of those calories of oatmeal and popcorn for spinach and broccoli.
 
i still think 1050 is still to low, 1200 is the minimum value set in my nutrition text books and that for your weight 1270 cals would be your minimum safe intake. below which metabolic conservation or nutrient inadequacy is likely to occur.
 
Even though I'm only 5'0" though? Someone with my weight at a height of 5'6" has a nearly healthy BMI. I don't think a lot of studies and formulas work fantastic for someone of my height, since I'm such a minority :( so it leaves me confused.
 
BMI is an awfull metric, and i do understand the height issue, i am only 2 inches taller than you are. and as far as BMI is concerned i am morbidly obese lol. I have bodyfat measurements taken each month which indicate i am in the healthy range. BF% is a good option but not always easy to access unless you are a gym member or know someone to take the measurements for you.
 
I agree with Trusylver 100%. And your height isn't really relevant to how many calories you should be eating, it's your weight that matters. Whether you're 5'7 168 or 5'0 168 it takes about the same amount of energy to move you around.

I'm guessing when you got your BMR from Fitday, you didn't add in your activity level, which is how you came up with such a low number.

I really can't say enough how useful reading the stickies in these forums is in terms of understanding how to eat to lose weight.
 
Girly you gotta eat more than 366 calories. For starters you are only going to lose water weight and lean muscle mass. You do not want that. Secondly it will eventually force your body into starvation mode which makes your body feed off your lean muscle. It is not good for you at all. Healthy weight loss is long term weight loss. Trust me. And now as far as the BMI goes. It is bull. I would not go by that. At some point and time it was telling me I was obese. I am 5'6 and at the time was 155. By no means would I have thought I was obese, but the BMI thing said I was. It is all about your body composition. You might look fine at 5'0 115 pounds...where you are comfortable and healthy is what really matters. Good luck on your journey and promise me you will eat. Don't make me send you food!!! =)
 
I'm going to show my math quickly, so I'm on the same page:
My BMR, at 159lbs, Female, and 5'0" is 1527.7. So I should be eating no more than 1527 calories, or anything less than 1068 (1527-(1527*30%)=1068. I read in one of the stickies, that you shouldn't eat less than this).

My "seated lifestyle" on FitDay puts me at spending 1951 calories a day naturally, PLUS another 112 for my 1.6 mile walks.

FitDay tells me that to lose 1.9lbs a week, I need to lose 0.28lbs a day. 0.28/3500 = 987. So 987 is my restriction.

(1951+112) - 987 = 1076

So to lose 1.9lbs a week, with my current routine (which will grow and progress as I do), I need to be eating 1076 calories. I could exercise out another 150 calories, then I could eat 1220 to be in line with my goal, but I'm not ready yet to do that. Give me another week and I may decide to double my walk--or intensify it.

Sorry for getting all mathy! But I really do enjoy numbers! And I really want to do this right! You guys are being sooo helpful!! I love it!
 
Ah, I see how you broke it down.

I still tend to think that's a little low, however. You might start out losing 1.9 lbs a week, but that's going to plateau out (again, the sticky I posted talks about this) and you'll have to cut calories/increase exercise again to keep the weight loss rolling.

Also, I don't know how many calories you've been eating, or for how long, but if you were previously eating two or three times that much a day, and you suddenly cut that much, you can kick your body into starvation mode and ultimately sabotage your own weight loss. There are TONS of posts around this forum from users who have done that, and don't understand why they eat less and less and can't lose weight (I've been in that position, and it's frustrating). It's better for your long term goal to start off reducing by a small amount (10-20%) so that you can cut back a little more later.

It's generally advised not to cut your calories all at once. Both increasing/decreasing caloric intake is better if you do it gradually.

I think something else to remember is that right now you're trying to lose weight, but in order for it to matter (meaning, in order to not gain it all back again), you should think of it as a lifestyle change and not just a means to an end. Otherwise you'll fall into the trap that many people do of rollercoaster/yoyo dieting. It might not give you the instant gratification you can't help but want, but it will be a lot less frustrating in the long run.

I think the best thing to do is read a lot. The people on this forum are generally helpful and often knowledgeable, but remember not everyone who gives you advice is really an expert. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination; I've just had some success (and some failure!) at losing weight. It sounds like you have a great attitude about it, and that's the most important thing. Keep at it, and you'll get there!
 
Great post PhatCat! Most of us here are not "experts" but many of us have a lot of experience from both succeeding and failing. I know quite a bit more than the average bear but I still ask for advice all the time. That doesn't mean I will always take the advice. I just like to hear what other people know and about their own experiences.

Wild Vulpix, your math is fairly accurate so I understand where you are coming up with your numbers. But once again, listen to PhatCat and some of the others who have posted here. 1000 calories a day is still a little too low even though you are fairly small.

Here's the thing, you can eat about 1400 calories a day and if you are burning 1900 calories a day you should lose about 1 lb per week. However, the first month you might lose a little more than 1 lb per week due to water retention. Now, I realize you would much rather lose twice as fast but that is not the best thing for you. If you can average 1 to 1.5 lb of weight loss per week that is something to be proud of and it will be best for you in the long run. I promise you in 12 weeks you will look and feel so much better that you will want to try even harder the next 12 weeks and so on and so on. Someday about 6 to 9 months from now you will realize just how fast the time has gone by. Or you can make the same mistake that so many of us have made and think that you can get by with less food, be burnt out in 12 weeks, slowly gain all your weight back and then go who knows how long before you try again some day.

I will repeat what others have said, fitness and health is for life. If you lose weight and become fit in a healthy way, you will slowly learn the habbits to make doing it for life seem easy.

I hope we are not making things to complicated. Don't let the fine details confuse you right now. In general I think the first 4 weeks you should just "shoot for" 1200 to 1400 calories a day making sure to avoid most fattening foods and junk foods. Go ahead and do your excercising and maybe start thinking about some light weightlifting two or three times per week. That will help you with strength and maintaining muscle. You will not get big from lifting weights. Just be as consistent as possible and weigh yourself once a week. Don't make any assumptions at first. Give it 4 weeks and then let us know the results. If you have lost 4 to 8 lbs the first 4 weeks then you are headed in the right direction. :coolgleamA:
 
To be perfectly honest, I have no clue how much I was eating before. I didn't eat much, but I suspect what I DID eat was high on calories. Each day ranged really differently, from eating almost nothing, to going out and stuffing myself. There's never really been a balance with me. I'd just eat when I got hungry, and I'd eat until I was either stuffed, or my plate was cleaned. I HATE cooking, so most of what I ate at home was microwavable, or could be popped into the toaster oven (so, frozen pizzas, pizza bites, french fries fried in fatty oil)--but again, there are days between these where I ate nearly nothing. So I don't think I really had an average calorie intake; just a speratic one.

So to be safe rather than sorry, I'll do as you guys suggest. 1200-1400 calories it is! :) I would, after all, really like to avoid a plateau. I've been reading a lot outside this topic too, don't worry! Very, very insightful stuff here. I've learned so much in only a week!!

Thank you for the perspective, Derrick! I see what you mean, and understand where you're coming from. I really appricate the little motivational speech, lol. I don't think I'm quite ready to start lifting weights yet (even lightly) but when I get down to 140, I'll start thinking about it seriously. Like you said, I don't want to overwhelm myself!
 
It's crazy how many calories can be packed into tiny (often innocent looking) packages! Oh fruit juice...

It sounds like you've got a pretty good plan. At the very least, giving your body a period of regular calorie intake is probably a very healthy thing. And you should get some great results!

I agree with you on taking it one step at a time. It's easy to get overwhelmed with too many changes, too much information (like Derrick pointed out), and then end up burning yourself out. It's great to see you getting started, and I hope you keep updating your journal so we can see how things progress!
 
Its good that you are open to working things out and not stubbornly sticking with 400 calories after it gave such good results. Good for you.

I've read here over and over that 10 calories per pound is a good number. It won't equate to 1.9lbs of loss a week, but that is high for you. Your "healthy" range is 1% of your body weight, so for you that would be about 1.5-1.6.

It is hard starting out because we Americans are so ignorant about nutrition. Parents don't really know so they cant teach their children and our schools pretty much say "eat from the food pyramid, HUZZAH!" and leave it at that.

If you start out eating too little calories, say like 1k you really have no where to go. If you start out at 1500 when you get down to 140 you start eating 1400 then at 130 you start eating 1300, 120 - 1200, 110 - 1100, and you get the idea.

Good luck, stay consistant and you should do fine.
 
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