Rachel's New Habits

Hey girl! I think it's awesome that you dove right in and are doing such a great job exercising. Make sure you take some measurements and don't just rely on the scale!
 
Another thought I just had is that I know I'm doing the right thing. I could increase my exercise time and decrease my portion-size a little bit more, but there is no way that I am taking in as many calories as I used to. I've also increased my fitness level and can exercise for longer periods of time and with more vigor.

The two concrete things I mentioned above are really important, but the trick to getting me where I need to be is positive reinforcement. I need to keep my spirits up and not get down on myself.
 
No matter how many miles I walk or how high I put the resistance on the bike, I never feel as good in the morning as when I did yoga the night before. I think I should be focusing on using these yoga videos to get in shape. I have all of the videos by and I used them last time to lose the weight.

I know that if I did one in the morning and one at night for the rest of my life I would never have to worry about my weight again. At some point I'd like to do a 30 day trial to see if this is feasible for me.
 
I haven't been keeping up with the diet for the past couple of days, which I blame on a certain monthly visitor. I have been keeping up with the exercise, but I feel just awful today: stomach aches, cramping, headache, the works...I'm going to take some asprin/pain medication and try to push through.
 
Oooh, I totally feel for you! I get the most insane cravings for all sorts of junky stuff when it's that time of the month. Ugh!
 
Day 29??

If my calculations are correct, today is day 29. I must say that I'm really proud of myself! My diet is back on track after a couple of days of ice cream chocolate, and sushi. :angelsad2:

I thought I would have made more progress by now in terms of weight loss, but I never did take measurements.

My diet and exercise plan is one of many different self-improvement plans I'm undertaking. Instead of focusing on the weight loss, I'm trying to see myself as an athlete who is exercising because I want to maintain health and also because I enjoy it. This is a bit of a stretch, but I keep telling myself: I am an athlete who is in training, that is why I have to exercise today.

So this next week I am setting a goal that will require a very efficient use of time. I'm committing myself to one yoga video at night, one first thing in the morning, and 30 minutes on the stationary bike. I'm only making myself do this for a week because it is very challenging and I've become super busy, so keeping up with this exercise plan will pretty much monopolize my free time.

I know that this exercise plan will work because it has worked for me before. I'm hoping to see more results after this next week. I just have to stay motivated, positive and extremely efficient!
 
So the 30 days are over...

I've already given up my one week exercise plan that I started yesterday. I feel guilty, but I just cannot find the time to exercise 2.5 hours a day right now. I guess I got overly ambitious.

The overly ambitious plan came from me wanting to see some weight loss on the scale, and I also wanted to really challenge myself.

This is what I'll do instead: For the next 30 days, I will exercise everyday for an hour and record everything I eat

After I complete this goal, I'm sure I'll be where I need to be.
Counting calories is really new for me so it will require diligence to keep this up.

So far today:
couple of cups of black tea
2 handfuls of assorted nuts, raisins, craisins, seeds. no sugar or salt added
part of one spelt cracker
tons of water
a bottle of seltzer

After I finish with this goal I'll have exercised for 60 straight days. That is something to be proud of...got to stay motivated!!!!!
 
I have never counted calories before, so my new challenge to record what I eat on fitday in addition to the 1 hour of exercise is a formidable one.

Basically, when I put in my weight loss goal and how much time I wanted it to take, fitday said, "yeah right, think again" :)

Also I discovered that 1 cup of uncooked brown rice is 684 calories!!! That is my main staple..no wonder I wasn't losing weight.

So I thought maybe I can eat quinoa instead of brown rice. 1 cup of quinoa=635.8 calories!!! That is still an insane amount of calories.

So I thought of buying those amy's organic meals instead. They are usually 500-600 calories each and are complete meals instead of just grains. Then I thought I could throw in (nearly) freebies like apples, spelt crackers, carrots, and salads with lemon for dressing to fill in the gaps.

The problem is that I really love to cook. Man do I detest dieting.

yesterday: 1230 calories. I'm not sure how many calories I should be eating, so I'll do some research about this now. I still haven't explored everything fitday has to offer, so I'll probably find what I need on there. O.K. off to do my 1 hour on the bike.
 
30 straight days of exercising is fantastic! I truely hope you can make it to 60 days, that would be a real accomplishment. :)

However, I think 1230 calories is too little for you. Especially if you were planning to amp up your exercise routine. Definitely look into that, there are some calculators online that should help you out. This is a good one:

And thanks for stopping by my diary earlier, I needed that :)
 
pixinerd--you were right about the calories being too low. I'm still trying to figure out how to eat correctly.

From my research it seems like 1500 calories per day is something to shoot for.
 
I'm still continuing to log my food and do 1 hour of exercise per day. I'm super tired right now because I was out walking for three hours, so I'll write more later.
 
Logging all of the foods I eat on fitday has been interesting. I discovered that my diet is generally very low calorie and high in nutrients. I just needed to make a few modifications. For example, I needed to cut down on grains, hummus, and olive oil.
I'm amazed by how much food I can actually eat and still remain on a low-calorie diet.

It seems as though the exercising has become a habit, thank god! At this point, I just need to push myself a little bit more during workouts. I'd like to get up to 2 hours a day, but I'm not there yet.
 
So I'm already tired of logging my foods, but I'm still doing it. I can do this for 30 days, no problem!

In the future, after the 30 days of logging, I hope to be able to know approximately how many calories are in the meals I'm eating, and approximately what constitutes a regular size meal. I'm finding that I'm not really eating meals anymore, I'm just eating snacks throughout the day. This keeps the hunger away.

I would like to get to the point where I can go to a restaurant 2-3 times a month, order a normal meal, and be able to eat a normal portion size and leave the rest for later.

I would also like to join a gym when I have extra money and maybe also start a martial art and go to yoga classes. I'm broke right now and am still able to exercise at home, but being involved in more athletic activities is a goal.

I know that the calorie counting is going to facilitate weight loss. I've been working out religiously so calorie counting is the missing link.
 
Yesterday was a really difficult day. I overdid it with the food. I didn't enter any of it on fitday yet, so well see how bad it really was. I had such a strong craving for something sweet, like an ice cream sandwich or some dark chocolate but I managed to avoid buying any of that. Instead I gorged myself on fruit salad...huge amounts of fruit salad.

I walked/jogged for two hours yesterday. I've still been doing at least an hour a day of exercise without a break. I know that the conventional wisdom is that one should take a day of rest, but I vary my activities so much that I rarely target the same muscles two days in a row. I also don't engage in extremely vigorous exercise everyday.

My best friend who was very supportive of me when I got in shape last time says that I'm not trying hard enough--that I'm not incorporating enough weight training into my exercising and that I could be doing more than an hour per day. He is definitely right.

To be honest I'm starting to lose a little bit of motivation. I thought I would see more of a dramatic change by now. I keep telling myself that month two is going to be the one that turns the tide.

I told my friend that I would take measurements. Today I will take measurements, post them here, do a bit of weight training, and an hour of exercise.
 
O.K. so I've been keeping up my goals: exercising each day and logging my food. Every day I need to push myself to accomplish more. Today I did 50 minutes of yoga, 1 hour on the bike, and ten minutes of circuit weight lifting. I feel absolutely amazing. Every day I just need to push myself a little bit more.
 
I'm feeling good today. The fitday journal seems to be helping me. I'll walk by a restaurant or shop and want to pick up something to eat, and I'll say to myself, "How am I going to explain this to my fitday journal? I'm just going to look at what I'm eating online and feel like crap".
 
I caved in and bought some non-dairy ice cream treats. I have not yet eaten one, but I've had massive cravings for the past week or so.
I feel like if I don't allow myself to eat sweets in moderation, I'm just going to end up gorging myself on other things. Each ice cream is 168 calories, so I thought to add 20 minutes of exercise for every ice cream I eat. This will dissuade me from eating so much ice cream and will hopefully burn off any extra calories. The truth is, I need to teach myself moderation. I hope I'm not just rationalizing here.

I exercised on the stationary bike for 2 hours and 11 minutes today!!! :party:
 
You are doing so well! :grouphug:

I am like you in that I need to start pushing myself to do more, because I know I am capable of it. We've just got to be careful not to push so hard that we give up :eek: If you're going to add even more intense exercise day to day, perhaps you might try eating a little more so it's not too much. Just a thought! :)
 
I dropped the ball yesterday and only did 30 minutes of walking. I also ate entirely too much the past two days and didn't enter it on fitday. I had a mini-crisis and kind of freaked out and stopped paying attention to food and exercise.

All is well now and I've decided to go to fitday now and try to construct what I ate today, and afterwards, hit the stationary bike for some exercise. I can do this!!!
 
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