Rollin'... rollin'... rollin myself thinner!

JoeyShmoey

JoeyShmoey

New member
Second attempt at this diary thing, my first one did not work, because I kept forgetting about it, and because I was not really losing any weight so had nothing to report back. But this time, two months down the line, I am serious about it.

In 4 months (pretty much exactly to the day) I am going home for the first time in 3 years and while I know it should not be my biggest motivation to be "thin for others to see", it is definitely one of my motivators. My family is not the type that doesn't say what they think and also, our house has a pool and it will be hot hot hot in December down there, so I will need to put on a bathing suit. Daily.

My plan:
FOOD - eat less in amount (control portion size), eat less unhealthy crap (sugary snacks), don't drink your calories (when we go out I tend to have a soft drink). I eat pretty healthy, get my "5 a day" every day, rarely eat fried stuff or really deeply unhealthy stuff... I just eat a lot and I eat out a lot. I need to plan my meals more carefully, prepare lunches and take them in to work, eat out less often.
EXERCISE - I joined roller derby 8 weeks ago and it is awesome. I skate 3 times a week for 2 hours each time and do drills and so on. I want to add 2 days a week of 30 minutes of gym (some elliptical and some weights) and 30 minutes swimming to that. I feel that that would be an adequate amount of exercise to lose weight slowly but surely. I have also signed up for 3 sessions of "anti gravity yoga" so will do that and see if I like it. I know it is not full on exercise but it might be good in terms of stretching (and is surely better than sitting on my bumbum). I ice skate and climb and do long walks occasionally, and want to do it more frequently.

My goal:
I currently weigh 73 kg, which gives me a BMI of 26.8. My goal would be to be just under the 60 kg mark, so let's say 59. That would give me a BMI of 21.7 and a deficit of 14 kg. I know the BMI is not the be all and end all of measures, but it is what my doc uses who recommended I lose some weight and it is as good a measurement as any. Time wise, obviously I want to be "as close as possible" to goal by the 20th of December, but I don't need to be at goal by then, I don't think that pressure will help this endeavour.

My non scale goals:
I want to get back into my "skinny jeans" which are a size 10 I think (I am currently a 14), I want to feel comfortable in my work trousers (they are a bit tight) and I want to be happier when I look in the mirror. Nothing major.
Exercise specific goals, I want to be able to skate the Berlin marathon next August, so 26.something miles. And I want to get better at derby.

I have bought a little food diary booklet thing, and aim to write down my intake of food and then transcribe it over here in the evenings, giving me some reflection time over what I ate, why and so on.

So let's start rollin'!
 
Hello Joey! :)
You are so lucky to have your own pool. I would be in there non-stop :biggrinjester:
Good Luck on your weight loss journey and I'm sure the community will support you all the way :)
 
Thank you both! I think 30 pounds is over ambitious for 4 months, but as close to that as I can would be good! I am not a fast "loser" so i don't really expect to get all the way there, but that is ok. 30 (ish) pounds is the ultimate goal.

I did ok but not amazing foodwise, as I finished skating so late and went out with my girls and then had not many options for food on my way back. It's all about the planning! But had an excellent skating sesh!

Food:
Breakfast: fat free yoghurt with a handful of blueberries (or two handfuls), a pack of cut mango
Lunch: 1 portion of pasta (it was a left over and not much there so I added a lot of mushrooms and padded it that way), 1 big green salad
Dinner: a hamburger patty with some ketchup and medium fries :doh:

Extras: I had a pint of diet coke at the pub

Exercise: 90 minutes (ran late and missed train!) of skating.

Lesson learned: plan ahead when you know you will be out and have something light at home to eat!
 
Not a particularly good day food wise. I was doing well, I had a nice healthy brekkie (see below), and a large lunch as I was going to dine on crudite with hummus very lightly. All was well and set. Then went to skating, went to the pub, the pub was loud and uncomfy and my brand new friends suggested t go for food. Oh well... It wasn't terrible, but it was way more than I wanted to eat.

Breakfast: fat free yoghurt with fresh blueberries and raspberries
Lunch: Small pizza with a load of vegetables on it
Dinner: (large!) rice noodles with chicken, prawn, veg and plenty of chilli

Extras: 1 bag of crisps (180 cals), 1 pint of diet coke

Exercise: 2 hours skating (very strenous, Saturdays always are!)

Lesson learned: if you had a large lunch, maybe go for a salad for dinner. Though I know some people have "cheat days" so maybe this was my cheat day this week, I will eat extra good the rest of the week.
 
Good day food-wise, rest day exercise-wise.
I have made my exercise plan of the week: tomorrow I am going ice skating with friends, Tuesday I will go and find out about the gym (and maybe go for a little while if I can, got tickets for a play in the evening), Wednesday I will go to the gym&swim and then Thursday to Saturday I have skating every day, so my week is looking good good good. Just need to be as good at planning my food. That is my downfall, especially with my job. I love it but I often just sit for a prolonged period of time at my desk doing numbers and emails and I always get the munchies when I am bored. Will try to do more herbal teas, that way there is something I can put in my mouth but without the calories.

Food:
Breakfast: fat free yoghurt with fresh blueberries
Lunch: half a cucumber, handful of carrot sticks, 5 mushrooms with about 1/3 of a pot "healthy option" hummus.
Dinner: 1 fillet of salmon with a honey and chilli glazing, a large green side salad.

Snacks: 1 pack of Snack-a-jacks, 1 granola bar

No exercise, but drank over 2.5-3 l of water to try to flush out some of the excess salt from yesterday.
 
Hi Joey! Wanted to pop in and say hello and wish you the best on this weight loss journal. I can totally relate to your job being a detriment - I also sit for long hours and we have an office full of snacks for when I am bored! The herbal tea is my go-to solution, as well. My other trick is that I keep my own personal snack drawer with healthier cereals, granola bars, fruit cups, etc. All pre-packaged so it can sit in there for a while and I'll never have a true excuse for picking an unhealthy snack!

Looking forward to more updates!
 
Thank you Laura, I do have a drawer with some snacks, but I really want to try to not snack, as that is one of my downfalls. I can go down to the hospital cafeteria and pick up a fruit or a yoghurt but because I am lazy, I won't do that too often ;)! I think one of my big big issues is self control, if I know it is there, I eat it. I have been doing a little better but if I buy a packet of crackers for example I find it hard not to eat all crackers in a day. it's like they tease me from their drawer.

Food today was ok, I did not eat 3 organized meals, because I woke up late and had to go out of the house, so I had a few smaller mini-meals and then dinner. I ice skated for about an hour and a half, fell right at the beginning (I very rarely fall!) and hurt my knee a little, still skated on and it was fine. It is nothing major, a bruise and some skimmed skin, still quite painful.

Food:
Mini-meal 1: 1 small chicory, handful of carrot-sticks with a little hummus
Mini-meal 2: 1 medium pack of sushi (250 cals), some orange juice
Mini-meal 3: 2 little bite size pieces of chicken and maybe 7 skin on chips
Mini-meal 4: 1 pack of sugar snap beans and a handful of carrot sticks with hummus
Dinner: 1 salmon fillet with some honey and chilli glazing, green salad

I find it hard to calculate the daily calories with this disorganized eating pattern today - I'd say maybe around 1800. Not sure really. My personality is very "all or nothing" and I get a little obsessive about things. I don't want to get (back) to a point where I am constantly counting calories, but I would like to be able to be able to do a little ball park figure in the evenings before going to bed, just for some control.

I again drank a lot of water to try to keep up the sodium flush; yesterday I weighed myself and was about half a kg up, but after all that drinking and flushing out of the sodium I was back to my usual 73 kg this morning, so that is good. Today had about 2.5 ish litres, which is more than I usually manage. At work however I find it harder, as 1) I don't wanna go to the loo that often and 2) I find that I just don't feel all that thirsty. I will try to take a litre bottle of water in and drink that, plus 2 or 3 cups of unsweetened tea, should be enough for a work day, i can drink another l after work.

Exercise: 90 minutes ice skating

I really want to see some change on the scales this week, I have been hovering on and around 73 for ages, it is time to be 72 again!
 
Since i am in bed early, i might as well do some soul searching and do the questions suggested in the sticky:

1) What is your current height and weight?
Currently I am 165 cms and 73 kg, which is 5'5 (ish) and 161 pounds.

2) If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be?
59 kgs or 130 pounds

3) At what weight would you like to be at four months from now?
Hard to know how this will go, I would like to be maybe 62 kg (137 pounds) so I can say "I lost over 10 kg!" when I go home to visit my family for the first time in years.

4) Why do you want to lose weight?
I don't feel very attractive at my current weight, feel quite self conscious and it makes it harder for me to go out and meet guys (there I said it... I never admit that to anybody). I also have a health issue or two which are affected by my weight. My reflux for example has been pretty bad for the past year and the drs blame the weight, so I need to do this to be healthier.

5) Do you want to lose weight for a specific life event such as wedding or reunion? If so, when is that event?
The long term goal of losing weight is not connected to a specific event, but I do want to be thinner when I meet my family at the end of December, simply because they are quite a judgemental (but lovely) bunch. We also have a pool in our garden and I know I won't feel confident enough to wear a bikini at my current weight. I have not been home during summer since 2008 and I weighed 130 pounds then!

6) What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?
Well... myself. I self sabotage or rather, I find it hard and tell myself that I am not doing that badly weight wise, that it is more important to be happy right now (especially if happy means eating some choccy! Or chips!). I do think that my weight is not terribly high, but I know I will feel more comfortable with myself if I lose some of it, so... happiness comes in different shapes and forms, I just need to chose the right one.

7) Why do you think that you now have a weight problem?
Easy, I eat too much and not the right stuff and do not exercise much at all, especially when I am sad or scared. I had a hard winter last year, with a lot of mental health issues (anxiety and panic as well as my one big phobia flaring up) which made me sad and when I am sad I stop exercising. I have had therapy since and am trying to use exercise as a form of therapy as well, so hopefully that will help me with my weight losee goal as well.

8)What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight?
Do more exercise, eat in more moderation, plan in advance, make better choices. Know what you have eaten and where your limits are.

9) Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight?
Yes, in 2008 I started at 165 and went down to 130 (then with a few hiccups even reached 127, but it was under extreme conditions, so doesn't quite count). It worked to be very very anal about what I eat. I controlled my diet to a fault, counting every calorie and being extremely strict with myself. I don't want to be that strict this time around, as I obsessed too much about it. However some control is necessary and good.

10) Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back?
Life happened... I reverted to my bad eating habits and exercised less. I broke off my engagement and then got very very sad and that makes me eat more and exercise less. I also started to work and have more money and started eating out an insane amount (which i still do, just need to not always eat when out and hold back in terms of snacky food (I love crisps, olives, little bits and bobs).

11) What, if anything, has not worked for you in the past in helping you to lose weight? Why do you think it did not work?
Fads, because they don't work.

12) Would you try writing down all food and drink consumed for a given period of time?
I am doing that and I hope that will help me realize where my downfalls are and where i can improve.

13) Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook?
To be honest, I cook less and less often, but when I do it is often fish and salad, or chicken and salad, or just salad... sometimes I make curries, pizza occasionally, and pasta every now and then.

14) How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go?
I go out very frequently, I'd say at least 3 or 4 days a week. We go to pubs mainly, sometimes to Italian restaurants or eat Chinese/Japanese.

15) What are your three favorite foods?
Ahh hard one... I really love pizza with veggies aplenty on it, I love artichokes and sushi.

16) What are your three favorite restaurants?
Right now? Pizza Express as they introduced gf pizza, any Chinese in Chinatown, pubs.

17) What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food?
Make better choices when out, plan meals in advance and prepare lunches/dinners to take with me.

18) If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different?
I would be slimmer and more toned, my tummy would be gone (I know that will never happen, at 127 pounds I still had it!).

19) Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Yes, when I am bored and sometimes because it is "time to eat" as in dinner time or lunch time.

20) Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)?
Not really.

21) Do you hide your food or eat in secret?
Not at my own house, but when I am at my parents' yes. My mother was the one who would always tell me to watch my weight, so that is probably why.

22) Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed?
Yes.

23) Do you eat as a reward?
Occasionally.

24) Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer?
Absolutely. If I have dinner at home, I always have it in front of the computer or telly. This will change as I move in with friends and we will eat together.

25) What do you normally eat for a meal?
Breakfast: very random, sometimes a granola bar, sometimes a few crackers, sometimes fruit, sometimes bread with philadelphia cheese... I am bad at planning it in advance so it tends to be kind of whatever is there whenever I feel hungry.
Lunch: mostly some protein (chicken or fish) and assorted salads from one of the supermarkets around the hospital or sushi.
Dinner: often pub food, if at home, big salads or sometimes pasta or salad with pasta.

26) What type of snacks do you eat?
Oh dear... everything. I have a chocolate bar (or two *blush*) a day, I also have crisps sometimes, but often I have rather large snacks, such as a whole portion of sushi or a muffin or a piece of gf cake.

27) In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing?
3 times a week I skate for about 1 and a half to two hours. One day is more leisurely, one day is very full on training and the third day is something in between.

28) Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home?
A recreational centre and outside a football stadium. I am adding 2 days a week of gym&swim (25-30 minutes gym, 20 minute swim), which worked really well when I last lost the weight.

29) What, if anything, are your three favourite types of exercise?
I like skating, I like dancing and I like doing gymnastics (cartwheels, handstands, that sort of thing).

30) What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals?
My motivation is that I will finally look on the outside the way I feel on the inside- fit and slim. I am not doing rewards, feeling better is reward enough, however I will obviously reward myself by buying new clothes as my old ones will be too big.

31) Do you have rewards for certain goals?
No, not really. I want to get new clothes as I start fitting into nicer things (especially jeans and work trousers, my current ones are worn to death and need to be substituted but I refuse to do it until I fit into a smaller size). Like I said before, feeling better, feeling healthier, feeling more myself will be reward enough!
 
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Since you're big on the skating, I figured I'd share the funniest gif I've seen in a long time. Here's the Toronto Raptors (basketball) Mascot on rollerblades:
 
Thank you Vee, that was simply amazing! I am watching and rewatching and rewatching. Will keep it for sad days to cheer me up!
 
Hi Joey!

As you mentioned on my Diary post we have the same goal/timeline. I look forward to following your progress and staying motivated :)

I too work in an office and it sucks because I often don't get up from my desk and don't get a chance to walk around which is bad for many reasons.

My motivation is that I will finally look on the outside the way I feel on the inside- fit and slim. I am not doing rewards, feeling better is reward enough, however I will obviously reward myself by buying new clothes as my old ones will be too big.
Click to expand...
I totally could have written this! I don't always feel fat, but I look in the mirror, I see how my clothes fit, I see my belly fat and I know that I need to lose weight. I agree with the rewards thing, I think for me it would be counter productive depending on the "reward". With that said I may buy a new bathing suit in October before my fiance's work outing if I have lost enough and feel comfortable in one. Otherwise, a new wardrobe once my goal is reached :)
 
I am terrible at this diary thing, I keep forgetting to check back and have a lot going on; in the past few weeks I never came home before 11 pm, and then all I want is an episode of "Orange is the new black" and beddy bed time.

But I am doing well, I am down to 71, which was a surprise to see on the scales this morning to be honest as I just spent 5 days at a volunteer thing where they fed us very well (but I was also very active, running around every day all day).
I am doing really well in terms of exercise, skating 3 days a week, which will be upped to 4 half way through October when I am starting to play matches. I still have not however signed up for the gym though I think I could do with 2 more days of (light) exercise to strengthen my muscles and obviously to lose a bit more weight. Since I will be joining the team very soon I need to be up to their standards and some of the girls are ridiculously fit, going to the gym 3 or 4 times on top of their 3 or 4 skating sessions a week.

Another bit of news relates to food: I have been lactose intolerant my entire life, but it never really bothered me much and I ignored it largely, still having the occasional milk product, however in the past couple of weeks it has got much worse and I was very ill after eating a lot of cheese one day, so I am now completely off dairy. This should help with the weight loss as well as with my digestive unhappiness.

Finally, though I have only lost 2 kg really, I am getting comments here and there about how I look thinner. My flatmate in particular is commenting it a lot and my clothes are fitting better (or rather most are fitting better and my jeans are now a little bit wide), so while the loss is not huge, I am getting my non scale victories!

So... things are good! My goal for this month was to be under 70 before my next period (which should be in about 2 weeks), so I might actually hit that goal, which would be excellent news. I have not seen the 60ies in a year, so being back there will be such a relief. My holidays are looming and I don't want to be embarrassed to be in a bikini (funnily enough I am ok with being naked or semi-naked around my friends and the roller girls, it is just my family that I feel has judgy eyes! And this is not me being paranoid, they really do!).
 
Welcome back!

Sounds like you are doing great on the exercise front, and I know how great it feel when you get compliments that you look thinner. Happened to me on Friday night with a friend of mine. She was creeping my Facebook pics and said while I still look bigger than I did in High School (duh, I weighed about 35-40lbs less back then) I definitely look like I lost weight from 1-2 years ago, especially in my face. I don't see it but was still nice to hear :)

I think non-scale victories are sometimes better than the scale showing something but not seeing the physical results.

Sucks about your judgy family, but keep at it and you will hit your goals in no time!
 
Thanks Icy, yeah non scale victories are great! And a pound lost is a pound lost!

Funnily enough about 20 minutes after posting the above post, my friend texted me asking if I wanted to go to this boot camp thing that is on every Monday. It is run for everyone in my league, though most of the ones who go are the A team (they are amazing, going to championships in the US in November, very impressive derby girls!) because it is deadly. 2 hours split into mental and physical strengthening, weights and circuit training. People puke every week when they go so I was very scared. It was good though. I will be sore for at least a week now, I already am and it has only been a few hours, but that was definitely good, and I think if I can keep doing it every Monday until mid-December I will definitely look so much more toned, so that is my new goal.

Food was ok:
Brunch: 1 egg + 2 egg-white omelette with tomatoes and spring onions on 3 slices of bread
Dinner: vegetable gf pizza (with a lot of chilli... went a bit mental there!)
Snack: some chocolate, but I definitely deserved that. My total cals for the day are somewhere between 1600 and 1800 so not too bad at all.
 
Random quick update, lost another few pounds, doing pretty well. I am skating 3 days a week now and going to bootcamp some weeks, have been more active in my day to day life as well. Because my stomach continued to trouble me my GP suggested to go on the paleo diet for a few weeks, to see if cutting out all grains, dairy products and sugars not found in fruit and veg would help. It has indeed helped and I am feeling much better.

I am aiming to lose a few more pounds before seeing my family at christmas... I dream of weighing 65 when i go and see them, but we will see, it is only 4 weeks to go and that would mean a kg per week, which is unlikely... but aim for the moon and you shall land among the stars, right?

Anyhow, I have been so very neglectful of my diary, but I am still here!
 
Great job on the exercise front! Glad the new diet has got you feeling better as well. 1Kg/week is steep, but could happen. Just keep at it and you will get there really soon!
 
PMS has been troubling me. Last time I managed to lose all the weight I had the same issue, I lose weight ok for about 2 weeks, then I can't lose any for about 2 weeks while I PMS and menstruate and then I go back to losing, but without a massive drop off in the beginning which I always hope will happen (in my mind the lack of weight loss is due to water retention so once it eases up I should drop all the water weight plus the weight I should have been losing those 2 weeks... but nope...). So yeah, last week nothing and this week so far nothing either.

Another issue is that we have about 15 Christmas parties coming up. This week it is 2 (Friday eve and Sunday daytime), and then next week I have another 2 (Weds and Friday) and then 1 more the week after. I try to make smart choices, but you just eat more at those events than I would eat at home by myself... Urgh!

But I reached "normal BMI weight" so that is amazing. And in non scale victories, I went to try outs for our A and B teams yesterday, I was the most rookie by over a year (everyone else had skated for at least a year and a half, I have skated for 5 months) and I did fine. I mean I won't make it into the A and B teams, because I am not there yet and that was not the aim really, I just wanted to see if I could do it. And I did. And was praised by loads of people! Also it was 4 hours of very strenous exercise... which is always a bonus.

I hope once this stupid TOM is over, I can go back to my 1 kg a week that I was finally managing! Only 16 days to go on hols and I do want to shed a few more pounds!!

J.
 
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