Ryan's Diary - Help me take back my life!

R

rhunter830

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Hello everyone!

My name is Ryan. I'm a 24-year-old American living near the east coast. :patriot:

I have been toying with starting an online diary for months now. I'm 6 feet tall, and in 2009 I weighed 160 lbs. I now weigh 220, with the majority of the weight gain occurring over the last couple of years. The 60+ lb. gain has significantly affected my life for the worse. In some ways, I have put my life on pause as a result.

It is time to retake and recreate my life.

I am determined to use this diary to keep track of my daily health experiences. I also hope to learn from your comradeship as we strive to live healthier lives! Your advice, accountability, and encouragement is greatly appreciated!

Later tonight, I will post my BEFORE pictures, stats, and my goals over the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned!

-Ryan

 
Daily Check-in (first!):

Weight: 218 lbs.
BMI: 29.0
Body fat %: 25.3%


SHORT-TERM GOAL WEIGHT: 210 lbs. DATE: October 19th, 2015 (Sunday)
ULTIMATE GOAL WEIGHT: 160 lbs. DATE: February 1st, 2015

View attachment 22346View attachment 22347


And so, for the 1,305,382nd time, we begin. This will be my last first day. This is my last first day.
 
Welcome to the forum! Congrats on your last "first day"! That's a great way to think about it. Good luck, Ryan!
 
Welcome Ryan! Let us know what your game plan is. Turning this around while you're young and your BMI is "just" overweight makes things easier. Maybe not easy, but easier for sure. Best of luck!
 
Thanks everyone! Wow, all of your original weights are so much higher than your current weights - congratulations! I've only got limited time for my post tonight, but I'll be sure to check out your respective diaries and subscribe to them tomorrow.

Today I had an great cardio day at the gym doing an hour on the spinning bike. My eating was pretty healthy, but overall I ate WAY too much (I'd guess around 3,400 calories, whereas my daily goal is more like 1,800-2000 cal/day first). I was at a family function, and the food was just...so good...

Right now I am thinking that I should weigh myself and take my BMI/bodyfat stats every three days - what are your thoughts? Would you recommend taking my stats every day instead, or perhaps every week?

Day 1 down, the rest of my life to go!
 
Today was a good day in terms of everything exceppppt eating. I've been slowly implementing daily habits that are beyond simply eating healthily (and in a way that will ensure weight loss), such as, for instance, going to the gym and meditating daily. In terms of these side goals, today was one of the best I've had yet. And while I ate healthily, I ate poorly on top of it.

Baby steps...
 
Oy. So I have been working on creating ~10 daily habits, involving mental training, going to the gym, etc.

The good news: For the first time in my life, I am consistently checking these habits off my daily to-do list. This includes having a base amount of balanced nutritional meals throughout the day.

The bad news: On top of the balanced nutrition, I've binged the past two days.

Proposed solution: Calorie counting (which I've never really done!) and daily weigh-ins. Plus I shouldn't get too hard on myself considering my other mini-achievements.

-Ryan
 
Yeah, ultimately calorie control and exercise is what it comes down to in weight loss, the tricky part is coming up with a reliable method to achieve those two. Sounds like you, like me, seem to have an easier time with the exercise part and harder when it comes to calorie control.

I counted calories myself, but I wouldn't presume that this is the best way for anyone but myself.

Keep at this.
 
Calorie counting and daily weigh-ins are about the only thing that keep me on track, unfortunately. lol! I hate calorie counting, but it's a must for me. Good job on working on that daily to-do list! :)
 
jen_renee said:
Calorie counting and daily weigh-ins are about the only thing that keep me on track, unfortunately. lol! I hate calorie counting, but it's a must for me. Good job on working on that daily to-do list! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Vee and Jen! So - calorie counting it is! I believe I'll try out the MyFitnessPal app and start counting calories tomorrow. I'm unsure whether or not I should plan my day's food out the night before, but I think I will try simply calorie counting first and see how it goes.
 
P.S. I just went to download the MyFitnessPal app only to find out that I had downloaded it months ago........lol talk about a dream deferred.
 
Hi ryan! :)

thanks for sharing your "before" pics. :) and looking forward for your "after" pics soon. I know you can do this.
You seem to be very motivated and no doubt in few weeks you'll be feeling better.

Do you always do calorie check? I'm not good at calorie checking. :D
 
IJWBF, that's pretty cool working with Olympians! How/what/where/why? I've never done positive visualization training (which I know premier athletes often do), even though there's a wealth of research supporting it. My mental training is more cognitive training via daily online games.

Thanks Maganda! I've never done a calorie check, although I just set up my online + phone app combo to do just that. Just created all of my common meals and foods in the app too, so I don't have to be Count von Count for every meal (see Sesame Street).
 
Okay, so as an update:

I realized when I started this forum that my system was far from ideal: I hadn't incorporated calorie counting (which I now realize is totally needed for me), I didn't set up a way of planning out my meals, etc.

And because my system wasn't set, I did what I have always done best - I temporarily gave up. Knowing that I needed to fine-tune my daily to-do, I put off doing everything entirely. Straight up, this is a bug in my system, a flaw in my thinking, that has plagued me for as long as I can remember.

But that's why I'm here, typing this now.

And so, I've revised my ideal mini-habits in the morning and night, and I begin yet another Day 1. No time to get down about it, time to just do it (copyright Nike???).

My daily stats:
Weight: 221.4 lbs. (the gain is not surprising considering my recent binging.)
BF %: 24.7% (the decline only occurred because the handheld device I'm using is pretty cheap)
BMI: 30.3 (the first time I've officially crossed into the "obese" category. A low milestone)


Wish me luck! I will - I repeat - I WILL be posting here every night.

Buenas noches!
 
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Good luck! Posting on the form daily is definitely something that helps keep me accountable. When I'm gone for days at a time, you can surely bet it's because my head is stuck in a container of ice cream.. lol! Start counting those calories and posting daily and you'll see the progress that you want. You can do it! :)
 
jen_renee said:
Good luck! Posting on the form daily is definitely something that helps keep me accountable. When I'm gone for days at a time, you can surely bet it's because my head is stuck in a container of ice cream.. lol! Start counting those calories and posting daily and you'll see the progress that you want. You can do it! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Jen!


I think I will be weighing myself in the mornings - it will remind me my weight/eating goals for the day before the day arrives (although I've usually done nightly weigh-ins in the past. Alrighty, quick post today!

Weight: 221.2
Calories: 2,140
 
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