Sifen's Journal

S

sifen

New member
Hi all! I''m Sifen. I just started here because I think I'm finally ready to make some lifestyle changes that I need to lose weight and be healthier.

Some background: I just graduated from college, and I'm starting to realize the toll it took on my body. I gained about thirty pounds over four years, but I just chalked it up to the experience. After all, I hadn't gained it all as the "freshman fifteen" -- seven pounds a year wasn't so bad, right? I barely noticed, it happened so slowly. Only when I'd come home and not be able to fit into my old clothes did it start to dawn on me that maybe I wasn't in the same shape I'd started with!

Now I'm past the days of all-nighters and late-night food runs, so I'm hoping this means it's time for me to start living the way I know I should.

So here we go, using the questions from one of the welcome-newbs posts:

-- How much weight do you want to lose?
Right now, I weigh 172 pounds. I want to get back to my freshman year weight of 145. Since I'm still young, I don't think that's unreasonable! So that's 27 pounds to lose.

-- What is the timeframe for reaching your target weight?
I definitely want it gone by December 2007, when I'm going to see my whole family together. But to keep myself on track, I've set my goal for September 2007, with a three-month trial period of keeping it off. I hope!

-- How do you want to accomplish your goal?
I'm very specific for now so that I'll be able to stick to these goals (I'm notoriously bad at following through on vague things), but I know I'll improve on them as time goes by.
1. Join a local gym and attend a class at least once per week.
2. Don't eat or snack past 7 pm.
3. Drink two glasses of water every day.

-- How realistic is your goal?
I think it's realistic enough to achieve, as long as I stick with it.

-- When will you start?
Rules 2 and 3, immediately. Rule 1, as soon as I join a gym. Hopefully within one week.

So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm hoping this diary and forum will help me along, and in turn I hope I will be able to support some of you as you move toward your weight loss goals!

Sifen
 
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Sounds like you have it all planned out! It's great that you have realistic goals, and with the plan you have, you won't have any trouble meeting them.
 
Well, at first I thought my "two glasses of water a day" would be a huge step in the right direction, since I don't drink much water (on the plus side, I do drink an insane amount of grapefruit juice, I love the stuff). Then I start reading the other posts on the boards, such as Halloween challenge, and learn that it would really be better if I were drinking something like 86 ounces of water a day! So that's my new goal. (Changing already!)

Breakfast was half a cup of oatmeal, half a cup of milk, and some syrup over top. And two of the ten or so glasses of water. :) I'm finding that I am actually thirsty if I cut down on my juice intake. I'll try to limit it to two glasses of juice a day instead.

It's 63 degrees out and cloudy, so I'm not really motivated to walk or jog, but I'm going to try since I don't belong to a gym yet. We shall see how that goes.

Sifen
 
Sounds like a great start =) And yes drink your water!!

I know its hard at first (at least for me) but your body WILL thank you!
 
I did end up dragging my behind outside and had a lovely half-mile jog! The weather was not bad at all, and I really didn't feel too bad afterwards, either. So after I had my lunch (another bowl of oatmeal) and drank some more water, I actually went out jogging again. That time, I did a full mile, and it took me about 12 minutes, which I was proud of. After that I was winded and done with aerobic exercise for the day.

Footnote to above: Last summer, I was jogging about ten miles a week in an attempt to lose some of my weight. I got down to 163 lbs (I think I started around 167) but didn't keep it up during the year and gained everything back and then some. The real challenge for me will be making this a true lifestyle change and not a quick fix.

Dinner was great. I fixed Szechuan chicken with rice, had a small bowl of it and made it last with another glass of water, and I'm not hungry right now. Time to enjoy some quality time surfing the Net or watching TV. (Ha, sounds so healthy!)
 
you're more than welcome to join in on the halloween challenge if it'll keep you motivated andmoving in the direction you want to go.. it promises to be a good time... and good fun !!
 
September 15

Thanks for the support, everyone! It really does make a difference to me, and I'm really psyched about joining the Halloween Challenge. Having my long-term goal is great, but having something to shoot for in the short-term that helps me and also feels like it benefits my teammates (yay Freddies!) feels good in itself.

My morning's weigh-in was at 171, for a loss of a pound! Granted, I'm almost certain that's just a water fluctuation or something, but still it was nice to see. :)

Last night, I couldn't quite stick to my "no eating after 7 pm" rule. I'm going to have to take that one in steps. I tried drinking water whenever I felt hungry, but that just caused me to jump up to use the bathroom every 15 minutes. So eventually I gave in and had some cashews. That did the trick. Tonight I'll try to do better. On the upside, I did calf raises and stretches while watching TV, so that time was fun but not completely sedentary. :)

Now to start drinking that water!

Sifen

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 15, final update 11:17 pm:

Breakfast: Small bowl of leftover chicken and rice, 12 oz milk (2%)
Lunch: Oatmeal w/milk and syrup, one black plum
Dinner: Chicken with pasta, broccoli, red peppers and parmesan
Dessert: 1/3c coffee ice cream
Other: Snacks at the Friday get-together (chips, pretzels, salsa)
Water: 60 oz! More water than I've ever consumed in a day before, but couldn't get the last 26. Perhaps tomorrow, if I start earlier.
Exercise: (Jog 1 mile, do 100 crunches) x 2!!! Lots of walking too.

Yays for today:
- Jogged 2 miles!
- All three meals were healthful and small!

Boos for today:
- Had unhealthy snacks with friends.
- Ate dinner at 7:30 pm and dessert around 9.
 
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hey there sifen!!! I started at 172 when I began in january of 05, and was down to 135 by December.. so it is totally doable!

It looks like you are off to a great fantastic start!!! Keep up the work!!! (oh - and good luck teammate... freddys are gonna kick butt!)
 
September 16

So yesterday was good, even if it wasn't as successful as I'd hoped. The day started out very well, eating healthful foods in small portions and jogging twice! Buuuuuut then at 4:45 it was time to head out for the Friday get-together-- basically me and friends at a "bar" (it isn't quite, though they serve snacks and beer). I managed to avoid the beer but had a number of pretzels and tortilla chips with salsa... not terrible, but not great. I'll have to remember that for next week, just to have fewer than I did.

And of course going out meant I didn't get home until 6:30, so I ended up eating dinner after my 7 pm deadline! Argh! Dinner was healthful though (chicken with pasta and veggies with a bit of parmesan, yum!) so I felt good about that... plus I walked to and from the "bar" instead of driving (half a mile and three staircases each way)... so those were two positives at least! They don't cancel out the negatives, but it's good to have them there anyway.

Today is another day, and another chance to improve and make this a real lifestyle change. So here's to day two of the Halloween challenge. Go Freddies!

Sifen

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 16, final update 10:01 pm:

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal w/milk and syrup (150+65+50 = 265 cal... I don't count calories but since I eat this every day I wanted to know!)
Lunch: Bowl of chicken w/pasta and veggies
Dinner: Another bowl of chicken w/pasta and veggies
Dessert: None
Other: Baby carrots, cashews
Water: 86 of 86 oz completed!
Exercise: Jogged one mile, then rested and did another!

Yays for today:
- Completed my water challenge!
- Jogged another two miles!
- Didn't eat or snack after 7 pm!

Boos for today:
- Cashews aren't a very healthful snack, but that's a pretty small 'boo'. :)
 
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sifen said:
Don't eat or snack past 7 pm.
Click to expand...

Probably the most underestimated and least discussed key component to steady weight loss. You can expect good result with 10 - 12 hour fast daily if you can pull it off.

It's a hard one to master, but the results are undeniable.

Good luck on your reduction.
 
Hi Sifen,
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your weightloss - you've got a great plan lined up :D
 
September 17

Yesterday was pretty darn good. Lots of jogging, sensible eating... I am happy with it. Hopefully today will be similar, though better-- my boyfriend and I are going to see a play! The Glass Menagerie. I'm excited! If we end up going out for dinner too, though, I'm hoping to stay on track meal-wise. Good luck also to all of you!

Sifen

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 17, final update 11:16 pm:

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal w/milk and syrup, half a peach
Lunch: Open-faced sandwich (1 slice each whole-grain bread, turkey, and swiss with 2 tsp mayo + dash cayenne pepper = 300 cal), handful baby carrots
Dinner: ~1c rice, ~1/2c each chicken tikka masala, lamb saagwala; 1/2 of a naan bread
Dessert: 1/2 of a mango lassi
Other: 1 slice whole grain w/2 tsp peanut butter
Water: 86 of 86 oz completed!
Exercise: Jogged 1.5 miles

Yays for today:
- Completed my water challenge!

Boos for today:
- Ate too much yummy yummy Indian food (though less than I normally would have)
 
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Hey Sifen,
Sounds like you have a really great plan and are on your way to achieving your goals. I'm down 20 lbs so far and that's mainly from exercising and watching what I eat. Keep going and we're here for you if you need any motivation!

~ Sara Maria ~
 
September 18

Yesterday was so great! Perhaps not food-wise towards the end, but in all other respects! The Glass Menagerie was a wonderful play, very well performed by a small (and I mean small) local company. We sat in the third row... and it was also the *last* row in the threater! Then afterwards we went out for Indian food. Perhaps not the healthiest cuisine, and I ate more of it than I should have, but I didn't gorge myself on it and I was happy with that. Add meeting my water requirement for the second day in a row, and finding out this morning that I've been hired by a company I interviewed with, and I'm very happy today!!

Now off to do laundry. I wish all of you success and great happiness!

Sifen

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 18, final update 10:57 pm:

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal w/milk and syrup
Lunch: Chicken w/pasta and veggies
Dinner: 1/2 chicken breast, 3/4c rice and broccoli w/lemon-thyme-broth sauce
Dessert: 2 cookies and a cup of milk
Other: None
Water: 90 of 86 oz completed!
Exercise: Cleaned the apartment, did laundry

Yays for today:
- My apartment is clean!
- Exceeded my water challenge!

Boos for today:
- None!
 
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September 19

Yesterday was good, though I'm hoping my body gets used to the water soon. All these trips to the bathroom are getting kinda old!

Last night, I decided to make my favorite cookie recipe (chocolate chip and oat). This will be a real test of willpower, as when I make them I tend to take one and eat it every time I walk past the kitchen. Well, not this time! After they cooled I immediately put half of them in the freezer where I can't get to them. The other half are in a sealed ziploc tub instead of on an open plate. Plus I calculated that each one has about 110 calories (yikes, to think I could eat ten a day without thinking!), and armed with that knowledge, I'm sure I can keep myself to having them only for dessert. :)

My body enjoyed its day of rest. Time to start back up with the jogging. Hope you all have a good day!

Sifen

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 19, final update 10:21 pm:

Breakfast: Other half of the lemon-thyme chicken breast and some broccoli (~ 250 cal)
Lunch: Bowl of oatmeal w/milk and syrup (265 cal)
Mid-afternoon: Open-faced turkey/swiss sandwich w/cayenne pepper (265 cal)
Late afternoon: 3/4c milk (2%) and a cookie (207 cal)
Dinner: Egg salad sandwich (2 hard boiled eggs, 2 tsp mayo, cayenne/garlic powder/black pepper on 2 slices of toasted whole grain bread) w/a handful of baby carrots (425 cal)
Dessert: 3/4c milk (2%) and a cookie (207 cal)
Water: 86 of 86 oz completed!
Exercise: Jogged 2 miles, almost without slowing down!

Yays for today:
- Counted all my calories today for the first time! (1619 cal)
- Learned what my BMR is! (1625 cal)
- Completed my water challenge for the fourth day!

Boos for today:
- Had two cookies (220 cal) that I didn't really need, but were within limits

10:15 pm: I was really tempted just now, after getting off the phone with my mom, to snap open the cookie container and cram a few in my face. I haven't, though. For one thing, savoring those two cookies today with a little milk really was better than mindlessly eating a bunch of them. For another, I'm in control here. I don't need cookies. Or rather, I don't need emotional cookies.

I'd drink some water but I don't want to pee all night either. :) So I'm gonna go do some stretches before heading to bed. It works wonders for waking up in the morning and feeling good.

Sifen
 
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September 20

Day Six of the Halloween Challenge. Woot.

I got curious as to my weight this morning (yeah, I admit it) and weighed myself. The scale says I'm down half a pound from Friday, but in all honesty that's probably just water fluctuations and my curiosity hasn't really been satisfied! I guess I'll just have to see what it says on the official day, then.

Either way, I have to step it up a bit if I want to hit my goal of a pound lost each week. How's the rest of the Freddies (and everyone else of course) doing?

Sifen

3:48 pm: I took about 20 minutes to eat that pudding cup, and it was extremely good that way. Savor the flavor! Plus in that time, I also managed to down 18oz of water. Yay for multitasking! ;)

11:34 pm: I stopped drinking my water when I hit 86 oz, but then as I sat here I realized... hey, I'm still thirsty! So I drank more! That's a little weird for me, but pretty darn cool.

DAILY RECAP for SEPT 20, final update 11:35 pm

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal w/milk and syrup (265 cal)
Lunch: Slice of whole-grain bread w/peanut butter, handful baby carrots (245 cal)
Mid-afternoon: Black plum (20 cal), tapioca pudding cup (140 cal)
Late afternoon: Baby carrots w/hummus (80 cal)
Dinner: Orange chicken breast w/couscous (~560 cal)
Dessert: Chocolate chip and oat cookie (110 cal)
Total cals = 1420
Water: 98 of 86 oz completed!
Exercise: Jogged 2 miles

Yays for today:
- Exercised and drank water like it's habit!

Boos for today:
- Ate more chicken than I meant to and felt uncomfortably full.
 
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