Stay on track!

You did so well by avoiding the chocolate cake! Don't be too hard on yourself. You could have made it more difficult it you had eaten some of the cake and then didn't exercise at lunch.

Just work a little extra hard on your workout tonight and then put the days events in the past.

Like you said, this is when you need to put your nose to the grindstone! We've both had crummy days, but in the end as long as you're still heading to where you want to be, that's what matters!
 
Hey chika!!! u did so good on resisting the cake!!!! i know i didnt :p

it s sooo funny i had choco cake put on my desk today too !!! ha ha but i ate it ... yup yup and trust me i m reallly not happy bout it grrr that second of pleasure wich btw wasnt as good as i remembered was definitelly not worth it...

I actually got home and went to the gym even if it was my day off...

so that also will answer your other question... i always take a day or 2 off from the gym ... it s good to let your muscle/body rest or else u r gonna get bored of it and you ll have a tendency of giving up. feeling annoyed and stuff...

keep it up :)
 
big news - I weighed 158.8 this morning!


Ah.. I'm glad to know other people have chocolate cakes on their desks too!!! Even though I didn't walk yesterday, I did go to the gym after my meeting around 9pm, and I worked out until 1030ish. I did 15 minutes on a weighted bike, which was sweet becuase it had a screen with other bicyclists and you could race them, so that was fun. And then I did 9:33 on the erg (rowing machine), doing 2000m as fast as I could. That was fun too. I rowed crew in college for a year. I liked it but it was SO EXPENSIVE! After that I did Back and shoulders, four exercises 4x each. Then I stretched for around 15 minutes.... I loveeee stretching. Love it.

When I got home, I had gone all day without my water pill, but I took off my spandex suit and my stomach was pretty puffy on one side (the ultrasonic waves that were used to break up the fat also destroys lymphatic channels, so almost all of the swelling that happens is because your body treats the procedure like a burn and sends fluids to the area to cool it. Without lymphatic channels, the fluids have no way to escape and they collect, which takes healing a lot longer) where I had a seroma (fluid collection) last week. So I had to take a water pill again, so the swelling could have a chance to go down. I wasn't happy about that, because I would like to stop taking all medicine and heal naturally, but when you get a seroma, the Dr. has to suck all of the fluid out with needles. I don't like getting poked so.. .water pills will do for now. I will try again next week, to go off of the medicine.

Breakfast:
English muffin - 120
egg - 85
cheese - 50
canadian bacon - 20
chobani cherry - 150
water

B Total: 425

Lunch: Tuna packet (did not eat the whole packet) - 140
mayo, yellow mustard - 90
carrots, 1 serving - 35
wasa bread, 2 slices - 80
cherries - 122
string cheese - 85

L total - 552

Day total: 977
Big lunch, dinner will have to be small. I have some tofu.. I'll see what I can do with that. If I can find my old crappy bike shorts I will go to spinning tonight from 6-7!! Otherwise I might take my dog for a walk or go to yoga from 730 - 8.

I WENT RUNNING! It was walking and running BUT STILL. I ran about half of it, in intermittant spurts. 3 miles total! Yahoo! It was pretty hot out, so running in my pants to cover up the spandex suit is pretty hot but I was fine. I feel really good about it.

Dinner:
1 serving pasta - 200
1 serving Quorn chicken bits - 80
Tomato sauce (homemade) - 1 cup - 120
capers, onion, green olives, sundried tomatoes, garlic - 50
1tbsp peanut oil - 119
green beans - 20
peas - 70
chobani yogurt, vanilla (dessert) - 120

total: 779

Day total: 1756

Tonight we had to go to the vet for our cat's vaccinations, but when we got home, instead of sitting on the couch I cleaned out my car (big job) and cleaned up the kitchen. I have been having headaches the last couple days so I took a break from the gym tonight. Plus I ran today!! So I feel good about it :)

Thanks for all the support guys!
 
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:hurray::hurray: Kudos on the miles..and the weight loss..you should be so proud of yourself!!! Any activity in the heat is hard to do...I know we had a heat wave last week and it just sucked the life right out of me!!
 
Breakfast:

homemade egg mcmuffin
english muffin - 120
egg - 85
cheese - 50
canadian bacon - 20

cottage cheese - 80
tbsp honey - 60

breakfast: 415

There is a luncheon for someone who is leaving at work today.. so we are going to lunch. It will be my first restaurant meal as a healthy eater. I hope I can make good choices!!! edit: I decided not to eat at the restaurant, and to eat the food I brought with me. Last time we had a cookout, I brought food and I remember myself saying, "If I really wanted to do the right thing, I could have gone to the cookout and socialized with everyone, and eaten my own lunch before I left, instead of making excuses why I HAD to eat the unhealthy food with everyone else." So, in the spirit of making healthy changes, I'm going to eat the lunch I prepared this morning and brought with me to work, instead of making excuses and allowing myself to eat an 800 or 900 calorie lunch and hating myself for it later.

Here's to change! Big change!

You're never gonna believe this: Ate lunch at my desk before the luncheon, went to lunch, had water with lemon in it and nothing else! They bought rounds and rounds of fried appetizers and offered me them and I had nothing! And then they asked if I was being healthy and we talked about losing weight, and almost everyone at the table talked about some kind of effort they were making to lose weight... while eating fried chicken or calamari or zucchini... I even walked there and back! Only about a mile round trip though, but still! No one else walked to the restaurant, everyone ate crappy food except one person that had a salad. It sounds bad to say it, but seeing other people doing everything wrong just validated and encouraged not eating at the restaurant. :D

Lunch:
1 serving pasta - 200
1.5 servings sauce - 150
1 chobani vanilla - 120
lunch total: 470

Day total: 885

For dinner I made pizza! But instead of making one whole pizza I separated the dough and weighed it, so I had two servings of everything... :) I did good the rest of the day so I got to splurge a little at dinner!

2 servings pizza dough - 260
1 serving pepperoni - 160
2 servings mozzerella cheese - 160
2 servings sauce - 60
olives - 10

meal total: 650

day total: 1535

had a popsicle :)

1595
 
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So yesterday I didn't do any physical activity really... I walked a bit at work but I was so busy that I couldn't do my lunch walk. I still felt really good about the day though, because I resisted restaurant food and stuck to my guns. Gonna post some pics today, the first one is from college, when I weighed around 183. The second is from last night, when I started keeping track of body changes thru photos. I will take some photos every ten lbs in the same suit and see if I can notice changes. I realize the lighting and the suits are different, but I have about a 4-inch difference in my waist (35 in college and about 31 right now) plus the 24-lb difference. I can see a difference, but it might just be in the way I feel. My stomach in the last picture is still very loose and lumpy and bruised from the procedure, but it has gotten a lot better in the last four weeks.

Breakfast:
1 serving old-fashioned oatmeal (i'm getting bored of homemade egg mcmuffins!) - 150
1/3 cup skim milk - 30
1tsp brown sugar - 15
strawberries - 26
1/2 serving/1tbsp peanut butter - 90

breakfast total: 311

Going to the gym for spinning class this morning and then lifting some weights and doing stretching :) I weighed 159.0 this morning, so up a little from yesterday but we'll get there!!!

Got back from the gym. I did an hour of spinning (kicked my butt) and then did four sets of four tri's and bi's, stretched, and kind of just did whatever I felt like. Some push ups, some sit ups, some pilates... spent about two hours at the gym total.

Lunch:
1 whole wheat bagel - 250
1 piece cheese - 70
half a bag of tuna - 90
handful of fresh spinach - 10
1tbsp mayo & mustard - 90

lunch total: 510

day total so far: 821

Had one of the two nature valley bars... brings me to 911.

Dinner:
1.5 servings tofu - 105
onion, bell pepper - 20
corn tortillas (2) - 110
yogurt - 26
salsa - 10
1/2 cup rice - 80
1/4 cup black beans - 60
cheese - 120
1tbsp peanut oil - 120

dinner total: 551

day total so far: 1462

dessert: 110 cals - cherries

day total: 1572

just had 90 cals worth of popcorn... late night snack :)

final total: 1662
 
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Breakfast:

1 buckwheat pancake - 167
strawberries - 43
honey, 1 tbsp - 60
2 tbsp peanut butter - 188

calories so far: 458

lunch:
bagel - 250
tuna - 140
cheese - 70
spinach - 10
mayo & mustard - 90

lunch total: 560

granola bar - 90

day total so far: 1108

Dinner -
chicken brat - 130
pasta serving - 200
cooking oil - 100
alfredo sauce - 50
mushrooms, spinach, sundried tomatoes, onion - 30

dinner total - 510

day total: 1618
 
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Chelsea! I just finished reading your diary and you make me feel so motivated! I want to say that you are doing a good job staying away from junk! Your pictures are amazing, we can definitely see a BIG difference! We have similar goals...i started at 177.8 and trying to get down to 140 (atleast for now). How tall are you by the way? I'm asking because when i lost weight along time ago i was restricting myself to a 1200 diet and when i finally shed the pounds off i regained them back because i got off my "low-calorie" meal replacements and etc. So now that i am trying to restart my weight loss journey and trying to keep the weight off for good w/out always being on diet products, i found a 1200 calories wouldnt satisfy me... I'd always feel hungry! But recently ive been ranging from 1200-1500 since my BMR is 1615 calories (absolutly no exercise haha...but im working on that :))... I'm 5'3 and weight 175.6 as of this morning (i was 175.4 yesterday :(). If you are the same height as me...i think i can just keep up with my 1200-1500 if not i have to do something different with my diet. Hope to hear from you soon!

I'm not sure if im really 5'3. Ive had measurements tell me im 5'3 and 5'4 and even 5'5 ! haha so i really need to get that checked!
 
Aww thanks you guys, I seriously can't explain how helpful this forum has been in keeping me motivated. Usually when I started on a healthy-eating/diet journey I felt so alone by the end of it, that I would just give up.

Today was a really hard day for me; my boyfriend and I are having a lot of problems and so I have been thinking about it all day. I am going to try and work out later this evening, when the heats gone away, but the one positive thing out of everything today - when I was at my lowest point today, I didn't think, "What can I eat..." I just experienced my emotions and was sad and talked to my mom, instead of turning to the fridge and a movie or something, like I used to. I think that is a positive move, at least as far as making efforts to be healthier is concerned. We have worked past somethings and I think we are going to have to step back and look at our relationship for a while and see if it is something that we want to keep working at.

Onward and upward!

Kiwi - We have very similar goals! It makes me SO HAPPY that you were able to find motivation in my diary. It helps me so much just to keep it and record my thoughts and feelings and intake and exercise, but to know that other people are benefiting from my experiences so far, makes it that much better. FleurdeLis and Sweetxsempre are two other "bloggers" that have similar goals - we are all on the same playing field! It's great that we can keep up on each others' status and motivate each other.

I will check out your stuff later tonight... off to the laundromat ;(
PS I say I am 5'5" but I'm really like 5'5.5"...

edit: I ran all the way to the laundromat (a whole .6 miles) and then I took a "long" way home (long for me to run), of 1.4 miles. I didn't stop, I didn't get that tired, and I took it easy - but I still did it! I am proud of my 1.4 mile continuous run for the day, and my 2 mile total. It made me feel so much better - my headache that I had from crying when we were fighting is gone, I am in a better mood, and I feel like I have a more positive outlook on everything that happened today. Oh exercise... why are you so good for me and yet sometimes so hard to muster up the motivation to complete???
 
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Ohhh boy - it's a big day - 157.6!!!!


So that's my starting weight for the August challenge, and I need to adjust my goal weights for the next seven months accordingly. August is a big month. Up until this point I kind of looked at July as my trial period to see how my weight loss would go, and I put the first of August on a pedestal as my official "start day" for all my goals and stuff. One week and seven months until our vacation - "B-Day" as I like to call it (Bikini Day). Watch out 130 lbs, I'm coming to get you!

updated goals: Goals: 31 Aug - 152.6; 30 Sep - 147.6; 31 Oct - 142.6; 30 Nov - 138.6; 31 Dec - 134.6; 31 Jan - 130.6; 29 Feb - 126.6. Then reevaluate and either keep losing or maintain!

Breakfast -
1 english muffin - 110
1 large egg - 74 (there's 11 less calories in a large egg than an XL egg! sweet!)
1 piece american cheese - 70
1 piece canadian bacon - 20
strawberries - 40
1 cup skim milk - 90

breakfast total - 404

Lunch -
Tofu burrito filling - 1 serving - 100
1/2 cup rice/beans - 100
chobani - 120
1 tbsp ground flax seed - 30
2 tortillas - 110

lunch total: 460

day total so far: 864

Sad note - my maintenance calories are below 2000 - 1969 to be exact. I knew this day would come... but I'm going to have to start getting creative at keeping my meals around ~650 cals to get the 500 deficit... some days I just get so hungryyyyyy aaahhh!! But I can do it :) We can all do it! Because we are strong and have willpower and integrity!!!! Svelt bikini body.. here I come!

Dinner:
couscous and veggies - 200
deli flat - 100
Quorn chx patty - 150
american cheese - 70
peas - 70
spinach and tomato - 10
cherries - 100

BIG DINNER - 700

day total: 1564

And now off to the gym. Trying to make it all the way on a run to the gym, but if it doesn't happen, it's ok! 2.7 miles. And then yoga from 700-830.

edit: I did not make it all the way to the gym without stopping, but I did run the majority of the 2.7 miles. According to gmaps I ran 1.88 and walked .82. I am pleased! Then yoga was ok but I was really stiff and not really feeling it. I always just want to sit in forward fold or stretch out my hamstrings. If I wanted to be as flexible as some of those people, I would have to stretch for like five hours a day. And then running and lifting weights would undo all of my flexibility. Oh well, at least I show up and put in an effort to be more flexible!!
 
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Chelsea, you're doing so well!! 157? WOOT WOOT! You're pics look great, it's amazing what a few pounds lost can look like. I'm so proud of you for your running and continuing dedication to keep going. I know sometimes it's really hard, but you're doing it. The fact that you didn't turn to food in a time of emotions means you're really making changes!
 
Would you be interested in upping your activity level by 30 mins of something, to keep the maintenance calories higher?
 
Yeah... I don't factor my exercise into my calorie equation... it's too hard to "guesstimate" the amount of calories burned per exercise, and a lot of the time my exercise isn't structured (ex - play with the dog, run and walk, exercise class and a calisthenics buffet) so I prefer to just calculate my daily maintenance calories needed for a "light activity" lifestyle. Then I make a deficit out of that and anything I exercise is like a hidden bonus that moves my progress along further. If I counted my exercise calories I'm afraid I would get too into increasing my intake to counter the exercise. The exercise creates a buffer - that way if I have 1700 instead of 1500 for the day, at least I know I exercised to lessen the blow of the 200cal over indulgence!
 
Good point! I agree, it's hard to know with any kind of certainty just how much we're burning. I scrutinized a whole load of university studies a few years back to see if I could narrow them all down...and I concluded that nobody really knew anyway and rough estimates are as close as it's going to get!!

Good job on your weight loss, BTW.
 
Thanks Ms Bubbles!!! I have looked into getting a heartrate monitor... if you personlize it it's supposed to do a good job of estimating your calories based on your heart rate and stuff... but I don't really have a spare $150 dollars laying around for that kind of thing! It would be nice to be able to track heartrates at different points in the same work out and see the improvements over time and stuff though.

Thanks for the congrats!!
 
Hey Chelsea,

Do you have any good fish recipes? I'm not a fan of tuna, but I love shrimp. And I'm willing to try some other kinds.

Thanks for the meatless substitute info too!
 
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