The Other Amy's Diary :P

amygaspard

amygaspard

New member
I love the idea of a weight loss diary!

I am 27, 5'5", currently 150 pounds. My goal weight is 120 pounds.

In the past, I've always been pretty lean. I stayed around 120 for a loooong time (since college), but started gaining very slowly over the last few years. At the beginning of 2010, I was at 130. Not too bad. Then I got really sick, ended up in the hospital, and was ultimately diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It took a long time for me to recover, my doctors were telling me to eat stuff with virtually no fiber (looking back, that was so silly. I have a great new doctor now), and I was on a steroid medication for a while. I gained a lot of weight and wasn't able to do any exercise for a while. It was a really tough period. Since getting better, I haven't really gained any weight, but I haven't lost either. Now it's time. I'm tired of looking at this chunky version of me, and I'm tired of going shopping and not knowing what looks good on me because I don't know this body! I want my lean, healthy, confident self back!

Ok, so I know quite a bit about nutrition already (which is why I was thin for so long!) but I don't know everything. I have pretty good self control when it comes to eating, but I find it harder to motivate myself to exercise. The biggest goal I have this time around is to stop reaching for sugar so much. I am totally a sugar addict, and that needs to stop!

My plan of attack includes: 20-30 minutes of intense interval-training cardio 4-5 times a week, 3-4 days a week of strength training, and keeping a food diary that is based on a 1200 calorie a day plan, with emphasis on healthy, low sugar choices and 2 cheat meals a week to keep me sane. I'm basing my food choices on the plan by Jackie Warner in her book "This is why you're fat"

I'm on day 5 of my food diary, but haven't started my cardio and weight training back up yet. My energy has been super low. I'm thinking that's because my body is getting used to the lower sugar amounts? I'm feeling great today, though, so I'd like to do some cardio this evening!

Phew! That was long! I'm going to post an example of my food diary in a separate entry.
 
A sample of my food journal

Here's one of my past food journal entries:

Breakfast (310 calories total)
apple sauce with cinnamon and cottage cheese- 150 calories
wheat english muffin with a touch of butter- 160 calories
Water with lemon juice

Morning Snack
1/2 cup plain oatmeal with truvia and cinnamon- 150 calories
water with lemon juice

Lunch (290 calories total)
Mixed Greens with "zesty tahini" dressing- 50 calories
wheat mini toasts with goat cheese- 140 calories
banana- 50 calories
boiled egg- 50 calories
water with lemon juice

Afternoon Snack
Boiled Egg- 50 calories
bell pepper slices (mixed colors)- 50 calories
can of diet coke

Dinner-
frozen mango chuncks- 100 calories
thin piece of lean steak sauteed in a little butter- not sure about the calories, but it was yummy
vanilla green tea

Typical day for me! somewhere around 1200 calories
 
Welcome Amy, sounds like you have a great plan in place. The mirror can be a very sobering reality. Unfortunately yours was caused more by medical reasons rather than unhealthy habits, so your transition to a healthier lifestyle may be a little smoother. Coming off of sugar can be tough and I am sure your body is not happy with you but good for you!!! Hopefully your energy picks up and your journey will be a successful one. You WILL do this:)!!!
 
Thanks so much, Ozarkturtle! I can't wait to start the cardio and strength training again- I've been doing it for the last 6 months, and off and on for the last many many years, but I haven't been doing as much as I should or as intensely as I should. And UGH it's so hard to skip the sugar!!!! I'm a full time nanny, so I'm in a house surrounded by candy, fruit snacks, cake, cookies, etc all day long. I just keep asking myself- "what do you want more- to be thin or to have those sweets right now?" and then grab a glass of water.


My food journal so far today:

Oatmeal with cinnamon, truvia, and banana chunks (yum!)- 210 calories
boiled egg- 50 calories

wheat english muffin- 140 calories

wheat tortilla with part-skim cheese and salsa- 225 calories
baby carrots- 50 calories

apple- 50 calories
boiled egg- 50 calories

So far- 775 calories. I don't know what I'll have for dinner yet.
 
Thats exactly right, its all about choices and hopefully making the right ones:) Being around kid snacks all day would be tough, but maybe you can use it to your advantage and introduce some healthy snacks to the kids.
 
I've already introduced my 4 year old boy to some new things! He now loves cucumbers! Also, I introduced him to peanut butter and banana sandwichs as an alternative to his beloved pb&j. :)


Ok, so for dinner, I had a salad consisting of mixed greens, a tablespoon of a no-sugar, low-cal ranch dressing (70 cals), a serving of black beans (120), some feta cheese (80), and salsa (25), used as an alternative to more dressing! I had some frozen mango chunks for dessert, finishing my day right at 1200 calories. Now I'm winding down with some yummy vanilla herbal tea. Oh! And I did some strength training this evening! Yay!
 
Ugh! I packed my lunch and snacks for work today and had everything ready to go... and then I forgot my food bag on the counter. :( I freaked out a bit, because now I'm limited to what the family I work for has. I managed to put together a decent plan, though. It's not all organic like I prefer, but it'll work for today.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, banana, egg (200 calories)
Morning snack: Green beans and a cheese stick (100 calories)
Lunch: Cheese stick, raw almonds, boiled egg, apple slices (370 calories)
Afternoon snack: plain cheerios and green beans (120 calories)

I'm not sure what I'll have for dinner.
 
Amy, just wanted to stop and say hi :waving: You and I seem to be on similar eating strategies, or at least have similar food choices. Its somewhat comforting to see people eating the same boring crap lol. But your plan for exercise sounds great thus far. I'm rooting for you and look forward to following along :cool:
 
Hi jmlls07!

I guess I don't think of my food as boring. :p I like all of this stuff, otherwise I wouldn't be eating it. One of the big things for me is I don't want to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen. I'm a busy girl! I just want to grab it, eat it, and go! Oatmeal with cinnamon and banana chunks takes more time than anything else on my menu, typically- a whole 5 minutes!!!

We'll see how the exercise stuff goes. I find it easy to control my eating, but difficult to motivate myself to work out. So I might not end up doing quite as much exercise as I'd like, but I will try to do something every day.

Thanks for saying hello!
 
so awesome you enjoy your food! I like everything I'm really not allowed to eat lol, so eating the same old food every day is super hard for me. Kudos to you for being comfortable with your eating plan. You seem pretty small already and weight comes off smaller people slower it seems, so I do understand your difficulty in getting motivated. Just know there are a ton of people on here who will help in any way they can, myself included. Small victories are super encouraging here... even if its doing something every day like you said. You already took the first step in starting a journal, you're already on the right track ;) :D
 
Last night I did 20 minutes of intense interval training on the treadmill. It felt great and I worked my butt off (hopefully literally)!

This morning I weighed myself for the first time since I started my new eating/workout routine. I've decided to only weigh once a week, on Saturday mornings, so that I don't stress about all the little ups and downs. Last week, I weighed 150. This morning, the scale said 146! I didn't expect that! I know this'll probably be the biggest jump, and in the future, I hope to lose 1-2 pounds a week. I'm just happy to see that my body is immediately responding to this program. :)
 
Hi Amy, you seem to be doing really well so far. I can't beleive how many meals and snacks you have, and manage to keep your calories so low! It must be hell not being able to control the food in the cupboards that may tempt you, so well done for sticking to it. I occasionally find empty chocolate wrappers and donut bags in the house and it dries me insane!

I don't think there is any reason to be bored with food whilst on a diet and eat the same things on rotation, there are hundreds of different things to eat.

I have already lost weight once (before i piled it back on again-whoops), and i disliked a lot of food then. But i read an article that said that if you eat foods a few times you will grow to like them, so thats what i did (and it was hard at first), and now i enjoy almost everything, except fish. I am working on the fish at the moment and eating it at least once a week. I really hope to start enjoying it soon!
 
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Mmmm... breakfast this morning was a wheat english muffin with a bit of cheese and turkey- total of 245 calories and super delicious!

Thanks overtherainbow! I think I kinda have an unfair advantage because I've studied nutrition and stayed really healthy most of my life. My big problem has been that I tend to mindless munch and grab for sweets. I'll have a healthy meal, then munch bad stuff in between, a little bit here and there and it all adds up quickly! So eating so many snacks is normal for me, it's just that this time, they're healthy!

I am not really fond of fish either. :p If I eat it just once in a while, I can enjoy it, but it gets old really fast. I think the smell and texture contribute. Since I have Crohn's Disease, I've been trying to get more omega-3s in my diet, as they're an anti-inflammatory. So for a while, I tried to force myself to eat fish every day and I got to the point where I couldn't stand to even smell it. It was awful. I'm just taking quality fish oil now. :p
 
I fully enjoyed my cheat meal! BBQ chicken breast, potato salad, diet root beer, and a pina colada smoothie for dessert! Soooo good. I earned every bite.
 
Gah. I discovered a great motivator today- trying to find work out clothes that are functional AND flattering. Am I supposed to look like crap until I get to my target weight? Maybe I should just wear a pin that says "Excuse my sloppy clothing- I'm chubby and can't find anything that looks good on my body." Also, walking around a sporting good store nearly in tears, surrounded by people that all look fit and slim is horribly depressing. :(
 
I had a good work out last night, and also had enough calories left over at the end of the day to treat myself to a beer!
 
overtherainbow,
I'm not really a nutritionist, just someone who has done a lot of research and reading on the topic. :) I've always had more self-control with food than exercise, though.

I should've done cardio yesterday, but I was stressed and tired so I skipped it. It's so hard to get motivated when I don't feel great. :/
 
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