Well! somewhat typical story.
I have been overweight most of my life. anywhere from 10-50 lbs depending on what was happening with my life.
once I turned 20, i was 30lbs overweight, and over 4 years it had crept up slowly to about 40lbs. About 6 months ago i quit smoking and packed on another 10 lbs, along with some horrible eating habits.
This brings me to where i am now. I am about 40-50 pounds over where i would like to be, but i feel i have finally kicked the tobacco, and would like to start working on my weight! Well, not so much weight, but body fat.
I am 5'7" and as of wednesday (now friday) weighed 208lbs. I have never owned a scale until last week, and attempted to eat healthy before but never really stuck to it. Life style was very hectic, and frankly, laziness overtook me, so i was eating fast food more times than not (lunch trucks at work, chain resturants after work). needless to say, when i would eat healthy, i didnt notice any benefits right away, and just thought "ahhh screw it"
Now that i have purchased a scale, i am able to see daily what impact my choices are making, and it seems to keep my motivation.
I started by continuing my typical lifestyle for a week, and watching the scale. I went from 204-206 daily with my top weight for the week hitting 208.
As of wednesday, and i was out of food at home, i decided it was time to do a big shop, and fill my house with healthy, and low energy density foods. as well as some grab and go healthier options for days when i need to hit the snooze a few times before i get up for work.
I am starting to notice my biggest mistake was to skip breakfast, lunch(normally), and go straight to dinner everyday. I started counting calories, and noticed i wasnt really going overboard, but i wasnt loosing weight at all.
As of the past few days, i have been starting my day with:
600 calorie breakfast at 6am. of a granola cereal
200 cal snack at 930am. fruit salad
roughly a 260-500 cal lunch at 12pm of either campbells low sodium soup, or 2 chicken veggie wrap (whole wheat wrap, with half serving of chicken, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and a wedge of laughing cow cheese smeared in each)
500-600 cal dinner at 430-5pm same wraps as at lunch
200 cal snack 7-8pm. and in bed at 10pm.
this is acutally consuming more calories than i used to! i was probably under eating before, and loading it on nasty fast food at dinner time. both of which probably werent helping me.
with this, i have got down to 199, down from 208 at my most last week... now i realize that what i have followed the past 3 days isnt healthy to continue without changing it up, but those wraps are just so darn tasty! (and i dont know many other things to make to keep me interested that are quick and easy. (keeping kitchen time to a minimum. busy and active lifestyle. manual labor for work, and after work... darn house renos!) and i also realize that the majority of what i am loosing wont continue at the rate it is currently. but this is the first time i can see the difference in how quickly the body reacts to things, and is keeping my motivation up and actually making me research more on how the body works!
SO! if anyone has any suggestions on what i can stand to change up on my past few day plan, as im sure it isnt ideal by any means, and/or different simple meal ideas that can be made up quickly.that would be great!(im not picky. i love everything, just horrible at meal planning... although dinner i dont mind making something that takes longer)
almost forgot. i have been taking pgx daily the past couple days as well. not sure what the general opinion is on it, but my mother seems to swear by it when wanting to feel full sooner. (and frankly, i agree, i havent felt hungry at all, apart from at 4pm on my drive home from work and at 9am ish right before my coffee break. But it always seems to happen right before its my planned meal time anyways!
edit: guess i should also add, i drink only black coffee and water. and weaning myself from the coffee. i normally go through 4 cups a day, but started replacing my 4th coffee with water, and will be replacing my 3rd coffee with water, and so on. Not sure if i will completely give it up, but want to cut it down to just one for sure!
gave up the after work beer!
I have been overweight most of my life. anywhere from 10-50 lbs depending on what was happening with my life.
once I turned 20, i was 30lbs overweight, and over 4 years it had crept up slowly to about 40lbs. About 6 months ago i quit smoking and packed on another 10 lbs, along with some horrible eating habits.
This brings me to where i am now. I am about 40-50 pounds over where i would like to be, but i feel i have finally kicked the tobacco, and would like to start working on my weight! Well, not so much weight, but body fat.
I am 5'7" and as of wednesday (now friday) weighed 208lbs. I have never owned a scale until last week, and attempted to eat healthy before but never really stuck to it. Life style was very hectic, and frankly, laziness overtook me, so i was eating fast food more times than not (lunch trucks at work, chain resturants after work). needless to say, when i would eat healthy, i didnt notice any benefits right away, and just thought "ahhh screw it"
Now that i have purchased a scale, i am able to see daily what impact my choices are making, and it seems to keep my motivation.
I started by continuing my typical lifestyle for a week, and watching the scale. I went from 204-206 daily with my top weight for the week hitting 208.
As of wednesday, and i was out of food at home, i decided it was time to do a big shop, and fill my house with healthy, and low energy density foods. as well as some grab and go healthier options for days when i need to hit the snooze a few times before i get up for work.
I am starting to notice my biggest mistake was to skip breakfast, lunch(normally), and go straight to dinner everyday. I started counting calories, and noticed i wasnt really going overboard, but i wasnt loosing weight at all.
As of the past few days, i have been starting my day with:
600 calorie breakfast at 6am. of a granola cereal
200 cal snack at 930am. fruit salad
roughly a 260-500 cal lunch at 12pm of either campbells low sodium soup, or 2 chicken veggie wrap (whole wheat wrap, with half serving of chicken, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, and a wedge of laughing cow cheese smeared in each)
500-600 cal dinner at 430-5pm same wraps as at lunch
200 cal snack 7-8pm. and in bed at 10pm.
this is acutally consuming more calories than i used to! i was probably under eating before, and loading it on nasty fast food at dinner time. both of which probably werent helping me.
with this, i have got down to 199, down from 208 at my most last week... now i realize that what i have followed the past 3 days isnt healthy to continue without changing it up, but those wraps are just so darn tasty! (and i dont know many other things to make to keep me interested that are quick and easy. (keeping kitchen time to a minimum. busy and active lifestyle. manual labor for work, and after work... darn house renos!) and i also realize that the majority of what i am loosing wont continue at the rate it is currently. but this is the first time i can see the difference in how quickly the body reacts to things, and is keeping my motivation up and actually making me research more on how the body works!
SO! if anyone has any suggestions on what i can stand to change up on my past few day plan, as im sure it isnt ideal by any means, and/or different simple meal ideas that can be made up quickly.that would be great!(im not picky. i love everything, just horrible at meal planning... although dinner i dont mind making something that takes longer)
almost forgot. i have been taking pgx daily the past couple days as well. not sure what the general opinion is on it, but my mother seems to swear by it when wanting to feel full sooner. (and frankly, i agree, i havent felt hungry at all, apart from at 4pm on my drive home from work and at 9am ish right before my coffee break. But it always seems to happen right before its my planned meal time anyways!
edit: guess i should also add, i drink only black coffee and water. and weaning myself from the coffee. i normally go through 4 cups a day, but started replacing my 4th coffee with water, and will be replacing my 3rd coffee with water, and so on. Not sure if i will completely give it up, but want to cut it down to just one for sure!
gave up the after work beer!