We are what we repeatedly do...

Holly88

Holly88

New member
... Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

About Me
Hello, I'm Holly. I'm a 21 year old student studying in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. I live with my boyfriend of 18 months, who I met through my university degree. I like to think of myself as intelligent, I enjoy both science and art. I can be shy in person initially but more confident as you get to know me, particularly if I've had a few drinks ;).

Anyway so I'll write a little about my dieting history (we've all got one!)...
I've been overweight since I can remember and around the age of 15/16 I began to seriously pile on the pounds as they say. I was about 210lbs at my heaviest when I was 17 and managed to lose 30lbs simply by cutting down on food and choosing better lunch options at school.

Unfortunately this innocent behaviour was the beginning of an obsession with my weight and food, which led me to diet on and off ever since. I am ashamed to admit I've tried it all, like most other serial dieters, and even gone into the sinister realms of pills and purging. Thankfully I put this past behind me in January 2009 and began good ole fashioned calorie counting and exercise (1200-1500kcal a day, exercise 3 x week and some mild strength training). This worked brilliantly for me and by the time my June holiday Spain came round, I had gone from about 194lbs to 158lbs. I was really pleased with my progress. Sadly I let all my hard work go to waste and never really got back to my routine, which over the course of 18 months has landed me right back where I started.

So, that's the past! Here's to the future..

I'm beginning this diary as I want to begin again trying to achieve a healthy weight and my desired figure. That's a long way off and I know now that it's more important that I concentrate on forging life-long habits than I get hung up on the race to the finish line. I don't want to yo-yo anymore. This is the reason I chose the quote 'we are what we repeatedly do' as the title for my diary. I think the key to weight loss success is consistency and momentum and this is what I'm aiming to achieve.

Some questions...
- How much weight do you want to lose?
Health wise I want to lose enough to be a healthy BMI, so that's at least 50lbs. Vanity wise, I'd love to be a size 8-10. That'd probably take a total loss of 70lbs+. I guess I'll see once I'm closer to those weights.

- What is the timeframe for reaching your target weight?
As long as it takes!

To begin with, I would like to get to 154lbs (11stone) by Xmas, which would mean I would need to lose 40lbs in 21 weeks.

- How do you want to accomplish your goal (what methods do you want to use)?
Since reading stickies on this forum I have realised it was probably unnecessary for me to reduce my calories to 1200-1500kcal first time round. I'm going to aim for 1600-1800kcal this time.

I'll be adding in regular exercise (swimming, running and cycling), with the aim of burning 500kcals 3-4x a week initially

I'm also going to aim to do a basic strength training routine 2-3x a week.

- Who or what can support you in reaching your goal?
Well hopefully my bf will support me a great deal but I'll take whatever support I can get.

I think my greatest time of need is when I have cravings or have to go out to celebrate (I'm not great at practising moderation). Holidays are also impossible for me but I'll tackle that when it rolls around to Xmas time.

- How realistic is your goal?
I like to think it's realistic. My initial goal of 40lbs in 21weeks may be a little too ambitious but truly I'd be content with anything so long as I'm making progress.

- When will you start?
Tomorrow, Monday the 26th.

Starting Stats
Height: 5'5
Weight: 195 lbs
Waist (belly button): 44.5 inches
Hips: 44.5 inches
Upper arm: 13.5 inches
Upper thigh: 27.5 inches
Calf: 17 inches
Under bust: 38 inches
Neck: 14 inches
BMI: 32.4 (obese :()
Waist to hip ratio: 1.0 (high risk)
 
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More questions to get me started...

1. What is your current height and weight?
I'm 5'5.5 (lol @ my 'accuracy'). And... well... I was 188lbs 5 weeks ago before I went travelling around the UK visiting friends and family. I think I'm probably about 195lbs now :( but this is yet to be confirmed...

2. If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be?
I guess 125lbs but it depends what I actually look like at that weight.

3. At what weight would you like to be at four months from now?
11 stone 10 (164lbs) or there abouts :)

4. Why do you want to lose weight?
To be completely honest, it's vanity mostly: I would be over the world to feel able to buy short dresses and tight fitting clothes without looking huge/jiggly.

Nevertheless I would also love to be able to run up stairs easily and have more energy, it's horrible feeling sluggish all the time. Though, those things are probably more to do with fitness than with weight.

5. Do you want to lose weight for a specific life event such as wedding or reunion? If so, when is that event?
Nope, just life in general. I would like to be a smaller dress size, say 12, in time for my university ball early next spring.

6. What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?
Uhm, my cravings for junk food and any special occassions/family visits/holidays where I'm not in control of my food and have to practise moderation, which I'm terrible at. It's something I really need to work on.

7. Why do you think that you now have a weight problem?
I always have had a weight problem. I've always been a comfort eater basically plus I just love my food. Often I eat when I'm not really hungry and just out of boredom sometimes.

8. What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight?
Eating out less, controlling my portions and being more active in general day to day life.

9. Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight?
My lowest weight was 158lbs. I worked out fairly regularly at the gym on the elliptal for 20-40minutes a day and ate 1200-1500kcal a day. I also had a day off from calorie counting/healthy eating once every fortnight roughly.

I think this time round I will increase my daily calories to 1800kcal and try to keep off-days to once monthly.

10. Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back?
I suffer greatly from being an all or nothing kind of person. Once I left for my Spanish holiday in June last year, I threw all my portion control and exercise out the window and just never made much effort to get these back. I felt it was pointless trying to practise moderation in a family atmosphere where big meals and eating out are the norm.

I know these obstacles are just part of life and I'm really going to have to work on keeping some control over what I eat when I'm out of my comfort zone.

11. What, if anything, has not worked for you in the past in helping you to lose weight? Why do you think it did not work?
As above - having an all or nothing, defeatist attitude let me undo my hard work and rationalise not making an effort to rectify the situation until now.

12. Would you try writing down all food and drink consumed for a given period of time?
I don't get this question? This IS what I'll be doing from tomorrow.

13. Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook?
Yes when I'm at home I cook for myself and my bf most nights of the week. We like fajitas, shepard's pie, bolognaise, curries... lots of things. Most of which I can easily make a healthier alternative of.

14. How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go?
If I'm with family, too often! If I'm at home with my bf then maybe once or twice a month. Sometimes more, it depends on birthdays etc. We like nandos, thai food, pub grub and KFC (eek!).

15. What are your three favorite foods?
Too many to choose three. I have too much of a love for fried chicken at the moment though.

16. What are your three favorite restaurants?
Nandos is my favourite chain restaurant. I wouldn't like to name my favourite local restaurants but one is classic french/british cuisine and another is a thai restaurant.

17. What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food?
Eat regular, portion controlled meals with a good amount of protein and fibre to keep me full. I will make a great effort to make sure I don't go too long without food too, this makes me grumpy and kicks in cravings.

18. If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different?
Size 8, toned, no loose skin, no cellulite. And C cup boobs. (I'm worried I'm going to lose most of my boobs if I get down to a size 8).

19. Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Yup definitely.

20. Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)?
Sometimes. This has been a real problem for me in the past.

21. Do you hide your food or eat in secret?
I did when I was a child, it's increasingly rare now a days but sometimes yes I do lapse and feel ashamed of my greed.

22. Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed?
Yes, yes and yes.

23. Do you eat as a reward?
Yes, one of my favourite reasons actually.

24. Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer?
All the time.

25. What do you normally eat for a meal?
Depends on the meal?! I do always feel the need to have a dessert though, whatever the meal. I'm usually happy to replace this with fruit, fruit juice or low fat icecream when I'm calorie counting though.


26. What type of snacks do you eat?
Chocolate, biscuits, cups of tea, fruit, crisps.

27. In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing?
Currently? Nothing but walking to get around.

28. Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home?
I used to have a gym membership but I can no longer afford this. In future I'm going to exercise at home or go running/swimming locally.

29. What, if anything, are your three favorite types of exercise?
Swimming, dancing (but I've got no rhythm) and running (but I admit I only enjoyed this when I was doing it regularly and it became easier/enjoyable - in the beginning it's hell!)

30. What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals?
I enjoy reading quotes and window shopping online for pretty clothes to keep me motivated. I'm going to make a motivation collage to put up in my kitchen too :) I'm also a geek and love making graphs of my progress.

31. Do you have rewards for certain goals?
I'm going to start a brooch collection and reward myself with a brooch for every 30 days I've stuck to my calories and/or exercise goals :) I'm also going to buy new clothes when I need them, obviously haha, got to wear something!
 
Off to a good start...

Ok so today has been good so far. I woke up early, 7am, and couldn't sleep any longer so I thought why not get this day off to a good start and went out for my first jog since we moved to this new flat in April.

I jogged all around the park and a field that backs onto the park. My heart rate monitor said I'd burnt 505kcal in 40minutes. I was pleased with that although my legs were aching and my throat was sore from breathing so hard! It can only get easier I guess, lol.

I bought barbells, that I'm collecting tomorrow, and new running shoes because my trainers at the moment rub way too much when running. I've decided I'm going to keep the exercise super simple:

M: 30-45 mins cardio (jog/walk, swimming, cycling)
T: 30 mins strength training (or however long it takes me to complete the routine)
W: Cardio as above
T: ST as above
F:Cardio as above
S: Optional ST
S: Optional Cardio

I'm going to try find some tasty and healthy recipes to add to my repertoire of dinners.

My other plan is to prints off some affirmation to keep my daily motivation up.
 
Hey lady! I'm a student in England as well! (not many English folk round here, we should stick together ;)) I'm 20, so near your age, and live with my boyfriend of 12 months!

Just popping by to say hey and welcome! Good luck! Keep updating :D
 
Sunflower: Hey, thanks so much for being the first to post in my diary :)
It's cool we have stuff in common, you're right about the lack of brits too!

Anyhoo ... I've had a good day so far. I've eaten 1790kcal and burnt off 505kcal. So, right on targets.

A friend tempted me with an offer of Nandos before we see a film tonight but I stayed strong and said no. I didn't want to let it jeopardise my first day of the healthier me.

I'm going to have to exercise that willpower again to avoid the cinema fodder too... wish me luck.
 
Hey Holly! Like Sun I'm a college student too (though American). Welcome! Nice job on the temptation resisting. Going to the movies is the one thing that still totally trips me up (went last weekend and couldn't stop myself from eating a Milky Way!) but I bet you're even stronger than I am.

Best of luck!! :)
 
Hi Younggirlie, thanks for the reply :) the cinema went well actually, I ate nothing extra!

Today wasn't as great though, I was so busy I missed lunch and have only eaten 1200 kcals today :S Not sure what to do about this cause I feel it's too late and I'm too full now to eat more.

I didn't do any strength training either but I did do a lot of heavy lifting today up 3 flights of stairs haha so maybe that helped.

Not much else to report!
 
Just a quick post to say I've already lost 3.5 lbs :) All water no doubt but still encouraging that I'm not AS heavy as I thought. It also makes my goal of being under 182lbs by the end of August seem completely achieveable. That should almost take me out of the obese BMI too, yay, and that'll be FOR GOOD!

I'm going swimming tonight with my BF for exercise and having some turkey and mushrooms in a sherry sauce with rice for dinner afterwards. It's a new recipe so I hope it works out well. I got it from the reader's digest 'fast healthy food' cookbook - I recommend it.
 
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Congrats on the 3.5 pounds :)
Those first few pounds always give you such a boost, even if it's water weight it gives you more self confidence that you can do it.
We're starting at similar weights (I've just restarted) and almost exactly the same height! My starting weight originally was quite a bit higher but I'm in the 190's now too.
I'm from England too, although I'm not a student, decided to leave Uni til I'm older, but my boyfriend has just graduated, so the university lifestyle/being in a relationship has affected me a bit too!
Good luck with the meal tonight, I'm starting out with small recipies that can't really go wrong so you're obviously a bit more adventurous than me! :p
 
Hey red, I love that we have similar stats, it'll be great to see how you do and hopefully I'll do just as well.

The meal went really well, the sauce and turkey were so delicious (if I say so myself), but yet again my rice cooking skills failed me and we had to have the yummy turkey with soggy rice. Ah well, hopefully I'll do better next time.

We went swimming tonight, I used my heart rate monitor for the first time underwater. I was paranoid it would break but is was fine. I burnt 600kcal in an hour so I was pleased with that.

My calories have been under again, sigh! 1500 ish kcal today. I managed to eat a small sandwich yesterday though after my post and brought my total from yesterday to 1500kcal too.

It's weird how when I'm eating healthy food, I find it really difficult to eat enough.

I printed off a wall chart today, I get a gold star for any day that I ate <1800kcal OR followed my exercise plan and I get a jazzier glittery sticker for the days where I do both. 30 total stickers = small reward and if when I've completed the chart (150stickers/days) I've got more than 75% glittery stickers, I get a big reward!

I don't want to base my rewards on weight lost because I dont think that's healthy - too much like basing self worth on the number on the scale - I think it's better to base my rewards on the effort I'm putting in, regardless of results.

I also printed off a page of affirmations I can say everyday. I won't say exactly what they are though cause it's cheesy and a little embarrassing haha but hopefully it'll keep me focused!

I think that's all for this post. My goals for tomorrow are to continue eating well and get in some strength training with my new dumbells.

Signing off, hope anyone reading this has had a good day too!
 
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OK so far today I've done my first bit of strength training, using the new dumbbells, and had a super yummy pitta pizza for breakfast and a large omelette and salad for lunch. Lovely.

Another new recipe planned for tonight - crispy chicken pittas, tzatziki and baked potato wedges. Probs throw some salad in there too. I hope it goes well!
 
Ooh I like the sticker chart reward thing :)
I'd do something like that only I'd forget and just make it up :p
Have you decided on any of your rewards yet? My next mini goal is 190 so I'm thinking a new pair of shoes for me personally :) Or a new dress in a size 16 not 18 (fingers crosed).

Is it just me or has your ticker moved down some more?
 
Yeah I'm such a nerd when it comes to charts and stuff haha I just love that stuff.

For small rewards I'm going to get myself some jewellery (nothing expensive, just something small) or maybe a bunch of flowers, I love flowers - boy that sounds lame but flowers really cheer me up.

Bigger rewards, not sure yet but probably shoes or clothes. Yay shoes. I need to get rid of some of the ones I never wear any more to have room for new ones haha.

Yeah I've lost 4.5lbs so far so its moved a little.

I had a really nice supper tonight, the one I described in a previous post but added in some nandos peri peri sauce. It was SO nice. Nandos sauce is pretty low cal for something so tasty.

Also had a double southern comfort and diet ginger beer to celebrate my boyfriend officially moving all his stuff into our flat. He's leaving tomorrow to visit family though :(

Anyway, my total calories today was 1784kcal. It feels funny aiming to eat 1800kcal when I've always been used to 1200-1500kcal when I've dieted previously.
 
Updated exercise plan...

Just a post to keep a note of my exercise plan.

M: 40 minute walk/jog/run (enough to burn 500kcal on heart monitor)
T: Strength training and stretches
W: 1 hour swimming (600kcal on heart monitor)
T: Strength training and stretches
F: 30-40 minute cycling (500kcal on heart monitor)
S: Rest
S: Rest

Strength training consists of:
2 x 15 rows with 3kg dumbbells
2 x 15 bench press with "
2 x 12 seated dumbbell shoulder press with "
2 x 15 bicycle crunches
2 x 40s plank
2 x 15 squats

Increasing weights as I go along.
 
Today's been good so far.

I ran for 50mins today and burnt off 600kcal :D yay well done me.

I'm looking forward to getting rid of some of this weight so it's easier to run, I just can't wait to be fitter too.

My boyfriend has gone til next Thursday now, I've got loads of tidying to do haha how boring but I'm gonna put some music on and make it fun :)
 
I'm going to bed soon, I've been tidying all day and I'm so tired!!

I ate 1717 calories today. Nutritional side of things wasn't great, I was a little over on my protein goal (136g instead of 100g) and over on fat (69g rather than <60g). I think it was mostly cause of the chicken drumsticks I had tonight. They tasted nice but I don't think they're worth the calories/sat fat/effort of pulling off the skin so maybe I won't be trying those again any time soon.

Oh and too much sodium yet again - argh! That's gonna be a hard one to rein in.

Still, it's been a good day in that I achieved my calorie and exercise goals :)

My sister is up tomorrow and she's going to be expecting me to drink wine with her in the evening so we'll see if I can stick to my calorie allowance given the wine! I'll have to try and factor it in now.

And now for sleep...
 
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Don't worry about the wine, if you like it like that, mix it with diet lemonade or soda?
I know you've probably had it already but it's an idea for next time :)

I wouldn't worry too much about going over your protein, especially not if it's because of chicken. It's such a good source of protein and has loads of good stuff in, it's one of the best meats you can eat I do believe.
 
Thanks for the advice Red, it's great we're in the same challenge team!

Well I had 2 large glasses but I had factored them into my calorie total so I didnt go over.

I haven't gone over today either so that's good.

I'm going for a jog tomorrow morning, I'm going to try for an hour so I can get a whole point for the challenge, usually I'd only go for 40-50 mins max but what's 10minutes more?!

I need to think of some ways of get more exercise though. I guess I'll have to go on some long walks!!
 
Yeah I'm thinking too about more exercise.
So far have got definitely 30 mins a day, but I think I'm gunna try for at least an hour.

Do you jog everyday? I'd love to be able to but I get sooo out of breath thats it's not even worth it at the moment lol.
Do you have a uni gym? I find the non impact cross trainers are brilliant, I could spend hours on those!! That is if they have any, I'd never seen them until a new gym opened near me.
Kae is a really similar weight to us too, 191 I think I saw? So so far out team looks strong, Mr.Love seems really dedicated, I loved his comment on the other teams thread, it took me by suprise and I really laughed, especially as yours was right afterwards :p
 
Haha yeah I know he's gutsy right?

I used to jog 5 days a week. I'm just getting into it now. I was gonna do one day jogging, one cycling, one swimming but my bike is out of action so I'm mostly jogging now.

You'd be surprised at how quickly it gets easier once you begin trying to do it regularly.

My uni has a really nice gym and it's just being refurbished now even tho it doesn't need to be but the membership is like 150 quid a year. It's still cheap for a gym but more than I can afford nowadays - I used to buy it but not any more.

Elliptical is my favourite machine, it doesn't feel anything as difficult as running but I guess it isn't as rewarding in that way either.

Yeah I spotted that Kae is a similar weight too, that's great that we're all more or less in the same boat weight wise. Not sure of her height though, she might be super tall lol. I know I'm not!

I'm interesting in that 30 day shred thing I've been hearing about - you're doing it right? I think I might buy one once I've got some more money.
 
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