Here I am, There I've been, stepping towards the new me.

So why does it feel like we always need a reason to become thinner. For me I guess it's my motivation. Although I am looking to loose weight for my wedding I'm looking for a new me for life. I am still young 22 and have been in sports all my life. So now that college is over and I've moved a far distance from anything familiar i'm finding it hard to be motivated to really work out. What's harder is that i do have a bit of muscle and that will really start to throw me off. I'm 174 lbs with huge legs (Hammhocks as I like to call them) Some of it is fat Fat I'd like to see gone.

You ever step on that scale and be like "OMG no way!".. and that no way isn't a good 'no way' lol. Well I hadn't been on a scale for a good 2 months and I was repulsed with what I saw. I'm finding it so hard to see how much of my body is fat and how much is muscle.

So I guess your thinking .. so what are you going to do about it. Well I've come on here for starters looking for some kind of support. The kind I'm used to having at home. (Btw if anyone's from Calgary alberta and is experiencing the same thing please get in contact with me. I'd love to meet up and be motivation for one another). Another life style change I've done is I bike to work, you get a nice ride in while saving on gas. So I bike about a mile in to work (not long I know) takes me about 10 minutes it's a bit down hill on the way to work and on the way it's more of a steady up hill so a little resistance there. I just started and by just started I mean did it once yesterday night (after the scale incident) They're dvd sets called Ripped and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. They use free weights and step ups for doing fly ways and push press. I hate feeling the burn in the moment. Love it the next day. Right now I don't have transportation to a gym so I'm doing these dvd's instead. Low weights high reps as I really don't want to build any more muscle nor do I want to be this huge bulky mess in my wedding dress. I'm going to try to do some running, to me running is something I dread so much and I don't really know why. However for once i'll be doing the running for the sheer fact of doing it. I'm competitive so I'll really burn myself out with in a week. Guess I really need to learn how to just enjoy the run and take it at a more comfortable pace right. I really want to just go for a run right now (which is odd) but then I am reminded that I have to wait for the darn cable guy.. grrr wish he would hurry up. So I was figuring while I can't go running at this moment I should throw one of the dvd's in and get my weight workout done.

Now on to my eating habits. They're ok but they could be better. When I step on that scale and see what I see I'm inclined to eat very little. I know it's not healthy and doesn't help you loose weight in any way.. so why is that the natural reaction? So I went out got some Dole fruit cups. some pickled spears, nice lean steaks, lots of baby salad some feta, strawberries and almonds for the salad. However I still eat unhealthy at work.. candy damn work why is there always candy. Self control I know. So my question is.. what do you do to resist temptation. I have found that if I bring in my plain yogurt, salad, a fruit cup, banana and an apple it gives me a variety of things to choose from and take the routine out of having the same thing every day. So far this journey is going well.. lol well well enough for 2 days. I really just need that support or I know I'll fall back into my lazy ways. So I'll be posting my daily progress and mishaps. WHen those mishaps happen please get on my hinny

I want to walk down that isle and have people light up saying wow she hasn't looked that good in.. well this is the first time. I don't want to be stick thin but I do want it to be noticeable heck I'll take fitting into size 9 pants instead of the 12's I'm in now. I want the lady when I have my alterations in December to say we have to take this dress in quite a bit.

Most of all I want my husband to be just see his princess walk down that isle knowing I'm changing for the better.

wow that was a bit to write. Terribly sorry hahaha.

Please help me out in this quest to becoming a new me.

Thank you all

Serenity

Day 2,

So proud of myself. I did the 1000 calorie work out and was able to finish 3/4's of it. Basically I'm sweating like a hog. Some of the exercises included

step ups (high intensity)
-power cleans
-fly ways
-70 push ups (ladder style started at 16 then decreased by 2 every time)
-Squat press
-squats
-side to side steps (step up bench) up up down downs.
-lunges (side then to the back) did it 2 sets of 8 then did the ladder decreasing to 6 then 4 then 2 then singles) did that routine twice on one leg then rotated to the other leg. After that was done we did the routine once for each leg. this exercise really gets the heart rate going. The best thing to do would be to use a step up if you have one. It really engages the gluts then.
-abs - 6 inches, then one where you sit on a bench and you extend your legs and upper body back then come back into the middle together.



I have thus far had some asparagus, a fruit cup, granola bar, and some tea. After the work out I have had one glass of tomato juice.


My question is how many times should you be weighing yourself. Once a week or every other week? or even every day. Just trying to gauge what would be best.

Hi Serenity!

Good for you for starting your diary.

I find that weighing myself once a week works well. Your weight fluctuates so much daily that I find it torture to weigh myself all the time, I just get frustrated!

I totally can feel where you are coming from with the running. When I started going to the gym I HATED the treadmill. i ONLY did the elliptical for the first month or so because I loathed running. Looking back, I think the reason was that it was really discouraging because when you run it is SO apparent how out of shape you are! After awhile (maybe 2 months?) I jumped back on the treadmill on a whim and I was AMAZED at what I could do (which wasn't much, but it was WAY better than the first time I stepped on it at the beginning of my fitness journey!). Now I am all about the treadmill and cannot believe how much I have improved.

As for self control and temptation, it was so hard at first but now that I am used to eating healthy I don't crave the bad things like I used to. That being said, I don't deny myself something if i REALLY want it. If they have donuts out at work and I am DYING for one, I'll take one and have a bite or two and toss the rest. That usually helps. What also helps me is that I found an awesome low fat dessert that I look forward to all day (Yay skinny cow ice cream sandwiches!). When I see the candy/cookies, I just focus in on how great my ice cream sandwich is going to be after dinner.

Anyway, your diary is off to a great start and I'm sure you are going to do wonderfully.

Hey hope you are doing good.

about your question about temptation...i think it is more important to see how much you are eating rather than what. try to stick to the amount of calories you should be consuming and don't be too harsh on yourelf if you go over. myself when i cut something out completely i end up having too uch of it in one go. have less often rather than too much all at once...hehe.

the 2nd question about weighing. you can weighyourself however oftem you feel but know that it can fluctuate and is affected by a million and one things. as long as the trend is going downwards i'd say you are going in the right direction. weekly is probably good but still you can seee increases due to water etc etc. i myself struggle with loosing the pounds. i have probably not even lost 10lbs since november but have lost nearly 10cm of my waist only. i would ssay look at your clothes and measure yourself. after all that difference is more important than the number the scale throws back at you.

hope this helps . have a great weekend.

x

Hey there and welcome,
about temptation... well will power helps, but in my case, since willpower isn't my strength, chewing gum helps more! As long as I have something in my mouth I am usually ok, so I chew sugar free gum about 12 hours a day. Some days more, some days less, but generally I have chewing gum at all times with me.
Another thing that helps is take 1 piece of candy and suck on it until it disappears. Just the one, then you tried it, you know what it tastes like, you don't need anymore!
I do this with french fries sometimes, just eat the one, now I know what they are like and I can eat my salad in peace!

Weighing in is very personal, some people like to weigh every day, some people only once a month... I have an official weigh-in day a week (on sundays) which is when the people from the medical board I am on have their weigh ins (we have weekly winners and it is nice to be one of them! I have only been one once, but I am the only one who has lost this much weight... slow but steady wins the race!).
But personally if I just weigh once a week there is too much pressure on that day... that day just is the worst day if I haven't lost weight because all my expectations are fixed on that one day! So I weigh in midweek as well, to show me my trend, and then just when I am bored. I don't change my ticker on any days unless it is my weigh in sunday, but I peek at my weight at least 3 times a week usually.
Also to take pressure off sunday mornings I weigh quickly on Saturday evenings, so I know if I can expect a new low or not, and then I can live with myself better.
However I have been in this for 7 months and it has taken me about 6 to figure this out, with lots of really bad sundays, and really bad weeks, so don't expect to find your perfect weighing in to be found immediately. It is just important that you find whatever suits you!

I wish you strength and I am glad to hear that there is 1 less car out there! Cycling is great for everyone, even the polar bears ! so keep it up, Camy

Hello Serenity! 174 is a great starting point, and you've come to the right place to reach your goals. As to weighing in... you have to find out what works for you. I weigh myself everyday, because otherwise I tend to 'forget' I'm on a diet the second a cookie or piece of cake crosses my path. "Oh well, I have the rest of the week before my weigh in..." that attitude doesn't work for my waistline!

Edit: I should note too that I have a screwy scale/poor eyesight, so I can't actually see the scale. This means I'm not fussing over ten grams of weight lost or gained. The smallest amount I can see is half a kilo!

So I just wrote everything then hit the backspace on accident and lost every thing I wrote lol.. wow what a day.

I just want to thank everyone who has posted. Whether you realize it or not youre the positive motivation I've been looking for and its an inspiration to see how everyone is on the same track with the same goal (to loose weight)

Sundays are my 'relax days' so there was no work out. However I'm thinking on my 'off days' I'll do core that way my midsection is always getting a work out.

Eating habits:

dinner (last night)
- steak with steamed carrots

breakfast
- 2 whole wheat tortilas with a light spread of peanut butter

lunch
-tea, asparagus and 1 small piece of chocolate

Dinner
- Grilled chicken (george forman), with 4 small potatoes and grilled carrots, White wine

snack - granola bar, orange juice

So far so good I think. I have read through what was suggested and I think I'm going to go with weighing myself every day. It seems to be more of a motivation for me when I see that number. It to me is like a challenge and i want it to stay that way so I don't loose my mindset. I do appreciate what all of you have said and have taken it all in

Tomorrow I plan on doing my bike ride 1 mile to work and 1 mile back then if i'm up for it I'll do a small run (how far.. well i'll just go a comfortable distance then try to increase that marker gradually) Regardless of if I run tomorrow or not I will do the 1000 calorie work out.

I love doing this logging thing and have recently read up on eating journals where you write down what you ate and what you were feeling at the time of eating. I feel perhaps i could find my trigger and what I can do to prevent unhealthy snacking. This on it's own I feel is a great thing. Although I hate admiting when i've eaten poorly I know I should still write it. Cheating myself is going to get me no where fast. Just by reading what I ate today I noticed how little amount of water I consumed. So I am going to try to drink tomorrow at least 1L of water and then increase that a bit. A thing that I always finds that helps me drink water is putting some lemon juice in the water. I have heard don't know where but it's good for your body to have some lemon juice .. Just not to much or you'll ruin your enamal on your teeth. I am a girl who loves sour things so this really helps me put down some water. Which reminds me .. I'm gonna go fill up my water bottle right now and make sure I have that gone before I go to bed. Pray I don't wet the bed eh hahahaha

Thank you all again for your support.

hey hope you had a good day. a question...what is the 1000cal workout. sounds good. looks like you are really motivated and ready to make this work. WTG! have a good week x

Breakfast
- apple
-1/3 cup of coffee
-591 mL Dasani Water
-8 whole almonds

L
-mushroom soup
-carbonated water (Perrier)
-10 almonds

Dinner - salad with fetta crumbles, walnuts and cucumber dressing, grilled chicken, 1 bottle of water, orange juice, and 2 cans of tomato juice ( i was thristy )

now i'm sipping on some more water. Yay for water intake .
snack - tba
Angel the 1000 calorie workout is a dvd work out called ripped by jari love you can find the dvd here. what you'll need is some free weights, and step up. Catalog of Ripped Workout Products that is the direct link to the workout I was referring to. My roommate has all of the dvd's so I'll let you know how the other one's are. I am going to be going to her gym in a month to see if I like the over all feel of the gym.

Edit: So as soon as I got home from work I chucked my bike into the garage and went for a 12 minute run and when I turned around I did 10 pushups (not long I know but it was a good start for me) not to mention i had just biked 15 minutes from work. so when i got home I decided to keep the momentum without thinking or giving myself time to think I put in the dvd. Now heres where i got a little mad. The dvd wouldn't read (the turn table wouldn't turn) I was so determined I gave it a few smacks and whamo nothing was going to stop me from doing my workout . So I did everything i set out to do today. The running, biking and 1000 calorie work out. YAY
Lets hope I keep this momentum up. I figure running 3 times a week is good.

SO yeasterday I was feeling a tad under shape. By that I simply mean i felt lazy. I biked my normal 1 mile to and from work. I got home and my body really wasn't in the mood for any kind of run. So i went up stairs and started to cook my dinner. The details about dinner is below. I then went to my room and watched a bit of tv while eating and talking to my fiance on the phone ( talk about multi tasking hahah) It came to be 9:30 and i just didn't feel like working out. Then it just clicked i said to myself "you still have to post what you did today and how can you post and not have one ounce of workout in there. So I picked up my hiny recorded the show I was watching and went and did the Core work out to "Getting Ripped". The thing I love about this workout is how it has so many compound exercises. THe movements are smooth from legs to arms. For example there is one where you have free weights and you have your legs spread apart toes pointed out wards and you do a squat then as you come up you shift into a row with the weights. I found this really concentrated on my core while allowing me to work every aspect of my body. Another thing I like about the work out is everything is high repetition. This is really good for myself because i'm not looking to gain any more muscle I'm bulky enough as it is. With the high reps it helps to define and tone that muscle. Heres to hoping.

Alright so on to my eating habits for yeasterday:

Breakfast:
10 -almonds
some water

lunch-mushroom soup
-Perrier water

Dinner
- A pork chop
-salad
- California mixed veggies steamed
(this is a bad one I know) - 1/2 a beer and one glass of wine, piece of cheese and pepperett.( so i didn't do to well in that department which is what also made me feel guilty for not working out afterwards.)
- water

So all in all it wasn't a total loss of the day.

Hola amiga. Focus be here reppin' the c~spot, y'huuuurd!?

Also, eat a complete and significant source of protein every meal. This includes "snacks" and such. Anytime food or a caloric beverage goes in your mouth.

And you're doing it backwards with the tapering, there. It should go biggest -> smallest from breakfast -> supper, not the other way around. I mean it's not that big a deal, and whatever works, but there's a reason it's called break (the) fast. Your breakfasts and lunches have a disturbing pattern of being supermodelesque.

You're probably not eating enough. Have you calculated your bmr and activity level and such? Or do you know your maintenance? 'Cause you should be eating a bit under that, not halving your intake suddenly. That's not how you win. Slow and steady!

I see what your saying focus. Trust me my eating habits aren't modelesque though. I just don't' eat much while i"m at work. I will try to up my intake at breakfast which I have done this morning. with the added smoothie and low fat yogurt. I will start having a light spread of peanut butter as well in the am on a whole wheat tortilla. Thank you for the advice.

Breakfast:
-orange juice
-water
-1 jolly rancher
-14 almonds,
-Berry smoothy (blue berries, blackberries, cranberry juice and low fat yogert) 360 cal .5 g of fat
-plain low fat yogurt
- Multi-vitamins, folic acid.

How do you take your vitamins without some bread or some other carb to go with them? I usually want to puke unless i have some form of bread or cereal in my tummy first LOL! '

I think you are doing great so far but I would too recommend eating a great breakfast! I think eating breakfast has been a major factor in my feeling healthier.

I fully agree. I've just been enjoying my sleep so much so that I sleep till i have to go to work. Obviously that needs to change or I need to make my breakfast the night before and have it as soon as I get to work.

Well for lunch I had a it more intake. While trying to stay healthy I found this quaint bistro across the road from my work. So I said why not give it a shot.

Lunch:
-Salmon with a light white wine lemon sauce
-ceasar salad (the folks went a little heavy on the dressing)
-non fat, extra hot caramel machiato.

For dinner
-walnut, feta cheese organic baby leaves Salad
-boiled chicken breast.

Snack- Low fat yogurt

i might have to try that dvd! good for you for getting the excercise in! x