I know, I know. That low of calories is not a good idea. But I just feel so much more motivated when I can see a dramatic difference early on. I'm more likely to stick to it. 10 pounds doesn't make a difference on me...I'd have to lose at least 20-30 pounds before seeing it. That would be like 3 months of dieting before I noticed, if I did it moderately. But I'll take your advice to heart...I went to that website you told me about and my BMR is like 1845 a day. I will be careful, promise

Good! I just don't want you to be ill. I understand your motivation needs though. It feels better if you see or feel a difference right away.
I do find that exercise itself motivates me, particularly the muscle-building type. When I feel sore a lot, I think I can "feel" my muscles growing, which makes me feel good even if I don't see the scale moving or change my clothes sizes.
Take it easy on yourself. You're doing great just by being here and making some changes!

Thanks for your replies, Trusylver and RunningGirl. I do understand about the waist being the part that goes "in", lol. That's what makes sense to me, but it just seemed there was conflicting ideas about where to measure.
The iliac crest for the hip seems high to me because that isn't where I'm widest. Maybe it is for you, Trusylver because you're in shape! I think I will just keep track of it all and make sure it shrinks. . .

Okay, so this whole calorie restriction thing is not yet happening for me.
I have been religiously keeping track of my intake since June 18, and discovered I generally take in around 2100 per day. Which is fine for maintenance and weight gaining, but I am certainly not going to lose any weight since I am not exercising. I need to reduce my calories and increase my activity.
I am noticing that I am pretty good throughout the day. It is beyond about 6pm that my intake goes to crap. Yesterday I was having a fabulous day and then scarfed two huge peanut butter sandwiches, thus putting me way over the top again. The day before, it was the alcohol that did it.

So, new goals are in order, I guess, since I am currently making no progress whatsoever.

Since my regular intake is about 2100, I will now not let myself consume over 1600 per day for the next while, and see how that goes.

Since I am not getting any exercise, I will now get outside moving for 1/2 hour every day like I said I would in the beginning. Either that, or I am doing a video.

I will not consume anything beyond water and an occasional apple after 7pm. My calorie intake goes to hell right around then, so if I just don't eat at night, I should be okay.

I think that's enough for now. My mood has not been so good lately, and I am sure it is related to the lack of exercise. Before I hurt my ankle I was doing lots and feeling pretty motivated and happy. Now I just sit around or worse, lie around, unless I am out drinking and dancing...
So, in spite of my silly ankle, I have to get back into exercise. My life is just not that fun without it.

Okay, tomorrow is a new day.
These last couple of weeks have been educational for me. I see how little activity I am doing, and how much I am eating. Recently too, I am drinking lots of alcohol, celebrating school's end and all. However, the last of that was this weekend, and my ankle is feeling a lot better, so starting tomorrow, I will be able to be better about my foods/drinks/exercise regimes.

Tomorrow I have a pushup 'workout', which I actually like doing.
Also, I am biking over to my new work site, so I can test how my ankle is doing when I bike.
Also, walking doesn't seem to hurt at all, so I will definitely get out for at least half an hour.
And tomorrow, I will keep my calories to 1500. Period. I know I can do this. Events just keep happening lately, and now that they are over, I can reset.

I haven't yet been very steady on the meditation thing, but I will do 5 minutes tonight before I sleep. Nice thing though, I am not stressed at all, and I have had lots of family/friend contact recently, so my social life is humming.

Just gotta get into food/exercise rhythm, and all will be right with my world.

Hi there!

I like how positive you continue to be despite the obstacles that you experienced. I wish when something like that happened to me, it doesn't take me WEEKS to get back on track. Will definitely be stopping by here to check your progress!

Today was rough, but I made it.
I actually managed to keep my calories to 1500 but it was a serious battle. I had to eat all day and popcorn was the only thing that saved me from bingeing because it made me bloated so I felt like I was almost full. Let me tell you, it is HARD to eat less than 2000 a day. My average is usually between 2100-3000 calories a day.
I am keeping track of my food on FitDay, but just so's people have an idea, I'll write a typical day versus today.

Typical Day
Granola with a Pear sliced in it swimming in soy milk
A smoothie made of fruit and ice (papaya, strawberries, bananas, grapes)
Ham sandwich, on whole wheat, with mayo, mustard, tomato, lettuce and avocado
An apple
Bagel and cream cheese
Yogurt and berries
Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat.
Sliced veggies and dip
A couple beer


Today
One whole green pepper
A quarter of the granola I usually eat, double the strawberries, and soy milk
A clear beef stock soup with barley, celery, green onion, broccoli, corn, and mushrooms (I ate like 6 cups of this stuff)
A thinly sliced whole wheat ham sandwich with mustard, and half an avocado. No mayo - out of tomatoes
One slice of bread with thinly spread peanut butter and jam
5 cups of air-popped popcorn
An apple

I also went for a short bike ride today. Good news is that it's easy on my ankle. Bad news is that I showed up somewhere I don't have to be until tomorrow. Duhhh. I'll be doing the rinse and repeat.

It was hard, but I hope I will adjust to eating this little. I don't see how I'm going to lose weight if I don't cut the calories though, and according to my BMR, all I need is 1425 or something to maintain. So by picking 1500 as my max, I should technically be gaining weight unless I am getting exercise, which I am still sucking at doing.

I meditated today, and attempted some social relations, which I generally don't when I am not at school or work, so that was out of my box. Yay for me.

Here's hoping tomorrow is successful too.

Great effort meeting your calorie goal today

if you try to include some lean protein in your diet it will help you stay full for longer.

Thanks, Tru! I will try and eat more protein. I forgot about it!

Amazing job with sticking to your calorie goal! I'm curious about meditation though. How do you do it? Do you just sit with your eyes closed and work on breathing techniques? Just thought it might be useful for relaxing in between my study time! =)

Well, had an interesting couple days. Did tonnes of walking yesterday, and hardly ate anything, then went to my cousin's for home-cooked Indian food. I have no idea what the calories are, but I had dahl, chappati's, chicken, yogurt, and aloo gobi. Yummmmmm.
And I had about 10 drinks over the course of the night, up til 5 am and I danced WAY past the break of dawn.
So even though I overdid the calories, I think the exercise mighta cancelled at least some of it out.

Then today I woke up at 10 for a rehearsal. (Why did I schedule a morning rehearsal when I knew I was going to be up late the night before!?!?) I scarfed down two ginormous PB and banana sandwiches, and then ate nothing till tonight when I cooked a gigantic trout in the oven and made potato/dill/cucumber salad, delicious, and shared everything with my friend before we went to the Canada Day fireworks.

All in all, a rough day because of the stupid hangover. I hate that after a few drinks I just forget that I don't need any more alcohol. I am social enough without it. I think I'll try setting myself a limit pre-drinking and stick pretty close to it.
But I feel good now, just in time for bed.
Tomorrow is another day.

Zephyr, I think if you want to meditate, the easiest way to start is to get a relaxation tape at Chapters or something. Of course, there's lots of books and stuff about meditation, but it can be dry reading. What I do is get comfy, whether I am lying down or sitting up, and start by focusing on my breath going in and out. Whenever my mind wanders, I just bring it back to that. Sometimes I just do that the whole time. Other times, I imagine a wheel, like a ferris wheel just slowly spinning and I watch one point on it go around and around and around... More often than not, I go to sleep after meditating. When my mind is racing at night, I meditate and it always puts me to sleep. Or do progressive relaxation while you are lying there in bed - focus your attention on one part of your body at a time, trying to feel how it feels, and then relax it. I usually go from my forehead to my neck, then arms, stomach, legs, toes, etc. Other people like to start at the toes. For me though, I scrunch my face up when I am thinking so I feel awesome when I just start by getting the wrinkles out of my forehead! Hope this helps...

Ohh thanks for sharing! I think I'm going to try that out tonight!

The last couple/three days have not been good food or exercise wise for me. Nor did I record it, so I have no hard evidence of how bad I was. All I did that was good was not drink alcohol.
I think I accidentally went on a date too? One of those things. I thought we were just hanging out going to a concert, and we met up with another friend and hung out, but then at the end, the vibe got all funny and awkward when we were by ourselves again.
At any rate, the concert was awesome. Kenny Werner, one of the best jazz pianist's in the world, and the best I've ever heard live, for sure! It's inspiring. One of those concerts where you just want to go straight home and practice.

Okay, to the point.
I went for a walk the day after I last posted, which was good. But I ate crap all day, lots of PB and banana sandwiches, and potato salad and trout.
The concert day, I ate a couple more PB&B's and then had a freak out and had four pieces of toast and butter and honey. Spread THICK. It was a mini binge. Then after the concert I ate a BLT with cheese and some fries. Then came home and had late-night cottage cheese and banana.

Then yesterday, I was trying to be good, but failed miserably again. Started with a monster serving of granola and soy milk. I was STARVING when I woke up, I don't know why. I think because I ate too much the previous day. Luckily, my friend called long distance, which forced me to stop eating while I talked to her, and then I just snacked on some cherries til I went to a BBQ. At the BBQ, I had two hot dogs on white buns (I hate white bread, btw. It tastes awful.) Potato salad, a crepe with cream and strawberries, some stirfried veggies, a chicken kebab, and some coleslaw. Along with two big glasses of gingerale mixed with apple juice, stuff I normally never drink. Water or alcohol, that's me!

Oy. That was a painful confession for me.
Now tonight I have a wedding. So I'll again be eating god-knows-what, and having a couple drinks most likely, although I am the pianist, so I have to stay mostly sober! (thank goodness for my diet ) I am not hungry at all this morning, but I will make a lunch for myself before I get hungry and stick to it when the time comes. No cheating.
And I'll walk to the church. There. Exercise built in.

Fingers crossed today. Not much hope that I'll be good, but you never know.

Hello kaiser,

Well just try to be mindful of eating well. You don't have to do EVERYTHING all at once, that is discouraging. Maybe try to weigh out your options.

When I first started to change what I ate....if I'd go out to Wendy's it was a salad, and pop. Or a hamburger, and Milk.

Hope you have a great time at the Wedding!! A pianist, pretty cool!

Lata

Thanks, RunningGirl. You're right. It is not good to be too perfectionist right off the bat. I'll try and cool it a bit on the negativity for blips.