You know what I love about the gym, watching other people work out. Ah, no it's not as crazy or as stalkerish as it may sound. The reason I like to watch other people work out, especially people that are really fit is to see the kinds of exercises they do to achieve their level of fitness. Take this morning for example, I was watching someone using the dumbells, and they were doing a lot of the same motions that I was, but I noticed that they had a different exercises, some that I had never seen before. I looked at how they performed the action, and once I was ready, went on over to the dumbells and did what I had just seen them doing. Let me tell you, this new routine gave me an awesome burn, especially in the tricep, biscep and shoulder area. So if you wanna learn some new exercise routines, I suggest you watch your fellow gym heads, you never know what you'll learn.

It really is interesting watching people work out - but every so often I'll watch someone on the same equipment i spent time with my personal trainer on - and think - wow - you're doing it wrong - then doubt creeps in and i think - wait - maybe i'm doing it wrong.

Watchig some people is really educational -- because some folks just have really bad form when they're working out -it's tough to find the people who appear to do it correctly

That is so true Mal...when you watch others perform the movements, either you're like, wow that you have no clue what you're doing or wow, I gotta try that. Most of the time, when I'm watching people work out, it's usually during a weight training class so I get to see how the athletic trainer gets the students taking that course into shape. It's a way of taking the class, without actually having to enroll in the course.

Day 1 of the new diet was pretty easy. I headed off to the gym and did 45 of weight training. I concentrated on my arms, butt, and legs. For my next weight training session, I wanna focus a lot more attention on my abs. To do that, I went on youtube and found some pilates ab workout videos. I'm going to do some of the exercises 15 minutes before heading off to the gym. Later in the evening, at around 5:15, I went back to the gym and did around an hour and 15 minutes of cardio. I'm implementing some of the tips I picked up from this website like interval training to speed up weight loss. Eating went well, and I think I may have reached or even surpassed my goal of taking in 1470 calories today.

Breakfast
oatmeal with 1% milk - 190 calories
omelette (no cheese w/ sun dried tomatoes, brocolli, onions) - 250?? Just a guess.

Snack
Pear = 68 calories

Lunch
Chicken Quesadilla (shredded mozarella and yellow cheese, chicken, sundried tomatoes, jalapeno peppers) - it said 370 per slice, but I assumed that was with all of the vegetables added but I didn't have everything added to it. I'll guess that I got a total of 250 calories per slice. 250 x 3 slices = 750 calories.

Snack
1 caramel rice cake = 80 calories
1 apple = 53 calories

Dinner
Lean Roast beef, 2 slices = 190 x 2 = 380

Total: 1771 (this is really good for me, especially with the level of physical activity I'm engaging in.)

I had 10 glasses of water today along with two 8 oz cups of green tea. I'm really proud of myself. I do realize that I'm going to have to decide between either having a rice cake, or having some kind of fruit but not both at the same time as a snack because the calories really start to add up.

I took some pictures of myself today, I'm debating whether or not to post them on this page. I think I just may do it. Looking at the pictures, I can really see the areas that I want to work on. The main ones are my arms and my stomach. I took pics of both my arms, and I could really see the sagging that was occurring. I got a bit upset. How the hell did I let myself get like this!?!?! Also, I've realized that I'm a huge snacker. I like to nibble on things and it's not even because I'm hungry, but because I just have a compulsion to eat.

Secondly, isn't it a drag when you discover that foods you thought were good for you, aren't. I was eating some grilled chicken salad, and I was making my food log. I typed in calories in grilled chicken salad on google and was surprised by the results...my salad could either have been 420 calories, or 270. I'm not even sure which one to take as my calorie count because it was a salad that my school made and they said that the salad, eaten with a wrap was 420 calories. Being that I bypassed the wrap, I'm up in the air about how many calories I actually consumed. I hate the feeling of not knowing how much I've eaten exactly because by dinner, I'm debating whether or not to consume a certain amount of calories...but if I eat around 500 calories for dinner I feel bad because I think I may have gone over my max. number of calories for the day...but then the uncertain comes up and I just may have eaten less calories for the day or exactly the number of calories I actually wanted to eat. Oh the uncertainty. I'm just going to have to go shopping for food and bypass eating dining hall food all together. At least that way I'll know exactly how many calories I'm eating.

I wouldn't worry so much about an exact number of calories and trying to stay in that range, instead focus on changing your habits and eating healthily - and making good choices - which it sounds like you are doing.. You're working out so those calories will come off and it's not like you are going to be taking in 5000 calories a day....

Grilled chicken sandwiches made outside of your home is a minefield sometimes - many grills have that squeeze bottle of oil that they use very liberally... you often get in way more calories than you expect..

Yeah, I've learned my lesson about thinking that all salads are healthy simply because they're a salad. Well I'm feeling much better but sore after working out the gym tonight. Tomorrow is my day off and I knew that I was going to have to push myself so that I would actually feel the burn, and know that earned this day off. Had I not worked out as hard as I did today, I'd feel guilty and then feel the need to go to the gym. But the soreness and the amount of sweat I worked up really had me in a good mood.

According to the machines, I burned a little bit over 700 calories in just 55 minutes!!! That's pretty darn good. Imagine if I had actually stayed for the 1 and a half hours I normally do when I'm trying to get in a cardio workout. I'm taking this weight loss thing one day at time. I haven't found a scale yet and because I haven't found one yet, I find myself getting a bit discouraged because I can't see concrete evidence that all of my hardwork is actually paying off.

But there's a rumor on campus that someone I know may actually have one. I'm going to track her down tomorrow and ask her if I can borrow her scale for a day, then weigh in first thing Thursday morning. I just really wanna know where I am in this whole weight loss journey. That way, I can set goals around it. Plus, I wanna be able to put back up my ticker and watch as the number slowly but surely decreases.

Hi Funky;

I love your food choices, nice and varied. And wow, are you ever doing great workouts. I'm inspired. With a regime like that, you are going to fly.

I laughed when I read "there's a rumor someone I know on campus has a scale". I thought "play psycho music here". lol

When I lost 40 pounds one and a half years ago, I weighed myself very infrequently. I lost it over about 17 weeks and interestingly it was by doing what you're doing now...not reducing caloric intake by too too much. Good for you. I'm headed to 140 and so we have similar amounts of weight to lose.

I'm looking forward to reading your posts for inspiration. I think in my diary I'm going to be super honest and talk about my slips and my feelings around them. I'm an emotional eater and if I'm lonely/bored/feel inadequate at my job, etc. I'm tempted to mask those feelings with food...so my challenge is to deal with feelings in healthier ways. I'm looking forward to succeeding together with the many committed people here.

Healthy eating and exercise are where it's at!

I'm glad to hear you're not so scared of the scale anymore!

You're doing great with your exercises and you've got a good meal plan, I'm sure you'll lose weight quite easily

The ticker's a great motivation, when I'm too tired for exercise or too tempted by fries I think about how dreadful it would be to see that little butterfly going backwards!

the tale of scale continues lol hope you'll have a great day today. you're doing wonderful girl
Lena

The rumor was correct, and I have the beast (the scale) in my room right now. Unfortunately, I got tempted to look at my weight tonight after giving into a bit of temptation today and I weighed myself a few minutes ago. The verdict I weighed in at a disappointing 195lbs. That's a 5lb weight gain. I can't say that I shook it off and was like "to hell with it..." Honestly, I was disappointed. I'm working so hard and to see it reflected negatively on the scale made me sad.

I got teary eyed, I'm still wiping them away as I type. But I'm not giving up. I'm tired of being fat and being dissatisfied with my body and if I have to make this my new starting point, well then that's what it's going to have to be. I'm still trying to work on my compulsive snacking it's more difficult than I thought it would be to give up. I'm also working on trying to balance my food choices. I'm going to have to give up eating vanilla yogurt and go for the more calorie friendly plain yogurt (flavored with a packet of splenda) and a banana instead. Tomorrow is a new day and although I feel like giving up, I know that I can't because it's now or never.

don't cry. i'm sure you'll lose it. maybe you didn't actually gain that much, depends where you weighed yourself before. scales are differently adjusted. on my scale i have 101 (222lbs) but on my brother's have 98. i stick to mine because i started with it hehe.

so don't be depressed and sad continue what you have been doing. calculate how much you should be taking in daily to lose weight.

*hugs* Lena

Lena, thank you for the words of encouragement. I really needed them this morning. According to a website I visited, it said that I would have to be taking in a little bit over 2100 calories to maintain my current weight of 195. The absolute minimum # of calories I was allowed to go down to was 1750 calories. Anything less than that, and I would be starving myself. So I'm making a conscious effort to eat within the 1800 - 1900 calorie range. So far, so good.

This morning for breakfast I had:
1 hard cooked egg - 65 calories
2 slices wheat bread - 80 calories total
1 small bowl rice grits - 80 calories
2 slices fruit (honeydew and cantaloupe) - 100 calories total
1 dab cottage cheese - 100 calories
It came out to 425 calories eaten for breakfast and boy am I full.

Like I've said before, weight loss for me is a bit of mix and match and finding the right combination of foods that work for me. I know that I'm a complusive snacker and when I'm busy snacking, I don't take into account just how many calories I'm actually eating. Secondly, I'm not as food savvy as I thought I was. Salads are healthy so they must be good for me...wrong!!! Some of the salads I ate were higher in fat and calories than the burgers and fries I had given up a few weeks ago. I also now know that in my case, I have to account for every calorie I put into my mouth. This may not work for some people, but I know that it'll work for me. I honestly believe that it was the unknown calories that I was putting in my mouth that led to my 5lb weight gain. At times, I wouldn't know what I had eaten and just guess as to the calorie content; most of the time, I was underestimating.

Today is the start of a new day. I have 3 months before my graduation and 2 months before my 23rd birthday. I'm determined to have dropped 10lbs by my birthday, and an additional 10lbs by the time I graduate. No more set backs, and no more fearing the scale. This is a new funkyphantom and I WILL WIN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE!!!

The advice Lena gave about the scales is entirely correct. I went through a scale buying phase so I actually ended up with three at one point. I could hop on all three and have as much at 5 pounds difference between the three. There was one of the digital scales that would weigh 3 lbs different when I just got off and back on! Eventually I found one that weighs me about the same every time and that's the one I use now.

The food knowledge will come with time. I found myself a couple of months into my new lifestyle snacking on trail mix only to discover it was 300 calories for 1/4 cup! What the heck?!

This is why I love this forum, you guys are so supportive. I'm feeling a heck of a lot better today and I'm also eating better without excessively snacking. I think the weigh in yesterday got to me because I was feeling guilty for having indulged and having 4 chocolate chip cookies. But then I got to thinking, it's only 5 extra pounds.

It could have been much more, and I could have gone back to being well over 200lbs. So I'm just going to have to roll with the punches and suck it up. Trust me, I'm not an overly emotional person, but when the subject of weight comes up, it always puts me on edge.

Lunch was really good and I'm happier with the food decisions I've made thus far. I've got some stuff planned out for today...I'm heading off to the mall and I'm going to pick up some protein bars and this thing called Muscle Milk. Then I'm off to go and buy some cereal, especially the kind that has fiber in it. I'll probably pick up some fruits and vegetables while I'm at it.

So here's how eating has been going thus far:

Lunch

Pasta Presto - 300 calories (pasta, chicken breast strips, onions, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and some spaghetti sauce.)
1 pear - 45 calories
1 steamed carrot - 31 calories
Total - 376 calories.

Let's add that to the calories I consumed total during breakfast and it comes out to a nice 801 calories. By the time dinner rolls around, I should have bumped that total up to well over 1,000 calories once I get in my snack which will be a protein bar.