Hey everyone, I'm new to the forum but excited about all the possibilites and the support you guys offer. I don't know where to start with this diary thing since I've never been very good with the whole keeping a journal thing but I figure I'd just tell you all the basics. I'm 22, a student, and I've just recently begun my battle with the bulge about a week ago. To aid my weight loss, I've been exercising 6 days a week, twice a day.

In the morning I focus on cardio for about an hour and a half, and in the late afternoon, early evenings, I do about 35-40 minutes of weight training. I feel better already, and have improved my energy levels...but the only thing that's putting a damper on my parade is my fear of the scale. Based on what I weighed as of Jan. 29th, I'm 190lbs, down from my high of 214lbs just 2 months ago.

I'm really happy with the 24lb weight loss I managed, but now that I've decided to actively take steps in changing my life, I've become terrified of the scale. It's the thought of hopping on that thing and seeing no change in my weight that terrifies me the most. Just this morning while I was at the gym, I was thinking to myself that I would finally get over this silly fear of the scale and weigh myself as soon as I was able to find someone on campus with a scale. I'm still thinking about this when I go to fill up my water bottle when BAM!!!, there's a scale looking right at me in the gym.

Sufficit it to say, I made a huge u-turn and headed straight to the treadmill. I couldn't do it, and with the scale right there in front me, I started to get a bit nervous. I began thinking; what if I've put in all of this hard work so far to have lost nothing or to heaven forbid, have gained weight. I can get easily discourged when I feel as though I've been working hard and no results are being seen. But I've resolved to weigh myself on February 17th and see where I am at in my weight loss progress. I've made a promise to myself not to let the numbers on the scale discourage me from getting the body I've always dreamed of. Let's just hope that when the 17th rolls around, I don't chicken out again.

it's only a number on the scale - don't let it scare you -- believe me -i've seen some pretty high numbers and still see them...

Take measurements - with all you're working out - you will see differences there - and if you're not - you might want to rethink your workouts...

See how you're feeling in general - are you standing tallker do you feel better about yourself? then don't worry about the number.

How are your clothes fitting?

Welcome to your diary nd to the forum... youo can do whatever you set your mind to

You don't ever have to look at the scale if you don't want to. Some of us (hmmm, me?) can get a little obsessed, but I'll tell ya...if I never looked at the scale I could still tell I was losing. I've gone down 2 or 3 sizes in my jeans already.

Hi an welcome to the forum! Don't be afraid of the scale, consier it as a friend. It tells you when something is wrong and let you know when you're doing better. Try to weigh in weekly, choose a day and stick to it.
If you don't see any changing don't worry, it's not always bad! It could mean that you have developed muscles and lost fat, an the weight you see is due to them.
Sometimes the body needs to stop losing weight for some days, it's normal, you don't have to panic.
Anyhow, don't worry: hard work always pays off.

Good luck with your goals! Count on me if you need anything.

Thanks for the advice guys. I've worked it over in my mind, and I'm firmly committed to weighing myself on Saturday. Just to make sure I don't chicken out, I'm going to have a friend come along with me and help me weigh myself in case I can't do it myself.

I would suggest using the same scale everytime. You'll get a better reading that way.

But always, always remember that:: No matter what the scale says, in some way, shape, or form, you have the ability in you to change those numbers to your liking. Sometimes it takes awhile and sometimes it is slow going, but you will get there!!

Good luck and hope to see you around!!

I'm here to share the same encouragement as the others. If the scale weirds you out for any reason - and you are afraid that you might get discouraged by the number, then just don't use a scale.

Of course, if you want to weigh yourself - go for it! Just don't do it because you feel you have to.

Ah the end of Tuesday. It's snowing over here right now and the news forecast says that we should expect somewhere in the relm of 16 - 22 inches of snow. I'm hoping that all of my classes are cancelled tomorrow (that way I can sleep in and recover because I'm starting to get really sick)and that the gym will be open.

I'll be a bit bummed out if the gym is not open because I'm really trying to start a new routine in my life that incorporates fitness and some type of physical activity. It's funny to say, but I actually like going to the gym. Working out, sweating, "feeling the burn" you know all the good stuff. It actually feels as though I'm accomplishing something. Oh well, I've decided that if the gym is not open, I'm going to have to get creative with my workout schedule; picture a sled (actually it would be a dining hall tray in my case), a hill and lots of snow. I figure sledding...er traying will be an awesome form of aerobic and cardiovascular exercise plus I'll be having fun while working out.

Aside from channeling McGyver and figuring out ingenious ways to exercise, I found myself hitting the gym pretty hard today. I had to make up for going way over my calorie limit for this evening. I found myself gorging a bit on small portions of high fat, high calorie foods. It's interesting to note that instead of beating myself up about eating such unhealthy foods, I let it slide knowing that as soon as I hit up the gym, it would be as though I hadn't eaten those lousy foods at all. So I'm happy to report that my diet is still in tact, and I'm not giving up on transforming my body.

I think I'll end off this diary entry by wishing everyone good luck in their weight loss journeys and offering the advice to never give up and to not get down on yourself if you do find yourself caving into temptation.

I just got back from sledding and can I say, it was some crazy fun. A group of friends and I found the biggest hill on campus and went intertubing. It was the most fun that we've had since the semester began. As for the diet, all is well. I got in a lot of exercise just intertubing alone. The whole trekking back up the hill to pass the intertube off to another person really worked my entire body. I feel great. So here's how my diet has broken down thus far.

Breakfast
1 slice honeydew: 50 calories
1 slice cantaloupe: 50 calories
Vanilla yogurt: 110 calories?? Not too sure about that one since my school didn't put up the nutrititonal information about it.

Lunch
Turkey sandwich : 245 calories
small side of cheese tortellini: 130 calories

Dinner will probably be a grilled turkey or chicken salad. I'm really feeling alive and I think that I'm starting to notice a difference in my body. My abs are sore, but feel nice and tight, and I can actually feel my waist!!! I've set up a mini goal of losing 10lbs by the time March 14th rolls around. Once I reach that, I want to try and lose an additional 6lbs by the 7th of April. I really would like to have lost a total of 25lbs by the time my birthday rolls around, but I figure that slow and steady is the key. So I'd settle for having lost a total of 16lbs as opposed to 25; heck I'd settle for just losing some type of weight.

Question: can anyone tell me how to set up one of those ticker things??

well done:

and check that thread for tickers

Congratulations on what you've lost so far! Maybe I missed it, but what is your end goal amount to loose?

Happy Valentine's day!!!

I originally started out at 214lbs and lost a total of 24lbs before I headed off on my trip to England. So right now, I'm at 190 and I'd love to lose a total of 45lbs. At 5'10, I'd like to weigh in at around 145 -153lbs; any number within that range would be ideal.

Back to the end of the day.

Dinner tonight consisted of a helping of Ahi Tuna: 220 calories with a nice side of spinach and lettuce salad with a tablespoon of honey mustard dressing to flavor. I don't know how many calories was in that thing, but I sure know that it tasted good. I was a little tempted to give in and try the funnel cake my friends were lovingly helping themselves too, but I just got up and refilled my glass and drank about 4 cups of water.

While I'm writing about water, I've got to admit that after a while, I just can't stand the stuff and being that I hate all diet soft drinks, I've decided to move towards a better alternative. I present to you herbal tea. In my case, it's a way to get the flavor I need without the calories all the while increasing my water intake. I've really been feeling Lipton's Green Tea with orange, passionfruit and jasmine mixture it tastes really good and I don't even have to flavor it with splenda. I helped myself to a handful of packets while I was in the dining hall tonight.

So if anyone is looking to a healthy alternative to water, try tea. Oh and when drinking the tea do so without adding milk that way you get the full beneficial effects that tea has been reported to have on the body.

Great job funkyphantom! I can relate to your fear of the scale--I'm always afraid it will have gone up and I'll be discouraged (which has happened in the past) and then give up. I've been working on this fear by stepping daily on the scale (just before I go to the gym) with the thought in my mind if it's gone up, then most likely, it's a water fluctuation and that what is more important is the average number per week. As a result of reminding myself that it's just a number and some days it will go up and other days it will go down, I'm feeling less discouraged and more in control. Oh, and on the days when it's gone up, since I'm just about to workout, I push myself harder at the gym--it helps to release my frustration at the numbers of the scale but it usually results in a drop within a day or two as well!

Happy Thursday to all. After being in a state of emergency for the past 48hrs, the village of Aurora has finally reopened which in turn means that classes are back in session I was hoping that there wouldn't be any classes today, but you can't win 'em all. This morning I woke up and did 30 minutes of my cardio bootcamp video. I always end up breaking into giggles everytime I do that video because I usually try and accomplish all of the high kicks in a dorm room that isn't that wide and this morning, I got so into the video that when I went in for the high kick, I kicked the mess out of my door. The RA, who happens to be my next door neighbor came running over to make sure everything was ok. I had to contain the laughter. Well I have a lot to do today, including trucking it up to the gym and getting my exercise on. I've been trying to vary my diet so that I don't get stuck in a rut. For breakfast I had:

1 small bowl cream of wheat with honey: 123
1 slice honeydew: 50
dab of cottage cheese: 80??
2 small cups of water

Lunch will be a grilled chicken cesaer salad but instead of the cesaer salad dressing, I'm going to use honey mustard just to curb any cravings I may have for anything sweet. I'll top it off with a nice large glass of Lipton Green tea. On a new note, I've decided to move my weigh in day to Friday morning. I get a little embarrased of having to step on a scale when I know that there's going to be a lot of people there. So I'll finally find out what I really weigh tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't deviate from what I weighed in at towards the end of January.