Fat girl.

[hers]

Here's my stupid workout thread to keep me accountable and to record some stuff about my attempt to not die of a heart attack by 50 years and to keep my thighs from expanding to ridiculous proportions.

 

Been tracking my food in my fitness pal and going to the gym at least 3 days a week. I'm allowed 1410 calories a day. I'm 5'0" and roughly 160 lbs. I'd like to weigh about 140. I like being thick and intend to still have meat on my bones but I want to be healthy. That's my ultimate goal. Obviously I *should* be thinner than 140 but I think that'd be a good size for me.

 

I did 3.5 miles today on the treadmill in 47 minutes and burned 428 calories roughly.

 

I'm starting a plank-a-day challenge with myself. I had never done a plank before today. I'm doing this kind:

 

image removed

 

I did it for 31.33 seconds I think. I guess not bad? Who knows.

 

This journal won't be used or advice. Just accountability. I didn't do a solo or private journal just in case I ever do have questions I need advice about this crap.

 

It's crap is what it is. I just want to eat my food and not worry about it but I want to live past 50 also.

 

Ok, mehgan. Do the damn thing.

[sophie274]

No advice, but good luck! Just don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away (ok, sorry, that was advice)

[hers]

I've been going to the gym since February and haven't really noticed results. I was considering stopping only bc I started to get lazy and apathetic. But I started tracking my food 2 weeks ago and realized I could eat more if I work out more haha. So I'm back into it.

[blueidealist24]

I wouldn't eat more if not hungry even though you're working out more. If you have a slow metabolism those calorie estimates can be WAY off. I guess if it's lettuce and apples it's okay to eat more, but if the "more" is carbs and fat it'll just make your system sluggish. I say this since I've done the "I can eat more since I'm exercising more" thing and have never lost much weight that way. Actually I've lost more weight eating less and NOT exercising, although that's not great either, since exercise is of course healthy.

 

Good luck!

[sophie274]

I've also had better results restricting food intake than exercising lots. I've lost over 30 pounds in the last 15 months, over 20 of those over about 2 or 3 months by reducing food intake. (I had gained this weight I think mostly due to a med I was taking for depression, and also my depression). I lost the other ten just being active and making reasonable food choices, over the following year.

 

Even if you don't see weight loss results, exercising and paying more attention to your diet is great and great for you!

[hers]

Counting calories has made me more aware of what I am eating. I'm more consciously choosing fruits nd such now, eating better breakfasts and skipping a lot of bad stuff. Bread and starches will forever be my weakness though. It's what I always want and what I instinctively want to order or turn toward but I'm surprisingly more conscious of it now

[faraday]

I'm on mfp too, faradaysdream. Feel free to add me Hers (or anyone else). I just restarted a few days ago So far, so good

 

And they do say to eat your work out calories...or at least half of them. Your body needs energy to fuel itself.

 

Do you ever lift heavy weights? I did that last fall, and my measurements shrunk like crazy...I wish I could have stuck with it (depression- I fell off the wagon ) I would have been skinny (and in super good shape) by now.

[Fudgie]

I've found that the more I've restricted my starches, the less I wanted them. It's not completely out of my diet though. I have rice or a piece of high quality bread on the off occasion. But it's not that often at all and I pair it with protein and focus on the protein.

 

Last night I had a delicious small piece of baked haddock and then maybe 3 bites of garlic bread. The fish filled me up and is better for me so I ate that first. I gave the rear of the bread to the dog.

 

Now, obviously you are going to eat more than me but the same concept applies.

 

If you eat bread, have protein with it. Like a meat sandwich or even peanut butter. If you have rice, have it with some healthy stir-fry. Eat the protein first and never make a meal out of pure carbs like that. Each meal should have a good balance.

 

The most important thing is to allow yourself to have some food that you enjoy without falling off of the carb wagon and gaining weight back.

 

You can do this.

[hers]

Oh if I didn't eat bread, I'd make my goal weight in a week, no doubt haha.

 

One thing I really enjoy doing on the weekends is having breakfast by myself with a book. I just ate at a local place, so surely nothing will pop up for it in MFP, and it's hard to try to figure out how to put stuff like that in, so I just took what seemed to be the average counts for what I ate: 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs over easy, 4 oz of cheese grits, and a biscuit. Only 700 left for the day. Eesh.

 

But I'm about to go walk some dogs at the shelter and sweat my ass off, so that'll help some I'm sure.

[lavenderdove]

>>I've been going to the gym since February and haven't really noticed results.

 

The most important thing to weight loss is dieting and cutting back on what you eat so that you take in less than you burn. So exercise can firm you up and help maintain a weight loss and allow you to eat more if your burn more, BUT if you want to see real results and fast, you have to cut back on what you eat.

 

Your breakfast sounds totally tasty, but a lot of food and high fat. I've gotten my best results when i choose a particular plan that doesn't require a lot of decision making (and torture trying to decide what to eat with a limited number of calories). Research has shown the fastest way to peel off weight is either a low carb diet or a liquid diet like Medifast.

 

For example, if you were on low carb, you could have had the eggs scrambled with cheese and bacon and not worried about it. But no biscuit or cheese grits! Now you have to spend your day scrounging what to eat for the rest of the day, whereas on low carb, you know you can eat what you want (and as much as you want) as long as you exclude foodstuffs like bread, grits, sugar, junk food etc.

 

If you really don't want to do low carb, i lost weight and maintained it after a low carb diet by switching to an 'eat half' diet after i got too bored with low carb. So i'd eat 'normal' food, but only half a serving. So for example on your breakfast, you'd eat one egg, 2 oz of grits, and half a biscuit. Save the rest for later or share with somebody or just throw it out. If you go somewhere with sandwiches, have only half a sandwich. half a cup of soup. I also had a rule for no junk food. As in no cookies, potato chips, french fries. Everything I ate had to have SOME nutritional value or i didn't waste the calories. I did allow myself a treat now and then of a few french fries or a couple bites of cake, but never ate a whole portion of anything at all, and just a couple bites of the 'bad' foods. I continued to lose weight and kept it off.

 

Portion size is responsible for a lot of the problems we have in terms of being obese, and high carb and fatty junk food with no nutritional value is a BIG culprit.

 

So decide how rapidly you want to lose weight. If you want to lose fast, try a low carb diet, but you have to be extremely diligent and not cheat with carbs like bread or it won't work. And try the 'eat half' diet where you only eat half of everything, and eliminate the worst offenders from your diet in terms of junk food other than a couple of treat bites now and again.

 

I observed how most of the healthy skinny people i knew ate, and they were basically doing that eat half plan. And they consciously tried to focus on getting a lot of nutrition rather than just eating what tasted good. And they saw high carb junk food as an occasional treat rather than an every day staple in the diet. And they would make choices like, i can have either the cheese grits OR the biscuit because that's a lot of carbs, so i'll choose one, and next time i have breakfast, i'll choose the other. but never both at the same time because that isn't necessary for nutrition and is more about the 'fun' of eating cheese grits and biscuits.

 

And for restaurants, you need to apply the eat 1/4th or 1/3rd since they usually give such large portions. The doggie bag is your friend is you want to get to and maintain a normal weight.

[lavenderdove]

btw, i congratulate you on your desire to get things under control while you're young. It is much harder when older and the metabolism slows down. So if you start eating healthy now and are accustomed to portion control and avoiding large amounts of junk food, you'll breeze into your older years in good shape and won't pack on the pounds.

[sophie274]

 

One thing I really enjoy doing on the weekends is having breakfast by myself with a book. I just ate at a local place, so surely nothing will pop up for it in MFP, and it's hard to try to figure out how to put stuff like that in, so I just took what seemed to be the average counts for what I ate: 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs over easy, 4 oz of cheese grits, and a biscuit. Only 700 left for the day. Eesh.

 

I love doing that too! Especially outside if it´s sunny.

Do you have any of those California cuisine trendy brunch places in your town? The type where you can pay 6 dollars for a glass of organic OJ? Usually places like that have nice outdoor seating and really healthy choices, like fruit topped with yogurt and a bit of granola, or whatever. I'm sure it won't be the same price as your diner, but you'd get to keep the tradition minus the eating half your calories for the day in one sitting inconvenience.

[hers]

Oh places like that dont last here in the south! Unfortunately. THere's a place I always go to in NYC called Le Pain Quotidien and I LOVE that place so much. The food is so good and I feel healthy eating there haha. It's been years since I've been there though.

 

Portion control is my downfall but since tracking what I eat, I notice I'm eating less and serving myself less at dinner and such. So far it's helping!

[sophie274]

I'm a fan of Le Pain Quotidien too! Had an amazing chocolate mousse cake there once (not healthy!)

[Batya33]

One of my best friends brings her own (healthier) oil to her favorite take out indian restaurant and they cook her food with it (they do that for other regular customers too) so I wonder if you can order the same meal but lower fat (obviously the grits and biscuit can't be changed but I wonder if they would make your eggs with Pam spray if you asked, etc.

[Fudgie]

I'll take fat over starches/breads any day. And if you ask any nutritionist worth their salt, they'll agree. Eggs and bacon or a big bowl of sugary cereal and milk? Take the eggs/bacon. Obviously you shouldn't be eating loads of lard/butter but it sounds like for you, like most people, carbs are what do you in. They are high in calories but not as filling as proteins and they spike up your blood sugar and you want more, more, and more.

 

All of the people who I have seen lose weight and keep it off, without OR without surgery, have done it primarily by low carbing it, with attention to healthy fats when possible. You first have to "detox" yourself off the sugar that you're used to eating. It will suck and you won't feel good for a while but it's temporary.

 

I love eggs for breakfast. Eggs, old-fashioned oatmeal, turkey sausage or bacon, fresh WHOLE fruit, all good options. I think if you focus on the protein, you will feel fuller with fewer calories.

[faraday]

link removed

 

That is what my doctor said...high vegetable intake, whole grains, good fats, limited red meat, sugar and saturated fat...I mean...just being sensible. Studies time and time again show that WW has the best long term weight loss results...because portion control is really all that necessary. That's why I'm doing MFP...it's about nutrient dense foods, and being aware of how many calories are in things...I think when we track it, we naturally gravitate towards lower calorie, nutrient dense foods...because being hungry sucks lol.

[Fudgie]

Yep, basically it boils down to portion control. WW is a nice model although I prefer to go by nutrients and straight calories, not "points" but just be careful with WW because they don't "count" fruit. You can eat all of the vegetables and fruits you want without having it contribute towards your points each day. Nice idea but fruit can have a lot of sugar. I used to be able to eat almost my weight in berries over the course of a day. Delicious but not a good idea, haha.

[hers]

I'm always surprised how many calories are in fruits. 110 calories in a banana? That's crazy! I try to stick to 250 or fewer calories for breakfast and having a banana with a bagel thin and cream cheese puts me at close to 300. I'd rather just do the bagel thin and cream cheese b/c it fills me more but the banana with it keeps me full till lunch!

 

37.77 second plank today. Jared did it with me. He said I cheated. I don'tt hink I did.

[Batya33]

It depends on the size of the banana and with the banana you're getting so many more nutrients than in the bagel/cr cheese and less fat.

[Fudgie]

If you want to eat fruits that are in lower calories, you have to look at ones that are lower in sugar.

 

This is a good place to start: link removed

[Cheetarah]

I used MFP for about the last year and finally decided to stop. The calorie counting was making me crazy. I'm not really aiming to lose more than 5lbs at this point, weight put on post gallbladder surgery. I lost...80? I don't even know anymore, something like that. And after all this time, I think I'm pretty good at eyeballing and getting an estimate of what I am taking in. However, I think a calorie counting program like MFP is great for people to figure out how to eat healthily and make a habit of it. When you're sitting there eyeballing someone's food and drooling because you have this piddly little lunch fit for a mouse in front of you, you start researching like a mad woman to find 'meatier' portions of filling but less high calorie and processed stuff. It has definitely changed the way I eat. I know it is annoying but after awhile, you get used to it.

 

What I love about MFP, is being able to link in the recipes from say, link removed and alter it as you see fit and let it do the counting for you. I always change recipes. Freaking love that.

[faraday]

Fruit is crazy high in calories....but high in fibre. I have a protein shake with pb and banana every morning...and lots of coffee.

 

Or pb and banana on toast. Delicious.

[hers]

Yea I guess it would make sense to eat what's better. Funny, I didn't think of that. I always just try to make it to the next meal. It's like I have a phobia of being hungry. So I eat what will sustain me the most and now that you've pointed out to me, I realized what I usually do rather than what I should do.

 

Ugh I have so much to learn.

 

I'm thinking of doing a beginner yoga class tomorrow. I don't know. Maybe.

[einsteins_girl]

I know they aren't for everyone, but I have found that doing group exercise classes works far better for me than a treadmill or any other kind of independent exercise, mostly because of the accountability. I know when the class is, and I know that, if I don't go, I'll miss it. That drives me to go, even if I'm tired or lazy. In contrast, independent exercise can be done anytime, which is good for some people but can also mean it's very easy to procrastinate doing it. After I had been going to the classes for a while, the instructors and other regulars got so used to me that they would worry about me when I wasn't there. That was also a great motivator. (When I was out for over 6 weeks with a broken toe, people were so excited when I came back. It made me feel great to know people cared - and that has been a big help as well.)

 

A couple of years ago, I was only doing two 1-hour classes at the gym a week and seeing almost no results. At the time, this was very frustrating because I knew those two classes were more than I had been doing, so I felt I should be seeing change. My brother, who is a personal trainer, then told me that I had to go at least 3-4 times a week to see any results. So I started going four times a week. Lo and behold, I started getting amazing muscle tone, had more energy, etc.

 

It is so hard, but if you get into a routine, especially if you find classes you love, going to the gym can really just become a normal part of your life, like going to work, etc.