Leah's journal (commets, advice welcome!)

[leahannpen]

Okay, I'm going to give this a shot. I've had a journal on 2 other boards and didn't keep up with it because, frankly, I love the DIS and spend all my time here.

I am, as of today, VERY frustrated and angry and ready to give up..... again! Alot of today I've spent surfing diet web sites. I will give this one more try, and I'm going to be successful darn it!

Here's some back ground...

I was thin in high school... a size 9/10 and I'm about 5'7''. I thought I was fat.... I've slowly crept up and up, and after a pregnancy, I wore a size 18 and tipped the scales at 203 once I lost most of the "baby fat" from being preggers. I've been dieting, and watching what I eat, for almost 2 years. At one point I got down to 184 (big deal, but it was better than 203). I'm now up to 189 again. I've tried W.W. (pre-pregnancy), I've counted calories (that worked the best, to date), I've done Atkins (DID NOT work for me... sorry Atkins fans!). I've also gone through just giving up. Kinda where I'm at now.

I want to have another baby, but I refuse to get pregnant until I can get to a healtier weight. I don't want to start out at 190 BEFORE I even get pregnant. I want to wear clothes and not feel like I've got rolls of fat sticking out everywhere. I want to wear a bra and not have the underwire cut into my arm.

I am ranting here, and I'm sorry. Hopefully in a few months I can look back onto this post and feel proud of what I've accomplished.

I'm going to try counting my calories again. I'm not officially starting until Monday. I need to make my shopping lists and such. I still am careful with my food, so it's not like I'm going to binge all weekend. However we are having a fun filled social weekend with family and friends, so I'm not going to be too strict on myself. I can't pass up authentic mexican food tomorrow night! Honestly though, I am always careful.

Let me conclude (finally ) by saying I drink a ton of water and although I know it's good for me, I don't think it helps me lose weight. I also have exercised alot the past year or so and in the past 2 weeks have stopped. I will start again. And finally, if anyone has a cure for being hungry often, I'd love to hear it. Does anyone take the 1 A Day Weight Lose vitamin?

Well, I'll take any feed back or thoughts of any kind at any time.

Thanks for listning!

 

[TigH]

You are right that this is the last time because you are REALLY DETERMINED, you have all of us to support and encourage you and you are GOING TO MAKE A LIFESTYLE CHANGE!!!

I love the idea of counting calories. I am doing WW (didn't officially join but have some materials and use some great recipes that are posted on the regular wish board).

If you haven't already, check out www.fitday.com and www.cookinglight.com Both are great sites! Fitday is wonderful because you can enter in everything you eat in a day and know exactly how many calories you ate came from fat, protein, carbs, etc. It really woke up me when I entered all the junk I was eating, especially when we would go out and I'd have a huge burger, tons of fries and lots of beer! D'OH!

As far as not being hungry...when I started WW I didn't mind feeling hungry because I liked that feeling better than always feeling too full. Then it started to bug me. I bought some vitamins from a health food store a week or so ago and they are great! I don't know if it's psychological or what, but when I remember to take my vitamin in the morning I seem to not get hungry between meal ('cuz maybe my body isn't missing nutrients so much?)

Anyway, you know you have our complete and total support. You can do this no matter what. And when you have days where you just eat more than you planned, that's ok too, because you always have tomorrow to get back on plan. You can call it starting over if you want or you can just let the splurge the day before be a blip on your healthy eating radar.

Congratulations on deciding to get back in shape before your next pregnancy. Who knows, you might be in such great shape that you exercise throughout your entire pregnancy, have a really short and painless labor and bounce right back after the baby is born!

 

[leahannpen]

TigH - Thanks so much for the wonderful, kind, encouraging words. I sure needed that!

I have been on Fitday.com. I need to get back into the swing of that again.

I tried the vitamins... the One A Day Weight Loss... it really made me sick to my stomach. Wow. I think to control my hunger I'll go back to Metabolife. That atleast worked. More $, but I need a crutch for right now, I think.

We have a houseful of guest this weekend, so I'm not too hopeful of being real good, but I do plan on being concious of what goes into my mouth. With this crowd though, the beer will hurt me the most!

So, I will check in probably Monday as I start my new WOL. I'm hoping, on Sunday, to be able to cut all my coupons and get my menu together. I have a book called the 90/10 diet. It's basically eating good 90% of the time, but allowing yourself a treat 10% of the time. I've done it before, and it's pretty good. You can do the 1200/1400/1600 calorie option. I'll probably try the 1200 first.

On an exercise note, I'm doing a benefit walk tomorrow for breast cancer. It's 3k I believe.

Whoever reads this, have a nice weekend!

 

[leahannpen]

5/6/03

I've started on Fitday.com again. Yesterday I was at 1599 calories. Higher than I wanted, but that's the way it goes I guess. No exercise. No time!

I guess I really should MAKE time and start getting by butt up at 5:15AM again. I could go out and walk, which I've done in the past, or I could do my Walk Away The Pounds 3 mile walk tape. I'm lazy lately. I'm very flighty and airheaded lately too. I don't know what's up with me!

I got on the scale today and I was down from 190 to 187. Hard to believe after the calorie/alcohol/salt packed weekend I had. We had guest all weekend and the junk food was flowing! I did realize over the weekend the amount of salt I consume. I love salt! So starting yesterday, I refuse to add salt to anything. The only think with a higher sodium content is my Lean Cuisine for lunch. I don't normally even eat those, I usually bring salad, but I was unprepaired since my weekend was so nuts.

So, I'm counting calories on fitday and I'm watching sodium, which I've NEVER considered doing before. Hopefully this will start me up again in getting these pounds off. Maybe next Monday I'll start with the exercising again.... why wait, right? I don't know. Maybe I won't.

 

[zakatak]

Good luck! You sound very motivated!

A couple of things that helped me go from a high weight of 173 to my current weight 117.8...

1.) Eliminate most refined sugars and white flour... breads, crackers, cookies, etc... You can still have chili (no crackers)... etc...

2.) I eliminated meat and dairy (except fish) and most fats. I increased my proteins (boca burgers, beans) and lowered my carbs (yams instead of white potatoes)...

3.) Water is good. I also gave up ALL pop (even diet) and drink only OJ once in a blue moon.

4.) I take 1000 mg of Vit. C and 500 mg of Calcium a day. Multivitamins make me sick.

There are a few other vegetarians on the WISH, but if you would like a nice website, check out the McDougall board on www.vegsource.com. It is a weightloss plan for life that is not calorie based, but food based.

Well, good luck, and I will keep up with your Journal, so you better keep it up as well! Ok?

Karen

 

[Hannosmom]

Hi Leah,
Thanks for visiting my little hut. (I pretend my journal is in a little hut by the ocean in Grand Cayman) You can come visit anytime, just bring a towel and a beach chair.

Glad to give you a giggle. There's not enough giggles around these days. Giggles, puppies, kitties, and babies--my favorites.

You're doing great, keep it up. We need more babies!

 

[leahannpen]

No scale for me lately. It's TOM and I'm not going to torture myself. However... I do notice, since cutting out sodium alot more lately, I'm not bloated nor crampy. Go figure! Maybe the sodium thing is more a key than I thought. Hmmmmm....

Also, I read my directions wrong on my vitamins... take WITH food you goober! DUH! Now, amazingly, I'm not getting sick to my tummy.

I've been eating pretty good these past few days. I usually do during the week though... those weekends kill me.

Today I had:
2 slices low-cal bread - 70
2 slices turkey breast - 70
1 piece f.f. cheese - 35
popcorn all day snack - 250 (still eating it)(hot air popped)
1 granola bar - 110
1 Lean Cuisine - 240

Dinner will be 1 lean salmon steak broiled with 2 cups steamed grean beans and possibly a salad with low-cal dressing.

Tomorrow I'm a bit worried about. Meeting a good friend I haven't seen in a while for drinks and chips and salsa at Chi-Chi's. Could be bad for calories. I'll have to watch my eating habits during the day... lots of veggies and water I think.

Last night was also a night out for 2 friends. Chili's. Had a few chips and salsa, 1 glass of wine, lite chicken stuffed pita with black beans which I took alot home of. I don't think I did too bad. They commented I didn't eat that much, so hopefully I didn't.

Well, that's all for now. Hope I didn't excite anyone too much if you are reading this.

 

[leahannpen]

Monday already? Ugh!

Didn't get on the scale today. I usually don't like to on Monday's. I think I was pretty good over the weekend. I know I kept moving an awful lot, so that should count for something. Eating wise, I was pretty good.... some slightly higher fat foods, but I think I controlled my portions pretty well. Had some beer though, so that may hinder me! I'll find out tomorrow morning.

This week should be pretty easy to stay on track. This weekend as well. Hopefully I'll start noticing some results. A 3 day weekend coming up too! How wonderful.

My mother is moving in with us this weekend. THAT should be interesting! HA! She bought a condo and gave notice at her apartment and now the condo is nowhere near being done! So, she will be with us atleast 2-3 months. Wish me luck!!!!!!!