Last weekend, I started trying to lose weight again (and for the last time!). I've been on and off battling with my weight for some time now and I finally reached a point where I am tired of being overweight. It's been about 3 years since I've felt comfortable with the size of my body. I'm ready to make changes and take care of myself. In the end, I'd like to lose about 35 pounds and reach the weight that I was my senior year of high school.
I started tracking what I ate on livestrong.com last Saturday and have done it everyday since then. I love livestrong because it's free and there are many different foods with calories already input on the website. You can also enter in your weight and calorie goals. It really helps me to realize how many calories I'm eating and make me conscientious of that. However, I've found that when a food from a particular restaurant isn't listed on the website and the menu doesn't list the number of calories in the item, I get extremely freaked out and nervous. For instance, this weekend I went to the Orange and Blue game in Gainesville and we stopped for lunch at Burrito Brothers. I ate guacomole, black bean dip, chips, and 1 chicken taco. Since there is only one Burrito Brothers of course I could not find out the calorie information anywhere. Eating out really makes me nervous since I'm serious about losing weight. I hate guesstimating.
Also, I got a gym membership at a place called 24 hour fitness. This is perfect for me because I have such a crazy schedule. I ended up going on Sunday and Monday and then again today (Sunday). I'd like to go 3 times this next week, but it's really hard to work into my schedule. It should be easier after my schedule changes.
The one thing that really drives me insane is that I realized scales are totally not consistent. For example, sometimes if I weigh myself after a meal I will literally have gained 5 pounds. However, a couple of hours after I eat that weight will slowly go away. What the hay is that? I don't get it. How discouraging and depressing. After talking to a friend I realized that I have to weigh myself at the same time everyday to get an actual stable, non-arbitrary weight. I find that the easiest (and most gratifying) time for me to do this is first thing in the morning. That is when my weight is at it's lowest. So basically, when it comes to weight and calories, I hate ambiguity. I want to have a sense of control of what calories I'm putting in my body and the results I'm getting. If I go by the morning weight, this first week I've actually done really, really awesome. Even with eating anywhere from 1600 calories (if I work out that day) to 1300 calories per day I've lost 5.4 pounds just this week!
I expect the weight loss will slow down and get a little harder as time goes on, but I was never hungry and very happy with my results. My clothes are just a little tiny bit looser but I expect it will be another 5-10 pounds before I can actually go down a clothing size. However, I have been drinking way too many caffeinated drinks. My favorite is diet Dr. Pepper and I usually have 1 cup of coffee a day, but as long as I drink plenty of water I'm fine with that for now.
My goals for next week are to work out at least 3 times and to continue to track my calories. Most importantly, I will only weight myself first thing in the morning and record that weight on livestrong. I will not emotionally drive myself crazy by weighing myself 50 times a day. That is a psychological recipe for disaster.
I want to have my fitness guru friend look at this entry and give me some feedback. If anyone else has feedback, I'd love to hear it! Thanks for joining me on Weekend Weigh-In.
1 comment:
Hi!
I'm so honored you wanted my feedback!
You seem to be doing really well! I know how frustrating it can be when you want to lose weight right away; everything (restaurant menus, scales) can trip you up.
The thing is, you just want to settle on consistency. Try for well-balanced meals, and if it makes you nervous when you go out, try one of the many, free calorie counters online. You can also ask almost any restaurant for their nutritional info. A pain, but it helps.
Shoot for exercise at least four times a week. I know that's a lot when you have a busy schedule, but the more you work out, the less uptight you have to be about food. Plus, most fitness/health associations recommend doing 30 minutes of vigorous exercise MOST days of the week. Go for it! I know you can do it!
And, yeah, scales are totally untrust-worthy. You basic weight, honestly, is not your best measurement of health. You'd be better off having a trainer or assessor at your gym look at your BMI and Vo2 max, simply because muscle weighs more than fat so takes up less space. As you get fitter, you can look A LOT smaller without losing nary a pound. But if that's too much for now, and you like the scale, only use one to measure yourself, and do it at the same time every day. That way, you can monitor weight-loss more efficiently.
Still, you're going awesome! Keep up the good work! Hope that helps!
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