Gabby's Diary

[gabbylifts]

Hi everyone!

Loving what I'm seeing on this active forum. It has been a long time since I have been active on any sort of forum or writing based social media other than places like facebook or instagram so I am feeling a little uncertain. But I have decided to give this a shot!

I guess I should start this diary with a little about me for anyone who may stumble across it. In the future it will mostly be for self accountability and diet and exercise tracking but I am so ok with any feed back or encouragement anyone might have. Alright, let's do physical stats for now.

Age: 29
Height: 5'7"
Weight: ~250 lbs (admittedly I am afraid to weigh myself so this could be +/-10 pounds, but I've been hovering in this range for the last several years)
Goal weight: 160 lbs

In my day to day life I work as an art teacher and am a painter in my personal practice. Despite these relatively sedentary work situations I am by no means a couch potato. I have always enjoyed being out doors, hiking, swimming, roller blading, etc. and in the last three years I have found an interest in the gym focusing mostly on weight lifting. That being said as well I have been off the consistency wagon with my gym life for about 6 months due to a number of emotional and personal reasons but I'm back and ready to take charge of my life and confidence. I started watching what I ate more and getting back into the gym a couple of weeks ago but I'm counting today at day 1.

I have always been a heavy set person pretty much since birth and I have never had any great success in losing weight and have only gotten heavier every year despite how active I am. So what gives? I bet you all already know it's bad eating habits. I grew up on the standard American diet and it truly made me and everyone in my family very SAD. Over the years I have learned a ton about nutrition and exercise and I feel like I have a good grasp on how I could reach my goals and live a healthier life style food wise that would benefit every aspect of my person. I just struggle A LOT with self control. My 20s have been a whirl wind, like most folks, and I have not been known to make the best choices with food and drinks. And in my personal circle I do not know almost any other plus sized people. So it has felt increasingly hard to succeed when none of my peers seem to have similar struggles and I do not want to be seen as the big friend always on a diet.

So that leads me here to this forum full of people who seem to be at various points in their journey. And I hope to join you all in a real way and help who ever may need it and also find personal accountability and achieve the success I know I can have and deserve. This is for me and my life and time's up on my excuses. I have no choice but to keep feeling miserable with the status quo or do something about it for real!

Ok, I think that is enough for now. The only last thing I will include are a couple of other health and fitness related goals I have that are not related to just the number on a scale because those are equally important!

1. Develop a power lifting routine and get STRONG.
2. Cut out alcohol. All of it. For a while if not forever!
3. Take a cooking class and learn about more healthful ways of making food. I already love to cook so learning more can't hurt!

More goals, thoughts, routines, and food tracking and recipes to come. Thanks for reading!

Gabby

PS. Can we post body update shots here? Clothed of course! Or is that against the rules?

 

[Cate]

Welcome to the forum, Gabby

PS. Can we post body update shots here? Clothed of course! Or is that against the rules?

Yes, that's fine. I only just have my internet & phone back after a major outage (24 hrs) so will come back to your diary tomorrow.

 

[aiminglow]

Hello, Gabby! Art teacher! What a great thing to be - and artist yourself, of course!
Yes, lots of people here at various stages, some super-fit, some just starting to get back to healthy, and lots in the middle.
I'm impressed by your starting at the power-lifting end of things - more strength to your elbow!

 

[alligatorob]

Hey Gabby, welcome!

I can relate to most of your food story, like you I have been overweight most of my life, and until just before I began this I was also a bit afraid to weigh myself. I have been here on a diet and posting for about a month, and it has really made a difference for me and my eating, and I have lost about 17 lbs! I still have a long ways to go, but at least I have a good start.

There are lots of other folks here with more experience and much success than I, you should seek out and listen to them. In my experience all are friendly and willing to offer good advice and support. And believe me no matter what you think of where you are and what you have done there are lots of people here who have been there and done that, maybe worse. The good thing is you can benefit from their experiences.

You've started a dairy, that is a smart first step!. I suggest you start keeping track of your food and posting daily. That is what I do, as do others, it has been a big help for me.

Best of luck!

 

[gabbylifts]

I'm impressed by your starting at the power-lifting end of things - more strength to your elbow!

Thank you! I love lifting weights already so getting strong seems to be the best goal I could personally have. Getting strong also gives me something a little more constructive to focus on than just getting slim.
Yes it seems like there is so much information here and I can't wait to find some more time to sift through all of it!

 

[gabbylifts]

Hey Gabby, welcome!

I can relate to most of your food story, like you I have been overweight most of my life, and until just before I began this I was also a bit afraid to weigh myself. I have been here on a diet and posting for about a month, and it has really made a difference for me and my eating, and I have lost about 17 lbs! I still have a long ways to go, but at least I have a good start.

There are lots of other folks here with more experience and much success than I, you should seek out and listen to them. In my experience all are friendly and willing to offer good advice and support. And believe me no matter what you think of where you are and what you have done there are lots of people here who have been there and done that, maybe worse. The good thing is you can benefit from their experiences.

You've started a dairy, that is a smart first step!. I suggest you start keeping track of your food and posting daily. That is what I do, as do others, it has been a big help for me.

Best of luck!

Congratulations on your success so far! I definitely plan on posting here as frequently as possible. I have a lot laid out as far as diet and exercise already. Thanks for the warm welcome and words of encouragement!

 

[gabbylifts]

Oy, had a little trouble figuring out reply formatting. I've got it now! But sorry if anyone got multiple alerts from my editing and deleting responses. Be back later.

 

[Llama]

Hi Gabby and welcome to the diaries!

Over the years I have learned a ton about nutrition and exercise and I feel like I have a good grasp on how I could reach my goals and live a healthier life style food wise that would benefit every aspect of my person. I just struggle A LOT with self control.

3. Take a cooking class and learn about more healthful ways of making food. I already love to cook so learning more can't hurt!

The great thing about cooking your own food is that you can make it taste exactly how you want it, making convenience food less appealing over time. I think the most important thing is not to be TOO restrictive, especially when you´re active, so you don´t feel deprived all the time. Nobody has enough willpower consistently to keep doing unpleasant things when pleasant things are so easily available. Eat as much great food as you can while still losing a bit of weight every week (or however you want to schedule your weigh-ins/measurements/fill-in-your-preferred-method-of-tracking-progress).
Best of luck! LaMa

 

[gabbylifts]

Hi Gabby and welcome to the diaries!

The great thing about cooking your own food is that you can make it taste exactly how you want it, making convenience food less appealing over time. I think the most important thing is not to be TOO restrictive, especially when you´re active, so you don´t feel deprived all the time. Nobody has enough willpower consistently to keep doing unpleasant things when pleasant things are so easily available.
Best of luck! LaMa

Most definitely. I was eating 3000-3500 calories per day, not so much in volume but a lot of junk food and alcohol. For now I'm trying to eat around 1900 per day especially on the days I am working out. I do love cooking and even food prepping once or twice a week and can make some darn tasty food but even at this infrequent level I can be real lazy. But I'm working on it! For now even though my diet and eating habits are sort of fluctuating I've stop drinking pretty much all together and that's a start! And I think I'm going top start taking my measurements every two weeks. The scale just causes too much body dysmorphia so I think seeing small changes in physical composition over a lower number will be more beneficial for me.

 

[gabbylifts]

Hi all!

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and suggestions and encouragements so far. I know I came here and posted my long intro and have been away since. I've been sick since last weekend and am still on the mend. So I've had minimal energy for eating or major gym time but I'll be back early next week with my "starting" measurements and my food prep menu for the week. See you all soon!

 

[Llama]

Good to see you're still around. Get well soon!

 

[Cate]

Glad to see you'll be sticking around & hope you are back to feeling 100% soon. Cheers!