Geovicsha's Diary - New Years Resolution.

You are welcome.

I am out on my morning 6.3 mile minimum walk in a minute so we will both be walking at the same time. I have a keep fit class while I am out. I will be back in a few hours and hopefully we'll both be an ounce thinner!
 
Hi!

Just a few things:
First, good for you that you're cutting off McDonald's food. Have you seen "Supersize me"? If not go rent it. It gives you a pretty fair idea of what cr** they give you to eat and of how they induce you to eat more than you need.

Second, I follow a diet that was made especially for me by a dietician. He told me that I shouldn't eat more than 2 eggs per week. Maybe, since you're a man, you can eat up to three. Eggs are very complete food and if you eat them with bread and salad you pretty much have a good lunch done.

Third, eat fruit and vegetables the more you can. Keep fruit under control since it's more sugary (I'm not saying avoid it, just control it) but eat as much vegetables as you like. They're so low in calories they won't interfere with your diet and they'll make you feel less hungry.

Good job on walking a lot! I'm sure you'll be below 90 very soon.

A hug!

India
 
Monday, January 14, 2008

Today has involved a wide range of emotions. From devastation to determination, thoughts from "am I eating too much?" to "am I eating too little?"

Devastation arose when my new digital scales arrived today and I was weighing 91.8kg. It varied for awhile and now I currently weigh a steady 90.0kg. This gives me a determined goal to get below 90 as soon as possible and into the 80's.... for good.

1) The "am I eating too much?" question arose when my father gives me my dinner for tonight. Although once again it was a salad and crabmeat; I fear he gives me too much quantity (even though India previously said you can never have too much vegetables). Also, I have not being weighing what I eat (especially at dinner since dad makes it) in grams or with a measuring cup, so I could be underestimating the calories!!!

2) The "am I eating too little?" question became a more frequent thought when allyphoe brought up some miscalculations in my calorie intake. I have begun to fear "starvation mode", and although I don't feel starved lately, I don't think I'm having enough.

Having both questions in my head is so confusing. :(

Can anyone (Australian's who shop at Safeway/Coles preferably) recommend some cheap healthy foods? (Not only to increase my calorie intake, but to add some variation)

Also, a question, are frozen vegetables good? (The mixed packet of vegetables you boil in water)?

Diet

Such a routine I have entered. I'm not complaining, I love what I eat, I just fear it's not enough/too much (as stated above).

The biggest change in the routine was when I was walking around town all day and had Subway.

Breakfast
Oat meal - 130 cals
1/2 glass of non-fat milk - 39 cals
One banana - 138 cals
Total: 307 cals

Lunch
Subway - 6 inch Wheat with carrot, lettuce, tomato, two chillies (my friend said it was good for digestion?) and roast lean chicken (under 6 grams of fat)
Total (from Subway website): 470 cals

Snacks
One apple - 75 cals
5 strawberries - 28 cals (a bit different from the original assumed 225 calories)
Total: 103 cals

Dinner
Lettuce - 12 cals
Tomato- 30 cals
Onion - 30 cals
Cucumber - 32 cals
Crabmeat - 240 cals
Total: 344 cals

Water
3 litres

Grand Total: 1224 calories.

Okay that scares the fuck out of me. I really need to aim for 1500-1800. I'm going to eat a banana and drink a glass of non-fat milk which is 216 cals, which would bring it up to 144 calories.

Or once again, I could be under-estimating some as the lettuce, tomato and cucumber were quite plentiful.

I seriously need to start weighing on the digital scale and in cups.

Please please please can someone suggest some recommendations to extend my calories.

Exercise

Walked around town all day with my two good friends.

Went for my proper power walk until I bumped into one of my best friends (one of the benefits/annoyances of living in a small 10,000 population city) and he cut it short. He is leaving tomorrow and we were originally meant to watch movies. I was contemplating helping him move.

Saying that, not the best walk I've done. The pedometer should arrive tomorrow and subsequently give me some boost of motivation and hopefully promote me to some jogs.

Not the best day for the diet. Argh. To the banana and milk I go.
 
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Dont be scared. Your food is all healthy stuff and you are managing to do some exercise. You are doing great. The fact is that a lot of people guess portion size wrongly so weighing / measuring until you have a feel for things is a very good idea.

I regularly have a handful of honey shreddies cereal as a snack. I put a huge handful on a plate and eat them like they were a bag of crisps. It is healthy good calories containing protein and fibre. Most cereals that are not the chocolate / very sweet type marketed for children are fine. Muesli is healthy but quite high calorie.

I do everything in handfuls as I cannot be bothered to weigh every time. Weigh out a handful then you know how many calories a handful looks like.

I am adicted to raisins and have a handful of raisins every day. They are high in calorie so weigh them until you know what the right amount looks like.

Nuts are also very healthy but can be quite high in calorie so you should weigh them until you have a feel for the right amount.

If you have extra calories - extra fruit can be a good idea.

Remember with fruit and veg you get different nutrients in the different colours so it is great if you can see a lot of colours on your plate.

Sometimes I feel like a burst of protein so I have 150g of cooked ham. The packs have how many calories are contained.

Rule of thumb:

For meat you want no more than a pack of playing cards in size.
For cheese you want no more than a box of matches in size.
 
Ah Margaret, not only are you inspirational but also very helpful.

I might get some raisins and nuts tomorrow.

Tomorrow I might go for a jog rather than walk, we'll see how I go!
 
Hi Shannon

I try to help if I can. Sometimes it can be a while between me visiting friends' diaries (I have such a lot that I try to visit) - so if you have any questions for me feel free to pop into my diary or PM me.

If I dont get to visit your diary - do not feel abandoned.

Happy jogging (I havent jogged in over 20 years!!!!! - maybe one day!!!)

Best wishes
Margaret
 
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Today wasn't the best in my mind. I got my pedometer but half the day was spent fiddling with it, sometimes it wouldn't record the first couple of steps and thus I didn't wear it the whole day, also I went swimming for exercise with friends and didn't get my walk in.

Diet

The routine altered for dinner where I had two rissoles. Since rissoles are an Australian thing and thus I cannot find any calorie intake for them. Here is what Wikipedia says:

"The Australian rissole is generally made from minced meat and pan fried, without a pastry covering, but sometimes with breadcrumbs"

Dad grilled me and was reassuring me it will grill all the fat out, I'm still scared. Can anyone reassure me?

Update: I found which seems accurate of what I had. 410 calories for two sounds alright I guess. Protein seems good but sodium seems too high.

Breakfast
Oat meal - 130 cals
1/2 glass of non-fat milk - 39 cals
One banana - 138 cals
5 strawberries - 28 cals
Total: 335 cals

Lunch
Two lettuce, tomato and margarine sandwich, wholegrain bread - 350 cals
Total: 350 cals

Snacks
One apple - 75 cals
A sip of my friends beer whilst swimming - 5 cals (lame that I'm actually counting this)

Total: 80 cals

Dinner
Lettuce - 12 cals
Tomato- 30 cals
Onion - 30 cals
One serve of cheese - 105 cals (I think a bit high in fat)
Small serve of pasta salad - 50 cals
Two rissoles - 410 cals
Total: 637 cals

Water
3 litres

Grand Total: 1391 cals

I'm not too sure about the rissole calories though, perhaps having them wasn't such a bad thing after all?

Exercise

I didn't go on my walk today unfortunately, a shame since it was the first day I got my pedometer. However I did go swimming for a couple of hours, which I'm not trusting my pedometer in the water. ;)
 
I am a very social person, but I fear my socialness intervenes with my healthy eating and planned exercise. Although swimming is great, it mostly consisted of floating and relaxing. That isn't exercising at all. Also, I feel rude when my friends mother offers me to stay for dinner which I don't deem as healthy or part of my planned diet.

Not to mention the alcohol we consume.

And today was no exception. After thinking about previous posts, I decided on my own free will to have one beer tonight with friends after dinner. I don't regret it, it was only one and depriving me of the things I love completely will only lead me to failure.

I am currently eating a banana.
1391
+110 (low-carb beer)
+138 (banana)
=1639 calories.

Better, even if the beer WAS empty calories.
 
Oh, and I plan to do an hour-90 mins of straight power walking/jogging tomorrow, as long as I don't get invited to any social things again.

My friends all know of my diet too and are very supportive of me, sometimes I think more than my dad is...
 
And today was no exception. After thinking about previous posts, I decided on my own free will to have one beer tonight with friends after dinner. I don't regret it, it was only one and depriving me of the things I love completely will only lead me to failure.
Deprivation is bad -so enjoy all things in moderation...

you have to live in the real world and your real world includes social activities -so just make it work within your day.. which you seemed to... well done :D
 
On the plus side of what I deem a bad day, I've had 3.6 litres of water. Which is equivalent to 121.73 ounces. :)
 
Deprivation is bad -so enjoy all things in moderation...

you have to live in the real world and your real world includes social activities -so just make it work within your day.. which you seemed to... well done :D

Thank you Mal! :)

Do you know much about rissoles and calories? LOL.
 
Woke up at 2pm today, not happy with myself at all. Furthermore, I am 90.2kg from 89.6kg due to lack of exercise (more calories in than out) so today I plan to do quite a lot to not only keep the exercise up, but make myself tired earlier.

Wearing the pedometer all day today too. :)
 
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

A vast improvement from yesterday in both diet, exercise and optimism. I have used my pedometer all day today and amazed how many steps one can accumulate so fast, but yet at the same time I assumed I walked more km/miles than I did.

Diet

Tried to increase my calorie intake today, and perhaps I'm not even done for today so I shall edit if I eat more, but as of right now. Dad fed me roast chicken today with the skin, so I took the liberty myself to peel it off. It's so tempting seeing the skin right there, but I resisted. Dad doesn't understand why I didn't eat the skin. :(

My non-fat milk ran out as well so tomorrow morning I am going without the oat meal/non-fat milk, might have to go back to the water for one day. Ah well.

Breakfast
Oat meal - 130 cals
1/2 glass of non-fat milk - 39 cals
One banana - 138 cals
5 strawberries - 28 cals
Total: 335 cals

Lunch
Two lettuce, tomato and margarine sandwich, wholegrain bread - 350 cals
One glass of non-fat milk - 216 cals
Nectorine - 70 cals
Total: 636 cals

Snacks
Two apples - 150 cals

Total: 150 cals

Dinner
Lettuce - 12 cals
Tomato- 30 cals
Onion - 30 cals
Cucumber - 20 cals
Chicken, skinless - 350 cals
One serve of cheese - 105 cals
Total: 463 cals

Water
3 litres+

Grand Total: 1668 cals

Exercise

Normal Walking

A very lazy day for me, just walking around the house. Obviously the night isn't over so I'll update, but right now I haven't reached 10,000.

Steps: 1,555
Distance: 0.621km / 0.386 miles
Calories burnt: 36.2 cals

Power walking/Jogging

I thought I was going great and keeping up a steady pace. It also included two spouts of jogging which I was surprised how long I lasted, but I did this in park areas as I am too self-conscious to jog in my hometown right now.

To be honest I was disappointed with the results, although not an expert I would have expected more km, more steps and more calories burnt. Unless I'm expecting too much, can someone help me with this?

Steps: 6,856
Distance: 2.742km / 1.70 miles
Calories burnt: 160.2 cals
Duration: 50 mins

Conclusion

Basically, I have two questions after my results today.

1) How is my calorie intake going and do the figures seem more accurate?
2) Were my results for 50 minutes okay for someone who has only started? Do I need to work up a faster pace?

Despite these two questions, I'm pleased with myself today.
 
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I decided I'm going to do the quiz:

-- How much weight do you want to lose?
21kg / 46lb

-- What is the timeframe for reaching your target weight?
6-8 months.

-- How do you want to accomplish your goal (what methods do you want to use)?
Exercise and eating healthy. Once I move back to where I live for Uni I will join a gym and able to calculate calories easier and not making things harder for dad and dinner.

-- Who or what can support you in reaching your goal?
Imagining myself skinnier and healthier

-- How realistic is your goal?
As long as I stay motivated (which I will), it is very realistic.

-- When will you start?
I started about January 1.

1. What is your current height and weight?
-177cm and 90kg.
2. If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be?
68kg-70kg.
3. At what weight would you like to be at four months from now?
75kg-80kg.
4. Why do you want to lose weight?
To look thinner and lead a healthier life.
5. Do you want to lose weight for a specific life event such as wedding or reunion? If so, when is that event?
Perhaps when second year University is over.
6. What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals?
University.
7. Why do you think that you now have a weight problem?
Because my BMI and my appearance states that.
8. What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight?
More walking/gym and more HEALTHIER food.
9. Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight?
No I have not.
10. Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back?
Because I get bored easily and had no support.
11. What, if anything, has not worked for you in the past in helping you to lose weight? Why do you think it did not work?
N/A.
12. Would you try writing down all food and drink consumed for a given period of time?
Yes.
13. Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook?
Dad cooks for me. When I leave home I will answer this.
14. How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go?
Not much altely, sometimes Subway. Have a dinner thing for my birthday on Saturday.
15. What are your three favorite foods?
Pasta, chicken and the more deadly Double Quarter Pounder.
16. What are your three favorite restaurants?
Shrug.
17. What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food?
Spread it out over the day, eat healthier and perhaps BOOST calories.
18. If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different?
My health, confidence and appearance.
19. Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Not really.
20. Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)?
No, I think I have in the past though?
21. Do you hide your food or eat in secret?
No.
22. Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed?
I have before.
23. Do you eat as a reward?
No.
24. Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer?
I eat dinner in front of the computer.
25. What do you normally eat for a meal?
Salads.
26. What type of snacks do you eat?
Apples and bananas.
27. In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing?
Power walking with pedometer.
28. Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home?
I am going to go to a gym when I go to Uni.
29. What, if anything, are your three favorite types of exercise?
Shrug.
30. What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals?
Imagining a thinner me.
31. Do you have rewards for certain goals?
Not at the moment.
 
Hi Shannon

Do not worry about an occasional beer or an occasional meal at a friend's house. You do deserve a social life - and extra calories can always be earned by exercise.

As far as rissoles are concerned - are they bought ones that your Dad grills or has he actually made them?
- if they are bought - look on the packet, check similar packets or email the manufacturer.
- if he makes them - you will have to look up the calories in the ingredients.

I dont use fitday but I know that a similar question got the following answer from Kimberly who does use fitday:

I feel your pain. I make a lot of stirfries, and I have to log each ingrediant seperately. What I do, is figure out how much of each thing I put in total, and then divide it by however much of it I've eaten. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Also. you can add custom foods. So you could take dishes that you frequently make, log in everything individually, then add up the total calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber, etc and then make it a custom food. Then whenever you make it, you just go back and click on your saved custom food. Of course, if you're only going to fitday for this bonus, it would'nt be worth all that trouble unless you've got a lot of leftover you plan on eating over the week..hah.

I would imagine that they would be ok since they are grilled. Generally grilling cooks things in a healthy way - but frying adds fat.

As far as the pedometer goes - make sure that it is counting steps right.

Walk along (having taken an initial reading) and count say 200 steps. Check that the pedometer has gone up by approx 200.

You may need to set up info like the length of a step - before it can calculate mileage. If so measure 10 steps and use an average for greater accuracy.

I tend to test by measuring the length of a couple of walks in the car. If everything is set up right then the pedometer should calculate the distance to be much the same as the car tripometer.

Also if you walk the same walk the next day it should be much the same distance and much the same number of steps - although these things are never identical.

Check the pedometer instructions to make sure that you are wearing it in the way that it is designed to be worn. Mine clips to the waistband - over my knee. My husbands is designed to be worn clipped to the pocket.

Make sure that clothes do not bundle around it because they can act as shock-absorbers.

Take care
Best wishes
Margaret
 
Hi Margaret,

Before my power walk today I did the step counting thing and it was exact so it seems very reliable. Mine is meant to clip to the pocket and is doing a fantastic job.

With your knowledge (hehe), I'm wondering if you could answer this:

Were my results for 50 minutes okay for someone who has only started? Do I need to work up a faster pace?
 
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