if at first you don't succeed...

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One_More_Time

One_More_Time

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Hi! My name is Jane and i am brand new to this site. I am a female of 51. I started dieting a week ago and i weighed 224.2 -- ugh, i know! I weigh-in for the first time tomorrow morning -- wish me luck! This first week has seen much hunger and two moments of despair. One i gave into and scarfed down a bowl of buttery popcorn. The other i resisted successfully and didn't i feel good after!!! I know a week doesn't sound like very long but i am real proud of myself for making it this far. It's been tough -- i returned all my naughty food (chips, cheesies, chocolate) to the grocery store and stocked up on fruit and veggies instead. I'm hungry several times a day and rarely make it to scheduled meal times.

I'm only 5'3". I have a big, fat belly. I look pregnant! It sucks! I feel so ashamed of myself!!! I want to lose 55 pounds and get down to 170. My doctor has advised that that is a worthy goal for me. (It still sounds like a lot to me, so if i ever get there, i will re-evaluate to see if i want to go lower.) I want to lose about a pound a week so it'll take about a year. By St. Patrick's Day next year is my deadline. I was thin and pretty when i was young, up until i was 30 when it all fell apart and now i have rolls!!!

I've always followed my own diet, aimed at reducing overall calories, eating a well-balanced diet according to the Canada Food Guide. This diet i am using 1500 cals as my daily limit. I've used 1200 before but it's pretty punishing so i upped it this go-round. I use the food diary app at MyFitnessPal.

I'm a serial dieter and went on six diets last year. Three lasted just a few days, two lasted two weeks and one lasted three weeks. In my most successful diet, i dieted for a whole year during 2007/8 and lost 65 pounds! Boy, did i feel proud of myself at the end! But the weight has crept back on so it's time for action again.

I struggle with exercise. I've read that weight loss is 80% eating and only 20% food so i admit i am not trying too hard. Walking on the treadmill and strolling with my sweet little dog is about all i can manage.

I also had a big Coke Zero habit -- five+ cans a day. It's calorie-free of course, but causes me stomach problems. For the past week i've kept it to two a day -- my guts can handle that and i don't feel too deprived. I've been swilling water and find to my great surprise that i like it! Oh what a relief! The tap water in my city is good so it's free too and it doesn't create any waste like my pop cans do.

If i woke up tomorrow and was at my goal weight, what would be different? I could move around with ease and be active with my dog, i could shop in regular-size clothing stores, i could get off blood-pressure meds, i could be proud of myself and maybe i could get a man to look at me!!!
 
Good luck on your weight loss! Swapping out unhealthy snacks for fruit & veggies is already a massive step forward! If I have stuff like chocolate around the house, I will eat it no doubt. But lately I've been eating a lot of baby carrots because they're sweet, yet filling and healthy! c: When you need motivation we will always be here to cheer you on!
 
Hi, Jane & welcome to the forum. Aiming for 1500 cals a day & losing at the rate of 1 lb a week is being very sensible. You should not feel deprived & it should be sustainable. I thought that you sounded very much like me when I started back here in 2007. Wanting to fit into "normal" clothes, wanting to be healthy & proud of myself & to be active are attainable & it really does not matter what age you are. You can do this hon :)
 
Thanks for the support Syd and Cate!

I only lost one pound this week and i am disappointed. I endured such hunger this week i had hoped for three pounds or more. When i've dieted in the past i always had a big multi-pound loss the first week. Sigh! One reason might be that i drank lots of water this week. In past diets i haven't so probably part of the big numbers then was water weight loss. At least this time i know it was flesh.

Also, i've been gaining weight for several months so i have to factor in that i not only stopped that trend, i reversed it, so i should count the weight i didn't gain as a victory too. And there were a lot of non-weight-loss related achievements this week like limiting my pop and replacing chips and cheesies with raw veggies.

I wonder if it's my age, too. I'm ten years older than when i did my big diet... I think it's harder to lose weight as you age.

Anyways, a pound is a pound and it was my goal to lose a pound a week so i've met my quota. Hopefully the first week will have been the hardest in terms of having to tolerate hunger and i won't have to fight with myself so much going forward.
 
There are lots of things to rejoice about Jane. As you say, that 1 lb loss is a reversal of the trend of the last few months, you have made positive changes to your diet & you are still here. Drinking more water & limiting pop will really help you in the long-term. It's not only harder to lose weight as you get older, but the habits are more ingrained. There are many in the forum who are over 50, myself included. Not giving up is the key. I'll always have to really watch what I eat, but that's OK. It's just how it is :)
 
Jane welcome...
I have the same crazy appetite...
I found eating more protein helps keep me from being hungry. I don't know why it works but somehow it does...
Try upping your protein for a few days just to see if it helps with the hunger....
 
Duration: One Week + Two Days

Loss: One Pound

Calories Today: 1350

I upped my protein today, as Rebel Lee suggested. I drank some whey protein powder i had left over from a previous diet. I was reluctant to do it because (as i remembered it) it tasted yucky and gave me stomach aches. But it's 110 cals for 25 grams of protein so it's a superb source and the only way to up my protein as i am not a big meat eater and am slightly lactose intolerant so milk is not an option and most of the vegetarian options don't appeal to me.

So i took a leap of faith and had some... And i found it tasted good! It's dark chocolate flavor and i haven't had chocolate in nine days, so i even enjoyed the subtle taste! I find everything tastes so much better when i'm dieting. And it didn't give me a stomach ache! That's over a week without a stomach aches and that's stellar for me as i was having them frequently. One was so intense it lasted 12 hours and sent me to the ER. My bowels are better by an order of magnitude too -- enough said about that!

Today was also the first day i made my protein number in my calorie counting app. I even exceeded it by a few grams! WOOHOO!!! I didn't find i was dramatically less hungry, maybe just slightly less so that's a bit of a disappointment but maybe it will take a few days.

I've been cleaning my teeth after dinner (brushing, flossing, rinsing with mouthwash and putting in my bite-block -- like a retainer but to prevent teeth-grinding) and this helps me abstain after dinner, the whole evening long. I've had such problems with eating in the evening, it's really a welcome change. Eating a decent dinner helps, of course. Today i used proper dishes for my dinner and washed and dried and put them away. I have a real problem doing dishes and usually use disposable. Most of the violence i grew up with was in the kitchen.

I've decided to dispense with the raw veggies i have been having for afternoon snack tho. They taste awful and i like myself to much to force that on me. I threw out about $10 of veggies -- they're gross! And expensive. I'll have a piece of fruit instead.

I've been reading Matt's diary and am simultaneously thrilled and dismayed. He lost weight so fast! Sigh!
 
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I made a boo-boo in my above post. I wrote "...i like myself to much..." when it should be "...like myself too much...". Sorry! It wouldn't let me edit the post -- said it contained spam.
 
Even tho the increased protein didn't help tame my hunger i still feel better knowing i am not strip-mining my muscle tissue.
 
Here's a link to my calorie counting app for the day. Please let me know if it doesn't work. It works on my computer but i'm not sure if others can get past the password protection.
 
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Hey Jane glad to see you're taking your health seriously! Although I definitely can't relate to you completely, I know that taking things extremely slow and trying to form habits has helped me immensely with developing a body I've been proud of. So don't feel bad if you aren't immediately seeing the results you want. Breaking old habits can be really difficult.

If you feel like your current diet and calorie number isn't sustainable, simply eating higher quality foods and not worrying about the calorie number itself is a great place to start. The Keto diet and variations of it have helped me personally since it isn't overwhelming trying to track everything you eat and simply avoiding certain food groups.

Like I said, I haven't been in your position but I have been on fat loss diets and noticed that being too strict with calorie counting can lead to binging and some vicious cycles. If you're trying to stop drinking soda all together, consider working in a substitute such as La Croix to replace anything that's not water. They taste decent and the fizzy feeling is very refreshing.

Best of luck!
 
Today was day ten and my hunger was easier to tolerate. I was just hungry in the morning. I made it to scheduled meal times. I had my quota of two Coke Zeros and it's just not the same without food to go with it. Actually, it seems kind of pointless. I'm so used to eating pop + chips or pop + cheesies or pop + pizza that it doesn't have the same allure all on it's own. I have 4.5 cases of the stuff tho. Sigh!

I thought it was interesting in Matt's journal to see what he ate so i thought i'd give it a whirl:

breakfast: yogurt, raspberries, oatmeal
snack: protein drink
lunch: Thai peanut chicken, savory green peas
snack: orange
dinner: beer batter fish, wild rice, savory mixed veggies
misc: 2 Coke Zeros, 2 liters of water
exercise: 15 minutes of walking

total: 1400 cals
 
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Hi Jane. Welcome to the forum. Your food today sounds great. One day at a time and all that. I agree with Kramer above - slow but steady wins the race! When you really think about it, a year is not a very long time, and you are going to start feeling better and better every week as you change your lifestyle to one that is more beneficial in the long run.

And no, it's not always going to be easy, but I think you've really had an excellent start, and I think you'll really get into it! I'm rooting for you. :D
 
Thanks for the support EmilyRose! Nice to know you're in my corner!

It's Day Eleven off coffee. I only like it mixed up super rich and it upsets my stomach so good riddance! It's my first day off Coke Zero. I didn't miss it at all. I was hungry twice today. Once i gave in and had a clementine, but only 30 cals, so no biggie. I decided to bump my calories down to 1200. I've been feeling too full after dinner and going to bed feeling like i'm still digesting even tho it's been five hours by then. Also, 1200 was the limit i used ten years ago when i lost 65 pounds and i shouldn't be eating more now as i'm older and my metabolism is slower and my muscle mass is less and i am far less active. I changed my macros too: bumped protein up to 30%, reduced carbs to 40% and left fat at 30%. In reading diaries i see that people are way more into exercise than i am and i hereby commit to getting in the pool tomorrow! It's about all this fragile bod can handle!

breakfast: yogurt, raspberries
snack: protein drink
lunch: cheese ravioli, peas
snacks: protein drink, clementine
dinner: Chicken Kiev, cherry tomatoes
misc: 2L water

total: 1195 cals

Hugs to all!

Aces,

Jane.
 
One_More_Time said:
Thanks for the support EmilyRose! Nice to know you're in my corner!

It's Day Eleven off coffee. I only like it mixed up super rich and it upsets my stomach so good riddance! It's my first day off Coke Zero. I didn't miss it at all. I was hungry twice today. Once i gave in and had a clementine, but only 30 cals, so no biggie. I decided to bump my calories down to 1200. I've been feeling too full after dinner and going to bed feeling like i'm still digesting even tho it's been five hours by then. Also, 1200 was the limit i used ten years ago when i lost 65 pounds and i shouldn't be eating more now as i'm older and my metabolism is slower and my muscle mass is less and i am far less active. I changed my macros too: bumped protein up to 30%, reduced carbs to 40% and left fat at 30%. In reading diaries i see that people are way more into exercise than i am and i hereby commit to getting in the pool tomorrow! It's about all this fragile bod can handle!

breakfast: yogurt, raspberries
snack: protein drink
lunch: cheese ravioli, peas
snacks: protein drink, clementine
dinner: Chicken Kiev, cherry tomatoes
misc: 2L water

total: 1195 cals

Hugs to all!

Aces,

Jane.
Click to expand...
Sometimes you have to fine tune things a bit. What works for one doesn't work for everyone. It took me awhile before i wasn't starving..it'll all balance out..

No coffee wow..not even going to attempt it.
 
I adore the pool! Great start to exercise and very easy on the limbs. I can't wait till the university pool opens to the public in June and I can start going there again. (Any gym with a pool where I live is crazy expensive. The ones I know have a yearly fee around what I pay now but then you have to pay a couple of euro extra for any classes. Fuck that. I might look into it again though, I miss swimming.)
 
Hi, Jane. I see you like having yoghurt & fruit for breakfast too. Try adding some almond meal to it, for extra protein. 2 teaspoons is about 60 calories. The pool is great for supporting your body, while you exercise. I used to love going to water aerobics, but when the classes were stopped I hired the pool on my own for an hour a week & just danced in the water. It was wonderful. Doing exercise that you love is a win/win :)
 
Today is Day 12 and it was the first time i had a trickle of doubt about whether my diet is sustainable or not. As Rebel Lee commented, i think it is time for some fine-tuning. Thanks for the support Emily and Cate. Yes, i do like yogurt, Cate, but not as much as Matt does! I actually didn't make it to the pool today. I was surprised to feel strong and energetic when i took my dog to the park this morning so after i took her on a big long adventure walk -- well 30 minutes which is long for me! It doesn't compare to Matt tho! I feel slightly sore already! The pool would be ideal but i find it kind of overwhelming. Walking is the path of least resistance (sic!) and my dog gets to enjoy it too!

I didn't have the dinner i had planned but i brought it in under-budget nonetheless.

breakfast: yogurt, raspberries
snack: protein drink, small orange
lunch: Thai peanut chicken, savory peas
snack: protein drink
dinner: apple, cheese stick, savory crushed tomatoes
misc: 2L water

total: 1139
 
I don't think anyone I know enjoys yoghurt as much as Matt does. The funny thing is I think I may have suggested it to him way back :)
Try not to compare what you do with others. We do what we can. What you eat is most important & exercise can be what you want & can. I'm enjoying reading your diary. Cheers, Cate.
 
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