Natalie's progress log...new member too!

[noddles15]

So basically I've been steadily gaining weight ever since I can remember. I used to be about 130 when I was in 7th grade, and 2 months ago (I'm now 20 and entering my 4th year of college) I was up in the 160-165 range (I'm 5 foot 3 so this is definitely a problem)!!

So I buckled down by a) actually PAYING to get summer access to our huge student gym and b) working slowly but surely on my diet by cutting out fast food completely, going moderately vegetarian, and cutting down on my one of my favorite foods: cheese.

My current workout regime (5 times a week):

- I run about 3 miles (the gym is about 1.25 miles away so this is perfect for those days where I just run there)
- 10-15 minutes on the ellipticals (or whatever I need to have 45 min total of cardio)
- 150 crunches
- 50 reps on various upper body weight machines, focusing on biceps, triceps, and back muscles

My diet seriously needs work One thing I feel like I have going for me is that I work at a Jamba Juice. Aka I make myself a lot of all fruit smoothies, so at least 5 days a week one of my meals consists of fresh squeezed oj + strawberries blended with ice (screw the menu items with sugar-filled sherbets) and one of their low-fat 100cal snack foods.

Beginning weight (08/05/06): 162ish***
Current weight: 153ish
Goal weight: 130

*** Am I the only one that has a HUGE variance of weight throughout the day? On any given day I might have a 5 to 8 lb range...hell a few days ago at the gym it said I was below 150!!

Any tips, suggestions, or encouragements would be awesome. This is the first time in my life I've actually stuck to going to the gym and lost weight!!!

 

[She47441]

Welcome to the forum and we're here if you need us.

 

[stingo]

Congratulations and welcome to the forum. Look around a bit and you'll find quite a lot of information in the forums. It's not clear from your post how often you're doing your weight training, but I'd suggest doing weights 3x a week and cardio 5x a week.

Out of curiosity, why 150 crunches (assuming it's) per day? Seems like you could train the abs like any other muscle and do less reps.

Dietwise, whole natural foods are the way to go. Having a protein and carbohydrate at every meal helps keep you fuller longer. Having 5 or 6 small meals a day helps keep the metabolism going throughout the day. For this to happen, breakfast is CRITICAL.

Hope these random suggestions help.

 

[noddles15]

Out of curiosity, why 150 crunches (assuming it's) per day? Seems like you could train the abs like any other muscle and do less reps.

1) They're done without any weights, so I figured more is better
2) Abs help with running, right? And I want to get better with that so my endurance goes up and I can run farther each day

 

[~LV~]

1) They're done without any weights, so I figured more is better
2) Abs help with running, right? And I want to get better with that so my endurance goes up and I can run farther each day

Treat your abs just like any other muscle in your body. They need rest to develop so working them 1-2 times a week is more than enough. Training them everyday can lead to overtraining them.

 

[noddles15]

Thanks for the tips so far guys! Today I did a 25 minute run and laid off of the weights since I did them yesterday...

Brunch/Lunch: 1.5 cup serving of casserole (damn my moms yummy food! it has pasta, cheese, broccoli, chick, and cream of mushroom or something)
Snacks: a small handful of almonds and half a peach (I really actually hate peaches)

Ahhh for having the typical wacky student schedule and letting that affect my meals. I've been reading through this forum (just found it today) and have found a LOT of good ideas for eating in a better, healthier, structured manner. I can't wait till I get back home to try it out! (Right now I'm at home visiting the folks for a few days before going back to college for the beginning of fall quarter) But yeah, even though I woke up around 9:30am, I didn't eat till 11ish and then went to go work out at 1pm. Tommorrow I'll start eating breakfast, I promise!

 

[noddles15]

Yeah, I eat way more food than anyone else on these forums :x I'm working on eating less food at each meal + more healthy snacks to stay full

sooo dinner was sushi (3 inari + 5 CA rolls god, can someone tell me the caloric content of sushi?) + a lot of salad (200 cal, mmm ceasar lite fresh express)

snacking: 2 PB crackers (105 cals) + half a grilled cheese sandwich (WAYY too buttery and gross, rawr for being in a public place and being hungry and temptable

edit: I looked up the sushi, so what I ate was ~350 calories, definitely not good but not as detestable as I was worrying...I didn't know inari was twice as bad as ca rolls though! good to know

 

[noddles15]

Rawr. So I haven't been keeping up with this at all since I started out (I realized that actually writing everything down, keeping up with it and logging into the site was a bit frustrated and was making me feel uber guilty) but I felt a need to vent (plus I'm procastinating on studying :x) so I thought I'd make an update.

I've started school recently, so I'm on more of a rigid schedule now. I work out in the mornings Monday-Thursday...still doing usually at least 30 minutes of cardio (most of that running), and doing weights on alternate days. Sunday I work before or after work, depending on the schedule, and Friday and Saturday are my off days.

I guess I have the most trouble with my diet. I can usually eat something fairly healthy for breakfast and lunch (small servings of cereal, fruit/fruit smoothies, maybe some cottage cheese or some salad, sandwiches or healthy rice dishes, maybe some sushi) but I always break at the end of the day to "reward" myself for eating healthy all day. Stuff like fast chinese food or a yummy burrito from a nearby taqueria (I <3 mexican food, moreso I feel since I'm half mexican ). But ahh...

Basically, I feel like I've been working hard lately - working out 5 mornings a week, class from 10am-2pm, and working 22 hours a week, keeping up with studies as a student, trying to manage times with friends...and for the last two weeks I've basically been fluctuating back and forth between about 151.5 pounds and, at best 149.8 lbs...I've basically stopped steadily losing so it seems. (I've been losing roughly a pound a week for the past two months).

Its just really discouraging, on the one hand I feel proud of myself for sticking to working out so much and (trying to) eating healthier...but its not doing any good!

Just had to vent. *sigh* I'm thinking of starting to do evening workouts too at least a few days a week, I just get lazy with the whole idea of showering two times a day...I might have to though. And eating too...but ahh it feels like I'm hungry/craving foods I can't possible eat all the time anyways

*Edit* Thought I'd say what I ate today...

- 1 1/4 cups of rice chex (120 cals)
- 1 apple
- 3/4 cup of cottage cheese I think? I just know it was 1.5 servings (150 cals)
- trail mix granola bar (140 cals)
- coffee + a few oz of soymilk (I felt kind of queasy from this... I think cuz I don't normally really drink coffee)

right now I'm trying to figure out what to eat for a late lunch...something healthy but filling so I don't splurge on dinner.

 

[noddles15]

The weight is still stubbornly staying around the 150 mark...I swear it feels like it part of its psychological, the ominous "150" mark has always felt like the official mark of being "fat" for me, and I went over that mark sometime in my third year of hs or so, and now im in my fourth year of college, and I still can't shake it. Rawr.

Anyways, worked out today and ran 2 miles, I've got down to running one in 9:30, when I started at 11:30, so thats somewhat satisfying I gotta get more endurance and I'm sure I can break 9 minutes fairly easily. Did some crunches, and then it was time to leave to go home and shower for class.

After class I bought a bunch of groceries to help me eat at home and keep track of the calories. Heres what I ate today so far:

Breakfast: Jamba OJ + strawberries (about 200 calories) + Cheddar Twist (250 cals)
Snacks: Rice Chex (120 cals) baby carrots (20) string cheese (80)
Lunch: Chicken Sandwich (315 cals)
Snack: Popcorn (100 cal bag)

Total: 1085 calories so far, prolly gonna have fish + rice + stringbeans for dinner...

 

[noddles15]

Breakfast: Bagel + fatfree cream cheese (250) + apple (44)
Snack1: cereal (110) + string cheese (80) + carrots (20)
Snack2: handul of grapes + a few slices of cucumber + cottage cheese (180)
Lunch: Chicken sandwich (290) + 2 pickles (20)

:x I did a LOT of snacking this morning, but it was pretty healthy, so thats good...I'm at 995 and I'll prolly eat dinner + another string cheese

EDIT:
Dinner: damn eating out/snacking with friends! sushi (375) 2 servings of YUMMY salt and vinegar chips (280) + string cheese (80)

total cals for the day: 1735 (time for bed as soon as I drink a bunch of water and finish this damn paper!)

The scale said 148.8 today!! awesomeness

Did 30 minutes on the ellipticals, some bicep curls and that was all...I've been getting REALLY sore feet from running so much (even when I moved to runnin on concrete to running on the track) so I decided to take it easy today...I might try swimming tommorrow morning.

 

[stingo]

Some additional protein for breakfast might be a good idea - oatmeal, egg whites, or yogurt - maybe a fruit smoothee might be an idea.

 

[sparrow]

Some additional protein for breakfast might be a good idea - oatmeal, egg whites, or yogurt - maybe a fruit smoothee might be an idea.

Exactly what I was going to say, extra protein for snacks as well. Snacks tend to get the best of us and more protein will cut the cravings for snack foods by a lot. Even try protein/fat+fiberous veggie or fruit combo like PB on celery or PB on apple. That works really well for me (but try to get natural PB ) also sip water constantly throughout the day. Good job on the 148!!

 

[noddles15]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I added a few celery stalks with fat free cream cheese in em for breakfast along with my normal bagel so I got more like 10-12gs of protein instead of the normal 4 there.

Gotta work on my paper now! Missed my morning workout due to this damn thing :x But I'ma go running again after work today, my feet are feeling a lot better after taking a few days off + im going to try and buy some insoles at the Big 5 next to my work.