Repeat offender

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Stan2

Stan2

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Hello, my name is Stan and I'm a repeat offender.

I've been here several times before and always had some success before falling headfirst off the diet and exercise plans and right back to where I started.

Since last time I've ditched some serious negative baggage and got on with my life. Now it's time to try and ditch this excess weight. There's no serious plan; just a realistic calorie reduction and exercise increase combo, simple as. There are NO weigh-ins, they kill me. This is all being measured on look and feel.

Started around two months ago by eliminating the nasties; snacks like chocolate, crisps and cake were kicked to mealtimes only. After I'd weaned myself off snacking I started to cut the bad stuff out of meals too. More recently I started watching the calories, which I acknowledge is difficult to guestimate when I'm not weighing myself!

Exercise has been just a conscious effort to walk more and also to put in a short jog or two instead of walking when I'm down at the sports field fetching the kids' balls back. I'm also lifting my dumbbells regularly; nothing overly strenuous, just a little workout to get the heartbeat up.

It may not be a perfect regime, but I'm happy with it at the moment. If I've learned anything from my previous efforts it's that you have to be happy with your plan of action!

Looking through there's a few names here that I recognise, but an awful lot of new ones. I hope you're all doing well. I'll post my answers to the list of questions on Mal's forum sticky - purely because she was the forum queen when I first signed up way back when, and she's still queen now ;)
 
  1. What is your current height and weight? 5' 11'' ish and around 325 lbs
  2. If you were at an ideal weight now, what would that weight be? Around 230 lbs I guess
  3. At what weight would you like to be at four months from now? Unsure - but less! There is no target
  4. Why do you want to lose weight? To look better
  5. Do you want to lose weight for a specific life event such as wedding or reunion? If so, when is that event? No
  6. What obstacles could get between you and your weight loss goals? Mood. Feeling down. Apathy. Failure. Stress.
  7. Why do you think that you now have a weight problem? Comfort eating and possibly addiction to food or eating
  8. What lifestyle changes do you think would help you lose weight? Eat less, move more
  9. Have you lost weight in the past? If so, what has worked in the past to help you lose weight? Most approaches have worked short term
  10. Why do you believe that you did not lose weight or you gained the weight back? See thread title lol just gave up
  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? No, but I do log it now on an app, so yes. lol
  13. Do you cook at home often? If so, what do you cook? Nothing fancy. Eggs, pasta etc. If you came for tea you wouldn't rush back
  14. How often do you go out to eat? Where do you go? Out? The bins go out more than me and we're on fortnightly collections
  15. What are your three favorite foods? Pizza, chinese and indian
  16. What are your three favorite restaurants? indian, chinese and all you can eat fusion buffet (chinese and indian lol)
  17. What are three things you can do differently when it comes to food? Eat less, eat smarter, eat slower
  18. If you woke up tomorrow and your body was exactly the way you want it, what would be different? Thinner and toned
  19. Do you eat when you are not hungry? I did but I've cut this out at the moment
  20. Do you binge eat (large amounts at a time)? See Q19
  21. Do you hide your food or eat in secret? See Q19
  22. Do you eat when you are sad, nervous, or depressed? Yes, yes and yes. This is my battle.
  23. Do you eat as a reward? No
  24. Do you eat while watching TV or using the computer? Not really
  25. What do you normally eat for a meal? Don't know if I have an answer for this, I mix it up loads
  26. What type of snacks do you eat? Previously, junk food. More recently, I don't
  27. In terms of exercise, what, if anything, are you currently doing? Walking and lift dumbbells - see opening post
  28. Where do you go for exercise? A local public gym? School/work gym? Home? Home
  29. What, if anything, are your three favorite types of exercise? I like walking. Sorry, I really can't drag this out to three answers lol
  30. What is your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly motivation to move towards your goals? I dont think I have those, but if there's anything motivating me, well, I asked a really nice lady out on a date. She said yes and was genuinely keen. Then a few days later, before our date had happened, she told me that she'd had second thoughts, I was a lovely guy but that she'd made a mistake and we should stay friends. I've been turned down before and I've been on dates and got the push, I can cope with that. I know she didn't mean too, but what she did really crushed me. I'm positive it wasn't directly linked to my weight as she has a lot of other stuff going on in her life at the moment, but I'm sure if I'd been in tip-top physical shape that wouldn't have happened. This is my motivation.
  31. Do you have rewards for certain goals? No
 
Welcome back, Stan. It sounds like you are motivated & determined to make positive changes.
 
Thanks for the welcome folks. Always good to see another UKer Sunflower; it means we can commiserate about the weather together haha!

Not 100% sure how I'll run this diary, but I think a calories/exercise summary and any anecdotes from the week will be best. Might keep me sane and consistently trying at least. So...

Been working hard today, so not much exercise done but will do my weights later. Calories came in under target though.

Short funny; a couple of my friends tried my coat on at the weekend and I must say it fitted them quite nicely. Unfortunately they were both wearing it at the same time. Reason #425 why I should lose some weight lol.
 
Well done on staying under your calorie target Stan :)
Keep that coat when it becomes way too big for you. I have saved an outfit that is about 4 sizes larger than I am now. I know I'll never be that big again, but it doesn't hurt to have it tucked away as a reminder. One day I'll try it on again!
Typing in your diary regularly is good therapy & helps you to keep on track.
 
Thanks Cate :)

Banana for breakfast = 100ish calories
Slimming world pasta for lunch = 250ish calories
Even if I stuff my face for tea I can't get near my calorie target. How exactly did I get so fat? **sigh** so many bad choices over the years. Does anyone have a time machine I can borrow? lol
 
Just posting this on my first page for my own use... it's my old diary. Had some real fun on there, it's got some great memories :beating::beating::beating: might need to check back there from time to time to pick myself up
 
If I had a time machine......I don't know what I would do differently.......
I don't think I knew you from when you were around back in 2006/2007 Stan. My diary was elsewhere & I moved it here. It's a great place to be. Cheers, Cate.
 
thanks both. should i ever invent a time machine i'll let you know... err, or maybe i will have let you know. oh this is confusing now o_O

anyway, enough of the flux capacitor conundrums. i've been playing with the myfitnesspal app on my phone and set it to 1920 cals per day. i think that's reasonable for my estimated weight and with the bits of exercise i do manage i should be on a steady downward slope.

i'm only going to list what the app says i have left/gone over re calories; today is 212 in the green plus i did an hour of completely unnecessary walking around earlier at the kid's football session. could've got away with standing still and pretending to observe the team but i kept on the move the whole time (while doing my pretending lol).

i'm toying with the idea of seeing if a friend wants to play badminton once a week. I'm led to believe it's really good exercise, i'm just not sure about forking out for the court hire - it's really expensive! i'm also shocking at racquet sports :rotflmao:
 
Badminton sounds like a lot of fun to do though. I think if you're interested, you should give it a shot. The worst that can happen is you say, "No, this isn't for me and it's not worth the money." And then you quit doing it.
 
Thanks Cory, I've just asked a friend if they're up for it and they are so I just need to sort a time (hopefully regular) that we can both make. I'm looking forward to it now, I suppose it helps when there's someone supportive there with you lol.

Listened to this in the car today, it even got a few replays. I know the lyrics are definitely not about my diet lol, it's clearly about much more serious problems in the world, but the chorus did chime with me.


That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

Not sure if its other people or my subconscious I'm arguing against here. But just because I've been overweight for years and diets have failed and I'm still overweight now, it doesn't mean that's the way it is. Dear other people, dear subconscious; I don't believe you! This can change :)
 
:iagree: whole-heartedly. That is certainly not the way it has to be. We can change the way we look at food, what we do, how we react in certain situations......
You can do this Stan. I'm sure you can :)
 
Thanks for the support Cate :beerchug:

Just a quick end of day log: 6 calories in the red which is good, I've been well under the count all week so a couple of 'just over' days are in order. Had a couple of goes with the weights today too, nothing too strenuous just enough to get the blood pumping a bit.

Tomorrow I've got a short walk planned for the morning then lots of uni work that I really ought to have finished by now lol

Nite all. Or morning, or evening etc, depending on where you are in the world :p
 
Stan, I agree with you about not always being this way and the high rate of failure people have trying to lose weight. There are a lot of factors that play into it. I'll be honest, this is probably my 9th attempt at losing weight. I see the other 8 as practice runs. I didn't know what I was doing when I first started. Now I'm at the point where I'm almost 55 lbs down and I feel pretty confident in my ability to succeed.
 
Another day, another entry...

41 calories in the green today (1879 overall according to the app). Exercise was a brisk walk for a couple of miles this morning followed by a bit of lifting before sitting down to do some work - not that I seem to have done much of that lol!

I am trying to get some support onto some of the other diaries, there's quite a bit of reading to be done on many of them to get up to speed tho haha. I will get there soon though, I promise.
 
Hi Stan. I've been here a few times too but never really stayed long enough to get to know people! And yes here I back again too. Your plan reminds me a lot of my own. I also found it effective to first do away with the chocolate/cakes/sweets etc and then focus on meals. Good for you for making the start! We can do this.
 
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