Tara's Diary!

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taraheidi

taraheidi

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Day Zero! Here is where I'm officially "starting" from:

BMI: 44.53 - "Morbidly Obese"
BMR: 1695.69 kcal/day
Body Fat: 58%
Fat Mass: 132 lbs
Lean Mass: 96 lbs
Weight: 228
Waist (narrowest): 43"
Hip (widest): 50"
Neck: 15"

Exercise: None
Diet: Binge

My "success" goals
  • Reach 170 lbs (lose 58 lbs)
  • Make conscious decisions about what I eat
  • Move my body at least 4 days a week
How I plan to reach them
  • Post here daily with food and exercise summaries
  • Try out various methods of physical exercise in my new space
  • Measure the food I eat
 
Hi Tara and welcome to the diaries :) I like your goals! Do you know which kinds of exercise you´ll be trying? And do you plan to measure your food in order to know how much you´d typically have or do you have a specific calorie or macro goal in mind?
 
Hi, Tara & welcome to the forum. I look forward to following your progress & wish you all the best. There is a great support crew here.
 
And here your diary is!

Day zero can be exciting, I hope yours is.

I am not a whole lot ahead of you, my day zero was May 15, and I am very happy with how things have gone so far, I am sure you will be too.
 
Hi Tara, welcome. I've been here for a couple months now and have received great support. I think you will too. My advice is to find a comfortable pace and be kind to yourself along the way.
 
LaMaria said:
Hi Tara and welcome to the diaries :) I like your goals! Do you know which kinds of exercise you´ll be trying? And do you plan to measure your food in order to know how much you´d typically have or do you have a specific calorie or macro goal in mind?
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I want to start with learning to keep track of everything and gradually work my way up to reducing/replacing with healthier options and rebalancing once I know where I'm at! For exercise, I did find an app that has a lot of free videos (FitOn) so I am going to browse that and try anything that doesn't require any equipment, since basically all I have is a yoga mat and my body haha. Thank you for your engaging questions and for welcoming me!!

aiminglow said:
Hello, Tara - I love that you're so clear in your starting points and your goals! I bet you're going to power through this project. :)
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Thank you! I appreciate your encouragement :D I'm hoping I will, it's just getting started that slows me down

Cate said:
Hi, Tara & welcome to the forum. I look forward to following your progress & wish you all the best. There is a great support crew here.
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Thank you Cate! I can't wait to get more involved :)

myleanbaby said:
Welcome, glad to have you on the forum! You mentioned a new space, new home or apartment?
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Thanks for the welcome! I moved into another room in my same apartment, but it is the biggest one and is essentially a studio apartment without a stove. We even got a guinea pig with a big cage to take care of! We might have to be diet buddies, it looks like her previous owners kept feeding her for two once her partner passed :confused: I'm waiting to hear back from the vet to schedule her first appointment.

alligatorob said:
And here your diary is!

Day zero can be exciting, I hope yours is.

I am not a whole lot ahead of you, my day zero was May 15, and I am very happy with how things have gone so far, I am sure you will be too.
Click to expand...
That's great to hear! I'm looking forward to learning about myself for sure, we'll see how the rest goes haha. Congrats on your progress!

bensanon said:
Hi Tara, welcome. I've been here for a couple months now and have received great support. I think you will too. My advice is to find a comfortable pace and be kind to yourself along the way.
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Thank you! It's definitely important to me to be kind, I have a habit of being a bit critical of myself (as many of us do, I'm sure).
 
Monday 7/1/19

I actually ended up being really sick for the first half of the day and then I threw up. I did eat a half-sleeve of saltine crackers and a seltzer water after that and felt better, along with finishing the remaining half of a blueberry nutrigrain bar. I don't think I'll count the bits I attempted to eat before being sick, it was just some orange juice and the first half of previously mentioned bar ;)

After that, I went to Wendy's because my partner Luke and I didn't want to cook and I had just picked up our new guinea pig, who we named Apple. She is three years old (approximately) and we are so excited to give her a good life, however long it may be. She's shy but warms up nicely once she realizes she isn't about to die. At Wendy's I got the BBQ burger with those onion strings, but I stuck with a single patty this time! I often get the double and have learned that it's just..too much meat. I got a junior chocolate frosty, a small coke, and small fries as well and was only a little bit too full afterwards.

At the end of the night I had approximately 20 ounces of orange juice to quench my thirst and take medicine with. I'd like to reduce that because it's really sugary, so I'll try keeping my water bottle on hand and filled.

Food List
  • 1/2 sleeve of saltines
  • 1/2 blueberry nutrigrain bar
  • Wendy's
    • BBQ Burger
    • Small Fries
    • Small Coca-Cola
    • Junior Chocolate Frosty
  • 20 oz orange juice
  • Calorie Total: 1,970 (Started tracking using MyFitnessPal)
Tuesday's Goals
Track everything I eat in MyFitnessPal
Keep water bottle on hand
 
taraheidi said:
...I stuck with a single patty this time! I often get the double...
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The single patty is always better than the double. I used to always order the most patties I could, usually 2, but sometimes 3.

Do you have a diet plan? Tracking your food this way is great, it will help a lot.
 
I like that you're starting by just listing what you eat so you can get a good idea of where to start changing things. Smaller sizes of things you love that aren't healthy sound like an excellent start to me, just like the move from juice to water. I love water but if you don't maybe you can first dilute the juice or alternate between it and water.
 
alligatorob said:
The single patty is always better than the double. I used to always order the most patties I could, usually 2, but sometimes 3.

Do you have a diet plan? Tracking your food this way is great, it will help a lot.
Click to expand...
So far my plan is to start by getting used to being mindful/paying attention to what I'm eating. Once I have that for like a week, I'm going to make a conscious effort to reduce calories and choose healthier options where I feel I can switch things out :) For example, I love fast food but I can make good food at home with a little more effort. It's just a matter of paying attention and using my time wisely so that I can actually prepare the food.

LaMaria said:
I like that you're starting by just listing what you eat so you can get a good idea of where to start changing things. Smaller sizes of things you love that aren't healthy sound like an excellent start to me, just like the move from juice to water. I love water but if you don't maybe you can first dilute the juice or alternate between it and water.
Click to expand...
Thank you! Those are my thoughts as well. I am learning to love water, and using seltzer to help avoid some more sugary forms of hydration as well. It's a process since I didn't really grow up with a good diet at any point, but I'll get there :cool:
 
It is a process & as LaMa said, there's no rush. Every time you make a positive choice, whether it be choosing a smaller portion of something unhealthy or a healthier version of what you would have chosen before give yourself credit for it. It does all add up. I'm on MFP too. I'm CateAussie if you feel like adding me. Don't worry if you don't :)
 
taraheidi said:
So far my plan is to start by getting used to being mindful/paying attention to what I'm eating. Once I have that for like a week, I'm going to make a conscious effort to reduce calories and choose healthier options where I feel I can switch things out :) For example, I love fast food but I can make good food at home with a little more effort. It's just a matter of paying attention and using my time wisely so that I can actually prepare the food.
Click to expand...

I like your plan!
 
Cate said:
It is a process & as LaMa said, there's no rush. Every time you make a positive choice, whether it be choosing a smaller portion of something unhealthy or a healthier version of what you would have chosen before give yourself credit for it. It does all add up. I'm on MFP too. I'm CateAussie if you feel like adding me. Don't worry if you don't :)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the encouragement ❤️ I don't really want to use the social part of MFP but I do appreciate it!
 
Tuesday 7/2/19

I had an okay early part of the day and was very productive with my time. We even had a plan for dinner, but that fell through because of a shared kitchen. We ended up going to Red Robin because I had a birthday month coupon so I felt a little bad about that, but overall I still accomplished my goal of keeping track. Typically when I have tried to track my food more recently, if I went out for a high calorie meal like this I'd just not record it with the mentality of "whatever the total is, I know I blew it." This time I still put it in because it helps to know where I'm at and how the food I choose affects my overall outcome.

Afterwards, we went grocery shopping and I picked out some healthier snacks than usual! I have a habit of eating a LOT of Cheetos, for example. This time I got raisins, peanuts, and pita chips. I don't actually know if pita chips are better, but I will eat less of them so it's a win either way. I also got a couple of pre-packaged salads to give me a very convenient and healthy meal. This sort of day is the type that I want to become more of an exception than a norm, so I want to come up with a good backup meal plan when we aren't cooking a healthier meal. For now we have chicken nuggets that we can microwave, but maybe I can look up other microwave-based meals that are healthier. Another win is that I drank water all day!

Aside from food, I also made my guinea pig an Instagram (@applecavy), did laundry (3 flights of stairs away), and unpacked some of our things. I made an official contract template for my business as well. I realized I was being a little too trusting of my clients.

Food List
  • Tuna, made with mayo and mustard
  • 2 slices of American cheese
  • One "medium" apple
  • Cheese cracker pack
  • Blueberry Nutrigrain bar
  • Red Robin
    • Southern Charm Burger
    • Garlic Fries
    • Dr Pepper (x2)
  • Calorie Total: 2,908 (oof)
Tuesday's Goals
✓ Track everything I eat in MyFitnessPal
✓ Keep water bottle on hand

Wednesday's Goals
Track all of my food
Make dinner at home
 
taraheidi said:
overall I still accomplished my goal of keeping track. Typically when I have tried to track my food more recently, if I went out for a high calorie meal like this I'd just not record it with the mentality of "whatever the total is, I know I blew it." This time I still put it in because it helps to know where I'm at and how the food I choose affects my overall outcome.
Click to expand...
You made your goals and as a result are becoming more aware of what you are eating. That's a pretty good start.

Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but I ate guinea pig once, it was in Ecuador where guinea pigs are a regular part of many rural folks diets. They call it cuy. You can't find cuy easily, they don't seem to serve it in most restaurants a tourist would visit. We had to get a taxi driver to take us to a fairly remote place. I won't give you the whole story, but I thought it was awful. I was only able to eat a few bites, the taxi driver asked if he could have the leftovers and took them home to his wife on the way back to town. She was delighted. That was my last day before coming home, I had awful intestinal problems for a couple of months afterwards, it had to have been either the cuy or the chicha I drank with it. Chicha (aka yamor) is a low alcohol fermented corn beverage, you don't want to know how its made. Anyway my conclusion is guinea pigs make better pets than dinner.
 
alligatorob said:
Maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but I ate guinea pig once, it was in Ecuador where guinea pigs are a regular part of many rural folks diets.
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That's a wild story! Don't worry I'm not super squeamish. I know other cultures eat a lot of stuff I personally really don't want to eat. I'm glad you got to try haha, I'm just glad I have my pet guinea pig now ;) I'm hoping to get to travel to interesting places someday but I think I need to get my money to be consistent first
 
Hi there, Tara! I'm enjoying your diary! :) Things look like they're going really well for you. A shared kitchen can make keeping on track difficult, so best wishes for you negotiating good outcomes there.
Good for you pulling back a bit (or a lot!) from the Cheetos, be a bit wary of the peanuts and raisins - they're all good and healthy, but pretty calorific, too - great for keeping hungry hikers energized!
And as for "being a little too trusting of my clients" - oh dear! human beings! They're lovely, but you can't trust 'em much further than you can throw 'em!
 
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