Healthy and Fit

So, uh... what happened with this? Any interest from anyone else?

I need motivation!!! I have gained weight since being here and not to get myself back into shape!

I am still on a weight loss plan!  This thread has been quiet so I didn't post in it.

But, I'm doing WW and working out 4-5 times a week, and actually weighing in at meetings instead of at home.  I find I allow myself to slide when it's just me at home!

I've just been tracking my calories on Spark People and have lost 10 pounds this month. I haven't started an exercise plan yet, as I tend to want to eat more when I exercise.

I've tried several things and I just suck at it...  I need motivation... 

Wow great job Jewlz!  Are you still doing low carb?  How many calories per day are you allowing yourself?

Yeah, I'll have a few days where I'm really good, managing what I'm eating, portion sizes, the whole bit.  Then I'll have two days like this week, where I am quite literally starving, wanting to eat everything in sight and it's still not enough. 

Also, my job really doesn't help.  I end up doing so much stress eating and someone is always putting chocolate or crisps in front of my face there (always someone's birthday/leaving do/etc - or just, here have some of this!), and I'm so weak.    Since I moved to the UK, I lost the most weight during the periods that I wasn't working.

Wow great job Jewlz!  Are you still doing low carb?  How many calories per day are you allowing yourself?

Thanks! I'm finding it really easy, actually. Spark People gives you a calorie range, along with target goals for protein, carbs and fat and you just log in your foods and make them fit in there. Mine is 1200-1550 calories per day, and I'm finding that I have been sticking with around 1300 or 1350 most days, which is plenty. I'm never hungry, surprisingly. I'm supposed to get between 32 - 65 grams of fat per day, too, and at least 180 grams of carbs per day, I think, so it isn't low fat or low carb at all. I can eat what I want, really. I don't skip any meals and I drink a lot of water. If I have any snacks, I make sure its fruit, though I like popcorn on movie nights. I often have a little treat size Cadburys and a cup of tea at night, I just make sure my little treat is less than 100 calories (or at least fits into my calories for the day if I decide to go all out). Probably one or two days a week (usually on the weekend) I try to keep my calorie range closer to around 1200 so I can drink a few glasses of wine without going over the budget, but if I go over a bit once a week, I don't consider that a big deal. I went out last Sunday afternoon and had a pint of Guinness and a big Sunday dinner and still lost 1.5 pounds last week, I was really surprised. But I did do a bit of extra exercise since we took a long walk one day and went for a bike ride the next day, so I guess that helped. I don't really get much exercise at all, to be honest. I do plan to start doing a bit more exercise gradually as I lose a few more pounds.

A typical breakfast for me is a cinnamon raisin bagel with 2 Tbsp light cream cheese, or a bowl of some sort of healthy cereal with skimmed milk and berries, or whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter and fruit or yoghurt. Lunch is usually a turkey sandwich on wheat with some pretzels or fruit, though my favourite is a tuna and cucumber wrap with light mayo. Sometimes I have cous cous or pasta salad. Dinner is always something different. There are lots of recipes posted on Spark People, and you can use their recipe calculator to put in your own recipes and see how many calories are in them, and I use that every day since I cook at home a lot. It took some time to use the site at first, but now I really only spend about 10 minutes per day on their logging things in. I do find that planning my meals in advance works well for me, so after I shop on the weekends, I sometimes sit down for half an hour and just log in foods I bought that I haven't logged in before and type in the recipes I'm planning for that week. I try to have the next day already planned out, for the most part, so I know what I'm having and don't have the urge to stray, plus I might not have time to log things in that day, so it's good just to pop on and see what my menu is and stick with that. For dinner, I usually just try to keep it around 600 calories or so. I have things like prawns sauteed in cilantro-lime butter with rice and salad or chicken tikka on naan with cucumber yoghurt. I try to be creative with my dinner so I don't feel like I'm on a diet and I tend to save a lot of my daily fat grams for the good meal! I am religious about measuring things out, which has helped me the most. I use my measuring cups and spoons and my kitchen scale every single day. It's helped me see what the correct portions are, rather than just eyeballing a Tbsp of butter and accidentally lopping in 3 Tbsp instead. Some people on the site say they measure cereals and pretzels, etc. out into bags or containers on the weekends so they can just grab and go through the week, which is a good tip for busier people. Also, you can switch on the menu planner on Spark People and it will actually give you a menu for the day and some people just follow that. I like to choose for myself, so I never use it, but it can give you some good ideas.

Anyway, sorry to just ramble on. I just really, really like Spark People and I've never found anything that works better for me than this. I lost 15 pounds using the site last year, but gained it all back over the winter because I lost the motivation to keep it up. I tried low carb for a week but I couldn't manage on that - I was too grumpy. So I went back to this and I've been steadily losing weight again. Yay!

Thanks for the info Jewlz!   I find that lunch is the hardest part for me as I always forget to bring something and have to go buy something which is expensive and usually higher in calories than I shoud allow myself.  I have found 1200 calories very hard to stick to because of my bad lunches and I snack during the day    Tuna cucumber wrap sounds delicous though, I may have to try that.   Ramble on - I love the tips!

Thanks for the info Jewlz!   I find that lunch is the hardest part for me as I always forget to bring something and have to go buy something which is expensive and usually higher in calories than I shoud allow myself.  I have found 1200 calories very hard to stick to because of my bad lunches and I snack during the day    Tuna cucumber wrap sounds delicous though, I may have to try that.   Ramble on - I love the tips!

I like that the UK is really good about putting calories on the front of pre-packed sandwiches and salads, so that helps a lot when buying something from the shop. I tend to stick to the ones marked "Healthy Living" or whatever and then buy a fruit pack to go with it when I decide I don't feel like making lunch (it is a lot easier for us because we live just down the street and go home for lunch every day, so I can imagine it would be harder otherwise). If I make something like pasta salad or cous cous then I tend to measure out a few portions and put them into plastic containers so I don't have to bother with it when I get home. Maybe you could pack your lunch the night before (I sometimes have peanut butter and jelly with apple slices or something like that, which would be easy to pack). I recommend eating a bigger breakfast if you find yourself hungry through the day. That is a rule I stick to religiously. I try to eat at least 300 calories for breakfast. If you find you are hungry through the day, then take some fruit with you, or a few cups of popcorn or a handful of pretzels or something you can munch at your desk. You don't really have to stick with 1200 calories. I only do that once or twice a week to leave room for alcohol.  When I first started tracking the calories, I stuck closely to the top of my range (1550 calories per day) and once my stomach started shrinking and getting used to the smaller portions, I was able to gradually go down to 1300 calories per day or so without feeling hungry. It seems to only take a few days to make the adjustment.

Oh, and if you go out for lunch, to say Costa or somewhere, you can look on their website and they will have the nutritional info posted for all their sandwiches and drinks. If I know I might eat there (or somewhere else) while I am out shopping, for example, or even at McDonald's, I tend to look at the nutritional info online before I go so I know what the best options are for a lower calorie meal. If you can't do that, or the info isn't posted, then obviously try to steer away from sandwiches and salads with loads of cheese or mayo and go for lighter fillings like roast beef and mustard or chicken and salad and then skip the crisps and get an apple on the side (though I do have a packet of crisps with my sandwich a few times a week - I love how most of them come in small individualised portions here so most packets of crisps are 130 calories or less anyway.) I bet if you just eat a bigger breakfast and concentrate on having a healthier lunch you will lose weight in no time! 

Thanks for the info Jewlz!   I find that lunch is the hardest part for me as I always forget to bring something and have to go buy something which is expensive and usually higher in calories than I shoud allow myself.  I have found 1200 calories very hard to stick to because of my bad lunches and I snack during the day    Tuna cucumber wrap sounds delicous though, I may have to try that.   Ramble on - I love the tips!

1200 calories is really low.  A better option would be increasing that to let's say 1600 and also doing a walk/run/workout/any exercise to burn the extra calories. A couple of things to keep in mind, worked out muscles will continue to burn calories even when you stop and lean muscle cells are smaller in volume that fat cells so diet with exercise is a lot better then cutting down to a really low 1200 calories.   

My biggest problem here is that I am a student again so my budget is really tight.  Of course I know that doesn't mean I can't get my diet back to where it used to be (healthy).  I just need to take a different approach.  Jewlz thanks for letting us know about Spark, those websites have always been invaluable for me in the past.

1200 calories is really low.  A better option would be increasing that to let's say 1600 and also doing a walk/run/workout/any exercise to burn the extra calories. A couple of things to keep in mind, worked out muscles will continue to burn calories even when you stop and lean muscle cells are smaller in volume that fat cells so diet with exercise is a lot better then cutting down to a really low 1200 calories.   

Yeah, it is pretty low. I'm a small person without a big amount of weight to lose (5 feet tall, 127 pounds now, down from 137, and would like to be between 115-120 pounds or so) so I assume that's why my calorie range is pretty low. I'm sure people who are taller or have more weight to lose or a more active lifestyle get a bigger calorie range to start with. I don't usually do 1200 calorie days (but like I said, if I know I am having some wine then I try to get closer to 1200 calories in food that day to make a bit of room for a few glasses without going over 1550 calories - it's amazing how many calories are in alcohol!) But now that I have lost the first ten pounds, I plan to add more exercise in and will naturally have to add a bit more food to my daily regimen so I don't starve (I always get hungry when I exercise more frequently.) Then hopefully I will be close to my goal weight and will just have to work to maintain it. That's the part I always have trouble with. I gain it all back when I get lazy for a while, and then I have to do all of this over again to lose it again.  I hope this time I can keep the momentum going so I don't gain the weight back.

Maintaining it was what I lost this last time, I moved too much and left me exercise and health eating lifestyle behind I suppose.  Good luck, hope you kick some ars*.  I am a bit behind you as I just realized that I have gained weight and am starting this week to get back into the diet/exercise again. 

I'm thinking of starting each day with a brisk 30-minute walk. Anyone want to join me in my goal? Maybe we could hold each other accountable.  I'm just thinking that I'd only need to get up at 7am instead of 7:30 and I'm sure the dog would very much appreciate the extra exercise, too!

Oooh, I'll join you Jewlz! I already walk to work, but I think I should add in a 30 minute higher intensity something, and I would love to have someone to keep track with.  I think it would really help. Plus, maybe this way I can convince DH that we need a dog for my health!