Motivation

Bummer...can't work out like usual this morning...have to drop off a car at the shop with my husband and then have committments at my son's schools...

I hate getting off my routine...glad we have an elliptical...going to have to get on it tonight after the boy's hockey.

Goal today is to stick with 1200-1300 calories in case the workout doesn't happen....

Of course I woke up starving...going for the protien bar or the oatmeal...can't decide.

Good morning and have a great day all!

Oh yeah, you were talking about colors of clothes--I found I don't wear anything that isn't a color--a far cry from when I was much heavier, when black and neutrals were the bulk of my colors. Now I wear LOTS of pink!

YAY Dee :)  you go girl :)  i am doing good sticking to my food log for today :) yay :) we will see how it goes tomorrow :)  ...  and i have pinks and purples mostly (besides the black left over.. lol.. and there are a couple that are going to stay black.. cos i like black.. haha)...

Hi, I'm new, and I'm 5'6 ish and (usually) 155. I've been trying to lose and I've been exercising and trying to eat healthy for about a month, and so far I fluctuate in between 153 and 157 :(  I was 145 for the last 5 years and then I gained about 20 pounds but I lost 10 of those over the last 6 months. I'm trying to get to 135-130 by June, which seems like an attainable goal. I exercise (running or biking) 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days a week, and I walk EVERYWHERE. I've been at a plateau for a while now and so I hope that counting calories will help me not cheat, and to know what is really healthy, since a lot of foods are decieving (like we all know McDonalds is bad...but Subway is worse than I thought it was! And Chinese food is a huge no-no for me now)

welcome chrysteas :)  what kind of calorie intake do you have?  and ependiture?? and have you been counting calories the whole month?? if you have been hitting it about right on to what you should be (with the deficit for exercise each day).. have you tried upping your intake just a little bit (a couple hundred calories or so??) or maybe changing up your exercise routine?? try something new??  your body may have adjust to what you do for exercise now..  also are you drinking PLENTY OF WATER?? you should be drinking about 78 oz of water a day.. and that doesnt include what you should be drinking for your exercise..  if i understand right you should be drinking 8 oz of extra water per half hour of exercise... 

good luck in breaking out of the 150's..  we're all there with you :)

~Brigitte~

sorry i just looked at your profile and you just joined cc today :) make sure you are using all the tools they have to offer..  figure out how many calories you should be eating per day :) and what your caloric expenditure is..   

Yes, today I've eaten about 1,200-1300...I had some leftover Thai (curry and rice w/ vegetables) and I don't know how much the curry is so sometimes I'm not exactly sure. I haven't really been counting calories this past month, I've just given up junk food, candy, and I know that I haven't eaten more than I'm supposed to daily. I snack on graham crackers and rice cakes and fruit instead of the junk food that I used to...I live in a apartment building with a Plaid Pantry below me so that really sucks, temptation wise. They say I should get to 137 by June, but I'm hoping to get a bit less than that. I think that one problem I may have is that I drink a LOT of diet coke...but I still drink water, and I hear different things about it and I haven't seen proof that diet coke is bad for you, but I've head about it. I'm going to try and stop drinking it...I drink about 3 cans a day on average, so that's pretty bad. I drink 4-5 cups of water a day, so maybe I should drink more. I bike or run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, or do the elliptical sometimes. That's the only exercise equipment in the mini-gym in my building, and I don't have money for a 24-hour fitness...and thanks, I hope to break it by the end of the month or so, good luck yourself :)

I will never banish my black.  I lived in NYC for 10 years and I swear it's the only color I own besides jeans, white and some occassional tan.  Sad, but true.  My skin is kind of olive, so I look good in black.  I think of black not as fat clothes, but as urban.  Needless to say, I've been living in suburban Connecticut for 10 years so maybe, just maybe I should go buy something pink....maybe.

Scale was kind this morning...157.2...yippee.  Life is good today.

I'm off to Jazzercise...have a great day everyone...

hmmmm I can't wait till I'm comfortable wearing lots of colors again but, poohct I agree with you.  Black will always be one of my fav colors to wear.  The think that sucks for me is that to be in the 150's and 5 ft tall is a-lot different than being in the 150's and 5.5.  I look much heavier than most of you guys but..... I'm getting there. 

How is this possible?  In one week I only lost about 1.5 lbs. but, I lost a whole in of my thighs and hips and 1.5 inches from my waist and 3/4 from my arms.  Is this normal??????  I'm kinda new to the measurment thing so I don't know how this works or what to expect.

So I am in at 152 this morning!  Ahh!!  I was doing so good and had like a week of 148/149....  I did eat some salty mini rice cakes last night (Ok I ate the whole bag) so maybe just maybe that has something to do with it.  BUt for the first time in a long time I drank ALL my water in a day, and even did some extra.  I drank 2.5L - 10 cups(?). 

ltlmsmfft - I never measured myself as often as you did, so I dont know what a normal loss would be for a week.  I only did it every few months (mostly becuase I forgot about doing it!).  But if you are seeing numbers go down, thats always a positive.  You are doing great!!  I agree that being in the 150's looks so different when you are different heights.  I guess I am lucky that I am tall.

I always wear black, but now have branched out into chocolate browns.  When I was bigger I actually wore brighter colors than I do now!  Strange...  When I was on my trip to Mexico last month, I wore this wrap style halter dress that was white, black, turquoise and red - very 'not me' but I loved it!

Todays goals - drink at least 2L of water, do 40 minutes of cardio and some weights/pilates, resist the temptation to snack (even if its on rice cakes, those are still not that great for you!). 

ltlmsmfft-
I have gained 3 lbs, and I have lost an inch from my waist.  Ignore the scale girlfriend!  Trust the inches and the baggy jeans!

waterwaterwater

well i defiently trust the inches i was just kind of suprised by them compared to the wieght loss.  now that i have a fully working scale i'm hoping to see the fat % drop next week.  when i started to diet and exercise it was jan 8th and my scale was still working.  at that point i was at 42% body fat.  then it went haywire and started only reading 67% body fat.  the new scale has me at 37.1% so i've dropped about 5% of my fat in @ 1 month.  I'm happy with that.

well...  no ignoring the scale for me this morning.. it was kind to me today also Pooh :)  155.5 :) whoohooo  (thats saying i lost 1.5 lbs from yesterday morning, lol..  i can only hope it continues the downward trend :) )  going to do everything the same as i did yesterday, except i will be doing taebo instead of ddr this morning :)

ltlmsmfft - i dont know whats normal on measurements either...  but it sounds like you are doing great :)  and yes height def makes a difference... i remember being sooo upset that my friend (who is 5'9") got to the high 160s and looks like i would maybe look if i lost another 20 lbs from now :(  but its all good, we just have to work a little bit harder to get to that look :)

Heather - what was you sodium like from those rice cakes last night??  maybe you are retaining.. also.. when i first started drinking water real well i retained quite a bit until it finally got flushed out of my system, so maybe thats whats going on?

chrysteas - my goal is also 135ish by june according to cc...  but i am also hoping to get there sooner :) i am also hearing you need to watch the sodium in your diet coke... maybe you are gettting tooo much??  and definitely drink more water..

have a wonderful day all :)

~Brigitte~

Well, I'm down to 150 lbs this morning..Ordinarily I would have been celebrating- but considering my yo-yoing weight, I am guessing it will take a few more days at least before I'm out of here.

Maybe I should celebrate anyway (YAY!) - its been hard being stuck at 153- 155 for the past month.

well i found some good news as far as body fat goes....

here are acceptable body fat percentage numbers for women-

essential-  10-12%

athletes-  14-20%

fitness- 21-24%

acceptable- 25-31%

obese- 32% and up

So if I am at 37.1 % right now I only have to get to 31% to be back in the healthy range!!!!!!  My goal is about 24% but right now I have decided to change my main focus to get back in the acceptable ranges for weight and body fat %.  I think that will help me to feel more motivted as I will make it back to those ranges sooner than the ultimate fit-goal.  I've also decided to pick one thing (not related to numbers) each day to focus on because I've gotten kinda down on myself because of numbers this week when I've obviously made progress in the right direction.  So today I am focusing on the bracelet that was skin tight when I bought it and now swirls around on my wrist :)

hmmm just looked at my ticker and realized something it's broken donw into 4 sections so I am almost 1/4 of the way there!!!!  That made me feel pretty good.  Sometimes looking at the whole picture it feels like it's going to take forever to get there so I'm pretty happy!

YAY ltlmsmfft  :)  !!!   feels good doesnt it??

oh great ltlmsmfft...i'm obese....bummer, huh?

No just kidding...you have to look at the big picture...that's what i'm doing...I know i can look better, I have and I will again.  It's a journey though and it isn't going to happen overnight.

lol pooh, that was my first thought..  gee something else to tell me i am obese lol...  but i am working on breaking free of that "title"  :)

Hi everyone, I'm not new to this site but I am new to the forums.
I'm a bit reluctant to post here but I feel I need the motivation because quite frankly, it sucks to be a teenager who needs to lose 20 pounds (all while my metabolism is supposed to be at its highest).
At my worst, two years ago, I was 167 pounds. I went on a diet and got down to 155, then started slowly gaining weight again. This year, I got down to 150 but hit 158 after Christmas and all that fattening holiday food. >_<
Now, I'm 154 and I want to get down to 135. I'm about 5'5 and eating under 1300 calories a day, all very healthy food. However, I'm not much good with exercise and the weight loss is a bit too slow for me.
Anyone have any helpful advice? :)

hi Kyran :) first bit of advice, slow and steady wins the race.. now although this isnt a "race" persay, it will be better on you if you lose it slowly :)  i am the same height and just above you in the weight, and i am eating about 1350 calories a day..  i also exercise about one hour a day...  and i wasnt very good at exercise either, lol..  try walking for about ten minutes a day to start? and slowly increase it til you are up to 30 or so.. :)  also..  since you are a teenager you probably know what dance dance revolution is... i have it on my playstation 2... ddrmax2....  it has a workout mode on it... check into it..  its fun and exercise at the same time..  and it will tell you how many calories you are burning :)

lots of luck :)