Obesity Discussion Forums

[Alia]

Hi, I just started using these forums, and I figured I'd have a better chance of keeping up with my diet and excercise if you all are here to order me back on track if I start slacking off

Today I ate at 1500 calories total
6:00 milk and fruit (200 cal)
9:00 pb&j sandwich (400 cal)
11:00 egg salad something (200 cal)
2:00 cream of wheat (200 cal)
5:00 grapes, pinapple and other random things (<100 cal)
8:30 rice and legumes (400 cal)

I live with a really great cook, meaning everything they make is healthy. However, it also means that I cannot skip a meal, ever, or they'll feel bad (like tonight, I didn't want to eat dinner, but they already made it so...)

Anyway, I also went on the treadmill for 30 minutes and completed just over 2 miles.

[Chrisydj]

Sounds like you are off to a good start.

[MikeB]

I hate to say this but you have eaten about 80% carbs in your diet. You could eat a ton more food and help maintain your muscle mass by eating much more protein.
Breakfast: 5 egg whites and a whole egg with 2 to 5oz of flank steak and some no fat cheddar cheese or some other high protein (meat or eggs). Along with couple slices of whole wheat toast or 1/2 cup oatmeal
9:00 couple slices of turkey breast and 5 whole wheat crackers with some all natural peanut butter
11:00 can of tuna on some salad - no more than 1tb dressing
2:00 hand full of no-salt almonds and another can of tuna
5:00 chicken breast and a can of green beans
8:30 no fat cottage cheese

[Alia]

Originally Posted by MikeB

I hate to say this but you have eaten about 80% carbs in your diet. You could eat a ton more food and help maintain your muscle mass by eating much more protein.

Oh wow, I never realized that. Thank you so much for pointing it out. I ate a ton of carbs today too (I only saw your post right now).

Any help on how to maintain muscle mass through exercises that can be done at home? I know of the normal ones (push ups, sit ups, etc) but I'm not sure how many to do. Also, some are supposed to be very bad for people who are overweight (as in it hurts their joints or somehting) so I'm not sure what I should be doing at all.


Okay, today I ate 1400 calories total

7:00 rice (200 cal)
9:00 pinapple (<100 cal)
10:00 (suddenly got hungry) more pinapple (<100 cal)
12:00 chickpeas salad (200 cal)
3:00 (forced "lunch") rice and something fried made out of flour (450 cal)
8:00 spicy cream of wheat stuff (300 cal)
9:00 banana (<100 cal)

OMG you're right, I have like nothing but carbs over there!
And when I put it this way I feel like such a cow for eating like a million times a day. But if I eat 3 large meals I'll over stuff myself, so I think I'll just leave it as is.

Anyway, didn't do much exercise today, just 20 minutes playing DDR.

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by Alia

Oh wow, I never realized that. Thank you so much for pointing it out. I ate a ton of carbs today too (I only saw your post right now).

Any help on how to maintain muscle mass through exercises that can be done at home? I know of the normal ones (push ups, sit ups, etc) but I'm not sure how many to do. Also, some are supposed to be very bad for people who are overweight (as in it hurts their joints or somehting) so I'm not sure what I should be doing at all.


Okay, today I ate 1400 calories total

7:00 rice (200 cal)
9:00 pinapple (<100 cal)
10:00 (suddenly got hungry) more pinapple (<100 cal)
12:00 chickpeas salad (200 cal)
3:00 (forced "lunch") rice and something fried made out of flour (450 cal)
8:00 spicy cream of wheat stuff (300 cal)
9:00 banana (<100 cal)

OMG you're right, I have like nothing but carbs over there!
And when I put it this way I feel like such a cow for eating like a million times a day. But if I eat 3 large meals I'll over stuff myself, so I think I'll just leave it as is.

Anyway, didn't do much exercise today, just 20 minutes playing DDR.

The calories are good, but Mike is right, you really should look into adding a lot more protein to your diet, and the carbs you are eating are mostly simple carbs (not complex whole grains or fiberous foods).

Have you considered getting some adjustable dumbbells at home? Dumbbells alone can help you maintain your muscle mass through some weightlifting.

[Alia]

I fell asleep before posting last night. Here's yesterday's stuff.

I ate about 1200 calories yesterday
7:00 carrots (100 cal)
9:00 tuna cooked with a small onion (200 cal)
12:00 orange (<100 cal)
2:00 noodles (300 cal)
8:00 bread (150 cal) with some fancy dish made of potatoes, green onion and egg (350 cal)

I think I ate too little, I wasn't hungry, but I couldn't concentrate on my homework.

I went on the treadmill for 30 minutes and completed 2 miles.

Originally Posted by Obesity Discussion

Have you considered getting some adjustable dumbbells at home? Dumbbells alone can help you maintain your muscle mass through some weightlifting.

Okay, dumbbells acquired. Any details on what to do with them would be appreciated.

[Alia]

Today was not so good. I felt really lousy and couldn't bring myself to exercise at all.

Anyway, I ate about 1200 calories today

8:00 leftovers from last night (that green onion/egg/potato thing) with bread (250 cal)
9:00 oatmeal cookie (100 cal)
2:00 tuna cooked with a small onion (200 cal) with bread (150 cal)
5:00 pinapple (100 cal)
8:00 another fancy dish made mainly out of flour (200 cal)
9:00 noodles (200 cal)

As you can see, my meals are going to become increasingly repetitive soon.

[bigdaddy38]

Originally Posted by Alia

Today was not so good. I felt really lousy and couldn't bring myself to exercise at all.

Anyway, I ate about 1200 calories today

8:00 leftovers from last night (that green onion/egg/potato thing) with bread (250 cal)
9:00 oatmeal cookie (100 cal)
2:00 tuna cooked with a small onion (200 cal) with bread (150 cal)
5:00 pinapple (100 cal)
8:00 another fancy dish made mainly out of flour (200 cal)
9:00 noodles (200 cal)

As you can see, my meals are going to become increasingly repetitive soon.

I notice you eat a lot of pineapples, they are one of the most sugery fruits there are, your better off having an apple, bannana, or I saw you had an orange one day. My cardiologist swears by bannana's.

[Alia]

Originally Posted by bigdaddy38

I notice you eat a lot of pineapples, they are one of the most sugery fruits there are

Oh, that I did not know. Thank you so much for the tip, I was about to gorge on another pinapple.

[Chrisydj]

i like dried pineapple but i dont eat it often because it is so sugary but it helps when i get a sweet craving

[slender tobe]

Hello Alia! Congratulations on your effort. Tell us a little more about you, your current and goal weight. Is 1200 enough for you, especially if you're also working out? The most typical dieting mistake is to start with very little calories and increase them later. You burn muscle, your metabolism drops and gain back the weight (in fat this time). I'm talking from personal experience. Take your time and try to establish permanent healthy eating and exercising habits. That's what I think.

[Alia]

Originally Posted by slender tobe

Hello Alia! Congratulations on your effort. Tell us a little more about you, your current and goal weight. Is 1200 enough for you, especially if you're also working out?

Hi Slender ToBe.

Thank you for the encouragement. I actually introduced myself in the "Introductions" thread, but I suppose this is a better place to do it.

I am 20 years old. I'm studying pre-med, so I know all about being healthy, just never put anything into practice. I've been overweight since I was a child.

At age 8 I was 85 pounds
Age 9: 100 lb
Age 11: 150 lb
Age 13: 190 lb
Age 18: 190 lb
Age 19: 220 lb
Now : 193 lb

I have no idea what happened between ages 9 and 13, I wasn't even aware of gaining weight. After that I tried a bunch of different diets, but I wasn't really serious about them, nothing lasted longer than two weeks. Only after the next jump last summer (when I went up to 220) I realized if I don't cut down I'll probably never stop expanding.

So I went on a major diet and exercised heavily from September 2007 until January 2008. I made it down to 179.5 lb (a good 40 pounds!) but then I hit my first plateau. For several weeks nothing happened and I slowly gave up the exercise, then started eating more as well.

Again, I didn't notice what was happening until I hit 190 a month ago and then I saw 199.5 a couple weeks later. And I got freaked out enough to try once more

And that brought me here.

So, to answer your original question, yes, I think 1200 calories is enough for me. I don't plan on ever increasing that number anyway (or at least, not by much).
Currently, I'm not doing any heavy exercise. I do a bit of cardio every other day and I have begun doing a workout video from youtube.

I am logging in my daily calorie intake and exercise so that you all can point out to me what I am doing wrong and help me change bad habits into good ones (like not eating any protein!) and changing good habits into better ones (like substituting pineapple for apples).

I cannot thank all of you enough for supporting me and helping me to lose weight, for what I hope will be the last time.

[Alia]

Yesterday was okay, about 1300 total.

Breakfast: tuna with 2/3 cup mixed vegetables with bread (300 cal)
Lunch: small steak and rice (300 cal)
Snack: Large banana (100 cal)
Dinner: same as lunch (250 cal)
Desert: something oily filled with sugar (200 cal)
Random things throughout the day (like a couple chunks of pinapple and a teaspoon of peanut butter, and a few slices of a pear) (150 cal)


I ate dinner because I was hungry at 6:00pm, but everyone else ate at 8:30pm. They tried to get me to get me to eat with them but instead I came on here and wrote out my autobiography until they were done (And now you know why I rambled on last night).

Then we all went out for icecream and cookies. I looked at the nutrition content of my cookie: 180 calories for a 2 inch diameter cookie! So I held on to it for a few minutes, then dumped it back into the box when no one was looking. I was pretty proud of myself.

Exercise: 20 minutes working on my upper body and abs. I absolutely hate cardio, can I just quit doing it if I promise to keep strengthening my muscles with other types of exercise?

[Alia]

Originally Posted by slender tobe

Tell us a little more about you, your current and goal weight.

I forgot to mention my goals.

Actually, I'm not really sure what my goal weight should be. Since I have always been fat, I have no idea what my optimal weight is, or what I would look like at that weight.

According to those BMI charts, I could be anywhere from 115 to 145 and still be healthy. I suppose it's best to start by actually getting there, and once I have done so, I can always decide to lose more if necessary.

So for now, my goal is 140 lb by November 30th. Does that sound realistic?

[Chrisydj]

Originally Posted by Alia

So for now, my goal is 140 lb by November 31st. Does that sound realistic?

It can be done but you'll have to keep working hard at it. I've lost 32lbs just since Jan 16th and I know there are some guys on here that have lost more than that in a shorter period of time. But then guys tend to lose faster than women (so unfair). But I think if you set your mind to it you can do anything!

[bigdaddy38]

Isn't it odd how weight just kind of creeps up on you and you don't even know it, it was the same way for me because I tend to go up our down in spurts, I will plateau and then a month later jump ten pounds, I lose weight the same way. I'm a lot like you I was in the health club business for a long time and knew what to do and helped other people do it, but couldn't do it myself. And as far as cardio goes you need to do it, think of it this way if you burn an extra 3500 calories a week that is a pound a week of fat loss, in a year thats 52 lbs, I actually like cardio because to me its mindless you just put on some music and go, lifting you actually have to think.

[slender tobe]

Originally Posted by Alia

So for now, my goal is 140 lb by November 31st. Does that sound realistic?

Apart form the fact that November doesn't have a 31st!!! two pounds a week average is very realistic and completely safe ))

[Alia]

Originally Posted by slender tobe

November doesn't have a 31st!!!

Yeah, forgot about that. I was thinking December 31st, then thought I was giving myself way too much time.

Anyway, do you think I have to factor in time that I would be at a plateau? Last time I got discouraged by it so just wondering.

[slender tobe]

Though I like numbers, graphics and statistics myself , I always try to forget them and keep it simple. Just regulate your calorie intake, do your workout routine and the results will definitely come. To concentrate too much on the weight issue is a dangerous path...

[Alia]

Hi.

Yesterday I ate I think 1400 calories. We went out last night so I couldn't be sure.

Breakfast: I ate two idlis, with chutney (google it if you don't know what that is ) (250 cal)
Snack: boiled vegetables (100 cal)
Lunch: bread and potatos and green peppers (150 cal)
Dinner: salad, stir fry with meatballs, chicken, rice stuffed in cabbage leaves, cookie (500-800 cal depending on oil content).

I was really sore when I woke up this morning from working out, that's a good thing right?