The journey towards happiness

[princess_ellie29]

Hi guys,
I am a 21 year old female, and I'm currently a student in the final year of my degree.
I am currently 5'4" and weigh 226lb. I have no idea why I let my weight get to this stage. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis so carrying around this extra weight is really bad for me! Everyone keeps on at me that I need to lose the weight, but somehow this just upsets me and makes me feel the need to comfort eat instead
Over the last few years I have been trying desperately to lose weight, trying out pretty much every diet under the sun! but somehow I just can't seem to lose it. Every time I make up my mind to lose weight for good this time, and I do it for a couple of weeks and then slip back into my old ways. I am wasting so much money on stupid diets that I just can't stick to. It is getting ridiculous because I never get anywhere with them..
So this time I am really determined. My weight is making me miserable! I have so many health problems, and I now suffer from depression which I'm sure is partly due to my concerns about my weight.. I do not want to be like this any more! So yet again I am going on a diet. I know the people around me will roll their eyes and think "oh yes, another diet that will last all of a week before you give up and gain the weight back again." But I really am determined this time. I am fed up of this cycle and this time I am going to break it!
I am not going to follow any specific diet, or waste any money on one I know I will not stick to. Instead I am going to try a new tactic. I will keep a food diary so I can monitor what I eat, and see where I am snacking most. Then I can try to counteract this by rearranging the size of my meals or eating healthy snacks like fruit and veg instead. And I am going to stick to eating less than 1500 calories a day.
I know this will be difficult, especially because the stress of my degree course often leads me to comfort eating.. But I will do my best to stick to it, because I know even if I hate restricting my diet in the short term, I will be sooo much happier in the long term! Hopefully this time will be the last time

[Spike]

Hi ellie, welcome to the forum. There is a lot of people here who share similar problems with their weight so you are not alone. In my opinion the key to losing weight is a far more psychological battle than it is a physical one. If you can keep your head in the right place and keep motivated and determined your body and the numbers on the scale will follow. Good luck

[Rue]

Welcome aboard! It isn't easy...but you need to figure out a new lifestyle for yourself, that you can maintain. A 'diet' won't cut it. There are no short-term solutions. You have to change your approach to diet, and a lesser extent to exercise/activity to lose the weight and then to keep it off. That's actually the harder part...

[cookie6815]

Welcome and best wishes on your path to be healthy. We are here for support...

[Obesity Discussion]

Hi guys,
I am a 21 year old female, and I'm currently a student in the final year of my degree.
I am currently 5'4" and weigh 226lb. I have no idea why I let my weight get to this stage. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis so carrying around this extra weight is really bad for me! Everyone keeps on at me that I need to lose the weight, but somehow this just upsets me and makes me feel the need to comfort eat instead
Over the last few years I have been trying desperately to lose weight, trying out pretty much every diet under the sun! but somehow I just can't seem to lose it. Every time I make up my mind to lose weight for good this time, and I do it for a couple of weeks and then slip back into my old ways. I am wasting so much money on stupid diets that I just can't stick to. It is getting ridiculous because I never get anywhere with them..
So this time I am really determined. My weight is making me miserable! I have so many health problems, and I now suffer from depression which I'm sure is partly due to my concerns about my weight.. I do not want to be like this any more! So yet again I am going on a diet. I know the people around me will roll their eyes and think "oh yes, another diet that will last all of a week before you give up and gain the weight back again." But I really am determined this time. I am fed up of this cycle and this time I am going to break it!
I am not going to follow any specific diet, or waste any money on one I know I will not stick to. Instead I am going to try a new tactic. I will keep a food diary so I can monitor what I eat, and see where I am snacking most. Then I can try to counteract this by rearranging the size of my meals or eating healthy snacks like fruit and veg instead. And I am going to stick to eating less than 1500 calories a day.
I know this will be difficult, especially because the stress of my degree course often leads me to comfort eating.. But I will do my best to stick to it, because I know even if I hate restricting my diet in the short term, I will be sooo much happier in the long term! Hopefully this time will be the last time

Welcome! Here's the thing though...what you're doing isn't really a diet. Diets are a short term fix to a long term issue. They're not sustainable long term. What you're doing now is sustainable long term, and you can use it to teach yourself how to maintain a healthy life forever.

Please post up a few days worth of food; we'd love to give you feedback on the things you're eating to help you achieve your goals, as food quality and good mixtures of carbs/protein/fats really make a difference.

Any exercise planned?

[ruthan]

You need to be consistent. Don't quit. You will see good results after 3-4months. Exercise is on the key and not just diet. Don't give up.

[sunshinemari]

.. hi i get alot of these too ' the here you go again "... sometimes i think i should just be quiet and not say it too often/loud that i am on a "diet"

[Mytee99]

Hi Princess_ellie29

Well done to you for thinking of doing something different because that is your first achievement. Trying different diets don't work because when you think about dieting you feel frustrated and deprived, but to name a few. I like your idea of a food diary so that you can see where you are snacking the most. Brilliant move. What you can also make a note of when you do this is what are you thinking about when you are snacking. I think you will find out some of the causes as well. I did this a while back and found out that I was avoiding work that had to be done. I am sure you will soon see a pattern.

Food portions - this is neat trick. If you get a moment alone, when you serve yourself blindfold yourself and feel when you are full. Take the blindfold of at that point and then see what is left on your plate.

I look forward to hearing your progress.

[princess_ellie29]

Hi guys,
Thank you so much for your support and advice! It really means a lot to me For those of you asking about exercise: there isn't really a lot I can do because of my arthritis I try to make sure I walk around quite a bit each day between lectures and at lunch time and things. And unless my arthritis is really bad I always take the stairs rather than lifts/escalators. I have also just started playing just dance 2 and I really enjoy it! its so much fun and i would totally reccommend it!
And as for food, I don't want to overload you with information! haha so I will just do yesterday and todays food diary for now.

Yesterday I had:
Breakfast
two small slices of white bread (toasted) - 160 cals
low fat marg - 70 cals
blackcurrant and apple squash - 9 cals

Lunch
Cheese salad sandwich (white bread) - 250 cals
Diet coke - 0 cals

Dinner (went out for food)
Beef burger and a small portion of chips - 881 cals
Pepsi max - 0 cals

Snacks
sunbites crisps - 120 cals

Total: 1490 cals

Today I had:
Breakfast
none because I was running really late - 0 cals

Lunch
small roast dinner (turkey, roast potatoes, gravy, carrots, cranberry sauce) - 583 cals
diet coke - 0 cals

Dinner
not eaten yet

Snacks
galaxy cake bar - 163 cals
sunbites crisps - 120 cals
Total so far: 866

So although I went out for food and ate in the canteen at uni today it hasn't been going that badly! Not the most healthy of foods but still under on calories so far I am definately aiming to eat more healthily as well as fewer calories though. Just haven't managed it the last few days as I have been rushed off my feet with dissertation work, meetings and an exam this morning! lol
I am also signing up for somes councelling, including a session about my eating habits and how to change them and not comfort eat and things so I am very hopeful about that I think I definately have comfort and boredom eating issues to deal with..
Anyway, I'll leave this for your judgement! Let me know what you guys think!

[Mytee99]

Hi Princess

Well done. Sounds like you are making great progress.

Have you tried drinking water instead of diet drinks. Those artificial sweetners are far from healthy as they contain aspertame. Check it out for yourself on the net. I drank diet drinks sometime ago as a replacement for normal full sugar and I felt quite ill and the minute I came off them I felt better. Water or fruit juice may be an alternative you may want to try.

This is not about judgement, this is about supporting you in your achievements. You are doing real good. Change the way you think about food. Instead of it being a diet look at it as healthy eating. Looking at it as if it is a diet makes it harder. Have fun with it. Calorie counting also emphasizes you are on a diet so again look at this as being healthy eating.

The magic with visualising your end result is that your body will follow what your mind sees. So if you can see yourself with the weight and size you want to be and you can feel it, it has to happen. It works like magic and is pure science. Keep this up for a minimum of 30 days. The weight WILL steadily fall off.

[princess_ellie29]

Hey guys,
just had a bit of spare time so thought id post up my food for the day

Breakfast
cheese on toast - 275 cals
orange juice - 88 cals

Lunch
tuna sandwich - 530 cals
coke - 139 cals

Dinner
Tortilla - 548 cals
squash - 9 cals

Snacks
none

Total: 1589 cals

My exercise for today was walking around town shopping for a few hours

Have you tried drinking water instead of diet drinks. Those artificial sweetners are far from healthy as they contain aspertame. Water or fruit juice may be an alternative you may want to try.

This is a good point, I do drink a lot of coke/pepsi, although i tend to stick mainly to 0 calorie ones.. But I guess they still aren't really very good for me! lol
I know it sounds stupid but I just hate water I don't like how it tastes, even though most people don't think it tastes of anything?! lol I must be a freak of nature or something haha But yea thats why i tend to have squash, because then I can make it taste nice so I guess I could try having more squash instead..
As for fruit juice, I would have it more often but it does have quite a few calories in even though it's better for me.. So not quite sure how I feel about this

[Obesity Discussion]

Hey guys,
just had a bit of spare time so thought id post up my food for the day

Breakfast
cheese on toast - 275 cals
orange juice - 88 cals

Lunch
tuna sandwich - 530 cals
coke - 139 cals

Dinner
Tortilla - 548 cals
squash - 9 cals

Snacks
none

Total: 1589 cals

My exercise for today was walking around town shopping for a few hours



This is a good point, I do drink a lot of coke/pepsi, although i tend to stick mainly to 0 calorie ones.. But I guess they still aren't really very good for me! lol
I know it sounds stupid but I just hate water I don't like how it tastes, even though most people don't think it tastes of anything?! lol I must be a freak of nature or something haha But yea thats why i tend to have squash, because then I can make it taste nice so I guess I could try having more squash instead..
As for fruit juice, I would have it more often but it does have quite a few calories in even though it's better for me.. So not quite sure how I feel about this

As far as water goes, my fiancee has a neat trick; she gets 0 calorie sports drinks that are only sweetened with stevia and uses those to put a splash in her water for better flavor.

The other challenge with foods with artificial sweeteners is that they make you crave more sweet stuff believe it or not.

The calorie levels are awesome, so you're doing good on that front. When you're ready to take things to the next level, you'll want to work on two additional areas with respect to the food your eating.

Overall your food choices are fairly carb heavy, and the carbs I see are poor quality carbs. These poor quality carbs have a number of bad effects from spiking blood sugar, not making you feel full for very long, reducing energy, and hindering weight loss efforts. Little changes along the way will help....like changing you white bread for whole wheat bread and tortillas for whole grain tortillas. The chips and cakes should ideally be replaced with healthier options too. We have plenty of healthier desert options here in our recipe forum, you should check it out and see if anything catches your eye. Look to replace chips with things like a handful of nuts (not heavy sugar coated ones), kale chips, maybe a light string cheese stick, veggies (I use celery and carrots with a variety of healthy dips/mustards).

The other missing link is protein. Protein not only helps you feel fuller longer, but it helps preserve muscle loss during weight loss which does take place.

[Mytee99]

Hi Princess

The main focus to think about here is the fact that you are willing to do something different. Now you have a decision to make to change your habits and become the slimmer you that you deserve.

My suggestion to you is to write down what you need to change to reach your desired weight. The first thing is to think like a slim person. What do they do? What do they think?

Millionaires study each other and follow their strategy to become a millionaire.

If you know a few people ask them what they do it will surprise you to find out the answer.

Water is really the way to go - good on you for starting to make the change.

[Obesity Discussion]

Hi guys,
I am a 21 year old female, and I'm currently a student in the final year of my degree.
I am currently 5'4" and weigh 226lb. I have no idea why I let my weight get to this stage. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis so carrying around this extra weight is really bad for me! Everyone keeps on at me that I need to lose the weight, but somehow this just upsets me and makes me feel the need to comfort eat instead
Over the last few years I have been trying desperately to lose weight, trying out pretty much every diet under the sun! but somehow I just can't seem to lose it. Every time I make up my mind to lose weight for good this time, and I do it for a couple of weeks and then slip back into my old ways. I am wasting so much money on stupid diets that I just can't stick to. It is getting ridiculous because I never get anywhere with them..
So this time I am really determined. My weight is making me miserable! I have so many health problems, and I now suffer from depression which I'm sure is partly due to my concerns about my weight.. I do not want to be like this any more! So yet again I am going on a diet. I know the people around me will roll their eyes and think "oh yes, another diet that will last all of a week before you give up and gain the weight back again." But I really am determined this time. I am fed up of this cycle and this time I am going to break it!
I am not going to follow any specific diet, or waste any money on one I know I will not stick to. Instead I am going to try a new tactic. I will keep a food diary so I can monitor what I eat, and see where I am snacking most. Then I can try to counteract this by rearranging the size of my meals or eating healthy snacks like fruit and veg instead. And I am going to stick to eating less than 1500 calories a day.
I know this will be difficult, especially because the stress of my degree course often leads me to comfort eating.. But I will do my best to stick to it, because I know even if I hate restricting my diet in the short term, I will be sooo much happier in the long term! Hopefully this time will be the last time

Hey there just checking in to see how things are going!!!!