echoburning - "Get fit forever"

[echoburning]

Hi Miniminners

Reading some of the other diaries has really inspired me to get off my backside and step up the healthy living a gear.

I should perhaps start from the beginning. I cannot remember a single time in my life when i was the slim. I am a 20 year old lad and at my heaviest weighed 20 stone. I've always been an outgoing person but have noticed over the last couple of years I've become very aware of my weight (perhaps since I saw photos of myself on Facebook) and it has got me down a lot.

2 years ago I started healthy eating and excercising and lost a stone and a half. Gave up in a month or so and put it all back on. Last year I started on xenical and again lost a stone and half but gave up again in a couple of months. Weight piled back on again.

This year, I am hoping for third time lucky. I don't want to be the fat one any more, I don't want to worry about getting on planes or fitting onto the rollercoasters at Alton Towers, I want to be slim and healthy.

This will sound terrible, but for many years I had resigned myself to being fat forever and being dead of a heart attack by forty. I have decided that I want to live a happy life, and although losing the weight won't be a magic cure to all life's problems, I hope it will a stepping stone for me to a happier life.

5 weeks ago I started the plan. First week was just healthy eating, then I went onto Celebrity Slim meal replacement for a couple of weeks. The weight was coming off but even the thought of having a CS shake or bar would make me feel sick. I decided to continue with the low carbing but to have three meals a day. I think it' working.

I've been thinking nowhere a lot about life the last few weeks, and things I want to achieve. I wanted to do a 10k by the end of next year....I've gone and signed myself up for one THIS year! I'm near my target level but I hope it will kickstart my exercise programme. Today I walked 10k and I feel like my legs will drop off. I've got a couple of months to get my training complete! Fingers crossed.

So, i'm 13lbs down now, got a lot more to go. Next weigh in day is tomorrow so I'll report back then.

Best of luck everyone,

 

[Ria.]

best of luck babe! it can be done xx

 

[Pink!]

Heya hun.
You seem to have a pretty good head on your shoulders so i'm sure you'll do great.
The important thing to remember is this has to be a change for life, it has to be something that you can keep up forever, so don't force yourself to eat stuff you don't enjoy, you'll only end up bingeing when you get a craving. And dont push yourself too far too fast, you've got a couple of months before you have to do 10k, so start with 2 then build it up to 5 and so on week by week.

I hope everything goes well for you, best wishes!

 

[echoburning]

Thanks Ria and thanks for the advice Pink.

You're definitely right about this needing to be for life, i'm now eating three meals which i enjoy, don't think i can go back to the meal replacements. Ben and Jerry's ice cream was my treat at the cinema yesterday...they ran out of my favourite though (cookie dough). I might get some from Asda for next week though. I'm surprised at myself for being able to control myself like that. The house is full of chocolate and ice cream but i can control myself. I know i'm probably on the initial buzz but we'll see how it goes.

ANYWAY...had my weigh in at Boots today....drumrolls please....7lbs lost! I couldn't stop smiling on the way home. I was really pleased. Seems like the exercise is kicking the metabolism into gear. That means so far I have lost 1stone and 6 lbs in 5 weeks. I was aiming to lose 2-3lbs a week but I suppose the weight loss will slow down eventually. I actually thought I had been eating large portions this week and was worried this would show, so i'm dead chuffed.

Time to go and update the stats.

x

 

[Pink!]

Oh well done! Good work! You should make a ticker thingy.
Have you taken 'before' photos? It's always interesting to see how you're progressing
Hope that everything continues to go well

 

[echoburning]

Thanks Pink, ticker added! I have a picture which is a prime example of why i needed to lose weight. I might take a proper pic when I reach two stones.

 

[Pink!]

Cool stuff, I can say first hand that it's a real boost to see the change from one pik to another.

Best wishes

 

[echoburning]

So walked the 6 miles to work twice this week. Really enjoyed the walks. Was also quite pleased at the number of people who sponsored me for the 10k i'm doing.

We went out for a works meal tonight at an Indian. I promised not to have any carbs but then because I still felt hungry I ended up eating from other people's plates (before I sound like a pig we were all sharing).

The food I had was all quite healthy, cooked in the oven type food so I didn't feel too bad. I think it was because I went in hungry and with a mindset that I wasn't going to have any carbs and all that did was make me want to eat eat eat! I only had protein and veg so I was good.

My friends mentioned that my portion sizes for my normal meals were too small considering the extra exercise I'm doing which is why I think i ate a lot more than i intended.

Going out again tomorrow night and I have a feeling we're going to have ANOTHER indian. sigh. I don't even have a craving for the naan breads anymore so that should be ok. The smell of the poppadams was difficult to resist though...i managed to steer clear.

Looking forward to my next weigh in on Tuesday though! Hope it's good news again.

 

[Pink!]

Popadoms are actually ok! I've swapped naans for popadoms and I save like 500 cals!
You should try calorie counting, I use myfitnesspal.com, you add the food youve eaten during the day and it calculates how many cals youve had and how many you have left for the day.
If you don't wana eat carbs maybe just have 1 serving every other day? it'll give you the energy you need to keep up your exercise.

Hope that everything goes well hun

 

[echoburning]

Thanks Pink - i'll have a look at the site in a bit.

Had an ok day so far. We went out last night (ended up going to Manchester instead) and as I predicted we had an Indian. It wasn't too bad as again, i had chicken that was cooked in a clay oven so it didn't look like too many cals (fingers crossed!)

Stuck to the water too, didn't even have a craving for coke like I usually do. Good thing too as the caffeine and sugar rush normally mean I can't sleep for hours!

Today has been a nice relaxing day. I walked the 10 mins to ASDA (it feels like such a tiny amount of walking when it used to completely knacker me out previously ).

Saw an old family friend who works there who's not seen me in a few months and he commented on how much weight i'd lost. It doesn't feel like a lot but it really boosted me thinking that someone had noticed!

I was good, i bought some linda mcartney vege sausages for breakfast. The ingredients all sounded chemically but the carb allowance was good. i'll give them a try anyway to vary breakfast.

I did buy a small tub of Ben and Jerry's cookie dough which is going to be this week's treat. I was glad i didn't feel guilty about buying it because this time i know i'm not going to fall back into the spiral of bingeing.

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far!

 

[Pink!]

Aw wow, it's great when people notice that you're losing weight, but I think it's better than you've noticed how much better you're feeling, with the walk being much easier. Good stuff

Hope that you enjoy your treat

 

[echoburning]

Had my weigh in today - another 4lbs bites the dust!

I was meant to be going for a run tonight but I've been invited to a cousins birthday meal. We actually went out for it on Saturday but she's having a little do at her house with cake and all. She only decided last night and I got a call. I'm not too sure whether i'm going as it'll mean I can't go for the run that I planned.

Can't decide what to do. I don't want to tempt myself with cake but then I don't want to not go. I'm thinking I'll go but I'll leave early and then I can go for the run with my mates....

Can't believe how the biggest dilemmas in my life are created by food and exercise!

 

[echoburning]

fat pig

I can't believe myself. I decided to go to my cousin's do. Cancelled the run.

I thought i'd be good and stick to the foods that were not going to mess up the diet. My cousin even tried to be supportive and bought me some weight watcher's cakes which was really nice of them but they didn't really get the whole low carb element of my plan.

Anyway, I basically thought stuff it and i pigged out. I didn't eat more than anyone else but it was loads of chocolate, pizzas unhealthy crap and I feel really sick now. And depressed. I thought that I would be able to control myself in these situations but obviously not. Perhaps, I should just stay away because I obviously can't trust myself.

In the past when i've dieted I've left a slip up give me an excuse to continue eating crap for the rest of the week. i know that this isn't just a diet anymore. I don't want to ever have to start another diet. Back to the grindstone tomorrow and into the swing of things.

I wish I had more selfcontrol, the guilt is the worst thing. How ashamed I feel.

 

[Pink!]

Bah, don't worry hun, everyone slips up! Guaranteed everyone on this site has a day exactly liek that every couple of months. The important part is realising that you can just continue the healthy eating and stuff you were doing before and get on with it, that blip will be nothing after another week of being healthy.
Best wishes hun, stop beating yourself up!

 

[Mini]

In the past when i've dieted I've left a slip up give me an excuse to continue eating crap for the rest of the week. i know that this isn't just a diet anymore. I don't want to ever have to start another diet. Back to the grindstone tomorrow and into the swing of things.

Pink is right, we have all have made slips, but the main thing here is that you now are going to use it to move forward and not back.

What a brilliant light bulb moment for yousiholog:

 

[echoburning]

Thanks Pink and Mini! I really appreciate your support.

I was talking to people at work today, and we talked about whether it was healthy to be so emotionally attached to food. I can't really explain what I mean, but I don't know if it's a good thing that having a blip makes me so annoyed at myself or whether it's a good thing because it'll keep me focussed and my body will be healthy in the long run.

I walked it to work again this morning, it was just over 6 miles so it made me feel a bit better about yesterday.

Tomorrow is the start of Ramadhan where Muslims fast for a month. My meal times and also my exercise regime is going to be completely out of kilter...

I'm going to be eating breakfast between 2-3am and then nothing until about 9-9.30pm. One of the best bits about Ramadhan for me is how much time the family spends together and breaking our fast together. My mum normally makes a feast with loads of fried goodies.

Tbh, i don't trust myself to not pick at a load of food so i might break the fast in the kitchen by myself. I read on another thread that someone has a cereal bar as soon as the fast breaks so the immediate hunger is satisfied then she doesn't feel as if she has to eat EVERYTHING. i'm going to give that a try and then eat my normal chicken salady things

I've ordered some low carb pita breads and wraps too which should help fill me up.

My exercise is probably going to be done at midnight

I'm going to be doing a 10k run in October and desperately need to continue training so I'm thinking I'll go for a run at midnight and then have a big breakfast when I get in. I'm determined not to have to stop and walk and the kindness of people sponsoring me has been so great and I don't want to let them down.

Here's to a healthy Ramadhan for me and thanks for the support everyone!

 

[Pink!]

Happy Ramadan!

Hope that everything goes well. Exercising at midnight sounds mad, but I admire your strength of will not to let anyone down. Although I'm sure that as long as you finish the race everyone will be proud

Best wishes.

 

[echoburning]

Last day or so been feeling quite down. I tend to be able to cover my emotions up VERY well so noone has noticed.

I've not been feeling hungry so I don' think it's that. Unless it's just a general lack of energy.

I think it may be more to do with the time since i started. It's always been around this time (the 6 week mark) that I give up and go back to my old ways. I KNOW this time i'm not going to let myself do that and the enormity of the challenge ahead is scary. The initial buzz of the plan and determination seems to have worn off and especially seeing everyone eating naughty things when breaking the fast is getting me down.

People do also say that exercise releases endorphins that make you feel happy and I've not really done any since Wednesday so maybe it's that. I think I might go for a long walk tomorrow, i'll time it so i get back for about 8.30 that way if i'm thirsty i won't have long to wait.

Not looking forward to the weigh in this week either, I suppose if i've lost some weight come Tuesday that should give me a boost. I'm aiming for three pounds so fingers crossed.

Sorry to be a misery guts guys.

 

[Pink!]

Walking will definately help, even if it's just due to the fresh air and the enjoyment of taking a leisurely stroll.
I hope that you start feeling a bit brighter soon, just push past this 6week hurdle and you'll start to feel better. When I'm feeling a bit down about it all I check out the success stories and the inspirational slide-show, it might help.

Hope that your week starts to look brighter. Chin up hun.

 

[echoburning]

Had the weigh in today. Lost 1 lb.

I know a loss is a loss but can't admit i didn't feel gutted. I did expect it as looking back on my eating/exercise habits of the last week they did warrant a poor result.

In terms of the average weight loss that I was planning for I am just about on track but the buffer i built has well and truly been smashed and I need to aim for approximately 3lbs a week to hit target.

I watched The Biggest Loser today and the amount of exercise those people did was amazing!

I'm going to for a walk later. I've just had to phone Student Finance which I thought was going to be a pain but it was relatively pain free! Then when I'm back got to sit down with the parents and complete the application. Why have I left it so late?!

A new week, I'm going to watch my carb intake, and burn those calories!