One mission to get healthy!!

[justkeepswimming14]

Hi everyone. So I've used this forum many times before, and as I've said many times before I love it. It is so supportive and every time I use it I always do so much better in my quest for weight loss.

I am currently bigger than I've ever been and feel awful. Along with the usual negatives with weight gain (clothes don't fit, stomach aches, bowel problems, low self-esteem, sluggish etc) I am having a new problem.. My chest hurts. I have noticed my breathing to be worst. And the worst part? I'm only 23. I should be young and fit and healthy but can feel my health start to deteriorate. So I am on a mission to get healthy!!

My nutrition plan will be to eat mainly unprocessed foods. I don't calorie count or anything but think as long as I am filling my body with the right things I will be able to know when I have had enough or when I need more to eat. Lots of meat, eggs and veg for me! Gym wise I am planning to go at least 3 times a week, with a mixture of cardio and weight training.

A big goal for me is to stop binge eating. I don't know why I do it, it doesn't feel nice or make me feel better, and I simply can't afford to spend 20+ on chocolate each day! So I am going to leave my purse at home so I am not tempted to buy food. Just eat healthy foods, that keep me full and balanced.

My first goal will be to have my body fat % at less than 25%. I do weigh myself, but as I am doing weight training don't know if my weight will go down at all so body fat is more important to me. And have also taken 'before' photos so hopefully they will keep me going! Wish me luck..

 

[Minerva]

Good luck on your journey It's a tough one, you do need to think about the reasons you binge eat. Is it boredom? Is it to soothe emotional troubles? The latter is something that may have been started by parents - sometimes they find it easier to give a child a sweet when they don't know how else to soothe pain or discomfort... Or is it something else? It's important to get to the root of it, because bingeing is only a symptom of a larger issue at hand.
I really hope as you go along your wellbeing and health improves, I know how distressing it can be to be so young and feel like you're about a million years old, at 22 I was 18 and a half stone and I found it really tough. If you're doing weight training - your body shape might change more than the weight on the scales... so don't let that put you off. So do rely on photos and how your clothes feel. Find a piece of clothing that is a bit tight and try it on every week to see how it feels then. When you're building muscle - there's some water retention at sites that need repair and also, because muscle weighs more per square inch than fat does, the scales won't show too much movement, when actually there's been a lot of change!
You can do it! Remember not to get too discouraged at moments of eating more than you intended, we're all human after all. Keep going forward, you will get to where you want to be!
x

 

[Mini]

Welcome back justkeepswimming14 and good luck with your healthy eating and gym workouts

 

[justkeepswimming14]

Good luck on your journey It's a tough one, you do need to think about the reasons you binge eat. Is it boredom? Is it to soothe emotional troubles? The latter is something that may have been started by parents - sometimes they find it easier to give a child a sweet when they don't know how else to soothe pain or discomfort... Or is it something else? It's important to get to the root of it, because bingeing is only a symptom of a larger issue at hand.
I really hope as you go along your wellbeing and health improves, I know how distressing it can be to be so young and feel like you're about a million years old, at 22 I was 18 and a half stone and I found it really tough. If you're doing weight training - your body shape might change more than the weight on the scales... so don't let that put you off. So do rely on photos and how your clothes feel. Find a piece of clothing that is a bit tight and try it on every week to see how it feels then. When you're building muscle - there's some water retention at sites that need repair and also, because muscle weighs more per square inch than fat does, the scales won't show too much movement, when actually there's been a lot of change!
You can do it! Remember not to get too discouraged at moments of eating more than you intended, we're all human after all. Keep going forward, you will get to where you want to be!
x

All thanks Minerva your post really does mean a lot. I'm not really sure why I binge eat, I suppose it must have started because of something and now is a habit I have gotten myself into. I know my triggers - just being in a shop that sells food can be hard sometimes, and being in the car is also a massive trigger for me. So going to try and nip them two in the bud by leaving my purse at home when I go to work: that will stop me buying food to binge out on the way home from work. And if I get someone to come food shopping with me I won't buy loads of binge foods as I'd be too embarrassed for anyone to know the amount I eat when I do binge. I think a lot of my binging is probably emotion-related, I'm one of these people who turns to food for every emotion, happy, sad, whatever. But also maybe something to do with my self-esteem, which can be quite low at times. So ironic that I feel low because of my weight, then eat to make myself feel better! I know a lot of people do but can't get my head round why we do as it's so counter-productive. I could get it if eating loads of chocolate made me feel better in the short term (letting off the feel good chemicals in the brain) but when I binge I literally never get that feeling! I could be eating something, think half way through that it's making me feel sad/ill.. and STILL keep eating it! And it's just a bad cycle then, feeling worst so continuing to eat. Sometimes I think my brain doesn't believe that I'm worth it.

But aside from the moan.. another moan. I won't say sorry because I doubt very much anyone has kept reading to this point haha. Today hasn't been great. I went to the gym and had a good breakfast of yogurt and protein. Then lunch was brown rice salad which was nice, and had a natural cereal bar, a raw chocolate bar and a banana as snacks. Then came home and made a lovely curry for tea.. and totally ignored it, and chose to eat 2 big white crusty rolls with a load of butter on instead. And then 2 packs of Nakd nibbles and another full sized cereal bar. Why? Although I'm happy I've not eaten chocolate today, I have still binged (albeit nowhere near as much as I normally would) on so called 'health' foods and bread. Just really want to get into a good routine as it gets so much easier once the first couple of days are over! I am back in work tomorrow though so will be back to normal with routine. Better hopes for tomorrow.

Welcome back justkeepswimming14 and good luck with your healthy eating and gym workouts

Oh, and Mini, thanks. Hopefully will do better tomorrow!

 

[justkeepswimming14]

Today has been a better day than yesterday, but only marginally. Breakfast was usual veg and ham omelette, then lunch was a sweet potato salad that was lovely. Then I had a really busy afternoon and was starving by the time I left work. Que getting stuck in traffic for 2hours+! So ended up eating a banana and an apple in the car. Still good. Then when I got home, nobody was in. I didn't acknowledge it at the time, but being alone is another big trigger for me as that's when I would eat the most - nobody can see me then, so no embarrassment or wanting to justify why I want to eat ridiculous quantities even though it makes me feel awful. So ended up eating 6 chocolate rice cakes and a raw chocolate bar. Not the worst choices I could have made, but still a bit of a binge. Went to the gym and felt so sick and dizzy because of all the food, not good. So then came home, ate my curry and veg and was totally satisfied. But still thought it would be fine to eat another raw chocolate bar before bed. It's annoying, because I don't think it is simply down to bad habits because I do consciously make the decision to go and eat, it doesn't just happen most of the time. It's kind of like self-sabotage and I just really find it hard to understand why. Maybe I need some help? But anyway, better than yesterday so that's something I suppose.

On kind of a side note, I have noticed that my motivation is seriously lacking at the minute. I do really want to get back into the routine of being really healthy and feeling better about myself, and whereas sometimes I can be really motivated and hyped for a few weeks, at the minute I can't seem to. And over the last few months I have been like this occasionally but not known why - but now think it might be the week before my period. It just seems to happen the week before. Maybe it's coincidence but maybe not. Has anyone else had experience of this? Hopefully I will in future be able to acknowledge it and.. well do something about it maybe? I don't really know.

 

[justkeepswimming14]

Ok day today. Similar to yesterday - not better but not worst I don't think. Had my usual veg and ham omelette for breakfast, sweet potato salad for lunch, apple and a perkier cereal bar for snacks. Then.. long story short got some bad news, was angry and upset, ended up eating two plain white tortilla wraps and two raw chocolate bars. Then tea of curry and veg. Managed to stop myself going to get actual chocolate or eating more raw chocolate which is good I suppose. Really just not feeling very motivated or have my head in the game at the minute.. Feeling like quite a failure.