Posts by path_to_perfect

MMMmmm tapas. The spanish really knew what they were doing with that idea!

I also allow myself to indulge....However sometimes its not always on *quality* foods (cough cough french fries).  But I think its the same idea: eating things in small amounts occasionally. You gave me a craving for tapas now-geez thanks ha only kidding.But really you did give me the craving! Good call!

Patzycakes is right. Weightloss is nothing more than simple math. However you have to be spot on with what your BMR is in the first place, and right about what kind of calories you are burning and consuming..and as you lose weight your BMR may change also. Even if you aren't losing weight your metabolism can change as your eating and stress levels do. Never overestimate your basal metabolic rate, or you will sabotage yourself.  The numbers on the scale shouldnt ever 'surprise' you if you are keeping a good eye on what youre eating and what your burning.

Find your basal metabolic rate. I dont trust any one site or resource about that sort of information. I suggest you go to a number of different sites (ones that tell you your BMR based on calculating your height weight age and activity level) and then compare all the different numbers, hopefully they should be all relatively close to one another. If you want to get real results, you have to be real with yourself. So if anything, you should UNDERESTIMATE what your BMR is because that way you wont be consuming calories, thinking that you are burning off more that what you are. And you are right, you do need to create a deficitof calories in order to lose weight.

If you have a deficit of 500 a day, you can expect to lose about 1 pound/week.

You can either eat the exact or close to the exact amount of calories as your BMR would suggest, and do a work out everyday that burns off 500 calories a day. That would qualify as creating a deficit. Otherwise you could eat 500 calories less than your BMR each day and still expect to lose 1 pound or so a week without any extra workouts or effort. Or you could do a combination...cut out say 200 calories from your diet and workout to burn off 300. Weight loss is math. There are roughly 3500 calories to gain or lose 1 pound of fat. Thats what I used the -500/1lb a week weight loss example because -500 calories a week (-500 x7) creates a total deficit of -3500. Ta-Da! one pound of fat. Of course your eating habits can effect your metabolism also. Eating too little will slow it down, and they say that eating spicy foods can speed it up (only minimally though, but every bit counts right?)

As to how many calories walking or running would burn for you? I couldnt tell you because because everyone burns calories from exercise differently. Again, I suggest finding a good calorie calculator (or a few!) to find the most accurate answer. :)

I think plenty of people weigh themselves once a day. Some twice a day, morning and night. Its when your weighing yourself after meals, trips to the bathroom, glasses of water, compulsively that it is a problem and "abnormal".

Keeping an eye on your weight isn't a bad thing, infact I think it would be smarter to weigh yourself daily or everyother day rather than only once a week. That way if after 3 days youve gained, you know you have to change something as opposed to going 7 days and then seeing a big gain and feeling overwhelmed. Only my opinion-everyone is different.

Its sounds like youre off to a really good start! I once had a nervous breakdown in my car in my high school's parking lot cause by my anxiety about my body. No better time to change than the present! Especially if its causing you to stress like that. I know that working out and eating better are going to be part of what make you feel better, but do your best to not let that became the only thing that comforts you and makes you feel good. ....trust me, been there done that, long story short- you will go nuts.

Rollerblading for the first time after not doing it for a long while always provides some good laughs. I think its good that you are trying to do a variety of different workouts! Variety is the spice of life ha.

I think that I was you 2 years ago...My best advice for you is to somehow find a way to get out of your own head. I struggled when I weighed 140 (which was still a healthy weight for me with my height). I bounced between 130 and 137 for a whole year- beating myself up for it all the while.

Weight is not the most important thing. It doesnt define you. Focus on other things in your life that you can take pride in and focus the majority of your effort on them. School, relationships, hobbies, ect are not affected by what you weigh...that is unless you are a wrestler or something like that? Try your best to put things in perspective!

Like Mystikheat, I have a collection of motivation except mine is kept in a notebook. We all need a reminder of what is really important and how great we are-its too bad that its so easy to forget sometimes.

Much thanks for the encouragement! Isnt it funny how you can have a "mental size" that is different than your actual physical size? Skipping from 4 to zero would be **AMAZING!**...

Its only 6 pounds! Have you been working out or weight training? Maybe its muscle mass. Do you best to bring yourself back to your old diet plan- OR better yet...obviously it wasnt working since you went off of it. Devise a new meal or work out plan; something you can be really excited about and that you will really enjoy. Its easier to stick with something you like, right?!

Scales are stupid even when they arent broke, I go by measurements...maybe that could be something to think about also...sometimes the scale might be saying a higher number, but your inches could be shrinking! :)

17star: I do the same thing you do with certain foods. I swear by it!

And peanut butter is also my down fall. I will allow myself a spoonful once in a while and that will be my 'snack' for the day. To this day my best friend and I are convinced that the PB manufacturers have included some sort of illegal addictive substance into the peanut butter recipe- nothing legal can be that addictive!!   lol

I wish I could afford to by the small sizes or preportioned bags/boxes of things, but for the time being-I get the most bang for my buck and then use ziploc bags and little containers to portion them out myself. Its also more eco-friendly I think.

Im not the only one with crazy cheese craving?!? This is music to my ears..

Strangely though-I am on the rag, and Im not experiencing those urges at all yet, and its already almost over! Come to think about it...I havent had any strange urges this week...hmm Has my will power become so strong that I need not think about it anymore? I could only hope haha.

Collier: You didnt gain 3.5 lbs in one day, I PROMISE!

One pound of fat is roughly 3500 calories. You could not have eaten 3 times that many calories yesterday...well I mean you could have, but you would have really had to be trying! Its probably some water weight and some of the actual food thats still in your system.

Do something to make yourself feel better today, like an extra fun workout or something, or find a new healthy recipe to try. Go about your day as you normally would with your planned calories. If you try to not eat today, or eat less to make up for yesterday's slip up, you might wake up the next day being even hungrier and over-eat again...and then it could turn into a cycle-or worse, a habit. The best way to get rid of water weight is by drinking more water. When your body is dehydrated, it holds on to every extra bit of water-resulting in extra lbs and possibly some puffiness (if youre anything like me). So flush out that extra water by drinking more water...Sounds counterproductive, but I promise its not.

Im sure youre doing great!

I know the feeling....when you're happily munching on that box of cereal, and suddenly you reach your hand in for one last mouthful-and feel your hand hit the bottom of the box. Its dreadful.

If you havent already invested in Ziplock bags of various sizes, in addition to some tupperware-now is the time to consider it. I always do my best to pre-portion food, especially the foods that I have a hard time eating in small quantities. Otherwise, if you feel like that would be too much work for you, simply do not allow yourself to eat directly out of  the box of cereal (or tub of ice cream, or bag of licorice)....