Posts by ayakyoareia

You mention craving pizza, pasta or burgers, but you don't have to cut all those things out to eat healthy.  If you make the pizza yourself the night before, you can make it with lower calorie toppings, personally I like cold or reheated pizza best but that is a personal thing. For pasta I've found a number of whole wheat pastas I really like, they tend to be similar or a little lower in calories then regular pastas but the thing I like best about them is they're higher in fiber which has two benefits: It takes less of the pasta for me to feel full, and it makes it easier to get a higher fiber intake for the day.  It's a statistical fact that most Americans get about half the fiber that's recommended for them each day.

 It takes a little time the night before, but lunches are definitely better/tastier when you prepare something yourself at least from time to time then having to stick with things like yogurt and an apple or carrot sticks every day.

We have a Brita pitcher, which works to some extent. The cats can tell anyway, lol. If you put down a bowl of tap water and a bowl of Brita'ed water, they won't touch the tap till all the Brita is gone.  But I don't know, it just leaves a funny... aftertaste I guess? Even with the Brita.  At work there's a Poland Springs refridgerated cooler and that seems just fine. I'd buy spring water or something for home, but that's just too expensive in the long run.

Does the PUR system work better then Brita? We do change the filters as recommended, so I don't think that's the issue.

Right now I'm averaging 40-50 oz, plus about 8-16 oz of herbal tea, and around 20oz of skim milk each day.  But I'm working on increasing the water portion of that, I used to be lucky if I drank even 8oz of water a day so I'm trying to increase by an additional 8oz a day every week or two. So far, so good.

I was like you with the water before I started changing my eating habits.  And I do understand what you mean about your stomach not feeling well, I tried suddenly increasing my water intake and my stomach did bother me.  What I found worked well was trying to increase it by a cup a day every week or two instead of all at once.  It might be worth a try for you, being hydrated enough flushes out both the liver and kidneys which aids weight loss.  Also, ironically you retain more water when you drink too little because like with when you don't eat enough calories, your body hordes it.  I actually found my weight was coming off faster during the weeks I was increasing water intake then the ones where I wasn't.

I really hope some of this helps you, I realise how frustrating it can be to be 'stuck'.

Did anything change in your life/routine the year you gained? New medicines? Pregnancy? Anything else noticable? Have you seen your doctor in the last two years?

If you're doing everything right and still not loosing, it could be related to any of a number of underlying medical conditions or prescription side effects.  Based on the calculator here getting back to 120 should be a very realistic goal, obviously it's not perfect, but it does help.

Personally my weight was put on because of a medical problem, but for the most part that's been dealt with and after 4 years of being much heavier then I used to be or want to be, I'm finally loosing.  I've found this site very helpful in keeping track of what I'm really eating, and for improving those food choices.  Since starting here in mid June I've lost about 20lbs and man does it feel great after fluctuating in a 5lb range for the last 3 years.  I'll be starting with Pilates and Yoga soon, and I'm hoping that I will be able to loose more inches with toning thanks to that.

Good luck!

Karmankaye, that receipe sounded tasty, so I plugged it into the recipie calculator with a couple modifications based on the restrictions of the tool:

6 large baking potatoes [11674]
2 cans tuna in water
305g (1 can) cream mushroom soup [6043]
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp Butter
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
3oz cheddar cheese [1009]
with 6 servings

The stats I got were the following:

Calories 485, 115 from fat
Total Fat 12.8, 5.6 saturated fat
Cholesterol 45mg
Sodium 905mg
Total Carbs 68.2g, 6.8 Dietary Fiber, 4.6 sugar
Protein 25.8g
Vitamin A 6%, Vitamin C 49%, Calcium 18% and Iron 23%

Of course this doesn't take into account the reduction in serving size because of the left-over filling, but it's a starting point. Rerunning it with a few common substitutions of things I usually use instead it was about 40 cals less and about 500mg of sodium instead (in part I left out the tbsp of salt, the canned soups have enough for my taste), about half as much cholesterol and only a minimal amount of reduction in vitamins.  CC gave the original entry I made a nutrition grade of B+ and the modified one an A.

Either way it sounds to me like a tasty and filling meal with a bit of fresh green type veg on the side, so I'll be sure to try it out, thanks for sharing!

I'm 23 and engaged, but not planning on trying for any kids until I'm about 27.  I want them, but I completely understand the "Not right now!" thing.  I have a variety of reasons for loosing weight, from looking better in my wedding dress a couple years from now, to avoiding some of the medical conditions that are genetic on both sides my family, to yes being at a healthy weight for when I get pregnant.  An aunt of mine actually went on a diet and exercise plan before trying to get pregnant with her second child because actually after her first pregnancy she put on a fair bit of weight, and the doctor said that very likely was part of why she was having trouble getting pregnant and regulating her cycles without meds, compared to before her first pregnancy.

My mother was a fluke I think, both times she was pregnant she actually LOST 20lbs between before and after childbirth. And while she was pregnant with me she at as many ginger snap cookies as my dad could keep in the house, I certainly hope my metabolism will jump like that when I have a child

The thing is, it's never a bad thing to be healthy for whatever your reasons.  And I think being in our early 20s it's a time when we're all looking ahead, planning our futures. Yeah, we may not want kids yet, we may not want to be married yet, or all those other things we associate with having grown up, but we're thinking about it, and we're planning for it (even if it's subcontiously).  So maybe that little panic button is there to give us a kick start, so that 5 years from now we won't be wishing we were thinner or whatever and had started taking care of it ages ago, when slow healthy improvement was perfectly acceptable and there wasn't some kind of time crunch.

So pretty much any leg strengthening exercises are going to help in someway then, aren't they?  The doc has me doing forward leg lifts at the knee when sitting with the ankle weights in order to strengthen a certain muscle group in the thigh to help keep my knee caps properly aligned.  I've been doing those, but I know just that isn't going to work the rest of my leg muscles.

I think part of the reason I have/had trouble knowing what to do was that I've never really been into exercise as such, it was always an activity such as doing sports (softball, swimming and horseback riding over the years) or gardening or some such.  Now that I'm trying to actively exercise it's a little overwhelming when you see so many options out there, but have certain physical considerations to make.  And I know the best thing for me would probably be to join a gym and get a trainer to help me set something up, but with a lack of time and money I'm trying to sort things out on my own.  Thankfully there are people who have done it before with similar problems to help me figure things out. 

I actually hadn't looked at what your BMI is rated at for the stats you gave before trustwomen made her post.  She's right about your BMI being fine for your stats.

I still think talking to your doctor's going to be your best resource here.  As in the case with my friend, it's not all about weight.  At this point looking at the scale may be doing you more harm then good.  If you haven't quite gotten the look you want, you should consider speaking with your doctor about setting up a toning and conditioning plan for yourself.  As trustwomen said, it might be more work then most people feel is worth it, but your profile says you like to stay active.  So perhaps all you need is a few small changes in what your activities are and you'll be set.

Just remember the two most important things: Consult your doctor, and it's not all about the scale! After all, the quickest way to make the scale read less is to drive up a mountain