Posts by zukita21

I agree davefiredancer19! I'll always love french fries, pizza, ice cream, popcorn with M&M's....I just can't have them as often as I would like....

Yay! I like this post! Yesterday, our company brought in a huge chocolate cake with buttercream icing for the employee birthdays for the month. I am in charge of ordering, receiving and cutting the cake....I didn't take one piece! Not one lick of icing or crumb of cake entered my mouth.

Afterwords I had my planned snack of an apple with one tablespoon of Almond Butter, which was quite delicious!

My small goal for the day: Today is the day that the company brings in lunch for us. I know that it is mexican. I brought my lunch. My plan is to go on a walk when lunch is here, and then eat my pre-packed planned lunch when I return. Let's hope temptation isn't too strong!!!

My stats: 5'9'', 170 pounds, 25 year old female. I have worked out before, this is not the first time. This is the first time that I've added in weight lifting in a while - I tend to get bulky when I lift and I'd rather look lean. But I am trying to do it in moderation now. I exercise 5-6 days/week and rotate my exercises a bit so it will look something like this:

m: weight lifting (intermixed with "cardio-like" activities such as jumping lunges or burpees

t: interval cardio training (running) and abs

w: core and leg exercises (once again, super-setted in a way that gets my heart rate up)

th: interval cardio

f: weight lifting (like monday)

s: core and cardio

s: "make-up day" if for some reason I missed a day during the week...otherwise I use this as a recovery day (but I calculate my cals accordingly)

 It may vary from that, but I plan out the rotation at the beginning of each week so that I don't overwork any area. I typically get up at 5 am every day and get in the workout before work.

I haven't overestimated my activity level because I have it set to sedentary and plug in my activities and then I pay attention to the calories burned meter and make sure that my calories adjust accordingly. 

I can't only have 1200 calories/day because that would put me over 1000 under. I aim for about 1700, sometimes more on more active days and sometimes less, but never under 1500. On a typical day I burn 2200-2400 calories.

As far as what I eat, I am getting in a LOT of fruits and veggies. I always have oatmeal w/ 2/3 cup blueberries and strawberries for breakfast, my snacks are usually yogurt, almonds, veggies with hummus or an apple, my lunch is either 1 cup of homemade chili or soup with a side salad or a salad with tons of veggies and 4 oz. of chicken breast. And for the dressing, I use one that is only 10 cal (I only ever use 1 Tbsp. - I measure EVERYTHING). For dinner it alternates, but it is usually either fish or a gardenburger and either broccoli, sugar snap peas or some combo of roasted veggies.

And as I mentioned in my original post...I only ever have a "bad day" once a week and at worst I usually hit only maintenance calories. I know this b/c I always add my foods to the food log, even if I am mad at myself for eating them.

I know I don't have a huge amount to lose, somewhere in the15-25 pounds (of fat, mind you) range. But I gained this weight from....I don't really know where (it happened so fast!!) My clothes are tight, I see it in my face and I don't really want to go anywhere b/c I am embarrassed with how I look. And now dieting isn't working.....*big sigh*

I feel like I am doing things right....but I guess my body disagrees with me.

Yeah, I TOTALLY sympathize...(especially about the peanut butter, abercrombieboy! That is a toughie!) I think that until I hit maintenance, I will have to keep the items away. I've found in the past that when the items are around, all I can do is think about them and how I can't/shouldn't have them....so in some weird, twisted, masochistic way I justify eating it all by telling myself when its gone, I won't replace it and that will solve the problem - so I am somehow doing myself a favor by getting rid of it(?).

Sometimes I scare myself with my inner craziness. 

Since I figured that out, my cupbards and fridge are chock full of only healthy options (with the exception of hot chocolate and cool whip....but those are hard to "binge" on...one cup/serving will do!) It really helps me by not having the temptation around. I got the munchies a few days ago (mind you I wasn't really hungry, just wanting to nosh) and had to go back to what I was doing without snacking because there weren't any easily snack-y items. Sure I could have cut up some veggies and dipped them in hummus, or maybe even had an apple with a tbsp. of almond butter...but it was the old "snack-y" me that wanted something. I wish I could give you some fail-safe tricks, but I think everyone has to figure it out on their own. Good Luck!!!!

I got a snack idea from a previous post that I love. Put 1/4 cup of dry oatmeal in a bowl with 1-2 Tbsp. of peanut butter. Nuke for about 20 seconds or until the PB is melted. You can eat that with a tsp. of honey for sweetness.

Or one of my favorite things is fresh (or thawed frozen) berries with Cool Whip. Cool Whip free is only 15 calories/serving.

I am just about to get a shipment of Vitamuffins - those are supposed to be sweet and they are only 100 calories each...that might be good to try. I haven't tried them yet, but I am thinking that you could even crumble it up a little, maybe drizzle on some sugar free chocolate syrup and then top with the Cool Whip and it could be a lower cal version of chocolate lava cake.

Sometimes its also nice to just have a mug of hot chocolate in front of you to sip on. The sugar free variety only has 60 cals. And once again, Cool Whip Free (man, are you beginning to see a pattern here...totally unintentional on my part!!)

You can also cut up an apple or pear (or both, I suppose) microwave it until it is soft, top with some dry oatmeal or even some Kashi crunch cereal and drizzle it with fat free caramel fruit dip and/or sugar free chocolate syrup. That's yummy too.

I hope some of these help....or at least get the creative juices flowing so you can come up with your own concotions! (If you do...please share!)

Good luck!

TEXAN, born and raised! I was born in San Antonio, and moved to Austin about 4 months ago.

Trying to diet in a state full of delicious tex mex and margarita's...not so easy! Good luck y'all!

I used to be a collegiate athlete and after I completed my eligability, I went through several "I hate exercising" phases. A couple of things that helped me:

1.) Finding a buddy - cliche, I know - but it really helps having some one to help you be accountable

2.) Getting on a machine (treadmill, bike, etc) and watch a TV program you enjoy - a distraction while you work out, especially if you need the motivation, really helps.

3.)Find something that you enjoy. You said that you used to do tennis - maybe you could take up a tennis class again or find a partner to do a pick up game. It might be the push that you need to get moving again. Or one of the things that got me moving was getting a dog, and MAN does she love going on walks. Even if i don't want to, I know that she needs to get her outside "stimulation" and I often feel better afterwards.

4.) One of the last things my coach told us when we finished our eligibility is that he suggested that we do "a little something every day." We kind of ignored him at first, but I think it is great advice. Things like gardening can also be hard work if you get in to it. Even on days that I am really busy at work, I commit myself to at least 20 minutes of SOMETHING. I also try getting up early to do it, because then I get it "overwith" - but often it starts out my day so well, that I finish the day with a little something as well. You also said that you had your first child 12 years ago. You could maybe do something with them (a game of tag or toss around the frisbee etc.)

I don't know if any of this will help. But once you get going, I think the momentum will pick up. Good luck!

Some Hummus, roasted peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms and Grilled Chicken

Rotisserie Chicken with a little bit of BBQ sauce, avocado, tomato, purple onion and a little bit of FF white cheese (mozz, mont. jack etc.), and you can either eat it like that, or heat it in a toaster oven or microwave. Yum!!!