Posts by fhstke

If you are a college student your school should have a wellness center. You don't need insurance to go talk to a counselor about your problems. These centers are designed to be free for students. They will ask more about the mental aspects of depression but also inquire about the headaches, sleep problems, eating, etc. Good luck and I would definitely suggest using this resource if you have it.

hello all

So I know I haven't been reporting in every week with numbers but technically I've been losing. So I started around June at 152 and this morning I weighed in at 146. I haven't seen the 150's in a good month now. It feels really good but part of me is a little worried that my scale might be lying but I'm not sure. I think I need to suck it up, buy a new battery, and make sure it's accurate. Overall I've still been struggling to get into a good routine. I can't seem to work in the weekend run and I still haven't started up with the two fitness classes I wanted to go to during the week. There's still time though. I know I keep saying maybe next week but sooner or later I'll step up and get it done. I really enjoy the feeling of working out. It's the perfect way for me to be selfish. Like this is me time, to make myself feel good, and to do what I want to do. It's something I need right now for sure with all the stress of work and school and life in general. I need more time for myself. Maybe that can be my motivation.

Why not add another familiar face to the mix! Hello everyone! Man I've been so bad lately and just totally throwing the workout plan out the window and eating a bunch. Somehow, and I seriously have to check the batteries on the scale, it says I'm losing. For a while I was hovering around 149-151 but the last few weeks it's been 148ish.. and dare I say the other day it was 146.8! What is this madness! It's been fun and amazing the past two weekends. First it was a bachelorette party/weekend in Ocean City. I drank and ate more than I have in forever. Although I must say to my own credit saturday night at 11pm I said no more to anything. I drank water, avoided the candy/chips/etc. Yes I drank an insane amount of wine earlier and drunk ate my way through the biggest burger ever but I was proud that despite it all I held back a little, and that should count! So this weekend was the wedding and more booze and food. Not to mention last week was stress stress stress at school. I'm talking full days starting between 8 and 9am and ending no earlier than 7pm.

But here's the deal, I'm not going to let myself shoot up to 150's again. Despite punking out on the gym I've been pretty good about keeping up with my twice a week morning runs. The weekend runs have been put on hold (not good). The gym has been hard.. but I'm doing ok with at home situps and still going strong with the 100 pushup challenge I started a good 5 weeks ago. I'm ending my repeat of week 3.. actually with the wedding this is the first time I'm off schedule.. but I have faith! One day, maybe years from now, I'll do 100 pushups in a row! At the very least I can for sure see a difference in my arms. I feel strong even if I feel jiggly in my belly haha.

So long story short.. I'm back! Let's regroup and get the ball rolling again!

hello lifein! welcome to the group. I like your outlook on exercise. I think you'll help motivate us to stick to our workout routines. Things are going ok for me. Still hovering around 150 although it looks like the last 2 weeks there might be a slight upward climb going on that I need to get a hold of. I was thinking yesterday how even though my weight isn't as low as it has been in the past I would have to say I think I'm in the best shape of my adult life. And yes I realize I'm only 24 but it's like when I keep eating well and maintain my exercising I can tell I'm getting a little stronger, more fit, more healthy. It's a good feeling to know I'm heading in in the right direction. My arms are getting more defined from lifting, my abs are making slow progress (in the morning if the water weight is low I dare to say my abs are killer!). The weight is maintaining which is ok since my original goal was just to get in shape (although a lot 5 or so pounds wouldn't hurt!). So as I type I'm waiting to digest a half a bagel and attempt a long run! I woke up 'early' on a Saturday morning because yesterday it rained. It's going to be worth it though! THe entire rest of my day always feels great when I have a good morning workout.

Hope everyone is doing well!

lisseth I totally hear you. I'm scared of the scale this week as well. Two weekends ago it was virgin festival here in baltimore which meant doing what I do rarely... drinking insane amounts and eating lots of crappy food. Monday I was hungover and ate more crappy food. By Wednesday night I could FEEL the water weight. My tummy jiggled as I walked. Thankfully I drank water like it was my job and got back to normal. Right before virgin fest I actually found the 148's again... afterwards I was right at 150... still acceptable. This week, I don't know. It seems like the past week there's been a lot of eating out plus I visited a friend of mine up in Jersey and that means lots of girl time with chocolate covered pretzels and ice cream. Plus my gym was closed last week for summer maintenance. Needless to say I figured last week was a total bust in all respects so I basically slacked in both eating and exercising. I think I'm going to wait until the weekend to weigh in!

I used to (and still sometimes do!) get a cramp on my right side. I tried eating shortly before running, a long time before running, etc. Sometimes it would help but it didn't seem to be the main problem. I did some looking online and it's a breathing problem. When you don't breathe correctly the liver gets pulled around when you don't let your diaphragm drop down. The trick is to breathe deep, so that your tummy sticks out a little. If breathing deep means your shoulders lift up then you're not doing it right. You can practice by laying down on your back and breathing in and out slowly (laying down makes it easier to see how your stomach moves). If you're used to breathing wrong this can seem very awkward but just keep practicing and focus when you run. Also I read it's good to inhale and exhale over a different amount of beats. Basically go by your steps, breathe in for 3 steps out for 4. This helps stagger what foot you land on when you start exhaling (aka the diaphragm goes up). Apparently exhaling every time when you right foot hits can cause the side cramp...

Seems strange but I believe it. I've found that in 3 out 4 gets me in a good rhythm and where I used to get the cramp after a mile and a half I can go 5 and a half miles with no pain.

Hey everyone. I know the start of the week is not my usual time to check in but I felt like updating all of you anyways! So my weight has been doing a 2 lb up and down the past few weeks.. it's a bad cycle. First the scale is not working perfectly (aka the first few attempts I get an error or I get two different numbers back to back) so I think OK I'll weigh in saturday. Then saturday I get some crazy variation of 2 lbs which can't be right so I weigh on tuesday and it gets to a point where I need to remember I'm just seeing day to day normal changes and nothing more!

Anyways so Sueswan I'd say don't worry about the 1lb. There's a chance you were a little more dehydrated when you weighed in, or you're a little extra full when it said 138 this morning. 2000 calories in working out is a LOT! On really good days I can run 5ish miles and that's only 600 calories. When that's done I'm flat out pooped. Take care and don't hurt yourself.

Speaking of which that's why I'm writing! I managed to go and hurt myself last night during the second point of the first of two ultimate frisbee games last night! It's a non-contact sport but I ended up running into someone. His hip must have hit the exact wrong spot on my leg because my quad is just in total pain (and was all last night but I kept playing anyways!). A bruised muscle like that feel like a strained muscle (it hurts to do stairs and I get these twinges of pain if I step funny) PLUS a big freakin black and blue (it hurts to touch!)

Worst combination ever. So it looks like I'm out probably through the weekend for any kind of cardio. The doc says I'll still be sore for weeks after that but to go by my pain.

Hope you all are doing better than me!

I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well! So many people maintaining and even some losing! funkymonkey i'm glad you're finally settled it. You'll get back into a routine soon enough and those pounds won't be sticking around for long. I have to say it sounds like you're handling the stress of your move and basically new life very well, so congrats on that!

I've been having this crazy up and down thing with the scale. Last thursday it shot up to 152.4, I weighed again saturday or sunday and it was 149.8. I thought woohoo that was just TTOM and the reality is I actually lost! Unfortunately weighing myself today I'm back at 152. No really sure what's going on but I'm going to try not to worry about it. I just wish it would level out... this uncertainty of did I gain or lose is kind of annoying!

As for good news! The past two weeks I haven't had a chance to attempt a long run because I started playing some ultimate frisbee games on a summer league team here in baltimore. It's a lot of running so I figured that's like my 'long run' night. Well yesterday I started to worry that maybe it wasn't enough to maintain all my distance running hard work so I went out for a true long run. To my surprise I survived! I ran for about an hour a total of 5.4 miles! That officially beats the 5.3 miles from my last run. So excited! I cannot wait until I can do 7 miles. I'll feel like a TRUE long distance runner.

I have the same problem. I used to be able to donate blood but after trying a diet a few years ago I found out via unrelated blood work that I was slightly anemic. I've improved and have gotten back to within the healthy amount of iron. Unfortunately the healthy range for women does not overlap with the necessary amount to donate blood, so while healthy I'm still too low to donate. It's probably a good idea for you to get blood work done with a doctor to see if you're slight anemia is a health problem or not. Also keep in mind that women have low iron counts during their period due to, well at the risk of sound gross, blood loss.

The suggestions I got to improve my iron were to eat iron rich foods like lean meats (beef, turkey etc), seafood (mussels, tuna, salmon etc), basically any kind of beans (soy, kidney etc), any kind of dark green (spinach is my fav), and nuts and veggies (asparagus, brussel sprouts etc). You can easily google for more options.

The key is that vitamin C helps you absorb iron, so it's good to pair the two together. Even if you're having fortified breakfast cereal, have it with a glass of OJ. Throw some fruit in a spinach salad, or just simply have fruit for dessert after an iron rich dinner!

chatty, the summer is more than halfway through and you're doing great! You should be so proud to be shaking off your summer weight gain curse. And congrats to our new folk for doing so well! How is the raw diet working? I feel like it's a great idea but probably too extreme for my body. It is, however, inspiring enough to make me pick up a few extra fruits and veggies at the grocery store and use them as my main option for snacks!

The good news for me is this last Monday I got the chance to run around and play ultimate frisbee for 2+ hours. Some of you might not know the sport but it's pretty popular with college club teams as well as local area leagues. I tried to sign up for a summer league, got wait listed, and bam, monday i get an email that a team needs another player can I show that night? Hell yeah! My legs are STILL sore.

The bad news is my weigh in today wasn't so hot. I think it's a combination of TTOM and the fact I had a few drinks at dinner last night but I'm up! Kinda sucks but next week is a new week. I'm just going to focus and worry about meeting some exercise goals, like running for an hour again and finally making it to a hot yoga class!

Week 1: 153.8
Week 2: 152.4
Week 3: 152.0
Week 4: 150.2
Week 5: 150.4
Week 6: 149.8
Week 7: 152.4

I watched it last night too. I go back and forth when it comes to believing/understanding that it's a disease. When I think addiction I think of someone who would do ANYTHING to get their 'fix'. So if that's a drug addict being homeless, or stealing, or selling their bodies, all for one more hit then yeah, addicted. With food I find it hard to see it like that. I think my problem is they only show these people eating the WORST possible food ever. Everything, I mean everything they ate was fried, greasy, chocolate, or salty. Well yeah, it's easy to binge on that food. I guess I just wonder, like how someone mentioned above, if they were only given fruits and veggies as an option would they binge as much? I mean if they are true addicts if you took away their food would they steal the family dog's food away to get their next fix? On the other hand I do realize that they are giving up their mobility, their health, their lives to the food, so yeah that's a sacrifice for a fix. I dunno, like I said I bounce back and forth. I don't mean to sound insensitive. I'm willing to admit I'm probably not well informed.. so all I am saying here is based on what knowledge I have on the subject.

emileem you are like my creepy younger self! I'm an emily (I'm assuming you are too from your profile name!) 5'10" and 150 lbs. I'm 24 though. I never really weighed myself much in high school and if I did I've long ago forgotten but I'm pretty sure I came into freshman year around 145lbs. I was active playing ultimate frisbee and didn't drink much so I kept around that weight (i think) for a while... but when I stopped playing frisbee and starting dating someone over 21 i got as high as 173! So to my younger self... don't fall into the same trap! Stay active! I guess the good news is if you follow in my footsteps you'll get your act together and lose the weight by senior year and keep it off. Although another warning, when you cut out the crappy dining hall food make sure you eat enough iron rich stuff or else you'll get anemic like I did. 

Weird post I know but I couldn't help myself! Best of luck to you. I'm sure with patience you'll reach your goal...

duplicate post... sorry!

Please listen to all the previous posts and increase your daily calories goal. I'm 5'10", 24 years old, 150 lbs. Trust me when I say that us tall ladies don't need to be 125 lbs. You are tall! Let me guess, your friends are mostly 5'2" inches right? You feel weird standing in the hall ways at school because you tower over everyone walking around you. I understand! That was me! My grandma is 4'11" and has told me my whole life that I'm beautiful and tall and should be thankful.. I hated it at first but trust me you'll come to love it. And with that love will be an understanding that you simply cannot fit into the tiny tiny clothes all those skinny short girls are wearing. The good news is you probably look so much better in what you wear than they do! Models are tall because clothes look better on us! So be proud and be happy and please don't lose weight. If you want to get into shape, tone up, wonderful. Lift some weights, do some squats and sit ups but don't go cardio crazy and please don't drop your calories so much. You are a growing woman. Get a butt, get some hips, get boobs... these are the bonus's of not being too thin at your age!

There's nothing wrong with eating healthy, just be safe. Best of luck to you. Feel free to message me if you want to talk.

I think the idea of going and getting a tan is a great idea! Maybe you'll feel more comfy in skirts or dare I say that bathing suit.  Feel sexy because you are! Another very fun way to pamper yourself is a long bubble bath. Spend an afternoon playing dress up and play around with your hair style, your make up, etc and focus on how beautiful you are. I think you need a little time for self love and maybe the compliments you get from your friends will seem more genuine.