college athlete - now in the working world

Hi, I have recently decided I want to get back into shape. I am a recent college graduate and a yr round competitive swimmer of 18 years. Throughout my life, my body has been use to a very intense workout schedule. Since I am no longer swimming and have now entered the working world, which does not allow as intense a work out schedule, I have put on weight that I don't know how to take off.

I understand that I need to change the way I eat and adjust to a new schedule, but I find it very difficult to stick to a diet and never seem to see results. I would like to lose 20 lbs. I am starting to go to the gym again, but I'm not use to this sort of work out. I find it very hard to stay motivated, I am open to any words of advice!

Hi! I am the same way... I graduated college 4 years ago and while I wasn't a college athlete, I look back on my HS athletic days and laugh! I work 12+ hrs a day and sit for almost all of them! It's really dificult to come to terms with and try and adapt around your new schedule. I guess that even though this sounds cliche this really is a lifestyle change.... i will never eat pizza on a thrice weekly basis again!!! (well certainly not the pizza I used to eat.)
I would suggest seeing if your gym has a complimentary trainer program and get a free session- that really helped me get acquainted etc... also look into mens health magazine or women's mags such as sself and shape.... they give you a good starting point!
also what has helped me is setting goals... so instead of saying i want to lose 20 lbs come up with a formidable plan....styaing under a certain calorie limit and working out x amt of times this wk etc... those small goals will help you stick to your program and the results will follow naturally.

good luck!

Thanks so much for the advice. I have taken a few suggestions from other postings. This is what ive come up with...

I have 3 goals for every day:
1. to eat healthy and consume no more than 1200-1500 calories a day
2. To make it to the gym 4 to 5 times a week
3. drink 64 oz of water

For each task that I complete each day, I will pay myself $1 and for each day that I do not meet a specified goal, I will Pay my boyfriend $1. I am going to do this in 3 week increments. At the end of 3 weeks I/or my boyfriend (depending on my success and discipline) will take the money and treat myself to something i've wanted. I like the idea of short term goals. I think it will be much more rewarding.

What has been your experience with losing weight? Have you found success? and if so, how have you found it?

I monitor my calories alot. that really helps... although im VERY bad at it. and constantly go over.... its my downfall.. i travel a lot for work too so that makes it even worse....

i do a lot of the self programs... i try and kick my own butt. i try and go to the gym 5 times a wk.... thats a hard one too.
the small goals works best for me... im able to feel like im making progress. also when i dont lose weight i think oh well... at least im healthier!!! seems to work pretty well.

also join some sort of support group... i am in one through self.com and we email eachother tips and diff things... tis always good to know others are in the same boat ;) bc somehow we all are.

Do you suggest going to the gym in the morning or at night? I'm not much of a morning person and my commute into the city is about 1 hr total. I'm a night owl anyway, but I cant seem to find a good schedule. If I work out at night, do I eat dinner before or after? lately I've been eating a small snack before and then chicken breast or some other protein after. So I dont exactly have a real meal, but I don;t cook often anyway. I prepare things for the week and then freeze them.

Also, do you suggest a specific amount of calories to consume? I'm going with 1000-13 or 1400, I just dont want to be too low or too high. This site suggested 1500 to lose 1.314 lbs a week.

This is another thing im concerned about although im willing to give it up to meet my goals. Drinking...Since im out of college I still enjoy going out, I';m not a huge drinker but everyonce in a while I enjoy going out with friends. I try to stay away from beer as it is and stick to vodka and soda water. It's not quite as bad...any thoughts?

If you are going to the gym and work out constantly, the mucle fibers of which you have ripped wont repair them as well compaled to having a full nights rest. The Protien helps repair our mucles so that we will become stronger, getting a goodnights rest works very well. I recommend it to everyone.

Well I go to the gym at night. I get to work at about 730 and wake up at 615 as it is... can't imagine getting up ealier- lol. I usually leave the office by 6 and go home to change and then leave for the gym (its like a 5 min walk, thankfully). My day usually goes like this (ideally)

8 am : coffee
9 am: cereal (kellogg complete is great) or egg whites w turkey
11:30: snack- apple or some fruit- or yogurt
1:30 lunch- either a salad or chicken w rice
4:30- nuts or fruit or seomthing
615ish to 715ish gym
745ish dinner- sushi.... or chicken, or fish.... I try not to eat bread. and no fruit after 5 (not sure why but seems to work)
I also tend to eat sugar ffree chocolate Jello pudding- its really good and SO low in calories that you can 'pig out' but its worth it.
I aim to stay under 1500 calories a day but rarely make it (oops!!!).
I do go out and drink w friends... I look at it as a hazard of being young. Light beers only have 100 calories so they arent too harmful esp if you only have a few! I used to do the vodka thing but tonic surprisingly has a lot of calories- so be ware..... i now do diet coke and vanilla vodka (but beware you'll drink a pitcher and not realize it!!!)

hope this helps!! last night i did an hr on the eliptical (thought i was going to die!!!!)

You have been so helpful...Thankyou for everything. It's definately nice to have someone to talk to that is doing the same thing. My boyfriend has the exact opposite problem....very fast metabolism.

I try to stick to under 1500 calories as well. I 've been good the last 2 days. I have an alumni party for my college tonight...so I might just sip wine. but Thank you for all of your tips!

The Eliptical is tough, especially for an hour. I try to do an hour every time I go, It burns a lot of calories as well!

Do you cut carbs out completely? I have been for the most part, but sometimes i get very sick of lettuce...I stear away from breads and pasta, I havent tried rice, but brown rice could be good.

thanks again

hey! omg no problem. its so helpful to talk to someone who is doing it. the girl i sit behind in work INHALES food and loses weight doing so. its absurd to me. I didnt cut out carbs completely.... but i try and eat brown rice or other brown things- wheat bread etc.... never white rice never white bread.

i would say def drink up on the wine esp bc if not you feel like you are cheating yourself and that sucks too... i mean tis a diet but please lets be realistic! i am really bad w sweets- thats my main problem :( yikes.

anyways i have been ok today- so far 750 calories... which for me isnt too bad. im craving m&ms though which is problematic. havent figured out how to curb that craving. we will see.

talk soon!

I love sweets! I've been doing 2 things....1 if I want to indulge, I trick myself and i have a Sugar Free Chocolate / vanilla snack pack. They use splenda as a sugar substitute and it only has 60 calories. Other people dont speak highly of them, but I love them! so that helps. And also I do cheat a little, If I have a serious sweet craving and the snack pack wont do it, I do allow myself a small piece of candy (today I had a carmel nestle nips) which I found out that they do have sugar free nips....so maybe look into those too. But I cannot live w/o sweets! So I'm careful....I make sure I count it in my daily calories, and so far I have been doing pretty good and staying within my range.

I also stay away from anything white (rice, bread, etc.) but I've been allowing some wheat bread from time to time. Have a great weekend! this is going to be my test...I find the weekends to be the most difficult!

hey! my biggest problem is that i get off my diet so easily. its hard for me to remind myself when im stressed at work etc that i am on a diet and i dont need that snickers bar or roll or whatever other junk i find to get through the day. thats the most dificult. i guess its more about seperating the emotions from eating.... which is how we all got here i feel.

ive been upping my strength workouts so lets see if that helps. i absolutely hate cardio and find no motivation to do it... ive been doing like 20-25 min a day (5 days a wk) and then on one of those days ill do a long workout--- like 45+ min.... its SO boring to me to run on a treadmill even when the TV is on. Def prefered sports etc..... and even suicides! (never thought i'd say that).

anyways hope your wkd awent well.. I think I ate about 40,000 calories!!!