Girls in their 20's who want to lose about 100 pounds

Hi, my name is Suzanne and I am 23 years old. I weigh 258.3 pounds(yikes) and would really like to get down to between 140 and 150. I was wondering if there was anyone else out there in their 20's who has about that much they want to lose. We could work together and stay motivated to reach our goals!!! Also, if there is anyone in their 20's who has lost that much and wants to share their success story, I would love to hear it! Thanks!

hi amocatte! a couple of us on here have bum knees, too. but don't let that stop you from exercising! for now it might be best to focus more on watching your calorie intake and easing into exercise, if you're new to it. some ideas could be walking, that's always good, or the elliptical, or swimming. bicycling can be good, depending on what part of your knees bother you. strength training is great too. you can do most of the moves sitting down, and the lower body ones will help strengthen the muscles around your knees, helping to alleviate some of the pressure.

chicks!

i just realized i've worked out every day since saturday and i've burned 2,000 calories! that is super crazy hard to do at 180. i used to be able to burn a good 1000 if i pushed it when i weighed more, but to burn 500 cals now every part of me has to be glistening with sweat. even my ears sweat! on the way home from the gym last night i'd worked so hard that my body heat was fogging up the windows! seriously! all the other windows and the other half of the windshield were perfectly clear. crazy and awesome!!!!!! 

dalma-way to go on the workouts!!  Your suggestion for arby's scared the crap out of me!  Just thinking about sitting in front of a mirror with a greasy sandwich in my hand makes me think twice about ever eating a greasy sandwich again!  Way to go on the cooking!

ana-what kind of cereal do you use?  This idea is slowly growing on me.  I truly LOVE cereal and of course I LOVE cheese......but together?  Wow.

amocatte-I'd suggest doing something you like.  Remember, any exercise is good exercise.  I started out walking and just tried to walk longer and faster.  Good luck :)

amocatte- Walking and swimming are both excellent "starting-out" activities. Swimming especially 'cause it's so much "easier" on the joints, etc. 

dalma- Sounds like you're doing great, girl!! Great job on that exercise.

ally- GET that scale!! 

iwill- I wish I was immune to greasy sandwich syndrome (gss for short) but alas. Now I just wish I had access to a McDonald's so I could get a double cheeseburger. It's a good thing I don't drive. *lol*

Well, girls, I hooked up with a friend, and the two of us are going out walking 2-3 times a week together, which is helping me get out on my own to go walk on *most* of the other days. Last week I got in at LEAST 30 minutes of walking (and usually closer to an hour) quite a few days. (I've exercised 7 days out of the last 10.) That's really amazing for me. Now, if I could just get my eating under control... (4 bad days out of the last 10.)

Well, I'm doing better, and we've got some meal plans for the week. I'm going to do gyros, meatloaf with veggies and potatoes, and bierocks with homemade potato salad out of the leftover mashed potatoes. If we ever get to the grocery store that is. I hate being "out" of food. I get psychologically stressed out that there's not enough to eat and tend to overeat trying to prove myself wrong.

Hope you're all keeping well. Here's to kicking butt for the remainder of the week! 

hey ladies!  just checking in.  i am on my first day with seattle sutton and i have to say, the food is actually decent.  not as delicious as say, the salmon and veggies that you can get for about $25 in a restaurant, but much better than frozen dinners.  i really think that this is going to help me to get in better food!  i have healthier and more filling breakfasts to choose from, salads that are already made -- with dressings on the side!! -- and lots of fish, turkey and chicken meals.  the "desserts" are decent too... sugar free rice pudding, different fruits, etc.  best of all, they have all of the nutritional info on the package so this is making logging a BREEZE!!!!  i am going to try 1-2 other services in the next few weeks and settle on one for the New Year.  this is the first time in MONTHS that i have felt like i have some control over the process and over this aspect of my life IN SPITE OF MY SCHEDULE in ages!!!!!!!!

ugh. so, for the last 2 weeks my ovarian cyst decided to kick and scream for attention, causing me to miss going to the gym because of discomfort. then this weekend I went to a funeral party. potluck. apparently everyone decided to bring something EXTREMELY NUMMY. i tried a bit of almost everything. went from 237-8 to 243 over a weekend. !!!. down to 241 this morning. am hoping it's all water weight due to eating loads of refined sugars. now I have a cold AND a screaming ovary. I might force myself to get to the gym anyway later in the week. ugh ugh ugh.

Good morning, ladies!

Watchme,  I'm glad the foods are working out for you!  That's awesome, chica! :-)

Dalma, 2,000 cals at the gym is AMAZING!  You're kicking ass, lady!  Good for you!  And YAY on the boxing!  Rock it out! :-)

Akela, I'm sorry you're so stressed, chica... Yay for meal plans, though!  That's TOTALLY helpful! :-)

Antiquitas, I'm sorry about the ovarian cyst... I know those can be super painful!  Feel better soon!

Okay, so yesterday I went to Target on my lunch break and got my scale!  Last night when I weighed before dinner it said 159.0lbs, and this morning when I first woke up it said 155.4lbs.  It's nice to know what my weight is, but now I'm conflicted as to what time to weigh myself.  When I was using the scale at work, I always weighed at 3pm (on Tuesdays and Fridays), because I liked knowing that it was probably my average daily weight.  Since I can't do that now, though, I'm wondering if it's better to go by my evening weight or my morning weight... Or average the two?  Is stepping on the scale twice a day really a good idea, anyway? *sigh* 

In any case, it's nice to know that I'm definitely still in the 150lbs (and not in the 160s), and it give me a clear idea of where I need to go from here.  I'm going to restart my weight loss spreadsheet that I'd given up on MONTHS ago, and start doing measurements again.  I really think that not keeping myself accountable is 90% of the reason I've slacked off lately.  There's exactly 2 weeks until Thanksgiving "break" starts, and I'd like to be down 4lbs (morning weight 151.4, evening weight 155lbs).  I know in all likelihood I'll gain most of that back over Thanksgiving, but at least I'll go into December still in the 150s and not in the 160s again.  I'm thinking gym for sure tonight...  Gotta get started on burning 7000 calories in the next 7 days! :-)

i'm glad the prepared meals are working out so far watchme!

ally, duh! weigh yourself in the morning! the higher, later weight includes your clothes, all the food you've eaten during the day, and any extra water our bodies tend to add on during the day. weigh yourself as soon as you get up, after you use the bathroom, and totally nekkid. that will be your truest weight.

Akela: Sorry to hear about your hotel stay :S Good letter though! WTG on the walking - I keep trying to get someone a friend to walk with me but they bail out :S Maybe I'll start a facebook group!

Dalma & Ally: Thanks for the kind words. My mom is still really out of sorts but she's doing ok. Shes heading up to her parents house out of town tomorrow for her birthday. That will be nice for her.

Ally: I've been planning my meals for a week and a half. I might not be losing weight because of it yet - but it does definitely make life easier.

Iwill: I hate that too. Meanwhile in the trip to Arby's (Or KFC in my case) you could have made something much more sastisfying and healthy at home :S

Welcome new ladies! Usually this group is so chatty you can't keep up. Stick around - it gets better :)

As for me still maintaing and heading to the gym tonight for the first time since like August! Whoot!! (It's been so long that I couldn't even remember what to put in my gym bag!)

Lol, you girls sure are a chatty bunch!  Looks like I'll fit right in ;-)

I do have a question, though. 

Do you find it's easier/more beneficial to work out in the morning or in the evenings?  I have always abhorred getting up before 6am, and I have found that I usually have time in the evenings between work and dinner time.

I have heard it's better to work out in the mornings because it boosts the metabolism and keeps it going all day, etc.  However, I've also heard it is most effective to work out between 4pm and 6pm.

Your thoughts?

hey ladies!

I'm sick :S. I have a mild food poisoning, which I'm blaming on a glass of juice I drank yesterday. I'm at school right now but I think I'll skip my evening classes and go home to rest a bit. I haven't had anything to eat yet (the mere thought of food makes me sick) but I'm drinking tons of gatorade.

akasha, glad you're back at the gym. :)

ally, I agree with dalma. Weigh yourself in the mornings ;)

watchme, way to go with the prepared meals. Knowing the nutritional value of each meal is awesome!

dalma, lol with the body heat fogging your car windows! It happens to me as well, somehow my body is like a walking weird mini sauna.

iwill, I like plain Corn Flakes since I'm more into salty things in the morning. Sometimes I add a tablespoon of honey or a whole banana, but only when I want a more filling breakfast.

amocatte, I agree with akela that walking is an awesome newbie exercise. I used to do it in the mornings because I'm a couch potato and once I'm back home from school, I'm really really lazy. Also what helped was to divide my workout. If I wanted to walk 30 minutes everyday I did two 15-minutes mini sessions. To accomplish this I got off the bus one stop ahead of my usual stop and walked to my destination.

Hi Everyone...have been lurking the last couple days, cos work has been busy.

Welcome HealthIsIn, frumious, amocatte

Dalma, good luck witht he switching things up, hope it works out....nice dress!!  Good luck with the boxing...I love when things get all fogged makes me feel like I'm really working out...like a sweaty tshirt...love when I can wring it out!! as gross as that sounds!

Ana...gonna try out the cream cheese cereal thing, that sounds way interesting!! I often have mine with yogurt not milk...and like you said it maintains the crunch :)

Amocatte, I also started at the 300 mark, good luck, you can totally do it...ease into things don't jump in too much and get burnt out or injured....and the knee thing...I have terrible ones I am actually going to see an orthopedist on Monday cos I reached a whole new level of pain in my knees....in hindsite I probably should not have waited so long...so just take things easy but obviously still getting in a decent workout....if you're joining a gym use the eliptical or crossramp over the treadmill its easier on the joints.  Swimming is also a good thing, yoga... also as for time do what works for you, its not always easy to maintain a gym routine day in and out, for some it might get easier, but not for some so whatever time you find you can go and keep going.

Watchme....glad to see things looking up!!

Antiquitas....hope it all works out.

Ally...I'd go for once a day on the scale...things fluctuate so much throughout the day, just pick one and stick with it!

Been so good at the gym and in eating...and still no change :( but keeping at it!

Ok, so Tuesdays now scare the crap outta me!  All because of 4 free group training sessions for the month of November.  Yesterday was my 2nd one, so I'm halfway done.  We did squats and biceps the first time, abs and shoulders this time, along with 2 10 min. HIIT sessions on the elliptical or treadmill.  Might have done too much, because I got physically sick when I got home.  Today my abs are crazy, but I made it through the 1 hr. Zumba class this morning, despite everything.  I need more rest and less stress.

Hey gals, sorry I have been absent. Part of it is super stress from house/second job hunting, and part of it is that I am being lazy. I re-commited to myself today. I have been dreading running on my treadmill, so I decided that since my main goal is good health, I will walk instead. So every other day I will walk at 3.0 mph for 30 minutes and then do 30min of my yoga dvd, and then the other days I'll use the exercise bike for 45 min. (except Sunday, which I'll take off.) Anyway, my goal is to get up at 6 M-Sat and do that so I get it out of the way and then to try really hard to eat at 1700, but no more than 2000 cals a day and LOG! I am also going to try and use my private blog every day so I get that stress and crap out of my head and somewhere else. Anyway, welcome to the new ladies and good luck to us all! Also, Akela, I am sorry to hear about your negative hotel experience.

STILL haven't been to the store. Grrr... I hate Wednesdays. Dan gets home so damn late... I should just suck it up. He does the same trip on Thursdays for me while I work... But he doesn't... I mean, he doesn't have to be with David ALL that time with no breaks whatsoever, so it's not quite the same. But he's the breadwinner, so I guess he deserves a night out. 

David's just so damn AWKWARD right now. It's exhausting. (Whine, whine, whine, I know.) ;) Sorry, girls, I'm done. 

But I had some squash that had been sitting on my counter for freaking ever, so I made a squash soup (Two acorn and one butternut.) Girls, the butternut was just amazing... It smelled vaguely like cantaloupe when I cut into it. Very sweet and numbly. I keep a little $4.00 packet of saffron around the house (enough for one dish, really.) so made a chicken rice curry to go with the soup. Also made up some flatbread. Pretty good meal.  I haven't eaten since breakfast (back to doing the huge 500+ calorie breakfast thing) so wasn't hungry all day. Which is nice. I still have a few calories left for a snack later if I want. (Yay! That NEVER happens.) Really need to go walk, but it's decided to be winter all of a sudden, so don't know if I'm going to make it, or not. (It's still above freezing (technically) though, so I think I will go.)

Okay, here I go... Vroom. 

watchme- Checked out the Seattle Sutton website last night and I'm mad jealous! I'd love the convenience of being on a plan like that, but really can't justify paying for it. But you can swing it, so go for it, girl!! Sounds awesome and the "fresh" factor is a definite plus. (Obviously.) It really does look awesome. 

ally- I've been told one should weigh once a day, first thing in the morning, after you use the bathroom, but before you eat or drink anything. You can def. weigh more then once a week, but it's not usually recommended to weigh yourself more then once a DAY due to the crazy mad fluctuations out bodies go through. Hooray for having a new scale! 

antiquitas- Feel better, hon. :( 

akasha- Gym?? What's a gym? (I know I'm EVENTUALLY going to have to go to one, but they're still too scary, so good for you, girl!) 

amocatte- I'm seriously of the opinion that so long as you're working out, the time isn't AS important as getting out and doing something at some point. I'd just try to find something that works for your schedule that you can do every day, around the same time of day, so that it becomes a "habit". 

ana- Feel better, girl. Ewww. Gatorade. I'm so sorry. I know it serves a purpose, but it's so gross to me.

mladdy- You're a vet so I know you know what you're doing, but it sure seems like you're pushing yourself awfully hard. Just a sideline observation. Hope the stress is less, ASAP!   

kathleen- Whoot for getting back on track! I love reading other peoples blogs. :) I have a livejournal account that's gotten all "diet" oriented, but I still like posting in it. I'm thinking of starting to post pics of meals. Diet food porn. Mmmm.... Food Porn. 

I went for my walk, damnit. I froze, but I went. 

(And once I got out, I enjoyed it. That always happens. I should just GO. I never hate it, I just hate getting started.) 

hi all, i've been counting for just over a week and a half now and i've lost about a kg - 2pounds-ish. i've found it's quite hard to make up all my calories some days - my target is 1500-1700. i've found having a buddy doing exactly the same thing is helping immensely, and i wish i'd known about these forums ages ago. I've done all kinds of stupid diets, from weight watchers to sure slim to atkins and i've found them helpful, right up until i get bored or feel to restricted. so far, this has been so much easier! my aim is to get back to doing 10km walks now that daylight savings has kicked in and it's lighter in the evenings - i'm starting small with 2-3km and then working up. i am about 171cm/5'6 and currently 129kg/284pounds and i want to get to 75kg/165pounds byt next year. i've decided small goals will work best, so i'm taking it 5kg/10pounds at a time.

Amocatte: I am a firm believer in working out at whatever time you are most likely to follow thru. If you are not a morning person, the benefits of working out in the morning aren't gonna do you a hell of a lot of good cause you'll be in bed and vice versa the evening isn't more effective if you aren't there. I work out after work cause my gym is a block away from the office. Try as I may to take a Sunday morning yoga class - it just hasn't happened. Do what fits your lifestyle and whatever get's you sweaty more often :) Walking is an excellent start as netioned by some of the other girls. Welcome to the group!

Thanks Ana! Sorry to hear about your tummy! Hope you feel better!

Fayny: Your efforts will catch up to you :)

Mladdy: WOW! Sounds like you are really putting in the work! Keep it up but be careful!

Akela: But hey you walked last! The gym only works if you actually go! Walking works anywhere :) I went last night and I'm going to go again tonight. I always try to cram in the sessions while I'm sort of in the mood LOL

ALL: I went to the gym last night for the first time since August. I got on the elliptical and set it for 20 minutes plus a 5 minute cool down. Once I had reached about 15 mins I realized I could go for longer. I didn't do any extra time really but I pushed hard throughout the cool down to burn exactly 300 cals - turned out it was in exactly 25 mins and exactly 2 miles :D Doing it again tonight!

hey guys!  seattle sutton is still working great.  i actually have food to eat when i go home and am no longer going to mcdonald's or burrito beach or chipotle or some other sandwich shop after work.  i am not really losing anything since i am not exercising and am still eating snacks in addition to the food, but i am eating at maintenance or just under it as opposed to the OVER MAINTENANCE that i had been allowing myself to do for the past several months.  i already feel better and my spirits are up a lot more too!

i will probably renew with seattle sutton again for one week and then i am going to try the other service right after the thanksgiving holiday to see how i like it.

also, since the last time i checked on my somewhat broken scale, i was in the high 270s teetering on 280, i have decided to ignore the scale for a while and to continue focusing on eating this yummy, healthy food.  i am also trying to get back to the gym a few times a week once more (though working til 11 each night this week is not helping with this!). 

i have set a year-end goal of 268 though.  i am hoping and praying that that is realistic, especially since i am going to buy new batteries for my scale next month and hope that a more accurate reading will work in my favor.  my "i'll be happy" weight goal is 168 (no longer obese for my 5'3.5" frame) so being at 268 by jan 1, 2010 would put me at the 100 lb to lose starting point.... still an overwhelming task but not quite as overwhelming as the 160-180 lbs challenge i was facing at the beginning of this process...  overall, i would be down by only 60 lbs though at that point.... frustrating, since i was down as low as 251 last year and more like 75 lbs.  (*kicking myself*)

watchme, i'm glad the sutton thingy's working out! and stop kicking yourself. time machines don't exist yet, so you can't go back and fix what went wrong. the closest thing we do have to time machines is prescience. you already know that the choices you make now will affect the future, so you have the choice to make decisions that will give you the results you want in the future.

it's wholly up to you, and you only, to stop stress snacking. you'll get back to the gym when you can, but in the meantime there are other things in your power to help you get to 268. you are a dedicated woman; i know you can do it!