Posts by larienkoci

without well balanced nutrition, you will feel hungry most of the time. Look into increasing fiber, lean protein (think boiled/poached eggs etc), look at nutrients and the ones you are low on, find foods that will decrease the deficit and it helps me to take my vitamins. Next find food volume: look for things with low calories that you can have a boat load of...think lettuce, tomatoes, onions, celery. It always makes me feel better to have a plate heaping with goodness (low calorie fresh produce) and a little bit of badness (think turkey sausage or ham or baked potato). Try having meatless night like quinoa and chickpea curry or southwest black beans and rice (be careful not to eat too much rice and make sure the rice is unprocessed).

This works for me...good luck. Remember a lot of this journey is mind over matter. If you are constantly thinking about how good pizza tastes or how sweet and crunchy the cereal is you are going to eat those things. If you start thinking about how fresh an orange with strawberries is and how the citric acid dances in your mouth...you are going to eat the fresh fruit first. If you find yourself constantly thinking about food, grab some chewing gum and find something else to do ...maybe exercise will be your thing or maybe gabbing on facebook or exploring youtube who knows what entertains you besides food? You need to make those things the forefront of your day ....not food.

Now if 1400 calories is more than 1000 calories deficit for you - then you need to eat more in order to overcome this obsession. Otherwise, try to find other things -- this is your life and your decision. Only you can make the choices that affect your weight...no one can force you to eat or not so you have to take control of what you do to your body and be happy with the decisions you make. 

I think your view is pretty warped because a 1/2 cup of ice cream is not going to equate to a pound of fat. What kind of example are you setting for your children? Are they going to have the same relationship to food as you do? Probably.... so think about what relationship you want them to have and lead by example...you admit that your "sin" wasn't terrible so don't make it such a negative thing. Most people do enjoy a bit more on vacation...you will be home soon enough...and you have the rest of your life to focus on lettuce and cabbage. Have fun with your kids...play tag (if they are small) or beach volleyball (if they are big) and have that ice cream but don't feel guilty about it because they are listening...they are watching and they will pickup on all the things that their parents do whether it is verbalized or not.

If you've been on the journey for "some time now" and cannot allow yourself a single day of indulgence...perhaps you are in for a VERY long life journey. We all have bad days...it is okay to have a bad day....just get back up, dust yourself off, and ride the pony again. It is about consistency not about day to day. If you had munchkins every day with iced hot chocolate and blueberry muffins...you'd have a time losing poundage...but if you are good most days...yesterday isn't going to kill you nor your diet...its just a pound....that's not going to break you.

*agrees with ajaro* I have never given up my unprocessed red meat either! I think 1 or 2 times a week isn't bad! As for bacon though, I love the stuff but I don't have it very often anymore. It used to be 1 time a week as a definite, now it is more like 1 time a month or 1 time every other month. Bacon is great but it is a luxury for us that our diets cannot afford very often during the weight loss phase which is where we are right now!

I had bought a watch style heart rate monitor a couple of years ago and it never worked right. I have very small wrists and the bands that they come with did not flex well enough to keep the device in constant contact with my skin during workout. I got very frustrated with it so make sure whatever you get, it is comfortable on your wrist. Also, some of them depend on a thin layer of moisture between your skin and the device for more accurate results so you will need to wear it a couple of hours before you start...at least that is what I did although for me it made no difference. Here is a link to the one I have and hate:

http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Motiva-Petite-He art-Watch/dp/B0049J6U2A

I did purchase a bodybugg along with the digital display this year and I really love it. It was twice the cost of the MIO but I use it everyday and since I am a numbers person it works great for my character. I do not think it would be useful at all without the digital display to let me know in real time where my stats are at ...how many steps I've taken or how many calories I've burned. The downside is it has motion detectors in it and if you are doing certain exercise like biking it is not accurate at all where a heart rate monitor would be if the monitor works for you. The most accurate heart rate monitors are the chest straps though. 

Just remember, this is a choice...you are making choices each time you binge...each time you skip the gym....and those decisions are "catching" up with you. Once you realize this is a choice, you can then realize that you have control over it. You are binging because you feel loss of control in your life magnified by those in your environment. You will NEVER be able to control other people: don't waste the energy: all you can control is how you react to situations.

Focus on controlling your emotional responses and your decision making...you should be fine. Also, you are really blowing things out of proportion...you've gain 7 lbs after you lost 6 lbs...there is a REASON folks in your life are telling you they don't see any gain. Frankly, most people don't note that someone has gained weight or LOST weight until a fluctuation of say 25-30 pounds. Relax, chill and focus on you not your environment.

In many of your posts, you seem so desperate, maybe because you are feeling loss of control. It is time to stand up for yourself and make the decisions you want to make. You get to do that --you get to chose what you eat or at least how much you eat. You have the opportunity to control YOU....take that opportunity and get off the desperation roller coaster!

Original Post by vft: larienkoci, sounds like it was a PT from hell  I know what you mean about not sorting out the kitchen side of things first. I would like to think that at this stage I am able to keep my diet going while adapting to the new exercise regime. I hope that depsite a very small weight loss you still felt that you had accomplished something after your few weeks of PT.

Yes, I did accomplish a lot. I found out how much more I could actually do and how little I pushed myself. I was much stronger when I left than when I started. I lost about 10 inches from my body even though I had a very small weight loss. I also gained valuable understanding of changing workout routines and how to do that. I feel like I am having success now because of what I learned then. Another thing that I look back and see is that the PT was so demanding, I was HUNGRY afterward and I felt so entitled to rich food because I'd worked so hard. Now I understand that I should have had a small bit of protein (think protein drink) about 30 minutes before sessions to keep me from crashing hard and consuming loads of carbs.

Wow MCAT, that is a rough...and long study! Your brain needs energy so you are craving carbs which are quickly broken down into glucose for brain. I would just say, since this is a short term period in your life, give your brain the food it wants....have some carbs but try to make it "resistant" carbs like microwaving a potato and whole grain breads and don't forget popcorn because when you are stressed out, you need some crunch...at least I did! These things are also cheap and quick to fix which to a college student are probably pretty important too. If you want to try new stuff, grab a bag of frozen edamame, defrost in microwave and salt lightly before consuming. It gives you a little more chew. Just remember, this will pass in a few weeks after that time...after you've done really well on the test....start to get the rest of your life in order....focus on your diet and exercise during summer break. 

Omega-3 are said to increase memory and they come 100% from diet. I'd look for a quick supplement, maybe focus factor or something like that as money and time may limit your dietary choices. I do agree with the nuts suggestion. They are something that has a long shelf life and walnuts have a ton of omega-3 but be careful because if you are eating without paying attention, nuts can really pack a calorie punch. Last suggestion, try to start your day with omega-3 enriched eggs.

Also a quick google search turned up a lot of articles about sleep deprivation causing carb craving. Here is one link: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-h ealth/sleep/articles/2011/06/14/sleep-deprive d-teens-may-crave-carbohydrates. That search also showed that chromium supplements can help?

Best of luck!!!

Mulah in your world is called stew or soup in ours. All you will need to do is enter the ingredients into the new recipe user interface from the foods menu on the main toolbar. Once you enter the ingredients and the number of servings, the site will calculate the calories for each serving. Other Arabic foods can be entered the same way. Sometimes ingredients are used that are not in the database but a quick web search will give you the nutrition information for that ingredient. You create the ingredient in your custom foods and then use that entry for the recipe you create for the stew. This will give you the calorie calculation and nutrition information for a serving of the mulah.

Your life will NOT be over without him - you have to get away from that line of thinking. You absolutely can NOT make someone else love you....it does not matter how much you love them or what you are willing to do for them...either love is there or not. Do you want him to treat you this way for the rest of your life? Instead of turning yourself inside out over him, you should take this time to focus on you. You need to find some value in yourself because you don't need to depend on others for your happiness. Once you've found value in yourself, you can focus on your relationship with him. Some time away from each other may be the best thing that could happen to you two. Find yourself, find what is great about you and then find a way to share that with others in your life.

Now you said your family is away...but you did not say they didn't love you. I will assume that they do care and I will ask, what they would think of your mental state? If you think they would be upset, then you should pick up a phone and give them a call. The love, respect and appreciation of those in your life who actually know you can help you the most - even if it isn't coming from the source you want it to come from. If you think that they would not give a rat's behind about the way you feel, pick up the phone and give them a call. You need to figure out how to communicate effectively with your family because you need them whether you want them or not.

I also believe that the way we see the world is tainted by the way we feel about ourselves. Maybe, just maybe, your relatives do care but they don't know how to show you in the way you want them too. Sounds like a place to start a long conversation!

Last note: I have worked in the field of computers for 13 years and can say with all certainty that things happen to computers - end of story. If he cannot handle that, then he should not own one - period.