Morning ladies!
Ok, so I did eat more last night, bringing my calories up to around 1240, which is still way low for me. But it's ok, my body can burn fat instead, and that's kind of the whole point, right?
Anyway, once again today, I have no idea what my day is going to be like. I probably won't exercise, unless I'm feeling particularly energetic when I get home from work, which I seriously doubt since I have a long shift. But, you never know.
The funny thing is, when I first started this health revolution back in February, I almost always worked out in the evening. Most nights it was 10:00 before I'd ever make it to the treadmill, work or no. And now it seems like if I don't do it in the morning or early afternoon I just don't do it. We'll see what happens.
Food today--I have no idea. We're out of just about everything, so I have no idea what I'm going to take for lunch. Possibly a can of soup and some crackers. Breakfast is going to be a mashed potato sandwich--my favorite! Dinner--who knows?
Water probably won't be that great, but I will try to drink a few glasses when I get home.
Julie, as for how I keep food "in control," the main thing that helped me was cutting out snacks and eating only when I'm hungry. Some people need snacks, but I find that when I snack, I just keep right on snacking, and it's usually not the healthiest of foods either. And my diet tracking software keeps me honest, or journaling my intake in any form (I just prefer the software because it does so much more). And counting calories lets me eat whatever I want, just as long as I count it. I don't know how I could even stick to a restrictive diet (obviously I can't, as I have tried many times in the past). I don't know why it took me so long to figure it out, since my father reminds me all the time "It's all just a matter of Calories In versus Calories Out." You'd think hearing that over and over would give me a clue as to what to do! This is the first "diet" I've ever been on that I think I can stick with for the rest of my life, specifically because I don't feel like I'm on a diet.
But I know that can't work for everyone. You just have to keep trying until you find something that works for you. I tried for about 15 years before I found what works for me!
Ok, so that brings me to my thought provoking question: If you have been overweight for a greater part of your life, when/how did you realize/decide that you needed to do something about it?
I'm not sure that's very clear. Hmm... hopefully I can clarify by answering.
I have been overweight my entire life. When I was about 11 years old, I think I weighed around 150 at that time, my grandmother told me that she would reward me if I lost 10 pounds. I don't remember what the reward was--probably new clothes or shoes, knowing my grandma--but at that time I was already trying to lose weight. I didn't succeed. The next episode I remember is in 8th grade, I think I'd made it up to around 165-170 by then. It was the first time I had to change clothes for gym class, and I would always change in a different part of the locker room from the other girls because I was so embarrassed about my body. That spring I started doing some toning exercises, and even though I didn't lose many pounds I slimmed down some, to the point where a one of the girls in my class asked me if I was losing weight. I told her that I was trying. That felt so good, to have that acknowledgement. But again, I didn't succeed.
I've obviously tried many times between then and now, sometimes losing a few pounds, sometimes not, always gaining it back, usually with a few extras. This time something is different--I am different. When I graduated in December I expected to have this wonderful new life, and then a few months later it still hadn't arrived. I realized that in order for my life to change, I was the one that was going to have to change it. Granted, my life still isn't where I want it to be, and I know that losing weight isn't going to make everything perfect. But now that I am finally succeeding at losing weight I know that I can do whatever I set my mind to, and that knowledge will help me get to where I want to be. I guess I just got sick of my life being crap. My big point it, it has to be a personal decision to lose the weight, and you have to do it for yourself, or it won't work. I had to get to the point where I said, "I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Ok, that was a bit of a ramble. Sorry. Those memories have just been playing over and over in my head for a couple of days, along with some others. I tried to leave out most of the tangents.
Anyway, I guess my question is more like, "why do you want to lose weight?" I mean, I know there are the obvious reasons of looking better and getting healthy, but I think it has to get personal before we can really do anything about it. We have to internalize the struggle.
Whew... that was a long one. Time to get ready for work. Have a lovely day chickies!
~Elisha