My Personal Goals. Are they doable?

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  • Currently, I weight 141. I started a diet today. I got a lot of healthy foods at the grocery store today, and I am making a solid commitment to lose weight. I am doing the slim-fast diet(ish). I'm using the shakes as meal replacers. I plan on doing a bit of working out every day. I ride my bike daily to and from school, so that's built in exercise. I am a size 8 in pants (and to be quite honest those are a big snug). I have never in my life been this heavy. For my frame, my weight doesn't sit well, and I am looking to get back into the size 4's I was in last year. I had a bit of a rough year... but I am moving forward and taking charge of my body!

    Any suggestions?
  • Mind the Slim-fast shakes, you might go nuts and eat everything in sight from not feeling satisfied/full. I'd suggest making sure you eat plenty of protein and fats, and high-volume low-calorie (giant salads, stir fries, etc) meals tend to be good for being both filling and healthy.

    Good luck losing the weight! You can do it.
  • Also Slim-Fast shakes have a LOT of sugar in it, plus the sugar you add by mixing it with milk. I personally LOVE Slim-Fast shakes...they taste so good, and it was easy for me to follow, and I really didn't get sick of them. Its the sugar that is HORRIBLE for me though...
    Sounds like you are on track with exercise!
  • I think I said something similar regarding the SlimFast shakes in another one of your posts... I could never sustain a diet using those as meal replacements (other than for breakfast).

    What makes you want to go the shake route? The ease? Do you hate to cook?
  • Quote: I think I said something similar regarding the SlimFast shakes in another one of your posts... I could never sustain a diet using those as meal replacements (other than for breakfast).

    What makes you want to go the shake route? The ease? Do you hate to cook?
    You did Honestly, I don't have time. I'm a busy college student and I need something I can grab in a cruch, ya know? I've used the EAS shakes before and loved them as meal replacers, and with the SlimFast, you get snacks throughout the day. I'm hoping I don't binge. :-/
  • Gotcha, well as I said... look into getting a personal blender (I got mine at target for like $18) and check out some lean whey protein powders... GNC has buy one get one half off deals all the time.

    I think it would end up being cheaper and you'd get more protein, and you can make your shakes more interesting and healthy by adding fruit (I do blueberries and bananas). The personal blenders are made so that you can just press the button, blend, grab the cup and go... there is an opening at the top to sip from.

    The extra protein can give you more energy than a Slim Fast can... the only thing you'd be missing are any extra vitamins Slim Fast might have, but that can be accomplished with adding milk, fruit, and taking a multivitamin! (I take adult gummies because pills make me nauseous haha).

    You probably know this, but make sure you're eating around every 4 hours to keep your metabolism going... don't discount low volume, high (good) fat snacks... I was always skeptical of having 2tb of peanut butter or a small handful of almonds for a snack, but they really do fill you up!

    Another one of my favorite grab-and-go snacks are vitatop muffins... I buy them in chocolate and banana nut. They come frozen, and I throw them in my backpack on my way to my 8am class... by my 1030 or so snack time they are thawed out. About 100 cals and LOTS of fiber to keep you full. I usually have them with vanilla chai tea (I keep tea bags in my backpack as well for when I'm hungry but I really shouldn't eat).

    Right now I'm trying to do a more whole-foods lifestyle (cook for myself, less processed stuff) but I did a lot of convenience stuff when I went from 138-129... I think the sodium and too many carbs are what caused me to stall out at 129, so that's why I'm changing it up.
  • I've done Slim Fast numerous times and I never got past the first week. I was so ravenous from not having any actual food that I was clawing at the fridge. IMHO it's not a diet you can sustain for an extended period of time and as soon as someone transitions back to normal foods they tend to put the weight right back on because they never learned how to portion/count/& choose the right foods.

    I think of Slim Fast as more of a "quick fix" for an event that you need to lose a few pounds to attend.
  • From the many discussions I've seen on the boards here, it seems that the most successful weight loss attempts are those that are sustainable in the long term for that person. It's almost like you need to start thinking about how you're going to maintain the weight loss early on because you can't go back to your old habits once you lose the weight -- that's what caused you to gain, after all.

    So, it's not necessarily that slimfast shakes in and of themselves are bad, the question is whether this is sustainable for you. I'm assuming that you don't necessarily think this is doable long term, or you wouldn't have asked...

    It seems that often issues arise when something comes in that breaks a routine. A vacation, or even a weekend, throws you off plan. And that happens to all of us. Afterwards, our normal "plan" sometimes seems less appealing, or we are just less motivated. Or you just get sick of the taste of those shakes! And then, too quickly, we get off plan, gain back weight, and feel like failures at weight loss. The problem in these cases isn't us, per se, it's that we didn't have plans that could work long term.

    So as you drink your shakes now, you might want to think about how to transition to something you can stick to long term.
  • One more Slim Fast warning...sorry.

    I started out with them too and found myself lethargic and constipated. Someone here warned me that it could potentially be the Slim Fast doing it to me. I cut them out and have been very happy with my energy boost and regularity! So just be on the look out for that.

    That said, I love that you said you are making a "solid commitment"! That will bring you far!
  • We're all busy Some of us are in college full-time, some of us have several kids, many work 40+ hours a week, and a few are dealing with all 3!!

    I've maintained for 7 years now with one pregnancy break and also started my journey a bit heavier than you when in college-full time. IMO, and any maintainer will agree, is that you need to learn to take 30=60 minutes per week to plan and prepare your meals. Whether that's cooking a large batch, finding a place to pop in a frozen meal, whatever, it doesn't matter - but you need to find a long-term solution.

    *Everybody* has just one hour a week maximum to plan their weekly meals.

    Riding your bike and purchasing healthy foods is good (assuming the healthy foods are still within your calories), but a sugar shake meal replacement is not setting you up for long-term success
  • One thing I have learned, is never lose weight doing something that is not sustainable after you have lost your weight.

    Because part of losing weight is reteaching yourself the ways to maintain a smaller frame. If you lose the weight, but haven't given yourselves any tools for maintaining it, you're going to fall right back into the old routines and just do it all over again.

    I doubt there is anyone here that hasn't tried various shakes and such, but at the end of the day, most of us have to just do it the old fashion way.
  • But to answer your question "Is it doable" to go from your size 8's to your old size 4's - absolutely

    When I was in your exact position 7 years ago, I bought a large cooler bag with large ice pack and prepared all my food in the morning- a salad, a sandwich, fruits, whatever.

    The major downfall of "the busy college student" is buying food at the cafeteria, fast food, etc. Nobody in college got fat eating lettuce It's the weekends out, the quick snack in the cafeteria, the latte, etc. Calorie counting is IMO, the best way to balance going out with friends/sharing a nice coffee/but still losing weight.

    My rule... if I can't count it, I don't eat it. Aside from being a guest at someone's home, I said 'no' if I didn't know what was in it.
  • Quote: From the many discussions I've seen on the boards here, it seems that the most successful weight loss attempts are those that are sustainable in the long term for that person. It's almost like you need to start thinking about how you're going to maintain the weight loss early on because you can't go back to your old habits once you lose the weight -- that's what caused you to gain, after all.
    This is exactly right and why people mistakingly say dieting doesn't work. It works all right but when you stop dieting if you don't have new habits your weight comes right back.

    Quote: You probably know this, but make sure you're eating around every 4 hours to keep your metabolism going...
    You are incorrect that is not how our metabolism work. It takes days of underfeeding for our metabolism to slow down and in fact the bodies first response is to slightly increase our metabolism. The idea that you need to eat ever 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going is a myth. Having said that it miight be a good idea to avoid poor food choices.
  • Quote: This is exactly right and why people mistakingly say dieting doesn't work. It works all right but when you stop dieting if you don't have new habits your weight comes right back.



    You are incorrect that is not how our metabolism work. It takes days of underfeeding for our metabolism to slow down and in fact the bodies first response is to slightly increase our metabolism. The idea that you need to eat ever 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going is a myth. Having said that it miight be a good idea to avoid poor food choices.
    Oh I missed this one! Yes meal frequency/metabolism for the average person has been discounted over and over again through nutrition research (it's promotional weight loss products that like to keep it going). Medical conditions aside (say, diabetic who needs certain snacks at certain times), you really can just eat your 3 square meals and get the same benefit as 5-6 small meals. It's all personal preference.
  • Quote: This is exactly right and why people mistakingly say dieting doesn't work. It works all right but when you stop dieting if you don't have new habits your weight comes right back.



    You are incorrect that is not how our metabolism work. It takes days of underfeeding for our metabolism to slow down and in fact the bodies first response is to slightly increase our metabolism. The idea that you need to eat ever 3-4 hours to keep your metabolism going is a myth. Having said that it miight be a good idea to avoid poor food choices.
    Quote: Oh I missed this one! Yes meal frequency/metabolism for the average person has been discounted over and over again through nutrition research (it's promotional weight loss products that like to keep it going). Medical conditions aside (say, diabetic who needs certain snacks at certain times), you really can just eat your 3 square meals and get the same benefit as 5-6 small meals. It's all personal preference.
    It helps with GERD!! I can attest to that! (Which, I might had, has not been a problem for a long time now! )