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Old 10-01-2011, 11:11 PM   #1  
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Hi everyone!
I'm new here, and was looking for some advice..or motivation, to keep my diet going.

Story of my life:
When I was little, I was always a skinny kid, until I hit about 7 or 8 years old and I blew up. I blame my dad for this, always spoiling me with fatty foods. My mom says she would sometimes catch him giving me a fried chicken leg dipped in mashed potatoes and gravy when I was less than a year old! And since I didn't have to worry about my weight, I kept eating like this. Needless to say, this effects me now as a 20 year old.

When I was around 15, I lived in Mexico and fell in love! So I would be out all day and come back starving at night, just to find that my cousins had only left me leftover vegetables. Thanks to this "diet", I was weighing around 150 (the skinniest I've ever been). I remember still feeling fat at this weight, (especially since everyone in Mexico seemed to be super thin and perfect without dieting/exercise), which is why my goal weight is 140. But I still remember at least feeling close to "average" weight at that time. Now I just feel huge!

So to make a long story short, I had to move back to Chicago, making my perfect relationship.... a long distance one. I was so depressed, I just ate and ate to stop feeling "empty"...I got to 200 lbs (my highest). Since then, I've done a lot of fad-diets, and even tried exercising and eating right, and my average weight these past few years seems to be around 175. The closest I've ever been to my goal weight, was 160. I find that I eat the most when I'm on vacation, and go back to Mexico to visit my boyfriend, (or when he comes here). Usually we just want to take advantage that we have about a month to be together as much as possible, and that usually means going to expensive restaurants every day. I know this is bad, but I usually tell myself, "I'll just diet when the vacation is over..", and I do! But it's so hard getting past the 170 mark! If I go up to 185, I can get back to 170 in about a week with just dieting, but after that..well in 6 years I've only gotten to 160 once.

So right now, I'm at 173. My 21st birthday is coming up (October 17th..party on Oct. 29th), and I'd like to lose weight for this day. But most of all, I want to lose as much weight as possible, by December 10th. That's the day I go back to Mexico for winter break, I'll be there for 4 weeks! So as dedicated as I am [now] to not over-eat when I go there, 4 weeks is a LONG time to watch my weight (I'm being tempted 24/7 while there), so I want to lose as much as possible so that if I do gain weight (which I most likely will), I won't be at that 170 mark again , and it'll be easier to lose the weight.

Right now, I'm doing the Special K diet. I've been on it for two weeks and I went from 184 to 173. (Although, I was at 173 after only one week, I was hoping to drop another 10 lbs the second week but after all that hard work my weight just stayed stable). The only reason I want to continue the Special K diet is because I spent all this money on their products planning to do this diet for a few months. I still want to do this, but my fear is that I'll rebound really bad. So I'm thinking of just continuing this diet until I finish all the products, and after that I'm not sure what I'm going to do. If I lost a lot of weight, I'll probably continue it; if not, I'll find something else. I understand that I can probably eat any cereal as a meal twice a day and lose weight, but I find that it's easier for me to follow a "structured" diet, instead of just "watching what I eat". And since I don't cook, this diet is the easiest- (and was also the diet I followed when I went down to 160..although I was also going to the gym those days because it was during the summer and I had a lot of time).

I guess I'm just looking for some advice or motivation to keep going. It's so hard dieting (as I'm sure you all know). I have no energy to exercise..ever..and that's part of the problem. Plus, in my house they're always making yummy food! It's hard to resist, and with the holidays coming up, it's gonna be even harder. So I want to do this diet for as long as possible and hopefully I'll lose a lot of weight; and then just "watch my weight" in Mexico, and that'll be enough *wishful thinking*. But anyway, just wanted to introduce myself, and hopefully get some words of advice/inspiration/motivation!

I appreciate if you read all that!
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Old 10-02-2011, 12:08 AM   #2  
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Well, I would say you have found your motivation for yourself. You want to be thinner by the time you go back to Mexico, you want to be thinner by your next birthday, you want to get as close to your goal weight as possible, you want to consume the products you currently spent money on, you have a structured program in place that you find appealing.

Eat less, move more---its that simple.

Good luck.
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Old 10-02-2011, 02:26 AM   #3  
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Hey and welcome!

My advice would be really straightforward (and brutally honest!): finish up eating all that Special K and find a different diet that you can live with for the rest of your life ^_^

If you hang out at the maintainer's section of this forum, I think you'll find that everyone who has lost weight and KEPT it off has done so by realizing that once the weight is lost the real work begins. Dieting is about finding a diet that helps you lose the weight but is also a way of eating that you can maintain for the rest of your life.

The reason Special K works is only because it reduces the amount of calories you eat each day. You could do the same thing with Cheerios, or a plate of eggs and a banana.(And with the latter one you are eating lots of PROTEIN and getting in tons of real vitamins... as opposed to a bowl of fortified carbohydrates!)

It's awesome that you realize about yourself that you need a lot of structure. There are some great diets out there you could check out that would provide you with more protein, more fruits/veggies, and fewer processed carbs and sugar than Special K.

The other thing I've learned from folks on this board is that successful weight loss never works with "I'll just start when..." It starts now! And it continues... all the time! Taking a planned diet break or eating at maintenance of course is fine, but I've learned that losers and maintainers are always vigilant and always working hard. Like you said, dieting is hard work, but it's also very rewarding!

Learning to cook (and loving to cook!) and making exercise a priority are important, but those can come later. Right now you could work on just focusing on developing a way of eating/diet that works for you in the long run and that gets you the proper nutrients.

We are all here to support you, so wish you the best of luck!!
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Old 10-02-2011, 04:33 AM   #4  
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My advice would be to educate yourself as much as possible by reading accurate information which sadly is difficult to come by.

Fortunately there is an odd guy named Lyle McDonald who has hundreds of free articles on his site and they're all accurate. Read 1 a day and soon you'll be an expert.
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Old 10-02-2011, 08:54 AM   #5  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by indiblue View Post
My advice would be really straightforward (and brutally honest!): finish up eating all that Special K and find a different diet that you can live with for the rest of your life ^_^
I totally agree. I mean it will be very difficult and I don't think very healthy to live off Special K diet forever. And what will happen when you stop? You will just end up gaining everything you lost back.

I have done diets my whole life but when I started actually just trying to be healthy is when I started really losing weight.

I can't cook worth anything lol. I burn water! But there are many things you can make that are simple and don't involve alot of effort and if you slowly begin to teach yourself some just basic recipes it helps alot. I stick with alot of frozen veggies that you can just pop in the microwave= super quick and yummy and easy. Sandwiches, salads, wraps. I am just beginning to use my crockpot to make chicken which requires like zero effort or cooking talent lol

I also really need structure. Without it I just won't get anything done. You can create your own structure and it really helps. Setting goals, writing in a journal daily, and keeping track of what you eat. I count calories. So i can plan out my meals ahead of time and know exactly what I need and what I am putting in my body I use sparkpeople.com to keep track. But there are tons of great sites out there as well.

Goodluck! And this is a wonderful website full of great people and it really helps keep me motivated
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Old 10-15-2011, 10:38 PM   #6  
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wow, thanks you guys for all your support! I know I haven't written in a while, I've just been super busy with midterms lately...as far as my diet goes, I haven't exactly been sticking to the Special K diet, but I was eating in moderation...for a while. Until just recently (like 2-3 days) I feel like I've thrown my diet out the window...but after reading these posts, I'm definitely going back on track starting tomorrow! I even started exercising (every tuesday and wednesday) and my school's gym...unfortunately, i haven't been able to go below 170 lbs yet!! This makes it super hard to stay motivated...I usually only have time for about an hour on the elliptical and then I have to go. I know it's not a lot, but it's a lot more than I used to do, and I sweat A LOT, and I make sure it's at the hardest level. But yeah, so far, I'm still at 173
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Old 10-15-2011, 10:44 PM   #7  
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start counting calories. find your BMR and start from there. 1200-1500 calories a day works well for most women. the special k diet works because by replacing 2 meals a day with cereal, you're taking a really good chunk out of the amount of calories you're consuming. if you're shy about exercising, i know there are a lot of people who've gotten by losing tons of weight by just calorie counting, but i'd recommend starting out with an exercise tape regardless.

good luck!
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