I'm 5"6' and started at 163 pounds on May 25th.
I'm now (12th of July) down to 152 pounds (yay!), but lately I've been slacking quite a lot, both in exercise and my eating habits, so I decided to join a forum to keep me motivated
I've spent so many years trying every diet going. Weight Watchers worked whilst I was counting, but as soon as I got too busy to count, or had no chance to go online to point, I lost focus and the weight piled back on. Cabbage Soup, Atkins, Dukan, Hay...none of them worked.
I gained an extra 8.8 pounds this year during my first year at uni (= alcohol and junk food and not a lot of exercise...) and when I arrived home for summer I decided enough was enough. I want to lose the weight but I also want to be healthy again. So I decided to lose the weight MY way. With no strict "diet" guidelines.
My motto is: I'm not on a diet. I'm on a Healthy Eating Plan.
So I cut out most of the junk food (sometimes a Chinese is the only solution), cut down on coffee, started eating a big breakfast of toast, fruit and yoghurt; I swapped sandwiches for tuna or ham salads at lunch, stopped eating carbs at dinner and went heavy on the fresh fruit and veg at all times.
Snacks are almonds or 0% fat yoghurts instead of biscuits, and I started exercising: at least 20 minutes of controlled exercise (aerobics videos, elliptical machine, jogging) plus all the walking and running up and down stairs that I do at work every day.
I'm hoping to be at 143 pounds by 2nd of September which is when I fly back to uni. I know that if I stay focussed, I can do it. So here goes!
Dhani