2nd Annual Merry Christmas to Yourself (Page 4)

jlseid - 2009-10-02 4:29 PM I was wondering, with meals that are prepared at home, how can you accurately estimate the amount calories you are consuming? Or is it necessary to only eat foods that you can count? Or do you have to do each ingredient seperately? Just looking for some thoughts. Thanks.

jlseid - 2009-10-02 1:29 PM I was wondering, with meals that are prepared at home, how can you accurately estimate the amount calories you are consuming? Or is it necessary to only eat foods that you can count? Or do you have to do each ingredient seperately? Just looking for some thoughts. Thanks.

pennylope - 2009-10-02 12:47 PM I know i'm a day late for the start...but can I still join in?  First off, I'd like to say that I am in awe of all of you with children and spouses and still being able to train and everything!!! I have me, myself, and i (and two fur children) and I find it hard sometimes...

Ok, so a bit of my backround story...as a teenager I was a distance runner and fell in to the trap that many type A female distance runners do...the obsessive weight loss and being underweight (I am 5'10" and weighed about 105 at HS graduation)...went off to college, decided not to run so that I could get to a healthy weight...but started rowing, became a lightweight rower...and the same old obsessive weight loss and exercise happened.  then, i yo-yoed the other way, went from 105 to 190 (still exercised a lot, but ate more than is imagineable) then back down to 120...then back up...etc...it was the vicious battle of restricting and then bingeing over and over and over.  obsessive calorie counting and obsessive exercise ruled me from the time i was 15 until about 23. it's surprising that i was able to get through school because, i swear, food and exercise was ALL i thought about.

Now, 5 years later, I've settled at 155ish.  And, I'm finally ok with food for the most part.  And even more spectacularly, I'm no longer at war with my body (no more looking at pictures or in the mirror and being disgusted)...I'm even happy with my body.  and the wonderfulness of my day isn't determined by a number on the scale or how much i can exercise or how little i can eat. But, I'd really like to lose about 10 to 15lbs (taking me to 140-145lbs), which would still keep me in the healthy range but would hopefully help me pick my running speed back up (I'm far slower than I was in college and high school).

ok...for the facts:
start: 155
goal: 140

jlseid - 2009-10-02 10:29 AM I was wondering, with meals that are prepared at home, how can you accurately estimate the amount calories you are consuming? Or is it necessary to only eat foods that you can count? Or do you have to do each ingredient seperately? Just looking for some thoughts. Thanks.

BunnyB - 2009-10-02 4:22 PM Is it too late for me to join in? I have already lost over 60 pounds, but still have a long way to go. I would love to drop 20 pounds by the end of the year.

justtrichris - 2009-10-04 6:09 PM Oh what a weekend!  I spent three days cooking, eating, indulging in desserts, drinking wine, and having a great time with four girlfriends.  I do have to say that all of us are active, and the weekend did consist of two good runs and one two and a half hour hike.  Needless to say, my week ahead will consist of vegetables and lean protein.  I didn't track my food all weekend, and am back to it tomorrow.  I can't live tracking food 365 days per year without a mental break!  Before I left for the trip, I weighed in at 155.8.  Weight is a crazy thing.  A few days prior, I weighed in at 160 something.  I weigh myself about every other day first thing in the morning, and I guess water has much to do with the number on the scale.  I know 4-5 pounds of body mass just can't be gained or lost in a week.  We'll see what the scale says tomorrow.  All I know is that I want it to say 145 at the end of December!

Two big things this week: Tomorrow I'm registering for swim lessons that focus on technique!  The lessons start on 11/2.  And, one week from today, I'm getting new pedals on my bike and will start bike commuting to work at least once per week after that.  Other than that, running and strength training are going great.  

Have a great start to the week all! 

Happychick - 2009-10-04 8:30 PM

By all means, feel free to jump on board Melissa!!   Just let us know what your goals are and join in!

tbeanerman - 2009-10-04 7:54 PM

Sweet, I'd love to join, even if a few days late (I've just come across this thread).  I have only recently starting exercising and dieting, after many many years of doing nothing of the sort.

I was 227 pounds on October 1st (am now 229, after making a heroic attempt last night to see how much food I could stuff in at a restaurant - quite a bit, it turns out).

I am hoping to keep up an average weight loss of around 2 pounds per week, and would love to weigh in at a svelte 205 pounds by Christmas.

Batlou - 2009-10-05 3:44 AM Well I did not do myself any favors this weekend.  Headed out camping with the family and drank to many beers and ate a rediculous amount of shelled peanuts (will not buy these things again, ever).  I am up 2 lbs after a weekend of gluttony!  What's worse is I only got 1 run in and it was only 5 miles.  I was supposed to finish a 12 mile run to keep on track for my HM in 2 weeks.  Ughh.  Going to try and get it in tonight after work.

I was 360 on the scale at the gym, but not sure how far it's off since it wasn't properly balanced.  I'll go with it, but I'm scheduling a body composition test for Saturday, so I'll have a more accurate number then.  Goal for the challenge is 24 pounds less by Christmas (2 lbs/week).

Happychick - 2009-10-05 12:06 PM
Aaaah, camping!  I love camping!! 

BTW, did you get your run in?

d2lock - 2009-10-05 12:25 PM

Monumental FAIL on the body comp test from Saturday.  I went to a place that was supposed to have a BodPod (I originally had it done in February), which does body composition using air instead of underwater weighing.  I get there only to find they got rid of it because they didn't have enough people using it during the winter months.  So I'm going to have to go with the scale at the gym and assume a starting weight of 360 with a goal of 326 by Christmas.

firenze11 - 2009-10-06 8:31 AM Well I pretty much sucked at last week. I weighed 139 on Friday which was good but weighed 142 today. I think some of that has to do with the Chinese food I ate on Saturday. I also need to get more serious about logging my food. I'm really good about eating healthy, balanced stuff for breakfast and lunch but waiting for dinner kills me. I'm at home with the parents right now and they eat later than I was used to on my own. The stretch between lunch and dinner is far too long and I end up snacking and eating too much at dinner because I'm starving. I guess I could try two smaller lunches or a planned healthy snack. I can't wait to move out on my own (need a job first--working hard on that) I tend to eat a lot healthier when I'm cooking for myself. I also need to drink more. I'm definitely dehydrated and need to start using my big Klean Kanteen again. Other than that, I got my bike back so I've started riding again and I have a great strength/interval dvd that I like a lot. It's getting too cold for me here so I'm going to be doing most of my stuff indoors now. How's everyone else doing? I hope you had better weeks than I did, but I guess this was a wake up call that I'm going to have to work harder to stay on track.