The new kid on the block

rachelfaith92

Hi all! My name is Rachel and I am 19 years old. I am 20 pounds over weight, but my goal is to lose 30-35. I have never been the thin girl and was always the chunky girl growing up in school. I am ready for a life style change, and ready to love my body and my appearance! I am looking for some buddies who are interested in keeping in touch and sharing their weight loss success or any exercise and diet information. I am supposed to eat 1200 calories a day according to this site, and I can be completely honest and say I was way beyond that point with lots of candy, sweets, fast food, soda, and carbs. Looking forward to making friends!

Jenny1061

Welcome to MFP... good luck on your journey, you CAN do it!

BIGJIMMYU

Hello new friend! We will help you lose that extra jiggle! Welcome!

Larry0445

Welcome and good luck with all your goals.

Brian001

If no one has told you this yet, your picture is deceiving cause you totally dont look overweight at all, but this site is all about personal goals, so good luck on your weight loss journey, sending friend request as i am writing this message =D

jaireed

Hi Rachel,
Welcome! I am new too. I started MFP last week and today is the first day I joined the community. It’s nice to know that there are people out there who are doing the same thing you are doing. You are on your way! I think filling out the food diary helps a lot, as does keeping track of when you exercise. I am in college and I find that it is difficult to cram in exercise and diet when you are in school. I found I was sitting all the time, in class and doing homework. I now pack my meals with me. I have been eating a lot of cabbage soup. Filling and satisfying. I am still in search of a lifestyle diet that I will be able to lose weight on. What is harder for you? Eating right or exercising? I hope you have a great day!
Jai

rachelfaith92

Hi everyone! Thank you for the responses! Like I said I am TECHNICALLY 20 pounds overweight. I carry my weight very well.. I am very "hour glass shaped" with curves. I do have "extra jiggle" and would like to be mean and lean.. Well maybe not mean, but you get my point

Long story short, when I started my job at the veterinary clinic I walked into the lunch room, and yep, you guessed it, every kind of junk food, sugary greasy carb filled delicious goodness was in that room and you could buy it with a hot lunch of carby greasy delicious food. So I gained about 10 pounds in 6 months working there. There are about 60 employees there, and most of them are obese or extremely overweight. There are about 10 employees that are within a "normal range" so I felt that I could get away with eating more. Not to mention others seem to push food on you, because you are "so tiny" etc etc. I went from eating bags of chips, oreos, candy bars, lunch, soda, and really whatever I wanted. I work at an ER clinic so I am always on the go so quick, easy, and yummy seemed like a no brainer.

Sweets are definitely my weakness, but getting myself to work out after so long is really hard too. Once I start working out and get in the routine I actually enjoy it. I am looking to sign up for a gym membership when I get the chance. I have always battled with my weight and actually was anorexic and bulimic for a few years and I finally "relaxed" so to speak.

Today is my "cheat day" so I had a burrito from taco bell with a fresco taco. For cheat days, do you guys usually try to stay in your target calorie range? I feel like I can't go over the limited 1200 calories I am allowed daily. So the rest of the day I am eating healthily as usual. Or is there a day where you are allowed to go "hog wild" so to speak and eat as much or whatever you want? I have completely cut all sodas and sugary drinks out of my diet for the past month and have only had water or milk. Doing this the "right way" this time is all new to me and any help or experience would be greatly appreciated!

Brian001

Hi everyone! Thank you for the responses! Like I said I am TECHNICALLY 20 pounds overweight. I carry my weight very well.. I am very "hour glass shaped" with curves. I do have "extra jiggle" and would like to be mean and lean.. Well maybe not mean, but you get my point

Long story short, when I started my job at the veterinary clinic I walked into the lunch room, and yep, you guessed it, every kind of junk food, sugary greasy carb filled delicious goodness was in that room and you could buy it with a hot lunch of carby greasy delicious food. So I gained about 10 pounds in 6 months working there. There are about 60 employees there, and most of them are obese or extremely overweight. There are about 10 employees that are within a "normal range" so I felt that I could get away with eating more. Not to mention others seem to push food on you, because you are "so tiny" etc etc. I went from eating bags of chips, oreos, candy bars, lunch, soda, and really whatever I wanted. I work at an ER clinic so I am always on the go so quick, easy, and yummy seemed like a no brainer.

Sweets are definitely my weakness, but getting myself to work out after so long is really hard too. Once I start working out and get in the routine I actually enjoy it. I am looking to sign up for a gym membership when I get the chance. I have always battled with my weight and actually was anorexic and bulimic for a few years and I finally "relaxed" so to speak.

Today is my "cheat day" so I had a burrito from taco bell with a fresco taco. For cheat days, do you guys usually try to stay in your target calorie range? I feel like I can't go over the limited 1200 calories I am allowed daily. So the rest of the day I am eating healthily as usual. Or is there a day where you are allowed to go "hog wild" so to speak and eat as much or whatever you want? I have completely cut all sodas and sugary drinks out of my diet for the past month and have only had water or milk. Doing this the "right way" this time is all new to me and any help or experience would be greatly appreciated!

Im not exactly exactly sure about the procedure about cheat days, but if you want to know a bit more, someone posted not too long ago about them so if you want to look up the topic here you go: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521389-does-anyone-do-a-cheat-day

ThePhoenixRose

hi! good luck here! hope you enjoy it!

as far as cheat days - everyone does something different. I tend to not have them at all. i find that eating what i want, when i want it works better for me. i eat it in a smaller portion than i would have before, and keep the rest of my eating on track. (in general!) we all have bad days, but don't let it stop you. just because i was at nearly double my calories for friday (was a ROUGH one!) doesn't mean that i gave up. I woke up saturday and kicked *kitten*! So, do what works for you, not what someone tells you to do!

jozev

Welcome to MFP! It's an awesome place. You can add me if you'd like, mutual motivation is always nice.

SoozeE512

Every day is a "cheat day" for me. I make small allowances every day because if I were to limit my cheats to one day, I would go overboard and my cravings would be uncontrollable!

I try to plan my cheats ahead of time so I don't go too crazy with it. For instance, yesterday I really wanted some ice-cream so I planned my day ahead and decided 1/4th of a cup of ice-cream was going to be my cheat and I was going to mix some peanut butter in for added flavor instead of adding something bad like chocolate syrup - and the ice-cream and peanut butter was a delicious mix!

Every day, I make sure to get at least 3 servings of whole grains, 5 servings of produce (mostly vegetables), and the recommended amount of protein/ lean meats / nuts and calcium/ low-fat dairy. In addition, I still try to keep my saturated fats down and my sugars down - even if I go over a bit, I try to keep them down as much as possible.

It's hard to find a balance at first but try your best to stay away from the greasy, junk food at work and find healthier ways to get/ limit sweets. Instead of chips and candy bars, get some Smart Balance Smart n' Healthy popcorn and fill a plastic sandwich bag to bring with you to work and maybe throw in just a small handful of M&Ms. It's good that you're drinking milk instead of sodas but make sure you're drinking lowfat or skim milk, and also be aware that even those milks have lots of sugar and sodium so be sure to drink lots of water too, not just milk. And try having some healthier snacks too. Bring an apple or some chopped up veggies, baby carrots are easy to pack up and they have sugar in them but they're a healthier way to get sugar. Also, I keep a jar of Smart Balance peanut butter at my office so I can put some peanut butter on celery or apple slices that I bring to work with me so if you enjoy peanut butter and are able to keep some at work, that's always a good go-to. Even some cereals would be better if you're craving chips - you could have half of a cup of Kix for something tasty and crunchy, but there's actually a really low number of sugar in half of a cup.

Trust me, I used to be a junk food junkie getting candy bars and chips and cookies and pastries all the time, but now I'm much better about replacing or limiting them! When I used to get girl scout cookies, I'd eat the whole box in a day or two - now I'm able to say, "I'm going to choose healthier snacks throughout most of the day and allow myself just 1 girl scout cookie today and I'm going to savor that one cookie and not be tempted to eat more because there's always tomorrow".

Don't think about looking better or worse than another person, just be concerned about being healthy for yourself. Good luck!

rachelfaith92

Thank you for the tips Sooze, the popcorn I have heard of before, but incorporating a few M&M's is brilliant! I am very impatient when it comes to losing weight and doing this the right way is going to take time. Kick starting the first week, is it normal to not see any real results? I guess my weigh in tomorrow morning will tell if my week has paid off. I have only been strictly tracking for the past 4 days though.

lesleyx

i sent you an add. Good luck!

KirstenRLD

Welcome Rachel. Good luck