Need some accountability buddies!

Hey everyone. I am in desperate need of some accountability buddies on this site--especially for working out. I'm a 24 year old graduate student with no time on her hands. Exercise is the first thing that goes when my schedule becomes too chaotic, which means food is next. Two years ago, I was a major stress eater. While I have this issue mainly under control now, there are still moments of weakness.

My biggest issue, however, is that I've become a starchy carb monster. I think it's because the breads and the rice cakes and whatnot are easy to grab and require very little time/thought/energy when I need something to eat. That throws me completely off track, especially when I choose to go to restaurants and take something home because it seems faster. One of my goals, aside from losing weight, is increasing my fruit and veggie intake.

I used to work at a cupcake shop a few years ago, and during that six month period, I gained ten pounds. In the two years since then, I've gained another five pounds. Not happy about that, but I guess the weight gain wasn't motivation enough to try and change things, because I've made half-assed efforts to lose weight since then.

Here's to hoping if I keep track of what I consume, it'll help jumpstart my diet and weightloss goals.

If you're interested, please feel free to add me :)

Replies

  • I am just starting my journey to lose 60 pounds and I also need an accountability buddy. Lets help eachother out?!
  • annsmall1984
    annsmall1984 Posts: 10 Member
    I'm wanting to lose around 40! Add me if you like.
    I'm the same way, carbs, they're quick easy and good! I'm also finding it hard to squeeze in time to exercise, it's always the easiest thing to not do.
  • sodeelish
    sodeelish Posts: 25 Member
    Hey there! I'm a 24 year old on a similar journey. Not in grad school yet but I am in the process of applying right now. Do you live at home? I think a big part of adding more fruits and veggies into your diet is having the ones you like always readily available. My fridge is always stocked with apples and I pre wash grapes and freeze them and refill every time it's empty as soon as its empty or else I get lazy.
  • @annsmall1984: Added! Carbs are great, but not when they become your staple. Even now I'm thinking about having some granola instead of a salad. But I'm also sick, so any sort of effort = too much right now haha. I wish I was more motivated again to exercise! It's such a great stress reliever… but this semester has wiped me.

    @sodeelish: Yes I do live at home. Usually this is a good thing, but for the past month and a half, we haven't had a kitchen because we're getting it remodeled. Terrible timing! Love the grapes idea. Apples are very easy, as I eat one every morning with my breakfast. Loving the grapes idea! Do you find the texture to be off after you defrost?

    I have a goal of eating at least one fruit or veggie with each meal. So far, it's been mainly fruits that I'm consuming. I'm hoping once I have access to a kitchen again that my veggie consumption will go back up. Fingers crossed.

    What do you want to go to school for?
  • WorkingMomGetsFit
    WorkingMomGetsFit Posts: 70 Member
    I can totally relate with being busy and I too love carbs. I found that if you start weaning yourself off them slowly, it's easier than to give them up all together. Baby steps :-)
  • Oh how I miss the days where I could go cold turkey LOL
  • sodeelish
    sodeelish Posts: 25 Member
    Well the difficulty sounds reasonable! Hopefully it won't be under construction for long. I actually don't defrost the grapes completely. They are delicious as frozen treats. Well, the green ones anyway. Haven't tried red ones frozen. I'm a sucker for sweets and they taste like sorbet bites without added sugar or added anything for that matter. They taste really delicious if you leave them out for about 5 minutes and they lightly soften up. Mmm!! Another thing I do with apples as dessert is cut em up, sprinkle cinnamon and stevia on top and sprinkle with a tiny bit of water and nuke them on the microwave. Cinnamon apples!

    As for school, I'm planning on going to school for occupational therapy. I just had an interview at Loma Linda University last week and I'm applying to USC this week!
  • I'm thinking it'll be done in three more weeks. I wish it would be sooner, but what can ya do? Definitely will be complete before Christmas, though, as my parents have enjoyed reminding me by sending me emails with lots of recipe ideas. Guess I'm cooking this year? Haha.

    That sounds REALLY good! I'll have to go buy some and try that out. And the cinnamon apples? I used to do that too! Except I'd take one graham cracker square and crumple it on top after 30 seconds of nuking the apples, then I'd heat everything up for another 30 seconds. Was almost exactly like an apple pie.

    I have my fingers crossed that you get accepted! The application process was the worst part… long waits do not help the anxiety. Keep me updated :)
  • I'm just starting my journey to lose 50+ pounds. I can help you, if you'll help me. The hardest part for me is waking up early to walk in FREEZING weather, or getting home after dark and making myself go walking in FREEZING weather. I seriously have to get motivated to go to the gym, but I just don't know how to get motivated. With that said, I'm AWESOME at motivating others. My speeches just don't seem to work on myself. (lol)
  • sodeelish
    sodeelish Posts: 25 Member
    Thanks for the support :). Yeah I'm cooking up thanksgiving dinner as I do every year and I can't hell but want to cook healthy meals for my sake and for theirs too! Graham crackers on top sound so good but I don't buy inessential carbs like crackers lol. I try to cut carb corners wherever I can. I'm a sucker for carbs. And sugar. And all things bad haha.
  • LunaInverse
    LunaInverse Posts: 109 Member
    I need accountability friends too! Add me :)
  • I would love to have someone to help me with accountability! This sounds completely crazy, but taking care of myself is the one thing I have lots of trouble doing! I work as a school counselor full time, then I have two young children (and a husband) that I have to take care of, but this is not the challenge. The real challenge is getting the motivation to work out and make sure I eat right all of the time. When I finally have some time to myself, I just want to sit, and then that eventually leads to "treating" myself, which is more of a "Hey, I really don't care" moment. The worst part is right after I have eaten something I shouldn't have, I feel super guilty and know that I should have not done that! So, the bottom line is I have to take it day by day, and keep thinking positive. I am eating carbs, but I try to eat more fruits and veggies as well. Hopefully, we can all provide positive encouragement and support, I know I am in need of it! My husband doesn't really provide that...:)
  • inferiormeatsack
    inferiormeatsack Posts: 28 Member
    Added! I would love to help you since we are in similar boats, I understand the harsh school schedule mixed with tying to eat right and exercise.
  • joolywooly33
    joolywooly33 Posts: 421 Member
    Feel free to add me - I like chatty friends and I am in for accountability :wink:
  • There's no time for anything in grad school with classes, work, internships, homework, family, dating/relationships--some days it feels like you're lucky if you can eat (or if you have the money to eat). You can do it though! :)
  • npeery
    npeery Posts: 29 Member
    Sent you a friend request. And anyone else in this thread who needs an accountability buddy feel free to add me. We will do this together!
  • dgeorgiadis
    dgeorgiadis Posts: 95 Member
    I'm in. I also need accountability friends as well. I had surgery 6 weeks ago and got the go ahead to resume my exercise program but it is hard. I feel like I'm starting from scratch. Let's all help each other!
  • @Jen: then we will be the bestest accountability buddies ever, because I'm the same exact way! I think my speeches go in one ear and out the other… if my brain even computes what I say at all :grumble: The winter is the hardest for me, too. I used to go to the gym every morning by 7:30, but this semester of grad school has completely screwed up my sleep schedule. I commute to/from campus, which means it's about 3-3.5 hours each day. My classes also end very late at night, so I don't get home until about 10-11 at night, ugh!

    @sodeelish: Yeah I don't buy sweets anymore, that was just something I did a few years ago. My sweet tooth used to be out of control, and I am not tempting fate by having junk food in the house. I want to cook healthy meals too for Christmas! I find I am way too enthusiastic, and want to cook about ten different things during the holidays.

    @MissNiko: Added!

    @Shannon: Added you! It's not crazy, I have the SAME problem! I love helping and taking care of others, but as for myself? Nope, nope, nope. When I worked at the cupcake shop, I had the same exact mentality that you just mentioned. I entered a really bad stage in my life where I would binge and then fast (I was a huge fan of Intermittent Fasting back then) to try and compensate for the cupcake binges. Would it be possible to remove or have your husband hide the things that tempt you most?

    The most important thing is to NOT feel guilty!! I feel like we all view weightloss as this linear journey that does not include any hiccups whatsoever--which is the total opposite of reality! We're always going to have ups and downs, and I think that is part of being human. I noticed that the more I got down on myself for eating poorly, the more often I would eat poorly. It was a terrible cycle. But once I kind of just said, "Oh well," then it was a lot easier to try and compensate for my hiccup in my next meal.
  • @inferiormeats: the difference between undergrad and graduate school… oh my goodness! Hopefully you can help get my butt back into shape by slapping some sense back into me. I'm big into excuses when it comes to not doing my workouts :embarassed:

    @jolly: added you!

    @jen: FINALLY someone who understands! Friends and family do not understand the stress or why any of this is such an issue. I tell them to go learn ten chapters of biochemistry in a week and then they'll see what's so bad.

    @npeery: Thanks! Accepted :)

    @dge: technically, you are starting from scratch! You lose most of your gains after three weeks of inactivity :( We can do it!
  • I am in the same boat as you! I'm 23, go to school and work. My life is crazy! I try to work out now 3 times a week.
  • stat1124
    stat1124 Posts: 163 Member
    I added ya and welcome. If you happen to have access to a juicer....your veggie/fruits intake can be solved pretty easily. I juice along with eating more healthy and you will be amazed at how much faster your metabolism boost when your feeding it the correct fuel. I have quite a few juicer recipes if you are interested. Instead of making lots of dishes with veggies in it, I prefer to go the juice route for two major reasons. First you can juice in bulk and then throw it in the fridge for the week. Secondly and more importantly, when you juice you remove all of the pulp and fibrous material from the veggie or fruit giving you just the macro and micro nutrients which get digested must faster than if you ate them raw. You stomach does not have to digest all of the pulp and can in turn take that energy and place it elsewhere making the machine that is your body run more efficiently. Just a thought! Good luck on your journey!
  • jaxxie2013
    jaxxie2013 Posts: 31 Member
    Feel free to add me too.
  • nancybuss
    nancybuss Posts: 1,461 Member
    I do best helping to motivate others too, it helps motivate me.

    I sent you a friend request. Anyone else can feel free to friend request me.

    I'm still struggling on my veggies. Its certainly about prepping ahead of time. some weeks it works, others not so much. This week my entire family was sick. nobody was going anywhere to get the fresh veggies, etc. we started to go, but ended up at Urgent Care instead.

    carbs are so much easier.

    I'm doing better with my workouts. I'm currently doing T25 in the AM (NOT a natural morning person) and it helps with the short workout and I have more energy during the day. Now, to pull all the rest together......

    Nancy
  • Artaxia
    Artaxia Posts: 185
    Feel free to add me. I'm taking everything one day at a time. My schedule is chaotic too. I'm in school and I have a son. I do as much walking as I can throughout the day. Sometimes I may not be able to turn on that workout video however, I will always try to make the extra effort to walk more and eat less/more healthy. :)
  • diletta24
    diletta24 Posts: 91 Member
    just added you :)
  • Hi. I also need accountability friends for exercise. Feel free to add me to your friends
  • @rros: kudos to you! Undergrad or graduate?

    @stat: I have a Vitamix. My one concern with removing all the fiber via juicing is that it's a huge spike in sugar, but I guess if you're just juicing veggies, it's not as bad. There's obviously a huge market for juicing, and I admit that I have not researched the benefits and drawbacks with that method. Do you have any smoothie recipes with veg? I'll throw kale into my smoothies sometimes, but I usually forget. The nutrition student in me is tempted to get technical with you right now about digestion, but I'll spare us all the long explanation :)

    @nancy: thanks for the add! Oh no, I hope everyone in the he family is okay! I hear ya about the ease and prep. I just have had NO time to prep foods recently. And there's really no point since I don't have a kitchen at the moment haha.

    @art & treasured: added you!

    Thank you for all the support, everyone! :)
  • rdub05
    rdub05 Posts: 3 Member
    I'm still pretty new to this too. I could always use more people to help keep me accountable, especially with the holidays coming up!

    Feel free to add me as well.
  • @Torzilla37, I know what you mean the days can be so crazy long. After my first year of grad school I was working 12 hour days with an internship and a part-time job, with an hour commute one way, and then classes. Add in the additional fun and joy of planning a wedding on top of all that, I don't know how I survived. I had a prof ask me if I was doing okay because I wasn't on top of all her minor deadlines, and when I explained my chaos she was very supportive. I think people have to have gone through the chaos to know what it's really like. Grad school is not like undergraduate. It gets easier towards the end when graduation is in sight! I have ONE MONTH until commencement and I am so ready! Stay strong, it's worth it in the end and you'll be so proud of yourself for managing one crazy schedule and meeting all of your goals!
  • Hi everyone........I am new here. Just joined and started using My Fitness Pal today!!! Need some accountability friends as well.....I have high colesterol, eat pretty well, but love my carbs. I do workout, but as we all know, changing those eating habits and working out go hand in hand....talk to me