Third time's a charm?

segacs
segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
edited October 2014 in Introduce Yourself
Tried this twice already. Both times I quit before the first month was up. Going to give it another go for the third time.

A little about me: I'm 34 years old, live in Montreal, and work at a desk job all day (terrible for health). I absolutely detest going to the gym, so I try to fit in activity that doesn't feel like exercise, such as cycling to commute, walking or using transit, etcetera. I downhill ski in the winter and am trying to get back into shape before ski season starts. I also love to travel, and I tend to lose weight when I travel since my activity level skyrockets by walking around sightseeing and climbing ancient ruins and stuff, but then I have a bad habit of gaining it all back again once I get home. My major food weakness is chocolate: I have no power of moderation when it comes to snacking on cookies, brownies, ice cream, you name it.

My interim goal is to lose 10 pounds by Christmas, and another 5-10 on my Christmas vacation while I'm away, so 15-20 pounds by New Year's. It should be attainable, too; the first 5'll come off easy 'cause I'm at a post-holidays weight high right now.

The hardest part for me -- and the reason I quit the last two times -- is that I find tracking all the food to be pretty time-consuming and cumbersome. I'm a social person and I eat out a lot, so estimating portions and ingredients from restaurant food is tricky -- especially since it's extremely rare for me to eat at chain restaurants, and local restaurants don't provide nutritional info for their food here. I also don't eat a ton of packaged food, so it's not so easy to just scan a bar code. I definitely lose weight when I track calories, because it stops me from eating that extra muffin or having that extra beer. But I wish there were an easier way to make it fit in my lifestyle without putting a damper on my social life.

Anyway, let's see how this goes...

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Replies

  • Hey, I completely understand how you feel. Desk job, check. Exercise (or lack of), check. Sugar weakness, check. Social life including eating out and beer, check, check, check.

    So I have changed the diet - and can usually find something when I go out to eat, and in the last 6 weeks have been able to lose about 15 lbs. without excessive exercise and without changing the social life too much.

    I'd love to be a buddy for you, and maybe even share some of my tricks. Add me if you'd like. :)

    You can do this - I'm on at least round 3 as well.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
    Hey, that's awesome! 15 lbs without too many painful changes to your life? Congrats! I'd take that, happily. My ultimate goal target is 40 lbs down, but I'm focusing on a little at a time, achievable goals this time hopefully.
  • Yeah, I've still got 65 to go... but there's determination & my daily plan. Sometimes you have to start slow to go faster :)