I Don't Want To Waste My Entire 20's Being Obese...Last Ditch Effort

[CharliPag]

My name is Charli, I'm 27 and live in the beautiful Devon. Since I found drive through McDonalds, pints of cider and black & my first husband at the age of 18, my weight spiralled out of control. People say it was because I was happy and content, but I know it was greed and naivety, thinking I didn't have to worry about the way I look now I was settled and just concentrated on having fun and indulging. I totally regret this.

Over the last 10 years I have done a constant cycle of slimming world and weight watchers, loosing 2 stone then back to binge eating. I successfully lost 4 stone on lighter life. Then following my marriage break up 2 years ago I decided to live single life to the full, drinking, meals out, partying and generally having fun. As you can imagine I slammed the weight back on.

I am now in a fantastic relationship with a younger, gorgeous and amazing man...(Can you tell we're in our honeymoon phase haha) BUT I'm at my heaviest ever! Although I am happy I know that my weight will affect things. At 22st simple things like a nice holiday in the summer will be a struggle, due to plane seat sizes and confidence in summer clothes etc.

Anyway now I've blathered on (have never before got that off my chest) the point in me joining minimins today was because I've decided that things are getting beyond a joke and I really need to sort my self and my attitude towards food out.

I have chosen to go with a calorie controlled diet as currently do not have the self control with free foods and point counting. Nor the time to cook and prepare healthy meals. I know people will say there is always time and there probably is. However, I'm a nurse and when I've finished a 13hr shift I, selfishly, just don't feel like it.

I've downloaded MyFitnessPal, and intend to stick to 1200 kcals per day. Although it does tell me I can have 1900?! This seems a lot when trying to cut down? Does anyone know if the amount they give you is accurate and works?

I'm hoping this diet will work....if I'm honest I mainly chose this one as it will still allow me to fit in a few cheeky vodkas, with DIET mixer of course I would be so interested in hearing other people's experiences as this appears an amazing place to support each other.

Hope you will find my Diary useful x

 

[CharliPag]

Day 1 (20/04/13)
Weight: 22st 5lbs
Height: 5ft 7inch
BMI: 49

I woke up today thinking this is it!! I have been saying this for the last 9 months, but I have now hit the 3 month countdown and I am annoyed at myself. In exactly 3 months (20/07/13) I will be attending the wedding of my boyfriend's best friend. My boyfriend (who I will refer to in this diary as 'the jock') is best man. I not only have the embarrassment of the bride and her maids being gorgeous size 10's. But the Jock is best man and I know no one at the event. I want to feel confident and do him proud but at a elephant size 24/26 that is not going to happen. I need to pull out all the stops and my mini target is 26lbs (making me 20st 7lbs) ... I think that works out right?

My goal today is 1200kcal...will see how this goes later. I have two hyper Boxer dogs looking at me. I'm guessing a good start to the day would be a dog walk right?! I know this is a lame attempt at exercise, but I seriously have the fitness level of that little fish that used to be panting and out of puff riding the bicycle on that Guinness advert....remember that?

 

[SamanthaJones]

Good luck on your journey. Take one day at a time... One step at a time and you will get there. Have a lovely weekend. X x

 

[trinab]

Hi. Wishing u loads of luck and im sure you will look stunnin at the wedding and your bf wil be realy proud of you. 1200 cals a day is way too low for u to start on even i cant manage it!!! My fitnes pal does work them out acuratly for u but if u feel thats too much start at 1650 to 1700. When u have lost weight and your weight stalls then u can lower your cal intake abit to get your body loosing again if that makes sense. U cant do that on 1200 coz its not healthy to go below that. I have a boxer dog 2 and that is no lame exercise they r realy strong dogs. My arms feel like they r guna drop off after a walk. My dogs nearly 6 but shes so giddy. Lets not even talk bout the dog slaver. Who new such a cute dog could be so gross haha. Think bout the cals tho hun. gud luck and im sure your guna do brill.x

 

[CharliPag]

Thank you ladies for the support! I want to be realistic and loose 2lb per week, so thank you for the advice about kcals. I panicked slightly that 1900 would never let me shift that. But in reality my normal kcal intake would be pushing the 3000's (more on a really bad day) anyway so that is probably reduced for me. I'm quite excited to start. Just need to get my head round the constant problem I have off 'oh I've had a bad day so therefore I might as well have a bad week!'

I can't wait to get an unrestricted account so I can see how well you are all doing.

What colour Boxer do you have? I have a white one and her sister is red. They certainly keep me on my toes

 

[tweekedgirl]

Hiya Charli, welcome to Minimins

I'm sure you'll do really well on calorie counting, and be sure to check out the calorie counting forum for some lovely simple ideas. As for the limit of 1200, that's definitely too low for your starting weight. The 1900 mark is probably about right, and it's worth working out your TDEE (if you google it there's loads of calculators) This is basically your maintenance level, and so to loose weight consistently and to keep it off you should eat at your TDEE - 20%. Mine is around 1800 and to be honest I struggle to eat anywhere near this most days.

Feel free to add me on MFP (same username) for some support x

 

[trinab]

Thank you ladies for the support! I want to be realistic and loose 2lb per week, so thank you for the advice about kcals. I panicked slightly that 1900 would never let me shift that. But in reality my normal kcal intake would be pushing the 3000's (more on a really bad day) anyway so that is probably reduced for me. I'm quite excited to start. Just need to get my head round the constant problem I have off 'oh I've had a bad day so therefore I might as well have a bad week!'

I can't wait to get an unrestricted account so I can see how well you are all doing.

What colour Boxer do you have? I have a white one and her sister is red. They certainly keep me on my toes

She red. Shes a brill dog tho and is ace with my kids. She wouldnt hurt a fly but people on the street dont no that wen they avoid her!!! It does seem alot of cals but you cud use some for little treats. The trouble with starting too low is in a few days you wil be starving and just bing,thats wot happend to me. Ive just got myself bak on ww but im doing the old 1 cant get along with pp. Just done my first full week and ive lost 3 and half pound so im pleased. Find new recipes to make so that you dont get bored of eating the same things and i neva go a nite without my choc fix. Im excited to see how u get on. When i loose my motivation i always come on here and read how other people are doin and it spurs me on.x

 

[lucillepinon]

It is not necessary to make haste, as hast makes waste most of the time, one step at a time or shall we say do it in a slow and smooth way, that would be more effective. Be strong and good luck with your journey.

 

[ununpentium]

Good luck with your weight loss

When I first started to exercise I was really daunted, but I started off small and now I can walk for an hour or so without feeling like dying!

 

[lil miss chatterbox]

Good luck to you Charli. I'm sure you will get there. Just one day at a time. BTW we have almost the same stats! I look forward to seeing how you do.

 

[CharliPag]

Morning Everyone

So, I'm just starting Day 4, eating my 3 weetabix as I write this. I've had the last 3 days off work which I find usually makes my eating habits worse. I generally don't eat all day whilst I'm in the house then I'll binge, with the jock, in front of the TV in the evening. I am definitely refraining from this.

Due to using up what is in my pre-dieting cupboards, I probably haven't eaten the healthiest of meals and I've gone over my personal goal of 1200 calories a day. But I have had 1800 calories a day, which is a substantial difference to what I usually have. So do you think this will make a difference? I hope so but I am aware that I need to be much stricter.

I've used 1800 calories (100 less than the 1900 myfitnesspal suggests) a day by starting with 3 weetabix & semi-skimmed milk for my breakfast and a cup of tea and a sandwich for my lunch. Then having pasta bake one evening and chicken and rice the other for my dinner. So I've not had any 'dieting' foods just smaller portions.

I plan on doing a big supermarket shop tomorrow so I can get in lots more diet friendly foods.

How has everyone else's dieting weekends gone? Do you find weekends harder due to the influence of other people?

xx

 

[CharliPag]

Good luck to you Charli. I'm sure you will get there. Just one day at a time. BTW we have almost the same stats! I look forward to seeing how you do.

Thank you LMC there is something that puzzles me about calories counting. So say you have a 1500 kcal limit. If you had 1500 in chocolate would it be the same as having 1500 in vegetable? Can you still loose weight no matter what foods you chose as long as you stick to a calorie limit? Surely on things like Slimming World you could have a massive calorie intake on say free potatoes on a green day? But people still loose weight?

 

[lil miss chatterbox]

Thank you LMC there is something that puzzles me about calories counting. So say you have a 1500 kcal limit. If you had 1500 in chocolate would it be the same as having 1500 in vegetable? Can you still loose weight no matter what foods you chose as long as you stick to a calorie limit? Surely on things like Slimming World you could have a massive calorie intake on say free potatoes on a green day? But people still loose weight?

In theory yes you can eat what you like up to your calorie intake and lose weight, but it is more sensible to try to have a balanced diet. If you ate 1500 calories of chocolate per day you could still lose weight, but you would have consumed way too much sugar and fat for that day, and would be feeling pretty hungry! With slimming world it is possible to have a calorie intake that is very high, but really you should only eat fruit, vegetables and syns between meals, not their free foods such as potatoes. Personally I found it way too easy to cheat on SW, hence going back to the good old fashioned method of calorie counting! Also I think you will easily lose weight eating 1800 calories per day! My average last week (with my pig out pub meal day) was about 2400 per day, and I still lost 2lbs.

 

[CharliPag]

In theory yes you can eat what you like up to your calorie intake and lose weight, but it is more sensible to try to have a balanced diet. If you ate 1500 calories of chocolate per day you could still lose weight, but you would have consumed way too much sugar and fat for that day, and would be feeling pretty hungry! With slimming world it is possible to have a calorie intake that is very high, but really you should only eat fruit, vegetables and syns between meals, not their free foods such as potatoes. Personally I found it way too easy to cheat on SW, hence going back to the good old fashioned method of calorie counting! Also I think you will easily lose weight eating 1800 calories per day! My average last week (with my pig out pub meal day) was about 2400 per day, and I still lost 2lbs.

Well done you! I'd be so happy to loose 2lb a week that would deffo let me achieve my mini target. I definitely think calorie counting could be the way forward. It forces you not to cheat and MFP makes it so easy to find everything. My weigh in day is Saturday so we'll soon see.

I know it sounds disgusting but I sat and added up with my friend what we could eat on our worst day ever. Lets just say I could eat a whole large Dominos in one sitting. That's over 2000 calories in just my dinner, without all the garlic dips, chicken wings & cookies. So my WHOLE days intake was obscene. I never really recognised how many calories were in things. The terrifying truth when using myfitnesspal is just the boost I need.

 

[lil miss chatterbox]

Morning! Hope all is going well today

 

[lil miss chatterbox]

Hey Charli, how are you getting on? Not seen you around for a couple of weeks!

 

[CharliPag]

Hi! I fell right off the wagon! Started again on 2nd January ? How are you getting on? x

 

[CharliPag]

I've decided to start again but on Slimming World! It's kinda pathetic that I decided to wait until 2014, with the whole new year new me proviso. But, here goes...??

 

[DiamondDoll]

Good luck Charli! Im the same! Been good sunce the 2nd too - things always seem better with a brand new year and a chance to start again x

 

[celtgirl]

I've decided to start again but on Slimming World! It's kinda pathetic that I decided to wait until 2014, with the whole new year new me proviso. But, here goes...??

That's not pathetic, better late then never!! Are you on sw or calorie counting? Will follow!