Hey I'm Dave, & I'm 23.
From about the end of September I decided to start losing weight. I weighed 180lb's (at a height of 5 foot 7.5 inches). For the past few years I had it in my mind to start losing weight because I've always had a biggish belly, & a bit of weight around my face. I also was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea a couple of years ago, & frankly wasn't the fittest (I'm a musician & study guitar in College, & lugging gear around would make me nearly exhausted walking from where I get off the bus until I reach college which is about a kilometre distance (3/4's of a mile)).
So in September I was staying down in my Sister's place for a few weeks before College started back up, & I was just eating crap the whole time, & my dependency on cans of coke was getting bad again (I used to drink 3 cans a day & managed to change over to 7up, drinking at least 1 can a day for the whole of the summer). Then I just started reading up online about how to properly lose weight, & what I realised was that it was all in calorie counting. I think it's a disgrace that there were never any proper points of information for losing weight, asides from "Eat healthy & exercise", in schools.
So I decided that when I got back home I'd try my hand at changing my diet somehow. I set out my daily calorie intake goal (to maintain my weight I could have around 2400) I was addicted to sugary drinks, it was a hell of a dependency, but somehow my mind just focused 100% & I just started drinking water (you have to realise that the last time I would have poured myself a glass of water was….. well I couldn't even remember when it was….). Then I went with my Mother to do the weekly food shopping & just started reading all the labels on things, just deciding against things I usually wouldn't eat. I also started googling like crazy anything I'd usually eat or like eating & finding out what was in it….. some of it was insane (there was a restaurant 'Eddie Rockets' that I would frequent & my favourite burger was apparently 1000!!!!! More than a McDonalds meal! & I would usually go to this place because I thought it was a healthier alternative to eating McD's -not that I ate McD's all the time, but if I went a few times a week, then I'd try go to Eddie's for those BS reasons.)
So now, I'm happy to say that I am 157 lb's (I'm writing in bed at the moment, & haven't checked the scales since the other day, so it could be less in the morning!). I started out drinking juice & water, & have now cut out the juice because the sugar & calories were unnecessary. But in terms of my eating habits, I haven't become a salad nut or anything. If I'm in the city while going to college, I will go to Subway for lunch, get a half turkey sub with a bit of cheese & lettuce. I would mostly choose to eat chicken over pork & beef. But I still enjoy bacon & beef things like mince (for homemade tacos, spaghetti bolognese). I was happy to find out that one of my favourite meals, steak was actually far lower in calories compared to other foods (I wouldn't generally eat steak that much before, but that only encouraged me to)….. To be fair, some of the food I still eat may not be necessarily healthy, BUT, when it comes to calculating my whole daily intake, I average between 1200-1500 daily which has really helped with my goal.
I told myself that I'd be happy with 150 lb's, but I still have a bit of a belly, so I'm thinking of keeping on until at least 145, or maybe 140. I want to get down to this weight, & then I really want to have a look at what I'm eating, & I want to try exercise more. I know that losing the weight is great, but eating better foods will help me in the long run. I just find it hard to try eat healthier foods (veg & fruit etc) & I know that if I had started doing that to try lose weight, I'd just give up, because it's happened to me before. & I tried exercising but again, I was just getting tired of it & felt it was getting me no where. So I feel that if I'm at a healthier weight, then I'll be fitter to try my hand at exercising properly.
Anyway, hopefully I manage to get to my goal soon enough (Christmas wont help, but I'm determined not to be swayed by the indulgences over the season). Any insight or views are welcome. It's just nice to get it out there because it's been all me, there's been no one to do this with. I have a friend who coincidentally told me he was trying to look out for his health a bit better while I had it in my mind back in September to lose weight, but I personally feel he has failed. Every so often I see him still drinking bottles of Pepsi, & he once told me he cooked a 12pack of sausages in 2 sandwiches to bring with him for lunch (& apparently managed to eat it all). We also went out to some place for lunch, & I actually felt a bit guilty about the food I ate, but he said he was still hungry & he wasn't wasting money on it again due to the "piss poor amount of food they gave us". Also, he doesn't look any different, so I think he just secretly gave up.
Sorry for my long-winded, poorly written backstory. & thanks for reading!
From about the end of September I decided to start losing weight. I weighed 180lb's (at a height of 5 foot 7.5 inches). For the past few years I had it in my mind to start losing weight because I've always had a biggish belly, & a bit of weight around my face. I also was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea a couple of years ago, & frankly wasn't the fittest (I'm a musician & study guitar in College, & lugging gear around would make me nearly exhausted walking from where I get off the bus until I reach college which is about a kilometre distance (3/4's of a mile)).
So in September I was staying down in my Sister's place for a few weeks before College started back up, & I was just eating crap the whole time, & my dependency on cans of coke was getting bad again (I used to drink 3 cans a day & managed to change over to 7up, drinking at least 1 can a day for the whole of the summer). Then I just started reading up online about how to properly lose weight, & what I realised was that it was all in calorie counting. I think it's a disgrace that there were never any proper points of information for losing weight, asides from "Eat healthy & exercise", in schools.
So I decided that when I got back home I'd try my hand at changing my diet somehow. I set out my daily calorie intake goal (to maintain my weight I could have around 2400) I was addicted to sugary drinks, it was a hell of a dependency, but somehow my mind just focused 100% & I just started drinking water (you have to realise that the last time I would have poured myself a glass of water was….. well I couldn't even remember when it was….). Then I went with my Mother to do the weekly food shopping & just started reading all the labels on things, just deciding against things I usually wouldn't eat. I also started googling like crazy anything I'd usually eat or like eating & finding out what was in it….. some of it was insane (there was a restaurant 'Eddie Rockets' that I would frequent & my favourite burger was apparently 1000!!!!! More than a McDonalds meal! & I would usually go to this place because I thought it was a healthier alternative to eating McD's -not that I ate McD's all the time, but if I went a few times a week, then I'd try go to Eddie's for those BS reasons.)
So now, I'm happy to say that I am 157 lb's (I'm writing in bed at the moment, & haven't checked the scales since the other day, so it could be less in the morning!). I started out drinking juice & water, & have now cut out the juice because the sugar & calories were unnecessary. But in terms of my eating habits, I haven't become a salad nut or anything. If I'm in the city while going to college, I will go to Subway for lunch, get a half turkey sub with a bit of cheese & lettuce. I would mostly choose to eat chicken over pork & beef. But I still enjoy bacon & beef things like mince (for homemade tacos, spaghetti bolognese). I was happy to find out that one of my favourite meals, steak was actually far lower in calories compared to other foods (I wouldn't generally eat steak that much before, but that only encouraged me to)….. To be fair, some of the food I still eat may not be necessarily healthy, BUT, when it comes to calculating my whole daily intake, I average between 1200-1500 daily which has really helped with my goal.
I told myself that I'd be happy with 150 lb's, but I still have a bit of a belly, so I'm thinking of keeping on until at least 145, or maybe 140. I want to get down to this weight, & then I really want to have a look at what I'm eating, & I want to try exercise more. I know that losing the weight is great, but eating better foods will help me in the long run. I just find it hard to try eat healthier foods (veg & fruit etc) & I know that if I had started doing that to try lose weight, I'd just give up, because it's happened to me before. & I tried exercising but again, I was just getting tired of it & felt it was getting me no where. So I feel that if I'm at a healthier weight, then I'll be fitter to try my hand at exercising properly.
Anyway, hopefully I manage to get to my goal soon enough (Christmas wont help, but I'm determined not to be swayed by the indulgences over the season). Any insight or views are welcome. It's just nice to get it out there because it's been all me, there's been no one to do this with. I have a friend who coincidentally told me he was trying to look out for his health a bit better while I had it in my mind back in September to lose weight, but I personally feel he has failed. Every so often I see him still drinking bottles of Pepsi, & he once told me he cooked a 12pack of sausages in 2 sandwiches to bring with him for lunch (& apparently managed to eat it all). We also went out to some place for lunch, & I actually felt a bit guilty about the food I ate, but he said he was still hungry & he wasn't wasting money on it again due to the "piss poor amount of food they gave us". Also, he doesn't look any different, so I think he just secretly gave up.
Sorry for my long-winded, poorly written backstory. & thanks for reading!
xx
