another "yay me" thread :)

I'm sorry but I just have to say... Yesssssssss I lost 40 pounds since October and I just wanna scream it out loud all the time!!!!! I think this is one time where it's really okay to toot my own horn.

So for those of you who are just beginning your journey, KEEP IT UP. It's a tearful, annoying, wonderful, crazy, exciting, beautiful, amazing, difficult, SPECTACULAR ride.

Crazy. Just crazy :)

You CAN do it!

Fri. Apr 28, 7:21am

Way too go!

Great job...I know it didn't come easy. But nothing that comes easy feels as good!
-Star

Friday, April 28, 2006, 8:32 AM

Great job! Keep up the good work! It must feel awesome to see the results!

Friday, April 28, 2006, 9:30 AM

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
That's a fantastic accomplishment :)

Friday, April 28, 2006, 10:09 AM

Congratulations!

We would love to hear about how you accomplished your goals, in the success story section. You can submit it with or without a picture, the most important thing is getting your story out there, because people do read them and find them helpful.

Thank you,

-Peertrainer

Friday, April 28, 2006, 11:46 AM

that's awsome!!! how did you do it!?

Friday, April 28, 2006, 12:01 PM

OP here:

I think that's the most popular question I've heard... "how on earth did you do it?" And that question is usually followed by "wow, I just don't have the discipline." Back in the fall, I'm not sure what happened. One day, something just... clicked. I am 19 years old and a sophomore in college, and, I don't know... I guess it was when I bought a plane ticket with two of my best friends to go to Florida for Spring Break in March. I just wanted to be happy with the way I looked in pictures!! But anyway, by far, I think the MOST important thing in my weight loss was just NEVER GIVING UP. You can say "okay, this week I'm not going to cheat," but then you do once or twice. If I had thrown in the towel, I never would have made it. But, you pick yourself up and say "okay, I had a moment of weakness, but it's alright because tomorrow I'm just going to do better." And if you do better, GREAT! And if not, again, it's not the end of the world. Persistance was always my mental key.

In terms of food and exercise, I guess you could just say that I started eating "healthier." What does that mean? Well, as opposed to eggs, bacon, cereal, tater tots, and maybe a strawberry or two for breakfast, I'd have two slices of whole grain toast (if available) with a little bit of light cream cheese, cantoloupe and honeydew, and a little bit of cottage cheese (maybe just two teaspoons full). And of course, water. Then for lunch, instead of having greasy pizza, pasta slathered with alfredo sauce, or anything fried, I'd have a salad with fat free dressing, and maybe a turkey sandwich and an apple. Same thing for dinner.

One of the biggest things, too, was that I always incorporated fruit and vegetables with every meal, and started to choose items with more fiber, less sugar, more whole grain, and less fat. In the beginning, I wasn't even counting calories, I was simply just eating the foods that I knew were healthy. The hard part was that in a dining hall, there's just not a lot to choose from, so I had to start buying a lot of my own food to eat in my dorm room instead, which packed a punch on my college-girl income, which was next to nothing.

In terms of exercise, I just began to move more. My freshman year, all I did for exercise was walking to class, and I do go to a big school, so it helped a little. But this year, I added another half hour of cardio onto my constant walking around campus. At first, I just liked doing this one video with Kathy Smith (called Project You), which actually had three segments, one was cardio, one was legs and lower body, and one was a pilates core workout. So I started alternating days with some of these, but always doing cardio every day. Then, as the months went by, I started to get bored so I got more dance videos... I tried Masala Bhangra and Cardio Cabaret (Burlesque Style), and Yoga Booty Ballet, which were fun and even good workouts. I still did the strength training/toning as well. Now, I've started running outside which is AWESOME. I always hated running, but now I use it to really clear my mind, especially when life gets crazy, which it often does. I also really really like Tae-Bo as well :)

Small tricks I used:
-At least 30 mins of cardio every day. No exceptions.
-Cutting out all regular fatty cheese (except in the beginning, but now I only eat the fat free stuff and it's only occasionally.)
-Whole grains.
-One word: VEGETABLES!!!
-One more word: FRUIT!!!
-Fried food is a big no-no. Grilled things really are tasty!!! Especially Salmon... yummmmmm.
-Water is your friend. I drank a minimum of 64 oz per day... that's 2 Nalgene bottles full. Usually it was more like 2.5-3 Nalgene bottles full, 64 was just my absolute minimum.
-Hear the words of praise, but don't let them go to your head. In the past, I always heard "wow you look great!" so I'd think to myself "okay, well if I look great, then I'm done!" and I'd go back to my old habits. So, even though you DO look great, or at least better than before, don't give up on your goal based on someone else's opinion.
-Don't become a human garbage disposal (this one I picked up recently, from PeerTrainer, so thanks for whoever said this because it's really helped me!)
-Don't be shy to order things exactly the way you want them in restaurants. Dressing on the side... no cheese on the salad... no croutons... change the fries for vegetables or a salad... and keep asking for water.

-And back to the person who I talked about before about not having enough discipline: It's all about a want. If you want something bad enough, I really believe that you can get there. Even if you take baby steps. Even if it just means refusing a Hershey Kiss, or leaving a bite of food left on your plate after your meal, or even walking for an extra five minutes outside or pacing the room while you're talking on the phone. EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS.

Most importantly: DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!

And now, back to studying for finals :) wow I'm stressed! Good luck to everybody, hope this helped :)

Saturday, April 29, 2006, 9:06 AM

Conngratulations! You deserve a Yay Me post. :)

Saturday, April 29, 2006, 12:19 PM

you are a very wise and wonderful woman! it's hard to imagine that you are only 19! keep up the positive thinking and the postive behavior.

Saturday, April 29, 2006, 4:21 PM

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