I'm not really sure how the journal thing works, but I thought I'd give it a go. I called my journal "A new life" because I'm determined not to carry on living the way I have been. I just haven't been taking care of my body. I'm trying to not see this as a "diet" but as a course of learning through which I can develop new habits. I am determined that I will never diet again. I'm going to build the best body I can for myself. So far I've lost 3 pounds. Yay :D

Hello, Roz! :wave: Congratulations on your goal setting and on the three pound loss!!! Building the best body possible is, IMO, a truly noble goal ... we only have the one bod, after all.

Hello Roz,
Yay for losing 3 lbs.!!!
What is the Tom Venuto diet?

t.

HI Roz :wave: & :welcome:

Beth :dance:

Thanks for the welcome guys. It's so nice to be supported at last! To answer tmtg, the tom venuto diet isn't really a set diet as such. He wrote a book called "burn the fat, feed the muscle". It's a brilliant book. If you're like me and you like to know the scientific reasons behind everything, then it's for you. It's enabled me to produce my own diet and exercise program which has proven really effective. Tomorrow is the weigh-in day. Wish me luck. :)

Aaaaarrrgggghhhh. I've just been regailed with stories about how my boyfriend's last girlfriend has the " most perfect body ever". I feel soooooo fat!!!!!! X-( :(

blah, been there.. not with my current love. You arent fat, you are diferent. And remember you must be better, or he would be with her instead of you.

Thanks Elsie. Feeling much better today. Had my weigh day. I've lost 5 pounds since I started. :D I'm also having my free day today where I can eat whatever I like, and I haven't pigged out at all. In fact I don't even have the urge! Usually after a free day, it's really hard to get back into the eating and exercising thing, and I usually give up then. I don't think I'm going to. In fact, I KNOW i'm not going to!! :D

Hi Roz! :welcome: to DT. Congrats on the weight loss! You are in the right fram of mind stick with it and you will go far! I wish you all the best on your journay! I will check in with you again to see how you are doing.

Have a GREAT week!

Never say "dont think". But then I have been there too. I know originally my goal was to be a size 7. I would tell myself "well I would be happy with like a size 10" I am so glad that I didnt sabotage myself. I enjoy being a size 5 or so.

Great! It appears I was wrong. I slipped up today. When I woke up I wasn't feeling well, but instead of using it as an excuse, I got up anyway and went for my early morning jog. I was really proud of myself for doing it. Then I went to the hospital (where I'm working) and felt worse and worse (think I've got 'flu). Started getting a fever and achy etc. Got home and my boyfriend had half a chocolate cake sitting in the fridge. I ate not one piece...but TWO! How could i do this??? I feel like the promises I make to myself don't mean anything. I start a program and it works and makes me feel happier, but I always sabotage myself. This time i justified my cheating with the excuse that I'm sick and needed comfort food. Now i feel like I need to get off my fat bum and exercise, but I can't. Also really nervous. I had a blood test on Friday and I get the results tomorrow. The doctor thinks I might have hypothyroidism. Feeling rotton! :c(

Roz forget the cake you ate and move on. Dont even look back that is now behind you. We have all done that many times and the real trick is to forgive yourself and keep moving forward. And by moving forward will get you to where you want to be. You can do this!

have a Great week!

I agree forget the cake, cake happens... just be proud that you excercised today even though you felt like poo. Tomorrow is another day, you can always make it up.

You really should not feel so horrible about the cake, somedays I would laugh at 2 pieces,and be happy that I did not totally binge and eat the whole damn thing! I know we all want to eat perfectly, but our minds and I guess in a way bodies will not allow us to do that, dwelling on that piece will just make things worse, forget about it, move on, and think about the wonderful days ahead! GOOD LUCK! And don't be TOO hard on yourself, that is how diets start and many fail, I am certainly not saying that you would. You have a good idea about the lifestyle change, and that book sounds interesting, might have to pick it up, I am not sure how long you have been here, but welcome to diettalk, personally I think it is a wonderful place to be; you will find a ton of support here. AGAIN GOOD LUCK! Hope your weigh in goes well.

Forgot the cake. Just worried about my test results today (just 5 more hours til I get them). The good news is, that if I have hypothyroidism, I'll be put on medication which will help my energy levels, and it'll explain why I'm fat. But the bad news is, it'll make it so much harder for me to lose weight. Ah well, I'll just have to wait and see. On the other hand, if I don't have it, it's all my fault for letting my body get this way. I don't know what to hope for. Well, at least he'll give me something for my nasty cold :)

Looks like I have hypothyroidism. :( Have to have another blood test tomorrow to see if it's treatable or not :( No wonder I gain weight so easily. The positive side is, if the doc can treat it, it'll help me lose weight.

So the doc put me on medication today. it's just for a month, but I really hope it helps. Pigged out today, ate chocolate and chinese food. VERY VERY BAD ROZ!!!!! I used my stress about the test as an excuse. Tomorrow morning I'll get up early and run. hopefully the medication will have given me more energy. I'm too scared to weigh myself. Has anyone here ever developed a scale phobia?

Aaaargh, I feel sick. I feel like my body is getting out of the habit of eating fatty food. That chinese didn't go down well. Serves me right. I still only ate 1400 calories today, considering that I cheated 3 times. Oh well, gym hard tomorrow!

I went running today. Only ran about 2 kms (about 1.2miles), but felt really good afterwards. i've been smiling all morning. I think the medication is really helping.
Going to see if i can motivate myself to go to gym later too.

I'm a lazy fat person! I didn't go to gym afterall. I finished work and went to watch a movie. I was determined not to eat popcorn or chocolate, so I bought a coke lite. My boyfriend bought chocolate and I ended up eating half of it. Then to make things worse, I came home and had half a french load WITH BUTTER. I feel like I've fallen off the wagon again. I did so well in the first week. I was really motivated and did really well. I lost 5 pounds. Then i had my free day and just couldn't get back into it. I feel like i can't make myself do this. It really makes me hate myself. Nothing has ever been difficult for me and i have always been successful. Except this! I don't know what is wrong with me. Looking this way makes me so miserable. I feel ugly. I wont even let my boyfriend hug me anymore because I feel so repulsive. When I have a shower, i try not to look in the mirror and I feel like people are looking at me all the time thinking how ugly I am. I feel like a failure. Everytime I diet, I fail. I'm weak. It's just unacceptable to me to keep failing like this. I don't understand , if i want to be thin so badly, why can't I just do it. I'm starting to despise my boyfriend for being so lean. He eats 5 times the amount that i do. I don't feel like a woman being with a man who's smaller than me. I weigh the same amount as my brother. And I'm sick to death of people telling me that it's puppy fat. I'm 23 years old. it isn't friggin puppy fat.

It's holding me back. It's making me miserable. And here i sit, not doing anything about it. I hate myself.

So get back on the horse and no more free days. When I first started there was no days off and I was super successful. Now I am not so worried about it and I allow myself a little of this or that, and because of that I have been not doing well. Luckily I havent gained weight, but that is only because I excdercise everyday. If you really want t lose weight, then do it. If you arent really serious, then it wont happen. THats the hard part about this, it really takes a lot of work. Maybe ask your boyfriend to be supportive and not eat chocolates. Or take snacks with you that are a better choice.

YOu're right Elsie. I need to stop being such a baby about it all. I need to get back on the horse again and stop winging. No more free days for me. I am serious about losing weight. I just need to get on with it and stop making excuses.

I went to gym this morning and ate pretty well, except for a bar one that I just had. Guess it's the once a month chocolate cravings. It's that ***** mother nature again.

Leaving out this weeks weigh in. Think I'll do it next week instead.

Well, I've taken Elsie's advice and I'm not having my free day today. Afterall, I had free days every other day this week :laugh: . So far I feel ok about not stuffing my face today. Going to have scrambled eggs for breakfast instead of boerewors rolls with loads of butter. And then going to gym this afternoon. Even contemplating going for a run this morning. Thanks Elsie.

OK. Here it goes again with the chocolate. It's like an addiction. All the above *****ing and whining i've done has really been because of chocolate. I'm going to take my own advice and elarn from my mistakes. To quote Anne (whose journal I love), chocolate is my "diet darth". At least I know where my weakness lies. I've successfully cut out fat and all sugar (except chocolate). I only eat red meat twice a week and can pretty much exercise everyday with no problem (and actually quite enjoy it). It's that damned chocolate. I will now focus all my energy on avoiding it.

Pure evil comes in the form of chocolate!!!! :lil:

I really didn't eat well today. First I was meant to go to gym, but slept instead. Then left before I could eat breakfast and went to my clinic. Then by 2 o'clock I was starving but didn't have anything prepared.

I had to have a seminar meeting with a girl in my year and she runs the tuckshop in her residence. We had the meeting in the tuck shop (which only stocks junk food). By this time I was soooo hungry, and i cheated. I ate a pie, a packet of crisps, 2 chocolate bars and a sweet. Plus I had a coke to wash it all down. I feel terrible.

Well there's no sense in moaning about it. I'll have to plan for tomorrow. I'm really busy at the moment so it makes it difficult for me to go to gym. I'll try get up early and run for 20 minutes before I go to clinics.
This won't happen again. Next time I'll be prepared.

Hey Roz,

Thought I'd drop by and offer you a big THUMBS UP on the exercise and diet changes you've made! Today may have a been a negative blip on the diet radar, but at least you recognize what happened. And hey - we all get busy from time to time. Life happens. :)

As for the chocolate cravings, it's possible there is a physical component. You may need more calcium and magnesium in your diet - I started taking a cal/mag supplement every evening with my supper and the chocolate urge died right down.

Chocolate also contains tryptophan, an amino acid essential for your brain's production of serotonin (natural mood elevator). You could try including other tryptophan foods in your diet, such as turkey and cottage cheese, and see if that helps.

Keep going - you're doing swell! :cheer:

Wow. Cal/mag? I didn't know that ( and usually I quite fancy the fact that I know everything :laugh: ). I'll head down to the pharmacy tomorrow and invest in some. Tomorrow I'm definitely going for a run. I just felt too tired to get up before and thought if I got the extra sleep in before my clinic it'd help me function through the day. This was a lie! You see, I actually feel better for the day if I exercise in the morning than if I sleep in. I tried it. On friday, I was tired, but i got up and ran for 20 minutes. I was in such a good mood for the rest of the day (which for a Wednesday Adams look-alike is extraordinary!). However, I did the opposite and got an extra hour of sleep and felt really tired for the rest of the day.

So there it is. If you feel tired, exercise!

Hey Roz,
Ya know when I tried to get off the chocolate I bought products with carob in it... It is similar to chocolate.

I also find it true that a nap will make me more tired than if I exercise... but it seems to be hard for me to "remember" when I am tired and I have a choice between the bed and my sneakers.

Don't worry so much about falling off the wagon. I did it too a couple of nights ago. You just have to pick yourself right back up. I also find that if I don't label any food as "off limits," I'm not constantly thinking about having it. Also, I find that when I get too strict with myself I eventually feel miserable... and look for the forbidden food for comfort.

Anyway, good luck!!
And look at yourself in the mirror. If you don't you won't notice when your body starts changing for the better. :)

-Tara.

The last two days were really good. I've stuck to my diet and went to gym for an hour today. yay. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but the way I'm under pressure right now, it's a miracle I haven't comfort eaten.

Don't know what's wrong with me. I've been doing really well on the diet and haven't cheated and I've been exercising. But in the past week and a half, I've lost 1 pound only! It isn't enough! If the maximum you should lose is 2 pounds, then I want to lose 2 pounds. I'm really trying to blame the scale for being an old bathroom scale. If I step on it heavily, it gives me one reading, but if I step on it slowly, then I'm 4 pounds lighter. Maybe I haven't lost anything. Maybe it's just my light-stepping that's doing it. :(

Wanted to say hey Roz! You're doing well - really - some weeks it will just be one pound but that one pound is just a small piece of what's to come. Don't beat yourself up, just move ahead. And like tmtg1229 said, I am making nothing off limits this time, nothing at all, because the minute something is off limits, it becomes the only thing I want. If there's something I want I will have some, but I am going to watch how much & make up for it later on.

Keep the faith! It will happen if you just remember one step at a time.

Hey Roz, just thought I'd drop by and see how you're doing. Did you have a good weekend? Hope you're not stressing too much about the pounds per week. Like Rabbit said, it will happen if you keep the faith and just keep on keepin' on!

You asked about the 1800 minutes per month of exercise. I'm using the August FANatics Exercise thread (in the exercise forum) to track my daily fitness minutes. I set a goal of 1800 minutes for August, and every day I add up toward that goal. That thread really motivates me, because I like being able to check in each morning with some good results to report.

Anyway, hope you're well! :)

Hi Roz, I hope you are doing well and your choclate addiction is getting better.

Thanks for the support guys. Gosh no-one has opened my journal for ages. Glad you came along and brushed the cobwebs off it! I'm doing good - ish. I've lost another3 or 4 pounds. I weighed myself on Sunday. Hilarious tho - I stepped lightly onto the scale and it said 172 pounds. Then I convinced myself that I was cheating and JUMPED onto it. Bad Idea. I think I head something snap inside and now I weigh 80 pounds! This kind of instant weight loss is really my kind of thing!

Time to invest in another scale I guess. I've kept my cheating day and, Elsie, I've moved to 85%cocoa dark chocolate. It tastes like poison and keeps the cravings at bay. Anne - I'm going to check out that exercise forum. I think I'm going to need some motivation to exercise. I've been quite good so far, but can feel myself slipping.

Anyway, until next time - au revoir

LOL! I think you should post the 80 pounds in your stats. I mean, that's what the scale says, so it's fair and square right? (then wait to see if anyone lectures you about starving - tee hee)

But really, congrats on the 172. You're doing great!

Well if you post the 80 pounds then you will get harrassed by the DT nazis. But That is a serious weight loss. I think the chocolate thing is 100% mental and if you wanted to you could get over it. There is no addictivie property --so to speak-- in the chocolatem adn the same endorphins are released with excercise, so maybe you should put away the dark chocolate and hit the gym --or excercise video or whatever you prefer--. You can totally do it. Congratson the weight loss, keep up the good work!

There are DT nazis??? I didn't know that! What do they do?

You havent met the ST nazis yet? Whew, lucky you. They basically tell you that everything you do is wrong, and that you are going to gain it all back, and you need to do what they tell you.

So I hope you are above 80 pounds now :)

Roz, you make me laugh. I've been MIA for a bit since moving to a new state, but I've been reading and catching up here, and I am cracking up. Your scale story made me laugh so hard!

You seem to have the right attitude about losing weight, and if you can manage to hold on to it, you will be successful. Best luck to you!

So this weekend I ate and ate and ate and ate and ate some more. This weekend it's my birthday, so I'll probably do the same thing. I'm terrified of the scale. the scale is evil!

Isn't it amazing, the power a set of scales can have over us? Last weekend may have been a write-off, but it's in the past now, so might as well just focus on good choices for today, right? I hope you will be able to enjoy your birthday without fretting over calories - we're all entitled to a special occasion every now and then. :)

Hmmm. So I dieted and exercised really well yesterday, and just ate well today. Didn't go to gym coz felt a bit sick. My stomach ulcers are attacking me. I'm under so much stress I could just cry. My thesis hand in is in 2 weeks. The scale is starting to move in the wrong direction. I'm getting really desperate. Beginning to think I'm going to give up. Its also a bad time of the month, so I feel fatter than ever. Could that be the reason for the scale thing? argh. I hate this diet thing!

So I decided to do something about the scale. It's been dysfunctional for weigh to long. ha ha ha ha ha. Yes, yes, it's my sad sense of humour. Anyway, what i did was, I picked the toughest looking personal trainer at the gym and booked a session. It's costing me a lot of moneya dn her wants me to get there at 7 in the morning on saturday, but he's going to give me a proper program for ME. I'm really scared that I won't be able to do half of the stuff that he asks me to do, and I'll fall on my ass and look like an idiot, but I'm going to do it anyway. There's just no getting out of it.
...weird tho, I think he was hitting on me... :o

good for you for planning a meeting with a personal trainer. I'd love to be able to afford one, but alas, no can do.

just keep remembering, one day at a time, one day at a time. you're doing great!

Congrats on booking a trainer! And not just any trainer, the toughest-looking one. :) Is this a birthday present to yourself? Hope you enjoy the session, and don't worry about falling on your butt - it's sort of his job to show you how to do it without falling on your butt. He won't be saying "oh, crap, a beginner who can't do everything perfectly", he'll be saying good job for deciding to get serious about your fitness. You GO! :cheer: