Because I can't think of a creative title......

[swindled]

Background:
For years I was a sprint kayaker, top of my game, top of my fitness. I ended up retiring due to chronic tendonitis, as well as my dad's death, in my second year of university. I switched programs, went into architecture and in the process switched universities and moved to a new city halfway across the country. I kept going to the gym, and I was comfortable in my body...until I realized that my pants no longer fit, and not by a little bit.. I had gone from a size 5 to a size 9 in about two years, and the sad part is, I never really realized it. My BF% had gone from 19% to 34%, and my weight had gone from 127lbs to 145lbs. That really didnt kick my ass into gear, instead I got self conscious and depressed. I spent two years of my life at that weight and that size, I focused on school and although I still went to the gym I wasnt shaking the weight.

The third year of my program was quite literally death... 8am to 3am everyday (and those are the days I got to sleep, I pulled 46 all nighters that year..30 hours of classes plus projects...) I have a fairly nervous personality and when I am stressed out and not sleeping I can't eat (by the third month I was eating maybe once a day, soo not healthy), so by second semester I couldnt fit into any of my pants anymore, everything was way to big. And to be honest I really didnt realize that I had lost weight. Last summer was the big turnaround for me, I realized that I had lost weight (not healthily I know) and at the same time I joined football on top of rugby, and I also started to go to the gym regularly.

In the fall I got a bf analysis done to find that although my weight had stayed consistant, I had lost 6% body fat and was down to 28%. I went to the gym nearly everyday from then on and I continued eating healthy foods. In March I had a setback and I started to gain weight again even though my exercise regime and diet had not really changed. I was finally diagnosed with a hypoactive thyroid as well as PCOS.

Goals:
I still want to lose body fat, and my goal is still to get to 21% bf again by this time next year. My goal for the summer is to reach 24% bf by September when I can next get a bf analysis done.

At the same time, because I do have some insulin resistance I am starting a low GI diet, which is my second goal. To learn more about low GI and to stick to a low GI diet, with only a few cheats here and there.

This journal is going to be a good way to keep me accountable to not only myself but others, lol, that is as long as people are actually interested enough to read.

[twinnett]

Hi there..welcome! I always read about these people just losing weight w/out realizing it..lol..I tend to eat a lot when I'm stressed!!!

[swindled]

lol, well I knew I had lost a bit of weight because my pants didnt fit me in the waist anymore, but I didnt realize how much I had lost until I tried to get into my dress pants in March.

[swindled]

Well, it has been a somewhat productive long weekend. Unfortunately I couldnt make it to the gym, but I did my workouts outside instead. I spent all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday just working in the front yard. My mom is completely re-landscaping and turning the old front lawn into a dry creekbed style garden. So instead of the usual squats and pull ups, I hauled rock, shovelled rock, shovelled dirt, hauling fence posts, hauling old landscaping garbage, etc etc. Actually a great workout for the glutes. Spending all day outside doing physical workout made me feel mad fantastic.

This weekend was good for food too, mostly anyway.

Today consisted of:

Breakfast:
1 cup of Oatmeal with 1/3 of a mango

Snack:
10 almonds
No fat yogurt

Lunch:
Whole wheat pasta (curly pasta...whatever it is called...)
2 small tomatoes
a little bit of shredded cheese
two tablespoons of lean ground beef
1 cup of soy milk.

Snack:
Low fat yogurt

Supper:
Green beans
Baked Salmon with lemon and fresh dill
1.5 tablespoons of converted rice (low on the glycemic index..not sure if I really get "what" it is, but my mom bought it)
1/2 of a plate of baby green salad with carrots, almonds, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, and green onion. All with homemade dressing: olive oil, red wine raspberry vinegar, crushed garlic and black pepper.

All very tasty, although its harder to measure exactly how much of everything I eat when I am making it for an entire family. I did a food diary though for the last week, and on average I am eating about 1700 calories a day, which is good because it is the 500 calorie deficit I need to lose some fat and lean out again.

Although I now have a layer of fat, I am really happy that I have not really lost a lot of strength since I retired from paddling. Lol, I can still haul around a 55lbs bag of concrete like its nothing

The beginning of the weekend kind of sucked food wise. We went out for supper with my grandparents, and I was running late, so they just ordered the meal for 6 at the place we went to. My grandparents eat a notoriously high glycemic diet, and this was no exception. It was really tough to even eat anything on the table. So I only ate a bit of ceasar salad (drenched in dressing), and some lasagna. Not sure how to deal with my grandparents, they get insulted if you dont eat what they feed you...but I just cant eat what they eat. And even if you refuse food my grandmother will just bring it to you...

Any suggestions how to deal with the family???? Also, any suggestions on my sample diet are welcome too. I know from my macro breakdowns that I still have too much fat in my diet, just not sure how to cut it all out?

[swindled]

Today was an interesting day, food wise this is how it went:

Breakfast:
1 cup Scottish stone ground oats
1 banana
1 cup of soy milk

Snack:
10 almonds

Lunch:
2oz baked salmon from last nights supper.
1.5 cups converted rice
40 snap peas

Cheat:
Espresso with soy milk

Snack:
No fat vanilla yogurt.

Supper:
Banana
1 deck of card sized piece (it was the thickness of two decks of cards though) of lasagna with lean ground beef and whole wheat noodles

Snack:
Yogurt oatmeal bar
No fat cherry yogurt.

Workout was rugby practice for me, it was basically a backs workout, so lots of sprinting and fitness.

The 30min warmup was basic ball handling drills with jogging and sprints.

The first hour was offensive defensive drills, like 1 vs 2, 2 vs 3, so on and so forth.

The next 30 min was fitness drills, sprints to pushups to situps to sprints to jumping jacks, etc.

And this was where I started to feel terrible, I got really sick to my stomach, dizzy, clammy, and it felt like I was trying to run through water. We had a team meeting afterwards too for an hour and a half, too bad it was at a restaurant and I have 92 cents in my bank account, no food for me I am still not feel stellar, even after my snack tonight. Not sure if it was low blood sugar or what...hopefully weights tomorrow will feel better

[swindled]

I cant believe how much better I feel now that my horomones are back in order. The hypothyroid medication I am on really really seems to be working, I am not nearly as fatigued as I used to be and I am back on with 7 hours of sleep as opposed to the ten I was doing before.

I have a football game tonight, first one of the season so hopefully it goes well and we win! (We were the top team in the league last year).

I am actually ridiculously happy right now, I went shopping at lunch and had to buy small shirts because the mediums were all too big I am shrinking, slowly but surely. Looks like its time to post some progress pictures as well as some new measurements, I have been lazy and havent kept up with it.