Sabrina's Journal

[beanbag]

here is my unoriginally titled journal.

someone suggested I start one, so I will do so. I'm not exactly sure what I should be writing in here. I glanced at a couple of other journals to get an idea, but since I haven't worked out since monday, I'm not sure what to put down. I suppose I could introduce myself.

I'm Sabrina, and I'm really not in this to body-build or compete, but I am learning a lot about nutrition and weight-training from here, and there are women on here, which is doubly cool because I can learn from women how I should work out as a woman. I have always been chunky, and last summer I was bordering on actually fat, rather than just overweight. it was a big wakeup call for me, because my weight has always been up and down. I slimmed down a lot during the fall of 2003, and in jan of 2004 I was looking the best I've ever looked, really. then, my grandmother called later in that month to tell us she had cancer. we flew out 6 states away to be with her, and I ate less and lost more weight. she passed away while we were there, and when I got home, practically all I did was eat, which is weird because I am not an emotional eater at all. needless to say, by august of last year I'd gained all my weight back and then some and I looked horrible.

I'm sick of bouncing back and forth, and I'm sick of being overweight. I dont' necessarily want to look like a supermodel (though I wouldn't complain, of course) but I do want to look good. so, here I am, thanks to my brother who told me about these boards.

so. what I ate today...

two apple cinnamon rice cakes with pb
an apple
two chicken "rolls"-- (bits of chicken rolled in this bread. it's yeast-free.)

and then I caved and broke my new "diet"...

a sandwich (with regular bread)
tortilla chips
m&ms

shame on me haha. oh well. I hadn't had bread in a week, and chocolate in ages, and tortilla chips in about a week as well.

so that is my day in a nutshell. I won't be working out till next week at the earliest, because I still have a nasty cough going on, and my heart races even when I'm walking at a normal pace.

that's all for today, folks.

[abbs]

Hi Sabrina, thanks for introducing yourself and sharing your backgound. Its great that you have made the decision to do something about your health and fitness, rather than be stuck in that awful yo-yo cycle. Starting a journal is a fantastic idea and you will learn so much from these forums if you take a bit of time to read up on the basics.

At first it may seem a bit overwhelming because of the info overload, but if you start off slowly and improve something everyday you will get there.

Posting your stats (height and weight) will help us to workout whats best for your diet. And when you workout post that too as thats an important part of reaching your goals.

You may have read this already but if not check it out, its from the female nutrition section and gives you the basics for a good diet and workout:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=290201

[Hollyday]

Honestly once you get use to eat healthy you don't even want the m&m's or tortilla chips. I use to crave and eat all the time tortilla chips with melted cheese and then dip those in salsa. I would eat it for breakfast with a coke (the horror) lol. Now I don't even crave it. It's like once you get your taste buds off of the bad food it just doesn't taste that great anymore. And the veggies do. At first I would have to eat the veggies with low cal/low fat ranch, but everytime I would eat them I would use less and less ranch. Same thing with my salads, I would use less and less dressing (to where now I just lightly drizzle it). My taste buds love veggies now, and I'm getting to the point I can just eat them plain with no dressing or anything because they taste so good to me. I remember the first week I gave up Coke and all my bad foods I felt like crap for that first week but then I had never felt better.

Congrats on losing weight the healthy way!

I strongly suggest eating smaller meals 4-6 times a day. It not only keeps your metabolism up, but because I eat so frequently, when I do eat, I'm just hungry and not starving. So I'm in better control of what I eat and how much.

good luck

[arose70]

Glad you started a journal!!! Like abbs said, post your goals, your stats (for your own tracking), and your daily diet! You will do awesome here, thanks for starting a journal!

[beanbag]

thanks for the info and encouragement, ladies, especially the link. I'm going to email that info to myself so I can print it and tack it on my wall.

I am almost 5'9 and around 218 lbs. (my driver's license says 195. HA. some day.) I am big-boned and broad-shouldered but my grandmother (mom's mom) had more height and broader shoulders than me and still had a 24 inch waist. I would be content with 30. I'm currently hovering somewhere between 37-38 in the waist area. I carry most of my weight in my torso, which is abnormally long. I think if my torso were proportional to the rest of my body, I would be closer to 5'6ish. but, it's not and that's where most of my extra weight is...around my waist and in my back.

I have many things going against me in my campaign to lose weight, but I think the biggest factors are that I'm a college student and I'm half middle eastern. my schedule is always crazy, but it was especially bad this semester. I had no time to eat at all...I eat things like granola bars while driving to school, and then I would have half an hour from 12-12:30 to eat lunch, which was convenient stuff like taco truck cuisine (burritos and the like) and sandwiches, etc. thankfully, when I was small, my parents went on this health kick they got from sweden- no candy, chips, ice cream, soda, etc except on the weekends, and then it was highly controlled. I was raised not really eating junk food, so although we're free to eat junk food during the week now, I really don't eat a lot of it, and I rarely drink soda. I just don't eat very healthy foods, either. I drink a lot of water, but it doesn't really balance out with everything else.

as for being middle eastern...my grandmother (dad's mom) lives with us and rules the kitchen. she gets offended when I don't eat what she prepares, but it's all fattening and full of oils. it's a lose-lose situation for me. if I don't eat her food, she won't talk to me. if I do eat her food, then I don't lose weight. after talking to my brother, I've decided that I need to put my foot down and tell her my health (and self-image, as well) comes first and I am not going to eat anything fattening anymore, which is basically everything she prepares.

I'm not really a fan of cooked veggies. I honestly don't like veggies in general. I like raw carrots, and I'll eat raw cauliflower with dip..broccoli I avoid because I was traumatized when I was small, but that's a different story...I eat raw spinach as a salad, and I eat regular salads, but I really don't like tomatoes or cucumbers or celery and such. my friend had me try some breaded zucchini at this restaurant but I think the healthful benefits of the zucchini were cancelled out by the fried part. I'm not sure if I could eat it raw, though. I don't mind most veggies in stir-fry, though, so would that be a healthy option to look into?

[terracotta]

Hi, raw carrots and cauliflower are great! Try getting 2-3 cups of veggies/day. Stirfry is fine if you make it yourself and use a minimal amount of oil.. preferably olive oil or canola oil. Try using 1 tsp of oil for ever 2 cups of frozen veggies. Instead of using stirfry sauce buy some stirfry spice.

[beanbag]

ugh. so I wrote and everything deleted itself. the summary of my post:

I ate rather crappy today. cookies and milk, and then for dinner chicken, mashed potatoes, and bread.

I ranted a bit about how health food is so darn expensive but mcd's (nasty food, though) sells 69 cent burgers. small wonder why the majority of america is obese.

I didn't necessarily work out today, but I danced a bit of arabic with my cousin's grandma. it's a good workout, but it made me cough a lot so I had to stop.

yeah. so that's the gist of what I wrote. maybe this week I'll actually stop being sick so I can hit the gym and stuff.

*edit* oh yeah. do I mix the stirfry powder with the oil, or do I sprinkle it on? and what about chain chinese food, like panda express? or is it all junky stuff?

[imperfectly_lou]

Hi Sabrina and welcome to the journal section!

I am not a fan of veggies either. I really have to force myself to make a conscious effort to eat them. But stir fries are good! I use fresh chicken breast, cut into cubes and stir fry it in a tiny bit of olive oil. I then add whatever is one hand... I like baby corn, snow peas, carrot, broccoli, water chestnuts, zucchini, bok choy, mushrooms. I then add in about 50ml of low-sodium tamari (wheat free soy sauce). It's really good, especially with brown rice!

[beanbag]

ah. sounds good! my favorites are chinese and italian, but seeing as chinese is the healthier of the two, I'll stick with that more often.

I am really getting fed up with sitting at home all the time. I'm either sleeping, sitting at the computer, or sitting in front of the tv. my legs are getting sore from sitting in the chair for so long. I think I may hazard the gym tomorrow simply because I am so tired of sitting around and doing nothing. I'll be careful with the cardio, but I think doing the resistance machines should be fine. they don't make me breathe hard...it's just my muscles that scream.

I'm going to try and get a regular schedule for my workout going. I've browsed around some of the journals here, and all the ladies seem to have specific days for everything. I think creating that kind of a routine for myself will really help keep me on track and make this affair with the gym a successful relationship, rather than a summer fling.

I started out last monday doing my back, so I think I'd like to keep that. how is this:

monday: back/abs
tuesday: legs/glutes
wednesday: cardio/abs
thursday: arms/chest
friday: cardio/abs

*edit* haha. I forgot. I am attempting to do 12 reps for two sets, and then 15 on the third. I figure, that way I don't miss anything at all.

of course, this is quite open to critique. I am a beginner at this whole diy thing, and I will take all the help I can get.

I use all resistance machines at the gym, so to give you an idea of what these workouts would look like...

back: there is a machine you sit on with your back against a pad, and you push backwards on it...I found it worked my abs more than my back, but I am sure it helps in both areas. also, there's a machine that you pull back on, and I felt it more in my arms but again, the diagram on there said it was for the back.

abs: there's a machine with a round pad that you place your chest on, right below the collarbone. I tried it once, and I didn't really think it was effective. we'll see. I'll give it a couple more shots, and I can always fall back on the good, old fashioned crunches. plus, I try and do the arm training in a way that will work my abs as well.

legs/glutes: the squat machine. I hate it. I've always hated squats. but, I use it. there are also the assorted machines where you put your foot in the loop and work your muscles that way.

arms: again, the cords with the loops on the end that I can use for both my arms and my waist. there are some machines that work well...a pull down machine that works both the back of the arms and the back, and assorted other machines scattered around the weight rooms. when I met with the trainer, she showed me the arm machines.

chest: I haven't looked around for chest machines yet. I'm going to go easy on my chest, because I'm trying to preserve my bra size. I just want to lose the layer of fat over my collarbone, and then try to maintain that.

cardio: I stick with the treadmill. I didnt' know that it had to be at a certain gradient in order to make me work, though. someone said 1.5? perhaps I'll just start doing my cardio outside. I get dizzy when I stay on the treadmill too long.

anyways. as I said, I'm new to this whole do it yourself with resistance machines. I was enrolled on and off for about three total semesters in an aerobics class. I noticed results (we did a lot of resistance training with our own weight- pushups and crunches and stuff) and I was going to return this semester, because my fabulous instructor motivated me and pushed me to work out like no one has ever been able to do. he was just the sweetest, most encouraging man I've met, and he pushed me to do my best. however, he passed away in february, and I miss him terribly. I always wanted to tape record one of our sessions so that in case something ever happened, I'd still hear him yammering away at me (in the middle of the class, he would say something like, "hey Sabrina! are you feeling these?!") but I never got around to it. so now I'm on my own, left with the things he taught me.

anyways. I want to do something like buy a mountain bike. as valuable as the gym is, sometimes I get smothered in there. there are so many people, and even though they're focused on themselves, they still look around and I feel like they're comparing their own gains with me. like, "oh, look at me I look so fabulous compared to that fat, unathletic girl over there." I mean, it's probably in my head, but sometimes I feel like everyone is crowding in on me. I want to change things up and get out there into nature, too. if I do this, though, it'll be my weekend thing.

so yes. I think this is all for tonight. I am going to clean up my act eating-wise tomorrow as well. I am going to start fresh and eat healthy, the way I should be.

[beanbag]

yay I'm going to the gym. I'll come back and write about what I did later.

we didn't really have anything worth eating, so i kind of mixed and matched. my mom bought me a bunch of trial "diet food" as she called it...she bought a few of those frozen microwaveable meals from two different brands. the one I had today was horrendous. it was supposed to be ravioli or something, but it was just really hard. I had to force myself to swallow it down. I mixed it with about a (cooked) cup of white rice my grandmother made last night and had some bagged salad with sliced mushrooms and baby carrots. I ate my salad last...it helped take away the aftertaste of the ravioli sauce.

that's all I've eaten today (wait. my brother had in-n-out, and I had one of his fries. *edit* it's so like me to forget I ate breakfast. I had oatmeal with maple syrup.) and the only think I drank today was water. my water intake goes up and down with each day- I need to be consistent. I have noticed that I've gone down a little bit on the sides of my waist, which I'm thankful for. my parents have always told me to stand/sit up straight (I slouch, but oh well) and have taught me to hold my abdomen in, so from the side I can look about half my actual, let-it-all-loose size, but turn me to the front and then it's apparent that I'm not as small as I can appear to be from the side. so, I'm happy. I put my jeans on this morning, and where normally they cut in at the sides, they werne't cutting in. of course, it could've been that they stretched last time I wore them, but I am choosing to believe it's because I've lost a bit.

anyways. I'm excited to go to the gym! I threw my clothes in the wash and they should be done within about 1/2 an hour. I have to keep it light and not push myself too hard for fear I'll start coughing hard and vomit all over the equipment. but at least I'll be doing something.