re: Weight loss journey

Hey ladies! I hope everyone is doing well! Nichole you are so close to the end I cant believe it! Cant wait to see your beautiful LO  

Im having trouble with my eating... I feel like any time I start to restrict calories and really watch what I eat I go back into a mentality of starvation dieting and its such a bad place to be. I went through a period of starvation/binging/purging in middle school and worry Ill go back to it though I havent in all these years. I just cant seem to find a balance between eating whatever I want and obsessing over and beating myself up over every single calorie I eat.  

Quoting ♥Love♥:" Hey ladies! I hope everyone is doing well! Nichole you are so close to the end I cant believe it! Cant ... [snip!] ... to find a balance between eating whatever I want and obsessing over and beating myself up over every single calorie I eat.  "

hmmm, that is hard. I'd say maybe try to cut out specific foods. As in, cut otu processed and sugary foods. If you're only eating good whole foods you're less likely to overeat.

Or maybe make a goal that you WILL eat between a certain number of calories so you can't obsess. Like, you'll eat NO LESS then 1200 a day, and no more then 1600. Maybe keep reminding yourself of the dangers of undereating?

Can I still join this? if so my starting weight was 170, and today I weighed myself in at 162.4

Quoting ~AsherLee~:" Can I still join this? if so my starting weight was 170, and today I weighed myself in at 162.4"

You sound like me! How tall are you?

Quoting ♥Love♥:" Hey ladies! I hope everyone is doing well! Nichole you are so close to the end I cant believe it! Cant ... [snip!] ... to find a balance between eating whatever I want and obsessing over and beating myself up over every single calorie I eat.  "

Thanks Love, I am definitely feeling ready physically lol.

Love, I really think you should focus more on clean eating then restricting. Have you tried just eating wholesome foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and natural oils? Eat all whole grains, limit drinks to water mostly? When I eat well like that I feel the best and do tend to lose. I still have energy to exercise and so I tend to do that more when I eat well. I'd hate for you to go back into those old habits, I too have struggled with those habits for so many years and I know how harmful they are!

Quoting ~AsherLee~:" Can I still join this? if so my starting weight was 170, and today I weighed myself in at 162.4"

Sure thing. What is your name and I'll add you to the OP!

Quoting ~*~ Nichole ~*~:" Sure thing. What is your name and I'll add you to the OP!"

Could you also update my info? I was under Teagans Mom. Current weight is 163 as of this morning =D

Quoting ~*~ Nichole ~*~:" Thanks Love, I am definitely feeling ready physically lol. Love, I really think you should focus more ... [snip!] ... you to go back into those old habits, I too have struggled with those habits for so many years and I know how harmful they are!"

I hope the last few weeks arent too hard on you!
Thank you for the advise and encouragement, I appreciate it. do you know of any websites that would have recipes for foods that would follow those guidelines? I think another part of my guideline is I cant decide what I want to eat at the grocery store, I never think anything is healthy enough, I get overwhelmed trying to decide what to eat and leave without enough healthy choices. Ive also been trying to eat foods that are more filling to me like peanut butter, low fat cheese sticks, unsalted/not roasted almonds, low fat yogurt etc... rather than things like gummy snacks (Im a huge fan of gummy snacks   lol)
I also bought stuff to try the Special K 2 week challenge, idk if Ill keep up with it totally but I thought it might be good to try.

Quoting she nan igans:" hmmm, that is hard. I'd say maybe try to cut out specific foods. As in, cut otu processed and sugary ... [snip!] ... Like, you'll eat NO LESS then 1200 a day, and no more then 1600. Maybe keep reminding yourself of the dangers of undereating?"

thank you for the advise and encouragement. that is a good idea to give myself a range instead of a limit per say. I think that might help, thank you!

Quoting she nan igans:" Could you also update my info? I was under Teagans Mom. Current weight is 163 as of this morning =D"

Awesome!!!

Quoting ♥Love♥:" I hope the last few weeks arent too hard on you! Thank you for the advise and encouragement, I appreciate ... [snip!] ... bought stuff to try the Special K 2 week challenge, idk if Ill keep up with it totally but I thought it might be good to try."

I'll look around and see what I can find. I am sure there are a bazillion lol. One thing to remember is low fat most of the time can mean increased sugars/carbs, which causes cravings. So doing low fat isn't always the best decision. Compare labels and see where it is better to buy low fat or not based on how much it increases the sugar content.

Look for whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, good fats like nuts/seeds/olive oil/peanut butter and dressings/marinades made out of those ingredients. Make sure your portion sizes are correct. Plate full of mostly vegetables, with smaller portions of meat and your whole grain carb choice. Also you should be eating every few hours to prevent blood sugar drops which cause cravings. So 3 meals a day and 3 snacks is what I do.

So some examples of like what I eat when I am trying to eat well and balanced is:

Breakfast-
Whole grain pancakes
Whole grain cereal with 2% milk
Whole grain toast
Eggs prepared without added fat/oil
Fruit
Yogurt/cottage cheese

Lunch-
Turkey/tuna/white meat sandwich on whole grain bread or in tortilla wrap
Salad topped with shrimp, fish, or white meat chicken and a dressing made of natural oils ingredients.
Whole grain/brown rice topped with stir fry vegetables, tofu or chicken.
Turkey burger on whole grain roll
Dinner leftovers but served at lunch size portion

Dinner-
Lean meat prepared broiled, grilled, or baked with only natural oils added
Vegetables, steamed, boiled, baked or raw
Whole grain pasta, rice, bread, baked sweet potatoes, squash, corn or other higher carb side.
Use spices, sauces, oils, butter all made of natural fats. (ex: no margarine, vegetable oil, high sugar sauces)

Drinks-
Water (Goal: get all water intake in for day by dinner each day)
Coffee
Tea
No soda or high sugar drinks

Snacks-
Nothing after 12 hrs before your wake up time each morning (ex: wake up at 7am then no food after 7pm)
Fruit/vegetables
Whole grain crackers topped with peanut butter
Cheese sticks
Pudding/Jello

Quoting she nan igans:" You sound like me! How tall are you?"

5'1 and a HALF!

Thank you for all the info Nichole! I need to go grocery shopping and I think this will help me plan well for the week   I appreciate your advise!

Quoting ~*~ Nichole ~*~:" Awesome!!! "

haha, thanks! I love that picture.

Last week I got back wtih the program since I'd been slacking off a bit. But I started really "trying" to lose weight at 181, so 163 I figure it pretty good! Also, it gets me out of the obese category.

I tracked my points EVERY DAY last week, even if I had a bad day. I had a habit of not tracking if I wasn't eating very well. Instead I tracked everything and it helped a lot I think.