140 lbs from 190 lbs. Too unrealistic of a goal?

Okay, so here's the master plan:

Gender: Female
Height: 5'5" (or 5'4.5", depending on whose scale we're using...)
General caloric intake per day: 2, 260- 2, 500 (I know go up to 3000 at least three times a month)
Diet (or what I've eaten within the past week): Chicken salad (no dressing), frozen waffles, apples, celery, water, ramen noodles, peppered beef jerky (like, twice a week, maybe), ice cream, bananas, mini egg rolls, chicken, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, pepperoni pizza, Lays chips (small personal bag), cereal with 2% milk... and M&M chocolate (because a woman gets those cravings sometimes)..
Current Weight: 190-185 lbs. (it tends to flux throughout the month)
Goal: 140 lbs. by August 2009
Recent photos: (These were taken just minutes ago with my webcam. You tell me if I look overweight or not for being 190 lbs.)




Questions:
1. Is my weight goal too unrealistic?
2. What else can I do to get my weight down? (You could suggest eating less but I'm hypoglycemic and I need food to keep me going sometimes or else I get really dizzy and light-headed.)

 

Eat small meals every 2-3 hours. Have a look round the h&f forum there are some good plans. I have taken sugar out- if you want to drop weight you need to take out the pizzas and all the rubbish.
Someone said to me last week if it doesn't come from the ground or you can't kill it then don't eat it!
If you have to eat regularly you can still do it but you need to be careful what you eat,also drink plenty of water and green tea.

What's your activity level?

I am no expert but learning things myself at the moment as dropping weight currently.

Also what's the timescale?

 

1. No
2. Stop eating all that rubbish and it would probably drop off!!

 

1. Thanks.
2. I'm giving it my best shot, dagummit!!

Haha, it's SO hard to eat healthy sometimes when you're on a limited college budget. Everything deemed "healthy" is more expensive here. Even the CEREAL is like that! I have resisted eating more pizza and chips, though.

THAT IS GOING ON MY WALL. Best quote ever...?

I work out with my Hapkido class every Tuesday and Thursday morning for an hour. Thursday evenings I go to Tae Kwon Do and work out for almost three hours. Any other day of the week I'm either walking all over campus or doing lots of sitting, studying and reading/writing papers for class. Or just surfing the net and being a bum. I do not watch TV.

Moderate activity level is the short answer to that question.

Do you mean how long I'm giving myself to get to 140 lbs.? From now... 4 months.

 

Ok, I think I can help you as I went through the same thing. I was 300lbs, now I'm 260 and still losing weight. Here's how you do it. It's pretty simple, diet and exercise, but the hardest part is diet. It's a lifestyle change, a learning process, and the hardest part. It's all about diet. There's no secret method or tricks, just knowing what's healthy and what's not. If you wanna lose weight, you'll need to change your habits. But don't worry, these will be good habits for the rest of your life.

Here's a link that will help you get started:

http://www.iwantsixpackabs.com/articles/eating.html

This was the diet plan that I followed initially. My diet now is a collection of info I've gotten from multiple sources. This may seem pretty extreme to some, but if you want to lose weight, here are some of the guidelines and tips I follow:

-No fast food - watch "Supersize me" the movie

-No going out to eat - yes you can be social, but it's not an allowed habit

-No sodas - if you have to have a carbonated beverage, drink Diet Rite - no sodium, no sugar, no salt, no caffeine

-No added salt/low salt everything - Extra sodium = more water retained.

-No sugar - that includes any form of sweets, candy, or chocolate

-No caffeine - just try it, your body really doesn't need it

-No energy drinks - sugar, caffeine, empty calories

-No alcohol - if you're serious about losing weight, cut this out too

-No smoking - bronchitis, emphysema, asthma = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease = death

-Drink plenty of water - Keep an old Gatorade (G2) bottle with you at all times and use as your water bottle. Add a sugar free flavor pack of your liking. It helps me drink more water.

-Lean meats (lean red meat, chicken, turkey, pork) Fresh lean, not fatty. Cook it yourself.

-Raw/cooked vegetables

-Fresh fruit

-Cook everything yourself

-Control portions - about the size of the palm of your hand

-Eat 5-6 small meals per day if you can - try to "graze"

-Exercise regularly

-Get good amounts of sleep

-Drink/Use skim milk - Better yet, try Soy Milk.

-Get some whey protein powder from walmart - Get a Magic Bullet to make after exercise shakes with soy milk, skim milk, or water. Add some fruit as well for a quick breakfast in a pinch.

-Wheat Bread

-Canned stuff is good, but watch sodium. Anything packaged is going to have alot of sodium, read the labels it will surprise you once you start noticing.

-Canned tuna

-Try to stay away from processed food, nothing frozen (except vegetables and fruits), and shop the "Outer" areas of the store (meat market, produce, dairy sections - stay away from the boxed/canned/ready to eat processed garbage).

-Eat green leafy vegetables - Romain lettuce, spinach

-Use spices when cooking to add flavor

-Food is Fuel for your body, put the right fuel in it

I have read several books that have helped me:

-Diet Failure: The Naked Truth
-Eat Right For Your Type
-Symply Too Good To Be True - Cookbook
-Lots of simple recipes on the net to help

**Learn to say "NO" even if you have to say it a hundred times. Walk away, drive away, or whatever you have to do to stay on track. Don't order out with coworkers. Bring your own lunches to work. Eat before you go shopping. Keep yourself busy. Think about what it is you are putting into your body.

**Changing habits will take time. You will screw up, just move on and get back on track. Eventually, your good habits will be frequent and your bad habits will be infrequent to non-existent.

**You can eat well on a college budget. EX: cans of tuna, chicken breasts, romaine lettuce, bags of spinach, skim milk, oatmeal, whey protein powder, wheat bread, make your own low fat salad dressings, etc.

**The good news is that you're eating a bunch of garbage now. Why is that good news? It's pretty obvious what the fix is! If you changed your habits today, like the other poster said, you'll probably start dropping weight rather soon and keep dropping as you stick to a healthy diet.

**People may give you a hard time with your diet, but when you lose all that weight and reach your goals, they won't be laughing anymore.

Hope this helps. I know it has helped me.

 

I think I love you, kenpoke. :love:

I've made mental notes whenever I eat something, like "I shouldn't eat this but I'm hungry and I have five minutes to get to class *om nom*!!"

I have a feeling that this is definitely gonna pull me in for the long-haul. Portions, portions, portions!!

I already don't take caffeine/energy drinks into my diet. I have enough high energy naturally that I don't feel a need for it! The only caffeine I really get is through whatever chocolate I down once a month.
I don't drink (too young and I wouldn't anyway) or smoke (I have asthma; smoking would kill me in a heartbeat!)

Also, the only soda I'll drink are A&W Root Beer and Sprite (Sprite over A&W, even though I love it so much... it's bad for my teeth, too). I usually choose water when I eat down in the dining hall.

Also, I failed to mention I live in a dorm and there's only one tiny kitchen in the whole building for us to use. I'd make my own meals, but stocking up on food to cook when your fridge is shorter than your knees is somewhat daunting.

I'll be home for the summer and that'll change.... but still.

 

You have to be tough on yourself and disciplined if you are actually wanting to make it work plus you should add in some cardio and/or some weights, you won't shift the weight if you don't increase your activity.

I don't eat many carbs until after I have trained as your body deals with them better shortly after training. I also try and eat lean protein and fruit/vegetables with every feed,every 2-3 hours.
Just basic rules - have you eaten in the last 2-3 hours? If not then do it
Lean protein and veg/fruit when you eat
I cut out bread too as I don't think it adds anything to my diet. I have just about cut out sugar too- your body doesn't need sweets and women don't need cake etc etc. Cut out all sugary drinks too- all you need to drink is water and green tea. I only have a gatorade after training hard.

It all sounds hard but it's really common sense.

 

I caved already. :cry: I ate one oatmeal chocolate chip cookie my friend gave me.
However, I'm heading off to TDK practice in about 2 hours or so....
Yes, I know. Lamest. excuse. ever.

...

*sigh*

This might be harder than I thought.

I think I've always known that certain foods aren't that great for me to eat, but I've always felt that if I started counting calories and watching every little thing that I eat I'd develop a disorder and become very OCD about it.

 

Like has been said before.

Eat every 3 hours.
Eat lean protein with every meal.
Eat fruit or veg with every meal.
Don't eat carbs except after a workout. (foods with high sugar are carbs too)
Drink lots of water
Do HIIT
Do keep a log of what you eat.


Some cheap foods you can eat lots of:
Eggs
Chicken legs (buy them raw then cook them)
Skimmed milk
porridge (Either for breakfast or after a workout as it is a carb)
Any vegetable
Tuna

I essentially live off the things I mentioned above with some supplements thrown in. At the end of the day if you have the will power to do everything above you will loose weight.

I can't be bothered to count calories. I don't think you need to at this point. No offence your diet is quite lax so any improvment will lead to either a decrease in weight or body compisition.

 

If nothing else works try benzoylmethyl ecgonine it's a drug that causes huge ammounts of weight loss in a short period of time. It's quite pricey though.

 

Isn't that cocaine....?

Thanks for your other advice, Axelator. I really am committed give my goal my all... or at least the mind is willing but the flesh is weak.

In some ways, posting about my weight and foods I eat is a little embarrassing, but I suppose I've given myself long enough to be lax about a lot of things.
Should I post about my weight loss week by week?

 

I'd do the food log daily. It should only take about 3 mins every evening. I weigh myself weekly. I'd suggest you do the same, then if your weight stays the same or goes up you can look at your food log over the week and take out certain foods for next week to reduce your calories. Then rinse and repeat until you start loosing weight.

Edit: You can probably get away with one cheat day a week too where you eat a bit of chocolate or whatever, just don't go mental. Use it as a reward for sticking to the diet for the rest of the week. It can help people on diets.

 

Sweet thanks.

Off to TDK practice! Whoo!

 

OK, some tips. You need to get your average caloric intake down. For someone of your height it's probably below 2000 a day. I'd suggest joining one of the online calorie counter websites and communitiesOK, some tips. You need to get your average caloric intake down. For someone of your height it's probably below 2000 a day. I'd suggest joining one of the online calorie counter websites and communities.

Some good ones are fitday.com and sparkpeople.com

They can give you a calorie intake you should be aiming for based on your daily activity levels. They also track you daily foods and nutrition info using them to get a better idea of what is really going on. The sparkpeople one in particular has quite a large and helpful community that may be helpful.

Another point. I would advise against setting a firm goal like ‘I will lose 40 pounds in four months’, unless there is something such as an important competition that you need to be that weight for.

You have two choices.
1 - Make hard goals that require drastic diet and lifestyle changes. This is uncomfortable and can be painful. It also increases the likelihood that you will say to yourself ‘stuff this’ and fall off the program. And once you do reach your goal, it also increases the likelihood you will just fall back into your old habits again.

2 – Be reasonable and make gradual small changes to your diet and lifestyle once you start seeing results. The weight loss will be slower, but this increases the chances you will stick with your program throughout your weightloss and continue with it once you are your ideal weight.

For example, to increase your meals per day. Instead of preparing yourself 6 meals for the day, you may start off with a normal breakfast and dinner, but split your normal lunch in half and eat one a bit earlier and one a bit later. Then when that feels OK, progressively do the same with your other meals.

What is really helpful me right now is thinking about bad food. Sure, I eat it if I have a real craving for it. But I always ask myself, do I really crave this food, or do I just feel like it because it tastes good, is convenient and I’m bored?

 

I think I just need to find healthier snack food. I graze throughout the day, just not healthy, apparently.

And as far as my reasons behind my desire to lose weight, I quote from my journal: "I figure this: my weight while still a sophomore in high school, only three years ago when I was on swim team, was around 150 lbs. I don't have an excuse. I can blame "muscle is heavier than fat" all I want and "I'm big-boned", but dagummit it's frustrating when I have to compensate for how my clothes are fitting me tight/no longer flattering. Blearg. :bang:

Plus: I'd like to go to competition and I feel like my weight is slowing my reaction time down. Maybe it's just me."

 

50 lbs fat loss in four months and you're still eating cookies, it doesnt sound that realistic.

I think you'd see a huge change in a reasonably short period if time if you were super strict with what you eat rather than weighing and counting calories - especially if you have been eating pizza and ice cream until very recently.

There is a great ebook on fat loss by a powerlifter called Marc Bartley (on elitefts.com ... a powerlifting website, dont be put off ... look at Hannah Johnson "the minx") - he went from 303 to under 200 in a year - he did it in a brutal fashion and was very strict but there are some basic guidelines that'll help I'm sure.

Food choices :

Protein - Skinless Boneless Chicken or Turkey Breast, Egg Whites (one yolk to every half dozen whites) Lean red meat (really lean - if it's ground beef then it should be rinced in boiling water after cooking) Fish (skinless) or a good protein powder.

Carbs - Sweet Potatoes (I've just had 2 for breakfast - add a little granulated splenda if you want), Oats (old fashioned or steel cut), Yams (I cant stand these but each to their own) Rice (preferably brown - if not then basmati) , plain rice cakes. Wholewheat pasta and Jacket potatoes arent as great but are ok.

Fats - Unsalted, unflavoured nuts - cashews and almonds are great, oily fish, olive oil and fish oil tablets, borage oil tablets, primrose oil tablets and flax oil tablets.

Fats and carbs are best not combined - if you have a lot of fat then you should have very little carbs and vice versa.

Carbs might be better avoided late at night - have some meat and nuts maybe.

Veggies - Any the starchy ones like broccolli are great - add leafy greens whenever you can.

Fruit - I'd probably recommend it up to lunchtime.

Water - drink loads and loads - it will make the difference.

Look for low (or zero) calorie condiments - the spicy ones are normally the best.

Add a multi vitamin if you can.


A big factor in all of this is food preparation - make it and store it and take it wherever you go.

Another huge thing for me was to consider each meal on it's own - by this I mean that if you eat a cookie or do something you know you shouldnt - then address it by being super strict the very next time you eat - it's very easy to turn a "cheat" meal into a cheat day with the attitude that "I've messed up so I may as well go for it"

Cardio would be very advisable - intervals work well for a lot of people - you might prefer slower paced steady work - both are best done on an empty stomach.

Good luck !

 

While I agree with other stuff here, I wouldn't agree it's all about calories. I haven't really reduced my calories by that much over the last 3 weeks but changed the way in which I get them.


Make a food diary, as Axelator says and make sure you put the bad stuff you eat in there too, as otherwise it's a waste of time.

If you work on the 10% of cheat meals principle you won't feel like you are craving. I plan my cheat meals now so a) I have something to look forward to and b) don't feel bad.


I lost 4lbs in just over 2 weeks.

 

I started my official food diary this morning. W00t.

I don't think I'm gonna slash my caloric intake mostly because while I might WANT to be at 140 lbs (and when I get there I'm gonna need less calories anyway), I'm 190 lbs. right now. Taking a dramatic slice off my caloric intake might be more harmful than good (I still have to manage 190 lbs. of weight 'cause it ain't coming off overnight!).

I suppose little-by-little calorie reduction over time and controlling my portions from today. That sounds reasonable.

Now to post on my Facebook status and let everyone know not to give me cookies!

 

Sorry to say this but 2500/2600 is not a dramatic slice by far you'l get way better results cutting down to like 2200 for starters. Also dont forget to much healthy food and you wont lose weight either.

 

Well, dang. I'm out of luck! Is there such thing as a balance to this losing weight business? No wonder so many people give up so easily!
But I ain't giving up. Not on my first day!

On a lighter note, I started off my day at 8am with water and an apple. Had a mid-morning snack (at 10am; come on, my stomach was growling!) of skim milk and Honey Nut Bunches of Oats (with almonds). It was only one bowl, average-sized.

Good enough? Can I do better for morning meals?

At least y'all are behind me on this; that helps.