Enough is enough... time for a change

[MzVanessa]

So... After a long holiday weekend of indulging in BBQ and beer... Comes the reality of putting on the now very snug fitting work clothes and stepping on the scale... that is Monday morning. Admittedly I am no longer the person that you see in the avatar or profile pics. Since I took those pictures late last year just before joining the forum... I have probably put on about 20 lbs, which for someone who is only 5'6, is a lot. None of my femme clothes fit and not many of my guy clothes fit either. Well... Enough is enough... Time for a change! I'm going to turn it around starting today. No more weekends of overindulgence at restaurants and bars and time to get back in the gym. I am usually pretty good about working out regularly but it has just gotten away from me since last year. I am posting this as a way to hold myself accountable... For motivation and inspiration... And maybe there are others out there who would like to start with me today... It could be fun. I promise to keep updating this thread with my progress every week or two... and once a good 25 lbs come off... I promise to post new pictures... Hopefully in about 2-3 months. Nothing is more motivating than buying some new clothes and getting dolled up. Well... Wish me luck. =)

[LANKO]

I'll cheerlead you from the sidelines!

My top 3 tips, try and break 2-3 big meals (breakfast/lunch/dinner) into 4-5 smaller meals throughout the day.

When snacking on unhealthy stuff, eat with your non dominant hand.. you'll find your brain turned off from eating with the extra effort.

When plating food, use smaller plates for your portions, tricks the eye into seeing the plate as more full. You can try this with the same amount of pasta and 2 different size dishes, the larger dish will make you want to give yourself a bigger portion.

[Desirae]

When I wanted to lose weight, I switched my diet to salads. I make a HUGE salad for dinner and that is my meal. Add some chicken strips and shredded white cheese for protein. I don't drink so beer and other alcohol was never the cause of gaining weight for me. By just switching to salads, I was able to lose nearly 30 pounds over 6 months without exercising. I got off of salads over the winter, because, frankly, its hard to eat cold salads in the winter. I needed hot food. But, I'm back on them now. I imagine I could lose even more if I combined the diet with exercise, but I'm unmotivated in that regard.

[Katey888]

Good luck Vanessa! :cheer:

Beer and BBQ are nice though, aren't they... ;) I hear where you're coming from... I've got lazy too.. only need to get off maybe 8-10 lbs but that can be hard enough...

I had a crash diet several months back, just had a normal breakfast (muesli/cereal or bagel), decent lunch (always had a sensible sandwich -UK size! :)) and cut out dinner completely. Drink plenty of water - good for detox and also reduces appetite.

I don't know about the fun though... but you need to get back to looking good for those photos.... We'll help your conscience... :D

Katey x

[MzVanessa]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement everyone. I definitely need to drink more water and eat more chicken salads... Which I love anyway. I for sure am going to give eating unhealthy snacks with the off hand a try... That sounds very interesting.

[Desirae]

Just to be ABSOLUTELY clear, I hope you mean salads WITH chicken (not fried) and NOT chicken salad that is made with mayonnaise or Miracle Whip, which is extremely high in calories and quite fattening, not to mention is usually eaten on bread, which is, also, not what you want to be eating while dieting. And watch that "dressing", too. No, not your Crossdressing, but rather the dressing you choose for your salads. Most of it has a lot of fat and calories and the portions listed under the food facts are a joke, as most people use 10 times as much. I find red wine vinegar and olive oil to be the best.

[MzVanessa]

Lol... Thanks for making that clear Desirae. I know how easily cheese, dressing, oil, or other condiments can take a sandwich or salad from 200 calories to 1000.

[LANKO]

:( Doh, you mean a bucket of fried chicken with a piece of lettuce on top isn't chicken salad?

[MzVanessa]

It is if you have it with a diet coke. =)

[Beverley Sims]

Are you turning over a new leaf?
Good for you Vanessa.

[MzVanessa]

Yeah Beverly... My eating habits have gotten out of control, paired with the lack of exercise and here I am 20 lbs later. Its time for me to get to a weight where I feel more comfortable as Vanessa. Besides having to spend money on a whole new wardrobe... being this over weight causes me to not feel good about my transformation to Vanessa.

[Renee Elise]

Good luck - I still need to drop about 25 lbs. Not easy to stay disciplined amidst high stress :). Let's cheer each other on.

[heatherdress]

Good luck, Vanessa. You can do it!

Too bad we can't organize a program or section on this site to help us get and stay in shape.

[MzVanessa]

Good luck - I still need to drop about 25 lbs. Not easy to stay disciplined amidst high stress :). Let's cheer each other on.

Yeah... Let's do it Renee. I can't wait to get rid of this weight and spend a little more time as Vanessa.

[ArleneRaquel]

MzVanessa,
Best wishes. Eating vegies is a great way to lose weight.

[MzVanessa]

Good luck, Vanessa. You can do it!

Too bad we can't organize a program or section on this site to help us get and stay in shape.

That's a good idea Heather. At least through this thread I'll use it as a tool to keep me accountable, and I'll update my results. I invite others to join in if you have 5, 10, 20, or more you'd like to get rid of.

[Christen]

Good luck to you, for sure.
My tips, for what they're worth; No soda, ever, get sugar out of your diet, reduce portion size - just put less on your plate, exercise, oh you've already mentioned that.
Let us know how you go,

Christen x

[Margaret]

A good motivation for weight loss is to convert the target to dress sizes. Often concerted dieting and exercise may initially show no real change in weight while it may show in what you can fit into. I have lost 7 kgs (15 lbs) since Christmas. In terms of dress size I have dropped from a 20 to an 18. Target loss: Size 16

[mariehart]

Yes I have to do the same and my wife too. Wine being our weakness. One tip I heard on a TV show. Don't drink diet soda thinking it will help. Apparently when the body tastes something sweet it expects sugar. If it doesn't get it then craving sets in and you end up snacking on something sweet.

[Alice_2014_B]

I started a "Health & Wellness" thread to gain and share advice on dieting and exercising; I was hoping it could become a sticky or something. I believe it really helps when we not only want to be in better shape for ourselves, but also for our female appearance.

[Teresa Monsivais]

Good Luck Vanessa, I guess I too need to lose a bit more inches around the waist. Not where I want to be and the summer BBQ's and lack of exercise are not helping. Would like to lose 15 lbs myself... the problem is I tend to also lose weight from my behind which I don't like. I hate doing squats!

[MzVanessa]

Thanks everyone for the tips and well wishes. I know its all water weight since I was so bloated from beer and eating... But I'm down 4 lbs since Sunday night. I already feel a little better and the pants aren't as tight as yesterday morning... Good feeling to help keep me motivated. :)

[donnalee]

I've gone down from 230 to 185; the only problem is that it took the better part of 5 years to accomplish, during which I must have lost several hundred lbs. and regained most of it. One of the difficulties is that I eat when stressed and/or depressed, something that has occurred often the last few years. This time I was sick in bed for the better part of a month and am just now starting to recover, so had little appetite. Although I am not that shiny of an example of dieting, I have acquired a few tricks:
!. Eat slowly and take smaller bites; give your stomach enough time to let you know you're full.
2. Keep portions small (works with the above).
3. If you eat because "it's something to do", find something else that you enjoy doing and do that instead.
4. Stay as hydrated as possible; one of my favorites is to make a pitcher of iced tea or coffee (make it strong) and chill it overnight in the refrigerator. I like mine plain, but a little lemon for the tea, artificial sweetener or 1% milk in the coffee can help the flavor for those that prefer it that way.
5. If you must have sweets, then have them, but in very small servings (maximum of half of a normal serving eat slowly and savor it; this is not a speed eating contest!

[Adriana Moretti]

nothing tastes as good as sexy feels.....and if there is a commercial for it on tv...you probably shouldnt eat it. Ever notice they dont have commercials for vegetables, or fruit...why is that???....and just because someone puts avacado on something does not make it healthy. I'm just yapping here...congrats though on deciding to make the right choices...and take care of yourself and your body and health...

[MzVanessa]

"Nothing tastes as good as sexy feels"... I love that Adriana... And I will remember it next time I want to indulge on something I shouldnt on. Its funny because I was just at the bank and one of the girl who works there was looking very nice in a shorter but still professional skirt... Tights with a nice design... About 4 inch heels... Nice make and hair... And I just thought... She must feel amazing looking like that. No beer or burger could taste better than the way she felt looking so sexy and cute I have known that feeling and am determined to relive it again.

[Kati F]

Good luck to you MzVanessa!!!

I got fed up with myself this past spring and actually decided to lose weight for the girl in me. I had ballooned to a very heavy 188 lbs. and on my 5'10" frame, I was just plain fat (that is the fat me in my avatar)! It is so true the nothing tastes as good as sexy feels... I really like that idea! Could be a motto for us Adriana!

Lack of exercise and a lazy mans diet was my biggest problem (OK my sweet tooth probably didn't help either...). What everybody mentioned is true, less sugar more water and the biggest thing, exercise (lest's be honest.. the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in). I found that just replacing what I was drinking with water was a big help. One other thing I found helpful was finding a substitute for desired foods, I have a sweet tooth and would always cheat with sweets, so I started eating Greek yogurt instead of cookies or ice cream. Besides watching what I eat I added walking 3-4 miles a day since the end of March (and you can walk while dressed). I'm down to 150 lbs. now. I'm to the point where the pounds are harder to lose now, but I'd really like to get down to less that 145.

Best of luck to you and everyone else that is trying to keep in shape... I wonder how many of us work at this, just for the CD in us?

[Jenny Gurl]

I went to a nutritional class for a while. There are some proven strategies to losing weight aside from the known "diet and exercise". Tracking your diet and physical activity is very helpful, and support of others is also very helpful. If I could offer one bit of advise, it is use "My Fitness Pal" It is an app on Android, probably Iphone, and also a web site. It allows you to input your food intake including scanning bar codes that already have the nutritional information. It allows you to enter and track your weight. It allows you to enter exercise so you know how much you are burning. It allows you to enter physical measurements in addition to weight so you can track your measurement changes. It also allows you to link others with your account so you can help each other. If you eat the wrong things your friend can contact you in your time of weakness and ask you "what the heck"? If you have a fem email account you could always use that to log into your app / web site and get together with others here so you can keep each other on the right track, we all shoot for one dress size smaller at some point in our lives.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

[devida]

Losing weight and keeping to your new lower weight is very difficult. I lost 50 pounds a few years ago using the heart disease diet which I suggest you avoid. I regained 25 of those pounds but stayed there. I could be a few pounds lighter but not much more. since I really do start looking cadaverous. I have really spent a lot of time trying to understand why people are, in general, so fat these days and how to avoid it. Here are a few tips for getting to and staying at your proper weight:

Never eat any processed food.

Eat out as little as possible. Try to only eat the food you prepare.

Never drink soda or other drinks with added sugars.

Never eat anything advertised on tv or elsewhere.

Eat mostly vegetables, raw, steamed, pickled, grilled, roasted and sometimes stir fried in coconut fat.

Eat meat and fish as a condiment. Small amounts for taste. Eat eggs often. Eat the whole egg.

Try to avoid anything that declares it is low fat. This usually means it is high sugar, which is probably worse than fat.

Eat nuts, at least a handful or two a day.

Exercise moderately three to five hours a week. Walking is the best exercise. If you go to the gym go no more than twice a week and walk the other days.

You can have a couple of drinks a day if you want but do not binge. Be consistent. Avoid beer if you can. Try to avoid all diets. Real success in achieving your ideal weight comes from eating what your body needs, that is whole foods, prepared for tastiness, that you enjoy eating.

Food preferences are all learned behaviors. You can fairly easily retrain your tastes.

Be kind and tolerant to yourself. Losing weight is not a stick with which to beat yourself.

Good luck. Enjoy the journey!

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Vanessa, That's how I control my weight when my favorite pencil skirt starts
getting tight I have to change the program for a couple weeks.:daydreaming:

[Badwolf]

I've got some to lose too. I around 30 lbs already, but I want to get rid of my love handles in particular.

I'm working on getting to under 180lbs from 200, with an absolute floor of about 160lbs.

[donnalee]

I've got some to lose too. I around 30 lbs already, but I want to get rid of my love handles in particular.

I'm working on getting to under 180lbs from 200, with an absolute floor of about 160lbs.At one point in my life, my SO got me down to 120 in hopes of getting rid of mine; pretty thin on a 5'9" frame. No such thing happened, it just made them stick out more. You may have to go to liposuction or similar and I've made it a rule not to undergo surgery unless it's the best chance of curing something life-threatening (before I get jumped on, let me say that that includes transformation surgery). Hospitals and surgery can be very dangerous.

[MzVanessa]

Eventually I wouldn't mind also getting to 160-165 Badwolf. I'm only 5'6 but I'm a little muscular so less than 160 for me and I start to look pretty unhealthy.

[MzVanessa]

Ok... so it is Friday and my progress for the week, since I started this on Sunday, is I have lost 6 lbs. I'm pretty sure about 4 lbs is mostly water weight considering I had quite a few beers and lots of BBQ the Friday and Saturday before. I feel a whole lot better than I did Sunday morning and am even more motivated to keep going and work even hard. I haven't exactly been living a spartan lifestyle this week either. For example Wednesday night I went to Chilis for happy hour and had two beers and an order of boneless wings. Last night I had a double double and half order of fries from In n Out. I am just playing the calories game and creating a good enough deficit to shed weight. I would like to motivate others who have mentioned the want to lose a few lbs too so come on gals... let's do this together... it's not that hard. Here's an example of my meals and exercise yesterday....

I assume since I have a job where I move around a fair amount and do not sit in a chair all day I burn around 2600 calories on a work day. I also went to the gym after work and burned off about 700 calories in about an hour using a combination of jogging 2 miles, elliptical for 20 mins, and stairclimber for 15 mins. So thats a caloric burn of around 3300 for the day. Here are my meals.

A couple of cups of coffee with a bit of sugar early in the morning... 100 calories

6" Egg white breakfast sandwich for breakfast, no cheese or sauce... 400

Half Grilled chicken lunch with small portion of rice... 800

In n Out Dinner... 900

So that's a total of 2300 calories consumed. So from the 3300 I burned subtracting the 2300 consumed that's a 1000 calorie deficit for the day... not starving myself at all. Now if I had not gone to the gym after work and maybe had just gone on a walk I probably would have skipped the In n Out and had a healthier dinner. I hope to have a deficit of between 7000-1000 per day so in the following weeks I will continue to lose between 1.5-2 lbs a week, hopefully. Come on girls... its actually not that hard if you have a plan and stay somewhat disciplined. Let's do it together :)

[Badwolf]

MzVanessa: I'm a bit taller than that, and that's why 160 is my absolute floor. I'm still figuring out exactly where I want to be in-between.

donnalee: As for the love handles, I'm still trying for the first time and as you know, these things are different for different people. Mine aren't huge but they create some issues for my silhouette under most clothes since it just makes the lack of hips stand out.

[Kyrianna]

I have had some success with the Green Coffee Been. In combination with Reducing my sugar intake and my wife is on a gluten free diet now. I have lost 25 lbs since last October and I have not even started working out regularly. (I Hate Running... maybe it's men's running outfits ;) )

[Badwolf]

Running is what got me down from about 230lbs.

Then my knees gave me some issues, and I got a lot busier. I've been relying on diet since then and I've yo-yoed a bit from 180-200 or so.

Now that I have more free time I'm doing some quick workouts at home inconsistently but I'm hoping to ramp that up a bit after a trip I'm taking.


I have had some success with the Green Coffee Been. In combination with Reducing my sugar intake and my wife is on a gluten free diet now. I have lost 25 lbs since last October and I have not even started working out regularly. (I Hate Running... maybe it's men's running outfits ;) )

[Kyrianna]

Running is what got me down from about 230lbs.

Then my knees gave me some issues, and I got a lot busier. I've been relying on diet since then and I've yo-yoed a bit from 180-200 or so.

Now that I have more free time I'm doing some quick workouts at home inconsistently but I'm hoping to ramp that up a bit after a trip I'm taking.

I have applied for a job that will require me to be in better shape physically...I dred it but i willl have to start running soon...Any tips on footwear???

[Adriana Moretti]

I am going to add this here..it was from an older post called (Health & Wellness) it is my insane workout & diet routine. It was an interesting thread, but it never gained legs, hope this motivates some of you.
My Daily Routine ( Keep in Mind I Work Only Fri-Sat Nights)

Wakeup ,Run 6 miles
Do a few laps in the pool...maybe 20-30..sit in the hot tub 10 mins
WALK...from the gym home...
Have a smoothie for breakfast organic blueberries, strawberries, rasberries...
Nibble on radishes,brocolli,cauliflower,and grape tomatoes for a snack later in the day..
Dinner is usually some sort of taco ( no..not from taco bell)..homemade,organic as i can make them no meat ( except shrimp or fish or just plain veggies) lettuce and mango salsa..some hot sauce..
Go for a walk..take a nap
Do some design work,whatever else i need to get done
DO yoga or stretching...also an INSANE ab workout , not to build the core, but the sides...
Bed...
no beer,burgers,pizza fast food...nothing....now when i look at fast food commercials i get sick. Last time I ate bacon..I got sick... If there is a commercial for it on TV, you probably shouldnt eat it. Funny how you never see commercials for vegetables,fruit and.....

Water...water...and MORE water

Once or twice a week I will have chicken...but not greasy fried junk. diet is like 70%...cardio is the other 30...


and when it comes to workouts...if you workout like a man, you will look like one... leave the arms alone...cardio, yoga, stretching,all those kinda things, i also try to do a ton of ballerina stretches,and back stretches...start stretching out that back on a yoga mat and see how femme you feel...

its easy to be lazy...its harder to be and stay motivated...make a playlist of your favorite girly songs...and run....sore is the new sexy...and nothing tastes as good as sexy feels. "

Beer?? beer is awesome...but I will have a good beer on a special occasion as a treat , ..if i wanna catch a buzz and knock back a few I stay LOW calorie...vodka,seltzer,lemon...very low calorie. Good Luck Girls !!!

Funny this is my shopping list from this morning.

1. Blueberries
2. Strawberries
3. Rasberries
4. Avacadoes
5. Corn Tortillas
6. Salsa
7. Green Tea
8. Lemons
9. Radishes
10. Brocolli
11. Grape Tomatoes
12. Cauliflower
13. Bagged fresh Lettuce
14. Small flour tortillas
15. Frozen Shrimp

Did I mention water ??

[sometimes_miss]

My knees are shot to hell, so much exercise is pretty much out of the question. So, I'm on the atkins kick. NO CARBS. None. four weeks, six pounds down. Eating as much as I want. Omelet and sausage for breakfast. Chicken, ribs burger or steak (a teaspoon of steak sauce, if any) for lunch. Same for dinner. I'm using McCormick's spices on the meats, they have a nice selection of varied salt/pepper/spice shakers in the spice section. As I'm in the older category, I keep up my intestinal motility with psyllium fiber capsules, I take two in the morning and two with dinner, and make sure I drink plenty of water. So far, it's working just fine.