Move them legs.

Worked out today... 15 minutes on the recumbent, 20 minutes on the weird elliptical. I seriously thought I was going to die. Then some leg circuit training and that's it.

Food-wise:

• Bowl of Cheerios
• Strawberries
• 2 small buns with peanut butter
• 1 mochachino from Second Cup [shame on me!]
• Grilled salmon
• Mashed potatoes
• Grossly overcooked asparagus [omg ew. it was so limp.]

Officially signing up for the gym tomorrow, I think Lisa said it comes with a whole body-fat analysis and a personal trainer sits down with you and you talk about what you want and they make an exercise plan with you, but I don't know if that actually happens or not. I hope it does though!

And, that's all for today!

Stir-fry and cookie dough

No workout today, though I did walk home at a pretty brisk pace. Not enough to count it as serious exercise, but we're going to the gym again tomorrow. I'm gonna try to stick to one or two machines, rather than splitting my time up among 5 of them. It was good like that though, as I got a feel for each one and know what I like. Treadmills suck- I don't push myself on them. I'm happy staying at a brisk walking pace. Things with preset programs work well for me, as I don't have much choice and I just grit it out. I'm going to try to seriously do an ab machine tomorrow, or else do my abs myself when I get home. I tried some before, but I felt they were working my arms or legs more than my abs.

Foodwise... I gorged today. I brought a lot more lunch to school to hopefully avoid another visit to McDonalds, but I think I just need more self-control, not more food. And more water.

• 2 oatmeal muffins
• 1 banana
• 2 more oatmeal muffins
• 1.5 PB&J on whole-wheat sandwiches
• 1 pear
• Stir fry/white girl chicken fried rice, consisting of: small leftover chicken breast, leftover rice, peas, one egg.
• Sneaked bits of raw cookie dough while Mom made cookies

And that's all for today folks! I'll do a weigh-in on Friday after my second workout, though I really don't expect much change yet. I don't want to get too obsessed with numbers yet. I'm off to do some calculus now... keep yourself on track!

And the dessert cart rolls on

• Well, I was both good and bad today. I did cardio at the gym, but I had a McDonalds hamburger with my lunch. Anyways, here's my list.
• Bowl of 1/3 sugar Fruit Loops and 1% Milk
• Nutrigrain bar
• PB&J sandwich on whole-wheat bread
• 2 chocolate chip cookies
• 1 plain kiddie-sized McDonalds hamburger [I was still hungry and people were going to McDonalds... so I went]
• 1 small chicken breast, oven-baked with BBQ sauce
• Rice and soya sauce
• ~15 snow peas

And that's it! That's actually really good, for me. I might grab a piece of toast with some peanut butter a bit later tonight, but probably not. As for my workout...

• 10 minutes on the elliptical
• 15 minutes on the treadmill
• 10 minutes on the recumbent bike
• 10 minutes on another type of elliptical
• ~5 minutes of cooldown on the last elliptical

I'm freaking exhausted... I really wanted to quit, and if I was at home I probably would have. But having my friends there, struggling with me really helped [though I got the most red-faced, which is to be expected... I blame my Irish heritage, I get red a lot and easily] and it was a lot better like that. I kept my HR around 160, which is good. Burned at least 400 calories, though I should try to keep track of the actual numbers. I remember I got at least 100 on each machine, so yeah.

I'm joining on Friday. Be excited!

Day Two

Today I ate:

• 1 single-serving of oatmeal with approximately 1 tbsp. of brown sugar
• Peanut butter and jam sandwich
• D'Anjou pear
• 1 Five Alive juice box
• 1 Rice Krispie treat
• 2 chocolate chip cookies
• 1 ~1.5-inch square chunk of cheddar cheese
• Small bowl of strawberries
• Nutrigrain bar
• Whole wheat toast with peanut butter
• ~5 vegetable-flavour crackers

We're doing better! I also went to the gym today with some friends to see about joining, and the lady gave us a free 1-week pass thing, so we're going tomorrow and I'll see if I like it or not. If I do, I'll join up. I don't know how the price compares to other places, but if we all join together and sign up on Friday when they're having this special deal, it'll be ~$33 down, and ~$35/month [I can't remember the exact prices, but it's something in that range]

In the meantime, I'm loading my Ipod up with some really perky music so I can work my butt off tomorrow and have some motivation. Cheerleading mixes are really good, and I have some techno remixes of some songs I like as well, so it'll be awesome.

Homework calls!

Starting at the beginning again

Hello there!

I'm Amanda. I'm 17, and trying seriously for the second time to lose weight. Hopefully it'll go well this time. I tried Slimfast before, and it lasted for a pretty good while. I lost maybe 10 pounds, then slipped up, got off it... and it all came back. I think the problem is that I don't need a "diet", I need a lifestyle change. I need something I can more or less stick with for the rest of my life.

So, I'm about 5'5" and weigh around 150lbs. That's just barely overweight, according to my BMI. I'm a size 8. But, I'm on birth control and as such have bloodwork done regularly. My cholesterol is high, which is part of the reason I want to make this change. Being 17 and having high cholesterol isn't fun. I've got PCOS, which is also responsible for the rapid [and unhealthy] weight-gain. It means I'm not *used* to worrying about this kind of stuff, though it's been about 2 years since I've really been concerned with it. I was a skinny kid when I was about 14... I remember being down on myself for not getting a size-1 graduation dress when I graduated from elementary school. Now I'm just happy I'm still in single-digits.

My goal date is in May, which is right before my best friend's birthday. It's also near the beginning of summer, where everyone breaks out the shorts and tank tops and [oh mann...] the bathing suits.

So what's my plan this time around? I already eat pretty healthy stuff, but I reward myself afterwards by having chocolate or popcorn while I'm watching TV. So it's not that I have a phobia of vegetables or salads or low-cal foods, it's just I like to eat chocolate too! I'm going to try to cut out the chocolate and candy and salt as much as possible, and drink a lot more water. I don't drink nearly enough water... I'm a big-time milk fan, but I think bringing a bottle of water to school and trying to drink 2 of them [one litre] a day will help out.

Exercise-wise, I'm going to see about joining the gym and try going there 3-4 times a week after school to do fun classes, like yoga and pilates and aerobics and stuff. I'm also planning on working part-time, so it might be hard to fit it in. If I can't, I'm going to put in a serious effort to ride my bike, or use my $150 rollerblades that I bought to bribe myself to lose weight, more often.

So to get it all started, what did I eat today? [Bad stuff, let me tell you...]

• 2 Belgian waffles with syrup, icing sugar and strawberries
• 1 strawberry kiwi fruit-roll-up
• 1/2 chicken souvlaki
• ~10 snow peas
• 1 piece of a giant Toblerone
• 2 squares Hershey's milk chocolate

That's all I really remember, I'm going to try to pay more attention tomorrow so I can write a complete list, beverages included.