crosschord

I had a really rough weekend, which ended up putting me into a depressive state. Unfortunately, that means I didn't eat all that much, and when I did, I ate crap foods. This also means I didn't exercise. Not sure if I should keep going on with this challenge.

I'm only on the 3rd day but I think I'm making some progress. I had a setback yesterday where I went to McDonalds for dinner and drank more soda than I intended, but I did work out in the evening. I've only been having one can of Pepsi with my lunch lately and drinking water with dinner. I feel some withdrawal symptoms later in the day, but it's not too bad. Next week I'll work on drinking a can every other day and see how that goes. I have the 30 day fitness challenge app on my phone. It's not much, but it is getting me into a workout routine and basically tells me what workouts and how many reps I need to do that day. I have a 20 oz cup with a straw on my my desk at work and I'm constantly refilling it and tracking my water intake throughout the day. I'm also tracking my food intake on MyFitnessPal. I don't want to make too many changes at once, because I know I'll end up going off track and it'll spiral out of control with me telling myself I can't do it. I did 20 squats as part of my routine yesterday, and I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but I managed to push myself to the end.

I've been lurking around the forums for a while, but this will be my first 6 week challenge. Hopefully I do this correctly. My main goal is to lose at least 5 pounds by the end of these 6 weeks (and if I don't, I'll keep working at it). To accomplish this, I will: 1) Cut back on soda and sugar in general. I've been slowly working on cutting back, and for the first part of the challenge I'll go down to 1 can of soda a day (I get horrible withdrawal headaches if I suddenly cut it out at once), the start slowly cutting back to not drinking any a day. I have a 20oz cup on my desk at work that I constantly refill, and I track my water intake. I've gotten to where I drink at least 2 liters of water a day. 2) Work out 3 days a week for at least 10 minutes. Even if it's just walking around the block or doing bodyweight workouts in my room, it'll be something. 3) Eat healthier foods. This is already a difficult one for me, but I'm working on it. I mostly need to stop snacking on chips and candy and start bringing more fruit/smoothies/what have you to work. My side quest is to work on keeping to a budget. I'll (hopefully) be moving soon, plus I'm going on a trip at the end of May, so I need to keep saving money and not spend it on random things. I got a better paying job so I'm in the "I have money now so I have to spend it!" mindset.

Hello, I'm Katy, and I used to be part of this forum a couple months ago. Unfortunately, my depression hit me big time and I ended up giving up on what I was trying to do. Things are better now (for the most part), so now I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things again. This time, I'd like to: better my eating habits and try and cut down on sugar and sweetsdrink more water and work on cutting out a soda a day (I drink on average 2 cans a day).improve my strength and work on getting into better workout habits. I have trouble motivating myself to actually work out, but I might try for 15-30 minutes in the morning before I get ready for work.cut out fast food as much as possible. I don't eat it that often, but I know I can cut back more. I know it's not much, but it's a start for me. I'm technically part of Planet Fitness (a low cost gym) but I'm going to end my membership, since my schedule only allows me to go during the peak hours. Instead, I'll use the money and buy myself some weights so I can do strength training at home. I don't have room for an at home strength training area, but I can stash some weights somewhere and work out in my room. I guess that's it. It's nice to meet everyone!

I don't think this is going to work out. I keep starting and stopping. I'll do all right for a day or two, drink lots of water, have maybe one soda, eat okay, then the next day I'll get stressed or depressed and fuck it all up. So yeah, I give up. Not seeing the point when I can't even keep up with a simple goal like "drink one soda a day with the intent to cut it out completely." Sorry.

I finally started using My Fitness Pal again and am trying to keep a decent log of my food intake. We'll see how that goes, and if I can keep up with it for more than 2 days. It's going to be hard tracking food starting Friday, since I leave on a trip overseas. Maybe I can write things down as best as I can? I'm starting to notice small changes. Nothing too major, but my stomach is looking a little less flabby and my waist is a bit smaller. I'm not looking for major weight loss though; my goal is to get more fit and healthy more than anything else. Can't find my measuring tape. When I find it I'll get some measurements up.

Been doing better with working out. I have a sort of "routine" now. My problem is I'm not sure how to gauge my progress. I can do a sit-up without struggling? It doesn't hurt as much when I do a squat? I don't know. I'm still a little frustrated that I'm not really seeing any progress or really feeling any better. I'm trying hard to do things correctly, but I still feel like I'm taking one step forward and two steps back. I know it's not an instant process, but I still wish I could see a bit of a change. Maybe I need to start taking pics? I'll try and get "weekly stats" up here soon. Sorry my journal is so boring.

I..haven't been doing too well, to be honest. I keep telling myself I'm going to cut back on soda, and I drink one with lunch, then I come home and have another one with dinner. I tell myself I'm not going to have fast food this week, then I get lazy and go to McDonalds. If it was once, I would be okay, but it keeps happening and adding up, and it's getting to me. It's like a part of me is saying that I can't do this and that I should give up. I'm trying not to give into the voice in my head, but it's hard not to. I'll do my workout today and just tell myself tomorrow is another day.

Portion control is something I'm working on. My metabolism has always been pretty fast, but now that I'm older it's been slowing down, so I'm having to get used to not being able to eat a lot, and know that I don't have to worry about (much) weight gain. I did try tracking my diet a while back, but it got too difficult since I don't do a lot of my own cooking, so it's hard for me to gauge portions (like, okay I took a scoop of green beans or I'm eating a steak piece the size of my fist how many oz is that?) and what have you. But as long as I don't eat fast food that day, I do pretty well in calorie intake. Right now for me it's mostly staying motivated and trying not to go off track, which is hard. I just have to keep at it and not get frustrated that I'm not seeing results OMG RIGHT NOW.

I figure if I keep a log here, it'll help keep me on track and see if I'm making any progress. I started cleaning up my diet a bit about 2 months ago. Nothing too drastic, mostly just drinking more water and slowly cutting soda and other sugary sweets out of my diet. Every so often I'll have some cookies or something, but I'm getting better. I don't want to go full Paleo or anything like that because I'm a...particular (aka picky) eater, so any drastic diet changes means I basically starve. But I think cutting back on sugar and fast food and drinking more water is good for me. Anyway, I noticed over the past 2 years I've been putting on weight when I looked in the mirror one day and saw that the "abs" I once had was getting flabby and I was getting ticked. I'm not sure if any of it has gone away since starting my diet change, which is really frustrating me. I finally got over this bout of depression and decided to push myself a bit and start some sort of workout routine. I can't afford a gym and have a small space to work out in, so I've been doing sit-ups, crunches, planks, and have started doing squats. I watched the video on the Nerd Fitness site on how to do them, and I think I'm doing them correctly, but I wish I had someone here in person who knows what they're doing to work with me a bit and make sure I'm doing stuff correctly. I finally got a full-length mirror for my room so that makes things a bit easier. I'm done rambling for now. Here's my stats: Sex: Female Age: 31 Height: 5'11" Weight: 150lbs Waist: 30" Stomach: 34" Workout Goals: To lose 2" off my waist and to get a flat stomach again (I'm not looking to get defined abs, just to not have this muffin top going on) by July/AugustTake that kickboxing class in May and not die Life Goals: Work on my JapaneseFinally get to a doctor now that I have insurance again and go back on my medicationGet my depression and anxiety under controlStart online sewing business with friend within next few months This feels a bit ambitious, but I'm hoping I can do this and get healthy again. I feel like I'm not doing enough compared to the other people in this forum, but...yeah, I'm trying at least. Workout 3/29/14: 10 Sit-Ups 15 Crunches 30 Second Plank 10 Squats I also walked around downtown Los Angeles for a few hours today, so I think I'm good on that front.

To be honest, I'm starting to feel like an idiot for starting this thread. I know it won't be "easy." I'm going from years of eating a shit diet of fast food and soda and sugar to trying to somewhat healthy. I can't do it overnight, which is why (like I said) I'm cutting back slowly and trying to add better foods for my diet. I'm also going from "I haven't really worked out in 6 years" to "crap I need to start working out again" which is, again, why I'm trying to go slow. I don't want to start a workout with a bunch of stuff and end up hurting myself or overdoing it. When I took fencing many years ago, we started with conditioning and exercise before we started to actually fence. I was kind of hoping to try something like that. A basic workout upon which I can build on and add to over the course of the next few weeks as I continue to clean up my diet. But in my "maybe I can find someone who's been in the same situation I have and can probably help" naïveté, I forgot to mention that. Like I said, I want to take a kickboxing class in May, so I'm wanting to be, not fit, but able to handle the class without hurting for 4 days after. I hope this all makes sense.

Yes, I'm already doing that. Thanks for the "help." I guess I'll just go back to doing what I've already been doing.

I'm a young (well, 30 year old) woman who's 5'11" and pretty thin. Only problem is that I have what people like to call a "muffin top." I used to have a pretty fast metabolism where I could eat pretty much anything and still stay thin. But then I got older and it slowed down and I noticed within the last few months that I've put on a bit of weight. I don't need a drastic workout plan. I just want to get a somewhat flat stomach again and lose some inches. I'm hoping to get "fit" by July for an event I'm going to. I have a pretty simple diet; I've been drinking more water and slowly cutting back on soda (I'm trying to get down to one can a day). I need to eat more fruits (I'm not really big on veggies, I only eat really specific ones). I'm also cutting down on sugary stuff. As for workouts......I don't really have one? I've started to take walks around the block and started doing planks and leg lifts, because I don't have a whole lot of space (and it's really all I can motivate myself to do). I guess I'm looking for a workout that's easy, simple, that I can do in a small space, and doesn't wear me out easily? I work on projects in the evening, and it doesn't help if I'm too tired from my workout to do other things. The city also offers classes, and I'm thinking of taking a kickboxing class in May so I want to be somewhat prepped for that when the time comes around. Help (if anyone can help me)? Sorry if everything sounds confusing.