New nerd on the block

[Smitty3L]

Hello forum! Recently found this site while procrastinating and decided to join for the 6 week challenge. I've always been relatively healthy, however put on 15lbs while going through med school in 2009. Lost 10 of it over the last year, but now it's time to get serious! I really love the constant improvement philosophy. Making lots of strides in the life department over the last few years and can't wait to keep going! Hoping you guys can keep me honest

[Morrigainz]

Welcome! Great to have you.

What kind of goals have you set for yourself? That's the best way to stay honest

[DaveSix]

Welcome.

I really love the constant improvement philosophy. Making lots of strides in the life department over the last few years and can't wait to keep going! Hoping you guys can keep me honest

Continuous improvement is where it's at.

[Smitty3L]

My challenge goals are as follows:

DIET

- eat breakfast every day

- log everything!

- average no more than 1500 calories/day in a calendar week

FITNESS

- do some sort of workout every day even if it's 5 min

- serious cardio at least 3x weekly

- buy a pull up bar

- reach level 5 on all parts of the angry birds workout

LIFE

- move on from the relationship that just isn't working out

- finish moving in to my new place, no more stuff in boxes and donate all my old crap to goodwill

- get ready for the morning the night before which should lead to no more running around cranky and late in the morning and leave time for the breakfast portion of my diet goals

Fell behind the first few days, but back on track again. Looks like level 5 for push-ups/pull-ups, especially considering I can't do a single pull up at the moment, on angry birds may not be reachable in 6 weeks, but it's still a great long term goal.

[Morrigainz]

Excellent! Great goals. The "get ready for the morning the night before" especially resonates with me. I suck at mornings.

I'm sorry to hear about the relationship. No matter the circumstances (well, okay maybe not always), the end of a relationship is sad.

[Quickdraw]

Welcome! Sounds like some excellent goals there, keep pushing!

Once you've achieved it, you will not BELIEVE the difference that prepping the night before will make. Lay out some clothes, fix your meal, etc... I don't even have to have a single conscious thought until I'm halfway to work. It's glorious.

[JoeBlade]

hi, welcome sounds like a good plan. 1500 calories/day is the minimum for men I think I read somewhere. Not saying you can't go under but it might be worth googling. you don't want to go too low in calories if it takes away your energy you would use to get fit.

[Smitty3L]

Ending the relationship is sad, but I'm not moving forward in it so it's time to move forward out of it. And I know it's the right thing to do. Definitely feels like a step up in the life department.

As for the calories, I happen to be a lady, so I think I'll be good with 1500. I was able to lose weight doing 1200 a day, but that can get tough to stick to. Weight will come off slower with 1500, but I think that's around what I need to intake to maintain my goal weight. So it's more of a lifestyle than a short term diet hopefully. I refuse to feel like I'm starving all the time. If I make good food choices, 1500cal/day feels pretty good. However if I start to eat junk it's easy to go way over that and still feel hungry. Think I need to start planning more of meals ahead of time.

[JoeBlade]

oops, sorry for the assumption, I'll check a profile before responding next time but yeah then 1500 is not a risk or anything.

For me cutting down to 2000 was quite easy once I cut out all sugar and junkfood, ended up 'having' to eat extra at the end of the day to get to 2000 rather than feeling I was missing out.

I reckon you're right about not starving yourself, starvation diets are not good in the long term as they don't teach eating patterns, instead once you've reached either your goal or the end of your tether, I picture most people going right back to their old bad ways.

much better to change your intake to a sustainable amount. and with the exercise you add, you should burn up quite a bit more.

if you're doing lots of exercise after you've hit your target weight, you might still have a calory deficit but that'll be easier to tweak by then.

hope you can cut out the junk, for me it made dieting much easier. Bananas and pears are a nice substitute I find

[Morrigainz]

Agreed, I was cranky and hungry all the time on 1200. It was fairly ridiculous.