# Balance and bites- my weight loss journal!



## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

I thought I'd make a journal to document my weight loss/health. I love my body. I think everyone loves their body- it's your vessel, your canvas. And I'm doing terrible things to my body right now. 

I currently sit at 225 pounds. This is the heaviest I've ever been in my life- and I'm only nineteen. I've always been kind of heavy, even when I was a fitness freak I was 145 pounds. I've tried to lose weight in the past and it's always been a crap shoot. Now I'm serious. I can't stand the way my knees and ankles hurt, how clothes shopping makes me anxious, how I have zero balance and I can't ride anymore. I've lost my seat, I'm terrified of falling because I land HARD, I haven't actively rode in almost a year. My confidence is shot, I wear baggy shirts and I've had comments like "sorry sir" come my way for awhile. I don't keep my appearance up because I feel like it's not worth it. 

It's time to CHANGE that. I can't stand it anymore. I want to be able to lift my **** out of the saddle and ride bareback without fear of hurting my boy. I want to be able to comfortably jump logs and trail obstacles. I want to RIDE. I want to ride well, I want to ride with balance and fitness, not blobbing along with a death grip. 

more coming after work! Pictures, recipes, stories and exercise plans/exercises are very welcome! I want to hear everyone's success stories not only about losing weight, but about gaining strength, confidence and ability!


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## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Subbing! I'm right there with you. Was never a fitness freak, but have gotten into some very bad eating habits, and now I drink my calories (Dr. Pepper is made by the devil). At 5'9" and 220, and already genuinely heavy boned, and now I'm 44... I have to do something and do it now or my days of going and doing are going to end because my knees and back won't take it.

Good luck! 

(And that ground does feel a lot harder now doesn't it? Ugh)


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## buggy (Aug 8, 2016)

Hi Whatta,
From the age of 18-20, I lost 50 lbs while in college. I kept it off for 5 years. Then, it started creeping up. Last year, I realized that I had gained most of it back. Being in a similar boat as you, I realized how badly my riding/balance had deteriorated. So I got to work...first things first...I started riding lessons. My amazing instructor helped me get everything re balanced to my body type at that time. That helped my confidence immensely and I started setting goals for myself and my own horse. 

So for myself, I know it sounds cheesy but I needed to follow a program. I bought Beachbody's "Country Heat" Program which came with a meal planning guide, their containers for their eating system, and a coach. For an entire month, I followed the meal planning system to a "T" and did the workouts every morning before work, and checked in daily to my challenge group which helped keep me accountable.

I still do quite a bit of meal prep and mostly follow the container system. Meal planning/prep ahead of time is key for me (this includes prepping snacks to grab). I have also moved on to harder workouts and I try to do them each morning before work.

Thus far, I have lost 20+ pounds. I am pretty happy with that. I feel good. My energy is great. I am solid. My muscle has increased a good bit. I am now focusing on living a more balanced life. Trying to fuel my body properly most of the time, working out regularly, but still having enough freedom to eat ice cream and cookies when I want them and to exercise, but not spending a million hours in the gym.


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## CA VA shooter (Feb 4, 2015)

Right there with you ladies!


Good for you!


After 2 kids I have managed to get to my pre-preggers weight, but no where near being pre preggers in shape. I have actually been making a game plan all week to start getting my butt in gear to in shape and my ultimate goal will be to get back in the shape I was in when I was still a deputy. 


Some of the top things that help with lifetime weight loss are;


1. No "dieting"; make exercise and meal changes to become a lifestyle. Pills and fads are temporary.
2. A community effort; the support and accountability that comes with being part of a group helps keep most people motivated.
3. Deciding to make the change for the right reasons; don't do it to wear the bikini you have been eyeballing, make the decision for your health, for a better life!


I am all in if you all want to hold each other accountable. I am sure we have some good "health nuts" on here who might join in.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

Good for you Whatta!! I would be happy to share some recipes with you...I have tried quite a few, but most of mine are dessert related as I have quite the sweet tooth. To be honest, my favorite website for lighter meals which are easier to make is skinnytaste.com. I highly recommend it (I even bought both her cookbooks). She also provides meal planning guides on her website (I don't follow those though). 

I agree with the above comment about dieting. I don't believe in dieting....but more of a lifestyle change and healthy eating. You still need to treat yourself once in awhile; I'm a firm believer that cutting out everything will likely cause a crash or a binge-fest. 

As for exercise, my advise is find activities that you actually enjoy doing. If you decide to you want to run to lose weight, but despise running that isn't going to work for you! Mix it up to keep yourself interested as well as target multiple parts of your body. I was a huge fan of the P90x system - it integrated both cardio and weight training...so you burn calories and fat, but also started working on building muscle (which burns a lot of fat...even at rest). 

Please let us know how things are going as you progress. Best of luck!!


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I agree with the no particular diet idea. I did the Atkins thing once and while it was fairly simple to do and I lost weight, I felt like crap the whole time I was on it and when I went off I gained back all the weight plus some. The best thing I ever did was just sit down and write out a sensible meal plan. Portion and snacking control are a big key for me. I included a lot of fruits and veggies in my meals, if I had to snack, it was on raw veggies, cut out sugar except I got the treat of a dessert one night a week, drank a lot of water and did drink fruit or vegetable juice (1 per day). Didn't really change my activity level because I was already very active back then. I lost a lot of weight and I felt good and why I can't get motivated enough to do it again I don't know. Partly because back then I only had to worry about me and I didn't buy tempting things. Now I have a hubby who is a junk food junky and can eat crap, drink coke after coke every day and not gain a pound and I want to eat what he eats although I can resist the cokes for the most part. 

Best of luck on your weight loss and fitness journey.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Good for you! It's always good to have goals!  

I'm also trying to lose. I lost about 15lbs so far, but I am still trying to lose about 10 more so I can be more in the 145-150 range which is what I'm comfortable with for myself. I love my hips/booty/thighs so I don't wanna lose those. It is definitely not easy! I surprisingly don't count calories, I'm not on a specific 'diet' either.

I just set up a meal plan for myself, every day I eat the same kinda thing (I switch it up sometimes) & I cut bread out. Wasn't easy, sometimes I do have 'cheat' days & I eat pizza of course, can't ever get rid of pizza. NEVER! Lol. Sometimes I do eat sweets too. 
But for the most part, I just make chicken or fish for dinner w/ veggies/salad, then every day for lunch I make a breadless turkey wrap with veggies & spinach leaves.  For breakfast I have a yogurt and sometimes a granola bar. I switch up the veggies to make it more enjoyable so it doesn't get boring. Also for a snack I have an apple or carrots. For a 'dessert' I eat a Fiber One brownie or a Special K brownie. Simple & not too fattening.

I also don't buy many 'snacks'. This way, when I'm home I can't indulge too much.

ALSO...WATER WATER WATER! I drink nothing but water. All day. I even add lemon to it, which is healthy as well plus gives it some flavor.  If I do have coffee, I just have decaf (regular makes me anxious believe it or not) & just some creamer. 

You can do it, keep that confidence up! :smile:


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

oh....I also wanted to point out - don't use a scale to monitor your progress (at least at first). I know your goal is to lose weight, however, especially if you do any type of weight training you will probably GAIN weight as you build muscle. If you weigh yourself you might be discouraged, when really you are progressing. 

I don't own a scale and find that i judge how I'm doing based on how my clothes fit and how I feel. 

And yes, I second the water comments. I love having water with cut up lemons & limes in it (almost like a sangria!!!) YUM!


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## seabiscuit91 (Mar 30, 2017)

Firstly, good on you for making the decision to get healthier and stronger!

I've been in a very similar situation, MANY times, back and fourth, finding motivation, then failing and sooo on.

I'm 25 now, but was at my heaviest at your age, around 19-20, whats sad is it took me to long to realize it was a problem, I was in the whole partying, eating junk food daily stage and bam, I remember hoping on the scales at over 90kg (I think that's 200 pounds?)
I'd yo-yo dieted plenty of times, but nothing ever sticked. So I just felt determined to make this an actual 'lifestyle change' as they call it these days. I not only wanted to lose weight, but I wanted to actually be a healthy 20 yo!

I started just researching, (It's astounding how uneducated I realized I was about food and nutrition) and found that everywhere basically says losing weight is 70% diet, and 30% exercise. Now back then I was super LAZY. So this appealed to me. But I didn't believe I could lose weight by just eating better.
Well, I was wrong.
I think it took me around 6 months to lose 20kg (45 pounds?)so I'm around 68ks - 70kg (145 pounds) now and I'm 5'11. Thats with having a few slip ups, some bad days, some bad weeks and so on. And honestly, I rarely exercised at all. Sure I'd attempt the odd walk/jog, or do a 'workout' at home that was always 10 squats and I'd give up, but it really was all changing my diet. (Not saying you shouldn't exercise! That will obviously speed things up, but it just shows how big an impact food has)
I did follow a 'program' thing at the start, but it wasn't a meal plan, it was just a lot of information and guidelines.
biggest thing for me like a few have said;
WATER - Only water, stay farrrr away from anything else (unless you MAKE your own juice don't buy it FULL of sugar)
Just don't buy junk. If you buy it, you'll eat it. Still now, if I buy a block of chocolate, it will not last past the night!
Just think basic, basic food, basics meats/eggs/veggies/fruits stay away from junk food but also anything in a packet is all processed sugars etc. Making things yourself, (even naughtier things) will always end up healthier.

And just don't beat yourself up.
Thats a big one, we're human, we all slip up, try view this as a 'forever' thing, so keep at it every day, if you have a bad day? Thats okay, try harder tomorrow, or for the next meal. I had to look at it like, okay I have 20 years of bad habbits, sugar addiction etc I can't just snap and break it all in one day.
It's a process. I'll attach a few before/afters below, I've now kept (most) of the weight off for 4 years now, don't get me wrong in this time I can fluctuate a few kgs up and down, (I'm goal driven, so before holidays it's down, after holidays its up) but I just try keep the mentality that everyday I'll try fuel my body with good food, so I feel good, so I have energy, I've slowly learned it's not about jean size and 'skinny' it's about health!

Good luck! You are definitely not alone! Just one day at a time!


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

I wrote a huge spiel last night before bed and my "tokens expired" so I lost it  I'll rewrite it today after work!


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## EquineBovine (Sep 6, 2012)

Subbing


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## KLJcowgirl (Oct 13, 2015)

I just want to wish you the best of luck Whatta! :mrgreen:

While I've never been "big" I definitely know how it feels to realize you just can't do what you used to be able to, especially the riding. 

I gained 30 lbs after I got married after being the same size and weight since about 7th grade. It was a combination of getting a new job (went to desk job after working at a dairy feeding, cleaning stalls, and herding cows to the parlor. VERY active) and hubby being a picky eater, so I picked up his bad eating habits. It didn't physically _look_ like I had gained, but I could feel it. I was always winded, my strength was gone, and I had gone up a size in pants. Riding had gotten to be a chore. I was already wore out after saddling up, and plumb exhausted after I was done. I had also developed stomach issues.

I was tired of feeling like crap. But I HATED exercising. When I thought of exercising, I thought of running and sit ups... yuck! I also couldn't figure out how to change my diet, because I didn't want to make two meals a night, one for me, one for hubby. I grew up on lots of fruits and veggies and made from scratch meals, and he didn't.

I've been blessed recently to have an opportunity to work at an evening fitness studio in town. I check people into the classes for about 15 minutes at either 8:00 or 9:00 depending on the day, and in exchange I get to do the classes free of charge. So for 4 days a week I do either Kickboxing, Zumba, or Yoga. I love that *way* more than running haha. I've also figured out I can get in my healthy meal at work, so I've been doing lots of meal prep there. I try to drink nothing but water, but... uh... once a month I tend to give in and have a Coke or two... 

I've only lost about 5 lbs and sit at about 155lbs, but that's ok. I feel good. I feel strong. I look freaking buff. My stomach rarely hurts. My balance is coming back. And riding doesn't wear me out. 

I still have a long ways to go as far as my eating. Hubby also realized recently that he's gotten a bit large and wants to make a change too, so hopefully with us both in the same mind set that will get easier.

Again, I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to watching your progress. You have many people here who will be rooting for you! :happydance:


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## Change (Jul 19, 2014)

I'm another one who hates exercise, and I'll be the first to admit I have horrible eating habits. I'm not large though. I think I'm lucky, at almost 60, to still be my average lifetime weight of 140ish. What has helped me the most is the exercise I do get - mucking horse poop, grooming, riding, fencing - all that horse ownership stuff! And I will admit, though the stuff I eat isn't always the healthiest (addicted to chips and bread), I don't like sugary things to start with. And portion control is a huge factor. I eat little amounts several times a day so I never feel hungry and don't stuff myself. And - given my own choices (rather than family preferences) I will eat veggies/fruits or granola, yogurt, etc. Chicken with a salad is a meal for me. 

Unfortunately, I have my son and granddaughter living with me, and they like real meals (meat, potatoes/mac'n'cheese, cooked veggie) and if I cook them, I will eat them. And if there are chips in the house, well.... 

I also agree with those who say ignore the scales. Tape measures of hips, thighs, belly are much better, because muscle weighs more than fat and you can loose inches but gain pounds. At my most fit, I was a size 6 and weighed 150 - but I was rock solid (and 35). Now, 25 years later, I'm 10 lbs lighter but a size 8-10. And I wish I'd started worrying about weight/conditioning years ago because it's a lot harder now!!

As an aside - I had a friend who simply quit drinking soda (the only change in her diet/activities) and she lost 20 lbs in 3 months!


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## WhattaTroublemaker (Aug 13, 2013)

TRying to get a reply done everyone! I typed and retyped three times and lost it every time so I got frustrated lol


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Good luck to you! Here are some things that work for me:

- Find out which foods have low caloric density, and make those the cornerstone of your diet. Do not cut out treats, but use them as flavor enhancers only. If you eliminate goodies from your diet, you probably will binge one day. If you always treat yourself to the tastes you like, but have boring foods to keep you filled throughout the day, you won't have to go on a "diet", this'll just be how you eat from now on.

- I found "Power Yoga" (Check out Rodney Yee videos) and resistance cables very beneficial for "lean" strength building.

- Do not look at your weight!!! As you gain strength and build muscle, your body will get denser. That means you'll look better without losing a lot of weight. Do not let the scale trick you into thinking you failed. Look for muscle tone and keep track of your body fat with skin pinch tests. 

- Half an hour a day at home beats once a week in the gym. As I said, no fancy machines necessary, just a yoga mat, some resistance cables, and gravity.

- Riding is aerobic exercise: you'll maintain low-level muscle tone over a prolonged period of time. Personally, I hate jogging - it bores the hell out of me, but you may want to include brisk walks at first in your regime, then pick up the pace little by little.

- Do not be impatient with yourself. With regularity, wait for about 6-8 weeks to see a difference. Too many people are impatient with the progress and either give up or get the liver-killing weight loss supplement from late-night tv.

So, these are the conclusions from a rigorous clinical study with a sample size of 1. Hope it helps a bit!!


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## Maistjarna (Dec 25, 2016)

Whatta
Write it on word and then copy it and post it here.
Or only write half of it and then in a new post the other half (it might be to long?)


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## Maistjarna (Dec 25, 2016)

How is it going @WhattaTroublemaker?


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