Friday, February 4, 2011

Help

I know I haven't blogged in a while. I've been hiding from life. There was no weigh in this Monday because my downstairs flooded on Saturday night and my digital scale was one of the victims. I guess the batteries fried...which sucks because it was a really expensive scale that measured your body fat percentage and all that fancy stuff....so anyway, I have no idea what I weigh.

I need help. I've been struggling a lot, and while I could sit here and analyze all of the reasons to death, I'm going to spare you. They would all come across as excuses...they are all excuses. I have noticed that its actually much harder, in a way, to eat unhealthily and avoid exercise. Because then I have all this self-loathing and guilt to constantly deal with, and I am drained. But whatever.

The thing is, I have a Bahamas cruise coming up at the end of March. There are 6 weeks and 6 days before this trip, to be exact. This is a very important trip for me. First, I've never been on a cruise before. In fact, I've never been off the East Coast my whole life. Second, this is my husband's and my 10 year wedding anniversary. We never got to go on a honeymoon, so in a way this is a really really late honeymoon too.  I want this to be a perfect trip. I don't want to spend the entire time worried about how I look in a bathing suit, and feeling bad that I don't have the body of all the beautiful girls that I am sure to see. I know that I don't have enough time to get even close to goal weight, and I'm okay with that. But I would like to lose 15 pounds...I think that would at least allow me to feel good enough about my progress that I can get on the boat proud of myself and my body instead of ashamed.

15 pounds is a lot to lose in 6 weeks, and I need a plan. Please help me figure out what to do. I know that the way to lose weight for life is to "eat a little less and move a little more." But what I'm interested in right now is a plan that will allow me to lose weight safely, but rapidly. What should I eat? How many calories should I take in? What kind? What about exercise?  I wish I could afford Medifast or something like that, but that isn't in the budget right now. So what I need is a plan that has a similar calorie intake that I can just do at home. I really need some good advice here. I'm directionless, and (I'm starting to believe this) clueless about the right way to lose weight. So, help, help, help!!

8 comments:

  1. I hate to be the first one to say it but there is no quick way to lose weight. I did it by one week at a time. Forget about what you weigh and just concentrate on trying to change your lifestyle towards healthy eating habits and exercise. It will come off. By the way, I have been on a couple cruises and they are awesome! EXPECT to gain weight that week. The food is usually INCREDIBLE and you should not pass up eating something that week and don't feel guilty about it. You won't have this trip annually(at least I don't) so if you want to eat it, do it. Then go back to the healthy lifestyle. Also, if you want, you can run on the ship. There is also an awesome gym onboard so no excuses if you want to work out. You will have a wonderful time. I love cruises and can't wait to go on my next one.

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  2. Ok, similar to Medifast but cheaper, I understand it is expensive but a great program... Well, budget for about 800-1000 calories a day, and at max 30 minutes of exercise. You need to consume more calories to be able to work out more and not feel tired all the time... Email me and I'll tell you about it...
    polarspage@gmail.com

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  3. Have you tried spark people.com? It's basically a food journal but it tells you how much to eat to lose x amount of weight then tells you exactly what to eat. I'm doing it now--journallin for the first time ever. So far so good!

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  4. *hugs*

    The point that you made about being unhealthy NOT being easier because of the guilt and self-loathing really hit me in the face.

    Wow.
    That is the most profound thing I have ever read, at least in a while.
    And, I think that if you can really, really get this thought into your mind, and HEART, then it will be the spark you need to turn this all around.

    How about we both make a commitment to ourselves.
    To stop and THINK about the consequences 5 minutes from each decision, an hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 2 days, or a week... from EACH food/exercise decision.

    What do you think?

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  5. Strength train!

    There's a bunch of good stuff here, with no equipment needed: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/basictraining.htm
    http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blnoweightwkout.htm

    The hardest part of the cruise will be not over-indulging! Use the gym, go to the classes they offer, take the buffet line as a chance to try different healthy foods, and ENJOY your time there :)

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  6. Sign up for fitday.com or caloriecount.com. Those sites will require a little effort on your part, but boths sites help you track your calories burned and consumed each day. You can also track your progress of weight loss. Another thing is they can show your nutritional values for the day and where you are lacking there. I blogged about it once. Good luck.

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  7. I am sure others will weigh in on your goal to lose 15 pounds in 6 weeks. Alan Klein may have some good ideas. I just want to lose slow and steady. That is the only thing that works for me. If you do lose it, think about how you will keep it off and what you will do when you are cruising to maintain. Michele

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