I've decided to make my journal friends only just because my "real life" friends don't know that i'm even on a diet let alone that I have an lj for it so I figure it's good to make it friends only. At least most of my entries will be friends only but if you'd like to friend me I'll definitely add you as long as you seem to be a cool person who posts regularly so feel free to add me :) 

T urns out getting the plantar wart out didn't hurt. I could totally be going to the gym with no problem except I have a really bad cold. Stuffy nose, head congestion, coughing, etc. So I figure it's better not to go to the gym and just work on getting back to health so I can get back to my rountine on Monday. I'm not too happy about it but oh well.

So today was my doctors apointment for some test results that I had to get back. I had gone to get the tests done on January 7th and when I got weighed I was 174.2 lbs. Today I went in, 23 days later, and of course got weighed again. My heart was racing and I was really nervous. I made sure to dress lightly as not to add any unnecessry weight and I got up on the scale. For a little while the screen was all jumbled and I was like great the scale is broken and I'm not going to know how much I weigh! haha but it fixed itself and then I saw the prettiest numbers I have ever seen 167 lbs. I must say I was very excited. I can't believe I lost 7 lbs. I really didn't think it was going to be that much. I was thinking maybe 4 or 5 lbs but I'm really happy about my weightloss and this helps me to stay motivated and continue going to the gym and eating right.
Of course with every good things comes a few bad things. I woke up with a sore throat today and I've just been really weak lately. I went to the gym twice so far this week but I wish I could have gone more. I don't think I'll be able to go today becasue I just feel sick. Tomorrow I have to go to the doctor again because I have a plantar wart on my foot (those things are bitches). Most likely I will just have it surgically removed and that will be the end of it but that means no gym for at least 3 days. So the next time I go to the gym could very well be next Monday :( It's sad. Maybe the foot thing won't hurt so bad and I can even go tomorrow. Let's keep our fingers crossed. 
Anyway, hope everyone is doing great and hope my 7 lb. weight loss has motivated you to keep going even if you don't think you're losing weight :)

I feel so unbelieveably fat right now. I wish I could go to the gym right now and work out for like 5 hours. I just took a shower and I felt like I looked so fat. I don't know why because lately I've been feeling pretty good about myself. I didn't go to the gym today since it's Sunday and I try to take the day off. I also didn't really eat very many calories today but for some reason I feel really gross. I think I may just go to the gym twice tomorrow. I'm hoping to make it at 7:30am for spinning and then I have class until 1:30pm so I may be able to go after that as well.
I think I need to start weighing myself like once a week so I can gain motivation from seeing the numbers drop even by .1 of a lb. I should go to Wal Mart tomorrow and get a good scale. If I'm not at least at 170 lbs the next time I weigh myself I'm going to be extremely disappointed. Today marks the 21st day of my diet and if I am losing the weight in a healthy fashion then 2 lbs per week should put it right around  167 lbs. God I really hope it is! Lets all keep our fingers crossed.

I'm headed to spinning in about 30 minutes! I'm so excited! I might do a little extra after spinning because a friend of mine is coming to visit from back home tonight and we'll be going out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (the best place ever!). Hopefully I can burn everything off before I eat it haha.

I'm not too happy with myself right now. First of all, yesterday started off on a good note. I woke up early, went to the gym, ate a light lunch, headed to work, had a healthy snack, then came home, ate a lean cuisine for dinner and then it went downhill. I went out dancing with some friends and of course Thursday is Ladies night so it's free cover and free drinks til 11. I had about 6 drinks but they were all relatively small with lots of ice in them so I don't think I would have been too upset had I just consumed the drinks. Unfortunately everyone decided to go to Denny's at 2am and get food. I had to go since I didn't drive myself and in my drunken state ordered the All American Breakfast or something like that which consisted of 2 strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns (I LOVE hashbrowns), two sausage links, and an english muffin. I pretty much ate everything except most of the eggs and some of the hashbrowns. I felt so unbelievably gross! I came home and went straight to bed only to be woken up by my stomach about 3 hours later. Thankfully I seem to have digested everything quickly but I still consumed all that fat and all those calories. This morning I felt like I looked like I did before I started the diet. I don't think all my hard work for the past 3 weeks was completely earased because that would be impossible, or I assume it would be. So usually on Friday mornings I go to spinning class but it's at 7:30am and there was no way I would make it after going to sleep at 4am so I decided I would go at 4:15 in the afternoon but sadly I never made it :( I felt hungover and my stomach felt weird all day. I had a coffee in the morning and then a NON diet soda (grrr!) and a few bites of pasta salad but all in all I didn't eat much today. Hopefully that means I can make up for last night.
I'm really not happy with myself right now and wish I had more self discipline. For a second today I wanted to quit my diet and exercise and just go back to how I was before I started this but it's only been a month and I need to keep going. If I continue this diet for 3 months and don't see a difference then I'll consider quiting but until then I hope to stay strong and get back on track. Hopefully I can get to the gym tomorrow!

This morning I woke up around 8am and was ready to go to the gym and do yoga at 9:30am but then I looked at the group exercise schedule and realize yoga wasn't til 10:30am and that meant I couldn't go because I had work at 12. Although I was disappointed I still went and did some cardio and a bit of abs. It made me feel good :) I skipped out on breakfast unfortunately because I can't eat before I go to the gym cause then I feel nauseous. So I just had a soup and salad around 11:30am and had a kellogs snack bar and a coffee at 3pm on my break. I came home and ate dinner at 8pm. So I don't think I took in too many calories today. A few friends of mine invited me to a kickboxing class at the gym tonight and I decided to go. WOW! That's pretty much all I can say about it. It was amazing and it made me feel great! The instructor said we burn anywhere between 500-800 calories which is insane. So I definitely think I should be a little lighter tomorrow (eventhough I'm not weighing myself lol).
Speaking of weighing. I was thinking it would be a good investment to get one of those scales that tells you EVERYTHING about your body. Like weight, body fat, body mass, etc. I think it would make me motivated to see the numbers go down every couple days. I know they are expensive though so I might have to save up (pay day on Thrusday...maybe haha).
On the negative side of things, I think I might have pulled a muscle in my left upper arm while I was jabbing and hooking in kickboxing tonight. I hope it goes away soon. And I've also had weird abdominal pains. It feels like my ovaries hurt which it could be that cause I've had ovarian cysts before (they're normal). So who knows. I think a visit to the gyno is due. Also, before I left for class tonight I put my clothes on (shorts and a t-shirt) and I thought I looked pretty thin and was so happy. Then I get into the class and I look at myself in the 3092830923 mirrors they put in those rooms and I'm like GROSS! I looked like a cow. Seriously! I mean there were other girls that were bigger than me but then there were this really cute girls who have tiny thighs and small waists. It made me sad. I came back home and looked at myself in the mirror and honestly didn't think I looked so bad again. I swear it must be the flourescent lighting or something. But I can't wait until I look good in flourescent lighting :)
Anyway, sorry for such a long entry! Hope everyone's week is going well so far. Keep pushing ladies! We're gonna make it!

As I said yesterday my muscles on my thighs are KILLING me from the 20-20-20 workout I did on Saturday. I really don't know if I'll be able to go to the gym today. It sucks because I really want to go. Maybe I can just do 30 minutes instead of 1 hour like I usually do. It hurts to stand up/sit down and even to bend over. I guess it's a good thing but it's just annoying. Does anyone know what I can do to make my muscles feel better faster?

I took a shower this afternoon and got a glimpse of myself in the mirror when I was naked and I have to say I look pretty good :) It made me feel so good about myself and the fact that I'm on a diet but not starving every 20 minutes is amazing. I should have done this a long time ago.
This weekend wasn't so bad. I went out to dinner with some friends on Friday. We went to Panera and I had half a sandwhich and half a soup which actually doesn't have that many calories but since I'm exercising and not eating many calories during the day I didn't feel so bad. Then on Saturday I went to the gym and did a class called 20-20-20. Oh my God! It really made me see how out of shape I am but I didn't feel so bad cause there were really tiny skinny girls taking the class too and they were struggling to do everything. I really liked it though. We did 20 minutes of cardio (running, jogging, suicides, jumps, etc.) and then we did 20 minutes of arms and 20 minutes of legs (mostly thighs). Every muscle in my body hurts right now and it feels so good :) I had been wondering lately why I go to the gym and do spinning or the eliptical and don't feel sore and I guess I'm not pushing my limits enough so I'll have to tweak my workout.
Last night I went out for my friends 21st and since it was the weekend I figured I could eat a little more and it wouldn't be bad. All I had eaten that day was some hummus and bread and jello so I was able to have a really good burger for dinner with fries and everything. It was delicious. We also had some drinks back at her apartment but I had a little too much and ended up throwing up. Blah. All in all I feel really good though and you can definitely tell in my face that I look thinner yay!
I'm thinking of posting some before and after pics once I get down to like 155ish because I think you'll really be able to tell the difference. I'm also thinking that my goal weight of 135 is too low for me so we'll see. I may just stay at 140-145 that might be better.

Things are going well. Every morning I feel a little lighter so I think my efforts are paying off :) I kind of want to weigh myself and see how much I've lost but it'll probably be better to wait so I can say I lost more haha. I went spinning this morning and again it kicked my ass. It's so HARD! I'm begining to have a little more endurance for it but the resistence is what kills me. It makes my legs burn so much!
I'm kind of hungry right now but I want to wait til dinner time to eat. Blah! I have no idea what I'm doing tonight but I feel like doing something. Everyone is busy with other stuff though. Oh well, at least Saturday I'm going out to an Irish Pub place for my friends 21st birthday :) I'll have to splurge a bit there with drinks and food haha but I'll try to control myself. Monday I don't have class or work because of MLK Jr. Day! yaaaay! I get to stay home and read for classes all day.
Anyway...I'll update after the weekend :)

Have a GREAT weekend!

Alright, so I think I've hit the point in my dieting/exercise where I don't feel any different when I wake up. It always seems to happen and then this is usually the time where I'm like screw it and just go back to my normal ways. This time I'm going to stick it out just because I never have before and I'm sure I'll start feeling live I've lost some weight soon.
I still haven't weighed myself for fear that I haven't lost much and that will discourage me. I'm going to wait until Jan. 30th so I can get weighed at the same scale at the doctors office :) I have to go get some tests done and stuff so at least seeing the number on the scale go down will make me happy. When I went on Jan. 7th I weighed 174.2 lbs. so if I've been losing weight in a healthy way which would be 2 lbs. per week I should weigh around 168.2 which would make me soooooooo HAPPY! So let's cross our fingers for that one.
I wish I didn't have to work so late so that I could cook dinner at home for myself. I've been working until almost 9pm every night and I really don't want to eat that late so I take a break around 6:30pm every night so that I can eat at a decent time but of course it has to be Lean Cuisine. I have no problem with them except that I'll probably get tired of it soon. Next week we are only open til 7pm so hopefully I can make it home by 7:30pm and eat before 8pm which is still later than I would like but it'll have to do.
Exercising and restriciting calories is going very well I must say. I'm doing everything I want to do and I don't feel hungry or terriably tired so that's always good. Next Tuesday night I'm going to try a kickboxing class with a friend of mine so I'm excited about that.
Well I guess we'll see how things go.
I'm off to do my nails :)

Went spinning again this morning and it kicked my ass. It made me feel really good though. I wish there was a spinning class offered earlier tomorrow because I would definitely go. I didn't eat much today but for some reason I feel really full and bloated. I was thinking of getting some water pills and seeing if I can pee out this feeling lol. I'm way excited to go to the gym again tomorrow morning :) It's good to feel excited about going to the gym.
Today I went grocery shopping with my roommate and I felt so proud of myself because I didn't buy anything unhealthy. I stuck to my plan and I'm so proud! I bought alot of lean cuisines and frozen dinner type things and I tried to keep them all under 300 calories each. A friend of mine told me those are bad because they have alot of sodium but I don't really know. Maybe that's why I feel bloated, maybe I'm retaining liquid? Who knows...

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this weekend and the diet. Weekends are always rough because you seem to get sidetracked. I think I did okay but I wish I would have been stronger.
On Saturday I went to my friends baby shower at Applebee's and I was very proud because I ordered off the Weight Wathers menu which was low cal and whatnot. I also went to the gym on Saturday eventhough it was only for like 30 mins instead of the usual hour. I kind of messed up though because Saturday night my roommate decided to make one of those pizza's that you make yourself and I had like 2 slices blah. Then I went out to a club for my friends 21st birthday and of course I had a few drinks which probably had a million calories. Today I just had a tuna sandwhich and I didn't even finish it all but then for dinner I had mac and cheese from KFC which I'm sure isn't healthy. I figure it's the weekend and I pushed myself so hard the entire week that I should give myself a break. As long as it doesn't continue into the week it should be fine. I just hope that in the next two weeks I see that I've lost something or else I'm going to be majorly disappointed. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

So it's been a few days. School and work are kicking my ass but I'm happy to say I'm still dieting and still working out. Today concludes the first week of my diet and I'm feeling pretty good about myself. I haven't weighed myself because I'm scared that I didn't lose anything and that would just make me want to quit. I'm gonna wait a little longer so i can see more weightloss. I do notice a difference when I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror though :) yay!
So I figured out my gym schedule and what I'm going to be doing when I go. On Monday's and Friday's I'll be doing 1 hour of cycling which burns about 600 calories and then on Tuesday and Thursday I'll be doing 45 minutes on the eliptical which burns 460 calories and about 15 minutes of abs. It sounds like a good plan and it's what I did this week and seems to work out pretty well.
So yesterday I ate about 1,112 calories which I don't think is so bad. But the day before I only ate 805 calories and still felt just as full so who knows. For breakfast this morning I had some oatmeal (150 calories) and a cup of skim milk (110 calories).
I really hope I can keep this going into the semester so I can loose hopefully the 30-40lbs I want. I must say I'm really excited about this and I don't think there's much that can get in the way of me reaching my goal.

Just a short update. I decided to write down everything I eat and about how many calories are in it so my grand total for today was 1,142 calories but I didn't finish my entire breakfast so its was probably a little less. Anyway I went to the gym in the morning and went on the Eliptical for 45mins which burned about 460 calories and then I did some ab exercises for 15 mins so I'm sure I burned some more. I'm pretty happy with myself so far.
Oh and yesterday I went to the doctor and when she weighed me I weighed 174.2 but I have to go for a follow up appointment on January 30th which is in 3 weeks so I'll really be able to see how much I've lost. Those scales at the doctors office are the best lol. Well I'm exhausted from work and I think I'm gonna take a day off of the gym tomorrow. Who knows...Well until next time!!!

Happy Dieting!

so monday was very productive. i woke up at 7am and went to a spinning class at the gym for an hour. i think the resistence button on my bicycle was broken because it seemed like everyone else was going slower but maybe it was just me. i still feel really good about my workout though. before my workout i ate a banana and then didn't have time to eat the oatmeal i planned to eat when i got back so at 11:30ish i just had a tuna sandwhich (no mayo or anything like that) with some lettuce in it on wheat bread so i think that was like 250 cal which isn't bad. then i had a granola bar around 3pm which was 140 cal. And for dinner i had a lean cuisine pizza (310 cal) and some broccoli and cheese (60 cal). But then I cheated a little cause my roommate bought fudge blah it was sooo good so i had to have a square. But i don't feel so bad because i think i stayed under 1,000 calories for the day which is amazing and i didn't feel hungry at all.

The other day I decided to make an inspirational journal type thing so I cut out some pictues from magazines and some words and stuff and glued them in there. Whenever I see someone in a magazine that looks good skinny (cause I don't want to look anorexic) then I'll just put it in there. I think it'll be good for me to look at whenever I feel that I might be giving up. It's a good reminder.

I'm off to the gym now to do some cardio and abs :) Hope everyone is doing good on their diets :)

I'm finally back home in my apartment in Orlando. It's so nice to be back and getting everything in order for the new semester at school. This weekend has been productive in that I feel I'm doing good with my diet. This morning my roommate was dropped off by her parents and they invited me to go to breakfast with them. I was a little scared because I wasn't sure I could hold back and would want to eat waffles or pancakes which would have made me feel horrible. I actually did very well. I ordered a country omlete which was the only thing on the menu that had veggies in it. It came with a side of hashbrowns and toast so I asked for whole wheat toast and when my meal came I only ate about 1/4 of the hashbrowns and 1/2 of the omlete and only one piece of toast (it came with 2). I was very proud of myself because normally I would eat the whole plate. That was at around 11:30am this morning so I'm planning on waiting til 6pm for dinner and having lots of veggies and just a small portion of starch and meat.
I was reading in SELF magazine that people that eat lots of veggies during their meal eat up to 1/2 as much as people that don't eat veggies during their meal. I want to try to encorporate vegetables more.
I told a friend of mine from work that I was really serious about going to the gym and getting healthy and in shape and he told me that he used to be in really good shape and needs a gym buddy to go with him every morning. I told him I'd be up for the challenge and I'm so excited to go with him! We aren't going to start until next week or so because it's our rush season at work (I work at a bookstore and all the students come to get their textbooks on the first week of classes so we are open later). I myself plan on going to the gym tomorrow morning at 7:00am and being there for about an hour so I can come home and shower and then head to class at 9:00am.
I'm feeling really good about this and I can't wait to start the gym tomorrow!

I'm still on vacation with my family but I'm trying to limit my portions a bit. It's hard to be on a diet while on vacation since you have to be eating out all the time but yesterday morning we went to Huddle House which is like a pancake place and I had half a waffle and half of my hashbrowns. I kind of whish I didn't eat that because it's so fatening but then I realized I would normally eat the whole waffle and the whole side of hashbrowns so it made me feel a bit better. We ended up going to a chinese buffet for dinner and I just had some fried rice and some sweet and sour chicken which didn't even taste good. I realized that most of the time I eat things just because they are in front of me and it's just there so I eat it. I was eating that chicken and realized I didn't even like the taste of it so I stopped eating it. I think I need to get more in the habbit of eating only when I really feel hungry and when it tates good. It seems like when I eat at a restaurant I feel like I have to eat everything because you pay so much for the food. That's probably why you shouldn't eat out when you are trying to lose weight lol.

Today I had a very small bowl of cereal for breakfast and then for lunch had a chicken terryaki 6" sub from subway. I don't think that's too bad. Hopefully tonight I can have a salad or something small for dinner.

I haven't offically started my "diet" yet but I want to get myself into the swing of it starting now. I'll be starting to go to the gym on campus on saturday and then I plan on trying to go every morning before class. Hopefully all goes as planned :)

First of all here's a little bit about me:
My name is Maria, I'm 21 years old, and I'm a senior in college. Throughout high school I weighed about 150lbs but when I started college I gained the usual freshmen 15 and then some. Currently I am 5'7" and weigh about 175lbs. My current size is 11/12 in pants and large for shirts and blouses. I wish I could get back to a size 7 and a medium. My ideal weight would be between 135-145lbs. I think I would be happy if I lost about 20lbs but it would be great if I could lose 30lbs.
I've always struggled with my weight ever since I can remember. Both my parents are also overweight so I guess I have it in my genes but I won't let that stop me. I want to get serious about losing weight and getting back into shape as well as leading a healthy life.

You may be thinking why I want to do this all of a sudden. Well, I had a boyfriend for the last 2 years and recently broke up with him. He had no problem with my body but I always did. Now that he's not in the picture I want to make myself happy. I've also noticed little things like more cellulite, shortness of breath when going up stairs, old clothes not fitting, etc. Those are just a few things.

So here's my plan:
Get back into going to the gym at least 30mins-1hour a day, 5-6 times a week.
Eat healthy with fewer calories, less fat, more fruits and veggies.

I hope those two things in combination will help me at least feel better about myself and even start to look better.

I plan on starting my diet and exercise around January 6th or 7th. I'm currently on vacation with my family and will be returning back home on the 5th. If anyone wants to do this with me and keep eachother motivated please feel free to add me as a friend and send any comments you'd like.

Wish me luck!!!