DATE: 02/08/2008 22:21:25 / MOOD: happy

Well, I've not posted in a while, been really busy with uni, but i've been sticking to the diet kind of.... Last week i lost another 3 pounds, but this week i have put on a pound, its been a really busy week and we've only had chance to work out once, so i'm not too worried. It's a little bit disheartening but there u go. My plans now are to not snack late at night, which i have a horrid habit of doing! I had a pizza hut 2nite but that was a one-off lol!! Back to the grindstone now xxxx

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DATE: 02/08/2008 22:19:32 / MOOD: happy

Hey guys, just a few tips and stuff, obiously im not a skinny thing lol but my weight loss is going well and i know what works and what doesnt, and I started this as a comment on somebodys blog, but i thought i'd post it for anybody to see x 

Set a cut-off point at night when u won't eat anymore, at night the weight just piiiiiiiles on.

 Try to make your meals interesting and appealing rather than just sticking a microwave meal in, make a really colourful stir fry or something, bright coloured foods are really good for fighting illness too by the way!

Have you tried the gym? I know you might not feel confident enough to go, but there are smaller gyms in leisure centres and things that are less intimidating than the big corporate ones!  The gym really does help more than say walking every day, because the mix of cardio and weights makes you lose weight, but you actually can see it in the mirror because the weights are toning you as you go along... you hear about all these people who lose a lot of weight and have disgusting excess skin afterwards, but if you tone from the beginning you'll look trim without having to have your skin cut off! lol!

Cutting your calorie intake to 1500 a day (2000 is the daily guideline for women, 2500 for men) might not seem like much but it really really helps you stay on track, and writing things down helps you keep check on yourself.

For snacks, buy the low fat versions like weight watchers or go ahead, and watch out for crisps, even the low fat ones are full of fat, try not to eat anything that has more than 5g of fat per 100g in it.  Calories arent the only thing that matters!

MOST importantly, feel good about yourself!! Don't treat it as a chore.. i know that when im saying "oh i cant have that because im on this crappy diet" those are the weeks when i dont lose weight.  Dont let your diet become an enemy, because the minute you start tothink like then is the moment your on a downhill back to square one.  Feel good about your diet, think about it as a makeover thats takes a few months to work at!  It's quite exciting really if you keep in mind the end result after all the work!  Also, don't stop yourself buying nice clothes while your dieting with the excuse of "i dont want to buy anything now because ill be a size smaller in a month", because then you will start to get resentful, and impatient for the weight to come off.  Buy the clothes, then in a month you will just look thinner in them! Items 2 sizes 2 big are still wearable, just stick a waist belt on or something!  I think dressing for your shape is really important, if you want any tips on dressing well i would be glad to help.

Following from that if you want any more tips or help, I'd be more than happy! xxxx

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DATE: 01/27/2008 19:55:08 / MOOD: loosing weight

Hey guys, anyone who reads this... probably nobody lol! but just updating to say i strayed a little a couple of weeks ago but me and my housemate (ive moved back 2 uni now) are dieting 2gether, shes about my size, but shes shorter so she weighs less... anyway we've been sticking to 1500 cals a day and doing an exercize dvd every 1/2 days, we weighed ourselves the friday before last and i'd gone up to 17st 8lbs, pretty depressing... anyway friday just gone we weighed ourselves and i lost 8 lbs in that 1st week!! im not sure how, i was really good, ate well, exercized lots but i didnt expect 2 lose that much! i must have been having a fat fat fat day on the first weigh-in lol! my friend lost 5 lbs in a week aswel so we must be doing something right! :-D xxx

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DATE: 01/12/2008 20:56:15 / MOOD: disappointed

Soooo, today was bad... Had a reduced fat tuna pasta bake for dinner, fine, im not bothered about eating carbs... then we went to see High School Musical on Ice and I had a hotdog, a packet of McCoys (more than 30% fat) and a few chocolates.  Then i got home and we went to the cinema watching Dan In Real Life (cute film!), and we had a big tub of popcorn, not too fatty, and a few sweets from the pick n mix.

THEN after all that, we came home and had a big plate of chinese; chips, fried rice, a bit of chicken foo yung and a bit of beef curry.

So just today, I've probably put on the 4 pounds i lost, but Im not going to weigh myself because I'll just cry, what I'll do is just be very good 2moro (although i will be having a roast dinner, i won't snack in between meals and thats good enough).

 Also, I'm moving back to uni either today or tomorrow and I'll be going to the gym with my friend Kate as much as possible, so that will help no end.  I also have a workout DVD that me and my housemate do sometimes, so that will definately be getting its use from now on!

So I'm going to go now and dream nice things hopefully... and for anybody who read my last blog, things are a bit nicer in my house today :-) xxxxxxxxxx

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DATE: 01/11/2008 21:39:19 / MOOD: lonely

First of all, i love this song!

My subject title is bittersweet because, today started out great and just went pretty low :-(

This morning I weighed myself and I've lost 4 pounds since I started 3 days ago.  So I did a little victory dance, haha!

But tonight's been really bad because my family is just having so many troubles right now, and it's sad... the thing thats bothering me most is how it's affecting my little sister.  I say little, she's actually 16, but she was crying so much tonight, and it's horrid because I'm going back to Uni on sunday and shes going to be left to face it by herself.

I wish I could change things, and make it better, but I guess that's life.

Lauren xx

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DATE: 01/10/2008 19:24:09 / MOOD: bored

Sooooo it's been two days since I joined and I've been good!

To be fair, yesterday I was worn out from not sleeping the night before, so I only ate a stir fry, BUT i did go out drinking, and I drank lots of sugary alcopops.... but I'm sure I must have danced that of! I didn't sit down all night!

Then today I've eaten a packet of wotsits, an apple, a bread roll, a bacon sandwich for lunch, and two slices of chicken and bacon pizza for dinner.  That's not actually that good is it?

LOL, oh dear... But snacking is the thing that really brings me down when dieting, so I'm happy that I haven't snacked much.

I haven't done anyyyyyy exercize yet... I'm moving back to uni on sunday so I'm going to go to the gym lots and lots and lots while I'm there definately.

Has anybody seen Hairspray?  You know when Edna says "The neighbours havent seen me since I was a size 10, I'll do it after my next diet"?  That's how I'm beginning to get!!  These holidays I was TERRIFIED of seeing my ex-boyfriend as I havent seen him since last september, when we were still together (he broke up with me via email while I was at uni), but we still speak occasionally and I made every excuse in the book not to see him over christmas.  What I'd really love to do is see him when I've lost a lot of weight, and really look great.  So thats what I'm going to do, and it's not only because of him, its for the great feeling I know I will get when I see the look on his face when he realises what he's missing out on!

So woohoo! Let's rock!

Lauren xxxxxxxx

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DATE: 01/08/2008 22:55:33 / MOOD: other

Ok, so the mood says "Other", i was looking for uncomfortable...  I have indegestion, resulting from sitting in bed at my sisters laptop and eating 2 packets of crisps, a bowl of coco pops, a cheese topped bread bun, a chocolate doughnut and a piece of a huge toblerone... it has to stop!!!

I get indegestion a lot because, by my own admission, I sit at my computer a lot, which is pretty lazy... thats the reason i thought was the cause for my indegestion, now I'm beginning to think its just plain being unfit and unhealthy.

If you ever have the misfortune to experience indegestion, you'll know that I'm laying here now, wiggling myself around trying to burp or fart the damn thing out, with a tight chest, sore stomach and aching back... Not pleasant!!

So, I'm going to get fit, not just because of the indesgestion, though that's what is probing me into documenting my weight loss (hopefully!) on here.  There's probably not a soul who will read this, but I suppose I'm doing it just for my own benefit, and if anybody wants to encourage me along the way then great!

So, here's my story in weight terms...

I was a dancer until I was around 11, when I moved to high school i quit and until then i was a little skinny thing, then through high school it all piled on... at our house we have big meals!  My dad has a sizable gut on him and my brother used to be fairly overweight and my mum is constantly dieting.  I know that genetically I'm not meant to be skinny, I also know that I can't use that excuse for myself, because my mum, dad and brother have all managed to lose weight, dad by running and rugby training, mum through weight watchers, and my brother through the gym and generally eating better (his weight loss has been the most dramatic), whilst my sister has always been in great shape and has a healthy attitude towards eating.

I remember the first time I wanted to lose weight seriously, and it was in the run up to my 18th birthday party, I saw all my friends looking gorgeous in their dresses at their 18th's and I didnt want to get to mine and feel anything less than fabulous.  So I started at the gym and went 5 days a week most weeks, bought monthly passes every month, and stayed for 2 hours each time, doing both cardio and weights, and 150 sit ups every time.  I also joined weight watchers with my mum, and for about 4 months I did so well, I started the diet at 17st 2lbs... 240lbs if there's any americans reading, and on my 18th birthday i was 15st, thats over 2 stone/28 pounds in 4 months, which i think's pretty good!!  I carried on for a while and got down to 14st 7lbs, my goal was 14st....but then I moved to uni.

Ok, so I do inherit my mums big bum, and my dads belly, but it doesnt mean I can't get rid of it, as I had proved before my 18th!  I remember feeling great as I moved to my new flat in Lincoln ready to start my media production course at university, my suitcase was packed with all my size 14 clothes, which considering I used to be in size 20's, is great!

I had a hard time adjusting to Uni, it was a love/hate thing, you see, when I wasnt out drinking 12 sugary alcopops a night, having a fry up in the morning, chocolate and crisps constantly, and takeaway at night, I was stuck in, missing home and comfort eating myself into oblivion.  I think the independence and lack of discipline got me most... I'm a big cheese-lover, so I would buy austrian and bavarian cheese, cheesestrings, dairylea dunkers, babybels, and eat ridiculous amounts of them in a day!  We dont have those at home, but because I was doing my own food shopping, I could get what I wanted, and i did.

So the weight piled on... towards the end of first year, I started at the weight watchers in Lincoln with my overweight flatmate, she did great! lost 8 pounds in the first 2 weeks, i lost nothing.  It's so much harder to lose it the second time around, theyd ask me what had gone wrong at the meetings and i would stand on the scales baffled, going "i really dont know".  Then my flatmate started bailing out on meetings, and consequently so did i.

Second year of uni, i was living with my best friend James, who had just gotten over an illness that left him losing a ridiculous amount of weight, he was very skinny even before the illness, so he was advised to keep his calories up to build his strength back up.  We did joint shopping every week, and so his calorific choices became my meals and snacks also.  All this time the weight kept piling on.

This year, Im still living with James, plus 3 other boys and my other best friend Lauren, so on top of Jameses fatty food choices, I have Lauren who is a terrible influence, and some nights we will go to the shop for snacks to watch with a dvd, and i will get pepperamis, dunkers, nuts, crisps, chocolate, sweets, everything, and eat them all in about half an hour!  No wonder i get indesgestion!

So now I'm back in size 20's clothes and iv just weighed myself and am now 17st 4lbs, the most i have ever weighed.  Luckily I dont actually look that fat because im 6ft 1 tall, I can carry it quite well.  Don't get me wrong, my weight doesnt depress me, I'm confident in myself as looks arent everything, I dress well, have good hair, a good style and great makeup skills, so I can look pretty, but I have those days like everyone where I just think, I look awful.  I know i'll have those days whatever I weigh, but I'd love to lose weight for my self esteem, to feel good when i go out and get compliments like i did the first time around, and I'd love to be able to shop at places like topshop and river island... I remember when i was 17 and i bought a topshop skirt and a river island dress in a size 14 and i was over the moon... I probably couldnt afford it now being a student, but hey i can dream!

 So thats the story, and now im promising myself that I will lose weight, and get rid of this indegestion, haha!  My mum has booked me on a family holiday to Ibiza this summer, so I want to look good for then after seeing the horrendous pictures from last summers holiday!  Also for my 21st which is approaching in april.. so wish me luck!!! I'll be updating constantly if anyone fancies a read, but I guess it'll be just like a diary, as the name of the website says!

 Thanks for reading if you made it all the way through that essay!

 Love, Lauren xxxxx

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