Hey Everyone...I figured that I'd start an online journal for additional motivation.

Basic Information:
Height: 5'5
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Highest Weight: almost 170 lbs
Current Weight: 138.5


Long-Term Goal
*BE THIN AND RIPPED

I've been a vegetarian for several months now, but I think that I'm gonna have to incorporate meat back into my diet. I'll probably just start with fish...and I may possibly start eating chicken again. I haven't completely decided yet. I'm going to continue my vegetarian diet for the remainder of this month, but I will most likely post a new meal plan starting in July.

The reason behind eating meat again is to balance out my diet a little more. I've been having a hard time getting the protein that I need without going over my maximum calorie intake that I set for myself. To my understanding, tuna fish is a very good source of protein...so I'm probably going to start with that.

I've been a vegetarian for several months now, but I think that I'm gonna have to incorporate meat back into my diet. I'll probably just start with fish...and I may possibly start eating chicken again. I haven't completely decided yet. I'm going to continue my vegetarian diet for the remainder of this month, but I will most likely post a new meal plan starting in July.

The reason behind eating meat again is to balance out my diet a little more. I've been having a hard time getting the protein that I need without going over my maximum calorie intake that I set for myself. To my understanding, tuna fish is a very good source of protein...so I'm probably going to start with that.

The amount of protein that you NEED is 0.75 g per kilogram of body weight, not 1 g per pound. Most people on this site recommend 40/40/20 diets, but I'm happy with my results from 30% fat, 50% carbs, 20% protein. I tried to up my protein to 100g per day, and found that it didn't suit what I wanted to eat. I prefer eating more fruit, so I'm sticking with that for now. For me, being happy leads to better weight management than trying to balance macronutrients.

Tuna is a great source of lo-cal protein. It's a great thing to add to your diet if you enjoy it.

The amount of protein that you NEED is 0.75 g per kilogram of body weight, not 1 g per pound. Most people on this site recommend 40/40/20 diets, but I'm happy with my results from 30% fat, 50% carbs, 20% protein. I tried to up my protein to 100g per day, and found that it didn't suit what I wanted to eat. I prefer eating more fruit, so I'm sticking with that for now. For me, being happy leads to better weight management than trying to balance macronutrients.

Tuna is a great source of lo-cal protein. It's a great thing to add to your diet if you enjoy it.

I agree that people do become a tad too obsessed with protein, but I'm having a hard time with just reaching the bare minimum. And I do enjoy eating tuna. To be completely honest, I REALLY missed it. I also want to maximize my progress and I'm thinking that upping my protein and lowering my carbs will help a great deal.

@5:12pm
The diet portion of my plan didn't go too well today. I went over my calorie limit by 50 CALORIES!!! ...okay maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm still disappointed. I was busy today because of school and work and didn't have time to go home and eat a real meal. But that's no excuse because I could have easily grabbed some fresh fruit. I'm gonna have to do MUCH better than this. I think I'm gonna get out all of this frustration tonight when I do my cardio ;)

@6:08pm
I REALLY REALLY shouldn't have eaten Teddy Grahams and Chips for my last meal. Carbs make you wanna eat and eat and eat. I guess I deserve this...I should have made a healthier choice. Oh well, I'm just gonna suck it up and do better tomorrow. I'm off to do my workout:flex:

I use 30/50/20 too.The amount of protein that you NEED is 0.75 g per kilogram of body weight, not 1 g per pound. Most people on this site recommend 40/40/20 diets, but I'm happy with my results from 30% fat, 50% carbs, 20% protein. I tried to up my protein to 100g per day, and found that it didn't suit what I wanted to eat. I prefer eating more fruit, so I'm sticking with that for now. For me, being happy leads to better weight management than trying to balance macronutrients.

Tuna is a great source of lo-cal protein. It's a great thing to add to your diet if you enjoy it.

I went over my calorie limit by 50 CALORIES!!! ...okay maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm I'm still disappointed.

Your "calorie limit" isn't something that is set-in-stone. Fifty calories over is still excellent. I think you ought to decide on a calorie "range" rather than a calorie "limit" Personally I aim for anything between 1650-1850, and sometimes I'm a little higher and every once in a blue moon I'm a little lower...somedays you're going to be hungrier than others, and you really should follow what your body tells you...no reason to have stomach rumblings and see that you're going to be over your "limit" if you're hungry. Pick a range that you think will work for you and then you won't feel disappointed when you're only 50 calories over (which you probably burned off just sitting and typing out your daily log ;)).

For starting off I think your diet plan looks MUCH better than mine did at the start, so props to that! I can tell that your diet is really going to help you make some great gains (esp. after the Teddy Grahams are gone...but don't forget to take a cheat meal now and again and indulge in all the T-G's you want :)!)!

I've never been full-on veggie, but I've certainly gone through periods where I only ate fish...but what are your thoughts on tofu? You can get LOTS of protein from tofu, and you might not need to eat fish at all if you don't want to...In fact, one of my favorite weekly meals is tofu and mushrooms with stirfry sauce and thai garlic pepper sauce...takes about 10 min. to make and its SOOOO satisfying...i feel like its a post-thanksgiving meltdown when I'm done and it keeps me full for hours on only about 250 calories!!!

Anyway, keep posting and keep on keeping on!! You WILL succeed!
Good luck,
-Andrew :gl:

@Woeisemma: I checked out your transformation page.... :bow: ....Nice Work!...you look really good.


Your "calorie limit" isn't something that is set-in-stone. Fifty calories over is still excellent. I think you ought to decide on a calorie "range" rather than a calorie "limit"...

...I've never been full-on veggie, but I've certainly gone through periods where I only ate fish...but what are your thoughts on tofu? You can get LOTS of protein from tofu, and you might not need to eat fish at all if you don't want to...

...Anyway, keep posting and keep on keeping on!! You WILL succeed!
Good luck,
-Andrew :gl:

I agree that I should make a calorie range, for reasons that you already stated and because I'm probably going to have more intense workouts on some days.

I've tried tofu one time...but I really didn't know what I was doing when I tried to prepare it...but I'm gonna have to give it another try...I was looking for more healthy protein sources anyways.

And thank you so much for the encouragement Andrew! You're right!...I am going to succeed...no giving up this time around ;)

@5:30am (I really need to become self-sufficient because this is entirely too early to be at work)
Okay, today is a NEW day and I'm really going to have to do better than I did yesterday. I'm a little bit limited with the diet because I can't do any heavy duty grocery shopping until Saturday, but I'm gonna do the best that I can do. As far as my workouts go...I'm gonna try to speed up my pace a little bit. This 30 minute jog that I'm doing is becoming a little too easy...which is actually kind of good because that must mean that my stamina is improving. However, I need to start pushing myself a little more. I'll write back later on and let you know how everything went.

@4:33pm
My diet went pretty good today. I ate pretty good foods, but I ate a little more than I should have. I'll just have to make up for that this evening when I workout.

@6:14
I think that I'm going to decrease my calorie intake. I was thinking of having a range of 1200-1300 calories per day. I'm getting kind of discouraged. I've been eating pretty good this week and I've been exercising everyday, but the scale is going UP! :mad: I'm really confused now. My weigh day is tomorrow and I think that I'm going to end up weighing more this week than I did last week. I really don't want to start an upward trend of gaining weight, afterall, this is not a bulking cycle. So to prevent that I'm going to increase my cardio to 45 minutes and eat a little bit less. My diet is still going to be somewhat flawed...I'm eating a small pack of Teddy Grahams (120 calories) with my lunch next week so that I can hurry up and get rid of them. But starting next Saturday, my diet is going to have to be PERFECT because I'm just not seeing results.

7:39am
Okay, its been a little over an hour and I've calmed down some. I need to stop being a big crybaby and just keep going. I'm still going to reduce my calories and increase my workout duration and intensity, however, getting upset after only four days of being on a diet is VERY counterproductive. I'm going to try to be more positive from now on. So when I don't see the results that I want...I will adjust my plan, but I'm going to try really hard to not get upset and discouraged about it.

First off, weigh in only once a week. This will give you more correct measure of how you are doing.
Second, many experience the weight to go up or stay the same the first week if you just started training. And Im sure if you just eat clean you wont have to lower your calorie intake.
Personally, I think it shouldnt be that low. When you exercise you get more hungry, and if you want a toned body you must give it enough to build some muscle. Around 1500 and I still believe you will lose 1-2 pounds a week, and be able to get toned.
Try to take some extra protein to your breakfast. It might help cravings in the afternoon.
If you dont want to eat a ton of meat (feels like a ton), then add meal replacement shakes, milk (to cereal) and protein powder to your diet (-then rem. veggies for more fiber). I only eat one meal with meat a day. And thats more than enough for me!
How about you try to get 30min of weight training followed by 20 mins cardio 3 times a week. That wont take up more of your time than it already does. And continue the rest of the workout as you are doing :claplow:
When I first started working out I couldnt do both diet and exercise at the same time, so you are doing wonderfully! :tu:
Good luck! I reckon you are gonna look knock-out this fall!

Thanks!!! :D I appreciate all of the great tips. And I agree that weighing once a week would be good...but I'm kinda compulsive when it comes to the scale...I'll try harder to not weigh myself so much.

NOTE: I am now tracking my meal and workout plans offline. I will continue to update my daily progress and workout charts.

@6:48am
It is Monday and I MUST start off on the right track. I'm going to try really really really hard to not weigh myself until Saturday. This may seem like an easy task to some, but my impatience makes me ADDICTED to the scale...I always want to see results immediately. But I'm going to be more patient. I started the day off good with a Protein shake and about 1.5 hours after that I had oatmeal. I've decided that I may go ahead a purchase a heart rate monitor. I'm kind of a novice at cardio and how hard I need to be working.

@9:40
Okay...so I'm eating broccoli right now, which is very healthy, but this shyt (and I mean that literally) is NASTY! It taste like grass...I'm eating it raw...maybe that's what the problem is. I'm gonna steam it tomorrow and see if I can find some good spices to put on it...

...But I'm really trying to get into the habit of "Eating for Purpose" so nasty or not...I'm gonna have to just get through it because I know that my body needs it.

@5:39
I don't feel all that well today. I drank a ton of water yesterday, but I woke up feeling really thirsty...maybe I'm dying ...well I guess we'll see soon enough. I should probably get a check-up...especially since I'm making all of these Diet and Workout changes. But I really dread going to the doctor. But whatever...next subject...

...I've said this like a million times, but I need to be more patient with this whole weight loss thing. My biggest problem is that I weigh myself too often. I'm going to try and go TWO WHOLE WEEKS without weighing myself. I understand that weighing on a weekly basis is probably good enough, but I'm compulsive when it come to jumping on the scale in the morning. I just want to stop thinking about weight for a couple of weeks and just focus on making some basic changes in my lifestyle...I want to get a routine going.

I tried a piece of the broccoli that I prepared for my lunch today. It's actually half-way decent today. I guess I'll just have to steam it from now on.


@8:49
Okay...I had no clue that broccoli smelled so horrible when its warm. I'm just going to have to eat it raw from now on. My co-workers should NOT have to deal with this stench...I hope that the smell isn't unbearably strong. If I had my own office it wouldn't be a problem, but I have to do the whole cubicle thing.

NO LONGER AN ACTIVE MEMBER. I MAY LURK AROUND THE FORUM FROM TIME TO TIME...BUT I AM NO LONGER PARTICIPATING IN ANY OF THE DISCUSSIONS. I'M JUST KEEPING MY MEMBERSHIP TO THE FORUM SO THAT I CAN SEE ALL OF THE BOARDS. I WILL NO LONGER BE POSTING MY DIET AND WORKOUT UPDATES, HOWEVER, I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TOWARDS REACHING MY GOALS. ;)