20 Days

20 days

That's all I have until I see my boyfriend again....and I need to lose some poundage, quick. All semester, I've ben in an up-down type of flux and can't seem to get below 130, which about now I'm 135-137.
So, for the next 20 days, I WILL be good.
I will start now. The gym shall be my oyster!

Schedule for tomorrow:

Breakfast (because I hear that's a good thing)
Lunch
Dance 2:00-3:15
Dinner
Turbo Kick 6:00-7:00

So let's do this

I'm keeping track of what I eat, and I will prevail!

Alan Rickman, I Have FAILED You

Hey,

So epic faily Mcfail fail time.

Today, I woke up.

It was going to be a good day, it really was.

And I ate my breakf

ast apple, which cut my breakfast by like 50 calories—yay! :)

Then I ate my lunch (at lunch time mind you), which was an epic potato soup—yay! :)

Then I went to my interview, and afterwards walked back to my apartment with my boss Rachel....rather than going to the gym—*fail-ish noise* :|

Then, I ate some dark chocolate (which wasn't too bad for me) and some hummus, pita, and turkey—meh :/

Then after my KX meeting, I was going to go to Charizad and just have some tea, that's all. But when most of the people going bailed, the two remaining people and myself went to IHOP—FAIL

I ordered off their somewhat fresh menu, and the waiter misheard me and brought me the full, epically terrible for you, non-egg substitute omelet, and pancakes—DOUBLE FAIL

But, I was good, I barely touched the evil omelet of death and pancakes and just paid my tab and left—yay-ish.

So, in total tabulation:

Apple: 80

Potato Soup: 280

Dark Chocolate: 360

Pita, hummus, cheese, turkey: 340

IHOP randomness

SO....1060, not as bad as I thought.

But still.

I feel like I failed.

But nonetheless, there is always tomorrow.

So, tomorrow, I will be meeting you with a vigorous force.

Schedule:

Wake up: 11:00 a.m.

eat: Apple

eat: yogurt and....hummus pita-thingy

Workout: 12:30-1:30

DANCE: 2:00-3:15 p.m.

Interview: 4:15

Dinner: Souper awesome Italian soup

Go to bed early! ....Maybe.

I heard that getting sleep actually helps too, at least, it helps more than I used to think it did.

So, I suppose trying that couldn't kill anyone.

My new goal has something to do with a Threadless T-Shirt that I really want.

Observe:

This shirt, I MUSTown.

I would like to ha

ve it in either a small or a medium, but thecompany sizes things uber small, so I would feel awkward getting a large, and I just really don't want to buy it until I get into a smaller size, which their sizing chart is....for a Medium....waist: 28"-30" and think I'm at about a 32, 33.

So, just an inch or two and I will be into my medium. But hey, why not work for a small (26"-28") and see how close I can get?

Well, here's hoping :)

Alan, I have failed you....I shall try harder tomorrow....technically today lol

McFatfat, out.

Day Damn 1....After the First Damn Week

Hey!

Welcome back.

So, when I first got to school, my friend Taylor and I had a running bet: Whoever lost the most percentage of body fat over the course of the semester would take the other out to dinner at a place of their choosing.

So, I started off the semester right away. I moved into an on-yet-off campus apartment with my roomate Katie and 4 other girls—meaning my meal plan was cut by like 75%.

This is AWESOM

E. because the food served in our school's caf is nothing short of terrible for you. I mean, Sodexo usually has a good reputation—if you only like to eat salad.

This is NOT AWESOME because I actually have to cook—with non non-stick kitchenware. Yes, you heard right, stuff sticks to them like you wouldn't believe.

But anyways, so one night I started to make chicken, and undercooked it....and introduced myself to my first diet—salmonella. That lasted for a few days and then I somehow contracted skin mites....basically, my life has sucked since I got here.

This made eating not at the top of my list—which it usually was. However, I began to not look forward to eatin

g, but to getting rid of my diseases, which I'm all cured now.

But I found this quote from Cisicero that says: "One should eat to live, not live to eat."

And I feel like this rings true to me. Eating has developed in our culture as something not just needed to survive. We have high-end restaurants, super-sized portions, and a whole channel devoted to food. It means a lot to us, and we'll make it taste as good as possible, no matter what needs to go into it. But when it comes to nutrition, I'll have to make another post after this one.

But even through my sickness and....mite-ness I still went to the gym and started running, lifting, and taking a dance class. I've taken dance for 10 years, and have been to competitions (and actually done well), but I've been for jazz and tap....not ballet, which I'm currently taking. At first, it was all a little ove

rwhelming to my non-flexable self, but I began to feel a little more relaxed when nearly everyone in the class didn't know what they were doing.

But after two weeks of cooking (or not cooking and eating yogurt) for myself and working out, I weighed myself today. Ah yes, the dreaded scale.

But I watched it tick downward.

After the first week of school and working out, I had weighed myself, only to find that I weighed about the same as when I got here—146 to 148.

But today, I weighed myself and I saw the scale balance at 138.

Holy shit.

How the hell did that happen?

Maybe it's because I stopped asking for cheese on everything, or when I went out to eat with my friends, I tok a few minutes beforehand to look at the nutrition facts of what I wanted to chow down on, or becau

se I managed o drag my lazy ass out of bed every day and over to the gym. Either way, I had done it, I had lost weight.

Now, after I had discovered this awesome-ness. I caught myself eating an extra cookie and Woodchuck at dinner, wanting to reward myself. I have to stop myself though and make sure that I don't keep "rewarding myself" back up to 148.

But today, this is basically what I ate:

DANCE CLASS

and

Rowing

Chicken Sandwich, no cheese, mustard please: 290 calories

2 white chocolate chip cookies: 380 calories

Woodchuck: 180 calories

Then:

Oatmeal wi

th apples and brown sugar (wanted to make you think that I made this with the title, but I actually got it from McDonalds: 290 calories

*adding in burnt calories*

So, all in all, I've had about.....900 calories today. I guess I could take a little more off from rowing and stuff, but I don't wanna get technical with it.

I feel like if I don't plan out what I'm going to eat for the next day, I'll epically fail. So, for your viewing pleasure, here's what I'm doing (and eating) tomorrow:

Intro to Imaginative Writing: 10:00-11:00

Workstudy: 11:00-1:00

*Run back to the apartment, have lunch, all that*

Costume Shop: 3:00-3:45

Interview: 4:00

Work out: 5:00-6:00

*run back to apartment, change, have dinner*

KX Initiation: 9:00

And that should be it. But what about what I'm eating?

Breakfast at 9:00 (or so):

Grapefruit: 150 calories

Lunch (at about 1:30):

Awesome Potato Soup: 360 calories

Snack (around 6:00, after working out):

Apple: 80 calories

D-d-dip it in yogurt (Key Lime Pie yogurt): 100 calories

Dinner (at about 8:00):

Hummus and turkey crackers (10 crackers, 2 tblspns. of hummus, six pieces o

f turkey): 290 calories

Altogether: 980 calories

So, nearly one thousand tomorrow, but I'll be working out and my workout goal will be to reach 500 calories, so maybe I can cut my intake by quite a bit. But let's face it, this "lifestyle" of mine isn't about calorie-counting, it's just about trying to be healthier and gaining nutrition and muscle mass, not losing them with the weight.

So, let's see if I can stick to this tomorrow and how well it'll go over.

But until then, I look to one man (other than my wonderful boyfriend) for inspiration. The awesome, the handsome, the all-around attractive ALAN RICKMAN!

Later! :)

Research....and all that stuff

Well hey again,

I don't have class until 2 p.m., so I think I have some time to post some research I've done about dieting.

Well, here it goes:

Dieting: the practice of ingesting food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes, however, follow a diet to gain weight (usually in the form of muscle). Diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight.

So, that's a diet....but as for different kinds, there's five of em'. Check it out:

Low-fat diets

Low-fat diets involve the reduction of the percentage of fat in one's diet. Calorie consumption is reduced because less fat is consumed. A meta-analysis of 16 trials of 2–12 months' duration found that low-fat diets (without intentional restriction of caloric intake) resulted in average weight loss of 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) over habitual eating.

Low-carbohydrate diets

Low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins and Protein Power are relatively high in protein. Low-carbohydrate diets are sometimes ketogenic (i.e. they restrict carbohydrate intake sufficiently to cause ketosis).

Low-calorie diets

Low-calorie diets usually produce an energy deficit of 500–1,000 calories per day, which can result in a 0.5 kilogram (1.1 lb) to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) weight loss per week. Amongst some of the most commonly used low-calorie diets include DASH diet, Diet to Go, and Weight Watchers. The National Institutes of Health reviewed 34 randomized controlled trials to determine the effectiveness of low-calorie diets. They found that these diets lowered total body mass by 8% over 3–12 months.

Detox diet

Detox diets claim to eliminate toxins from the human body, increasing the amount of urine produced, thus not giving the body time enough to absorb fats and toxins contained in everyday meals. Detox diets often have side effects, caused by the absence of these toxins, during the first two or three days, that may include, but are not limited to headaches, diarrhea and feeling sleepy. A detox diet should never be embraced without first seeking medical advice on the subject.

Very low-calorie diets

Very low calorie diets provide 200–800 calories per day, maintaining protein intake but limiting calories from both fat and carbohydrates. They subject the body to starvation and produce an average weekly weight loss of 1.5–2.5 kilograms (3.3–5.5 lb). "2-4-6-8", a popular diet of this variety, follows a four-day cycle in which only 200 calories are consumed the first day, 400 the second day, 600 the third day, 800 the fourth day, and then the cycle repeats. These diets are not recommended for general use as they are associated with adverse side effects such as loss of lean muscle mass, increased risks of gout, and electrolyte imbalances. People attempting these diets must be monitored closely by a physician to prevent complications.

So, those are the diets, and it looks like they don't seem to work. My mother (who runs marathons on a tri-monthy basis) has always told me: "Dieting is worthless, you diet, and then you think you can go back to the way you always were—but you can't. Nutrition is a way of life, not a vacation."

Which I think is so very true. I mean, dieting isn't worth it if you're just going to go back to the way you were. But, what about people who buy into these diets—what happens to them?

40 % of 9 year old girls have dieted, despite being within healthy weight ranges.

According to a 2002 survey, 28% of girls in grade nine and 29% in grade ten engaged in weight-loss behaviors.

Thirty-seven percent of girls in grade nine and 40% in grade ten perceived themselves as too fat. Even among students of normal-weight (based on BMI), 19% believed that they were too fat, and 12% of students reported attempting to lose weight.

In a survey of adolescents in grades 7-12, 30% of girls and 25% of boys reported teasing by peers about their weight. Such teasing has been found to persist in the home as well - 29% of girls and 16% of boys reported having been teased by a family member about their weight.

Body-based teasing can have a serious impact on girls’ attitudes and behaviors. According to one study, girls who reported teasing by family members were 1.5 times more likely to engage in binge-eating and extreme weight control behaviours five years later.

In childhood (5-12 years), the ratio of girls to boys diagnosed with AN or BN is 5:1, whereas in adolescents and adults, the ratio is much larger – 10 females to every male.

Dieting for weight loss is often associated with weight gain, due to the increased incidence of binge-eating

Relation between dieting and weight change among preadolescents and adolescents.

Naturalistic weight-reduction efforts prospectively predict growth in relative weight and onset of obesity among female adolescents.

Adolescent girls who diet are at 324% greater risk for obesity than those who do not diet.

Overweight and obese children are more likely to be bullied than their normal-weight peers. For example:

- In a survey of 11 – 16 year-olds, 10% of normal-weight children reported being bullied, compared to 15% of overweight and 23% of obese children -Obese girls were 2.7 times more likely than normal weight girls to be verbally bullied on a regular basis and 3.4 times more likely to be excluded from group activities.

In a study of 14 – 15 year old adolescents, girls who engaged in strict dieting practices:

-Were 18 times more likely to develop an ED within six months than non-dieters -Had almost a 20% chance of developing an ED within one year Girls who dieted moderately were five times more likely to develop an ED within 6 months than non-dieters.

Fatty McFatfat—Intros

Well hey there.

I hope you've found this because of the title—because, I mean, that's why I would've noticed it. The words FattyMcFatfat are just too hard to pass up.

Okay, well, I suppose now that you've stumbled upon me, we should go through introductions, no?

My names Mindy K. I'm a sophomore at the University of Evansville in well....Evansville. I'm a double major in journalism and writing because I really want to write fiction books, but I really want to eat.

Eating, oh yea, that's what I'm here to talk about.

Well, in today's world, it's viewed that eating is either: A) taboo or B) f*cking fantastic.

But there is no gray area....at least for those who take a side. For people like me, who are in the gray area of the BMI index (which I'll go into later), I wonder if the world can't come to say that both and A and B are possible.

Being a journalist/writer/whatever, I'm fascinated with all sorts of odd things. Nutrition is one of them. I love to see how nutrition is looked at by other cultures and how they have come to understand and even attempt to control it.

Like I said before, I'm very much in the middle of the BMI index. I was cursed with the short gene in my family, measuring in at about 5' 2 1/2" (Trust me, if you were 5' 2 1/2", you'd count the half inch too) and I weigh about 140-143 give or take.

I'm no Kate Moss, I'll tell you that—but I'm not "large" either. I'm in that teetering medium where people tell you you're skinny, but you tell yourself you're fat.

When I was younger, I loved to do active things as most children in 90's did. I played out in the woods, played nearly every school sport, and actually excelled at cross country and track.

Then again, I wanted to succeed at those things, I ran nearly 4 miles a day over the whole summer.

Back when I had discipline—and wasn't in college, and didn't have close friends.

Those things.

So, anyways, right.

Lately, I've wanted to lose weight. Not too sure why, maybe it's all the pictures and hot classmates I'm assaulted with, maybe it's that my mother is more physically fit than I am and she's 42, maybe it's the fact that my boyfriend of nearly 3 years is in the movie industry and likes to watch "artsy" films—you know, the ones where it's intelligently witty and explosively groundbreaking for women to get naked on screen, but for men to stay fully clothed. Yea—social justice.

So, losing weight. My goal is 115, which is crazy. I weighed about 125-120 in high school, and would like to be that way again. I'd like to be able to run 4 miles again, that was nice.

So, some of this will be research, some of this will make me get my lazy ass together and actually try to get smaller. This means I need to cover all my bases: the caloric intake of what I eat, what a workout is really supposed to look like, and what we're all really eating.

But I'll try to remain in the middle throughout all of this, not an organic freak and not a grease-munching 'Merican.

So, here goes nothing.

Research time!

To all those "Fatty McFatfats" out there who want to join me, or just read to see if I fail, you're welcome to join me :)

Peace, love, and trans fats

-Mindy K