Starting Today
 

New here, want to share my story and how I can change myself.

I am 21, in college and have ballooned over the past four years. I came out of high school weighing about 220 lbs, and didn't think too much of it. I had played football, basketball, and track, plus I was used to keeping weight on for football season.

When I came to college I joined the crew team for the first 3 months of school (I'd never done it before and ended up getting cut) and dropped from around that 215~220 mark down to under 200 lbs.

Now, 3.5 years later, I am a couple months from graduation and am weighing in at just under 250 lbs. I kept using excuses like, "I'm busy" or "I'll start eventually" to hold me back from really starting what I want to do.

I am currently working out 3 days a week for roughly an hour. I know that my diet is really what is lacking, but my plan is to stick to chicken and rice mostly.

Any encouragement, suggestions, or anything else is greatly appreciated!

Sounds like you already know your issue is you excuses. Time to drop the excuses and get busy! If you're like me, you'll probably want a little more variety in your diet.

Hooray for working out. I think that is a great start. I find exercise to be my drug of choice. I feel great afterward. I have had weight issues most of my life. I had lots of excuses. No time to exercise, and I just flat out love food. My diet was horrible as it consisted of a lot of fast food because it was quick and easy. I decided one day that I had had enough of my body and was going to do something about it. I went from 180 to about 117 through diet and exercise (I am 5 foot 0 inches so that was alot of weight). I then had a major life change about 4 years ago, and my good eating habits went out the window. Although I continued to work out, I recently found myself weighing 136 pounds. I was doing cardio 6 days a week and gaining weight. Not good. So at the beginning of this year I set a goal to get back down to 117 lbs. Here is what has been working for me.
1. Track everything that you eat. Hold yourself accountable for it. Use Fit Day or some other means to find out exactly how many calories you are consuming. You must weigh everything to make sure your portion control is in order.
2. Not only do cardio, but weight train for exercise.
3. Take body measurements, and check them weekly.
4. Weigh yourself as you see fit.

Since I started this at the beginning of the year I have lost about 8 pounds. But more importantly my measurement have really improved. I can wear clothes I have not been able to wear for a while. The first few weeks were tough, but now it is so much easier. Keeping tabs of my calories consumed has greatly helped me out. Weighing everything has put portion control in my control. Make it all a habit.
Good for you for wanting to change. You can do it.
P.S. I love rice, but I rarely eat it. I eat a lot of turkey, eggs (mostly the whites), avocados, carrots, lettuce, some potatoes in good portion control. Lots of chicken soup that I make home made (everything low sodium). I do eat plenty of bread, but usually by itself not with a meal. I also eat other things, this is just what is working for me right now.

Welcome, susspence. Good for you for deciding to develop some new habits. Smurfette has excellent advice.

My 24-yr-old nephew recently lost a lot of weight. He had been heavy since middle school. Like you, he played football and other sports in high school. He put on additional weight in college. When he got a job and access to a gym he started working out. The working out then made him interested in watching what he ate.

If you're eating chicken and rice, I hope it's brown rice. White rice is really high and the glycemic index and is quickly converted to sugar.

Add vegetables and fruits to your diet. You can eat a lot of vegetables for very few calories. Soups (not cream soups) and salads are filling and have relatively few calories.