Ready and Willing
 

Hi there! I'm Katie. I'm ready to start college in August. My majors are Environmental Studies, and Psychology.

Throughout highschool I was really depressed. I had great friends and a good family, but I was diagnosed with clinical depression. I turned to complete comfort foods and gained lots of weight. I was a heavy child, starting in middle school, and it escalated VERY quickly throughout highschool. My peak weight was 265 pounds. SUPER HEAVY. Thankfully since then, I have dropped 60 pounds. I'm really proud of myself and I cannot WAIT to break 200.

I really need help though. I've hit a total plateau. My goal weight is 150lbs, and I know I have a long way to go. I committed myself to a gym and I was doing really well, but I totally got out of the loop. I need advice on how to create a schedule, and keep it going for more than a month :mad: and how I should estimate when I will hit my goal weight. I need ideas for how to get rid of the flabby skin that will come with losing weight, and how to get my body more toned. Being young, I know I have a bit of an advantage, but I know I have to work at it.
Also. Counting Calories? Is that a good idea? How should I go about doing that? Thanks for your help.

Hi Katie! Congratulations on losing the weight you have so far.You can use FitDay to help keep you on track.

1. Under the weight tab, enter your weight.

2. Under the activities tab, choose your basic metabolism. (For instance, i chose 'Seated, some movement.") Then choose sleep as an activity, and enter how many hours you usually sleep a day. Then you can see how many calories a day your body burns. (So if it shows your body burns 2000 calories, if you eat more than than, you'll gain weight; less than that and you'll lose weight.)

3. At the weight goal tab, enter your goal weight and date. Then at the bottom of that page, look at the calorie restriction tab - that will show how many calories you need to spend a day (either through eating less or exercising more) to reach your goal by your goal date.

If your base rate is 2000 calories, and it shows you need a calorie restriction of 700 to meet your goal, you can either eat 1300 calories a day or do activities that burn an additional 700 calories a day, or a combination of calorie reduction and exercise.

****

Then every day, enter everything you eat into the food log. And enter any additional activities (like your gym workouts) into the activity log.

In the motivation and support section of the forum, there's a weekly motivational thread. It starts fresh each Monday - people post their goals for the week and then report back about how they're doing - and get encouragement and help from other members. You might want to take a look at it, and then join in if you think that would be helpful for you.

Hi there, Katie! Welcome to Fitday!

First off, major congratulations on starting college! I know your family is very proud of you! I assume graduation is coming up in the next month or so. Are you looking forward to it?

Will you be living on campus or at home? College offers its own set of dietary challenges. Good for you for working now on weight loss/management. Congratulations on losing so much already.

I know how difficult it can be to live with depression. My son, who is also in college, lives with it and some days it can be downright debilitating. I'm glad to know you have a good supportive family and friends. That's so very helpful. Remember you have a team of folks who love and support you.

As Carolyn suggested, please consider joining us over on the 7 Days Motivational thread. I just started there last week and have found it to be a warm, caring, creative and funny(!) group. I felt part of community on my first day and I know you will, too!

Hope to see you there!

Thank you so much for your support and kind words. I will be living on campus(: I'm sorry to hear about your son. I know the challenges he faces can be horrible, and I know it can be hard on you too. Never give up on him! I'm sure he is a very strong man.

Hi Katie, welcome to the boards. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!

In high school, sometimes the best time to exercise is right after school. You give your brain a break, work off any residual stress from the day, and get energized for studying in the evening.

College is going to be very different from 8 - 3 every day grade school. Your schedule will probably change semester to semester and classes will be at different times each day of the week. Right now through the summer it might be easier to keep a regular schedule, but my tip is at the beginning of each semester, check your class schedule, decide how many hours per week you need to study, block out time in your calendar for class / study time (google calendar makes this really easy), then see where your holes are and fit exercise into those holes.

You can even block exercise time into your calendar. Subconsciously it's like making an appointment with yourself for exercise, so it's easier to stick to it.