The Skinny on Poor Girl’s Diet

So, I know I have been meaning to post what I’m actually doing to lose weight. The in depth look at exactly what my weight loss program is right now.
I’ll get started on that in just a second, first I’ve got a idea/question for my readers.
After talking with a friend yesterday about the different weight loss programs, and things that are normally offered per program, I thought to myself, I wonder…which ones really work?
I could do HOURS of research to find out a wide range of, “This worked”, “This didn’t”, “I didn’t follow it very well”, but what if I just tried it?
Yeah, everyone is different, and weight loss programs and pills are going to work differently for everyone.
However, I thought that would be and interesting task, and I would document everything in great detail, so you, my readers, can see the skinny on what happens in detail.
Would you guys like to see that? I’d be trying store bought products, the “quick fixes”, that I would normally not be prone to trying, but in the name of weight loss, I’d do it. I’d also be doing research on the health effects before hand, just to make sure that I’m not causing harm to my body first.
So just let me know what you think.
Now, to dive into what I’m doing currently that seems to be working.
I used to be a carb lover. All I really ate was carbs. Pasta is really inexpensive, and after doing my research, honestly it can be really hard to find anything that isn’t meat or cheese that doesn’t have carbs in it. Even eggs have 1 gram of carbs in them.
When doing my research, I was focusing on balancing out my diet. Making sure that I had a good balance of protein, carbs, fruits, and vegetables.
For the first little while after doing my research I was keeping track of everything. I had a little print out of exactly what amount of calories, fat, carbs, and protein would be my “limit” for the day.
It was really hard. The counting, and adding didn’t bother me at all, it was the remembering to do it part that was hard for me.
After about a week of trying to do it on a regular basis, (starting strong in the morning and by dinner time just doing basic ideas of the food I forgot to log), I had a general idea of what I was eating every day.
I lowered my carbs to around 200 to 300 grams a day. I started the first few days keeping it around 150. Atkins diet is based on only having 20 grams of carbs a day, which I just can’t do. You can get carbs from fruit, vegetables, and many other things. I’m just not a meat and cheese over doer, so it is extremely difficult to cut my carbs that low. Also, the health problems that can come from not having a really balanced diet is not something I’m interested in. I’d rather be balanced than fight with my body over food.
I’ve also cut a lot of bad stuff out of what I’m drinking. I don’t drink alcohol anymore. That is a lot of empty calories that my body doesn’t need.
A lot of people look at be strangely when I tell them I’ve stopped drinking. I guess it doesn’t make sense to some. You CAN lose weight and keep drinking in your life, however, I’ve made the personal decision to not drink until I hit weight goals.
My current goal is to lose 50 pounds, so for every 10 that I lose I’ll have a small drinking night.
It has not been the easiest thing. I go out to a club 3 days a week to go and dance, and it is typical that someone will offer you a drink. To say no, is just weird for me. I love free stuff, especially free drinks, but I’d rather drink water than not hit my weight goals. Drinking was a really easy way for me to cut unneeded calories out of my diet.
I only drink coffee and water. I dropped soda a long time ago, just not my thing, so black coffee and water is an easy liquid choice for me.
My exercise is the most difficult for me. I’ve had a really hard time getting off my butt to go and get a gym membership….for a couple of reasons. I just can’t justify spending the money on it. I know that I have a lot of friends working out at Planet Fitness, and the rate there is really really good. Only $10 a month with no commitment. However, the sign on fee is $30. That is really inexpensive compared to other gyms in the area.
Trust me I know.
My fear is spending that money, which I could be putting towards my move, and not making it worth it. I could make the gym a part of my normal routine, however my schedule is completely off the wall right now, and I have a serious issue being surrounded by sweaty people I don’t know.
I also have dumbbells of my own, and plenty of at home work outs that I can do in my own room.
So, wouldn’t getting a gym membership defeat the purpose of having Poor Girl’s Diet? Haha, gyms are expensive.
What I HAVE been doing is dancing my big butt off. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I go out to my favorite local club, Area 51.
I dance to as much as I can, of course that is dictated by what music is being played. But I go through so much water that I have to ask for a pitcher of it to go with my glass, otherwise I’m going up to the bar every 10 minutes.
During the week I try to do stretches at least once a day, and Monday and Tuesday I do some at home strength training work outs. I am not as on top of at home work outs as I should be, but I do my best.
I also really am getting into hula hooping and fire dancing. It is still a bit to cold for me to dive into those head on, but the day will soon come.
I’ve tried to stay realistic, and not check my weight every day. Your weight changes daily, so I try to just check once a week. I have been checking on Tuesdays, but I’m going to switch to Fridays as of tomorrow, because at work we’ll be doing a Biggest Loser competition, and that is the weigh in day.
So tomorrow we’ll see what my scale has to say.
I did sneak a peak today…I just weighed myself Tuesday, and today I weight 245. That would be a pound and a half less than Tuesday
Once I get in the habit of weighing myself on Friday, we’ll see the real trend.
I’m still losing weight every week, and some of my friends have even noticed the difference.
I have as well, my pants are starting to get big.
That makes me happy, but I have another 45 pounds to go to hit my big goal.
So anyways, that is an in depth look at the Poor Girl’s Diet.
Till next time.
~Poor Girl

Another Pound Gone.

So it’s been a week since I last checked my weight.  I lost another pound.  Woot! For me.

I’ve gotta do a full post soon, I’ll keep you updated.

Also, everyone like the new look?

~Poor Girl

Gotta Keep On Track!

Hey guys!

I know I’ve been horrible at posting…and every time I post, I say, “Yeah I’m going to post more often.”  This time, I’m not going to say it, I’m just going to believe in myself and start doing it more.  Haha.

That actually reminds me of the Fiber One Commercial…”It’s this wish the weight away diet.” They don’t have that one online yet, but maybe you know which one I’m talking about.

I’ve decided that I’ve got to keep this blog a good balance of myself and the diet….writing about just diet all the time is what I think keeps me from posting on a regular basis.  I’m thinking about my diet all the time…trust me…but do I really want to make a large post about weight loss every day of my life?

No.

365 Day Girl is a rad friend of mine.  Her goal is to post a blog every day.  Of course with a blog like that you can imagine that she has all types of topics and things to talk about.  You should really check her out.

Anyhoo…So although the bulk of this blog will still be about weight loss, I’ll be talking a bit more about myself, and sharing more about myself then previously.

So, going into a small update about Poor Girl’s life, things have definitely been crazy.  After moving into my current place my poor cat Weasel got sick again.  Stress caused her Pancreatitis to come back, and because the treatment is so expensive I was spending all of my free time nursing her back to health to try to avoid a Doctor’s visit.  Finally this weekend she is starting to get back to normal.  She’s lost all of her body fat, and is still quiet compared to how talkative she used to be, but this means she beat it on her own, and hopefully will never get it again!

In job news I got a promotion at work.  It is one that I needed to get to help me get a better job when I move to California.  On the down side it’s a night shift from 2:30 to 11pm.  I got stuck with Wed. and Thurs. off.  If I had gotten Fri and Sat off I would have been screaming “SA-weet!” However I am not that lucky.  Haha.  I love the night shift, just not my days off.  So anyways, for the next 3 weeks I’ll have Sat and Sun off during training and then I switch.

Moving right along I’ve picked up a new hobby.  Hooping!!!  It’s horribly fun, I love it.  I’ve got a mini Hula Hoop and a standard sized Hula Hoop.  Both of them I made on my own, and now I’m hooping to excersise.

I’ve recently picked up Twitter, and have subscribed to many hooping communities.  There I find tricks and suggestions on how to work out better with my Hula Hoop.

I’m just not one that is really drawn to the gym, (might I mention I still haven’t gotten a membership…yeah I procrastinate, and I just haven’t wanted to actually spend the money on it yet…the day will come…and maybe a pig will fly), I want to learn Hooping, I want to learn fire staff, fire poi, fire hooping, belly dancing, and all other exotic activities.

I would much rather spend my time learning really cool tricks to work out instead of going to the gym.

So we’ll see where that takes me.  I have no idea what will come of my adventures of learning new tricks, but I’m excited.  It’ll be a fun way for me to work out.

Today I’ve started counting calories, carbs, fats, protein, and sodium.  I’ve noticed I can’t really trust myself with just guesstimating in my head.  I’ve got to actually keep detailed track of what I’m eating at least for the next little while.  I’m just working out of a notebook.

At work we are going to start doing a Biggest Loser competition.  It’s a $10 buy in, and every week if you don’t lose at least something you’ll pay out $5.  I’m hoping that if I can start really seeing visible results now that I’ll get a jump start before the actual competition.

I’m excited for it, as you all know I’m Poor anyways, so I can’t afford to NOT lose that weight.  Haha.

Well, that is all for me today, I’ve got to start getting things ready for work.

I will leave you with my new favorite song.  It’s off of the Almost Alice soundtrack and I just love love love it.

Loves,

Poor Girl

Measurements and Encouragement

One thing you almost always hear when you hear someone else’s success story with losing weight is how many inches they lost off their waist.  The waist line is a huge focus due to it’s fat storing ability.

I, however, have a huge beef to pick with the waist line inch measurement.

Some people don’t really know where their waist line is.  It is so easy to focus on the smallest measurement you can get.  Especially us curvy girlies..You don’t like that your stomach is ## inches, but your “waistline” is ## inches…Yes..you are that small, keep lying to yourself.

I say it’s time to embrace that you have MORE than just one measurement.  Tailors take a ton of measurements for an outfit their making, so why don’t we follow our own skin more closely?

This also brings up a point of when your waistline might not be making a huge change.  I will admit, I’ve done this in the past.  I’ve worked out, ate right, made sure to really work hard on my goal, and one week I ended up with no inch difference in my waistline, and 1 pound lighter.

First, I will say, that was still awesome…I lost a pound, period.  However, as I know many might have also experienced this, I ended up saying to myself, “Serious?!  What the?!  I worked so hard!  Why?  But…grrrrrr”

So I propose that not only should we, (as a culture), work on really appreciating the small weight loss achievements, we should also take more measurements.

I don’t actually want to know what my upper thigh, (at it’s biggest point), really measures at.  I don’t really want to admit that my arms are bigger than I think they are.  I don’t think anyone really does want to admit to those things…but wouldn’t it be so nice to say to yourself….I lost an inch off of my huge thighs that make me feel like I’m a walking Iceberg.

So, I’m going to take the first step….I’m measuring myself at my biggest points…all points that I want to become smaller.

Drum roll please:

Calves-19 1/2″

Upper Thigh-29 1/2″

Butt-53″

Biggest point of my Stomach-49 1/3″

Upper Arm-15″

Waistline-44″

(Mind you, I did not take a bust measurement because I like my boobs just the way they are…so I would hope that my weight loss won’t dramatically effect them…as I know they have many other people.

Also, when taking your own measurements, use a mirror to make sure the tape measure is straight.  You don’t want the tape measure to tell you you’re 5 inches bigger than you are because it wasn’t sitting right.)

And with that…I now know exactly how big I am.  I’ve definitely gained weight since High School, I have gained weight since I started my new job, and now I have great goals to strive for.  I have something to look back at and see my progress.

I am going to take a moment to say that this can and is emotional for some.  It effected me as I was taking my measurements.  Realizing that I really am this size, and that it is time to do something about it.  Disappointment in myself for letting myself get this big.

What we need to take from this though is that it is our motivation for making a change.  There is an option of getting a personal trainer for a ton of money a year, someone who pokes you with that claw looking thing and tells you that you are ?% body fat.  Some people need that.  But, this, taking my own measurements, really makes me realize exactly where I’m at.

This starts my official journey into losing weight…my goal is that next Sunday, when I remeasure myself that I’ll see at least one of those measurements become a smaller number.

The changes I will be making, is making sure there is more physical activity and portion control.  Both of which will be topics to come in the future.

If you want to kick yourself into gear, let me know what your  measurements are!

Sincerely Yours,

Poor Girl

Lose Weight…Spend Money…What?!

If you’ve taken the chance to read the “About Me” section then you already know why I started this blog.

If you didn’t, then let me enlighten you.

My name is Celia. I’m 24 living in Salt Lake City, Utah. I’m active, play Roller Derby, and love to be social. I’m pretty normal, but I’m wanting to loose some weight and I am not made out of money. Today it’s hard to make ends meet, with the economy the way it is.  With a tight budget it’s hard to spend money on losing weight. It’s really a problem, the culture today is Weight Loss oriented, but buying healthier foods and getting on Weight Loss Programs always cost something. I say it’s time to call “BS” on that. I want to lose some weight and do it without paying for a subscription or busting out hundreds of dollars on equipment.

You’d think, with more than 1 billion people in the world being “overweight” and 300 million being “obese” that someone would have said…

“World…We have a problem”

Why does it cost more to eat healthier?  Why does it cost $300 for a gym membership that you probably will forget you have anyways?

Why is losing weight a horrific experience for some and seem very simple for others?

I don’t know the answers to these questions yet, but I’m going to answer them my way.

I’m not going to break my bank losing weight, I’m going to laugh in the face of many weight loss issues, and share all of it with you.

In advance, thank you for reading and commenting!  Share this with your friends, and promise to keep in touch.

Sincerely yours,

Poor Girl

Upcoming Topics:

-The Before and After Picture

-Weighing and Measuring your progress

-Little tricks to help out