help! my 1st masters practice

I forgot to mention: ban fashion/women's interest magazines from your life. They exist to make you feel fat.

When I first joined Masters I lost over 100# through careful combination of diet and exercise. The exercise was enough that when I got home at 8 pm I was hungry for more healthy foods and it curbed my appetite on the days I swam. It also relieved stress and with some new friends I met at the pool it helped with some lifelong emotional issues. It was the first time in my life that I got to my correct body weight/composition. As far as the office thing, I do much better when I pack my own lunch. I bring extra fruit and keep "emergency" foods in my cubicle to help me resist the vending machines, office candy jars, and leftovers from "food days". I don't have a good solution for people who may be well-meaning but still try to sabotage efforts. This includes the people who buy you candy for every holiday, the team lead at work that wants you to stay late and miss practice for something that isn't critical, the social/travel settings where the only food available isn't healthy and it's too long to go without. Some things I've found that helped: * Whirl a bunch of ice, a banana, some skim milk, some lite choc syrup in the blender. It is a chocolate "fix" but has to be consumed slowly due to the cold. * Hot chocolate or herb tea for colder nights after dinner. * Fruit drinks like Crystal Lite can provide the "sweet" fix * A small carton of nonfat yogurt at 4 pm can help you get through a 6 pm workout. It has enough protein to stick with you. * Don't let yourself get too hungry. * Get lots of bulky food into you - salads, vegetables, soups * Find non-food rewards for when you need to treat yourself * If you stand next to people who are bigger than you or slower than you, it makes you look good. * Don't tell whoever is messing with your schedule that you want to go swim. I say I have "an urgent appointment" so they don't think I'm off to go float on a pool lounger with a cold drink which is all they know about as far as swimming goes.

My favorite thing to do since I have started to eat healthy is to go to the bake shop, look at the apple fritters, and the whipped cream filled maple donuts, and take three huge breaths of air inside the shop. That is my carb loading for the day, Then I leave with an all grain loaf of bread.

Thank you all again for the wonderful responses!! The online journal is a great idea. I've spent some time checking them out to see what site I like best and which is easiest to use. I've just been using a good old fashioned notepad, which is helping me monitor my food intake, but not calories and fat. So I think the online journal will be good for me. I've been doing a good job of drinking water during the day. I used to LOATHE drinking water, but I recently gave up diet soda because although I thought it was good because it was diet, it was making me sluggish. We have a few water coolers here at work, so that helps me to keep filling up my water bottle since its free. I try to get in about 3 liters of water a day. I really appreciate the suggestions for the sweets. Like most of you have commented, I cannot give up my sweets completely or I will go absolutely crazy!

Originally posted by nkfrench * Don't let yourself get too hungry. * Get lots of bulky food into you - salads, vegetables, soups * Find non-food rewards for when you need to treat yourself * Don't tell whoever is messing with your schedule that you want to go swim. I say I have "an urgent appointment" so they don't think I'm off to go float on a pool lounger with a cold drink which is all they know about as far as swimming goes. All of the suggestions are good, but I'd like to add to these: Amen Amen and AMEN! My workout is a non-negotiable. That means that if I'm on a field trip with students in New Jersey (like I was two weeks ago), I get up early, let the other chaperones know I'll be gone, and I run. If I have to work late, I run in the dark with a vest and headlamp or I go to the Y. (I'd rather run in the dark than on a treadmill.) Mornings are swimming, spinning, or lifting. Even my husband knows better than mess with the woman's run. I eat throughout the day. Never let myself get hungry. I have three meals that I just spread out throughout the day. I call it the Hobbit diet...breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, pre-run snack, post run snack, dinner, dessert. Lots of bulk...fiber helps you feel full, salads with lunch and dinner, yogurt with some fiber one. That's so helpful in just sustaining your workout. I find that something like yogurt before a swim, though, just gurgles in my stomach. (Yet I can drink coffee...go figure.) It's got to be carbs and it's got to be light. I can run on a little more, but swim or bike has to be light.

Originally posted by dorothyrde I don't like you guys. :mad: For me, it is all about what I put in my mouth. I even breathe fattening foods I gain weight. I can exercise myself to death, but if I don't watch what I eat, I waddle! I'm right there with you on that! It seems like I have had a constant battle with my weight, and if I over-indulge just once I'm waddling too. It makes me so mad because my boyfriend, who is thin but yet has good muscle tone, can eat whatever he wants and however much of it that he wants and he won't gain a pound. I know men and women have different body makeup and metabolism...but it just isn't fair!! I love the suggestion about the hard candy...I didn't even think of that! And that would be perfect to have after lunch when I'm craving something sweet. I definitely don't keep a candy bowl on my desk, that would be bad news for me. The only thing that I have to my advantage when it comes to resisting candy is that I hate nuts and I hate caramel even more. So I won't eat candy with either in them. Oh, and whoever said to become a "food snob"....I LOVE this! For the past few months I have been indulging in organic foods like crazy. I'm not sure if its a fact that they are healthier for you, call me stupid, but it makes me feel better than I'm buying heartier foods and when I'm in the health food store I always ask the workers about different items and new things to try. I love the idea of eating good chocolate rather than processed garbage.

Originally posted by aquageek And, dorothyde, women with curves are HOT! :cool:

WOW! :cool: I can't believe the amount of support and encouragement I've received in just the past few days. Your comments and advice has really kept me motivated and makes me want to get back in shape and feel good about myself. I swam every day since my first practice (Tuesday) I've been doing about 2,500 yards each day. I've been concentrating on long swims, drills, and kicking. I'm a distance swimmer so even when I was in the best shape of my life, I always lacked a kick and tended to just drag my legs behind me. So in my workout yesterday, I alternated 200 free, 200 kick, 200 back, 200 kick. I did kick with a board, kick on my back in streamline position, and butterfly kick on my side. I know many of you have suggested swimming with the team in their workouts even though I'm way out of shape. I just don't feel ready yet and would like to take a few weeks to practice on my own before I join the team in workouts. Since they are tapering, they seem to be doing a lot of sprint work, which I certainly am not ready for. As far as the weight management goes, I've been keeping a daily journal of what I'm eating every day. Its really helped make me realize what I'm putting into my mouth and that picking here and there does add up! I work behind a desk all day, and my workplace is the typical office where everyone brings in food from home and there is CONSTANTLY garbage food around. I've done a good job in the past few months resisting the junk food that people bring in. I always keep fruit at my desk to munch on if I get the craving. However, what I'm worried about is going into over-kill mode with the "dieting" (I hate to call it that, I'd rather just say learning to eat healthy). Yes, I realize that I need to change my eating habits...but it isn't an easy thing to do overnight and I feel like my body sometimes is going into shell-shock. I'm the type of person who likes to have a little something sweet after a meal, like just one cookie or a few chocolate graham crackers. I haven't been allowing myself to eat those types of foods, and I'm afraid I'm depriving myself. I might as well let it be known that I do have a history of an eating disorder (bulimia specifically) and I don't want to send myself into "binge mode" where one day I might gorge myself on junk food from feeling so deprived. Are there any suggestions for how I can still get my treats in but not over-do it? I'm trying to keep my food in moderation and to control portion sizes. I know I've been eating the right foods, but I think I could be eating too much of it. So, I've considered buying a food scale to help control my portion sizes, but I'm worried thats going to be too much for me to handle right now. I want to ease myself into this, rather than go full force all at once. I read up on the thread on this message board called "Swimming and Weight Loss" and I'm somewhat confused with how to control my eating habits. Some people say stop eating when you are full, others say try to incorporate 5-6 small meals a day, some say don't eat past 7pm. A lot of this is difficult for me because I don't know what constitutes 5-6 small meals, and I don't usually like to eat before swimming and the team's workouts are from 7-9 at night so I guess that throws out the 'not eating past 7' deal. Are there any basic guidelines that I could go by to help control portion sizes and to choose the right foods to eat? I've been keeping up with walking during lunch time for 40 minutes. I hoping that will help me shed the excess weight and it helps me to change up my routine. I completely agree that we spend so much time and money caring for other things (like our cars), and many of us neglect our bodies. I want to change my LIFESTYLE and way of eating and exercising. I don't just want a fast fix, although it would be a nice bonus to see the weight come off sooner than later. I want to feel good about myself and not constantly worry about what other people think. At 25 years old, I shouldn't be this overweight and out of shape...and it scares me when people say that the older you get, the harder it is to lose the weight. So I might as well start somewhere!