My goals and how I will achieve them

I'm a member at 24 Hour Fitness which is a chain of gyms in several states in the US. I'm not going to say which state or metro area I'm in in order to protect my privacy and that of my friends, family, and workout partner.

There is a 24 Hour Fitness near my office and another one very close to where I live, so there is no excuse not to go. They're not far away from home or work; in fact, the one near my house is even within reasonable walking distance so I can't even use the excuse that gas is too expensive. It's two bus stops or a 10-15 minute walk away.

My goal weight is 150 lbs, which would be a loss of 106.6 lbs from my weight on July 5th. My conservative time frame for this is one year, but I'd like to get there faster. They say you shouldn't lose more than so many pounds per week because if you lose too quickly it's hard to maintain. I say BS to that. As long as I'm serious about the changes in my lifestyle I don't see why I wouldn't maintain the weight loss. Easier said than done, but 2 years ago I weighed around 280 and I've kept that weight off. So...there you go. I'd love to be a slim, slinky size 2 with long legs and little spaghetti arms. That will never happen; even at my lowest weight (around 100 lbs at age 17) I still had muscular thighs, curvy hips, and meaty upper arms. I'll never look like a supermodel. So...I'm realistic about what the end result might be. I think that will help.

When I go to the gym, I go with a workout partner from my office. We are both very motivated to lose our excess weight and to get fit and healthy. We have different reasons for wanting to do it, but we help motivate each other all the same. It helps to have someone to go to the gym with. Often one of us will be tired and might skip the gym if not for the other spurring them on to go.

When we go to the gym, we first use the elliptical machine for 20 minutes. I try to keep my stride above 110 strides per minute. I go 2 minutes forward and 1 backward. I warm up on resistance level 1, then go up to 3-4 for the rest of the workout. I try to keep my heart rate below 170 which means I have to go slower on the machine than I am physically able to do. I have noticed that I have to work harder to achieve the same heart rate that I achieved when I first started going to the gym, which means the workouts are having a positive effect on my cardiovascular strength. I think this is encouraging; I'm already seeing results.

After the elliptical machine, we hit the weight machines to work on our upper bodies. We alternate arms and chest. My workout partner is male so he works with more weight than I do. I don't want to bulk up, but I'm not sure that'll be an issue right now. We're both trying to build lean muscle to increase our basal metabolisms so we can burn more calories while at rest.

I haven't seen a nutritionist to establish a proper diet but I have been trying to eat healthy anyway. I've been skipping breakfast a lot because when I'm stressed I'm nauseated in the morning. When I can force breakfast down, it's a bowl of Raisin Bran with 2% milk. I should be on 1% or skim, but I'm still using up a carton of 2% milk I bought weeks ago. Cartons of milk last a long time. Whether I'm hungry or not, I have a cup of coffee with 2% milk in the mornings.

For lunch I have a turkey sandwich with light mayonnaise and one slice of Swiss cheese on sugar-free wheat bread, plus lots of raw vegetables and fruit. I don't measure my fruit/veg portions. I try not to snack at all during the day but if I do, I eat an apple, a few almonds, or a 100 calorie packet of dried cranberries. For dinner I try to keep the entire meal under 700 calories if possible; under 500 calories is ideal. I find the Lean Cuisine meals to be unsatisfying and since it's just me in the house now, it's hard to get motivated to cook a proper meal. When I do, I get my protein from turkey or chicken and carbs/everything else from vegetables, a small portion of boiled brown rice, a salad, etc. Basically I try to keep it hearty and filling but light and healthy which isn't easy. Some days I get lazy and cook a can of soup, but I try to get "clear" soups rather than creamy soups. I've been trying lots of different ones. I also try to get the low-sodium varieties because of my blood pressure, and even those are sometimes a little too salty so I add a bit of water to dilute them.