300+ Chat Thread: March, 2014

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  • Fi genaw.com/lowcarb has some really good recipes too.

    Betsey Time to yourself is the best thing in the world! I'm totally in for stringing days together as long as I can start Monday! I have to get through this birthday party and mom's Saint Patty's day party relatively unscathed but I can guarantee you it won't be perfect.

    down another measly .6 of water weight. (I wouldn't be calling it measly if I didn't know it was water). I really think my shoulder is a big part of it though. Decided to take today as a rest day from swimming.

    calories were around 1800 yesterday and I did 25 minutes at the pool at took Toby for another 25 minute walk.

    Have a good day everyone!
  • Fi- I am thinking of you and hope that you find some relief from this immediate thing soon (I know it will be a longer struggle than this, but at least if this one can pass soon it can be one more victory for you)

    Ubee- I know I'm not the bad guy, I just know he will bring up when I said no to him last time.... but that will not change my mind.

    Silent- I agree, he might not be the best or truest friend, but I will have to see how he actually handles it.

    Vwdeano- I am so willing to wait for someone who is worth it!!


    Thanks all!

    Today I started the couch to the 5K program...and I actually jogged all 8 of those 60 second intervals.... so proud of myself! Also my workout buddy and I are starting at pretty much the exact same level which is great! So excited we have a 3 day a week schedule we will keep and will motivate eachother! Actually starting this program has made me share with people that I am doing this, I feel less shy than I did when I was just trying to lose weight.

    Hope you all have a great day!!!
  • Good Evening Everyone!!

    Going to start out with personals today!

    Fi My dear love, I am so sorry that you are going through another rough patch. Please come here any time you need to vent! We are all understanding, and have all gone through our own trials at some point or another and knowing someone is here to pick you back up when you fall down will help you greatly. I do worry about you not eating, though I know it is a struggle. I wish you well and please come here any time you need someone we are all here and all love you!

    Ubee I think decompressing the stress and then having the realization of how big I had gotten is what made me say, ok, EFF this, I can't continue to do this to myself! Nobody is going to change me, but me! I'm happy I am able to help and I'm always here if you need someone!

    Time Everyone already said pretty much I was thinking, and its obvious you know what you need to do to make you happy. You have a wonderful spirit so it someone isn't there to accept you, or love you for who you are, and will drop you like a penny in a well when someone "better" comes along then it isn't worth it. I wish you well with this situation and know we're all here for you!

    Betsy My love!! I am so ready to count how many days we all stay on plan!! I've been doing pretty good lately...The weekends seem to be the only time I have a little bit of a rough time but even now if I'm wanting to eat out or something, I usually end up getting some sort of salad without cheese or croutons and get the best dressing that is available. I think this will be even better for everyone because we can all see it plain as day how well we are doing or if we need some extra encouragement, anyone who is having better days can be there for anyone who isn't...let's rock this girl!!


    Dean Don't worry about not doing personals every day...Just knowing you're checking in with everyone is always good enough for me! Hope you're having a lovely day!!

    Today was a pretty good day...just a typical work day...After work I went to Wal Mart because I decided I am going to buy this dumbbell set I saw online last night by Gold's Gym that was only $15...They had some in stock and I was so excited to get it home and use it. I opened it up and took out all the contents and two of the smaller weights are cracked where the bar goes in. It's a vinyl set. So needless to say I'm going to take it back tomorrow and hope there is another set that I can trade it out for...I think there was only 1 other set there. I'm ready to start lifting so I can slowly sculpt this body underneath all this flesh. I am really hoping my skin bounces back half way decent in this journey. I don't know if I would be able to get funding or afford to have surgery. But I'm not letting that bother me right now, I'm just more focused on losing the weight and getting healthy. Planned on doing arms tonight so I guess I'll have to use these little 3 lb weights I already had and just do more reps...I'm also going to get some cardio done. Taking a break from the balance ball tonight

    Anyway, I'm off to get my rosemary chicken going in the oven so it is cooking while I work out.

    Hope everyone is doing AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Big love from Myrtle Beach!! <3
  • Thanks for all the positive thoughts, y'all. By force of will I've managed to shove about 700 calories into myself, by 5 PM, so I guess that's not too bad. Now if only I could stop for the day... =sigh=

    I'm afraid recipes are not helpful, because I don't cook. My first year in med school, way back in 1977-78, I tried to learn how to cook, but then all of a sudden I had no time, and I never got back to it. I got in the habit of working around the clock and grabbing sleep when I could. Even now that I'm retired, I'm always working—at art, writing, correspondence, language learning, reading...For many, many years I lived on frozen meals, take-out, what Bob cooks, and of course junk food, mostly cereal and cookies. At the peak of Bob's depression, 2011-12, I didn't eat anything but cereal and cookies. Once a day I'd stir protein powder in my cereal, I always put lots of raisins on top, and I took vitamins. I gained a lot of weight doing that.

    I'm just not very interested in food—never have been. I hate sitting down at a table with other people, because it was such a horrible ordeal in my family. When I was a kid in the atomic age, they told us in the future we wouldn't have to eat, just swallow a few pills every day. I thought that sounded terrific—less time with my parents, more time to do fun stuff! Like working...I've never worked at anything in my life that hasn't been loads of fun.

    I'll get through this somehow. If I end up undereating for a while, so be it. At least my mood is good! =smile= I've been reading up on restricting, like what anorexics do, but that doesn't seem to apply to me: those people are very hungry all the time. I'm not hungry at all. What motivates me to eat is that it stops the pain in my stomach. But the actual eating itself is an annoying chore. This didn't happen overnight...it's been developing gradually ever since I went cold turkey on sweets.

    Terra— The Month of Letters is a self-directed challenge: you try to put at least one card or letter in the mail every single day in February that the post office is open. Most people put more than one thing in the mail every day, and they have badges you can earn for special feats like seeking out new mailboxes, sending fan letters, getting all your stuff hand-cancelled (I'm very serious about that, all year round), writing to people in other countries, etc. Some people are competitive about it, trying to send out more cards & letters than anyone else, but most of us just view it as a chance to find new penpals, trade addresses with each other, and hang out with other folks who are obsessed with everything pertaining to snail-mall.
  • Fiona ~ oh okay well thats cool, Thanks for telling me about it
  • Good Morning!

    Was 70 here yesterday, and 35 this morning, LOL. Doggies did NOT want to come out from their blankets this morning (I don't blame them at all).

    Coffee's on, and the day is starting.

    Remember, whatever you feel you "failed" at yesterday, doesn't have to affect what you do today.

    Have a great day!

    Dean
  • Very wise words Dean, seeing as I failed epically at the food part yesterday. Nothing but junk and up to my bmr calorie wise. Up .5 this morning because of it too.

    No swim today or yesterday, but I did get my full walk with the dog in. Will do my damnedest to hit the pool tomorrow and Saturday,as Sunday we'll be away.

    Surprise party is tomorrow. I'm hoping it will come off without a hitch. Have to order the cake today, and then all that's left is to get the tables and chairs and the burgers over to the house. My friend has the day off tomorrow, so I plan to take advantage of her.

    Have to make a run across the border to pick up his birthday gift today too (hence no swim).

    Have a great day everyone!
  • Good Afternoon!
    Betsy, I'm with Jane and will start on Monday....
    Fi, hope you are doing OK.
    Dean & Terra glad to see you on here today.
    Sam need some of your mojo.
    Time glad you have an exercise buddy. I only have food buddies.
    Ate enough calories to hold me over until Monday... hence the eating buddies comment.
    Chins up and forward I go!
  • Thanks again, y'all, for thinking about me. I'm doing much better today: no stomach aches because I've been able to eat my food on schedule without problems. Writing that long posting about what happened on Sunday night and how it affected my appetite and eating was really helpful. I felt like I got to tell the story to people who understood. =whew= It was a relief as well to figure out that I wasn't really doing what they call "restricting." I was just angry at food in general, for making me so miserable. But I've gotten over it.

    Ubee, Betsy, Sam, & others— All you guys who've been talking about keeping track of how many days in a row you're on plan, I have a suggestion. Last year when I was having so much trouble with staying on Atkins because of my frequent cookie binges, I bought a pack of big colorful star stickers, and did a thing where I put a star on the wall calendar in our kitchen for every day I stayed on the diet. Early in the year I never seemed to be able to get more than 4-5 stars in a row, and some of my no-star periods lasted for multiple days. But gradually, month to month, I could look at the calendar and see more & more stars accumulating. And I liked the fact that I didn't have to feel guilty if I had a day without a star, so long as I got right back on the horse and had a star on the following day. That's why, when I joined 3FC in October, I was ready to do a period of abstinence from cookies, candy, & donuts, and then by late November I was ready to go 30 days binge-free. That system worked well not only for me, but also for Bob: when he noticed a long stretch of stars on the calendar, he'd say something about it. It was all about getting positive feedback—no negative vibes. No saying "epic fail." Well anyway, it worked for me.
  • Good evening. Didn't get a chance to check in on everyone this morning, and now somehow the whole day has gotten away from me. Hope everyone had a great day!

    Fi -- Glad you were able to get at least 700 calories into you. I'm having a little trouble relating as I both love to cook and love to eat what I cook. I don't think I've ever experienced a period where eating wasn't at the top of my list of favorite activities......explains a lot. You do sound so much on top of things. Thanks for the stars idea. I'm a very visual person and being able to see staying on track may be just the motivation (or kick in the tush) that is needed.

    Ubee -- OK. Monday it is. Probably a good thing because I am having corned beef and cabbage on Sunday. I'll skip the soda bread, but I'm having corned beef.

    Jane -- Hope your party goes well, and Monday it is for you as well. Hope your shoulder stops acting up.

    Dean -- You're a happy morning person, aren't you! I'm one too -- always seemed to irritate some people, but I like the mornings before everything gets to stirring too much.

    Sam -- what great personals to everyone. Thanks for all the support and encouragement -- and I hope you're getting it from us as well.

    Time4me -- Sounds like the Couch to 5K is going to be a great event for you. So glad that you feel more comfortable with talking about it by having a pal to do this with. Good luck.

    Does anyone else eat their big meal of the day at noon? I had it at noon today, it's now supper time and I'm not hungry at all. Usually I'm ravenous and end up eating too much. I read some place that you should eat the most for breakfast, a little less at noon, and a snack basically for supper. I'm going to try it and see if it helps with keeping me on the straight and narrow. Off to a board meeting for the town's arts festival that happens in August. I did the web page for them and now I need to get approval for spending the money. It won't break my budget, but I would like to get reimbursed. Have a great evening and talk to you all tomorrow.
  • Hey Everyone,

    Hope everyone had a real good day. Mine wasn't too bad at all, really. I'm posting a little later than usual because time got the best of me lol...I ended up on the phone with my mom for an hour tonight, which is not the norm for me.

    Had another POP day! After work I took back that set of weights and got the same set, but this time it wasn't defective. I worked my arms for 45 minutes tonight...They feel like jello! I posted on my Facebook account something that really does say it all...."Arms that look like jello have to feel like jello after working out to get rid of it!" I was feeling like a BEAST after all those arm exercises. They really worked my chest and back too which is a plus because the girls could use a lift and my fat back has got to go!

    For the most part my journey has been really good so far. I try not to let myself worry about things that I don't need to worry so much about right now, like excess skin. I know I'm going to have some sort of excess skin and that is one of my fears. I've never told or spoken about this to anyone before. I've had dreams where I lost the weight I needed to and felt great, but when I looked in the mirror I looked like a bag of bones with all of this skin hanging off of me. That is the one part of me that is a little afraid about weight loss...I know the good will outweigh the bad, but it is a fear I hope to over come. With my age I think the elasticity in my skin is still pretty good so hopefully it isn't so bad. But it's something I try to put in the back of my mind and not think about it too much, because if I over think it I may end up falling hard off the wagon.

    I've also been really afraid of when I plateau. I know that is something that is inevitable and will more than likely happen at some point. I'm afraid because I've always started out really strong with losing weight, exercising, and feeling good.....but then I hit that plateau and I may not see anything happen for a week or two, maybe even 3 and I freak out and say forget it and stop with my plan. The only good thing is at least I know if that happens I'll have all of you here to help me get through it, because I'm sure everyone has been there at some point, and I will DEFINITELY need a shoulder to lean on.

    I didn't mean for this to be a downer of a post LOL....but it's just been something I've been thinking about for the past few days. I think these thoughts need to be shoved back in the closet for a little while, what do you guys think?? LOL

    Anyway, I'm so glad that I am here, and I have all of you for the support. I hope that I am able to inspire and support anyone here who needs it like you guys support me. We truly are a little family and it's nice to know I'm not alone.

    Have a great night everyone...BIG LOVE!
  • Betsy— About the stars-on-the-calendar idea: I had some trouble finding stars that were big enough to have visual impact. An alternative way to do it would be to color the on-plan days with like a blue or green highlighter. That approach has the advantage of not covering up things you may have written on the calendar. Just a thought...

    It's funny: listening to you talk about how you love to cook and how eating is at the top of your favorite activities makes me wonder how in the heck I got up to 351 pounds. (And remember: I'm only 5' 3".) Two-part answer: (1) My psychiatric drugs were really jazzing my appetite: before I became bipolar, I weighed 140 pounds, occasionally swinging up to 165, but easily getting back down again. And of course I thought I was fat. =laugh= (2) I really really like cookies, especially oatmeal-raisin. One of my favorite activities used to be either reading or writing while eating oatmeal-raisin cookies.

    But I still would put sailing, swimming, hanging out at the beach, making art, dancing to rock-n-roll, and working as a doctor higher on the list. If I had to choose just one activity to do every minute of every day for the rest of my life, it would be sailing solo. And the only thing I ever needed to put in my mouth while sailing used to be Diet Coke. For almost 50 years, Diet Coke (or Tab, back in the Tab era) reigned supreme as the one thing I couldn't live without. Giving up diet soda last fall was WAY harder than giving up carbs. I still can't believe I did it, as I sit here right now with a bottle of plain seltzer next to me.
  • Quote: Does anyone else eat their big meal of the day at noon? I had it at noon today, it's now supper time and I'm not hungry at all. Usually I'm ravenous and end up eating too much. I read some place that you should eat the most for breakfast, a little less at noon, and a snack basically for supper. I'm going to try it and see if it helps with keeping me on the straight and narrow.

    Betsy, DW and I have made the noon meal our main meal for the last four years. Since I started Volumetrics in December it has became a little difficult to determine which is my main meal. Noon is my highest calorie meal but supper is a much larger quantity of food but less calories. If calories are the main thing, then noon is my main meal. If on the other hand volume of food is the main consideration, supper is my main meal. I have a strong tendency toward skipping breakfast. I have been working hard to include breakfast in my day.
  • checking in...

    happy for the weekend, and only 1 week left for work until Spring Break!! I am heading off to Disneyland Paris for 5 days, and cannot wait!

    Running program day 2 is tomorrow.
  • Coffee's on, and its FRIDAY!

    The whole weekend lays before us-get out and enjoy the outside, if the weather will let you, LOL.

    Have a great day!

    Dean