Welcome to Time for SERIOUS FUN…..We are a group of people trying to lose weight together and help each other along the way. There is only one rule on this thread, and it is if you are not willing to help yourself along the way or help others on this thread we don’t want to hear you WHINE everyday, we like to keep a positive attitude. Some whining is expected, lol, we are only human. Other than that we love to talk about every subject under the sun. Please feel free to pull up a chair and a keyboard and join us on our journey. Every day of the week we have a little beginning to the day to start us off, for example…..Monday would be Mission Monday……you have some sort of mission to complete in your life for that day or longer totally up to you. Faye is in charge of what day it is and what we are doing, so look for her post if you are interested.
Debbie: you get a: for your points yesterday. You are doing a great job!
Pam: Phooey on today. Pretty much EVERYONE stunk on points so don't worry about it, just do better tomorrow. You are doing spectacular overall btw.
Deon: I sent you a longggggggg e-mail and I hope it helps. We want you to come and visit with us and don't worry one bit about weight loss. You just come and talk out what is happening with you. We care about you and we will be here for you, I promise!
Looks like my trip next weekend may be going down the tubes. Long story but looks like my ds and bil have decided NOT to come because of money. This is the second time she has done this to me and I am pretty steamed about it. She gets me all excited about seeing her and than the next day or two says they aren't coming. She did that about my birthday party too. They were supposed to come to Chicago and they have cancelled. Oh well, stuff happens I guess. I still have my adorable husband to spend time with and that is all I need.
You guys be good and looks like I am going to make my 4 tomorrow, yippee!
Evening Ladies, or should I say morning! it is 12:07am! I like this time of night, all is quite and still and peaceful, dont see it often with my crazy wrk sch though.
You will all be glad to know rest of food was good today, I had a Sierra Roasted Turkey Sandwich from Quizno's under 7 grams of fat! figured my spaghetti fiasco more than made up for my fat grams today!! the sandwiches are good! you should try one if Quizno's is in your area, They only have 3 low fat sandwiches, but they are good, and a better alternative than the use to be Double sized, supesized,biggie sized, however you choose to describe it, I didnt even really taste it, just inhaled it pretty much. and all the man I could have a nice little sizeable savings acct with all that "dough", well ladies that is in "my other life", not going to dwell there, sometimes I have to , because it does put into perspective how much better I am doing now!! gives me the kick in the @*! I need to get back on track!!
Did any of you see the program tonight on Discovery Health Network called Obesity A Health Epidemic...I believe it is one in a series they are doing...it was very inspirational, and most informative. It follows stories of several folks from all walks of life, and talks about from wince they came and their shows their progress, try and catch it next time it is on, they usually run it several times. There is this man that weighed 1000 lbs, and he lives in a nursing home for the morbidly obese, he has lost down below 700 now, and is out of bed now. He has made remarkable progress, working with physical therapists, and doing some walking (assisted), said he is even playing a little basketball now from his wheelchair and can get in and out of a car for the first time now in a long time. you most likely could read about him on their website, not for sure, just a thought, They also followed story of a young girl who went to a summer camp for teens, and it she did well, participated in all kinds of activities, with peers who were also in her same situation, teaches them proper nutrition and gives them tools to use when they return home, they are successful while there, but does reiterate that some of them come back, do not have that controlled environment on the "outside", but the program has a high success rate for teens I learned, it is called "Camp Shane" if anyone is interested, or knows someone who may benefit, and lastly tonight on the program it followed a group of Pima Indians living in Arizona who have high rate of diabetes, over generations, and how one father is exercising, and making better food choices in hopes that he can pass healthier habits onto his children, the young people there have resigned themselves to the fact that they too will only have that way of life to look forward to, and finally of course the show discussed how our culture is proned to be overweight, programmed and inundated with fast food! fast this and that, instant gratification, the amt of $ we spend on it is astronomical and the irony is we spend billions of dollars on fitness!! go figure, anyway!!! guess you all can tell I got really into the show, hope you can see it sometime.
yes Faye on to tomorrow's pts!! another chance to do well!
Yesterday I get points for OP, water was not good and exercise was well it was not there....better luck today. Baby steps back to this process you know.
Hope everyone is doing well, I will be back in a while when I have time to post...
TUESDAY: Today is Target Tuesday and boy do I think we need this one! Let us target this week how we feel about food. Is it all about the love of food, do we hate it because of what it does to us, what are you true feelings about food? We need to look within ourselves and answer this question to be able to fix it!
Morning, sweeties! Looks like at least my dsl is out again don't know what's with that. I haven't turned on the television to see if it is working.
I GET A: but barely. I heard it thundering this am but haven't seen any rain so I guess I will play the pool by ear and see what happens around 9 am.
Peek: You snucked in on me. YOU GET A: for your points! Good for you. Work on it slowly, it will come!
For me food is total comfort though I am not a mad /sad eater. I clean when I am mad or sad! I don't hate the food. It is not its fault I put the wrong kinds or too much in my mouth. I use food to satisfy wayyyyyyy to much instead of finding other ways to satisfy myself. I need to work harder not to "head" eat. I am sitting here trying to honestly think about food and what draws me to it. Again, I am a head food eater a lot of the time. Not just that my head says I am hungry when I know I am not, but that commercials or anything visual along with even thinking about something like a dessert or pizza will head me to the fridge. I have to start working on breaking that cycle!
Mornin' Ladies!
Another bright sunny day in Maine. I woke up and it was 52 F outside! woo hooo.
Anyway, got all four points yesterday. I did have a frozen eggroll bec I had a friend over and we watched movies until wayyy too late at night. But since I was really under on the calories for the day, I didn't count it as cheating. Dance class was awesome last night! I finally have students trickling back in after being gone all summer.....it's like a reunion.
Faye: Keep pluggin' on that head hunger. I know my biggest problem is eating when I'm bored or when I'm procrastinating an unpleasant task. That's when having those frozen grapes really helps, I can graze on them all day and it's ok. There's gotta be other healthy snacks that you can keep around for such occasions. I never have told you how great I think your picture is! Every time I see it on the screen, it makes me smile!! I think you're awesome for how well you motivate and support all these strangers
Hey Peek: Get out there and enjoy some of that great sea air! Take a walk on the beach. Hmmm, suddenly I'm craving lobster....it's still OP, really , I don't eat it with butter, just lemon juice. So, it's healthy protein right?
Everyone else: One day at a time, eh? (I've been hanging out in Canada too much.) I'm for lots and lots of points today! Don't worry about yesterday or tomorrow or even tonight, just focus on the present.
It dawned on me that I've never posted any "stats" of anykind. So, here goes.....Last Friday when I found all you lovelies, I was 243 pounds. My highest ever weight was 260. My goal is to hit the 160s. I wore a bikini when I was in the 160s, it's weird how my body stores weight cuz most charts say 160s is way fat, but not on me! Anyhooo, I've decided that I'd like to give myself a Christmas present and be below 200 by the end of the year. I think that's doable.
I feel so great the past few days that I really want to weigh myself, but I'm waiting until Friday....so I'll have had a solid week (hopefully) of eating cleanly and exercising. Thanks for all the chit chat.......I'm really glad I'm here.
Julie: YOU GET A: for points yesterday! Keep up the good work. I took that picture on my avatar in June. At the bottom is what I looked like on Christmas Eve. I AM NEVER EVER EVER EVER GOING BACK TO THAT AGAIN! I may struggle sometimes, but it is because I let myself get lazy. Oh and btw, I don't necessarily eat bad things when I have head issues, I just eat when I shouldn't. I think you have to squelch eating when your head is telling you to and your body is not really hungry. That is part of behaviour modification. I am working on it, sometimes good sometimes not so good. Nothing we want in the area of weight loss comes easy though so I will just keep plugging away.
Woohoo, I am down another 2 lbs! cb:
Ok, I am probably the only person who has not seen this movie until this morning, but have you ladies seen Shallow Hal? For the most part, I think they did a good job of trying to show people being accepted for who they are not how they look, but there were a couple things they put in as humor I found distasteful like when they are leaving in his friend's Rabbit and she stands in the car and it goes down on one side. They are still making fun of overweight people! I don't need to be soapboxing it this morning as you have heard my opinions over and over but if you haven't seen it, check it out. It may even inspire you to look at people differently.:
I am back girls, Faye thanks for the suggestion for Target Tuesday, lets see
I am an emotional eater!! as I have said before I stuff the food down to suppress feelings, I have done it for as long as I can remember, and like I have mentioned before I used food to try and fill a void, an empty place that can never be filled up with food or any other kind of addiction! food was my drug of choice...WAS BEING THE OPERATIVE WORD HERE!! I used food as an excuse to celebrate, I used it as an excuse to combat my depression, as a comfort, man was that a ridiculous notion, it just furher perpetuated the depression. I used it as a source of pleasure, chose it over sex, thought I was trying to shield myself from men by making myself so unattractive, but it didnt work there were still the ones that I was involved with (unhealthy relationships to further compound the problems, I sought them out so I could make sure I kept punishing myself with the food, so I could continue feeling unworthy, and undeserving!! of a loving relationship), I did that oh say from abt age 15 - 35, then I found my partner, who is an amazing person, and a woman by the way, thought I would let you in on that, if I havent already, cant remember, anyway she gives to me all that has been missing in my life, and I "allowed her in to know the real me", and she stays with me anyway, 8 years now!! wow!! a true gift from God she is! I say that and am being honest with myself and all of you, I kept things hidden and secretive far too long, my secrets were making me eat, and they were killing me!! so, there is another way I used food, to keep my secrets hidden! If I took better care of myself I may have had to talk more, come out of my isolation and open myself up to being hurt by others??? you say, didnt she do that anyway, yes I did, if I had too many "fleeting moments of happiness" you can be assured that I did something to make certain that I got back on that downward spiral...I am not being too hard on myself here girls, just taking a thorough look at myself and the role compulsive overeating has played in my life, it is complicated and so interwoven into every fiber of my being, it is difficult sometimes to articulate and express all that it has done to me! but mostly IT HAS KEPT ME FROM MY LIFE, BUT NOT ANYMORE!! I AM HEALING NOW AND IT FEELS WONDERFUL!! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE LISTENED TO ME RAMBLE ON AND ON!! HAVE A GOOD DAY!
and again, Faye, many thanks for the topic!! It was cathartic and most therapeutic to share that with all of you, gives me an accurate pespective to see it in writing!
I WANT TO ADDRESS SOMETHING TO ALL OF YOU ABOUT MY PICTURES:
You know, I used to watch the Richard Simmons commercials and would hear these men and women say, "I weighed 300+ lbs and if I can do it so can you," or any of a hundred different paid programming with people losing over 100 lbs and looking great, but I never thought it could be me, ever. I mean, I desired it, I craved it, BUT I never believed it and I still will say to dh, "Does my butt look like it is smaller," or something similar. I can understand how anorexics see themselves fat in the mirror. I sometimes see myself knowing even though I am not near goal that I am different, but the old devil whispers in my ear, that I am still that grossly fat woman and will never be anything else. I know in my head and heart that I have changed, you can see it in photos, my clothing sizes have gone from 32 to 22-24 and I am putting on clothes from my closet I haven't worn in YEARS, but just two days ago, I put on this little yellow t-shirt that I haven't worn because is was too tight in the arms and boobs and it fit with some room to spare but in my mind I said, "Oh, this probably always fit you and you just are thinking of something else." I remember saying that to myself. So with that said, I want everyone here to know that whether it is 5 lbs you are struggling with or 200 lbs you can achieve it but it takes work. There is NO quick fix, no miracle diet, no pills, nothing but good old hard work to do things that may be repugnant to you like drinking water until you think you will bust, or getting on a treadmill or walking or putting in that tape everyday, possibly giving up foods you adore and maybe forever if you cannot control them, having to work to not eat when your head tells you that you should. My pictures are like a hundred others you have seen. Believe me, I am nothing special and I don't post them to say "Haha, look what I have done." I post them so that each and everyone of you know that this fat woman that was over 400 lbs knows that YOU can take off the weight and feel and look better about yourself. I could say, "If I can do it, you can too," but I would rather say "YOU ARE DOING IT AND SO CAN I!"
Come on let's quit fooling ourselves and get serious. Let's buckle down and make our challenge for August. Let's see that as a serious goal we can accomplish! I want you to have this!
I totally agree Faye, we can do it if we just set our minds to it and "actually" do it!!!!! I gained 3 pounds last week, but I am taking responsibility for it and am now working hard to get those off, I cannot go back and change what I ate...but I can change my future...that is the great thing about a new day
I have seen Shallow Hal about a million times, and although I love the movie ( I like Jack Black ) I do get offended at some of the things that they have her doing..like everytime they eat they show her just pigging out and ordering enough for 2-3 people, well that is not always how "we" eat....and by "we" I mean beautiful women like us who are working to be healthy....
I agree with someone who said earlier that we all seem to be in some kind of diet slump, I think Faye's encouraging words from her last post has helped me ( Faye you look great in that last
picture ! ) ... I think we call can do the 10 pds by Aug 31st but then after that why not set another big goal for Christmas, our Christmas present to ourselves, then maybe we can indulge on some of the junk that is always around at that time, ha
I had 3 points yesterday, 2 OP and 1 for water...so see I am getting back on track, baby stepping...and I am so looking forward to my thinner future!!!!
Sounds like everyone is doing great this morning and getting back on track.
Well for my points yesterday, I get 1 for water, 1 for exercise, and I was almost OP. So it looks liek 2 for me, but that is better than nothing. And today has been great so far.
Faye--very good topic for the day. But, I am not sure how to answer, I am not sure how I feel about food. Afew years ago, food was torturing me. As I have said before I was anorexic back then and ate nothing. Mabye once a week, ad the rest of the time all I did was too think about it, dream about eating all of the foods that I love soo much, then one look in the mirror and that was over. Then I total went to the other side of the fence, so too speak, and I ate for everythig, and emotions that you can think of, I ate for that reason.
Now I am not sure where I am at. I am trying to gain self confidence, so that mabye I will quit badgering myself if I am not perfect for the day, and mabye eat something that is not totaly OP. I think that I am getting better. Although the mirror and I are still not close friends, same with the scales.
I wish that I could be as positive as all of you ladies, you are really great and beautiful. I just love coming here and reading what you have to say. I certinaly do not post as much as I read, but that is back to the self confidence that I am trying to work on.
Faye, you look F&*(#@) PHOENOMENAL!!!! Thanks so much for posting your pictures, you are truly an inspiration.
About that little voice in your head telling you things like "you'll always be fat, you haven't really accomplished anything, etc."....I hear it all the time, and not just about weight. I've mentioned before that I do competitive sword fighting. Well, in this little club we have there are no weight classes and NO gender classes. Which means a 120 pound female often gets paired up against a 250 pound male. (Often the female wins, but that's not the point). As fighters, we women have to defeat the "self-talk" more often that the guys who have been brought up to play violent games. Here's how many people do it:
We've given the voice a name, a personality, made it REAL....we happen to call it the "Lizard-Brain" which means that it is the primordial part of ourselves that is so far down in our subconscious that we don't even recognize it. It lives so far down in the ooze of our psyche that we often think we're crazy for hearing voices. But it is real, and it effects our behavior. By giving the Lizard a name (Fred, Daphne, Alphonse, whatever ) and picturing it as a real personality inside you, suddenly it is easier to hear when he's (or she) speaking. And the best part is, once you can hear him--you can talk back to him and tell him to off!!!!
It may sound corny, but it really works. The voice is so effective at manipulating us into doing things we don't want to because he's quiet, and slippery and we don't really know where he comes from. SHine a big ole flashlight on him, next time he comes around......talk to him, get to know him, give him a name, and then tell him YOU"RE the boss of you!
For me, my lizard comes around at night, when I'm tired and at my weakest. He says "come on, Julie, you've had a hard day....one bowl of ice cream won't hurt you. You're fat, so what? You're happy and your husband loves you.....
I've learned to know when he's around, and I've told myself that I cannot listen to any "self-talk" after 7pm. period. I don't fret over what I'm telling myself, I just flat-out ignore it.
THis took me a reeaaallly long time to be able to do. I'm a very pragmatic person, and frankly the whole idea of naming and personifying my self-conscious sounded ludicrous and stupid. But then the more I started paying attention, the more I saw patterns in my self-talk and my behavior. And, now, I feel more in control of myself than I have in years!
It's just an idea.....take it for what it's worth. It's helped me deal with my eating lizard, my fighting lizard, and my career lizard (he tells me that my ideas for making money working at home are useless and I should just accept being poor for the rest of my life.) GRRRRRRRRR.
Sometimes, for fun, I imagine me strangling the crap out of that stupid little gecko from the GEICO commercials.
Well, guess I gotta go....I've rambled long enough
Faye you have come so far! That is just inspiring to everyone! You are such a doll! I also have a question for you. Remember the recipe for meringue choco chips you sent me? Do you have the nutrition info on that? I was thinking about making them.
I also passed off that cheesy chicken, green bean recipe to my mom, so thanks...Tonya I think...for that one! I look forward to having that!
Yesterday I get all 4 points. Back on track. My downfall seems to be that I eat more over the weekends. Portions are easy to control during work when i can watch crazily what I eat...but on the weekend when I am running around, it's harder to keep track and to know where I am at.
I am up to 25 min on the treadmill and whoo boy, am I proud! I am kicking ***. It looks like my workout partner won't be joining the gym with me...so I'm still debating what to do. $67 a month (the per month rate if you do the 3-month $200 plan) is a little steep. But I think my fitness and health is worth it. I keep hoping that my job interview will hear results sometime soon, cause if I get this job, I know I"ll be in the area for at least a year and can easily do that membership. But...if I don't...who knows! And my trial membership is up next Tuesday. I already called the lady 2 times about it, but last time she got a little snippy and said that "no we haven't made a decision YET." So I'm deadly afraid to call again...and it's been nearly a month since my interview. ARGH!
Anyway, today is going well for me...had cheerios and better 'n eggs for breakfast...120 cal total! Looks like some mushroom soup for lunch and that's like 175, so not too bad. I had some almonds this morning...just 10 and that is 80 calories! Geez, you never realize how much something has in it. I also had just a bit...less than an INCH of chocolate chip cookie. It was all melty and warm, so how could I resist! LOL
Anyway...Oh and Target Tuesday...I can't say why I eat. I definitely like food. I love the taste on my tongue more than something in my belly, but I don't know how to get over that. It's like...if I could just check on some chocolate, taste it, and spit it out, I would LOL. I know that makes no sense. I also eat out of boredom. Blah, I'm bored...might as well chew. LOL I need to figure out how to get over that.
Time for Serious Fun #15
for your points yesterday. You are doing a great job!
Double sized, supesized,biggie sized, however you choose to describe it, I didnt even really taste it, just inhaled it pretty much. and all the 
man I could have a nice little sizeable savings acct with all that "dough", well ladies that is in "my other life", not going to dwell there, sometimes I have to 
, because it does put into perspective how much better I am doing now!! gives me the kick in the @*! I need to get back on track!!
for your points! Good for you. Work on it slowly, it will come!
I don't hate the food. It is not its fault I put the wrong kinds or too much in my mouth. I use food to satisfy wayyyyyyy to much instead of finding other ways to satisfy myself. I need to work harder not to "head" eat. I am sitting here trying to honestly think about food and what draws me to it. Again, I am a head food eater a lot of the time. Not just that my head says I am hungry when I know I am not, but that commercials or anything visual along with even thinking about something like a dessert or pizza will head me to the fridge. I have to start working on breaking that cycle!
, I don't eat it with butter, just lemon juice. So, it's healthy protein right?
for lots and lots of points today! Don't worry about yesterday or tomorrow or even tonight, just focus on the present.
THANKS FOR SUBMITTING THE PICTURES YOU ARE SUCH AN INSPIRATION!
Right on Faye!!!!!!
off!!!!
