My name is Annette, I am 44 and I am looking at about 110 pounds to lose.
I have been on diets all my life.....I get very discouraged when I dont have support. My daughter needs to lose weight as well, and so we are trying to get our behinds in gear. DH says he is on board, and then goes and buys a bag of cheetos for himself the very next day! Go figure! He just had a total hip replacement and will do so much better if he gets some weight off as well
This coming week I am going to focus of doing Wii Fit Plus at least 3 times a week, this is a huge step for me. I am exhausted when I get home, and it is hard to fit it in.
I am so glad you started this thread Annette. I am starting my journey too and was looking for just something like this as I take the baby-steps.
I am a 42 year old SAHM of two. I was thin growing up and into my 20's. But the weight has creeped in very quickly in my 40's and I have to adjust my self-image and acknowlege the overweight me. I have about 25-30 pounds to lose. It makes a big difference as I am only 5'1.5" and 150 lbs (though the scale read today at 148.4).
I am a vegetarian and love good food. I had somehow allowed processed food to sneek into my diet in the last few years as I just did not pay attention to my diet. It is stopping now. I am taking time to think ahead of time and cook the meals I enjoy first before I start catering to my kids' and DH's wants. It is working out so far.
As for exercise, just started with Jennifer Kries's DVDs. I am rotating through 3 of the dvds and going for about 30 min. walks once or twice a week. Today's workout was her sculpting dvd with some very light weights.
Can't guarantee I'll be able to post everyday, but I'll do my best.
I'm 44, 5' 4" and just under 200 pounds. I've been trying to lose weight the last 20 years and the scale continually goes in the wrong direction. I've been at this weight for the last 8 years, after I quit smoking. Prior to that I hovered around 175. In 1991 I weighed 145 (wedding day). Thought I was fat then...what I would give to still weight that now!!
I'm counting calories (loosely...I have NO discipline to remember to do it everyday). Most important, I have gotten off my butt and back on the treadmill. I've worked up to 3 miles with intervals. It feels good and it's doable so I'm sticking with it. When I can't get to the gym I try to use the nordic-track in the basement. Though I must say there's something about being at home that discourages exercise. That's one for me to examine!
What do you all cook when it's super hot outside? (~99 degrees today)
Here's a great recipe we have at least every other week in the summer, great for large groups too! The recipe came originally with couscous, but I use bulgar wheat or quinoa.
Bear with me, I dont measure alot of things, but this recipe is VERY flexible!
Quinoa is a definate superfood, It is a grain----errrr, technically no, but considered a grain. For one cup of cooked quinoa it is 222 cals, 4 grms fat, 39 carbs, and 8 grms protien. Excellent source of protien! (best place to get it is Costco)
Anyway, I cook about 1 1/2 cups of quinoa or bulgar wheat according to instructions of pkg. That makes a 3-4 person serving. Let that cook. Bulgar wheat is just a matter of pouring boiling water over it, syran wrapping the bowl and letting it set--even over night.
Starting with your base of cooled quinoa, bulgar wheat, (or brown rice or couscous) You can go several different directions.
Tex Mex-- can of rinsed black beans, chopped onion, tomato, black olives (watch calories!) cilantro, chopped garlic, japeleno if you like, or green pepper, red pepper, corn, etc..options endless. Make a dressing with a little olive oil, lime juice, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper! Let set at least 2 hours in the fridge.....serve alone, stuffed in romaine leafs, over the top of fresh tomato slices, in whole wheat tortilla, or under a grilled chicken breast
Mediterranean -- start with your grain, add sun dried tomatoes, green onions, fresh oregano, basil, . dressing with lemon, olive oil, sea salt and garlic
Greek, cooled grain, toss with basil, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumber, and feta cheese
When you make it with quinoa you have your protien, stuff it in a pita and you are ready to go! Have fun.
I make this for a camping trip every year where we serve 80 people! I made two HUGE bowls of it and it is GONE! we add pine nuts sometimes, lots of garlic, lots of lemon and olive oil, sea salt, cucumbers, grape tomatoes cut in half, green peppers, and kalamata olives!
Thanks for the salad recipe Annette, looks very promising.
I cook mainly Indian/other Asian/Mexican foods. I am always happy to try new things. Like all veggies and learning to like more fruits.
Today's breakfast was coffee and oatmeal. I cooked oatmeal with a smidge of saffron and cardamom, 1 tbsp raisins,1 tsp pecans and topped with a splash of milk and 1 tsp brown sugar. Mid-morning snack was a bowl of cantaloupe. Lunch was a sandwich on whole-wheat bread piled with cucumber, avocado, onions, alfafa sprouts and a hard-boiled egg. I used 1 tsp raspberry chipotle sauce as dressing. It's weird how I wanted alfafa sprouts, I normally scoff at them. I seems that cleaner I eat, I actually crave the good-for-me foods. Had a snack of banana chips and 2 lentil dumplings(indian) in the late afternoon. I don't think I have appetite for dinner. I normally do almost all my eating between 9am-4pm.
Family's dinner is Garbanzo curry with some homemade Indian bread.
Hello everyone,
I would love to join this thread.
I am just getting started (re-started) on Monday.
I lost 30 pounds (of 100) last fall and regained 20.
I'm turning it around now.
I'm still struggling with an all or nothing mentality... meaning if I go off my diet I tend to jsut start eating for the rest of hte day as if every meal is my last chance to eat...
I love to exercise so that's lucky.
But it's hard at 236 pounds. Not impossible though
I would love to share this journey with you all and hopefully be able to support you as well.
Well, I've continued to stay on plan. Haven't weighed myself in a few days though. I'm not the biggest fan of exercise but I know it was doing me a lot of good and I'm anxious to start back up again. I'm also anxious about a medical test I have coming up this week (I can't go back to the gym until I get the results of this test).
I hope the rest of y'all are coming along well. I'm glad this thread was started.
Great thread. My current mini-goals are: for weight loss, to get down to 136 pounds (currently hovering at 141), which for my height would put me into the non-overweight BMI range. And for fitness, to be able to do one single pull-up or chin-up unaided (not even close right now).
I just discovered this site a few days ago, even though I've been dieting since mid-February. I'm 44, married and mother of 3 and a Neurologist. I work more than full-time, and the hardest thing for me about losing weight has been trying to find the time for exercise. I already felt guilty about not spending enough time at work and not spending enough time with the kids before I tried to work in an exercise routine. I currently go to the gym on weekends, and either do exercise DVDs another 2 days per week or go out jogging/biking. My oldest son (11) is also overweight, and I have been trying to convince him to come jog/bike with me, but he is both sedentary and stubborn. I'd love to know how those of you with multiple time sinks manage to work exercise into your day, and if you have any family members that you've succeeded in convincing to "join you for the ride" (Mikkijoe, I read on another of your posts that your 13 yo dtr. is dieting with you; that's awesome).
I'm a 45 year old mom of an 8 year old and have a regular office job that keeps me chained to a desk most of the day. Like most of you, i've lost it and gained it back again over and over and over. I've been overweight all my life (I was just looking at family pictures of a pudgy me at 3 years old!) I'm having a tough time with exercise right now because I have tennis elbow (from using the mouse at work) and keep slipping a rib in my back which is very painful. I'm feeling quite discouraged these days.
I've decided this time to try for a low GI diet because I really think I have a true addiction problem with sugar/carbs and I've been doing some research on the subject.
I started today and was doing pretty well until my mom pulled out the chocolate cheesecake today after dinner. Anyway, tomorrow is another day and hopefully the start of my journey to a slimmer healthier me.
I used a site like this when I quit smoking 2 years ago (and gained 30 pounds in the process) and it really helped with the smoking. So i'm going to treat this whole process like I did with the smoking and check in everyday. (if only they made a patch for this!!)
Cheers..LDE
Last edited by LastDitchEffort; 06-27-2010 at 08:19 PM.
I am almost 44 yr old divorced mother of 2 beautiful daughters ages 24 and 20.
My goals for this week are to
...walk or bike before my work day begins
...eat breakfast
...no soda only water and crystal lite pkts
...healthy snacks
...journal every evening before bed
...do some kind of fun and different exercising over the weekend.
ANY SUGGESTIONS OF SOMETHING FUN OR DIFFERENT? WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR IDEAS!
Very Odd, I posted three times this weekend and none of them showed up! So much for posting from my phone.
Moondance-great job on the tredmill, I am no where close to that...Is that Rapberry Chipolte from Costco? I have tried it there, and heard so many people like it. We make several batches of pepper jelly in the fall, and sometimes add berries or apricots....good stuff as a condiment!
Jane-Processed foods are such a problem with so many people, but as we get further away from them we feel so much better!
Teresa--many people 'suffer' from the all or nothing mentality. What about rewarding yourself for SMALL goals, like a point system? Every meal you are on plan you get a point, every full day you are on plan you get 3 bonus points, And every week you are on plan you get 10 bonus points .....50 points you reward yourself with something small....new book, eyeshadow, afternoon at the coffee shop, etc....would that be something that motivates you to take it one step at a time?
Gina--exercise is extremely difficult for me, I hate it! Detest it, Dread it, Hate it.......need I go on? But so glad that you are having these tests done and taking care of yourself!
Neurdoc--I certainly understand what you mean about finding enough time. And as mothers we tend to not make time for ourselves. I too work more than full time, and I am on call 24/7.......but--for me personally- I do have time to do things that I really want to do...hmmmm
LDE--I am at a desk about 70% of the time, one thing you can do while at your desk is to really focus on your posture and keeping your core balance...tightening up your stomach mucles, holding yourself up strait....not an easy task for everyone
And for me---well I did a small work out this weekend, I ate well, we made brownies and I had one 2x3 piece Sat and half a piece Sunday, that is really good for me.....chocolate speaks to me like a romance novel speaks to a lonely teenager......
My boss seems to think that I need to keep the office open on July 5, when 4th of July is a paid holiday, but falls on Sunday. SO I am going to argue that point today.....all my clients will be closed, I see no reason to have myself, and my staff here to twiddle our thumbs together....so we will see....
I packed a banana and some WW pasta and veggie marinara today, not enough food, but I guess that was better than nothing. Baby steps!
Annette, I finally read your recipe. Great ideas, thank you. I'm always looking for something new to try for the family. And thanks for starting the thread!
I'm on DAY ONE today. It's taken me so long to re-commit. Made it through breakfast which can often derail me... (mostly from picking on my 3 year old's food..) I feel good.
LDE, I think I'm like you with the addiction. I'm going for very low carbs especially to get this started. I had gotten to the point where I wanted (desperately) chocolate first thing in the morning and after every meal. Good luck. I hope we can support each other.
His Sunshine, nice to meet you! I have a suggestion for you... I got a rebounder for christmas and it's amazing. Takes up little space and I burn more calories on there in a shorter time than even the elliptical machine. (that's per my body bugg). It's no impact and pretty fun. It works great with Wii if anyone has that too.
Hi Neurodoc, Gina, SimpleJane!
I'm going to come here to post as reward for sticking with my plan all day. I'm taking it meal by meal for now. I know I'll get momentum going, but it's about turning around a speeding locomotive at this point.
Success: passed on tater tots with dinner and just had a huge salad to go with my turkey burger on home made WW bun.
Challenge: need to get back in line with my water intake. Need to pack better for the day at work
Yesterday" Kashi Shredded Vanilla wheat and a banana (no milk) Lunch, WW pasta with veggie marinara, 1 1/2 cups, Dinner Turkey Burger and green salad, Snack, WW roll with almond butter and 1 cup of milk. Not enough calories, need to work on that
Emotional: Scale of wreck to warrior.....leaning towards wreck, getting frustrated, mad a daughter and Husb for both gaining 2 pounds and not trying hard enough....Yeah, lets call that an emotional wreck......but first step is acknowleging before we can correct!
Mind, Body, and Spirit Accountability Thread
