Ammi i will make some great food choices! i am so done with that bad bad week last week!

Jill -- YAY on the 2 pounds!!!!!!!!! I know you were trying to buckle down and it looks like it's working! Just keep trying to curb those habits every day. You know how to do it as well as anyone (and better than most!)

BTW, how is the walking up to the apartment working?

Crock -- Wow, what a story about the pups (and how you got to them!!).

Ammi -- If you ever start to lose your focus, go back and read what you just wrote about why you have to lose this weight. I know I was feeling the same way and I think it's been a big factor for me too.

As part of a class I was teaching last winter, I ran into some research looking at persuasion which seems to relate to this journey for many of us. The researchers have learned that FEAR does a lot to change people's attitudes. In this case, our fears of the restrictions on our lives or, you know, death, contribute to us feelingwe should lose weight.

However, what was interesting to me is that fear isn't enough to change behavior. That is, being scared of dying and knowing we should lose weight isn't enough to get us to do it. In order to shift behaviors, several other factors need to be present.
1) you need to have specific ideas about what to do. In this case, a plan like WW, etc.

2) you need to believe that the plan works -- what they call response efficacy.

3) you need to believe that YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL -- what they call self-efficacy.

I think that groups like 3fc play a huge role especially in the last 2 efficacy components. I knew that I should do something to lose weight, and I knew what to do for a long time... but I wasn't sure about the success. 3fc has given me, among other things, some great examples of success... and people who seem like me... not just people who need to lose 20 pounds or so (not that there's anything wrong with that)...

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but I saw so many connections between that literature on "fear appeals" and our situations here!!!! I guess a big message should be, to eveyrone, YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

Oh, and yes, Onederland is quite official! I'm even below 200 when I weigh at night now!!

I hon

Well, don’t anyone tell my DH, but I’m in LUV! Met the new doc today and he was WONderful! He actually listened to my heartbeat instead of waving the stethoscope and pronouncing ‘yup, got one’ like most of them do. I have cough meds, antibiotics and a Rx for Meridia IF I should decide to try it. It’s $170 though, so it ain’t happenin’ anytime soon! It was my idea, not his, so don’t think that he was pushing it on me. He was in fact impressed and complimentary on the weight loss I’ve had so far, and wouldn’t give me either of the drugs I’ve tried in the past. I just feel like even having the piece of paper with the ‘script is like having one more weapon in my arsenal.

A year ago I ordered a pair of shirts to give lessons in – almost a ‘uniform’. They’re cute polo style shirts with checkers on the collar and sleeve cuffs, and embroidery down the right side of my four fav equine disciplines – hunter over fences, dressage, western trail class, and driving. They didn’t fit when I ordered them, but today I put one on. Perhaps it’s a bit snug at the hip, but certainly wearable. It’s not just that it fits, it’s that I’m really so ready to RIDE it all myself again. I don’t care what that song says – My boots are NOT made for walking… they’re for ridin’!!!

AMMI – WELL DONE ON THE 5 DOWN!!!! You are SO with the program!!! This is great!!!

SHARON – I’ve tried a couple plain eggbutt snaffles, in nickel and copper (he Really hated the copper) and a french link, but this one is called a “happy mouth” bit. It’s a snaffle but the mouth piece is supposedly apple flavored hard plastic. I was apprehensive, especially because it was almost $50 US, but it did the trick. He seemed much more comfortable right from the start. I’ve looked at several bitless bridles, but they all seem to put so much pressure on so many points, that I didn’t care for them. At least I know what my hands are doing with a bit, and when you compete, they’re often required. As for just trotting? I live for that day! I’m reaching a point where I just can’t bare always standing on the sidelines watching others in a sport that’s both my passion and forbidden to me.

SASSY – enjoy your time off!

XENA – I hate summer in Texas, too. That’s why I live about 700 hundred miles north of it… (and about 600 east of it.) But come January – Texas is a WONderful place! Then I visit all I can!

MISTI – I hope you made it thru lunch OK. Restaurant food is so much poison.

CROCK – that’s such a neat image of your dog encouraging you to come under the house to see the pups. I hope you’ll be posting pics?

ANGIE – I for one LUVED your kitty stories! I’m all for critter stories of any kind. I know I have to try not to ramble too much about my own.

JULIET, WYLLENN, LUAN, JILLY, BRENDA, PATTI, Miss DOGPAL, Miss KAYLEY and everyone else I’ve missed – KEEP FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT!

Val -- What a great NSV to fit into those shirts! You gotta "get on the horse" NOW, doncha??

You've lost 50 pounds, and that's something to be proud of! SO GLAD you like your new DOC!!!!

Juliet - I can hardly believe it myself, just 2 lbs more til I get to a 50 lb loss. Thanks for the congrats I am sure now that your circumstances have changed that dieting will be so much easier for you and you will carry on having great losses like you have the last few weeks

Patti - glad to hear you so positive about making good food choices next week. I am proud of you

Heather - so glad to hear that you are officially in Onderland You must be feeling so proud of yourself! And rightly so

If I ever ever start to go off track, please remind me again to go look at the post I wrote earlier. It really should help me stay on track. I enjoyed reading the information you shared with us. I definitely have all 3 of those steps, the WW plan, the belief it can work, and the belief that it will and is working for me

Valerie - so glad to hear that your visit to the doctors went so well. It makes all the difference when you actually have a doctor that really does their job well. I hope now that you have meds you will be on the mend soon.

Excellent NSV with the tops for work. I think times like that mean so much more than what the scale says.

Medium is about to start, I have to go, I love the show! Bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi: Your motivation for losing weight is the exact same reason I am here as well. Additionally, I feel different about this new round of weight loss as well. The constant lower back pain, the trouble sleeping, the challenge of picking stuff up off the floor, etc...I just got tired of the effort it was taking to do these everyday activities. Of course, like everyone else, I wish the weight would drop off quicker, but really, my mindset is on health and becoming an active person, not a sedentary one.

Jen

By the way, what does NSV stand for? I've tried looking online for an answer, but can't seem to find it.

Hi Everyone,

Wow I was only on here last night and already it feels like I missed something hahah!!

My cats... well, I have no children, and not looking like they are in our plan right now. So, our cats are like children to us. I adore them, and they seem to worship me, which I really like!! They really are quite more active than 'regular' ol cats. Prior to these guys, I had heard that siamese were mean, nasty cats. These 2 at least, are the very opposite. My husband got them about 4 months before we met, but really they are more 'mine' now hahhaa I've always been a cat lover. I love any animals really, but cats are low maintenance. I'd have a dog too but I'm not sure my cats would allow it.

I see that Ammi has lost almost 50 pounds. Wow! As everyone else said.. amazing. I see a lot of these '___ pounds lost' around here and I hope to join the ranks one day down the road.

My monthly cycle is comin up soon so I'm bloating up like a balloon here with water, not sure how the scale will report tomorrow. I guess that's normal but what a rip off for us women? pfft.

Oh yeah and I am wanting to know, what does NSV stand for, I keep trying to figure it out!!!

Hope everyone's monday is going well

abbeycat -- NSV = non-scale victory! (sorry!)

I try to focus more on other issues than the scale ... this week, getting to Onederland, I was a lot more scale focused than usual! .. but normally I focus on my behaviors... eating and exercise. I know if I do those well, eventually the scale will follow!

NSVs also happen when we get compliments, fit into smaller clothes, or find other things we can do when we weigh less!

Jen - I am glad that you have made the choice to make life easier by losing weight. It feels good to take control doesn't it. I know what you mean about wishing the weight would come off much quicker. I guess we just have to keep in mind how long it took us to get this size and that should help us to appreciate that we will lose it quick when it comes to the time scale of things.

Angie - I was exactly the same as you when I first started here, I had my small but wonderful loss to show on my ticker, but I couldn't wait to get to double figures and so on and so on. Now that I near 50 lbs lost I look forward to getting to 100 I don't have a time scale that I want to do it in, I just want it to happen I WILL make it happen, and so will you!

That's cute that the cats were your hubbies and now they are yours It's sweet that they are your babies, although I am sorry that you think that baby babies aren't in your plan now. Still, on days when I could gladly rip my hair out over my kids (teenagers now) I would happily swap them for cute cats

Heather - I'm with you, I like to see the numbers go down on the scales, but it's the NSVs like clothes fitting loosely, or being able to do something I couldn't do before that are far more important to me. The numbers on the scales are just an added bonus

Ok it's bed time now, so take care all,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi--Congrats on the great weight loss. You are doing so good!

To everyone else thanks for the kind words about the way I was feeling about having that slice of cake. I am doing much better today. I had a laugh because in the past I could have ate the whole cake with no problems . Sometimes I wonder why I didn't have weight loss surgery (besides the fact that my insurance woul not cover it ). The truth is I wanted to do it the so called hard way. Now as I type that I now understand it is truly a life change. In my journey to be a healthy me I refuse the word diet! I am not on a diet! I tell people I just eat better. I really hadn't made bad choices since I started and that it is why it was so hurtful to me to eat that slice of cake. However I feel strong again an maybe once I reach that 100 lbs loss I might even have another slice...that or a new shirt. I think think I better go with the shirt..I on't like to rewar myself with food.

Hello Chickies~~

Don't faint from shock--it's really me. Sorry I've been away for so long, but I have so much personal CRAP going on that I just haven't been up to posting here. It's so hard to be positive when you feel like your whole life is falling apart. It's just man trouble, but I'm honestly thinking of giving up and leaving him. It just hurts me too much when I know that he's with the wench.

The good news is that my weight has been consistent and the scale said 235 this morning. I'm so happy about that. I know that if I could get myself to the gym that I would be back to losing weight. So I have come here and decided that I'm not just going to read--I'm going to have to post again. You ladies are one of my biggest motivators so...MOTIVATE ME, darn it!

Ammi--I am so proud of you--down 48 lbs. (Is that what I saw?) Keep it up because you're doing so well.

Valerie--Congrats about the shirts. I bought myself a pair of 24 jeans that I couldn't button before, and now they are too big for me. It feels so good when that happens. Yay for you.

Wyllen--I can't wait until I'm with you in ONE-DER LAND! I am so, so happy for you. Congratulations and keep it up. I loved what you posted about fear not being enough to change behaviour. I'm copying it to read when I'm feeling a little bummed out.

Jilly--Excellent job on deciding to cook. Good for you. I also copied what you wrote in the last thread. About the heated debates and choices. It struck a chord with me.

Crock--loved the story about the puppies. Lucky you gets to smell all of that wonderful puppy breath--I'm a little jealous. Your Mama dog loves you and trusts you a lot in order to lead you to her pups. That tells us that you're an even better person than we already think you are. Dogs know.

Well, I have to go. I'll try to come by tomorrow night. Stay strong.

((((hugs))))Vicki

Hi everyone

dolfingirl2000
Nice to meet you, I'm new here! Sounds like you're going through some stuff similar to where I've been in the past, from what you write there. Since I don't know you I won't push any of my 'cheating man' comments but I'll just say keep your chin up and you'll get through it. cause you need it.

AmmiUK
Thanks for the note. I feel pretty confident that soon enough I'll be where you are, and whoa.. by then, you'll prob be at or close to the big 100. won't that be cool???!

jillybean720
Yeah I have heard of apartments charging pet rent before. It's just a money grab in my opinion, and also partially to try to dissuade you from having pets. I think having 2 cats is better than 1, then they can have a friend to play with and be a lazy bum with in the afternoons.

rkrs6673
Hi! WoW I see how much weight you've lost.. that's a lot!! You are doing so well, you deserve credit for sure. And congrats on not eating a LOT of cake. Little bits.. they don't hurt you. Everything in moderation of course.

dolfingirl2000

WOW I just noticed your ticker and how much weight you have lost!!!!!!!!!! Yeow! You're amazing!