Alright ladies,
Just wanted to get us started for the week.
I did well yesterday, didn't finish my paper but I did make it to the gym! Not so worried about the paper though...I've always been a procrastinator! Anyway last week I officially hit the 10lb weight loss mark and I've changed my weigh in day from Monday to Wednesday since for some reason that is the only day there is ever any difference on the scale!

Well here goes for today

1. I'm upping my exercise this week....GO TO THE DAMN GYM!
2. Begin mental preparation for the company holiday party this Wednesday!
3. Holy Water Batman!
4. Survive my last week of classes, ever...and finish that damn paper!
5. Keep up the good work!

Hope all is well with everyone...
Cheers
L

1.staying on diet again
2. doing more cardio this week
3.buying new pants cause mine are falling off

Sunshine: Your last week of classes EVER, wow what a feeling that must be. Congrats on the 10 lb weightloss and kudos for you to making it to the gym with your busy schedule!!!!

Chelseamb, great job on needing new pants, it's a great feeling.

I am very excited today, Monday is my weigh-in day and I am down 5 pounds!!! So that's 2 weeks in a row for me having a 5 pound weightloss, kinda explains why when I went shopping on Friday I was down to a size 14!! So yeah, I'm pretty pleased.

My commitments for today:

Drink lots and lots of water, I just read another article about how important it is especially when trying to lose weight. If I have a chance maybe later I will try and find it and tell you guys more about it.
Continue to stay on track with the food, under 1300 calories
No nibbling
Exercise and more exercise, sneak it in where ever I can.

Have a great day everybody!!!!!!

Happy Monday to Everyone!! I have to say that I'm glad the weekend is over... it wasn't a total bust, but I didn't do great either. If I were giving myself a grade it would be a "C". I have not been indulging in the holidays like I usually do, but I'm not exactly losing weight either. But, I guess not gaining weight is kind of a victory in itself. Anyhow.... on to the good stuff.

My commitments for the day
I will drink LOTS of water
I will control my carb intake
I will find my sweatin to the oldies tapes so my son can dance with me
I will plan healthy meals for the rest of the week
I will take my vitamins

Okay ladies.... good luck to all!!!!!!!!!

Rockinrobin - Congratulations!!!!!!!!! Lots of victory dances for you

A size 14?!?!?! That's awsome!! Your CW also puts you at less than 100lbs to lose to get to your goal weight! You have hit a HUGE milestone!! I'm so happy for you Congratulations!!!

Gym visits, new smaller pants, pounds lost, not pigging out like usual over the holidays?!? Who are we?! I'll tell ya-- people who are not living like fat women anymore! Woo hoo!

I'm down 3.2 pounds for the week, and that's with the scale not moving AT ALL for the last 4 DAYS. I'm laying siege to my scale. I will keep at this until it moves. I even picked up something heavy and got on it again to make sure it wasn't broken. Wishful thinking. But 3.2 is great and I just keep thinking about how fast it will move when it budges!

So for today:
Eat smart going out to lunch today.
Spend some time on the elliptical if it doesn't hurt.
Think positive thoughts about myself. The weight didn't go on in a week, and it won't come off in a week either.
Drink water. Robin, when you have time let me know what you learned about it, I need a better reason because it doesn't taste good to me.

Happy day, everyone!

Nalynn I hear you about the weekend being over, they are indeed super duper difficult. Although for some reasons I find Friday nights and Saturdays to be more difficult then Sunday. Thanks for the dance. But keep in mind that's a size 14 SKIRT, not pants. I haven't worn pants in years, because of my weight, I have calves like tree trunks and they seem to be the only thing that is not budging . In fact I'm so frustrated over it I think I will be buying a tape measure so I can really see if they are indeed not budging. Hopefully they will catch up to the rest of me, but for now it's pretty darn bleak.

CC, What a great weight loss for you, so exciting. I find the scale does not budge til the weekend, I simply don't understand it. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but on the weekends I allow myself a few extra carbs and I can't help but think this is the reason.

Anyway that article was incredible, I got it from ediets, which I once looked into and they very often email me fantastic things. If you'd like I'd be more then happy to email it to you. If you'd like you can send me a PM, whatever you'd like. I'll tell you about the water, but there was 7 other really, really helpful things.

Water Intake: From the standpoint of water intake and fat loss, you want to be in a position where the liver is converting stored fat to energy. The liver has other functions but this is one of its main jobs. Unfortunately, another of the liver's duties is to pick ;up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly (more than most people realize).

If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do the work of the kidneys along with its own (lowering it's total productivity in the process). The liver then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently. If you allow this to happen, you're setting yourself up to store fat because you'e made the lver less efficient at turning stored body fat to energy. Usually if you multiply .55 times your weight, that should be enough in ounces of water to suffice. Water is the under rated fat-loss tool.

There are seven more things, maybe each day I will type something different to share with everybody here. Very informative stuff.

Great Job Ladies!!
NESunshines-Congrats on your 10 lb. mark! I am stuck at 9 and can't wait till I hit that 10 lb mark. And it must feel so good to be so close to the finish line.. I can't wait to graduate!
Chelseaamb-Have fun shopping (jealous) hehe.
RockinRobin-5 lbs is awesome!! You guys are all so inspiring.
CC-3.2 lbs is great... even with no exercise you gotta be doing somthing right!
Nalynn-You better believe not gaining weight is a victory! Take it a day at a time! Just stay focused and stick to your commitments! We all have those weeks and plus like you said.. it's the holidays.

I haven't posted in a few days. I had a busy busy weekend. Went out to eat twice :S... I knew this was going to be the hard part of my diet. I didn't do bad.. I did way better than I would've done in the past-baby steps right. I know I didn't do the best I could do though. But this is all a big learning process and I'm learning what I can and can't eat and that the food isn't worth not seeing the scale move!! I lost 3 pounds last week which is great! I wanted to lose 1-2 pounds a week so 3 pounds is fine with me, but I would like to do better when I go out to eat with my friends! Anyway, I love getting on here and reading your posts, you all are doing so well!!
This week is finals week which is really stressful but I'm not going to let it get to me!! I am so determined to hit the 160's but next week!! Also, my boyfriend told me that he is going to take me anywhere I want for springbreak! You better believe it is going to be somewhere with a beach--gotta look good in that swimsuit. Now I deffinately have somthing to work for!!

my commitments:
-LOTSA WATER!!!
-Do my pilates vidoe AND the treadmill
-Stay under 1300 calories
-keep reminding myself of how good it will feel once my finals are out of the way!
-Look online at swimsuits I would like to wear for springbreak

My Goals for Today:

Drink 8 glasses of water and 3 glasses of unsweetened tea AND NO SODA
Study Vitamin A and its properties (I'm learning about nutrients.)
Take 3 supplements
Today's diet should consist primarily of raw foods
30 minutes or jogging or 60 minutes of DDR
Buy the ingredients for apple butter

My commitment for this afternoon is to:

Stick to my eating plan and ignore the siren call of peanut butter

Realized I probably won't be able to post tomorrow until after my trip the the "big city" so here's tomorrow's:

Eat mindfully
No cheesecake or any other high-sugar item
Take my vitamins

I have a question for those who have lost 50+lbs or more. I've been meeting with a holistic health counselor and have been learning a lot about my body, habits, how to eat, etc... But I'm still having the hardest time losing a substantial amount of weight. I'll go a few weeks with really good habits, slack off, gain back, and repeat this cycle. I've gained and lost the same 3-7lbs about 4 times over the past few months and can't seem to get myself over this hurdle. I know it takes commitment, perseverance, and all of that but I can't seem to stick with it. Part of me still believes that something magical is going to happen that's going to allow me to stick with it.

So I guess my question is how do you stay committed? Did something just click with you that made you stay committed? How do you do it everyday? My family has a history of diabetes so I'm trying to avoid that fate, but I can't stay on track. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I have been lurking for the past few days again after a month or so of being offline. I like this commitment thread and thought I would join right in.

My commitments for the week:
Drink 3-4 quarts of water.
Stay away from any sweets and bread.
Do 30 minutes of cardio.
Keep my portions reasonable.

I got on the scale yesterday when I returned to the gym after 2 months of being away. (My scale is broken at home which might be a GOOD thing...I am addicted to the scale.) It was actually kind of cool. I was 11 pounds thinner than I was this time last year. I felt accomplished there. I also have been reading "YOU on a Diet" and I think when the winter break starts I am going to follow the two week eating plan in it. I like the book because it explains a lot of things in there about why fat does what it does and why things happen to our bodies.

It actually kind of woke me up in some respects.

I also kicked caffiene which I had no clue about how addicted I was to it. I feel like I actually went through withdrawal with the chills and shakes. I spent two days going straight home from work and getting right into bed. When I thought through my intake I was actually drinking about 4-5 cups worth of the stuff. I have trid really hard to stay away from anything with caffiene and it has made a difference for me. Once a week I might have one diet coke but just to help me stay awake a little later than I usually do.

Have a great week.

Welp, I'm joining in this week... I have my Do's for the whole week, and maybe I'll pick one extra for the daily

My Daily Do’s :
DO drink 6 bottles of water.
DO eat within my calorie range. (1500-1950 a day)
DO avoid soda.
DO Exercise at least 4 days a week.
DO journal everyday, logging food and activity.

My Do for the day, is focus on reducing my sugar intake... I love coffee, can't live without coffee, but I use an obscene amount of sugar... today, I measured out my sugar for my coffee, 2 teaspoons per cup... a HUGE decrease, but, guess what, I liked it... go figure, I didn't NEED 50 pounds of sugar :|


Sorry about my lack of individual replies... still getting the hang of all of this again... rofl, I feel so lost :| I'll get it again.. ha, I promise

Lola06, good questions. Sometimes I don't do it every day, which is why a thread like this is helpful. Initially, however, my desire to lose weight overrode everything else. And when that desire waned, which happened after I started to look and feel better, I wrote out contracts for myself that spelled out exactly what I needed to do for a month or six weeks. Those contracts got me through some hard times. Like an alcoholic, you often have to take it one day at a time and sometimes even one hour at a time. Sometimes I'd post here that I was having a bad day and needed support to get me through the next few hours. Please feel free to do that, everyone! As someone said, you've made that commitment to go to work (school, be a SAHM, etc.) every day, and you just do it, so if you can make that same kind of commitment to yourself, then you'll be able to stay on track.

Commitment to me is making sure that my gym bag is packed each night and my alarm set so that I have no excuses to avoid going to the gym. Commitment is ensuring that I only have healthy food in the house, and that the peanut butter jar is on the top shelf at the back where I can't reach it (unless I really, really want it). And forgiving yourself for a lapse in judgement, instead of making it an excuse to binge for days, is another tool to stay committed to yourself. If you take more steps forward than you do backwards, you'll get where you're going eventually.

Cute pic, Casey Gail!

Thanks for joining in, Dolly and PNG! I get a lot out of seeing everyone post and meet goals for the day.

Lola06, I think Sheila said it best, but I'll add in some of my own experience. I lost over 120 pounds once before (I can't believe I gained it back - it makes me so sad) and for me there was just something that kicked in in my brain that said very calmly, "I don't want to live like this anymore." No huge bang or anger, but a realization that I was in control and I didn't have to be fat anymore if I didn't want to be. I think the much harder thing is how to hang on to that control once you've gotten to the end of the journey. I learned it wasn't about getting to goal, it was about wanting to stay there more than wanting to eat. I don't think I worked through all of the reasons why I ate, which is why I turned back to it when some big stresses set in.

Anyway, you just have to decide you're going to do it and with every victory over the urge to give up, it gets a little easier to keep doing it. Then the high of watching the numbers on the scale drop kicks in. Then smaller clothes, compliments, etc. But it can't just be about those things, as cool as they are, because once you're at your goal that stuff fades away quickly. You have to be in the mindset that it's forever. So pick your plan wisely. You'll be "friends" a long time!