Welcome, thazard! Celebrate your amazing body that grew that sweet lil thing!! I know it's easy to focus on the stretchmarks and all, but truly your body is miraculous!
Man, one thing I love about this group is that everyone is so energetic and supportive whether we have 20 pounds to lose or 200! Sometimes when you're on one end of that sepctrum, it's hard to understand what someone on the other end is going through exactly, so I'm really happy to see everyone staying positive
I'm at work already here this morning (it is 7:07am as I'm writing this). I'm hoping ot leave here around 2 today so I can go home and pack all the stuff Jeff inevitably will forget to pack while he is home today, toss him and the puppies in the car, and head up to his cousins' for the night. It's normally about an hour and a half to get there, but in DC afternoon traffic, it can take double that. You'd think that with so many people off work today, the traffic would be lighter than usual, but I'm willing to bet almost any amount it will actually be heavier
So, to top off my efforts of setting up for successful weight loss, TOM has arrived! Even though I've been on the pill for 9 years now (wow, has it been that long?!), I get cravings and an insatiable hunger for the first couple days. I don't have a lot of food at my office nor any money for the vending machine, so hopefully I will be okay. I'm also going to make sure I drink plenty of water.
I just want to get this last holiday of the season over with so I can return to my normally scheduled life, already in progress
Good morning all! Actually it's going to be goodnight for me in a few minutes since I worked a 12 hour night shift, but I wanted to check in and say hi. I had another successful night fighting off my coworkers attempts to feed me. I kept busy and ate my own pre-packed healthy snacks. Why do nurses eat so much? Geez....I didn't really notice until I stopped all the night shift snacking, how much we really consume in a night. Yikes... mostly salty, high fat stuff. I can't believe how much more energy I have now that I stopped eating all that stuff and not drinking coffee all night. Now I drink herbal tea and I feel more awake. Anyway...have a great day everyone. I'm so glad this group was formed.
P.S.
Lucky: Thanks for the recipe, sounds good. I'll try it this week and let you know how it goes.
MissingMyErica--isn't it amazing how much better we feel when we stop eating the junk? Youd' think that would make it a no-brainer to be eating healthier all the time, and yet I keep getting suckered back into eating junk again... I just noticed Lititz, PA, in your info. I have so been there--I went to college in York, PA, and my best friend lived in Manheim and worked in Lititz. Small world!
Just popping in for a minute....doing stuff around the house before we go out to a NYE party tonight.
I've been a scale hopper for many years, but this time around (which I am determined will be the LAST TIME) I am limiting that. I will concentrate more about how I FEEL than a number on the scale. At the most, I will weigh in once a week, but I will try to make it just once a month. I know how my mind operates...I can let those numbers tell me how I should be feeling. No more!! I will not be a slave to the scale!
So I went grocery shopping for the new year lastnight, and I was very dissapointed with the produce. I got a bunch of lean meats and other healthy snacks, but I need to make another trip for veggies. I'll try another store later today.
Jilly, I moved to the area about two yers ago. I commute down Rt. 50 to work in Arlington. I drive for 15 minutes and pass 5 or 6 McDonald's, most of which are on the same road!!! I just have to keep remembering how gross it makes me feel.
I feel like I have lived off of nothing but carbs for the past few weeks. I've been all foggy in the head and have had an un-ending hunger as which happens when you're addicted to sugars like me. I'm not looking forward to the headaches I am going to have for the next few days, but I am very much looking forward to all the energy I am going to have. I am also looking forward to not feeling constantly hungry.
I have been talking to one girl at work who is also trying to lose weight this year, and we have toyed with the idea of Banning all sweets and pastries from the Kitchen. Everyone would benefit... Has anyone tried this? Every day someone brings in a baked good of some sort. I should just kick myself in the butt and realize that fitting into booths at restaurants will feel so much better than eating junk ever will.
Wow...this thread moves fast,can't keep up with replying.
Jilly-Glad to hear Izzy is doing better,and hope everything works out for the best.
Ohh,going to try that recipe with the zucchini,sounds really good....and see,already forgotten who posted it ~smacks forehead~
I have my son's birthday party this weekend,but I've already planned the meal and I feel good about what choices I'll be making for that day.As for this entire week,I'm going to get in more water(hate drinking water when it's so cold out) and keep the bad carbs away from my mouth.
Just popping in for a minute....doing stuff around the house before we go out to a NYE party tonight.
I've been a scale hopper for many years, but this time around (which I am determined will be the LAST TIME) I am limiting that. I will concentrate more about how I FEEL than a number on the scale. At the most, I will weigh in once a week, but I will try to make it just once a month. I know how my mind operates...I can let those numbers tell me how I should be feeling. No more!! I will not be a slave to the scale!
See you all tomorrow--Happy New Year!!
I think I'm going to stop scale hoping at this point too. I actually started weighing daily sometime ago so that I could track the fluctuations and it served a great purpose...I did stop worrying so much about the pound or two that I would gain and lose as I was trying to reach my goal weight. Now, however, I've been thinking that had my behavior been driven by how I felt rather than the number on the scale then I might not have manged to packed 40 pounds back on. The fact of the matter is that my body felt like crap long before the numbers on the scale started going up. I truly believe that if I'd reacted to feeling sluggish and "puffy" I would have saved myself the trouble I'm in right now. But, I justified letting my healthy habits deteriorate because the scale didn't register THAT much damage. Until now, in what seems like overnight, it tells me I've gained 40 freaking pounds. I may eventually get back to a controlled daily weigh in but, for now, I just want to FEEL good again.
It has only been a couple of days but I do feel as though I've gotten my eating back under control. I'm staying between 1500-1600 calories and am already feeling more energetic. Exercise hasn't come so easily. I wish I had a good excuse but the real problem is that I've just been lazy and conjuring up excuses. So, I'm going to carve out a time for myself to go walking (I'd like to be able to type running as that is what I used to do but I know I'm going to have to work my way back up to that!) at that time every day this week. I really do enjoy exercising and so I don't know why the motivation does come more easily to me. But, it doesn't and I know that if I wait for motivation to knock on my door I'll still be sitting on the couch years from now. So, today is the day for me to begin adding physical activity back into my life.
Hi everyone, sounds like most of us has some sort of plans for New years eve. I'm not feeling 100% today, hope I'm not getting the flu...everyone around me has had it within the last week or so. I'm working only half a day so maybe I can grab a rest before the party starts.
Jen415- I'm a scale slave. I find it very hard to only weigh myself once a week. At curves I get weighed and measured once a month and its very hard to wait for each month to pass. This year I hope to be able to hop on the scale once a week and try not to think about it until the next week.
My name is Jen and I used to post from time to time on these boards years ago (long enough to forget my account! ) but even tho I stopped participating I still kept reading sporadically over the years because it is such a GREAT source of support, advice and wisdom for those of us trying to lose those "extra" pounds!
It is the last day of 2007 and even tho it was my goal to reach my goal weight this year by my birthday, Nov 1, I am not even the same weight I was on the first day of this year...I am 20 lbs over. Which is depressing to admit, but is also empowering because right at this moment I am taking responsibility for all of the innapropriate eating I have done this year (I am a really bad emotional eater! ) and all of the missed trips to the gym or even just walks! I came down with a bad sinus infection/bronchial thing early in the year and whereas before I was a cardio freak my respiratory system took quite a beating with my illness. This past Halloween I got all 3 of my wisdom teeth removed and couldn't exercise for a week but the pain was pretty intolerable for a few weeks before I got them removed as 1 of them was growing in sideways into another tooth and 1 was growing diagonally up against another tooth. Luckily the 3rd one was growing in pretty normally although there wasn't quite enough room for it and it was easy to remove.
Thankfully, I am all better now and I miss my walks if only for my sanity! I have a gym membership to the rec center which is less than a mile away and very easy to walk to. There's no excuse for me not going, especially since I got some new exercise gear for Christmas as well as an iPod nano that my sister, who has two, gave me. I am going to aim to exercise 6 days a week for at least 45 minutes and see where that gets me. I'll tweak my routine as I go.
The rec center also has an outdoor area with a bike trail and tennis courts. Here in Phoenix, AZ our weather is usually warm enough in the winter months to walk/bike/jog/whatever outside wearing only a tshirt and shorts altho it's been a little chillier than usual lately, especially at night.
I am not going to lie to myself anymore about getting healthy! I know everything there is to know about losing weight...I am just missing the support (which is where I hope you guys can help!) and the belief in myself that this is something I can do!
McMoo, I am also a huge sugar addict. My parents owned a candy store when I was 9 and that is the year skinny Jen became fat! Unfortunately the store was the only place I could see my Mom....she worked ALL the time....and of course the only things to eat there were comprised of sugar, simple carbs and fat! Since my Mom couldn't be home to cook, we had restaurant food catered to us (green beans were pretty much our only veggie) or walked to Pizza Hut or the local Chinese restaurant for take-out (shrimp fried rice was the only thing I ever ate there!). We also used the micro quite a lot to cook those corn dogs our parents were fond of buying! Where were the Omega 3 and 9 fatty acids? Where were the whole grains? Where were the fruits and veggies? Umm...pretty much nonexistent. Thank goodness that only lasted 9 months and ended up being a blip on our nutritional radar...my mother has evolved quite a bit in her nutritional knowledge and her cooking has become infinitely healthier.
I thinned out and became more of a "normal" weight as I grew older and got my growth spurt, plus I was a very active child and got a LOT of exercise in naturally from walking 6 miles total to/from school 5 days/week (some days I would take the subway, but I love to walk and am fast!); walking all over the city with my Mom and siblings to Museums, libraries and wherever else we needed to go, as opposed to being driven; riding my bike; and playing at recess/the park with my friends/siblings. However, after my initial weight gain even at my lowest weight I was in the high end of a "normal" BMI, if not just a little over. I have never liked my body...I am very much a pear shape...tiny waist, big hips, small boobs! Hopefully I will learn to love my body over the course of the year as I learn to treat it with respect! I think I may be up for a sugar ban as well...I have read enough literature on it to know there is no reason for us to be eating it, although I do think naturally existing sugar found in fruit is okay.
Thank you so much Jilly for creating this support group for 2008. It is just what I needed. You don't even know how much I need this, especially since I have only 1 person supporting me in the "real" world. I know this will be OUR year! We can ALL do this! Persistence will get you EVERYwhere!
And I know this was a pretty long introduction, so thanks for reading!
Oh, almost forgot! Don't party too hard and see you back here tomorrow to conquer the extra weight in 2008!
It's really cool that so many of you are from the DC/ VA area! I may be moving there in a 6 months for a job and It would be so nice to have people who can give me a heads up on what the lay of the land is like!
Other than that I'm just resisting the urge to have a final hurrah (read: binge) before New year's. I really want about it seems so counterintuitive to celebrate an unhealthy behavior...however I certainly didn't get to be 70+ pounds overweight being rational.
Wow, this thread is moving fast !! It is great to see so many motivated and inspirational people working together
Scale hopping ~ yep, I would have to say that I am guilty of that although when I am not eating all that well I seem to be able to avoid the scale. This time around I am focusing on inches and less on the scale.
Don't think I will get up to too much today. DH and I are going to my folks tonight for appy's and games, should be a fun night. I don't go back to work until next Monday - yeah - so a few more days to relax.
Luvs - no I am not doing WW, although I have belonged to WW a few times
Soon2beslim - hope you are feeling better soon
EBella - welcome to the mix, I am sure you will enjoy it here !
If I don't make it back before the end of day, I wish you all a happy new year. Be safe and have fun !!
Jilly: That's funny that you've been to Lititz. Did you stop by the Wilbur Chocolate factory? I live about 10 blocks from it and some days the whole town smells like chocolate! We moved to PA from New York about 12 years ago. Small world isn't it?
Happy New Year Everyone. I'm working again tonight. I'll have to fight off all the coworkers and their snacks again tonight, so wish me luck.
Happy New Year roomies! Thought I would check in and see how everyone is doing today. My day started off without breakfast and a quick trip to the airport (grandma's flight left today). I'll miss her but I'm sort of glad that the never-ending train of comfort food came to an end. On the way back, I stopped at the WW place and I'm glad I did. They really didn't tell me anything I didn't already read online or learn from the boards, but it was good to make a step in the direction that I am heading.
It sparked an idea for me to try following the flex plan to see how I would handle it. Well, so far so good. I've only used 20 of my 35 alotted points and I feel okay. My TOM arrived so you can imagine how badly I want chocolate, but I'm holding on. I pinched a tiny piece of my son's candy bar and that helped a little. I've done well with the eating but I have to improve on drinking my water. I didn't realize how little I drink until today. Interestingly enough, I used to drink only water while growing up. I need to find those habits and bring them back.
But let me not ramble... I hope all of you have a wonderful NYE! Thanks again Jilly for starting this group.
Actually it's going to be goodnight for me in a few minutes since I worked a 12 hour night shift, but I wanted to check in and say hi. I had another successful night fighting off my coworkers attempts to feed me. I kept busy and ate my own pre-packed healthy snacks. Why do nurses eat so much? Geez....I didn't really notice until I stopped all the night shift snacking, how much we really consume in a night. Yikes... mostly salty, high fat stuff. I can't believe how much more energy I have now that I stopped eating all that stuff and not drinking coffee all night. Now I drink herbal tea and I feel more awake. Anyway...have a great day everyone. I'm so glad this group was formed. 
Is there room for one more on the 2008 wagon? 
Which is depressing to admit, but is also empowering because right at this moment I am taking responsibility for all of the innapropriate eating I have done this year (I am a really bad emotional eater! 
) and all of the missed trips to the gym or even just walks! I came down with a bad sinus infection/bronchial thing early in the year and whereas before I was a cardio freak my respiratory system took quite a beating with my illness. This past Halloween I got all 3 of my wisdom teeth removed and couldn't exercise for a week but the pain was pretty intolerable for a few weeks before I got them removed as 1 of them was growing in sideways into another tooth and 1 was growing diagonally up against another tooth. Luckily the 3rd one was growing in pretty normally although there wasn't quite enough room for it and it was easy to remove. 
Don't party too hard and see you back here tomorrow to conquer the extra weight in 2008!
