We watched Dolphin Tale last night which was just adorable. I did cardio yesterday and cardio/UB today along with cleaning house. I'm not sick yet, knock on pre-fab, while Hubby is back at work today.

Mahtha, goals and deadlines tend to freak me out. I get crazy about not meeting goals, give up, then when I don't meet them I'm depressed.

iDream, hope you are feeling better.

MAHTHA ~ I like to have mini-goals & bigger goals, but I don't put a time-line on them; like others have said that might discourage me, so I just work towards them and enjoy them when they come. The exception to this is my exercise and toning regime -- I can plan to do them daily and have no problem with that. If I do them all, that's great, but I don't get upset if they get interrupted one day. I can do them any time of day, so if I miss in the AM, I just do them before bed that same night. If I miss a day, I just continue on the next day.

MANDY ~ It is recommended to put rest days in between the weight sessions; at least EOD (every other day), and others say you should do the heavier muscle-building weights only 1-2 times a week (unless you are targeting different muscle groups, i.e. legs verses arms/shoulders). I have been doing my free hand-weights 3 days a week (M-W-F), mostly for toning though. There is an ongoing debate about the value of toning hand-weights verses heavier muscle-building weights, and how often we should do each. Maybe you could get some advice from a trainer at the gym.


We had shepherd's pie with lots of veggies for dinner last night (more veggies than meat); and tonight we are having roasted chicken pieces with lots of veggies. Boy, it smells nice in here. DH picked me up some fruit & veggies to tide me over for the week.

to our NEWBIES ~ TOHISHA & NEUTRON ... glad you joined us over here!

Gotta go have dinner; it's ready -- by for now ...

i have no trainer at the gym... i'm sort of winging it i know not to do strength training every day, i planned on doing it 2 times per week until my body adjusts to it then maybe moving it to 3x per week. and probably not even in the gym, i'll probably use some of my DVDs that focus on toning.

our 'gym' is a small L shaped room containing 2 elliptical machines, 2 treadmills, a stationary bike, some floor mats, a couple squat bars, a bench press station, and an all-in-one machine. that's it. literally. there is no staff.

Penguin, I'm scared to watch Dolphin Tale. I mean, I know it's going to make me cry, but animal movies are the worst for pulling at my heartstrings. Good to hear that you enjoyed it!

My weight is up this morning, which is no surprise, thanks, TOM. Also I gorged myself on fruit last night. My parents send a box of Honeybell oranges every year, and apparently they had a bumper crop this year so last night I got home from work to find a second box on my doorstep. I'd just stopped at the grocery store and picked up some strawberries, so I had an evening snack of a Honeybell and some strawberries. It was delicious and I'm not sorry!

My weight will go back down over the next few days, so it's fine. Plus now I have a fridge full of delicious fruit that tastes like sunshine. And I have an entire bag of organic Pink Lady apples. I will try to pace myself on the fruit so it doesn't interfere with my weight loss, but I really do love those oranges.

Funny thing is, I've never even been a big fruit person! It's amazing what cutting out all sweeteners will do to your taste buds and your appetite.

Dentist this afternoon, so I'm only working half a day. I'll be spending my afternoon getting a crown put in and a couple fillings replaced, though, so all things considered, I think I'd rather be at work! Not really. At least I can fit in a decent workout this afternoon before I have to meet my sister for Ash Wednesday service.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone! I wish I could share some of these oranges with you all. There are tons of them.

Glad to report I am focused on getting this weight back off along with some more. I started back with daily exercise yesterday morning before I started my home daycare routine. I felt good all day long and even dragged out my minitramp and jumped for a bit last night.
Today we exercised before 6am and I will jump tonight. I took my measurements and about cried. I knew my hips and thighs had gotten big but seeing the numbers sure hurt! Time to work it back off!!!

My weight shot up to an all time high of 300.5 lbs.! I knew I had better do something so I did, an 1800 calorie Plan and also started to use some Slim Fast products in there.
Today my efforts are noticeably paying off. I see 6 lbs. down, a very happy me is very apparent and I see that I can lose very well without any of that hysterical hunger.
I have heard so many times my Dr. say PLEASE find a diet that works so you don't get sick later. Ok, I can tell you that this is more than livable because of the hunger factor. Very happy with myself but I can see that I have to tune out temptation, use a daily meal planner and stick to it. I am very encouraged but most of all I feel like if I could just continue I can absolutely get this weight off. It has been numerous attempts and numerous diets for me to find what works.

LadyNASDAQ ~ sounds like you have a good plan there; and congrats on your initial success -- 6 lbs is great!

MANDY ~ Your gym is smaller than the one I used to go to; it had a large walking track around the perimeter and my sessions (2-3 times a week) were varied each day. I started off going M-W-Sat but later only went 2 days a week (Wed/Sat). First, I had to walk around the track once, before and after my routine; that was upped to 3 times each as time went on.

I can't remember the exact routines but they involved riding a stationary bike, situps (on an elevated ramp; increasing to the top level eventually), a thigh master, leg & calf press, bench press & lateral pull machine, and heavy weight-lifting bench. I did try the treadmill once, but it wasn't part of my routine. I did a stretch & toning floor regime a few times at the beginning once a week. Since I was already very flexible that was dropped for more toning & muscle-building.

So, I would do walking, situps, biking, bench press & lateral pulls, thigh master, and walking again. Then the next time, I would do walking, situps, biking, heavy weights, leg & calf presses, thigh master, and more walking. Later on, I had to quicken my walking speed to burn more energy as well. I lost lots of inches & built muscle on this regime. I had my own personal lady trainer, and there was a Master trainer who made up our programs and gave advice. I enjoyed going there and the program was successful.

Well, I already have all my morning work done for today. I woke up early as it's getting lighter earlier each day now. I have been going to bed a bit earlier lately too; that is helping not to snack too much at night as well. Have a great day everyone ...

Haven't checked in a while.

Last week, I started heading to the gym and started using the treadmill on a really high incline for 30 minutes. It's a great workout and is easy on the joints. Last week, I hit the gym 4 days, and I'm aiming to continue that this week. Unfortunately, I gained two pounds, despite the exercise. I was thinking maybe I miscounted my calories somehow, but even if I did, there's no way I ate enough to gain 2 pounds. Perhaps I'm just experiencing water retention in my muscles, or perhaps I even gained some muscle from all the uphill walking.

Yesterday was also a terrible day for my diet. Occasionally, I go over by maybe 100 calories (which still leaves me with a calorie deficeit), but yesterday I went over by 1700! We went out for dinner with my brother and then to a concert, and while it didn't seem like I ate that much, I later found out that I sure did eat a lot of calories. The sandwich alone had over 1100 calories

But today it's back to being good and I'm really going to crack down on my diet and try to increase my exercise if I can find time. I really want to be in the 250s by spring break when I go on my trip to Belize, and that's in the neighborhood of 20 days away!

shadowclaw we are so in the same boat. similiar height, start weight, goal weight, current weight....

Justwant2Bhealthy, Mandy, thistoo and dgramie IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! I finished my salad at my desk and instead of running an errand I WENT FOR A WALK!

I've been really good about food and water, but have done no excercise at all.
Until today. And tomorrow.

You chicks rock (and I still need bell peppers and cat litter

konfyoozed - you are right! I wonder if we wear the same pants size. Right now I'm stuck somewhere between and 22 and a 24. Depends on the brand.

i'm between a 20 and 22 right now. 22s are loose and 20s are uncomfortably tight. my weight is pretty much evenly distributed though, it's not just in my belly hips and thighs. tops i'm still in a 3x though i can fit into a 2x if i'm not scared to show my muffin top :P

Still on track with my eating, more or less. I did 30min LB and 30min cardio.

Caroline I've hear of the Honeybells but never had one. I'm not a big fan of tearjerkers either.

I'm having a weird morning. Mostly I'm worn out and just not feeling it today. Luckily I don't have the energy to do much other than stick with my plan, because my food for the day is already laid out so I don't have to think about it. Tomorrow's my last day of being super-strict, technically, so maybe that's it. I suspect the real culprit is TOM, however.

I'm still holding onto some water weight and I had some cramps this morning (though nowhere near the crippling level of pain that used to force me to call in sick) and I keep thinking about how far I have to go just to get where I was and it's seriously bumming me out. I need to distract myself from thinking about weight loss for awhile or I'll drive myself crazy, but I know I can't stop posting here or I'll go off the rails as soon as this detox is over and then my thirty days will have been for nothing.

Anyway, weird headspace. I will attempt to snap myself out of it! In the meantime I hope everyone else is having a much smoother morning.

feels like spring here,,,going to get out and enjoy it before it changes. We are going to be 30 degrees cooler tomorrow.