Okay. Aside from my rant about stupid, expensive, fancy hotels where I have no business being...
Uber, I hope things get easier for you. I noticed it was easier for me after the first week. Try the 10 pound mini goals! Get a new book, or DVD, or something small and inexpensive that you love to get for yourself... and you can't have it until you hit your mini goals. MOTIVATION! Totally gets rid of the "ugh, I hate this" feeling... at least it does for me!
What is bothering you most? What are you hating? Maybe there's a way around it, or at least a way to make it suck less.
Okay. Aside from my rant about stupid, expensive, fancy hotels where I have no business being...
Uber, I hope things get easier for you. I noticed it was easier for me after the first week. Try the 10 pound mini goals! Get a new book, or DVD, or something small and inexpensive that you love to get for yourself... and you can't have it until you hit your mini goals. MOTIVATION! Totally gets rid of the "ugh, I hate this" feeling... at least it does for me!
What is bothering you most? What are you hating? Maybe there's a way around it, or at least a way to make it suck less.
Hi Fera, Thanks for asking. I think I'm doing ok and I appreciate your idea about rewards for mini-goals. This is absolutely something I've struggled with on my weight loss journey. I think I woke up this morning thinking ugh-- more days of not eating whatever I want. One of the things I've realized about myself is that I tend not to ever do nice things for myself-- new clothes, manicure, or small nice things-- I'm always denying myself, thinking "too expensive" (I have 4 kids, and it seems like somebody always needs something more than I need it) but then I "reward" myself with food, which is obviously TOTALLY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. So I'm going to take your message to heart! Thanks!
Hello All
@Fera I travel for about 70% of my job - I HEAR you on the hotel expenses. Even though I'm traveling for work and it's a corporate expense it still comes out of my budget so I always eat off site if I can. I've been in hotels where the buffet breakfast is $50pp - I can't remember when I was a a property that had internet for less than $20 a day. It's insane. If I were traveling on my personal dime and not a corporate card there is no chance I'd ever eat at the hotel unless it was included. Some tricks - if you have an Iphone (or other smartphone) and you are traveling with a laptop you can use your phone as a wifi hotspot and jack into your service plan to check in (just be wary of data usage not to go over). I have an ipad that i just bundled in on my service plan since I'm on the road so much doing that made sense for me to do - now that is all I take with me when I travel so I can avoid the wifi charges. Also if you know your room is going to have a fridge or coffee pot take things with you! I very often bring hotel room food (or go to a store and buy stuff) when i get to my destination to keep me from the expense and calories of the hotel food at least some of the time. Also - I won't lie - hotel room coffee pot oatmeal....kind of the best
Today was a tough start for me - it's cold and rainy in fair New England today and both me and my BF slept through all of the alarms. I didn't go to the gym so now I'm struggling to keep to my 1200 calories - Those few earned exercise calories where i get to eat more like 1400-1500 a day and still balance at 1200 makes a HUGE difference. I'm aiming for a 10lb mini goal too - I need to break through this 10lb barrier that I've been stuck in for so long. Once I can get below 240 it will feel real and like progress and like I can do it. On that note I'm going to get my lunch out of the work fridge!!!
Uber: Steel head trout! Cool. I've never had it. We eat a lot of trout, but it is all lake type or river trout. Absolutely love it! I keep thinking I need to get a food scale. I estimate a lot. As long as it keeps working, I'm ok, but it would be nice to know for sure. Oh, and hang in there! You're doing great! Just push through the being sick of it!
Fera: Yeah, I think I'd be going for Subway, too! Glad that you are enjoying your time there! I'm glad you got the Wifi so that we can all stay in touch!
I had been walking some stairs here at work. Down 1 floor, then up 3 floors, then down 4 (to get ice from the freezer) and then back up 2. It was killing me (I thought), and I was sick of doing it, so I stopped. Yesterday someone I work with wanted me to go with her. We went down 2, up 4, and then back down 2. I hadn't done 4 before and it wasn't too bad! I guess it was getting better.
SunnyMac: We posted at the same time, so just wanted to say hi. Sorry you didn't get to work out, I hate that! Then you have to watch your food so much more! But, if you go over, don't beat yourself up! It always starts over the next day!!
Thanks Slashnl! So far so good. I'm chugging through!!!! Keep up those stairs! It's raining today here in the lovely northeast - Maybe I will go do some myself! I work in a giant theatre - we have got NOTHING but stairs - what a good idea!!!! Thanks!!!!
After paying for that fancy schmancy wifi package (okay, we got the $4/day vs the $12/day) couldn't get the laptop to connect.... fought with it last night, gave up and tried again. Woke up this morning and gave it a shot, still no dice. Hubby was running late, so he asked me to take care of it. Called the super helpful tech support (no sarcasm at all, she was really sweet) and they basically bypassed the hotel's log in stuff and put a timer on the connection. SO I have access again.
The tough part about being here is all the mystery meals. Dinner last night, lunch today, and dinner tonight were all paid for as part of our registration for the event. Last night's mystery meal was beef bourguignon (spelled right?) and white chocolate raspberry cheese cake. I did not deny myself the cheesecake. My love of white chocolate, raspberry, and cream cheese based foods all combined into one delicious slice of heaven. It was a tiny slice though, so I did my best to log it.
Lunch is a mystery 'boxed' lunch, and dinner is another banquet style meal. FYI - this hotel's restaurant has food so good, I am able to forgive them the wi-fi hiccup. Their chef is a dream. I tried to be good, and walked to a convenience store and got 2 of those prepackaged bowls of cheerios and a pint of milk and 2 bananas to have as breakfasts, BUT I was a dummy and forgot to grab a spoon, so I have to hunt down a spoon to eat it. They'll probably charge me a $7 fee per day for borrowing a spoon.
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Uber -the rewards have been a *really* great help for me. New books at 10 pounds, and other such little 2-3 dollar rewards for staying on track for the week. Usually a nail polish thing. I love to do my nails and love to get different colors to play with. Incentive! And when we finally settle into our new place, I'm going to get involved with the "lose 10% in 6 months" challenge on dietbetter(dot)com and see if I can win some money for losing weight. It's a good premise, I think (6 months, with monthly challenges, plus an overall goal, and the pot is split by everyone who hits the final goal). The only way you can lose money is to not lose weight. NOT losing money would be a BIG motivator for me! Especially over the holidays when it's so easy to go off track. :P
Hi all! Made it to Friday! I've decided since I am going to weigh myself on Fridays anyway, I'm going to start recording it. I had been just recording my Monday weigh in, but still checked it on Friday to see where it was, heading into the weekend. Sometimes my rules need to be tweaked. So, lost a pound since Monday. I was hoping for a little more, but we'll see what it looks like on Monday.
Went to spin class today. The instructor had to fill in for some other instructors, so he was on his second class in a row. I'm impressed!
Fera: Glad you let yourself have that treat. I think it is just too hard to go with this journey unless you can occasionally have a treat. Enjoy!!
Fera Fila- I agree that eating out on someone else's menu is extremely hard. At times I travel a lot and attend a lot of functions so I know just how that is. I have found that if I decide which parts of meals I'm going to eat ahead of time (for example, I'll think yes salad entree veggie, no dessert, or yes entree dessert no salad no bread...) it helps me. When I'm motivated I can usually maintain or even lose when traveling. You just have to guesstimate what you log.
Diane: I agree about tweaking rules! If you feel like it helps you to weigh and record twice-- why not? I like to weigh daily because I get super-attuned to the minute ups and downs and it helps me stress less about any individual day. BUT I know a lot of people hate to weigh daily.
I've decided I'm going to have my "official" weigh in day be Tuesday, i.e. change my ticker day, whereas before I used to always change my ticker each time I saw a loss. I do record my weight daily on fit day. One thing about me is I can weigh daily for a year or two, but when I'm in my see no evil, near no evil stage, (i.e. gaining) I never step on the scale. DUH. You'd think I'd see a connection.
Well chicks, I had a lapse.i did so good all week. Thursday when I didn't make it to the gym I struggled to keep to 1200 calories and didn't make it...but I'm not beating myself up because I only ate 1450, nothing was junk and I was actually hungry....I'm calling that day listening to my body and feeding it when it is hungry.
Yesterday on the other hand was a test and I feel like I failed. I forgot my Up band on its charger so was off counting my steps. It got stressful at work, I ate office smart food ( not awful for 100 cals just not on plan). I did have a win and made it to the gym before they closed after work and got in an hour of high intensity cardio. Them comes the big lose....I had a giant dish of pasta and wine for dinner. I don't even know what I was doing. It was like I was just going through the motions in a trance. To make things worse I got up this morning and weighed expecting to have consequences and realized this was the first day this week I've lost. I'm down 3 lbs so now I feel like I've been rewarded for bad behavior.
I'm using this as an opportunity to identify the trigger. The big trigger was being home alone. BF had to go see his family 4 states away due to illness. I knew no one would be here to judge me accept myself and I took advantage of it. Looking at it a bit deeper this happens a lot of week nights. He has activities he does in the evenings and I do not. He goes out and I come home and clean, do laundry etc etc and eat and drink while doing that. He came home every night this week so It was easier to stay on plan knowing I wasn't alone. This is a difference from last time when I lost weight. I was single and living alone. I was between relationships and with no children I had to only take care of myself and my little apartment. Full focus. Now I'm running a house with a huge acre of land, taking care of someone, taking the role of lead domestic agent, commuting longer to work, running a staff....I need to concentrate on finding some balance to take care of myself. I need to find some evening activities to do during the week. I need to change my thinking so I'm ok when I'm alone not just when my other half is home.
We go away for vacation tomorrow for the week. I'm mobile so you are all coming with me. Trying to get in the mindset now. Today will be a better day. I know not every day will be perfect and that I'm gonna fall sometimes so the important thing is to get back up right away.
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FERA do the best you can with the mystery food. I travel too and am up against that often to and you are right it's the hardest part. The fact that you are being conscious of it is a win! I usually try to go no bread no desert... Easier said than done but that's what I try to do.
UBER I'm also weighing every day. I need to pick an 'official' day and I think I'm gonna go with Sunday. I do the same thing when I'm gaining... No scale....so I think it's better for me to daily weigh.
SLASH great work on getting to spin ! It's soooooo good for you! Tweak those rules if it helps you!!!
This is a difference from last time when I lost weight. I was single and living alone. I was between relationships and with no children I had to only take care of myself and my little apartment. Full focus. Now I'm running a house with a huge acre of land, taking care of someone, taking the role of lead domestic agent, commuting longer to work, running a staff....I need to concentrate on finding some balance to take care of myself. I need to find some evening activities to do during the week. I need to change my thinking so I'm ok when I'm alone not just when my other half is home.
Sunny-- first ((hugs)) for slipping up and for hopping right back on the board.
I was reading your comment about triggers and thinking about it a lot. Thinking over what you are doing and what gets in the way of success is an absolute necessity I think. I was thinking especially about the fact that you are so busy and need to find more time to take care of yourself. That is what derailed me the first time around. My own responsibility level kept ratcheting up and up and up and still I was able to keep going, and then it seemed like one day I had just had it-- something had to give, and what gave was my healthy new lifestyle.
Yesterday, I had a pretty big shock about something work related. I was really worried about it and couldn't get through to my boss to talk it through. I had all of the stress signals-- churning stomach, roaring in my ears, that I get. Usually I treat that feeling with food. Yesterday, I didn't, but it reminded me BIG TIME that I find losing weight easiest when 1. I'm feeling upbeat 2. I don't have too much stress 3. I don't have too much on my plate and 4. I can really prioritize by thinking about it all the time. But of course, life isn't always like that. When people say "it's a lifestyle change" I think the change for me to permanently be able to maintain a healthy weight isn't food, or exercise at all. I think I will need to be able to maintain a lifestyle where I can manage stress and don't over-commit past what I can actually manage and that I can weather the times when I'm not feeling upbeat because I'm good at managing stress.
So, let's support each other on this-- and thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! Losing weight is the easy part, but trying to figure out why we don't always do what we are so sure we want to do-- that is the hard part!
Hang in there SunnyMac. It's ok! You saw what went wrong and you're not going to let it happen every day. That's the key. We can't slip into what was normal before!!!
Not much to say, just checking in for the weekend!
I have to confess I did this to myself no one else did. I lost all the weight I needed to lose a few years ago when I was coming to this site daily. I felt great. I forgot, I didn't do it alone. God gave me the strength to stick with a great eating plan and get the weight off. My own vanity derailed me from staying healthy. Sure the medications packed on the pounds when I was sick again. I can say that all I want and while it is true. CANDY, COOKIES AND DONUTS put far more weight on me than medications did.
I have to take responsibility for what I did to my body.
Now, I am back on track with eating well and exercising. I won't get to where I want to be in a day or a week or even a year. I will get there and With God's strength I will stay at a healthy weight.
Sometimes God doesn't whisper in our ear what he wants us to hear. Sometimes he jumps up and down screaming PUT DOWN THAT COOKIE. We just don't listen.
