Can I rejoin this thread? I have gone back a few pages and have been so inspired.
I have been back at the gym for about two weeks now, but my food is not good. I just got married, and my new husband is a very good cook. Worse than that, though, is that he hates to eat by himself. I knew this from when we were dating, but the fact that I'm living with him now puts constant pressure on me to either eat with him or risk hurting his feelings. I have been choosing to eat with him. I have been trying to create a plan where I save my calories for when I'm with him. But that's hard for me for several reasons. First, my willpower to resist high-cal food is lowest in the evening, and eating just a little bit of it tends to open the floodgates. Secondly, I hate feeling really full and bloated any time, but particularly in the evenings. And, pardon my potential TMI, but sex is much better for me when I'm not feeling weighed down by food in my stomach. Additionally, the feeling that I'm on plan helps me feel better about my body (easier to think of it as a work in progress than inevitably being heavy), which boosts my confidence, which makes the sex better for both of us.
Sorry for the introductory rant. I had actually planned on just saying I'm so excited to be part of such an active group that consists of both familiar veterans (Diane and Uber!) and dedicated people that I have yet to get to know.
And the graduation picture is amazing. I hate pictures, and have been trying very hard to do them anyway, and to do them well (not trying to fade into the background or have pained expressions). It's a gorgeous picture marking a great moment in your life. Thanks for posting it.
LaurieDawn: Yay! You're joining us! I'm so glad. Boy, if my husband cooked at all, I don't know what I would do!! That would be tough to stay under control, so more power to you! Good job on the gym!
Fera: Such a great picture! I know it is hard to enjoy pictures of ourselves, when we're not feeling positive about how we look. I'm the same way. But, this is absolutely wonderful and such a great time of life! Good job on the weight loss! Oh, and love the magnolia! I live out west in a desert area, and we just don't have flowers like that.
Uber: Also congrats on the weight loss! Nice! You're getting closer and closer to the 20 pound mark.
SunnyMac: What a crazy night you had. Hopefully you can survive the day and make it through! Get some rest tonight!
So, I was off and on watching "Extreme Weight Loss" last night. Pretty amazing what they can do with a trainer and one year of work. I liked the way that they had 4 3-month phases and established weight loss goals for that time period. Good to break it up like that, I think.
Not much else going on here. Just went to Spin class this morning.
Fera: thank you for posting the picture! If you don't like what you see, I promise that someday you will see what a beautiful picture it is! One weird thing I noticed when I lost 110 lbs? When I was thin, I felt love and compassion for my fat self. When I looked at my "humiliating fat" pictures I thought to myself "why did I hate her so much, she looks like a nice person and I would want to be her friend." When I look at your picture I see two beautiful people who are in love! You WILL lose weight because you seem to have so many reasons to be happy!
LaurieDawn: Welcome! I remember you! Congratulations on getting married! I agree that your situation has certain challenges, but I'm sure you can figure it out. If your hubby is like mine, then just mentioning that sex is better on an empty stomach will probably be enough to get him to forgo dinner entirely.
Also, this might not work for you, as you said nighttime eating isn't so good for you, but I do actually find it really helpful to save calories for dinner-- somehow if I eat a nice-sized dinner with my family, I don't mind starving the rest of the day.
Another thing that I do is that I prepare meals with protein, veggie and rice or pasta and then I skip the rice or pasta and just eat the protein and veggie. The slim members of my family eat what I eat, but they add another 300 cals or so with the starch-- they don't even notice that they're being "deprived." Of course, you can also eat higher cal foods if you really watch portion size-- I find that a lot harder-- but that's me. And if you stress that it's for your health (or maybe to get healthy for future plans for kids...?) that might help him realize how important it is to support you.
Sunny Mac: your day yesterday sounded AWFUL. Losing sleep is the one thing I absolutely can't stand! Good for you for soldiering through it.
Diane: I absolutely love watching weight loss shows. I power watched episodes of Heavy when I first started out. Helped me get motivated! I have not been exercising, but I'm starting to feel like it's time to start!
I'm doing really well! Amazingly, the scale rewarded me with yet another lb this morning-- for a total of 13 down. Best of all, I seem to have gotten over the hump. For the first 2 weeks I was absolutely STARVING all the time. But now, I really feel like I'm in a groove. Plus, I made an interesting discovery about myself. I think going to food stores is a trigger for me. For the past month, other family members have taken over food shopping because I've been really busy with work. I suddenly realized that I hadn't set foot in a grocery store in about a month. At grocery store I grab candy and baked goods and all kinds of other crap-- stuff that I often eat by myself. If I don't go into the store I don't even think about that stuff. Lucky for me, my hubby and mom who lives with us don't mind going to the store. I think I'm going to plan to stay out of the store as much as possible.
Thanks y'all for the kind words about my picture... I just saw it and thought "omg my gut sticks out as far as my boobs!" and it was not a happy face I made.
Sunny - Yikes! Someone deciding to ruin my perfectly good lawn with their car in the middle of the night would definitely freak me out a bit. 3am isn't a good time for most people, so I hope the police were understanding.
Hi Laurie welcome back to our little corner of the internet. Congrats on your new marriage... I'm just 3 years into mine, so I remember it well. And I agree with Uber... Tell hubby that sex is better if you don't have a heavy dinner where you get super full, and I bet he'll lighten it up some.
Uber - It's always good to find those triggers! Personally I love going to the grocery store and just enjoying the smells of the bakery. About the only thing I'll still buy though, is a loaf of french bread. Yum. I tend to save my calories for dinner, too... But more because I know I tend to snack late at night, so if I eat a big dinner, I'm less inclined to snack all night long. It's a strategy. Really.
Diane - I have never watched that show. I watched Biggest Loser once, and it just depressed me. I felt like I'd never lose weight unless I spent days on end sweating it out on a machine. Though to have a trainer for a year? That would be awesome. And for you, here's another pretty picture of some pretty flowers. I have no idea what they are, but they are all over at the zoo and they are beautiful.
Mandy - I love that meme. It's not exactly true for me. But I really love to exercise, and once I have established the habit, I feel tons of guilt when I stop. Thanks for your welcome and your thoughts.
Uber - Good call on the "you know, the sex will be better if.." talk. ;-) We actually have a talk scheduled to discuss this and "new stepmother" issues.
Diane - So supportive as always. Yay on the spin class! That's actually something that I have not yet even tried.
So, last night, I told the hubby that I was working late, then meeting a friend to work out and grab dinner. Thought I would avoid the whole "eat the food he cooked" dilemma. He texted me as I was driving home, "Just built the fire so we can start cooking s'mores." Not a big deal for me, as I get a post-work-out willpower burst that helps me say no, in addition to the fact that I had just eaten (a reasonable amount of chicken breast, thank you). He called me "the wizard of never eating anything fun." Then, for the rest of the evening, referred to my food choices, like my Starkist tuna packets, as "cancer in a pouch," and my supplements, like my fish oil, as "cancer in pill form." Dude!
He is the kindest, most supportive man ever. He isn't threatened by my career, he encourages me to get to the gym, he doesn't make unreasonable demands on my time, and we have great fun together. But he has got to back off the "jokes" about my food choices. =) We have scheduled time to talk about it tomorrow.
LaurieDawn: Yeah, he will learn not to go there on food choices! My husband doesn't say much at all. He knows it is dangerous ground. He only offers help/advice when I ask him, and usually that's about fitness stuff. But we've been married forever, so he learned.
Mandy: Yep, I would agree with that photo. I actually love the exercise part of this journey (well, most of the time). I think it helps me so much and I feel so good working out in the mornings. If I didn't have to watch what I eat, I would be better!!! Oh, and thanks for the flower picture. Just beautiful!! I love flowers and birds in the garden, I just don't do that well with my yard. I do have some pretty birds hanging out, but my flowers are weak.
Uber: It sounds like things are clicking for you. Glad to hear it!! That's good when you make it past the initial pains of starting a program.
Had a funny thing at the gym today. I had been drying my hair, so I didn't hear the song they had playing, so when I turned it off, I heard that it was one of Bon Jovi's from way back. I said something like, "Oh, I like that song! I haven't heard it forever!" Well, for some reason that set off these two women who are probably a little older than me. They didn't like Bon Jovi, which then brought them to some of his songs are lame, and girls these days are just so worried about their looks that they are losing their identities.... blah, blah, blah. I thought WHOA! Sorry I said I liked this song! Boy... old women issues!!
LaurieDawn: Let us know how "the talk" goes. Offering you food you don't want is one thing-- criticizing the stuff you actually do eat-- he needs to learn that's a no go.
Mandy: I like your photo. I'm in the non-exercising camp right now, but I'm the same-- when I get exercising, it's the best part of the day. I didn't want to throw exercise into the mix until I got a little more stable with food plan, but it's coming!
Diane: I'm envious of your awesome workout routine-- but too funny about the "old lady issues"! I'm gonna turn 53 shortly-- but I really don't feel like an old lady, and I don't really think I look like one (LOL) Good thing, since I still have a kid in elementary school!
Woke up this morning sure I was going to see a scale bounce this am, but I was actually down .02! I'm really happy with how I've set up my calorie distribution this time around. I drink coffee with steamed 2% milk in the morning, and I'm skipping breakfast-- the 1.5 cups of milk seems to keep me going until lunch. Then I eat a small lunch. No snacks. That gives me more food to work with at dinner. Since dinner is the one meal where we all sit down together, it makes me happy to be able to eat a bit more-- I feel less deprived. So far so good!
Re: exercise - I"m working on it. I don't do *much* right now... just a 45 minute walk on the treadmill at 2.3 mph a few times a week. It's not a very fast pace, just a little faster than I normally walk. I'm thinking about adding some lifting to my routine, but I can't do the most common ones like squats or deadlifts because I can't put the weight on my ankle (partially torn ligament - been that way for YEARS - torn from the bone, scar tissue formed, surgical repair required), though I could do a lot of the upper body/core/seated leg exercises, so we'll see.
Laurie - good luck! My husband can be the same way sometimes, completely clueless that his humorously-intentioned comments can go a little far and needs a gentle reminder that that was a bit much, and please tone it down, at least on this topic, because what I'm doing is already hard enough on me. And he does.
Diane - LOL @ "old women issues"... Funny how a song or a TV show or a (gasp) favorite sports team (Ugh, how many times have I been called racist because I like the Redskins? That's a whole other rant.) can start a way-too-serious conversation? Sometimes people like things because they are fun... not because of some moral or political conviction. Geesh.
Uber - I set up my feeding schedule (yeah, hubby laughs when I call it that) in a simlar fashion. I'm not even hungry until later in the day, usually past noon. So I'll eat a small meal... like yogurt and fruit or peanut butter toast and milk, or a sandwich with lots of veggies. Then a few hours later I'll have a snack, most often one of those meal bars, or 1/2c fiber cereal + 1oz nuts for some sweet and salty. Then I prepare dinner... and I usually have 1000 calories or more available, so I can have a big full meal with my husband and not worry overmuch about calories... *and* it keeps me from wanting to eat all night long, which has always been a struggle for me.
Uber: Good for you with your calorie distribution and your weight loss! They say that what you eat is more important than exercising when you try to lose weight, so that is definitely the place to start. I'm with you, I try to keep it so that I have plenty of calories for dinner so that I can have what everyone else is having without being too restrictive. Since I workout in the morning, I need some protein, so I do have breakfast. I have these breakfast burritos that I make myself with lower calorie tortilla/wraps and heat those up at work almost every day.
Mandy: LOL at the feeding schedule. But, that's about the way it is. It is so much better to be consistent! That sounds pretty painful for your torn ligament. That would make it harder to just do whatever, so I'm sure you have to be careful.
Checked the scale this morning, and I'm just showing a .4 loss this week so far. I would like to have at least one pound by Monday, but we'll see how it goes. Went to Spin class this morning. It was really good for some reason. Could be because "Bill" was the instructor. Bill is probably in his 50's too, and I find him very attractive, both physically and his personality. No, I'm not looking for anything, very happily married, but he is fun to have in class. Kind of a nice break from the 20 year olds!! (Although I like them all too)
Diane - I really love the positivity. It is so nice to read your posts, see your progress, and hear your "old ladies at the gym" story. Glad you can appreciate the spin instructor(s) like you do. =)
Mandy - "Humor" is a weird thing. He laughs when he says it, but I don't even think he's trying to be funny. He just seems to be doing it in a "I'll get in trouble if I say this seriously, but I want to say it" manner. He's the best in so many ways, but I don't need help triggering my disordered eating.
Uber - So glad you're seeing great progress. And I will report back after the "talk." Thanks for the interest. I am curious to see how it goes. I never know how he'll respond to things.
Reading about everyone else's schedules, I may opt for less solo food than before and save calories for the evening. I hate to be desperately hungry, but maybe that's the answer. Embrace the real hunger during the day when I can distract myself with tasks, and eat a worry-free meal at dinner. Something to consider. And one of the reasons I love this forum.
Diane: Mmmm 50 year old hottie. That would motivate me too! I'm sure when I start exercising I'll have to eat in the morning, but maybe I can also add back some calories... I know it must be frustrating not to see the scale move-- I remember during my last trajectory downward there was a period when I started working with a trainer and lifting-- I just was barely losing weight. It wasn't until I posted two pictures of myself that I realized how completely different I LOOKED. I never really bought into the idea of "compacting" until then. I bet you really look great!
LaurieDawn: not sure how long you've been back on plan, but I can reassure you that I was desperately hungry for the first 2 weeks and then my body really did adjust. I did not think I could keep up with skipping breakfast, but now the steamed milk gets me through to lunch. (that being said, I don't get up really early and I work sitting on my butt on my couch. back when I worked in a running around job, I could not possibly make it with no breakfast...) I may have to add breakfast when I take up exercise again.
i'm doing well. Yesterday, I had been working at the computer all day and I got pretty irritable by late afternoon. Was sort of wandering around the house and got that "nibble because I'm bored" feeling. Went outside to my garden and puttered around for a while and the feeling passed. Made fish for dinner and I didn't really make quite enough for everyone-- by the time I served myself there was only 2 oz left. But I filled up with everything else-- salad, brussel sprouts, a few strawberries and I left the table full and completely satisfied. It really is miraculous how staying on plan does get easier with time. Monday will be the end of week 4.
(I'm popping in to say that I'm pissed. Took my girls out to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant. Ordered grilled ahi tuna-- which I've had there before. Only this time, it came smothered in sweet Teriyaki sauce and some kind of mayo. Tried to scrape it off and didn't eat all of it, but I'm sure I ended up with lots of unwanted calories. Plus it wasn't even good. Next time if that happens I'm going to send it back! Guess I'll be really careful at dinner!)
welcome back to our little corner of the internet. Congrats on your new marriage... I'm just 3 years into mine, so I remember it well. And I agree with Uber... Tell hubby that sex is better if you don't have a heavy dinner where you get super full, and I bet he'll lighten it up some. 
