Ah yes, sodium is so hard to handle! I didn't have ham, but we had a pork roast and other goodies. It took awhile to get past that!

Carter: Well said. I like what you posted. I do think that what I am doing now is a form of what the rest of my life should be. When I get to goal, will I be so dedicated to recording everything I eat? I don't think so. But I do know that I won't be burying my head in the sand and avoiding the scale ever again. I have to stay disciplined with that and face the reality.

Calluna: Good luck with the swim meet! It is hard to keep on plan when you're travelling!

Thanks, Diane! It will be a challenge to eat well while out of town, but at least my SO will be at home, which makes it a lot easier. He's the worst for wanting to go to restaurants that serve rich food when we're out. Since my son is such a dedicated swimmer and this is a high-stakes meet, he's likely to want to eat cleanly.

The sodium bounce is off, but it seems as though I'll have to wait until next week to see if I actually lost anything this week. :) I'll try to make sure I'm pleasantly surprised on Monday!

Hi! I'm new, but wanted to jump in with my sincere congratulations to the long term dedication posted! I can relate first hand to considering plateau or regain a failure after success (I'm there right now.)
Absolutely not a suffering in my plans but a break in my discipline.
This week placing major focus on my water intake! Sodium balance and curbing reflexive and stress eating. And I have a cold... so putting a cramp in my exercise.

Bravome: Having a cold is just such a pain when you're trying to exercise! Hang in there.

Calluna: Have a great time with your son. That's so cool!

I took a look at the scale this morning and it looked really good. I'm hoping for some great numbers by Monday's official weigh in. I took off today to do some stuff here at home. I'll have to be careful to not eat too much. Way too much temptation to be lazy and graze.....

I had someone who I would consider to be an advanced rider in spin class tell me today that she thinks I've really improved and have gained a lot of strength in Spin. Wow. I am so excited to hear that! She made my day. It also made me think of the opportunities I have missed to let someone else know that I've noticed their hard work and persistance. :)

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Mine was pretty good. I had taken off on Friday to do some stuff at home. It took me forever, but I got all my windows cleaned, inside and out. I have a one story house, but it is up on a stemwall, so I needed a ladder for a lot of it. Up and down....many, many times. I was pretty sore and tired that night.

But, had a good weigh in this morning, 2.2 pounds down. I'm looking forward to getting the next 10 off. Then, I'll finally have this recent regain... re-lost.

We had a great weekend with my son at the Junior Olympics - he did really well. I don't know what the scale will look like after my body settles back into "normal" again, but I did not overeat and that is a victory all by itself. Not all choices were healthy choices, but on the whole I think I did ok.

Good weigh in, Diane! Yeah!

Hey guys! I'm so glad that I found this thread. This is my story too, and I'm realizing that I really can't do this on my own. I've yoyo'd more times than I want to count, and I'm ready to be done with that. (+1 for a year of frustration and apathy.)

I hit my max weight at 278 about 8 years ago, at age 26. I had a life event that resulted in a period of anxiety, and the only thing that made the shaking go away was exercising. Even after the anxiety went away (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 4tw), since I'd gotten started losing weight, I felt amazing and kept the momentum going. I took a nutrition class and began to balance my diet and count calories. I did reasonably well with eating, and though I really am not good at keeping up with exercising, I did it intermittently. Despite some mild yoyo'ing. I slowly (~ 4 years) made my way down to 176 lbs, which was lower than I'd been in 15 years.

102 lb weight loss - what an awesome accomplishment! That was 4 years ago. Then I started medical school, and stress/exhaustion set in, and I have done some absolutely ridiculous yoyo'ing over the last 4 years. It seems to depend on what rotation I'm on, what time of year, and how much time I have free... I go from letting things go to getting into a great pattern, and back to letting things go. I've made some great changes in the past that have worked, but then my schedule or work load change, and I so easily stay off the horse once I fall. But I absolutely am not able to stay on the horse without giving in now and then. I don't see my schedule changing in the foreseeable future. So I'm the one that needs to change.

I think simply coming here and talking it through with people, listening to your stories, will be a huge portion of what makes it work this time. It will help keep it in my mind that YES it matters a lot to me that I keep up with this, NO I am not alone in my struggles, YES it's possible to be successful, and NO I don't ever want to go back down that slippery slope.

I have some great motivations (besides my own health and feeling good and fitting in clothes etc, I don't want to be an obese doctor, and my classmates are all healthy and it's embarrassing to be chubby) but it's hard to keep that in the front of my mind when I'm hungry/eating. It's actually the opposite - it's as if everything else fades once I'm eating. I'm great at convincing myself that I'll eat less later to make up for it, or I'll exercise to cover the calories. But I've developed into a really good self-liar, still gullible for my own lofty intentions.

Anyhow, I just wanted to introduce myself! I'll be catching up on old posts to see how things have gone for you guys, and I plan to be around more from here on out! :D

Carter, on 4/23 you posted the following:"For the rest of your life" is popular diet wisdom. But (speaking only for myself) I find it somewhat daunting and counterproductive: If I have the rest of my life, why should I bother sticking to my plan today? The procrastinator in me needs to think more immediately than that. I need a plan I can stick to today, right now".......I copied it and plan to print it out and make sure I see it everyday.

This just hit me directly, a thought I have had in my mind for years and never pulled out to examine for myself. I don't have to worry about tomorrow because we never get tomorrow we only have today. I have lost and regained so many times and each time I look at tomorrow.

At 57, birthday this past weekend, I now have neuropathy and other medical issues that I know this weight, now 259 is not helping reduce the pain.

Really just wanted to thank you for putting it into words for this procrastinator.

Calluna: Glad you had a good weekend. It sounds like it was a success. So good that you get to go to those types of things!

Sakurai: Good post! Glad you are joining us. I think you have a lot of wisdom to share and hopefully, we can all support each other as we move forward!

Cat Bird: Carter.... ONE SMART COOKIE!!

I did a little calculation yesterday. If I want to make my July 1st goal, I'll need to lose on average 2.1 pounds per week. I'm not sure if that will happen, but I'm hoping that gives me the extra push to keep up with exercise and staying on plan.

Had a massive fail on a calorie replacement idea. I'd always heard that you can substitute plain Greek yogurt for sour cream, so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not a fan of Greek yogurt, but thought it might work. Tried it on a taco. YUCK! Ok, that's not going to happen again. I'll cut down on the amount of sour cream, but that was not a good substitution. :)

I LOVE fat free sour cream. It has really low calories. Try a different brand if you don't like the one you've had before! It's especially great in things - I put it in my tomato soup or lentil soup (lentejas, a Mexican recipe).

Recipe:
Bag of the regular brownish/greeninsh lentils
2 large tomatoes and 1/3 white onion, blended to puree
1 heaping spoon of chicken bouillon (or fake chicken bouillon is also really good!)

Lentils - check for dirt/stones, rinse, and boil in pot ~ 20 mins
Pour tomato/onion puree in and add bouillion - another ~ 15 mins
Add salt to taste
Add a dallop of fat free sour cream when serving

Nom. Great natural protein, no fat , delicious.

New Here and Ready to Try Again
 

This thread got me to join the 3 Fat Chicks site because I saw myself in all these posts. I really was feeling good when I had lost a bunch of weight 2 1/2 years ago. I think my body and I may both be ready to lose weight now, so I think it’s time to give it a try - again.

I have 110 pounds to lose - but I was about 63 pounds lighter about two and a half years ago. I lost the weight over the course of a year doing low carb - but low carb for me was really low - like 20 carbs per day or less - and I was unable to keep it up after a year.

About this time last year (May 2013), I realized the gastrointestinal difficulties I had been having were not normal and they seemed to be getting worse, so I gave up gluten (99.8%) for the past year. That seemed to improve things somewhat, but not completely so then I gave up my diet Pepsi **sniff** (and diet Coke), and then I gave up dairy **Ouch! Dairy made low carb so much more livable**. Then I stumbled upon an article on probiotics about a month ago, and after doing a bunch of research to discover what makes a good probiotic and taking these for a few weeks, I decided it was time to reintroduce some foods… So, over the last few days I've discovered I can again eat gluten, dairy and other foods that were giving me issues. (I’m not going back to drinking diet soda though – that was a good thing to quit!)

Anyway, now that my gastrointestinal issues seem to be resolved, I am hoping that my body may finally be ready to lose the weight it has seemed determined to hang on to for so long. About 27 years ago I got down to maybe 150 pounds (from 185) right before I got married when I was 23, but the weight started to creep back on, and on, and way beyond that over the next few years.

Soooooo….. now,

• I want to lose this excess weight.
• I want to be skinny – I would love to try out and maintain 155 pounds.
• I want to be healthy.
• I want to eat healthy food that tastes good and is satisfying and filling.
• I want to make time every day to exercise.
• I want room in my life for some indulgence.

I want to be FabulousFifty ☺

And, since I'm new and can't have a fancy signature yet, I'll go old style:

272/265/155

FabulousFifty: Welcome! It sounds like you've been through a lot over the past few years. Glad you're here with us and ready to re-lose! You can do it! Oh, and I'm 50 and live in Colorado too!

Sakurai: Ok.... never thought about trying fat free sour cream. That's kind of a no brainer, isn't it? :) Thanks for the suggestion, I'll do that! I just have trouble justifying the extra calories with full calorie sour cream, so I'll get some fat free. That recipe sounds AWESOME!

Had a great spin class today. It was hard, but I kind of like the extra challenge of this instructor. She's always been really strong and fit, but lately she changed her diet and has dropped some weight. NOW she's really aggressive with the class. Love it! She just grins when everyone else gasps for breath.

Hello everyone. :coffee:

Cat Bird, I'm so glad that what I said resonated for you. I've been struggling so much myself lately that it's good to have the reminder that I have figured some stuff out and just need to find the discipline to apply what I already know works.

Slashnl - thanks. :) If I were so smart, I'd be able to stop at one cookie. ;)

FabulousFifty - Welcome to our little thread - good luck and good strength.

Carter: Yeah, I typed it in and thought... cookie... yum! Maybe that wasn't the best phrase to use! :)

Made it to Body Pump today. Thursdays always seem to be my worst day for working out. I don't know if I am getting tired by Thursday, or if it is just that Body Pump... while good for me... is just not my favorite class. It isn't horrible, but it isn't as much fun as Spin. But, need the weights...

Hello, everyone who's persevering in spite of regains...

I'm still plugging away. Ate well yesterday in spite of lunch out with a friend, and today will face a similar challenge with colleagues. I'm getting better at it, I think. Maybe.

Enjoying wearing a pair of pants that isn't tight and a shirt that I was too embarrassed to wear a few weeks ago. Life is good.

Thanks for the Welcome!
 

Slashni & Carter: Thanks for the welcome!

Sakurai: And welcome to the other newby here!

Slashni: Nice to see another 50 year old from Colorado here!

So one problem with giving up so many different foods for a year is now that I can eat them again, I have to be careful not to eat them all at once! Did a little of that yesterday….

Cities and towns in Colorado are competing against each other in May for the Colorado Get Movin' Challenge - so I've signed up to do 30 minutes of activity every day in May. Just what I need!

But birthday cake tonight for my hubby's birthday!

Hey everyone great thread. So I did ip jan 2012 and lost 70 pounds. I was down to 207 and now weigh 307. Today was my first day back on program I am using the protein shakes from cosco as the clinic in my town has shut down. I am excited to start but obviously want not to repeat the last experience. Just going to focus on phase one 100% one day at a time.

Welcome Stacyp! Yep, we can all understand where you are with not wanting a repeat. Hang with us and we'll help support you while you help support us! We can do this together!

Calluna: I think I noticed that your ticker went down a little more today! Good job!

Fabulous: Gotta have cake on a birthday!! We're coming up on my son's graduation from High School and his 18th birthday... there will be cake. And I'm having some!! Just have to watch how much I have!! :)

So glad it is Friday! Looking forward to a very nice weekend here, in the 80's! Yes!!!!

Have a good weekend!

Thx Slashnl I really think being on the site getting support from people who can relate will make a huge difference this time. Today is day two and I'm doing great!! I feel gross and I have a headache that won't stop but I know like last time it will only last the first week:) I lost 14 pounds my first week last time so I'm excited to weigh in on Thursday. I also did a smash book journal on my weight loss last time and I'm going to start it again.

Hello, peeps! Stay on plan, stacyp - the grossness will pass, as you know. :)

I'm still hanging out at 258.2, and we'll see what the weekend brings.

Welcome, Stacey! I'm new here too. What is ip?

Got my bike out this morning. The weather is beautiful and I like riding it to run errands - makes me feel like I'm getting something done while I exercise.

Trying to make sure I exercise every day!

Just weighing once a week though. Weighing every day really feels like weight watching instead of monitoring progress.

Hi all! Checking in for the weekend! I'll weigh in tomorrow, so no changes yet. BUT.... I do have an NSV!!! I was moving my winter clothes to the storage room, and taking out my summer clothes. Since I leave so early in the mornings for the gym, without trying on outfits (because I shower and dress at the gym after workouts), I thought that I would try some of the clothes on to see how they fit. Wow! There are quite a few shirts that were too tight to wear last year that I can wear now! Now all but one of the button up shirts can be buttoned! I don't HAVE to wear them open, over a tank top. I also thought I needed more shorts for the summer since I had so few last summer. Well, I have more now because some that didn't fit last summer, now fit! So excited!

Thx calluna and fabulous fifty!! Ip is ideal protein:) Slasnl that's fantastic!!! What a great motivator.

So nice to have clothes fit! Gratz Slashni!

:-)

I'm baaaack! Again! I lost 93lbs back in 2010. After getting married in 2011 and having a son in 2012...I've gained all and more back. My husband and I have re-focused over the last few weeks and have our plan together. We're ready to tackle this thing together and for one last time! I've modified my plan a little to include healthier varieties of food, instead of focusing only on low-calorie options. But I'm counting calories again, which always seems to keep me focused in the long run. Good luck to everyone, I really missed being around this board!

Lookin2lose: Welcome back! You'll get back to where you were, I'm sure of it. It sounds like you have a good plan.

Feeling pretty good this morning. I was hoping to break into the 250's today, but only had a 1.4 lb loss. But TOM is today, too. So, maybe at next week's weigh in. Went to Spin class this morning. The numbers of people there are starting to dwindle. It usually is like that going into summer.

Have a good week everyone!

I figured some things out recently, and I hope it might help some of you too!

1) After each meal, if I brush my teeth with something like Colgate (which is intense and leaves a strong minty-ness behind) nothing tastes normal for quite a while afterwards. So this will help deter me from snacking - it won't taste good anyway! And the freshness feels good. ^__^

2) I recently realized that because I have GERD and allergies with post-nasal congestion, I always feel like I want to swallow. (Don't take that the wrong way ;)) Swallowing something feels good, as it satisfies that "swallow" signaling. I think my entire life that my mind has associated that satisfaction with the pleasure of eating tasty food, because both happen together - which has trained me to feel like eating when I feel that pressure in my throat.

I figured this out because my allergies are piqued, my throat feels like I need to clear it all the time, and I simultaneously feel that sense of false-hunger more than usual.

Am I the only one who feels this? It's going to be extremely hard to reprogram 34 years of conditioning. But maybe by actually treating my allergies this year, I might feel it less!

Sakurai: I don't have the issue with allergies and swallowing, but I think you are probably right that it encourages that feeling of hunger. I will agree with the brushing your teeth. I do that in particular right after dinner. There are those in my house who can have sweets later in the evening, and I don't want to be tempted. So, I brush my teeth and use a fairly intense flavor of mouthwash. Then, I know I'm done for the night. Good thoughts!

Went to Body Pump today. I almost didn't go, because I overslept a little, but I made it. Glad I did. It was hard, but I think that's good. Then at work, two people said that they have noticed that I've lost a lot of weight. Yay! I think it might be the more summery clothes I've been wearing. Finally put the long sleeve, heavy stuff away. But, always good to hear!

I like the way you think Sakurai and Slashnl....I'll have to try that!

Slashnl, glad you made it to you workout this morning...feels so good to get it done after the thought of not going!

Good job!!!

Hey All - I hope everyone is doing well in their regaining control.

I, personally, have been a mess. >_< My father came home from physical rehab last week and he wasn't ready. We just can't take care of him and it is throwing me into a stress cycle that is..well...nearly unbearable. I was over by a LOT of calories yesterday. Not because I really over ate but because I choose to eat at a Friendly's for comfort and trust me...it's a trap. One sandwich and waffle fries set me back 2,000 calories alone.

I DID make it to the gym Monday - with all intention of going every day this week - but we were up most of Monday and then last night - because my father was extremely ill and refusing medical treatment. It's not a good situation.

But I will pick myself back up and get on the horse somehow - I just need sleep and I will try again Monday for a full week of exercise (won't go tomorrow morning because I don't know if I will sleep tonight and I work 11 hours on Friday so thats out). I'm currently at reaching the end of my rope but I'm typing a knot to hold on for dear life, that's for sure.

I really hope everyone else is doing well.

Lookin2lose: I wanted to tell you that I like the quote in your signature about your body keeping an accurate journal regardless of what you write down. So true! Like it helps to track the wrong amount of calories.

SRT4852: Darn! Sounds like you have a lot to deal with right now. I am sorry you have to go through all of that. It is hard enough to work on losing weight and going to the gym, but then life gets in the way and adds to the burden. Count it as a victory that you made it on Monday. And next week is a new week to meet that goal of going for a full week. Hang in there! We're all here to support you!!

Went to spin class this morning. I should have known we were in for it when the instructor said she wanted to try something different. Oh my. Kicked my butt. I think it was a great workout, but I was not having fun in the middle of it. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty.

My family has had the flu cycling through. I have both kids home and me right now, although my SO is back to work today. Miserable week.

Slashnl...I tell myself that daily...and now have been living by it since the first week back on plan is so difficult!

Calluna, hang in there...sick houses are not fun...but it will pass soon! It's hot here in Texas so with the kids outside again we've gotta a little break from cold and flu season...hope it didn't just jinx it!

SugarRomeoTango - hang in there...just flipped back to the previous page and saw your rough week! Sleep is just as essential to weightloss as diet and exercise!

Hope the rest of your week gets better and hope your dad starts feeling better too! :hug:

Calluna: That's where you have been! I missed you! Hope everyone gets over the sickness soon!

Went to Body Pump today. My shoulder is whining now. I am glad they are changing up the routine next week, there is something about this routine that just really bothers my shoulder.

A lady at the gym asked me if I've been losing weight. I told her that I was and she said that she noticed. Love her! Don't know her, but ... love her!!

Sounds like several of you have had rough weeks! Keep up your spirits and nourish yourself. Take at least a little time just to yourself, listen to music, browse through your fav lolcats - whatever it takes to refresh yourself even just a little.

lookin2lose, I copied your sig quote into my inspiration journal too! It perfectly says what I repeatedly try to deny! XD

My pledge for this weekend:
Saturday is a weekly tradition to eat out, and I have been over-splurging. This saturday, I'm subtracting 1 from each item I eat: 1 less slice of pizza, 1 less ball of ice cream. My body doesn't look the other way! :D

Sakurai: Sounds like a good plan, to cut out one item from your splurge list. I am a firm believer in that you can still eat what you want to eat occasionally, but you need to just not overindulge!

I'll be taking some time off next week for my son's HS graduation, so today is a busy day at work. Oh yay.

Have a good weekend!

Focusing on being more intuitive along with everything else is working! I turned down a chocolate crepe today, stopped eating when I no longer felt hungry (before full!) and didn't snack at night. :D

Been struggling with complete lack of motivation and regaining for months now. Although other than a few attempts, or intended attempts lol, none of them lasting more than about 1 day, I haven't even tried to be on plan. Gave it up as a lost cause and munched my way through everything nice I could imagine! I'm feeling newly committed at the moment though, and today is day five of my being back on track. So I'm kind of easing back into everything again. Got weighed for the first time in ages and my weight was at 226.5. Could've been worse I guess. Hopefully this time next week I'll see it go down!

It's strange I found it hard to notice the weight coming off, but even just gaining a stone from my lowest weight 7 months ago, I've really felt, and visually noticed it going back on.

Weigh-In Day
 

Finally made it back! Been sooooooo busy. Not much time to excerise the last few days - and rain and hail kept me inside too. Did some aerobic housecleaning today though. :-)

I joined the May daily weigh-in group - but just weighing weekly to stay accountable and recording exercise daily. I'm glad I did because I wouldn't have realized I lost a pound this week if I hadn't. Better than nothing and way better than gaining. Off track a little because of all the birthdays in my family in the last week and a half.

Stay motivated everyone! ;)

Off to another birthday dinner…...