Divine - Yes, anything from McDonalds is bad. Chicken nuggets are fried in fat, the apples are soaked in sugar. Even some of the salads are high in salt content because of the dressing. Fast food is so dangerous because of how convenient it is, but the way it is made makes it highly damaging to your health and if you're trying to lose weight it's even worse.
There are so many quick and easy recipes you can do. Like Cajun chicken...get a bowl and put 1 tbsp of flour and 2 tsp of cajun seasoning and 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix it up, then put olive oil on a chicken breast then dunk it in the mixture until it's nice and covered. Fry it for 6 minutes per side - make sure it's cooked all the way through and voila. You have yourself a tasty bit of chicken. Rip up some lettuce, throw in some cherry tomatoes, cut a few bits of cucumber, onion, whatever, and you have yourself a salad to go with it.

Cooking doesn't have to be this long process, I make cajun chicken all the time and it takes me 20 minutes. It's not dunked in grease and fried in fat like a McDonalds chicken nugget. Your boyfriend should be more supportive of you and never offer you fast food. You should communicate that with him.
You should watch an amazing documentary called Food, Inc if you haven't already seen it. It will put you off fast food guaranteed. It's just...disgusting what they do to the animals that go in those foods. If you're addicted then maybe you need to educate yourself on where that food comes from, and it will be a negative association and make you crave it less.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0 - That's the trailer, I recommend anyone watch this film - it changed the way I saw food forever.

So my advice would be just look up some quick easy recipes, there are cooking websites that have options that say "quick cook time" and you can find things that take you 15 minutes. H3ll, even making baked beans on toast would be way better than fast food!!

Riestrella - I've seen it. It didn't work....and I wish it had.

Honestly though, the whole meal wasn't even 500 calories. and it had less then 20 grams of fat....and I had eaten very low fat and high fiber all day. I'm going to stay positive about my choice, I think it was the right thing to do. I literally didn't have groceries, my fridge freezer and cabinets were all empty, and I hadn't been paid yet. It seems to me that eating a little bit of stuff that isn't really healthy is better then not eating at all (this was at like 8:00pm....the last time I ate was lunch at work at 11:30am). I made a GOOD choice asking for a happy meal instead of what I usually get (which would be over 1000 calories)....and even though it wasn't the BEST choice, it's better then I usually do so I'm proud of it.


I was under 250 again this morning. 249.8....so I'm still dangerously close....and I know I'll be back above it because we're going out tonight with my boyfriend's family...but I am hoping that if I eat REALLY well on friday and drink tons of water to flush any sodium out of my system that I will be back below 250 by Saturday morning. Help would actually be appreciated. I have no idea what ANY of the stuff on the menu is...so if you recognize any of it and know what would be better for me to choose, I would appreciate any advice you can give.

http://angusgrillbraziliansteakhouse...ouse_menu.html

Apparently they come around with chunks of the meats and stuff and they cut you a slice of whatever you want and it's an all you can eat kind of thing and they keep coming around with different food. Talk about temptation. I was hoping it was some place where you just order what you want.

Anyways, I have to finish getting ready for work...I've got a busy day ahead of me. Have a great day everyone!

Divine- ooooo, a Brazilian Steakhouse! I'm jealous. If I was eating there this is how I'd attack it. Avoid the cheese bread, say no to the sides, hit that salad bar hard, let yourself have a few chunks of meat, and skip the desserts but go for the grilled pineapple. And don't be too hard on yourself about the McNuggets. Of everything at McDonald's your choice wasn't bad.

After a week I'm finally below 205.5. I'm vowing to myself that I will not binge this weekend. It's gotten to be a weekly thing and it's really hindering my losses. Going to try and concentrate on cleaning my house for my husband's homecoming and trying to finish organizing my room.

Divine - You made a good choice at an extremely unhealthy fast food place, and if your boyfriend was offering to get you food why didn't you just go get something from the supermarket? Or heck, even a healthy 6" Subway? I'm not going to pat you on the head and say "well done" because the fact is you could have avoided the McDonald's. I may sound harsh but you're on a weight loss forum talking about being addicted to fast food and it sounds like you're trying to justify something that you really shouldn't be.
As for the restaurant you're going to, sounds like you have a choice of beef, beef and beef in bacon. Just avoid anything wrapped in bacon, fries, cheese...maybe the pineapple would be better. Portion size is going to be key here, I heard that you should eat a portion of meat that's the size of your fist - any larger and you're overindulging. But that's loose. Snack on fruit before you go, make sure you've eaten healthy leading up to the meal - basically spoil your appetite so you're not tempted to gorge.

Lambie - Definitely distract yourself away from food - remember, think about your goals when you're about to eat something bad.

Riestrella - my boyfriend was walking home from work and syopped to ge food. Mcdonalds is the only thing between my house and his work...so thats what he got. You can call it excuses all you want, but you arent here and you dont know my situation. The fast food i am addicted to isnt mcdonalds, its whataburger. Mcdonalds isnt even that good. Mcdonalds mostly tastes just like chemicals to me.

For tonight, i dont like bacon anyways...and i am not a huge fan of red meat...so i should be okay. And i LOVE pineapple, so thats good. I have already had 64oz of water today...and i am trying to get to 120oz before i go tonight. I figure that would help me eat less. Ihaventgone to the grocery store yet though, so i dont have much to snack on, and i amgoingstraight to the resturaunt from work. I can probably spare a grahm cracker ortwo from my stash for grahm cracker houses we are making next week.

Edit: i wanted to add that out of all the fast food places excluding subway, mcdonalds is actually the best, not the worst. The only subway around here is cash only, so i dont go there ever anyways...although i dont mind it. I just never have cash. The only other things around are whataburger, mcdonalds, sonic, and jack in the box. Out of those mcdonalds is by far the best...their fruit and yogurt parfaits arw good if you are on a road trip and need to stop for breakfast, and a 6 piece chicken muggets isnt even 300 calories. They also offer more non carbonated low calorie drink options then most other places. I guess i am just trying to explain why i dint feel i made a bad choice. I am one of those people who doesnt need to cut things out 100% to stick tothe plan. Yes i am addicted to fastfood. I ate fast food once a week and still lost 70 pounds in about 9 months. Its not the healthiest thing, and i get that, but i could do a lot worse. I could be sitting on the couch eating a 10 piece nuggets, two large fries, a large soda, and a double cheeseburger. Thats how i used to be. Compared to that, a kids meal is nothing, and in the end it wont kill me. For an obese person, you would beamazed how normal my bloodwork is. My cholestwrol is normal, my blood pressure is normal....a few chicken nuggets every once in a while wont kill me.

Divine - I sense I hit a nerve, and for that I apologise. You've been talking recently like you've been having trouble with eating, that you've been going to a lot of fast food places - I wanted you to realise that you don't need to eat at ANY of those places. If you had been consistent and losing loads of weight and then slipped up once - then I would absolutely say "oh don't worry." But the truth is, you haven't been on plan and you've admitted that, so I'm not going to beat around the bush and say things I don't mean. You should get in the habit of cooking quick meals if time is an issue, not think "oh well, I'll just go to ___ because of this this and this."

I'm not saying that you should be depressed at your choice of meal from McD's, because you're right you could have done a lot worse, I'm saying you should avoid fast food altogether. Because once you're in there, what's stopping you from buying more and more? I think everyone should reflect on their weight gain once in a while and think about why they're not losing weight now if that's the case - and the impression you've given is that you've been eating at fast food places. I was merely trying to persuade you to be anti-fast food, because if you have any sort of connection to these places then you're going to keep walking through those doors.

Instead of defending McDonald's start hating the place and all the other burger places and choose healthy food!

Riestrella i'm not upset or anything, you didnt really hit a nerve, i am just trying to explain my point of view. It isnt fast food that made me fat...it is a lack of control. By completely cutting out fast food, i would never have to learn that self control. By allowing myself to have it occasionally but making the best choices i can, i can learn self control. Its unrealistic to believe i will never eat it again, and i would rather prepare myself by learning to control that consumption then be put in a situayion where i have no other choice and go crazy because i havent had it and dont know how to handle it.

Yes i have been having trouble with food....but i attributemost of that problem to the fact that i am having trouble caring about my weight, so i dont really care what i eat. The doctor tells me ,y bloodwork comes back normal and i ak healthy. I can still run up stairs and not get winded. I feel beautiful and i feel happy. I just have trouble caring when it seems like my weight is not really negatively affecting me. Yes i feel guilty after i eat the fast food...but that is just becausei know i SHOULD care. My boyfriend just got his first job (he has been looking for years) and so he has money now and is spending it a little bit more freely then he should on junk...but that wont last forever. I am alot less worried about cutting fast food out of my life then i am about finding my motivation again. My ,otivation was getting healthy, but the doctor said i AM healthy....so i am just confused right now. I will figure it out though.

Divine- I understand what you're saying. Even when I was at my high weight of 320 lbs my bloodwork, blood pressure, everything was fine. It was the thought that it wouldn't always be okay that finally got me motivated. I don't know about you but my family has a history of high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, etc. I knew that even though I was technically "okay" I wasn't going to be that way forever unless things changed.

I also understand about not depriving yourself. As you can see from some of my previous posts it's not what I eat that's the problem. It's my lack of self control and tendency to binge. I count calories and if I want to eat something (whatever it is) I just adjust my calories to allow for it. If I really want a double cheeseburger for dinner I might need to have a super tiny lunch if that means I'm going to be within my calories for the day. I let myself have a piece of good quality chocolate once a day. It's all about making compromises.

Lately I think I look fabulous and since I've been feeling that way I've gone off the wagon more than I care to admit. But it's the realization that if I look this good NOW, I'm gonna be a smoking hot MILF at or around my goal weight. :)

Divine - You're currently still quite young, so while it's great that your blood work is good now it's the future you have to worry about. If you feel fine the way you are, then why are you trying to lose weight?

lambiechop - I guess you're right. Maybe thinking more about the future will help me now. First I was losing weight because I wasn't happy. Then I was losing weight to get healthy. Now I need to lose weight to STAY healthy.

Riestrella - I am trying to lose weight because I know that I can be better then I am. I feel that I could be a better girlfriend and a better teacher and because i like living a healthy lifestyle. The only reason I've gained all the weight back that I lost before is because I stopped finding the time to cook and the time to exercise and stuff. I switched to working full time instead of part time and school full time instead of part time and life just got crazy. I was happy because I love my job and school and my boyfriend, so I let myself go. What I forgot is how much I loved living a healthy life as well. I just need to try and get that feeling back again. I'm not doing this for me...not really....I'm doing it so that my future children will have a good example to follow because that is something that I never had. Also, right now I need to lose weight because I don't have many clothes that fit at all. I've got dressers full of pants size 12 to 20...and right now the 20s are tight and i don't have the money for new pants. It sounds bad, but it's true. Most of my cute clothes are size 12 or 14....and i want to fit back into them instead of buying new ones.

Oh and speaking of children it was soooo much easier being pregnant at 200 lbs with my second than it was being pregnant at 270 with my first. I can't imagine the piece of cake it may have been if I'd have been a "normal" weight. Not to mention the fact that it was much easier to actually get pregnant. Tried for 8 months with my first, got it on the first attempt with my second.

Well ladies... I got paid today so I spent the whole day out paying bills, visiting back home(about an hour away) with my mom and sister, had lunch with my best friend and finally completely finished my Christmas shopping!! Also went and visited with my old coworkers while I was down there, Really miss those girls!:(
After all of today, my check is gone but I'm happy with everything being paid and accounted for! It's a good feeling! This Saturday I'll be making that hour drive again to go to my grandmothers, we always do our Christmas there the weekend before, so I'm pretty excited! The weather has been weird here this week, like up in the 70s so I am finding it so hard to believe that Christmas is a little over a week away!! Crazy! Usually around this time it's snowing or at least icy and COLD!
I hope everyone is having a good week, I have nothing good to brag for my eating today but no excuses, just know I could have done better at lunch.

mhill - Yeah, it was 77 degrees here yesterday, and it's supposed to be hotter today. Oh, and Monday it was 45. I absolutely hate living in the south. The weather is way too bipolar for me. It definitely doesn't feel like Christmas....especially because I spent last Christmas in Massachusetts with my grandparents and it was like 20 degrees most of the time, sometimes in the teens. It's hard to call this Christmas after experiencing one like that.

Lambiechop - I hadn't even thought about it like that. You're definitely right. Now I've got some good reasons to get back on track....and that should make it a lot easier.



Well, this morning I was 253. I was hoping it wouldn't be that bad. I felt like everything that I ate at the brazilian steakhouse had a lot of salt though, and I also didn't think I ate that much...I felt like I did really well....so maybe it's just water weight and if I drink a ton of water today it will come off by tomorrow. That is my hope.

Not a great week but at least I had a loss. I'll take it since last Sunday I was up 2 lbs from last Saturday's weigh in.

My son is officially on his Xmas break now. Hopefully it'll make the time go by quickly. We're not celebrating Xmas until my husband gets home so the next couple of weeks should be pretty low key.

I've been slacking off seriously the last 3 days on exercise... I think I'm getting sad about having to go back to work on Monday so I've been completely lazy the last couple days soaking it all up!!
I'm about to go weigh in and I'm nervous:(
Tonight I'm driving back home to do my family Christmas at my grandmothers.. lots of presents, tons of people in the house and looooots of food!
I'm going to still continue to eat well the best I can! I made it through Thanksgiving, I can do this:)
Then next weekend I do even more with my family! I'm so excited! I can't believe how fast Christmas crept up on us!
Hope everyone has a great weigh in!

Ladies... You should all check out www.sarahfit.com and her youtube station ... she's got some awesome techniques and is amazing!!
Just my little tidbit for today!!
Hope you have all had a great weekend!

Hey everyone! Back at work, so life has picked up the pace once again! I also had a Christmas do with my girls in another city and we spent the whole day together. Ate delicious food all day but I think walking around the city for hours on end helped burn it off a little!

Official weigh in this week was 162 lbs - hallelujah! Finally get to mark on my chart a decrease in weight!

I haven't had time to work out the last 3 days, but tomorrow I'm hoping to sneak in an Insanity workout before work. Hope you're all doing well, can't believe it's a week until Christmas! Better start wrapping presents!

Is this challenge still happening?! o_O Is any one out there?!

I am still here, and I was planning on doing the stats this evening. It's just been a hectic few weeks. Finals finished and I got As in all my classes, but now I'm taking a 3 week long government course. Imagine trying to fit an entire semester of coursework into three weeks. It's freaking rediculous. I've been coming home from work and just working on that. I'm planning on getting it all done the monday after christmas though, since you can work ahead and I don't have to go to work that day....and then I will just be done with it.

I will try and fit in some personals and stuff later. Riestrella is right, the chat thread seems kind of dead though. I hope all you guys are still out there!

I'm here. Been kind of busy with both kids at home. I can't believe my husband will be back soon! Deployments suck but this time I actually did what I've always said I'd do and lost a significant amount of weight. I'm so happy to reveal his new wife to him. This morning I hit 203! Hoping that I'm going to make my 199 by January 1 goal.

I've got a lot going on this week and just trying to find my motivation these last few days for some reason!
I'm working at it though!:)
This is our last week ladies!

Just an FYI also... When I renew my subscription to Fitness Magazine at the beginning of the year I can get a subscription for two friends for free..
I have no friends that are into fitness and don't already have a subscription
So if anyone is interested just let me know:)

I don't have a subscription...so I would definitely be interested.

Yesterday was a crazy day. I got off work early to go to the dentist and get a filling. Now I'm noticing that I cant close my mouth all the way because another tooth hits the filling in a weird way. It's making it impossible to eat....so this morning and last night all I ate was soup. I'm going to have to call her today and see if there is another time that I can come in and get her to shave that spot down a little bit so that I can actually eat real food again.

Yesterday was my dad's birthday...and I wasn't able to eat anything of the wonderful dinner my mom cooked (pot roast and roasted veggies) because I couldn't chew the food. I couldn't even eat cake....so that made me sad. It's probably better though, because I know I didn't need it.

Then my boyfriend came over and gave me my christmas present early to make me feel better and OMG. It's gorgeous.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...04837259_n.jpg

I was NOT expecting that. The crazy thing is I got him a ring too, although mine is from Helzberg Diamonds and his is just from amazon....but his is gorgeous and made of tungsten carbide which is supposed to be almost virtually indestructible...so that's good. Mine is sterling silver with sapphires. I didn't know white sapphires existed, but apparently they do. We decided to wear them like promise rings, which has my mom a little upset because she's always felt that the only rings that should go on your left hand are your wedding ring and engagement ring....and this is neither. It's too big on my right hand though....so I will be wearing it on my left hand anyways. It's just so gorgeous, and it definitely made me feel better.

I'm SUPER hungry and just wish I could chew food....but I will survive.

sorry about not getting to the stats. It was a crazy day yesterday. Today should be better though, it's not a birthday and there is no homework due or anything like that...so I will get it done, I promise. lol
>.<

Alright guys. I know I didn't do the best job keeping up with the stats or anything, and that towards the end of the challenge we all stopped posting much at all...but that's okay. We all accomplished something great here. We lost weight. Here is your overall stats for the entire competition.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...erallfinal.jpg

It looks like our team's biggest loser was Lambiechop, so congrats to you!

I wish all of you the best of luck with the rest of your journey =D

Great job, everyone!! And thanks for the congrats! :)