Welcome Beth! Having little support at home is tough Maybe you can make healthier meals, e.g. steamed vegetables, and add cheese to your husbands and not to yours? Have you spoken to him about the changes you want to make? I live at home, but I am the only one dieting so I have some similar issues around being the odd one out eating wise. Dinner has been tricky for me, since usually I'm not the one making it. So what I do is control my breakfast, lunch and snacks, make sure they are healthy, and allow for around 500 cals for dinner (I started on a 1200-1500 cal diet). Then, depending on what dinner is, I can alter my portion size. So if its lasagne or soemthing, I'll only take a small bit, if its chicken and salad I can have significantly more etc. Thats worked so far. I've gradually told my family what I would like (brown rice instead of white, grainy bread instead of white, low fat spreads etc) and they've been pretty accomodating. Its hard to do 2 completely seperate meals for dinner, but its not hard to do a small pot of brown rice along side the white rice for the rest of the family.

Having a son in daycare and working full time can make exercise tricky, but you could try doing just 15min blocks. So maybe get up 15 mins earlier to do some weights or jumping jacks or a run (I dont know how much of a morning person you are ) or take 15 mins before you pick up your son, 15 mins if hes taking a nap, 15 mins after he goes to bed...it'll add up.

Sorry this is a bit rambly ^_^'' But i hope theres something helpful in it for you

I'm a Beth too! (Well, Bethany, but close!)

I can totally relate with it being hard to exercise with a kiddo around sometimes. Since I am absolutely not a morning person, I use the free exercise routines On Demand (Comcast) in the evening after he goes to sleep. Sometimes I'm lucky though and have childcare so I can go to the real gym!

It's totally understandable to gain considerable weight after traumatic experiences or drastic changes in our lives. It really is part of the journey. Even those who are in the "maintaining" phase find themselves in stressful situations that lead to some weight gain, it's normal. What's important is that you are making those changes! And believe me, every little change will make a difference.

Good luck and I'm glad you joined. I look forward to hearing about all your success!!

Thanks for the responses!! As far as getting up in the morning - I'm already up around 5:15 because it's a 45 minute to an hour commute to work. I really, really do not want to get up any earlier. I am willing to budge on a lot, but not that! I need some sleep! As is, I, too, do the Comcast On Demand workouts (great Beths think alike!), and the Wii stuff for 15 to 25 min as I'm making dinner, or before it, etc. Perhaps I can add another in after the little man falls asleep. He really cannot stand Mommy exercising - he is all over me, grabbing my legs, etc. It definitely makes the aerobic aspect VERY challenging!

Playing with him will burn calories- not sure how old he is, but could you go to the park? play soccer/other sports? Tag?

Oh, definitely, though he is only 1 year old and the high-intensity play is definitely lacking Today I got him to do a lot of the moves that I was doing, and it was fun - ended up getting a 40 minute workout! Unfortunately, it's the dead of winter here, so outside/park time is out of the question (we're supposed to get 10 inches tonight - YUCK). I make due with what I can. Cannot WAIT for summer.

Hi Irishmomma and welcome!

Such great tips here. I also get a lot of use out of OnDemand workouts. The best part (although I don't have children) is that i can do them in 15-20 spurts. My favorite is Gilad (don't laugh, he's awesome) and tai bo. Lots and lots of tai bo I'm back to the gym, though. I haven't done tai bo in months because of an injury, but I loved it when I could do it at full force.