Amy asked about the soup -- it was delicious! In the summer I ate a lot of salads, but I really LOVE making soup. It ended up being slightly higher in calories than I thought it would (who knew a whole pound of lentils is over 1500 calories! Thank goodness for nutridiary, or I'd still be living in ignorance.), but it's just also just SO good for you and so many good flavors, and the "more calories" is a whole lot less than other meals in the past...

Hmmm... maybe I should learn to make cold soup next summer... never really thought about it before.

I'm glad Jill got her couch ! And Brenda threw out her bra extenders! Great victories!

Jeanette -- I have a nordictrack treadmill... they do have some for heavier people, but they are $$$. Mine is only to 275 lbs and it cost in the neighborhood of 2K! (I had to lose some weight before I felt I could even use it, and even then, it squeaked a lot at first -- I think I was a smidge over the weight limit -- not anymore though!)

Ammi -- Can you bake and not eat what you make? I haven't dared yet bake since I started losing. I have this banana bread recipe I'm dying to make, but I think I would eat the whole thing in a day like I used to!! Then again, maybe I do have the strength. I could cut it into slices once it cools and package them up for daily snacks... then again, it probably has a lot of fat... something else to think about.

Ammi: my boyfriend is from the UK (Preston, Lancashire to be precise). We'll be visiting lots of friends and also doing some business here. Most importantly, we will be watching Preston North End play football!!

I hadn't considered an elliptical machine....will have to try one first.

Wyllen: Thanks for the suggestion on a treadmill. I was afraid I'd have to put out alot of money for something good.

Okay, here's a question for those of you who have gotten to this point: When did people start to comment on your weight loss?

I started at about 300 and have lost just over 30 pounds. While I certainly notice the difference in a number of ways, I don't know if I'm at the point other people would notice. I am certainly not at the point where people who don't know me well (e.g., colleagues) would comment on it, and I have volunteered that info to very few people.

I'm not asking because I can't wait for the comments -- almost the opposite. Right now I don't want to have to start answering all the "What's your secret?" questions and have them watch everything I eat ("Is that what a "dieter" eats?"). [Though I suppose before they might have wondered "Is that how much a fat person eats?"] I'm not doing this for anyone but me and like my current state of anonymity.

So, I guess a follow up question is, what kinds of questions do people most often ask you?

I lost some weight a number of years ago -- going from 250 to 217ish. I remember that people HAD started to notice. That may also have been because I started dressing nicer because I had a new wardrobe and was WANTING others to notice. I'm not at that point (yet) this time around -- do you think that's as much a part of it as anything else? That is, not the weight loss itself, but how you project yourself?

Great thread!! Well I have only lost 15 pounds but my Mom and husband said that my face looked a little smaller along with my stomach. In the past I have lost 30 - 40 pounds and it seems like just when people start noticing and tell me how great I look I get off track and gain it back. I don't know if it was because people thought I looked good and I figured well I lost the weight...now I don't have to diet anymore and then I ended up gaining it all back and then some. This time it is different for me...I am not doing it for anyone else except myself...well part of the reason I am doing this is so I can be around for my 6 year old son. When people start noticing my weight loss I will think to myself....yes I have done great losing the weight but I still have more to lose.

Yes I do think when you lose weight you tend to want to dress nicer and do different things with your hair and makeup...I feel so much better about myself just losing 15 pounds.

Andrea

Man this thread moves fast!

Ammi~ You’re ex-husband sounds like a ripe loser. I’m so glad you found someone better. They say that second hand smoke is actually more dangerous than the actual smoking because there is a filter on the end. I can’t be around it. Whenever I smell it my chest tightens up. I don’t have asmatha, it’s purely psychosomatic because I know the dangers and I don’t want to breathe that stuff in. I’m pretty lucky, though, both of my workplaces are smoke free, though there are smokers who work with me. They have to go somewhere else to smoke. I just have to deal with them smelling when they get back.

It’s great that you found some way to exercise even if it is cleaning house. I don’t care what anyone says. Cleaning house is work! All that dusting and vacuuming.

Amy~ Congratulations on the one pound lost! Sorry about the coffee situation. I love coffee myself, though I don’t have it often anymore but I know how you feel. It’s like a Cathy moment. Ack! (Cathy is a newspaper cartoon I like).

Jill~ Congrats on the couch. Getting new furniture is fun. I hope you like your new apartment.

Goingtolose200~ Yay for you being able to get rid of the bra extenders. Losing pounds is great but I think sometimes the non-scale victories are even better. Keep up the good work.

Jen~ Congrats on the bonus. I don’t own a treadmill but my apartment has some great ones in their fitness center. I’ll take a look and see what kind they are. (Maybe while I’m there I’ll actually start using it again.) My parents lived in England for about 3 years and they loved it. They said the people are nice and that’s it’s beautiful, so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Wyllen~ I think you can make low-fat banana bread. I haven’t baked in forever but Allrecipes.com is a great place to go for recipes. They are contributed by people from all over, so I’m sure you’ll find some great ones.

So many congratulations going out to everyone. Hopefully I got everyone. I’m sorry if I missed you. I’m so happy to see successes. It’s very motivating to see people overcoming difficulties and moving forward. Here’s to a great weight loss week!

S&C

Good Afternoon everyone! It's a sunny day on PEI finally. I can actually get a walk in today! Turkey day was great and I had a great meal last night. Although now I know I have to be super good today as far as calories go. My hubby is taking me to see the new Wallace & Grommit movie tonight and I have to try to bring some healthy snacks with me. Any one have any suggestions that doesn't consist of plain popcorn? *L* I've consummed about all of it that I can handle

Jill ~ Congrats on the new furniture! I recovered my old stuff a few weeks ago. The couch was a very icky green flower pattern that I couldn't stand. I recovered it with a small vertical stripe as well that matches the house colors a lot better. Too bad they didn't turn out more professional looking but they will do until I go back to work and can afford new ones.

Jen ~ I have tried the elliptical... scared the crap out of me! Hope you have better luck than I!

Wyllenn ~ I bake for my husband all the time. I have found that if I cut him 4 portions and me one, I still have enough to share with my parents or neighbors. I love baking and could do it every day! I have tried a lot of low-fat recipes and most have turned out pretty good. Most times you can substitute the butter or margarine with applesauce and no one can tell I even had some recipes call for mashed prunes instead of butter. They come in baby food bottles and usually are the right portion size for your recipe. Just don't tell any fussy members of your family... my husband now asks what is in things before he eats them... little white lies will only make his heart thank me in the long run. i only told him about the "prune" thing once! Now I make the best chocolate "prune" brownies and he, although thinks that they are fattening, loves them. If anyone would like the recipe, let me know!

Well, I am off for now to do laundry and go for my walk before the weather changes. One can never trust the fall season. But I love to walk this time of year when the leaves are falling and "crunch" beneath your feet. My beagle loves to run and roll in them and each time brings a smile to my face. Who can ask for more motivation than that....

Talk to you all later and I encourage everyone to take 15 minutes today and enjoy the fall. Even just go and walk around in the yard or down the street to the park. It will increase your energy and best of all, it might make you smile......

Hello everyone, been a busy & stressful weekend, will try & mention the stuff in this thread, it would take too long to go on about the other one. Congrats on the new settee & chair jilly, well done to those who've lost or even maintained. I'm still not up to exercising, IBS is pretty bad at the moment, not eating much, lentil soup & low fat yogs, so should lose some weight, even if I'm not moving around much! can't face other food, I know it will make the pains worse, had a couple of probiotic drinks this morning to see if balance of bacteria is off in my gut (ick, sorry ) which can upset me, or if its stress.
I hope that catherine is doing well & enjoying her holiday/romantic interlude! and that the long journey was worth it!
jen, how did u meet your boyfriend? it must be hard him being so far away, northern men like their women bigger than those in the midlands (where I am) and the south, my ex-husband came from yorkshire and when I moved there guys could'nt stop chatting me up, eyeing me up or flirting with me! I weighed 74lbs less then, though!
Got to go and bath my boys soon so will go now, Ammi, will try & catch u tonight or tomorrow 8.30-9 or 12.30-1.30 or 4.00pm.

regards,
sharon

Hey ladies....

I've been MIA for about hmmm maybe two weeks. I had to take my laptop in to fix my cpu fan and the jack for my charging station. My computer wouldn't charge it's battery without being taped up into a certain position. I managed to almost drop it and in the process I banged the charging cable while it was plugged into my laptop and snapped one of the sodder pins that held my charging jack onto my motherboard... YIKES! So I had it in for about a week and half. I was going crazy because I needed a laptop for school to take notes. I type faster than I can write and so I can get more details while listening to lectures. I've been using James' Mac laptop... was a little awkward, but I stayed off the internet and used it just for school. My desktop is over at my fathers place because his computer took a flop and so he will have mine until another computer show comes up so he can get another motherboard.

Man... what a mess huh? I've been feeling really stressed out with school. My calculus is really killing me. I'm so close to dropping the class... but I wanna stick it out, but I'm concerned my grade will suffer. Honestly tho, I think it's past the point of where i can drop and get a refund... otherwise I'd have to pay back the VA who paid my tuition... eek. I'm thinking about going in to see my advisor and see if I can avoid taking Calculus 3 next term. I just need one more upper division math to satisfy my academic plan... Unless I fail calculus 2, then I would need two upper division math classes... ICK I have a calculus quiz on Wednesday then I have the midterm on Monday... I have a midterm on Thursday for my cultures class, and a paper for my Children's lit class. I dunno where to start first. I need to study for my Calculus, but I need to study for my cultures class to... I'm working up an ulcer here. I'vehad migrains and stomach aches for the last week. Just a little stressed out, and to be honest... I haven't weighed myself nor have i really paid much attention to my diet. tho I tried to be good. My whole life right now consists of work, school, come home, eat dinner, and go hide in the bedroom for homework. Then go to bed aroudn 1 or 2 am. that's pretty much what it's like. I just need to get caught up. I am starting to think that this is going to be a regular routine for me. UGH!

Sorry to post such stressing news... I just wanted to come in and post that I'm still alive... barely hanging on, but still alive. I will try my hardest to post more regularly and reply to you ladies. You guys keep my honest... and keep me sane!

Take care!
Sue...

Wyllenn, I posted a banana bread recipe on the recipe thread. You might want to check it out. It is low in fat, no sugar. I hope it is good, cause I haven't tried this one yet. What could be bad if you love banana bread? If you try it let us know if it is good. Iwillbe

Voodoo: I met him on the internet! He was living in the US at the time, though! He took me to England last year for my 40th birthday--how lovely!! His friends were all great to me--even throwing me a huge party! And they barely knew me!

Hi everyone. I am new around here. My SIL Amy (AmyLizMc) posts here and told me what a great site this is for weight loss support. My name is Amanda and boy do I have a lot of weight to lose. I need to lose about 1/2 of myself. I am 26 yrs old and I live in Ga.

I have 2 children, Mikey is almost 7 and Ella is almost 2. It is time for me to make a change and I am hoping that I can get the support that I need from here. I want to be healthy, happy and comfortable in my own body. I dream of being here to see my children and grandchildren grow up. I want to be a positive role model for my children when it comes to health and I know that I am not that right now.

So, that is me. If there is anything that you want to know about me just ask. I am pretty much an open book.

Welcome Manda!
I am new here as well just hearing about it over the past weekend. Everyone here is absolutely wonderful and I am sure that we will all get to know each other and help each other.... we all have a similar goal!

Hello All,

It's only been a few hours since I was last posting here and I come back and loads of you have posting I have some catching up to do now.

Wyllen - You pose two good questions. First of all I am not really at a point when people notice my weight loss, and when I ask my hubby he says, oh yeah you can see it in your face. Gosh I hate that, I don't want to lose it off my face or my boobs lol. When I have lost weight in the past and people have noticed I am happy at the time, but as soon as the diet fails and I see the same people again when the weight is back on, I can't help but feel guilty. They may not be saying it, but I know they are thinking it, that I have given up dieting. My ex MIL used to be really awful, first of all if I was visiting her and she had more visitors she always told them I was on a diet. Then when I failed she would say, oh she gave up on the diet, and I am a topic of conversation. I prefer to keep it quiet, Internet friends and my hubby and kids know I am dieting, but nobody else does. Oh and I can totally relate to being watched once people know you are dieting. My ex used to say 'I thought you were dieting' if he saw me eating anything other than a stick of celery. I couldn't get it through his head that on WW you can eat what you like.

As for the other question, when people did notice I was losing weight they didn't normally ask many questions, I guess the main one has to be what diet are you doing. I don't mind being asked though, it means people are noticing and although that also lets them know I have been dieting, it also tells me it's working.

No I am haven't been tempted to eat what I bake, although it's hard not to lick the spoon with cake mix on it lol. I am going to try a low fat recipe over the weekend, not sure what yet, need to check out my WW recipe books, but if I can cook something tasty and low fat it will be better for the family too. I mean the last cakes I cooked had 8 ozs of butter in them!! Not particularly healthy!!

Jen - wow I never realised your boyfriend lives over here in the UK. He lives about 40 miles from where my hubby comes from. I met him on the Internet too, and he moved in with me 3 weeks after our first real meeting. How long have you been with your guy, and is one of you going to eventually make the move so you can be together all the time? Like Sharon (voodoo) said, it must be so hard being so far apart, so I bet you are really looking forward to your next visit. It was so sweet of him to bring you over here for your 40th and for all his friends and family to throw you a big party. Sounds like these men from up North are definitely the best

Andrea - you have lost 15 lbs and that is fantastic, never say it as ONLY 15 lbs. That's a lot of packets of butter!! You are right that dieting for yourself is the best reason to do it. It's nice if people notice but you have to keep going until you are happy with yourself. We are all going to get to goal and then we will definitely have to put 'after' photos on the site for all to see

S&C - wow I never realised second hand smoking was worse than smoking yourself. If only we could get smokers to believe that. I know all my family say it's a load of rubbish and the only time they don't smoke is if there is a baby under 6 months in the house. Other that that they smoke like chimneys. I don't blame you for getting all worked up if people smoke in front of you, think I might start that if it helps stop people making me suffer their stinking habit.

Oh yes house work definitely is exercising. I lose so much sweat when I make the beds or hoover and dust, it's like a full work out I feel better though because I know I am achieving a clean house too.

Yes my ex was definitely a loser, and I am so much better without him. Although I was terribly unhappy I never would have left him because I took my vows seriously, plus I didn't want my daughter to come from a broken home. He did me the biggest favour leaving me even though it stung at the time. I am now with the man of my dreams and couldn't be happier. Well not in my love life anyway My exes new wife has had an affair so my daughter tells me, so it's definitely a case of what goes around comes around. I have no sympathy for him. Mind you he forgave her and took her back which I never would have done had he asked me to come back!!

GTL 200 - that's great that you are going to the movies, you will have to tell us if the film is as good as it seems on the ads. As for low fat snacks I like to take hard boiled sweets to suck on, and a packet of rice cake snacks like Snacka Jacks. They have some great flavours these days and you really feel like you are having a treat.

Sharon (voodoo) - you are on the right track drinking those pro biotic drinks, but although they do work, they aren't nearly strong enough to help IBS. When my daughter was diagnosed with it at the hospital I asked the consultant about what could help her and he said to get the strongest probiotic capsules you can get from the Internet. Health food shops don't sell them in such high doses that you would need. So I searched the Net, and found some. I don't know if they worked though because my daughter can't be bothered taking them. But I have started taking them to counteract the thrush I am getting from taking antibiotics daily. So if you want to go the pro biotic route, then do try the ones from the Internet. I can give you a web address if you like? I hope your tummy will calm down soon. When I am finished here I will email you with that link, and tell you about what's in the book I told you about.

Sue - lovely to see you back though I was sorry to hear that your PC had to go to the PC doctor. I am glad it's all sorted out now and I hope it didn't cost too much. Sorry to that you're feeling a bit overwhelmed with your subjects right now. I hope you can sort something out so that you get some more enjoyment out of what you are doing. Good for you for still thinking of what you are eating although you aren't dieting properly. I am sure that will make the difference between maintaining your weight and gaining it. I am sure when things are less stressful you will have time enough to really give attention to the diet.

Amanda - hello and welcome. You have certainly come to the right place for motivation and support along your weight loss journey. Where is GA by the way. I am in the UK so at a guess I would say that is Georgia, but I am probably wrong We all have a long journey ahead of us here, and it seems a few of us have a first mini goal of losing enough weight to be under 300 lbs. Setting mini goals is the best way to face losing as much as we need to..what is your first mini goal?

Ok well off to answer some emails now. Have a nice night all, and I hope everybody has a great day tomorrow.

Hugs,

Ammi

Okie... I just got my "Unofficial Results" back from my CSET exam... my 3rd and FINAL exam. I PASSED!!! Man! At least I got some good news out of these past two weeks of misery... I can now apply for my credential program... whooo!!!!

Personal replies will come later tonight promise! Off to Class...

Love you all!

Hi Amanda!

Wow! You ladies have been busy today. Me too--well, at least trying to be busy.

Jeanette: I don't have a treadmill at home, but I really like the one at the gym. It's a LifeCycle, and when you enter your weight in it says the range is 75 - 400 pounds. Congrats on the bonus!

Ammi: I read in your post where you were tired, I hope you're feeling better. Weather really has an effect on me, too. Oh, and thanks for the info on caffeine. That was my only cup of coffee each day (or only caffeine, for that matter), but I think since I did without today, I'll just give it up. It's really just a holdover from when I used to smoke. I quit last November and cut way down on my coffee drinking at the same time. Coffee and cigarettes went so well together!

wyllenn: I love soup. Especially anything you can make in a crockpot. I'm kind of a lazy cook! --And unfortunately I haven't gotten to the point where anyone would notice my weight loss, I don't really notice too much, except I have more energy lately.

Jen: I tried an elliptical machine for the first time today. It was really a good workout. More than I get on either the bicycle or the treadmill. I really liked it (once I got over my worry about falling off )

goingtolose: I am really enjoying the fall weather, now that it has FINALLY got here!

voodoo: I hope you feel better soon. My MIL has IBS--definitely no fun.

SueMarie: CONGRATULATIONS!!!