Nightkatt- WTG on the loss of inches and pounds!! Great job!

Ammi- thanks for answering my question and Swansea looks gorgeous!! I've always wanted to visit Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England as my ancestors are from all those places. Maybe someday... but now Swansea is definitely on my list!!

Vilandra I think it might just be the way your body works, if you're losing 8lbs approx per month I wouldn't worry, if it's less it might be worth looking into adding some other aerobic exercise as well as, or instead of, walking. Though it's good for you even when you walk fast it doesn't burn as many calories as 30 mins hard-ish aerobics. Hope it helpsxxxx
Tx/Sue was it you who was struggling with losing? I think, like some others have said that eating the same foods all of the time isn't good, trying new recipes , foods or ways of cooking them should help things along. I have been scared of eating potatoes; I'm doing South Beach; and I've got so sick of salads I decided to have fish (smoked haddock), new potatoes and mushy peas last night, it was great to have something different and hopefully the scales will show a loss on Saturday.xxxx
I did all that exercise yesterday, today I was going to walk into town today and exrcise but it has been raining really hard since yesterday afternoon so I might have to make do with exercise only. Steve is working overtime tonight and Sunday day so I will do some more exercises whilst I have the chance.
Kenya, glad you weren't offended by my comments about your name, I hope you get to visit your namesake some time. I wish I didn't eat when hubby isn't here!! But you know where we all are when you need some (virtual) hugs and support.xxxx
Brenda I hope you enjoy your camping and pack lots of healthy food for your trip, I'm sure you'll get lots of walking and other exercise in xxxx
I bought some new fat monitor scales and as postage was free I got the boys some snap cards and Wolfmother's new cd album (I still want to call them LPs, lol) they sound so much like Led Zeppellin, I had to try it. After all it's calorie/fatfree!!!! And maybe I'll take a leaf out of Kenya's book and dance around a bit to it too. I have to go & exercise now or I'll find something else to do instead, like being on the pc until lunch, lol!
xxxsharon

Goodmorning ladies! It looks like today is going to be a stressful day- I got a warning phone call last night from the evening half that my clients are bickering with each other over foyer space. apparentlly they are both pharmaceuticals and one thought they were partners while the other considers them a competitor. The one that thinks they are a competitor wants the other one to have their meetings in a different area than them, but they don't want to move, and they don't want us to tell the other one to move b/c of them, b/c they are supposed to be partners. How double faced!!! so my job today (in addittion to everything else I normally do) is to keep the group that is unaware of a problem out of the other one's way, without telling anyone upfront to move it. going to be fun!

Angie- thank you so much for the veggie tips- you really gave me some great ideas- I copied your post and saved it in word to come back to as I try different things.

Melissa- I'm not much of an expert- but it sounds to me like you are doing everything right. I would have to agree with the others who said that our bodies sometimes just don't do what we would expect whether it be hormones, water retention, etc. I would just make sure you're taking in plenty of water, and sticking to whole foods, and not too much sodium. The good thing is, while it may not be consistent weekly- it looks like you are stilling losing 6/8 a month, which is great! Keep it up-you are an inspiration to all of us!

Jill- 10.25 pounds in 11 days is awesome!! I'm sure having a few days to eat so foods you have to avoid will be good for you- keeping your body guessing- but i bet you won't eat that much anyway, because you've done so good establishing some good eating habits!! congrats!

Time to get ready to run off to work. Everyone have a great day.

good morning everyone though it is not a good morning here. scales say i am up by 3 pounds. oh well going to get strict back on program and run some of those suckersoff along with their friends.

I had a BAD night last night, and I am not even sure why. I ended up going to sleep at around 10:30 to stop myself from eating half a pint of Hagen Das ice cream. It is my BF’s and has been in the freezer for over a week. I wouldn’t normally go for it (it was cherry and I normally go for chocolate things) but I had this overwhelming urge to eat it. I even was lying there in bed, and then my brain convinced me I needed to get up to check whether or not I had turned off the oven and before I knew it my hand was on the freezer door. I resisted and went to bed, but it was quite disturbing. I still can’t figure out what was going on emotionally for that to have happened (because it was undoubtedly a completely emotional response). I will take some time to dwell on it today and see if I can’t figure it out.

Ammi - I'm with you on the Adrian Paul pics.

Nightkatt – Congrats on being down 2 pounds, but it isn’t an NSV – it’s an SV!

On your question about self-image, I feel mostly ok with myself. I spent quite a bit of time and self-introspection coming to terms with the fact that fat doesn’t equal bad. Sure, I’m not happy with how my body is now, but for me it is much more of a function question. Of course I would prefer the form too, but I am generally a confident person. I think feeling capable will make me even more confident, but I don’t feel undeserving because of my size. I think many people (I am thinking of the woman you mentioned on Dr. Phil) use the term and concept of being fat as a catch all for being unhappy with themselves. In some ways it is much easier to just label what we are feeling bad about as fat rather then delve into what is really bothering us about ourselves. That is my personal opinion, and maybe it only applies to me, but who knows.

Melissa – I wish I had an answer for you because I am in the same place. I am actually starting to think I might be pushing too hard with the exercise. Like going too low on calories, I am wondering if more isn’t necessarily better for where we are. For example, Ammi is steadily losing on 30 minutes a day. Crock was one of the most constant losers and she couldn’t exercise because of her leg, and if I remember correctly, Kayley’s stall coincided with her starting to do a lot of exercise. I know for each of these examples there could be dozens of other factors, but it has really go me wondering. Maybe I am taxing my body too much. If I figure anything out I will let you know.

Tilly – Don’t give up! There could be a lot of factors of why you gained. How has your salt intake been? Where are you in your monthly cycle (pms can cause major water weight gain)? Also, are you eating enough? You might want to figure out your calorie intake even if you are doing another plan to make sure you are getting enough. It seems counter intuitive, but not eating enough can also cause gains because your body is desperate to hold on to every calorie.

Kim – I hope you are able to work out your work problem with the least possible stress. I worked at a hotel for awhile and promptly discovered that any type of customer service position just isn’t for me.

Jill – Congrats on finishing your 11 days on plan. 10 pounds is amazing!

Jen – I think your friend is wrong. Actually in some cases vegetables are more easily digestible and therefore you get more nutrients out of them if they are cooked. Here is a small article about tomatoes from Cornell (if you need something to show your friend) http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases...s.Liu.bpf.html

Usually the best way to cook them isn’t boiled in water for hours, but either steaming or stirfry, as water leaches out nutrients. Also, sometimes frozen vegetables can have more nutrients than fresh because they are frozen immediately after harvesting, whereas other vegetables can sit around on shelves and lose some of their value.

Patti - Sorry to hear the scale is being unkind.

Once again I know I missed a bunch of people, but I really need to get to work.

Hi all! I haven't started exercising again but I have so many stupid excuses, I was sick, I'm tired, I feel bloated and I'm stressed! Tomorrow, I plan to go on a hike though so that'll get me some exercise. Also my latest Push DVD should be arriving soon so I can do that.

Jill - congratulations, you have done awesome.

Melissa - You are doing everything right, I'd keep up with it. Our bodies don't always lose from week to week for various reasons. The long term, overall loss is what counts. If you don't lose for over a month, I'd be concerned and try some tweaking.

Jen - concerning cooked vs raw vegetables. Raw vegetables are really good for you. You don't have to eat salads to eat raw vegetables. I often eat things such as carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc with hummus. I will also eat tomatoes by themselves sometimes. The problem with raw vegetables is even though they contain lots of nutrients, our bodies can't always get at all the nutrients in the raw vegetable. Cooked vegetables are really good for you too but I'd avoid boiling vegetables as some nutrients do come out. If you steam or sautee vegetables, you are definitely getting a lot of nutrition even though some nutrients may be lost. Cooking tends to make other nutrients available for absorption when they wouldn't otherwise be available if eaten raw. This is especially true for tomatoes and other vegetables.

Thanks to everyone who responded to the cooked vs. raw veggie debate. I never boil, just stir-fry or steam, and I just don't believe that any heat to any vegetable makes that veggie nutritionally worthless. Thank you for the article, Nancy. I sent that off to her and maybe we'll have a discussion on it today.

Off to exercise. Hope everyone is having a good day.

Hi Everyone,

Busy with work today again but thought I'd stop in and see what is going on with everyone.

Melissa - you are trying and doing everything you're supposed to. Sometimes unfortunately your body does things that don't seem to make sense at the time, but I bet there IS stuff going on inside. You just can't see that part. Ask any body builder or fitness expert and they'll tell you to dice it up about once every 4-6 weeks (your exercise). Your body becomes accustomed and adjusts to what you're doing so you constantly need to shake up the plan to keep the body guessing. Like someone else said, you might need to change your exercise routine a bit.

Instead of just walking every day, try taking a whole day off, do no exercise. I know, sounds crazy, right? But your body works that way (I know it seems like I'm "new" and how would I know this, but this is certainly not my first time down this road) The 'pros' even suggest taking up to a week off every few months or so.

The next day after your one day break from exercise, do something different than what you normally do. Do some walking, and then do something else with it, like an aerobic high intensity sort of workout. If you don't have any equipment like an eliptical, try a dance dvd or something like that. I bet if you alternate with high/low intensity cardio, you'll get something going.

Heck it's worth a shot, right? ! You're doing really great and you need to give yourself credit for what you're doing, it's really tough!!