cals-2160 (310) ex-body sculpt at the Y. F&V: blueberries, carrots, mushrooms, squash, onion, green pepper. I am like a broken record here. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Gayle-I hear you on behaving in front of other people but not so well when you are left to your own devices. I am trying to keep less goodies in the house to avoid that problem however I have been weak at the store lately, plus I love to bake. However, I would also love to lose a few pounds. What strategies do you try to use to try to improve your eating habits?

Hi Everyone! Survived another long work weekend and a 2.4-pound gain to show for it.....all water weight. UGH! Half of it is gone today though, so hopefully the other half will leave soon. Was so close to breaking into the next decade too but my scale was having fun taunting me....for a week I saw 160.6, 160.4, 160.4, 160.2, 160.0 (really scale??? Can't just give me 0.2 to be nice?LOL), 160.8, and then 160.2......and then the weekend hit. So.....we'll see how much more I can bounce around this week. :D

No exercise to report...one of these days I'll figure out how to work that component into the mix. Still hanging around 1100-1200 calories a day. F&V - so far banana and apple today, sweet potatoes and green beans tonight (leftover Easter dinner).

Good to hear everyone is doing well and keeping that forward momentum going!

cals-2100 (540), ex-body sculpt class at the Y, F&V-grapefruit, carrot, cucumber, celery, lettuce, pear, mushrooms, broccoli, onion, peppers. I am doing slightly better these days. I have managed to take off a few pounds in the last two months. I hope I can ramp that up a bit.

Darcy-Good luck with the new decade. You are almost there.

Marie-Yumm, baking. My latest weakness is blueberry muffins. I like the one goal at a time idea. It does make progress a bit slower but eventually it all comes together. I am glad you are able to get back on the elliptical.

cals-1790 (610), ex-step class at the Y. F&V: grapefruit, lettuce, celery, carrot, cucumber, pepper, onions, mushrooms. I am thinking of restricting my menus during the week as a way to get my total calories down. I have two different menus for each meal that are simple to prepare, low in cals, high in vegetables and I like them. I also need to work on that second number. It is ridiculous. I am averaging 32% of my total calories in junk food. My goal is 10%. I have a long way to go!

cals-2380 (580), ex-long walk, body sculpt at the Y. F&V: grapefruit, blueberries, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion. I can see where my problem is here-the 580! Well, at least I enjoyed it.

Marie- The elliptical will wait for you, no problem there. Good for you for increasing the intensity of the dog walks. Kudos on the coffee plans also. That should put you in the proper mood for a snack free transition from work to home.

Hello all,

I'm sorry I haven't been here ~ I tend not to come around when I am not doing well ~ which is exactly the time I probably should be here the most. I could at least be here and be supportive of you all.

Struggling with the up and down the same few pounds. Frustrated with myself because I get to the lowest I have been in a while, then eat something I would have been better off not to have and zoom ~ the weight is right back up. How come it goes on so quick, but takes several days to come back off?????? :mad: It's my own fault. Oh well.

I haven't been doing the exercise either. Consistency and self discipline has never been my strong point ~ probably a lot to do with why I am in the mess I am in.

The bicycle riding in the afternoons kind of fell through. It was getting too hot and the park Maddie likes to go to (because she meets up with a little friend there) has no bathroom. I am thinking maybe I will go do water walking in the pool at the "Y" late mornings ~ or if it is chilly like it was this morning ~ ride my bike.

Marie and Tera ~ you guys sound like you are doing pretty well. Keep up the good work.

Tomorrow is another day for me to try and get it right.

Have a good rest.

cals yest-2345 (680), ex-hike up Kennesaw Mtn. F&V: carrot, cabbage, blueberries. I had such a wonderful time on my hike yesterday, I ended up going out again this morning-this time to the Chattachochee River. It was fabulous too. Still working on the junk food problem. I need to get it out of my house but I am too weak to throw it away. I need to promise myself not to buy anymore. For real this time-no more moments of weakness. I went shopping yesterday also and was not fond of my hips in my reflection in the mirror. Nothing like clothes shopping to remind me of my weight loss goals.

Anne3-Why do you think weight loss is essential?

Gayle- It is okay-just keep trying. Perhaps pick one thing to work on-like giving up some food item you know is too high in calories and gives you trouble. The baby steps add up when you stick with it. For example, I have been working on my calorie total all year and although it is not where it should be, it is better than it was by about 200 calories a day. Plus I have stopped gaining and lost about 2 pounds. Nothing to get excited about but I feel I am moving in the right direction. I had to change some things to lose the extra 200 calories a day. The latest thing I "gave up" was chips and crackers. I miss them but not too much.

cals-1765 (375), exerc-short walk around the neighborhood. Saw a bat!

cal-1560 (390) exerc-90 minute hike at Kennesaw Mtn. F&V: mango, kiwi, carrots, tomato, corn on the cob. I am hoping I have hit my stride now.

Good afternoon to you,

Tera ~ I'm glad you've hit your stride ~ and way to go on your hikes ~ keep up the good work.

Marie ~ exactly ~ even if I am going up and down and not really getting anywhere very fast ~ it is better than giving up completely and that scale going up, up, up. Belated Happy Anniversary to you and your husband.

Darcy ~ how are you doing?

I didn't make the goal I was trying to reach ~ for being under 200 for my dr's appointment. I had splurged a weekend or so before that and messed that up. The weight goes on in the blink of an eye, but seems to take eternity to come back off. At the Dr's office, the weight had come back down enough to where it looked like I had just stayed the same. I have another Dr's appointment at the end of this month, so am aiming for under 200 for that one. That one is 2 ½ weeks away, I am at 208 this morning, so I don't know if that is do-able, or just wishful thinking.

We had a nice day yesterday ~ wandered around the park with Maddie ~ there was a water conversation program going on ~ aimed at kids. That was interesting. Even though it was pretty warm out, it was by a lake, so there was a nice breeze that made it seem like it wasn't so warm. Then we ran some errands and went down by the mall where they have a waterway. There is a nice walk along it and a boat ride that our swim passes allow rides on. We had been wanting to try it out, so we did that. We got on at one end and rode the boat to the other end by the mall. We got off then and went inside the mall to wander around and kill some time before getting back on the boat. We wanted to wait until dark so we could see the twinkle lights. It was pretty.

The pictures are of the waterway in the daytime, and a view from the boat on the waterway at night.

Hope you all are having a nice weekend and a nice Mother's Day.

Take care

cals-1990 (630), Ex-walk with DD. Happy Mothers Day! I hope yours was as delightful as mine. I did not realize how much I would enjoy being the center of attention from my dear family. What a treat. I think I did okay with the calories today despite all the festivities-I hope I am not underestimating although it does not change anything either way. All kinds of stressful job stuff going on around here for all three of my kids. Hoping and praying that everything is going to sort out well in the next few months. All three are very smart and well intentioned young people-we just need the right circumstances to come together for them. In the meanwhile, I am hoping to stay on the right path with my calories and exercise and hopefully, maybe lose a pound by the end of the week before an out of town excursion planned for next weekend.

Marie-Love your plans for the week. Good luck with losing the chips and pretzels. I usually find it only takes a bit of time and then it is not so bad at all. This week I am going to work on not eating out so often. I have been pretty bad with that lately and it has led to some pretty bad food choices.

Gayle-I remember I was in Weight Watchers once and was just getting nowhere so I quit. Then I ended up putting on another ten pounds very quickly. I was really sorry I had not just stuck with it even though I was not losing. You are so right about the ease of putting on weight as opposed to taking it off. It is so easy to go over on the calories but very difficult to create enough deficit to actually impact the scale. Just hang in there though. With focus it can happen, even if it takes a while and in the meanwhile you are being very effective at staving off a gain.

cals-1900 (80), ex-step class at the Y. I know I shouldn't brag-but look at that total for my junk calories-woohoo!

cals yest-2030 (500), ex-step class at the Y. No bragging today, lol. I have actually lost a few pounds but I cannot record them on my ticker because I "failed" to record that part of my gain:) I am not always perfectly honest with that thing!

Marie-Please share some of your strategies from the good doc. How exciting that you are taking that step. Happy Swimming!

Hi Gayle & Darlene!

Hello all,

Been doing a little better ~ have ridden the bike some. Back down to a little below my signature weight. My ticker isn't always accurate either. I go up and down so much that it is a pain to keep up with it, so I just have been changing it when I go down.

I get on the ball and do the bike riding, but when the next day rolls around, I struggle to make myself do it. So, I have sort of come up with a plan. We'll see if that works out any better. I am going to try to walk for 15 minutes in the morning. Then if I can ~ maybe around 6 pm go out for a bike ride ~ the 30 minute one. Or, if I have access to the car ~ go to the "Y" and water walk. Sometimes I ride my bike to the park with DH and Maddie, but Maddie's favorite park doesn't have a bathroom, which makes it hard for me. I figure ~ in the afternoons ~ with Maddie here, I can't get anything else done anyway, so I will save the morning time when she isn't here to get stuff done, and do the exercise in the afternoon or early evening when I can't work on other stuff. If I don't make it out for the 30 minute ride or to the "Y", then I will still try to get in a 15 minute ride sometime in the evening. That way, I will at least get my 30 minutes in, and if I do the 30 minute bike ride or get to the "Y", the 15 minutes in the morning will be a bonus.

Hope I will follow through and not be just playing "head games" with myself.

Marie ~ I'm glad it is warming up enough that you can enjoy your pool again.

Tera ~ congratulations on the loss ~ way to go.

Hello Darcy

Hope you all have had a good weekend.

Take care

cals-1250 (80)-at least so far anyway. That does not seem like very many calories. However, I way, way, waaaaaaay overdid it this weekend in St Louis. I blame Budweiser! Anywhoo-I am trying to be good since my return. I just keep thinking of all my summer clothes I cannot wear. I need to get down to the 142 range for that to happen.

Marie-You are walkin' the walk-both figurative and literal! No doubt there will be a scale victory in your near future.

Gayle-I like your exercise plan. Good for you for thinkin' of new ways to tackle the problem.

Good evening,

Well, my plan is sort of working. I did it for 3 days in some combination of what I described. Today though, even though I did not walk, water walk or bike ride, I feel like I still did ok. I was cleaning and worked up quite a sweat ~ phew ~ I'm tired tonight. So, even though I didn't follow through with my plan today, I don't feel like I failed.

Eating has been pretty good. Yesterday, I got back to the lowest I had seen recently. Today I was up .2 pounds ~ so not too bad.

I had this clutter pile that was driving me nuts and I was bound and determined to get it taken care of. I didn't get it all done like it needs to be done, but I did a lot and moved the rest of the stuff to other places so it looks better. The other stuff, I can work on a little at a time. Now, I've got some stuff in the kitchen that is bugging me and that is my next project.

I feel like I had sort of a small NSV today. My head was feeling kind of fuzzy and I was kind of achy and not feeling much like working on that pile like I had planned to do. I did however want to eat (of course). I did get off track a little, but before I did too much damage, I went and started on the pile ~ started with a little thing and I guess the stiff achy feelings were forgotten and I just wanted to keep going with my project.

Getting sleepy ~ night night soon. Hope you rest well.

cals-1650 (120), ex-body sculpt class at the Y. First time back to the Y in two weeks! I had another crazy eating weekend. Well, it was fun. Hopefully I can get back on track this week.

Good evening all,

I'm still here, still hanging in there. My exercise plan ~ well, what can I say ~ I struggle with follow through and self discipline. I have gotten some pool time in though, so all is not lost.

We had Maddie all weekend while Mama did stuff with her older brother Corbin. When she is here, that kind of helps keep me from random snacking.

Even though I haven't been keeping up with the exercise like I had hoped, the weight is still creeping down. 204.2 this am. That is the lowest I have seen it in a while. I didn't make my goal to be under 200 for my dr's appointment, but my weight did show a loss from my last visit. I go back in August, so I should be able to get under 200 by then. Hopefully enough so that even with what the doctor's scale adds to my home weight, it will show it to be under 200.

I did get good news with my labs ~ my A1C is 6.3 now. It has dropped so that I am back in the pre-diabetic range instead of the full blown diabetes range. :carrot::carrot::carrot:

I changed my goal weight. I had it set at 130, but that seemed like I would never get there. When I was up home, I saw my mom who was weighing about 150. She looked pretty good, so I set my goal at that. When I get there, I can go lower if I choose.

3 more days of school, then we will have Maddie all day every week day. Hoping for more sweet than sassy days. Mama told her if she behaved while she was with us on the weekend, that she would take her to Chuck E Cheese. She did pretty good ~ a few little wrinkles during that time, but way better than some of the times we have had. Today, she started being kind of sassy and impolite ~ we said that she needed to talk nicely ~ like she had on the weekend. That little stinker ~ she said basically that she had behaved and earned her trip to Chuck E Cheese and now it was over ~ she didn't have to behave anymore. Oh my. Wish us luck. I worry that when I share about her that you all will think she kind of bratty. She isn't a bad kid ~ she is a strong willed one who I think has been affected by her parents divorce and has unfortunately too much negative influence from dear old dad. :(

Hope things are going well for you all.

Take care

Marie ~ We don't feel like door mats. We offered to do it for Sara to help her save money instead of having to pay for day care. DH and I sort of both are involved ~ when one of us needs a break the other one is there. DH has more patience with her than I do and has been at it so long with her, he knows how to handle her pretty well. He often times goes and takes her ~ like to the parks and library and stuff like that, and I opt to stay home ~ that gives me a break from it. And often times, we have her with us, because the other option is her father or her father's parents, and Maddie comes back from time with them even more sassy and impolite. So we figure that we will deal with it and it is maybe better for her than spending time with people who aren't the best influence on her. When it gets rugged ~ I try to remember a couple things I have read (saw on Facebook) which I thought were good thoughts.

Also, I was working up until last August, so this is really my first time to be around her for so many hours and days. I asked DH what percentage of the time he felt like she was disagreeable compared to the pleasant times ~ he said 10% rugged times and 90% pleasant times. I guess it just feels like more when you are going through it. And sometimes it almost seems like she is testing ~ will we still love her even when she is not so pleasant to be around. I don't ever want her to feel like I don't love her. I do talk to her when she isn't behaving nicely and let her know that it is not acceptable. It will be ok :)

cals-1880, ex-step class at the Y. I am doing better lately with both calories and exercise. So hopefully my weight will show real true (lasting) improvement soon. I bought some bigger summer clothes this weekend though for the meanwhile.

Marie-I am looking forward to hearing about how things go with the weight doctor. Less tight pants is definitely a good sign. Your doctor is kind of like a weight loss coach. Nice!

Gayle-I hear you on the kid thing. In my experience, some are easy and some are not. We love them all but those non compliant ones can wear you out! Her pic is adorable. Super Congrats on reaching the fabulous A1C results. Way to go!

PS-My daughter found a new teaching assignment for next year. Hallelujah! I sure feel sorry for the kids in the old school though. It is very, very sad for them.

Good evening,

It was a nice day today. We were invited to an end of school party at Maddie's school. The teacher handed out an award to each kid for something they had done well during the year. Then she had put together a slide show of things the class had done during the year.

Maddie behaved pretty nicely today. I asked my husband for help though ~ because even though she was behaving, it is a long day, and I reach a point where I start to get itchy and feeling stressed ~ I just want to relax and maybe check out 3FC or Facebook ~ and you just can't relax when Maddie is here. It makes me feel like I want to stuff my face (my long time remedy for combating stress) and I don't want to start doing that.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Take care

Back off track lately. Whenever I am not posting I am probably overeating:) I have been getting worked up about some work stuff lately so I am going to attempt to get the emoting under control-mostly by letting all the work stuff go by the wayside. Which is not really a problem since I am so low on the totem pole-just kind of hard to watch the screw ups and deal with the mess. Well, I guess that is what they pay me for. Anyhow, it sure would make me very happy if I could lose about three pounds. Besides working on the not getting stressed about my job, I am going to work on lower calorie total and more nutritious food choices (no more daily doses of ice cream!)

cals-2050 (560), ex-body sculpt at the Y. I avoided the ice cream today. I would really need to stay under 2000 calories if I am ever going to get anywhere with this.

cals-2720 (1050), ex-step class at the Y. Waaah! Where o where has my self control gone? You might be wondering how I eat so much...it is not that hard when I go out dinner. Sigh. Well, today I WILL be better. It is a constant battle sometimes.

cals-2650 (850), ex-body sculpt class at the Y. Went out to eat twice today! I really do know how to do this-go out to eat and keep it low cal. I just really like high calorie food.

Anyone else want to lose two pounds by the 4th of July? I am going to try to post everyday, eat under 2000 calories everyday and exercise nearly everyday (maybe) for the next two weeks. JOIN ME!!!!!! Just two weeks for resetting my routine and practicing the mechanics of weight loss and in the end, viola-two pound weight loss!

cals-2024, no exer. I had to skip a few things I wanted to eat today to just squeeze by at least near 2000 calories. I stayed at work too long to make my Y class. Day One down, 13 to go.

No exercise today for me either...calories were 1100. I get antsy when my caloric intake gets near 1200 b/c I won't lose weight.