Good Morning Red!

likenoother, how's the ankle/foot today? I hope you're feeling much better today!

Melissa, you sinner! Pizza! The horror of it all! You know it coulda been so much worse, right? What I hate is when I decide to cheat and it doesnt even taste good! Back at it today, right!

Amber, good to see you hon!

Mercee,


Well, going back to work in a couple weeks. To say that I am less than excited would be accurate. lol I am hoping that I can keep up with this schedule and still keep up with what I need to do to lose weight. These are going to start being really long days, so I pray that by eating clean and working out will help me keep up my energy to do it all. I want to be a success so I am determined! You know the real bummer about it all? I gotta go and buy fat-girl clothes for work. I HATE shopping for clothes in this size! *sigh* Oh well, what can I do right? Suck it up and carry on! I prefer to think of all the things I WILL get to buy once I reach my goal, and focus on all the beautiful things I have in my life right now!!

Have an awesome day team!

Be good to you!

Hey girls, there was a lil 'misunderstanding on another team today and as a ressult, Jen made a post that I want to share with you all. I think it's a great motivator as well as topic starter.
***********************************************
Posted by Jen:


Now I want to take everyone's minds off this subject and talk about the real reason we are here. Losing weight. It is really important and I know we all know this but sometimes it takes a kick in the head to really jump start things. I will tell you a story about something that happened to me last night. I am a registered nurse and I see a lot of overweight and obese elderly people and usually I'll think to myself that I'd rather be dead than be 80 years old and be so fat and feeble that I can't even wipe myself. Last night I admitted a lady who was only 63 and must have weighed 350 lbs. She was completely dead weight. It took 4 of us to safely move her around on the bed without hurting ourselves. I tried to put her on the bed pan to go to the bathroom and she couldn't lay on her back because her abdomen was so huge it hurt her back. There were rolls of fat everywhere, it was impossible to clean her properly. I don't know if anyone else ever gets yeast infections in your fat rolls but this lady had them horribly. When I was able to wipe in between them it was raw and red and smelled horrible from infection. I was able to get her up onto a chair that I could take her into the bathroom and she couldn't even sit up straight because of all the fat. I took her into the shower and her legs were so tender and swollen it hurt just to spray gentle water from a hand held shower on them. She is diabetic of course and I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't end up losing both her legs. I've seen obese people in the hospital but this put it on an entirely new level.

So let's put things into perspective okay? This whole black/red/blue team stuff is meant to be fun while we get down to the business of losing weight. I enjoy coming to this site and chatting with people but let's not lose site of the big picture.

Sorry if this is too much information! I see a lot of stuff that would gross the average person out and I don't usually talk about it too much especially here but this really hit me I think mostly because this lady is 63, not really all that old and what has she got to look forward to? I hope that we are able to help her get back some level of quality of life but I wish she had never got to this point to begin with.

Here is my reply to that post. Also, after reading all this, I'd like to know, what is your motivation for losing weight?

********************************************
THAT is one of the many reason's I am doing this. I see the lady across the street who is 60 yrs old and she's thin and healthy and hyper as can be. She's constantly outside, mowing her lawn, working in her garden. She works out on the gazelle and with video tapes and I am in awe of her. There's also another lady down the road who is 72 and she is also constantly on the move. She's also thin. She STILL works, drives, mows her lawn, chop's wood, I think she's goning to outlive us all.

On the other hand I see my Mom, who is 59, severly overweight, heart desease, Type 2 Diabetic, has arthritus and nerve damage in her legs. I am so worried about her. I am so scared she's going to lose a leg or 2. We live in seperate states, but when I go visit, it's obvious that she just doesn't care. She isn't doing anything to try and lose weight. There's junk food all over. The most exercise she get's is getting up from the computer to go pee. It's very sad. I've tried motivating her but it's really hard when I cannot be there all the time to watch over her. Here she is younger than my 2 neighbors and doing horribly.

My point is, I am already type 2 disbetic and I DO NOT want to turn into my Mother. I do not want to take my diabetes as a death sentence and just give up! I want to lose this weight to mostly be healthy but I also want to look good. I LOVE these challenges we do together because it really is nice to come here and brag if I've done well, cry when I haven't and have you ladies here to support me & cheer my on while I can hopefully do the same for you.

Wow, I hope the black team gets everything situated.

Makes me sad to see more tension going on in the challenge. Diva that post you quoted "So let's put things into perspective okay? This whole black/red/blue team stuff is meant to be fun while we get down to the business of losing weight." I agree with that whole heartedly. That is exactly why I was kinda annoyed at what happened week one because it was about technicalities rather then cheering each other on.

What's my motivation? Well my weight is a burden but not in the way you think. It's a large factor in my depression. I'm not sure if the weight caused the depression or the depression caused the weight but I haven't been myself in quite awhile. I feel like it effects my self esteem, my energy, my motivation, my relationship, and on and on.... and of course it would be nice to just be normal for once. I haven't been considered "merely overweight" since I was 18. Also, I was starting to slow down and have minor health issues... just minor asthma and heart burn and slightly high cholesterol, but I was spinning that wheel of chance and it was only a matter of time until major health issues came'a'knock'in. Plus, you know it would be nice to look cute and have some decent clothes... but those aren't the most important reasons.

-muse

Red Team (TV show version) I think someone tipped them off about immunity... they then filled up on water and what not. Just a hunch...

Week 4 Survey:

1.What is your trigger food?(the one you really struggle to say no to like Bob and his cupcakes last night on the show?) Cookies.

2. What is your favorite healthy snack? Light String Cheese

3. Which would you rather have...a new pair of shoes or a new piece of jewelery? Depends on what... but since I mostly wear the same shoes most of the time I'd say jewelry but not the kind people usually thing of something more artsy rather then say gold.

4. What kind of purse do you carry...small but efficient or large and prepared? When i do (not often) its a silver lunch box/trunk so small!

5. Do you collect anything? Nightmare before Christmas sorta... Art supplies... Art from other people.

6. Do you plan on treating yourself to something besides a new wardrobe when you reach your goal? What is it? Ski trip maybe.

7. What was the last goal that you went for and acheived? Erm. Oh... opening my own website and selling my work.

8. Would you rather be outdoors or indoors? indoors.

9. Have you started decorating for Halloween yet? no but I bought some "Skelemingos" to put outside. (Think Pink Flamingos but these are skeleton ones)

10. What about yourself are you most proud of? My creativity? Dunno. I'm pretty modest.

Diva - You know I never thought about Air Quality... part of the minor asthma could be living in the city, but my asthma (exercised induced mostly) has nearly disappeared. I can see how the poor air quality there wouldn't be good for you.

Medication is not a solve-all, but it does help. I was on it before a few years back and continued to gain weight on it but doing BOTH the medication and exercise seems to be enough to keep up enough of what's lacking in my brain to keep more feeling closer to normal. Luckily Wellbutrin is one of the medications that isn't supposed to cause weight gains and sometimes is reported to help in weight loss.

I think a lot of obese people suffer from depression more so then the general population because of the way society treats you. If you're one of those people who is already prone to it (family history here) then it's very easy to fall down that hole.

I missed my W/I because my kids are very sick. I've been doing awesome, just have not had ANY time to get online until today. Kids are my top priority.

Hello everyone. Hope all is doing well.

This week I may be absent because I have a lot of cleaning and painting to do around the house. Also, the internet may be out for a few days, so I figured I should use a freebie week.

Good luck this week!

Week 4 Survey:

1.What is your trigger food?(the one you really struggle to say no to like Bob and his cupcakes last night on the show?) Chocolate, and soft warm cookies

2. What is your favorite healthy snack? I too like LF string cheese and I usually have a piece of fruit with it

3. Which would you rather have...a new pair of shoes or a new piece of jewelery? Diamonds are a girls best friend

4. What kind of purse do you carry...small but efficient or large and prepared? My mom got me a really pretty smaller purse for my birthday. Before that it was kind of big, but I like the small one

5. Do you collect anything? Lovers.... HA. Papers and junk mail seem to collect themselves, I don't collect anything

6. Do you plan on treating yourself to something besides a new wardrobe when you reach your goal? What is it? Haven't really thought about it. Goal just seems so impossible right now

7. What was the last goal that you went for and acheived? It's not the most recent, but last year at this time I finished the Marine Corps Marathon

8. Would you rather be outdoors or indoors? usually outdoors

9. Have you started decorating for Halloween yet? No I'm too lazy

10. What about yourself are you most proud of? That I'm really nice and likeable (and modest) but at the same time I'm not a pushover

and to answer Diva's question:

11. my family motivates me. They're all over weight and I worry terribly about their health. If I can't lose 40 pounds at age 24, how can I encourage my mom and dad to lose 100 pounds at age 50? Plus, I dont want to have to deal with weight problems later, i want "healthy" to be habit.

I don't think Melissa was speaking specifically to you. I'm afraid she was pointing the finger at this kid (and others like me), who by all accounts needs a swift kick in the rear!

Congratulations on doing so well, despite having sick kiddos. I hope they feel better soon!