Pam - Congrats on being under 250! I'm glad you decided not to dump us. ;)

I usually weigh everyday first thing in the morning (except on mornings when I know I'll weigh in heavier because I ate a particularly salty meal the night before or something). But I only count Wednesday as my official "weigh in" day. That's when I write the weight down on in my food journal and update my tracker here. My weight can fluxuate 2-3 pounds a day...one day I'm at 165, the next 168. I've been counting calories and losing weight since Feb. 2003, so I'm used to it. To me, it's helpful to be able to recognize patterns and know what can contribute to the weird spikes.

I weigh every moring and sometimes before bed. It helps keep me on track and makes me want to work even harder when I see numbers dropping. Sometimes during a very hard workout I will visualize my goal weight on the scale in my head and it keeps me going.

QOTD answer: I'm transitioning from a daily weigher to a weekly (because of this competition) weigher. So I'm really careful with sodium in the couple days before my weigh in! Maybe later on I'll do monthly? Or switch back to daily?

Congrats Pam!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a rehabbing daily do'er. But it just really makes no sense to see the .6 up, 1.3 down business, so I decided (just this morning, btw! :o ) to stick to once a week. I might check in at the half-way point. I might. ;)

WTG ladies on the losses! :woohoo:

QOD...I am a weekly weigher. It would drive me crazy to weigh in every day...it drives me crazy doing it once a week! I do it first thing after I go potty in the nude. Even take my rings off...everything comes off.

OK, I am home, and very little damage was done. Since there was no lunch yesterday, I was able to have a beer and a burger at dinner and stay OP. No lunch today either, but some chocolate chip cookies for travel. Still within my cals for the day, plus LOTS of running upstairs to ride big water slides. Feeling good about life.



I had to ditch WW for the same reasons. It was great after DS. He nursed all the time and needed to be bounced/walked constantly, so I burned a lot of cals. It came easily, and since I was nursing, I ate something like 33 points when I hit goal weight. Really, not much of a sacrifice.

After DD, it was not as easy. She did not nurse all the freaking time, and I ended up cutting my nursing points. Even my doc said that I would make milk....cut the food in half, only eat the best, keep enough fluids to make milk. Then I got SOOOO tired of tracking points. Taking the converter, thinking about it all the time. I really hated it.

I decided that cal counting was the way to go for me. I eat many of the same things; it is easy to look at a label and see what the cals are without converting it to points. I try to hit 30 fiber a day, so I know I am getting that end of it.


Daily, mostly. After DD has nursed in the AM and my boobs are empty, I pee and weigh in. If I don't, I have too much room for excuses.

:cheer: Great job sticking to plan, onthetee :cheer:

I'm happy to report that as of this morning I'm back down to my Week 1 weight of 199! :carrot: Now I just need to go below that!

I'm in the process of making a whole wheat pizza with 2% milk italian cheese, turkey pepperoni and mushrooms!

Yummy! :hungry:

How nerdy am I that not only do I have a spreadsheet that tracks all my exercise and 10 day average weight but I added 10 average caloric intake as well?

Until you have converted to charts and graphs (and I have), you have no nerdiness on me...

Hmmm. Charts and graphs. That might give me something to do tomorrow, lol. The only reason I decided to add the caloric intake was I noticed I have one good day, one bad, another good, etc. Maybe this way I can average my eating out in the long run.

Seriously though. What kind of charts and graphs are they? What are you tracking?

I'm on plan still. Just saying hi. Gotta go, baby crying. hugs, Selina

I weigh myself either everday or every other day. I have a reall bad relationship with the scale. Some times I just want to throw it across the room.

Evening ladies and John! Good job last week and keep up the excellent work.
I am definitely an everyday weigher (sometimes twice) and I guess I am a member of the nerdy club, as well, since each days weight immediately gets logged in an excel chart complete with a big pink and yellow graph.
If I weighed any less often than everyday I think I would find myself eating either extra calories or high sodium foods and justifying it by saying I don't weigh in for a few days. The key for me has been staying on top of the number, which is accomplished by weighing often, but also being able to tolerate the daily fluctuations without becoming crushed when there is an inexplainable gain. As far as I am concerned, I will be weighing and charting everyday for the rest of my life. It is when I don't pay attention that my weight skyrockets.

I'm an everyday weigher. Always will be. I was kidding myself when I answered was it Monday's question of the day and mentioned maybe changing that. I won't. At least I'm self aware.

Good morning, Bluesers!

Today is a busy day for me. I have a meeting this afternoon, a project due tomorrow and another bigger project for which I'm running behind schedule. I'm feeling a bit stressed today, so I'll have to be super viligent with the eating. I'm also quite sore from my workout on Tuesday. Does anyone know if I should go ahead and work out again today since my muscles are still sore? I don't want to damage anything, but I really want to work out again.

Amberelise - :hug: I think its great that you recognize that you might need some help with the bingeing. That is a very difficult decision, but someone who's trained in these kinds of things will be able to teach you how to control them. Good for you!

Daimere – I’m sorry that you were upset. Now that the bingeing is over (it is over, right?) have you given some thought to how you will handle these times in the future?

Kelly, I am always amazed at how my youngest daughter can leave uneaten food on her plate…..pizza, cake, anything! When she’s full she’s finished. I’ve never been like that. If it’s on my plate, its meant to be eaten, right? :D

Now....that is funny! Me, I would be afraid to jostle the 'oh so sacred' instrument! :D

Ouch! Hope you're feeling a little less sore today.

Congratulations, Pam! :carrot:

Welcome back! Glad to hear that you had a good time and managed to stay on-plan.


Well, I better get started on today's workload. I'll try to check in again later.
Hope everyone as a great on-plan day!

Go Blue!

Thursday's Question of the Day:

What is your favorite exercise equipment/gadget/accessory?

I love my MP3 player! It is fully loaded with great songs that have a fast tempo and a strong bass beat. Just last week, I tried walking on the treadmill while watching TV. I was going so slow and really feeling every single looooong minute. But, once I decided to put my MP3 on, I was going much quicker and felt like I could keep going for a loooooong time!

Does my dog count? :) Between walking her and playing with her, I probably burn as many calories with her on any given day than I do in the 8 hours here at work. And she's a whole lot more cuddly and fun than the treadmill...

Treadmill. I always can count on that to be around if I cannot get to the gym.


Well, I am up a bit, which makes me angry. I had said I would give myself a month, then go see doc if I could not get past the 150 mark. It has been since August 2006 that I have bounced around from 155-150 and never made real progress. I always have tried to say, "Oh, I cheated here or I did not work out enough, etc." After 23 days of doing really well, I should see some results and have not. I am to the point that I am will be happy if it is something medical and not just me.

I love my weighted hula hoop. It really feels like doing something fun.

BUT I do have to say that I just got and inversion machine (you know the tables you lay on and can turn you upside down). It is SO good to stretch on. I have bad knees and a back that tends to get sore a lot and using this 2 times a day really makes me feel better.:cloud9:

This must be very frustrating, Anna. When you know that you're giving it your all over a long enough period of time.

Rhonda - are you sore from cardio or weights? If it's from cardio, I think you're fine to do it again. Listen to your body though.

I had a rough night last night. Both girls woke up at 3 am and for whatever reason I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I've been working...and of course they are sleeping soundly in our bed.

My 4 year old cut her own hair BAD yesterday. I put a pic in my blog. It's so awful! And funny!

QOTD: Elliptical

No charts and graphs, yet. But I am working on taking my planned out food journal and converting it to a premade shopping list. I want to get to the point where I have 7 days of meals planned out, down to the last calorie, and pre-made on Sundays so I don't need to cook all week. That would free up more gym time and I wouldn't be able to over eat becuase then my food would be planned out more precisely. I'm moving on from South Beach to Dee Plan #92835 and incorporating Jillian's oxidizing principles for her books. (I bought Making the Cut when it came out this Tuesday, good stuff). Still very SB friendly, just more precise.

What is your favorite exercise equipment/gadget/accessory?

My ipod (and armband) and oddly enough the D-clip on my key, instead of jingling my keys as I run/walk, I clip just my car key to my bra strap and tuck it into my bra. It's much easier to keep track of that way. Oh wait, also my Moving Comfort sports bra. If you're "blessed" it's a must have. So comfortable and no bounce. Worth every penny of the $38 dollars I spent on it.

OMG! That picture says it all. So will you be buying her a hat, or try to even it up?

Good Morning Bluezerrrrrs!!! :coffee2:

Sorry I haven't been here much. They moved one of my babies. I hate it when they have to go. Trying to distract myself all the time from thinking about it. :cry:

So now we have a spot for another school age child, well its been open a while, and another newborn. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully we'll get a call soon. (I don't ever wish that kids come into care, only that I'll be the one they call if they do. :))

My dd colored my kitchen floor with White Out and I was just a few feet from her, talking to Tatiana. Oh and its on my fridge and the wooden trim between wall and floor and all over her clothes, which the jeans were my son's when he was a yr old (Emily is a short 2.5 yr old!) I loved her wearing them, they didn't look like boy jeans, just plain. I shoulda just put them in his keepsakes b4 this. Oh well, u live and u learn. :shrug:

But seriously it was upsetting bc I watch her soooooooo close all day every day. I call her to me if I can't see her, etc. I have to have my nails redone bc cleaning it got whiteout all over them.

Then CPS called me with a little 5 yr old girl who was removed for abuse and neglect then had to suffer thru 3 other placements with family members that didn't work out and she currently has lice. So I said I'd take her and went straight out and bought meds to do as soon as she got here. 4.5 hours later no call from anyone saying when she was coming, it was getting late. I called them and they checked and said I'm so sorry but they placed her with another relative and just forgot to call you.

I'm so tired of the disrespect from them. :mad: We don't matter enough to call and inform that she isn't coming but we matter alot when a caseworker is stuck at the office at midnite with a child who just came into care and they need a placement asap. So what if we were preparing a room for her and all that? Thinking about what clothes I have that may fit her, etc.. all that doesn't matter bc they changed plans and failed to let me know. But we keep going bc they'll call us again one day for someone who needs us and things will go smoothly. :yoga:

Ok, see how complicated my life seems to be lately? I'm eating my highest amount I allow myself, so therefore I am not losing. :hun: I thought going down 100 cals a day would help me still lose on the high end. It's not. So lowering again to 1600 with low end at 1000, which is rare anyway. I lost only when I ate an average of 1200 a day. I hate it but its just how my body works. And I have to make myself focus enough to do that. I am on something like day 150 or 151 I think of being OP. But not every day can be high end or I just stay the same. At least I'm learning my maintenance numbers I guess! LOL! :lol:

And on top of all this I marched in place and did arm lifts and all that and jogged for 5.5 mins straight fast til I was out of breath (I'm sooo out of shape!) during finally getting to watch TBL last nite. Went for 1 hour and 41 mins without stopping (no commercials, I love my DVR). Hope it helped some.

I'm challenging myself to jog fast for 5 mins each morning b4 noon and 5 mins straight at nite or evening every day. Who is with me??? I think that little bit could help rev up our metabolism a little. And if we have time and want to we can do a little more. But I wanna beat red team!! Can't let them win twice in a row! :)

Amberlise, hope ur feeling better, I know the feeling about being out of control. It's so aggravating. It gets better tho. I try to focus on everything I can except the food. But I never ever let myself get really hungry. I hate that feeling, maybe that's why I'm heavy. Hmmm... :?:

My fave gadget? My pedometer!!!!!!! Everyone needs to wear one every single day!!!!! I love mine. :hug:

Hi to all of you ladies and John. I'm sorry I'm not doing personals again. I am such a slacker. I think Emily is taking things out of the dishwater in there. She pulls chairs up to reach everything.. lol. Arrrghh!! :yikes:

Have a great OP day! Hugs, Selina :hug:

Oh, Selina.:hug: I'm so sorry. Who'd they move this time? I know how hard these times are for you. Please know that so many of us truly appreciate what you do for these children. I really don't know how you do it. Hang in there. Come talk with us when you have time.

Selina, I don't know how you do it, but those children are blessed to have you. I wanted to cry reading about that 5 year old. I have a 5 yo girl and it would tear me to pieces just thinking of her going through that at her age...it's a very complicated age, esp. for a girl. If this next one doesn't work out I really hope they will skip those relatives and hand her to you. :hug: I am too emotional and soft hearted to children to survive that work without being over 500 lbs. You are truly amazing!

onthetee--that would be SO frustrating. I say go see the doctor, rule out something medical. Have you tried changing your eating and/or exercise...I imagine in all that time you have.

Rhonda--If you are sore from weights, just make sure you don't work the same muscles without at least a day in between, and if it is seriuosly sore I would give it 2 days. If it is from cardio, I always go on and push through it, usually it is gone after the next day. I was seriously sore yesterday from the Jillian DVD so took a day of rest. I am still a bit sore today but will go at it again. Just use y our own common sense. If it is really bad sore, you might need to rest that body part a day or two.

My favorite gadget is my MP3 player. It used to be my pedometer but I couldn't find one that would stay put. I went through 5 of them, all different, and they would fall off everytime I bent down, got very annoying. Plus, most of those would not count every step, or wouldn't count when I was walking in place correctly...so, I gave up on them and now just love my MP3 player.

My husband just bought me a MP3 and I like it except :) I don't really listen to alot of music that has a good enough beat to use to work out with. I love souther Gospel and bluegrass gospel but that just does not go well with Dancing around lol

My husband downloaded me some songs, some I like others I could pass on. Any suggestions on some good music with a good beat? No bad words! I like good clean music and my daughter likes using the mp3 player as well. So I don't want anything that is bad or would make her think that I accept those kinds of words or things.

But I know there is music out there that is good and clean and please if you know some songs let me know.

My mom is getting ready to come over and we are going to work out together. So we will post later what we did in the execrise thread.

Also my daughter is out of school again today. She has been up all night coughing really bad. I took her to the dr yesterday morning and she got a 20 minute breathing treament and back on her inhaler (which she has not used in at least 6 months) She was just doing really good and was not needing it. But the dr assured me yesterday that she needs it really bad right now.

Okay well I better get off here and get ready so that when my mom gets here we can get started.

Pam

Heya Bluez!

I'm working from home today so I decided to be sneaky and get in 20 minutes on the bike while I didn't have much to do. I really want to start getting up at around 6am and eat a bit of breakfast (which I rarely do) and workout for an hour before going to work. Maybe if I do this a few times during my work-at-home days it'll lead to more morning exercising.

So for the QOTD, I guess I'd have to say my Recumbent bike. :ebike: Without it, I probably wouldn't be exercising all that much. Now, I do have a little stand-alone pedaler thing that sits on the floor. I used it a few years back for a long time but after I got used to it, there was no challenge. There's a resistance knob but I have pretty strong legs so I'd have to tighten that thing up almost all the way. After 20-30 minutes it would start making a weird smell and the sides would be extremely hot.

On a side note, does anyone else have this problem. Usually when I get into "exercise mode", I tend to want to get new toys. So, when I bought that pedaler thing, I used it a bit and then quit. The next time I became interested in losing weight though, I used it a lot. Then I decided to buy my recumbent bike. I used it about 10 times and then quit (not really so much quit, but only used a few times a month). So now I'm interested in exercise again and I'm scared to death to buy anything else. :woops: I think if I do, then I'll probably quit again. Anyone else notice they do that?

Well, gotta do some work before I head out for lunch (which will probably be hitting up Kroger for some turkey).

Later!

John

Pam - Scrolling thru my playlists, here are some that might work for you, most of my songs are geared toward walking, not running, so they may be a little slower than other suggestions.

Heather Small - What have you done today (to make you feel proud)? (BL theme song)
Wildlife w/ Simone Denny - All things just keep getting better
Amy Grant - Baby, Baby
Van Zant - Get right with the man


Dang, I never realized how many of my songs aren't "clean".

John - I think I could open up my own gym with the fitness toys I've accumulated. Bands, straps, balance balls, gym systems, etc. Sad to say that they are all stuffed into a closet and I go to the gym.

John---we are in the progress of making an exercise room out of our garage because hubby is tired of all my stuff all over the house :lol: I have a step, exercise ball, couple sets of weights with some plates, trampoline, health rider, and a bunch of DVDs, which I am always buying new and selling off on ebay for next to nothing. I just gave away the bike because it was very uncomfortable to ride and was crammed into my closet unused. Hubby has one of those big home gym weight things but it' in the back room until the gym is set up and we have room to actually use it. I think it is pretty normal to collect stuff when you get into exercise...but, I do use all of my stuff almost daily.

Pam -- Here are some from my gym playlist you might like:

"The Fox" by Nickel Creek
"Firecracker" by Josh Turner
"High on a Mountaintop" by Loretta Lynn
"The Right Place" by the Derailers
"Dixieland Delight" by Alabama
"I've Been Everywhere" by Johnny Cash
"Country Boy" by Ricky Skaggs

You should be able to find some fun, upbeat bluegrass stuff, particularly if you like traditional bluegrass.

Yes, it is very frustrating. Sorry about your night. I have given birth to two of the worst sleepers on earth, so I know what the morning zombies can do to you!

My little cut her hair a few months ago. It was down to her mid-back and she hacked off a side. Remember Rosie's "I'm out and I'm proud" hair mistake? My baby looked like that.

You are a saint, honey. I could not do that.


When I started running, by body changed a lot, but I did not lose inches or weight. It just looked better. I am ready to rip my hair out.

Cold where you are? Cold here. Want a yummy soup recipe:

http://www.recipesource.com/soups/soups/14/rec1492.html

I ditch the butter and use 3 tbs of olive oil instead.

I add about 2 TBSP worcestershire sauce, and I blend my veggies, return to the kettle and then add the flour.

eat and be joyous

here are the stats
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 289 g

Amount Per Serving
Calories 96Calories from Fat 42
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 4.6g7%
Saturated Fat 0.8g4%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 906mg38%
Total Carbohydrates 9.2g3%
Dietary Fiber 1.9g8%
Sugars 3.8g
Protein 5.6g

Vitamin A 29% • Vitamin C 13%
Calcium 3% • Iron 6%

Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

It's rough with sick babies, but hang in there. Mine are all grown up now...and that happens so quick.

GO BLUE!!! Let's whoop the red team this week!

Hey everyone,

I have been out of pocket with everything going on. I am sorry that I have not caught up on the posts. I will try to get caught up. I have not been to my COD in 2 1/2 weeks. My scale here says I have been loosing. I am going to go to COD in the morning. I was POP yesterday. That is the first time since January 10th. I am glad that my mouth is almost back to normal. I can at least chew some now. Nothing hard but beans and rice is not hard.

My FIL is still in ICU but seems to being doing better. Thanks to everyone for the concerns and prayers.

Well, I better go get the house cleaned up before I have to go pick up DS. My hubby comes home tomorrow. And I can't wait. He has been in Malaysia on business.

I will try to check in later. Have a POP day.

QOTD--Just like John and Dee I could open up my own gym. I will cheat and say I love all of my equipment and accessories.

I am looking into getting an ipod or mp3 player. My phone is a mp3 player but the songs are $1.99 a piece and I don't know if I can download from any other place besides Verizon. I'm also thinking I may be using minutes when playing it. All that to say I need to use something different. I don't know the difference bw an ipod or mp3 player. So I need your help. It might be helpful to tell you what I want and ya'll can tell me which is the best fit.

I want to be able to download songs from my own personal cds. I also want to be able download music from the net. I would like to be able to download podcasts. I would also like to be able to shuffle songs or if I want to hear a certain song be able to find it. This is for my birthday or for a reward. Budget wise I really don't want to spend more than $250. I'm willing to pay for quality. Name brand doesn't matter but quality does. I want something that will last. Thanks in advance for any input you provide.

Regarding my exercise plan, I did Taebo Celebrity Get Fit on Tuesday. I plan to do a different Taebo DVD today. On Saturday I am thinking of doing one of the BL dvds. Last week I basically did resistance training and this week I'm doing mostly cardio. I need to do some planning so I can incorporate both next week. My plan is to list all of my equipment and accessories and develop some type of rotation system.

Food--I've been counting calories since Monday. I do a checkbook method. Meaning I plan absolutely what I want to eat and if it doesn't match the calorie allotment I adjust where needed. The plan is-- if I am satisfied with my ability to count calories/make healthy choices by Saturday that beginning on Sunday I will just make healthy choices. Basically I want to stop counting. I will continue to plan meals but will not assign a number to anything. I am still faltering with the binging but I am consuming less than previously during these binges.

Amberelise--Regarding binging, I have started posting in the Chicks in Control forum. They are very supportive. Some are getting professional help and some are not. Many of them are successful losers too. So it can be done. At this moment I will do it without professional help and use that forum as my support group/support system. I also know that I don't believe in the Overeater's Anonymous philosophy. It has its own section in the Chicks in Control forum. One of the tenents is "I am powerless over food". I will never subscribe to that thought.

Yikes! Pam, I can't give you anything from my MP3 playlist. To give you an idea, my daughters are not allowed to listen to my MP3 player because the songs aren't clean at all. I have a lot of hip hop/heavy bass songs. Ironically, I do also love to listen to contemporary christian music when I'm in the car. You might like to check out some songs by Third Day, ZOEgirl, Superchick, Newboys, Stacie Orrico and Sanctus Real.....although, Sanctus Real might be a little too alternative for you. My favorite is Third Day. This is music that both you and your daughter can enjoy.

Afternoon everyone...

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still around although you may not hear from me. I'm just feeling kind of blue today, and thankfully I haven't turned to food to try and make me feel better. I'll be attempting to paint some tonight to try and take my mind off of things. I'm praying that this feeling is gone tomorrow so I can get back to the challenge.

Thanks for understanding :(