Alana Jo, Stop! Stop whatever it is you are doing. I can't come up with any profound motivation at the moment, but hopefully someone can chime in with just the right words. But on a side note, congrats on losing 66 pounds so far! I'm off to go peek at your progress pics.

Still haven't exercised yet...I still have time. I've been watching tennis--like I couldn't do that and exercise at the same time.

onthetee--I loathe this time of year at the gym. Like Mom2 said March is usually when it clears up

sportmom--love American Idol. Haven't been able to watch it bc of TBL and work. I can't tolerate watching it until Hollywood week myself

Gotta go exercise!

Good Evening All
My younger daughter is turning 3 tomorrow so this week has been a bit crazy. We had her bday party tonight and GO BLUE GO parked me in front of the veggie tray I made instead of having cake... after 3 hours with a bunch of hyper 3 year olds I also talked myself into a Perrier instead of the glass of red wine I was desperately craving. So my first week of the gym has had me there 3 times and I'm hungry to go again tomorrow. Once this bday week is over I'll be able to check in more often but I've been frantically trying to keep up with all of you and the frantic pace of postings.
Great job on everyone resisting the urges, confessing the cravings and getting those bodies moving. Look foward to seeing how we all do with the first big weigh in..
GO BLUE GO!!!

What part of you is slipping? Food, exercise, both? If you're lacking motivation, remember, you're worth it. And if that doesn't work... remember you're not just getting healthy for yourself but for your family too. I hope this helps a little bit.



I lost .5 pounds, bringing me to 169.5. I was hoping for a larger loss, but this is the first time I've been in the 160's since July so I'll take it.

I'll be catching up on the thread now! :D Happy losing blue team!

Hey guys - you have all been chatty - no personals sorry! Carpet didnt come yesterday and it came this morning!!!!!It was meant to be here on MONDAY! I go away tomorrow morning so I am leaving my house behind upside down - I dont want to be thinking whilst I am away about how much I have to do when I get back home but in reality - IT IS LOOMING OVER ME!!! URGHHH! So this is a quick pop in hope everyone is on track - thank you for the warnings about take away food esp. Mcd's I am feeling so rushed today that take away was an option - no I am just going to do a salad!!!!! Plus I might fit in a scrumpy dessert and still be on track!

If I dont have time to pop in later tonight - take care everyone and see you in a week! Please prayer for me whilst I am away that I stay focused!

Hope everyone on the Blue Team had a great day today. My eating was a bit off when I decided to get a Chicken Quesadilla at Cheddars, instead of a salad...but oh well, no use pondering on it forever. I just finished 60 minutes on the bike and I'm going to try for another 30...maybe some Walk Away The Pounds also.


Jordan: Wow! For your "second issue"...it's like you reached inside my mind and pulled out all the things I feel, put them in words and then posted them. That's amazingly exactly how I feel every second of every day. I could literally copy and paste that into my profile (not that that's something one would put into their profile). Thank you so much for posting that...it was amazing! Also, I've never heard of "goldfish syndrome" before, but I like it...


Take care everyone!

John

AmberD...wtg on the loss. Hey, a loss is a loss no matter how big or small...they all add up in the end :bravo:

Hi to everyone :wave:

Just dropping by to say I did a 35 minute walk to add to the previous 60 mns. heading over to add it to the challenge thread.

Good morning everyone! I posted, my weight and I am down, so yippee!! We are off to our huge new, multi-billion dollar library today, and I am so excited.

When I first starting cal counting, I tried Fit Day, and I did not like it at all. I do so much cooking from scratch that I needed a good place to enter recipes. I like http://www.calorie-count.com/ much better. I think it moves more quickly. Anyway, I found 90 cals for a tall and 130 for a grande.

Jordan, I want you to take a moment and feel really proud of yourself for the weight you lost already. At your height and weight, you are closing in on not having a BMI that classifies you as overweight. Don't hide the healthy food; you should hope that people are watching when you are at Whole Foods or when you run. You could be the inspiration that someone needs.

I don't pray, but I have every confidence that you will plan well and do splendidly.


Off the to the 'brary.

Alana Jo, I was afraid of this. I've noticed that your blogs were getting a little skimpy on the food and exercise portion (but, I do love the pictures!) And, you've been a bit quiet on the boards. I'm so very sorry to hear that you're struggling. I've been on the boards for over a year now and I've seen this happen to several people on the 100lb club....Mrs.Quadcrew, Royalsfan and, just recently, HelloKitty. And, we've seen a few come back to us...months later...and they've gained a lot or all of their weight back and they are struggling to get restarted. Don't let this happen to you!! You have made such awesome improvements in your life and have improved the lives of your husband and those two precious boys by making their wife and Mommy healthier. And, honestly, aren't you a happier person to be around now? I know that I'm much more pleasant when I've gotten myself under control and going down the right path.

Our motivation and willpower come and go. We don't always feel like doing this. It all comes down to committment. I know that I have to re-new that committment every single day. A lot of times, we just have to fake-it until the feelings come back. We have to make ourselves go through the motions and not have an option of quitting.

Please go into the goal threads and re-read Rockinrobin, Lisamarie and Glory87's stories. Their stories always give me a little extra push to keep going.
You can do this. You don't have to be another statistic. Keep going.

Hi ladies/John.

Well, I have good news and bad news. Which first? Let's see. . .

Okay, we'll start with the bad news. I weighed in this morning and I'm at 144.5!!! My starting weight for this challenge was 143. Last Friday I was down to 142.

The factors.

1.) The binging. I wasn't great over the weekend. I had a major binge on Sunday. I had major binging on Monday AND I went out for dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate my blood clot being gone. I also binged on Tuesday. I don't think last Friday & Saturday were all that great, either.

2.) TOM.

3.) I've been doing a TON of weight lifting this week and last.

So, I'm going to do my official weigh in on Monday morning and hope things will go down. I would feel terrible if I posted a gain on the very first week. Uuugh.

Now for the good news. I binged last night. So much for good news, right? But, IT IS. I binged on VEGETABLES!!! I had an extra 2 cups of veggies. I came in 100 calories over where I wanted to be, but it was still perfectly within a good calorie weight loss range. So, that coupled with a VERY good workout makes me feel very positive about yesterday. My past two days have been great and today will be great, too.

Here's hoping Monday will have some results. And, if not, it's just a good wake-up call for the very beginning of the challenge. Admitting my binging problem to myself and to all of you has been great motivation to keep me from doing it. I had a real urge to binge last night around 10 pm. So, I went to bed. I'm really proud of myself that I battled the binge. :)

Rhonda - You wrote such great advice to Alana Jo. I can't think of anything else to add other than we're all here pulling for you Alana Jo. You can do it. Don't give up!!!!

Good morning, Bluesers...and TGIF! Hi, Diva!:wave:

I'm running a bit behind today. Hubby got up with the girls this morning and let me sleep in. He's such a sweetie. I was feeling a bit headachey and had an acid stomach. But, I'm feeling okay now. Anybody here a little worried about the weekend? These are my hardest times staying on-plan. My schedule gets tossed around and the family usually eats one meal at a restaurant. I need to plan plan plan. Afterall, Monday is my weigh-in and I don't want to let my team down.


Amberelise, I would love to have a Blue team daily challenge. One of the teams had some kind of Bingo thing for the last challenge. I'm not sure what that was all about, but maybe we could do something like that? I don't know about everyone else, but my weight will not drop if I don't start doing some intense exercise. And, I'm glad you like the daily questions I've been putting out here for us. If anyone has a question they would like to put out here for the team, please do so. I don't want to put myself out there as heading up this thread. We already have an awesome leader (Thanks, Chellez!) But, I do want this to be an active supportive thread that, hopefully, doesn't die out by the end of the challenge. I need you guys!

:carrot: Congratulations!

Vanessa, I will pray for you. Enjoy your trip!

:carrot: Congratulations!
We're proud of you, too! Technically, this challenge is about weight loss. But, I'm sure everyone will agree that weight loss takes a back seat to making such positive changes in our lives.


One of our Bluesers (Thanks, Purple!) inspired me to go back and read my Jillian Michael's book that Hubby got me for Christmas. I didn't ask for the book as I've read just about every diet book out there...and really, how much new information can there really be? But, he knows that I'm a fan of Jillian, so he decided to give me the book. I had skipped over the whole calorie calculation/BMI portion of the book, but Purple inspired me to check it out. Well, I've done my calculations and, starting Monday, I'm going to try it out. Hopefully, I can stop this 'slow-as-a-turtle' weight loss and get a consistent 2-3 pound weekly loss. Of course, I have to ramp up the exercise part of things or nothing will happen.

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day!

:cheer::cheer::cheer: GO BLUE! :cheer::cheer::cheer:

Okay Rhonda, I'll bite and pose today's question.

Bluesers - What is your biggest fear once you lose the weight?

For me, I'm fearful that I won't maintain. I'm afraid that I'll tell myself that I'm thin now so why not have that huge plate of fettucine alfredo and top it off with some cheesecake. Not only that, I'll sneak in lots of treats because, hey, I earned them. So, my biggest fear is that I'll reach my goal and be super proud of myself. Then I'll gain weight back and be more disappointed in myself than ever. I'm so fearful of letting myself down yet again. If I never reach my goal I'll never let myself down by gaining the weight back.

Then again, won't I have let myself down by never reaching the goal?

My realistic goal weight fear is that I won't maintain too. However, I also have a completely unfounded fear, that it will cause problems between DH and I. I'm working out, eating right, taking charge of my health, and he's still sitting on the couch watching movies. I get so pissed at him sometimes, because he has high blood pressure and high stress/anxiety, but he won't do anything to control it except meds. A little exercise would go a loooong way to helping. I sometimes think to myself "when you die of a heart attack, I'm finding me a healthy boytoy and spending your life insurance on personal trainers". I hate that I have that attitude, but I've tried to be supportive of him, cajole him, beg him, threaten him, but nothing works to get him moving. At least he's willing to diet, although he's doing Atkins, and I'm doing South Beach. And he's very supportive of my working out, so it's not sabotage, it's just lazy.

I have been overweight since I was 9. Sometimes, it was only 20-25 pounds, but I've never seen my body without a lot of fat. I'm afraid that when I reach goal, I'm going to be disappointed with how my body looks. I dream of wearing cute halter top sundresses and a sexy lingerie from VS. The reality is that I'm now 43 years old and I've not been kind to my body. I'll never have a flat toned stomach, the girls will never be perky again (sorry if TMI, John!) and I'll probably still have a bit of sag around my knees and my bum might still droop...and, my "wings' on the arms might not ever go away.

So, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm also doing this for my health. And, I'll just work on becoming the best 'Me" I can be.

Just wanted to post a quick little ditty before I head off to Subway for lunch (notice I didn't say :mcd:!)

http://img110.mytextgraphics.com/spa...6f9800a997.gif

While its only during the daytime for right now... I have indeed returned from my 3 day hiatus of painting moving and sweating.

I'll post up more stuff after lunch.... be back at 12:30! :D

CHELLE -- WE"VE MISSED YOU!!!! I was going to post a shout-out last nite but i knew if you were able to get to us you would be posting, no doubt, so i just waited.....yea!!

Rhonda, thank you for that mini-lecture about how people fade away & we all know why. Not just for her, but we all needed to be reminded to stay strong and accountable. It is true that motivation and desire will come and go, but you just have to go on auto pilot and do it like a job.

Rhonda, you & I are the same age, height & weight. I am lifting weight in hopes that everything you listed won't be my reality as well. Want to join me? Im' sure JM has some dumbbell routines in her book you could start, right? It's not just the cardio!

Amberelise - I have BEEN that person. Only I didn't wait til I got to goal, I had that same Olive Garden conversation with myself after I was close to a 40lb loss. Figuring, hey, I've got a weight lifting engine burning in my belly. Even worse, it seems you don't get caught cheating right away - it takes 4 or 5 days - and by then you are sooo mentally disconencted from plan! ugh So I have to avoid that thinking at all times & long before goal!!

AmberElise - I am also up. I will also claim that it is weight lifting and I hope gone by Monday. I am up 4 lbs, so it seems about right. I think I can drop 2 lbs of water by tomorrow and another 2 by Monday. :crossed:

As for a team challenge - honestly, I never got that bingo thing. I tried to read it and follow it, but it was too much to keep up with. I need something really SIMPLE or I can't work it into my day. The trip thing works just great for me. How about a blue team challenge exercise ticker? We could all keep an upward running tally of our exercise minutes and all put a little note about it in our siggys maybe. Just a thought.

Have a great day everyone. Chelle, do tell ALL!!!!! And any more pix yet?

Quick post here - I'm at work today and busy.

My last chance 2 hour workout must have done the trick! I'm down 1.8 pounds.

Will be back in the evening after I'm off...

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

I was totally craving McDonald's today. Then I remembered what someone here said, it's a product, it's not food. So I said no. :) And ate what I could find in the house that was even semi-healthy... pita chips, half an orange, half an apple (my son has this annoying habit of nibbling one bite and putting stuff back in the fruit bowl). I'm hungry again 2 hours later b/c that's not really lunch but I'm not going back out until late tonight so I'll find something decent, maybe yogurt and more pita chips. I'm obsessed with pita chips and DH took the rest of the homemade hummus to work today. Evil DH. :)

I weighed myself this morning, one day early, and no change... dang. Binging on sweets and AF arriving and my hands are swollen so I know I'm retaining fluid. I'm trying to drink a lot of water and get that fluid out so I can get a more accurate measurement. At least a pound? Come on, not so much to ask... Denise Austin and I have been like *this* all week, I've gotta have something to show for it!

HOpe everyone has a great weekend & to those (like me) affected by the zero temperatures tomorrow - bundle up!!! :brr:

Chelle and Heather--way to JUST SAY NO to product.

Alana Jo--What can WE do here to help you?

Hey everyone, just chiming in to say "Hello". I will be out of the loop for a while. My DS has a Pinewood Derby this Saturday and since I run the Derbies for the Pack, I will be on the go from 5pm until 10pm tomorrow night.

Everyone keep your fingers crossed that I can stay POP ... or fairly close. We are making some Turkey Chili to take with us tonight for dinner to avoid the "Pizza or Burger" junk I know really sucks for me.

I have to say that I haven't had McDs since early September when I started my weightloss. My DS knows that it is really bad for me, and even at 8 has decided that we only do Wendy's when he has a craving for a Jr Bacon Cheeseburger with Mandrine Oranges and a Drink. I usually split a Potato with him or my DH, have a sm Chili, and a side salad.

As for today's question: I would have to say I am afraid that I will hit my goal and still not see a thinner me. I was looking at pictures from our family cruise over Thanksgiving, I had lost quite a bit of weight by then, but I just couldn't see a difference. I am afraid I will only see the overweight me and go right back to that real picture. I need to find a way to look in the mirror and really see the weight loss. You would think going from a 24-26 to an XL - 1X (16W), I would see a better me ... I just can't seem to.

Good Luck to everyone with their WI.

Have a great weekend BLUE TEAM!

Hello Bluezzzzers!!! :cheer:

I am happy to report that I'm at 198.0!!!!!!!! :cb: :cp: :carrot:

Yay!!!! :dance: I'm soooo happy!! :dancer: I'm in Onederlandddddd!!!! :cheer2:

I also am supposed to start in two days so this is WITH bloating!!!! :sumo:

So down 5 since the start of the challenge. Not too shabby. :jig:

Rhonda, every time I get on here I see you encouraging someone. I love it. And about realizing that the goal for us who are mid 30s+ isn't molding our bods into a fabulous bikini body? I'm with you. I told Tatiana the other day that I have to accept that I have never and will never look good naked. :yikes: LOL, nah, I don't look horrible and disgusting. Just not model material. My goal now is to LOOK GOOD IN CLOTHES!!!! Ha! Don't you agree? :D

Hiya to onthetee, Heather, John, Diva (lol, cute how u visit), Amberelise, Sweetpea Mom, Sport, Dixie, Froufrou, and everyone else. All of you have been encouraging and it's great. Miss you all when I am busy here but have a lot going on. You are with me in spirit all day anyway tho!! :angel:

Big hugssss, Selina :hug:

Congratulations Selina! It is so fantastic to see that one in the front. Good Job.

:bravo: SELINA!!!! Enjoy your journey in 1-derland!!!

Selina....I had to pop over to say :congrat:....You rock girl! Keep up the good work! :yay:

hey Selina! You invaded our thread, so I thought I would respond in kind :D

:congrat: CONGRATS on being in ONEDERLAND!!!!!! It's a surreal feeling, isn't it???? AND, I love your new pic on your siggy! Thank you for sharing Tatiana with us Black Team girls...she's absolutely AWESOME and I'm so glad to have her on board. It's like we have our own personal Selina in the Black Team! :carrot:

And, to some of my former Black Team ladies (Amber, Sonja, Sportmom, AlanaJo,) I'm so HAPPY to see you girls doing so fantastic!!!! You make me so proud! :hug: Drop in and say "hey" once in a while.... and Alana Jo, Rhonda has given you some priceless advice. She and Selina are so great at putting thoughts into words. I come over here just to see what they are encouraging other people about - because it ends up helping me. Hang in there and DON'T GIVE UP!!!! :hug:

WTG SELINA!!! for being in onederland! :woohoo: :bravo:

HI to everyone else...:wave:

Selina - Huge congratulations to you!

Julz - Nice to see you around, cuz!! I miss you. :cry: I will try and stop by from time to time.

:congrat: to Selina on hitting onederland! Love the new picture, too!

I only have minute today, hope to get on more tonight or over the weekend. I am not having a good week, y'all. I know I've been whining about the lack of sleep all week, but those who were Blue last challenge will remember my struggles with near-constant fatigue, and how happy I was to get it under control... well I fear that it's coming back because of my inconsistent and not-enough sleep this week. :mad:

So a huuuge TGIF from me! Glad to see everyone supporting each other, and working through all the mental work that comes with the nutrition and exercise! I've got to put some serious thought into what I fear about GW, because that is a great question!

I am reading everything and thinking about you all a ton. :hug:

onthetee, MomTo2SweetPeas--Congrats on the losses!

AmberD--A loss is a loss!

Amberelise & Sportmom--Now that we are confessing I will say that I'm up too but I think I can get down by Sunday or Monday. Mine is due to binging. I binged on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I did really well on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm also doing great today.

Selina--Congrats on your entry into onederland!

My fear once losing the weight? Gaining it all back. I've done it time and time again. That's why this time around I am going to go with the ups and downs and not pressure myself. Not beat myself up. I think that will really help along the way. When I had gotten all the way down to 150 I should have maintained at least for a bit but because I put pressure on myself to continue to lose weight I pressured myself right back to being obese.

Miracle of miracles I have exercised three days in a row. What has worked for me is not telling myself I have to exercise but just getting up and doing it once I'm in the mood. I think I'm in the mood today so I'm think I may do some Pilates or WATP.

My sister is in town visiting, and she wanted to go to the Olive Garden for lunch today. I thought I was making a "smart" choice (as smart as choices can get at the Olive Garden!) with soup and salad. But, I just checked a few sites online and a bowl of the pasta e fagioli soup has almost 600 calories! For a non-creamy soup!! Good lord. On the positive side, I got in a really good workout this morning (45 minutes of tough work on the elliptical plus a 10 minute treadmill cool down). On the negative side, tonight we're meeting friends at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner -- one place where I *know* there's nothing particularly light or healthy on the menu. To try to balance it out, I've volunteered to be the designated driver tonight, so at least I won't be downing silly liquid calories!

Hi Diva! I forgot to say that in my last post :)!

I got a chance to go back and read what I missed--

Bev--I have to force myself to do cardio also. I love the feeling afterwards. There are a few things I like to do like the elliptical, WATP, and Taebo.

Amberelise--Trader Joe's has frozen steelcut oats. They have two, I think, individual servings in a box. It's a circular frozen block you cut off the plastic and put in the microwave to cook. I think you cook for a 1.5 minutes, stir, then cook for a 1.5 minutes. That will give you an opportunity to add whatever you want to it.

Oh, I am soooo happy for you! All those days on plan have really paid off!


I am with you. Same thing happened to me at Panera yesterday. I cannot imagine what they put in it to make it 600 cals!

Found a new food to love....curried chick peas. Made them today, and they rocked.

That last sentence pretty much sums up my life. If I don't try to lose weight I never have to worry about being one of the statistics that gains it all back and then some. I think I can honestly say that prior to August 07 I never really dieted before. All my ups and downs had come from adding exercise either deliberately or through a job.

I am also up since starting weigh in. Only 2 pounds and I know exactly why. This is the lowest I have been since having the kids and I have that irrational fear that if I get lower I will somehow mess up and gain it all back. I need to break through that mentality. I also need to stop binging. I did that crap McD's yesterday and today it was apple pie. Why? No clue as of yet. I wasn't really hungry at the time. We are going through some financial strain as DH has been off work since January and the money is getting ready to run out. But instead of eating I should be walking.

I think there is enough room in the office for me to do my WATP Walk and Jog dvd. I forgot the computer has a dvd player on it. So now I have no excuse that someone else in the house is watching tv or sleeping in the living room.

I also pieced part of those quotes together for a screen saver. The page for my van is ready to go the next time I go outside. :)

I have also recently decided to leave another message board that I used to frequent a LOT. That will leave me even more time for the positive and inspirational stuff I read around here.

Congrats to all that have had losses already. To the rest of us, our turn is coming.

Hello everyone! I'm sitting here getting psyched up for some exercise today! I was able to get in 100 minutes yesterday, 90 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes of Walk Away The Pounds. I could of done another 10 of WATP, but it was after midnight and I had a meeting that I couldn't risk being too tired in, so I had to call it quits (or wimped out, now I that I think about it!).

Tonight I have friends coming over so I need to post this and get as much in as I can before they get here. :ebike:

Selina: Congrats on ONEderland! That's awesome!

Rhonda: What you said about re-newing committment every single day reminded me of a great quote. “People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.” -- Zig Ziglar

"What is your biggest fear once you lose the weight?"
Well, mine is that I'm going to have to be careful how I walk or else I'll be stepping all over my extra skin. I mean seriously...that freaks me out to think about how "droopy" it'll be. Oh well, guess I better start saving for a um...body tuck? or something.


Take care everyone, and see you on Saturday!

John

:( :mad: That dvd won't play on the computer. The computer isn't even acknowledging that their is a disk in the drive. I'll be setting the alarm in the morning and getting my workouts done while everyone is still sleeping so I don't step on people.

This is what I printed for my van and for my fridge.

IS IT WORTH IT?

THERE IS NEVER ANY REASON TO EVER EAT AT A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT. WHAT THEY SERVE IS A PRODUCT, BUT I WILL NEVER CALL IT FOOD.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO TEACH MY CHILDREN. I WANT TO TEACH THEM TO PLAN FOR SUCCESS. I WANT THEM TO LEARN THAT A BETTER OPTION IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE. I DON’T WANT THEM TO CONFUSE PRODUCT WITH FOOD.

I AM GIVING MYSELF PERMISSION TO STAY ON PLAN, BE HEALTHY, AND SET A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR MY CHILDREN.

I SEE THIS AS A JOURNEY AND THIS IS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE. LEARN AND MOVE FORWARD WITH NEW KNOWLEDGE IN HAND.

NOW, WAS IT WORTH IT?

Thanks to all who replied to that McD's binge thread. I can promise you I won't be doing that again.

I think the quotes request was yesterday but I was given a book today with some quotes in it so here are some:

I think this is appropriate for our team and this website:
"We might not have it all together, But together we have it all!"

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."--Confucius

Hey Blue Team. I just finished catching up on the pages that have shown up since I last posted. I seem to spend all day keeping my son out of trouble. Tomorrow is his birthday party so I'm going to end up behind again. Tomorrow I'm going to sign up for a month at the gym I think. Just to make sure I make it a habit and like the gym. I know a girl going there that will make sure I go. If it goes well I'll join for a year. The other day I did felt great. I must not have worked hard enough cause I didn't hurt today. I'm also happy that my cutting out caffeine is working for me emotionally. TOM snuck up on me without the suicidal pms I usually get which signals it for me. I was hoping it would help cause I really don't want to have to have medication for 2 days.

Congrats Selina on reaching onderland. I want to get there.

I'm afraid that when I hit my goal weight I won't be able to stay there. I'm also afraid that I'll never lose on my bottom half. But eventually hopefully I will.