Coolmom75
 

Thanks so much for the welcome. Your baby is adoreable!! A great photograph too. I wanted to give you well-wishes for your outing...I hope you can have a good time. Take care,

-Miette

thank you! I was wondering if anyone else was up this late. :)

Well, technically I'm not up so late! LOL. I live in Europe so I'm quite a few hours ahead of you. Having trouble sleeping or just a night owl? :)

Zoe,
That is just about the cutest pic of your little guy!
almost enough to make you want anouther one yourself. mmmm, Not! ;) To old for that!

That is a nice baby! Congratulations!

So ... it was YOU people who put the idea of trail mix in my head! Seriously, I didn't do too badly with it. 1609 cals for yesterday with two big walks.

Zoe that has got to be one of the cutest pictures I have ever seen. Absolutely precious. I remember when I first went out with friends on a Saturday night when I just had started doing this. I was terrified. But, there are always healthy choices wherever we go. I'm sending you a big dose of willpower.

Welcome Miette!!!

Thursday's calories - too much nibbling, I have got to rail that in. Calories weren't awful, awful, but instead of one of my usual snacks I had a cup of Honey Nut Cheerios (my kids normally eat this). It was soooo sweet. It's the most sugar I've had in ages. Yuck. I had an instant headache and a woozy kind of a feeling. I don't know how in the world I ever ate so much of the darn sugary stuff before my lifestyle change. So I came in at about - 1400.

Have a great day everyone.

rockinrobin,

Thanks for the welcome. Wowee.. 1400 calories? That's awesome. I hope I can get down to that in a week or so. I just started all of this and I'm discovering a lot of "hidden" calories I really didn't know about. ugh. I'm a grazer.. I don't like big meals so I tend to snack and munch and graze... pick up a lot of extra calories that way. I threw out my bag of peanuts after finding out how much fat and how many calories were in a handful!

Take care,
-Miette

Miette, I am a huge nibbler/grazer as well. I actually allot myself about 200 calories worth a day to do this. It has really worked out well for me. Peanuts are so very yummy and so very fattening. I must stay away from them, although I love them, I find I can get a much higher volume with less calories in other foods. I tend to like volume. So no peanuts for me. Really, really tracking ones calories can be quite eye opening. Those suckers really add up - FAST. As far as the 1400 calories, I AIM for 1200 worth. Aim being the key word. BUT, when I first started out I was eating more. As I weigh less, I keep downing my calories, anything to avoid the dreaded plataeu.

The trailmix is now safely in the freezer in 1/4 cup servings. The fat content is amazing!

Rockinrobin,

I'm so inspired by your story! I'm only five foot two and my goal weight is about 140 lbs. Actually, my goal should be less, if I go by BMI... but I'll be tickled pink if I can get back down to 140. The grazing is a huge problem for me. I try to drink lots of water and artificially sweetened drinks (kinda like lemonade but not lemon flavored) to keep my tummy full, but the urge to graze is so strong. Instead of peanutes, I have been munching on Saltines today and even though they are very high carbs, they don't have the fat and calorie content the peanuts had. I guess eventually, I will have to do without the Saltines too. However, one step at a time. :)

-Miette

Calories Thursday: 1765

All I want to say is AWFOYEE. I just don't what is wrong with what I am doing but I am really, really doing something wrong. I think I know what it is so I am going to give it a try and see what happens. This week I decreased my calories and increased my exercise in the panic to get back down to 187 from TOM and the Easter binge. Big mistake because it didn't work. I am now up 3 lbs. Go figure. The stinky old diet mantality just keeps slipping back. So, I am going to slow down and try and stay within the recommended 1500 - 1800 calories. The last two days I did increase my calories but I just keep upping the amount of exercise I was getting. Now, I am exhausted physically and my body, my legs feel like someone has 20 lbs weights on them, is begging me to rest. So, that is what I am going to do.

Rockinrobin ~ You are doing fantastic. Do you mind if I send you a private email. I just see how well your doing and I need some encouragement and advise.

Zoe ~ Your little one is just a doll, I love that picture. It is precious and priceless. Your doing fantastic, keep up the good work.

WELCOME Miette :hug:

Well I better get going and talk at yo all later.

Miette ~ Baby steps are the best way. I also like all kinds of nuts but I can't stop at a little and I swear my body likes them so well that it just wants to keep them around, like on my belly. :p So I avoid them because they are a binge trigger for me on top of it.

Miette, my "goal" weight also leaves me in the overweight category, being only 5 feet ZERO inches. The truth is I don't even know if I can get to the 135. I was morbidly obese for almost 20 years, I'm 43 and have had 3 kids. I never remember being under 135 and struggled to stay there when I was a teenager thru about 21. My goal weight is not written in stone. I can always reacess when I get closer. I am not willing to resort to unhealthy measures to get there. We will see what my body allows me. As for the grazing. I'm wondering what kind of plan you are on. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks and yes still leave about 200 calories on top of that to - nibble. But eating every 2 1/2 hours or so helps me to keep it to a minimum. Just knowing that I have something yummy coming up again in 2 hours is a big help. Instead of crackers, which are not the best choice between the sodium and the carbs and the lack of any nutrients, why not try nibbling on baby carrots, cut up cucumbers, strawberries, blueberries, high fiber cereal, a few (you actually have to count these) pistachio nuts, a fat free yogurt, some grapes, a sliced apple sprinkled with cinnamon, or cook up some veggies, string beans and asparagus roasted are fantastic, very healthy, very little calories. These are really much better choices. But of course you have to do what you find works best.

Lara, PM me away, whatever you'd like is perfectly fine with me.

I'm gonna ramble and it's about something I've read over and over and was prompted by Lara's frustration. I don't want Lara to be discouraged and unhappy .... Ok here goes ...

Weight loss can not be linear. Never in all my days have I met someone who creates a 3500 cal deficit and drops one pound immediately. It just doesn't happen in that logical a fashion. There are too many variables at work. And we, as women, should be most aware of that. Hormones, salt, fluid, types of foods we eat, variations in routine, stress, sleep ... you can probably think of more.

I think it was Wyllen/Heather who said something to the effect of 'we're too quick to jump to a cause and effect conclusion'. Because of all the variables involved, what you did yesterday does not necessarily produce what's happening today. One of the best books I've ever read states that you should not judge a lifestyle change within two weeks. Some mention trying something for at least a month.

Here's an example ... when you stress a muscle, you create minute damage. Muscle building is this damage being repaired. This process involves swelling and fluid gain. It's temporary, that gain. Over time (which depends on many things including speed of healing) the muscle becomes stronger and uses more calories. The results of this progress over time.

All this is to say, Lara, you're not doing anything wrong. Mixing up your calorie counts if fine. Increasing your exercise is fine. Maybe a rest day is what you need. Speeds healing ;)

It pains me to type this but patience is a virtue folks.

Thanks SusanB. I really needed to hear that. Yes, I am experiencing bloat, hormanal problems, lack of sleep and stress.

Just to forewarn you all I will try to control my moods on here. I am going thru my midlife crisis, I'm 39, and change of life all at once. Normally I force myself happy but last night I went over the edge and then the scale this morning dropped a rock over the cliff. Last night when I took YDD cloths shopping, young hip store, I don't know why this particular time it bothered me but I caught a view of myself in the mirror and I hated what I saw. So, I need to take this depressing news and rechannel it to fix the things I don't like. OK, when I looked in the mirror I saw a frumpy, overweight, middle age person. Did I like it no, so I need to fix it. I may not be able to fix the wrinkles or change my age but I don't have to be overweight and frumpy. This isn't going to come out right but I want to say it and please realize I respect and love my Mom more than life its self. The two characteristics about my Mom that I didn't want is to be frumpy and overweight and when I saw what I saw in the reflection reality hit me and I wanted to cry. My Mom is beautiful on the inside and out but has always been frumpy and overweight, thats just my Mom, its not suppose to be me.

That said, you can all see why I am the way I am today. I will keep plugging away. Confused, but plugging away. I am definitely overdoing the exercise so I will cut back to 30 minutes a day walking again and light sculpting a couple days a week. The weeks I lost best were when this was my routine. Those weeks I also had higher calorie counts. I think I may have cute enough calories and pushed enough on exercise to slip in starvation mode. So, now I have to wait for it to reverse its self and be patient.

OK, I flapped my jaws long enough and I just want to give a :hug: to everyone and say thank you for listening.