missie!!!!

HELLO!!
Hi to my pals Aphil (CONGRATS!!) Lisi, upswife, Lori, cacsme, and I must say hi to Amie!! and hi to all others I haven't met yet

I fell off the wagon bigtime this summer, but am ready to get myself back! I just had to say hi here though

Holly! Hi!

Well that did it. I've been avoiding this site big time and I finally read one of the e-mails 3FC sends. Yes, I, too, have been eating it all. And our annual ski trip to Canada is coming 12/22. I can't imagine even going at this weight.

Ok, so tomorrow I'll start journaling/ counting. Low carb is the best place for me to start. Something like SBD, with a fruit.

holly and lisi It is so good to see you both. I am hanging in there, but losing has been difficult. still have a goal for new Years, but I don't think I will make it...but we will see the body has a way of surprising me.

Later chicas!!!

Hi Holly!!!!

Sorry to hear that you fell off the wagon-but I am glad to hear that you are back, and are getting right back on the horse!!! After my baby, it looks like once again you and I will be dropping the pounds together!!!!

So glad to see you here-how have you been???!!

Hi aphil!! and all others

Aphil, you know of my struggles of the past year. My husband and I are recommitted to another 27 years of marriage (yup, just had our 27th anniversary) and if I continue taking my anti-dep meds and exercise, then things should be 100% better

I was doing pretty well with eating and great with exercise (the avatar photo was from May,on our way to Myrtle Beach for Bike Week) but over the summer for one reason or another I just about ceased exercising. Man, that was what was keeping the weight off and keeping this 'borderline' body from expanding!

So I am back on track. Congrats on your new son!!

Is Amie still around here?

Yes, she is!!!

Today is strength training day-I am hoping to get a decent workout in while Saber naps this morning.

My dance classes start back up this coming Monday and Tuesday night after my maternity leave as well...so this should be interesting!

I received my copy (I have been a subscriber for YEARS) of Fitness magazine in the mail yesterday-and it had a "Party Diet" in it. Basically, it is a way to get through the holidays. It was a 1500 calorie plan (You can lower or up the calories as needed to suit your stage of weight loss.) and it had a strategy for the holidays in it.

Basically, for the 1500 plan-it averaged 300 for breakfast, 300 for lunch, 600 for dinner, and 300 for dessert/snacks. On regular days-the desserts/snacks were normal things-such as 300 calories on one day being something like 2 Fig Newtons, a glass of skim milk, and a few almonds-but on days where there might be an office party or some other gathering-you use those 300 calories for a treat at the party. They gave a big list of things that average about 300 calories-such as 2 light beers, a cup of eggnog, a couple small sugar cookies, 2 small flutes of wine, etc. It was nice to show how to indulge SENSIBLY, rather than just going hog wild. It is a strategy that I have used in the past-and plan on utilizing again this season. For Thanksgiving, I plan on basing my meal around the turkey and vegetables-but choosing about 300 calories or so for a "treat". I will take a peek and see which treat I want to indulge in-such as stuffing or a small piece of dessert-but choose the thing I want most, rather than EVERYTHING. Then, savor it. It is a pretty good coping strategy.
Another one that I have is keeping a candy cane in my purse. The large ones are only about 65 calories-and if I am at a gathering where everyone is having sweets-it gets my holiday sweet tooth satisfied without being a 500 calorie piece of pecan pie, or a vat of fudge. If I do that, and keep a diet soda or a coffee in my hand...then I deal with the temptations much easier.

I usually do allow myself ONE free meal during the season-but I have to choose ONE. We have so many gatherings with our family (my parents are both remarried, plus all the friends, in laws, etc.) that if I ate what I wanted at every gathering-I would be pigging out 3 days a week from mid-November to January. I also limit it to a free MEAL, not a free DAY.

What are some of the strategies that some of you ladies plan on using this holiday season? Maybe if we all share-we can get through without any gains!

I don't know what I am going to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas days. My birthday is around this time as well. I've already declared that I don't want my usual red velvet cake, but haven't really thought about what I am going to do about the dinners. I haven't went off my diet since I started almost three months ago. I don't want to go overboard on turkey and Christmas day, but would like to eat. I am interested in seeing what everyone else is doing.

I guess I'm lucky from the standpoint of not being around the parties. We're pretty isolated, living temporarily in CT and not knowing many people. There is one community party I'm not sure about attending (it will be an Italian feast - murder) and probably an office party w/DH, which should be pretty easy to handle. We'll be away Cmas - hotel has 3 meals a day and I'm so used to the food I can be pretty moderate. Last year I tried really hard to limit the carbs and actually lost 2 lbs in the week we were there.

Have done much better the last 2 days. Not keeping track, though. Yesterday I limited the carbs, but today I had bread and No Pudge Brownies. Better to keep track, and posting here keeps me aware. Writing is always helpful.

Hi, fellow calorie counters.

I'm Julie. I'm 35 and married and way too sedentary. I've never really made much of an effort in the past to lose weight in any long-term way. I've played around with it a little, but haven't buckled down and just done it.

I started keeping track of my calories on October 11, and I have lost 7 pounds since then. That loss has been easy, so it makes me a little nervous that something is lurking around the corner that will knock me for a loop.

Does anyone else ever get those, "This is too easy right now" feelings?

In any case, I'm lucky in that I don't have a huge sweet tooth and I adore vegetables, so getting my eating on track is easier than it could have been. Over the last week I've apparently averaged 1450 calories a day, which is actually lower than I intended. I want to keep my weight loss slow and maintainable long-term.

Thanks for having such a great forum.

Welcome Eiluj
Yes to everything you said. It is great you are eating healthy and back on the right track at a young age. I waited years longer.
I have found (too many times!) that when I start something new, it is easy.
The thing is to keep it going and in order to repeat the success, repeat the action. Support is a great factor, as is writing, and the forums offer both opportunities. So if you're doing well, don't change what you're doing.

I'm getting back into veggies - made a great big veggie stew last week and I'm enjoying it. I was a vegetarian of sorts (ate fish) for 13 years, until years ago when I started Atkins and thought I was growing gills so I took back meat again. Lately I'm eating much less again.

Ladies, how are you doing? I had a good weekend, was delighted with the scale this am - even after the Chinese buffet yesterday, I dropped a pound. Have to change the ticker - higher I mean. I was up to 217 again, and this am it was 214.2, the lightest I've been in a couple of weeks. Also have the walking up to 50 min. But bedtime is bad - and nights are my eating time. Nighty night.
e

Good morning ladies!

I was up pretty much all night with Saber-he is going through a major growth spurt and has been sleeping poorly and eating constantly for the past 2 weeks! He has grown out of two outfits already in that time!

I plan on getting strength training done midmorning if I can get him to nap, and then I need to prepare for my dance class this evening. It is my first after taking my maternity leave from teaching. I am planning on doing mostly review, so the students can get back into it before we move on to anything new. I am guaranteed about an hour and a half of exercise today at the minimum with those two things.

Good morning ladies!

Aphil sorry to hear that saber was up all night, he sure is growing with all that eating.

I am doing good, just waiting to get on the scale and see if it moved. I am hoping to be down, even a little bit. I have two sickies her, maybe 4 including myself...just takingit easy, and not doing much else.

Later chicas!

Well, my first class after maternity leave went well last night-and my second one is tonight. Saber did really good with "Daddy" and the other kids while I was teaching in the studio. It felt really good, actually, to feel like "myself" again-and not just MOMMY.