Hey everyone!

How's everyone doing? I had a horrible week last week. Just horrible! But this is the beginning of a new week, so I'm looking forward.

A week ago Saturday, we helped a lady that my husband works with move apartments. It was four hours of pure cardio! Plus stairs! I don't understand how one little person can have SO much stuff! She was moving from a one bedroom into a two bedroom because she had so much stuff. Anyway, I was so sore and exhausted after that, I really didn't begin to get over it until the following Wednesday.

Which makes me wonder if I'm working hard enough in my workouts. Maybe I should work out longer or something to get more stamina. I don't know.

Enygirl-Great job on the loss! You're right on track for goal!

Lumifan-how did your weigh in go?

Welcome to the new girls!

I'm meeting my sister for lunch and a movie today. Lunch is at a Thai restaurant, and I LOVE Thai food, but I will eat half and bring the other half home for my husband. It helps that my sister eats like a bird, so if I just try to keep at her pace, I'll be ok.

Have a great day, Ladies!!

eny, glad to hear your back on track!! what a wonderful feeling!

welcome 1less - and congrats on getting rid of those 17 lbs!!

welcome sephy! are you going anywhere for spring break?

good luck at lunch today darby!

i'm down a pound. :carrot: and believe me, i'll take it. i feel like i've been working so hard these last couple of weeks (with some slip-ups here and there although, truthfully they were kind of minor) however my weight has been stuck for several weeks. hmmmmm....maybe those slip-ups weren't so minor? anyway, it's time to dig in for some consistent losses.

workouts have been good. today my goal was 4 miles on the elliptical. i set the timer incorrectly and at 50 minutes i was at 3.5 miles. when i tried to restart the machine to get in that last 1/2 mile, the machine shorted out or something. so after wiping down the elliptical, i jumped on a treadmill for another 1/2 mile plus cooldown. so i got in 60 minutes of cardio today.

have a good week!! :sssh: it's the end of January already!!

How soon is spring break again??? ugh - I've completely been a roller coaster the last 2 weeks... I do good, get down to seeing progress then binge the rest of the week and stop working out - so now I'm up again. Sunday's weigh in was #183.6 - SERIOUSLY! I need to get back at this - and stop sabotaging myself. it's like subconsciously I don't want to hit my goal!!! AHHHHH!!!

St. Patrick's day is my 1/2 way goal date... I HAVE to be #164.8 on that date. So i have 6 1/2 weeks to lose #20 - if I don't start :kickbutt: myself then i'm NEVER going to hit it!!! GIRLS _ KEEP ON ME ABOUT THIS!! I NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!!!

Enygirl...what are you having problems with that is making you splurge?? Are you not allowing yourself to eat the foods you like that cause you to go off plan half way thru the weeks?? I never deny myself the foods i like. I find healthy versions of them and just eat less. Like ice cream. I might buy the lowfat version and only allow myself half a serving. But i always work it into my calories.


I am doing okay. I am holding at 135 today...3 days into my TOM. So thats actually pretty good for me. Hoping when it leaves maybe i'll see a pound or two gone. I did measure and since December i've lost about an inch in my waist measurments. So, I was pretty happy about that. But only about 1/4 inch in my thighs. Gotta work on that i guess.

I don't limit myself on anything food wise - just calories... it seems the more stressed I am the more carbs I eat - I've done this since I stopped smoking 4 months ago... I think I'm using food as a replacement for nicotine. Everyone tells me it's ok to spurge once in awhile - but last week it was EVERYDAY!!! That on top of not making time to work out - and staying up WAY too late working.. it's all catching up to me.

That and as many times as I've dieted - i've never stuck with anything... I'm doing SO good now - and I think I'm freaking because I'm still pretty much sticking with it. I just need to keep writing what I'm eating - consciously making myself stay with in my calories and workout FIRST before I start doing work at home! I know what I need to do - keep me accountable to do it! I need the help right now girls! I HAVE TO DO THIS FOR ME!!!

Enygirl....congrats on quit smoking. Now, just realize...if you can do that, you can CERTAINLY do this!!! Come on girl!!! Get with the program now...bathing suit season will be here before we know it. We can either be wearing a 2 peice or one of those dresses!!! And i have already gotten rid of my dress bathing suit and am trying on my two peice every month. You can do it!!!!! Good idea on excersizing before you start on your work at home. That will just tire you out to where you don't want to excersize. Exersize on the other hand will sharpen your mind to do your work. You can do this!!!!:hug:

Hi folks! This seems like a great group and a great challenge, mind if I join in?

Just as a little intro, I'm a stay-at-home-Mom and I have been overweight for years, but finally I'm doing something about it. I started at the beginning of October and I've lost about 37 pounds so far, my ultimate goal is to lose 72 pounds.

So if I do this Spring Break challenge, I figure I could easily (?) drop another 22 by April 1 and be only a dozen or so pounds away from my ultimate goal.

Good luck to everyone and I look forward to chatting with you and staying motivated.

Catmint, :welcome: Sounds like you are doing great, we're glad you joined us!

What've you been doing to lose all that weight so far? You are over 1/2 way there!

Eny, you are doing great, hang in there. When I quit smoking, I "smoked" straws for a long while, cut in half, they are about the size of a cigarette. They solved my need for hnd to mouth movement!

My family's spring break starts 4/10. If I can stick with the 10 lbs a month, I should be under 130 when we leave!!

Sephy, Welcome, you've set some great big goals for yourself, good for you!

Hi mothermavis, thanks for the welcome! Exercise is not a problem for me, it's the food that gets me every time! So I've put my eating habits into someone else's hands for a few months and it's working well. I've been using a program called Quick Weight Loss Center, it's one-on-one nutritional counseling. Nothing fancy, just sensible eating habits. I probably eat the same as all the other successful dieters on this site, but I just get a little extra hand-holding (and spend a lot more money). :)

Anyway, I usually like exercise but lately I'm in an exercise rut. I have been walking for an hour on the treadmill every day but I need to step it up to the next level and start working out the other body parts (but oh baby, my butt is down to nothing after all that walking!). I've started doing an aerobics program my husband bought recently from a tv infomercial, it's very simple but I'm still sore two days after trying it! So I think I'm on the upswing again, and the weight will hopefully start coming off a little more consistently.

To the person quitting smoking, good luck and congrats! I used to smoke years back and I quit twice, both times cold turkey. The first time was because I had strep throat (couldn't smoke for a few days so I figured why start again?). The second time I just realized how stupid it was so I just quit and never looked back. Believe me, it was much easier for me to quit smoking than it was to give up junk food!

Eny, I'm sorry you're struggling. Work on taking it one meal at a time...one day at a time. After you string a couple of days together you'll want to build on that success. And as for exercising, I'm now able to workout in the mornings. However when I had to workout after my work day, I wouldn't even allow myself to sit down on the sofa to look at the mail. If I sat down, I wouldn't get back up to workout. I just kept moving...changed my clothes, put on my workout gear and did my workout. I remember days when I'd put on my workout clothes and then sit down to "just look at the mail". Big Mistake!! Hang in there! And maybe try on an outfit that you're just about able to fit into...look how close you are!!! Congrats on giving up the smokes too!

I'm an ex-smoker. It's tough but I think food's tougher. Cigs you can give up cold turkey...but food. Well, that's a different story.

Welcome Catmint - I love to workout too and for the longest time I "believed" that as long as I worked out I could eat anything. I ate my way up to a size 18W. So much for that "belief"!! I also tried WW a plethora of times and OA too. They both worked until I started to believe my own stupid thoughts! :^:

My calories have been pretty good; scale is down another 1/2 lb :crossed: ; and workouts have been good. Today I did YBBC, yesterday was a rest day and the day before was Leslie's 4 Fast Miles.

I'm ready to roll into February. My spring break mini-goal was to be at 211 by Feb. 14. That means I need to lose 8 lbs in 2 weeks...hmmmmm, that's a lot for me to lose in two weeks but, hey, I'm going to give it my best shot!

Anyone care to share their February goal?

Angeline, great idea! My mini-goal for February is 10 pounds, I lost 9 in January, but it's 2 days longer, so with just a little more effort, I think I can do 10 in 29 days. I also want to get my waist to less than 27 inches and my hips into the 30's. Right now my waist is 27 and my hips are exactly 40.

Darby, how's this week? Better?

Eny, Are you staying OP for the end of the week?

Lumi, How are you doing this week?

1 less, Sephy, Catmint and all those who are lurking and not posting right now.....Come on my FC friends, let's do this.

Girls - Thank you for all the advice, stories and support! I'm doing better - down a little bit this week. I've worked out more this week - so things are going in the right direction. I know I'm Ready to finally lose this weight. I put on a size 14 today and they fit! I haven't been a 14 since High Shcool!

I know I can do this - but it get frustrating. I'm cutting back on the scale stepping... I think my obsession is dying down. I'm down to 4 days a week rather than 7. I want to ge tto the point when I'm only on there once a week - but I'm not ready for that yet.

I've been really good about food since my last post... and I'm moving forward. If only work would die down some!!!

Here's some :hug: & :dust: for the weekend! - my hardest days!

Hi ladies! I was up 3/4# yesterday at my weigh-in. Very frustrating! I'm eating everything I'm supposed to (and nothing I'm not), but I'm still just sort of at a standstill for the past 3 weeks. My nutrition counselor is having me try something a little different this weekend with my diet, hopefully it will break the plateau.

Personally (and actually this is my husband's idea) I think it might be because I'm exercising more now. I lost the first 30 pounds with zero exercise, and I think now that I'm burning more calories my body might need more fuel (i.e., a higher-calorie plan). I will discuss that when I go back to the nutritionist on Monday.

Meantime, I've actually stepped up my exercise and I love it! I'm doing 55 minutes walking (3mph) on the treadmill, but also an exercise program my husband bought from a late-night infomercial, called Beach Bodies. I really like it! The guy that does it (can't remember his name) is a total cheeseball but the exercises are effective and attainable.

Enygirl, congrats on the size 14! I think that I'm almost ready for that size, too. The last pants I bought were about a month ago and they were 16. My ultimate goal is either 140 pounds or a size 10, whichever comes first.

We can do it ladies! It's a little quiet in here, hope that means everybody is busy planning their healthy meals and exercising! See you soon.

Welcome to SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!! For those of you going to parties today here's some :dust: to avoid excess chips, pop, cookies, etc. etc. HAVE FUN THOUGH!!!

I didn't hit my goal for today.. those few weeks of craziness - binging - and no exercise threw me off COMPLETELY! My official weigh in for today is #182.4 - which is #1.2 down from last week.

I've put up the Valentine's ticker... it's an aggressive goal - but I stay OP everyday for the next 11 days - I should hit it.

I really to need to step it up this month. Even though it's a short one - last month I only got 45% to goal last month so this month I HAVE to lose #10.2 to get back on track! (#9.4 to go!) :cheer:I CAN DO THIS!!!:cheer: - But it's going to be EXTREMELY hard! Stay on me girls!

Changes that I'm going to make to hit goal this month:
~Cut back on eating out - take lunches to work
~Hit my exercise goal of 480 mins this month (120 a week) I know it's a low goal - but I have to get back into a routine!
~No excessive binges ESPECIALLY late at night!
~Keep the water up around 80 oz a day.
~Keep with in the alloted calorie range everyday!

Catmint- sounds like you are doing great. Sometimes, when you are upping exercise the way you have, you see inches more than pounds at times. Maybe you are loosing there instead. Either way, you are doing great! Stick with it and you will get the results you are searching for!

Eny- how is the battle to quit smoking going? Keep going, you are making more good choices than bad, it sounds like you just have to figure out where your cravings come from.

I am thinking of being hypnotized next week. Has anyone tried it for weight loss?