McKenziesmomma, if you have a yahoo email there's a group there for South Beach newbies, they have lots of free info there about the South Beach diet, you can print out shopping lists etc. The South Beach website charges I believe. It's a good diet but be careful about the first phase if you are exercising hard, I tried it and had no energy, you might need a few carbs for energy! I too had the best success ever on the South Beach diet, it seems to really work. The new South Beach diet book just came out and there's good cookbooks. You should be able to check out the South Beach books at your library to save.

Speaking of saving, I'm on the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace plan and one of the requirements is a budget of course. I did mine today to the penny, I'm trying to become debt free so I'll be on a money diet and a body diet both. I think it's a lot of the same stuff, setting goals, discipline, losing! Anyways I was going to join the new health club but now I think I'll save and just work out at home. I like my exercise dvds, my bouncer, my bike and mixing it up. I've joined clubs before and never went enough to make it worth it.

Today I went on a 40 minute bike ride, outside and enjoyed it. BUT what does it take ONE DAY to get out of shape at my age, 40? It was only a week or so of travel and less cardio but I was huffing on this ride. I was just reasoning that I can exercise as much traveling and would block out weeks of travel - but I'm not so sure I can. There's so much work to get in shape, especially the weight training, that I don't want to sacrifice the hard work. Guess I can gradually improve on my traveling/workouts, at least I'm "thinking" rather then just pigging out and being stupid, that's progress!

I can't believe July is almost over... four more days. Tonight I'll plan out my week in my BFL journal and set goals. ONE DAY AT A TIME, every night on this plan I set goals for the next day, write about what I did well, what I could do better, etc. The author says that these skills transfer to other things in life - I'm already seeing it - financial planning - I'm going to try to do the same thing, set goals for the week, take it one day at a time with discipline and PATIENCE. If we can DO THIS (actually graduate from bootcamp fit and thin), there's many things in LIFE we can do! These days I'm mostly POSITIVE about many things, I just feel like I can accomplish more when I'm feeling more fit. Even tonight, I just felt ALIVE on my bike, my arms were looking more toned, my belly wasn't hanging out (as much) of my shorts... EXERCISE/NUTRITION is GREAT!

I'm up a little this week in pounds but down some in inches....I pretty much took all of last week off due to the "big test" and stress...but I'm back with a vengance now....I'm starting SBD today to start trying to keep my carbs in check. I had a cheesy spinach quiche for breakfast this morning...I'm not crazy about spinach but it was actually good...better than I thought.....I liked the cheese!!! YUM!

So here are my numbers ....format follows start/current/goal

weight --> 255/245/241

Bust --> 48/45.5/45

Waist --> 49/47.5/46

Hips --> 55/52/52 (goal met)

Legs --> 28/27/26

Gained 2 pounds and lost 1 inch Oh well...its back on the horse today!

I did pretty good at my money management last week!

I'm looking forward to next month!

Melissa, congrats on moving forward, you are on a mission! I'm also looking forward to August! I have my budget done for my finances, my plan for organizing my house (my two other areas I'm working on) PLUS I'm on BFL so I hope to do EVERY DAY the entire month!

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that I have been waiting patiently to join you in August. I hope you continue next month, because I'm ready if you have room for one more!

~Wistfulgirl

Hey Girls, I'm still here but we had a long night at Hershey Park. I'll post tomorrow. Melissa, there is South Beach board here on 3FC. It should help answer some of your questions. I'll give you more info next chance I get. I really believe in this way of eating.

I had a really rough time of my first day on the south beach diet! I only had foods that were on the phase I list...but my carb total for the day was at like 36...probably a little less cause I didn't do net carbs for some...I forgot to!
But isn't that high? My calories were only at 1,066....so I had to eat some more peanut butter...LOL!!

Does this sound right??? No wonder I was so hungry all day I didn't have very many calories!

Hey Melissa you need to eat more food! I never counted calories or carbs in phase 1. I stuck to the Phase 1 list w/no cheats. If you are hungry go grab some veggies or protein. Here's a link to the recommended eating template. I didn't follow it to a tee but it gives you an idea of what and how much you should be consuming. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56861
Was your peanut butter natural? The regular kind has too much sugar.
So you will do Phase 1 for 2 weeks and then start your phase 2. At that point you will gradually add in fruits and grains over the course of a couple of weeks. Eventually you will be having 3-4 servings of whole grains and up to 3 of fruit a day. I thought the first couple of days were the hardest. I was a chocoholic and non veggie eater pre SB. Good Luck!

Wistfulgirl, you could have jumped in any time! Looking forward to "meeting" you.

Horsey, I'm sorry that week off set you back. I need to get better with my flylady program for August. I did a couple of rooms but need to be more diligent. I'm still trying to organize my scrapping stuff. Hats off to you though getting yourself and budget organized.

Eny & Darby, I hope all is well.

About me: good eating this week
good exercise this week
bad water intake
bad journaling
good taking care of me nails done, legs shaved, bought new jeans and shirts, getting hair cut this week. All for you August baby :D

Wistfulgirl, of course you can join us, now or in our new "start fresh" thread, I started this one, someone else is going to start the next in the next few days.

I cut my calories back, got off plan and was so MOODY today. I think it's my blood sugar that sets this off, along with lack of sleep and stress. I do better on the 5-6 meal per day planning, hard to do with trips but I'm going to have to. Perhaps part of this is I'm a perfectionist, upset with myself because I lacked so much discipline (well I had a hard few years too) gained weight, racked up stupid debts and became unorganized. It's hard to get it all together isn't it? Seems like when one part of life goes to **** other things do too. Been up doing budgeting for Aug, similar to weight loss, what I will/won't spend - just irked as I was ahead and I'm having to lose the same old weight I regained too. BUT there's NO LOOKING BACK right? We can't do anything about the past, but in Aug, and every single day we can make steps, even if they are baby steps, to improve ourselves - our weight and other parts of our lives.

You said it Sista! Tomorrow is a new day! :high:

Baby step tonight in weight loss mission, hard cardio 30 min. Ate fine today, was tempted to pig out when stressed, caught myself and instead bought a healthy smoothie with added protein and went to bookstore to mope. Read books on finances, then didn't feel so bad. Baby step in other things I'm working on: organizing files, cleaned, laundry etc (trying to keep up on home stuff following flylady.com plans) and did budget, paid bills, tore hair out (trying to get finances in order, paying down all debts in 1 year in Dave Ramsey plan).

Wouldn't it be better to NOT gain the weight to begin with? NOT mess up finances and use the stupid credit card? And not buy so much junk to have so much clutter to organize? Oh well, YES SISTA!!!!! One day at a time. We start WHERE WE ARE on this journey, weight loss and other "stuff" and one day at a time we move forward (ok maybe one step forward, two steps back at times - and two steps forward and one step back too)....

ONE DAY AT A TIME!!!!

lene - thanks for the info...I knew that wasn't enough calories so I drank some skim milk before going to bed...I know if I don't get enough calories that I won't lose any weight...I will check out the link...thanks :hug:

horsey - you'll get there....trust me I'm in the same boat as you are...credit cards and all....I like your motto...one day at a time! Thats how you chip away at it till its gone! :D

Hey Girlies,
Well, I'm ready to start. Even yesterday I was eating badly! Ugh. What is it about "falling off the wagon" that makes it SO hard to get back in control?

Anyway, I made a huge bowl of salad last night so I just have to grab a plate to eat. I also made some other healthy food that I can just pop into the microwave. I always do better if I have food ready to go. Planning is key!

So, as of today I'm 212.5 lbs. My goal for August (starting today) is to lose 10 lbs. There is no reason at all I can't do it. The only food related thing I have this month is possibly lunch with my sister and my mom's birthday. I can handle that. And it will be so much better on the wallet.

We just found out that our propane has gone up by $100 a month, so I need to figure out where we can cut back and eating out is one of the easiest things to cut. I also need to work on my grocery bill. I'm not much of a one for coupons, but I have a feeling I'm going to start.

horsey-I love Dave Ramsey. He's all about common sense and I love that.

lene-I'm trying to get my house organized as well. My basement is frightening!

wistfulgirl-jump in anytime!

Melissa-how's SBD going? Have you ever read a blog by Pasta Queen? She lost over 200 lbs doing SBD. She doesn't really talk about the diet much, but she did mention that's what she was doing when she first started losing weight. Now she runs marathons and wrote a book!

Where's Enygirl? Is she still with us?

Alright, have a great day, everyone!

Yes falling off the wagon makes it hard to get back, I'm officially BACK after my trip, but the few day transition when I just want to sit around tired! I actually did my BFL 40 min upper body workout last night (heavy weights lifted in a pyramid style bound to nearly kill anyone) - I decided NO more excuses, I'm going to try to do the plan EVERY SINGLE DAY in Aug. Even though I skipped some days though I have to brag that I'm stronger, more toned and despite the HARD workouts I'm not AS sore as I was before, plus I can lift more weight, a sign of progress. And my belly is flattening, I'm sure partly to cutting carbs and junk - I'm just not keeping anything in the house for my "moody" days, that's when in the past I've pigged out on nachos and evil calorie stuff. Since it's not here there's little temptation, biggest thing I can splurge on is Skinny Cow ice cream and hummus!

Budgeting for food? I have some ideas on that Darby... I was going "organic" and I made a decision after spending hundreds on "stuff" I don't even have a clue how to cook and tastes pretty much like cardboard, that NOW isn't the time to go organic, except maybe some frozen berries, etc that aren't too much more. I spend a ton on bottled water and I'm just thinking I might buy a filtered container I used to have to pour water though. I mean even $1 per day is $30 per month just in bottled water (and that's when it's on sale). I'm starting to for the first time in my life watch sale ads and stock up on the pantry items (peanut butter, rice, dressing, etc) that can last awhile, and only shopping mostly for fresh stuff (salad, fruit, veggies) on a weekly basis. Coupons seem to mostly be for junk food but I'm going to write a list of the coupon websites to quickly view before shopping (my brother is a millionare and swears to this day he cuts 20% off grocery bills with coupons). But we can't buy junk food just because we have coupons! I'm tending to shop at one store because I get 10 to 20 cents off gas per $100 spent (Safeway) and I drive a lot for business so every bit helps. I'm doing Sam's Club runs for some things but I'm not impulsively buying. When I go to stores I have lists and I've cut myself off from almost anything NOT on the lists. I'm starting to buy more non name brands and I've learned out to at least semi read labels for nutrition.

What's really OUT is eating out! I think I saved $200 during my last business trip. Took snacks and bought from the $1 menus at fast food restaurants (eg put a $1 burger cut up on a $1 salad). Eating out only for lunch if at all, dinner is so much more expensive. Asking for tap water rather then ordering drinks. And that "latte factor"? I'm doing a diary of what I spend every day (well I'm on a Dave Ramsey cash only diet) and then I'm analyzing did I have to spend that? Just think the $5-10 per day that we spend on lattes, etc can be $300 per month! So Starbucks is mostly out (sorry Starbucks that you are closing so many stores but most of us had bad habits hanging out with you!). I'm thinking I can find AT LEAST $100 per month just in cutting the "latte factor" of Red Bull, Starbucks, diet coke etc (all water for me) plus another $100+ per month, likely more like $200 from eating out!

Dave Ramsey says we have to get MAD! Perhaps it's the same dieting and finances - mad at the system, mad at why we got fat, mad at the society that encourages us to eat junk and spend so much money on credit! We have to say ENOUGH and be different then most! I was mad and depressed the last few days going through my budget, it made me sick seeing how stupid things added up to big dollars, and how stupid things in food added up to big pounds. I was mad that I was mad, but it appears that I need to be. Ramsey say we have to move forward with momentum, we have to push and push to meet our goals - make the right decisions every day that will add up HUGE in a year, 10 years, etc. If we keep doing what we are doing, we'll have so many regrets next year and especially in five years!

So here's to bootcamp girls moving into Aug with serious momentum! Let's DO IT!

YES, I just got on the scale this am for the first time in age, I DID lose 2 more lbs! I know it doesn't sound like a lot to the rest of you, but it's my last 10-15 lbs and harder. But I think I lost a pound on my trip, when in the old days I'd gain! YES. I knew it because my jeans were fitting better. This program I'm on includes intense weight training so I actually gained at first so I was trying to stay off the scale and let my clothes be the guage. I knew my tummy was smaller... So even if I can lose another 2-3 lbs in Aug I'm on the way.

Hey girls! Sorry I've been MIA the last few days. I've been on an emotional rollar coaster! UGH! I hate when life gets in the way of our best laid plans!

I'm back on the wagon today, and DETERMINED to do my pushups AND my Tae Bo tonight!

I also started the read for the August bootcamp just now. Here's the link. http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/show...34#post2293434

I hope to see you all there!