Hi!

I just want to welcome all the new members! I hope everyone enjoys this great group!

Have a good night!

Amy

All I can think about is kittens! =smile= Best wishes to all, especially the newcomers! It's great to see new faces here. Please keep posting!

Oh, and in case anyone's interested, I made a collage about friendship—which is also a collage about two cats. Be sure to read what I wrote underneath it. Here it is.

Worthy
 

Worthy: I sure hear ya on this whole weight loss effort being a full time job in itself! I feel like I have to constantly be vigilant about what and how much I eat, how often I exercise, and getting proper sleep. Putting it all together is a constant challenge. Remember, though, that it is about PROGRESS and not perfection! We have to do our best and let the rest go. Now if I could only practice what I am preaching..... :lol:

Sydney
 

Sydney: Is that your little girl in your avatar picture? OMGosh, she is ADORABLE!!! :love: Please tell me about her (if you feel comfortable doing so).

Fi
 

Fi: I can feel your excitement about your precious kittens through cyberspace! Can't wait until they are officially YOURS!!! Please post pics ASAP! :D

No, she's not mine, but she is adorable! I have a boy, and he's 4. He's also got Down syndrome. He's a funny little guy...he's obsessed with green and he loves animals and books. He would eat yoghurt all day every day if I let him, and he LOVES Toy Story. :)

I have been thinking about that! One of the jobs has a deli so I can make salads or sandwiches if I want, but I usually just grab a couple pieces of chicken (fried strips, sadly) and some green peppers and pickles to snack on. It's so busy when I work that even getting 5-10 minutes to sit down outside is a difficulty. The upside being that the food is free.

With my second job, I'm not sure how it works yet! It's at a group home, so I may eat meals when the girls living there do, I'm not sure.

And thank you! Busy is definitely the word for it :)

Sydney: Your son sounds sweet and adorable!

worthy: Congrats on those new challenges, it sounds like you are on a good path to be successful with them :)

Fi: Ahh, I am so jealous of you and your kittens! I'm excited to see how that goes for you :) I'll check out that collage soon.

But I should head to bed, I'm up in 5 hours to head off for my 14 hour work day.

Chelainabear My heart is with you today as you go to both of your jobs. I can totally understand how tough a schedule like that is. Through most of my college career, I have had 2 jobs with a full time class load. Classes start again at the end of the month for me. I am in graduate school now so I only have night classes, which definitely makes things easier.

Perhaps planning out what you will take would be a good place to start. Or just planning on what you will eat at the deli. Like, take one chicken strip, and savor it (if that is what you like) then eating a salad or sandwich. So you can still get your chicken strip fix and eat a little healthier. But those are just some things I would try. Experiment! Also - do you have any days off? Is there any way you can sneak some exercise in there? That may not be an option for a while until your body gets more used to working that much. I know I would be EXHAUSTED!

Worthy You are such an exercise inspiration!! :D

Fi KITTENS!!! We must see pics!! I demand it! :P And that collage is very beautiful and thoughtful gift.

Sydney What a wonderful little boy he sounds like!

IBelieve: A 2-pound weight loss is in no way insignificant! :cheer3::cheer2: Every ounce lost is a major step toward lasting weight loss and long-term health goals. Keep your focus on healthy eating patterns and making good food and exercise choices. I know it is wicked hard. This week provided major struggles for me, too. I have been craving sugar really badly but, as psychologically painful as it was to go through the process of denial, I did it. Keep your focus on those low-fat proteins! Keep cranking that exercise up a little each day. You can SO do this. Hope your daughter's team comes out victorious at hockey camp this weekend. It sounds like loads of fun for everyone involved.

Fi: That's my favorite collage so far. Really beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the kittens from you instead of the breeder. I'm excited for you!

Chelainabear: You're making great progress on your water intake. I thought my dr. was crazy when she told me I had to be at 120 oz. per day :o but eventually, I made it and now I feel dehydrated if I drink any less than that! Good job distracting yourself from unhealthy snacking in the evening. :cheer: I hope the new workplace allows you to have a water bottle at your workstation so you can take sips throughout the shift.

Definitely take some time to do some planning and pack a insulated lunch bag with a healthy meal (or two) and healthy, high-protein snacks so you won't have an excuse to grab those fried chicken tenders. :chicken: When I was starting out on my program, I would buy a 1-pound chunk of lean ham or turkey at the deli and cut it into 4 oz. servings at home. Now, I buy a rotisserie chicken, clean it off the bones and chop the meat into bite size pieces. I weigh out 4 oz and put it in a plastic container to take with me along with vegetables. :hun: When that gets boring, I toss the meat with 1 T. low-fat honey mustard dressing. Salad is always a good option, but make sure about those add-ons like bacon bits, cheese, olives, croutons, nuts, etc. It doesn't take much to turn a healthy salad into a 400-calorie disaster! Although it is a lot of work, I do much better controlling those add-ons when I make my salad at home where I can weigh and measure all the ingredients, including measuring out the low-fat dressing into a separate container to take along. :)

Sydney: Welcome to the group! :wave: You've come to the right place to get support. How old is your little boy? My nephew, who has Aspergers, watched the original Toy Story obsessively as a young child. We thought he was largely non-verbal until the day I realized he was actually speaking in terms of dialog from the movie. For example, he would point at birds and repeat, "Fly." We couldn't tell if he was using the word as a noun or a verb. Turns out, it was a verb. Watching Toy Story with him while babysitting one evening, Buzz Lightyear was caught in a ceiling fan when Nick pointed at the TV and said, "Fly." It was a discovery that opened up lines of communication, finally, when he was 2. "Tia" was Potato. "Pia" was Pig. And on and on. He just turned 18 and he still loves the movie. His food obsession? Baby carrots! :carrot:

Amy: I hope your quest for a new stylist yields success. You certainly have been trying hard to find someone!

ARYASTARK: Welcome to the group! :welcome3: I hear you on the emotional eating issue. I am a non-purging bulimic who is still in the process of learning how to control my knee-jerk reaction to sugar binge. If you haven't checked out the book, Brain Over Binge by Kathryn Hansen, (plus she has a website:). The book helped me view my binge eating behavior in a different light. I believe Fiona also had success using this book. Another tough task to master is learning to take care of yourself. That's why I chose the screen name WorththeEffort2. Folks here just refer to me as Worthy. It helps me reinforce the message that I AM worth all the effort and all the hard work that goes into making healthy choices.

Hannah: :congrat: on the weigh in at the doctor's. I am SO craving the experience of Onederland! I have strayed from my vegetable intake, so really need to do a re-set. Something that has helped me is to weigh once a week, either Saturday or Sunday, and taking my measurements at the first of every month. That way, even if the scale doesn't move, I can see progress through changes in my measurements.

Laurany: Welcome to the group! :welcome2: I'm so glad you've joined us. Yes, I've found that certain meds to make weight loss difficult but (as much as I totally hate to admit this), I've also found the more I increase my exercise, the better my mood seems to be. I have to push to the point of that natural chemical release and *bouuuuush* my brain and body are flooded with the same feel-good chemicals that sugar consumption use to generate.

Sorry for the lengthy post. Like I said elsewhere, this has been a super tough week for me in terms of handling cravings. I'm going to give some thought to my grocery list for today, and once we're home from town, I'll hit the bike for a long ride. I did manage to get out on Wednesday for a 10-mile ride. I need to do 12-15 miles each day this weekend to continue building up my endurance. The more healthy and fit I get, the longer and harder I have to work to burn large numbers of calories. I just keep telling myself, "I am an athlete!" I'm not a very good athlete...but still... :lol: I have to own some kind of identity. :D

Hey everyone! And welcome to everyone who is new to the forum!

I apologize for my absence, but this week has just been CRAZY!

Holiday World was great, though I'm still pretty bruised from the coasters. I think I updated everyone on how the day was and how I ate decent and actually had a loss the next day! Tuesday was a rest day because I was so sore from the theme park! Wednesday I started my new job at the law office and it was amazing! My little desk is awesome and I have a wonderful view of the Catholic Church cathedral outside of my window. Learning the job is a bit difficult. Lots of calls coming in and I'm still learning who to transfer calls to and how to input new appointments, but I love it! I'm adjusting to my new schedule which is harder than I thought. Realizing at 3pm I have two more hours to go is going to take time to get used to! Needless to say I've been tired this week even though I've worked the same amount I usually do. That plus homework for school made it impossible for me to get into the gym this week. It was also TOM which meant crazy cramps and just wanting to go home and lay on the heating pad. I'm hoping next week I can get into the gym at least a few days.

I stuck to my calories each day which is roughly 1600cals per day. Even without exercise other than Monday I still managed to lose 1lb this week, putting me at 177.5lbs!!!!!! So happy! I can't wait to see what I could lose once I'm able to fit the gym in during the week!

I'm so very happy right now! I'm not scared or worried to go to work. It is actually enjoyable for me now even though I feel like I do a lot more work than I did at my last job. That is okay! It is definitely fulfilling. Also, I heard mention that they think I would be good as a case administrator, so I definitely think I will be moving my way into another position in time. Always great to know upward mobility is an option and they already think you would do well in that position.

Well, I've been lazy all morning. Hubby has already mowed the lawn and is going grocery shopping so I need to get my butt to the gym!

Hi there...

I hope everyone is having a good day. I rested a lot due to bad allergies, they were awful. I had a consult with a stylist, she's very nice and bubbly, her prices are affordable. She's the second stylist that told me that the highlights that I want are more foils, so I'm hoping to book with her to get some done, but I'm still considering going to another stylist for Balayage. We'll see.

I'm a bit tired from the allergies. Ugh!

Take care,

Amy

Worttheeffort, August is 4 (he will be 5 in summer)

Fleury you're a superstar!!!

hannah: Thank you! I definitely needed that virtual support today. I only got 4 hours of sleep, and I ended up going in an hour early to the second job, so in the last 29 hours, I worked 20 of them. Wow!

And thanks for the tips, I'll work on making those healthy choices at work :) Today I didn't eat on my breaks, but I did have a cookie when I first got there--they were fresh out of the oven, and I figured I'd work off at least a few of the calories running all over the place for the next 6 hours.

I don't really have any days off, but some days I only work 2-5 hours, so I'll definitely fit in workouts then. I plan on doing at least 30 min. of cardio after work tomorrow night, I only work 5 hours and it's at my less physical job.

worthy: I know what you mean about the water, I'm starting to really crave it. I was almost at 120 today :) And those are all great ideas! At least for my deli job, I'll try them out.

And you ARE an athlete! Even 10 miles biking is more than I could hope for, keep up that great work. And good luck with grocery shopping, I know it's hard to practice restraint there.

FleurDeLis: WOW! Congrats on all the joy that your job brings you, and good luck with those 3:00 hurdles. So proud of you for the loss, and for your amazing attitude :)

Amy: I really hope you find someone you like for your hair, I know it's a struggle :hug:

Sorry about the long post! Just wanted to get replies before I share. I have good and bad:

Bad:
I'm EXHAUSTED from working today. I'm pretty sure I died and I'm typing as a ghost.
Workplaces with all women have a lot of drama and I'm just not interested. I just want to do my work well and have a little fun.
I'm back up to 264 today, :(

Good:
I've been doing really well with my water and nutrition goals (late night eating being my main concern). We also went for a 30 minute walk at work today!
When I'm working at my new job, we eat lunch with the girls living there, and they get healthy stuff. So I do too :)
I LOVE the new job. I only shadowed a shift today, but I really like the feel of it, and the attitude of the employees.
I'm getting my hair done tomorrow :)

Hi there...

Chelaina- I hope your hair looks beautiful! Have fun! For now, I'm getting Balayage on Saturday. I'm excited, just a little nervous.

I can't believe my nose and sinus surgery is Tuesday. I'm dreading it!

I'm excited my Mom is coming tomorrow night. I'm looking forward to seeing her.

Take care!

Amy

Hello!
 

Hello Everyone! My daughter's sled hockey camp is over now. It went really well. She had an absolute blast, worked really hard, and she even got to play with a few men's USA gold-medal-winning paralympians during camp! The USA men's sled hockey head coach was also coaching her for much of the camp! It was really cool. She was one of the only girls on the ice, but kept right up with the guys!!! :carrot: I am so proud of her! :D

Yesterday was my first really big test on the low carb eating plan. I have done so well for about a week and a half now, but I was really CRAVING carbs all day yesterday. I stuck to my eating plan except for one breadstick that they served me out to dinner. I wasn't going to eat it; then I was going to eat one bite; then another; and..... well, before I knew it, the whole thing was gone! :( It could have been much worse, but I don't like how I was craving carbs so badly and then gave in at all. I think it was because I was tired and a bit bored while we waited around at the sled hockey camp. Thankfully, I survived the day with only eating the breadstick off plan, and today I am right back on board with low carb everything.

Fi: Assuming you picked up your new kittens as planned today, please tell us ALL about them when you get a chance!!! :goodvibes Hope things are going really well!

Chelainabear: I feel exhausted for you just READING all the hours you are working!!! At least you love your new job and maybe working so much will keep you from overeating. Great that you were able to get a good walk in at work and that you are eating healthy lunches along with the girls! Make sure to get plenty of sleep and take as good of care of yourself as possible while you are working (e.g., periodic breaks, healthy snacks, etc.). It will be a challenge, for sure, but you can do it! :hug:

Amy: I am thinking of you as you prepare for your sinus surgery on Tuesday. Remember to do some deep breathing whenever you are feeling anxious about the surgery. Everything will be fine and you will be so relieved once it's over, which will be soon! Good luck to you, my friend! Sending my prayers! :hug:

Sydney: Your little guy sounds precious! :love:

Worthy: Thank you for the encouragement! It means a lot to me! :)

Sabrina: It is so good to hear from you! I am so relieved and happy to hear that you love your new job! You must really be impressing them if they are already talking about promoting you to another position! It also sounds like your weight loss is moving forward. Great!!! Glad to hear that things are looking up for you a bit! :D You deserve it! :hug:

Waving hello to everyone else and wishing you all well!!! :wave: