I exercise 1/2 hr. to an hr. everyday. I do a little of everything... dvd's, different classes, pilates, weights, fitness channel, treadmill. I feel great after I do it.:strong::ebike: (I really tread a lot more than I bike, but I didn't care for the icon/avatar they had.)

What does everyone else do for exercise? How long?

Have a great weekend!

Tyla :)

Ok Friends, This morning the dear scale read 129.5.
No dancing in the street yet, please. I had a strange
day yesterday and I feel like I am just visiting the land
of the 120's. I spent the day at my grandsons' house
and since it was unexpected I didn't have my food with
me. But I nibbled on fruit, veggies, and yogurt. When I
got home I had spinch, chicken and SF jello. I was hungary
after 6:00 pm but I decided to just ride it out for one night.

My point is - I'm not on a diet - I am eating healthy foods
in the correct portions - I don't want to go around hungary
just to see the scale move because eventually it would just
move back up. So I am being happily cautious about that number.

Exercise - I try to get to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. I do strength
training on the machines, walking, and bike. When at home I try
to keep moving - even if it is just standing up watching cartoons
with the grandsons and doing leg lifts and arm circles. I have to
really fight the metabolism thing at age 64. I want to try yoga
but haven't got there yet.

Have a great weekend!!!
Danni

Wow, Danni, you do deserve dancing in the street! Congrats to you!! :belly: :congrat:

Thanks for the info on your eating pattern. I think I have to start thinking about nibbling and portion control like you, instead of constantly calorie counting. My weight doesn't want to budge lately, yet I'm really working at it.:(

Have a great Saturday, everyone!

Tyla

I just remembered something. Three people told me this week that I don't look like I have to lose weight. One was a trainer! But, of course, that's not going to stop me from getting healthier.

By the way, what do all of you do regarding food? Count cals, ww, portion control?

Argh I usually do about the same half an hour to an hour 6 out of 7 days a week because there's usually always one day where everything is too busy, like today! I did a lot of walking about though if that at all makes up for anything! haha. It usually depends on my shifts (I work at weird times and it messes up my body clock) haha :P. With food I count calories but I'd really like to stop doing it and just go back to portion control. My disordered eating makes it really hard for me to accept 1200 calories isn't a massive amount and is actuallly healthy haha. I've done one good thing this week I've hidden my scale so I can't weigh myself again until next Monday. It means I miss a weeks weigh in but hopefully by then my metabolism will be back to normal (I started eating 350 calories a day again). I'm really hoping I won't have gained anything, even if I maintain by then I'll be happy. I've got to stop messing my body up.
I'm sure your weight will get down soon Tyla, plateus suck!
&& Congrats Danni! :) You are doing amazingly! And I'd really reccomend yoga, I absolutely love it!

I am going out to dinner with son and daughter-in-law.
This will be a test for me. I haven't a clue how I will do.:?:
But I shall report back tomorrow.

tyla - nice to get compliments -- but you know best about your body.

Danni

The Morning After!
I went to dinner with good intentions - but the 90 minute wait to be seated did me in - so 2 beers later and then some warm bread - oh well. We finally ate at 8:30 pm. I did bring half of my meal of salmon and broccili home.
But having your son take you out to dinner - priceless! :D

So I am back to 131 - but I have all the way to Friday ( that's my offical
day to write it down) - so I feel good - I feel in control.

In the real world I want to eat OP 95% of the time so that I can
enjoy family time. I also feel that being on plan for 2 months
now is beginning to change my outlook. One meal doesn't make
me go to the dark side and binge - in fact I look forward to getting
back to my way of eating.

It is not a diet!!! It is my life and I am in control! ;)

Congrats Danni! :) It's nice to see you having such a good view on things! Treats are what make life worth living anyway! It's all about moderation. A healthy lifestyle change is a million times better than being on a diet x

xgemziex -- With your issues with disordered eating, I think I would recommend that you stick with calorie counting for a while until at least 1200 calories seems like a normal amount of food. I'm not sure if you were actually considering not calorie counting or not, but I'm just afraid that if you do that before you're ready you'll actually end up not eating enough again, convincing yourself that you've eaten plenty and you're not hungry even though you might have only eaten 400 calories all day. This has happened to me before!

Good for you for hiding your scale by the way, I know how hard that can be. I hope you at least maintain so you don't get disheartened! Keep us posted
-Teff

Wow, I missed a lot in a few days. Thank you to everyone for the congrats, and I see a couple more people are close too.

Danni- That's hard not to show a gain under those circumstances: bread, beer and a late dinner. But the occasion was totally worth it and you get a :carrot: for choosing salmon and broccoli. We'll be celebrating the 120's for you soon.:D

Tyla- My dh just told me the other day that my legs were getting too skinny. He said he had married me with thick legs and he liked them, but I had gotten down to 125 early in our marriage and he had liked that too.
I just don't feel healthy. Right now I'm skinny fat. I'm not overweight, but I have no muscle tone or definition. I don't want to be a bodybuilder. I just want to be stronger and lose some fat deposits. I also want to be able to do a pull up, which explains my avatar (my dd drew it for me).

As far as eating I kind of follow Tosca Reno's clean eating plan with the six small meals a day all including protein. I don't shun the sugar, white bread products, and junk food as much as I should or eat nearly enough vegetables. Like Danni, I want my eating plan to be livable. I watch my portions, choose whole grains and lean meats, drink mostly water - a lot of it, and don't go on a binge because I "blew it".

As for exercise, I'd like to do strength training and cardio 2-3 times a week each, but the reality is strength training 2x a week for 1 1/2- 2 hours. I stretch, ride the bike for 10-20 minutes then work my whole body alternating between upper body, core, and lower body exercises then stretch some more. Cardio is usually 1x a week for 45 min to an hour. I stretch, walk 5 min, run/walk for the next 1/2 hour then do a mile walk for a cool down. I trying to build up to 3 miles. I started following the Couch to 5k plan, but I haven't been able to be consistent with it due to illness, unpredictable schedules and injuries. Speaking of which, I had gotten some new songs from my dd and thought I would get in an impromptu cardio session by dancing to them. Well I didn't stretch, and I aggravated a quad injury, :mad::stress: so my workouts are going to be seriously modified for only the next a few weeks if I'm lucky.:mad:

Teff - Thanks so much for the support, it means a lot :) I guess you're right! I feel like I eat LOADS now so if I wasn't counting I think you're right, I would eat less. Hope you're doing well!
I'd love to be able to get some more muscle tone too! I think the exercise has been working in my thighs, they feel like rocks ! haha. Oh what songs are you loving? I'm always looking for more for my workout playlist! Argh I hope your better as soon as possible, make sure you're getting enough rest and only gentle exercise x

Good Morning Feathers,
I am worth it - nice husband you have. Mine came home one day with a
special water pouch/bag for me too take to the gym. So nice to have support at home. I asked him for 2 months to go to the gym with me -but he just wasn't ready. He kept trying to get started eating less but would give up after 2 or 3 days. That is how long it took me to get serious also - start and stop for 2 months until Jan when I started for good and then in Feb. when I joined this forum. Now he finally has gotten started with eating better and walking at home.
One thing that keeps me going is that I hate the first week of starting - the journey ahead seems so long and you have to feel hungry and fight cravings and bad habits.
So I might take a day off or go on vacation and not be 100% everyday - but I do not ever want to start over again!!!!:nono:

I feel so much better since I starting eating healthy and exercising.
I :love: the improvements the last 2 months have made.

The dear scale said 130 this morning - so I am peeking at the 120's again.
But my storm trooper chicken does not get to move until I'm sure it's here to stay.

Danni

Hi Everyone,

Had a great weekend! Went out to breakfast twice, but totally stayed within my calorie range. I was plenty busy, but I got a lot of walking in, too. I always feel better after I do any kind of exercise. I also went to 2 meetings last week, but didn't even touch the bread on my sandwich. I just didn't feel like eating it. Plus, while everyone else had dessert, I didn't. I was pretty proud of myself. They weren't that appealing anyway.

Iamworthit, I know what you mean about not being where I want to be. I was at least 5 lbs. thinner before the holidays, but am really having a tough time taking them off again. But I will get there. I have some cute clothes in the closet that don't look as good on me like before the holidays. My husband thinks I'm fine as I am, but I want to nip this now. It's too easy for pounds to continue to creep up.

Danni, that's great that you can almost see your 120's! There's such elation when the scale cooperates the way we want it to. I love the fact that you watch what you eat, rather than obsess over every calorie!

Both of you inspire me.

Let's continue to do well.
Tyla:dust:

I'm so proud of all of you doing so amazingly! :) Congrats on all your accomplishments, looks like these last few days have been good all round! How many calories are all of you girls having (if you count them)? I like to compare :) x

You inspire me. :D

I used to count calories now I just estimate. From experience, I can't function under 1100 calories, so I keep it between 1100-1500. On strength training days, it's higher- maybe 1700-1800.

Here is my playlist. It is long and varied and has a lot of Disney kids because they're just so darn positive!:D The slower songs I use for stretching. I actually have more but these are the main ones. The * are the ones I feel are “motivational.”

Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta A Feeling, Boom Boom Pow
Bon Jovi- *Its My Life
Boys Like Girls- Contagious, Love Drunk, *Go
Bryan Adams- Get Off My Back
Bryan Duncan- *Yes I Will
Christy Carlson Romano- Let's Bounce,*I'm Ready
The Click Five- Good Day, Catch Your Wave
Corbin Bleu- *Push It to the Limit, *Run It Back Again
Daughtry- *There and Back Again
David Crowder Band- *Turkish Delight
Eiffel 65- Move Your Body
Finger Eleven- Paralyzer
Gwen Stefani- Wind It Up
Hawk Nelson- too many to list
Jonas Brothers- Play My Music, Year 3000
Kat DeLuna- Calling You
Kris Allen- *Live Like we’re Dying
Kevin Rudolf- Let It Rock
Lady Gaga- Poker Face
Matthew West- *The Motions
Miley Cyrus- *The Climb
Natasha Bedingfield- *Unwritten
Pillar- Frontline
Paula Abdul- Here For the Music
Raven-Symoné- *This Is My Time
Rihanna- Disturbia
Selena Gomez- Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
Simple Plan-I’d Do Anything
Taylor Swift- *A Place In This World
Tiffany Giardina- Hurry Up and Save Me
Zac Efron- * Bet On It

Oh thankyou for the list! :D I think today I'm definately making a new CD! These songs are awesome!

Danni, thank you! Loved your list!

x, I eat between 1200-1400 cals. 1400 are usually for the weekends. That way I can go out to dinner. So far that number has worked for me. (It all depends on my mood, too.) I have more flexibility if I count my cals. and I don't feel guily if I eat something other than veggies, fruit and protein.

That's a good way to view things tbh! && I know this won't sound amazing but I completely ruined my progress last night in chocolate but I still managed a loss of 0.6 lbs this week so not too shabby :) x

x, congrats! Any loss is a great loss!

I know it's only Wed., but any of you have plans for the weekend yet? We're going out to Happy Hour with friends. That should be interesting! Wish me luck!

Tyla

Thankyou Tyla! :) Your weekend plans sound fun, all I'm doing is watching a movie Friday night I think, working the rest of the weekend. I hope you have a great time! x

Glad you guys liked the list. And I agree with Tyla a loss is a loss. :cheer:

Plans for this weekend- Spring Cleaning!

I've downloaded most of the songs now and added them to my list! :D And ah spring cleaning! I must get some of that done too sometime. When exactly does spring start? I wanna know because of time change thing :). I forgot the proper name for it haha. Daylight savings? Got my grans funeral today so intake is going to be all over the place, kind of whatever I can grab, hopefully I'll stay within my range though x

x, sorry to hear about your grans passing and funeral today. Stay strong. Good luck with your food intake. Take care. I'll say a prayer for your grans.

Not exactly sure when Daylight Savings is. They usually tell us on TV.LOL I can see the weather is getting better, and daylight is lasting longer, so it should be soon. Between now and April. Wow, the months are going fast.

Have a great day, everyone. Let's stay strong!

Tyla

By the way, I'm staying strong, am motivated and feeling great!

How's everyone else doing?

Thankyou it means a lot :) I tried to stick to my calories, it was all rubbish but I don't think I was too badly out of my calorie range, no exercise today though! Ahh yes that's usually how I find out! I prefer lighter evenings to be honest so I'll be glad when summer comes! But I know what you mean I can't believe it's March already, it's flying by. I'm glad you're feeling so good and doing so well Tyla! :) I hope I'm back to my determined self tommorow, keep up the good work! x

Friday weigh-in was good news. 129 :broc::cb::carrot:

So as you can see - I'm having a party!

Now - can I stay in the 120's?

It's TGIF - hope everyone has a great Friday! :twirly:

xgemziex I'm also sorry for your loss. Spring starts March 20th. Daylight savings begins March 14th in the USA and March 28th in the UK.

Danni Congratulations! I knew we'd be celebrating for you soon.:cheer3::carrot::cheer2:

The scale was not good to me this morning.:( I had been down to 138 the past 2 days but was back up to 139 today. A coworker had requested some homemade oatmeal cookies like I brought in for Christmas. I snacked on them throughout the day yesterday and had a really lousy workout. I'm going to have to go "no sugar" for a while because the "I'll just have one," turned into 6 I think. :devil: I need to get back in control!

I really like the idea of the Easter Challenge. I plan to walk 6km and do 50 sit ups a day till Easter. That will definitely make me feel good about myself. Cannot wait to begin!

Hi Superhealth, glad you could join us! What an excellent goal for Easter! You'll have to tell us how your walk went today. Have fun! I'm sure you see beautiful things in nature this time of year. I love walking outside.

Iamworthit, I believe you're right about sugar making you want more sugar. I started noticing whenever I ate something with sugar in it, even cereal, I wanted to have more. But on a brighter note, congrats on getting down to 138 for a while! (I can't wait to get to 139, so I think you're doing great!

Danni, congrats on getting down to 129!! Woo Hoo! Wow, I bet you feel wonderful today! Yes, some showing off is in order. Par-ty!!

x, I don't know why they always have cakes and cookies and food that isn't healthy after a funeral. Considering the situation, I think you did an excellent job!! Keep up the great work! By the way, how is the weather there now? Is it still raining a lot?

I didn't weigh myself today. My goal is to develop good habits right now. Maybe next week. Or else I'll wait until Easter. I've been doing great with my eating - staying within my range, exercising and drinking water. Doing all those things daily. In fact, we've had ice cream in the freezer the last few weeks and I wasn't even tempted! I really feel good physically and mentally and my clothes are fitting a lot better. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tyla

Danni - Congratulations! :D You deserve to party! You're doing great!

Iamworthit - Not long now then, yay! :) && What day do you officially weigh in? I'm sure you could get it back down soon! I'm exactly the same especially with sweet things, plus I bake a lot so the temptations are endless. I can't seem to stop at one... or three... haha.

MySuperHealth - Hope you had a great day! You'll have to let us know how everything went :).

Tyla - I know, right? I figure it's all comfort food! haha. I definately was not craving salad or anything while I was there haha. && Thankyou :). The weather was beautiful yesterday for the funeral, then again it was a few hours away from where I'm living now but it's back to its usual rainy self today! All I can say is at least it's not snowing... again. I'm starting to weigh myself a lot less too which I'm proud of, I think being healthier is a more important goal now. && I tend to feel discouraged when my weight fluctuates which sends me into eating wrong. I think it's more important to have a good relationship with your body :). Plus if you're building muscle the scale doesn't tend to budge as much.

Hope everyones had a great day! I didn't do too badly today I'm noticing though I am having one too many diet drinks and I'd really like to stop that so I'm not having any tommorow! Apart from that my intakes been okay, had a couple of sherbert lemons and a cereal bar but I'm still in my range and everything else I've had today has had nutritional value so I can't complain too much :). I haven't managed to do my exercise yet but I'm off for a workout in about an hour. x

x, diet coke used to be my favorite drink. But one day I read that they have a lot of sodium and they actually make you gain weight. Dr. Oz said the same thing on TV the other day. A few years ago I stopped drinking them. It's funny, because I had one last year, because that's the only beverage they had, and it tasted like pure chemicals to me. It was in the bottle, just the way I used to drink it. I won't go back to diet drinks. It's water for me. If I can do it, I know you can give them up, too. Good luck!Bye for now.

Tyla

Tyla I was addicted to soda as a kid. Our tap water was disgusting and it was the only thing to drink except for tea which I hated. But since I had my son- he's 14, I can't tolerate the carbonation. I consider that a positive pregnancy side affect. :D
Sugar cravings grow exponentially for me - the more I have the more I want. I really have to pay attention when it comes to sugar otherwise I have days like yesterday where I will eat mindlessly. I do have A LOT more control with sugar than I used to. Out-of-site out-of-mind works now, whereas a few months ago I would think about it often and go hunt it down. :devil: A weird thing I noticed is when I eat sugar (like a candy bar or cookies), it is really hard for me to meet my water intake goals. Not only am I not thirsty, I don't want liquid. :dizzy: Not having food control me anymore has actually been my main focus for this recent "get healthier" journey, instead of just trying to lose weight.

xgemziex I don't have an official weigh in day. I change my ticker when I feel I'm actually at a new weight, like when I've seen it for a few days. I don't "count" the tenths of a lb - 138.8-138.0 is all 138 to me. It just lets me know how close I am to going up or down. If I'm 138.2 - 138.4 for a couple of days and then I get down to 137.8, I'll feel I'm almost there. I'd have to see it in the 137s another time or two to say I'm 137. I was bummed about the 139.4 this morning because I was hoping to change it to 138. I've seen it a few times already. I didn't meet my minimum 1100 calories today and have no energy for a workout, so if I see 138s tomorrow, I won't count it. Hopefully I can eat well the first half of the day and get in a good afternoon workout. If I'm in 138s on Sunday too, I'll count that. I know that sound complicated and weird, but it works for me. :) However, on Easter morning, whatever the scale says is my final weight for this challenge.

Superhealth :welcome3: When I get closer to my goal weight, I'm going to start having exercise goals for my challenges like you're doing now.

Tyla Oh god! I didn't know it was THAT bad for you but then again I knew it couldn't be good it tasted too good and had no calories haha. I'm giving it up starting today so fingers crossed :).

Iamworthit I didn't manage to get a workout in yesterday either even after saying I would, I honestly was exhausted! I never want to get to the stage where I have to force myself to work out because I won't stick to this lifestyle. And I giess everyone's different and it's good you've found a way of weighing in that works for you :). Not long now until it is Easter! x

I had a nice little surprise this morning.

The scale read 128.5.:cheer:

That is the lowest yet on this journey. Like others have said - I don't trust that it is a true reading until it stays that way for a few days. I am especially suspicious about losing 2 days in a row.

For what it's worth to those just starting - as I look back on my journey of being healthy (instead of losing x number of pounds) I can see a pattern.

Things kind of happened one at a time. When I first went to the gym - I would come home exhausted and eat like a fool for the rest of the day. Then in Jan. I started keeping a food journal and reading about nutrition. I can remember having to fight the nightly binges - but once I learned to eat enough fruit and vegetables that went away. I am one of those people that eats about 6 times a day - it works for me. Lately I have been thinking more about portion control and now I find that I really can't eat as much. I think I am slowing cutting out some extra calories without thinking about it.

So I encourage you to stick with a plan that works for you - it seems like it has gotten easier and now I feel like it is becoming a lifestyle and that has been my goal since day one. :sunny:

Danni It's all about the trend so fingers crossed but at least you know it's going down! :) I eat about 6 times a day too, it stops me binging so I eat smaller bits throughout, I never get hungry anymore though which is shocking for me, I'm like a black hole when it comes to food! I'm so glad you feel so positive about it as a lifestyle rather than a diet, and it's paying off for you, you really are an inspiration.

I've decided to change my ultimate weight goal to 115 lbs. I realised when looking back at pictures than any less really wasn't flattering on me, I in no way have a small frame, it's more medium and I got told earlier my ribs were sticking out. I don't wanna be the tiny girl anymore, I want to be more healthy and sexy rather than a stick figure haha. x

X - I might have to change my final goal to 120. I am 2 inches taller than you. But the real truth is I don't have a special number for a goal. I am here to get healthy and strong and I will be interested to see where the number lands. I put down 125 because that is what is on my driver's licience.
But at 128 I still have these rolls around my middle I have a very small frame so my goal is to see those rolls disappear disappear.

I have never had a weigh problem until later in life and I'ave never had a eating disorder - so no problem with me going to low just to get ultra thin.

I just want to have quality time with the grandkids.
No rocking chair for this Grandma!

So I'm glad to hear that you are thinking healthy - listen to the girl inside and healthy is beautiful! :belly:

Danni I guess you can never really decide what you're ultimate goal is until you get there, you've got to see it to know what weight you're happy at :). Everyone's built differently and the number on the scale isn't all that matters anymore, and you're very right healthy is beautiful! Just need to keep all this in perspective and remember its lifestyle vs. diet. I think it's good to still be able to enjoy the finer things in life and treat ourselves without feeling the need to go overboard. What's life if you can't have the things you enjoy every once in a while :). Have a great day!

I felt the same way for a long time, I was just losing weight until my belly would disappear! I lost 80+ pounds waiting for this to happen and it still hasn't really... But a lot of other areas are starting to become very thin, certain bones are starting to protrude a lot, and I'm possibly going to have to purposefully gain back a few pounds (doctors orders). But I still have a bit of a roll problem around my stomach xD I'm thinking that as my body gets used to this new weight and has some time to adjust (skin in particular), it may improve, but I can no longer just keep losing weight until my problem areas go away.

I know we're in completely different situations, but I just want to speak from experience and warn you not to get too hung up on one body part that you're waiting on being acceptable to you. Like you said, just keep thinking healthy :D

I'm also having a problem losing inches where I don't want too and not where I do. I'm still thinking my goal of 133 is okay, but I'll see when I'll get there. I'll target the areas with strength training moves and see if it makes a difference. :lifter: Right now I'm focusing on losing these last few pounds and gaining strength to do a pull up, not body sculpting. :)