:) Hello everyone!

Christine and darmah, I'm so sorry that these are hard days for you.

First, Christine - as we all know, you have already accomplished SO MUCH - how much have you lost? - 46 or so pounds?- that is a huge accomplishment. Maybe that achievement doesn't seem as new to you know; maybe that's why your "spark" isn't burning as brightly as while you were in the throes of that huge task. You were inspired before; it must still be in you, but is being overshadowed maybe by life's frustrations (like why some people don't even seem to think about food). This struggle will only be temporary - keep focused on what you HAVE done! We others who still have alot to lose look at you with friendly envy!

darmah - you have a good head on your shoulders, and seem to understand that a day's blowout shouldn't keep you from continuing this difficult but rewarding change....in perspective, even though it might not seem so to you, 1800 cals. isn't THAT huge of a binge - we know you didn't want to do it, but it could have been worse. Even if we all have "blow it" days, we just have to accept what's done, try not to do it again, and get back on track.

I HOPE today is better for you guys! We're pulling for you! And we're here to help, so don't apologize for "bringing us down" - this support is how we are going to make it!

Rah-rah-rah! Holly, sounding like a cheerleader - now let's go win one for the Gipper!:D

:) Hi t-girl!

I was snooping at your thread "low fat eating is the way" and wanted to congratulate you first on your awesome weight loss so far; and for your sensible eating choices; and for your great encouragement to the other ladies there!!!

Holly:wave:

Hello everyone . . .

Thank you, Holly. Yes, I have lost 46 pounds so far (47 some days, 45 some days LOL). I am still very happy with myself for having achieved that and that's why its so frustrating to not be able to do it now. Because, I know I can do it, I've already proven that to myself! So I'm double-y sad for not doing something that I've already proved I can do! I can no longer use the 'I just can't do this' excuse! I can I can I can! :D

I'm in a pretty decent mood so far today, but as I've mentioned, mornings are always better for me. I started off on the wrong foot today by eating a brownie but it was a small one and I followed it up with a bowl of crispix with skim milk. Even with the brownie it was under 350 calories for breakfast (including my cup o' coffee). I am promising you guys that I will stop at 1400 calories today, no matter what. Apparently self-promises do not work so maybe if I promise everyone else, I'll actually do it. If I can just get through a couple days completely on-track, it usually jump starts me for quite a while. So, my first goal is to get through today without passing 1400 calories! I can do this! :) I will do this! :smug: I shall return tonight to tell you of my victory!! I am determined!

I wish a good day to all of you as well!

Christine
195/149/130

:mad: Okay ladies what has been going on here since I've been gone!:mad: It's time to buck up! Let's get back on track here!
The past is the past! Don't say tomorrow I will start again. Start now right now! As soon as you have finished that binge, it's time to dust yourself off and start right back over again!

:o Okay, after my lecture to you all I can admit that I have not been doing too well myself. I ate chips, pudding, cookies, you name it yesterday and figured I'd better make the time to keep posting here with you guys because I need your support. We all seem to have PMS at the same and go up and down together. Well we've all seemed to hit rock bottom so it's time for us to dig ourselves out and get back to losing!

Christine I feel exactly the same as you do. Why can't I get to that point again where everything clicked and I was losing continously? I guess we have to keep trying and one day it will just click for us!

Take care everyone!

From your starting over right now friend!

Have a Sunny Day !!!!!
 

Gooooooooood Mornin' !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christine ~~~~ So glad to hear that you are feeling better today. Remember not to be so hard on your self and let yesterday stay in the past.
Heck I eat brownies. I just do like you did this morning and figure in the calories. Remember its not what we eat, it how much. And we can eat anything we want as long as it is in moderation. That is the key. I refuse to let my self think that Ill never be able to eat my favorite things again.
"You have come a long way Baby" and you dont have that far to go.. You can do this, Christine!!!!!!! We are behind you all the way! :strong:

Darmah~~~ How are you this morning?
I dont think the 1800 calories you had yesterday made it worthless. 1800 is still a good day. You may think that the choices you made for those calories werent the right ones, but that is ok. There are always going to be days like that.
Today is a new day , make it a good one and keep smiling :)

Holly~~~ How was your day yesterday? Hope today is a fantastic one for you also.

T-girl~~~ You are doing great with your low fat eating and congrats on your weightloss. Your hubby will see the difference when he comes home. I bet that will make you feel awesome!

Sprite~~~ Hello :wave: and welcome back!!!!!!!we missed you! You are so right about the PMS thing,,, we must just be passing it to each other. I think with all the support we give to each other all of us can stay on track.

Ok so where in the heck is everyone else?? Hope everyone is doing great and will post soon.

Today is a sunny day:cool:, I have already drank two litres of water and will strap the on old pedometer and go for a longgggggggg walk! I need to kick start my weightloss. I have been stuck for too long!!!!!!
I called the doctors office yesterday and they still dont have my results of my bloodwork yet. Some of the tests had to be sent to Vancouver. I hope to hear something by the end of the week.
Its a bummer that things take so long some times.

Well I am off to burn some calories. This may be the perfect day to spring clean my car. So will do that after I get back from my walk.
Have a great day everyone ,stay happy and keep smiling!!!

Ill see you later.
Nancy:wave:

Thanks
 

Thanks holly, I do my best, and I have struggled since I was an infant with being put on diets!! i was looking at my chart my Mom had. I was seriously depresses when I left the army in October, well i was medically retired. I couldnt breath, all my clothes were tight, it was a struggle to lift my son, and play with him!!! I had did slimfast, i was starving, with headches, went into a week of binging, then I said how about pills, made my blood pressure go up, well let;s just cut out food in half, was too little calories.

Honestly ladies, I started to think, and pray, and think.. I started looking into low fat products, and gradually changed my eating pattern . Ran into a book by Susan Powter, and it hit home, Kept thinking, listenting to my body, took one day at a time. That is how it all came to be, Then I decided, I want to help others too by losing this weight, like set an example. so that is one reason why I opened that thread.

I will be glad to shock my husband, I want to motivate him too. He is a serious meat eater!! we will see. You were on point Snowey!!

I just want to thank everyone, for the support!! ( i will probably say this everyday) Really I was running on thin ice back in October. Have a wonderful day,

Latisia

Update:

3:30pm: I'm at 755 calories so far today (according to fitday.com). I'm having a turkey breast sandwich on fresh baked roll for dinner.. with some sort of veggie or fruit.. I'm estimating that meal to be about 450 calories.. which leaves me 200 calories for a snack this evening.. I think I can make it in under 1400 today! Woohoo.. :) I can do it! :D

8:16pm: I'm done eating for the day and ended at 1445. Is that close enough to count? I tried but started stressin out again mid-day and it has gotten even worse into the evening. The brownies were my anti-depressant. If not for the brownies, I'd probably be a good 200 calories lower today! :( Oh well, I consider myself having done pretty well reguardless!

Hope everyone else had a good day today!

Christine
195/149/130

Christine,,, you had a good day even with the brownies. Give your self a pat on the back. You can do the same tomorrow too!!!

I had a great day also. It was so pretty here. Temps close to 60 and bright sunny skies.

My car looks all shiny and new. I even put tire shine on the tires. Now I dont want to drive it as it will get dirty...:lol: :lol: :lol:

Had a day filled with exercise for sure.. can feel it in my lower back.

Had a great day calorie wise. I think when you are busy you just dont think about food. But the trick is to stay busy from morning to night...:lol:

The doctors office phoned today, I have a appt at 9 15 tomorrow to see how the blood tests went. Ill keep ya all posted on that.

Well hope everyone has had a fantastic day,, see ya all tomorrow...

Nancy:wave:

207/193/150 1st goal

Hi everyone. How are you all doing today? I had a marvelous day today. I kept my calorie goal and am happy about that. I feel that I'm happier when I've maintained my goal than when I'm eating that piece of cake or ice cream sundae. I even passed by a Dairy Queen without a care in the world. Snowey and vermontmom, you're right about those 1800 calories. That's not TOO bad. I think the reason that I felt so sick was that 1300 of those calories were eaten within 3 hours of eachother. Yep, that would do it!! Woo Hoo, Silence!! Awesome job in keeping up to your end of the bargain, now you're body will fulfull its obligation! Yeah, don't worry about those few extra calories. It's only a few. Take in a really deep breath, then BAM you've just burned those calories!! Don't worry about that brownie either. THat's the magic of our diets and way of eating. We can eat whatever we want as long as we watch how much we eat of it. So a tiny brownie is a good thing. Not only does it relieve your stress and makes you happy but it also lets you stay focused on the rest of your day. way to go!! T-girl, what's the title of this book you read? I'm thinking of going to get it. I need as much motivation as possible. A book would really help! Sprite, you'r completely right about how the past is the past. You gotta look beyond your faults and move on to a brand new day. I never realized that until yesterday when I decided to make something of myself and take control of my life, and not let my tummy do the talking. ;) Anyway, I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and get out there and enjoy the weather!

hello ladie, I hope you all had a good evening, and are pleased with yourselves, I am exhaused, but ok otherwise. Darmah, the book is Stop the Insanity by Susan Powter, Food, by her and i use cmon america let's eat for recipes.

Anyone a fan of popcorn cakes? I am because they are good, and some are sweet, and others are like chips, a good snack. \

well talk to you all later. goodnight

stay strong!

latisia:p

:)
 

Hey everyone!! Wow… what a couple of days we have all had!! I will have to start doing the daily post again to keep up! Our computers at work have been going down a lot lately… sooooo frustrating!! And I: have been riding the motorbike up and down our drive in preparation for this weekend’s license course. Crazy? YEP!!

Ok… I must say to you all that you seem to have your binge’s in control. I can remember ones that I have had where an hour would exceed 1800 calories. I will give you an example…. This was from a time when I was single and VERY unhappy. It would usually be a Friday, after a not-so good week, not only a day. I would have a bad big muffin from the restaurant/cafeteria in the office building I worked at… then at 10:00 it would be toast and jam from there (during a ciggie break of course) and lunch would be at my fav Italian place… I usually had Canneloni …. Then a bag of chips, a chocolate bar and a Pepsi (not diet) for the 3:00 munchies… then I would be sad about working late, coming home to an empty apartment and sad that I had no plans that evening… my friends would have invited me, but I would have turned them down. I would order a large loaded pizza from Pizza 73 (I don’t think I could even look at the phone number now without gagging) and instead of the free extra pizza… I would get the crispy golden hot wings, all 18 of them and Ranch dip. Having stopped at the 7-11 for a 2 Litre of Pepsi, bag of Doritos, M&M’s and most likely another chocolate bar. ALL of that would be gone by midnight… and I mean each and every crispy golden battered hot wing… all the pizza and snacks. And then wonder why nothing fits in my closet. I was so dysfunctional.

And that was only Friday night! Monday I would be motivated.. but that would last until Wednesday and the cycle would repeat.

Lesson learned?? I have a Free day where no guilt is felt, I can have whatever I want, and find that I usually pick healthy on those days. I have weaknesses…. And bounce back much better than I used to. It is all in perspective.

Thanks for being so supportive of one another…. Just even typing out the above story makes me realise how far I have come from then… and how far I can go too!!

I hope that helps you guys a bit… I know the last few days’ posts have helped me heaps!

Nola.

Nola, your binge completly described mine!! Almost to the letter. I'd start with a candy bar, then a p.b.j sandwish, grilled cheese sandwich, and a bagel sandwich. Then move onto a huge bowl of sweet cereal, then toast and jam and butter, then a p'zone from pizza hut, stopping by dairy queen for a blizzard on the way back home. I always turn down invitations from my friends to go hang out with them because I'm too ashamed of how I am and how I look. I've lost a lot of friends that way. I used to have a lot of friends until I started to become secluded and self-concious. I have only one good friend left and she's starting to bother me now too. I don't know what to do. It's hard for me to make new friends because I always feel that their judging me and my weight and the way I look. I know it's crazy but oh well. I gotta work on myself before i work on impressing others, I guess. Now I know that I'm strong enough to resist temptation and to make healthy decisions. I even said NO to a Bear Claw donut! Never thought i could do that before! How is everyone tonight? I hope we're all doing great! The support in here is wonderful! Keep up the great work, everyone! We will all succeed together!

2nd post of the day!
 

It is still evening here, while you are all probably snoozing!! Darmah... I can totally relate. But it can change!! And you have the power to make that change. A good friend of almost 10 years emailed me in October. Coincidentally the same week that I started this journey with seriousness. She had joined Weight Watchers and lost 44 pounds, her photos inspired me. She is going through a rough time, and I truly wish I could jump on that big ol' Qantas plane and come back to Canada to help her out, but she said something last week to me that really hit home for me. She had quit smoking 2 years ago, started a weight loss journey a year ago, went back to school to become a highshool teacher (from a loan lady at a bank) and her dad passed away in January. It was the strenght she had built doing all three huge changes in her life that is helping her through this. Now she is also having marriage problems and is using that strength for that too. She is not going to let the weight come back, she worked too hard to get it off. How remarkable!! I love positive friends.

Darmah... don't give up on your friends, they love you no matter what the weight you are, and will be great to have around to celebrate the loses (weight that is!!). Even small goals achieved will help get you out having fun again! I know that even that first 2 pounds changed my outlook!

Well everyone... I am off for some sleep now... I did the Pump class (light weights for an hour with an instructor yelling at you to LIFT!!) and my tri/bi ceps are KILLING! I also need to spend some time with the hubby... he is seeing a knee surgeon next month and then he will be joining me in the gym. He hurt it a month ago playing basketball in his boys who played 10 years ago league on Thursday nights. Hopefully it will be nothing too major and will be as good as new. He also played Inline hockey too... and went to the gym so he is becoming anxious to be on the mend and get into his sports again! Then we can fight over who does dishes again!!

*hugs* for everyone... keep up the good work and stick with the healthy lifestyle makeovers!! We will reach our goals!

Nola.

Hello all . . .

I'm glad to hear so many of you doing so well! I think it helps my motivation more when others are doing well.

I have to confess, I snuck in a little more food last night after I posted. But, I'm still not feeling too bad about it because I still had significantly less calories than I've been overindulging in lately!

I can relate to Kanola's 'cycle of motivation' but mine is daily, not weekly! I wake up in the morning raring to go full of motivation and willpower and sure I can make it through the day this time! Then by mid-afternoon the willpower starts downhill. At that point I'll make some not-so-great choices but I'll keep battling. By late evening I've lost all willpower and just start pigging out. It is so frustrating!

Ok, today's goal is to have LESS calories than yesterday. I figure if I keep that goal every day, eventually I'll be eating at the levels I'm meant to to lose this weight! If I move it down gradually over the course of this week instead of trying to jump down hundreds of calories from one day to the next (making me feel hungry and deprived!) maybe I can stick to it better. After my mini-binge last night I was a little over 1700 calories (oops? lol) so today I'm going to aim to keep it UNDER 1700. Tomorrow under 1600, Friday under 1500 and by this weekend maybe I'll be able to do the 1400 thing correctly!

By the way, if anyone is as nosey as I am, those extra calories last night came from a bologna sandwich (dang bologna has 90 calories a slice!!). My daughter was hungry at like 10 last night so she bugged me for a salad but because I'm lazy I offered her the bologna.. and then made one for me too.. (we shoulda had the salad eh?). I don't know how this child does it but she naturally craves healthy foods! She LOVES fruits and veggies. I'm warping her already though, and she's only 3. I have her telling me she's FAT and its not good to be fat.. oh my.. I need to fix my way of thinking and acting around her cuz I don't want her growing up with a warped perception of the truth. The girl is SKINNY but even if she wasn't I don't want her thinkin she's a bad person because of it! :( She'll actually look at a food and ask me how many calories it has! I don't think she completely understands at 3 but it still scares me to think she's beginning to care about these things! I'd like to just move our family to a better way of eating where I'm not constantly counting the calories in everything, just eating healthy choices. Then she won't be learning calorie-counting, just healthy eating! I'm working on it!

Ok, this is getting long so I only have one more thing to add before I'm off. If anyone is looking for a good book to read on eating, I'd recommend Volumetrics (I don't know the author off the top of my head but I could go look). Its basically about eating foods that are filling to the tummy but not calorie-dense. So basically, you can eat more food on fewer calories. I read it over a year ago myself and I think its time to pick it back up and re-read it. Just my two cents. I've read probably 20+ different diet and food books over the past 10 years but that one was one that just made a lot of sense :)

Ok, I'll shut up now . . . off to my <1700 calorie day :)

Christine
195/150/130 (eeek, another pound snuck up on me when I wasn't looking!! I'm going in the wrong direction here.. but considering its PMS time, I hope thats all this is!)

Hello everyone! I've taken somewhat of a vacation from posting lately. I've had so many different things going on and then I got the flu and have been sick as a dog for the past few days. I am so ready to get over this so I can get back to my walking!

Nancy, I wanted to let you know that while I was at home sick yesterday:( I was watching Oprah. I pretty sure that it was a re-run but interesting none the less. It was about menopause and its symptoms. A lot of the symptoms that you had mentioned earlier (heart palpitations, light headedness, inability to sleep) were considered characteristics of menopause. I hope that your test results come back okay and this is all that it is. A doctor on the show, cant remember the name, gave some dietary guidelines which were believed to decrease the symptoms were to cut down or eliminate all "white" foods which are considered high glycemic foods such as: potatoes, white bread, white rice, etc.
She also recommended using progesterone cream (2%) and that was believed to help with the symptoms. She also said that cutting out on the "white" foods may help to reduce weight gain many women experience during menopause. She said that most women will gain weight during this time because the body is some how trying to stabilize its amount of estrogen. Apparently fat tends to hold on to estrogen so the body fights to hold on to it, therefore it's harder to lose during this time. Encouraging huh? Now, I just repeated all of that info from memory so before you take it compeletely to heart, you may want to check the Oprah websight or something because it is quite possible that I may have misunderstood some of it, but I thought the info was interesting.

Anyways, enough of playing doctor, I just thought the info may help. I'm hoping the results come back okay. To the rest of you, hope things are well. I've got to go now, but I will post again soon.