Trying Again, hoping for help
 

Hi
I never had the money to attend Weight Watchers meetings (plus, I'm just too shy), but 2 years ago I saved up and bought a starter kit on ebay. I modified the diet to fit my calcium and low blood sugar needs, and lost 20 lbs in 6 months. I plateaued, however, and I'm having trouble getting my act together again. I need to lose another 35 lbs, and I would like to do it before I get my next ID picture taken in October. I need people to help hold me accountable, but most friends and co-workers are just too nice to say anything! My husband has been supportive, but sometimes I need more than just him. Anyone else have that problem?

Oh I understand totally! It really helps to have other people to weigh in with, or challenge, or just share a pat on the back. Have you been on the WW forum here? You should go there, and start a challenge of some sort, or join one that is already going. What is your weak spot - drinking water? Exercising? Or just sticking with points? Maybe you can start a thread and ask other people to commit to the same goal. It really does help me. Welcome to 3FC. :)

Hello

I was the same way .. too shy to attend meetings .. so I purchased the WW at home kit .. lost 22lbs .. that was about 4 yrs ago .. the holidays hit and I just never recovered. I would like to lose about 50 - 60 lbs .. I have tons of motivation but just don't want to do it alone .. all my friends are very eager to get out and get some exercise .. however .. I seem to always be sitting around waiting for them .. I am coming to the realization that I'm going to have to go it alone .. my sister is also doing WW but she lives in Michigan so we can't get together .. So now .. I'm looking online for support .. like everyone else is stating .. the need to be held accountable seems to be the best support .. if that's what you are looking for .. I'm here for ya! :)

Thanks :)

I know exactally what you mean about the holidays. They started out as my motivation to start in the first place, but the next year, they ground me to a halt. I thought I could remember how to estimate points when I tried to start again the first time, but even though I was eating the right things, I didn't have the portion control I used to have. This past Sunday, my husband dug out my old points counting bracelet and physically put it on my wrist. Needless to say, I got the clue!

On top of that, the weather finally got warmer, so hopefully I can go out walking tonight.

It's great to be able to talk about this stuff with people who are in the same boat!

Dang those holidays anyway! My husband leaves on Sunday for 3 weeks .. I'm going to use this time to get myself into a routine with exercise and with nutrition .. hopefully when he gets back I'll have it all under control and will be able to eat healthy on a consistent basis .. with him and 3 kids (one still at home) it seems impossible to achieve ..

Sounds like a great opportunity to put things in order. It may seem immpossible to achieve, but if you take things little by little, it truly gets easier. It takes longer than molassas running in winter, but it gets easier.

Holidays aren't the only thing to be danged. Vacations and getaways are up there, too. Today after work, my husband and I are taking a short trip up to Holland, MI for the Tulip Festival. This will be the first time going away since I re-started my diet, and I'm worried about falling off the wagon again. Festival food is so tempting! I hope my resolve is strong enough.

Hey, that's cool! My family and I spent 5 yrs in Holland. We lived a couple miles east of the meijers on 16th st .. country club rd is the street name .. I miss Holland .. my sister and her family still live there (they moved there after we did) .. tulip time is awesome .. lots of yummy food .. :) .. if only we could just get enjoyment out of smelling all that good stuff .. sorry I can't give you any good advice because you'll already have been there and back by the time you read this .. I hope you had a great time .. not to worry about any over indulgence .. tomorrow is a new day.

I'd also like to point out that we do have a weekly weigh in here on these forums, and it's open to anyone, not just members of TOPS or WW (though they of course are welcome to participate). It's in the Success Stories portion of the forums, and is titled "Everyone Weight In 05/06/05" though of course the date changes from week to week.

I think the concept of doing a semi-public weigh in is a good one. During the week I actually do think about it from time to time when I am about to put something dubious in my face. But like the original poster, I don't think I should have to spend money to get into a weight loss program. Having this great site is a big help!

I did, in fact, overindulge, but the miles of walking around town must have compensated, because I still lost 3.5 pounds this week! The tulips were incredible! I'd never seen such tall ones in my life. There was a really good restaurant there called "The Good Earth" where my husband and I split a veggie bagel sandwich. Heaven on earth! (And not so bad for us since we split it.)

That sounds great! I hope it doesn't matter if I post a couple days after the fact, as my usual weigh in day is Sunday Mornings. It's far easier for me to remember to weigh in then.

sounds like you had a good time .. good job the will power .. being around all those elephant ears can be a challenge if you like them.

My husband left yesterday, so now I've got to get myself into gear. We weighed ourselves yesterday morning .. now we are in a challenge to see who can lose the most .. although he's as skinny as a stick .. he still thinks he needs to lose a few ..

I don't plan on stepping on the scale until he returns ...

test my tracker

Ohh, it would be hard for me not to peek at the scale. I am at my weakest as far as resisting eating when I am alone. My husband is going to be gone most of Saturday, and I'm trying to gather stuff to do to keep my mind occupied.

Today I just started the "Couch-to-5k" running program. Not sure how good of an idea it is, since my back and knees aren't in the best of shape, but the whole point is to make them stronger.

I hope you win the challange with your husband!

the couch to 5k run? good luck with that. I would fall apart if I attempted that. I feel a little limited on what I can do as far as exercising because my body isn't very cooperative. For the past 3 weeks, I've been trying to get through a sciatic nerve injury. It's been rough. I somehow manage to keep getting up in the morning and continue with the routine .. getting my girls off to school. I walk my 10yr old to school everyday .. 15mins both ways (before and after) .. I'm mostly limping and cringing with pain by the time I reach home (and this is even before stressing my nerve) .. so .. I'm a little watchful of the exercises I do .. I don't want to do too much .. I love to rollerblade and ride my bike also .. but I have a 5yr old (starts school next year) who limits me to how far and fast I can go (if I can even go) .. I also have carpal tunnel, so biking can be a challenge also .. it seems that rollerblading is my best option as it doesn't mess with me so much .. as long as I don't crash ..

oh well .. enough of that .. I could keep on going .. I did buy a stability ball .. I'm hoping that it will help me to loosening my back up a bit and help me with some abdominal workouts ..

I gotta get the girls going now .. have a good day!

I tried rollerblading a few years ago, but I had a terrible time keeping my balance. Buying my own pair of blades was a bit cost prohibitive at the time, also.

You'll have to let me know how the stability ball goes. I live in a a small upstairs apartment, and exercising indoors isn't very easy. I'm looking for something quiet to do that doesn't take up much space. It's been so cold here lately that I can't always get outside to go for my walks.

You know .. you're right .. I can't keep off the scale .. It was driving me nuts ..

I like the stability ball .. there's no jumping around and the dvd that came with it is quite peaceful and surreal .. only problems with it .. dvd is not a complete workout so I will need to go purchase a good one .. and you may feel a bit clumsy trying to balance on it .. it's not difficult and you'll pick it up quickly .. you'll get a good workout tyring to pump it up .. I needed something that wouldn't stress my back when trying to work on abs and this seems to be perfect for it. Target has a good selection of them .. they run anywhere from 20 to 40 dollars.

A stability ball is also good for pushups if you have bad knees or not much upper body strength. If you put the ball under your hips, it's easier because most of your weight is supported by the ball. You can eventually work your way out where the ball is under your lower leg for a more (way more, lol) intense workout.

thanks for that lil tidbit of advice .. the dvd doesn't show any pushup movements .. i wish it would have been a better dvd

Wow, the stability ball sounds perfect for me, then, with my back and knees and apartment situation. I'll have to start saving up for one.

Tonight, I bought the full version of FitDay for my PC. I'd been using the free online version and liked very much. It's VERY different (much more complicated) but not impossible to get the hang of. Lots and lots of bells and whistles. Too early to make a full judgement on it, but so far, I like it a lot.

i bought that back in january .. used it faithfully everyday .. then something happened .. don't know what it was .. i think i just lost interest .. i'm trying to get myself back in to using it again .. I hopped on my scale this morning .. looks like i'm 3 lbs down this week .. i need to go purchase a new scale though .. this one doesn't seem to be very accurate .. i have to keep adjusting it to zero .. heard of any good ones out there?

I've been happy with my Tanita scale. I can get on and off 20 times in a row, and get the same weight every time.

Down 3? Great job! I'm down 2.5 this time. I've been looking for some old photos of myself for comparison, but I just can't seem to find anything from my heaviest days. Perhaps that's a good thing ;)

I am scale shopping, myself. It's not exactally that I don't trust mine, I just would like one that gets a little more precise. Mine goes by half-pound incriments right now. I suppose that's fine in the long run, but I've been a bit gung-ho lately. I don't really have a lot of money to spare lately, anyway, so it's probably best that I stick with my old one. Although, I wonder what the lifespan of a low-end digital scale is...

I went to Target and found a stability ball for $10.88. You're right. It is quite a workout blowing that thing up! It didn't have the best instruction book with it, so I'm not sure if I'm blowing it up right. I'm afraid of overinflating it, but at the same time, I feel like I'm sinking too far when I get on it. The booklet did have some good dumbell exercises in it, though, so I hope I get it figured out soon!

my stability ball didn't come with very good instructions on how much air to blow into it either .. just said that when you sit on it .. your thighs should be parallel to the floor .. i'm going to go look for a dvd for it today .. also a scale .. i see you are setting mini goals for yourself .. i'd like to join ya if you don't mind .. maybe it will give me more motivation ..

i need to lose some muscle .. any ideas? I have quite muscular legs .. how do you trim those down .. i've never liked them .. especially my calves .. they are too bulky ..

Well if you have a low body fat percentage, then you can focus less on leg exercises. Don't walk on an incline or do as many lower body exercises. However, if you don't have a low body fat percentage, losing fat will help with that. Fat takes a lot more room than muscle. Below is a great example pic.

If you can reduce the fat by exercise and weight loss, you'll see that your legs are not as bulky. The excess fat is much bulkier than the muscle it is wrapped around.

I've gone about as far as I can go with the pump, but it still feels like my knees are sitting too high. It might be my imagination, though. I should have my husband look from the side and tell me if I'm parallel. I spent some time last night getting a feel for the balance of it. Tonight, I think I'll try some of the stretches shown in the instruction book. I really ought to check the library's collection to see if they have a ball workout dvd. It would be just to convenient if they do...

I set the mini goal last night. I saw some other people doing it, but at first thought nothing of it. When I updated my tracker, I wished it could move faster. So, I thought the sight of a mini tracker moving quicker might give me more motivation. I figured that I want to do what I can to lose about 2lbs per week, so I figured that 8lbs in a month would be good. I hope it works! I think it'd be a great idea for you to do one too :)

As far as losing muscle, that's a toughie. It sounds like losing the actual muscle would hurt more than help, though I don't think that's quite what you meant. Do you have a library nearby? A lot of times I find it helpful to grab a few exercise books and compare them side by side to decide what I actually want. You can also find all kinds of workout videos to try out (613 for the dewey number ;) ) Today I picked up a Pilates DVD to see if I like it before I go out and buy one. I once saw a workout video that is designed to give you a lithe body like a dancer's, but I don't remember what it was called. I want to call it "Muscle Ballet", but I'm not sure if that's right.

our library here has a good selection of exercise dvds/videos .. i didn't see any for the ball though .. i couldn't find any at walmart either .. i'll have to check out target .. i've managed to acquire quite the hefty calves .. i've had them for an eternity .. thanks to a lot of bike riding and rollerblading .. i was asked a couple of weeks ago by the technician doing a nerve test on my back .. "did you play a lot of sports in school" .. well .. no .. none at all .. I'm thinking he's asking because I'm in there for back problems .. he then says "I was just curious where you got those massive calves from" .. in one sense .. they are nice .. in another .. i think they are too manly .. :) I used to be able to press about 300+ a few years back .. I know I need to stop doing that if I want to lose some of it .. I'd just like to see them trimmed up a bit ..

it's getting so hot and ugly here .. makes it hard to want to be out and about .. i feel like i get a workout just trying to get to the school and back without passing out .. i'm so not looking forward to the further rise in heat ..

i purchased a digital scale and i already don't like what it is telling me .. i'll weigh myself tomorrow morning and see if it is still deceiving me. :)

You'll probably find your legs changing shape as you lose more weight, anyway. You might want to wait and see how your calves react to the change. Things might even out proportionally.

If you can find clothes made with Coolmax™ instead of just cotton, it's worth it. I have a top and some socks made with it, and it really pulls sweat away from your body. Sometimes it helps just to be a little drier!

Hopefully once your new scale will be nicer to you once it gets to know you! I'm going to hang on to mine for the time being. I usually weigh myself three times in a row to make sure it's right. Most of the time, all three readings are the same, but every once in a while, I'll get an oddball number. Not very far off, but still different. If it does that any more frequently, I'll resume shopping for a new one.

i'm going to have to keep my old scale around so that i can measure how much i've lost .. the new scale has me above my starting weight .. how sad is that? Talk about depressing.

Yikes! Well, at least the scales are calibrated with themselves, so the progress tracking is accurate no matter which one is right.

I wish my body would just get used to jogging already. The soreness that comes with a new exercise program is driving me nuts! I can't give up, though. I really need my knees to get stronger before it's too late for them. I don't know why, but I've become obsessed with bone health lately.

maybe the media has promoted bone health a little more lately?? today has been a bad day for me .. i'll need to get back on track tomorrow .. i guess i need to start a journal and log down my meals .. maybe i'll be good then ..

Journaling works wonders for me. I'm much more aware of what's going on that way. I also have a visual reminder in the form of a tracking bracelet. It's basically a beaded bracelet with a charm that I can move along the beads for each WW point I use up. It's really helped.

I've been having some questionable days myself, though. Last night I ate at Long John Silvers. Even though I stayed in my point range (for the most part, and only if you factor in exercise), I couldn't believe when I found out how much trans fat that stuff is swimming in! I have no idea how my points went today. Neither my husband nor I were in the mood to cook, so we ordered Chinese. No nutritional info available. Szechuan tofu and vegetables, but it was still probably too much. Tomorrow I MUST cook.

yesterday was much better .. chinese sounds good .. unfortunately my kids don't care for it (maybe that's a good thing).

I wish I didn't like Chinese food so much! I could eat it every day if provided to me.

This weekend is going to be another test, I think. This will be the first family gathering since I've started dieting again. I've been banking some points for this, but I almost lost them last night with a bowl of macaroni salad! Not a major get together, but enough that there will be plenty of food.

that pasta will gobble up the points .. i tried a spaghetti squash dish last night .. i was good but not as good as real pasta .. it was a little crunchy ..

The last time I tried to cook a spaghetti squash, it turned out all mush. Perhaps I just got a bad one, but I was turned off of it. I tried whole wheat pasta a few weeks ago. That wasn't too bad, and the fiber helped knock the points down.

This past weekend wasn't a total flub. I still lost half a pound, but I ate at too many restaurants overall. I've got to kick up the discipline this week!

I had to give up Couch-to-5k. My lungs and stamina were getting stronger, but my knees just couldn't handle it. I started taking glucosomine, and I may try again in a few months, but I'll stick to walking and the stability ball, and whatever quiet workout tape I can find for now.

I don't think I really liked the squash all that much .. i'd much rather have the pasta .. my hubby comes home tonight .. i've managed to lose 5lbs in the three weeks .. i would liked to have lost more but i'll take the 5 .. oh well ..

I don't really think I'd like the squash even if it had turned out perfect. I used to hate all squash no matter what, but these days I do have a liking for grilled summer squash. I'll just stick with that.

5 lbs in 3 weeks is a good pace to lose. It's more likely to stay off that way. I've been losing, but at awkward intervals. 3.5 one week, 2 the next, .5 the third, and back and forth. At least I'm not really gaining back for the most part. The hardest part is getting my exercise in. The weather has been very uncooperative, and I've gone through a whole bunch of the library's workout DVDs without finding one I'd like to stick with yet. Don't laugh, but my latest experiment is with bellydance workout DVDs. I haven't given it a full try yet (probably tonight), but it looks fun, and looks like a good trunk workout without jumping all around like with arobics. So, with luck, the downstairs neighbor won't be banging on the ceiling!

Yesterday I checked out a library book on Volumetrics. It seems like it might help me make the most of my points. I haven't read much yet, but it's quite interesting.

How did the challenge with your husband go?

i won the challenge .. he only lost 2 lbs .. what is volumetrics? Sounds interesting. You only have 3lbs to go to meet your goal .. that's great .. you'll do it! I haven't really been doing that well with exercising either. My brain is telling me "go for it".. my body is tell me different. I did get out yesterday to rollerblade .. that's a plus .. My doc put me on a pain med this week (for my back) .. I've been feeling a lot less of it so hopefully this week I'll get some more exercise in .. I also have an appt to go see an orthopedic doc .. a nerve study I had done on my back indicated a problem with my 4th and 5th vertebre .. yippee yahoo ..

The Volumetrics book that I got is mostly recipes and such, unfortunately. The library doesn't have the one that has the science behind it. I did get the gist of the program, though. It basically had lists of food (and lots of recipes) that give you lots more food for the amount of calories you eat. The basic idea is that you can feel full and satisfied without going overboard with calories. The comparison pictures of regular recipes and their volumetric counterparts (same calorie count in both) are fascinating.

4lbs was a weird loss last week. I have a feeling that most of it was water weight, but it's pretty cool to see that big of a difference on the scale :)

I really hope that pain medication does the job for you. I'm glad you were able to rollerblade. Hopefully seeing that doctor will help get your back in shape soon. I have to get in for back and knee x-rays and a bone density scan soon. I've got a persistant sharp pain in my back just above where my pant line sits, and my doctor wants to see if it is a compression fracture or not. It's not constant, but movement related. It flares up sometimes when I bend forward, or push or pull things around. Of course, I've got to save up money first, because work changed insurance AGAIN, and we all have to pay our deductible again this year. So, yippee yahoo all around, I guess. ;)

health care stinks .. wish we could all fix ourselves! Hopefully you'll be able to get in soon and get that checked out.

volumetrics sounds pretty cool .. eat more and lose weight is a great program .. i'll have to check into that this summer.

I keep teetering around 185 .. i need to get over that hump .. perhaps a good kick in the butt would help me .. the kids and I are leaving for orlando tomorrow afternoon (my husband is there now) .. going to hit seaworld .. hopefully I'll be good and eat only what my tummy tells me to and not what my eyes think they need. All the walking should hold back some of those calories .. we'll be back on sunday