Hello! My name is Christina and I am a stay at home mom of three. My kids are 9, 4, and 2 1/2 years old. I have lost 53 pounds so far and am at a stand still for the last 15. I have lost some of my motivation and seem to be stuck in a rut. I think I just got lazy and I really want to turn this around and finish what I have started. I would love someone to help motivate me to lose the last of this weight and be there to help them. I swear these last pounds are the hardest to take off for me but I will do it and I would like to do it soon. So if there is anyone out there who is in the same boat as me and would like to work through this together I would love it. I know I can do this I just need a push and I am great at motivating others.

Hi, I have 15 to go as well. Would be happy to work alongside you. You need to tell me where you have posted this e-mail on the 3 fat chicks site, as I am accessing it from the 'new e-mails' location, and I may never find it again. I'm a grandmother of 1, mother of two grown children. I am trying hard to get off my last 15 pounds...have been trying for the past two years and kept going backwards....but not this time! I am determined!

I am two years from retiring, and have started a second career as a personal trainer, so perhaps what I am learning will be of help to you. Let's hope! The last couple of weeks I have actually, for the first time in my life, moved forward without any backsliding or food orgies.

Are you exercising at all? If not, perhaps that would make the difference. Are you on any special eating plan? Perhaps that needs tweaking.

Would love to hear from you.

Susan

I posted in Buddy Up Forum! I think we may be a good balance for each other and together finally reach the end of the weight lose journey and move into the maintaining journey which is a journey all of it's own but we will cross that bridge when we get there. I look forward to doing this with you. We will have to set up days when we check in and talk about exactly what we want our program to be like. I really believe together we can do this!

Tina, that sounds good to me. Let me know how you want to work it. You're the one with the young kids, so I'll let you take the lead. Tell me a little more about how you are trying to lose so I can understand where you are.

Regarding my situation. The kids are grown, live elsewhere, and I am working full time, studying for my PT certification, and working 2 nights a week at a gym with one client...cancelled all the others so I can focus on my studying.

Since it's just me, I generally try to cook for the week on Sunday mornings, and pack up all my meals in containers to bring to work. I even have my dinner at work most days, since I found that if I didn't, I would come home ravenous and eat everything in sight. Lately I've been trying to have my main meal at lunch, and a salad with either fish or chicken for dinner around 5, right before I leave work. That way I can do errands, go to the gym, or whatever, without feeling hungry. I try to have 5 small meals a day.

The danger for me is at work, where there are all sorts of snack foods....alll available for when I get bored.... or at home, when I'm tired, around 8-8:30. I've tried to make little containers of almonds and dried cranberries, so that when I feel like pigging out at night I can just read for one of those. I use baby food jars from my grandbaby to store them.

Now that the weather is warm, I've started trying to get up early enough to walk in the mornings before work, but sometimes I just feel lazy and lie in bed for a little while before getting up, and then do errands instead of exercising the way I should.

I'm short, 5'1", and weigh 160 now, was up to about 175. I would be really happy at 145...haven't been there in about 12 years. A year and a half ago I got down to 154 but then tore up my knee, and my weight slowly crept up again since I couldn't exercise, and got depressed.

So that's my story.

Susan

Well I think we should designate a day to weigh ourselves in and check in with each other. I weigh-in on Fridays but this can change if needed. I also think we should each set a mini goal and work towards that. I know for my mine is to get into the 140's by the end of July. I have never used the buddy forum so I don't know if we just talk here or if there is a way to PM each other. If you know anything about how it works just let me know. I don't know if it would be to much but I am on the site Monday-Friday I usually don't come on the weekends but maybe a check-in daily or every other day if that is to much to keep each other posted with our progress for the week. I am not doing any certain diet plan. I just try to eat healthy and limit the amount of food. I will be honest though I have been slipping lately with the food. I don't know why but I am starving all the time and junk is what I want. I am working on this because I know better and I will gain weight and not lose it at this rate. As far as exercise goes I do weights 3 days a week for 30-40 min. I walk Mon-Wed with my sister-in-law for 3 1/2 miles and it takes us about 45-50 min. so we are walking at a nice speed. I was doing really good with exercise during the winter by that I mean I was doing it 5-6 days a week and twice a day and that is when the weight was coming off at a regular pace. In addition to the 3 days of walking I try to do at least 2 more on my own sometimes I do sometimes I don't. I really hope to help each other through this and if you have any other ideas of how our support system should go please let my know. We can do this!!!!


Tina

Hi girls......I'm needing some help BIGTIME to lose those last 15 lbs also!! I've been at a standstill for a few months and would love to join you. I'm a stay at home mom with 2 boys (ages 8 and 12). Dh works quite a bit out of town so I'm IT at home. I do go to the gym probably 4-6 times a week for cardio and weight training (1.5 hrs). Not sure where I'm going wrong, as my food is usually spot on. As for your questions about posting Tina.......usually you meet up with buddy's here, and then decide on a thread name and post it under any heading....ie, support, group support, ww's etc... Just pick a name and thread and I'll be there. Nice to meet you both!!

Well, hello and welcome angel! And good morning to you both!

Hope you don't mind me putting in some suggestions from the PT text I'm reading for my exam, since I just read these..... Are you both eating small meals, 5 or 6 times a day rather than 3 big ones? Keeps your body from making assumptions that it needs to hold onto the fat.

Another, with exercise, which speeds up the metabolism, would be to change your exercise routine. Change the order in which you do your exercises, or change the kind of exercises you're doing. Small changes can make the difference. Your body gets more and more efficient the more you do a routine, and it's good to shake it up, either by order, type of exercise, or intensity (if you lift 10 pounds 12 times, try lifting 8 20 times; if you generally do bicep curls, try concentration curls). If you generally walk, try biking every other time. Just some suggestions. I have been limited because of my knee injury from last year, which has taken its time healing, but I am finding now that Im ok, and vary my exercises....I don't just walk, but have set up a circuit routine for myself that I do once or twice a week, the weight is moving a teeny bit faster....stationary biking, many squats, mini trampoline, treadmill, stairclimbing. I am lucky in that I have set up my basement as a gym....not that I have used it all that much in the past, but I am determined!

Well, gotta go, my basement flooded for the second time in two days. Talk to you later. Let me know where you decide to put the thread and I will follow. Oh, by the way....I think I may have lost a pound....I saw 159 on the scale this morning....but it might have been all the mopping I did way into the night. Happy Tuesday!

Susan

Good morning ladies! Angel I am glad that you joined in with us. I think the three of us will really be a help to each other. I still am not getting something about where to meet though. If I am getting this right do I make a new thread in the Buddy up Forum and that is were we meet? This is the first time I have done this so bear with me. Today is going to start my new outlook on this last part of my journey. I think I got really cocky with the weight I have lost and thought well you look a heck of a lot better and I slipped up for awhile. I am done slipping and I am ready to get back to what got 53 pounds of me to begin with. I am going to switch it up and cut the junk out. I know that eating fries and pizza and all that junk is not the key to getting the weight off. I have read everything there is to read on weight lose and exercise so I have the tools to do it and it is time to do it. Great job Susan on losing a pound. I am sorry to hear about your basement though. That is the most frustrating thing. Is the rain coming like crazy by you? I think by Thursday it is supposed to be done here for a few days. Ok so I am going to put this out there and if this does not work for either of you just let me know. I think we need a official weigh-in day. I will say Friday but if this is not good for either of you let me know and we can change it. Another suggestion is that we have daily check-in's. I think just to update each other on how the day is going or has gone and tell how we did for the day. Maybe we could talk about some of the things we ate and the exercise we did for the day. I also have set a mini goal for myself to get into the
140's by the end of July. I think if we each set a mini goal for July we can all keep each other on the path to success. I really believe in us girls so let's do this and prove it to ourselves that we can do it. Have a good day and let me know about the posting!

Hi Tina!! I like all of your ideas.....I also weigh in on Fridays, so that works. Yeah, I usually come here at least once or twice a day, so checking in is okay by me. As for the thread.....just start one like you did for this one. Click on new thread, (in another section or this one).....remember what the name is though... and then let us know and you're all set to go!!! What about ...hmmm, "Last 15 lbs to target".....or....."drop the last 15" just a thought. I've been doing lots of errands and laundry today...blech!! Now I have to dash out the door for ds tae kwon do class. He just got his yellow belt. wooohooo

Artmaker.....any of your ideas will be great. I will def. love picking your brain!! congrats on the pound lost!! mopping is a good workout, don't kid yourself. Sorry to hear about all the rain though.....

Just wanted to check in with you both before I hit the bed. Today, considering the aggravation of the flooding, was not bad eating-wise. I even forced myself to get on the treadmill for 10 minutes tonight, then did a series of lower body exercises. (Much of my weight is lower body, the hardest place to lose.) Looks like my jerryrigging of plastic bags and duct tape outside has held off the leak...managed to caulk the inside basement wall before I left for work, after moving stuff around, but will have to wait until the rain stops and the sidewalk/step dries out before I can caulk the place outside where the leak is coming from. And from what the weatherman is saying...it will be days until the sun comes out again for any length of time. Argh!!! So frustrating.

So what I understand you saying, Angel...tell me if I'm wrong....Tina should just go to the Support forum and start a new thread that says something regarding the 15 pounds...and then let us know where it's at?

Oh, and checking in weight-wise on Friday is fine with me....also, I am on and off the site while at work during the week...keeps me sane...so I can check in daily or every other day, whatever you want to do.

Artmaker

Ok so I am going to go into the Support Forum and post under Drop the last 15. We can make that are new meeting place. So Friday is the offical weigh-in day for now if we need to change it we can. I am getting so excited about doing this. I had a good day today. I did my weights and a 4 mile brisk walk. I ate right on point today and feel really good about it. Well I am off to watch a few shows with my husband before we hit the bed. Have a nice evening! Talk with you both tommorow.

Ok I don't want to lose you guys so I am going into the Support Forum! You go into Support Forum and it is under just Support! I am going to call it Drop the last 15! See you both there!