Hi All,

I went celebrating with my DF yesterday (not only did we get engaged this week, but I won a trip in a contest I entered a few months ago). So oops, ate way too much (not binging just overeating) (for anyone who knows the restaurant in QC/ON we went to Baton Rouge) and it was good. But I have been reflecting on this a bit. I think I will have to make a plan for a meal every night of the week at the beginning of the week and if I am heading home late ask my DF to start on supper. I can sometimes do well at restaurants, but I think I need to work on just eating clean foods for a while. When I am tired etc my food choices tend to get worse.

Evangeline: My mom just moved into my city so it will be nice for her when I start the actual preparations. I am dragging her to a wedding show in a few weeks. I told her to reserve the day, just didn't tell her why.

So anyway I am going to re-read Dr. Phil, take notes and work on applying this to my efforts. I know where my traps are and I need to work through them.

Cheers!

Ali

On the negative side: I haven’t been doing well since I was last here. The short story is that the podiatrist has pronounced me a ‘conundrum’ and I can’t walk very far without achy legs. I feel about 149 rather than 49! So I’ve eaten a few biscuits and puddings, and had a glass or two of wine. Nothing major but enough to do damage to the scale. And no real exercise to balance it up. It’s very frustrating.

She’s referred me to a physiotherapist (next Friday) so I’m trying to hang on until then. But it’s hard.

On the positive side: apparently I’m very flexible. Strange, I didn’t have myself down as that. Perhaps all the exercise and the Udo’s have been working behind the scenes! And another plus: I’m making myself write everything down (I’d slipped out of the habit) and it’s not really as bad as all that.

My vow: I shall not eat any crap chocolate on Easter Sunday. I shall have some high quality stuff (70% cocoa solids) though – if it’s offered to me.

Good luck, everyone.

Girls I thought I would join in on this site. I am trying to make it to the gym at least 3 times a week and more when possible. I have increased my level of activity overall. My intakes are much better when I preplan and journal so that will continue. I seem to lose wt. slow but some wt. has come off and stayed off recently. I feel better carrying less around and I know that inches have been reduced due to how my clothes fit. I am goint to do a measurement chart today so I can keep track. Good luck to all of you! As a little 88 yr. old man at the gym said to me honey you are what you eat and exercise. Words of wisdom I say!
cc

Hi guys,
The accountability seems to be sinking away and it is not even summer yet !!!
After all the easter celebrations I can report 2 days of clean eating and excercise, and i am planning to continue today.

bye,
rabbit

Five full days of squeaky clean for me- all my workouts, and food on track. The Chocolate experiment pounds are gone :dizzy: , along with 1 of the extra 4 that I'd put on during this miserable month. I can finally see my abs again! 3 to go to be back to my all-time low!

Today Is cardio and arms. I really need to step up the intensity of the cardio. I put on a Lifetime TV workout that I used to do years and years ago...lol, it was laughable. I'm going to root around in the garage and see if I can find a pair of the kids of roller-blades (AND pads and helmet!) and give that a try. I'm getting a little sick of the treadmill and elliptical, but don't want the impact of running. If that doesn't work, I'll pump up the tires on my bike and hit the hills. We have some very vertical terrain around here :devil:

Mel

One day of reasonable clean eating again, but will probabely have problems this weekend.
I'll modify my plan to include 1 trest everyday, else I willnever be able to stick to it.
On the upside: With DDs bike exam looming, I'll probabely step up the cardio. My husband can accompagny her to school (at 8 in the morning), but i'll fetch her back so that adds 10 km bikeride to my scedule for the next weeks, on flat terrain though.

Today brought DD, did 50 min jog and 10 min pilates DVD, and will bike again to fetch DD this afternoon.

rabbit

My eating was a little rocky in the beginning of the week but I'm happy to say that I got it in check and have been right on plan the last 3 days. I've also rearranged my workout schedule to accommodate my new work hours so I should be right back on track next week. Yesterday I had 3 hours to deal with between getting off work and my appointment with my PT (didn’t have my workout schedule changed yet) and going home is really not the best thing for me to do if I want to workout. (at home I always workout in the morning because I know I have an energy drop the minute I walk in the door at night). Anyway, I decided to go shopping :D Actually I typically hate going shopping in stores, almost always shop online or through catalogs but I spent and hour wandering around a craft store, it took me an hour to get there from the office and I made it to my appointment about an hour early so I puttered around and fit in my cardio prior to my appointment. That is when I found out that my PT was a no show. :mad:

Oh well, the PTs that were there offered to stay and meet with me but that meant another 1/2 hour wait and I really needed to get home and fix supper so I just sat down and worked out my schedule with a new PT for next week. I'm actually kind of glad, she really put me through some intense workouts and I loved that but she really acted like she hated being there, it is really hard to look forward to meeting with someone who looks so unhappy that you showed up.

TTFN,

Evangeline,
You've really had some lousy experiences with PTs! I sort of feel like I need to apologize for the profession in general. Some of really do take this seriously, as a profession ;) I'd hate to think my clients thought that I was unhappy when they showed up :o I really hope you can find someone to work with who is enthusiastic and knowledgeable and can help you towards your goals :)

Mel

Evangeline,

What bad luck with yout PT! I can really identify with what you say about excercising in the morning. The moment i walk in my door again I feel I have a right to rest and relaxation, so excercise is really no option at that moment. I hope you find a good PT soon. As mel says, there must be some around that are good. Pity she is not where you live !!

Had a minnor visctory last night for NOT giving in to a craving for desert and late night snack. I was not even hungry but i really wanted something, I guess to celebrate friday evening ! Today willbe harder foodwise because we have guests for dinner. I think I will take today as my day of foodwise and just try to make good choices.
Excercise wise it was good: my arms & legs are fried from a full body workout. Aslo I did 25 mins jog and 15 min bike.

Have a great weekend,
rabbit

It's been a tough week for me, both at work and home (DS is home on break from school but under the weather). I’m just glad it’s almost over (two clients today at the gym). I need to sit down and do some pre-planning for next week in my quest to be the Queen of Compulsive Over-Organization (which I need to be to survive!) :lol:

The past week sure had its highs and lows for me, food-wise. Lessons RE-learned: don’t let myself get too hungry, take food with me, plan ahead, cook ahead, and I lose my mind when I’m tired. :dizzy: My weight keeps bouncing around in the same 5 pound range, which I guess is a victory of sorts.

As for exercise, count me in with the morning exercisers. :D Thank heavens for my 6:00 AM cardio habit because it probably wouldn’t be happening any other way these days! I’m squeezing in the weights whenever I can – chest and tri’s yesterday, back and bi’s today, legs and shoulders tomorrow.

I hear you on the boring cardio, Mel! The only thing I can think to do to make cardio go a little faster is some new tunes. I’d love to rollerblade but fear for my life. Do you think a hopeless klutz could do it? Should DH take out some more life insurance on me?

My goal for the next week: seven days of planned and controlled eating. :yes:

Hi,

Had a bad weekend foodwise, and I am loosing and regaining the same 2 pounds now since januari! I joint meg in the clean food resolution, AND I'll remember to drink my water.

Excercise was OK today:20 mins row, 40 mins jog, 20 mins bike.

have a nice day,
rabbit

The last week has not been good food and exercise wise! This week I am counting BLTs, water, exercise, EVERYTHING!!

I’m here but I’m in rehab. The podiatrist and the physio worked out that the inner muscle of the four quads on my left thigh was wasted. And so the knee wouldn't hyperextend and my leg shortened. This may have started when the muscles went lax during pregnancy five years ago, as that’s when I started getting corns on the ball of my left foot. And then my knee started murmuring and then grumbling. And then my foot started. And my hip would have been next.

So the physio used a machine to untangle the muscle fibres and has given me some hard exercises to get the muscle back in shape (and my abs too, I think!). But the upshot is that I’ve been very tired, not able to exercise a great deal, and eating a bit too much. That could be an understatement. That was an understatement.

I’m hoping that I’ll get back into the swing of things pretty soon. I miss proper exercise. And maybe this is the beginning of the rest of my exercise career. I’ve been wanting to take up running again for some time. Even more so since I started reading how running did wunders for wunderAnne, and how many inches Ilene has lost.

And I’m between sizes in trousers. The ones I’m wearing are too big. The ones I want to wear are too tight to sit down in and I can’t stand up all day. No, I can’t. So I've got to do something about it.

Hi Silverbirch,

Wow, that sounds awfull what happened to your leg. Was the thing at the physio painfull ? It all sounds like some kind of torture to me.
Don't be to hard on yourself for letting up on the rest of the excercise thing, probabely whatever you have to do for the physio is some redemprion. And your leg probabely has to heal if it has been in this condition for some years !!

Accountability: so far 2 good days this week. Food was Ok yesterday ( 1 belgian chocolate as treat) and excercise today was 20 mins row, 30 mins jog and this afternoon I biked 10 kms to get DD from school.

Rabbit

Thanks for your encouragement, rabbit. All I felt was a fairly strong zinging as the electrical impulses (at the same frequency as the body’s) untangled me.

Food has been so-so. Exercise also so-so. I’m about to go out for a walk – a bit longer than last time.

At last I seem to have some space to think positive thoughts about weight loss again. Just a few more pushes and I’ll be in that smaller size. (I’ve been reading the thread on the support board about how much weight loss it takes to get into a smaller size. I’m at the about 6 or 7 lbs stage. That has to be do-able.)

Btw, a Belgian choc sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Having just one is very good. Well done!

I'm trying hard and I'm not beating myself up.

A good walk yesterday ('urban trek' really) and the leg is coming along. I would like it to be completely healed but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Food not bad - considering. The Man and the Boy have made a batch of chocolate flapjacks which are very, very nice. I cannot tell you how much butter, dark brown sugar and golden syrup went into them as I haven't gone out of my way to look at the recipe! But it was a lot. Flapjacks aside, it's the bites, licks and tastes which are the problem. They always are when I'm under stress.

I've found an old pair of trousers which I'm almost into. They are my spring/summer pantsometer.

And now another day. Breakfast was good (porage, cottage cheese, 3 dates, 1 fig, wheatgerm). I've got a walk lined up for later on.

Past 2 days have been not good, flunked the food and did not get in much excercise.Today started well: I did FBW and 45 min jog. Will try to do OK on the food.

On the other hand, even when i consider the food not so good it would be much worse if I just would let go, so probabely the week is so -so.

Silverbirch - good for the pantsometer. i might delve in my closet also for one, as the scales are not bulging at all.

rabbit

Food still so-so. It is Stress City at present. I hope things will be better next week when the Boy goes back to school after the Easter holidays and I have more space.

Exercise: I got to the gymn this morning to do an UBWO. I plan to do a bit on the rebounder this afternoon (leg permitting) and some abs exercises in front of the fire (there's new snow on the mountains and there were flurries all day yesterday).

Rabbit: I urge you to find a pantsometer! The scales can be so wretchedly stubborn! And downright misleading!

Silverbirch, where in Wales are you? We will be in N Wales the first week in May, and I so do not want to hear that you are still see snow!! We have enough of our own, the whole idea of a vacation is to get away from wintery weather. :lol: Actually I'm very excited. We'll be in the UK for 3 weeks, 21 April to 11 May. I'm making myself very nervous by reading weather forecasts and seeing they're the same or worse than what we're having at home.

Pantsometer is the only way I know I'm making any progress. Scale knows only how to move over the same 3 lbs: up 1, down 2, up 1.5, etc.

Hi Silverbirch, Waterrat,

I am persevering even though the scales show UP not down ! This can be so frustrating !! Also the pantsometer feels thight. I have no idea what goes wrong but something does.

Oh well, I am still sticking it because if i let go of myself i willbe in much more trouble food wise.

Today excercise was about 1.h 20 mins jog. I can only time approximately because they were working on the elctricity maintenance oin the street so power was out for some time. AND I resolve AGAIN to keep the food good.

Waterrat : Good for you to have a vacation ! When are you planning to go ?
Silverbirch: Is the rebounder OK for your leg ??

rabbit

Hi Rabbit, we're leaving on next Thursday, the 21st. I'm very excited - and needing a true vacation. We went to visit family in January, but that was not even a change of weather! And not entirely relaxing either. :lol: My only concern on this trip is to keep my food intake under control. I know we'll be walking a lot, and I'm thinking of taking our resistance bands so the exercise part will be okay.

The after school danger zone
 

So I've noticed some trouble getting home from work (c.4 p.m.)--this was exactly the pattern that caused my weight gain last spring. I don't eat enough during the day, get home very hungry, eat quite a lot and then eat a dinner as well.

Today I ate a substantial breakfast (oatmeal with skim and walnuts), canned beans with vinaigrette and scallions for lunch, some hummus and crackers for snack, broiled bluefish for dinner. So that seemed to work out well and I'm certainly done eating for the day.

Tomorrow I can take leftover fish for lunch. I'll eat something at work before I start the afternoon errands and see if that helps.

My weight is up a bit but I'm still within my WW lifetime range (entering 6th month as lifetime!).

Take care--

Elana -- I know for myself that when I eat every 2.5 to 4 hours I don't get home ravenous and devour 4 dinners as I'm making it... I will often eat at 4PM some CC and a strawberries, make supper and eat a smallish supper because I'm not that hungry at 5:30 or 6... In my mind it's better to eat something planned than wait too long and devour everything in sight...

Today I had a very good food day... I did window washing cardio :lol:...

Originally Posted by Ilene:
In my mind it's better to eat something planned than wait too long and devour everything in sight...

Amen, Sistah! Too bad I've had to learn that lesson so many times already .. shoulda just listened to Ilene! :D

Meg -- I sometimes don't even listen to myself ;)

Well, you should - that Ilene's one smart :cookie: , you know!

:lol3:

hi all,

Ilene, Mea, Elana, I know what you meanming trap. I ususally fail by eating breakfast late, lunch late and then fall in a trap because I am starving at 5 pm and it is still 2 hours to dinner. So now I do plan and eat snacks so I won't eat to much at dinner, but it is still the most difficult part of it all. I eat the same as the rest of the family, and I tend to eat too much at dinner because I like it so well.

Food was Ok yesterday. Hope today will be OK as well. Cardio: 15 mins row, 30 mins jog, 15 mins bike. Also LBW.

Have a great day,
rabbit

WaterRat - we're in North Wales, in Snowdonia, just above the Menai Strait. Relax! The snow was only on the tops, it's all gone now and the weather is lovely. In early May it will be glorious. The bluebells will be shimmering and the larks will be singing. You will be able to see for miles. And you will be able to walk for miles. Hope you have a great time! Do PM me if you need any local info.

Rabbit - no, I suppose the rebounder isn't very good for my leg really. I'm not jumping up and down though, I'm just bouncing gently, keeping both feet on it. I'm trying to build myself up!

Food - poor is the best word for it. Could be much, much worse but I don't suppose I'm losing any weight at present. I'm just marking time, and that's fine for the moment.

Hi all,

Still sticking to plan, and still no budge in the scales.

Silverbirch- I believe the expression is you are "threading weight" like in swimming you are "treading water". In itself I think it a major achievement since you are limited in your excercise.
Keep it up !
rabbit

Thanks, Rabbit! You know, one day soon those scales of yours are going to give you a big surprise! A good one. Stick at it and you'll see. Hope you had a good celebratory day with DH.

I'm just back from the gymn (chest and triceps). No room to do floor exercises because they've added another elliptical trainer. And with 3 other people (and 3 carers standing around with them) there was no floor! I'll try to find some space at home later on - and that will be a challenge all of its own.

Food was poor yesterday. OK so far today as there has been much less stress. (There's still time though!) I'm wondering whether I should eat (good stuff) every two hours (rather than every 2.5 or 3) to stop myself nibbling when I get home. I can't really take the MrsJim approach and just not be at home.

Silver -- Definitely eat every 2 hours !! Some days I am so ravenous that's what I do and as the day wears on the time inbetween meals seems to get longer so that by the end of the day I'm at almost 4 hours... plus I can make it through the evening...

Today no exercise but food was spot on...

:lol: Wouldn't that be nice, sometimes, though? I'd definitely go for eating better more frequently, Silverbirch, than nibbling. Nibbling has a way of getting out of hand and careless. I hope you are feeling better, and the stress levels are down a bit.

Food and workouts have been spot on here for 6 days. Fridays seem to be my downfall :devil: but this weekend I won't have a chance to play "poor little me, left all alone". DH is staying in here, not playing hockey all Saturday evening and night, so I have no excuses. LOL, unless we actually GO OUT somewhere!

Mel

Hi all,

WOW Mel,maybe you could go out for skating or something, that would not be risky would it ?

I splurged yesterday on celebrating DH birthday, but will try again foodwise today. Excercise is OK, and pantsometer is maybe slightly less tight than the last time.

rabbit

Ilene's advice about frequent eating has been really helpful. I brought in more plain ff yogurt, sliced fruit and 100% bran cereal, kept things ready in the fridge. Key thing was to eat a snack before I left for home, and just drink a lot of water or iced green tea as soon as I got home.

For a few days now, my habits have been better. next week is school vacation--includes a family trip to NYC. I anticipate a lot of walking (hooray) and using resistance bands as a reasonable way to fit in strength workouts.

Any suggestions for good exercises with the bands?

Thanks.

Well I’ve certainly spent the past week completely out of focus on my eating but my exercise has been really doing well. Sunday I got to walk in the Komen Walk for the Cure 5K. This is my second year and the Komen Race is kind of a mile stone for me since I had so much trouble with my knees 2 years ago that I couldn’t even consider walking it. That race is one of the things that really hit home that I need to do something about my weight.

Also, I’m happy to report, that my new PT is a gem. He is new to the club and really everything I hoped for, gosh he makes me feel like the “teachers pet”. He comes back and tells me about articles he’s read and how we can apply the information to my workouts. He appreciates my getting on the web and researching and coming back with questions. He even sat down with me; made a list of the equipment I have at home and has been building my workouts around my own equipment so I can just workout AND he meets me at 5:30 am so I can get my workout done before the day starts. I’ve referred him to some of the women I work with and he is already picking up some additional clients from my referrals.

TTFN,

Evangeline -- Has our Mel turned into Melvin and moved to your city? :lol: .... I'm really happy that you've found someone you 'clicked' with...

Two good days, two bad days since Monday... Actually Sunday was bad too so that's 3 bad days!! I gotta get myself together... Tomorrow night I get together with my 2 wine drinking g/f 's and those nights are usually not pretty... So I have to stay focused for part of the day tomorrow, do the best I can Friday night, and Saturday is the new day...OYE...

So how are we doing? Memorial Day (and that's when our pool opens :faint: ) is NEXT week-end :eek: I even found a new bathing suit that I actually like.

How's the ole accountability?

I've on track, had 1 blip last week, but have touched a new all-time low on the scale. I'm going to do a caliper test to make sure it's fat and not muscle that's leaving!

Mel

The ole accountability is horrid for me I must get myself together... exercise is ok but food OYE :faint: not good... Thanks for bringing the thread back up Mel, it's a reality reminder!