Hello new friends,

I am in search of camaraderie and support on my second walk on the beach. My first time was about 11 yrs ago. I lost 125lbs in 2yrs. However life happened and not for the good. So of course I resorted back to the one drug that provides me the most comfort.... FOOD!. Needless to say the weight is back and more. Finally, I think I am in a place mentally and spiritually where I can do this again. I have to. Next step for me is a wheel chair because I am in so much pain when I walk.

I have been on the beach this time for 17 days. I have finished phase 1 and I am easing slowing into phase 2. I have not been able to weigh because I don't have a working scale and sadly enough, I am not sure it will weigh me.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me jumping in and making myself at home. I really need the encouragement.

Betsy: The hotel turned off the electricity for one night. Apparently, someone plugged in some stuff that wasn't compatible with their board, so it fried some areas. So, they scheduled short-notice maintenance to fix it. We were supposed to get a note under our door about it. I guess that the housekeeper saw the note and tossed it before we got a chance to read it. We didn't get the note. My spouse is on a sleep apnea machine. It has an anti-asphixation valve, but it isn't designed to last a long time.

Welcome, Teena!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the new members and Happy Easter! I have just returned home from a weekend away with my partner and I am disgusted in myself. Due to a lack of planning and everything being closed during the public holidays, I have had a huge, massive, gargantuan, enormous EPIC FAIL for my diet.. We walked 4km yesterday, but over the weekend, I have eaten a meal of Chinese food, an all you can eat seafood buffet for dinner and a big warm breakfast withbacon, sausages, hash browns, all the good stuff. I feel so embarrassed. I feel like a complete failure, I cannot even stick to a diet for 3 months. I have to weigh in again in 2 days, and I feel sure I am going to have gained weight again. I just feel revolting.

WOW! Yesterday, I went and got the batteries for the scale and with much dread, I stepped on it. Much to my surprise, I am 50-60 lbs less then I thought I weighed. I guessed that over the last 17 days I had lost about 10-14 lbs based on my experience with this way of eating. But even with that I doubted my scales ability to read my weight. Not only did it not just show me the dreaded "error" msg I expected but I weigh a lot less then I thought. I had to step on it 3 times to make sure there was not mistake.

I am so excited that I will be able to see the weight loss in numbers. I know it sounds silly but after expecting to see 50 more lbs on the scale, I feel like I just lost 50 lbs.

Is there a place on the boards to journals?

Caldaw89: Don't think about it as an epic failure. You were on holiday and enjoyed some of the holiday type foods. It is ok. Today is a new day to start fresh.

Calda: I read several blogs. Many ladies are afraid of enjoying the holidays, for fear that they will gain weight that they will never lose. The trick is to make it part of the plan. Plan to gain a couple of pounds-then go back to the good eating habits and exercise. Average people do that. Why should we feel bad about going "off-plan" for a couple of days if they do? So long as you don't make several days or weeks out of going "off-plan", you're fine.

Thanks guys. Really, it was only 2 big meals over the course of a weekend.. I am going away again for a week soon, and have planned really far ahead, we are even staying at a place that allows us to cook for ourselves. We have 3 places that we will eat at that are not on the plan, but all contain fresh "real" food, the portions may be a little bigger, and at 2 of the places dessert is involved, but other than that, I will be sticking to my plan and so is my partner.

It is a real learning curve and I had been feeling really positive about the changes I had made, and I have been really quick to stamp on any thoughts that going off the plan is normal, etc, because making excuses for my poor lifestyle choices is what got me here in the first place, however we cant be perfect all the time, I guess. Last night I had a grilled chicken wrap for dinner, and had eaten nothing since breakfast because I was so full, so I am already back on my plan. I just hope the scales are kind to me tomorrow!

caldawg89

GOOD Luck sticking to that plan and working it for you
You can do IT

Good morning! Yesterday was a bomb as far as making sure I ate enough. It was such a cold rainy day that I wanted to curl up with a blanket and watch movies. Which I did for most of the morning with my DD. We kept talking about what we should make for breakfast but we are bored with the same ol'thing. So we never got around to making it. I went to the store and stocked up on fresh veggies, got some apples and some whole grain items that we can start introducing more of into our diet. Dinner was a combo of brown rice, mixed veggies and turkey.

The good news is I am down a lb since yesterday. It is so encouraging to see the numbers moving instead of going on blind faith that what you are doing is working.

I hope everyone has a blessed day.

Good morning everyone. It's supposed to be a clear weather here for the rest of the week so I can finally get outside and start the spring cleanup of the yard before it gets overtaken by the weeds. Not to mention that it's good exercise to be moving and bending a lot.

Teena -- Welcome. You'll get lots of support here and also get a chance to share about yourself. We don't limit ourselves to just eating right, so please feel free to share what you're comfortable with about yourself. And great news on finding out that you weigh less than you thought you did. I totally understand feeling like you lost 50 pounds!!!

Calda -- Do not feel like a failure. You have a weekend and didn't sabotage all of your weight loss efforts. Sabotaging them would be never getting back on plan. It has taken me a while to accept that I have to allow for the occasional meal/event/holiday/vacation/whatever that will involve eating off plan. But the difference is that I accept it will happen, accept that I'll probably gain a couple of pounds, but that I then go back to healthy eating. That will be the big difference for all of us in the long run. And it sounds like you've done a great job of planning for the week away.

The family was here for Easter yesterday -- long day, but we had a great time. The little guys were so excited and it's a family tradition that the eggs get hidden over and over and over. I've got to put all of the dishes away today and figure out what to do with the left over sweets, but other than that, I plan on just easing into the day.

Time for the gym. Hope everyone has a great day.

Just checking in to say I'm mostly OK, but while I was practicing walking on Saturday, I lost my balance and wrenched my back. So I'm sore, and more immobile than I'd like to be. =sigh=

Hi Betsy and thanks for the welcome.

I started today off in such a good mood. Very excited that I had lost a lb since Sunday and wanting to brag about it and the fact that I don't weigh as much as I thought. However, when I got to work, I felt like I really should keep it to myself. I am very over weight and I felt that if I told them I lost an estimate of 14-15 lbs over the last 3 weeks, they would look at me and think "yeah right!" or something similar. Funny how my little boost of confidence went downhill so fast. I left work feeling gloomy. It doesn't make me feel like giving up. In fact, I didn't even want comfort food to make me feel better. Just wish I had more people in my life that I felt able to share my accomplishments with.

Because I have so much weight to loose and the thought of it is overwhelming, I am breaking it down in to small increments of 25 lb goals. With the bigger goals of getting past each century marker.

Hi all just flying by to say hello and I'm ok just trying to rest today. Lots going on over the weekend.

My gma had to go to the ER a second time on Thursday. This time for shortness of breath. The doctor said her heart isn't working 100% and she needs to have an EKG done or something like that and some other tests. They wanted her to stay over night but she refused and said she was feeling fine. My mom is working on getting her an appt for the tests to be done through cardiologist. DH and I were there on Friday looking out for her while mom was at work and changing our brakes. That took up my entire weekend. The brakes had so many mishaps but we finally got them done and working great. My whole body is sore from all of our hard work and lack of sleep. Our first day we spent 12 hours on one side. We were given the wrong parts...it was a computer glitch when I ordered online but man after it was all said and done we saved close to $300 or a little more by doing it ourselves. The AC part came in on Saturday. I'm seriously contemplating scrounging up the money to pay a professional and return the part. DH thinks we can do it but we're giving ourselves a week to recoup from the brakes lol...We need to do some more research on the replacement and see how it goes. My gma offered to help pay to have it done so I'm gonna have DH look into gettta second opinion from the first place he went to after figuring out they would have ripped us off if they had done our brakes.

Anyway back to relaxing for me. Just wanted to let ya'll know I'm still alive...barely but I'm here!!

Hi everyone. I hope you had a good weekend and Easter.

I was way off plan all weekend. Not happy about it but not kicking myself for it either. Life happens. I thought about food a great deal over the weekend, and not just about what I was eating, but about what I should have been eating instead, and what I would be eating or not eating starting today. I've been eating too many carbs and sugar lately. Doing Weight Watchers I felt like I was able to do that. I tracked my points faithfully until Friday, but I wasn't losing weight. In theory we should be able to eat everything in moderation but that doesn't seem t be true for me, and I know it isn't for some of you either. I still believe we need to treat ourselves once in a while, but I've been doing that much too often. So, I decided that I need to cut out all sweets and all carbs for now, except those in veggies. So basically just eating protein and veggies, nuts and healthy oils and an occasional piece of fruit. This has worked for me before and usually is my go-to plan any time I try to lose weight. Eventually I think I'll be able to add in other foods but for now I think simple is best. So today I started and it's been great so far.

My BIL was moved out of ICU this weekend and was doing better but had a cardiac cath today and is having emergency coronary bypass surgery right now on at least 3 arteries. Of course DH is a mess wanting to be there with him. To make matters worse DH's son went to the ER this morning with chest pain and had a cardiac cath and two stents put in. He is doing fine now but of course DH is worried about him too. He's diabetic, has already had stents and he's only in his 40s This is the main reason I want to lose weight. My heart is fine and I don't have Diabetes YET and I really want to keep it that way.

Not doing personals tonight but I'm thinking of you all and reading all your posts. I will catch up with you all tomorrow.

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow.

Hi again everyone, I had my weigh in today and for the first time since starting this challenge, I have gained weight. It was only 800 grams, but I feel so ridiculously embarrassed. All the other ladies ate and drank their way through Easter and still managed to lose a little weight, I was the only one that gained. I have given myself every excuse and beration in the book, and it has made me have a really negative thought process about food, I am questioning why I am even bothering if I know the weight, almost a kilo can creep back on after only 3 days off my plan, that sort of thing. Feeling really low, I have to go back to the gym tomorrow and for the first time, I am not really excited because I feel like everyone knows I gained weight (they don't) or that they can just somehow tell I am almost a kilo heavier than I was on Thursday. I thought I had the mental side of things semi under control, obviously I don't