I've done workouts at all times of the day and evening. I usually try to go to the gym arround 11am. Right now I do a dvd wheneven both girls, or at least one is napping.

I like BL and Walk Away The Pounds the best of all my dvd's.

Elizabeth - an elliptical is a machine that you do cardio on, and it's SUPER easy on your joints because your feet are on the pedals the whole time. Here is the brand we use at the gym (Precor isthe brand) http://www.precor.com/cons/efx/533/.

Mom2-Beautiful family!!! Your husband looks like one of my husband's staff sgts.

Hump day Jamamom? YOU BET!!!!!!!!

To everyone - keep up the good work, and whatever you do, don't give up. I just read an article with Bob Greene (Oprah's trainer) that said most of the battle is believing you're worth it and you deserve it.

Good luck!!!

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be joining you all. A little bit about me. I am Vanessa I am 26, married with two little boys 2.5y and 9months. I am a student at night, working on my bookkeeping.
After my first son was born I weighed my highest of 261. I lost 63 pounds before conceiving my second son a year later. I gained the 63 pounds back to weigh 261 after my second was born too. 9 months later I have lost that 60 pounds and now I am working on the 50 pounds I gained when I got married.
I dont know how I lost that 60 pounds, breastfeeding, stress, a lot of summertime walking with a colicky baby.
I went and got a gym membership, I can go during the day and put my kids in the in house childminding/gymnasticky type of thing they have there. There are tons of classes for me to go to during the day and I have taped the schedule to my wall so I can glance at it and go! I go and see the personal trainer there on friday night.

I spent the day trying to find a sports bra. Heh, what a frustrating thing to do. Everywhere I went had sports bras for 100 pound girls with no boobs. Not a 200 pound mama with nursing boobs!
So, finally I went and ordered a really expensive one from the sears catalogue, but at least I am hoping that my boobs wont move an inch in it.

Hi everyone!!

Well I took my little one and grandmother out to dinner. I had a salad and some chicken breast. We came home and I went to work and did the BL workout. I think it was a little harder after a full day of work, but I am glad I put it in.

Welcome Vanessa - good job on joing the gym - hope you find some classes you like and let us know any pointers the trainer gives you.

Momto2 - your family is a great looking bunch

dgpebbles - let us know how the Jillian Michaels DVDs are - I was thinking of getting those next, but have not heard much on them - would be interested in someones view.

Here is a pic from Halloween 05 of my husband, myself and the little guy. I think this is my heaviest 300ish. I could not find a recnt picture, but will try to get one this weekend.

Take care - E

Allright, it's time for me to hunker down and do some serious work here!!!! I have decided to make mini goals instead of the long term ones (that always seem sooooo much harder to achieve).

For the next 7 days:

1.) Eat less fat and work more vegetables into my meals.
2.) MOVE!!!
3.) MOVE some more!!!
4.) Smile!
5.) Get my heart rate up more, for longer stints (see 2 & 3).
6.) Lose 1.5 pounds.

nymmy,
I remember the Oprah show had a really good bra that they were showing off unfortunately I couldn't remember the name and couldn't find it on the web sight but you might try looking on her web sight to find it. I'm just not good with searches. They said it was suppose to be really good for larger or full figured women and they said when you wear it you don't move at all. Of course I imagine if Oprah was wearing it, it probably cost a pretty penny.

Welcome to our group Vanessa! I hope your sports bra is great!

Eldubu, I know you can reach your goals! Good luck!

How is everyone? Things are going okay for me, but I need some new lunch ideas! I'm getting reaaaally tired of soup. Anyone have any ideas?

I usually eat lean cuisines for lunch or a pack of reduced fat peanut butter crackers. Another idea would be a lean ham sandwich or a salad with FF dressing.

I don't know about you but it is hard to think of healthy foods to eat when your brain has been programmed to eat "whatever".

I know this has nothing to do with dieting but does anyone think it is wrong to let an 11 1/2 year old pierce her belly button????? I think I just started WWIII with my mom for letting my daughter do it. The stress mothers have to endure. I think I have bigger battles to pick with her than a ring no one will see unless she wears a swimsuit and that will be a while. Thanks for letting me vent. Hope everyone is doing well.

Katrina

WOW!! I'd be upset too I'm sure. Especially if my DD had been bugging me to get it done and I'd already said not yet. I don't know if that's the case here. In the "big picture" it's not so huge...but still...I'd be upset at my Mom too.

I'm starting to go a little crazy being house bound for going on 2 weeks now. My DD's aren't getting much better. Poor things. At least I get to go out to a scrapbook cropping party on Saturday!!

I am starting the feel the effect of AF's upcoming arrival - early next week. I've always had cravings and moodiness in the week prior. And I tend to gain about 3 pounds in "water weight"? Anyone else do that? Doing good so far though.

Erin - you are beautiful!! I really like haveing a face with your name now! Thanks for sharing. Your little fellow is adorable as well! Are you just doing the BL dvd for your workouts? Are you following the 6 week plan that is included? I prefer going to the gym when my kids are healthy, but really like this BL dvd!!! What I've been doing so far is alternating my WATP 3 mile one day with the Low Intensity Cardio & and Sculpt and Strengthen (I think that's what it's called?) on the next day. I think I'm going to stick with doing it every other day even when I go back to the gym.

BTW - who won the 2 seasons of The Biggest Loser?

Katie - you probably don't want to know what I eat for lunch. Very unconventional. Sometimes yogurt and Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal...sometimes a pita/chicken sandwich...sometimes just odds and ends like a cheese stick, a few crackers, a few almonds, and feew slices of lunch meat...weird!

Loretta - Love your goal list!!! I agree, moving is the key for me too!

Vanessa - our kids are similar ages. My oldest just turned 2 in November and my youngest was born April 11th. My hat is off to you going to school. My DH is in his last year of nursing school. It is HARD. He is a Med/Surg Tech right now. I cannot help you on the boob/bra issues. Unfortunatly not a problem for me. Mine stay a B-cup all through pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Catherine - I know what you mean about feeling bad. I haven't "fallen off the wagon" YET, but the other day I had a very low calorie day and decided to eat a big oatmeal raisin cookie. I PHYSICALLY felt sick afterwards. Like it did to you - if tore up my stomach. So we learn!!! Very cool about the Ty picture!!

Well, I hear Livi messing with the dvd player and I need to go resue my BL dvd before she trashes it...

Hi to everyone else!! I'm so happy to be here!

-Nori

Ok, put in a Elmo movie!!

Sarah - I was meaning to ask you when you started your weight loss "journey"? Also how long do you stay on the Precor? I love using it at the gym too - usually alternate the preset workouts for 30 minutes.

I went to the gym yesterday, worked out for an hour on the epillitical machine. Then i walked for an hour with my friend. My butt hurts! heh, but it feels good too!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

So last night I went to my WW meeting. I LOST 2.8 POUNDS! However, I'm not updating my ticker yet, because my ticker is based off my weight on my home scale, and I weigh at home on Monday mornings. That way I'm consistent.

Momto2 - I started my weight loss journey in January of 2005. However, I have to admit I haven't been as dedicated as I should. I would work out, and I would stick to my WW points about 4 days out of the week. Then I would eat whatever I wanted all weekend, and not exercise. For the past 2 weeks I have been exercising consistently, and watching what I eat consistently. Part of why I weight at home on Mondays now is to keep myself in control on the weekends.

After my visit to the dr. and the news about my blood pressure being so unreasonably high, I've also been watching my sodium intake. I used to eat a Lean Cuisine for lunch every day, but I didn't realize how much sodium they had in them. So now I'll just eat 1 or 2 a week, and I'll select the meals with less sodium.

Oh, I almost forgot your question about the elliptical! On my gym nights, I do kind of a circuit thing. For instance, last night I did 20 mins on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the bike, 3 minutes on the stair stepper, another 10 minutes on the bike, and then 12 minutes on the treadmill. I try to mix things up, vary the resistance and speed, that way my body has to keep guessing to keep up.

Everyone - have a great weekend. I'll post an inspirational quote for us to think about the weekend next.

REMEMBER, NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS THIN FEELS.

NO MATTER WHAT RESTAURANT WE GO TO, NO MATTER WHAT TEMPTS US.

Great quote, Sarah! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on the weight loss too. You must be doing everything right since the scale doesn't lie! I weigh in on Mondays also...that way I'm accountable for the weekends...which according to my history are the hardest 2 days of my week. Dont' know why...since I'm a SAHM they really are no different than other days of the week. Just habits.

Stacye - Your before/during pics are inspirational!! Fantastic!! Since you mention it in your sig, I hope you don't mind me asking, when are you going to ttc again?

OK, the following is a ME post. I dont' want to bring negative energy here, but here it is... I'm feeling impatient with my weight loss. I usually lose faster. Guess I'm getting older. And it's been a good 3 years since I've really been watching closely what I eat and trying to drop weight. I've always been a somewhat consistant exerciser (until the past year), but not been able to change eating habits. Geez, yesterday was only day 21 and I've lost 10 pounds. I know that's great in my head, but I have these memories of losing 20-25 pounds in a month that are getting me down. I've always packed the weight I've lost back on and I know slow or at least consistant is the best and I've lost on average 3 pounds each week so far. I know AF, due in a few days, is making these thoughts worse...I'm anticipating a low or no weight loss this week because of bloating. I WILL JUST KEEP PLUGGING AWAY. There is a quote that has helped me out these few weeks: Never trade what you want in the moment for what you want the most.

Have a good day, ladies!