Movement(s) today! Like Sisyphus pushing his boulder, I have moved my ticker/tracker up into the higher, less fatty atmosphere. Whew! Let's hope the gods are not punishing me and it stays there. The last time I moved the ticker/tracker was Dec 29. The boulder soon started rolling downhill, yet I pushed and pushed and hit that number three times again before I finally muscled that rock higher up the hill today. Patience is a virtue I must work harder to acquire.

Zumba--I am dismayed "seeing" you spend your money on things that don't work. I have me doubts about those pre-packaged LuckyK9 meals. The higher fat that I suspect is included in those boxes will likely wreak havoc on your system, especially if you're having trouble sticking to that regimen. Prolly less fat in Kibbles&Bits. Prolly less expensive, as well....But then again, I haven't researched it. Best of luck with finding something that works for you, even if it is a psychological trick.


Weekend coming up. Here's to hanging on to your resolve, Everyone!

Hi all. Thought I'd try to keep up with this forum too...as I do better with more support. I also follow the daily check-in on the general weightloss page.

I've been down this road before (more than once), the most recent (and most successful) was with 3FC. I recognize a few names (hi Guacamole and twinieten!) I'm a calorie counter, looking to lose 50 pounds or more.

I look forward to getting to know you all!

So - I have almost given up posting personals - if I don't catch them quick - I get behind.
But I, too, read them all!

I have to say - you guys are way way way too hard on yourselves. It makes me sad to see all of your struggles/challenges. Sometimes it even makes me downright angry that you talk about/to yourselves in such a derogatory manner. But it has made me aware that I do it, too, and I am striving desperately to stop.


I believe there are a few main reasons I have failed to maintain my previous losses are:
#1 I expect different results but continue to do the same thing over and over. When I get to my 'goal weight' I still look soft and flabby. Enter weights.

#2 Not sustainable: I can’t starve myself at 1100-1200 calories a day for long – I am just setting myself up for a major binge episode and then the guilt. And I am done with feeling guilty for eating or proud for starving.

#3 I am an emotional eater. How did I not know that? I put food in my mouth to avoid saying/feeling what I should. So no more eating my words. I am reading a great book that is showing me to recognize my relationship with food and get right with it.

Small confession: Yesterday was my one month mark and I am doing so well I didn't want to post and sound like I was 'bragging' or inadvertently make someone else feel down because they were struggling.
I wanted to share my success in a 'you can do it, too' attitude.

So - I have stayed on plan for one month and lost 14.4lbs scale weight. I lost fat without loss of lean muscle so I can maintain my metabolism. I eat about 1500 calories a day (never go below my BMR), with protein grams being equal to my desired body weight. Carbs are about equal in grams to protein and fiber is upwards of 30g. Fats are the smallest portion at roughly 35g. And- I still keep my sodium under 1500mg. Eventually - I will add calories (more protein) up to well over 2000 to build even more muscle. I do the NROLS 3x a week and occasionally very light cardio/walk on off days – just to get blood flow through the muscles.

I weigh and log all my foods (and my DH's) in mynetdiary program. Is it easy? Nope, but it's easier than it was 30 days ago. Is it fun? Sometimes, but not always. But it is easier and a heck of a lot more fun than being fat. Even better - I am NEVER hungry. Seriously. Sometimes I feel like I can't possibly eat anymore and I have to make myself have a snack before bed. And - best of all - this is sustainable. It is something I can continue to do because I'm not starving or punishing myself.

If you are hungry - truly tummy-growling hungry - then your body is telling you something. If you don't feed your body then over time - it will adapt and ramp down to preserve life - that's what it's supposed to do. Your metabolism gets nervous that you are going to stop giving it energy so it sends you a 'polite' little hunger pain to let you know that if you don't eat - it will act. It's like an early detection symptom. "Hey! Feed me - or I'll be forced to save you and operate on less fuel to keep you going." So you ignore the warnings and over time your metabolism becomes more efficient and eventually you have to exercise more and more just to maintain/increase the weight loss or cut food intake down (the dreaded plateau?). That just tells your metabolism - ACK - slow down – become even more efficient!

If anyone thinks they can't do it - look at bodybuilding sites with before/after pics of 40's ladies who lift weights. I expected them to be all bulging and such. Nope - more like the fitness models you see in magazines. Inspiring!

That is awesome 2FatCats!! And never feel like you are bragging...we all draw strength from other people's success

Okay, I am doing a bit better and feeling more relaxed about my trip. I made some plans that I will only see my sister on Mother's bday party and there will be so many people that I can totally ignore her She will stay a few more days but I just simply will stay away; I refuse to be pulled into her drama!

Scale is staying below 160, which makes me happy. I hated seeing 164 on that thing

I had to stop doing the slim fast plan, it gave me horrid tummy aches. So I am trying south beach. I had load of success on SB before.

Sending to all.

2FatCats - that is awesome news! Please always come here and tell us your successes - it makes the rest of us feel like we can do it too! When I first started dieting and working out a year ago, I started with 1500 calories and lifting weights 3 days a week. I went a month and didn't lose a pound. After much trial and error I discovered I can only eat 1200 calories a day if I want to lose. It stinks, but that's just how it is for my body. Even then, the weight loss is slow - about 1 pound a week, but I refuse to try to eat less than 1200 calories!

Last night went pretty well. According to my tracking, I ate (and drank) about 1800 calories - which would be maintenance for me. The appetizers I made went over well. We had homemade salsa and baked chips, and carrot chips, snap peas, broccoli and ranch dip made with greek yogurt and also grapes, strawberries and apple slices. A friend brought a huge chunk of brie, but I put it in the fridge and said we'd have it later - and later never came! Unfortunately, the scale was up 4 pounds for me this morning Not sure what's up with that, but I'm trying not to get too freaked out about it...although it made me want to just throw in the towel and eat doughnuts this morning, I admit. But I will stick with the program and hope it's just water retention from the wine or something. I'm hanging in there! No plans to do anything this weekend, so staying on track should be easier. Hope you all are having a wonderful Friday. I'm going to go hit the treadmill...

Just have time for a quick post before I have to get ready for work.

BE HEALTHY! BE GOOD! DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOU! REMEMBER YOU ARE WORTH IT!

Went for an hour long walk today. So far eating has been healthy. I do have to get started on the water soon.
H slept well with his new piece of equipment. I don't know how I'd do. I don't like strange things on or near me when I sleep. But H can sleep basically anywhere, anytime. So if he's not able to sleep you KNOW there's something wrong.

Gotta run. Hugs to you all! Keep up the egg-salent work!!!

Moondance!!

Newleaf - thanks for the welcome. Yes, those tomatoes are ours. We have a small garden and focus on heirlooms. There are Green Zebra's, Wild Everglades (the small cherries) and I forget which variety of red. The Golden Beet is also ours and is a favorite. The garden is pretty thin now as we are planning on moving but we'll throw a few store bought starts out there just to hold us over and make it look productive for potential home buyers.

Linda - glad to hear your foods went over well. Sorry to hear about the up-tick on the scale but I'm sure you can shake it off quickly.

Guacamole - sorry to hear about the son's flu and hope he recovers quickly. This morning I told DH to make sure he had his hand sanitizer in his truck and to USE IT often throughout the day because neither one of us need to get sick.

SeeMyFeet - I enjoy reading your posts. I hope your brain and intestines will come in to agreement!

Today was grocery shopping day. I kept my hand sanitizer in my shorts pocket and used it every few minutes because people were sniffling, snorting and coughing every where. Have a good menu planned for next week (dinners) but need to start eating more balanced during the day. It takes me a few weeks to get in the groove.

I know there's a few I missed but I did read all the posts and thank you all for the warm welcome. Hugs to those who are struggling and congrats to those who are doing great!

I hope everyone has a great day!

Sum~best of luck on your trip, sounds like you're in the right frame of mind.


2FatCats~Congrats on finding your program and thanks for the great post, loved your spiel about metabolism and not getting yourself into starvation mode, I totally believe that.

Potscrubber~I love the garden, ours is snow covered right now, haven't grown heirlooms except some tomatoes my father in law has seeds from tomatoes his father grew, pretty neat heirlooms.

MrsTryingAgain~glad to hear DH is doing well with his monitor, thanks for the motivation.

Zumba~pulling for you!

great group, sorry to all I missed, love reading everything

best to all

Started TOM today, so taking the day off, still working on getting that water in...

Good morning all,
Can't believe I was last to post and first this morning!

We watched Loopers last night, good movie, there was alot of shooting in one area, but it was good and a little thought provoking.

We're have treat lunch, then back to it, thawing and foggy here, hope enough of the snow melts before it gets cold again to not have an icy landscape.

Hope everyone has a great day/weekend

I just wanted to touch on the thing you said about being more hungry when you exercise. This is so true!! When I was doing Zumba full time and teaching two to three classes a day I wasn't rail thin....(in shape, but not as small as I should have been for someone that worked out like that)...winds up the more activity was making me RAVENOUS...I woudl come home from a night class and want to eat anything that wasn't nailed down and it was 8pm ...I would never tell anyone not to workout but I just think more people should be aware of this phenomenon..and not judge an instructor for having more junk in the trunk then you think she should have.....if she's teaching 11 hours a week she's probably hungry ...LOL

Good morning!

I sort of failed at my eating plan most of this week. So this weekend I have GOT to recalibrate. I can do this. I will NOT regain all that weight I lost. Last night I ended up having half of a frozen pizza, 2 glasses of wine, a little bag of cherry sours (since WHEN have I eaten candy??? Like never!) and a large brownie. Healthy, RIGHT? Ugh. Feel so gross right now. I'm throwing the leftovers out and starting fresh today. I need some fresh veggies. I LOVE kale, for example, but I don't have any at home. I can do this!

@potscrubber - I need to be more meticulous with the hand sanitizer, too, I work in a school and kids are ALWAYS sneezing/coughing on me. My immune system is pretty good right now, but I do NOT want to get the flu!

@Mrs.Trying - I find it SO hard to get on the water track. I love water and I can easily live on it, but I go for a long time without drinking a lot of time. It's habit because I work at a job where it's difficult to get to the bathroom, so I'm used to deliberately dehydrating myself so that I don't have to go very often. Must work on that somehow...

@LindaWW - probably just water weight. I know when I eat high-salty snacks my weight is WAY up the next day, especially combined with hormonal stuff or working out.

@2fatcats - good for you! You're doing awesome! That's not bragging, I LOVE to hear success stories. I find it very inspiring, especially when I feel like I'm failing!

@moondance - welcome! Love your name!

@seemyfeet - yay, movement!!!!

@omniwei - glad to hear you're doing better!

@zumbachica - I'm so sorry the atkins isn't working! I do find that the only way it works is without ANY cheating, and I mean any. And I know I find that just about impossible these days! I did Atkins some years back (maybe 10 years ago) and stuck to it for about a month. I did lose about 8-10 pounds at the time and I felt GREAT. But man, I didn't let a single bit of sugar or carb that wasn't vegetable pass my lips. Also, I didn't drink alcohol then at all. I wish I could go back to that, but realistically I know I can't sustain that lifestyle, especially with living much closer to my parents now than I did then (they invite me over for dinner a lot)

@twinieten - ahaha on work frustration! That's me after every faculty staff meeting! :0

Have a great Saturday!!!

Yesterday I just didn't feel like eating right, so I didn't. Today the scale is up 2 pounds. Hmmm, correlation?? Ugh. But I am putting my mind back into the game today.

Gosh darnit I typed out a whole big post and it got lost..what the hay??!! I coudln't possibly write all of that over....but i'll give you a brief synopsis..

Atkins still not working but I am PMS and it was only one real day that I didn't cheat *yesterday....so I cant expect to see a drop so soon...I am no stranger to atkins, did it a few other times over the years..one time i was so successful at it and kept the weight off for two years, it was great...I never felt and looked so good in my whole life. I don't think at this age I can recreate that but I'm going to atleast try. Yes, for the person (i quickly skimmed) that said i'm better off eating dog food you're probably right and believe me I seriously considered it. I am no fool, I know that Atkins induction isn't hte healthiest diet but that is why it was only meant to be done for two weeks.....I think I'm doing my body a greater disservice eating like an out of control rabied raccoon......but I do appreciate your input.

I wont' be getting to the gyn this weekend, its the first weekend that i had my kids in three weeks! YOunger child has a birthday party to go to tonight so I"ll be going on a "date" with older son. I already looked up the restaurant's menu last night so I know what I am going to order. Its korean food so I'm good with fish and vegetables, just have to stay away from the rice .....probably a ton of sodium but thats true for almost all restaurant food......

I hate this plateau that i"m on, that scale is STUCK and I need to see it go down just to have something to feel good about and to know that there is hope.....right now I am the first to admit that I don't care how I get there. Desperate women do desperate things....

Have a great weekend everybody!!!