Peach, hoping all goes well with your surgery.

Good luck with your surgery Peach!

Good morning, Bluesers! Everyone ready for another great on-plan day?

The scales were smiling at me this morning with a little loss. Looks like I will have some good news for our team with my official weigh-in on Monday. I weigh every morning, but only count Monday's weigh-in on my ticker. Also, the scales showed a drop in body fat percentage....from 51% to 50%...this usually means inches are coming off, which is very very exciting to me! Looks like the exercise is going to help me turn my metabolism back on. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I'm back on Southbeach and not straying off-plan, but I quit counting calories. However, I'm never hungry and I'm eating 3 meals and 3 snack a day and the scales are starting to move again, so I'm not too worried about how many calories I'm eating.

Peaches, we'll be thinking about you today and hoping everything goes well. Check-in when you can and let us know how you're doing. Until then, take it easy.

Vanessa, I really enjoyed the book. For those of us who've struggled with our weight for years, we tend to have a lot of "dieting" knowledge. There were some new things for me to learn in this book. The doctors do a great job of explaining why our body pulls us back to overeating the same junk over and over again. Also, they give some really practical information on how to change these tendencies. But, the book also goes into some detail about the physiological reactions in our body, which can get a little boring if you're not into this kind of stuff. Personally, I love it! I find the human body to be a miraculous creation.

Definitely not morning! I am not a morning person and I do good to get out of bed, get the kids off to school, pour a cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to start working. I'm trying to establish a routine of jumping on the treadmill right after I finish my workday....around 4ish. That way, I don't get involved in doing something else and "forget" to exercise.

Amberelise, we are here for you. You can do this!

I hope everyone has a great on-plan day!

GO BLUE!

Hi again, Bluesers! How about another question of the day? I really think it sparks some great discussion for our team. What do all of you think? Of course, please chime in if you have a great question for everyone.

Yesterday, we shared about the reasons we are fat...pretty heavy stuff, huh? But, I really think it is invaluable to each of us to really think about these kind of things so we can implement real changes in how we view ourselves and our overeating. This time, how about a lighter subject? Yesterday, Selina shared some great quotes with us. What are some of your favorite quotes that keep you going on this journey?

My favorite quote...'Quitters never win and winners never quit.'

It has taken me over a year to lose 30 pounds. I don't care how long it takes me to get to goal, I refuse to quit.

This is what I get for reading too fast... I thought you said you are firmly on the success team!

But of course, you are that, too!

I have to admit, I ate 2 honey buns last night. I don't know why really... I shouldn't have done it. I feel cruddy this morning. Luckily I have some red peppers already cut up and hummus in the fridge so I've planned ahead. Oh... the dinner I made last night was atrocious, so that probably didn't help when the honey buns were whispering my name at 9pm!

My period also started today. I'm totally bummed because I have an appt to have a cervical & uterine biopsy done on Monday and now I have to reschedule. Which means DH has to reschedule time off work... it's so annoying. I really want to get this taken care of so I can stop worrying about it.

We got snow last night, so I'm going to bundle the kiddos and go out for a winter wonderland walk.

Have a great, ON PLAN day Blue Team.

Good morning ladies!

I slept like a log last night. That stair climbing really took something out of me. When I jumped off of it I considered going to the treadmill and setting it at an incline for the last 8 minutes of my cardio, but I lazied out. I'll make sure I get my full 30 minutes of cardio in tonight - whatever that may be. Dropping it down a level is a good idea, really. I think my fear is that I will use the level 7 as a crutch, though, and never push myself to complete it at level 8. Why in the world am I not good at pushing myself?

We're doing abs and lower back exercises tonight after the cardio. You know, I've read that doing weights after cardio is good because your muscles are warmed up. But then, I read someone else say that it is NOT a good idea. What has everyone here heard?

I'm an after work exerciser (around 5 pm). If we do not drive to the gym DIRECTLY after work and if I go home first that's it for the night. I will not leave home to go to the gym.

I'm so proud that I kept it under my calorie limit last night. This is especially after I ate those chocolate covered blueberries during the day. Yesterday's success gives me a little more incentive to be very on plan today. I still know I'm going to have issues tonight. When it's starting to look grim I'll hop on here and see if there will be anyone on to talk me down from the ledge. Also, I've picked up a Grisham book to read and I'm hoping that I'll get absorbed into it tonight and won't think about food.

Rhonda - my favorite quote is one I've seen here on 3FC. Someone has it in their signature. "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels." I tell this to myself some nights when I have the binge urge. Of course, the way I've been binging lately I don't think it's been very successful, haha.

My weigh in day was Fridays, but I'm thinking about moving it to Mondays during this challenge. If anything, it will give me 2 extra days to be sure and be on plan and try to put together a loss. That should be some good motivation to get me through the weekend binge free.

Like Peach, we've got some COLD weather coming in through Chicago this weekend. I don't think anyone will be able to drag me outside. It would be a good weekend for WoW wouldn't it, Chelle?

I echo the well wishes for your surgery, Peach.

Again - sorry for all the typing. I type a little over 100 wpm (comes with the job territory) and I can be quite windy in person, too.

Okay, quick clear up: I am not having surgery...thankfully That is peach I think...I am the lettuce muncher but dont' get credit for surgery

We got SNOW and I am more excited then my kids...that's how it goes I guess. They are into the hot chocolate though, that's about it. My daughter is actually upset she doesn't get to go to school.

I only got an hour of exercise last night, and that was forcing myself, but today I feel better, TOM is on his way out, and the cramping is gone. I am going to get in at least 2 hours today, hopefully more. I am just craving yoga and pilates today, it's like my body just wants to stretch out and get strong, so I think I will start with cardio yoga and go from there.

Hey there! Nice to see you on here...just keep reading here and you'll have those posts soon enough. They like to talk here

Good morning Team!

It's cold here in Florida this morning. It's supposed to be down to 20 degrees tomorrow morning. I AM NOT AMUSED. Ya'll can keep your snow, I had enough of that in WV my first 28 years. The only white stuff I want to see on the ground is sand.

Vanessa - I checked YOU on a diet out of our library. I really enjoyed it and I've incorporated a lot of the knowledge into my South Beach plan. I've also toyed with calorie counting on the SBD, so my diet plan is really a composite of the things that make sense to me, I guess. I'm a morning exerciser. 6am every morning M-F I'm at the track for a 60 minute cardio session. We swicthed gyms this week to a closer one, so hopefully in the evenings I can get some strength training in too.


My current favorite quote comes from "Meet the Robinsons" - Keep moving forward. My progress is slow, but as long as I keep going I'll get there eventually.

Peach - Good luck with that surgery. Liquid diets can be a good boost. I once had such a severe sinus infection that I could only tolerate liquids, I lost 15 pounds in one week.

Time to go clean off my desk, I'm sure I'll be back shortly.

Absolutely!!! It has helped me read my body so well. I can think "OK, CCK should be kicking in about now. How do I feel?" It also reminds me what I am doing to my body when I eat sugars or fats or alcohol and that our bodies are equipped to handle small amounts, but not screaming tons of the stuff. After I read John's post, I was going to recommend it to him because he mentioned yo-yo dieting, and this book explains very well why that is so hard on a body and how to avoid it. Definite must read.


That's weird. We got nothing up here. I have to ask...what was the atrocious dinner you made. Don't you hate it when you put forth the effort and it turns to crap!?

I also have heard both, and it comes down to this for me. Every study is flawed; every researcher comes with his or her own bias; rarely do we see the actual study. We get a blurb in a newspaper; we get one inch of text in Shape or Fitness; editors start the short article with, "A new study from blah blah blah..." Unless I can read all of the controls, the participant variables and parameters, I will likely blow it off as a fad. To answer your question, I think both were right at the time that they did the study under the conditions which they controlled.

Personally, I would be miserable if I just started lifting without doing my cardio first. For ME, I prefer to be all sweaty and warm when I lift. If someone else says that they would rather lift and then do cardio, I assume that works for them.

Anna: I'll check out that book YOU: on a DIET when I can. Thanks!


I had a weird experience last night. I finished up 60 minutes on my recumbent bike and sat on the recliner to rest up. That was at about 8:30 to 9pm'ish. I then passed out and woke up around 1am, drug myself to bed and slept like a rock until 8am. I don't know if I was just majorly fatigued or what, but I actually feel really good today!

Regarding being a morning or evening exerciser...I'm much more of an evening person. I usually workout anytime from 7pm to midnight. The later I do it, the worse I feel in the morning, mainly because I have to be up around 8am, and if I exercise at midnight, I'm not getting to sleep until 2am or so. I really want to be a morning (and evening!) exerciser, but getting up early for work isn't something I can do. I've tried and I just hit the snooze button until it's time to get ready for work.

The very few times I have exercised in the morning, I've noticed that I sweat a lot more, and quicker, during the day. Even a small walk to my car will have me sweating or if I just stand for a minute or two I start feeling those pores opening.

Later!

John

Hello to all,
I am terrible at this posting thing. The rest of you are definately "on your game" in that area.

Rhonda- my favorite quote is the same as Amberelise's..."Nothing will taste as good as feeling thin feels" I actually said it out loud when we were at my DH's company party. Everyone was ordering desert and I didn't want any but my husband kept apologizing. I told him the quote.
2 more I really like are:
"Never trade what you want most for what you want at the moment"
"A year from now you may wish you had started today"

Nori- Good idea with the positive thinking! It's amazing what a difference our mindset has on our lives.

Amberelise- way to go with keeping up on your workouts! I have to hand it to you...you are definately motivated. Being honest with yourself and others is hard.

Vanessa- How was Billy Elliott? I am so jealous of you talking about your beach walks. I wish.

Frozen Peach- So sorry to hear about your surgery. I hope it all went well.

Cristina- I can relate to your snow induced frazzle...I also live in the icebox! -6 here today. Thank god for treadmills...

As far as why I'm fat,
I guess the quick answer would be that I put myself last. I make sure that my DH and kids have everything they need in life before I take care of me. That all changed on the first. This is my year. I still feel guilty though. It is expensive to be thin. Spaghetti and chips are so much cheaper and easier than fruits and veggies. I keep telling myself I'm worth it and I deserve it. Not only that, who will take care of them when I'm having that heartattack I'm bound to have if I don't change?

Morning or evening excercise?
Since the first I have done a little at both times. 9am is my first workout either on the treadmill or DVD and evening after dinner I do whichever I didn't do in the morning. In my mind I think it keeps my metabolism moving. I'm not sure if my theory is correct though.

gotta go for now,
Bren

Okay ladies/John. . . I know I'm chatty but work is slow again today. I just finished off my last big project. Mr. Man seems to be really crabby today. He's holed up in his office with the door shut. My other guys usually keep to themselves anyway, so all of my work always depends on Mr. Man. I hate days when Mr. Man is crabby - which lately has been 4 out of the 5 work days.

ANYHOO -

I'm putting together a plan of attack for tonight to battle the binge. Yes, folks, it's my own personal BATTLE OF THE BINGE. Anyway, I'm making a list of things to do when I feel like binging tonight while my fiance is at poker.

1.) I will be going to the gym directly after work. Usually a VERY HARD workout makes me less hungry afterwards. So, I will begin my binge battle by getting some hard core cardio in.

2.) I will read my book The Last Juror. I got the intro chapters out of the way last night so the good stuff should be kicking in tonight. Hopefully I will get absorbed in the book and it will take my mind off of munchies.

3.) If I start to get the munchies I will log on to 3FC and check in here. Then I'll run to the goals thread and get a little inspiration.

4.) If I must, I'll call my mom. I've called her every day this week, though, and I'm probably getting on her nerves.

5.) If Mom doesn't answer or I've run out of things to talk to her about - very possible - I will write my god mother a letter. I'm sure she would like to hear from me.

6.) If I do decide to eat a snack I will eat it. In order to avoid the binge I will take a shower directly after eating that one snack. That will give the binge urge time to pass. I will also brush my teeth.

7.) I will come back to 3FC if I'm still fighting the urge. I will re-read this post. I will remind myself how proud I was of my success yesterday.

8.) I will go to sleep early.

Okay, that is the plan. Yes, I feel good about this plan. Good stuff.

Amber - Try painting your nails. Hard to munch with wet polish. I've also been known to play video games that require both hands to keep from eating out of boredom. Unfortunately they frown on both of those things here at work, so that's when I tend to overeat most.