Morning all - thanks for letting me know guys are allowed. My internet connection punked out on me yesterday after I posted, but I got to read your comments this a.m. (while at work - ha ha, nothing like getting paid to be on the internet). Hope I don't annoy you with a bunch of questions, but haven't had a lot of time to browse the site - is there any place where 3FC has a list of the types of diets and their effectiveness? I did okay on Weight Watchers because of the accountability but was starving. I did great on Atkins for the first 20 lbs (which were probably all water weight) but then plateaued. I sort of dallied with South Beach and someone recommended to me a diet called the "You diet" which is supposedly more realistic in expectations. Any advice is appreciated. Hope to spend more time on the board and get myself up to speed during the coming week.

Good afternoon from across the pond!

It's been a good start to the week and I'm so far sticking quite happily to healthy foods. Started the day with 2 tbsp porrige oats made with water and four prunes. Porrige must rank as one of the best foods in the world: super healthy, filling and mega-cheap ... plus I love the taste! (Mind you, I'm half Scottish and so just a bit biased )

I start my new diet and fitness class on Thursday and plan to return to the University gym on my return at the start of the new semester. I'm also considering going swimming once a week (more if time and finances allow). Hopefully this will all contribute to me heading towards that elusive goal!

Hope you're all well and feeling positive at the start of this new week of possibilities!

Gooooood morning. Wyllen, the intro looks awesome! I missed the weekend threads; where's our rooster? And is he single?

Catherine, pretend I linked some of that sparkly dust stuff, and gl maintaining on vacation—it won't be due to luck, though, but to yourself making the luck.

Welcome Casey! Yeah, isn't hunger weird? I can finish a meal and feel full, then five minutes later hungry again, but if I get distracted, five minutes later full again. It's become a really bizarre exercise trying to learn to distinguish between real hunger or not. Maybe that's the "body" v. "head" hunger I've seen people discuss. Even if it's "head" hunger, it feels like it's in my tummy...but upon reflection it's not as growly and goes away quickly, less than 5 min.

Had first "noticer" a few days ago. It was my dad though, which I was ambivalent about for a bit then I decided he loves me and wants me to be happy. Also had a tiny clothes NSV with some jeans I bought over six months ago without trying them on...got them home and I could barely pull them up over my hips. Oh yeah, I never took them back. Yesterday out of curiosity yanked them on and they button and zip tight with a muffin top. Can't/Don't want to wear them yet but it was nice to think they will be wearable soonish. Also pre-period weight came off and then some, yay.

ALSO becoming very thrilled that math works for me! My calorie calculations are only off 200 cals a day for the month—I've lost weight as if I were consuming 200 calories fewer per day than I "really" am. However, this variation is less than 10% and any number of things could affect it. I am probably a bit more active than I said I was, and I may be overestimating calories on some food entries.

Given that a month of data is a fairly reliable amount, I'm actually going to try to increase my cal. minimum to 2200. HERE AT CRAZY AMY'S, WE'RE INSANE!! EVERYTHING MUST GO! SPIN THE WHEEL AND WIN A NEW SOFA SLEEPER! Honestly, though, I do want to stay between 1 and 2 pounds a week, and I've been around 2.5, even recently, not just the very start. Am I truly insane?

Catherine: Good luck and have a great time on your trip!

Good morning everyone!

to all the newcomers - both chicks and roosters!

Not so Jolly, we had another fella - Nathan - but he hasn't posted in a few. I hope we didn't scare him off! I hope you find support here! You might try WW again - they've changed the points a bit and I'm sure you'd get more than 35 pts a day now! My DH does at least. If you want to PM me I can send you the information on how many points you'd get. Just click 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community above and it'll take you to the main message board index where you can browse for other diet plan specific boards.

I was gone all weekend visiting my elderly aunts in Kansas City. I say "elderly" because they are in their 80's - but the two I spent lots of time with are as hearty and sharp as can be. Only problem is the think I'm skin and bones and must have food - constantly and in large quantities - and it must be fried, full-fat and have a substantial quantity of lard! How have they lived so long eating like that? Maybe they are just trying to kill off the younger relatives for some warped, little-old-lady reason that escapes me? All I know is the cheesecake and biscuits and gravy are sitting on my hips and taunting me! Thank God I only see these women once in a blue moon! I do need to go more often though - I have very few relatives and they won't live forever. But I swear I'm going to tell them next time that if they want me to keep coming up they have to stop shoving pizza at me!

Shockingly, I found that I missed the elliptical on Sunday morning! The aunt I stayed with actually did have a gazelle, but I couldn't get the hang of it. I did try to get some walking in, but it was too cold to do much. I also did some yoga stretches, but not enough to justify calling it exercise. Tired as I was, I did get up and get on the elliptical this morning. I did just over 20 minutes, but worked harder than before, exceeding .80 miles on the thing. One of the songs that came on was The Romantics "What I Like About You" - try keeping up with that one!

DH pi$$ed me off today - I'm working my big old butt off - got up to about a 21 minute mile - his remark: "I like to average about a 20 minute mile." I was up to a heart rate of 127 and remarked that I wasn't dead yet and he said "Well, that's probably the bottom of the cardiac rate you should be at." At which point I said, quite sweetly really, "You know Dear, <pant, pant> I know you don't mean anything by it, <pant, pant> but you REALLY aren't helping, <pant, pant> so SHUT THE UP!" I think I got my point across.

Sorry, I'm out of time to post more and said all I could about me anyway. I'll try to actually respond when I'm not so out of time or far behind!

Hope all my chickies and roosters are have a wonderful week!

Michelle - brrrr -20 sounds pretty darn cold to me I bet you are counting the days until you can make the move! I was going to say it would be lovely for somebody to come in and do all your packing for you, but then you would be done out of all that exercise. So, nope, it wouldn’t be lovely I bet with all that moving around you did over the weekend you will have burnt off a fair few lbs. I know I work up more of a sweat doing the hoovering than on my Gazelle. It makes housework that tiny bit enjoyable knowing it’s helping me get in shape lol.

Heather - checked out the change you made, it’s PERFECT How are you doing with the eating today, still struggling a little or getting more in control?

Patti - thanks for passing on the information from that website. I am glad 30 minutes is quite sufficient because I still can’t push myself to do any more than that on the Gazelle yet, my feet hurt too much.

Jill - glad I made you think more about the ‘old Jill’ comment and that you realised that you didn’t even think about tucking into the ice cream that was in the freezer

Ok, so it’s just your fingers that get tingly and only after over eating and then sleeping. Sounds like one for the medical books lol, what would you like to name your ailment

Catherine - good luck with staying OP in Banff. We’ve only just got you back and now you’re going again…..take care and hurry back

Not So Jolly - aww that’s a terribly sad nick name, but I think we all know where your head was at when you chose it. Let’s hope you find a diet that suits you and that you will soon be changing that nick name to Losing and Laughing by the way lol.

I am following the WW diet and I find it’s the very best for me. All the others seem too regimented. You said you had tried it but that you were starving all the time. Did you include a lot of vegetables into what you ate, what about some of the zero point foods you can eat like sugar free jelly (jello) If you didn’t, then maybe you could try it at least in the beginning until your tummy shrinks and you take less food to fill you up?

Russiandoll - a belated to you as well. I haven’t had opportunity to say hi yet, so hi. I am in not so sunny South Wales and have been on my current weight loss journey since May. I am doing well, but not quite so well as you it seems. on losing so much weight already, you will definitely hit your goal this year. Mind you looking at those pics you have a link to I have to say it doesn’t look like you need to lose anymore even at the weight you are now. You obviously carry it very well, lucky girl

Amy - great NSV with the jeans. Won’t be long until that muffin top will be gone and you’ll be in those jeans feeling slim and gorgeous

Lilion - You couldn’t get the hang of the Gazelle I wonder if it’s because you are so used to how the elliptical works and your legs want to do that action How cool that you missed exercising on it. I definitely hear the words life style change echoing in the air

Your aunts in Kansas sound amazing, and it’s funny how they insist on feeding you up. I agree with you though that if you are going to try to visit more regularly you will have to tell them to stop shoving that at you Either that or go on a special occasion when a pig out is allowed

Ok I’m off to the exercise thread now to add my minutes for today. I am back on track Talk to you all later.

Hugs,

Ammi

Amy -- I don't think it's a bad choice to up your cals 200... BUT, I also don't think that losing 2.5 pounds a week is a problem when you start over 300 pounds. It's still less than 1% of your overall body weight. I think most of the guidelines of 1-2 pounds/week are for smaller people.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that either choice would be okay.

You know, it really is kind of funny, in a Monty Python kind of way. For your amusement, here are some outtakes of my weekend:

The Cheesecake Conversation

Me: "No, No cheesecake for me!"

Aunt: "How about ice cream?"

Me: "No, just strawberries."

Aunt: "With ice cream?"

Me: "No, just plain."

Aunt: "With whipped cream?"

Me: "NO!"

Aunt: "But I got you cheesecake."

Me: "But – ok – fine – I'll take cheesecake."

Aunt: "With whipped cream?"

The Biscuit and Gravy Conversation

Me: "You know, earlier when you said you were making biscuits and gravy? You really shouldn't bother."

Aunt: "It's no bother."

Me: "Well, we really try not to eat sausage."

Aunt: "But it's link sausage."

Me: "That's still sausage."

Aunt: "But it's links."

Me: "Really, it's okay."

Aunt: "Well I have to cook you something."

Me: "Eggs! We'll have eggs."

Aunt: "With sausage?"

Me: <deep sigh> "Fine, whatever you like is fine."

The Vegetable Conversation

Aunt: "Pam (my cousin) made me make the vegetables just steamed. She wouldn't even let me put butter on them."

Me: <silently> "Oh Thank GOD for Pam!" <out loud> "That's fine."

Aunt: "Well here's some butter to put on them."

Me: "No thank you."

Aunt: "How about some Ranch Dressing?"

Thankfully, I won the vegetable war – but I think only because it was a different aunt! Why do I love these people?

Lilion -- Oh my goodness! My great grandmother was like that. Impossible to argue against them...

Would hiding the food on your plate be an option?

Bless their hearts - they've done this my whole life! And somehow THEY don't get that fat! They are little bitty 5'1" ladies that are plump, but not waddling huge like you'd think! And of course they all tell me how skinny I am! Yeah! Like my 235 lb butt would EVER qualify as skinny! They are exasperating, no doubt about it.

When I was 15 I stood up in a room full of them and announced that I loved them, but I was never coming to visit them again if they didn't stop trying to convert me to their religion. THAT worked. This weekend was my first visit in like three years and as I said, they are in their 80's, so I have to go more often! I think I simply will have to lay down the law and say I won't stay at their homes if they don't stop feeding fattening stuff. If they want to cook for us they'll have to make what we want to eat. Subtle doesn't work, as you can see!

What's bad is I know I could have had a single biscuit with jelly or something for breakfast, but I was hungry and what she made was biscuits and gravy. I could have had just the steamed veggies at the other aunts - but she made lasagne and pizza too and I did stop with one very small serving of that and fresh fruit salad for dessert so that one actually was okay. I either have to grow a backbone or learn better self control - maybe both, huh?

We used to resort to giving my great grandmother only a couple hours notice that we were coming so that she'd only have time to fix her hair and put in her teeth before we arrived and couldn't cook up a storm!

Well, this last weekend felt like one of the longest of my entire life. I got to the new place and very quickly realized that I would be absolutely miserable there. It was so rough, because I was so confused about my feelings. It look a long phone call with my step-mother to realize that I needed to look at each thing separately. There is the question of my relationship with my BF, and that is still unsure. I have been really unhappy, but I also learned some things at my last counseling session that made me look at things in a whole different way. I am not sure if and or how this will affect our relationship, but it does put things in a new light. Also, I realized I still had stronger feelings for him than I thought I did. Strong enough to last? I am not sure, but I am willing to give it a bit more time.

Then there was the separate issue of me living in the new place. I realized that I absolutely didn’t want to live there. I had made the choice with my head instead of my heart, and it was absolutely the wrong one. So, I packed my things up and I went back home. I will still need to work for the woman for the next month, but that is ok. I have learned an intensely valuable lesson about myself, which is that I need to feel comfortable and in control of my home environment or I will be miserable. Also, don’t rush into agreements and try to be as sure as possible of all the parameters before agreeing to anything. I had thought that about 10-12 hours of my time would cover the room because of my level of knowledge and experience. I normally make a good bit more than what I was asking for, and even that was too high for the owner of the place. She wanted more like 15 hours a week, which would have started to interfere with my ability to get done what I need to do. I thought I had been clear about the time I was going to give, but it wasn’t in writing and it got all muddled. Also, she started giving me a guilt trip for not working both weekend days and not being able to be there before 7pm on weeknights. I had explicitly told her that I wouldn’t be there until later because I had to work out. I could see this only getting messier and messier. I should have been more thorough, but in my desire to make a quick change I wasn’t as careful as I should have been. Now I am stuck working there for a month. It could be worse. I am not sure how things will go with my BF, but I will work on spending more time on figuring out what I want and need and seeing how best I can feel more fulfilled in my life.

On a happy note, I weighed in at the gym this morning to participate in their “Lose it at the Club” contest, and I was 279 fully dressed including shoes. That bodes well for a good weigh in this week!

I have those relatives/friends too!!

My grandmother will try to feed me cookies, cakes, beer exc and in the next sentence ask me why I don't lose weight "to attract a man" YIKES!!!!

Mari

Ericka, I'm sorry Amanda's are so large. Just remember, they're not uncommon. She'll be fine. Keep me posted and I promise, I think of you often. Good Job on buying smaller pants. That's so awesome!

Kymberly Way to go on a good start!! The gazelle is WONDERFUL. I love mine.


Jill, Great job getting right back on program. I have to sometimes make myself go to be
so I won't get into junk. When I am in it, it's completely compulsive, impulsive, whatever. Not good either way. Remember, drink your water....Don't know why it helps, but it does.


Casey, I prefer to plan my day the evening ahead on fitday.com. It of course doesn't always work that way, like today. I still don't know what we're having for dinner and it's in 2-3 hours. If I plan ahead, and plan menus for the week, I have much better control in what I eat. It's scary cuz today is Monday and the week is off to a bad start. I'm home, and just feeling crummy. I hope planning ahead can work for you. I'm sure others will give great alternatives too. It's amazing what we learn from each other.


Wyllenn I love the new opening. It's great.


Patti, Good for you on your tread mill for 30 minutes. That's great! I'm only at 20 minutes on the Gazelle, but what's cool, is when I first started, it was only 5 munutes and I was dyin' and that was with NO resistance. You're doing great especially with an owie knee.
Leg lifts are great for strengthening. ......I can't believe I 'm saying this, but I'm starting to
like exercise again.


Catherine, I'm gonna miss you. Have a great time and just do your very best.

Not So Jolly, Try the Discovery.com site under health challenge. They'll do meal plans etc for you and recommend a specific caloric intake. Some people do great with Weight Watcher's point system. I did awesome on Adkins too....lost 35 pounds in 3 weeks, but, it killed my intestines. I was sick for 6 weeks after that. Plain old fashion balanced meals without a lot of refined foods works best for me. Fitday.com is great too cuz it'll break things down into fats, carbs protein etc. It has reports to make sure you're also getting enough vitamins and minerals. Whatever works best for you.


Lilion, Husbands can be such dorks sometimes. (sorry roosters, but it's true)
You're right, he didn't mean anything bad by what he was saying. He just didn't get it.
I think, as I've said a million times before, you being on the elliptical is AWESOME!
Don't beat yourself up over your Aunt's. Yes, you could have done the single biscuit thing.....and I'm NO ONE to talk to about biscuits and gravy. The only thing better is fried potatoes and gravy. Cursed stuff, that gravy. Maybe for a treat, you could take stuff to cook for your Aunts'. (sorry, work for you, treat for that Aunts') Then you're in control of what's available. And, how often do your Aunts' get "taken care of"

I only have a minute left cuz I gotta figure out something for dinner and work on pillows for my grandsons. They still aren't finished. When I went for blood work this afternoon, I hopped on the scale......I lost 8 pounds since 1/1/07. I'm very happy about it. TTFN

Lilion - thanks for sharing snippits of those conversations, you are right, it was like something from Monty Python They sound like adorable ladies though, so I hope you do get to visit them more often. I am sure you will either learn ways to stay strong or get them to stop tempting you

Heather - that's too funny about how you didn't give your great grandmother enough notice before visits for her to cook up a storm. Just goes to show that there are definitely ways and means to getting out of being fed too much naughty food

Mari - I think we all have relatives that feed you up and then ask you why you aren't dieting Daft aren't they!

Nancy - I am sorry to hear that you realised you really didn't want to move into the new place and that the whole thing ended up kind of messed up. Well I am sure your BF was happy to have you come back home Have you told him how you are feeling or are you keeping it to yourself until you have chance to examine those feelings a bit more. Whatever happens I am sure you will do what's right for you

Great news about your weigh in, can't wait to hear how your official WI goes

Sandy - WOW 8 lbs lost since the 1st, that is absolutely brilliant You must be feeling wonderful and so proud of yourself!!

I better go now, but I am sure I will pop back before bed time lol.

Hugs,

Ammi

Futurediva: Good luck in your work contest. I will be rooting for you to be the "Biggest Looser".

Wyllen: Thank you so much for taking over the job of new moderator for us. I truly appreciate it. I know without you we can't have much of a forum here. You already are doing s super job!

Ammi: Hi sweetie. Glad to see you back. Our little super star and getting smaller all the time!

Jilly: You are okay kiddo. You will do fine. Don't worry about the old Jill showing up. You have already made so many positive changes. Keep your head up.

Patty: I'm proud of you! 30 minutes on the treadmill despite a painful leg. Great job. Don't over do it though.

Luminous: Great NSV about your Jeans!

Lilion: I was cracking up about your talk with hubby. I had a similar talk with my hubby the other eve. I try so hard to ride my bike and I'm so very proud of myself for going from 1/2 mile daily to today I up it to 3 miles daily. My DH decided to "join in" I'm thrilled for that but he jumps on and does 5 miles in no time at all and it takes me 13 minutes to do 2 and 1/2 miles. LOL.

Nancy: Congrats on the good weigh in. I think going back home is a good idea. You don't want to make too many changes at once. I hope you and your BF can work things out and your BF will change his ways. Good luck honey.

Okay. For me today, I am op again! I had an orthodontist appointment this morning for band changing and tightening wires etc. I got my bands changed to blue and yellow to root on the San Diego Chargers . I am a Oakland Raiders girl all my life but, they are out of it this year so, I will root for the Chargers. So, I am sporting yellow and Dark Blue bands on my braces now. I got great compliments from the ortho and from the assistant about how white and clean my teeth look on and around the braces. So I am doing a good job there. After the dentist appointment I went and paid and signed up for 12 sessions of the water aerobic workouts. I will be swimming Mondays, except today, Wednesdays and Fridays in addition to my daily workouts at home on the bike, sit ups and weights. I am really excited because I have been exercising for 7 days now for January (haven't ridden the bike yet today) and I am already at 163 minutes out of my 300 minute goal. Lots to do with the support I get here. Thank you ladies and Notso Jolly gentlemen!

Blessings to you all my friends,
Annie