2bthin - I am soooo sorry I didn't get to get here yesterday - I kept trying and my time kept getting taken away from me.....
1) Regarding soda - make the switch to either Diet Coke or Coke Zero (it even comes in Cherry Coke Zero)...you can still have the caffeine and none of the calories - I still have about 2/day. I very much enjoy soda...but you really do need to make the switch on this product. In a day or two's time you won't notice the difference in taste.
2) You do need to be more positive about your attitude...although I think you have already figured this out... YOU can do this. WE are just here to help you on your path....yes, your path to find how this will work for you. Not one single person on this message board does the same exact thing as someone else. We all formulate our own plans that work for us. That is the only reason they work for us. Because we tailor them to meet our needs.
3) Sit down with a sheet of paper and pen and write down your true goals. Also post them here and let's update on them once a week...or heck even daily. YOu need a list that you are accountable to. You admit you need accountability...so make it for yourself. I (and hopefully everyone else around here) will come back and check your progress - but you have to do it to. Check in with daily updates on your progress...what goals you have hit, what you have missed. For example, if your goal is to have 4 Diet sodas a day and you end up having 5 diet sodas and one real soda - you need to come here and post about it. Tell us (and yourself) how you feel about this. Also figure out how you can fix this. For me, to lose the weight, I had to be 100% accountable to my plan the entire time. Only now, that most of the weight is gone, can I splurge. Yes, it took me 5 months to lose the first 50lbs, and some days just sucked....but today it was all worth it. I generally am more happy every single day since losing the weight than I ever was in the years before. YOU CAN DO THIS. YOU & YOUR DH & YOUR KIDS DESERVE THIS!!!
3) Post your ticker and your height. I'm not sure why you don't do this. I've always wondered...but you know what - for me it has been part of the accountability. Yes, I still weigh myself every single day. This helps me monitor the ups and downs. I can almost tell you how much I will weigh each day and I also can tell when the scale is going to go down a pound. I require for a pound to be lost 2 days in a row before I post it to my ticker. I also never put my ticker up if my scale goes up for a day or two or three...the reason? Because I know working out, water weight, TOM, eating one high sodium meal - can all effect what the scale says for a couple of days. I just then eat cleaner for a couple of days and all that water weight (that is really all an increase in the scale every is for me) is gone in a day or so and the scale is back to reading how it should and I'm back on the losing track. Basically - you can get down because of the fluctuations - you just have to learn how they work!
4) Set up a profile at
www.thedailyplate.com and track your actual food intake. Be honest about it. It's the only way that you will truly be able to account for all of your calories, fat, sodium, protein, and fiber intake. Keeping sodium low and fiber high was key for me - it might be able to work for you too! I prefer thedailyplate.com to fitday....just personal preference, but I believe TDP has more name brand products.
5) I don't do a lot of fruits and veggies either. I try - but have failed miserably at it. I try to eat at least one a day...it just doesn't happen most days for me. I love salads - but really only love them when I get them at restaurants. I love bananas and apples and grapes and pineapple - but tend to favor other items like fiber one bars over them. Part of it is me just being too lazy to cut up melons - other is that those fiber one bars just taste sooo much better. Then again, some days I eat a couple of apples. It's all in putting forth the effort to do this - it is not easy for me, so I know how difficult it seems. Yes - eating cleaner would be better - but honestly - just getting the weight off is the goal....I eat a lot better than I ever did - so I'm fairly happy with all that and figure that over time, I will figure out the whole fruit and vegetable thing - when I'm ready!
6) Below is a copy of an email I sent a friend who asked me about how I lost the weight. These are all my tricks. They have all changed over the time of my weight loss. I've changed what I once thought to be healthy habits and made them even healthier over time. I hope this can help you.
Diet - I basically eat about 1400 calories/day, I don't track fat grams, but I do track sodium and try to keep it below 2400mg, i keep my protein at about 50 grams, and my fiber between 40-80 grams/day. I suggest starting at around 25 grams with the fiber and working your way up over a couple of weeks...it can be tough on the digestive system and send you to the bathroom with cramps....
I eat something about every 2 hours and log all my intake on
www.thedailyplate.com - i also use
www.3fatchicks.com/forums as they have tons of good info that you can find and advice/support, etc...especially for people like you who are having tough times....that website is where I have found most of my ideas/thoughts on weightloss and exercise...it is something I use every single day. I love it.
Here are some of the things I eat regularly:
*Gnu Flavor & Fiber bars (130-150 calories, 12 grams fiber, all natural, flavored with fruit and fruit juices, can be found online at
www.gnufoods.com or at Vitamin Shoppe in Jensen or Vero)
*Fiber One Oats & Chocolate bars (they also come in caramel and peanut butter, and apple cinnamon is on its way onto store shelves this month) - they are sweet and more like a candy bar if you ask me....but they have 140 calories and 9 grams of fiber....basically, if something is high in fiber, I'll eat it
*Cereals - Kashi Vive, Good Friends, Oats and Honey - they are like cheerios, Fiber One Cereals and All Bran Cereals - as long as they have more than 5 grams of fiber!
*Eggs and Egg Beaters - I use the egg beaters usually to be cautious of cholesterol - but love to have real eggs every once in awhile....they are a great source of protein - but I think you said you don't like them.
*Cheeses - another good source of protein, but I stick to Laughing Cow Light spreadable cheese wedges (only 35 calories and I have them on Melba toasts), Mini Babybel light - they are round and come wrapped in wax and only 50 calories, or any of the light cheeses available - except no american cause it is really high in sodium - swiss is generally lowest in this category, but provolone, muenster, cheddar, can all be found in light and lower sodium varieties (low sodium for cheese is generally less than 150mg/serving)
*I use slim fast shakes for breakfast - but you could probably come up with something similar and more natural if you thought about it - they are 190 calories, 5 grams fiber, 5 grams protein.
*I love pasta - but only eat high fiber pasta that I buy online at
www.fibergourmet.com - they are really great, come in flavors, and if you get the nests, they are made so that 2 nests are one serving...so no need to worry about measuring - this pasta is great tasting, has 18-21 grams of fiber per 2 oz. serving, and I think about 150 calories - which is far less than regular white pasta or wheat pasta. I use either a tomato sauce that is low in sodium (here about 450mg sodium) or a light alfredo.....although I prefer a good tomato sauce
*Turkey and Swiss sandwiches - I use Double Fiber breads - Natures Own makes 2 different ones, one with 50 calories/slice and 5 grams of fiber/slice, one with 100 calories/slice and 7 grams of fiber/slice....the 100 calorie bread is much heartier.....be cautious on lunch meats and look for lower sodium ones - I like Boars Head Honey Maple Turkey...you can also have peanut butter and jelly - but I use natural pb and jellies.
If you are in the mood for pizza, I don't normally recommend frozen foods cause they are high in sodium, but *South Beach Diet has a line of pizzas that aren't bad and are very high in fiber, low in calories and about 600mg sodium...I like them once in awhile.
*Alternative Bagels from
www.westernbagel.com - sometimes you can find these in Publix Bakery - rarely though - I pair them with Weight Watchers Cream Cheese which comes in individual serving sizes and has 3 or 4 grams of fiber in it.
*Fiber One Yogurt - haha - fiber + low cal yogurt = yum!
*South Beach Diet Pudding cups - basically 60 calories sugar free pudding cups with fiber in them.
Okay - I seriously eat a ton of different stuff...but these are my basics.....haha
*****Okay - get back with me -
we are all here for you, but me especially - I want to see you do this!!!**********
P.S. Get on that going to the doctor thing - I saw that you posted about it and just do what you have to do to get on track!
And I also plan to drink more water. I'm not particularly into soda, so I don't have a problem with that, but I don't drink as much water as I should, so I really need to up my intake ... in fact, sometimes I can all day without having ANY (except for in tea/coffee)! I know that's not good for me, so I'm trying to drink more.
I KNOW I need to start moving more, and I WILL get there, I promise! I'm at the stage where I'm actually THINKING about it now, which believe me, if you knew me, you'd realise that it most definitely a step in the right direction!! I have a pedometer which I bought a couple of years ago (and acutally used!!), I need to dig it out from its resting place and get it clipped on again!
I'm new to this thread too, I came across it a couple of days ago and seems like a good place to be. I'm not new to 3FC, but it's been a long time since I've been around, and right now I feel like it's the right time for me to get started on my weightloss problem. We all need as much support and encouragement that we can get, and hopefully we'll succeed! I look forward to getting to know you.
May be in a couple of months .... 