Hope everyone on the Blue Team had a great day today. My eating was a bit off when I decided to get a Chicken Quesadilla at Cheddars, instead of a salad...but oh well, no use pondering on it forever. I just finished 60 minutes on the bike and I'm going to try for another 30...maybe some Walk Away The Pounds also.


Jordan: Wow! For your "second issue"...it's like you reached inside my mind and pulled out all the things I feel, put them in words and then posted them. That's amazingly exactly how I feel every second of every day. I could literally copy and paste that into my profile (not that that's something one would put into their profile). Thank you so much for posting that...it was amazing! Also, I've never heard of "goldfish syndrome" before, but I like it...


Take care everyone!

John

AmberD...wtg on the loss. Hey, a loss is a loss no matter how big or small...they all add up in the end

Hi to everyone

Just dropping by to say I did a 35 minute walk to add to the previous 60 mns. heading over to add it to the challenge thread.

Good morning everyone! I posted, my weight and I am down, so yippee!! We are off to our huge new, multi-billion dollar library today, and I am so excited.

When I first starting cal counting, I tried Fit Day, and I did not like it at all. I do so much cooking from scratch that I needed a good place to enter recipes. I like http://www.calorie-count.com/ much better. I think it moves more quickly. Anyway, I found 90 cals for a tall and 130 for a grande.

Jordan, I want you to take a moment and feel really proud of yourself for the weight you lost already. At your height and weight, you are closing in on not having a BMI that classifies you as overweight. Don't hide the healthy food; you should hope that people are watching when you are at Whole Foods or when you run. You could be the inspiration that someone needs.

I don't pray, but I have every confidence that you will plan well and do splendidly.


Off the to the 'brary.

Alana Jo, I was afraid of this. I've noticed that your blogs were getting a little skimpy on the food and exercise portion (but, I do love the pictures!) And, you've been a bit quiet on the boards. I'm so very sorry to hear that you're struggling. I've been on the boards for over a year now and I've seen this happen to several people on the 100lb club....Mrs.Quadcrew, Royalsfan and, just recently, HelloKitty. And, we've seen a few come back to us...months later...and they've gained a lot or all of their weight back and they are struggling to get restarted. Don't let this happen to you!! You have made such awesome improvements in your life and have improved the lives of your husband and those two precious boys by making their wife and Mommy healthier. And, honestly, aren't you a happier person to be around now? I know that I'm much more pleasant when I've gotten myself under control and going down the right path.

Our motivation and willpower come and go. We don't always feel like doing this. It all comes down to committment. I know that I have to re-new that committment every single day. A lot of times, we just have to fake-it until the feelings come back. We have to make ourselves go through the motions and not have an option of quitting.

Please go into the goal threads and re-read Rockinrobin, Lisamarie and Glory87's stories. Their stories always give me a little extra push to keep going.
You can do this. You don't have to be another statistic. Keep going.

Hi ladies/John.

Well, I have good news and bad news. Which first? Let's see. . .

Okay, we'll start with the bad news. I weighed in this morning and I'm at 144.5!!! My starting weight for this challenge was 143. Last Friday I was down to 142.

The factors.

1.) The binging. I wasn't great over the weekend. I had a major binge on Sunday. I had major binging on Monday AND I went out for dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate my blood clot being gone. I also binged on Tuesday. I don't think last Friday & Saturday were all that great, either.

2.) TOM.

3.) I've been doing a TON of weight lifting this week and last.

So, I'm going to do my official weigh in on Monday morning and hope things will go down. I would feel terrible if I posted a gain on the very first week. Uuugh.

Now for the good news. I binged last night. So much for good news, right? But, IT IS. I binged on VEGETABLES!!! I had an extra 2 cups of veggies. I came in 100 calories over where I wanted to be, but it was still perfectly within a good calorie weight loss range. So, that coupled with a VERY good workout makes me feel very positive about yesterday. My past two days have been great and today will be great, too.

Here's hoping Monday will have some results. And, if not, it's just a good wake-up call for the very beginning of the challenge. Admitting my binging problem to myself and to all of you has been great motivation to keep me from doing it. I had a real urge to binge last night around 10 pm. So, I went to bed. I'm really proud of myself that I battled the binge.

Rhonda - You wrote such great advice to Alana Jo. I can't think of anything else to add other than we're all here pulling for you Alana Jo. You can do it. Don't give up!!!!

Good morning, Bluesers...and TGIF! Hi, Diva!

I'm running a bit behind today. Hubby got up with the girls this morning and let me sleep in. He's such a sweetie. I was feeling a bit headachey and had an acid stomach. But, I'm feeling okay now. Anybody here a little worried about the weekend? These are my hardest times staying on-plan. My schedule gets tossed around and the family usually eats one meal at a restaurant. I need to plan plan plan. Afterall, Monday is my weigh-in and I don't want to let my team down.


Amberelise, I would love to have a Blue team daily challenge. One of the teams had some kind of Bingo thing for the last challenge. I'm not sure what that was all about, but maybe we could do something like that? I don't know about everyone else, but my weight will not drop if I don't start doing some intense exercise. And, I'm glad you like the daily questions I've been putting out here for us. If anyone has a question they would like to put out here for the team, please do so. I don't want to put myself out there as heading up this thread. We already have an awesome leader (Thanks, Chellez!) But, I do want this to be an active supportive thread that, hopefully, doesn't die out by the end of the challenge. I need you guys!

Congratulations!

Vanessa, I will pray for you. Enjoy your trip!

Congratulations!
We're proud of you, too! Technically, this challenge is about weight loss. But, I'm sure everyone will agree that weight loss takes a back seat to making such positive changes in our lives.


One of our Bluesers (Thanks, Purple!) inspired me to go back and read my Jillian Michael's book that Hubby got me for Christmas. I didn't ask for the book as I've read just about every diet book out there...and really, how much new information can there really be? But, he knows that I'm a fan of Jillian, so he decided to give me the book. I had skipped over the whole calorie calculation/BMI portion of the book, but Purple inspired me to check it out. Well, I've done my calculations and, starting Monday, I'm going to try it out. Hopefully, I can stop this 'slow-as-a-turtle' weight loss and get a consistent 2-3 pound weekly loss. Of course, I have to ramp up the exercise part of things or nothing will happen.

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day!

GO BLUE!

Okay Rhonda, I'll bite and pose today's question.

Bluesers - What is your biggest fear once you lose the weight?

For me, I'm fearful that I won't maintain. I'm afraid that I'll tell myself that I'm thin now so why not have that huge plate of fettucine alfredo and top it off with some cheesecake. Not only that, I'll sneak in lots of treats because, hey, I earned them. So, my biggest fear is that I'll reach my goal and be super proud of myself. Then I'll gain weight back and be more disappointed in myself than ever. I'm so fearful of letting myself down yet again. If I never reach my goal I'll never let myself down by gaining the weight back.

Then again, won't I have let myself down by never reaching the goal?

My realistic goal weight fear is that I won't maintain too. However, I also have a completely unfounded fear, that it will cause problems between DH and I. I'm working out, eating right, taking charge of my health, and he's still sitting on the couch watching movies. I get so pissed at him sometimes, because he has high blood pressure and high stress/anxiety, but he won't do anything to control it except meds. A little exercise would go a loooong way to helping. I sometimes think to myself "when you die of a heart attack, I'm finding me a healthy boytoy and spending your life insurance on personal trainers". I hate that I have that attitude, but I've tried to be supportive of him, cajole him, beg him, threaten him, but nothing works to get him moving. At least he's willing to diet, although he's doing Atkins, and I'm doing South Beach. And he's very supportive of my working out, so it's not sabotage, it's just lazy.

I have been overweight since I was 9. Sometimes, it was only 20-25 pounds, but I've never seen my body without a lot of fat. I'm afraid that when I reach goal, I'm going to be disappointed with how my body looks. I dream of wearing cute halter top sundresses and a sexy lingerie from VS. The reality is that I'm now 43 years old and I've not been kind to my body. I'll never have a flat toned stomach, the girls will never be perky again (sorry if TMI, John!) and I'll probably still have a bit of sag around my knees and my bum might still droop...and, my "wings' on the arms might not ever go away.

So, I have to constantly remind myself that I'm also doing this for my health. And, I'll just work on becoming the best 'Me" I can be.

Just wanted to post a quick little ditty before I head off to Subway for lunch (notice I didn't say !)



While its only during the daytime for right now... I have indeed returned from my 3 day hiatus of painting moving and sweating.

I'll post up more stuff after lunch.... be back at 12:30!

CHELLE -- WE"VE MISSED YOU!!!! I was going to post a shout-out last nite but i knew if you were able to get to us you would be posting, no doubt, so i just waited.....yea!!

Rhonda, thank you for that mini-lecture about how people fade away & we all know why. Not just for her, but we all needed to be reminded to stay strong and accountable. It is true that motivation and desire will come and go, but you just have to go on auto pilot and do it like a job.

Rhonda, you & I are the same age, height & weight. I am lifting weight in hopes that everything you listed won't be my reality as well. Want to join me? Im' sure JM has some dumbbell routines in her book you could start, right? It's not just the cardio!

Amberelise - I have BEEN that person. Only I didn't wait til I got to goal, I had that same Olive Garden conversation with myself after I was close to a 40lb loss. Figuring, hey, I've got a weight lifting engine burning in my belly. Even worse, it seems you don't get caught cheating right away - it takes 4 or 5 days - and by then you are sooo mentally disconencted from plan! ugh So I have to avoid that thinking at all times & long before goal!!

AmberElise - I am also up. I will also claim that it is weight lifting and I hope gone by Monday. I am up 4 lbs, so it seems about right. I think I can drop 2 lbs of water by tomorrow and another 2 by Monday.

As for a team challenge - honestly, I never got that bingo thing. I tried to read it and follow it, but it was too much to keep up with. I need something really SIMPLE or I can't work it into my day. The trip thing works just great for me. How about a blue team challenge exercise ticker? We could all keep an upward running tally of our exercise minutes and all put a little note about it in our siggys maybe. Just a thought.

Have a great day everyone. Chelle, do tell ALL!!!!! And any more pix yet?

Quick post here - I'm at work today and busy.

My last chance 2 hour workout must have done the trick! I'm down 1.8 pounds.

Will be back in the evening after I'm off...

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

I was totally craving McDonald's today. Then I remembered what someone here said, it's a product, it's not food. So I said no. And ate what I could find in the house that was even semi-healthy... pita chips, half an orange, half an apple (my son has this annoying habit of nibbling one bite and putting stuff back in the fruit bowl). I'm hungry again 2 hours later b/c that's not really lunch but I'm not going back out until late tonight so I'll find something decent, maybe yogurt and more pita chips. I'm obsessed with pita chips and DH took the rest of the homemade hummus to work today. Evil DH.

I weighed myself this morning, one day early, and no change... dang. Binging on sweets and AF arriving and my hands are swollen so I know I'm retaining fluid. I'm trying to drink a lot of water and get that fluid out so I can get a more accurate measurement. At least a pound? Come on, not so much to ask... Denise Austin and I have been like *this* all week, I've gotta have something to show for it!

HOpe everyone has a great weekend & to those (like me) affected by the zero temperatures tomorrow - bundle up!!!