Good Evening ladies...Bad bad bad day for me...the pizza got the best of me. I started my day at my gyno because of my PCOS and she was so proud of my weight loss, and my blood pressure is almost normal. That was the good news. I went out to lunch with my mom and was so good...no dessert or anything. Well than off to the Eye doctor because my boyfriend was telling me that I couldn't drive his car until I got my eyes checked (so I couldn't read one sign ;-P) she ended up dialating my eyes and I was blinded for hours. No cooking for me, so I ordered pizza. Darn! Well back on track tomorrow.

Hope you all did better than me!

QOTD: I am doing very well with my calorie counting and doing walk at home 4 fast miles! yay! I got under 200 summer of 2007 walking 5 miles a day and calorie counting...until I got pregnant again the end of 2007! So I know I can lose it again...just have to stay focused!!
I did mess up on my birthday, which was the 10th...I stuck to an awesome dinner of chicken, salad and baked potato, also some bacardi and coke zero...but my MIL made me an angelfood cake and I ate pretty much half of it that night... Somehow I still managed to lose and not gain...another yay!

QOTD: What did you do successfully this week in terms of weight loss? What didn't go so well?

Success: I journaled everything that I ate into Fit Day. I also woke up early enough to do three morning workouts 5 days this week, and threw in one on Saturday afternoon for good measure.

Area for Improvement: I let work get between me and my workouts and I didn't walk as much as I wanted to this past week. I must remember that being a workaholic is not a good thing for me or my health. Only my boss and customer benefit from me "going the extra mile" at work. I need that extra mile to be on a treadmill where it helps me get to where I'm going.

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Hello Red Team!

As always, I hope everyone is having a good week. I haven't caught up on all of the posts, so there are only a few personals. Trying hard not to make this too long.

From a million posts ago . . .
Bette K: Thanks! I've found that 40 feels just like 39 which felt like 38, and so on, so I'm OK with that. Now, as for age and treachery beating out youth and enthusiasm, is it OK if I just straddle the fence a while longer? I'm not quite ready to jump down to the "age" side, and those young 'uns need someone to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get out of hand. How about if I be the double agent working both sides of the fence?

modcat44: I love your statement at the end of your posts. "If you can't go in the front door, go in the side door. And if that doesn't work, go in the back door. Change your approach as many times as necessary to get where you want to be--author unknown" I hear you! If we never give up, we'll get to where we want to be!

Lastly, lots of us have user names that I can mostly figure out, but there are a few that have me scratching my head. Yes, I'm the woman driving a little too close down the highway trying to decipher personalized plates. So, I've just gotta know . . . cakses, knobhdy and clykk, what do your names mean if you don't mind me asking?

RangerChic: I saw your post about looking for a job. I assumed by your name that you were a ranger. Now, I realize you could be a Rangers fan. I also saw a k after the Chic, but don't mind me, I see extra letters . Things are tough all over job-wise, have you tried hooking up with a few different temp services?

And sassybiscuit, I love your name! It's fun and feisty!

Here's to a good week everyone. We can do this! Go RED!!

Well ladies, I did the Real Age profile and it came out at 26.2 years old. I'm 30 so well pleased with that.

Unsurprisingly, it suggested I lose weight (I'm on it!) but what did surprise me a little was that it suggested I was doing too much exercise and should either reduce the amount of time spent exercising or the intensity of the sessions. It said too much exercise results in wear and tear on the body and I should be burning no more than 6500 calories a week exercising. I don't think I do burn more than that and I love exercise so much that I am loathe to cut anything out.

Any thoughts?

MissVitality - my mother is an exercise addict and now that she's in her 50s, her body is falling apart. She worked out maybe 1-2 hours before work and another 2 hours after work. On weekends she would do long runs (10+ miles) or bike rides (40-60 miles). She had to have her hip replaced and she's been plagued with many injuries from strain in the last 10 years.

Her addiction has always turned me off of exercise. The addictive personality runs in my family and my mother was definitely a yo-yo dieter before I was born. She channeled her food addiction to exercise... it probably is a healthier addiction than food but it ultimately has consequences too.

I feel like I'm walking a tightrope trying to have a healthy balance with food & exercise. Whenever I am POP for awhile, I feel like, uh-oh, I'm being obsessive like my mother and I sabotage it--that's bad too.

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So right now I have been good with exercise-- 30-60 minutes a day, averaging 400 calories burned each workout. With my increased exercise and lighter work schedule, I am ravenous and eating all the time. I am trying to make healthier choices mostly but still... I am eating all the time it seems.

I'm really proud of our team but man, I am kind of jealous of these huge numbers people are dropping. 4 lbs are a lot in one week and maybe people lost 5, 6, 7.... 10! In September and October I yo-yoed between 164-168 for the longest time. I feel like the past month I've been stuck at 158-161. I mean I am not perfect but it's the same thing that happened last time... I'd be good or bad for a period and really not budge. I know I have to lower my calories but it seems so hard right now.. I have too much free time on my hands and the increased exercise makes me so hungry. I'm just trying to eat smarter.

I'll just keep up what I'm doing, try to polish my plan up more and hopefully keep losing, even if it's slow but steady.

Thanks Joyra - I'm sorry your mum is experiencing so many problems now. It sounds like she did a LOT of exercise.

I don't think I am at that same level and am not too excessive with it - I really went for it this week because of the challenge but I normally average about 300 minutes a week and I do a mix of cardio, strength and flexibility exercises. I might have a word with my fitness instructor tonight and see what he thinks. I guess it is a hard balance to achieve - exercise gets such positive reviews for the health benefits but I guess it's all things in moderation.

I do think there is an element of addiction there though - not being able to exercise for whatever reason can really affect my mood. I sometimes have to tell myself it's okay to miss a session. There's the social element as well - I have made a lot of friends at my fitness classes.

Good luck with your plan - I found myself for a few months there continuously back and forth between 224 and 230 pounds, no matter how much exercise I got in or how well I was eating or how much junk I was putting away. I'm not sure why that happens. The numbers are finally starting to go down again, thankfully - it was driving me mad and had me questioning the point of my efforts. Can you not find something to fill up some of your free time? Boredom always leads to me snacking far too much.

What did you do successfully this week in terms of weight loss? What didn't go so well?

I've been good food wise, bad exercise wise.

Thank you everyone!!

QOTD: What did you do successfully this week in terms of weight loss? What didn't go so well?

Success: I have been OP with my diet all week.
Unsuccessful: I did not exercise as much as I hoped for!

Good morning, RED TEAM!!

This morning I had my first taste of greek yogurt--yummy!! Gonna have more of that for sure!

Now that the new semester has started again, I'm going to need to schedule workouts more than ever. Planning things out really helps! I don't want to get inflexible about my time, but I don't want to waste it either!

See y'all around!

Hello ladies!

Sorry I have been MIA for a number of days. I have had just enough time to check in and read posts. I only have an hour today to do a number of things before I head out, so no personals, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll check in tonight after teaching. Keep up the great COMMITMENTS everyone.

Success: Joined the gym and now I have a well rounded workout plan of yoga, swimming, weights and treadmill and I stuck with the plan.

Failure: I ate off-plan for some of the day for 3 days in a row.

Hey all.
I have no idea how I missed it but I did. As of this weeks weigh-in, I am below 40% BMI. I am not longer morbidly obese!!!
Also I am moving into my new house on Friday. I still don't have a mortgage on it yet, but at lease I get to live there until the paperwork goes through. Also on Friday my beautiful (read $$$) new bed is arriving at my new house. So hopefully I will be able to get all those weigh-loss encouraging, virus-fighting, beauty-inducing good night's sleeps that the news is always going on about.
How is everyone else doing?

Morning, I am on my way out the door to work but wanted to drop in say hey wish you luck today being OP and let you know I will have results of week 1 after i get home from work. Just been amazingly busy all day yesterday to get it done. Sorry for the wait. I'll be home in a few hours to finish it up though!

Have a great day everyone!


QOTD: How do you reward yourself for weight loss? Do you have mini goal rewards or a big one planned for the end result, etc?

Hi Team, just anted to hop on real quick, I am back at home after my surgery. I was supposed to have my tubes occluded. Well the surgery went well, however they were unsuccessful at reaching my tubes. So I have to go back to the doctor on the 29th to discuss other options of BC. I will also find out then why he couldnt do it. My guess is that I have too much abdominal fat in the way. Bummer. More motivation to lose weight!

Good morning, Well I am back OP today and feeling much better than yesterday. back to being determined to get this weight off. Being at work does that to me because I work with a bunch of skinny people and really want to look as good as they do dressed up.

QOTD: How do you reward yourself for weight loss? Do you have mini goal rewards or a big one planned for the end result, etc?

As weird as it might sound...I pay myself for my weight loss. I give myself $5 for each lb that I lose, so that when I am down to where I want to be I have extra money to buy clothes. I feel like i should set mini goals but so far that is my big goal...buy clothes. I do take it 5 lbs at a time though. Not looking at the big picture.