Hi Gayle! Good for you for planning to change your ways and stick to it. That is the way to go. It is what I am trying to do as well. However, it is just sooooo hard. I am trying to stay away from the junk food and I feel like it is killing me. Well, that is a bit dramatic but I am very unhappy about not getting to eat the goodies I want. Plus to make things worse, I haven't lost any weight. I am still holding out though. Perhaps soon the scale will change. I am counting my calories as usual and really truly, I should see some kind of result soon. I think anyway. In any case, things will not improve if I do not keep trying. I am sorry you are seeing some undesirable scale creepage (that sounds hilarious). However, it does not have to be permanent. Keep on trying. I am glad you are posting. What kind of changes would you like to see for yourself. I try to eat a lot less wheat products. That pretty much takes out most of the junk food right there. Next I am trying to keep my total calories in line. My main villain besides wheat is alcohol. Yum. So I have to curtail that, especially on the weekends. Durn! Another thing I try to do is exercise at the Y. That is not very difficult for me since it is really part of my routine. Even when I weighed in the 170's. I always went to the Y. That is my basic plan of attack. I come here to try to stay motivated.

Hi Tera,

Your right ~ your term ~ undesirable scale creepage ~ is hilarious.

I know how you feel ~ not getting to have the goodies. Sometimes I succeed and pass them up. Then other times, my inner child wins out. The sad thing is ~ as a former nurse, I know better. It is not just weight that I am dealing with, but the risks that come with diabetes. You would think that would scare the crap out of me, but sometimes I just push that out of my mind and do as I please. Not good.

I agree about the wheat. When I do the best is when I don't eat breads, pastas, rice that kind of stuff and stick to some kind of protein and vegetables and fruits.

And another sad ~ I had gotten almost down to onederland at one point this summer ~ then all our excursions and not being careful at all about the eating ~ toward the end of the summer I just kind of gave up. Now I have to do that work all over again. Sigh....

I have always had trouble with self discipline, so that affects exercising for me. I will do something a couple days, but I am not consistant with it. There always seems to be something I “need” to do that makes me put off the exercise.

So, that is where I am. I figure I just have to keep trying ~ as pitiful as my trying is, if I didn't try at all ~ I would be in such a worse mess.

Sounds like you have a good plan in place. You are doing great with the exercise.

I'm glad you are posting too ~ other wise I would be writing to myself ~ LOL.

I am starting to feel a little better about this. One of my problems was I was very hungry between lunch and dinner. I was mainly eating salad for lunch and it was not enough to make it the sometimes 7 or even 8 hours until supper. My husband is the cook during the week and he likes to eat very late. I made myself some veggie soup with white beans this weekend though so now I have a lo cal fall back if needed. I had the soup with avocado for lunch today-it was delicious. Still no weight loss though. Maybe tomorrow.

Gayle-I do not think you are pitiful at all. You are in there swinging. I am glad you are thinking about the diabetes issues. That is nothing to mess with. Besides losing weight, I am sure you want to be healthy and feel good. Eating the right food is the way to get there. I think the exercise is secondary but also very important-just not so much for losing weight. More for the feeling good and protecting your bones and muscles from becoming lazy from disuse. I would be a ragdoll without exercise. Do not dwell on the past. Think ahead to how much you will enjoy it as you move towards onederland again. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!

Hi,

I did pretty good yesterday. Today not quite so good. I had a headache (thankfully not as bad as some I used to have) and when I have a one, I don't always make the best choices. Trying to find something that will make it stop. Oh well.

On the spur of the moment we went out to dinner ~ it was a deal where a portion of what was spent went to support the PTA at Maddie's school. It was a barbecue place. I had 3 ribs and a side salad and water, so I didn't feel like I did too badly. I passed up the rolls and butter (fresh and hot and as many as you wanted ~ they kept coming around offering more) until the very end, then I asked DD if I could have just a bite of hers ~ so she tore me off a little piece and gave me a little butter. It was good, but not worth it to eat a whole one or more than one. So, I feel like that was sort of a little victory.

We'll see what the scale says tomorrow.

Tera ~ glad you came up with something to hold you over for that long stretch between lunch and dinner. Good job.

Last night I had nothing but junk food for dinner. Yesterday afternoon I had to complete a rather awful dental procedure and I felt very sorry for myself. I really should not keep junk food in my house. I can be very weak. However, my total calories for the day were not so bad and today was less than usual so I do not know if it really made that much difference. Just a bump in the road. Unfortunately, I have still not lost a single, solitary pound even though I have generally been very good. Oh well, eventually it will happen. I am glad to be eating healthier anyway. I just feel better.

Gayle-I am very impressed at your ability to resist the rolls and butter. Excellent! It was great to hear how you were able to eat out with your family but still take good care of yourself.

Tera ~ it will happen for you.

Me ~ not so good today. It usually starts out good ~ some days I make it the whole day. The thing that has got me the last couple days is a headache. I think it is sinus related. My nose is stuffed up (can't take decongestants because of blood pressure) and when my nose stays stuffed up, the head keeps aching. Like I said before ~ not as bad as they used to be. But when I have one, I don't end up making good choices. And once I start down the wrong road, I have a hard time turning myself around. Oh well, I wanted more stuff, but got busy this evening and didn't end up eating anymore stuff. So, that is a good thing. Almost bed time now. Tomorrow is a new day to try to get it right.

It was a busy weekend with the family which included some great food. I feel somewhat bad that despite focusing on my weight loss, I continue to make the same bad choices. I will have to try harder going forward. I would really like to take off ten pounds and maintain at that weight. Plus I would like to maintain healthier eating habits. I guess focusing has helped me not to gain weight but I really need to take the next step. I have a very busy week ahead so I am going to try to eat simple, healthy food and not too much.

Hello,

It is a daily struggle. One day I do pretty good and lose a pound or two, then the next day ~ not so good and right back on it comes. I wish I would be good long enough to make some real progress.

I hope Marie is ok ~ she hasn't been here in a while.

Keep on keeping on Tera.

Did okay today I think. My weight continues to stay the same but I am trying to stay mindful of my food choices and keep the portions in line. Today was step class at the Y. It is unlikely I will be able to make it there everyday this week.

Gayle-The wavering weight tale sounds familiar to me as well. Perhaps we need a different goal besides a loss on the scale. I feel like I am doing better with my calorie totals although apparently it has not been enough to actually lose weight yet. I am moving in the right direction. How about you? Do you feel there is an area where you are seeing improvement?

Still up and down the same couple pounds. But I ate ok today and even walked for 15 minutes. I know that doesn't sound like much, but that is 15 minutes less that I sat in the chair. Not giving up.

I have been eating more than usual lately because I am anxious about my trip coming up. Sigh. Well, I guess I will have to work on my attitude while on my trip. Be back later.

Hello,

Tera ~ I'm sorry ~ I don't remember where you said you were going? Maybe you didn't mention it, or maybe I just can't remember

I was mixed up all day yesterday ~ kept thinking it was Sunday. Took my RA meds (which I take on Sundays) yesterday and took apart my C-pap machine to wash the parts ~ a Sunday chore ~ yesterday. Don't know why I was confused about the days Oh well.

I rode my bike today ~ some days have been not quite as hot. I prefer riding my bike to walking. At least on the bike you get a little breeze as you roll along ~ even if it is a little hot.

I was making that hard ~ always trying to plan my route so I would get a 1/2 hour ride. Because of that, it just felt too complicated ~ trying to make sure I went an extra time around the circle or down an additional pathway. So, I think from now on, I will just ride a certain route to the intersection and turn around and come back. On the way back ~ as kind of a little treat to myself ~ I stop at this little pond that has a fountain and sit a few minutes and just enjoy being outside and the sound of the water and the view. It came out to about 24 minutes. I might walk on the treadmill to make up the extra time. Seems less complicated that way.

Here are pictures of the little pond.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Hello to my favorite 3FC people. :-) I know it's been FOREVER since I've been here, and I apologize. Life definitely got in the way with the kids, end of the year activities for my "graduating" 5th grader (including a mere 3 weeks after funding approval to put together what ended up being a 48-page memory book for the graduating class members by myself - and that made some long nights after I finished work each night), the drum corps life all summer, some work issues, and now trying to settle into a new school year. Not to mention my last child leaving the elementary school we had been with for 14 years from first to last kid, and my middle son graduating from middle school and starting high school - and some health issues with him. Lots of "life changes" to take in all at once...got to me emotionally. I lived on 3 hours of sleep a night for more than a month and it really took a toll physically and mentally. It was a wake-up call to me on how NOT good that is and how my body/mind can't deal with that again. I still feel like I haven't recovered from that.

Add to that MyFitnessPal upsetting me (for really no good reason!) and I quit logging last spring, and with that - I stopped posting here too. I really like that site and used it faithfully. Like you, Marie, I love the syncing ability and the ability to add recipes too. I guess I got hung up in the "days in a row" feature of logging without realizing it. At one point after 35 days, I missed the midnight deadline (which I wasn't aware of!) and the next day I was back at "0" days in a row. I got over it and continued on, got to 100+ days in a row and I guess that got kind of addictive, because one day we had been at Disneyland and my phone battery died, so when I got home I hopped online to log (at 2 a.m.) and I was reset to "0" days in a row again. There really needs to be a grace period! For some reason, that REALLY bothered me -- I love the site and it's motivating, but at the same time with this process they have it can be demotivating too. Like I said, it shouldn't have gotten to me but it did. I don't know if any of you get hung up on things like that...sounds lame, I know...but I wanted to be honest if I'm going to get back to the work at hand!

The good news is, I didn't gain...so while it wasn't more loss for the summer, which I was hoping for, I'm looking at it as "maintaining" at a lower level than I was previously maintaining...though at my doctor's appointment last week I was down 4 or 5 pounds since my visit in April, which was nice. It would have been more if not for the oppressive heat wave we had for a week recently -- no A/C and I gained 3 pounds in 3 days right before the appointment. LOL Oh well, it will make a better loss next time! I've been bouncing with the same 3 pounds or so...I gain 3 lbs on my long work weekends (fluid retention from too many hours in this chair) and then lose it over the next 4 days or so. My goal is to get farther away from 160 lbs so that when I gain that 3 pounds I'm still in the 150s. Not there yet, but I did notice today I'm down a pound from this day 2 weeks ago, so maybe there's still hope. :-) Will update the ticker soon..though it's close to being right (was 159.2 this morning).

Anyway, your prodigal member has returned and I'm ready to rejoin the battle with all of you, including getting back to MFP and logging again, and working on the exercise component too. Looking forward to getting back on track and spending time here again. You all motivate me! This has gotten too long already (I knew it would hahaha), so I'm going to say goodnight for now and get some sleep...I've gone back and read all the posts since I was here last, so hopefully I can do some replies soon!

Hello Ladies,

Mom ~ glad to see you again. On your ticker, you are not too far away from your goal ~ and you didn't gain over the summer ~ you're doing great. You are one busy lady.

Tera ~ you must be away on the trip you mentioned. Hope it is a good one.

The scale is starting to move again, thank goodness. Slowly, but in the right direction.

I have gathered suggestions from another thread about how to deal with eating while traveling without doing too much damage.

Hope you all are doing well.

Miss you Marie.

Greetings!

Gayle, great to see your post. For a while there, I thought my posting again made everyone die from shock since there were no comments for so many days. Hahaha

Still hanging in there on the "honeymoon" of logging again and finding it "fairly" easy to stay on track. I know that won't last and I'll give in to more temptation than I should, though! I always gain 2-3 pounds every other weekend while I'm working and it takes a few days to get the fluid back off, but for the first time...I didn't see a "160" on the scale this weekend! I squeaked by at 159 and was so happy. It's the little things, isn't it? :-) One thing I need to really focus on is carbs -- last time I did this, I was borderline diabetic and it's always been in the back of my head, but I focused more on total calories and figured if my weight went down it would hopefully help my blood sugar numbers. A few times this week I've realized I have enough calories left for something, eat it, and then log it and was stunned to see the carb grams. I need to think smarter and see if I can change my A1c with my next labs next month. Focus...focus..focus

We have a wedding to go this weekend, which is 6 hours away, so lots of driving and I'm sure a good meal at the reception, but hopefully the rest of the weekend with fast food I'll make smart choices. I have a small family and this is the first wedding in our family since 1998 (and my 19-year-old was a 3-year-old ring bearer!), so it will be great to see everyone and enjoy such a beautiful reason to get together.

I wish you luck with your travels, Gayle, and the fun of making food choices along the way, both in terms of portion sizes to avoid leftovers and also in terms of calories. You've probably already come across this, but if you don't want a full meal, a lot of times you can just order sides...get 2 or 3 and it's filling enough to be a meal, and you can pick and choose what's worth eating, too. My go-to meal when we do dine out is always a bowl of soup. There's the sodium issue, but calories are usually not too bad and it's filling...or soup and salad combos. I can't remember the last time I ordered a real meal! Last summer when I was driving a lot with my son to drum corps rehearsals, we would go somewhere like El Pollo Loco and I'd order just a grilled chicken breast and order a side of slaw. It was enough food, nice and inexpensive, and fit well with my daily calories. Sometimes it's fun to get creative. :-) When do you leave and where are you headed?

Marie and Tera, hi!