Hi babybryte, and welcome! We keep track of calories, exercise, drink our water, and try to help each other as best we can.

I'm not familiar with FitDay, but maybe some others here are.

I had a good day, had the bottle of water by bedside so I could chug from it at 4:30 this morning ( ) and am at where I should be for calories today, and almost at the water mark!

I also tried a new DVD that someone had given me like two years ago, her name is Cathe, and man, does this woman WORK! I like the DVD (new techno to me, I'm so lame ) in that you can just blip from one section to another. I chose to (try ) about 20 minutes of her aerobics; golly, one has to be familiar with her style/routines, otherwise you just march in place watching her do "soles around the world" and "rocking horse with back jump" or whatever (this is why I choose to have NO other family members in room when I try a new routine, lol!) She incorporates...what are they called...plyometric moves? Big moves with big muscle groups, but only a short burst of them, then back to the aerobics. If I don't kill myself or break the ceiling fan, I think I could get into this Like Christine said, something new does help to inspire!

I had NO evil cookies at work, which is major for me! Two days in a row!

Hey Nancy! I don't know how I found it, but I came across an old post of yours...must have been from 2002...you were telling of a dream you had, that Cindy Crawford was giving away her clothes, and you were the lucky recipient!

I posted in the "Chick Chat" section, a question about moisturizer...I'll ask you all here, tho' I think I'm one of the "more mature" ladies here (AGE-WISE) I was looking for a facial moisturizer that really does the job for the over-40 skin...I want my facial skin to feel nice and moist, but not get clogged pores, nor look greasy. Plus battle future wrinkles! Also keep in the under $20 range?...At the supermarket today, I picked up a L'Oreal "day" cream, says it's supposed to moisturize, firm and reduce appearence of wrinkles...and show visible difference in two weeks. It was $15.00, but I could hear Andie McDowell say I was worth it I will let you know what I think of it. But if anyone else swears by something, I will try it! thanks in advance

Well, I've had two good days in a row, so I'll think of tomorrow as "Day 3 Towards Bikini and Chaps in Public" Have a great, in-control-night and day tomorrow!!!!

Welcome Jacquelyn! I have used Fitday.com in the past and I like it. It has a large database of foods and calories counts as well as nutritional breakdown. I mainly just used it to track my food intake daily. Im online a lot throughout the day so I'd just punch in my foods as the day progressed and it gave me a nice readout of where I was nutritionally, so I could try to eat more balanced and such. You can also punch in your exercise for the day and it will tell you an approximate calorie burn. It has tons of charts and stuff that are great for motivation. Its pretty nice for free! Definitely check it out if you're planning to count calories. I may have to go back and try it out again myself now that I'm recommiting!

I have no words of wisdom on the moisturizer thing... I could use a good one myself. I've always been the low maintainance type but lately my skin is really in need of some more attention.

Well, I actually made it through a whole day of counting calories. My total for the day was a little higher than I wanted but at least I didn't stop counting! I ended at 1825 for the day. I'd like to be closer to 1600 to start. But, at least its a step in the right direction!!

My workout DVD didn't arrive yesterday so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for today. This workout is supposed to be a little easier than Cindy Crawford's older ones but its specifically geared at getting your body back after having a baby so I'm hoping the level of intensity will be just right for someone who hasn't exercised in ages and still has that after baby body!!

Hope everyone is having a great day!


Christine

Jac-I am not a member of FitDay...and I don't know if anyone is here on this thread. I think most online logs like FitDay, Ediets, and other ones have places where you can figure out how many calories to eat each day to lose weight...and so on. Basically-my advice is to figure out what calories with your current weight and exercise level that you need to lose weight. Do not go under 1200 a day. Space your calories out throughout the day. If you are eating 1600 calories a day for example...don't live on a 100 calorie banana all day long and then eat the other 1500 for dinner. Space them out so you are fueled throughout the day. Try to eat clean, healthy foods like chicken breast, fish, veggies and fruits...things of this nature rather than foods that are overly processed like Pop-Tarts, and those sorts of things. They are much better for you nutritionally. Occasional treats like a reduced fat cookie or a sugar free popsicle are fine...but don't waste a ton of calories on them just because they are sugar free/fat free-because they are also nutrition free. ha ha "Real" foods like I mentioned before are much more filling and nutritious. I would also incorporate regular exercise into your plan...and not just diet alone. Exercise is essential for a large variety of reasons.
Good luck and welcome!
Aphil

Hello all! I have been away since October and it's been killing me-great to see the same names here! Aphil, Georgia and Vermontmom I've missed your daily wisdom and of course your humor! I gained weight over the holidays and am now trudging toward the goal ((again))! Last week at WW I was within .4# from Lifetime, but I gained a whole pound-but I won't despair, too much anyway!

For lunch today I had Edy's fat free frozen yogurt praline carmel! Now I am hungry already!

Glad to check in here again and read/catch up with ya'll!

Hi everyone!

Hey tryin'hard, great to hear from you! I'm sure you'll whittle off those few dinky pounds in no time and hi Idealperson!!! didn't we all gain during the holidays, but we're all in attack mode now

Had another good day, small indiscretion when I couldn't take time to have a sandwich, so had a small cookie and coffee to tide me over. I didn't have pasta at supper (husband overcooked it, anyway, lol) so I don't think I did too much damage.

Just finished my Gilad hips/abs/arms tape, with the addition of ankle weights, and some extra work on obliques. Afterwards, when stretching, felt so goooooood. I wish I could find some indoor tanning lotion that is relatively inexpensive, it's easier to feel good about firming-up legs when they have some color.

Christine, hope your DVD arrived today! and congrats on doing well with your calories today.

I wish everyone a great night and a super day tomorrow!!

Still no DVD! Blah!

I messed up yesterday but thats okay. I've been feeling very stressed and emotionally down recently. Mostly due to the fact that my husband hasn't found a job since we moved here a few months ago and our savings is dwindling!! Anyway, we had an applebee's gift cert so we went out and used it yesterday... helped cheer me up. I have no clue how many calories I had because I don't have calorie counts for Applebee's foods but I do know I over did it. I was good the rest of the day though so its not as bad as it could've been!
The good thing is, I'm right back to counting again today! I haven't gotten to day 3 of counting in a long while so maybe this will stick!

Hope everyone else is doing well! My FIL is visiting tomorrow just for the night (all the way from NC) so we'll probably be out to another restaurant but this time I plan to behave! Wish me luck


Christine
180/179/130

Thanks, Christine and Aphil! I appreciate the advice and help!

Jacquelyn

Good morning everyone!

Well, I had three great days, then a crappy day yesterday, I let myself get frustrated by work issues, and got off-track with some snacking, but when I got home I did attack my exercise tape...back to being good today, I hope

I have such good news about my friend, who was so badly burned three months ago - he is actually home. He is so ahead of schedule in healing than what the doctors thought, but that's Jack It will still be somewhere around two years before he can be what he was before, but he will get there!

I'm working noon to eight today, so I have to eat a little something, exercise, then get ready for work, so have a great day, everyone!

If you have a couple of minutes to spare, here is the local newspaper's story from yesterday about Jack coming home -

http://www.stowereporter.com/community/304-burn.shtml

How's everyone doing this weekend?

My FIL visited us for the night on Friday... he was on a business trip so used it to his advantage to come say hello. We had dinner out on Friday night and lunch out on Saturday. Friday I had a burger and fries.. um, not so good! Saturday I had a salad but I also had a slice of texas toast and some cheese fries... oops! Plus he bought a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts... like I'm supposed to be able to say no to those!?

Anyway, I've basically considered this weekend a lost cause. I did receive my DVD though! I'm watching it now to get an idea what its like. I think tomorrow morning I'll start the shortest workout. They suggest you do that for 2 weeks then move on to the 2nd workout for about 3 weeks and then to the 3rd for good. It definitely looks like something I can handle but like it will provide me with a decent workout (for my out of shape self).

I'm back to counting calories today so perhaps I can actually show a loss by Thursday if I behave from here on

Hope everyone's having a better behaved weekend than me!!


Christine
180/178.5/130

How is everyone today? I have been really working it in the workout department this past week. I had 25 minutes of strength training yesterday, plus an hour of belly dance-a private floorwork lesson at my intructor's house. I was learning some floor moves like going into backbends from a kneeling position...and getting up gracefully from them...things like that. With floorwork-you are relying totally on the strength of your arms, shoulder, back, and abdominals to lift your entire body weight into the positions gracefully-so you don't "plop", and I have had to work on flexibility training to be able to do some of the moves. I did about 30 minutes of regular belly dance isolation practice today.
My goal is to lose a measurable amount of body fat percentage over the next two months...and to make it to the 170 mark. That is my "mini goal" to try for by the last day of March.
Aphil
gotta go...heading for a rock concert this evening...to see Ani DiFranco! Yippee!!!!

Hi everyone!

Christine, congrats that you have the new DVD. Hope you find it great!

aphil, wow, you are really advanced in the bellydancing to be doing those moves...you go!! Hooray for your determination on your next goal. I'm sure you'll get there!

I am not doing so well at all think I'm even back up to 149...just haven't been able to use any self-control lately. I don't know what is wrong...I do know I have issues (what a nicer way of saying problems, haha) with my husband and our life...am I feeling the mid-life crisis woes? like is this what I want to do for the rest of my life...do I have to feel that I compromise on everything that I want? Yikes, this has gotten deep. Maybe it's just the time of year, I'm not a coldweather outdoor person and we're deep into winter. I did tanning last year at this time, which felt great, but I just don't like the thought of what it's doing to my skin.

Well, I think I'm hungry now, but will try to have restraint. That's something that I've been giving into completely lately; just the teeniest sense that my tum wants something, and I go and have it. I just don't seem to have the connection of realizing "if that gets eaten, it'll help make you larger again" .And my great plans of last week are kaputz. Haven't been drinking hardly any water...bleh, I'm a slight wreck

Hope I haven't dragged anyone down with me, I'm sure hoping I get out of this ittle funk soon!!!

I totally hear you! If its a midlife thing, than I'm hitting my midlife crisis a bit early, considering I'm only 28 I feel like I'm in a serious rut and not accomplishing anything in life for ME but rather for everyone else in my family.

My 'diet' has been awful lately too... I'm really having the damndest time getting on track here And that DVD... well its great that I have it, but now I actually have to USE it! Argh.

Aphil, how do you do it with all the exercise? Nothing seems to motivate me to get moving... I know I have to do it. I know it will make all the difference in the world to my dieting but somehow, I just never do it... I'm so bad!

Well perhaps now that Monday's pizza is gone (our meal for Kai's birthday) and the cake is almost gone, I can behave a little better. So much for showing a loss by Thursday though! The scale is showing 180 this morning... um, wrong direction!! I seriously have to buckle down!

Hope everyone else is doing better than me!


Christine
180/180/130

Vermont Mom and Silence-
Ladies...feel free to talk to me here, or pm me if you ever need to talk about your personal issues or your "mid-life" crisis feelings. My email is [email protected]...if you don't feel like talking about it here for everyone at 3FC to read. I think I have been going through some very similar things as of late...and my dh and I have been having some personal problems as well-and at times it does not look good.
To sum it up without getting too personal here on the forum...I was a wild woman before I met my dh. Tattoos, piercings, going to concerts...but I was very intellectual...lots of strong interests such as art, reading, costuming...and when I became "domesticated" and became a mother and a wife...I lost a lot of myself over the years. Jason didn't care for the piercings, so they came out. I stopped going to concerts, and listening to "my" music...I lost contact with a lot of close friends and instead hung around dh's friends...I stopped taking care of myself and became the housewife in the sweatpants who did everything for everyone else, and put herself last. I love my children, and would never change that...but can't I take care of my children, and take care of me too? Two years ago I came back to 3FC feeling desperate, I was overweight...no friends...and I felt depressed. I started watching my diet, and exercising. I was doing something for ME. After a while that grew, and a year ago I started belly dancing. That has really lit a fire inside of me...I have made some wonderful friends...and I take that time each and every week to do something for ME. It has caused many changes in me besides just being physical exercise. It has released a sensuality in me that has been suppressed for many years. I put my nose piercing back in this past year...I started doing the small things like painting my toenails again...and calling up old friends to go to dinner. It has really hit home the past 4-5 months...I have realized that I want the "old me" back. The person I used to be-fun, sexy, crazy...just a more grown up version now with the responsibility of children. I really think that dh is threatened by this. He has made comments lately that he liked me better heavier. I don't think that he likes me heavier because of the way I looked...I think he liked me better with no self confidence and nothing going on in my life but him and the children. I think my self confidence and all is a threat to him. He makes comments that I don't cook as much, that I "get dolled up" more often...little things like that.
I have been contemplating whether or not we are going to work as a couple if he feels that way. I don't think he likes the "real" me...and after discovering her again...I don't want to give her back up. I can understand his feelings...but I cannot lose myself just to make him happy. Everyone around me has noticed the changes in me the past two years...people who only know me through dh say they have never seen me like this before...and all of my old friends who knew me before dh say that are "glad to have me back."
I don't think it is so much of a mid life crisis...but I think that women get into the habit of taking care of everyone around them and not taking the time for themselves...and then we wake up one day and realize what has happened to our lives. It is a catch-22, because I feel totally alive once again...and it is causing a lot of trouble in my marriage...and I fear that I may have to choose between them. The scary part for me, is that I think if it comes to that, that I will choose myself.
Aphil

aphil, thank you for sharing that with us!! You explained it so well. I fervently hope that your relationship can be salvaged, but if not...it takes such strength to realize what is happening, and try to do what is true to your spirit. It must have been so difficult to hear him say that he liked you better heavier...after all your hard work.

And I thank you so much for offering to talk about it privately - unfortunatley, my email is not secure, and this place is my most private place, so my talking will be here.

I am finding it very difficult to keep on my sensible eating when he is doing the Atkins. He comes home from work at around 4:00 pm, and starts to cook up bacon and eggs for himself, 'cause "he's starving, he only had a can of tuna at work". I have to tell you, that when one is limiting calories, and feeling hungry and sorry for oneself, that the smell of frying bacon is just tantalizing. I quietly told him that it just smelled too good for me, and was hard for me to resist. He says, "I"ll cook some extra for you". I replied, "thanks, but eating bacon and eggs as a snack at 4:30 pm is something that I'm trying NOT to do, that's what made me fat before". He just shrugs and continues.

Yes, for him to avoid the hunger, he should have taken just a few minutes the night before and prepared his lunch, instead of non-stop TV watching. And maybe I could avoid my hunger by filling up on water, but why should I have to put up with the stink of cooked meat before it's even dinnertime.

The other thing is that I keep finding him with internet porn...now, our sex has gotten MUCH better since I have some self-confidence, and he is not missing out on ANYTHING, except that I'm not 20 anymore. So I guess that every night isn't enough for him. Yes, an average of every night!!

I told him that it hurts my feelings to see him looking at women other than me, 'cause I feel that I'm being compared to them. I even went as far (compromise, compromise) to say that he can look at them, but NOT AROUND ME! Just don't let me see you drooling over them...but as I tried to use his computer this morning, he has a desktop pic and "wallpaper" of young things spread out over motorcycles...well, the motorcycles I like, not the young things. I think it 's especially ridiculous as he is , I'm sorry, but I'm mad, a big fat slob, that none of these girls in real life would ever even look at. Or look at and laugh at.
I really think that if the situation were reversed, and I was drooling over hunky INSHAPE guys, he wouldn't like it at all.

I just don't know one goes about thinking about separation, with all the things to think of like, who goes? and how do you afford an apartment plus the mortgage, and how to tell your kids.

My first reaction is ,horribly enough, revenge. Like this is the catalyst I'm needing. "You like totally in-shape bodies? Fine, I'll get mine like that, and I'll be flirting with the next 100 guys I see to hurt you back". Pretty awful, isn't it, but that was my first thought. AND I've stuck to it by only having about 500 calories by now today.

I want this to work out, 'cause we do have fun together, and I don't want the kids to be hurt, and dammit, he helped make this fun, motorycle-loving mama come out by encouraging my riding...I'm selfish that I want a body next to me that is comparable to mine, which I got from almost two years' hard work and discipline.

Ihope this doesn't upset anyone, I know it stinks to hear of other's problems. I have very few friends that I can confide in; most of them have had at least one divorce in their life so they might be prejudiced, haha. Thanks for this space for me to vent. Love you all.