Hey Southern girl! I teach too and feel your pain. I try and get up at 5:30 and do a half and hour of step aerobics 3 times a week during the school year. It seems to give me more energy. I also go to kickboxing class at night. I don't have any of my own children yet, so I'm sure you are a lot busier that me.
Hope you have a good school year. ( I love cutting out laminated materials. Isn't that silly.)
Take care,
Saggy

Hi everyone!
The past couple days have been pretty hectic! Southern Gal-your schedule will become bearable soon-hang in there!
Willbethin-Sorry to hear about your work situation. I hope things are better soon. It sounds like your bosses daughter is in pain and taking it out on everyone else.
Well, where do I start? Sunday morning my sister-in-laws best friend Jessica (she's about 20) called my in-laws to tell everyone her mother died. She had been fighting a brain tumor for a couple years. Jessica had a baby boy last month and it was her first grandchild-I was just happy she lived long enough for him to be born. Jessica and my sister-in-law are taking it pretty hard.
My husband's birthday was last week, and we live about an hour away from our families because of his job, so his mom wanted to celebrate his birthday Sunday at her house. She babies him so much-he is her only son. So we had to have dinner over there and cake, etc. Needless to say I wasn't very good.
My little girl was at her house all week for bible school at her church-and the last day of it a kid in her class broke out in chicken pox-so he had been contagious all week and noone knew it.
So now I am checking my daughter every day for spots. I hope she doesn't have them and give them to the baby!
I have been eating pretty bad, running back and forth, but I have at least gotten my excercise in -so all is not lost!
Well, gotta go-baby's hungry!
Aphil

hi aphil, wow you have been busy, sorry to hear about jessica's mom, shame that her grandchild will never get to know her. i have been eating, so , so some days healthy and some days overeating, but at least it is not everyday eating bad, and i havent binged in a while. my number one prioriety right now. even if i over eat a little dont turn it into a binge.. good for you for keeping up the excercising. back on track, one day at a time. today so good so far.

Hi,
I haven't heard from everyone in a few days. Yesterday I went to the zoo with my baby son and my friend, who brought her neice. We walked all day long! Today my parents called and wanted to take my daughter, so my son and I went along again-so today I walked all day again! I normally do most of my excercis ethrough the week, so this was a nice extra in that department!
I have finally broken my plateau and have lost another pound-so now I am 189. It was taking forever! I just hope it will start dropping a little easier now for a while.
I hope everyone is doing okay-I miss hearing from you all!
Aphil

another pound, way to go and good for you , for walking extra, that definitly helps. hope you had fun at the zoo.

i have been pretty busy myself. and doing alot of thinking. i love that i have been little by little changing my eating habits, but i have been stuck at 180 for a while, i know it is due to the fact that at least two days a week i am not making healthy eating choices and i am overeating. water and excercise is fine, i also know i eat too many carbs.

so with this in mind, i am going to do ww points, and use more of my points for proteins.

i hope this works for everyone, and i do plan on doin it the old fashion way for life. but for now i have to get this scales moving or i am gonna give up.

ww points has worked for me in march of 2000, i lost 17lbs in one month, but i was hungry and gave up. but since then i have been on low carb, no diet approach and ww off and on. and found that ww points was easy and i can make it healthier, by not spending my points on all carbs.

i will let everyone know how i am doing. and i will be reading how everyone here is doing. good luck guys.

Hey,
Willbethin-never give up!
I think you will do a bit better if instead of 2 "free days", maybe allow yourself juat a few more calories or points on those days.
Also try being more selective about the type of carbs you are eating-whole grain bread instead of white, bran flakes instead of sweet cereals, and whole fruits instead of juice or applesauce. It makes your digestive system work a bit harder to digest them, and has more fiber. It also doesn't spike your insulin levels so quickly like processed carbs.
I know how much of a pain it is for the loss to slow down after it started so quickly, but remember it comes off slower the closer you are to your ideal weight! THink of it in a good light instead of bad.
I have been so busy-my daughter's third birthday is in a few weeks, and she decided she wants a VeggieTales party. So now I am figuring out things to make for it. I hope it turns out well!
Talk to you soon,
Aphil

Hi Aphil, Willbethin, and Saggy! I know you thought I fell off the face of the earth! Just been super busy - and not doing so well on my eating and exercise plan because of it.

I'm really glad to hear that you all are sticking with it and taking care of yourselves. That is what it takes. And that is something I know I need to work on. I find it too easy to fall off the wagon when work/home pressures get to me.

5:30 Saggy? I'm up by 5:45 but find it hard to get moving then. Any pointers? Once I settle into the school year, I hope to be able to get my exercise in then. Right now, I'm having to go in early to work so it is hard.

Willbethin, don't give up yet. You have obviously made progress - think of the positive and keep going. You have come too far to give up now! Aphil, you are a great encourager. Willbethin, listen to her!

Gotta run. (Still cutting out laminating among other things!) My goals for tomorrow are to pack my own lunch and get in early enough to get in some walking!!!

Southern Gal

thanks for the encouraging words. i know i can 't give up, but the thoughts are there sometimes.

aphil, you gave me some great suggetions, that is alot of my problem, i dont go the extra mile to go look for the whole grain carbs. the white are cheaper and easier to find. my daughter never got into veggietales, i hope your party turns out well. i am not as creative of a person as you are. my daughters birthday is in the winter, so i just hire entertainment, face painting , magician, songs.it is a bit more expensive, but worth it , since i cant think of my own stuff to do.

i am still stressed, watching these children for the summer, i am stressed when i eat, cause someone always needs something, i am always rushing through breakfast and lunch. trying to get a moment to myself.

i think once school is started, i too will be able to concentrate on me more. sometimes i have to excercise at 8:30 at night.

my dd will be starting kindergarten, so i will only be watching one child with her and they are in school for three hours, i will have the other girl till 3:00. so i can have me time and excercise and clean while they are in school, i cant wait.

lets all try to hang in there and do this. hope everyone else is doing well. new day, new attitude. we all get busy, and i know all too well how that can sabatoge a plan of eating healthy.


we can do this. i really wanted to lose enough weight to see a difference by time i took dd to school. i know i will be seeing people i havnt seen in years. i live in the town where i graduated high school.

oh well, i am rambling now. have a great day guys.
geeze, the times are really different when you are posting, the time on the post says, 12:13pm and it is only 7 15 am here, what is up with that??

Willbethin,
Some easy ways to eat better carbs :
Regular rice instead of Minute Rice
Look for bread with 3-6 grams of fiber per serving on the label
fruits instead of juice
vegetables
eat the skin when you have a baked potato
Also-if you would like some cool theme party ideas for your kids-Birthday Express has a great website. They have decorations for any theme you could dream of-fairies, frogs, army men, you name it-not just the main Scooby Doo and Pooh stuff. They give a lot of cool hints.
They also sell balloon animal videos and kits at magic stores and websites. My daughter thinks it is the coolest thing that I can do that. I look out for things at the store that I could do for my kids for special occasions-I bought a cookie press that makes them into Sesame Street shapes,etc. It doesn't cost a lot, but just takes a little time. Me and my husband are big kids ourselves and are always doing things we wanted to do as kids for our children.
Southern Gal-great to hear from you again-I figured you were busy. It's only human to fall off the wagon, you just have to remember to get back on.
Aphil

How is everyone doing overall? I lost another 3.5lbs the other night at weigh in. I am still using Richard's foodmover as a guide. You ave some great suggestions aphil!

246/207.75/165

hi aphil, thanks for the great ideas, about b days i will check it out. and some great tips of whole grain and fiber carbs. i have to give them a try, after all, i have given everything else a try. i am doing alright, but the pms thing started yesterday, i only get tom month for 3 days and very light, but the pms is really bad. so i know giving in to the cravings and over eating, just makes everything worse i will just have to be stronger.

southern girl, i have been there and back and there again, but i know i will make goal , because i never give up trying, and that in itself will get me there. and the support i get here.

sadie girl, great job , you are on your way, you are doing it!!!! feels great huh?? now why cant i remember that great feeling i had when once i had lost 17 lbs and everytime i work out, the sweat and determination i have to get through another day of excercise. how can i even think about over eating???? i will get there. i just wish i would stop making it be so hard.

for the past month i havent been able to stick to more than 2 or 3 days on a healthy eating plan without over eating. so if i can get through 4 days in a row without cheating i will be on my way.

i do however have a really big party at my house. it is for my grahm, on sat. it is her 84th, and she hasnt been feeling all that well, so i really wanted it to be big. alot of food alot of drinks and plenty of people. i hate to have a plan, of eating cause if i dont stick to it i will be upset.

i have heard people have one off day that they dont have to worry about food, maybe i will try, just one day, as long as i dont make it turn into more. did i read that somewhere on here???

I bought a book and for the first couple of months I looked EVERYTHING up, and now I don't have to. I have it memorized. I hear people all the time saying it's a hassle, but I look at it like this... either I can count the calories and KNOW how much I have taken in, or not count them and SEE how much I have taken in. I love Calorie counting and I too give myself a limit with Calories and fat. Thanks for all the good tips.

hi alzym, wow , it really looks like you found something that worked for you. congratulations. you are doing great!!! how do you determine, how many calories and fat grams you are allowed to have for your height and weight?

looks like your hard work is paying off. not much more to go huh?? i wish you luck.

i read somewhere, that you just have to add a 0 to the end what you weigh. like i weigh 180 so i need 1800 calories, but this sounds like what i would need to maintain. seems like to many calories. i am 5'3. any sites you know about that might help me determine this?? i excercise 4 times week, for 30 min. any help would be appreciated.

i have done ww and richard simmons, so i never really calculated how many calories i was eating. and you know about those low carbs, dont really count calories just watch carbs. thanks

Keep at it willbethin!! You soon will be thin! Willbethin!

well, i let pms, get the better of me, the kids i babysit for are not being very good. my grahm who i was having this big party for , had a heart attack, i am really close to her, i was devasted, she is in intensive care, i am going to visit her tonight. my mom has had a dislocated shoulder and it is not healing right, she doesnt have insurance, and feels like she is losing her best friend(my grahm) oh i also forgot to say allergies are kicking in. sneezing, itchy eyes and nose, i feel like a mess right now.


so how do i deal with all this stress? i overeat!!!!!!!! when will i ever stop stress eating the kid situation will be ending soon. hopefully my grahm will be alright, and pms doesnt last forever.

so i will try again to not deal with this stress by overeating. i still did excercises and drank my water. i just dont know what the weekend will hold, since i probably wont be home much.

hope everyone else is doing good.