I'm kinda bloated...or am I full? I can't tell.

How can you tell when you are not hungry any longer? I was thinking that at lunch. I had two small size whole wheat tortillas with shredded chicken and a sprinkle of cheese. It was pretty good. I was really fighting not just going to McDonalds or something. But when I finished them I felt so full. How do you truly recognize when to stop eating?

Just a thought I had.

Holly and Annie: Big ((((((HUGGGGGGSSSSSS))))) to both of you. It can be really hard when you are feeling like that. But I want you to know that it does matter, or you wouldn't be so upset over feeling that way. Also, YOU matter, and being healthy is important to you as a person. So, even 15 min. of walking is a good thing. Hang in there ladies..you will get through this.

Go back and read your old posts and see how excited you were to begin this process and see how far you have come.

Girlie: Thanks for sharing how your day went yesterday. Yes, it wasn't the way you wanted it to be and you ate some things that weren't on your plan but you didn't just blow the rest of your diet and you didn't let it derail you for your long term plan.

I checked out your wedding pictures..such a pretty bride! Don't worry about the weight..it's something that can be changed and is being changed!

Have fun at the wedding! and that dress WILL be a lot loser by Christmas.

Today is my 16th wedding anniversary. DH and I are going out to dinner. We have cards to give each other and we are giving them at dinner. We decided that we wanted to purchase a new comforter set for our bedroom so we are shopping for that as well this evening.

I'll be around off and on this weekend. Reach for those goals ladies...regroup...and come out fighting!

So, I was making "I am thankful "cards with the kids........Starte dto think on what I am thankful for................

I am thankful for you glorious chickie friends, thats what !!!undefined

PHEW! My son is getting better by the hour--I'm still glad I had the weekend off work. Nice to spend some time with the hubby for a change.

I'm down two pounds too--probably from the worrying over my son the past couple of days. I'll take it though. It's nice to see movement again.

Hope you are all on track. I've only cheated once this last couple of days and that was with some Russell Stover's low carb chocolate. Bad me Bad me!

Oh well, at least it didn't stop me from losing altogether.

Have a great weekend!

Nan

hi ladies,
hope everyone os doing great this weekend. annie and holly hang in there!! you can do this, it is really hard but you are both so strong!! i can totally relate i spent most of the summer just feeling like i could not do this anymore. the best i could do for several months was check in 3fc daily and maybe get by till noon being op. i kept trying to get my inspiration back and then it finally did come back. i still have really bad days sometimes but i just keep hanging on. november 1st it will be a year since i started trying to loose this extra weight, i have come a long way, but there is still a long road ahead of me. so hugs to both of you and keep giving it your best shot everyday!!

girlie i love the wedding pics hello kitty is a fave of mine also she is just so darn cute!! glad hubby is feeling better and keep up the good work you are doing great!!

mychoice- happy anniversary!!! how nice you are going out for dinner, enjoy the shopping too!!

labchick woo hoo for you with the 2 lb loss!! and so glad to hear little ds is feeling better. enjoy your time off work!!
hope you all have a great weekend!!

Hi Everyone,
It was a very busy Saturday with housework and all. DH and I are both off from work this weekend and we slept in. We had a nice time last night celebrating our anniversary.

Just got home from having dinner with my brother. Ever notice how getting together with people involves food? I brought half my dinner home; it will make a nice lunch for tomorrow.

Jodi: I've been working on this for over a year now also. Sometimes I loose my zeal, but then it usually comes back quickly. Today I was buying grocerys and I ran into someone I know from church. They said to me "You are really looking good"..man is that something to hear! I just wanted to be sure that I stayed OP the rest of the day!

Labchick: I'm glad your DS is feeling better and great job on the loss! It does feel good to see the scales move down doesn't it?

Well ladies, I'm going to head to bed. I just wanted to check in.

Hello, my name is Teri and I just found this thread. Is there room for me to join? I guess I should introduce myself by telling a little about myself, but where should I begin? I guess I should start when my weight trouble started.
All through out high school I was thin. I wore a size 3, and weighed 109 pounds. (I am 5'3). My boyfriend proposed December of my senior year, and I felt obligated to accept. I have always struggled with making my own decisions. I always seem to make decisions I think that others would want me to make. This is something I have been working really hard on. He proposed in front of all my family,and I felt I could not say no, for several reasons, which are too lengthy for this post. It was at this point that I think I started gaining. I went from weighing 109 in December to weighing 120 by the time I got married 7 months later. I graduated in May of 1993 and married in July 1993. Incase any of you are wondering, I was not pregnant, but it didn't take me long to get pregnant after getting married. Infact we were only married 6months when I discovered I was pregnant in January of 1994. But my weight began to escalate right after getting married. We were both young, barely making above minimum wage, and he felt he should still be able to stay out all night with his friends. I ofcourse didn't. When I went for my first doctors appointment I weighed 150 pounds! At the end of my pregnancy I weighed 186. I had gained 77 pounds in a little less than a year!After having my son, Garrett, I weighed 160. Two years later my second child, Lauren, was born. At the end of my pregnancy with her I weighed 201. After having her I remained at 186 until after my divorce a year later. We were married a total of 4 years. After the divorce was final I was finally able to start losing weight. I had joined weight watchers, and I lost 30 pounds. I weighed 150 until I married my second husband. I got pregnant right away and went from 150 to 230! Two years after Spencer was born my youngest daughter Emily was born. After she was born I weighed the exact same as my pre-pregnancy weight (230) but I was a size larger. A month after I had Emily I went in for gallbladder surgery, and when they gave me the anestesia my heart stopped. It turns out, I had post partum cardiomyopathy and my heart had only been working half of what it should. Anestesia slows your heart down, and since mine was already pumping so slow, it just stopped. With lots of prayer my heart returned back to normal within 6 months. A short time after that I had to have hernia surgery. I had joined a gym because it was a lot cheaper than Cardiac Rehab, but apparently my muscles were still weak from my C-Section. After my hernia surgery I never returned back to the gym. It was during this time that I also found out I have sleep apnea, and possibly a mild form of narcolepsy.
I now weigh 241. I am 29 years old (I turn 30 this month) and a stay at home mom of my four children. I am currently a College Student. Last year my mom was not working so I was able to pay her to watch my two youngest children while I attended classes, but she has since returned to work, so I am taking classes online right now. This way I am able to be home with the children while still pursuing a Paralegal degree.
My biggest challenges during my wieght loss journey will be drinking enough water (I do not like water!) and Excercise!! For a little extra money a local mom is paying me to take her children to their Karate classes, cheerleading practices, and art clubs. On top of that, my youngest son is in Pre-K and only attends half a day. So a typical day for me is to wake up, get all the kids ready, then my mom brings over my half-brother. I leave the house around 7:20 and take my oldest two to school, drop them off, then I take my brother to his high school and drop him off. I come back home around 8:00, and either clean house, or do home-work. I leave the house again around 11:30 to 11:45 to take Spencer to Pre-K. I get home shortly after 12:00 and it is the same as before. After eating lunch it is either housework, or school. My two year old makes this very difficult because she is constantly getting into stuff! Then I leave the house again at 2:30 to go get in line to pick up Spencer at 3:00. After getting him I drive over to the Elementary school where my oldest two children are and wait for them to get out of school at 3:15. (Their elementary school does not offer Pre-K) AFter picking them up I then drive over to the high school to pick up my brother at 3:30. I take him home, get back to my house around 4:00. My husband is usually getting home at this time from work, so I have to have dinner ready for him. ( He drives a truck locally, so he has odd hours and has to go to bed by 6:00). After getting his plate made etc., I then load all the kids up and go pick up the other two children and take them to whatever event that day calls for. So I really do not have any free time. I don't know how I am going to be able to get exercise in!
Twice I have made it to the 200 mark, and both times I splurged that weekend, and never made it to 199! I cannot wait until I can finally jump on the scale and see that oh so magical number 199!

Thanks!
Teri

Teri - Of course you're welcome here. We've got a great group of women here who all want the same thing for each other as well as for themselves. I have always struggled with my weight, but really lost control during my pregnancies as well, so now that I've been spayed , I figure it's time to get it under control and keep it there!

MyChoice - you are so right about the food thing during get togethers! It probably was a nice tradition that dates back to ancient times that we've somehow managed to let go haywire (or at least it seems that way in my family).

Holly and Annie - I get into those funks all the time. It's weird though, it's not like there's this "one" thing that will get me out of the funk. It's something different every time. This last time I tried on some of my fat pants (I keep one pair just to see how far I've come) and it felt so good to have them fall off me! That was my anti-funkinator for this month. It'll be different next month.

Girlie - On the how do you tell when you're full thing, I gave up on that a LONG time ago. I think our faster paced lifestyles have taught us to ignore our bodies on some levels. I now figure out how many calories I should have at any given meal and go with that and if I still feel hungry, I drink more water until I'm so full I can't think about food anymore. It's not the best solution, but so far it seems to be working (nothing seems to work for me for all that long, so when it works I take advantage of it).

Jodi - I agree with you that summer is one of the hardest times for me to stick to any diet. I always seem to blow it for at least one entire month in the summer. Not that the holidays are any easier mind you, but you get the picture. It's like my body needs a vacation from dieting altogether.

I'll check in tomorrow gals. Hope everything is going for all of you.

Nan

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to check in really quickly before bed. Wasn't the GREATEST weekend food wise lol! Yesterday I was in a rush to get my gym workout in, get last minute groceries and stuff for the wedding we went to and get my eyebrow wax in lol. I drank a decent amount of champagne at the wedding and I'm sure that was full of calories. We don't normally drink very often but will when there's and open bar lol!

Anyway, we went to a party after the reception and ate more food there...not good. Came home really late and slept in and I slept hard. I didn't exercise today. Yesterday at the gym I weighed in and was very disappointed. After all the exercise and watching this week, I weight EXACTLY the same as I did a week ago. That's probably why I slacked today and didn't go because it's weigh in day. So I'll have to weigh in next Sunday. I feel really down because typically in the first week I lose at least 3-5 pounds. Maybe it's muscle? Who knows...but I won't give up. I'm ready and packed for the gym at 5am. I'm gonna do this. I want to make my October Challenge!

Teri -
I wanted to say welcome. We all have similar stories...most of us were much thinner when we were younger and just kinda gained and lost throughout the years. We can do it. Share with us what you've been doing, your little victories and such. We'll help each other through.

Gotta get to bed. I'll check in tomorrow.

Hi Everyone!! I'd like to join this lil club too!!! I currently weigh 230 and am eagerly anticipating the day I will see 199 on the scale! I have been overweight all of my life and after so many times of trying and failing to loose the weight I am finally loosing it.
I went to the Doctor back in feb and after tests were run it was determined that I have hypothyroidism and I was put on thyroid med and 2 vitamins. Now with the combination of the meds and exercise/dieting I am finally seeing some results.
I literally cried the first time I looked at the scale and saw I had lost 5 pounds.....that may sound stupid but it meant that much to me.

There are just so many things that I want to do and so many cute clothes that I want to buy and all that I cannot wait till I reach my goal.

I don't really have problems with finding time to exercise....its just getting myself motivated enough to actually do something. The one thing that I do have trouble with is eating at night. I try hard to not anything past around eight in the evening but sometimes I get cravings and then give in to them. I get mad at myself afterwards for not being strong enough to fight off the craving.

I own my own home and my mom,sis,and my sis's 3 kids all live with me....which is cool b/c I would'nt want to live alone. I've never been married and I don't have any kids of my own....so I am glad they live here with me. I enjoy being a part of a close knit and loving family....even if things get hectic at times. I enjoy being here to help my sister raise her children since their dads (yes they have different dads) are all MIA......don't ever get me started on how worthless their dads are. I know not all guys are like them....but they have really soured me on men. One of these days though they are gonna realize everything they missed out on and they are going to regret decisions they made. I would'nt trade the time I have spent with Josh,Allison,or Nicky for anything in this world. ANyhow as much as I love them they can sometimes get on my nerves so bad that I end up eating to settle my nerves.
Then times like tonight they will bake cookeies/cakes/etc and I just have to give in and have some. I had an oatmeal rasiain cookie tonight.......I had to have one....but at least I can say I stopped at one. Thats good for me.

I like coming here and cooresponding with people who understand what I am going through as they are going through it to. I like being here where people understand why loosing even a few pounds is a big deal.

I love reading all of the success stories from those who have lost it inspires me and gives me encouragement and motivation to not give up even on the darkest days.

I too have days where I think to myself " why am I even bothering" it just gets so frustarting at times that I just feel like giving up.

Good morning! Boy, am I feeling the love in here today! Last week was horrible for me w/food. Didn't exercise (not even once), ate real chocolate (which made me want more) and just had an overall bad week for weight loss goals. OK, so today is a new day & the start of a new week. Here we go!

April28 - You are welcome to drop by anytime! We have much in common: I lose motivation to exercise easily. And on a personal level, I also own my home, am single and have no children. My best friend lives w/me. She and I battle this weight thing together. By the way, stopping at 1 cookie is an achievement!

Girlie - Your wedding photos are adorable! What a beautiful family. Also, even though you weighed the same as a week ago, at least you didn't gain!

Lab - Congrats on the 2 pounds! That's awesome!

Teri - Welcome to you! I notice you said you don't like water. Have you tried the flavored waters that are on the market? I've never tried them, but maybe the flavored ones would help you get in your daily amount. Good luck and keep us posted on how you're doing.

MyChoice - Happy belated anniversary! Hope you had a great weekend w/hubby. BTW, what does DH stand for?

Jodi - How ya doin' today?

Annie - To use colors in text on this site, I always highlight the whole word I want to color, then choose the color. Is that how you do it?

Holly - I'm thankful for this thread too! What great support we get here. This is such a nice place to vent and tell all about our challenges with weight. I love it!

Be blessed today, everybody...

Hi, everyone! I would love to join this race. Maybe it will motivate me to work a little harder. I am currently at 204 and hope to be at 199 by 10/31/04. I have started WW several times and fall off the wagon after just a few days. I usually eat a low-fat diet but I have noticed that the majority of what I do eat is carbs. Any ideas out there of a good plan that balances both? I do walk regularly and ride my bicycle occaissionally but would love to find something else to mix it up a little. This seems to be a very friendly group!

Jill

Hello Everyone and Welcome to all you new Gals!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and that you work up this morning feeling like you have a brand new start. Don't you just love the fact that you have a clean slate for the whole week? Hey, there has to be some reason to love Monday's right?!

I want to be really honest with you all. I've been staying on plan, but I've also been "cheating" in the way that I haven't made most healthful choices and you know that I don't feel as good as I do when I eat more for health. I've been eating for emotions. I've not overate, but I've chosen french fries instead of a plain baked potato, I could have had a salad, but I didn't and ate an appetizer instead..that sort of thing.

So my goal for today is to make healthy choices. Things that will fill me up, things that will make my skin look good, give me energy etc.

Time for me to get to work.

I'll check in later today.

Hevron: You asked what DH stands for: Dear Husband.

good morning everyone,
here we are on another monday, it is a clean slate for alot of reasons, the weekends i gat a little lax as far as getting my water in and like you mychoice my choices aren't always the best. today is a fresh new week and i am going to make as many good for me choices as i can!!
i weighed in on saturday and i am still at 231, i just know the scale will move this week i can feel it!! to help it along i am going to try and get more fiber and try to come in at 1400 cals /day of healthy foods!!
welcome to all the new faces!! jump right in there is so much support here!!!

i better get to work i'll try to check in later!! have a great day everyone!

We have had the most glorious weekend. I have been so organized and hubby has pitched right in, that we had a bunch of down time just to play games and and watch the tube. Saturday was great with hubby's family. I cooked for 18.My MIL behaved!!!
Yesterday my son had hockey and then we had sunday school and then I napped and read most of the aft. Unheard of for me but muchly appreciated!!
I was up early today and got turkey #2 in the oven, stuffing in the slow cooker , did a quick tidy, set the table and we are at it again. My family comes today!!
I have definitley been eating too much but I must say I have not eaten until I waa grossly stuffed.
Tomorrow will be my Monday to get back on track!
Welcome to the new chicks!!

Best wishes to everyone getting back on track today!!!!