I am so ready to shed some pounds. I want to wear my smaller clothes again and have more energy.

Hi girls, I weighed in today instead of yesterday (kept thinking yesterday was Sunday) anyways new years eve partying (did more eating than drinking) was not good to me (at least no hangover). I am up 2 lbs. Oh well, my fresh start is officially today, sounds like everyone else is on that wave link as well. So let's kick it into high gear TODAY! I'm off to a great start eating, only had my "Kashi Golean" cereal for breakfast, however, I was **** bent on getting to the gym this AM but was still sick when I awoke (almost feel as bad as I did the first day I came down w/ it). Argh, laid on the couch all AM watching Jerry Ford funeral (he is a hometown boy, my grandparents knew him) and sleeping, oh well at least I wasn't eating. I'm praying to feel better tomorrow, I know some people work out while ill, but I just can't I'm too achy.

Aud, ok ok, I say we set a mini (week-long) goal of getting our 8 oz. (or more) of H2O in daily. What do you say? Anyone have any other ideas?

Jen, Glad you are back, sorry you are sick. Do you have a terrible stiff neck w/ your crap? I do.

T, WNM, and Lals, Welcome, hope to see you around often...

LBB, Hope you are having a great day...

Got to go get ready for work, someone please shoot me. LOL. I'll check back in w/ my h2o success tonight. MJ

Hi all

I keep posting around here but never seem to get replies! I would LOVE to join your daily chats and challenges. I posted the following in Hot and Healthy Challenges but meant to post it here.

Some quick info on me -- I'm 46 (how'd THAT happen??), have three kids (D-16; S-13; D-10), and work PT. Most of my life I've been pretty steady on my weight until I had kids. After my oldest was born I lost everything w/in a year of her birth. When my son was born, he was small but not a preemie but instinct said something was wrong. I gained 10 lbs. after he was born munching out of worry on sunchips! Turns out after 6 1/2 yrs. of numerous doctors he was dx'd with ASD (autistic spectrum disorder). Won't go into details but let's just say that almost unbearable stress, worry, and frustration just became a way of life. I managed to lose all but those 10 lbs. Three years later my youngest was born. I have 15lbs. on from having her plus another 15 for good measure and so here I am needing to lose 40 lbs. I did lose about 18 lbs. three years ago. I went back to school to finish my BS and was really busy but worked out a lot and really tried to watch the food. Unfortunately, I've gained it back. So I'm ready to start in again.

Just wanted to give an intro here. This site seems pretty supportive. I'd love to know what exercise routines some of you follow. My exercise usually consists of a mix of the following: treadmill (incline broke but I use it flat); we have a Total Gym which isn't broken in yet, I have a dog -- she's the BEST -- that I walk several times a week, and I have FIRM tapes and some Billy Blanks. I was really in the zone w/exercise in the fall then broke my toe (third time on this toe!!) and was out of commission for a month, then Christmas and all so I'm kind of starting over on Tuesday. Was contemplating buying Core Rhythms or maybe YogaBootyBallet. Anyone tried them? Also, how much should I be walking? I actually ran a whole mile once but that was b/4 the stupid broken toe (thanks to a husband who "forgot" to put the ladder away and kids who think cleaning their rooms means leaving everything in the middle of the floor! !) I was up to walking about 3.8-4.0 mph for 2-3 miles 3 or 4 times per week, but after reading many posts I'm thinking it's just not enough. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

My goals:

1. To exercise 5 days a week. (is this enough?)
2. To cut way back on processed foods and keep total calories at 1300-1400per day.
3. To stop eating anything after dinner unless I am really, truly hungry. (This is by far the biggest problem I have. It's pretty much the bulk of my weight gain. Anyone else have this problem?).

Today, 1/2/07, I walked 2.5 miles on the treadmill (43 minutes) and started tracking calories and exercise on Fitday.

I'd love to hear back from someone -- anyone

Ok, I've rambled on enough. I look forward to meeting you all and finding some true buddies, inspiration and support. Hope everyone had a good New Year's!

Jo

AUD I have expelled that awful word "fail" out of my new eating plan. You are correct that there will not be any of that word, but a few stumbles along the way. When we stumble we will brush ourselves off and keep moving towards success. What shall we do with these saboteur dh's? It never fails when I start a diet that my dh will bring home the best of the best homemade goodies from well wishing friends. Sometimes my tummy wins over my logic but I keep trying.
Sending you a truckload of day time shift vibes.


gingerjen Hope that you are feeling lots better today. Try to get lots of rest.


Welcome ! WeightNoMore2007, LALS, and Is that really me.

emjay71 There will not be any shooting on this diet journey. LOL. Feel better soon. Those 2 lbs gain will be dropped off in no time. I am up for a challenge for the week of 8 cups of water a day. Maybe we can have a weekly challenge to help keep us on track. One week we could have a water challenge, than a staying OP challenge, or exercise challenge. etc.



Today is my first official diet start day too. Yesterday I wanted one more being lazy. I had a healthy low cal breakfast today. I am full and satisfied. But still I have a turkey sandwich floating around in my head. There is a huge disconnect between my stomach and brain. Even when I am full, my mind is roaming around for food. I have to positive self-talk myself through the fact I am full and do not need to eat again until I am hungry. My biggest problem with food is eating as a habit. Than ending up overeating. But I will make every effort to remind myself to eat when hungry and not out of boredom or because the food is there. That seems harder than counting calories.

BumbleBee

And I thought I was the only one who had a problem w/food when I'm not hungry! So glad to hear that others have to deal w/this too. This may sound stupid but sometimes when I'm hungry I find it easier to "stick to it" vs. when I'm just WANTING something. Sometimes salty, sometimes sweet, always, always, always at night when the house is quiet. Mindless eating is by far harder for me to give up than to eat right and exercise!

Jo

Hi all. I love the idea of weekly challenges. The 8 glasses of water is a good one to start with. I am addicted to Diet Coke. I don't want to give it up completely, but would love to cut way back. I diet between 4 and 6 cans a day. That is just horrible I know.

I have decided that I need to buy a new scale. The one I have changes weight with each little breath/heart beat. I am a little nervous about getting a new one, because I really don't want to know the real number. It looks like I gained anywhere from 3 pounds to 5 over the holidays. It all depended on the breathing.

Hubbie and daughter I home. Son and I came home early from school he wasn't feeling well. I know he is going back tomorrow, he did a tone of playing with news toys. Can he be that cleaver already at 7 to pull the wool over everyone at school eyes?

Hello ladies,
Well I am back from the dead, or at least that is the way it feels. I love the idea of mini goals. I have tried to do water, I know it sounds terrible but I can't do it, so I substitute with iced tea. I do wonderful with tea. I love tea, and actually I prefer sugar free tea so that is even better.
My goals
8 glasses of tea

30 minutes on my elliptical every day(this will go up in time)

a toning workout(gotta go through my dvds before I can choose for sure)right now I think this will be everyother day to start then as I get in better shape it will be everyday as well.

1500 cals a day

My birthday is Feb 5- I want to be down ten pounds by then. Unless we all want to chose a Valentines goal. Either way works for me.

Any input/suggestions would be great. Well I have lots of catching up to do, been lazy for two days trying to feel better. Until next time,
Jen

Yo Ho Ho and No More RUM!!!

I'm so glad you didn't drink emmyj! You'd REALLY be sick. I don't believe in working out when sick . . . do any of you?

And I'm 46 too istrme! HTH that happened, indeed!

And hello to you my lilbbee . . . thinking of ChubbyLovin'InsecureHub as the enemy is working for me-he's got that freakin' bread machine a'whirrin' again tonight - I just drank three glasses of water with a sleeping pill and glared at his traitor a$$!!!

I'd like to invite all/some/any/none/whatever (can you tell I haven't been on day shift in 10 years and am positively GOOOOOFY??? ) . . . Anyhoo---if anyone wants to check out the other Challenge I'm in - its loads of fun and super motivational. I like the accountability and structure of it and a kewl group of ladies - soooooo:

If you want to read our prior challenge its on the "Chicks Up For A Challenge" Forum and the Threads were the "New Year New You" Challenge/weekly chats. The new one is called "W.O.W. Get Your Groove On Challenge" - we all met accidentally sort of - and cracked each up with saying we were getting our WEED ON and Our "Groove" on. The Thread starter is rowdybliss and she explains everything in the first Post. Example WEED:

W = Water
E = Exercise
E = Eating
D = daily goal/affirmation

Your goal can be anything you want. I found Pilates thru this Group and also got my Water Groove on - super support and everyone welcome - just started today--folks are on all different plans or no plan at all--so a mix. Mainly all want to get healthy--which is cool.

Sounds like we're all off to a Great Start - love chatting here too so no biggie if you read it and it doesn't interest you.

Tx for the truckload of day shift vibes - send more pleeeeezzzzZZZZzzzzzz

good morning! Boy am I having trouble shaking off the cobwebs this morning. And it's COLD outside! Whats with that?? I know it's january and it's supposed to be cold but I was sooooo loving the mild weather.

I saw two women walking down my street this morning and I thought "God bless you for getting out in this weather" UGH. I'm sitting here, coffee on my left, in front of the fire and thinking **** No I'm not going back outside.

I'm going to go check out the challenges Aud mentioned. Like her, I really like the accountability. Problem is, I don't own a scale so I won't be able to guage my progress... hmmm.. wait, there's a scale in the locker room at tennis - I can jump on it 1x a week.

T.

HI ALL!!!
JEEZZ...I haven't been on for a few days and it seems like I haven't been on for a few months, I had to take notes on what you all said before I wrote this response! So a day ago I just got back from Cincinnati!! FUn Fun FUn!! Lots of family and friends, no down time whatsoever..but it was worth it because we got to see pretty much all of my fiance's family! Yay!! There was a few different times we went out to eat, but I actually made really good choices..ate a lot of salad...and only ate kind of bad the night that we went to Lone Star. I could have done a lot worse!!!

Aud, I got a g.c. from my fiance's aunt to amazon.com, so I bought the "you" book last night online, along with a book that my fiance's uncle wrote! Yay for books!!

Welcome to any of our recent joiners!! Just as a recap, I go by Zandria, I am 22, a full time college student, I will be graduating in May, I live with and will be getting married to my wonderful fiance, and I gained all my weight back when I came to college.

I think it was Aud that said my fiance and I seem busy...yes we are very busy. I have a lot more time on my hands because I was only working 30 hrs a week + 15 hrs of school, and my fiance has been working about 15 more hours a week then me...plus a 1/2 hr drive each way...but it will be over shortly. He will be graduating in 2008 and we know that all the craziness is temporary. Yes, taking care of work, grades, and our cute little apt. does make it hard for me to take care of myself. He always tells me that I need to stop making excuses and just do it..which he's right. He knows I am a procrastinator at heart.. But I think that a few things have happened to me lately that will really help me to lose the weight. First of all, I have been looking at myself in the mirror lately and it gets me really sad when I am looking at myself. I was looking at my thighs and thinking about how proud I was of myself when I lost weight in high school and how I was able to wear a bathing suit and not be ashamed, how I could wear skirts and not be disgusted with myself and wonder what everyone is thinking. I want to get back there. The other thing that happened, was yesterday I went to the dr and they had to prick my fingers 3 times because my blood was too runny. The dr told me that I need to take a mulivitamin with iron. Which I was taking them about a month ago and I stopped. I just realized though, that I need to take care of myself or I am going to have a whole bunch of health problems some day if I don't stop neglecting myself. I want to live!

By the way, I really do want to join WW now, I decided, but I don't have the money at the moment..so it might be in my near future!

So, I am going to get back to work, but I will make sure to get on soon again!! Hope you all had a wonderful new year's!!

Hi girls, I did pretty good w/ the water yesterday and hope to get it all in today b4 bed. I had really gotten out of the habit of drinking that much. I'm lucking cuz I rarely drink pop.

Jo, Welcome. Wow I think your excercise regimen sounds great. I think you were absolutely doing enough, I wish I was doing as much. I used to do Walk away the Pounds DVD's b4 I got my gym membership and really loved them. You may want to try them. Right now at the gym I do about 2 miles on the elliptical trainer and then do a series of weight machines that takes about a half hour. Haven't been all thru the holidays and now that I want to get back on track I'm sick. Big plans to go tomorrow AM though. Glad you decided to join our thread I think you will find it motivating.

LBB, Hope you had a great eating day today. I'd like it if my DH brought baked goods home, but only once in a while. He never brings home food, I guess I should count my blessings.

Tahoemom, My friend got braces (dental that is) at age 35 because of bite issues but she also has very thin brittle teeth and her orthodontist forbid her from diet pop because he said it has more acid in it than even regular pop. Maybe if you thought of that and your teeth maybe you could cut down, or maybe not I know it is very addictive. p.s. I heard the weight watchers scale is pretty good.

Aud, I will definately check out the chicks and challenge thing. Not sure if I have the time to keep up w/ two, you know I don't have your energy. But you have definately peaked my interest. Again, I'm jealous about a hubby w/ baked goods.

T, it was 50 and sunny here today so why wasn't my big butt out walking? I joined the gym cuz I hate to walk in the cold over the winter but we have had a crazy mild winter this year, haven't seen snow in weeks.

Zandria, I've done WW numerous times and I will say it is the most productive on your first run w/ it. But it is pricey, they really have the market on weight loss and they charge hefty for it. But after you do it once you have the knowledge of the program for a lifetime. Let me know when you get the "you" book and how you like the first few chapters. I'm still backlogged on books I have at home (not reading any fitness ones though).

Jen, I almost forgot that we have the same b-day. I am up for the 10 lbs. challenge by then. We can do that we just have to get our butts moving like we used to. I know this darn illness is not helping matters any. Any interest in doing your TaeBo tapes again???

Talk at y'all tomorrow.

MJ

Just popping by b4 I black out - see that we're in the "Support forum" now. Speaking of support - just think of all the $$$$ I'll save on brassieres??!!! Anyone else spending a FORTUNE on gigantic bras?

I'm OP/ON track gym-wise and water logged - Day 2-so far so good!

Hating day shift - this week and next - send more day shift vibes lilbbee!

Hi ladies, Drank 9 glasses ofwater yesterday and I think I'll get it in again today.
MJ thanks for the info on DC and teeth. After years of orthodontal work as a kid I am neurotic about my teeth.
I stood on the scale at work today. 3 of us bought it last year. We planned on weighing in weekly, and did for 3 months. After the realization that all of us almost weighed the same amount, it wasn't as embarassing as we hoped to guilt us into staying on program. I talked to one of the ladies and she wants to hop back on, so we will be doing that together. I weighed 194.8!!! It was truly ugly since my scale at home was fluctuating between 183-188. This scale stayed the same no matter how I was breathing, so I guess this is my new starting point.
Aud, my bras aren't to expensive, I stick with the Champion. What I struggle with is finding Blister Shield. I use it to prevent chaffing on my thighs and under my bra band.
I have to go and help get everyone settled into bed.

Good morning good morning!!

Amazing what a couple of cups of coffee, a little breakfast and brushing one's teeth does to wake us up! I have a few minutes before I have to head to day one of PT. I'm a little nervous that it's going to hurt like ****! Yikes!

Tahoemom: I've never tried the champion bras but I LOVE their panties. I get mine at Target. Next time I'll have to go looking for their bras too!

Aud: I don't think it matters what size bra you wear, they ALL cost a fortune. I used to buy mine at Macy's but now I buy bras at Target too and they are STILL expensive. Unless you are a tiny little A size and you can pick them up off the clearance rack! Believe me Sistah - I ain't now and ain't never gonna be no A size LOL! Thing is, even when I lost 40 lbs, my bra size never changed. Not one millimeter!! :|

em: Stayed cold here all day. Now TODAY, the day dawns mild and lovely and of COURSE I have plans for most of the day that are going to keep me from being able to devote any serious amount of time outside. Isn't that always the way???

collegebride: I was a college bride myself way back when! Got hitched at the end of my sophmore year. I totally understand how crazy it is when everyone else is just focusing on classes and having fun and you have to also handle running a household and Yes, a marriage. Marriages take work and major effort and time to stand any sort of a chance of succeeding. Kudos to you! You can do it! It can be done! 22 years later, the hubby and I both having Masters Degrees and now 2 awesome kids (15 and 12) we are still going strong! Good luck to you both!!

Well folks, that's about it for me for now I think. I'll pop back in later to see how everyone's day went!

Remember - before you put it in your mouth ask yourself "How important is this to me right now?? More important than my 3fc goals?" Good luck!

T.

Morning everyone,
Aud-I really wish I could help you out with the dayshift vibes, but I am just not a morinng person. Yeah I have always worked the day shift, well with a couple of evenings thrown in but getting up has always been murder for me, I even go to bed early. I am the kind I can stay up all night just let me sleep till nine, although those days are over.

Congrats on all the water ladies. I have my tea made and ready to go. Maybe if I give up my soda that will help with the heartburn.

Emjay-its official, ten pounds by our birthday-anyone else want to join in?
I would love to get my taebo tapes out and dusted off but am a little afraid of using them. I live in an upstairs apt. I can't hear the people around me talking but I can here them walking around and stuff, that is why I plan on using the elliptical for sure, my hubby also bought me the turbo jam dvds and I want to try them out, I just need to see how much noise they make first. I know poor excuse, I just need to go at it.

I am interested in buying the book, but it is kinda at the bottom of a long list of must haves, the hubby's car broke down last weekend, at least it was after the ice storm. So now we have to have a new timing belt/chain/thingy in it. And my dryer is going to pot, and I have my books to buy for class next week. Ouch, so splurging won't be happening here for a couple of weeks. But that is okay.

Aud-you are right, it is great to be in a support group-we are official now!

I hear you on the bras, I usually just wear a sports bra, but then I always have even back when I was skinny, except when going out and stuff, you know when the girls need to look perky. When this is all said and done I plan on going to Victorias secret and be fitted for a proper bra. Maybe buy some of the other fun kinky stuff, you know the stuff we know men love but the thought of actually crawling into something like that mortifies me.

Well ladies time to get my daughter off to school, sorry I kinda rambled. I will check in later.
Jen