I almost forgot- anyone heard from Jazzmine??
I hope she is feeling better and will be back with us soon!

YEAH! GRASSHOPPER!!!Ok, I am following your example. I think I will just bring my notes to the gym and plant myself on a treadmill and read notes there. I need to keep moving and the winter weather is going to start getting in my path. I want a ticker thingy,,,how do I get one? ,,I cant even figure out how to change fonts and stuff.

Welcome Stormy!! ..who are these people who say this isnt a good time to lose weight. Tell them the best time to lose is before all the complications of obesity set in...lol... To lose we have to learn how to say "NO!" to the food we all love and crave. It doesnt have to be holiday time for me to spot food I want....lol...WECOME!!!

Oraki...HUGS TO YOU GIRL!!! YAY!!! 7 pounds is wonderful!! YOU GO GIRL!! I am so excited for you... Gee, you guys make me feel like I cant slouch... now I feel condemned to doing this for another week..lol..I am staying in the house and away from stores that sell food. I am armed with salads, soup and such.. Pre-test anxiety means I will eat the entire carton of fat free ice cream...and I believe at that point the fat free part of the equation is lost on the extended calorie consumption..not to mention polishing off the fudge...and then of course.. who ever heard of eating fudge without whipped cream?....nope... I best keep myself emprisoned with my salads til I get past the wednesday exam...lol

Thank you to everyone for being a captive audience to my whining through this weekend. Posting instead of snacking is really helpful....

Ill be back later when I need to fight of the urge to go buy cookies...

Crime Gril, I can gain up to 3 pounds when the monthy thing comes.. so dont feel bad, you probably lost a few if you only showing a gain of 1. YES! Go walk! I did aerobics this morning after I was sure the landlady down stairs left for church. I dont want to know if her dining room chandelier is swinging while I jump around my living room. Tomorrow I will walk on the treadmill at the gym.

Crime girl, my weight is 179 (well I have lost two pounds of water since Wednesday) and I would like to get down to 135.

Sussanne,
I know what you mean about pre-test anxiety. School is one of the reasons why my weight is where it is at. School=increased stress=increased eating. I am so tired of making up excuses for my weight...but school has contributed.


What type of diet or lifestyle change are people following in this group?

Everyone, thanks for all the kind welcomes! Oh, it's what I need. An active thread and lots of encouragement. I am so in the dumps these days and that's not like me. But I'm beaten down and I think I'm getting sick, which would explain the depression. I'm usually not that bad.

I'm a bit hesitant to weigh in as I've lost a lot of muscle and haven't been exercising much. Also, I want to put muscle back on and now this will wreak havoc with the numbers. Maybe if I give you measurements along with the weight. How about that? Can I do that? I tend to get extremely hung up on the scale and it works against me. Even when I know I'm losing inches I get discouraged when I see the numbers on the scale go up or stay the same and then I eat! What a waste! What a waist! Waist, where might that be, my dear?!

Well, I weigh in kilograms and think I'm somewhere in the 70s, probably somewhere in the 160 lb range. Not sure, will get back to you with the stats.

susanne -- thanks for your big welcome. Ok, I can whine and I can clap so let's just hope I can get my ever-expanding butt in here often enough to post. Congrats on your 5-lb loss! Don't belittle it. A loss is a loss and take it anyway and anytime you can get it!! It sounds like you're doing great with your food as well. This is where I've been really failing and normally I am something of a health nut. Continue to inspire me!

little grasshopper -- hello and thank you too! please, please encourage me. I am a big baby these days, maybe always was. I need talk and more of it. Looks like you and I are about the same in weight. I used to be solid, now it's all jiggly. Oh yuck! Well, back to work on this wonderful bod. 6 miles of walking, good for you! Did you figure out the ticker thing?

stormy -- WELCOME!! I just started here too. Wow, what a commute!?!! How do you do that? No wonder you've put on weight. Work and then more work is so stressful. I am under horrible stress as well so find solace in knowing you're not alone if you can.

It's easy to eat well and exercise when you've got loads of time (well, not for everyone) but add stress and well. . .kiss it goodbye unless you can really dig down deep to that tough stuff you're made of. Remember how diamonds are made! Me too, 40 pounds gone would make me very happy. Let's work on this together.

oraki -- thanks for the welcome and on your 7-pound loss. Go girl! Great stuff. Water looks like fat! Don't pooh-pooh it. Yes, BE happy! You're a success.

crime girl -- Hello, thanks for the welcome and thanks for this great thread. It looks like you've got a great bunch of people here and this is very hard to find this time of year when most people wimp out and just indulge until the New Year.

Yes, don't worry about the scale this week. Little fluctuations don't mean much. It's the big picture that matters.

Looking forward to your question. I'm a day ahead of most of you I guess (unless we've got some Aussies here) so don't mind me if I get confused or confusing with days.

Hi everyone!! Aren't we a great group

Red Balloon - I know what you mean about all the good stuff turning flabby. I remember the first time I realized I couldn't get into yoga position - not because I wasn't limber enough, but because I had a fat roll in the way!! That didn't stop me from eating though!! The program that I am on is an allergy diet decided by my doctor. It is meant to control chronic pain and prevent arthritis and help with hypoglycemia, but don't let that make you think I'm really sick. I guess I do have those diagnosis, but I don't look or feel that sick at all. I eat mostly organic meats and veggies, nuts (except peanuts), seeds, and pears - OH and I can have brown rice "anything" so I can have the icecream and cookies and stuff like that without it doing too much damage to the nervous system. A side effect of the diet is that you drop any weight that isn't healthy for your frame. In addition to that I'm in the beginning of a marathon training program. I had to start at the beginning of it (lots of walking) because of the pain thing. I want to make sure my body is ready for the stresses of long runs. I tend to over do where exercise is concerned....this plan is helping me keep it in check and keeping me excited because I always want to be doing more. I do weight training and yoga too. but only about 20 minutes a day of each. That will become more formal as the marathon training progresses. I use to be an extremely active black belt. I trained 3 hours a night - it was my life and I had the body to prove it. (no life though). In the spirit of all or nothing behavior I somehow stopped training and started eating instead. Don't know if I'll pick up martial arts again or not....anyway, long story short..there's my plan. So far so good. As I progress health wise, I'll get more foods back - my body won't be sensitive to it. I can almost eat oats Man, that's huge!!! I'm hanging in there for eggs

Well this is already a book. I'd better try again later See you guys soon.

howdy!

Stormy1 - I got you confused with Redballon and told her my whole "weightloss plan" saga....sorry - to both of you 2 pounds of ANY weight loss is great news....after all you'd be peaved if it was a 2 pound gain, wouldn't you Congratulations!!!! I didn't figure out the ticker thingy - I have to try again. It's at tickerfactory.com though. I guess it's okay to put that in a post...everyone sees to have them.

susanne - congratulations hang in there - you're almost at the end of the semester and you're doing a great job staying clear of the tempting foods. Have you planned a non food reward for after the semester?? You should!! Crime girl - you should too!!! Rewards are great and you've definately earned them!!!!

Well I'd better go. I didn't get my walk in today. I was unusually sleepy all day. Took a 3 1/2 hour nap - not like me at all. We did tons of grocery shopping though and I managed to buy all organic foods that will touch my mouth this week We'll see - that's EXPENSIVE! Doing the best I can. Talk to you guys soon!!

oh grasshopper, don't say that! I enjoyed being talked to so much!! Besides, it's all for everyone if it's on here, isn't it. I don't stop reading after I see someone's name. You and I sound like we have a lot in common. I'm a vegetarian so tend to overdo the carbs. Tell me about overdoing the exercise! When I'm in form, I just go and go. . . . Now, that I'm out of form, I keep going in the wrong direction!!!

Well, gotta run to work now but will write more later.

Grasshopper,
Wow it is wonderful that you are training for a marathons, especially if you do have arthritis. I used to run track but my knees do not allow me to run anymore. I would love to train for a marathon if my knees could handle it. I started taking Glucosamine about two months ago and it is helping my knees. If I could drop this weight maybe I could start running again. It has been about 12 years since I have ran! Anyway, congrats!

Hey everybody!
Sorry I havent been on much today but I have been having a hard time with TOM today- I am bloated and I feel sick to my stomache. I did manage to walk today- not as far as I would have liked but it is a start.

I am going to make this short because I am not feeling too well-
red balloon- whatever works for you is fine with me- you dont have to tell your weight at all if you think it will sabotage you. You can just give me inches and progress- that is fine. And don't worry about trying to keep up with the days- I always post the night before what the next day is so you will know what is what. I am glad you decided to join us.

Little grasshopper- - It is so great that you were a smart shopper and the organic route will make you so healthy and strong for marathon running. You have to keep us posted how it is going.

stormy-- I am on the diabetic pyramid- I was recently diagnosed and am trying to start just eating healthy which is a big change from my norm. Are you still in school? You are so right that school=stress. Also- so glad you decided to join us too!

Thanks for the kind words from everyone about my weight- I know my TOM will cause me to gain a little but it still hurts when the scale is so mean to me. I am going to be SO motivated this week though to prove the scale wrong.

For tomorrow- lets do: if I knew I was going to be stuck on an island and could only take 3 things what would they be?? can be people or objects.

Well this is longer than I thought it would be- you guys make me feel better!
I will try to get on later!
Have a wonderful night everyone and keep up the great work!!

stormy - good luck with the knees and running! I should warn - I just started training It's easy right now. I just walk a lot. But I use to love running. Never ran this much, but I need a goal and a hard date to reach it to be most effective in anything, so this seems like a good plan. I'm going to try to do 5K's and stuff to keep motivated and get use to running with groups. (plus they give you t-shirts )
One word of caution!! Becareful with your knees. Taking Glucosamine is wonderful to help with pain but it can do it's job too well sometimes. Since the pain will be better, use things like strength, flexibility and new popping to tell you if you're knees are okay...if anything like that changes - come off the supps and see how the knees are doing. Pain can keep you from further injuring yourself, but at the same time, as long as your smart and attentive, there is no reason you can't do the things you want to and enjoy the fact that the supps help with the pain!!! I just don't want you to think the knees are good and further injure them.

okay, I've gotta go fix my ticker thingy....looks like I'm writing in secret code so you won't know my real weight

Oh yeah- One more thing- I am going to move this to Battle of the Bulge #2 since we are in our 2nd week and our thread is getting so long!
So- stop posting here and look for Battle of the Bulge #2..
Thanks!