Aww Christina. I am soo sorry to hear about your grandpa.... I will have him in my thoughts and prayers.

As for you girl get off your back side and do it!! YEA!! I will cheere you on. I have been stuck for a while so I will get started exercising too. 10-15 Yea it is doable just keep that as your primary goal. and every time you want to give into the sugar carb monster remember lifing a 10 lb bag of flour and think of how heavy it is, or grab 10 lbs of butter and look at how much fat that is. pick up a 15 lb ham in the meat dept OMG it is really heavy. So go girl you will feel soo much better with it off and your clothes will fit so much better!! I too have a goal for 200, by June 2 (family pictures) (I think I may not make it but I will try, it was do able when i set it but did not anticipate a 2 week stall) So we will kick but together

Eat 3 meals a day, you must have breakfast your body has to have fuel. I am a sugar eater, emotional eater, too. I can't do that if I want to lose weight.

OPPS I missed that part, yes you must eat, but it is better to exercise if you have not eaten for1 hour or eat 1 hour after it helps with the hormone stimulation.

Christina, I am sorry to hear about your Grandpa. I will pray for your family.

I've also read that you should workout on an empty stomach. I didn't know about the waiting one hour afterward. I am going to try that. I usually don't eat between breakfast and working out on my lunch. So, I'll have to eat, like nasus40 says, at least an hour before my lunch. Which is totally doable.

If you're walking for picture taking, just walk as much as you can. Try going further in the same amount of time. You might not be able to do much, but you can do something. I know you can do this.

My goal is to lose the next 20 pounds by June 24th when we leave for vacation to midwest.

Christina- getting away from sugar will make you so happy. It helps to eliminate mood swings and cravings. Adding lots of water is so great too. Also, the sit-ups are a great start. Exercising your core is super important especially for us girls (don't want to be the hump-back old lady), but PLEASE do not get discouraged if you do not see results. Core work is under any fat you may have in your midsection, so you will be building the muscle but it may remain "hidden" until the outer layer goes away. Sending good thoughts.

Oh- another thing I get from hospital visits is how much I do NOT want to be physically "less than". Motivates me to strive for a strong healthy bod.

And I bet this sugar is the reason why i've been depressed like lately. Good advice. THANKS!

Christina and Tommy, it is so true that the sugar, even the fake stuff, can have a huge impact on your moods. And the thing is that at some point you can't even remember if you are eating off plan because you feel bad or if you feel bad because you are eating off plan. It is such a vicious cycle.

Wow, never new sugar can do this to ya. Didn't know it's better to exercise on an empty stomach either. Cool.

You will be amazed at how quickly you lose weight once you eliminate sugar from your diet! I do use the fake stuff every once in a while. My fav is splenda.

Hi Christina, Sorry to hear about your Grandpa, I hope he is OK.
Breaking the sugar habbit was hard for me too, but you can do it and you will feel better. Your goal is very attainable, just stick with you healthy eating and walking. Good for you doing the sit ups as well!! And remember housework counts as exercise! I love your new avatar. You have come so far already, keep it up.

The exercising on the empty stomach if in the PPLP book it is about releasing the gsh which will stimulate muscle growth, tighten up the skin, increase your metabolism, and much more. people can also release the gsh with one of the sleep modes but it is so much less as you get older, another reason for not eating just before you go to sleep besides no way to burn it off. It is siad it is the fountain of youth hormone which as we get older it decreases production, thus we slow out metabolism, skin gets less elastic and frail. I do not remember it all but that I did remember, especially with weight lifting, I do not remember if it was so much with cardio but you build muscle with cardio so I do not know why it would not be the same???

Butterfly, how are you doing with your efforts to stay away from the sugar? Hope all is going well.

Wow, nasus40, that is awesome information. I used to be able to workout before breakfast on an empty stomach. But now my mornings are full with getting kids fed and to school. I might try to get at at 5 and do some cardio but we will see how I feel about that. As for eating before bed, I really try not to eat too close to bed, but you know, sometimes my evening schedule is not conducive to eating before 8.

Again, that was just great information, nasus40. Thanks.

Christine, how's it going, girlie? You hanging in there?

Well......I can't seem to let go of the sweet tea.

Thanks nasus for the GREAT info!

Did 107 situps last night. I am going to change it around and start doing it in the mornings on an empty stomach.