I have 3 twin mommy friends that are going to join me here, so wanted to start this thread for us! We may have more join us as we go......

I'll start! I'm Shawn - mom to 6 month old twin girls. I'm a SAHM full-time, and work as a CPA part-time from home. I get SO STRESSED trying to stay on top of working / housework / cooking / taking care of babies & playing with them / taking care of ME / etc. I stress - eat. I eat to cover up my feelings... who has time to stop & feel whatever they feel? LOL So I stuff it....

I usually can diet / exercise for about a week or two... seems like it's never longer than that. I'm HOPING that by having my friends encouraging me (and me doing the same for them) that we can stay on-plan for the rest of the year, and be healthier / skinnier / happier this time next year! For our babies... for our husbands (if applicable)... for OURSELVES!

Now... I really need to get motivated to re-start. We don't have alot of healthy stuff in the kitchen. I was doing real good with just focusing on eating enough fruits/veggies each day. I found that if I focus on that, that clouds out the junk food... because you can only eat SO MUCH in a day! So I need to get some healthy snacks / easy meals. And start drinking WATER!!

Maybe tonight I'll go in the kitchen, make a list of what we've got, and start first thing in the a.m. I try to stay to SouthBeach plan (healthy carbs - ie whole wheat breads, not alot of sugar, etc), but I'm not strict with it.

So ladies! I can't wait for you to join me! Let's get this weight loss wagon on the road!!!

OK Shawn. I'm here!

My name is Jane. I am 28 years old. I have 4 boys. The youngest are 14mo twins. With each pregnancy I gained about 40 pounds and did not lose much before getting pregnant again (I had all of them in less than 5 years). Thus I have about 100lbs to lose. Thats hard for me to admit. In my mind I am a skinny person. When I see pictures of me I just can't figure out who that fat lady is with my kids.

I'm ready to lose this weight!

All right, I stepped on the scale just now to start my ticker. I weight 275lbs I can't believe that I am 25lbs away from 300lbs. The rest of you better get on the scales and post your weight too so I don't feel so alone!This is very depressing!

All right Shawn, since we are going to officially start tomorrow, we will make Wednesday our official weigh in day. We need to post at least once a week - on Wed to state our weight - up or down. Of course, we can post more.

Where is everyone else?

Hi Shawn! Thanks for the invite. I can relate to you and Jane as well. I am a stress eater and have been for a long time! I have been overweight for a long time. I lost 30 lbs prior to getting pregnant with the girls but have not been able to lose it again. It is so depressing, especially with summer coming. We recently moved and are still in the process of getting things organized. I have not weighed myself, but will in the morning.

A little about me....I am 30 years old with 20 mo. old id girls. I am a SAHM that worked in education prior to having the girls. I live in the Quad Cities area in IL. I read your profile Shawn & I think you and I are very similar. I am a CM girl too! Have not had a chance to do much lately, but hope to someday. We are also close in age!

Well, off to figure out a healthy dinner.

Hi! My name is Tricia and I am a 36 year old SAHM. My oldest son is 6 and I have boy/girl twins who are 4. I would LOVE to pop in and join you guys as often as I can. I am eating well and exercising regularly. I feel great and look better and that is keeping me motivated these days.

BUT - I still need a kick in the pants every now and then to keep me on track. I find my weak spot is mindless eating, little nibbles here and there that I don't even think about. Also, when things get really crazy and I'm at my wits end with lots and lots to get done my natrual inclination is to stop and eat. I think it is because I feel guilty if I just take a time out for myself when there is so much to do. But eating, well, everyone has to eat. So it is an excuse to escape guilt free. Of course, then I pay for it in weight gain. I'm getting better about telling the kids that I need half an hour or so and I usually spend it here. I've found so much good ideas and inspiration here.

I am not following any particular plan - just counting calories and exercising regularly. I've always had a problem with people telling me what to do so I know I couldn't follow any of the more popular diets. I keep my calorie range between 1200 and 1800 a day. I also make a point to stagger them so that I average around 1500 per day. I find that doing so gives me a lot more flexiblity in what I eat. It helps a lot in working around things like parties, or eating out, etc. I don't go crazy on the higher calorie days - they aren't "free" days - but it does help me fit in a guilt free indulgence here and there. And, I think it is something I can an live with for the rest of my life. Plus, I think it does help keep my metabolism slightly higher than if I stuck to one level each day.

I see that my twins are a good bit older than everyone else's so far. I just want to let you all know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. At around 3 1/2 or so things get sooooo much easier. And once you get them out of diapers you will feel like you've won the lottery! I remember that I felt like I was rolling in cash once I didn't have to spend $60 a week on diapers and wipes!

I look forward to getting to know all of you better. Thanks, Shawn, for starting this thread!

Well, I'm excited about this! I think I may write down everything I eat each day & report to you guys how I did.....my weakness is sunflower seeds -- I munch on those ALL THE TIME!

Ok....I weighed myself this morning.....232. So, that is where I stand. Last night was not too bad for dinner. I had half a slice of ham, cabbage salad and pears. I had water to drink. We will see what today brings.

Good job, Kellie! You're off to a good start! I'm proud of you for starting LAST NIGHT instead of waiting to start this a.m.! I TOTALLY took advantage of that last night, and had a Venti mocha from starbucks, a choc chunk brownie, etc.

This a.m., I've already goofed up once - DH brought me a bowl of cereal in bed, NOT KNOWING that I'm back on the dieting, so it was like 3 servings instead of 1!! And of course, in my morning haze, I ate it all. :frown: BUT - now that I'm up & coherent, I am drinking BLACK coffee instead of with cream & sugar, and fully intend to do better today! Plus, I'll let him know what I'm doing, so he doesn't sabotage me again! hahaha.

I also got on the scale... after eating breakfast it's at 218. I'm going to go reset my ticker.... thanks for reminding me of that, Kell!

Ya'll are going to laugh at me..... I just bid on a case of cinnamon toothpicks on ebay. I LOVE having stuff in my mouth (hence the sunflower seed fetish), and I think this will keep my mouth occupied with 0 calories! (I don't do sugar free stuff, so am REALLY limited on what I can have). Just thought I'd share......... ya'll can laugh at me now!

Hey, if those toothpicks work there's nothing funny about it! Who knows, you may have just sparked the next diet trend.

I'm with you on the sunflower seeds. Actually, for me, the problem is anything that comes in a bag that I can stick my hand in more than once. I've always refused to buy the variety box of chips for my son's lunches. They are just so much more expensive and for no good reason. Anyway, I finally had to supress my frugal tendancies because I just can't have an big open bag of anything around anymore. To many trips by and taking one or two, then, seemingly out of nowhere, POOF, the bag is empty. At least with the single serve bags I can eat the chips (or whatever) if I REALLY want them but can still easily count them towards my daily calorie intake. When I eat them one at a time out of the big bags they are calorie free, you know!

To answer you PM, no, I haven't been to the Twing site you all are from. I just happened to see the thread you started here and couldn't keep from stopping in. I knew I had to get serious about losing weight when I noticed that anytime I mentioned my weight it was always prefaced by, "WELL, I HAVE TWINS". Bless their souls they are 4 years and I was still blaming them for my being fat. Even worse - I was fat before they were even a twinkle in their Daddy's eye. I decided that blaming my weight on the fact that I was a mom was just wrong - not to mention a flimsy excuse. So, here I am doing my darndest to get back to a healthy weight and a reasonable shape. I've finally come to accept that I'm not going to get my 18 year old body back so my goals are reasonable this time around. In the past I would give up when I realized that no matter how hard I worked I wasn't going to regain a youthful figure. Which, by the way, I did not appreciate when I had it. I've thought I was fat since the 4th grade. When, really, at 5'2" and with an inherited stocky build there is no such thing as super thin for me. I wish I had realized at 14 that it wasn't the same the as FAT. Oh, well, hindsight is 20/20 and that is a life lesson I can do my best to teach my children so that they might not have to face the same body image issues that I did.

I long everything I eat into Fitday. I may post a link here. Even if nobody ever takes a look I'll know that there is a POSSIBLITY that they MIGHT and that will help keep me honest and accountable. But, if I just flat out have a bad day I'll just come straight in and post to admit it. Then, somebody, please, shake your finger at me and tell me not to do it again!

Hope you all have a great day!
Tricia

Tricia ~ Thanks for the reminder of FitDay. I have used it before, but had forgotten about it. So, I will try to log my stuff into there as well. It is easier than trying to remember or to do it on paper. I also like fitwatch. It has a section that you can customize a food and figure out the totals of a recipe. Since I do a lot of cooking from scratch, that really helps.

Shawn ~ I hope that the toothpicks work. The salad I made last night has sunflower seeds in it, but I don't put as many as it calls for.

This morning I have been really tired. Don't quite know why...stress is part of it I guess. I have been able to get a couple of loads of laundry done and playing with the girls. Some days they are so needy and others they are fine to play by themselves. We are going to the park tomorrow with some friends. I hope the weather stays nice.

Kelly, I am glad you mentioned fitwatch. I had not come across that site before and the recipe analyzer is GREAT! I've been making recipe calculations myself and then loading them as custom foods in fitday. I've been using it long enough that most of my usual menus are there now but what a pain it was! I wish I'd known about fitwatch before I'd gone through all of that trouble. Most of my cooking is from scratch as well.

Tricia ~ Do you use the online version of FitDay or do you use the FitDay PC? I have used just the online version and did not know if the PC version was worth it?!

whew - what an afternoon! my sister came over with her 2 year old & 3 week old baby. Plus I had my 6 month old twins! Talk about crazy! We had lunch, and of course in the chaos, I forgot I'm watching what I eat. But all I had was ham (leftover from easter), some casserole from last night (small portion), and a bit of mac & cheese (as I was eating that, I remembered -- oh yeh, I'm dieting!). I am just now getting my first drink of water for the day (at 2:30 pm).... it is SO REFRESHING! No sweets yet today! yay

Kelly, I use the online version of fitday. I've considered ordering the PC version but, I can do what I need to online so it just doesn't make sense to spend the money, even as cheap as it is. I think if I still worked it would be worth it because I was out and about so much it would have been convenient having it loaded on my palm pilot. But, being at home, I don't eat out nearly as much, and almost all of what I eat is planned so I'll just save my $20.

Shawn, I used to hate it when that would happen. With all of the buzzing activity in your house at the time who can blame you for forgetting anything! That was always a downfall of mine - mindless eating, putting food in my mouth for no other reason than it was habit. But, hey, doesn't sound like you did any damage - and skipping the sweets is an impressive feat. I keep a small box of Godiva chocolate on hand for when I need a chocolate fix. They are so rich I can usually only eat one plus they are so expensive that I eat it s -l -o-w-l-y to be sure I savor every taste. Something like M&M's or miniature candy bars I'll wolf down in no time and never give them a second thought! Well, expect to think, "I can't believe I just ate a pound of m&m's LOL.

I've done really well today. I had a fruit and yogurt parfait for breakfast, Lean Cuisine Lasagne and oven fried zuchini for lunch. Haven't had any snacks but we have a new puppy so I haven't had much time to stop and nibble. I'll probably have some cottage cheese and almonds here in a bit to help me make it through my step class tonight. I think we'll have grilled shrimp, lemon rice, and a veggie for dinner. DS has karate tonight and that is quick enough to make without our our having to rush getting to our class.

Hope you all have a good afternoon!
Tricia