First off welcome back to 3FC and congratulations on the up-comming wedding!
I love that dress.. what great motivation!
how much do you have/want to lose?

I have one peice of advice for you.. MAKE the time for the gym!.. what time does it open.. what time does it close.. there has got to be atleast 1 hour in the day that you can make it to the gym.. even without the car.. could you take the city bus?..

Ohhh another bit of adivce .. print out the photo of that dress and stick it up anywhere in your house that holds temptation....

Here at our house i asked hubby to put all the snack foods/junk up above the fridge because i never go in that cuboard... if i don't see it.. i won't be tempted to eat it!..

Best of luck and happy losing!

Ah! There you are! I'm so glad you posted. I'd like to talk about food. It seems overwhelming right now because you're trying to start so many new things all at once. It'll come. In a few weeks, you'll realise that some of this stuff is becoming second nature.
Oh, first I want to congratulate you on have some oomph. You're making your own way (two jobs!) in the world, despite some health challenges. Good work. It's often said that if you need someone to do something extra, ask someone who is already busy. They'll find a way to fit it in.
Ok, back to food. Are you hungry? Do fatigue more easily than you did before cutting back?
I looked at your fitday. With a very few minor tweaks, you could lower your calories and actually eat more. In fact, I think when you get used to fitday, you'll realise that you aren't eating that many calories. What salad is that that has over 200 cals?
And the walking is a good place to start.
Any thoughts so far?

Hi Jenny!!

Just wanted to welcome you here

Congrats on your upcoming wedding, your dress is certainly an excellent motivation!

I hope you find the support and help you need here - it's a great place!

Losing, I would like to lose about 75 LBs. I have a small frame under all of this, and I think that would be appropriate for me. I guess if I even get close I can reevaluate. The gym by me opens at 6:00, but I have to be at work at 6:30. I usually get home between 8:00 and 9:00 in the evening, and the gym is open until 10:00. I could probably make it, if I hurried. It's about 3 miles from my house. There's no public transportation by me, but I could walk in a crunch.

Velveteen, thanks for the welcome!

Hi, Susan . . . nice to hear from you. Right after I eat (especially lunch), I feel stuffed! But then I start to get pretty hungry a couple of hours later. It's the worst in the afternoon, because I go straight from one job to another and don't really have an apportunity to eat. I do eat a snack right before I leave here though. Honestly (and I feel completely whiny saying this), I feel fatigued all the time. It hasn't seemed to get any better, but it certainly hasn't gotten any worse.

The salad is from the salad bar here at work. It has 1c baby spinach, a couple of carrot sticks, a couple of celery sticks, 2 broccoli florets, 2 cauliflower florets, 5 cherry tomatoes (I love them lol), a couple onion rings, 2 red pepper sticks, an italian hot pepper, and 1/2 TBL each of chick peas, green peas, and feta cheese. I put it all into FitDay, and created a custom food for it. I can't remember if I added the salad dressing into the custom food, that might be part of the calories. I add the dressing manually, just to be sure. I never finish it, but I do like it a lot. Is it not good?

No the salad is fine, sounds yummy. I was getting it mixed up with plain leafy salad.

I think we need to work on getting you some snacks. I eat every couple of hours so that I don't get that ravished feeling. Hmmm ....

As for the fatigue .... honey you work two jobs! Maybe just getting some of the weight off will help with that. It did for me.

Oh I forgot about the threads. Go ahead and read everything you can in Calorie Counters. The two daily threads are the KISS one and Doin' it the old-fashioned way. But post anywhere, really!

Now about planning food. Do you have lots of ziptop bags and little lunch containers? Do you have time on the weekend to fiddle a bit?

(I have some health problems that make things a bit difficult - I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia about 8 months ago, have carpal tunnel in both wrists, and have a bad knee that hurts most of the time.),

Like you I have had a lot of health problems and it is really my number one issue in terms of weight gain. Fibromyalgia is a nasty one because it tends to come and go so it it hard to get into a consistent workout plan. For me exercise is essential to my being able to drop the pounds. It is a real catch-22 which people who have not been there do not understand.

What I have learned is I need to check in with myself when I exercise. I need to pay attention to the pain and ask questions like "Is this a good pain or a bad pain", "Have I done enough for today or am I just looking for an excuse to stop", "Am I being overly hard on myself and expecting more than I can do right now"? It seems the list is endless but I have learned the hard way that I can not keep up with others. I had to get rid of that mindset that made me compare myself and push too hard.

Just recently I was trying to add some upper body work with weights. It went ok for awhile and then I found my elbow and wrist were starting to ache. I knew that I had once again aggravated an old injury and I need to stop that for right now. What for a normal person would be a slight ache that would be gone in a day or two for me is an inability to use my arm for a few weeks. Even worse is when I overdo and hurt my back again. The last time that sent me to bed for a month.

All that being said I still have an exercise routine but it is one of my own making. I never take exercise classes and have given myself permission to stop doing an exercise video when I start to hurt in a bad way. I used to think I was just being lazy but that is not the case at all. It is learning to live within my physical limitations. I hope this helps a little and I am sure you can find a level of exercise that works for you but does not cause problems.

f(x), thanks for the support. I do often feel like no one understands how I'm feeling physically, and they have no idea how that affects me mentally. I seem to go both ways - either I beat myself up for not being able to do things, or I can't seem to make myself try to do anything. It's frustrating.

Susan, yep, I have containers and zip lock baggies. We have a fridge here at work, so bringing stuff is no problem. This weekend is going to be relatively quiet. I just need to clean my house (ugh).

Here's a question, though. How do you know when you're doing it right? I mean, I might lose some weight, but if I made some changes could I lose more? Could I do it more efficiently? And how do I know when I should adjust?

Well ..... it's a journey of constant tweaking. If you feel good (or as good as normal) and you're losing (about two lbs a week is fabulous)... you're doin' ok. Check in your fitday reports to make sure you're getting your nutrients.

Hey, cleaning uses calories too.

Keep in touch with 3fc for motivation,OK?


editted to say .... I missed something .... are you losing? how much? how fast?

A quicky post because I'm on my way to work.
The best metabolism booster is exercise and muscle.
Good going on the walking. I've done nothing today
Have you gone grocery shopping yet?
At Body For life (BFL) they have super food lists. I also think there's some here in the nutrition section.