sorry i've been away...i'm not good at accountability i was really really bad last night. my cousins took me out to celebrate finishing my masters and they kept buying me drinks...which i kept drinking...and of course that was followed up with a late night piece of pizza and a few pieces of toast. grrr.
i'm going on vacation next week though which means i'll be eating well. i know that sounds odd, but i get to take part in the food shopping for the week so i can be sure we have stuff i can have. horray!

Yesterday wasn't bad per say. I neglected to count calories, but made smart choices. I had veggie burgers instead of regular burgers, and didn't drink anything but what I allotted myself before we left for the BBQ. That being said, I didn't exercise which isn't so good. Oh well, on with being good!

I'm not going to call this weekend an "epic fail" but I counted nothing. I was aware of what I was eating and I was doing a lot of exercise - we walked for 5 hours in NYC yesterday - with stopping/starting, I count 3 hours of that as actual walking. Not to mention, I got a lovely surprise this morning, 2 days early. My eating was good today and I'm going to be super on plan starting tomorrow. I'm assuming the scale is going to go up on Tuesday, but that's okay, I had my weekend off.

I'm a bit late, but can I join in? I've tried the accountability thing with some real-life friends, but they don't really care that much. I posted weekly updates on my blog for two months, then stopped completely and nobody even said a word. Quite disheartening to see that nobody cares but me...

Anyway, I'm all for keeping you girls accountable if you'll nicely return the favour!

Nicole : Good job on the workout! I love your attitude : getting over a bad day, food-wise, by upping the ante on the workouts. I'll take a leaf off your book next time. Oh, and there's no rule that says you can't work out if you get a manicure! (You can bask in the glory of your perfect nails as you run on the treadmill, hehehe)

OakfieldMama: I agree, suppers can be hard. Breakfast and lunch are easy because, with our busy schedules, we have to plan them out. I always plan my breakfast the night before and, usually, I make my lunch too. But it's easy to slack off at supper because we have more freedom. Maybe you should start planning them out, just like you would for your lunches. It will help you become aware of your choices. Just an idea. And you're right, attending the meetings would totally help!

Amyleigh : Don't feel bad. You're allowed one night of celebrating, especially after finishing your masters! (congrats!!) I suggest you put in one extra workout this week to compensate for the booze calories :-)

Marbear : yay for veggieburgers! Good choice, girl. BBQs are hard on the diet. You should be very proud. How was the exercise today?

Stellarosa : Thumbs up on the mega walking. I feel your pain on the early visitor. Urgh. I had the same problem last week. Try to stay away from salty snacks and the bloating should be kept at a minimum for your weigh-in on Tuesday.

As for me, no exercise today (boo) but I stayed on plan food-wise : oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch and an improvised tofu-egg-bok choy Asian thing for supper. Goal tomorrow : one hour workout. No excuses!

can I jump in?? purple is the best color ever, I love "the shrinking violets", why don't we just keep chatting here instead of making a group - we can make new threads if they get too long, right?

amyleigh - alcohol is one thing I have temporarily cut out altogether... one of my mini-goal rewards is a bottle of wine in college, I looked up how many calories are in a shot of vodka (my then drink of choice) and was shocked... 60-70!! in that little tiny glass! CONGRATS on finishing your masters - I'm done with year 1, bring on year 2

stella - where in maryland are you? I'm in baltimore... or as the locals seem to say, baldamore...

if everyone who viewed a thread would leave a little message, that would be a lot of encouragement...12 years of catholic school here

Good morning.

Cara, Mini, David - Hi!

Amy - I'm sure you deserved the night out after finishing your masters. I envy your ability to be 'good' on vacation. I'm always stuck around people that convince me vacation for work means vacation for eating well. Boo peer pressure!

Stella - Hope you enjoyed NYC. It's a great place

Cara - I understand with the blog. I'm not so inclined to write in it because I feel like I'm talking to myself, and I do enough of that already.

I'm in a funk today - I was yesterday too. Not sure why, but it makes me want to do nothing but sleep and be whiny. I didn't get up to swim yesterday, but I did walk 4.0 miles and stayed on target with the calorie counting. I weigh myself everyday, and I was up 4 pounds from yesterday which makes NO sense. I just got rid of TOM, I didn't count but didn't eat poorly on Saturday, and I ate according to plan and exercised yesterday. WTF? Bah. I actually got up to go swimming this morning, but was late and in this funk - so I only stayed in the water 20 minutes. Not even long enough to record it in my calorie journal. I guess the fact that I got up and went was a small victory considering how funkish I am. Perhaps I'll get on the elliptical later tonight... or just not eat dinner so I don't have to exercise. We'll see how I feell...


Hope everyone has a great day.

Hi All!!

minitwinkie - I'm in Beltsville, down near Silver Spring, but I spent my college years in Baltimore. I love that place. Vodka = awesome. I don't drink as much as I used to, now maybe once every few months. I did have champagne sangria this weekend and it was SO good.

Marbear - Maybe your hormones are still a bit off? Also, you could be retaining water from working out, or your dehydrated. I know a lot of times when I feel sluggish its b/c I haven't drank enough water. Do NOT skip dinner - have something light or go try the elliptical later on, but skipping meals is not the way to go. I hope you get out of your funk soon!

Amy - belated congrats! And you do deserve to be out celebrating!

As for me, I'm in so much pain - thank you, TOM - so I didn't get up this morning to work out. I packed my gym stuff, and the plan is to go do the treadmill for 90 ish minutes (I have to satiate my vampire fix) and maybe take a yoga class. I don't want to work out with too high intensity b/c I won't be able to go spinning tomorrow morning, and that is the plan. I also have to go food shopping b/c I have NOTHING in my house.

Cara - what's your blog called? I'll care if you want to start writing in it again . Mine is in a link under my avatar. Anyone is welcome to read it. Not all that exciting, sometimes it's just what I post here and sometimes it's a bit different.

Cheers!

'ello all!

Sorry i'm so bad at keeping up with this. I have started vacation YAY!!! and am in the outer banks, nc. We drove for 9 hours yesterday (wiht my cousin and her babies so we had to stop like every hour ugh). i was a hot mess yesterday because i didn't bring food so it was all fast food and no exercise, BUT today i'm back on my slimfast bars, its only 2 and i'm sitting down for the first time. did yoga this morning, went for a 1/2 hour walk, and a 20 minute bikeride and have been chasing kids ever since. goin to eat lunch now (chicken fingers, apparently they're low fat? or so my cousin says ) and then off to the pool. i love having the chance to be active. sorry i'm not checkin in on everyone, my food is ready and there's a chorus of loud italian family members telling me to get my butt upstairs.

hope all is well and i will update later tonight.

ciao!

Haha - loud Italian family members. Sounds like my life in NJ. Good luck Amy!

Hello ladies!
Hope everyones monday has been good!
I myself am a bit discouraged in myself. I just can't seem to get motivated! I can workout with no problem, I'm actually one of those weird people that LOVE it! My issue is food. I was never overweight until I had my boys. (my baby will be 2 Thursday) I guess that to me was free reign to eat whatever and whenever. I've tried counting points but I get frustrated with it after a few days. I went to the dr Thursday and I'm at 187.5 I almost cried. I was doing so good and had lost about 6 or 7 pounds. I was so proud of myself! I get so depressed about it yet I'm the only one who can do anything about it. I've gone without chocolate for 2 years now due to some problems I had after my youngest was born and at that time I went without sugar of any kind for about 6 months. I lost about 30 lbs then. Its like I NEED someone here telling me what and when to eat! I guess my real problem is portion sizes. But I have done ok yesterday and today. For breakfast yesterday I had a bowl of cereal with fat free milk. I had a pb and j sandwich and some watermelon for lunch a low fat string. cheese for a snack then grilled chicken breast cream corn and yellow rice for dinner. Today I had 2 whole grain waffles with peanut butter and a little cinnamon sugar sprinkled, chicken breast, yellow rice and watermelon for lunch a few pretzels. And for dinner I had a bowl of cereal. I know this is long but does anyone have any suggestions on what I could or should be doing? Or something to help me jump start? If greatly appreciate it!
Brandy

Good evening gals!

marbear: Sorry to hear you're in a funk. How odd that the numbers went up AFTER TOM. Strange. I agree with Stella, you're probably retaining water from the exercise. Make sure you drink plenty of water and keep at it. The numbers will go down again in no time. (oh, and do NOT skip dinner! Eeep! That's not the way to go, hun. Just keep doing regular exercise and things will get back on track.)

Btw, I like your blog! I have a lot to read to catch up, but count me as one of your readers now :-)

Mine isn't really a weightloss journal. It's more a personal blog, full of nonsense about my daily activities. But I do try to post about my progress once a week or so. Feel free to check it out if you want : cara0017.livejournal.com/

Stellarosa : Treadmill, yoga and spinning? Wow, I'm impressed! How are the spinning classes? They look like fun, but really intense!

amyleigh: driving to your vacation spot is the WORST for diets, isn't it? I drove from Ottawa to Orlando a few months back and I gained 5 pounds just on the journey. It's HARD to make good food choices on the road. And exercise? forget it! Glad to see you've been doing so well since you got to your vacation spot. Keep it up!

oakfieldmama: Since you say your problem is food, that's what I'll focus on. For portion sizes, I've found that using smaller plates, bowls, etc really helps. For the past few weeks, I've been using a bento box for all my suppers. (Check out my blog for a picture: cara0017.livejournal.com/15884.html) It has small compartments and it really helps me keep my portions down.

Also, as for the food you're actually eating, I'd try to cut back on the peanut butter. It's hard, I know, but it's PACKED with fat. Two tablespoons of Peanut Butter contains 190 calories and 16 grams of fat - as much fat as in a Burger King hamburger. Now, I'm not saying to eliminate it completely. Just try to limit yourself to a tablespoon or two every OTHER day. It'll make a difference.


OK, as for ME now. I *did* end up with an hour-long cardio workout today, so yay! I even took the time to do a few sets of situps, *tried* to do some pushups (still can't do it properly. My upper body strength is zero), and even stretched properly afterwards for once. Woohoo!

Brandy,

This may be something you've already looked into, but have you checked to make sure you're eating enough calories? if you're exercising heavily, you need more calories just to function. If you don't get them, you actually gain weight because your body goes into starvation mode. That was my problem. I was aiming for 1300 calories a day, but after i lost some weight, i started exercising a lot more and began to put weight back on. I couldn't figure it out until I read it on here. Because of my exercise I can eat 1600/day, which is freakin awesome!! I also found that eating every 3 hours gave me a crazy energy boost and helped me drop weight by keeping my metabolism going. I know it's basic stuff, but maybe it'll help?

Thanks amyleigh and cara. This may be an awful question but how do I know or figure out how many calories I need? And how about watermelon? We bought a whole one because it was much cheaper but I'm the only one who eats it....3 have 2 large containers of it. Is that a bad breakfast?