PLEASE PLEASE always feel free to ask questions. THis is how we learn, support, and share. I will never be offended with questions and comments.

Why.. no clue. eating about 1000 calories a day works for me, and anything under 1000 simply makes me proud of myself. Ummm my Dr said 1200 calories. I guess i feel like im being 'better' by not eating that many. PLEASE feel free to share your thoughts with me.
debbie

PS...on lower calories. Im not very active eighter. Yesterday i did .55 of a mile on the treadmill. My body is heavy, ummmm lots of damage, and ummmmmmm flab. Its simply not moving well. I mostly sit when im at home.

I know i should bump up the calories a bit. So i shall shoot for at least 1000 calories today. Well 1000-1200
debbie

Wednesday: I buy egg whites in a carton (Egg Beaters), I scramble them or make omlets with them.

Thank You so much. You are right, i should be at 1200 per my Dr, with a goal of over 50% protein. Thankssss debbie

You are all so impressive with your successes and I really hope I'll be inspired.

I'll confess that I'm a little scared. In the past, I've never had a problem starting a new eating/exercising plan. I'd be all gung-ho, even obsessive, for days, or weeks, or even months. It was the sticking-to-it that always gave me a problem. This time around, I'm even struggling to get a good start. I don't know if it' because I'm older or because I still haven't gone back into a normal routine after the holidays or what. But, I am committed to keep trying. I am going to come here everyday to read about everyone's successes & struggles - if others can do it, I can too. So, thank you all for sharing your stories.

That said, here's what yesterday looked like:

2 hard boiled eggs, apple
coffee with s/f creamer
chicken, roasted potatoes, broccolli
turkey, salad, low cal dressing

Here's where it gets ugly:
20 min pretzels
spinach artichoke dip & chips (didn't measure or count)
2 glasses of wine

I did get my 64 oz of water in, but only one walk.

I feel like I've now been to confession, so today I will make amends

Ande: It took me a while to get down who was who when I started as well!

Rachael: That is a lot of water! Congrats!!

Diana: Thanks so much. Now to just lose those pesky Christmas pounds! lol

Vixsin: Good job on being down .8!

Debbie: That few calories puts your body into starvation mode and it makes it hold onto the weight more. My sister is a doctor and I got a huge lecture from her about eating too few calories when I started. There are a lot of good sites out there. I calculated a rough estimate on about.com's calorie counter and to maintain your current weight you would be at 2605 a day. If your end goal weight is something like 140 which is what I put in, you would be eating about 1600 a day. If you create a deficit of 1000 calories a day you will lose about 2 lbs a week. That is the healthiest thing for your body. When you are working out it also burns more calories so take that into account as well. Your body NEEDS more fuel to continue working optimly. Here is the link to the calorie counter I used for a quick calculation:
http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm
Also, I don't know if it is available to you but maybe talk to a dietician. Some of the local gyms have trainers you can talk to as well. Do some research on it. Don't just take your doctors word, it's your health and your body. Make sure they are telling you the right thing. Weight loss is a confusing journey when you start. The more information you have, the better.

Rmc: Sticking to it got to me last time as well. I did really good at first then derailed myself during the holidays. I am back on track but still struggling! Good luck, I know how hard it is to stick to it!

Ok two NSV's for me!
Last night, I REALLY REALLY wanted to snack. I have been really bad about this lately. I do really good until evening time and then I get this huge craving to snack. Well, last night I had absolutely no calories left. But I did NOT snack. I read and when the craving got overwhelming I went to bed. I was so proud of myself for not giving in. I feel like I am slowly getting back into pre-injury/holiday patterns!

The other NSV is that I got up and did yoga this morning. It was on the Wii fit and I don't have that many poses unlocked yet but I still did 12 minutes of it. I am kind of thinking that it would be cool to start my days like that!

Roxanne

If it's any consolation, I think you're doing really well! If you're used to not counting calories or measuring portions at all....to go from not doing it to doing it 100% that is very difficult! It will take time, but I think you're on the right track! Just stick with it! Whatever you're doing is working, you've lost 2 pounds!

Thanks and YAY!!

Will do! I have joint issues so the water would probably help with the impact as well. JT chocolate mousse is Jello Temptations, they are 60 cals..awesome if you're craving something sweet or chocolatey! They are usually in the pudding aisle. Thanks for the congrats!

Congrats to YOU on your NSV and SV!!!!

Sounds like you go in an awesome workout!! I think you're doing really well with your diet also!!

I felt great after the run! Gosh, it's been so long since I could do that!

Woo hoo! LOL @ "take THAT, scale!"

Diana - Thank you!

Debbie - I agree with Roxanne! I would definitely up the cals a bit, you definitely don't want your body to think it's starving! I actually agree with people that say you have to lose! When I started, I was eating 1200 calories per day, did fine for my first 10-12 pounds, then it just stalled. I think my body thought I was starving it, so I upped it to 1400 and boom that helped, the pounds started dropping! Plus, you want to eat an amount of cals that you can manage to eat long term! Eating 800-1000 would be very difficult doing long term. Eating say 1400-1600 would be much more do-able and you'll still be losing!

Roxanne - Look at you!!!!!! Kicking booty!!! That's great, I love hearing your NSVs!!!!!!!!!

Morning ladies!!!

Quick post...because school starts today. My first upper level class..kinda nervous!

Down 0.4# today to 152.4#! Of course my latest NSV running 1 mile without stopping that I shared last night..still can't get over that! So proud!

Hope you all have a lovely, OP day! Be back later...