[boomerang]

Well, good afternoon (at least for me) everyone. In the past, when I participated in this kind of thread, the person who got to it first, started it, so with Midwife's encouragement and direction, I will start.
I restarted my effort to reach my goal weight, THIS time by eating in a healthier manner than in the past (when I starved myself all the way down and binged all the way back up), about a week ago. I found that returning to this site had not only made a huge difference in my ability to stay on plan but I was offered some new info that gave me insight into some issues. I am so very grateful and I feel like for the first time in a couple of decades I have my puzzle pieces in place.
I usually start my day with a walk. It is my "me" time. I don't walk so much for exercise, though I am sure it does not hurt me any, but for the time alone, with my audiobooks.
I am retired (for exactly 10 years, since the age of 44) and enjoying volunteer work. It is one of the reasons I retired early and it allows me a lot of flexibility and time to spend here . We also have a property that requires a lot of care and my aging parents who live with us also need occasional attention. They are completely independent but medical issues crop up and well...you know how that goes.
Due to the freedom provided by some new info offered by some members of CC, I no longer need to think about food during the day. Today is the first day in years, that I have that luxury.
I am waiting for the sun to dry the lawn so I can cut the grass in my back yard and wash the pond filters. I have put both off due to the necessity to spend 2 weeks in front of the tv, watching US open tennis.
I hope you are all having a wonderful day. If anybody will participate in this thread, I cannot wait to get to know you. Oh and I lost 2#.

[tdiprincess]

Hi there! It was nice to get a little more background info! Tennis is one of the few sports that I don't mind watching LOL. Although, I didn't watch the US open..
I love your idea of 'me' time with your walks. That must be quite enjoyable! What kind of volunteering do you do?

My background is: I'm 24, happily married for 4 years. We recently consolidated our household with my inlaws to simplify all of our lives a bit more. We finished our basement to give us more living space. We all travel quite a bit for months at a time, so we thought it was silly for us all to pay for 2 houses when we could just pay for 1 together!
Anyway.. just before I started dating my lovely hubby, I lost about 45lbs. I had gotten down to 148ish when we got married. For 2 years I kept my weight between 150-155. Then year 3 was 155-160. Then this past year it was 160-170. Notice the issue yet?? I saw myself slowly creeping back to where I was and I just couldn't have that! I worked so hard to get healthy and I was just letting it go! So this May when we got back from a trip to Mexico, I made the decision that I NEED to stop this trend.
In the past I tried WW and the inlaws both do WW. I just think it's a waste of time and money. They spend so much time figuring our and calculating points. I decided this time to get serious about calorie counting and also exercise. The first time I lost weight I didn't really think about fitness. I had a pretty active life at that point so just decreasing what I ate worked like a charm. That first time I didn't calorie count or anything. I just ate less, and it worked!
Anyway.. that hasn't worked since LOL. So calorie counting seems to be working well. I'm taking it slow, since May I've lost 10lbs. My goal right now is to get to 155, then 150 then 145. I think I'll maintain for a few months at 145 before I decide if I want to continue a bit more. I think the lowest I'd go is 135.

Anyway.. I did a weigh-in before official weigh-in Friday to make sure I'm heading in the right direction, today. Last week I was up about .5 a lb (overeating issues...). So I'm back to 157.2 as of today. So this is motivating me to keep it up for the next 2 days until Friday to keep going in the right direction!
I did some yardwork for about 1.5hrs so far. Off to do some strength work (100 pushup challenge! supplemented with some situps and squats since I finished those programs already). I also want to do 30DS today. We'll see if I succeed since I have work around 7.

Later!!

[boomerang]

Hi Princess, how wonderful to know more about you, thank you! Your wt. loss is very inspiring.
The volunteer work I do is at the soup kitchen and a few Autism organizations. I've been married to a sweetie who loves his job as much as I did mine (psy) but since we have no children our "needs" in certain areas were more limited than those of families with children...if you know what I mean and I am sure you do, especially if you've been working on your house...
We also traveled a lot with my parents but that time has pretty much passed. Actually, part of my difficulty with maintaining my wt. has been that we've moved from a house where we had pretty much separate quarters, to one where we share a kitchen and a couple of other spaces. They are LOVING saboteurs and for the last 3.5 years since we've been in this house I've had more difficulty than ever refraining from binging. I don't know what triggers others but for me, "sneak attacks" do it almost every time. I am prepared for certain things to be there and I feel armed but when a certain item for which I am not prepared appears on the counter with an "I just thought ....." it always sends me over the edge, not only in terms of will power but a feeling of betrayal. I am working on that very, very hard!

It seems that you do quite a bit of exercise! That is great and I am sure it is helping you greatly with the loss as well as the toning! It is also fantastic that you have caught the "creeping wt." early and did not let it get to crisis proportions as I have done (numerous times!)
My walking is the only form of habitual movement. I was an athlete up until the age of 16 or so and I have, what I think of, as a gut level resistance to any "organized" exercise. This works for me and I am at an age when I know that if I force myself to do certain things that I truly don't enjoy, it affects many aspects of my life. At some point I may add some resistance training; probably when I don't get a wonderful report while testing my bone density...I used to walk 4 hrs. a day, just because I loved it so. I tend to walk more in seasons other than summer.
I hope you were able to get done with your list of activities for the day. It seemed quite extensive to me, but then again, I am retired (and hmmm can you tell: LOVING IT???)

[tdiprincess]

Hey boomerang:
That is some really neat volunteer work you do! It is such a fulfilling experience to help others!!
I definitely know what you mean about kids. My sister has 2, we have none. We don't really plan to change that either LOL. Things are expensive already, I couldn't imagine adding more! But, it works out well for my sister.
I know what you mean about sabotage!! We share a kitchen as well. Fortunately, the in-laws are actively watching what they eat. But, there's days when they don't and they have lots of goodies. I'm still learning the word NO! LOL.

I really enjoy exercising. Specifically circuit training. Early in the summer I exerted myself too much in this area so I'm building myself up once again. Other than circuit training I ride my bike, do some strength (although the circuit training is strength with cardio) Anyhow.. I think everyone is different in what activities they like to do or not do. I'd rather exercise more and eat more than exercise less and eat less LOL.
That said, I didn't do 30DS. I did the strength with a little cardio and then spent a couple hours cleaning our patio.

I suppose I am a pretty busy person. Although, I really don't think I am LOL. But other people are always saying that I seem to be. I guess it's because I only work about 10 hours a week. The rest of the time is volunteering, church, exercising and house work/house related stuff, and then relaxing!!

Resistance training wouldn't be a bad idea to add. This will help you tone up a little bit as you lose weight.
Chat with ya later!!