I've just reached excersise obsession. I have gotten to the point where losing weight isn't going to change my shape, just make it smaller. So, now I need to start muscle toning and sculpting.:strong:

I have been putting more effort into my walking:woops: and when I get back from Reno I'm going to get some free weights for my home gym. They had a bench on sale at Sears in Casper, WY, but when I got home the next day the sale was over. It should be on sale again in about a month, so I'll just do the standing work and use a chair until I can get one. I've even been using one of those grip strengtheners when I'm driving around on my haul truck and I got some pilates bands of which I'll put one in my lunch bag to use at work.

Well, gonna do my walking, shower and get to bed. Good Luck Everyone.:jig:

I'm mish-moshy too. Just trying to do the right thing every day and know that one day I will realize I'm back in shape! So far so good. I'm gonna have to go check out you tube for biggest loser now. Gawd I love the internet.

The doctor has me on a steroid anti inflammatory, which is ookey pukey. I know it's not the kind of steroid that bodybuilders use, but you know me and my "fat burning" soaps & lotions, etc. I'm gonna call these pills my "muscle building" pills. I'm also going to try to strap a book to the treadmill, so I can read while I walk. I'll let you guys know if I flop off it or not.

Exercise Vlad. C'mon, you know you wanna. I'm doin' it. All the cool kids are doin' it. Operator's doin' it. C'mon Vlad. It's fun. C'mon. I walked for 30 minutes last night. It was fun. We're all doin' it, Vlad. C'mon, you know you wanna.

I'm gonna go walk aroun de haus an tawk like Ahhhnold now, to ze if dis pills helps to make de muscles grow beeg and strong now.

Like Ahhhnold.

is it working? is it working?

I hear you on the exercise Jeannie, I surely do. I do take the dogs for walks in the woods - not terribly exercisic really but the whole trip home is uphill so I always get at least a good 15 minute workout right there. My co-worker has not brought his Wii in yet but he promised tonight he would on Monday. I am hopeful it will be my magic bullet.

Right now though, I'm losing weight really well without the exercise. Gives you an idea of just how much junk food I used to consume... I'm sure I'll plateau out in another 10 pounds or so and then I'll be more motivated to exercise. I guess I'll just enjoy the easy ride for now.

Vlad :bat:

The wonderful human being who runs the website realitytvfan.org is the one who has posted all the Biggest Loser Australia episodes and links to the proper youtube account through the website. I have to warn you -- they air it over there practically every night so each season has a LOT of episodes and you get a LOT more wrapped up in the contestants! (At least
I did!)

Gained .6 pounds according to the scale today. Not sure if it's because I did it at a different time than normal or if I'm just retaining water because my body fat % went down from last week and it just doesn't make sense to me. Ah well!

Once I finish the paperwork for the night I think I'll look into the Eat Drink books ... because lord knows I need something else to add to the mish-mosh! ;)

Karen -

what do you think of the MTBs? They're out of my price range right now but I found them pretty intriguing. I think the fitflops, while fine, are a poor second to the MTBs.

I absolutely love my MTBs! I had a large portion of my left knee and tibia replaced/repaired about 6 years ago and was kinda worried that the shoes wouldn't work out for me because of it, but they're great. Everyone's always commenting on them at work -- which is really the only place I wear them since I don't want to wear them out!

Oh yeah!!! Now that I've tested out the Earth Shoes($120 didn't give my heart the palpitations that $250 does), I want to get a pair of MBTs too. They are going to be my reward when I get my next bonus check.

I'll have the MBTs for my athletic shoes and get the Earths for my fashionable shoes.

Ya know, it's kinda scary. Now that I'm losing weight and getting into better shape, I'm turning back into a girl. EEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!!

The MBTs actually are my fashionable shoes! I know most MBTs look a bit like clown shoes to a lot of people but the ones I have are Mary Janes and absolutely adorable (and work quite well with the skirt suit I have to wear to work every night). I'm still debating getting some fitflops or something for my walks ... and now that I'm going to have a bunch of overtime on my next paycheck (this is my "night off" and yet here I am typing away at the hotel), I'm looking into it more closely. Another pair of MBTs - no matter how tempting - would have to wait til my whopper of a tax refund and I don't think I want to wait until February!!! :D

MTBs... I'm terrified I would flop right over if I tried to wear those!

Well ze Ahhhnold thing isn't working, Vlad. At all.

I swear I have done everything right this week with the exception of getting enough water. I never get enough water. But I have gotten much more than my usual. I have eaten well, exercised every day, treadmill when I wake and bike when I get home from work. I've done the crunches and leg lifts etc. that I have been doing daily for about a month now. All week.

And I have gained a pound.

A friend from work says it's the medicine they have me on. She's been kept on steroids for awhile now and she says they're horrible. I'd have to agree. Unless I get really full and wait 10 minutes before I take them, I get sick sick sick. And no matter what they make me very tired within an hour. When the drowsy loopy feeling wears off a headache seems to set in. And apparently they make one chipmunky and bloated.

I hate it.

So, this week I am going to count my calories and make sure I can work off what I take in. Counting is new to me. Having meds interfere with losing weight is new to me. I intend to keep chipping away at it. Maybe when I come off them all my hard work will start showing. Anyone have any insight?

I am totally addicted to TBL Australia. I'm halfway through season 1. These people really inspire me. The calorie counting idea I got from Jillian. I am determined to be built like Jillian. If I can get the body, Hubby will buy me the boobs.

I wish I had a bully little personal trainer to whip my *** into shape!

I'd love to go girly shopping with you Operator! I can't wait to be able to buy cute little tops and stuff!

Does anyone use messengers like yahoo or anything? I don't turn any of mine on much, but I would if I thought I might catch one of you awake for some real chat while I pedal!

:bat::bat::bat: I will check in with you all later!:bat::bat::bat:

Wiiiiiii!!!!!!

I'll be back with a longer report once I get some actual work done (work, the stuff they pay me to do...) but I just boxed 6 rounds with a co-worker and was quite warm by the end. Maybe it isn't exercise like going to the gym but it is more exercise than I usually get in a night.

Wiiiiiiii!!!

Dropped 2 pounds this week (hooray!)! Since I gained last week it's good to see a significant drop (well, significant for me, anyway).

We're super busy at the hotel right now and will be for at least the next month or so thanks to school starting up again. Fun times. Actually, the end of August is our state fair here in NY and the vast majority of the singers/bands/whatnot typically stay here so that SHOULD be fun. Crazy, but fun!

Ah well ... there's work to be done ...

Jeannie,
I seem to remember when you go off that med you have a couple of days of really loopy behavior. And either WIDE AWAKE or super sleepy. I forget now. Something to (not) look forward to anyway.

I just boxed a bunch more with the Wii. Also a little bowling and some tennis (I seem to fall over a lot in tennis...). I can feel it in my arms and stomach muscles a bit. I can't afford to spring for a wii fit right now but I may look aorund on craigs list and see what other games are out there. I want one that keeps me moving like the boxing.

Anyway, I'm getting some exercise!

WTG Karen! 2 lbs rocks! I'm not weighing again until next Tues or Wed. I'm still working my tushie off, so hopefully I won't see a gain again. If I do I'll chalk it up to medicine and keep on truckin.

Vlad the wii sounds SO much fun! I have a friend who has one. Maybe soon I can get over there and try it out. I can't afford one for myself either. Matter of fact they've just cut me 15 hours a pay period, so I don't know what I'm gonna do.

The bands sound really fun Karen! Who all will be staying with you?

I made my first goal this week- to get down to only (only! ha!) 100 pounds to lose. At my weekly weigh in I was 248.6 (less 246 today but I only count the weekly and monthly weighs in on the 11th) so I've passed the first goal. Yippee!

No Wii last night - I was too busy reading the 4th book in the "Twilight" series which was released at midnight. Tonight I've got boodles of paperwork I neglected because I was caught up in the book but I hope to get in at least a little Wii time too.

Jeannie, the calorie counting forum here has been very helpful to me. I've gotten lots of good advice there. When will you be off the steroids?

Vlad

Way to go on the first goal, Vlad!!! Some days (most days, actually) it feels like I'll never reach my first mini of getting back to my last know pre-pregnancy weight much less beyond that! I have a little notebook that I track all of my weights and measurements in as well as other little tidbits like healthy ranges for bmi/body fat, recipes, links ... and my goals. There are currently 5 goals in the book:
#1 - Pre-pregnancy Weight - 195lbs
#2 - Just "Overweight" - 172
#3 - High School Musical Weight (my Junior Year of high school back in '92) - 160
#4 - Healthy! - 145
#5 - The ever popular "So Unlikely It's Laughable" Goal of 122 ... which was Ali Vincent's final weight on the last season of our Biggest Loser. Never ever EVER gonna happen. Unless, of course, I lose a limb or two somewhere along the way.

Had a decent but incredibly busy weekend. Tom and I took Johnny out to my family reunion Sunday afternoon. It was originally supposed to be outside at a park with a little beach andhuge playground area and all sorts of stuff to keep him entertained and occupied with ... and then the weather was so crazy with random torrential downpours every so often that it ended up being moved inside to the fellowship hall of my uncle's church. Johnny was NOT impressed. We all still managed to have an okay time and ate FAR too much, but it probably would've been a lot nicer and we would have stayed a bit longer if the weather had cooperated. Ah well. Maybe next time. And, of course, I'm going to do my best to be extra-special-careful with what I put into my stomach between now and when I weigh again on Thursday. It's entirely possible that we won't get to see much of my family again until the holidays (Thanksgiving or Christmas) and I'm REALLY hoping to have made some decent (and visible) progress by then. It would probably help if I could figure out how to get off my butt and exercise more than walking .... but that's another gripe for another day!

WTG Vlad on hitting a goal! You rock! I am hoping he will take me off the steroids on the 19th. If he doesn't mention doing so I'm going to ask for a shot of cortisone in my arm instead of the voltaren pills.

Karen, 122 is totally doable, but for now just focus on 172. I should talk, me focused on 175 and have gained another 3 pounds. Back up to 194. It's so depressing to be going in the wrong direction.

It has to be the medicine, I spent another week being very good AND exercising. A lot. My clothes fit a little better. I haven't been getting all my water, so this week I'm going to add tons of water to the mix and see if I can turn those numbers back down in the right direction.

I've been trying to get one of the 10 hour shifts at work, and just my luck they won't give part timers those shifts. Okay I guess I understand that. But then they cut us pt back to 6 hour shifts. This annoys me mainly because the 10 hour shifts were brought on as "a way to make the gas crisis easier on employees". Turning around and cutting us by $600 a month, (yet we still drive down as many days as usual) makes the gas crisis especially hard on us. :(

But, on the bright side, the bookstore has hours for me, thank the gods. And I do really miss being able to be there a lot. I will be working a mid-shift 11am - 5 pm, and then heading to the second job from 7-1. I will be exhausted for sure, but I will be able to start the Stephanie Meyer series! Yay!!

This has been a rough week for me, dietwise, and I'm dreading the weigh=in this weekend. Plus Monday is my 2 month new WOL anniversary and I'd like that to be "special" in a good way/weigh. I may postpone this weekend weigh-in to Monday since I drink more water the nights I work and so should do better on Monday.

I've had a friend visiting this week that I seldom get to see so while I've done really well, overall, compared to my old way of eating I have been eating out or eating over at friends' more this week. Certainly I've had more refined sugar and flour this week than in the whole past two months. We go out to dinner tomorrow night and then he's gone again till who knows when and I'll be back to my regularly scheduled eating patterns.... Good thing I don't have much of a social life in general... (Bad thing that another friend works at Ben & erry's so every get together entails pints and pints of ice cream. However, I am only have a little bit and not a whole pint to myself like in the bad old days...)

Jeannie, I am sure the steroids are responsible for your recent gain. I hope you can get off them soon!

Karen, like you I am hoping for visible progress by the holidays. Right now my "25 pounds gone" hardly show. I can see it a little in my face and in the mirror but my summer clothes are t shirts and loose fitting shorts so not exactly "revealing". Still, I feel better and I know I'm healthier and that's the important thing.

We haven't heard from Operator265 in ages (or Aud). I hope Operator didn't get run over by some giant piece of machinery!

Here's to negative weigh-ins for all of us night owls!:bat:

It's been a crazy week -- one that tacked .6 back on my body. Not really surprised since it seems to be the way things have been going -- lose one week, gain the next, lose the next. At least this means that next week I should see another loss, right?

My little guy had an evaluation this week for the Early Intervention program. I called them (under the advice of his doctor) because he's not speaking at the rate most 2 year old should ... and it turns out he's delayed by about 10 months for his verbal. He's above average for motorskills and right where he should be for socialization ... unless that socialization involves him having to pay attention/follow directions which he only did when he felt like it and couldn't figure out something better to do that day (they say he's "self-guided" which can be both a pro and a con). SO twice a week he'll have someone come in to see about helping him out and if/when they get an opening he might also start going to their pre-school type setting so he can get the added peer interaction.

I've always been a bit of an emotional comfort-eater and between the stress of the whole EI situation and the family reunion food (which was all eitr drenched in butter or cheese or both!) it's a wonder I didn't gain 80 pounds this week!!!

Karen, don't stress too much about the EI and where your son is compared to other kids the same age. Just like losing weight, we don't all go at the same pace. Just stay consistent, fair, & loving and he'll do fine. The EI program itself, at least around here, is great and I hope he gets to go to the pre-school. One of my god daughters was really non-verbal and honestly, I worried that she might be on the autism spectrum (one of the perils of working with kids at risk is you see their issues everywhere you look...). But she's 6 now and a regular chatter box. She was just going at her own rate.

I weighed in last night and still lost this week. I figure this week's Ben & Jerry's and Thursday's chocolate croissant will catch up with me next week. Last night I was a bit more "mindless cravings" at work, I'm sure I was coming off the ice cream and YUMMY cheese pizza high, but I stayed strong and didn't eat any of the junk food that was calling to me.

One more night of "lord, I wish I'd gotten more sleep yesterday!" and then I have 4 glorious nights off.

Karen, I agree with Vlad about the EI situation. Kids are just short people, they go at their own pace. He is a gorgeous child and all will be fine.

I've been okay on my meals, okay on my exercise, and better on my water. Am really dreading the weigh in this week. I haven't worked near as hard this week as the last 2, so I am expecting another gain. On the up side like Vlad I have one more day and then 3 off, maybe I can work enough in those three to make a difference.

I sure would love a few weeks in the Biggest Loser house.

Wonder whats come of Operator, Aud, & everyone else...

I'm going to go snuggle up to the bat-lings now :bat: Sweet dreams ladies!

I found this on another thread here but thought I'd bring it back to share with my fellow sleep deprived graveyard friends... I've cut everything except the part that pertains to us...

Is Evening Eating Destroying Your Weight Loss Efforts?
Cues to Eating and How to Control Them
-- By Becky Hand, Licensed & Registered Dietitian
sparkpeople.com


A growing body of research suggests a connection between obesity and lack of adequate sleep. Statistics show that overweight individuals sleep about 1.8 hours less a week than people of normal weight. Since the 1960's sleep duration for American adults has dropped by as much as two hours a night, while obesity has drastically increased.

Sleep is a regulator of two hormones that effect appetite, leptin and ghrelin. Leptin helps suppress food intake and stimulate energy expenditure, while ghrelin stimulates appetite, fat production, and body growth. When one is sleep deprived, the level of leptin drops and the level of ghrelin increases. The result is a drastic increase in hunger. One study reported a 24% increase in hunger, with excessive, uncontrollable cravings for calorie and carbohydrate packed foods such as cookies, candy and cake. It can all add up to a vicious cycle of late night binges, lack of adequate sleep, uncontrolled snacking, late night binges, and so on.


So, girlfriends! Get your sleep!!!:bat:

Wow -- the past few days have totally blown chunks as far as food goes ... and any sort of physical activity, too, thanks to massive amounts of rain and my seeming inability to get off my butt and do anything when I'm stuck inside the house! I think I might just start weighing every 2 weeks instead of every week ... especially since I have this habit of gaining one week, losing the next, gaining the next. Maybe if I only do every other week I'll just see losses :)

Thanks for all the good thoughts/inputs on the whole Johnny situation. Right now I'm playing phone tag with the coordinator to set up one more evaluation and then start things going. I know he'd be fine if we didn't do it this way -- that eventually he'd start talking because it's just what kids do (for the most part), but he's been getting so frustrated lately not being able to make his deepest desires known .... and WE get frustrated trying to guess if he's reaching for his juice cup, coloring book, or something else altogether! He has been improving little bits already with his "word play" -- most recently exclaiming "A clue! A clue!" every time he sees any kind of pawprint (gotta love Blue's Clues!!!) :D

Half an hour to go until I should start being able to get the big chunk of work done for the night ... then maybe I'll get to plow through an episode or two of Biggest Loser Australia before the wake-up calls start going off. Fun times.

Enjoy your nights off, ladies!!!

Hey all. I just wanted to check in and prove to everyone I'm OK. I got back from Reno and have been busy with other things. I'm trying to get back into a real life and be active in stuff that doesn't always involve my home and kids.

Hope everyone is doing well. Don't worry too much Karen.:hug: Children tend to develop on their own schedules. One of mine couldn't wait to crawl so she rolled everywhere at 2 months but then seemed to take forever to learn to speak clearly. That was just her way. BTW, her name is Jonnie, too.:D

Well, gotta get some sleep. We have to register for school in the morning. Love y'all!!!

Operator!! Hellos!

I've always wondered about that, Vlad... as I've been sleep deprived since my late 20s, and that's when I started putting on the weight as well. Plus babies. Plus shift work. I've weighed this week at 193, so that's down a pound but still I don't trust it. Ha! I'll get the cortisone shot and try try again. My arm seems a bit better anyway, so that's something.

I'm in season 2 of the Aussie BL. The Commando team is really making me feel better about being able to do this without living in a "Biggest Loser" house. Thanks for the new addiction Karen!

:bat: SMOOCHIES :bat:

What really drives me 'round the twist is when I have the night off and still can't get a good night's sleep. It's like I've forgotten how.... I try to do right by my body but it's not making it any easier for me....

There are no Leptin pills you can get to suppliment for lack of sleep. Alas. However, the omega 3's and 6's in fish oil are believed to help stimulate the release of leptin. Fish oils are the one food suppliment (other than the kids' vitamins when I remember to take two when I'm handing them out to the kids in the morning) I do. It's got to be high quality fish oil (preferably not Cod) and it's better if it isn't in a capsule - which means a $15 bottle from the refrigerator case at the health food store. A teaspoon a day WITH food - even with food it can be a little hard on your stomach the first day or so. It doesn't taste like anything (mine smells like lemon-lime but it doesn't taste like anything - it's just oily). This stuff is a good idea even if you aren't working the graveyard shift, but I think it is essential for all us vampires....:bat:

Wow, it's been quiet here on the night shift.

I spent two weeks messing around with the scale at work and being depressed that I have no idea wht my starting weight was or how much I've lost. It isn't a huge deal, because I know I've lost weight. But before I realized that the scale at work wasn't accurate at all I at least thought I knew if my calorie counting was working. Now I feel like I'm starting over trying to figure out if I'm eating the right number of calories or the right mix of carbs, fats, protein.

After two weeks of carrying the scale all over the house and trying it in different places I have a spot where it is reliable and where I can mark the floor to be sure to put it back very close to the same spot every time. Saturday morning I weighed myself and then stopped by my doctor's office on the way home to weigh myself on their big scale.

The hard part was resetting my ticker. I didn't gain 15 pounds but it sure felt like I did, having to move that number up.

So, it's back in the saddle again and it'll be weeks before I'm back to where I thought I was.

Hope things are going better for all you fellow vampires!