Susie- I cook more. I have found lots of good lower cal recipes, so I am always trying them out on my family. I try to eat more fruit, but forget it's in the fridge. Veggies, no change there. I don't like many. Biggest thing is portions. Instead of taking the bag of chex mix to the couch, I'll measure out my portion.

Kelly- Glad we have our plan set for the next 2 weeks. Hope it works.

Ward- Having one of those spells, eh?? C'mon, you know you can get over it. Come cry on our shoulders.

TOM hit full force today. 198.8 today. I am hoping that will start to change with TOM moving through. Did Cardio Max tonight for 40 min. Legs were killing me. Kelly too. Must keep moving.

Man, am I tired this week. Working out is a chore! It just feels like I can't lift my legs to do anything. I guess that is what it felt like 50 pounds ago, so I will just shut up and be thankful. I am on track so far this week. 3 and 1/2 pounds of the 6 are gone, I just need 2 and 1/2 more. Hopefully by Friday it will be mostly gone.

Susie--I haven't changed what I eat very much, I just count every calorie, which essentially just reduces portions. I have tried to find some reduced calorie foods to replace some of the higher cal stuff. For example, I buy Musselman's Lite applesauce cups, because they are 50 calories, as opposed to 100 for the regular. I also buy sugar free jello cups (10 cal) instead of the full cal stuff. I get Aunt Millie's Light Whole Wheat Bread, which is 35 calories per slice, instead of 70-90 for the regular. Just stuff like that has helped a lot. Lately I have been thinking about changing some things I eat, to try to break this plateau I seem to be on. I am going to replace a couple lunches a week with salads instead of eating Lean Cuisine stuff all the time. I am also trying to make sure I keep yogurt in my diet every day, and eating more veggies at dinner, instead of potatoes or rice. I am kind of picky about food, so it is hard for me. One thing that was important to me from the beginning was that I was not going to eliminate food groups, or try to eat "fat free" or "low carb". That is just not how I am going to live my life forever, so I wanted to make sure I lost weight by eating the same stuff I eat now, just reducing portions. I want to make sure the weight I have lost stays off for good, and I am hoping this plan is the way to do it!

Mindy--We just keep kicking butt. Hope it pays off soon. Sure gets frustrating sometimes.

Ward--Glad to see you back. Hope things look up soon!

See you tomorrow!

Hi,

Thank you so much for sharing your food routines with me. I am really good with working out..I have that down pat and I love to do it--really I do..I just have to get my mind wrapped around the food part.

Your suggestions of measuring out things and making those little changes to save some calories on things you would normally eat anyway are all good things that I know I can change and live with.

I wanted to let you know that I met with my trainer today. We sat down and came up with a S.M.A.R.T goal for me. A S.M.A.R.T goal stands for Sensible, Measureable, Attainable, Reachable, and I can't remember if the T is for Tracking or something like that.

So we went throught that and set that goal. She will be working up a program for me to follow to help me reach it and I should have that info in a couple of days. We made a long range goal and some short term ones to get me to that goal.

Once I get my program I"ll share that with you guys.

Kelly: My legs are feeling that way too. I did Zumba at lunch and then a 45 min walk tonight and I worked them on the natulis machine.

Mindy: TOM will roll through and those scales will come down.

Ward: I'm sorry that you are feeling a little unglued and don't have it together....we don't expect you to be that way every day....you know that you can come here and we will help you though it..like you help us. Please come back...we miss you!

Well Kelly and I decided to do WATP tonight. It's not hard core with weights and stuff, but good cardio. We needed a little bit of a break. TOM is crushing my uterus and making itself known. I was down to 198.4 today. Not quite where I was last week at 197.6. It would be great to at least be back down to that tomorrow. I don't know though.

Susie- I am interested in what your trainer comes up with for you. That would be a dream, having someone help me out. I follow plans well, just not sure if my plan is the right thing or not. Too many calories, not enough??? Do I work out enough, too much??? I just don't know these days.

I'm with ya, Mindy. Sometimes I wish someone else would tell me, "Do this..." and it magically works. I am tired of guessing. WATP was good tonight. I can actually walk up and down my stairs, so that feels kind of good!

Susie--Let us know more about what the trainer says!

Ward--Hope things are going according to plan.

Today I was down to 186. Only 2 more pounds to melt off before tomorrow's weigh in. Then, I would break even for the week. I'm not very optimistic. :( Oh well, if I show a gain this week, it will be a small one, not that freakish 6 pounds that came out of nowhere. I saw my doctor today. Part of me was kind of annoyed, because when I weighed 235 pounds, none of my doctors ever mentioned my weight, or told me I should lose some weight. All of my labs and everything have always been within normal limits, so I guess they didn't feel the need to comment. This time, I go in 50 pounds lighter, and after I get a "congratulations", they point out that I am overweight and want to run labs to check thyroid function. What the heck? Obviously I know I am still overweight, and clearly I am still doing something about it! Why mention it now and not 50 pounds ago? Ok, I will stop my rant now. Oh, yeah, the reason I went in was to get a chiropractic referral, and I came out with a tetanus shot, paperwork to have blood drawn, a prescription to have my knee x-rayed, and a list of exercises to help with my knee pain. Now I remember why I don't go to the doctor unless absolutely necessary. My arm hurt from the tetanus shot so bad, I couldn't even raise it up to work out to WATP. I know I looked foolish!

See you all tomorrow!

Hi Ladies,

I have good news...I showed a 2lb loss last night! I was so very, very excited. I can't tell you how much it helps me to come here everyday with your guys. Even last year when I didn't loose like the rest of you, being around and seeing your achievements and watching you fight your ways through struggles it influenced me to keep trying.

So, here's the scoop with the trainer. We sat down and came up with a long term goal for me, that is measurable every week. We also determined that when doing my cardio I need to stay in my fat burning mode and then gave me a cardio outline to use of the week so that when I'm working out I stay in that zone. Eventually I will get a heart rate monitor so that I can see the numbers but for now I'm going by these feelings that she gave me for the 5 zones. If you would like me to share the information that she gave to me for that I would be happy to. Maybe we could exchange email addresses; I know sometimes though they don't go through on this site when doing them through the Private messenger. I do have a Facebook account and if you have one and want to contact me there you know my first name is Susie and my last name starts with a C so I bet you can find me. My profile picture there is the same one as here.

Mindy; I believe you are doing your cardio workouts in a really good fashion because you mix it up. That's really the same sort of Cardio outline I was given by the trainer but it's outlined for me by minutes during the workout.

Kelly: I had to laugh when I read about your doctor visit. I know it didn't feel funny but it just figures it would go like that. I've had the same thing happen to me before. Good luck with your weigh-in.

Ward: Still missing you bunches here!

I'll be around this weekend...looking forward to seeing guys here too.

So, tonight's workout was very disappointing for me. I wanted to do so much more than I was able to do. My arm is still killing me from that d**n tetanus shot they gave me yesterday. Since we were doing kickboxing, it was hard to do with the intensity I wanted to do. So, I did as much of it as I could, then went out and walked in the halls. My weigh in was better than I expected. I only showed a gain of 1 pound. I was back down to 185 today. So, only 1 pound to go to get back to my lowest weight. We went out to dinner tonight because my husband's grandmother is in town. Usually my weakness is eating out, but I am happy to report I was successful and only ate my salad and the piece of garlic bread that came with it. All my best friends were there: nachos, potato skins, cheese sticks, onion rings....And I turned my nose up at them and told them they were not my friends anymore!! I never want to see a 6 pound gain like that again, and they will not drag me down with them! :carrot:

Susie--I am intrigued by the cardio plan. Does the trainer have you working on machines or doing other kinds of exercises?

Mindy--You kicked butt tonight. Have fun tomorrow while I am wasting away at yet another hockey tournament. (I will avoid the concession stand at all costs!)

Ward--See you soon!

Bye girls!!!

Great job on the dining out, Kelly. I hope your arm is feeling better soon.

Susie - Yay! on the weigh in. I am glad we found each other on FB. Now you know how to call me out if I go missing again. :)

Mindy, did you kick that other pound to the curb?

Today was day 3 back on plan. I normally weigh in on Fridays but I opted not to go there today. Workouts have been good. See you tomorrow.

Wow you guys have been busy today. Well tonight must be the night for eating out. We had no easily ready food so went to eat. I had some potato and egg stuff, with cheese. Toast also. It was kind of a disappointment. Calorie wise I am still okay, I think. I am going to be careful this weekend because I want some more pounds to go bye-bye since TOM is moving on.

Susie- Awesome. You are figuring out this game. Good job. You are so fortunate to be able to work with the trainer. I know Kelly and I are both interested in your plan. I'll try the PM route, since I don't have a facebook.

Kelly- I offered to punch you in the other arm, then that one wouldn't hurt so much. Have fun at the tournament. Beware of that consession stand. Just keep saying, "6 pounds, 6 pounds".

Ward- Glad you are back in the zone. You always pull yourself together. Keep up the good work.

I did 50 min. of that d*** kickboxing DVD tonight. The ab part was tough. I am still hanging out around 198 something. Come on!!! Time to lose. See ya later.

Hi Gals,

I need to stop in here early so that I get my mind set for the day. It's the weekend and I always have issues it seems like on the weekend, mostly because I am out of my routine.

I'm about to start cleaning house and it's going to be some work for a few hours. My whole house with the exception of the kitchen and baths, which are tile, are all hardwood. With all the winter weather we have had, it goes without saying that I need to mop them all today and get them into shape. It looks like we will not have snow and ice for a good week or so, so I want to get them cleaned up before it all happens again. I can usually just sweep them and dust mop them and then about every 6 weeks I will mop them but not in the winter time. It's ok though I love them and my allegies are a lot because of having them and not wall to wall carpeting.

We went out to eat last night to. I don't know if you guys have Bob Evans in your area but that is where we went. I had this Bobburrito thing. It was really good and it was large. I could only eat half of it, I brought the other half home to have for lunch today. I had a veggie one and with the egg in it it gave me protien as well. The cheese added a lot of calories but I still think it was a pretty good choice for me. I am not only looking at calories but nutrition and will it keep me from getting hungry later.

Kelly: I'm sorry that you couldn't work out like you wanted to. I know how bad those tentus shorts hurt. I had one about 3 years ago and I swore never again! I'm glad to see that the gain was a small one. You can take the credit for that; without all your hard work it would have been much worse. I laughed when I read about your "old friends" at the dinner table with you and you sticking your nose up at them. It is such a great mental picture.

Mindy: I see I have a PM from you. I'll check that later and then hopefully get you more information about the cardio plan the trainer gave me.
I want to say what a great friend and workout partner you are to Kelly to offer to punch her in the other arm! lol

Ward: You strong woman you! Powering back through whatever it was that got you off track and now you have been on plan for 3 days in a row. I am a binger too and I know how it can be, so know that you have someone who understands and is willing to help you work though those times...as I know you will help me to. I'm glad to find your on Facebook too. Can't let you go MIA again!

Ok..I've got to get to work on this house. My reward for getting it all done is that tonight I can relax with my computer..come back check posts, get the cardio info out--some me time..It sounds good.

Susie, how did it go today? Week-ends are hard for me, too. My husband always wants to eat out, plus there's a birthday party every time I turn around.

Mindy, how did you feel after the kickboxing? I think I might try to go to a kickboxing class next week. I used to really enjoy it, but then I got scared after I broke my foot.

Kelly, I hope your arm is all better and you are lifting lots of weights today. ;)

As for me, I had a good workout this morning - 3 mi run (30 min), Group Ride class, 30 min on the elliptical. My legs are quite sore this afternoon. Eating is on plan - day 4.

See you tomorrow. :)

Ward- That particular kickboxing DVD seems to get better every time I do it. I get to know the moves so I can really add some power. It must have done something because I was down to 197.8 this morning. A few hours later I was 197, and a few hours later I saw 196.8. Well, wonder what I will be in the morning. Low 197 would be good. Glad to see you back on plan and working out like the fiend we know you are.

Susie- Looks like you will keep yourself busy today. Cleaning house is on my list for the weekend. Already got groceries, the kitchen is almost clean, except the table. Have to do my taxes, school work, other stuff. All I "want" to do is curl up with a good book.

I did something interesting today. I went to my calorie-count account and analyzed. I figured out my loss for each month so far. the first 2 months were like 8 and 7 pounds. After that though, I average about 3 pounds a month. I knew it was slow, so that puts things into perspective. I gained .8 in Dec. I guess I had more Christmas fun than I thought. Well, I guess as long as I stick to that pace, I will be getting smaller, just slowly.

Gotta run and get stuff done. See ya tomorrow.

Hey, where is everybody today??? I have been a busy little beaver. DId my taxes, graded papers, even went outside for a walk jog. Yep, outside. It got into the 40's I think. I still need to finish cleaning house and do some cooking.

Good news of the day. I was down to 196.8 this morning. Must keep this going. I want to get under 195 before the "big gain". Hope to hear from some of you soon. Hope you are all doing well this weekend.

Mindy, I ran outside today, too (8 miles). It was so nice. We took the kids to the park, too. It will probably turn cold again so we had to take advantage of the nice weather today. You just keep chipping away at the pounds!

Eating is on plan - day 5, I think.

See you tomorrow.

Hi,

I'm here (finally!). It has been a full day wth church, finishing up the laundry, and my workout.

It's so nice here, in the high 40's and almost all the snow is gone. I don't know how long it will hang around but I'll take it when I can get it.

Coming here early on Saturday morning helped me to on track. I did have a "Grands" cinnamon roll but other than that...pretty good.

Today I did the fat burn routine on the Elliptical and then I worked my back, chest and shoulder with the weights. The food has been good. Knowing that my trainer is going to be looking at it helps me to make better choices. I'm really looking for guidance on nutrition from my trainer as well a guidance on the workouts. It takes all parts.

At some point I need to find a way to deal with the emotional eating/binging that can get me sometimes.

Ward: It's so great to have you back! I'm not a runner but I think I've heard most runners say they perfer to run outside when then can. Are you that way?

Mindy: Good to see you showed a loss. I was reading your post from Saturday and I think it was good thing that you looked at the information you have been keeping and took a look at it. It shows you what does work for you. Maybe not as fast as you want it to, but it IS working. I'm emailing you the cardio zone workout that my trainer gave to me. Let me know what you think of it.

Kelly: How did the weekend go for you?

I'll see everyone tomorrow.