Hello Everyone.
JoJo: I eat lean meat, fish and veggies. I make my own salad dressing (olive oil, vinegar & Mrs. Dash), if I want dessert I make 0 calorie Jello with whipping cream. I try to keep an eye on my carb intake more than anything. My breakfast during the week consists of a protein shake - one designed for women - or something with eggs.
The health food store in my town sells Ideal Protein products so I supplement my diet with IP for some variety or snacks.

Snowbound: when I first began, I was feeling dizzy, lightheaded & a little nauseous during the first week. I found out this was my body withdrawing from sugar and burning off fat. Then I found I was in the bathroom all the time urinating. Turns out I was in ketosis. This all passed within a day or two and I've never felt better.

Maddie:Carb Counters is where I began on 3FC. I've kinda made my way all over this site trying to find a place where I can connect.

I have a question for everyone/anyone. Do you have any advise for motivation? I just can't get myself onto my treadmill!! It is set up in my bedroom in front of the T.V., yet I still can't seem to get active. How do you do it?



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Snowboundchick: I hope you feel better soon! Let me know when you join the gym. I also want to join in the next few weeks! Yay!! Kick butt time! :carrot:

2b12: Good luck getting started on the 24th! The planets may just be the key! We had a lot of rain and wind here a few nights ago, but today was quite nice!

MaddieD: I know exactly what you mean about the blueberries and yogurt! I use raspberries instead, but it is my favorite snack. I let it sit for awhile last night, and it did look like ice cream, and it was sooo good!

Cindie: Congrats on the weight loss! Awesome work!:carrot: Good job on getting the walking in. Too bad about your ankle, and not being able to run. Does it hurt if you walk to hard or long?

Stella: Congrats for getting back on track! I know it isn't easy after a vacation! :D

JJCanada: You can do it! :carrot::carrot:

Joplin: Your diet sounds so healthy! I was wondering what type of protein shakes that you use that are for women? I'm trying to make some shakes with my new blender that I'm so excited about!

Your question about motivation is a toughie. I have been motivating myself lately by my progress in the past. If I am losing weight, as I did last week (2.5 pounds), this motivates me to want to continue. I've put pictures of women on my fridge who are super buffed, and it motivates me. Walking with a friend helps me get motivated. I guess it is different for everyone.

Today, was a good day for me! I walked for thirty minutes before work, and ate my points. I'm finding that I get hungry at night when I get home from work. It makes me want to eat, and I have been having snacks at night. I'm trying to figure out if I'm just not eating enough during the day as it seem that way these days.

Have a nice weekend, ladies! :)

Hi everyone, I'm Christine, 29 yrs old from Montreal, QC. I have 2 kids, gained most of my weight during both pregnancies but I'm on motivational fire right now and ready to shed it all off. I'm doing an exchange plan based on diabetic exchanges. I would really like to join your group, I hope you have an extra seat available?

Hi Christine! There is always room for one more;) I'm trying to do WW at home but can't seem to get back on track though...every night i say TOMORROW I'm gonna do it...one problem though..tomorrow never turns into today!

thanks for the encouragement JoJo, I need all i can get right now.

On Monday I'm going away for 3-4 days with DH and am looking so forward to it! We have 5 kids, yes...all ours. LOL. We get asked that all the time when we go out! i had so hoped I would be down a little more so i would feel great about myself but I guess it just won't be. i also hope that I don't pack on a few more lbs when we are away!

Morning ladies!

Well cold windy and rainy this am still did my walk with the dog and umbrella,going to do my Shred in a few.I can not wait to be in the 100's again.



Stella~I loved Cuba until we went to Roatan,Honduras(Central America) last March this place is incredible.I love to snorkel(we all do)but in Cuba(Camaguey) there is not much close you usually have to take a boat out to the reef. In Roatan you can see the fish right from shore and you go about 5 feet in and there is coral right there and if you keep swimming it just never stops and the things you see are amazing(no sharks thank god)We saw see turtles,mantirays and every fish you can imagine a few saw dolphines also.Everyone snorkels there and you can go out really far.It is always around 45c there everyday the sand is white can burn your feet it gets so hot at the peak of the day.There is big macaw's(big parrots you see at most pet shops) flying around it is an amazing place.I looked at going there a few months before and for us and the 2 girls it would of cost us 6,000 but if you do last minute it cost us 2400.00 for the 4 and a really nice resort.There are only like 5 resorts there and I would stay at anyone of them very clean and nice.Look It up online!
I dont ever drink water on vacation I hat the taste of it and afraid to get sick.In Cuba I lived off of mohitos and in Rotan strawberry daiquiris. Here is a pic maybe a foot into the water and you can see where all the black is coral reef and you can see how far out people are even with kids.Sorry I can go on and on about this place..

Jojo-No they don't hurt when I walk but they get sore really fast and I have to always have a good pair of shoes with an arch in it.I also get like cold in my ankles when its crappy weather and then they are sore.I find to I have been hungry at night, I upped my protein yesterday and much better last night.

Christine-Hi and welcome!I am not that far from you 45 min north of Montreal,I grew up there.Have you started exercising?I just joined last week also.Good luck!

JJ-You should be proud that you are doing something about it and you have gotten somewhere!:hug:Wow 5 kids brave woman lol...

Cinm - Wow! That photo is amazing! Actually, when we went to book our honeymoon, our travel agent said that Honduras was the next 'hot spot'. I have looked at a couple resorts there on-line, they look really nice! Which one did you stay at? In Cuba, we took a large catermaran out to the coral reefs to do the snorkelling, it was unbelievable. I couldn't believe all the differen't sizes and colours of the fish. We had an underwater camera and got some amazing photos. I know what you mean about not drinking the water, but at our resort in Cuba, at all the restaurants and stocked in our room everyday there was plenty of bottled water, but I drank plenty of pina coladas and cervasa's!

Thanks JJ and Cindie, I'm really glad to have found this thread!

JJ, 5 kids, that's awesome! I know just how you feel about postponing your weight loss til the next day, I've been doing it since my son was born (8 months ago!). Then one day I really don't know what happened, it was like Cinderella's fairy godmother tapped me with her wand and all of a sudden my mind set changed! I agree with Cindie, you should definitely be proud of yourself for doing something. I think the more proud of ourselves we are, the more motivated we get.

Cindie- I've been to Rawdon when I was much younger and loved it there.

I got the wii fit plus for my birthday this year (August) and have been doing that since. I haven't really done much else in terms of exercising except walk my daughter to school every morning and walk back, and then again in the afternoon to pick her up. Although, I was a little more adventurous on Monday morning. After walking my daughter to school I decided to take a longer route home. Once I got to the front of the house I decided to continue my walk and went to the store. I picked up a bottle of water and then went on to take a totally different route home that I had never been on before (I just moved into the area recently). By the time I made my way home it was an hour later:carrot: I was so proud of myself and was planning to stick to exploring the neighborhood like that every morning except that I ended up with a sore neck that afternoon. It's been so painful that I can barely turn my head to the right because the pain shoots down my shoulder blade.

Hi All!

I'm feeling much better. The week has been busy, my new dryer came in, I feel better and was finally able to see my Dad last night. I haven't seen him since Friday. I'm not sure I mentioned it here but he's dying of lung cancer and it's been super hard on the family but I'm spending as much time with him as i can. But sine he's been through one round of chemo his immune system is down. He won't be doing anymore chemo.

I'm walking home today with my two oldest boys, they are 9 and 5. My H is picking up our youngest son (3) and his daughter from daycare so we'll all meet at the park later. It's been pretty cool lately and getting colder everyday. Whitehorse has been getting snow and someone said he had a little bit last night but i didn't see it, it's fore casted for the weekend. I'm not happy about that!!

But trying to get back into the habit of exercising regularly instead of sporadically.

Hi Christine!!!!

:hug:DONNA ~ sorry about your DAD (that the chemo isn't working for him); am sending up prayers for peace & comfort for him and your family. Glad that you are feeling better too.

We had pouring :rain: all day; it was so chilly and damp and cold -- my hands are cold as I type now. Will warm up with some hot tea soon. We had HM pita pizza for our fun Friday dinner tonight; homemade soup for lunch too (perfect for this kind of weather).

:welcome: to CHRISTINE ~ always room for more here!

:welcome2: to JOPLIN ~ as well; glad you all found us here. We always have lots more Canadians join in the fall & winter threads.

CINDIE ~ I could see something in that picture that sure looks a lot like baby sharks to me; or was that baby dolphins? Sounds like heaven ...

Yes, you can do the HM pita pizza or even on a wg tortilla wrap (a homemade tortilla pocket); or a tortilla wrap sandwich (mini-sub). Fill like STELLA did: lean meat, shredded lettuce, thin tomato slices, cheese, diced onion, etc. Seems like you don't eat many grain carbs on your plan though ...

TIP: I used to make a burger pizza a long time ago; make a lean hamburger (flatten it well); cook it as usual, then top it with some tomato sauce and cheese; cover to melt. Serve on a lettuce leaf, if desired.


Welcome back, STELLA ~ glad you had a marvellous time; your avatar is lovely ...

MOTIVATIONS ~ my #1 motivation is my health; the excess weight is hard on my joints and well, it's just plain tiring. It can also affect other things down the road if we don't watch out like diabetes, heart health, and so on. #2 ~ I want to feel better in my own skin. #3 ~ I want to be able to go for walks and not hurt. #4 ~ I want to do more things and feel OK doing them. #5 ~ would like to be able to buy all those nice clothes that don't come in larger sizes. #6 ~ my extra weight is uncomfortable & embarrassing for me. #7 ~ I want to live a goodly long life.

:wave: to everyone else here; got some reading to catch up on; BTW, we finally got our car fixed up for sure this time. Hope you all have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend too ... Rosebud :flow2:

Thank you Rose. I hope you warm up. I love making chicken or pea soup when it's cold. I didn't make it all the way home today. We got about half way across town when H showed up. It was windy and the wind was cold, so I'm glad he showed up. I'm thinking I'll either do the Wii or some of my dvd's tomorrow.

I have a busy weekend, H is working so I'll have the 3 boys and then Sat night we have his daughter for an overnight. I have to fit in a visit to my Dad and Sunday we have the 3 kids and housework to do.

Welcome Christine, and I hope you feel better soon! I tried the wii system, the boxing, and bowling and really was amazed at how good you get a workout from it.

Snowboundchick: Sorry to hear about your father, but good you are spending more time together. Snow in Whitehorse already..wow! What's the temps where you are?

--
It was nice to see the warm weather today. It felt a bit like summer was back for a moment. I doubt this will last though. I work all weekend, and have been feeling really hungry at night after work. I don't think I'm getting enough protein the last few days which could be the cause of the hunger pains. I also had a few small bag of chips which I'll have to add onto my flex points for the week. I exercised for a half hour today which I'm happy about.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We can do it! :)

It's getting cooler by the day, it's about -6 today.

Weight is fluctuating a lot right now, H says it's salt and I think he's right!

Thanks to everyone for the nice welcome!

Donna: I am really sorry to hear about your dad; I agree with Jojo, it's great that you are spending time together.

I can't believe your already getting snow there! I've just given notice to my employer that I will be taking extra time off on my maternity leave so I am hoping to skip through the snowy season before getting back to work. I'm supposed to go back in January, but have decided to return in the first week of May instead. It'll also be good for my diet (being away from work longer) because the office is usually full of take-out smell at lunch time. I want to get as far along with my diet as possible so that I can be stronger to resist the temptation of ordering out with everyone else there.

Rosebud: I love your idea about the burger pizza. I just came back from doing my groceries; I bought some ground chicken, so I think I will definitely try that idea. Thanks!

Jojo: thank you, my neck is feeling a little better today; I am able to turn it a little further to the right than before. The wii fit is great for a work out, but I am getting a little bored of it now. I need variety for my workouts otherwise I get bored too quickly and quit. We are thinking of getting a treadmill also, and I have some workout dvd's that I haven't tried in a while so I think it's time to mix up my routine a little and add some extra time to it as well.

I weighed in this morning; lost 2 more lbs this week for a total loss of 26 lbs so far :carrot:

HELLO!! love this thread! Would love to join your group, found it this morning:) I live in Ontario, 1 hr north of Toronto. I am married, and we have 5 kids, and yes they are all ours! We get asked that too:) I have been seriously trying to lose weight since May, and my motivation is to be healthier for my family, and to fit into my wedding dress, since haven't been able to wear it since my wedding 17yrs ago:( I joined my local YMCA two weeks ago, and love it!
so that is all about me, and I am DETERMINED to weigh less weekly until I am at a healthy weight!!

Welcome Elaine!!

The salt has been wreaking havoc on my weight this week, up and down, up and down! So frustrating. Really have to watch what I've eating. This hasn't happened to me before or I haven't noticed it. I'm drinking lots of water today.

We got snow last night! I'm not sure it it will stay but maybe.