Hey!! You ladies were what kept me going last night at the gym. I encouraged myself to get there because I'd said to y'all that I was going...and then when I got there and had done my weight lifting, I was about 1/2 way through the cardio and wanted to stop SO BADLY! But I pushed through...and am I ever glad I did. I burnt off about 330 calories of cardio in 30 minutes!! Yay!!

Thank you all for the wonderful words of confidence about the new direction this job is taking. I'm excited about it!!

Lisa- It sounds like a normal first day of school and I'm so glad that your son had a good day of preschool. I do hope that your headache goes away soon. Good job on getting back to the gym...it does feel better to get back into the swing of things,doesn't it? And that is really smart to plan ahead with meals...it makes the calories and fat grams easier to keep down.

Taiwan- I would say when you don't know for sure about the calories or fat grams, a guesstimate is good!! Just break down what you can figure out and go from there. Yes I would say that kick and jab is high impact aerobics!! And that sounds like a good plan for increasing your breakfast calories. My breakfast usually runs about 140-150 calories...but I am just getting back into the habit of eating breakfast. I've done so for about 3 weeks now....so I'm not increasing anything at the moment.

Lady- Congrats on over coming your inner child and just saying NO to the sweets last night. I'm INCREDIBLY impressed! And amazed by your 4 fat grams! Just make sure you are getting enough fat on normal days too...you can go too low.

Cyan- I'm sure Fred does miss Rudy. And I can tell from your post what a true animal lover you are. I have 5 cats at my house. 4 females and one male. Emi, Abby, Mattie, and Katie are my girls. And Levi is my boy. Emi is the Momma cat, but they are all well on their way to being full grown as well. They turned 9 months old January 1st. Everyone but Emi did that is. Emi is about 2 years old now. And all the girls but Emi are calicos. Emi and Levi are both long haired black cats. Levi has a white spot on his chest. And yes, they are all long haired except for Abby.

GREAT JOB on the 4000 Steps! I'm impressed and definitely checking into a pedometer in the next day or two...I don't have my check book with me today so it may have to be tomorrow when I check on that. Keep up the hard work on the fat grams....you can do it!! And you are right, you will suceed.

As far as Kev coming home soon. I hope he does too. But I anticipate when all is said and done this deployment will have last 11 months. That's okay though....we are emailing regularly and I'm getting ready to send out a care package so I think spirits are up on both ends. He just got one and was really excited about the contents. So I'm just praying for his safety in the meantime.

Debee- So did you dispose of those nuts? I can totally relate to the binge that you are talking about. It sounds like a typical binge for me. Glad that you recognized it for what it was though...and I'm confident that you will get back on the right foot today.

Miki- Good JOB on the extra 3 lbs on the Airwalker and to do it 2x a day!! WOAH! You are definitely building up on the exercise. Good job!!

As far as your cousin's son goes...I think they are calling most people to be back at the base right about now. With so many deploying and so many already gone...they need them all in a central location for the time being. But do let me know how that turns out. How exciting that your husband has taken up fit eating too! I know that you must be looking forward to doing this together.

As far as other things went for me last night I completed my full cycle of weight training too. I took my walkman with me last night so that I could listen to my Christian music as I worked out...it was great!!

I had about 1126 calories and 39 grams of fat. Got to get those fats back down. ARGH!! I'm going Krogering this afternoon to try to pick supper and lunch out for tonight and tomorrow.

This evening I think I may either climb stairs or cycle. I've got to take Annie to gymnastics. So all of that will be after her gymnastics, but I find myself looking forward to it. Amazingly I can tell a difference in my body already, I think, so that's exciting.

Cjunk, PreciousOne and Reina, I hope things are going well for you today.

I will check back in after my evening workout! Everyone have a wonderful afternoon.

Betty

Hi everyone,

I have a funny story to tell about what happened today.


This afternoon I needed to go to an ATM to get some cash. As I was driving to get my son at pre-school I passed a WAWA ( like a 7-11 convenience store) I went in, used the ATM and headed right to the deli counter (they have great subs) on a touch pad I started placing my order...I knew all along that these subs were loaded with fat however, I just started pressing the pad and ordering...10 inch italian sub with mayo, cheese...yes all the high fat bad stuff...yes, I heard all of your voices saying what are you doing?...I ignored all of you on my shoulder, however Miki's story about God and her hamburger flashed through my mind for a second. So I said ok God show me a sign....nothing. I went to get a gallon of milk while I thought my order had been electronically delivered to the back counter person. A few minutes later I went back to the deli counter to pick up my sub. I was dying for it. Well, I asked for my sandwich and the clerk said that they never electronically got the order???? I was about to place the order again when a delivery man came in with boxes of fresh pretzels (we live near Philly and we have very good soft pretzels), he turned to me and said you are a girl that needs a pretzel. At that moment it dawned on me that maybe there was divine intervention taking place. I decided not to tempt fate by reordering my sandwich and just left with the pretzel. I got into my car and just had to start laughing ...maybe God did give me a sign. I figure if God is listening I think I might ask HIM tomorrow what numbers to pick for lotto ( worth a try huh?)

Ok, everyone I did get rid of the nuts....Confession time....not in the trash but in my mouth...well, they are at least gone now, I am not going to go "nuts" about it and just move on ...

Cyan, I programmed most of the pedometer I just have to figure out the calorie counter. By the way if anyone wants one they are on sale at Radio Shack for $19.99. I have been meaning to ask you Cyan, how is your mom doing? Is she home?

Taiwan, I brought a few low-fat cookbooks this week...if I find any good recipes I 'll post them for you....what are the type of native fruits and vegetables that you have available?

Ladyrider, can you share some of your ideas on keeping fat grams low?

Betty, like you I get motivated by all of you. I think we are very lucky to have found this site and hooked up the way we have.

Lisa, I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better. They way exercise is great for stress . Glad to hear your first day went well too.

Miki, once again thanks for that God story maybe it really does work???

Cjunk and Reina hope to hear from you soon.

Hi all...dont have a lot of time because I worked today and Luke has a math test tomorrow that I want to help him study for. Josh is at ball practice, and I'll have to run get him soon. Anyway, had to at least post a little. As for my extra Airwalking yesterday, after I posted that, I went back and did more...can you believe it?? I totaled 25 min on the AirWalker plus the 2 mile walking video with weights. Too cool! Calories today were 1239 with 39 of that fat grams. Hubby's were 1209 with 24 fat grams. Men make me sick the way they can lose so fast...He'll be passing me up on the weightloss within a week or so Im sure. Wish I had more time. Maybe I'll find a few min later tonite. If not, ya'll have a good nite and I'll be back soon.

Miki

Debee- What an awesome story. I think that you and Miki are right, it does sound like God is sending signs this way about the weight loss. As far as the nuts go...I think that you are wise to have just wrapped that up as them being gone and not dwelling on it! After all it's a new day...and new challenges are present in every day.

Oh btw, If you win the lottery ;-) You will have to be sure to let us all know about it. And I agree with you. I think that we were all very lucky to have found this site and each other through it. Debee. I'm definitely headed out to get that Pedometer tomorrow. So I'll fill you in on it then. I'm looking forward to our "travels" by foot so to speak.


Miki- Woah! I'm impressed! Working out 3 times in one day!! You are an inspiration!! It sounds like you have a busy evening planned, but it also sounds like you did really well with calories and fat grams today. Good job!! I completely hear you on men and weight loss. It just falls off of them so much more easily, ya know?

It sounds like you have quite a busy night ahead of you! I hope that it goes well.


Well...my night is going well. I splurged today and had a veggie burger at Burger King and fries. But my calories for the day were 1206 and my fat grams are 26!!! For supper I had a vegetarian mexican tamale pie! Odd...I never liked the tamale pies that had meat in them when I ate meat...but I love the veggie ones.

I ALMOST didn't make the 8 PM cut off this evening. Actually it was 8:05 when I finished supper, (so I didn't completely make it) but I figure that's close enough. Annie had gymnastics tonight so by the time I made it home it was 7:40. Thankfully I'd planned ahead and just had to zap supper in the microwave. Then I hit the gym. I was honestly frustrated tired and overwhelmed when I left for the gym. I rode the stationary bike for 25 minutes, 9 miles. And then climbed on the stair climber. I did I think 700 stairs or something around there...(anyway 20 minutes on that). I wanted to stop on the stairs SO badly...but I pushed on through...and does it ever feel good to know I've done it yet another evening of exercise.

Well...I'm off to study math for the Praxis. And have some quiet time. So I hope that everyone has a wonderful evening!!

Good night,
Betty

Okay...before I forget..I had 1473 calories today and 55 grams of fat. Not bad.

I didn't go to the gym.

Debee, you're story was great! And....if you do win that lottery....You could pop for a trip for all of us to Chicago!

Miki, you are awesome! I'm so impressed with your exercising! You go girl!!!!!

Lobacal...I didn't know they had veggie burgers at Burger King?!!! Are they at every burger king? Are they on the menu?

Lady, you're pumpkin pear treat sounds interesting. Sounds like a fun thing to try out someday. Maybe we should put together a cook book with all our concoctions... (did I spell that right?)

Taiwan...next time you're in the states..you're going to have to stock up on some food!!!!

Cyan..how are your birds?

Where is Reina???? CJunk????? Precious One???????

I do have a success to share. Tonight we had an activity for the women at church. Afterwards there were refreshments....ice cream sundaes, rice krispie treats, chocolate chip cookies....

Not only was it all High fat unhealthy foods...it was after 8pm. I didn't have anything and I went home. Yeah!!!

See y'all tomorrow!!!

Lisa

Thanks for the compliments everyone, but dont be too impressed! I only made it 15 min on the AirWalker tonite so good thing I did extra yesterday. I was just too pooped. Worked from 8am til 5 pm with no lunch hour or breaks then came home, cooked, took Josh to practice, logged my foods and posted here, made Luke a practice test for math, then graded it and helped him with corrections. By the time that was all over, I really just wanted to fall out on the couch. I did manage to scrape up enough energy to do the 15 min then came to see if there were new posts since I was here last. Debee, I tried the veggie burger at Burger King recently also. Wasnt bad at all...nothing like a Whopper of course, but calorie-wise a much better choice.
Well, I really am exhausted so going to hit that couch now. Take care everyone!

Miki

Ohhh, Lisa, cant believe I forgot to mention YOUR success.....Girl, making it thru all that temptation you had, thats a LOT bigger accomplishment than my exercise....Cookies, IceCream, and not giving in....you did GREAT! You made my mouth water just reading about all the goodies.

Wow I love reading these posts...the motivation and determination is awesome...I am feeling the inspiration.

Last night I was so not wanting to exercise...it was like pulling teeth...its been so cold ...like -22 celcius with out the wind chill...so by the time you get home, all you want to do is take a warm bath, eat warm food and hybernate...but I got on that bloody bike and cycled for 20 minutes and burned off 250 calories.

Well I am at work so I will most more later, you girls have a wonderful day today

Cyan

Fred and the kids are doing ok I guess...he's eating and drinking ...just looks a little melancolly...I will give him an extra little hug tonight

Well I just tallied up my cals and fat grams for the day and again I did alright ...I just have to survive the rest of the day with no more food But my belly is full and I will be alright.

Anyway, I ate 1655 cals and 38 grams of fat ...yes the cals are a little high but the fat grams are awesome...and I will exercise tonight. I have clocked 1733 steps ...not a whole lot but it was so cold out there...its a miracle I made it to work...my coworker whimped out and said it was too cold to leave his house.

Well girls looking forward to reading your posts

Have a great rest of day

Cyan

Hi Everybody!


Cyan - You're keeping those fat grams down, and the calories aren't bad at all, especially when you burn some of them on that bloody bike. Good for you! I'm glad Fred and the kids are doing better.

Lisa - I am so impressed with your will power. If the chocolate chip cookies didn't get me, the Rice Krispy squares sure would have!

Miki - With all you have to do, you resist the couch and do your air walker. I got tired just reading everything you did yesterday! You're my hero!

Debee - Ask and you shall receive - or NOT as in the case of your deli sandwich! I loved your story, and how interesting that the pretzel man happened to be there to offer you the pretzel. Hmmm. Makes one pause to think, doesn't it?

Lobocal - Good for you for pushing through the burn! I am very impressed. I know how hard that is to do, 'cause I can almost never make my self do it.

Today was a good day. 1185 cal with 16.5 grams fat. Debee, I use low or no fat foods whenever I can, and cooking sprays when I fry things. I eat out several times a week and look for the healthiest thing on the menu, then ask for no mayo, or dressing on the side. That kind of thing. Bryan has been on a strict low fat diet for years because of his heart, so I've gotten really used to looking out for the hidden fat in things.
It was really tough for some reason, but I ran my 2 miles this morning. I told Bryan about you all getting pedometers and walking to Taiwan. He suggested I join you by calculating how far I run each week. Pretty smart, don'tcha think? I think there is about 5,280 ft per mile; I'll have to look it up. Anyway, I run 2 miles 3x week, so if you don't object, I'll tag along with you to Taiwan.

Have a great evening!

Lady

Hi everyone,

This week I have not been as motivated...I will confess I have been sneaking more treats than I have in the past two weeks...Friday weigh-in may not be so good. I think I am feeling a little overwhemled and that is why I am emotional eating. Thursday and Friday I will start back on the right track.

Ladyrider, please join us by running, Cjunk will be swimming. Maybe we can post our "mileage" on Wednesdays and once a month let eachother know where we are on a map. Thanks for the tips on getting the fat grams down.

Lisa, I promise if I win the lotto we will all go to Chicago on me! I'm a little afraid to ask God for anymore signs right now...my episode yesterday may have just been a concidence but who knows...My mother always told me"Be careful what you wish for you may get it"

Miki, I can relate to your day...sometimes I am just so tired after doing homework and kid activities.

Cyan, it is cold here in Philly too, I am not walking to the bus stop this week...we would be frostbitten.

Betty, I'm going to try one of those veggie burgers!

Reina nd cjunk where are you?

Good evening ya'll

Had a good day today. Calories were a little low because I was running late and missed breakfast and I was tired again tonite from work so honestly, I wasnt sure I'd get around to exercising, but guess what! My sis called a few min before 8 pm and says.."Hey, you gonna just use your AirWalker tonite or do the video?" Well, I knew she was asking because she wanted us to do the video together. Sooooooo...I said Come on over and I'll do with ya. We did it, and since I was already sweaty anyway, I decided to go ahead and do my 15 min on the AirWalker when she left. I'm so glad now that I did. It feels great AFTER to look back and think.."Yesssssssss, I've done my exercise for the day!" I would have felt so guilty if I had skipped.

You know sometimes you just want to eat something junky? Not healthy? Well, I was like that the last few days and today I found the answer. I found hotdogs that only have 40 calories and NO FAT. I bought whole wheat hotdog buns which had a half gram of fat and only 80 calories. I had two of those tonite with Fat Free Pringles Sour Cream n Onion chips and some strawberry jello w/peaches for dessert. All of it totaled maybe 400 calories and I was stuffed. I love finding treats that make me feel like I'm cheating..lol.

One of my sisters started Weight Watchers a week or so ago and got a recipe there for muffins that she says are delicious. You get any flavor cake mix with the pudding inside ( she used yellow ) and add a regular size can of Pumpkin. Stir it up really well and pour into muffin cups. Just those two ingredients is all you need. Bake as you would normally bake muffins. She has to ck the calories and fat grams but as far as weight watchers pts, it is 2. She couldnt believe how good they were. She said they rise up so big and fluffy and her kids loved them. Seems simple enough. I'm sure you can just calculate the calories according to the kind of cake mix you choose. I'll try it soon and let ya'll know how they turn out.

Sorry I dont have time for individual posts tonite. Thinking of you all tho and hoping everyone is staying focused.

Nite

MIKI

Good Morning Ladies, don't know if you all remember me or not. I truly hope that all of you are doing well. It looks like I have a lot of reading to catch up on. I'm so happy to see some familiar faces still here, also some new names are here.

I truly apologize for the long absence, the meeting with the specialist turned into a very long date. Seems he felt I needed a hospital stay. I'm doing so much better, back home finially. I won't bore everyone with the details, I'll keep it short. Please make sure that all of you get your yearly check ups. And don't ever feel that any symptoms you might have regardless of what they are should be ignored. Sometimes we all get so busy that we have a tendency to say I'll get a check up later on and that it's probably nothing. Most of the time it turns out to be something minor or nothing at all to worry about. But why take that chance.

I'd like to say hello to everyone, I've missed you ladies.
I'm still on bedrest, so I won't be too active on the board for a while. I just wanted to check in and say hello and to let you all know you've been in my thoughts. I sincerely apologize for the long absence, this old body just doesn't mend like it used to.
Since I didn't have the opportunity to say this, hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. All of you were in my thoughts. Hope everyone was successful with any goals you had during that time. Hope everyone is well and happy. I didn't read very much this time, just the last page of this thread. I hope everyone is still posting here. Welcome to the new names I see. A big hello to Cyan, Lady, Miki and Lisa. Is Cjunk and Precious One still posting here? Sorry if I left anyone out that I used to post with. It's been a while. Hopefully over the weekend I will be able to read some more of the past postings that everyone has done so I can see what has been going on with you all.
Take Care everyone, God's Blessings to you all. Have a beautiful day.

You know, I started to post yesterday and they kept saying that the server was too busy try again. Well, I am not a patient one, so I didn't.

Anyway, I made a barley and tomato soup yesterday. It was ok. If I figured it out correctly one serving has 126calories and 6grams of fat. Now, don't ask me what I did to make it cause it was my own "Thang" and I probably couldn't repeat it if I tried I had it last night and tonight. Though last night was not good. I think my calories were too low (the breakfast I have no idea---ok, how many calories for turnip cake? not as in the cakes Americans know of ok!) and by 11:30pm I was STARVING---I mean so hungry I was starting to shake. So what did I grab? the only stinkin' thing I could find--delicious cookies (like twists I guess) with chocolate in the middle and low fat milk. Tasted great though Didn't exercise yesterday and so far today I haven't , but it's only 7:30pm, there is still time.

I think I have been keeping my calories under 1300 (actually, a few days I think have been under 1200, not good for me, I get hungry) and trying to keep fat under 50grams. I forget who mentioned about needing to get fat in their diets. I remember I had an aunt who was always so proud of how low fat her diet was. One winter she was always cold, her finger tips and all would turn blue. Well, come to find out, her body fat was too low (man, I wouldn't mind having the problem though ) . So yes, while that can happen, I do think it's rare. I am having a time working at keeping it under 50grams and usually still not sure as with some of the food here it's hard to figure out.

Determined Annie--nice to meet you. I think I remember seeing your posts while I was a lurker. Take the rest you need. You are in my thoughts.

Miki--you are my hero !!!! you go girl. Wow!!! exercise queen. Are you trying to compete with Cyan? Guess I should get my tushy moving. That would help alot. I don't think I've gone down that much recently. You are encouraging.

Debee- I know what you mean about the cravings. I always want chocolate!!!! There are somethings here that I just love to eat, but don't dare--well only once in a while.

Lady--you do so well on the cooking. Actually, in our area there is no cooking spray though I am going to look for it when we go to the big city (sounds like I live in the boonies doesn't it!!). I have started just putting some oil on a paper towel and lightly coating the wok. My hubby would drown the stuff in oil. But I am cooking now . Going out here, well it's hard to find stuff that are really healthy so I just do the best I can. Such is life.

Cyan--you are so good at calculating calories and fat grams. Well, it's not that cold here, but when you aren't used to the cold, you just don't feel like moving. Good for you for getting on the bike. Bet that warmed you up Now, I guess I should go exercise right? I'll let you all know if I did or not.

Lisa--good job on the snacks at church, wow !!! I would've dug right in Hope school is going well. Hey, I had an idea--you could find a book about nurses and read it with your kids and then they can understand what you are going to do and all. Kids understand alot more than we think they do.

Lobcal--Sometimes I feel like I should wait til 7:30pm to eat then I wouldn't have a problem with the eating after 8pm thing. Though last night was my only cheat

Hope I didn't miss anyone. Cjunk? Reina? hope you are with us and doing ok. Let us know.

Signing off as Joshua and a little friend (we have Japanese classes at our church and the Japanese pastor has a little boy around Joshua's age) are watching Stitch and Josiah needs to be fed. Talk to you later.

Just to let you all know that I did exercise for about 15min. I kinda did my own thing made up from what I remembered from the kick and jab dvd. I was really sweatin' though. May still do some free weights. But at least I did something right?

Deana