Susan: Size 20, congratulations!! Eight whole sizes...that's amazing. Yes, drinking water will really help with the bloating. The more water you drink, the less you will retain. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but it works. Also, avoid salt as much as possible. Sodium contributes to retaining water, which is the last thing you want! I also find that hot tea helps, but I don't know if there's any scientific basis for that. I just like tea.

Hey Ladies
 

I haven't been around in a while. Lots and lots of stuff going on. Work and more work, Dad in hospital (he's ok, pneumonia 5 weeks post open heart surgery), Grandma visiting from Florida, kids and snow days, etc. All of you know busy, I'm sure. Anyway, my weekend was an eating bust (Grandma cooking) but I am back on track now. I haven't been able to catch up on all the posts I've missed but it seems as though everyone ins still upbeat and doing great. Welcome to a few new friends I see, and congrats on the weight losses and personal goal achievements I see. I'll get more personal with everyone next time.
Suzy

Spores- Saw your post right after I posted mine. Managing life and weight loss is the toughest thing in the world. It takes a lot of time and energy to eat healthy and have a healthy lifestyle. I have incorporated things slowly into my since new year. One thing is- no pressure at all on myself. Another is making my daily tasks count for moving more. No official exercise needed when there is plenty of housework, snow shoveling, etc. to do. I make sure to step in place folding laundry, bend and stretch more dramatically and frequently when picking up. Adopting some of Jodi's prepare ahead foods has helped me a lot. Now when I cook I make double and freeze leftovers for quick meal later on. Make your lifestyle work for your health goals. It is working for me anyway.
Susan- Water, water, water. oh yeah and then some more water.
Holly- I'm sorry you are having a down day. Stress for me is a deal breaker with my goals and DS behaviors are definitely stressful. It is wonderful that you are putting the two together. That's a great step in being able to make a change. Hey I think we might be related because your mom and MIL sound like the same person. My boys avoid her like the plague. HAHA. Hope your day cheers up.
Susie- Great job with the workouts. It will counter the 2nds. Go easy on yourself. You'll get it back.
Jodi- Hope you feel better soon.
Debbie- Good to see you back.
Suzy

Good morning, All.

Last night was a bit of a struggle. I munched too much. I'm trying to work on not munching so much at work, but part of me thinks it's a good thing to much on a snack slowly throughout the day and it will keep me satisfied so I don't overeat. For example, I usually give myself a snack in between breakfast and lunch and another in between lunch and dinner. If I make it something like a bag of pretzels, I can munch on those pretzels all morning.

The problem is when I get home, then I tend to munch all night. I will try to be better tonight. DH has his first night of class for this semester - three nights a week...well, it's only going to be for 16 weeks then he finally gets his master's degree. I can't wait. Anyway, so there will be several nights of making dinner just for me and that's something simple - a sandwich and chips, a Lean Cuisine, a salad, veggieburger, etc.

It was so hard to wake up this morning. I hit snooze and didn't get up until 4.50a but managed to get out of the house by 5am. I always want to get to the gym as early as possible so I have more time in between showering at the gym and then going to work. I typically have about an hour which is nice enough for me to take my time getting dressed and having breakfast as long as I've planned an outfit for work.

I'm going to be fighting being tired all day. I need to have something for lunch with a good amount of protein. I wasn't prepared with breakfast, so my brekkie was this bag of pretzels and I brewed some chai tea. Just a little over an hour to go without munching and I get to have lunch.

It's so weird because I know if I wasn't in this office, kinda bored and rolling my eyes at my work, I wouldn't be thinking about food in the least.

Girlie

Suzy: Yes, incorporating movement is a great idea! Makes doing stuff more fun, too. I once heard someone say, "Obesity is not a disease of overeating, it's a disease of underplanning." Sounds about right to me. Fitting it all in is hard. So I'm focusing on the whole changing-your-lifestyle thing. Not easy, since my lifestyle involves lots of driving, reading, writing. Trying to figure out how to make those sitting activities more active. Kagels, maybe?

Girlie: Good night, girl, 5 am?! I think you deserve kudos for getting out of bed at that ghastly hour! That takes commitment. Congrats to your dh on the master's work. I finished mine last spring, and I know that my poor bf was left to his own devices the entire last semester. Thesis=zombieville. Oh snacking at work. That's the pits. I was a cubicle-dweller for three years, and just gained and gained. Something about sitting there with work to do and no fun distractions and the proximity of a vending machine that just seems to demand ho-hos. And then there's all the magical unexplained food in offices. Cookies by the mailboxes, cake in a conference room. I tried chewing gum, which worked sometimes. Also brushing and flossing after meals so I wouldn't be tempted to snack, but it's kind of weird to floss your teeth while your boss washes her hands at the next sink! I think you'r eon the right track: acknowledge the need to snack, and do it healthfully. Bag of carrots in the fridge, bowl of apples on your desk. At least there's a healthy alternative to the vending machine! For me it comes down to the vacuousness of a life built upon staring at a screen for eight hours every day. It's just not conducive to a dynamic, engaged existance, and the body that goes with it. Office work favors sitting and staring; healthy bodies like moving and shaking. A nutritionist suggested to me once that I set a timer for every two hours, and when it goes off, take a 5-minute activity break: walk around the building or do some squats or something. I don't know how much my boss liked that idea, but it did break the monotony!

Suzy -
I totally think you are on the right track. No pressure - that's a GREAT one. We as human beings put so much pressure on ourselves...so much so that we sit and do nothing because we feel we have so much to do...we just give up. You are great for incorporating moving into our regular activities.

There isn't a day that I don't think about this, but in my WATP 3-mile video, Leslie Sansone (who gets kinda corny sometimes, but I guess sometimes you have to say some silly things to keep the exercisers entertained!) says this: We were not designed to be sedentary creatures. I truly believe this. our bodies are like miraculous machines. A car needs oil; we need water. If a car just sits around and isn't used, the battery will die and the outside will rust. If we just sit around, we gain weight and lose muscle. We must keep ourselves running at moderate speeds, don't get too heavy on the pedal and slow ourselves down when we need to. Replace our tires, polish our interiors and keep ourselves looking good. When our cars are nice and clean, we feel better, don't we?

Okay, not sure where all that came from but hey, I guess it worked!

Spores:
Your post made me realize I'm not getting much fruit in. I totally forgot about the carrot sticks I bought this weekend. I'll be sure to pack some tomorrow, and apples too. Regarding the 5am thing...it gets easier, but I'm still in my old night owl ways. So I often don't get to bed until 11pm or midnight. You wrote that obesity is a disease of the underplanning and that's very true. I mean, to be able to get up and do this every day, I have to pack my bags at night for the gym, and lay out my work clothes and I often have a lunch bag packed at night as well. I know that the moment I fail to plan...the morning I wake up and don't know where my gym clothes are...I'm on my way to fail that day.

Somehow over the summer, I acquired a taste for Oreos. My husband loves them and I managed to never get hooked on cookies. I just never buy them. But my husband would and I could never resist. Bad, bad Oreos. You know what's funny? I have realized that many of the "bad" foods I love right now, like Oreos and chocolate and sugary drinks are the things we never really had when I was a kid. My mother was good and home made our meals every night. She always had a nice balanced menu plus dessert. Not necessarily low fat, but moderate portions. I was always slim back then. We didn't often have Koolaid or cookies. After my parents got divorced, my father had custody of my brother and me, and we spent the next couple years eating ramen noodles, burittos and other frozen entrees. I missed the food that my mom made us, home made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, gizzards and livers, Japanese foods, etc. And that's the stuff that I ate when I got older and had my own money and was able to buy food.

Okay sorry that was another tangent.

But I started talking about Oreos because I'm having a package of these 100-calorie Oreo packs. I tend to want something chocolatey in the afternoons so I packed these. No trans fat and all the flavor of Oreos.

I need to make a fruit salad for dinner. Look at this horrible menu of what i've eaten today:

Breakfast:
pretzels
tea

Snack:
no sugar added rice pudding cup

Lunch:
roasted chicken
a piece of bread

Snack:
Oreo 100 cal pack

Where are the fruits and veggies?! I promise to eat 2-3 servings of veggies at dinner.

Baby steps...

Girlie

Hi Everyone,
Surprised to see me twice in one day? I am surprised to be here! My accouting class was cancelled tonight because our teacher is ill. I'm so excited about having a "free" night. I'm going to go and workout, because I didn't make it a lunch today. I had a lot of errand to run at lunch time.

Holly: I'm not surprised about the "connection" you made. I've found out along this journey that most of my reasons for overeating are linked to things. Thanks for sharing with us. I was ROLF about the music comments you were making...I could say them myself.

Girlie: You are doing great with the exercise...how did you go with balancing the food out? I loved the "car" thing. I might share it at my TOPS meeting this week..is that ok?

Spores:I'm enjoying your posts!

Jodi: I hope you are feeling better lady. Take it easy and get well soon.

Suzy: Hope your dad is doing ok. I'm now hungry after thinking about "Grandma's cooking! lol

Susan: Size 20! I'm so happy for you!

Debbie: It's good to see you again. Stay on plan!

If I forgot anyone..sorry about that..you really are in my thoughts.

Have a nice evening ladies.

Susie

Girlie: The car metaphor is great! We really aren't designed to be sedentary, but we've evolved ourselves out of health! Skyscrapers and highways and elevators and deep fryers are wonderful technological innovations, but they take our bodies out of their natural functions. So I guess the key is to find tha balance: how to take advantage of the society we've built without letting it turn us into blobs. Maybe in 10,000 years we'll evolve into floating brains with fingers, but for now, we're still monkeys. Very clever monkeys.

Mychoice: Ooh, a free evening! A cancelled class is always a treat. Once I was on my way to class just *praying* that it would be cancelled, as I was exhausted and had a ton to do, and when I showed up, I found out that class was indeed cancelled because the teacher's husband had died! I felt so awful! And of course, I used the extra time not to do homework, but to go play.

Dinnertime approaches. I'm making chili. I have no idea if the chili I make is really healthy, but it's the only thing I cook well, so I'm going to pretend it's good for me too. Keep well, all!

Susan~ Congrats an the hard work and the big loss. You are an inspiration!!!!!!

Jodi~ ((((HUGS))))) honey!

Susie~ I have been 90% with the food but a litle something sneaks in every day. The exercise is hit and miss. I did yoga today and shovelled snow for an hour.I still feel dorky about that concert. Sis and I were joking about trying to get back stage. Lol!! Like it was Aerosmith or something, giggle. She figured the sweet 19 year old would be horrified . ROFL!! Can you imagine a very busty, overweight house wife, the same age as his Mother trying to get an autograph...........

Debbie~ (((HUGS))) happy to see you. I love your 60's memory!! I grow enough to eat off of for the season but buy for canning and freezing. I LOVE doing it.Very therapeutic. And let me tell you the peaches and blueberries are very exciting this time of year.

DH did go to work. I had a steamy shower and did yoga and felt good. I got a bunch of housework done and felt better. I have still been fighting a headache all day Arg!
Tomorrow is another day! See ya!

hello everyone,
hope you are all doing good. i am still in between flu like/just crappy feeling. not sick enough to lay down guilt free, but sick enough to want to whine about it. i didn't get up to exercise this morning again. just needed the extra sleep. i did weigh in yesterday, thanks to the flu i finally shed my last holiday pound! january goal of 5 lbs met. that was the hardest 5 lbs i ever had to loose!! someone slap me next time i get a bright idea like giving myself a little "break" over the holidays. i feel like i am really getting back on a good path. it is so hard some days (i know you all can relate). i am still reading my new book, one of the suggestions was to eat just 3 meals a day. this is contrary to everything else i have read lately. all the latest news is to eat 5-6 smaller meals a day so you keep your insulin levels etc. at a normal level. don't get me wrong i like eating the small meal version, except my last snack in the evening was getting bigger and bigger every day. so i'm going to give it a shot. see where it takes me. just like all of the other trial and error pieces of this long running journey.

girlie- good for you taking baby steps, i have a hard time getting in my veggies and fruits too. when i do i feel better all around. great job with the exercise! you just totally rock! need i say anymore? i like the little oreo packs too, the chocolate chip ones are pretty good too. hope your fruit salad was good!

spores- i love reading your posts, you have really raised so many good questions in my mind. thank you for making me think a little. i can totally relate to the weight loss priorities vs. everyday demands issue. i have a very busy life 3 kids (2 of them very active teenagers) full time job (way too stressful) husband, house, my list goes on and on, like yours does i am sure. for me i just looked in the mirror one day (well at a family portrait actually) and i just said to myself who is that? it looked nothing like the person i remembered, from that day in nov '03 i just knew i had to do something. i started making myself the priority. it has been long and slow but i'm going to get there. sometimes i fight with myself over it. i struggle with it, i get a mili-second away from scrapping the whole thing, but ultimately i give in and keep the thought i want to be a healthier me. if you are looking for advice my best is just make one small change at a time, work on it, and then move on to the next thing. find out what fits best in your life and go with it. if tracking every morsel keeps you honest then do that. the bottom line, i have found is that you have to do what is right for your body/ lifestyle. things you can live with. i spent a lot of nonsense time trying to follow other peoples plans and then damning myself for not being able to do it. very counter-productive. hope this helps, you'll get it all worked out. it is all trial and error. for the weight tracker at the bottom of your post just click on any of ours and it will take you to the 3fc thingie where you can make your own. when you are done you will copy the url in the middle box (i think) and then paste it in your signature box. to create a signature go up to the top of this page, click on quick links and go to edit my signature. i hope that made sense i still have a bit of a fever ;-)

holly- i can totally relate on the mother issues. it sounds like you just described mine! hang in there girl! finding the stress that = eating thing is very positive, hope you work out a good solution. have fun at the concert!

mychoice- great job getting to the gym! hope you enjoy your night off.

suzy- glad the meal planning is helping some. hope your dad gets better soon. sending good vibes to you. it's nice you got to visit with grandma. you are so right just adding extra movement in is wonderful.

susieme fantastic! keep up the great work!

debbie- hello! i have good memories of my grandparents and their garden when i was a little girl. i try every year to plant a little something tomatoes etc. it is so nice to have fresh.
well if i missed anyone lets just blame the flu, thinking of you all! have a great night.

Good morning everyone, I just finished up a load of laundry and going to go start getting ready for work. It was good to get back to work yesterday. It was cold but I love being outdoors.
I was reading all the post about snacking. You know how we beat obesity
one step at a time. That was my first step. I very seldom snack. I have real
issues with portion control at mealtime and making good food choices. I eat way too much fast foods, burgers and fries ect. Working on it!

Spores: I love your posts. I am one of those people who can't take a thought from my brain and get it to paper or keyboard without it being all scramble up. I am a rambler in more ways than one.

Everyone have a blessed day. stay op

BIG HUGS TO ALL

Good morning everyone. Guess what this is the second day this week that DH has come with me to the gym! Actually, he went last night to swim and he got up with me this morning. Amazing. He did half an hour on the elliptical with me, and while I finished my 65 minutes he got on the stairstepper. I'm so proud of him! I hope he can keep it up. It would seem so much easier if this was a "group" effort instead of me doing one thing and him doing something else. The problem is, the moment we step in the doors around 7am, he heads to the kitchen and takes a bite of brownie he bought. I told him I'd buy him a smoothie and he said "how about biscuits and gravy?" Men, I tell ya. He has lost over 100 pounds in the past, so I know he can do it again.

Last night I went with chicken again and a ton of green beans. I had a banana smoothie for breakkie and I have carrots to munch on for snack.

Susie,
Yes, you can share the car analogy. I hope it helps someone. GL at your weigh in! I have looked into TOPS but there isn't one around here at a decent time. They are all during the day while I'm at work.

Sores:
Chilli can be a very good, low fat, high fiber meal. Just use lean beef or veggie crumbles and add lots of kidney beans for fiber! Mmmmm...chilli. I like it with a spoon of ff sour cream, a sprinkling of shredded cheddar and sliced green onions! I like shredded carrots in there too.

Holly:
There's nothing like a nice, long, hot steamy shower. Showers and baths are two of my favorite things. Some day I want DH to take me to a nice bed and breakfast that has a huge clawfoot tub. Better yet, i'd like to own one...I'd take baths every day. Our tub is older and a little larger than the standard tubs, but it's still too shallow to immerse yourself (even if I was 50 pounds lighter LOL).

Jodi:
You are so right - you can't follow what other people are doing, you have to find the right combination of things that work for you!

Debbie:
Wow, no snacking! That is awesome that you can do that. I have to eat every couple of hours so I feel satisfied all the time. I mean, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't...but especially while I'm at work, I always feel like I have to munch.

I'm sleepy again today. I fell asleep right after the Biggest Loser...so I was asleep by 8.15p! But DH got home from class around 10pm and the door woke me up last night. I did go right back to sleep, but I think when I have "disturbances" in my sleep, I don't truly rest as well. I was so tired, I only read one page of my novel that I'm starting to read and konked out.

Girlie

SUZI~ ((((HUGS))))) I was thinking about you yesterday and missed posting to you. Glad your Dad is doing better. Such a worry isn't it? Tell Grandma to go low fat, LOL!!! Why does everything a Grandma cooks taste so darn good. I use my G's recipes for a lot of things but hers is always better, mmmmmmmmm.

Spores~ your style and thought process reminds me so much of my BF( not boyfriend, bestfriend) from grade and high school. We lost touch in our 20's but she is now an English Prof and published writer.
I do so much thinking and planning for DH and the kids that I fall to the wayside. I am doing better at it but it has taken a few years to prioritize ME. I felt soooo guilty buying things that I like that are healthy because it wasn't for the whole family.We are on a VERY tight budget.No one asked me to make these sacrifices. I did it on my own. No one cared when I stopped either.

Jodi~ I do fine on 3 meals a day. I do worse if I snack because I cant stop grazing. This is how my day goes:
7am- 12 oz water,coffee,banana, coffee,12 oz water
10am-breaky ( 1 scrambled egg,1 slice ham,alfalfa sprouts, hot sauce on a whole grain wrap)
1ish-lunch ( grilled chicken & salad greens on a wrap, fruit, fresh veggies, sometimes a cookie
2-4- tea
5:30pm- supper 3oz meat, cooked veg, salad,sometimes a starch(1/2 c)

I drink another 5-8 12oz water throughout the day
If I dont munch in the aft or before bed I ROCK and lose weight.

Debbie~ nice that you are liking being at work.It sounds like I job i would love!

Have a great day Girlie, Susie,Susan!

I woke up feeling MUCH better today. Headache is gone.My sinuses are aching from the cold snap. It is soooo dry. Saline and vicks are my friend.

No busses today. DH drove the kids to school. Work was cancelled for him. He is putting up the last row of tile then going to pay bills etc. The baby is sleeping. The 3 year old is playing house. They go home at noon. I am trying to decide how to spend the aft. I have been doing laundry today.I got bunch of housework done yesterday!
Life is pleasantly dull.

Jodi: Thanks for the words. I have been giving this a lot of thought over the past three days, because I've felt like there was literally not enough time to do everything. I had an extra class added to my teaching load at the last minute on Friday (it starts today), and I've had syllabi/lesson plans/grading driving me crazy, and then of course there are all the other Very Important things (goodness, I can't believe you have three kids, that's a wonder!), and it really feels like I HAVE to do certain things, and other things are optional if I have time. And exercise is the latter. But you know, that's not taking responsibility for my choices. I choose to grade essays rather than work out. I choose what kind of life I live. I think we all get caught up in what we think we're supposed to do, what we think we need. This relates back to that emotional "needing" of food. We ultimately make decisions about what we do, what matters, and if we fail to decide and let our choices be dictated by others/culture/whatever, well, that is a decision too. So I'm going to work on awareness of how my every action is a choice. PS: Hope you feel better! I am fighting off a cold myself, and I am such a baby about being sick. Oh, and thanks for the directions on making a chart. Fun!

Debbie: Love your posts too! We're all going through very similar things in very different ways. Writing it out for me is just one way of working through it. I think we use different brain muscles when we write! Working outdoors sounds wonderful. It is almost 60 degrees here and I am sick of being stuck inside!

Girlie: Chili is one of my faves! I think I make it pretty low-fat, high-fiber, but then I go and ruin it with a ton of crackers. I have been trying to find a substitute, but so far nothing is as good. At least they're whole-wheat crackers! That's great that your dh is working out with you. It really does make it easier when the person you live with shares what you're doing. My bf wasn't really into it (he's one of those guys who eats grotesquely and stays skinny, but now that he's getting older he's getting little love handles), but then we got Dance Dance Revolution, and he loves working out. Turn exercise (or anything!) into a video game and he'll do it. I just wish they'd turn other stuff -- like doing taxes and budgeting and cleaning and meal planning -- into video games. I'd get so much done!

Holly: Sounds like all us english professors are thinking along the same lines...guess that's what happens when you live in a book half the time. :) Yes, priortizing oneself is a struggle, I think especially for women. All our cultural cues tell us to priortize others (husbands, children, other family members, even strangers!), and it's hard to re-train yourself to put yourself first. We learn that to be good is to be courteous and generous and compassionate, but we never learn to apply those values to ourselves as well. I'm trying to be as kind to myself as I would be to someone else -- surprising how hard that can be!

Sorry if I missed anybody. Happy day to all.

Just passin' through....
 

Hi, there--

I've been reading your posts because I have a long way to go, and seeing 199 on the scale would be a huge milepost for me. When I've gotten close to that in the past, I've hit a plateau, stayed there forever, and let the weight begin to creep back on. I'm working on figuring out which elements of that have been psychological, and what's because of my diabolical fat cells.

Anyway, I'm happy to find this thread! If anyone is interested in a buddy to send evening (9-10:30 PM Eastern) snack attack email alerts, let me know. Nighttime nibbling has biggest barrier so far to my keeping on message with my eating plan. It would help to have someone say, "Step away from the refrigerator, slowly, with your hands up...." :nono:

Hang in there, ladies!

judy