Marina-

I live about 2.5 hours West of Vancouver, WA, on the coast. My house is only about 10 minutes walking distance from the Pacific Ocean and a very long sandy beach!

Thanks for your input. I was planning on buying the cardio crusier along with doing some tapes and hopefully yoga. I did buy yoga dvd's along time ago but never did it. I think I will give it a try. I never heard that too much exercise is bad..huh? I even bought kids yoga to do with my son but we never did it.. ugg.. i even have small weights that I would like to do. Before I got sick I started doing Denise Austin (total Body) and it was working.. i was down 2lbs in a week) but that went out the window. YOu ladies are getting me motivated. thanks.

I want to know what kind of diet are you ladies following?

7" inches is great! Keep up the great work.

Karyn, I think having more options to chose from for excercising is a great idea. Change it up! I plan to, but haven't figured out what I will add next, besides walking with the kids, which is a bit slow, but refreshing all the same. I have a stand that I can put my bicycle on to make a stationary bike, but I don't really like the way it works--not very smooth-- and it feels tippy. My husband is supposed to look at it and see if he can fix it up some. It's his...and it's old.

Now, eating:

I am not on a "DIET", but my diet consists of 100% whole grains (for the most part--I eat regular pasta, because I like it better), lots of fruits and veggies, beans, seeds, some cheese, nuts and chicken-- all sorts of whole, good foods, actually. Not a whole lot of red meat or milkfat, though I still use about 1/2 pat of butter on my toast. I almost always use olive oil when I cook, sometimes sesame oil for stir-frys. I like yogurt and cottage cheese. I don't mind lowfat yogurt, but I usually just eat regular cottage cheese. In fact the way I approach most foods is not to avoid the things I like, but to just watch my portion sizes and avoid eating seconds. I don't make anything completely off limits; I just try to eat a reasonable amount, based on the recommended serving size and my calorie and nutrition goals. Luckily I only crave chocolate when I'm menstrual! If I'm still hungry a half hour after a meal, then I eat somthing, maybe even some more of what I was eating. But I try to give myself a chance to feel full. It didn't take long before I really did feel full after a meal of single portions and this makes me really happy. Now I feel completely satisfied eating around 1200-1500 calories a day. It's weird, because I was eating several servings at each meal before--really, just overating to the max--and now I just don't do that. It was a mental shift. I was definitely emotionally eating, but now I'm taking charge of my life and taking care of my needs in other ways.

I drink tea with milk and sugar when I'm feeling like something sweet, but I make myself drink a big glass of water too, if I do, to avoid getting dehydrated. I drink primarily water anyway, though. Always have.

Oh, and to keep up with that fruit and veggie goal that I've set (5-9 servings a day), I always have something fresh with every meal, even if it's just a stack of baby carrots. But I really like veggies, so it's easy for me to incorporate them into my meals. When I'm wanting just a bean burrito, I throw a handful of sprounts and salsa on it after I heat it up. Yummy!

By the way, I know my calories, only because I've been logging my food at www.fitday.com, and that's the range I've been hitting by watching my portion sizes. I highly reccomend this site. It's surpisingly motivating to log what you eat and watch the calories and nutrition! Here's my fitday http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...?Owner=Serafyn.

Well, that's me. What's everyone else doing?

Hi everyone, I went to the gym again today. That makes 3 days in a row for me. I'm gonna shoot for 5-6 with sundays off. I had to take my daughter shopping at the mall and grocery shop so i've been on my feet all day and now they need a massage.
Tomorrow is my daughters birthday and she has chosen to go to this all you can eat pizza place with a pasta, salad, and dessert bar. This will be a test for me. I've already planned my meal. A bunch of salad, 1 piece of cheese pizza, and a small helping of nonfat frozen yogurt. No pasta!
I'm gonna check out the fitday.com site when i'm done here and i'm also going to make that been burritto you mentioned. It sounded so good that I had tortillas on the top of my list. I did forget the sprouts but i'll try that next time.
Have a good evening/night and i'll check back in tomorrow.
Marina

Thats great. your thinking and planning ahead. there is no reason why you can't tastte the bad things as long as its a small taste. My old leader used to say taste everything eat nothing.. if you knlw what i mean.. good luck.. by the way i order the cardio cruiser.. i will let you guys know how it is..congrats on the gym workout.. your doing great!

Sorry I left this part out of my post!
I do the treadmill for 15 min. to warm up then hit the machines. I use the ab machine for 2 sets then I do either the lower or the upper body. I then do another 2 sets on the ab machine. I have problems in my back too so I usually only work my abs on the machine or on a stability ball. I then do 30-45 min cardio. I alternate between the treadmill, the recumbent bike or the upright bike. No rhyme or reason to which one I pick at any given time. Just whatever I am in the mood for. They have elliptical machines but for some reason I can't do them. Then I do another 2 sets on the ab machine.
My worst problem is my stomach so I am really starting to focus on that.
I also try to keep my abs engaged most of the day just to strengthen them as much as possible.
On days I don't use the machines I just do more cardio. I may start taking a step class just to jump start my cardio to get more weight off.
I am also going to take my first belly dancing class next Tues. I'm starting to get bored and need to mix it up a bit.

My niece does belly dancing and she loves it. She lost alot of weight by belly dancing and cutting back on portion and breads. I don't know how much she lost but she looks great. I beleive belly dancing really works the abs. I should start doing it... How long did it take yuou to loose those 38lbs... how long have you ladies been working on your weight..

Aweightogo where are you from in NJ. I am by sandyhook.

I started loosing the end of sept. I still think I should be loosing quicker. Patience isn't my strong suit!
I went to the gym this am in the pouring rain. I worked out for 2 hrs. I'm sore! But it's a good sore!

last exit on the parkway north

your up north?? I am south jersey by the shore. I thought you were close to me...

What does the exclamation point mean at the bottom of the posts. I don't have one but you do?

Are there any junk food junkies out there? I am totally one. How do you stop yourself from putting it in your mouth. How do you get to that point where you do wnat it or can push it away. or even at restaurants when you can say I would rather have the salad instead of the ribs.. when i go out to eat i get what i don't at home like fries and stuff.. how do you get to the point where thats not important? Can anyone give suggestions?

Gee I drop off for a day and when I come back there are a new people!! Welcome!! Glad you are here!! I love the quote at the bottom of your posts aweighstogo!! I'm still hanging in there with my SB diet although I had to have some fast food yesterday so opted for the Chicken Festiva Salad at Taco John's unfortunately when I opened it they had given me the Chicken Fajita dinner. So I tried to leave the rice and flour tortillas alone but ended up taking a bite of each those people don't know what they did by giving me the wrong order. Anyway not exactly a huge cheat and I'm sure it didn't set me back too much. I'm still walking everyday on my lunch hour from work and I usually get in about 2 and a half miles. I need to go today but haven't yet, although it is a beautiful day here, sunny and warm. I need to get motivated enough to start doing something in the morning before work like yoga or something. It sounds like everyone is doing a great job! Keep it up!!

I am just feeling so good again today. Can't figure out why I didn't do this sooner. I really like the kinds of food I'm eating and I'm finding that it isn't as hard as I thought to prepare healthy food everyday--I was just out of the habit. (I'm a SAHM like many of you, so I have time to actually prepare food, if I can mostly ignore the constant bickering and requests from the kids in order to do it!)

My lunch was SO good today. Yummy, healthy and beautiful looking. I baked salmon and drizzled it with a little olive oil with garlic, basil, lemon and salt. I steamed red potatoes and asparagus and put a tiny amount of butter and some salt on those. We also had a spinach and lettuce salad with tomatoes, grated carrots and sprouts, and a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing. The kids loved it all too. I only ate 3 oz of the salmon and truly kept the butter and dressing to a minimun, so my calories stayed pretty low--about 363 calories according to fitday.com--yet I feel so totally satisfied! I love it!

Aweighstogo--I think belly dancing sounds fun, too. I actually bought a dvd several months ago, but I still haven't really used it. When I tried to the first time, it was hard, and I had no control over my ab muscles. It was dissapointing. Maybe I will try again, now that I've been doing yoga for awhile. I wish I could take a class like you. Sounds so fun! Can't afford it, though. Also, I wanted to say, I think your weight loss, both amount and time it took, is very inspiring and healthy. You keep it up...it's something you can continue, instead of something you can only do for the short term. Good for you! (I understand the patience thing, though...I have to keep telling myself to look at my present successes and not try to think too much about how far I am from my ultimate goal.) Also, I'm impressed that you went out in the rain to work out at the gym. It's sometimes hard to motivate yourself when it's rainy out. And then 2 hours worth! Great job!

Karyn--In answer to your question, I've been working on losing for 18 days. Also, regarding junk food, I do crave it sometimes, but usually only when I'm menstrual, and then what I want is chocolate. I crave sugar more than I used to when I was younger. My midwives when I was pregnant told me that sugar cravings often mean you need to get more protein, so if I have a really strong craving for something sweet, I will often eat some almonds and apples, or some trail mix with nuts and raisins and that really helps alot. There is fat in the nuts, yes, but it is good for you fat and I watch my portion sizes. Another trick for me is to have some tea or coffee with a little sugar and milk or half-n-half. It satisfies my sugar lust without putting me too far over in calories! Maybe something like that would work for you, too. What kind of junky food do you crave anyway? Is it sweet stuff like me? Or chips and such?