Hello everyone - I am Kim, I have 5 kids. The oldest is the only singleton. I have twin boys AND twin girls. (see sig)

Love seeing other twin mommies :-)

welcome Kim!! Glad to have you!! My grandmother had two sets of twins, all boys -- I don't know how ya'll do it! WOW!

Hope you like it here! It'll be fun to get to know you!

Shyla - it wasn't that hard, for me, because my twins are 10yrs apart. So I had 3 extra people helping me ;-)

Thanks for the welcome

Welcome Kim!

Shawn, if anything, exercise always gives me MORE energy. One thing I noticed early on was that I was trying to lose weight on the same old foods, just less of them. The problem was that my usual foods weren't exactly healthy choices (LOTS of high fat crap!). Finally I figured out (well, I think I knew it all along but just wasn't ready admit it) was that it wasn't the extra activities wearing me out - it was that I wasn't fueling my body properly.

I believe the saying, "all things in moderation" so I haven't given ANYTHING up COMPLETELY. But I do eat a lot more fruits, vegetables, leaner meats, and healthier carbs. I most certainly FEEL the difference in terms of energy. This was a difficult step for me because (1) I was losing weight without the change and (2) I wasn't very experienced with these foods and had to go through a trial and error period find recipes, etc. that I liked and could sneak past picky eaters. It was absolutley worth it though. Don't get me wrong. I still have sluggish days, even weeks sometimes. But I feel great almost all of the time now.

Just another reason that I owe a lot of my success to fitday. I don't know that I would have ever put two and two together if I didn't have a history of foods eaten to review. Anyway, it may be worth taking another comprehensive look at some of your reports as well.

Tricia

Hi ladies!

Welcome Kim! I would LOVE to have another set of twins. I have identical girls, age 3. I also have a 6 year old and a 1 year old. I know that identical twins are not usually genetic...so we'll see. My mother-in-law had both identical and fraternal twins. I know that twins doesn't usually come from the dad, though. I have twins in my family too. I have two sets of twin cousins (one identical and one fraternal). My grandmother is also a fraternal twin (she had a twin brother). Anyway, welcome!

Tricia--we are going to miss you! Have a good time and hurry back.

Shawn--I have been feeling sluggish lately, too. Today I could only do 45 minutes on the treadmill instead of my usual 75-90. I haven't been getting very good sleep lately, though, so I think that may be my problem.

Well, Gracie (my baby) is screaming AGAIN. Sigh. I'd better go. It's so hard to be the baby *grin*.

Lori

Lori, HI, and you're right, it runs on the female side of the family. But I learned something interesting. If a male is a fraternal twin, he CAN pass on the gene to any female offspring he has. So any of your girls will have a 50/50 chance of having them.

Twins run on BOTH sides of my family. None are idents. My paternal cousin had twin girls(frats)9 months before my boys were born. My maternal cousin, and his wife, had b/g twins. And there are several 2nd and 3rd cousins that are twins also.

I guess I was destined to have them. Thankfully they were 10yrs apart AND there were only two of them! LOL

Hi everybody! I have been having an okay week so far, if that is what you want to call it. I have lost some, and I am so excited about it! Today I did order some pizza but there was nothing in the house to eat, and I was trying to get some rest before I had to go back to work tonight.

I haven't been to the Y yet, because my mom has been driving my van until her car gets out the shop, and I don't feel like trying to tote the babies around yet, I took them out yesterday and pulled them around in the wagon, and me and my friend said today that we were going to go walking but kind of got sidetracked. Anyway, I think I will take the kids to the park tomorrow or Saturday. Hopefully, my mom will have her car by then.

Alice-Sounds like you're doing great. I actually lost my first 20 pounds without doing any exercise. After I lost 20 pounds, I plateaued and that's when I really started revving up the exercise.

I am doing well. Yesterday I felt exhausted so I only worked out for 45 minutes, but I'm hoping to do more today. I ended the day at 1280 calories. I have like 31% fat, though, because of the pizza I had. I don't like going over 30%. In fact, I really prefer to stay around 25% or so.

Anyway...I've got to get the kids up and drive my son to school. I'll talk to you later!

Lori

Okay...I feel so guilty!

I took my son to school and then the girls and I stopped at the store to get a few items. I hadn't had breakfast so I lost control. I bought and ate TWO large sweet rolls. Together they came out to 540 calories and 20 grams of fat (I usually have about that many calories by dinner time)! I just did five miles/90 minutes on the treadmill and burned 430 calories in an effort to control my weight today! I am planning on doing another *slow* hour on the treadmill later in the day. Hopefully I can burn 550 calories or so total instead of the usual 300 and counterbalance the extra food I ate. We are having friends over tonight and I'm sure I'll eat a ton then too. Eek!

WOMEN!!! Where are you?!?! I need some moral support and ideas of how to get through the day without totally losing control over myself!

Lori

STRESS.......that is what is killing me today!! I made chocolate chip cookies for the girls and dh and I have eaten way too many!! I had a huge go around with the people that did the yard. He charged us more than he said, so he is trying to get around it now. I told him I thought he was shady and had horrible business practices. So, when I am stressed..... I eat!!

Tomorrows another day right?!?!

Tomorrow is another day, and you actually don't have to wait until then! Start now! Go and drink a big jug of water! I know sometimes it is so hard for me to drink water, especially like right now, I am at work, and there are storms and they have ordered pizza for everybody, and I got my two bottles of water sitting here looking so unattractive right now. I did okay today, though, I think, I had some canned spaghetti, which was actually the best I could do given there was no food in the house, that was friendly to me. I was going to fix some spaghetti and meatballs, but then I got busy doing something else. I guess I can do it. I even took out three cans of tuna to fix, man we love tuna around my house! But i just haven't actually made it yet.


Kellie! It's okay! It really is! Lori! It will be okay! We will be back on track!

I am here, but unfortunately have no encouragement....... *sigh* I am not MENTALLY into this right now..... for me, the name of the game is "how much can I eat, and not gain?".......... is that pathetic or what??

I have been putting off buying / eating salads.... for example, tonight I made a new casserole, which had mashed potatoes and sausage in it..... it was SO YUMMY that I had a second helping, which put me over my daily goals..... plus, I've started drinking a glass of wine per night, which adds another 160 cals or so....

I really don't like salads... but I know that if we'd had veggies with our dinner tonight, I probably could have avoided that second helping.... but with the casserole being the ONLY course we had, it didn't feel like much. Plus, I'm not eating much during the day, and saving my cals for the night, but then for dinner I always eat more cals than I realize!

I think I'm being really codependent right now.... ie - I want to cook what's going to make my husband happy, even if it's not what I need to reach my goals.... he's def. a meat & potatoes man, which is **** on my figure!

someone (was it Tricia?) had mentioned earlier about having to find new recipes -- that's what I need to do! also, what kind of salad dressing do you ladies like that are healthy?

SHAWN (speaking to self): You need to do what's good for YOUR body! Your husband will still love you, even if you make him eat salads! He actually likes grilled chicken salads! Girl, buy you some salad stuff!!! Eat a salad with dinner EVERY night, plus another veggie.

I really don't want to gain back the weight, and I want to keep losing........ so I really need to start doing the work!!!!!!!

OK Ladies, I need some input please!! Since making my usual dinners is not working for me, I need to come up with alternative dinners! I have a very limited list of what our healthy dinners can be.... can you copy/paste and add to this list? We don't like grilled chicken just by itself..... and I don't like shrimp.

1. Grilled chicken salads
2. Healthy Choice sausage links w/veggies on the side (or salad)
3. Chicken stir fry
4. Grilled / baked salmon w/veggies on the side (or salad)
5. Chicken or beef k-bobs

OK, REALLY..... that is all I can come up with! No wonder I don't cook healthy!!! Let's get this list rolling, ladies!

Do you have Aldi's near you Shawn? I get their marinades, I really like the lemon pepper kind, and I throw chicken wings, drummettes, pork chops (the lean ones), and chicken breasts, even the boneless skinless are really good. I like doing the boneless skinless breasts, a bag of that already cooked rice that all you have to do is put in the microwave for 60 seconds, and then a can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom. Throw that in the oven for about twenty minutes, and add a salad.
To make my salads not so bland, I add eggs, sometimes bacon, raisins, almonds (oh my gosh they are so good to me!!!!), strips of ham or turkey, croutons sometimes too. I like ranch dressing with bacon a lot, but I heard that the red wine vinaigerette is really good. I haven't tried it. Do you like Italian dressing? Find something that you like that doesn't have much calories and skimp with it. That way when you taste it you really savor the flavor.

Sigh.
Oh, ladies! I had a TERRIBLE day yesterday! I ended up around 2300-2500 calories!!!!!!! That is the most I have eaten since I started this whole thing. I started off wrong with those sweet rolls. I controlled my self, though, and I didn't eat anything else until dinner. I was only at 540 calories at that point. I also exercised for 2.5 hours yesterday to make up for the big mistake. Well...our friends came over and we had pizza. Still not too bad. If I would have stopped with the pizza and bread I would have ended up around 1200. I then ate a bunch of M&M's they had brought (I don't even know how many...but at least 800 calories worth!!!) and some licorice. I need to do better today. I just lost control last night. Today is a new day and I haven't totally killed my loss...I just might not lose two pounds next week. I'll shift my mental goal to losing just one pound instead. Come on 163!!!

Lori