I'm really having a hard time starting...I feel like I'm so busy sometimes that it's hard to eat right. I am doing Pilates and trying to walk everyday! I have totally stopped drinking soft drinks and not snacking between meals at all! I could do a little work on the healthy meals though! Anyone have any tips for fast healthy meals???

I think I picked a bad week to start...being a birthday week...but all things considered I think I'm doing alright! I need to watch the calories...and fat intake...I'll get there...it's really important to me to lose this weight...

I'm setting my goal for 10 lbs. by Mother's Day!!!! What kind of rewards are you guys setting if any??? I need some motivation!!!

Shawn, 1 day won't kill you! If you are going to lose weight and keep it off you have to make these changes for a lifetime. So, in the big scheme of things, 2600 calories on one day isn't that big a deal. Just hop back on track right away. Even it that one slip up impacts this week's loss (it probably won't!) well, there is still every week from here on out. Live and learn, I say. Plus, you can count yourself a success even if the scale doesn't budge - even with one day off of plan you are still HEALTHIER this week than the week before you started watching what you eat. It is all relative!

Mandy, I know what you mean when you say you are sometimes too busy to eat right. When I first started I took a few minutes before bed to think about my eating plan for the next day. It wasn't anything in depth but more of a mental inventory of what we had in the kitchen, what our plans were, etc. From there I would come up with an outline of what I planned to eat. If the next day rolled around and I what I had planned didn't sound good anymore then I would choose something else that was in the same calorie range (so I didn't have to go through the trouble of adjusting the other meals and snacks too). The good news is that after a couple of weeks of this kind of planning you pretty well know what your usual "rotation" will be. Once you know the general nutritional values of your usual favorites it doesn't take quite so much effort. Just keep at it and pretty soon it won't be any more time consuming than your usual routine.

The best tip I have is to stock up on a couple of non-perishable items that you really like. That way you are never caught without SOMETHING that you can eat. For me, it is a can of black beans and corn. On any given day I know I could make black bean soup, beans and rice, bean and corn burito, etc. Also, I keep whole wheat pitas and some shredded mozzarella cheese in the freezer and a small can of tomato sauce and tomato paste in the cabinets. I can throw a healthy vegetable (or plain cheese) pizza together in no time. I like them all, very few ingredients are need for any of them, and I always have the stuff on hand. Put a little thought into your tastes and come up with something that will work for you. Doing this has kept me on plan many of times!

As for rewarding myself, I don't do it very often. For smaller milestones it might be something as small as taking a little extra time to myself at the gym and spending it in the jaccuzi and sauna. Usually I am in such a rush just to get my exercise done that I don't get to do that often so it is a real treat. Once I got to the point that I had to intesify my workouts I treated myself to new tennis shoes and a couple of new workout clothes. It really made a difference in my motivation because it was a physical reminder of how far I'd come and it is much more fun to go to the gym or out for a walk if you feel comfortable in your clothes. When I first started I was wearing just plain old shorts and t-shirts. Once I started to out grow them I just felt yucky exercising in them. Manicures, massages, clothes, etc. are all things I've rewarded myself with along the way. Once I reach my goal weight I am going to have my teeth bleached. Something I've always wanted to do but couldn't justify the cost of because my teeth aren't really all that bad - but they aren't Whitney Houston white, either. So, it is something I feel like will complete the package once my body is where I want it to be.

Kellie, I agree that it is much easier now that the kids sleep a lot longer. I am looking forward to summer once they start sleeping even later - 8:00 am or so. Then I know I won't have a problem getting up early to exercise. I already get up at 6 but I have to get everybody elses morning going before I can even think about my own. If I could make it to the gym by 5 I would have about an hour and half to workout before I had to be back here getting everyone else in gear. That means getting up at 4:30. YUCK! But, I've done it before and loved it - I just have to get myself motivated for it again.

Also, you are doing great keeping your calories in check! Reading your posts is helping me stay motivated!

Hope I didn't miss anybody but I have to run. Have a great day!

Tricia

Hi All! I thoht I would check in quick. Today has gone well so far. I feel like I have eaten a lot, but I am at only 1100 calories! It was not as nice today as it was suppose to be. We did not get too much done outside. They were not able to get much done with the yard either. Oh well, hopefully our nice weather will continue. I did get out and walk twice yesterday, but have not had a chance today. Too much to do in the house.

I never said, but I am in for the Mother's Day mini challenge. Put me down for 6 lbs. too. My SIL college graduation is the weekend after and I would like to have lost at least 10 lbs total by then!

Shawn ~ I hope you are feeling better. I don't think 1 day is going to throw you off. It can be hard to eat right/cook when you are feeling crummy.

Tricia ~ That is great advice about the food. I know I always have whole wheat tortillas on hand. I can make many things out of them! I do have to say I don't think that I could get up at 4:30 to go and work out. That is great if you decide to do that!

Mandy ~ Sounds like you are off to a great start! Keep up the good work. What sort of meals do you like to cook? I have a few just let me know of foods you like or dislike.

Well, I realized yesterday how unconsiously I eat. I was talking to my mom on the phone and without thinking started munching on crackers I was giving the girls for snack. Not a big deal...but I did not even think about it until I was on my 3rd cracker. Old habits can be hard to break!

Have a wonderful Sunday!
Kellie

Am glad to report I'm back on track today, and made a conscience effort to do really good after yesterday's cals being so high! Ended today with 1800 cals! DH offered to bring donuts this a.m. when he got out for milk, and I told him, "no, I have to eat really good today, after eating so bad yesterday"...... so he made dinner tonight while I was out running errands, and he made Tuna Tetrazzini and asparagus and beets! lol I didn't care for the beets but I choked them down (disguised in bites with the tuna, so I didn't taste them!). But I thought that was really great of him to help me out with my eating! What a guy! Have a good Sunday, ladies!

Hi Ladies, I came across the thread through the buddy thread,

My name is Michelle, I am 37, I have been maried to Robert for 7 years, and we have a son who will be 6 in July and b/g twins who were 2 on April 2. I work full time & Rob is a fulltime SAHD. I have been overweight my whole life and have decided that I want to lose weight before I get to 40.... the intention being to spend the second half of my life trim & healthy. I am currently doing WW at home, have been for a week anyway and joined a gym 6 weeks ago. In those 6 weeks I lost 1 lb! hence the return this last week to WW.

I am going to try and catch up on everything posted so far and hope itīs ok if I stay.....

Good job Shawn! I am so glad it was easy for you to hop right back on the wagon. We all have those not so great days and as long as they are few and far between I don't think there is any harm done. It is awesome that you have a husband who is so supportive. I can tell you from experience that it will make all of the difference in the world! My DH is a real sport too. Bless his heart, I didn't get fat by being a BAD cook so any healthy changes I make are just as hard on him as they are on me and he never says a word. Luckily, I've gotten pretty good giving our usual recipes a healthy makeover without too much change overall. And If I decide just to have a lean cuisine or something for dinner he will happily have a hot dog with the kids so that I don't have to cook especially for them.

Kellie, I don't know if I'll be able to swing the 4:30 gym trip either. But, it can't hurt to try. I think that if I can manage it just 2 times a week it will still help. I know I won't be able to do it everyday. I've decided that if getting to the gym that early is too hard I'll just get up half an hour early and do a walk/jog combo (maybe work up to all jogging ). At least then if I don't make it to the gym for a full workout or at all I can still go to bed at night knowing that I've done SOMETHING. I just know that with summer around the corner it is going to get harder and harder to make it to the gym at night. I prefer the gym over exercising at home. I'm much more focused there - I guess I feel like if I go through the trouble to get dressed and go that I'm going to make the most of the time I have there. I tend to slack a little more at home.

WELCOME MICHELLE
It can be so frustrating when your weight loss doesn't reflect the effort you've made. I just came off of a plateau a couple of weeks ago and I think I've just begun another one. UGH I've decided to TRY and not be so focused on the scale. Instead, I'm going to go this week and buy a pair of jeans or shorts that are size 10. I'm in a 12 now so I think I'll see that I am actually progressing even if the scale doesn't budge. Plus, it will give me something to work towards and look forward to.

So, to change the subject, do you all get as many crazy questions about your twins as we do? I know most of them come from people who are just talking before they think but there are two that we got/get CONSTANTLY.

The first one is, "Are they twins?/What's their age difference?" Now, DS is a good bit bigger than DD now so that is a reasonable question these days. But when they were 3 or 4 months old - I mean, they'd have to be AT LEAST 9 months apart and clearly they aren't. DH used to say that if he heard "are they twins" one more time that he was going to answer, "No- that one is my wife's and that one is my girlfriend's" just to see the persons expression.

The other question that always makes me chuckle is, "Are they identical?" Now, I have boy/girl twins so you would think it would be obvious that they aren't. Never to a stranger but when family or friends asked that question DH standard answer is, "Well, now, HE has a penis and SHE doesn't. So, no, they aren't identical." That always gets a good chuckle because as soon as we point that out the person realizes the obvious.

And what about insurance claims? I don't think they've ever gotten a set of shots that one of the claims didn't get kicked back as a duplicate service. I almost always have to call and point out that the services were rendered to two different children.

The funniest thing (well, not at the time) that has happened was our having to argue with a collection company over the unpaid bill for CIRCUMSCISING OUR DAUGHTER! We had to pay for our son's in full upfront so we knew there wasn't a mistake on our end. But we went in circle for months between the hospital, the doctor, the billing company, and the collection agency. They were threatening to report us to the credit bureau if we didn't pay immediately. It was soooo frustrating. I finally told them that if this procedure did take place that collecting the $200 was going to be the very LEAST of their concerns!

Okay, girls, enough rambling from me. Hope you all have a great day!

Tricia

Michelle - I'm so glad you found us! Feel free to jump right in! We love meeting more twin mommies!!

Tricia - that is too funny! Yes, at 6 mos, I get asked all the time if they're twins -- nah, I just like taking my friends' babies with me all the time, too! Makes it more challenging! LOL

DH made a BIG breakfast this a.m. (bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, biscuits & jelly, coffee, etc). I tracked it and ate 1000 cals, but that was breakfast AND lunch (since it's noon here now), so I figure that's okay. The hashbrowns were the killer! I just shoulda had more bacon instead! hahaha. I told him I was so proud of him for being supportive yesterday, and then he goes & does this! LOL

Michelle - how are liking your husband being a SAHD? My DH doesn't have the patience for that - he'd go nuts after a week!

Welcome Michelle! Sounds like you are off to a great start!

Shawn ~ How did your day end up yesterday? Your husband is being a great support from the way it sounds. It makes a big difference to have some one supporting you.

Tricia ~ Good luck with going that early to the gym. I know the Jazzercize here has classes that start at 5:30 I think. I don't know how they do that!

I can tell you that not eating all the junk and amount of food that I had been has really made a difference in my energy level. I don't feel as tired or sluggish during the day. I can get things done and not have to feel tired all the time. I ended yesterday at about 1200 calories. That was with a hamburger from the grill for dinner and some chocolate ice cream (Wells Blue Bunny HiLite) It is wonderful!

I hope everyone has a great start to their week. I have some errands to do this morning. It is suppose to rain this afternoon and all day tomorrow...yuck!

Kellie

Well, I seem to have alot to catch up on.

I went walking this am . I walked about 1 1/2 miles. I need to start doing something more than that though. I am not working my upper parts nor my abs...(which are really BIG)

Before I forget WELCOME Michelle, glad you joined!!

So, I am thinking maybe my 10 llbs to lose is a little off, but I am going to try!!

WATER....DRINK that WATER!!!

If you do something during the day, it is better than doing nothing!!

I have a problem on weekends more so than during the week.

I am eating the multi grain cheerios, I bought some Lean Cuisine, which I have loved each one I got!! So easy to fix, pop in microwave and takes about 4 min!!

What I got in the habit was popping popcorn and sitting at the computer and munching all day, and doing NOTHING!! Now I try to sit here and drink water.

I have bought veggies and fruit to munch on during the day. I didn't realize how much snacking I done until I started watching it.

The other night I fixed myself a coke, took one sip and gave it to DH,, it tasted bad, I want and got some water ...That is one coke less for me

I hope everyone gets going today and gets a good workout!!

Hi all!
Sorry to be MIA, but I've had a CRAZY weekend. It went well, however. I stayed on target. On Saturday I exercised for 60 minutes and ate 1053 calories. Yesterday I did not exercise (I've decided to take Sunday's off for exercise) and I ate 1150 calories. My calories have been under 1200 for four days in a row, so I need to pump them up to around 1800 today. That is my goal. There is nothing worse than not losing weight because I'm NOT EATING ENOUGH!!!

Kellie--sounds like you did great yesterday! Isn't it amazing when you can still eat yummy foods and stay within your goal? I think that is the only reason I've been able to stay on this plan. I pretty much eat whatever I want...no foods are banned. In fact yesterday I ate a big piece of birthday cake (and still only hit 1150).

Shawn--How did you end up yesterday after such a yummy breakfast? My DH is AMAZING with the kids, but he also says that he wouldn't have the patience to be a SAHD. He is always empathsizing to the kids that even though I stay home, I work too! He tells them a lot that I work MUCH harder than he does and that it is easier to go to work than to do everything that needs to be done at home. I really appreciate that from him. It also helps give my kids some appreciation for all I do.

Michelle--Welcome! You can do it! We are all working together in this! Let us know how it is going.

Tricia--LOL! I get those questions all the time! My girls are IDENTICAL. I mean, sometimes even *I* have a hard time telling them apart, lol. Still, people ask me if they are twins. "Nah. They're just friends with an amazing resemblence!"

Did any of you (with same sex twins, anyway, lol) feel nervous about switching the babies when they were little? I WAS SO PARANOID! I would paint Hannah's toes pink and Elizabeth's toes yellow. Lizzie's bedding was yellow...Hannah's pink and so on and so on. If I dressed the girls the same and they had coverings on their feet, I would be uncertain, lol. I felt like such a bad mother. The doctor told me that most twins had identifying marks, but I couldn't find ANY! Finally around six months, I discovered that on the side of Lizzie's right ear she has a tiny mole. Not much, but enough to help me stay sane. Today I can tell them apart when they are together without any problem (their hair length is a tiny bit different), but when one wanders out of their bedroom alone and silent, I sometimes don't know for a second. I feel embarrassed to just admit this. Shouldn't a mother be able to tell instinctively? Someone please tell me I'm not a bad mother. I am better than my huband, though. Of course, I usually know what they are wearing in the morning too and that helps (my husband leaves for work before they wake up). My 6 year old mixes them up most of the time! It's almost like they are just one person to him anyway. I am nervous that they will pull all those "switch places" tricks on us when they get older. Sigh. I know it would be Hannah's idea. She is always the instigator of trouble. Lizzie just goes along for the ride.

Anyway, ladies. Let's start a teriffic week! Can't wait for Wednesday's weigh in!

Lori aka Terrible Mother

everyone keeps asking how I did yesterday after the BIG breakfast, and I can honestly say I don't know! I had 3 tacos for dinner (from Taco Casa), and in Fitwatch that's like 1700 cals! But I'm comparing it to tacos from Taco Bell and Taco Bueno, which would be 880-990 cals. So I can honestly say that I don't know! If I go with the lower figs, I'm just a little above my target calories in Fitwatch. If I go by the higher figs, I completely blew it!

I bought some Weight Watchers ice cream sandwiches (look identical to Skinny Cows, which WalMart didn'thave), that have only 2 fat & 140 cals! Yummy! I wanted one last night, but since I didn't really know where my cals stood, I didn't have one.... so I had one for "brunch" this a.m. LOL

Lori, let me assure you that you are not the only mother to mix up her children. My twins are boy/girl. BUT - my two sons (the oldest is 6, twin brother 4) look EXACTLY alike. In fact, when people find out I have twins they assume it is the two boys. (Will is bigger than Jake, obviously, but when they are off playing on the playground and aren't standing back to back you really can't tell). They just recently got the same hair cut. That was tough enough on me. But Jake is wearing Will's hand me downs these days so when he walks in the room I immediately register him as Will. It is awful. So, please, don't feel bad if you mix up your IDENTICAL twins - you could be as bad a momma as me! LOL!

I decided this weekend that since I think I'm in the middle of a plateau that it might be a good time to try and regain the begginer's enthusiasm from when I had first starting losing weight. I'm still enthusiastic about losing weight, just a little bored with the same old same old. So, I'm trying not to pay so much attention to the scale. I'm going to buy a pair of jeans in the next size down and use them as the gauge of my progress (I'll still weigh in for our Mother's Day challenge). Also, I've decided that going to the gym so early is just not a viable option so instead, I'm getting up early Monday through Friday and walking/jogging for half an hour. That way, if I don't make it to the gym I will have at least done SOMETHING. Also, I've upped the intensity of my cardio work out (I started out on a resistence of 8 on the machines, worked up to a 12, and yesterday kicked it up to 15 on the elliptical and 20 on the bike). And, I added 5-10 pounds on my weight workouts. Finally, I'm going to lower my calories to 1300 per day. I started all of this yesterday and can feel it already. Not in a bad way, just enough to know that it was time to kick it up a notch. I figure that even if I only keep this up for a month or so it will be enough to keep me focused mentally until I start seeing the scale results that I want. Hope it works!

Shawn, I've been in the same situation before. I always tend to go with the higher calories. My reasoning is that if I don't see the results I want I'll know why and if the calories were lower than I thought I am probably in for a pleasant surprise come weigh-in day.

Pammie, thanks for the water reminder. I think I drink plenty - I just drink too much diet coke on top of it. I really need to cut back on that. Isn't it funny how sweet soft drinks taste after you haven't had one in a while? I ordered a diet coke with lunch the other day and they brought me a real coke - it was like drinking syrup. Yuck! Of course, at the same time, I know that I could very easily slip back to drinking regular coke.

We are off to enjoy the weather while we can. We are supposed to have more thunderstorms tonight so we probably won't get out as much as we'd like tomorrow. Ugh, I am sooooo sick of the rain. I hope everyone has a great day!

Tricia

I'm having a hard time trying to stay away from the scale today!! I don't know what it is, but I feel this magnetic pull...... I guess it's b/c I ate "bad" a few days (or at least not as good as I'd hoped), and I want to make sure it's not reflecting on the scale. But there's no need to get on it, when I'm getting on it on Weds! I'll just stress myself out! STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE!

Thanks Tricia! That does make me feel a lot better. I may have the same problem when my 1 year old gets bigger. She looks just like her sisters.

Well, I'm sitting here eating M&M's as I type. Sigh. Oh, well. I've been having a hard time hitting my calories so hopefully this will just mean that I hit 1800 today. I am REALLY trying to get that much today. I DO NOT want my metabolism to freak out because I've had only 3000 calories in the last 3 days. I'm hoping a higher calorie amount will stave that off (This happened to me one other time and I stopped losing for a week).

Shawn--I would agree with Tricia that you should consider the higher amount. It's always better to overestimate than underestimate. That way, on Wednesday, if you haven't lost as much as you'd like, you will know why. Maybe you could get in some extra excersize to make up for it


I think I'm going to order pizza tonight. Where did you say that low-fat pizza is from??

Lori

Oh! One other piece of advice, Shawn. When I go out (fast food or not), I always get a salad first. Sometimes a salad is just not enough, but if you use very little dressing (I ALWAYS get dressing ON THE SIDE and then take a big bite of salad and dip into just a bit of dressing. I get a bit of the dressing flavor without eating much dressing at all), it really helps curb your appetite without too many calories (usually less than 50 in a side or garden salad). That way, you could have had the salad and then only TWO tacos (which would have saved you 500 calories or something). So...for instance, when I order pizza tonight, I will order a salad along with it. I eat the salad first and then a piece or two of pizza. If I dive into the pizza first, I'll eat three or four pieces. I also drink a lot of water as I eat. That curbs my appetite as well. Just some tips that help me

Lori

P.S. REWARDS! I do rewards at every ten pounds lost. So...if I hit my Mother's Day goal, I will get a reward. For me, a reward involves a date night with my hubby. We go out to eat (and I let myself cheat at that meal ) and to a movie or something. I usually also get myself one other reward (like I buy a new book or something). When I hit 30 pounds lost I'm going to go out with my sweetheart and get my hair done! Hooray!


SW: 193
CW: 167
GW: 130