Hi all....been awhile. Been crazy and busy/busy...am sure you all know the routine. I just don't handle the stress of everything very well. Amazed how the scales were down after I came in from shoveling snow yesterday, although I hadn't ate any breakfast, drank nothing so as soon as I started that loss was quickly gone. It is possible that I am down some since joining your group, unfortunately I refuse to change my scales so I don't know how much. I have these scales that you can record your weight and of course I only use the save button when I'm down and seeing as I'm up 20 lbs from my lowest, I've got a ways to go before I'll hit that save button again. I know I'm weird, I'll only save when I see the arrow points down. So now if that isn't depressing. Course even more depressing from that weight it said I was when I came in from shoveling yesterday, ha, I'm 9 lbs heavier today. My weight is so darn depressing to me, how I can be that different in less than 24 hours. I know it's got to be water. When I was doing good with all that water intake I do think it helped. As usual, I do good with that at work but when I'm home I don't get the water in. Oh well, can only hope tomorrow am the scales will be down a bit. I know just from this morning they're up 5 lbs.

Need to get that firm system think you guys had mentioned....it's on my Christmas list. Better yet, how about we've had enough snow now, skip fast forward to spring and let's get this pool opened that we installed in Oct (and never got to swim in), fire up that heater and do some water areobics, yeah now we're talking!!!! That put a smile on my face :)

Keep up the good work everyone!

Debbie

Debbie and everyone else who needs to see this!

Why The Scale Lies...

We've been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the

A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content.

That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners. Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.

Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it's associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you're prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it.

Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it's likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.

This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.

Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current. If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It's a matter of mind over scale.

:coffee2: Good Morning! How is everyone today? It's 6 am, I've been awake for over an hour already! :D

Plans for today- Finish up my costume for Beauty and the Beast. Watch football with DH. Stay op with my food, drink all my water. Possibly get some present wrapping finished? :present:

:strong: My workout is completed for today!

So how did the weekend go for everyone? As much as I'm dreading work tomorrow, I'm also sick of the dreading, and I just want to get back to work and deal with it!

:( Debbie, stay away from that scale. To be blunt that was riduculous weighing yourself that much. Did you just feel like beating yourself up. And not eating breakfast. Very bad girl. If you want my personal 2 cents, reset yourself and deal with the fact that you have gotten as big as you have. Own it and move on. Tough love.

Michelle, thanks for the article. Very interesting. Sorry, dreading going back to work but don't let it ruin your achievments personally. The best revenge is a skinny revenge and remaining with your self esteem in tack.

We had a pretty good weekend and I have been very good. I worked out Saturday and today and have really watched what I have eaten. I feel like I beat Aunt Flo. PMS was under control. I made cupcakes for a function at my son's daycare and I only tried 1 just to make sure it was o.k. Chocolate with a meriange frosting, yummy, sinful and not on my list of foods. I often find that if I bake something or cook something I am less likely to overindulge. I think I become full on the smell of it.

I did horrible in the water department again. I just don't know what it is about weekends but great in the veggie department:carrot: .

Only 4 pounds to go fr my holiday Goal.!!!!!

Lori, How was your son's birthday party?

I saw this thread on the success board and thought the question was interesting.

Once you make your goal weight who would you really like to see for revenge in your face purposes?:devil:

I want to see the other very skinny bridesmaids that were in the same wedding I was in this fall. I felt a little looked down on part me part them so I can't wait for my girlfriend to be preggers and have a shower and return 50 pounds lighter. She went off birthcontrol before the wedding so I could have as little time as late spring. :crossed:

Amanda

Good Morning. Quickie post, I'm heading to the shower. I did workout this morning, my shoulders are sore now. I hope everyone has a great Monday!

Having a good day? I have drank enough water and gree tea to float the 6th fleet. Mentally trying to arrange everything in my head for my son's birthday party on Sunday. I need to do most of the buying on Thursday/Friday (payday) so I need to have my ducks in a row so I can run around like a crazy woman starting Thursday.

Michelle, how has your day back at work been? I hope event free.

Time for roll call again :drill:
Where is our Texas dog mama
or our Scot turned Spaniard
or our Nutritionist Mama
or our Nurse to be
Come on out ladies!!!!!!

Amanda

Today was good, I really do like my job most of the time. Things are a bit uncomfortable so I think I will have to take some other steps to deal with the situation, but we'll see? So far so good food wise, it's a low calorie day for me today. I don't think I could sink the 6th fleet with my water consumption, but it's good too.

Finally!!!
 

Okay ladies, I am finally back. School is over for a couple of weeks, and the birthday party is over as well.

So first the party. Yes I am crazy!!! We had 25 kindergartenders in our house along with just as many adults. We fingerprinted them, made CSI badges, had a police officer arrest our jewel theif, had surveillance video of the crime, gave them a tour of the police car and a little talk on strangers, and made child ID forms. We had sooooooo much fun!!!! The kids had a great time and it wasn't really to bad. A little noisy but what do you expect? We feed everyone and the only glitch was the cameras. They were not working properly and I totally overlooked getting them set up before the party. So, I don't have as many pictures as I would like. Oh well. DS had a fingerprint cake and then we made little finger sandwiches and fruit and veggies and mango salsa with chips. I LOVE mango salsa!!!!

So, now is the time to really kick my fitness plan into action!! I WILL be online more now that finals are over. I think that I may try and get to the healthplex and work out there. They are offering a free fitness assessment this month so I will definately take advantage of that!

Amanda That body thing is way to accurate!!!! Of course I will look dang good once I am so much lighter!!!!

Well girls, I must get to work! Talk to you later

Chelle, his birthday party sounds so cute. We are doing a snowman theme, nothing too crazy. I don't want to overwhelm him. When his little friend turned one they had a crazy amount of people and Charlie was a bit shell shocked by everything. I don't want him to get freaked out by everyone staring at him.

Not much going on here. I got a breakfast bagel andwhich and made my friend split it with me instead of eating the whole thing myself. I had to resort to a diet soda to get things going. Teething is kicking my ***. NordicTrack, ab, arms and stretching tonight.

Amanda

Chelle- The party sounds like fun! I'm glad you are getting your fitness plan into action too!

Amanda- Sorry about the teething!

I'm off to work in a little bit, and then this afternoon I must finish up costume stuff, then we have rehearsal tonight.

Hiya.... new person here.... now don't all run away *grins*

Today started out excellant, I didn't go to starbucks and get my mocha! YAY! I WAS only going to eat 2 lowfat waffles (120 calories total) but my son didn't eat his and I have this thing about throwing away food so I ate one more waffle. Hmmm could be why I weight what I do? LOL anyways, 180 calories for breakfast beats my normal 340 at Starbucks so its all good!

I'm going to try to exercise today....riiiiiiiight <---laughs at myself.

So how is everybody today? Its cold outside! *whines*

Oh... I really have to start drinking more water! I only had one sports bottle yesterday, I used to love water and would drink too much... wonder when that changed?

man, I gotta stop rambling.

:Welcome: Lissa68, where in Virginia are you? I am in Richmond. Were you born in 68 because my sister named Melissa was also born in 68.

To get on track, I think the key is little steps so no Starbucks a 3 low calorie waffles is a great little step. I have found staying in the 1500-1600 calorie per day range has limited my bingeing and kept me losing weight each week.

Don't accept excuses from yourself about not excersizing. That is what I did. That is why I have such a huge a** now. The funny thing is... It works. Not making excuses and getting off your behind makes your behind smaller. Go figure. Sorry, if I offend but I am here to give and get support and to come to terms with the truth about my fatness.

So ramble on, chances are we have all had the same thoughts.

Chelle, I played with that thing for 30 minutes looking at the stages of me at all weights.

Amanda