I hear you Carla. I was saying the same thing myself. Had 2 weeks off for Christmas vacation - and just loved being able to do what I wanted, when I wanted to. Didn't take long before I was hitting the sack at 2am and sleeping in until 9. Then reality hit on Tuesday. :p :(

And by the way - the little "egg light" is down below your avatar on the bottom left side of your post. It shows a little yellow "yolk" in the egg when the person is online. I don't usually go looking for people but if I'm on really late at night I might notice and chuckle at night owls like myself ;)

Thanks happy2beme, phatpanda and mscat816. You are great inspirations.

Hey everyone! How are you all? Hope your week is going well. Wanted to stop in for a sec and say mine is going very well so far. Starting on the first, I've kept my calories in check, averaging about 1200 or less per day, 15-25 gms of fat per day, water is ok too, and have met my goal of 10,000 steps per day. Yay! I hope this will give me a good start for the year. :D

On the first, I was only at 7000 steps by 11pm. I went walking outside til I hit my 10K mark. I refused to not hit my goal the first day! That's how it would go the rest of the year, right?? So I went and did it! And I've done it every day since too. So far, so good. Takes lots of determination, doesn't it? It can be done though. I know. I'm going to put the link to my article, if any of you want to read it over. I still read it to remind myself how I can get my steps in when it's hectic. LOL.

Please cut and paste, if this doesn't show as an active link on here. Thanks.

http://walking.about.com/od/holiday/a/busyholidays.htm

Looking forward to this year! Hope you all are too.

Big hugsssss, Selina :-)

That's a great article Selina, thanks for sharing it with us. It just goes to show you that with some ingenuity you CAN push it a little farther - even for those people who say I have no time to do anything.

Congrats Selina you've done fantastic so far on your weight loss goals! :carrot:

I am feeling a little better today so I spent some time marching in place in front of the TV along with stretches and crunches. Food was good, I need 2 chug 2 bottles of water in the next hour and a half to keep my goal. In one minute I will start my "half hour of power" where I go and do good things around the house for the next 30 minutes.

selina - congrats on getting in all them steps..It makes me tired just thinking about it....keep up that motivation..your doing great...how is eating under 1200 calories doing for you?

I'm still trying to figure out what i should be eating.....What is everyone trying to stay under?

Can I jump in?
 

This seems to be a good way to start...small. I have been here at 3FC in the past...New Year, New Name, New Body, New Life. This will be my year for success!!

I am Cindi, mom to 7, and Home Daycare Provider! I am diabetic and hypothyroid, but can always lose weight when I really put an effort into it. I haven't been good with my eating and exercise in a long time, and I have decided that I HAVE to make some lifestyle changes before I suffer some of the bad side effects of my illnesses. My doc said the diabetes IS reversible if I lost weight and still continued to exercise. So that's what I want to do...my biggest focus to start with will be the exercise, if I get that in check, everything else will fall into place. I automatically want to eat better and drink water if I am exercising properly. The thing I have to remind myself is that even if I can't get to the gym, I can do some sort of exercise at home...anything is better than nothing!

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you better.

My goal for this week is 3 days of exercise at the gym. I did one! The rest of the week I have suffered from a migraine, so maybe tomorrow will be day 2!

I can do this and so can you!!

Hi Cindi, welcome to the group :wave: I'm hypothyroid myself. Good for you on getting to the gym with 7 children to watch over. You're an inspiration for those who say their day is too full to find time for themselves.

Good going on the weights Bonnie :strong: :jig: :wl:

DG in regards to your question which I assume is about calories - I just went to the doctor who put me on a supervised diet and gave me lots of info. I see alot of people shooting for 1200 or so calories a day. I was looking at the chart my doctor gave me for weight loss. According to that it looks like they figured 13 calories per pound to maintain your existing weight. So if you were 150 pounds it would take roughly 1950 calories a day to maintain your weight - taking in more would cause a weight gain, cutting back would theoretically cause a loss. Now you don't want to cut your calories too much lest your body go into starvation mode and your metabolism will slow down and block your efforts. Since a pound is worth 3500 calories, you'd cut 500 calories a day (7 days x 500 calories) to lose a pound a week or 1000 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week. The nutritionist said I should cut an additional 300 calories from the days that I don't exercise. Right now I get LOTS of calories even with cutting back but that would also explain why it gets so much harder when you're down to those last 20 pounds or so.

So it would seem that you should multiply your weight by 13 and then subtract 500 to 1000 calories per day depending on a goal of 1 to 2 pounds loss per week. No, you can't and shouldn't go faster than that if you want to maintain your loss.

I just started seriously tracking this week. So far I don't feel deprived all tho I do have to look for better carb choices. I used to feel that 2 pounds was so slow but then I realized that if I had focused on 2 pounds a week or so last new year's I'd be at goal now. Sometimes I feel like the fat is glued on me until I start charting my food intake and then I see how I sneak in calories I didn't even realize.

:woo: :hat: Yabadabadoo!

The scale loves me this morning - even after I moved it to several different places, it still insisted I was at 189.9!! So mild euphoria going on around here, tempered by the fact I've been invited to a cocktail party tonight that I can't avoid. So that number will go back up, but not for long.

As for the challenges: okay for the no late eating (hmmm... maybe that's the difference?), but I was 20 minutes late getting into bed. No good excuses, apart from my Zen attempting catricide (new word) on Lily - hard to leave the lights off with yowls and hisses of outrage coming from the corner of the room. I guess I shouldn't have overstimulated them with a chase toy so late at night. :doh:

Happy, I'm pretty sure I've been told 12 calories per pound, but I like yours better - extra food. :lol: Anyway, if you multiply your GOAL weight by 12, and eat at that level, you'll eventually get to your goal. To go faster, eat under the goal weight. My diet doctor (NOT Dr. B******** - my asterisks - for those of you who know his semi-starvation diet) has me on approximately 1200 cal per day, but it's not precise, just a certain number of carb, protein, fruit etc servings per day. It is lowish carb.. I'm pretty sure I'm eating more than 1200 most days, but want to develop good eating habits, so I'm trying to make good choices that I can live with long term, using the diet as a guideline. For me, I think the biggest thing has been making sweets and alcohol a rare treat instead of a nightly event. And, much as I hate to admit it, ading extra water this week seems to be doing something...

My apologies for the overly chatty post - I know this isn't meant to be a stream of consciousness verbal diarrhea :blah: :blah: :blah: thread... I'll try to behave next time. ;)

Thanks for the info ladies...I've been under 1200 calories daily averaging 1100...I've been drinking my water but only very little exercise right now and I have not lost anything since xmas....Just wonder what I might be doing wrong besides the exercise part....I would think that even with the calorie cutting I should have lost a least 1lb since xmas...

carla - your not too chatty...all the advice and talking helps alot...and congrats on the weight...189.9...that awesome..it feels good to move into that next number down(180's)...Keep up the good work

Cindi- welcome to our group

Mornin'
 

Hi Ladies - I stayed home again today but I feel so much better and so inspired by you ladies. I made my "STOP THE INSANITY" buttons and I am posting them all over the house today!

happy - I love the "half hour of power" - I am stealing that idea too. Imagine what is possible if we each concentrated an hour or half hour or even a quarter hour of power to some goal or task each day? I haven't been taking care of my writing so I am scheduling and dedicating a "half hour of power" everyday to my book! :thanks:

carla - :rofl: you are soooo funny! I think you are our resident "sit down" cyber comedian. I love your "verbal diarrhea." Congrats :carrot: on your scale report!

Bonnie :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: for all that walking 3 days in row and your workout on Thursday!

:welcome2: CiniRella to our cozy little :grouphug: It sounds like this is perfect for you and you are perfect for us. It's a match made in heaven! I love your "New" theme. We also support the idea of doing what you can when the gym is not available. We agree, it is better to do something than sit on your butt just because you can't get to the gym. Great attitude.

Selina :bravo: on the great article and thanks for sharing it! You are more than an inspiration - you are role model of one of the main ideas behind "STOP THE INSANITY." That is the idea of stop talking about doing something - actually DO IT. You put action behind your words.

dgpebbles - As happy indicated, calorie limits are pretty individual. Some of us are counting calories, some are counting carbs, some are tracking points with Weight Watchers. Weight loss for anyone is a combination of reduction in weight triggers and an increase in physical activity. Weight triggers can be overall calories for one person, specific carbs, sugars and/or fats for another. The important thing to remember is not getting enough of the right foods or too low of a calorie intake will lower your metabolism and your body will adjust to survive and you still won't lose weight. You want to consult with your own physician or a nutritionist to determine what you personally need to lose weight. Good luck on finding the right plan for you.

phatpanda, acire, and fishwoman - How are you doing?

Have a great day!

It's FRIDAY!!!! I'm so happy! Unfortunately, I didn't do my exercise tape yesterday...however! I did walk home which is about 2 miles so that's better than nothing:) I think I need to get another exercise dvd and put some variety into it. I should really buy the Billy Banks Taebo Workout but I dread the fact that I'm going to be so sore...haha

I had a Stop the Insanity moment yesterday! I was so very close to buying something unhealthy for dinner aka McDonald's or a BIG BURRITO from Chipotle but instead I went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make home-made sushi so I got to control what when in and use very little rice! It was also horrible being in the grocery store when you're already hungry...but i skipped all the junkfood aisles and even at checkout..i got super tempted to buy a butterfinger wafer bar but instead picked up sugarfree mentos...which are sweetened with splenda! I thought to myself the last thing I want to be is an Insane Crazy woman at the grocery store buying way too much unnecessary food! so I STOPPED THE INSANITY!

Hope all of you have good weekends!!

Just a quick hello to you all, Mscat, Bonnie, Phatpanda, happy, carla, cindirella, dgpebbles and anyone I didn't list here!~ Sounds like you all are very motivated and doing great!

I'm doing well this week so far! Working hard to mentally keep my focus.. one month at a time. Have you all heard of imagining in your mind how you want to feel and look at your next goal? It's like meditation I suppose. They say do it every single day for several minutes at a stretch. I have had a heck of a year last year! A wonderful year, but a hectic one. LOL. :D Now it's time to get on the ball and knock off another 50 lbs. :cp:

I also wanted to say, esp. since you are using the saying Stopping the Insanity, that although Susan Powter is a bit unconventional these days, her book really did help me get started. I have read it several times and her exercises in it and all the tips make a whole lot of sense. What she says makes you think. Consider reading it if you need a boost or a clean start. It's an oldie but a goodie. You kinda get back to basics and realize that if you eat right, breathe, and move more often, that you will eventually get into shape. That's a nice thing to know. There are no miracles, right? Just takes some real habit-changing and then viola!! The new you appears! :cb:

Well, take care everyone! Be back when I can, hugssss Selina :wave: