Hi Stephanie: Glad you decided to jump into our group. Our stories are a little similar. I quit smoking in 1990 and gained about 40 - 50 lbs in about 4 years. I quit smoking when I was trying to get pregnant. I lost about about 30 of the lbs a couple of times but got to an all time high of 217 this January. I also started smoking again in 2004 (I've been keeping to about 5 cigarettes a day Mon-Fri) but I'd like to quit again but am afraid to do it now with dieting. Anyway, nice to have you here.

For Newbies:

I'm 39 married with two kids, boy 11 and girl 9. I live in Connecticut and work full time as a secretary. As you can see from my ticker, my main hobby has been eating!

Same here and for a long time now. I think my DH weighs aroudn 210. He was 190 when we met and has "put on a little". If only I could say the same.

Welcome, Stephanie!!! SO glad you joined us here. I agree, small goals are the way to go!!

I hear screaming form upstairs...

Welcome Stephanie!

Mo - we live in the middle of the Mojave Desert. LOL LA is about a 3 hour drive.

Nori - glad the birthday went well! LOL Well, at least she liked the presents!! I guess all babies want to take more naps on their 1st birthday! Mine wanted to sleep the whole day away. LOL

Everyone, have an amazing Easter weekend! I probably won't be back on until Monday!!!

Welcome Stephanie- Glad you joined...
This is a great group of women. I hope you enjoy it. The thing you said about losing weight and keeping it off hit me like it was myself talking...after I had 2 babies I was the smallest I have ever been a size 12....(I wasnt even a size 12 in high school) but I kept eating how I wanted to and never excercised....and now I am up to almost 250lbs. Being 5'10 most people dont guess that I weigh that much but I know I do and it eats me up inside. We are all trying to do the same thing on this board - LOSE WEIGHT and have FRIENDS that are there for the bad days....

So WELCOME and browse the boards a bit...there is a lot to read....



Today is Friday (my favorite day of the week) and so far so good...
Started my day off with a bowl of special k...(have you guys tried that Vanilla Almond kind- it is wonderful) I am working on making myself eat 3 good meals a day...I have been doing alright. So....I excercised again for about 45 min last night doing a step excercise. I have a question for the people here who have lost weight....
how long does it usually take before you see results (not necessarily on the scale, more in my clothes....) I can live with the scale not moving if I am losing inches. I have heard 4 weeks...is that accurate in your opinions? I am just trying to make short term goals... Makes things easier for me.

Have a great day...

Mary

Hi Mary - We both have the same amount of weight left to lose! I'm only 5'7, but people NEVER guess I'm as heavy as I am either. Of course they don't see me naked either! It's a mixed blessing in a way. I feel that if I looked fatter (or as fat as I am) I wouldn't have let myself go this far? Oh well, what's done is done and I changing my lifestyle. I haven't tried that cereal. I sounds good though. If I eat cereal it's usually oatmeal or Kashi GoLean. I don't drink milk normally, so oatmeal works great and the Crunch I can eat dry. I think it was really around 3 (to 4) weeks (15-20 lbs.) that I really started noticing a difference. I was wearing 18's but they were tight and by 4 weeks they were loose. I did do my measurments too. It's so inspiring to see just HOW MANY inches you are dropping. Almost better that seeing how many pounds. I think by 4 weeks I'd lost 16 inches and then by 8 weeks another 12. I cannot remember exactly, but I have them logged. I LOVE doing Pilates together with cardio. I see results faster than if I'm just doing cardio/weights alone. Anyways, good luck! You sound like you are right on track and in a good place and time in your life to make a permanent change.

Hello ladies and J! Hope it's a good Friday for everyone.

Hello ladies:

Boy it stinks to work today. Luckily, my neighbor is off so she's watching the kids for me till DH gets home. I won't post yesterdays menu as I was bad again I didn't overeat but ate the wrong stuff. DS got a great report card so I treated him and his friends to dinner

A man came in my office today and saw my Lean Cuisine. He told me that he started doing WW and eats Lean Cuisine quite a bit and walks a lot. He's lost 43 lbs so far! I told him how I've been struggling lately and he gave me a little inspiration I hope.

I haven't bought any Easter candy yet but I'll have to go tonight I guess. My neighbor said she filled the plastic eggs and will hide them in our yards Sunday morning. Maybe I'll get a few little gifts instead of a lot of candy for the Easter baskets.

I don't usually post over the weekends so I'll talk to all you ladies on Monday probably. Have a great holiday!

Maureen

Good morning ladies! Well, I am going to take the time to post to everyone. Things this week have been a litlle crazy. Not sure if we will be able to keep the FIL in the assisted living. We cannot find help anywhere for the pay. We may be able to get a discounted rate, but that is a long shot. Me and the DH are going to a bunch of stuff with the kids this weekend. We are getting ready to go get some sporting equipment to play baseball with them.

Maureen, hey there lady! Don't worry so much about the food. We all seem to fall back into the habit every once in awhile. I know that I have. I let all of you know what I did. No I have not been roller skating. I need to go! We usually go on Sundays but I am sure that they will be closed this week. I miss going! Good luck on the bike. I understand about the short ride.

Nori, To the amazing woman! You still are so inspirational even when you have a fall back. I love your pics by the way! Do you have a elliptical machine also? I worked up to 7 mins on level 4 that was only my second time on it, the first time was 5 mins. on level 1. I will work up to a full 30 mins. But that 7 mins. killed my butt! I am still sore.

MAry, I am so glad you came over and joined us! You will truly love it here! You are an angel to be a mom to all of those children. I sure do hope your husband knows how lucky he is. Tell him I said so! I am an emotional eater also. I just had a major fall back, I am working on trying to get back in the swing of things myself. But everyone here is great and they don't admonish you they do their best to help you get through it.

Stephanie, Welcome! Wow you exercise a lot. So glad that you found us! Small goals!!! You are on the right track. Wish I could keep with my small goals.

Elizabeth, So glad to hear from you! Tell DH to come visit us too. He is always a joy.

Well ladies, I am off to Play It Again Sports! I will let you know how ouyr baseball excursion goes. Everyone have a great Easter weekend.

Catherine

Well I had dinner at my house today...complete with Turkey, Ham, Sweet Potatoes (with marshmallows), mashed potatoes, noodles, deviled eggs, rolls, lots of pies, green bean casserole....etc...

And guess what..I kept myself in check...I ate some turkey and allowed myself to eat 1/4 of a sweet potatoe no mashed potatoes I had 2 deviled eggs no roll and no noodles...AND BEST OF ALL...I resisted the PIE...!!!

I excercised every day this week for 30-45 min each day.... I am gonna try to keep doing it every day because I feel it is easier to keep doing it than to quit for a day and then start back up...

Have a good one!

Mary

Hope you all had a nice Easter. Nothing "special" around here - I didn't even make a special dinner. My Mom is still re-cooping from surgery and wasn't up for anything big anyways, so that was my excuse. Took Livi to some friend's house for an egg hunt though. She had fun! We had ham sandwiches for dinner last night!

Down 3 pounds from last Monday.

Catherine - Sounds like you really like your trainer and time exercising! I don't have an elliptical. But I use on ewhenever I go to the gym. I like it and always start sweating right away. I usually do it for 30 minutes.

Mary - Congrats of staying in control yesterday. I also exercise every day. It's easier to just stay in the routine for me too. I do 1-2 days at low intensity - like just Pilates, some other toning or a 30 min walk. The other days I kick it up and do 1-2 hours.

How's it going Serena, Katie, Maureen, Sarah, Danielle, Stephanie, Elizabeth? Is it getting to be nice weather where you are now? It's beautiful here today. Will go for a hike when DH gets home.

Have a nice day! I'll CBL.

Nori - how many calories are you eating? I'm so impressed with your 3 pounds in a week loss! I'm really trying to evaluate how many calories I need. I need to get more consistent with my exercise again. Things are just crazy with getting ready to close on our new house (from thousands of miles away) and getting ready for the moves we have coming up. I'm also learning how to quilt, and it's pretty time consuming.

Catherine - keep us posted on FIL. I'm hoping the discount or money comes through!

Mary - way to go with your Easter dinner! It takes strength to say no to pie, and to not overindulge on holidays. As for how long before I saw a difference, when I exercise I see the difference in clothing sizes quicker. Like Nori, I was in a tight 18 when I started this journey. Now I'm in a comfortable 14.

Mo - that is inspiring! I need to get back into the habit of bringing my lunch again. Lunching out with the girls from work is really setting me back! It's so hard to make a good choice whenever everyone else orders bad stuff.

Happy Monday everyone!!!!

Happy Monday All!

I hope everyone had a great easter weekend. We had a low key easter and it was nice. Took the kids out to lunch and then had an egg hunt ( or 2, or 3, or 4) for them. My kids are all older so it was fun to hide everything and make it super hard. I think I will cry the year they say they're too old to do this!

Lost another 3 lbs this week! I really did not think I'd lost anything this week. I don't "feel" like I have. Is that weird? I guess maybe because I feel like I'm eating so much & all the time. Feels like all I do is eat all day long! LOL
If I could keep this pace up for a few months I would be so grateful but I'm not gonna hold my breath! I'll just enjoy it for now and just keep praying every week I lose the same.

Mary, you are in some serious motivation lady! Go you!!! Good for you for keeping yourself in check but were still able to completely enjoy your meal. I have major issues with keeping it to a minimum, sorta an all or nothing girl. LOL Be very proud of yourself, you did amazing!

Nori, congrat's on your 3 lbs!!! That's funny about the ham sandwiches, we had turkey ones! LOL We had eaten lunch out so late, that by the time anyone was hungry just sounded good at the time. Hope dd had a great time at her egg hunt! Enjoy your hike with dh tonight!

Sarah, I hope the moving thing isn't too stressful for you. It will be so nice to be in your new place before summer hits. One huge mistake we made when we relocated back to AZ. We moved in July which has about 120 degree heat! LOL Smart, huh? I don't know how you girls that work keep from going just bonkers with the lunches out. I know just a while back working part time I couldn't handle having the cafe next door! LOL

Time to get going here. I swear this weekend never happened, it doesnt feel like it was a weekend anyways! Got absolutely nothing done it seems and now here we are at Monday again. Time flies when you're having fun I guess.
CBL

Sarah - I normally eat between 1,400-1,900 calories a day - it all depends on how many calories I burn in exercise. In a week I aim for 5-1,000 calorie deficit days and 2-500 calorie deficit days. I track everything in Nutridiary.com. Not sure why I lost 3 pounds this last week - but remember I only lost .5 pound the week before and expected more, so no doubt it's just water flucuations.

Danielle - congrats!! I kwym about not "feeling" the weight loss. Some days I feel heavy and others I feel lighter the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning. Funny how feelings are!

Over on the 100 pound club board someone brought up this site - myheritage.com. It's fun to do the face recognition thingy there!

Greetings ladies, Congrats to all of you on your weight loss. Unfortunately for me I showed a 12 pound weight gain this morning. Not a good way to start the day or week out. I did take a fluid pill this morning and by lunch even with eating I was down 5 pounds. Pretty bad huh? Emotional eating is awful. Well, we were unable to get the FIL any help and he will be moving back with us this week. Not sure if I will start eatin like crazy, or not eat because I am so depressed. right now I do not feel like eating! My mom says I should go talk to the local congressman. I do not know. Right now I am just at a loss. Work is not going well either. But now with him coming back, I am kind of stuck where I am. I really need some positive things to happen in my life right now. Well, I have to go and make dinner. talk to you later.


Catherine

Catherine - that's some serious water weight. At least you're peeing it out! I'm so sorry it didn't work out for FIL to stay at the assisted living home. Does he have caretakers other than you and DH? Does he have too many assets to qualify for state care? I know they say constant change is harder on Alzheimers patients, but if he could rotate around, it'd be easier on your family. My fingers are crossed that something good happens in your situation. It's not easy to bear. You'll be in my prayers.

Hi ladies:

Boy, have I missed you all. I have eaten everything in site that hasn't moved these last few days. I really need to get to the grocery store today to buy good food choices.

Catherine: I hope things work out with your FIL, I'll say a prayer. I gained a lb myself today but won't record it till Monday, hopefully you'll lose your water weight by your next official weigh in. Are you sure your scale is right, I can't believe you could gain 12 lbs???
Nori: Wow, another 3 lbs. you go girl!! You might even inspire me to walk today or at least go grocery shopping!
Danielle: Congrats on your weight loss too, you women will hopefully rub off on me.
Sarah: that's nice that you're taking up quilting, I wish I had the patience and skill. I hope the closing goes smooth.
Mary: Wow, you did great this week, send me some of that spirit!

I made apizza ghaine (ham pie) for Easter and gave most of it away thank goodness! It had 5 different meats, 4 lbs. of cheese and 5 dozen eggs! The last of the pies and cookies were gone last night. On Saturday we went to the Seder and I also ate and drank too much, I didn't eat a lot but I had dessert that I should have passed on.

My complaint paragraph: DH and I had an argument (that's a whole other novel) and I did some stress eating this morning. I still have my period going on 3 weeks now. I finally just called the doctor to see if he'll call me in the prescription to stop it. I also got a reminder call I have a dentist appointment today for a cleaning and a check up (so now I can't bring DD to the store for summer clothes like I promised). I feel and look like crap. My hip is starting to hurt again, my heel spur is starting to hurt again (probably from wearing sandals this week). I really feel I'm in a rut.

Also, two young men hung themselves within the last week in the area that my husband is from in Ireland. There's so much depression back there, it's unbelievable. The one last night was one of his good friend's brothers.

Aren't you glad I wrote to cheer you all up!

Maybe I'll treat myself to a month of tanning. My legs are so white!

Maureen