Sorry to be such a drag. . .
 

Hi Nancy and Dolly:

I am back, but i am just a big lump with no inspiration. This cold is still hanging on and making me feel crappy and cravings. What the heck.

I am trying to hang in there with not much success. Maybe I should just drink water for the weekend. I feel bad complaining because everyone is having worse problems than me--I just have a sore throat and feel sorry for myself and am struggling to get my inspiration back.

sno

Aww snow you're not a drag at all. I've been missing you.

What are you craving? What do you think you could substitute with? Homemade chicken soup, can make you feel better and isn't fattening. Sometimes I make it with rotisserie chicken if I don't feel up to real cooking.

For inspiration think about your bday and christmas. Imagine the people you're going to see and how great your self esteem will be, from achieving your goal. Really picture, what you're wearing, how it feels to get dressed that day. Does the zipper go up easy, the buttons all button? Maybe if you can picture it, you'll get your inspiration back.

HI ALL!!!! Sorry I haven't been around this week, DH has been working on computers so I haven't been able to get near ours. He is on afternoons next week so I will be able to check in. I will miss him like crazy, we only get to see each other from 11:15 until I go to bed but on the up side I don't make large meals and my house is as clean as a whistle. I had a horrible week, DS in trouble at school, ex problems, idiot boss at work, weighed in at 208. Same old, same old. Teenagers are just so much work!!!! Little children are physically draining, but teenagers just eat your heart and soul I swear.

Snow - hope you are feeling better soon. And as for eating more, your body needs the extra calories to fight the virus, so hopefully you won't see a scale gain. Keep drinking all that water it will help your recovery.

Dolly - I am so sorry to hear about your husband. I hope everything works out for you. I'm definately inspired by your low fat salt solution, I am going to try it next pms week. Drink water, it often will help with salt cravings. I agree about the high fat meals MIL cooks, my stomach just gets a queasy feeling everytime I eat something high fat now. And your veggies taste better because they are fresh. Veggies from the store were picked a week or more ago, everything is better fresh from the garden.

Get n - CONGRATS!!!!! Way to go!!! I am so glad to hear someone is keeping strong with their exercise and weight loss. You are an inspiration to someone who is just trying to keep from gaining weight through a little bit of a tough time right now. I am going to start doing this again.

Chaarli - I am so sorry to hear about your family situation. I really hope everything works out for all of you. I too tend to gain with a little bit of stress, like right now. But once the whole world crashes around my ears, I lose large amounts of weight. Maybe that is your silver lining, hey, if your like me, you'll take what you can get.

Naw - I relate to the hellish week and have to say, It can't last forever, at least it had better not. I really hope you can figure out the mess with your house.

Well sounds like everyone had a bit of a tough week, sending out a big hug to all of you and best of luck on the up coming week. I will be checking in so I hope to hear all positive things and if not I will be a shoulder to cry on.

Thanks, Nancy--I am kinda there--after all if I pull it out this weekend I can salvage the week a little. And if I keep going I can make my goal for this challenge which would make me feel really good. At least last night I was thinking about making biscuits but I stopped myself.

I made some carrot ginger soup yesterday which is really satisfying and filling. I am totally craving carbs like a fiend. And just eating too much. Today I am going to work really hard to eat healthy and consciously--to not overeat. This cold is hanging on tenaciously--I still have a burning sore throat and stuffiness since Sunday. So no exercise.

Okay--I am visualing one of the shirts I love that doesnt fit and some jeans that are two sizes down--I could make it by my b-day, I know it!d


Congrats to Stacy btw--it is so great to be able to fit in clothing that you have been waiting for!

Good to hear from you Card--keep it up and the scale will follow!

card you're right, just about everyone had a something to get thru this week. It must feel good having your house all clean. Look forward to more of you next week.

sno I know you can make your goals too. That soup sounds very good. Maybe if you can get a little protein down it will help with the hunger.

I got thru the grocery store with no junkfood, transfats, or nitrates. I stopped shopping at walmart, its always too crowded to read the labels there. I got salmon stuffed with ricotta cheese and bell pepper. This is in place of the breaded fried fish I have been eating.

okay-
 

Okay--today is going better. Visualizing helped--gosh why is this so hard sometimes. Like when I feel like I cant succeed and I give up on myself. But just gettting encouragement from you guys makes me feel like I can do it. I think when I think about losing all the weight it gets overwhelming, but when I break it down and think about losing just a bit at a time then I feel better.

I am eating very lightly today to make up for all the binging earlier this week. I want to make it around 1200 cals if possible. So far I have had about 700. So I think I can do it.

Good job at the grocery store Nancy! You are doing great.

snow I don't understand why you feel like you can't do it. You hit bumps where your wt stalls, but it seems if you persevere your body will keep losing. I think in the past when you stalled you tried to get more drastic with your diet and then you'd end up binging (might just be talking about myself here). I think if you can work around crash dieting/stalling issue you'll be fine. You're doing great with this challenge!!! So your off a few days because your sick, not a big deal you've been on way more days. If you had a goal to jog 3 miles a day and you got sick for a week you wouldn't think you were 21 miles behind, you'd just start jogging again. Don't punish yourself and try to catch up. Your not behind just jump back on. Now go weigh yourself. This is your fresh starting point. You don't have to catch up to where you were, you can celebrate each new pound you lose instead of referring to the past and thinking you are behind that number. We're here to support you not to judge. If it makes you feel any better, I have no idea what anyone in this group weighed last Monday, including myself.

I hit a new low wt today 153.5. I lost 5lbs this month. This group has helped me to stay focused much better then I was doing on my own. Thanks everyone!

chin up
 

Hi Nancy--thanks for the inspiration. I think it feels like I cant do it when I am in the mode of overeating and I can feel my body bloating up. And yes, I do want to make it up--and I think that can be a set up. Sigh!

Okay--I had a good day yesterday--ended up around 1450 cals and didnt feel hungry. so today I will aim for the same--I am sending my hubby to the grocery store for a couple bags of carrots--I liked that soup I made so much that I am going to make a double batch. I still have the cold--it is very tenacious--maybe more of a flu since I have the body aches. I started drinking echinacea tea, maybe that will help get rid of it. Tired! and tired of being sick.

Nancy--congrats on your progress--you are awesome--that is such a great weight to be at and you are five pounds down--despite all the funky stress from your whole house problem!

snow I'm glad you did good yesterday. :)

I'm very peturbed with my wt 156 today. I secretly fear that my thyroid medication is too low and I won't lose anything. Then I also fear that I won't lose if i don't do my carbup day. This was my first week going without it.

Well the weekend did wonders for both myself and my husband. We just needed to get away from the house. I did really well this weekend even though I was surrounded by fattening food at MIL's house. She made cookie bars and triple cholcolate cake. Can you believe that I didn't have any of it, I amazed myself. Instead I had a piece of fruit. Also while everyone ate the grease fest for breakfast, I had a small bowl of shredded wheat with milk and some boiled egg whites. I think I may have hurt my MIL's feelings, but I told her that I really need to lower my cholesterol and lose weight and she understood. I think she may have been jealous, that made me feel even better. Is that wrong? I decided since I have been working out regularly for a month now I would increase my cardio intensity. During my 30min of powerwalking on the treadmill I inserted a total of 6 minutes of running. I could definetly feel it, but it felt so good. I think I am going to try and do this on Wednesday and Friday. Tomorrow and Thursday are elliptical days so I am going to increase the resistance to increase the intensity. And finally good news I lost another 2lbs, way to go me!!!!

Sno: Don't be so hard on yourself, you have been sick and need to recover. I do have to agree that you should not reduce your calories so much. Keep them around 1400 like you did yesterday. Your body is still trying to get over this cold. The tea should help with your congestion. Try putting some local honey in it as well. If your up to it, try taking small walks just to keep moving, nothing too vigorous though.

nawchem: Too major accomplishments an all time low and a good grocery shopping trip. Congrats! I have to go to the market today, making the fruit and veggie run. I am going to try and not buy anything unhealthy for me and my husband. I am secretly trying to reduce the amount of fat and calories he is eating as well by making more veggies at each meal and making his plate for him. I have been putting more protein and veggies and less carbs on his plate. No complaints yet. He has lost about 10lbs even he is "not on a diet" as he says.

card: Glad to see you are back. Sorry to hear you had a bad week. This week will be better. Hope you get to see your DH more this week.

week 5!
 

Hi all:

well I have run the gamut so far from losing a lot really fast, to going off plan and losing hope to getting back on. I guess that is the game, not how much you lose. Anyway I am down 5 so far so I can complain and am back on track with eating. I hoped I would be well enough today to go swimming but I am very exhausted and still congested. If I feel better later I might take a short walk with my dog but other wise it feels like another potato day.

Since I know that this whole going off plan thing was started by going out of town I am starting to strategize with myself for when I go see my folks in 2.5 weeks. I thnk the problem is not writing down what I eat and making goals for what I eat, so maybe I can still do that by hand even tho I dont have fitday.

Then I started thinking about Thanksgiving--and thinking that my goal would be to have one plate of dinner and one plate of dessert and no going back for seconds. So that I could have what I want but not be stuffed.

Nancy--dont stress--you know that often after you lose weight you go back up again--just keep doing what you are doing and it will balance out. I know it is tough with the thyroid medicine, just dont do something that is dangerous for your health!

Hope everyone else is doing okay!

CH-------will lose 30
Stacy----will lose 32--10 down--22 to go!
card-----will lose 20--4 down--16 to go!
trob ---- will lose 30-7 down--24 to go
Sno------will lose 36--5 down--31 to go!
Nawchem-goal 12lbs ----down 6, up 2! from colorado
lachona---will lose 40--10 down--30 to go!
Chaarli----will lose 20
Dollypie---will lose 30--8 down--22 to go!
Whirleygirl-will lose 25
Bertine----will lose 25--6 down--19 to go!

hey everyone. i just thought i would say hi. I have been reading but i just haven't gotten around to posting.

a couple days last week i felt like i ate too much. i have been riding my bike a lot and i have been thinking about riding it to work for a while (though i hate mornings, which is what is keeping me from doing that). i am down to 181 pounds, which makes my total 9 pounds lost. i sort of feel like i should be losing more but then again 1 pound a week was my goal so i shouldn't be upset.

anyways, work is crazy (like usual) so i'll be reading but not posting much. :D

Just a reminder
 

HI all:

Good to hear about your success at your MIL yesterday, dolly! That is amazing work--tell us how you did it if you can. Choco cake is one of my faves and hard to turn down!


I just wanted to say that although we are five weeks into the challenge, we have exacty 13 weeks to go until new years which is one quarter of a year! We have a lot of time to make a difference in our lives and in particular our health.

Week 5 goal: My goal for this week is to keep calories under 1700, try to eat as much fruit and veggies as I can and slowly work back up to exercising 30 minutes a day 5 days a week, with daily stretching.

Well 12 pounds down, 20 more to go. :carrot: I am feeling good about this week. Didnt want to exercise last night but did it anyway and that sort of motivated me for the week. Watching celebrity fit club motivates me too. their finale was last night and it was cool to watch them shrink. They take pictures each week of their progress so when they play a tape of the pics they took all at once, you can sort of watch them shrink...very cool to see where people lost weight. I am going to miss that show on sunday nights.

Sno-So glad to be hearing from you again. That sounds more like a flu than a cold. The hardest part of coming back from vacation or coming back from an illness is getting back into my exercise routine. I can relate to the sickness though, i had to take my 7 year old dd to the doc this morning. Bless her heart she has Scarlet fever. I didnt even know that exsisted anymore. Poor baby, had to get a shot of pencillian, :stir: then chicken noodle soup and off to bed. So i am home from work today taking care of her. I have a good mind to send the doctor bill to the mother of the little girl in her class that came to school sick. Makes me SO mad for people to send their sick kids to school.

Bertine- Biking to work does sound good. :bike: Unfortuntely i am not a morning person either. My body just does not work right until i have had 2 cups of coffee and 10 am. I get up early but my body just will not cooperate with exercise until 10.

Dolly- 2 pounds for you, hooray...even with the MIL. :bravo: Koodos to you for resisting all those goodies and sticking to program...you are a stronger woman than I.

Naw-To be having such tempermental thyroid problems i think you are doing great. :cp:

Card-Sounds like we are living parallel lives...problems with idiot boss, teenage children problems, etc. Stick to it honey. :hug: I just keep telling myself, this too shall pass.

Weekly goal: (i like your idea of a weekly goal sno): To stay below 1500 cals a day, drink my BIG mug of water every day (holds 8 cups), and elliptical 30 minutes a day until friday. Lets make it a good week ladies.

HELLO!!! Went to see the doc today for round one of blood sugar testing. My scale this am said 207, the doc's said 204, I think I like his scale better!!! DH on afternoons so I will be cooking very light and low cal meals. and I am determined to exercise.

Sno - glad to hear you are starting to feel better. Hope you are up to swimming soon.

Naw - you are doing so well. Keep up the good work, you will be there in no time.

Dolly - congratulations on your will power and your 2 lbs. Of the two I really think the will power is the major win!!!!! Way to go.

Bertine - 9 lbs is great, you should be giving yourself a big pat on the back.

Get n - I'm just trying to survive until the boss retires and the kids move out. Visiting with them will be so nice. Sounds like you are doing great and keep up the good work.

My goals for the week are to exercise (I'm really going to do it this time) and watch portions at meals. The doc is still recommending many small meals and he put me back on blood pressure medication (I took myself off the last one because it was making me too tired) so here's to a really good week!!!