Ahh, thank you for the information about avocados! Now I'm a lot more excited about eating them, hahaha. Baby spinach is delicious too..have you ever had a "green smoothie?" Basically, you sneak a handful of spinach in with all the fruits- it's surprisingly good!

Have an amazing time on your trip! I can't wait to hear about it when you get back. Oh, and rock the new bathing suit

hey, I just joined like 20 minutes ago! i read your situation and was like oh boy that sounds familiar! After losing a few pounds, i had some stuff happen and rocketed up about 45 pounds, i'm a senior now and hoping to get back to my starting point and then working down from there after school. I got a Jillian Michaels kick butt yoga dvd that i'm going to try out, she seems like the way to go for workout dvds since she's so super intense! and congrats on losing 5 pounds, the first steps are definitely the hardest

Thanks cat!! Glad you joined too and good luck on your weight loss journey!

I have never had a green smoothie but I will definitely have to try it now. Have you ever tried those yoplait smoothie bags? They are the frozen fruit already and you just add milk or juice and put it in a blender. It's delicious. Next time I'll throw in a handful of baby spinach lol.

I'm thinking this trip is going to kick some major a$$ lol. I packed all my healthy foods so I don't have to eat what my family eats. Today my mom told me she could tell I had lost a few pounds and I got so excited!! Def. gonna rock the bathing suit...even if it's grandma-ish or not lol.

Talk to ya when I return! Have a great weekend and no weighing lol!

Ooh, I've never tried the smoothie bags, but I just googled them and they look delicious. Maybe I'll experiment this weekend...

It's awesome that your mom is being supportive--and that your progress is already showing! I don't think I see much of a difference in myself yet, but hopefully I'll start to soon. I wonder how much weight you have to lose before it becomes like, very noticeable to those around you. I can't wait to get to that point

Day #2 scale-less has been a little easier...I know I'm eating well and working out, so I'm trying to just have faith in the fact that the number must be dropping as a result. I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

All right, I just had to jump in. Your idea of using iTunes as a "goal reached" reward is just fabulous! I had never thought of that, and honestly, since I'm not much of a "stuff" person I have a hard time coming up with extrinsic rewards.

Hey all!
I was thinking earlier today about some goals/rewards for myself and I am also having such a hard time with it! There isn't too much I really want and honestly my diet/healthy food costs a lot more than the food I normally buy for the rest of the house. (My boyfriend nearly choked when we were at $70 and only half way through ringing only my healthy groceries up)
So with the new eating habits being so costly even though I know its supposed to be inspiration/rewarding to spend on myself I am feeling selfish (I have two little girls and a boyfriend I would rather spoil) But I know I should have things I so FOR ME as I go through all this. 100-120 lbs of loss is a big goal for me, I could have done it sooner and had a lot less to lose but I could never find the motivation.
Even now, though I know in the long run my weight loss is going to be an Epic positive thing for me, my kids, and my boyfriend, the only reason I feel compelled to do it is because I don't want to be the fat bridesmaid in November of 2011 when my younger sister gets married.
BLAH this turned into a bit of a rant/emotional deluge and I am sorry but I think I am done....for now....I think LOL

So I just read all 3 pages of this post and was like I wanna be in their group! lol I think we all do the same thing yo yo back and fourth. I know for me personally I keep telling myself this is my last chance. I am doing weight watchers as well and today is my second day, HOWEVER i weighed in at 313 pounds and I am 5'6 Very depressing, this is the biggest I have ever been and am determined to lose 10 pounds a month every month until I get married in October of 2011. My cousin has done weight watchers for a little over a year and had went from a size 24 to 8 she does the meetings and all. she has copied stuff and mailed it to me and i have been doing the points aspect. The first thing I measured was tune for lunch yesterday I was shocked at how much 4oz actually was. My fiancee is great about cooking and fixing my lunch but i feel that holding myself accountable is measuring myself. i tried 50 million pound challenge in January and lost like 25 pounds in the first 3 weeks however cheated once then twice then forget about it, then i was like oh we go on a cruise in 3 weeks i will start again after. that was the first week of may....

sorry for my rant just giving you a little insight on myself to see if i can join, anyone in florida?

PS my ultimat goal is losing 150 pounds, but i was thinking the BIG REWARD should be a cruise, maybe some of us on here all together with our spouses ?

Hey ladies I just read all 3 pages and i'm on the same boat as all of you, I'm at my heaviest weighing 230 and being 5'5. I just had a baby well kinda he's 8months now but I just need someone to help motivate and talk to about how the weight thing is going. I've just started a food journal writing down everything I eat and excersing 5days a wk for about 30min. My goal is to reach 150 within the next yr or so, i'm hoping this time I'll stick to it and not cheat...i'm tired of being overweight. Sorry about just rambling.

Welcome, ladies!

VicSin- Agreed…healthy groceries are so much more expensive! The rewards don’t need to be expensive, though…what about something like a manicure or (as Courtney suggested) a few songs from iTunes?

Mzitalian- I was shocked about how much 4 ounces was too…I think I’d been eating at least double that every time I ate meat, haha.

Jj0383- How’s the food journaling going? I’ve been doing it for a bit now too…I think mostly it’s a good thing, but I’ve found myself getting a little obsessive- it throws me off when I eat something I don’t know the exact calorie count of (like if you go out to eat). I also understand what you mean about needing someone to keep you motivated…hopefully this site will help!

My weekend went surprisingly smoothly, but I really beat myself up at the gym. Everything is sore…hahaha. I also found out that there’s a pole dancing exercise studio near my house, so I’ve been trying to pluck up the courage to go check it out! I managed to forget about the scale over the weekend (mostly), but now I’m getting really curious. Only two days left until I can weigh in...

OK so I'm back from my weekend family get away and it was a BLAST! I was so surprised when I came back to see how many people posted on here!

I am surprised at how much I missed talking on here too and how much it really keeps me motivated. As far as food goes for the weekend...I didn't do so perfect but I was on a camping trip and I did watch what I ate for the most part. I did drink a little lol which is very fattening and had ONE hamburger.

The 1st day was the worst eating wise because I got a little um...intoxicated and starting eating sausage LOL and then was like oh crap...

The 2nd day I held it together and didn't drink any alcohol or eat anything bad at all to make up for the previous day.

Today we came back and I've done well again so I'm curious to see what my numbers will be on our Tuesday weigh in. I can't believe I have had the will power not to weight myself this long! We're doing amazing :-)

Smiling, I love itunes, but it gets really expensive so I figured it would be a great reward since I <3 music.

Glad to see everyone else here to and I'd love to talk to y'all so we can help encourage each other! I'm definitely a yo-yoer too and just want that part of me to be over with.

Playground You HAVE to try the pole dancing class so I can live vicariously through you hahaha. I would never have the courage so you've got to! I'm super curious about my weight and hope that I didn't completely screw myself this weekend by eating a few things I shouldn't have. It's so easy to get carried away. I need to go to the gym or do my video that's fo sho. I kept wishing I had internet at the cabin so I could see how you were doing lol! Glad you worked your butt off and it's so going to show up on the scale on Tues. Gotta think positive lol.

Don't ask why I referred to you as Playground instead of Dani lol!! Long weekend. I'm crackin' up.

Hahaha, I laughed when I read "Playground" too.

Anyway, I'm so glad to hear your trip went well! I wouldn't worry too much about going off plan over the weekend, as long as you get back on plan now- I guess if this is going to be a "lifestyle change" instead of a diet, we have to accept that not every day will be perfect- it's the overall progress that counts. Also, one hamburger and some beer doesn't sound too bad at all! If you're worried about calories from alcohol, try switching to a low-cal beer...I always drink Corona light, which only has 105 calories. That means that even if you had 5, it would still just be 525 calories...not the end of the world

As for the pole dancing class, I think I might make THAT one of my rewards- if I went now, I'd be worried about breaking the pole or something! So for now, I'm tentatively setting it as my reward for getting from "obese" to "overweight," which I'm hoping will be around Halloween. If I DO try it any sooner than that, I promise I'll let you know, hahaha.

Also, I'm with you- I was surprised when I realized just how much posting here helps hold me accountable. I feel like logging on is a nice safety net for when I'm considering making bad decisions!

[QUOTE=PlaygroundLove;3392672] I'd be worried about breaking the pole or something!QUOTE]

I am LOL lady, that is too funny! I feel the same way, I've wanted to get the Flirty Girl videos because they had a deal if you bought the videos you got the pole for $1 or something. Since we rent our Condo, I didn't think that it would be best to order something that needs to be screwed into the ceiling for ultimate stability. HA-HA I used to do the Carmen Electra Strip Aerobics videos all the time because I could sweat like a pig at a Luau or a Whore in Church but still not feel out of breath but since I haven't felt even a smidgen of sexy I kinda gave up on them, maybe I will take it back up once I feel a little lighter!

LOL yeah I'm a little dorky sometimes so pay no attention haha.

Yeah I'm going to the gym in a little bit with my sister. I had to talk her into it by calling her a wuss haha. Lifestyle change is for sure it. So the fact that I still made some good decisions this weekend is a good thing! Thank you I feel better now lol. I drank Bud Light Lime...and I think it had like 116 calories or something. It was 2 points per beer according to Weight Watchers and I get 26 a day. I like doing shots anyway lol because beer takes too long to kick in and makes me full. With a shot you just do a couple real quick and you're buzzing like a cheap speaker. Hahaha. (Got that line from my mom and have been waiting to use it!)

The class sounds like tons of fun for reals. So you should do it at some point and making it a reward sounds like a plan! I'm so nervous about hitting my 15 lb. goal by Labor Day. I better kick it into high gear here!! Yeah, I think that now that I'm on this site I'm going to keep posting. It's such a help and we are a kick a$$ team.