I am fighting hard to make my healthy eating come more naturally. The exercise hasn't been as much of a problem as I always claimed it would be - my husband is great about taking care of the kids specifically so that I get out of the house to exercise, and I'm not struggling at all with finding the time to do that. I struggle with the motivation now and then but not finding the time.

Eating though. Oy. I'm having a hard time. I am fighting SO hard not to go back to my old habits and this is HARD.

The eating habit change was easier for me because I live alone, so I only buy healthy foods and--wala! problem solved! If there's no junk around, then there's no junk for me to eat!

The exercise, on the other hand--oi vei. I'm still struggling with this one. I only work out 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes at a time, and it's all aerobic (the elliptical machine). I know I need to incorporate weights, need to workout for longer and more often, but i just don't have the time, and when I do have a few spare minutes, I would certainly rather spend them with my boyfriend who I only get to see for less than 2.5 days a week (although we sometimes get quite a workout together--wink wink, nudge nudge ). Oh wow, I'm a dork...anyway, yeah, the exercise is the harder part for me I hate that I get all sweaty and gross and don't have time to shower after I workout, before I go to my second job. But, we do what we gotta do!

I HATE going to the gym, it's too icky and muggy hot outside to do anything, I don't have a pool - I cannot get into exercise mode.

BUT I have had no problem cutting out the sugary sodas, eating fewer calories than I burn, and eating low fat foods. Thus the pounds have shed anyway without regular exercise.

The biggest things I learned when I began all this in January:

1. It's all a formula - Less IN than out.
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup is my ENEMY!
3. Losing weight is about 80% diet and 20% exercise.

These things have kept me on the path to consistently losing and even when I wasn't losing, not gaining, which is the end all goal anyway.

try this exercise. put both hands on the table and push when full.
exersising helps with your motabolisim and energy. glen

Haha! Actually, if you saw my car, you'd say so. It was full of leaves because I park under an oak tree and keep leaving my windows open (I have no a/c in there). And I have a bad habit of leaving stuff in there like junk mail, diet coke bottles, etc. I had not cleaned the car out *once* in the entire 2 years I have had it, partly because the car itself is so ugly and uncomfortable, as soon as I get home, I forget it. It was a disaster area. The other day my son was getting out of my husband's nice, clean car, and left a coke bottle in there, and my hubby goes, "Get back in there and pick up that bottle. What do you think this is, Mom's car?" Then they both cackled. So I cleaned it up.

Finding time for exercise has definitely been hardest for me. I can't get up early to work out b/c I have a 1-yr-old to take care of and want him to sleep as long as possible so I can get my shower in peace (he ALWAYS wakes up within 15 minutes of my getting out of bed). At work I sit at a desk all day, and although I get an hour for lunch working out would not be a good idea since I have to be all prettied up and professional looking at work...I couldn't see myself spending the rest of the day with my sweaty hair up in a pony tail and pit stains on my blouse, and I can't afford a gym much less a gym with a shower. I get home after 6pm every day (about 1 hr. 20 min round-trip commute), and my hubby might not get home 'til 8pm or later, so there's about 2 hours I get to make dinner for my son and me and spend some quality time with him. Once hubby gets home he takes over with the baby and I get to clean up a little bit. Then it's time for the baby's bath, and putting him to bed. It's usually 9:30 or 10:00 by this time and I'm exhausted and just want to go to sleep. I could take baby for a walk, but he has a severe allergy to mosquitoes and anyone who's ever been in Georgia during a rainy June knows what it's like outside...and, you can't use DEET on children under 2 so the weak stuff I have to put on him doesn't help too much. I've been begging my hubby to put together our weight machine but he works so much and would rather do other things when he finally gets off... sigh.

Definitaly Excersize has been harder for me.. I have been finding every excuse in the book! I started a 21 day challange on another board to just walk a 1/2 hour a day and am on day 3.. I have all the excercize dvds.. I have 14 workouts I could be doing at home.. so far I've only done 3.. this is a problem for me and I have to get motivated on it.. also I know I need to start weight training soon or I'm going to just get saggy and baggy!!

exercise was easy for me - i love to walk and have taken up running. But the food... i love to bake (but don't love to cook) so there would always be fresh-baked cookies or brownies around, but no "real" food to eat. I'm still trying to get healthier about my eating habits, but it has definitely been a struggle.

Eating is not your problem! What you eat, yes. You need to refuel your body after you exercise.

I used to believe that eating after exercise made you fat. It doesn't. It is a time to replenish your glycogen stores which you used up for exercising.

All you need to do is change what you're eating but still refuel your body and you'll do fine. Skip the potato chips and ice cream. Eat a regular meal with carbs being 50% of the meal. You've got one food item in that direction. The ravioli is definitely on track. Now add some low carb veggies [you got your high carb ravioli already], then some protein [3 to 4 ounces of lean meat] and finally fat. Don't beat yourself up for eating just start eating more healthy.

Make sure you eat 30 minutes after exercising. And if you lift weights replenish with a protein drink on those days instead. I alternate my lifting days and then change my meals on those days. After my drink I wait about an hour to eat a regular meal.

Get the junk out of the house! That's my best suggestion. If it isn't in your house, you're not going to eat it. I stopped buying ice cream a long time ago. I had a friend over for dinner one night and she was surprised that I didn't have ice cream in my house for over 2 months. The last time my husband purchased it for his birthday. It was the no sugar added kind.

I use CalorieKing to keep track of my nutrition program so I can make sure I am within 200 calories of my 2000 limit.