showmenow

Hi Emily, Great to hear you are moving in the >>> right direction! My 2 sisters in law and I did a Biggest Loser weight loss challenge at a local place. It is called the Shake Cafe and they serve all kinds of Metabolife shakes there. I tried one the first time (they said to have it in place of a meal). I swear the thing made me even hungrier. I have to have FOOD! I cannot drink my meals LOL. Anyway I faithfully weighed in each week.

One sister in law did not lose much each week, 1 pound here and a 1/2 pound there. She got really discouraged. I kept trying to tell her that as long as she wasn't GAINING - she was doing great. In the very end - she just stopped trying. So don't stop trying! 11 days is wonderful and 40 lbs lost is nothing to sneeze at.

The holidays are hard but just think how much you can lose between now and the next round of holidays. By that time you will have lost so much you won't want to break the streak you are on and it will be much easier to resist!

ksgirl1978

Wow, your story is amazing. Can I get some tips from you. What do you try to keep your daily calories at? And also your exercise on the treadmill. Do you jog or walk and for how long.

BTW I am 31, 5'8" and 242lb. Just started this last Monday and have been doing good so far, but any tips you have would be great.

missmaggieelizabeth

Congratulatins Showmenow, You are an inspiration.

showmenow

It is wonderful to hear that you are doing good. Heck you are probably doing GREAT! Give yourself credit- it is hard!

For me it is a strict combination of calories and fat grams. I try to stick to about 1000 calories a day, sometimes I do eat a little more. I NEVER eat over 10 grams of fat in a day. Of course I am not a doctor and don't recommend this for anyone else but it has worked for me for a year now. I am ALL about the fat.

1000 calories does not seem like much but I eat 3 healthy meals a day and sometimes have a small snack in the evening. I also drink tons of iced tea I stay away from diet pop as it makes me retain water and I can sure tell when I do drink it.

Just an example of what I eat as if anyone cares

Today-

Breakfast
2 cups of jumbo, wheat grain Rice Crispies 180c 0f (by the way 2 cups of cereal is a ton!)
1 cup of skim milk 80c 0f
1 slice of light bread 40c .3f
2 slices of ff deli turkey 40c 0f

Lunch
Fat free pringles 70c 0f
1 slice light bread 40c .3f
2 slices of ff deli turkey 40c 0f
1 cup of Campbells Select Harvest Savory Chicken Soup 80c 1f

Dinner
1 plain baked potato- 120c 0f
7 oz. of meatloaf- 220c 5f ( I use venison -extremely low in fat and since our family hunts, that is what we eat)
1 cup broiled zucchini with Ms. Dash herb seasoning and a dash of Cajun seasoning thrown in for some kick 28c 0f
1 slice of low fat bread 40c .3f

Total 980 calories and about 8 grams of fat

I tried something new today that I may have for a snack tonight.

I took canned biscuits, rolled them out and added Sugar Free apple pie filling. Folded them over and pressed shut, making little apple pies. Then I baked them.

Each biscuit only has 50c and 1f . The filling is about 15 calories per biscuit and 0f. Total 65c 1f. If I eat one that will put me at 1043c and 9 grams of fat for the day.

So, as you can see, I don't starve myself. I am full when I am done eating a meal. I usually have a large salad with lunch or dinner ( 3 or 4 days a week with both). Today I was out of salad and was NOT in the mood to go to the store! Any kind of vegetable that I can throw in without adding many calories, the more the better.

As for the carbs- I said in another post that I am a bread/salty chip eater. I absolutely could not cut those things out of my diet. I would have been miserable. So I found a way to make it work for me. I went to fat free or low fat comparable items. If you look at my menu you can see that I had 3 slices of bread today, Pringles AND a baked potato. LOL! One thing I have not had in a year is ANY kind of pasta (which I am not a big fan of anyway so I haven't missed it.) I do eat rice occasionally when I make stir fry. I am also not much of a fruit eater except for bananas so there is very little fruit in my diet.

Enough of my boring menu. On to the exercise. I usually walk on the treadmill for about 30 minutes continuously at about 3.5 MPH. Somedays if I don't have an entire 30 minutes at once, I will break it up and just jump on when I have a few minutes here and there. Other days if I am bored I will just get on and start walking until I am tired. Those are my Forest Gump days.

Just a couple months or so ago I hit a milestone and actually started jogging on it. I am a nasty smoker so my stamina for running is very short. So I will jog for a couple of minutes and then walk awhile- switching back and forth. It really is hard for me to jog on there as it kills my lungs but I was SO happy when I finally reached the point that I could run at all. It was a big day for me.

In all honesty I do not exercise like I should. I should be doing more but what I am doing is working so I am sticking with it. As they say- if it ain't broke, don't fix it