almeeker

Great job weightlossboo, I feel inspired now. Which is a very good thing, since I was just sitting here feeling sorry for myself. I overdid it yesterday - AGAIN!!! But now that you've inspired me I'm going to log off and do my workout. Hopefully I can find some clean workout shorts...

WeightlossBoo

Thanks almeeker!
When I'm at home doing my weights/mat/Tai Chi exercises I shut my door and do it in my knickers. My man thinks it's sexy, but I think he's pulling my leg. I don't care though, as least I'm comfortable - I loath gym clothes.

Hope you had fun doing your work out!!

ChunkyDunk78

I am hosting a girls night, potluck style appetizer dinner. (we are all making appetizers to share).

No slacking with like veggie tray stuff, LOL.

SO. I need ideas for HEALTHY, filling, YUMMY appetizers.

kisami

Hello ladies!

I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm already partway into my weightloss journey, as you can probably tell by my signature, but I was looking for other tools to help fine-tune my nutrition... plus this sure beats calorie-tracking by hand. But most of all, I'd just love to have other people to talk to about daily struggles, accomplishments, etc.

As for me, I work part-time and am also attending school for Veterinary Medicine. I'm vegan, I love to watch movies, and I love to sleep (wish I got more of it).

Hope to get to know you all!



Edit: Oh, and here's my suggestion for an appetizer:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Avocado-Salsa/Detail.aspx

I've made this before and it's really delicious, and it goes great with almost anything you want to dip into it... plain tortilla chips, cucumber or zucchini slices, etc.

changeisgood29

Hello and welcome aboard to the new folks. Happy to have you join us!

Grats on your checkup, weightloss. Yer kickin' a$$ and takin' names.

Doin' good over here; I'm in the middle of quitting smoking (I don't even know what attempt this one is... maybe my 10th? I've lost count), but have surprisingly stayed on plan despite the cravings and intense hunger pangs. Woo! Fun fact... actually, maybe not so fun, but I thought it was interesting... So, I know that quitting smoking lowers one's metabolism, so I wanted to see by how much. Turns out, smoking in and of itself can burn up to 200cal/day. O_o That's, like, just a bit under what my daily workout burns off. I found it funny, in a kind of dark, ironic way. Ok, enough of weird fun facts from yours truly. Happy hump-day to all.

WeightlossBoo

Thank you!

Good luck with kicking that disguuuuusting habit! End of the day, it may take you a little longer to reach your weight goal with a decreased metabolism and smaller deficit but you could potentially be adding years to your life by giving up the tobacco. Big thumbs up!!!

zootnarf

Ok, enough lurking. It's time to post!

I don't have 100 pounds to lose this time, but I hope you all don't mind if I'm more comfortable here. I did lose 100 pounds nearly 20 years ago, and have been (mostly) successful at keeping it off all my adult life. I have had some blips in my healthy eating where I've gained back some of the weight, then I've taken it off again. I was looking back at my weights on fitday, and I've been logging for almost ten years (only periodically)!

My most recent "blip" happened a couple of years ago during a really busy year where I was an intern (working for free to learn a new career) and taking masters classes. I just didn't have time to exercise and cook healthy meals, and the weight crept back on. This past April I found myself with more than half of the weight back on, and decided I needed to get it back under control. I've been logging my food since then and exercising more, and I've dropped 27 pounds so far. I have at least another 25 to go, but I'm feeling so much better already.

It's neat to see they have this forum feature now. It's so nice to have support and encouragement from people going through the same challenges. I wish all of you a healthy and fit Thursday!

Sheri

smooshmcsmeesh

Hi Sheri, welcome! It's always great to see new people joining the group, regardless of how much or little you need to lose.

Today is the 10th day of my 'new lifestyle' and I have to say I'm feeling so good! I have managed to make wise choices about my diet everyday and I have strived to get in some activity & movement everyday. I can tell I'm getting stronger, as I'm able to walk a little longer or complete the workout dvd with a little more ease than before. That's exciting!

I have been reading "Thin for Life", which is a book that came out in 1994, and it has information & profiles of people who successfully lost weight and kept it off. One of the fascinating things from all that I've read thus far is that each person had attempted to get fit & healthy several times before they finally succeeded. That encourages me! They all mentioned having a 'click' moment, where things just seemed to make more sense all of a sudden. I kind of feel that way right now myself.

The formula has been so simple all along -- Calories In vs. Calories Out. Healthy diet + Exercise = Weight Loss. I've known this! I've heard it and read it a million times! I just opted to continue my old habits and ways of eating because I wasn't ready to make the change.

Knowing myself, I am slow to come about to change. I shift gears slowly in other areas of my life too. I am deliberate and determined when I am ready to change however, and that's why this time feels so different.

I am giving up the negative self-talk. This is not an all-or-nothing proposition. This is for ME. I have always wanted this, but only now am I ready to do something about it. No one else can do it for me.

Anyway... I am proud of these past 10 days. I am looking forward to the future and how energetic I will feel as I go.

I know we all can accomplish our goals. We can do it! Many others have, so can we!

LOL... I feel like a motivational speaker at the moment... but I'm just very pumped up! =)

Have a great Thursday everyone!!! Believe in yourself!!! Make the most of today!!!

harpegcanuck

Smooshmcsmeesh, you are a motivational speaker!

Thanks for the info. The psychology of losing weight is at times I find harder than actually losing weight.

For me it's about giving myself permission to take off the fat suit. I realised earlier this year that I was trying to control who could look at me and find me attractive wearing the fat suit I've had on for the last 23 years. My concerns about what other people think and feel are no longer worth potentially shortening my life and that was my Aha! moment.

At first I kicked myself alot for letting a fear rule my life for that long and then I picked myself up from the self-pity and started on my journey to being me. Every once in a while I have to give myself that same mental shake, but they're needed less and less these days.

I'm taking some of the advice here and putting it into practice. I'm doing my first girls' weekend away as a reward. I definitely need some new clothes and surprisingly some things that I never thought I'd fit into again are coming out of the back of the closet.

Thanks all for the support, ideas, advice and warm welcome!

mstaff4564

Welcome harpegcanuck, zootnarf, and kisami! This is a great group!

Congrats to ldybug1752 for losing 25lbs! That is amazing! And to Boo for your fantastic 6 week review. What great results...your hard work is really paying off!

So I'm messing around with my calorie intake & my exercise. I know, I know, I need to find some consistency. But I've just been so darned fatigued lately, to the point where it's an effort to do daily chores again. That is one of the reasons I STARTED trying to lose weight...so I could have more energy for daily activities. And it seems like the more exercise I do, the more tired I am. I'm not getting a boost from the exercise anymore.

I'm getting plenty of vitamins, so I'm sure that's not it. I'm suspecting that I'm pushing too hard with the exercise & not backing it up with enough calories. Based on the free-dieting calculator, I should be eating a minimum of 1872 calories a day for exercising 5 times a week. And I am exercising intensely for at least 4 of those days.

So I'm upping the calories & dialing down the exercise a bit. I'm still going to do intense workouts 4 days a week, but the other 3 are going to be slower activity days...yoga, walks, playing the Wii, etc.

This is going to likely cause not so pretty scale results for the next few weeks while my body readjusts. And I'll probably start seeing a more average loss of 1-2lbs a week. But if I have more energy & I feel better, I will be more likely to stick with this for the long haul, and I can be patient with a slower loss.

I've also got to adjust to a more college-friendly workout schedule. I'm starting grad school full-time on the 30th while I'm also working full time and I have a 2 to 3 hour commute a day (depending on whether I have class or not). I've got to be able to workout, eat right feel good, and keep up with my busy life. Because it's not about weight-loss as much anymore as it is about my health.