almeeker

I don't know exactly what a vidalia onion chopper is, but I suspect it's very similar to my "Chop & Measure" from Williams Sonoma. And you are soooo right, I love that thing. I use it to make salsa, baked oven fries, sweet potato fries, apple sauce, and diced peppers. My garden made a crazy number of late peppers this year, so I chopped them up and tossed them in the freezer. I actually have 2 versions of the device, one holds about 3 1/2 cups of chopped stuff and the other one holds maybe twice that. I like the smaller one better, the bigger one is great for apples because the hopper is so big, but it tends to splash tomato juice all over the place.

When I make squash or potatoes on the grill I always wrap it with a couple of layers of aluminum foil. I wonder if that would help the chili squash recipe?

Welcome aboard Sharon, I had myself a similar epiphany just about a year ago at 244.6 pounds, on my very friendly home scale. It was shocking to see that I weighed that much without a pregnancy to blame it on. I think I weighed 250 the day each of our children was born. Like you I've been heavy most of my life, with brief periods of smallness. But this time it was different for me, I've been taking each day as it comes trying to form new habits that are healthier for me and my family. So give yourself time, and good luck in caring for mom. Have you considered using a respite center or adult day care for a few hours a week?

sstenner

Thanks for the welcome... I own all the tools and know what proper portions are supposed to look like and all that... time to use the knowledge and the tools. I do like logging here on fitday, have used that in the past. Scary sometimes how unbalanced I am, even when i think I'm making smart choices. I find the visuals and the information very helpful.

Thanks for the "mom support" too. She attends adult medical day care while I'm at work and, while it is costly, it allows me to go to work every day with some measure of assurance. They also have one Saturday a month when they are open and I could just kiss every one of the staff for allowing me a few hours of freedom.

almeeker

I just wanted to share a little something with all of you on this journey. A friend of mine had a baby on Friday so I went to visit her in the hospital. The funny part was that there were several moms that showed up Friday night after they'd put their kids to bed, same as me. So we all sat around trading stories taking turns holding the new baby until well after the official "visiting hours" had ended. Anyway at one point the new mom started talking about losing the pregnancy weight and wanting tips from me and we got on the subject of not drinking your calories. It turns out that a couple of the women sitting there are in the habit of stopping to get a morning something somewhere. One gets a large McDonald's fruit smoothie everyday, sometimes twice. And I was like "!!! Do you know that there are 850 calories in the large smoothie?" She just sort of shrugged and said that if she was going to be fat anyway she might as well enjoy herself. And I really wanted to say, but refrained, that if she made the smoothie herself, she might not have to worry about her weight because you can make one that tastes better, costs less, takes less time than a lap around the drive-thru, and is significantly more nutritious for 150-250 calories. And then it occurred to me that a year ago I was EXACTLY like her. EXACTLY, I mean right down to the size of her jeans and her approach to health and fitness.

zootnarf

almeeker, I think you make a really good point. It has to be *your* decision to lose weight and it is you, and only you, who can make that mental change to choose to live in a healthy way. When you're not ready, you're *really* not ready, like your friend is or like you were over a year ago! So much of this weight loss journey is mental.

Welcome to the new folks! Deciding you need a change is half the battle. Don't beat yourself up too much for getting to where you are at. What's done is done, and you have lots of healthy habits and behaviors to learn about and look forward to. And we will be with you to celebrate all those great little milestones like when you can finally fit into those comfy old jeans or when you have to buy a new belt to hold up your sagging pants! You can do it!

I decided to do a mid-month weigh in since I have a birthday weekend planned next weekend where I'm planning to go off of the plan. Lost another 2 pounds so far in October (Ovation!), so I keep trucking along in a predictable fashion. I am a steady 1 lb a weeker, so as long as I know that's what my body does and it keeps happening, I'm happy.

I did try those old jeans in the bottom drawer again, and I can get them on! Maybe a bit too tight to wear in public just yet, but they theoretically fit. I can remember seeing myself in pictures in those jeans and thinking how skinny I looked. I have to remember that I am there NOW and not just see what I still need to lose. It's so hard to gauge how you really look when your vision is all messed up with the parts of your body that still don't look great.

Thanks for all the support and words of advice in this thread. I don't post too often, but I read everything. Keep up the great job, ladies! We are doing it!!

brandismom1990

Hi Gmantych! --

I am an "old school" Firm Girl. I have the 90s ones with the "Fanny Lifter" and haven't ventured past that (when they got that angled step thing, I didn't order it). Right now, I only have four FIRM DVDs that I use -- they are my favorites that I had on VCR, but my VCR broke, so I re-ordered the ones I could find on the firmdirect.com website that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I used these four almost exclusively the first time I lost 83 pounds and since that worked -- I've decided to go back to what worked. Which means -- I'm off to do one NOW. Don't really WANT to, but I'm going to do it anyway -- BIDIA!!!!

BBL ladies (and Almeeker -- I love that you adopted "But I Did it ANYWAY -- BIDIA")

Ang

gmantych

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend. So far I have been on FitDay for 3 weeks and total loss of 8.4lbs. I am happy with that. I wish I could stay at that pace until I reached 140 but I know that is not going to happen and I want to take it slow so I know that it will be a lifestyle change.

So I am alittle upset this morning. We have two German Shepherd dogs. One blue and tan male and one white female. We have had them both since they were 8 weeks old. We were planning on breeding them in the next few months. But I am insisting we get rid of our male ASAP. He has shown some aggression toward my 4 year old DS. I know that a few times he has growled at him because Aidan was messing with his tail while he was eating or jumping up and down around him. Well last night the dog was laying beside the chair that my DH and DS were laying in and DS got up and the dog let loose growling and snapping. Thank god he didnt bite him but I cant have a dog around my kids like that. He has never shown any aggression towards any adults or my DD, its just my son. I have no idea why he doesnt like him. So my DH is supposed to find somewhere for him to go today. I hope he can find someone to take him besides the shelter. DD is very upset because she loves the dog. But she of all people should understand what can happen. She was bitten by a friends dog several times a few years ago.

What a day! I just want some yummy comfort food. But I am not going to cave in.

almeeker

When I first saw BIDIA, I thought it was for slips, like "I knew I shouldn't eat that giant piece of chocolate lava cake, BIDIA". But I'm glad it's for accomplishing something that you flat out didn't want to do. I used it this morning. I put off starting my workout this morning. It's Monday, which usually sets the tone for the whole week for me, but I slept in a little and just couldn't seem to get myself moving. But I made myself do it, late, surrounded by kids and chaos, not the way I like to get it done, BIDIA!!! I think I'm going to stencil that on to a couple of my workout tanks, maybe even across the fanny of those shorty shorts I only wear in the privacy of my own home - in hot pink glitter. Waddaya think?

Glenda, so sorry to hear about your dog problems. German Shepherds can sometimes be loyal to only a few people, and maybe at 3 your dog is maxed out. Do the DS and DD fight? Of course they do they're siblings. Maybe the dog sees him as a danger to the DD, even if that doesn't make sense realistically to you, the dog's got his own take on the situation. Four year old boys also tend to be rather energetic, and maybe once too often he's been overly rough on the dog. Another thing is that dogs have something of a pecking order among themselves and clearly the dog has placed DD lower than everyone else in the house, including the dogs. Good luck with your situation, I think you are doing the right thing, at the end of the day your role as mom is much more important than your role as dog owner. Instead of eating maybe you can hit the gym tonight and punch a bag or something, and work off your aggressions and frustrations.

brandismom1990

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!! That is such a great idea. I'm so going to copy it!! You are my heroine and yes BIDIA is a CELEBRATION of accomplishment when you beat off the voices that stop you from doing something you KNOW you should do and you don't want to.

I didn't want to finish my FIRM today, BIDIA!!!

nru1286

I have never wanted comfort so much in my life as I do right now. I am so stressed with life right now that it is weighing me down, and all I want to do is cry. So I went for a short walk at lunch, only a mile or so, and on the way I passed a Cosi, which is one of my fav. restaurants. I really wanted a piece of their Etruscan Whole Grain Bread. I wanted to have it so bad, and for that tiny moment I didn't want to diet or watch my weight or health anymore...BIDIA.

So I kept walking, and I decided that I really wanted a piece of bread to go with my tuna salad and spinach for lunch today. So I stopped in this small deli/corner store place called Old Nelson's. The line for food was so long, I didn't even look at the bread. Instead, I found a refrigerator full of yogurt! Not only that, but they had the Fage Greek Yogurt that I didn't have time to pack for breakfast this morning. So I got that, then ran across the street and got some strawberries from the Salad Bar, and came back to work and thoroughly enjoyed my yogurt and fruit.

Am I still stressed? Very much so. Do I want to cry? You betcha. Am I taking off from work tomorrow to regroup and see my therapist? Yes indeed. But I just made a tiny step toward better health, mainly by not giving in to my desire for something that would totally mess me up for the day. And for that, I am very proud of myself.

And now? Back to work.

gmantych

Standing ovations to you!!! It is a huge step beating those cravings. I am sorry you are stressed now but you did a great job walking and buying healthy food instead of what we used to eat!!

I packed my lunch today but forgot my dressing so I ran (not literally) to the grocery store to pick some up to keep here at work and while I was walking passed by some reese cups! OMG my weakness with a cold Mountain Dew. But I kept on going and didnt let that bad voice in my head win today.

But I am having a huge craving for Chinese food. I really wanted it last week and that craving is back strong. I usually eat Moo goo gain pan with fried rice and an egg roll.

Does anyone know how to eat Chinese food healthy?