Quin, you are so right that people want to see you fail. When I was at my heaviest and up until I hit about 160, I got encouragement from every quarter. Now I have people saying to me, "You're not still dieting are you?". Um, yes I am, till the day I die". I never bother to say that I have more to go, because I'm afraid people would stage an intervention and drag me off to a home for eating disorders. Which by the way I don't have and will never have, I love to eat and eat as often as my calorie budget allows.

A good friend of mine is a nutritionist, she's kept herself at a healthy weight for her entire adult life, her parents and her sister are all overweight (which might be why she's a nutritionist in the first place IDK). Anyway her mother is always on her to fatten up a little. My friend even got on the scale at her parents house in front of everyone that was giving her grief and then pulled out 6 different references to show them that she was smack dab in the middle of a healthy weight for her height. Afterward her mother made her a hot fudge sundae and pulled out a bag of potato chips.

Are we related? I think I know this woman.

I have something to add on the topic of "Skinny people dieting vs. Fat people dieting". At 244 lbs. I would have said that there was no comparison and that there is no way a skinny person who needed to lose 5 lbs was the same as a person that weighed twice what they should. Now that I've been sitting at 30 pounds away from goal, and am struggling to find a way to get the scale moving downward, I know for a fact that those last few pounds are just as brutal (even more so) than the first few. So we really are all the same.

Not too long ago I ran into a woman I went to high school with. As far as I know she's always been thin. And she made a comment to me that took me by surprise. She was complaining that the holidays were over and it's time to go back to salad for lunch and sweet potatoes instead of mashed and she was going to have to give up white flour and white sugar until Thanksgiving at the very least. And I was like "Why?" And she gave me one of those looks and said that she had to work at it harder than just about everyone she knew given the family that she's from. And that's when I realized she is the only member of her family that is at a healthy weight.

I totally hear you on this one. I totally do not have the same body I remember the last time I weighed this, and now I have flabby bits where I never did before, and nothing where I always had extra padding. It's weird, I guess I'm going to have to take Richard Simmon's advice (:eek:) and get a full length mirror and chuck out the scale.

I know!!!! I wanted to reach 125 because that's where I was in my 20's and I thought it was a nice, comfortable weight. When I got there, I looked in the mirror and thought, wow, this is not as I remember it!!! :eek: I have a totally different body now, probably because I had a lot more muscle tone then... at least that's what I keep telling myself! LOL :D

Yeah, I wonder how many people reading our posts are going to stand naked in front of their mirrors before they go to bed tonight??? LOL

almeeker & quinn, I don't have the same body either, I guess that's part of growing up [cough] getting old [/cough]. I think that my problem is I keep chasing down the last bit of flab, but I think this is a good weight for me.

I haven't posted my weight graph in a while. This is about 2.5 weeks in (March 7 - March 24). I think if I finish the week at 165-166 I'll change my diet. I did it as a test to myself, to see if I could do it for a week or longer. I'll be upping my calories to try to maintain (if I can mentally do it) and adding in carbs like brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta, etc. I'll keep a cheat day a week, but may stretch it to every 2 weeks depending on my calorie consumption.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...7tomarch24.jpg

This has been my biggest struggle and you ladies may or may not be able to relate. When I say "mentally do it", I mean it. Besides my cheat days, I have to get past the guilt of eating 2200-2500 calories a day. That a tough struggle to get past. In other words I have to be able to eat CLEAN at 2200-2500 cals/day. I still have in back of my head that I'm not where I'd like to be and that I don't want to go back to being fat (like I was)... but I have to draw the line somewhere.

With that being said, I'll be hanging around longer for support b/c I feel I may really need it to get over the guilt that I'll feel.

And I though I was the only person who feels guilt when eating. I got a does of this today when I went to eat my 9:00 snack. It was an orange. I had to stop after the first bite and reassure myself it was OK. What a screwed up brain!

Regards,
Michael

yep, that's why I commented on you saying it was a mental thing just a minute ago.

Mike, your graph looks excellent and you have a good plan.

Michael, oranges are not the road to ruin...take it easy on yourself; you're doing great...isn't it cool to actually be thinking about what you put in your mouth, though??

cassie, you edited it before I could post... but I read it. I will ultimately go with a BF% and I have a goal % in mind, I just don't know if it's realistic for me.

Maybe you should have edit this part. ;) j/k

Back on the topic of weight and age. I took Chloe' to the vet today for her exam and they said that she's gained 6 pounds in 6 months. That's over 10% of her body weight... wait up, 6 pounds is almost what her sister Mystie weighs. She's older and lazy and her dumb dad hasn't taken her for any walks lately. I think next week I'll start making walking goals for her. She LOVES to walk but I just have to be careful with her joints. I need to start giving her glucosamine on a regular basis. She also has a spot on the top of her right hand (paw for the non dog lovers) that I'm going to have to end up having removed and tested for cancer. So ladies if y'all say a prayer tonight, mention Chloe's name to the man above.

Hugs to your fur baby. Hope all is well. Thoughts and prayers for you and Chloe.

Yes, in retrospect, I should have worded that better. It's a habit; I don't even think about it...did one at my husband's work dinner that was a bit embarrassing. That's one thing about me that hasn't changed since middle school :o.

thanks. Yeah I guess you talking about what Michael puts in his mouth is no worse that Mern talking about me sticking my head up my ass.:eek::D

yummy! YouTube - Healthy High-Protein Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Alternative this guy is always making/cooking some good stuff!

I think ‘CHOICE’ should be the word of the day. Thanks almeeker and Terri. Everything we do today will be by our own choice, because we choose to be healthy.

Mern – nah, it’s always oppressively humid in summer. Still, it’s better here than further north. Oh, how I wish for a dry heat . . . or winter. Winter would be good! :D
Hey, well done on coming in under your calorie goal yesterday!

Quinn – whenever anyone says anything negative to me, I simply convince myself they’re jealous of me. I mean, who wouldn’t be? :D
I can’t wait to be at maintenance. I’ve been at the ‘thank god that’s done with’ stage, too . . . and I’m back again. I really want my 16yo body back . . . can you believe that once upon a time, I thought my boobs sat too high?! Ha. Kids cured me of that delusion. I guess that also goes to show, tentatively on the weight journey issue, that you can be super slim and perfectly proportioned and still have hang-ups that just seem ridiculous to sensible people.
My mother and sister are insulin dependant diabetics, too. They’ve both had it since they were kids and they both use it as a reason why they can’t eat properly or exercise hard. Now my mother has had a bypass and is on a plethora of pharmaceuticals, it’s only added reasons for her. I can’t tell her that her current health problems are a result of her unhealthy lifestyle just as I can’t explain to my sister that she’s headed in the same direction (the female dynamics in my family are exorbitantly bitchy and I was never the favourite (except with my dad) because I’ve always been smaller than them – if that sounds pathetic, that’s precisely why I called it ‘bitchy’). I can only hope my sister can come to the realisation before it’s too late for her, and for my beautiful nieces, one of whom is six and is already obese. My sister used to (and probably still does) merely up her insulin dosage when she wants to have Maccas or Hungry Jacks. When she was a teenager, she put herself in a pseudo-coma while driving and ran her car off the road and into a ditch - she was okay, just frightened and very sick. When we got her out of the car (it was just up the road from our house), you literally could not open the door without fast food wrappers spilling out. She is currently suffering depression and is also on drugs for that. I just want to say to her – try going for a walk! Get your adrenal glands working again!

Cassie – good luck with the restaurant choices! Bet you can’t wait for your husband to come back tomorrow!

Terri – wow, what a clever spelling puppy! :D I can’t wait until we own our own house and can let our boys enjoy a dog. I would love a Malamute but it’d be cruel to keep such a huge, furry dog in these climes.
By the way, once you’ve got yourself through the next four workouts, you’re going to feel so proud of yourself!

Wildbeanerz – I put my foot in it all the time, so never fear. You’ve opened a line of discussion that has offered us all an opportunity to put forth our view, and you shouldn’t be sorry for that. I think we all knew you weren’t trying to be offensive to anyone.

Yunalee – what a great opportunity! So pleased your co-ordinator is going to help you out. And yes, it may not be the way you’d had it planned in your head, but trust me on this, sometimes life can pop up and surprise you. Perhaps you’ll meet someone important or influential or just plain friendly doing your internship this way that you wouldn’t have otherwise met.

Stacey – your plan sounds great. Let us know how it all goes.

Acameron – ah, never mind. Shopping orgies – well, they come and they go, but a wedding day is a one-of!

Almeeker – it’s the word ‘diet’. I believe the word ‘diet’ automatically brings to mind lettuce leaves for lunch, a small salad for dinner and constant hunger pains and many people don’t realise ‘diet’ just means ‘eating’, which is why we add healthy or unhealthy to it. I avoid the word ‘diet’ when I’m talking to anyone about my resolve, because I get rolled eyes, too (‘you don’t need to diet, you just need to eat properly’ . . . :rolleyes:)

Mike – thinking of your baby girl. Hope everything comes out fine.

Quinn, thanks for the kudos on my calories yesterday. :)

It was my family's poor health that led me to be pro-active with my own heath and not rely on meds unless that is the only sensible alternative.

My Mom was on Pravachol for 12 years, a statin class medication for high cholesterol. After she died, I read that statin medication may be linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease. Mom had BOTH Parkinson's disease and an unlabeled form of dementia. She lived in hallucinations and terror the last two years of her life. Statin meds are not in my future.

Mom came from a large family--13 children. Many of her siblings lost toes, then feet, then legs due to diabetes; a couple went blind, a few had that painful foot nerve problem--diabetic neuropathy(?). Most took insulin and ate whatever they wanted. Not how I want to live...so for several years I've been managing my blood sugar through diet alone to help slow down or possibly prevent progression from pre-diabetes to full blown type II. My doc said it's possible I can, even with the heavy family history of diabetes.

My Dad and older sister both were heavy smokers and I watched them both die of cancer. After seeing how hard my sister's grandkids cried at her funeral, I decided I wanted to spend as many years as possible with my grandkids. So I finally got up the courage quit smoking.

A nurse I know said that her pharmacist said taking four or more prescription drugs almost certainly will cause some drug interactions. That scares me--both my younger siblings are on four or more prescription meds and they don't even bother to find out the potential side effects of the meds their on, much less do anything at all to enable the doc to reduce the dosage of any of their meds.

Best wishes to all of you in finding a way to flip the switch to enlighten your loved ones. I don't know how--or else I'd use it on my siblings.

bhaze, Ohio, USA, has awfully humid summers, too. Thanks for your kudos on my coming in under my calorie limit yesterday. I had ONE calorie left--you want it? LOL

Mike, you started the talk about where your head was. I couldn't leave that line alone, especially when the gals were talking about yoga positions. I took that as an invitation to make up my own jokes. :D

Michael, Mike and ANYONE ELSE TO WHOM IT APPLIES: Golly, don't ANYONE feel guilty about what you CAN eat without undoing all your hard work. Heck, I'd certainly eat an orange if I could and I'm not anywhere close to goal.

Choices--sometimes I don't like that word. But yes, almost everything I do, good or bad is my choice and not the fault of someone else or some circumstance. Certainly no one else is responsible for what I eat. If I give into temptation, it's my fault and mine alone.

Mike, I will certainly keep Chloe in my prayers. Also sending her gentle cyberhugs.

Mike, also, I can certainly understand how hard it must be to eat CLEAN on your cheat days--that's a lot of calories to balance healthfully, but I'll bet you can accomplish that with all your knowledge and experience. We're all rooting for ya! :)

Mike, those chocolate peanut butter thingys look good. I've been wanting a way to use up the chocolate flavor protein powder I don't really care for. Wonder how calorically dense those little buggers are...and if it's possible to stop at one. I am a sucker for anything with oats in it.

behaze, sounds like you are very levelheaded in observing your family's issues. It's hard to watch sometimes and you want to help, but you know what they say about the horse and the water. Everyone in their own time. Even setting a good example as you are doing could be a catalyst one day for them.

Mern, thank you for sharing your background about your family. You are an amazingly determined woman and every time I get a glimpse of where that comes from it makes things make all the more sense. There is no teaching commons sense but you have it in spades. I'm glad you are using yours to take care of yourself. How many grandkids do you have, and what ages?

Well, The Boy picked Mexican tonight. We got fajitas for two. No way to really do a calorie count, but I had most of the shrimp and a couple bites of the chicken and steak, one tortilla, about 1/4 C. of rice, and the veggies. I had the waitress bring extra shredded lettuce and kind of made a salad. Oh, and chips...of course, the chips, but it was a victory to stop at one serving instead of inhaling like I usually do.

And for the rest of the day:

1. Balance calories in and calories out (ahem, by the numbers, Mike). Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
2. Drink 2-3 big blue bottles of water daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
3. Sleep 7 hours nightly (failed miserably at this last week). No 6.5, Almost-6.75, No-6.5, No-6.5
4. Exercise 5-6 days; 2-3 outside. Weights inside tonight, Tennis outside this morning, Treadmill inside-got too late, Took a day off today

5. One office organizational task per day. Yes, Yes-a biggie, Nope, Nope
6. Paint one room of trim IFF no tourney next weekend and/or work doesn't spill over into weekend.

Hope you all had a good day, and a good night :)

Monday is my cheat day so I need to keep it to +729cal or less. +679

Fitness & Health
1) 65g net carbs per day (again this week) no, it was my cheat day, 65.2g :(44.7g, 60.7g
2) work out 3 times no yes no yes
3) 1000 pushups :eek: 166, 160, 140, 150
4) gallon of water a day yes 169oz, yes 128oz, yes 135.2oz, yes 135.2oz
5) multi vitamin (daily) yes, yes, yes, yes
6) fish oil (daily) yes, yes, yes, yes
7) -2400 for the week (including my cheat:eek:) +679 -952, -766, -492

Mern, thanks for the prayers and cyber hug. This is all a learning process, there is still so much that I need to learn about nutrition. I try to soak up as much as I can while filtering through what just doesn't make sense.

Cassie, I have no idea about the calories. I'll make them next week. If you make them before me, gimmie an update please.

I'll reply to everyone else tomorrow.

For Friday:

Fitness Goals:

1. Keep up the water intake to 10 cups. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
2. Put every effort into my workouts. Yes, Yes, Yep, Ya-huh, Yep,
3. Take a multi-vitamin every day. Yes, No (oops!), Yes, Yes, Yes


Non-Fitness Goals:

1. Start giving the house a thorough clean (one room per day). Ensuite done, Main bathroom, vanity and toilet done, Dining room done, Study done, Master Bedroom and loungeroom done,
2. Perform an anti-rain dance and get the rest of the washing cleaned and dried. Dance not successful, but two loads done. Got heaps done . . . still heaps to go (who'd have thought we had so many clothes?!), Got one load out, Am doing it now!, Ah . . . no.
3. Get the lawnmower fixed and start on the jungle . . . I mean, 'lawn' again. No. No. No. No. Takin' it in tomorrow.
4. Convince my partner to remove the boxes of Christmas decorations from the laundry and store them in his workshop. No (this one will be a challenge), No. Nope. Told me it might happen next weekend. Still in there.


Looking forward to this weekend. Got nowhere to go, noone to see and nothing to do, so we're dragging the TV into our bedroom and we're gonna spend the weekend curled up on the bed watching movies and playing the Wii (with the occasional break to tend to children :)).

The council has built a new cool-looking playground about 15mins up the road, so we might take the boys out on Saturday arvo for a bit of a play if it's finished.

I made the conscious choice today to purchase a little bag of Maltesers, thinking to share it with my partner when he gets home (got my 8yo a special treat of M&Ms, too). When I got it home, I had a gander at the nutritional guide and discovered that teeny-tiny packet held six servings. I think I might take a handful and pass them on. :( My son had a handful of M&Ms in the car, then closed the packet and said, 'I think I might leave these until I crave chocolate again'. :eek: Stunned? Yep. Proud - absolutely. He's making healthy choices all on his own. He's been home now for just over an hour, and he has only had one more M&M out of the bag.

Sleep tight, people! ;)

Thursday Report Card

Fitness/ Diet goals
- up protein intake yes yes yes yes
- go running at least twice this week (at least 6 ks each) yes (if only 5 ks)
- go swimming once
- drink at least 1.5 litres of water every day!! yes no no no
- try to do a bit of stretching/ yoga 5 days this week yes
- log in all food eaten yes yes did great with the candies yesterday and refrained from late night snacking, though it was hard

Non-fitness goals
- get spring cleaning done this week not quite yet, but some friends are going to come over tomorrow night, so that should be a motivator to get most of it done :o
- get some work done on my dissertation (at least do some research five times this week) no, not yet. Damn it!!
- finish at the very least one book

behaze, I bet it's awesome to see your little son make healthy choices all on his own! That sure is a great reward!

Mike, I'm so impressed with the effects of your low-carb diet! Definitely something I want to try as well - or, to put it more precicely, something I will choose to try :) thanks for the inspirational rewording, Terri!
__________________

Mike,

When you have your 2200-2500 calorie days, can I just watch??? ;) Sounds like you have a great plan and I'm sure, after all of the hard work to get here, you'll be great at maintenance... We'll make sure you stay on track. By the way, Glucosamine works great for most older dogs! When I asked my MD about it for me, he laughed and said that his elderly dog had incredible success with it. He wished his patients had the same tremendous results as he saw in animals. Here's hoping the "hand" issue is nothing serious.

behaze,

It's 3 degrees F here this morning... I'll take you up on that offer to trade!!! I'm SOOOOOOO sick of winter. I don't think we will get out of the 20's until the middle of next week. :mad: Families are interesting animals, aren't they? I only have 2 surviving family members nationwide. My husband, on the other hand, has somewhere between 150-200, all within 40 miles. When they say when you marry the man, you marry the family, that couldn't be more true for me. It was a huge adjustment, but I love it now. Knowing that I have little family remaining, they have "adopted" me and I feel their love and protection. When in need, I always have someone to call. (Although I'm the only short, blonde one! :)) They are all tall, gorgeous, dark Italian/French beauties.

wildbeanerz,

I admire you for ending the family cycle. Sometimes, all it takes is one person to begin a healthy trend. You may be surprised at how many of them will follow your lead when they see your results! (They'll give you a hard time, but then they'll ask how you did it! :))

Mern,

Thanks. We're trying our best to understand what she's thinking, but I just don't get it. So far, she's up to 5 heart stents, obesity, insulin dependence, hypertension, numb toes... the list of problems is about as long as the list of meds. I'm afraid that we're on the same path as your mom and her 12 siblings. Totally heartbreaking. In a weird way, I know this is going to come out wrong, I think she "likes" all of the meds and doctors visits. Does that make sense to anyone else? As weird as it sounds, she seems almost proud of it all. I just can't wrap my head around her thinking. We try to be supportive, but it's kind of mind blowing. Why would you purposely try to kill yourself?

Good idea, Quinn...Mike can do a YouTube video of one of his cheat days. I have to admit I enjoy the food porn when he posts :o.

I hope things work out for your relative. It's a very powerless feeling to watch somebody self-destruct in such a passive way. I know you're doing all you can, and there's only so much you can do. Don't give up hope...my mom quit smoking at age 77 after 50+ years of pleading, cajoling, reasoning, and begging by family members. It just had to be her timetable.

You are exactly correct...it is not uncommon for people to like the extra attention and fall into comfort in the "victim" or "sick" role. Maybe use a little reverse psychology and reinforce the healthy choices or conversations (if there are any!) and give as little attention as possible to the negative ones? It's possible that there's some depression in there as well, if it seems like she really doesn't care what happens to her.

Mike, cyber-hugs to the pup. It's hard when our little furry family members are NQR (not quite right).

behaze, very cool about the new playground. We live between 2 really nice city parks, and there are another 4-5 within a few miles. The kiddos LOVE it, we spend an hour or two at a park pretty much every day in the summer, but as it's still winter here, none of them have swings or picnic tables right now.

quin, I totally get that "I think she likes it" bit. Both DH and I have a couple of relatives like that. Some people just thrive on sympathy, it's pathetic. One relative in particular uses emotion to control everyone, and that is just plain irritating, especially when the most common emotions are rage and depression. But again you can lead a horse to water... That's wonderful that you feel welcome into DH's family, could you ship me some of that in a bottle? Oh, my in-laws aren't so bad, they just are different from my family in ways I can't explain, or understand. But I'm married to them now...

wildbeanerz, my DH is also a borderline diabetic, his family has rampant issues with it, but so far as long as he keeps his weight and carbs on the low side he's medication free as well. It's a good thing, because his ticker isn't all that hot either. I swear some of this medical stuff should be FIRST DATE INFORMATION!!! No, I guess it doesn't matter, I would have married him anyway, or at least that's what I tell myself.

cassie, good job on not going overboard on the chips. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mexican food, and still haven't been able to keep myself to one serving of the chips at our local Mexican restaurant. Especially after going a week without grains, that would be a dangerous call for dinner out this weekend. If I weren't so pale skinned (and freckled) I could dye my hair dark, pop in some brown contacts and pass myself off as Latina.

so much with being on top of stuff this week. hope next week will be better

Fitness Goals:

1. Drink 3 of my blue water bottle a day yes!no (only 2), noyes
2. do my workout 6/7 days Yes!yes!no,no
3. 10,000 steps a day yes (10,017)no 5500 apox, no (didn't even count), no (3000 aprox)
4. start cal counting again, limit 1900 no 2,136, no 1936, no didn't count (so close)yes, 1536
5. no fast food yes,yes, yes, yes
6. (forgot to add before) go swimming once a week no, no, no, no

Non-Fitness Goals:

1. finish my current homework do to list finished one thing but it was pose to be done long agono,noyes, finished a presentation that got 100% on
2. put away clean laundry done about time
3. put away dirty laundry easy once clean laundry is put away
4. clean off floor and vaccum it. picked up a few things still have some things to clean up, and still need to vaccumno, no, no

cassie and almeeker,

I think the closest category is probably the "victim" category. Every idea is met with "I can't because..." [fill in some excuse here]. "Would you like to go for a walk?" [I can't because...] Lately, it's been "I can't diet because I'm diabetic", even though we were just told that her doctor refuses to treat her any more unless she follows his advice, which includes going on a strict diet. All I can say is that it's heartbreaking. There's really nothing left for us to try. It has to come from her, and I don't see that coming.

By the way, Cassie, my mom quit smoking at 79 but it took a breast cancer diagnosis to do it for her!

I'm so happy to see everyone talking about ALL the parts of the journey - loss to maintenance. And Mike, I've heard other stories about eating CLEAN and drawing that "I will not lose more" line -- it's tough! I have a friend who recently lost her goal of 65 lbs. on WW but is continuing to drop. She says she's had a really hard time getting out of "loss" and into "maintenance" mode, and now she's verging on UNDERweight but still losing. It's all really such a mental game as much as anything else, and I don't care what number you're shooting for on the scale - getting that mindset, and taking care of yourself in the long term is not an easy task for anyone! But SO worth it!

(Also, I totally look at myself naked in the mirror once a week >.> Me and Richard Simmons, baby!)

I'm not looking forward to the day where I don't get encouragement from my loved ones :\ It helps me a lot. BF will always be rooting for me I know, but if I see my family this summer or holidays and I start to get the stink eye, that's going to be rough. Especially when my grandmother starts to feed me and I won't be able to say no.

Food gets so wrapped up in emotion, doesn't it?

stacey -- I hope your migraine is better!!

Mike -- I can barely do ten modified pushups right now. Your numbers are just IMPRESSIVE. I hope you can move your arms today! Your graph is really inspiring :) I'll be thinking of your little Chloe too.

Mern -- You're up to 2 miles on your walking DVD! Way to go! You sound like your family has provided a lot of examples for you. I wish I knew how to flip the switch for them, too. Some part of me is telling myself that they might just need a good example. I don't know. The only person I can TRULY be accountable for is me, but it's so hard watching people you love do these things to themselves :(

Cassie -- It sounds like you did an EXCELLENT job at the Mexican restaurant - I love Mexican food too, and those chips and white queso things? DEATH TRAP! Kudos to you!!!

behaze -- Thanks for the encouragement! I totally blasted through my workout yesterday, even though I was very very VERY tired. I could either choose to sleep and feel guilty, or I could choose to work out and feel good about myself. I chose the latter. I love malamutes too, but I do think you have to be in the snow for them - it just fits!

Thursday Report Card

Fitness, Exercise and Lifestyle Goals:
1) Under 1400 cals every day and log EVERYTHING. M: yes, 1200 on the nose T: yes, 1120 W: yes, 992 Th: yes, 1440
2) Average 30% daily protein for the week. M: 23% T: 30% W: 32% Th: 34% (weekly average 29.75%)
3) 96 oz. of water EVERY day. M: 104 T: 72 W: 96 Th: 104
4) No weighing until Friday! M: N/A T: No weighing! W: No scale Th: Nope
5) Work out 5-6 hours, split between weights and hard cardio. M: Day off T: No exercise W: No exercise. Again. Sigh. Th: one hour hard cardio elliptical
6) In bed by 11:30 every night M: Yes, I promise I will! T: Close, but no cigar W: No Th: Yes, barely
7) Buy a heart rate monitor this weekend. M-F: N/A

Non-Fitness Goals:
1) Finish edits to my scientific manuscript (this manuscript is the culmination to my dissertation, I want it out in the world!) M: No T: Good chunk of it done! W: Slightly more progress Th: No progress
2) Make efforts on my appearence every day - hair, makeup, clothing. M: Yes T: Not really... W: No Th: Yes, and got comments :D
3) Get every scrap of laundry hiding in the closet cleaned. M: No T: BF took care of it! W-Sun: N/A
4) One hour of needlework every day. M: Yes T: No W: No Th: No
5) Have an "outside date" this weekend (the weather is SO beautiful). M-F: N/A
6) Buy new makeup. M: No T: No W: No Th: Nope

I'm not too terribly upset by going slightly over 1400 yesterday, considering the low numbers for the beginning of the week - and they were "good" calories, nothing really bad went into my body, so I CHOOSE to let it go :D

Got on the scale this morning (Friday) and am up .5 lbs. (195.4 as compared to 194.9 on Monday) I did (and do still) believe my 2.6 lb. drop last week was a little TOO much weight, so perhaps my body is just evening itself out? I was also very high-salt Tuesday and Wednesday, may have something to do with it. I'll just keep on keeping on - for once it's not terribly upsetting because I feel like it's in a "normal" or "explainable" range of weight fluctuation.

Also, I feel I need to correct (because I hate taking credit where credit is not due!!) It was actually almeeker who got me saying the word CHOOSE this week, I just totally put it in caps lock, haha I find it's been a GREAT word of the week though, so thanks almeeker!!!!

I didn't eat breakfast this morning, though. Ugh, Friday is not off to a good start!!

~Terri

almeeker,

"That's wonderful that you feel welcome into DH's family, could you ship me some of that in a bottle? Oh, my in-laws aren't so bad, they just are different from my family in ways I can't explain, or understand. But I'm married to them now..."

It's kind of a funny story. It's a huge Italian family that was, at that time, entirely run by a stern, blunt family matriarch in her mid 90's who liked no one. Everyone was terrified of her. It was a rule that if you were thinking about bringing someone into the "family" you had to have her approval. I wasn't Italian (strike one), I wasn't Catholic (strike two). When my husband showed her my engagement ring, she said in her old world way, "That don't mean nothing. He's had lots of pretty girlfriends." Instead of being scared of her, I decided to give it right back to her and I said, "But honey, he's never had one like me." She cracked her first smile in 30 years and told my husband, "I like this one," and I knew I was in. Everyone was floored. We were absolute best buddies from that day forward. Any subjects like sex or politics that were "taboo" to discuss with her, we would joke about for hours. She was my buddy, and I really miss her.

mern ~ thanks i'm slowly feeling better. right now it is just a pick axe pain at one spot at the back of my head much easier to handle. my son get's migraines too & he'll get nauseous & dizzy. i have noticed that he doesn't get them as much since he's been seeing a chiropractor. you did awesome keeping your calories under budget you go girl.

Lindsey ~ of course we can be buddies. i can always use another buddy. i heard they are calling for more snow here ~sigh~ plus i work for the city & get dozens of calls a day about road conditions & snow removal. very exhausting listening to people complain all day. we are really close in weight, but don't hold it aganist me that i'm a tad taller than you...lol...i'm 5'9"

almeeker ~ people are strange i don't think all want to see us fail though there are those that certainly do. i have a couple of people at work that if they think i get to thin say something, but they do it in such a sweet way...lol. one is old enough to be my Dad & he worries about me being a single mom etc. so if i loose weight he always nicely says he's worried that i'm not healthy (which i am) he just does it in such a sweet manner that i can't be mad at him.

wow lots of posts to try to catch up on. sorry if i missed anyone.

for the rest of the week my only goal is going to be jot down thoughts before i eat somethng. or if i want to eat something. that is it. it worked really well yesterday. i know it sounds like extra work & it is, but instead of running to get food i'm getting in touch as to why i want the food & if it is my snack/meal time i eat it. with each entry if i'm making the right 'choice' or 'keeping with what will get me to my goal' then i give myself a red star...lol. Here is an example of two little entries yesterday:
~ 2:22 pm wanting something sweet! not giving in!
~ 2:54 pm afternoon snack :) Healthy stuff. only goal food for me
corny i know but it makes me think & breaks the cycle.

Thanks everyone for the warm wishes and prayers for Chloe'. :D

behaze~ how's P90X going?

MollySue~ I hope you end up liking the low carn diet. I feel really good (clean) on it.

wildbeanerz~ a family history of bad health is a hard cycle to break, but it can be done. Focus on turning some of your goal answers to "Yes" and it'll fall into place. Good luck.

quinn, and cassie~ nope you can't watch. ;) When I go on an eating rampage it would probably make y'all sick. The amount of junk I can put away is crazy. Have y'all ever head of Furious Pete? (I bet someone is going to google him). He went from battling anorexia (almost dieing) to a 180* turn! He's now a competetive eater and gym rat. If you want to see someone put away crazy amounts of food, check out his videos.

almeeker~ thanks! It may be a while before i can get it checked out. Once I get my taxes paid and I have room to breathe I'm going to get her taken care of. She's battled worse when she was a baby, so she's a pretty strong gal.

yunalee, good job on avoiding the fast food. How much longer of your 30 days do you have?

quinn (again)~ I know how excuses can get, that was the reason for my "Hey Fattie" thread. Have you ever read it?

Terri~ Thanks. Doing P90X got me use to cranking out pushups, but I still struggle.

mike ~ cyber ((hugs)) for chloe. i thought that 'hey fattie' thread was great. i would read it. it is crazy the excuses we tell ourselves.

Mike - I have a Chloe too. I hope that you are able to get it taken care of before it becomes serious. My old guy Bones (boxer) had an interdigital (between the toes) cyst removed once. He was a big guy at 107 lbs and he was pretty well healed up from in it about a week. Hope Chloe heals up fast too!

Thanks for the encouragement. This is the first week that I put goals in writing and didn't even think that I would have to mark NO beside them but it is also a crazy hectic week so I guess as long as I am still doing what I need to and not going hog wild eating it will work out. You are so right though that overcoming a family history is tough. When I was a kid my mom was not the mother of the year. Probably why we don't even talk now or for the past 7 yrs :( but anyway....when we would be hungry she would just give us money to go to the store and get what we wanted. Chips, soda, penny candies, hoagies (sandwiches), nachos, pizza, anything that we wanted. It is very hard to overcome that.


All of you with the people in your families that seem to 'like the attention'. Yeah, I have one of those too. It's my MIL. She has had 5-6 stents, 2 or 3 heart attacks, weighs close to 400 (my guess) and is only 5'2", diabetic, neuropathy, on insulin, pain meds, heart meds, blood thinners, etc etc. And she stays at home on the computer 90% of the time. The only times she goes out are to the dr or to help with cub scouts. She does volunteer with them. But she doesn't even come to our house but maybe a time or two a year because we have steps. My kids love her but they know how unhealthy that she is. And that breaks my heart.

Thursday Report Card:

Health & Fitness Goals

1. Keep calories to 1,400 M-T-W-T-Sat, 1,650 F-Sun. 1,546, 1,372, 1,392, 1,943
2. No grain based carbs for the entire week, including corn! Success, Success, Success, Success
3. Exercise 6 hours. 48 min, 48 min, 63 min, 48 min (total 3:27)
4. 96 oz water. YES, YES, YES, YES
5. Carbs under 45%. 34%, 43%, 40%, 45%
6. Protein over 40%. 44%, 40%, 40%, 20%

Other Stuff

7. Call SIL and find another race, 5/14/11 is not going to work out. NO, NO, NO, NO
8. Clean 2 rooms (15 min each) + 1 load of laundry. NO, YES and caught up for yesterday as well. 2 out of 3, NO
9. Figure out basement shelving layout. NO, NO, NO, NO
10. Write library proposal. NO, NO, NO, NO
11. Work on church design 2 hours (or more). NO, NO, NO, NO

Well yesterday totally didn't go as planned. There was a tiny bit of an ice storm, and when I say "tiny" I mean it coated the windshield a little, but the sidewalk and trees didn't seem to have anything on them. So the idiots that run the school district called it off for weather. So instead of having 2 little ones at home, I had 2 little ones and 4 bigger ones. So being the mom that I am, we went on an adventure, okay we ran errands and then I took the kids out for lunch at Chuck E. Cheese. They love it and truthfully the salad bar there is awesome. The grain-free thing is working so well that I wasn't even tempted to dive in to the pizza. Which is totally new for me. Things did get out of hand with the balsamic vinaigrette dressing on the salad bar, but considering how much I've eaten there before, 300 calories worth of dressing is almost a "win". I weighed up .8 pounds this morning, but it could be sodium, there was no nutritional information on the dressing, nor on the CEC website, so I really don't know how many calories or fat was in that dressing (but man is it good).

So today I had a much higher carb breakfast than I've been having. It's actually because I'm out of almond milk and used creamer in my coffee, I think anyway. So today I'm back to "feel like I'm starving" mode and have had cravings all morning. My proteins are low today so I've been trying to stem the binge feeling with Laughing cow cheese wedges and boiled eggs, but so far that's only taking the edge off. AF is due any second, so it could be that I just have to wait it out.

Yeah, If you want to try, should look nake every morning instead of night (B/c at night we tend to look bigger after a day of eating). At least that what I see in myself.
Mai

almeeker ~ sounds like you did pretty good at chuck e cheese yesterday. today will pass...lol. do you have any fish or even canned tuna at home? i find that fish has a good carries a lot of protein power. mmmm tuna salad for me for lunch...lol. keep strong you can do it.

Stacey, glad you're feeling better. Although your description at "better" still sounds pretty intense. Hope you keep improving and feel well enough to enjoy the weekend.

So, I need to do an accountability post. I've been sitting here for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to log lunch. Tried a new restaurant with a new friend and we ended up with an appetizer (some Italian tomato-cheese-garlic-vodka dip thingy) I have no idea how to log. I've been googling to try to find something similar and no go.

For a while now I've been toying with the idea of not logging a day or two here and there but it's been like a security blanket for me and I haven't been able to let it go. Not so much the calories but the macros and the other info as well (fiber, fat breakdown, micros sometimes). I feel mildly anxious when I don't; it's such a habit now and it's worked for so long. Today may have to be the day to not fill in the food journal.

In the past, I've only done this on vacations and days when I was "off the chain," as they say here in the south. Therefore, I'm posting to help me stay on track and put it out there, and I'll check back in tonight with how the rest of the day went.

BTW, if Richard Simmons shows up in my mirror, I'm going out the window, naked or not. That's like those creepy commercials where the person wakes up with the Burger King in his bed :eek:

Cassie, I know what you mean about not being able to log what you ate while you were out. Hubby & I went for chinese for lunch Monday and it was buffet so a little bit of this and that from everywhere. Who could log that? Not me! :) So I just bit the bullet and made a custom food and called it chinese buffet and charged myself for 2500 calories. That way I figured I probably at least overshot what I really ate. May not have been the best solution though.

I don't think you have to worry about Richard Simmons, even if he did show up it's not like he'd hit on you or anything. Now maybe Mike on the other hand...

On those calories, you can either just guesstimate it, or forget it, I sometimes just guess by entering what the ingredients might have been and approx how much I ate of it (sounds really yummy BTW). Either way it's a done deal, you ate it and it's over with. It's also Friday and maybe you just give yourself a break because it's nearly the weekend.