dbrinkley, you sound like such an inspiration. I like your attitude and I've enjoyed reading your posts. keep up the good work.

Hey Diane, If I were you I'd pick one scale to believe in and go as that weight. The lowest one of course :D Your doing a great and that is all that counts really.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with weight loss but it was one of my New Years resolutions. One was to learn Spanish and the other was to learn how to play the banjo!
I just got back from my first banjo lesson. I think I am going to like it, no- LOVE it :) Now to get started on the Spanish........

Hi everyone!

Jen, don't beat yourself up too badly, just get back on track. I haven't been able to allow myself those free meals yet. My reason is because I think I would not be able to stop. One of my co workers had a burger from my favourite burger joint, so I went into his office while he ate and just breathed in the yummy smell of that burger!

I had a salad with chicken and egg whites for dinner, and I am only at 790 calories today! I need to eat more, but at the same time it is weigh in day tomorrow!! Oh what to do!! LOL. I will have a couple tiny clementine oranges later, but not sure what else. I am still low on protein....jez I have a problem getting enough protein. Does anybody else?

[COLOR="Magenta"]Hey everyone! New here & so far im lovin it! I have quite a ways to go, but im takin baby steps. Definetely gonna be makin a major change since i addded up what all i ate, thinknin i was doin good, & was amazed at how much it quickly adds up! Only did 15 min on the treadmill today, weather was icky outside an iwas just really tired from work today. I usually walk with my dog at the park for 45 min to an hour. But tomorrow is a new day![/COLOR] :)

I actually lost more weight! Okay, I got on the scale yesterday afternoon and got really discouraged because I weighed 213 and then had my cake last night and Apple Bees today. I figured I would weigh maybe 214 tonight. But I got on the scale at Publix and weigh 211.5! I can't wait for the weigh in tomorrow! I am stunned. I know my weight loss will slow down but YAY! Inspires me to keep pressing on.

Kathy- I was the same way with the cheat meals! When I would cheat I would lose it. Break the diet... and gain even more weight... BUT having Johnny here to help me and keep me pressing on is the only reason I am still on Track. Just sayin.

Just for a quick update and end to my drama, I went out with Mom tonight, and picked up a new scale. Ironically enough, it was the Biggest Loser scale from Taylor. For just a basic, digital model, that was accurate up to 400 pounds, it was the best price. Sadly enough, it said I weigh 335 :(, so I've been busy adjusting all my stuff, but I think I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing. I've gotten used to eating between 1200-1400 calories a day, and that just means I won't have to adjust as I get smaller.

Since everybody seems to be weighing in on Fridays, I'll just make that my day as well, and keep the measurements on Tuesdays, that way I can have like a mid week check!! ;)

I'd like to give a big HUGE congratulations to everyone for working out so diligently this week so far!! I'm proud of all of you! :D

Well, I'm going to go brush my teeth and curl up with my awesomely gianormous book for a little bit before I go to sleep! I look forward to "seeing" you all here tomorrow, and I KNOW its going to be with excellent news of success!! Good night, everyone!

p.s. To showmenow, thank you for the wonderful words, I would have never in a million years thought of myself as inspirational to anyone. That's inspiring to me!! And highly motivating. You made my night! :D

Hello all;

Hope this comes thru, for some reason I've been unable to quick reply to anyone. It was late but I got my 2 miles on the treadmill for Thursday. Praise the Lord !! I almost didn't make it. All your post are really motivational , I really need that accountabillity or I would have just blown it off tonight, so thanks all. As someone earlier had said congrats on everybody's hard work. We've done good!!

I'm having the same problem. I eat meat but it doesn't seem to be enough protein. I guess maybe I need some cottage cheese or something.

I hate cottage cheese! Plus it is really high in sodium. I know tuna is a great source of protein, but I can't eat that everyday. Chicken I eat often, but it has fat too...as does beef and pork. Nuts too, lotsa fat and calories - although I do eat 11 almonds every day. Ya it is a pain getting the right amount of protein.

Daisy, welcome!!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to tell you all that you guys are amazing. Your posts keep me inspired and the people in this thread are the ones pushing me to keep going at times. Thank you!

I got on the scale this morning and I am down to 211! Which is another .5 lbs from yesterday. I realized just how close I am to my short term goal and it makes me happy. In the next three weeks I need to drop about 3.75 pounds a week... and if I really push myself I think I can do it. I mean, in the past 9 days I dropped 7 pounds... So why can't I drop another 11 in 21 days?

Jen, you are doing awesome!! Keep up the good work, but do me one small favour and if you only manage to lose 2 pounds a week, instead of 3.75 (which is HUGE) don't be discouraged! A 2 pound weight loss a week is considered excellent!!

And after my weight gain during the week - from too much sodium - I am happy to report I did manage a two pound weight loss this week!!! Down to 165.2!!! YAY!! I was so worried.

Today I am meeting with a registered dietician, I am hoping she can help me get my protein intake where it belongs!

Have a great day everyone and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Hello everyone,

"Weigh Day" for me today, and I am down 2 lb this week. Such a good feeling. Thanks to everyone here for helping me to keep motivated! This thread in particular has made a big difference for me.

Welcome Daisy!! :)

Showmenow, Way to go learning Banjo, I think that is great! I play guitar, it is so much fun and becomes an obsession (and as a bonus - one cannot snack while playing a musical instrument!) ;) Funny thing, since I have been on my new healthy eating plan, I don't snack so much in the evenings now. And I have been playing guitar alot more. Grabbing for the guitar instead of food - which is a much healthier habit!! lol

Jen, Don't beat yourself up. We are planning our cheat meals, and we are not just 'free wheeling' anymore with food. It is OK to have a burger and fries every once in awhile, and then get back on track afterwards...which you did...(yay!) :) I know the guilty feelings though, I still have those feelings too. You are doing great! My goal was 2lb/week loss, but I am having trouble with that and am behind. I need to kick it up a notch or two. I want to at least meet my 2lb/week goal.

Doggie, I have a hard time reading on the treadmill for some reason. But yes, having a diversion of some sort sure does help make the time fly!

Diane, Good to know exactly where you are at with your new scale. Don't worry, the numbers will be dropping very soon! :D

Kathie, I find it tough to get my protein up too. Like ChunkyMonkey said, cottage cheese has high protein. I am eating that just about everyday now. I am considering buying some protein powder too; a little concerned with all the additives in it though. Checking out different brands. Please share what you learn about protein from your dietition, I would be very interested in some new ideas on this subject.

Congrats everyone for getting their daily exercise in! Today I walked outside since the weather is good. All the best for the weekend everyone, I know alot of us struggle with eating on the weekends, including me. Hang in there and have a great weekend!

Okey dokey, folkies: I got on my scale this morning, and the official weight in is 332.2. So that's good!

I really really had to talk myself into working out today, and I just finished that. Unfortunately, after all that goading myself into it, I only made it 25 of the 50 minutes-BUGGER!! My gimpy ankle just kind of gave out- first time I've had to cop out on exercise in a long time because of that. Long story short, November '02 I took a nosedive down some stairs moving out of an apartment resulting in a broken leg and a severly dislocated ankle, resulting in some hardware installation and three months of crutches. The leg and the metal aren't so much of a problem as the dislocation ended up being. And as I'm sure many people here know, once you damage a joint, its never quite the same again. The extra weight doesn't help. Extra motivation to get it off, maybe it'll dampen the ugly limp I still carry!! So, to shorten the rambling, I'm a little disappointed I didn't finish, but 25 minutes is better than none!

So I will be taking the weekend off, resting Mr. Gimpy up, and diving right back in on Monday! Anyone have anything fun planned for the weekend? We're supposed to get snow tonight, so I'm really excited about that. Dug up the workboots I use for snowboots and if the 6-12 inches come through like they're predicting I'm dragging Grumpy out to play! :D

Just logging in my workout today; treadmil 50 min. 2.5 miles . Can I count a "HAPPY DANCE" as an activity ?? LOL!!! Today was weigh-in & I'm down 3 WooHoo hence my "HAPPY DANCE"!
Good Luck to all on this HEALTHY journey.

Diane

Sorry about your ankle, I can relate to that. Congrats on doing a workout though. Take care of yourself, & stay strong.

Today was so so day. I did GREAT food intake wise. I drastically reduced my calorie intake by more than half! I mso proud of myself. An if u read my thread earlier, i did NOT eat the donut someone gave me this morning! Very hard thing to do, but i did it! Exercise wise, did not get any workout in today. got off work late, then had to go to the store, that was alota walkin though :rolleyes: then i had to get these girls i babysit few times a week. The weather is freezing & cold, couldnt go out today. And worst of all my best friend moved away today. Very hard on me. Was feelin really down today. Really, really was wantin some chocolate, or comfort foods to 'make me feel better', but i didnt do it! grabbed that apple instead! Hopefully this weekend i can get lotsa needed exercisin in. Hope everyone has a great weekend! :D

So I had my meeting with the dietician today, and she looked over my fit day food diary, my weight loss graph, my macronutrients....and she said I was doing excellent!! Go figure! My fat is a little high because I refuse to give up my morning coffee with cream and sugar...but if you were to take that out of the equation, it is great.

We discussed protein, and she didn't suggest using any supplemental protein, just food protein. She suggested 3 to 4 servings of protein a day, one servings being: 3 oz of meat or poultry or fish, or 3 slices of deli meat, or 1 whole egg, or 11 almonds.

She also suggested when you bake muffins (which I do) to add wheatgerm for extra vitamin E, and ground flax for extra Omega 3...so I did that today, and my muffins taste great!!

She suggested having raw veggies around for snacking on throughout the day. She said most people have a very tough time getting their 5 -10 servings of veggies and fruit a day...and I believe that!! Oh and don't be afraid of fruit, just remember to count it as a carb.

Oh, and try and get 2 teaspoons of olive oil into your diet, uncooked olive oil...us as a dressing, or add it to something you are having. Check labels on salad dressing as they will sometimes have olive oil in them. And when buying prepackaged food, if there are ingredients on the list of ingredients you can't pronounce, DON'T EAT IT!!

It was reassuring to know I have been doing quite well with knowledge I already have!

I would really like to see a Dietitian but I wouldn't know where to look... Not to mention I don't have insurance so I am guessing that that would be mega costly.

I worked out today for 35 minutes and I upped the Cardio intensity so I burned more calories. I did not want to go workout but I know I need to in order to see results.

Kathie- I promise to <<Try>> to not be discouraged if I don't lose 11 pounds by February 18th.

I am waiting for my jeans to start fitting again. Hmm. I wonder how many more pounds I need to lose for them to be comfortable again.

Oh NO!!! I went on a carb overload pigout tonight!! DAMN!! I don't know what happened, except I was starving!!! I ate a cup of whole grain pasta, half a cup of vegetarian baked beans and a muffin!!! Nothing was unhealthy, but whoa, carb overload to the max!! The dietician and I did notice however, that I had eaten less than 1000 calories for 3 days in a row! I didn't even MEAN to undereat, and hadn't really realized that I had, except for last night!! Today's calories are at 1420, but way WAY too many carbs.

Smack me around will ya???? I didn't feel like eating veggies....I just craved the carbs. Why oh why does this happen???

I can only guess that 3 days under 1000 calories made me ravenous, and probably NEED some fuel!! But I should have balanced it out with vegetables, not just pasta and beans.

Lets hope like he11 that I can do better tomorrow!

BEST breakfast
 

Has anyone ever heard of hemp hearts? These little seeds are FANTASTIC!

You can look up their benefits on the internet, but they are said to contain most of your essential nutrients and minerals (including lots of protein!) and give you energy for the full day, and keep you full & satisfied.You can get them from any health food store.

I put about 3 tbsp of hemp hearts, with pulverized flax and sunflower seeds, into yoghurt in the morning on my way out the door. I also like to put in blueberries or raspberries as well. Tastes pretty good, super healthy and really quick and easy!

Hello everyone,

Geesh Kathie...me too. :( Carb overload last night. I did plan for Friday to be my 'cheat night', but I went overboard. Made pizza, and although it was thin crust, I added far too much pepperoni (why the heck did I even buy pepperoni!? I usually make vegetarian pizza.), and too much cheese. I had 4 slices of pizza. Then I proceeded to eat 1/2 a chocolate bar, and then taco chips. :eek: So I tracked every little gory detail. This was how I ate before, all the time - and no wonder I have a weight problem. Calories were well over 3000, 50+% carbs, over 100 g fat. Brilliant.

Dispite feeling positive all day, and some serious 'self-talk', I don't know how I slip into this pig out mode. I am OK with having a cheat meal, and know it is OK to do every once in awhile, but my choices could have been much better. Could be cutting back too much this week, I didn't think of that. Weekends are not a free-for-all-time-to-reward-myself, and I need to drill that into my head! <insert scream here!>

I want this more than anything, to lose weight, to be healthy. Is a moment of pleasure from food worth the guilt and how crappy I feel today both physically and emotionally?? No. Need to do some more soul searching here. Anyways, I am bound and determined to get back on track today, and I will.

Sorry for the rant, thanks for listening/reading...now, moving onwards and downwards this week... :)

PS Kathie, thanks for sharing the info from your dietician, good tips. I bought some ground flax seed last week, it is really tasty with yogurt. mpanchuk, I have seen hemp hearts in the store...will have to give them a try, sounds like they are delicious!

Hemp hearts?? Interesting, I will have to see if they are available in my little town.

Shell....I am so sorry you had one of "those" nights last night. Last night when I looked at my dinner plate I KNEW it was bad, a cup of pasta with sauce, a half cup of baked beans (vegetarian Bush beans...0 fat! YUM!) and 3 or 4 ounces of chicken!! It was a very full plate and I ate every single bit, I am surprised I didn't lick the damn plate!! I had a momentary lapse of reason! Apparently you did too! And I had a bellyache last night after dinner!!

The only saving grace was it was all healthy choices, just way too much.

So I have a suggestion for you regarding the pizza. Why not make individual pizza using a whole wheat tortilla wrap as your crust, use vegetarian pepperoni and all the veggies you want, and use skim milk mozza cheese??? That way you can eat the whole thing without guilt! And it is a very healthy choice!! While it may not taste quite as good as the real thing, while you are dieting it is a delish substitute.

Today I MUST get on the treamill as I have one more workout to meet the 5 workouts a week challenge and today is my last day. I have very sore muscles in my arms from using the hand weights while using the treadmill, but I am not going to stop...no pain, no gain!! LOL!!

I plan to make some split pea soup today, chock full of veggies. Good protein source, low fat (no fat unless you add meat) and very satisfying.

What are the rest of you going to do today to make sure you stay on track, being the weekend and all????

Thanks for the support and suggestions Kathie! And way to go for making decent choices, even if you did overeat a bit, you prepared a good healthy supper. I will make some better choices next time I plan to make pizza. I usually make vegetarian pizza, and thoroughly enjoy it. Not sure why I was craving the fatty, salty pepperoni yesterday?! :rolleyes: I paid the price last night for eating too much - stomach ache, and felt sort of 'hungover' this morning from the junk food, salt and sugar.

I feel much better now, I had a good workout this morning, drank lots of water and am going to have a good sized healthy lunch so that I am not famished by suppertime tonight (we are going out for supper, another challenge!)

Have a great on-track day everyone! :)

I met the 5 x a week workout goal today on the treadmill. I was only doing 10 min. because I was tired, but then another 10, & 10 more by then the movie was getting good & the only place I was going to watch it was from the treadmill so...I had a really good workout.

Kathie, I'm making soup today as well, & drinking lots of water to get thru the week end. Don't forget to post when you get your workout done.

Shell, Congrats on your workouts. Stay strong.

No work out for me today!! My plans just didn't work out at all! I ended up having to go out most of the afternoon, and I realized I had eaten on ONE of my muffins today, which is a mere 102 calories!!! I was woozy and exhausted by the time I got home....from not eating..duh!!! But I just didn't have the energy after that to do a whole lot.

I did laundry and made the homemade soup I had planned to make! Turned out spectaculor!! Man, who the heck ever said healthy food can't be delicious??? Cuz it WAS!!! I have managed to get my calories up to a little over 1000 tonight...I had a whole wheat engish muffin with my soup, one half had a tsp of marg, the other a tbsp of peanut butter (that was dessert!)...followed by an orange some almonds and 2 diabetic chocolates. My veggies were in the soup, by the way!! So overall a good day. I think.

So, I didn't work out tonight but that's because I ended up working from 9:30 this morning until 10 tonight.... without leaving the store. Talk about a LONG shift. Anyhow, My eating was okay... stayed under prob 1500 calories all day... so yay!

Hello - New to this thread
 

Hi there. Been without my laptop for a couple of weeks (in the shop for repair) but started tracking again yesterday. Been about 4 weeks now that I have been trying but the weight is coming off oh so slow - only about 4 pounds although I feel lighter and clothes are fitting differently. Even without tracking I was really watching what I ate. Exercising is not usually a problem - I live in Ontario but for the last 7 years have walked in the early a.m. before life can get in the way, however, two weeks ago I slipped on ice and went down hard and hit my head - still have a black eye from it. So now, depending on the morning, I may use the Gazelle for 1/2 hour - I usually walk an hour but the Gazelle is more boring so 1/2 hour does it for me. For the last couple of weeks have tried to get to the gym for at least one class a day but I do have to start getting there just to do weights, they just don't appeal to me, plus I always wonder if I am doing them correctly. I know that a personal trainer could help with this but who can afford $60.00 an hour?
Jennifer, no wonder you didn't exercise yesterday - that was a long shift. What kind of store do you work in? I'm sure you must have gotten some exercise there as well. Any store I have ever worked in involved stocking shelfs, cleaning etc.

I work at Ross... and Saturdays are our busiest day of the week... NON stop from open till close. Oy. And I walked around a lot!

So, I got on the scale this morning... Couldn't resist... and I'm down another pound! Well, Technically, down another 1.2 lbs... So, I am content. I still need to push myself though... Johnny's and my anniversary is in 18 days... and I need to lose basically 10 pounds in 18 days. IF I don't then I won't beat myself up over it all to much but I will be a little disappointed.

I am now finding it hard to eat 1,500 calories in a day. Like I have to eat and eat and eat.... Well, you get the picture. It's kinda weird how that happens. I had a hard time staying UNDER 1,700 and now I would have to really try hard to eat 1,700. It was like a natural change.

At first I had a hard time with the idea of only losing 2lbs a week... until I thought about it. I am like 209.8 and I want to be 145. If I lose 2 pounds a weeks then in 8 months I will be at my target weight! By my birthday I will be at my target weight! That is EXCITING. 8 months of dieting for a lifetime of health!

Hi Everyone,

Need2lose, Congrats on meeting your 5-day-workout goal, good going!

Daisy, Thanks for the reminder on the snacks while driving. I have a habit of munching while I drive. Need to remember to toss some almonds, granola etc into my purse. Planning is key! Way to go controlling yourself with the chilli portions too. I find measuring helps me too, it's been a real wakeup call actually. I try to guess how much something is, and realize I always underestimate! Learning everyday...

Kathie, Glad your batch of soup turned out great! Yum! :)

Jan, Welcome to the thread! Sorry about your accident! :( I have never used a personal trainer myself, but I did go and inquire one time. Rates are really high. Maybe you could look up some videos on the internet to guide your workout techniques on the weights, or maybe pick up a book?

Jennifer, I think having an active job like you do is really going to help! 2 lb/week is a reasonable goal..it is my goal too (although I am a little bit behind at the moment and am panicing a bit). Kicking it into high gear this week. BTW, I love how pumped you are about doing this! :)


Had a successful night out last night. Had a couple stuffed mushrooms, and a caesar salad, and was satisfied with that. Went to see a band afterwards, and had 3 drinks, vodka/soda/lime, and did not snack at all. I am starting some evening pottery classes this week, so that is going to help me curb the evening snacking.

Today I walked outside for exercise, will get on the mill tomorrow AM. Have a fantastic day everyone!

I kinda broke down and poured myself a HUGE bowl of cereal. I ate less then half and with every bite I thought to myself "this isn't good! DON'T EAT ANOTHER BITE!" My will power was not as strong as my mind wanted it to be. But I looked over and saw an old drink and without hesitating I picked it up and poured it into my cereal... haha. That bowl was un-edible from that point on. So, YAY!

I need to kick my butt into high gear. Seriously.

RE: Calorie requirements on Fitday!
 

hey, everyone..just read through this thread and I have to say WAY TO GO...you are all doing so great! :D
I have used fitday off and on for a few years and one thing I've discovered is that fitday does not add in your sleep time when it calculates calories needed to maintain. You need to go into activities and choose "sleeping" and put in 8 hours (or whatever you sleep each night) and it then adjusts your calories burned each day. I noticed some of you were skeptical about how much it says you burn even when you have sedendary as your daily activity.
Go back and change that to an honest assessment, add your hours slept and it should be about right. Hope this helps.

Hey guys! Just getting caught up on the weekend's posts. I don't spend much time on the computer on the wekeends. I didn't even turn it on this past weekend. Trying to catch up on time with the boyfriend. Gross and sappy, I know, but it is what it is. :)

Sounds like everyone was in pretty good spirits this weekend! I too, had some problems with munching control. We were getting low on food in the kitchen and I was just kind of grabbing whatever was around. I'm having that problem this morning, too. I'm out of all my healthy stuff. We got about 14 inches or so of snow Saturday, which means we didn't make it to the grocery store yesterday. Grady's got a little all wheel Subaru, which is great in the snow, but there was too much of a bank behind it for him to get out of the parking space yesterday. I have a truck, but its a standard cab, which means, two adults and a week's worth of groceries don't fit in it! The bed of my truck is literally filled to the top with snow! Anyway, sorry, he left me some cash and I'm going to pick up a few supplies today. I was waiting till the temps got out of the teens before I ventured out-that's right, I'm a wuss!!

Its back to the exercising this week, too. I'll check back in later when I get it done.

OMG did not do well at all yesterday! I did get on the treadmill for bout 20 min, brisk walkin & joggin, but other than that, it was a lazy day! Ended up goin to my fav restaurant, havent been to in a loong time! So, ya, i went overboard! I thought i was gonnna explode! Sooooo, havent quite got the control on restaurants yet, gotta work on it!

Shell - glad to hear youll try my lite sncks in the car. I run alota errands on weekends also & i been findin it helpful to pack a couple little snack bags of grapes, carrots.. or some healthy snack bars. So mu ch better then pullin into a drive thru for that "quick fix". Hope this idea helps many!

Hopin to get much needed exercise intoday, after my 'little' binge last night! :eek: Weather is still cold n wet, so no outside time,dont gotta babysit, & think my husband will be alitttle late tonight, guess its the good ol treadmill tonight then. o well.. lunch break is over, back to work!

Happy Monday all!! Sounds like most of us need to make a clean start to our week, me included! I also went for the late night bowl of cereal last night! Overkill on the carbs again! I am definitely a carboholic!! I hit 1600 calories yesterday!! Not good!!

No treadmill over the weekend either. Good lord, I sound like an unmotivated loser!! LOL!!
Today I will do better!! And so will all the rest of you! WE CAN DO IT!

But why does it have to be so darn HARD?? I have been at this for a month, and have lost 10 pounds, and I feel like it should be more!! Oh well, all I can do is carry on.....

Kathie, 10 pounds in a month is great! Don't sell yourself short! Remember how hard you worked for each one; you should be proud!

It's really uplifting how all of you are putting the weekend behind you and facing forward...thanks for the motivation. I just got back from lunch with a friend (soup and salad, yay) but now for some reason want to eat everything in sight.

Thanks for the dose of positive attitude...onward and, well, DOWNward (on the scale, that is). Cassie

Kathie- Remember that at your low weight it makes it harder for you to drop weight as fast. But your doing really good! (Seriously!)

I am back on track this morning. I am struggling with my calorie intake. What I should eat for each meal. I don't know what to do. My calorie intake for breakfast is about 350 calories. Which seems a little high.

I'd like to get in on the 5-day workout goal. I just started all this last monday and am very happy to report that I worked out everyday except sat so far. I am bound and determined to stick with this plan of working out and getting healthy! I am doing 30 minutes a day on my gazelle along with walking a few times a week as well as strength training at least 4 days a week. Unfortunately I have been one of those that have only eaten one meal a day for about a year and shut down my metabolism... so now I am getting healthy eating right again!

wow, today did not go as planned at all! Im so dissapointed in myself. Im pretty sure my 'special friend' is bout to visit. Got off work late & it was verrry hectic, & stressful. Just been very emotional today & really missin my best friend, she was my major motivation. Did no exercisin today, the weather is just yucky, did not do my logs & ate like theres no tomorrow! i have fallen off the wagon, been ran over an landed face first into a muddy ponnd! :( I hope tomorrow i can have more control over myself!