Tracy---you are a very diet wise woman. So many things you said in the last above post are so true.

About the protein issue. I've started drinking the new Special K protien shakes. They are 10 grams of protein and 5grams of fiber. There are three favors: Choc. Van and Strawberry. I've only tried the Choc and Van. And they are really very good. Like most I have a hard time with breakfast. I get to work most days at 6am (not hungry that early) so about 730am I drink one and it suites me just fine for several hours.

I also agree with what Tracy said about not completely eliminating certain foods. Unless you have some hellish will-power you will over-indulge at some point.

Well, I gotta get back to decorating or my dd will get fussy with me

Have a super Saturday everyone...

Renee, how about popcorn? As Margie mentioned earlier it is a good snack, low calories (okay after you leave the movie butter off) and it is a good source of fiber, which makes you feel fuller longer.

I also like cheese sticks and boiled eggs for a snack when I'm not in the mood for fruit.

Kat, I've read many different books on diets and have taken from them as well as what works for me. I've been doing this on and off for three years. I've just gotta find the mojo to stick with it.

Don't forget beans are a good source of protein. I recently made a hummus using the white kidney beans, I can't think of how to spell the name they are called. A friend was telling me, while it sounds weird it is good on bagels, so that could be an breakfast option. If you make the hummus (real easy) you can control the ingredients too.

Next week I really, really, really have to work on eating breakfast. I have only managed that once this week. I know that is one of my biggest problems. When I don't eat breakfast it affects me eating the rest of the day.

I'm working on some crochet projects so that is helping me from snacking alot. That is a plus at least.

Happy Saturday everyone!!

Hi everyone! My name's Melissa and I'm back on the diet wagon...again! I re-started last Tuesday and so far I've done pretty good. I had lost 1 1/2 pounds but this morning I had gained 1/2 a pound. I didn't let it freak me out and I stuck to watching my calories. If I don't lose tomorrow I'll really have a hard time being 'good'. I've been fighting my weight ever since 4th grade, and I'm 46 now! I'm 5'8" and weigh 211.5. My first goal is to get below 200, again.

TexasSugar - have you thought about making a low cal bagel sandwich at night, wrapping it up, putting it in the fridge for breakfast the next day? . I can eat fruit for a sweet fix. Or a Hershey's with almonds. Or those new coconut M&M's. Ok, I'm off to fix some broccoli and a salad. Then it's popcorn for a snack!

I hope everyone has a great night and a fabulous Sunday!

Oh yeah, that 25 degrees sounds so nice to me - it's a little toasty here in Orlando!

Melissa

I totally feel ya on the toasty. It has been in the mid 90's this week here. Yesterday heard how the temp actually felt like it was 100+, and oh the humidity!!

A bagel sandwich is a good idea. See while I like them I wouldn't have thought about that, go figure. I think bagel and I think spreads on them. Hehe.

Be careful about weighing often. The best thing to do is step on the scale once a week. Because our weight goes up through out the day and goes up and down during the week. If you eat more salt one night, your body is going to retain water and you will weigh more. If you don't drink enough water your body can retain water as well. There are alot of things that factor into your weigh at any given time.

I'm off to go figure out what I am eating for dinner. It is a toss up between an omelet and veggies with pasta. Hmmm.

I wish I could only weigh once a week. I have to have that daily accountablity. But I also know how unreliable those daily weigh-ins are. And I live and die by the scale. I am trying to really only count the 'one week later' total.
I've never had such a hard time losing weight - when I've really stuck with it! I'm afraid that after so many years and so many diets, I've messed up my metabolism. I'll just keep trying!
What I'm really concered about my 9 year old daughter. I can see her going down the same path I have and I don't want that. But I don't want to make the way she looks overly important. I try to stress being healthy and not make it a weight thing. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
I hope everyone has a great Sunday afternoon - I'm off to eat my Healthy Choice lunch - yum, yum!

Melissa

Hi Melissa...glad you joined us. You brought up metabolism and it got me to thinking. What really works with and against your metabolism? Are there certain foods, working out, what??? You hear all this stuff about this pill, liquid, drink etc will increase your metabolism, blah, blah, blah...I bet Tracy will know something about it. I think I will google it too.

Tracy---when I think about a bagel the very next thought is cream cheese. Gawd, I could eat the stuff by the spoonfuls!!!

I had such a terrible time with temptation today, but I stood strong. I'm working a ton of hours now so I always in the store and bakery. Help me, I'm surrounded by food, hahaha!!! I ate some greens beans for lunch and drank about a gallon of green tea. It's hot as heck here too.

Hope veryone os having a fabulous Sunday...

Kat, I'll have to do my research on metabolism as well. I know there are always things out there that helps boost it and things that slow it down, but I'm not totally sure which do what.

I also think cream cheese when I think of bagels. I try avoiding that one cause I love cream cheese. I have learned that jelly (sugar free) is good on them as well. I'm gonna have to do a breakfast sandwich this week though.

Mellisa, have you been to the dr lately? If it is hard to get weight off, you may want to talk to your doctor and see if it is your thyroid or another issues that is working against you.

Have you tried ways of accountability other than the scale? Remember those are just numbers and sometimes we get rapped up in those numbers. I do caution about weighing over day because alot of us are emotional eaters and not seeing the scale move can make us frustrated along with other things and have us seeking food.

One way to help keep yourself accountable (other than the use of these group) is to start a food and exercise journal. Seeing what you eat every day and how much you did or didn't work out helps us realize just what we are doing to our bodies.

When it comes to kids, we forget how much things we do affect them and how they look at themselves.

I have a family member (not close) that I'm almost positive has an eating disorder. She is very much into the numbers on the scale and was talking about how her daughter who is 2-3 years old now ways her self cause she see's momma doing it every day.

I also have a friend that knows she eats emotional and noticed that her son was doing it too. Plus she realized that she would give her son food when he was upset.

You don't want to teach your daughter that she has to be a certain number on a scale, but rather she should be healthy. To do this, teach her about healthy eating, serving sizes and that is it okay to eat 'bad' things as long as we do them in moderation. Also help her find an outlet for her feelings. Teach her other things to do besides 'feeding her emotions."

To do that though, you have to find a middle ground. You can't do it in such a way that makes her think about food all the time, because that leads to unhealthy habits. Instead you have to practice what you preach. You have to teach her to cook using healthy foods, you have to give her fruits and veggies instead of cookies and snack cakes. It doesn't mean she can't ever have the sugary goodies, but that she doesn't have to have them daily.

Show her that exercise can be fun, yeah I know we are all still trying to find the fun it in. But you do want to figure out something fun that she likes and enjoys that gets her up and moving. Is she into sports? What about some swim lessons over the summer? Or even the two of you taking a walk in the evenings together.

Don't use the word diet in your vocabulary, especially with her. Diets make us think we have a list of 20 items we can eat, and if we eat anything that isn't on the list we are going to gain weight and fail. Diets aren't realistic enough to keep doing for the rest of your life. I mean can we really at only grapefruit, or only cabbage or only prepared meals for the rest of our lives?

Real eating is about portion control, which takes reprogramming, cutting back on bad for us foods and remembering that we have to burn the calories we put in her body not to gain weight.

We went to the store today, so I stocked up on more fruits and got some more almonds and cheese sticks for snack. My dad offered me a Starbucks coffee today and I got one, but I only drank a 1/4th of it. Shhh don't tell him that. I didn't eat near enough food today either, one meal and a few grapes.

I baby sit tomorrow, so I know I will get breakfast for once, at least that is a positive way to start the week.

Welcome Melissa!

I'm enjoying reading all the snack and eating threads here!! I usually have a meal replacement shake for breakfast. I buy them at the nutrition supplement store in a huge container and find that if I have that along with some unsalted almonds, I am good until my morning snack around 10am!

One thing that helps you burn calories/increase metabolism is having some good lean muscle mass. When you have muscle mass your body burns more calories in resting state. I would skip the bicep curls but try things like squats, lunges, planks, sit ups, wall sits, push ups (even from the wall), etc. These strengthen your large muscle groups and core!

I use an exercise journal but really should have a food journal too. I'm so good at just not writing down the crap i eat though. It is hard to be accountable when I pretend I didn't just eat 2 hand fulls of chocolate chips.

Melissa, I think that you need to live by example for your daughter. My children don't see me weighing myself or consuming excessive crappy food. We all have our treats on a Friday night, but she knows the difference between healthy and junk food. She knows that "sugar is poison for the body." We make a point to keep our kids active, we play softball and soccer with them and take them swimming. They wait for us at the finish line at road races, and they love their fruits and veggies! When we grocery shop and they select a junk food item, I show them the nutritional label and why it isn't a good choice. If they do buy a junk food item, they know it is junk and why, and we only buy small portions of it....

I really feel that leading by example is the only way kids can see that healthy living is good living!! You are in control of her still at this age, you can control her activity level, her time in front of tv and video games, and her food intake! Instead of a video game, go for a swim!!

Okay, off to work for the day... To start off my week I am down to 171 lbs, that is 3.6 lbs down from last Mondays weigh in, a great start to a great week! Then on Saturday I have a 10K road race.

Hello everyone!
Thanks for all of the advice and encouragement. I am keeping a food journal - it's amazing how much a deterent it is when you know you have to write down that you just ate candy or cake for lunch! Or worse after that nice healthy salad!
I know that weighing every day is NOT a good idea. It's not a true reflection on how healthy you are, or how big your body is. I just can't help myself! I'm going to try not to weigh in the morning - you guys say a prayer for me. And I do go to the gym as often as I can. It seems like my schedule has been VERY packed lately. And just when I had some free time to go my DH car broke and he had to use my van! I know, just excuses. When I do go I love the weight machine, I really want to be strong. And I know how important having strong muscles is to a healthy body - the support and protection it gives you.
I took some of y'alls advice and I've done some squats and lunges today. I also did 50 wall pushups this morning. Then I did some cleaning over at my Mom's house -while we waited for the AC guy to fix her air! Do I get extra points for cleaning an un-airconditioned house in Florida in the middle of June!?
I was going to go on a bike ride with my daughter, but it's started clouding up. If I can get my oldest to pump up the tires on my bike I'll go at least around the neighborhood with her. It's funny, she is my most athletic child. She can run faster than any of the rest. She likes to be outside. I am trying to teach her about eating healthy. Whenever she talks about going on a diet I tell her that she doesn't need to diet we all need to learn to eat healthier. I try not to have many snacks in the house. And I think that she doesn't do too bad. She's just like her Momma - she likes to eat! She really does like alot of healthy foods.I just have to keep trying to set a good example for her.
Thanks for all of your help and support. I'm off to do some more squats and lunges!

Melissa

I forgot to ask this - how do y'all keep your grocery bills down ? All the good stuff is more expensive than the garbage! I do have a produce market that has some stuff a little cheaper but not much. I try to really watch the sales. But buying healthy for a family our size (we have 7 kids and our oldest's girlfriend is living with us right now, that's a good thing) is really expensive. Any tips?

Also, does anyone know how many calories are in natural peanut butter?

Thanks for ALL your help!
Melissa

Good evening Ladies...I just can't tell ya'll how happy I am I joined this group. Reading thru the wealth of information and hearing others ups and even downs is so good for me. Like I said in the beginning the whole chunky world is new to me so I love the extra support. {{{{hugs to ya'll}}}}

I too think we are the living examples for our children. Even though some likes and dislikes may vary a healthy eating concept as a whole is our responsiblilty to instill in them.

Melissa---I give you 100 points for that cleaning. It's hot here in Mississippi with the a/c so I know it's awful in FL without one.

I certainly can offer NO advice whatsoever with the grocery bills. I manage the bakery in a small town, family owned grocery store AND my boyfriend/fiance (whatever he is...whole another story) is the general manager so I'm screwed either way...we spend WAY TOO MUCH MONEY ON FOOD!!!

But, yes I think the healthier is a little more expensive but you have to look at it like this...eat healthier, stay healthier, stay away from all the problems that come with being over-weight and certainly over the long run you save money, right???

Calories in natural peanut butter...are you making it or is it purchased?

Hello everyone!

Kylkat - the peanut butter is purchased at Publix, but they have a grinder and grind it right there. So I know that it's fresh and without anything added to it. And I bet it's just as hot and humid in Mississippi as it is here. Usually our afternoon thunderstorms cool us off some. But they've been MIA for a while now. I love a good storm! Even after going through hurricane Charlie a few years ago!

I just remembered a snack I loved many years ago - I would take a piece of diet bread, pop it in the toaster, when it was done I would slice it in half - so you have two 'whole' pieces of toast (do you know what I mean? Sliced through the center of the bread, so you have two pieces with one side of each toasted and then the soft center). Anyway, then I would take a slice of cheese and put it between the pieces of toast. It's great! Very satisfying ... crunchy, savory, and very low cal! It's a shame that it's so late right now. Iknow what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow! Oh rats, I just remembered our toaster broke. I hate to heat up the oven for one piece of bread!

I agree with Kylkat - I am so thankful that I found this group. I feel very comfortable here and truly appreciate all of the help and support. Thanks for listening to me ramble on!

Hope everyone has a great night and a fantastic Tuesday!

Melissa

Melissa, I know exactly what you mean! I've shopped for fruit & veges 3 times in the last 10 days!

I try to cut back expenses in other areas, like buying less soda, and drinking water instead, cheaper toilet paper, shampoo etc. With a family of 8, you're probably already doing that though!

I know it's a pain to make two meals, but things like rice and pasta are usually pretty cheap here, maybe you could do stir fries or vege pastas and eat lots of the veges yourself, and bulk up the family's plates with brown rice or wholemeal pasta. If they're not overweight, you don't need to be quite as strict about calories, and those are still really healthy.

Also, frozen veges are better for vitamins usually, because they've been frozen right after picking, and can be cheaper if you buy the shop-brand variety, especially if they're on sale.

You might have thought of all this already, but there are the things that help me.

TexasSugar - thanks for the popcorn idea - I even had some in the cupboard!

Hope all are having a good week - I've been eating well, and walked straight past the chocolate aisle today! Good for me.

I don't know about how many calories are in natural peanut butter, but I loveeeeee peanut butter! I only buy the natural made stuff and limit myself to a 2 Tablespoon a day maximum! It is so much better for you than the non-natural as the processing to make that peanut butter removes the "Good fats" and adds saturated/trans fats as well as sugar to make it more stable and have a longer shelf life!!

I am taking my new running partner for a test run today! lol! A girl at work is getting back to running after a calf injury so we are going to run 12K at lunch time. It will be good to have somebody to give me that push and motivation!! The woman I used to run with wouldn't run unless she was with me, so while I was running regularly and she was only running once a week she slowed down significantly and couldn't up her distance... There are no hard feelings between us, but I just couldn't run with her anymore...

Good morning all!

It's going to be such a great day! You know how you have the feeling that it's going to be such a wonderful day and it turns out to be the worst day ever!? But I'm counting on this being a good day. At least this morning has been good. I've done wall push-ups, squats and lunges. And I'm drinking lots of water. I get to go over to my Mom's again this morning and help clean out her kitchen cabinets, fun, fun!! But there will be lots of stretching, lifting and up and down the step stool! Who needs the gym! I lost about an 1/8th of a lb. yesterday - I know, I wasn't supposed to weigh. But I was already on the scale looking at the numbers before I remembered! I'm really happy. I've stuck with this for a week and I actually lost weight!

I'm thinking about getting the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. I want my kids to help pick out recipes and help prepare them. I think that will be really good for them. It's hard for me to let anyone in the kitchen - that's my territory! But I want them to learn about nutrition, how to cook and what goes into planning a healthy meal - or any meal!

I hope that everyone has a great, healthy day!

Melissa

Mellisa, I dare you to get your hubby to hide the scale for a week. HeHe.

Cooking healthy can get expensive, but as Kat said in the long run it will save money. I bet all those fruits and veggies are much cheaper than a heart surgery or insulin for the rest of our lives.

If you are cutting out buying a lot of cookies and bad for ya stuff, you will save a little money that way. A money saver for chicken I mentioned earlier is to buy chicken breasts in bulk and cut them in half. You get twice the amount of chicken out of the package.

Buy foods with more fiber in them. Whole grains take longer to digest so you feel fuller for a longer period of time. Which means you don't have to turn around and eat again a little while later. Apples are also a good source fiber.

Beans are a good source of protein, you can base a meal around beans as the protein source and save money on meat for that night.

Also watch portions. Don't starve everyone, but sometimes we just fix more food than we really need. Me and my mom cooked for 5 for years. When you scale back to cooking for 2 or 3 we found we were still really cooking for 5. Now we are paying more attention to cooking less and then we eat less as a result.

Do you have a farmers market near ya? Sometimes you can get better, fresher veggies there a lot cheaper than you can get them at the grocery stores.

Eating is going well for me. Lunch today was a chicken sandwich (home cooked) and a non mayo based cole slaw. I'll share the recipe with ya'll since it is full of veggies and is refreshing. My dad was saying today that he doesn't think he can eat the sweet coleslaw again. This is the third time I have made it, and everyone that has had it has raved.

http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/2009/04/confetti-coleslaw.html

I have used regular and red cabbage, as well as white and red onions and a variety of bell peppers. I also cut the apples up a little smaller. It is pretty quick to make too. I've chopped up all the veggies the night before I needed it and stored them in ziplock bags, mixing the apples with the dressing and just mixed them together when i was ready. You can make it ahead of time, but do know if you mix the dressing with the red cabbage it will start to bleed and your apples with get purple looking. Doesn't affect the taste, but I try to wait until an hour or so before I needed it to mix it the last time I did it when I wanted nice presentation.

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday.

And Mellisa you get tons of points for all that cleaning. It is a great calorie burner!

Good evening Ladies...I started out today doing pretty good. I had a bagel with low-fat cream cheese, only about 2 tsp on it. Then had a tomato sandwhich with mustard only for lunch...BUT then for supper we had tacos, ugh!!!

The meat was ground round, well rinsed and fast rinsed with hot water. The cheese was 2% and I ate it on a soft shell tort with lots of lettuce and tomato. So actually it could have been alot worse.

What I found about natural peanut butter is this: per tbsp 100 cals, 8.0 grams fat, 1.5 grams sat fat, 3mg sodium, 3 grams carbohydrates, 1.0 gram fiber, 1.0 gram sugar and 5 grams protein.

I wish we had one of those peanut butter grinders at our store...I too love me some peanut butter!!!

I'm settling down to watch Jurassic Park so I gotta find a healthy something to snack on.

Hey everyone!

KylKat - thanks for the info on the peanut butter. I just compared it to regular p.b. and it's about the same. I was really shocked. I still feel like I'm eating something better.

TexasSugar - we have one of those big old doctor's scales (I LOVE it!), so I don't think my hubby is going to want to drag it around the house and try to hide it from me! If I 'have' to weigh every day I'm just going to have to accept that my weight is going to fluctuate.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I stuck to my plan and I'm trying to get more exercise in. I know I need to get more aerobic exercise in. I'm thinking about dropping my gym membership. It seems like I never have time to go. I know that it's only $10.00 a month. But if I'm not using it, is it worth it? I can exercise at home. I would like to try one of those Tony Little Gazelles, I'm wondering if that would be good for Callie (my daughter) and I. It gets SO hot that I can't bike or wawlk during the day. And if you wait till evening you run into storms and/or mosquitos! Those are pretty good excuses, aren't they!?!

I had a great weigh in this morning - I'm down a total of 2 1/4 lbs since last Tuesday!!

I hope that everyone has a great, focused, HEALTHY day. And we all make really good choices in every area!

Melissa

Kat, I think you still did great. Cheese in moderation is good, it is calcium and protein. Next time you can always mix in some black beans to the meat, so you eat less meat and still get a lot of protein.

Remember while we all want to cut calories it isn't about eating as few as we can, we still need to try to get at least 1200 a day. As my mom is fond of saying... "I still have to eat!"

Melissa, peanut butter, natural or not is going to be high in calories because it is high in fat, even though it is good for you fat.

According to this Calorie counter website 1 oz of raw peanuts contain 161 calories. 1 cup of raw peanuts contains 828 calories. So even if they aren't adding anything else to it, the peanuts are still a (good for you in moderation) high calorie food.

Congrats on the weight in and lose. If you are totally comfortable weighing ever day and are not letting it get you done, then keep doing it. I'm mostly picking on you about it. I can step on the scale at any time of day and it doesn't send me into the kitchen eating.

I was reading in the WW magazine last night, picked it up to see what it was about, that this girl had issues with weighing in and eating. She said she would weigh in on Saturdays if she lost she'd eat chocolate, if she didn't she'd head to the kitchen to find something to eat. Those are the ones that worry me when it comes to weighing every day. Since most of us are emotional eaters and it is emotional to step on the scale and not see smaller numbers when you have been working hard through out the week.

As far as the gym membership if you feel the money can be spent in other places and you aren't finding the time to go, then I'd probably stop going myself. Of course this is from the girl that isn't ready for the gym yet. You can get yourself a set of hand weights and some work out videos that you can pop in when you have a moment. I have several ones that are 10 min work outs. There are 5 work outs on the videos and you can pick how many of them you have time for at that moment.

For fat burning you do need to make sure you are getting in some cardio. Either aerobics or something else that is getting your heart rate up. While muscles help burn calories in the long run, cardio is what is going to help melt off the fat off.

We have a treadmill and if you walk fast enough on it, it does get the heart up and it has helped me in the past burn the calories and lose weight. Every time I have lost weight it has been because I was walking on it.

Don't forget turning the stereo up and getting the kids to dance around the living room can burn calories too.

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

So far my week is going well. I could be doing more, but I'm doing something rather than nothing for once. I have 6 weeks from yesterday until I leave to go to the ICES convention. I can so lose some weight before then.

TexasSugar,

I know you're just pickin' at me about the scale! And I know that I really shouldn't weigh everyday - I think I said it before, I live and die by the scale. I can tell myself that our weight flutuates so much that a daily weight is not an accurate account of what our bodies are doing. If I'm being 'good' I can handle a weight gain for one day, maybe two. But if it goes much beyond that I give up. And then I beat myself up about it. And go eat something. I am definetly an emotional eater. I am going to try really hard not to weigh tomorrow. I expect my weight to be up tomorrow, not for any reason other than I've lost quite a bit in the past couple of days. We'll see. Maybe I can convince myself that I have to stick with it for my kids. Not just to be a good example but to be healthy to stay with them. You have no idea how much I appreciate all of the support and advice everyone has given. This group is such a blessing.

So where is the ICES convention? And when is it?

Thanks,
Melissa

Mellisa, next time you get mean numbers on the scale instead of heading to the kitchen, head to the computer and come tell us how you feel. We can all understand since we have all seen those numbers going up and down. We can also help give you the support to get over the hump.

Remember it isn't just about a day or two, a week or two, or even a month or two, this is a life time commitment. What we do now is what we have to keep doing, or we will gain the weight back. That is why I am against diet plans that help you lose weight quickly but aren't realistic enough to keep doing for the rest of our lives.

The ICES convention is in St Charles, IL this year. The dates for it are July 30 - August 2. You can find out more information about it at ices09.org.

Hello Ladies. I think I have done pretty well today except I missed breakfast. When I got to work (late) 7:15 my bff was on the floor in the middle of a seizure. To make a very long story short, the seizures started about 2 months ago and have gotten more freq. and worse. She has an appt with the nero next Thursday to find out what the heck is going on. It was very scary in the beginning, and not to sound like it's not a big deal, we have just gotten use to the onset signs and how to handle it.

Her mother has seizures also and manages them with meds. I'm sure you all know you have to be referred to a specialist. So that has been the wait for the nero appt. Her appt was still 3 weeks away but I made a call and got that changed to the soonest possible appt being next Thursday.

So,,,after all that I had to try and get thru some paperwork and ate a salad with my fav reduced calorie and low fat Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing with 2 grilled chicken tenders and some 2% shredded cheese.

On to supper...I made some homemade salsa to go with my Baked Tostitos and made some Texas Pinto Beans. All recipes I found on AllRecipes.com All very low fat but pretty healthy. I told ya'll I love Mexican (spicy) food so I figure I will just adapt and still eat some things I like just in a different fashion. I hope my local Mexican Rest is able to pay their bills without my weekly visits to them

Okay one problem I seem to be having is simply no time to work out. I am averaging 70-80 hours a week at work right now and I'm just to tired and worn out. I know this wont last forever. As soon as I can hire another decorator I can cut back some and have more time. Is this just an excuse? I guess I could get up alittle earlier and workout then, huh?

Kat, how is your friend doing??

As far as the working out, I don't have the excuse of work that many hours to keep me from it. But I can say that walking on the treadmill in a room that doesn't have AC has kept me from doing it, plus the cramping feeling I keep getting on and off in my calf. I know they are excuses since I could walk out there, we do have a fan, but it is just so freaking HOT!! After I get through this weekend I am walking on the treadmill, either in the no AC room or I am gonna figure out a place for it in the house where the AC is on.

If you can talk yourself up out of bed earlier in the morning that is probably better than waiting until the end of the day. And I have heard that it is suppose to help boost your energy through the day.

I've been doing pretty well eating this week, so that is something at least. I'm not snacking during the day, though 10-11:30 pm is a bad time for me. If I do end up going for a snack at that time I'm making it mostly fruits.

Today is my best friends birthday, so tomorrow night we are going out to celebrate. So I know if we go out to eat, I won't eat super great and I know if we go to the bar I will drink. I know this and I am okay with it. Because we all need to allow ourselves to let loose a little. It wasn't one night out to eat and the bar that got me to the weight that I am, it is all of my actions every day from today back to when I was a teen.

I do have to say, I was offered Jack in the Box the other night and instead of getting the Chicken Pita and egg rolls I just got the pita and added left over cole slaw and grapes to it to make a meal. It was hard not to get those egg rolls cause I like them, and know they are good, but I decided since I knew tomorrow will be a bad eating day I could hold off on them this time.

We had minestrone soup and fruit salad for lunch, but have no idea what we are having for dinner tonight. Sigh. Maybe I should start thinking about that.

Hope everyone is doing well and has a great weekend!!

Hey y'all!

TexasSugar - I TOTALLY understand about the heat. It has been miserable here in Florida. And today and tomorrow, the heat index puts it well over 100. I don't do well in the heat - I am much too delicate Congrats on making good decisions about the Jack in the Box food. I'm always so proud of myself when I can say 'no'! It's a rare thing. And thanks for the link and the coleslaw recipe. I am very anxious to try it, it sounds delicious.

I had a great weigh in this morning - I'm down to 209!! That's 3 1/2lbs in 12 days. I am very happy with that. My gym membership is paid for for the next month so I might as well keep it and try to use it. I'm going to try to committ to going everyday this week and see how I feel. What do ya'll think is the best thing to do at the gym? I usually do the eliptical for 30 mins, it burns more calories than anything else. The I do some stuff on the weight machines. The eliptical kicks my butt, so I figure it must be the best thing! I like the bikes or the treamill. But I work harder on the other.

What are ya'lls favorite at home exercises or dvds? I've been doing wall push ups, squats and lunges. I'm trying to make sure I go up and down the stairs a bunch of times. I'm interested in the Mitch Gaylord dvds, I think that's his name. I've only seen them on the tv a couple of times. They are some of those 'core building' exercises. Would that be a good way to go? I want to make good decisions, something that I will stick with.

Thanks for all the help and advice. I hope tht everyone has a great, healthy day!!

Melissa

Melissa I can't help you with the gym since I haven't been. If you do decide to keep going I'd see if there was a trainer that you could talk to to see what you should do and if you are doing things correctly.

I'll have to dig through my links, but I went online and looked up exercises you can do at home, since I'm still scared of the gym. There are many things you can do with out anything at all, and with just a few pieces of equipment you can really do almost everything you can do in the gym.

Just remember that working out isn't about doing the most reps of the exercise. 20-30 perfectly done crunches are going to benefit you a lot more than 200 quickly done ones. When I do them correctly I have to pause at the end of ever set because of the 'burn'. I will so know when you get the crunch done correctly.

We also have to remember we can't spot train areas to burn the fat off them. Doing crunches every day will help build up those ab muscles, but we have to remember that we have a layer of fat over those muscles so until we lose that fat, you won't see those pretty muscles underneath. This is why the cardio is so important.

The elliptical is great cardio. I've got a couple of friends that have them and love them. If I could afford one I'd probably have one too. I do have access to a treadmill since my mom bought a nice new one (after I wore the other one out) and when I use it it really helps me. You can adjust the speed and the incline, and if you play with those while walking fast you can get a pretty good work out. At least my legs and lungs tell me so. It is all about getting that heart rate up.

I've bought work out videos but I'm the worst at actually doing them. I find myself feeling goofy while I am doing them even though no one is around to see it. I think that almost all work out videos out there will help if you do them. I have a pile of them at home, so I know that just having them doesn't help. But if you pop those babies in and do the work out then you will benefit from it because it will get you up and moving. They are designed to get your heart rate up and work your muscles.

We have had temps with the heat index of over 100 already. I kept thinking it hasn't been as hot as it usually is, then I remembered this is the time of year that the heat really picks up and we haven't seen anything yet. We still have 2 more months to see how high the numbers will go. You think it will help 'melt' the pounds off?

I'm watching the repeat of last weeks challenge on Food Network (the Kerry Vincent one) then am seriously considering some shoe shopping before going out tonight. I'm on a hunt for red heels. Do you know how hard it is to find red heels? Apparently this is the wrong season for it, and the few shoes I have found in red either weren't my size or I didn't like.

I'm so ready to go out tonight!! Hope everyone else has a great afternoon and evening!

TexasSugar,

Thanks for all of your help. I'm the same about the workout videos - I thought for sure having them on a shelf by the tv would help me get in shape! And I KNOW I look goofy when I do them, my kids are happy to share that info with me! I love/hate the eliptical. I would like to get one but they are too big. ANd now that I've used a really good one at the gym it would be hard to use one I could afford. I've tried, the difference is amazing.

It was pretty toasty here today. And I agree about it not even being the hottest part of the summer - August is a killer for us.

Good luck on the shoe hunt. I hope that you have a great evening. I'm off to have a burger and oven baked fries!

Oh yeah, I keep missing that challenge with Kerry. Rats! At least I caught the last 10 minutes of it today.

Melissa

Well Ladies, it's hotter than he** here too. And the humidity is just awful!

Maybe the three of us should put all our workout vidoes together and put them on Ebay for some other sucker to buy... haha!!!

Oh, my bff that has the seizures is okay for the time being. She hasn't had another since Wednesday, thank goodness!!!

I've done rather well on my eating the past few days. I weighed Friday a.m. and was at 157 so I'm content with that. You would think standing on my feet an average of 11 hours a day would be some sorta exercise...ugh!!!

Melissa, sorry but I can't really offer any advice in the exercising dept. But I do agree with Texas that the gym should have or know of a trainer that can offer some advice.

Texas---I hope you have a blast tonight!!!

Take care Ladies!!!

Mellisa, I haven't forgotten about the links for you. I'll work on those this afternoon. I was laying in bed yesterday morning thinking about exercises that you can do at home with out any special equipment. Too bad thinking about it doesn't help huh?

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that feels goofy! I think they need to make a work out video using people that are heavier, and we can grunt and breath heavy with them, instead of the skinny mini's that are all happy and cheerful. Then they can re-shoot the video every 4 or so weeks and we can watch them getting skinnier like us. Then when we are having a fat day we can switch back to the heavier version.

I found a pair of shoes, but they are blue not red. I may have to stop the red shoe search. This is the second pair of non red shoes that I have bought since the search began.

Kat, congrats on the good eating! And being content with your weight in.

Saturday night was fun. My friend ended up going shoe shopping with me. Since that ran us later into the evening than we planned we went for appetizers at the bar. We split fried cheese sticks and fried pickles (all they had was fried food.). I did drink but I knew I was going to do that. Over all we had a good time, though the band sucked. We have some weird and interesting people in this town and they keep us entertained at the bar.

Yesterday we did a combo Father's Day and my Mom's Birthday dinner (which is Tuesday). Me and my brothers cooked them dinner, which meant I did 3/4ths of the work, but that is okay. I feel at home in the kitchen. We didn't have the most healthy food, but I'm okay with what I ate. I could have eaten alot more than I did.

While my brothers were here last night I got them to move the treadmill into the house and into the AC. I have no more excuses not to walk. And after lunch today I WILL walk every day!

I weighed in today, and in the last 2 two weeks I have lost 3.3 lbs. I'm happy with that and hope the walking will help kick the lost into gear a little more. That and my working harder to get on a good eating schedule. I have 5 more weeks until I leave for the convention. That's enough time to lose some more.

We were watching Food Detectives on Food Network last night. They tasted the smaller plate vs larger plate and serving sizes. They had a buffet set up and had the pasta dish on a hidden scale and had someone in the back monitoring the scale and writing down the amounts after every serving. The group with the larger plates ate on average 140 more calories. If you do that once a day, that is 15lbs gained every year. I was thinking Hmmm, could really be worth a try. You feel like you are eating more than you are. Will definitely make me think next time I go plate shopping. Bigger is not always better.

I'm off to eat lunch then after it settles me and Rhonda (the treadmill) will get re-introduced. Hope ya'll are having a great Monday and had a good weekend!

Hey Margie, you out there?? I miss you!

Mcaulir, are you still with us? How is the Aussie doing?

Deb and Michelle, how are things going?

Rylan, How are ya doing?

Cakes22, How is WW going?

Jade, How are you?

Hey everyone! Thanks Tracy, I've missed being on here. Congrats on the weight loss.... Sounds like you've got it together. OH yeah, that treadmill will also help a lot. Glad you've got it in a better location now. It's really difficult to work out when you're in a room that is so hot.....
I've done ok. I've kept up pretty much with the walking. Eating could be better thoug. I haven't lost anything but haven't gained either which is really good for me. Usually if I'm not watching what I eat like a hawk, I will gain so I guess the walking has helped with that. It's been a CRAZY few weeks for me. I went to a dermatologist because of a mole that popped up that I thought looked kinda weird. He looked at it and said, it's (called it by name) and said no problem, I'll just cut it off. Found another one and cut that one off too. THEN he looked over my face and said, BUT, we certainly may have a problem here. I had a bump on the side of my nose that he thought was possibly skin cancer. He said that he had to remove it and have it biopsied. I could see the concern in his face. He put the needle in my nose, (OUCH) numbed it and cut it out. I had NO idea how large of an area it was until I got home. It looked AWEFUL!!! I then had to wait almost 2 weeks for the results of the biopsy. I am sooooo happy and relieved that it was nothing. Yep, my nose looks really weird but at least it's not cancer. Anyway, he also took note that I had a break out on my chin and forehead. He said that it was hormones and prescribed a cream for me to put on it. Well, I did as instructed and now my skin is bright red and peeling all over. It itches like crazy and feels tight and drawn up.!!! And to top it all off, I now have more of a break out than before I've been hiding in the house as best I can but I've got jury duty Friday and I'm going nuts trying to figure out how to cover my entire face and nose. I guess in about a year from now, I'll look back on this and laugh but for now it's really pathetic. I'm going to visit my daughter soon in Alabama. I havent seen her in a couple of years. Boy will she be surprised. Oh well, it could be worse right? I am thankful that the biopsy came back ok, so I guess I can put up with everything else going on.
I guess I've talked too much. The lines are going crazy as I'm writing. Can't see what I'm typing. I guess that's my cue to end this
OK, everyone take care and keep up the great work. You guys are really doing great...

Oh Margie... Come here so I can give you a great big hug!! I'm glad the biopsy came back okay. Sorry about the other skin problems. Have you talked to the DR since you started using the cream to see if this is normal or okay? You may be having some kind of reaction to the cream.

On the Jury Duty, have you thought about calling and seeing if you can get a pass? Around here, if you have a trip planned or something else on your scheduled date they will take your name and through it back in the 'pool' and call you back a few months later. You can always try calling up there and explaining to them that you have a skin condition right night and feel you would be more worried about it than paying attention. The worse they can do is say no, you have to come in. And if you have to come in you can always try it again on the sitting judge. Just a thought!