Melissa, good luck with the cake! I'd keep it simple and pick a few things and really play those up than add everything he likes and run out of time.

I was down the week I started but was up the week after my period. Our bodies can do funny things during that time, so before you get upset about the gain, just chalk it up to your period and keep plugging along. It will level out again.

thanks texassugar and melissa (good luck on your cakes i got my first "real" cake for this saturday im excited), i think its so hard to get back on a diet once you jump off but im trying to just do simple things like no more soda or sweets in the house and i eat when im bored so im trying to keep myself busy....its funny because i was looking for a new hobby to keep my mind off food and discovered cake decorating...lol but i really enjoy it and even though i have alot to learn i think its gonna be a blast im actually gonna call around tomorrow and see if any local bakery are doing any interships....good luck to everyone on your weight lost journey and just something that i keep in mind when trying to diet is this "even if you slip up and have a bad day(like my chocolate cravings that i must fill) and you feel like giving up, dont, because tomorrows a new day so just try harder and take each day at a time thats what im doing and it worked last time so hopefully it will this time........thanks for making me feel welcome..

HI Everyone,

Im in this with you guys because I need as much support as possible.

My name is Shirley I am 20 years young. I am a college student at Johnson & Wales Uiversity going for my A in Baking & Pastry & B in Food Service Managment. I have alwasy been an over weight child but never the type that looks it. When i turned 16 i started not eating as much but still didnt count calories or stopped the late night food. I was about 170 mind you im 5' 3'. For my prom i was able to go down to 140 in which i was in heaven. I loved it i was wearing supper short shorts and living the Miami life (beach every day & getting a tan) for me to be able to acomplish this weight loss i used to got to the gym 5 to 6 days a week and very strick diet. Well after prom and graduation of h.s. 2008. I got engaged..Whhooo and started school ... Now after tasting everything we made in school and my boyfriend sopposably loving for every im at my highest and feel the most unconfortable ever at 205 pounds. I feel as if allthis weight came on me in 2 days.

I have cloths that dont even zip up and i feel depressed and not attractive at all..

So thats my story.. i have started to go to the gym atleast 3 or 4 times a week but i feel as if its not the same.. I HAVE TO START ALLLL OVER...UGGHH..

So now with all of you here I am going to feel as if i have friends i can come to.. Hope you can feel free to give your opinion..

GOD Bless

Hi Everybody!!

I haven't been on CC for a while and realized how much I have missed in this post!! I am still chugging along in eating well and exercising lots, I am staying below 170 over the past couple of weeks and have resumed weight lifting 3 times a week.

I wasn't always as big as I am now, in university I could only get a ride to school at 6:30am or take the bus later. I used to get a ride and swim 5 days a week. At that point I was about 162 but fit. Thinking back, I ate like crap in university (don't we all?? lol!). After 2 pregnancies, gaining 80 lbs each time, then going back to work, eating crappy food was common and lack of time was my excuse. I've been much better lately and would so love to reach 160 lbs at some point! I have passed my first mini goal, which was either 170 or 165 (can't remember, lol) but am fluctuating between 165 and 170. I feel that I will get to 160 at some point before October... I am still running a lot, I have a 10 mile road race in just 2 weeks and a half marathon in September (eek!!).

My DH is by my side through all this, and he has lost 50 lbs, we are both so proud of eachother and happy that we can be better role models for our beautiful children.

Here is some then and nows about me (June, 2008 vs. NOW!)
JUNE 2008-.........................................-NOW
Weight = 210-...............................................-Weight = 165
Waist circumference = 42-.............................-Waist = 34 (but fluffy, lol!)
Clothing size = 16-18-...................................-Size = 10-12

Welcome to lil_baker_13, AmberG, Pam and Shirley!! I have found this thread a great inspiration and love reading that everybody faces ups, downs, challenges, and the dreaded tight clothes that used to fit so well!

Melissa and Tracy, congrats on the losses!!

Wishing everyone lots of healthy eating will power over the weekend!!!!

Hey everyone. Just got back from vacation. Looks like we have a couple of new chunky monkeys.. WELCOME!!! Congrats on the weight loss, ladies. I on the other hand have been bad, VERY VERY BAD!!!!! I said that I would buckle down once I got back from my trip and now I'm back. Got loads of work to catch up on and then I'm gonna make my way to the grocery store tomorrow or Sunday and get some healthy foods. Honestly, I can't wait to get back on the right path. My daughter took a picture of me on her horse and I about died when I saw it. Dang, I am bout as big as the horse and the horse is pretty darned big!!!!! Gotta make that change and stick with it..... I'm gonna pin that picture on the fridge and if that doesn't make me stick with the plan, nothing will........
OK, gotta run, just thought I would check in and see how everyone is doing. Take care everyone and keep on truckin.......... You're doing great!!!

hey everyone i finished my cake last night around 1:00 and its not perfect but for my first cake i think its alright well just checking in because im about to be headed to that baby shower and my plan is to just have a little piece of cake , hopefully my family wont have all junk food ...anyway everyone keep it up ....

Since I spent two days this week at my mom's. Me and my SIL were helping her clean out junk she doesn't need. Needless to say those were long and emotional days. We took Thursday off since we knew we'd be tired from Wed. I made fondant Tues, and had planned to make the rest Wed. Didn't happen.

Today I finally finished up making fondant. I got to what I thought was the last batch then realized when I made brown on Tues I only made half of what I needed. Thankfully I had enough powder sugar to make it and that is crossed off my list of stuff to do for my display cakes for the convention.

I made some patterns for some piping I will be doing and got two cakes covered in fondant. I spend at least 8 hours in the kitchen today and yet it doesn't seem like I even did anything. I crossed a few things off my to do list, the problem is that list is just VERY LONG. What was I thinking when I decided I wanted to do 3 tiered cakes. Sigh.

Tomorrow I'll be spending another day in the kitchen and am hoping that I will at least have some tiers finished so I can feel like I have accomplished something.

I've promised two days next week to my mom for some more cleaning plus I have class two nights next week. All the other time will be spent on cakes, unless something else comes up.

On the 'diet' front, things have been going okay. Not great but I haven't totally forgot most of the good eating habits I have picked up. I have a feeling that I may have to put losing on hold and just try maintaining until I get back from the trip. Right now I'm too stressed and frazzled to concentrate on too much.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and that things are going well for them.

sounds like u been super busy texas sugar....hope your cake turns out the way you want it and all your hard work is paid off....

sounds like u been super busy texas sugar....hope your cake turns out the way you want it and all your hard work is paid off....

Thanks Peacebear! I was doing well today and plugging along then decided to take a moment and stack them all up before I moved on to another tier and some more piping. I think realized that I grabbed the wrong dummy cake from the pile. One of the cakes is too big for the cake it sits on. Sigh. And I'm not sure I have enough fondant to recover the right sized one.

I so had to get out of the kitchen and take a break. So here I am. Who has M&Ms? Or some nice chocolate ice cream? Sigh...

wow thats not good but at least you found out before you did any more work on it , mayeb you can make that fondant work and have enough, i wish people who order cakes would get on this site and read how much labor and headache goe sinto some cakes and then maybe they wouldnt want you to give them a discount or free cake people just dont realize how time consuming it is....i guess its just the love we have for cake.. i kinda had a bad morning today not cake related but weight related....so for teh past few days i been trying really hard on watching the portions eating healthy stuff and even riding the old excerise bike ....i dont know how many of you are familar with georgia but theres a park here called stone mountain so me and my bf went and climbed up and back down that mountain yesterday my legs are killing me today and i thought wow i must be down at least a pound...of course i was excited to weigh and so when i did this morning i was sooo mad to see i am up to 211.5 instead of down....ahhh why why?? but i know in the beginning its always hard for my body ...once i get to that 10 pound mark it starts coming off a little easier but i just thought i would share my sad start of the weight lost story but im keeping my head up and staying on it ...good luck to you all

Hey Everyone! I wondered where everybody was - I lost my 'watched topic' status! I should have known...
It has been a horrible few days, I am stressed to the max. My cake for our Pastor turned out ok, but I hated it. I didn't even get any pics of it. I also did a cupcake bouquet for our church secretary's b-day, her b-day was last Monday. I am so sick of people staying for lunch (at church) but not bringing anything to share! It's always the same people. I know that everyone is hurting financially, but either bring some pasta, check with someone about how you can help, or go home!! Stop mooching off the rest of us that are hurting, too!! Sorry, but it just is so frustrating! I'm thinking about charging $1.00 per person to cover the cost of the paper goods, the church is hurting, too. And I had to go buy chicken and salad stuff to be sure we had enough food.
Anyway, besides all of that drama. My DH is driving me nuts - can I send him back to Super Summer? He's so negative all the time. I guess we have to have a talk. Find out what I'm doing wrong. Yeah, there goes that self esteem stuff, I always make it my fault. Our finances are totally messed up. Anyone know where I can find about $1000.00!? House payment, utilities, cable, internet (if I don't come back on here, they've cut us off). That stuff is killing me. And to top it all off - I've gained weight. I'm up to 205 1/4 - it was 206 1/4 until this morning. My lowest was 203 3/4 on the 13th. I am so over all the garbage in my life. I just want to disappear. Then I look at some of the people around me - There's a woman I know that lost one of her adult sons about a year ago, her husband died a month ago, and yesterday morning she lost another son. Do y'all know about the Anthony family? Casey Anthony? Anyway, George and Cindy go to our church (they are GREAT people), here they are, lost their grandaughter, their daughter is in jail for her murder and they can't do anything without it being on tv. I can't imagine the stress they're under. So I feel bad about whinning. But I am so tired of hurting, I am so tired of seeing people hurting. There some some wonderful people that are jobless and they're getting to the end of their rope.
I'm sorry, I think I just need to crawl into a hole a cry for a couple of days. And maybe when I come out there will be money waiting for me!! yeah, right.
Anyway, on a positive note - I lost a pound! And I have new motivation to really get busy. My son propsed to his girlfriend yesterday. So I have a wedding in February! Just enough time to lose 30 - 35 pounds! Plus Jordan has asked me to be a bride's maid and we're doing the cake! So much fun! Jordan lives with us, she's pretty great. I feel bad for her Mom, she's up in Maryland. I know she's going to miss doing all the wedding stuff with her only daughter.
Ok, I'm off to feel sorry for myself for a while. Does that burn any calories? I know, stress makes you gain weight. That's just more stress! I hope everyone has a great day, filled with blessings, healthy food and lots of exercise!!

Melissa

Well....I need to go back and check out all of the thread, but just thought I'd pop in to say hello to everyone! I'm still plugging along, kind of not losing anything,but nearing completion on my cake kitchen!! Waiting on the plumber to finish up and just git 'er done! I've missed everyone and all of the new chunky monkeys! I'll go back and read to catch up but sounds like out good ole chunky monkey thread is still happening!!!!

Ok, I've been bad...I've been REALLY bad.

I've hit my "get your rear in gear" weight, which I keep 5lbs above my steady weight. I'm going to have to amend my vacation rule (that is, when on vacation, it's OK to splurge a bit).

Ladies, it DOES happen to us all. But that's ok. I'm aware of WHY and HOW I gained it, and I know how to lose it again.

Keep at it!!

Hey! I am new to this thread. My name is Jamie and I am 24 and weigh in at 169 with a height of 5'7". My goal is to hit 150 by mid Sept to first of Oct. What do you think can I do it? I am keeping a food journal, only eating 1,000 calories a day or less and wlking between 2-4 miles a day. Lets hope it happens, I want to start trying for another baby about that time and I want to be a healthy weight when I do.

Hi Jamie and welcome! Good luck on your weight loss...however, I really think only consuming 1000 calories a day is too few...aim for at least 1200...others on here can give you facts about that, but eating too few calories is only going to make you hold on to those you do ingest and ultimately screw up your metabolism...

Melissa, sorry to hear your rant, financial difficulties can be so draining in every way and put strain on relationships. I used to blame all our arguments on me, but now I realize my DH is just so darn argumentative, and I'm just so sensitive that our arguments always go down the same road. lol! We both realize it, and we've both worked to change it.

Jade, I hope you get your rear in gear! You are still an inspiration!

Jamie, welcome! We're about the same height (well I'm 5'6) and just a bit lighter. Not sure if I can do it, but I think you need to eat more. At 1000 calories a day you are not consuming enough to fuel your bodily functions plus the exercise you are doing. I eat almost 2000 calories a day and am still losing!! I make sure I eat good calories (for the most part, lol!) I eat fruit, veggies, lean meats (no red meat, ground meat max once weekly), avoid processed foods, eat yogurt, oatmeal, grains, etc... Most of us know how to eat, it's just a matter of DOING!! I do stray, I occasionally have ice cream or cake or cookies, or whatever. I do try to keep my straying to Saturday evenings though!

I'm down 3 pounds this week. Yay!! I'm PUMPED about the 10mile road race this Sunday too. The weather is supposed to be cool (15 degrees celsius) too so I'm happy about that.

good luck kay....wheres eeryone been i just thought i would get on since i havent been on in a while im craving something sweet i figure instead of actually eating something sweet ill just look at pics of cakes...iys really hard not to go to the store and stock up on some choclate right now bc we got some bad news my bfs grandma isnt doing too good shes at the hospital right now a few hours from our house...his mom is there she wants to wait and see hwo things play out so just keep all his family in your prays PLEASE....we really need them ...thanks everyone...on the plus side my first royal icing cake turned out pretty good im gnna try and get a pic on here after some things settle down ...

After weighing 165 again at one point last week, I am back up to 167 this morning. Why can't I just get below 165 and stay there???

The race was fantastic!! It was pouring at 6am but by the time we left the house it had stopped and it was nice and cool. I felt fabulous the entire race and finished the 10 miles in about 101 minutes. My husband finished in 99 minutes, so proud of him as well. Now I need to improve on this time in future years and hope that with continued fitness improvements (ie. less weight to carry around) I will get better!

We are heading out of town on vacation next Monday so I have to maintain my exercise and good eating habits while away. I really have to be conscious of doing these things on vacay as we know how hard it can be to do so!! I am bringing my dumb bells so that I can lift weights and I will be running at least 3 times a week. We are staying in tent for 6 nights then a cabin for 6 and are spending 2 nights on a boat. The kids are so excited!! When I return I have another 10 mile road race, then a 1/2 marathon in September and a very challenging hilly 20 km run in October to wrap up the running season.

I need goals to work towards so am not sure what my goals will be after all these runs, when I don't have goals I get lazy, when I'm lazy I stuff my face...

How is everybody else? I hope all of my fellow monkeys are doing great!!

his grandma passed away on sunday these past few days have been so busy todays the first day i been able to get on since her death like i said before please keep his family in ur prayers.....my last class of course 1 was tues the same day as the funeral i didnt get togo but its ok going with him wass more important i just have a cake in my cake that has no icing and is just sitting there , i dunno if i wanna icing it or just trash it ....course 2 starts next week so im gonna try to sign up for that its about royal icing so that sud be fun ...anyway hope yall are all doing good i personally havent done well this week and i think im gnna skip the scale for a while....

Hi all! I'm a new monkey. I'm 5'2" and currently weigh 235.YIKES! It looks even worse in writing. I've tried numerous times to get the weight off. I initially gained my weight with my pregnancies. I tried to lose it and was doing well until my back went out. I was bored,depressed and I ate. But then I couldn't exercise.I had surgery and all was well. 2 years later back totally screwed up and had to get spine fused together. Quit smoking,had surgery and here I am now struggling with the pounds. I need to get serious and it helps to see there are others out there who have the same feelings and issues. Hope you all don't mind if I join the rest of you monkeys.

I'm so sorry about your bf's grandma peacebear.

Welcome Kiki! I hope you find some support and help here! Did you find that quitting smoking made you snack more?

Unfortunately it did! I'm happy to be free of the cigarettes but my poor hips are paying for it!

Hello, my name is Heather and I'm a new monkey. (kinda funny I call my 3 month old chunkey monkey, lol) I have struggled with my weight my whole life and it seems every time I start to lose weight we get pregnant. I was down to 165 (yeah down to 165, lol) then found out I was pregnant for my first (then Katrina hit) gained 42lbs. Had lost 20lbs of that when we got pregnant for my second 6 months later, only gained 20lbs for him and lost it right away. I struggled for a year and half to lose that other 20lbs I was still carrying for my first, finally got back to 165 and you guessed it pregnant again, lol. gained 40lbs for my third (I delivered each of my boys at 207lbs, weird huh?) I lost 20lbs right away and again find myself at 185lbs (I'm only 5'4'') my first goal is to get to my prepregnancy weight of 165lbs and then another 20-30lbs from there. sorry it was so long just wanted to get it all out. It is nice to be able to share with people who understand. Just a side note, my husband can't gain weight, he is trying, and constantly has junk in the house. I can easily not give it to my 3 and 2 year olds cause I know it isn't good for them but have no problem putting junk in my body. FRUSTRATING!!!

thanks kay!!! its been a tough week but things are strating to get back settled down...sadly my diet wasnt exactly on my mind at the funeral home and all the visits .....we also had a family dinner sunday so yeah eat eat eat ....so i weighed this morning just to see the damage and i knew that it was gonna be bad....215 yep im almost back to 235 which sucks.....i see it happening and i know its happening and im just letting it ....whats wrong with me??? ....so after beating myself up all day today (mentally) i decided now is the time.... no more excuses!!! so tomorrow is take 2 of my new attempt of dieting and i need to stay focused....thanks for listening....

Guess who is bad? Or will be tomorrow! I'm going to finish up today being lazy as a end to my vacation. I know I gained some weight while I was gone, I'll check out the damage later.

After eating out all week you can't believe how ready I am for a home cooked meal with veggies! We actually had Crackel Barrel twice in a row on the way home cause they have veggies.

After tomorrow I'll be back to post more and get back on track....

Hello everyone!!
How have you all been? Welcome to all the new Monkeys! Sorry I've been gone so long. I guess I've been pretty busy - don't ask me what I've been doing. Right now I'm listening to my 5 year old pitch a hissy fit!! ah, the joys of motherhood!
I just wanted to check in. Hope you're all doing great I'll try to update my progress later. And I have finally made some progress! I'm at 201!! Really happy about that.

Have a great one,
Melissa

Wow, it sure has been a bit since I last updated.

My weight hasn't gone down (since I reached my "get your rear in gear weight"), but it hasn't gone up either.

Between my birthday, and a vacation the following weekend, it's been difficult to switch back to my good eating habits. But I'm slowly making it back there!

What made things hard is that to celebrate my birthday we had friends over for a cookout. Low carbers probably think that grilling burgers and brats would be OK, but it's the buns that are killer. Not only that, I bought regular pop and chips for our guests.

Guess what we had leftovers of? Yeah, been really hard to avoid it.

But...I'm getting back. And I'm not beating myself up.

And this weekend we have a wedding to attend. I know they're having cake, but I hope whoever cuts it knows how to cut wedding servings. I don't need a huge-honkin' piece.

im so proud of myself ive actually been getting up early and doing my workout video , granted its only 15 mins but its a start something i never done before i eventually want to get to 30 min and keep building up its only been a few days and todays the first day i didnt get up and do it because i had to rush and get to church but i plan to do it later i dont want to skip a day because thats how it all starts with me , i skip one day and then its every day ...but yah i havent weighed i dont want to discourage my attempt at working out so im gonna give it a week or two first .......hope everyone is a happy monkey ......ttyl