Posts by libsterdc

How tall are you? You look skinny in your photo.

Easter and Halloween are my banes.  Delicious candy in bite-sized pieces just begging for me to eat them, and eat them, and eat them...Candy corn isn't my nemisis like Cadbury mini eggs are, but mini candy in general, just next to the checkout stand?  Gets me every time....

I used to read a book a day...now I have kids, so it's like 2 books a week.  They're an addiction.  My kids try to tear me away some days 'cause I'm reading & not paying attention to them.  Just finished "The Guernsey Literary Society and Potato Peel Pie" a story told in letters about the German occupation of Guernsey in WWII.  I'm now reading "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins.  I was really into him in my 20s, then decided he was too weird & stopped reading him.  But, I'm enjoying this book so far.  Not far enough into it to figure out what it's really about - right now it's jumping between present-day New Orleans and ancient Rome right when Christianity was coming into being.

This must be how Paris Hilton and Linsey Lohan drink all the time and still look so slim.

If you belong to a gym (which it sounds like you do), they should have a way of calculating your body fat percentage.  They do it a lot as part of their challenges.  That's where I got mine done.  I think there are also websites that will do it for you if you measure your arms, legs, hips, and waist.  It takes those measurements, your weight & height and spits out a measurement.  The gyms usually use caliphers (sp?) with electrodes or something.  Very high tech!

Calculating your BMI's well worth it.  I joined a gym when I weighed 149, and had a BF % of 26 (normal to high).  Six months later, I weighed 151, and had a BF % of 21 (normal to low).  I'm 5'8", and I wore bikinis, had 6-pack abs, and had strangers saying "wow, you work out, don't you?" in bars (as I chugged my lime n' sodas).  I went to a wedding on the beach in a bikini and ran into an ex-boyfriend there with his wife, and felt GREAT!  So, I'm just saying that you can be really hot at 140 (or 150) if your BF % is low.

I am sooooo familiar with the gethomelate binges.  Having had a few beers tonight, the potato chips in the cupboard for my sons' birthday tomorrow are calling me!  Think I'll have water and bed instead.....

Note that inductions lead to epidurals, and once you've had an epidural, you're more likely to have a C-section.  I say wait.  You'll recover faster from your delivery if you can deliver vaginally.  Inductions don't always work (the doctor is right to not even try yet), and once you're on that road, they'll go for a C-section.  You do NOT want your husband to go to Iraq while you're recovering from a C-section, so be patient.  I've had a vaginal birth & a C-section, and the recovery from the vb was MUCH quicker.

Your doctor is doing the right thing.  40 weeks is not always accurate, and babies born before time even a few weeks can have lung problems, issues with nursing, etc.  You do not want that.

Is your concern that you don't want to go over your average calories for the week?  Pizza (particularly 1-2 slices) isn't going to make or break your week.  It has calories, but so does everything.  I ate two pieces of pizza on Saturday last AND drank a bit of my kids' chocolate shake at dinner and still didn't go (too) much over my calorie allotment because I ate light the rest of the day (lots of fruits and veggies).  So, since you have a few days to plan, figure out how many calories you'll need for two pieces of pizza, and plan out the rest of your day accordingly.  Here's one idea: breakfast with high-fiber cereal and a banana (both will fill you up), an entire bag of frozen mixed vegetables tossed with 1 tbsp parmesean cheese for lunch followed by a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with mustard and no cheeze, then two slices of pizza accompanied by a large veggie salad with kidney beans (for iron) drained and tossed over top, accompanied by a dressing of balsamic vineager mixed with dill, basil, and brown mustard.  Total calories: about 1400 for the day. 

Eat the salad first, drink a glass of water and chat for five minutes, then eat your two slices of pizza.  Savor every bite, all the while patting yourself on the back that you have done such a good job managing your food.  You will feel happy and satisfied when you're done. 

I think you definitely have lost fat, which doesn't necessarily mean you lose weight.  At one point in the past, I got down to 145.  I then started working out nearly daily, and went up to 155.  But, at 155, my body fat percentage went from 25 to 19 because I was so toned.  I wore bikinis and nice tops that showed off my arms.

So, you have probably gained LEAN muscles, and your body has re-sculpted itself.  Congrats!  It sounds like you look great!

chrissy1988, that is SUCH good advice.  I needed that.  My GW is 165 (I'm 5'8", 185) and there are people on here who are my height & trying to get down to 140.  I haven't weighed that since high school, and it's SO not happening, but I always feel like I should be trying to get down to that because other people are.  This helps me remember that I  should focus on my OWN goals, not other peoples'.

Now, if I can just stop overindulging on the weekends, I'll be on my way...

I've actually been doing this too, since I joined in April.  I've eaten "maintenance" since then, as my original goal was to simply not gain any MORE weight.  Prior to CC, I know I was eating WAY more than my 'maintenance' of just about 2,000 calories per day - probably I was eating 3-4000 calories per day easy.  So, dropping down to 1,500 - 1700 calories per day is just not realistic or sustainable.  I've done that before and always gained it back.

So, for me it's about trying to do the long-term eating habits change -- eating what I need, getting good nutritional grades, and seeing if I can make this stick longer-term.  So far, I've lost 8 pounds just on "maintenance," because any exercise I do is contributing to weight loss.  It's nice to have lost weight, but my first goal was to just not gain more, and I've been successful with that!  :0)

I think what is needed is a reframing - I know that I get embarrassed when I'm on a diet.  It's like I've done something wrong, so when people comment on my food, I get embarrassed 'cause I don't want to admit I'm dieting.  So I think the answer is to be very public about the dieting and enlist people's support. 

I also think it's all about them and their own fears and insecurities.  I used to get defensive (and maybe a little secretly aggressive sometimes) because  I was overweight and saw a skinny person eating healthy.  It's like "why can't you be like the rest of us fat slobs?"  I resented that they had self control and I didn't.  So, I can understand the temptation to comment on someone's healthy food.

So, If you are eating healthy and have lost weight because of it, why not boast a little?  They: "eww..that looks gross!"  You: "I used to think that too, but I've lost XX pounds eating this stuff, and now I actually like it!"  That might open up a dialogue that might even lead to them joining you.  At my old workplace, I "came out" to a couple of people that I was trying to lose weight, and they joined us at the Weight Watchers lunchtime meetings.  We all lost about 30 pounds, and we would e-mail each other all morning obsessing over food.  It can be a fun thing, once you get over the embarassment!  :-)

COME OUT OF YOUR OFFICES, EAT IN THE LUNCHROOM, AND TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR EATING HABITS!