Posts by ozmagirl

I don't want this to sound like a complaint, but I really don't know why everybody makes such a big deal about avoiding food on the holidays.  It really is not that complicated.  You do it all the time when you are on your regular diet, so the holidays should just be like any other day.  That being said, it's not like there is nothing out there that you are allowed to eat on holidays.  I am on the South Beach diet, so my choices are pretty limited, but there are always things I can have.  For example, on Thanksgiving the meal consisted of:  turkey, sweet potato casserole, stir fried green beans, crash potatoes (very good way of making potatoes more exciting), pumpkin pie, salad, cake, cookies, our own version of bailey's, cranberry sauce, homemade bread etc.

From this list I had turkey, green beans, salad, and I took one piece of pie cut it in half and ate that across two days.  I did not feel like I was missing out on dinner because I didnt have any of the other stuff.  I also made myself some brown rice so I could have a whole grain starch and not miss that aspect either. 

I think if you really can't resist trying everything, then the next best thing is portion control.  Try everything, but don't eat more than you would on a normal day.  Just take smaller portions until you feel full. 

I can understand being busy, but it's all about making the commitment to yourself that your "free" time is going to be spent a certain way.  I have a full time job and I go to school at night.  I cook dinner every night as well because it's healthier and it means that I don't have to spend a lot of money or buy a lunch the next day as I can take leftovers.  Essentially, I make it a point to go to the gym right from work.  So essentially my schedule goes something like this:

7am-wake up

8am-get to work

9-10am -have breakfast at my desk (yogurt, granola, fruit, whatever was portable)

12-1pm- lunch (which I have brought from home, usually leftovers from the previous nights dinner)

5pm- leave work

5:30pm- arrive at gym

7pm- leave gym

7:30pm- arrive at home

7:30-8:30pm- shower and cook dinner

8:30pm- eat dinner and pack up next day's lunch and breakfast

9:15pm- study/read/do assignments if necessary (if I don't have any then this is free time VERY RARE!!!)

11pm-go to bed and start all over the next day

It basically goes this way the whole week.  On the weekends, I do chores, plan out the week's meals and make sure I have all necessary groceries to make said meals.  I typically don't exercise on the weekend and use the extra time to relax and see friends or spend time with my husband who gets so little of my time during the week except during meals and the brief time we spend before going to bed reading or watching tv or just doing couple stuff.

So maybe looking at that kind of a schedule you wonder why I don't go crazy without any free time, but the truth is that I have more free time than I need.  Going to the gym is my personal escape from everybody.  I have breaks at work with coworkers and lunch is always fun with with my friends.  I enjoy cooking so that is also nice and I dont have to worry about dishes because the husband does those.  I get to have dinner with my husband and we talk about our days and on the days that I dont have school or stuff to do for school we get some free time to do something fun.  I listen to music in the shower, I read for pleasure just before going to bed or in the morning while I get ready.  And on the weekends there is usually a good half a day that is just for me for fun. 

None of this stuff is new, I have always had a full schedule.  The difference is that before I made excuses about being too busy to exercise when I knew that the truth was that I was just unmotivated and unwilling.  If you really want to exercise and lose weight, you will make the time to do it.  If not, then it simply won't happen. 

On days that I can't exercise because I have a commitment to meet, I will use my work breaks to exercise instead. 

It's all about priorities and no commitment should come before your health.  Your family needs you, but they need you healthy. 

Hello all!  I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday.  I spent time with the family and all was well.  I cheated once in order to have some pumpkin pie...but it was worth it!  Miraculously I ended up losing another pound, which brings me to 131.4.  I think all the extra effort in taking care of my nephew burned off the calories =)

I went running once, but not for very long.  My foot feels a little funny, but it does not hurt anymore.  I am going to go to the gym today and see what happens.

Of course everybody kept offering all kinds of goodies to me, and sometimes they got really upset when I said no...but in the end I felt better for resisting.  Plus I still got to eat lots of turkey and other delicious things...so it wasn't like I was really suffering =)

I was in charge of cooking this year which was a pain and a half.  After cooking it all day I didn't even want to look at it...let alone eat it!  But apparently my sweet potato casserole was the bomb...or so everybody said.  Considering how much butter, sugar, nuts, and marshmallows were in it...I am not surprised. We also celebrated my birthday again since my family hadn't seen me and I got some nice clothes from my sister and other things.  My mom is of course still buying me size 12's.  No matter how many times I say "mom I'm a medium, mom I'm a size 8 (or 6 now)" she doesn't listen.  It really depresses me sometimes because it makes me feel like she can't even see the difference...

This suddenly turned into a long post when it was just supposed to be an update lol but thank you to anybody who reads it all the way through!

Hope all is well with everyone here.

Oh help me it's my birthday and people keep pushing the cake, donuts, etc

::sigh:: 

My boss always brings donuts whenever it is someone's birthday.  I wished she would forget mine so I wouldn't have to see them...or that she might ask if I wanted something else. But I do appreciate the gesture...it is very thoughtful.

Either way, tonight my husband is cooking for me.  He knows the rules so he is going to get creative and follow them...so that means very little time for exercise as I also have class at 8pm.  Will probably only get a mile in before I have to rush home.

Tomorrow is the same deal....I have been promised Twilight at 8pm which again leaves little time for me to work out, eat, and make it there early enough to get a good seat and not be attacked by the mob that is sure to be there....

What's a girl to do?  I hate missing/shortening my workouts!

On the plus side, this morning I was in the 134 range instead of the 136 like I had been the past few days.  I'll be happy the day I break into 130 and can say that my plateau is over.

I feel more confident and more attractive now that I have lost weight.  It has definitely improved my marriage because typically I was so shy about my body that it was hard for me to feel attractive.  My husband has always found me attractive no matter what (which is why I married him ) but that still didn't change my perception of myself.  I am more willing to socialize with others when I lose weight and I feel like a different person. 

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the long hiatus...life has been hectic.  Too much traveling and such.  I hope everyone has been doing well.  As for me I am still stuck right around my 134-136 range, but am exercising 4-5 times a week now and have recently taken up running which has been really nice.  I ran a whole four miles in a row last week and I couldn't even believe it.  It was like being in a trance or something.

I've been sticking to my diet for the most part, but I tend to find myself wanting something at like 10pm and I hate that I give in.  I have fruit...so its not too terrible but really after everything I have eaten in the day I shouldn't be wanting more. 

My husband has been making these delicious sausages on the grill every weekend and I always have a bite even though they are probably horrible for me.  =/

Don't know yet how I am going to break this plateau...but now that I am running, I will see if that fixes anything. 

Good luck everybody and I am glad that you all missed me =)  I am still hanging in there though and even if I don't lose any more I still feel and look better than I have in a long time. 

I know how you feel in the eggs department.  I found some sugar free/fat free vanilla yogurt that met all the restrictions and would have that on days that I couldn't bear to eat eggs.  It is not much, but it was worth the small breakfast to eat something different. 

Inlove this happened to me last week...I thought my TOM had been over and it was but the extra weight was not disappearing and I was ready to freak out.  So I left off weighing again for 4 days and this morning weighed in at 134.6  which is the lowest weight I have been since my wedding =).

Give it a few days and see how it works out.

Sun, sorry about the bad weekend.  But I am glad that you are staying motivated and looking forward.  We all just have to keep on trying until we make it =)  All of our cats are rescues.  One from a shelter and we picked him because when I pulled him out (he had been asleep) he opened his eyes looked at me and then went back to sleep while i held him. The second we found on the side of the road and she had a muffler burn and a scratched cornea.  She is very skittish but sweet to us while we sleep.  And the last was a hurricane kitten.  He was born during one of the many storms we get in our area and a lady who owned about 9 cats of her own was giving away the latest litter from one of her cats.  This was around halloween and she was very nervous about giving him away because he was a black cat and she was worried we might be superstitious or something.  In any case, they have all been a blessing and we are very happy to have them in our home.

Going to a restaurant is hard, but there is usually something you can have.  Don't be deceived by salads as often the dressing and toppings can add a real punch in calories.  Do tell them to put stuff on the side or just leave things out altogether.  I usually stick to grilled anything as that is the healthiest cooking method and try to get more veggies as my sides (assuming they don't drench them in butter!)

Don't eat an appetizer unless its like brothy soup in order to fill you up so that you wont eat as much after and skip dessert.  Also drink water instead of alcohol, soda (unless its diet), or juice.

Lost another pound this week! yay!  Down to 136 at last.  =) 

Still have 11 more to go, but so far so good.

Hey All!

I am not even sure what I am weighing now.  It is my TOM and I have been very up and down all week (mostly up).  I also ended up having a glass of wine at a sushi place...though I had lettuce wraps for dinner so the food was ok. =)

I am hoping that once all is said and done I will be down to 136....though I don't know how feasible that will be.  I think I may end up still stuck at 137...sigh.

I will be seeing my family this week and I really had wanted to be at 135 by this thursday, but I don't think that will end up happening.

Either way, progress with the diet is going pretty good.  We have a D'Lites emporium where I live that serves sugarfree/fatfree frozen yogurt which is delicious!  It is 50 cals per serving which would be a small and the regular size ends up being about 100cals.  I am completely in love with this place and have been going every weekend as a treat.  The ingredients look pretty good as it is made with skim milk and artificial sweetener.  =)

I am again having trouble logging my calories.  I have gotten really lazy about that.  I wish that the logging system was designed a little better so that you could re-add multiple items at once.

lost one more lb this week.

Dropped from 138.6 to 137.4

Yay!

okay weigh in time.

Last week:  138.6

This week:  137.4

So about a 1lb loss, which is great for me. 

"I may be drunk, Madam, but tomorrow I will be sober and you will still be ugly." -Churchill

Just replace the drunk/sober part with fat/thinner.  =)

I just started on phase 2 this past weekend.  I have lost about 10lbs so far after phase 1.  My next weigh in will be this Friday so I am hoping for a 1-2lb drop.

Starting phase 2 has been difficult as I am worried about eating carbs again and it has created a lot of bloating which gives  me a feeling of heaviness.  Plus it makes me look terrible! lol

I assume that this will be temporary as my body adjusts, but man it really sucks right now.  =)  Either way I am happy with the losses and am enjoying my meals thus far.