Posts by thin27

I have lost about 17 lbs. since July without really exercising, but it has been slow. I have lost between like .8 lbs. - 4 lbs. in a month...but if you are anything like me, you'll take it! The winter is awful where I live, so I definately notice that I just generally move more when there is actual sun and it is above 20 degrees! Over the summer I would occasionally take walks and ride a bike around, but nothing that was regular.

I took a yoga class for awhile but don't anymore. Now a couple times/week at night, I unroll my yoga mat, do leg lifts, stretches, and some free weight exercises. Basically I just do things I don't mind, and do it while I am watching TV or listening to my ipod.

I take Fisol - they are enteric coated and smaller in size. They have brought my cholesterol down and helped with joint aches.

I agree with the dark chocolate bar - it's a lot easier to eat a smaller amount. Also, I found Nonni's Decadance Biscotti - they are chocolate, dipped in chocolate, with almond, and are 100 calories each!!! They come in individual little plastic bags, too. This is a recent discovery so I'm still pretty excited about it. If you like coffee, it's even better to eat it with that.

my success is that i have been logging my calories every day, and have stayed pretty consistent the last month at my target. i am also seeing my trend line going down (slowly), but i think the most important thing is that i have really started to get a handle on the long term vision, and hopefully am getting better at realizing that stumbles are going to happen, but the important thing is to learn ways to avoid them, and when they happen, move on. i think i have lost inches but will not measure until later this week. good luck everyone and congrats on all your successes!

It is good to know that i share similar issues with some of you - i am kind of in a food rut also...i don't have enough low calorie foods to get me through the day without getting hungry. someone else said something about peanuts, and cheese - and while i usually don't overindulge, sometimes it's not that satisfying for how many calories it is. i am not big on fruit and am not sure what to do about that - every time i buy it it ends up rotting because i don't eat it...or the stuff i do like is too expensive to eat regularly.

on a happy food note, i recently found chocolate biscotti that are in individual packages, are only 100 calories, and taste really chocolatey!! i highly recommend it to the other chocolate loving people!

i am really frustrated with trying to figure out how many calories i need - i looked it up on like 10 websites, and my bmr ranged from 1950 (on this site) all the way to 2500! i think i feel frustrated because i don't really know how much of a defecit i am really making, and what kind of results i should see compared to what i am doing.

for all of you who want to give up, stick with it! i am really annoyed at myself, because i gave up and stopped counting a month ago because i didn't think it was doing anything. of course, 7 lbs later i now realize that if i would have just stuck with it, even if it was only 1 or 2 lbs less, that would be better than what it is now! we somehow have to figure out how to keep going because it really is long term, and long term is hard!

supersized, thank you so much for taking the time to give me your advice...it really helped! you asked what does work for me, and that is what i'm trying to figure out...apparently this forum is helping because you and the other members dragged me back, which is what i wanted! i think i was a little emotional and down the last few days, but reading other people's posts really seems to help motivate me. i think i need to make more of an effort to do that regularly. even just seeing "don't give up" helps :) i joined this forum because i thought it would really help to have a small community of people to be there for each other, and i think it has gotten overwhelming (for you even more so!) in my head i was imaging like 10 people at the most! it frustrates me to figure out how to read everything and respond to other people in a helpful way without spending a million years on here! i'm glad you have made the group smaller.

tiegurl, thank you for the pep talk! you are right about keeping positive thoughts, and i need to start focusing on the good things i am doing...

momof2funykds, i don't have kids but i can imagine that is important lol! i think many of you are right about setting small goals - i need to take some time to really figure out what i'm doing.

my goal is really to be more active, lose weight, and be able to enjoy food i want in a healthy way. i recently started a water aerobics class (for free!) which is actually fun, and started taking bike rides a few days a week - for me this is pretty big considering i usually do nothing. so i am going to focus on keeping up those 2 activities. i also just want to stay within my calorie target most of the time, and not feel so fat! i am the kind of person that really wants to see inches gone, and see the scale go down. i don't obsess over it, but it would really do wonders for my motivation.

thank you everyone and have a good weekend :D

well, i have been off the wagon and generally very discouraged. it took me a month to lose 3 lbs, and the second i started to slip i gained the 3 lbs back and 2 more :(

however, i have a new motivation - my husband and i bought bikes and rode all over the place! i usually hate exercising, but i really enjoyed this so i'm looking forward to this helping me become healthier...it's also nice to have the husband in on the plan! i also signed up for a water aerobics class with a friend, so that should be interesting. i definately feel more motivated to log calories when i have exercised some off!

hello everyone...like a few other people have said, i am motivated by reading other people's success stories. i am not one for competition, and even am not used to posting weekly and feel a little overwhelmed by it. i am having extremely slow success but feel more positive this time around.

well...i think i am a little different in terms of planning. this time around, i am really trying to THINK about what i'm doing. i have found that i don't respond well to strict planning. right now, my goal is to simply eat less than i need most of the time. i can't even tell myself "you must log every day" because i know that will discourage me.

i have had a really stressful week with job interviews and art shows - and that is something i noticed common among us is difficult week/emotional/stressful - and during this time, i realized i need to make it o.k. to not log one day or even two, because i feel like that is more realistic, and i shouldn't make myself think the world is going to end if i don't log my food one day. however, i am still concentrating on trying to stay within my calories - i eat a lot of the same stuff over and over, and to truly ask myself if i am hungry and if not to knock it off! i am pleased that i have been able to pull off the "you're not really hungry" thing and back slowly away from whatever i was considering - and that is an accomplishment to me!

this should be interesting - i read an article about how your brain works when you try to change a habit. so if you have a habit of getting a donut everyday with your coffee - it is a physical pathway in your brain (no wonder it is difficult!). but the good news is - that once you try to train yourself to deviate from said pattern, your brain makes new connections - the old ones don't disappear - but the more you can make yourself repeat the behavior you want to happen, the stronger that pathway gets! for some reason it helps me to visualize creating brand new brain pathways that are energized and helping me to control myself!

i am also planning on weighing myself once/week - but i think more importantly i can just "feel" when i have been eating less and feel thinner - and that is a good feeling and seems to be motivation enough right now. when i start to feel extra chunky and uncomfortable, it motivates me to change. i don't really care about rewarding myself either, i just want to feel comfortable in my own skin.

but i do have a question for all of you - and have scoured message boards but get conflicting information - i am really confused about my calorie intake. i know about having the 500 calorie deficit - but the problem is that every website puts my original burning rate somewhere else. cc gives me 1200 to eat, and while i can pull that off a day or two/week, i just can't and don't want to force myself to be crazy about that. i feel like 1500 sounds reasonable, and less if i can, and good if i exercise. i just don't want to be miscalculating and wondering why i am not losing weight eating 1500. i also read a lot about people who allow for more on the weekends and shoot for more of a weekly average. any ideas?

doug76, i completely understand what you are saying because i am very similar! i love pistachios and almonds - and they are healthy, right?! so i feel like i am doing the right thing buying them instead of cookies or chips - and i will even measure out a serving - and sometimes i'm fine with that, other times i go back again, or say screw it and bring the bag/can on the couch with me. i don't know what to do with myself! i can eat a reasonable breakfast, lunch, snack, even dinner...then it all goes to hell!

and i have noticed that after i eat nuts, or even cheese or cottage cheese, i immediately crave either chocolate or ice cream! so i move right along to that afterward. i don't get those same overwhelming cravings during the day, and i thought that eating more protein was supposed to make those less likely to happen. and honestly, chewing gum and drinking water does nothing for me! i can't "fool" myself into anything - and i drink a ton of water and tea and it's obviously not doing the trick! this whole process is exhausting to me - and i use up so much energy every day thinking about not eating too much, or eating too much and then feeling bad about it. i don't know the answer - i've tried to address the emotional part and honestly, and i still don't know...there is nothing tragic going on, and you would think just being aware of all this would help - i guess i'm just REALLY frustrated...:(

O.k. it's time to keep me here and give me some advice! this was my first week back on. The burn meter estimates I burn 1970/day. Right now I am 5'7", 188 lbs. The website tells me to eat 1250/day to reach a 40lb weight loss goal by October or something like that. I made it my goal to eat around 1450/day - and I managed to stay within that 5 days out of this week, one day ate around 1600, one day 1900 :(.

So I know this is where things start to go downhill - in the middle of the week I was down 2 lbs., today I'm down .2. It really took some effort to hover around 1300/1400 and I feel like it gets me nowhere. I know, it's only been a week, water weight, blah blah but this is what discourages me I guess. I also went for walks this week.

Hello...

I think I would like to join you guys This is my first day - I joined very briefly in September and fell off the wagon almost immediately. I don't know what my problem is but I would like to fix it!

I successfully lost 15 lbs. with Weight Watchers a few years ago, gained it back. Lost 15 lbs. with a diet pill from the Dr. and gained it back. Tried Dietpower, started and stopped Weight Watchers literally like 6 times...saw a nutritionist and lost 10 lbs. then gained 5 back and stopped all together...I think you see where this is going!

I am at the point where I feel stupid even mentioning to my family that I am trying to lose weight because I have been "trying" for like 9 years.

I am 28, an art teacher, finishing up my Masters, married 5 1/2 years, just bought our first house, broke as a joke! I am 5'7'', my highest weight was 200, I would like to be 150. Right now I am at 189 :( and it seems impossible to me that I can even get to 180...so I need some help!

P.S. I have no idea what "PM" means!