Posts by skaiya

LOL! Thanks for the replies, it really does make me feel better! I don't know what she's doing to lose weight, but she has lost quite a bit. It's been over a fairly long period of time, so I don't think it's an ed. I just think she's eating less junk food than what she says she is.

I have my own calender that I've been logging my weight on. As sad as it sounds, my dad has been paying us $5 per pound lost, given at 10 pound intervals. It's his idea of positive reinforcement, but he wants us to write it down on the calender we all use. I'm going to ask him if my calender would work alright; I think it will help alleviate some of the competitiveness, or at least make me feel more secure.

And this only makes me want to work harder to lose this extra weight!

Amethystgirl- We grain our cattle, but it is all natural. Grass fed beef tends to be "gamey" which my dad (who funds the farm) doesn't like. We also don't own enough land to support finishing calves. But we do check our feed often to make sure there are no animal by-products in it, and we don't use steroids or hormone treatments on any of them. Antibiotics are only used on animals that are injured, or calves that are scouring (have severe diarrhea), but both are very uncommon on our farm. It's top-notch meat, but they marble heavy, so it can be by no means considered lean. So I get a few extra calories from it, but I trust our beef more than what's at the store. That, and it doesn't cost me a cent.

It does sound like you are eating more calories than you think. I also think you aren't exercising quite enough.

My recommendation is to visit www.mypyramidtracker.gov and look up how much of what you should be eating. I had to write it down, so I wouldn't forget. I then spent quite a bit of time at the store looking through all the food selections. What I don't like, I don't get again, and I try something else.

One thing I *highly* recommend is a food scale. Mine was only $5.00, and it has been a real life savor when it comes to how much I eat. It stays right next to a notebook and pen, so I write everything down on it, checking off the pyramid categories from which I've eaten. It's from doing this that I learned I was eating around 3000 to 3500 calories a day, when I thought I was eating under 2000!

Increasing your exercises will help. I would start by adding two days of a thirty minute moderate-paced walk to your routine. If you are upset with your arms, try lifting some free-weights. Do some crunches everyday. It adds up in the end, you just have to get motivated and stick to it, like a bad movie that you don't really want to watch but finish it just for the heck of it!

If you are looking for a more complete routine, try www.freetrainers.com. It's free, and I found it to be very helpful.

One more thing that helps me when I'm in a downer mood, is visiting the CC forums everyday. Reading other people's tough times, and success stories helps to get me back on track.

Thanks you guys for the input. A voice in the back of my head was screaming to eat healthy and take a break, but gaining even a little weight is almost horrifying to me. I've been living my "lifestyle change" for three weeks now, I don't want to mess it up already!

I have a sweet tooth, and anything loaded with sugar is hard for me to pass up. It has undone many a diet for me. Before I was pregnant with my daughter, I was a stunning 115 of toned muscle, and was completely effortless. I could eat whatever I wanted, however much of it, and never gain an ounce. So my diet while pregnant and afterwords was, shall we say a "train wreck"? My naturally high metabolism nose-dived. Working at a pizza place didn't help any either. So I went from 115 to 182 in little over two years. 21 years of bad habits die very hard.

It's only been about two weeks for me on my current diet, but usually it would only take a couple days for me to crave ice cream, or cookies, or anything with chocolate. This time, I didn't give into those cravings early on (like on day 2), and it's been getting easier and easier to get over them without indulging.

In my case, simply not even looking at it and acknowledging it exist is the way I have to go. Either that or I give right in. One can't hurt right? Then it's two, then it's "Oh what the heck? I can start my diet again tomorrow..." And then all my hard work goes right down the drain. It's been this way for over a year now, at first I just wanted to lose 20 pounds, but every time I've started then caved in, I gained about 5-10 pounds. Now, I have to lose 50 pounds.

So yeah, my recommendation is to just resist the urge. Give it until your diet is routine before treating yourself to a little something. From PPs, it sounds like it's easier to indulge a little then just stop and not ruin everything that you've worked so hard for.

Good luck! I hope your will-power is stronger than mine (doesn't take much)!