Fresh Start Group Week 11 (group closed)
Hello all. This post is going to be short and sweet...I took a class last night that cut into my posting time but I wanted to make sure to get the thread up and running asap!
I hope you all did well in reaching your personal goals last week and you will continue to work towards your goals this week!
I will be back later to post more!
I can't say I met all my goals last week... the puppy has messed up my sleeping and working out schedule... but I did lose weight... I'm down to 160.2 which I'm worried may be a fluke, but for now I'll take it because I'm out of the obese BMI range :)
I, too, lost weight which may be a fluke. I'm at 236. Didn't too good last night - had two cokes for dinner, but I was trying to stay awake at a seminar (I kept yawning). But I packed a good lunch for today and I've got my mind set to stay on track.
I can't wait until I'm out of the severly obese BMI range but that will be a while. Congrats on that, eerominn! Very exciting. Every time I tell someone I'm in the severely obese range, they are shocked. I guess the "severely" part is scary. I am actually totally healthy (shocking) and have no cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes issues, but I am not naive and I know those problems could show up at any time, especially because my family has a huge history of diabetes (grandmother, DAD, aunt, uncle).
I'm hoping to get in a little exercise this week. That's something new for me because I really haven't been exercising other than the occasional evening of yard work. But the temperature here (Charlotte, NC, USA) is so great (80 degrees is the high today) that I just want to be outside as much as possible!
Here's to a good week for everyone! Cheers! (water bottles only, ladies!) 
Hello All,
I am a little bit disappointed because I only lost a pound last week. So that puts me at 194. I know a loss is a loss but I worked out 4 times and ate really well so I was hoping for more. I guess I have gotten a little bit spoiled with 2 pounds a week. I will continue with the exercise and sticking to my food plan but I am not feeling very motivated. I did get a sweet card in the mail today from my mother saying that she is proud of me for getting healthy. That was very nice to read.
ErinAt my last job they got 2 puppies and I would rather have a baby any day. Man, they were a lot of work and they ate my purse strap, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of brand new shoes. My boss thought it was hilarious that they ate all my stuff until they got into her purse and ate her $300 sunglasses and $400 gloves and her blackberry. I was laughing then. Good job on the loss and leaving the obese BMI, chasing puppies in hard work!
Shanny Great job on the loss! Even if it is a fluke it is still nice. It sounds as if you are becoming very aware of your food choices and patterns and that will really help you to get healthy.
Erin, Shanny and Dutch - Congrats on the loss! And I bet the puppy will really help even more come off, Erin
So I had the best of plans to go buy a scale this weekend. But I was sick Thursday, Friday. A housewarming BBQ for a friend put me back in a great mood though on Saturday and I am geared up for a great week. Making my meal plan and shopping list at lunch today, so I will have great planned options!!
And all water, all day! Going for my first cup now. I am getting better at getting more water into me.
Hope y'all survive this monday.
Any of y'all use CC on your BB or palm?
Kc (Since I missed the place intro, I'll do it here - I am in DC)
Hello everyone!
Last week – 172.2 lb. This week – 171.6 lb
Well, altho I was down slightly I'm guessing that may climb a bit next week as well, my average daily "deficit" for the last 7 days was actually an excess of 600 calories a day. I also didn't do very well on my other three goals. Oops. This week is a new week and I ~will~ do better this week.
The week started off very well, as, after having done nothing exercise-wise since Thursday morning to give my sore heel a break, I went to swim practice and rode my bike into work. The funny thing was that the swim just about didn't happen...we arrived on deck ready to go at 5:45 am only to find that the pool was super cloudy. After some debate about how healthy it was to swim (about 5 people left), the rest of us piled in. It was definitely rough on the eyes and it had to be the cloudiest pool I have swum in (you couldn't see the lines on the bottom in the deep end and could hardly see the person in front of you - many near collisions). The ride into work was wonderful - the wind was at my back for a change instead of in my face and the sky was clear after a couple of days of rain so I figure that has to be some kind of a sign.
eeromin - congrats on being out of the obese range!!
nillytoots - my first open casket funeral was when I was 19 and I did find it pretty tough. Maybe you could take your kids either in from or directly to seats near the back without them having to see the casket? Just a thought.
shannyshan - great news on the drop - maybe we were given a second chance by the powers that be??
KC - I love the lack of a scale...bet that will mean you are super pleasantly surprised when you finally get one! I don't have a blackberry and have been resisting getting one despite pressure from my work - I already get enough calls on my cell weekends and evenings...can't imagine what they'd do if they thought I was available 24/7 by email!! LOL.
dutch_girl - hang in there. I'm sure you've already thought of this, but have you been mixing up the exercise or has it been the same the whole time you've been losing? It is certainly a drag to have a slow down when you've been working at it very hard.
And I should have mentioned - I'm in Vancouver, Canada.
Have a great day, everyone!!
Hey everybody! I'm checking in fore the first time in nearly a week! I lost 1 lb to put me at 189 which is really nice and surprising, considering.
I scanned last weeks posts and it looks like almost everyone had a bad week. I should have checked in and felt better knowing I wasn't the only one. Time for my confession so I can move on. . .
Remember, I'm in a small city in the south. I'm in a civic club of which I am president elect and therefore felt compelled to attend the officer installation which this year was combined with the annual fish fry. Yikes! I had my usual breakfast and a salad for lunch and saved the rest of my calories for dinner. Being the typical fish fry around here, the food choices were deep fried catfish with cornmeal breading, french fries, hushpuppies and coleslaw. Not exactly any light choices. I took a generous spoonful of the coleslaw a few fries and two pieces of fish. While I was at it, I had a half serving of banana pudding. Avoiding fried food was one of only a few rules from my Dr. and I haven't had any to speak of since May. By the time the installation rolled around I was in pain. Somehow made it through the installation and home where I immediately went to bed and curled up in the fetal position. It was awful!! Somehow I think I won't be eating fried fish anytime soon. The bad thing is, I would have been happy to not eat anything or not even go. But I felt obligated to go and then there really wasn't anything else to do while everybody else was eating.
I didn't log my food that day or any other day until today. I guess I did okay though (except for the fish fry) with the mental mindfulness since I managed to lose a lb anyway. It's good to know I can go do well and lose without logging everyday. Not going to take any chances again anytime soon though. Back to the daily logins for me.
Last week looked like it was going to be a great week for everyone with high goals. I'm sorry to see that we collectively didn't do so well, but it's a new week!!!! Maybe our determination will be up and we will have great success in response to last week. Some of my best lessons have been learned from mistakes! Have a great week everyone!!
The men of the house have all gone on a camping trip out west, to the back of beyond! Sarah and I have the house all to ourselves - which is just lovely! Trouble is she wants to cook up holiday treats like chocolate cupcakes - help! We'll go for a walk and swim at the beach soon. That and housework are the exercise for the day.
Just finished my exercise and I am writing this while cooling down. I am doing okay so far this week but than again it has only been 2 days. I hope everyone is doing well.
KC No scale? I NEED to see that lower number to keep going. I wish I was more like you. I don't use CC on BB or palm. Don't even own a cellphone.
Tanya Thanks for the exercise advise, I kinda do 4 different things, Tao Bo DVD, rollerblading, biking and hiking. It depends on what I feel like and the weather maybe I should look for something else. I might buy some weights soon. I hope your heel is feeling better. Brave of you to go in the pool but I guess if you get up early etc. you don't want it to be a waste.
JellaSorry to hear about the yoyo-ing I know that's unpleasant. I hope you are having a nice mother-daughter week and that you soon start feeling better.
2babe You should have checked in last week, misery loves company. Sorry to hear you wasted all those calories on food that made you sick. Maybe next time offer to bring a nice big salad?
Misty I have been thinking about you and your family today. There are some children's books that are about dying and funerals etc. Barnes and Nobles sell them. Perhaps you can see if that might help. At my last job the grandfather died and I bought 2 books to read to the kids and found them very helpful. I also made a little book about their grandfather, with pictures and some very short stories. The kids liked to take it out and look at it and they asked me to read the books for a few months and then it slowly faded. In that situation I think it helped them to let them talk about their Pops when they wanted and felt like it. Of course these are just suggestions and all kids are different.
So my Monday morning weight really was a fluke... I haven't been that low since then (I tend to step on the scale each day... just for curiousity) but it motivates me to know that if I could hit it randomly like that then within a week or two I will probably be under that.
Still getting into a schedule for the puppy... although he's doing better and making lots of progress! He's getting better at telling us he has to go out to use the bathroom, and we're getting better at interpreting which whines mean "let me out" and which ones mean "play with me." I did go to the gym yesterday morning and I'm feeling a bit sore today.. but that makes me happy :) I haven't eaten the greatest of food this week.. but I have managed to stay in my calorie range. Last night we went to Red Robin for dinner (we have free meal coupons for our bdays) and I picked a meal I knew would be easy to bring half of it home. So the other half is my lunch today.
I won't be around this weekend.. or after tomorrow night really.. going away for the weekend again. I'm not supposed to know where we're going (my bday is Monday and its for that) but I think it may be my grandparents remote house in PA to relax. So I won't be online, but hopefully I'll be away relaxing, hiking, and chasing a puppy in the woods and mountains :) I think some of our friends are going with us... Of our group of 6 we usually hang out with (3 couples) - 4 of us have bdays between Sept 28-30th. - my husband on the 28th, me on the 29th, and two of our friends on the 30th. So there will be cake to contend with, but it should be balanced with activities.
Shanny - 80 degrees sounds wonderful. Up in MD we're a little cooler already, I think the highs this week have been around 75 which is perfect for me... I just wish the sun stayed out longer! By the time I get home from work a bit after 6, I usually just want dinner and by the time thats done there is barely any daylight left!
Dutch - any pound down is better than anything up! Its always possible that you're getting muscle as well... I think my main downfall any time I "diet" and exercise is I don't lose as fast as I'd like because I seem to pick up muscle before I lose fat.
KC - I'm in MD - live near Baltimore and work in College Park so I'm not too far at all from DC. Although now that I think about it, its been a while since I've been into the city.
2babe - my husband grew up in florida and misses the south... just the other day he kept talking about how much he wanted some hushpuppies and that him and his friends need to take another road trip down to florida (they went last January) just to eat! I understand about the stomachache... sometimes you need that reminder tho, and now you won't be eating fried food any time soon! - I did that a month of so ago with ice cream... forgetting that I hadn't eaten anythign that fatty in a long time and that I'm slightly lactose intolerant when I have too much milk stuff... that hurt but I haven't done it again since then!
I agree - it's either dark or almost dark when I get home so I can't spend any time outside at night really. But I've been sitting outside every day at lunch to enjoy the fresh, not very hot, wonderful air.
As for eating, since that's what this group is all about, I'm very proud to say that I've really tracked my calories the past two days (and I'm doing fine so far today) and I've stayed under my eat meter both days. I've tried to do a bit more walking -- taking stairs, walking to farther away places to sit and eat lunch (I work on a college campus so there's lots of little nooks and crannies where I can sit and read) -- since I really haven't forced myself to get hard on exercising yet (though I will, I promise).
Okay, so I was at a fundraiser last night at my favorite wine bar and I was SO amazingly well behaved (food wise). Loads of cheese and fried thingamajingees and finger treats, and all I had was two glasses of white wine and great conversation. Hill receptions and change in activity levels is what packed on this weight to begin with, so this is a good change. Now that I think about it, I had another reception on Tuesday and I didn't have a thing - no wine or anything. Okay, wait. I had a vegetable stick mozzarella thing. But 0% fried finger food stuff. AND been kicking along with the mug of water before lunch!
I am with you girls about the light. It is dark by the end of my bike rides and I don't have a light kit yet.
Erin - where in FL is your hubs from? I am a Florida girl too - first coaster here! Enjoy your surprise birthday trip. I love that y'all s bdays are a day off. My folks are like that too. An you are quite close to me in DC!
shanny - little lifestyle changes often reap the longest term results. Taking a long walk or stairs to find your niche to read in sounds like a great way to add extra steps into your life!
KC - he grew up in Stuart, FL - on the east coast, maybe like 3/4 of the way down the coast - and his extended family (aunts, uncles, grandparents) mostly live in the Orlando to Cocoa Beach area (Oviedo and Titusville are a couple cities I remember) When we visit we stay in Oviedo at his grandmother's house and drive around to see everyone else. When we went a few years ago we went to Disney World too! :)
Well a weird thing happened to me, let's see if I can explain it. It's like my body and my mind got in a big fight about my weight:
- Monday morning I was down a half pound, in spite of my iffy week last week. All day Monday I was hungry hungry, but I stuck to sensible eating.
- Tuesday morning I was down a tiny bit more. I played golf on Tuesday, ate sensibly all day, but in the afternoon I was starting to feel a little dehydrated. I weighed myself, because I have very low blood pressure and big drops in weight is a bad sign. I was down almost two pounds - the next step is passing out time.
- So I go to the kitchen to make myself some nice, low cal, rehyrating salty chicken broth, and my brain makes a detour at the freezer where the ice cream is. (and i don't even really like ice cream all that much!) I spent the rest of the evening muching on ice cream and pretzels like a pregnant lady.
Here's the weird part - my body didn't really want to eat anything, my brain kept saying "you're down two pounds, you've got to get back up again". It's like my brain dosn't want to lose weight, it just wants to maintain. Any of you guys understand this?
Matty (Jersey girl, born and raised!)
(new jersey - the only state with the word "suicide" in our state song)
ErinI like your positive attitude. You are so right in thinking that it might a fluke today but a real weight in the near future. I hope you have a great b-day and a nice trip.
Shanny Keep up the good work! It sounds as if you are really on board.
KC Wow, you can be proud of yourself for not going to town on the food at the fundraiser. It must be hard if those food oppertunities are part of your week.
Matty I understand your brain problem, it is the weirdest thing when that happens, isn't? But ice cream and pretzels? Yuck. I lived in NJ for almost 4 years, very close to Philadelphia.
So my day wasn't that good but I am patting myself on the back for staying good. I had a biopsy this morning because I have a lump in my breast and now I have to wait until next Friday for the results. After leaving the hospital I felt very sorry for myself and very stressed. My first reaction was to go to the bakery and treat myself but I DIDN'T. I went home instead, pulled out one of my emergency frozen lunches and instead of cooking a fresh lunch for the girls I went on line and webcammed with my 4 year old nephew who lives in Australia for an hour. It was a nice treat to just talk to him while I should be cooking and it was zero cals. And after I was done working I did a 20 min. ab work out. I almost passed out after 20 min. so I decided to call it a night.
matty - I'm there with you. But for me it's often the other way around. I know that I shouldn't be eating something but the body response to food is so strong. That's the real hard work of dieting - it's about getting mind and body to work together for the common good. Not easy!
erin - happy birthday for Monday & enjoy your weekend!!!
Shanny - you're doing it! You're doing it! Keep going!
Kc - get that scale (and one for the kitchen too)!!! Also pull out the tape measure, I found it to be a big inspiration to see the numbers go down.
OK, here's the list of where everyone is, in case you are interested (I was):
shanny (Shannon) = North Carolina
elaughter (Liz) = North Carolina
nillytoots = Las Vegas
eerominn = Maryland
rach9898 = Indiana
dutch_girl = North Italy
jella = Australia
lisachae = Oregon
resispsa99 (Tanya) = Vancouver, Canada
kcerveny (Kc) = Washington, D.C.
matty_h = New Jersey
If I left anyone off, let me know.
So I have a black tie gala tonight. Guess whose go-to ball gown skirt doesn't fit? <sigh> if only I had lost those five pounds - it is SO close! But if I sat down, I would split every seam!! It is a big week at work - a departing Congressfolk reception (we are losing a lot of our Repub champions, unfortunately - we need them all!), fundraiser, gala, and meeting el presidente on Friday. I wish I knew that this was to happen - I could have gone on my watermelon diet last month dn fit into all of my beautiful things! (even though I know the watermelon diet is bad, it is really tasty and a great excuse to eat TONS! of my favorite food).
Just in case I have another week like this coming up in October/November - I need to put a wiggle in it and get serious about consistent exercise.
The water project is going well - one full glass everyday before lunch.
dutch - know you are in our thoughts and we want to know as soon as you do.
Seems like our little group is going through a lot in our personal lives. If you need a shoulder or an ear, drop me a note.
Kc
Dutch - I'm sending very positive thoughts your way and Jella's right - often they can be a cyst. My mom has "very lumpy" breasts and has to have biopsies every year or so as a new one appears but they've always been benign. And good for you for hanging in with target despite the stress.
I have to admit that you guys all gave me a bit of a giggle with the weather, as ours has been SO bad. And being so far North, it gets dark very soon. This morning, I was riding into work stressed about what was going on, and I was absolutely utterly soaked from the monsoonish weather, despite rain gear. Water was literally dripping constantly off of my nose and my shoes squelched when I came in. And, wouldn't you know it, one of our important board members was in with a guest as I was standing at my desk in my dripping hair, soaking wet tank top and bike shorts desperately making phone calls to deal with the work issue. He was like, "oops, we'll try and catch you later when you're dry". At least he didn't say, "dressed"! LOL
KC - definitely get yourself a light set, and buy one of the ones where both the front and back lights flash. Lights seem to be more expensive in the US than here (and isn't that a first?!), but the ones I have are http://www.rei.com/product/756359 (front) and http://www.rei.com/product/731473 (rear). The flashing ones are better as they seem to catch drivers' attention better than a solid one. REI delivers, or I can mail a set to you if you like!! And hang in there at the black tie galas...business functions are also where I gained a lot of my weight before I lost it the first time and are still a struggle now.
Gotta run and make more phone calls!!
P.S. I got my new bike yesterday!!
So you can keep track of what you eat - which enables you to analyze your foods and receive the following:
- Health Score of your overall diet
- Warning when you approach your daily calorie limit
- Overview of the good and bad nutrients