*update*Support System *Now with Bi-weekly weight ins!

Ladies and Gentlement start your engines!.......

Hello! All,

        I am new here and some what totally skipped the introduction section because I wanted to get down to the meat and potatoes of this sites forum system.

A little about me:

I'm 5'2"

22 yearsold

CW: 180lbs (+4)

SW: 163

GW: 130lbs

The largest I have ever been is 200lbs and the smallest I have ever been is 163lbs. I gained 9lbs after I met the love of my life.

Anyways enough introduction as this would make this post fall into the wrong forum! 

I am looking to form a 'support system' for those whom:

`Need a push in the right direction

`Would like to share what has worked for them

`Need a shoulder to cry on

`And who can motivate others

`Or just need someone to "listen"

I'm sure there are plenty of other posts such as this but I feel that there would be more benefits attained from starting a new, "fresh" thread.  The only requirements to being a memeber of this thread is that you do not "flame" other posters and that you are able to support others and are able to take constructive criticism. As well you are able to post often or atleast once a day/ 3 times a week.

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Thread Members: Loosingit57, ShyandSweetbutSassy, Amandief, Luola, Vanessa1031,jpegg0, joselynp

Post your stats and start talking! P.s. you can add me as a friend as well :)

Saw your post on the short girls thread. Thought I'd check out your site.

I'm 5' 3.5"

51 yrs old

sw 199 1/4/2008

tw 152.6 - haven't been this "skinny" since 1990, when I got pregnant with my "baby" whose now 18 yrs old!

gw 145 - but have been thinking I might want to try for 140 - 135.

lw 115 - High School.

You can check out my site for more info on me. Found this site back in Dec 2007. Didn't get really serious till 3/4/08. I love this site cuz I can track my food groups, cals and sodium. Sodium is a big thing with me. I'm sensitive to sodium and when I go over 2000mg a day I start retaining water = weight gain.

I also am doing LA Weight Loss as I need the accountability. Have about 12 more weeks of weight loss, then 6 weeks stability, then 1 yr maintaining.  

I look forward to hearing about your progress, trials, tribulations, etc.

If you would like some advice on what has worked for me, msg me, I'd be glad to share. I am always trying new recipes and will share my beat ones, if you like.

A couple of my favorite quotes:

"nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"

"never, never, never, give up"

Hello Loosingit57!

Thanks for posting, I thought no one would post

OFFTOPIC: And incase I don't write to you happy early mothers day! Today I am going shopping for my mother dearest. So far I have bought a cute card that says "I was looking for the sweetest mothers day card I could find and I found this one  `cuz your the sweetest mom!". It has a picture of a small dog inside of a watering can with a sunflower in its mouth. I also got her some crafty flower shapped plastic ice cubes and a couple popsicle makers (plastic molding - comes with stick). Today I am looking for a new purse, some jewellery and perhaps a moisturizer for dry skin (she has been asking for a sensitive skin version) Any suggestions?

Sorry! I'm a stickler for neatness (just not spelling - -thanks to texting).

ONTOPIC: You had mentioned in your post that you are sodium conscious. I am too, believe it or not. I still live at home and my mother doesn't believe in SALT. We eat very healthy(blandly) and thats how I enjoy my food. If I eat too much salt I retain water and my hands and feet begin to swell. It's extremely uncomfortable and the only remedy is to drink a lot of water and take a tylenol. Yes, it is really that bad. Up until recently I couldn't drink any alcoholic beverage because I had the same reaction. I have been tested for thyroid and thisroid and they have found nothing. (Thank god!) The other day I was at rebloster with some co-workers and I could litterly taste the salt in my food. It was disgusting, no one else could taste it because they lacked the sensitive pallet that I have aquired over the years.

*edit: Yes I'm still "big" even though my mom cooks healthy NOW, I'd like to attribute my weight to genetics but its not, my parents were both once skinny. I guess I would attribute my weight to comfort eating, eating too much, binging, lack of exercise or moving around and I used to eat a lot of fast food when I was younger. My mother would take me to burgerking A LOT and she would feed me bagels and cream cheese (a stapple of my religion "bagels and shmeer" and would bring junk into the house constantly). It wasn't until [they] my parents started noticing I was showing signs of childhood obesity that they cut out the crap. But maybe now its too late. I knew nothing about dieting or eating healthy when I was younger, and my mom just tried to keep me happy, she thought it wouldn't effect me. My nickname while vacationing in Hawaii as a baby was "prepetual motion" I was always moving, she thought I would just "burn it off". This ofcourse sounds like I'm trying to make blame or even that my mother was a bad mother but she isn't, I stand behind her in every decision she made right or wrong*

I have said "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" (that quote exactly) for years, but honestly; nothing tastes as good as chocolate. And substituted that quote with "inside of me their is a skinny woman trying to get out - -I usually just shut the b**h up with chocolate". Hahaha.

I have been fighting my weight my entire life. It has stopped me from doing activities and putting myself in social situations that I know I would enjoy. Example: swimming, social gatherings with mixed company, and even shopping. At 170 some odd lbs now I still feel that I "don't deserve to go shopping" and that everyone is looking at the big girl in the skinny girls store. When I take trips to the states "where nobody knows my name" I will shop at deb which has a plus size and regular size sections. The plus size is too big and im on the bigger clothing side in regular. SOMETIMES I can find something that fits from both sides. But then again I don't get to the states that often. I often find myself judging other girls on what they wear especially big ones who wear their clothes tight. I think to myself that I would NEVER let myself dress like that and I don't. I've always had a keen sense of fashion and I'm dying to have the bikini body at the beach.

I find that I often look to other methods of "beauty" to combat or, for lack of a better word, "make up" for my weight by a) Tanning and crest white strips, b) French manicures c) Driving expensive cars d) My blackberry pearl e) my hair and make-up etc etc. I know that seems really "lame" (yes I like to quote a lot) but inside of my head I feel like that is going to make everything better, even for just a little bit.

What are some of the trials and tribulations that you have faced in your weightloss journey? And how, if you did, did you combat them.

My self esteem is at its lowest. I don't even feel comfortable at my boyfriends house because his sisters are very skinny and I feel akward around them. Heck, I'm really not that big but when I look in the mirror all I see is someone I'm not. But in reality it is me, starring back at me wondering how did I get like this.

Just thought I would pop in and say Hello!!!! I would love to join your support thread!!

Some quick info on me:

30 years old, single mother of four lovely children, 3 boys 1 girl, ages 8, 5, 2, and 1. I am a full time student and part time office assistant as well.

I want to lose 22lbs at least but ultimately around 30lbs.

My highest weight was 225lbs, my lowest was 130lbs, my current weight is 162lbs. I am 5'6" and wear between a size 8-11 depending on whether it is juniors or womans sizing and the designer. On average most of my wardrobe is size 10.

From 2007-2008 I lost 60 + lbs. I did this not really changing what i ate, just eating less, and i started running which definitely melts the weight off of ya!!!

I have been stuck between 155-162 since summer 2008 and want to make the last of this weight disappear, which means i need to tackle the dietary issue. I love food and love to cook so this will be tough(especially giving up my white rice!!! I am half korean)I also need to back off of the stress eating. When I get stressed I tend to stifle my emotions with a good meal. So I am hoping to find better options to cope. The hardest part is having the young kids. Sometimes it is not so easy to just get up and go to get away from the food, so I am hoping that these support forums will help.

So currently this is my excercise regimen:

Monday and Wednsday I take a 50 minute cardio kickboxing class and lift weights for an hour as well as stretch.

Tuesday Thursday I run 2.5 miles usually in about 20 minutes and do some ab work and stretching

Friday I do the starimaster for 45 minutes stretch and do 30 minutes of strength training.

Saturdays and Sundays, sometimes i run, but usually these are the only days I have with my kids all day long so we will go on walks or bike rides, play at the park etc. Plus i do my yard work and clean my house. (carrying a weeks worth of laundry for 5 people up and down these stairs is work!! ha ha, or so I like to tell myself )

Anyways I hope that by losing the rest of this weight I will feel better about myself and clothes will fit better.  Hope to keep in touch. !!~!!!

P.S. LOOSINGIT (NANCY) I have added you back as a friend. Thanks for the add

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Welcome, ShyandsweetbutSassy! Happy early Mothers Day

It's amazing the kind of exercises you are able to do while juggeling a family AND being a single mom. Kudos, that's pretty darn amazing.

I have added you as a permanent member as well.

When you wrote down  that you tend to "eat your feelings" for lack of a better word I couldn't feel more of the same way. When I'm feeling depressed or sad I tend to eat a piece of chocolate cake or something sweet. And it actually makes me feel better afterwards. I was watching a show the other day on t.v. that basically said the reason why we crave (for me I crave when im upset or bored) is because our brains trigger chemicals and reminds us how good we felt when we ate what we did. The feeling usually doesn't go away until you've satisfied that craving. The trick now is to keep ourselves "busy" when we get stressed out or sad so that we don't eat. EASIER said then done, well for me anyway.

You mentioned in your post that its not that easy to get up and go away from the food [in regards to your kids]. What did you mean by that? What are you feeding your kids?

You also mentioned that you like rice. I LOVE RICE, especially in sushi. I make home made sushi all of the time with sticky rice and different fillings. Maybe you could eat sushi to cut down on eating bowls of rice. Even wild rice is a pretty good side dish. There are no nutrients in white rice. There are reported cases of people in asian countries (whom eat a lot of rice) actually going blind for lack of nutrients because their entire diet consisted of eating rice. Wow could you imagine that? I couldn't survive not eating anything else.

xoxo,

What i meant by getting up and getting away from the food in regards to my kids is that it would be easy for me to get up and go if i didnt have the kids and go running instead of eating, but with the young ones its not that easy. My two little ones i can  put in the jogging stroller, my oldest can ride his bike, but my five year old is not able to ride a bike and keep up. ( he is slightly developmentally delayed) So It would be great to get that runners rush to fufill that need for dopamine, lol, but not always feasible.

As far as what I feed my kids, we dont eat terribly, its just the fact that i shouldnt be eating because its not out of hunger, just my way of dealing with my emotions. A calorie is a calorie and whether it be eating a whole box of strawberries or a candy bar, i shouldnt be eating it...lol So This is my biggest obstacle finding ways to deal with stress even when i cant get away from it.

I also like to eat something similar to sushi, but its a korean version called kim bop.  Very good. White rice we eat with everything, some people its potatoes but for my family its good old jasmine rice...lol...i dont like brown rice but there are some ways i can prepare it and it is ok, but i find i do better if i just avoid eating it altogether. The one cup being a serving (ya right) is very tough for me, so its better for me to just avoid it.

I am hoping that this posting and keeping updated and hearing about others issues will help to keep me grounded and not feel so alone when it comes to this weight thing. Sometimes i feel like im the only one who gives a hoot. Anyhow. hope ya'll are having a good weekend. Time for some accounting homework while the babies are napping.

Oh ya and thanks for the compliment about my excercise routine. I do it because it makes me feel good. I love the rush  i get from getting all sweaty and i think it helps with my depression. I didnt use to be that way. I use to hate excercise, but after you do it regularly, living without it seems unnatural.. lol

SASBS,

      One cup of rice is equal to one portion. I know how hard that must be for you to only eat one cup because it sounds like you really enjoy your rice. Have you ever tried eating your food on a smaller plate? It tricks you into thinking you have more than you really do. And honestly, our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, it often works for me.

Stress eating and emotional eating is a big problem for me too. I thought that all my weightloss issues would disolve when I fell in love with the right guy. That I wouldn't need to eat to fill any "voids" because he would be there keeping me busy. But what do you do when you become so comfortable with someone that you binge with him and lay around the house with him. You gain weight! and thats exactly what I did. In a whopping 9lb weight gain. My boyfriend is also a "big guy" himself and his eating habbits are very VERY bad. He eats one meal a day and it isn't balanced. I give him heck about it all the time. But lately we havent been lounging around, we've been out walking and moving and doing everyday for the last couple of days. It's finally warm enough to take advantage of the weather :). We are trying to loose weight together, we just have to avoid going to our favourite corner store and devouring everything off the shelves.

I think to avoid eating our feelings we need to keep busy, it's so hard. But maybe having set meal times and following the caloric needs would help.  I don't see whats wrong with eating as long as your within your caloric needs to loose weight. Maybe when your kids are eating you could be doing a cross word puzzle or reading while your feeding them or doing the dishes within sight and earshot of your older ones.

Kim bop sounds good, how does it compare to traditional sushi? Have you ever tried "side kicks" rice. I'm pretty sure its wild rice and it tastes delicious! My favourite is the mushroom wildrice. I usually add a little bit of milk and warm in the microwave and it makes a little light sauce, it's very good.

As for exercising, can you go over to a friends or your parents house and let them watch your kids for an hour while you feverishly jog around the block a few times? I'm sure there are different ways for you to get in more exercise throughout the day.

The last day or so I binged, B.F. and I went to our "favourite corner store" and binged, it was amazing how much we ate. Bad Bad Bad me. I was eating the junk more as a way to deal with my stress. I should have been keeping myself busy. My parents have been drilling into me certain rules and expectations that my b.f. and I need to follow which I won't get into but it's been stressing me out and so that Gelati, 2 bags of ritz cheese crackers and 1 small bag of S & V chips did it's job and kept me from getting upset. Jee whizz!

is anybody home?

Sorry-

I've been busy with work, kids, gardening, life!!

My 18 yr old, "baby" Matt, is graduating HS Sun 5/17. My younger daughter, Brianne(19), just moved back home from college for the summer, Thursday. My oldest child, Sara(30), is expecting her 2nd child in Nov13. Took her to an ob-gyn apptFriday morning, her first ultrasound. Too early to tell the gender yet, she's only 13 wks along, but she has another one scheduled in 6 wks, should be able to tell then. We're hoping for a girl. She already has a 3 yr old son, the JOY of my life!

I went out and bought a couple flats of annuals and some tomato and pepper plants a week ago and have been trying desperately to get a little gardening in every day.

Was supposed to work today, since I'm taking most of next week off to get ready for the grad party. Cleaning house - yuck!! Instead of working, I've been cooking up a storm! Have made a cheesy broccoli soup, tuna salad, and have ground 3lbs of chicken breast to freeze for later use, so far today. (All this so I can control sodium)Still need to get out to the garden and get some more done there. Probably won't get any work done for my job! oh well, I'm not going to stress about it!

I try to cc every night before bed, that way I am accurate on what I actually ate for the day!

Sorry to hear you've been having some "binge" days! But we all do once in awhile. The trick is not to let it get you down. Start over the next day! Never, never, never give up! This is a "marathon not a sprint", a quote from one of my cc buddies. You will soon find that those "binge" days get farther and farther apart - till you just have 1 or 2 a month.

Some good "go to" foods for cravings

• Breyers No Sugar Added Reduced Fat ice cream (1/2 c = 1 serving). This tastes amazingly good! Even my husband likes it and he is finicky about his ice cream! I usually have 1 serving with 8 sliced strawberries.
• 100 calorie packs Keebler striped fudge cookies. One of my favs - and portion control!
• Hershey's Sticks 60 calorie Dark Chocolate( I heard you about the chocolate, lol when I read your "quote". I had heard that one before, too.) Like to eat this with light popcorn, watching TV.
• Fiber One Bars - I know, but they are full of fiber and fiber makes you feel full longer! There is a new 1 I've tried, Fiber Plus Antioxident chocolate and almond, it's pretty good and only 50 mg sodium!
• Veggies of any kind - I love homegrown tomatoes, but only get em for a couple of months a yr here in IA. Good substitute is grape tomatoes. Not quite the same but at least they don't taste like cardboard.
• Fruits of any kind - I love strawberries, sometimes I'll dip em in sugar free chocolate pudding. Have also discovered apples with peanut butter! I never liked peanut butter much till I tried this! A couple of times a week I'll slice up an apple and eat it with 1 or 2 T natural peanut butter. Don't buy the reduced fat kind, find a brand that's all natural(I buy Smart Balance w/Omega 3)

These are just a few of my fav's.  

Time to go out to the garden and dig in the dirt! I love gardening! It's like therapy to me! Not just the vegetable garden, but flowers, too! You plant a tiny seed or plant, give it love and water and watch it grow! With the vegetable garden your reward is great tasting produce and the flowers are beautiful to look at! What gratification!

Nice to see you back!

Life does happen, I know I haven't been on here like I liked to have been. Today I worked out all day. Litterly I was outside playing soccer and walking the dog with my boyfriend Matt. It was an amazing day! And I just discovered the joys of making smoothies without sugar all natural and yogurt for flavour. Simply devine! My dad and my mom liked it, my boyfriend devoured it as did I. Ofcourse my dad insisted it would taste a lot better with Grand Marnier in it. LOL. I was trying to explain to him that YES it does give it that added KICK, however it is a LOWFAT smoothie and that alcohol is empty carbs. Carbs that I don't need!. Congratulations to your Matt and to your Sara. Wow second child already, I haven't even had my first yet, haha. The Breyers ice cream sounds pretty good and those 100 calorie snacks are pretty good, however I usually end up having one too many bags and a good thing turns into a bad thing lol. Fiber one bars are DELICIOUS, I also eat the fiber one cereal which is delightful. Same with the honey nut cheerios.

I must get going my family is watching "marley and me" and are wondering where Iam.

P.s. My boyfriend did the dishes today, I think thats the best foreplay in the world. Hahaha.

Later days :)

Hi, xoxo_! I hope you all don't mind me joining this thread! I have been on this site lurking for a longtime and finally committed to my healthy lifestyle about a week ago. I am 23 years old, 5'2 and 220lbs. I hear ya about the alcohol... Last weekend was the first that I did not drink! Though, it helped that most of my friends were out of town so no drinking buddy(ies) available last weekend. Fiber one bars- I always am soo suspicious of those because it tastes good, too good to be healthy, haha!

Loosingit57- Congratulations on your son's graduation and your Sara's second child. I am so jealous that you have a garden! (live in an apartment.) Totally agree with you to never let bad days kick you off the wagon, just brush it off and start anew the next day. Thanks for the 'go-to' good foods list!

Shyandsweetbutsassy- Two weeks ago, I would have scoffed at your last statement about excerise. I felt so weird on my 'off' day last Saturday and exercised anyway! Not sure if it's because I felt like I would not lose weight because I didn't do it or what but it's a good feeling nonetheless!

Hope you all don't mind if I add you to my friends' list. Have a great day!

• Welcome Amandief!

It's nice to have more people join this thread.

Alcohol is empty carbs. I haven't had more than "one drink" at a time in more than 3 years! Thats partially because my body can't filter it propperly and my fingers and feet and pretty much my whole body gets swollen.  I learned to party and have fun without it. Im really glad I did because Alcohol is such a waste. Yeah you get a big buzz off of it and it can be "fun", but either way when you over induldge you wake up feeling like **** with more calories on ya.

I don't know about you but I much prefer to save my calories for food!

I've added you to my friendslist as well. You are more than welcome to post here anytime. I'll add your name to the first post.

And it's awesome were just about the same age. Yay.

How is everyone doing? I did not exercise today since I had an headache the whole da and night!  But I did make sure I ate up to my "off-day calories" so it should be okay! It will be hard to resist weighing in for the next 2 weeks, lol. I also tried spinach, radish and homemade red pepper hummus for the first time and I have to say it was pretty darned good! Though, I think I will try to look for tahini paste since I used natural PB as a substitute for the hummus recipe.

Hope everybody is chugging along wonderfully!

Age: 19

Height: 5'0.. 5'1 on the tippy toes!

Weight: 127... but depending on if I eat before I weigh myself it is higher by a couple pounds.

Goal:  No more than 115 by August 25th (there is no excuse for not being able to lose 12 pounds in 3 months if I exercise and eat right.  If I don't meet this goal, it means I really did not try and we will need an intervention haha) 

Ideally, I would like to be 100-105 by end of August/September but I'm trying to take it slowly and realistically.  I don't want my goal to be too hard and get discouraged.   

Hi!  May I join?  My Julia is 9 months old and I can't seem to "flip" my weight loss switch on and I really have to get my weight loss in gear.  Her first birthday is on July 30th and I'd like to lose 10-15 pounds by then.  My current weight is 141.6 and I'm 5'1. 

For dinner last night; I had a hershey's bar and a glass of skim milk.  How did I let myself do that????  It seems that ever since I had her; I've been craving odd things like red meat, chocolate, and salty things very strongly.

My schedule is so tight-  and my DH doesn't get home from work until really late so going to the gym is not an option after work.  I leave my house at 7AM and don't get home until 7PM; then feed Julia; put her down and work some more.  I have entertained the idea of going for a morning run at 5:30AM; but that just seems so tiring.  I have Wii Fit; but it's more fun than an actual workout. 

Oh!  I'm 31. 

Original Post by vanessa1031:

Hi! May I join? My Julia is 9 months old and I can't seem to "flip" my weight loss switch on and I really have to get my weight loss in gear. Her first birthday is on July 30th and I'd like to lose 10-15 pounds by then. My current weight is 141.6 and I'm 5'1.

For dinner last night; I had a hershey's bar and a glass of skim milk. How did I let myself do that???? It seems that ever since I had her; I've been craving odd things like red meat, chocolate, and salty things very strongly.

My schedule is so tight- and my DH doesn't get home from work until really late so going to the gym is not an option after work. I leave my house at 7AM and don't get home until 7PM; then feed Julia; put her down and work some more. I have entertained the idea of going for a morning run at 5:30AM; but that just seems so tiring. I have Wii Fit; but it's more fun than an actual workout.

Oh! I'm 31.

Hi Vanessa! Welcome! Not sure why you are craving these things, though red meat is OK in moderation! Hormones, maybe? :) You sure have a busy schedule! Maybe you should give that running idea a try because I work overnights and I don't get that much sleep () much but after work and exercise, I get an energy boost. I also think it helps that I eat a lot more proper and more to my caloric needs whereas before I was under-eating and I didn't know it! Just ideas and tips that might help you.

BTW, you have a beautiful daughter!

Amandie

Hi Luola! Welcome to CC and good luck to you! I know it can be hard to try to be realistic regarding weight loss but you can do it! :)

how did everyone do this weekend?  It's so hard on holidays!

Hi, Vanessa.. I just came home yesterday from a whole weekend of camping... Didn't do so bad, did a bit more on the alcohol than I thought I would but hey it was my first vacation since Christmas/NYE and I had fun! My arms are still sore from canoeing and tubing. My last weigh was 223 before camping and today's weigh-in was 221 so I am okay with that!   I hope everyone had a great weekend/holiday!

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been around. I have been very busy with "life" and my "boyfriend". Yesterday was a very good day for me. I exercized for 20 mins on the eliptical followed by a 50 minute walk. It was a very very good day for exercize. I snuck in a package of dunkaroos and 1 and a half klondike bars. (bad me). I shouldn't have had that much looking back. But at the time it was there and I gave in. For dinner I had a bowl of minestrone soup and a feta salad. It was my anniversary with my boyfriend. Four months. We had to have a little cheat with the cookies/klondike. Besides, the cookies were spongebob dunkaroos with chocolate frosting...Mmmm. Today my knees hurt. I'm always bending at work to get into jewellery display cases. I'm the head of the jewellery dept in a dept store here in my city. The only solution for knee-less problems and injuries is too simply shed the weight. I need to shed the weight.

I've come up with some goals for myself and I am planning to weigh myself every second friday of the month until august. See how much I have lost and re-asses myself. There after I shall start again until I reach my goals. A little at a time.

It's nice to see some new faces. Welcome Luola and Vanessa1031, as well welcome back Amandief, it's nice to see you.

I am adding the newcomers to the members list.

How is everyones weightloss going? any major results lately?

Hi Xoxo! Do you think a sort of knee support brace would work on your knee(s)? My knees hurt from time to time and I use it while exercising so I don't half-a** the moves and whatnot, I want to be able to push myself. That is a great idea about your goals- I am also going to weigh myself every 2 weeks, on Sundays. I am still chugging along, no major differences except in my mood and my overall stamina in daily activities.

Hope everyone else is doing wonderfully! If not, just hop back on the wagon and start again! :D

Amandie