LOCKED TOPIC
Wagon Jumpers - Week 1
If you are wondering what the wagon jumpers group is please see out start up thread:
Wagon Jumpers - Anyone Need a Lift?
Thank you to the 8 (and growing) people who have signed up to try to support each other in staying on track with our goals and plans in a long term capacity so that we are not on again off agin the wagon, as we all have been in the past.
To date the people who have expressed interest are:
Supersized (myself)
I've sent everyone a PM to confirm that they are in.
Those who do not want to participate I will edit this post to remove the names.
If there is anyone who would like to join us please leave a message here, on the original thread or PM me and I will add you to the list.
Next Steps: Everyone on the list try to check in at least once before Saturday midnight. If someone has not checked in by Saturday midnight (including myself) then please contact that person!
I figure we will stay away from designating someone in particular to do the contacting. Specifically so that if that person is the one who does not check in that we're not relying on them to do the contacting. Also I tend to lean towards the idea that if we jump it's not a bad think to have 7+ people saying how happy they will be to have you back.
I expect that all of us are polite and positive with each other. I think it goes without saying that rude or offensive messages or contacts are intolerable, any such posts or PM's will result in removal from the group and a report to the moderators of the site.
Okay now that there is a plan lets see what we can do with it!
Reason: Locked, see last post in thread
Hey guys, if you have room I'd like to join in with you guys!
I have a good knowledge of what to eat/what not to eat. What workouts to do, how and when to do them.
I do WONDERFUL for 2 weeks, then I have a reward time, and never get back on track.....2 weeks later I start up again, and do wonderful and then it all happens again!
I've gone back and forth in weight (mainly the same 40 pounds) for a long time now, and I just want the last of it gone, and gone for good! But I can't seem to stay on track for those last 20!
Vicki8seekers - great to have you here with us, there's always room! And yes, we all know exactly where your coming from on the on again off again merry-go-round. We'll do this together and have some fun in the process.
Jburgin, left a note on the introduction thread, I've sent a PM and a link to this thread and hope to see Jburgin here soon!
Cheers,
Sara.
Hi All,
I know I've checked in, but this is kind of neat to have a place where we all have the same goal. I'm already really interested in how everyone is doing. I saw a question that was just posted on another thread (you know how they show up on the right side of the screeen) anyway I missed it but thought one of our really diverse group might have the answer.
In January when I really started getting serious about losing weight I stopped drinking diet soda. I went from 2-3 20ounce bottles of diet mt. dew / or diet coke to nothing but water or maybe crystal light. I don't usually drink coffee. Lately I've noticed that I'm back up to 2 bottles of soda a day. I've noticed my weight loss has slowed to maybe 1.5lbs /week. Do you think this may be part of the reason?
Also - since it is probably useful to know what we are doing to lose weight here is my plan:
I go to a local physician every 2 weeks where they have a weight loss plan. The plan entails limiting calories to 1200cal/day; exercise 50 min 4-5 days /week and an appetite suppressor if it is needed to help with cravings. They monitor my bp, pulse, lungs etc.. on every visit. I thought long and hard before signing up for this, but I figured this was a better plan the surgery which I had really started to look at.
Anyway - they are happy w/my weight loss, it just seems to have slowed down when I would think it should be a bit more steady. I was wondering if the soda could be the culprit?
I know this is long but if we all write our plans we can see what works for us.
HI Kreitter,
No problem posting more than once (I obviously do) I'm keeping it to once per week so that no one feels pressured or obligated. I'm having a slow time at work right now and Know I can manage more at the moment, but later on as we get busier once a week may be a challenge for me. Hopefully by then the group knows each other fairly well and will be self-sustaining.
As for your question, from a technical know how perspective I think it would be very difficult to give a firm yes or no. Even perhaps for your doctor. There are so many things that go on in our bodies. Weight loss tends to go through cycles, initially you loose fast (this is often the water weight) and then you go through slow periods, then the dreaded plateau and there are even natural increases. All of this happens to everyone regardless of if they are on the "perfect" (read: no such thing) diet as our bodies adjust to new weights, new fat and muscle rations, and new foods in the system, and seasons etc even have their effects.
From a personal perspective I have a pretty big fixation with natural foods. This doesn't mean I can't eat way too much or not healthy enough on all natural foods.... even 20 vegan all whole foods brownies are not.... well.... a good idea for weight loss. I was raised by parents who kept nothing but whole foods in the house. (Yes, lucky child). And I don't have a taste for most packaged foods there are either much too sweet or much too salty for me. I have to admit I'm really really suspicious of "diet" and "light" foods as I'm wondering how much refining they had to do to get the sugar out or the fat out.
Personally I eat honey, raw sugar, dried can sugar, rice syrup - I would prefer to take the hit on the calories knowing what I'm putting into my body than think that I've found a way around calorie intake just be tricked by some chemical advertising.
So, I'll step off my soapbox now. All of that is easy for me to say because I was raised that way I never had to give up pop, french fries, chips, cheeseburgers because they were never a regular part of my life.
For those of you who do know more about the diet sodas than I do ( and I know I've seen a few threads on the subject) what do you think?
Cheers,
Sara.
I am feeling better today, still not completely normal, but at least I managed to go to uni and do some walking (30 mins to uni, long way back 45mins). Eating has also been pretty okay, more carbs than I would have perhaps hoped for, but still under what i burnt, so that is okay. So all in all not too bad a day. tomorrow I'm going to try and get up early in the morning and get in an extra walk.
kreitter, I have also had a diet coke addiction in the past. I didn't really notice any change in my appetite for sweet things, or in how I lost weight when I drank diet coke/didn't drink diet coke. (I drink black tea to get caffiene now). I quit when I started taking the pill because I just couldn't stomach it. It tastes bad to me. I have been drinking a bit more the past 3 weeks or so, which does happen to coincide with me gaining weight, but I think it is also because my hormones have been a bit strange. I really don't know. Perhaps if you started drinking tea or something to get some caffiene from another source you wouldn't need the coke so much. Given the plan you are on, I doubt it is the soda, are you really getting enough calories? Since you are over 200 you could probably eat a little more and still have good results. What does your doctor think about this?
Sara, listening to you talking about your childhood was interesting. I grew up with parents who were into self-sufficiency and grew everything, we had hardly any bought food at all (let alone junk food), but actually all 4 of us kids ended up with coke/pepsi/diet coke addictions when we left home!!
tamarbee - how are you finding the couch to 5K, I have always hated running, but after hearing everybody learning to jog, I'm wondering if I should try and do something like that. I'd be interested to hear your experiences with it.
thin27, I know you can make better choices this time. And just think the less you eat, the less it costs and the quicker you can payoff your mortgage!!!
vicki, great to have you in the group too!!
Hope you are all doing well, and have a good day!
Hola everyone,
right off the bat i'm feeling awkward, being the only guy in this group it seems. hopefully more can join so I don't feel so weird :)
I'm a 27 yr old computer tech in a small south Georgia town. Always been a big fella, since middle school, but gained big time whenever I graduated High School. I maxed out at 310, and fought hard to never get that bad again. A couple of years ago, I made a big push to start a real diet and fight my weight problems. It worked out well, ate 1,300 calories a day [every day] and ran 3 miles 3 times a week. Things were looking up, I was down to 240 and enjoying all of it.
Then my knee went bad. I immediately stopped all workouts (which was stupid in hindsight) and tried to stay on my diet, but a lack of desire to do so caused me to stop. Over a year, I gained back all the weight I had lost and am now riding the 290 zone.
I'd rather not go there again, so I'm getting proactive about it. I started my diet back a week or two ago and am slowly working myself into exercise again. I don't know if I'll ever run again [my knee never feels strong enough]. but I have other ways to do cardio, so we'll see how it goes.
My goal is a little at a time, I set minor goals to have something a little realistic to look for When you are 290 lbs, telling yourself you want to be 240 again is just silly. Telling myself I want to get to 280, that's doable. Once I hit 280, I shoot for 270, so and so forth. That's how I work it out. These days it's alot hard to be good on the diet because of my lifestyle. During the day, I fix computers for a school system. It's frantic to say the least. After that, I normally am involved with my church's youth group. I am a small group leader and as well as their AV tech guy. It all adds up to frantic paces, full of frustration, and emotions tied to my eating that don't belong there. Eating these days is mainly a matter of convenience. I can barely cook, and don't keep enough food in my cupboard to make super healthy meals. (a can of tuna and some peanut butter go a long way though...not together :) )
So all in all, I just gotta get back to the pace I was running (no pun intended) before. Hopefully we could all meet our goals and help each other along the way.
I just don't understand this. I hear people saying that establishing a new habit takes about 2 weeks but that is not the case here.
my current weight 176. Height: 5'3".
Jane - OMG that is so funny that your parents and mine did almost the same thing. I guess it is getting more popular. It was reasonably common in Ireland (where I'm from originally) since in the 80's there was still a fairly strong agrarian culture and what with the .... um.... differences with the English we didn't have too many imports. When I came to Canada (88) we were just the weirdo's 
, I sorta respect that now. I think we avoided the pop fixation because my Dad frequently sabotaged mum's good eating regiment by making root beer floats on Saturday nights.
Jburgin - We promise, we won't bite (or anything else inappropriate), I think it's fair to say that the girls out number the guys on this site by quite a bit. I would love to have more guys in the group for the diversity and perspective as well as some guy-to-guy support. I can totally relate to the small goals. I'm staying completely away from the scale for awhile, I know I'll freak out when I see it because I'm sure I'm well past my heaviest which was 205 lbs. So my goals at the moment are mainly weekly I'm slowly working my way down from eating 3000 calories a day to 1500, currently at 2500. And working my way up in exercise from none to 4 days a week 2 hours a day, currently at 4 days a week 1.5 hours a day. If I can meet those goals I want to develop a 12 week consistency before I throw my weight into the mix. I'm hoping to feel some looser clothes in the mean time.
On a side note love the tuna & peanut butter .... not together comment. My grandmother apparently enjoyed using the kids she babysat as guinnea pigs and one of the things we found amongst her stuff was a peanut butter & list.... apparently peanut butter & dill pickles was a big hit.... I've never had the nerve to try it myself. I'll have to go see if peanut butter & tuna was on that list.
Safina1 - It's funny about the "how long it takes to establish a new habit" I heard 31 days, and I'm fairly suspect of that since 3 months and 6 months seem to be my breaking points. Wonder if anyone has ever come up with any concrete evidence on that, of if it's just very adaptable to the person / personality.
Okay, so my challenge for the day is pub night. It's a monthly pub night (I have many) with the geeky guys (I say that with affection), I need to make it through the night on a large salad with olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, dressing and no more than 2 pints of been to stay within calories. That leaves me 500 calories to play with, but it's sooooooooo easy to blow that in a pub.
On a side note, my dog (I have 2) keeps licking the carpet, all over, like he's grooming it... weirdo...
Cheers,
Sara.
I am trying to eat a variety of foods. I tend to eat the same old things and then get bored with it and then jump the wagon. I would grab 2 granola bars, 2 yoplait yogurts and a fruit and some sugarfree iced tea. throw it in my ice chest, and I would take off to work. I would be stressed and starved by the time I got home. The waning motivation soon became nonexistant and I would get home and inhale.
I am struggling to get the right balance of fats/carbs/proteins. Being a vegetarian, my carbs are usually high. my protein is usually 20%. carbs are usually 60-70%---usually from vegetables and fruit and grains. Yesterday I had 66g of fiber.
I think that the right attitude helps with staying on the wagon. If I allow someone to have the power to upset me, I am more likely to unbuckle my seat belt and slowly fall of the wagon. So here is to not giving anyone that kind of power. I hold the power of what goes into my mouth!!
Hang in there everyone. We can do this. we will do this. WE ARE DOING THIS!!!
To the finish line!!
love, Karen
good luck on pubnight, Sara. it can be a big attraction to work past.
Found this today on my iGoogle page. I think this could help anyone with this problem bring some structure to it. I've begun something like this myself. I made a plan to stop drinking sodas two sundays ago, and since then had only one and a half sodas. Recommended reading for all
Thanks everyone for the support.
This is so great to come and read all your posts at the end of the day when I am most likely to overeat! I hear all of you that say boredom and stress make you run for the fridge - I am definitely like that too. I get so frustrated - and even talked to my Dr. about it - that obviously at this point I KNOW what I should eat, and that I should be more active - then why don't I just do it?! When I am upset - intellectually I know I am overeating, I feel bad about it, but do it anyway. I actually feel like I am in a "food trance" sometimes. However, I just had a really bad day, and took a quick walk and ate some green beans so that's good!
About the diet soda - I'm not sure about the science behind it all, but when I saw a nutritionist she suggested I start drinking some Propel instead - I think there are 25 calories in the bigger bottle - and that has helped me. I find that I feel really bloated when I drink soda - but then it tastes better when you have it very rarely. I also drink Crystal Light Iced Tea pretty much non-stop (not that that is any better).
Jburgin - I am a teacher and I know how crazy your job is! I am very nice to our computer guy!
I have never joined a forum before, but I feel really good about this!
Is it too late for me to join in? I think something like this is exactly the sort of thing I need. I have a tendency to do well for a couple weeks, then start convincing myself that this and that is okay, and before I know it I'm back to square one. I need some kind of constant motivation and something to keep me in check.
thin27, you'd better be nice to the computer guy! :) Truth be told, most of my teachers love me to death, so my frustrations lie in my workload and lack of hours in the day to fix it all. The users are generally ok.
I feel good about this forum too, I'm looking forward to the good support we can give each other.
Wow, look at all this activity, now we just need to keep this up until we reach our goals.... just kidding, if we are all managing a once a week post in 3 months I'll be very proud of all of us, but it's great to see the enthuisam (can't spell had too much beer) right out the gate.
Karen - I know what you mean about the quick "to-go" breakfast / lunch and then loosing it to hunger at the end of the day. By taking my calories down gradually I'm hoping to help ease into not doing that, but I have a lot of work to do on balancing out my calories across the day instead of small breakfast little to no lunch and a huge dinner. If I get there, then I've got to take a serious look at my breakdown, also a veggie, also high in carbs.
Jburgin - Thanks for the good luck wishes on the pub night I think it went well, I stuck to my salad and two beers and didn't even mooch any fries off people! I'm feeling very self satisfied at the moment.
Fantasyflight - I've added you to the group, welcome!
I'm in, honest, it's just that after signing up I was away for the weekend (and beyond) with no internet access! Anyway, I'm at work right now so will be back tonight (UK time) to read all the posts and divulge all about me!
Hi Shrinking_Caro,
Great to hear from you! Sorry for the double PM, wanted to make sure you wanted to be in before maybe half a dozen of us sent you reminder e-mails.
Cheers,
Sara.
Hi Jburgin - thanks for the link. I guess it is time for me to try again! I know it is healthier without drinking all of the chemicals. And someone said that the soda can really impact your sweet tooth. I don't know what was with me yesterday but I was totally craving marshmallows ???? (What????) I really don't even like marshmallows and I felt sick/sluggish all day because of having a really high fat meal on Monday night. So I had plenty of calories available and as soon as I got home I started grabbing handfuls of the mini-marshmallows. We have them for the kids marshmellow gun - needless to say they are just about out of ammo!
It really was the strangest thing. However, I'm trying not to let my 'unfortunate marshmallow incident' derail me. Even though I'd like to understand my body and figure out what the heck it wanted.
I guess I put last night behind me - I had a really good 40 min. cardio workout this morning. It feels good to get sweaty!
Have a great day all!
Hi Jane3001-
Before I started logging food on this site I thought I was eating enough. If I'm focused and plan to eat good things I haven't been hungry and it really hasn't been that hard (unless I don't write things down). Anyway I noticed lots of comments to others about not having enough calories. I'll ask my doctor when I see him next week. Their plan as I said calls for 1200 cal/day they also give me B1 weekly which is supposed to keep the metabolism from slowing down while losing weight. But maybe I'd do better with a few more calories.
Thanks for the insite.
jburgin~ Thanks for the article! and don't feel weird about being the only male, we do what we gotta do right!
How is everyone doing this week so far?
I got my butt running yesterday (haven't in awhile) and I played volleyball. Had a lot of beer though!
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