trying not to stress eat

Today was a crazy busy day with too many meetings and not enough time to do the work assigned to me in meetings ending with the quarterly evening meeting I facilitate in which I have to stand in front of 80 people and be engaging. (I hatethis part of my job) It is awful, although the participants seem to like the meetings and find the information valuable/useful/helpful. But, gosh, how I loathe standing up in front of all those people for an hour and a half. I always come out of it wanting to go to the bar....

calories:1540
exercise: hair pulling out, eye rolling, teeth nashing - 9 hours
b- coffee, fruit, yogurt
s- go lean bar, plain tea
l - lean cuisine pumpkin ravioli (mmm), plain tea
d - (meeting) 1/2 cup white rice, 2 egg rolls, 1 cup veggie stir fry, brownie (damn it, I tried to fight it and it was so not worth the calories), plain tea, water
skipped the bar
s- grapes

the trouble is I want a snack and can't decide if it is a stress urge or if I'm hungry. I'm trying to wait it out with chamomile tea, lots and lots of chamomile tea.

Miss Me?

Hi All, so busy, work is hectic, homelife is insane and I am behind in planning out summer for the kids. But, getting to the elliptical at least 3 times a week. Working the weights, squats, stretched and crunches. Clothes feel better, but still 141.5.

No worries...gonna keep on truckin'

Just hi

Not much new since last post. I worked til 8 last night, so I had a little organic vegetable pie about 7 at work. I snacked a lot yesterday, but that's partly b/c I had broccoli for lunch. So for snacks I had another rice cake, and a wasa cracker with peanut butter. A couple of my organic smooshed fruit things and a yellow pepper. Yum.
No gym for me until late - I'm hoping to not work as late tonight - I have to go grocery shopping on my way home.
Breakfast - Fage whole yogurt, apple, 1/2 cup Kashi cinnamon crunch cereal.
Have a great day!

in a 3-day slump.

So, I realized the last 3 days were bad eating days for me. I hoped to get back on track yesterday for a good start to the week... it was not so :-( the day went along great- had 13 WW points until dinner. We were having dinner at amy's with my family that's here from the philippines. I was told there was going to be a rotisserie chicken there- so I planned my meal. one drumstick, one thigh, both no skin, and 1/2 cup of brown rice. I brought the brown rice, and to my surprise- no chicken. there was- my aunt's amazing unhealthy chicken soup, linguine and meatballs, steak, string beans, and corn. ahhh! and it went... linguine, one meatball, one bite of steak, and a healthy serving of soup... all to be followed by 3 little apple pastry things. UGH!

I haven't worked out at all... we have a new cat, and introducing her to the other cats has been stressful. I haven't slept well, so I can't seem to wake up in the morning... she is adorable and I hope they stop hissing and growling at each other soon so I can get back to the routine! I don't know how those of you with kids do it!! cats are enough for me!!

new goggles and a flip turn

ah the joy of little things. In an effort to NOT go home and eat between work and swimming, I headed to Dick's sporting goods for a new bathing suit. Dick is over priced. Dick thinks that all female swimmers are stick figures. Dick can stick it! I then went to Target where there is no selection in suits, but I got a new pair of groovy new anti-fog goggles. Went to swim laps, the class was finishing up with flip turns. The instructor asked me if I knew how (no) and then invited me to join. FUN! Now I know how and in my groovy goggles I will soon be swimming like a champ. YAY for cool, inviting instructor!

Monday calories:2210
exrz - swim (hard) 45 minutes
b - coffee, banana, golean oatmeal raisin bar
l - tomato soup, 2 wasa, lf laughing cow cheese
s- um...3 pieces Godiva.
s- tea, golean pb/caramel bar
snack - whole bag of trail mix (6 servings. there I admit it)I should have had the turkey sandwich instead, I shopped too long and was rushing to swim)
d- it is late and I am hungry but first some tea to fill me up, then wasa with thin sliced turkey breast and lf cheese. maybe some tomato. this will give me the above #

So-so weekend

The weekend wasn't bad for me, but it wasn't great. Fri night dinner was spinach and tomato panini with provolone and mozz cheese. yum. No class Sat morning, I had to be in work early. yogurt, apple and cereal for breakfast. Lunch was chicken tacos from Chili's. No workout - watched the uconn game and had 2 beers. Dinner was turkey chili.
Sun - slept in til almost 10, did laundry, had a salad for lunch, and the I had tirimisu. Did some weights in the pm - legs, some pushups. Dinner was 3 skinny slices of pizza with mushrooms and peppers. medium size crust (not too thick, not too thin).
But today is a new day. I went to the gym this am, 2 miles in intervals on the treadmill, then some weights. Breakfast was 2% yogurt with an apple and 1/2 cup of Kashi cinnamon cereal. Lunch today was broccoli leftover from chicken with pasta and broccoli dinner from Fri night. I didn't want the pasta or chicken. 2 wasa crackers with peanut butter and a rice cake. I heated up some sort of organic alfredo dish, but it tasted awful so I threw it out.
I hope everyone has a great day! Let's all have a great week too!

getting back on track

This wasa good weekend for me. After Friday's weigh in and Jake's nudge I've re-dedicated myself to writing it all down. A Friday night Mechanical Bull ride (and sprained thumb LoL!) later, I realize I've got work to do if I want to be swimsuit ready by May 31st. I am newly swearing off alcohol: "a glass or two" of wine is sabotaging my willpower and my calorie intake. So I went shopping, stocked up on healthy choices, teas and seltzer water.

Saturday: 1195 calories
ex - swim, 45 min
b- coffee, yogurt, banana
s- coffee, fiber one bar
s - lowfat cheese, coffee
L - kashi bar, african red tea, seltzer
d - thin slice turkey breast on wasa, w/ lf cheese & mustard, fresh fruit salad (grapes, strawberries, blackberries), decaf tea

Sunday: 1175 calories
ex- run,15 miles (I wish rain counted as extra calories burned!)
b - 1/2 power bar, cup coffee
s - Gu, gatorade, water
l - bacon egg & cheese on english muffun, coffee (mmmmm)
s - jasmine tea, fruit salad (above plus mango)
d - 3/4 cup brown rice, shrimp, green beans & mushrooms, seltzer

Gluttonous Weekend...

Friday- I stayed within my points allowance... which I was happy with, considering travel days are really hard for me.

Saturday- looked at wedding venues! with all the running around, snacking was more than usual. I had already eaten 17 points before my insane dinner at Chima. I felt like I had eaten so much- even treated myself to a few bites of dessert- but I do have to say it took less to make me feel stuffed. I started with the salad bar and had a big serving of baby greens with a tiny bit of balsamic dressing. Had salmon, flank steak, a bite of filet.... this place is amazing, and it's pretty impossible NOT to overeat!! I ordered a molten chocolate cake thingie for dessert, and it came with one scoop of vanilla icing. I am very lucky to have friends that help themselves to each other's food... because I had quite a few forks helping me with my dessert. Thank God I didn't eat it all!

Today I was unfortunately not as good with the traveling. Had a not so tasty breakfast sandwich from Cosi, 2 pieces of popeyes fried chicken- I have to say I don't regret this at all!!!! Popeyes is my ultimate comfort food, and I can easily house my fair share of an 8 piece chicken dinner! but I only ate one drumstick and one thigh. and NO biscuits. Dinner was a turkey burger made with lean ground turkey breast, with mushrooms, lo fat cheese and a side of corn. No bread- we didn't have any in the house!

I am ready to get back on track tomorrow for sure!! I have to say- even though I didn't make the best choices, my portion control was good!! yay!

Let's have a great week everyone!! :-)

honestly

Jake, you are right! I've been busy and have been using that as an excuse for not writing down everything I eat, I am sure I've made some bad decisions along the way, not writing it down makes it easier to 'forget' about those hershey kisses I grabbed as I walked through the main lobby of the office, etc. As a result I have not been honest with my self these past two weeks regarding my food intake.

thanks for calling me on it and getting me back in line about writing it ALL down!

A & Mark - it was so nice to see you last night and you both look HOT with your weight loss! It sorry to have missed swimming with you today, I can not believe I sat in traffic for 1/2 an hour and only ended up in stupid Manayunk. However, since I already had my bathing suit on and my super sexy swimcap and goggles with me, I headed back to my neighborhood and straight to the pool for 45 minutes of laps. Not an intense work out though since it was interrupted by people swimming shortwise across the pool (open swim on a Saturday, yikes!), but at least it was something.

I'm so proud of all you losers! (and of those of us who still trying despite the lack of losing. Progress, not perfection!)

daily food report to follow....

Week 3 Stats

Angela....................-12 lbs..............6.030%
Mark......................-13 lbs..............5.531%
Jason.....................-9.5 lbs..............4.986%
Annie....................-7.0 lbs...............4.117%
Aileen...................-5.4 lbs...............4.054%
Deborah...............-4.0 lbs...............2.424%
Sarah....................-2.5 lbs...............1.966%
Andrew................-2.0 lbs...............1.129%
Teresa..................+3.2 lbs.............-2.507%
TL.........................+5.0 lbs............-3.030%

Nicole isn't weighing in this week and I still need Terrie's weight.

Jake +2 lbs. dammit but 42 days smoke free, +$$$$ I must admit, not being in the contest has made me a little less careful. I don't pay attention as much since I don't have to tell anyone how much I weigh any more. TL.... I noticed you haven't been blogging your food intake as much as you used to. Maybe it will help to find a hidden 'evil' or something. As women our bodies are always going to fluctuate, don't worry about the direction of the scale, focus on the fit of the clothes, the energy in your body, the sense of accomplishment in your soul. :-)

Annie and Andrew weigh in. again.

Annie: 163
Andrew: 175

Mark's weigh in

Mark's weigh in today is 222.
Yeah Mark! You're doing great.
Aileen asked me to post for him. :-)

Bad week

I am 161. The weight is coming off, slowly!! But it is coming off- yahoo!!!

I had a bad week, and today, I feel out of control with eating! I went out to lunch and had a bowl of chili, a hot ham and cheese sandwich and potatoe chips. I just ate it and already I can't wait for dinner!! Going out to eat is my weakness, and it is also one of my favorite activities!!! annie and Terrie I went to Millies with your boys in the dept today for lunch! Just couldn't resist the daily special!!

Also, only worked out two times this week. But yesterday I ran on the treadmill for a 1/2 hr and it really felt good afterwards. I really miss my being in shape days and just have to make the time to do it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My scale has betrayed me...

I thought I was doing good all week, exercising, watching intake. I'm up again to 170. How is it possible to go from 170 to 166 to 170 in two weeks?

Last round I was running, hula hooping and doing abs. This round I inserted swimming (and I must say my arms are coming into shape) but I now skip the hula and abs. I think I need to start doing that again.

HELP! I don't want to give up!!

Sarah's weigh in!

124.5
I don't know the last time I was below 125. I can't believe I haven't hit a plateau yet, but I'm not complaining. I had to wear a suit today for a meeting this am, and I wore my gray skirt suit that I haven't worn in at least 3-4 years.
Congrats A and Ang! Awesome job and keep it up!
Teresa, you've probably just hit a plateau and need to switch up your exercises. Maybe try the bike instead of the ellpitical. But you're definitely getting stronger! Unassisted dips is awesome!
Have a great day everyone!

Aileen's Weigh In and Thursday

127.8

Thursday-
Coffee-1
1/2 special K protein bar-2
1 crab rangoon - 1ish
Michelina's lean gourmet lasagna-5
lo fat laughing cow cheese-1
wasa-1
whole grain cheese puffs-3
soup-3
croutons-1

18 total for the day...
Mark bought us this food scale so it's helping out a lot... i usually "estimate" what one serving is- now i can actually measure!

We're on the road today and packing lots of healthy stuff. lets hope i don't sabatoge my good week!!!

Checking in from vacation!

No scale at the house in the Keys. So no weigh in for me. I've been on a steady diet of fried grouper, conch fritters and sm oked fish dip since I arrived, so I can't imagine a weigh in would be very good. :) But I'm on vacation!!!! Good luck today everybody.

Teresa's Pitiful Weigh In

130.8 lbs - Pathetic. Might as well just get used to the fact that I'm going to be fat and not able to wear any of my bikinis this summer

I did it!

I did it! 2 sets of 3 unassisted dips today, and then a set of 2. Then I had to do the rest of my arm workout, now they are tired!
It sucks the scale isn't budging though, especially since I ordered 2 bikinis from Victoria's Secret last night! Gotta get moving...somehow

Wednesday

Coffee-1
Cake-2? (only had 2 bites... couldn't calculate this so i just estimated)
Jumbo Krispies and milk-2
bread-2
tuna and lo fat mayo-2
1/2 svg of pork rinds-1
popcorn-2
cereal-1
general tso's chicken (approx 3 oz)- 6
1/2 white rice-2
crab rangoons-5
broccoli- 1
total: 27 points

so... dipped into my flex points again... 22 flex pts left for the week. We're going out to Chima on Saturday... I need to save my points!!!!

Rough Week

My week started out well, south beach and the gym, then there was yesterday! No gym yesterday or today thanks to me having to bring my car to/from the dealership which is far away. Plus yesterday was my brother's birthday so we went to Chili's. I was good with getting a salad for an entree but I did have a couple southwestern eggrolls and a few bites of dessert. Oh and a couple bacardi and diets. Wouldn't be so bad if I could squeeze in cardio today but the only way that's happening is if the part for my car doesn't come in and I don't have to go get it since Uconn is at 7 and I gotta watch that. I've already been warned to not be late!
Nice video blog Annie, I must have missed your first one. Don't worry, you are no where near as geeky as I am, I'm sure Sarah can vouch for that :-) Speaking of, let me get back to administering my databases since we have a mini-crisis. Yah!

5 hours of sleep last night...yuck

Still goin strong

Things are going well here. I haven't been in the gym as much this week, but mainly because I decided not to sacrifice sleep for a trip to the gym. I was exhausted last week because of this. I'll try to be in bed soon so I can get up at 4. I have been good about being low on carbs. The only carbs I am eating are vegetables, splenda, some cheese and the occasional Atkins bar. The usual day has been eggs and bacon for breakfast, chicken or tuna for lunch, and I try to switch up my dinners. We ordered chinese tonight. I had chicken with brocolli tonight w/out any sauce. A little boring so I made my own sauce. I have switched to decaf coffee. I was getting lightheaded when I drank caffeine. I try not to have more than one cup a day. The weight loss has slowed, but it seems to be working well. My goal next week is to start eating leaner meats. I am going to limit red meat to 1 or 2 meals per week and try to replace bacon for breakfast with smoked salmon. I'm sure my arteries will thank me. Its great to see everyone is still going strong.

annie's phat vlog!

points...

So yesterday I had only 15 WW points.... I guess it's just as bad to undereat as it is to overeat... hmph. I had class last night, so those nights I'm not able to eat much.

Well... This morning I had 2 bites of my cake- you know how it goes the day after class. How many WW Pts is that????

Feeling Good

So I got some compliments from my coworker yesterday about looking like I lost weight. Totally made my day.
So lunch yesterday - Whole Foods hot bar - zucchini latke, some vegan pad thai, squash and sweet potatoes - small portion size. And butternit squash soup. Filled me up most of the day. I think I had one of my smooshed fruit things around 5. Then I left work about 7ish, went home, fed the dog, cleaned up the dog's mess since he was mad that he was left alone (bad Lucky) and went to the gym. I kicked it up a notch on my interval training (7.5 for 1 minute, 1 min rest, then 7.5 for 1 min again). Felt good. Then I went home and made some organic Annie's mac and cheese and had about 1/4 of it and saved the rest for lunch today.
This am, class at 6am - ouch, she kicked our butts today. I'll be feeling the burn all day.
B - 1/2 cup Kashi cinnamon cereal, Fage 2% yogurt, and an apple.
I asked my trainer about the line on my abdomen and she said diet and exercise will get rid of it. She wants to see a food diary too. I've been keeping track in a couple places, so I'll have to remember to print that out.
Have a great day everyone!

Tuesday

Wow- that countdown clock thingie is ticking away!! gasp!

Well, today went ok.
Coffee
Jumbo Krispies and milk
Pork rinds (well, they're only 2 WW pts per serving...)
lo fat egg salad, 1 slice of bread
1/2 special k protein bar
lo fat homemade potato leek soup (got a whole bunch in the freezer. )
croutons
water
exercise with weights and stability ball
I don't have a points count... I left the lil chart thing at work- i'll post it tomorrow.

good nighty night!!

tuesday

Good report from Dr. Diabetes in control, but calories, in my opinion are out of hand. Shocky about 2am, frosted flakes and milk. Good for the blood sugar, not good for the calorie count. Triceps hurt. Taking night off watching movie with my hubby.

Finished up with 1732 calories today. Will do better tomorrow.

Good workout

I'm still disappointed I'm not losing weight so I started South Beach yesterday. Doing good so far. The only thing I am happy about is my weight training. I almost did unassisted dips today on the dip and pull up machine! I did one set with 20 lbs of assistance and another with 30. Maybe by next week I won't need any!
That's about all the excitement I have for the day. Salad for lunch, a little bit of eggs and some turkey bacon for breakfast. I've been snacking on a few cashews cause those are allowed but I'm going to try to stop eating nuts altogether as soon as I buy some food or our cafe stops running out of veggies!

Monday

So, I've started keeping track by using weight watchers points. Since I was getting confused about the fat grams, I figured the "points" take calories, fat, and fiber into account, so i don't have to worry about it too much. Also, I've done WW before with much success. So- I'm supposed to be taking in 20 pts per day with 35 flex pts per week (i'm just using the guidelines I was given the first time around).... So yesterday...

Jumbo Krispies with 1/2 cup ff soy milk
Coffee
1/2 egg salad sandwich (egg salad made with 1/2 egg whites, 1/2 whole eggs, very little lo fat mayo, mustard)
Small Orange
Tea w/ 1/2 packet of honey
4 small steamed shrimp
Salmon caesar salad, 1 tsp dressing, croutons
1 small slice of bread
1 glass of red wine

45 mins on arc trainer

Came to 26 points.....

Stupid

So I know I'm going to sound stupid since I've been doing well and I'm almost to my goal weight, but my biggest problem now is even though my stomach is flatter, I have this line right under my rib cage. I'm not sure I can get rid of it, but it doesn't look pretty. I'm not sure what I can do about it. If I could take a picture and show you, I would, but I'm not as technologically savvy as Annie. :-)
Yesterday L - tuna avocado rolls, sauteed squash, raspberries and blacberries. S - celery and peanut butter around 430-5. I worked til 8 and had tea when I got home. I'll be glad when I'm not working so late at night and can have a normal dinner.
This am - B-Fage 2% yogurt with cinnamon shredded wheat crumbs.

everyday we're a little closer

Terrie - don't get discouraged. Even on the days we don't do so well we are still making healthier decisions than if we weren't trying at all.

Today for me was stressful but I managed to come out ahead.
b- yogurt, 1/2 apple, coffee
s - special K bar
l - boost meal replacement drink, apple
s- orange, tea
45 minute swim
d- 2 eggs in a asparagus/zucchini fritata
glass of wine

how I know I'm losing weight even if the scale doesn't say so:
1)saggy underwear
2)pockets that bunch
3)saggy bathingsuit (unfortunately it's in the chest, the area I don't WANT to lose)
4)being included in the "skinny" portion of a statement that went "those meal replacement shakes aren't made for skinny people like you"
5)my watch is to loose

Back after being down

Hi All, so last week I didn't post because not feeling good about my weight or my focus. Friday weighed in the same 141.5 and I really didn't do anything much. So it means the first week, I probably didn't do much of anything to make a difference.

Sunday - 1768 calories eaten; 2.97 miles on the elliptical in 33 minutes; bicep curls, tricep extensions, squats, and crunches on the ball(only 30 with a 10lb weight), stretching.
Monday - 1468 calories eaten; 3.67 miles on the elliptical in 38 minutes, same after party with weights as on Sunday.

Til tomorrow.

help: stress related urge to eat

When I'm feeling overwhelmed I have the urge to eat. I have a healthy lunch with me but feel like going to get a big ole BLT or something. stress related eating is (yet another) problem for me. tips... anyone ?

Deborah

Sorry guys- I am late with my stats but I was 162 this morning- which I am excited about since I went out for a Mexican feast and drinks Sat night!!

I plan on being good this week- and I am really going to try to be really good with working out- I have to get in shape for a trail run I am doing on May 7. I have bitten more off then I can chew but I tend to do that with these athletic events- thank god for endurance!

Boiled some chicken last night to eat all this week- and made turkey meat taco filling to put on salads. Hope everyone has a great week!

Sarah's weekend

I was pretty good. I slept in a little Sat morning and didn't go to my class, but I went to the gym Sunday and this morning. So I don't feel bad.
Foodwise - eh. I had 2 rolls and my leftover rigatoni and broccoli I had for lunch on friday from Bertucci's, but then I didn't have much for dinner. Olives, an apple. Lots of tea - my stomach was upset.
Sunday, a couple mandarins for breakfast, then gym with Brian, then a 6 inch sweet onion chicken teryaki sub from subway. not terribly bad, but not great. Then we sat on the couch and ate some twizzlers and ginger snaps. again, lots of tea and no real dinner b/c we snacked most of the afternoon.
This am - gym and then for breakfast, apple with peanut butter and some kashi cinnamon harvest cereal. I'm going to try to be really good about food the rest of the week. Nothing bad.
Have a great day everyone!

personal best

I know this sounds like bragging. And that's because it is. :-D
I am shamelessly bragging because I could not have achieved this personal best with out the love and support of you, my friends. Losing weight has made all the difference in the world.

After last week's disappointing race I refocused and did another one today. 10 miles. 1:28.45. Now, I know it isn't lightening speed but I have never ever EVER been able to run sub-9 minute miles for more than one mile. The fact that I did it for 10, on a relatively hilly (certainly not flat) course makes the chaffing on my leg from new shorts almost worth it!

Thanks everyone!

oh, and besides my Mom's meatloaf after the race I ate pretty well this weekend. I'd put in the details here but I'm too tired. G' nite!

the weekend

yesterday i managed to stay around 1400 calories, which was good considering I snacked a lot. Today... i'm feeling a little tired and worn out- hope i'm not getting sick again. I snacked on a lo fat cheese stick and turkey pepperoni. keeping my fingers crossed for no "bad" snacking today (aka pork rinds)...

aww man!

this morning I'm at 166!!!
yeay for me! wish it were yesterday!

Weigh In #2 - the Standings

Angela.....................down 8.5 lbs...................4.271%
Jason.......................down 8.0 lbs...................4.199%
Mark.......................down 9.0 lbs...................3.829%
Annie......................down 5.0 lbs....................2.941%
Aileen......................down 3.2 lbs....................2.402%
Andrew...................down 2.0 lbs....................1.129%
Sarah.......................down 1.0 lbs....................0.787%
Nicole...............................................................-0.987%
Teresa.............................................................-1.724%
TL....................................................................-1.818%

I still need Terrie and Deborah but this is it so far!!!

Atlanta

I had a nice impromtu trip!

Thursday
Luna Bar
Turkey and cheese sandwich, 1/2 bag of chips
carrots, whole wheat pita, 2 cheese squares, little bit of hummus
Dinner out at TWO urban licks- ordered tapas- tuna tartare, calamari, empanada, oysters. I did sooo well with the portion control! But had a cocktail and glass of red wine... and passed on dessert! Just asked the waitress for a very detailed description of the nutella white chocolate bread pudding with homemade white russian ice cream... yum- the description was good enough for me!
coffee
water

Friday-
45 mintues on treadmill- walk
coffee
special k protein bar
lunch out at the sundial- i was bad :-( wheat roll with butter... half salmon sandwich, vidalia onion soup yumminess, barely touched my salad.... I should have started with it...
apple and spice donut
roast beef and lo fat cheese sandwich.

I'm gonna have to make up for my bad day this weekend for sure....

I haven't forgotten folks.... I'm still waiting for Terrie and Deborah.

Annie and Andrew weigh in.

Don't be discouraged, its only week 2 and St. Pattys day didn't help either, LOL. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to induldge in so much comfort food last night, but we had fun!

Annie- 165
Andrew- 175

Keep it up everyone, and don't be so hard on yourself! Loss is loss, if its .5 lbs or 5 lbs. And if nothing is happening yet, just keep doing what you are doing, sometimes it takes the body some time to catch up with the new diet/exercise.

better than nothing!

168.
still up from the 165, but at least I'm moving in the right direction again.

Mark - I hear ya, two pounds a week is slow for us overachievers. The way I look at it is it took years to gain the weight, it's not going to come off in just a few days!

Everyone else, I'm so proud of you! And Jake a whole month of not smoking!!! Woo HOO!!

have a great weekend.

Weigh In.

I knew all that corned beef wasn't going to be good this week! And my father-in-law was in town Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We went out for a fabulous (fattening) dinner Wednesday night after gorging ourselves on corned beef and cabbage on Tuesday.

163.6

I won't be able to weigh in next week- unless the house we're renting has a scale. Hopefully being in shorts and bathing suit all week will motivate me.

Sarah's weigh in

126
I can go with .5/week. That makes me feel like I can keep it off now.
Stay strong Jake! I know you'll get there. Awesome on the not smoking.

Weigh in

226 - A respectable 3 lbs, but I was expecting more. I have stayed the same since Tuesday, so I think all the water weight is gone. If I can keep this up (3 lbs/wk) I think I would be very happy, but I would be happier with 5 /wk. Good luck everyone.

Teresa Weigh In

129.8 lbs - pathetic

Can't wait to drink all weekend and then start South Beach on Monday since what I'm doing now is clearly not working.

4 hours of sleep last night thanks to the awful city I live in and my idiot neighbors. Today isn't looking much better than yesterday. Can't wait to get to the gym to relieve some stress and then I have a 20 min chair massage this afternoon. Maybe he can get the knot in my shoulder out!

Week 2

Jake - 133.5

Ok... so I'm not in this round. I was just excited that I stopped smoking for over a month now and I am still the same weight as the last weigh in from Round 1. Now if my lungs would cooperate and start working properly again, I'd be back to exercising. I'm just glad I've been able to maintain but I'm itching to see that 129. Aileen, I am jealous that you will be there in a few days.

Great job this week everyone!! Can't wait to see and post your numbers!!!

Bad annie and andrew!

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Bad Sarah

I guess it's going to happen once in a while. It was a coworkers birthday, so we went to Chili's for lunch. I had the Oldtimer burger w/cheese on a whole wheat bun. No fries though, broccoli. But I had a ton of chips and salsa and I ate the whole burger. And then I had about 1/2 of one of the sweet shots they have (double chocolate something). So I'm not sure how tomorrow's weigh in is going to be since I had a lot to eat. I plan on at least doing weights tonight at home, but no gym. Oh well - one burger with chips and salsa will not make me suddenly gain 5 lbs.
6 weeks til Cancun! I have to stay motivated.

Today Sucks

I've had the worst morning today and it's not getting any better this afternoon. I went to the gym to do back to relieve some stress but I don't know how much good it did. Oatmeal for breakfast and a salad with turkey breast right now for lunch and an apple for later. I gotta say I'm getting a bit discouraged, I feel like everyone is losing weight but me. Yesterday the scale said 129. I weighed 110 a few years ago and now i can't even get under 125. WTF?! It's making me miserable! I'm beginning to think even trying is pointless. *sigh*

March Madness

I love basketball.
Anyway, I ate pretty good yesterday. Lunch was a salad (lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers) with newman's light honey mustard dressing (1 tbsp = 35 cal) and tuna avocado rolls. Sanck was sauteed squash and a smooshed fruit and an apple.
Dinner was a wasa cracker with peanut butter about 6ish and then a couple things from whole foods salad bar (mushroom, artichoke spinach salad, some vegan noodles, vegetable dumplings (3 - small) and a small piece of quiche). All very small servings. And I bought more tea. Yum.
I'm hoping to get out of work at a reasonable time and go to the gym tonight, but I am not sure how that will work out.
Breakfast so far this am is hardboiled egg, lf cheese stick.
Have a great day! Go Uconn!!

Early Weigh In.

I'm going to be on the road on Friday..... so this morning I weighed in at 130 even.

That means I'm going to be seeing the 120s soon.... It's been 2 1/2 years since I've been in the 120s- and I'm sooo looking forward to it! I went in the coat closet and I dared to try on my old WHBM ivory spring trench coat.... It buttoned!! All the buttons!! Now all I have to do have it cleaned and I'll be all set for spring :-D

With this unplanned trip, I'm not sure what I'll be eating on the road. but with my newfound motiviation to make it to the 120s, I'm sure I will be good!!!! yay!

Almost Friday

Good morning everyone. I hope you are all doing well with your diets. I haven't been posting, but work has consumed me this week. I think I am doing well with Atkins, but we'll see tomorrow. I've changed my routine to work out in the morning so I have lost a hour or two of sleep per night. I think after this week I will be well adjusted. I have been pretty tired at the gym, but I think it's mainly because mornings are tougher for me. I've been doing about 45 minutes on the Arc Trainer, but I think I will try to start running next week to switch it up. I've been drinking about a 2-3 litres of water per day so I think that's helping.

Thursday and Friday

Did ok with my planned dinner except for 1/2 of a banana cupcake- it was an experiment and I'm sorry to say- it failed :-( it had no frosting or anything so... i hope it wasn't all that bad.

Impromtu trip to Atlanta tomorrow- be back Friday night!!

Terrie.... where are you?????????????

I need a massage!

I admit, I had a few too many green beers last night, but it's only once a year right? Besides I did shoulders and belly dancing yesterday. Today I did 40 minutes on the arc trainer because the knot in my shoulder blade area is killing me. It even hurt doing cardio so it's getting worse instead of better. No weights today since the rest of my body is sore from all my other work outs.
B - strawberry pancakes
L - eggplant fries and tuna with crackers
S- fiber one bar
D - will be the other half of my corned beef and cabbage sandwich from last night
Ok you can tell it was my work from home day today from that list, I'll be better with eating tomorrow. I also only managed 5.5 hours of sleep last night. Hopefully more tonight!

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday was ok, but couldve been better-
coffee
1/2 bagel and cream cheese
potato leek soup (homemade.... LF)
slice of homemade bread, dry
pork rinds... about 2 svg
luna bar
roasted chicken (white meat), steamed broccoli, carrots
tea
water
Ended up with about 1400 cals.

Wednesday so far-
gym- 45 mins arc trainer
jumbo krispies and fat free soy milk
2 bites of cake :-/
potato leek soup
blanched asparagus, plain
leftover roasted chicken- 1/2 svg, white meat
dried mangoes
planning on roast beef & low fat cheese sandwich for dinner.


If I stick to it, I'll be at 1300 calories and 27 g fat.... keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Sore Legs

My trainer was not nice to us this morning. We did lots of legs. I'll be feeling that all day.
Lunch yesterday was chicken with beans and rice with cauliflower and green beans. Snack was acorn squash that Brian made me (a little too sweet though).
I had a wasa cracker with peanut butter before I left work about 7 and went to the gym. Did about 2 miles on the treadmill. I switched up my intervals again. I did 6.0 for 2 minutes, 6.5 for 2 minutes, 7.0 for 2 minutes and then back down, taking about a 1 minute to a minute and a half rest in between. It was tough.
I went home and sauteed some yellow squash and zucchini, boiled some eggs, and made some tuna salad and added a little gluten free macaroni. The gluten free macaroni is not so good. I won't be buying that again. It's a little chalky.
Then I had some olives and tea before bed.
Today was the gym at 6am, and then for breakfast so far I've had a hardboiled egg, and a lf cheese stick. I'm still hungry and I think I'll be having some yogurt in a few minutes.
I hope everyone has a great day!

Bad week.

My laptop shit the bed, and work has been pretty crazy so I haven't been posting much at all. I've eaten my weight in corned beef and cabbage so I can't imagine that Friday morning will be any good for me. I'll be in the Florida Keys next week, so I won't be around at all.

I need to stop snacking.

It's so great to see a bunch of great posts! I love good news :-) Hopefully, I can stay strong like the rest of you are.... I've been snacking pretty badly too... especially since we always have pork rinds and cake around!! ugh!!
Yesterday, I snacked on cake scraps... all of the parts I cut off of my devil's food cake with chocolate chips in order to make the layers level. Good thing is- this cake came out better than last weeks, so I only had to trim off a very little bit. I shared the scraps with co-workers, so... I guess it wasn't all that bad. really only equivalent to 1 or 2 bites of cake with no icing.

Just a little while ago I ate some spicy pork rinds.... :-/ they're so light and airy and spicy and yummy! I probably ate 2 servings before I folded up the bag and put them away. Good thing is they're only 80 calories/serving......

I need to stop!!!

Staying strong

So it's been a couple days since my last post, so let me catch up briefly. Sun morning I went to the gym and did about 2.5 miles on the treadmill and then some weights (a little arms and pushups and abs).
Brian and I went to the mall Sun afternoon (I got some jewelry fixed) and we had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. I had green tea and the tilapia with lump crab cake, broccoli, and rice. I ate half and took the other half home for dinner. We were bad Sun night, snacking on some candy. Cherry Twizzler nibs and Dark chocolate peanut M&M's. I tried to take a couple and not eat from the bag, b/c that's bad.
No gym yesterday, I was at a client in MA - about a 2 hour drive one way from home. They had a snack machine and I kept going to the kitchen for hot water for my tea and staring at the swedish fish and at chips. But I didn't have any. I got gum to keep me from wanting to snack. B yesterday was an apple, L - half roast beef wrap with lettuce and horseradish, S - squash, D - grilled veggies from whole foods around 930pm.
I'll be going to the gym late tonight. Today so far, B-pear, mandarin orange, 1 c. Kashi cinnamon cereal (dry). And tea of course!
Have a great day!

Beat up today!

Wow today is gonna be tough, my entire body hurts! I was already sore yesterday from playing some softball and cleaning my car over the weekend and then last night i did 1.5 hours of self defense/martial arts training which used all the muscles that were already sore and then some. Tonight's belly dancing classes might be rough!

I was pretty good yesterday with my eating too. I had a small piece of chicken and corn on the cob before class. Then after class I had a small piece of a leftover veggie omelet and this 100 calorie fruit crisp thing. Finally, no mindless snacking! I also managed to squeeze in 6 hours of sleep!

So far today I've had oatmeal with a tiny bit of granola and have leftover pasta for lunch. Might have to go out for a green beer later if I'm not dead after belly dancing. Have a good day everyone!

aha! a good day

today was a day off from work during the week, which always has the dangerous potential of leading to never gwetting out of my pajamas and ordering take out. Alas, motivation prevailed. After sleeping to a luxurious 9.30am I made a pot of coffee and had yogurt and a banana. Many hours of mindless internet browsing later I kicked it into gear and went for a walk. I tried on many pairs of glasses and haven't found a pair that knocks my socks off. I might need some help with this (any takers?).
lunch- golean bar and plain tea.
snack - 1/2 go lean bar
dinner with a friend, he cooked - tilapia, asparagus and mushrooms sauteed in garlic & olive oil. seltzer water. decaf tea

45 minutes in the pool.

New Week

TL - I 100% agree with you. I work out enough, it's definitely food intake that's my problem. Gotta get rid of the snacks that I eat when I'm not even hungry. I've been pretty good today so far at work. I also did a serious chest workout on my lunch break - oww! Tonight, instead of doing my usual cardio I am going to a self defense class with a coworker. He says it kicks his butt so it should kick mine!

5 hours of sleep last night by the way and I'm blaming that on comcast. long story!

B - Oatmeal
L/S - salad with tuna, banana, fiber one bar, a few pretzel rods

Re-focusing

Jake, thank you for posting our progress on Friday. It's great to have your support.

Today I am promising myself to refocus on food intake and less on exercise. I know I'm active, but often use that as an excuse to eat too much. Armed with my healthy list of high protein, high fiber choices I am heading to the grocery store. After, of course, eating a good snack so as not to sabotage my shopping with cravings.

I will (at least) lose the 5 lbs I gained back. Yes, this morning they were still sitting on my scale waiting to demotivate me and send me spiraling down. Instead of succumbing to their influence I stepped on their grinning little faces and did a triumphant dance of self motivation. I will be the sexy girl in cute tops this summer so THERE you nasty winter-blues-confidence-sucking pounds of demotivation.

I an now going for a walk on this day off from work, and to get sexy new glasses to go along with my sexy new attitude. Woo Hoo!

Bad weekend.

So, after looking at everything I've eaten... I overall had a bad and over-snacky weekend. Those damn pili nuts and polvoron (treats from the Philippines!!).... those damn giant cheetos cheesballs! Weekends are hard for me anyway- especially when it's so dreary and rainy out. Back on track today. Yesterday, I planned out everything I was going to eat today and counted up the calories...

B- 1 egg plus 3 egg whites (egg whites leftover from making hollandaise sauce... yikes!), low fat cheese, 1 slice of bread, dry
L- Soup
S- Luna Bar
D- Salad, potato leek soup

Let's hope I can stick to the plan!!

tl's weekend

So, Friday night I went out for a happy hour and had two drinks then left. woo hoo! I stopped for chinese food on the way home but only atw the egg roll (which I shouldn't have gotten) and crunchy noodle things (which I should've thrown out).

Saturday I got up late. I also notice ,y quads are really sore this week and with a 1/2 marathon on Sunday, decided to skip a run. I should have done something else, like hula hoop, but I just couldn't get motivated. I went to a friend's house for brunch and proudly drank tea with nothing in it, and split a healthy egg, asparagus and pepper fritata and had two chicken fingers. Then I knitted to keep my hands from wandering back to the chicken finger plate. Dinner was 1/2 a flat bread pizza (carb load, and that's smaler than it sounds) and two glasses of wine. Unfortunately when I got home I ate the chinese food, not the rice, just the veggies and shrimp. WTF? I was not hungry but just ate it. ~sigh~

Sunday- protein bar & banana. 1/2 marathon. lots of water. slice of pizza after. Should've skipped but after 13.1 miles I was hungry :( . Home... potato chips and turkey hoagie. Chips= bad. Turkey hoagie= good. I needed the protein to repair my muscles. then a long NAP. Now it's 8:30 and I'm awake. dinner is veggies, 1 cup of Healthy Harvest egg noodles in vegetable broth. The good news is I skipped the green beer drinking binge the rest of Philly is on today after the St. Pat's parade.

I've gotta get back into the swing of things and get it under control again. I have tomorrow off from work so I will go shopping armed with my healthy list AFTER I eat a good breakfast so I steer away from choices made on an empty stomach. But I gotta say. Right now I'm craving Oreos and an ice cold glass of milk... I'll be knitting a lot this week starting yesterday!

Carb Free Week

Well I completed my first week of almost no carbs and I only miss it a little. They key to this diet, I think, is to switch it up as much as possible. I have had eggs everyday this week, but I switch up the prep. Today we made poached eggs with hollandaise sauce. I've been going to the gym when possible, but I have been more tired than usual when I'm finished. Hopefully that will pass after this week. Great job everyone on week 1. Lets keep it up.

Saturday

I wasn't great yesterday, but not terrible... Brunch (well, more like lunch since I woke up really late!! love the weekends....) was 1 egg white, 1/2 slice of 2% cheese, and one slice of toast- dry, coffee. 20ish minutes on the Wii Fit, then Mark and I headed out to Raleigh. We had dinner reservations at Ruth's Chris for 8pm... so I got hungry in the afternoon. Got a nonfat cappuccino and no sugar added banana coffee cake from starbucks :-( But I was really good at dinner. Had one small slice of bread (instead of my usual 1/2 the basket), caprese salad- and gave 1/3 of the cheese to mark! I order salmon and steamed broccoli, and only ate 1/4 or less of the salmon because I had filled up on salad and broccoli! 2 glasses of wine though... coulda been way worse. Oh-- and a bite of mark's steak and lobster... yummm..

I'm starting to feel better- so gym definitely today or tomorrow!!

Awesome job everyone!

Great job everyone. After the first week, do you realize how great and important it is to have a support group? Losing weight is tough and it's great to have people who know exactly what you're going through and know what it's liek to have weak moments.
Speaking of weak moments, I've been craving this meal from one of the restaurants Brian and I go to. Shrimp Florentine. grilled shrimp, spinach, and fettucini in a fantastic alfredo sauce. So we went last night. I've said Fridays are my day off mostly. No gym and I don't worry about food too much. And I had a glass of wine. But no dessert. Mayan Cocoa Spice tea when we got home. Yum.
Today was my kick my butt class. D*mn. It was strength and endurance day. We ran around doing stations for 20 minutes twice. And then some core work. Wow. It was great though - I'm able to do real pushups for a minute now. It's great.
Have a great day everyone and keep up the good work! Remember, posting your struggles really helps - everyone has their tricks, one will work for you.

First Week Stats

Angela........6.5 lbs. 3.266%
Mark..........6.0 lbs. 2.553%
Jason..........4.5 lbs. 2.362%
Annie..........3.0 lbs. 1.764%
Andrew......3.0 lbs. 1.694%
Deborah.....2.0 lbs. 1.212%
Aileen.........1.4 lbs. 1.051%
Sarah.......... .5 lbs. .393%
Nicole......... .4 lbs. .246%
Terrie.......... stayed the same
Teresa & TL ...... your bodies have been at this for 9 weeks now..... maybe this was the week it needed to take a break and it'll rev up next week. :-)

Great job everyone!!!!!!!!!

annie and andrew weigh in...

andrew: 174
annie:167
I won't blog what we ate last night at the hockey game, but I can show you! LOL....

Question about counting calories and fat...

Hi all...
I've been really good about counting my calories and staying under my allotted amount... my problem is I'm having more fat grams than I would like... If I'm on a 1400 calorie diet, how much fat should I be having every day?

Thanks!

Friday

Hi All, 141.5 again, no loss :( , and no gain :), but when I look in the mirror I think I see some change (is it live or is it memorex?)
Last night, 3 miles on the elliptical, but 2 slices of mushroom pizza and 8 french fries (and they were so not worth it).
Today b 7:30am- 1/2 whole wheat english muffin.
s 9:30am-egg white omelet with 2% fat cheese and 1/2 slice of bacon.
l - salad with spicy tuna and an apple, sugarfree iced tea
s - 6 pringles, a hersheys kiss and coffee (nice huh?)
d - portebello mushroom salad with feta, 2tbsp of dressing, breadstick (yes, the whole thing)
Then an oreo.

No time to workout tonight. Was thinking of ramping things up by going on slimfast, but I am not satified unless I have something to chew. Maybe increase cardio. Need to get up early and do at least 20 minutes on the elliptical. I think that would help, 7 days in a row of anything makes it a habit so that's what I am gonna do.

You all are the best. I have learned so much and it's nice not doing it alone. Keep up all the good work and encouragement!

Sleep is important!

Ok, in an effort to help my weight loss, I've decide to post how many hours I sleep along with my normal daily posts. I know that is a huge factor in me not losing weight. I'm guessing I'll be embarrassed when I see the numbers up here and it will make me go to bed earlier.

Last night - 4 hours
Wed night - 5.5 hours
Tues night - 7 hours (whoo!)
Mon night - 4.5 hours
Sun night - 4 hours

Yikes! that is bad! At least I went to the gym on my lunch break and did back. I was gonna do cardio after work today but I'm so freaking tired, not just from lack of sleep, but also sore muscles. So hopefully I will do something active outside tomorrow since it's supposed to be sunny and in the 50's!! I can't wait for winter to be over!

Pizza

Pizza is my weakness!!! Last night I had two pieces of white pizza with bacon! But on the flip side it was thin crust, and I normally would have had 3 or 4 pieces easily! I went way over my Weight Watcher Points :-(

Today I weight 163-but again, I really need to get a new scale- It is too old, and too hard to read-

Today I had 1/2 bagel with cream cheese, and a fajita salad minus the chips. I am really trying to work at portion control. I still have dinner though, and it is Friday night-a good night to pig out!

Someone brought sticky buns and cookies into work, and it is taking every bit of control not to eat some!

If anyone has never tried Weight Watchers I would highly recommend it and you can do it on-line.

could've been that bag of tostitos...

170.

that means I've gained 5 lbs! Could be what Mark said about building muscle. Could be my period sneaking up on me. Could be the fact that after eating well all day yesterday and running 5 miles of trails, I ate a bag of Tostitos and a jar of salsa.
~ugh~
~sigh~

Aileen & Mark's Weigh In

Mark - 229
Aileen - 131.8

Mark did really well this week! Damn bacon!!! hahaha!!

Weigh in!

161.6. I'll take it. Techincally, I didn't lose anything from last week, when I just rounded up. I think I was at exactly 161.6 last week. But as somebody who weighs themselves pretty much weekly, I can say that it's been awhile since I've been in the low 160s consistently. Must. Join. Y. I wonder if I hadn't had those delicious Magic Hat Circus Boys last night if that would have made a difference. :) They were so good.

Sarah's weigh in

126.5
I don't want to lose much more weight. I'm shooting for 120-122. Hopefully, then I can start improving tone and maintaining. But this blog makes me so much more aware of what I'm eating and I truly feel I've completely changed my eating habits and I'm much healthier now.
No gym today, dinner last night was an apple and Fage yogurt around 6 and then three pieces of shrimp, 2-3 bites of rice, and broccoli around 830. I sauteed some squash last night to eat with lunch today that I'm excited about. I love zuchinni and yellow squash.
I hope everyone did well today!
Teresa, don't be too discouraged - it's just water weight and if you keep going to the gym, I know you'll lose.

Teresa's Weigh In

I might as well start off the weigh in with my miserable post. The scale actually said 130 this morning. Are you kidding me? I'm trying to get to 115 and I gained 2 lbs? The majority of my body is sore from the gym and this is what I get. I know it's most likely water weight and will go away in a couple days but even so, it's not like I'm losing weight.
Anyway, hopefully the rest of you did better than me.

Puts it into Perspective

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-200-calories-look-like.htm

annie loves coffee and soda.

Hey everyone! Looks like everyone is doing great! I am motivated reading all your posts. I'm not one to really post everything I eat, you can ask Terrie, its hard enough for me to do my time sheet every day, so you probably won't see me do much posting my food intake.

I'm feeling sorta blah lately, and been hit with some sinus/ cold something or other the past week or so. One thing that I have been doing is limiting my soda and coffee. I would probably have 5 cups of coffee or more a day (with creamer) and lots of soda. I have cut back to limiting both to one a day, and hopefully this will be good for my weight loss. I have been drinking ALOT more water and tea and I do feel better about that. Also, we as a family are cutting down on going out to eat. We eat out or order in SO MUCH, and I have started cooking at home again, and when I get my grill things will get even better!

I have cleared off the treadmill and I'm ready to attack it! I also have my Biggest Looser DVD that I will do as well. WOO HOO! Keep it up, everyone!

Shmarkie, after reading your post about the cake and sugar being pure evil (while you make bacon in the house and at work) I made this picture for you! :p love, ate.

Wednesday Night and Thurs so far

Hi All,

You're right TL, Sarah, I was dehydrated and I should be drinking more water overall. 3/4 cup honey bunches and 1/2 cup skim milk after working out. Don't know about losing weight, but my buns will definitely be awesome with this one.

b- 1/2 whole wheat english muffin with I can't believe its not butter and a taste of grape jelly, coffee
s - 2 hard boiled eggs
l - spring mix with spicy thai tuna, asparagus and an apple, crystal light.

Lunch

So I am totally obssessed with the market down the street and their sushi. It's so good. Today I got fresh tuna sushi and some tuna cucumber rolls.
I'm definitely getting plenty of protein!

The rest of Wednesday

Dinner was a spinach salad (spinach, hard boiled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, little bit of cheese, and very little bit of light honey mustard), grilled shrimp and chicken. I didn't finish all my food- it was great! I made sure that more than 50% of my plate was all green... so I ate mostly spinach. It was yummy. I know- the bacon doesn't sound healthy... but I baked it on a cooling rack so a lot of the fat rendered out and didn't reabsorb into the bacon. We each probably had only one slice.

20 minute walk- better than nothing! I'm hoping to be 100% by the weekend so I can get to the gym again!!

Have a great day all!!!!!

Oops

Have a great day everyone! (not dat)

Wednesday and Thursday

So I was pretty good yesterday. Lunch was a hardboiled egg, pear, and chili. Snack was a pear, low fat cheese stick. Didn't really eat dinner, worked til 8pm again, so I had wasa light rye with peanut butter. I love peanut butter. My only problem is I'll eat it off the spoon sometimes and that can't be good for you.
Gym at 530 again this morning. I changed up my usual interval training on the treadmill a bit, I added a slight incline to my usual runs. Definitely felt harder. Did some biceps and shoulders, and then pushups and crunches. I hate pushups, but I definitely notice I do them a lot better than I used to.
Breakfast was a hardboiled egg, and I was going to grab yogurt, when I thought about it and realized I wasn't hungry. So if I'm hungry in an hour or two, I'll eat my yogurt then. I find it so hard to think about when you're hungry and when you're not. I just want to always eat even though I'm not hungry. I'm working on it.
Have a great dat everyone!

Portion Control

Ok first off, Mark it is currently 25 degrees in CT. I don't want to hear about your warm weather!! :-) Maybe one day us New Englanders will be able to do something outside again!

So I have a major problem with portion control when I'm snacking. For instance, I bought blueberry granola and dried fruit the other day. Yesterday I probably ate enough of that stuff to fulfill my entire calorie intake for the day. Definitely not good. There are certain things I know I should never buy because I'll end up eating practically the entire box. Does anyone else have that problem? For me, I should never buy cereal, dried fruit or Tomato Basil Wheat Thins because I just can't stop eating it!

At least I've hit the gym every day so far and with a 5 hour meeting today I won't even have the chance to snack! Have a good day everyone!

Couldnt sleep

So I am noticing the last 2 nights that I sleep less, but I don't feel tired. I have no problem going to sleep either. It's pretty amazing since I am always tired and can never fall asleep. I read that some people don't require as much sleep when their body is in Ketosis. We'll see how this progresses, but so far so good. Aileen and I had company last night, so no gym, but I insisted that we at least walk a litte. It was almost 80 here yesterday! I had a sugar craving last night so I just had a sugar free jello. The diet is going well so far.
B-3 eggs, 3 slices bacon
L-Roasted chicken, cheese, pepperoni, olives
D-Grilled Boneless/Skinless chicken w/ a small spinach salad
S-Fried Pork Skins, Cheese, and Sugar Free Jell-O

Have a great Thursday everyone!

help me

The Dr's appointment this morning really upset me and I can't understand how I'm back up to 170. Maybe it's some weird water thing. Maybe my body is getting used to my revised eating & exercise and I need to change it up. Suggestions?

b- 3 eggs scrambled, 3 light-rye wasa, 2 cups coffee
s - carrott, water
l - chicken and veggies
s - 2 wasa w/ laughing cow cheese, coffee
nap :)
exercise - 8.5 mile run (with a personal best time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, down from the 1h 24m it was taking me last month!) swim 1/2 hour
between exercise - kashi protein bar and light gatorade
d- two eggs egg salad on wasa rye, tea

I'm so proud of you all. keep up the good work. g' nite

Wednesday

Worked out last night, still beginner level, about 20 minutes. Finished up with a 3/4 cup of honey bunches of ohs and 1/2 cup skim milk.

Today, breakfast, fried egg and cup of coffee, lunch, 1 cup healthy request soup, apple, and piece of 2% cheddar stick(need that protein), snack, 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese with some pineapple and blueberries, and I just ate 1/2 a cookie and threw away the other half.

I have a headache and need to get motivated to work out tonight. Really is helping my shoulder, but I realize what a spaz I am.

lunch

I ate 2 bites of the cake I made.... scraped off the icing. I'm so proud of myself! I'll be even more proud when I resist it all together.
Coffee, water, and I brought a Michelina's Lean Gourmet for lunch.

I made the mistake of eating lunch with the meat-only club. Mark and Steve had a big ol' roasted chicken, pepperoni, olives, cheese, and more cheese for lunch. In addition to my perfectly portioned lunch, I picked at the chicken, making sure I only took some of the white meat with no skin. It was good, but I know I ate more than I should have.

I was lucky enough to have the sweet smell of bacon coming from the kitchen again today... yay.

how do you get up so early?

I had a 7 a.m. doctor's appointement and it KILLED me to get out of bed. I know that Sarah & Jake are early risers. Sarah - 5.30 for a class at the gym? Please inspire me! I'd love to free up my evenings but can never get out of bed in the morning... what motivates you in the a.m. to NOT hit snooze?

Last night's date ...scoop of diced potatoes (fried in olive oil), garlic fried tomatoes, porkchop in ginger sauce. Shared strawberry shortcake slice & flan slice (which I ate most of because I love flan). Went out after for a glass of wine, (which I had too much of but drank water between), where a cute young boy tried to usurp my date and take me home. I wisely went home without either of them, but was feeling super SEXY! (Hello Mrs Robinson!)

Too bad the Doctor's office showed that I GAINED 2 lbs since last week. WTF?

Tuesday and Wed morning

So I feel like I was bad yesterday. I had some spicy tuna rolls for lunch and they weren't bad (approx 280 calories). Snack was a low fat cheese stick, a smooshed fruit flat and green beans. But dinner I had these angry dragon rolls that had some shrimp tempura in it so I'm not sure how good those were for me. And dessert was this fruit tart I bought that I only wanted to eat half of last night, but I ate the whole thing.
Today's new day. I got up at 530 and had my buttkicking class at the gym. I'll be feeling that all day. And this morning, I'm trying my fast again. I ate last night about 630, so I'm going to try to fast until 1pm today. If anyone's interested in reading about it, I have an e-book I can send you if you want. Email me and let me know heroux33@msn.com
Have a great day!

Tuesday

Coffee
Michelina's lean gourmet flatbread sandwich
Wasa and low fat laughing cow cheese
low fat string cheese and 2 slices of pepperoni
rib eye steak, baked potato (1/2 svg sour cream, 1 svg brummel, scallions) iceberg and peppers
1/2 svg of cheddar cheese
water
tea

I ended up under in my calories but over in fat... that damn steak!!!

Busy Tuesday

I see everyone is doing well. The no carb thing is going pretty well. It was only tough when Amy and Aileen came home from their cake decorating class with cake in hand. They opened their cake carriers and I got a whiff of that pure sugar! Evil. I guess they owed it to me after I cooked some bacon in the office cafeteria this morning. B-3 eggs, 2 slices bacon L-Leftover wings, cheddar cheese, olives and pepperoni D-Ribeye Steak and a small iceberg salad w/ peppers S-Atkins Bar (kinda blah, but only 2g net carbs) I got back in the gym today after a 2 weeks of being lazy.

Tuesday

Hi All, busy day.

lunch - small salad with some grilled chicken on top and feta, apple, sugarfree iced tea
snack - south beach cereal bar
come home hungry, settled in with a slice of bread and some pb
dinner - 7pm - 1/2 cup bowtie pasta, grilled chicken with broccoli and 4 tbsp of alfredo sauce, small portion, I could have easily eaten 2 bowls.

gonna work out now. You all seem to be eating so little. I am trying to eat normally because I cook for my family, but much less of it. It has worked in the past, but I'm 43 now so who knows?

going on a date

ha! the good news is I won't eat a lot because girls don't eat on first dates... well, unless it's pizza and a movie. but since I'm not in high school, and he is making me dinner, I think I'll be okay. the bad news is I worked late and don't have time for a run. then again... I can't be out late because I have a 7 a.m. doctor's appointment. this fact will also keep wine to a minimum (can't show up at the doctor's with a hang over!)

b- yogurt, banana, coffee (2 cups)
s - 2 carrots
meetings kept me not having lunch until 3. I succumbed to a slice of pound cake and then two hard pretzels
l- Kashi golean beans & mango (Mmmm)

I'll complete my report later as I have no idea what's for dinner except when I asked him what I should bring he responded "Just you - REALLY" (so I'm bringing a piece of strawberry shortcake to share)

Squash

Last night I made a really good dinner- but ate it really late last night, around 8:30! I got caught in a phone call for 4 hours- Finally had to rudly eat dinner on the phone or I would have had dinner at 11.

My dinner was Spegetti squash with Turkey sausage. really good for low carb diets- I am going to use this now instead of pasta. It is not a cheap alternative to pasta but much better for you!

so, how much of a difference do you guys think eating late at night makes in your diet?

the rest of monday

Good morning!

I ended up snacking something fierce and having fish sticks and potatoes for dinner, and a weight watchers ice cream thing for dessert. It all added up to about 1300 calories total for the day, but I ended up with about 50g of fat which is way more than I like to have in a day....

I fell asleep on the couch around 8pm and woke up just before 8am and I have the worst headache known to man. I think it's because I didn't have coffee yesterday.

As you can see.... Mark is going with the Atkins approach. I think it will work great for him... but please PRAY FOR ME because I can smell bacon coming from the kitchen. So you can imagine the types of "diet" foods that are in the house!!

Finishing up Monday, Then Tues so far

Morning all, Finished up Monday with a cup of Ackee and Saltfish made by my Jamaican mom when I got home ( not good cuz then I ate dinner an hour later). Dinner was 1/2 cup pasta and some lobster look alike and salad, tbsp of dressing.

Worked out 30 minutes, I am sore, but my shoulder is doing better than expected.

Blood sugars in line, slice of white bread with pb and tea so I wouldn't have episode during the night. I think if I didnt eat moms dee - licous food, I would have been good on the calories.

This morning, 1/2 a whole wheat english muffin, 1/2 cup of lowfat cottage cheese with some sugar free canned apple for a bit of sweet. Coffee.

Hope you day is a good one!

New Day

So I don't think the rest of yesterday was that good for me. Lunch was organic mac and cheese, snack was an apple with pb and some smooshed fruit. Dinner was an organic burrito (270 calories) and then I had about 1/2-3/4 cup of chili when I got home. Brian made it for dinner. I got home around 9 last night. I hate eating that late, but he waited for me, so I had a little. Bed around 1030. No gym today, Normally I go Tues nights when Brian is at pool, but he has no pool tonight, so I'll come home and we'll watch TV. Maybe I'll do some pushups and crunches. Tomorrow morning is class though, so I know I'll work hard there.
Breakfast this am was a hard boiled egg and a lf cheese stick.
Have a great day everyone!

I LOVE low carb!!

I'm so tired today, this no sleep thing has go to stop or I'm never going to lose weight! I did 50 minutes on the arc trainer last night after work and I'm definitely going again today.
Whenever I do a low carb diet, it works wonders and I feel great. The only reason I'm not on one right now is because I'm too lazy to go to the grocery store. It's hard to stay on if you don't have time to cook the right food. I usually stick more to the South Beach guidelines though. Atkins has way too much unhealthy fat for me to deal with. Does anyone else have certain diets that have tried that have worked for them? I've read about the Zone and Volumetrics and I'm sure a ton of other ones I can't remember, but have never bothered with them. I more just try to eat healthy food and not restrict myself too much. That doesn't seem to be working out so hot though! :-(

SWIMMING for $3!!!

Talk about the find of the year! Chestnut Hill College, a mere 2.5 miles from my apartment, has a pool. They open it to the public from 9-10.30 on Monday and Wednesday nights, 7-8 a.m. on Wednesdays and 12-5 on Saturdays and Sundays. Apparently nobody knows this! Tonight it was just me and a couple of sweet old ladies. They were finishing up water aerobics as I came in to do laps. What a TREASURE, all for a mere 3$ a swim. So if I go twice a week (which is my plan on Mon & Weds evenings) for a bargain price of $24 a month (which I easily spend on one meal and a beer plus tip) I get a full body work out. Philadelphia Sports Club can take their over crowded, overcharged, half pool (at $65 a month)and STICK IT! Woo Hoo! I can not tell you the joy in my heart and the tired smile on my face. In the spring, summer, and fall I can ride my big pink bike up the Hill, get my swim on and coast home for tea and a good night's sleep. Oh, the joy of simple things.

b- yogurt, banana, coffee
s- slimfast snack bar, coffee
l - slimfast shake
s- slimfast bar, water
d- 1/2 chicken quesadilla, no cheese, no sour cream, 1.5 beers, water, coffee
swim - 30-45 minutes. I was so excited I forgot to pay attention to what time I started. I swam until I started swallowing water

I now go to rinse off the chlorine and contentedly retire with a calming cup of tea. g'nite!

Happy Monday

Hi everyone. So I decided to try out an Atkins approach for the next 4 weeks so we'll see how it works. A few people at work have been doing it with great success. I ate a little over my daily calories with minimal carbs, but plenty of protein and fat. I had 3 eggs and cheese for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, fried chicken wings for dinner, a can of tuna, fried pork skins, cheese, olives, and stuffed pepper for snacks. Sounds healthy eh?

Monday so far...

1/2 special K protein bar. Those bad boys really fill you up!!! And a lean cuisine panini for lunch... lots of water too.

I'm still feeling sick so there will be no gym today. I can't remember the last time I was sick for over a week..... ugh. I'll try to get on the wii fit today at least :-)

Weekends are not good. :(

Well, I guess they really aren't BAD, but yesterday was my cheat day. Are we allowed? I did go for a 2.5 mile walk each day over the weekend.

So far today:
B- blueberry greek yogurt - why do people say it's better for you than "regular?" & coffee (with skim, no sugar, I'm sweet enough)
L- Large chicken caesar salad (lite dressing), diet coke

No clue on dinner yet, probably some leftovers from last night, or a bowl of cereal. I'm pulling double duty working tonight.

I'm working on my water intake. I know I should be drinking more.

And fiber is awesome. I love the kashi frozen meals, especially the chicken florentine one! I also have some fiber one bars and fiber one cereal. Good stuff.

Cravings

You're better off giving into your cravings in moderation than denying yourself totally. If you do that you're just gonna end up eating a ton of chocolate one day. Have you tried the mini candy or fun size candy bars? One of those a day wouldn't hurt, they are like 50-60 calories or so depending on which you choose. I know Sarah has these awesome dark chocolate pieces that she shared with me, and I personally love York Peppermint Patties and will use those sometimes when i grave chocolate.
Basically anything is ok if you keep it to one serving size. When you start eating a pint of ice cream every day is when you run into trouble.

Craving Chocolate

Help, that chocolate craving always tracks me down after lunch. I just get that craving for a taste of sweet. Lunch, 4on tuna, 6 crackers, corn-cuke-tomato salad very little dressing, 100 pk rice cakes.

Any suggestions on getting rid of cravings?

So-So Weekend

My weekend was ok, except not going to the gym at all. Didn't eat so great Friday and then Saturday I had a few too many beers. Sunday wasn't bad with the exception of a couple girl scout cookies and some frozen yogurt. At least I washed my car Sunday and had belly dancing on Saturday morning. Plus I walked around/stood in 4 inch heels for like 8 hours on Saturday, does that count?!

So far today I've been good. I went to the gym and did chest and am now eating some grilled chicken and veggies from the cafe. I do have to coat the chicken with buffalo sauce though since it's a little dry. (this is why i need to bring food to work for lunch!) Oatmeal and a few cashews and almonds for breakfast. I'm determined to eat better this week and not skip the gym!

Weekend Update

Hi All, Saturday night, soup and a protein bar, small soup bowl of popcorn with my kids watching new Indiana Jones movie. Fit in 30 minutes of cardio and squats, I am sore.

Sunday breakfast, 3 3inch chocolate chip pancakes, 1/2 slice bacon (gave other half to the dog), 1/2 protein bar for snack (80 cals, 5g protein), lunch was turkey and cheese on whole wheat, snack other half of protein bar. Dinner, potatoes on the grill sprinkled with olive oil, 1 grilled chicken thigh and corn-cuke-tomato salad. Snack, pc of lowfat cheese.

Did another 3 miles on the elliptical.

Where I fell short, being diabetic, this new exercise and watching what I eat is causing havoc with blood sugars so I probably sucked down 500 calories in glucose so I would not go into a coma. I am going to redo my rates today and get that straight.

Let me say, that knowing I am accountable now, really helps. Thanks!

Weekend

Ugg!! Weekends are so hard!!! Though I am 164.5! That is a .5 weight loss!

Dinner out with Kostas on Friday night- was not good- I mean, when the appetizers are looking pretty on the table, how can I not take a big bite of it?? Surprise party on Sat night-how can I refuse a piece of the birthday cake?, and dinner out again on Sat night at 8:30 pm with a dear friend, but we shared a meal, so kudos on that one. MY downfall are the weekends!

On the upside I was quite active- ran/walk on Sat and did a 3 hr bike ride on sunday. I actually kept my bike in my car, since it makes me happy to look at it when I am driving and to motivate me to get back to my in shape biking days!

Hope everyone is doing good with their weight loss!!

Bad weekend for me

I did okay Fri night and most of Saturday and then by sat night, I was craving garlic bread. So I had some. And then a couple beers (4!) when I went out. So Sunday I had no desire to go to the gym and stayed home and probably ate every piece of chocolate in the house. Brian and I also made these Tastefully Simple Cinnamon muffins. They came with a cinnamon and sugar sprinkle, you're supposed to lightly coat the cooked muffin in butter and then coat in the cinnamon and sugar stuff. I didn't do that with mine - I ate them plain - still good.
So I basically fulfilled all my cravings over the weekend. It's a new day thank goodness. I got up at 530 and went to the gym this morning. Breakfast is a hardboiled egg, a banana, and plain cinnnamon muffin. I'm not craving anything anymore, so I'll be eating healthy again.
Have a great day!

Tl's weekend round up

Flower Show is over, thank God. I can not tell you how off schedule it got me. I don't even want to discuss how horribly I ate this weekend. Let me just say this: chinese take out, burger, ice cream. Need I say more?

On the UP side, I ran 12 of the 14 miles I intended for today. I was just too exhausted from being on my feet all week to go the last two. That's okay. I'll do 8 tomorrow AND get back to my normal schedule which promotes healthy eating.

Now, it's 9 pm and I'm going to bed!

Sunday

Coffee
Water
Small slice of banana bread :-(
other half of turkey mango wrap
cake scraps (amy and I made cake today for "homework" for our cake decorating class.... there were some pieces left after leveling the cake..) :-(
homemade pizza for dinner later...

Saturday

Yesterday, Mark and I went out to our favorite lunch spot. It is a really cute cafe type place that sells a lot of unique food/gift items in addition to their cafe menu. The coolest thing is that everything they make is health conscious. And yummy! I got the turkey mango wrap with a side of orzo. And for the first time ever... I only ate half of my sandwich! I had a million glasses of water and took my time. I usually eat as much as Mark eats- and I really have to watch that. He's about 10 inches taller than I am... I should be eating much less!

For a snack- I tasted a slice of the banana bread I made yesterday. I made it with only 3/4 of the butter I ususally use- replaced the moisture with skim milk.

My dinner portion was ok... The bad thing is- I made dessert. Peach and pear cobbler. I calculated it though- and it was about 250 calories and 7 grams of fat per serving. Could've been worse I guess!!!

25 minutes on the Wii Fit for exercise. I'm still a little sick and not up for going to the gym...

Awesome TL

My check is in the mail to you. Sorry I'm a little late.
That's awesome you're going to do the marathon! I know you'll do great.

So yesterday I was good up until dinner, but since I've decided Fridays are my day to not worry, I'm not going to worry. I still wasn't scarfing down french fries. No gym yesterday, lunch was some veggies from whole foods with a couple different kinds of salads, quinoa and cous cous. Not bad, I liked the veggies better. Dinner was out at a Japanese steak house and I had some sushi and tuna, and some rolls. Yum - I love tuna. 2 glasses of wine and no dessert - I was stuffed.
This morning was my class at the gym, we did lots of squats today and some hard ab work. Breakfast was a hardboiled egg, lf cheese stick and a pear. Tea to drink. Lunch was some shrimp and a little rice. More tea. I'm going to have an apple soon.
Have a great day everyone!

Inspiration for Rnd 2

and what I'll do with my winnings from rnd 1!

instead of splurging on shoes I've decided to sign up for the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon, May 31st!

Thanks Jake for getting your share to me, it was the push I needed to sign up for the race. I held the 20$ in my hand and had to decide.. in the drawer to wait for a healthy decision, or on the card for something I don't need?

Now, I have to get serious about running again. Weight lose will surely help!

Still in for round 2!

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't post, this week was crazy. Yesterday was insane at work, I had people at my desk all day. For those of you who don't know me, I work in IT and it gets a little busy at times - I didn't have a second to myself on Friday.

Anyway I totally didn't weight myself but I'm going to guess I'm still at the 127.6 weight I was last time. Nothing's changed much. I'm hoping for a fresh start for next week, I had to skip the gym a few times cause I was so busy this week!

Welcome to all the new people!! :-)

Saturday - not a bad start.

Ok, last night, son and hubby at bball practice, daughter out, home alone, me and the fridge, not too bad. Portabello mushroom salad for dinner with 2tbs balsamic vinegar dressing. Did eat 1/2 a bread stick. Later a granola bar with tea. Then the chip craving came along. I actually ate 5, count them, 5 bbq chips and stopped myself.

Got a new workout video, the firm wave, and nearly killed myself learning how to work and balance the thing. About 20 minutes.

This morning, 1/2 sun dried tomato bagel, half a fried egg and a slice of bacon. Not soo great.
Did 3 miles on the elliptical. Feeling better.

Love the fiber idea! Fiber and water, old school, but works. Going grocery shopping and making a list for me before I go. Keep focused and positive y'all. Later.

So many newbies! Yay!

Welcome to everyone!!!

Hi, Nicole!! *kiss* You'll be surprised how much the support will help you lose weight and get closer to your goals than going it alone. And you can totally blame that relationship for the weight gain!!! I've been through the unhealthy weight loss too... and I'm ready to do it right this time!!

Ange and Jason!! Hi, guys!! Ange- don't be embarassed. I know it was hard to see that number, but you've taken the first step to getting there!! And it's much easier and more motivating to say, "I'm going to lose X amt of lbs is 8 weeks" instead of generally saying, "I want to lose weight." You'll do great!

It's so great for me to see so many people here that I have known for a very long time... and we've seen each other's weights fluctuate. It's great that we can all be here supporting each other!

So... yesterday was-
Lots of water
coffee
nonfat cappuccino
leftover lean ground beef and pasta stuff (not bad at all- i calculated the calories when i made it! yay)
caesar salad with 1/4 svg of light caesar dressing, 1/2 svg of parm cheese

today so far-
2 egg whites, 1/2 slice of lo fat cheese
1 slice dry wheat toast
green tabasco (thanks for the idea, Jason!!)
coffee

I'm making dinner tonight- "sprite" can chicken on the grill, caesar salad and roasted potatoes. Now lets see if I can keep my portions in check.

Sarah- that is a great idea with the water for sure! You know how I love to just inhale food... Taking my time will be key.

so- what's the prize $$ up to now?? I'm looking to get my first Coach Bag ;-)

Round 2

I still need stats for: Aileen, Mark and Teresa (if she's in)

I'll post when I have everyone's information. I'm excited about the revised Excel Spreadsheet I'll be coming up with for this. Ahhhh..... rows, columns, math.... I feel like I'm in a little bit of heaven.

Terrie, one of the things I think we all found that helped was eating more fiber products. I think nearly all of us from round 1 have had a love affair with Fiber One Products: Pop Tarts, Bars or Cereal. My faves are the Strawberry Pop Tarts and the Chocolate Fiber One bar. It feeds my craving for chocolate and fills my belly with some type of nutrition at the same time. It's win win. I think we also took into account why we were snacking - was it boredom? not eating enough during the day? stress eating?, etc. I think TL started knitting again to keep her hands busy at night.

why the ice cream? WHY???

I did so awesome today until suddenly at 9:15 as I was leaving the show my feet marched right over to the ice cream case and my hands just reached in and took a chocolate eclair pop with out the permission of my mind, Why does this happen? arrgghh!it was likean out of body experience that I had NO control over!

b - 2 eggs scrambled, 2 wasa crispbread w' lowfat laughing cow cheese, coffee
s - slimfast oatmeal bar, plain cranberry tea
l - (someone stole my slimfast drink out of the fridge. really? who steals SLIMFAST???) tea, eggsalad (low cal mayo) 4 wasa crisp breads
s- slimfast protein bar
then the disaster icecream
d - salad, lf dressing (10 sprays a mear 15 calories!), lf laughing cow cheese
glass of wine (it is, after all, flower show and I can't wait to get back to my real job!)

Andrew is in too!

Andrew is weighing in at a sexy 177!

snackie snacks.

Terrie, its so funny because I was just talking today about how its good that you sit right across from me for the contest, and Jackie asked why... I said, because I can't microwave white castle cheeseburgers at 10 in the morning anymore! LOL.

Everyone here knows I love sweets, cookies, brownies, cakes, tarts, pies and all that stuff. What I have been doing is substituting that with some yogurt with grapenuts. (Go Fiber!) Also, I have cut down soda and coffee to 1 of each a day. I actually haven't had coffee in 2 days! I have started walking on the treadmill and drinking plenty of water. As for snacking, its funny, but I find that gum sometimes help. Ice Cubes Gum come in flavors like strawberry smootie and dragonfruit breeze (5 calories) and its funny, but you're chewing, and it tastes good! It is enough to fix a snack craving for me...

Love the Water Idea!

Sarah, I am going to do that. I find that I wolf down the food so fast that I am ready for more 10 minutes later. (and 10 minutes after that). At any rate, lunch was a bowl of veggie soup, crystal light and 30 minutes later a protein bar.

I so want to snack, but knowing I have to be honest here, is making me stop. Thanks Annie.

Not going to the baby shower, but I tend to eat when I get home until I go to bed. Going to fit in some exercise today, so that should curtail it some. Any ideas on how to stop the after work munchies?

Thanks Nicole

I'm so proud of you for joining and I'm going to give you constant encouragement. Remember Maria at the office? She's lost almost 60 lbs. She's an inspiration.

As for the portion sizes to both you and Terri - I used to take as much as my bf Brian. Now I'm taking about 3/4 of what he takes, and eating really slow. It's totally a conscious effort and was hard at the beginning. I still have to think about it and every so often I'll notice I've eaten half my meal in 1 minute and then I take a couple deep breaths and drink some water, and then I'll eat a bite. and then drink some water, and you get the idea.

I know we all can reach our goals! I love that we can post some ideas and information about what works for us, and doesn't.

Quote of the Day: "The beginning is the most important part of the work." - Plato

Annie weighs in.

Welcome Nicole!

So last time I was at the doctor, I needed to weigh in. She stopped the weight in anticipation if what she thought I weighed. I laughed and I told her to keep going. She looked at me when she finally got my weight, and said, "Wow. You hide that really well!"

That being that, I'm weighing in at a plump 170. (I know what your're thinking, the same thing I did. No effin way!) It's true though. (I got junk in my trunk. hee hee) I bought my first scale, and am motivated and ready to go. Let the games begin! Best of luck to everyone! I look forward to everyone's encouragement, support, and hopefully a little trash talkin'! LOL...

TL's 1st weigh in Rnd 2

Welcome new comers! Jake, I'm so glad you'll still be posting and doings stats.

165.
goal this round is to reach 155 (hoping for 150)

good luck everyone!

Yippee! I'm in!

Sarah's sister checking in! *waves*

162 (I'll round up, the scale said 161.7 or something this morning), looking to be around 145. Currently a comfortable size 12. :(

So, a little history about my weight woes. I used to be a skinny minnie. Swam competively for 8 years through high school and college (which was a long time ago). In my mid-20's I went from being relatively in shape to ballooning up (I'll blame the relationship I was in) to close to 180 pounds and teetering on shopping at the Avenue. Lost about 30 pounds (unhealthily) when I was 29 and was back in single numbers for my size. Then I met my husband and gained some of that weight back. So for about 3 and half years I've been in the mid-160's. I've done the gym thing on and off for a couple of years but get discouraged easily when I don't see immediate results. I don't have the patience. I told Sarah this morning that I checked out the local Y last night, which has not one but TWO pools, and that I am going to get myself some of those prescription goggles so I can start swimming again. My eyesight has gotten considerably worse since my college days when I could at least see people on the deck without corrective lenses, not the case anymore. So, hopefully in the next week, I'll be back in the pool.

That's my deal, I'm happy to be here, but not expecting huge things. It will be nice to have some accountibility and now I can curse at Sarah publicly for being under 130 pounds.

First weigh in

Hi everyone- so happy to be part of the PHAT Club

My unfortunate weight is 165 pds :-(
My goal is to lose 30 pds by my birthday- May 30

1st Weigh In

141.5. checked the scale with my hand weight to make sure it was right, but the pants tell all. Breakfast? Coffee, 1 slice of toast (need to eliminate the bread, right?), egg white omelet homemade. This is definitely going to be a portion control issue. Challenge this week? Baby shower tomorrow...

Weigh in #1

127 -
I'm fitting into my old pants!!
Yeah!

The Rules

First off.... welcome all newbies!!!!! We hope you stay encouraged and motivated by the support we have going here. Good Luck to all.
Secondly, I'm going to pass on this go round. However, I'd love to continue being the statistician and keep posting the weekly weigh in information and an occasional blog.

The rules are pretty simple:
Friday March 6 is the first weigh in day. We start with those stats and continue on for the next 8 weeks. The last weigh in is Friday May 1.
We use the honor system
The same scale should be used each week.
The largest percentage of weight lost is the 'winner' (although we all win by this)
Pounds lost/start weight=percentage lost
Every Friday is a weigh in day. You need to post your weight on that day.
I'll post the stats once I have everyone's information
$20 for each person participating
Biggest "loser" wins the cash (or gift cards if they so choose)

The blog:
We are here to encourage and motivate each other.
We give each other tips if we find some
We sometimes get into discussions about what works best for us .... or what doesn't :-(
We found that writing what we eat every day can be very beneficial to becoming aware of what we actually put into our bodies, however there is no rule that says you have to do this.

A couple of new things for everyone. We have added 'labels' for everyone participating. When you post on the blog, please use your name as the label. It will be on the bottom of your posting page... go to 'show all' on the right hand side and you will find it. This way it makes it easier if we want to find something in particular that someone wrote. The WEEKLY STATS label will be used for the group stats, not the personal weigh in stat for each person. (am I making sense, it's nearly 3 am and I'm a bit tired)
All new entries.... I need your email address so I can add you to the blog as an author. Please don't post them on here, send them to my email, which the rest of the gang knows and will share with you. You'll get an email invite and I believe it takes you to a link that allows you access.

If I've forgotten something please feel free to add it.

Good Luck Everyone!!!!!!

The more the merrier!!

Hey!!

Mark will be joining us too. What's our headcount now?? The prize $$$ is getting better by the minute!! heeheehee!

if it weren't for ice cream

I did good today except for the ice cream! yikes.

b- banana, coffee, coffee, yogurt
l- water, salmon burger on sesame bun, salad w/ lemon (a nice lunch at Marathon with Jake & Brendon, so nice to see them both!)
s- strawberry shortcake ice cream bar. ok. TWO! ugh
lots of water and standing all day
s- slimfast protein bar (because the icecream wasn't enough??)
s- dried fruit/nut mix
d- healthy choice chicken panini, olives, glass of wine

BED!

Welcome

Hi Terri and Deb! Welcome!
I'm also hoping my sister Nicole will join us as well.

Welcome, Terrie & Deb!

Terrie & Deb are 2 wonderful ladies that work with me at Activant! I think Jake and Aileen met Terrie on the Spirit of Phil. for my birthday. Please join me in welcoming them! Looking forward to an awesome 8 weeks! :)

Jake, (or anyone that can) is it possible to post any rules/guidelines for us newbies?

Thanks!
xoxo

Ate (annie)

Blogging via BB

Testing!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

dreading the weigh in

I have really felt so terrible this past week.... I'm in such a slump. Mark seems to be feeling the same way too. We're getting back to the gym this weekend and we just went food shopping last night, and threw out all the bad stuff (well... most of it anyway).

Ate- I'm so glad you're joining us :-) It will help a lot to have support.

Now... if I could only get this website to load up on my phone... I think I'd stay more up to date....

I love you Annie!

Welcome aboard, and thanks for sharing that video. What a great tool! I've got to figure out how I can take a video from my camera and upload it to the blog. Maybe it'll be me hula-hooping lol!!!

Friday it is.

TL

Welcome

Welcome Annie!
TL - you're doing awesome! 6 inches off your waist is totally terrific.

I'm so excited for Round 2!

I'm IN! Friday it is!

Maybe this vlog of me will distract you from the shock of how much I weigh. I was really embarassed to do this the first go round, but collected some courage, and here I am! :)

Round 2

I'm in for round 2. I think weigh in should be this Friday to stay consistent with our current progress. I think that's fair for everyone.
Friday - March 6 - Weigh In Day
Friday May 1 would be final weigh in. That's eight weeks for weight loss.

collecting my winnings! heh heh heh

I would prefer a giftcard, to make sure I buy myself incentive as opposed to pay bills, but I don't see how that can happen with everyone scattered to the North & South. Unless everyone got me an individual gift card but that would be a pain in the butt for you all. So I suppose send the mulah to my apartment.
7434 Boyer Street,#3, Philadelphia, Pa 19119

I went to the doctor's this morning. Their scale said 168.8 boo! MY scale still read 165 this morning. The Doc said to go by MY scale because she thinks theirs is "heavy". She said based on her numbers I'm only very slightly overweight with a BMI of 25.5 and I shouldn't worry about it too much because I am so active, what with the running and hula hooping and all.... easy for her to say. I left the office and promptly went for a run! Another 7.2 today, it was beautiful to run in the sunny woods with all the snow.

I know the Doc is right, but I just can't get past my shadow on the ground. I know I'm making progress. These past 8 weeks with you guys has been great and I love the support we give each other. I've lost 6 inches around my waist (39 is now a 33) and 3 around my hips (45 is now 42) It's nice to see my waist again. At least I'm losing weight in the right place.

Eating today - breakfast: slimfast bar, coffee. pre run snack: slimfast protein bar. lunch: salad, 3 wasa w/ lf cheese. Dinner might be a challenge a friend is in from NY and wants to go out. I will choose wisely of a light meal.

Let's start again with a weigh in on Friday March 13?

round 2

Hi guys,

I'm totally down for round 2. I could use some support. This 2 week slump seems to have brought me back to my starting weight. I feel so sick- stuffed up- and lacking so much energy.

TL- do you want $$ or a gift card? CONGRATS! i'm so super proud of you. or maybe i could just send you a box of truffles to get me ahead in the rematch ;-P

When do you want to start?

not so bad overall

According to MY scale I am still maintaining 165. I'm going to the doctor's today for my general check up and am nervous about what THEIR scale says. But it will be an opportunity to have a frank discussion with a doctor about my weight. I've never done that before and it will either confirm or put aside my fears that I am very overweight.

yesterday:
b - slimfast bar, coffee (lots of coffee at home yesterday!)
l - healthy choice panini sandwich, tea
s- handful almonds, tea
run - 7.2 miles (love the snow!)
s- tea
d- cheese burger w/ lettuce tomato, 1 Scarlett Lady beer, side salad instead of fries
(no I don't feel guilty, my body was craving red meat protein and I listened)
s- tea, hand full almonds, celery w/ lf cheese

okay, I should have skipped the last snack and owe it to snacking while reading. That has to stop. And I might have an almond addiction....

Tuesday

Good luck TL - I hear you - sometimes too much free time leads to bad decisions. I know you can do it!
Worked til 815 last night, changed and went to the gym and did 3 miles. I had yogurt, apple and peanut butter for dinner around 530. I'm trying the fast again today. Hopefully I can make it longer than last week.
I got up early and did 1.5 miles and then weights. I'm going to be exhausted later on I think.
I hope everyone has a great day!

off schedule

Flower show is havoc on my schedule. Or maybe that is just an excuse. Yesterday:
b - slimfast bar, banana, coffee
s- slm fast snack bar
l - tomato mozarella salad, slmfast shake, water
s- apple, water
d - (10 pm!) salad, three wasa w/ thin sliced turkey breast, two celery stalks w/ lf cheese

I have today and tomorrow off. I need to pry myself away from the computer and go for a run! the problem with having off in the middle of the week is there is no one around. the benefit of having off in the middle of the week is that there is no one around.