Gained it all back :-( anyone want to lose by May 2011

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Thanks Kerrie, weather is great here, we're having Indian summer, it's almost hot today. So I had a good walk, and 30 minutes on the bike, and, and...I'm off for my weekly indulgence of a couple of glasses of wine in an hour or so.

 

Hope you have a great weekend, stay strong! Hope you break through that wall soon!

[thelioness1210]

This sounds like just what I need Some way to be held accountable. My name is Etta Im 36. I have had weight issues all my life. Been dieting one way or another for the past two years on and off, have lost 47 lbs (in the past two yrs) and have basically kept most of it off. (And what I gained back I have recently lost again)

 

So I booked my first cruise for May of 2011 and Im determined to be a smaller size by that day.

 

I am watching portions, and as silly as it sounds listening to my body, walking away when Im full and only eating when Im hungry. This is a new concept for me. I have never really paid attention that that full feeling before. And hardly ever went long enough without eating to know what hungry is. I have been doing this for a week or so now and I am filling up quickly and noticing I really am not feeling hungry for a few hours after that.

 

The hard part has been the mental aspect of it. I can be completely full and see something that would be yummy and want to eat it. But I know Im full so I have been fighting the urge. I quit smoking over 6 years ago and I remember that being a mental thing too. and I beat that so I know I can do this too.

 

Unfortunaly I enjoy eating and do it cuz it makes me feel better not just for survival. I eat when Im stressed. And I have some serious stress in my life so thats never helpful.

 

I recently ran into a sale at the store of shorts for 2.00 a pair so I bought some. But I bought them a bit smaller (3 sizes) than I wear just for a little motivation. The one has butterflys on the pockets of the jeansshorts. I cant wait to fit in them. Im going to go with very small goals, becuase I get discourged very easily.....and when I feel bad .....I eat. So small goals only.

 

Now my knee has been bothering me and has been keeping me from the gym. Does anyone know any excersises that would be easy on a knee. After being off my knee for a short period its hard to even walk but a little bit (5 minutes or so) and it gets bearable. Walking agravates my knee. So I was just looking for some suggestions if you have any.

 

Thnaks for listening.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Etta, "listening to your body" does not sound silly at all, but rather is a wonderful insight, thank you. I think that's what I have been doing too, without really thinking about it.

 

As for knees, I have been trying a recumbent bicycle lately. The reason I tried this is that I have a sacroiliac problem (degeneration in the joint, probably osteoarthritis), and although I love to walk, and love an elliptical, it's hard on that joint and both cause pain afterwards if I do too much (like walking more than a mile or so.) I don't have real knee problems, but sometimes have patellar pain, and have none on the recumbent, so you might want to try it.

 

It's a bit tough on the recumbent bicycle to get your heartrate into the zone, but easy to do a fat-burning routine. I am no expert at this equipment, so if you have a trainer at the gym, perhaps they can show you the best routine to try. I believe, after several weeks, that the bike is helping my abs in subtle ways as well.

 

I'm not dieting--I consider what I'm doing right now as a permanent lifestyle change, so look at overall habits. I find as I get fitter that using food or alcohol as an indulgence diminishes. I definitely have more of a spring in my step.

 

I'm in my early 60's. Recently retired so still trying to figure out what to do with my time. So I have plenty of time for exercise. My goals, as I said, are mainly health and fitness, with weight loss a side-benefit. I want to be able to hike around the cobblestones all day on my next European trip, whenever that is, and keep my heart healthy. I have a 7-day Caribbean cruise coming up in December.

[CruiseDreaming]

Welcome Etta! I'm there with ya, I eat when I'm stressed, bored, etc. It's my one vice. Congrats on the not smoking BTW--that is a huge thing. I have the bad habit of eating past being full so portion control is one thing I'm working on too and listening to your body is awesome and we all need to do it. Where is your cruise to in May?

 

Wendy--how was your holiday? Glad the weather is so nice for you.

 

Well ladies I fell off the wagon rather seriously, but I'm going to be positive about it. This could very well be the way I can get past my plateau.

 

Kerrie:)

[thelioness1210]

My cruise is on the carnival miracle going to Nassau grand Turk and Half Moon Cay. I cant wait to go to Half Moon Cay. It looks so pretty. Im not a big beach person. (Not really a fan of myself in a bathing suit) But this place looks like a paradise.

 

So I broke the rules tonight and had more than I was supose to. Less than I usta eat but more than I have been eating lately. And boy that being overfull feeling.....I dont like it at all. Im gonna try to remember that for next time as a deterant. I was always taught to clear my plate. So I have a very hard time leaving food go to waste. My solution to this problem has been to cook less ingrediants and then putting less food on my plate knowing that if I am not truely full I can have more ....except I dont ever need to get more, that smaller amount has been enough.

So I fell off the wagon too......and then it ran over me when I had some fudge heheh But Ill do better tomorrow.

 

Do you guys have a special day you weigh in? I try not to do it more than once a week becuz I get so discouraged so easily.

 

If you get the chance to look up some videos on you tube on a guy named Paul Mckenna. His rules are simple for weight loss. And lots of people say they work.....(Ill let you know if they do in a couple of weeks they seem to be doing good for me so far.)

 

Im sorry I rambled on again. I do that sometimes lol

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I weigh myself on Sunday or Monday. For a few years I just stayed away from the scales, I was in denial. It is very stressful. I also measure myself every once in a while.

 

Portion control is one of my biggies as well. I have found that not having a glass or two of wine with dinner really helps, my will-power is a lot stronger.

 

I think bread is my big food weakness. We have great bakeries around us. I keep only whole grain bread in the house, and am now using it as a treat, like an afternoon snack. Just one piece, not three or four!

 

I recorded a program on PBS a few months ago. It was an infomercial for Lee Holden, who sells dvd's of Qi Gong (pronounced more like chi kung). This program was "Qi Gong for Weight Loss". I've kept it permanently on my pvr and do the routine about 4 times a week. I find it really great, I believe it's helping me quite a lot. One of these days I'll buy the DVD so I can take it with me when I go away.

 

I'm doing Western Caribbean in December, so I will be able to cheer you two on after I get back. All my bathing suits are stretched out of shape ( :o ), not sure what I'm going to do, I guess I might wait until my day in Fort Lauderdale and buy a new one, or just cope with what I have until spring, when I'm hoping I can go down a size or two.

 

Kerrie, I did pretty well on the holidays, except for the outrageous desserts. But I did not overeat, at least I did, but not terribly.

 

What kind of exercise do you guys do? I've started using http://www.myfitnesspal.com to track food and exercise. The more you exercise, the more you can eat!

[CruiseDreaming]

I'm one of the few people who weight themselves everyday. I keep a log so I can see trends etc. I know weight flucutates so I don't beat myself up if the scales moves--only when it doesn't move:D.

 

Wendy if you need a new swimsuit you could always look online since you won't be able to purchase them in the stores. I've had good luck with Newport news swimsuits.

 

As for my exercise, I go to Curves, ballroom dance, Wii fit, lots and lots of walking. The occasional recumbent bike too or Scottish Country dancing.

 

Kerrie:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Ooo, Scottish dancing--good aerobic workout, that.

 

Thanks for the tip on the suits--I've had really good luck at Land's End, I have 2 of their suits. The choice is pretty limited right now, however, so I'll look at Newport News.

[CruiseDreaming]

Well ladies, I fell off the wagon. For some reason I'm finding it very hard to stay on track this time. I hope you all are doing well--I will find my groove, hopefully soon.

 

Kerrie:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Don't worry, you'll get back on. I fell off too. I just spent 2 days at my summer cottage with my son and his girlfriend. We had a great time, but life is simpler up there, and cuisine too--lots of great bread, butter, cream, fettucine, wine, even a martini. And no exercise other than a quick spin on my bicycle and tromping around in the woods.

 

So let's not beat ourselves up. Time to get back on, right?

[CruiseDreaming]

Right, today is a new day. Kerrie:)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Hey guys, how's it going? I'm still stuck at 13 pounds, but I'm exercising religiously and hoping it will start showing.

[thelioness1210]

Hey guys, how's it going? I'm still stuck at 13 pounds, but I'm exercising religiously and hoping it will start showing.

I was so bad this weekend. When I weighed in last sunday i had lost five lbs......but then throughout the week every time i weighed myself i was back up 3 lbs. which really discouraged me. (hence the reason I should only weigh myself once a week) so by friday i was really discouraged and started slipping here and there by today ....well i had a baconator at wendys But I am done dweeling on my past failures. I will start all over again tomorrow. I know that on past diets i have always been doomed to fail because I always had in the past but Im done thinking that way. Im just gonna keep getting back on the wagon. I dont have only 30 or 40 lbs to lose Im a very large woman and have at the least a good 150 lbs to go yet before Im happy with my size. (and I wont even be considered thin then but I will be alot smaller and thats what im going for not thin, just wanna be able to move around better, play with my kids more that kind of thing)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

It's tough being patient and steady. That's what I find, so just keep at it.

 

How is your knee, Etta? Did you find some exercise you can do? Here's something I mentioned back early in this thread. It's routine I saw on TV called "Qi Gong for Weight". Lee Holden is the instructor, and sells DVD's on the web--I am very impressed with this routine. (Not all exercise has to be aerobic--think about other things like this one, or taking up yoga, tai chi, pilates, something like that.) Or my (still) new favorite recumbent bike.

 

Well, that said, I have been pretty good food-wise this last week, and very good, exercise-wise. But I stepped on the scales this morning for my weekly weigh-in and I am still on my darned plateau! I was so hoping that I had gone down a pound, but NO! Any ideas about breaking a plateau?

 

Kerri, how are you doing?

[CruiseDreaming]

Well I've been bad--sigh. Today is a new day. I've gained weight back plus some so now I have 28 weeks to lose 30 lbs.

 

Wendy, that darned plateau. You might increase your calories just a bit and try a different exersize or one you haven't done in a while, that might help. Let me know if it does.

 

Today I have my walk and my dance class. Feeling positive.

 

Kerrie :)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yeh, I've been thinking about the issue of varying my exercise, but I'm not sure how or what to do. Perhaps I'll do a long walk whkile the weather is warm. Or switch to the elliptical for a day or two.

 

The increasing of the calories is paradoxical, but so is the fact that I'm gaining muscle and losing fat (hopefully), and muscles weighs more than fat!

 

I'm going to try cutting back on the carbs as well, although that's tough since most are good carbs. Guess I have to work at keeping up the protein as well.

[thelioness1210]

No Wendy I havnt found anything I can do without stressing my knee out even more. But I have to admitt im so lazy and I really havnt been looking to hard. I have also been making my kids halloween costumes (working on them at the time I would normally go to the gym)so I havnt even tried the gym again yet but right after halloween Im gonna have my husband wrap my knee in an ace bandage and im gonnd try the gym again. Because I also have an easier time eating heathier when Im working out along with it. And maybe the weight will come off a bit easier. I will look "Qi Gong for Weight". Lee Holden up on the web and see what its about.

Im pretty sure that everytime I plateaued I went off my diet and when I went back on It was fixed but I dont really think that is the way you are supose to do it (but as I have said before I get discouraged easily)

I didnt do great with food today but I didnt do horrible either.

Kerrie maybe like everything else this takes practice....were just gonna have to keep getting back up on that horse. What kind of dance (if you mentioned this in the past im sorry) Id like to take a rumba class when Im a bit smaller (i dont think i could do it now) Friends of mine said it was fun.

[CruiseDreaming]

Lioness, does your gym have a pool? I find that's great exercise for bad knees--no impact. My husband and I do ballroom dancing and Rumba is my all time favorite dance. We learned a new pattern last night in silver rumba. How old are your kids? My son is 8 and he is going to be Iron Man for Halloween.

 

Wendy, if you are exercizing a lot more and building muscle you will need more calories, but not too much more, but I too find it hard to deliberately increase it when I'm trying to lose weight.

 

Today is just walking, but I will try to do a lot of it.

 

Kerrie :)

[thelioness1210]

Lioness, does your gym have a pool? I find that's great exercise for bad knees--no impact. My husband and I do ballroom dancing and Rumba is my all time favorite dance. We learned a new pattern last night in silver rumba. How old are your kids? My son is 8 and he is going to be Iron Man for Halloween.

 

Wendy, if you are exercizing a lot more and building muscle you will need more calories, but not too much more, but I too find it hard to deliberately increase it when I'm trying to lose weight.

 

Today is just walking, but I will try to do a lot of it.

 

Kerrie :)

 

Nope I wish it did have a pool the pool is great until I get out and reality sets back in lol

My daughter is 8 and she is going to be a skeleton and my son is 5 and hes gonna be a werewolf. When my son was 4 months old I painted him a skeleton costume too it was so cute but it takes alot more paint when they are almost nine lmao

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Oh I remember making halloween costumes--so much more fun than those awful ones you buy. My husband used to help too--one year he was a ghostbuster, his homemade gun had red lights; then there was batman (the original Adam West version). Fun days they were, now he's 30.

 

Yes, I do increase my calories--myfitnesspal has this built in, when you log cardio exercise your allowed calories go up. Yesterday I took the day off--no exercise at all, and I gave myself some cheats--a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. I was reading about how you must avoid starvation mode, or your body will stubbornly hold on to fat.

 

Etta, sounds like your knee needs to heal for a while. But when and if you can, do try a recumbent bicycle--I find it doesn't hurt my knees at all.

 

I was thinking about all this while I was sleepless last night, couldn't sleep at all until about 4, then had to get up at 7:30. I think my body missed the cardio--I do sleep much better when I exercise.

 

Etta, another thought. Try starting some simple dumb bell weight lifting routines. I started a few years back with two soup cans, and then graduated to 5-pound dumbbells. They *say* that doing weights 3-4 times a week revves up your metabolism, and it stays higher between sessions, so you lose weight! I have some websites if you want to get started with that. I have been doing this religiously now for about 6 months now and I can definitely see a difference in my arms and fat on my upper back (which is yucky, let's face it girls.)

[CruiseDreaming]

I have read that muslce burns twice as many calories at rest than fat so using small weights is a great idea. Wendy, you are also right about recumbent bikes, it doesn't affect my knees either when I do it--I just never realized it until you mentioned.

 

Etta, is your daughter in 2nd or 3rd grade? Trevor is in 3rd and he's going to be 9 at the end of this year. He was a Ghostbuster last year for Halloween--one of his favorite movies. After he Tricked and Treated, said his thank yous he would say "who ya gonna call", it was so cute.

 

Today is Curves and more walking. I'm feeling pretty positive. I made my husband and son turkey meatballs last night and I had Morningstar's Hickory Riblets--a really yummy non-meat riblike pattie that has a smokey barbaque sauce--no fat, but high in protien served both with veggies.

 

Keep up the good work ladies! I hope your day of rest gets you out of your plateau Wendy! it sounds like a good idea that we all need to rest a bit periodically and no starvation modes.

 

Kerrie :)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I was just reading about "zigzagging", i.e., varying your caloric intake over the week. Same number of calories per week. It's supposed to trick your body somehow and prevent/break plateaus. Here's the URL:

 

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#

 

Seems a little tough to get the numbers exact, I would think. But doing a bit of this sounds like it might work.

[thelioness1210]

I was just reading about "zigzagging", i.e., varying your caloric intake over the week. Same number of calories per week. It's supposed to trick your body somehow and prevent/break plateaus. Here's the URL:

 

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#

 

Seems a little tough to get the numbers exact, I would think. But doing a bit of this sounds like it might work.

 

My daughter is in 3rd grade and she will be nine dec 18th. I think its pretty funny that wendys son was a ghostbuster and so was yours kerrie....who knew that movie would still be popular 20 some years later lol

and its good to know wendy that you dont still have to make your son a costume lol

And as for resting my knee its been a few weeks maybe even 5 or 6 weeks but its not getting better.....of course I dont have health insurance so I havnt had it looked at yet. I was hoping it would go away on its own.

[CruiseDreaming]

I went to that website Wendy and I printed out my daily caloric intake calculator and the zig-zag cycle--cool. Thanks for sending this.

 

Etta, my son's birthday is Dec. 27th so they are only a few days apart. I'm sorry about your knee, I really do hope it gets better.

 

Today is just walking but I will try to do a lot of it. We have a Halloween potluck at work today, but for some reason I don't think that it will tempt me too much. I just feel like it's no big deal and I don't need any goodies.

 

Kerrie :)

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I think the ghostbuster coincidence is hilarious, who knew! He had all the action figures, back in the day.

 

Took another day off mostly, although I did do a good, brisk walk. I burned my hand the night before, I have a steel saute pan, great pan, it had been in the oven, then I put it on the stove. And grabbed it with my hand. Spent the night on the couch with my hand holding onto a bag of frozen peas. I ruined every frozen vegetable we had, but no blisters. But it was a shock, and I took it easy yesterday.

 

Today I'm doing the usual collection of exercises and eating the right things. Still stalled I think, but carrying on, trying to get healthy.