The DEW Pledge starts Thursday the 9th!

[tennisobo]

I'm new to this group and I pledge to lose 17 pounds. That was my goal anyway and we leave on the Caribbean Princess on January 8. Good luck everyone! :)

 

Susan in Minneapolis

[Gym Girl]

God bless ya, Belle, for coming up with great pledge names, and for being such a wonderful cheerleader!

 

Ladies, count me in! I have lost 25 lbs. since June, but have gained some back. I pledge to lose 3 lbs. In addition, I pledge to workout at least 3-4 days per week, to continue with my 40-50 min. of cardio each workout, and to limit my carbs.

 

JY, welcome to the board! My husband was born in Allentown, and lots of his relatives still live there and in Emmaus, PA. When is your wedding???

 

Betsy

[FBrew]

I am new to this group and I pledge to lose 20 lbs. I have lost 58 pounds on weight watchers since January. I walk 2 miles a day during the week I pledge to walk 2 miles a day on the weekends. I also quit smoking 3 years ago on the 15th of September and have never cheated. Good luck to everyone. Remember to take one day a time.

[JacDro]

A few days late - but I'm in. After losing 62 lbs the weight is coming off slower -- so I pledge 8 lbs. Good luck everyone!!!

[LeeLee]

I've been away from here for a little while, but I need to get back at it. I pledge to lose 20 pounds-that will put me 2-3 pounds below my goal.

[JYeagersGrl]

Betsy: What a small world :) I personally hate allentown lol I want to move back home to West Virginia or to Lousiville where my family is mostly from but I know that will never happen.My wedding is June 11th and our cruise is June 14th as it gets closer I have no motivation to do wedding things.

 

cruisintwinsmom: I wrote you back on my original thread :) keep me updated if you get the kit or not. Have you gone to the provida website and taken the body type test? I'm a type A maybe if you don't get the kit I could try and get some info together for you about what you should eat etc. if you take the body type quiz.

 

~Lisa S.

[bjboothman]

I've been around the cruisecritic boards for quite a while now (Princess threads) but am a newby here. I find sharing the experience of weightloss to be motivating and inspiring to me. Yesterday morning I finally said "enough is enough" and dug out my old WW books - and started the Freedom Plan (my favorite of all the programs and the one that worked the best for me in the past). I have exactly 13 weeks from today till the ship leaves the dock and believe I can lose the recommended 2 lbs./week, so here's my commitment to lose 26 before I sail. Wow, that's going to be tough, but with enough water and exercise (treadmill here I come!), I can do it. That will leave me 24 lbs. from goal. Geez, I hate to have to admit that but as they say, the journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step -----

 

So, here's to DEW (and by the way, I don't think you can overstate the importance of Water, for whatever reason, it always seems like the magic ingredient to me).

 

Joy

[JYeagersGrl]

It's almost our first weigh in day I'm so excited I wish everyone a great weigh in!

[mellow]

I must start off by confessing that I have been lurking (interpreted - taking inspiration from everyone but not really giving anything back - bad me!) on the Lose Before You Cruise board for almost a year now. But I have decided that I really want to become more actively involved so here I am.

 

To give a brief history, I am 52 and have struggled with my weight for most of my adult life. 32 years of marriage to a wonderful man who has one of the world's best metabolism has been very bad for my eating habits. I am the Queen (or surely rate Princess status at the very least) of yo-yo dieting. I started married life at 120 pounds (I am only 5'2" so while I was certainly not over weight neither was I a rail). I immediately started gaining when I started eating and snacking with DH. And since that time I have been as heavy as 226 (that I know of - I don't always weigh myself when at my largest) and as low as the 120 where I started. And I have traveled the numbers in between numerous times. I have clothes from size 6 Petite to Women's 24-26. Sigh..................................

 

Anyway, to try and make a long story short, the past year started out as a very difficult one for me. I sent my youngest child off to college and found empty-nesting very difficult at first. Seeing how I was struggling, this wonderful DH (short of that nasty metabolism thing I already mentioned), told me that the problem was that I had spend the past 27 years always focusing on everyone else and now I had earned the time to focus on me. That I needed to treat and pamper myself until I decided where I wanted to focus my time and attention now. So I took him up on the offer. I started eating right again (I had gained through my daughter's Senior year and last summer home before college - I call it my pre-imptivie comfort food/stress eating). Began exercising. And actually started getting manacures and pedicures (yes, I got very decadent). And I started coming here for encouragement and 2nd hand pep talks.

 

I can't believe how helpful reading everyone else's stories/struggles/ successes was - it really pumped me up when I was feeling weak.

 

So now it is a year later and I have sent DD off to school again. And I weigh 121 pounds and walk 4 miles at least 5 days a week. But I have yo-yo'd so often that I am terrified of gaining the weight back - AGAIN!

 

So I want to join the DEW pledge:

 

Diet - 1) maintain my WOE and keep weight stable

2) keep a food diary so I will notice if changes start to creep in

Exercise - 1) Continue walking

2) Start some weight training so I can build more muscle mass for

general health and to burn more calories

Water - Try to start drinking water. I drink too much coffee and Diet Rite. (OK, I guess that was too easy,) So I pledge to drink at least 3 glasses of water a day. I know I need more but I want to really do whatever I pledge so

I will start small.

 

Thanks to all for listening. Good luck to all of us!

 

 

 

[nosnobunny]

Well well well. You never know who you'll run into over here. Welcome to the fold Mellow. :D You already know most of the folks, so you know how supportive this place can be. You'll like it here, now that you're out of the closet. :p Are you following any particular plan?

 

Beth

[mellow]

Hey 2, and yes, it is a small world. ;) Needless to say, I have read your posts here over the past year. I can always count on your sense of humor to pick me up - I think we must share some humor gene because I do enjoy where your mind goes quite often.

 

As to my WOE (kinda find that particular set of shorthand initials rather daunting), I kind of do my own thing that has come from finding what works best for me from all the years of "dieting". This past year has been the easiest and best yet which is why I do have some glimmer of hope that I might be able to actually make this a WOE for the long haul. Basically it is somewhere between South Beach ideas and Adkins ideas. It is more like South Beach because I love fresh fruit and think the antioxidents, etc they provide - to say nothing of satisfiying that need for sweet flavors - are worth their carbs. I do try to lean toward the lower carb ones. I splerge on the grocery bill to always have fresh berries (red raspberries, blue berries, strawberries) for breakfast almost every AM with Splenda and a touch of half and half. That along with a hard boiled egg gets my day off to a good start. My grandparents grew fresh berries and so I find them very much a comfort food as well as a "sweet".

 

However, I am more like Adkins in that I do not do sugar sweets or higher starch items at all really. No breads or regular potatoes or pasta - even whole wheat products yet. I have learned that I am VERY sensitive to blood sugar/insulin swings that lead to terrible sweet/starch cravings. The more I eat, the more I want to eat. When I used to try low fat dieting, I had to fight the fridge/pantry ALL THE TIME! Temporary will power was not an issue. I could lose. But I was irritable and wanted to eat all the time. And as soon as I stopped "dieting" back would come the weight. But if I stay away from foods that "increase blood sugar followed by too much insulin followed by more eating" then I found that I didn't have those desires to eat/cheat all the time. So now I use tomatoes, sauted in olive oil mushrooms, and sweet potatoes as my "potato/pasta" substitute. If I maintain for 6 months to a year, then I might feel brave enough to start adding small amounts of whole wheat but for the moment I am still gun-shy of anything that I think might start a negative spiral.

 

The other thing I have done this time is make sure I treated myself often with really good food and dinners out. Instead of small amounts of $$ on fast food every other day (OK, every day sometimes) as I would have previously, we go out to a really nice dinner at least once a week. Expensive yes, but really good chefs can provide spices and tastes that minimal cooks like me can only dream of creating. So I can get really good salmon or crab legs or steak, a baked sweet potato (I have started bringing my own mixture of yogert butter subsitute that has no transfats with a touch of brown sugar twin and cinammon), a salad and a good glass of wine. And the servings are always so big that I immediately cut the meat and potato in half to take home for dinner the next night. Those dinner dates have really helped to keep boredom out of the new WOE (and the date part is nice too :))

 

Wow, aren't you glad you asked a simple question? Sorry, but short stories are NOT my strong suit.:(

[nosnobunny]

Your plan is basically what I've been doing except mine leans a little more toward Atkins. I know myself well enough to know that I really don't tolerate carbs very well. And I have such a weakness for them. It's been a long time since I've had a slice of bread. Isn't it amazing how efficient these bodies of ours are? Bet you never thought of yourself as a finely tuned machine. :D Art is always commenting on how little I eat but how little weight I lose. If he didn't make my lunches and do the week-day cooking, he'd guess that I had been cheating and eating out. Not so. Besides I'm paying for the Reali-Tini cruise, so no extra $$$. :p

 

Beth

[mellow]

I feel your pain. I knew we were genetically connected. I cannot eat much over 1000-1200 calories a day and lose weight. I should be so efficient in any other area of my life! Or I should say and lose noticable weight. I might lose 10 pounds a year with a higher calorie count but if I want to lose 8-10 pounds a month - even when I am considerably above my ideal weight - I have to eat less.

 

Since younger DD and I had to cancel last week's cruise because of her summer intership at UC, DH and I do not have a cruise booked until Brilliance 10 night Panama at end of February 2005. So I have the holidays to work through but vacations won't be an issue for almost 6 months. That's why I thought this would be such a perfect time to try and work out a matenance statagy that works for me. Then maybe the cruise won't do me in - hope, hope, hope, (crossed fingers emoticon - if I could find one)

[nosnobunny]

The front office staff keeps coming into my office and asking questions. Darn, don't they know that I'm busy? :p

 

Years ago I did the Richard Simmons Deal-A-Meal. (A very good plan BTW) It's very much like WW only more visual. Hey - I needed all the help I could get. I'm 5'2" also and found out then that if I'm going to count calories 800 / day was the max. The only other way was to exercise. :eek: Remember that I'm the girl who uses her treadmill as a clothes hanger. Well Lunyma does too. ;) Be careful with that exercise. You don't want to go and ruin that manicure of yours. LOL!

 

Beth

[mellow]

Well, you will note that my "exercise" consists of walking only. I don't like to sweat - perhaps an explanation of my non-existent matabolism lies in here somewhere. And I am too uncoordinated for anything very stenuous. However, even I can walk and maintain a manacure at the same time.

 

As for the treadmill, as long as you are hanging your GOLF clothes on said treadmill, then I think it still counts as exercise. I did take golf lessons earlier this summer but then my surgery put that on hold for the latter part of the summer. I found that I was a really bad golfer, but I do like being out on the course when we are at our lake condo. It's almost as good as sitting on the screened porch with a glass of wine after the round of golf.

[nosnobunny]

I've got the designer clubs, bag, shoes and clothes. I look darned fine on a golf course. But my swing still sucks! :D

Beth

[mellow]

You say that as if there is a problem somewhere there........ I obviously need to teach you to approach the sport with your priorities back in line!:D

[cruisintwinsmom]

OK, so what does WOE mean? Usually can figure out these shortcuts, but I'm baffled. Thanks.

[mellow]

[color=Black][size=3][font=Arial Black]W[color=Magenta][size=2][font=Arial]ay [color=Black][size=3][font=Arial Black]O[color=Magenta][size=2][font=Arial]f [color=Black][size=3][font=Arial Black]E[color=Magenta][size=2][font=Arial]ating - or type diet/plan. Needless to say, the concept is suppose to encompass looking at our eating habits as permanent changes, not just "diets". Unfortunately, I find myself thinking "[color=Black][size=3][font=Arial Black]Woe[color=Magenta][size=2][font=Arial] is me!" too often when I see it written. :o Someone needs to come up with a more upbeat shorthand for the easily influenced such as myself.......[/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color][/font][/size][/color]

[pinupprincess]

Hi
I'm new, but I've been lurking for a few weeks;) my dh and I are going on our first cruise in December. I bought a really cute bathing suit, so I wanna look good in it. I really need to be held accountable, so checking in with you great people will help me a lot (I hope:p )
Ugh, I haven't shared this before.. here goes- I'm 5'4", 186lbs and would like to be around 145-150. So I will pledge to lose 18 pounds by the end of this round, and work my fanny off in the hopes of losing more:rolleyes: .

D.. I will make better choices for all my food intake
E.. I will be trying for 45 minutes 4 times a week (combo of walking/running, cardio, pilates, tai chi)
W.. 2 quarts per day

Just getting out there and moving is what I really need to do...now where are those running shoes?

stacey;)

[nosnobunny]

Stacey you are one brave woman posting your weight. I don't tell anyone. And sometimes I even lie to myself. :D

Beth

[pinupprincess]

[quote name='nosnobunny']Stacey you are one brave woman posting your weight. I don't tell anyone. And sometimes I even lie to myself. :D

Beth[/QUOTE]
LOL! I know, I figure that I'll feel better when I post my pounds lost, it'll look way more impressive if I say I'm down to 170 from 188, then I lost 18 pounds eh? I am actually down 9 pounds from about 2 months ago--duh, I should have posted that too huh:p

[cruisintwinsmom]

Thanks, just couldn't figure it out.

[Jem4life]

Linda~ Been reading your posts. Can't believe you "lurked" for a year before posting. Glad you joined in. I can sure relate to your "story". You sound a lot like me. I am only 7 weeks in to my new WOE and down 19.5 pounds so far. Hoping to drop another 60.5. I seem to have a ZERO metabolism too and I, like you, don't like to sweat! So walking is my choice of exercise. I recently bought my 1st Walk Away the Pounds tape too and plan to do that once the weather here in WI is too cold or snowy to walk outside.

Congrats on your success and continued success to you! You have a great attitude and sense of humor! :D

Jean

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Well I must confess, I posted last Friday that I had lost a whole pound from the Weigh In day before. Unfortuately I gained it back but at least I am a Stay The Samer this week.

I too am not afraid to tell every one what I weigh. I started this weight loss journey January 1st weighing 192.5 I am 5 ft tall (barely) As of this morning I weighed 145.5 The amazing part is because I have exercised so much (daily since January) I actually look smaller than I weigh. People at work think I will blow away if I loose any more. I am wearing 10 petite pants and blouses are a size 8. I even tryed on a dress this past weekend that was a 10 petite that was way too big (they did not have an 8). My formal cruise wear is all way too big so with less than 60 days I need to start shopping for new dresses:p I just hate to buy too soon but then I doubt if I do manage to loose another 10 to 12 if the dress would be that much bigger and I do have to leave room for the weight I gain by the last formal night:eek: