New motivation...

Hope you both had a happy 4th. I did, but I can’t say that I am too happy with the food choices I made. I went to MS as you know and ended up gaining back the 2 lbs I had lost the week before. I went back to counting calories yesterday though and I was able to lose one of them. I had a good weekend. Now that I’m single, I’ve been going out more and that has motivated me to keep up with the program. I mean, how am I gonna find the man of my dreams if I hate the way I look??? A friend of mine lives about 4 hours away and has someone she wants me to meet… supposedly we are perfect for each other. She wants me to come visit her and meet him. So I’m planning to go at the end of August… now that’s some motivation. I have about 6 weeks to lose 20 pounds. I think I can do it…no, wait… I KNOW I can do it. I’m not really in the market right now for Mr. Right, but I wouldn’t mind meeting a few nice guys. Anyway, hope you losers have a great week.

B - Yogurt 100/2

L - Lean Cuisine 150/3

S - Cobbler 170/3

S - 2 Mini Reeses 118/3

Traci's Daily Intake - Wednesday

B - Coffee - 39/1
B - 1.5 cups of Fresh Cherries - 110/1
S - Trail Mix - 180/4
L - Lean Cuisine - 330/7
S - WW Cobbler - 170/3
D - Chicken Breast with sauce 190/4
D - Whole Wheat Toast with RF Butter - 75/2
S - 10 Pringles - 85/3
S - Hostess 100 Calorie Snack Cakes w/ 1/2c Chocolate Ice Cream - 200/3 (low points because the fiber in the snack cake is high)


Total Calories: 1379/1300
Total Points: 28/28
Total Water: 56oz
Total Exercise: walked 2 miles

BTW, as for posting my daily intake... hopefully you guys don't mind. It's really more for me than anything... you all probably don't care to see exactly what I'm eating everyday. :)

Weigh-In Wednesday: Traci

I know I just posted my weight yesterday, but I figured I would do it again today for weigh-in Wednesday....


Down 1 lb for the week, total of 11 lbs

Weigh-In Wednesday: Tiffany

Well here it is my first Weigh-In Wednesday for the new year...funny since it is already JUNE!! (Really almost July!) So needless to say I have done enough slacking off for the year so it is time to get back on the wagon. I officially started this "new" weight loss program 2 weeks ago. In that time I have lost:

I actually cheated and on Friday weighed in and I was down 6.5 lbs. So since Friday I have lost but gained .5 back. Truthfully, I haven't drank enough water since Friday and haven't eaten that great so I am lucky (and probably because I am actually exercising) that I did not gain more than 1/2 pound back! All in all, I am okay with the loss. I had hoped to be up to 10 pounds by now but I will take 6! My goal for my next Weigh In Wednesday is 2 lbs...I would love for it to be 4 (and if it is great!) but I am trying to take baby steps. I am afraid if I set my "goal" too high that I will end up being disappointed if I don't come close!

You girls are doing great!! Let's Keep Up The Good Work!!

Another Loser

OK. So, I started June 4th and was 200lbs, as of today 190lbs. My goal is 130 lbs. I am basically counting calories and exercising 6 days a week. I try to only take in 1000-1100 cals a day. I find when I get hungry in between meals I snack on watermelon, cucumbers sliced with salt and pepper, and grapes that I freeze. That usually does the fix and it is nice and cool, since we are in the HOT summer. Also, on one of the days during the weekend I grill a bunch of boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, along with veggies, such as squash, cherry tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. It is a healthy lunch or dinner. I keep it in the fridge and heat up as needed. Keep up the good work girls!

Traci's Daily Intake - Tuesday

B - Activia Yogurt 70/1
B - Coffee with Creamer & 2 Sweet and Low 39/1
S - Beef Jerky 75/2
L - Smart One 180/3
L - Salad with Light Dressing 50/1
S - WW Cobbler 170/3
S - 5 RF Crackers 70/1
S - 2 Slices of smoked ham 32/1
D - Squash sauteed in 1 T Olive Oil (gotta have your 1 serving of good fat) 100/4
D - Chicken Breast with 2 T BBQ Sauce 190/4
S - 1/2 cup Chocolate Ice Cream with 10 Hershey Kissables 155/3

Total Calories - 1131 out of an allowable 1300
Total Points - 24 out of an allowable 27
Total Water - 88oz
Total Exercise - walked 2 miles

My first mini-goal

I want to lose 25 more by my B-day (Sept 8th)...

~Best Friend's Hubby's Deployment~

My bestfriends's husband...who also happens to be my best guy friend ever!..unit deployed. At least we will have each other through this...

Counting Calories vs. Counting Points

As I’ve mentioned I’ve struggled with whether or not I should keep counting points or if I should switch to counting calories. I lost more weight and lost it more quickly when I was counting calories. On WW I’m losing about a pound a week; I lost closer to 2-3 a week when I was counting calories. So, yesterday I tracked both points and calories. When I was counting calories, I was allowing 1200-1300 a day. With WW, I’m allowed 27 points. I ended the day at 1330 calories and only 22 of my allowed points. If I had been counting just points, I would have eaten the 5 additional points that I’m allowed - that would have resulted in about 300 more calories for a total of 1600! I’ve been tracking both today too…so far I’m at 615 calories and only 11 points. I only have 650 calories left, yet I have 16 points left… based on an average of 55 calories per point, I would normally eat another 880 calories. So in light of this, I’m going to go back to counting calories. It’s easier anyway because I don’t have to mess with calculating anything. I think WW works, I mean it’s basically the same concept except you get “credit” for eating more fiber and eating less fat. I guess I could just cut my points back to 22… but I figure why bother when the calorie counting is easier to keep track of. We’ll see what my weight looks like at next week’s weigh-in. I haven’t lost any weight in the last 2 weeks on WW, so I’m setting my target weight loss goal at 3 lbs for next week. Should be interesting considering I’ll be on vacation for 6 of those days. I’m going to have to work really hard to stay on course.

Happy losing!

BTW, starting tonight I will begin posting my daily intake again.

Skinny Dip!!!

HG's Amazing ATE-Layer Dip

(I got this from Hungry-Girl and I was SO excited because I love this kind of dip and I LOVE the idea of putting it on a tortilla! Yummy! I plan to try this in the near future! I will let you know how it goes!!)

Skinny Dip!
We're serious suckers for layers of cheesy, bean-packed, meaty stuff we can dip crisp veggies and baked chips into (yay!). This dip happens to be so delicious, that we've been wrapping it up in high-fiber tortillas and even eating it straight. And why stop at seven measly layers? HG has upped the ante, adding an eighth guilt-free layer to this fun fiesta food. Pay extra close attention to our most valuable layer (sorry, we had to!), spiced mashed butternut squash; it makes the perfect swap for refried beans.

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded lettuce

4 oz. fat-free sour cream

1 cup canned black beans; heated

10 oz. (about 2 and a 1/2 cups) butternut squash cubes

2 cups cherry tomatoes; chopped

1 cup diced onion

4 oz. roasted red peppers (not packed in oil); chopped

1 pouch (4 oz.) BOCA Ground Burger (or another ground meat substitute, like the Morningstar Farms version**)

1 oz. Galaxy Veggie Shreds, Cheddar (or another low-calorie cheddar cheese**)

3 and a 1/2 tsp. taco seasoning

Optional: lime juice, salt, and pepper

Directions:

Begin by combining half of the tomatoes with all of the onion. If desired, season to taste with salt, pepper, and lime juice; set aside. Next, nuke squash in a covered microwave-safe dish with 2 tbsp. water for 6 - 7 minutes (until squash is tender enough to mash). Using a fork or potato masher, mash squash to a pulp. Mix in 1 and a 1/2 tsp. of the taco seasoning and set aside. In a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray, combine Boca Ground Burger, tomatoes and the remaining 2 tsp. of taco seasoning and cook until crumbles are defrosted and mixture is thoroughly heated. In a large dish, layer ingredients in this order: lettuce, butternut squash mixture, tomato/onion mix, sour cream, black beans, "meat" mixture, cheese shreds, red peppers. Delicious served hot or cold! Makes approximately eight 1-cup servings!

Serving Size: 1/8th recipe; approx. 1 cup

Calories: 100

Fat: 1g

Sodium: 400mg

Carbs: 18g

Fiber: 4g

Sugars: 3.5g

Protein: 7g

* 1 Point! (Weight Watchers)

Low Cal Cobbler

This may not sound very good but let me tell you.... it is awesome!! The only bad thing that I can say about this recipe is that it is hard to only eat one serving.

3 Point Fruit Cobbler

16 oz bag of frozen fruit (I've tried blueberries and peaches)

1 Yellow Cake mix (don't use Duncan Hines, it has more calories)

12oz of Fresca

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer frozen fruit in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the fruit. Pour fresca evenly over the cake mix. Do not mix the ingredients! Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

12 servings

1 serving = 3 points or 170 calories

I'm in...

If you're back in, so am I. As you know I've been doing Weight Watchers for about 6 weeks now and I've lost 10 lbs. It's been slow going but at least it's going. I am struggling on the weekends but doing pretty good during the week. There are 2 ladies from work doing it as well. We've decided to quit going to the meetings though. We are going to start weighing in at work each week, so that we can still be held accountable. My mini-goal is to be under 200 by labor day. That's 21 lbs in 10 weeks... That should be no problem if I'll just stick with the program. I've debated on whether or not I should just go back to calorie counting, because I seemed to have lost it quicker then. I was allowing 1200 calories and with WW, I'm getting closer to 1400-1500 calories a day with 28 points. I guess I could push my points back to 24. For the next week, I've decided to do both and see what my calories look like compared to my points. As of today, I will start logging my food too. Glad we are doing this again, it has really helped in the past. Also, if you know anyone else that wants to join, please feel free to offer. The more support the better. By the way, see ya in 6 days!!!!

Long Time No Post...

Well I will make this short and sweet...the hubby has been deployed to Cuba for 6 months. He has already been away from home for almost 2 months prior to his deployment. In the next six (well really 5 now) months I am trying to lose AT LEAST 40 pounds before he returns. (My big goal is 120 pounds.) I am weighing in on Wednesday (just like our old Weigh In Wednesdays). I actually started my diet two weeks ago (on the 13th) so I am going to do my first official weigh in this Wednesday. I will be using this little marker to track my progress!

The frog is kind of .... well Brian's unit's mascot. Most of the guys in the unit have a frog tatoo on their butts! HAHA! That is a story for another day. Anyway, so that is why I chose the frog! I can not wait to see him moving along on his little lily pads! I can't wait until my first official weigh in! Check in on me on Wednesday!!

Playing Catch Up!

Hope everyone is doing well!! Things in my life have been a little crazy lately but I thought I would catch everyone up!!

Brian left to go to Cuba. He won't be home until sometime later in the year. That is what we have been told so as long as things go well he will be back by then! We (Baylee and I) are doing okay for now. We have our moments but all and all we are fine. I guess when you are faced with something you just can't change you have to work with it and move on! Plus, it helps that we are always so busy!! He works 12 hour days so I know he is so tired after working he probably doesn't have time to miss us much! Then on his days off they have stuff to keep them busy (bowling, movies, snorkeling, softball). I do hear from him every couple of days.

In the process I have cleaned out closets and gotten rid of SO much junk! I am telling you we had SOOOO much stuff that I was like, "Why did I even keep this?" I still have a ways to go but I really have made a big dent. I feel so much better knowing things are more organized! It helps me feel more organized all together...even at work!

I joined the local YMCA again! I have GOT to get this extra weight off of me! So many people I know have died (even in their 30's) from heart attacks and I don't want to be one! So I joined the gym and changed my work hours around so myself and a couple of the ladies form work take a longer lunch and go during our lunch hour. I am feeling better already and I just started last Thursday!

My mini-schnauzer Storm was just diaganosed with heart worms. For those of you that are animal lovers you know your animals are like another member of your family. They think we caught it early on so he goes for his first treatment on Wednesday. I don't know what I would do if he didn't make it! Especially while Brian is gone...I know it would really upset him and it would be that much more loss for Baylee right now. I know they can't live forever but this would be a REALLY bad time for something to happen. Plus, he is only 6 years old. So please pray he pulls through!

~The Hubby's Deployment~

Well if you have wondered where I have been...lets just say things have been crazy. I saw they hubby off to Cuba, made some great friends and shed alot of tears! He will be missed and I will be praying for him everyday! Please remember to think about and pray for our ENTIRE military and their families...their sacrifices for our freedom is HUGE!!

A Quick Vent From The Church Member In Me

I just have to vent this...my mom was planning on joining the Church I attend. She won't tell me who but when she mentioned it to another member of the Church apparantely the member had a bad attitude about it. The Church itself is an AWESOME Church and I can only imagine that this particular member whomever she may be must have something against my mom or the devil was working through her. I have noticed something about Churchs though...especially small ones...all to often you do have that group of people that don't want change. You also have the ones that would rather complain about something than do something positive about it. What really got me is now my parents and brother - whom I was really looking forward to joining our Church - have now decided because of what one person said to them not to join the Church. I know not everyone is a Church goer and not everyone can relate but just imagine this was a really important club or organization that you were in and the whole point was to bring people together and do all of the positive things...wouldn't it be wrong for a member of "said organization" to go completely agains what the whole organization is about??

OKAY I AM DONE VENTING!!!

Stop This Ride...I want OOOOFFFF!!!

This morning I compared my life to being locked in the back seat of a car and someone throwing a brick on the gas pedal...and off I go! It seems it has been this way for months. As I said in my previous post my husband's grandfather passed away about 7 weeks ago...Monday night his grandmother passed away. I am torn in my feelings about this. I just keep thinking she is in such a better place but yet I know how much she will be missed here. The only thing that gives me reassurance is she told us last Sunday, "I am in a win/win situation. Either the cancer will be healed or I will be going to heaven to be with Granddaddy."

I am ready for things in my life to start slowing down...and I know it will. I know God never gives us more than we can handle and I am just trying to hold my head high!

We all have our hard times and I know that we will all make it through!

Thyroid!

I have been feeling kind of bad lately...migranes, dizziness, etc. I decided to break down and go to the doctor and check this out. In the process of doing this he told me I have Thyroid problems. His nurse was telling me that after my medicine gets in my system that it really may help my weight loss right along! So here I am again saying I am ONCE AGAIN going to try to lose weight! I figure that maybe JUST MAYBE if I can attempt to eat right, drink water and exercise along with taking my new meds that I will able FINALLY to shed some of this weight! I will keep you updated!!

Life Happens

I know I always come back and PROMISE I will be up and blogging again. I decided this time...no promises! We have been busy and well...times have been hard but things will eventually slow down...I suppose anyway. My cuz and one of my best friends Traci and a friend of mine that recently started a blog Holly...made me want to get back into blogging again. I had started using "My Space" last year...but not really doing alot of blogging. That took up alot of my time but I am kind of over it. I will keep up with alot of people there and check in occasionally but not as often as I had before. All in all ... i miss my blogging time here. I miss my blog friends!!

I am again going to copy something from Traci...I am just going to list what all has happened to me since...well November. I can elaborate on more if you like and I am sure I will eventually but for now I am just playing catch up!

• Thanksgiving - my whole family on my dad's side came to visit and all of us for the most part spent the whole week at my grandmothers. We decided to make this a new tradition. It was so nice...I saw people I haven't seen in years...most importantly my dad! It was so nice...we have a good relationship (in my opinion) it is like we can just pick up where we left off and there is not real akwardness...I was a daddy's girl for sure! :-)
• Christmas - this was kind of a blur to me! We have so much family that it is hard to keep up!! WHEW! All in all it went very well!!
• Baylee had her whole cheerleading team over to the house for a slumber party and they had a blast! Those girls crack me up!
• I got rear-ended on the way to work...the next week my husband got rear-ended on the way to work!
• My husbands grandfather (he was very close to him) got very sick after Christmas and on March 1st went to Heaven.
• A few weeks after this my husband's brother was in a 4-wheeler accident and remains in the hospital today. He is much better than he was but it will take lots of therapy to get back to normal.
• My husbands grandmother (that was married to the grandfather that passed away) is now in the hospital fighting cancer.
• I learned how to say "no more" and walk away.
• I learned that I am stronger than I thought I was.
• I learned you can be nice to someone without them taking away your sense of self worth.
• My washing machine broke.
• My fuel pump went out but now it is fixed! Yeah!
• I am coaching Baylee's softball team and loving it!
• She decided she hates gymnastics and never wants to go back...fine by me.
• Side note to above...I usually don't let her quit things but I didn't feel she was learning anything especially considering what we were paying...plus she really did cry everytime I took her because she hated it...even though she misses her friends that go there.
• I am on the planning committe for my 10 year reunion - I am so excited to see everyone!!
• This is the sad part...my hubby and my best friends hubby will both be deployed this year. We don't know exactly when they will leave but sometime between now and the end of summer...keep them in your thoughts and prayers!!!

So that is all for now...well I am sure there is more but that is all I have time for anyway. I will try to keep update more...but no promises!! Talk to you soon!!

1/4 cup walnuts - 184
yogurt -90
cheese stick - 60
1/8 cup dried cherries - 70

7 No brainers to losing weight....

Listed below are 7 things guaranteed to help you lose weight. They are things we have heard before, but I think it's good to remind ourselves of how easy losing weight can actually be. I printed this off and taped it on my kitchen cabinet. Why not the fridge? Because it would get lost among the calendar, appt cards and Brayden art. On the cabinet, it's sure to stand out every day. I got these tips from http://10way.blogspot.com/. They have other great life changing tips too.

1. Drink Ice cold water - Okay I know you already know this and you probably already know ice cold water makes your body burn fat to heat the ice cold water back up to body temp, but I keep saying drink water because… A lot of people still don’t drink enough water. If you want to lose weight fast… Stop wasting your money on ugly fat-weight gainers like coffee, soda, and juices and pick up a FREE magical weight loss drink called water

2. Eat Peppered beef jerky - I can’t explain any science behind this one, but every time I eat peppered beef jerky I seem to shred a little fat and I think this is due to the spices they put in the beef jerky and some studies show that spicy foods increase your metabolism and there’s also enough protein in beef jerky to help curb your appetite

3. Kill your cravings - Eating lots of protein (nuts, jerky, fish, and chicken) raw veggies and water will kill your appetite. I promise you the sooner you get used to eating raw veggies you will stop craving for all the junk foods that made you fat in the first place.

4. Drink green tea - Hate drinking water all the time? Then sip on some green tea to increase your metabolism to burn more fat.

5. Limit carbs - This is really an emergency weight loss trick. If you stop eating carbs (or limit your carbs) you can lose 5 lbs or more real quick by burning up all the stored carbs in your body. You have about 1 pound of carbs stored in your body and each pound stored in your body has 3-4 lbs of water attached to it. So if you burn up the stored carbs in your body… The 5 lbs of water will burn up with it

6. Do something in the morning – Wake up and break a sweat for 30min in the morning. I know you hate to exercise but if you do it first thing in the morning guess what… Your body will ONLY BURN FAT because since you haven’t eaten anything yet… Your body has no choice but to feed off the stored FAT in your body for energy.

7. Walk for 10 minutes after you eat – Your body burns calories to digest the food you eat and if you walk for 10 minutes after you eat you will increase the amount of calories you burn during digestion and get his… If you eat three times a day you will easily get the 30 minutes of activity you need to lose weight (3 meals x 10 minute walks after each meal).

30 Day Goal

Every year, Bobby and myself join about 30 other people and go on a 2 day canoe/camping trip. Well, we are a lttile more than 30 days away from the event and I'm light years away from my desired weight. I've done really good this week, but I admit I could have done better. I'm going back to counting calories. It's really the only thing that has truly given me quick results. My goal is to lose 15 lbs by March 30th. Ok, so I know that's a little agressive... but I know I can do it if I just put everything I have into it. I weighed in at a whopping 231 this morning. I've got to, got to, got to, got to do this!!! I'll be posting my intake again as well. So wish me luck....here I go again.

Ok, so I did great last week!! I stayed on plan, I worked out 3 nights of the 5 and then the weekend happened! WHY... can't I stay on plan on the weekend? The answer is that I still have crap in my house. I keep saying I'm going to clean out the pantry and get rid of everything that has enriched flour, sugar equalling more than 4g per serving, or any trans fat. Basically that means I need to completely empty it. I just can't bear to throw it all away. I would donate it to a food bank, but most of it has been opened. Well, I've decided that I'm just going to have to suck it up and get rid of it all. At least before next weekend. If I only have healthy stuff, then I'll only eat healthy stuff. I think I will even have to get rid of my flour. Otherwise I'm very tempted to bake. I bake cookies almost every weekend and this weekend was no exception. At least I had the sense to send the leftovers with Bobby this morning. I actually weighed last Wednesday and it said 227, well after this weekend it was back up to 229 this morning. It kills be to say 229 when I know just 3 months ago I was 13 lbs lighter. It makes me nauseous!

Back on the wagon today...

Wednesday 12.06.2006 - Traci

B - LS Oatmeal - 110
B - Coffee w/ creamer and S&L - 40
S - All Bran Bar - 120
L - Fuddruckers Veggie Burger - 412 (used Burger Kings's version to get calories)
L - Coleslaw - 190
S - 6 Ritz - 96
S - 8 Cheese Cubes - 80
D - Wendy's small chili - 220
D - Wendy's 5 pc nugget - 230
S - SF Jello - 10

C - 1508
W - 36
E - 30m on the treadmill

Wednesday Weigh-In

I thought you and the Good Dr. were done, over, kaput?? Remember that tar filled jar??? Yuck! I guess that's easy for me to say because I've never been a big fan of real soda, just diet. Do you like Diet DP?? That's my fave!! Well, just get back on the horse and ride on. Hope you are doing better today. I understand the eating out at lunch. In fact I went with some ladies from work today, but while they ate their burgers and fries, I had a veggie burger on whole wheat with a side of cole slaw. Haven't figured the C's yet, but I'm guessing it's substantially lower than that what they had. It's all about choices. We just have to be strong enough to make the right ones.

I Gave In! :-(

B – 10 animal crackers - 130; Crystal Light On The Go - 10
L – Pulled pork sandwich – 464; Fries – 340; 16 oz Sweet Tea - 120
D - Spaghetti Supper! - 800; I broke down and had a Dr Pepper 150
2014 Calories
32 ounces water
0 Exercise

I started out STRONG yesterday morning. At lunch we went and visited a co-worker (the one that had the brain surgery) and picked up lunch to take it to her. I had already told the lady that I rode with first thing that morning that I was ONLY going to get the sandwhich. When I got there - before I even realized it - I had ordered fries and a tea, too! To my defense I probably did not really consume 340 calories on those fries because I only had 2 or 3 but I should not have even wasted my money on them!

At dinner I broke down and had a DP because I hate drinking water or milk with supper and I was too lazy to make tea!! Really there is no excuse. It was just laziness that forced me to drink that!!

So 2014 is just horrible and it could have been MUCH better. I didn't get all of my water in yesterday but I did get half which is good considering I drank none on most days before starting this!

Gotta work on that exercise!! I am proud of myself though because I almost didn't post for today because I didn't want to admit that I didnt' do so good BUT that wouldn't help me to lie about it or pretend it didn't happen - just like I have always done. I am telling you - THIS BLOG MAKES ME ACCOUNTABLE!

Well instead of coming up with excuses as to why I wasn't going to be honest about what I ate I decided this: It is harder for me cut the calories down at night right now because of Brian and Baylee. I know I really should eat most of my calories during the day and not save them for the night time but the night time is when I am having the biggest problem for now. So until I can get on top of the number of calories I eat a day I am going to have to eat fewer calories during the day (but still eat so I don't slow my metabolism) and save my calories for night time. Then as I get to where I am close to my set number of calories a day I will then slowly start eating more during the day and fewer at night!

Quote:

"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." –Conrad Hilton

I won!! I won!!

I won the battle against the Krispy Kremes today!! Yea!!!

B - Hot Chocolate - 272
S - 8 Cheese Cubes - 110
S - 3 Ritz - 48
L - Salad with Grilled Chicken & Viniagrette - 240
L - 5 Low Fat Club Crackers - 70
S - 2 Graham Crackers - 135
D - Sonic Jr Burger - 320
D - Diet Sonic Sunrise - 90
S - 1 PB& J Sandwich, all ingredients measured - 260

C - 1545 (just a tad over, I think I'm overestimating on the Sonic Sunrise and the salad so I'm probably really ok.)
W - 64oz
E - 20m weights, 20m on treadmill

Simple changes I could have made to save calories: Could have used LF graham crackers (didn't have any though) and could have used 1 less T of PB and used Sugar Free Jelly (didn't have any). Those changes would have saved me 125 calories. Of course skipping the hot chocolate would have made a huge difference too.

BTW - I'm on board for the challenge and weighing in on Wednesday. I guess tomorrow will be our first "offical weigh in".

Quote of the day:

Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man,

but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. - Mark Twain

The Challenge - 8%

I propose a challenge. I know we are setting small goals for now but earlier in the year when I actually lost weight was because I was in the midst of a competition. Here is my challenge:

Lose 8% of our body weight in 3 months. That will be around 21 pounds for me and 18 pounds for you. That gives us 12 weeks to lose that weight. It gives us something to shoot for. It will be hard but I feel it is realistic. A healthy amount of weight to lose is 2lbs a week and in a 12 week time period we both could do it even if we were below this number. Some weeks will be good and some will be bad.

I propose we go back to our weigh-in Wednesdays, also. March 1st can be our "final" weigh in for this 8% challenge. That is a good date because that is close to the beginning of spring and we can reassess our goals before summer. If we don't start now we WON'T feel much better about ourselves before summer!!

Are you up for it?

Divorcing the Good Doctor

*Bravo* On the visualization technique!! I will definitely be trying this one!!

My first idea out of my bag of tricks is going to be "Divorcing the Good Doctor - Dr. Pepper that is." Maybe I won't say forever - yet - I am just going to take baby steps. However, I am giving up sodas for this week to start with. Small goal but baby steps!! I always think those commercials that show what all the tar on a smokers lungs looks so disgusting. SO I will use your visualization technique to imagine if I drink a soda (because I tend to like the dark ones anyway) that it will look like that nasty tar stuff going through my body. Just the thought is G-R-O-S-S to me!

Maybe this will help....here is a jar of tar that is equal to one year of smoking....I know I don't smoke but I am picture this is what sodas do to the inside of my body!

=

Here is one for you....we are pretending this is fat cells on a cupcake.

=

"Life Will Not Go According to Plan, If You Do Not Have A Plan!"
The Plan.Success is not an accident. It begins with a well-conceived plan.
Action.Just do it!
Believe it.If you can dream it, you can achieve it.

Visualization Technique

Thanks for the star. Recognition feels good. You didn't do too bad either considering you didn't realize what I had written. You will do even better today though!!

This morning when I got to work I was faced with 2 boxes of Krispy Kremes (we've seen this battle before) and a container of homemade chocolate cupcakes. I turned my nose up in disgust and walked away. When I looked at them I visualized them covered in sticky, nasty, oozing yellow fat, nice thought I know - but it worked. Now the thought of them makes me want to gag. So now I just have to picture that every single time I walk into the kitchen today.

By the way, I stopped on the way to work and got a skinny hot chocolate with no whip cream. I figured that wasn't too bad, but according to Calorie King it still has 272 calories, only 88 calories less than the whole milk one. I was shocked. I guess it's the chocolate. So that will be my last one of those for a while. I guess I'll stick to my coffee with splenda.

Motivational thought for the day:

You are only as weak as you allow yourself to be. Don't allow it.

Tiff's Monday 12/04/06

Wow! You did great!!!!! This is for you!!!!!

This is your star for your first big step towards a new you!! I am proud of you girl!!! You did awesome! I definitely could have been better!! I should have read your post BEFORE I went to work - see we do help each other! I had read it I would have been more prepared and more motivated. I am going to plan 15 minutes of me time every morning to check on your post and update from the day before!

B - (Kinda not really a breakfast but ate this before I read your post!) Dr. Pepper - 150; 6 cheese straws 282

L - Sweet tea - 120; garden salad - 200

S - 3 chocolate covered pretzels - 150

D-Dr. Pepper 150; 4 tacos - 680 calories

1732 Calories with no water and no exercise! Yikes!

We have said our spills so it is time to get with it! I am motivated, dedicated and hard core! Lets go, lets go!! I am logging off of this computer and I am going to get myself ready for tomorrow - the first day of my new life!! :-)

Monday 12/05/06

B - Lower Sugar Oatmeal - 100
L - Salad with Chicken breast and viniagrette - 240
S - Yogurt - 100
S - Cheese cubes - 80
D - White beans with ham - 275 (guessing based on calorie king)
D - Cornbread Twist - 140
S - SF Jello - 10

Calories - 945
Water - 75oz
Exercise - 30 minutes on the treadmill

One down, a lifetime to go...

Amen

Your post was great. Exactly what I'm thinking and feeling. We can't go on like this. I've done really well today. I've actually probably not eaten enough, but what I've eaten has been healthy. I've already had 48 ounces of water and I brought my gym bag to work so that I can go on the way home.

How have you done today??

I'm not sure what we are doing for dinner. I need to start planning more. I end up going home and having to figure something out at the last minute. It's usually something quick and not to healthy. My goal is to plan each weeks dinner on that Sunday. That Dr. Oz book I was telling you about has some good soup recipes in it. I think I will start making a a batch on one each Sunday, so that I have something to eat on those nights that take out is the only option. I want to change Bobby and Brayden's eating habits too, but I need to get mine in line first. Once I get it down, I'll work harder at changing the way they eat too, at least at dinner time. I can post the recipes if you want me to.

Hope you are having a great day!

Preach On Sister!!

Wow Traci, your last post “1 Year Ago” got me teary eyed, too! You are so right! I weighed the other morning and I am 261 (4 pounds less than I thought I was a couple of days ago BUT 3 pounds heavier than I was when we started this thing a year ago!) The bad thing is – we BOTH lost weight but here we are again right back at it. Why are we programmed this way? Why do we get aggravated when we see people doing other things (drinking, smoking, gambling, etc.) when the truth of the matter is we are hurting ourselves just as much by eating. Like we always say though – it does through in the curve ball. EVERYONE has to have food for nutritional purposes. You just can’t quit eating like you can quit smoking, etc. We just need to figure out WHY we eat like we do. We need to start learning to “eat to live” and NOT “live to eat”. They way I figure it if we keep on like we are doing – even if it is gaining a few pounds a year I will be pushing 300lbs in the next 5 or 10 years and you will be in the 250 to 275 range. Is that what we want? NO! We don’t even want to be where we are so we just have to STOP NOW!!!

I came across this website that said these days what some calculators and charts consider to be “ideal weight” is not actually true and it is outdated information. I am not sure of your height but I did it based on 5 ft 5 inches.

Traci: 5’5” @ 224
Based on this information your ideal weight is 161
Medically Recommended: 114 to 150

Tiffany: 5’5” @ 261
Based on this information my ideal weight is 172
Medically Recommended: 114 to 150

If you take each of our weights and use the highest medically recommended weight (150) you are 74 pounds over and I am 111 pounds over. You are considered morbidly obese when you are at least 100 pounds over this weight. I am over by 11 pounds and you are only 26 pounds away. MORBIDLY obese. Just in case we have forgotten this is the definition of “morbid”:

mor·bid –adjective

1.suggesting an unhealthy mental state or attitude; unwholesomely gloomy, sensitive, extreme, etc.: a morbid interest in death.

2.affected by, caused by, causing, or characteristic of disease.

3.pertaining to diseased parts: morbid anatomy.

4.gruesome; grisly.

Did you get that? The ones that stood out the most to me were “unhealthy mental state or attitude” and “gruesome; grisly”. In every day life would we want someone to call us this? No. So why is it okay when it comes to our weight?

I remember one time when I was probably in junior high me and one of my friends went to a local water park with her parents. My friend and I were sitting around with some people from another school (that didn’t know my friend and her family) and my friends parents walked by and her dad was very overweight. One of the other girls made a comment “That is just wrong. They should let people like that in here.” My friend never said anything and neither did I but the hurt and embarrassment was written all over her face! I will never forget that. I don’t want my daughter to have to EVER deal with that. Most importantly I don’t want to have to deal with the side effects and diseases my weight has and will cause me! Why would I want to do that to myself??

We can do this and we will do this!! This will be a brand new day for sure! I know we haven’t stuck to our diets or even this blog like we should but just imagine if we didn’t have this blog at all…we might not even be having the reality check we are having now. We could hide the fact that we have tried so long…but with this blog we can’t. We need this and we need each other. We have said this a hundred times but I mean it this time….WE CAN do this!!!

1 Year Ago...

I realized this weekend, that we started this blog exactly one year ago. It was a very depressing realization. According to my first post, I should be enjoying my new skinny body by now. I should be way below the 180 mark and sitting here in my size 10's or less and writing about how great I feel. But I'm not...instead I'm sitting her in my snug size 18's feeling depressed. I'm sitting here thinking about how sad it is that as of today I'm actually 3 lbs more than my "official weigh in" (221) at this time last year. I feel like such a failure. Why can't I get a grip?? Why can't I just stop putting all the crap in my mouth. If I had cancer and they had pills that made it worse, would I be poppin them like candy? No, but that's exactly what I'm doing. My risk of heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer and most other medical conditions gets higher with every single unhealthy bite I take. I can't continue to do this....I can't. I DON'T want to be writing a year from now about how I didn't do it.... again. By then I want to have written the post that says "yea, we finally did it", we are healthy and we look fabulous". Tiff, I know you want this more than anything and so do I... girl it's time we really do it. It's time to take control of our lives not for our husbands or our kids... but for us. I'm crying as I write this because I hate it...I hate it for both of us. I'm sad for both of us. I, more than anyone truly know what you are going through and I know you feel the same emotions I feel when it comes to weight. I hate that we have to go through this, but at least we have each other. No matter what, I know that you are absolutely the one person that will understand and encourage me without judging me. I love you for that. Let's do this, let's really do it. I'm going to try my hardest to encourage you everyday, to motivate you and remind you about why we have to do this and I want you to do the same. I love you and I want us to do this...I want you to do this. We need to do this. We HAVE to do this.

Weekly Recap

Well I haven't been keeping track of my intake for the last couple of days but I can say they haven't been stellar - not horrible, but I could have done better. Tueday I did pretty good except for some M&M's. Then came Wedneday, I did good during the day, but I had a Taco Bell Taco Salad for dinner, with extra sour cream. Then Bobby left to get a milkshake and I had him stop at Sonic and get me an order of their new Cheesecake Bites. There were only 3, but I'm sure 3 pieces of fried cheescake took me off the charts for the evening. Oh and I had 2 handfuls of Crunch N Munch at work. Thursday wasn't good either ... I started off with 2 breakfast lean pockets (they are much smaller than regular, but still), 2 PB cookies , about 20 M&M's, I then had to go pick Brayden up from school because it was sleeting and snowing. I had a Swiss Cake Roll & an apple for lunch and then I made cookies. I ate 4 of those. We had breakfast for dinner which for me consisted of 1 biscuit loaded with homemade sausage gravy and about 3 eggs. I topped all that off with a big glass of chocolate mik. Oh and I had one last cookie before bedtime. So, that brings us to today....I'm at home again because of the weather. I've had a big bowl of Honey Smacks. The plan is to have soup for lunch and an apple for a snack and nothing else until dinner. Dinner will be Mushroom Alfredo Tortellini, but if I only eat one portion that's only 200 calories. So I'm putting the past few days behind me and starting again.


BTW, I didn't have electrolysis, I had laser removal done. I went for 3 sessions and should have gone for about 4 more. It lessened it, but it's not completely gone.

I Woke Up In The Morgue

I was surfing the television the other night and I came across a show called "I Woke up In The Morgue". Did anyone else get the privilege of seeing this show? I tell you what it was some scary stuff! These people had a condition called catalepsy. Basically, they would just pass out and have no signs of life but they could feel and hear everything that was going on around them. One lady got taken to a morgue THREE different times because they thought she was dead!!! I would FREAK out. This lady was completely conscious of where she was and what was going on and one day was out for THREE days closed in a dark room with dead bodies. It is amazing the kinds of conditions people can have that we don't even know about. I told my husband I wonder how many people were embalmed or buried alive because of this condition. This is SO scary to me! The thought of it! Yikes!!

Thursday Stats 11/30/06

Well I didn't eat so well today but I definitely went down LOTS of calories from the past couple of days (especially since I was home again today with Baylee!!) and I plan on keeping it up!! I need to go back and look at your old post about calories and do some research to decide what is a good amount of calories for me. I am still having a hard time with the water and exercise. One thing at a time though. Let me tackle this food demon first! I am REALLY trying to do it without any kind of pill!

Here are my stats:


2 pop tarts - 400 calories
Baked cheetos - 130 calories
Frozen pepporoni pizza 2 slices - 400
24 oz whole milk - 439
1 can dr. pepper - 150
Hamburger Helper - 175
1694 Calorie Total

Exercise - None but some house cleaning!! (Which is better than past days!!)
Water - 16 ounces

Fatville or Bust!! 11-29-06

That is definitely the way I am heading! I don't have much to say about the way I ate today. It is just a shame.

Mexican for lunch
KFC for dinner
No Exercise
No Water

I am going nowhere but fatter and doing that fast!!!

What is my problem? I tell you one thing I think it is. My house is an absolute WRECK. It is so bad I don't even like going into the kitchen so it is just easier to eat out!! Then at lunch I am so ready to get out of the office it is not funny. WHY do I have to eat the way I do!!! WHY!!!! So I am hoping tomorrow will be better. Like I said I am going to continue to be honest on here everyday in hopes that it will help. To be honest it has some because the thought of seeing everythingI have eaten in writing makes me not want to eat for the rest of my life!! HAHA!

*SIDE NOTE*
How did your electrolysis ever go? You know I got it done once without alot of difference. Mine is worse than yours though and would take FOREVER to do that way. I made a consultation to get the laser hair removal done. I go one December 15th for my consult. It cost $50 for that visit but that will be applied towards my cost of treatment if I decide to do it. I don't know how much the treatments will cost yet. This is one thing that I am really, really, really self conscious about - probably even more so than the weight. I REALLY hope this will be an answer to my prayers. I don't know that it is permenant and I might have to go back a couple of times a year but if it is not too expensive it will be better than having to shave once - sometimes twice a day!! I will keep you updated!

I Must Be Insane

I am attempting to lose weight in the midst of all of these holidays. What oh what is a girl to do? Any weight loss suggestions??

Tiff's 11/28/06

Sound I have decided I am working really hard to make each day be seperate (except for Sat & Sun - I haven't decided if I will do those seperate or together). So in saying that here is my post from yesterday 11/28/06.

I BLEW it. Baylee and I weren't feeling well yesterday and stayed home. Needless to say, I ate everything I could get my hands on. I could lie about what I ate but the purpose of this is to be honest and to help me understand why I am FAT! This is why:

I ate:

3 pieces of ham w/cheese
2 frozen burritos
Pop-tarts - lost count 2, 3, 4 or 5 WHO KNOWS!
Cheese sticks from sonic
Tots from Sonic with Chili and Cheese
6 or so onion rings from sonic
20 oz Dr. Pepper
1 Red Pop Faygo drinks
2 cups of milk
1/2 of a Peach Faygo drink

OH MY!!! I mean that is THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of calories!!!

NO EXERCISE AND NO WATER!!!

THAT is why I am fat. When I am stressed, bored and ESPECIALLY sitting at home I EAT EAT EAT like a little (or rather large) pig. I don't understand! I mean it was like I couldn't stop! This is why I need help from some kind of pill. That is about the only thing I can do to make myself stop eating!!! In high school I had gained some weight and took a diet pill for about a month and after that I pretty much kept what I ate down to a minimum. (I guess after my stomach shrank down.) Anyway, I have GOT to do better. I am SO glad I have this to be able to put all of this down in writing so I can't say, "I don't know what is wrong with me. I don't eat that much!!" UGH!

Morning Update

Those recipes looks yummy, especially the dip one. What could we eat with it? I wonder if celery would be good with it. It's pretty much tasteless anyway. Chips would be ok I guess, but only a handful.

I've already stumbled this morning, I ate 10 M&M's - that's 40 calories. I needed a chocolate fix.

I did bring my gym bag today though, and I'm headed there today as soon as I leave work. I haven't figured out what's for dinner yet. I really need to grocery shopping. I have about 10 recipes that are really good, low calorie recipes that both Bobby and Brayden like. I'll try to post them soon. I used them last time I was counting calories.

Good luck today! We can do this!

Useful Information Found on 11/27/06

Came across these links today and thought I would share:

Links

You told me about the www.hungry-girl.com website. I came across this one today that seemed interesting. http://www.aimeesadventures.com

Quiz

What kind of dieter are you?

http://www.thedietchannel.com/dietquiz/home-quiz.php?submit=Take+the+Test%21

Recipes

#1 Layered Dip
(ww recipe – don’t know the points - Found on net - haven't tried yet)
1 brick FF cream cheese spread out in galss pie pan (probably could use most any pan but this is what I used). Over the top of the cream cheese pour one can of FF (99% FF) Hormel Chili w/Beans. Sprinkle 1/2-1/3 cup FF shredded cheddar cheese over top and bake @ 350 for 5-10 minutes (or until obviously hot/bubbly). YUM

#2 Chicken/Cheesy Rice Soup
POINTS® value 4Servings 6Ingredients 32 1/4 oz Campbell's Chicken Soup With Rice 7 oz Green Giant Canned Mexicorn, With Peppers 1/2 cup fat-free skim milk 6 oz Kraft 2% Milk Singles Pepperjack Cheese 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper Instructions Heat soup (with 3 cans of water) and corn in pan. Add milk and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cheese until melted through.

Weight Loss Myths

1. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Or any other gimmick that pledges massive weight loss at breakneck speed. “It’s not healthy, and it’s not true,” Wilbert says. Permanent weight loss requires lifestyle change, not a quick fix, he adds.

2. Fat is bad for you. “Dieticians forwarded that one to people for years,” says registered dietician and nutrition teacher Rick Hall. Now they know better. The truth is that some fats are unhealthy, and some are good – indeed, necessary – for your health. (Hence the term, “essential fatty acids”!)

3. Carbohydrates are bad for you. First it was fat, now carbohydrates are the bad guy. Wilbert explains that this trendy idea is just too broad. When trying to lose weight, make a distinction between unhealthy carbohydrates, such as white sugar, and complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and whole grains, which provide vital vitamins, and fiber to aid digestion.

4. Lose weight by not eating. Uh…no. Starving deprives the body of the nutrients it needs for life and can lead to serious illness. Plus you lose muscle mass, not fat. Even if you do lose pounds, you gain them back almost immediately when you raid the fridge again.

5. Don’t eat after 6 p.m. “It’s not what time you eat, it’s what you eat!” insists Dare to Lose author, Shari Lieberman, Ph.D. “In Europe they eat at 10 o’clock at night and they’re half the size of Americans.”

6. Salad bars are healthy. Bacon, cheeses, fried chicken, oily dressings…The apparent allure of salad bars means they probably require as much of your considered attention as ordering at a fast food restaurant. “You have to choose the foods at a salad bar wisely,” Lieberman reminds people.

7. Diet sodas aid weight loss. This is one of Lieberman’s favorite pieces of diet-industry hype. “There isn’t a single study that shows diet sodas help you lose weight. There’s absolutely no data on that at all,” she claims.

8. You shouldn’t step on a scale. “It’s another misconception that dieticians have passed on,” says Hall. “I completely disagree with it.” He says checking your weight on a regular basis, say once or twice a week, is an obvious way to gauge your progress and alter your diet accordingly. However, Lieberman notes that scales in and of themselves, well, suck. She encourages people to keep track of hip, thigh and tummy inches, too.

9. You can lose weight with a pill. “You can’t replace healthy eating and exercise with a pill,” Hall warns. “Pills aren’t a new thing, they’ve been tried for decades…[with] horrible side effects.”

10. You have to join the gym. Actually, the most recent research indicates 30 to 60 minutes per day of moderate physical activity is all it takes to balance healthy food intake. It doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise, “just move your body!” exclaims Hall.

Yikes - Reality Check/11-27-06 Stats

I often think of overeating as someone that eats and eats all day. I may not necessarily do that but I kind of did a test run today of an average day of food to see how I did. Well lets just say - NOT SO GOOD!!

Breakfast: Weight Smart Oatmeal (added sugar, etc.) 250 Calories

Lunch: Dr. Pepper, fries, nuggets, sauce = 949

Two Meals equals: 1199

Dinner: I had fully planned to go home and cook but "life" happened and we decided to eat mexican. I don't know exact calories but by "questioned" at Calorie King I figure probably around 1000 to 1300 for ONE meal!! If I say 1300 - that leaves me with a grand total today of 2500!!! Yikes!!

Water: 2 glasses (16 oz. total) with crystal light on the go packet = 5 calories

When we started this whole thing in December 2005 my weight was 258. On May 10th my weigh in on here was 244 pounds. Both of these times I weighed in the nude first thing in the morning. Less than a week after Thanksgiving, one hour after dinner, fully dressed and close to bed time I just weighed in at - gulp - 265. That is 21 pounds!!! In six months!!! I should have been going the other way - not up but down!! So this gives me major motivation. I am so glad we have this site or I would have not been able to go back and find my weigh in info. That makes me want to work as hard as ever. I haven't walked today yet but even though it is late I am going to finish up this and one more post and put on my walking shoes!!!

Is Santa Real? To Tell or Not To Tell

Saturday my daughter Baylee (she is 8 and in the 3rd grade) tells me, "Momma, Madison told me her parents said there was not santa claus and that the gifts come from them." I think oh no here we go. So the answer I gave her was this, "Baylee, you are a big girl now. You can belive whatever you want but I will tell you like Nana told me when I was little. If I stop believing in Santa I don't get gifts from him anymore - only gifts from my family." She said, "Okay I believe." That was the end of the conversation.

My mom never told me there was not a Santa and I still get gifts from "santa" at her house. I just don't know if I should tell her or not. I think when you know it takes some of the fun out of Christmas. What age did you find out? Or when did your kids find out? If you have/or decide to tell them what will you say?

Monday 11/27/2006

Ok, so my first day back at it - WAS NOT very good. I'm blaming it on the fact that I had not gone grocery shopping yet. I picked up a few things on the way to work this morning, so I should be able to do a little better today though...

B - Weight Control Oatmeal, nothing added - 160
S - Graham Cracker with RF Peanut Butter - 148
S - South Beach Snack Bar - 100
L - Hawaiian Chicken Salad - 350 (guessing based on estimates from Calorie King)
S - Peanut Butter M&Ms - 240
D - 1.5 pieces of Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza - 570 / life happened at our house too :)
D - 1 piece of Pizza Hut Thin Hamburger Pizza - 210
S - Weight Watchers Carrot Cake - 80

Total Calories - 1858
Total Water - 24 oz
Total Exercise - NONE

THE "F" WORD

I’m feeling extra F** too! I got on the scale this morning and thought I was going to pass out. On my September 22nd post, I weighed 215. Today I’m at 225!! That’s 10 lbs in 2 months!! This madness has got to end. I’m going to start posting my stats again each day too. My goal right now is just to lose that darned 10 lbs. I told myself that I would never hit 220 again after I got under it…well you see how that went. I’m not throwing in the towel just because of the Holidays. I’m buckling down and doing this.

Round 1,963,165,567,987,135 of Weight Loss Attempts

So after the wonderful holiday I am feeling B-L-O-A-T-E-D and alot like the "F" word. You know REALLY **FAT**. I have got to do something. Enough is enough! Even if it is drinking at least HALF of the required water (4 glasses) and walking 30 minutes a day I am doing SOMETHING and I am doing it now. There is no excuse!!!

So I am super busy and super tired but as part of my dedication to this at least ONCE a day I will be logging on here and leaving at least ONE sentence about how my day was.

I know this isn't much and my husband is bound and determined that I will not lose weight by walking only 30 minutes a day I am bound and determined to prove him wrong!!

So here we go again!!

Back for The Hundreth Time

So I have said it over and over that I will get back on here and start blogging and I have failed miserably. Just like I have with alot of other things. (Keeping my house clean, diets, handling my money better, etc.) I have decided that I am going to start keeping my promises and finishing what I start. I might not blog everyday or even every week but I am going to make a good effort anyway!!

So how was everyone's holiday?

Mine was awesome!! I saw my dad for the first time in 5 or 6 years. His girlfriend was really nice and so were her kids. Her youngest calls my dad "dad" and that will take some time to get used to but I am okay with it. My daughter calls my husband dad and he is not her real dad. I suppose the only reason it bothers me is because it has been so long since he has been a dad in my life. Things have changed and I am okay with that. I am happy for him and I hope he continues to keep in touch with our family. I think this has been the best Thanksgiving that I have ever had!!

Meds Update Part II

I won’t get into all the ends and outs of my Dr. appointment, way too much to write, but I’ll give you the part that pertains to weight. First of all, she said that she did not believe that the Phentermine caused the murmur, but that it’s possible that it made the murmur, that was likely already there, more noticeable and pronounced. So if the Phentermine isn’t causing you any symptoms then I would continue taking it. I would if I could. Instead she put me on Wellbutrin. It’s actually a depression and anxiety medication, but one of the side effects is weight loss. Usually I dread the side effects of medication, but this one I like! She said that people taking it, that are not trying to lose weight, lose about 15 lbs a year and those that eat right and exercise while on it, can lose about 2 lbs per week. She also said that anyone that’s married and/or has kid’s experiences depression and anxiety at some point, so it will help with my stress level as well. She said it was great for emotional eaters…ME. I’ve been taking it for 3 days and I can really tell a difference. I don’t get hungry as often and I’ve noticed I haven’t been snacking between meals. I don’t even think about it. It’s strange. The best part of it is that I’m not all jittery and buzzed like I am when I’m taking the Phen. I’ll keep you posted.

Friday Baby!

So after you get the info on those Dr.'s you talked about a couple of post ago let me know!

Glad to know that (not that you have murmur) but about the meds because you know I have taken them, too. I have some left and was going to get back on but I think I will change my mind after reading that!!!

I missed the second half of biggest loser. Brian set the timer for one hour but that is okay! I am going to do some reading online and catch up. (*Note to Self* Call and get DVR hooked back up.)

This week I did "okay". Before I got sick I had made plans with a co-work to walk before work. We met up Wednesday morning and because of running late only got a small walk in. (We bring extra clothes, shoes, etc. so we can freshen up afterwards.) So then we got a good one in at lunch and had subway. I have decided that instead of trying to try them both at once I am going to work on just the exercise first. Make it a habit (at least 30 days or so) and then focus on what I drink and make that a habit and then focus on the food. It will take a while this way but like we always say ...... we didn't get like this over night so it is going to take just as long to lose it!!

The week in review

Well I haven't been posting my calorie intaking, but have been counting them. I splurged a few times this week and had 2 1600 calorie days but that's still lower than what it would probably have been. I weighed in this morning at 214.9, so we are headed in the right direction. Now if I can just keep it up!

Meds Update

If I’ve already told you all this, I apologize… I don’t think I have though. As you know I was taking Phentermine several months ago and I also took it for 2 months in late ’05. Well I went to the doctor a few weeks ago because I was feeling exhausted, achy, unmotivated and I was having some chest pain too. She discovered that I had a heart murmur. They did a bunch of lab tests as well and everything came back normal. I had to go for and echocardiogram to determine the extent of the murmur. I go back this Friday to discuss. She told me to stop taking the Phen until we figured out what was going on. She didn’t say that the Phen caused the murmur, but I have my suspicions. I didn’t have a heart murmur before I took it (I had a complete check-up before I ever started it) but I do now that I’ve taken it for a little less than 3 months in total. 12 weeks is what the FDA approves. I liked taking it; I was never hungry and I had tons of energy. It was so easy to eat well. I’ve been thinking about other alternatives and then I stumbled upon an article in this week’s “Woman’s World”. It’s about diet pills and it compares the different ones. It also speaks to OTC options. It had some really good info, so I thought I’d share just a little of it here.

Phentermine – hits the brain’s appetite center and greatly reduces hunger, not the same as the killer Fen-Phen (although it did contain Phentermine, the Fen part was the deadly one), approved since 1959, approved for 12 weeks of use and should not be used by patients with heart or anxiety problems!!

Meridia – boost brains chemicals that extend satiety, approved since 1997, great if you struggle with portion control, doesn’t eliminate the urge to eat completely but that’s a good thing because it lets you develop skills to stay slim after you stop taking the meds, should not be used by patients with sleep or blood pressure problems.

Xenical – disables key enzymes and keeps 33% of fat calories from being absorbed, studies show people that took it lost 93% more weight than those that didn’t, approved since 1999, besides blocking fat calories; it gives you a stomach ache if you eat too much fatty food therefore encouraging you to avoid it which cuts calories even more, great if fatty foods are you’re weakness or if you have a health condition that keeps you from being able to take other diet pills.

Chromium Picollinate (OTC vitamin) – helps control a hormone that causes cravings and belly fat, the supplement most linked to lower levels of body fat, 400 mcg daily can eliminate intense sugar and carb cravings, especially beneficial for patients with big middles, up to 800 mcg daily is considered safe but check with your Dr. first

Calcium – (OTC vitamin) – stimulates the release of fat from cells, latest data shows that exercise burns 30% more fat in patients who get extra calcium, for maximum fat loss get 1200 mcg of calcium (from supplements or low fat dairy) and keep your total calories around 1200 a day.

So I guess I’ll add CP and Calcium to my shopping list.

Hey cuz...

I watched a show on Discovery Health last night called "YOU: The Owner's Manual". There is a book as well. It's by the 2 Dr's that are always on Oprah. Anyway, it was very interesting and very motivating. I'm going to go by the book today. It's not a diet book, it's just about living healthier and living longer. It's hard to explain everything that was in the show. I wish you could see it. Do you have the DH channel? They have a DVD set too (not the same show on DH, but probably better, it's twice as long as the show)

DVD http://shopping.discovery.com/product-59710.html

It explains how you can completely change your health in as little as 2 weeks. They follow the story of a lady that begin by drinking 4 6-packs of soda each day and ate high fat, high sugar foods. She didn't exercise either. After 10 weeks following the suggestions in the book, she had lost 20 lbs and looked 10 years younger.

The basics are that you only eat things that come from nature and only allow "treats" every now and then and in very small portions. You're not supposed to eat any foods where these words appear in the first 5 ingredients (sugar, high fructose, enriched, and 3 others that I can't think of. As for exercise, it's pretty mild. 30 minutes of walking each day, 60 minutes each week of cardio that makes you break a sweat and 30 minutes each week of weight lifting.

Once I've read the book, I'll comment on it more.

Walking

Well I read an article this weekend about walking. I was doing good...we had even joined the gym. So I am going to try something. I am going to walk AT LEAST 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, for 2 weeks and not really change the way I eat and see how it helps. Just on the walking. Maybe if I do good on that I would be more motivated to eat better....

VERY GOOD POINT!!!

...about how we would be even bigger if we hadn't been at least half a**ing it for the past 9 months!! I like the way you think!

I used to use the expensive and time consuming excuse too, (ok I still do) but I just have to remind myself that heart disease and diabetes is very expensive and time consuming as well... not to mention deadly!!!

So True...

....your post below. Had we just hung in there all those times. This is not a good excuse but one none-the-less....it is just so time consuming and expensive to diet. Yeah I know...those are negative thoughts but I get discouraged because I so badly want to be small, small, small!!! UGH!!!! Okay - we can do this, we can do this, we can do this, we can do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well a positive out of all of this...had we never tried at all...even if it is off and on imagine how big we would be!!!!

Monday - Traci Stats

B - Yogurt - 90, cup of coffee - 35
S - Banana - 80
S - Protein Drink - 60, Cheese toast - 120
L - Lean Cuisine - 250, Tomatoes and Cucumbers with Spritz Dressing - 40
S - 100 Calorie Pack Cookies - 100
S - Fat Free Pudding - 100
D - Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken and Fried Rice - 650

Total Calories - 1525
Total Water - 12 oz (gotta work on this)
Total Exercise - Walked for 30 minutes (while pushing a stroller with a 45 lb kid)

One day at a time.

Ok, so remember last week's post about how I was going to get back on the wagon and start posting, blah, blah, blah?? Well, that lasted all of one day, the posting anyway. The counting calories...well that lasted 2 days! What is up with me? I get so fired up and then 3 days into it, I fizzle out. The obvious answer is that I must not really want it. BUT, I do want it. I guess I just don't want to work for it. I've posted about this before and I still don't understand it. Rather than analyze it though, I've just got to but last week behind me and start fresh today. I'm just going to take it one day at a time. I'm not commiting to being on point for the rest of the week... I'm focusing on today and today only. I'll think about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. So here's to today!

PS - When going back through the old posts and searching for the post that I liked to above, I realized how many times we have both said that we are starting again. Just think if we had really done it all those times before, we would be done with this site and wearing our skinny jeans right now!

Life Change

Have you ever come to a place in your life where you feel like you just need a change. My life has been so crazy lately. I can place no blame anywhere. Just life, you know? People change, people grow apart, arguments happen, no one is right or wrong but simply stating their American born right of having an opinion. Sometimes we just end up being different people. It is no ones fault, it is life, it happens. So today I am soul searching...life is feeling good...even with all the stresses I am facing now. Hopefully sooner than later I will be over this hump but in the meantime I am trying to enjoy the journey!

All About The Mindset

Well. I. Sure. Have. Had. A. Horrible. Mindset.

I am telling you I have been stressed to the max....as I know you have!!!! It seems like the more stressed I am the more food I force down the hatch! SO today - it is all about me!!! Brian is going to leave in the morning to go to drill. I am going to get up come to work with an open mind tomorrow. Pick up Baylee go home and "unclutter" my house Friday night and Saturday. I may get a pedicure and get my hair done. I might work on playing "catch up" at work. Then Saturday night a good friend of mine and myself may catch a late move or go "wal-marting" or get some coffee or something.

So you are thinking...what does all of this have to do with weight loss???? Well I think alot of my problem has been clutter and unorganization make me stressed...not to mention the past years drama building up on me.....when I am stressed I eat...so this weekend is going to be all about DESTRESSING!!!! In turn I will hopefully have a better mindset to start a new diet plan on Monday!!!

The Enemy

The evil Krispy Kreme monster reared it's ugly head again today. This morning as I walked down the hall towards the kitchen at work, I smelled the sweet, sweet smell of the enemy that was about to be in my face. I turned the corner and saw the spread... two dozen glistening hot donuts.

So what did I do?

I did what any woman does when faced with an enemy... I walked by them, stuck my snobby nose in the air and completely igmored them as I headed for the fridge to grab my yogurt. I grabbed the yogurt, turned around and walked out the door; not before I turned around and stuck my tonque out at them though.

So take that Mr. Krispy Kreme. You've won this battle one too many times and now it's war!

Bring it on!!

Play Ball

Ok, so I know I've said it a dozen times over the last few months... but this really is a new start. I really am back in game and ready to win!! I weighed in this morning at 216. Considering that I've pretty much blown it for the last few months, I'm actually pleased with that. I had gotten down to 209 for two days, but I would say my official lowest weight from the last time I "played the game" was 213, so I guess 3 lbs in the last 4 months isn't that bad. However it is a move in the wrong direction and it's time to put a stop to it.

So beginning today I will start tracking my food intake. I'm going to continue counting calories, but I'm not going to allow so much sugar and white flour foods. I've followed the Body For Life program in the past with great success so I'm going to stick with their food and exercise program, but still count calories. The one thing that BFL incorporates into their program is a "free day". Saturday will be my free day, but I'm still going to count calories and set my limit at 1600. I have to go grocery shopping before I can truly start BFL, but I am going to start counting calories today.

So here's to the first day of the last time that I say I'm back in the game..

B- Mini Whole Wheat Bagel w/T Polamer Jam - 160 / Coffee w/ cream and S & L - 40
S - Slice of 2% Cheese - 68
L - Ramen Noodles - 300
S - South Beach Bar - 100
D - Shrimp Alfredo - 265 / 2 rolls - 180
S - Fat free pudding - 100

Total Calories - 1213
Total Water - zero
Total Exercise - 30 minutes of walking

At A Loss

I AM A SLACKER

That is me alright. A blogging slacker!!! The summers are always so crazy for me because I am not on a schedule! Now that my daughter is back in school maybe things will be easier for me! I am going to TRY to blog at least once a week! No one may even be out there reading it but it is strange how my little personal blog - or my online diary - keeps me in line! It is like when I have pushed away from blogging everything else falls apart. I haven't figured out the link yet but I just know today I am getting back on the wagon on a lot of things in my life. One of the many things I need to do is update my pictures! Ha! They are a little outdated but in time it will happen!

I am still working as a paralegal, my daughter started 3rd grade, cheerleading (which by the way me and one of my best friends are coaching), gymnastics and I am going to school full time online through a local community college! Whew! Well sorry it has been awhile guys but I am back!!! Happy Labor Day!!!

MOTIVATION BABY

I am feeling great now that I feel - just because of our two post we are on the wagon!!! So I am not going to make my goal Christmas this year. My goal is what we have talked about for years and what we plan on doing in May. NEW YORK CITY HERE WE COME! So we know we want to go no matter what right? Why not make the trip more enjoyable by feeling better about ourselves? WE CAN DO THIS!!!!!

Dear Diary

We are accountable. Accountable for what you say? Ourselves and each other! I agree 100% with what Traci has said below. No one else may ever read this site...it may just be Traci and Tiff telling the world (or no one in particular) how life is! So I am just as guilty as Traci as not blogging. Reading your blogs Traci make me feel more motivated. I was so excited to see there was actually a post on this site! It has been awhile. So not only are we accountable to ourselves and our children but we have to be accountable to each other. To see you on here makes me more motivated to go with it! When we were blogging I was losing weight but the minute one of us slacks off BOTH of us slack off! So from now on I am going to try to remember it is not just me on here. I have to keep doing this for you, too! I am from now on going to be just accountable for your struggles as I am my own!! We CAN do this. The fact that we have even kept this site up is impressive in itself! That is step one!!! We just need to move beyond that! We can do it!!!!

Dear Diary...

Ok, so I got all motivated yet again and that lasted for about 2 days. It’s time to get with and stick with the program….once and for all!!! When I first started counting calories back in December, I stuck with it. Not a day went by that I was over 1300 calories. I’ve thought about what was different now from then and the ONLY thing that I was doing differently was blogging about it. I was writing about my progress everyday and I wanted the whole cyber world to know how I was doing. However, let’s face it we weren’t winning any blog awards or getting 100 hits a day. It was just me and Tiff. Looking back, I realized the blogging was really more for my own reading than anything. At that time, I felt like it was a waste of time to be blogging my progress because no one was reading it. But then again, do I really care if a bunch of strangers know how I’m doing? No, not really. So, I’m back. I’m blogging for the whole world of me to read. It keeps me on track. I would refer to this site as being more of a diary or journal than it is a blog. However anyone that wants the key to it, can have it and read it without the guilt that goes along with snooping into someone else’s private little world. I guess in the back recesses of my mind, I would hope that some other overweight, overwhelmed mom would stumble upon it and feel inspired to get up off of her own lazy butt and take control of her life. Regardless of that though, this mom is going to do exactly that and who cares if anyone else knows about it or gives me praise for it. So, for all of you out there that aren’t reading this or don’t even know it exist, get ready because I am back on the wagon and I’m not looking back.

Here We Go Again - For The Hundreth Time!!

So I started again today! Hopefully, this time will be better. I would like to be down a couple of pounds by my 27th birthday. I just recently heard of JUST THIS WEEK someone my age dying of a heart attack! I can't imagine! Anyway, I am just trying to spread smaller meals out through the day. Here is what I had today.

8:00 - Honeybun & Glass of Milk
9:30 - 8oz Water
11:30 - Pickle spear, half of roast beef sandwich (wheat w/mustard) & a quater of ham sandwich (wheat w/mustard) - 16 oz water
12:45 - 8oz of Water
2:15 - 6 crackers with Tuna Fish on it
3:50 - Dole peaches w/strawberry jello fruit cup

I plan on getting more water in and eating a light dinner. I have alot to do around the house as far as unpacking from vacation and getting ready for bunco this week SO I will see about exercising or not tonight - depends on if I have time!!

Works For Me Wednesday & Sad News

WORKS FOR ME WEDNESDAY

My works for me Wednesday this week is a short and sweet one. To make your car smell nice in the summer time you can do one of two things very cheap! If you have any half used or melted candles - you can put them in a plastic grocery bag and tie the bag up and place under the seat of your car. For a stronger smell you can place it in some sort of plastic bowl etc without the lid and when your car heats up from the summer sun it fills your car with a wonderful smell! The second is to do the same thing but use a bar of soap - the kind with fragrance. I know short and sweet!

SAD NEWS

The first thing is one of my grandmothers passed away last night. It was expected and we know she is no longer in pain but hard on the family none the less. Please keep our family in your prayers.

Also, recently I had two very close friends hurt me. It was quite possibly unintentional. I am not mad but just hurt. After I was confronted I prayed about it and then decided to respond with honesty about how I felt about the situation. More over I just asked that we all just try to start over on a clean slate and life is too short and too hard for friendship to be a "competition" or for friendship not to be "50/50" in the giving department. I am not asking for a big explaination. I would love just to hear for once from both of them "I am sorry I hurt you and lets ALL work on this together and get our friendship back in order." We have been friends since Jr. High so it makes it tough. Anyway, I haven't heard back which makes me sad but you can only do so much. I want to contact them but I am not going to beg anyone to be my friend. If they want to be then I will just pray that they will try to see my side and confront me and lets move on from this. I would love to have them over this weekend and lets just relax and start fresh but I see no way of that happening unless they get back with me first.

So the sadness of both of these things is overwhelming today.

It's A Girl!

I found out bright and early this morning that my best friend is having a baby girl! Yeah! She already has one beautiful daughter so I am sure this one will be just as beautiful! Now I REALLY have baby fever! Ha!

Counting Calories

Tiffany asked me to share some of my calorie counting tips, so here ya go...

To begin, I'm shooting for 1200-1300 calories during the week and 1500 on the weekends.

I started by deciding a calorie range for my 5 meal times. This way if it's dinner time and I don't know my current calorie total for the day, I still know about what range I need to keep it in.
Breakfast - 200
Lunch - 400
Snack - 100
Dinner - 400-500
Snack - 100
(I add 200 calories to either lunch or dinner on the weekends)
If I only eat 150 at breakfast, then I'll keep that in mind for the rest of the day that I can do an additional 50 at one of my meals. Vice Versa, if I go over by 50, I know that I have to cut one meal by 50.

I keep notes of what I eat on the computer, because I'm just not good at writing things down and keeping up with it. I try to keep a running total in my head for the day though. To make this easier, I round calories up or down to the nearest 10th. So if breakfast was 283, I would round down to 280. It's just easier to remember a whole number.

When I cook something, I take the time to literally write down the calories of every ingredient I use in each dish. It's actually kind of fun to see how much is actually in the whole dish. Once I have my total, I will keep dividing the total by a number until the calories get into my range. That tells me how many servings the dish is. I then visually divide the dish into that many servings to decide how much I can eat. For instance my baked spaghetti dish has 3690. If I divide it by 9 then a serving is 410 calories and that leaves 90 calories for my salad. So, then I visually divide it up into 9 servings (sometimes I will actually draw a line through the food with my utensil) If I was just having the spaghetti then I would divide by 8 and have a 461 calorie serving. It sounds kind of time consuming but it's really not. Also, if an ingredient doesn't have calorie content on the package, for instance veggies or fresh meat, I use Calorie King to get my calorie info.

We eat out about twice a week for dinner and I usually go out at lunch to pick something up. The first thing I did when I started counting was to go to the website of the restaurants that we go to frequently. Most of them offer nutritional content online. I went through the menus and found things that fall between my ranges; give or take a little. I then made a list of just those items and I keep it in my car. So if I decide to go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, I can just glance at the list and decide what I want. I don't have to ask for nutritional info when I get there or look it up before I go. Also if we are going out to a restaurant where the menus are brought to your table. I don't even pick up my menu, because thanks to my handy list, I've already decided what I want. It also helps me not to be tempted by the "bad" things on the menu. Of course we do go to a restaurant every now and then that I don't have on my list. Hopefully they have calorie content on the menu, if not I use what I know and make my best attempt at ordering healthy and then I look up those foods when I get home. My last restaurant tip is one of my faves. If you want to indulge a bit and get something on the menu that is way over your range, go for it but ask to have half of it put in a to-go container before the food is even brought out. You'll be glad you did come lunchtime tomorrow when you get to dine on your favorite food for the second day in a row!! Overtime I have learned what I can have and really don't have to rely on the list anymore, but it's good to have around.

I don't deprive myself from something I really want when counting calories. If I am really craving something that's high in calories, I eat it. I just count it in my calories. So, if it's worth it to kill an extra 300 calories at lunch, that's fine, I just have to cut it somewhere else. Most times, I will only eat half of whatever my craving is. For instance if it's 2:30 and a Snickers bar screams my name when I walk by the vending machine, I may get it and only eat half. So of my 100 calories allowed at my afternoon snack, I went over by 40. So I just have to cut them at snack time tonight or at dinner. If I decide to eat the whole thing, then I have to cut 180 somewhere else.

For me, counting calories isn't about dieting and only eating veggies and fruit. I can eat whatever I want, but within reason. It's about being very conscious of everything I put in my mouth.

There is one downside. Your husband will get sick and tired of you being able to ramble off the calorie content of everything he eats as well. I guess a Large Dairy Queen Reese's Blizzard isn't as good when you've just learned that it's got a total of 1011 calories in it! Fortunately, he and his 2% body fat can handle it.

Monday Stats - Traci

B - South Beach High Protein Cereal Bar - 140
L - Arby's Grilled Chicken Sante Fe Salad, 1/2 pkg dressing, 1/2 pkg tortilla strips - 491
S - NONE
D - 2 Homemade Corn Dogs - 420, 13 tostitos - 160, dipping sauce - 50 = 1261
S - NONE

Total Calories - 1261
Total Water - 58
Total Exercise - none

DITTO...

I'm trying again as well. Today is day one of "try" number 3,285!

I'm going back to counting calories. I'm going to start posting them again too. As silly as it may seem, when I was posting them I did much better. I know nobody else really cares what I eat, but it helps me so I'm going to keep doing it.

So here's (toasting my bottle of water to the air) to day one for both us!!

By the way, I weighed in this morning at *wincing" 219! That's up 6 lbs since 4/13/06! Whoa!!

Good Times

Good Evening - Happy Father's Day - Almost anyway! Ha! Thought I would come in and do a quick post. In the mood for posting! I had one of the best nights I have had in a very long time! Wow! I know it doesn't sound like much but my husband, myself, our daughter, her friend, and 3 friends of ours came over for the afternoon/night. We started out the evening by going father's day shopping - yes late I know! Then we came back home and ate our "first" serving of gumbo that I had worked on preparing for hours! IT was SO good! I was so impressed with myself! :-) I am a "okay" kinda cook. Every once in awhile I get something right and "baam!" it is good. Through out the night we each had at least one more bowl. Then we fought with the ice cream maker and finally had home made ice cream - twice! Ha! We laughed for hours on end - until I had tears in my eyes. Afterwards, we watched a movie and now they have just left.

"So what was so good about that night?", you ask. It is the fact that I got to sit around with my friends, in the comfort of my own home and enjoy myself and "really relax" for the first time in a long time. I really think - and know from what they told me a few minutes ago before they left - that we all had one of the best nights we have had in a long time. Today I am grateful for good friends and good times.

Trying It Again

This will be a short and sweet post! I have been slacking lately with so much going on! The past month has been C-R-A-Z-Y! Not only have I been slacking on my blogging but on my weight loss, too! So starting Monday I am going to try weight watchers again. In full force - drinking water, exercising, etc! I will keep you posted!

Well it has been awhile!!!

I have been SO busy but I decided to start back off on the right foot with the wonderful Works-for-Me Wednesday hosted by RocksInMyDryer.typepad.com!

SO my WFMW is kind of a recipe. I just learned it and have already used it. If you are like me occasionally you run out of snacks or the kiddos (Or you!) just want something to snack on. For a super quick yummy treat that the can help make try this:

5 Minute Homemade Ice Cream - 1 Serving

1. 1 Quart Size ziploc bag.
2. 1 Gallon Size ziploc bag.
3. 1 cup milk
4. 1 tsp. vanilla
5. 2 tablespoons sugar
6. 12 ice cubes
7. 3 tbsp of salt

• Put the milk, vanilla and sugar in the quart size bag - press the air out and seal bag.
• Place the ice cubes, salt and then the quart size bag (with the milk "mixture" that is sealed really tight, right?!) inside the gallon bag.
• Seal the gallon bag.
• For the next several minutes - possibly up to five. Let the kids twist, roll, flip and turn this bag.
• The ice/salt in the gallon size bag helps freeze the "milk mixture" in the quart size bag into a yummy treat!!
• Once the mixture looks to be the consistancy of homemade ice cream you take the quart size bag out and rinse the outside of it. (To get the salt off!)
• Then pour in a bowl or eat directly out of the bag - Enjoy!