My daughter and I joined weight Watchers this week. I know some of you have stated you are having the battle with weight. Just thought if anyone one ever considered joining, or if your in Weight watchers we could have a online place to share Ideas, or even if your not in weight watchers we could share ideas, or just support each other, share losses/Gains,, give each other encourgement. Just an Idea.

I'm not sure how this is relavant. But I used to be on med that made me gain weight.

That is a great idea! My school had the biggest loser contest last year. It was fun. I have a lot of friends who joined weight watchers and have found it to be very helpful.

I assume there will be another contest this year, no?

I don't know if there is going to be another contest per say, but we have a salad day now every two weeks and a lot of teacher's exercise together now too.

Hey this is cool. Great idea!

How is this going to work Jryan?

I just figured we could post low cal recipes, or if your on WW you couldpost the points. Since they follow point system. Each Sat if you want you could post how much you lost if you want. Discuss if you did excercise what you did to help you weight loss, just ideas motiviations. and such.

Avoid drinking regular or diet sodas. How's that?

Oh ya... I had to cut those completely. The only thing I drink with any flavor to it is the occasional Crystal Light.

My diet allows a small sweet (like a small, whole grain cookie) each day. I save mine until the end of the day and only allow myself to have it if I stuck with it all day... like a gold star

One thing I remember learning at WW that I thought was brilliant... If you're at a party and really want one of the godies being offered.... make yourself wait until just before you leave. If you cheat early, you'll end up grazing through the whole party. If you save it til the end, you'll just eat the one thing. Even better, if it's a cookie or something, wrap it up and take it with you.

No lie, I am in the 1% of people who gain weight on WW. I've lost 11 pounds on South Beach in 1.5 weeks. I have lost 75 on SB in the past, but perimenopause and lack of movement helped me to gain it back.

I'm a big proponent of SB. I also go to the gym 3x a week. Together with a sensible, DOABLE diet (really a LIVE it) plus moderate exercise will help you lose weight and get fit.

As a fellow sojourner on the weight loss trail, I will be more than happy to be your cheerleader and to share in whatever tips I can.

It ain't easy. Especially over 50. I've lost and gained, but I've tried to stop the yoyo and I am hoping to have a handle on it- - it's not going to be overnight and I am not using pills. I just won't.

If you can't go to the gym- walk....walk....walk.

This is a great idea! We can also post low cal recipes on the recipe thread (shameless plug for a thread I started, lol).....one of the 1st recipe I posted over there was for a dessert that's great for people with diabetes....I'll link it over here after I dig out my WW stuff and figure out how many points per serving (it's the creamy orange gelatin recipe).



That's a good idea with saving the sweet you're allowed for the end of the day. I know someone who takes that one little treat and cuts it up into tiny pieces, and will s-t-r-e-t-c-h out eating that treat.
One of the tips my mom would use for parties was to eat a small meal before going to a party, so you'd be full enough to not stuff yourself there.




KimT had posted that she works out on her gazelle while watching a CI episode, which I think is a great idea......or during the commercials, which most people don't like to watch anyway, you can be active then.
I had tried SB diet in the past, worked great for me, but at the end of Phase 1 I'd allowed myself some mac & cheese like a fool, and I ended up overeating the bad carbs and gained wt back. I want to get the supercharged SB book and try again. WW had worked for me, but with my work schedule it's almost impossible to get to a meeting and I need the meetings, doing it online isn't good enough.

Below is a recipe I'd posted over on the recipe thread originally......I used my pointsfinder slide from WW and that per serving, the creamy orange gelatin dessert is 1 Point.
Jryan, is this something you and your daughter would be interested in eating?



Also, with fall coming---at a WW meeting I'd attended the leader had given a recipe for a dessert made with canned pumpkin and (I think) cool whip and cinnamon......there may be a few more ingredients in this, but I'm not sure. I can't find my recipe....does anyone have this? Thanks in advance!

Okay, here is how hubby and I lost a bunch of weight. And this is just us and may not be for everyone. He lost 120 pounds and I have lost 64 so far.
Hubby started out doing those little dinners, the lean cuisine ones...until he could get a handle on eating at work. We own a pizza place, so we are constantly surrounded by temptations. We don't buy junk food at all, ever. If it isn't in the house we cannot munch on it. I buy veggies and cut them up and put them in a big bowl. If we want a snack we do the veggies, they are there and all ready to go. I keep fruit out all the time, apples, bananas and oranges. We cut out drinking pop, all pop. We changed our milk...I now drink 2% instead of whole milk and he does fat free skim (which I cannot stand). We eat wheat or rye bread instead of white. The big thing for me was night time munching. I was fine all day watching what I ate, but in the evening I would get hungry...now, I do not eat after 8 pm. I drink vitamin water and lots of regular water. I find if I feel a craving for something...sometimes I am just dehydrated, not really hungry...so I drink something before I find a snack. I have been dancing everyday...just me and the livingroom and my cd's. We have a treadmill, but that bores me to tears. I use the gazelle and my Red, those twisty things, during LOCI or VDO dvd's watching. We walk, a lot...we purposefully park far from the store entrances so we have to walk in. We take the stairs instead of elevators or escalators. We finally each got down enough in weight that we could ride our bikes again and have been biking the local "Rails to Trails" trails. Sundays are kinda my "free" days, where I allow myself a treat like pasta, potatoes or a bacon sandwich. That way I can keep in mind the rest of the week, that if I stay with it...then on Sunday I can have a treat. I am not sure what it really is that helps...but I think it is a combination of all kinds of little things. We really try to be more active.

I am bad for drinking water and diet drink green tea instead, but I will try to drink the crystal light in the water, since I think that kinda counts as water. I don't drink carbonated drinks even diet on a reg basis unless we go out to eat.

Also I heard Caffine will make you hungry, so avoid caffine!

Also about south beach, I don't know how close that is with Adkins, I do avoid Carbs, I believe Carbs make you fat, Since I had gastic bypass, I believe protien first and most. Then fruits and vegs, then carbs last. But I know Akins, believes Fats are ok, I don't believe in High fat, like bacon, butter and such, that just cant' be good for your heart. Even though my body doesn't absorb fat that much, boy do I pay for it, Fats and Carbs give me gas, and Fats give me diarreha!

The thing about caffeine (from what the doctors I work for tell me) is that since it's a stimulant, it will also affect your pancreas and will stimulate it to produce more insulin, so if you have insulin resistance like I do, it worsens things for you.
Eating high fiber is good for you, it helps to balance your blood sugar and keeps you full longer, so you don't eat as much.
The monounsaturated fats (or MUFA, as Prevention magazine likes to call them) are the good kind of fats to eat, like in nuts, olive oil.
I tried Atkins once, lasted a total of 3 hours on it. South Beach was much better for me. Being from German and Scottish heritage, and living in the area of the PA Dutch diet, makes things harder. PA Dutch foods taste SOOOOO good, but are horrendous on the body, I've read where it's been called the worst diet of foods to eat due to all the fat and bad carbs in the diet.
Then of course, working in a doctors' office doesn't help matters.....drug reps bringing in all sorts of goodies to eat, patients showing their appreciation by bringing in rich desserts, coworkers bringing in all sorts of things (and I am very guilty of that!).....waaaaay too much temptation for me. Maybe I need my jaw wired shut while I'm at work??

Well like I said, my body now handles fats different than other people, I don't absorb any fats, thats why I have to take so many vitamins. since some vitamins are fat soluble. Body can't tell what is good fat or bad fat, it just throws them all out. Carbs gives me stinky gas.

What I'd posted earlier were diet tips for most people.....since your surgery you obviously have had to change things that most people may not need to consider.......has Beano worked for you?

Well I had a bad bad day diet-wise.

It seems like it's getting harder. I started at the beginning of August. The first week sucked, but after that I got into the groove and lost a little over 10 lbs. the first month. Sure, I still wanted things, but it wasn't that big a deal to stick with the approved snacks and the portion sizes.

But in for the past few weeks it's gotten harder an harder. I spend way to much time thinking about food I'm not supposed to have. Then today, my mother gave me a package of Fig Newtons. I asked her to pick up a box of the little 100 calorie packs, but they didn't have any, so she bought a regular package, mistakenly thinking I had the willpower to just eat one or two at a time.

Well, I really really don't. I tried to eat two after lunch, and ended up eating half the package with a big glass of milk. I tried to get back on track with a little Lean Cuisine meal for dinner, but ended up tonight with a piece of toast slathered with melted peanut butter and another big handful of Newtons.

::sigh:: I really need to sick with this until I loose another 50 lbs. Right now that seems very far away.

pfc, take a deep breath........inhale, exhale....now, just remember:
--you already lost 10 lbs, that's great! You're already partway to your goal.
--if you have any of the Newtons left, either give them away or throw them out....you don't need the temptation around anymore.
--remember: Scarlett O'Hara is right--tomorrow is another day....you can start back on your new eating plan again tomorrow.

One of my big problems is the food at work.....I'm at the point where I'm trying to pack my own food to eat instead of what the drug reps bring for lunch. I'm going to start taking sneakers and my CD Walkman to work with me and walk at lunchtime instead of eating. I found that if I sit in the breakroom, I eat far more than what I want. I tried eating at my desk, but that's not fun--and I think the walking at lunch will help me with the stress factor of my job.
Then when I get home.....hubby likes to sabotage me, he wants me to be overweight--he's told me this several times, b/c he's afraid I'll leave him if I get to a healthy weight. Well, what I weigh now is causing me health problems.....I have insulin resistance, and if I don't do something soon I'll end up a diabetic, which I most certainly don't want! I know that with my genetics, I'm not going to be as thin as a supermodel--I want to be at a healthy weight. I think the weight I can maintain without going totally bonkers is what I weighed when I started dating my husband, so that's my goal....I have a long ways to go, but I plan on getting there!

I know how you feel, I have lost 180, doctor wants me to lose 40-50 more before I have my hernia surgery and tummy tuck. Geez you think 40 more pounds should be a breeze after 180 but nooooooo. Well I survived day one of WW but wasn't feeling well yesterday and spent most of day sleeping, kept getting dizzy spells, been that way since Sat, going for Annual Pap today, woohooo . Hope I feel better today. I think all the stress is catching up with me, I haven't been sleeping well, and having weird dreams. Mostly about hurricanes. But one so strange about VDO, We were living in western times, making money by selling kisses for a dollar. lol. But then he got jealous of the other men, I ended up pregnant so he wanted me to get rid of the baby cause it would hurt business. So Strange. Oh well, one day at a time. Time to fix breakfast. and count my points.

You've been under so much stress recently....no wonder with the dizzy spells and such.....keep doing what you're doing, take care of yourself, and watching our Bobby always helps! lol

You know, I think I'm going to make some grahamwiches......I really like them, makes me feel like I'm eating an ice cream sandwich--and on WW they're only 1 point per sandwich. I'll post it over in the recipe thread too....

1 whole graham cracker (sometimes I'll use the chocolate ones too)
1 serving cool whip (sugar free or fat-free), usually about 2 Tbsp per sandwich

Break the graham cracker in half, spread cool whip on one half, top with the other half of graham cracker. Put in a plastic bag, and freeze.

Sounds yummy. If you want some flavor to the filling, add a spoonful of yogurt. Then it has all the ingredients of my Yogurt Pie recipe!

And thanks for the encouragement you guys. I was feeling pretty bad about it last night, but I'm back in the trenches trying my best again this morning!

I love Fig Newtons!
Don't get down on yourself...tomorrow is another day. Just start again tomorrow....we are here if you need the support!
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Another little hint I have been using...I know a lot of people like yogurt, but do not feel satisfied on just that..what I do is take a healthy low-fat granola cereal and mix it in with the yogurt. I get the yogurt...a calcium rich, healthy snack and also the satisfying crunch of the granola. It also seems to make me feel more full that plain old yogurt. Fruit works too, add in slices of apple or chunks of bananas or even grapes or berries.

KimT, great minds must think alike......that's my breakfast!!
I use a container of yogurt (WW brand and Fiber One have about 3-5g of fiber per container), a serving of granola or crunchy cereal (Kashi Go Lean Honey Almond Crunch is my current favorite) and a chopped apple (unpeeled). Depending on your cereal and yogurt brands, you can easily get 50% of the recommended fiber intake with that meal.....makes me feel full for longer so I'm not picking all day at the drug rep goodies.

Well Day two complete, doing well considering. I have 5 points left. Thinking I will have one of those 100 calorie bags of popcorn while watching TV, those I figured are one point. With a hot cup of tea, I am addicted to lemon lift tea with lemon, I drink that all day long.

Since Mondays are (usually) my day off, I decided to walk after I took #2 Son to his preschool---it gave me about 2 hours of "me" time before I had to go back and pick him up.
So I went to a local state park in my area, known locally as "the marina"--they have walking/biking paths there, near the Susquehanna River. The paths are marked with the tenths of miles, so you can keep track of how far you've walked, plus it's not all flat, some hills are present. I took my CD Walkman and listened to dance music while I walked--now, I didn't go at a fast pace, but I wasn't just schlepping along, if you know what I mean.
It took me about 25 minutes to walk a mile--not bad, considering how out of shape I am.

When I was younger and still in school, my brother and I had to walk one mile to our bus stop (and that is no lie, my parents live on the side of a mountain and the school district refused to have a bus go up the road I lived on to pick up 10 kids, but would alter the bus route for 1 child---go figure). So I'd walk 10 miles per week, was in good shape. Going to the bus stop wasn't bad, took about 15 minutes---coming home was the b$tch part, it was almost all uphill! That took awhile longer (about 20 minutes). Still, with a full backpack, not too bad.

Anyway, that walk at "the marina" I'll be doing each Monday while #2 Son is in preschool and the weather cooperates.....I felt good after doing it! I'll be taking my Walkman and sneakers to work tomorrow and walking during my lunch break.

That's the part that scares me. It's so easy to slip and eat the bad carbs again, but I have my mind set on not making that error again. Save your money on the SuperCharge Book- all it does is add exercises, and there are some changes in the foods to avoid and foods to enjoy. I went to SB.com and got the book for $9.95 and canceled my membership before the one 1 month automatic renewal....I suppose you can do the same.

I've discovered that I am "allergic" to sugar. It makes my very tired and gives me rashes....By cutting out sugar, my feet have cleared up, I have much more energy, and I don't get that lightheadedness. I also think I am a carboholic. If I have just a weebit, I want tons, it's a serious addiction for me. No white flour, no sugar.

wow allergic to sugar, I am a diabetic, but still can eat some sugar, since my surgery I am off all meds, but If I was allergic to any foods, I would freak out. Being Cajun, we live for food. But I splenda everything, but need sugar once in a blue moon.

Thanks for the tip......good thing I didn't go to my book club's website today!
I am also a carboholic.....I too have noticed the fatigue with eating carbs, but don't have the problem with fruits and veggies, thankfully.

Blessings.

Just thought I would check in after one week on weight watchers I lost 3 lbs and Aimee lost 7.4lbs. Hope everyone is doing ok on their diets. This week we are going to try and walk the walking track everyday. Still alot to do around here, still no money from insurance. No roofers. They still haven't picked up the trash! They pick up the household garbage but tree limbs, fencing, carpeting and other things ruined in the hurricane are still curbside. Still having dizzy spells and bad headaches, but trying to schedule eye appt, think my glasses are now too strong. Think I am suffering PSTD, my mom is sinking into depression also, but read an article in paper, we still have people in shelters that have been there for 3 weeks and havent even heard from FEMA yet! One woman suppose to be on bedrest due to pregnancy has to walk her kids 2 miles to school. So I am a lucky one. People at the Civic center living in tents! But that just depresses me more. I see my psych doctor in a few weeks, but don't know what he can do for me. I
guess all I need is time and try to keep busy and not dwell. We are bringing the stuff that is not ruined to Good Will.
Will Check in next week, Hope everyone keeps dieting. Hope less of me checks in next week!

Jryan

Congratulations, Jryan! It's certainly not easy to watch your diet while dealing with so much stress. Take time to be good to yourself. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

BTW, I really missed you around here this week. I don't often click on this thread but I kept checking all the latest posts to see if your name showed up and was glad to find it.

Thanks, I really wanted this thread to help motivate me and others, so I wanted to share my sucess. I hope others are doing well on there diets. Well the gas man is here to run his line

Congrats on the weight loss Jryan.

Sorry everything there is so mixed up and you are feeling so down and ill. ~~Huggs~~ If you need to vent, send me a PM.

Had a bad week diet wise, but still lost 1.2 lbs, so that is 4.2 total for 2 weeks woohooo.

Congratulations!!!

First of all. Diet is a four-letter word. It's kind of unavoidable since there's no other word for it that fits as well, but there you are.

Your body will not like having less food than normal put into it. You'll be fine at first, but it's the long stretch that will get you as your internal systems start to panic that "Oh noes! Not enough fuel! Kick on appetite full speed ahead!" Also thanks to my reading, I discovered that heavy folks, and we're talking mildly obese and up, tend to have a chemical imbalance in their brains that causes them to feel hunger much more rapidly and with less prompting even if they don't really need any more food. The other half of this is that their brains are resistant to the neurotransmitter (chemical) that tells the brain that you're not hungry anymore. Hence why it can be extremely hard for people who are already heavy to lose weight.

Next - One pack of fig newtons one time doesn't ruin anything. You had a bad day. That's it. If you play into the commonly promoted notion that you should feel guilt overwhelming because you had a moment with one of your favorite treats, you'll find it much harder to continue to the end. When I decided to go forth on the path of weight loss, one of the first things I decided was that I would NOT use the word "diet" and I would NOT feel guilty. If I had a bad day, I tried to stay on track for the rest of it, and pick it up again at breakfast the next day. Sometimes your body tells you it's hungry when it really doesn't need any more. Sometimes it kicks and screams and throws a right fit to get you to listen. Sometimes it's best to do so and have that macaroni side with your dinner instead of a salad. If you feel run down and out of energy, don't worry about your count as much as getting back to being your normal self. Feeling bad while on a weight loss program is a sure way to get disgusted and quit. I know that at my time of the month I have to adjust my calorie intake for a couple of days or I feel like crap. Just remember this: You can eat a whole carton of ice cream in one sitting and it will not cause you to immediately gain 5lbs. As long as you're sticking to your plan the rest of the time, it would be a small speed bump and not a major disaster.

Sunday treats are Win. I give myself one meal a week where I can have whatever I want, including dessert. I do mine on Sundays. This is where I satisfy that craving for quesadillas, calzone, big juicy cheeseburgers, chocolate malts and cookies. That way I never get that feeling of "I can't have another (insert yummy high calorie food here) again."

Diets fail, I believe, because people go in with the mindset of it being a difficult, arduous, burdensome and painful task rather than a small adjustment in their habits. It's not hard. You don't have to eat a certain way or do any special exercise... You don't have to exercise at all, although that is a good thing. Eat less. Fewer calories is all it takes at the bare bones heart of it all. Things like lowering fat and increasing fiber are just the Advanced settings.

There's no such thing as cheating so there's no such thing as guilt.

A great place I've found is the DietingSupport Livejournal community. They're very friendly and talkative.

You are the one making the choices so if you choose to change, then that's what you'll do. GL!

Thanks,

Also I have learned my danger foods, I have some things I can't moderate, they are just my weakness right now, maybe in time I will learn to control them, but right now maybe due to stress if they were in the house I would eat the whole pack.

As you might have read in OT, up at 4 am , by 8 am had the clothes washed, dishes washed so took the dog on the walking track, would have had a good pace going, but he had to stop and pee where ever he smelled another dogs scent, lol. Took 10 min just to make it once around, I think its .25 of a mile, didn't want to leave sick daughter alone to long. Waiting for clothes to dry then will fold. Suppose to hear about computer today, he said it should be ready, then should get back to reg scheduled posting. Will copy and past this in OT for people who don't come to this thread, with edits, I think I will have a 2lb weight loss this week, fingers crossed. Daughter didn't do to well with being sick. Two days till weigh in, I hope I don't mess it up. I cut out snacking.

2month till my doctor appt 30lbs till surgery. Lost total 9.4 lbs. Lost 5.2 this week, but I know I can't keep up that pace.

Hey... I just got back to this thread but wanted to say thanks for the encouragement. I know one bag of cookies isn't the end of the world. I was just feeling bad about things that night and wanted to talk about it so I could get past it. And I did. I think it's a combo of what you said and what jryan said. Keep some perspective and build some give into your system, and don't have identified weaknesses in the house. For me that's bakery goodies... cookies, cake, pie, stuff like that. I've still got half a pint of ice cream in the fridge from before I started that I haven't touched. No problem. But a bad guy in the interogation room with Goren stands a better chance than a bag of cookies in my pantry. That's just a fact of my life that I need to accept and manage.

I have my free-for-all once a month at this point, but maybe once per week will be ok eventually. Also, I have a somewhat high-cal treat that I allow myself on a fairly regular basis. When I need something really yummy, I have a piece of whole grain toast with Jiff peanut butter melted over it. It's comfort food and one slice is around 250 calories, but it satisfies when flavored rice cakes or sugar free jello won't, and at least it's not empty calories. And I love it even more than a bag of fig newtons. But now I have one slice instead of two with honey and a big mug of hot chocolate and a handful of fig newtons.

So I'm chugging along. I've lost 21 pounds since August, which is acceptable to me. My goal is to make it 30, then hold steady through the holidays. Then I'll work on the next 30. I'm trying to be realistic and sustainable.

Thanks to all of you for your comments here. I am getting physical therapy for my knee, it is going very well and I am doing the exercises. But I'm not walking for exercise anymore and it is making the whole problem worse. I got a basket of wrist weights and stretchy bands to work my arms, but I'm not doing it. Writing this makes me realize I could go right now and put the basket back next to my chair. When I had it right next to the chair, I did the exercises more. Duh. Well, thanks for listening.

i gained this week, but I didn't write down what I ate, and was worried about hubby, so back to the drawing board.

Lost 2.6 this week but still didn't lose all of what I gained the week before, but PMS is wreaking havoc on me. So next week I should be back to normal.

::clapping:: 21 lbs is no small feat, congratulations!
And I really need to get on track, and I have plenty of excuses to not start until the new year........my sons' birthdays are in November, plus Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day (which is also my niece's birthday).....I could go on and on. My worst time is actually at work.....the drug reps bringing in goodies for us; the patients coming by the back door with treats; the holiday "thank you"s from specialists which is basically cookies, candies, etc. Maybe I just need my jaws wired shut while I'm at work.
I'm going to a conference about diabetes on Friday....I consider it a little ironic since Friday is Hallowe'en...


I'm with you there.....if I have to say it, PMS is a b$tch......the sugar and salt cravings, the 5-6 lbs of water weight gain every month.....too bad men can't share in the fun.

you shouldn't wait till new years, The holidays are just one day, you could diet the other days, just think how much more you might gain if you keep putting it off.

Has everyone given up! Weigh in today! I think I finally lost the lbs I gained, geez takes two weeks to take off what you can gain in a week. Then I am one week away from that time of the month again, Can't wait till the YMCA opens again so I can go swimming. They are still doing repairs from the hurricane. Will give my updates later.

Lost 2.6, total 10.2, Oh found my white kitty with blue eyes, and black marks like in my signature, in GA, on petfinder, hubby refuses to travel from Louisiana to Ga for a kitten, he said quit looking at cats, go back and look at that Goren dude instead, lol. Never thought he would say that!

Jryan, I want to loose some weight so I don't
have to go back to physical therapy for my
knee. What thoughts/things/ people are
helping you today?