Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

PhedraJD

@ShyCush6 I hope your party goes well this weekend. I bet it will be fabulous. Especially since everyone is chipping in to help around the house.

@janetay01 Sounds like fun, I might have to take my kids to the pond to feed the ducks on Sunday too. I haven't done that in awhile. I couldn't invade my Mom's house for tea though. My kids won't drink it... Hot chocolate on the other hand I probably could.

@rachel0778 After the flooding you deserve some wine. Just don't undo all that hard work you did this week.

Parent/Teacher Conference were awesome! My youngest, in Kindergarten is already where she should be mid year/proficient at K level reading/math/writing skills or above. Proud of her. My son (2nd grade) is where the kids should be at the end of 2nd grade. His teacher is going to work with him on some comprehension, thinking, independent learning, and becoming a leader. She also tells me what a great friend he is to the other kids. Both of their teachers complimented me on their manners. Super happy with them.

My oldest (16) is doing well in classes as well. Her birthday is next week. We are doing a family BBQ this weekend because we will be on vacation with my big sister (her Bday is the day after my daughters). Super excited about going to FL next week. It will be my first time there, and the first time I have taken all of the kids on a vacation, and a plane.

Any advice on how to handle food and such while I am there? We will be staying with my big sister for the week. So I will be able to buy groceries and fix most (breakfast/lunch some dinners) there.

vanessa40

Good Morning everyone..

I have been here on and off for years. I have lost over 100 pounds most with Weight Watchers awhile back but i had to stop when they started with the fruit and banana's were zero points..nothing is zero but water to me..anyway so i have put back on 20 of the 100 pounds. I am hoping you all can help reel me in...lol

Thanks i and i look forward to reading all about you

JenHul

Happy Friday! Hubby and I are going to the Stamp Vs Bombers CFL game tomorrow! He is a Stamp fan, while I go for the under dog Bombers, I'll be the only one dressed in blue in a sea of red! Small gain on the scale today, but I won't let it get me down, gotta ride this rollercoaster thru the ups and downs!

PhedraJD

What a great weekend.
Saturday, I was a tad over calories. It was my daughters birthday party. Although I managed to get all my steps in, between house cleaning, errands and the party, I didn't manage to do any actual exercise. I was over by 100 calories. I am counting that as a win.

I did my monthly progress pictures this day. I actually noticed a difference in the swimsuit I wear for the pics. What a great NSV!

Sunday, I was able to pretty much relax for most of the day. Did one small errand. The BF made his yummy Guacamole that is hard to say no. I always end up eating too much calories because of the chips. This weekend I picked up chips, and veggie straws. I mostly ate the veggie straws, which helped eliminate a lot of calories from snacking during the football game. Made turkey tacos for dinner, said no to ice cream. Paced my house for 45 minutes, and then went for a brisk walk for 20 minutes.

I think I pulled a muscle in my back/arm and I am getting a cold (trying really hard to fight this off) Vacation in 3 days. I cannot get a cold!

JenHul

Morning! The Football game was awesome! Such a close game, I had a blast! Only had 3 beer, so I'm counting that as a win Back into routine today, gotta drink my water, get my steps, and stay within Cal limits! The scale has to start moving in the down direction sooner or later if I just stay consistent! That is my biggest problem, I start out great, then the weekend comes and it's all out the window.

Rachel0778

I had a really up and down weekend. Friday night was amazing. Jake took me out to a fantastic Mexican Restaurant and a locally owned ice cream shop. I had way too much sugar and wine, but after the week I had I have no regrets! Saturday I met up with my Mom to go shopping. It was a lot of fun, but also bitter sweet since it's always hard to say goodbye. Sunday I went to a Roller Derby Girl meet up to see about joining the team. Their practices are the same days as my boxing class My SO told me to give it a try for a few weeks. I've been wanting more girl friends and this would be a perfect way to make local friends so it might be worth giving up my class. I'm still struggling with the decision either way.

@jdelaroy You're so lucky to have a full kitchen while on vacation! I would honestly mostly just eat like I normally do in that situation but plan for a few meals out.

Welcome @vanessa40

@JenHul How was the game?

@health_guard Sorry I was quiet this weekend, how did yours go?

Rachel0778

@JenHul I must have been typing while you were posting! Glad the game went well, 3 beers is a win!

wishfuljune

I am ready to fall asleep in my coffee this morning after this crazy weekend.

Saturday: Apple picking was amazing! We drove about an hour to this place in Western MA and they had so many different apples to pick. We also did our pumpkin picking, and indulged in some apple cider doughnuts and kettle corn. We saw that there was a winery only 10 minutes away from us, so we drove out there and the place was PACKED with people. They had picnic tables everywhere and people brought their own picnic baskets, their dogs, and families to sit outside and drink some good wine. We bought two bottles (only drank one) and some crackers and enjoyed the beautiful fall air in the valley.

Sunday: The Color Run! Honestly, it was just OK. 90% of the participants were leisurely walking, where maybe 10% were jogging/running the whole time. I thought it would have been more running (I mean, it is called a Run), but that was not the case at all. My boyfriend and I took our medals at the end, threw our color, and then went home. I don't think I'd do it again. I wish more people had actually tried to jog or run it.

We also went to Body Worlds and looked at the exhibits. I know it is a somewhat controversial exhibit, but I thought it was really cool. Then we did all of our meal prep for the week. We made a sweet potato turkey chili for lunch this week, and I made a chicken sausage veggie egg bake for breakfast this week.

I'm also making apple butter right now. I put it in the crockpot this morning, and in only 12 hours, I'll have yummy apple butter to smear over everything.

stewratz

I lurk around in the shadows on this thread, and I figure I'd better come out and be friendly! So hi again, everyone

@wishfuljune Crock pot apple butter... I am going to steal that and make some of my own. My partner got me a new crock pot a couple of weeks ago because I was using this old one with like two settings and the band that holds the lid down was breaking. It worked just fine, but he loves all the new technology, so now I have one that has so many buttons and do-dads, I have no idea how to use it haha I'm sorry to hear about your Color Run experience. I went a few years ago, and it was super fun, but definitely not for the running aspect. I conditioned for it and wanted to jog it, but most of the people there were only there for the "fun" part of the "fun run," so it was frustrating trying to get around all the walking people. I haven't been back. I did an Ugly Sweater run a couple winters ago, and that was killer. They were serving hot cocoa at the water stations, so if you grabbed the wrong cup that was kind of a shock

I cannot focus on work this morning. My office is about -10F this morning, and I am huddled over my hot coffee for warmth. Still recovering from the weekend. The Western Hockey League season kicked off, so my partner and I headed out to see his team at their home opener. I am an avid craft beer drinker, but now that I am serious about losing weight I have cut back a lot. I worked hard all week so I could have some beers at the game, and still the universe found a way to punish me for it! At one point there was a hat trick, which doesn't often happen at this level of hockey, and we all jumped up so excited... and I spilled an entire beer down the front of myself I am still so embarrassed. There are no cup holders at that stadium, so there is nowhere safe to set a drink. Apparently its not safe to hold it either! It kind of felt like a sign that I didn't need all those beer calories to derail my week. Glad the universe wants me to lose weight, but come on. I had to wear beer soaked jeans for the rest of the game! My team's home opener is this coming weekend, and a bunch of friends are joining us. I anticipate we will be getting rowdy, but this stadium is newer and has cupholders, so no more embarrassing incidents... I hope!

wishfuljune

@stewratz - The apple butter recipe I use (courtesy of Skinnytaste) is:
6 large apples (or 2-3 large apples, and a couple of smaller apples), peeled, cored, and chopped
1/3 cup raw sugar (I have a bag of turbinado sugar that I used)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground allspice

Mix everything together in the crockpot so that the apples are nicely coated in the spices/sugar.

Cover and cook on high for 5 hours, or low for 10 hours, stir halfway through. You know it's done when the apples are a nice brown color and it's all gooey from their juices and the sugar. Use an immersion blender to blend the apples. Then cook for another 2 hours with the cover off. Then enjoy! It should make roughly 2 cups of apple butter.

@Rachel0778 - The Roller Derby thing sounds like so much fun! I think you should give it a try. Does boxing happen another night?

@health_guard - Overnight oats are great! I would do blueberries and some vanilla extract with the oats, yogurt, and milk. I never made chocolate overnight oats, but I hear those are really good too. That smoothie sounds amazing!

janetay01

blimey - you guys have had busy weekends, I started to feel tired just reading about it all! Fairly quiet one with us - swimming and dinner with friends on Saturday - we got about 40 minutes into the film, started talking and never got back to the film - nice though! Jen: we fed the ducks on Sunday

Will catch up with you all properly later on - have a good Tuesday all

PhedraJD

@jenhul sounds like a good time.

@rachel0778 sometimes you have to just let yourself go!

@wishfuljune Orchard picking sounds like a blast. I want to make apple butter. A lot of 5k's aren't for serious runners, they are fund raisers and are just meant to have a good time. The 7K I recently did, had different waves of runners. When you signed up you had to classify yourself and what speed you were going to be. I did walk at plus 17min miles. I was one of the last groups to leave. The real runners were back before we even left.

@health_guard I made a smoothie a couple of weeks ago. It had so many calories in it, and I was hungry an hour later. Haven't made one since. It wasn't worth it.

@janetay01 Sounds like a great weekend. Sometimes a quiet one is needed. Glad the duck feeding idea worked for you. No duck feeding for us.

I lost the fight with the cold. Grr I want to say all kinds of bad words, but that won't do me any good.

Plus side I had my weekly weigh in. I made my goal!!!!!!!! Yes, I even did a dance in the shower, my BF laughed.

I lost 2.6 pounds this week, a grand total of 31.2 Pounds. I am so happy!!!!

I am going to do my best to enjoy my vacation stay at maintenance and get back to my weight loss/healthier me journey. Next stop, Onederland. I am hoping to reach this by the new year.

Rachel0778

@wishfuljune I agree, my color run experience sucked too. Way too many walkers, I felt like it was a struggle to try to run it since I was constantly dodging people

@health_guard I think the point of whiskey is for it to be strong Your best bet is going to be honey whiskey since it's sweeter

@stewartz Sorry to hear you spilled your beer. You don't have to count calories when you're wearing it though, right?

@janetay01 Sounds like a great time with friends!

@jdelaroy Way to go!!!! Awesome scale victory!

So I was getting pretty down on myself last night. My SO very smartly reminded me it's because I'm overly tired and stressed. I hate that our entire first floor has been torn up by this flood and I'm extra frustrated that now our washer is refusing to work. I want my house back! I feel better this morning, but it's hard to shake the crankiness when I'm stuck living out of boxes in a damp, torn up home

roblesl65

I'm looking to lose about 25-30 pounds!! I've been all over the place with my weight the last few years.. it goes up, it goes down...I'm really looking forward to meeting my goal weight and keeping it off. I love people on MFP who encourage each other! For me it works great, and I honestly feel like it keeps everyone involved motivated! I've been looking for a strong group of supporters as well so I'm glad I came across your post

ngolden3320

Morning all. 14 new post you have all been busy.

So had a crappy weekend feeling sorry for myself. Laid around and caught up on all the new tv shows that started. My birthday was yesterday and all I did was cry. I miss my dad so much and he always sang to me on my birthday. Such a corny thing but not hearing that pushed me over the edge. Jenna bought me a beautiful picture frame and put a picture of me and him dancing at my cousins wedding. That was all she wrote then. As if all the crying wasn't enough I then ended up w a stuffy nose and headache because of it.

So I weight myself this morning. It has been about a month cause I haven't been able to get to the gym like I used to. (Volleyball is killing gym time) and I have been eating like crap. Imagine my surprise when it said I was down 6.1 lbs. holy *kitten*. I was excited cause I was convinced I would b up probably 3-4 lbs. I'll take it. I'm sure my scale has to b broken. Lol.

I'll catch up with everyone this evening. Have a good day

Rachel0778

@ngolden3320 Congrats on the scale being down amidst all the stress! Holidays are so tough without our loved ones, my heart goes out to you

Welcome @roblesl65

@health_guard Love the new emoji!

I got some awful news last night. My gym program is being cancelled Now I have to find a new team to train with or I have to go back to boring workouts. Hopefully roller derby works out! I'm also hoping to join the college's Jiu Jitsu team. I'm super bummed but I'm trying to look on the bright side.

PhedraJD

@ngolden3320 Well you survived the weekend/Bday. What a beautiful gift from your daughter. It would have made me lose it as well. Sometimes we just need sometime to lick our wounds and not worry so much about the other stuff. You probably haven't been eating as much as you think you are. I noticed yesterday, I thought I had a huge binge day. I logged what I ate this morning, and although I ate a lot for me now, it was still under maintenance. You burn approximately 1.3 calories a minute when crying. Not a lot, but if you are doing it a lot, you will burn some.

wishfuljune

@ngolden3320 - I'm sorry to hear that your birthday was tough. It is always hard to celebrate holidays when you lose a loved one. Jenna's gift sounds very thoughtful, and good job on the weight loss overall.

welcome @roblesl65! You can definitely do it. What are your goals? Are you trying to lose about 1lb a week or more? Do you exercise as well?

That's super crappy @Rachel0778! Did they say why the gym program was being cancelled?

These past two days have been a bottomless pit in my tummy. It's not TOM (that just ended), but maybe my hormones are just getting back to normal and were extra hungry. xD I'm going to Bar Harbor this weekend, so I want to be diligent for the rest of the week. I might switch to maintenance for this week just because I'm stressed about getting everything together for my weekend getaway. I need water shoes and I've been frantically calling every outdoorsy outlet around and most said that they were now switching seasons for winter. Ugh! Hopefully I'll be able to find something!! I don't want to have to cancel my sunset kayak tour because I couldn't get shoes.

PhedraJD

@rachel0778 That does suck! Looks like you have some alternatives planned. I have a feeling you are going to love roller derby. I have a friend who plays, and she loves it, plus they are all really good friends now.

@wishfuljune Yeah, I tried finding a small pool a couple of weeks ago, and everyone thought I was crazy. Try maybe a thrift store, scuba store? If not you can always use an old pair of tennis shoes.

I have about 14 hours and I will be going on vacation. I am super excited. I get to see my big sister. It has been almost a year and a half since I saw her. I miss her so much.

chamberlainsamantha46

Let's be friends and inspire one other and motivated you that's me boxergirl iam motivation and driven and strong willed and focuse I take fitness to heart