Group LLC Holiday Challenge!

tatiana_13

I'm sensing a theme...gotten off track, letting ourselves go, trying to get back...well, I'm right there with you! I'm in a cafe at the moment, having eating a slice of apple cake. Which is off track on so many levels, I'm not even going to bother to list them all out!

I am afraid to get on the scale, but my jeans are starting to feel like compression stockings, so I know its time to do something, stat!

When I have a hard time getting the motivation back, I try to change my focus. So, instead of focusing so heavily on my diet, I am going to focus on exercise. I'm going to start running after thanksgiving. Going to do the couch to 5k until Christmas. Not that my diet isn't important, but I think if I focus on exercise, I won't feel so demoralized with my eating. Its been such a struggle for the past 2 weeks, and its only November. Something has to change, or its going to be a long fall/winter. And I'll be a few sizes bigger at the end of it!

That's my plan, anyway. I'll keep you posted.

VJ150

tatiana - I'm right there with you. I have been off track for over a month. I too will start back to walking/jogging after Thanksgiving. I'm being realistic - the rest of the week I will enjoy myself (but not overdoing it because it is the holidays). It will be back to the grind on Sunday. I bought Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and another one that uses a kettle bell - can't recall the name of it. I feel kinda excited about the dvd because I had gotten bored with my other ones.

Happy Thanksgiving to EVERYONE!!!

CALIECAT

Just to remind ud all about this tomorrow Have a good one. Marie

saverys_gal

Good one Marie!! :laugh:

Hope everyone is having a great holiday with friends and family! Even if it means stepping out of the LLC zone!! Remember, we can always get back on track tomorrow!! :drinker:

sassiebritches

OMG- I have been out of control....Hubby and I made a chalked full of carbs turkey dinner and this last 1 month has managed to knock us OFF of our eating plan, we both realized it was the night we said " We can have 1 piece of cake, we have been sooooo good for 2 months" This caused us to do a spiral into bad things. I am up 8 lbs of the 19 lbs that I have lost! That is a huge gain over 1-2 months......SOOOOOOO we are talking about getting back into the Atkins plan. AND I think when I had the Atkins books and could go to them daily rather than online, we kept things going......

A small setback.....this is what I am telling myself. We still do not have bread in the house, we still are not using sugars....just have to catch ourselves in the desert department...the sweets at parties department.

I hope you are all doing well....I have missed you all

Grokette

Good morning all.

I haven't been around in a while, but I am committed and did pretty well over the holiday.

We had organic and / or raw foods and I didn't make a lot, so leftovers were gone by Saturday afternoon.

I cooked Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens, Organic and Free Range Turkey and I made a small pan of macaroni and cheese using Dreamsfield elbows for my husband. I did have a couple of spoonfuls and the gluten in it has made my joints ache and I am retaining a bit of water.

We are hoping for some snow tomorrow with a high of 36 degrees. I wish it would really snow. :bigsmile: :bigsmile: We keep getting snow flurries. :grumble:

tatiana_13

Hi all! Its been a sort of crazy last few weeks. Right now, I'm just concentrating on eating healthy. No scale hopping (and hopping, and hopping). Sometimes, I find the "lose weight" mentality to be motivating, and sometimes, I just find it distracting. Right now, I am just finding it distracting. (When is the scale gonna move? When is the scale gonna move? Its not moving! Oh no! Wrong direction! ...So, when is the scale gonna move?...) I'm just following a couple of guidelines (no wheat, no sugar) and concentrating on cooking at home. That's it. Nothing fancy.

I like food logging...but I find calorie counting not so useful. Portion control works well for me...I'm not a big eater...just a wrong eater! So when I focus my meals around healthy food, I don't find the calories matter. But as I'm not logging my meals daily, I may not be around daily. But I will definitely be around!

Hope everyone is doing well post-Thanksgiving!

Grokette

Hi all! Its been a sort of crazy last few weeks. Right now, I'm just concentrating on eating healthy. No scale hopping (and hopping, and hopping). Sometimes, I find the "lose weight" mentality to be motivating, and sometimes, I just find it distracting. Right now, I am just finding it distracting. (When is the scale gonna move? When is the scale gonna move? Its not moving! Oh no! Wrong direction! ...So, when is the scale gonna move?...) I'm just following a couple of guidelines (no wheat, no sugar) and concentrating on cooking at home. That's it. Nothing fancy.

I like food logging...but I find calorie counting not so useful. Portion control works well for me...I'm not a big eater...just a wrong eater! So when I focus my meals around healthy food, I don't find the calories matter. But as I'm not logging my meals daily, I may not be around daily. But I will definitely be around!

Hope everyone is doing well post-Thanksgiving!

The way your following it will yield you GREAT results!! No sugar, no wheat and portion control, concentrate on eating veggies, maybe make some soups and such.

My problem is - I am a BIG eater and need to find a way to get portions under control because even eating healthy foods I still overeat most of the time, which is making weight loss slloooooow.

VJ150

Hi Everyone,

My question is - WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO US?!?!?!?!?

I know I haven't been focused since my cruise, which was over a month ago. Tomorrow is December 1 and I am determined to get right!!!!! Back on the wagon and low carb. Any leftover desserts that are in the house will be trash tonight!!!

Exercise first thing in the morning!!!
Drink 15-16 glasses of water!!!
Plan and prepare lunch!!!
Get mind in the right place!!!

Come on everyone - we can do this!!!

profjan6

VJ you are so right! Everyone seems to be "busy" including me. I have not been watching what I eat, I have neglected exercise, and just let it all go. Not happy or proud about it, but I have tried to get back to it as of yesterday. I am just always hungry now. I guess from all that eating I am not used to eating less and my brain wants more. I am blaming my brain! Anyway, I hope to get things moving again....including ME!

tatiana_13

You are right VJ. We have been preoccupied! I'm getting myself on the right track. Slowly. And thanks for the motivation Grokette! I've kept to my guidelines for 3 days so far, and I feel tons better. The sweet potato pie was good, but I feel better without eating things like that.

As VJ and profjan remind us, tomorrow is the beginning of a new month. So let's get back to it!

VJ150

Good morning everyone!!!

Today is December 1!!!! Time to get focused and back on track!!!

Throw away everything that is in the fridge that is not low carb!!!
Get our minds on track. If we get are minds right our bodies will follow.
Drink your water.
Get to moving for at least 30 minutes daily.

Come on!!! - I know we can do this!! :happy:

saverys_gal

Happy December ladies! Today's the first day in 2 months I've felt slightly like myself! While I'm not anywhere near back on track, I do have my mind getting back to that spot! And I am proud to say that throughout it all I have maintained my weight! OH YEAH!

Things aren't slowing down at work one bit...I get into the office with work to do and leave with work to do, so I have zero time for MFP during the day, so I'll have to try and set aside a little bit of time first thing in the morning and in the evening.

PLEASE help me stay on track y'all! Its time to get these last few pounds off, plus I just feel so much better when eating right and exercising!!

tatiana_13

Go saverys_gal! It may not be as satisfying as weight loss, but weight maintenance is the hardest part. Now, just to get down to our goals so that we can maintain that!

I'm being good with food...as usual, my nemesis is exercise! I usually join a gym during the coldest of the winter months, but I'm debating doing it a wee bit early. I'm no fan of the gym, but it has it's plusses...sometimes it's just mentally easier...once you get to the gym, the exercise just happens. I've been known to just cut workouts short at home or outside!

I'll keep you posted on the ongoing saga of my innate...stillness. (riveting...yes?) I truly think I was a rock in a past life.

VJ150

Good morning,

I hope everyone is off to a great month. Nothing new going on - just wanted to check in to see how everyone is doing. So far I have been focused and on track. (except I didn't exercise/walk yesterday).

Have a fantastic day!!!

CALIECAT

Where are you guys finding all these cute avatar. They are just precious

Marie

VJ150

Marie,

I did a web search for looney tunes pictures - selected the one I wanted and copied it to my pictues.

tatiana_13

Happy Friday everyone! Its the holiday season...where every weekend can easily be made over into its own holiday. So I hope we all set weekend goals and stick with them!

My goal is...to be realistic. I gained a few pounds in November, and part of my brain wants to run and do a no-carb thing or or some other short term thing and lose them, quick! quick! And sometimes, a "jumpstart" is needed. But I think, given the yo-yo I've been on, I've determined that focusing on the slow and steady is a better idea right now. So, my goal is to not give into the part of my brain that wants a quick fix, but to focus on keeping to the core of my dietary guidelines, and to boost the physical activity.

Have a good weekend everyone!

saverys_gal

TGIF ladies! So I'm trying hard to stick to my promise of checking in daily!! I've had the week from hell at work...only because of technology! My computer has been having major issues and I've had to get my IT guy to look at it every day this week...well today it finally just didn't like me at all, so I had to have the hard drive wiped and start all over again! Needless to say I didn't get a lot of work done! I left at quarter to 5 this afternoon and my IT guy was still working on getting it back up and running. I'm hoping that next week goes smoother.
I still haven't exercised a lick...it's always one excuse or another...a migraine...phone call to the IRS (LOL)...etc. I'm really trying!! At least I'm slowly getting my eating back. I know I can control my weight through eating alone. But my body looks and feels different when I exercise...and I like it better when there is exercise involved. It's like when I don't...the fat just goes even more into my tummy. Any of you guys ever noticed this before or had something similar happen???

sassiebritches

Hey ladies....moved the computer into the office and just not on it as much as I was....I am able to have it on my droid....but no community on it

Hanging in there....not eating the best still.....payday is coming, food shopping for my diet and getting totally on track again....Got the new Atkins book this weekend....50 cents at Big Lots, gonna check it out and see how different it is from the New diet Revolution............

How are all of you?????

I have missed you all

CALIECAT

CALIECAT

Happy Birthday SaverysGal

saverys_gal

Awwwwwwwwww! Thanks Marie!!!! :blushing: :smooched:

You guys made me feel very special this morning! :bigsmile:

tatiana_13

A little quiet in here...

Its that point in December when we could just say, with most of the western world, well, the holidays are almost over. I'll get back on track when they're over.

Let's not do that! I'm not going to build Rome in a few weeks, but I can certainly accomplish something.

We do you all want to accomplish in the next few weeks?

VJ150

Hi Everyone,

And yes, tatiana, it is very quite here. I have been wondering where is everyone. I too, have been MIA, probably because I knew I hadn't been doing right. It has been a struggle for me with food and exercise since mid October. I had been telling myself that I would get back to work but it just never seem to happen - and I know that it is because I didn't make it happen. When I was on point, I was very proud of the pounds lost and I tried to use those feelings to help motivate me - but it didn't work. . Each day I told myself to get it together and each day I failed. I looked up and had regained about 10 pounds!! :huh:

December 1 came and with it a new day!! I have re-lost those 10 pounds and some. I'm still working on the daily exercising. Hopefully I'll have that mastered this week.

Grokette

Good morning everyone.

Just wanted to stop by and see how everyone is doing?

It is cold, cold, cold here in St Louis..........Brrrrrrrrrrrr

mom216

Hello to everyone!! I have missed MFP! I am still struggling with my weight, LLC, & exercise. I'm not sure why - but I let go of everything "healthy". My body responded by picking up a couple of pounds & now I am soft like the pillsbury dough boy. The external "stress" in my life is pretty significant, and not anything that I can control.

I am eating low carb & I will try to get back to the gym. It is a daily struggle.

I wish all of you a happy healthy holiday season.

mom216

Just checking in again - jeez - where is everybody?

tatiana_13

Hey Mom216...I suspect quite a few of us have an "after the holidays" mentality going on! I'm just focusing on maintaining, not losing, until after the holidays. Right after Thanksgiving, I had gained some weight...I did start to reverse the trend...I'm 3 lbs away from my first mini-goal. But I decided that maintenance was just where I'm at right now. I'm not exactly doing low-carb...I guess it looks more like a fatty south beach...I'm avoiding grains and sugar. But am eating all dairy, beans, and some fruit. I lost a few pounds doing this...but this is my maintenance diet, not my weight loss diet. So, my weight has now stabilized, and I'm doing just that...maintaining until after the holidays!

I've also stopped logging my food everyday. I start restricting when I log...and the beauty of low-carb for me is just relying on good food and not having to count calories. When I count calories, I start trying to go lower, then lower, then I get hungry and binge. So, when I'm hungry, I just eat. I sometimes estimate calories in my head...and they are far greater than MFP says I should be able to eat. I think its better for my metabolism...as long as its good food, mind you...I had a period of time where I ate nothing but cheerios, gummi bears, and eggs, and I needed to stay right around 1300 to not gain weight!

mom216

Hello to everybody!!

Tatiana - Your post made me laugh out loud (gummy bears & cheerios) I too have subjected my body to a number of crazy diet foods. The divorce is still dragging on - which translates to really good days & really bad days. I spent Thanksgiving with family, however I felt like the circus side show freak. Everybody wanted the details, and of course they all offered their opinions. (gag!)
I am hoping Christmas & New Years will be better.
I too stopped logging my foods, exercising & basically taking care of myself. I am starting to get back on track - it is just a slow up hill battle. I have stocked the house with healthy foods, and I am making meal plans. Now if I can just force myself to get back to the gym - I might actually see some progress. My weight is still bouncing up and down by 2 lbs - however my body is "doughy" from lack of exercise. Todays excuse - it snowed here (2 inches) and the town basically shut down. (the local government closed the schools, libraries etc and most business' also closed) It is sad and funny; this town reacts like a blizzard came through. Tomorrow will be better - I'm praying for bright sunshine & some common sense.

I hope everybody else is doing well. I miss seeing your adventures!