Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

hansea47

tlh- The cake is beautiful! Nice job on all those flowers. :flowerforyou:

Kaye- Typhoon Anya! I love it. I hope we end up having a large family by the time I reach your age. I look forward to spoiling and chasing grandkids. My five-year-old tells me all the time that he's going to be a dad with three kids and that they're going to come to my house for holidays. :happy:

Just had to share an early Saturday morning NSV: I went out on my first long run of my 10K training program. I got up with the sun, downed a cup of coffee, and headed out into the chilly morning. This is a route that I've done last summer. If I start at my house and go out to the old railroad trail, across the lake and back, it works out to 3.11 miles. It is perfect and the lake usually has a lot of bird life going about their business. This morning, the sun was rising on the water and pelicans, ducks, seagulls and geese were all milling about. I was just overcome with this sense that God had made this perfect day and perfect world for us. I was sooo glad I had made the effort to get out of bed early for this. I also started to get this feeling that God had made me perfect in my slow jog. I felt strong and wonderfully made. This was the first time I ever ran this route without feeling winded. I finished and started my cool down with just a tiny hint that a side-stitch might be coming, but it quickly faded. Best. Run. To. Date. Woooooo hoooooo! I think I might have a runner's high right now. What?!? Who would've thought I would ever be in a position to have a...runner's?!?....high??

Have a GREAT DAY EVERYONE!!!!!! :happy: :happy: :happy:

littleshadowfeet

@Laurie - you're an inspiration!

@tlh - the cake looks beautiful... AND delicious. Mmmm.... cake.

@kaye - great walk! and I know all about typhoon children, I have one of my own. :laugh:

@hansea - that is an awesome, awesome NSV. I don't run, and am in awe of people who can! I have tried in the past and loved it, but apparently one of the requirements to continue running comfortable is cartilage in both knees, and I'm sorely lacking on the right due to a high school injury. :laugh: Well done, and it sounds like a gorgeous morning to hit that runner's high. I also know what you mean about rest days... they always seem to be busier than the work days here, too!

My NSV today is that I am still able to move after my long walk yesterday.. back is a little stiff, and of course my ankle hurts, but it used to be so much worse. It's nice to be feeling stronger, lighter and faster as the weeks go by.

RobinsEgg

LAURIE - 100% of the respondents are FOR the May Challenge Virtual Race you proposed. Are you up for the record keeping? A few people are a little befuddled about how it will work. So maybe you could explain it again as we get closer to the months end.
Thank you for a GREAT suggestion! :flowerforyou:

Hansea - I loved your description of your walk. It reminds me of why I love Easter the most out of all the holidays. I get the most holy feeling out of it, due to the abundance of new life surrounding us at this time of year. I have always done something solo to communicate with nature on Easter.

AFM - Started feeling poorly yesterday afternoon and cancelled plans with friends and ditto for today. I find it very hard to live without my Advil, and I have to forego it until surgery. Now everything is swollen in my head, mouth, throat, neck, and legs. :sad: I did just start on an antibiotic that is just preventative, ordered pre-operatively, so maybe that will kick in and help. I'm also having difficulty with my mouth guard fitting now that there is so much swelling - sheesh- I feel like I have practically given up on everything, and all my focus is just getting through these next days. But I can't surrennder to that mood, because I have a long list of things to do before next week is over.

MONDAY - call surgeon about mouthwash he forgot to order
call Dentist about mouthguard
1:15 pm See Primary Doc for pre-op visit

Tuesday - Pool P.T.
maybe pedicure?

Weds. - 2:00pm Anesthesia Pre-op visiit

Thursday - 1:30 - Dr. Shrink re antidepressant check up
2:30 Hair stylist - color and cut

Friday big grocery shopping run -double up for next week!

grandmakaye44

Hansea-What a beautiful morning! I loved your description. God is good. I will never be able to run due to my artificial knees, but I love my long walks. The evenings are really beautiful right now. Spring is my favorite time of year. I hope you have a large family, too. They bring so much joy. Everyone just left from our traditional waffle Saturday. I love that excuse to see them.
Tlh-The cake is beautiful. I dabbled in cake decorating when my family was young. It was fun.
Robin-So sorry for all of your problems. I hope the week goes quickly for you.
I need to get my day going. I've boiled 3 dozen eggs and sent them with Cathy for her boys to dye for the potato salad, etc. I also sent some candy with her. I bought some Jolly Rancher Sour Bunnies yesterday. I thought that they would be a fun treat and I could just eat a few. Let me just say 'Doritos'. They had to go. I'm going to work on Cathy's curtains this morning. When it warms up, I'm going to go dig in the yard a bit. It looks like a beautiful day.
Onward and downward. Kaye

grandmakaye44

RobinB-I wanted to say how very important I think it is for us realize our limitations and appreciate our strengths. I know that I can't hope to compete with those who are half my age, but I am ever so grateful that I can walk, and for the progress I have made. You are doing great!
Kaye

jtconst

Good morning everyone. I just had a very nice walk at the lake with the dogs. Got out a little earlier then usual so there was almost no one else down there. I went to bed really early last night and woke up to the pleasant surprise of my kids having cleaned up the kitchen last night. This is very rare unprompted so was a nice way to start the day. I made a huge jug of suntea yesterday so plan on enjoying that today instead of just plain water all day. I am going to try a new recipie (jello cookies) to take for Easter brunch at my brothers house. They should come out looking like dyed easter eggs. I am also making some little bacon and egg bites since we are doing a combination of breakfast and lunch foods. I was going to mow today but decided to save that for tomorrow afternoon so I have the extra burn to counteract if I overeat with the family though I am going to try really hard to just distance myself from the buffet table.A little later I will be going over to my moms and stuffing all the plastic easter eggs with candy so the little ones in the family can have an egg hunt. Somehow even though my kids are grown this has become my chore lol.

Robin I am sorry you are having trouble without your advil. I dont know how well the day would go if I had to give up my ibuprofen I take daily for joint pain. Hopefully after this surgery you can start feeling more normal:flowerforyou:

Hansea your run this morning sounds just wonderful. I love when I can go out into nature and find that perfect peaceful moment. It is those times we feel most at peace with ourselves.

tlh your cake is very pretty. My mom knows how to do that and has tried to teach me but my hands have always had a little shake and I cant hold them steady enough. Oh well I can always get mommy to help me :laugh:

kaye your walk sounds great. The only thing I miss about living in Illinois is having my whole family surrounding me. My parents were the only ones to move any real distance away on either side so its just them and us three kids with our families here. You are truly blessed to have all your loved ones fairly close to you.

Well I have to go get the cookies started so have a great day everyone.:flowerforyou: :drinker:

skinnyjeanzbound

Hi guys!

So far it's been a good day. Got to sleep in which was much needed. Did a few loads of laundry and ran with gunner. I had originally planned to go to the gym, but it's so beautiful outside, I changed my mind. Now I'm at starbucks getting ready to tackle some AP essays.

Saturday Success:
My success is that I finally lost a pound this week, and not only that but the 186 stuck for 2 days in a row! Of course, I fluctuated back up to 188 this morning, but that's okay--I know if I stick with the program it will go down again. My plan for the April Renaissance challenge was to stick with my calorie allowance and to make up for any overages. I've done so and am currently "in the black." :happy:

Another success is that I had a few pair of lighter weight slacks that were a bit snug in the Fall. I hadn't tried them all winter b/c I was wearing my warmer pants during the deep freeze. The other day, I decided to try them and a couple of pair fit nicely.

I need to get going with this grading and then hit the gorcery store. I will check back later with personals. Happy Saturday, everyone! :flowerforyou:

skinnyjeanzbound

Rocked out 12 essays, now I'm off to the grocery (not gorcery ) store.

Grading Goals:
1. 18/50 satirical cartoon analyses
2. 12/70 AP essays

Exercise goals:
Mon--gym DONE
Tues--walk gunner DONE
Wed--walk gunner DONE + gym NOT DONE
Thurs--rest day
Fri--not sure--spending the day with my niece 2WALKS W/GUNNER + PLAYED AT PARK
Sat--walk gunner + gym RAN OUTSIDE W/GUNNER
Sun--walk gunner

Wall sit = 55 sec
Forearm plank = 60 sec

rainandwood93

Hello everyone. It sounds like people are enjoying their weekends! My doctor's appointment yesterday was cancelled, which was annoying since my leg has been getting worse. I tried doing the elliptical Thursday night (which had previously not bothered me before, and I had to stop after 5 minutes due to some pretty intense pain in my shin. Yesterday I didd some reclining bike and a slow 40 minute walk on the treadmill and that seemed to be fine. I'm seeing a doctor and getting an x-ray on Monday, and hopefully nothing that will keep me away from my favorite exercises as the summer comes. I miss running!

I unofficially weighed in this morning and was down 1.5 since last time I had a significant loss. I'm hoping my month long plateau is broken, but I'm telling myself that this semester will have been a weight loss success if I manage to simply NOT gain weight during finals.

I did 30 mins of exercise today, and I'm hoping to finish this evening with a nice relaxing walk while I listen to some podcasts.

grandmakaye44

I did some digging in the dirt this afternoon, preparing flower bed and herb garden. Dh does the vegetable garden, mows and waters, but his interest doesn't extend to the flower beds. It felt really good be able to do so much. I probably won't walk this evening. My legs have been feeling like they need a rest from walking.
Hang in there Rain. You are going to do this.
Onward and downward. Kaye ï

Lauriek70

tlh- Beautiful cakes.

Robin- I will handle the virtual challenge and will post the details once I get the document up and running. Sorry the swelling is getting really bad.

Kaye- You do deserve a break from walking, your daily walks are impressive.

Rain- give your legs time to heal and just remember that the ellipitical can be troublesome especially if you going on an incline instead of flat. It depends on the type of machine that you are using.

Well today was a successful day of exercise. I started the day with an early morning swim- a little more intense than Wednesday but still not bad. Then I went for 25 mile bike ride. The nice thing was that we stopped for lunch before heading back. After we reached the parking lot, I opted to go another 4-5 miles to finish the trail. The day was beautiful for a bike ride. Tomorrow, I will just walk since I am running on Monday. Overall, it was a good day.

Tonight, I saw the movie Noah. The film was interesting but don't expect it to reflect the bible story of Noah there was only 1 thread between the movie and the bible story (animals 2 x 2 and the doves). Hollywood took many liberties with the story and I hardly recognized it.

Hope everyone that celebrates Easter has a fantastic day. If you don't celebrate, then have a great Sunday and may the weather be beautiful.

skinnyjeanzbound

@laurie--sounds like a great bike ride! I had heard that Noah was very different from the Bible story.

@kaye--glad you got so much gardening done. I had high aspirations to do some spring clean-up in my flower beds, but never got to it today. Perhaps tomorrow before I head to my parents' for Easter dinner.

@laura--that's frustrating that your appt got canceled. Hopefully you will get some answers on Monday. I hope you don't have to stop running. That was my biggest fear when I tore my meniscus a couple of years ago. However, my PT said as long as it didn't hurt while I was running, I could continue. Crossing my fingers you get good news. :flowerforyou:

@tammy--sounds like a lovely day! You'll have to let us know how the cookies turned out.

@robin--sorry your lack of advil led you to have to cancel your plans with friends. I have faith that it will all be worth it once you get through the surgery.

@heidi--nice to hear you aren't too sore after your long training walk yesterday. I've never race walked, but in 2008, garetie and I did the Komen 3-day walk for breast cancer. We know first-hand that walking for hours can be very taxing on the body.

@hansea--sounds like a beautiful run! :flowerforyou: My body only RUNS on chocolate cake. I've found if I eat too much sugar nowadays and DON'T workout afterward, I feel yucky. When we were downtown for the conference last week, I had a really decadent dessert at Weber Grill. I was soooo happy we decided to walk rather than cab it back to the hotel b/c I know I would have felt sick without the exercise to burn off all that sugar.

@tracy--Mmm, cake... <drool>

AFM--Not much else to report tonight. I did the grocery shopping and got a cute bucket for all of my niece's Easter gifts. I got her several books and a few little toys. I figure she'll get enough candy from other sources. I did buy a package of Peeps that I'll bring for everyone to share.

Morgori

Happy Easter everyone!










“Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life.” - Janine di Giovanni

Tom

hansea47

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!!

I'm at work this morning. We started a tradition in our family of attending the Easter Vigil so we can stay home on Sunday and visit family. The Easter Vigil Mass is beautiful and long. We usually get home between 9:30 and 10:00 pm. Last night was no exception. My husband put the kids to bed while I tidied up the house and filled Easter baskets and hid them. Going to bed so late had no impact on my children being able to arise at 6:00 am and search the house for baskets this morning, of course.

This year, we had given up tv/netflix for lent, so the kids each got a dvd. Veggietales for my son and Frozen for my daughter. Unbelievably, though my daughter has been passionately singing 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' for months now, we had not seen the movie yet. So, of course, that is what they're doing this morning while I'm at work!
My husband and I each had dvds in our baskets, too. In his: Leslie Sansone. In mine: Jillian Michaels. Just trying to balance out the chocolate, peeps and jelly beans. :laugh:

After I'm done at work, we're headed straight up to my grandparents' farm for an Easter lunch with my extended family. Haven't seen most of them since Christmas, so that will be nice. We usually all just pot-luck with no real plan (some years this ends up being interesting...), and since we'll be a little late due to my being at work, I'm bringing a dessert.

I feel like an unhealthy food-pusher, but I made this because it was so bizarre to me and I just had to see what it was like. It's the holy trinity of the kitchen: Coffee + Chocolate + Bacon = Dark Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes. Each cupcake is 185 calories, so I hope a lot of my family show up today and everyone takes one. I don't need to bring these home! I already tried one yesterday...which turned into one and a half, so I can see that this is one of those once-a-year/once-in-a-lifetime/make-and-give-away kind of treats!

Have a wonderful day!

skinnyjeanzbound

Happy Easter, to all of you who celebrate.

@tom--love the artwork!

Sunday Share:
For the newlings, I'm karen, married HS English Lit teacher from Chicago. I believe I'm one of the most enduring members of robin's thread. I joined her previous thread in July 2011 and stuck with the switch over to this one when she changed the title. I joined MFP in March 2011 weighing in at 241 lbs. Since then I've lost 55 lbs and have gone from a size 18 to 12 pants, with an occasional size 10 dress. I've also become a runner which I really love. I'm slow and I don't do anything long distance, but I have a lot of fun doing 5k's and mud/obstacle runs.

Also for the newlings, a lot of you want to know how those of us here have done it. The key is to realize that everyone is different, and what works for some may not work for all. However, the basic premise, that you must take in less calories than you expend, is the underlying truth. Some people set their calories at a very low level, some eat more to weigh less; some folks scrutinize their macros, others just make sure to stay under the daily allowance; some folks exercise a lot, some very little or not at all; some eat "clean," others believe anything is game if it fits your macros.

Here's my story: I started simply meeting MFP recommended allowance to lose 2lb/week, and exercising regularly. This led to losing about 40 lbs by the end of 2011. I entered Onederland in early 2012 and raised my calorie allowance to reflect a 1lb/week loss. I lost another 10 lbs in 2012 which moved me out of the "obese" category according to BMI. I made it down to my lowest weight of 181 by March of 2013, but to be fair that was in part due to a bout of stomach flu. When I recovered and also quit smoking, I quickly gained 5 lbs and my weight stabilized around 186 and stayed there until the 2013 holiday season when I gained 5 lbs. I started 2014 by upping my ticker to 191 to reflect the gain. Since then, I have made a re-commitment to logging every bite and making up for any overages, and I am back down to 186. I'm not sure what my final goal weight will be, but I would like to get down to 170 and see how I feel once I'm there.

As far as exercise, I have enjoyed many forms of cardio, but running is my mainstay. I also enjoy lifting and doing circuits of core strength moves. I tried 30 day shred last summer. It was a new challenge, but I didn't love it. I also did some heavy lifting last fall, but I got kind of bored of it, and it takes a lot more time than I'd like to spend at the gym. I will probably rotate it back into my routine when I'm out of school this summer. I have used heart rate monitors, but honestly had most of my success simply using MFP or healthstatus.com to estimate my calories burned. I also have eaten back most, if not all, of my exercise calories along the way. I know some people have success without eating them back, but I find I get weak and hungry (and cranky ) if I don't eat them back.

Finally, for me no food is off limits, though I find I'm more satiated when I eat higher protein and limit the empty carbs. I try not to eat too much junk, but I know if I try to ban something from my life, I will just want it that much more. There are foods I try to keep out of the house, like doritos and frosted mini-wheats, but I have them once in awhile.

I hope this gives the newlings an idea of what has worked for me. Please take from it what you will and apply what works for you. :flowerforyou:

Lauriek70

Karen- Great advice that you gave everyone.

Tom- Love the artwork.

I have been exhausted all day but did not want to take a nap. I was afraid that if I napped this afternoon then I would not sleep tonight. All the exercise from this week has caught up to me and last night I did not sleep well or deep.

Sunday- REST Day
Monday- Trainer- run 1.5 miles
Tuesday-Swim?
Wednesday-Trainer
Thursday- Rest
Friday- Climbing
Saturday- rest helping at Special Olympics lots of walking
Sunday- Special olympics- walking

rainandwood93

@hansea: Those cupcakes sound REALLY dangerous. Glad you had a great holiday!
@skinnyjeanz: I've gotten bits and pieces before, but it was lovely reading your approach to your own weight loss.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and Easter (I've been stuck on campus unfortunately, but productive.
I've been having a very good weekend weight loss wise, and am fairly proud of my eating and exercise. Knee/leg has stopped hurting as of today, so I feel a little guilty about going to the doctor tomorrow, but I have a feeling that a 3 week long injury like that should be checked out regardless (and I have a suspicion it would come back right now if I tried to jog). I've been doing elliptical and 40 mins o the treadmill walking at 3mph and it's been really relaxing. For the FIRST time ever I lugged myself to the weight room and timidly tried some of the weight machines.I had no idea what I was doing, but I woke up sore this morning so it must be doing something! In other news, I weighed in today and officially recorded my loss of 2.3 pounds. This, brining the total over the last month to around 6, and my total weight loss from my highest to 39.8. Hopefully this is the end of my plateau!

Sunday share for newlings: I'm Laura, 20 years old going to university in the L.A. area, but I've done a lot of moving in the last four years. My heaviest weight was 257, but I literally cannot remember a time when I was at a healthy weight, so I'm trying to take charge and make myself a little bit more like the person I want to be in my head. I enjoy reading, adventures around LA (moved here in Sept.) travel, and a little too much netflix. I do a mixture of elliptical/zumba and running and ran my first race about two weeks ago.

Morgori

Amy's deviled Easter eggs :laugh:




She even used the Light organic mayo from Whole foods and they were real good

grandmakaye44

Tom. Love the deviled eggs.
Laura. Congratulations on the great loss.
We had a fun family day today. I got in a short walk, too.
Here's to a great week. Mine is going to be crazy.
Onward and downward. Kaye

skinnyjeanzbound

@tom--those eggs are adorable! :flowerforyou:

@hansea--those cupcakes sound deliciously dangerous! :devil:

@laura--congrats on the loss! :drinker: I think you are smart to keep the doctors appt. tomorrow.

AFM--I didn't do too badly with food--no huge amounts, but a lot of high calorie choices, so I'm over for the day. At least I don't have that disgustingly full feeling from eating too much, so that's a win. I will make up the almost 300 calories over the next few days. Tomorrow is a work meeting after school, so no gym, but at least it will still be light enough to take gunner for a walk when I get home.

Grading Goals:
1. 18/50 satirical cartoon analyses
2. 12/70 AP essays

Exercise goals:
Mon--walk gunner
Tues--walk gunner + gym
Wed--walk gunner
Thurs--walk gunner + gym
Fri--walk gunner
Sat--run outside w/gunner
Sun--walk gunner + gym

Wall sit = 55 sec
Forearm plank = 60 sec