Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

Good joy everyone on your self control.
At 51 years old I should know how to do this, but, how does everyone get their water in. Do you flavor it? Count coffee, tea, or seltzer as water? I drink a glass with each meal but that certainly isn't 8 or more glasses a day.
Guess that's my sharing for today.

@Bohemian - there are two schools of thought, primal and paleo. Primal is very strict (like vegan is to vegetarian) and this doesn't fit my lifestyle change. Paleo takes into account that we are modern humans who do not live in caves and have indoor plumbing. The biggest difference is the dairy like you mentioned. Paleo allows raw sheep or goat milk because it contains the enzymes for digestion. Butter is considered a fat and also allowed. Yogurt as sour milk is good but cheese is not. I'll update from time to time but not congest this forum with it. Also, I do not recommend this for everyone. My dh and daughters seem to be able to digest grains happily. Me, they stick like glue. My older daughter would probably waste away if she didn't get the calories from the carbs.

Good joy everyone on your self control.
At 51 years old I should know how to do this, but, how does everyone get their water in. Do you flavor it? Count coffee, tea, or seltzer as water? I drink a glass with each meal but that certainly isn't 8 or more glasses a day.
Guess that's my sharing for today.

Mio, Dasanti, & several store brands of flavor drops; True Lemon; Herbal tea - anything I can find that is at least a little natural, and little to no calories.
Arizona water is gross otherwise :sick:

@vickie--I do a bunch of core exercises at home, most of which I get from self.com--if you sign up on their website, they will send you a weekly "get fit move" which is usually a slideshow with a bunch of exercises with pictures and descriptions of the moves. They also send a "self recipe of the week" and "self beauty tip of the week."

Sounds fabulous - thanks for the hint!

@jt - hope you have better luck with the Y than I did... thinking it's just our area...

@rachael--I love pits! It drives me nuts that they have such a bad reputation--did you know that 100 years ago people used to get them to act a "nannies" to their children b/c they're so protective and loyal? Gunner is also a rescue, also got him at 1 1/2 years old, and he was also fairly well trained. Completely house-broken and knew all of the basic commands. He's never been crate-trained and only peed in the house twice during the first 2 weeks we had him. Funny story, the first time was his 2nd day here. I bought him a big rawhide. Having been in the shelter for 4 months, it had been a long time since he'd had such a treat. He took about an hour to finish it and as soon as he was done, he jumped up, whined, and before either DH or I could get up off the couch, gunner ran into our bathroom and peed in there. We figure he just got so caught up with the rawhide, he didn't realize he had to pee until it was too late. The 2nd accident also happened in our bathroom. I was scrubbing the tub and he came in and tried to get my attention, but I thought he just wanted to play. I finished cleaning the tub, turned around and there was big wet spot on the bathroom rug and a very sad puppy cowering next to it. He's never had another accident and he stays home all day. Usually not for more than 4-6 hours (DH can usually come home for lunch), but there have been days when he's had to go for 8-10 hours, and he's fine.

@butterfly--I've always been a water drinker, but I'm fortunate that I grew up in Chicago where the water is awesome. In fact, when DH and I were looking for our house, one of my stipulations was that we had to have Lake Michigan water. In order to make sure I get enough, I fill one 32 oz and one 24 oz water bottle and take both to work with me. I sip on them throughout the day w/ the goal of finishing both before I leave. That way I've gotten through 7 cups before I even get home. It's usually pretty easy to get in 3 more cups to reach my 10 cup goal for the day. Oh, and though I rarely drink them, I do count non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated drinks such as herbal teas. Caffeine and alcohol act as diuretics, so you shouldn't count those as water, and should actually drink an extra cup of water for each of those types of drinks you consume each day.

@helen--great job getting back to meeting your calorie goal! :flowerforyou: Housecleaning can be pretty good exercise, especially if your house gets as dirty as mine. :laugh: Seriously, we have new neighbors and I keep thinking I should invite them over for dinner or drinks or something, but then I look at the tumbleweeds of dog fur all over my house and decide against it. Maybe this summer after I have time to try angelika's power purge.

Sunday Share:
Since we have a lot of new people on the thread, and since many are beginning running programs, I thought I would sunday share about my experiences. I started running in June 2011 at about 225 lbs, but I had been walking my dog regularly for several years (usually 1-2 miles), and had been doing the elliptical for about a year (2-3 miles)--so I was far from sedentary. Even so, running was a struggle. I used c25k on my treadmill at home which has 2% incline (which I HATE!). It took me about 6 weeks to get to the point where I could run a 5k without stopping. Here are some questions that went through my brain early in the process:

1. Why do I sweat SO MUCH? Other people at the gym don't pour sweat like I do, and they are running much faster or for much longer. Will I always be so terribly sweaty when I run?

Well, I do still sweat, but certainly not as much as I used to. If I'm going at my comfort pace (runner's call it your "forever pace" which is the pace you feel like you could keep running forever), I only sweat a little assuming the temps are decent. However, if I'm pushing for a faster pace or doing speed work, I still get sweaty. Overall though, I feel like the sweating is more "normal" and my face doesn't get all red and blotchy like it used to.

2. How come I need to drink so much water while I run? How can I run a 5k with only one water station when I'm constantly drinking from my water bottle on the treadmill? Will me body eventually need less water while running?

My body has definitely adjusted in this area. I never take a water bottle when I run outside; I run 1.5 miles, stop home to drop off gunner, and drink some water, then run another 1.5 miles. On the treadmill, I still have a water bottle handy, but I find I barely drink any of it, and only do so b/c I can, not b/c I feel like I would die without it. So no, I don't need as much water while I'm running provided I stay well-hydrated in general.

3. Why do I sound like I'm going to die while running? I'm huffing and puffing like I will keel over any second--will my breathing ever normalize?

Like the sweating, the breathing got better as my VO2 MAX increased. If I run at my forever pace, my breathing is calm and steady. However, if I'm pushing myself, it gets a bit harder to breathe and I know I'm a bit louder.

4. Why can't I get past week X of c25k? (for me it was week 4, I think)

I got stuck at the point where I had to move from 5 minutes of running to 8 minutes; I just couldn't do it. Then someone told me to slow down. "Slow down" I thought "I'm only running at 5 mph." But then I slowed to 4.5 mph and it made all the difference in the world. I continued at that pace until I could run a whole 5k and then I started working on increasing my pace. Right now, my forever pace is 5.3 mph and I'm getting pretty comfortable at 5.5.

Anyway, I hope this helps some of you. The improvements took time, and a year and half into the process I'm still pretty slow. In part that's b/c I still have extra weight to drop. In part, it's b/c I stubbornly still smoke a few cigarettes everyday. Despite all of that, I really LOVE being a runner.

Another thing - I'm on a high dose of prednisone for a rheumatic type disease and I'm noticing MY HAIR, already thin, is BREAKING OFF :sad: :sad: :sad: and let me say I CAN"T AFFORD TO LOSE ANY MORE!!!! I already use a product in my hair to make it look thicker and cover the thin spots where my scalp shows through. UGH. Any hints??????

In addition to making sure you have enough healthy fats in your diet... (also if you do fish oil, maybe up it a bit)..Two words... coconut oil.

I was in an Indian market one day, and the owner and I got into a talk about hair. She said that she had hair loss due to cancer treatment, and that she used henna and coconut oil. I haven't tried the henna, but the coconut oil works awesome!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/154833-coconut-oil-uses-for-skin-hair/

The bf is now and ex-bf... Friday night my sister was joking about him not coming to my bday party Saturday, and said, "What, are you married or something and can't go out in public with my sister?"....... <cue dramatic music here>.... His response, "Well, actually, yes I am still married." I guess he just hasn't gotten around to filing for divorce. I am not so much bothered that he is still married, since I know they aren't "together", but I was bothered that he hadn't told me. There have been too many red flags... so this one could not be ignored. I guess I can chalk this one up to experience. He and I had a lot of fun- he's a nice man, just not the one for me.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your birthday. Laughter is so important and adding a little karoke doesn't hurt either. Sorry about the BF. You had some red flags pop up and knew there was something. This was definitely the last red flag. You did the right thing. You had some fun along the way and that's what's important. You'll be in a much better place going forward froom this experience. Stand strong!!!

sunday share- I am 56, divorced :sad: and live in Brithish Columbia. I have been off work on disability for 3 years after a bout of bacterial meningitis, back surgery and a total knee replacement. I started going to the gym after the meningitis cause i was soooooo weak i could hardly do anything. As i got stronger i seemed to get mitivated to do more. I lost 60 pounds in 2010, 50 pounds in 2011 and only 20 pounds in 2012 which i have gained since my knee operation :sad: :sad: :sad: Seem to be getting back on track slowly. My work has now told me i either need to come back to work, resign or retire on medical disability. So i will not be getting the other knee done as planned and will be going back to work on Feb 25. Although on friday i just found out that they had filled my position so now i do not know if i even have a job to return to :sad: :sad: I work in a men's federal prison but would love to return to emergency nursing where i spent 20 years. Not sure if i have the stamina for that yet but I am working on it>>
Off to the lake for a walk around....maybe even twice cause it is so nice out!!

I have 3 papers left to grade!!! Will check back later.

Well hello everyone and happy sunday to you all. My husband just called which was great as I havent heard his voice in a week and that is much longer then I am used to. I was starting to have withdrawls:laugh: So since we have so many new people I guess I will share a little about myself today. My name is Tammy and I am a wife of 20 years and the mother of 3 wonderful children. My relationship with the oldest is a little strained right now but nevertheless ai am very proud of her. She graduated last month for the University of Washington with her bachelors in Psychology at the age of 22. Her sister also just graduated with her assocotes in criminal justice at the age of 20 and my 18 year old bay boy is in school in Wyoming for deisal engineering. My husband and I live in Washington state were currently the middle one is still at home but not around much with work and school keeping her busy. My husband is an engineer on a fishing boat out of Dutch Harbor Alaska so He is gone for 2 months at a time and then home for a month rotating through the year until November when the boat comes back to Seattle for a little over a month for maintenance. My weight hit an all time high last august at 378 pounds and I dont know what was different but when I saw that number it just wasnt acceptable anymore. I started changing things in my life on alot of fronts including food and discovered MFP about two or so weeks into those changes and havent looked back. Withe the help and support of my family and everyone on here I know these will be lasting changes and have total faith that all of us can do this.

@Laurie -- I get a box of organic vegetables most week. For about the last six weeks, they've had beetroot in almost every week. Now, I like beetroot, but my kids won't eat it. So I had a massive pile of slightly sad beetroot needing eating. Borscht -- the Eastern European/Russian vegetable soup -- is the answer. There are lots of different recipes. In the end, I made it just like my regular what's-in-the-fridge soup, with several onions, a couple of parsnips, a chunk of celeriac, about 6 large beetroot, half a red cabbage -- and, in deference to the weather, quite a lot of potato. All cut very small. And pepper, allspice, cider vinegar and lots of beef stock. It is really delicious, and the kids ate it up just fine -- my daughter had loads, and my son had a big bowl before saying he'd had enough.
@Karen -- we've had about 7 inches of snow in total which is a *lot* for London. As we were walking down the the folk club tonight we saw lots of snowmen and even a snow penguin! So people have been enjoying themselves. It might melt tomorrow as it's supposed to warm up a bit. Thanks for the stuff about your running experience. I don't take water out with me but if I do a really long run sometimes I buy a water before heading home. I feel guilty about this because normally I work really hard not to buy bottled water except when absolutely necessary.
@Susan -- 6 pounds! That's fantastic! You're really back on track now, right? And well done on the 5k! I know I whine about the winter weather but really I wouldn't like your summers at all. So I guess it's swings and roundabouts.
@Helen -- I really like it when I can look at my house and think 'oh, hey, that's looking pretty nice!'.
@ButterflyWolf -- I personally drink lots of fizzy water. I don't put anything in it apart from bubbles. (I have a soda stream and use that). It's quite hard to get unpasteurised milk here. We used to be able to buy it at our farmers' market but the dairy doesn't seem to have a stall any more. (Unpasteurised cow's milk anyway: I guess you could get unpasteurised goat or sheep's milk in Central London but certainly not here).
@Melancholy2 -- five grandkids under two! They're going to keep you so busy! It's worth just keeping focused at the beginning because it probably took 20 pounds or so before I started feeling healthier and having more energy.
@Kelley -- there's lots of people on MFP who reckon that you need to keep really active and eat relatively much in order to lose weight. I've certainly not been eating little -- it's just that with the weather I haven't been able to pile on the cardio.
@Robin -- oh, I'm sorry about your hair: I don't have any advice, I'm afraid.
@Nicole -- ooh, sorry about the ex. Hopefully you'll remember the fun you've had and move onto someone better. I cannot believe he didn't tell you he was married! And I'm glad you had a fantastic party.
@Pat -- welcome! I think there are lots of people who'll recommend exercise vids and point you to ones on YouTube and elsewhere, but I don't think the site has exercise videos per se. Lots of people here can talk about the exercises they do. I'm not on a diet either.

Loving all the Sunday Shares as ever. They're my favourite bit. I'm not sure I have anything new to tell you all, except to say that loads of people are commenting on my weight loss now. It's really funny because I haven't really lost that much since before Christmas. But now I'm wearing my old jeans that didn't fit properly before; I think that's it. A bit of a Sunday Share -- I started the power purge and sorted out my fridge... but then I didn't have enough energy for the freezer, and besides it was a bit cold to be working on the freezer. So three days later, I've done one half day's worth. Do you think they meant a 180 day power purge? I am the worst housekeeper in the world, I really am.


-- Alison

@alison--that's really great that you're getting all the compliments! :drinker: I agree that it's kind of weird the timing of some people's comments. In the past 2 weeks I've had 2 people ask me if I've lost weight. These are people who've never commented before, and they don't say have you lost "more" weight. I'm not really sure how to answer--I want to ask "since when?" but that doesn't seem like the right response. I find myself just saying, "well, not a lot recently, but yes I've lost weight."

@robin--great job dancing! Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? :laugh:

@angelika--sounds like a much needed rest day, and glad the timing worked out so you're not behind on your power purge. Great job with the loss as well!! :flowerforyou:

@tammy--glad you got to hear from DH!

@kathy--the tracking gets even easier once your "typical" foods are all in your database, and you've added some of your common meals and recipes. Did you also know that you can click on a food in the diary and move it from lunch to dinner or breakfast? This is a nice feature when you eat last night's dinner leftovers for lunch today. You can just click on "copy meal" from yesterday's dinner and then move the dinner to your lunch in today's diary. It took me a while to find that feature, but now I use it a lot.

@pat--welcome! As others mentioned, youtube is a great place to find exercise videos.

@karenleona--hope the job situation gets sorted out in a favorable way for you.

@lin--Yay for not having 100 lbs to lose!! :drinker:

@nicole--glad you enjoyed your b-day party and sorry about the guy. :ohwell: I agree with the others--even if he was no longer with his wife, it's still something he should have clarified with you.

@kelley--hope that injury is just a minor strain and heals quickly!

@susan--6 pounds!?!?! That's so awesome!! To put that in perspective--I lost 12 pounds in all of 2012, so you are rockin' it!!

Well, I finished all of my grading!!! Hooray!!! :drinker: Now tomorrow will feel like a true day off of work!

I also had a really good run at the gym today. Someone (I think it was Kelley) said her trainer recommended a shorter stride for endurance, so I tried that today and I was able to maintain my 11 minute mile pace for 2.5 miles. I also managed to run the entire 4 miles other than a 2 minute walking break at mile 3. This is huge for me b/c the past few weeks I've really struggled to run that last mile--had to do a lot of walking breaks to get to the 4 mile mark. My time for the 4 miles was 44:49 whereas the past 2 weeks it took me almost 46 minutes.

Another question for runner's--do any of you wear minimalist sneakers to run? I'm going to need a new pair of runners soon and have seen quite a lot of hype about these. Apparently they are the big new trend in running, but I'm not sure if they are good for people who need a lot of arch support.

Grading goals: DONE!!!!!!!!!
1. 48/48 AP essays DONE
2. 22/22 Advanced Grammar Final Exam essays DONE
3. enter participation for juniors DONE
4. finish posting all grades DONE

Exercise Goals:
Mon--core work DONE
Tues--rest day (meeting after work)--I ended up running 3 miles on my treadmill!! Yay me!
Wed--walk gunner DONE + gym NOT DONE, but did core work instead
Thurs--walk gunner + core work or dancing NOT DONE worked late
Fri--rest day (plans w/ friends right after work) WALKED GUNNER + WENT TO GYM!!! weights and treadmill
Sat--walk gunner DONE + core work NOT DONE
Sun--walk gunner DONE + gym (long run) DONE

Thanks, everyone - leg is feeling better tonight. My trainer did have me run some during our session today, but not a lot. He said it was my hip flexor that I've angered - so no running tomorrow, wants me to use the elliptical that has a longer stride, should help to work out the kinks some.

@Karen~You hit the nail on the head with your running Q&A, I have thought all of that at one time or another! Awesome that you took some time off of your run (yep, that was me regarding the stride length - it really does help). Congrats on getting all of that grading done.

@Nicole~So glad you had such an awesome birthday! I'm sorry about the BF, even more sorry that he kept something so vital about himself from you.

@Kris~Hope you are feeling better soon, so much illness going around - nice that you get an extra day to rest.

Its so nice to see so much Sunday Share today - thanks to everyone for sharing. I've had this sleepy kitten in my lap all afternoon, she has been very needy today. Hate to disturb her, but the laundry in the dryer isn't going to fold itself. :laugh: No holiday for me tomorrow, its business as usual.