Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

@jtconst Another thing I have done when I'm not getting good customer service is to make it known all over Facebook and Twitter, making sure I tag them with their account (almost everyone has a Twitter and/or Facebook these days!) It has never failed that someone has responded and fixed my problem. Ages ago, before Facebook and Twitter existed, there were complaint sites where you could write a complaint about a company and they forwarded it to the right person at the company (in addition to posting it on their website). I was able to get out of a ridiculous cell phone contract that way, when the company was sold to another company and suddenly service decreased dramatically and prices went up. Someone called me and said "what can we do to make you happy?" and I said "Let me out of my contract with no penalty." and they did. Sometimes you have to make a fuss.

I wanted to let everyone know I'm going on vacation tomorrow, down to Virginia. I can't wait! I hope the weather is warm there. It'll be great to get away from the snow and ice here. I will be getting lots of exercise and plan on eating right. It's like a new beginning for me.

Melancholy - Have a GREAT vacation! I went to college in Virginia and it's such a beautiful place!

Jumpy - *Giant cyber hug* I'm so sorry you're having to deal with all this stress and uncertainty. I have ZERO doubt that drunk or sober he knows that you're a beautiful and wonderful person, inside AND out!

Saturday success - Well, the binging I've done the past few weeks haven't done any damage. It took about 6 days to get rid of all the water weight from the sodium (stupid messed up slow kidneys) but I'm EXACTLY the same weight I was two/three weeks ago. I'm hoping if I'm careful for the next 3 days I'll see a minor loss on Tuesdays weigh in. Not pinning any hopes on it though.

I did some calculating and I STILL have time to get to my goal of ONEderland by my 40th birthday. I just can't have any real cheat days and need to buckle down (which I need to do anyway for my blood test in 3o days). So... things are trucking along.

@robin and melancholy - hope you have great fun on your vacations!!!
@kaye - so sorry for your friend - such a heartbreaking loss.
@tammy - way to stick up for yourself!
@gorilla and karen - sounds like you're doing a great job getting ready for those races!!
@kelley and helena - so ridiculous that people feel free to offer unsolicited weight advice. helena, you might suggest that your boss invest in a wellness program for EVERYONE. and really, kelley, he said you haven't been able to lose weight? good grief.... i might have fallen over laughing at that one.
@kris - glad to hear you're back on track... i think the trip home threw you a bit(?) ... or maybe i'm projecting... either way, sounds like you're back in the groove!
@alison - i find myself posting much less too, though i still log and read daily. just don't always have stuff to say... or maybe i'm just a stalker at heart. :laugh:

Saturday Success: TMI Alert: well, I have been having some digestive issues... woke up wednesday doubled over in pain! Yikes! Many over-the-counter treatments later, I am down 7 pounds in three days. Guess that explains the plateau. Sheesh. I hope to find some balance soon! :sick: So, today's weight puts me only a pound away from my February goal of having lost (my second) 10% in four months. Whether I make it or not, I'm pretty pleased with that!!

My plan to start C25K has been delayed by all the snow (we're due for another 8 inches today, silly groundhog). I'm ok with that because my knee probably needed more time to heal anyway, plus the triathalon I want to do is not until mid-August, so if I start jogging in a couple months, I should still be ready. Now, to brag about my wonderful parents (even if they do drive me a bit crazy at times)! I have been looking for a recumbant bicycle, figuring it will be easier on my back when I start riding again, but the prices here are out of reach, so I checked craigslist in Ohio, Oregon, and Colorado, and finally found one in Colorado that I could afford (as a major splurge). I asked my parents to go check it out for me, thinking the town was less than an hour from their house. Turns out, it was a four-and-a-half hour drive.... that's a 9 hour round-trip! Ridiculous? Yes! I never would have asked if I had known! But they went, and negotiated the price down by a hundred, and are pitching in another hundred as my birthday present! I will pick it up at the end of March (at their house in Ohio) and be riding in no time!!! Plus, my car is about to die (repair costs more than its worth), so they are going to loan me my father's van for five months while he's out hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. With no insurance payments during that time, I should be able to save enough for a decent vehicle. Yes, it's true: I have terrific parents!!!!

My day is off to a good start. We did the usual family waffle breakfast. I went to the funeral for my friends' little boy. It was very nice. The father spoke at some length about all of the happy memories they have of a very sweet little boy and the love he had for his brothers. One of the principle tenets of our faith is that families can be together forever. They are taking great comfort in knowing that they will be with him again.
I have been able to maintain a good calorie balance this week and I'm getting my water. A couple of days it was a bit dicey as it is hard to do when I'm gone for a good portion of the day, but I made it.
Jumpy--Most of all you need to have more confidence in your personal worth. You are a daughter of God and He loves you! I'm sure that your husband loves you, too. You can get through this.
Happy vacation to those who are traveling. I hope that you have a wonderful time!
Kaye

Good morning everyone. Ty for all the nice comments on my drama of yesterday. Today is going so much nicer. I ran some errands this morning and am now getting some work around the house and yard done. I worked off the last of my mad yesterday by cranking up the music and dancing around the living room like a loon while playing some wii bowling It occured to me while doing this that it was sad that I didnt do it more often as it was fun a great workout, and seriously what else was I going to do but probably sit on my butt in front of the computer or tv. I have to get past the mindset that working out in any shape or form is stealing some kind of valuable time from my life. I dont work and my kids are grown. I have nothing but time, lol.I hope everyone has a great saturday and does something fun to make the most of the weekend. :happy:

@tammy--glad you worked off your "mad" with some fun exercise!

@katrena--awesome loss!! Also, great job on the stationary bike--10 minutes is a really good amount of time, especially with that 3 minute fat burn--go you!!:drinker:

@kaye--it's good to hear the the service today was comforting to you and the boy's family.

@tom--great job with the strength training!

@beth--glad you got your plateau figured out. How long is the running portion of your tri? Is it a sprint tri? I think you will probably do better with the running if your knee has more time to heal, so no worries about the delay. Perhaps you could start the running in a month or so (weather permitting) and just do it once or twice a week. That would let you ease into it and (hopefully) prevent any shock to your knees. Just a thought.

@kris--glad your back down those 6 lbs. When is the big 4-0?

@kristen--sorry, I don't know how I missed what was going on with you and your husband. All I can say is what others have already said. You are good enough, and he loves you. Otherwise, he would just keep drinking. I think your response is typical of anyone who has a partner making big changes in his/her life. I've heard so many stories here on MFP of people's partners reacting the same exact way to their weight loss. I can tell you firsthand that my husband went through that a bit when I first started losing weight. He was suddenly suspicious of my outings with girlfriends, etc. Not terribly so, but his nature is generally so trusting, it was a shock. It took time, but he eventually realised that my changes weren't about him, they were about me. Maybe if you approach your situation as the two of you working to be healthier (you through weight loss and him through not drinking), it will make it easier. I also wonder if your recent changes were what inspired him to examine his own unhealthy behaviors.

@mel--enjoy your vacation!! When I was a kid my dad always did his 2 weeks active duty in VA, so we spent most family vacations there.

@kelley--I've never seen Duck Dynasty, but it's absolutely a show my husband would love. For that reason, I've been trying to avoid letting him know it exists. :laugh: Can't wait for Walking Dead tomorrow night!! Hope you enjoyed your "night off"--sometimes we just need a rest.

Saturday Success:
Well, weight stayed the same this week despite some really terrible food choices, so I guess that's good. It seems like I can either be really disciplined with tmy food or with my exercise, but it's really hard to do both. I'm pretty sure it's related to there not being enough hours in the day. Eating healthy takes time (at the grocery store and preparing meals), and I feel like the weeks I manage to do that, I end up sacrificing time working out.

My real success is that I did my first 5 mile run today at the gym. I didn't manage to run the whole time, but moy overall pace was just shy of an 11.5 minute mile, so that's pretty good for the first time. My goal is to get that down to an 11 minute mile pace by the race. I figure if I shoot for that while training, I will probably be able to at least do the 11.5 pace on race day.

I am now at starbucks grading. :frown: Will check back with you all when I've had some *success* in this area as well.

Exercise Goals 2/23:
Sat--walk gunner DONE + long run DONE
Sun--core
Mon--walk gunner + gym
Tues--walk gunner
Wed--walk gunner + gym
Thurs--rest day or maybe core (I have a baby shower after work)
Fri--walk gunner

Grading Goals:
1. x/16 Good Deeds essays
2. x/57 Gatsby Journals
3. x/14 AP research presentations

GHD= 21/28 days minimum 80 grams of protein

@MacBeth - That's a big part of the problem. I really struggled getting back on track after visting my family.

@Skinny - The big 4-0 (shudder) is April 7th. Six weeks, for some reason I thought it was 10. That stinks, at 1200 calories a day I'll be able to hit 204, but I doubt I'll take off more than that. Boooo. Oh well, two weeks AFTER I turn 40 I'll be in ONEderland.

Susan, wb! I'm glad you're loving your new job! It makes all the difference when you get up every morning looking forward to your day.

@kelley--way to go! GS cookies have never been that appealing to me (thank goodness!).

@kris--don't shudder too much--40 isn't much different than 39. At 43 I'm way "younger" healthwise than I was at 40 or 39 or 38. Actually, I'm probably healthier than I've been since my early 30's.

@susan--was wondering when you would pop in again. Glad to hear the new job is going so well! I agree 100% with kris--I could never go through life hating my job, no matter what the pay. At one point in my life I took a 50% pay cut b/c I hated my job in educational sales and wanted to get into the classroom. I don't regret it at all.

Well I finished one class of Gatsby journals--they wrote them IN CLASS so no worries about cheaters. :laugh: (This wasn't the class that cheated anyways. ). They're actually pretty good overall--of course, I'm so biased when it comes to The Great Gatsby--it is, hands down, my favortie book to teach. I wish I could just teach it all year long (to students who love it as much as I do, of course). That would truly be my dream job--I should have been a Gatsby scholar...

Grading Goals:
1. x/16 Good Deeds essays
2. 27/57 Gatsby Journals
3. x/14 AP research presentations

Exercise Goals 2/23:
Sat--walk gunner DONE + long run DONE
Sun--core
Mon--walk gunner + gym
Tues--walk gunner
Wed--walk gunner + gym
Thurs--rest day or maybe core (I have a baby shower after work)
Fri--walk gunner

GHD= 21/28 days minimum 80 grams of protein

Happy Saturday, folks... and welcome to our new friends!
Had to do some major catching up - and if I try to do personals for all that I want, my computer will 'splode. It's been incredibly busy around here, and not necessarily in a good way. Just trying to keep head above water at the moment.

Either my scale is seriously screwed up (always a possibility) or i'm yoyoing all over the place. No matter how careful I am with my numbers, I'm getting nowhere at light speed. On the plus side, we are back to the (new) gym, and I'm seeing a difference in my clothes again (just not the bleeping scale!).

Jealous of the great vacations - hope you all have a blast!

March Challenge- What type of challenge do we want for the month?

exercise? food? other suggestions?

Skinny, I like that March challenge.

I found a way to get all this water down that the DR wanted me to drink.

1 slice navel orange, one slice minneola tangelo, 1 slice lemon, and 1 slice lime.

Good Morning. I have now officially lost 50#. I have averaged 10# a month since I joined this group, but my loss for Feb is only 4#. I guess considering all of the birthday cakes, etc. I am lucky to have a net loss for the month. March should be much easier. By way of introduction for the newbies, I have divided my goal into 25# groups. Its easier for me to face it that way. I have now reached a goal twice, and am starting on my next one! Looking at the overall picture, I may be on target to reach ONEderland by my 69th birthday in May and my third goal by mid-June. That is what I'm looking forward to, although there isn't a lot I will change. I just plan to keep on keepin' on.
I hope that everyone has a great Sunday. Kaye

Personals today- I finally have a few minutes to do some!

I have missed you guys. Thank you for the kind words. I am trying to keep in positive spirits, which is normally very easy for me...but since last week has become very hard to find the silver lining in the cloud. Hubby and I talked last night and he has the same fears as I do. He's afraid I won't like him sober, which is something I did find funny because he's so much better that way. He's very cranky and irritable when he's drunk. He's a lot of fun when he's not. So, I guess we are starting off on the right foot again. Today, I am going shopping. I'm going to use my $50 gift card to Lane Bryant but I'm not sure that I will fit into anything there. I am hoping to find a cute pair of jeans, but last Christmas, I was *barely* able to shop there being on the bottom end of their sizing. I found 2 shirts that I LOVE and still wear. Now that I've lost 15 lbs I'm not sure I will fit into anything there. It's a shame because they have really cute clothes that I just love. That will push me into the *upper* limits of other department stores and while they might have cute clothes, they mostly aren't in those sizes...at least that I've found. But we'll give it a shot and see what I come home with.

@Kaye I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. I couldn't imagine losing one of my little kiddos. That has got to be so hard on the parents. My thoughts are with you and with them. Good job on the 50lb loss

@Robin I'm glad your doctor is weaning you off the Pred! Hoping the swelling in your legs will go down soon.

@Lin good job on the GHD challenge. I bombed lol. I ate chocolate and didn't hit 8 glasses of water at all. :blushing:

@Helena Nice rant. Glad you were able to get it all out. Just wait. Like Skinny said they will see the weight you are losing and *keeping* off and it will be without all the tricks and gimmicks and they will wonder what you did right. In the meantime, just brush it off your shoulders girlie. You're a tough cookie. My boss, who I LOVE, is ordering some kind of berry, but last month it was a variation of Atkins. I showed her MFP but it didn't really interest her. So I'm just going to let it alone and keep doing what I've been doing. After all, it is working, can't argue with success.

@kelley I hate that word too. I was considered Obese Class iii according to my BMI:grumble: ....but if you asked anyone around me, I don't think they would've guessed because even at 257 (my highest) I am tall and hide my weight well. I've just come to accept it, but I don't like it. I am Class II right now. Working my way down Good for you for saying something tho to him. I wish I had guts to tell people what I really want to.

@courtney welcome!

@jtconst Sorry to hear about your experience with Tmobile. I agree with Des about facebook/twitter. Just recently I had great success with Verizon allowing me to upgrade 4 months early because of a facebook post. My phone was on the fritz and my contract was set to end a month before I was allowed to upgrade. Long story short, Verizon allowed me to upgrade 4 months early and purchase the Note 2 at discount. The guy at Best Buy who sold me the phone (on sale!) said he'd never seen Verizon ever allow someone to upgrade that early since they had stopped the early upgrade program. It's worth a shot.

@kah & skinny have you seen fast n loud ? Hubby and I are in love with that show. Our new fav and the guy is really cute and funny!

@melancholy happy vacation!! enjoy it!:drinker:

@mowmow thank you for your words. They really helped yesterday I was thinking about those of you with kidney issues...at work, we usually put the dogs/cats on Milk Thistle for liver/kidney issues and it helps. Not sure if it works in humans, but couldn't hurt to ask your Drs right?

@mackbeth sorry to hear about your tummy troubles but at least there was some good that came out of it. Good for you for being so near your goal! and that is AWESOME about your new bike!!

@kjeffries GOOD JOB!!! :drinker: :drinker: I wish they had a smilie that clapped and jumped up and down. A 2+ lb weight loss is awesome. I always am so happy if I lose more than a pound at a time.

@skinny thank you...I wish it was that he was reacting to my weightloss but i don't think that's what did it. He had an entire night he didn't remember and had one of those "i'm getting too old for this" moments and to top it all off he finally realized that he's got the mentality of if he has 1 he has 18 (just like the song) or more and he can't stop at just 2 or 3. It was a bit rough that jumping off point, but he's 7 days into it....we will see where it goes. Nice job on the run. I envy you for running!! i'm not at that point...YET!!

@susan I am so glad you are back and are enjoying your new job!!


@laurie don't sell yourself short...getting the boat pointed back in the right direction is a victory in itself You're doing great...even if you've seen those lbs before.



So this made me smile all week.... I hope that someone else could use a laugh too:

Good morning everyone! :flowerforyou:

@kelley--I'm not into any award shows. I rarely go to the movies, so I have no opinions about who should win what. I did DVR the grammys, but it was only so I could fast-forward through and watch the performances.

@kristen--glad you and the hubs talked. I'm pretty sure MOST people are much more pleasant sober, regardless of how "fun" they think they are drunk. Remember Fun Bobby on Friends? I don't think that really happens in real life.

@kaye--Congrats on reaching your 50 lb goal!! :drinker:

Sunday Share:
Today I'm going to get my hair cut and highlighted--it's been way too long and I am in desperate need, so I'm glad my stylist had a cancellation today. Otherwise I would have had to wait another 2 weeks! :noway: My appt. isn't until 2, but I'm going to go early and grade at the nearby starbucks until my then. Afterwards, I need to go get baby shower gifts for 2 colleagues. We are having a combined shower on Thursday after work. Someone suggested that, since we're English teachers, we all by the babies books so they can start their libraries, so it's off to Barnes & Noble for me--much more appealing than Babies R Us.

I also need to get some running shoes. Yesterday I went to the new shoe place in town. I thought it was a running specialty store, but once I got inside, I realized it's more of a specialty shoe store. Most of the shoes were orthopedic brands, and the only brand of running shoes they carry is New Balance. It's a fine brand, but I know from previous fittings that they don't work for my foot shape. I will hit DSW this afternoon and see what I can find. The fitting will have to wait for the next time around when I have time to go to my favorite running store 45 minutes away.