*** Supportive Friends -- Looking to Release 50+ Pounds ***

Hey All, just dropping in to say hi! Feeling good about myself and the progress I'm making. I'm at 9.8 lbs lost this month, and am down another pants size. Going to have a fun day tomorrow, my family and I are going to the Oregon Zoo. My boys are super excited, and my husband is dreading it. Since we're meeting up with other family members there, I'm looking forward to that. My brother in law is the one who had the idea. He is also on a weight loss journey, I just haven't gotten him to use MFP yet. He started above 400 and he's lost quite a lot so far, at least 60 lbs I think. Proud of him and happy for my sister. Anyway, need to spend today getting organized and packing a picnic lunch for the zoo. I'd rather know ahead of time what I'm going to eat. And it's cheaper too. But I've got to decide if I'm bringing the stroller for my younger one or if he can handle walking. And if I don't bring the stroller, where am I going to stash the lunch? LOL, guess I'm thinking out loud a bit.

Hope you all have a good weekend! Probably won't have time to check in tomorrow :bigsmile:

Hello and happy Friday everyone! It is another beautiful day here in Seattle. I hear the weatherman saying it won't last through the weekend. Bummer! I would rather ride my bike outside but I will go to the gym to get my calorie burn in if I have to. My goal for this weekend is to burn 1000 calories each day. I will be wearing my HRM to check my progress. Hope everyone is having a great day.

evdjohnson- good for you for not even looking up the calorie count. I am also very good at justifying eating things that I shouldn’t.

tnsumner- it is hard when you are surrounded by unhealthy foods especially when you are hungry. I feel for you, there are 2 birthday cakes in our staff lounge right now and even after eating what I packed I was sorely tempted to partake. I am hoping it is all gone when I go back in at break time because I don’t know if I have that much will power.

megblackburn- congrats on your 9.8 pounds this month. I love the zoo. Are you at the one in Portland? I was there last summer. Have a great time.

xtinalee17- hi and welcome. You can do it. Sometimes it just takes time and persistence.

I convinced my 3rd shift coworkers to do taco night instead of eating the crap we were bought. I also convinced them to use romaine lettuce for the shells, instead of tortillas. So, we're eating healthy tonight!!!!

Good afternoon everyone!

Just wanted to check in and say hi! I hope you are all having a good weekend!

That's it!

Good morning everyone. I had an excellent day yesterday and went over my 1000 calorie burn goal by quite a bit. Now, the decision is what to do today to reach it. It is rainy so a bike ride is probably not going to happen today either. :sad: I have tons of laundry to do so I am trying to think high burn in shorter time, maybe circuit training.

megblackburn - Look at you in your little white jeans and cute top. You look great! Congratulations at fitting in to them comfortably. Before too long they will be too big.

Well off to get some laundry done before deciding what to do to work out. Have a great day.

Oh my goodness. Sorry I have been away. Last week was uber stressful and way too busy. Things will be calmer for the next couple of weeks. I read through the updates; WOW so many!!! Welcome to all the new people! CONGRATS to all those who had such wonderful successes! And, kick in the tushie to those who need it (me included). Have a wonderful Sunday!!

Does anyone know what helps with getting rid of that bloated feeling? Is there anything I could do to reduce it? I have a pretty low salt intake if that has anything to do with it and I avoid cheese cos that makes me so bloated. I don't have much knowledge on this as you all can probably tell but I'm sure you'll all correct me

Thanks x

I like this thread. Seems nice! Just jumping in and hope I can keep up.

Me - I'm trying to get back in shape after slacking for two years. I've loss 22 lbs in about 7 months so far, and I'm on the slow road intentionally. Im looking for a sustainable path this time. I lost this weight in 2008 to 2009 on extreme low carb. It came off fast but I couldn't maintain that. I can't do much sugar even now so my carbs are moderate. This is working much much better for me. I have a crazy job, a family, and plan to go back to grad again...a program for doc...just to make a life goal. I am blessed with all I have but really need to work on my fitness. My motto now is to stay in balance no matter how long things take. I like using my treadmill as I watch the news.

Tnsummer- we had a puppy growing up with a little cart. He had an accident and my granddad didn't want to lose him. He did great with that contraption!

Megblackburn - I like both outfits although you do look quite nice now

Happy new week to all!

Add me!

Well my weekend was successful for studying. That was about all I did. I found out today, I got a B on my last calculus II test.

The future in-laws came over last night. I made everyone dinner. I wouldn't say it was the most healthy, but it isn't that bad... open faced sandwiches with pesto chicken and balsamic vinegar soaked tomatoes.

I have my last test tomorrow, a final on Thursday, and a final on Friday. Then I'm done!!!! SLEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!! I'll get around to sleeping on Monday I guess. I have a full weekend, again. Super excited though!!! I'm getting my hair done, going shopping at the outlets, and going to visit the in-laws on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I have a 6 hour wine tour with my boyfriend. It's a great way to celebrate the end of the semester!

How was everyone's weekend??

Welcome new posters!!

megblackburn - No beach for us so I did do Zumba and was SO tired afterwards!

sjo68 - WOW!!! Great job! Keep it going girl!

tnsumner - Don't you just love finals?! Let us know how you did tomorrow and good luck!

So, I started doing a fitness video hybrid called ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire. Oh. My. DOG. I did tons of research on it and have everything I need to do this hybrid and I can see now how people loose so much fat and tone up so fast. I did it for the first time today and was so weak that I was shaking for awhile after I finished the first video. Sweat was just pouring from my head and chest. Good Lord!! I had to do almost all the modified versions for what the trainer was doing. It really put into perspective just how weak my core and upper body are. Then I rested about a half hour and drank tons of water. Got the courage to do the next video and did it straight through. To be honest, I couldn't move as intensely as everyone in the vid did, so again, I did a lot of the modified postures and all that. It's a 12 week long program, so I'm excited to share my results with you!

Here is where I need some advice. These two programs aren't in the exercise database and I'm not sure what other exercises would compare to what I did. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how many calories are burned with both exercises but no one had a definite answer. All I came up with was that the TurboFire burns up to 500 or 600 calories in a half hour but that was for a woman that is about 5'9" and around 140-150 lbs.

I'm thinking I should get a heart rate monitor watch thing so I can accurately track calories burned accurately, right?

@tnsumner - congratulations on the results so far and way to end the semester with a wine tour - nice!

@meg - glad the zoo was a good trip. Sounds like the best thing is to rest the heel a bit but I do sympathise with your frustration. I'm finding I feel so much better with exercise.

@sjo68 - good effort with the 1000 calories burned each day. Sounds like you just need some nice weather them you can get the bike out!

@evdjohnson - great effort with the hybrid vid and you know what they say, if it doesn't hurt its not working I would definitely go for the hrm - I got one a year ago and it is far more effective than estimating on the database or finding that they don't have the exercise that you want.

@rdcphone572 - welcome! Know the feeling about being so tired after work. Sounds like you have the meal planning sorted well though - we plan our weeks meals out on Sunday. We don't always keep perfectly to the plan but it stops tired, unhealthy meal choices on the way home from work.

@danilooveidoo - welcome!

Well, I've had a busy couple of days. Housewarming on Saturday which was so nice and I didn't overeat! Although a glass of wine more than I should have done maybe! Sunday was spent in the garden and building Ikea office furniture for my husband. And somehow the scale claimed I had lost 1.6lbs - not sure I believe it but its the lowest for a while so I'll take it! Monitoring inches now as well as weight so we'll see how that goes.

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Joining in here (once again). I lost 70lbs on MFP in 2011-12. I haven't felt well for a long period of time and it's kicked me in the butt. I've been mad at myself long enough so now that I'm feeling somewhat better I'm ready to do something about it. I know this works and everyone on this thread has motivated me already! You're all amazing.

I live in Maine and the long winter is finally OVER!! I'm back outside for long power walks and hope to feel like myself again soon. Just sharing on here makes me feel better already! I've always been active with my kids and I'm so looking forward to getting there again this summer.

Friend me if you could use another cheerleader:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

tnsumner - Thank you! I definitely will have to do a before and after picture! You did inspire me to take my measurements last night so I did do that and have yet to take a before picture. I'm so excited about my program! I will have to keep an eye out for those hrm's.

megblackburn - Wow girl! You are doing just awesome. AWESOME! And I sure invite you to look into those programs! It'd be nice to have a buddy doing this! And you were right on the money with the circuit training idea. My fitness instructor friend got back to me about switching out the exercises and she told me for one she chooses circuit training and the other aerobic high intensity. It's seriously been inspiring watching how you are really sticking to getting healthy.

renaejae - Well welcome back then! That's great you want to get back on the horse again!

So, I was able to figure out what exercises to switch out with the ChaLEAN Extreme and TurboFire hybrid workout as you saw in my response to Meg. I entered in the minutes of my workout from yesterday along with the suggested exchanges from my friend and for the first video I did (strength training) - ChaLEAN Extreme in 35 minutes I burned 482 calories. From the second video (cardio) - Turbofire in 30 minutes I burned 361 calories for a total of just over an hour of work I burned 1,084 calories. I was so shocked!!

I definitely had muscle pain today and was kind of on the fence as to whether or not I should continue the second day of the program or rest (this was before my friend got back to me with the exercise exchanges) and feeling inspired from my workout yesterday I did the second recommended video from the program.

Well, "did" might be the right word to use. I got ten minutes in and I was sweating just as bad as before and could barely keep up at all. Then I had some weird emotional reaction because I got upset that I couldn't even step to the beat of the music and started thinking about how upset I am that I'm apparently so weak and that spiraled into being upset that I've let myself go for the past almost 9 years now. Well, I started bawling my eyes out in frustration and got so upset that I turned off the video at about the twenty minute mark. I calmed down and felt a little better but tried to remind myself that I'm really just starting out on the exercise part of my journey.

Anyhow, seeing how many calories burned in one sitting, doing this program and trying to keep up on calories I think I have to modify this program for myself, how much I eat and what kind of food I eat. First, seeing how much my muscles did hurt today, for the time being I'm going to do the program every other day until I feel myself getting stronger. My fitness instructor friend is going to get back to me on how I should change my caloric intake and I'm a little worried about it. My calories are at 1,700 a day and even doing the program every other day, in one week my burn would be around 4,000 calories. Because of the strength training part of the program, I need to be eating a lot of protein and feel unsure about how that it is going to fit my protein intake per day - if I'll go way over it and how that will affect the diet part of my "healthy" journey. Haha, guess I'm just being a big worry wart, huh?

Anyway, it looks like everyone is doing really well and I am honestly excited for all of you. Everyone that is just starting out, I'm glad you have the hope, will and drive to succeed. Everyone that is in the thick of your journey, I'm happy that you have been sticking with it and you have been an inspiration to me especially megblackburn, sjo68 and tnsumner.

Well, I am going to relax with some Modern Family and hopefully fall asleep a little early tonight! So, goodnight!

Hi everyone!

I've been doing MFP for about a month now, was doing WW before that.. Anyway I've been lurking for a while, and was wondering if I could join your group? (I've read some of your posts and you're so supportive of each other)!

Here's my story:

My name is Stacey, I'm a 38 year old SAHM of a 2 year old. I have been around the 200 pound mark for about 15 years, and after finally losing the baby weight, I'm right back where I started. This time, I ready to change my lifestyle, I'm completely committed.

Right now I'm focused on logging and working out. I'm doing 5-6 days a week of C25K and Jillian Michaels 30 day shred (3 days of each).

My struggle right now is that I'm scared to weigh in. I just don't FEEL like I've lost anything, and I don't think I could take the disappointment. I've never been so committed to exercising and yet the scale hasn't really budged. I've been reading a lot and I understand that it could be muscle gain, that time of the month, water retention, rarely going to the bathroom, etc., however, I really need the motivation that comes with a loss! Anyway, that's where I am today.

I'm going to try to post a before pic. I did take my measurements last week, so I'll be monitoring that too.

I'd love to join your group- I could use the support