I had foot surgery a couple of weeks ago. I had to sit with my foot above the level of my head as much as possible for two weeks. The stitches are out now. There's some swelling, but not too bad. I'm increasing my activity every day. It's amazing how weak you can get in two weeks! I have to sit down after everything I do. Goals are simple - keep increasing activity and keep tracking. 'Hope everyone is having a great Summer!

Copied from my today's feed post: Something's working!! Every morning, when I weigh on the great and mighty scale....I weigh in around 241....this morning 235.6! Hooorah!! .....but that only gets me closer to my ticker weight..which is 234....I want to knock it down to ...220 before I go to Tampa at the end of August....this time I want to make sure I don't let it slip back up! I have been eating steam /fried cabbage for supper 2 or 3 times a week...yes, with the bacon!! I am an over eater, and you can't get too many calories with cabbage....I've got two more bags prep chopped and waiting for me, so I have no excuses...I'm gonna beat this!!!
Mini goal...to eat lighter at night , which is my worst time of day.....I do wonderful things throughout the day and sabotage myself at night..
Still drinking more water...
Kobie, sorry about your foot.
Tonya, good to hear you!!
Susan, Lovely as always
Carol...get away from that Chocolate!!
Snoozie, I hope you had a great Canada Day!
Tammy, Listen to the Doctors...you got this!!
Did I miss someone? Hello to you!
The new members don't know what they are missing!!
Should we have a Pinned message ,explaining to just jump in and let us know and keep jumping in on our Monthly posts? just wondering...

Happy 4th to everyone!! Have fun and Play safe!!
Gail

OK Ladies, July is here, and time to claim your independence form old habits and be free to be healthy!



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:happy: I am claiming my independence from old bad habits, and my freedom to choose to be healthy! Thanks so much for the topic and the start up Susan!! I love this.. and so appropro considering both our countries are celebrating independance and freedom this month!! :drinker:

My goals for this month are varied, but all fall under the umbrella of making sure that I ask myself every single day: what will I do today that will get me closer to my two ( ultimate ) goals: hitting goal weight and bringing my blood sugar down to a normal level..

My goal for tomorrow is to stay below my calorie goal. This weeks goal is to successfully complete W2D1 of Couch to 5K. I started week 2 yesterday but couldn't jog for the entire time I was supposed to.

Susan, I feel for you In that chair...I've got to go to the dentist before the year is out or lose my FSA account. .:sad: .I don't wanna!!!:sad:
Phayes...Welcome!! and best wishes on the couch to 5k...you might not have been able to jog all the way, but you did what you could and you will get farther every time.
Snoozie, way to go ...preparing your lunch. you will get back to your goal weight. you are doing it !!

Today I walked for an hour; I made good choices for breakfast, and I am focusing on hydration today. Three things I have done today that will get me to my goal.

Morning Hatters!

Lovely to see a new face - warm welcome to you PTM! Excellent goals you have posted - I don't know much about the C25K - I looked into it once and I saw a lot of recommends from people who have done it, to not worry if you have to repeat a couple of weeks before moving on - several stayed in week one or two.. and for some reason week 4 rings a bell as being a week that a lot stayed at for a while before moving on... keep us posted on how you're doing?? Awesome way to get all the parts moving .. well done you!

Susan - just getting IN the dentist chair gets you extra calorie burn.... staying there for 2 hrs - bonus burn!! AND going to yoga afterward?? omg girl.... that's medal material!!! Super commitment to your goal woman.... (and you're a better woman than I for going after the visit.. kudos to you!!!

Gail: you must be still "hooked on a feeling" over your scale victory girl!!! I'm so pumped for ya.. truly I am!!! Hugs!!

Tonya... I can relate to the who did this mentality lol... I run a lot of events at work and i'm the type who also tries to make sure everyone is having a good time, no one sitting alone, and a wee bit of a control freak with details etc... but I started de stressing this year about stuff..... like it, don't like it, having fun, not having fun, don't like the food, music, venue.. whatever...??? Oh well... the complaint department is down the hall and to your right LOL... same with home visitors etc... I assume you're coming to enjoy my company and have some fun... we put far more pressure on ourselves than any of our friends or company ever do.. and life's too short to sweat the smalls stuff, eh?? So party on girl... and just enjoy yourself - let the rest of em worry about themselves lol!

have a great day Hatters.... and be good to yourselves... we deserve it!!

J - definitely one of the biggest challenges in getting to our goals for women our age are the myriad of responsibilities we've racked up over the years... and as women, we tend to put ourselves last on the list of things we gotta take care of.. (I'm not man bashing.. I love em, but the reality is men are far more able to put their needs ahead of anyone else.... and sometimes that makes me crazy I admit lol... ) it would be great if we could say from now on I'm putting me first. and put family and work and bills and life in general at the end of the list!! But the reality is that just isn't possible for most of it... but we have to remember we DESERVE to take even an hour or two a day to take care of us.. and sometimes we just have to insist... and remember that nobody is gonna give us that time for us..., we have to choose to take it and we not only have the right to do so, we owe it to ourselves. it's a mighty hard habit to break for sure.... carving out that me time is tuff but its so important IMHO. I have had to learn to say no, and to get over the initial guilt of wanting to do something for myself, but feeling like I "should" do something else... but I have no qualms about it now.. i'm worth taking care of and if that means someone else has to wait for what they want or need, so be it. I still have moments where I cave LOL.. but I'm much better at saying sorry...I'm not available right now! hang in there.... and be good to yourself!!!

Hi All!!
First a question on how to properly post an image here or even a link
2nd TY for being so supportive
3rd I have been eating healthy for a long time, not a single prepared or frozen thing in this house. All fresh fruits, veggies and meats.
I cook all my own meals and eat from a cake plate to help limit portion size. I am consistently under the calorie goal and not hungry.. so not really starvation here. I am failing miserably.
I have increased my activity as my COPD allows and the weight is not really dropping and the inches are not either.
I MISS my old metabolism!!!!
TY for listening

Morning Hatters!!

Susan - loved yur 4th of July pic lol.... hope you all had a fabulous celebration!!

Today I walked for over an hour, and added a bit of Bisland's famous "slogging" to kick it up a bit... and I'm about to go grocery shopping for some yummy healthy food - including I think some delish strawberries for dessert tonight!! Two things I have done today that will help me progress towards my goal :bigsmile:

Purple... you said you've been eating healthy for a while, and moving more ... but you're failing miserably because the weight or inches aren't coming off?? I can totally relate to how frustrated you must be.... my first 8 weeks on here I almost gave up because nothing seemed to be happening and I was doing everything right... the Hatters kept me sane and offered a lot of helpful tips and thoughts from their own xperiences.... so i'm going to try to do the same if it's any help..

Do you log your food? I know that until I started religiously logging everything in my mouth, I was only "guesttimating" and turned out I was way over the calories I had set for myself.. and I had set my cals too low as well. but once I realized just how many cals I was consuming and not burning off.. and that I was trying to make too big a deficit to "speed things up".... things started to change. I also kept flipping from one idea to the next when nothing worked... low carb here, eat more to lose more, etc etc... I tried everything (I thought). The frustration was huge... but eventually I managed to find what worked for me... it took a lot of experimentation and a lot of mistakes but I got there... and continue to keep figuring out what works for me as I lose th weight.... cause I have to change things up I've discovered...... perhaps if you share a little with us about whther you log, portion sizes, how often you eat nd what you eat.. that sort of thing... maybe some of us who've been here a while can offer a little advice if you want ..... but if not that's fine too.... everyone has to find out what works for them, and whatever it is we will support you! hang in there.. as long as you are eating well and moving you're doing GREAT things for your health remember.... so it's all a win! :flowerforyou:

Thank You SeeHe an Snoozy.
To answer your questions.. I have been religiously logging, even made sure my recipes are in as well. I make a mean mac and tuna and every garden veggie salad. My daily calorie intake was set by MFP at 1200 and I usually come up about 100 to 300 shy of that. I include my exercise and used buddyslim to figure out the calories burned by some of my daily activities like I hand wash clothes and must "sweep" away the small pond that forms on my walkway after a rainfall. I walk when the weather allows -South Florida hot as Hades now and have done a bit of yoga & calisthenics too. Oh and have been swimming more. I do have Asthma and COPD so all done in moderation of course. For portion control I have been using an 8 inch plate that includes the 1 inch rim so total real estate that carries food is 6 inches. The logging showed me that I eat a balanced diet. Makes me second think some foods like rice, pasta and breads.
here are a few samples
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9pHJvBK4O3EWDZwSG5YUE9wa3c/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9pHJvBK4O3ER0xhMkNxZUgzTDg/edit?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9pHJvBK4O3EamZzWWVYNi1RaEk/edit?usp=sharing

I am not good about eating early in the day. I usually am done eating by 8 or 9 pm depending on the day and how hot it is. The hotter it is the later and lighter I tend to eat.
Please feel free to point out what else I need to do.. I have never dieted before and this belly is awful LOL
TY

PS I do not trust my home scale.. it showed I lost many many pounds and then doc sale showed no lose at all.