Dropping pounds with inspiring pals [CLOSED GROUP]

Thanks Ladies! lol

How is eveyrone doing today! I'm struggling with what to do for lunch... we only really have fast food restaurants around my work, and my hubby packed my lunch and some how forgot the "lunch" part.. all I have is my snacks LOL

Oh no!! Well, he tried!
I do well with my Lean Cuisines and Weight Watcher frozen meals for lunch. Easy to grab out of the freezer when I'm running late (which is always!) for work.
We have a grocery store near my work that sells pre-packaged salads in the produce department. They are called "Ready Pak Bistro Bowls." I love them! The highest one I've seen is about 290 calories for the Chicken Cesar. I love the Spiniach Salad with chicken, cranberries and almonds. I have that and a fruit salad sometimes, fills me up!
Hope you find something good for lunch!

Hello!

I am Dasha - a.k.a. SassyMissDasha .. I am *gasp* 30 years old. I have 3 children, 1 from my first marriage ..I eloped in Vegas, and 2 little ones from my second marriage to my current hubby Daniel .. well not curent .. lol you know what I mean. I also have struggled with weight all my life. I don't remember most of my childhood, and I have been told I block out stressfull events .. which is kind of good I guess, or might be bad. If I knew maybe it would make me a stronger person. But anyways, I finally had the lapband in February/2006 .. I was 394 lbs at the time. I initially lost 94 lbs with the help of it, went to Curves and Weight Watchers .. then I got pregnant with my last baby - and had to have the band loosened. So after that I just basically gave up, started eating everything and drinking pop again. Then my dad passed away in September/2009 on my son's 4th birthday. So I just didn't even care anymore, I was so lost and depressed. Last year I was at 405 lbs. When I started MFP, I think I was around 387. Then my cousin and uncle came to visit from Russia and we had taken some pics together, and I saw them ..and I guess I had a "epiphany" ..and finally put my foot down and said that is enough. Went in and got my lapband filled again, and have lost 162 lbs since then. So currently I am at like 241 - 243 .. depending on the day. But I'm ok with that for now.

I am hoping to lose 60 - 70 more lbs, so I can be around 180 - 190. I am tall 5'9 .. so I don't want to be too skinny, just healthy.

Can't wait to get to know you all!

Thanks Ladies! lol

How is eveyrone doing today! I'm struggling with what to do for lunch... we only really have fast food restaurants around my work, and my hubby packed my lunch and some how forgot the "lunch" part.. all I have is my snacks LOL

Oh no!! Well, he tried!
I do well with my Lean Cuisines and Weight Watcher frozen meals for lunch. Easy to grab out of the freezer when I'm running late (which is always!) for work.
We have a grocery store near my work that sells pre-packaged salads in the produce department. They are called "Ready Pak Bistro Bowls." I love them! The highest one I've seen is about 290 calories for the Chicken Cesar. I love the Spiniach Salad with chicken, cranberries and almonds. I have that and a fruit salad sometimes, fills me up!
Hope you find something good for lunch!

Ya I use to be a faithful Lean Cuisener until I start tracking carbs, which thye are filled with! .. so I went off them, mostly now I do chicken and salad... and even some of the prepackaged salads at the store I won't touch...

Sorry I am a little late to the game!

My name is Tessa and I am 39 years old. I started working on losing weight and getting healthy in January and joined MFP in February at 273 pounds (I am 5'7"). Since then I have been exercising regularly (I'll list what I am doing below) and eating as "clean" as I can afford to with food prices being what they are. I have lost 57 pounds and am currently 216 as of my last weigh day. My diary is public, so feel free to have a look.

Please understand that this is just history, not an excuse for my weight gain. I know I am responsible for my body and I hold myself accountable for my actions.

I have not always been overweight, but I have always had body image issues and was comfortable with how I looked for a really short window of time. I exercised and ate healthy, but I was "chunky" in high school (150 pounds) and just "average" in my early twenties (135-140 pounds), in southern California, this kind of equals fat and that is how I was treated by a lot of people, I felt ugly and invisible all the time. In my late twenties I started running longer and longer distances until I was finally up to 10-15 miles a day and 25 miles on weekends. I trained for distance events and was very fit, weighing 125 pounds with low body fat. For the first time I could live with myself and the way I looked. About 4 years later I moved to Washington state and met my current partner. After we started living together we decided to have children and that's when things got difficult.

I knew I had weird internal issues, but had always been told I could have children. I had a "double" uterus and two cervix, not a hugely rare occurrence and after it was diagnosed I was told I could carry on either side of my uterus and it generally didn't cause complications during labor. However, over the course of a year and a half I had three miscarriages (one of them mid term), two laparoscopic surgeries to remove endometriomas and then finally a radical hysterectomy to remove a massive (benign) tumor. The surgeon informed me that my ovaries were so riddled with cysts it was doubtful that I would have been able to carry a pregnancy to term even without the presence of the tumor, which due to the size of my uterus and the fact that I overproduce estrogen, grew to a enormous size very rapidly. Hysterectomies usually take place with the same type of cut that is used for C-sections, but I had to have a full abdominal cut, opening me up almost from hip to hip. I was in the hospital for two weeks and then put on strict bed rest and light activity after that. I started physical therapy as soon as I could but overdid it and ended up rupturing some internal (and external) sutures and got a severe infection, requiring a second surgery to clean everything up. I didn't know I was overdoing it because I had lost a great deal of sensation, I still don't have much feeling in my lower abdomen.

I had already gained weight in the hospital and afterward at home from the inactivity. Runners who stop running usually pack on pounds pretty fast and I was no exception. Then after the recovery set-back I put on even more weight and the whole concept of not being able to have children with the person I had been waiting my entire life to meet started sinking in. I have struggled with depression my whole life and this series of events just slammed into me and knocked me off my feet. Shortly after my medical problems, my department went through budget cuts and I lost my job. Now I was free to sleep all day, drink alcohol and eat one big fatty meal a day after my partner went to bed, which is what I did for what seems like forever. I packed on 148 pounds in about 5 years and felt like killing myself (which I more or less was).

Then I had that epiphany that many people here talk about. I realized my partner and I weren't having sex and hadn't in a long time, I was afraid to let him see me naked and I hated it when he tried to touch me because I thought that all he could feel was fat. I wasn't technically overeating but I was consuming empty calories in alcohol, which goes straight to fat and only eating one meal a day, which I hid from my partner because I was so ashamed to eat in front of him. I was destroying my relationship and my health. Although I worked from home for people in my academic department doing research and other data crunching, I wasn't even really employable. I could not see how my life could continue as it was so I gathered up all my strength and got to work changing it. And here I am.

I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and offering support and encouragement!

Fitness Friday:
I go to the gym 6 days a week and have Sunday as a "rest day".

Monday-Wednesday-Friday I do straight cardio, 30 minutes on the elliptical alternating programs, 40 minutes on the treadmill (alternating between jogging and walking at an incline) and 20 minutes on the rower. I also do 10-15 minutes of abs at home.

Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday I do cardio and strength. I do 20 minutes on the elliptical using either the "hill" or "strength" setting, then 60 minutes of weights, then finish with another 20 minutes on the elliptical.

Weekdays I also walk 3 or so miles in the morning with the dog, usually about 60-70 minutes depending on the route. Weekends my partner and I try to get out for longer walks, 4-5 miles and we are working on adding miles as we go.

Friday: I've discovered over this past week that any movement is good for you. I've been really sedentary for the last few years and especially bad the last couple or so where I barely got out of my recliner mainly due to depression. Because of that I've put on a lot of weight causing my back and hips to really hurt whenever I try to do anything for an extended period of time. My doctor recently put me on a pain patch that has made a world of difference for me and I've been able to get up and get moving a lot. So I decided to start excercising 30 minutes, 5 days a week. Well, in the meantime I've been spring cleaning because I'm feeling better. Well, between the two, I overdid it...lol. So the doctor said no more exercise for a few days while I let the inflammation go down. I was having a hard time doing this because now after getting up and moving more, I have more energy and I just want to get up and do something. So I decided to keep up the spring cleaning and you know what? I feel great!! Both because I'm getting the exercise in (cause believe me I'm working up a sweat just cleaning) and because I feel better about myself because my house is cleaner and more presentable and that makes me feel good about ME! So, for right now my exercise is spring cleaning! I'm hoping to get back to my 30 minute aerobics in a couple of weeks when my body is more ready to handle that too, but for right now, as long as I'm breaking a sweat cleaning, then I'm doing ok!

That's great that your up and moving more. I really need to do some spring cleaning around my house, but sometimes I just look at it and decide closing my eyes is so much easier. Have you tried water aerobics? I hears that is a really great way to burn calories that isn't tough on the joins.

I love water aerobics! Unfortunately I live in a rural town and the nearest gym is 15 miles away and you have to join the gym in order to do the class and right now I can't justify the gym membership until I'm up and exercising more. Plus with these dumb gas prices it costs $6 to $8 a trip. So, all in due time :0)

Well, my plans fell through for the weekend and I'm thinking about going back to the gym for some running on the treadmill - maybe some practice in the pool?? Maybe I should just watch the 100 tv shows I have piled up on my DVR waiting for a night just like this....what to do???

Definatly go back to the gym and the pool sounds great! I miss the pool.. maybe tonight after my training I will do pool!! and HOT TUB!! oh yea now I am excited... and then relax witht he DVR well doing situps! kidding LOL



To EVERYONE: Wow this is gonna be hard to keep track ..LOL - Glad to see Evryone!!!