Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

@Teresa My goodness! Glad you got that taken care of. Take it easy and feel better.
@Melifornia I too had a weird food day. Half a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, then dessert at book club, supper was okay, but not the greatest. I too stayed under calories, but feel like something is missing...Yeah, like vegetables!
@cblue Did you enjoy the sunshine today? I did; then it was gone. Boo.

AFM: Been "lurking" but haven't had much to say. I did manage to lose a pound this week. IF I can just keep doing one a week I will be happy. That eventually will add up and show.

I hope everyone is feeling better and doing well.

Barb(mountmary)

womblesgirl wrote: »

Lauriek70 sorry I spied your comment about your child and you maybe being slightly worried of her/him starting school as he/she will have to sit for long periods. Well it's just That it could be worth trying to tie a piece of elastic around 2 of his/her chair legs that way they can put their feet behind the elastic and kind of kick stretch it out thus giving them something to do.

Sorry off subject of weightloss just thought might be a bit of useful or useless information

womblesgirl: That is a great idea and I know of elementary teachers who do that. However, the message was from MKknits. I don't have kids of my own but I do teach 125 eighth graders and that is great birth control. It's okay to mix us up, my message was right below it.

Truth- I have enjoyed my three days of exercise free days with no regrets. I was going back to the gym today but once I got to the gym and changed clothes, I realized that I forgot my tennis shoes- bummer. My friend and I opted to go to dinner early. It was very nice evening and I actually had a chance to enjoy dinner without rushing. Then I ended up at Giant picking up flowers, for a friend who lost her dad last month. I just found out about it this week. Needless to say, I made my own flower basket for about a third of the cost from a flower shop.

I am looking forward to climbing tomorrow and exercising again. My knees are healing and the bruises are disappearing. I just hope that I won't hit them again on Friday night.

Have a great Friday.

@laurie--your comment about your students being great birth control made me LOL. I didn't want kids even before I started teaching, but being around teenagers all day is a constant reminder that I made the right choice. Glad your knees are healing. Can you wear knee pads?

@kaye--I'm in the same exact boat as you. I had gotten down below my ticker weight of 183 and today the scale read 188. This has been my life for the past 2 years. Needless to say, it's been frustrating. For me though, I think it's not so much that my relationship with food hasn't changed. I eat very differently than I used to in terms of portion and somewhat the types of foods as well. My problem still seems to be those occasional "binge" days. I know the scale this morning was more of a result of too much sodium in all of the treats yesterday and it will probably be gone tomorrow, but it still makes me angry that I didn't just say no to the muffins and danish in the first place.

@barb--a pound a week is the perfect pace IMHO. Great job!

@mel--I had a similar food day b/c of journal conferences with my students. I managed to eat a hard boiled egg during my 3rd period open. Then had conferences through most of my lunch--literally had 4 minutes to heat up and scarf down some boneless skinless chicken breast. Add the protein bar I ate during study hall and I managed to keep myself from reaching that "starving" state, but none of it was enjoyable--really just fueling the machine.

@teresa--whoa! Glad you caught the problem before it ruptured--take care to recover fully before doing too much.

@mara--I really miss strength training, but with my shoulder injury I haven't been able to do much lately. Looking forward to getting to the doctor tomorrow. WOuld really like to get this healed so I can lift again.

@slim--I get what you're talking about. I occasionally have a day when my students are testing all day and I get a little restless just sitting at my desk. At least I have a podium in my classroom, so I can stand and grade, but it's not much help. Are there any chair exercises you can do to ease the boredom? Or, even if you can't get away for a few hours, could you get up and take a brisk 5-10 minute walk? I know when we have all day meetings (like on institute days), I will do a full circuit of the entire school during our brief breaks between sessions. It helps a bit.

@bluetopaz--welcome! Your comment about the bugs made me laugh. b/c I had a similar experience moving from the city (Chicago) to the suburbs. So many weird bugs I'd never had to deal with in a more urban environment--you would think a half hour drive wouldn't be a big difference but it is. As far as the walking, is there a community center or Y you could join with a walking track? I am a runner, but am quite a wuss when it comes to running in the cold, so I do the treadmill most of the winter. If budget is an issue, what about finding a mall to walk?

@erin--that's so sad about your friend, and so frustrating that in this advanced age there are still such medical mysteries. Hugs to you.

@lucha--welcome! Sounds like you have the right attitude--it's about making changes you can live with forever.

@tammy--glad you are are starting to get better.

@kelley--I tried ocean kayaking in the DR and actually found it more taxing on my legs than my upper body. I had to tense up my thigh muscles so much to stay balanced in the kayak that they were fatigued in about 20 minutes.

@holly--woohoo for the 4 lb loss!

@hansea--as much as I love to run, I am definitely guilty of the "run to eat" mentality. Just switching from TDEE -10% to base calories + eating back exercise calories has made a big difference in my motivation to get to the gym and the amount of calories I'm burning while there.

@lori--I also have no motivation to do anything about my messy house. My DH still isn't working, so he takes care of the day to day stuff. However, he loves to cook so tends to spend 90% of his efforts in that space unless I give him a specific job to do. He also sucks at doing laundry. Fortunately, it's just the 2 of us, so that's not a big job for me.

Thursday Truth:
I kind of vented it to kaye above. I went off the rails as far as food yesterday. Made up for it at the gym, but still, it makes me angry at myself that I couldn't just say "NO!" and skip the treats. I did much better today, but I'm not really sure what needs to change to avoid that in the future.

On a more positive note, I killed it as far as grading today. Even with almost no open time during my preps, I managed to get through all of my juniors' SL annotations. After school I tried to extend that mojo by going to starbucks, but I was spent and just scrolled through my FB feed and caught up on posts here for the better part of an hour. At that point, I put my mantra into play and decided to do "just 15 minutes" of grading which got me through 2 essays before I packed it up and headed home. At least that's 2 less I need to finish this weekend.

2015 mantra = "Just 15 minutes"

January Challenge:
Under calorie goal: 14/15 days (goal is 28/31 days)
All-in: run 2 days/week: week 1 = 2/2, week 2 = 2/2, week 3 = x/2, week 3 = x/2
8k at end of month (not sure what day) in 56 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k = 56:49, NYE 8k = 57:47)

Grading Goals:
1. 16/66 AP essays
2. Tone test corrections
3. 25/66 AP journals
4. 60/60 SL annotations DONE
5. x/14 junior analysis activites
6. 13/66 journal conferences

Exercise Goals:
Sun--walk gunner DONE + gym DONE
Mon--walk gunner NOT DONE + gym NOT DONE
Tues--rest day (meeting)
Wed--walk gunner NOT DONE BUT WENT TO THE GYM
Thurs-- walk gunner NOT DONE + gym NOT DONE
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

@Skinnyjeanzbound - lol It is terrible, They have these crickets that have spider legs and can jump half way up my 5'2" shortness and a good three feet long ways. And they are hard to squish, and sort of act like moths, jumping which every direction. I am going to use the gym at school, three days a week. But it is an hour commute (20 miles away) so I don't think I will go on weekends. The other two days.. I have a full schedule. So I am not sure what I will do. Maybe weight training at home. At the moment I don't have a job, so the Y or community things are out. The mall is a good idea, but driving there would take a while and the time spent there. It isn't that I don't want to put time into working out. But I have to be conscious of my time. Worst comes to worse I will just pace the house while reading a book the best I can. lol I like that I am not the only one who is afraid of the cold... Chicago doesn't sound much warmer. I think it may be more cold there! And I am glad I am not alone on the bugs. *Shivers* Eh.. But Florida has bigger bugs... So I guess I shouldn't complain. lol

@lleecc - I have the same fear... well part of me is afraid I stay the same.. and part of me is afraid I will only lose 20 to 30 pounds.. and then gain that plus another 20 or 30. The way I have been pushing those thoughts off, is that this isn't a deadline, but a continuous part of life. It is like getting up early, well.. you have to get accustom to going to bed early. Or like learning.. or martial arts. They start with a white belt.. work through the rainbow. Get a black belt.. eventually the black belt wears down and fades, becoming white again. A never ending process of learning. In this case.. it is like a life long process of becoming a better you. I have been overweight most of my life, but only the past few years I have been out of shape. There is a difference. There may be a few months where you don't lose anything, but you gain endurance, and strength, and ability to breath, and jog or etc. Just remember you can do anything you put your mind to. You got this!

Thursday Truth ... I have had restaurant food for the past 3 days ... breaking a streak in my goal of only eating home prepared meals that i have kept for the past 34 out of 43 days. I'm just feeling too uninspired to cook in my messy kitchen. Promise to myself ... get back on the wagon of cleaning and cooking.

Calories At goal 15/15 (goal is 28/31)
follow-through Niki

@RobinsE - sending you hugs and positive thought waves.

So I know it isn't Thursday but here is my truth - I'm getting discouraged.

I'm eating well (sometimes my choices aren't always the best like pizza but they fit in my macros for the day), drinking plenty of water, and eating a lot of fruits and veggies. Last week I gained 3 lbs and I was sure it was water weight and would come back off this week - this morning my scale showed a half pound loss which is disappointing.

Logically I know this won't go fast and I know that probably the skin issues I'm dealing with are contributing to my gains and now super small loss - but it is still discouraging because I've been working so hard tracking daily, trying to make better choices, drinking my water and so on. I know right now adding exercise won't help because whenever I've added that in the past for the first 2 weeks I show big gains as my joints settle into things and the swelling in them goes down (which I am now discovering the swelling in my hands and feet in the morning and in some of my joints when I start up an exercise program could be related to the skin issue if this is indeed psoriasis).

I know I need to push through this and not give up, I know I need to commit to myself and put myself first. Maybe putting myself first means hiding our scale for a bit and just basing it off of how clothing fits and feels.

@Lois_1989‌ - I have an app on my laptop called Freedom which disables the Internet for a set amount of time. The only way to get around it is to reboot the computer which, unless it's some sort of weird Internet emergency, I'm not likely to do. It can also be scheduled to start at certain times of day. Thinking it's time to start using that again. Anyway! Congrats on the loss and stay strong!

@MKknits‌ - Hang in there. If you stick with your plan, even when it seems like you're not making any progress, then you're developing valuable skills like discipline and commitment. Remind yourself that time passes no matter what, and you'll be glad you used yours to create healthy habits.

I plan a productive day today - cleaning, laundry, writing, errands.

MFP Weekly Goals: January 11-17

Diet Goals

* At/Under calorie limit 5/7 days - 3/7
* No fast food 2/7 days - 1/7
* Plan meal for Sissy Night with healthy options for me -

Excercise Goals

* Gym for at least 30 minutes of cardio at least 3/7 days - 2/7
* Short yoga at home as part of Miracle Morning - 6/7

Health Goals

* Take meds daily - 4/7
* Refill pill box when empty - DONE

Personal Goals

* Follow Miracle Morning routine 7/7 days - 6/7
* In bed, lights out by 10:30pm 5/7 days - x/7
* Tweak night time routine -
* Create concrete task(s) to accomplish after morning routine/before sitting down to work -

Cleaning Goals

* Finish decluttering kitchen -

Work Goals

* Edit mag profile #1 and file -
* Write mag profile #2 and send out for review -
* Write mag profile #3 and send out for review -
* Write mag feature and file -
* Set up interviews for mag profile #4 -
* Invoice magazines
* Write newspaper weekend feature #1 - DONE
* Write newspaper weekend feature #2 - DONE
* Invoice newspaper for weekend coverage - DONE
* Set up interview for newspaper profile
* Write newspaper precede #1 - DONE
* Write newspaper precede #2 -
* Invoice newspaper for work this week -
* Figure out shopping cart issue for e-commerce site
* Sub at high school on Thursday afternoon - DONE
* Send 5 pitches on behalf of PR client - DONE
* Follow up on pitches from last week - DONE

January All-In Goals

* Login to MFP daily - 16/31
* At/Under calorie limit 20/31 - 3/31
* Workout (besides yoga) 12/31 - 7/31

2015 Mantra: Live Intentionally

@mnwalkingqueen‌ - You definitely made the right choice getting out of that class. No one deserves to be treated like that! I hope you made it clear to the Registrar why you were dropping the class, and I highly recommend emailing the Chair of the Math Department as well. S/he needs to know how this instructor is behaving.

Friday Fitness (could also be viewed as my Thursday Truth)…been a tough week with fitness. Monday …to sore to walk. Tuesday…sister was sick. Wednesday…no excuse, just didn’t go. Thursday…put the wrong color fondant on a cake so I had to start all over. With the restart I didn’t get done until 1:30 so I’m glad I skipped the gym or I would have had to take vacation day so I could get it done. BUT…the cake will be picked up by 7:00 tonight so we’re hitting the gym after that.

@Holly…if I don’t get logged in before the end of the work day, I’m most likely not going to be posting (see yesterday for example). I know I do better when I get on here and read from everyone and post myself – helps me focus. Too bad about your math professor – very unprofessional…would have been nice to get it out of the way. I’ve always loved math. Right now, my daughter is learning the “new” math and that means I can’t really help her as I don’t know how to do it. They say that those that don’t learn math the traditional way will be really helped with this new option of learning…I wonder if you could do some of that. Might help you with your upcoming math classes. I believe they have it on the internet quite a bit or maybe reach out to the local school for information.
@Tom…was there nothing going on for January 15th? I see that World Humanitarian Day is celebrated August 19th.
@Kelley…we reached 42 yesterday!! And it is suppose to stay in the 30-40 range until next Wednesday – heat wave!! One of my favorite “adventure” excursions in Alaska was doing the zip line. If you can work it in to the budget and timing, I would highly recommend it. I think Karen has a good point about kayaking. I’ve only done it in small lakes…doing it in the bay/ocean will be much wavier.
@Hansea47…interesting how your day off looks busier than other days.  You must be a MOM???!!!!
@ereilly311…so sorry to hear about your friend. Tragedies like that can really spin people for a loop. I agree with your take away though…I lost my dad at a younger age (63 – not nearly like your friend, but pretty early for a man that had a 90 year old dad). You do need to remember that life can be taken away at any moment and that it’s best to live life to the fullest. He kept saying “when I retire..” Never got that far and so I’m not saving my adventures for retirement.
@Teresa…glad you are on the mend. My daughter had an emergency appendectomy this fall so I’m glad they caught it before it ruptured (Emma wasn’t so lucky). But lady….don’t GOOGLE things!! No better way to think you’re dying than to google things. HA!
@Kaye…you can do this. One day at a time.
@Laurie…glad your “rest” has done you well. When Emma was little, she was allergic to her formula. Before we figured it out, she would have periods of extreme crying. I, as her mother, had moments that I would set her in her crib and go outside for a few minutes so I didn’t have to hear her and just cry myself. One evening, I had a teenage girl and her boyfriend babysit while the mother and I went for dinner and a couple of drinks. Emma had cried at least 2 of the 4 hours. She told her Mom that it was bad enough that she didn’t want to have sex and become a mom accidently.  
@Karen…my husband will now be home with us in the evenings. Plus he’s gone from 60-80 hours per week to just 40. Right now he feels like he’s on vacation and shouldn’t have to do too much around the house. I’m gonna give him a week to relax and enjoy his new found freedom but after that we might have to have a serious talk about some household duties. Although to be fair to him, he has done a wonderful job of being the parent that takes and picks up the kids from their activities.
@melifornia…your friend has the job my son wants. 
@MKknits…I can understand your frustration…15 days before my scale moved. Just keep at it and it’ll eventually lose the battle and give you the victory.

AFM…yesterday was a bad food day but I never even logged it. At first it was just a “oh crap, I forgot” and then it turned into “what the heck did I eat…can’t remember.” On the plus side I was on my feet for most of the evening doing a large cake that’s due today so I burned more calories than normal. Today will be a better day as I can just START AGAIN after a tough one.

Looking forward to the weekend. We have no formal plans so I might have to take in a movie. Haven’t seen one in a while. Have a great day everyone!

Good morning all.

Happy International Hot & Spicy Food Day
It’s International Hot & Spicy Food Day! Archaeological evidence suggests that people have been using hot spices in their recipes for over 6000 years. Did you know that the hottest chili pepper in the world is the Naga Jolokia? On average, one of these peppers is over 170 times spicier than a jalapeno pepper!
Throughout the world, there are hundreds of different spices that contribute to an array of hot flavored foods. Hot foods can actually be very good for you because of their medicinal and antimicrobial properties. Garlic, chilies, onions, allspice, and oregano all kill bacteria and make food safer to consume.
To celebrate this holiday, try a few hot peppers or hot sauces with your food today!
15 Hot Recipes for International Hot and Spicy Food Day

“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” – Muhammad Ali

Tom

@mnwalkingqueen Holly, how horrible. That guy should NOT be teaching! A good teacher HELPS his students! I am glad you chose to wait for another teacher.

@MKknits I sure can understand your frustration. I hope the Dr. can find the solution to your skin problems.

@Niki Time to cook again. You KNOW you are happier and feel better when you do. Gotta admit though I sure didn't want to do it either last night....at our age it seems we have been doing this 1000 years! LOL

@Robin HI Ellen. I hope things are going well for you.

It is mid morning and I think I had better get back to work.

Make it a good day everyone.

Barb(mountmary)

Thanks everyone for the encouragement.

My PA suspects it is psoriasis because of how I responded to prednisone - it went away when I was on the high dose but came back as soon as they started weaning me off of it plus it rebounded (so it came back about 3x as bad) which I guess is common when you treat psoriasis with steroids and not common with allergic reactions (which is what they thought it was at first). Apparently only a dermatologist can diagnose and treat psoriasis though so I'm on my own until I get in with one - and the closest apt they had was May 1 (just the thought of itching for that long is driving me nuts), though they did add me to a cancellation list so there is a chance I could get in earlier. For now I'm treating it holistically which provides some relief to the itch but isn't treating the bigger issue and the bigger issue needs to be treated.

@kah68 - EKKK! As big as rodents? Nope! No thank you! lol I can understand why... this cold makes my bones ache so much!

@MKknits‌ - I am sorry I read your post to mmwalkingqueen! But that is a BAD BAD math teacher! Statistics is stressful enough on its own, same with math. And she shouldn't be a teacher if she can't solve her own problems, and explain why each thing is and where you are making your mistake. Or be able to work through the problem correctly. I am sorry you had to deal with her. I am glad you aced it with another teacher! You go girl!

Friday Fitness:
I start school Tuesday, January 20th. So I plan to use the school gym.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I am thinking of either using the treadmill, elliptical, or just walking around their inside lap belt thingy for an hour to start off with. I haven't been active for a while. So I think I will do this the first and perhaps the second week just to get in the habit of going. I am not sure what type of equipment is there, this being only my second semester. I would like to incorporate some strength training, but I am not even sure where to begin.

Food wise.. I am unsure. My two busy days Tuesday and Thursday, I will only have 15 minutes in between classes. So... I think just a small amount of snacks in between.

I am just starting out. So if you have any advice please share!

@bluetopazsnake‌~I finished my college degree while working full-time and my schedule was so crazy. To this day I don't know how I did it. What's funny is that I didn't even know there was a fitness center on campus until after I graduated and I "happened" upon it when I attended a career expo! Really nice facility, too with Olympic size swimming pool and cardio machine after cardio machine! Anyway, I went to a fairly large college with fast food places on campus--so I frequently got a sandwich from Subway. It travels well, so you could pick one up before heading to campus. I also had protein packed snacks in my bag that traveled well like protein bars (i.e. thinThin, Luna), single serving bags of mixed nuts, or half of a peanut butter sandwich--snacks like that along with a bottle of water often kept me from feeling hungry. Oh, and I chewed sugar free gum--I was usually in classes until after 10pm, kept me awake.

@kah68 - That is impressive. I only work part time, just not the last two semesters. Like the last one or this one. I have been out of school for two years due to moving and trying to become a resident of the state. lol Sounds like something I would do. You just get so busy with life and especially with a full time job, you don't really have time to see all that a campus has to offer. That sounds awesome, the sandwich thing. lol I am going to try to stay away from the Hot Dog "Varsity Dog" food cart. They sell amazing quesadillas. But they are so not good for you at all! I am not sure how I am going to survive this semester. I have fallen so behind on my studying for the P-exam.. as you can see. And I should be doing more practice problems. Like every second of the day. ;-;