Need to Lose 100 LBS -Robins Thread !

Hello all. I've skimmed through a couple of days and ready the opening post on this thread and yall look like my type of folks. Have always struggled with weight. Thought I was fat when I got married almost 18 years ago. I was just over 200 lbs. Oh I wish I were that "fat" now! Haven't really gotten serious about things and stuck with anything since I had a really great support group thread on AOL way back when. I lost about 70 lbs back then and if I recall correctly was in in the 230s. But alas that was several years ago now and I'm again at an all time high. Well I was. Restarted 3/8/2015 and have already lost 10 lbs. Yay Me. First week is a Gilead lot of water weight. Things will slow.

For now I'm not getting crazy. Starting slow and easy.

Goal this week (besides staying within calories) is remembering multi-vitamin daily and increasing water intake.

I haven't had a soda since I started. For me that's the easiest thing to cut. I'd rather spend those calories on a home baked good. My weakness is baking. I love to bake and eat it!

And the personal info. 45 next month. Married 18 years in May. Four awesome kids, DS16, DD15, DD13, DS10.

LOL should have read before I posted. Gilead? Really? How'd that get there. Gotta love a smart phone.

Welcome new comers and returnees ... @momjeeps; @AngelikaLumiere: new today, on my birthday!. Also welcome to those who came on since the last time I said hello to new posters ... @jdingus728; @canary40; @naiomi2015. Come back again and let us get to know one another.

Today is Tuesday Goals ... so far, the goals I had for today are pretty much right on ... since it's my birthday I had decided to just stay in and lounge about, eat what I wanted, goof off as I felt like doing, and not feel guilty about any of it. Had a lot of great messages, phone calls, greeting cards and my old beau sent me a green teddy bear in the mail. I had a cod fillet, an egg, and spring greens for breakfast, popcorn for lunch, beef and brocolli with brown rice for dinner, and a snack of baked yam and beets, also an apple found it's way in during the day. I also watched old-time TV and fooled around on Ancestry.com updaing the geneology line I'm working on for my granddaughter. I was supposed to go out with my niece today ... bless her, she was just fine with me suggesting we get together later in the week instead of today.

However, now that my treat day is coming to an end, I must set my goals for the rest of this week ... which are to wake up earlier and be productive housework-wise over the next day and a half. On Thursday, I want to have a free afternoon after the trash-man comes ... and spend it with the said-niece.

Calories have been good the past 3 days, staying within the new limit I set on Sunday morning. March Challenge was a repeat of February's and thus far the results are the same as then ... not good ... "I don't want to talk about it" bad.

Someone called for @Morgori ... and I second that! Come on Tom, we miss your daily updates and quotes. I hope you have just been busy and not something bad to have kept you and @MrsMorgori from posting.

@Mountmary84 ... thanks for the birthday card ... total surprise! IF i make it to the midwest in late August, maybe I can make it be by way of Michigan and we can have coffee together.

@FeraFilla ... congratulations on the 'bun in the oven' ... such good news!

@RobinsEgg ... nice new profile picture. Love your smile.

OOPS ... see it's time to get off. I'll do more personals next time.
Follow-through
Niki

Welcome back to all the familiar faces that have been missing lately. It is great to see you again. Welcome to all the new people.

I am just popping in tonight since I had a busy night and now it is getting late.

Nikki- Happy Birthday. Best wishes for the year ahead.

@nikki--Happy birthday!!

@momjeeps--welcome!

@melissa--I'm always amazed at how much energy it takes to just watch my one 3 year old niece.

@tanya--great job talking yourself down from the fast food! You'll have to let me know how you like the Fitbit Charge. I'm still on the fence about whether to buy a new HRM or a Fitbit when I get my summer pay in June. I've read some good and bad about the Fitbit. I'm really concerned with the allergic reactions many people have from the band--I have pretty sensitive skin.

@robin--I'm sure your step-mother appreciates the love and care you are giving her.

@barb--sometimes posting (confessing?) when I'm being lazy or making bad food choices helps me get back on track. Don't think you can't share the bad along with the good.

@susan--yes, better to figure out now what it is that's causing the the low test scores for Cyrus. Whether it's an LD or just some "missed" skills that need remediation, he's better off getting started now than waiting until he's in HS. As far as trying to get back on track--don't let yourself get too caught up in feeling bad about gaining back the weight, but try to encourage yourself with the knowledge that this time it will be easier b/c you know you can lose the weight (you've done it before) and you have a lot more knowledge about how to do it. Even though you're back at your starting weight, you aren't starting from scratch. Like tanya, I weigh myself often (every day that I remember) in order to see the little gains and nip it in the bud. I know a lot of people are against the frustrations of daily weighing, but my experience has taught me that I need that number to stave off any serious weight gain.

@kelley--great workout goals to get back into it!

@tammy--seasonal allergies are also getting to me already as well--and the snow just melted a few days ago!

@tracy--cute cupcakes!

Welcome to the other newlings!!

Tuesday Goals:
Just to get those essays finished by Thursday! Two classes down, one to go! I'm going to need to try to stay focused during my opens tomorrow--I have 26 left and a meeting after school. Yikes!

March Challenge:
At or under calories 5/7 days every week and at or under as a weekly average.
Week 1: At/under calories 4/7 (but one day I was only over by 7 calories) UNDER FOR WK
Week 2: At/under calories 5/7 OVER FOR WK

All-in strength challenge=core work 3 x/week; PT 1-2 x/week; run 3 x/week:
Week 1: 1/3 core; PT DONE; 1/3 runs (sick most of week though)
Week 2: 1/3 core; PT DONE; 1/3 runs
Week 3: x/3 core; PT; x/3 runs
Week 4: x/3 core; PT; x/3 runs
8k at end of month (not sure what day) in 55 minutes (Thanksgiving 8k = 56:49, NYE 8k = 57:47, 1/25 = 55:41; 2/28=55:15)

Grading Goals:
1. 38/64 AP essays
2. 16/16 AP analysis activities DONE
3. 60/60 Gatsby motif charts DONE
4. x/60 Gatsby tests

Exercise Goals: (week 3)
Sun--walk gunner DONE
Mon--meeting
Tues--PT DONE + walk gunner NOT DONE
Wed--meeting
Thurs--PT + walk gunner
Fri--rest day
Sat--walk gunner + gym

2015 Mantra = Just 15 minutes

@Skinny Thanks Karen. I feel like such a failure when I am not doing well so it seems I "hide out". I have gained a few pounds back, feel "stuffed" and simply don't like it. I DO need to keep up here and keep active with the group to succeed. I am going to do better and come and post as well as read in the future. It worked last fall; why not now? I will never lose as fast as some of you because of some of my health and age issues....but of course some of that will improve too when I am a bit lighter.

I have been following along and feel for all of you with some of the problems you have been having; have felt joy at your triumphs.

...so, back at it. This is day 150 of logging into this thread. Now I need to do more than log in and get my act together; it is going to actually be spring and I still have some jeans I want to get into by the nice weather.

Thanks everyone of you for being there. I obviously need you all.

Barb (mountmary)

@tlh0407 - Cute cupcakes! Emma will get to be 'big cousin' for the new little girl and eventually 9 years won't be such a big age difference. So fun for her!

@kah68 - My sister lives about 4 hours away from us, but we already had made plans for them to visit this weekend. So, she's still coming. We're going to meet up with our other sister and take all the kids to a museum that's featuring the LEGO Art of the Brick exhibit. Many LEGO lovers in our group, so should be exciting for all. And my parents will be coming down. Whenever they're in town, it's a big deal and fun. Hoping to distract them from all their worries for a while.

@Susan - It did cross my mind that passing cars might assume that I was down on my luck that day with my little red wagon! LOL There were such an explosion of people out running and biking and dog-walking more with the warm weather, though. Hopefully some of them understood it was spring-fever wagon walking!
That's awful about your friend the grandmother of those triplets. I'm glad they have her to take care of them now! I told my sister it was at least good news for my niece that she has a stepmom that is so supportive and immediately believed her and did something about it as soon as she found out what had been going on. I know not everyone is that fortunate. I think about Robin and another friend of mine who never really got the support they needed as children and now have to deal with so much as adults. Unfortunately, my BIL's family doesn't believe her and especially the one aunt was really awful and begging her to tell the police she made it all up and telling her that they would do awful things to her dad in prison. Ugh.

@momjeeps - Welcome! And Ha! I thought Gilead was some new trendy lingo I wasn't familiar with!

AFM- My Wed wish is that the new system at work continues to improve today. Yesterday was the best day so far....wait times are still longer than usual, but were much better than Monday, so there's hope. And there ARE good things about the new system...like I now have access to reschedule an appointment if I get a misdirected call from a patient. I don't have to forward them yet again to the front desk. So that's good customer service.

And continued wishes for you all...whether it's getting started, getting back on the wagon, or pushing forward to your goal!

Wednesday Wish: That these two cakes this week don’t kill me. With all the activity, I haven’t started any of the pieces yet. Normally, I can start some of the decoration pieces on a Monday/Tuesday, but that hasn’t happened yet. Tonight, those have to get started so they are set by the time I need to place them on the cakes Thursday and Friday.

@Tammy…I’m sure between the poorly timed argument with the hubby (even though we all have them, you have extenuating timing issues) and the absence of your son at the same time, it is hard to keep your mood in check. Heck, my husband will tell you I do and I don’t have either of those.  Glad you’re coming around and yay on the Championship. Fun fun!
@Susan…ah the fears that hold people back from so many things in life. We all struggle with those (or similar ones). My hope is that as I lose weight, I will gain confidence and that will spiral into more weight losses and more confidence. You’ll get there I know it – you’ve got this girl!! I’m glad Cyrus’s grades are looking better. Jacob’s are still fluctuating greatly…he’ll get 3 good grades posted in a row and then an F. UGH! Someone recommended Sylvan to me just on Sunday as they apparently have a class dedicated to organization/study habits/ etc. I think that’s what he needs because it’s not that he doesn’t know the stuff. I’ll have to do some looking into that. My biggest fear is high school is only a few months away for us.
@Robin…you do what you need with your step-mom. It sounds like you need to be there the most. Maybe just pick up Karen’s message – just 15 minutes in the pool. Take care of yourself as much as her.
@Tanya…I think x-rays or scans are the way to go. It seems like it is getting worse instead of just staying the same or better and that doesn’t seem right. I have no medical experience with this, but it just doesn’t seem like it should be getting worse. Enjoy your new fitbit…I still haven’t found mine from the move (so far I know for sure I don’t have some lids to my pots and haven’t found the fitbit or a check that I had received from my grandmother-in-law). Michael is slowly getting through his last boxes, so hopefully.
@Nikki…happy belated birthday! Sounds like you had a great day and then you get to celebrate later too with your niece.
@Barb…I have been guilty of hiding out too. I don’t want to do that because even when I fail, it helps to see this thread and the people on it. Also it helps to see what a disaster some of my days have been. Then when I don’t lose weight, I can look back and say “well, it’s because you were over goal by XXX calories last week.” That’s what this group is about – support in good times and bad.

AFM…I’ve had lots of music the past few days. Jacob had his Jazz Group perform last night along with the 7th grade band. I’m always so impressed with them -- at first I thought it was because I’m from a tiny town and only ever heard the “big school” (aka towns of 1200 people – to put in perspective, we were from a town of 84 when I was growing up) bands at half time during ball games. Now I’ve had opportunities to hear other big town middle school bands and know that we have a special group. Our band director shows so much excitement for music and it definitely rubs off on the kids. I’d put our Jazz Band up against any of those high school bands and I think we’d win.

Okay Tracy, you slipped up yesterday…go fill that water bottle, stay in calories and get those cakes pieces put together!! You have to be done by the time choir comes along at 7:30 so bust a move!!!

This week:
Cardio – 0 / 3
Lifting – 0 / 2
Water Goal – 0/5
Calories – 2 / 6

My wish is that life was always easy and that I always made the perfect choices. It's hard being a perfectionist in an imperfect world.

Doing OK so far today. Was doing fantastic yesterday and had a weak moment in town with the kids last night and went for ice cream. And I didn't even choose to keep it at one scoop. But i did end the day under my calorie goal by 8 calories so I guess it's alright.

Still trying to catch up with the conversations. I'll jump in when I feel comfortable. Meanwhile I'm watching you.

I just had a Big Mac meal. I don't feel one bit guilty, maybe that will show up later. I've been craving it for a few days now and have been eating mindlessly to fill the craving. I decided to eat it and carry on. I think this proves that banning certain foods altogether does not work for me. I just have to choose it much less often.