You love LOTR?!!! I think you and I will be fast friends So are you a book fan, movie fan, or do you appreciate qualities of both and just don't compare them?

Who doesn't love LOTR (OK! I'm sure some people don't but I like to pretend that's not so ) I read the books in my teenage years and thought the movies were really well done!

Its amazing, though, how strict some of the hardcore Tolkien fans can be - I was on a forum for the MMORPG a few years back, and there was a very intense debate that raged for a long time over those movies versus the books versus even the game we were all playing. It actually had folks say they wish Jackson could be tried and sent to jail for the abomination that the movies were, and that they'd love to tar and feather him! And there seems to be a lot of passion even today over those movies.

The Hobbit movies I liked, I really did, but I told my mother after the 2nd one that while I defend the 1st 3 movies based on the trilogy as I felt Jackson did a good job of keeping the spirit of the books (yes, there were things he changed that I didn't see as necessary, but on the whole, they were a lot closer to the source material than many other novels-turned-to-movies!), I couldn't truly defend the Hobbit movies. I liked them, yes, but jackson really did a number on that series. I told my mother, who has never read the book, that jackson pretty much just through the book in a garbage can, set it on fire, and roasted marshmallows over the flames while deciding what he thought "should have" happened. lol I personally saw those 3 movies as a very elaborate, very expensive fan fiction piece, complete with their own Mary Sue!

But hey, I don't care - I liked them for what they were, and the books for what they were; there were things in the books I liked better, but some things in the movies I liked better - especially the characterizations. I re-read the Hobbit after the movies came out and realized that I didn't really like the characters in the book; I much preferred the movie versions. Though I agree with you, Anna4anna - 3 movies for the Hobbit story was a bit overmuch.

@Theo: are we talking the audio books or the audio dramatizations? There are 2 dramatizations - one done by the BBC, and the other by some American company. Neither one was great, in my own opinion, but the American was by far and large the worst *shudders at the memory of the "cow bell" accompaniment for the eagles singing to Minis Tirith - yes, a cow bell - I kid you not!*

I have the unabridged Silmarillion as an audio book. Sadly, Anna4anna, as much as I'd like to see some of the stuff in the Silmarillion be made, I don't look for it for a very long time. The Tolkien Estate owns the rights to it since it was published by Christopher Tolkien after his father's deaths, and he detested the movies and any and all fan-made products or merchandise. He wanted to stop the movies, but couldn't since his father had sold the movie rights to the trilogy, the Hobbit, and the information contained in their appendices. Anything that isn't contained in any of those, however, are still held by Christopher.

(oops! sorry - you guys accidentally set off one of my passions lol I'll shut up now *grins*)

prittiZ wrote:<
Hello my name is Jo, I am 32. I have been dealing with bouts of depression my whole life. 2016 was the worse because I had major depression the whole year and pretty much locked myself up in my room and gained a lot of weight. By some miracle this year I woke up and decided to do something about it. So here I am putting in the work to get my life back on track.

Hi Jo my name is Rhonda. Good for you for taking that step. This is a really good forum for expressing what you are feeling and talking about your accomplishments. Remember "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step". Good luck in your journey. We are all here to help.

Hey there everyone! I am going to keep this a little short and sweet because I am sure we will get to know each other quite well over the coming weeks. I tried this whole weight loss thing before and failed time and time again and then always ended up bigger than when I started. I was always a thicker person but never obese until I got pregnant with my first child 11 years ago and never bounced back.

Now I can not stand myself. I am a food addict. I am a foodie. I am a food junkie. Whatever you want to call it. I love food, and when I say that I mean all food. healthy food, non healthy, the kind you find on food trucks, the kind in any restaurant. I love it all.

I started this journey to a better me a couple of weeks ago and have lost 8.4 pounds so far.

SW - 310
CW ~302
GW - 175

I have a very, very, very, long way to go. I want to be there for my children. I want to grow old with my husband. I want to be a better role model. I want so much out of life and I can not do it at the weight that I am at right now. My husband has severe heart issues that he was born with and has allowed himself to become morbidly obese, and is scares me that one day he will be gone because of his choices. He tries to commit to weight loss then gives up on himself. If I can show him it is possible with my goals and my changes for myself it might motivate him to want to set his own goals and to become healthy.


Olay I went a little bit more into detail then I was planning. Everyone feel free to add me!! I look forward to 'shrinking' with all of you!

I tend to want to eat most of my calories in the evening, too, so I simply keep breakfast and lunch leaner, don't snack in between, and save my calories for the day for the evening. I keep berries to snack on, or yogurt - they help with the sweet tooth. I"ve got some plain popcorn too - the kind you have to pop yourself on the stove - but I don't make it very often. Still, that kind has something like 2 or 3 cups as a serving; it might work for you as a snack. Other people have mentioned pickles. I've also found recipes for black bean brownies that I make with stevia or stevia blend to reduce calories and sugar content.

Keeping fruit around that you like - such as raspberries, strawberries, apples, whatever - might help with the cravings of an evening. Even dried fruit mixed with a little seeds or nuts - as long as you keep the portion size down - might help fill in the void of the fruit snacks. Best of luck!

LadyLilion wrote: »

We’ve ignored this entirely too long. Hopefully, not TOO long to fix it.

I don't think you have. I have been working with a registered dietician who is employed by an endocrinologist. For what it's worth, she told me that she sees great success with people who are in the 6 to 7ish A1C range - when they lose weight their numbers go down. She also told me that diabetes is as much a "disorder of non-movement" as it is of excess weight. It sounds like you're doing all the right things to deal with both of those causes, and you've already seen some results.

welcome, Christina! I've always wanted to take horseback riding lessons, but I never had opportunities growing up, and I've been way to heavy the rest of the time. That is one of my dreams - lose enough weight so I can take it up!

hello, Ty! I like that name The actor who played my favorite character on the old Young Riders TV show was named Tye lol

my ex-roommate has the same problem. She usually will only eat 1 meal a day, especially when she's working - she will not take a break while working (and she typically worked in fast food), and then, when her shift is over, she'd be ravenous, and would buy dinner most days before she left work - so she'd be getting a triple burger with super-size fries and an extra large soda, and would buy chips or candies on the way home, which she'd consume mindlessly that evening. She could never understand why she was so heavy when she was only eating 1 meal a day, never stopping to consider the sheer number of calories she was taking in, not to mention the horrible diet it was.

You've done it before, so you can do it again!

Hi Ty! I used to skip meals a lot, I know exactly what you're talking about. My pattern was to eat a little breakfast -- coffee and [an energy bar, maybe], then skip lunch entirely, or perhaps eat a couple handfuls of nuts from my drawer, and then want to eat everything after I got off work and went home. And the food I wanted was always high calorie and high salt/fat/sugar -- often fast food. Then I had some medical news that scared the hell out of me, and I knew I *had* to change things, but I didn't know what to do, yo-yo dieting was not the answer.

I went to a medical weight-loss specialist for help, and they gave me some great advice. And one really important thing was not to skip meals. Part of my problem is that I really don't notice I'm hungry until I am really, REALLY hungry, and by then I am hangry and crazy and it is really easy to make bad food decisions. They helped me figure out how to plan my food in advance a little. So now I eat oatmeal often for breakfast, with yogurt or peanut butter in it to up the protein and help me stay full. I know what it is and where everything is, so no big decisions to make there. If I need to eat on the run, I eat protein bars now, not energy bars (I didn't realize there was a difference for a long time). They aren't ideal, but they work well enough. I also plan my lunch and get it ready, or close to ready, the night before, so I'm not rushing. And if the lunch thing doesn't work for some reason (like the day I forgot and left something perishable out in the sun for 4 hours) I have a plan B - Subway 6 inch turkey with deluxe meat and lots of veggies. It's filling and meets my calorie and protein needs. I am still sometimes hungry before I get home for dinner, but I usually eat a small snack (a serving of beef jerky is my current go-to) and that helps. What I really had to do, though, was choose to put myself first. I have to be important enough to myself to eat lunch, no matter how crazy my job is. I have to be important enough to myself to plan my lunches, etc. I still occasionally skip a meal, usually breakfast, but only if I've planned a morning off for myself on a weekend, and I am just planning to sleep in. If I'm really hungry, I eat. Otherwise, I eat a bigger lunch or dinner.

My go-to lunch is chicken, broccoli and brown rice with a little lemon juice. But I love broccoli and wouldn't say I'm a particularly picky eater. Even over a month of having it almost every day feels like treating myself when I used to life off of canned and frozen foods. It's also really easy to make and doesn't taste bad at room temperature. I pack it on days I won't be home before 3.

Try it out sometime! You can cook the broccoli and chicken in a pan together, or throw a handful of breasts in the oven to last the week and microwave the broccoli if you wanted. (Don't forget to season the chicken though. Makes all the difference.)

It's a super easy meal to plan because every ingredient is so basic that it's easy to adjust the amounts to what you need. Also chicken is pretty much 100% protein. I've been messing around with cutting on the chicken and rice and increasing the broccoli for something with a little less calories.

Good luck Ty! I was in your same situation a month ago when I started and now it's starting to become natural to me! Also get a food scale and use measurement cups! It makes portioning so much easier. (I had no idea how much one person was supposed to eat, so I would just consume all at dinner haha.)