Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

Leanne, I don't have much of a problem with sweets, but my husband constantly battles it. He said what helps him is making a smoothie & having that. He uses fruit, veggies, nuts, flax & sips it with a straw. Because of hubby there are sweets around, so I have the chocolate rice cakes around. We have it with cool whip. Also I buy the sugar free werthers candies

@jdelaroy Try adding the stuff and then using a blender (immersion or standard to puree it...then the texture isn't as obvious. Used to have a friend who was super weird about anything not super smooth and that was my response. She ate up everything I cooked. Sigh. Last I heard, she was somewhere in Japan, inflicting her texture craze on them. You did some serious kitten kicking this weekend! Way to rock it!!!

Welcome, Leanne. As I don't have kiddos, I can't comment on avoiding kiddo food. Maybe work on weening them away from the super sweet stuff so it isn't even there? Although, I joke about being married to a 7 year old (he only looks 45+)...but he's learning an appreciating for less sweet stuff...he is starting to think about poptarts being too sweet. I don't find sweet cereal attractive, refuse to buy the really bad stuff and have my own (crisp rice, bran flakes, Special K, Crispix...etc)...even Life, honey nut cheerios and raisin bran are a bit much (nearly too sweet) for me...If I want raisin bran, I do bran flakes with actual raisins rather than the sugar coated rocks in raisin bran. But sweets aren't my thing, I barely sweeten oatmeal (and sometimes don't).

@janetay01...lucky you! I don't get any more time off for two more months. Too busy. So cool that the director likes your proposal. I get it...there's a woman at my company who detests me (well, anyone who isn't her and has any influence on anything she doesn't...which is...oh, yeah, everyone) and a couple years back she was on a work group I headed and I brought in a concept option and she practically squealed, rubbed her hands together and said she loved it. It was vindicating. Even though I don't think I should care what she thinks. If she likes it, it must be good! Anyway, good for you.

Have a great rest of the week guys (wow, how quiet! where is everyone?!?)!

@mbam89 Thanks. I am loving the progress. We have been going almost twice a week for a month. Sunday's is family time, so I don't get to really skate. More like roll slowly, watching constantly. So Thursday night is the only night I really get to skate, and then I feel like a total goon. Almost everyone there skates really well, and can do all kinds of fancy stuff on their wheels. I am just happy if I don't fall.

@janetay01 Woo hoo, nothing wrong with being happy for having your hard work acknowledged, especially by a hard to please boss person. I completed my RoR. I need to still do my silent Ninja, and Dada points. Then I will post everything. I am envious of your week off. We won't even get 1 day off for the holiday here.

@melaniedscott Interesting idea. I will have to give it a whirl.

Sorry I missed yesterday. Thought I posted and realized I hadn't this morning. Nothing to exciting going on over here. I am still struggling with my calories, but so far this week I have been under calorie goal. Yesterday, I had to count my exercise calories. I found a Star Crunch (chocolate caramel, rice krispies all mushed together.) at the grocery store. Hadn't had one in years. I bought and ate it. It was yummy, afterwards I had an upset tummy. I walked for 35 minutes to burn those 290 calories off.

I woke up starving this morning. I hate when I wake up hungry. Plus I didn't pack a lunch today. Ugh. At least tonight is roller skating night.

Lets have a healthy day today.

hello everyone, I've been doing ok. depends on how you look at it. I've been eating an average of 1400/cal/day. mfp gives me 1290, TDEE gives me 1373 for 20% loss. I've just not been in the mode to eat only 1290 lately. I'm not frustrated really. I've lost 1 lb in about 4 weeks. I'm not gaining. I wouldn't be terribly unhappy if I stayed at my current wt, almost 40lbs down & I wear 12-14 size pants, I used to wear 18-20. I'm still exercising at gym & started riding my bike without a dog , just for me. I'm still eating same way as I did to lose, only a little more, instead of 3oz of protein, I have 5 , have an extra smoothie a day etc. I also stopped having a snack at night as that would make me hungry. I would like to lose 20 lbs more. I think with the hot weather coming it'll be a lot easier as I'm not very hungry during the summer. How's everyone else doing?

Not totally new to the app, I used Lose It for awhile but recently switched. Could use more/new friends to help motivate and get motivated. I love fitness, leg days are my favourite haha!
IG: hustle_4_muscle_kc
Snapchat: dancingcupcak3

glad you're back safe & sound Rachel, It must have been hard loosing him & sounds like you did remarkably well. Hope you don't get any sicker & get well quickly.

@Evamutt Thank you for your kind thoughts. I hope this bug passes quickly too!

@jdelaroy Sorry yesterday was rough, do you know what triggered the binge?

Quiet board! Please tell me people didn't abandon ship the one week I was gone!

Yesterday I skipped derby since I'm still not feeling so hot and took the dog on a long walk instead. I woke up still sick so I'll probably keep my activity pretty light today (maybe a PiYo workout video?) It actually feels good to be back at work. I didn't realize how much I missed my job and my routine (I guess I really am in the right career!).

I'm here - recovering from a lovely but very tiring Easter weekend! Jen: sorry you had such a bad day, hope today is treating you better. Rachel - good to see you back, hope the cold goes away for you soon!

@graphics1125 Great job on your first 10 pounds! There are numerous reasons that you haven't seen a weight loss this month. You can check them out on the threads. I will list a couple for you here without going into too many details.

1. The first 10 pounds were probably mostly water weight that you lost. (Most people do this in the beginning.)
2. You aren't actually staying under calories. If you aren't measuring your food with a scale, and using the correct entries in MFP, you may think you are eating under calories and you aren't.
3. You could be retaining water again. If you started some new exercises, weight lifting, ate a lot of sodium you could be retaining up to 8 pounds (I think) of water.
4. Weight loss is not linear. In other words you may go several weeks and not see any weight loss, even though you are doing everything right. The following week you will see a large drop. Weight can fluctuate a couple of pounds a day. If you get discouraged easily, then only weigh once a week. (Hard to do for some.)
5. Try focusing on other things besides actual weight numbers, how are you physically feeling? How many inches have you lost? (If you haven't taken measurements, do so. this is a great way to track, especially if you are doing strength training as well.)How are your clothes fitting?

Great start to a long and slow journey. Good luck, and post often.

great advice jdelaroy, I found all that to be true. I take the weight I am first thing in the morning. This week I upped my exercise. I went to zumba & am planing to go twice a week in addition to what I already do. I'm also planing to go to a piyo class (palates & yoga combo) yes, I'm into classes right now. I'm so glad I can do it. Yesterday & today are a boring day. I have a friend who needs help cleaning her kitchen but also has fibromyalgia & a few other health issues, so I gave up volunteering at the animal rescue yesterday to help her but she wasn't feeling up to it so said we'll do it today. So she lets me know around 2 that today isn't good either SO I missed doing other things today & now it's too late. I love her & understand, I just should have had a back up plan. Today was my double exercise class so I'm a bit tired but feel pretty good. It was raining this morning so didn't take the dogs out & don't really want to do house work so.....I'll see what I come up with, it's only 3pm

@jdelaroy Boredom/depression are two of my triggers too. I usually have to drag myself out for a long walk to try to circumvent binges, but it doesn't always work. Sorry yesterday was rough! When I skip meals it's always a one way ticket to binge-town too. I hope today things go closer to plan.

@Evamutt Sounds like you're doing a great job with activity with all of those classes! I always hate it when plans change last minute too. I hope you were able to fit something else in

Welcome @iamrosiegxx! We just post here so you're welcome to join in any time

Welcome @graphics1125! @Jdelaroy gave great advice so I definitely second her recommendations. We look forward to hearing how this week goes!

I think my cold is finally dissipating! I'm hoping I'll feel good enough for a workout DVD tonight, although my dog has been loving all the extra walks he's been getting (I've got him out there almost 2 hours a day since I haven't been able to do other activities). Not being able to go to my regular classes has meant I've been able to catch up on some cleaning/laundry that got neglected while we were gone so that's definitely a plus side. The down side is I've been feeling like a bloated whale. I know it's water retention, but it still sucks.

My SO has been super stressed with work this week (he was really busy even before he had to take off a week with his father's passing and none of the work has gone away). I've tried to step up my game at home a bit to cook him dinner and help out but it's been hard to do since I feel so cruddy. I know he appreciates the gesture though.

I hope everyone else is having a better week than I am! Seriously though...where is everyone??? Holiday is over guys and gals!

This is OBVIOUSLY what I need right now! HA!

Shy - good to see you back! Hope the training is going well and that the pressure of it starts to ease - I hate it when you get to the end of the day with a headache brought about by work, it happens more often than I like.

Joy - good to see you back too! I sympathise with the feeling of funk and needing to get back in the game. I lost it for a good couple of months and it's only in the last couple of weeks that it has come back. For me, I have to be in the routine of logging and working out and I've learnt that I also need a challenge, some element of competition. I've joined the Hogwarts challenge group here and it has helped me immensely - wanting to win and not let team mates down seems to really spur me on. How is the teaming up with your son's girlfriend going? Can you push each other along?

Rachel - look after yourselves, it's always such a difficult time after you lose someone. Take care of yourselves and the rest will follow when you are both ready and able. Glad the cold is going!

Jen - hope the week is getting better for you. How are you doing with the classroom challenge for this week? I've not got to the workout yet and realise I don't know what half the exercises are!

@evamutt - so frustrating but you are clearly a good friend to her. Hope the week is treating you well.

@iamrosiegxx and @graphics1125 - welcome to you both, come back and post often!

Having such a nice week off - it is so needed. Gardening, work on Alistairs quilt and stuff around the house - it's so nice to just be able to chill and not worry about work! Hope all are having good days - will catch up again later

@bluepoppies777 So sorry your Easter plans went astray. It stinks driving all that way to end up not seeing your family after all. Hopefully you can do a makeup day sometime soon. I completely relate to eating feelings after that kind of disappointment

@janetay01 How is Alistair's quilt coming along? Your week sounds so relaxing!

@ShyCush6 New jobs can definitely be stressful. Sorry to hear your days have been ending in a headache. It's hard to stay on track with all that added stress. Just do the best you can

I am finally feeling like a regular human today (no Dayquil or Nyquil needed!). I was even able to do a workout DVD last night instead of just going for a walk. I'm looking forward to increasing my activity over the next few days and then hitting it hard next week.

I decided to do my hair and dress pretty today to try to perk my spirits a bit. I'm sick of feeling bloated and frumpy. It's amazing what even a week of being sidelined does for the body.

I'm thinking of maybe starting a healthy habits challenge with my SO to help get back on track. Whoever wins gets taken out to a fancy dinner. We'll see if he's up for the challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! Only 2 work days to the weekend!