Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

@Rachel0778 The DH and I are going away Friday night for a couples conference with m church. I'm super excited...The DH not so much. And the DH is taking the 20-25 off as well so we will have some really nice time together. We are that kind of couple that never seems to get sick of each other. Even when are together for days at a time. We are best friends as well as husband and wife. So all the time we get to spend together feels like I'm spending it with my best friend.

@gymprincess1234 That's awesome about the stomach issues! I'm so glad to hear it! You enjoy that cocktail! You deserve it! And that is a great loss as well! You'll be back on track in no time!

@karencau Welcome! This is a great group here! We keep each other accountable and are always encouraging and helpful!

@BabyBear76 My main motivation and frustration are the constant questions about "When are you due?" or "I didn't know you were pregnant!" I try to laugh it off but it can be pretty hurtful. I've lost 15 pounds and no one seems to have noticed and I still get asked that.

Gymprincess, so glad you're doing great. I lived in my home country, Hungary when I was a teenager for 9 months. I bet there are a lot of changes by now. Karen, volunteer with a local animal shelter & walk dogs there. They really need it & you'll be doing something good.You can ride a bike also. I have 6 dogs so we're out every morning for hour+ either dog park and/or walk plus I'm a volunteer with a no kill shelter. I just can't get myself to do exercise at home, that's why I go to the gym. Occasionally I do ride my bike without a dog, but I feel bad if I don't take them, or him, since my other dogs are older & don't want to run. As great as I did with the cookies, I must confess that last night hubs said to get rid of chocolate coated vanilla ice cream bars he wanted me to get for him a few days ago. He does this a lot, he eats sweets then he wants me to take the rest away so he won't be tempted. I looked on the package & it said they're low cal bars, I didn't know so I had one & it was delicious. They're 110 cal. So I ended up having 4!!, Yes 4!! & I usually don't crave sweets. Oh well, glad tonight's my HIIT class. HGSmith, just try different things till you find what works best for you. What works for me is to have the most calories at dinner & eat later, around 7-8. I have my snack right after dinner then I'm full & not snack at all before bed. Before ,I had dinner around 5-6 then snack around 8 but once I tasted something at 8, it was really hard to stop. So now I have ice tea/water & when it's cool I have hot tea. My dtr in law divides up all her snacks into 6 containers in the morning & just grabs one as the day goes on, I may try that myself.

@BabyBear76 That is a GENIUS idea! I absolutely love it! I am definitely going to try it! A lot of the snacking I do is right before bed. I guess subconsciously I feel like if I dont eat before bed then I'll starve to death over night or something strange like that! Lol. But I am definitely going to go buy myself a mirror! Lol

@Evamutt I think I am going to push dinner time back an hour. We are the same way you were, eating around 5-6. So I think I am going to have a piece of fruit or a handful of almonds on my way home from work and then not start dinner until around 7. I usually go to bed around 10 so hopefully this helps!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I wanted to get up when the DH did this morning but I ended up sleeping a half an hour later than I wanted to but I did get up with enough time to make the DH lunch to take with him to work. Am I weird that I enjoy doing that? Lol. But I got up and had a cup of coffee and enjoyed my quiet time but now I am having a really hard time keeping my eyes open! I have to get ready for work in a half an hour and I have to keep telling myself that I can't go back to sleep! Maybe I'll do the yoga routine for the Harry Potter challenge. I had planned to go to the gym after work today but Mom needs me to run an errand on the way home so I dont think the gym is going to happen, but maybe a short walk or a work out video tonight instead. Just something! I'm really trying to get myself into a plan and teach myself discipline! I figure that if I can give myself the discipline to quit smoking than I KNOW that I can put other things into place if I just stick to a plan! No matter how much I dont want to do it I know that I need to! I mean I got up when I didn't have to, read my bible, prayed and didn't go back to sleep like I normally would so that's a plus in my book! Lol.

Have a great day everyone!

@gymprincess1234 Considering I'd rather have a career and travel than be selfless with kids I may be more European than I thought I love visiting Europe, and there are definitely locations in the US I'd highly recommend too! I'm amazed you're able to do better on the weekends, that's usually when I fall apart!

@HGSmith0920 I think it's sweet you have a morning routine with your husband. I always like to start out my day with some activity too, I feel like it starts me on the right foot.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! I'm heading up to my friend's house for a long overdue girls night tonight and then tomorrow I'm meeting up with another friend for lunch. I've already pre-tracked so I know what I'm ordering. I'm committed to doing better on the weekends because I can see my gain and it's not pretty. No more being in denial! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

I'm so happy to have Lost this week because look at that table of fried food . This is at Evelyn's drive in in RI . One of my dads summer visit favorites . I've been hitting the gym hard to compensate for vacation favorites . But I'm so blessed that this 86 year old traveled from CA to visit me . Big all day pizza party for him tomorrow at my house . So the cleaning & shopping today will help again balance what's going on calorically . Come Tuesday no more of this regional food madness ! It's clean eating time .

Ask your dad how to pose arms... because, wow he is going strong for 86 years!

Edit: Also, don't push your shoulders back too much. ;-) Too me it looks like you were sitting at an awkward angle for the picture and trying to keep upright by pushing your shoulders back, which then brought your arms in awkward angles.

Actually, I don't even know your weight loss stories- how much have you all lost and how far down the line are you?

@Evamutt, then we have lost almost the same, I had lost 50pounds and gained 6 back.

I started in mid-November 2016. Started by doing cardio 4x/week. I didn't track food or anything, I naturally just couldn't physically make myself buy anything unhealthy till at least January, and I weirdly lost appetite and was eating probably around 1200kcal even on cardio days. Then from January till June I added weight training and additional cardio, so ended up having 10 trainings per week. A bit mental, but loved it so much. In June I started running in the park too.
Food wise, as I went from 4 to 10 workouts, my appetite grew and in January I hit my first plateau. My trainer showed me food tracking apps and I started logging and losing again.
I lost 12kg just working out and then 11kg with tracking.
And now, from the end of June I've been struggling, appetite grew, love for working out didn't, moved countries, don't live alone anymore, so I'm exposed to a lot of junk food and lifestyle is not even half as active. Have gained 3kg back.

In 2 weeks I'm moving to France, starting my favorite cardio classes again, the area is hilly, so will go for hikes again, back to uni, so a lot of walking and living on my own - healthy fridge again.

I have the gained 3kg +8kg to lose till goal weight. The first months were the easiest, literally felt like the weight and cm are just melting away week by week without much effort, but I'm optimistic, if I could get rid of 23kg, I can do 11kg more.

Hi! I'm Missy and although I've been using MFP for years, I just discovered the message boards. Yay!

I've had a lot of life changes in the past three months, and I've put on about ten pounds as a result. I moved to a new state for a new job, and my eldest leaves for college later this week.

My challenge right now is mindless grazing. I'm a professor, and I'm going a little crazy with the long summer and no sense of structure. I'm so happy we are all back to school and work next week! I know my eating will improve when I'm busier, but hope my workouts don't go to *kitten* as a result. I've been pretty consistent with daily workouts.

Things I'm proud of: Did my meal plans for the whole week, including eating out tomorrow night, did 45 minutes of cardio daily for the last 5 days, going to bed earlier the past few nights (to avoid late night snacking) and have done both my meditation and yoga the past two days (which helps with the stress).

Things I need to work on: Cutting back on sweets, staying within my calorie range, believing I can do it.

Best of luck to everyone. Believe in yourself. You got this!

@Rachel0778 I see, thought you don't look like you have any extra pounds in your picture!

Morning!

Been having a very good few days, trying to eat as much greens and veggies as I can. My skin is thanking me too. Did a gym workout and 1h40min bike ride yesterday, think my legs deserve a break today, so beach day it will be.

Is anyone doing or heard of ToneItUp.com ? It's a fantastic force of nature ! They have the web site, are on every form of social media , all free ... you tube workout videos . I bought the plan ( don't judge , I'm sure I'm the oldest girl on their site ! But , I need something to get me back on track) I haven't joined the community yet . I'm hoping some friends from here are also over there .

Good afternoon everyone! Hope you are all well! Had a rather large hiccup at work yesterday. I let someone walk out of the branch with an extra 3K in cash! Thank goodness the woman was honest or I would have been in SERIOUS trouble. I thought my managers head was going to explode. She can be kind of cold and unfeeling at times. I went to break almost immediately after. Ate my lunch and fought the desire to cry my eyes out. I figured I was going to get a serious write-up, if not fired. But they didn't do either although there is still Friday. But I'm off today and tomorrow so I'm going to use the next two days to just relax and do some things around the house. I already have food in the crockpot for dinner and dishes are already done(for now). I'm fighting with myself if I want to go to the gym or not. Lol. It's raining out here. I have an umbrella so I can go for a walk if I want, but I'm not sure I want to put out that effort. Lol

Hope you all are having a great day!

@Rachel0778 I'm glad your presentation went well! I actually love paperwork. Lol...yeah I know I'm weird. Lol. I have never been on a rowing machine. I'm not even sure how it works. Lol.

I've had a great day and a half! I didn't end up going to the gym yesterday but I did a pretty thorough cleaning of my bedroom and wiped down the bathroom so I guess that equaled a pretty decent workout. At least according to the cleaning workout that MFP has. Lol. I have the afternoon all to myself, so I'm gonna clean the kitchen/living room and probably either go for a walk or go to the gym. Not sure yet, but I have to do something active!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

there's a cleaning workout on mfp? I'll have to look for it. I love the rowing machine. I'm pooped so just wanted to read how everyone's doing & say hi. I'm back from my HIIT class. It was really hard today but I made it through. The trainer always says "it's your class & do the best you can, not try to keep up with anyone else". I like her, but she does have tough workout assignments. Have a good night all