Motivation, Success and Frustration Sharing!

@Evamutt Thanks This is all very new to me. I hope all works well for you. Our emotions can be a difficult thing to work through.

@rachelbachel32 Your dress is beautiful and you can see such a difference. Congrats on getting under 170! I am currently in the same situation. I started gaining more and more at 19, late night dinners and getting comfortable with my now husband. Now at 25 with two small children I am at my heaviest nonpregnant weight and have little confidence. This past 2 months I gained 10lbs alone and noticed my acne getting much worse. So last week I started watching my calories and cut out pepsi. I was drinking at least two cans a day. Already see a scale difference and its motivating.

Do you pay attention to macros? I feel as if its burdening!

Morning!

My body must be either losing the TOM bloat or finally realized how good I've sticked to 1350kcal! I've -0.7kg this morning! 9kg till goal weight and 1kg till a number I haven't seen in the past 8 years! So, so ,soooo excited! I'm very driven by visible results, inpatient, this is what I needed!
Heading to the gym, tonight is my farewell and pre-birthday dinner with family, so need to burn some calories, so I can indulge in chocolate fondant later and don't just gain all the recent loss back haha

Amazing to see the numbers go down and my stomach curving in. Rewarding myself today with relaxing in the sauna after my workout!

September is here & I'm ready for it to b my New Years Day ! You can really feel a change in the weather which is so nice . I love being back in the North East . I'll never take Seasons for granted ! Didn't really get into salads this summer but I'm ready for soup weather !

Yesterday was a great kickoff to September I'm going to make this Labor Day weekend count . I'm going to try really hard to stay on plan so that I don't spend the week losing the weight I put on in a few silly days . I have to if I'm ever going to plateau bust .

@Evamutt I'm so sorry that you got sick! That's terrible! Was the food tasty at least? And yay grandbabies! My parents dont have any yet, which is a good thing because if I or my brother had ended up having any kids earlier in life than my parents probably would have been stuck raising them. But hopefully this time next year I will be expecting. The DH and I think it's about time to start trying to starting the beginning of the year.

@velocity60 I hope you have a great September and that this weekend has treated you well!

@cayladebra I hope the weekend is going well for you! I hope the temptations were few and far between! And good job on the weight loss that's awesome and encouraging!

@Rachel0778 I hope you are well! Haven't heard from you recently! Have a great holiday!

Hey girlies! Hello from France!
I've been losing weight like crazy this past week, have never seen myself so skinny. My new area is super hilly, been hyking and walking all the time, plus don't have all my kitchen stuff yet, so my weekly average calories are 1000kcal
Need to fix it up as I don't want to end up in a binge. Don't have a scale and don't know if I should bother buying, cause moving again in 3,5months, but the measuring tape says -2cm everywhere.

Surprised to see such silence here! Come back people!

Have a healthy, fit and delicious week everyone

The food was totally worth it. I LOVE sausage, I grew up on it. my parents made it from scratch. I don't keep any in the house or I'll eat the whole pack, like I used to so sometimes I get the cheddar jalapeno but with chicken, not too many calories for that. So it's Tuesday & I'm almost recovered from the weekend, yes it takes me this long. I was so tired out like I went on a long trip. Went to bed at 10 last nite & woke up at 8 today. Went for almost an hour walk with dogs. Getting ready to go to gym, rowing machine & weights & pool. I so miss my HIIT class, wasn't able to go since last Thursday, tonight I go to my church group so I'm back to it tomorrow.I'm going to eat dinner at home 30min before I leave so I won't want any chili Verde, beans,rice & home made tortillas or any dessert, we eat before our meeting. Hubby grilling boneless/skinless chicken thighs today, his will have bone in it.They're SO good! I could eat them all week either cut them up & put in salad, or with lots of veggies or open faced bread with lite mayo. We marinade them in teriyaki then put a little of the Carolina BBQ sauce on them when almost done. I haven't lost any wt scale wise, but the shorts I wear are too big! yay. After gym we're going to Costco, almost out of yogurt & Kirkland is my favorite.
Last week I "tried" to make the protein fluff a few times I read about but it didn't come out too well so I gave up but last nite I made my usual smoothie...almond milk,yogurt, protein powder,frozen mixed fruit but I put some of the xamtham gum I bought for the fluff & it came out like the fluff & tasted great, & very filling ,low cal. I got some banana/caramel protein powder from my sis in law who uses & sells Herbalife so I'm going to be making that more often. Anyone else make protein fluff on here?

@Evamutt homemade sausage sounds amazing! How was the gym last night? I've never made protein fluff but it sounds odd

So I've been a basket case for the last week over this housing stuff. I'm stressed and I'm not sleeping. It's a big decision! We found a house we LOVE. Downside, it borders a busy road so even though it has a giant privacy fence you can hear the traffic. I think I could live with it, but I'm concerned about resale. I know the only reason this house is in our price range is because of location, but seriously the house is gorgeous and I could walk to work every day. What do you ladies think?

@jdelaroy - welcome back, we've missed you! I've not been around this thread much myself recently - serious issues around motivation and lack of sleep (oh the joys of a toddler that can come into our room now when he wakes up in the night!). Anyway, good to have you back

@Rachel0778 - much of what Jen says about the house purchase. Plus - is it an investment or do you see it as your long term home? Does the noise of the road bother you that much - are you buying with your other half and will it bother them? I grew up with traffic noise so think I would be ok with it - but my husband has never had to and would pretty much rule a house out on that alone. What time of day did you view it? Go back at rush hour to see how loud it is then - could you live with that every day? Ultimately if you really love it, I would buy it - but make sure you aren't jumping in to something you will regret!

As I said, some serious motivation issues going on here - but I'm back in the new Hogwarts Challenge and that is helping me to get back on the horse a bit. We had a really nice week off - now for the work slog to the end of November when we have a long weekend away for our 10th wedding anniversary! Not much else to report - just battling through the week on too much work and too little sleep

I've learned not to look back... I tend to leave the past in the past, but once in a while it's healthy too remember just how far we've come.

I was always the "fat" kid, never into sports or athletics, hated gym class, always self-conscious. As a young adult I learned to love myself and gained a ton of confidence, but always secretly envied those skinny fit girls. One day lightening struck... I told myself I didn't have to just wish for what "those fit people" had, that I could have it too. In that moment I changed everything about myself.

A little more than 6 years ago I was close to 190 LBs and had never truly exercised or even thought about what I was eating or how much I was eating. I took my first class... sculpting. Using the 3 LB hand weights and going slow as molasses I was exhausted within minutes and was sore for days. But I was immediately addicted. I began to research foods and nutrition. I began to exercise every day. I fell in love with Zumba. I started logging and tracking my food and calories. I did hours of research on nutrition, exercise and the human body. I joined a couple of different gyms and started taking any and every class I could find.

Over the past several years I never lost my motivation... I simply don't ask where it comes from. It just IS and I go with that. The fire that was lit inside of me just keeps growing and growing. Even through my mothers sickness and ultimate passing I still danced. In fact, it kept me sane.

Current day - I am a master licensed nutritionist. I've earned my second rank in Muay Thai. I lift heavy weights every day and get my cardio on every damn day. I do yoga here and there to stay flexible. I am currently in competition prep for my first body building show (bikini division). I turn 49 this year and feel like I'm in my 20s. In my circle of friends I am the "fit" girl, the gym junkie, the personal trainer... You know how sometimes you walk into a gym and see a woman lifting weights who is all jacked up, and you have to look twice? Now when people walk into a gym they look at me that way... and I love it.

What a journey! It can be done. Learn to love and to trust yourself. Don't compare yourself to others. Find something that works for you and keep doing it. When it doesn't work anymore, find something new. Pay attention to the silly cliché's... they speak volumes. Like "When you don't feel like doing something the most is when you make your greatest accomplishments" Truth! "Visualize what you want to become" Truth! "Pain is weakness leaving the body" Truth!

Never give up.