JUNE STARTERS, JULY CHAT, July 1-31

Sandi, you are so sweet! Have a great, safe time in Mexico! :drinker:

Thanks Sandi :happy:

What a great group of people you guys are! Fabulous!

So I've lost weight and inches. I took before and 'now' pics- can't tell a darn bit of difference. It really sent me for a loop- I thought at least I'd look different *somewhere*. Alas- nope. Nothing.

Hubbs says he can tell but why can't I? :sad: I still look like a big sack of fat. Dang!

Ok, just had to vent- thanks!

I swear this post was written about me!:laugh:

Tammy , 6 you are the loser of the week! OMG that is wonderful and you are closing in on onderland very fast! Keep up the good work! Are you following a plan other than counting calories? why don't you tell us all about it on the chat thread!

Alright, you asked for it...lol... :laugh:

I went from 0 to 60 in 10 seconds...lol. What I mean by that is I used to eat lots and lots of junk food. Take out pretty much everyday, not much water intake, definitely no exercise, and lots of snacking on chocolate and sugary foods. I was leading a very very sedentary lifestyle and am often tired due to hypothyroidism, anemia, and depression. I get lots of colds, respiratory infections, pnuemonia, and other ailments and had been mostly sick from Jan-June with one cold, strep throat, or infection after another.

I was considering surgery but decided I wanted to do it on my own so I was in the contemplative maybe even preplanning stage of change.

On June 25 Maggie told me about this site so I joined right away and decided right then and there I had to change my lifestyle completely. And even more important I had to get my family on board or it wouldn't work.

I had a one-sided talk with my family and explained what I wanted to do. What I mean by that is, I have asked and begged my family before to eat better and not have junk in the house in the past, it never worked and it isn't their fault I failed but it made it much harder for me to make the right choices. Anyway, I do all the grocery shopping and told them I was not buying junk anymore and none was allowed in the house. I told them if they wanted something they had to go out to eat and not bring any home and there was no more ordering in of pizza and chinese food etc... They agreed to this since I wasn't really telling them what they had to eat but that it wasn't allowed in the house and what having it in the house was sabotaging my efforts.

So the next day I completely changed my eating habits. No junk at all, no fast food, nothing fried, no more pop or tea, no chocolate. I eat a lot more raw fruit, even get some raw vegetables in there (which is hard because I really don't like vegetables), I eat whole grains and lean meats. And surprisingly I don't miss the junk. When I do have cravings it is only for a few seconds and then I think of all you and I think of how I am doing this to be a better role model for my kids and the cravings passes.

I do keep track of my calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium, and fibre but with they way I eat now it is very easy to stay within my limits. I also make sure I have my 8 cups of water everyday. I pretty much only drink water, skim milk, V fusion juice, and Crystal Light.

I have started exercising by hiking (I can't do much else yet) which is quite a feat since I work a desk job where I am at a computer for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I have started taking Greens+ to help because of the lack of vegetables in my diet.

I feel energized and excited and I think the positive energy is helping too.

Some of this initial weight loss is water no doubt but I am positive and motivated anyway because even if the weight loss slows down, I am feeling better than I have in a long time and have more energy.

So that about sums it up!

Take care,
Tammy
:flowerforyou:

I am stuck at 130.5. I hate that TOM! :grumble:

Awesome Tammy! Keep up the good work.

Hi everyone,:flowerforyou:
I have really missed you all and have been wondering how you are all doing!

Puerto Vallarte was hotter than....but was really beautiful! Considering this was a budget destination wedding it was like a fairy tale!

The really sad news is that I did not get to go to the wedding! My baby got married and his mother, who drank some Mexican water, was sick sick sick!

We are home now and I lost 2 pounds! Yea! This was the hard way to do it!

I am glad to hear it was so beautiful down there and am so sorry to hear you missed the wedding. I can't even imagine.

Take care and I hope you are feeling better.
Tammy

Great Morning All!!

I just weighed myself and have already reached my six week goal of 240lbs (two weeks early)! Originally my goal was 244 but I dropped a bit of water weight at the beggining and lowered my goal to 240. My next goal is to be 235 by my birthday on Aug 20th!

Woot! *does happy dance*

Thank you all for being such an inspiration and for being motivating. I couldn't have done this without you.

Take care,
Tammy

I posted this a few weeks ago- yet I wanted to put it here to share with you guys. This explains how I view the whole thing and my motivations too.

((((((Hugs)))))) :flowerforyou:


***
Before I fell ill a few years ago, I started eating right, weight lifting and had lost 100llbs.

I was grocery shopping on a busy Saturday afternoon and putting my items on the checkout belt. Lowfat cottage cheese, chicken, brown rice, eggs, lowfat milk, veggies. Just another week of groceries.

Then I looked at the order ahead of me in line. Cheetos, white bread, boxed pasta dinners, snack cakes, frozen Mega Man dinners and a can of corn. I felt my stomach lurch as I saw what once would have been MY week of groceries. I saw all of the emotional eating, all of the pain hidden within a bag of cheese colored styrofoam and fake chocolate chip fillings.

I quickly looked back at my own groceries- I could feel the horror on my face and didn't want to make anyone else feel bad, simply because I no longer ate those things didn't mean that others couldn't enjoy them if they wanted to.

As I stood staring intently at my own food slowly making its way across the belt, something blurred in the corner of my eye. It was a large container of lowfat cottage cheese. It was soon joined with a package of chicken breasts, a dozen eggs, yogurt, vegetables and whole grain bread.

My head moved on it's own and I looked up at the man behind me in line. He was muscled, proportionate and stood strong on his feet. He was looking at my food- then we looked at each other and smiled.

We didn't talk about the hours of sweaty dedication, the joys of finishing that final rep you couldn't do two weeks ago or redirecting well-meaning friends' offers of twinkies. There was no mention of calories, early morning protien shakes or the pride we felt in taking care of our bodies. We didn't even say hello. We didn't have to.

We knew who we were and where we were going.

I paid for my groceries and walked out of the store knowing that I wasn't alone in a sea of fad diets and poor nutritional 'advice'. I was part of something bigger, healthier and more joyous than simply 'eating'.

I wasn't eating for weight loss, a pair of pants or my spouse. I was eating for LIFE.

Hey ladies, I need some help!! So, I'm working out with ChaLean Extreme and two weeks ago I pulled my back out doing one of her moves (lost my balance while bent over and tried to recover, b/c I'm stubborn like that..:( ). Anyway, so I haven't been able to exercise for two weeks. Not only that, but during that time I could stand for long periods or do any lifting(and really I couldn't use any force to chop veggies either), so my husband was "taking care of dinner" for that time. You all know what that means I'm sure!!

I want to start working out again (I don't have any pain on a daily basis anymore), but the other day I went swimming at a friends house. I just played around a little and swam 5 or 6 very slow laps, but it was enough to make my back a little sore (not sharp pain, but I was uncomfortable). I thought swimming would be better b/c there's no jarring, but I don't know....

Any recommendations???? I really need to start working out again.