maureak Member

For the first time in my adult life, I never once stressed over what I ate on Thanksgiving. I ate what I wanted, but still wrote everything down (went over, but then I expected to). I know this is not a normal eating day and that I'll be back to where I want to be in a week.

I reached my goal about 5 months ago and had similar thoughts. Now that I have this lifestyle change and am successful at staying with it, do I feel confident enough to stop logging and go it alone? I decided that even though eating well and daily exercise are something I just do (without thinking about it), I still want…

I was a yo-yo dieter pretty much my entire adult life (I'm in my 50's). MFP just clicked for me and I've been able to stick to this (I'm into year 2). But I also applied things I learned from all of the other diets (eat a balanced diet, avoid bad-for-you fats and processed foods and stick to whole foods, fresh where…

I like your idea of doing laps around the rest area. Walking is always good; you can do it just about anywhere. Do your in-laws have dogs? If so, you could offer to take their pooch for a walk. Try googling "exercises to do in the car"...there are lots of suggestions.

Need to figure out how to add photos.

A few times when I was in the middle of a cookie binge, I'm able to stop myself by writing down what triggered the binge. There is always an emotional component to out of control eating and writing it down helps. The key is figuring out how to stop myself. It doesn't always work but when it does, I feel like I've really…

I've always been a morning person, so working out in the morning is just a natural fit for me. However, it has not always been easy. In the past, there were too many days where I hit snooze and skipped working out. My motivation to get that work out done early - I know at the beginning of the day how many 'extra' calories…

I follow MFP 100%. In addition to keeping track of how much I eat, I also pay attention to what I'm eating and try to follow a low fat, high fiber, balanced diet and generally follow the food pyramid guidelines (although, it's not a pyramid anymore, it's now a plate).

I've had several plataus - the longest one lastest several months. What kept me going was that during those months, I continued to lose inches and dropped sizes. Each time, I made some kind of big change to my normal routine - i might throw in an extra intense work out or maybe a longer session of weights. Pushing myself…

Absolutely, in moderation. Since the rest of the time, I'm following a balanced diet, it's ok to have ice cream or whatever I'm craving. If I try to ignore the craving, it just gets worse and I end up eating lots of other things. So I have ice cream, but just one scoop. Or a cookie (a small one or half a big one). Or, my…

Favorite snacks that are also filling: Celery sticks with a laughing cow wedge Celera sticks with peanut butter Fiber bars - there are so many good ones (Fiber One 90 cal are my favs) 100-cal almond packs - I LOVE the cocoa roasted ones Small apple with peanut butter

The healthy rule of thumb is to buy more items on the outer perimeter of the store. This is generally where the produce, meat, dairy and less-processed foods can be found. My regular items: Broccoli cole slaw (goes on salad, in eggs, wraps) Cauliflower Lettuce Broccoli Celery (cut up into sticks and take to work for my…

When my husband now asks how many points I will get for walking the dogs or doing yard work!

Kudos to you for speaking up! And for recognizing that what you were given may not work for you. I agree with the other posts - you have to tell your trainer this is not a fit for you. He/she should be professional enough to work with you to change the program so that it's something you can follow and be successful.

If you stick to whole foods with natural sugars you should be fine - fresh or frozen (without added sugar) instead of canned as much as possible. Personally, I removed sugar from my journal because I was over every day even though I was doing a good job of eating healthy (even skim milk has a lot of sugar).

Congratulations on your success! And also for showing anyone struggling to lose weight that it takes hard work and will not happen overnight.

How are your clothes fitting? You may be firming even if the scale doesn't change a lot. Try keeping track of your measurements for a couple of weeks and see if your inches are going down.

I'm right there with you. I struggle with eating junk on the weekends. I might not go over in calories but too many of the calories are either high sugar or high sodium (or both). Come Monday, I'm up a couple of pounds (in water) and it takes all week to get back to where I should be. Something I starting doing last…

I could cheat if I was on a diet, but this is not a diet. Keeping track of what I eat, managing portions and getting regular exercise is a lifestyle change and not a diet. If I want something high fat, like my favorite ice cream, I have it. I just don't have very much of it. Or if I go to a party and eat a lot of salty…

I always thought I had a set weight and could never get below that. What I found out was that with no extra effort, I could get to that weight pretty easily. I found that I had to crank up my work outs to get to those last 10 pounds (with no changes in my normal eating plan). Every week or two, I throw in a high energy…

It worked!!!!!! After a stressful event, I went right to the cookie jar and inhaled a cookie, Then I remembered to journal. Once I wrote down what triggered the stress, I was no longer interested in eating more cookies and my day was saved!

It really doesn't matter which scale you want to use. What's most important is that when you weigh yourself, it's on the same scale at the same time of day each time. If you always use the same scale, then you'll be able to tell how you're doing. And don't forget to take measurements. This is just as important as the scale.

Great post! I have struggled with knee issues since a high school gymnastics injury and was told that I needed to always stay at a healthy weight if I wanted to keep my original knees as long as possible. So for me, keeping the weight off has always been motivatd by self-preservation. I've never had a significant amount of…

Keeping track of measurements is as important as the scale, if not more. When I hit a 3-month weight loss plateau last year, I continued to lose inches. It would have been very discouraging to not lose weight for that long, but the fact that I continued to firm up kept me going.

I had one of those days yesterday where I ate more in the mid-morning than I would normally eat. What always stops me from completely throwing away the entire day is to log what I ate right away, and I mean everything. When I do that, it brings me back to reality and helps me to stay on track for the rest of the day. I may…

LOVE THEM! I have one almost every day. It satisfies my sweet tooth and gives me the fiber I need. I do make sure I always have my 8 glasses of water each day so I never have any issues with bloating. I haven't seen the coconut/chocolate one mentioned above so I will be on the hunt. They sound really good.

I completely agree - when I really want something like chocolate or french fries and eat carrots instead, it's pointless! It does nothing to curb my cravings. I keep sugar free chocolates at my desk (in a drawer and not in view of my desk) but only allow myself one piece. It takes care of the craving and doesn't sabotage…

Even if everything else is good, it was depressing to see that red sugar number every day. Like you, I avoid added sugar and stick to whole foods. Even my skim milk has 11g! So I removed sugar from my diary. No more red numbers and I feel like a success!

I am not pregnant, but I wanted to share what worked for me when I was pregnant with my first. After gaining a lot of weight early, the nurse practioner gave me a food pyramid for pregnancy. It was a godsend. I followed it pretty closely and ended up with only 5 pounds to lose after the baby was born.

I am fortunate enough to live in a city with good tap water and prefer it to bottled water. I have some store bought bottles that I refill and keep in the refrigerator. I find that when the water is cold, it doesn't taste any different from bottled water.