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<p>People just like to complain. If we could spend the energy we expend on resisting exercise or healthy food (or hating on it, as my D would say), on actually doing those things, all our problems would be solved.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve noticed in both myself and my H— if I haven’t eaten enough calories during the day, I tend to feel unsatisfied all night long and will overeat. I can always tell if H hasn’t eaten enough during the day because he’ll binge on nuts after dinner.</p>
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<p>Yes! It helps a lot to visualize and feel the pounds! My two cats weigh about 20 lb combined (an 8 lb “baby” and a 12 lb “teen”). When we returned from our run last night, the cats came out to greet us. DH picked them up and said, “My goodness, all these years I had been lugging two heavy cats on my body!” DH lost 20 lb 
His doctor was extatic that one of his patients listened to his advice and followed through!</p>
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<p>One thing that can really help here is eating 5 small meals rather than 3 meals. I’m much hungrier at night and always save a small meal for bed although every book you’ll read says it wrong. Five 250 or 300 calorie meals are much more satisfying for me.</p>
<p>I’m with your husband, I love nuts and have to buy them in very small amounts to not get too tempted. It’ so easy to consume hundreds of calories with them without thinking about it.</p>
<p>^ I do not know how many meals I have, I eat constantly. I believe I have about 5 breakfasts the first is around 4:30 - 5am. I have no idea about calories. I just love certain food and have lots of it. We never sit down for dinner, except for special occasion, mostly when kids are at home, we usually schedule it, since we are rarely at home at the same time. We walk together at the same time every evening for an hour instead of spending time together at dinner table. I do not recommend it to anybody, it is just developed naturally in our family.</p>
<p>they say to limit the calories in the meals to 400 calories. if you are eating the small meals.</p>
<p>I am looking for some support. After nearly 2 weeks of keeping a food log I am eating healthier and much less. I have also gotten back on the treadmill. </p>
<p>And my weight is unchanged :(</p>
<p>FallGirl, that was the same experience I had. Now suddenly I am seeing my weight begin to drop - after 3 weeks. Do you feel better? I bet you do. I know I do! </p>
<p>Weather in VA has finally warmed and had a great walk with the dog this a.m. Lots of neighbors out and about so enjoyable for both of us!</p>
<p>Fallgirl,
Everybody is different. Good that you are working on your goal. You just need to adjust or wait another week and see what happened and then adjust. I mean that you either need to cut more food or do exercise more. There is no magic about it. I do not believe in diet pills or some crazy unsustainable diets. Make sure that you eat what you like and you enjoy your exercise. It is hard and stressful to stick to something that you are not enjoying, although it might be enjoyable to others.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great idea. I am going to the store today and pick up 10 pounds of something - maybe dog food. And realize that is no longer on my body - my joints and spine, etc. I have 2 herniated disks and sciaticia and am off work for 2 weeks. I would think that losing this 50 pounds would have to help my spine in some way.</p>
<p>Let’s gear up for the weekend, folks! If you are dining out, plan for it. Think about what you would enjoy before you get to the restaurant. Are you going to have a roll? How about the baked potato? Is one more important to you than the other? Can you live without butter on the bread? Maybe 1/2 as much butter as you usually use? Maybe steamed veggies instead of the potato? Or how about 1/2 of the baked potato instead of the whole thing. Would you have the same “dining experience”? (I am using the bread/potato scenario because I have a problem in this area.)</p>
<p>Teriwtt - I see nothing wrong with your mini wheats in the morning. Sounds like it is very important to you. One thing you might want to to, is see what a “serving” consists of. I want to say it’s 24 mini wheats. When I would pour a bowl, it was much more than 24 of them, I learned. Or you might want to slack off to 1/2 a serving and add something else to go with it for your breakfast that you would enjoy.</p>
<p>Let’s do it today, friends! Here we go…</p>
<p>Do not push yourself! Have fun! Do not stress over!</p>
<p>Another tip is to think about when your weigh in day is. For awhile I was always starting off the week, by weighing in on Monday AM - BAD idea cause more than likely, I will be a little more lax on the weekends than during the week. The structure of my job and our home routine keeps me more on target during the week. So look at your weigh in day - maybe a Wednesday morning weigh-in is better - or, do you weigh yourself more often? </p>
<p>For a while I was also weighing every morning - that can be good and bad. Sometimes it puts you on a roller coaster ride!</p>
<p>abasket - you’re right. I always weigh less on Thursday (results confirmed yesterday) and more on Monday. I think salt probably has something to do with it. We usually do our one meal out per week on Fri or Sat and it’s hard to avoid salt when dining out. My body retains water…and wallah…a few more pounds appear.</p>
<p>I think the key is to develop habits that stick with you for life. I gave up white rice 10 years ago and I don’t miss it. But over the last couple of years, i let not so healthy carbs creep back into my diet…yummy crackers from TJs, rolls at dinner, etc. Honestly, it’s not that hard to cut that stuff out and LEAVE it out. I know it will take a long time to see the impact but it will come. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone…I hope to see this thread continue all year!</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. Maybe I just need to see how I am doing in another week or so. At this point I don’t really see cutting my food intake any more as I would have to starve myself! I do feel “thinner” but can’t understand why the scale tells me otherwise. </p>
<p>I’m also in Virginia and it’s beautiful outside today (and my day off). I’m already planning a nice long walk with my dog this afternoon.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^You may be experiencing some fluid shifts, especially since you say you feel thinner. Just keep doing what you’re doing and eventually you will see the pounds go. Over time you will need to increase the intensity/duration of your exercise so your body doesn’t adapt. I like doing interval training-it makes the time go by quicker.</p>
<p>Just remember this: you didn’t put on weight overnight, and you will not lose it over night.</p>
<p>FallGirl, don’t get too hung up on the number on the scale. Muscle weighs more than fat (that is, a pound of muscle is smaller in volume than a pound of fat). Since you’re exercising, you’re probably replacing bad, yucky fat with attractive toned muscle. Are your clothes getting looser? If they are, you’re getting results, congratulations!</p>
<p>Fallgirl, it’s not unusual to see nothing coming off and then a significant drop. Your body can fight you at first, it’s trained to hold onto the fat cells. I would suggest drinking as much water as you can and make sure to get 35 plus grams of fiber per day. The second part can be hard so think of things you can add flax seed into, smoothies work.</p>
<p>Eddie, a baked potato with just salt begins to taste really good and is good for you. Not too much salt of course unless your blood pressure runs low. Make sure to eat the skin for the fiber and to slow the carb absorption which causes insulin to store fat.</p>
<p>Exactly, Cardinal Fang! My yD is all muscle and weighs about 10 lb more than I do, yet my pants fall of her toned rear end.</p>
<p>I go on scale 2 times / day. It works for me, but I never stress out about anything in my life and my weight is not priority. I have been in normal range of weight for my height for few years.</p>
<p>At the end of a diet/exercise program when a typical women has leaned down totally and developed significant muscle, ten pounds would be about what a 130 pound woman would have put on in muscle–and that’s with serious weight work at our age. At the start of a diet, muscle replacing fat is minimal.</p>