<p>Kudos to you snowflake! Fast is not truly not important !</p>
<p>Yeah snowflake!
I cooked the chicken the same day. I am in the pacific time zone so had not made dinner yet when I posted. The chicken was good. I probably should have sprayed the grill with Pam since it did stick a bit.</p>
<p>Well, I blew it tonight! Mediterranean food, with rice and pita bread and even this delicious dessert and flavored coffee with cream! Ah well, first cheat night in 14 weeks. Back on the wagon tomorrow. I’ve been doing stationary bike almost every day, and I recently added the AB blaster. Lo carb diet (except for tonight). I’ve lost 25 lbs.</p>
<p>Congrats, cromette! Wow, was the 25-lb loss in just those 14 weeks?</p>
<p>Worrywart, yes.</p>
<p>I’ve just noticed this thread now! Looks like it’s been here for 2 years 
Better late than never! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I have just gained 16 pounds “overnight”. Most of it landed in my bottom half. I am being medically induced into menopause because of past medical issues. I believe much of this weight gain is because of being in menopause. This (medical inducement) has been happening for the past 3 years.</p>
<p>I would love to figure out how to lose it again!</p>
<p>I stopped drinking diet sodas and chocolate…my two weaknesses.</p>
<p>I’ll take the time to read back posts on this thread, but would love to join in and get some motivation from you guys!</p>
<p>I go to the gym only once or twice a week. I know I need to step it up (literally!)</p>
<p>Any advice you could afford me would be most appreciated! :)</p>
<p>Hi, newbie (to this thread) here. Some great stories here, congratulations!! I have been at this for a year, have lost 20, 20 more to go. I agree that fast is not impt, I have lost about 1.5 lbs a month… slow… but I can cheat alittle and it doesn’t go right back on 
I couldn’t exercise for about 2 weeks and I still kept it off, so I think losing it slow… doing the right things is a really good idea. I am 50 so the metabolism is changing (ugh) so I really needed to ramp up the exercise and cut my calories. I use My Fitness Pal to count calories ( 1200 day) and to track exercise. I run and do P90X. I run slowly and modify some of the P90x exercises but it’s working… so I am happy.
Have a great week everybody!!</p>
<p>Keeping it off is the problem for me and for many. I like your approach ldavis. It’s difficult not to get impatient, especially if you have a lot to lose. I need to lose A LOT. But I try not to focus on the numbers too much and focus more on eating right and working out and just let the chips fall where they may. Truthfully, I haven’t weighed in over a week. I know it’s going to be a “forever” road, and this portion of the road (before reaching target weight) is going to be LONG! So I try not to get bogged down. I didn’t lose much in week 2, and in week 3 I actually GAINED weight, even though I was following my diet plan and working out religiously. I try not to get discouraged by little numbers on the scale, in the short term.</p>
<p>I figure it will take over a year to reach my target weight.</p>
<p>Big welcome to newbies chocchipcookie and ldavis!!! You both are on the right path - you are taking steps to change your lifestyle AND you are on this thread!</p>
<p>Cookie, I would recommend two things:
- Start tracking your food on one of the online food tracking programs - many use :
[Calorie</a> Counter, Calorie Tracker & Food Journal | MyPlate on LIVESTRONG.COM | LIVESTRONG.COM](<a href=“http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/]Calorie”>Simple Healthy Living | livestrong) or [Free</a> Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Journal | MyFitnessPal.com](<a href=“http://www.myfitnesspal.com/]Free”>http://www.myfitnesspal.com/).
It is eye opening to almost everyone to see the nutritional content of what goes in your mouth daily! You input your food intake and it will track EVERYTHING for you - the # of calories per day, the % of fat, carbs, salt, etc. for everything. Then you can clearly see what you need to add or take away from your diet. MAKE A COMMITTMENT TO DO THIS AT LEAST FOR A WEEK OR TWO - EVERY MEAL, EVERY MORSEL!<br> - If you are exercising two times a week, commit to adding one additional workout a week (at minimum). You don’t have to be a superhero and exercise daily (though that is good!) but bump your commitment up at least ONE. </p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged by what you see others accomplishing. Be motivated, but not discouraged! For instance ldavis runs and does P90X - that has been her routine - now she wants to bump it up - that is personal starting point and she will add from there. If YOUR starting point is a 30 minute exercise session twice a week, you don’t have to start running three times a week and doing P90X - have your own personal gains that are appropriate for your current routine.</p>
<p>I second tracking what you eat, especially until you settle into a pretty standard routine. If I were to track now, it would look incredibly similar from week to week.</p>
<p>But, if you mix it up a lot, or if you’ve started a new program and haven’t done that exercise, you should, definitely! It can be an eye-opening experience. I learned a lot about caloric intake just by doing that.</p>
<p>My Fitness Pal is great for tracking food and exercise… you can plug in food and it has a data base… will tell you how many calories/carbs/fat/protein… really great.
Also how many calories you burn on your half hour walk or run.
If anyone else is on MFP ~ send me a private message and I will “friend” you over there… great accountability and encouragement!! Both are impt!</p>
<p>I love reading this thread and am always encouraged by posts from others! The two things that work for me are tracking what I eat, and walking everyday. I have some minor lower back issues and walking keeps me feeling great. I use the fitbit tracker and it really helps me to log my 10,000 steps each day.</p>
<p>Thanks for the welcome abasket and everyone.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! I will look up those websites and try to join one to track food intake. I had to look up P90X, never heard of it before.</p>
<p>I have had many health issues, so never been a big exerciser. H & I go to Planet Fitness once or twice a week. We ride bikes and walk too, but not often enough. Need to make this a priority. My goal is to increase my minutes on the Elliptical. I’ve gone from 3 to 4 to 5 minutes so far, woohoo! ;)</p>
<p>I guess I’ll be starting slowly and reporting back to this group…goal is to lose the 16 pounds that just “found” me so I can once again fit into my clothes more comfortably.</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement! :)</p>
<p>I think the key is cross training… muscle confusion according to Tony Horton (P90X).
Try to excercise different muscle groups on different days… that way you can prevent injury from overuse and muscles can repair and rebuild. I didnt know until recently that muscles get bigger because they tear and repair. Who knew?! But if you use them everyday they dont repair… I also started drinking MuscleMilk after exercising to pump up the protein. I dont want big muscles… I just want some haha!
I was running 5x/wk and not losing weight, my body had become efficient. I didnt lose until I started cross training. That’s been my experience, maybe it will help somebody.
I do think it’s more work when you’re a female in your fifties!</p>
<p>Chocchipcookie, you say you’ll “TRY” to join and track your food intake. Just do it. I feel confident in saying that anyone who has lost weight and keep it off did not do it successfully (especially keeping it off) until they started tracking their food. You don’t have to change your eating habits to track - just track it - chances are, when you see visually what you are putting in your body, you will be motivated and see exactly where you need to make changes. </p>
<p>If you can take those things you like to do - Planet Fitness, walking, biking and do one of them at least 4-5 days a week (that’s 2 or 3 days you don’t have to do anything) for at least 20 minutes I think you will see some changes in the way your feel AND you will see a little movement on that scale. Give up 20 mins of tv or 20 mins on the computer, or 20 minutes of SOMETHING - you can do it. :)</p>
<p>OK, I am joining up – just started an account on MyFitnessPall (so easy!)</p>
<p>I am a formerly skinny (underweight – under 100 lbs. through college) kid who started putting pounds on after marriage, but was not really heavy until midlife. Now I am 62 with metabolic syndrome and other health issues. Father (obese) died of a heart attack at 63. </p>
<p>Have lost using Weight Watchers before, but attending the meetings is a scheduling challenge for me now, and online never appealed to me. But now I will give it a try. </p>
<p>Am down in recent years 26 lbs. from my all-time high weight. Want to lose five ASAP that I have regained since the fall. Then I would love to lose an additional five or 10 before my daughter’s late September wedding. But I am most concerned with keeping off the weight I have lost so far. </p>
<p>I am short (5’2") so that is an additional challenge for me.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I love fruits and veggies. But I also love chocolate – the news that chocolate has some health benefits was such major good news to me! I try to have only the very dark chocolate in the house. </p>
<p>I am also good about beverages – am happy drinking water or unsweetened iced tea. Hardly ever sip anything caloric. Can only imagine what I would weigh if I had calories in my beverages! </p>
<p>Hoping that committing via this thread will keep me on track. :)</p>
<p>CC is oddly an EXCELLENT place for weight/nutrition/exercise/health management!</p>
<p>I SO believe that the key to any of this ^^^ (weight, nutrition) is to really “own up” to what you do or don’t do (" I do eat too much chocolate", “I do like to eat a good breakfast”, “I do only have 20 mins three times a week to exercise”) and then PLAN and STICK the best you can (we all falter or have circumstances - going to a wedding reception - you BET I’m going to have a little piece of cake!). Make the plan YOURS. </p>
<p>What others are doing is helpful to hear, helpful to see, but in the end, it has to work with your daily routine and you have to be willing and motivated to do it. So you start at one place and piece together a new healthy lifestyle for YOU. The challenges of it that seem so tough will start to melt away as you feel mentally and physically bits better - it doesn’t happen overnight - when you can see that you lost the first pound or made it to the gym three times in one week, or you keep your carbs under 100% of the recommended daily allowance for a day - you will feel success. :)</p>
<p>Welcome, JEM! You are in the right place.</p>
<p>“I will look up those websites and try to join one to track food intake.”</p>
<p>I can’t resist telling you that while I was doing WW 5 years ago, I installed a widget on my computer dashboard called Yoda Speak. Almost every day I would close my eyes and repeatedly listen to Yoda saying “Do or do not. There is no try.” It was like a little bit of hypnosis and really did help me. I decided I would do the program perfectly, not try to do it. And that I would lose weight, not try to lose weight. It really was a mind shift and it worked for me. I also took to heart the message I read somewhere that “Losing weight is hard, keeping it off is hard and being fat is hard. Choose your hard.” I lost over 30 lbs. and have kept if off for 4 1/2 years.</p>