<p>Good morning. I give my weekend an A- for exercising and a C for eating. </p>
<p>My first couple days at the gym were pleasant, although I’m not fond of the seat on that stationary bike. I think I’m bruised in a place that can’t afford to be bruised. :eek: The eliptical kicked my butt, figuratively. </p>
<p>For foods, I stayed under my allowed calorie count for the two-day total. But Staruday nite I had 2 beers and some nachos when friends invited us out at the spur of the moment. (I wanted a glass of chardonnay, but they were ordering pitchers, so I felt like I shouldn’t be the lone dissenter. I’ll try better next time.) </p>
<p>Now I’m off to check out that sushi bar website. Cheers!</p>
<p>^^^^^ Weekends are often the hardest so at least you kept your exercising up!!</p>
<p>For me, the whole losing weight and more importantly KEEPING IT OFF thing boils down to this:
Eat less.
Eat healthier.
Exercise more.</p>
<p>That’s it. Look at your diet now. Put 10-20% less on your plate at each meal than you currently do. Choose one food item on your plate to replace or largely diminish with a healtheir option (so maybe 1/2 slice of bread, but add another vegetable). Add in 20 minutes of exercise a day. 20 MINUTES! If you can’t find 20 minutes, tell us why. Choose your pleasure - walking in the neighborhood, riding a bike, exercise machines, floor exercises. </p>
<p>So looking at the three things above (eat less, eat healthier, exercise more) - where is your struggle???</p>
<p>My struggle is finding time to exercise. I have improved my eating habits a bit (down to 12 oz of Coke a day, from 2-3 times that amount, more vegetables, fewer empty carbs).</p>
<p>We went away for a long weekend at our second home so I didn’t get my daily hour long walk in. I did two bike rides of about 5 miles each time so hoped that helped. Also sweated a lot by helping DH stain the deck for two days in 95 degree heat. Does painting miles of decking work off any calories? I’m certain my right arm must be skinnier today:) I did get back to my usual walk and den floor workout today.</p>
<p>Ate too much bread on my trip I think…half of an Arby’s turkey and swiss sandwich Wed. night, the other half for lunch on Thurs. and then a hamburger with (mustard,lettuce,tomato,onion on that skinny wheat bread that looks like a small frisbee) Thurs night. That’s three meals containing bread in two days…not too good.</p>
<p>Went to our town’s summer festival where homemade ice cream was being sold. DH bought banana (my fav) and I got none. I sampled two tiny bites from his and considered it a victory that I didn’t give in and eat the whole bowl!</p>
<p>All these months I’ve been dropping pounds but don’t even own any scales! I go to my friend’s house next door and use hers occasionally.<br>
I’ve decided I really need some to keep a closer check on things so am off to Target to purchase scales today. I don’t work in the summer (teacher) and am really afraid I’ll backslide now that I’m at home and not busy at work. Hope this thread will keep me honest.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, don’t switch to diet coke to replace your real coke. </p>
<p>I love Coke. I never drank much of it, but I would have 1, maybe 2, if I was writing a particularly tough report. I could have a case of Pepsi right by me - no temptation - but that Coke, mmmmm. I tried not keeping it in the house. I would then take a break at around 3 and walk to a nearby convenience store and get a can (don’t like the plastic bottles). </p>
<p>So when I had my moment, the moment when I realized that despite my long arms and legs, I was no longer slim, I knew it had to go along with a lot of other changes. I decided to switch to diet Coke. I got my weight to an acceptable level and there it stayed until I dropped drinking diet Coke. Between that and my braces, I was able to drop those last pesky pounds - AND more importantly, I know my stomach is much flatter and I don’t get that bloated thing. </p>
<p>Now - the only time I have any Coke, it is the real thing, and it is really rare. Otherwise, I could slip off the wagon!</p>
<p>I have wanted the Wii Fit for years and finally bought it yesterday. I have taken it out of the box, but it is not set up yet. Has anyone else used Wii Fit? Any suggestions? (other than get off the computer and hook it up–lol)</p>
<p>worknprogress, we are sisters under the skin! I don’t touch Pepsi, either. I also prefer Coke out of cans, unless I have a chance to have the real, old, sugar-sweetened Coke out of glass bottles - that’s the best. I can’t keep it in the house, and it is a pain to go out every morning, so I keep a 12-pack of cans in my car and bring in each night what I will drink the next morning. I had been bringing in 2-3 cans/day, now I’m down to 1.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice about diet Coke. I hadn’t been planning to drink it, because artificial sweeteners cause problems for me.</p>
<p>I didn’t get around to my base-line weigh-in until today. I was sorry I did it - too depressing. I am trying to locate my measuring tape to do the waistline measurement. That is the one I really care about.</p>
<p>We went cold turkey on ALL sodas when one night DD pushed away her glass of carbonated beverage and said, “Mom, Coach A says sodas are REALLY bad for you! Can we have something else, please?”</p>
<p>I gave up pop in my teens when I worked in a restaurant with free pop for all, but I admit to being addicted to saccharin in my tea, I don’t like sugar, I like that semi sweet-bitter saccharin taste I have cut my tiny little bit in half, but I do like a bit of sweet taste in my tea.</p>
<p>If sugar is bad and anything artificial in bad in other ways, is there anything that is decent, adds some sweet taste, but does not mess with your brain? What about Stevia? It’s supposed to be natural.</p>
<p>^^^Right. I don’t worry about the teaspoon of sugar I might put in my coffee once a day, a few times a week. It’s the piece of pie a la mode eaten right before bed that’s going to do damage.</p>
<p>From what I’ve read it’s not just the empty calories. Sugar is a subtracting food, it takes vitamins from your body to process sugar. Glucose toxicity also damages the beta cells in your pancreas and eventually lead to diabetes.</p>
<p>It’s true that sugar is considered a toxic substance by many, and some very prominent cancer biologists have completely eliminated it from their diets as there is evidence accumulating that it promotes cancer, but I can’t believe that 1 tsp a day is going to make a big difference.</p>
<p>I cannot help but believe, without having done any research of course, that it’s best to eat substances found in nature with little intervention, and wean one’s tastebuds off of sugar in everything except those foodstuffs meant to be sweet. In other words, no sugar on your pork, real sugar in your cake, cake infrequently.</p>
<p>I haven’t had any diet sweeteners in 30 years. I used to drink sugar in my tea, cut it out. But I certainly have full fat chocolate and full fat cake and full fat cookies, when and if I eat them. If you really focus on what you’re eating, I think you want less.</p>
<p>I had good luck several years ago with the South Beach Diet. Phase 1 for two weeks: almost no carbs, got rid of carb craving and started losing quickly. Phase 2 until you’ve reached your goal: add some healthy carbs back. Phase 3 forever: healthy diet with only “good” carbs.</p>
<p>The book was very helpful. A lot of it contained meal plans and recipes that were quite good and mostly easy to prepare. It changed the dieting psychology from “don’t eat this, and don’t eat that”, to “do eat this” chosen from an appealing menu.</p>
<p>Sugar is an addicting substance so even a teaspoon can cause cravings for more. That’s why you need to give it up cold turkey like motherbear did on South Beach. Some say that even artificial sweeteners cause cravings too, but I haven’t found that to be the case so I use Splenda.</p>
<p>“From what I’ve read it’s not just the empty calories. Sugar is a subtracting food, it takes vitamins from your body to process sugar. Glucose toxicity also damages the beta cells in your pancreas and eventually lead to diabetes.”</p>
I give my weekend an A- for exercising and a C for eating. </p>
I have cut my tiny little bit in half, but I do like a bit of sweet taste in my tea.</p>