Not your average weight loss thread - Begins Monday, January 28th '13. *Questionnaire Page 4

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Just wanted to give those of you who might have an interest a little heads up...the title states it...this won't be your usual "this was my New Years' resolution (siiiiiigh)" thread.

I will be posting a questionnaire, offering support, recipes and little tricks. We'll get ideas from each other, share successes and pick each other up if we stumble.

(Disclaimer: do not start this or any diet/exercise program without consulting your physician. Also, I'm not a doctor, nurse or other health professional, nor am I a dietician/nutritionist.)

What I am is a lady who gained 90 lbs. in 6 months at the age of 16 and continued to gain all my life. At age 40 I lost 220 lbs......with hard work. No trick diets, no surgery, no pills. I kept it off for 5 years, then gained back 60.

In July I started back on my program and have lost 26. I made mention of my story to supaspot on this forum, she encouraged me to start this thread.... And here we are.

For now, just consider it. The 2nd week of January we can get started. My goal for this thread isn't weight loss. It is about developing a healthy attitude toward our bodies, the ways we care for them, and becoming stronger. If we lose weight too, that's great. If we feel healthier, more alert and energetic... THEN we can say we're successful.

Again, think about it between now and January 7th. If you'd like more information, feel free to drop me a pm or post here....Julie

 

[Mona]

Hopefully you`ll get lots of support here in this thread. The last time we had one, I believe it was in 2010, it went on for quite a long time before most people started dropping away.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hey, I'm ready to jump back on a weight loss thread! LOL. Lost 40lbs on weight watchers, gained back 8 this past year, so back to counting points so I go back in the right direction.

Hi Mona!

Time to do some power walking.

 

[Mona]

Hi thereshorthorsemom. It's been so long I don;t even remember your name. I too was on the old thread and lost about 50 pounds, but since have gained close to 30 of that back, so yes, time for powerwalking. I've been doing a little inside on the treadmill as it's too cold here now to walk outside. I can tell what poor pysical shape I am in as I ache all over (back, knees, hips) when I do walk. I had already decided to give it a better shot after the new year, so maybe it's a blessing you started this. I just don't know how serious I am though...I just can't sseem to get the incentive back again like I had the last go-round. But maybe with the support here, it may help, or maybe not.

 

[KanoasDestiny]

This thread was put up at the perfect moment! I have just started to watch my portion sizes, and am currently looking for a food scale. I am severly overweight and have ALOT to lose, but I lack motivation, self control, and daily support.

I think it would be awesome if we had a weightloss subforum on here. I think alot of members would benefit from it.

 

[Mona]

I must be even more disgusted with myself than I thought. I said I gained 30 back...guess it just feels that way, because I looked back at my weight loss chart and the lowest I was to my last weigh in was 20.5 pounds, and the way I've been eating all week, I suspect I will be safe to say 25 pounds (or ore) by the time I start back up with you after the New Year!!!

 

[minisch]

I'm gonna need all the support I can get

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Just a quick check-in and a note....

We all need to wrap our minds around the idea that this IS NOT ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS...I feel that sets us up for failure. It's more like we're taking our bodies and "going green."

You'll see from the questionnaire I'll be posting that it's a very thorough assessment. It covers beliefs and attitudes about eating and exercise, current lifestyles, support systems, and personal motivators.

As I said above...I TRULY want each participant to be successful. I plan to offer each one of you access to me 24/7 if needed. Again, I'm neither health professional nor nutritionist..I'm a sensible, analytical woman who can look at what appear to be unrelated things and make connections. I communicate well, and I ask TREMENDOUS amounts of questions. (If that offends you, let me know.)

I've lived most of my life hating my body, even being hospitalized with an eating disorder in my early twenties....so I can empathize.

Lastly for this post..success is different for every person. We will take that into consideration and set goals appropriately.

I might never be able to effectively express the gratitude I feel to the members of this forum for the support and encouragement that you've given me. This is one of my ways of giving back...Julie

 

[Debby - LB]

OK I'll try to join in on this!!

 

[Mona]

I do appreciate al;l you are doing, but I can say for certain, it probably will not work for me. I KNOW it entails a lifestyle change. I knew that before, and it is ovvious once you change your current eating habits just how easy it is to lose weight. I know and understand that, however, if my mindset is not in sync, I let that devil on my shoulder too easily allow me to NOT folow what I know is best. In other words, I nweed to once again find my willpower.

 

[Debby - LB]

so true Mona... I dieted myself to the weight I am.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Yep. Its a mindset and new way of thinking. Hey mona...get your vitamin d levels checked. Changed my life! I had no idea I was low. I hurt all over which limited my walking and exercise.. low vitamin d.. worth checking. No joke..changed my life.

 

[vickie gee]

Count me in! I already have been thinking along the same lines. In the past couple of weeks I have gotten back into walking. I used to love it and then life got too hectic to make the time for it. My treadmill has collected dust for a few years. I almost put it up for sale when we started our remodel a few months ago but instead we have turned what used to be the master bedroom into a workout room and the treadmill is now being put to use. I feel better and sleep better when I do my evening walk. We have had nice weather here lately and I have been doing my evening walk after dark along our dead end county road when for the most part the traffic to and from our few neighbors has stopped or is at a minimum. I love my walk looking into the starry night listening to all the coyotes, donkeys, hoot owls, and smelling smoke from people's fireplaces and burnpiles. I don't need to lose much weight but I want to rid myself of the muffin top, tone up, and get muscular again.

We have been without a kitchen since rennovations began first of October so cooking healthy is my goal when our lives get put back together. FINALLY the company doing our restoration has committed their cabinet makers to begin installing on the Monday after Christmas and I am so looking forward to being queen of my kitchen and have every intention of cooking healthy and getting much needed exercise for my body (and mind.)

And as a plus: my Uncle Sam employer has to let us get three hours of admin leave for exercise per week starting next week. Teehee. I turned my first request in yesterday to go to the gym Monday and it got denied due to workload. I kept turning in the requests until I submitted an hour that my boss finally gave up on and approved. We were short handed enough and have so many problem people as far as doing the necessary work I decided to reward myself with the freeby. I love it. Me taking a freeby. I love it. I do really love it. I love it so much I am making sure I have plenty of sports bras, tee shirts, sweat pants, socks, etc packed so that I get my weekly quota.

Count me in. I LIKE it!

 

[shorthorsemom]

Me again..if anybody wants me to calculate any points for them or look anything up..I have weight watchers points plus calculator..book and scale here. I can help there. First thing to do is start a food journal. People who write down everything they eat and how much they eat..naturally eat less food. And make better choices.

 

[lucky seven]

Count me in, I'm also very unhappy with my weight. I have a front porch, back porch and a rubber tire that needs deflating. Hubby and I are talking about getting a treadmill, would be great for these cold, windy winter months. The older I get, the more weight I seem to gain.

 

[supaspot]

I stopped smoking almost four years ago and over that time Ive put on 25 lbs , it didnt help that I went through the menopause at the same time and gave up riding too , I am not eating more , infact Im eating less than I ever have but Im not getting the exercise that I used to do , II dont seem to have the energy anymore I also lack motivation , I struggle to get in my clothes but still have cant resist that chocolate biscuit , I know I have to do something about it but I cant seem to get started , I may not post too often on this thread but be assured Ill be reading every word !

 

[chandab]

gave up riding too , I am not eating more , but Im not getting the exercise that I used to do. I lack motivation , I struggle to get in my clothes but still have cant resist that chocolate biscuit , I know I have to do something about it but I cant seem to get started , I may not post too often on this thread but be assured Ill be reading every word !

This part of what you wrote sounds so much like me. The biggest for me is lack of motivation.

Not that it wouldn't be nice to look good for my husband; but now that I live 40 miles out in the country, most days the only beings that see me are the horses, cows, cats and dogs, as long as I feed them, they don't care. Guess I need to start caring.

A little less of this

and a little more of this

would probably help.

 

[minisch]

Maybe this is what I needed. I am already a member of planet fitness, but I need the motivation ! Got divorced a few years ago, then had a hysterectomy and ate my stress away. Now I'm in constant pain, have plantar fascitis so bad at the end of the day I can barely walk, let alone exercise. But if I can do weights and bike and start feeling better about myself I can get myself out of this deep hole I'm in .

 

[SampleMM]

Count me in too! I've been doing Weight Watchers for over a year now. I am down 30 lbs and am trying for 30 lbs this year and then I would be pretty close to my goal. I sometimes get discouraged at how slowly it's coming off but I keep plugging away. This sounds fun!!

 

[shorthorsemom]

Weight watchers is awesome. I learned it really isnt about hormones, genetics or lack of exercise. It is about what you eat and how much you eat. I didn't believe it and then I lost 40 lbs in one year eating much more food than I did before changing my eating habits. Its the little snacking that adds up. I felt so good I went back to my old habit and have gained 8 lbs back. time to start tracking and counting. Cool thing about ww is that you can eat what ever you want, but you have to count it in for the day. Bad thing is that a slice of pizza will rack up half your points for the day. LOL. Exercise makes it come off faster.. but ww without exercise will still lose weight. I have a friend that lost over 100 lbs so far and now he can exercise some. Prior to that, it hurt too much and at his weight it would have been dangerous for him to exercise in the beginning. I had plantar facitis (cant spell that), back issues and horrible pain in my joints and back. Found out somewhere along the way I didn't have fibro mylagia, but instead had low vitamin D. I want to throw that out there to those of you that think you have old age pain and aches. Worth checking... anyway... I am going to find my motivation here to get back on track. First thing to do I mentioned earlier.. Keep track of what you eat! Even when you taste what you are cooking... for me, I used to eat my meal while cooking and had no idea how much I had consumed. Fruits and most veggies are free points for snack. Yep, you can eat a banana on ww. Anyway... lets do it, this thread ran so long last year that they pinned it. You can eat 3 egg whites, put on it a light mozzarella cheese stick, one ounce of ham and micro wave it... That is 3 points there.. Add one healthy "round" bread flat, for 3 points. That is 6 points. Add a banana pear or apple to your morning for zero points and have a cup of tea or coffee with stevia for zero... Spray margarine is zero. For lunch you can have 3 oz of turkey or ham or low fat meat for 3 points, spread a laughing cow cheese wedge on your toast instead of mayo for 1 point. More fruit for zero, dill pickles are zero, lettuce is zero... add a little salad dressing to your veggie salad for about a point a tablespoon if you are using light variaty. For supper you can do chicken without skin for about a point an ounce... potato with spray marg, about 3 points for a medium one (I weigh potatoes) add some green beans. All this is about 19 points give or take depending on how you cook and serve. I get 26-28 points a day. You can save points for snacks that you simply "have" to have. I find I must count in snacks or I go nuts. anyway... just a teaser...stay tuned