Thanks for visiting.

Camy

It has always annoyed me when people are super picky about their food (for no good reason) too. I do think that you have a good reason and that no-one would mind you reminding them up front of your medical condition. I have come to recognise that a single high-calorie day (or indeed two together) can be viewed as an isolated incident and in no way marks the end of a weight loss project. All it really does is impede weight loss over that week. It would be easy to get too focused and say "I cannot eat that" - but that attitude does not really prepare us for the odd social occasion once we get to goal and how we can possibly deal with maintenance. It is days like that - that I am particularly pleased that I do not count calories. I would not be able to stop myself from trying to work them out and I would feel shocked as to how high the numbers go.

Sweatpea

Thanks. I must admit that I will be pleased to get through the 11 stone barrier. I started my project at 21 stone so it will mark the loss of 10 stone. A loss of 140 pounds is a nice very round number when viewed in stones.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Monday 17/03/08

General Data:

Afternoon walk = 7.0 miles
Round the block = none
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 11st 0.8 lbs (i.e. 154.8 pounds)
Steps = 25,389
Distance = 9.81 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massages
Forgot ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1 large handful honey Shreddies
1 large handful honey Shreddies
1 clementine
1 clementine
1 pear
1 pear
1 apple
Lots and lots of grapes
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Salmon fillet, 3 new potatoes. Sweetcorn, some olive spread
1 large handful honey Shreddies

my goodness ... how do you find the time to walk so many miles... i have a hard time fitting in two... lol... you are going to kill on this weeks mini-challenge!!!

I manage to fit in as much walking because I am fortunate in that I am not currently working. This means that I can treat my weight loss project more like a full time job.

I need to walk at excessive levels in order to lose weight. I had tried to lose weight in the past and nothing seemed to work. Now that I have found a way - it is not a problem for me to walk a lot. I do this every day. You can see my pedometer counts in a number of challenges (e.g. pedometer buddies, 10,000 steps etc). I do two or three exercise walks most days (I did short hours over the long weekend while we were away).

I would be surprised if anyone does anything like my level of walking in the mini challenge this week. Most people do not have to walk excessively to lose weight.

Yes but Marg, you enjoy walking do you not?

I certainly always have. In the summer, when I lived in town, I used to walk EVERYWHERE. I loved it. Especially when there was sunshine. Though now that I've trained myself to run, I'll most probably enjoy jogging more, but still, walking is not only healthy, it's enjoyable.

I'm proud of you, that you're able to go so far with your regime. How long does it usually take you to treck six miles? A couple hours?

Hi Rae

Six miles is about two hours.

I do enjoy walking - or at least I do when the weather is nice. When it is bitterly cold or wet I tend to think things like "why me!!!". It would be nice to think that we have the choice in much the same way as we may choose to watch a TV program or not. The thing that I object to is that it may be horrible weather and I know that the choice is go out and get wet for the next couple of hours or return to being fatter than fat. There have been plenty of days when I have looked out at the weather and could have happily decided not to go out into it.

I also have a bit of a repetitive fear - "what would happen if I broke a leg?".

I think that the thing to ask yourself is whether running would hold the same attraction for yourself as it does currently if you didnt have a treadmill and it was one of those bad weather days / weeks / months.

Take care
Love
Margaret

I assumed it was close to about two hours. I've only ever walked four point five miles and it took me about an hour.

Your post reminded me alot of my internal delimmas when it comes to running or not. There are days when I simply *do not* feel like it, and as you do, I ask myself the age old question "Do I WANT to return to being fat, or am I going to push this out like I need to?"

I really do love running, I do, but there are some days when life's got me drained of energy. Yet, I always decide to run and by some miracle, I'm able to do it.

You're totally right. I honestly think that running will hold even *more* of an attraction for me if I can do it in the sunshine on a relatively cool Spring/Summer day. It's exciting to think about right now, actually. I'm pretty tired of staring at the red and gold walls of my treadmill room. There's specks of crimson painted on the bronze, and lately, I've gotten to the point of internally connecting the dots like a child's game. I've drawn out Tony Soprano and Cassiopia. LOL.

Hi Rae

It is funny how we can convince ourselves that not doing a single session of exercise would immediately lead to a weight gain of over 100 pounds. There is no logic to it - but it seriously is the way that I seem to think. It certainly is enough to get me out there in all weather. I did not walk from 26th May to the 3rd of June when I was ill and on antibiotics and on 20th December when we spent all day travelling. Those are the only days that I have missed over the past year.

I would like to eventually get to the mindset whereby I feel that I should not gain weight if my weekly stepcount hit a certain number. It would be nice if I felt that I had more flexibility over whether I walked or not on a specific day. I accept that this flexibility does probably already exist - just that I havent quantified it or got into the mindset.

I am sure that you will love running when the weather gets warm. I know how much nicer it was last summer when I was out walking every day. I kept thinking that people who use treadmills miss out on so much.

Janice (Abbagirl) has a television near her treadmill and she always watches certain programs from the treadmill. Maybe you should see if you can move a television near your treadmill. It may give you improved entertainment while you are running.

Take care
Love
Margaret

WOW your down from last week, great job!! I think you found a nitch that works for you in weight loss and your very lucky! It seems most of us have to keep trying to find what works for us. I do whatever I can each week and leave it at that. I don't think I could motivate myself to get out and walk everyday when the weather is bad, that would be my first downfall, I hate cold, wet weather with a passion, and I would certainly talk myself out of going outside in it. Props to you for keeping yourself focused and really pushing with all that determination to keep plugging forward, you have some awesome will power, I wish I had half of that. Great job as always keep up the good work!
Kim

Hi Kim

Thanks for visiting. It does work - but I only get weightloss two weeks out of four - and expect everything to grind to a halt this weekend. It makes things a bit of a long drawn out process. Still - I have got to the stage where the end is in sight (albeit from a bit of a distance) so it encourages me to keep on with things.

You do pretty well on the motivation front yourself. You often go to the gym and you really work hard when you are there. We both deserve the losses that we get. It would be nice if we got more - but as long as we keep getting some results we will stick with things until we get where we want to be.

Hopefully better weather will be with us soon. Things are always better if it is bright and sunny.

Take care
Love
Margaret

From the weigh every day club:

It will probably go up tomorrow - but for today a milestone is hit.
I started at 21 stone 0 and now I am under 11 stone.

Congrats on losing 140lbs and hitting 11st!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And stop this silly nonsense about your weightloss grinding to a halt after this weekend. Think positive! Says the pessimistic Kimberly..lol. I guess I justify it by saying I'm rarely disappointed if I expect the worst anyway...

WAY TO GO MARGARET!!!

How wonderful for you to have hit another major milestone.
I hit one of sorts the other day when I was able to look down without leaning forward and see my feet!
Haven't done that in a while!!! LOL
Keep it up!
I am so very proud of you.

Thanks Kimberly and Dawn.

I must admit to being pretty pleased at hitting this milestone (and I am under 11 stone again today). Ten stone is quite a lot of weight that I have lost. Someone that is 10 stone 1lb that is my height has a BMI of 25. I have pretty much lost the weight of a slightly overweight person my height.

Kimberly

I will stop talking about it and look surprised when my weight loss grinds to a halt. You know that it never alters the way that I work for my weightloss - I do my long walk every day and I do my afternoon laps every day when I am at home. I stick to my food plan all the time apart from when we eat out - and we eat out so rarely you can pretty much ignore the impact. In all honesty - my being aware that my weightloss has a skewed aspect makes me more accepting of the fact that some weeks I will work hard and seem to go backwards. I used to feel like giving up and I have been known to binge (last happened in September) when I felt despondent about the lack of progress. Now that I understand what to expect - I take it in my stride.

Dawn

Congratulations on your own milestone. You promped me to check if I could see my feet. I think that I still lean forward a bit to see my feet. My damned boobs are so big (36J - all bundled up skin) - it is hard to see anything beyond them without leaning forward. I suppose that is the price that I have to pay for having started out so much bigger than you were when you started. I am feeling quite jealous of you.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Tuesday 18/03/08

General Data:

Morning walk = 7.3 miles
Round the block = 5 times
Extra exercises = yoga class
Weight = 10st 13.6 lbs (i.e. 153.6 pounds)
Steps = 28,550
Distance = 11.03 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massage
Forgot ankle exercises

My Food / Drink:

Basic eating plan

1 banana
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies
Pork loin steak
1 clementine
1 clementine
1 pear
1 pear
1 apple
2.5 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Roast chicken, gravy, carrots, parsnips, swede, celery, cabbage, Brussels sprouts
1 large handfuls honey Shreddies