[wishes]

ohhhh its evil i tell you! evil!

Just re-arrange your calories so you can fit in a little bit of cheese or pizza (presuming you are doing calories ).

[Qjay]

Yeah, I am aiming in the general direction of Calorie Counting plus Exercise. Speaking of which, I went and worked out agian tonight, ALONE this time. I took my phone with me in case of emergency, but my workout partners both bailed on me twice this week, and I was getting antsy.
I feel a lot better now, though. I worked up a good sweat, walked for about 20 minutes (just shy of a mile), worked my triceps until they got a little sore, spent more time on my legs, doing light hamstring presses for about 10 minutes, and heavy leg presses for about 5 minutes.
I also fooled around a bit on the machines, and rested a few minutes here and there.
Calories are close to my limit for the day, but my nephew was over and I had to make food for the growing young boy several times during the day. In addition to that, my usual morning routine was shot, and my convenience foods were sorely lacking, but I had a good time hanging out with him.

Further up and further in!

[txturtlegirl]

I don't know about you, but I find I work harder and get more done at the gym if I go alone. I have a friend that signed up with me at the gym, but when she goes with me she wants to talk, and it's hard to count reps when she's talking! LOL. Also, she doesn't push herself quite as hard as I am, and so she's doing less cardio and less reps and she gets frustrated when she's ready to move on to the weight machines and I'm still on the eliptical or bike.

[felici]

Glad you got to the gym anyway! The real value in having someone to go with is they help you to get there - not help you to stay away!!
Kid's food can keep you busy. It sounds like you had a good time with your nephew. How old is he?

[Qjay]

My nephew is 13, and he's a great kid. Pretty quiet, but he has a devilish sense of glee when he's found a neat trick to pull in a video game. He's a little bit on the chunky side, and his mom has decided "he's going to grow out of it in his next growth spurt", but you don't grow out of 40 or 50 pounds. *sigh*
I've turned him on to looking at portion sizes, and learning how to keep track of calories or to find what is least bad for you when you're snacking or stuck eating junk food.
I wish it was as easy to keep on top of my food as I make it sound, though.

Well, I've been eating all afternoon, and downed about 1200 calories; but I'm not sure if that's good or bad. It's been relatively heathy stuff, give or take the 3 servings of pork rinds (300 calories), 1 serving of deliciously buttery popcorn (200 cal), a pair of sausages (300 cal) and a chicken breast (300 cal), along with some assorted grazing (assuming about 100 calories).
The good news: I'm STUFFED, and feeling really relaxed! I've got some energy, and I'm all cooped up today, so I am fidgeting with my smartbells (I have some 5 lb weights I pick up and use for rhythm exercises when I'm bored or watching TV) and I've been doing a lot of stretches.
The cold is really making my joints hurt (it snowed in the wee hours of the morning, I enjoyed sitting on my balcony and watching it come down, though), but my blood sugar is pretty normal and I'm getting stuff done around the house. I've been on a "chores" kick for the past couple of months, but my roomy apparently believes that he doesn't actually MAKE any messes, so it's all on me to clean it up. I just want my place to be presentable, I'm almost through school and will have a lot going on in the months to come.

Anyhoo, that's what it's like in QJ-land
Antsy, bored, slightly annoyed, extremely well fed, and a little bit sore from the workout last night; overall, better than usual.

[jajochku3]

My little cousin is 7 and is starting to put on a little weight. She's very aware of it. She already has self-esteem issues. Very sad. My aunt is encouraging her to eat healthier things and she is even doing little exercises with her.

Parents can be so blind to the truth and what needs to be done sometimes.

Sounds like you are moderately content. . and really what more can you ask for.

[Qjay]

Moderately content? Yeah, I suppose, mostly I'm just feeling a little flighty and still have no idea what to really do with my energy.
Well, I'm off to have some canned pears
I love pears... (200 calories)

[felici]

I know what you mean about it sounding easier than it feels. It has been such a struggle for me in the past. Now that I am used to them, these diabetes style plans have really helped make it easier for me but it wasn't always like that. Good on you for talking to your nephew about healthy food choices. My son is the same age. He doesn't have a weight problem but does have my sweet tooth. He does try to make some healthy choices, and I am trying to emphasise the need for him to make sure that his current need for more food (he's growing fast), is being filled all by more healthy food, not more junk. I've noticed that it is relatively easy for me to offer better food to my children now that it is easy to do it for myself.

[Qjay]

Well, my roomie keeps a ton of crap food around the house and makes sure to offer the kids BAGS of candy whenever he gets it around. It's a real pain in the neck trying to undo the damage he does, when it's HIS son I'm dealing with.

Doing good today, haven't eaten anything, it's just been dang cold. I think I am going to go make some soup and maybe a grilled cheese sandwich, that sounds just about perfect right now.

[felici]

Oh that sounds like a nice meal. I think I know what to have for lunch now!!

[jajochku3]

Sounds like a lot of work . . .lol. .I love chopping and stirring and simmering and sauteing. .blah blah blah. .but for someone reason buttering/spraying two pieces of bread and tossing it in a pan seems likes a lot work?

[Qjay]

Well, you do have to watch it, AND get the crispy golden yumminess JUST right
I make REALLY good grilled cheese

[Qjay]

It's nice to be back on track, I have my food pattern mostly restored. I am eating my sandwiches for breakfast again, picked up my canned meats, and am trying some new frozen chimichangas (they really do have to be baked to taste right, though). When I was out of my normal stuff, I was eating 800-1000 calories for breakfast some days, and then had other problems throughout the evening. Today I am splurging a little bit and opened a can of condensed milk for coffee (I need the caffeine, it's time to write a few papers), but it's still a lot better for me than a few cans of energy drink.

I think one of the things that has me so addicted to this forum is that I get to see both new people who are just starting to lose weight, and established people that have lost a lot of sizes, and I get to see the what people are trying and what people have accomplished, and more importantly HOW they have done so.

One thing I don't see here very often (in the diaries) is someone who is making an effort, but not getting thinner, and I am kind of curious, is there anyone here who is working to get healthier and not accomplishing it? I mean both in the short term and in the long term. If you feel this way, post up, I'm having that sort of malaise the past week or so, not really losing sizes, and starting to get a case of the "why-bothers".
At least I like my new food plan, but there are a lot of things I miss; it's still hard to not view food as a reward or a punishment, that's just how it feels.

[M2M]

Hi QJ,
I think all of us long term losers (OK, that is meant in the nicest of ways!) have had times where the weight wasn't falling. I really didn't lose anything from the end of October to the beginning of January. However, I had taken a break from exercising, and I was not consistent with counting my calories and recording them. I had been eating too few calories for awhile, then when December hit, and I ate more then regularly, the pounds stayed with me.

I'm now mixing it up and the weight is coming off again.

What I enjoy about being here for a long time is seeing the people who joined around the time I did as they get closer to their goals - it is amazing! I like seeing new people join and go through that break in period where they find their stride and settle into what works for them. I've enjoyed the people coming over from fitness.com because they have a wealth of nutritional and fitness information.

It's a great process really

[felici]

Glad to hear you have made some progress with your food.

Someone said to me that it is good to make a number of measurements because the weight can go from different places.

I think M2M and Be_Gone_Soon both know about having unreasonably slow/flat patches in their weight loss and I'm sure I've heard others talk about plateaus too.