Hi, I need some weight loss encouragement BADLY! May I join y'all? I hadn't been less than 150-something pounds in years. I retired Dec'07 and was doing great losing weight being really active. June 4,'08 my husband got hurt badly at work. 44 days of sitting in the hospital and eating, same thing after coming home. November last year my Dr. says I've lost 2" in height. So, I started eating 1 or 2 big bowls of reg. choc. ice-cream with lots of reg. milk at least twice a day. (I needed the calcium you know!:) My husband is doing great and started a new SAFER job last month. When I had to weigh at the DRs office last month when I had a sinus infection I weighted 187 pounds. The bad part is I just kept on eating. Sunday while getting ready for church I started having some pain in my upper back ,to my chest, and up my neck. I had done some yard work Sat and that may have caused the pain. Anyhow... It scared me. I dusted off my South Beach Diet book and started eating as well as I could with what I already had here. I don't have any scales here. I will try to go by the DRs office when I go out to pick up my son from track practice this afternoon. I'm sure I had gained even more after weighing last month, so I will just start from there. I jokingly told my husband that he got to have a physical therapist to get him back into shape, I didn't get one! Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give y'all some background. I'm 54 years old Now 5' 4" Somewhere around 190 pounds(will let y'all know after I weigh). Weight goal: Somewhere in the 130s (One of the charts for my new height said 111 pounds) Who are they talking about? Not this adult!! Thanks for listening(reading!:) Harold, thanks for starting this thread. I had been reading all of the other threads trying to get motivated. BTW, I've never told anyone how much I weigh. Even my husband. Too ashamed. Betty

Good morning! I love waking up 'an hour earlier'...It's sunny but cool this morning, 37F/3C is our high today. Looking outside there is another bash of leaves to rake, sweep off the patio and a few things to finally rip out or cut back in the garden. I weakened last night on the leftover Halloween candy but today is a new day. I did count all the treats on my tracker and they blew yesterday out of the water but looking at the overall weekly bonus points if I can manage to get better at behaving this week and continue to track and 'think' I will eventually get back on this or at the very worst - run out of candy! LOL Either way, I am tracking my points, weighing myself which means I am back at it. I know I can get there - this is just a start. I did gain back 7 pounds over the summer which is why this fall/winter tune-up has been incorporated as part of my lifestyle each year with the remainder of the year being maintenance. On a lighter note 2 positives from deciding to join AA and stop all drinking - it should be easier to maintain my weight because beer in the summer just goes to my hips and abdomen which is an easy 5 pound gain over the summer and the values from AA can be applied to my weight loss goals. The positive reinforcement I get from taking care of that aspect of my life can be applied to my eating better and weight health. I can do this. I know I can. I am still looking forward to my meeting on Tuesday and I will be posting my weight loss weekly, probably on Mondays - so a week this Monday I will report in. As a close friend of mine says - Love and light to you, Peggy

It does take some planning (or staying up late at night to cut up enough fruit for a couple of days) to do CORE, but I think it's been worth it. I don't know why it works, but it does. Maybe all that fiber offsets the calories? One of my coworkers is doing Jenny Craig's plan and just can't believe that we don't count calories or points or SOMETHING and yet we still lose weight. When I tell her I had a baked potato or rice, she just shakes her head and says it's wrong. And yet we continue to lose weight. Think how we'd do if we could actually get our butts in gear and do some exercise. On CORE we have 5 points a day to play with. In the beginning we were very strict about making sure we only used 5. Now, we kind of know how many points our snacks are worth and just guess. And it's still working. And we really haven't downsized our meal portions (you SHOULD pay attention to portion size). As long as it's a core food you can eat until you're satisfied. My new favorite dessert is chocolate pudding with couscous in place of tapioca. The best part is that it's CORE. I do understand about hectic schedules, believe me. I work full time and have a lengthy commute. It's all about doing this for ME, and I'm worth it. That doesn't mean that I don't grumble when I'm cutting up fruits or vegetables at 10:00 p.m. Sometimes I will make or prep something for the following night's dinner before I sit down to tonight's dinner. DH made a ground beef and chicken meatloaf for dinner on Monday. I boiled one artichoke for an idea I had that I wanted to make later in the week. On Tuesday, the plan was to just reheat leftovers for dinner. So, before I did that, I chopped and diced and sauteed and put together a yummy ham, potato, artichoke fritatta, cooked it on top of the stove for a bit, then put it in the oven and went about heating up the leftovers for dinner. Today's lunch is fritatta. Maybe even dinner if it's as good as it smells!

Good Morning, It is good to hear that everyone is doing well. Harold, if I don't get busy you will be zooming down past me so fast I'll get vertigo! I'm going to Walmart today and will try to find a pedometer while I'm there. Maybe that will get me out of this LONG holding pattern I've been in. I miss the time I spent here. But, right now life is soooo busy. I have been to a Dr's office 11 times this month. Most of those were taking Aunt B. Twice was for Son(sinus)and me(ear infection/shingles). 3 times with Aunt B I was also treated for either ear infections or shingles or both. Stress city here! I am trying to find an affordable sitter for Aunt B that can come in at least a couple of times a week so I can escape and have some ME time. It would be HEAVEN and I could at least go walking. If the new meds don't start helping more with the dementia/Alhziemers we will have to give in and find a nursing home. She has started to get mean (not physical yet) and since I'm her primary caretaker, I'm on the receiving end of her verbal wrath. My body is responding to the stress by getting sick and staying sick. The DR has already told me I can't do this much longer. The end of the tunnel is coming, but I can't quite see the light yet. Weight-wise I am at least satisfied that I'm still under 160 this week. Food temptations are strong and the only exercise I get is running around trying to keep house, do laundry, errands, etc. I have felt so crappy,health-wise, that I haven't taken the time to prepare healthy alternative snacks and meals for myself. I just do what I have to do to get something that everyone else will eat on the table so I can get the kitchen clean and fall into bed. I have enjoyed trying a few new recipes, but most aren't exactly what you would call healthy... LOL... I always go into a cooking/baking mode when fall arrives. The only good thing about that is, I take a lot of it to my sick neighbor. DH, DS(who never gets full), and Aunt B clean up the rest pretty quickly! I know this post is long and sounds really negative. I don't want it to BE negative. I love her and will never regret this time I've been able to keep her out of a nursing home and spoil her a bit. She never had kids and loves it when the Gkids are here. We've had some great laughs and, as much as her health and dementia will allow, she has been very happy since we brought her here in June. The day she has to leave will be a sad, bittersweet, day. I've been so busy that if I've checked in here at all it has been very short. Y'all are my cyber family and I just wanted you to know that I AM GOING TO LOSE SOME MORE WEIGHT and to take a minute to sort of fill in the blanks of this LONG STALL. SO.... I was 159 when I weighed this week. No loss, but no gain either. For that I am thankful. Keep up the good work, everyone. It gives me hope. Hugs, Betty