h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I finally did it and joined WW. I have to do something to get the food business under control. And oh my goodness. It's no wonder I'm the size I am. I'm being very honest with myself about what is actually going in my mouth (food only, this isn't about extracurricular activities) on the online point tracker thing. Anyway - too many calories in mean there's no way I'm going to start losing again until I get my eating habits under control. That's difficult - cookies taste way better than pretty much anything that is good for me. Still I think seeing those points decrease to 0 as I eat through the day will hopefully start helping. I'm increasing my activity too. We all go for a walk after dinner. It isn't much, but it's more than we were doing before. Sure I'd like to be thin and beautiful, but more than that, I want to be alive to see my daughters grow up. And I don't want them to have to struggle with food or their weight. This is one family cycle I intend to break.

Best of luck with it. I've heard wonderful things about their program for years, I've just never been able to afford to join.

I'd love to be thin and beautiful, too, but I've resigned myself to the fact that not everyone is cut out to be a size 7, so I'll have to be content with just being beautiful

I'd like to be smaller than I am, but more importantly I'd like just to be more fit and active, so I can get down in the floor and play with the kids and not struggle to get back up. I brought my gym clothes with me to work today so I can stop by on the way home

Really, good luck with it Emee, I hope you're successful!

Just remember though, Emee. THIN and beautiful are contradictions in terms. Maybe the women depicted in Reubens paintings are a bit OTT for this day and age, but we ought to be happier more in that direction than in the direction of Size Zero

Thanks for the well wishing, broe. I haven't really been too unhappy with my size. I am who I am and my shape doesn't really change that any. But for my health it's come to the point where I can't not afford it. Kidney problems, joint problems, edema, migraines, high blood pressure, short of breath with activity - I'm too young for this. I want to be able to play with the girls and not have to take breaks all the time or worse yet, not play with them because I'm too tired. I'm doing the online version - not ready for meetings.

at the gym

"Eat less, exercise more" that's really all you need. WW seems to have a pretty good diet so you're good there. Exercise more is my worst problem. The sedentary life of the modern nerd I sit at a computer all day and when I get home all I want to do is veg on the couch. Those daily walks are a very good idea, so double marks for you. I've got two dogs that could do with a good daily walking... now to just get motivated.

Walking's good - I knocked off 21lb last year just by doing the 10000 a day (closer to 12000) EVERY day. I've put a little back on, but that's because I've not been so dedicated to my walk. Been out tonight and plan to do plenty of mileage in Crete over the next 2 weeks.

I'm never going to be a stick insect - the smallest I've ever been was a UK12 and most of the time I'm a 14, but now I can walk up hills without dying (sometimes, depends on the hill!)

Go at it!

CZ - eat less, exercise more is both my problem and solution. I'm naturally inclined to eat more and exercise less. I signed on with WW hoping that the framework will help me be honest about both parts of that. The tracker thing has a place to enter both food & activity points. It seems to be helping that I have to look at those numbers every day. I'm getting pretty creative on the activity. I count the 15 minute walk each way through the tunnels to the parking lot and I count cleaning my house in the evening along with the walk with Mr. Emee and the kids. I have quite the affair with the couch. It's so comfy and it's so easy to sit for just a few minutes and watch something off the dvr. I wonder if digital cable may have been a mistake. And there are bookshelves right behind the couch... so easy to pull a book and have a quick read. Knowing that the activity page is sitting out there blank in the void of the internet helps me get up and do something. I'm hoping I can get to the point that I don't need the external motivation. I don't expect to get really thin but healthier would certainly be nice.

Emee, I wish you great success. WW is a good program, so I'm told. I have a friend who is doing it and has lost 18 pounds in around 10 weeks.

Emee, all of those activities *should* count, you're not being creative at all. Especially housework - burns more calories than you would think

I tried the 10,000 step thing, but my pedometer would give me extra steps for sitting down in a chair or something equally inactive. I probably should invest in a better pedometer. What i did learn is that 10,000 is A LOT of steps.

When I go to the gym I always take a book with me and read while I'm on the bike or the treadmill. It helps to distract me from the fact that I'm *excercising*, plus I usually go a little longer than I would otherwise because I'm trying to get to the end of a chapter or section.

My mom has a treadmill she got for nada from a friend and it's out in her shed. I'm thinking about absconding with it sometime. Then I can read & watch the dvr & walk all at the same time. Win-win-win.

With the pedometer - I don't wear it at work. I wore various ones over about 6 months and found that the average "steps" I do on a working day is 4000. So my aim every evening is to do between 6000 and 8500. At weekends, only "steps" count, so if I walk to the shops the pedometer goes on, but if I'm doing things around the house it doesn't. Means that I spend around an hour or so each day walking. Mooches with my camera count (but not as much) - so a mooch with the camera would be a minimum of 8000 steps, but a flat out, puffing strut would be around 6000!

How are you doing, Emee? The start of a diet is always a mixed bag. You're optimistic and enthusiastic so that's good. And seeing that initial drop on the scale is very good. But you're getting used to the particulars, so that's a bit stressful.

Down 6 lbs! Woohoo! I think a good portion of that was water but I'm okay with that. The plan itself isn't that hard. You can eat pretty much anything as long as it's in reason. And they put the points values of things like Coldstone Creamery ice cream (23 points for a tiny serving) in there so you can see how it compares to what your daily intake is supposed to be. Mine is at 30 points now so if I ate that ice cream, I wouldn't have a lot of points for the rest of the day and would feel like I was starving. For me it's reinforcing that what I eat really is a choice. Yesterday I had some points left at the end of the day so I ate a spoonful of choco frosting.

Congratulations! That's just great.

We all have a lot of foods we eat over and over, so I imagine you'll learn the points for them pretty quickly. Are you doing the online program or going to meetings?

I'm doing it online. I don't know that meetings are for me.

I love my husband but sometimes I really can't stand him. I'm down 10 lbs as of this morning. For lunch? I didn't have a particular place I wanted to go and there aren't any leftovers at home so I let him choose. What did he choose? Silver Dollar Cafe. EVERYTHING on the menu is fried - even the 'grilled' chicken. It isn't grilled at all. It's pan fried and just doesn't have a batter on it. The baked potato is huge and comes with real butter and sour cream. The mashed potatoes are full of butter and milk and the gravy is white cream a) my favorite b) a big enough portion and full of enough calories that they nearly are a meal in and of themselves. Even the green beans are full of bacon and bacon grease, thereby removing any possibility of healthy benefit from a vegetable. The other sides? fries, fried zucchini, fried squash, fried mushrooms, etc. None of this is good for a person who has a deep committed relationship to fried foods which desperately needs to be broken off. I nearly cried when I saw where we were going. It really feels like he's trying to sabotage what little progress I've made. Might need to have a come to Jesus meeting tonight.

Oh dear. They do sabatoge us. Sometimes deliberately, sometimes unconsciously. With my husband it was inevitable that he would bring home my favorite chocolates or decide we needed to go out for ice cream or something like that. He had such a sweet tooth. I always suspected that as he got older he became more and more insecure about our age difference and thought I was less likely to find a younger man if I was fat than if I was thin.

sabotage

Mine doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, but he knows I do so he shows up with cholates, ice cream, etc. Granted, now he shows up with sugar free ice cream, but it's still high in fat. It's that self-control thing that escapes me though so I don't keep stuff like that in the house and I don't go to restaurants where I know good & well they have the best chicken strips, mashed potatoes and gravy in town. I need to get more entrenched in a healthy eating pattern before I brave the cafes. I just keep reminding myself that this is just one meal in one day and I don't have to let this send me on a downward spiral.

This is why I like my diet so much. Every other day I can eat anything I please, still lose weight (albeit it slowly) and not feel guilty about breaking the diet.

That mashed potatoes and gravy sounded soooooooooo good. I may make some for my supper tonight.