almost wednesday!

how are we doing?

lets try to get our weights in sooner tomarrow so that we aren't kicked out of the running. I'd like to have all our weights in by 4:00 (mountain time is where i am) so that i can get them in to Christy in time. I have meetings tomarrow evening so i won't be logged in anytime after 5:00pm

What a day

It was my ShowStoppers birthday today.

I had to pick up a cake for her - and I won't go into details about this for that may be considered cruel but if you are interested go to my blog to read about it...

Let's just say it was decadent.

And I didn't partake of a piece. NOPE. An itty bitty teeny weeny sliver (or 1/2 of a sliver) just to make sure it wasn't poisonous or anything ...

..while everyone else was lip smacking the decadence down into their tummies.

And you know what.

I didn't really want it.

All I thought about was the wonderful lemony stuffed grape leaves I had in the fridge.

I do love whole foods.

I bought so many great things today.

It makes me feel better about life going to whole foods.

When I shop at Walmart I feel poisoned, suffocated but when I shop at Whole Foods I feel as light as air, healthy, wonderful, happy, loved and everything that is great and wonderful.

I even find that some of the products I buy at my local supermarket (organic or all natural) are CHEAPER at Whole Foods. YES. This is the truth.

I have to buy more natural snacks for my girlys because additives and food dyes cause them to have VIOLENT reactions.

Last thing...

I bought a container of dehydrated "Just Veggies" which is carrots, corn, peas, bell peppers and tomatoes - and it is soooooo yummy.

I have my own dehydrator and I'm going to make my own. I'm so very excited about this. The 4 oz container cost $4 so I think I can do it much cheaper. Seriously this stuff is all natural, NOTHING else is added and it is really really good.

http://www.wildernessdining.com/jt010.html

I took this picture for a post I was going to write this past weekend; it was my lunch. YUMMMMMM.

week 3 weights...

I wasn't able to get all the weights sent in yesterday until after 10pm. So...since the weights didn't get sent in to christy early enough yesterday, they won't be averaged on until next week.

Sorry girls.... it won't look like we did anything this week, BUT they will be there next week to show up the difference.

If we could get our weight together a bit faster on Wednesdays, it would help getting them to Christy on time...

Again, sorry girls.

week three weigh in

Jolynn AKA darl_jo
last week: 145.6
this week: 148.8
difference: +3.2
it's been a very bad week... looking for something to get me back on track again. My first gain in 6 months... very sad

Jennifer M:
last week: 173.5
this week: 171.5
difference: -2.0

Megan:
last week: 165.2
this week: 164.4
difference: .8

Erika AKA WebJones:
last week: 258.7
this week: 257.8
difference: -0.9

Melissa R AKA I am a tornado:
last week: 177
this week: 175
difference: -2

Shelia AKA Shelly:
last week: 166.2
this week: 166.2
difference: 0.0

set backs

this week has been just one set back after another. It started Thursday. I was doing a bit of exercise... AKA demolition on a old house we have in our back yard that we are planning on turning into a guest house/workshop. Stupid me stepped on a nail and having only my son with me at the time, it ended up being quite the ordeal. That stopped all work for that evening and Friday morning i had to go in and get a tetnus shot... NOT FUN!. Friday my foot was sore enough that i couldn't walk on it much. Saturday it was feeling MUCH MUCH MUCH better so we took the family and headed to a national park (did you know that father's day weekend was free enterence into all national parks? cool huh!) and did a nice hike with the family. Nothing too strenious since we had the 3 year old in tow. On our way home i started feeling the effects of the tetnus shot and since then, i've been under the weather with flu like symptoms from the shot and a raging sinus headaches. Today, i'm starting to feel like i may be coming out of the flu like symptoms. My arm still hurts like crazy but its slowly getting better and i can almost raise it over my head again. I still have the raging sinus headache though.

Sadly to say, i gained 1.8lbs sometime between wednesday and thursday (Team Yellow weigh in and my Weight Watchers weigh in)... i've steadly gained weight since then (nearly 5lbs)but am back down to my thursday weight. This is my first time ever gaining weight since being on WW, almost 6 months ago.

I'm really trying to mind my P's & Q's today and not show a gain from last week to this week tomarrow. I'm feeling like i've let you girls down, which i know isn't necessarly the case, but it's been a rough week.

I hope you have all had a good week under your belt.

Doing a quick Juice/Fruit Fast

I'm retaining water and I'm not sure why.

I've been eating pretty good lately.

I've had a piece of cheesecake for fathers day but it was TINY and it was after a large salad of veggies (and 1/2 an avocado) and light dressing.

I don't eat many starches; no bread most days and if I do it's whole grain; non-white, high fiber, high bran bread. I don't eat pasta much ... maybe 2ce a month and that is whole grain pasta always; no rice; once in a while I'll have a potato but not too often ...see all of this stuff is COOKED foods. I don't eat many cooked foods.

My problem is exercise. I need to do it. I need to find the time to get out there and do it. I bought a pool recently and I have been walking around the pool and jumping and doing arm exercises while in the pool but I need to do more. My neighbor mentioned to me that they have water weights ... think I will go out and get me a set of those this weekend.

But to reduce my water retention I'm doing a juice/water fast today. It helps me to focus, it helps me to cleanse and to prepare myself for a stricter diet and more exercise ... 24 hours of juice and water. It's good for the soul!

I'll just be spending the entire day in the bathroom. And its noon now and my fingers seem to be back to normal size again. YAY! I've only visited the bathroom 8 times today.

3rd PLACE LADIES!!!

We made 3rd place!!!!

Nice job everyone!!!

I am shooting for 1st place just one time : ) my best week so far may be the weigh in after next for the biggest loss, I am off work for a few weeks starting this monday and will be attempting to work out Biggest Loser style.

Good work all, YAY!!!

week two weigh in

week 2 ladies! how'd we do???

Jolynn AKA darl_jo: 145.6
last week: 147.4
1.8 lbs loss from last week (wow! where did that come from??? CRAZY!)

Jennifer M: 173.5
last week: 176.5
3.0 lbs loss from last week

Megan: 165.2
last week: 165.4
.2 lbs loss from last week

Erika AKA WebJones: 258.7
Last week - 260.2
1.5lbs loss fom last week

Mellisa R AKA I am a tornado: 177
last week: 177
0 lbs loss from last week

Shelia AKA Shelly: 166.2
Last week - 167.6
1.4 lbs loss from last week

EAK! do i have names right? please let me know if i don't

ARRRGGGHHHH!

First of all I must apologize for not blogging and/or commenting lately.

Life is moving fast these days and I haven't been writing for my personal blog; haven't been reading any of the wonderful blogs in my google-reader AND I haven't been twittering much either. I've been off of the virtual grid now and busy with kids and stuff.

Please do not take this in any way as an excuse ... just want you to know that you are not the only thing I've been neglecting and I do feel terrible about it. So I will try to do better.

Not checking or blogging or commenting has taken it's tole on me ... as I did not LOSE A single ounce this week. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I didn't gain but I didn't lose either.

BUMMER!

I was so happy and proud to learn about 4th place and I do hope that I do not enable this team to drop in rankings.

I am still 176!

I have been exercising much more, however, so I bet next week will see a loss for me. I put in one of those 3 1/2 foot pools ... can run around in there and feel great. GREAT exercise, feels wonderful.

SO sorry I didn't lose ... promise will be BETTER for next week!

Congrats all that did lose! GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

Countdown to weigh-in #3

Hi ladies... It's only hours away, weigh-in #3. I am spending my last 24 hours eating low sodium, high fiber, lot's of water and definitely some "Last Chance" workouts.

Hope you are all keeping positive and motivated, I have had some big emotional set-backs this week and stayed on track through it all, it's been tough. But it's nice to have a team relying on me so to not let them down.

Cheers to everyone!!!

Go Yellow!!!

Woo hoooo - we came in 4th Place this week in the weigh in, ladies! We Rock! 4th Place out of 20 is no small feat. I'm totally motivated to keep up with our progress and to make sure that I have a decent loss this week.

Great job, everyone!

weigh in day ladies!

today is week one weigh-in! How'd we do?

i am down 1.2 lbs. I'm surprised i lost... it's been one of those food weeks. So... how'd you do? I'm excited to hear!

Whirlwind!

I'm at the Apple WWDC this week in San Francisco. I haven't been back to SanFran since I left when I was 10 years old in 1989! It's wonderful to be back and now I understand why my mother was so sad to have left.

It's going to be a hectic week for me with labs and sessions from 8am - 6pm and coding/work/school till the wee hours of the night. UGH. Food is decident here in SanFran and every other storefront entices you with the smells of their culture. Being an adventurous person and eater all these things appeal to me. I however did very well my first full day here. I had a small plain bagel and orange juice for breakfast. For lunch I had an organic green salad with balsamic vinagerette alongside 6 pieces of yellow tail roll. It was perfect. I also swung by Whole Foods to pick up a few snacks. Organic wheat crackers, bananas and some soda water.

I did a TON of walking today. Opening day involves the keynote and 2 other sessions both 30mins each, so it was a fairly light day. While I had a lot of work I could have been working on I decided to take in the sights on what I think might wind up being my only free day. I walked the hills of China Town and actually felt some leg work going on. After all the back and forth and sight seeing I'm sure I easily hit my 10k steps for the day, if not more! What sucks is I was rushing and forgot my pedometor though...boo! Oh well.

There is also a really nice gym a few floors up from my room that I hope to check out a few times this week. At least 3 times for a minimum of 30 mins to be exact! LOL.

So I'm trying to hang in there and there is indeed a scale in my room. I'm actually very thankful for that., it will help to keep me honest! More to come later. I hope all you wonderful ladies are doing well!

I'm starving!!! ... but determined

I am so hungry right now but I am sticking to my 1000-1400 calories a day plan, I work in TV and for those of you who are unaware of what Craft Service is... well, it's a big section of tables and fridges filled with candy (the good stuff) bagels, chips, pretzels, muffins, cookies, cupcakes, soda and everything that is bad and wrong AND during a high-voltage stressful work environment for 12 hours straight with no time to leave for lunch.

I HAVE NOT TOUCHED A THING SINCE WE STARTED THIS CHALLENGE!!! (pack my own stuff now) I am going to go home (at 8pm) and make my grilled chicken and veggies, til then I will eat the individual pack of carrot sticks I brought for a snack and dream of the scale getting lower : )

Just thought I would share my pain, this isn't the easiest thing but it sure will be rewarding, stay with me team, don't leave me alone here with hunger pains that I can only feed with bowls of lettuce, lean protein, fresh fruits and veggies. <3jen

Good morning, Team Yellow!

Good morning, Yellows! How was everyone's weekend? Mine was fun, and very busy. I tried to watch what I ate, and while I did not exercise on Saturday, I may have made up for it on Sunday. I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning the house, doing laundry, doing yard work, plus I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill. I was constantly moving for a good 5 hours, so I feel pretty good about the amount of exercise I got over the weekend, even though I did none on Saturday.

Food-wise, I didn't do too bad. I had dinner with friends on Saturday night, so I had an extra glass of wine (or two) and a brownie, but the rest of the day was pretty under control, so I'm ok with it.

Are you guys ready for the weigh-in in two days? Is Team Yellow going to DOMINATE? I hope so!

struggling today...

It is only 9:30am and i'm already craving chinese. Yesterday wasn't the best eating day either. For breakfast i had a apple. Then we headed to town and we decided we had to try the new italian chicken sandwich from Subway. A foot long on wheat (light mayo, provolone cheese and lots of veggies, but also had their olive oil vinigrette) lasted me for lunch and dinner. But i also had a peice of my daughters subway pizza and a treat (3 points). I need to find out calories/fat/fiber so i can be accountable on WW for it. I'm scared to find out.

Today for breakfast i had a apple and am working on a 16oz cherry limeaide crystal light. I woke up super starving and i'm still hungry. The fact that i didn't sleep much last night due to my daughter having a fever that wouldn't break has started the day out on a terrible note. It's going to be a struggle to make it through the day focused. Not to mention the big family get-together tonight.

I'm going to try to plant more in my garden today and get those flowers we bought a few days ago into the ground. Hopefully spending a bit more time outside will do me some good.

I need some FOCUS mojo. 3 more days till my hubby and oldest son gets home. Life is bound to get more "daily" then.

I'm shrinking... literally

OK... I was stuffed and heavy when this challenge rolled around so I know the first week, with huge sacrifice of course, would be a good loss, well after doing the following for the last few days:

Drinking 8 16oz glasses of lemon water a day (1 lemon a day cut in 8 wedges)
Kellogg's Fiber Plus Antioxidant granola bar and berries for breakfast
cup soup and small salad for lunch
Snack - carrot sticks, apple slices (1/2 apple)
Dinner - grilled chicken, grilled veggies no salt or oil
100 calorie desert, and still have my a.m. coffee with yummy creamer daily

The scale is already down about a lb a day... I know it's more of a cleanse from being so unhealthy the last few weeks prior to the challenge but I am excited for the new feeling of a light stomach, I am excited to re-train my body to want better foods and smaller portions.

I do swear the lemon water is magic though : )

Hope you are all well... drink lemon water!!!! They are YELLOW!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry I have been unable to post thus far! I have enjoyed reading yours though! I have been crazy busy. It is the first week of the kids' summer activities & it is craziness. I have to develop some sort of a schedule here that includes some ME time!

We are also heading out of town for the weekend. It is so hard to eat healthfully when I head out of town. I think I may try to go for a run or make use of the hotel gym on Saturday to offset the eating part. I am planning on hitting the gym first thing tomorrow before we leave town. I will drop the little ones at childwatch, get my older one situated with an activity at the Y & head out for a run on the trail by the Y. After that I am planning on going to my muscle work class that I love.

Today I went shopping for a new outfit to wear to the wedding I am attending. I grabbed lots of clothes, all in size 12/L--that is what I wear these days. Well, EVERYTHING was too big & frumpy looking. I had all my kids with me, so it was a PITA but I had to go exchange sizes. I totally cannot believe it. I am a size 10/M in most things. It is so crazy. I have only lost 5ish pounds from last summer (I was a 14!). I workout like a fool though, so I guess my body is compacted? I sure made me want to go on a shopping spree!

finding the strengh...

...as i was walking through Wal-Mart today, i literally bumped into a stand of Alli. Which, in a way, was a bit funny because I've been wanting to speed up this weight loss thing a lot lately. Somehow I resisted throwing that box into my cart and running to the nearest checkout (part of it may have been the absolute fear of anal leakage EAK!). Instead, I proceeded to pick up the packages that fell, put them back up on the display and promptly turned and walked the opposite direction as fast as i could only to find myself walking through the diet supplements isle. It's tempting... oh so tempting. A part of me almost convinced myself that it was destiny. I have been proud of myself so far for being able to walk away from all these fancy shmancy pills and drinks and whatevers. I'm not sure i could ever feel proud saying the words out loud that i lost all my weight "by myself" with no supplement help at all. Which, by the way, I am determined to be able to say by the time this year is over with. It almost kinda feels like I'm cheating if i dare even thing of taking something for a boost.

Don't get me wrong, i have no problem with anyone who does. Sometimes i think that maybe all i need is that little extra boost to set me straight... but frankly, i think I'm just chicken LOL and truthfully, that may be all thats stopping me right now. I have a very close friend who is VERY obese (i believe he told me his starting weight was 460 lbs) who is taking daily HCG shots and a VERY restricted calorie diet (500 calories... can you believe it? i think I'd die the first day). He has been on this diet for a week today and has lost 16 pounds. I don't believe that it's the healthiest way of going about losing weight but i can't help feel a tiny bit (or a HUGE bit) of a twinge of jealousy thinking that in the last week, he's lost the same amount of weight i want to lose that will probably take me another 4-6 months or more to lose. And, i can't help feeling so incredibly happy for him and a huge part of me wants to go swipe some of that stuff for myself.

I suppose there is no meaning to this post other than, I'm frustrated. I know for me to be successful, i need to take my time and work at it right. But i also think, it's so not fair to have those silly displays in the middle of store isles... just so not fair ;-)

My "official" weigh in

Today is my "official" day for weight in's. I joined Weight Watchers Online in March (i think) to help boost my weight loss, because apparently i wasn't doing something right and wasn't loosing any weight on my own.

I weighed in this morning about 30 minutes to a hour after i woke up... and i weighed in stark naked. Officially, i am now 148.4 pounds (and down to 20 points a day). I'm pumped! 13 more pounds to go till I'll be at my happy weight! (Although, I remember when i got pregnant with my second child... i had hit the 150 mark and was actually excited to be pregnant because that meant that i would be skinny again soon. Sadly, pregnancy is my best diet although I don't advise loosing weight like that.)

After getting some getting some surprise news this morning, i feel even more empowered to get these last pounds off (lets just say i want to look my best next month... lots going on and i want to look good again, if for nothing else other than to say "I'm hot" and know that i am).

So in a frenzy to know something that i don't already know about weight loss, i googled the web on how to lose weight quickly. You know what i came up with? Exactly the same stuff WW stands behind:

*drink lots of water
*eat regularly
*eat lots of fiber
*consume more good fats
*get plenty of quality protein
*carbs can help you lose weight
*DON'T skip breakfast
*move more

I'm starting to learn the ropes of this weight loss thing and knowing what works for me and what doesn't. I need to eat breakfast, even if it's just a little something. If i don't, then i feel off the rest of the day. I try to put off lunch as late as possible without it going too far into the day, in hopes of curbing the late afternoon munchies, which is my biggest problem time of the day. Dinner isn't a big deal for me. By the time dinner roles around, I'd rather not eat. My biggest problem is that i LOVE dinner. It tends to contain the foods i love the most (and i absolutely love the chicken trick... i do that a lot to and the kids and hubby love it that way the best too) and the highest calorie/fat meal of my day. Not a good combo so late at night. It's hard trying to keep my way of life going the way i need it to and have a family who "needs" all the extra calories they can get.

Things i really need to do:
*drink much more water. I used to be pretty good at this... now not so much
*exercise more. Use the elliptical. Walk more. Just get out and play with my kids instead of watching them from a chair while reading.

Typical Diet

For the past 2-3 months I've tried to eat primarily raw foods. I lost a few pounds doing this and I haven't really had to watch anything ... I eat when I want; I eat what I want (as long as it is raw food).

How many lbs ... I have NO idea because I just bought a scale. But 12's that didn't fit now do ... others are looser. So maybe 5-7 but not 10 or more.

I am not ready to give up dairy in any way shape or form. I love my Fage yogurt ... and it's so very nutritious and satisfying I don't feel the need to rid myself of it quite yet.

I still eat eggs. I LOVE EGGS! I have never had issues with cholesterol and I eat a ton of eggs. I sometimes just eat the whites but sometimes I get the yolks too. Depends on my hunger.

I eat a TON of avocado. This brings me to my biggest problem. I need something to eat my guacamole with ... sometimes I do a salad topped with guac but mostly I'm eating chips. I try to stick with the natural ones with less sodium mostly but still. These are not great ... not evil but not great.

I've been toasting some Ezechiel Bread (bread with no flour made from bean sprouts) which is PERFECT on raw diet but I shouldn't be toasting it (problem is I want the CRUNCH)

I purchased a dehydrator and I had some recipes to make my own 'crackers' out of raw nuts, flax seed and/or veggies but I failed at the attempt. I need to be more organized with my life to do this. I bought the cheapest Excalibur dehydrator they have ($80) but it doesn't have a timer ... and these take SEVERAL hours to dehydrate. BUMMER!

Breakfast - smoothie of banana, frozen/fresh berries, ice and water in magic bullet OR a green smoothie with apples & parsley (in juicer) then other things in bullet and mix ... or any combination of fruit I have at home (blender or juicer depending upon fruit.

Mid morning snack - yogurt, fruit, cottage cheese or hardboiled eggs.

Lunch - usually same choices as above or a salad/guacomole

Afternoon snack - some raw nuts (mostly almonds)

Dinner - guac & chips. celery and dip or raw nut butter (usually almond butter)

My difficult spots with diet ---- when I pick up my lovlies at my mothers house where there are cakes and cookies and I'm HUNGRY!!!!!! I sometimes snack.

Then there are the times when I'm out and about and don't have access to healthy food ... too tempted by Chick-fil-a's chicken sandwich ... oh entirely too tempted.

I don't use a lot of salad dressing ...

OH ... and I eat CHEESE! Never ever ever going to live without cheese! When I put cheese on my salad I'm less likely to use salad dressing at all.

I use almond milk sometimes.

Bad thing .. coffee and REAL CREAM! Ohlalala

I do not typically drink pop/soda BUT if I'm out with my girlys and they are eating an icecream or something I totally WANT ... I will try to satisfy my craving with either a diet or regular soda. I hate artifical sweetners - HATE THEM. I would rather have a soda with real sugar than High Fructose Syrup or artifical sweetners.

I try to steer my girlys away from all of these things because they have a severe reaction to additives such as vanillin (artifical vanilla); food dyes (in EVERYTHING) and High Fructose corn syrup and MOST definitely artifical sweetners. My WildChild has improved in everything behavior wise with this change. It was hard at the beginning but now it's a way of life for us.

We try to eat more natural.

I DO NOT DRINK ENOUGH WATER. I drink water but not nearly enough.

Exercise is my BIGGEST HUGEST problem ... if I didn't have to work for a living I wouldn't have this problem ... but by the time I get home, feed the kids, Mr.T and myself ... bathe them and put them to bed, do laundry, do some cleaning ... I'm EXHAUSTED and sit in front of the TUBE and watch a movie while playing on my laptop. I'm crazy lazy!

Don't get me wrong I cheat on my diet .. I eat icecream and chips but not everyday.

My newest thing ... for late night cravings ... chocolate covered raisans (but only a few). Bad bad bad.

Breakfast of Champions

Though you'd never know it from my brownie binge yesterday morning, I do typically have a healthy breakfast. I usually start the day at about 7am with a bowl of Special K with fresh berries and skim milk. By 9:30 or 10am, I'm ready for a small snack, so I keep some healthy choices at work - either a low fat yogurt, some almonds, some fruit, baby bell cheese, etc.

For lunch, I've been sticking with Weight Watchers frozen entrees (which - incidentally - are on sale at Target stores in my area this week. They're $1.80 each, and when you buy ten, you get an instant $5 Target gift card. This week, I bought 20, then went back and paid for the rest of my items and saved $10 buy using the giftcards - woo hoo!). These frozen entrees aren't the most exciting or delicious things out there, but they're not too bad, and they're easy and cheap.

In the afternoon, I usually NEED sweets! I've found an awesome way to satisfy that craving I have. Trader Joe's sells these little tins of chocolate wedges. There are 16 wedges to a tin, and each wedge is 35 calories. One wedge is all I need (usually...ahem). I also will snack on either fruit or cheese in the afternoon.

The rest of the day is the hardest time for me. I'm usually hungry when I get home, so I start snacking or picking while I make dinner. We eat pretty healthy at home - I'm blessed with three kids who will eat ANYTHING, and who love almost every veggie, so there's never, ever a time when I have to make mac and cheese for a picky eater. I think portion control is my biggest issue at night - the second helpings of dinner, or the nibbles and bites that I take while preparing dinner.

I've picked up a few tricks to help me with the evenings, but if you have any others, please share them!

• I try to eat a late snack at work - if I eat something small at 4pm, I'm not as famished when I get home at 6pm.
• I try to have an idea of what we're having for dinner before I leave the house in the morning. This way, I'm not snacking away while figuring out what to have
• For a few of my chicken dishes, I've started to "flatten" the chicken breast by pounding it between two sheets of wax paper until it's thin. Not only does it make the chicken much more tender, you also eat a lot less of it - which is great for portion control, but also great for a budget!

How about you guys? Sample menus of your day? Tips/tricks/downfalls?

**btw, the reason for the Brownie Breakfast? Yesterday was my boss' b-day. I make these INCREDIBLE brownies that he really likes - they're The Barefoot Contessa's recipe, and they're so ridiculously decadent and fattening. Anyway, my boss LOVED them, and, as my boyfriend pointed out, I racked up the brownie points....bah dum dum!

Introducing Me

Hi Team Yellow!

I'm Sheila.  I'm 37 (for a few more weeks...), have a 13 year old daughter, 2 step daughters who are 6 and 8, and a great guy to share my life with.  I work full time in marketing, and it seems as though I'm always running around doing something.

I am fat.  I am tired of being fat.  Three years ago, I had great success with Weight Watchers, and I worked out nearly every day.  I lost 30 pounds doing it, and I felt and looked great.  I've gained all that weight back, and I'm disgusted with myself for doing so.  I feel gross, FAT, unattractive, and unlovable.  

I found The Sisterhood of The Shrinking Jeans a few months ago, and loved it right away.  I was motivated and super positive about being able to lose this weight.  Over the past two weeks or so, I've really fallen off the wagon.  I've lost my motivation, gained back 2 of the 4 pounds that I'd lost, and I've hit the point where I've started thinking "I will always be fat, and there's just no use trying".  This is a BAD place to be!  I know that all I need is a bit of motivation and a few good days of eating right and exercising to get back into the swing of things, and I am looking forward to the support, encouragement, advice and a**-kicking that a team can provide.  

Today, I had a brownie for breakfast.  Tomorrow at 7pm, I start Weight Watchers again.

I know I can do this, but I need your help.  I know YOU can do it too, and I'm here to help you!

Here's to Team Yellow!

Jolynn - a little background

WOW! now that is a hard post to follow!

Hi. I'm Jolynn
I am 34 years old
My starting weight: 169 (January 1st 2009)
My goal weight: 130
My weight right now: 148.6

A little background on me:

I've never had problems with weight growing up. If anything i was too underweight. I was the "tiny" girl growing up. I got married at the end of 1994 weight in at 117. Nine months after being married i found out i was pregnant but was told that i had an ectopic pregnancy and went thorough surgery to fix it and ended up with major complications. From there on out, it seemed like it was the turning point for me. I was either having another surgery or pregnant every three years. After 3 surgeries (that have left me with a zipper belly = no bikinis EVER for me) and three children my body has been through the wringer. However, it wasn't until my last child that things really started to bug me about my weight. I've slowly gone up from 117 pounds (even during my pregnancy days - lets just say pregnancy wasn't good to me at all) to 169 pounds. I know that may not seem too heavy for a lot of people but for me, it's been devastating.

I have two major turning point for me. 1st was the fact that i was no longer fitting into my biggest pair of jeans. I was devastated and hated the fact that i was that large. 2nd, I look at my mom, and although i love her dearly, i just didn't want to end up looking like her and sadly, I'm very much well on my way.

Now I'm on my journey to get back to myself. I don't want people looking at me and saying... "well, she looks just like her mom" or "you are just so cute the way you are". I know i have much more to offer than excuses.

So, now I've been working at this for 5 months and have been loosing, on a average, 4 pounds a month. I weighed in this morning at 148.6 pounds. My goal weight is 130. Still a far cry from the 117 pounds that i used to be. But I'm OK with that. In the last 14 years I've decided that i know the range where i feel best.

The best part about losing 20 pounds right now is the size 12 (stretchy) pants i can fit into now that i saved when i got pregnant with my 2nd child. That is especially a great feeling knowing that when i started out in January, i was in my big size 18 pants. Yesterday, i tossed out those pants. I will never go back.

Hello Team Yellow

Hello.

My name is Melissa.

I am 40 pounds overweight.

I do not wear shorts.
I do not wear capri pants.
I do not go swimming.
I do not like my body.
I do not exercise.
I do not feel attractive.

I do have jealous feelings of thin people, and I feel terrible about them.

I do overeat.

I make excuses to avoid social events.

This is my first day here.

Hello everyone.

I am ready to change all of my negative body issues.
I am ready to start an exercise program that will work with my lifestyle.
I am ready to shed my extra 40 pounds.

I am happy to be here and I feel welcome.