I'm hopping on with a few replies while the kiddos are at recess and I'll do some more at Music time!!
So what kinds of silly "diets" have you tried in the past? What is your current plan and what made you choose your CURRENT healthy plan?? What's the best thing about it? What are the limitations that frustrate you the most?
I can't even count let alone name the silly things I have tried, but the one that comes to mind is the cabbage soup. A friend got me into eating cabbage with water and curry powder cooked three times a day and then a piece of chicken with curry powder for dinner each night. By day 5 I was so sick of cabbage and chicken that I just threw in the towel lol.
This time I have been on My Fitness Pal which is great if I am honest and log. I have lost weight in the past with it, but usually not much because I tried to guess how much I ate. This time I weigh everything and log everything and seem to be making good progress. We also have been walking 3-5 miles a day as long as the weather is nice and that is helping me with the exercise because I am in accounting so that means desk job all day every day!
So my week end was ok, but yesterday was not good. I usually do not eat the calories my heart rate monitor says I lost, but after having a couple weeks where I did not lose I started allowing myself on weekends to do so (I have MFP set to 2 lbs a week so my exercise is above that threshold). My weekend is Saturday, Sunday and Monday because I work 4 10 hour days with Monday off, this has been going ok except yesterday. See since I started back hard core in May I felt like I had good control, but yesterday I felt that slip and I ate a lot more than I should have. I think I still was just at my lose 2 lb calories (although I may have went over do to a bad bout of "estimating") and I feel like crap today, both physically and emotionally. So I know I will be back on today, but my key is to find that control within the change of eating a little more on weekends which I did not have this yesterday. I just know that if I am strict 100% of the time I will give up because I never get anything like ice cream or things like that, but on a normal day calories just do not allow it.
Been there, done that! I don't mind a bit of cabbage soup but long term.... EWWW!! Guess that crazy cabbage soup diet just shows us that if it isn't enjoyable and sustainable, it won't work!!
Maybe instead of a full weekend splurge you should stick to just one day?? I have to have at least one splurge meal on the weekends or I do end feeling deprived. Occasionally if I am feeling bloated or whatever, I will skip a full splurge meal and just have one extra treat.
Connie--great to see you! How old is your DD now? I have been absent a bunch lately too, but trying hard to get back on track.
QOTD--the closest thing I came to a crazy diet was south beach (very little carbs in my case) and it was a disaster for me. I know too many carbs can cause mood problems, but for me too little carbs threw me into a huge depression. Sure, I lost a ton of weight fast, but at what cost? Now I am logging in mfp and runkeeper and just trying not to eat back all my exercise calories everyday. I am finding though that I need to exercise (and more than just walking a mile or two) everyday or I don't lose. It's kind of depressing, but I am not willing to cut back my calories anymore. I think this is the new reality of being a girl of a certain age.
Been there, done that too!! I've done low carb (really SUPER low carb) and it works.... but talk about feeling DEPRIVED! SO NOT a long-term solution for me!
So we had a little excitement--my DH won seats (in his company's box) to see Kenny Chesney Thursday! So exciting. All it will cost us is whatever we drink. If I could drink beer it would be free! So exciting.
WOOHOO! Have fun!!
Oh, no, no reason to delete it... Just means I need to get my butt in gear! I'm going to try to be in bed and asleep by 10 tonight... Fingers crossed. The last two nights I haven't made it to sleep before midnight - which I haven't done in a long, long time. But it makes 4:30 wake-ups impossible. I'm trying to be physically on the treadmill by 5am, and in the shower by 5:45. Hasn't happened yet, though, haha. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to take an outdoor walk and see if that motivates me to get up more than the thought of the treadmill.
Wowza.... I didn't realize you went to bed SOOO late! No wonder 4:30 am is too early! I go to bed between 9:30 and 10pm most of the time and even 5:30 is too early sometimes!
Oh man, I've tried almost every pill and cleanse out there... We have an Ab Lounger (we got it for $20 off a Facebook resale group, though... I feel like that makes it more acceptable?)... Most recently we've tried the "3-day military diet" a few times. The first time, I actually lost 4lbs. The 2nd time I couldn't get through day two, I was so miserable, and all I could think about was the food I wasn't eating. That's my biggest problem - I focus on all the food I'm depriving myself and then I crave it more and more until I just HAVE to have it. I've had good results from Phentermine (yes, I know all the negatives about it) before but I'm trying to avoid that route.
137 days and 30lbs (still) to go!
You can TOTALLY do 30 pounds in 137 days! But it wil mean hard work, both foodwise and exercise.... but you CAN do it and do it HEALTHY!
Hey there,
Rose!

Great to see you too! My DD just turned 8 last month and we celebrated at WDW which was SO fun. We really wanted to take her to Disney for her birthday at least once but, that means missing school to do it. So, we decided to do it now (2nd grade) instead of waiting until a time when a school absence might pose a bigger issue. I know what you mean about getting back on track. I usually am able to put my WDW trips to work as motivation and have typically been in pretty decent shape by the time I have to pose for the PhotoPass folks. Didn't work so well this time. So, now, I'm taking it slow and trying to focus on controlling my behavior (getting my steps, logging food, drinking water) instead of obsessing about the outcome (weight loss).
I perused the participant list and I see that you and
Pamela seem to be the only names I recognize from "way back". Has anyone heard from
Lisa? What about some of the other folks from years past? I know that
Jen had to leave for a while and it looks like she's still gone. Who else??
(I really need to add all you guys as FB friends so that we can keep up with each other even when I'm being a WISH slacker...

)
Hey, I'd love to friend you on FB.... and Rose too!! Lisa is still around, but most on the exercise thread. She pops in here to say hi occasionally. And Buff (BAMB) is here and there, but super busy with her kiddos for now.... but she can be found on the Budget Board pretty regularly if yout want to say hello. Kathy (Mikamah) is missed and I haven't heard from her.
I wake up to SpectroMagic music and for some reason it works much better than other alarms...I get up and take a quick walk around the block listening to all my favorite disney songs. Focus on rope drop and how great it will feel to move easily without added weight.
Waking up to a great song can TOTALLY make the day great! I was staying with DD over the weekend a while back and the song for her alarm was a GREAT ONE and it totally made me smile as soon as I woke up!! GREAT suggestion!!
Love this idea! I just downloaded the Splash Mountain medley - going to set it as tomorrow's alarm and see if that helps!
Can't wait to hear if it helps!
I've tried a lot of different things, nothing really worked for me. I was big on SlimFast my freshman year of college ... I used to pour a shake into my coffee mug and take it with me to class for breakfast, eat lunch in the cafeteria, and then have another shake for dinner. Those things tasted disgusting, and I have no idea how I managed to last a few months on it.
Now I don't really follow a plan so much as just try to make good choices. If I try to follow a plan, it never works for me. I want something that I can maintain forever - and for me, that can only be learning what I should and shouldn't do. I don't like to limit what I can and can't eat, I just try to eat the "less healthy" stuff in moderation. (It's just frustrating because sometimes I want ice cream a few hours after I've had a donut ... but that rarely fits under the "making good choices" umbrella).
Good for you for planning a HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE kind of diet! Those types work BEST! And yes, once again I can say "been there, done that" with regard to the Slimfast.... until I figured out that they have just as many calories as a nice serving of yogurt with fruit! I'd SOOOOO rather have the yogurt!
Checking in - sadly with no progress to report, since my blasted period is late and each day that goes by causes more and more water retention. ::bangs head against table::
However, I have been hitting my step goal daily (8K) and trying to keep to my own eating plan rules as posted previously, so I'm hoping when the water bloat subsides I'll see actual progress!
Didn't get the treadmill moved yet but I am hoping for THIS weekend. And I have a field trip with my daughter's class on Thursday - six hours at the zoo. SIX HOURS. I think I might end up logging extra steps due to tap dancing in an attempt to keep these kids entertained that long, but we'll see.
Also - got two new Disney music CDs today, will be mixing up a new Disney inspired playlist for my runs! Excited!!
Good for you for keeping up with the steps, despite the frustration on the scale. Have fun on the field trip!
Last summer my neighbor wanted to lose 10 pounds quickly and her doctor prescribed her "diet pills". I don't know what the pills were that she took, she didn't say and I didn't ask. I think it took her 2 weeks to lose 10 pounds while on the pills and then she was able to lose 10 more. It's kind of like the pills jump started her diet. Bad thing is, like you said, there really is no magic diet pill. She's gained back more than what she lost.
The only silly diet I ever tried was when my doctor said to limit my calories to 1200 a day plus cardio and/or aerobic exercise for 30 minutes a day. I posted about that earlier. I couldn't do it. I was hungry, crabby, grouchy and I probably wasn't pleasant to be around.
This time around I'm recording my calories and walking 3 times a week for 30 minutes. I've picked this because if I don't lose weight I can take my chart to my doctor and ask her what I'm doing wrong.
Okay.... I CANNOT say "been there, done that" with regards to the pills. Never taken it that far. Being hungry and grouchy (we call it "hangry") makes life very unpleasant.... so you definitely needed to find another way! And exercise is a great choice!
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Off to warm up my lunch and get my students to the cafeteria!......................P