I am the Biggest Loser...Kinda.

[Arwen]

I just did two pans of Lazy Lady Chicken. One has olive oil, tabasco, Tony's, garlic and a bit of honey. The other has olive oil, lemon juice, lemon-pepper seasoning and garlic

Tonight I'll buy some more letutce and it will be chicken and salad. I have to eat when I get home at 10 or later. So this will prevent me from eating something less healthy.

G, have you tried some of the low-carb/sugar beer? Is it nasty? Be a dear and drink one for the team so we know, okay?

[Lady Jewel]

Maybe someone has an idea for me...I have trouble sleeping at night due to chronic pain. So my whole schedule is topsy turvy. Compound that with me being a night eater. Im just not hungry during the day. Ive tried the six small meals thingy...but doggone it, late at night Im always starvin. Any ideas?

Jewel

[christie]

Originally Posted by Lady Jewel

Maybe someone has an idea for me...I have trouble sleeping at night due to chronic pain. So my whole schedule is topsy turvy. Compound that with me being a night eater. Im just not hungry during the day. Ive tried the six small meals thingy...but doggone it, late at night Im always starvin. Any ideas?

Jewel

For me, nights when the fibro is kicking and I can't sleep, the portion control, must-eat-every-carb-in-the-house demon is BAD.

The food demon for me is looking for that endorphin release so that it ramps down the pain.

My solution is simple. I replace the food endorphins with sexual ones. If Jess isn't available to participate, I indulge in a lil solo action. If once doesn't abate the pain, well, thank goodness for hoarding Energizer (a different thread, I suppose... that whole hoarding thing!)

I am sure that you could get the same from exercise endorphins, but usually when I am in that kind of discomfort, the LAST thing I wanna do is exercise.

I saw a documentary several years ago on women's health and one of the things that stuck out was that sleep deprivation or erratic sleep cycles were a connection with weight gain/difficulty in losing weight. It was a chicken/egg first thing.

Sleep is so very important and even more so when you do have chronic health/pain issues.

Sonata, Ambien, etc were my best friends for years. I am determined not to be a slave to prescription medication again, so now I dose with Tylenol PM nightly. I have spoken with my doc about the LT use of this and feel that the risks to my health don't outweigh the benefit for me.

This may or may not be helpful, but the whole orgasmic endorphin part certainly couldn't hurt!

Christie

[Diva]

Tonight, I was a bad girl.

Not in a good way, either.

I had fried fish for dinner. It didn't take 15 minutes for me to FEEL it, either. And while I didn't eat the fries, I'm pretty sure I ate 247 hushpuppies.

It was good going down, but now I am risking a setback by eating it and I'm not happy with myself.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

[Linus]

Originally Posted by Lady Jewel

Maybe someone has an idea for me...I have trouble sleeping at night due to chronic pain. So my whole schedule is topsy turvy. Compound that with me being a night eater. Im just not hungry during the day. Ive tried the six small meals thingy...but doggone it, late at night Im always starvin. Any ideas?

Jewel

I was thinking about this today and have a few ideas to suggest. A few of the things that has been suggested to me in regards to improving sleep and helping at lose weight have been a few of the following:

- no caffeine drinks after 4pm.
- make your last meal of the day no later than 7pm
- get ready for sleep by dimming lights 20-30 min before going to bed. Turn off the TV and meditate (stop thinking -- it's actually harder than we think)
- look into getting melatonin capsules (this may require some experimentation on the right dosage but I've heard a few people swear it's a great way to bring a person closer to sleep state and keep them there).

Now that all said, given that you tend to eat later in the day, shift your six meals to later (rather than starting at 8am start at say 12noon but ensure your last meal is about an hour and a half to two hours before going to sleep; make sure it is also not the heaviest/largest meal of the day as you will be actively digesting it while sleeping -- and that can keep you awake).

Hopefully this will give some ideas to help. Routine is something that helps but if your routine is different than others that's fine as well as long as you try to keep some routine since the body responds better to that).

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Arwen

This is hard to write.

I weigh exactly what I weighed at the start. EXACTLY.

I am told my diet sodas are bad. I just do not know if I can ever give them up. I'm only drinkiing 2-3 a day usually. I will try to bring that down. I do not want things with aspartame in them. That stuff makes me really yucky all over.

I know where my problem lies. It's in the portion control. And in the lack of exercise. I have taken to parking farther away from anything I am going into (including work) when I can and when the weather isn't hideous.

I'm thinking about buying a bike but I do not know the FIRST thing about that. I just want a bike I can ride around on. I don't need a fancy-schmancy thing. Just an old ladies bike with a basket. The grocery store is close enough. I could bike there. I could even bike to work by taking th (Cre back roads.

All three of my jobs keep me at my computer a LOT. I swear I can feel my butt spreading out as I sit here.

And for the record, Diva, I could tell you'd lost weight. I'm sorry for not saying anything. I've had it ingrained into me that it's "bad" to mention as if I'd noticed your weight in the first place. So I do apologize.

Start to bring in other beverage options as you begin to lessen the diet sodas. They aren't completely evil, so one now and again won't hurt you too badly. I use a lot of the drink mixes (Crystal Light when they are on sale, Wally World or other generic is the same stuff) to help me and I get a lot of flavor while upping my water intake (always a good thing). Having plenty of water in you helps to push the hush puppies through, yanno? White grape is my favorite thus far. I also drink V-8 Berry Blend, but I dilute it as much as I can tolerate with water. The same for oj and apple juice and other non-carbonated drinks. Sometimes, it's not the soda thing so much as the "I need carbonation NOW!" thing. So, maybe a ginger ale or spritzer or something might help.

You know how you know things but don't KNOW things? Yeah, that's portion control. A size of meat shouldn't be larger than a deck of cards. Good sized fruit (oranges, apples, etc) about a fist. Natural sweeteners are better, so keep honey nearby. Most times, a cup comes out to be a handful (literally, a hand full only!) of whatever. I've started to really crack down on the portions and things like the salad dressing killed me at first.

I like a little salad with my dressing, if you catch my drift. Well, 2 TBS (the usual serving size) goes awfully fast. I've learned to put one in and swirl it around and eat some down before adding the next. I had a huge salad for breakfast thing morning and had 3 TBS but it went into 3 cups of lettuce and spinach, a whole pepper, tons of cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of the last of some bacon bits. I got some salad spritzers on sale too, so I'll play with them soon too. Ten spritzes is a serving and the servings come out to 10-15 calories. Not too bad!

As for those on odd schedules and/or victims of the nighttime munchies, I feel you. I tend to eat more as the day progresses too. The breakfast I mentioned? That was at noon. Lunch was at 5ish and dinner before 9pm. An evening snack at 11pm is not uncommon as I get off of work at 11pm. You just have to adapt your eating schedule to your working/sleeping schedule. I try to eat more during the first two meals and eat better for me, less calorie options later on. My midnight snack was a snack size bag of air popped kettle corn. 60 calories. Woot!

It takes some planning and work, but once we all get a hang of it, we'll be fine. For the record, I haven't dropped a lot of weight and I don't anticipate doing so (though I'd love to). My body has pretty much stuck in the same part of the scale for years now. I do, however, notice a difference in how my clothes fit and how I feel. When I eat poorly, I feel it. The bloating, the overfull feeling (which I am growing to not like), and the sluggishness just aren't worth that last cupcake to me. Or that bowl of ice cream. Right now, I have 2 1/2 half gallons of ice cream in my freezer. Two are still in the wrapping and the other, while tempting, does not push my eat me NOW buttons like it used to. As my honey says, the less of the junk I eat, the less I will crave it.

BTW, did any of you know that many French eat dessert first? Know why? Sugar stimulates your appetite. So, I try not to eat super sweet stuff at the end of the meal anymore or, if I do, I brush my teeth or pop some sugar free gum in real quick. I'm less likely to shove junk in if I'm minty fresh or my mouth is otherwise occupied. Kissing your snookums is a good mouth distractor too!

[canmarielan]

Originally Posted by morningstar55

applebees has a awsome weight watchers menu ..

http://www.applebees.com

I have been wanting to check that out.

Less than 550 calories they say

Anyone else watch the Biggest Loser tonight??

I mean...Miggy had friggin major surgery and walked 13 miles in one day.

We can friggin do this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Arwen

This is hard to write.

I weigh exactly what I weighed at the start. EXACTLY.

I am told my diet sodas are bad. I just do not know if I can ever give them up. I'm only drinkiing 2-3 a day usually. I will try to bring that down. I do not want things with aspartame in them. That stuff makes me really yucky all over.

I know where my problem lies. It's in the portion control. And in the lack of exercise. I have taken to parking farther away from anything I am going into (including work) when I can and when the weather isn't hideous.

I'm thinking about buying a bike but I do not know the FIRST thing about that. I just want a bike I can ride around on. I don't need a fancy-schmancy thing. Just an old ladies bike with a basket. The grocery store is close enough. I could bike there. I could even bike to work by taking the back roads.

All three of my jobs keep me at my computer a LOT. I swear I can feel my butt spreading out as I sit here.

And for the record, Diva, I could tell you'd lost weight. I'm sorry for not saying anything. I've had it ingrained into me that it's "bad" to mention as if I'd noticed your weight in the first place. So I do apologize.

Arwen,

Diet soda's aren't the devil. I mean...they aren't great for you...but honestly in the eyes of the calorie gods they aren't going to stop your weight loss.

Just make sure you're flushing your system with a lot of water as well. I don't think holding onto your 2 diet sodas for now while you're cutting out other bad things would be a terrible idea. Concentrate on cleansing your life of BAD CALORIES or BAD CARBS or whatever plan you're on. Diet sodas have NEITHER of those things.

Once you have your weight where you want it to be, then concentrate on cutting those out. Why quit everything at once?

Once again, my .02

Originally Posted by PinkieLee

I want to say CONGRATS to all the biggest losers right now! Y'all are doing AWESOME... keep up the amazing work of motivating yourself & your friends here!

A website that I like is called, www.3fatchicks.com.
They've got forums, recipes, BMI calculators, calorie counters, progress charts... everything that you can possible think of. Just another little tool if you like that sort of thing.

I still haven't gotten on the scale yet, and honestly I don't know why. Right now, I am trying to concentrate on just eating better and drinking as much water as humanly possible. Maybe I will bite the bullet and get on the scale tonight. No better time then now, huh?!

Honey if weighing yourself is NOT something you want to do...then don't *wink* I mean....you can tell you're doing the right thing when your clothes fit better, you FEEL better, etc.

If the scale inhibits your happiness and will only depress you then don't do it.

For me, it either shows me I'm doing right...or tells me to work harder.

I realize that for some people it doesn't do that, it only hurts their heart.

However, we all have to start somewhere

Originally Posted by Diva

Tonight, I was a bad girl.

Not in a good way, either.

I had fried fish for dinner. It didn't take 15 minutes for me to FEEL it, either. And while I didn't eat the fries, I'm pretty sure I ate 247 hushpuppies.

It was good going down, but now I am risking a setback by eating it and I'm not happy with myself.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Yes, it will!

I am sure of it

Perhaps take Miss Lucy for a walk up and down that hill in front of your house a few times....that should kick those hushpuppies right outta your system *wink*

[Arwen]

After the 300 hush puppies (because I'm sure I ate more than Diva) and the peach cobbler (not that good actually) last night, I hit the grocery store. I got some more juice for my smoothies as well as some lettuce and other stuff. Even thought I am three cans away from a total Coke Zero (only 40mg of sodium per can, yo), I did not buy another 12 pack. We shall see how this goes. I also bought my fave little grape tomatoes and lettuce for my lunches/dinners.

I am also perusing bikes. I just think if I can find soemthing to do, i will be better. I tried to walk to the mailbox yesterday but I don't have shoes that are comfortable. And I have really ouchy feet. One of the things that keeps me from exercise is my physical pain levels.

WHINE.

Perserverance and persistance. That's my motto.

I also picked up the Weight Watchers magazine (turned it face down on the conveyer so no one else could see it--snort) It actually had a ton of information along with recipes. Not sure what I think about their point system but the recipes and stories were very good.

[christie]

Originally Posted by Arwen

After the 300 hush puppies (because I'm sure I ate more than Diva) and the peach cobbler (not that good actually) last night, I hit the grocery store. I got some more juice for my smoothies as well as some lettuce and other stuff. Even thought I am three cans away from a total Coke Zero (only 40mg of sodium per can, yo), I did not buy another 12 pack. We shall see how this goes. I also bought my fave little grape tomatoes and lettuce for my lunches/dinners.

I am also perusing bikes. I just think if I can find soemthing to do, i will be better. I tried to walk to the mailbox yesterday but I don't have shoes that are comfortable. And I have really ouchy feet. One of the things that keeps me from exercise is my physical pain levels.

WHINE.

Perserverance and persistance. That's my motto.

I also picked up the Weight Watchers magazine (turned it face down on the conveyer so no one else could see it--snort) It actually had a ton of information along with recipes. Not sure what I think about their point system but the recipes and stories were very good.

Have you tried the sugarfree koolaid/crystal light things? I also have an aspartame issue, but these don't seem to bother me. I have gone from drinking literally a 12 pack+ of mountain dew (non diet) to NONE since August. My personal favs are the "Hawaiin Punch" Orange and Limeaid Berry.