:wazzup: Hi all, just wanted to see how all us guys are doing.

This is only my second week on my new eating and life plan and things are going pretty good for me. I still tend to over eat a bit, but I'm doing it with vegetables and fruit. Also to help me keep track of the quantities of food I consume I've started tracking it on my PDA, so I can take it with me wherever I go. Which is important because I'm hardly ever home. I suppose a notebook would work just as well, but wouldn't be as much fun to play with.

My weight dropped three pounds in the first week and it looks like I'm still dropping slowly, but surely. That's the way I want to lose it. We'll see how much I lost at my weekly weigh in on Sunday.

Let's all keep losin' one day at a time, one pound at a time! :ex: :lift:

:super: .. looks like your off to a great start. How's your exercise?

:wave: Hi John,

I've been walking 30 min a day. It feels pretty good too. I wasn't going to push to 30 min at first, but I felt really good after 15 min and then just kept going to 30 min. I felt a nice little burn after 30 min, but it was a good burn that left me feeling a little tired but energized. So now I do 30 min every day and I'm starting to walk a little further than when I started, so I'm picking up a little speed while I'm walking with no problem.

That great Dude.

How's the eating going?

The eating is going terrific. I'm eating only nutritional things and I'm controling portions. The only portions I realy don't control are the amount of veggies I eat. I love 'em and use them for snacking as well as when I'm still hungry after a meal to fill in the holes. :D My favorites are carrots, celery, and tomatoes, but I like them all.

Hey sierra I know I'm not a guy but I had to come in here and congratulate you on how fabulous you are doing... Watch out MachoMan.. Ahhhh we'll have to rename you when you reach goal.. Mr Stud.. hehe

:wave: Hi Joanne,

Thanks for the praise, but I have a long way to go. It will be over a year before I reach my goal. Right now things are going great, but I haven't had any hard hurdles to jump through yet. Though the sugar withdrawal I went through when I first started was impressive. I didn't know how hard it would be. For me it was very similar to quitting smoking except it only lasted for three days, thank God. I had the same shakes and a very hard craving, this time for sweets. Nothing I ate satisfied me, fruits and veggies were not what my body wanted.

That told me right there that prior to when I started eating right I was taking in way too much processed sugar. Not a good thing with Diabetes in my family history.

Anyway thanks,

If you are watching your sugar??? watch out for those carrots..They are plum full of sugar.. Again congrats.

Originally posted by SierraDude
:wave: Hi John,

I've been walking 30 min a day. It feels pretty good too. I wasn't going to push to 30 min at first, but I felt really good after 15 min and then just kept going to 30 min. I felt a nice little burn after 30 min, but it was a good burn that left me feeling a little tired but energized. So now I do 30 min every day and I'm starting to walk a little further than when I started, so I'm picking up a little speed while I'm walking with no problem. do u think about gaining your weight back when u stop doing the walking routine??????

Hi Lisa,

I'm not worried. I am NOT on a diet. I am changing my lifestyle and the way I eat. What I am doing now I plan on doing for the rest of my life. I may not walk for thirty minutes everyday from now on, but I will incorporate exercise into my life from now on. I am losing the weight that I am losing now, because of the changes I have made, not because of some fad diet or doing some new tricky thing that I plan on dropping after I reach my goal.

I have yet to starve myself or feel that I am really doing without. I just took a good long look at how I was living and what I was eating and came to the conclusion that it was the way I was living and eating that put me where I was. I made some radical changes, but ones that I can live with and enjoy life with while extending that good life with better health. It's not easy, but it is getting easier as I get used to eating right and exercising. I still have a long way to go though.

Thanks for asking your question :)

Keep up the good work. I started at 340 pounds last July, so I know how it feels and I know what it will feel like you for the next year.

Dietary lifestyle changes are what I did, and it's the best way to go. If you have any questions, let me know.

Anyone is who is on a "diet" will gain the weight back. People who make the lifestyle change and realize that they can't eat like they're 15 again and incorporate exercise into their lifestyle are going to keep the weight off.

It's a tough transition. I was never able to make the change until I had to. Now that I've got the motivation and have seen some good results, it's been fairly easy to stick with the new "me."

Sierra, you're on the right track mentally which is easily 95% of this battle! Keep it up!

Congrats SierraDude :cheers:

You all are doing so great.. congrats.

Doing pretty good. I've eaten out 3 times this week and still have managed to lose some weight.

Making healthy choices, but not deprived.

Originally posted by wes_h
Sierra, you're on the right track mentally which is easily 95% of this battle! Keep it up!

wes, your so right the biggest part at least for me and many is a mental state. Finding a way to be happy and enjoy life and what I am doing and still accomplish my goals. I do not do without what I like. I have found some new and more healthy things to like and for those old things I enjoy like candy, cake, and ice cream. I still have those, but in very small portions and not very often at all. I find by very occasionally treating myself to these things I enjoy and savor them even more and now it has gotten to the point where I rarely even desire these things because I have found others that are just as enjoyable and tasty, but more healthy.

I believe too that if you can't change the way you think about living to something you can and are willing to do for the rest of your life then the battle will eventually be lost. I am not begrudging those that use other methods to lose weight, however, are they going to do what they are doing to lose that weight for the rest of their lives. That is the hard part, if a lifestyle is changed for a short period of time until the goal is reached then that person goes slowly back to their old lifestyle they will end up right where they were before.

luke - good job, keep it up. You don't have to stop going out to eat, you just have to choose well what you eat. The list of places I eat out has shortened considerably, because some place don't have anything I would eat now or have too few choices of stuff that I would eat. For instance the dreaded fast food joints, I don't eat at Burger King, they only have the one grilled chicken sandwich (Chicken Wopper) and that is all I would eat and that just ain't enough for me and two sandwiches is not what I am after either. McDonald's though has the grilled chicken sandwich (Chicken McGrill) and I can get a Salad Shaker with low cal vinaigrette dressing which is just right for me. I don't do french fries anymore and that's fine for me. If I really want fries I will steal a couple from my son's happy meal .... look out though he can get a nasty mean on! I will also eat at El Pollo Loco (flame broiled chicken) and I get corn on the cob and a side salad with Pico Degallo as a dressing. Basically I only eat places that give me a good veggie choice. So I can fill up on the veggies that I love and still be good in the fat, cal, sugar dept's. The choices are out there there just aren't that many, though there are more and more every day.

I prefer to eat at home where I can really control what my options are and can have what I want how I want it. I love to find new healthy things to prepare especially if it involves my grill.

Your so right SierraDude.