attention girls: embrace your inner...

[Kestra]

Oh dear, I've stepped into this thread and now gotten all depressed! The voice in my head saying "you need to cut back" got a bit louder with each of your posts.

Actually I've recently found myself losing weight, even without watching my diet, and I believe it might be related to my thyroid hormone levels stabilizing. Sadly I know that this can only take me so far, and I need to get back into exercising regularly.

The thing is, I like exercising regularly. I really do! Once I've been doing it, I crave it. But if I stop for a week, it's such a drag to get back into it. And since I get sick so frequently, my routine gets interrupted all the time.

Also while I love the treadmill, I long to be able to run outside.

 

[An Officer]

Is it the choc martinis you're concerned about?

 

[Kestra]

I haven't had one in awhile! Great, now I want one. I actually don't drink much anymore. The husband and I rarely even open wine because we know we'll both have a glass and be done, and the rest of the bottle will go to waste.

My problem is my general diet. I'm allergic to many fruits and some vegetables, and it makes me lazy about my meal choices. Plus fresh fruits and veggies go bad so quickly that it seems if I don't eat them right away, they'll spoil. So I always hesitate when buying items at the store.

I wish it was like India where the dude pulls up with his cart in front of your house and yells out what veggies he has each day. I would certainly be cooking much better meals!

 

[Aurian]

oh god.. bellini sounds good right about now..

I drank the rest of the dietcoke. I could not stop myself. stupid me. Thankfully it has no calories, and thus not really count as a weightwatcher point .
Otherwise I ate well today, on the low side even. And I took a loooooong walk in the heat, so I have been doing well. But my god, how sorry does my ass feel anyways? How did it get so big again?!!!! waaaaaaaah waaaaaah waaaaaaaaaaah..

 

[K'Ehleyr]

The thing that annoyed me was I never considered myself overweight ~ I'm a size 12 ~ 14 on a fat day but when I got a new Dr last year she scared the hell out of me.
I had a drink diary, a fat count diary, a sugar diary. Shopping took an hour whilst I scoured all the labels. I didn't have a car so was walking everywhere and yes I went down to a size 10 but it was so much hard work and I became fanantical about it ~ I bought home blood sugar tests although all was normal, and was miserable at parties when I'd had my one glass of allowed wine. Then Christmas happened and with it Baileys and chocolate...

I'd got down to a 22 BMI and have now drifted to 25.3 which means I'm 'officially' overweight. If I'd got down to the bottom of the 'normal BMI' limit I would weigh 112 lbs for a 5'4" woman and would look emaciated and still not be 'officially' underweight. I think 'official measurements' like this are a crock of shit.

Before I lost weight I was quite happy and never thought I was fat, now all I do is compare myself to other women And what do I do? Have a drink to cheer myself up

The best advice (and I apologise cos I can't remember who posted it) is a long as your chest is bigger than your tummy, you're not too bad.

Anyway best of luck girls, but don't get too caught up in it all. As previously said, and true, it is what we are on the inside, and all of you are lovely

 

[An Officer]

Kestra, fresh fruit and veg delivered to the doorstep everyday sounds delightfully decadent! How come you haven't moved there yet?

Nevermind, Aurian, better than the coke ending up in the bin unused eh - that would have been too tragic! Maybe the men of the house can go on a Coke fast with you, so there's none about? Still, I'm sure a glass or so a day won't do any real harm... Well done on the walk, more than I got around to today (headache )! And asses always feel bigger than they actually look - part of their evil terrible mean charm!

As to the chest verses tummy thing K'ehleyr, doesn't work so well for those of us not very well endowed at all. By those measurements, I'm in real serious trouble!

 

[Cakes488]

I haven't had one in awhile! Great, now I want one. I actually don't drink much anymore. The husband and I rarely even open wine because we know we'll both have a glass and be done, and the rest of the bottle will go to waste.

My problem is my general diet. I'm allergic to many fruits and some vegetables, and it makes me lazy about my meal choices. Plus fresh fruits and veggies go bad so quickly that it seems if I don't eat them right away, they'll spoil. So I always hesitate when buying items at the store.

I wish it was like India where the dude pulls up with his cart in front of your house and yells out what veggies he has each day. I would certainly be cooking much better meals!

I purchased the most wonderful produce and dairy products over the weekend from this lovely farm in Callicoon NY. They slaughter their own meats humanely...they had all these wonderful cheeses, fresh milk and fresh yogurt. It was delicious. I wish I could purchase all my food like this.

 

[JustKate]

I love local food. I buy a lot of it all during the season - we have a farmers market right in the little town a live in, plus there are several local farms that have on-farm markets.

But the problems are (1) The season doesn't last forever, and come January, I am not going to buy only, say, kale, cabbage and late-season apples, which are about the only locally produced things around here during that time of year; and (2) oranges and tea leaves and pineapple and bananas just don't grow "locally." But it's a lot of fun during the season.

Local meat and cheeses are available year round, though - I buy them a lot.

 

[kimc]

The best advice (and I apologise cos I can't remember who posted it) is a long as your chest is bigger than your tummy, you're not too bad.

** looks down **

Yeah!

Of course, with large bazoombas I'm probably cheating...

Unfortunately I have no advice to give. I try to do some sort of workout every day eat lots of fruits and veggies and let the chips fall where they may!

Too bad I'm really fond of ice cream and pasta and chocolate and...

 

[An Officer]

You're only human... I don't trust anyone who is able to cut out all treats from their days - means they're definitely insane in some way... look at Madonna and Gyweneth Paltrow - they apparently have the same instructor, who has told them to eat only one meal a day, usually steamed fish or grilled chicken in the evening, and a little bit of olive oil to drink to stop them getting constipated because they're eating so little.

So, let me get this straight, they're filthy rich and the world is their oyster, yet they are half starved, constipated, and no doubt constantly in a bad mood and exhausted from lack of nutrition... definitely a recipe for happiness!

I wouldn't want to go quite that far! I do think they both look extremely unappealing.

 

[May 20]

...and chips?

Mr. May and I were dieting really well from January to about June. He'd lost 40 pounds, and I'd lost around 18. But, then he wanted a diet vacation. Yeah, it's not been pretty. We've not stuffed ourselves, just relaxed what we were allowing ourselves. Regardless of what he decides to do, I have to get back on track.

 

[An Officer]

It's really quite annoying, isn't it... men seem to gain wait slower, and loose it quicker. No fair!

 

[Peach Wookiee]

My diet is a forced health thing... No chocolate, no raw vegetables, no dairy, no food with spice... Basically, my diet is BORING!!!

 

[Kestra]

It's really quite annoying, isn't it... men seem to gain wait slower, and loose it quicker. No fair!

My husband is totally blaming me for the weight he's put on in the last year. He's actually probably still on the low side of "normal" though. The man can eat so much before he gains anything!

How do you ladies balance your diets when you're cooking for others? I mean, I try not to do a temporary diet, but make overall healthier choices for myself. But it's difficult because I don't want to deprive my husband of some of the things he likes if I'm trying to eat differently. Am I making any sense here?

 

[Peach Wookiee]

You are. My parents cook for themselves and I cook for myself.

 

[Aurian]

I am wierd.

We have the entire kitchen completely stuffed with temptations. I have learned to live with it, because it is basically me buying it.. hording it like a chipmunk for winter. I am in essence an "addict" and I have worked on myself for the past 5 years, successfully for the most part. IF I don't have it at home I panic, but I don't need to eat it myself.
And I want a fully stocked baking cabinet (hello.. I have like 20 bars of different kinds of chocolate in there) so I never have to go out shopping first (but I always seem to find an excuse to do so anyways). But still. I don't eat it.

I eat when I am bored or nervous, or if i want to "treat" myself and so on and so forth.
But eating it just because it is there? nah, not so much.

Anyways, yesterday went fine. And I braved up and stepped on the scale. It was nicer than my brain has been thinking I was at.

 

[WillsBabe]

Hi, girls. Do you mind if I ask you a question about clothes? Last night I went to dinner with my niece and my husband. I looked around the restaurant and I seemed to be out of step with the clothes that everyone else was wearing. I don't know what it is, but every time I go somewhere social I seem to be wearing a different style or formality of clothes to everyone else. A few things have occured to me: I'm of an age where I should trust my own judgement and not worry that I'm not fitting in with everyone else. Another part of me thinks that it's all about perception anyway and what I'm wearing isn't really that far removed from everyone else. Yet another part of me thinks that it's jsut that I'm fundamentally unhappy with my appearance and it wouldn't matter what I was wearing, I'd still feel awkward, out of step and uncomfortable.

But I want to ask. What about the ladies here? Do any of you get this thing where whatever you wear, you feel like you're wearing the wrong thing?

 

[JustKate]

Me...I really hate to admit this because it's going to sound arrogant, but when I look around and see everybody else dressed differently than I am, I usually feel as though everybody else is wearing the wrong thing.

Really.

And yet I am not basically an arrogant person. Maybe it's that "of an age where I should trust my own judgement and not worry that I'm not fitting in with everyone else" thing that you mentioned, WB. That sounds better than my "arrogant," anyway!

 

[kimc]

But I want to ask. What about the ladies here? Do any of you get this thing where whatever you wear, you feel like you're wearing the wrong thing?

Quite frankly I don't want to be wearing what everyone else is wearing. Call it arrogance or rebellion or whatever but I feel that since I've spent years developing my own personal style and learning what works on my body type I'm going to go with that - not the trend of the moment.

 

[An Officer]

Kestra, if I'm cooking, and others want something different to what I'm having, I don't mind cooking two, sometimes three different meals at once... it's important everyone feels they are getting what they want. I only try to make sure there is no waste, extra tempting left-overs and such. Works out fine. I never feel as though I'm depriving anyone, nor over-feeding myself food others chose. We can still sit down to eat together at the same time, there just happen to be different things on each plate.

It's more work, but hey, that's how I work around it, or I'd be enormous. If I do get myself in the kitchen, I mostly cook for 2, and sometimes 4 when the children are over - and the kids can cope with far more calories than I can! I don't have the opportunity to work it all off like they do! They go to football classes, gymnastics, swimming and what have you... so plenty of pasta and desserts too for them, which I don't ordinarily indulge in.

Aurian, congrats on the pleasant experience on the scale. I have convinced myself ours "must be broken"...

WillsBabe, I am quite used to turning up in a completely different state than everyone else, and I hardly notice anymore. I wouldn't concern yourself about it too much. I once went to a party where all the ladies were wearing cocktail dresses and heals, and I turned up in formfitting black slacks and a white unbuttoned ladies tux shirt, and brown sandals. Completely out of step there, but what was important was that I felt comfortable and well-presented within myself... the rest doesn't matter all that much! I don't think public gatherings should have a rigid uniform code, that's just Nazi-ish and dull for the eyes in my opinion.