Hi Ladies:

As promised, here's the new thread for October. This thread is for anyone who wants to talk about their weight loss challanges and successes or who wants to be encouraged along your weight loss journey. Come join us. We'd love to have you.

Betty Jo

Hi Kathy:

You asked about my measurements. I'm glad you asked. I've lost 35 inches. I hadn't measured in a while so you encouraged me to do so. I'm wearing larges in my clothing, but I'm swimming in most of them. I could wear mediums, but I like my clothing rather loose. I used to wear my clothing tight when I was younger and on the prowl (hee, hee!!), but I enjoy being comfortable now. So tight clothing is a thing of the past.

Don't worry about your arms sagging. I think they will eventually remember where they were before you gained weight, but it will take time and some exercise on your part to firm them up. Another couple years of your 4-wheeling should help . Have a great day.

Betty Jo

Good Morning All,
We had a good trip to Mackinac City and driving the bridge wasn't bad at all. I could see it being really nasty during the winter month with the snow and blowing though!! The weather was on the cold side and I should have brought along a warmer jacket. We also had off and on rain most of the while so we didn't do much walking around outdoors. I did some shopping at the tourist traps and picked up some souveniers and also some fudge. I tried some of it and then gave the rest to the kids.

Betty Jo - Congrats on making it to the 170's!!!! You should really be proud of yourself. And 35" - that is great!! I will measure on Wednesday before my WI and let you know what mine is. I bought myself a couple pair of stretch jeans last week - size 16W. They fit but are on the tight side yet so I am hoping in a month or two they will be fitting a little better!!

Have a great day everyone!

Kathy

Hello Everyone:

I had to pass this piece of information along to everyone. I was reading some posts on the message boards that was discussing an internet site you might find interesting. The site talks about zigzagging. For those who are not familiar with the term it's changing up your diet and exercise to get your body losing weight again after you've been on a plateau. Here's the address: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. You might not need the information right now, but go there and read. Be ready because it will happen. I just experienced my longest plateau so far since December 2007--5 weeks. I'm going to increase my calories to 1650 this week and change my exercise a bit to see if it works.

Have a great day everyone.

Betty Jo

Hi, Betty Jo!
I'm one of those who had to go on MOMO due to my body not processing or handling JC food too well. This past week, I neither lost nor gained any weight, but I expected that with the switch over.

What thrills me to pieces is that today I had to attend a picnic, one of those where everyone brings something to share. FOOD galore, all kinds of fattening mayonnaise based salads, fat filled stuff (like spinach dip in bread bowl, etc.) and sugary treats galore. AND...I had none of it! What I did was to eat a big salad before I arrived, one filled with lettuce, 1/2 chopped tomato, grilled eggplant and zucchini with just a spritz of low fat/no fat salad dressing.

Well, my strategy worked!! I only munched on some turkey (about 2 oz) and one small hot dog at the picnic, and had a bowl of fresh fruit salad for my dessert. I was totally full and even better, totally satisfied.

This has never happened to me before. ALWAYS, I'd be picking on this goodie or that fattening food, almost mindlessly. Not today! I was so happy with myself I was just glowing by the time I got home!

For my dinner later on, I had one Lean Cuisine dinner, with fresh lettuce and mushrooms as my free food. Dessert was sugar free jello and it was delicious.

Whew!! MOMO isn't really that hard, after all!

Rie

Hi everybody! I'm trying to stay off the 'puter so much and be active more in life. so far, I'm still behind myself. no pun intended, tehee.

Kathy, where are you now with WI? I was so deeply frustrated last week. just about ready to throw myself on the floor and cry! my JC consultant was going to talk to the dietician. that was Tuesday. My girfriend does JC in TX at a center and her WI is Fridays. So, we WI 2x's per week together. Well, on Friday, I dropped 3 lbs! that had put me at 210.6 lbs. Zap. you and I were pretty much in sync. but I've bounced since then - again. why did I bounce? I ran out of my BP pills. they are actually fluid retention remedy to lower BP. tomorrow I go to the doctor. this is first visit since jenny plan started. and tomorrow is WI also..... and my feet are swollen. not a good thing. I might be depressed tomorrow. had blood work done last week. I cant wait to see that change! that will be my saving grace.

Betty Jo!!!! you are my mentor. Congrats on your lost inches! actually, that's my biggest success too. I want to be just like you when I can get this thing in gear! It's been 6 months and only 25 lbs. My girlfriend in TX has told me about changing up the lifestyle a little. well, I tried walking on the treadmill 2 x's last week, did tons of yard work, and had to go to the chiropractor. haha. of course, my back has arthritis in it and some discs pinched. I'm thinking about getting an eliptical stepper. Anybody got one of those? I was also looking at those things that swing your legs back and forth too... and they are cheaper.

Rie, I did get out there in the hottub and did the legwork. You're right. It's fun. Was trying to do it again last nite and tonight.... got on this 'puter to catch up and now it's bedtime.... no hottub. Thanks for giving me that tip! I understand if you don't stay with the JC plan... and hope you find out what went wrong.

ok, bedtime. if tomorrow goes good... I'll post again. if not, I'll be working out and won't be near the chair that's near the computer that makes me sit too long. LOL.
Jo

ps.. sorry for the BIG letters. my eyesight is tired of squinting at the small type.

Hi Everyone:

The weather is getting colder here. I took my husband to the doctor this morning and it was raining and very miserable. The north wind was blowing and the rain was coming down sideways. An unbrella didn't even help. My hair went flatter than a pancake. Ugh!!!

Jo:

It's so good to hear from you again. I knew you must be out there somewhere. Actually, Jo, I think the 25 pounds in 6 months is a very respectible weight loss. Changing your routine will help you to start losing again. Try eating a few less calories per day too. I went down to 1450 calories for about three days and then increased my exercise for three and I got off my plateau finally!!! You can also increase your calories and decrease your exercise and it will jolt your matabolism. Believe me I'll use this stategy next time, but I'm a little concerned about losing too fast at this point. So if I lose a pound a week, that would suit me just fine.

Hi Rie:

I love your stategy for the picnic. I haven't been to a picnic yet. My biggest obstacle was my husband's favorite place to eat--Golden Corral. It's cafeteria style and very dangerous for someone on a diet because everything they serve tastes fantastic. Comfort foods galore. Well, I do something similar to your picnic stategy. I eat a big salad and take my Jenny dressing with me. Then I get my meat (3-4 oz) and a roll. I also get a diet Pepsi. Then for dessert, I have 1/2 cup soft serve. It usually adds up to about 500 calories, so I don't eat much for breakfast. As long as I plan, I do good. If I don't plan, it's usually a little more challanging. I use this method no matter where I eat now and it works. Then for my next meal, I have a Jenny dinner, which is low in calories. Anyway, our stategy works and anyone can use it, even if you order from a menu.

Well ladies, have a great day. I'll be back later in the week to see how everyone is doing.

Betty Jo

Hello Ladies,
Well, at WI this morning, I lost .6# this week, which I guess is O.K. The sad thing is that when I check what I weighed in the beginning of September, I actually gained a pound for the month!!! The good thing is that I measured this morning and am really happy to find that I lost 40.5". So I guess, even though I didn't loose much during the summer months with all my flip-flopping up and down on the scale, I did firm up some and lost a few more inches. I had my doctors check-up yesterday morning and my blood pressure is doing great!! I may not need to take the pills at all anymore - for now I have to check it twice a day and just take 1/2 a pill if I need it.

Jo - good to hear from you again!!! I know what you mean about spending too much time on the puter!!! I've been a little busier than I normally was this summer with the garden, canning etc. Yesterday I cooked up my pumpkin and got that put in the freezer. I have been going up and down all summer long with my weight. When I went for my checkup yesterday, according to the doctors records, I only lost 18# the last six months. It depressed me at first, but then I thought about where I would be at if I didn't get back on track with Jenny right after the vacations, cook-outs, etc. If I weren't doing this, every week I had a gain it would have stayed there and added the next gain to it. At least now if I gain I get right back on track and get it off again before the scale goes up again!!!

Rei - Congrats on the good food choices you made at your picnic!!

Betty Jo - could you send the link for the calorie counting network again!! I've been doing more cooking on my own and apparently lost the addy!! Do you know of a site where you can put in all the ingrediends of a recipie and then find out how many calories per serving? I want to try to convert some of my cake and cookie recipies to sugar-free and lower fat.

Hope everyone has a great day and will be checking in to see how everyone is doing.
Kathy

Hello Everyone:

It's a beautiful day here in Kansas today. The sun is shining and the air is crisp. The trees are beginning to change colors. I love this time of year. It's my favorite time to walk. So I'm really excited about that. My dogs beg to go everyday, so it's very hard to turn them down.

Kathy:
Good job on the weight loss. Here's the address for Calorie Count: http://caloriecount.about.com. For those ladies that don't know what this site is all about, here's a summary. I use this site in addition to the JC site because I like logging my calories. I really like this site because it grades the foods I eat A-F, which helps me eat healthier. You can either locate the food you are eating in their huge database or you can enter the information from the back of the package in your account and it will grade it for you.

If you set up an account with them (which is free), you can log your foods and keep track of your calories for the day (even your JC foods are in there). Other features include weight calculator, message boards, a recipe analyzer, which will analyze a recipe and tell you how many calories are in it, and access to a dietician, if you have questions. You can save the recipe or any of the foods you enter in this site to your account so you don't have to redo each time you come back. And let me repeat. This is all free, free, free. That's what makes it so nice. I learned about this site from someone else on JC that was close to maintenace, but I started using it right away because I wanted something I could use when I got done on JC.

Another site I use is http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. This site is great if you are close to goal and you want to get off a plateau. It has information in there on zigzagging, which is changing your calories and exercise so that your weight loss will start going down again. It's a good site too and has lots of information on it.

I wanted to tell everyone that I have no weight loss to report this week. Stayed the same, but I'm not in any hurry.

Well, ladies, guess I better get busy. My husband is already out in the fields. Have a great day.

Betty Jo

Kathy,
Congrats on ALL your great news!! You are very inspiring, I have to say. Thanks so much for being 'you'!

Well, count me in the 'good news' bunch! At my WI this morning, I found out I lost just a tad under three pounds this past week! That's doing it 'MOMO", which I am finding easier to do with every day.

LOL! I had to giggle here: I just "discovered" veggie burgers and sausage in my supermarket today, and decided to try them. Delicious! Flame broiled 'burger' and sausage patti (one half of a total serving of 2 pattiens), heated up with grilled red bell peppers, onions and another 'side' of grilled zucchihi was lunch, and it was delicious and very filling. Total calories were 100 for the burger and only 40 for the sausage pattie. I have no idea how many cal's in those free veggies, but I think my lunch was only 150 cal's, total.

Tonight for dinner, it's six broiled shrimp, more free veggies and 1 yogurt (low fat, of course!) for dessert. Later on tonight if I get hungry, there is a sugar free Jello with my name on it. So, MOMO is definitely do-able and can be mighty tasty, too!

Good luck to all.....

Rie

Betty Jo,
Many thanks for those links! I will definitely check them both out.

You have fields?! That's wonderful!! Being a horse owner, I would love it if I had a field to use for her. Instead, I board her about 30 miles away (closest, nicest place). How lucky you are!! Have a great day, too!

Rie

Thank you, Betty Jo! I also like your idea and will have to try it out, too. Honestly, I stumbled upon my 'bright idea' really by accident! My friends and I had gone up to spend time with our horses and we always stop for ice cream afterwards. (I never eat it because I can't). I usually get a Philly soft pretzel or something. It's a long trip and we always work up an appetite. This time, I thought ahead to bring a salad with me and ate that while the rest of them ate their high-fat, high calories treats. Then, we went to the picnic directly afterwards and voila! I was too full from my salad to eat or desire very much. So, I had about 4 oz. smoked turkey and one small hot dog and the fresh fruit salad. I was FULL! Yeeee -HA! That's a first for me! The dessert table was just awash with all kinds of sugary goodies: brownies, cakes, cookies -- you name it, it was there. I just looked the other way and got into lots of neat conversations with my friends. Before I knew it, it was time to leave. Whew!! End of temptation!

Good luck to all,
Rie

Hi Rie:

Yes, we do have fields. We have 80 acres with a tractor path all the way around it that is fantastic for exercising horses. It's like a very large race track. Our neighbors like to use it because it's nice and smooth with no holes.

I don't currently have a horse, but have thought about it. The property is not fenced, so we couldn't pasture horses in there and it would cost us about $20,000 to have a fence put up. So we've not added horses to our list of pets. I used to have horses years ago and loved having them. They are expensive though if you don't have pasture. Riding horses is such great exercise. I remember the first time I rode a horse. I loved it sooooo much that I rode all day. Well, I couldn't walk for a week after that, but I did eventually go on to own my own horse. Her name was lady and she was just that, but she didn't like to go on long trail rides. I had to run her down every time I wanted to ride. That got old. We eventually sold her, but I will always remember her sweet temperment.

We do have 3 dogs and 3 cats. They keep me pretty busy. The dogs love to walk and beg to go everyday. So I have walking partners. I have to akitas and a mixed breed that kind of resembles an aussie. The two akitas are getting old, but my mixed breed loves to walk. She's about 6 years old. She would make a great jogging dog, but I don't do that anymore because it's hard on my joints. I used to show dogs and I would love to do it again, but we live to far out of town to attend training classes.

Well, I guess I better get busy and go walk my dogs. You have a great day and keep up the good work on JC.

Betty Jo

Betty Jo,
Dogs make great walking partners! My Max, a part German shepard/part Black Lab mix, will very gladly go for a walk anytime at all. He wears me out sometimes! We walk a lot -- I try to get in at least 10 miles a week with a walking buddy I have and sometimes we take our dogs with us.

My horse, Roxy, is a real 'girly-girl' mare. Sometimes it feels like she's got permanent PMS! But, she is a love. Smart, too! She will learn things so fast that I have to be real careful what I teach her. I made a huge mistake and taught her to shake her head "Yes", using a horse treat as a training gizmo. Now, she comes up to me and immediately shakes her head "Yes!" for a treat. The only thing is, if she is too close to me, she can hit me with her head, which is NOT a good thing! So far, so good, though -- we haven't bonked noggins yet, thank goodness. Talk about exercise! She and I do carriage driving (a small cart for now). Between tacking her up, hitching her to the cart, training her then udoing the whole thing, I am pooped at the end of a session! Just lugging that tack out and then putting it all away is a workout!

Animals -- they add so much to our lives, don't they?

Rie

Yes, aniamals do add so much to our lives. I just lost one of my animals to old age day before yesterday. I was so depressed because we had to have her put to sleep. She bloated. She was very old and from what the vet was telling me, bloat is very common in the elderly large breeds. Now, I'm down to 2 dogs and 3 cats. My little girl that passed on was named Ribbon. I used to show her in confirmation at dog shows. She had her championship. The best thing about her was her temperment. She was a real sweet dog. I just have the one akita left now and he will be passing on soon too I'm sure. He's old and has had testicular cancer. We had the cancer removed and typed. It was determined that it was the type of cancer that returns. I'm hoping to have another good year with him. He was also a show dog and got his championship in two weekends, which by the way is very hard.

I would like to have another dog, but I don't want another big dog. They are too much for me. I have had my shoulders yanked out of place so many times I can't even count them. When akitas get older they are not to hard to handle at all, but when they are young, they are very powerful and sometimes scary if they fall into the wrong hands. That's the reason I never bred. I didn't want to have to make new owner decisions. I was afraid I would make a mistake. So I've really never bred. I think german shepherds are nice too. I've consdiered that breed. But again they are very powerful.

Well, hope you have a great week. See you back here again later in the week.

Betty Jo

OH, Betty Jo,
I am so sorry for the loss of your dear pet. So sad, there just are no words that can offer much comfort. You gave your pet a good life, and that is what counts.

Hang in there....

Rie

Hello Everyone:

I have some great news today. Last week I decided to try zigzagging, which is a form of changing up your calories and exercise to get your metabolism revved up so you can start losing weight again. Guess what? It worked. I'm proud to annouce that I've lost 4 pounds this week, which weighs me in at 175. I now have 10 pounds to go to get to goal. Yipee!! I plan to do one more zigzag week in November and one in December. That should eliminate another 10 pounds.

Hi Rie:

Thank you so much for understanding how I feel about my sweet little girl. It means a lot when you are grieving. She will be missed because she was a wonderful dog.

Hey Jo, Hey Kathy, Where are you two? We'd love to hear from you and how you are doing.

Betty Jo

Hello Everyone,
Well, it's been a good week for me. I only lost 1.2# but I feel pretty good about that cause I have been doing more of the MOMO's and I still had a loss. Went down to Appleton last thursday to do a 5-generation picture but when we got there my Mom wasn't doing too good so we didn't get the picture taken. Instead I went to lunch with my daughter and grand-daughter and baby and had a good time visiting. Sunday was beautiful here and my son and I took the 4-wheelers out for a spin. The colors are almost done here but I just love the smell of the fallen leaves in the woods!!!

Betty Jo - What a great weight loss!!!!! I've heard that the zig-zagging helps and it sure did work for you!! And only 10# more to hit goal! You should be there or at least very close to it by the time Christmas rolls around this year. Keep up the great work!
Sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. It is so hard to lose a pet and it seems like the longer you have them the harder it is on us when we lose them.

Rei - keep up the great work!! Sounds like you get in a lot of walking!!! It would be nice to have someone around here to walk with - to me walking alone is pretty boring but I am trying to make myself do it more often.

Have a great day and hope to hear more from everyone!
Kathy

Betty Jo,
First....{{{{{Betty Jo}}}}}}

Now, then...could you please explain a bit more about how to zigzag? I am still kind of new here to JC, and this is something I haven't heard of before. Any further info on this would be greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks in advance,
Rie

Yes, here's the website address: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. It's not a JC website. It's just something I learned about on the JC message boards. Someone was talking about it and I visited the website to see what she was talking about. The website will explain the process better than I can.

Have a great day.

Betty Jo

Hi Everyone, Where is everybody?
I had WI yesterday and stayed the same this week. Hubby had a doctors appointment yesterday and I felt pretty miserable most of the day. Ended up laying down for awhile and fell asleep. Have a nasty cold and sinus infection which is doing better today.

Looks like winter is coming to our area this weekend - they've got that 4 letter work in the forcast for a few days. Betty Jo - it sounds like you may be getting some of it in your area already. My oldest grandson came up for a visit on Tuesday - was really good to see him again. He is in the National Guard and is planning on going back in for training as a firefighter and after that either going to school for firefighting or else going active, depending on what is going on when he gets done with the 16 weeks schooling.

Well hope you all are doing good and look forward to hearing from all of you!!!!
Kathy

Hello Everyone:

Well, just checking in to let you know I have no weight loss to report this week. But really, I didn't expect any because I'm trying to maintain for 3 weeks. I'm doing great at "maintaining". I've tried it several times and all I do is add 200 calories to my diet. When I'm maintaining, I have 1700 calories per day, which is more than enough food for me.

I went to a Boston Market yesterday for the first time. They have rotiserrie chicken, which I absolute love. I haven't had it in a long time. But I didn't eat it all. She gave me two thighs and a leg and red potatoes and a caeser salad. I ate one leg and one thigh only and saved the other thigh and the cornbread for my dog that was waiting in the car for me. He really enjoyed it. I think eating out, is probably the hardest thing I had to relearn when I went on JC. It's especially hard when you haven't eaten all day and you are hungry. I was very hungry. The thing I don't want to do is stretch my stomach out again because I've spent all year reducing the size of it. I think it will take me a very long time to totally change these old habits. What would be perfect for me, would be to go out to eat without having to worry about how much I can't eat. I'm not there yet, but eventually it will become habit and when it does, I will be released from my fear.

Have a great JC day.

Betty Jo

Wake up!!! I'm here. Where is everybody?

This has been a great week for Jenny and me. WI was 207 today. That was a legit 207. Two weeks ago I was 207 - from post colonoscopy cleansing. Then bounced up a few pounds - was also very unfaithful to jenny - but, this was a new week and something went right.

My second shout: I had to buy 16W pants today. My others were falling off... it was embarrassing. What did you all do with the clothes sizing? Actually, this is my second reduction for clothes. Sizes are changing faster going down than it was going up. Thats great but scarey.....

We're suppose to go to DisneyWorld Thanksgiving week. I wanted to originally be 185. hahahaha.... after I realized it wasn't going to happen, I revamped that to 200. Thats going to be a challenge now. I'm always off 3-4 lbs. And, I have no idea what to wear! Clothes will be a BIG challenge. Right now, I have nothing! My capris are too big. Ok, to somebody else this seems minor.... It's just not capri season in the stores. And anything i get now, I hope will NOT fit me next summer. Oh, what to do... what to do....

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Betty Jo and Kathy, you all do so good!!! What sizes are you wearing now?
Jo

Hello Everyone,
Well, WI was yesterday and I had a loss, not a very big one but a loss is a loss!!!!! I've been struggling lately with staying on program. I'll do really good 6 days out of the week and then one day I just blow it all to H!!!!! I had a good talk with my counsellor yesterday and I am going to try like heck to stick to this a full week without messing up!!! My biggest problem right now is being totally bored!!! The garden is done. The canning and stuff is all done and I don't know what to do with my time. I love to crochet and read but I need to find something to do that is more active. The weather here has been really ******!!! Cold, windy and even a little snow. So, enough complaining. Yesterday I went down to Appleton and went Christmas shopping with my daughter. Actually got most of it done! I just buy gifts for the younger grandkids and the older like getting the money so there are only 8 that I actually have to shop for.

Jo - congrats on the great loss!! Doesn't it feel great when you are able to go down a clothing size!!! My last pair of pants I bought were a 16W - stretch type jeans. They were tight when I bought them but fit well now. Do you ever do any shopping on line? Perhaps you could find some capris that way. One of my favorite on-line stores is: www.avenue.com. Blair is pretty good also, but I think Avenue has things that are a little more stylish and not so granny looking. My clothes I bought for last summer are getting too big now and I doubt I will be able to wear them next year so I decided I am not going to buy too much this winter as they will hopefully not fit me next year. I do want to find a couple of long sleeved shirts this year though cause now that I have some of the weight off I get cold a lot faster than I used to. I used to just wear a sweatshirt for a coat all winter long before and this year I guess I will have to buy a regular winter coat if I intend to do anything outside!!!!

Betty Jo - I also find eating out is a problem. Most times I do pretty good with it. If it is too much I am learning to either leave it or bring half of it home to eat for another meal. But there are times when I just end up eating everything and I have to learn to quit doing that!!!! When I am at home it is so much easier sticking to the program, but I did have a really bad day at home last week. I ended up eating everything and anything in sight. It was a REALLY bad day!!!

Hope everyone has a good week and will talk to you all later.
Kathy

Hi Everyone:

I'm here. I've been wondering where you all have been !!!

Congrats on the weight loss to both Kathy and Jo. Keep up the good work. I have no weight loss to report this week. I stayed the same, but that seems to be my pattern right now. It will probably be about 3-4 more weeks and then I'll drop another 4-5 pounds at one time like I did last month.

I am happy to report that I recently purchased size 16 jeans (Rider's regular-no stretch) and I'm pretty much swimming in them. I probably could have purchased size 14, but I didn't want to have them too tight. There's nothing more uncomfortable than a tight pair of jeans. Ouch !!! My goal is to get to a medium size, which is 12-14. I don't want to go any lower than that. At one time in my life I weighed about 125 pounds and I had to starve to keep my weight at that level. I'm not going there ever again. I want to enjoy the rest of my life, not suffer.

Jo:

I shop on the internet a lot and I like Willow Ridge fashions. I think I've seen capris on clearance. Just go to www.willowridge.com and click on clearance at the top of the page. The other place I like to shop is BedfordFair.com. You can pick up some pretty good deals on clearance there too. Their site address is www.bedfordfair.com. I also like the two place Kathy mentioned too--Blair and Avenue. I watch for sales on all these sites.

Kathy:

It sounds like you are really discouraged because your weight loss has slowed down or your metabolizm has slowed down. This week instead of just doing the JC thing, try that zigzagging thing I mentioned to you some time ago, which means you need to add exercise. Do you have an exercise tape? The Leslie Sansone Walking Tape is really good and you can get it at Walmart. We aren't really cold here yet. It's still mildly cool. But when I get stuck in the house because it's really cold outside, that's what I plan to do. Anyway, give the zigzag a try. You might be pleasantly surprised. Good luck.

Betty Jo