***Tuesday Weekly Weigh In*** 8/14/07

Hellloooo Gang! I am seeing more and more people posting on the weekly weigh in and I am thrilled of that!!! So if you are a lurker and are too timed or afraid to post we are all really nice here and invite you to do so when you feel comfortable. If not with the weigh in posts then perhaps with our other posts. We are a great group of people and love the support we get here and are always looking for more company! So how did we do this week everyone? I know we had some struggles with food demons.. Seems as we get farther and farther out we are gonna need to focus harder and find other outlets/avenues for stress other than coping with food. As we all know surgery did not fix our brains and this is becoming more apparent to many of us as we get further out. So if you haven't though of other avenues for stress I invite you to take the time out this week to really ponder about this and figure out how you can make it happen, it is important enough that it needs to be a priority TODAY.. not tomorrow.. you will be successful! So this leads me to my question of the week! Question of the week: How do you handle stress when it gets to be overwhelming other than with food? What has worked for you? Are you still needing to find other outlets? Have you thought about new things if so? My Answer: I realized this week that exercise and music are two things I love now. I get the same rush of adrenaline from exercise and music as I get with food (although food is a very TEMPORARY satisfaction and ends up making u feel guilty.. oh that cycle.. remember it well... do you?) But like yesterday I came home from work after working a 12 hour night shift and had a VERY busy weekend and stressful one.. abnormally stressful. I also didn't sleep well the past couple of days and happened to be Aunt Flo's visit. The combination of stress, hormones and fatigue reared its ugly head at me and I had a bad morning before laying down and honestly pretty munchie the rest of the night but made good choices at least. So I do know now that I need something other than jumping on the treadmill or going for a walk to manage stress because it wasn't feasible for me to do that when I was already dragged down tired yesterday morning. I am still not sure what that is as I would be too tired to read a book or scrapbook or anything like that after work... so maybe I just need to go to bed but we all know how well that works out when you feel as if you are starving. Getting on OH is something I can always do and I do this when I come home tired or not. Maye I just need to read a few success stories and crack some water open and wind down that way. I am open to suggestions and I am gonna really think about this hard this week. This is my goal this week. HW: 328 SW: 280 LW: 167.5 CW: 164.5 I reached that milestone of half the woman I was before.. so I need to just keep staying focused now.. 24 lbs to goal! So here is to a good week to all of us.. Let's keep the BAD carb demon away this week and the food totals where they should be gang!

As if I didn't say enough in my post.. I forgot to add.. My husband and I looked at a couple gyms last week. I get a benefit of no sign up fee and payroll deduction from my check at work for the YMCA in the town that I work in. So actually, if I am feeling overly stressed, I could just swing by there.. even if it isn't for formal exercise because I am tired but for a quick swim or something... they are open when I get off work! I just thought of a solution that quick you guys! I am very excited about joining a gym, that down side is we live 30 mins from where I work/or where the gym is so it will be an effort to go every day I go but I wanna try it and see how I do since I love to exercise. The treadmill is always at my house too if I don't want to go but need to strive for 2-3 times a week at a gym I think. I need more weight lifting/toning for muscle maintenance and maybe a little building so more cals can be burned more efficiently. I am gonna have a physical assessment done and might even hire a training for a couple sessions, we will see.. ok done rambling! Thanks for listening. Have a great week everyone!

HW: 372 SW: 349 LW: 213 CW: 208 Weekly loss of 5 pounds and total loss of 164. I also hit the overweight mark this week and I got into a size 12 pants (can't breathe, but they zip up) down from a 30/32 just 8 months ago Reading is my stress outlet. I have a deal with my husband now that every Sunday I get an hour of alone time in the bedroom with the door shut so I can read a book while he takes care of the kids. I used to read 5 or 6 novels a week but when I had kids I just didn't have the time. I realized recently how much I missed it and how much stress was creeping into my eating on the weekends so this is my new plan.

Hi, I did not have the best week eating BUT by no means should I have GAINED HW-358 SW-338 LW-250 CW-252 I am HOPING this week is much better for me. I know I am not drinking enough water so I REALLY need to work on that. Diana

HW: 265 SW: 240 LW: 175 CW: 174 I could get used to the 1 lb. loss a week. That way there'd be less to lose post natal. I've found that I don't tend to stress eat so much anymore, unless I'm unaware of it. I think maybe it's because while I do eat, the thought of food nauseates me...thank you pregnancy. When I'm super stressing, I have a good cry and talk it out with my husband, or sometimes I even just take a nap. Maybe not such a good idea sometimes, but I figure it can only help the pregnancy. I think for me everything is different right now because of the pregnancy and I'll have to see how I do after the little one is born. That would be a true test, no? One thing that has been a bit difficult is not being able to take my bipolar meds, and I'm worried about how I will do postpartum. That's usually my worst time, so we'll see. Maybe having this surgery will be of some help in that dept. as well. Hope everyone has a good week. I'm off to try to nap. The 1 year old I'm babysitting, fell asleep a bit ago and I need to take full advantage of that...LOL!!

Hey melissa congratulations 3 more pounds this week that is wonderful. Keep it up!!! Hw: 340 sw: 330 lw: 227 cw: 226 one pound this week but I'll take that lol! Mini me

WOOOO HOOOO I love vacation! All through this process if I have been a way from home for a few days I always show a nice loss. This time was three pounds which is HUGE for me! I am a happy girl today!!!!!! Surgery 246 Current 184 Dr Goal 160 My Goal 145 PS I really missed you guys, now I have a lot of catching up to do!

Congratulations on another good week's loss, Melissa! Fighting that carb demon is going to be tough this week, I am still pms'ing and the headaches are beginning. Blech. My strategy the last few days has been to tell myself that I'm thirsty not really hungry when I start to feel munchie. Thankfully my terrible Saturday didn't hurt me, I stayed the same this week. Dodged that bullet!!! Here's the numbers: HW: 268 SW: 230 LW: 138 CW: 138 "Question of the week: How do you handle stress when it gets to be overwhelming other than with food? What has worked for you? Are you still needing to find other outlets? Have you thought about new things if so?" That's more than one question! I need a nap really badly right now so I'd have to say that first when the tress is overwhelming I try to journal about it now. Often I DO need other outlets...a nap maybe, some music, keeping busy with household chores that get my hands too dirty to eat. I've thought about exercising and know I should do it but haven't yet. Gonna take a nap with an icepack on my head now. Back to check in with you all later. Molly

Hello guys!! hope everyone is having a good day, mine is better today than yesterday!! HW:280 SW:276 LW:181 CW:180 down 1 lb - getting ready to start my P Stress well I usually just veg out when I go home. Otherwise I get online, do housework, sometimes eat or take a walk.

Ah crap, it is Tuesday. Bah, didn't weigh this morning, cause I'm off by a day. Sooo.. I'll weigh tomorrow morning and post. No way am I going to do it at the end of the day after drinking non-stop! hehe