Peer Support

[Raphael]

Share your day to day successes and struggles and help support one another.

[Coothleen]

First post! Kind of exciting, kind of scary – feeling a bit *vulnerable* but someone had to jump in here and break the board’s virginity 😉

I’m Cathy 🙂 I’ve known Raphael since ~2004 and have worked with him first on major weight loss and then on this whole maintenance thing and everything in between. I’m kind of excited about this place, thinking it will be an awesome community of support and well being, and one place we can all count on for hearing the truth.

So the norm I think is likes and dislikes? I’m into powerlifting, but for various reasons we’re taking a break from one another right now (we’re not broken up, just ‘on a break’ ;). I’ve got two cats, but I’m totally not a cat lady. I love peanut butter more than so many things! Not a fan of cardio (though we’re also on a break so it’s all good 😉 or horror movies.

Next week I’m heading to Orlando Monday-Thursday and then when I return, my birthday is on Saturday (kind of a big one too, last of my 30s coming up!). I always do just fine when I’m away whether it’s for fun or business or whatever, but even after 10 years of proving that to myself over and over, I always stress over the food thing when traveling. So that’s my big upcoming challenge – manage next week without gaining and without being overly restrictive and freakish while I’m on vacation and for my birthday.

[Raphael]

Cathy! The first post…numero uno! Thanks for taking the leap and getting this started. One of my other clients is on a trip this week and those same issues came up. Hopefully she’ll post here and join in on the traveling comment.

I know you will succeed with this as you always do: “manage next week without gaining and without being overly restrictive and freakish while I’m on vacation and for my birthday.”

Thanks again for being here 🙂

Raphael

[Coothleen]

Yup! The plan is “just stay the course” haha, eek! It will be fine, thank you – I will succeed 🙂
I’ll just start repeating that over and over again till I believe it.

[Coothleen]

So, as you predicted, I did fine 🙂  Came back less than a half pound more than when I left for 4 days in Orlando, for all meals dining out – that’s not bad!  Over the weekend I had a delicious meal for my birthday dinner, and a drink plus an ice cream, and last night I enjoyed a drink as well, and ended up a pound less today than when I left last Monday.

The planning and thought is always there, and at some point I guess I’ll learn to trust that I GOT this 😉

Otherwise, looking forward to my shiny new workout on Wednesday and making sure my nutrition stays on track while I’m HOME (possibly harder, yet I never seem to worry about THAT hmmmm). Back to tracking and logging everything today.

 

[Coothleen]

Started the new workout today – it felt great, but yikes! I’m wiped out this afternoon. Just a small increase in what I was doing…

It’s hard feeling like a beginner again, and my instinct is to just dial it allllll the way back up to 11. Not sure why but that’s what it is (despite my exhaustion this afternoon, duhhh 😉 but someone told me today, “The beginner frame of mind is good sometimes. You can find mistakes you didn’t know you were making before and go stronger in the long run.”  And that’s totally applicable here I think…this time I can learn to listen to my body better instead of just pummeling it into submission.  Slow and steady it is 🙂

[Rashmi Mohan]

Hi.. I finally logged in here…

Best wishes to RC on your competition..

Hi Cathy!

I felt good spinning today… I am going back to the gym to do chest and back exercises…

[Raphael]

Hey Rashmi,

Glad you made it here! Please post as often as you like. I want to build a very strong support forum here.

 

[Rashmi Mohan]

HI Cathy—I decided to come back here…I didn’t check them. I’ve been off and getting back to my food/ exercise routine.  This is a great resource…

I am doing lower body strength and going for a run. Sometimes it takes me extra effort to get running but once I start I am good.

[Rashmi Mohan]

Cathy, I need to get back on here.. You’re here and I’ll tell Deb to come.   I really wanted to tell people what happens after you hit the goal. Now its time for me to work out.

If I do my legs and then go on the treadmill then that may not be the best. I feel like I’m losing.  I’m at 150…. I was upset after my blazer was tight. It used to be loose.

As Raphael would say, when you have a tough weekend with food what goes through your mind?

I will post here more often. I think RC’s clients get lots of support from him and i can see why they don’t post here. Its good support for people who need some.

Off to workout… Peace

[Raphael]

Hi Rashmi, I’d love to see that post you mentioned. You have keen insight into what happens after you hit goal. Looking forward to seeing what you write about it. Thanks so much!

RC

 

[Coothleen]

Hi Rashmi,

I’m glad you posted, this is really a great tool – and like one of Raphael’s quotes, “One of us is never smarter than all of us” (or something like that 😉 and sometimes we need just a little bit more support. Happy to hear Deb will be joining us too!

I agree with RC, I would love to hear your post about what happens when you hit goal. It’s my belief that it may be a little different for each person, but the underlying themes remain the same. I still struggle with it too, and despite RC’s posting of my testimonial today, I’ve gained some weight back as well – but today I’m ok with that (I don’t LOVE it, but I’m accepting of it – some days more than others ;), because I know I’m learning from everything that’s happening, every day, as part of this process.  It can be hard, but switch out the negative crap that might be running through your head – all the disempowering words that say “I can’t” and “of course you’re gaining it back” and “you’re just meant to be fat” and anything else that might be going on in there – and make it a lesson you can learn from, about how your body and your mind work, and retake the control you have.  Because you’ve obviously got it in you 🙂

How’d your workout go? Legs then treadmill is tough!

[Deb Lawrence]

Gulp. Found the forum.  Found my user name and password. Here I am. It’s a weekend and I’m just about to go to a restaurant with my hubby and friends. Struggling a bit lately to stay on track. I did preview the restaurant menu and I’ve made my “pre-selection” so it isn’t something to face in the restaurant. No bread/butter tonight.

[Raphael]

Hi Deb, thanks for being here. We’re starting to get more activity so no worries, peer support will be here. I think this can be a very powerful forum and I appreciate you being here.

[Coothleen]

Good morning 🙂

It’s been a little crazy this week because I was getting ready to start a new job. Day 1 went well! Day 2 promises to be busy, but good 🙂 My biggest struggle here is related to setting some boundaries and good work habits right from the start, and not working 24/7 since it’s a work from home position. So yesterday I worked about 8:30 till just after 6, and while it was the first day, I DO have a lot to do and could have kept working. But I didn’t. Small victory 🙂

Hey Deb! Checking out the menu and deciding ahead of time seems like the right way to go to me 🙂 How did your Saturday dinner go with the hubby? What’s been your biggest challenge with staying on track lately?

Rashmi where did you go?

So today I’m starting the C25k program with my BF. So I’ve run before, lots…but I feel like it’s been so long that’s all gone, right along with my cardio capacity. So we talked and decided to try it together 3 days a week. The compromise is that 2 of those days will be in the evenings (I’m a morning w/o girl) and once in the morning on Saturdays. But the weather is cooling off now in FL, so it’s a good time to pick it up. Also today (this morning, in a few minutes actually) is a short yoga session.

Onward…

[Rashmi Mohan]

It’s a relaxing day off for me for Veteran’s day. I started a new job last week and I wasn’t doing much work and learning security procedures. Now I have to learn a lot of stuff but I also have to have people teach me the systems.

I’ve really been hitting a wall when it comes to exercise motivation. sometimes I do strength and cardio separately. When I was heading to goal I would work out no matter how I felt. I would work out late at night or early in the morning. I would work out if I felt tired. I would never miss a workout because it wasn’t optional. I’ve gotten better lately but I push it off in the day. I guess it doesn’t matter how I feel I need to do it. I was “making” up for workouts if missed it and it threw off my week. I am meeting a friend for lunch and I will do my exercise after that…

Cathy-Congrats on the new job. I’m sure as you work more you’ll not have to work as long. That’s cool about the running program.

Deb- I hope you’re having a great day.

Rashmi -will definitely work out today…

[Coothleen]

Good morning…
Heading into my 2nd week of work and I’m getting frustrated with not knowing some things, the expectation seems to be that even after just 5 days I should know. I know once I get through this (the first time on any new job is always a lot of feeling like “huh?”) that it’ll be fine. But for now, frustration city. The good news is that no one seems to work on the weekends – at least, if they are they aren’t bugging me about it, which is *awesome*  and a big change.

Completed my first week of C25k (or some variant of it) and wow…I have a long way to go, but even by the 3rd day I felt improvement, so – hopefully it won’t be too painful.

I’ve been doing a good job managing my food this first week back to work too – with Retrofit I was challenged to eat…time to prep it and time to step away for a moment and just eat it, but I’m starting this off making sure that’s a priority , and so far so good.

Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day, but last night I ended up with a *very* flat tire. I almost changed it myself 😉 But it turned into kind of a nightmare project. Had to jack the car up *5* times, omg. With the most messed up jack ever. Anyway – after about 2 hours I was a dripping, sweaty total mess, and pooped. I’ll do some light yoga, today – but that’s about it.

So this week’s w/o look like this:
Monday: – light yoga but mostly rest
Tuesday – BW w/o in AM, C25K PM
Wednesday – off
Thursday – BW w/o in AM, C25k PM
Friday – yoga
Saturday – C25K

🙂

[Rashmi Mohan]

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/2014/11/the-1-habit-you-should-have-to-lose-weight-its-not-what-you-think-2/

Here’s the article I mentioned before.

I’ve had some bumps this weekend eating some junk food and not tracking my food on Myfitnesspal. It’s not so bad but I don’t want the cycle to continue. I was doing well with prepping food but not so much this week. I wonder if I don’t prep food why do I go for junk? I had an emotional weekend too but that’s not an excuse to eat poorly.
This morning my boss bought donuts for everyone doing a great security review. I ate 1. This will happen in every job unless you work from home. There’s a file cabinet of snacks from Costco. I planned and had some last week but it’s dangerous. We live in a junk food world. In my old job the boss bought pizza every two weeks for hustling and doing well.

Cathy- I know how you feel with the new job. I started a job 2 weeks ago and there are lots of procedures for me to learn. The best thing I do is email the supervisor from time to time on updates on what I am doing. Good for you on the tire.

My workouts
Monday- Chest, Back weights and Nike Bootcamp
Tuesday- Lower body strength and jog
Wed-Bootcamp
Thursday-Arms and shoulders strength-precor
Friday-Lower body strength and jog
Saturday- advanced bootcamp DVD

I’m drinking 4-5 glasses of water. My goal is 8-10…
Rashmi

[Bobbi Jo Bindics]

Hello everyone!!

I finally got a chance to check this out here! Of course, this is the first message I’m posting to! I am total opposite of you Coothleen! I love cardio, have a harder time with strength training. I actually found a gym that I really love and inspires me! 🙂 I LOVE spin class! I have been lax at getting to the gym, though. It’s been tough. I have taken on the task of doing an online school with my children. I love it, love spending the time with them, BUT…..the downfall is there is no “me” time. Yes, I know I need to make time for me, but it’s very difficult balancing things out. I also work at our local Applebee’s part time 3 nights/week. It’s tough, because I’m up by 6am and days I work I typically don’t fall to sleep until about 1am, sometimes later. I am looking at getting a new job, though, so wish me well with it and hope that I can arrange some “me” time a bit easier. 🙂

[Raphael]

Welcome, Bobbi Jo!! So great to see you here! Everyone on the forum right now are former eDiets members. So this should be a great forum and I know the peer support will be awesome! And, good luck in getting a new job. Gotta have that “me time.”

[Deb Lawrence]

How do you deal with feeling overwhelmed? I feel like I have been chasing my tail at work for months. There are several people out on disability leave and I have picked up their responsibilities. But I feel like I’m not doing anything well. This affects my resolve when it comes to my food plan – as well as my energy to work out.

[Deb Lawrence]

I am curious. Would you mind sharing what kind of program you are following? How long you have been on it? How much you lost? Are you on maintenance? What kind of challenges do you face? I’ll start.

Started working with Raphael on 3/1/14.  I’ve lost 40 pounds. I have a long way to go. Very challenging job. My kids are grown but my job and my lifestyle involve eating out a lot. So besides job stress I have to deal with eating at functions where I don’t know the menu in advance and have no control over what exactly will be served.

[Coothleen]

Hey guys –

Those two random very early posts are bugging me, not sure why they are out of order like that. I think if you reply directly to a post it puts it immediately under that post, but if you post a new one at the bottom it puts it all the way at the bottom, where it may appear out of order. We’ll get it figured out I’m sure 🙂

Argh I didn’t realize I didn’t turn on my email notification so I didn’t know there was so much chatter going on in here! I’ve turned it on now so hopefully I’ll be better about replying from now on.

Rashmi – When you don’t plan and you turn to junk, most likely it’s not a deep emotional issue – it’s ease of accessibility, it’s everywhere! Like the costco drawer at work, or the donuts the boss brings in. Regardless, you still have the ability to say “no thanks.” I try to live by the idea (not a “rule” trying to move away from hard and fast rules, but still the concept is good even if it’s not an absolute) that “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”  Meaning…just because something is available to you and you CAN “get away” with eating it (ie…one donut, or costco junk food drawer) doesn’t mean it’s the best idea for YOU.  Maybe have a back-up plan for days that you don’t do a good job of food prep or planning, but you know what better options are still available around where you are. I’m sure there’s SOMETHING around where you work that would provide reasonable/healthier options – even a grocery store? If not, just bring a few things in to work with you and have your own “food drawer” for emergencies. Glad you found your wallet!

Hey Deb – glad you’re back! I’m sorry you’ve been feeling overwhelmed 🙁 I know that feeling well, and I’ve let it get in the way of me taking good care of myself plenty of times. Like Raphael said, focusing on what you’re actually in control of and trying to let go of the things you’re not. Sometimes for me that’s easier played out if I can pause for even just 5 minutes and really just focus on right here right now and have a lil’ conversation wtih myself, like …”ok….you literally have 90000 things to do, you could literally work 24/7 and all the work would not be done, so let’s try to get realistic here because you know that is NOT. You can truly only work on one thing at a time – what am I doing right now? I will focus on that, and let the other 89,999 projects go, until this one is complete or at a stopping point. Then I’ll regroup, do this again and pick the next thing.”  All you ever have control of is what decisions you make *right now* regardless of all the craziness that is going on around you – so pick right now to focus your control, take some deep breaths.

To answer your question about programming…hard to say. I’m really working on what I guess is best described as “intuitive eating.” I followed strict macros and calories for a *long* time and it served me really well, but there came a time when that got a little crazy and then it didn’t.  It’s been a long road…so starting sometime back in September, I really truly let go of the constant tracking, meal logging, etc and it’s been working well for me since. I’m not actively trying to lose, though I’d like to lose about 20-25 at this point, I’m really just trying to learn to trust myself and my body. I’ll be honest though, I had hoped that adding in some cardio (I hadn’t done ANY for a long time – long story) would naturally start some weight loss, but…no luck.  Once I’m ready to really *focus* on actively losing, I’m not sure how to resolve this intuitive eating thing with that, but…that’ll be something I figure out when I get there, I guess 🙂

Bobbie Jo – wow, that is rough. Like Deb you’re probably feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility of online schooling and a killer part-time job (that is HARD work!). You say you’re slacking on the gym and the spin classees that you love, anyway to make that your “me” time so you prioritize it? Hubby? Family? Hey I need an hour, can I get some help here? Or drag those kids with you and put ’em in the kid care? HOw old are your kiddos?

New job is keeping me BURIED, plenty of work to do. Some is easy stuff – just tedious. And some is really diving in and learning some new things, so I’m excited about that part 🙂 I got really sick earlier this week (Monday night/Tuesday) – vomiting and migraine and all kinds of good stuff, but Wednesday I started to feel better. So ended up doing no workouts Mon-Wed. Yesterday morning i did some Yoga and last night we did our C25K which is now off by a day, but that’s ok. Today is a short BW workout and another run tomorrow.  Gotta make a plan for workouts next week…turkey day is a run day and I feel like the BF may wanna skip out, I’d prefer to stick to the schedule. We’ll see – work it out this weekend 🙂

Ok all – time to get busy!

[Coothleen]

Woah that’s long 😉

That’s what I’m known for, right RC????  RIGHT?!!

[Deb Lawrence]

I am so confused by the order of this forum and posts. I dont know what Im replying to or where or how it will appear.

[Coothleen]

Deb – I hear you. Those two random very early posts are bugging me, not sure why they are out of order like that and then Rashmi’s post at the very bottom.

But – I think if you reply directly to a post (by clicking “reply’ right next to the post number) it puts it immediately under that post and indented, but if you post a totally new post by using just the empty box at the bottom of the page, it puts it all the way at the bottom, where it may appear out of order. We’ll get it figured out I’m sure … every system has it’s quirks and I’m sure over time things will get resolved.

[Raphael]

Deb, I know the order of posts is confusing and annoying. I’m looking into getting someone to address it, but unfortunately this is the way it is right now. I’m keeping this a free forum of course until I get this ironed out. However…

what Cathy said is correct (Thanks, Cathy). “I think if you reply directly to a post (by clicking “reply’ right next to the post number) it puts it immediately under that post and indented, but if you post a totally new post by using just the empty box at the bottom of the page, it puts it all the way at the bottom, where it may appear out of order.”

 

 

[Rashmi Mohan]

Hi all…If we post in here more often maybe we can start a new topic every week.
I had a really tough unplanned half exercise week. MY food was unplanned.
I had fun cleaning the bathroom. Its time to do Advanced boottcamp Dvd soon.

RC thanks for this wonderful forum

Deb maybe they can hire temps for you. Also dont think about goal. Think about how you will live for the rest if your life. You can adjust quantities of food but I learned too much after hitting the goal.
The way you eat now should be how you eat forever.

Cathy you are so wise. If I don’t plan its easy to eat junk.

Alright I had
2 raspberry white chocolate chip pancakes at IHOP with sugar free syrup and my tracked says 144 g of carbs. That seems high for 2 pancakes. I only get 145 g of carbs per day.
Rashmi

Test… there’s extra text I cant edit
Phantom text

plan.
n I go for the junk at work.remember this is a lifelong plan…

[Raphael]

It’s really a matter of having a plan; when in doubt making the best possible choices, and controlling only that which you can control. And then just going with it..

Yes, you will succeed. As a matter of fact, you already are by having a plan and being mindful of that plan.

Raphael

 

 

[Coothleen]

Hey Rashmi!
Glad to see you on here 🙂 How often are you spinning and hitting the weights these days? Pretty dedicated doing two-a-days at the gym (spinning, then going back for strength training). That’s kinda hard core 😉

I had a tough weekend food-wise but with some help on Sunday I ended up prepping a ton for the week, which is exactly what I needed. We hit the farmer’s market and got soooo many fresh fruits and vegetables. The cool thing is once I had all that stuff on hand, i really *wanted* to prep it. Good stuff 🙂

Anyway – gym time for me now too, hope to see you more!

[Rashmi Mohan]

Hi Bobbi Jo….You have your schedule full. I’m sure you’ll make time for you.
I am a cardio person too. I love the speed and momentum of cardio. Strength takes time to slow down and put the mental effort on form and lifting the enough weights. The benefits of strength training are immense.

I was feeling off this weekend. I left my wallet while shopping at Trader Joe’s. I went to buy lunch yesterday and I didn’t realize that took it out. I am not used to pumping my own gas. In NJ we have people for that. When I went to fill my gas tank I took out my wallet and I was holding it. I sometimes fumble with getting the cap off. I’m better now. I was off and I didn’t put my food in the tracker or anything. I found my wallet so that’s good

I got it today. I planned my meals. I have exercised planned as well.
new jobs are a theme here… Back to my training class. I know its easy to come here and disappear. I plan to come here 2-3 times a week.

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