Need to lose 40 lbs~ gradually bridging the gap.

[jayjay]

Get a kitchen scale and measure all your servings. Measure all your ingredients, too. I have made a bunch of incremental changes over the last 4 years or so. I've been meaning to take time to list them, because some of them are so ingrained in my life that I don't recall off hand what they were anymore....

Thanks Karen, for all of the tips! I agree with all of them. I am rethinking a little bit, these first days into TheRetroaction back to Fit & Slender, and thinking I need to do more, a lot more, but I really am being picky and choosey. One thing I am implementing is lowering the morning caffeine, because that makes me on edge, quick to fire off, which keeps me in a bad mood, which is harmful to my self esteem, and a higher self esteem is paramount to success in self overhauls.The other I think that is screaming obvious is to religiously take vitamins, and drink more water.
~Jen

ps. I enjoyed reading about Priscilla's journey. I need to have such courage! I'm working on curbing my ridiculous self-consciousness about being fat, and to stop hiding, and to put on the lycra and ride anyway, whiile all of the slim riders pass me up the mtn. That's okay. It may not have been 10 years ago, or even 5, but it is now.

[tulip]

Jayjay, +1 on the caffeine. I let go of coffee a few years back, and I'm calmer and happier and much more patient (with myself and with others).

In my case, I also lost alot of weight when I stopped drinking coffee because I stopped going to Starbucks and stopped having those high-calorie (empty calories) coffee drinks and muffin-cakes. I wonder also if eliminating caffeine also changed my metabolism somehow. I stopped the coffee and the weight just came off without a whole lot of extra effort. I did start eating more fruit, and I was riding my bike alot already. I don't know about the metabolism thing, though. Just a guess.

[Tuckervill]

When I gave up Diet Coke, I gave up much of the caffeine I was used to consuming. Now it's a cup of Earl Gray in the morning, and 1-2 times a week a large unsweetened tea that will probably last me all day.

I don't miss the caffeine, really. I had rapid heart rate sometimes just from the caffeine. I can live without that.

Karen

[redrhodie]

Jayjay, +1 on the caffeine. I let go of coffee a few years back, and I'm calmer and happier and much more patient (with myself and with others).

In my case, I also lost alot of weight when I stopped drinking coffee because I stopped going to Starbucks and stopped having those high-calorie (empty calories) coffee drinks and muffin-cakes. I wonder also if eliminating caffeine also changed my metabolism somehow. I stopped the coffee and the weight just came off without a whole lot of extra effort.

Doesn't sound like the coffee was the culprit! Black coffee, with no fake flavors, has no calories, and won't make you gain weight. Those drinks probably had high fructose corn syrup and other junk in them.

[Pedal Wench]

Jayjay, good luck with this.

I've been trying to drop just a few pounds in the past two months, and I'm amazed at how hard it has been. (everyone who says that as you get older it gets harder, and also, the closer you are to your goal weight, the harder it is)

While doing the research and counting numbers is all good, someone else mentioned just starting to 'eat clean'. Make that a life goal. I just don't eat certain things -- they're not part of my lifestyle. So, no fried stuff, no white bread, no cream sauces, limit cheesy/milky things, no beef, no pork. But, add veggies to each and every meal. Make fruits your snack of choice. Drink lots of teas (decaf) if you don't care for water. It's a quick, easy start

[tulip]

Doesn't sound like the coffee was the culprit! Black coffee, with no fake flavors, has no calories, and won't make you gain weight. Those drinks probably had high fructose corn syrup and other junk in them.

no doubt, and I always had them with those tasty bakery goodies. I don't like black coffee. I do tea now.