.:.Book Bodega.:. discussion

Hello my Book Bodega friends! I am writing because I have embarked on a new adventure in my life. For those of you who haven't noticed from my picture, I am a very large woman. This month I have started going to (of all things)addiction counseling to help me deal with my food obsession. In addition to that, I started using a free app for my droid called MyFitnessPal. I'm bringing this up for two reasons:

First, if anyone has read any type of inspirational or instructional book they thought was worth recommending, please let me know; and

Second, I would love to have some friends on MyFitnessPal if anyone is interested. My user name there is kaihunter42 and my email address is kaikitten@comcast.net (incase you need that to find me.)

I hope to be updating my picture here every three months are so to help track my progress. Please don't feel any pressure to join MyFitnessPal.

Thanks for reading,
Kai (Karen)

Congratulations on deciding to make a change.
I know it won't be easy but little by little, day by day, your hard work will pay off.

I'll save any fitness advice for Sammee as she's a mini fitness guru. :)

We'll be cheering you on and checking in.

As my mom says, GO BIG OR GO HOME!: Attack your goal.

I use weight watchers app when I need to lose weight and that works for me, and I hear ya about how tough it is! I know people who used MyFitnessPal with good results! We may not be on MyFitnessPal, but Book Bodegans will be here to cheer you on!

Reading Harry Potter while on the treadmill or bike always motivated me to get to the gym.

You gals are the best!

I have added you on MyFitnessPal! I used it a long time ago and has since been gathering dust on my phone! Good motivator for me to get going as well!

Good luck for you and I will be cheering you on!!

Janel wrote: "I have added you on MyFitnessPal! I used it a long time ago and has since been gathering dust on my phone! Good motivator for me to get going as well!

Good luck for you and I will be cheering ..."

Thank you! I accepted you. Good luck and I will be cheering you on too!

Congrats on investing in you! It's so important to be healthy & I think it's awesome how open & willing you are to take this on. Any advice or help I can give I will. I'm training with a friend of mine who has challenges with her weight & right now we are starting small. She signed up for a 5k color run in July so she has a goal to work towards. Her small goal right now is to work out minimum 12-15mins a day everyday for the next two weeks & on days we meet we do an intense 30mins. Eventually we will start running too as well as up the time but the important thing is to get her use to working out bit by bit. I can email you a chart we follow & I know your not in ny but ill loop you in on me weekly emails for my running team of just cool fun fitness stuff or you can email me Sammee.thomas@gmail.com

Congrats!

Thank you!

Since this is the "off topic" thread, I'm gonna say that I have unusually itchy skin tonight (cold outside!), so I'm gonna try reading more of The Teleportation Accident in a nice, soothing baking soda bath. :-)

So sorry for the itchiness, but isn't reading in the tub the best?

Karen wrote: "So sorry for the itchiness, but isn't reading in the tub the best?"

Yes - it is and it was! :)

Karen wrote: "Hello my Book Bodega friends! I am writing because I have embarked on a new adventure in my life. For those of you who haven't noticed from my picture, I am a very large woman. This month I have..."

Yay, Karen! When I started working out, I would walk and do squats and arm weights while watching The Biggest Loser. Netflix has all the seasons! I love it when Jillian yells! I lost 25 pounds in 3 weeks last year when I cut out all processed foods. No sugar or salt. Cooked and ate all whole foods beans, fish, veggies. Sugar was the hardest thing in the world for me to give up (I use to drink 2 gallons a day! Don't tell Bloomberg) but drinking water worked magic on my skin. Took me a total of 6 months to give up sugar- I was so addicted!

Also watch Food Inc or any food doc on Netflix. It will completely change the way you look at food! (Mainly food companies sell us crap because it's cheaper for them but not good for us!)

http://youtu.be/5eKYyD14d_0

Girl, if you ever need me, I'm here! This year, I'm training for the nyc marathon. If you would have told me this 4 years ago, I would have laughed- I could barely run a mile. If I could do it- you can do it! Baby steps. That's all it takes. :D Good luck! Will download fitness pal and add you! :D

Also Hulu has free food documentaries as well! :D

Sarah Wrote: Girl, if you ever need me, I'm here! This year, I'm training for the nyc marathon. If you would have told me this 4 years ago, I would have laughed- I could barely run a mile. If I could do it- you can do it! Baby steps. That's all it takes. :D Good luck! Will download fitness pal and add you! :D

Thank you so much! The nyc marathon is unbelievable. I will be cheering for you and you have to let us all know how you did!

My sign on name for just about everything is KaiKitten so I call them kitten steps and I try to make a new one everyday cause no matter what, life is good!

How's everyone doing? I managed to get into a really bad habit of eating to fill the time when I'm home at night, but I've stopped that and have been back on track with wise choices and working out at the gym. Using up lots of trainer sessions (pre-paid - the guy is great, but I like to ration sessions) to jump start me again. Boy does it make me HUNGRY, though!

I'm sorry for the extended silence. I had company from Sweden and we tried to pack as much into our time as we possibly could. But I'm back. Very sunburned and tired, but I'm 17 days binge free. I've lost 6 lbs. Having a slight struggle though, it's that ToM and I'm known to eat from the time it starts to the time it ends to combat the PMS. So, I'm just letting the PMS run rampant. (If you're the praying type my husband and son could use a few this week!)

Take care everyone,
Kai

Wow, are we synchronized via the internet? It's my ToM too and I just gobbled up a raisin bagel with maple walnut cream cheese. Oh well. Don't eat the heads off your husband and son! :-)

I like this "on the stoop" idea! :-)

Am I the only one who started singing the Stoop Kid song from Hey Arnold? Lol. Sorry, I just had to! ;)

I like the On The Stoop idea too and now I have the stoop kid song in my head. Thanks Sarah!!! ;)

We don't have an official May book discussion thread yet but I'm reading a long way down already because I picked it up yesterday from the library. There's a shout out to doctor who fans on page 57! Fun book so far.

Just to keep you all up to date, it's been a month and I've lost 21 lbs. I went to the gym everyday but one and on that day I went for two long walks so got in over an hour of exercise anyway. I started circuit strength training this week and while my legs are doing great, I can't lift my arms anymore. Oh well, it will get better or I'll never wear a hat again.

Take care everyone!

You go, Karen!! That is amazing.

Karen wrote: "Just to keep you all up to date, it's been a month and I've lost 21 lbs. I went to the gym everyday but one and on that day I went for two long walks so got in over an hour of exercise anyway. I ..."

Karen wrote: "Just to keep you all up to date, it's been a month and I've lost 21 lbs. I went to the gym everyday but one and on that day I went for two long walks so got in over an hour of exercise anyway. I ..."

<3 Yaaaaay!

Go, Karen! That's GREAT!!!! I just went back onto Weight Watchers because I kept creeping up pound by pound and my arthritic right knee was not happy with me. Lost 5 lbs over the course of the last couple of weeks, and have been much more mindful of my eating. Going for 5 more to get to a point where my knee is happier with me. But 21 lbs and daily workouts - good for you! Sorry your arms are no longer functioning. You'll have to hire a person to turn the pages of your books for you. ;-)

Mia - Awesome on the 5 lbs!!!! As long as I hold my books close to me, I can still turn the pages. Though I've cuaght myself trying to use my nose. Varied my workout this morning and went for a morning walk. According to my pedometer I averaged 3.0 mph. That's the fastest I've walked since I've started this. I'm thrilled that I hit a new speed level!

Thanks Kai - I've wavered over this past week a bit, with a few irregular eating habits, but I'm staying away from the scale today because I don't need to get needlessly demoralized.

Great to hit a new speed level! That always feels good to hit a fitness goal.

Happy Mother's day to all the moms! xo

Month two has come and gone. As of May 31st I'm 29.8 lbs down and wearing clothes I haven't worn in a long time. Good thing retro is always in. My hubby says I'm doing a lot more around the apartment which is making his life easier, but I'm more irritable than I used to be. (My coworkers are pointing out the more irritable part too...but you know, maybe I'm just tired of all the bulls#%$@!) I'm up to an hour at level 11 (of 25) on the exercise bike every other day with the alternate days being 30 minutes of circuit training and 30 minutes on the bike. I told myself I was going to start doing the abs circuit this month so today would have been my day to start but I wimped out. Here's hoping I get that going and move my 30 minute bike rides up to level 12 this month. (I'm also going on walks at least three times a week and I've started taking the stairs at work unless I have to wear heels for a meeting. I work on the 4th floor so I'm winded when I get there but feel like I've accomplished something every time!) Had a slight let down in that my apartment complex has a very nice swimming pool but the landlord says something broke in it at the end of last summer and they aren't sure when the are going to have it opened this summer. They are hoping by the end of June. I was really counting on adding a daily hour of swimming to my workout routine because it's my favorite. This led to a whole lot of pouting on my part, though the hubby says I really shouldn't write a letter to landlord. Here's looking forward to a great and healthy June for all of us!

Don't give up on abs, Karen! When I first started I could only do 2-3 reps at a time. About 3 weeks later I was able to get through the entire p90x abs video so it does get easier. I still consider abs and yoga the hardest workouts but to be honest I feel like they benefit us girls the most. The irritableness might be the shift in your diet which will go away. So proud of you! Yay! :D

With any new exercise, persistence is key and you'll find yourself able to do things you never imagined! But - remember not to over train, which my trainer always reminds me (meaning that if you don't reach your every-single-day workout goal, that's okay - we do need down time and to cut ourselves some slack if we don't do EVERYTHING we set out to do on a given day). Re: irritability, are you feeling irritable or are others commenting that you're irritable or both? From my experience, irritability can come from a number of places: tired? overtraining? undereating? OR feeling better about yourself and taking a new stance of not tolerating any BS (which people perceive as irritability)? not enough Harry Potter under your belt yet?

In any case, good work tackling this huge goal and sticking with it! As for me - grumpy week of no workouts, but trainer kicked my butt yesterday and I'll have more gym time this week. Eating healthy choices, but sometimes too large a portion! Weight has plateaued for the moment but that's okay. Onward!

@Mia - Sending you wishes for strength to get through this plateau. Portion sizes are a huge problem for me right now. (Sorry for the pun.) I even invested in a set of measuring spoons and cups for work. I've also hung a sign in my cubicle that says "Please don't feed the Kai". My paralegals think it's hilarious. But my Mother raised me that if someone offers you food, you take it or you're being rude. It's a battle to say no when the cupcakes start traveling the office.

We can do this!

Karen wrote: "@Mia - Sending you wishes for strength to get through this plateau. Portion sizes are a huge problem for me right now. (Sorry for the pun.) I even invested in a set of measuring spoons and cups fo..."
"Please don't feed the Kai."
Lol.

Happy 4th everyone! Well if you're not bored with me yet, here is how my June went. I'm now down 42.8 pounds. I went into Wal-Mart and bought a patriotic shirt and I'm wearing it today. I'm actually wearing clothes I didn't have to special order from a large woman's catalog. I am walking more and I've started swimming but the weather has been crummy. I am much less irritable but still a little wobbly on the motivation front. I have kept a food journal for 92 days straight and I have been amazingly honest. Yes I'm still going to counseling and it helps. My boss actually noticed a change in me and said that my clothes looked baggy, was I loosing weight. I told him no, I just went out and bought bigger clothes to make it look like I was loosing weight. Hmmm, maybe I'm still a little irritable. I chickened out on the ab circuit, but that's a goal again for this month. It's easier to breathe and I think my ankles are much happier with me than they have been in years. Here's looking forward to a great July!

YAWN. So bored with you. ;-) Not! I'm feeling smug because I just went to the gym and did some cardio in spite of a mild summer cold. Not losing weight but not gaining, and definitely back on a better eating schedule to lose a few more pounds to unburden my knee and fit into my summer things better. I always think those "your clothes look baggy" remarks are double edged. I don't blame you for being irritable! Here's to happy ankles on a happy 4th!

Yaaaay! I feel terrible writing this because I only eat sugar and salt on holidays, but I did have hot fudge sundaes and cookies so far this weekend. Keep up the good work Karen and Mia! :D *Goes back to eating her Mr. Goodbar* Lol! (Salad on Monday!)

I was craving burnt hotdogs for so long. All I kept saying was leave mine on until they are black the whole way around. I've never liked those before and have never been a big hot dog fan but that's all I wanted. Today I feel so much better too after eating them. I wonder what I needed from burnt hot dogs in my system.

I love burnt hot dogs! And marshmallows! My grandmother and I always had them that way. YUM!

And now I want smores! Lol! :D

Mmm, smores!

Well, I'm off the plateau! Dropped 3 lbs and already some of my "larger" summer clothes are fitting better. 7 more to go and then I'm at that point where my things fit me better (and where I have still whined about wanting to lose 5 more vanity pounds. This gain/plateau has really made me appreciate that baseline place, where my clothes fit and my knee isn't yelling at me anymore and where I look absolutely fine.)

Congrats Mia! You're doing great and I'm so proud of you! I bet you're a real beauty! Keep up the great work.

Thanks! :-) Now, no more talk of s'mores, people! LOL

Agreed! Had a lovely lentil soup yesterday!

Mmmmm. I am on a peach kick. Hubby got a big bag of them at the grocery the other day. Now all I think about is "I want a peach". Ok so I'm boring but there are much worse things I could be craving!

Now I want a peach! Haha! :D

I am all about the summer fruits. LOVE peaches and nectarines and watermelon and plums and...I just paused to go get a peach from my fridge. :-)

<== Me -50 lbs. Yay!

Pretty! And losing 50 pounds has obviously given you the wizarding power of walking up walls! ;-) (For some reason, the larger version of the photo is posting sideways.)

xo

That's so great, Karen!!

Go, Mia! Go, Mia! Go, Mia! Go! Go! :D Yay!