Your Best Encouragement...

i'm fluffy to & have been trying to lose some weight. it's so hard because i love to cook & eat. dr. told me to lose 30 lbs. just like u could take a drink of water & do that. [i wish, lol] anyway just wanted to wish u good luck. i know u have a hrad job ahead of u but we can do this if we just set our mind to, maybe we can compare lbs. & that will give us an incentive. greetings from tennessee.

I love my gazelle, I've had it for over a year. Even my granchildren like trying to use it. They do the best they can with their little bodies. I do some on mine everyday that I can, even though my physical therapist said I couldn't use it like I want to. I was use to using it before I ever started seeing him for a dislocated hip and pelvic.

Yup after hubby passed away I did alot of eatting snack foods Gained 20 pounds before I knew it. am off them now and its hard to loose it. Tehn I had my breat operation and I lost some there. The only thing I can think of just eat healthy and keep up on that gazzle. HUgs an blessings

i see three minute is a great start! i say keep up the good work. you can do what ever you put your wonderful mind too. three minutes today is 5 minutes tomorrow. so you keep up the great work and now the more you stick to it the more results you are going to see. i can relate this post because i saw some pics of me that i was not to happy about. so i know what you mean about getting healthy.

Oh yes, I have had lots of pictures in the last year since my accident that have shocked me. I ballooned up to as you put it, extreme fluffiness! You can do it two-ey! Remember if you go out to eat, stay away from Buffets. Also remember that everything is double what it should be. Divide all your food in half and take home half for another meal. If you are serving yourself larger meals than you need divide in half or take away a third and save for another meal. It took a long time to get fluffy, it takes time to get slim. If you stop trying to get slim, you will get fluffier. I have two pictures on my fridge, slim me and fluffy me with the words, "The choice is yours; everything you do is a choice." Works best if you blow up both pictures and use lots of magnets. Put lots of carrots and other really low calorie items in your fridge to snack on. Green salads, string beans, those have less calories, but watch the calories in the dressing! Baked meats are better than pizza. Your own homemade soup can be lower in calories if you make it with meat, bones, veggies and water. You can still have pizza once in awhile. Pizza on a bagette and without greasy meats works great. Best is a mini pizza you make on an English muffin. You can still have mac and cheese once in awhile, just 1 cup and have a green salad with it or beef broth (mostly defatted). A glass of water before a meal is great. Helps you feel full faster. Something that shuts down your appetite at the end of the meal works well, too (not mints, they actually make you hungry). Like a hot pepper or onion, or something. Make sure you have something low cal and a good choice from each of the food groups. Go shopping with an eye to explore new low-calorie foods. Fruits from other countries, etc. Gazelle is nice if you watch TV or do something to vary it often or else you will get bored. I rotate between or amoung exercise tapes. I have a weight lifting one, an aerobic one, a bunch of Martial Arts and Boxing ones. Weight lifting helps you keep your bones strong. Do you know for every 10 years after your 20s, you loose a certain percentage of muscle and bone mass if you don't lift weight or have some type of resistance training? Before your 30s, it's important to build as much bone as possible? Variety in food and exercise is the key. Don't get bored. On days when it is nice out, go for a walk, but plan the direction away from fast food places and restaurants. I hope all this helps. Let us know how you do. Take care

i think self improvement is a wonderful thing! EVERYONE should give it a try. i'm so very proud of you that you saw something about yourself that you wanted to change and are actively working towards a goal. As for words of encouragement, i'm kinda crappy at thinking of something helpful to say(i should work on that!), but just know i'm thinking of you, rooting you on. You go, Girl!

Oh yeah I have been there..I was like no way that isn't me or that camera added 20 pounds on..lol. But the camera never lies..so I have heard. I would just tell you to do as your doing start slow build up to it. Because people who change to much to fast end up right back at the start line again and again. So your doing great your also learning to change your eating slowly which is good so that your body doesn't go into to much shock change. I know you can do this with just little changes everyday and just keep building on to them everyday a little at a time and before you know it you will have lost some weight without struggling to much. I would suggest fresh fruits or frozen instead of canned,Fresh or frozen veggies instead of canned.And stick to lean meats and low-fat dairy products and cut back on sugar and pop. I have heard and seen some lose weight just by cutting out the pop alone. I know you can do this because you stand strong in your beliefs and you will fight this battle with fluffiness a strong warrior and win. I wish you great luck and wisdom.

Best encouragement: I am there as well. I need to lose some. I do not know if that helps. How about: You did not get to this size overnight, you will not lose it that fast either, but consistency should work. I hear that journaling really helps or a food diary. I joined a website that will pay me to monitor my health, but I am not doing much there. I need to get organized. I guess I also like what Reader's Digest promotes: choose one small thing and change it for the better.

I just had one of those photo ops also... And oh my gosh!!! I was amazed that the brick wall I was leaning against didn't just crumble underneath me, leaving the next picture with just my feet as I went down the embankment! Yeah, I know I'm 40-50 lbs overweight and I'm working on it. But I have to get totally serious. I've had some health issues so I wasn't able to walk like I was, and we were on vacation so I didn't eat totally right. But now I'm back on schedule and I'm going to get some of that weight off. I'm hoping to get 2-3 lbs/week. I belong to a website that will map our your meals for you with the recipes and your grocery list so you have all the ingredients. It's very easy and has terriffic food - my family loves it too! It works great and I'm not hungry. Just sometimes I want that stupid pizza, but as long as I don't overdo it I can do all right. Best of luck to you and keep us posted!!!

Aging has left me fluffy and every photo is shocking I work to eat alot more natural foods that would be my health suggestion. raw foods high in fiber low in fat keep our wate lines where their at. exercise hang in there consistency is the key and 3 minutes are 21 min a week more than is you skipped a day any effort is positive effort Word of encougament Hang in there your worth it. every day look in the mirror and say I love you

Yes I have and I am in the same boat as you are.I knew I was putting on a little weight and I just thought it was because I was getting older then recently their was pictures taken at a family reunion and I was shocked by my picture and have decide I better do something about it before I cant fit through the door LOL,I drink alot of Mountain Dew and that has got to stop dont know how but I will work on it I am not a sweet eater so thats a plus.I guess we will just have to encourage each other.Good luck and God Bless

i think diets NEVER work. Only eating healthy and exercise, but not like the movie stars do, where they go to far. Just fun stuff that YOU enjoy, walking the dog or light dancing ect. Food just eat on a smaller plate and have what you fancy, but only have takeouts once a month as a treat. Always eat lots of fruit and veg

Oh twoey,You just wrote about me and my weight struggles. Since you have already started the hardest part, now the food choices come in. I don't believe in diets, because they don't work. If you are really serious, then do what you know is best. Avoid the junk food. Eat smaller portions of the right foods. If you eat smaller portions, you can eat just about anything. Even your favorite foods. The thing you need to remember is, don't eliminate foods that you will go right back to when you lose enough weight to please you. That's a losing battle. Try to do what you can live with the rest of your life. Yes, I know, easier said than done but this is the reality of weight loss. At my age, I'm fighting the thyroid disease and I'm losing. I also have several othee medical issues that keep trying to keep me my plesantly plump self. I don't know about the pleasant part but plump is accurate! I too am getting prepared to fight the battle of the many bulges. I wish you lots of luck and keep me posted. xoxoxo leenie

Hi twoey68, Well done to you and its a start, you are doing fine, start slow and then within a week you can do 20-30 minutes, work up a sweat and drink plenty of water, don't worry too much about what you eat just yet but do try and eat fruits and add fibre to you diet and most importantly of all do not weigh yours self, it does not matter you will lose inches and lose fat so enjoy. Tamara

Well i am not fluffy but i don't like taking my picture.I do not take good pictures..Some times but mostly No..My daughter has really put on the weight,so she is starting to work out...Really the only way to loose weight is to make up your mind & stick with it,Cut out aLL Fatty foods like mac & cheese & pizza,and start eating fruits ,veggies & lean meat like chicken & pork...The only way i have ever done anything was to just set my mind & stick with it...I also do not think its all your fault either ,sometimes its in the genes..Almost all my family is heavy But i guess i took after my dad.he was skinny....I don;t think anyone is actually happy with their bodies...

Just try to eat meat, fish, vegetables ,and fruits. Don't eat anymore noodles,rice,bread,or dessert for a while. Try walking at least 25 minutes a day ,and finally drink only water.

Now I have heard of people using a whole lot of different colorful terms to describe themselves, like "love handles" and all those other terms of endearment, but truly "fluffy" is a first for me! You sure put your finger on the truth though, when you said people need to "change their eating habits" because that is what causes "fluffiness" (rfl) -- the habits! I would start by cutting out the sweet beverage habit, including and especially (!) artificially sweetened drinks which just make the body crave real sugar. I would drink more water, realizing that at first that might seem to have negative results (water weighs something, after all) but one is not looking at body weight, one is looking at the difference between muscle mass and flab. Moderate exercise is good! I would remember that white flour in bread, rolls, cookies, cake, muffins, pancakes, etc., really is just the same as eating sugar in terms of body maintenance. I would opt for whole grain versions, which might not seem as appetizing at first but after a while people look back and wonder how they ever ate that bleached denatured stuff in the first place. Red tea (Roibus) is an excellent alternative to coffee, black tea, sodas, etc., because it has tremendous nutritional value, NO calories, and tastes naturally sweet. The Good Earth flavors are our favorites and they are available inexpensively at WalMart and other discount stores. I use the space saving Hamilton Beach instant ice tea maker, refreezing some from each batch to use in place of ice for the next batch. That way it does not get diluted.

Most of my adult life I weighed aproximately 115-120 pounds. Then about 6 years ago a series of very bad events let to a steady increase of a pound or two a month. Needless to say it didn't take long before I was up to 180 pounds. Pictures of me at a water park 3 years ago were a major wake up call. I call it my beached whale picture, and it started me on a sensible diet and exercise program. Today I am 117 pounds again and have been for over a year. Nothing encouraged me more then when someone I barely knew came up and asked if I was loosing weight. It made me feel great, but no one even noticed until I had lost more then 40 of the 60+ pounds. My kids kept me going before that.

I lost 65 pounds by using the food diary and calorie calculators at fit day dot com. It was a huge help to me. I used portion control instead of a diet because I can't stand to deprive myself. I switched to 100 calorie prepackaged snacks instead of just grabbing something. I counted pretzels and bagged up exactly 100 calories worth. I could eat cake or something but only a reasonably sized piece. Knowing I had to enter it in my food diary was a big incentive! Before I kept track of my food and measured it, I thought I ate next to nothing. I spent a week eating as I usually did-or thought I would-but after two days I realized I was eating about 4000 calories every day!! And I rarely had the time to sit down to a meal, I was "grazing" all day and on all the wrong things. Try the website I mentioned, measure your food, pay attention to what size a portion is--if it's 1/2 cup, that's all you eat of it. Don't cut out everything you love, just control it. Make your own pizza! A small tortilla is 100 calories. Bake it in the oven or use pan spray and fry it till it's crisp. Spread a little spaghetti sauce on it, some pineapple, green peppers and diced ham and Parmesan cheese. Then 1/4 cup of mozzarella. There you have a nice crispy pizza for about 250 calories! Look for ways to "downsize". Tuna salad won't be off limits when you use no-fat mayonnaise at 10 calories per tablespoon. If you usually used boiled eggs in it, use only the whites, not the yolk. If you want to bake brownies, use applesauce instead of margarine to save a few hundred calories and egg whites instead of eggs. Be creative! I did it, so can you!

Yes, I too have been in a shocking state of grace at a photo of myself. Besides, settling into my own mid 30's fluff, I always tend to be the gal behind the camera. On many occasions I have been surprised at what I look like in a picture to the point of having the sense of looking at a stranger. There is nothing wrong with being a bit fluffy, especially if you are over, say, 25 and a woman. The best healthy food choices you can make are to watch the goodies and eat according to what is recommended in the food guide. Drinking lots of water and munching on carrots in the afternoon is always a more advised than a bag of cookies, if you get my drift. Don't fret over it too much. My hunch is that you are your own worst critic. Maybe park the gazelle for a bit and try a gentler yoga practice or even walking. The goal of your endeavour is healthy, not waif. There is an extraordinary pressure on women in our society to be thin. Some of us just aren't. BTW, what is so wrong with being a bit cuddly for you? Just do your best with what you can, have patience, and do the best you can to be healthy. Any new routines like this take time to produce results. I will be cheering for you every step of the way.