thanks IAKG - target zone you say, how would one find that? I'm betting there's a website and I certainly will google, but if you have one that does an excellent job - I'm willing to take a look.

Actually, the trainer at the gym calculated mine for me. It's based on your age and weight, I believe. Most gyms have charts, but, as you say, Google probably has more than a ton. My target rate, for example, to burn fat is 121-128. I have to watch the speed on the treadmill because, logically, my heart rate has a tendency to go up the higher the speed I choose. I just convince myself that, while I may not have the mileage I want at the end of the workout, I'm doing something better for my body.

I found many on google - some that only use age - others that use age and resting heart rate. Of course I also received a myriad of answers. None of them that I peeked at quickly had age and weight. I also suck at finding my pulse, good thing the treadmill has a pulse rate hand grip. I will keep an eye on it for the next couple of nights and see if I've been going out of my range.

Hmmmmmm...I guess I assumed it had to do with weight, since the trainer had asked me about mine right before discussing heart rate, but you could be right. I frequently use the pulse rate hand grip, too. My new pedometer is pretty cool, though, and has a function for providing heart rate--you simply press a button, then rest your finger on it. Good luck!

Just sayin. :D

oh my WildIrish.... how would I get myself into that?

I just got off the treadmill and took IAKG's advice.... I walked at a much slower pace and tried to keep my heartrate in check... for anyone that is interested here's what I found for the magic formula: 220 less your age. take that number times 60% and 80% that makes up your range. Some more sophisiticated formulas take resting heartrate into account too.

I SUCK at portion control. That's all I'm sayin

<sigh>

LOL osuche .... I do too, which is exactly why everything I eat these days is prepackaged as a single serving ... don't have any faith in my ability to keep to a single serving any other way!!!

maddy and IAKG ... we are all learning new stuff as we go through this process, now I know that when I get to the point where I'm doing something that will elevate my heartrate to a certain level, then I'll figure out my zone as well. :) For now I'm just doing the things to build up a bit of muscle and a lot of stamina until I can get so my back and knees can make it through more of a workout. I do know that it's only after 20 minutes of exercise that the body starts to burn fat (in most cases).

I made it through another day and tomorrow I think should go well enough as well.... my work schedule has been very hectic lately!

WI ... thanks for the laughs

maddy, just remember that staying at the low end of the target heart rate range will result in more fat burn-off than the higher-intensity zone. One other thing I'd suggest (and Lil mentioned it once here) is getting a pedometer. It's recommended that everyone take 10,000 steps a day for good health, more if you're trying to lose weight. I keep mine on daily, and it helps keep me motivated to be more active as well as showing me exactly how *inactive* I am some days. If I notice my total's not jumping up much during the day, I'll make a point to try to get up and move around a bit. I would, however, recommend you go with a "nicer" pedometer--I just bought one at Target with a pulse meter for around $30--as they seem to be both more accurate and durable.


osuche~I understand. Oftentimes I wonder if I'm givng myself too few or too many points for the things I eat, especially when eating out. For instance, yesterday I had lunch with my friends from work, and we went to our favorite Italian place. That's a bad, bad place to go for someone on WW, let me tell you. But I ordered a mini cheese pizza, 7", about the best thing under the circumstances. I went back to the office and logged on to put in my points. I did a search under "cheese pizza" and got 23508295820395 hits with varying points levels. Because the place we went isn't a national chain, I kind of had to guess on an appropriate point value.

As fzzy states, the prepackaged dinners, etc. are excellent when you need to know *exactly* what you're consuming, even though they unfortunately can't cover every situation.

Whew! Just when I think I'm insane and about to give up on myself the reason behind this current lack of self control rears it's ugly head. I'm in the hut :D My God I thought I was just sucking!!!!!I was afraid I was going to have to watch you guys succeed knowing I had failed. But NO!!!!! I am not giving in. I was just majorly PMSing and so now I know I can get back on track. I also am learning to have more faith in myself and to maybe slow the fuck down and listen to my body.

Seems for once the Hut is good news....

I walked about 1.75 miles tonight and am finding it much easier to stick to when I slow down following IAKG's advice. I think my heartrate is still a little too high but I'm trying.

Eating has a bit of a challenge lately as I seem to be getting an increased appetite during the day. Evenings are the same as usual but I'm finding myself more hungry during the day. I need to find more good filling snacks to keep at work.

maddy I have been on a granola bar kick. The dry kind. One with a big glass of water is pretty filling and they usually have pretty good for you carbs if you fins ones without too much added sugar.

I'm glad the treadmill is a tool you have found to not only use but enjoy. I enjoy hearing your successes using it. I always have had a problem with shin splints using them and so am taking notes.

Glad to hear that things are going well with the heartrate thing, maddy. Don't pressure yourself TOO much--things will get to where they're supposed to be just based on the effort you're expending alone. I, too, am having trouble with hunger, but mine tends to come in the evenings. I eat breakfast before work, of course, and during the day I'm pretty occupied so my mind doesn't wander too much towards food. I have a set lunchtime, and I keep a supply of Yoplait fat-free strawberry yogurt in case I'm at the point where I really CAN'T wait. But in the evenings, when things are a little less structured, I'm finding that I want to eat--dinner, plus a snack or two. And while I mainly stick to foods that are "okay," I know I'm still eating more than I should.

Lil, that's a relief to hear on the hut, I'm sure. I wish that were my issue this week. :D

I have half my breakfast at home and the other half at the office. I found I really like the Kashi chewy granola bars - either peanut butter peanut or the trail mix. I'm not sure about their content really (oops) other than they are high in fiber (5g).

Someone stopped me in the office kitchen yesterday and recommended Thomas light wheat english muffins (8g of fiber). I will be looking for them at the grocery this weekend. Toasted with a bit of jelly or cream cheese or peanut butter would be a good snack and hopefully with the high fiber would be filling.

Weight Watchers also has muffins and bagels out, too, maddy, in case you didn't know.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it or not, but there's a brand here in NH of bread products called "Country Kitchen." Their "light" wheat buns are 1 point--EXCELLENT for turkey burgers and hot dogs alike. I fell in love with them a month or so ago, but discovered a few weeks ago that Shaw's has their *own* brand of "light" products that are also 1 point each--and cheaper.

I knew about the weight watcher bakery products. I have the traditional grains bread here. I've looked at the english muffins but they just haven't struck my fancy. But the one the woman was making with a light coating of peanut butter sure did look damn good!

I've been trying to minimalize my starch products all together but will definitely be looking this weekend.

I have also been trying to eliminate carbs on a general level, but mostly due to the diabetic aspect of it. The English muffins, BTW, are great with a little dab of pizza sauce, some turkey pepperoni, and fat-free cheese and baked for a few minutes--your own mini pizzas with hardly any points. The WW English muffins are 1 point for the whole thing, so for roughly about 4-5 points you get two English muffin-sized pepperoni pizzas. :)

One of the reasons you may be getting a bit more hungry maddy ... could be because you're been doing that treadmill consistently, built up a bit more muscle (which burns more calories) and probably have speeded up your metabolism just a bit (that happens more and more the more you consistently work the muscles) ... so you're burning through calories faster (that you have eaten) ... that's a good thing as far as the coming weeks, etc. for weight loss, but I know from past experience, it is also a hard adjustment as your body wants more food. It's good that you are working at giving it the healthier foods!!!

IAKG ... you always have great ideas ... thanks!!

Lil ... what a relief!!! I understand that "ah ha!" that comes when you find out that it isn't just that you've lost all control .... it's just the hormones took control temporarily ... great to have you back with us!! For the same reason, I've been dreading the next couple of days, cause I'm right at that point myself ... I'm hoping this time for me will be a bit easier than the last one!

Oh and by the way, stayed in my range, BARELY ... I had all of 15 calories or so to spare! :)

Surprise!
 

WELL...I got up this morning and did my regular Friday morning routine. Surprisingly, I am down 2.5 lbs. for the week, putting me at 18.5 lost since beginning WW 8 weeks ago, and about 26 including the weight I apparently lost before joining.

I logged onto the WW site to enter my weight--and discovered I'd been incorrect about my first goal mark. While I still am 0.5 lb. shy of my pre-pregnancy weight with my first child, I have hit my first WW goal weight.

I suppose now it's time to take him up on his promise for something slinky from Victoria's Secret. ;)

Congrats IAK, You should feel very proud of yourself. You are master of your edible domain :D

LMAO @ Lilith--at least I'm the master of SOME domain, anyway. :D

Excellent IAKG. I hope you swing through the day with an extra hop in all of the 10,000 steps you take today.

OK...So I'm back. :) I got SICK yesterday...worke up with a sore throat and muscles and stuffed up...and ended the day with a temp of 101 and a crying spell because I was so freaking tired.

Debating on going to work today...we'll see how I feel in the next couple of hours. In the interim. I've been good with food because I haven't felt like eating. :( But I've been drinking lots of water and green tea.

Lil, happy to see you've rejoined us....and I hope IAKG gets the slinky outfit from VS. ;)

Maddy.....so proud of you and the treadmill....please keep it up!

and fzzy...congrats on (almost) making it through another successful week!

(((((((Osuche))))))))

Hope you get to feeling better sooner rather than later.

I'm not back yet. I just tried to OD on a ream of girl scout cookies.

In case you need it, a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints is 630 calories :D

they are one of my current treats... I get 4 of them for 4 points. I bought about 5 boxes of cookies before I decided to be good about eating... so they all went in the freezer and I wrote in big sharpie marker how many I can have for the number of points. I've gone through the peanut butter patties and thank yous so far.

Just got off the treadmill for the day - a new milestone - 2 miles ... a whole TWO miles. I'm proud of myself for making it that for and sticking to this exercise even when it doesn't excite me.

I managed a short notice change in my lunch plans today with grace (i think) - I'm about to go and log what I ate and see how it comes out.

As many of you know, on Friday afternoons at the office, we have "happy hour." One of the attorneys provided the "refreshments," and most of the office stops working and relaxes for the last hour of the week. Well, I haven't participated in this since I first started in November--and the last eight weeks one of the major factors causing that was my diligence to WW.

Well, today, of course, I had something to celebrate. I did not get to go to lunch with the girls, as is "normal" on Fridays, and by 4:00 I still had 12 of my 22 points left for the day. I checked, and I figured I could have one Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade and only use up 5 of those, still leaving 7 for dinner--PLENTY. So, I opened one...and only got about 1/3 of the way through when I realized that, honestly, it just wasn't worth it. I poured the rest down the sink, deducted two points from my number available, and started working again.

Funny how priorities change, isn't it?

Bravo! So glad to heave the successes of both of you today. Maddy 2 miles is so great and IAK I'm glad you are at a place where you know the difference between wants and needs. ((hugs)) Congrats ladies!

maddy and Lil you are both much stronger then I .... if I had cookies ... especially girl scout cookies ... I'd eat them til they were gone ... I'm like that with foods that are in my problem areas ... I have no control over myself whatsoever, that's why I've pushed myself to stick strictly to my calories and not include any high sugar type foods in my mix at all ... it's the only way for me to be able to stick it out .... I know that somewhere down the line I'll have to learn to have those kind of treats, but I want to have a lot more progress before I even try it ...

maddy great job with the 2 miles and with managing the change in your lunch plans at the last minutes!! Well done!!!

IAKG .. congrats on the goal achievment and the additional 2 1/2 pounds lost! Wooo Hooo ... hope you do go shopping for a VS type treat!!!

osuche ... hope you are feeling much better now ... I know what you mean about no appetite when feeling that sick ....

Congrats to all of us, most of us will hit that 8 week marker sometime during this weekend ... I think that is soooooo great!

I got off the treadmill a bit ago and did 2 miles again tonight while watching RENT. I picked the DVD up today as it was on sale - hadn't seen the movie as of yet, but really enjoyed the play on stage.

I did my grocery shopping today too. I picked up some new items and am hoping the change and variety will help to keep me going. I picked up turkey burgers after IAKG's rave reviews and I also thought I'd give Boca Burgers a shot too.

LOL @ the turkey burgers, maddy!

I actually "make" my own--buying the ground turkey and adding the same congomerate of 4-5 seasonings I usually use with ground beef. But the pre-made ones are an easier way for portion control, to be sure.

(I'm going to sheepishly add in here that I had three of them yesterday, including the one I had for breakfast. :rolleyes:)

As for me, I *did* do some VS shopping--online at least--last night. I'm not sure I can fit into what I ordered right this minute, but they're saying the estimated delivery date is 3/13, so that gives me a few weeks--plus I was right at the "hump" between sizes, theoretically, anyway, and I didn't want to get it on 3/13 and have "outgrown" it, so to speak, within a few weeks. We'll see.

I took my children out for a nice, nice lunch today to celebrate my daughter's new karate belt level and because I will miss their February school break, as they're now somewhere over Ohio or Illinois, probably. Of course, we went to my favorite restaurant here, and I ate about 85% of my points at one sitting. I also had dinner tonight, so I'm already over four points for the day. Because, in general, it was a stressful, long, exhausting day, I'm not motivated to exercise at all, and will just take a hit on my weekly flex (extra) points and move on.

maddy, we eat all the items from the Boca line as well as Morningstar. My son really likes the Boca chilli. He's a vegetarian while the rest of us are not. There are some buffalo chicken patties that are good as well as one that tastes almost veal like. I have these when I am trying to get in some protein but not the fat. For me the trouble is that often they have a lot of carbs.

I've run about 200 calories over my goal several days this week. I keep trying to tell myself it's this hut thing but I also don't want to make excuses. I have to tighten up.

Lil posted that link in the "tone your ass" thread, but I found a paragraph on the site I thought might be applicable here.

"The best type of exercise for reducing body fat is low-intensity, long-duration aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise allows your body to breath in plenty of oxygen as it burns fat for fuel. Fat can not burn without this oxygen. Walking is probably the best exercise around to lose fat while sparing muscle. Walking a mile burns as many calories as running a mile— it just take longer to walk. Most people can walk farther than they can run, so they wind up burning more calories by walking!"

maddy .. great job!

Lil .. I feel your pain .... unfortunately, I really "feel" it ... yesterday I was as out of control as I could be without actually leaving my place to go and pick up "goodies" kind of food .... I gave up trying to count calories by early evening last night and just hung on as best I could .... exercising as much control as I could muster, but gratefully my period started during sleep time last night and for me, that day before is always the very worst day of the month, so hopefully it was just one day with a lot of extra calories consumed and now I can do the next 29 following my plan.

Great info IAKG and Lil on the veggie protein options. When I get to the point where I trust myself to actually do meal preparation, I'm going to try some of those items.

fzzy, just remember that it's one day. The important part is that you woke up this morning with the same resolve as you've had the last two months. Me, I ended up 11 points over yesterday. Granted, I had a pretty stressful day, but that's an excuse and not a reason. This morning I've been able to focus on long-term goals and just consider yesterday a "bump" in the road.

I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to suffer the hut monthly (thanks to Seasonale) - I'm glad you are back with your resolve to stay on track today fzzy.

Until the rest of society stops tempting us with all the wonderfully tasteful (or not so tasteful but highly convenient) foods we will have days were the circumstances lead us to indulging a bit more than we might like. Right now it's about letting it be one day, rather than 30 days... and everyone has done well with keeping it in check - I think.

Keeping up with my accountability - I did 2 miles on the treadmill again tonight.

I also had a turkey burger for dinner - premade by Butterball. I seasoned just as I would have a beef burger and then had it with a slice of 2% sharp cheddar and a wheat hamburger bun - all for 6 points. It was quite tasty!