Ladies. . .you are all awesome. :) Anyone who has read some.of my other forum posts knows I talk about owning your choices . . no matter what your situation you can choose continue on that path or you can choose to find another one. I love carbs . . .rice, potatoes,chips,breads. But each day I ask myself. . . .Penny . . what do you want more this potato or to be healthy? :)

TO BE HEALTHY !!!

((((((((((Penny))))))))))

Good morning.:) (((((Leigh)))))

I had to pop over here and yell................


I LOVE YOUR NEW PIC!!!!!!! YOU LOOK SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try sprinkling some cumin on it before baking and serve with some mango or other fruit salsa on it. Yumm!

Penny, your dedication to this huge change in lifestyle is amazing and inspiring. You can do it!!!

Sometimes families show love by shareing food because you don't have other interests or hobbies for them to associate with you. Reprograming them to hunt for a favorite collectible or pass time can sometimes reprogram them to refocus those efforts. My cousin scores fabric swatches for me rather than cookies and we go to quilting shops rather than resturants that sandbag my calorie counts for the day.

Excellent idea. Another thing is rewarding yourself fir reaching your goals with things other than good. . . .flowers,a maniure,a new shirt. etc.

Thank you :) . . . I am happy. its been a long journey learning to love myself. Each day I learn a little more.

Hi Penny...
Its a pleasure to meet you
I am here to support you and I'm inspired by your courage.
I am losing weight on the diabetic diet.
I either had to quit eating junk and count my carbs or give myself a insulin shot in the stomach every day, so my diet motivation is fear based. The 11 pounds I have lost is a nice by product of my real goal which is to keep my levels low.
I find that walking every night for about 20 minutes is highly effective. No carbs after 7:30. String cheese is a primary staple.
I look forward to hearing about your progress and sharing mine with you. We can do this

Nice to meet you too beauty. :) We can do this. :) I love string cheese its yummy:) I too an cutting way down on carbs. I love crunchy snacks so I found that pork times have zero carbs which satisfy my craving instead of potato chips. :)

Because of my weight and severe arthritis in my knees I have a hard time standing for Lind periods of time. Since I've started swimming and doing water aerobics in the pool my endurance for standing and walking. their are 12 steps that I go up to get to the pool. I can now make of up all 12 without being out of breath. I try to push myself a little more each day. :)

Yea Penny.....Keep it up, you're doing great!

Always have a back up plan. Today its raining and I can't swim. can't swim. I bought a low impact work out DVD to use on days like this. knowing AZ weather it'll. clear.up later and I can swim later too.:)
I go back to the Dr on Friday in anxious to see if my cutting down carbs and increasing protein has made a difference. :)

Leslie Sansone has some great "Walk the Weight Off" DVDs. It's a great and easy way to get in a healthy, low impact walk in your choice of levels/times. I've just dug mine out to use daily either with or without other workouts...

I'm so proud of you, Penny, and thankful that you are sharing this journey with us. Your bright outlook and positive attitude are encouraging for me in my own pursuit of health and fitness.

You go girl
Sounds like you are committed and thats what it takes.
I discovered sugarless ice cream the other day. Butter pecan in fact.
Based on a one carb serving(15 grams)snack, I can have 1 1/2 scoops of this ice cream and two bite size sugarless cookies crumbled on top.
Yummmmmmmm....

Be careful about artificial sweeteners, though...no matter what chemical or how safe they say they are. I have had some adverse reactions to one, so decided to give them up completely. It's either real sugar, honey, agave nectar or stevia (NOT Truvia, which is a blend.) Since I really don't NEED sugar, it's not that hard to manage but I have to read labels and make sure I'm not sucked in by advertising or packaging.

Do what works for you and consult with your doctor, of course!

Hello Penny,

I admire your courage to tackle your problem and to post so openly about your journey. (maybe I should try that sometime)

I think you are doing an incredible job.
And for days you don't feel so good about yourself: keep in mind that you are already getting healthier every day just by exercising...even if you didn't lose any weight for a couple of days

I am on my own journey to less weight. I don't have to lose as much as you but I have managed to get a really nasty eating disorder along the way...which brings its own challenge for me.
I hope whoever does your psych eval is good at it. A friend of my sisters had gastric bypass because an eating disorder didn't get properly treated...she had a lot of trouble afterwards.

Good luck to you

I'm so proud of myself today :) I walked all the way to my daughters air on the other side of the complex with out stopping. I even took the long way.:) and then walked back the short way. Now I'm about to go cool off In the pool. :) . . It seems to me like the more I execize the more energy I have.

Do you know what these are Miss Penny?...They are tears of joy...You are amazing!!!