Some of you may (or may not) notice some jazzy new tools around here. I’m still tweaking the design and features available, but wanted to note to major things at the moment:

1. Spell Check: I’ve added spell check to the post page – the active spell check (while typing) is not active, but the regular spell check is functional.

2. Subscribe to Comments: This is handy when you’re participating in a conversation with an author or another commentor. Just click the box, and you’ll get e-mail notifications when the conversation has continued on.

3. Top Supporters: In the sidebar, I wanted to list members who are the most active – hopefully to inspire others to be just as active, but definitely to note the top contributors! Their names link to their own blogs, in case you’d like to visit them.

4. Inspirational Quotes: I’ve decided to use the top weight display window for inspirational quotes. If you have any to add, let me know. Don’t forget to read them when you stop by, I’ve loaded it up and you know how it goes – it will display exactly what you needed to see at the moment you needed to see it.

There will be other tools, but for now those are the major ones that I felt were noteworthy.

If you have links to add, recipes to share, anything you feel should have a permanent home here, please send it along through the contact form, I will get to it as time allows.

Members pages: Each member has their own empty page (aside from one member, Lindsey, who completed hers already) – if there’s anything you’d like to put in that space – a pic, a bio, a link to your own space – please send that info along as well. If you’d rather not have that page, let me know so I can remove it.

As of this moment, we have 38 members. This is amazing, and I am so excited to see everyone progress and reach their goals!!

I’ll be back around in a bit to chart my own progress for the day!

About Small Exercise Changes

Take the stairs every single time they’re an option. No more elevators or escalators.
[Every single time]

Make exercise a priority, not an inconvenience.

Park far from your destination, so you’re forced to walk — this works at the supermarket, the mall, wherever. (This also helps you waste less time looking for a parking space!)

View tiring chores (shoveling snow, cleaning the house, weeding the garden, taking the garbage out, grocery shopping) as a chance to get in some activity.

Take the grocery cart back to the store when you’re done loading your bags into your car.

If you take public transportation, get off one stop early.

Work out with a buddy.

Hi Everyone! I’m YellowRose, but my friends call me Sherry. I have been on a weight loss journey now for over a year. I had gained a lot of weight due to illness in the last few years that had kept me pretty much house bound and not able to excercise at all, at times even bedridden. It was a time in my life that I really felt that I could just give up. But, thanks to prayer, I am finally well and I joined LA Weight Loss to start losing weight. Their program was easy and I needed easy! lol Since I joined which was a year ago, I have lost 85 lbs. But we moved from Texas to Georgia and the nearest LA WLC is not very close by so I have slacked off on going so I haven’t been very commited lately. That’s why I’m here, I need a kick in the pants!! I have a goal to loss an additional 100 lbs., man that sounds like a lot when I see it typed out!! YIKES! But I know that I can do it, I’ve gotten this far, I can will do it!

I look forward to this adventure with all of you! I hope you give me that kick in the seat when I need it and I give you an encouraging word when you need one.

Hi there!

I’m Pink and I’m a fat chick.
(pause while everyone says Hi Pink… *grin*)

 I am short and fat, which is a seriously hard to deal with situation… try finding clothes that fit in a country that hasn’t quite acknowledged that fat people a) exist, b) go places other than the gym, thus needing tops and bottoms that aren’t made out of fleece, and c) are under the age of 63.

 My main goal, at the moment, is to lose enough weight to be able to go back to shopping in the “regular” sizes. Long term, my pounds2go is about 67 lbs. I confess, because of work commitments (I have a full-time job, 2 freelance gigs and I’m trying to write a short story to enter in a contest by Jan. 15th and I’m going away for a week on business this sunday) I’ve pretty much decided that January 16th is my New Year’s Day, and the day I’m going to start all my goals (get organized, write more, lose weight, blah, blah, blah) So don’t expect much from me until then.

I am very fortunate that Mr. Pink loves my body exactly how it is, but I find that he is subtly trying to sabotage my efforts by encouraging me to eat as unhealthily as he does (although he denies it ). What I need is the willpower to stand up and say no. I don’t want to eat that giant Lick’s burger with guck sauce and taters ‘n cream. Damn. I’m craving it even as I write it. see what I mean?

I’m really looking forward to getting to know everyone here and having support as I face this giant challenge.

Firstly its 7.48pm UK time…just so no one is confused as to why I am talking about dinner when its just lunch time.   

Well I have been quite good today i think.  I have had plenty of water today.  So far I have had 10 8oz glasses so thats 80 fl oz.  Thats quite good isn’t it?

Food wise I have had a baked potato with beans and a small amount of cheese, then for dinner tonight we had a gammon steak, a few boiled new potatoes and salad veg….NO coleslaw, but we did have a little salad cream. I had a slice of my xmas cake that is still kicking around my kitchen mid afternoon with my cup of tea and a small drink of baileys with my dinner….but all in all not too bad I don’t think? 

Ok, reading that back, I could have done a lot better! I could have had some breakfast for a start and missed out the cake and the baileys….LOL But hey I could have done a lot worse too right? I could have eaten my way through one of the 3 (yes 3) tubs of pringles in my cupboard or a pack or 2 of chocolate biscuits…but I didn’t.

I should have done some exercise too, but I didn’t and I am not going to beat myself up about what i haven’t managed to do today, there is no point in that….just have to try and do better tomorrow.  I DID buy myself a pedometer today, so I can keep some kind of track of how much activity i am doing.

So last night I was reading Ivoryfrog’s blog and she talked a bit about pounds 2 go. Next thing you know here I am. I have many pounds 2 go and I am hoping you ladies will be able to help me stay on the right track. I want to be smaller, I want so desperatly to be healthier and most of all I want to look and feel good about myself again. It has been a long time since I have been able to look at my body and seen a sexy person. I just want one time for my DH to look at me and say WOW! So with that let’s get started!

My pounds2 go:50

Small Eating Changes from the Weight Watcher’s website
[with my comments added in!]

Water, water, water, water.
[Not only will the weight slide off, your skin will look great, too!]

Order half portions at restaurants, or share a full portion with somebody. Or ask for a “to-go” container when you order your food, and pack up half the portion before you even start eating.
[I do this now and it's amazing how good that food tastes for lunch the next day since I don't have to cook!]

Cut back on butter and mayo.
[Land O Lakes Light butter is the best - I've tried them all! Not only does it taste really good, it's real butter and doesn't gel in your mouth like some of those other margarines. I've never been a mayo fan to begin, so I can't comment much on that - except stay away!]

Limit fried foods to once or twice per week.
[I splurge on a large fast food 'fries' order once a week and it curbs my salty fast food craving!]

Use less or no sugar in your coffee or tea.
[I'm not a fan of substitutes like Splenda, but I've learned to leave room in my day for that extra pack of sugar in my coffee. I'd rather have 2 cups of sugar/cream'd coffee than that cookie anyhow!]

Replace ground beef with “Boca” products or ground turkey.
[Boca burgers are surprisingly good, especially with a slice of Kraft fat free swiss cheese! And adding ground turkey into your spaghetti mix? You can hardly taste the difference!]

Try at least one new food every week. If you’re bored with what you’re eating, you’re more likely to give up.
[Share recipes with friends or find new ones online. It's sorta fun to share with others.]

Eat fresh, raw veggies with sandwiches instead of chips.
[I add low sodium soy sauce to my sliced cucumbers and find it far more interesting to eat instead of chips. If you do have to eat chips, buy the Baked sort and only eat one serving.]

Measure your portions until you’re sure you know what a cup, a half-cup, and a tablespoon look like. This will help you practice portion control, an essential key to weight-loss success.
[I didn't do this, but you do tend to get a sense after watching what you eat.]

Try not to drink high-calorie beverages.
[My husband lost 20lbs in 2 months by cutting out JUST 2 cokes a day for lunch.]

Dip your fork in a side of salad dressing before each bite, instead of pouring it directly on your salad. You’ll find that you are satisfied with much less than you usually put on.
[This works amazingly well and I've learned to actually like the taste of my salad instead of what I drowned it in!]

Find healthy alternatives to all your favorite foods.
[It's easier than you think... some things won't always taste AS good, but they're not bad!]

If you don’t really love it, don’t eat it.
[If you do really love it, eat it... but do it in moderation and remember that you ate it and counter it with other good things the rest of the day.]

Never eat out of a bag or box. Take out a measured/counted quantity of food and put it in a bowl. This way, you know exactly how much you’re having.
[I buy little snack-sized Ziploc bags and divide chips and crackers up into 1 serving sizes. I can grab a baggie and munch on the snack in there without fear of over indulging. Another life saver? 100 Calorie packs. I LOVE these things.]

ALWAYS eat something for breakfast.
[I had a hard time losing weight at first then I read an article about kick starting your metabolism.. and it said to eat breakfast to do it! I had always skipped breakfast and two weeks after I started eating a healthy breakfast I lost 6 lbs! Special K bars are really good for this because you can just grab them and go - and the fat/calorie/fiber balance is good!]

Read food labels. Check serving sizes.
[I never did this before and was astounded to realize just how many servings I was eating out of a bag/box of something!]

Add vegetables to everything.
[I don't do this, but I did start drinking at least one V-8 a day to get a serving of veggies in me. ]

Plan meals in advance; use that information to make out a complete shopping list.
[Eating on the fly is usually cost prohibitive and full of bad stuff. Making time to shop for what you need and cooking your own food is a huge step in the right direction to healthier eating.]

Give food to guests to take home.
[Amen! Who wants those cold leftovers anyhow!]

Write down everything you eat and drink, without fail.
[This takes real effort and is the hardest part for most folks to stick to. "Write what you bite" and you'll find that documenting everything you stick in your mouth might just be the step you need to curb what you scarf.]

Plan ahead for special occasions by accounting for higher-calorie foods before you eat them.
[When I know I'm going out to a particular restaurant, I try to go online and look at their menu as well as the nutritional value of their dishes. You can't do this with everyone or if you don't know where you're going - but it's a helpful tip if you can! Additionally, if I know there's a particular date/meal/event that I'm attending, I'll try to eat better for the day before or after to help counter what ever mishaps I might encounter. ]