[shel_wny]

Hi everyone! I'm encouraged to see this thread is still here from before I took a break from Allnurses stuff. As a full-time student who works full-time I've definitely gotten into the habit of eating poorly. As of today I am 7 days caffeine-free which is a huge thing for me. I was up to 4-5 diet sodas a day which is scary to me as I can't pronounce most of what is in them! This morning was the first time I didn't wake up with a dull headache in the middle of my brain since I quit. Yay!
Now it's time to start shaping up the diet. I've found a really awesome tool - a website called at Fitday.com. You can track every single thing that you put into your mouth there and it even tracks vitamins which I find especially awesome. It's a free and very simple program and it's really started to help me figure out what exactly is going into my mouth. There's also a place to journal and log your weight loss and goals. Very neat!
After the diet is shaped up I plan to start hitting the gym again. I've kept my membership because it's affordable at the student rate and I'm about to graduate. I'm rather ashamed to say that I haven't gone at all this semester but I still shell out the $27 per month for membership. Ohhhh well. Time to patch things up!
Do any of you have a recommendation for a good pilates video? The gym pilates class is painfully crowded and I need something to do in the privacy of my own home. Thanks!

Shel

[SWRN84]

Hey Shel.....I use fitday.com, too. Last year I started tracking everything I ate, etc....I really liked seeing how it broke down my diet.......I was shocked to see how many carbs I actually WAS eating in a day!
Sorry I don't have any suggestions for Pilates videos. I've never done Pilates. I do work out at home, though. We have a bowflex, and I work out with The Firm series....love those so much because they really do work for me. Hubby just bought a treadmill. I like it, but like to walk outside when the weather is nice. Last year I lost 20 pounds....got really into shape. Gained 10 of it back over the past year (job changes, stress, etc, got out of the habit of exercise)....so now I'm back trying to get on track again. Good luck to you with kicking the caffeine habit!

[sddlnscp]

Good morning everybody! Thanks for the website Shel, I haven't heard of that, but I'm going to go check it out - maybe that would help me keep on track. I'm sorry, I don't know of any good pilates videos, but if you find one, would you let me know? I am interested too, but wouldn't know where to start to find a good one.

Tweety - I think adding fish in with your veggie goals is a great thing! I wish I could eat fish - I am allergic (both shell and non-shell) - drat!

SWRN84, I love the nice outside walks as well. There's nothing like breathing in all that warm, fresh air on a beautiful day while you briskly walk down a dirt road - at least out here, that's for sure!

[shel_wny]

Thanks for the response everyone. Still haven't found a good pilates DVD yet, but haven't done much looking besides asking on here. I'm finding that jasmine green tea with 1 tsp of honey really helps take the edge off my hunger at night. Resisting the urge to eat Easter chocolate candies is tough!

[sddlnscp]

Shel, that sounds good - I might have to try that tea. I've done really good all week, but then we had pizza last night - oops - too much pizza. Oh well, at least I stuck with it most of the week, so that was good. My biggest probelm is eating at night - I want to eat everything before bedtime. Gotta quit that. Hmm. I think I stress-eat at night because that's when I usually do all my homework, take online quizzes, etc.

Have a great weekend/week/weekend everybody!! I am going to be gone all of next week for a conference, so I will be absent from the forum. I'll be back in May though - so have fun! Cyber-see y'all soon!

[Tweety]

Shel, you gave up caffeine while work fulltime and going to school full time??
I've found I'm on a caffeine upswing, meaning I'm drinking more that usual. I do that sometimes, and I have to back off.

I have used fitday.com in the past and it's a nice free site with good information.

[Tweety]

I did good and went to the gym yesterday. But ate a big plate full of Thai noodles and rice, followed by a little bit of icecream. Very unbalanced.

Today I'm going to yoga.

[Tweety]

Finished up the ice cream - it was Organic Ben & Jerry's. Very good.

I hope to eat better. Yesterday was yoga and today is gym - weights and 40 minutes of aerobics.

[wonka]

I've noticed that folks have mentioned omega3 before so thought this would be a good place to ask about healthy fats and oils...I've started to do some research to make sure that I'm differentiating and getting enough of the fats/oils that are good for me and would love any help that folks can provide regarding info on what I should be looking out for! Thanks for any help you can provide

[sddlnscp]

Wonka, I don't know much about the omega3's, except that they are important. Hopefully Tweety will be along soon, he seems to be our nutritional guru and has a lot of great info. on that type of stuff.

I am back from my conference and actually moderately behaved while I was there, which I didn't expect, so that was good. I made my group go on evening walks with me, which was great for getting the heart rate up at that altitude (10,000 ft.), especially for us flat-landers down here.

My semester is getting ready to end May 7th and, though I am loving these classes, I am ready for a break and think it will give me more time to exercise . . . I hope.