Jill – I can’t wait to hear how the wedding went. Do we get to see photos soon? I’m sure you will look just gorgeous!
I had to chuckle at this… “I'm paranoid, but I know he's not doing anything wrong (since he's ALWAYS with me);” because I am exactly the same way with Neil. I always worry that he will find someone else, but we spend every free minute together just about, so I’m not sure when he’d find the time. I hope I get over these insecurities some time. We’ve been together over 7 and a half years and married almost 6. You’d think I’d be over this by now huh?
Tracey – I am so sorry that the formal was a huge disappointment, but you looked GORGEOUS! That photo is going to be WAY too good to use as a ‘before’ pic! You need one where you look ‘yuck’ so people can see a definite improvement. I found another one to add to my page, where I don’t even have a neck… just a few chins. Those are the ones you need.
I hope that the formal you and your brother are planning will turn out MUCH better. It doesn’t sound as though it could possibly be any worse.
I’m sorry that things can’t progress with you and your male friend at the moment. I will keep my fingers crossed that it won’t be TOO long before you are able to be together. It sounds as though you are too good for each other to be apart.
I hope your ankle is better soon. There is nothing worse than something being sore and stopping you from exercising.
Lilion – I think we have the same make of scale. Mine is up 5lbs in a week and a half and I’ve been GOOD! Problem is that I can’t blame the scale because I weighed myself on the old ones and they are definitely up too. Oh well… I’ll keep plodding along.
You are making some great decisions with food and exercise now, so hopefully your scales will behave at the next weigh-in.
I hope you manage to get your work done before your op, but I also hope that you manage to find some time to yourself before then. If I don’t see you before the op, I hope all goes well and I will look forward to hearing from you afterwards.
MsCrocket – Well done on fitting into those smaller pants! Always a bonus of this healthy lifestyle. It is nice to get a surprise like that when you are expecting negative results.
Good for you for saying something about your brother being hit. Not enough people speak up about things like that and people get away with it. It sounded as though the pitcher thought he was pretty ‘clever’, and someone needed to set him straight.
I am SO sorry about your friend’s wife. What a shock! I hope that they get some answers soon. Not knowing what happened would be adding so much more stress than people would be needing at the moment.
I hope you get through Aunt Margaret’s visit without too much hassle. I just WISH that mine would actually come. It would answer a lot of questions, but it seems to be avoiding me.
Julee – Great job on getting up on stage! I don’t think I could EVER do that. We are sometimes asked if we want to speak at school assemblies and I always turn down the offer. Me and mikes don’t go well together. I think a lot of that is because I used to be embarrassed by my size, but the worry is still there, so maybe I’ll just have to give it a go to see if it was the weight holding me back or whether I am just a chicken! It sounds as though you did a good job, so I expect to hear that you have done a repeat performance soon. Can you do them any time, or do you have to wait your turn?
I am so glad that your visit with your mom went so much better than you expected. I kinda avoid my parents as much as possible and I would love to have a better relationship with them than I do. It isn’t BAD really, just not too good at the moment.
Ammi – If you don’t go to the doctor’s soon I’ll have to come over there personally and TAKE you. I can’t handle the stress of waiting for your results.lol
It will be interesting to see what a difference it makes with you taking a more careful look at the amounts of food you are having. After reading your post I thought that I may take a closer look at my portions too, just out of interest. I THINK I am doing OK, but I don’t really know because I have never weighed my food, except if I have to halve a chicken breast or something like that. I mostly live on veggies, and I’m not sure the weight of those makes a difference, but it could all add up. Thanks for putting that idea into my head.
Sorry you have been feeling so tired lately. Maybe when you see the doc, the results may explain why you are tired, even if they don’t explain why you aren’t losing weight. I’m hoping that a visit to the doc may explain why I feel more tired that I truly think I should be.
It is great to hear that you are ready to get completely on track now. It is funny how something just strikes a chord inside you and you just KNOW that this time will work. Good luck! (Although luck doesn’t really play a part – it is all hard work and persistence)
Kayley – WOW! I LOVE your new avatar! That is the best pic of you yet! You look fabulous! I hope you have printed that one off and given Andrew a copy. He should carry it around with him to remind him how lucky he is. I know that you want to lose some more before you go to Wisconsin, but you have changed SO much so far that your friends are going to be impressed anyway. You should be smiling from ear to ear!
Oh, and yep! That is definitely green hair! No doubt about it… definitely green. It must have turned a few heads at the concert. It looks great!
I don’t see a problem with checking out bridal gowns this early in the piece. You have to know what is available for when you actually need one. I WISH I’d made this lifestyle change earlier in my life so that I had a nice wedding photo. I know I did the best I could with what I had, but I still look ‘fat’. I am thinking of renewing our vows some time so I could actually buy a wedding dress and get some nice pics. Not sure yet if I will. I suppose I wouldn’t do it until our 10th anniversary, so I have time to think about it.
When I think about wishing to have made these changes earlier I always go back to the realization that things happen for a reason and obviously I HAD to get to the weight I did before I was ready to make the changes. So, I changed my life at JUST the right time, when you think about it. Just a little random thought…
I’m so glad that your first session with the counselor went well. I had counseling years ago and it was so easy to talk with a stranger, as you said. I don’t think I would have minded having someone else there either, as it was just another stranger listening to me go on and on. I hope your future sessions are really productive.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you hear something positive about the job you applied for.
Nancy – Well done on passing on all that yummy food at the going away lunch. I find now that I am not tempted by that sort of stuff at all, as I know it isn’t good for me, but for the first 6 months I had a REALLY hard time having it around. I would try to limit myself to 3 small pieces, but I was not really good at that for a long time.
I can relate to being impatient for results from the doctor. As you may have noticed, I am even impatient for Ammi’s results! Bad huh? I will be thinking of you and hoping for some good news.
It is good that your BF didn’t make you go to the computer fair if you didn’t want to. I don’t usually mind going to that sort of thing with hubby as he is SO good about shopping with me, which I do a LOT of now. I kinda feel that it is the least I can do after all of his patience. Luckily he doesn’t want to hang around too long, so I can usually cope.
I am SO glad that you have decided to keep going with you healthy lifestyle, even if it leads you to be so small that it could be detrimental to your relationship. I know that this is a VERY difficult decision to make, but you never know what can happen in the meantime. There are SO many possible scenarios and you have no idea which one will play out. You may as well make yourself as healthy as you can along the way and enjoy the benefits.
Your pics are wonderful by the way! There is such an obvious difference! Well done!!!!
Maria Lucia – I think you are doing a wonderful job keeping up with your new lifestyle changes when you have so much stress in your life. I was very lucky that things ran fairly smoothly for me for the first 12 months of my journey, then by the time I was thrown a curve ball, I was well established into my routines and I handled it MUCH better than I would have. I used to just pig out when I got stressed, but the first time something really upset me I came home and went on the treadmill and RAN OFF the stress! What an achievement! It sounds as though you are staying as strong as you possibly can in the circumstances.
I hope your gala was wonderful. The outfits you mentioned sound simply gorgeous. I would love to see photos. I’m sure that whichever outfit you chose, you looked wonderful!
I hope that you are able to make a total split from your ex soon. It sounds as though she is just too controlling and you don’t need that in your life now. You are able to control your OWN life and don’t need anyone to do that for you. Good luck with finding another job so you can leave this part of your life behind and start afresh.
Brandnewme – I absolutely agree with you that it sucks that a healthy lifestyle is more expensive than an unhealthy one. I couldn’t believe that our grocery bill went UP at least $50 a week since we have been eating lean meats, fresh fruit and veg, low-fat or non-fat versions of stuff and whole grain foods. I didn’t expect the change to be quite that drastic, but I am sure we have worked it out right. I think a lot of our extra cost is fruit. We could probably get canned stuff cheaper, but I like the fresh stuff, so I have to pay for it. Since we recently had the cyclone go through a major banana producing area, we are paying up to $7 a kilo (2.2lbs) and sometimes higher. We go to the markets and get our fruit and veg, and the bananas are sometimes a little cheaper there, but they have still DOUBLED in price since the cyclone. I LOVE bananas and just don’t want to go without, but if it gets much worse I will have to think of a substitute for my evening snack.
I hope you are feeling 100% soon and you can finally shake the flu bug. It sounded as though you REALLY needed that long sleep you finally managed to get.
When you decide to increase your water intake, could you have some for me too? I really am NOT good with that, and need someone to take the pressure off for me.
Luan – I hope your final went well. I can’t believe you have finished already. It sounds as though you have only finished ‘part’ of the course. How many sections are there? You mentioned doing ‘character’ makeup next. That should be fun! Those scars, cuts etc always look SO disgusting! It would be interesting to see the materials that go into making them look so real.
Toofatforu2 – You mentioned the two meal replacement drinks and the main meal. Do you have any snacks? I remember using the drinks a long time ago and I lost 20kg (45lbs?) but when I stopped, I put it all back on again… and more! My problem was that I didn’t learn to eat properly for the meals and snacks that I didn’t have the drinks for. A work colleague has tried them a few times now and swears by them, but when she stops she seems to go back to her unhealthy eating ways. I am sure that you are doing a better job than I did. When I look back on it, I wasn’t really ‘ready’, and was only doing it because a doctor suggested it… not for ME.
It would be a good idea to cut back on the soft drinks, and I definitely need to join you with drinking more water. It is my absolute downfall and has been the bane of my life since I started this new journey. I have to ‘force’ the water (or any fluid for that matter) down, and then I am visiting the bathroom so much it drives me crazy. I stopped drinking so much over the last week or so, because I am holidays and I found that when I went out I was having to go to public restrooms all the time. I HATE public restrooms! I think that the lack of water may have contributed to a recent weight gain, but I’m not sure which is worse!
It sounds as though you are doing an incredible job of improving your lifestyle, while still recovering from chemo. You are obviously a very strong, and determined person. Well done!
Dogpal – It was SO wonderful to hear that your new meds are making such an incredible difference in your life. It sounds as though a weight has been lifted off your shoulders all of a sudden and a whole new world of experiences is opening up for you. I look forward to hearing more about the progress you are making.
Xena – I am surprised (and extremely impressed) that you are able to make any changes at all to your lifestyle with such a hectic workload. I’m glad that they are going to look into lightening it a little, but it really should never have reached this stage. You must have days where you can hardly think straight because you are so mentally exhausted. I’m glad you at least got Saturday off. I hope you took full advantage of it. Oh… and please subtly give that ‘princess’ a swift kick in the you know where for me. I HATE when people get favouritism at work!!!
Your pic in your avatar looks wonderful! I hope you have a worse one that THAT for a before pic. You definitely look too good in that one.
You could be right about the ‘depression’ issue. I had a ‘feeling’ today that maybe things weren’t quite right, but then the next moment I am feeling wonderful. Mind you, the ups and downs could be a sign as well. I am going to mention this at the doctor’s visit as well.
Wyllen – It really sounds as though you and your hubby have a great attitude about the job issue. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the job interview on Monday. I chuckled when you mentioned the suit, as I wondered what sort of fancy phone you had that he would need to LOOK good for the interview. But then I worked out that you just meant you got the suit in case he got the job. It is wonderful that you have both been changing your lifestyle and you have both lost weight. It is certainly easier when you have total support at home.
Elaine – Welcome! I am sure you will LOVE it here and get all the support, encouragement and advice you could hope for. I look forward to finding out more about you.
2LosinIt – Your garden sounds beautiful. We have over 60 rose bushes, but that’s about it. Oh, and a row of native bottlebrushes along the back fence as a bit of a screen. I think I will look at putting some annuals into large pots out the back as I love colour and of course we don’t get a lot of that over winter. I hope it isn’t too late to plant some bulbs or something like that.
It must be lovely to get the hummingbirds visiting. We have a few birds visit the bottlebrushes. It is funny when the large black cockatoos land on them as they are often too heavy for the branches. It is still lovely when they visit though. They are very noisy and leave quite a mess, but it is worth it.
I sympathise with you about the scales. Mine are being very fickle lately and I have no idea why, but I wish they would be fickle in the ‘right’ direction, instead of heading UP.
Mokster – I hope you are still doing well and are still excited about exercising. I have had a good couple of days as far as exercise goes, so I am happy again. For a while there I was not impressed about the afternoon/evening workouts at all. I enjoy the mornings on the treadmill, and REALLY like that I can jog now for some of it. I am just too tired in the evenings I think.
Sharon - I had to laugh about your 'stockings'. Well, actually I had to re-read your post, as I was POSITIVE that you had written that you fed your boys until THEY were in their 30s! I thought that was going a little overboard. I'm glad that the rest of your body is pulling back into shape. I wish mine had, but I will be happy with being fitter and healthier, if not 'firmer'.
Well everyone, that was a LOT longer than I thought it would be. I hope I haven’t missed too much. Every time I thought I was getting to the end, someone would post and I would have to go back and add something. I am truly interested in all that you do and want to have my ‘2 cents worth’ about it. Well… for me it would have to be 5c worth, because we don’t have 1c or 2c coins anymore. We have 5c, 10c, 20, 50c, $1 and $2 coins, and $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes. Just thought I would add that out of interest.
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!
Take care,
Zelma
in the end hubby had to buy a new hard drive, as he did overtime Saturday he only put it together Sunday, I read the posts but there's no way I have time to comment on everyone's ups, downs and news. Sorry,
my memory can't cope either!
I may not even need a tummy tuck, which I thought was inevitable, but a boob job of some sort will be essential. Zelma talked about her 'socks' mine are going to be more like stockings with a grape in the toe!!!!! 
That's what you get from breast feeding three hungry boys, two of them in my late 30s, I'm sure age plays a part, they were still firm after my oldest son stopped feeding.
It wasn't until 11.30 though, so I did go back to bed for a couple of hours. I know I was going to exercise, but I knew I was going to do some walking today, so that was my exercise.
fishing club. So where to first? I can virtual fish wherever you all choose 
