Chicks up for a Challenge - November Weight Loss Challenge

Hi chicks : ). Here is to a healthy and happy November to us all!

Hope to see everyone from our previous months and also any newcomers who may be joining us, all are welcome : ).

You know the drill girls! Just state your goal, whether it be a loss in pounds, inches, size, or even an intangible feeling! THe sky is the limit! You need not state your weight if you feel uncomfortable......just your goal, even if that goal is to maintain or whatever the case may be. THough the thread is titled "weight loss" please bear in mind that the underlying overall goal is toward a healthier us and so your goal may not be revolved around weight loss, it may be maintenance or eating healthier...and/or kicking a soda habit or whatever the case may be.

My goal last month was to get back on schedule which I have partially but not in every respect and with that being said, I am going with a weight loss goal this month which I feel works best for me. 8-10 lb. loss this month! .


Note: We keep a members list with our goals and if/when those goals are met, we put red print and goal met next to our goals. You can take a peek at the end of last months thread to see what it looks like. Please don't feel bad if/when you may not reach a specific number, goal, etc. Always remember that making positive changes along the way (the journey) are wonderful accomplishments in and of themselves .




Monthly weight loss challenge FAQ's


Do we weigh in on a certain day and how frequently? We don't have a specific WI day and WI on the day we choose. Many of the girls WI on the first day of the month and that ends up being the WI day for the month while others get WI at WW (weight watchers) on specific days, etc. How frequently we weigh in is a personal matter and specific to each of our own indivual needs. Daily WI's for some of the girls work great for them, while others prefer to WI weekly, bi-weekly, etc.

Do we need to post personals? etc... Absolutely not ladies. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't . We are a large group and it is difficult to post personals sometimes. THe time just does not exist sometimes. If you don't have time for personals it's okay.....post away

What does OP mean, DH, etc. ? We often use abbreviations here. OP means on plan. DH means dear husband, DD means dear daughter, DS = dear son, WI means weigh In, TOM means that time of month, lol means laughter out loud, and kwim means know what I mean.

Is everyone on a specific plan? We all have various plans. SOme of us are on WW, south beach, are own plans, etc. Though we do believe in and follow the guideline of not going below 1,200 cals a day and along these lines also strive to follow the site guidelines .

What day do we count our loss, the last day of the month or the first of the following month? Either way. Most girls report their loss the last day of the month and if they have another loss that following morning (on the first) they either add it to the current months total loss or roll it over to the new month. Think of it as a bonus day :).


See you all soon chickies hugsssssss

Oh lucky me first to decide my destiny this month...

Put me down for 8lbs, to hit 144 :)

I am technically going to start my November month tomorrow because I will be away from a scale over the weekend. Because I will have a couple more days I'm gonna go for 7 lbs to get to 275. Oh that number sounds so nice!

Hmmmm. last time i did a non weight one, but i think ill do a weight one this month:

Lose 8 Lbs! thatll get me to my first mini goal: 30 pounds down at 256 lbs :D. (According to mine and my mom's at home support system, thatll mean i get to buy a new outfit! and once my mom loses her first mini goal, we both get to go get a facial!!)

I'm going for 8 again - from 193 to 185.

This will be my first challenge, as I'm definitely a newbie! But I'm going to try to lose 8-10 lb. this month. My current/starting weight is 250 - so I would be between 242 and 240. Also, I'm going to challenge myself to keep up training for the C25K! So far, so good! :)

Welcome and good luck Bluedande!

I am sooo happy that I met my October goal of 240. Now for this month, I'm aiming for 234. I would aim for 10lbs this month, but with all the eating that I tend to do around holidays, I don't think thats possible.

I didn't meet my goal last month *sob* so my goal for November is to make it to Onederland!

Hello all! It's been probably a year sense I've stuck my head in here, but here I am.

I would like to join this challenge. I was doing so well there for awhile...mid/low 150s. I've somehow crept up to 165! Eak! Part of it is I'm a newly-wed....and I've heard it is easy to gain weight when you start cooking yummier stuff for someone else. I never had to worry about feeding another person before. My husband has put on a few pounds and also wants to lose weigh, so we'll be cooking healthier now.

So...my goal is 7 pounds! So...158lbs by December 1st.

My plan...I am doing slimfast again (I had excellent success with that before...was at 220lbs) and for exercise...and I'm so excited! I'm just got Turbo Jam. I plan on doing that M-F. Well...starting Monday :)

I look forward to getting to know all of you!


Tessa


Good luck everyone this month!

Congrats Shasha on making your goal (and anyone else who did!)

My goal this month is to lose 10 lbs.hopefully more! November is a month of no distractions for me.

Hello

This is the first time I've joined a challenge and I'm going to try for 10lbs this month.

My November goal is to hit 255 and attend a WW meeting weekly!

I'd like to lose 10 lbs in November. Putting me down to about 196 & more importantly, ONDERLAND! :)

Oh lucky me first to decide my destiny this month...

Put me down for 8lbs, to hit 144 :)

Wow I can't believe u have lost soooo much weight in 5 months!!! how do u stay motivated to work out everyday??!!

After much thought I'm putting myself down for 6 lbs in November. That's 2 lbs less than normal due to having 4 separate Thanksgiving Dinners. Let the eating begin I guess!! That puts my goal weight at.... 191.

If, by some miracle I pull off 8 lbs that would totally put me at 189... holy cow!

Hello all! It's been probably a year sense I've stuck my head in here, but here I am.

I would like to join this challenge. I was doing so well there for awhile...mid/low 150s. I've somehow crept up to 165! Eak! Part of it is I'm a newly-wed....and I've heard it is easy to gain weight when you start cooking yummier stuff for someone else. I never had to worry about feeding another person before. My husband has put on a few pounds and also wants to lose weigh, so we'll be cooking healthier now.

So...my goal is 7 pounds! So...158lbs by December 1st.

My plan...I am doing slimfast again (I had excellent success with that before...was at 220lbs) and for exercise...and I'm so excited! I'm just got Turbo Jam. I plan on doing that M-F. Well...starting Monday :)

I look forward to getting to know all of you!


Tessa


Good luck everyone this month!

Congrats Shasha on making your goal (and anyone else who did!)

Wow!! Congratulations, how did u lose so much weight?! I got down to 145 and felt great but somehow i ended up back to 165 and I'm having a hard time starting a workout regimen any tips or ideas ?

I'm going for 8 again - from 193 to 185.

congratulations on your weight loss and your quitting smoking!!

Put me down for 4 lbs.

CW: 123
GW: 119

I'm new to this site but I will join in this challenge so that i can be motivated. My goal for november will be to lose 10lbs. I am tired of lookiong the way I look and I am ready to look fabulous again!! Plus I love the holidays and I want to look hot for Christmas and Thanksgiving!!

I didn't do well in October. This is a new month and a new start. My weight loss goal is to lose 16 LBS.
SW 226.2 GW 210. Good Luck Everyone!

Hey everyone, this is my first monthly challenge. Just weighed myself at 192.5. I am going lose 10 lbs this month to 182.5. This may seem like a lot, but I'm starting a new program and my trainer said he's kicking it up a notch (as he did today, I practically died) so I'm up for the challenge!

ok ladies!!! I am throwing October away and just gonna get started on November!

Shasha!!! You rocked October!!

Tummygirl.....you are my new idol..... HOT!!!

To all the rest of you. I am back this month and back with a vengence.

I wanted to be at 239 by the 31st of October. Not happening. So, I am shooting for a big giant goal in November.

SW 247.0
GW 235.0

It sounds like a lot, butI am going back to my atkins roots. I splurged yesterday on carbs to try and trick my body. My goal is also to get up to 2 12 minute miles back to back on the treadmill........I know I can do it.

And.....to get A's on my next 4 exams. There is one every Tuesday.

Best wishes to you all.

Love and light to my peeps!!!

Jen

I haven't completely bailed on my October goal just yet. I at least made the water drinking one. I drank water like a fish in October!

I'm going to follow the trend and go for 8 pounds this month. I'll edit my post later to put my starting weight in on Sunday. I'm giving myself until the very last second of October to meet my goal, lol.

**Edit - Starting weight 170.6. Goal weight 162.

Hi Chickies! October was NOT my month. Too many activities, trip to Vegas, and house guests. I maintained, so I guess it could have been worse. I am going to amp up the exercise, and go for 7-10 lbs. I made it in July and August, so I can do it again! I am spending next week with Sandye, so I know that week will be totally OP! I'm not at all concerned about Thanksgiving. It's just one day, and I doubt there will be any leftover goodies. I'm doing all of the cooking, so I am going to make everything diet friendly. No brown sugar and butter on the sweet potatoes! Good luck chickies! Let's make wise choices this holiday season so we have a jump start on the New Year.:dance:

FSA ~ So good to see you. Hope to see a lot more of you this month :yes:

Okay, well...October has been a mixed bag for me and I'm ending the month by taking a break from exercise--period. Thought I would tough it out there at the end, but nope, I'll start up again on Monday.

My goals for November:

No more crazy weekend eating
I want to allow for one Off Plan day, that being Thanksgiving
I also want to get down to 130 (don't freak out mom--I promise I won't go to extremes!! :D) so I have a little wiggle room.

I look forward to hangin' with you chickies again this month and I look forward to getting to know all the newbies!!! :)

Bring On November!!!!!

OK. Let's see...my first goal is to start drinking 8 glasses of water/day. The second goal is to lose 6.6 lbs to reach my target weight. The third goal is to get my butt back in the gym.

^_^ count me in!

Hope to lose 10 lbs by Dec 1 ~ 169 lbs
we will see :P

Okay, I'm taking Tummy's advide and will set my November goal at 135 and maintaining. I want to reach goal and enjoy that time. I won't totally slack afterward if I should reach it early, but I also don't want to feel like I'm never reaching goal and always resetting it lower. I NEED to feel the accomplishment and let myself feel good about it. I've had a really, REALLY hard time celebrating any of my goals recently. I don't know why. I'm happy about it, but there's SO little emotion in it right now. It's just life. SO weird. Anyway, here's to November!

Hi Chickies

I am ready for the challenge of November. My Goal is 173 (6lbs). And getting all my school work done with out losing my mind.

Yay! :carrot:

Ash

Did terrible in October I was up and down all month. My goal this month is a 6lb weight loss. CW 234 GW 228 Good luck all!

My goal this month is 3-4lbs. I've been consistantly losing close to 4lbs a month (with the exception of Sept) but this month I barely made it by the skin of my teeth so if I only lose 3 in November I'll still feel like I accomplished something.

This challenge sounds like its just what I need....

No specific weigh in dates....to time requirements or post requirements....

Just set a goal and go for it! So I'm in if you'll have me!



I'm going for 10 pounds lost by Dec. 1st to put me at 253.


I'm calorie counting (1300 calories per day) and exercising (cardio and some strength) 6-7 days a week.

Good luck everyone!

Alright, I went completely MIA during the October challenge. I am in for November for a 5 lb weight loss.

ok ladies I know this is just going to be my month to get all my nasty habbits gone and meet my goal I just know I can do it this month so put me down for 8lbs this month I am determined to do this once and for all and prove that I am worth it. Thank you all for the awesome support and letting me vent I am ready to go making a new start "I am worth it and making it every decision count" that is my new motto for this month

Hey Ladies,

Well, what the heck happened to me this month? I think too much stress is why I didn't meet my goals. So, I'm only going to make two goals for myself.

Get to about 205 and stay caught up in school.

I know I'll do it! Happy Halloween!

:ebike:

<3 We Can Do It Ladies!

Hi there, I have just joined today, and am so excited that this kind of thing exists!! I never knew!! I joined a gym to-day too..so I'm going to hope for and 8lb weight loss in November. That would bring me down to under 230 which would be fab :)

Hi everyone,
I just put in my total for October and I exceeded my goal I said 7 and did 9. I only now this as I mark my weights on a calendar, I wasn't smart enough to post it last time. So I will put my goal at 7 again for November and my Nov starting weight is 216.4. Good luck to everyone meeting their goals.

Good morning, chickies :wave: Wow, I'm first, let's get this month started. I hope you all had a nice Halloween and did not get into the candy!:nono: I have a lot left, but I bought stuff I won't eat, so there's no temptation! Down .4 today! :carrot:Have a great day everyone!:dance:

October was a weight disaster for me :(

I'm going to try & get motivated again and go for a 10lb. loss in November :carrot:

Morning Ladies,

Gekster - So nice to have you back :)

HeyHeyGabby - Oh I love your rewards! They are just so much fun, and how awesome to share this with your mom. Can't wait to celebrate 30lbs with you :carrot:

FitGirlyGirl - :woohoo:for 8

Bluedande - Welcome welcome. This is one amazing group of ladies and I hope you enjoy it here as much as well do. There is a lot of running going on here too so it's a wealth of experience if you run into snags.

Shasha - Congrats onmeeting goal, that must feel brilliant after September, way to go you!

LaurenA - Oh what fun, another Onederlander, it's great over here, and we're saving you a spot.

Colaz - Welcome to the challenge and back to the boards. This thread is a wonderfully motivating place when we visit often enough and look forward to getting to know you as well :)

Nicollem - Welcome to the challenge! And howdy from next door in alberta:wave:

Trudiha - Welcome, so glad you found us over here, we're very chatty and blab about everything under the sun. I hope you find it as enjoyable and motivating as I have.

Kim - You're shooting for 11lbs you're a monster! I love it, aim high.

Lblazy - Welcome to the challenge, oh another so close to the 1's, can't wait.

Yayalyn - You know, the truth is I don't stay motivated every day. Some days I want to eat chocolate and wear stretchy pants just like everyone else. I'm just done with it though, I'm done with fat, with tired, with out of shape, with watching life go by, just done. It's about commitment now and some days when I can't manage any of that, I come here read how awesome ppl are doing and then I can usually find the mojo to start. Or if it's super bad, I look at my before and after pictures, that does it every time.

SG - Brilliant goal, lol, it's the month of lower goals, not everyone is going for 10 and then come January I guess the numbers go up again. Wow 4 thanksgivings, you are going to have a lot of thanking going on, wow.

Taurie - Goodness you're getting so close to goal too, wow, there's a whole bunch of us staring down those last few pounds, grrrr.

VickieLou - Cheers to the new month and to those 16lbs going far far away!

G8torgirl - 10 sounds good, it very doable and I have no doubt that with some determination you'll be golden.

Jellofer - LMAO you're too funny, consider October flushed down the toilet. My goodness you got a lot going on, but you can do it!

Nella - Water's a good one, Sandye will be proud, lol.

LTTG - It's like going to the weight loss spa over at Sandye's place, lol, you should be good for a couple pounds just next week alone.

Sandye - We'll wait for mom's report on skinny Sandye, lol, see if it's true. I'm sure you're fine and here's to a consistent month all around.

MoonFairy - Welcome! Oh you're almost at goal too how awesome, look forward to getting to know you better this month.

Incontrol2day - Welcome and I bet you can do, anything is possible :)

MsP - I think that sounds fantastic, I think you're right, I've never reached a weight goal before, and I think this will be the hardest part, being happy and enjoying it and still making those good choices even without the visual motivation to do so, oh wise one. I just had to nod along with your candy post, it's soo true, I would sooner jump into a bag of chips than the sweet stuff and we all have such different ways of doing the same thing, it's marvelous.

Inthemidst - Mind maintenance, that's a fantastic goal! Makes all the other ones easier too, lol.

Krista - Sounds like a plan, those bouncy months are brutal and learn lesson, move on and never speak of again.

Ruth - So nice to see you back. Hope November is a bit easier :)

McKenziesmomma - Welcome to the challenge, I love it too, it's jsut what the weight loss doctor ordered.

Nello - How's the foot doing? We missed you, hope to see you more this month.

Mystical - That sounds like the attitude we like to hear! Good job and you can totally do this, no question, healthy you is waiting to come out, I can just see her eover there.

Miss Mallee - Nice picture btw, totally forgot to mention that. Stress will do it every time so here's hoping that parts better this month.

Thescriptfan - Welcome! It truly is an awesome thread and look forward to getting to know you better this month.

Bigmid - :woohoo:exceeding goal, or blowing right past it, more like it!

Susie - Welcome back :hug:I was just wondering how you were doing while running last week and then here you are! Hope to see much more, and much less of you this month :)

I hope everyone successfully survived Halloween with the bodies they went into it with and for those with kids, enjoyed the splendor of the thing. We had a wonderful night, good weather and lots of fun.

It's rest day from working out so that means house work, ugh. Catch up with you ladies later!

Good November 1st morning!!!!

Welcome to all the newbies!!! Stick around here and you will be motivated!!

Running otu the door for another busy day, but just wanted to say hello. I posted in the Oct thread, but just for fun, I made goal, but barely. 170.6 this morning, meaning I made my first mini goal as well!!! So close to a new decade I can taste it!! I haven't seen a 16anything in over 4 years.

Now to figure out what to reward myself with... :)

Have a great day ladies!!!!

I'm going for 8 pounds again! That will put me at 154lbs.

Hey Chickies.

It's progress picture day for me. I dug up a photo of me at my highest weight, the middle one is one i took a few weeks ago when I bought new clothes and then the last one is me today.

Welcome all newbies! This thread is great for inspiration and accountability. You are sure to love it here.

Well, for October, I only pulled out a 1.4lb loss despite all my efforts... My last three weigh-ins were 131.6... sheesh! So this month, considering I'll be on vacation from the 4-9th and then Thanksgiving (and the many meals that come with it) I'm going for a total of 4lbs down by the end of November putting me at 127.6.

:wave: girls!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! I actually braved the RiverWalk with a friend and her son. Managed not to have a panic attack, got to see some pretty cool costumes, and got in over 3 hours of walking! That's a win in my book. ;) Oh and the only treat I had was an outrageously priced mini-cup of cinnamon-chocolate ice cream. :D WI was today and I'm down 2.4 lbs! Yay me!

I did miss my October goal by 2 lbs but at least I came close! Shooting for another 8 lbs this month!

Nella - Woohoo :cheer3::cheer2: what do those soccer guys say GOOOAAALLLL! Congrats! I'm all for barely or completely or whatever, you did it, wtg!
Meowmix - OMG 154, that's awesome :carrot:

SG - Is that one of those tiny t-shirts we've heard about? You look fantastic. I must say the difference in your waist is incredible! It's like you melted your middle. What a great way to start the month, with all that motivation!

Amy - Well I hope you have tons of fun on vacation and who knows with some fun in the sun you never know, sweating lightens ya up ;)

JasonsLea - That's awesome, down another 2.4, you're really on a roll there girl.

Almost have the entire house clean, laundry done and just waiting for sleeping beauty dh to get up so I can tackle the master suite and I'm all set for another week! Better get back to the last of it...

SG - You look gorgeous. I like the color of your shirt in the first pic though, I think you should look for a smaller shirt in that color.

I am having a lazy day. It is a no workout day and I'm not even doing much housework or anything. I've just decided to have a really lazy day so far. I think I'm about to stop it though and go work on painting the kitchen. I'm on my 6th day at 193, grrrrr! That's ok, I didn't eat any Halloween candy and even with my planned treats I still had an over 1000 calorie deficit. I hope everyone is having an excellent start to November, and now it is time for me to get my butt painting.

Tummy - Thanks!!!!!

SG - You look great!!! The difference from themiddle one to today is huge, considering it is only a few weeks!

FGG - Sometimes we all just need a lazy day! Enjoy it!

Amy - Don't worry too much about the numbers. The important thing is the difference you see in yourself. You are gaining muscle and toning while you are doing the C25K. I'm sure you look fabulous!!!

Hi all,

I missed the october weigh loss challenge by 3 ounces --- ouch!!

I started at 178lbs and hope to lose 2 lbs. Then i lost 7 and ended up at 171. So I decided to challenge myself more and reach 160s -- even if it was 169.9 before november. But I am still at 170.2.

:(

Well I am up for this challenge and I want to lose 8 lbs hopefully by the end of this month. So I hope to be at 162.2 before december. :) That would be so awesome. :D

SW 170.2
CW 170.2
GW 162.2

Hey Ladies,

So, I woke up really late, but I know I needed it with my exhausting week. So, I didn't start OP this morning, but I plan to end it OP. Right now I'm getting my act together and filling out my calendar for school and such. I plan on cleaning today and that way I can really start focusing on loosing weight. I'm going to start my work out tomorrow morning.

Our big guy, Charlie, the yellow lab gets adopted today! Sad to see him go, but on the positive not only will he be with a woman that will take him EVERYWHERE, but I don't have to take as long before I can work out in the morning. I know, selfish, but it all comes down to him finally getting the right home for once in his 7 year life. :)

Well, I gotta go. I'll probably do some personals tomorrow!

Oh, but thank you Tummy Girl, I had to update my pictures on my myspace and it's my newest, and most favorite top, so naturally I had to put it on here!

We Can Do It Ladies <3

Hey everyone! :wave:

Hope everyone had a great halloween!

I'm looking forward to a good on plan month this November and getting to know all of you!

Hope everyone has had a great first day!!! :hug:

My goal for this month is 8-10lbs.. Of course I would like for it to be 10 but with Thanksgiving and all that goes with that it may be unrealistic to achieve that number, so I will be happy if I pull an 8:).
cw-289
gw-279-281

final weight for this challenge 282 for a WL of 7lbs.

Lose 8lbs this month - exercise at least 3x a week, stay POSITIVE!

So here's some update pics. I could only find one from our vacation this summer, because I avoided being in front of the camera. Ignore the crazy eyes, the random cat and odd angle in the now pics that make me look like I have stubs for legs. I'm short, but not that short! Not sure what DH was thinking when he took them... So I have a long way to go still, but it's a vast improvement.

http://i84.servimg.com/u/f84/14/04/61/48/dclilc11.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=14&u=14046148)

http://i84.servimg.com/u/f84/14/04/61/48/dscf1113.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=12&u=14046148)

http://i84.servimg.com/u/f84/14/04/61/48/dscf1114.jpg (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=13&u=14046148)

Wow Nella look at you and your flat tummy! I'm so jealous! You look fantastic!

Also.. cats are never random... kitty obviously figured out something important was going on with that door.... haha

Hi all! :wave: I've been struggling to keep myself motivated so I REALLY need to join the Nov. challenge. My goal is to lose at least 10 lbs. :carrot:

CW: 146.5 lbs
GW: 136.5 lbs

For those of you who have seen me complain about my hubby's food choices and how much he worries me, I just had to pop in to say that he is currently enjoying a big strawberry, spinach, and almond salad with fat free raspberry vinaigrette. I let him try mine and his eyes went all big and he actually bounced when he asked me to make him one.

Not too bad for the first day. I spent most of the day packing and repacking for my trip tomorrow. Had a lot of last minute errands, and stayed OP food-wise. I have been trying to come down with a cold for the last 3-4 days and have had NO energy to work out, and thought it best not to push myself. I'll be at Sandye's tomorrow and fully expect to start some hard-core workouts! I'm anxious to see what the PX90 is all about. Meanwhile I'm ODing on the Vitamin C and hoping to kick this (whatever it is) to the curb. Tomorrow is a new week in a brand new month, let's get it done!:goodvibes:

Hey guys! I'm late getting on here, bnut just wanted to say OMG, Nella and SG! You girls look incredible!! So great to see people making progress and isn't it amazing how it comes off the middle?! I LOVE that! Anyway, congrats to you girls! You're doing it. ;)
Today was my off plan-ish day. I had a pizza lunch and some candy, but I've had my fix now and I'm good. I'm sending the rest w/ DH tomorrow. He and his secretaries can dig in, although DH has really gotten good about just having one or two and being done. We give the kids an option to turn in their candy for a toy or special gift (we do this at Halloween and Easter). I got this idea from a friend and it is fantastic! DS hasn't had a cavity since we started doing this. It totally de-emphasis candy in the events! Anyway, 2 of the 3 took us up on it this time, so we went and got their toys today. DD chose a stuffed animal and DS chose a DVD. The youngest stuck with her candy and was completely unmoved, so we let her make that choice. We'll see what happens at Easter. Anyway, my day was wonderfully relaxing other than watching my football team lose :( and trying to learn MarioKart. I'm not a great gamer! LOL Tomorrow begins the quest to finally reach goal and linger there as I do some research (body fat, maitainence, etc.) this month. Looking forward to it!

Nella & SG - you both look fantastic! Way to go! Keep up the awesome work!

MsP - seems we are on the same pizza and candy plan today! Oops! We'll do better tomorrow!

Amy-I'm with ya 100%! Tomorrow is a new day...a healthy, new day!

Its my bday on the 10th of this month (my 21st...wahoo!) so I feel I should drop 10 pounds!! It just makes sense to me (=..... so that would take me from 198 to 188 !! I also would love to get back into spin class this month<3

The scale was down a .6 this morning, which I really wasn't expecting but was a pleasant surprise. But I overate today, as usual on Sundays, but I don't think it was extremely bad today. I probably won't weigh tomorrow, just try to eat very well and hope whatever I gained is gone by Tuesday.

Good night chicks!

Good Morning Chickies!

Well, the scale is down another lb today, putting me at 196. I tell ya, I honestly don't know exactly what is causing the weight to come off so quickly but I'm certainly not complaining! I'm just going to think of it as a reward for good behavior! Thank you for all of the lovely comments about my progress pictures. I didn't think I've changed much from the middle photo to now but a few of you would certainly disagree so that's really fantastic to hear! Thank you! I also took more swim suit photos and have had to upgrade to a smaller swimsuit! The blue one is just too big anymore to really see any improvements. So, I took photos with the blue one on and then photos with the new one so I have a point of reference in 6 weeks when I take them again. Haha, the new suit is too small and I look horrible in it... talk about motivation!!

Nella Congrats on meeting your goal and I'm looking forward to hearing about you seeing the 60's!!

Tummy Welll.. that's a new, even smaller shirt, actually. It's a large and if I were going to be attempting to wear it on it's own I'd have bought an XL to try to keep it from hugging my stomach flab, but it's perfect for layering and I love it! DH and I were going out Saturday night to just bum around and shop and I couldn't find anything to wear so he suggested I buy a few more clothes... just for casual purposes. I've been focusing on having things to wear to work and so when it comes to just bumming around I usually have ridiculously large (now anyway) clothes on.

FitGirlyGirl Thanks! I loved the color of that shirt too and it was so cute with the ribbon... adorable. Say... I stopped by your blog last night LOVED the photo of the scale saying 199!! Fantastic stuff! Also, congrats on the hubby eating something healthy! It's amazing what you can get them to do when it's not the same old BORING healthy food they might have tried before, isn't it? My DH has lost 10 lbs without even trying just due to the food I'm making now and he hasn't complained about the TASTE of anything one bit! Teehee!

LTTG Enjoy your visit!!!

MsP Oooh, I LOVE the idea of turning the candy in for a special toy/gift. Such a fantastic idea! Definitely takes the emphasis off the food/candy aspect.

Oh! I nearly forgot... 196 marks 30lbs lost. Another dancing fattie for me... WooHoo! Looking at those things and envisioning those 5lbs of fat models in my head makes me shudder... that's so much and I still have so much more to lose! I've also been saying all along that at 30lbs I'll really feel like I've accomplished something... It's odd looking at the numbers really. I've lost 30 and have 20 more to go until my original goal (see that? original... I might change it now which is just fantastic in itself). I'm more than halfway there and it feels so surreal. Odd for sure!

Have a fantastic day ladies!!

This is the first time I have posted, but I want to lose 6 pounds this month!

Jody

Happy Monday girls!

Well...yeah this past weekend wasn't the best. LOL...I didn't officially start until today. I tend to need at least a free weekend before I start hard.

I had a wonderful Halloween though. I went to a Halloween scavenger hunt and the out with some friends.

Today is a new day though...I've so far had my slimfast and coffee. I am planning on doing Turbo Jam after work today. I can do this!

I hope everyone's Monday starts wonderfully!


Wow!! Congratulations, how did u lose so much weight?! I got down to 145 and felt great but somehow i ended up back to 165 and I'm having a hard time starting a workout regimen any tips or ideas ?

I had a lot of success with Taebo...and those were old VHS tapes...and I don't even have a VHS player anymore! Slimfast has actually worked wonders for me. I've been off and on slimfast sense high school. I am going to try starting that up again. It is hard. I am now back at 165 now too. LOL...let's get down there again together. How did you get to 145?

Nella, WOW! You are doinig amazing and look wonderful! Keep up the great work!

Channel, yeah for November birthdays! Mine is November 14th :) 21st for you though? Very exciting

Shrinking girl, congrats on your weight loss! You are doing awesome! Smaller suite? I bet you are excited ;) I hope today starts great!

Hey Ladies,

I wish I could say it's a great Monday morning start....but....I've been up four hours (it's 5am) and I've been getting sick ever since! -.- What a way to start the month and loose weight. Maybe I should have said get down to 205's in a healthy way?

Fortunately, I have a person to call who's feeling my exact pain and has apparently been up since 1am like me! My grandma. :( And since my first episode this morning was getting sick all over my mother's just cleaned bathroom....literally you could have probably still smelt the Lysol, She's not really being nice. The irony? She was so made when she woke up and found out, she had to follow me to my room to use my bathroom to 'go to the bathroom'.

I'm clearly sleep deprived because of how I feel and the way I'm talking, but I have needed to post to the board since my very first episode this morning. Since I don't get sick often at all (last time I was sick I found out I had a tumor!) I am not used to just sipping a little water with this extreme sore throat.

I can tell you all right now, ladies, I know for a fact I wouldn't make it one day being bulimic. I prefer the smell of my normal breath too much for it. XD

Sorry, I know bulimia is a serious matter, but I had to get it out there.

I am crawling back into my bed!

We Can Do It Ladies! <3

Good morning ladies!!!!!

SG & Nella~ OMGoodness you ladies look AMAZING!!! Thank you both for posting pics! Sooooo inspiring for sure and just what I need right now! I am so very, very proud of you ladies!!!

I'd love to do more personals, but I don't have time to read through all the posts again and stuff--as you know I've got company coming :carrot: and I have a few more chores to do, get my P90X workouts in and shower...

So I have a confession to make...

I did it again. I spent the better part of yesterday stuffing my face. I don't really have any reason other than I wanted to. I wanted pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and I wanted candy and I wanted a big giant burrito from my favorite burrito place...

Needless to say, I'm up--A LOT! Dang sodium!!! My fingers feel like sausages and I'm all bloated...ugh, ugh, ugh!!! Feel free to yell at me, give me tough love, beat me over the head with the ol' frying pan--I deserve it!!!

So, with that I decided that today is a Brand New Day and I needed to get my head back on straight and move forward. I got up bright and early and did some HIIT. It felt soooooooooooo good and I even though it's been a couple of weeks since I've done it, I just picked up right where I left off and it felt awesome! I need to do my P90X workouts and I'll call the workouts complete.

I have decided to put HIIT or running back into the mix. I think what I'll be tweaking is the P90X. I just can't do the 90 mins of yoga--it's not that it's hard or anything, it's just too dang long to try to squeeze in with the girls and I just can't get up any early than I already am to squeeze it in then. So, I need to figure out what to put in it's place and also figure out how many days to add in the HIIT or running...

Okay, so there it is. I confessed and I feel better for it. I really just need to stop slacking and remember that eating that crap does nothing for me. I'm so glad my mom will be here--it'll be sooooo nice to have someone in the house who wants to get healthier and who won't be tempting me to with bad food choices. Perhaps she'll be able to talk my hubby into joining us? ;)

Alright, I need to get my butt in gear and get stuff done! Please forgive me in advance if I don't post much this week :D

Now get out there and have an amazing day ladies and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

I definitely need to get back on track. I know I've been terrible with posting menus and I'll tell you it's easy for me to eat healthy and journal it in my notepad but I always forget about the computer. I know I'm lazy.
Since it's the start of a new month I decided to switch my weigh in day back to Friday like it used to me. Tuesdays just weren't working out. I haven't "officially" weighed myself since the time I recorded it (second weigh in of October) The third week I forgot, and last week it's when I decided to switch to Friday. Unfortunately I got TOM late Thursday night. And I have a rule; Never weigh myself on the first day of TOM because rather I've lost, gained or stayed the same I'll convince myself to either starve myself or eat everything in site. I did take an unofficial peak on Wednesday and I was down to 126. But I want to be fair about this so this Friday I'm going back to official weigh ins. Hopefully the 126 from last week will still stand along with another pound of two, since Saturday is my b-day and my goal was to be 125 or under my then. So fingers crossed.

Goal for November 5lbs

nella and shrinking girl- You gals look amazing! I love seeing progress pics on here.

I will be back for more personals later. Hope everyone had a fun Halloween weekend. Mine was good, but I did something kinda scary...I have signed up for a 1/2 marathon on January 24...eek! I am training with Team In Training which is the Leukemia and Lymphoma foundation and I have to fundraise a certain amount of money. So basically I have gone for training for a 5k (with the C25k program) to training for a run/walk 13.1 mile course. I know that it will be very challenging, but also very worth it in the end.

Hey everyone :wave:

Nella - You do look fabulous! I can't wait to post after pics!

Jody - :welcome:

Sandye - WOW P90X is hardcore! I'm impressed!

I'm down a pound today....its not much but its a start.

Catch you all later!

I am back from seeing family and friends and though I had a great time it was bad, so bad! I don't drink alcohol much anymore because I'm on a medication where it hits me harder and faster as well as makes me sooo sick. But it was Halloween and we were at a party and I went for it and kept having another. I didn't get sick this time, but I know it was so many calories, and then the snacking that went along with it.. not good. I was afraid to get on the scale this morning, but I will do it tomorrow. I figure with all the eating out there I need to give myself a day to flush the sodium anyway. I just feel so gross. I am normally bad with food when we go, but there is no excuse. I will face the music and try my best to rise above it. Shoot, late for class, check back later.

The scale is up a pound this morning but I was actually happy because most of the time it is 1.5-2lbs up after Sundays.
I'm hoping to plan a menu for this week. I've never done it before but I've always wanted to so hopefully I finish it and it turns out well.
Have a great day ladies!

Oh and I forgot to say yesterday that I finally reached 20lbs lost and got to add another 5lb smilie!! I was so excited to finally say I've lost over 20lbs.

Hello ladies hope you all are having a wonderful day! Just a quick drive by to say hello and to check in.

I am off and running toward my new monthly goal. I am drinking lots of water and trying to make sure I don't skip any meals and making every thing I eat count as good nutrition...

I'll check in later today and do personals Have a good one :)

Nella - You look awesome!

LTTG - I hope you can turn the cold away. :getwell: Safe travel!

Ms. P - That sounds like a great deal to make with the kiddos.

Channel - I think setting a goal to be a healthier you is a great birthday present to yourself. :gift: I am hoping to be able to give myself the present of having lost 100 pounds for my next one. Your birthday is just 1 day before my hubby’s - he’s quite a bit past 21 though (even if he does still act like a 17 year old sometimes).

SG - Congrats on another pound and on the old suit being too big, the new one will not be too small for long. 30 pounds down, wow! Yay for you!:dance::dance::dance::dance::dance::dance:

Miss Mallee - I’m sorry you are so sick. I hope you feel better soon.:getwell:

Sandye - I’m sorry you had a bad day yesterday, but yes, today is a new day and it will be great!:dust:

Shasha - You will do great, you have time to train, it will make you feel great about yourself and it’s for a good cause. Scary, yes, but you can do it!

Ruth - congrats on the 20 pounds and on the only up by 1!:flow2::flow2::flow2::flow2: I started planning my menu each week about 3-4 weeks ago. It has already gotten easier and hubby and I both love knowing what is coming up and we can’t be sure in such a short time, but it seems to be lowering our grocery bill too.


I have finally gotten away from 193 pounds. :woohoo: The scale was alternating between 192.2 and 191.6 this morning.:goodscale There were more at 192.2, so I am going with that for now, but maybe I can expect the 191.6 soon. Maybe I am getting 2 mini-whooshes after my 6 days at 193? I certainly wouldn’t complain. I was so worried that I was headed into a plateau, and I’m so happy to see that is not the case.:flow1:

Thanks everyone!!!! More than looking better, I feel better!

Ruth - Grats on hitting the -20 pound mark!

FGG - Grats on the scale moving again!

Miss Mallee - I hope you feel better soon!

Mystical - You can do it!!

Oops, gotta run, be back later!!!

EeeeEEEEEEEEeeeeeee :hyper: YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY :carrot: Wooooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooo!!! :dance:

My mom and sister are here!!! They've landed and are getting their bags as I type and hubby is on his way to go pick them up and bring them here!!!!

:woohoo:

I'm so excited!!! :D

Okay, just had to share--gotta go and vacuum one more time--dang leaves!!! :lol:

Hope everyone is having a great day!!!! :D

Hey all! Happy start over day for those of us who (whether planne dor not) went overboard over the weekend. Today has been great here. I got some good workout time in this morning and have gotten a few minutes to read up on body fat and related stuff, which made me happy. I need to check out some good library books on the subject, but for now I'll rely on the 'net and taking notes. LOL

Sandye- As requested..:club: :rollpin: and for good measure..:frypan:
What were ya thinkin'? If you're gonna go off plan, plan for it, so you're not just doing it on a whim. That's usually when it gets bad. Now, back to my nice self...YAY!!! Mom and sis are on their way, right?! That's gonna be cool. Ya'll will help each other be strong and healthy whether DH joins you or not. I'm sure he's benefitiing from your changes, though, whether he realizes it or not. I hope you still come in and say "hey" while they're there. I'd REALLY miss ya if ya didn't!

FGG-Yahoo!! You got away from the 193! I bet it was nice to see something different finally.

Ruth-Yay on the 20 lbs! That's a nice milestone to pass for sure. Keep up the good work and the rest will be gone before you know it.

SG-Congrats on the 30 lbs gone! Wow..over half way to original goal. Nice! Whatcha thinking about changing goal to?

Time is short for me right now, so I gotta finish up. Sorry if I missed people, but maybe I'll catch ya tomorrow! Keep on makin' good choices and let's see those pounds gone for good!

Tummy Girl~ Did you get all of your house work done?

Nella~ Congrats on meeting goal!

Shrinking Girl~ You look really good!!! CONGRATS on 30 lbs.!!! New bathing suit must be super exciting!

JasonsLea~ That’s awesome that you got in so much walking!

FitGirlyGirl~ Congrats on staying away from the Halloween candy! Yay for no more 193!!!

sweettooth~ 3 oz. is SO close!

Miss Mallee~ I hope you feel better! :hug:

mystical, hurleee, Channel, dangerouscurves76, calmeida2, bigmomma, McKenziesmomma~ :wave:

Nella~ You look SO good!!!

Late to the game~ Great job staying OP yesterday!

Ms Perception~ I love your candy vs. toy idea! Who is your football team?

ruth135~ Planning a menu for the week is a great idea! Congrats on 20 lbs.!!!

colaz~ How was your Turbo Jam workout?

iDream~ Thank you for confessing, and now… :kickbutt:, :kickbutt:, :kickbutt:, :kickbutt:, :kickbutt:

ButterflyDiva~ You’re so close, you can definitely reach that goal by this weekend!!!

shasha17a~ ½ MARATHON! You must be excited!!!

Gekster~ Everyone slips up, great job getting back after it!



So at least I don’t feel as bad now that I also had a rough weekend. I didn’t have any particular binge, but the food I did eat was not exactly good choices. I’m having a hard time talking myself out of bad food lately. What are some ways that everyone here helps jumpstart their healthy eating? My problem right now is if I crave something, I eat it… even if I know it’s a bad choice. So I’m kinda annoyed with myself as fat is not something I want to be forever, yet I’m not taking the necessary actions to fix it… sorry, but of a rant… have a good night everyone, I’m going to force myself to hit the gym!

Hey girls! Sorry I am a little late joining in, but as usual life steps in my way of keeping up with the post! I over did my October goal of 7lbs, and did 10lbs, going from 170 to 160.8!!!! My goal this month is 5lbs, I would reach bigger but I know that I have a little shopping excursion planned, and trying to get into the house! Good luck!

Ok, holy posting batman! This is going to take forever to catch up with you chatty ladies...

FGG - Geez, that's a long time to sit, I know how you feel, I've had runs like that too and it just doesn't seem to move no matter what you try, hang in there, maybe do a different, more intense workout or something to kick it inot high gear. Oh yeha, you broke the 193, see I just had to keep reading, lol.

Nella - Ok, so you look fabulous. My goodness! That looks like a lot more than 21lbs too. I hope that feels as incredible as it looks!

Sweettooth - So then you technically made your goal and then just decided to be an overachiever, that's not missing anything, you did awesome!

Miss Mallee - It is a gorgeous top too, I love me some fancy clothes and it appears you do too, lol ;) That's not selfish, that's just good news for the big ol'puppy. I'm sure that might simplify things for you a bit and that's great news. Oh goodness hun, that's terrible. Take good care of yourself and feel better.

Melissa - :wave:look forward to getting to know you too, it's nice to have more ladies around here.

BigMomma - It seems 8 is the number of the month in November, lol, it was always 10 but we're just downsizing this month, like the economy.

Calmeida - Hi and welcome, we're a friendly bunch so jump right in!

Dangerous - Well this is definitely the place to stay on track. It seems to me that most people who post regularly are doing fairly well so let's hope that counts for you too!

LTTG - Oh can't wait for you to see our little maintainer and of course those grandbabies too. Have a blast.

MsP - That's a fantasic idea, I think I'm going to try it. I hate the candy thing, I remember just eating it till I was sick when I was younger and would rather not repeat that. It's pretty easy since she's 3, we reduce quantity heavily and such but that's just so great.

Amy - LOL the pizza candy plan, I bet you could even market that and make some money.

Channel - Welcome to the challenge and wow 21, that's a great one, we're hear to help you along whatever you need.

Ruth - Well congrats on that loss anyway, they're all hard earned so kudos! I love the menu planning, that's a drum I beat all the time, I hope it works out well for you.

SG - LOL, I do that too with the less clothed picture that I don't post. The small clothes are a great motivator with all the squishy gooey stuff oozing places. The weight loss brain is taking over, lol, at first just being smaller is cool but it's almost like we don't think we can really make it so we shoot high. That's where my "original" 150 came from, it's not there anymore and since that's 2 lbs away I can assure you that there's 12 more to lose and I know I can do it, just like I know you can too. :dance:dancing fatty, dancing fatty

Hurleee - Hi and welcome to board and the thread and the challenge! Please post often and we can all get to know you better. If you need any help or advice we're all full of that stuff so don't be afraid to ask.

Colaz - I hope day 1 finds you POP. And that scavenger hunt sounds cool, nice to have some adult fun on Halloween too.

Sandye - :nono:that's all I'm going to say honest, lol. Is hubby tempting you? But I'm totally there on the yoga too, last week I did a run on Thursday instead and it felt better, I got a better cal burn out of it and it only took 40 minutes. I just can't stand the idea of getting up that early for something with such a low burn, lol. I'm still loving HIIT too I miss it if it's gone too long. I've put it in for Kenpo a few times b/c that was boring me a bit. Cuz after all if we don't enjoy it, we won't do it! Oh and totally forgot the big giant huge congrats on the size 6, my skinny friend! :carrot: That must be just incredible, I'm super proud of you :)

Butterflydiva - congrats on the pounds, official or not 126 is just awesome!

Shasha - that's fantastic! Congrats, it's so nice to have a goal like that. And from recent experience, I just finished my first 20km run last friday, it's not terrible and it only took 7 weeks I think, very doable.

Gekster - Hope you're feeling better tomorrow, you know I'm like that too, it's not so much the booze it's all the crap I eat when I'm drinking that makes me avoid it. Drink that water and you'll be back down in no time.

Mystical - that all sounds fantastic and awesome, let us know how dinner goes :)

Kim - Housewrok done, woohoo. I honestly have this set of index cards with a whole bunch of things written on them that I read when I start trying to talk myself into unplanned choices. But the one I use the most is that in my head I say "no" and leave the food area where the temptation is. It's weird but I just don't entertain it in my head to try and rationalize the eating b/c my stomach will win every time when I do that. Sometimes I scream no in my head too, lol. But the cards idea I got from the Beck Diet Solution book and it has a whole bunch of strategies that help to resist food and get back on track and examine why we stray. It's been very helpful, especially in the beginning and now I still carry around my cards but don't need them as much.

Jen7 - better late than never, welcome back :)

As you can tell, it's been a busy day since i'm only posting after lunch my goodness. But got my run in, my STing and my ab routine so that's marvelous. Some running around got stuck in the middle of all that and to top it off one of my dearest friends went into labour so it's been phone tagging with her sister trying to find out how things are going and since sister's in charge of holding the left foot, I can only get caught up on her smoke breaks. It's times like this that living 14 hours away from "home" is so hard. I might just have to plan myself another trip home soon. Dd is sort of napping so I'm going to go enjoy some alone time for a couple minutes before the chaos of dinner is upon us. TTFN!

Hi!
It's comeback day!...What am I at? attempt number 11 since last month? Sheesh.

Anyways, I need to have some sort of accountability because since the move things have pretty much gone to the dogs. I can't find the motivation to make a plan and stick to it, I guess I should count myself lucky that I have only gained a few pounds (I will WI officially tomorrow).

Tummy, Sandye and Ms. P.: WOW! You have done so well, I should take a page from your books and borrow some of that determination.

Anyway, I suppose accountability starts with actually coming and checking in regularly, which means I have to develop a new routine.

So my goals for November are:
-Check in at least once a day
-Start planning my food daily and stick to the plan

Oh yes, where are my manners? Should've said hello before going into my rant, so here it is: Hello everyone :wave:

Good OP day here...YIPPIE :cb:

NSM - Yeah! You're back, i've been hoping you'd show up sooner rather than later. I think the plsn sounds dandy we're going to call you out if you don't show up every day. You can do this :)

Susie - Awesome, just great, revel in the success and one day leads to another.

sounds like everyone is on track and staying motivated =)
HAPPY MONDAY everyone <3

today I weighed in at 177.5 lbs
so I have 8.5 lbs left to go for this challenge at least :P

Newshinyme - Good luck with everything. It's never too late for a new start.

Tummy Girl - I hope your friend is doing well

jen7 - Shopping is great therapy. I plan to do some more when I lose more weight :P

KimL1214 - I track my calories and allow for slip-ups to still be with-in my calorie limits :P so its not really a slipup =) but we're all human!

Ms Perception - Gotta love knowledge :P I google everything just to read more about random topics

iDream - Have fun with your mom and sister !

So this time change is seriously screwing me up! I've been wanting to eat everything in sight today!! I've controlled myself somewhat, but I went over my calories for today. Not a huge deal, but annoying all the same. I'm chewing gum like it is going out of style right now so I don't go to the fridge and eat the rest of the very, very yummy Shepherd's Pie I made for dinner.

Ok sorry, just had to vent!

Wow, girls! We've been chatty today!

NSM-YAY!! You're back! I'm so glad to see you're gonna be posting regularly again. I missed you, woman. Don't leave us like that agin. How's things with the house? You pretty settled now or still workin' on it?

Nella-Hmmm didn't think about the time change having that effect on people. Well, thankfully you've chosen gum instead. Good on you!

InControl-Yeah, I've been looking stuff up on body fat percentage and stuff to decide where I need to be. It's been good, but I've got this running list now of books I want to buy. I've checked out several from the library, but I want to WRITE notes in the books, so I have to dish out for them now! It's all good though.

KimL-I just plan the day after I go off plan to be sort of lighter, like more salads and fruits and veggies that I really like so I get alot of good flavor and as much whole food as possible. It seems to help me clean out (mentally) and move on. I always choose stuff I love so I WANT to do it.

So, I finished the day strong and feel great. Gotta get to bed early for my morning run. It's gonna be chilly!

WOW!!! sounds like everyone is doing well.. The transformation photos are awesome to see. You girls look great.

Shasha- 1/2 marathon!!!! You are awesome. YOu can do it. Team in Training has awesome training plans. What an awesome goal. I am cruising on my c25k plan, but my right knee is not cooperating. So we will see where this goes.

Rough day at work and I splurged on a burger. Good news though, ate it without a bun!!!!! :) Since I have been doing this plan for 2 1/2 months the chocolate that I did have a piece of today made me sick. :( yucky tasting almost. But I guess that is a good thing.

Finally broke 246 today. 245.8. I will take it. have a great day ladies!!!

Jen

Holy Cow--you ladies are already on page 7! I feel so bad that I have been so busy and away so much I haven't even had a chance to get online to check in. Will probably be that way until this upcoming Sat too.... :(
Well, my goal for November is to get to 225. I was going to aim for more, but I was horrible this Halloween weekend, and am sure the same will probably happen for Thanksgiving, so am going to put my goal a little lower. Haven't stepped on the scale to see the outcome of my gluttony this weekend, but I am sure it won't be pretty! I am dedicated to at least getting hardcore workouts in this week to try and make up for it. I started out today by running 1/2 hour!!!! I ran at a 5 on the treadmill, so I got over 2 1/2 miles in that time. My goal is eventually to get 10 minute miles, but still happy with my 1/2 hour today.
Well, hope I'll be able to check in a few times this week, but if not--I'll be back on Sat. Hope everyone is doing great!

Good morning ladies!!

Thanks for all the beatings--I surely needed them for my indiscretions...my gracious!

Mom is currently flat on her back doing her upper body ST'ing so she's definitely not going to be slacking on this vacation!! ;)

Got my workout in already and feeling so much better for it! :D Amazing how getting your workouts in 2 days in a row can just boost your mood!

Speaking of mood...I think I may have figured out why I was in such a funk last week. Hormones!! Since TOM was mia last month I'll all messed up cycle-wise and well, last week was my ovulation week. So maybe that had something to do with my laziness?! I dunno--but since TOM is a butt head, I'll just blame it on him. :lol:

Down a bit today--getting all that nasty sodium and sugar flushed out as best I can and plugging ever forward!!

Okay, girls, so I'm slacking on the personals! Big :hug: to you all and thanks again for the tough love and :kickbutt:!!!! Have a fantastic day and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Good morning, chickies!
If Sandye's scale is compatible with mine, I'm down 2.2. Not that I think it is, but at least I'll be able to keep track while I'm here. I did my ST today, first time in a while since I was feeling pretty bad last week, and had an injury the week before. Sandye looks AWESOME by the way! :yes:I was afraid she was going too far, but she looks perfect! Tiny, but not sickly. She looks better than she did as a teenager.

Welcome back, NSM!:wave:

Have a wonderful day, chickies!:dance:

Good morning, you lovely women!
I'm ready for another good, healthy day. I can't believe how much more ready I am to finish my weight loss and move on to maintenance now compared to last week. I think part of it is due to divine intervention and part of it is being ready to reach my current goal so I can change it to a more fitness oriented plan. I know I had previously whined about just wanting to reach goal and not keep changing it. I will keep on that path until I reach 135, but now I have direction for after that. I'll be focusing on body fat percentage and a related healthy weight. I am already proud of where I am and feel good about the work I've put in. I feel pretty darn confident that this is a lifestyle for me now and that I won't feel like I'm on or off a "DIET" when I switch to maintenance. Enough about me, though.

Sandye-I'm glad you were able to put your finger on what was funkifying you last week. It is harder to pintpoint when the cycle is messed up. Well, you got your groove on right now, so run with it! Have fun working mom out...don't take it easy on her, either! She deserves to see some good results this month!

jessica-I think most people are setting more modest holiday goals due to all the meals we can't control (except porions, of course). Great job on the run! You'll get your speed up, but you should really be proud of the amo0unt you've accomplished so far, for sure!!

jellofer-Yay on the small but significant move down!! I'm gonna try a new burger next weekend. The one I saw on TBL...it's a turkey burger with portabella mushroom cap bun. Sounds yummy, huh? I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

LTTG-Thanks for the update on Sandye! We want our girls healthy on here. ;) Enjoy the time with each other and keep up the good work!

I'm off to spend some QT doing measurements, laundry and then watch cartoons with DD...I need some down time. :)

Morning!

InControl - Congrats the drop! Yuppers mommie and baby are doing great.

Nella - I hope you survived yesterday without too much trouble, those days are brutal but so nice when they're over and we make mostly good choices.

MsP - That sounds marvelous! So if I may ask what BF% are you aiming for in maintenance? Are you moving your calories up to build you some more muscle, so share, lol.

Jellofer - Woohoo 245's :carrot:congrats. And wtg spluring but making accomodations, saved yourself some calories, not to mention refined flour!

Jessicado - WTG on the run, holy wow! It seems like yesterday when it was like 3 minutes. Hope you're firmly back on the wagon and we'll see you more on the weekend.

Sandye - LMAO you guys are too funny, it's honestly a weight loss spa, you should be charging her something for all this or at least getting some baby sitting out of it ;) Glad to hear you're back on track and hope to hear that on Monday too :) Have fun with the fam!

LTTG - LOL I'm so glad you're letting us know and she looks perfect to us too but good to have confirmation from a mom, they do know best ;)

Workouts done for the day which is always nice and my friend had a healthy baby girl yesterday to go with the healthy baby girl she already had who is already 3, like mine. Glorious day, pretty good labour and only a few stitches. Puts life in perspective those things do.

Have a great day chickies!

Good morning ladies!!!!

Ms.P - I think you are heading in the right direction. Health is more important than the scale number. I'm going to try that burger with the mushroom cap bun as well. DH can't eat wheat, but he loves portabellas. What a great idea! We haven't had burgers at home in forever!

Sandye - Glad you are back in your groove!! I know you struggled last week, but hormones will do that to ya. Have fun with mom & sis!!!!!

LTTG - I think you and Sandye are going to be great motivators for each other this week!!! Enjoy your visit!

Jess - I bow down to you on the running! You rock! I can only dream of the day that I can say I ran 2.5 miles!

Jello - Glad to see you again! Let's keep that scale moving on down!

Nothing too exciting here. Just chugging along. Made myself do 30DS last night. I felt better after I did. The darkness makes me sad because I want to be outside at night jogging. And when it's dark, I want to munch. And it was gloomy and overcast all day yesterday, so I was feeling those munchies! Down to 170.2 this morning. I would have liked to see a 16x, but all in due time.

Have a great one!

hello ladies sounds like things are going well for everyone. I am just checking in before I take my son to school... I am feeling much better about things, we hade baked chicken with mixed veggies and brown rice for dinner last night. We will be going to the gym on Wed, Thur, Fri, and Sat. The off days from the gym I am doing 30DS and resistant bands. I'll check in when I get back and do personalls then... Hope you all have a great day :)

Sandye and LTTG - I hope yall have a great time visiting. I’m glad travel went nice and safe. Enjoy keeping each other on track.

Kim - Plan Plan Plan! Also, get the crap out of your house. If it’s not there you can’t mindlessly grab and eat it. Also, sometimes if I am really wanting a snickers or something I tell myself I can have it if I just wait to go get it until after I workout and then I go get on my elliptical or do a DVD or something. After the workout I’m all sweaty and red and I’m not going to the store like that, so I need to cool down for 15 minutes or so and by then I don’t want it anymore. Still wanting it after all that has only happened once for me, and I took my butt down to the store and got it (trail mix) and after the first couple bites I didn’t want it, go figure!

Jessica - I can’t wait until I can run that much, I’m just now getting to 2 8 minute runs. With about a 4 minute walk in between.

Tummy - Glad things went well for your friend and that you managed not to explode with the stress of worrying while so far away.

Nella - I’m sorry about the weather making you want to munch. Look at that scale though! That comes from being stronger than the munchies. You will have your 16x in no time.


The 191.6 on my scale a couple times yesterday was telling me it would be here soon. It is here today. Woohoo! I don’t think I’ll lose another .6 before tomorrow to make my weekly weigh in goal, but that’s ok. I’m not 193 so I’m a happy happy girl. It won’t be long now before my i.d. card is not lying (it says 190) and then it won’t be long before it is lying again in a happier way. I’m trying to be a very good girl because next week is going to be hard. Hubby’s birthday is on the 11th and he will want to be eating all week long. He is definitely a celebrate with food type of person. I found out last night that I was wrong about him putting a cup of sugar in his 64 oz. coffee mug too - he told me he puts 2 cups, I about had a heart attack. I doubt I will ever be able to get him to stop that particular bad habit, so I’m just going to work on the other ones. Last night we had pork and sauerkraut with potatoes. I used to slice the potatoes and then fry them in a bunch of oil (sometimes bacon grease, cringe) and then load them down with salt. Last night we sliced them and cooked them on the foreman grill and put a bit of sea salt on them. He added extra salt to his, but he did enjoy the less greasy version, lol. I have decided to just go with my own version of couch to 5K. I am doing a week 4.5 this week. Last night I ran for 8 minutes twice. Tomorrow I plan to do 9 or 10 minutes twice and then 10 -12 on Friday. I’m just going to keep working on it until I am running for 30 minutes. After that I am going to work on running for however long it takes me to run 5K and then I’ll work on cutting the 5K time down to 30 minutes. I am hoping that I will be able to run a 5K in 30 minutes by March and that I can run a half marathon by June, even if I’m the last one finished.

FGG - OMG!! 2 cups of sugar!! I would die of sugar overload! Your potatoes sound yummy! I'll have to try them! GL with your modified C25K!

Tummy - I just realized how close you are to goal!! And my goodness 70+ pounds since May! I would love to hear your whole story soon! Keep on rockin' it out!

Okay, back on track since the trip. Got rid of all the candy so that isn't a problem, its just keeping the snacking under control. I am sticking to a plan throughout the week because I am at school all day so before dinner I am at 800 calories. It is just figuring out what to have for dinner. Any ideas for easy and quick meals? I know crockpots are great, but unfortunately we don't have one yet. Thanks guys.

This challenge is exactly what I need to get my modivation back up.

My goal from november is to reach my mini-goal of 225, that will mean I will have to lose 13 lbs this month.

Starting Weight: 238
Goal Weight: 225

Tummy-I'm not done figuring it all out, but I'm going to shoot to keep my body fat between 21-24% (fitness level). Of course, it's hard to say with certainty how that'll go since I'm using my body fat scale and an online calculator to determine my BF, not a professional one (although I've considered having it done). It should put my maintenance weight between 123-127 or near there. Another good reason for not committing to it yet this month is that I still have lots of learning to do. If anyone knows any good books on the subject, let me know! Yeah, I have no idea what kind of calorie range I'd have for that purpose. Now, I realize how much I have to think about and figure out this month!

This is my first challenge. Put me down for 8 pounds to hit 190. I usually gain weight over the holidays, so this will help keep me focused...I love a good challenge!



Jen
:dancer:

I would like to lose 8 lbs in november! That gives me 2 lbs a week. It might be hard because I have to find creative new ways to exercise(no gym and I am in class from dark until dark!)

Hey, im Joelle and this is my first challenge. I am starting tomorrow and i cant wait to start losing = D. This month im going to go for 7 pounds. Wish me luck. Ill do the same!

hey girls... this is my 1st challenge and i will go for 8 pounds this month... im very confident :)

Hello ladies. I know, where has jellofer been???? Well, I think I have been enjoying the mid 240's. It is nice to bee here, but now it is time to got further. I know I have said that I am going back to induction, but tonight, I really am. in less than 2 weeks we have a houseful of friends and family coming for the weekend and I would like to be at a nice happy 239. In order for that 2 happen I must kick it in the butt!!! With that comes induction. Plus, 2 days after they all leave it is back to the doctor for a weigh in. I want to be below 240 when i get there. I have also been alittle overwhelmed with our house. we moved in 3 years ago from a tiny, easy townhouse. Now we have land and a big hard house. Lots of work and chores. So I have been painting bedrooms and the like. I also have class 2 days a week and a fulltime job that just gets more and more stressful each day. So, enough whining. Back to what I do best......carb counting and losing weight. (ok, I just got good at it in august.) :) I have started Physical therapy for a tight low back and hip and had developed wild knee pain and swelling since starting c25K about 5 weeks ago. today the physical therapist has put a halt on my running for at least the next week. Which is a really blow to the already shaky psyche as I was up to one straight mile at 5.5 mph pace. So it is off to the elliptical I go. Things will get better. I always said that this lifestyle change isn't hard yet.....but the past 2 weeks have been kinda rough. So here I am catchin up with my peeps!!! Most of you know that I quit on October. Wasn't working out the way I'd like it to. This is gonna be my month. 234 lbs. What a way to spend turkey day!!!!

Mrsmonkeylover, Izzystizzy and Afchick Welcome to you all!!! This really is the greatest place for all things weightloss!!! Best wishes to you all this month.

Essa415 Welcome!!! Morton, IL huh? I have family in Morton! We will have to chat! My cousin wants me to come doin in June for the steamboat run or something like that? Have you every heard of it?

Fitgirlygir Great progress on c25k training. it is so rewarding and empowering isn't it. I looked forward to running every chance I could. And about your husband......They are so hard to change. Mine will ask me if I want a grilled cheese or a roll to go with my meal at least 4 times a week. Hello, I haven't eaten bread in 10 weeks, but that is ok. We still love them right?

Mystical Your dinner sounded yummy!!!

Nella Thanks for the support. It is nice to be missed.

Tummy 245 was just a taste. Back up to 246 today, but too much salt is the culprit and probably will hold true tomorrow, but that is ok. I have already started making adjustments. I will make my goal. Now you on the other hand. Great job with your progress!!! Like I said before and I will keep sayin it, HOT!!!!! LIke the Fairy Godmother told Cinderella, "If the shoe fits, wear it sister!" :)

MsP I loved the turkey burger idea. I just am not a fan of portobello mushrooms. I jsut eat mine without the bun. My niece calls it cheese burger salad. I like a little lettuce and tomato on my burger.

You all are doing great. Just coming to the website and opening up about your struggles and accomplishments is something to be proud of. Don't forget to look for those non scale victories. Sometimes we forget about them and they can mean more than any number on a scale!!!

Look out 234.......I comin to get ya!!!! Just like Debbie Harry says, "One way or another I'm gonna find ya, I'm gonna getchya!!!!

have a great night ladies. Sending lots of love and light out to my peeps!!!!

Jen

Hi all! This will be my first challenge. I'm starting at 181, but that's the low point of my fluctuations. (Yesterday I was 183.) So my goal for the month is to hit 175 by Thanksgiving and maintain that through the end of the month.

My exercise goal is to start Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred tomorrow and do that mondays thru fridays.

I also plan to stop smoking tomorrow! I hope I can handle all this!

SW:185
CW:181
GW:135

Hi All,
It has been a long while since I have posted. I have been lurking however and am pretty up to date on what is going on with everyone. Congrats on all the losses in October.

I have officially graduated from my big ole aircast to a lesser brace so have been starting a bit of working out again. I have to take it easy so am going to postpone P90X until the new year to give my achilles time to heal up a bit more. In the meantime I am going to do a low impact version of TurboJam.

Weight wise, I have maintained since being in my aircast but haven't lost any additional weight. I am back and fully committed to my journey again this month. So far so good.

I look forward to chatting with everyone more this month and excited to work towards a new November Goal.

Hello,

I'm new to this, but I think I understand how it works.

My goal is to lose 10 pounds this month. I think I can do it...I just put some new tunes on my IPod that are awesome songs that I can't wait to listen to. I am going to start exercising tomorrow for the first time in a year! Can't wait.

So I'm down for losing 10 lbs this month!

I also plan to stop smoking tomorrow! I hope I can handle all this!



Good luck with that! It is a hard but rewarding experience. If you feel like smoking go on a walk and get your heart rate up. The best way to curb cravings is exercise!!

Well,I lost half of the Sunday weight, I'm sure I would have lost more but yesterday MIL brought burgers and fries and then later brought cake! I couldn't resist it all but I did only eat half a burger, part of a fry, and a modest size piece of cake. Luckily I had already made some super healthy beef/shiitake/bok choy soup so I filled myself up on that. We are getting ready to eat the rest of the soup for supper.
I think PMS is looming because I have felt so hungry today, but so far have controlled myself.
Sandye and LTTG Have fun visiting! I love visiting my parents and I see them almost every weekend!

Gekster - I cook large batches of things like brown rice, polenta, beans, etc. and portion it in freezer safe dishes and freeze it. It then takes just a minute in the micro. You can also do frozen veggies in the micro very fast. Even some things that I don’t freeze I do a lot of the prep work ahead of time - like fixing a meatloaf up to the point of baking the night before. On nights I know I will be short of time I make sure I plan a main course that cooks quickly - fish is very frequent on these nights along with boneless chicken breast.

Jellofer - I’m sorry the doc said no running. I hope you heal quickly. Just think of it as time to experiment with other exercise. Yes, I am loving C25K and I love hubby too, that’s why I wish he would eat better.

Lauranna - You can do it. You are stronger than your addictions.


Mostly I had to come by to say that I accidentally did 61 minutes and 38 seconds on my elliptical instead of the 45 minutes I had planned for. I read somewhere that if you force yourself to smile while working out it tricks your brain into thinking it is easier. I tried it when I got to the point where it was getting tough and then before I knew it I had a pain in my foot from being on the ribbed foot pedals for so long and when I looked I had done 61 ½ minutes. OMG! I had never gone past 45 before. My foot is a bit sore, but I’m so happy!

Hey Ladies,

Thanks for all the well wishes. :) I went to the doctor today and she said it was a stomach bug. I am feeling much better today. I am down to 212, I know with help from the bug. XD I need to loose 4 pounds this week to get on my mini goal of 2 pounds per week for my Valentine's Day goal. Welp, I gotta go do some school things. And I really don't have anything else to report. ;)

:ebike:

<3 We Can Do It Ladies.

My plan is to get to 162 by December 1. I will be accountable to 1400 cal max each day and a minimum of 60 minutes per day of exercise.

goal for this challenge (page 2) - 169lbs by Dec. 1
start weight: 179
current weight: 177 (monday weigh-in)
lbs lost since challenge began - 2
lbs left to go until end of challenge -8

Good luck everyone <3 I hope everyone is staying on track

Miss Malee - Glad you are feeling better from the stomach bug

kris2008 - welcome to the challenge :D

FitGirlyGirl - Great job on the elliptical. I cover the time with my iPhone lol and try not to focus on the time :P

ruth135 - SOUNDS SO YUMMY. I dont know if I could resist if someone brought me that food like that . Great job resisting and eating something else.

MathGirl87 - Welcome to the challenge :D

nellonello - Good luck~

Lauranna - I've been wanting to try the 30 DS. Good luck with it! I hear it's brutal in a good way lol

jellofer2 - Wow sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Good luck and great job staying on track!

Good morning ladies!!! :D

Just a quick post again--things are going great here! I've stayed POP, got my workouts in every day--not waking up any later than 5:30 :carrot: and feeling pretty good.

My stomach as been bugging me the past couple of days--I've been getting a stabbing kind of pain right in the middle of my gut--not my stomach exactly, but more like right under my belly button. So far it seems better today, but we'll see how the rest of the day pans out.

Mom is doing great--working out, journaling her food and inspiring my hubby to workout!!! At least that's what I think got him up and outta bed and onto the treadmill this morning. ;)

Not sure what the plans are for today, but tomorrow we're heading down south a bit to take in the Fall colors and do some poking around some cute little shops--Just the Girls!!! :carrot: I'm excited! :hyper:

Down a bit more today--137.2--so that weekend weight is coming off!

Okay, gotta run, almost time for the boys to go to school. Have a great day ladies and I'll catch up with you later! :) And don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Good morning all! Today has already been a very nice day and it's only just begun. I've done all my healthy things...water, vitamin, exercise, and healthy breakfast. And I'm looking forward to spending some girl time with my mom (Must be the theme for the week!) getting haircuts and hopefully shopping. I hope she's up for a little time at Goodwill because I could really use some pants in my size. Either way, it'll be nice to have the time with her. My dad's watching the little one which will make it MUCH more relaxing! ;) Still retaining some major water weight, since my previously loose rings now fit again. Thankfully it'll be outta here soon and I'll be starring down goal! Hope everyone enjoys their day and makes it count!

Good morning chikies!!!

So I am proud to say I have hit a new decade!!! 168.8 this morning!!!!!

Gotta run, but was just too excited to not share!!!

InControl2Day :wave:

iDream Glad to see you are having a great time. I hope your stomach is better today :hug:
You are so awesome girl it makes me really believe that I an do this I just have to keep going and never give up thanks for all the motivation it really helps. :goodvibes

Ms Perception :cp:Great job!!! You are doing so well.
Sounds like you are going to have a fun and relaxing day. I'm so jealous LOL Have a great time. :)

Nella :woohoo::woohoo: Way to go girl... Keep up the great work!!! Thanks so much for sharing I love to hear how everyone is doing.... You are doing a great job! :congrat:

Today is a great day I am drinking my water, have taken my vitamin, and I am feeling better so I get to go to the gym tonight can't wait . I am off to go grocery shopping today and I have my list so I should do well with that today. I also bought a steamer last night and I am so excited to use it. :) Hope you ladies all have a wonderful day. I'll catch up with you later!

HI Chickies!
Was running around all day yesterday so I didn't make it in here.
Today I am only doing a quick accountability post as I have to go get ready to go downtown for an appointment, but I will come by later today and try and catch up at least a bit.
Food yesterday was not too good, way too much crap and of course I didn't keep track of anything. Today I am off to a better start and I have counted everything so far, granted, it's only been breakfast but still...

I missed you all too, so I am really looking forward to spending lots of time with you again. BTW, where is Delphi?

Ok ladies, gotta run or I will be late. TTYL :wave:

Hey Ladies,

Welcome, kris2008!! You're going to love it here.

Thank you, InControl2Day. :)

I hope your "stomach" feels better, Sandye!!

I hope you have a great girls' day, Ms Perception.

Nella: :congrat: !!

I'm doing much better today, but I'm still staying home from school. I'm going to try to get in my regular eating habits, or at least eating something at regular intervals. And I think that it wasn't water weight I lost while I was sick since I've been drinking so much water and the scale still says 212 and I even got to eat some normal food yesterday. XD

So, hopefully I can get everything on track again for tomorrow.

<3 We Can Do It Ladies!!

Hey girls! Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday! Me on the other had I am having a real craving day! I don't know whats in the air and where Mr. Willpower is to but its an aweful feeling! Good thing there is no chips and bars here, instead I have eat about 5 of those mini oranges lol! I really got to start making time to write my food down and stay accountable to myself! Goodness motivation is sometimes the hardest thing to find!! And actually since the baby is actually asleep, I SHOULD be on my treadmill!!
On a good note, my bf is still trying to eat healthy, and I am so happy!!! Therefore I must not fall off the wagon, because I know he'll follow right after me!
Seems like everyone is doing well, a big hello to a few new members! Anyways girls I will adjust my thinking!!!:)

Nella, congrats on the new decade. I am jealous. My current decade is getting old! :) How awesome do you feel!!!! Enjoy it and just think the next one is already in your sights!!!!

To all the ladies spending time with mom's today.......I say wonderful. I am in fact off to do the same thing.

Did not even bother to weigh today. Way too much salt yesterday. But so far today darn near perfect on plan. (i typed it out, burns more calories) :)

jen7, InControl2Day, peachykeen62, kris2008~ :wave:

Tummy Girl~ The cards ides sounds like a great one! Congrats to your friend!

Newshinyme~ Sounds like you have some great goals!

Nella~ My boss had Shepherd’s Pie for lunch Monday and I was definitely drooling. How long have you been doing 30DS?

Ms Perception~ That’s a great idea! You’re such an iinspiration!

jellofer2 ~ Congrats on breaking 246!

jessicado22~ Wow! 2.5 miles is awesome!

iDream~ TOM sucks! Good to hear you’re back at it! Congrats on your loss and staying OP!

Late to the game~ Congrats on being down 2.2!

mystical~ Sounds like a busy gym week!

FitGirlyGirl~ I’m taotally trying the smile thing! I cleaned out my apartment when I live alone which helped a lot, but now I live with a roommate and her two kids who eat nothing but junk. I wish we had more cupboards and then I would split our food up so I would have no reason to go into the cupboards with all her junk food and be tempted.

Gekster~ If you have enough time to boil noodles and cook hamburg, I have a good cheesy chili mac recipe by weight watchers.

Essa415, AFChick, mrsmonkeylover, Lauranna, MathGirl87~ WELCOME!

nellonello~ Great job maintaining! You must be psyched to be starting back up!

ruth135~ Great control and filling up on something healthy to minimize the unhealthy!

Miss Mallee~ Good to hear you’re feeling better!

Everyone cross your fingers for me… We have a ton of kids out with the swine flu right now and I am quickly coming down with a fever and aches… I don’t want it! Going home to nap…

Jello - Thanks!! It does feel good! I think weigh less now than when I met DH. So that feels especially awesome.

Kim - OMG that Shepherd's Pie was so yummy! I'll have to make it again next week, but leave out the cheese and butter, lol. It took up a lot of my calories, but I needed a comfort food with all this dark early stuff. I've been 30DS on and off for about 2 months. I haven't made it to level 3 yet, but I switch back and forth between 1 & 2. Some moves are hard for me still, but the cardio is getting much easier. I hope you don't get sick!!

NSM - I hope your day goes better today!!!

Miss Mallee - Hope you've kicked this bug you've got!

Jen - You stay on that wagon! And hop on that treadmill while you are at it!! You can do it!

Mystical - Thanks!!! I'm glad you are back with us for November! Hope you got lots of healthy yummies at the store this morning!

Sandye & LTTG - Hope your visit is going great!! Way to keep each other accountable! Sandye, I hope your tummy issue goes away.

It's been an OK day here. Started out great with the number in the 160's, but some stressful things have popped up again with DH's ex (seems like this is every week). A day in the life of a step-mom. I'm trying to not let it bother me, but I did down some candies that a co-worker brought it. I think she did it on purpose knowing I was having a rough day and she's kind of jealous that I am losing and she's not. But it's because she's not trying at all! I hate when people sabotage you.

i weighed myself today and I am down to 169 from 170.2lbs. yayyy. Wow i was stuck at 170.2 for the longest time.

Congrats Sweettooth! Thanks for joining me in the 160's!

:wave: girls!

:welcome: to all our newbies!

Sorry I've been MIA. My body is rebelling against the hour change and schedule change. I am so not a morning person! The new job is a mind challenge for sure. TOM finally decided to show his face (2 weeks late!) which is good and bad: good because it means I'm ok, bad because...well, it's TOM! :lol: My WI for this week is out the window for sure. :dz:

:grouphug:

Gym was good today, stayed for about an hour and a half. I upped the amount of weight used so I may be sore tomorrow, but that's fine with me, I like it! I also signed up for towel service hoping that since I am paying money I will go more often. I am also thinking about signing up for a few sessions with a personal trainer, but it is $30/ session and I don't know if I can justify that when I am already going and doing it on my own. I just feel like someone pushing me would be good.. Not a Jillian, but more of a Bob type of trainer.

KimL- I would love a recipe. It sounds like the good ol' hamburger helper I used to have before I realized how bad it was for you!

Hey Ladies,

Just wanted to pop my head in today, very busy round here and then off to Edmonton tomorrow for the doctor and some shopping.

But I had some marvelous news, I just found out today that I got accepted to the personal trainer program that I applied for. It's a huge departure for me but I finally decided that I'm going to follow my passion and try to help other people do this, for a living. It will also teach me all the things I want to know about diet and exercise, lol. It's a two year program so I have lots of time to figure out maintaining thing before starting to work. But the reason I didn't know if I'd be accepted is I'm a remote student and I had some essays and interviews and things and the program has to be tailored a bit for me since I can't go to class on campus. I'm super excited so I thought I'd share.

I'll be back tomorrow morning to catch up with everyone if I have time before we head out.

Tummy that's great news!!!!!

Tummy That's great news I know you will be an awesome trainer. If we didn't live so far apart I would be your first client LOL... keep me posted on how things are going with it... Talk to you tomorrow :)

I must start this entry by apologizing. I haven't been on here at all since my first post. I think I should add that to my goal...be online everyday and throw in some support. :)

So I'm hoping I haven't missed too much.

My update is as follows. There is no update. :( I haven't done a darn thing. Well, actually, that's a lie. I did perfect on my first day and was doing perfect on my second day until my mom brought out a lemon cake. One slice turned into three. It's been downhill ever since.

I AM getting back on track tomorrow. No if's and's or but's. I know I can do it. I've done it before!

Have a great night ladies.

Tummy...congrats on the acceptance!

Great news Tummy :carrot:

Another good day here.
To keep out of the kitchen during my binge time...
I'm spending afternoons cleaning manure out of my barn with a skid loader instead of scarfing down sweets :cool:

Tummy- great to hear the news!!!! That is one of my goals. I feel that it may help me in my maintainance. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Susiemartin- what a great way to get in a workout and to avoid the sweets!!!

Jen

Tummy-That ROCKS!! I'm SO super excited for you!!! That is totally something I've considered doing myself, but I wouldn't think about it until DD2 is in school and we're settled in our new house. A woman can only have so many things on her plate at once! LOL I just wanted to throw in my congrats! I'm totally jealous!!

Susie-Yay on the barn cleaning instead of sweets! It's nice to have the distraction I guess.

moon fairy-Glad you're here and ready to restart. The month is young yet and it's all yours. You can do this!

Girls, I had a truly unbelievable experience at Goodwill today. I tried on 6's by accident (they were marked 8 on the GW tag) and they nearly fit nicely. Once I looked at the inside tag and saw they were 6's I was going to put them back....like, 'what? I'm not worthy to wear 6's?' I'm so weird! Anyway, my mom made me buy them because they will fit nicely in a few more pounds and she was so incredibly thrilled for me. I still don't believe I fit 6's, but it was a nice surprise.

Good morning girls!!!
Nella~ congrats on the new decade! :woohoo:

Tummy~ thanks for adding my goals to the exercise thread and congrats on getting accepted to the program!!! You'll make an uber awesome trainer!! Any chance you'd be willing to come out my way for a personal session? ;)

MsP~ :woohoo: on the 6's!!!! It's amazing isn't it? I mean, you almost can't get your head around it sometimes--we're really doing it! We're changing our bodies so much!!!

Well girls, just a quick post--I feel bad for not doing more personals, but I'm afraid that's how just how it's going to be until after the holidays. After my mom and sister head back home :cry: then I'll be in full blown holiday prep mode and things will get really busy. I do intend on checking in daily, but I think I'll have to keep the personals to a once a week type of thing.

We're heading down south today for a Girls Day Out and I'm so excited!! I really need the time away from the house with grown up people who don't whine or need me to wipe something. :lol:

Down a bit more today--weekend weight is slowly but surely making it's way off of me--I'm still crazy bloated though :rolleyes:.

Well, best hop in the shower so we can hit the road soon. Mom's working out as I type, so she's doing fabulous!! Go mom go!!!! :cheer:

You ladies have a wonderful day and be sure to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

MsP. 6!!!! you are so deserving of them. Like I told Tummy if the shoe fits wear it sister!!!! I bet you felt invincible! I know I would. I am so proud of you!!!

IDream sounds like you and I are both gonna be crazy busy for the next few weeks. It is so great to see all your jumping smilies!!! They make me smile. As for getting mom working out, that is great. Mine just has a bunch of excuses and always says sorry for whatever she cooks. Oh well.....her time will ocme. Enjoy your girls day out! You have so earned it.

Sending love and light out to my peeps!!!

Hey Chickies

Just a quick check - in. This is my super busy no time to breathe week and so I've not even really had time to keep up with the thread. I did see that Tummy had news so I went and checked it out and wow. Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any more of an inspiration to me... you go and do it again. Personal trainer..... there are not words to describe how very cool I think you are right now. Way to go, I know you're going to be fantastic!

As for me... man, it's been a rough week. DH's birthday and he wanted to go to an all you can eat buffet. I did OK... not great, not anything like I would have once upon a time. Pot luck during parent teacher conferences tonight so I made brownies and homemade corn chowder last night, both are delish but it took up most of my free time.... and now I'm frantically trying to print out grade reports and such for conferences. I'll be at work until after 8pm tonight so this is likely all the free time I've got. Hope everyone is doing well.

Hey ladies,

Thanks for all the woohoo's it's going to be a long haul, 2 more years of school and then certification and such but for once I'll actually want to know about what I'm learning. Well that starts in January so I've got some time for a slower pace of life until then, and to ripe off these last 11 pounds. Mystical, I may be in your neck of the woods before anyone else's so you'll have a deal ;)

Going to run off to the big city now, Ms P Holla! 6's girl, that's fantastical I'd be wearing those things muffin or no muffin, strut it out! Sandye - enjoy your day out!! Run, be free and go to the bathroom all by yourself!

Back tomorrow to get really catch up. Oh and I cracked 151 today, just, but I've been at 152 bouncing around for something like 5 days so that was nice :)

Tummy-Yay on the glimpse of 151! It's always good to see SOMETHING lower, even if it's small.

SG-Wow! I hope the days goes smoothly and is over before you know it! I hear ya on the buffet. My DH or parent still want to go there and I've got some strategies that help and no matter what, it's a far cry from what I capable of eating a year ago! Yay, progress!

Sandye-I had to smile at your "full-blown holiday prep" comment. At my mom's yesterday, she has basically turned their one spare room into a Christmas gift organization and wrapping station! It's really a good idea, though. She's gonna be so ahead of the game. It made me realize I should get myself in gear too!

Today is another healthy day here. I feel just amazing and look forward to seeing what this month has in store for me. Tonight I was invited to a Ladies Night Out by some of DH's co-workers which is gonna be fun. They're nice ladies and fun to be around, so I'm looking forward to it. I've already pre-chosen my meal at the restaurant they chose. Thank heavens for online menus since I'd never been there before. I'll let ya know how it all goes. I better go hit the shower now. I've got some cleaning to do around here. Got 2 kids home sick today, but thankfully it's just a fever and cough so far. They seem to be doing pretty fine now.

Sorry have been mia for a few days, but I'm still keeping up to date on your lives. :) We have entered a really busy period of work so that means probably overtime on weekends if we can't catch up, so thats why I'm sparse on the boards. But really quick, just wanted to say CONGRATS tummy on being accepted into the PT program. I know I have said it a bunch, but you really are an inspiration to us all. Also MsP- Yay on getting into size 6's. Thats amazing. I don't check in for a couple days and you guys have all this fantastic news. As for me, I'm doing good with my diet/exercise. No loss (or gain thank goodness), but I certainly don't deserve it the way I have been eating halloween candy.

Mornin!
It's a dark and rainy here day, so I am having a slow start. So I will take the time to do personals today while I drink my coffee :D

I'm still not back in the groove and I am still searching for a good motivator to keep me going. I think the problem is that I have not actually taken some quiet time to actually think about what I want and why I want it. I must do that really soon.

:welcome: to all our new girls!

Nella: Congrats! :cheer: So happy for you :D. Sorry to hear that you hit a rough spot though. Saboteurs suck!

Miss Mallee: :hug:

jen7: Hang in there, the cravings will pass and then eating well will become second nature. It's awesome that BF is doing this with you. Nothing better than having support at home.

KimL1214: Thanks! ...Oh no, hope you are not getting sick, the bug seems to be going around everywhere. Take care of yourself.

sweettooth: Congrats!

Shari: I hear you! I still have a hard time getting up every morning. Glad to hear you're ok.

Gekster: Hey girl! It's been a long time since you and I were together in the thread. So you're going to a gym now? That is awesome. I think getting a trainer for a few sessions would be good, it probably helps with accountability.

Tummy: Congrats!! Are you going to do long distance training? I would totally be your client :D

moon fairy: Don't apologize. We all have different schedules and there is no right or wrong way to do this. Come when you can. But I can tell you, the more I am here, the better I do. The support here is great!

susie: Yay on tht good day!.. I had to laugh at your strategy though.. I am sure cleaning manure would definitely take my mind off food :lol:

Ms. P.: Hi girlie! I missed you too!! I am so happy to be back :). You are almost a size 6! That is amazing you incredible shrinking woman :D. I am so happy for you. I suppose it will be time for a new profile picture really soon to see how much nicer you look :D. Oh, and have fun tonight.


Sandye: Hope the visit with mom is going great. Say hi from me. Enjoy your day out too.

jellofer: Hi! :wave:

SG: I got tired just from reading your post. Hope you can get some time for yourself really soon.

shasha: Hi there! At least you are maintaining, huh?

Ok...I am semi caught up here, and at least I feel like I am with you all again. I guess it's time to go do something around the house. See you later!

Hey NSM, good to see you! The university I'm at now has this brand new state of the art gym that I have started going to. The fee for it is in the tuition so I've been paying for it for over a year without using it! It is very fancy and nice. I've always talked myself out of going because it is nearly a mile off the main campus, so by the time I get there I already feel like I've had my workout! But its cool. I enjoy it and have a goal of going 3 times a week.. gotta get my money's worth!

iDream I completely understand about being busy with all the holiday prep.... It gets really crazy sometimes doesn't. You and your mom are doing so welll I am proud of you both keep up the good work:dancer: you ladies ROCK! Enjoy your day out :flow2:

jellofer2 :wave: Hope you having a wonderful day and I hope the holidays don't get to :crazy: for you...

Shrinking Girl Sounds like you have a crazy schedule today so I will send you some :goodvibes to get through your day... Hope tomorrow you will be able to get a little relaxation. :D

Tummy Girl I am going to hold you to that deal :yes: :lol3: You have always inspired me, when I am down, or just need some motivation to get through my day they you are helping me out. You are going to do great. I am so very happy for you. :woohoo: 151 that is great... See I told you that you are my motivation !!

Ms Perception Hope the kids feel better soon! You have a great night out and way to go on pre planning your meal.. I would have to agree with you "Thank goodness for online menus" Let us know how it goes :)

shasha17a Glad to see you back... :cp: Good job on maintaining. Keep up the good work with your diet/exercise.

Newshinyme :wave: Hope you have a wonderful day! Sometimes we get so busy in life we forget to take out time for ourselves... I am trying to do that as well...

There I think I got everyone today if I missed anyone I am sorry.

As for me I am having a wonderful day. I am eating POP and last night I used my new steamer and had some wonderful veggies for dinner YEAH!!! DH and I also went to the gym and had a great workout.. Will be going back again tonight. We have finally got a schedule for the gym around work. Can't believe it my schedule is finally falling into place... I'll keep you posted how it goes. :)

I am going to lose 8lbs in the month of November! :carrot:

Can someone tell me how to add the cute weight loss tickers you have at the bottom of your posts? Thank you!

Miss Mallee - I’m behind on my V-day goal too. Don’t try to catch it up all in one week, especially not after being sick. I’m glad you are feeling better.

Sandye - I’m glad your visit is going well and congrats on getting some more of that weekend weight gone. I hope your day out goes well, sounds like much needed fun.

Ms. P - Way to go on the size 6! I’m in agreement with your mom and I’m glad she made you get them. Congrats!

Nella - Congrats on the new decade.

Sweettooth - Congrats!

Gekster - I’m having the same debate with myself about hiring a trainer.

Tummy - Congrats on getting into the program. From how supportive you are to others on here, I think you would be a great trainer. Congrats on the 151 too.

SG - I hope conferences go smoothly.


I ran 10 minutes straight yesterday!:dizzy: I was so amazed. It was less than 2 months ago that 1 minute was killing me. I ran the 10 and then 2 3s and 2 2s and 3 30 second sprints at 7.5 and 8mph. I ran a total of 21 ½ minutes, take that Mr. Evil Treadmill!:carrot: Now I need to work on cutting down the walk break times to get all the running smooshed together. I also went last night with hubby to our first dance lesson (my onederland reward). We started learning the basics of east coast swing. We had a blast and will be going on Wednesday nights from now on. I love that I have a hubby who actually enjoys such things. He wants to go next week, even on his birthday. I met my new doc today and luckily, he is just as much a sweetie as the last one (who got out of the air force and moved away:(). It was so nice to hear a doc tell me that I’m doing a good job and to keep it up instead of having to hear the diet, exercise, and smoking lectures I used to have to endure. Tonight I am going to try to be brave enough to try again at attending an OA meeting, I had myself all psyched up for it last week and it was weather cancelled. Now time for lunch and some extra water since due to running around all morning I am behind in water consumption, sorry Sandye, I’ll be better, I promise.

MathGirl and Fit GirlyGirl Thanks for the encouragement! Today is day 2 of no smoking.

InControl2Day 30 Day Shred really kicked my butt. Thank God it's only about 20 minutes long.

I'm not having much progress on this November goal so far, but I'm hanging in there. I'm really glad to have found these forums. You are all inspirational!

Hi all! I'm having a truly crazy week. It always seems that when I commit to staying OP life just.....happens! I swear it feels as if I'm being tested. Really, how much family/friend drama can one person handle before you open the fridge and eat everything in sight? :dizzy:

On the upside, I'm trying to squeeze in more exercise and stay away from the junk food that I swear is calling my name. I've cleaned out the cabinets and still I hear Dunkin Donuts whispering softly to me in my dreams. :devil:

Wishing everyone the strength to reach their goals!

SW: 146.5
CW: 145 :D

I'm a bit late joining the challenge, but hope that's ok. My goal for November is to lose 7lbs by the end of the month, I think that's realistic and doable :)
CW 193.1
GW 186.1

Welcome to all the newbies!! Good luck!!

So I'm home today because SD has the piggy flu!!! Yuck!! I've been getting some deep cleaning in, which is nice, but I think in a bit I'm gonna throw on a JM's dvd. DH is supposed to come home around lunch time after he finishes what he has to get done at work, so then I can go in to work and nto have to use up a whole sick day.

I'll check in a bit later. Have a great day everyone!!

Hellooo Chickies

Just a quick drive by (I promise I'll catch up soon!) to let everyone know I survived yesterday! I ate decently at the potluck lunch and was worried about dinner since I ate more for lunch than I normally would. But... you know what? I found I wasn't hungry for dinner! I ate a small snack and that was that! It gives me a lot of hope that one day all my calorie counting might become automatic! Yippee!

I saw 195.2 on the scale today but I don't trust it as I'm dehydrated from yesterday. Hopefully it'll still be there tomorrow!

Happy Friday everyone!

NSM-Please take the time to sit and think or read or whatever will work best for you to focus on what you want out of all this. You are SO worth the time investment and it will help you to focus on a plan to reach your goals. I'm just so thrilled to see you posting again!

SG-I bet you'll see that pretty 195 on the scale again. You've been doing so well. Isn't it great when we listen to our bodies and they tell us we're fine...we don't need a big meal even though it's "meal time"...and WE LISTEN! I don't struggle with forgetting to eat like some on here, so for me to listen to my body and stop when I'm satisfied and not eat when I'm not hungry has been huge. It does give the confidence to think we have changed how our minds and bodies react to food. WOO HOO!!

Nella-Yuck! Sorry to hear about SD. I had 2 of mine with fevers yesterday. Only one still home today. No H1N1 or anything, just a little bug that's going around. My family is extremenly blessed to be pretty healthy. I haven't even had a touch of anything yet this year which is pretty huge since it has been rampant in our county of Wisconsin.

dangerouscurves (DC)-Life does happen, but it always will and you are showing it who's boss by making GOOD choices anyway! Go you!! Just say "NO!" to Dunkin Donuts (though it is fabulous on occassion ;)).

So the Girls Night was lots of fun. The salad I ordered at the restaurant was one of the most AMAZING salads ever!!! I loved it (obviously)! I was the high maintenance orderer a little, but it was worth it to make sure it didn't have surprise fat or cals. It was this Mediterranean Salad with a roasted garlic vinagrette....Oh...My....Gosh! I am totally gonna try to recreate it at home when I have time. The bonus is that I'm down to a new low today by a touch and so I know the salad was a keeper!
I can't recall who asked, but you get a signature (the space at the bottom to put your personalized stuff) where you can put a ticker (the thing that shows weight lost, etc.) after you've been on the message boards like 30 days and have made 40 posts or something like that. Maybe someone can remember the exact numbers better than I can. Look forward to seeing all you newbies in the coming days and weeks! All you November joiners hold a special place in my heart since I was a November joiner and it's almost been a year for me. I think it's amazing to have the will to start during the holidays...traditionally the hardest time for people to reign in their habits. Wouldn't it be a riot for me to hit goal on my "anniversary" here? I'm kinda hoping to hit it before that actually, but we'll see.
I was happy (in that sick way...heehee) to feel some pain in my glutes this morning when I got out of bed. That's one area I really hope to firm up. I have a sort of not-toned butt (not where I carry weight at all, so it can look flat..UGH) and want to get it more shapely. I think I'm on my way!! WOO HOO! My upper body is coming along nicely and my legs are doing great, so I figured I should pay more attention to areas I'd like to improve now during ST'ing and all. It makes me happy to see (or feel) my efforts actually working!

Congrats Tummy on the acceptance! There's nothing like incorporating your passion in your career!!!
Nella- How is your daughters flu?? The whole H1N1 is a very popular debet here in Newfoundland, people are keeping kids out of school, and those affected are getting hit hard! I hope she feels better soon!!
Shrinking Girl- Congrats on the 195!!!:)
MsP- Share your recipe! Don't worry too much about the butt, I am having a hard job with the baby belly, I think I'll always look a bit pregnant!!!

Well Girls a good after noon to you all!!! It is a beautiful snowy day here in Newfoundland, makes everything feel nice a christmasy! My house is now getting plastered and painted, and goodness time is certainly passing!
I think i have been hit with a little side effect of the H1N1 shot, all week I was feeling a little down, fatuige, and a little stomach sick...But today I feel back to normal! So i ho on the treadmill I go:) I have been eating pretty well on plan, and I am starting to feel all good again! I am happy to report my shoping trip to Halifax is in less then 1 week!!!!
Hope everyone is having a good day!!!!

Wow, I had to go waaayyy back there to get to the old stuff but don't want to miss anyone's successes by being lazy.

Nella - I just noticed that you're are 168! Yeah! and only three days ago, stuck at 170 :) Great work. LOL you and me both just realized how close I am to goal. It feels weird, that's about how I sum this up. But good and weird. And it feels less urgrent too, which is nice. I was really anxious to drop it but now, I guess since about 160 or so I'm happy with my body and now I have developed some patience, which I'm going to need for these last 11. I'll work on writing something up once I get to goal, it's probably very similar to a lot of people's.

Mystical - sounds like things are going great! Nice routine and all. It does make the world a much nicer place when things are humming along and it doesn't feel like a fight all the time. I think it was FSA who said a long time ago, it's so much easier to stay on track than get on track, and I am a believer!

FGG - Oh how I like abbreviations. :carrot::broc:191's After all that ickiness but you perservered! I'm proud of you, it's too easy to get frustrated and eat. A half marathon! Oh that's fantastic. I'm with you there even the last one to cross, and you know what, ppl cheer louder for that person than anyone. LOL accidentally did and extra time on the elliptical, love it!

Gekster - Hmm, I'm not the queen of quick dinners at all, I'll have to leave that for more knowledgeable ladies. The only thing that I do when time is short is to make meals ahead of time on a day I have extra time so they're already made.

Essa - Welcome to the challenge! A lot of us find great motivation here and I hope you're one of them. Look forward to getting to know you.

MsP - Wow, lol, 127 sounds so low doesn't it? Especially when you're 199lbs but it's not really. I'm going to have to look into this more too. My last BF measurement was 35% in July at 191lbs but I have no idea what it is now. I guess I'm going to learn how to test that now anyway. Personally, I'd like 1800-2000 cal a day. I hope it's possible, I'm pretty sure it is given I can already eat that and still lose slowly but it'll be highly exercise dependant I would imagine. And speaking of butts I'll borrow you some and you can keep it! I thought I was an hour glass shape but it appears I'm a wee bit bigger in the bottom than I realized. I'm all for perky behinds though, at least you don't have to worry about tons of fat layers hiding all your hard work.

AFChick, Peachykeen 62,Mrsmonkeylover, izzystizzy, Lauranna, Mathgirl, kris2008 - Welcome to the challenge! I hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us :)

Jellofer - I hope the PT's advice puts you on the road to quick healing. I know how frustrating it is but you'll heal so much faster and be all the better for it too. Sounds like you're getting all your ducks in a row and back on track which is awesome. So how is the re-induction going?

Nello - Yeah, no aircast! So glad you maintained through that! That was quite a blow to your mojo and I'm glad you're still with us and back on the low imapct saddle again :)

Ruth - Oh that soup sounds heavenly, I have a recipe around here for a veggie version of that and I think I'm going to have to fire up the stock pot. Glad that you're still heading downward, 167, how awesome!

Miss Mallee - Glad you're feeling better and it's going away!

InControl - Woohoo the 2lbs already!

Sandye - Mom's inspiring dh, that's great. Won't want to be shown up by his MIL, lol. Men make me giggle. How was the girls day out?

Alrightly gotta run for now and I'll work on the next page a little later!

Lauranna - Congrats - You are almost finished with the hardest part. The hardest days for most people are the first 3-4. After 3 days completely smoke free all the nicotine should be out of your body and the physical cravings should pretty much go away. After that you should be able to focus on your food choices more clearly. I would not worry if you are not on track with that so far. You are quitting smoking, anyone who would tsk tsk at you for your food choices right now is just evil. I hope you are still doing well with it. You can do it!

Sanna Maria - welcome! 7 pounds is very doable. Good luck.

Nella - I’m sorry about SD, hope she feels better soon.

SG - Glad it went well. I will be hoping with you for a reappearance of your 195.

Ms P - Glad you had a good time. Yay for the new low. Congrats on the sore booty - lol.


I put on a pair of 14s. I can’t go in public in them yet, but I can close them, breathe in them, and even bend over without busting them, lol. I also managed to drag myself out to my first OA meeting last night. That was seriously scary, but I did it and it was great. Another scary thing is that I am now 191.2, almost to 190 which is the lowest weight I have any true memory of being. I have no idea what happens below 190. It is terrifying and exciting all at once. It’s odd though because I am just now getting into the 14s and I know that the last time I wore 14s I was about 210 and they were not nearly so obscenely tight then. I know there are logical reasons for it, the main one being I have been losing on the top faster than the bottom this time, but it still feels odd.

Time for me to get busy - the cats had a catnip party last night and now the floors are trashed. I hope everyone is have an awesome day.

Tummy-How did you get your BF tested? I'm going to call around and see where they do the immersion testing, but I also have the phone number of a place already that does the Bod Pod. Just curious.

MsP - I had the caliper test done all over my stinking body, lol. But afterwards I used my friends body fat scale and it was within 0.3% so I thought that was great. And then I did the tape measure test from Health Central.com and it was again very close, 0.5% higher than the calipers. So it appears that everything short of the tank is telling me the same numbers so far.

FGG - Congrats on the 14's:carrot::carrot:It is scary, good scary but it is. All of a sudden you don't know what you look like anymore and it turns out a lot of our identity is wrapped up in how much we weigh. I'm having issues with my face, it doesn't look like me anymore, I feel like someone stole my face :yikes: And wtg on attending that meeting too, support is the name of the game!

Nella - Oh I hope she's better soon :hug: that's scary stuff.

Well I won't have time to catch up today it turns out I had a lot to do, lol. But regardless shopping was great yesterday. I'm just totally grooving on shopping for clothes in regular stores and even skinny people stores. And the sales people help me, which is sad b/c they didn't before when I was heavy and that hurt my feelings :( But regardless, got some slipper booties - too cute, a sweater, some awesome sweatpants from hollister which may be comfiest things I've ever owned and a few shirts for bumming around. And another cool thing is that I can actually shop in the clearence section of regular stores. I think I maybe spent $50.00 yesterday for everything. And you ladies all know about those plus size stores, ugh, that's expensive! Anyone else super cold all the time too, lol, I have never owned slippers, ever, I laughed in the face of slippers before, but lately I'm cold from sun up to sun down, that's what 72lbs of missing insulation gets ya I guess.

And just the icing on the cake if life didn't rock enough already, down another 0.8lbs this morning to 151 on the button :carrot:That's 11lbs to goal baby and 83lbs. Have a marvelous Friday ladies and hang in there you weekend people out there. If your week was great don't erase a beautiful calorie deficit on something! We can do it!

Dinners lately have been my downfall. I do good all day and then have crap for dinner and sadly I am up 2.4 lbs! Ugh! But at the same time I am hoping it is some water retention from the hardcore workout on Wednesday. I'm trying like crazy to get back into an exercise routine, but I'm just not feeling it. There is so much going on right now, I'm always tired and stressed. Okay, enough whining from me. I am sorry about my lack of personals, I'll hopefully be better after the holidays.

Good evening everyone!

Got a bit caught up with things early today and I just made it here. But here I am.

Gekster: That is great about the gym. Sometimes the hardest part is just getting there the first time, at least for me, then it all becomes easier. So proud of you! My only suggestion for dinners would be to plan ahead. Maybe buying bulk chicken breasts, add some marinade and freeze them individually so that you can just take whatever you need for the day along with some rice/pasta and veggies. Or making a big batch on the weekend of something you like and freezing smaller portions?


mystical: You are so right. Last year I was doing great at putting myself first, and now I sort of slid back into old habits, and I have to work on that. Glad to hear you are making the gym work for you now. woo hoo!

FitGirlyGirl: You are so lucky to have a hubby that will actually do those things for you and actually enjoy them. I cannot tell you how many times I got so frustrated with mine at the beginning of our relationship :lol:...Yay on those size 14 pants! I am sure you'll be wearing them out in public in no time. Awesome in making it into OA too.

Lauranna: We just have to stick to it until we see some progress. Hang in there.

dangerouscurves: I hear you! Hopefully things will be back to normal soon for you and you can tell those donuts to shut up.

Sanna Maria: Welcome.

Nella: Sorry to hear about SD. Seems like you got lots done with your day though. Take care!

SG: Here's to hoping that 195.2 is for real.

Ms. P.: You are absolutely right. I must take some time to get some insight into where I am right now. I sometimes procrastinate with things like this, but it must be some kind of fear that must be dealt with swiftly.
Glad to hear you had a good time last night. I would definitely be interested in a recipe if you manage to recreate that salad.

jen7: hope you feel more like yourself soon.

Tummy: Wow..sounds like shopping for clothing is a blast for you now. :woohoo: on the panties! I've often wondered what I'll look like when all of this is said and done but I guess the only way to find out is to actually get there myself ;)

My days have gradually been getting better when it comes to eating. I totally went and stocked up on veggies and I am actually making myself get into the kitchen before me and DH are actually starving so that we make good eating choices. The weekend is coming which is the hardest part of the week. But I must remember that my FIL and wife are coming for a 3 week long visit next week and I have to make as much progress as I can before that.

Have a great evening and weekend if I don't catch you!

I would like to join this challenge even though I'm one week into November already.. Put me down for 5 lbs over the next 3 weeks!

Tummy Great to hear about your shopping trip! That has to be an awesome feeling shopping on the clearance rack at a regular store. YOu are right, the plus size stores are very expensive. I am sticking to my favorite sweats which are just too big now. I look like I have a diaper butt!!! :) As far as induction, it has been tough. TOM is finishing up his evil dance but will be gone this weekend. I tried yesterday and did pretty good except last night. I ate pistachios until I was blue in the face. I think sodium was my killer this am. Plus TOM. Anyway, today was much better. TOm wanted me to eat chicken mcnuggets on my way home from school tonight. I told him no! I compromised and had 1 serving of black bean tortilla chips with my beef and cheese. They were only 17 grams of carbs with only 65 mg of sodium. I figured a good choice since 1 order of nuggets has 24 carbs and 1000mg of sodium. No joke. I read the box. So we shall see tomorrow. I have to work 12 hour shifts for the next 3 days. It will be very easy to stay on plan. It is my days off that are rough. I am hoping for a 244 number in the morning with 243 to follow. Fingers are crossed.

I am following my PT's instructions about no running. She is afraid that I will tear my ACL in my right knee. She says that I will be able to run, but because my hips were out of whack and weak on the right it was causing me to plant my foot wrong. We are hoping that a few more weeks of strengthening and stretching will make all the difference. I am keeping my fingers crossed or else it looks like no running the big race for me. Instead I will work on the century ride. That will still be a huge goal. She did release me back to the elliptical today and I killed it!!!! Felt great. Sweating and dripping all over the place. I showed the treadmill that even though I can't run I can still kick ***!!!!Lifted lots of weights today and then got lucky in class and caught a great massage!!! Life is sweet. The big doctor appointment weighin is on the 17th. I gotta make the scale do some moving before then. So, I shall stick to induction as best as I can!

Wow that was a mouth full!!!

So far, November is still ok. I haven't quit on it yet. I have proven to myself that I can maintain. I now need to get back to losing.

Love and light to all my peeps!!!

Howdy girls! Hope you all are having a happy, OP weekend! I'm doing well. Scale remained the same this morning, but I'm OP and feeling good. I gotta be sure to get my water, though. My muscles are STILL sore from my ST'ing Thursday. The run and ST'ing I did today may or may not help. :) I just don't want to retain water again for a week! Anyway, off to have some nice relaxing family time....

Tummy - I am so ready for shopping clearance at normal stores and buying more than purses and scarves. Congrats on the good shopping trip. I’m planning to get some slippers during the winter while they are so plentiful in the stores because I know that with more weight loss I will definitely want them, especially on our tile floors. I am terrified of not recognizing me and of having no idea what kind of clothes to wear for my new body type, but I also have extra reason to be scared because my hubby likes big girls. He says he is attracted to thin girls too, but I see who he looks at and the thin girls are maybe 1 in 10. Yikes! I know he will still love me, but I worry that he won’t still want me. I am probably just being crazy, but I can’t help it.

Gekster - You should look into getting a crock pot and/or a rice cooker. You can do almost anything with the crock and rice cookers do much more than just cook rice. The other night I tossed some brown rice, carrot chunks, green beans, chicken pieces, crushed tomato, basil leaves, garlic, and water into my rice cooker (extra water for the extra food) and went into the other room to work out. When I was done, so was my dinner and it was delicious.

NewShinyMe - I’m glad things are improving. That’s great that you are starting meal prep before you are starving. I know that was one of the bad habits I had to break. I wouldn’t even think about dinner until out bellies were literally growling. Now I plan at least a week ahead and am frequently doing some of the dinner prep while my lunch is cooking.

Kablooie - welcome aboard!

Jellofer - I like hearing that you are following PT’s orders. A torn ACL would not be fun. Congrats on having such a great attitude during it and on being allowed back to the elliptical and kickin butt on it


I am going to a holiday bazaar today. There will be baked goods and candy and craziness. It’s at the gym too, ha. I am praying for the strength to go check out the crafts and things that I want to go see while completely ignoring the evil evil foods.

Hi all,

So I weighed in at 170.4 lbs and I am very unhappy, because I was at 169lbs around tuesday or wednesday. I dont know wht went wrong but I am not happy.

SW 170.2
CW 170.4
GW 162.2

Down .9 from yesterday, definitely a good sign. I've made a schedule where I go to the gym MWF and workout at home at least one day a week, and even though I was supposed to go to the gym yesterday my classes were canceled so I stayed home, but I was good and worked out at home and I did so again today. I'm hoping I'll get my groove back soon.

Hello Chickies!!

As usual, I"m around on the weekend when it's slow so I'm gonna go back a couple of pages and hopefully catch up on some of the personals!

MsP Six. You fit into a size 6! OMG. I hope you have squealed with delight and put them on a few more times just to enjoy the moment! I'm with you on the pre-planning for eating out! When I first started in June I was scared to eat out and now I do it all the time.. there ARE smart choices! Way to plan ahead! I also know what you mean by being high maintenance orderer! My sisters are embarrassed whenever I order anything out anymore but hey, I've got to have it how I've got to have it! And on the butt... I'm more than willing to send you some of mine!

idream Sounds like you and mom are having a fantastic time! Don't sweat the lack of personals, we all get busy and besides... being busy and active is a GOOD thing!

shasha Here's hoping that Halloween candy leaves you alone and that the busy time at work leaves you time to relax as well! Busy at work is NOT fun.

mystical Thanks for the good vibes Thursday! They must have found their way to me because the night went really well, all my conferences were great and very positive! Glad to hear your schedule is falling into place... feels good when that happens, doesn't it!

fitgirlygirl HOORAY for running 10 minutes straight! You must feel like a million bucks right now! Awesome accomplishment!! Also, I think your choice for one year no smoking is excellent! I wish my DH had the coordination to dance but we've tried and it is NOT pretty! OMG, I just read 14's!!!! WTG!!!!! Congrats! My size 16's are beginning to be a bit loose and I'm looking forward to fitting into some 14's!

lauranna How is the no smoking going?

Nella Ugh... swine flu... Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

NSM So good to see your name again! Way to go on realizing where you need to improve... fixing meals ahead of time can seem like a real chore but man is it worth it in the long run!!

jellofer You sound so pumped up and full of energy!! You are totally going to make some progress and show the doctor you can kick some butt too!!!

Soooo, the 195 stuck... in fact I saw 194.4 today which would be normal since I tend to not lose anything during the week and then boom on Friday/Saturday I lose my 2 lbs for the week. I was expecting one maybe since I lost one on Monday and especially since my eating hasn't been as carefully monitored as it usually is. I've been making good decisions, but I haven't known calorie counts... it's really encouraging though and it feels GREAT.

Here's hoping everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Happy weekend girls!! Just wanted to make a quick post that I am officially in the fifties!!!!! Imagine that!!!! 159.6!!!:) Hope your all doing well!

Quick update: Friday was a great diet/exercise day for me! :carrot: I tried to make sure that I was truly OP so that I could enjoy my night out with the girls. It was great to go out and prove to myself that I could resist "party-mode" behavior. I'm sure you all know what I mean. First you start off with one little drink and the next thing you know you've snacked on more junk food than you intended. And your total cocktail consumption is way more than you planned.

I have to admit I'm super proud to have made it home without over-indulging! :dancer:

Ms. P and Newshinyme: Thanks for the encouragement! I'm truly looking forward to the day when it's NOT a daily battle to stay OP. I've heard about people who swear that after awhile they don't even crave baked goods! That it doesn't even look good...something about it also taste too sweet. :?: Hope those gals weren't lying and that it's not just a crazy diet myth!!! :crossed:

And now it's time for me to run...literally! Enjoy your weekend chickies!

Good evening ladies! Just a quick fly by tonight as I want to spend as much time with my mom & sister as I can before they leave :cry:.

Mom and I have both been moody and grumpy the past couple of days and I think it's because with each passing day the end of their visit gets closer and closer. :(

Mom's done fantastic all week! No major losses despite being active, exercising every day (she even did Kenpo X with me today) and eating POP--it's really starting to frustrate her. :mad: We need to brainstorm ideas for her to try--she's stuck, has been for weeks and yet she plugs on...we gotta find out what she can do to get that scale moving in the right directions ladies!!!

As for me, I was up a smidge from yesterday--but I ate POP and got a gallon of water in so I know it's not fat.

Well girls, I better go. I can't wait to get caught up!! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!! And don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

i feel so darn puffy! Ate perfect today. and still feel puffy. every one at work says they see me and I look like I am shrinking. Maybe it is a fluid shift and the whoosh is right around the corner. good night. off to work another 12 hours tomorrow.

Just a quick check in tonight. It has been a crazy weekend. My step-son is moving has moved in with us so I now hoave 3 teenage boys LOL 18,17,14 I am not sure if it will last but I will take it anyway... It is really nice to have all the family together. We were so busy with moving him into our home that we didn't get to go to the gym but hopefully we will get to tomorrow. My husband has also set up a tv in our room so I will be able to do my workout videos, and my wii fit first thing every morning especially on the days I don't go to the gym YEAH! !! I have 3 Jillian Michaels DVD's so I am going to alternate them. Well gotta run for tonight I will check in tomorrow. :)

:wave: girls!

Been doing alot of thinking today, trying not to fall into a pocket of deep depression. TOM is basically over and if this morning was any indication, tomorrow's WI will not be pretty. :dz: It's all my fault of course. I lost complete control this week. Tomorrow is a new week, I suppose. :halffull:

3 lbs away from ONDERLAND & 7 lbs away from Novembers goal. Must. Keep. Going!

Monring!

Gekster - I hope you're doing alright amidst your stress, I know I don't usually feel like exercising at all when I tired either. Maybe you'll find that mojo soon but as long as you're faking it until then :hug:

NSM - You're eating is improving :carrot:yeah! And it's true you'll look different, just a healthier version. That's a lot of in-laws, I hope that it's good relationship, lol.

Kablooie - Welcome to the challenge! This is one great group of ladies so post often so we can get to know you :)

Jellofer - Ahh diaper butt, we should do a photo spread of our sexy hanging butt pants! That would be awesome! Well it sounds like you're doing pretty good, and avoided McDonald's Day! That's always a plus and that's a gross amount of salt I enjoy reading the sides of the boxes when dh has his burger there and I bring my own food from home now, lol. It frightens me that I used to order two meals and eat them all myself, no wonder! Great job on that workout too, totaly moving in the right direction!

MsP - Kudos on the OP weekend, setting a great example for the rest of us :) I'm having some muscle stiffness from Friday still so we must have pushed pretty hard but ouch. Water water, I'll be filling up today and hopefully the muscles will release!

FGG - OMG, I was all about the purses and scarves too! LMAO I'd go with my thinner friends and they could all buy those really nice $9.00 shirts and there's me looking through the accessories. One the one hand, I have some very nice accessories, lol, but it's really nice to be able to go there and start rebuilding a very sad waredrobe with some nice and super cheap options. I dated a guy who like bigger girls too, we were together when I got down to my previous low point of 167. He did have a bit of a hard time at first but he really came to see the body as healthy instead of thin. But then again I was still a size 12 and a bit round then anyway. I'm sure dh will appreciate it, you'll just be his one in a million but I hear ya, some things just hang out in the back of our heads whether we like it or not.

Sweettooth - Sodium maybe? Working out with weights? Not enough water? There's lots of reasons that are unrealted to calories. If you've been tracking I'm sure it's a temporary thing. Chin up, you're doing good :)

SG - Loving the new avatar, honestly, can I borrow your cheekbones, lol, just for a day to try them out? Gorgeous! :cp: Bravo on 194's that is great and awesome and all things marvelous. It's like it was yesterday when you were stuck above 200 and now 190's, not for long, you're on the low side baby!

Jen7 - 150's :hat::celebrate::woo: Congrats on a new decade! So far 150's have been my favorite! I hope you enjoy them as much, I hear the 140's are nice this time of year too, hehe.

DC - Congrats on the girls night triumph! I totally relate, one thing always leads to another always and the next morning is so nice when you wake up, had a great time and weight the same! And it's true completely, certain things don't taste as good anymore and usually it's pretty easy to eat properly, I usually only have a hard time around preTOM week but otherwise it's straightforward. And those off program things, for me at least, I plan them, so they are OP and then they better be good! I save my indulgences for the most fantastic treats ever, not some nasty store bought stuff, it's not worth the calories anymore and it tastes like saw dust.

Sandye - The only thing I can think for mom is to start tracking her calorie deficit but she'd need a HRM or something to get an idea of the exercise. At least that way she can see when she's hitting 3500 and knowing whether it's coming off. Is it a too low calorie problem with all that working out? Glad you guys are having a good visit and live in the moment, enjoy the last minutes!

Sandye-I agree with Tummy. The best thing would be to track everything and either increase or decrease calories accordingly. Hope she figures out what it is! I know it's got to be very frustrating.

Gekster-Way to go on the at-home workout!

Shari-Today IS a new day. Just pick right back up and keep moving. You can do this!

Mystaical-Good luck with the addition of another teenage boy. Sounds like fun! LOL That's great that you have everything set up for your workouts at home.

Jellofer-Yay on the comments from co-workers! So nice to hear I bet. I'm sure it's water. I've noticed that A LOT more since I've dropped weight. Before I was proabably too puffy to notice, so there's progress for ya! LOL

DC-Nice job controlling consumption on girls night! Doesn't it feel good to know you were strong enough to say "no"?!

SG-Well, the 6's are in my closet, but I wouldn't wear them yet, that's for sure. Thanks for the generous offer of butt! ROFL But, I think I'll pass since I'm already trying to tone this thing I have!

FGG-Isn't it crazy some of the negative thoughts that creep in when we're trying to change to a healthier life!? If I were you, I'd talk to hubby and let him know your thoughts. I'm pretty positive he'll tell you he loves you whatever size you are. But then you can talk about a reasonable goal you have for it and he can feel like he's a part of the thing. Just a thought.

Well, the water weight from building these beautiful muscles has eased up and the scale had me at 136.4 this morning. Now, I can ALMOST see goal. It's amazing how close, yet how far away it still seems. Weird, huh? I am SO SO happy, content, and overwhelmingly proud with how things are progressing. A year ago I would've killed to be here and here I am! I'm still a touch sore and unfortunately caught a cold from DS, so I will be taking it easy today. I shortened my run, but still went 4 miles. I'm not sure I should have, but I wanted to keep up with my exercise goals. I hope resting the rest of the day (other than meal prep) will help, though. Have a healthy rest of the weekend, girls! Catch ya tomorrow!

jen-Congrats on the 150's! That's awesome!!

Well we had our Weigh in and I had a loss but not as big as I had hoped for. It was only .2 lbs down but I guess that is better than nothing right. I am really hoping that next week will be a bigger weight loss so keep your fingers crossed for me I need a really good number PLEASE!!! LOL I am am do my workout outs 4 days a week and I am going to make sure I keep track of everything I eat this week. I keep a notebook with me everywhere I go and I am planning everythings... Thanks for all the help with that Tummy... Still have a little problems with dinner but it is a work in progress... We'll see how it goes this week.. :) Hope you all have a wonderful day!

SG - The dancing is actually for onederland, but still good. Hubby actually wanted it more than me. It was something he wanted to do and I felt too big for. I’m glad I now have the confidence to do things like that with him.

DC - congrats on the not overindulging.

Sandye - Has your mom looked into things like the body bugg or go wear fit or something like that?

Mystical - that’s nice for you to get them all there. The moving was probably a workout in itself, so don’t worry too much about not getting to the gym. Even .2 is progress, it’s all good.

Tummy - Yep, time to get some clothes to match all the accessories, lol. I do figure hubby will get used to it - especially since it’ll be a gradual change. He thinks it’ll be “kinky”.

Ms. P - I have talked to him about it. He does say that, but still… ya know?


Day off - woohoo! Time to clean my kitchen and contemplate b-day presents for the hubbyman.

Mystical - Nice working around some obstacles there with the tv, very nice. And with 3 teenage boys you can exercise in private! Good to hear the planning is going good, it really does take practice, tons of it and you'll get better and find your own little tricks and things that make it easier. 0.2 is great, that's 700 calorie deficit that you created, way to go!

JasonsLea - And the next choice is an opportunity to turn things around, you can totally do this, you know how. Keep checking in!

LBLazy - Almost there, woohoo! Reminds me of William Shatner, talking. with. long . breaks. lol.

MsP - You're so close to goal your ticker doesn't even show your goal number anymore, they're almost on top of each other! I'm drinking tons of water today in hopes matching your success tomorrow. Take care and feel better, let's hope that super healthy immune system kicks into high gear for you and wipes it out.

FGG - LMAO, my dh said the exact thing last night: it's like it's you but it's not, I feel like I'm cheating on you with you! It's a whole new world to explore for sure. Just like shopping, and being frozen all the time. It's pretty amazing how it can truly change almost every aspect of your whole stinking life. And here I was just wanting a smaller butt, go figure!

Just got back from a hockey game in town, dh is coaching at 15-17 year old team this year and we went out to cheer them on. It's freezing, my lips literally turned blue but we're home and finally warmed up and it was a nice change. Nice lazy Sunday around here, hopefully going to flush some of this stiffness out soon, might have to do some stretching this afternoon to help out this poor butt of mine. Still happily at 151, would enjoy lower too but it will come in it's own time and I'm pretty darn happy with things lately.

Have a great weekend everybody. Catch ya tomorrow!

Heya Ladies!

Sorry I've been MIA...life has been kicking my butt! I've been staying OP and I had my WW meeting yesterday and lost another 2.2 lbs...so I'm on my way for this months challenge :) I was also told by the meeting leader that my jeans were to big! I don't think anyone in my life has told me my clothes were to big LoL. I just recently bought size 14 jeans and now I'm a size 12...here I come mall =op I know I have a long way to go for my goal but I'm feeling very motivated and working hard at exercising 6 days a week!

Hope your all doing well and staying OP! Thanks to you all for being such an inspiration :D

Huggies,
Giv

Hello ladies!! It's been a very busy few days, and it just keeps on going. I did read everyone's posts, but I jsut don't have the time to do personals tonight.

So, congrats to all those who lost, maintained, stayed POP, worked out, etc! Great job. For all those struggling still, tomorrow is always a new day.

I didnt' lost this weekend, but I didn't gain, so it's a win for me. Ate out several meals because we were out of town, and had a glass of wine on Saturday.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do for cardio now that it is dark. It's way to cold for me in the morning. You brave people up north running in the snow!!

I'll catch up better tomorrow, promise!!!

:wave: girls!

I gained. :dz:

That's all.

goal for this challenge (page 2) - 169lbs by Dec. 1
start weight: 179
current weight: 173.5
lbs lost since challenge began - 5.5
lbs left to go until end of challenge -4.5

last weigh-in ~ 177lbs so lost 3.5 lbs this week. I had a 173 weight on monday but I'm not going to let daily fluctuations get me down! Hope to reach 160s soon :D
I lost 15 lbs in 5 weeks! Today is the beginning of week 6 for me.

dangerouscurves76- Great job resisting party-mode behavior. With the holidays coming up, thats one of my fears.

LBLAZY- Great job!! =D Hope you reach onederland soon

mystical- Any loss is cause for celebration! :D

GivTLC - Yay congratz on -2.2 lbs~ Are you going to go shopping for new jeans or waiting until you reach goal?

Nella - Not gaining is already a win in my book hehe.

JasonsLea - Tomorrow is a new day!

It was a rough weekend, but stayed mostly OP. My boyfriend's grandmother is slowly dying from leukemia, the doc gave her 2-4 weeks max about a week and a half ago so the end is getting closer. I know she is not my relative, but when we moved here (partly to be closer to her) she welcomed me into their family with open arms. It is sad to have her leave, but I will be glad when she goes, because she is just in so much pain. She said herself she wants it to be over. Sorry I'm off topic here, its just kinda pouring out.

So with being with her most of the weekend I had to stay up late last night finishing homework for today so I am really tired, no energy for anything, but since I am on campus I am going to go to the gym after class and hope something kicks me into gear. My weight fluctuated daily so no loss as of yet, but I'll weigh in at the gym before I get started and hope for good news.

Good morning girls!!! One more quick fly by post and then I'll read back through and catch up on what's gone on with everyone this week and do some serious personals! :)

Mom & Sissy left this morning :cry: and I'm trying to distract myself with chores so as to not get all gloomy about it **Miss you already Mom!!! (and K too!)**.

We did great all week with eating! Exercise too!! :carrot: Last night we did indulge in some Olive Garden, but I stayed within my calories for the day so I'll call that a victory! :woohoo: No weekend binges, although I did have a bunch of weak moments all day Saturday--I even said to Mom, "You either need to be my partner in crime or smack me and tell me to snap out of it" (or something to that effect) and she didn't let me binge. Thank you Mom!!!

I have been busy tearing apart cribs and putting together Big Girl beds for the girls--it's kind of bittersweet, no trace of babies anywhere in the house. With the taking down of the cribs it's the end of the Baby Years in our house. *sniff*

Well, break time is over--I've had my snack and now I need to haul the crib pieces downstairs and then there's the laundry :eek:.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and I'll catch up with everyone soon!!! Until then, have a great day and be sure to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Morning Ladies,

GivTLC - I was wondering where you'd gone off too, glad you're still holding your own :) That is fantastic news, all of it, the pounds, the comment and the saggy butt, way to go. I'd say you're showing life who's boss and not the other way around.

Nella - You never know till you try it, although I imagine cold weather gear might be hard to come by in north carolina. Up in the great white north all the running stores are stocked up to the rafters with all the stuff you need to about -25. There a lot of ppl who swear by those walk away the pounds dvd's but I have not tried them. Glad you came out even, we'll all be aiming for that after this is said and do so it's always nice to have some practice ;)

JasonsLea - You can do it.

InControl - :carrot:on the monster loss! I beatca that felt marvelous! Those 160's are right around the corner and maybe only a week or two away :crossed:

Gekster - :hug:that's rough news and with stress and crazy sleeping patterns it's hard for the body to lose, so please be kind to yourself :) Maybe a nice workout will help you out.

Sandye - :hug:for you too, that was a sad day around here too, they grow up too fast and it just breaks your heart. Glad your mom had a mini intervetion for you, now if we could just get dh is do that for a few weeks then you'll be golden. I'll be joining you in the laundry department shortly too. Oh and you're almost back down to 135 again, WTG!

All finished my run this morning, it was supposed to be -11 so I strapped on my base layers and it was actually not too bad out there and needless to say I was a hot mess when I was finished. But I may have sweat out an extra couple pounds alone.

I forgot to mention a funny thing from my doctor's appointment on Thursday. We were chatting about my goal weight and things and she mentioned that I would probably be on the low end of the healthy BMI scale when I'm done because I'm small framed and then, wait for it, she used the word "dainty." So I laughed at her b/c I'm socially awkward, lol. But it turns out she's right and I just always assumed I'm big boned b/c that was easier to think than fat. But she said the easiest way to tell is to wrap your fingers around your wrist and see if there is any overlap b/w your thumb and middle finger. My fingers overlap by about a centimeter, so there goes that excuse. It was interesting b/c it is just one more thing that I thought about myself that wasn't true. She thought my goal weight would be more like 125-130 depending on muslce mass, I think she's on crack.

Anthoer funny story, my mother, who granted is a bit unstable, actually called here yesterday and we chatted and then she wanted to talk with dh, which is odd. Turns out she wanted to make sure that I'm not anorexic, really! And he needed to promise her to call if I stopped eating properly. So he promised to call her if I start eating chips and garbage again (hehe I love my cheeky monkey) but assured her that I'm plenty healthy and not to worry. So Sandye I feel your pain and I'm not a size 6 yet either! The skinny police have entered the building.

On that note, I need to head down to the workout dungeon and do some heavy lifting. And down another 0.8lbs today to 150.2 :dancer: almost into those 140's. The really neat thing is that now that more of the fat is coming off I can finally really see the definition from all the hard STing work over the last 6 months. Lift those weights ladies, it's a beautiful thing! TTFN

It was a busy weekend--2 birthday parties on Saturday...I did break down and have cake, but I didn't totally binge, so I guess it was OK. Weighed-in Saturday morning...lost a little over a pound.

Start: 198
Current: 196.2
Nov Goal: 190

Keep on keepin' on, I guess...:carrot:

Hey girlies! I've just got smiles to spare from all the good news and sharing going on here. I'm not going to take time for personals today since I really just need to let myself rest a bit which I always say I will do, but then I start the laundry and other cleaning. The cold/sore throat is still here, but I did all my normal exercise and stuff. I'm hoping a nice restful day will knock it out, though. I don't feel terrible (no fever or aches). I just hate anything sickness-like! I may come back to do personals if I get an energy surge after resting a bit. I REALLY do want to say how proud I am of all everyone is doing! It's SO incredible to be a part of this group!!

A quick pop in, but I wanted to say to Gekster that I'm sorry you and your loved ones are dealing with this. I will keep you in my thoughts.

Hi ladies...man I hate being this busy! I really miss when I was able to get on here every day and look through all the posts and make comments. I haven't even had time to get on here since last week. :( My business is still going like crazy (I'm actually debating about just closing it down until Christmas so I can relax a little), and then to top it all off, both DD and I came down with some nasty flu that put me out of action for a week. Just feeling really overwhelmed now as it seems like I am falling behind on everything...my emails, business, work, here, just life in general!
Then to top it all off, I cheated ALOT for Halloween and the scale was up like 4 pounds. You think I would learn from that and watch what I was eating, but I got sick right after that and started having the WORST cravings. I actually did pretty good, but still not as great as I would have liked too. I hardly ate any veggies for the week until I started forcing myself a few days ago. It took me a week to lose those last 4 pounds, and then finally I got another pound off yesterday--which made my weight loss total 75 pounds!!!! I can't believe how crazy that is! I need to find some time to take a progress pic to put in the mini goal thread...but probably won't find time to do that for a few days either.....Then today the scale was down another 2 pounds (probably because I actually lose wight when I watch what I eat...duh, imagine that Jessica!)
Anyways, going to try and play catchup on everything today and wanted to stop in here and check in. Am really hoping things will slow down so I can relax a little and actually get on here more, but until then, hi and hope everyone is doing great!

Good Morning :)

Just a quick message today, I had a pretty terrible weekend with my eating, I was mostly OP but on Sat night we went over to a friends place for dinner and they ordered Calzone's! That was all they had to eat and I was super hungry so I had no choice but to eat it - I felt so gross afterwards! So yeh not looking forward to my weigh in this Wednesday, i'm scared to see the results of that calzone on the scale.

Anyways I am trying very hard to compensate for that little issue on the weekend by having a very healthy and OP week and am praying that on Weds things aren't looking too bad.

Hi all, just a quick post for me as I am super busy getting the house ready for company.
Tummy, you are right, that is a lot of in-laws, and I don't really know what I am going to do with them for 3 weeks as DH only has a handful of vacation days left and then it's all on me. I have not really spent much time with my FIL since when me and DH met he was in the middle of getting separated/divorced from my MIL. Hee left soon after to go live overseas and lost touch with DH for about 7 years. I met his wife 2 years ago when we went to visit them when he reached out to DH in an effort to reconnect. They were very nice and all, but I am worried I will get tired of them.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say hi, lots of laundry and cleaning left to do still so gotta keep moving.

Gekster: All I can give you is a big hug :hug:. Sounds like grandma has made her peace, and all you can do as a family is enjoy your time with her as much as you can.

Thanks for all your support ladies. It looks like she has slipped into a coma, but since she is breathing on her own there really is nothing that can be done as far as "pulling the plug" which everyone knows is what she wants. All we can do is wait.

I went to the gym today like I said I would, worked decent, but not nearly as hard as I should have. I got a nice surprise on the scale though, it said I was down 2.1 lbs from Friday when I was there. The numbers (both starting and today) are different than at home, but a loss is a loss. I am happy about that.

Congrats to all those that are losing and staying OP. I'm reading even if not having time or energy for personals.

Hello Ladies

First, Gekster, my heart goes out to you. I was once in a very similar situation and I know how difficult it is. Just know that all of us here are more than willing to support you in any way we can and that we're all thinking of you.

Well ladies, it seems like it's my turn to fall off the wagon so to speak. I'm up 3 lbs and I have no idea why. I'm thinking I might be a bit...um... backed up, but it's absolutely ridiculous that I saw 194.6 and I weighed in this morning at 197.4. Yep my eating hasn't been the greatest but no I haven't been going over maintenance calories. Nope, I haven't been getting my water in, but its no different than any other weekend. Yes, I did eat Chinese but nope, not gonna be sorry. Guess I'll be anticipating quite a loss by Friday and if not.. well then I guess I'm going to have to crack down on my eating for sure!

I've been feeling kind of low lately about my running. All these people seem to go so fast and I have no idea how they do it! A guy I went to college with just finished a half marathon and said he ended up doing better than his 9 minute miles. All I could keep thinking was "holy crap, that's better than 6mph!" And so ever since then I've been feeling more of a pit of despair about something I was already upset about. However, tonight I came home and started googling and found John Bingham and the Penguins. I feel so much better now knowing I"m not the only one who has trouble with speed and it gave me a good reminder that speed isn't everything. Lesson learned.

Hopefully my weight will behave itself soooooon. And I hope everyone has a great week!


OH OH OH~ Was it Tummy or Ms P talking about my cheekbones earlier? Girls, all that takes is a good camera angle and some good lighting. Trust me, those cheekbones don't appear under normal circumstances!

Well ladies, it seems like it's my turn to fall off the wagon so to speak. I'm up 3 lbs and I have no idea why. I'm thinking I might be a bit...um... backed up, but it's absolutely ridiculous that I saw 194.6 and I weighed in this morning at 197.4. Yep my eating hasn't been the greatest but no I haven't been going over maintenance calories. Nope, I haven't been getting my water in, but its no different than any other weekend. Yes, I did eat Chinese but nope, not gonna be sorry. Guess I'll be anticipating quite a loss by Friday and if not.. well then I guess I'm going to have to crack down on my eating for sure!


I feel ya on almost all of this. I've been bouncing between 168 & 169 for the last 5 days. I should have had a loss since last Thursday, but maintaining isn't bad either. I had some issues with being - ahem - backed up last week. It was starting to worry me, not for the weight gain aspect, but because I am not a person who doesn't go for days at time.

But anyway, SG, it's probably a combo of not going, less water and extra sodium. I know that's what my issue is right now, but dang if that salt isn't the only thing I want right now, lol. Stupid week before TOM!

Lauren - One calzone isn't going to kill you. Just get your eating back on track :)

Jess - WAHOO!!!! 75 pounds gone is amazing!!!!! :carrot: I'm sorry you've been sick and are swamped with work, but hey, look at it this way, you are making money.

NSM - Good luck with the inlaws. I know how hard it can be sometimes.

Tummy - Dainty has a nice ring to it :) So close to 140's !! How exciting!!!!! I'll have to check out some of the "cold weather" stuff.


Sandye - I'm glad you had a great time with Mom and Sis!!! I know you're sad to see them go. And the little ones moving up to big beds, I'll let you know how much I cry when I get to that point of motherhood. I'm sure I'll be one of those cry at everything moms and my kids will be so embarrased, lol.


So I have a new hard deadline to be done with my weight loss - February 8th. That's Dh's surgey date. We scheduled it and paid the deposit today. I had already chosen February to be my goal month to be down 50 pounds, but now I really have my eye on the prize and can't screw around. I am determined to be down to around 135 before we start trying for kids.

And this weekend was kinda fun for me in a NSV way. I wore my mini-goal jeans with a clingy top and some boots. It felt so good to not constantly be worried about fat rolls and muffin tops (I still have a little one though). And I felt sexy!!! That was the most important thing. I felt so good walking around with DH, not worried about who was looking at me or worse, why they were looking at me.

Evening everyone!

I could have sworn I posted my goals for this month at the beginning of the month, but I can't find my post =op *blames my age* Anyway my goals for this month are:

1. Lose 6 pounds
2. Learn 3 new healthy recipes
3. Add 1/2 mile to my walks


InControl~ Grats on your loss...your dropping it fast! Oh I already hit the mall and bought some new size clothes...trust me, I'm not going as crazy as I could but I love love love to shop LoL

Gekster~ So sorry to hear about your boyfriends grandmother :( She's nearly ready to move onto another painfree life.

iDream~ Glad you had a great visit with your mom and sis! How exciting the girls are getting 'big girl' beds...I remember doing that with my boys. For a long time I missed all the baby stuff, but that has now been replaced with empty soda cans and wrappers of whatever they ate lol The messes never go away! Just wanted to add that eventhough I haven't been posting I hear this lil voice inside my head saying "Drink Your Water" and yes I have been =op

Tummy Girl~ Yes I'm still here =op lol @ your unstable mother...my hubbie has been saying similar things to me, he thinks I'm becoming obsessive. He sees what I eat and it's plenty but yah all my planning/journaling/exercising has become somewhat of a part time job. I wish I had access to some weight machines, all I have are 3,5,10 lb dumbells. Guess they will have to do for now.

MsP~ Glad your on the road to recovery...just rest as much as you can.

jessicado~ WoW 75 lbs gone forever! That's so awesome...Grats! We'd love to see some pictures :)

Lauren~ Awww hon, don't beat yourself up over something you couldn't really control...I'm sure the calzone is not gonna make a difference. Hey you at least recognized it wasn't all that good for you and got right back OP :)

Shrinking Girl~ Tomorrow is another day! On the running situation...gawd all I can do is power walk. I really wish I could run (maybe someday) You should be proud your at least doing it!

NSM~ All I can say is better you then me...that would be enough to send me into a binge lol

Nella~ Nope, maintaining is way better then a steady gain anyday! What a wonderful reason to lose weight for :) WoOt on feeling sexy!

AFChick~ Grats on the loss, and not going totally crazy after the cake...we are human and for me anyway this is not a diet but a lifestyle change...if I were to deny myself lil pleasures along the way, I'd have given up months ago!

Today was a good day for me....weather here was 65 so I was able to do my 2 and 1/2 mile walk outside for a change ;) I am totally addicted to Leslie Sanone's dvd's but nothing beats the outside walks. I had the most wonderful spinach salad with strawberries and grilled chicken for dinner, it was refreshing! Hope you all have a wonderful night...I'm off to do some scrapbooking...gah I'm so behind on my albums!

Huggies,
Giv

Good morning ladies!

Gekster~ :hug: I'm sorry to hear that your bf's Grandma isn't doing well, but it sounds like she's no longer in pain now with the coma. I will be keeping you all in my thoughts and prayers hun. More :hug: for you and your bf.

I'd like to say I'm here to catch up, but alas, I'm not. I was like Wonder Woman yesterday morning but then I ran out of gas so the house is still a wreck. I need to tackle the kitchen this morning and get rid of the mountains of paper that ended up piled everywhere. Then I need to get the rest of the laundry folded and put away. Then there's the new mess the girls are making right now...:lol: it never ends!

I'm up a good 2 lbs today for no reason other than sodium. :mad: Turns out pre-packaged soup/chili mixes that just need water are crazy insane full of sodium! D'oh!!! So, I'll be drowning myself in water today to flush it all out. Btw Mom, that chili mix--eh. It was okay at best, good if you're starving or out on a camping trip or maybe up in space! ;) LOL

Got my workout in already--it took me a long time today to get into the grove, felt like my feet were made of cement and I just didn't have it in me.

Still no TOM--waiting impatiently for his return so that I can stop wondering when he'll get here and I'm hoping once he does that he'll take some of this bloat along with him--I was up in my waist measurement this past week and I really want to blame it on him being MIA :lol:

Okay, better run. I hope everyone has a great day!!! Be good to yourselves and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Good morning! I'm happy to report I feel alot better this morning than I have the last couple days. I'm still not 100%, but well on my way.

Sandye-Another good reason to avoid packaged foods, right? I do NOT care for the sodium overload feeling! Good luck on the cleaning!

GivTLC-You don't know what being behind on albums is... I intend to resume scrapbooking as soon as we get settled in our new house. I try here but there's so little room. It makes it hard to get organized.

Nella-Well, that's exciting to have a date in mind. Best of luck on all of it! It'll be challenging, but you can get there!!

SG-I'm glad you found some encouragement on your running. Not everyone is going to be fast, but who cares? You're not training for the olympics, you're training for life! And when it comes to life, you rock!! You're WAY healthier than you were a few months ago. Your heart doesn't care what your per mile pace is, all it knows is that your making it healthier! ;)

Gekster-I hope all goes smoothly for your BF's grandma and that she can pass peacefully. Take care of yourself!

NSM-Hope the visit from the IL's goes smoothly. It is a long one, but maybe they'll be easy guests and it'll be a really nice visit. You make sure to take good care of yourself even while they're there!!

Well, the scale was up today a bit, but I was OP (unless the cough drops are 100 calories each! LOL). I will just plug along. I have a slightly lower cal day today, so maybe that'll shake some of this weight off. I'm still a little more tired than normal, so I will be resting some again today. A nap would be terrific, but DD may not agree. Oh well, I'm off to plan and rest. I got behind on my planning as I was caring for the sick children and so it's time to catch up. Have a wonderful, healthy day!

Morning ladies,

AFChick - Goodness two birthdays in one day, lol, that's almost like a temptation challenge on the biggest loser. Congrats on that pound and change, moderation works like a charm ;)

MsP - Hope you're feeling much better, there's nothing worse than an active person who can't exercise :fr: Great job keeping up those workouts too, excuses are too easy some days so wtg :high:

Jessicado - Congrats on those 75lbs, or more like 77lbs now. That's fantastic milestone. I'll join you there shortly. Glad you guys are feeling better it sure does sounds like you have a lot on your plate so I hope it slows down for you soon :)

LaurenA - I would imagine there will be no trace of that by Wednesday with some good eating between now and then. Lots of water, lol!

NSM - Ok, so that sounds even more awkward, lol. I just know that three weeks with my FIL without my dh would be a bit long but I know them really well so I can't imagine your situation, my goodness. Oh well if you need a break you can always excuse yourself for a walk just to escape!

Gekster - Woohoo on the gym! and on the loss. I'm just super proud of you for going low energy workout or not, you did that, even with all you're going through so be sure to give yourself credit cuz you know how easy it would have been not to :)

SG - That's it, I'm building the walls up on this wagon and maybe even putting a roof on it, lol. With Chinese in there and not enough water and the other issue, I have no doubt that you'll be fine by friday once things fluch out a bit ;) And there's a lot of running speed that just increases as you loss weight too and I would try to find the joy in it, maybe you're just a long slow distance kind of gal, I know that's completely where my strength is too, I can pound out 20k but heaven help me when I do the speed training, it takes every ounce of power I have to do that well, and most days I don't do great. Part of it could be your muscle fiber composition, just how your body is made and also, you haven't been running terribly long either. And really, long slow distance burns a million calories anyway. Well then I need to learn your lighting techniques, lol.

Nella - The funny part is that in knowing me no one, not even my mom who loves me no matter what, would ever call me dainty, lol. Small framed or not I'm just not graceful or any of those sort of things. I'm totally bull in china shop sort of thing. One of my friends just went through a reversal with her dh and make sure you have a lot of ice packs :) That's just the best mini goal, to feel sexy! Bravo !

GivTLC - You know it really is a part time job, I sometimes wonder what I did before then I remember it was eating of course! Fortunately dh finished his 6 months of police training not too many years ago and they worked out a lot more each week than I do now so he's not mentioned anything but he still raises an eyebrow at some of the food I eat, or don't eat for that matter. I'm thinking they will get used to it eventually, just like they got used to our unhealthy selves. I even overheard him talking to his dad the other day and I guess my FIL asked how my "diet" was going and dh correctly him and said "oh no dad, this is more like a life overhaul, I think what she eats and does would scare most diet plans away." It might be sinking in :crossed: Oh I love the spinach strawberry salads! If only we could get good strawberries right now, yummy. Have fun scrapbooking!

Sandye - I've been tempted by those mixes too, they look so enticing but that's what stopped me, that nutritional label is scary! And if you find TOM can you please let him know I'm still looking for him too. My moods have been wacky too, some days I feel like I'm pmsing all over the place then it's gone, then bloated then ugh!!! It's frustrating. It's only been since August for crying out loud! And low energy workouts are still great workouts, but honestly, yell at tony during plyo, swearing at him helps too.

As for this gal, all done my workout today, woke up feeling wicked awesome, thank goodness, dh came down hard with a flu yesterday. He was fine in the afternoon and by dinner he was grey and bad things were coming out of him. He appears to be on the upswing though, just super tired and bummed because he was actually going to go do a Remembrance Day ceremony at a local school in his red serge and they don't get to wear it very often. It makes him feel special but don't want to get anyone sick, so he's home.

And yesterday afternoon we took dd for her first ever skate. It was awesome, got some great home movies. She was in heaven and pretty steady on two blades for a 3 year old, I was really surprised. She used the little pushy thing to move around but she can actually stand on ice with skates. I hadn't been on skates in about 8 years so I thought I'd give it a try and although it's not like riding a bike, I managed alright too. Makes me happy that we have another family activity we can do together that is fun exercise!

And I may have found a really nice exercise bike for $50.00 in the local buy and sell, it retails for $700 but they are moving and want it out of their house. Just waiting back on some answers to my questions and we may have a deal. So excited!

Alrighty better get off my butt and start disinfecting doorknobs. And guess who hit 149.8 this morning, Oh ya this girl did! It's just under but that's another 0.4lbs to add to the total and it's sooo nice to see a new decade. 9.8lbs to go, holy crap, that's ridonkulous.

Gekster - You should be proud of yourself for continuing to take the best care of yourself that you can. You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers.:hug::hug::hug:

Jessica - Congrats on 75 down! That is major. It may be hectic, but at least busy means business is good and busy is much better than bored.

NSM - I hope things go well with the in-laws.

SG - I’m sorry about the scale. Good for you that you are keeping a good attitude about it.

Tummy - Congrats on the new decade and I hope DH feels better soon and that you don't get sick.

I’ve gained for 3 days now. It’s only a total of 1 pound, but I don’t see any reason for it and I do not like being confused. If I had done something to cause it I would still be annoyed, but at least I would know it was myself I should be annoyed at. With this I just don’t know what to do. I’m in a really bad mood. We’re having trouble getting my mother-in-law moved out of our house and she is driving me absolutely insane. We asked her to leave in May and she is still here. We also had to bury one of our fish last night. I discovered our 2 ½ foot white koi, Moby, dead in our pond yesterday. I have no idea what happened and I know it’s just a fish, but it hurts.

Nella - Well Done on the NSV! I bet you looked Fab! :)
Gekster - My thoughts are with you, glad to see you working hard even through this tough time, you're a real trooper
Shrinking - I understand how you feel, i'v ebeen going up and down around the same few pounds for a bit now grrrr ... it will pass eventully :)
GivTLC - That salad sounds yummy! And yes, thanks. I am glad I recognized that and went straight back OP. I didn't think about it that way :)
iDream - Don't sweat! That 2lbs will be gone in no time - lot's and lot's of water today will do you good
Ms P - I hope you get lot's of well deserved rest today
Tummy - Sorry to hear your DH is sick, keeping my fingers crossed that both you and your DD evade it. Your DD is skating at 3?!?! Crazy ... I have never been skating before and I am 26! Will have to catch up! Oh and only 9.8lbs to go?? That's incredible, keep up the good work and you will be saying good bye to them in no time.

So far so good for me this week - having a good OP day and actually looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow! Hoping for a loss of some sort! Anything would be good!

Have a great day!

Hello ladies ! It is a wonderful beautiful day and I am in great spirits. I can't believe it I am feeling so much better and I am still POP, taking vitamins, and drinking water everyday, the workouts are pretty much on schedule now that we have the moving over with... Yeah!!! I could just do a little dance I am so happy hahaha... Hope all is going great with all of you I will check in later today have a good one!!! :)

At present I am sitting in a room on campus at a big conference table that has a large bucket of assorted candies and I am resisting. I have covered it but just knowing it is there and not allowing myself is torture. I want a mini snickers.. like really. But I know if I have one I will want another and the cycle will not end. We are going out for dinner that will be a little high in calories so I don't need to waste any, I've eaten light for most of the day to try to plan for tonight. It is a big deal because I am seeing my doctor on Thursday and hoping to have hit 35 lbs lost from the time I started seeing her about my PCOS. I think the fact that I came to this site, to you guys to type out my struggles with this is a positive sign. It actually seems that since I started writing all of this out I am realizing why I do not really want any of the candy. Someone actually wanted in and is eating a snickers and I'm not internally freaking out. Its interesting to have a NSV while on the site haha! I beat the candy!

Gekster - YAY for beating the candy!!! You tell it who's boss!!!!

Congrats on that NSV Gekster!!! I wish I would remember to get online when I am facing those situations!!!

Down to 242 this morning from 247 at the beginning of the month. I am so glad that I just let October go!!!! Happy Happy!!!

TuMMY!!!!!! YOu are awesome. Incredulatastic!!!! 9.8 to go. Between you and MsP. I am reallly wishin that I didnot go off plan and have 2 servings of whole grain 17 carb taco chips. I should have stuck with one!!! UGH!!!! Drinking tons o water today. Killer therapy workout today. STill having major knee issues. Running has been tabled for a while. Am hoping that what ever it is will resolve on it's own. But am worried. ACL not a good thing to be hurting. That is most likely where my symptoms point. So for now, walking,cycling and elliptical for me. I can't even do my killer leg workouts anymore. I can kill the upper body, but she wants me to save the leg workouts for when I am with her. HOping to start back on my BOB yoga video next week, but she is gonna go through it this weekend and make sure I don't make it worse. Love my PT!!! She is awesome. And the core work it is amazing. I have family and friends coming in this weekend with tons to finish around here. Sorry if the personals are few and far between. Anyone hear from Delphi???

Great dreams ladies!!!

Hello, everyone! You're all are SO inspirational...I've really loved reading through this thread.

I'm joining a little late into the month, but I've been so wrapped up in my big-mini goal (Onederland - which I hit yesterday!! *happy dance*) that I wasn't thinking about anything else. So now, to think through the end of November. I'd like to lose 6 more lbs this month. Might be a little steep, but we'll see! Here's hoping!

Good Morning Ladies (and any men lurking around)

First off, I want to apologize for being pretty much MIA lately except for some quick update posts. Normally I love doing personals but with last weeks business and the further decline of my aunt's health (she passed away yesterday) I just really didn't have the energy to put forth anything else. After this weekend you can likely expect to see the "regular me" return.

I have been feeling the stress lately and that's the truth. As a result, my eating hasn't been as good as it usually is though I must say I'm pleased with how good it has been. I'm fairly certain I've been eating maintenance calories at the very least and I have kept up with the exercise. I weighed in at 195.2 today which means I'm back to what I was before the weekend eating (and the current bowel issues which have started to move juuuuust a little post-weigh in this morning) and so I'm kind of hopeful I'll end up with a loss by Friday. Saturday is my official weigh in with Curves and as it falls before the 16th I could postpone it a week and might if I still feel bloated from being backed up. I don't want my measurements thrown off.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day. I miss you girls when I'm not posting!

Good morning ladies!!!

Ahhh, how I wish I had time for personals--but I've recently been bitten by the Productivity Bug and I need to run with it! I feel like I'm in the last trimester and nesting like crazy! :lol:

Tummy~ Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!!! Girl, do you realized just how CLOSE you are to your goal? You have come sooooooooooooo FAR!!!! You are a constant source of inspiration hun. Bravo and congrats on a new decade!! :)


So, apparently all I had to do to get TOM back was to ask nicely! :lol: He showed up yesterday and I'm hoping that he doesn't do double duty to make up for the missed month. So far it's not bad, but I am feeling a bit on the crampy achy side--especially my lower back. I'm also having cravings and that's not usually my thing during TOM so who knows what's up with that. I was down a little today and I just hope it continues.

So, as you know I've got ambitious plans for the Holidays in terms of crafting and such...well, I think I may have hitched a ride on the crazy train because as of yesterday I'm now working on making quilts for the girls' beds!! :crazy: I'm not what you'd call an 'experienced quilter' so I make super simple hand tied quilts (the thought of machine quilting them scares the bejimminies outta me!) and I've only made 2 so far, so to take on 2 twin sized quilts seems insane! However, I'm determined to do it. I am too cheap to buy them and I know I can do it...I just need some more fabric. :D I thought I would have plenty (as I have an insane fabric stash), but it turns out I don't. So I'll be hitting Joanns today in search of some fabric to go with what I have.

We plan on painting the girls' room this weekend too! So I'll be even more MIA than I have been. :( I really miss you ladies TONS!!! But do know that I'm checking in every day and you're all inspiring me to stay the course and keep moving forward!! :)

Okay ladies, enough blabbing from me--I need to shower and hit the road!! I still have laundry to fold (I washed everything in the dang house yesterday it seems!) and put away today too! :eek:

Have a fantastic day and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

SG - I'm sorry to hear about your Aunt. I'll keep your family in my thoughts.

Sandye - Your'e making me want to break out the sewing machine!! I think I miss crafting more than I thought. I think I might make x-mas presents for everyone this year. Money is just too tight to buy for everyone. And lord knows I have fabric and yarn stashes to fill a store with! Glad TOM showed up finally (you know what I mean!) I know it was making you weary.


I don't have time for more personals. It's been a rough week here as we had a funeral for one of SD's friends yesterday. She passed on Friday very suddenly due to complications of pneumonia. It was very difficult as you can imagine as she was so young.

On the weight front, I'm stuck at 169. I'm having pre-TOM cramps, so I know it's water retention, but it sucks nonetheless. I'm hoping for a big whoosh next week when TOM is gone :)

Have a great day everyone!

Sandye - I LOVE quilting! Keep it up, the quilts get faster and easier. I would quilt all the time if my life would just cooperate...LOL!

I'm having a great Veteran's Day so far...since I don't have to head to work this morning, I did an extra weigh-in and was down 1.8 pounds from Saturday. Now am 194.4, only 4.4 lbs from my Nov goal...YAY!

Anyway, have a great Veteran's day and remember to say a thanks to those who have fought for our freedom and to remember those who didn't return.

Jen

Gekster-Yay on that candy NSV!

Tummy-CONGRATS on the new decade! :carrot: That's AWESOME! Hey, even if you don't see yourself as "dainty", isn't it amazing that someone else does?! I'd love that!! I am, unfortunately, 100% "big- boned" or large-framed, ya know...born with birthing hips and all that good stuff LOL (thanks so much to my father's side of the family :mad: heehee). I'll never be tiny or "dainty", but the good news is I carry the weight differently and tend to build muscle easily. I actually like my build, strangely enough. I guess that's the key. Knowing what we're like underneath the fat and liking it!

Sandye-You go girl! I know when I get the energy and time to get stuff done, I do it before the moment passes. I bet those quilts are gonna be fantastic...and super special since you made them yourself! Have fun picking out fabric!

SG-Sorry to hear about your aunt's passing. I hope that and all stresses ease for you in the coming week(s). :hug: Glad that you're taking care of your health during the busy times! You're doing a fabulous job making this a part of your everyday life! Once you get to maintenance, you'll handle it with ease, I'm sure.

angeephalangee-Welcome! Congrats on your recent milestone!! It's great to have you here as you continue to make progress.

mystical-I'm SO happy to hear things are going well for you!! Keep up the good work.

lauren-I did get a bit of rest and watched a movie yesterday. That was nice. Now, if the cold would just finish pestering me, I'd be thrilled! ;)

FGG-I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of your fish. I know my son would really take it hard if his fish died! It doesn't help that your MIL is not cooperating by moving out, I'm sure. I hope she finds another place soon and that stress is resolved for you and your family. :hug: I wonder if the stress is contributing to the small gains you've had. I've heard it can. I know from experience those small gains are very frustrating when you're OP and can't trace what's causing it. All I can suggest is experimenting with calorie intake and/or find a way to destress with your favorite hobby. I'm sure you'll see it turn around soon!

The cold is still lingering here, but I chose to believe it will be gone very soon. I'm still OP and doing all the right things, so I was glad to see the scale budge a little for me today. It had gone up .2/day for the last 2 days which was perplexing me a bit. I have been messing with my calories intake a little this week, so I guess I should've expected it. Here's the thing: I see on here that some girls who are moderately active (as I consider myself) are eating 1600 or 1800 calories per day. I've been eating about 1250 cals/day and it's been fine, but I thought maybe I could increase it a bit more and still see a loss. All these BMR things and all tell me I should be eating around 1400-1600 (My BMR is around 1400). I was slowly trying to raise my cals to the lower end of that spectrum. I'm only doing 1300-1350 now, but when I gained those first few days, I was annoyed. I'm thinking, "Why can't I eat the calories I should be able to eat?" So yesterday I more carefully used my calories on more nutrient dense foods, which I mostly do anyway, but I was super mindful of it yesterday. It got the small gains from earlier this week off, plus a .2 pound bonus. I don't know what to think, though. Should I just stick with the calories I've been eating or give it more time with slightly increased cals? I know as I weigh less, my calorie allowance goes down, so maybe that has something to do with it too. Just working things out still.... Good times!

Good Morning All! :wave:

So good news for me this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Down 2lbs!!! :carrot: :cheer3:

Soooooo I am very close to my goal of reaching onderland this month, thinking that if I can lose 2lbs in 2 days (was 204 on Monday, now 202) by the end of the week I could potenially be sitting on the verge of onderland!

I am very excited girls!!! And am looking forward to a healthy OP day :)

mystical - Yay for feeling great and staying OP! I am having one of those days ... :)

Gekster - Good job on resisting that candy :cheer3: I had to go buy me some dark chocolate on the weekend because of my chocolate cravings after halloween. My finance doesn't want to get rid of the left over candy (because he can eat as much of it as he wants and not gain a pound!!! And because we rarely have any junk in our house!) So now when he has a chocolate I snap off a piece of dark chocolate and feel good about snacking on it!

angee - Yay for onderland :carrot: Can't wait to be there!

Shrinking - Keeping my fingers crossed for you, i'm sure you'll see a drop!

iDream - LOL - TOM isn't usually that nice! Especially to me! Cravings are a super strong almost impossible to resist force for me! But I get by them with mints and dark chocolate!

Nella - Sorry to hear about your rough week, chin up it will get better :)

AFChick - Congrats on the loss :)

Ms_P - Glad to see you are still staying OP even through the cold - I know how tough that can be, I applaud you :)

Morning Ladies,

FGG - Thanks so much, new decades are awesome, you'll be meeting one pretty soon too. Sorry about the fish, I have a large tank and we kept cold water fish until we moved here in february. Everyone teased me b/c they were the best kept goldfish in town but I had them for over 6 years, one was a Koi named Coil and it's terrible when they die, he had been a pond fish too :hug:

Lauren - Well she's standing on skates at 3, lol, she is still using that skate trainer for thenext while anyway. They are a whole lot more fearless that we are when we get older. I mean, I know how to skate and I was still freaked out to try again but she couldn't get enough. You might want to give it a go, great exercise, lol. OMG 202!!! That's fanfrickintastic!!

Mystical - Well that sure wins uplifting post of the day! I'm so glad it's all falling into place. So how's the house full of men going?

Gekster - WTG, that's hard and it's so awesome that you used healthy coping strategies to overcome it, super proud of you hun, great job. And I bet you feel empowered too, that's the best part :)

Jellofer - You do have an awesome PT, that's fantastic she's doing so much to make sure you rehab right. Better follow those orders, lol. I'm not sure what's up with Delphi, I've emailed her and facebooked her and things but she's not responding and Modern Warfare just came out and she'll no doubt be very busy with that so I hope not but we may have lost her for now :( You too are awesome, lots of water and you're golden :)

Angee - Welcome to the challenge, it must be a really amusing read, lol, we're all over the place some days. Congrats on 199 and losing 51lbs too, both are monumental achievements and a great reason to stand up and cheer. The more the merrier around here and look forward to getting to know you as the month goes on.

SG - Sorry to hear about your loss, goodness it's everywhere right now. And I for one, think it's a major achievement to go through stressful times and adjust to maintenance and maintain weight. That's the total opposite of what so many of us did before and we know how hard it is to not eat in times like that, so kudos to you. Glad you're clearing out a bit, that must feel a million times better and look forward to having you back to your bright and cheery self soon.

Sandye - Ok, so you're only a bit ambitious, lol. More power to ya hun, I don't encounter crafts at the best of times, I made a scrap book once, it's a shameful attempt, I should burn it really. My strengths lay elsewhere so I'll stick with those. Run with that creativity, it burns calories like crazy never sitting down. Glad TOM found you, I'm worried about the same thing, since I've missed two is it going to be some epic tom when it does come, I'm having visions of post pregnancy stuff but my doctor assured me it won't be that bad, we'll see. Have fun with painting too!

Nella - Oh goodness I'm sorry to hear about the little girl, that's terrible! And so hard to explain to the little ones too. Hope your week gets better and make sure you keep taking care of yourself while taking care of everybody else ;)

AFChick - Congrats on the loss that's great in 4 days, holy! Enjoy your day off :)

MsP - You know, that's true, it's nice when other people think that, lol, it's more my personality that I think is far from dainty and that has always colored my view on that subject. That's what messes me up a bit though, I build muscle fast and have to watch not to get too bulky and now I'm small framed, go figure. I totally agree, it's all about loving what's there, I'm realizing now, I'm going to have some butt going on no matter what b/c my upper half will be thin before my lower half and I may be smaller than I want in the face and still have hip action so I will chose to love it instead. I'm eating around 1400-1500 right now but with our height difference I think that makes us about the same calorie wise since my BMI as of today is 24.1 too. Everything I read said that the closer you get to maintenance the higher you need to eat to your BMR and work off the last with exercise alone but that hasn't proved true for a lot of ppl I know, Sandye kept hers low right till the end and it worked so I'm of the school of thought that I'm going to eat where I am until it stops working or until I get super hungry. You've also got a lot of muscle too so I'd imagine your BMR would probably be even higher than 1400. Ugh, it's crazy!! But I'm all for eating more if you can. I'd love to know how it goes, keep us posted.

Wow that was an epic post my goodness. I should have to pay rent for all the space I take up :o

Good news on my exercise bike, closed the deal for $50.00 and we get to pick it up on Wednesday next week. I'm really looking forward to adding some different elements to my training, help avoid injuries and change it up a bit. And just because nice things happen sometimes, I also found another beachbody program (they make p90x) unopened for half price in the buy and sell too. I just have to find out whether we can pick it up the same day so we don't have to make a special trip. Those are going to be my 75lb reward, lol, exercise stuff for a reward that's funny. So far 50lbs was a 2 year subscription to Canadian Running Magazine and final goal is a new waredrobe, can't wait!! I've already been combing through jcrew online for some shirts, I love their basics!

Enough blabbering today, I need to go get my Sting in right away and down another 0.6lbs today to 149.2 :carrot:, I like being a bit further from those 150's makes me feel better. 9.2lbs to go now hehe.

SG- My condolences on your aunt.

Sandye- You always seem so be taking some kind of massive project on, but it normally goes well so I'm sure your quilts and everything else will be wonderful.

Tummy- You are a machine girl! You are very inspirational, 9.2lbs away, wow.

Grandma passed peacefully in her sleep yesterday. Everyone is all about celebrating her life and being glad she is no longer suffering, so its not a sad thing she is gone. I really appreciate the support from everyone here, it was hard to see her suffering.

As for weightloss I was down a lb to 281, making an even 30 lbs lost since I started on the site, which means I get to add a new little guy to my signature! And I am one lb away from a reward envelope! I haven't even seen them in about 3 months, so it is a pretty big deal. Because it is a holiday campus and the gym are closed but instead of taking a day off I will workout on my own. I already have a workout plan so it should be good.

Good morning girls!! Can you believe we're nearly halfway through the month already?!?! Craziness huh?

Gekster~ sorry to hear about Grandma :hug: but I'm sure she's in a much better place and not suffering any longer. It's great that everyone is focusing on celebrating her life--she would have wanted you all to do just that I'm sure. :)

Well girls, another busy day ahead--I think this is going to be a recurring theme until the holidays are over. It's hectic, but at least I'm keeping busy and not sitting around bored and turning to food right? ;)

I got a bunch of squares cut for the quilts, but I still have a ton left to cut. Since I'm lame and all, I'm cutting each strip up individually--I stink at lining strips up exactly right and cutting them all together! I end up with super wonky squares when I do that--so this is taking way longer than it should, but it's all good. Once I get all the squares cut, then I need to figure out how to lay them out! :lol: I'm quilting blind here since I'm not following any pattern. ;)

Other than that, I never got around to priming the girls room--that might have to wait until this weekend. I still have Christmas tags to start making and I need to start on a Christmas card of some kind...sheesh! Why do I wait so long? I should have started this stuff back in June! :lol:

TOM is still here and being a bit meaner than usual, but I can take it. I had a nice swoosh this morning and I'm sitting below goal again--well, below my 2nd goal that is--I need to change my ticker to reflect my new goal!!! Anyway, so that was a nice way to start the morning. :)

Well, hate to post and run with no personals yet again, but I need to get ready and hit the grocery store! Hope everyone has a fantastic day! Get out there and smile, be good to yourself and treat yourself right!! And lastly, don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!

:D

Morning Ladies,

The site is being crazy slow for me this morning, ugh. but just a quicky today and not a lot of posts so that works out pretty well too.

Gekster - Sounds like you have a great attitude about the whole thing and life celebration is always such a wonderful idea.

Sandye - You are a crazy Christmas person, lol, wow, they sell my Christmas tags and cards at the store, I probably have some from last year, I'll just need to go shop in my basement. Pace yourself dear, I don't want to see you spread too thin, haha, cute pun I made. That was quite a whoosh, omg, that must feel great and good for you staying OP and in control to get there, bravo!

I found a little article about weekend overeating that I thought I'd share from sparkpeople since I know that can be difficult.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=466

Speaking of whooshes, dropped 1.2lbs today :?: but I'll take it and run down to 147.8 today and now I'm pretty sure goal has changed to 130, lol, the closer I get the more I can see that this small boned nonsense is rather true. But regardless I'm going to worry more about body compostion and aim for a fat %.

Hello Chickies

Man oh man is this site slow today! I'm happy to report that things are moving through me again. It's amazing what a little normal action there will do for the mood. I didn't realize how sluggish I felt until today after having some relief. I feel fantastic despite all the icky stuff going on right now. I doubt I'll be around much in the next couple of days. I have to travel for the funeral and visitation, etc. But, I'll be thinking of you guys and looking forward to reading the posts when I come back!

Tummy Thanks for posting the article. I found that when I stopped feeling as though I could treat myself one day on the weekend... my eating really fell into place. I think a lot of us sabotage ourselves by maintaining the mentality of "weekend eating vs. weekday eating". Way to go on the whoosh!

Sandye You sure do seem busy these days! I think it's fantastic, really and it makes me oh so motivated. Unfortunately, November is National Novel Writing Month and this is my second year as a participant. My main past time right now is writing, which means sitting. I haven't gotten a LOT of time to do that (so I'm behind) but at least I'm not eating my way through it like I did last year!

Gekster Sorry to hear about grandma. Celebrate her life and treasure those memories you have of her. Also, congrats on the 30 lbs gone! It's a big milestone, I think!

LaurenA Ohhh onederland! I hope you see it very soon! It's such a fantastic feeling I can't wait to celebrate it with you!

MsP How much to eat is a constant thing on my mind and I think only you can determine that. I have decided to essentially quit trying to lose weight when my maintenance calories are at 2000. As someone who has overeaten her entire life and finds the prospect of only eating 1600 calories a day or less (I've seen some who can't eat more than 1500) is terrifying to me. This may change as I lose more weight but right now, for me... the cutoff is 2000 calories. Your numbers will vary because, as I said, I believe the number is deeply personal. Getting to the body you want is one thing, maintaining is another.

Well, that looks like everything since I posted yesterday. Thank you to those of you who offered condolences. This loss brings up painful memories of losing my grandmother, who I was abnormally close to. Everything from the cancer to the final days with hospice care at home just seems too familiar and it resurrects old emotions that are surprisingly hard to manage. I've been happy and sad in a matter of seconds the past day and I doubt it'll get any easier before the weekend is up. Thank you for thinking of me.

Hello Chickies

Man oh man is this site slow today! I'm happy to report that things are moving through me again. It's amazing what a little normal action there will do for the mood. I didn't realize how sluggish I felt until today after having some relief. I feel fantastic despite all the icky stuff going on right now. I doubt I'll be around much in the next couple of days. I have to travel for the funeral and visitation, etc. But, I'll be thinking of you guys and looking forward to reading the posts when I come back!

Tummy Thanks for posting the article. I found that when I stopped feeling as though I could treat myself one day on the weekend... my eating really fell into place. I think a lot of us sabotage ourselves by maintaining the mentality of "weekend eating vs. weekday eating". Way to go on the whoosh!

Sandye You sure do seem busy these days! I think it's fantastic, really and it makes me oh so motivated. Unfortunately, November is National Novel Writing Month and this is my second year as a participant. My main past time right now is writing, which means sitting. I haven't gotten a LOT of time to do that (so I'm behind) but at least I'm not eating my way through it like I did last year!

Gekster Sorry to hear about grandma. Celebrate her life and treasure those memories you have of her. Also, congrats on the 30 lbs gone! It's a big milestone, I think!

LaurenA Ohhh onederland! I hope you see it very soon! It's such a fantastic feeling I can't wait to celebrate it with you!

MsP How much to eat is a constant thing on my mind and I think only you can determine that. I have decided to essentially quit trying to lose weight when my maintenance calories are at 2000. As someone who has overeaten her entire life and finds the prospect of only eating 1600 calories a day or less (I've seen some who can't eat more than 1500) is terrifying to me. This may change as I lose more weight but right now, for me... the cutoff is 2000 calories. Your numbers will vary because, as I said, I believe the number is deeply personal. Getting to the body you want is one thing, maintaining is another.

Well, that looks like everything since I posted yesterday. Thank you to those of you who offered condolences. This loss brings up painful memories of losing my grandmother, who I was abnormally close to. Everything from the cancer to the final days with hospice care at home just seems too familiar and it resurrects old emotions that are surprisingly hard to manage. I've been happy and sad in a matter of seconds the past day and I doubt it'll get any easier before the weekend is up. Thank you for thinking of me.

Hello Chickies

Man oh man is this site slow today! I'm happy to report that things are moving through me again. It's amazing what a little normal action there will do for the mood. I didn't realize how sluggish I felt until today after having some relief. I feel fantastic despite all the icky stuff going on right now. I doubt I'll be around much in the next couple of days. I have to travel for the funeral and visitation, etc. But, I'll be thinking of you guys and looking forward to reading the posts when I come back!

Tummy Thanks for posting the article. I found that when I stopped feeling as though I could treat myself one day on the weekend... my eating really fell into place. I think a lot of us sabotage ourselves by maintaining the mentality of "weekend eating vs. weekday eating". Way to go on the whoosh!

Sandye You sure do seem busy these days! I think it's fantastic, really and it makes me oh so motivated. Unfortunately, November is National Novel Writing Month and this is my second year as a participant. My main past time right now is writing, which means sitting. I haven't gotten a LOT of time to do that (so I'm behind) but at least I'm not eating my way through it like I did last year!

Gekster Sorry to hear about grandma. Celebrate her life and treasure those memories you have of her. Also, congrats on the 30 lbs gone! It's a big milestone, I think!

LaurenA Ohhh onederland! I hope you see it very soon! It's such a fantastic feeling I can't wait to celebrate it with you!

MsP How much to eat is a constant thing on my mind and I think only you can determine that. I have decided to essentially quit trying to lose weight when my maintenance calories are at 2000. As someone who has overeaten her entire life and finds the prospect of only eating 1600 calories a day or less (I've seen some who can't eat more than 1500) is terrifying to me. This may change as I lose more weight but right now, for me... the cutoff is 2000 calories. Your numbers will vary because, as I said, I believe the number is deeply personal. Getting to the body you want is one thing, maintaining is another.

Well, that looks like everything since I posted yesterday. Thank you to those of you who offered condolences. This loss brings up painful memories of losing my grandmother, who I was abnormally close to. Everything from the cancer to the final days with hospice care at home just seems too familiar and it resurrects old emotions that are surprisingly hard to manage. I've been happy and sad in a matter of seconds the past day and I doubt it'll get any easier before the weekend is up. Thank you for thinking of me.

Wow! I finally got on here. I've been trying all day with no luck until now. So, my quick post (since I'm not confident it will work) is just to say I'm down another half pound to 135.6 today. I'm closing in on that initial goal. We all know I'm not stopping there, but it'll feel good to get that one under my belt! Hope you all have a wonderful and productive day!!

I saw my doctor this morning and she is super proud, 33 lbs gone since I started seeing her! That is 10% of my start weight. But.. this was since April. I feel like I should be further along though I didn't tell her that. It is my own fault for not being nearly as dedicated as a lot of you. But even though I didn't say anything she seemed to have the same thought because she was suggesting that I RAISE my calories! I usually take in 1300-1500 and I do lose on that, but she said I should go for no less than 1800 on days of no exercise and on days I work out go all the way to 2000. What do you guys think about this?

Tummy--i look forward to hearing from you everyday!!

Nice surprise this morning with the scale at 240.4 this am. Almost a new decade. Which would be great. Got family coming in town this weekend so the posts will be short. Lots to do to prepare.

Have a great weekend everyone!!! Remember to focus and stay on plan.

Love and light to all the peeps.
Jen

Hello everyone it is a beautiful day here!!! I am so very happy that I am finally able to get back on here, I am so lost and having withdrawls when I can't come here LOL..... I finally have some great news for this weeks WI the scale is down and I am feeling so good about my new start at life I am so motivated I just can hardly believe it myself. Well here it is I am down to 214.8 that makes it a total of 3.2 lbs lost this month. Not where I wanted to be but it is a loss and I will take it. With the new motivation of my family just maybe I will be able to kick it up a notch and be able to meet my goal this month keep your fingers crossed and send me some good vibes... Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Good afternoon girls!!! Man alive I've missed checking in on you all!!! What is going on with the site the past couple of days? I haven't been able to get on here! :cry:

Anyway...

Gekster~ congrats on a great loss and you should be very proud of yourself! As for upping your cals, I agree. For your weight you do don't want to go too low or your body will do that whole starvation mode thing and you don't want that do ya?

I'll have to make this short and sweet as we're about to start painting the girls' room (well, priming it anyway, we still need to pick out paint). Had a great OP week, only skipped the one HIIT workout so I'm feeling pretty dang good about things. I think I've found a comfortable workout routine for me and it's one that's challenging me so I'm thrilled with that. :) I love that I'm still getting sore muscles from this workout!! :carrot:

Had a couple of back to back swooshes and I'm sitting at 132.8 now. TOM is still hanging around so we'll see where I sit after he's gone. I must have been retaining something fierce to lose that much in such a short time! I do know my belly isn't nearly as puffy as it was so :yay:.

Other than that, I've just been cutting fabric, buying more fabric, cutting more fabric...I didn't really plan this quilt out very well and I basically had to ditch 2 out of the 3 fabrics I chose from my stash because I didn't have enough for both quilts. :( Oh well, I love buying fabric, so it's all good right? ;) I've got everything (I think) cut out now so tonight I'll be trying to lay it out and come up with a pattern I like--wish me luck! :)

Well, okay, I better get going. Hope everyone is having a great weekend and I hope the site behaves itself and lets me on from here on out!!

Don't forget to smile and to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Hey Ladies!

I've been meaning to get on here, but yesterday I couldn't. Anywho, I'm down to 210.1! :)

Also, my friend who wants to loose about 20-30 pounds for her wedding next year is going to start working out with me. We're going to walk twice a day for a total of at least an hour.

That's all I have to report! Gotta do homework!

:ebike:

<3 We Can Do It Ladies!

Okay ladies, I've been waiting for 3 days to post these progress pics. I hope it works. The first is a definite "before"..UGH! The second is from late June and the 2 in yellow are from Thursday. So, there's my progress! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Have a great one!

:congrat::cheer::yay:MSP ~Well done! Let me be the first to congratulate you! I'd say you made goal (that .4 will be gone tomorrow, I predict!).

Malee ~Almost a new decade!:carrot:

SANDYE ~No more swooshes, k?;) How goes the quilt making? Did you find paint for the girls' room?

MYSTICAL ~ Sending :goodvibes your way!

JELLO ~ Almost a new decade for you too, way to go! Enjoy your visit.:dancer:

SG ~Good to hear things are "moving" for you again. My thoughts are with you this weekend :hug:

GEKSTER ~It's hard to eat more when you are trying to lose, BUT, the doctor does probably know best! Unless of course she's a skinny minnie who has never had this struggle!:p

TUMMY ~ Woo hoo on the panties for the new decade! :yay:You know, I'm not sure about that method for determining daintiness. My wrists are tiny. My ankles are pretty small, too, when they aren't swollen. However, I was not dainty even at 110 lbs. Skinny, yes, but I have a large ribcage. I wore a 38 A bra for crying out loud!I would think that a ribcage would be more indicative than a wrist for determining frame size. But what do I know?:?:

Well, I can't see any other posts on this page, and I'm afraid I'll lose my post if I go back, so sorry for everyone I missed.

As some of you know, I have been on a MAJOR plateu. I got down to 167.2 on OCTOBER 2nd. I have gained and lost 2-3 pounds ever since. Well, yesterday I got down to 167.0, and today I was 165.8! I'll be up tomorrow for sure because I havenot been drinking my water today, but hey, I was about ready to chuck the scale out the window and go back to my old ways (can you say chocolate:chockiss::cookie:?). So I guess I'll be sticking around :yes: Hope you all have a nice Sunday, and keep up the good work! :wave:

Morning Ladies, missed you!

SG - You're very welcome, I thought it was rather apropo to our recent difficulties around here and made good sense. :hug:I hope you're doing at least a tiny, very so slightly bit better after the funeral.

MsP - Holy cow! Look at those guns girls, all that hard work is showing and you're tiny, I'm jealous of those legs, I'm a thick thighed one, but as we were lamenting before that does mean I get the butt to go with it, lol. Gorgeous, incredbible and big huge congrats!

Gekster - I agree with you doctor, first of all because she went to school for a really long time, lol, and second it will preserve your metabolism if you eat more. You'll probably find that easier too which in the long run is really important. You'll can come done to the lower numbers eventually but if you do it gradually you'll barely notice it. Glad your doctor was proud of you, now we just have to figure out a way to get you that proud of you :)

Jellofer - LOL, I'm not exactly sure why, but likewise my dear.

Mystical - Amen sista! That many days without people is tough :( But look at you! Omg that's fantastic, 3.2 is marvelous :carrot:That's over 11,000 calories you've burnt away!

Sandye - Holy crap girl, 132's! That must feel brilliant after all you've gone through recently. I'm super proud of you for perservering, that's how it's done!

Miss Mallee - Look at you too 210!! Such awesome success, we just all have to lock ourselves off the site for two days, lol. That's awesome news about the exercise partner too, marvelous motivation.

LTTG - You know that's true, my rib cage is pretty big too, but having never been thin, this is the first time I've seen my ribs, lol. I still need to suck in to see them though. Wow, Sandye's weight loss spa really does work! I'm so happy to see that it finally came through, you are a model of determination, truely!

So what have been up to for two whole days! LOL it's weird when I can't check in, it felt funny. But workouts have been good, we had to head to the city to do some birthday party shopping for a party on Monday we just got invited to. And I took everyone's awesome idea and went to Goodwill, for 2 1/2 hours with a 3 year old. Oddly enough, she was brilliant and I pretty much cleaned them out. They were having a bag sale thing where whatever you can stick in these bags was one price with some exceptions. I don't know how many things I bought but it fills a black garbage bag, lol. Most is still slightly too small but I found some amazing things, jeans especially, and size 6 fits :carrot:in skinny jeans even. So I even bought a size 4 (did I just say that? a size 4, wow) that I can do up but isn't ready for the public yet, to grown into. It was marvelous and all of it for $37.00.

It's picture day too! I'll work on that later today and get them posted up and see if I can shrink down that before picture thsi time.

And just because eveyone else was doing it, I decided to lose another pound, lol, and down to 146.8 this morning, only 6.8 left baby!

Awesome Sunday ladies! I'll be back with those pics later, TTFN.

I haven't posted in a while because my weight is stuck. I know it's my eating. However, I went to the doctor's to get my blood pressure etc measured. The scale there said I weigh 121 (not the 123 my scale says), so I checked the scale at the gym and then again at a completely different gym and they all agreed 121. So I'm quite pleased with that. It's funny how 2 lbs makes such a difference in my head.

The other good point the nurse practitioner pointed out was that my resting heart rate is excellent below 60 bpm. Also I have low blood pressure... but, I've always had that. It's 100/70.

I need to do something about my eating though. I'm good half the time and the other half I eat a bit too much/ or I eat the wrong things :(

Hi everyone, just a quick hello. It's nice to see so many successes, Congratulations to all of you. WTG!!!
I was doing good so far but this morning I'm not sure what happened....the scale is up 6.2lbs from Thursday.
Oh well I guess today is a new day.
Have a great day!!

Thanks for the advice about the calories. I decided to try it and see what happens. Well I started yesterday with my goal of 1700 calories and today I am down .9 to be back at 282.3. So maybe this will work.. I wasn't really a calorie counter, just keeping an eye to make sure I got at least 1200 and eating good food, but sometimes eating junk. Bad, I know, but I've decided to try to follow a strict count of 1700 on normal days, 2000 on workout days. Well, I was really good yesterday because we were out in town and my boyfriend asked if I wanted to grab something on the way home and I said no, that I only had 150 calories left for a night snack when we got home. He was really cool about it surprisingly.

Alrighty, end of month 6, 146.8lbs, 13.2lbs and 12.25 inches since last month!:carrot: I can't get my sizes right! At least this month the before pictures aren't huge, lol. And those pants are the new 6's, just some back leg pucker but no muffin. And MsP inspired me on the gun show, it's so much hard work we might as well show it off, Sandye, we're waiting, hehe.

http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/F_May142009.jpghttp://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/F_Nov152009.jpg
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/B_May142009.jpghttp://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/B_Nov152009.jpg
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/S_May142009.jpghttp://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/S_Nov152009.jpg
http://i767.photobucket.com/albums/xx313/tummy_girl/035.jpg

LTTG-You were close...I was down to 135.2 today, so not quite to goal. Oh well, inching ever closer to my ideal body. :D

Tummy-Thanks! I was so excited to post those pics Thursday, then by the time I posted them I was kinda over it. LOL I'm thrilled with my progress and so now it's just all for the health of it! WOW on the Goodwill sale! I'd love if mine had a sale like that!! Ooh! Nice pics, too! Yay!!! Such wonderful progress....4's and 6's?!?! WOO HOOO, girlie!!!

Gekster-Glad it seems to be working to increase cals. Keep making those good choices and let us know how it goes!

Bigmid-I wouldn't sweat it if you're eating right. Our bodies can do crazy things sometimes. Just keep on doing the right stuff and I'm sure it'll drop back down very soon.

Taurie-Baby steps, girl! When you know you're choices were poor for one meal, just make sure the next meal you make the necessary changes. Don't throw away the whole day. You can do this! Congrats on the doc's and gym's scale having you down more than you thought!!

As I mentioned, I'm down another .2 today. I guess I'm just inchin' along now, but it's no sweat for me. I feel terrific and love that I'm heading into the holidays with a healthy new bod and better habits to go with it! Yay!

Ms Perception & Tummy Girl, both of you look amazing. Congratulations!

And Ms Perception, thanks for your words of encouragement. I have to plan better for those moments of lapse. It happens in social settings and I have a hard time resisting M&S cheese puffs! But, I am stronger than cheese puffs, I know it!

Thank Goodness It's Back!

Despite trying, I haven't been able to get in here in forever.

Msp OMG you are super skinny! I can't get over the difference in your before and afters! You look fantastic!

Tummy I do not understand why you'd ever ask for my cheekbones, your face is adorable. I just think you're so cute. Also, your pics are fantastic, you're looking very good and, dare I say... skinny as well!

LTTG I'm rooting for your weight loss to stick! I think you deserve it!

MissMallee Oh man, I'm so jealous you have a work out buddy. There are so many times when I try to get some of my friends to do stuff with me but they're all so busy and they all live in other towns. Here's hoping having the buddy motivates you big time!

jellofer Have you reached your new decade yet? I hope so!!!

Well my weekend has been rough but it's coming to an end and I'm actually looking forward to the work week... getting back into routine. I had to buy some new black pants for the visitation as my current ones had just gotten stupidly large. I took a pic with the new pair on but I don't have it on my laptop.. it is posted on my blog under the progress pics page if anyone is interested.

I feel as though my eating has been outrageous, and it has although not calorie wise. I've been able to stay within my calorie counts but the stuff I'm eating just is not healthy. I'm looking forward to working again so I can get back into my healthy eating routine and remember how much better I feel when I eat well.

Take care everyone!

Edit because I forgot to throw a tantrum. My weigh-in was Saturday at Curves and, despite losing 7.5 lbs I have apparently GAINED inches. Two months ago I had 6.5 inches to lose to hit the 2 foot mark and I've been really looking forward to hitting it. Despite losing 15.5 lbs and dropping a size in clothing... I've only lost 4 inches. It doesn't make sense and I'm pretty sure it's because the staff at Curves just don't know what they're doing. Again, I ranted about it on my blog but I'm just so discouraged.

Tummy Girl you look amazing. Your face has a lot of definition.

this week was really terrible for me. I was busy with school and this week was full of ups and downs. So even though was pleased that I didn't gain any weight and maintained but I am disappointed in myself that the first sign of stress and extra work and my workout routine went out the door. :(
So I am still at 170

Tummy...great job! WTG!

I finally hauled my butt into the gym today and I'm glad I did. I feel "accomplished". Food was OP as well today and I drank 8 cups of water! Woo hoo!

OMG, thank goodness I can finally log in!!!

Ms. P and Tummy - You girls look AMAZING!!!!!! I mean, WoW!!!! You all should be so proud of yourselves!!! And those muscles!!!! I am totally jealous and inspired!

LTTG - WAHOO!!!! I'm so glad the scale is moving again! All you needed was some time with Sandye to get you on your way again! Keep kicking those pounds to the curb!

Gekster - Counting Calories is a way of life for me now. There are some days I don't log it in to FitDay, but I can eyeball it and know when I've had too much. Keep up the good work!!!

SG - I think you are right, the people there are not measuing right or something. That doesn't make sense. 7.5 pound loss is great!!! Go you!!!

So quick check in for me. Had a busy weekend helping my dad with my parents business. My mom had knee surgery last week and she was out of commission to help. So I'm tired and off to bed here in a minute. TOM should be gone tomorrow (thank goodness!) and I'm hoping for maintaining, because last week was really tough emotionally and then the weather was bad and this site was down, so I was completely unmotivated to do much. Oh well, this week is a new week.

See ya tomorrow!

:wave: girls!

Down a smidge this week. Feeling craptacular after a half week binge. Went to the gym for the first time in a while and damn, my thighs still feel it! :ebike:

Good morning ladies!!! :wave:

Good gravy, I tried and tried to post a reply yesterday--even thought I had time to do some personals, but every time I tired to get on here either the site was having issues or something else needed my attention. :rolleyes:

MsP & Tummy ~ Hubba hubba!!! You ladies look AMAZING!!! It still blows my mind how much you two have changed!!! Absolutely incredible how different your bodies are now--and MsP, I'm with Tummy, I envy you your skinny legs! I have 'sturdy' thighs (:lol: tried to come up with a word that wasn't too negative ;)). You both are sportin' those guns too! Ain't nobody gunna mess with you girls!!!:boxing:

Tummy, you'll have to wait a bit longer for progress pics--I didn't take any after Phase 1 and I'm not going to try a self portrait--it get too frustrated. :lol: I'll get on them though, I promise!

I'd love to do more personals, but well, you know me lately--tons to do!! I started working on the girls' quilts for real last night--I actually sewed a whole block! :lol: Might sound impressive, but it's not--it's a whole 9 squares sewed together--but, the main thing is, I STARTED!! ;) We finished painting their room yesterday and it turned out nice! We bought a cute sign that says "Twinkle, twinkle little star, do you know how loved you are?" and hung it over their window between their beds--I love it! Now, after I finish the quilts I need to get busy decorating the rest of the room!

I'm down a little this morning--132.4 and I'm please to say that I made it through another weekend without going food crazy! :carrot:

Some NSVs to share: Yesterday I decided to get the kids some doughnuts as a treat (it's been forever!)--I went to Dunkin and picked out a dozen, brought them home and didn't even want one! Of course he have left overs too and they are of no interest to me at all. :D Yay! Also, we were running around all afternoon and by the time we were finished it was dinner time so we decided to stop and get something rather than try to cook--so, hubby and the kids had fast food (blech!) and I came home and had left over chicken and made some veggies (there was only one piece of chicken otherwise everyone would have had some instead of the crappy fast food).

One of the reasons we opted not to cook was because we brought home a new baby last night! His name is Ham and he's an adorable 12 week old kitten. Everyone was all crazy :hyper: and wired up about bringing him home so I wanted to limit the mayhem ya know?

So now we have a kitty! :) And I am now on a rampage to clean every room in the house--especially the playroom--so that he can't get into anything he shouldn't or, heaven forbid, get hurt or trapped in some massive toy pile! :lol:

Anyway, enough :blah: from me--I obviously need to get my butt in gear and get this house whipped into shape pronto!!! Who knew getting a kitty would mean having a cleaner house? :lol:

Have a great day ladies and I really, really hope to get back here later and do more personals! I miss you all and feel so bad for not getting to everyone!!! Big :hug: to you all! Now get out there and have a fantastic day and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D
P.S. After thinking about it for some time, I decided to change my original start weight to reflect my high point the day I started my lifestyle change, I had felt like it was kind of 'cheating' to add those few pounds in there, but I figure that's where I started and I earned every pound lost, so I'm takin' 'em!! :D ;)

goal for this challenge (page 2) - 169lbs by Dec. 1
start weight: 179
current weight: 170.5
lbs lost since challenge began - 8.5
lbs left to go until end of challenge -1.5

I'm so close to reaching the mini-goal for this challenge :D I lost 3 lbs this week! yAY!

JasonsLea - Every loss is an awesome loss !!!! great job!

Nella -I hope your mom is doing well! The site being down was a huge letdown for me too! So hard to keep myself accountable lol. Good luk this week

moon fairy - Great job going to the gyM!

sweet tooth - You'll be in the 160s soon!

Shrinking Girl - I know exactly what you mean about being on plan but not eating healthy food. I had the same problem last week. It's a mental challenge to not be preoccupied with everything. Best of luck to you! Don't feel discouraged!

Tummy Girl - You Look amazing and so fit! Awesome job! :D

Gekster - family/friend support is very important in this process. Good job saying NO to eating out.

Bigmid - 6.2 lbs sounds like a lot. Maybe it's water retention! Try to drink more water and see again. Good luck this week! :hug:

Good Morning :wave:

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Just a quick drop in this morning for me. Due to last weeks issues with the site I didn't get a chance to post my Friday weigh in ... sitting at 201.5 so only 1.5lbs away from my Nov goal, :carrot:

Hopefully when I weigh in tomorrow i'll see another drop.

Have a happy and OP day :)

Good morning, all!

Sandye-Thanks! I do love my legs. They may be short, but they're nice! BTW, I think it's more accurate to put your highest weight. Since you've lost the weight...claim it all! :D I've wondered about changing mine to my high weight, too. I was at one point (not including pregnancy) up around 207 or so...YIKES! Not attractive on a 5'3" individual, but I didn't realize it until I lost some of it. I thought I looked pretty okay. Anyway... Congrats on the kitty!! I bet the kids are super excited. Best of luck on that, and your quilt, and maintaining, WHEW!

LaurenA-Yay! You're really close! Keep on doing what you're doing...it's obviously working for ya! :)

InControl2Day-WOW! You're very close to November goal too! Way to make it happen..and what a week! 3 pounds?! AWESOME!

Shari-Good job getting back to the gym! You're turning the ship back around and heading in the right direction!

Well, I overate at lunch yesterday. My tummy told me to stop and I ignored it since we were eating out and I really wanted it all RIGHT THEN (stupid, stupid, stupid!!). Well, I immediately came home and started downing water and ate a nice healthy supper, so the scale wasn't terrible...up 1 pound. Obviously I know it will be gone shortly, but it's just another lesson learned. I'd been very OP the last couple weeks and felt fantastic. I had prepared myself mentally to go to this one restaurant and DH changed his mind and we went somewhere else and I just clearly lost my mind. LOL So.....I'm still a work in progress!!

MsP & Tummy OMG!!! Talk about HOT Babes!! You both look amazing that so much for the great pics. When I see success stories like yours it really helps to keep me motivated.. You ladies are the best :)

I had a great weekend went out to do our normal shopping and we did it no junk food or going out to eat YEAH! DH bought me the Active game for the wii, thought it might be fun for a change of pace on the days I don't go to the gym. Hope it is good....

I have been very busy, I have started making my Christmas cards hoping I get them all done in time LOL, I have completed some of them and they are turning out really good I'll have to take some pictures of them and share with you ladies. Well gotta run, I am taking my son to school today. Have a great day everyone :)

Morning!

MsP - LOL, I know how ya feel, on Saturday, the 14th, I took my pics and stuff like I normally do then it was move onto other things, so by yesterday I was onto other things. I think my favorite part is to not be in such a hurry anymore. Since I'm healthy now, I seem to have a million times more patience for the scale and the tape measure than I did before, it will come in it's own time as long as we take good care of ourselves. Congrats on that 0.2 away as well, that's marvelous and brilliant and you just don't even look like the same person. LOL, work in progress, I hear ya, it's those moments when I realize that this is a life long work in progress and it takes a lot more work than I thought to be an obesity survivor.

Taurie - Thanks so much and yes you are stronger than cheese puffs, absolutley! LOL, that's awesome

SG - Glad you're back! The reason I marvel at those cheekbones is that I had to lose 75lbs to see mine, lol, I have a round face and have since the day I was born. This is the first time I've ever not been round and it's really been the last 10lbs or so that have defined my face a bit. hence my glee at your delightful gene pool there! And thanks, I'm feeling less fat so far and healthier everydat, but I don't know if I'll ever identify with the word skinny after a lifetime of obesity, I'm willing to try! I'm thinking you're looking awesome there yourself. I'm seeing some thigh and waist shrinkage this time, very nice! Glad the weekend is over and boohiss ppl who can't use tape measures, honestly!

Sweettooth - Thanks, it's coming along for sure, I'm losing my squirrel cheeks! Hopefully this week will be filled with healthy choices to move that scale in the right direction. You can do this!

Moonfairy - :) Thanks so much. And look at you rockin that lifestyle, good for you! I love the hauled part, that's so true some days.

Nella - Aww thanks. The muscles I'm actually super proud of, I didn't think I would be but losing weight is being proud of the absence of something so it's different, the muscles you can actually be proud of something you built, it just feels more tangible, kwim? I hope Monday finds you in better spirits and back making healthy choices for you! Let us know how it's going.

JasonLea - Howdy there, you may have achieved a miracle of losing while having a binge omgoodness, you must have done something right in there somewhere. You're worth making good choices for, so binge be gone!

Sandye - LMAO that was exactly the word I was looking for "sturdy" :lol3:It's not a bad thing, thick sounded rude and I don't have cankles either but sturdy fits well. Alright as long as you're trying I'll let it pass, I want to see the gun show! I love it that there's a lot of chickies round here that aren't just shooting to be thin and dainty but healthy and strong and maybe a bit thin and danity ;) WTG on the weekend, again, that's 2 in a row!!! You're doing it, you really are :carrot:Congrats on those two NSV's btw that's awesome and I know how hard that can be, I mean a dozen donuts, that's brave! I get two so there's none available, lol. Have fun with your kitten, I bet the kids are over the moon!

InControl - Omgoodness you're almost at goal and it's only the 16th! That's fantastic. And thanks, it's nice to see the pics b/c it's really easy for me to forget too.

Lauren - Holy, that's fantastic :carrot:you're almost at goal too and it's only half way and 199 here you come!

Mystical - You're very welcome, I love seeing people's progress too, it gives something tangible to those numbers we all throw around. Have a great day!

Goodness, time flys when you're reading all the news.

Great weekend, dh is off for 3 days so we'll be having our family time. Got a birthday party tonight for a wee friend of dd's, pizza, hotdogs and birthday cake, aka, I'm eating before I go. There will be a lot of ppl I haven't met before so that will be nice to socialize with some new faces.

Tomorrow I think we're doing a whole lot of nothing and then Wednesday, dh and I are dropping dd at a friends place and going to the big city by ourselves for the day. We haven't done that since we moved here so we're pretty excited. We're picking up my new exercise bike and it won't fit with the car seat but who cares, lol, we're kid free for the day! Much needed for sure and we might even finish up some Christmas shopping without a cranky toddler.

Alrighty, gotta run and finish up my STing and do some errands. Have a brillaint monday ladies!

No time for personals at the moment, but I read everything and WAHOO to those who are down on the scale or made good choices!!! You ladies are so inspiring! I'm back on track so far today and plan on staying there. Today is my early day at work, so no time for a walk before work, but I WILL do a JM's video later if it kills me!!!

Have a super awesome OP day!!!!!!!