A few friends and I were talking about what we really want in a weight loss support group, and we came up with some very specific
ideas. They all boiled down to one concept; we are looking for
a sanctuary.
Sanctuary means different things to different people. Sanctuary
is a place of peace, rest, safety, and rejuvenation. It keeps
our spirit and our sanity intact.
Many of us who have a long journey down the weight loss path find ourselves in need of a break. Sometimes our bodies crave it, and
sometimes the choice isn’t ours, but circumstance forces it upon us.
Other times, we need the clamoring throng to cheer us along
our way as we breeze past milestones and overcome obstacles.
Sanctuary can be all that as well. It is what you need and when
you need it. Sanctuary can be found in good friends who
aren’t afraid of your truths and in an open, honest atmosphere.
Sanctuary isn’t judgmental, neither does it discriminate or ask to be censured. It is open to anyone with a desire to share, and
especially those in need of and willing to offer support.
Andria
The site keeps saying this message is too short to post so I am writing this in hopes it will now work.
Last edited by LuckyLadyBug; 01-16-2005 at 08:49 PM.
Hi all!
Just wanted to check in - commercial on "Desperate Housewives"! Hope you have been having a good day! Me, I still need to drink more water. The diet Dr. Pepper habit is a hard one to break...Cooked dinner for the family - and didn't touch it myself. My husband wanted the cubed steak that I do with the fried onions and mushroom gravy. Too many calories for me but I cooked it anyway and didn't eat it. I'm really feeling strong right now! I am determined to make it work this time around. The "Santuary" helps. I really appreciate all the support I feel here.
Welcome Jawsmom! Sounds like you have a good plan. At my age, I know that it is not practical to think I will ever reach the weight I once was, but health is a big issue to me. That is what we need to concentrate on.
Lucky - I'm so sorry you are having problems. I hope this flare up passes soon! Thanks for starting the new thread. The other one was getting really long...
Andria - Loved the piece you wrote. You are an inspiration to all of us!
Yeah, holiday tomorrow! I can sleep late. For someone who is not a morning person, that is pure heaven! Gotta run. "Desperate Housewives" is back on!
Ohhhhh....so sick....just to gross you out, I'll share: Vomiting (which I RARELY do, even when I was pregnant) diarrhea, dizziness...just blah. Hubby same. Goody. I've been Lysoling the entire hourse in the hopes that my son doesn't catch it. Blah. I feel sick talking about it. Going back to bed right after I drive him to school.
I'm feeling too blah to even mention the EAGLES' victrory over the VIKINGS....
Hello, everyone. I am having scale withdrawls this afternoon. I made my husband hide ours so that I wasn't tempted to step on it everytime I walk by the darn thing. I usually only weigh once a week but for some reason lately, I've just had the urge to check my progress every 15 minutes. Anyway, I caught myself "cleaning" out closets. I feel like a kid looking to peek at presents the week before Christmas. The good news is that I didn't find it and I have two spotless closets so far. Hmmm, maybe he put it upstairs somewhere...
Kat, sorry you are feeling so poorly. We've somehow managed to escape any illness worse than a cold so far this winter. I did manage to get pink eye this past spring. It doesn't compare to what you are going through but it was miserable. I was like you - I didn't touch a doorknob without spraying it with lysol afterwards. Thankfully, I didn't pass it along to anyone else in the family. I sure hope you are feeling better soon.
Ack, so much to get caught up on. Last week was pretty hectic for me; we had a few things due, and a graded small-group exercise on Friday. I can't even find Sanctuary #1 to know where to start! *laugh* I had to look it up via my subscription
Lucky: Desperate Housewives? I actually don't even have TV set up (I have the Blockbuster unlimited rental plan, so I opted not to get cable TV), so I wouldn't know one way or the other
Sorry to hear about people being sick and having problems flaring back up I blame it on the cold, personally. It's been frigid outside the last couple of days here; today's been the first day above freezing. It's been hard motivating myself to go work out in the cold. *shiver*
Hi everyone!
Just a quick check in. My weigh in day is tomorrow. I'm trying not to let the scale motivate (or unmotivate) me but it is hard not to do. Jawsmom, I can relate to the scale withdrawal. I get on mine way too often instead of just going by how I feel.
Kat, I'm so sorry you are sick! Not fun at all. Take care and get well soon.
Hope everyone else is doing well. I've been running all day - Grocery shopping, taking the boys to the doctor for athletic physicals before soccer season starts, cleaning...but I did get to sleep in this morning! Everything else fell in line after that! Have a good day tomorrow and I'll check in on you then!
Way to go BarbG - losing 9 lbs. I am so proud of you!!
Andria: to you too for losing!!! Since we only run one thread here I was thinking about all we could do is post our bio's and then one of us could keep track, adding new ones and periodically posting all the bios????? Or is that too much ???
Laura: to you too!!! 7lbs is good!!! I too know exercise is the key to this weight loss not to mention all the other benefits. However, having written that, I always wonder why I can find so many excuses NOT to do it!!!
Isn't Desperate Housewives just wonderful. They sure have a lot of dead bodies in that neighborhood.
Anna:I can't wait to hear about your pilates machine. Congrats on buying that smaller size!!!
Hey, Skit, how are you? We are warming up to balmy tomorrow - 30!!
Jawsmom: Had to laugh at your scale "problem"!!!
Kat: So sorry you aren't feeling well. Must be that place you hang out at at night!!!!
Okay, so would anyone be in favor of doing a challenge? Something like losing a pound in a week; two pounds in two weeks etc If there is interest we could start next week.
My arms and hands are doing better as you can see! I feel a sinus thing going on and it is knocking me out. All I think about is the couch and a quilt.
See why I need a challenge!!!
Off to find some dinner - and then find that couch and quilt!!!
I am definately up for a challenge! I can use any extra motivation I can get these days.
LuckyLadyBug - You have just made me feel guilty. I've been complaining all day about how cold it is - and I think our high was near 50. I would never survive a cold climate. We tease my in-laws every winter (they live in Ohio) and, of course, karma gets us the next summer while they enjoy 75 degree weather and we are sweltering at 105! Luckliy, they let us load up their grandchildren and bring them for a visit so we at least get a week of relief.
I'm so jealous of everyone who gets to watch Desperate Houswives. It comes on just as we are getting the kids in the bed so I've never gotten to watch it. I would tape it but I'm one of those people who would fill up a video tape and never get around to watching anyway. Maybe a Tivo is the answer...
I hope you all had successful days and good luck in advance for tomorrow!
I just barely caught up on reading! I'm actually supposed to be finishing up the restaurant piece, but I needed a break for a few. Since I was struggling with that age old quandary of eating the yummy cookie or eating a nice, healthy piece of fruit, I decided to come here and put the food decision on hold until I could decide what it is I REALLY want.
The restaurant I got to eat at totally wowed me. The food was truly amazing, and it wasn't all super fatty or starchy. They concentrated on a lot of fresh flavors and that helped to lighten things up considerably. Of course, since we ate and ate and ate, there is no way I can even pretend to say that it fit inside my food plan that day. I can honestly say that I have never spent that much money on food in one place at one time in my life, and I am so grateful that I wasn't picking up the bill!
Diet and exercise wise, food is doing ok, but my exercise is falling into the toilet. I've been doing something every day, but not to a level that will make a difference. I am moving around more as my knee heals (for those of you who don't know, I had my ACL rebuilt in November), and hopefully that will help. My gut has been unhappy for a day or so, and that just keeps me from wanting to really get out there and move. Of course, the movement might be just what I need. Hrmm... hadn't thought of that until just now. Don't you hate those moments?
I'd better get out of here and back to work so this is turned in on time. First though, I have to welcome Jawsmom! Glad you found us and hope you decide to stick around a long time.
Oh, Andria, I feel your pain. I tore my ACL when I was in college. I've always had a pretty high tolerance for pain but the physical therapy afterwards was just about the death of me. I am glad to hear you are able to move around a bit more now and wish you a fast recovery.
morning everyone. We had such a stressful morning today. DH is out of town and I didn't think about needed to get up earlier because he isn't here to help get the kids ready and get DS off to school. That alone I could have managed but when we dropped him off, the teachers were passing out free Chick-fil-A mini biscuits. They are only my favorite! There were two in each box so I thought, "no problem. I'll give one each to other DS and DD." They had already had a small breakfast but I just knew they would take them. Nope. DS didn't want one at all and DD only wanted the little piece of chicken. Oh, what a quandry. Eat them or don't, Eat them or don't. I think we all know how this one ends! It isn't the calories that bother me - they are just bite size and since I hadn't had breakfast yet no real damage was done. But I'm mad at myself for not making the RIGHT choice. The good news is that the mistake will keep me honest for the rest of the day.
Last night was a real challange too. With DH gone and kids in bed I found myself getting the attitude that if nobody sees me eat it then it doesn't count. I had my last snack and forced myself to bed because I knew if I stayed up I would have been gorging myself all night.
I honestly don't have much trouble staying on plan especially once I'm this far into it and seeing results but every now and then it takes a tremendous amount of effort. I don't know what triggers it, I'm just glad it doesn't come around often!
I hope everyone is forward to a successful day. I know I am.....starting......NOW!
I slept last night, and this morning I feel nearly invincible! It is amazing to me how sleeping during the day leaves me able to function, but a good sleep over the course of a night gives my mind and spirit the time to regenerate as well. I started this night job so I would be able to return to school, but since I'm not going to be able to do that until summer or fall, I've found myself questioning staying there. Thing is, I've been there long enough to have benefits, and not enough places here offer that. Besides, what other job can you sit and read, watch movies, crochet and do your writing most of the night? And I do love the girls there. I work for a youth treatment facility, and some of these girls come in with severe problems. Over the course of a few months, you can see amazing changes take place. I always feel privileged to be a witness to the metamorphosis. I think seeing their change helps keep me fueled and on task for my own.
Chris, Sanctuary is open to anyone We would love to have you post here!
Jawsmom, I did a partial ACL tear 4 years ago and I thought that was bad. Thing is, I opted to not do physical therapy at that time, and it took me 3 years to get back all my mobility. I've thrown myself entirely into it with this surgery, because I refuse to lose anymore of my life. I know that my recovery will also be enhanced by continuing to lose weight. Thanks for sharing so much about yourself. It is always easier to support when you know where someone is coming from and where they want to go. BTW, I laughed and laughed at your closet cleaning story. I would go insane if someone hid my scale!
Lucky, I am so glad to read you are back to feeling well. From what I've heard about fibro, it can be absolutely miserable. *HUGS* Thanks so much for starting a new thread. The other one was getting pretty long. I guess we all need to decide on how frequently we should start a new one. And I think the idea on how to handle bios is about the only way we can for now. I do recall a group way back when that used to keep them on a PM or Word or something, and when they got a new group member, they would post it up as a thread. I need a challenge! Two pounds in two weeks works for me. It leaves enough time to work around TOM (time of month) or even a special dinner out and still make your goal. When did you want to start?! Monday the 24th?
Any volunteers to be the keeper of the bios?
Laura, I so totally understand that struggle between not wanting to be motivated by a scale and still desperately wanting to see those numbers go down. I jump on my home scale throughout the day, even though I know the thing is so wonky as to drive a person to the brink of insanity. Why don't I throw it out? I've been threatening to for years now.
Tony,
Kat, ok hon, I'm officially worried about you. You are almost NEVER too sick to post, so this has to be bad. Hope you are being well taken care of! Definitely thinking of you and sending get well vibes. *HUGS*
Skittles, I did a cut and paste on the New Years Resolutions. It was beautiful and I know I need to read things like that regularly throughout the year to remind me of my real goals. Thank you for posting it! Are you loving your new home?
Kiteen, haven't seen you in a few days. I loved the idea of the smaller outfit out where you can see it. Great motivation idea!
Hoping I haven't missed anyone. It has been that long since I posted replies! Well, at least you know you will be seeing too much of me for the next few days.
Hi Gang -
I wanted to pop in and say hi to everyone and apologize for my absence. I may not be around much the next few weeks. Some of you know that I am beginning my 3rd IVF cycle in hopes of conceiving our first child. These cycles are a very stressful and emotional time. I have been doing a lot of meditation, journaling, exercising (could have been more) and game playing to keep my mind off everything and stay centered and positive. Tomorrow is the official beginning of the cycle - I go in for an ultrasound and bloodwork in the morning and if all looks ok there I start 3x daily injections for the next 12 or so days. then we do a lot of hoping and praying!
I will be popping in off and on and will keep you posted and will be curious to see how you are doing. My focus is not entirely on weighloss right now, but on keeping myself positive.
Keep on working and staying positive. Don't forget to take some time each day to enjoy your "Sanctuary" --- whatever this means to you, be it a good book, meditation, journaling, exercising or just 5 minutes of peace and quiet --- be good to yourself! You are #1!
Sanctuary--New Thread! Anyone Welcome #2
I blame it on the cold, personally. It's been frigid outside the last couple of days here; today's been the first day above freezing. It's been hard motivating myself to go work out in the cold. *shiver*
