Evening Ladies...Just a quick pop-in since it is getting late and I have been on the run all day and I'm ready for bed.

Robbin...I stepped on the scales this morning and I'm down another 2lbs, that's a total of 3 in two days. I'll try not to step on it again till next Saturday, except for my WW weigh in on Wednesday. I just won't tell you the result till Saturday.

Erin...My hubby pulled something in his lower back last Saturday and can hardly walk. Plus he leans to the right and has to stand in a door way and try to stand staight doing his exercises they have him doing. Doesn't look like he will be going to work on Monday, but off for another week.

I'll be back tomorrow to finish up doing personals. Hope you all have a wonderful, safe Labor Day weekend.

Cheryl

Evening ladies!!! Well started this reply yesterday and am just now getting around to finishing it! SO some of the replies will cover several things!

Robbin - I am going to give you a half-hearted yes on the challenge, my husband has surgery this week and i am expecting high stress not to mention a routine totally gone to pot, but i need to get back to my ticker and below and fast! I am going to do my best! You are doing awesome with all the walking, i am sure you will see results soon!

Louie - Okay not quite a fly by this time!! Challenge for halloween, hmm let me think on that one, i need to have a good goal to work for and today is 9/1 so i may join up a little late, if that is okay!

Stacy - WHOOOHOOOO on exercising your way through an incredibly stressful event, wow, i can't imagine the emotional rollercoaster you are riding right now! Hopefully bimbo will begin to see the light soon or she will see the cleavage i guess would be a better way to put it! As for the hot tea thing yes i actually have a "weight loss" tea from celestial seasonings that is really good. Got it at a health food store. It does seem to get me through the hump sometimes. I haven't had any lately, will have to break that out again! My scale was varying as much as 10 pounds in one weighing session, needless to say tossed it and got a new one, i am just too type A to deal with that one! OH almost forgot, great job on the 1.8!!

Jtammy - I hate you are fighting the scale crazies too, i did the same spot on the floor technique and still got all over the place needless to say it is in the garbage now and i am much happier! I had heard that about manufacturers changing the actual size of clothes but found it so depressing i refused to believe it. Oh well, maybe it will work to my favor since i am trying to get in a 14 by december 29th and am at a 18-20 right now!

Michelle1964 - hey girlie, so glad to see you come by! Hope all is well with you! Stop by again soon and fill us in on how things are going!

Kreen - hope the scales are kind to you and your hard work pays off!

Shawn - I hope the entertaining is fun for you, i know the clean thing! I can make myself nuts trying to clean the house for family!

Tina - sorry you didn't get to walk yesterday! Take advantage of the camping and do lots of walking and bike riding. We may actually end up doing some of the same thigns this weekend. Mother in law is camping about 4 miles from my house, so i can leave kids and get a little me time without feeling too guilty. Plus its a really nice campground and i like hanging out there.

Well ladies, i have to say i have been a little scale obsessed since i now have one that weighs me accurately and checked where i was tonight compared to this morning and i was down .4 and that was shortly after eating dinner! So i am hoping when i weigh in the morning i will be at least back to the 238.8 i was when i started on the new scale. I up to 18 min on the elliptical and still trying to do the pilates DVD so feel like the scale should start cooperating pretty soon here. I am just too scale obsessed to not weigh until next saturday but i am really considering doing every other day for the week. Also i am making lasagna to satisfy a craving i have been having for a while. I make it without a recipe and put lots of cheese in it. I am having salad with it and will skip the bread i am making with it but this is my opening of college football treat. Alabama plays at 6:00 and i invited my MIL and BIL to come watch. We are trying to hook the BIL up with a girl we go to church with and this may be a good chance to get them together. I plan on only having a real small portion and then getting rid of the rest so lets see if i can keep with it! So is the challenge on???? i am having a hard time coming up with the 1 week goal, like i said it may just be only weighing every other day this week. or maybe to do 20 min or 3 miles on the elliptical 2 times by the end of the week. HMMMM, what are ya'll gonna do?

Well bed time for me, getting sleepy! Been a long time since 4am! Hope ya'll have a fantastic weekend and will check in later.

Cheryl - we must have been posting at the same time! Hate to hear that about hubby! Back pain is the worst! Are they using the McKenzie approach with his therapy, (repeated motion exercises)?? Can be very effective. What kind of work does he do? Has he had MRI or anything like that, is he having leg symptoms??? OKAY SOOO SORRY!!! PT mode took over there for minute!!!! Well a couple minutes! Enough about that, CONGRATS and a big whooohoooo on the weight loss. that is huge! I am excited for you! Does that get all the vacation weight off and then some? Rest well and see ya later! Erin

Hope you all are having a good weekend. I am loving 3 days off. Spent some quality time exercising with the kids. They didnt even know it was exercise. We raced swimming laps in my fathers pool yesterday while he was out of town. My son had the job of babysitting my dads dogs...man talk about spoiled. Then today i took the kids to the batting cages. Batting cages are pricey but a good way to release some frustrations. I had bimbo's face plastered on all the balls i hit, ha ha. Swimming laps was hard. My legs were dying after just a lap. DH had to teach me how to do lap swimming. I am a good swimmer and all but apparently lap swimming is different than just swimming across the pool. ha ha

CHeryl- WTG on the weight loss WOW that is impressive. Your poor hubby. I have done that exact same thing before...nothing worked but giving my body time to relax and the medication Flextra..it worked better than any of the analgesics.

Elem-Oh my gosh. I know what you mean about being too type A for the scale to vary that much. And i cant weigh only once a week too...i have to do it AT LEAST once a day. But that is more addictive personality than type A for me. ha ha.

Ryanmi-Your students sound hilarous. I was a teacher at a college and boy, they keep you on your toes huh? I LOVE LOVE LOVE your hot sauce idea. I have never heard of that, i am just grinning like a cheshire cat right now. cant wait til tuesday back at the office.

Hey ladies! Just a quick checkin. My company left today about noon, and my in-laws cancelled for tomorrow, so we're just taking it easy. The house is a disaster after guests (was visiting, so didn't pick up after the 2-year old twins of mine), but I figure we'll slowly get it back in order.

Didn't count points yesterday or today, but feel like I ate reasonably. No major splurges or anything. I'm tempted to go back & add them up, but I don't think I will. Just planning to get back to counting tomorrow. Scale shows 233.8, so pleased it's not up.

Planning to workout tomorrow. DH said the Y was open, and I'm a bit surprised, but will take advantage of it. Didn't work out all last week, since sick, and am still coughing when the medicine wears off, but think my body can handle it now. Will feel good to be moving again, and will hopefully get that scale moving again!

My mouth tastes all icky from some of the medicine I'm taking... it's driving me nuts! That comment seems random, but just needed to ***** about it. LOL

Okay, well I'll check back in later on. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, and resisting any temptations!!

Hi Friends! I lost about 2.3 lbs this week so I am really happy about it. My short term goal is to get out of the 230s this month. I can't wait. Congrats to all who lost/maintained, and to the others, let's make the coming month count, ok! We can do it!

Evening Ladies...As you can see I never made it back here yesterday, the weekend is busier than I thought it would be. My friend came over yesterday and I'm teaching her to quilt, so we spent yesterday cutting her fabric. It's a typical Labor Day Weekend for North Dakota. Haven't had anything but rain and cooler temps since Friday. Today was very nice and I hope we have the same tomorrow, so we can get the yard mowed. I'm still doing great following the core plan, haven't been hungry between meals.

Ryanmi...Thank you for sharing your first week of College students. I had a very good laugh. Loved all your "What to do to Bimbo" ideas. The hot sauce was a good one!!!

Stacy...Great job getting some fun exercising in with the kids. How many Bimbo balls did you hit?

Shawn...Sounds like you had a busy weekend and you did excellent food wise. Glad you are feeling better.

Erin...Hubby is about the same. He is doing repeated motion exercises. No to MRI and leg symptons. He does have three more days of thearpy this week
and I hope that does the trick. My hubby is a Correction Officer, so he is on his feet all day. No, I still have one more pound to get down to pre-vacation weight, but I'm probably all ready there, but I told Robbin I wouldn't weigh till Saturday. It's taken everything I've got not to step on the scale this morning.

Louie...I'm up for a challenge. I need to get my rear in gear and get back to regular exercise, so I will do some sort of exercise five days a week.

Michelle...Glad you dropped by to say Hello, miss you! How is your mother doing?

Tina...I'm with Ryanmi, my idea of camping is a nice hotel with room service. Hope you have a great time and get lots of hiking in.

Kreen...Congrats on 2.3 lbs for the week. Way to go!!!

Getting late chickies, so I'm off to dreamland.

Cheryl

Good Morning Chicks !! So much for sitting down and trying to catch this weekend. It is now Monday morning and I am just getting around to reading the notes from this weekend.

Sounds like everyone is keeping busy. Congrats to those of you who have had visits from the fairy fat mother. Could you please direct her towards my house if you see her !!

Tomorrow morning I am going to have an official WI and then decide on my halloween goal. I think I will make myself a ticker to keep track and motivated.

Well I am off to brew me some coffee and get my day started. Hope you are all enjoying a long weekend. Take care and TTYS

Morning girls! I got back lastnight from camping. Let's just say I took my last hoo-rah a little too seriously and didn't behave so well when it came to food choices. But I did go walking/hiking twice, paddle boat 3 times and berry picking once. So I did try to fit in as much activity as I could. But gosh this summer has been terrible as far as moving that scale number in a downward motion. Time to pull up my socks and work hard for the one week goal of getting to ticker weight.

Stacy, woo-hoo at least someone is having some victories. Congrats on your loss and your NSV that is really great. You must feel so proud of yourself, and you should!

Cheryl, amazing getting that scale down 3lbs. in two days! You are smokin'! Ouch! You're hubby sounds like he's in terrible agony.

Erin, you have to have little endulgences once in a while just to keep yourself sane! Hope you enjoyed your lasagna and was able to keep it at a portion size you wanted. Not sure if I could...hehe! Also hope your little match-making scheme was pulled off, what fun! Let us know how that turned out.

Ryanmi, thanks for the chuckle! I had to laugh reading about some the characters that graced the front of your desk. I sure hope they put those missing screws through express post. That had to bite hard when you couldn't find them. My daughter is up singing about the day being too long already, it's 9:30 AM!! She's just a little excited about kindergarten ...understatement!

Shyla, glad you had a good visit with your family. You'll be standing beside a few of us making a good start back at this week. Enjoy your workout at the Y, remember to ease yourself back into it..don't want start a hacking fit all over again.

Congratulations Kreen! That is a really good loss! Keep up the great work.

Best start the day and get cracking. Got some camp fire smellin' clothes that need freshing up. Have a great day!

~Tina

Afternoon Ladies...A very lazy Labor Day for us. I did get up early and got three hours of sewing in before the rest of the family got up. Hubby and I took an afternoon nap while watching a movie. Hehe, so much for the movie. I did rent Phat Girlz, and I really liked it. If you get a chance to rent it, do! Right now I'm watching the new season of "Ellen". It's been a very long summer with reruns.

Louie...Time flys when you get a few days off to relax. Sending the fairy fat mother your way for a little dusting. I'm going to try and make a new exercising ticker for the challenge. See what I come up with.

Tina...I'm bad, I couldn't help stepping on the scales this morning and I did it while vacuuming. Hehe!! I told my hubby I wasn't going to weigh till Saturday and he said OK. Well my scales talk and everyone in the house within hearing range can hear them, sooooooo stepped on the scales for a quick peek with the vacuume running. I'm down to my vacation weight. Doing the happy dance Glad you had a good time camping. I can hear the excitement in your house with the first day fo school coming up tomorrow. She will be bouncing off the walls till you put her to bed tonight. Soak it all up, they grow up in a blink of an eye.

Well I need to go and see if the burgers have thawed. Hubby is going to try and BBQ tonight and I need to cut the watermelon up. Have a great evening and if I get a chance I check back later.

Cheryl

Just a quick check in to celebrate! I hopped on the scale today, and it said 230.8.... no way! I weighed 4 times and 3 times it said that. I couldn't believe it, after not tracking my points the past few days. Woot! Just changed my ticker, and am so excited!

Didn't go workout today after all. It's been raining all day, and it's 4:20 and I'm still in my pajamas I DO want to get 3 workouts in this week, so will try to go tomorrow night.

Okay, need to get a few things done before the twins come home from grandmas. Will check back in later!

Hi ladies

Well, a busy week - on Thursday my daughter and I went to the Pleasure Beach, out local theme park, as they were selling unlimited ride wristbands at half price. It was raining so we got a bit wet but that's OK. And then on Saturday we went to the Sandcastle - a water play place with tons of slides and water rollercoasters, which was great fun.

And I looked at myself in the mirror and I could honestly say I was quite pleased with what I saw - still bulges around the tummy and upper thighs but mostly I was pleased. And I tell you what - there were a lot of women bigger than me, and some of them were even wearing bikinis. I do have a bikini - I bought my first ever one this summer but I am still too self-conscious of my crepe paper stretch marked tummy to actually wear it in public.

So my daughter was back to school today - in Year One!! And she started gymnastic classes this evening too, which she loved.[ All our family tend to be on the chubby side and, although she's not fat, she isn't skinny either so I thought if I can get her into something athletic now, it will stand her in good stead later on.

And - WONDERFUL news - I have almost lost the 6.5 pounds I put on during my holiday - all but 0.2 lb - which is nothing. before I went away I was 158.5 and this morning I was 158.7. So I was dancing this morning as you can imagine.

AND - as if that wasn't enough - I am being interviewed by our local paper. The paper has a women's pullout every Tuesday where they discuss girly stuff like diet and weight loss and fashion etc. I had a thought that we girls who are doing it ourselves, rather than belong to WW or SW or stuff like that, have it really hard as we have no support network at all. Even family anf frtiends get a bit sick of us going on all the time about our diet.

So I hit on the idea of forming a support group for DIY dieters. We'd do the usual stuff like weekly weigh-in but there wouldn't be a plan per se and it would be free (aside from a tea and coffee fund). Basically we'd just be a group of ladies getting together once a week for a natter and to swap recipes and tips and stuff and to help each other when things don't quite go according to plan. Anyway, spo i emeiled the editor of the pullout and told her my idea and she wants to run a story on it, to help me get the group started. So she's coming tomorrow - I've had to find a 'before' picture, which was horrible - I found a really nasty one:



And they sending a photographer to take a 'during' picture so I have to look all sexy.

Michelle - I like your idea of a September challenge - not sure what mine is yet, I'll have to think about that.

Shawn - YAY - congrats on the loss!! Tell me about having a messy house. I have been tidying today as my dd is back at school - and I have the reporter coming tomorrow - frantically trying to get into all the little crooks and nannies!

Tina - I'm exactly the same on having a poor summer weight loss wise. I put it down to not working and sleeping more - basically not burning up as many calories as before. Oh, and probably eating just a little too much ice cream! So, now school is starting again for me, I hope to see a steady downward trend. Mind you, I think we have both HAD a loss over summer, even if it's not as much as we might have liked, so, we're doing good kid!

Cheryl - Fantastic on being back to your pre-vacation weight - I'm right there with you!

Louie - I don't think I said hi to you before so, hi! Definitely do a ticker - it's the highlight of my day updating my ticker when I've had a loss. OK - does that make me just sound like I have a really sad life?

Kreen - congrats on your great loss! You will surely be out of the 230s by the end of September - you're almost there now!

Stacy - how is lap swimming different from just swimming across the pool? I am curious now. When I go swimming I just do lengths up and down and see how many I can do in half an hour. Is it with the whole turning somersaults at each end? I don't bother with that.

OK - sorry I haven't gone back through all 4 pages to reply but I do read all the posts I really do. Sorry if I missed anyone out!

Just a quick check-in. Two lbs lost as of today's weigh-in. Lately they have been coming few and far between, and we had a family reunion Saturday and a cookout to make the weekend more challenging.

I hope everyone had a great 3 day weekend. (Well, I don't know if our Canadian and British friends on the thread had a 3 day weekend, I guess not...) Back to work/school/etc tomorrow. Talk to you all later.