Good work on the build-your-own-salad, Jenn!

And not only should you remind yourself that you'd be away from LO at work, anyway. But, you are investing in your LOs future by spending time with your hubby!

Ah, 20 more minutes until I can go running. My brain is excited, while my knees are apprehensive.

Jenn - she was ridiculously busy at work. I think she's going to be slightly MIA until school starts again.

Thanks Stella! It seems like some other people have been missing lately too. Forest and Samantha? Work has been super slow for me lately, so i've been able to stalk the boards

Yay ladies! Sounds like everyone is having fairly decent weeks so far.

My dad came home from the hospital last night and he's pretty much back to his normal self - I feel terrible that it has taken something like this to get me to take him less for granted though - not that I really took him for granted, but I probably didn't spend as much time with my parents as I should. Now I'm enjoying hanging out with my dad, just having a chat.

About to go exercise! My foot is not that great but I'm going to aim for 30 mins walking on the treadmill and up the incline so it's hard but not too much impact on the foot - jogging is not a good idea right now!

OH OH OH and my weight is down another kilogram/2.2 pounds which is great considering the break I had to take from exercise since Friday! On the right track!

Rainbow- I used to be so horrible and compulsively bought clothes to a disturbing level! Shame they're all so incredibly small-**** the most expensive things i have i may never fit back into (not just saying to be all depressing, some wear a 0/1 which wasn't my healthiest point. its embarrasing to admit i was that size and let myself gain so much.). I'd like to go back and kick myself-but hey at least i was well dressed for awhile, ha.
That really sucks about your dad being misdiagnosed and consequently ending up so sick. Yikes. That happened to my friends mother, she nearly lost her vision in the midst of it all. My mom has diabetes too-its good that we're young enough to hopefully avoid it, but i'm grateful treatment for it has come so far.

casey- Hope you are feeling better! Old navy really grew on me i'd say about 3 years back. They have great staples, and i love the prices.

Haley- Looks like your a cute boy magnet, always a plus.
I've had (it took moving to start to well, move on) a hard time letting go of ex's, so i'm one to talk, but this dude sounds super lame in how he's treating you and you definitely deserve better. I think as you keep moving forward with the awesome progress you've made you'll continue to see that. It's been hard for me to look back and see how badly i let some people treat me.
I wish i could come cook, i love to cook and since i moved home (my parents aren't a fan of healthier cooking, sure that helped me pack on the pounds) i have no one to cook for.

jenn- Good choices and i am now craving egg salad. I've made some where i use the 0% greek yogurt and its so good. I'm excited for you for your water park trip.

stella- While i am far from being a runner again, i managed to make it 5 minutes in a row today on the tmill. The last time i ran was a 10-k in november, and my lord was this the worst running experience of my life-i'm sure the 60+ lbs had a lot to do with it. I however will work my *** off to get back to real running shape, i just have to slowly build up to it. I have horrible knees so the excess weight really doesn't help me-but thats no reason to totally avoid. Hope your headaches subside.

Cata- I love to cook as well... Just no one to enjoy it so its not as fun... Also my problem has been that I've been super busy and therefore forget to eat... I lost my hunger sensor with my weightloss...its very strange


Jenn- Forest is starting grad school so she had to move and everything else...plus shes going Ivy league... I dont think we will be seeing much of her, and Samantha is also going to grad school.. once school starts people go MIA but sometimes they come back

Cataclysmic: Wow, I guess we're lucky that he hasn't been left with any more severe health problems! I think he's going to be fine now, so many people live with diabetes, right?
As for the clothes.. once I got down to a NZ size 12/14 which is a US 10/12 I think? I was only there for a few months but whilst there...oh man I bought a lot! Not too expensive stuff, just the amount of stuff! Tops, dresses, skirts, jeans... I'm looking forward to being able to get use out of some of them again. There is one photo of me in one of the dresses that is my inspiration now - considering I still thought I was huge then! I want to reach that point and go a bit further! And healthily of course. I didn't realise I was losing weight back then really but I wasn't in a good place, all I ate was eggs, drank coffee and smoked WAY too many cigarettes.
Luckily now I'm doing well and doing it the right way!

Happy Hump Day Ladies! So I am proud to sa ythat no matter WHAT I AM going to work out today:):)promise. Other then that I finally got a little sleep this morning because the kiddo occupied himself.

A not so exciting day for me though..I have to have a colposcopy done and they are doing a biopsy. Hoping it is quick.

It is a beautiful day outside sunny and there is a nice breeze.

Rainbow- Isn't it funny how we can look back at pictures of ourselves and say "WTF was I thinking back then, I looked GREAT!"

Haley- sounds like you have cute boys following you all over the place:) Totally jealous! I mean I have my fiance but its' still nice to know others look...hahha(and cute ones at that)

BLCarter ~ Good luck with the colopscopy. Hope it goes by quickly and that everything comes out ok.

I hope everyone is having a good week!!!! I got home from Oklahoma late Monday night and did some school shopping yesterday. I went to pick up school supplies for my classroom and spent more money on clothes for myself than anything else. I am so not in the "back to school" mode yet. Thankfully I still have next week free before starting back on the 30th. Usually by this point, I'm ready to head back or at least buy supplies. I don't know if you guys even understand my affinity for office supplies! haha

Missed another day of work today. Missing work always makes me feel anxious, because I know other people have to pick up the slack and I hate that. I'm going to the doctor here in a bit. I'm almost certain I have an ear and throat infection, I used to get those a lot. Hopefully the doc will give me a shot and I will be feeling better soon.

Today was my official weigh in day ( I quit weighing myself everyday) and I am down 1 lb. :)

My sister bought me a little pink (haha) can of mace to take with me on my runs. I had a little incident on the trail the other day, which some of you may have read about on the other thread I posted. But, I think I will feel much safer armed with mace.

Haley- You are HOT, that dress in your profile picture is amazing! Who needs a douchy ex when you have cute boys following you around in the grocery store :)

Jenn-I saw the pic of your swimsuit in the photo album. I love it, super cute!

Rainbow-I'm glad to hear your dad is home and doing better.

Chele-I'm so jealous! I want to be a teacher so bad. I have a b.s in Psychology. I started out as Early Childhood Ed. but changed my sophomore year. No regrets, I like where I'm at. Arkansas has a Non-Traditional teaching program where people without education degrees can go through an accelerated program and receive their teaching license. It costs 1200 dollars a year. I did the first 1200 dollars and they want you to get a job in that first year. I applied to over 50 schools statewide and got one flippin interview. It was CRAZY I know this is hard times with the economy, but I felt like I kind of got screwed. They told us at orientation that maybe one or two people wouldn't get a job, and over half of us were still jobless at the end of the summer. I kept applying throughout the school year and NOTHING. So, in June I would have had to pay another 1200 dollars and miss 3 weeks of work to go to training to stay in the program and be eligible for a job. There was just no way that was happening with no guarantee I would get a job. So now my option is to go back to school and get my Masters of Arts in Teaching. And, that is my plan. I will probably go next year. I am soo dreading working full time and going to grad school. But you gotta do what ya gotta do. My dream is to be a teacher.

I did a little shopping in the clearance section of jcpenney.com today. Got this SUPER cute dress for $11.99 http://www3.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx...Id=73298|73299 I hope it fits! By measurements, I think I would need a 12, but they didn't have any, so I got a 10. I also bought some cute tanks and an outfit for my little guy.

Hello beautiful ladies! Just wanted to check in and let you know that I'm alive. I've been MIA in the weekly chat as well as MIA diet-wise. I'm here. I'm struggling, but optimistic. I can do this. I will do this.
jenn-cute dress! what a steal! even if 10 doesn't fit you now, it will soon! You are making great progress (and love the swim suit...can't remember if I told you that!).
casey-congrats on the 1lb loss! My dad bought me mace last month. A 17 year old girl was kidnapped and murdered walking home from my high school, so they are in panic mode. Really sad. Glad you are aware of your surroundings. in the age of iPods, it's easy to ignore our surroundings. I'm glad you are safe and sound!
Sorry for the limited personals. You are all wonderful and fabulous and we can do this! Gotta at least pretend to get back to work.

hey guys - just wanted to introduce myself here. My name is Kaitlyn, I am 21 years old... and unfortunately overweight. Working to change that part though :)

Today i had a moment i did not expect to have, i stopped a binge in its tracks! I had this hellish workout, and after 30 mins i went next door to the grocery store to purchase....god knows what...and i walked out!! I was really proud of myself. I walked back into the gym and did another 20 minutes b/c tomorrow is my day off for the week.

I weighed in, was down a little bit and while its not what i had been losing, its still down.

ade- Hope things keep looking up!

jenn-SCORE!!! I bet it looks even better on you :)

casey- Congrats on the weigh in, i know i am aiming to weigh in less often and as hard as it is its important to focus on the final result-less every time and slow and steady equals the best results in general. Glad to hear about your new little (pink!) mace.


chele- Teaching is also an end goal of mine, though i'm taking classes to get into nursing school. I hope to incorporate my nursing into teaching someday and when i can finally get my 4 year degree (i'm going for a 2 year rn program, then i will aim to get my bs in nursing, and then eventually my bs in something else if i don't stick to nursing though thats a good deal in the future) in something i can possibly use to teach in secondary school too! Awesome!

Kaitlyn- Hi!! I'm in the same boat!

Has anyone else had period disturbances w/their diets? I am over 2.5 weeks late (impossible for it to be due to pregnacy, i can say with 100% faith...not sure if totally sad or not) and was just wondering. It's a um...consideration/odd for me b/c i used to have uh...disordered eating and went about 2 years w/out a period so its really odd/weird/mixed to not have one now. I don't even like the fact i don't have one b/c i don't want to think about how i was in the past/compare it/etc. I also gained the weight in an extreme way and am losing it pretty steadily so my body has to be wtf is going on.

BlCarter - Hope the colposcopy went ok!

cataclysmic: I am on the pill and skip every second period, but aside from that, the ones I get are EXTREMELY on time, I can almost time it to the hour it starts and stops - except for the last one, which was 2 weeks after I started eating way healthier and exercising - it came slightly earlier and was way lighter than normal - so I think this kind of thing can definitely impact on the lady things! Of course, being the paranoid person I am, I got a pregnancy test anyway because I get worried like that!

Weighed the same this morning as I did yesterday - and when you're weighing in kilograms, I always think that's a bonus! The moment I see the scale go up I always have just a tiny bit of disappointment - now I'm just hoping to see it go down again in a couple of days! Treadmilled yesterday and I think I was too stiff while doing it because now I have the tightest muscles in the backs of my legs, but that might be a good thing?

Also made an amazing smoothie this morning! And got a brazilian wax haha (I'm sure you all reaaaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to know that!).

For the rest of this afternoon I'm just keeping my Dad company, watching Indiana Jones and cooking dinner for my parents. Might go see Inception with le boyfriend later on, but also might save it til the weekend - haven't yet been to the movies since the lifestyle change so I'm worried I'll REALLY want popcorn!

OH also, some small victories - my jeans were looser yesterday when I wore them! It could be because I haven't washed them in a while and they've stretched out, but I'm going to say it's because I'm slimmer! I also definitely noticed that I'm a bit slimmer when I looked in the mirror before my workout this morning! Either that or I am making it up, but hey, we're all about positivity, right?

Sorry for the essay!!