Dgramie -- Oh my goodness -- what a scare that fall must have been for you. I'm glad you're "ok" -- are you feeling sore at all. Have a wonderful time at the wedding and enjoy those manis/pedis with your girls.

Jane -- Good insight on the fact that our bodies do need some time to recover from such major changes. Just going back to regular periods is a big adjustment. I can empathize with the stall -- or at least the major slow down. I'm getting near the decade point, but it will have taken me almost two months to lose these 10 pounds.

Mnem -- Any planting progress?

We're having one of those nice, gentle rains here today that would be perfect if I'd gotten my act together and had the garden planted already! I was going to pull the dead weeds and spread the mulch today, but in spite of the forecast saying there was only a 30% chance of rain for today, this looks like it could be an all dayer. Guess I am running out of excuses to clean the house.

Have a great day!

Hi all - hope everyone is doing well.

Having a bit of a blah morning. I gave myself the day off exercise yesterday and now I am wishing I hadn't. It is one of those things I would hear other people say and not really get, but being active makes me feel better. It still kind of weirds out the chubby bookworm part of me. :)

I can also tell I haven't been drinking enough water and am feeling a bit bleh from that. Time to go remedy that.Well, after just a bit more coffee. ;)

There was a question about Quest bars. The cookie dough ones for example have 170 calories, 21g protein, 17g fiber and only 3g active carbs.They are rather chewy, which some people might not like, but I like the fact that they don't melt, so they are great to throw in your pocket for a long walk. They are also a bit pricey and hard to find. I can get them locally at GNC and have ordered some on Amazon since they are cheaper there.

Enjoy the wedding! Hope you're not too sore,dgramie!

I am a bit more sore this morning than I was yesterday. Im sure a hot soaker will help that. I ate way to much yesterday and it was so good. I will eat again today but will jump right back on plan tomorrow.

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is doing well. I did low impact aerobics this morning to Debra Mazda's Shapely Girl video. I'm not sure if anyone else does them but I find her very motivational. And what I like is not only are her workouts pretty simple, they make you sweat! And the girls on the video are plus size girls. If I can see them do the moves it motivates me and say I can do it too!

Good morning everyone. It's a chilly, rainy day here in the NW so that means I won't have an excuse to not get the cleaning done today. RATS!

Nancy -- Loved your admitting that you feel better when moving and that it surprises the bookworm part of you. I know exactly what you mean -- it's been somewhat of a shocker to admit that I was wrong all those years and actually enjoy the benefits of exercising. Don't enjoy the exercising, but do like feeling better.

Dgramie -- So sorry that you're sorer and hope that you will pamper yourself with a good hot soak. Enjoy the wedding.

Patti -- I know what you mean about enjoying videos where there are plus size people in them -- somehow that lends authenticity for me. I still use my old Richard Simmons one that is on tape -- yes, I still have a working VCR in the house! :)

Jane -- are you still doing the yoga? I am going to look into the Biggest Loser Yoga DVD as I need to do something to stretch these muscles.

My big accomplishment for this past week is to get back to 30 minutes of cardio (and I plan on getting to 60 eventually). This week will bring the cardioversion -- I refer to it as getting zapped -- so hopefully the a fib will get back in rhythm and life can be about something other than going to the doctor. Have a great day all.

Hey everyone! Today is day 7 of eating low carb. I have cheated but progress is progress. I've lost 10 lbs as of weighing when i got up this morning!!! It's definitly helping me stay motivated to see the scale going down just about every day. I think next week I will either start 30 Day Shred, or start C25K. Idk which but I do know I need to start some kind of exercise soon. Anywho, I hope you are all doing well!!

thatweirdgirl congrats on your progress!

Betsey I am, but I've missed two classes. Back at it Thursday!

Scale is still moving, I finally got to adjust my ticker. After months stalled its nice to log some progress in may!

Wedding was beautiful! I think everything was near perfect! I am so thankful its over and all cleaned up.
Food has not been OP for 3 days but will be back on track today. Oh and Tom was nice and stayed away til the wedding was over. He showed up right after the wedding. I am so thankful he didnt show up before the wedding.

I am back to babysitting today and I am ready for routine again.

Oh you should see the ugly bruise left on my upper thigh from my fall. Its black and huge!!

Lets make this week OP!!

Good morning, and Happy Monday (lol)!

As is usual for me on Mondays, the scale spiked back up from my low at the end of last week. (Which was incredibly close to dipping below 300 for the first time in I-don't-know-how-many years. 300.8 on Saturday morning, but back up to 304.8 today. Yay, bloating... TOM will be starting mid-week and I'm already feeling the impact.

Of course I can't blame that spike entirely on hormones... I drank a good amount of beer on Saturday. My favorite was a cask conditioned Oatmeal stout... Mmm, yummy! I had no problem getting back on plan after our Saturday outing, though. I remember when that would have been a problem... when one outing would be an excuse to be off plan all weekend because I had "already messed it up". No more of that silliness... maybe my relationship with food is becoming more healthy? I hope so!

Anyway, Sunday was very busy - did the grocery shopping, got all my breakfast & lunch cooked up for the week, cleaned the house, planted my tomato and pepper plants, and tended the rest of the vegetable garden. It was a VERY productive day!



Mnem, that's so funny that you're another craft beer lover. It's looking more and more like were were separated at birth, haha! You would have been in heaven this past Saturday. They were all craft beers from small breweries in the state of Maryland. We got 10 tasting tokens, but half the time I went up, my tokens weren't collected. So I tried closer to 15 brews. A few were not worth anything past that first sip, so into the creek they went... But some were quite yummy!

dgramie, I'm glad the wedding was so lovely. It sounds like it was also pretty stressful, so I'm glad you got through it. I'm sending willpower your way today so you can get back on plan, inspite of TOM. (Isn't it nice it waited, though?)

RadioJane, I'm glad the scale is moving along for you. Months-long stalls really exhaust the willpower, so good on you for sticking with it! Your progress so far is simply amazing. As for your earlier post about the dress and feeling crappy about how you looked... I suspect your MIL is simply not experienced in flattering photo angles.

thatweirdgirl, congrats on 7 days of low carb! I'm glad the scale is cooperating with you so well, but let me caution you now - Please take your starting measurements with a tape measure soon if you haven't already. The first few weeks the weight flys off, but after that it does stall for a bit as your body adapts to your new way of eating. The first weight shed is water weight, because you need more water to process carbs... so when you're not eating them, the body lets go of some of that water. (And subsequently, when you do cheat, that's why you bloat.) But I go through periods of time where the scale doesn't budge, but if I measure, I see that inches are falling off. So while I know the early losses are so motivational, please don't live & die by that scale. Use it as just one of the tools in your toolbox.

Betsy, you have been through so much... I really hope your "getting zapped" helps you get back in rhythm. You're doing amazing under what must be a ton of stress.

Patti, I have never heard of that video but I will have to check it out. I don't usually like workout videos, mostly because the models on the videos have to move less than half of what I do. It can be a bummer, but sounds like that video wouldn't be such a problem!

Nancy, I'm sorry to hear that you feel so blah. Missing out on water does that to me, too. I'm not quite to the point where I miss workouts - that's my major goal over the next month is getting them worked into my schedule much better than they are. You are not the first person I've heard talk about the Quest bars. I really should check them out, somtime... but they look so expensive than I'm afraid I would like them a little too much and go broke!


Ok, everyone have a great day!

Why is it that you want to eat when exhausted??? I will stay the course!

Jane - if that picture is 20 pounds from your heaviest I will require an update soon. Still, it's absolutely adorable and whoever took it is a pretty great photographer. I think that you are having the right instincts and I'm really glad that you are coping with your stall so well AND keeping to it. Also: weddings and vacations and whatnot are 'space' when you shouldn't worry about weight loss as much. The whole thing is a marathon, not a sprint!

dgramie - oh, that fall sounds SO SCARY, I am glad you are okay. And glad that the wedding went well and you had such a lovely time. I hope you are looking forward to seeing the pictures where you look great. :)

Also: hah, I ALSO DO THAT, I have no idea why.

betsy - haha. this weekend I got a TON of planting done. I basically planted most of my veggies, including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, some broccoli, and cucumbers, various herbs. I planted all my pots excepting one (which might get a veggie, not sure) and planted annuals everyplace I would normally plant them that is not taken up with pansies. The pansies still look gorgeous so I'm going to leave them in the ground until the heat gets them (it is supposed to be 95 here tomorrow so that might been sooner than I think), but otherwise, other than a few more veggies, I got all my planting done. I have some weeding I really want to get done tonight and tomorrow (well, maybe not tomorrow since 95 degrees...), but I'm happy with it all!

I have some pictures of the yard here:

http://elizavieta.tumblr.com/

these are after mowing the grass and after planting a few pots but not all. You have to scroll down, though.

Nancy - I know what you mean. I really like exercising. I feel so good and fit and it is SO WEIRD to me. I STILL put it off, like there's a disconnect between how I feel during/after and how I think about it. Weird. Thanks for the info about Quest bars, though! I appreciate it!

Patti - I have never heard of her, but that sounds like a great video. I will check her out. Thanks for the tip!

thatweirdgirl - that is amazing, congrats on your success! You must be feeling great.


Tel - I'm sure you'll see the bloat disappear soon enough. How exciting to be under 300. Heh, I remember that day well. Glad you had a great time tasting the beer, too. It sounds like an awful lot of fun. And yeah: myself and most of the family are into craft beers. When my parents and aunt and uncle were traveling, my dad sent a bunch of family (his brother and sister, me and my brother) an e-mail about the trip. My uncle replied: enough about the tulips (they were in the Netherlands), what about the beer!

Geez, where is this month going already?! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Dgramie -- It sounds like you had an action packed weekend, created a lot of new memories, and are ready to get back to a normal routine. Hope the bruise isn't too sore. How come when we get those "trophies" that would get some actual sympathy, they're in a place where it's hard to show someone!

Tel -- Sounds like you had a great weekend. I love beer and would have enjoyed that as an outing as well. The weight gain will go away once you have your TOM whoosh. How wonderful to be so close to being under 300.

Mnem -- Sounds like you worked and worked on your yard. I enjoyed the pictures and while it takes a lot of work, it sure does make for pretty surroundings.

Jane -- Congrats on the scale moving again. There's something so empowering about being able to update the weight data on here. You really have been an inspiration about sticking to it with a really LONG plateau!

Just got back from the doctor for my last warfarin reading before the procedure tomorrow. I have to have readings between 2.5 and 3.0 for three weeks before they'll do the cardioversion. Evidently the INR they do in the doctor's office is always higher than doing an actual blood test. This morning's was 2.4. But a call to the cardiologist said to go ahead as I've had readings above 2.5 since early May. All I need is to be above 2.0 for the reading with the actual blood test and I can get the conversion done and hopefully be back in rhythm.

Meanwhile, it's only misting and chilly out so I'm going to tackle the dead weeds and spread the mulch. Running out of spring! Have a great day.

dgramie so glad the wedding went well! Hope your bruise heals

Telorida true. I do hope the professional pictures turn out well

Mnem I will post some of me all glammed up for the wedding. I do love that photo though. Probably my favorite ever.

Thanks everyone for being so supportive. Keeping at it through a stall is a major NSV for me

Today... Blaaaaahhhhh. up almost 6 lbs from the weekend. I know why, and it's certainly not because I overate by 21,000 calories, so I will just hang in there until next week when this water weight whooshes back off.

Mnem, "Enough about the tulips, what about the beer?" That is hilarious! Also, your garden looks SO lovely and colorful. I haven't gotten in to planting ornamental things, this year. I need to make a plan for it and execute on that plan next year.

betsy, I hope everything goes well with your procedure. You're in my thoughts.

Jane, I know what you mean about hanging on through a stall being an accomplishment in and of itself. Great job!


My shoulder is killing me, today, so I'm going to try to limit my PC usage as much as I can. Kind of hard when my job is at a PC, though...
Anyway, everyone have a great day!