Hey All,

Little late checking in here, I had a very busy day. Got up around 9 this morning and had breakfast. I had a fruit bowl with greek yogurt instead of my usual oatmeal. It was delish...will definitely start adapting that as a breakfast item so I don't get bored of oatmeal. Then I went to visit my mom and gram (my mom moved in with her before my grand died last year) to catch up with them and get my health insurance straightened out before my hair appointment. I am now signed up for health insurance!! My gram really wanted me to have it even though it is something I really can't afford so she offered to pay my insurance premiums for me. I have never in my adult life had health insurance so I'm pretty happy about it. I am not one to go to the doctor often, but with having PCOS I really want to go get checked out and see a new doctor. My coverage starts March 3 so once I get all of that taken care of I plan to make an appointment with my friend's doctor.

I got my hair cut today by my best friend. She always makes me feel so pretty. I told her to make me look good because I had a hot date tonight with DH :). We put a lot more layers in it to give me some body...I really like it. Once I know or figure out how to post pictures here I'll show you guys :).

DH and I went and checked out this new gastro pub that opened last Monday. We split an order of poutine and also got a checuterie (sp) plate that had some different salami and prosciutto on it. That was my cheat meal. First real cheat meal I've had since I started my journey, but luckily between the two of us it really wasn't much, though I'm sure it was still high in fat. We also went to the mall and went to our local gamer store (we both love video games) and bought a PS2 to add to our collection since our old one broke years ago. It was cheap enough and got a few games. We just got home from getting some coffee and DH already has it set up and is playing a game we got LOL. I guess it's just our generation, we grew up with Nintendo and such and we are still young, but big kids at heart. I still watch cartoons :-P. Overall it was a very nice date, and was really nice to get to spend that kind of quality time with my love.

Tomorrow BIL is giving me my first monthly PT test. I'm kind of nervous, even though I know there is no pass or fail. He just wants to see where I am so we can look back each month and see where I've improved. I'm not really looking forward to the walking part LOL...He's taking me to the park down the street that has a HUGE pond that has a walk/jog/run path around it and wants to time me to see how fast I get around it. I know I'll be doing mostly walking since I skinned the back of my ankle pretty bad the last time we walked. I'm trying to think of something I can put on my ankle so if my shoe starts to rub it won't hurt. Any suggestions? I have those Rebok Easy Tones..DH got me them a few years ago and I only wear those to train or work out in so they are practically new haha...But I think I might need to get a different pair sometime soon that is a little more flexible.

Seems like everyone had a pretty busy day as well.

Betsy You garden sounds wonderful, I would love to be able to come over and help prune your trees and work in your garden. I've always wanted a garden of my own, but have never had a yard lol.

Fi I am so sorry to hear about what happened at the doctor's office. They should be reported. It seems like doctors nowadays just want to get paid and really don't care about the patients and definitely have bad beside manner. I hope everything turns out well for you love.

Rihanna Welcome to the group dear! Hope to learn more about you and get to know you. I'll be cheering you on while you're on this journey!

Valerie Your story brought me to tears while reading it. I am so sorry for your loss. You seem like a very strong woman, and it's great that you and his daughter get along so well. Sending you BIG HUGS!!! <3

Jane Great job on the 3.1 loss!! High five girly!!

Terra & Erin You are so welcome for the recipe! I actually used it in my salad I had today for lunch. It really is good. I get bored with salad dressings when it comes to making my own, and you just can't, well shouldn't eat the stuff in the bottle at the grocery store, and the ones that are supposed to be good for you taste like crap LOL...I'd much rather just make my own, but I am not very creative when it comes to a salad dressing, so Pinterest is a very good place to go.

Well I think I'm off to get in my PJs and relax for the rest of the night. I have an early morning coming haha...Oh, and tomorrow I am going to attempt a cauliflower pizza crust! I saw it on Pinterest and just have to try it! I've seen the same recipe made with zucchini too, so maybe I'll have to try that one too sometime. I'll let you all know how it turns out. Have a great night everyone! Big love!! <3

Hi everyone .. just quickly stopping in .. finally stopping to relax after the photo shoot ... I have seen a couple of the pics and I actually like them (I usually HATE having pics taken lol) ... rain came just as we were finishing so whew .. but its now muggy argggh ... so just taking some time to relax .. then I need to go wash off all this war paint and de-concrete my hair lol ..

Yesterday I really didn't eat well .. didn't even get to 700 calories .. so that is 2400 calories over the last 3 days .. today isn't much better .. had a coffee while getting the makeup & hair done .. and just had a banana ... I have got a bunch of veges for dinner .. and a few beef olives made too .. so hopefully will want to eat it all .. unlikely when its this muggy ... but last resort is a milkshake (Kate Morgan) to get something in ... drinking water like a fish lol.

If I can bug my hunny for a few pics from today I will post them up when I get the chance .. or a link to see them anyway :) Better go ... have to get the washing in from the porch cos the wind is picking up and the rain comes into the porch then lol ..

Hugs all!

PS - SAM - Im going to try that dressing too! My hunny has crappy tastebuds so everything has to be strong for him .. and I have sensitive tastebuds so that is not something I like lol .. but we both have found that anything lemony he can easily taste so this is great .. and I love poppy seeds too :) Thanks!!

EDO - Let me know how the meal turns out .. always interested in crock pot meals .. I won't start on those for the book until about April cos its just too hot for something like that now lol ..

As for my cookbook .. its my second one .. the first one I did was not really a healthy book lol .. they were recipes I had developed over 15 years ago and fat meant flavour lol ... not to mention sugar, salt and all those other bad things lol. So I am revamping my fave recipes to turn them healthier as well as creating some new ones ... my usual problem is that I hate measuring things and I don't always take note of what ingredients I am putting in .. sometimes its just what is on hand lol .. also I am taking pics this time and each recipe will have the nutritional information with it too .. I am doing this one for Xmas presents which is what I did the last one for lol .. only got my original one properly printed last year though .. the gift one was something I printed up and bound myself :)

Here is the link for the shoot if anyone wants to look :)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...1&l=5740a412df

On my way to the track as part of my PT test. I am so nervous lol wish me luck!! I'll check in this afternoon.

Ubee ~Yeah I enjoy walking. When I was growing up I would walk natural trails all the time but before I started on my weight loss I wouldnt do much walking except for walking in Walmart and Dillions once a week.

SamIAm86 ~ Im not talented enough to make my own dressing so I just use light salad dressing


Today Im going to clean the house and clean my room and thats all Im gonna do today. I've decided to walk every day but Sunday's so Im taking today off and I will get back at it tomorrow.

Good Afternoon!
Betsy I am going to need to borrow your breaking news music! ;)
I started out weighing once a week and in the Spring I switched to once a day. Today when I woke up I looked at the scale and thought "I don't need to weigh myself today. It doesn't matter. That number is not going to change how I eat today." Will I still care about that number? Yes. I just will not give it so much power. We are going to eat healthy and the weight will take care of itself. Sooner rather then later I hope but it will happen.
Terra I used to walk to enjoy nature. Hmm I should start that again. New day new question. Some of us on here may struggle with housework. What is your story? Are you Martha Stewart or Procrastinating Patty or Git er done and have some fun? Please make sure and check those light dressings some are low in fat and HIGH in sugar.
Sam what is a PT test and how did you do?
Katt hope you are better soon. I will send you some much cooler air!
Fi I hope you are OK!
All right where is everyone???
Am I the only one without much of a life??? (Please don't answer that!)

It's another gorgeous day here (sorry, I know a lot of the northern western hemisphere is experiencing really bad weather), and I'm going to actually get out in the yard today instead of just thinking about it. Plus, it keeps me from getting the afternoon what-can-I-put-in-my-mouth munchie cravings.

Terra -- Welcome to the I Hate to Clean House Club. Ubee and I are the founding -- and sustaining -- members. Love having two sunny days this time of year, but darned if I didn't realize how badly the windows need to be washed (didn't I just do them 6 months ago?) and there's a LOT of dust. With all the walking you do, cleaning house would a) have to be scheduled between walks and b) have enough energy left. In case it's not clear, I'm giving you excuses to avoid the straightening up.

Sam -- Hope the PT test went well. You are so lucky to have a BIL who is essentially your personal trainer only without the sometimes significant fees. Your hair cut sounds like fun and your evening out sounds even better. And sometimes you just have to have an off plan night. I looked up the foods -- couldn't decide if I would be tempted or not. And congrats on getting health insurance.

Katt -- Your pictures are lovely -- thanks so much for sharing them. Love the dress, you looked beautiful, and got a chuckle out of your being in the grocery store in your dress. And the scenery was gorgeous -- New Zealand is on my bucket list of places to visit. Hope your appetite gets back in gear. It's nice to not have the problem of constantly wanting something to eat, but under 700 calories a day just isn't enough (which you obviously know). It feels like it's either feast or famine sometimes.

Ubee -- Hope the bored/stressed has gone away. I got to chuckling at your house hunting for a house with a pool. My first thought was that for 3 months a year you could also use it as an ice rink. Don't know where that came from. A pool would be wonderful! The Co-op celebration was a non-event because a) the people who were to call the vendors to get free samples to give away decided that calling the day before was enough time and b) the person who was to put the ad in the local paper "forgot" which translates into there was a game on ESPN between the Booty Hawks and the Nowheresville Cardinals that just had to be watched. So about normal for the Co-op. They also decided that yesterday morning was a good time to look for a sign that was made up years ago saying it was Founder's Day. Of course, it couldn't be found. I have just decided to do my part and stop worrying about everything else that needs to be done because it was causing stress which for me equates to eating anything and everything within arm's reach.

Edo -- How are you modifying the crock pot recipe to make it healthier? It does sound wonderful. Modifying recipes is not one of my fortes in life, so hints from people who seem to do it easily are always welcomed.

Jane -- Congrats on the 3 pounds and like Ubee says, we need to give ourselves credit even if we think it's water weight. Your evening sounds horrific. You are a great friend to put up with both having a drunk friend and having a tub of ice cream tempting you.

Tried spaghetti squash last night after reading some of your posts here -- don't know why I put it off for so long. Easy to make, has a slightly nutty taste, but doesn't overpower everything else. Just grated a little parm on top and was happy with it as a side dish. Today Toby and I are going to practice walking together with the leader to keep him from pulling me all over. Have a great day and see you all tomorrow.

Good Afternoon All!!

Just finally had some time to sit down and relax and check in before I start doing my meal prep for the week. Got up this morning and did my PT (Personal Training) test with BIL. The only thing he seems to be focusing on is push-ups, sit-ups and how long it takes me to go around this big pond at the park that has a track around it. It's a mile long. I was really surprised he didn't have me do more. So the results are in and I did 25 pushups, 25 sit-ups (more like crunches) and I did the mile walk/jog in 20:15. Overall I'm pretty happy because I didn't even think I could do more than 10 push ups lol...He seemed to be happy and I even had a lady that was walking past me getting her exercise in cheering me on! She said, "You can do it! Don't give up! You're doing great!" That made me want to push even harder. So I am quite happy with the results and it will be nice to see where I am a month from now :)

I'm getting ready to attempt to make a cauliflower pizza crust from a recipe online and have that for lunch and perhaps dinner tonight as well. While that's in the oven I'm going to try and figure out what kind of salad I want to make for lunch this week. I was thinking maybe a curry chicken salad, but who knows.

Anyway, I hope everyone is have a POP day!! It's all one day at a time and we CAN do this!!! <3

Hi, everyone! I'm so excited to have found this place! I just started my weight loss efforts in earnest right after Christmas, and I have been looking for some community where I can offer and receive support. I have been lucky not to have any extreme health problems associated with my weight, yet, except for being extremely tired all the time. That is my #1 reason for deciding to start taking better care of myself. And my #2 reason is that I have recently become engaged, and (vain though it is) I really want to look nice in my wedding dress!

I started about a month ago by cutting out sodas -a huge addiction of mine- and working out on the elliptical my SO was so sweet to buy for me. I've moved on to watching portions, but I am going to start a food journal and calorie counting this week. I have such a long way to go, but I'm trying to focus on the now and what I can do today to reach my goals.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you!!

Betsy : With the crock pot recipe I used fat free cream cheese and low sodium broth. The tortellini's I used were cheese filled, but you can use any kind you prefer so I am sure there are lower calorie ones. I also added turkey sausage to my recipe. (the original does not have it) All together it came out to be 441 calories for a large serving. 2645 calories for the entire recipe and I split the recipe into 6 servings. My DH took one bite and said, "you can make this again". So success!

Today I am making Crockpot Cube Steak and Gravy. With this one I used 97% fat free cream of mushroom. http://thepost-itplace.com/2012/01/c...eak-and-gravy/

Ubee: I too have no life! lol Today was the 1st time all week that I actually left my house. Its so dang cold that I am happy staying in.

Just caught up on my Challenge thread and need to pop out to pick my lino and go visit a friend .. but will check back in when I get back .. welcome in Gwynwyn .. glad to see you on the boards and doing great so far!

TTYL

Welcome Gwynwyn to the thread!! So happy to have another addition to this group! Everyone is very nice and amazing people here. Good luck on your journey, I'll be here cheering you on!!

I am so tired from today. It's only 7:15 here so I think it's going to be an early night for me. Got my breakfast and lunch prepped for this week. I'm having fruit bowls for breakfast and curry salad for lunch this week. Need to pick up some more fruit tomorrow and some other odds and ends tomorrow after work. I had such a great day today I think I'm going to make Monday's my weigh in day since I actually forgot to weigh in this morning. I think TOM is coming so I'm a bit nervous. Since I have PCOS I am not regular so I'm sure I will be bloated so I will not pay too much attention to the added water weight.

How was everyone's day??? Little quieter than usual today. Hope everyone is well. I will read up on every one in the morning. Good night everyone <3

Sorry gals, still coughing but couldn't handle the hermit life anymore. I hope everyone is doing well I haven't had time to read everything so I'll only do this one special shout out to :

Fi - Hope you are feeling better. XoXo!

And for Ubee & Betsey since alas you failed to live FOR me and go out clubbing! tsk tsk.... Here is how I spent my weekend.

Friday I slept in and was lazy I should have cleaned more than I did, but we all know I'm good at finding excuses to take breaks from that. Ended up meeting up with a friend at the convenience store in the afternoon, pretty much everything in town was shut down except for those since we did get those blizzard conditions. We were okay to walk there, both of us, felt 'stir crazy'. Probably because we knew we were suppose to stay home. And we cooked supper and played "Just dance". Then went to another friends later in the evening and played poker, it took way too long. I am not a poker player and I still won the ONE round we played.

Yesterday I slept in again but did clean my entry way that seems like nothing but it had become a dumping ground so I got everything out of there and vaccuumed. Hopefully I can keep that under control for a while. And then it was time to partay. I just made dip as I was lazy to go to the farther grocery store so just grabbed some sourcream and chips. I already had the mayo and epicure dip mix. So that was fun, I drank a lot and snacked a lot (boo) but it was just good seeing some of my extended group of friends that I don't see as often and am not necessarily as close to but that I totally adore. We ended up staying chatting until almost 2am. Oopsie... Which would be fine but...

We had brunch plans today , we were all a little late to the party. We had almost all been at the party last night so we understood. Had more interesting conversation and horribly yummy brunch food and mimosas.

Now to face the work week :-| A quiet night with tea and my book tonight. I'm off the hook for a while Ubee? I can be boring again ? ;)

Well, I spent the weekend coughing (as a result of the STRESSful test) and drinking herbal teas, trying my darndest not to catch a bug in the petrie dish of my weeping airways. So far, so good: the cough is gradually getting less. I tried to resume my leg exercises tonight and failed: 'couldn't even do one set, that's how trashed my thighs are. I don't see the cardiologist and hear the results of the test until Thursday, so until then, it's hang in here and try to get some collages done.

silent— Good for you that you got some par-tay time in! I used to party a lot when I was in my 20s and 30s, but then I became bipolar and turned into a recluse. =sigh= But at least I'm a recluse who turns up the volume on the rock music nearly every night. When people call me on the phone, they always say, "Wow—'sounds like a party at your place!" =laugh=

Sam— I'm impressed by how much creativity you're putting into your cooking! My sister is like that, really expresses herself by making healthy food for her family, but I seemed to have gotten the artistic gene from my dad instead of the food gene. It takes all kinds... =smile= Oh, and your haircut sounds really cute!

Nightkatt— Your pictures are gorgeous: in that lovely color of a dress, you look like an exotic flower in that fab scenery!

Erin— Way to go with those crockpot recipes! That sounds like a good way to make up more than one meal at a time...

Gwynwyn— Welcome on board! And multiple congratulations are in order: first, on getting engaged (Yay!), second for giving up sodas—I recently gave up diet soda, a lifelong habit, so I know it's not easy—and third for working out on your elliptical! Feel free to tell us more about yourself. Making a habit of posting nearly every day will really help you weather the ups & downs of this long journey we're all embarked on.

Betsy— 'Glad to hear you've been having great weather: I know you don't get a lot of sunny skies in that part of the world. I love spaghetti squash: I like to serve it cold with cinnamon and a chopped-up apple, maybe some chopped walnuts, as a kind of salad, and it's convenient the way it provides its own bowl.

Ubee— I'm glad to hear the dreaded 3-digit number is lessening its power over you. I like having my monthly weight chart on the fridge, so I can ooh and ahh over how much progress I've made, but past that...it's just a number, not a lifestyle change. As for my being mentally strong, well, I'm really not: that stress test has taken a toll on my moods, all weekend long. I really feel it when something stresses me out psychologically—'takes me days to recover.

Terra— What can I say, except way to go on the walking! I'm looking forward to getting the go-ahead from my cardiologist so I can resume walking on the wooded trail around our local lake—so relaxing, and good for one's moods, too.

Speaking of which, my main agenda item right now is hoping my mood will pick up enough tomorrow morning that I can make a collage. When I haven't made any art in a while, I just don't feel like myself.

Where are our three men? I hope they all had happy busy weekends...

Morning!!

I'm in quite the good mood this morning. Woke up and did my first official weigh in since I now have a new scale. I'm down 4 lbs!! That really makes me happy because I thought after having a cheat meal at the new pub in town I thought I might would have gained. I woke up to TOM so I may be carrying some additional weight from that but I am not going to worry about it right now. I had my fruit bowl with some plain greek yogurt this morning and I am now enjoying a cup of coffee. I'm trying to stay away from it until I can find some coconut sugar because I really don't like the artificial sweetners and their chemicals, but today I really needed it so I'm letting it slide.

Tomorrow I may be only working a 1/2 day. We are supposed to be getting some freezing rain and possibly a few inches of snow, which is rare for Myrtle Beach to get so we may end up closing early tomorrow and be closed on Wednesday. That would be a nice surprise because I can stay in and work on some other things at home hehe :).

Has anyone here tried doing yoga? I had a friend from high school contact me about going to yoga with her sometime since she saw I am trying to get in shape. I would love to try it but I am kind of afraid I wouldn't even be able to do it. I told her I would keep it in mind and if I decided to go I would call her. Maybe I should look up some moves that are good for plus sized people and see how I do with that.

Anyway, I'll check in later, hope everyone has POP day!

Fi - Hope you got the Collage Mojo going :)

Sam - About Yoga, here's the thing you have to be willing to accept that you may not be able to do every move at its full extension right away. You may have to go back to rest in certain poses while everyone else might be doing soemthing else. I find honestly the few times I've tried it. There are some moves, where yes my fat gets in the way of being able to move a certain way.

Sam - I'm totally with Silentarctic on the yoga thing. I took class twice a week until my instructor moved, and now I do it at home. It takes a while to build up the flexibility. (I was mega frustrated because I took the class with a dancer beside me the whole time. I couldn't do a quarter of what she did). Keep with it though. You'll feel so lithe and graceful!

I'm up just under two pounds today. Not shocking, because our good friends invited us for dinner last night. The husband has a very bad back and is recovering from surgery, and he did the cooking. I couldn't bring myself, after all the painful work he did, to not eat the stuffed potato and dessert. So now I have to get back into ketosis. I'm still down quite a bit from when I got my act together.

My bf is gone for the week, so I'm hoping to get a lot of stuff done. My house is still a disaster from renovating! Have a good week everyone!

Good morning everyone! Another snow day here in MI! My poor daughter is going crazy being stuck in the house! Hearing the "I am bored" all day is driving me CRAZY!! Didnt we just have Christmas where kids got all these new toys to play with??!! Got dinner in the crock pot (BBQ Shredded Chicken). Now I am going to spend the day getting some house work done. Hope everyone has a great day!!

Good Afternoon!
Erin my girls went to school today and I was worried sick till my youngest texted that they got there safe. I always say if they are bored I must have some job for them! Glad to have another home body to chat with!
Jane I hope you have a great week and get more done then you can imagine!
Silent you will never be off the hook! :devil:Do you really think a party animal like you can spend more then a few days with tea and a book! Live it up time goes quickly!
Sam way to go on the 4 pounds!
Fi I think you are strong and I admire you! Your squash sounds yummy. I hope I remember to try it in the future. Thanks!
Katt see you in the challenge thread!
:wel3fc:Gwynwyn! The support here is awesome! We all get what you are going through. (As much as someone can.) I am OK with vain. Most days I could use some vain. When is the big day?
Betsy your co-op update made me pull my hair out! My swim pool will have palm trees.:beach: How did it go when Toby took you for a walk? Whoa you wash the outside of your windows? Rain does that...
Tomorrow I am going in for a hysterectomy. Prayers, positive vibes or whatever is your thing is greatly appreciated. Does anyone know if it would be rude to bring the shop vac in and ask them to suck out some fat?
Have a good day! I will be back sooner then you are ready for me!

Ubee ~ Thats great that you used to enjoy walks in nature and that you might start walking in nature again. To answer your question Im a Get R Done and have some fun person when it comes to cleaning. Thanks for the advice on the light salad dressings, I didnt know they might be low in fat and high in sugar.

betsy2013 ~ I dont mind cleaning, I just turn up my music and get started, To answer your question I have to clean the house/my room around my walks LOL. Thanks for giving me the excuse for not straighten up LOL.

Fiona W ~ Thanks for committing on my walking. I hope your able to walk around the lake soon. Walking near water is very relaxing I agree with that.

Gwynwyn ~ Welcome 2 The Jan. 2014 300+ Chat thread.


As soon as I get done with this post Im gonna do my 1st walk of the 1st day of the week. It would be my 2nd walk of the day cause I usually walk at 11 am but I went ahead and took a nap at that time since I couldnt sleep in yesterday like I planned cause I went to sleep too early Saturday evening but oh well. Today I just plan to walk here in a few mins like I said and walk again later on tonight. Hopefully I can get my room FINALLY straighten up tonight as well. Tomorrow is our run errands day and I also have a meeting to go too. Well I hope everyone is having an awesome day.

A nice Florida day 75 and partly cloudy. :D It would be a perfect day if only my scale would co-operate. My weekly weigh in today was 274 no change for the last two weeks despite eating under goal and exercising more. I may be replacing fat with muscle. My waist is getting smaller but my weight stays the same. Based on my history no gain can be considered a victory.

Yesterday I cooked a brunch all you can eat fundraiser for the Shriner's. Despite having huge amounts of some of my most favorite high calorie foods readily available I stayed below calorie goal for the day and strictly controlled my portions. This definitely was a NSV for me. :D:carrot::D

Evening everyone!

Well I got my wish! The office will be closed tomorrow and possibly Wednesday since we are about to get hit with some winter storms...which NEVER happens in Myrtle Beach LOL!! So when I got off work DH and I had to go make a deposit at the bank and decided to stock up on a few things we needed...Needless to say I almost spent $100 which is a lot for us because we usually spend $40 here and there LOL...I just wanted to make sure if I got snowed in I would have food to eat :P But luckily I have enough food to last the next week and a half probably. Got home and unpacked everything and took the chicken breasts I bought and put 2 per freezer bag and tossed them in the freezer and got some turkey chili goin on the stove. DH hates turkey chili LOL, but I told him too bad. Either eat it or make a sandwich because I'm not cooking you a separate meal LOL. He has band practice tonight so I have him out of my hair for a little bit...Hopefully the freezing rain doesn't start until after he's home. Myrtle Beach is not equipped to get rid of the ice on the roads.

Silent & Jane Thanks for the advice on the yoga. I figured I probably wouldn't be able to do everything, but not sure how comfortable I feel about not being able to do the moves with a bunch of other people in the room. Maybe I can look up some videos and try them at home to see how I like it before I go to a class.

Erin Your kids are bored?!?! I remember when I was a kid my mom would kick us out of the house and locked it so we couldn't come in until the street lights came on HAHA!! I'd be giving those kids some house work to do!!

Ubee Thanks for the love my dear...Down 16 lbs in 2 weeks ain't bad huh? :) <3

Larry Great job on fighting the temptation. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals and being southern there is all kinds of good breakfast stuff that we make lol....Full of FAT and MORE FAT....It is hard but great job!! If your waist is getting smaller I would say that is a HUGE NSV!!! Hope you have a great week!

Oh! Meant to post a link to my new hair cut! I don't know if it will work or not but here it is :)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

I did make a collage today. Thanks for rooting for me, silent!

And thanks, Ubee, for maintaining that I'm strong. My sister would agree with you, actually. She says, "Fi, you're not tough, but you're strong." =laugh=

In other news, I had a cookie today. Just one large cookie, which I ate in a social way: Bob, too, had one large cookie. And I didn't crave more sugar after we were done with our little cookie time. Yay! I think my food patterns have changed enough—as in, I'm binge-free—that now I can have a little bit of joy eating from time to time, if not as much as Brooke Castillo's recommended 10%. For me it will be a very occasional thing. The bulk of my food remains meat, cheese, cream, veggies, and the daily half-a-cup of muesli. I'm not ready yet to try the experiment of strict Atkins without the muesli. The muesli is my comfort food, whether or not it's actually staving off depression.

Bob taught me a useful word today, a word from physics: compactify. Isn't that what we're all doing here, compactifying ourselves? =grin=

Hi all!

Just a quick personal note.

I didn't exercise much last week, even though I planned to. Friday the scale had me down almost a few more pounds. Sat I took a day off and just ate freely (too freely). Then yesterday I'm up to 302.4 lbs. What?!?

Today - same weight.

I know this has to be water (it's not like I ate 5 lbs of food with 100% absorption but still so frustrating! I was looking forward to moving the ticker.

Anyway, I'm going to learn from this and let it propel me through the week.

Here's to being back on plan! And no more reporting the exercise I am "going" to do, only what I did.

Grrr....
:mad:

Hi everyone. Still getting used to posting at night, but LOTS of posts to read. One of the things I love about this group is that while we all have our ups and downs, we all are able to find the power of the small gains that we are making. WE ROCK!!!!

Fi -- So glad that you are back here after a couple of days gone. And back to doing your art. I know for my sister that art was as necessary for her as breathing. Interesting thoughts on allowing yourself one cookie every once in a while. I agree that 10% would be too much, but I so admire that you (and Larry) are able to have some foods that you love and still control the portions. Thanks for the idea on the spaghetti squash -- that sounds delicious, too.

Sam -- I'm chuckling over everything closing down due to the storm. Just watched the news, and it sounds like a bad one is headed your way, but I remember from my 20+ years in GA and NC that bad weather is not well tolerated. Glad you got to the store -- hope you also bought the requisite break and milk. LOVE you new haircut -- it looks wonderful on you. I took a yoga class and do it at home as well. If you have a good instruction he/she will be able to show you how to do some of the moves in a modified manner.

Larry -- Good for you on resisting all the goodies in the form of portion management. That is so hard to do. You weight stall may be just your body adjusting (this is a Betsy theory as opposed to being based on anything scientific) after all the weight you lost when you started. Like you said, not gaining any back is an achievement in itself.

Terra -- Ubee and I will be happy to let you come visit us if you'll teach us how to actually clean the house instead of finding a way to procrastinate on getting it done -- heck on even starting! I did love that it has to be scheduled around your walks.

Ubee -- Hope your surgery goes well tomorrow. Wish I could be there to bring in a covered dish for you. Yes I wash the outside of my windows mainly because when I built the house I had all tip in windows installed except for the picture windows. Good to know that the pool will be where there are palm trees.

Edo -- Hope you haven't turned into an extra for The Shining with all the horrible weather and being stuck inside. I'm with Ubee. If a kid says that they're bored, I find them work. They amazingly become un-bored (I know that's not a word).

Jane -- Those two pounds will come right off -- probably some water weight. Hope you get a lot done while your BF is gone for the week.

Silent -- Ubee and I will continue to live vicariously through you because your social pace would knock me out for about a week. But it sounds like you had a great weekend, and it certainly brought back great memories of when I could party hearty. You know -- back in the Dark Ages.

Gwynwyn -- Welcome to the group. It's very supportive and friendly. Occasionally, we'll even throw in some dieting tip.

Katt -- Did you get your lino picked out? You might ask them if you can bring home some pieces to put down and see which one you like best. And get big enough pieces. I picked out my flooring based on a little 2X2 square and it turns out that it was much more rustic than I wanted. But it is fun to find new things to decorate.

Went to the gym this morning and am slowly working my way to 20 minutes on the elliptical along with weight training and 20 minutes on the treadmill. Ugh! Then to the Co-op because I hadn't been there for a day. Then home to get the dusting done. Actually used the furniture polish and everything so it took a while to get that done.

On the dieting front, I've been sticking to plan for several days now. Gee, did you all know that if you watch your calories and carbs that you'll lose weight? It's a miracle! Seriously, it feels good to be getting back to healthier eating again. Had haricot verts (the little skinny French whole green beans) for dinner and they were wonderful. So tender. Have a great evening, stay warm just about everyone, and Ubee hope you'll be able to check in very soon.

betsy2013 ~ Yes I could teach the two of you to just get the house cleaning done without procrastinate, Thanks for committing on how you like how I have to schedule my cleaning around my walks


Im about to head to bed, Its 11:11 pm here and I have to get up at 7:00 to get ready to go run our errands but I wanted to post one more time today. I hope everyone had a pop day today. Talk to everyone tomorrow, Good night

SAM - Love your new cut and style .. bellissima!

BETSY - I did go and choose another lino .. and even a backup one just in case they couldn't get enough of the one I picked lol .. just waiting for them to send me through the quote ... our kitchen flooring has asbestos backing so either we have to pull up the entire floor in the kitchen or we put another floor over the top and then lino it .. so we are going for option too as its more affordable for us. I did think of bringing some home to check which is what we did last year when we were originally looking, but I know the toning I can use .. now I just need to get that down .. then I am removing the cupboard doors at some point to strip and repaint them in my new colours for the kitchen ... still trying to decide what colour to do the walls in the kitchen lol .. little steps at a time as we can afford them .. the biggest expense was the flooring so it will be good to get that out of the way :)


Had a good day today .. food wise not so much .. still not eating a lot .. haven't even hit 600 calories .. and its not like I don't want to eat more .. well .. ok .. I don't ... so warm here and its hard for me to eat when its too hot ... but I might treat myself to a bowl of ice cream (light of course) to notch up 100 calories or so :) Tomorrow is another day .. might go out for a coffee with friends .. I have that planned for Thursday .. but Im sure I can convince someone to meet me at Starbucks for a cuppa and a muffin or something lol ..

For those about to CHILL ... please keep safe and warm .. eat lots of things like garlic, onion, lemon, honey .. keep well!

Fiona Congrats on the cookie! (you know what I mean). When those patterns change, it makes one heck of a difference!

Betsey I'm losing weight now that I'm back at it too. Ain't that amazing? :D

I completely by accident did my first 24 hour fast yesterday because I kept pushing back going for lunch and didn't eat until supper. I felt good and I drank lots. This morning I was rewarded with the loss of both the water weight and another pound! I got a swim in yesterday, but I'm staying home today to do some work on the house. My office is dead as a doornail this week anyway.

Have a great day everyone!

Sam - Thanks for that vinaigrette recipe, looking forward to trying it! I've started DDP Yoga DVD's two weeks ago and am really liking it and my back is feeling better. It incorporates traditional yoga with other exercises that are good for burning fat and increasing your flexibility, and it's totally no impact and all the moves are modifiable. Not sure if having a former wrestler as your Yogi would be your cup of tea or not, but it's worked for a lot of people. The only equipment needed is a mat and since you're at home the dog or cat will be the only one looking at you oddly, lol. Check it out!

Larry - Even though it's nice to see a loss on the scale, it's even better to be gaining muscle. Congrats! Now you can enjoy a higher basal metabolic rate. :carrot:

Gwynwyn - Welcome to the chat!

edoetsch1 - Mmmm BBQ... How can you get bored when you can play so many games and watch so many things inside nowadays?! My dad often tells me how he remembers listening to radio programs with no TV in his early years. It's hard for me to imagine life without the internet, videogames, and DVD sets. *shudder* :p

-

The weekend was good, I did the cooking for a get together at a friends house because they wanted to try out some Indian and Thai dishes (made spaghetti & meatballs too in case anyone didn't like them). Somehow managed to resist the urge to eat/drink too many calories, though I did treat myself to a piece of garlic bread and a plate of the homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

I ordered a new bigger/taller yoga mat that'll be arriving soon, the only one I could get locally was a woman's sized one and lets just say it isn't working too well, lol. Focusing more on rowing than walking this week for cardio and hitting the weights more.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying continued willpower and success!

So need new scale batteries :-( Oh well going to do my best to continue to try and eat healthfully. Hopefully I can just weigh in on the challenge when I finally get new ones not sure when I'll get around to it I'm not sure our drug store carries that model. Oh well I guess it will be a test of wills if I keep on track even though I can't weigh myself. I like the numbers as motivation darnit!



Jane - Hope you are having a productive week sans boyfriend :) And glad the water weight fell off for ya :-D


edoe - I'd love more snow days. But we're tough cookies so it takes pretty extreme weather to keep us indoors. Even with all the entertainment I understand "cabin fever" though. Sometimes you just want to be out and about simply... because you know you're not allowed to ;) If it were a regular day she'd probably be content to stay indoors!


Ubee - I can definitely spend more time being a tea totalling book reader. I'm hardly a party animal, I just ocasionally have booked up weekends , most of the time I'm content solo or with afew close friends.

Terra sounds like you're a woman on a mission with all that walking. I just can't seem to find the drive to 'workout' again yet.

Chris - Could be the lack of exercise too, not just the eating. I think you're somes ort of medical professional so I know I don't need to explain it to you. Just remind you, you'll probably drop numbers on the scale the second you get back into your intense workout. I know my numbers are wildly different after days with intense activity vs slothful days. :) I really DO need to get more active again... just lacking all motivation lately for that.. the coughing REALLY demotivates me :(

Larry - Good job on surviving the brunch! You are a stronger soul than I! :)

Fi - Glad the Cookie worked out. :)

Betsy - I am not one to offer that much truely interesting but I'm glad my portrayal of it on the internet seems spicey enough for you. I'm actually a pretty dull girl ;)

JP congrats too on avoiding eating whilst cooking lots of yummy stuff. That's strength.

Trying to drum up motivation to make something for supper. I'm feeling lazy again. There's that temptation to just grab some convenience food and be slothful for the night. :-| We shall see I have the best intentions of cooking up some quinoa and making some sort of caserole type dish with it. But motivation is waning.

Well today was a lazy day. Nothing happened with this winter storm until the afternoon so I could have probably gone to work. We are going to be closed tomorrow as well. I will just have to make sure that I get some exercise in tomorrow since I didn't do anything today but mainly rest and sleep, which was nice since I had a very busy weekend. I think TOM has made me feel sluggish.

JP thanks for the advice on the yoga. I've been looking online to find different DVDs and things I can purchase to try. Hope you like the dressing recipe.

Thanks for everyone who said they liked my new hair cut. I am quite pleased with it.

I stayed up till 3 am last night so I'm goinf to try and make it an early night here. Take care all!! Good night! <3

On plan today, 1,105 calories for today. Started as an unusual day for me. I woke up at noon. :dizzy: Normally I am an early riser. My body must have needed a rest.

My lunch was at a Chinese Buffet but I was able to limit myself to 900 calories.:D That plus two large Honeycrisp apples tonight is all that I ate today.

silentarctic ~ Thanks, Yeah its hard to get back into working out if you havent been doing it in a long time

SamIAm86 ~ I love your new hair cut

CutsieMina ~ Welcome 2 The Chat Thread

Today running our errands was fun and the meeting I went to was fun too. Tomorrow and Thursday Im going to a lunchon for a company, The group I belong to is hosting the lunchon tomorrow and Thursday so thats gonna be fun. Im also gonna make sure I walk tonight before bed, I got some walking in today although I dont know if it counts or not cause I was at Dillions and I was pushing the shopping cart, Does that count? If it doesnt thats okay too I can just walk extra tomorrow when I get home from the lunchon.

I had sort of a lazy day, too. I'm thinkin' 'bout all of you individually, but I'm not up to writing the personal comments tonight. At least while I was lazin' around with my eyes closed I figured out this new collage I want to make out of the photos of water reflections on a lake a friend has been mailing me: it will be like a jigsaw puzzle, where I have to plan out how all the pieces fit together without any overlap between them. A lot of my collage work gets done while I'm awake but inert, with my eyes closed. Gotta figure out how to think up collages while I'm walking, without losing track of the trail and walking into a tree! =laugh=

Listening to y'all talk about yoga has got me dreamin' about doin' yoga again some day. I did yoga for my P.E. requirement in college: ain't that the 1970s for you? Shivering at night in a dark gothic tower with ivy all over the outside: just candlelight and incense and a turbaned instructor who knew enough Sanskrit to do the proper invocations. I guess I never told y'all I've been workin' on learnin' Sanskrit in recent years. I got pretty deep into it before my Belgian friend came into the picture and seduced me into learning French. You'd be surprised if you entered our ordinary little suburban house, because it has all these Sanskrit instruction posters all over the walls: no English of course, just Devanagari script. If my skin is tight enough after I get to goal weight I'm going to get a Sanskrit tattoo on my forearm or maybe the back of my hand (ouch): getting my first tattoo at age 60 will be some kind of an experience—HA!

Here's my weight loss tip for the day, something you can do while lying inert with your eyes closed: deep breathing. Here's a list of all the health and weight loss benefits of deep abdominal breathing. But you have to set aside at least two 5-minute sessions of it a day—10 minutes is even better—which for me, at least, is kind of challenging. I need to figure out how many deep slow breaths I can do in 10 minutes, so I can just count them, 'cause I never wear a watch anymore.

Have a terrific Wednesday, y'all!

On plan today... And played volleyball for 75 min without too much shoulder discomfort. Yay!

The week has been busy so far, hope the pace slows down. My fitbit tells me I am only getting 6 hour of shut eye, so going to head off early tonight.

Hope everyone is well!

My Belgian friend, Robine, broke up with me this morning. No warning whatsoever, just, "C'est fini. J'arrête." ("it's over. I quit.") And then she wrote a lot of stuff about how it's not my fault and how she hopes the best for me. Her closing words were "Donne-toi ce que je ne peux pas te donner. Merci pour tout." ("Give to yourself what I cannot give to you. Thanks for everything.")

She gave no explanation... and frankly, I'm stumped. I don't know why she chose to end a near-daily email correspondence (plus letters and gifts through the mail) of two years' duration. I learned to read and write French for this woman. We were planning to get together, to spend three weeks going various places in my area. She cancelled those plans recently, but she said she was just postponing them. We also had dreams of spending time together in Paris some day.

I'm devastated.

But I haven't gone out and bought any cookies. Not so far. I guess that's something.

Fi I am so sorry to hear about your breakup with Robine. It's hard, especially after learning a language for her and everything. I hope that this inspires you to do more collages which I think will help. I'm proud of you for not going to buy cookies. I know when I get emotional and end up eating cookies or cakes I feel even more lousy later. It will take time but you will get through this and we are all here to support you in any way we can. <3

Today has been kind of odd for me. I didn't have to work again today because of the icy roads. School has been called off for tomorrow so I'm just waiting to hear from my boss about what the plan is for tomorrow. I had breakfast and just lounged around until a little after lunch then DH decided to take a nap since he stayed up most of the night. He is supposed to have a show tonight at the bar down the street from out house. If I don't have work I think I'm going to go since I have not heard the music from this new band he is in yet. Just have to be careful with the snow and ice on the roads.

I looked up some yoga videos on YouTube and found a really good one that I did called Just My Size Yoga. I was able to do all of the moves except for one and I feel really good and limber. I think I'm going to incorporate that in my routine, maybe do that a few times a week. I'm running behind on my 30 day squat challenge, but I will just pick up where I left off, no harm done.

DH asked me to make roast chicken for dinner tonight because he liked the last one so much. This time I'm leaving out the lemon since he isn't too big on the lemon like I am. I'm hoping I'll have dinner done and ready before he has to leave tonight so he isn't eating so late.

Still pretty cold here and the snow and ice has not melted away like I thought it would. I am going to stay inside again tonight, but will do some exercise since I took yesterday as a second rest day. I need to get up and moving before I lose the motivation!!! I hope everyone is having a POP day!

Very sorry about your friend Fiona.

down 1.8 this morning. I've lost the water weight but this is where I always end up stuck, so I'm nervous about tomorrow's weigh on

still making progress on my house, back to work tomorrow. Have a great day everyone.