chinadoll!
Great loss and so happy you are close to one of your goals!
Good job keeping at it with the exercise!
Do you have any plans for rewarding yourself when you reach your next goal?

thanks so much Ubee!! I will treat myself to a pampering day of massage and relaxation. I haven't been focusing on the #s. Just increasing my water and activity. I am truly proud..especially knowing where I came from. When I weighed 413 pounds I was so miserable. I couldn't walk very well, my body hurt more, and I was very depressed. Now, I can finally see that my long-term goals are attainable.

Good Morning Everyone!

Thanks for all of the well wishes and love given with my awesome loss this past week! I'm hoping for another good weigh in week this weekend as well. Friday technically marks 2 months since I started this journey, but my official weigh in days are Sunday so I will do my weigh in and monthly photos to show my progress. I need to upload those on my profile more often.

Ubee I'm hoping spring is soon to come. It has been nice the past couple of days here, but I know when it turns to hot, its going to be sweltering LOL...Great job on fighting the temptation when someone makes you upset. I have been trying really hard with that too, but I am really focusing more on keeping the negativity in my life to a minimum as much as possible. Easier said than done sometimes.

Betsy You have been so busy with your BIL and trying to work on your health. I am so proud of you! You are a real inspiration to me, and I'm glad to have you as part of my little family

gurlnextgen Thank you so much for the love! I'm really trying hard! I know I've been doing good and losing a lot of weight, but last night I had a little freak out that I probably still have 2 years to go to get to the weight I want to lose. This is a lifestyle change for me, but it still can be scary sometimes. The only advice I can give about helping you get out of a weightloss slump is change up your exercise, maybe use a food journal if you don't already so you can see what you eat and how it affects your weight. Portion control is always #1 too, but I'm sure you already knew that. I'm rooting for you! If you ever need anything I'm here!!

Time YAY for compliments!! That always is reassuring you're doing it right!! It doesn't take long for people to start noticing weightloss, so glad that someone noticed for you! It's a great feeling, and makes me want to push even harder!!

Larry I'm so sorry your wife is going through vertigo again. I can imagine that gets very scary. Good thing she has an awesome hubby to help her. I hope your tests come back ok and that the anemia isn't coming back. I often wonder if maybe that is what is wrong with me. I am starting to sleep better at night now that I got a good mattress topper so I am sleeping through the night, but having to get up early for work has always been a challenge for me. Maybe I'm just not a morning person lol...

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great day!!! Stay POP!! <3

I generally only lurk but don't do this to yourself. You're worth more than someone who just wants a relationship with you "for now" because they're not sure if they want to be with their ex. He might be able to talk really sweet, and you may have feelings for you, but if he had any real feelings for you he wouldn't put you through something like this.

Well, I appreciate you coming out from lurking to reply.

I also agree with you.. (now that I've had about 2 days to really think about it)

Part of the reason I moved overseas (4 years ago) was to focus on myself and follow my dreams... I've been single this entire time, and this situation reminded me that I am (mostly) selectively single. I am perfectly happy at least 90% of the time with my decision, I also know that if I really wanted to 'settle' I could.

But you are right, I am worth so much more than that, and if someone won't put me first in their heart than I'm not opening my heart up to them.

Now I just have to figure out how to explain this to him without him trying to twist my words and make me the 'bad guy' (I did decline his first advance on me when i was 16 years old)......


In other news.... tomorrow starts my first step in the Couch to the 5 K program!! Excited and nervous!!!

Wishing you all a great day (and will do personals tomorrow because I will have time!)

GoodAfternoon!
Time4me how does thinking you should only be with someone who thinks you are the most perfect person for them make you a bad guy?
Sam I can not wait to see your photos! I am always so much more motivated when I am around positive people and people who are really trying. (Like our group!) So true on keeping away the negativity!!!
Chinadoll! I am so happy for you and all the progress you have made!
As for me... today is much better then yesterday! Logging food, while I am not a fan of it long term, sure is helping me.

time - you are not bad or mean for wanting more than he is willing to give you. And if he makes you feel that way for doing what you need to do to protect yourself he isn't as good of a friend as he's pretending to be. Plain and simple... its hard I know though because I think you're like me and you want everyone to like you and don't want to disappoint people even when you know you are doing what is best for yourself.

Chinadoll That is fantastic news! I'm so happy for you!

I've decided that I'm going to weigh when I get home from work because I like that number better Seriously though I think I have some water retention happening at night, could just be from DOMS but I was six pounds lighter at 5pm yesterday than I was at 8 am this morning.

I've been working on some stuff for non profit board I sit on, and I'm frustrated. It is truly thankless and the people involved are not in it for the right reasons, and are all emotion and no logic. I'm thinking of resigning come September. 2 years is a reasonable amount of time to drive myself nuts I think!

Lunch wasn't good today - it was a dagwood, because I once again forgot my wallet when I went to the gym, and the grocery deli had NOTHING on the shelves. I suppose it was still a better choice than Mcdonald's though!

Have a great day everyone!

Good afternoon, all. I'm normally a morning poster, but my BIL (known to Ubee as Bill) walked over this morning so I could put on his TED hose. Between that and not waking up as early due to the clock change, it threw off my whole morning. Hope every one is having a good day.

Jane -- Unless you get one of their salads, just about anything is a better choice than Mickey Ds. Focus on the fact that you went to the gym. Totally understand your frustration with your volunteer work. My time on the Co-op Board is over at the end of September, and I am ssssssooooooo looking forward to being done with it. Same reason as you.

SilentArctic and others in response to Time4Me -- Ditto.

Ubee -- Yeah, all that tracking can be eye opening (easier to do with big eye balls!). I entered everything that I've been putting in my salads and found out that there's a 300+ calorie and 60 g of carbs difference when I add in the dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and grated cheese. So those will not be in there tomorrow. Good job on not turning to the chocolate -- easier said than done.

Sam -- You're really doing so well. Please do post those pictures.

Chinadoll -- You are definitely on a roll. Keep up the great work and keep reporting as you're inspirational.

Dean -- Before or after work was when I actually got all my work done. The rest of the day was back to back meetings so I know what you mean. Hope that coffee tasted good.

Terra -- You've got me thinking about buying some jazzy socks to liven things up at the gym.

Larry -- WOW. Sounds like you and your wife are going through a lot right now. Vertigo is absolutely miserable and anemia isn't exactly fun either. Hope that both of you can find some relief soon.

It's a gorgeous day here and is supposed to be tomorrow as well. I'm fixing a braised sauerkraut (sauerkraut with apples, onions, and caraway seeds in a little liquid) with pork chops on top for supper tonight. I love sauerkraut, but am not real thrilled with what it does to my tummy. Hope you all have a great remainder of the day.

betsy2013 ~ Thats cool

Chinadoll ~ Congrats

Evenin all,

I felt like posting twice today so that's what I'm gonna do lol...

I just got done with a short lived work out. I'm sweating like a hog but I'm sure I didn't burn much today. My stomach is kinda queasy for some reason and I started getting a headache so I had to stop at only 30 minutes in. I guess that's better than nothing, right?

How was everyone's day? Things at work are starting to get better paced so I'm hoping to have my morning check in every day here soon.

Maybe later on if I start feeling better I'll do some arm exercises. That HIIT workout is just too much for me today...

Big love to everyone! Hope your day was happy and healthy!!

Hey folks. I haven't posted in a few days because I've been so angry at something Bob did Sunday night I haven't been able to get my brain to function. But I think I can talk about it now.

Sundays are turning into our regular night for having our niece and her 7-yr-old son over, and somehow the conversation around the dinner table turned to the subject of sweets. =sigh= I didn't join in, of course, but there the three of them were, chatting away about chocolate and cake and banana bread and so on, going on about what sweets they like, which ones they don't like. If I were to repeat all the things they said about foods that are mostly sugar, I know it would drive you guys batty.

But I actually felt pretty well-defended and was handling it OK, until my husband brought up this stupid Internet game that's all about...you guessed it: cookies. My nemesis. And of course since Bob was stressed by the social contact, he got sticky-obsessional and compulsive about describing absolutely everything about this cookie game, which apparently entails all different kinds of them, grandmas who bake them, factories that make them, planets that are covered with them, and so on and so on. Except that he wasn't saying "them" the way I did just now, he was repeating the word "cookies" over and over and over again, to the point where my brain got completely fried. So I asked him politely if he would stop talking about the game and stop saying the word "cookies." He looked at me, registered what I'd said, and then proceeded to keep going, describing more and more levels of the game, repeating the word "cookies" so many times, finally I blurted out, "Bob!! If there were someone at the dinner table who had just quit smoking, you wouldn't start going cigarette-cigarette-cigarette-cigarette, would you?" Which made everyone stare at me of course, and I got really embarrassed, so on top of being freaked out, I felt like a total fool.

I only quit binging on cookies at the end of November. It hasn't been that long, not to break a habit that lasted for decades. Thanks to what Bob did, I spent the rest of Sunday night, until 4 in the morning, in a painful state of cookie craving. Arrrrgggh! And he didn't really apologize, either. He acted as though I was unreasonable to be so mad at him.

Ever since that happened, I've had a really hard time getting food into myself. They say that restricting is the flipside of binging, that if you have Binge Eating Disorder (BED), which I'm in recovery from, that you run a risk of going to the other extreme, and restricting your food intake in a way that's self-destructive. It's all part of the anorexia-bulimia-BED spectrum of eating disorders.

Every time I take like a couple bites of salad or turkey, my stomach clamps down hard and starts hurting, like I'm not supposed to eat. I know it may sound like a great way to lose weight, but believe me, it's really miserable-making. Already, before this cookie game thing, I've been having trouble getting enough calories into myself. I rarely eat as much as 1000 calories a day, and I can tell that it's slowing my weight loss down, because I've been colder than usual and really lethargic and my stomach hurts a lot. That's been going on ever since my friend Robine cut off communication with me on January 29th.

The last two days...I've hardly been able to eat anything at all. I kind of tricked myself into eating some cheese sticks in the car on the way to the post office and back. But salad and sliced turkey, with some kind of fish about once a week, are the mainstays of my diet, and I'm having a heck of a time getting my stomach to accept them. This has never happened to me before, so I don't know how to deal with it. I've always been a binge-after-binge-after-binge kind of person. I've never had problems with restricting. I guess I need to find a book about it or something, but my brain is very fuzzy from being in semi-starvation mode.

Sorry to go on so much about myself, but I needed to talk about it and bring it out into the open, so it would be less scary. I'll let y'all know how things go. Tomorrow is another day. Maybe tomorrow I can talk Bob into making an omelet for me: I'm sure I could eat an omelet.

Fi-Talking it out sometimes makes it easier to take control of. You CAN do it!

Time4-Sometimes we focus on the short-term so much, that we deny ourselves the best for us long-term... You deserve someone that sees only you... They ARE out there.

Everyone else-I'm rootin' for 'ya! (and too lazy to post much more, LOL)

I was having a bit of a struggle getting going this morning, but seeing all of the upbeat responses here really helps me keep on going.

Have a GREAT day,

Dean

Good Morning!
Fi we are here for you. This is what we are about. This is where you should come when you are struggling! I really wish I could give you an in person hug! Please keep us updated. I will be praying for you AND for Bob.
Dean fine with me if you don't do personnals. I just enjoy seeing you with your cup of coffee every morning! Just knowing you are rooting for us all is terrific!
Sam I can not thank you enough for reminding me to keep negativity out of my life. Some had snuck back in and you helped to make me aware. Thanks!
Terra you are kinda quiet. Did you get your shopping in yesterday? What about your walks? How is our buddie Clyde?
Betsy I love kraut. My mom taught my husband to make it that way except we cook it in the meat juice and add brown sugar. How is th co-op going? Any stories? You do know Silent is going to Cuba for us soon?
Silent the pressure is on for good Cuba stories!!! i'M SO EXCITED YOU'D THINK I WAS GOING! Sorry caps locked too lazy to fix.
Jane you are my hero. You are so dedicated. 6 pounds would make me crazy. Good for you for knowing your body and how crazy it is with water retention.
Yesterday was an epic fail. I woke up this morning all blue. I started thinking what I would post today. Just knowing I would post lifted my spirits and made me believe in myself! Thank you all for being here. Back in the day this would have been the day I threw in the towel. But because of all of you it is just another day to learn on my journey!

Good morning all. Greetings from someone who is relishing having a totally self-absorbed, uninterrupted morning.....makes me realize just how spoiled I am!

Ubee -- I totally understand about changing our behavior to keep on truckin' even if we do have days where we just fail at staying on plan. I realized this morning that I can't even remember when the last time was that I stayed on plan all day. Up for a challenge. Let's see how many days in a row we can string of staying on plan and then we'll go to Cuba with SilentArctic!

Dean -- great day to you as well.

Fi -- Bob probably has no concept of how just hearing about cookies is for you. I've had some real eye openers about various things in my life when I finally experienced them, too. Made me realize how insensitive I had been even if I didn't mean to be. I'm more worried about your eating. Sounds like it's time to mix things up. I know you're doing Atkins. They have a couple of cookbooks that might have some new recipes and there are several really good low carb cookbooks with loads of recipes. Hope that the omelet tastes good and gets you back in a healthier eating approach.

Sam -- 30 minutes sounds like a pretty hard workout to me. And, yes, any workout is a lot better than no workout at all. Good for you.

OK, Ubee (and anyone else that wants to join in) let's start stringing those days together. How about a daily reporting of days on plan? We can do this. We want to do this. We benefit from doing this. Time for one more cup of coffee, then to the gym and for the big event of the day.....my semi-annual cleaning at the dentist. Have a great day everyone!