Thanks for the feedback on the sugar patch. Now if I could just do the research, develop such a patch, find investors, market it, etc., etc. I'd eventually be rich and healthy!

I've been trying to take the approach of saying that nothing is off limits and that I need to learn to eat foods that are known trouble makers (bet you didn't know that foods were animate objects with personalities, did you) in moderation. Well, that approach may be fine for later on when I'm closer to or in maintenance.......in about 3 to five years.......but for right now, I think I'm going to have to just abstain from sugars and really keep the carb levels down. Plus we're going into locally grown fruit season here, so hopefully I'll be able to get my sweet fix from the fruit.

Got to do the books and vacuum and work at weeding and go to the airport. Have a great day everyone!

I am really pleased at how I am doing at the challenge - the last time I tried to up my exercise level, my body was just not up for it - still to heavy I guess. And I was afraid of that kind of pain again, but looks like it was time, because I was able to add more exercise in and haven't had anywhere near that kind of pain again. In fact I am thinking I might be ready for the gym! We shall see...

Here in the states, it's Memorial Day weekend - a big three day weekend, often spent with family, honoring veterans, many people BBQing. So I think a lot of people are out doing stuff - hope everybody has a nice weekend, no matter how you spend it.

BETSY - Admittedly that "nothing off limits" is what I originally started with and pretty quickly realised that nope that isn't going to work .. mainly because I still hadn't learnt the quantity limits to those off limits items lol ... so I gave up bread and pasta completely ... I have only just started to add bread .. but I think I will be stopping that again cos Im enjoying it too much and wanting it more again now .. have the same issue with chocolate starting again ... mainly for the late night sneaking a piece or 10 :( its almost like a sabotage .. and if you can create a sugar patch you might need to put me down for it lol ..

LOST - that is great on the exercise front .. its been a while for me and its a nightly mantra that "tomorrow" something will be done .. eventually that tomorrow will get here for me .. hopefully sooner rather than later :)

Happy Memorial Weekend to those that celebrated it .. I hope it was a good one for you (still learning all those holidays .. there seems to be so many lol) .. we have Queens Birthday weekend coming up (I think its this weekend .. maybe next .. working all these days I have no clue lol) ... its not a huge event over here for most of us .. other than a 3 day weekend (for those that don't work on weekends lol) .. but its the last long weekend until October I think (when we have Labour Weekend).
I got hunny to take my May update photos yesterday morning when I was about to head for work .. it is what I wear but I have an overdress to go overtop so not quite my work gear lol. The side shot I was pushing my tummy out joking with him and the sod went and took the pic and wouldn't take another one with me standing up straight lol .. bloody man ... but hopefully you can still see a change. So this is the 9 month point :)
http://www.kattsgifts.co.nz/gallery/..._Back_copy.jpg
http://www.kattsgifts.co.nz/gallery/...pdate_Side.jpg
http://www.kattsgifts.co.nz/gallery/...date_Front.jpg

I had an incredible day yesterday at work .. I had 2 customers at the counter and was processing their purchases and obviously weight talk came into it and I mentioned how much I had lost .. the elder woman said she had lost 70kg (154 pounds) ... and the other younger woman said she had lost 40kg (88 pounds)!! It was so kewl .. I did ask the older woman about the saggy skin issue and she said she had surgery to get it gone .. and the procedure was uber expensive but she felt it was worth every penny ... Im going to have that at the back of my mind, but have talked with my hunny and we have agreed that once the treadmill contract is complete I will get a personal trainer to help me try to tone up as much as I can .. on the plus side some of my skin has started tightening now that Im not loosing so much each week and maintaining more often ... but its a plan anyway :)
Was supposed to have tomorrow off .. but Im working again .. only half the day though because I said to my boss that I have that gym appointment in the afternoon which I really don't want to miss so it will be a shorter day for me :)
Better start getting ready for work .. look forward to catching up with you later :)

Your photos look great, that's a huge change! thanks for posting!

Nightkatt: Not 100% sure how long he will be gone. We're still waiting for a decision from immigration and it could take anywhere from another 3-9 months to hear anything. Fingers crossed that it will only be 3! You look absolutely fantastic, by the way! You can really see a difference in those pics! Oh, and because I remember you asked a while ago... Claim Jumper is a sit-down chain restaurant that's similar-ish to Lone Star in NZ, I'd say. But stuff there has loads of calories.

Betsy: I do better when I buy individually wrapped portions of some things, like nuts, but having a big bag of them in the house? No way (at least for me)! I do allow myself to eat pizza and stuff that I know I will still want to eat while I am in maintenance, as long as it's within my alloted calories/points for the day. I have just said no to stuff like brownies and ice cream more often than not so far in my journey - it's just easier! The trick is finding what works for you for now because you can always go back and fine-tune your plan later.

lostbutstilltrying: Great job on the exercise! Gym ready?! That's awesome! Let us know how it goes.

EasilyAmused: It has been hot here as well, but thankfully no humidity. Do you have access to a pool? Excellent job sticking to your exercise - I know how easy it can be to veg in the air-con when the weather is like that.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend (where it applies :). We are going out to breakfast and grilling steaks later. I have already planned out most of my food choices however, so should be easy enough.

Hi everyone .. just a quick stop in .. its almost 2am and I really need to get to bed lol ..
Had one of those Mondays today .. other than the mini chocolate bars which I just couldn't say no to (argggh) .. it was accident central .. and that whole it happens in threes is so true lol ..
First I get to work no problem and then about mid morning we had a delivery of 40 boxes of stock .. now this is a small store (its the clearance one on Mondays) which very little storage space .. and the guy went and stacked them in front of one of the 2 changing rooms (grrr) .. and they weren't stacked low either .. so I thought for the safety of the customers I had better move them as well as be able to make access to the changing room .. soooo I start moving the front boxes and the second row wasn't quite as straight as I had thought and they started falling towards me so I put up my arm to protect myself and dropped the box I was holding .. only the box that was falling was heavier than some of the other ones and it ended up whacking next to my elbow so I am having a hard time using my right arm to pick up anything heavier than a spoon! Okee .. I thought .. well .. the stack is lower so shoved them to the side as much as I could and slid a few up the front to unpack and hang the clothes (by the way Im on my own in the store on Mondays all day lol) .. everything was going ok .. then I had a lovely mother and daughter come in and the mother needed to sit down .. no prob I said .. I have a stool here .. well I couldn't lift it with my right hand so I went to pick it up with my left only I didn't realise the weight of the dang thing so it somehow lost grip and lord knows which bit but it ripped my left thumb nail off below the nail so blood was going everywhere .. I was rather proud of the fact I didn't swear cos damn it hurt lol .. then I discovered we still don't have a first aid kit at that store .. soooo I had to get some paper from the eftpos machine and some sellotape to cover it up so I wouldn't bleed on anything while I was serving the customers .. the poor woman I was getting the stool for was so upset over the injury she felt she caused .. I said no worries .. Im a klutz and if its possible to happen chances are it will be to me .. saves injuries to others :)
After letting the boss know what had happened she told me to just sit behind the counter and take it easy for the rest of the day (had a couple of hours to go) .. so I thought .. ok .. will just straighten up a few things and keep hanging the clothes that I have picked up .. whew . .. made it to the end of the day without another incident .. UNTIL ... I finished cashing up the till and was bringing in the racks that were just out the door (this store is in an outlet mall) .. went back out to drag the table in .. AND IT COLLAPSES!!!! Im like ARE YOU KIDDING!!!???? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry .. laughter won .. just ... but as my right arm and left thumb were throbbing and I still had a 40 min drive home I thought screw it Im out of here lol .. so let the boss know and she said no prob .. definitely having today off!

So now I can't lift my right hand to my face without it hurting my arm ... but fortunately although I am right handed when writing I am left handed with everything else .. other than the fact my thumb makes it hard for me to do things left handed .. Im hoping that when I wake up it will all be a dream .. so heading off to bed now and will catch up tomorrow .. its baking day!!

today is my weigh in: lost 5lbs this week

START WEIGHT: 323 (at beginning of may)
GOAL WEIGHT: 299

Week 03 - MAY 19 - MAY 25: 315
Week 04 - MAY 26 - JUN 01: 310
Week 05 - JUN 02 - JUN 08:

Oh no Nightkatt! :( Not good at all. I hope your arm feels better in the morning. Get some rest girl!

Way to go on 5 lbs. down, lost!! :D

Nightkatt, you might consider going to the Drs. That is an on the job injury and still having problems using it hours later sounds problematic. Hope your day gets better.

START WEIGHT: 294
GOAL WEIGHT: 270
TOTAL TO LOSE: 24
ACHIEVED:

Week 01 - MAY 05 - MAY 11:297
Week 02 - MAY 12 - MAY 18:299
Week 03 - MAY 19 - MAY 25:293
Week 04 - MAY 26 - JUN 01:291
Week 05 - JUN 02 - JUN 08:
Week 06 - JUN 09 - JUN 15:
Week 07 - JUN 16 - JUN 22:
Week 08 - JUN 23 - JUN 29:
Week 09 - JUN 30 - JUL 06:
Week 10 - JUL 07 - JUL 13:
Week 11 - JUL 14 - JUL 20:
Week 12 - JUL 21 - JUL 27:
Week 13 - JUL 28 - AUG 03:
Week 14 - AUG 04 - AUG 10:
Week 15 - AUG 11 - AUG 17:
Week 16 - AUG 18 - AUG 24:
FINAL WEIGH IN - AUG 31:

Good morning all. It feels like I'm playing catch up this morning because I went in to the co-op early to try to do some computer work.

Nightkatt -- First, your pictures look wonderful. Can we tell a difference? If someone can't, then they need to get their eyes checked. All of that change in 9 months? Am I reading that correctly. That's amazing -- how wonderful to see such a change and know that you're responsible for it. Now, as for your day at work. EEK! What a disaster. You are one dedicated employee to keep on trying to work after everything that happened.

Lostbutstilltrying -- 5 pounds! Good for you. Sounds like it was a really on plan week for you.

Stephanie -- I might try getting somethings in individually wrapped bags. I know I need to get to the point where I can exercise portion control or else I'm going to gain it all back during maintenance. Enjoy your bar-b-que.

SilentArctic -- I saw your post. Good for you -- 2 pounds this week. Hope you're beginning to feel that your mojo is coming back.

I seem to be in some kind of stall after that tidal whoosh. Hopefully it won't last much longer because I do much better when I see some progress! Just doing odds and ends around the house today. It's raining off and on so may end up reading a book.

Week 01 - MAY 05 - MAY 11: 225.6 (-1.2) TOM
Week 02 - MAY 12 - MAY 18: 220.6 (-5)
Week 03 - MAY 19 - MAY 25: 217 (-3.6)
Week 04 - MAY 26 - JUN 01: 216.4 (-.6) TOM
Week 05 - JUN 02 - JUN 08:
Week 06 - JUN 09 - JUN 15:
Week 07 - JUN 16 - JUN 22:
Week 08 - JUN 23 - JUN 29:
Week 09 - JUN 30 - JUL 06:
Week 10 - JUL 07 - JUL 13:
Week 11 - JUL 14 - JUL 20:
Week 12 - JUL 21 - JUL 27:
Week 13 - JUL 28 - AUG 03:
Week 14 - AUG 04 - AUG 10:
Week 15 - AUG 11 - AUG 17:
Week 16 - AUG 18 - AUG 24:
FINAL WEIGH IN - AUG 31:

Katt, you look incredible! Keep it up girl!

Obligatory dress pic (you can't get me out of them. lolol)

Can't believe I'm so close to seeing a 1 in front of my weight!
http://i60.tinypic.com/2u53u4o.jpg

NightKatt..... 1st.. you look - well SHAZAM! You truly look wonderful and even look thinner than the last set of pictures :) You are a cutey Patootie! :) and I am so sorry about all the bad things that happened to you.. (Things come in 3's) and I hope that you get today (your Tuesday) off... Yikes.. well maybe the accident fairy went on her way to visit someone else and you have the Awesome Fearless and woosh fairy visiting you now! I hope! :)

Ubee.. I hope you don't stay away tooooooo long! I miss your optomism! and your - well kindness and niceness!

I love reading all of your posts everyone. I will try 1 day to catch up with you all.. I am just so proud to be one of you here in this thread!

Me... Weighing in and I still have some weight to lose to get back to my low.. but will do it... Thinking of doing a fat fast....

SW 4/28 225.8
Lbs to lose: 29 lbs
GW - 196.8 oh wow

Week 01 - MAY 05 - MAY 11: 222.2 (-3.6 ) Total loss= 3.6 good start!
Week 02 - MAY 12 - MAY 18: DNW (Bad Sue!)
Week 03 - MAY 19 - MAY 25: 229.0 (+6.8) total loss = +3.2 boo..GONE next week!
Week 04 - MAY 26 - JUN 01: 224.2 (-4.8) total loss = 1.6 so far .. sigh
Week 05 - JUN 02 - JUN 08:
Week 06 - JUN 09 - JUN 15:
Week 07 - JUN 16 - JUN 22:
Week 08 - JUN 23 - JUN 29:
Week 09 - JUN 30 - JUL 06:
Week 10 - JUL 07 - JUL 13:
Week 11 - JUL 14 - JUL 20:
Week 12 - JUL 21 - JUL 27:
Week 13 - JUL 28 - AUG 03:
Week 14 - AUG 04 - AUG 10:
Week 15 - AUG 11 - AUG 17:
Week 16 - AUG 18 - AUG 24:
FINAL WEIGH IN - AUG 31:

When can I jump on this train? I need weekly accountability..!

FeraFilia... feel free to jump right in! :D

watchout... you look AMAZING!

wannaskip... keep up the great work!! Awesome loss this week.