Hey everyone

Hope you are all having a good day.

We are winding down the semester and will have a 3 day weekend! Then exams.

Not feeling overly stressed, which is good.

Still feeling positive about cooking and whatnot, ready to start some exercising this weekend (kneecap slipped out of place last night and was just giving it sometime to rest)

I weighed myself this morning and was down a few pounds already (started on this path a few days before I came back here) But I think I'll wait to update my ticker, trying to figure out how often I will weigh in and what not.

Anyways, hope all goes well with you all :)

Good morning,

MountainWalker: Didn't know that you had a rough journey. Here's to hoping that you keep progressing and getting better day by day.

Betsy: I think that it's the caffeine (or maybe that I have coffee with my sugar) that causes the cravings. Either way, I've noticed that when I don't have a cup of coffee in the morning, I tend to do better with choices during the day.

The CPAP mask problem is a little worse for me than most. Without going into too much detail, it reminds me of traumatic things that happened in my childhood. I don't like having things cover my face. Not even a blanket.

Blondy: I, too, am in awe of your childcare. My daycare provider wouldn't let me take sick kids there. I didn't want to anyway, given that I didn't want their illness to spread. Some people can't afford to be courteous.

Terra: Used to be addicted to the diet stuff. I stopped because of the sodium. Hopefully your body handles it okay.

Not much going on here, other than chores. I'm a SAHM. Found that it's cheaper for me to stay home and the spouse to work.

Hey Gals just a quick check in, still trying to keep going I had a "cheat" day on saturday. I just love food too much not to have stuff sometimes, mini tuna sandwhiches, and creamcheese and cucumber and mini quiche. Trying to just keep track of what I eat even on those days. I really miss carbs.. And honestly am not sure i can give them up completely on a forever basis its suppose to get easier but even after 10days of eating low carb, the idea of carbs was still pretty alluring...

Hi everyone!
I know I said I would be back today BUT now my MIL is deciding if she wants to die. Gonna be doing family stuff so will be back when I can. I am doing well and my MIL is more then ready to go so hopefully all will go well.

Thanks, y'all, for all the positive thoughts. I have a lap full of kitties as I write these words, but I'm not doing very well. Ever since Sunday I've been struggling with depression pain. I have a collage all mapped out in my head, but I haven't been able to make it. I don't know what else to say, except "Greetings to the new people!"

Good morning!

No exercise video again yesterday but I sure did run up and down stairs quite a bit.. I couldn't get my head screwed on straight yesterday and kept forgetting things either downstairs or in the house (the main level is higher than the ground, almost like half the foundation is above ground or something of that sort) and had to run back to get them. I totally told myself that all that running up and down the stairs could count as my "exercise" for the day.. ;) And after the kiddos left, instead of working out, I had supper (ham and cheese sandwich and a ramen soup) and watched just a little tv then cleaned my kitchen! It was such a mess. It's amazing how one measly meal for my husband and me can create such disaster in there. I've been putting off cleaning it since the weekend but got so embarrassed by it when one of the mothers whose kid I babysit walked into the kitchen to put away some of the kids' drinks in the fridge.. Oh man.. I'm such a picky person when it comes to my house being clean.. even if I've just deep cleaned and everything is in order, I'm always looking for something wrong when we have anyone in the house other than ourselves. ;) A piece of cat fuzz that I missed, a toy I didn't see, the bathroom rugs are wet.. whatever.. :D I'm such a dork. Anyway, wow.. I could go on and on. But I'll spare you all! Besides, I need to feed the little guy his applesauce and get him down for morning naptime. I've been babysitting him since he was 2 months.. he's already 7.5 months old! And the little girl.. she turned 2 in October last year and I've had her since she was 6 weeks old! They do become part of the family.. just not quite like kids because they go home at night. More like nieces and nephews. :)
I promise to sign back in this afternoon and write a few personals.. just wanted to log in and say hi!

Good morning all. It's another beautifully clear day here, but it starts raining again tomorow -- just in time for the weekend!

Time4Me -- Sounds like you've made the transition back into healthy eating. The knee slipping out just made me cringe -- sounds so painful! A 3 day weekend is a wonderful treat.

Tootsie -- I'm so sorry if I was pushing too much on the CPAP. I know that there are probably more people who don't end up using them than do based on the way the insurance companies pay for them. I chuckled at your description of having some coffee with your sugar. I imagine that it's more the sugar in your coffee that causes the cravings than the caffeine. But living in the coffee drinking capital of the world (Seattle area), I have learned that you never mess with someone's coffee preferences!:dizzy:

SilentArctic -- Ah, yes, the carb cravings. I haven't found anything that makes them go away --not giving up sugar, not giving up refined/processed foods, nothing. I'm working on portion control. I had a friend who said that when she brought home a bag of chips, she immediately divided them up into 100 calorie lunch bags. She did mention that she was about to go broke with buying sandwhich bags! ;) Our problem is that carb laden foods just taste better. Who wouldn't rather have a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate icing (topped with ice cream, of course) than cauliflower rice?! But, we can learn moderation so that we can have food that tastes good and still stay within limits.

Ubee -- So sorry to hear about your MIL although I have to admit that I sat here and laughed when you started off with your MIL is trying to decide if she wants to die. I know exactly where you're coming from......and it's not a particularly good place. Hope you get through the next few days and even a week or two OK.

Fi -- So sorry about the depression pain. I was worried that you were having a bad episode again when you didn't post for several days. Hope it gets better soon.

Bill comes home today......FINALLY! For the newer chicks, Bill is my brother-in-law whose name is actually Jack. He lives across the street from me and since my sister's passing, we've supported each other. In several posts, I referred to my BIL doing this or that. Ubee thought it was someone named Bill until she realized I was shortening brother-in-law. So, we now refer to him as Bill. Anyway, he's a wonderful guy except for his very bad habit of just announcing that he's going on this trip or that, hands me his flight schedule so I'll drop him off and pick him up at the airport (up in Seattle), and brings over the dog for the time he's gone. This is definitely a Mars/Venus thing because I don't mind doing it, I just want to be asked if it is a convenient time for him to leave. The male mind works in mysterious ways. Actually, I may be giving the entire gender too much credit, because I'm not sure their minds work in some areas!

Doctor's appointment today and then I'm done for awhile. Still struggling with cheating and portion control, but am finding that I like the 5:2 approach. Ubee, I am determined to get the 10 off. I have 6 more pounds to lose by Valentine's Day. Have a great day everyone.

Good morning everyone

Betsy: No harm about the CPAP. There is no way that you would know the issues that I have with it unless I told you. :) I know that it would be good for me. Just tough adjusting to it. You're probably right about the sugar. Maybe it's the combo of caffeine and sugar. I'm slowly cutting down the amount if sugar that I put in to see if it helps.

Fiona: I go through bouts of depression. It's odd. Even though I go through them, I still don't know what to say to someone in the same boat other than a weak, "I hope that you feel better soon."

SilentArc: The carbs... The bane of most people. I know what you mean.

Bllondy: The stairs sound like exercise to me. :)

Time4Me: Congrats for getting back to healthy eating.

Ubee: Pretty much had the same thoughts as Betsy. I know that it's serious, but the way it was worded made me almost chuckle at first.

Things could be better here. Haven't been doing so well with the eating the last couple of days. I keep falling into the same trap. Diet = restrict the calories so much that you can barely get by, then I binge, then the cycle starts again. So... What did I do today... Decided I will just change a couple of things. No restricting calories, just what I put in. I ate oatmeal this morning, sweetened only with apple chunks, with cinnamon, and a little bit of chopped walnuts like 2Tbsp. I must say that I feel satisfied. May not be perfect, but I didn't have five tons of sugar, and I ate a fruit, which is unusual for me. So a step in the right direction in my book.

Tootsie ~ I'm sorry to hear that regular coffee makes you crave things. I hope the decaf works so you dont have to go without it completely.

Bllondy ~ My exercising has been going good. Although I havent exercised since Sunday cause Monday I woke up with a sore throat and now I have a sore throat,cough and sneeze. Your doing good so far. You've lost 4 pounds thats better then not losing any or gaining. Its a good idea not to give up. You'll get there, We all will.

Betsy ~ Yeah I've tired coffee before and I just dont like it so I'll stick with my cherry coke zero to get my caffeine fix. Thats good that your able to drink coffee though.

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Woke up at 6:00 a.m. to call and cancel my rides for today and tomorrow cause I have a cold so when your sick ILRC wants you to stay home. I've been sick since Monday but I had hoped I would of been better by today and I'm not but I hope I'm better by next week. I'm not doing anything today but take it easy and try to get better as fast as I can. I hope everyone has a great day today.

Hey Everyone,

I'm here, just been keeping myself busy again and not posting like I should. I won't do personals today but I'm caught up with everything and it looks like we have some new people...Welcome everyone! Welcome back to those who have been here and have returned! It sounds like a lot of us are having some trouble keeping up with what we should be doing to succeed even though we know what we need to do. I can feel you on that one. I've been putting this off, but I think it's time to come clean about some things with myself...

Since December I had a bum rush of a roach infestation that came from my neighbors beside me. It put my kitchen out of comission because I was trying everything I could to get rid of them without hurting my kitties or making their environment unsafe. That means that I haven't been eating as well as I should. I have finally gotten rid of the bug propblem after spending $20 for this gel that is safe around animals and actually worked. Now this weekend my garbage disposal crapped out on me as well as the microwave. I got paid today so I'll be getting a new diposal and DH will be putting it in so we can get all of our dishes cleaned again and be back to eating right. I've done my best to stay on plan but it hasn't been my exact plan. I did right by staying away from frozen dinners and things like that, eating fresh foods and veggies, but I want to be back 100%. It's killed me eating this way. Luckily I have not gained any weight because I have been consistently working out my 4-5 days a week, but I've just kinda been hanging around the same 2 pounds since December. This week however, I managed to lose .8 pounds so I'm at 245.6. So I guess that is my official yearly weight, down a total of 94.4 pounds. I am not going to complain because there is a lot to be proud of. I just felt that I wasn't doing my part in telling you guys the truth of what's been going on at my house. Will say that eating at work has been 100%, just not the home part. I feel a lot better that I told you guys about this, and hope I'm not judged too harshly. I hope to have my kitchen ready to do some prepping this weekend.

My boss is on her cruise this week and I had Monday off for MLK day so things have been smooth sailing so far. I've gotten a lot of work done since she's been gone so that's good. Other than that I've just been trying to do what I can. Been spring cleaning the house...Got my bedroom cleaned up really good and went through my clothes. I have a whole lawn and leaf bag full of clothes to take to Goodwill. Maybe I'll take it down today while I go look for a new microwave after work.

I hope everyone else is doing good on their plans. I said I wasn't going to do personals but I wanted to send one out to Tootsieroll. Hun I understand where you are coming from. I've battled my weight my whole life. I suffer from bi-polar disorder and I too have PCOS. My reason for losing this weight is not only to be healthy, but I want to try for a baby one day which will be hard because my DH also has hormonal issues. I have been eating a clean eating plan and built up my work outs from 15 minutes 3 times a week, to going almost 2 hours sometimes 4-5 days a week. You can do this!! Don't worry about being a downer, we've all been where you are. If I can ever personally help you with anything please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I have a ton of information on losing weight with PCOS so if you are interested let me know.

Hope everyone else enjoys the rest of their day!! I'm off to finish eating my salad and head back to work :)

Just a quick check in again, still eating fairly okay, could kick the workouts up but I keep feeling tired so I dont know that I will. Weight still not really coming off in any significant way and I am struggling to be okay with that...

SamIAm: If it's not too much trouble, any info that you have would be appreciated. The pounds just kind of want to hang around.

I just wanted to stick my head in for a minute and bid my farewells to the 300+ Club. I wasn't in it for but a couple of weeks but now that I'm back into the 200s I just wanted to wish everyone here a fantastic journey to the new life you have envisioned for yourself. Don't ever give up! Remember why you started in the first place!!

Congrats, FrawnieMae!

Good morning everyone. First the good news -- went to the cardiologist yesterday after having had an echo a couple of weeks ago. Still have the a fib -- doesn't look like I'll ever get back to a normal rhythm there (just leave it alone, Ubee). But my ejection fraction is back to the low normal stage. This is a big improvement from my echo taken in the hospital in 2013 when I was diagnosed with the a fib. The doctor said that he attributes the improvement to faithfully taking my medications, exercising and getting off the weight so far. So, guess all of those researchers are correct and losing weight and getting exercise is actually good for you. Anyway, I'm thrilled with the result, and now I truly have some motivation to get more of this weight off.

Tootsie -- Your breakfast sounds like it's a very good and healthy meal. How many calories per day have you been shooting for? If you're hungry during the day, you're probably not eating enough. Veggies and fruits are relatively low in calories depending on where they are on the glycemic index, but even higher calorie ones usually have lots of good fiber. Fiber helps with filling us up and keeping the hunger bugs away. I saw where you asked Sam for info on losing with PCOS. Great approach as Sam is sort of our poster child for successful weight loss this year. Actually she isn't sort of our poster child -- she's our shining star!

Terra -- Hope you're feeling better. Sounds like you're coming down with the flu -- hope not as it sounds like it's really bad this year. Feel better!

Sam -- Judge you harshly????? Are you having an out of body experience? Did the mother ship come take you away? (Said in the spirit of a Monty Python movie!). Why would we judge you harshly. If I'm understanding this correctly, you've had appliance breakdowns, the bugs from he** invaded, and you still managed to lose weight this week even though you weren't "eating right." Please, tell me what wrong eating you were doing so I can lose some weight this week! ;) Honey, everyone here -- I think I can speak for everyone in saying this -- is so proud of what you've accomplished this year. I think we're all sharing vicariously the joy of having had such a successful year of losing and getting healthy. We are happy for you and hopeful for us.

SilentArctic -- Great news on getting back into the healthy eating patterns. The exercise will come, and it is so hard to accept the slow but steady weight loss approach. It's easier on our bodies, healthier, but oh so hard to accept. Just happy to have you back with us.

Frawniemae -- Congrats on getting below 300. There are several chicks in this thread who are in the 200s, so please don't feel that you have to leave us.

Guess I'd better get it in gear for the day. I am going to work some more on the garage......that's becoming my theme song. Bill got home last night, so I took Becky back over. It's so nice and quiet in here this morning. Toby is less than thrilled with the doggie door -- but I will get him trained to use it! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!