Good morning!
Terra good to see you. How much snow are you expecting?
Betsy thank you for contributing more $ to my winnings. I am with you on feeling like one of those pregnant sheep. If I were to drop 15 pounds I would feel so much better.
Fi grab bars are wonderful. You will love them when you get them. They are good for everyone no matter what their physical condition. Your story of going to Alaska sounds like an adventure. Back when hubby and I did travel we always went solo. We like the beat of our own drum the best. I am so glad you have your kitties. They sure can be calming.
Donna so true about losing a lot of weight and no one noticing. I get nervous when people start noticing. I don't like the pressure of others expectations. I like the idea of writing yourself a letter. As for patience I would love more myself right now. The youngest is home from college. She is at that age where she is ready to be on her own, but it is not a financial reality.
Sam are you out there?

I have to get back in the habit posting here every morning. Thinking of all of you helps keep me focused and more accountable then I otherwise would be.
I am not doing so well food/exercise wise. It is a vicious cycle. My weight makes me depressed and I have the unhealthy habit of eating when I feel any emotion. Time to just do it.

Blue sky!
 

Hello lovely ladies!
Well it is a good news day! I have had my central line out today which means I can take my boy swimming next week, I have managed a proper dog walk 5 days in a row despite terrible weather and stuck firmly to my healthy eating plan. I know from the past that once I make it to the end of the first week I am in "the zone" as it were. I put on alot of weight before Christmas when I was ill and it is all sat on my lower abdomen which is my "roundest" bit anyway. this puts alot of strain on my lower back...kind of like being pregnant!.......so it is this that is limiting my walking tolerance. I know that once I start swimming this will improve really quickly but I feel like I am waddling at the moment. But hey...at least I am moving right??

Fi...animals are amazingly intuitive (at least some of them). When I was with my abusive ex-hubby one of my dogs, Molly who is a spaniel crossed with a golden retriever, used to place herself in between me and him when he shouted at me, which was often. He treated he less well that the other dogs and not long before he moved out kicked her, but her thought was always me and she wouldn't leave the room. Since he left, she has put on weight and looks alot less anxious all the time. I am glad your session with Mike was more positive...he sounds like and amazing man!

Betsy.......the way I feel at the moment I would probably need to sleep in an awning attached to your RV ...with Toby for protection from bears. Not sure I could squeeze my butt into your RV! Sam and I went camping in July last year. I wanted us to spend some time together because I knew that I would be spending so much time with my daughter when she had her brain surgery. Well it was a disaster! The weather was AWFUL! Cold and wet. The dogs were so badly behaved we had to bring them home half way through the week for my neighbour to look after. My chest was terrible because of the damp and I slipped and hurt my arthritic knee on the second day so getting on and off my air mattress was agony. I love camping usually but we came home a day early and it has put poor Sam off for life I think!
Well, I have some domestic chores to do...sigh.....have a lovely day everybody,
Donna

We're back to sun here, so that means that it's cold outside. The heavy frost on the roofs might have been a hint!

Fi -- Sounds like a great session with Mike -- both spiritually and with good tips on increasing your mobility. I loved his statement about as affirmations go. Got me realizing that I need to be telling myself I can lose this weight instead of "knowing" that I won't. Thanks for pushing me in the right direction. And give Oscar and Nenu a good head rub from me -- our pets bring so much into our lives.

Terra -- I remember those snowstorms in Kansas from when we lived there. I took them very seriously as the really bad ones were basically white outs. Sounds like a good day to stay inside.

Ubee -- We are twins. We must have been separated at birth. So far this year, I've somehow managed to gain 5 more pounds after getting off to a good start. Time for us to get our acts together.

Donna -- So glad you have gotten the central line out. My sister had one, and it is a relief to just be done with it. Enjoy your swimming next week. I did chuckle over your camping description.......which is why I cheat and "camp" in an RV! Keep sending us reports on your eating and exercising as we need inspiration.

I took Bill to see Star Wars yesterday. We intentionally waited until this week so that all the kids were back in school, and then went to a matinee. Evidently, the other 5 couples had the same idea because it was obvious that we were all retirees -- the only color of hair in there was gray. The cinema had been remodeled a few years ago to have only recliner seating. It was very nice -- big seats so I didn't feel like I was sitting half way into the next seat, reclining backs, raised footrests and all electric. The movie was good, too! :D Then we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant so today I resemble a stuffed sausage from all of the MSG in the food.

Time for the gym, buy a lottery ticket (I'm living in great delusion here), get the pot roasts for the family dinner next weekend, and then the excitement of doing the laundry. Have a great day.

Ubee ~ a trace to 2 inches

Betsy ~ I didnt know you lived in Kansas before, You might of told me before but I forgot, Sorry

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Woke up at 3:30 a.m. this morning. Its now 5:35 a.m. I have a hard time falling back to sleep once I have to get up and use the bathroom which really sucks but its okay. I'm gonna work out today to the only dvd I have, Its not my favorite but at least I can still get my work outs in. I wonder if we will get snow or not cause the last time we were suppose to get snow it didnt happen so we'll see. I hope everyone has an awesome Saturday.

Good morning!
Terra your snow is at my house. Please come get it. Did you get a lot of veggies when you went to the store?
Betsy we go to the matinees also. Most of the time we are the only two in the theater. Our theater also just installed the recliners. We have yet to use them but are hoping to if we ever get to see Star Wars. On a serious note we do need to get our backsides moving and shrinking.
Donna I too carry much of my weight in my lower abdomen with my back fat coming in second. It has been so discouraging with the last 25 I put back on. I hope to use it as my motivation to start and stay on plan. Your letter reminded me that I have little note cards that have encouragement on them that I am supposed to read everyday. I will get them out and start back up again.
Everyone else lurking, stop on by. The more the merrier!

Lately my husband have had the opportunity to have a date night once a week. I am finding myself starting to care about my appearance more. We go to a nice place and the other ladies dress nicely...

Have a peaceful day.

Beautiful sunrise this morning. Reminds me that I need to look up more.....if for no other reason than it reduces the number of chins!

Terra -- We lived in Lawrence for a year while my husband was in grad school. We loved it there. Waking up and then not being able to get back to sleep is the pits.

Ubee -- Love the idea of a date night, and I do think getting dressed up helps us to be more motivated.

Just made up my meal list for today and hope that I can stick with it for a day. I definitely need to get back in the groove of eating right. I'm going to clean the downstairs today and get the stairs leading down cleaned and shampooed. Toby and Becky have really gotten those steps looking yucky.

Hope everyone has a great day.

P H A T ~ Welcome to 3FC and to the 300+ Chat Thread for Jan.

Fiona ~ I havent been doing much just the same as always, School 3 times a week and If I have doctor's appt's on Tuesday's and Friday's then I go to those and thats it.

Ubee ~ LOL, I love the snow, Its the ice and freezing temps I dont like about winter. Yes I bought 2 green bell peppers and 1 zucchini

Betsy ~ Oh okay so why did you move from Kansas? Just curious, I love Kansas but that may only be because I've never lived anywhere else, I mean I was born in Texas but we only lived there for 6 months after I was born so I dont remember it.

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Woke at 3:30 a.m. Went back to sleep at 6:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Its now 3:39 p.m. and I'm awake for the rest of the day, I'm gonna stay up late tonight so maybe I can sleep in tomorrow and hopefully I wont wake up at 3:30 a.m. like I did this morning. I still need to work out today but I did get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned. I also need to fold and put away my clean clothes and then go downstairs and washed my dirty clothes. Anyway I hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday.

I've had a harrowing couple of days, in terms of the pain in my legs.

Friday's get-together with Grace was pressed for time, unfortunately. We've had wrangles before about her not letting other people encroach on our Friday nights, so I just have to accept that she's doin' the best she can.

We had fun making collages together in my studio all the same. I am thrilled to be able to give you links to two new collages from me: every thing in its own basket (for Kollage Kit's "declutter" theme), and three kings. (Click on the images to see larger versions.)

Saturday I woke up to extreme pain in my right leg, the knee in particular. And it just got worse, alll through the day and evening. By the time I was taking a sleeping pilll to knock myself out of my misery, both legs were involved, and nothing I tried (liniments, chi) did any good. I was angry. I wished I could die.

I don't feel a whole lot better, this morning, but I'm tryin' to hang in here...

Hi Everyone!

Don't worry I am alive lol....Just been on vacation so I haven't really been able to post here. Didn't mean to worry anyone. So happy to see that Fi and Donna are back!!! Missed you ladies!! Fi, I read in the Dec. thread about your terrible bout you've been going through. I'm glad you're still here but make sure you take out time for you. Hugs to you my friend. I am lucky that my bi-polar disorder hasn't gotten me to where you are, so I can only imagine how hard that is. Always here for you no matter what. <3 :)

As for me, DH and I did end up going to VA at the last minute for Christmas. DH's father talked him into it by bribing him with new tires for our car since we desperately needed them but can't afford them. My brakes are also on the list of things I need but can't afford but I think I have enough time to wait until I get my income tax refund. The A/C also went out which was a bummer because going up there we had to drive in the rain with the windows cracked so it wouldn't fog up. The hot weather we had during Christmas was no so pleasing without A/C either. So that I will definitely need repairing before early spring/summer hits here or else I may die of a heat stroke.

We only stayed 2 days in VA and I was very happy about that. We ended up going to Charlotte and stayed there for 2 days. It was so fun. I had one of the best birthday's in a really long time and DH did everything he could to make it a good one. We wanted to check out this french bakery that a friend of mine had recommended but as we are driving there, we passed by 3 micro breweries so we had an idea we were entering "hipster" territory lol....We pull up and the place is so packed and is beside another brewery that DH and my anxiety kicked in and we didn't go. Too many people + hipsters = no bueno for us. So I found a mexican bakery which took us to the bad part of town and we had to run for our lives lol....All this just to get a pastry for my birthday. We end up getting a great deal for a hotel and the front desk person was so nice and they sold cupcakes from a local bakery so we bought one for each of us. It was so good!!! We got some shopping in while we were there and I finally got some bras to fit me which was a relief.

We came home and finally got to do our Christmas gift exchange. DH was happy with everything he got. He basically got his whole list except for two games that he ended up buying himself. He got me some clothes that I needed and a really nice denim jacket....and this reallllyyyy good smelling perfume from Gucci. My BIL got me a japanese kitty coffee mug straight from Japan...it's so cute and I have been drinking out of it daily ever since. I got him a few t-shirts...he's so hard to buy for but he was still happy. We had a really nice breakfast that day and it felt good to feel like family. See the 3 of us are like the black sheep of our families so it worked out that my BIL moved in with us. We all get along well for the most part.

Other than that I've been deep cleaning my house for the past week. My house hasn't looked this clean in years. I'm also planning to paint and spruce up the place over the next few months. I've lived here for almost 6 years now and I don't think that I'm going anywhere anytime soon. I figured it's time to actually make this house feel like a home and give it character. I still need to go through my closet and organize all of that but I got so much done this week that my muscles are so achy. I guess that's a good thing because it's been a few weeks since I've exercised. I got some work outs in while I was house sitting but it go to be so much going to work, making sure those dogs were taken care of and getting a workout in. It would be so late at night and I would end up having to eat dinner and go to bed. It was too tiring so I had to stop half way through the last week we were there and I haven't worked out since so it's probably been close to a month. I've gained weight because of that and not following my plan 100% but you know, I'm ok with that. I know I'll lose what I've gained so there isn't any reason for me to beat myself up about it.

I don't normally make New Year's resolutions because I think they're stupid lol...But one thing I told myself I wanted to do this year was to not obsess over the scale. I didn't realize how obsessive I was until DH and I were having an argument about something and he mentioned about me being so obsessive over weighing myself. When I actually stopped to think about it, he was right. I got to where I probably would weigh myself 2 to 3 times a day. It's way too much and not necessary. By the time my weigh in day would come it wouldn't be much of a surprise if I lost or gained. I just got too entangled to make sure I didn't screw up that I bet I made it worse for me with losing than I did helping myself. I'm getting so close to my goal that I don't want to risk not making it because I've become crazy over it, and that's where I was. I'm pledging to myself that I won't weigh myself no more than 2 times the whole week. I need to keep my sanity. I know that may sound crazy, and some people can weight themselves daily with no problem. I thought that about myself at first, but as time went on and I would start to check almost every time I went to the bathroom I knew it was out of hand. So here's to a new year and a new me! Taking baby steps one day at a time!

I'm back to reality tomorrow....It's going to be weird going back to work. I really hope I'm not walking into a battle ground of paperwork and crap that I need to do because nobody bothered to do it while I was gone. It seems like everyone can help each other when someone is out or on vacation, but when I'm gone I get no help except what comes in the door that day. I don't know why that is but we'll see what happens.

This is a long post so I'm going to end it here. Just wanted to update everyone and let you know I'm here and not leaving so don't worry. Take care everyone. :)

Oh by the way....Fi I LOVE the 3 kings collage!!

Hi everyone!
Sam sorry but I was worried. I may have a little anxiety problem. I knew you had gone on vacation but that was a long one. My vacations are 3 days. Your trip sounds like it was exciting and I'm glad you got to enjoy your birthday. I love denim jackets and hope to wear mine again someday. Good luck at work and don't get too discouraged. They may not help you because you always have the situation under control. Soooo glad you are back.
Fi hope you can get some relief. For some reason the 3 Kings is scary to me. I like the baskets but my OCD wants them straight. How old is Grace now?
Terra sometimes I like waking up early. It gives me some quiet me time. It is very cold here now also. Stay warm.
Betsy nice funny about the chins! I will be so happy when I win my 1.3 Billion because then I will be able to afford all the skin surgery I am going to want after I get all this weight off.

This morning I took a long look in the mirror before I jumped into the shower. How did I let myself gain so much weight back? I know I had some depression but seriously??? If we all had to live at a nudest colony we would drop this weight a lot quicker. OK maybe I need to keep that mental image next time I reach for a trigger food.

Have a good day!

Sam....hellooooooo! Every time I look at your ticker it gives me hope that it IS possible to lose 140lbs! You are my hero! Here's another way of looking at the work situation........nobody does your work when you are away because they can't begin to do what you do AND you are so competent and efficient they know that you will catch up when you come back. Good luck though...it is only an "in-box!"
Terra-your sleeping pattern sounds awful! Have you always found it difficult to stay asleep?
Fi....I am so sorry your pain is so unbearable..it is no wonder you despair.

Well, I have managed 7 whole days on my healthy eating plan and have also managed a short walk everyday...in fact I have walked twice on some days. The inevitable has happened and my knees have really started to grumble, especially my left knee. I was singing in church today which means standing for quite a long period of time. My knees REALLY hate standing still...I am better walking....so I have had to take extra painkillers this afternoon. Still, we are going swimming tomorrow which I know really eases the pain in my grumpy joints.
Back to Welsh class tomorrow, I have signed up to sit the exam in June so I really had better pull my socks up!
It is weigh day for me tomorrow. I weigh myself weekly at the start and then reduce to fortnightly or even monthly if I can bear to stay off the scales! I keep them out of sight so I am not tempted! Sam...it can be really compulsive can't it?
Take care everybody,
Donna

Hello my lovely friends. Well as expected in my first week I had a 6lb loss which was encouraging...I know it will be a lot less week by week but it is a good start!
On the down side, after Sam and I went for our dog walk yesterday I could barely walk my knee was so sore. I was expecting it to get uncomfortable as I increased my exercise level, when I lost weight last time it took around 50lb of loss before there was any improvement, but it kept me awake last night ( I don't sleep well anyway!) and was as stiff as anything this morning, though the pain is less. I am hoping swimming later will ease it. I also woke up with almost no voice! Honestly! Going to take it easy for an hour then off to pick Sam up. From September he will be in High School and catching the bus home every day but for now I like picking him up once or twice a week.
Have a great day,
Donna

Hi everyone!

WTG Donna! 6 pounds down and staying on plan! Also not letting your sore knees keep you from exercising. I stop at the first sign of pain.

I am struggling as of late. There does not seem to be enough positive energy in our house. It is not just our house now that I think of it. I have heard others mention it in their lives also. Hope Spring comes early as that always helps.
Have a peaceful day everyone.

Ubee I appreciate that you worried about me. It really meant a lot. It's proof that I have really gained friends here who care. We are all in this together and I am so glad that I have all of you as part of this journey. I really don't think I would have made it this far without you. Your gesture just shows me that you don't want me to fail and that you'll be here to kick me in the butt every step of the way. I hear you as far as the positive energy goes. This time of year is always hard to have your spirits up and wanting to be motivated to really do anything. DH has the winter blues so we'll be heading back to the gym tomorrow so he can get in the tanning bed and get his vitamin D. By the way my vacation time, including weekends, the extra day off for my birthday and the days the office was closed for any holiday was a total of 17 days lol...so yeah I guess I can see why you were worried :D

Donna You are unbelievably kind!!! Your words mean more to me than you'll ever know. When I started this journey I never thought I would make it as far as I have. I never thought I'd be one of those lucky people to have lost a lot of weight. I still am not through but I think once I get to where I am happy with my weight maintaining it will be just has hard, if not more. I'm glad I can be an inspiration to you and well...anyone. I've never inspired someone before lol :) I got a good chuckle about the work situation. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be for a first day back.

First day back wasn't so bad that I was ready to rip my hair out, so I guess that's a plus lol. I was actually planning to stay a little late but my boss didn't want anyone to stay late today. Maybe I can get in a little early tomorrow to help get a head start on things. I did get a lot done so I don't feel so overwhelmed but once I finish catching up on work, I have more work to do lol...It never ends right???

Got back to working out today. I did a 40 min Turbo Fire video. It was rough. Not so bad to where I wanted to cry and quit...Guess it's not that time of the month for crying spells yet lol...But I had forgotten some of the moves so it was hard to keep up. It felt good getting back into the swing of things. 2016 is going to be the year I make my goal, I feel it!! Thursday will be my 2 year fit anniversary!!! I can't even believe it!!!

Today was also a sad day for me....I lost one of my idols. I know everyone and their mother knows who David Bowie is....What an icon. It's a real sad realization that a lot of the musical pioneers are getting up in age and will eventually pass on like everyone else. Sometimes I think we forget that even our most favorite celebrities, artists, etc. are mortal too. Bowie played such a huge role in my life all the way back to my childhood when Labyrinth was out the year I was born....To 1000's of hours reading about him, listening to his music, and appreciating all of his talent that he has shared with the world. I've never mourned the loss of a celebrity like I have him. I guess this is what a lot of people felt when John Lennon died. I feel like a piece of me has shattered...But I'm also happy that I live in the day and time that I live in, to be able to be one of the lucky ones who was graced by the man we call Bowie.



If you fail to plan, you plain to fail. Stick to your goals, and each day we will conquer the world little by little. Take care my sweet friends. Love you until the end of time <3