I'm not sure what to say this morning. Its a bummer to see the negativeness this morning. So, I'll just head off to work.

Roll call for the 12/13 2x2
Thin
Terri

I'm checking in quickly again this morning (work is awful right now) but I wanted to report that I ended December 1 (first day of the Christmas Challenge) was a success for me. I journaled. I drank the water. Got the exercise in (floor exercises last night and yes I'm sore this morning)...and I ended my day on program! I feel good. :dance:

I'm not sure what to say about Tony's post...I need to think more about that...but hey, he was honest! :)

Hugs to those who are struggling. Congrats to those who are on program. We're all striving for the same thing: good health. :)

That is the question I asked... here is the part that upset me.

The answer "All of the above" is what bothered me. Those above were "learn about the people Andria hangs out with... learn about human kind for your future career" ...and the line... MAJOR reason ... school hasn't given us any training towards that"

Like I said last night... this morning I will probably regret lots of things I said.... and I do think I used some POOR choices of wording. Some did not even really represent what I was feeling. But I can't undo what I have done.

There is nothing magical about the "half your body weight". That is not even what bothered me about your joining us. It was strictly the quotes I posted above.
And I should have used the word spy rather than pry.
I actually thought you were Andria's husband who she was divorcing... rather than her boyfriend. I thought her boyfriend was in another city going to school. So part of my paranoia was why would her soon to be ex-husband want to join us. :?:

I also want to add... it had nothing to do with you soon to be a doctor.
The others who came to study us were not doctors or studing to be doctors.

I was/am truly appreciative of your love for andria. I appreciated you keeping us updated on her condition. I appreciated your posting to say thank you. I had no problem with your friendly hello and heartfelt thanks. I thought very highly of you for such acts of kindness.

The one thing I HATE about emails, IMs, forums and such is... it is soooo easy to misunderstand what is being said and the manner in which it is said. Each person can interupt the same words differently.... put emphasis on different words.
There is a one liner that shows how easy it is to read the same words differently... I wish I could remember it.
It had something to do with..... men vs women. You move the comma or add a colon and it changes the whole concept of the entire sentence. Does anyone know it ??

Anyway... I do apologize for my letting my fears over power my judgement.
I apologize for not handling them in a wiser, more sensitive manner.
I apologize for hurting your feelings. It was not my intent to do that anymore than it was your intent to do anything more than send a heartfelt thank you and support andria.
I apologize for my fears ... my feelings.
I apologize for the way in which I dealt with them.

And Andria.. I apologize to you too. I never meant to hurt you either.
Like I said... I cannot undo what has been done. But I can promise I won't say another word about it. I would delete the whole post but that would not change anything. The damage is done... and I can't undo it. But I do apologize to both you and Tony for my feelings and even more for posting them.

Hi there!
 

Hi all...I'm happy to say I'm back on board here. My guests are gone, my house is somewhat back in order, my routines are slowly coming back. Life is good.

I'll jump right into the current controversy with two feet: Hey, why not a male perspective? If Tony doesn't mind "listening" when we talk about PMS or hot flashes, I don't mind!

Really, we have absolutely no control over who lurks anyway...so, it's certainly not a "private" forum that we have here. Perhaps, 2cute, the fact that Tony mentioned "learning from" us, is what put you off. We're all observing each other anyway, we just don't put it into words that way. We can all learn from each other.

Hey, after some of the whackos we've had here, I have no problem with a nice guy putting his two cents in!

About the Christmas Challenge: I didn't get as good a start as I thought I would, but it was GREAT compared to how I've been eating lately. DH and I went out for dinner last night, I was DYING for a burger and fries, (good ones, not fast food) and got, instead, a great big salad, with strips of steak and crumbled blue cheese on top. :T So good. I've been missing veggies so much that I CRAVE them. Scary.

My other meal's food choices were good, come to think of it, and my water was good...so I guess what I really punked out on was the exercise. Except for following my new rule at work: Stairs only. No elevators. :chin: So all in all, it really wasn't a bad day after all! Even got my "good deed" done, we bought a bunch of mittens, scarves and hats to donate to the Scout's Winter Clothing Drive. I think I'm so used to feeling as though I've "failed," I'm ready to declare each day a failure, no matter what. Gotta work on that positive attitude thing!

I'm so far behind on replies, I'm not going to go back now and try to catch up...I'll just take things from here, forward.

Just wanted to say that I'm glad to be back...looking forward to the latest challenge and really want to make this my best one!

What a great Christmas gift to ourselves!

SO...that's it for me...I need a wee nap. One more night at work and I'm off for three. :cp:

Thankful Thursday: I am SO thankful that the wind died down and the temps up a bit...Now I can get my Christmas lights up!

:wave:

Whoops! Almost forgot:
 

Roll call for the 12/13 2x2
Thin
Terri
Barbg
Kat

Now on to the business of getting discpline in food life.

Thin... I hope it is just a routine doctor appointment. Let us know how it goes.
Is your car in the shop already ??

Cd .. sounds like you have started this challenge off with a BANG !! Good for you !!! I hope to follow in your footsteps. And I totally understan how your day ends at 2am ... mine too. ;)

Joyce.. I got a kicked out of your post. :) Yes.. it does help to write things down. Sometimes I don't like what I find within myself... but it is good to write it out and learn.

Andria... again I apologize for making this an uncomfortable situation for you. Everyone here loves you .. including me. Please don't let MY errors detour you or Tony. Please give all of us time to heal from this unfortunate happening. Time does help heal. I am truly sorry I caused this scar within our family here.
Congratulations on your progress and having 4 great days behind you again.
I happy your therapy is going so well. You are a hard worker.
Gail.. it sounds like you are doing GREAT too. Keep it up. :bravo:

Terri... sorry I caused the negativeness. I owe the whole group an apology.

Group.. I apologize to everyone for causing this upheaval in such a loving group.
In OA they taught me to write out my feelings... but where I went wrong was posting it here... I should have called a friend who would not be affected and talk out my feelings before posting anything. I am a slow learner ... but I am learning. ;)
Hopefully we can put this all behind us get back to the fun we've been having here lately.
This is last time I will post about this particular situation. I have made all of my apologizes and there is nothing more I can do to fix it... so I am officially moving on. I hope we can all put this behind us and move on together.

ROLL CALL for 2x2

Thin
Joyce
Terri
Barbg
2cute

Kat.. you were posting while I was doing a few replys. Sure did miss you around here... glad you are back. Working on a postive attitude will definitely take you a longgg ways. I am going to work on that one too today.

Let's keep this roll call rolling....
ROLL CALL for 2x2

Thin
Joyce
Terri
Barbg
2cute
Kat

ROLL CALL

Thin
Joyce
Terri
Barbg
Kat
2Cute
Michelle

Well here's the final on the job situation. I will be gainfully employed as of December 7th!! I accepted the job on two contingencies. One being that I can start at 7 am because the daycare doesn't open till 6:30 and it will take me about 20-30 minutes from there depending on traffic. And two...that I have off Jan 17-19th to go to Rhode Island. My mom's retirement party is on the 16th, so we will drive from here, stop in Philadelphia and visit John's family and continue to Rhode Island and reverse it on the way back! John is going to see if they will schedule one of his days off on friday the 14th and we can leave when I get home from work since I only work till 12 on friday. I guess they really really wanted me because they went for it! What can I say...I come highly recommended! I am woman hear me roar!!

So, I have to say day one was pretty successful food wise, water wise and journaling but that dang exercise thing got me again because of the rain and I never did get to do a video or anything because I was running around trying to line up daycare! Which is all set for tuesday! NOw its working on the bus picking him up there in the morning!

I have to stop here since my little guy wants to play a game on the computer. Ha, 4 yrs old and he's telling me to turn off what I am doing. THe scary part is he knows how to put the disc in and click on the buttons to get it going AND he knows how to click and drag and I didnt' even teach him. Must have been school!

OK I'll be back!
TTFN Michelle

Michelle, a big :high: and a congratulations on your new job! :D Its always good to negotiate! I'm so excited for you!!! :D They recognize a good person and good employee when they see one! :D I love your job hours. :D Good goin' on a successful program day yesterday! :high: Aren't children so smart these days? I take care of Amanda (4 1/2) and Robyn (10 mos.) a few evenings and last night Amanda wanted to play on my computer. I need to buy some kid's games for my computer...or have her bring one of her computer games to the house.

2cute, no apologies needed where I'm concerned. :) You were being honest about your feelings. And goodness knows I do understand how posts can be misinterpreted--I've been posting at 3FC for a very long time.

kat, your dinner salad that you had last night sounded yummy. And it does sound like you had a good day program-wise after all.

ROLL CALL

Thin
Joyce
Terri
Barbg
Kat
2Cute
Michelle
Gail

Hey everyone :)

I'm a big believer in wiping slates clean and starting again. So, in the interest of peace and understanding, not to mention a more positive vibe, I would like to introduce you all to my dearest friend and love, Tony. :)

Tony and I met almost 8 years ago at an online game site Adam and I both played. The three of us hit it off, but Tony and I made a legendary terrific team, plus he was around during the hours I was playing more than the hours Adam was able to play. I found out through our time together that Tony had this fatal flaw. He was a really good listener, and I had a lot that needed to be heard.

Tony has been there for many of my life-shaping events. He found resources when we thought my little girl was hearing-impaired, and after we discovered her autism, he found even more. He spent hours researching the gluten free casein free diet she is on now and encouraging me to stay the course with it when it felt almost impossible to keep up with. He was there to rush me to the hospital when my pregnancy with baby Ethan went bad. His clear thinking saved my life that day. If I had begun to hemorrhage in the car on the way, I wouldn't be here now. Tony also held me together when I just wanted to die along with my baby. He didn't leave my side until Adam was finally able to be there. Thing is, even though Adam made it there physically, he couldn't manage it spiritually or emotionally. I don't think I've forgiven him for that to this day. I really needed him at that time.

Tony's serious weight gain began about 5 years ago. He had always been a little fluffy, but not bad, nothing that didn't come off easily with a more active lifestyle. At some point he crossed a threshold point though, and the weight just seemed to keep coming on. We knew he had a problem with sleep apnea, but it seemed to become worse and worse. The less he was able to sleep, the more weight he gained, because he was too tired to do anything about it. He had slightly elevated blood pressure, as far as we knew, but it must have been becoming worse during that time as well, because with any physical exertion he began to have nosebleeds. And there were constant headaches to deal with as well. I was really worried for his health.

It was my turn to do some research. I began to check into places doing sleep studies and sleep apnea itself. I kept hearing about c-pap machines and how beneficial they are. I had also learned that people with sleep apnea were at high risk of heart attack and stroke. I encouraged Tony to ask his father (a doctor) to get a c-pap machine for him. I didn't want Tony to die.

Tony's father wasn't exactly supportive of his son in all this. He kept telling Tony to just get up and exercise and eat less; he would lose weight and the sleep apnea would get better. When his dad finally got around to checking his blood pressure and doing an EKG, he had to apologize to his son. Evidently Tony's heart was enlarged and you could tell from the EKG that it was caused more by the sleep apnea than the weight gain. Tony, through some further intervention by his mother, finally got a c-pap machine. It was so nice to be able to carry on a conversation with him and have him not fall asleep in the middle of his own sentence. Plus, he finally had enough energy to start moving around again.

A lot of things went on during that period of time, but Tony realized his eating needed to change as well. He had some unique obstacles there. He is allergic to almost all raw fruits and vegetables. If you cook them to a nearly unrecognizable consistency, he can eat them, but who would want to? They don't really taste good that way. He started adding in SlimFast instead of just skipping breakfast, and he began to experiment with vegetables to see which ones he could tolerate and which ones he couldn't. It really began to work for him. He was doing that guy thing where they can drop massive pounds in a really short time. I was so jealous! :lol:

Tony dropped 30 lbs. in nothing flat, then his weight loss stalled. He was on a plateau for almost 3 months, as I recall. It was really frustrating for him. I was so glad for the things I had learned here about weight loss and plateaus, because I could encourage him to hold to his present course, even to add in more calories and back off his exercise regimen a little. He was monumentally patient, and the weight finally began to go down again. I'm going to see if I can get him to post a picture of the two of us at Zion National Park this spring. He had dropped a significant amount of weight by then, but he is 30 lbs. below that mark now. When we post our Christmas visit pictures, you are really going to be able to see a difference for both of us. I am so proud of him, and I am so proud of myself. :)

One thing I find really encouraging about Tony is how much he wants to use his own experience to make himself a better doctor. He realizes that most of his patients will be experiencing some sort of trouble that is worsened by obesity or even caused by it. I have absolute faith in his ability to listen closely to them and not let anyone leave his office feeling like so many doctors have left the rest of us... feeling like we are less than deserving of good medical care because of our weight issues. I also know that many other medical students look up to him and listen to him. He has a real chance to make a difference for all of us down the road. I'm looking forward to that. :)

Ok, enough of that. I think I even managed to steer clear of the mushy stuff. The two of us are enough to give anyone within a several mile radius sugar poisoning most days. I'm rather fond of this fact, though! :D

Andria

Andria, your Tony sounds like a very special man. I know that you and I don't really know each other well (because I haven't been posting here long enough) but you sound like a pretty special woman also. :)

LuckyLadyBug, congratulations on your great weight loss this week! :high: :D

Hey everyone :)

Forgot to add myself in to the 2X2 roll call! I never did ask this before, but do we have to lose the last gain to call the 2X2 loss? I want to anyway, but don't want to look like I'm cheating otherwise. And I really love the idea of keeping track of the pounds lost until we have collectively lost a ton. That could be super hard to keep track of, though.


ROLL CALL
Thin
Joyce
Terri
Barbg
Kat
2Cute
Michelle
Gail
Andria

Doing well so far today. Food is on track, water is on track. I've set out some weights and am planning to do an upper body workout along with some leg stretches. :) Then I'm back to crocheting like a madwoman to get these squares done before next Thursday's crocheting class!

Andria

Miscommunication, misunderstandings and misgivings...
 

Hiya everyone,

(Whew!) I had to get up and walk around my desk a few times reading those posts. It's amazing how even in cyberspace, you can cut the tension with a knife when the 3 M's (see title) rear their ugly heads.

For what it's worth, after reading and digesting everything, here are my thoughts.

First of all, WELCOME TONY!! I, for one, have no objection whatsoever to your being here, reading, lurking or posting. I truly hope you will come back! (My smilies don't work here on my computer at work, so I have to do the boring ones...lol) :) It is obvious how much you love, care for and support Andria and in my book that makes you a White Hat Hero!! Big cheers to you as well for your own weight loss.

Secondly, while I must admit that the tone of 2Cute's original post did seem a bit heavyhanded and accusatory, after re-reading it, I was able to more clearly see the message behind the words and I do understand where she is coming from. I think, in some ways, she just ended up shooting the messenger instead of the real people who deserve to be shot. We all make mistakes.

Lastly, had a good day, THOUGHT I had a good week, but I gained 3 lbs. grrrr Oh well. Back to the grindstone.

Hey...anybody have any good recipes for somekind, anykind of pasta-less lasagna?

Thanks and have a great afternoon all!


Hugs