I agree, Melissa. Ammi's posts are wonderful!

All,

I'm a bit excited. I know I mentioned my hike but I got the hike from a book of hikes. Sometimes we modify hikes from books we find, sometimes we hike the general area of the suggested hike and other times we follow the hike. This was a case where we followed the hike as in the book. Anyway, the author of the hiking book has done all the hikes himself and based on their difficulty, things you should stop and see, etc... he gives an estimated time for how long a hike should take for the average hiker. Anyway, in his book he says the estimated time should be 2 hours... and 30 minutes. It took us 2 hours so we beat the average hiker! I'm excited as this has never happened!

oh gosh this has been such a bad weekend for me.. both i and hubby have been too sick and so being sick and in pain we atre quick comfort food oh dear! and the lemon cake his mom baked for a late birthday gift oh well i wont even talk about that! i am feeling better now so i should get right back on exercise on monday.

Good morning, all! Just quickly checking in as I am late getting ready for church!

Ammi... the Birds Eye bags could have been here for ages LOL. I never bought many frozen veggies until recently. I prefer the taste of canned but have switched to frozen on things which I don't get fresh.

Ammi -- You ARE the Queen of Personals, but don't let that pressure you, either!

As for weight vs clothing sizes, I have come to accept that, for whatever reason, I seem to be a bigger size for my weight and height than others... it's easier to accept that at a smaller size! I started at a size 28 or 30 and was wearing 3x and even 4x tops. I think it would be awesome to be a size 12, it seems that in the US, that size is readily available in misses, while 14s and 16s or above are harder to find at "regular" stores.

I hope to do some back-to-school shopping today, and I look forward to more size 16s!

Missy and Jen - thanks so much, I am glad you enjoy my posts, if nothing else they are nice and colourful right? Seriously, I enjoy writing them, but even more so when I know they are enjoyed by others

Nelie - I don't blame you for being excited, that is awesome that you did that hike quicker than what the average hiker would You can show skinny people a thing or two, you prove that you don't have to be a size 10 to be fit enough to hike the distances that you do!!

Patti - I am sorry that you and your hubby have been so unwell this weekend. Don't feel guilty about having to eat those quick comfort meals. The last thing you want to do when you are feeling unwell is to cook. And that lemon cake, well who can blame you for eating that, I love lemon cake. Good job I don't live closer or I would be inviting myself over to cook you both a nice healthy meal while you are poorly, and I would abscond with the cake

Thanks so much for the e-card, I loved it And you are right, I AM doing well, so the clothes sizes are just going to have to be forgotten about

Misti - ah well yes if you don't normally buy frozen veges then they could have been there for a long time lol. Personally I don't like canned veges, though I will have peas at a push. I am a fresh or frozen gal all the way

Hope you had a nice time in church.

Heather - I never really feel pressured into personal replies, but I still feel guilty because everybody is writing about their days, their weight losses, their achievments and their down moments and I just feel I need to comment on everything!! So when I get so far behind that I can't I feel like I am letting people down. It's something I will have to get over, though while I can do nice long posts I will

And I forgot to mention before, not so much with me, but with you, from your photos although you say you are in bigger sizes than others for your weight, you still don't look that size. Me, I am in big sizes and I look like I should be in those sizes Perhaps when I work out like you do that will change

Ok well I need to go make a start on tea, tonight we are having chicken with potatoes, carrots and broccoli, mmmmm yum. Take care all and bye for now.

Hugs,

Ammi

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I've been working a lot and busy with other things so not much time to post but I have been reading up on everyone's news

Kenya
sorry you're down about hubby being gone. I know all about that, my hubby is in the military and just got back from a 7 week trip away. I find that the first 2 weeks are hard, then you will find that you will adjust after that. You will go through some up and down days, that is very normal. Try hard to focus on your diet and exercise and how much improvement you can make while he is gone. At least that worked for me a bit to help pass the time. I tried not to sit around too much and think about it, and when I did find myself doing it, I'd turn on the tv so it would distract my mind. It helps a little. I HATE my hubby being gone but I accept he has no choice. You and your kids maybe could start a little project of making him a welcome home poster to put in the window when he comes back? They do that a lot here for the military dads, and it gives the kids something to look forward to for when their dad arrives back home.

Melissa
good job on trying the tae bo! I don't have that one but I have a couple of others, and I find them a challenge. I have the crunch cardio dance party which is a mixture of different styles of dancing (no not bouncing around types). I think you'd like that one. Also I have the turbo jam (nightkatt just got this one too, and said she loves it). That one is better but also challenging, and not boring. I am awaiting my "just my size yoga" to arrive in the mail from zip.ca (like netflix). they have TONS of exercise DVD's on there, check it out - they deliver out of Vancouver.

Ugh, I'm having a blah week. NO weight loss this week so far, and as a matter of fact, my scale is doing the yo-yo again. I need to focus more I think. I also notice that since my hubby has come home I feel a little less secure about my eating and feel more cravings than I did. I don't know why, he is very supportive. I have always had a tendency to gain weight when I've been "attached" and can lose weight and able to diet fiercely when I was single. I'm married now so I need to learn to figure out why I feel so weak when I am not single. I feel more emotional and less independent. Even though I don't feel consciously dependent on my husband (we both have jobs and I don't have children). Anyone else experience this? I think it's an emotional issue of mine rather than a case of "comfortably married" syndrome. I felt anxiety before hubby came home, because I knew it would be a challenge.

Yesterday we were invited out to some co-workers of my hubby for dinner at their house. They had 'serve yourself' but it was Filipino food (the wife of the home is Filipino). There were some noodle/veg things there so I had mostly that, and a couple of other things, none of which ended up making me satisified because I had so little of it. I was too afraid to eat too much of it. I had a small square of ice cream cake at the end, I was weakened by that, but overall I was pleased at how I dealt with it. And I had NO snackie stuff that was there. So, I give myself a pat on the back for that one. These things are tough, especially when you are meeting new people! Luckily I am not exposed to these situations very often. They kept trying to offer me food but I told them "I'm on a diet, thanks though", and they accepted that.

Hubby is back to work tomorrow after having 2 weeks off so THANK YOU I can get back into a regular pattern and put the hammer down!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

~ Angie

Hey ladies - thanks for the supportive comments about me missing that barbeque....can't wait til I am happier in myself and my weight and can hold my head up hi!

Also had to let you know, I went on my biggest bike ride today - It was a 4 mile ride, off road on a dirt track, with the wind blowing against me!! It was sooooo tough and I was exhausted, we were biking on a cycle track up to e bridge for cyclists called Millennium bridge - it was soo cool getting up there and looking at the view! Honestly for me that was the equivalent of a marathon!!

Sooo chuffed and proud of myself for being more active

Em

Ammi i would never want to sabatoge your diet lol. my mom inlaw meant well but... anyways i am freezing what is left of the cake for awhile and hope to get back on track monday. just taking one more day off to laze around the house a bit.

Angie -- great Ideal.. I think we will do that and work on a project for DH. Thanks so much!

Good afternoon everyone! I'm back again...and I'm hoping for good. I got sick a little over a month ago and I never really got back into the swing of things. Well I've still been losing (check out my ticker....WOOOHOOO!!!) and I was just not really motivated to go back. Suddenly it hit me yesterday and I went for a walk/run (yes I did say run). I walked/ran about half and half and enjoyed the crap outta it. I got back and although I was exhausted, I LOVED to adrenaline rush that I had the rest of the day. I'm renewing my commitment to myself and to each one of you. I'll try to come by and post no less than once a day and make it to the gym a minimum of three times a week for the next two weeks and work myself back into it. I'm asking yall to allow me to lean on you for support because I'm struggling so hard...thanks for listening and thanks for letting me vent this out. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Angie - good to see you post. I am sorry you are feeling a bit blah this week and that the scales haven't been kind to you. You were saying that you feel like you are less in control of your eating when hubby is home. And that with your dieting you have been better at it when you were single. I found the same, but it was definitely the comfortable wife syndrome. When I was single I used to think if I had any chance of getting a man that I would need to be thin. Good job I was wrong, because I never did lose weight, and Daren still came along and fell for me

Good job at not eating too much at the dinner party you went to, a little square of ice cream cake when you were around all that food is brilliant, you should be proud of yourself

Em - WOW that bike ride sounded very impressive, well done. Was the Millennium Bridge THE bridge in London or is there one in Cambridgeshire too? Well where ever it is, I am glad you got there and that you were so proud of yourself and RIGHTLY so

Patti - ok if I do make my rounds of the US one day, I will give you plenty of warning so that you can hide any and all cake that might be around

Good for you for freezing what's left of the lemon cake, have you ever frozen cake before. Does it defrost ok? Good luck on getting back on track tomorrow, you can do it I know you can

Hpnotq - hello and back!!! I am glad that although you haven't been 100% track you have still lost weight, well done!!!

I am happy that you are ready to re-commit to yourself and I look forward to seeing that ticker of yours continue to go down!! I will definitely by here to support you all the way!!

Bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Hi all - just checking in from North Carolina for the weekend. I think I left my power cord at home, so when my battery dies, I'm offline til the next trip home... unless I can get my hands on DH's computer <BG>

Made the mistake of having pasta last night. I've been insane looking for sweets ever since. I swear, it's like giving crack to an addict. When will I get it through my thick head that I simply can't eat that stuff?!?! I'm still working on the exercise and not doing TOO bad in that department.

Hope all of you are doing well, or at least having wonderful bright spots in your days and on your programs. C-YA!

my mom freezes cakes alot i do not know how long one can keep but i wintend to put it away for a little while instead of eating all of it at once. i am so looking forward to feeling better (keep fingers crossed) tomorrow and will exercise headache or not! i missed my exercises but no way was i in shape to do them this week.