Thanks girl! It did feel great!! I was happy and satisfied!! The kids kept offering me their candy after every house. I just kept telling that Mommy will get some later!

I was soo excited!!

Thanks for the showing me the thread!

nightkatt yes maybe i will get a new picture with my new glasses this weekend and my new haircut!!

Hi Girls. I weighed in last Friday and was up 1/2 pound. I'm not gonna move my ticker at all.....not for 1/2 pound. :-)
Things have been insane here. Lots of issues with step kids etc. The sd that WAS getting married next weekend is not getting married in the spring.
Happy Dance time. That takes off so much pressure.
There are lots of politic stuff going on at work too. It's enough to make any one nuts. My program has been just shot for about a week. I got the parts to my Gazelle and now I just have to get to putting it together.
I hope all of you are well. There's no way I can catch up on threads.
Val, I hope your new job is going well
Ammi, I hope you're still feeling better and better each day.
Michelle, Has your man heard about the job in Oklahoma yet?
Are you surviving the darkness??
Lilion, How's your nephew? Still improving?

Hello to everyone else!! Welcome all new people! Hope all of you hang tough. I bought a salad for lunch tomorrow so I'll be back on track.

Hi everybody!

Wow I am SO far behind it is hopeless catching up! I have been going through all the threads reading what I can. This overtime is having its effect on me... plus last night I helped at the Harvest Carnival at church... FUN but exhausting. Plus when I am home I am always wanting to crawl under my covers and read as it is so COLD here for us (got into the low 20s, brrrr) and I hardly ever turn on any heat. My apt doesn't usually get all that cold but now it is a bit cool. I would turn on the heat but I hate to sleep in a warm room... so if I turn it on in the evening it will be too hot at night for me.

Hey! I had a neat NSV last night. I ran over to say hi to and hug a friend I had not seen in several months. Her jaw dropped... and she said "You have lost a massive amount of weight!" :) It was encouraging since I am not losing lately.

But you know... today at work I commented to a co-worker... "I may not be losing weight but I am getting some killer leg muscles." She said... "That's probably why you are not losing weight." It really may be as I can feel my arms getting so much stronger too. Especially in my legs I can flex them and really see the muscles pop out a lot more than before. And feel the strength in them. At least I will try to convince myself of that.

Hope all of you are all able to stay OP this week... good for you for hanging in there. You are all such an encouragement to me... thanks!

Another reason I am tired this week... I joined the presidential challenge thing and am SO determined to get in my maximum 750 points a day! LOL tonight when I came home from work I was going to "forget it" and settle for what I had... but when I saw 623 I decided to zoom in and get busy and clean out the refrigerator... didn't finish but got a good start and got enough points to go over 750. Altogether I am at 36% as I was allowed to log back two weeks from when I joined, which was back to 10/15. I have to get 20,000 points for the bronze award.. I currently have 7303.

Hope to catch up more a bit later. Keep going, everybody! I know I am not the only one the FFM is ignoring! Kayley, hang in there... she will find us again someday!!! :)

Blessings to all

Hello ladies!
Had a good day which involved alot of sleeping. :o I did get in 60 mins of exercise this evening while watching biggest loser (which rocked!)
I got my first full star on the presidential challenge (I am on a different challenge then Misti). Each star is divided into 5 parts & you have to do 30 mins of exercise to get one part but can only get one part a day. I have gotten all 5 pieces in the last 5 days! You are suppose to do 5 out of 7 days a week. I think I have to wait til the week starts over to earn my next one, that won't stop me from exercising though! :exercise:

I had a revelation tonight. Exercise makes my eating stay on program (DUH!) I have a few candies from DD's trick or treat bucket that I have set aside for myself (she got mostly stuff I don't eat, I saved a 5-6 pieces for myself & gave the rest away.) I told myself that if I got in an hour of exercise tonight that I could have a piece. Well, now that I did my exercise I don't even want the candy. :carrot:

Well, gonna go put some fresh sheets on my bed & crawl in. :yawn: Hope everyone has a great night!

Andie .. I know what you mean about the exercise stopping you wanting the sweets ... quite often I would be watching tv and thinking I could do with a bowl of ice cream or something like that .. but I would say if I want that I have to do my exercise .. .when I finish the exercise I dont want the treat lol .. definitely a good thing :)

Misti .... I think your friend is right about the muscles .. if they are really built up then chances are some of that weight may have transferred from fat to muscle so youre still losing .. just the muscle is getting bigger too .. have you started taking your measurements yet??

First I want to say I loved everyone's halloween pictures that posted them - so adorable! I haven't felt like wearing anything for halloween in years, and honestly didn't this year either, but now I'm looking forward to next halloween :D

I also want to thank everyone for their kind words and thoughts about my family member who was killed. Tom was a very young man with a lot of life ahead of him and he didn't deserve to die as he did. My family is a very working class Irish family, only second generation americans and probably three quarters of my cousins went into the military for the education and job training they offer. Sadly, most of them have had to do tours in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and tragically it was the youngest one in active military duty who was lost. I still feel badly that I can't go home for the funeral, but funerals are for the living not the dead, and so long as I can make my peace and say goodbye it's okay. And I'm doing okay with it all today :)


Katt - I think you can definitely make your goal by Christmas!! What a great Christmas present to yourself it'll be when you make it :) And yay on the 2 lb loss!! That's awesome - see you're already well on your way to that goal!

Valerie - I'm almost at the top of the world! I'm in northern AB, Canada, and yep we have a ton of winter already. Yesterday when I was out walking it was through mucky ice and snow (up to my knees in places) and I even fell in a snow drift at one point when I stepped in an (unseen cause of the snow) hole. I have no sympathy for people who have 45 degree weather any more!! hehehe I think after this I'm sticking to indoor exercising. And yep, I'm up all night. I get up anywhere from 4 - 5 pm if I'm having insomnia to nine pm or so, work from 10pm til 6am (Mountain time) and go to bed around noon - 1pm. I had a hard time adjusting to it at first but I'm pretty used to it now. It sounds like your new job is going to be really interesting. I was glad to hear you had a good first day. I've worked in all male environments in the past too and it's really different being the only woman - good luck!! :D You should take pictures and post them of you in your new construction hat!!!

Dazzleberry - Welcome!! I'm pretty new to the group too, looking forward to getting to know you :)

Misti - That's fabulous on the muscles - and since they weigh more than fat you've probably lost a lot of inches if you're getting more definition like that!! I can't wait to see your medals once you get them :D

Andie - What a victory on not wanting the candy!! You must be so proud of yourself :)

I hope EVERYONE is having a fabulous day today!! :) :hug:

ARG!!! this month has been horrible to me... i gained 10 lbs. im actually OVER my start weight.

so my goal this week is to stay on plan. no flex points if i can help it. just to get myself back in the swing of things.

also - i am going to keep my excersize goal from last month and make a better attempt at reaching it. i dont know why i do that. i have never been very goal oriented, and things i wanted to do always came very easy to me so im not used to working for something. i know i have to, i just have to figure out what it takes to make me stay on plan.

new month. new chance i guess.

things are really stressful arround my house right now, as some of you may know my mom is just seriously insane. she is not allowed at our house because shes so unstable we are afraid of what she might do if she goes into one of her manic states. this has led to her trying to strangle my aunt, and stealing my car - among other manic freakouts. well this weekend she called and my grandma got to the phone before i could so i unplugged the phone - thus hanging up on my mom. my grandma had a stroke last year and doesnt remember that my mom is crazy, so she tells her stuff we dont want her to know. so this set her off and she started calling over and over - about 20 times. she also called my other grandparents that live 3 hours away (and my grandfather is literally on his death bed) she lied and said that she was callign because our phone number was disconnected. she also called my aunt, but didnt hang up and on her other phone called information to get the number of a high school friend of my grandmothers. finally she called my cell phone and i answered because i just wanted her to leave us alone. she said that she was going to report us for elderly abuse because we wouldnt let her talk to my grandma. most times shes just talk, but this time she followed through. today when i was out of the house we were visited by a los angeles county social worker. i dont think its serious because she didnt stay long, and she didnt feel compelled to return my phone call. its just a hassle. i just want my mom to leave us alone. she cant do that tho. she always has to cause trouble. i am really tempted to call child protective services because she has 2 small children that shouldnt be subjected to her insanity, but i know that will just make the whole situation worse.

the scariest part is she comes over when she knows no one is home. she thinks shes getting away with something. everyone hates her because shes so nuts. but my grandma doesnt remember, so she just lets her in. *sigh* i just dont know what to do

Good morning everyone... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz another super early day for me with overtime.

I posted a couple of pix on the picture page... I think I look better even though I haven't lost much weight. I do try to take measurements but I can't get them accurately doing it myself. BUT I can always tell by whether or not I can fit into smaller clothes... and I can't. So I may be losing inches somewhere but if so not in significant enough places to really tell. Oh well... it will come off. I am exercising my butt off LOL... it HAS to be helping. So far on the president's challenge I have gone over my maximum 750 points every day.

Hope everyone has a super day!!!!! Keep up the good work!!!

Yay! I have an outfit that I consistently try on to see if I have lost inches, etc. Lately it has seemed to me that my butt and stomach are a bit smaller... so I just tried on the pants. Last time I could not begin to pull them up. Now I can get them all the way up!! Yippee! They are still way too tight to wear but I proved I AM losing SOMETHING!! It HAD to happen... I try these on once a week or so. The blouse is still the same but hey, I'll take what I get. :dance:

Good morning ladies!

Katy: I am glad you were able to say goodbye & make your peace with it. Its so hard when someone young dies but I imagine even worse when they were doing something noble. My prayers are with your family.

Luan: First, I like your new avatar!
Sorry you have been on a bad streak & it has shown up on the scale. Atleast you are aware of it & can start reversing it before too much damage is done.
Sorry to hear about your mom problems. I can definately relate. My dad was (deceased now) extremely bipolar & had to be under heavy medication at all times or would completely flip out & have to be institutionalized. If he stayed on his meds then he was "normal". My Aunt is manic/depressive & can flip out at any moment. She lives alot in the past. She has done many many harmful/scary things including chasing my DH with a kitchen knife! My mom also shows a bit of a manic/depressive side at times. I'm sure it runs in the family. I know it can be so hard & a royal PITA! Hang in there chica!

Misti: Your pics look great! I do agree that you look smaller in the second one.
Sorry you are still having problems getting the weight off. You are conditioning your body so well that its happy where it is! Must be crazy frusterating. Just keep at it.

Hope everyone has a good day!

Misti: Thats awesome about the pants. You are just tightening everything up & swapping fat to muscle! Thats the main goal anyway!

Hello Everyone
My name is Raven and Im new to the site. I was reading some of your groups forums and Im really interested in keeping in touch with someone during my transformation to the "new" me. I have alot of trouble staying focused on the main goal because I dont have anyone to talk to.
Its pretty hard to get out in the winter time to exercise here because its always so cold! I do have videos and a resistence machine at home that I will be using to lose the weight.
I look forward to talking to more of you as I move along in this journey.

Have a great day everyone.

Raven

ok....i'm trying this for the first time. hope i do this right......