Wow Sharon... you got my card already?? Maybe the postal system isnt so slow after all! *L*

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone. I know that someday this battle will be closer to ending than it is right now. I am feeling better this morning both emotionally and physically. I thought for sure last night I was catching a hed cold on top of the tummy bug I had. Nyquil!!! I had a great sleep and feel a+ today/. Off to work!!! BYE!

Brenda :wave:

happy wednesday! :cheer2: my gazelle is supposed to be delivered today!!!!!! :woohoo: :D i can track it through fedex and it says it's on the truck awaiting delivery, so hopefully it'll make it today! my husband is at home and is on offical gazelle-watch! can't wait until i get home tonight! also, i'm feeling pretty happy about my exercise goal this month. i started with 1000 minutes, then up'ed it to 1500 when it looked like i would easily make 1000. we ended up having to go out of town for my dad's funeral, then i didn't feel like doing anything. i was bummed that i wasn't going to make my goal, but i have one more day and am only 10 minutes from my original goal, so i feel pretty good about that. i know i'll make 1500 next month. maybe with the help of the gazelle i'll pass it! positive thinking!

nancy--i hope that everything works out the way it needs to and that you get through everything feeling strong. work problems stink, but personal problems are the worst! feel free to pm me if you need to--i'm a pretty good listener! :hug:

sharon--i'm glad your eyes are healing and you're doing so great after your surgery! i know i can't stand to wear swim goggles, they feel like they are sucking my eyes out!, so i don't know how you sleep with those goggles on. i think i'd want to yank them off! good for you for being so good about it!

misti--that's so true about snuggling in bed not equaling any weight loss, but.....sometimes it's so cozy in there it's hard to get out! i'm glad you didn't have to do any more driving after you got home! all the crazy weather you're having is heading our way, so i'm hoping it doesn't get as bad as you're having it. feel free to keep the snow out your way-it wouldn't bother me! :lol: it's actually not the snow i hate, it's the freezing rain/sleet that is supposed to come first that i'm dreading. it's not supposed to start until tomorrow morning i think, but of course, that's when i have to drive to work, then drive the kids to school. winter! it's my least favorite season now that i'm a grown up and have to drive places, not just enjoy the snow like when i was a kid! anyway, be careful and stay warm! :coolsnow:

well, better get some stuff done, lori

i know the feeling but please dont give up when i start feeling like that i come to this web site and look at all those people who have done it.!you have come too far now to stop just try to take it one day at a time and dont look any further than that. one day at a day and one pound at a time you can do it!

Good Morning Chickies,

Wyllenn: Thanks. I will help out with the exercise as soon as I can get the okay from my Dr. I do sneak in a few minutes on the bike now and again. I will report any time I do to help out.

Nancy: Big hugs. So sorry about your BF troubles and also your work troubles. What ever you decide, we are here for you sweetie. Hugs.

Xena: Good luck with your gum grafts. I also have to have one after my braces come off. You'll have to let me know what I have to look forward to. Hugs to you.

Sharon: I was laughing when I read your post to me. I certainly hope I don't get spots well, more than I have. lol. As for the attitude, my hubby would say occasionally I have the bad attitude like a kid. lol. Glad to see you again. I have missed so much and have missed all of you.

Brenda: Hope you feel better soon. Hugs.

Lori: hope you have a great time with your Gazelle. I have one and I am dying to get on it. I need to loose more weight fist.

Melissa: Hang in there with your small gain. You will get it off.

Patti: So happy to see you. HUGs.

Ammi, Zelma, Jilly, Lilion, Brandnewme, Futurdiva, Kayley, Crock, Val, Nitekat, Erika, Amanda, any of my chickies I didn't mention by name.... Big hugs and hope you are all doing wonderfully.

Blessings to you all,
I'm going to enjoy cleaning my kitchen for the first time in a long, long time without back pain! Then I may sneak on the bike for a couple of minutes. Hugs to you all,
Annie

hello annie gladto see here again hope you are feeling better

Hi gals. The weather's getting ready to change down here in TX. We are supposedly in for a freeze tonight. I hope so! I love cold weather every now and then when I can snuggle up in the house and read a book or watch movies!

I finally caught up on my sleep. I slept 11 hours last night and that was after an all afternoon nap yesterday! :eek: But I am feeling better now. This morning I went through my WW cookbooks and got 3 new recipes to try this week. Then I went to the store and bought all the things I would need. I made a very nice beef, rice, and root veggie soup which I am eating right now. Yum yum! Lots of veggies in it, including some I've never eaten before - turnips and parsnips. Plenty leftover for lunches at work the rest of the week.

Sharon - It's amazing what they can do with laser eye surgery! I am glad you are able to see without your glasses and I wish you a speedy healing process!

Brenda - Glad you are feeling better. :hug:

Wezi - I hope you like your Gazelle as much as I do. I really do think it will help me to have something I can do at home for exercise besides just DVD's. My favorite thing about it is that I can get in a fairly high intensity workout without knee pain. You'll have to let us know what you think once you've had a chance to try it out.

Melissa - Please don't give up! It's a long journey for those of us who start out with lots to lose so there are bound to be "detours" along the way. Be patient and kind with yourself during your "detour". You were going pretty hard there for a long time and maybe your body or mind is telling you it needs to slow down a bit for a little while. You can do this. This struggle is part of it. You will make it through and one day you WILL make your goal! :hug:

Annie - I will keep you posted on the grafts. Won't be til January at the earliest though. They take the graft off the roof of your mouth and a friend of mine who has had it done said that it where it hurts most once you are done. The periodontist said nowadays they take a lot smaller piece of flesh from there so hopefully it won't be as painful for me as it was for my friend.

Well, time for me to go enjoy the rest of my lazy day under a blanket in front of the boob tube! :lol:

Hello All,

Well a late post today, I have been busy so haven’t had chance to get here until now. This morning I exercised then had to sort out my bedroom because I had to find hiding places for the Christmas presents I have been buying. It turned out to be a bigger job than I expected and by the time I was done I had to rush to get ready to go to the doctors to have a blood test. After that it was home for an hours viewing with Daren of Gilligan’s Island before it was exercise time again. Then the kids came home and any chance of peace to go on the PC was gone lol. But here I am finally and it’s time to catch up on some posts.

Colleen - glad to hear that you had a lovely Thanksgiving, enjoyed what you ate, but pretty much got straight back on track :bravo:

Crystal - how are you doing with the costumes? What parts does Bradley have in the plays?

Lilion - I didn’t realise you made that gown, wow, you are one talented lady!

Heather - a belated happy birthday to your hubby. That Korean meal sounded really yummy :drool: Social events certainly make dieting so much harder. But I guess this is where you learn how much of a lifestyle change you have made. To be able to go out, eat whatever is on offer, but still make sure you get your water and exercise in and stay OP in between those social occasions. I am sure you will do well!

Sue - I am so pleased that you got home safely, those roads sounded treacherous thanks to the bad weather. I always say that I love snow, but only when I can just look at it or play in it. Not when I HAVE to go out in it.

I am glad you are going to get your medals as you earn them. That reminds me, I have to update my activity log before I go to sleep.

Katt - thanks for your kind words, I guess I needed a reminder about why the last few weeks haven’t been as good as I wanted them to be with regards to my weight loss. On diets of old I would have used being sick as an excuse to not diet, and then I probably wouldn’t have got back on track again til I had gained back any weight I had lost, and some. So thank you, you reminded me that I am not doing too badly really :hug:

Oh doesn’t TOM suck. When I got sick with the Ulcerative Colitis I also had the Implanon Contraceptive put in my arm. Since then I hadn’t had one period, not even a tiny spot. BUT then all of a sudden a month ago after nearly 5 years TOM arrived :eek: I had a full week of it, then spotting for the next 2 weeks. So although I had gone without for so long, when it did come back it soon reminded me how horrible it is :lol:

I am glad your ankle is much better. Have fun when you get your first pay cheque in years, :crossed: that you find out you got paid for your days off :yes:

As for Daren yes he is very romantic and yep you guessed it, Valentine’s Day is definitely a lovely day here. I went from being married to a guy who couldn’t be bothered to even buy a card, to being married to one who goes all out to make a fuss of me on every occasion. I love it :love: Scoot has bought you a Christmas present this year, and with money being less tight now, me thinks you may just get a Valentine’s day surprise next year :D

Sharon - how are your eyes now, I have to say those goggles you have to wear sound horrendous. How long til you get to stop wearing them to bed? What does Steve think of them :lol: are they making him frisky :lol: :D

Brenda - don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s hard enough trying to stay on track at the best of times, but when the holidays are looming it’s even harder. I mean I am on track, but I have EVERY intention of gaining weight over the holidays. I hope it won’t be too much, and I will do what I can to not make too much of a pig of myself. Just try to do your best over the holidays and keep your goal of getting back OP in January in your mind. You don’t normally make new years resolutions, and now that you have, make sure you stick to it. I know you can do it :yes:

Lori - I am not sure if I asked before, but how old was your dad? My dad died of a heart attack just after his 60th birthday. It’s weird, but I never thought of my weight putting me at risk of having heart problems especially with my dad’s history. I am glad I have made a start to doing what I can to prevent it happening to me. And I am so glad you are doing the same.

You will soon have your Gazelle up and running so even if you aren’t eating 100% OP you can jump on the Gazelle as often as you feel like it, and you will be amazed how great it will make you feel to work out, have fun doing it, and know you are burning off some of those extra calories you might have consumed :yes:

Jill - glad you had a good time at Thanksgiving. Sounds like you enjoyed what you ate, but sure did a lot to help burn it off :cp: Good for you for getting back on track now.

Michelle - :bravo: :cheer: :dance: :cp: I am so relieved and happy for you that those test results came back negative. That’s wonderful news!!! Those biopsies and the healing of the wounds were definitely more than worth if to know for sure that you don’t have any skin cancer :cb:

Sandy - hmm canned pumpkin, I wonder if we can get that here? I will certainly look out for it. If we don’t, we do have fresh pumpkins. They are normally only sold around Halloween, but if I get one, cook it, then freeze it I will have it ready for using for Thanksgiving :D

Hope your hubby will feel better soon and that he doesn’t share that cold with you.

If nobody has already PMd you with the info on how to put a picture on the picture page, email and let me know. I will tell you how to do it.

Annie - it was wonderful seeing a post from you on the board today, it’s been too long :hug: I am so proud of you being so determined to lose some weight before Christmas, especially as you have to be careful about the exercise you do. Don’t go overdoing it, you don’t want to end up spending Christmas laid up in bed with your back. Please check with your PT what you can do :hug:

Nancy - I was surprised to hear about the counselling with Andrew. Can I just say though, and please don’t take offence, but if you go into it thinking it’s not going to do any good, why go? It will only give Andrew false hope where there isn’t any. Of course if you believe there is some slight hope that the counselling will make you realise that you want to stay with Andrew then by all means do go and I hope it will all go well :hug:

Xena - ouchies, gum grafts sound painful :cry: A necessary thing for you though, so I hope it won’t be as awful as it sounds. I have receding gums, but I have never heard of gum grafts, it’s obviously something either not available here, or just not widely known about.

Glad you had a good time away, sorry you are so tired now though. I hope you feel more rested soon.

Missy - you know what stood out the most when I was reading your post about your gain and how you are feeling about dieting? You have already made a strong lifestyle change. You are struggling with the drive to stay on your diet, BUT you refuse to go back to your old ways!! That is something to be proud of even if you don’t realise it right now. I truly believe that even if you decide to give dieting a break until the New Year you won’t have a huge gain. If you try to keep up the exercise as well it is bound to help too. I really think you do need to take a diet break, and I think you can do it AND get back on track at a later date without having put on too much weight :hug:

Ok well I think I have caught up with the posts now, I need to write a couple of short emails before going to bed. I hope everybody is doing ok, and PLEASE those of you that are struggling with being OP, please don’t stop coming here to read and/or post. This is the best place to be when you are having problems, or are even on a diet break. Staying active here will make it that much easier when you are ready to get back OP. Night all,

Hugs,

Ammi :grouphug:

Hi everybody

Well I am behind on the threads too and no excuse as I have been off work for two days because of all the snow and ice. This is SO unusual for us, and another snowstorm is supposed to be arriving here at any minute! Also down to 18 last night for a record breaker cold for this date.

I am really tired as yesterday I walked almost three hours and today a little over two and then trudged out to my mailbox and around a bit again this evening for 20 mins or so. Whew! And LOL we only need 0.1 inch of precipitation for the month to break an all time water record... and looks like it is on its way in! We also had record breaking floods this month... quite a month LOL.

Hope all of you are hanging in there!!! Blessings to all

Hi everyone. Just checking in -- I'm still overwhelmed by the number of people here, and trying to catch up with everyone's stories! Please bear with me. It's also hard for me to post Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I can't post from work, and don't get home until mid-evening.

Today was OK -- stayed within points, but did not make good choices. I've been counting on eating lunch at school, but the lunches have not been diet-friendly lately, and it's throwing me off. Tomorrow I'll take lunch.

Have a good day tomorrow (Thursday), all!

Hi all. I've missed a ton of threads, and I'm sure you all know how it is to be impossibly behind. I've been popping in on the Old Hens on my lunch break, but that's only 30 minutes.

The new job doing payroll is going great. No where near as dramatic as pulling the tanker was, and nowhere near as good exercise either, but my eating is back on track since Monday. I was pretty out of control for a while there, between the holiday, the job changes, and other stresses. Oh well, that's behind me again.

Unbelievably, Bill & I are getting along better than since we first got married! He realized I was actually going to get a divorce - he had to say the word out loud even. I guess he's more than willing to listen to me, and more important, to TALK to me. We've talked about all the stuff that was hurting both of us, assumptions we've both made, all that stuff. We've worked thru a lot of hurt on both sides, and we're working on continuing. He's come thru in the $$$ department, and we've gotten the finances in focus - in a SHARED focus. I guess the big 'D' was a wake up call for him. My sister is sure it won't last, but who knows? I'm sure he's trying like he never has before, and I'm willing to give it as much. For the time being anyway, I'm happier than I've been in a very long time.

Except for the wedding.... I guess this means I have to go to my evil SD's wedding in May. I'll have to be nice to the evil Mother of the evil Bride, too, won't I? Of course, the revenge would be sweet if I could show up 50-60 pounds lighter than I am now. One moment I find that intimidating, and the next moment it's motivating. Jeepers, I detest those she-devils.

I rode 2 of my horses last weekend, so that was cool. I got a rider up on the young one twice, also. RIDING should be even more motivating than the wedding revenge, but it really depends what mood I'm in. If you'd met my venomous SD, you'd understand. But the horses will still be there even after the wedding... and ensuing divorce... or murder if she really makes him mad.
..................Ahhhhh, then next summer after the wedding, there I'll be with my smaller-every-day butt flying around on my horse, while little Miss 'I'll-Never-Get-Fat' is inflating like the Goodyear blimp! It's gonna be a fun couple of years after all! But it WILL require more time on the treadmill on my part!

I know. I'm a horrible person. I can't help it.

First things First. Starting tomorrow I'm back on the exercise thing. DAILY! If for no other reason than I want to do my part to help HEATHER & the exercise gang hit that 200K mark. Besides, when I was working out, I could feel and see such wonderful developement and muscle definition starting, and in a couple weeks off, I already can feel myself melting into a puddle. SO. There's my promise: I'm committing to myself, and committing to the list, to begin regular exercise in the next 12 hours. Period. That's it.

I'm BACK!

DOGPAL - I'm glad you're back, too! Hope your back is feeling better every day!!!

XAN - WELCOME!!! Don't worry, you aren't responsible for learning about and speaking to everybody here all the time. We enjoy each other's company here as we can. We all have various demands on our time. It's just important, for me anyway, to keep these ladies in sight for the inspiration, support, friendship, enthusiasm, commitment and motivation. Coming here means I haven't lost my focus, so I try not to stray too far.

:cheer2: Hello all my sweet chickie poos. Oh how I've missed you all so deeply.I wish I could say I've been doing sooo well on my own that I didn't need to be here for support, but the truth is, I aint done scwat.:stars: Been raisin' youngin's and stressin' over stuff:tired: I can't change, like money! I am searching:mag: for motivation again. I know it's here, and while I'm here maybe I can share a little sparkle with you too.:dust:

Ammi: :cheer: I am sooo happy for you and your hard work. You should be so:val3: proud of yourself. Thank you so much for thinking of me and my:grouphug: giant clan. I still have the 4 girls. We find out Jan. 2 if the:judge:judge makes her final ruling on me having gardianship or if the go back to mom. No one involved belives mom has any chance. she still has the yuky boyfriend:club: missed more than 1/2 her drug tests, missed 2 months solid of weekly visits, no house, no car, maybe a job not sure about that, and none of her orderd classes. Hhhmmm :tied: don't look good for her. Anyway, besides all that, we're all doing pretty well. We have the 4 girls, my 2 boys, a friend of my boys whos dad gave him packing boxes for is 18th birthday and said "Happy birthday find a place to live. I'm moving to California in 3 weeks. I'll see ya when you look for me cause I won't be looking for you. BYE:beach: " He's a good boy he works and stays in the garage. We have 2 mice, 2 cats, a large dog, and a fish. :nono: NO MORE ROOM IN THIS INN.:rofl: All prays welcome. Thanks for listing.

DOGPAL: :carrot: I am soooo happy to see you here too. I've been lost out in the big bad world. :sunny: His will must be for you and me to be here together again moving and shakin'.:belly:

To all my chickie sisters, I am so open to questions,advice, chat,jokes,anything that helps me be involved. Good luck to us all and stregth in this battle we fight every minut.:sumo:

SHADIE! WELCOME BACK!!! Haven't 'seen' you in forever! Good luck to you and your whole extended tribe!

Just a quick post, as I'm on my way out to a meeting. This one should see me home by 7pm hopefully, so at least not a late night, just a LONG day. I have to drive almost into the city for this one too, which isn't that much fun.

We have our assembly tomorrow, where my class and another grade 2 class run the assembly. It is basically a Christmas concert and our classes will be singing two songs (Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer and Feliz Navidad) and some other classes are singing songs. The school choir will sing and we will have items from the band and instrumentalists. It should be lovely. I LOVE Christmas, so I offer to do the Christmas assembly every year. I am going to get dressed up all 'festive' and the kids are coming dressed up as well. Hopefully all will go well. They did well at rehearsal today, so fingers crossed.

Just a quick question. I have been asked to speak on a radio show about "How to avoid temptation in the 'silly' (holiday) season." I have some ideas of my own, such as healthy snacks, taking your own healthy food, finding the healthiest choices to replace old favourites. Do any of you have any other ideas that I could include in this. I also want to talk about balancing out 'bad' eating by exercising a little more. Such as going for a nice walk before/after a big meal.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I will think of before Saturday, when the show is on, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far. I can't believe that we finish our school year next Friday. I have quite a bit to do before then, so I had better get my act together.

Take care,

Zelma