ICU, Awesome times! You should be so proud of yourself!

Petra, Sounds like your work will be getting back to normal. What a relief that must be for you!

motivated chickie, Hope the 140 holds for you! Somebody thought you were 26! That's quite a compliment!

Annie, Hope your back is feeling better! Sounds like you and your fiance had a nice weekend!

Angelskeep, Congrats on being down 2! It's nice to be able to re-fit into clothes! Kind of like shopping without spending money!

Newleaf, If you happen to stop in, know that we are thinking of you and wish you a speedy recovery!

Cruise, glad to hear from you! Sorry your trip is not working out but happy to hear you won;t have to make the daily commute to get DSS to school. Hope he transitions well to the new school!

Lambchop, Thanks for checking in!

PeanutsMom, Hope you can get back on track! GLUE, I like it!

Sukierd, Sounds like you had a busy weekend. Great job sticking with the walking!

I'm still battling this cold. I know the pollen and all the stuff in bloom is not helping either. Promised myself that I would go to bed early for a change. Down to less than 6 weeks of school! Looking forward to summer as always!

Becky: woo-hoo! I'm so impressed : )
Marie: I tracked you down last night and saw that you're on the maintainer's forum, glad to see/hear everything is ok and you're doing well.
Cat: let me know, charleston would make a great place for a 3fc meetup : ) sorry the trip to hawaii didn't work out.

Stuck to my foodplan so far today, in the process of cooking a batch of curried chicken and brown rice for a light/late dinner and lunch tomorrow. Even got in 10 mins and almost 2 miles on the recumbent bike during my lunch break. Also sticking to my guns about avoiding family drama - my dd2 is upset that I didn't go to dgs's birthday party yesterday, even though I told her it wasn't likely to happen. Would have been an uncomfortable, high-stress situation so I chose to do what was best for me and end my vacation with a quiet day at home alone.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Kathi

Petra -

I was still wearing the GWF but I wasn't using it to motivate me to move more, and I was not being careful enough about food. Starting yesterday, I'm getting up at 5 am so I can get in a real workout in the morning. Sometimes, I use the Wii in the evening too but usually not as vigorously and now that time will just be bonus calorie burn, but the really exercise will be finished before 6 am. It's really the only way for me to do this right, and it's what has to be done.

I'm glad your work situation is easing up - I definitely think that constant stress is so hard to handle. I'm sure that with less stress, better sleep, more time to exercise and plan good food, you'll really start moving forward this summer!

Good morning ladies, how about this... posting two days in a row.

Multitasking made me miss Heidi’s post so I sent her a PM.

Deb – Glad you are doing fine and feeling upbeat.

Mary/Kathi – A Charleston meet up in June is doable for me. I’ll talk to the kids and see what we can workout. My DIL just went back to work so they are still working of find a routine that works for them. She is working at a wellness center and has a very flexible schedule. I’ll keep you both posted through private message.

Hi sukierd – I’ve not been keeping up here on 3FC are you a teacher? My heart goes out to you having a parent with Alzheimer’s. My son’s grandfather has it and the progression is flat out scary.

OMW – You are doing GREAT!! Only six weeks left? I know it probably doesn’t seem like it for you but didn’t school just start? Didn’t you do the summer BL challenge with us here? Oh My…. Where does the time go???

PM – The Wii…. Almost forgot we had one. Maybe I’ll do a little of that today. I also picked up so boxing gloves and pads that I thought would be good for a change in routine.

Hope you all have a good day. I’m off to have a follow-up ultrasound done. Still dealing with “female” issues (not an issue for me but is for my doctor) but no surgery planned.

Cat-I have become a Wii boxing fanatic. It is great fun and great exercise. You will be surprised.

PM-I wish I could be a morning exerciser but I'm just not a morning person. I do get it done in the evening. I know those people who do it in the morning tend to be more consistent and I've tried to do it and I just can't. More power to you. I also don't like the time constraint when I'm exercising-I want to be able to spend as much time as is comfortable.

My vacation seems like an eternity away right now but I have a weekend at a conference in New Orleans next month and Memorial Day weekend so that should help.

Hello to all! I woke this morning to an almost completely cured back! I am so glad that it wasn't something requiring a doctor visit. I think the TLC I gave myself yesterday was well worth the time. Heat/ibuprofen/rest really did the trick this time. So thankful. Still going to take it easy the next few days and only do the walking DVD workout....no Boot Camp for a few days....or ab exercises for that matter.

I am so looking forward to the weekend. Going to see the all-school musical Friday evening (The Sound Of Music, my older son is playing for the final time in the orchestra ). Then Saturday morning my younger son and I (and hopefully older son if I can pry him out of bed) are going on the annual hike with my co-workers. It is at the Wichita Mountains down in southwestern Oklahoma and then we are going together to have lunch in Medicine Park, OK. I've always wanted to visit that little town and I'm excited to see it.

http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges...s/refhist.html

http://www.medicinepark.com/

It's a good feeling for me to go on the hike. The last couple of years, I have avoided going, as I was worried I wouldn't make it up the small mountain they hike or that my knee would give out. I have proven to myself in the last few months that I can do more than I thought I could and with 20 pounds gone...I know it will be easier.

Only thing about all of the weekend plans is that I will have to hustle Weds. and Thurs. evenings to get anything done around the house that I need to. I really want to plant some flowers outside, clean off my front porch, mow the yard (if I get my mower back this week) and plant a tomato plant and some rosemary. Oh yeah, it's supposed to rain Weds-Fri. I really don't want to spend Sunday working. I also need to do some house cleaning and work on getting younger son's room organized. Oh well. I won't let myself get frazzled over it, I'll do what I can and the rest will get done eventually.

I love that some of you girls are thinking about getting together. That sounds like so much fun! I'll be lucky if we get to take a family vacation this summer, and that will be all the traveling I get to do for a while. I'm hoping to maybe make a couple of short day or weekend trips with fiance this summer. He is selling his motorcycle, but I am hoping we can still get out and about.

Annie ~ TLC is something we all need more of these days, isnt' it? I'm glad to hear your back is much better....

PeanutsMom ~ Would you like us to call your house at 5am every morning? ;-)

Me ~ It's good to be back ! I just wrote a huge thread , coming back on my knees, begging support and guidence) ;-)

Hermit Girl-I just posted on your thread.

NSV-Dodged several dozen donuts brought into the office this morning. Woot!

THats some good foot work !

Becky—wow, that is very impressive! Great job with personal bests and with liking what you see in a swimsuit! How far did you have to drive to go there? I'm guessing your trip to Atlanta is further!

Motivated chickie—great job giving up the binging. Be proud of yourself!And enjoy the benefit of the scale moving.

Annie—I'm glad your back is better and good job on the donut dodge!

Angelskeep—wow...enjoy the “new” jeans. It's great to be back in clothes that have been too tight.

Heidi—good luck with surgery...let us know how it goes when you're up to posting again.

CruiseCat—10 days hiking in Zion?? Envious!!

Sukierd—extra points for walking when it's cold. And I'm glad you approve of ds's new girl. Do they attend the same college? She must be special if he's introducing her to mom!

I'm still doing well and staying pretty motivated. I thought I wasn't going to get a walk in today but a friend just called and asked me to go for one with her—it's always easier with someone else and having the commitment (5pm) will make me do it. It's a tight squeeze between day time activities and evening activities, but it will happen! And I still have to remember to take my vitamins for today.

Hi ladies... you all sound like such a great group of women, so encouraging and just plain old *nice*. Can anyone join u guys? I am new to 3FC (just found you all yesterday) and desperately want to find a group of like-minded 40-somethings, into healthy lifestyles & choices and not crashy-types of dieting, which by this age we know just does not work.

I am a 43yo stay at home mom w/2 girls, 5 & 10. I have a lovely DH who is completely supportive and loves the change in our family diet - eating clean, green and lean (altho my girls miss their Asian white rice...:-)). I turn 44 on 5/25 and am going to Hawaii to visit my cuzn for a whole week on 5/27 w/o kids, DH, laundry homework, etc etc and am very excited. I would like to wear my red bikini that I wore in Mexico 2 yrs ago - which is when I started to gain all this weight. It has absolutely crept up on me! Poor choices and no self control have been my downfall, but am determined to make these changes permanent.

Thanks for reading, but please do let me know if you guys have been together a long time and do not want anyone new in... no hard feelings! (Actually, I am not really sure how these boards work re this, but certainly understand if yours is "closed" to newbies.)

Suz.

Hi ladies... you all sound like such a great group of women, so encouraging and just plain old *nice*. Can anyone join u guys? I am new to 3FC (just found you all yesterday) and desperately want to find a group of like-minded 40-somethings, into healthy lifestyles & choices and not crashy-types of dieting, which by this age we know just does not work.

I am a 43yo stay at home mom w/2 girls, 5 & 10. I have a lovely DH who is completely supportive and loves the change in our family diet - eating clean, green and lean (altho my girls miss their Asian white rice...:-)). I turn 44 on 5/25 and am going to Hawaii to visit my cuzn for a whole week on 5/27 w/o kids, DH, laundry homework, etc etc and am very excited. I would like to wear my red bikini that I wore in Mexico 2 yrs ago - which is when I started to gain all this weight. It has absolutely crept up on me! Poor choices and no self control have been my downfall, but am determined to make these changes permanent.

Thanks for reading, but please do let me know if you guys have been together a long time and do not want anyone new in... no hard feelings! (Actually, I am not really sure how these boards work re this, but certainly understand if yours is "closed" to newbies.)

Suz.

Suzarb-Welcome! We don't have any secret handshakes or anything...so jump right in!!

This is a very supportive group and people come and go as they please. Some post daily, some weekly, some whenever they can find the time. We had one member move on over to the Maintainers board just recently (YAY Marie!). We have a lot of fun and I have found inspiration and support daily here. Glad you are with us!

Annie... Thanks so much for such a warm welcome. It sooooo helps to know there are others out there doing the same thing I am doing and if we can help each other and encourage each other thru it, we are all the better for it.

Thanks again!

Suz.

I see there are quite a few new people, though I'm a returning from a sabatical of sorts. lol. I'm Jen, a 48 yr old housewife, hermit woodswoman, dogmom, part-time musician. I fantasize all these things in a sort of dream scape as I *es*cape into food and suppress my Ultimate Potential . :-) I am ready to stop that escapist behavior and dig into the dreamscapist. I have so much to do, so little time... and well, here I am again. Hangin' with you all.

My Dreamscape : Constant Hiker & Constant Gardener, design my own knits and sew my own clothes (again) , keep our brand new house beautiful instead of neglected, learn how to ride my bike on the mtn again, like I did once long ago, and practice my music and actually improve!