Had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Usually I dread going as I am on meds for hypertension and I have a serious case of "white coat hypertension"...pressure goes sky high while I am there but drops dramatically once I am home. Anyway...she took it and it was DOWN 8 points for both the top and bottom numbers! (last visit it was 156/96 now down to 148/88) High for most people but actually very good for me. I go back in a month and I am hoping to having "normal" numbers. She also gave me an anti-candida supplement (Candicin) which she said can be pretty harsh but as I am on anti-biotics...she says it should keep everything in balance.

blueflower...Taco Bell by your house AND your work? That's a nasty temptation to drive by everyday. Way to go!!

Terry...Welcome! There are a few newbies here so don't be shy! And we have all been at a starting point at some time.

Becky...Bunnies are AWESOME! I had an all black dwarf bunny for a few years. She loved me and hated everyone else! lol

Annie-One thing that seems to always ring true...never hire anyone your realtor recommends. You aren't the first person I have heard of who has had troubles like that. Sucks bigtime.

kittehmomma...Ah the joys of the scales. That's happened to me many times too! Eat ice cream 4 days a week and lose yet stick to the plan and gain. I love that "random number generator" comment! lol

dancerindenver...SO what was your menu? Any good recipes that you can share?

Dee...hope you are 100% again!

I'm off to do my Nordictrack (cross country ski machine)
Have a great day!

Good morning. Ate miserably yesterday and not pleased with myself. Partly stress, partly TOM. I did well until the afternoon, then fell apart. Seeing a pattern here. Today, my goal is to make it through the whole day eating to plan. Just one day to prove to myself I can do it.

Annie--I've heard such horror stories about contractors that I've put off having non-critical work done--for the past decade and a half. I think it's become a full blown phobia.

blueflower--Yeah, I drive by a TB on my way home from work, and some days it's tough to keep the car from turning into their driveway.

One of my fur-children is under the weather, poor thing. It's hard when they can't describe their symptoms. He's still eating a little bit, a nibble here and there, so he's not too bad, but it's obvious he's not feeling well. Warm nose, warm pads, lethargic. If he's not better in a day or two, I'll have to reassess.

I'm off to exercise. At least I've been keeping up with that part of the plan.

Morning...I hate getting weighed in. It doesn't show the full picture. I'm up on the scale, but it ends up being good news (weird, right?) I'm just going to remove my ticker, since it's up and down and up and down, but not always what it seems.

Gained muscle (7 pounds), lost fat (4 pounds), but still holding too much water (6 liters). It's hard to look at the scale and gain - you feel like what's the point, but inside of my body - I see that it's doing something good....I just am so glued to numbers in my head. You would think after a year or "readouts" I'd know not to focus on it.

Blew off my long run this week (not a good time to do it with the race coming up!) but my motivation has taken a nosedive this week for some reason. Heading to the park today to get some miles in.

lambchop - you are just turning into a muscle machine! And everyone says muscle burns calories so your daily calorie burn should be getting higher and higher - I bet your clothes will get looser and looser too On the water retention issue, is that something you deal with a lot? Or is it just a high sodium fluke?

kitteh - I hear you on the good until the evening thing - after dinner snacking is my enemy! Sorry to hear one of your kitties is having a hard time - don't you wish they could just tell us what's going on? My cat occasionally wanders around the house howling (the cat version at least) and I have no idea what's up.

maddie - congrats on the improved numbers - that's great! Dinner last night was ww couscous (fast and easy), sauteed spinach, green salad and mediterranean (pine nut and sun-dried tomato) crusted salmon from the freezer section at the grocery store. I think the brand is Sea Cuisine. I love their stuff for a quick and easy weeknight meal.

Off to work *sigh*...

Well, I ended up leaving work early yesterday and going to bed when I got home. I got up about 3 p.m. and have been feeling better since then. I did refrain from exercise again this morning as I wanted to be sure I felt good at work today. I should be able to get back to it in the morning. Funny, the few times I have had to miss in the mornings, I walk around feeling lost and just don't feel as awake as I do when I exercise. Love the feeling exercise has given me, you could have never told me this time last year that it would be such a routine for me and just part of my life.

I did cook a good supper for me and younger son last night and got some more boxes unpacked. Handy man still has not shown up or returned my calls. I am just going to line up with Lowe's to have them install my storm door. I would have gone with them in the first place had I known this was going to be such an ordeal. I may have to buckle down and just learn how to do the other things I want done and do them myself....ever plane a door anyone?? Or install a toilet paper holder in a bathroom.....or hang a heavy shelf? Ugh....I hate doing stuff like that....


Becky-WTG on getting the 2.5 pounds off!!

Blueflower-Don't be shy...tell me how you really feel about contractors.... I can sure see the value of having a handy husband around. Fiance is kinda/sorta handy, but doesn't want to attempt storm door installation and I have to agree. It needs to be done right the first time. Good job on avoiding the Taco Bell siren song.

Welcome, Terry!! Taking part in this board has been a key factor in my success so far. Hang around!

DancerinDenver-Your supper sounds really good!

MaddieD-Congrats on the lower BP numbers. That is one of my goals with my healthier lifestyle. I hope to be able to get completely off of my BP medicine.

Kitteh-Good luck today with staying on plan....I know you can do it! Hope the fur baby is feeling better. It is so hard having a sick pet, just like a little baby that can't tell you what is wrong.

Deb-Hang in there! Your motivation will find you today, I just know it!

I wish you all a healthy and happy day!

"Handy man" called and said he is coming at 1 p.m. today. I am not holding my breath, but called my son to let him know. If he shows up and does what I need done (he has a list), I will pay him and never call him again.

We'd put off work on our home for years due to our fear of contractors. Watch a show like Holmes on Homes and you'll NEVER get anything done. We've been taking baby steps on the home improvement, but it's still scary and expen$ive

I had my 1.5 hour YOGA class last night. I really liked it, and I never anything that looks like exercise. I'm a little sore this morning, but not too bad.

That was WORK! No impact, but lots of sweating and breathing heavy. Guess that's good!

I freakin HATE Tacobell, I wish they'd fall off of the face of the planet!

Hope everyone has a Good Wednesday!

Blueflower-I had Taco H*ll not too long ago as a "treat" to myself and it didn't satisfy me at all. Not sure if they changed their recipes or if my palate has changed that much. Great job on the yoga!


Someone said something to me the other day and it keeps creeping into my thoughts. There is a gal who fills in for my boss when he is on vacation. I had not seen her since before I started my lifestyle changes. She is one of those tall, lanky people who have never had to worry about weight in her life. Slender and hawkish looking. She had told me earlier in the day how "great" I looked. We sat at the same table at lunch and she saw what I was eating and said, "Oh, that's how you did it....rabbit food." Well, I proceeded to try to explain that rabbit food isn't all that I eat....that I do eat non-rabbit food.....I exercise....blah, blah, blah....and even she got the glazed look in her eyes that others do when I try to explain. I'm going to just start smiling and nodding from now on.

Rabbit food indeed.

here's to the rabbits!

I know what you mean, Annie - if it's not a super secret miracle plan, people don't want to hear about it.

Aaarrrgghhhh!

'Nuff said.

Thanks for the nice welcome! So far so good! I had a good day on plan yesterday which is big thing for me since Wednesday is my day off. Sometimes being home alone can really trigger a binge for me. I love the office I work in and they usually go crazy with birthday treats. But as I have great friends, one of them bought me a little gift instead of bring a snack and another friend brought in a WW friendly treat which took a lot of stress off my morning! I just have to remember to check the website for the restaurant my family is going to tonight so I can try and plan ahead. I know planning is a big part of staying on track!

Hope everybody is having a great day! Thanks again for all the nice thoughts!

Happy Birthday MMom!
I try to have VERY light breakfast & lunches if I know that I'm going out for dinner. Plan all you can, but restaurants load everything with so much crap it seems like an inevitable calorie bomb.

Day 17 no binging

And down 2 pounds this am - 178

Happy Thursday

Happy B-Day to you, MadeleinesMom!! Hope you can find something that fits in your plan at the restaurant. Enjoy!

Blueflower-Congrats on the 2 pounds lost!! I saw a 150 on the scale when I got up this morning and didn't believe my eyes...so I stepped off and then back on and gained 2.5 pounds in the process... We'll see what it says in the morning.

Busy, busy day here. Eating going well and I was able to do a Power Mile this morning. I had to be at work at 0700 so I felt good to be able to do that much.

Hi Everyone, for a change i've got time to write personals!

MaddieD - congratulations on the blood pressure drop. Did you feel pleased with yourself? Bottle the feeling and remember it next time you're tempted to be naughty!

Kittehmomma - awww, hope your fur-family is feeling better soon and no vet-visit needed.

Lambchop - don't worry your motivation has dropped off. It happens. It'll come back. Perhaps it's a good thing to give your body a bit of a rest before your race.

Annie - sorry your not-very-handy man is causing dramas. Honestly these tradesmen aren't rocket scientists, doing some of those jobs isn't that hard, and it's amazing how proud of yourself you feel when you tackle it yourself. It's just having the confidence to give it a go. And the more bits and pieces you do the easier having a go at something new becomes. Like doing anything for the first time i suppose. And power-tools are so cheap these days. And how to do everything is on utube!!!

Madelinesmum - keep up the good work on the cake avoidance! Something i'm committed to too by the look of my signature.

Blue Flower - great work on 17-binge-free-days. That's a good chunk of time, well done!

Well i went out for a beautiful trail run in the national park close to my home this morning, it was just perfect weather, no-one around, birds tweeting, the flowers are all out, there were 3 pretty little creek crossings, and i had plenty of energy for some unkown reason. Those are the runs that make all the hard-work runs worthwile!

My next job for the morning is packing again. I'm off to Turkey this afternoon to work on a silver mine next week, and the week after i'm going back to England to see my family for a few days which i'm really looking forward to. And after a short trip to Melbourne the week after that, i'm hoping that i'll have a few travel-free weeks.

The bad thing is that we had to cancel our holiday to Bali because my husband is in the middle of a big merger at work which he's coordinating all the IT stuff for, so he just can't take time off. This is the first time we've ever had to cancel a holiday for work commitments, and it's bad timing really. I'd like a holiday, but Pete probably needs one, as he's still got TB and the pills are making him tired and a bit anxious as it is. Ah well, we'll take extra time at christmas, and hang out til then i guess.