Ashley - I was thinking of you, too - seems like the weekends are tough for you ... when is it that you head out on your trip? Yay, join on in for the challenge. I'm not sure WHAT it actually will be - probably different things for different folks. I'm trying to REALLY focus on getting in bathing suit shape (don't laugh) ... we're planning a beach long weekend down in Florida over memorial day and I just don't want to be mortified out there. If all else fails, i'll go get a spray tan as tan skin looks thinner - ha ha!

My challenge to myself tonight is (since it's raining) to get on the treadmill for another 40 minutes tonight and to also set the alarm to get up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and do a pilates dvd. I will pack my bag to walk the canal at work at lunch, too. Actually walking at lunch will be tomorrow's challenge - ha!)

Annie - poop squat had me cracking UP! I kept saying it over and over. Anything yummy that's healthy that you really like that you can whip up that no one else likes and so you'll treat yourself a bit with something that's good for you, too?

Losing80 - Your workout video sounds fun. I NEVER can do those things as I'm so uncoordinated. Maybe I give it another try... Today is my last (third) day of week one on the 100 pushup challenge. Harder than it looks. And only day three. Ha.

FL - hope you're off to a good day today - and enjoyed your walk ... without peanut butter! Hope you're feeling well today.

Anyone remember when Ange wrapped up that long trip? Hope everyone's well - Phoenix, Barb, Kitteh, Jules, Sillycat - have a great evening!

Hi chicks

Busy day, had appt. w/ the Lawyer. Everything sounds good, so we are going forward. In a way I'm relieved, but still am worried something will go wrong. I always expect the worst cause that's what always happens to me. What can go wrong, will go wrong! My weight is up again from that P.B two days ago, now I should start losing. Rode the bike for 20min. Went way over my calories today, ate more fruit than i should have, but with all the stress it's better that I grabbed fruit, instead of junk.

Since Hubby and I are both trying to lose weight, exercise more, eat healthier {make a lifestyle change}, and save money {vet bills}, yesterday we went for a walk in a local park and today for a walk along some new wooded trails. We've decided to make the parks a 'weekend' thing. The woods are nice and cool in summer, too. We also went to see a new off-leash dogpark but were disappointed to find it was an unshaded fenced area about the size of a postage stamp. Pfft! Hubby found an extra mountain bike on the side of the road {no, I'm serious, LOL} it has a frozen chain but seems to work otherwise, He can fix that and we will be able to bike the wooded path this summer also.

While I've kept up the exercise pretty well this past winter, I haven't been giving it my all and am now trying to re-incorporate different styles of exercise I haven't done in a while, such as pilates, heavy weights, and kboxing. Count me in on the 48-ish day challenge. I need to buckle down and get serious here! :o

April is still doing very well. We gave her the last of the pills the vet gave us tonight {yay, that's over!} She of course doesn't understand why we want her to walk slowly and not chase squirrels.

Sillycat, I think that sounds like a good plan. I do a lot of Firm but can't stand Jillian. I've never tried Zumba so I can't comment on the ''serious workout' but I count EVERY workout. I've done two workouts a day before usually morning and evening and gotten good results. I find I put more effort into two short workouts rather than one long one.

Annie, we had chili dogs today for lunch. Glad you are feeling better.

NP, I started trying on my summer clothes. I found a pair of pants that perfectly explained why 'just because you can put it on doesn't mean it fits and I should wear it." I could get them buttoned and zipped but yuck. I don't think I could wear them last year either but seeing myself in them shocked me into gearing up weightloss in earnest. Which Pilates DVD? I do DVD's exculsively so I'm always interested in titles. I bought a 45min Pilates done on a stab ball dvd at Marshall's today on clearance for $2. Called Pilates on the Ball on the Go. Weird title but good workout

Ashley, glad to hear your Monday is going better than the weekend. well, except for the car...

Good morning.

I've been having trouble getting here this month. I hope it's just because life is really hectic right now. Weight is holding fairly steady, although still not doing well on exercise. Again, I think that's mostly due to how crazy my life is at the moment--and that should change in a few weeks.

I read a few posts and I know I've been missing stuff. Hope to get caught up at some point. Take care.

Good day! Ended up making "stuffed" peppers but I don't stuff them - just cut up the peppers in chunks and cook in the micro. I saute onions, carrots, cook up some hot turkey italian sausage and make into crumbles, spanish rice, corn, and hot chili beans and end up mixing it all to blend the flavors and it's pretty yummy. Had a solid serving but with the amount that it makes, it's not an indulgence. Hubby loved it - he was busy installing new light/dimmers in our dining room and I left him this morning working at putting up a new one in our entry way. LOVE them! :)

Got out on the trail with our dog last night before making dinner and jogged as much as I could and I'm NO runner by any stretch of the imagination. Think tonight we'll hit Lincoln Lawyer. Anyone seen it? I'm not a Matthew M. fan, but think this should be okay. ??

PP - I'll check the name of the dvd - I think I have one pilates and one yoga dvd - the rest I check out from our library since I'm cheap :) but a $2 deal is GREAT ... I used to do pilates regularly and was STRONG ... now it's a struggle to get thru the workout. Heading out for a three-mile walk at lunch to get it out of the way, I think. My hubby is getting into the walking/hiking, too. I like it. We're building up for a thru-hike.

SO, 46 days left in our challenge. I'm still on track! Yay! Feeling good, too. Except for allergies and I can't control those :) ha ha!

yay, FL - sounds like you might have some relief in sight. Prepare for the worst but expect the best I always think... Then you stay positive but feel a bit more control if things spin the wrong way... Hang in there!!

Annie - what was the dinner choice last night? And your ear - still good?? No jinxing there.

Argh! Yesterday we celebrated my son's bday and I did fine- I had lasgana and a piece of cheesecake, but wrapped up all the leftovers for them to take home.

However, I didn't even get on the scale today or yesterday.

My weight has been like this:

T 194
W 192 (yeah!!)
H 194 (okay...)
F 195 (WTW?!?)
S 193 (okay)

Grrr. It is frustrating, but I keep reminding myself that in reality the difference between 192 and 195 is negligible. That our bodies normally do vary by a few pounds even throughout a day. That as long as I continue to burn more calories than I consume, I will lose weight... It is just so rewarding to see the progress reflected on the scale.

So I decided to stop weighing myself daily because it was just making me anxious.

Like an idiot, I forgot my id today and locked the door behind me (need it or cash (which I never carry) for bus). Thought- no problem, I'll walk... LOL. Realized that the trip is MUCH longer than I thought. Halfway there (at the bottom of a LOOOONG hill with no pedestrian signs everywhere) I was about to drop down to the ground (did I mention it was raining) and cry when, like an angel, an employee shuttle pulled up next to me...

So, I did get my half hour before-work walk in which I had planned to skip because I was running late LOL

Pnoenix, good job on the walk to work, good timing of the shuttle driver,too. I decided to stop weighing daily for the same reason, the ups and downs drove me nuts.

NP, I like your version of stuffed peppers. I think I could make your version and Hubby would give it a try. 'Stuffed peppers for dinner tonight' is my Mom's hint/code to my Dad that she wants to go out to eat. I can only guess that she made them early in their marriage and they were bad enough to warn him off a second attempt. :dizzy:

Kitteh, hope you get some calm soon.

I lost 3 of the 4 lbs I was whining about gaining last week; I weighed today out of curiosity. This is TOM week so I'm sure it will slide back up. Hubby and I were going through Krogers last night and he pointed out candies and other unmentionalbe goodies. I kept repeating "Lifestyle change!' to him. He's actually doing very well. He gave up Cokes last year and fried foods this past month. Now we just need to work on portion control and exercise.

Morning ladies, so yesterday went well food wise and attitude wise, off to a good start today.
NP - we leave on the 24, and way to go on your exercise.
Kittie - hope you are doing well and have a good day!
Annie - it is sure a pain to have a car and all the stuff that can go wrong with them. Hope you can get new furniture soon! It is nice to freshen up our homes and enjoy them. We did get two muchly needed new tires as well so those were not cheap either.
Penguin - way to go on the exercise!
So we are on day 46 then? So far so good.

Have my dR.s appointment tonight, now that I feel better not sure what to do about depression meds. I have a few bad days then I feel better for a bit then a few bad days, lately the bad days outweigh the good ones. I have so much to be thankful for I feel ashamed to be depressed. Well just see how it goes I suppose.

Small chuckle for the day - yesterday I saw a thread where someone said what plan should they do? For some reason it struck a funny nerve and I thought eat healthy and eat less and move more............. basically at myself seems so easy to say... so hard to do!!!! Why do i make somthing so simple so complicated

Hey, I've got new neighbors across the street! There's a moving van and loads of helpers. Maybe this family will stay a while... In the 2 years I've been here, there've been maybe 4-5 different groups staying there and lots of vacancy. We even had a huge drug bust last winter! This guy was having cars drive up behind his house and doing business out the back door. The new folks have little kids, yard tools. Gosh I hope they're a keeper.

Ate a huge bowl of tuna, white beans, diced carrots and cottage cheese yesterday. Managed to skip the mayo by creaming (okay, squooshing) the cottage cheese and tossing in lime juice, pepper and some lemon curry. At least I'm feeling more limber and stronger from the exercise, even if I'm losing sloooooowly b/c I can't get a grip on the food. Time for a lunch salad - see ya!

national- thanks, I never expect things to go perfectly cause they never do.

Raining again! We had sun 3 days total since spring started, I'm sick of it. Took a 30min. walk anyway, sick of riding that bike. I'm doing ok with eating, but did sneak in 2 pks of hubby's kandy kakes, not good. I'll be over my calorie limit by 300 again! Weight came down 3 oz. so i'm not too happy, i was doing good w/ eating the past two days. I'm starting to hate this!

I'm wondering what in the h-e-double hockeysticks is wrong with me. In addition to my healthy, on-plan foods.....today I have also eaten a sliver of an "everything" bagel w/ cream cheese (I DON'T EVEN LIKE "EVERYTHING" BAGELS....even though it was a sliver), a ~ 2 inch square cheesecake "bite" (I'm not that big a fan of cheesecake usually), an entire roll of sugar free mints, and two small cookies sitting in our office in a big red tin box.:?::(:mad::?::(:mad: I could make the excuse that it's the prednisone I was taking, but I finished it a week ago. I think I have just allowed myself so many off-plan items lately that it is becoming a dangerous habit. I will gain control....and meet the challenge I made to be at 145 by end of our 50-day challenge. I am not happy with myself.

On a lighter note....Phoenix-I just imagine you peeking out of your curtains like Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched!! http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...avitz_icon.jpg:D

Annie - what is it that, if you splurged, you'd LOVE to enjoy tonight? Maybe make it/buy it/order it and SAVOR it. Then on plan tomorrow and you've enjoyed a good bite of life on this Tuesday ...

Racing off here to run home, make dinner (?) and catch the movie.

Annie - I sooooo feel your pain, seems sometimes the harder I try the harder it is and for no good reason. Don't beat yourself up or allow this to ruin your day, continue on to your goal, you can do this!

here is a good exercise - one day I decided to not let my size or the number on the scale dictate what kind of a day I was going to have. Doesnt mean I ate off plan or anthing but wow I did enjoy my day.... that was a couple years ago, now to just think that way each day!

NP-I have no idea what "one thing" I'd like.....I just want to stuff my body for some reason....good stuff, bad stuff.....it doesn't matter.

I guess I just want to eat like "everybody else". But I've done that in the past....that's how I got up to almost 200 pounds again before I started my lifestyle changes. I've proven to myself I cannot eat like everyone else (even though most of them are overweight)....and I've proven to myself that I look better and feel better when I am eating and exercising on plan....just gotta remind myself more often.

I found one of my walking videos for free on ExerciseTV.com today and walked a mile on my lunch break. That, along with the 4 miles I did this morning, will hopefully help make up some of the damage done with the crazy eating today.

Started back with weights today. I kept it lighter because I didn't want to re-injure my back but was able to do the abwork and pushups included in my workout. I did Firm Bootcamp 3in1~ Workout 1~ 40min DVD. This is a complilation workout which I thought it was just okay; I felt the sets were short {she finidhed the triceps started to stretch and I thought "is that all?} and felt rather rushed. I'll try the other workout on the DVD but there are others I like a lot better.

I have to admit I don't like salads a lot but I bought a head of iceburg and a bag of spinach mixed them together and have had a side salad almost every day this week as part of lunch. I'm adding romano cheese, bacon bits, tomato, crutons and using Newman's Own Parmasan and Garlic dressing. Tastes a lot like the salad at Olive Garden. Not sure how long this will last but I'm enjoying it so far.

Annie, snap out of it:D! Not sure why you would eat foods you don't even like that much?? Are you hungry or are they just calling to you??

Ashley, praying wisdom and peace for you.