Shr1nk1ng, it makes me really happy to see others reaching goals here, and to be able to help in any way sends me over the moon! So thank you. :)

Yay, Marlene, that your DH replaced the crackers! Disaster averted. ;) And yes, no doubt that silly fluctuation is salt; it'll be gone before you know it.

Heidi, I know you posted in the chat thread, but I wanted to say how glad I am that your recent tests came back clear - that is wonderful!

Hi to everyone else; sorry for the lack of more personals. I'm a little lost right now. This weekend is going to be difficult for me. My mother went into the hospital with the flu and double pneumonia. This is scary enough for anyone, but she's in frail health with breathing problems and a reduced lung capacity, so this is bad, really bad. I'm stressing over this, but she did call me a little while ago from the hospital (to complain that her TV doesn't work so she missed the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, LOL) and she's in good spirits, so that's good. I just wish I were closer - it's a 2 1/2 hour drive to see them normally but there's a mountain range between us and a storm currently dumping a lot of snow on the pass. Sigh...do you ever wish you knew what was going to happen so you didn't have to worry about what might happen?

So sorry to hear about your mom's condition Cattails! How old is she? I hope she will heal quickly.

Not much to report. I forgot to log in my food; I think I stayed within my calorie range.

I had a small victory last night; I went out to a happy hour with some ladyfriends, and I had nothing to eat nor to drink; well plain tonic water (no vodka in it :D). Being drink free around drinkers is getting easier. I don't crave the wine as much anymore. What was nice; these ladies have not seen me since New Year's Eve...10-12 pounds ago and they all were all amazed how much thinner I had gotten. One said I should stop losing weight right now.

Which bring me to another point. I am starting to look really good with clothes on, but clothes off, I look skinny fat :( -- I am doing strength training 3 times per week and swimming should sculpt my body too. I hate this part of weight loss. Fat made me plump and smooth and now I have this squishy fat all over me. I know the squishy fat is good because it is getting all soft and it will leave my body soon, but I am horrified how I look naked :( One should be able to enjoy the process, right? -- I am going to continue as usual with my walks, aerobics, swimming and weights and hopefully the next 10 pounds will make me look better nude.

I already walked my furbaby this morning. Have I mentioned that I am getting tired of snow...LOL! Later on I will hit the gym for some weights and swimming. A good day.

I'm sending healing thoughts to your mom Cattails, and supportive thoughts to you, I know the stress is probably overwhelming! :hug:

Thank you for the well wishes. My mom is 73 and has always been in good health until a few years ago when she developed bird handler's disease. Who knew her beloved pets would destroy her lungs? Now she carries oxygen with her and struggles to do any activity. But she reports that she's feeling better today and even has an appetite - a very good thing as she's dropped down to about 104 lbs. (she's about 5' 2"). I'll be able to relax once she's back home and clear of any infection - until then, yes, this is very stressful! Two things come to mind: eat chocolate, and exercise madly. I'll try to follow the second urge more than the first, though today was an abysmal failure in that way. Ah, well, tomorrow WILL be better.

Sum, I feel for you; watching your body change is often uncomfortable, but you are so much better and will keep getting better. Even if you lost no more weight but stayed right where you are now, things would smooth and even out over the next several months, I think - but probably the major thing is that your contours are unfamiliar to you now. At least that's how it's been for me. Getting used to feeling my bone structure has been equally wonderful and scary. And my belly has been a real work in progress, and still is! But it's changing shape and for the better, even now. I hope you can embrace your changes - it's all part of the process and all that. Sorry if this is a bit rambling... You're doing great, and I'm so happy for you achieving your goals!

My weight loss has slowed dramatically. There really isn't much I can change or eliminate from my diet, and I'm already exercising enough (for now) so I think I'll just stick this one out for a few more days. I am having a MediumDay instead of an UpDay today because I have to rearrange my days this week. MediumDays are easy for me and they are lower in calories so maybe that will help.

Still at 152.4 today. :mad:

My blood glucose is great at 83 and I am definitely in ketosis (ketones 1.6).

Cattails, glad to hear your mom was feeling better this morning. Hope she's on the mend and gets home soon. It's so hard when parents aren't nearby.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

128.0 this am, same as yesterday. TOM and I went to a party yesterday. Ate reasonably, except I did decide to have a small piece of cake. It had fruit on the top of it, does that count? If this doesn't drop by Tuesday am, then I'm going back to my strict list for a few days until I get back to 125.

Today:
B - protein bar & sugar free cappuccino
L - salad with chicken, feta, guacamole, salsa, orange, animal crackers
S - Cheese stick, mixed berries
D - beef fajita taco salad, ate 1/2 of the shell. I normally order without this, but was at a place we haven't been to in a while, and didn't feel comfortable with the special ordering that I do at our regular place. It WAS not as good as our regular place at all... I wished I had picked something else.
S - Orange, magic pops
Calories - aprox 1300 to 1350

We cut down 3 trees on our property today and hauled all of the branches to our brush pile, so I'm counting that as my workout!

I did better today, kept the calories where they should be, and got in a good workout! That felt pretty good. What was even better was hearing from my mom that she may get to go home tomorrow - yay! She's definitely doing much better. Big relief.

B: kefir with dried cherries and flaxseed
L: grapes, minestrone soup
S: dried mangoes
D: steamed broccoli, beef taco salad
S: coffee with creamer, dark chocolate

E: 20 minutes jogging on the mini trampoline, 55 minutes strength with 3 minute cardio intervals between sets, 25 minutes yoga/stretching

Hope everyone's weekend was pleasant.

So happy to hear your mom is doing well enough to maybe go home. Will she need someone to help her when she gets home? That can be a whole different kind of stressful. :hug:

---------

Today's weigh-in was 151.4, another one pound mini-whoosh! :carrot:

Hopefully my weight can get past the 150 mark by the end of this week.

Cat Nice to hear that your mom is being released. It must be a great relief for you!!

Shrink Congrats on your whoosh! At this rate you will pass me soon :D

Marlene Sorry about your crummy weigh in. I know you are so determined that it will come off in a few days.

No TOM whoosh for me :( Usually I have enjoyed 2-4 pound whoosh each month, but not this month. -- I think I have no more water to drop; it is all fat loss from now on. It is going to slow down, drastically and I need to accept it. -- I guess one pound loss per week would be fabulous, if it just plain old fat. Hard to imagine, I have lost nearly 14 pounds since this challenge started; another 14 pounds and I will be near goal :eek: I really hope I can bring my weight down to 140 by Friday; nice 15 pound drop for this challenge.

Today I will have my final interview for the hospital volunteer position, wish me luck :crossed:

Meals
B - Orange, egg and hibiscus tea
L - None; not hungry
D - Salmon, rice (yep added carbs back into my diet), broccoli and Caesar salad
S - Apple w/pb, string cheese
Total cals 1300

Exercise
3.3 mile hike through snow 60 min, step aerobics 60 min

Weight
142.4
Up 0.2

Cattails: Good news that your mom gets to go home! I have to say the times my dad was in the hospital were the most horrible of my life, and I actually have post traumatic stress disorder from it....I quit my job at the hospital, that's how bad it was...and probably still is. Anyway I know how hard it is to live far from a parent and know they are sickly. I hope she recovers quickly...

SUM: I think as we get older when we lose weight our bodies don't smooth out the way we like them to. theres going to be some squish no matter what we do....in fact I can always tells which of my students lost a big amount of weight by how their skin looks. I am not saying this to discourage you..just keep doing what you're doing..and weights is what helps us look good naked ;)

I wish I had time to answer all of you but I'm sleepy so I'll keep my update brief. My weekend away was great..alot of fun....I did wear my bikini in the pool...it was a bold move. I think drinking helped me lose my inhibitions. One of the other women we were with told me that I had the perfect body and I was a fool for being self conscious. She was on the heavy side, so everything is relative I guess. Anyway the weekend included a lot of EATING and drinking so I am back up to 150 lbs..and will not meet my valentines goal. Another challenge in the dust. Oh well, all I can do is try to lose some weight from here on out..but I am getting discouraged.

Breakfast: coffee with splenda
Lunch: scrambled eggs with 1 teaspoon shredded cheese.
hand full of cashews
dinner: chicken and vegetable stir fry, low sodium soy sauce.
two fried plaintains (leftover from the weekend) 2 string cheese.
today's workouts: zumba toning, zumba circuit and regular zumba class. it feels good to work out again.

Sum, I'm not completely happy with my shape even after reaching goal, although it seems to be slowing getting better. So, I completely get the "skinny fat" comment. It will get better.

Cattails, glad to hear that your mom may be getting out. That is great!

Shrink, it does come off slower as you get down, but nice on the 1 lb loss.

Zumba, glad to hear that the weekend went well and that you got into the fab pool after all!

Grrr from my house, 129.0 this morning, which is highest in at least a couple of months. Glad it was a work day so that I could get back into a routine. Will watch closely for a few days, and hope that next weekend doesn't have a bunch of out to eat meals.

B - Egg, Cheese stick, yogurt, coffee with creamer (I was SO cold!)
L - salad with chicken, orange, animal crackers
S - Orange, cheese stick
D - chicken tortilla soup starter mix (basically tomato based liquid with spices), chicken for in that, ONLY 3 chips crumbled up in it, 0.5 oz cheese, salad with black olives, guacamole & salsa. Mixed Berries
S - No sugar added ice cream
w - 8 cups

that should be just at 1200 calories, and I was particularly careful about weighing/measuring today. I really think it was the cake & chips over the weekend that did me in... I hope anyway.

She's home! I'm happy to report my mom got to go back home this afternoon. My dad is with her; he's scarcely left her side for the past, hm, few years. LOL Shr1nk1ng, I agree caregiving is very stressful and I keep checking in with him and my sister (who lives quite close to them) to see how he's doing. That man is healthy as a horse, thank goodness.

Grats, Shr1nk1ng, on the whoosh!

Sum, 14 lbs. is fantastic! How did your interview go?

Aw, Marlene, your scale is being bad! I've no doubt you'll get it back in line in no time. Probably just some sneaky water weight tormenting you. :)

Zumba, thank you (and everyone else) for the kind thoughts. Hospitals are just...scary. But gosh, I am so glad to hear your vacation was fun! Good for you. :) I'm sure there's some water weight that'll come right off - no worries.

Haven't checked in since before the weekend. So sorry to hear about your mother catTails. Being away is hard... My parents are a 24-hour drive away, and I know how hard it hurts to not be able to go when you feel like you want to be there... So glad to hear she is being released! Thanks for your well wishes.

:wave: michelle

shrinking sorry that your loss has slowed. But good that you are still seeing the positive effects.

zumba glad you got in the pool! I bet you looked great! I hope that other woman's comment helps bring some acceptance. Yes, keep working, but also love who you are today. You are not solely your body.

sum good luck with the volunteer position! They will be lucky to have you, and fools if they don't see that.

marleen glad the cookies got replaced!

On my ipad so can't scroll back further, but well wishes to all. I bombed this challenge and am working on ways to get exercise back into my schedule. For me, that's the key. Still no candy though, so there is my positive.