No weigh in for me either, Zumba. I have been super relaxed about food. I need to get back on track. I will weigh in when this challenge ends and see how much I gained, because I think I am around 143 pounds based on how clothes fit. That would mean a three pound gain :( I will vow to do better the next challenge, I must....

I want to be skinny when I go home this summer. I have been so fat, so many years during my visits, it would be nice to go back and actually look nice. I would also like to buy some nice clothes while there. Fashion is always a bit ahead there.

I am making a budget today, ugh. Seeing where I could cut back. We have $4000-5000 monthly college payments starting in the fall and I need to tighten the belt. -- I cut our food bill in half. We were spending over $2000 per month on food. Now I make menus and shopping lists and I have been staying around $1000 per month. -- I know it is still pretty high, but we eat grass fed organic beef, pasture raised eggs (haha...that sounds funny), wild caught salmon etc. Even organic milk is expensive.

I averaged our clothing bill and that came to $400 per month; I can lower that one too, I don't need as many visits to WHBM :D Once I get down to my ideal weight, I won't need to buy clothes in many sizes.

I am not willing to cut back on gym expenses etc, and we only pend $200 eating out per month. I guess I could cut that in half...but I think that number is a lot lower what an average American spends on fast/restaurant food.

We have saved a ton on utilities after we moved. We lived in this huge house that was built in the late 90's during the housing boom when they just slapped the houses together with poor materials. Now we live in a smaller house that was custom built in the 70's with great windows and good insulation. We used to spend over $700 on utilities whereas now we only spend around $250. Amazing difference. I remember our furnace running all the time and the house was never warm. In this house the furnace barely runs and we are bare footed all the time :)

Anyone else does budgets? -- I am going to start keeping spreadsheets of our expenses. I won't go as far as counting our cash usage on coffees etc, though... We try to put everything on debit cards anyways, so one always thinks twice about doing a coffee run to Starbuck's :) It all adds up.

I am anal :) (Wonder if they block that word).

We had an amazing day weather wise yesterday. It felt like there was some hope for spring :)

So today I will get back to my exercising; walk and gym. And eating OP.

Well they didn't block the word ANAL..bahahahahahahhaa....

So funny that you should bring up budgets, because my goal after I get my tax information together is to start getting a budget together. Right now I have no clue on what I am spending monthly on food and my household expenses. I need to make sure there is enough money come Spring to pay property taxes on two houses.....I also have expenses coming up with the warmer weather since I need to get the pool running and i need patio furniture.......anyways let me know what program you use to do your spreadsheet....

Zumba no I have never made them but I do want to try. I just keep forgetting to look up the recipe. I may try that tomorrow if I have all of the ingredients because oopsie bread can be used in the place of bread but taste nothing like it. :)

Sum not anal at all ...

I weighed in at .2 up 164.6. I went way over my calories yesterday and today so tomorrow will probably be an up day on the scale also

Hi all,

I've been a bit busy, late nights & stuff going on.

Eating has been on-program and I've been under calorie limit each day. I've also been able to either walk or do 30DS (or both) every day. I was 125.0 this morning.

Budgets are interesting... If I had to come up with what I spend on things each month, that would be fairly easy. I always use a debit or credit card, and I always pay off all of my credit cards each month. However, what I do generally is that I know how much my share of the house payment is and what my car payment is. Everything else goes on a card, and I know exactly how much I can spend on that card each month and be "OK". But I don't track so much for food, clothes, and whatnot. I just go by the total. For example, this month, I had some car repair bills, so I didn't buy more clothes. I am supposed to get an airline ticket to go to Pittsburgh in May, but I have already used all that I had allotted for the month. That statement cut date is soon, and then I can purchase the ticket. I do have various savings accounts and could take money out of one of those if I really needed to, but rather not.

It is interesting seeing what others spend money on... We go out about once or twice a week now (plus my weekend breakfast with the car club), but used to go more before I started eating better to lose the weight.

As far as food, we don't usually get the organic items, but instead I do most of my shopping at Costco. we take turns paying for groceries, so I only know my half. My DH pays the electric & trash bills, the electric can be anywhere from $60 up to just over $200/month. We have solar panels, so those help some. Trash is something around $75/ quarter. I pay our internet bill of $75/month, we don't have cable or a landline. My cell is paid by my company, and my husband pays his & the kids through his company. After the kids get out of college and our house is paid off (we are planning 10 years for this), our expenses should be pretty minimal. That gives me 5 or 6 years to really save for retirement, I'd like to reach that point (or at least partially retire) by 64 or 65.

Wow Marlene sounds to me like you have a good retirement plan going..I'm impressed....I wish I could tell you off hand what all my expenses are...but like i said my goal is to get organized financially ..that is my goal for the month of April.

Well I had another horrible night's sleep thanks to the puppy...She's not getting this at all....its been a week today that i have had her. Hoping this improves soon, I can't to through my week all sleepy....

I weighed in today...149.4. I guess my body is liking this number......I may put in a couple of fasting days this week to see if that jumpstarts weight loss.....we shall see....

Its a sunny day today but it has gone back to being really cold....was hoping to get to the car wash today, I hope they're open.....Also have to get ready for the week which includes food shopping. My frig is EMPTY, I need to stock up on healthy foods for the kids and myself.

Have a wonderful sunday y'all.

Budget is done :) Zumba, I use excell spreadshhets.

I stepped on scale this morning, and I was spot on. 143, even. That is a redline for me. I don't want to slip into 145 and the subsequent 150... So the meal planning is on.

I slept through my aerobic class this morning, but I'll go to the gym and walk on treadmill, swim and lift weights. I must get back into the groove of things. Summer is approaching fast and I want to be svelte.

My dog woke up with a limp. :( She is 9 years old and these things are to be expected. Makes me feel so sad. I think she slept on it bad. So I don't think I'll be walking her today. This momma feels bad for her furbaby.

Plan for today
B - Green tea
L - Salad w/ grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, cuke, onion and vinaigrette dressing.
D - Meatballs, big salad and veggie.

There! I wrote it down therefore I must follow the plan :D

Marlene, all I can say is WOW, you're amazing :)

Zumba, sorry about the puppy and not allowing you to rest properly :hug:

Sum, LOL on writing it down following plan :) I really need to get back to that also.

Question when you all fast how long do you fast, half day, all day, until dinner? and When you fast what is it that you do consume during the fast? Thanks

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On 2/15 I said ---> My weigh in today was 169.6 up .6 from yesterday. I have been stuck between 168-170 all month, smh. My goal for this challenge is to be at or near 162 so 7.6 pounds to lose

Today weight is up .8 to 165.4 ... not even close to goal for this challenge ... I did drop 4.2lbs as of today but that could definitely change in the morning.

Rennie, I usually fast from dinner to dinner, sometime lunch to lunch. I only drink water and green tea (lots of it) when I fast. Fast usually cuts my carb binge cycle and over eating cycle. I don't get light headed. Hungry, yup around 2-3 pm. When I make my dinner, I usually eat a big salad first, that will stop me from gorging. If I am really hungry when fixing dinner; I snack on broccoli and cauliflower. The key is not to over eat at dinner. Just a normal size dinner and a light snack at night.

You asked about DOMS, sorry I don't think I have done personals; Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness... Just sore muscles after working out, lactic acid :D

I did okay today. Pigged out a little bit :o Nothing too drastic. I dragged my (big) butt over to the gym too :) :) It felt good to be working out. I lifted weights and powerwalked.

I have been REALLY thirsty tonight, I bet scale will show it in the morning. But I know it is NOT true weight :) :)

I have to go and get my blood drawn again for the TB test. The first one came inconclusive... the bummer is, I have been vaccinated against TB as a baby and again when I was 15 I received a booster. So my test will always come out funny. Luckily they said they will only test me twice and then they consider it negative. -- They did not accept my vaccination records, ugh!

Tomorrow will be a fast day. I will be at The FCA all day. No work outs just walking my pup at night if her leg feels better.

Sum I have done dinner to dinner. I did it for a few years Tuesday to Wednesday with my old church. I should probably start again, huh. Ok and a salad before dinner. I think if I eat the salad I will be done (if I make it properly) ;) Thanks for the DOMS meaning :)

Re:budgets - the first thing to do is to become aware of what you spend, so Zumba, by getting organized, you are doing that.

We had a church lunch today, a good bye party for one of our pastors who is going to a new church. The lunch was pretty good, and op. HOWEVER, the desert table was not. I had a small choc chip cookie, a few bits of brownie, a few bites of a rice crispie treat, and a few bites of mixed berry pie. All homemade. The rest of my day was good though, so hopefully this won't cause a major gain that I can't shake. I am going to guess I'll be up some Tuesday, and then if I really pay attention the rest of the week, I'll be back where I prefer.

Sum, hope your pup's leg is feeling better today. It's so nice to have a companion, isn't it?

Marlene, have you started training for the 5k? I'd love to hear all about it!

We had an early St. Paddy's Day dinner today at my MILs. I made her really tweak the menu what with DH and DS#2 still on SB phase 1, lol. I'm especially proud of DS for his willpower getting through this: a week of no soda, no chips and no candy is a huge change for him - and his pants are starting to fall off. :D

I did stay comfortably under 120 throughout this challenge, so I'm happy about that. Checking in with you ladies is such a source of inspiration and motivation when the little voices try to persuade me that the effort is not worth it. I AM worth it - we ALL are worth it!

:wave: to all and HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! :goldpot:

Oh, and a new challenge is up. Come aboard! http://http://www.3fatchicks.com/for...challenge.html

Well I did not meet my goal, not even close.

I gained 4 pounds :(

This was a great wake up call for me.

Happy St. Patty's Day Everyone! Don't drink too much green beer :D -- None for me, because I hate beer....

Oh, goodness. I've sort of lost the thread here... (pun intended :D) so I will see everyone over at the chicken thread!

I managed to meet my exercise goals, but my weight loss goal... Voldemort.