Melissa
Nice going on the jeans fitting looser. That means a great deal. Numbers on the scale are ok but our clothes fitting different really is a BIG deal. Glad you are staying on plan. Exercise is important for so many reasons, sure it helps some people lose weight but the benefits it gives the body are way more than just taking off lbs. Keep up the good work.

Ambie
That is all you really have to track is weight. Nice idea to take your measurements and then tell us every couple of weeks when you see a change. Gives you one more way to see the difference in your body. Before and during pics are great too. You don't have to post them if you don't want to but looking at a pic shows us how far we have come. As far as support for the team. Come chat with us. We love and need to hear how each other are doing. It is important to hear about the good times and bad times, we all have them.


ksk
Thanks, I am feeling better. Sometimes I just let this early menopause thing get to me. I shouldn't, heck I have been going through it since I was about 29 lol. Eating I am doing fine on, no big deal. The exercise is another story. I have to really take it easy because of, well, how hard the dot is. By next week sometimes the exercise will be back to normal pace too.

Hun
I think it is great that you go to classes and make good choices. I have only watched the show one time and then not all of it lol.

Tina
I keep forgetting to add my exercise to our challenge. I am doing the January challenge on another thread. Wonder if I should copy over all the amounts from that thread to our thread lol.

Good morning ladies! Yesterday was a good day. I ate OP and I got in a great workout at the gym. I said I would do ab work during TBL and I did, so everything I said I would do I DID! That feels so good. I wish I could bottle up that feeling and store it for when I want to cheat/slack off:) Today I'm going to my MIL's for lunch again with my SIL. We get together at least once a week, and I'm looking forward to a nice ladies afternoon. Today I'm going to do a little cardio at the gym, but the main focus today will be strength training. It's time to start it back up again, and I have to say I do like doing it. I just wanted a few good weeks of cardio to get some movement in this body. I'm loving the new book I'm reading, and I find when I want to sit and eat mindlessly I grab my book to keep me busy. My turkey chili was divine! MMMM I really don't mind that I'm the only one who eats it, more for me!LOL! It is so good and I figured out that for the whole pot of chili it has 2,680 calories...and it's a huge pot. I think it probably comes out to like 335 calories per serving. Now I do put a little cheese, FF sour cream and some oyster crackers on it, so it's more like 515 cals when I get done with it, but still really good for a meal. I'll be having that for the rest of the week. I was just reading at the gym yesterday how good beans are for you, and seemings how I put 4 cans of them in my chili thats good news! Well I need to get moving my butt...I have to be ready when the kids go to school today! Have a great day ladies~

MOM23BC- I think I would have to agree with you on the question of the day...no housework but a beautiful looking house would be wonderful! Have a great day!

LadyZaidi- You'll break that 150 this week:)

Sara- Great job on the exercise 2 days in a row...that time of morning I'm still sound asleep:) Thank you for the compliment...it does feel good, now I would like to loose just a bit more and tone up the mess I've left behind:)LOL!

OptimistK- Good morning...have a great day~

Yello- That is pretty cool that we lost a whole person in one week. It really does light a fire under me to keep doing good!

Jen- Have a great day!

Laura- Glad you got back on track and give yourself a break every now and then, your doing great and your so commited to exercise I think you can have a treat here and there! Keep it up girl~

Melissa- Great job on the workout during TBL...I would imagine that it's very inspiring to workout while watching the show. Your doing so good!

Andi- How's it going? Have a great day~

Roni- How are things going girl? You posted an awesome loss last week, keep up the hard work:)

Everyone else have a fantastic day~

Rennie- I would ask Melissa if that is okay and I would for sure. It's hard to keep everything straight when your chatting in all different forums, so I totally understand! I don't think there were any specfic rules though so it should be okay. Keep up the hard work girl~

Lady
The weight will come off, don't keep looking at that scale lol. I don't do my official weigh in ( change the ticker then ) at the docs office until next week. I will do a weigh in here at home around 3:30 since that is the same time I go to the docs office every two weeks. I have already noticed I like the two week weigh in much better than every week. I see more progress in two weeks than in one week.

bella
Nice going on exercising. It really does make you feel good. It also is nice when we stick to something that we know is good for us. Gives us power and shows us we are the ones in control.

cakes
Sometimes we have to stop looking at all we still have to lose and look at how much we have lost. You will get back on the trail and see the lbs coming off. Take a second and enjoy what you have already accomplished. What we have to do is important, what we have already accomplished is important too.

Question of the day
Well since my life is exactly how I want it. Low stress, stay at home mom. I love to do housework, most of the time lol, gives me a sense of accomplishment. I guess the only thing I would change in my life, except getting the rest of this weigh off and getting in shape would be to stop smoking. We all know smoking is terrible for our heath. Promised my daughter, I do not make promises lightly. I would stop smoking when I got back down to 120. That day is coming closer and closer. Have to admit, I am very excited for it to get here.

Think I am all caught up now lol.

Tina
Thanks I will do that. You are doing great. I wish I could bottle that feeling I have after a workout. Oh the sense of accomplishment, power and self esteem that is so high. I bet we could make a fortune if we could sell that. I have it so much easier than most of you ( counting kind of does the same thing ) I don't cheat or go over on a plan. My " Rennie " plan allows anything and everything within reason lol.

Good Morning Red team!! I got a great night sleep I think! Slept all night so thats always a good sign, had some bizzaro dreams though LOL! I was supposed to be helping out at my dds school with Celebrity Reader day but she is out sick! My plan for today is to stick to my points, and after class head over to the gym for week 2 day 2 of thw c25k.

Rennie....I think its okay for you to post all your minutes. I didnt read the very first page to see if there was a limit as to how many minutes you can post at a time but I would imagine that you are just fine to post them all. I say go for it, better to ask forgiveness than permission! LOL!

Tina...Way to go yesterday!!!! oooh the MIL and the SIL today!! Talk about my worst nightmare LOL! Keep up the amazing work Tina..and the amazing support of your team!! We are lucky to have you!

Jasmine....:wave: good to see you! I thought we might have lost you so its GREAT to see you on the board!! How is everything going?

LadyZ...wow Homecoming Queen!! Thats pretty impressive!

Sara...way to go on that exercise!!! Isnt it funny how once you just do it you realize how great it makes you feel?!

OptimistK....wouldnt it be grand if we could get paid to be students? LOL!

Yello....the C25K is short for Couch to 5K, its a running program that is 9 weeks and it eases you into running so by the end of it you can run a 5K. Or at least thats the goal anyway LOL! The Million Pound Matchup is a Biggest Loser thing. You get yourself a teammate and the 2 of you set up a spaces account through MSN and document your weightloss journey. 5 winners will win a trip to the Biggest Loser Finale and the top winner gets a trainer for a year.

everyone else I missed....Happy Wednesday! :wave:

To answer my own question:

Its funny my first thought when I did that question was vaccumming the stairs! I HATE to vaccuum the stairs. But you girls think outside the box and I'm gonna jump on the paying bills bandwagon. I dont currently work, but I'm kinda looking forward to having a job once I get my degree. But if I didnt have to pay bills but still get all the benefits they provide I'd be all for it! LOL!

I'm going to go with the really obvious answer to today's question: I would love to be able to eat ANYTHING I want, but not gain. I love exercise so I'd never give that up, but lately I have such a sweet tooth and I'd love to be able to eat everything I want rather than stick with moderation... moderation is just no fun at all :)

Also, I weighed myself this morning, and I'm down 0.2 from where I was Saturday, so my estimate for Monday's weigh in was probably about right. AND it would seem that I made up for all the junk I ate while I was in Boston! Yay :)

Today is another light day for me in preparation for heavy days tomorrow and Friday. Tomorrow I have a dinner for my company mentoring group, which will be delicious and hard to resist all the junky stuff :) And then Friday is our "all-hands" quarterly staff meeting, which means breakfast, lunch, and dinner will all be catered (yummy but SO much worse for me than my own home cooking). Plus, one of the highlights of our QSM is the extensive cocktail hours. By hours, I mean 4 PM to 1 AM. Hard to stick to just a glass of white wine and no hors d'oeuvres when they go on that long!!! My plan is just to eat lightly today and tomorrow during the day, then indulge myself at least a bit on Friday, and then Saturday/Sunday eat light and then run. We'll see if it works!

Hi everybody,
Hope you are all having a POP day! I am so discouraged right now! I went for my weigh in and I am the same! I have worked so hard and have been on plan and nothing seems to budge. I am considering switching plans to either WW or Calorie Counting as I am currently with LA and have been for one whole year now and have lost weight but have been at a stand still for quite a while now…I think its time for a change. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sara

Melissa - I have an on campus job in which I mostly do my homework, so I guess I sort of am getting paid to be a student! LOL Bizzare dreams eh? Well that's a good thing, means you went into REM sleep, completing all of your sleep cycles, ok enough nerding it up for me!

Diva - Aiden Turner (portrays Aiden Devane) is HANDSOME! Yummmmmy!

Sara - Way to go on day 2! I used to be an early morning AM exerciser, that's before 8:00 AM classes took over.

Tina - I just love reading! I finished the book I was reading this very morning (such a sad day, I just hate, yet love finishing novels, LOL). Ohhhhh, I made chilli two Fridays ago, it was delicious! I called my mom for her recipe and it turned out pretty close to hers, but nothing will ever beat mom's cooking, lol.

Laura - indulging every now and then keeps us sane on the crazy journey called weightloss. I do so myself, from time to time, hehe, probably a bit too much at times. Yet, like you plan to, I always manage to go to the gym and run until I feel like my legs will fall off!!!

Hope the rest of the day is going well for you all!!!

OOOHH lets nerd it up! LOL!! Who else here loves to read?! me me me!! My alltime favorite books are the Stephanie Plum series. right now I'm reading one of the between the numbers novels called Plum Lucky, its okay. anyone else read these?

Just finished Week1Day2 of the c25k...thats 3 days in a row of exercise!! Who woulda thunk it! I'm exhausted right now, I could to do homework or I could relax...I pick relax! LOL!

Sara...maybe you could just give the quickstart program for weight watchers a try..see if it does anything. Its only a week. If nothing changes, I dont think you are any worse off for it. that should shake things up. Let me know if you'd like more info!

I love to read. I am almost finished with Pillars of the Earth by KenFollet. Last weekend, I spent all day Saturday reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It is written by a journalist not a nutritionist. He had a lot to say about how scientists break down what we eat to try to find the good and bad parts and then sell it back to us as better or safer food. For example, low fat cookies. Supposedly the cookies are better because they are low fat even though they are still cookies. He summarizes his philosophy for eating-"eat food, not too much, mostly plants". It was really interesting.

Hi Melissa,
You are always so nice and there for all of us...thank you!

Yes, I would love that info, may be I will give it a try.


Thanks and hello to everybody else with all their kind encouragement for my breaking news on having started to exercise. It means so much to have you all as a support team!

Rennie- What plan are you on? You have done so awesome.

I would love to hear more about calorie counting and how to determine how many calories you need to lose weight.and if you are following it if you are happy with doing so or is it too difficult.

Good afternoon ladies! Not much time to read all the posts since last night. I have been out all day for the most part. I did spend an hour this afternoon baking a cake. Just have to frost it now. Wednesdays are my days without any kids (other then my own), and it just seems to be so busy every Wednesday. One of these Wednesdays I'll have time to just sit home and veg with my little man. :) On the bright side, I did have lunch with DH this afternoon. We went to Red Robin and I was semi-good, had a turkey burger. Of course I had the fries though. But I didn't even look at the menu, I went in there with a plan, and stuck to it! so that's a start. :) Course I am sure the salt is going to do me in for this week's WI. Good thing it isn't until Saturday. DH is going to be out of town from tomorrow until Saturday night on business. Just me and the kids for a few days. Hope they don't drive me too crazy!! lol

Well lunch was really good and I ate healthy. We had sandwiches with some soup and cottage cheese, and for dessert we had a big bowl of fruit salad...yummy, yummy!LOL! (Those of you with young kids will get that...The Wiggles) those guys annoy the heck out of me! I'm headed to the gym in a bit for some light cardio, but mostly going to do weights today. I have really been loving my cardio, so it's going to be hard to focus more on weights, but I need to tone this body up. I have leftover chili for dinner, and I can't wait to eat some....I love that stuff! I have to say I've been feeling really good lately. I hope this lasts. I was thinking the eating healthy and exercise are probably helping me greatly. Whatever it is I hope it lasts for me!!!


Laura- Oh that would be hard to have all that food catered and then throw in drinks, ahhh be strong girl, be strong!LOL! Like you said though eat light until then and your doing so good with your workouts, so hopefully a few little treats won't add up to anything! I loved your answer to the question of the day...duh, why didn't I think of that. Heck yeah I wish I could eat anything and not gain a pound. That is the complete opposite of my body though. Not only do I have to eat healthy I also have to exercise to lose weight.

Roni- I hear ya girl on paycheck to paycheck, IT SUCKS!!! My husband gets paid bi-weekly and I can't wait for his check this week. We are down to the last dime over here. I'm so happy to hear though that your not turning to food, that is a huge step in the right direction. Hang tight girl~

OptimistK- Well I would have to say I cook way better then my mom, but that isn't saying much about my cooking. My mom is an awful cook, God bless her;) Now my MIL's cooking that is something I wish I could duplicate! She is one of the best cooks/bakers I know! I just love to read. It takes me out of reality for awhile, and lets me just go to wherever I want. Nothing like a good book, but your right when I start getting really close to the end I get sad!

Melissa- I've been having really weird dreams lately also, don't know what that is all about. Some of them are pretty entertaining though;) I've never heard of Stephanie Plum, what kind of books does she write? 3 days in a row of exercise...you go girl! Doesn't it feel great. It just gets easier and easier and pretty soon you get to where your looking forward to working out! I love the way it makes my body feel! Keep on rockin girl!!!

Sara- I know how frustrating it is when you've put the work in, and not even a dang .5 of a pound is lost. When that happens I always have a vision of myself smashing my scale into a million pieces:)LOL! If your thinking of trying something new I calorie cycle and I love it. To get more info on it I would just google calorie cycling, but a fast run down of it is this...you eat a different amount of calories each day. My high day is 2006 calories and my lowest day is 1338 an average day though is 1672. This is just supposed to keep your body from getting stuck. It really works well for me combined with exercise, and heck it's free! If you have any questions about it I would be happy to answer them for you. Hang in there though, who knows why are bodies do what they do. We have all been there though, and although it's frustrating the main thing to remember is don't give up! Your more then halfway to your goal...

Okay well I better go and get my gym stuff ready! Have a great evening ladies~

Kari- OMG I love me some Red Robins!!! One of my all time favorite foods are fries, so take me to a place that has all you can eat fries and I'm like a kid in a candy store:) I really enjoy turkey burgers, as a matter of fact I rarely ever eat beef ones anymore. Good luck with the kids, how old are they? I have a 11, 5 1/2, and a 4 yr. old...I know they would drive me insane:)LOL! I love them dearly though!!!

I'm not quite caught up on reading all the posts, but wanted to post anyway. Seems like I read and get caught up , but then run out of time to post!

Having a good week here...feeling in control of my eating and getting some good workouts in. Today I did W3 D2 of C25K and didn't even find it too hard. Had some good music to run to- makes all the difference for me!

Hey Deb and Melissa- I grew up in Helena! And now I'm a little north of Deb in Alberta. Montana will always be home though :)

Great job Melissa on your C25K start!! And where do I find your video blog?! Sounds fun.

Terapet- I read Michael Pollan's other book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma" last year and found it fascinating.

I'm a huge reader too- wish I had more time to read more! I have read some of the Stephanie Plum books. Right now I'm reading some by Shannon Hale (she is a Uof M grad, Melissa!)- they are not my regular genre, (children's , YA lit..) but such great stories.

Anyway- I have dinner to get on and homework to help with. Stay strong this week everyone!!

Tina~ My kids are 15 daughter, 14 stepson (lives in Louisiana with his mom), 12 son & 20 months son. I watch 4 other little ones during the week, and they are 4 yrs old, 23 months, 21 months & 9 months old. I don't get much accomplished during the week. Wednesdays are the only day I don't have any of the ones I watch.

Ahh, RANGER
(is it getting hot in here) ;)


Question of the day - hmm, I think I will join the housecleaning camp. I really do hate to clean. I could use the time for so many other wonderful things :)
Now if they just made a roomba that dusted, and did laundry, and ...

Okay ;) I know I'm not supposed to be here in red territory! I just love me some red team! (to use the words of Tina!)

Sara, this week, I've started doing calorie cycling. I was able to calculate my calorie limits by using a formula in Jillian Michael’s book, Winning by Losing. She also has a great workout in there. I highly recommend this one.

PS…..I love to read! Anybody here read Christine Feehan? Good stuff.

Good evening Red team! I was just about to start some dinner but had to unwind a little bit first. Took the tween to a clothing store and OMG, that girl can do some damage! Its scary! I was never a big clothes and shoes girl and she is all about the shopping. Weird, but I live vicariously through her.

Sara....I gotta go over to the WW office tomorrow to pick up my booklets they didnt give me at my first meeting so I'll get you that quickstart info. But on the topic of calorie counting, there are tons of calculators out there, I think even 3fc has one I'll scare up a link for you in a minute. You should also google the wendy plan (I think thats what they call it) she does a calorie cycling high on one day low on the next. Just an idea. I've seen alot of people have success with it.

Rhonda...I've not heard of that author...what genre is it? I'm a big murder mystery fan!

Counting....yay another Ranger girl!! Morelli is okay but I loves me some Ranger! LOL!

Emily...ya freezin up there yet? Its been so cold here! I'll have to check out that author, thanks for the tip! You can see my little video blog here!

Tina....Stephanie Plum isnt the author she's the character of the series. The author is Janet Evanovich there are 13 books in the series, all number. Very fun you should check em out!

Kari...I love my veg time! LOL! I hope you find some soon, its so good for the soul!

Alright I better get dinner going! Have a lovely evening everyone!

Sara...I couldnt find a calorie calculator on 3FC although I'm sure I used one here before but maybe not! Here is one I found. Hope that helps.

jelynn-When you read "The Omnivore's Dilemna", did it change the way you eat? I agree with everything he says but I tend to eat most of the same things all the time. I don't have a lot of recipes using many vegetables. I do eat salad but I buy processed salad dressing. I hardly eat any fruit because I tend to eat manufactured sweets instead. My thing has always been to try to stay in a calorie range but I kind of ignore the nutrition of those calories. For example I ate pudding for lunch the other day! Not all that many calories but no fruits or vegetables there. Actually not exactly "real food". I think it is going to take a major change in my routine to eat healthier. It is just simpler to eat the usual stuff.

Hi everyone,

I am just stopping in to say a quick hello and to say great job to everyone. I hope everyone is well. Take care and will be posting more tomorrow





Goodnight.

Cathy in Canada.

I absolutely LOVE to read. Have ever since I was little. Today I stopped by the library on my way home from work (it's the only night a week they're open late - I hate the NYC library system) and picked up 12 books and I am so excited! I'd say my favorite author is Jodi Picoult. She always writes about really controversial/thought-provoking topics, and I find I can never put down one of her books until I've finished it! I'd say one of my favorites is "The Pact." "Plain Truth" is great as well though. Honestly, just read anything of hers and you're bound to love it! Her most acclaimed was "My Sister's Keeper," which made a lot of bestseller lists, so that may be easiest to find.

I read a variety of fiction/non-fiction though, mostly chosen just by browsing the shelves and seeing what's interesting. Tonight I picked up some chick lit (not very intellectual I know, but good for a break every once in a while), Joyce Carol Oates' new novel, a few diet/nutrition books, an etiquette book, a book on the airline industry and terrorism, a book on the stock market, and a biography of Hillary Clinton. Clearly an eclectic selection :)

Melissa - do tell about the Stephanie Plum books; I've never heard of her either. Are they chick lit? Mysteries? Details please! :)

Tera, I've been meaning to read Michael Pollan for a while. He's been talked about so much lately on various fitness blogs that I could even quote his little motto before you said it. The succinctness of it just makes it sound so funny to me that I laugh every time I hear it, as if the "mostly plants" is an afterthought. But so true! Also, you should definitely try making your own dressing. It's SO easy and quick, and a lot healthier than the processed stuff. Plus, you can control the ingredients to keep oils and whatnot down if you're worried about calories. I make a Greek dressing that is fat-free, made from all-natural ingredients, and only has 16 cals per 2 tbsp! Fantastic.

Emily, hadn't heard much about his other book, but I'll have to check that out as well.

Rhonda, never heard of Christine Feehan either. What are your favorites by her?

Sara - there is a sticky in the calorie counters forum that can walk you through the basics of calorie counting, including how to figure out how many calories you should eat. However, it's important to note that these are just guidelines. Everyone's body is very different, so the calculators really just provide an estimate for you to start the trial and error process of figuring out what makes you lose, what makes you stay the same, and what makes you (gasp) gain. I've been calorie counting for about 2 months now and I'm just starting to really hit my stride. I absolutely love it though, and I use DailyPlate.com which is the absolute love of my dieting life. Definitely check it out, and feel free to friend me (same username: Scenestealer) and look at what I eat.

My update: I stayed 600 calories under today after eating lightly and exercising a good amount! I'm thrilled, and hoping that will more than cover my dinner tomorrow. Then Friday I'm just going to suck it up and enjoy myself and use a light Saturday to compensate. Will keep you all posted!

Have had a busy few days but just wanted to stop in and say :wave: to everyone on my team! :hug:

Hey Ladies! :hug:

I have been crazy busy this week making up for the last week in bed. You all seem to be doing awesome!

I too love to read. Just got home from our book group tonight. We discussed The Chosen by Chaim Potok. It's a great book. Next month, we're discussing one of my favorite of all books, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.

My calories have been good, but I haven't exercised the last two days because of the rain. It's not a good excuse since I have a treadmill and lots of exercise videos. I just hate the rain and cold. You should all laugh at me because it's been between 50-60 degrees and I think it's cold.

I'm with the rest of you on house cleaning. I would love not to have to clean every again.

I hope you all had a great today yesterday and have a fabulous day tomorrow!

Good Morning ladies! :wave:

Just running by real quick before I head out the door for a quick short shift at work. Supposed to be my day off but need the $$$ so figured why not. I think I can live with getting out after 4 hrs. :D

Have had a pretty good week so far. Have had to fight food demons off at work, as they've been bringing in food for us during our inventory days. Ugh, lemme tell ya, some days were ALOT harder than others. I admit I was soooo tempted, but I resisted. I even went so far as to head to the room where the "breakfast" was just to smell the donuts! :p Filled the whole room with that smell but had to remind myself that I had goals that were more important than a stinky ole donut. Needless to say, 3 days I endured of all this naughty food and only yesterday did I endulge in lunch because it was make-your-own-sub-sandwich. Easy enough to fix low calorie and loaded it with fresh veggies. Yummo!

So anywho, time to head out. Wishing you girls another spectacular OP day. Keep Shining!! :sunny:

Tina30: Your chili sounds wonderful. Have a great day!

Good Morning Red team. Got my first quiz today that I should be studying for so I'll make it quick! Looking forward to another OP day!! And tonights exercise will be the elliptical.

Cathy in Canada....:wave: Hello to you too, I hope all is going well!!

Laura...Janet Evanovich is the author, her heroine is Stephanie Plum a jersey girl who takes a job as a bounty hunter. Shes got 2 hot guys in her life. And the characters that surround her are absolutely brilliantly written. You cant help but love them all. Especially Grandma and Lulu. Stephanie gets herself into all kinds of trouble, its always an adventure. They are really fun reads. A little mystery, mostly adventure, a little romance but very tastefully done. Start with One for the Money and work your way through the numbers. The last one out was Lean Mean Thirteen. And she's also got 3 between the numbers novels that are just quick reads...visions of sugar plums, plum lovin and plum lucky. One for the money isnt the best one of the bunch they get richer and better as you progress. Oye...can ya tell I love em! LOL!

Barbara....:wave: hello back at ya! We miss you around here I hope you get to pop in more often!

Jen...I will laugh at you! LOL...I woke up to ZERO today! Ya know, doing a workout will get you all warm and toasty! LOL!!

Danielle...you have been doing AWESOME at work!! I'm very proud of you!! Keep it up girl! Just think how great you wanna look when we meet bob at the finale! LOL!

Have a wonderful day Red team!!

Thursdays Question of the day!:

When was the last time you bought or did something for yourself for no other reason than it felt good?

C'mon lurking Red team!! Here is your chance to come out of the shadows! We want to hear from you!!

Huneb: What are you going to school for? Also, I am going to look up the couch to 5k. Thanks for the info.

I also love to read. Just about anything. Of course I don't have much time anymore to read like I used to.


Have a great day everyone.

Hi ladies! To answer yesterdays question of the day: I choose housecleaning also. I'm terrible at this. I would have more time and less stress if I never had to worry about that again.

I'm still sticking to exercising every day. I have done 60 - 90 minutes a day every day this week so far. I will need to do something tonight to keep on track. I have been eating healthy and not missing the junk this week.

Mom23bc...I'm majoring in Accounting and Psychology. Graduate this May..Yay!! I wasnt sure if I could do the C25K, but I actually like it! let me know if you decide to give it a try!

Karen...woohoo!!! Way to go on that exercise girl!! Keep up the great work!

Good morning ladies! I woke up before 9 today...YAY!LOL! I only woke up though because I felt someone staring at me, it was my littlest. I open my eyes and he just has his chin rested in his hands and he's smiling at me. What better way to wake up:) It's really sunny here today, but really cold. When I watched the weather this morning while up with Joey it said -2, BRRR! I got in an awesome workout yesterday. I started with 15 min. of cardio and then I went to weights, and then I couldn't just leave with doing 15 min. of cardio, so I did another 30. I was dripping with sweat by the time I left...I'm sure I looked a mess, but I sure did feel good! Today I'm helping out at the school, but I'll be going to the gym later for just cardio. The gym was packed last night, so I'm hoping it's less busy tonight. Other then that not much going on...

Danielle- Great job on resisting all the tempting food. I love subs, especially like you said loaded with veggies:)

Laura- I have read some Jodi Picoult, and I enjoyed her. Great job with being 600 calories below!

Melissa- Okay I've heard of Janet Evanovich, my cousin reads her and loves her. She gave me a few of the books, I'm just not sure they go in order, and I have to read stuff in order! Great job with the exercise!

Karen- 60-90 min. of exercise is fantastic, keep up the good work! You've been eating OP also, you'll show a nice loss this week:)

Kari- Holy cow you have your hands full. To watch 4 kids below the age of 4, you must have the patience of a saint:)

Jen- Okay I'm falling out my chair laughing...50-60 degrees and your cold, girl I would be pulling my shorts and tank tops out if it were that warm!LOL!

Cathy- Hello...good to hear from you. Have a great day~

Emily- Hello

Barbara- Hey girl, how's it going?

Okay I'm off to make the beds. Have a great day ladies~

Good morning ladies!!!

I see we have LOTS of readers here. I love to read more obscure novels, involving troubled protagonists mostly cenetered around the theme of "prisioned lives"; protagonists trapped by their own shortcomings and downfalls. My favorite author is Franz Kafka (he's was so odd and obscure, but i love it!), secondly Albert Camus, thirdly, a new favorite, Carson McCullers, in which I just finished reading her novel, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I also like Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Carlo Levi, F. Scott Fitzgerald (c'mon who hasn't read The Great Gatsby, lol), John Cheever, and a few others I can't think of right now.

I also love reading dramas by playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, Henrik Ibsen, Joseph Conrad (Any of you ever seen Apocalypse Now Redux?, that film is loosely based on his work Heart of Darkness, the MOST complex drama i've EVER read) but my favorite is Tennessee Williams. My FAVORITE play of all time is The Glass Menagerie. I saw a production of the play last spring and it was AMAZING!!!

The next novel I'm hoping to began is William Faulkner's The Sound and Fury. Has anyone read it around here? Or any of his other works?

I also love reading and explicating poems. Some of my favorite poets are Walt Whitman (my FAV. of course), Emily Dickinson, Langston Huges, Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe, William Cullen Bryant (such a child prodigy), and numerous others, mostly the classic poets.

As you can see, I love to read!

Have a great day ladies!