Melissa it sounds like you were kicking a lot of our butts last night with that dang chair pose...the burn feels good though:) Thanks for pushing us~ I'll be back later to check in;)

Good morning ladies,

Sorry I was MIA yesterday but i'm still sick. YUCK!! I took mucinex yesterday and it seems to be loosening up my chest, now I have a nasty cough because the mucus is loosening up. YUCK!! TMI I know!! LOL

Well I didnt' workout out DURING biggest loser but I did go to the gym after work to do my day 2 week 3 c25k. It hurt. I think it was just because of the cold and my chest. I made it through and then did 5 min cool down walking and a 5 min cool down on the bike. So I got 30 min cardio in and that's it. I had to get my taxes done at 6:30 and then I laid down and watched the biggest loser. No challenges for me...next week I'll do some! Or maybe I'll try some during a commercial of a different show this week, just to see the torture you have all been put through by our buddy Melissa. ;)

So yesterday was my 46th day OP! :carrot: I have a snow day today. I was going to call out sick but i'm glad I don't have to waste a day and I have a snow day instead. DS went to a friends house so I can have the whole house to myself. I"m gonna watch a movie! I claimed today a "No Workout" day for me and i'm going to focus on movies and getting better. It's okay becasue I worked out on Sunday so tomorrow I will do some cardio and legs and shoulders and then Friday I will do day 3 week 3 c25k and back and biceps. I will have completed my 5 planned days of workout after all.

Melissa: That's awful that a teachers purse is missing now! WTF??? I have behavioral kids in my class and alot of times we are warned by their previous school or parents that one of the kids has sticky fingers but my purse has NEVER been touched. It's in my desk all day and they all know where it it but nothing of mine has ever gone missing. Thank God! But maybe I should be a little more safe with my purse?? Because you never know. I hope they catch the person who is doing this. So what did you decide about your c25k. the three minutes is really hard for me, not sure if it's REALLY hard or if it's just because i'm sick this week. But my heart rate was up to the 150's while I was running the three minuts. I think i'm going to do week 3 again to see if I can adjust and my heart rate doesn't go up so high before I try running 5 minutes. What do you think? What re you doing about week 4? I remember saying that you were very intimidated becasue you didn't think you were ready for 5 min and i feel the same way. My son came home from school to tell me that he ran a 7 min mile during gym. WTF? ha ha ha little brat...I told him...well I just completed a mile in 15 min and he laughed!


I have to say that the RED TEAM ROCKS!!! We've one 2 out of the 4 weeks so far! Keep up the good work ladies!

Hope everyone is haveing a great day.

Sorry I have been gone for the past couple of days. When it is one of my kids birthday, we celebrate it for 2 or 3 days. I also went to a kids Valentine party yesterday. Well yesterday at the party, I did not just go for the fruit and veggie bowl. I enjoyed a few treats. Really not too many, but still the food is not on my “plan”. Now I am not beating myself up over it, because in the past when I would go off plan for a party or anything else, I would say “what the heck” and be bad for the whole day. I did not do this. I had a very tiny breakfast and dinner to make up for the afternoon party. I am really feeling like this is a lifestyle change more than a diet. I am enjoying this journey of loosing weight so much better than any other time.

I really want to loose a couple of pounds this week, or at least one. I really feel like I am at a standstill. I am sure it is just because of all the treats this week. So rest of this week, I need to focus on my food!

Have a great day everyone!

Melissa73: Wow! It sounds like you have an interesting job and I am sure very challenging. It sounds like you do a wonderful job!

Tina30: I have never heard of Apples to Apples. My kids love Monopoly. We have Dino-opoly and the regular. It seems we might have another one too, but I can’t think of it right away. We love “Sorry.” It is a fast game! Sometimes we play partner and gang up on the other team. We also have Pokemon Champion Island. This is really a simple fun game. I don’t even have a hard time playing. We have a lot of games, but these are the ones the kids pull out over and over.

HuneB: That was me about the running stroller. Congrats on paying off your car. I bet that feels wonderful!

Chellez: QOTD: If you could change one thing about the TBL challenge, what would it be? MMM….I really don’t know! It seems like it works pretty well, except for the issue of non-participants. Also, how do you think we should deal with no participating chat members? Could you also have where people have to participate at least one or two times a week? If not, they are booted. Maybe have freebie weeks for this too? Sorry you are having such a rough time with this. This is a fantastic idea and I know you put a lot of time and thought into it. THANK YOU!

Have a great day everyone!

Good morning ladies! I didn't get any of the challenges done last night during the show, little man was wanting to snuggle and having a fit when I put him down. Will try to get some of them in today though. The snow is finally melting, YAY! Hope it's done snowing, I have had enough. Zachary got his cast off Friday, and yesterday he tripped over his darn high chair and I think he hurt his foot, again! arggggg He's not limping today, but he's turning his foot out when he walks. I just hope he just strained it and didn't fracture it again. Neither of my other 2 ever broke anything. I have a feeling he'll have lots of breaks/fractures. My MIL is very accident prone and always seems to break bones, I am wondering if it's hereditary. DH has broke a few bones as well, me, never. I think he got this from his daddies side of the family....lol
Well I got on the scale this morning, and I am down a lb since yesterday.....WI is Saturday so hopefully it keeps going down. :) It will be nice to get past this hump. Ok, well better get started with my day.

Chellez: QOTD...I think you are doing a great job with TBL challenge. I would have to say that it can get frustrating to see people having the privelidge of this competition and not participating like everybody else is. I am a very busy person and I always try to find time to post...if not every day at least every other day! So when other people can't take the time to do it, it's a little frustrating. So something about participating in the group thread is definitely important. I do a very small scale biggest loser challenge with a group that I have been chatting with for over 2 years on a different thread and they are allowed 3 freebies. once they use those...that's it...they are out! It's a little high but it's a small group and we are all really close, so if one doesn't weigh in it's usually a very good reason. This is a big group, so may 2 freebie limit!

Rennie: My day is going well. How can it not when you have a snow day. How is your day going?

Mom: It is defnitely a life style change and i'm glad that you were able to enjoy your party and stay in control. That is the ultimate goal. To be able to live our lives and stay in control of our environment! You are the only person who controls what goes in and out of your mouth. BRAVO!!! My job is very challenging and my students are not the easiest to deal with on a daily basis, but I love what I do. We had 4 staff absent yesterday between our two SEBS (social emotional behavioral) classrooms yesterday. I was alone in my room (grade 5 - 5 students) my 2 para's were absent and one of the para's was alone in her room (grade 3 and 4 w/ 7 students) the teacher and the para were both absent. So it was a very trying day and in the afternoon they sent one of the newer para's (the only male in the building and he is a rather large african american male) into our rooms (the rooms are joined by one door that we opened.) After 1 hour in the rooms with us he said to me "I am sooo sorry for complaining about MY job and I will never complain again. I just got a serving of SHUT MY MOUTH!" LMAO...he kept telling me that God and I were tight...that I was right by his side. I guess he got a taste for how difficult our job was and how easy he had it in the regular classroom compared to us! It was nice to feel appreciated!

Kari: I guess that's the job of the mom, snuggling over exercising sometimes. I hope he didn't re-fracture and only banged it, that wold really be too bad. ha ha ha about getting it from daddy's side of the family. Any bad traits that my son inherit always come from dad's side. :D

Just popping in to say that the move is going okay even though it is very tiring esp since I HATE to clean!!!! I live closer to the cemetery that my brother is buried so I am going to try to make it a goal to walk there everyday with my two year old and visit my brother.....well I am kinda tired so I think I am going to try to lay down and take a nap....my son had a rough night last night due to being sick so I did not get very much sleep :hug: to you all!!!!!

I just wanted to say congrats to our TEAM! We are pretty much the BEST team ever! Ha! I don't have time for personals.... but I do want to say that I am very impressed by all of your activity! You gals aredoing great! Keep up the good work!

I ran 3 miles yesterday ladies! I have never gone that far before, so it's a big NSV!!! Did it in 33 minutes too, so it wasn't embarassingly slow. 11 minute pace is slow but not too bad. When I first started I couldn't even run 1 mile in 11 minutes, so it's a big accomplishment for me. YAY!

Scale is a-lovin' me this week. 196 this morning. I am hoping to hold onto that weight for the rest of the week. I know I can't possibly lose a pound every day so I just want to keep what I have. Apparently I wasn't eating enough for my activity level because the last few days have had cheats in there that I thought would ruin me, and they helped me lose.

By the way, loving how much I burn while running. 45 minutes got me 600 calories burned. Lookout when I am done with my job training and have my kids in daycare and am able to hit the pool again. I have 12 weeks until my husband comes home for R&R (18 day leave from Iraq) and I want to be under 180. That was my lowest that I have gotten since having kids, and I did it last deployment. So I want to make his jaw drop big time. 12 weeks seems like such a short amount of time. Eek!!!!!

Laura - I think you have the coolest job ever. I love to travel and I love expense accounts haha. Maybe one of these days after my kids are a lot older, I will find a cool job like that.

Melissa - good job on the elliptical! You are doing such a good job!

Kari - sounds like Zachary is like me, tripping over his own feet a lot LOL. I didn't break anything but my wrist though. And to be honest, most of my klutziness came later in life and is still here haha.

Oh and congrats to US for winning weigh-in!!!

Hi Red Team...I hope you are all having a good day. So far my day has been very busy. I have managed to eat well though and I have plans for an evening workout when the kids go to sleep. It feels good to stay on track. I will check in later.

MOM
WTG you have found out the secret we all don't keep ( we tell everyone ), the problem is not everyone listens lol. This is NOT a diet. This IS a change in how we think about, look at and eat food. Nothing wrong with a little treat here and there. Just make sure it is more there than here lol.


Kari
I am so sorry to hear about your little one. Maybe you should talk to the doc about this. I don't watch the show so I forget about the challenges most of the time. Glad to see the scale is going in the right direction for you. Give yourself a few days before you weigh again. Weight does fluctuate you know.


Melissa
Same old same old around here lol. Dwarf hamsters are taking over my house. The cat has decided he is emperor and the doc tripped me again lol.

Utah
Sorry the little one hasn't been feeling well. It really does eat into our sleep time. Hope you have a nice nap.

cakes
Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how fast I walk ( just normal walking ) I walk 3 miles in 30 min lol. No wonder my husband says I have little road runner legs ( he complains he can't keep up with me, I tell him if I walked as slow as he does I would fall asleep lol ). You have to make sure you eat enough when you are doing activities like runny. The body needs energy. You are doing so well. When you think you aren't look at that 3 miles now and 1 mile before. Weight seems to be going where you want it to. Nice going. I can see you smile as you type lol. Will be so nice for your hubby to be home with you. I know you miss him a great deal. Keep it up girl, you are going to be happy with how you look when he gets home. Just remember, this is for the long run, keep at a steady pace and you are going to be right where you want to be.

Spider
It really does feel good to stay on track. We have more energy, we feel good about our selfs.

Laura – I agree with you about using freebies. I’m saving mine in case something happens and I can’t get online. Especially since I wait until Monday’s to post my weight. Of course, I’m not as competitive as most (like yourself. ;) I saw you post something in another thread about being competitive and it really didn't surprise me at all with the marathons. I smiled when I read it!) and I’m here more for support than to “win.” Any loss on the scale for me is a win.

Andi – I’m glad you could make it back to work even if it was without a voice. Are you at least feeling better? Congrats on busting through the bumper weight!

DK – I’m glad you enjoyed the stuff from Dr. Beck. It’s amazing how I can now recognize the feelings of a craving (the tension and yearning in the neck) and realize that I don’t really need to eat something. I have definitely upped the water intake as a result! Can’t wait for you to beat the bumper number!

Melissa (Hun) – I haven’t tried any of the BL show challenges until last night. I get off my second job at 6:30 or later and have to hurry home to catch the show. I’m usually hungry and don’t get done with eating, etc until the show’s half over. I tried the chair last night during one break. I did 30 seconds at a time with 15 second breaks in between. I made it 3 times. It seemed to hurt my knees so I need to see if I am doing something wrong.

Terapet – that sounds like a great class! I’m going to start some sort of body sculpting and can’t wait to see results. I may need to look into a heart monitor, too.

Rennie – you are so right about exercise being good for the body. While it may not be making a difference on the scale, you could see it in inches. I’m anxious to hear how your measurements go.

Kari – my Beck Diet Solution commercial for today: one of my cards about having stuff you shouldn't eat in the house says, “If I don’t throw it out, I’ll be at risk for ‘wasting’ it in my body, where it’ll turn to fat. Which is a better way to waste it?” I think having hubby take them to work is a great solution! I don’t think I could have given up the snuggling to exercise either!

Counting – I just started doing Leslie’s walks that have the boosted walking. I wish I had the problem of needing 2 bras on during it. :lol: The grass is always greener, huh?

Diva – I’m sorry you had a rough day yesterday. Try not to feel too guilty. Just acknowledge it was unplanned eating and try to get right back on track. Hang in there and I hope things get less stressful with the teenager!

Muse – 78 minutes is great – numb butt…not so much! :D

Cathy (Catway8) – Thanks for checking in. I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Cathy (Catsgetnhealthy) – I just did my 4 fast miles for the first time on Monday. It was pretty good. I had it on the music only and was trying to guess what they were talking about the whole time. I hope you get to feeling better soon, too!

Melissa73 – Congrats on 46 days OP! I hope you enjoy snow day. Watching movies in bed all bundled up is a great way to spend a day. Rest up and feel better soon!

Mom – It’s great to finally realize that this is a lifestyle change instead of a diet, isn’t it? I’m glad you were able to get right back on track! Kudos!

Utah – I’m glad the move is going okay. I think walking to your brother’s grave everyday is a nice goal to work for. I hope your son is feeling better.

Cecilia – Hi! :wave: Thanks for checking in.

Cat – another pound! Yay! I love it when the weight starts melting off after a stall! It’s great that eating more can help you lose weight!

Tina – Hi!!! :wave: Have a great day!

Hello, all!

I had a NSV yesterday. At my second job, someone handed out valentine's cards and a couple of chocolates a few days ago. The chocolates have been staring me in the face and taunting me. (I'm not one that does moderation easily, so eating just one isn't an option for me at this point in my journey). Yesterday, I found where the extra candy bowl was and put my 2 pieces back so that I wouldn't eat them and so that they would quit mocking me!

I did my Fast Firming workout this morning. It uses the bands. I'm expecting one of my other toning videos to come in the mail any day now. I'm ready to get started sculpting. I've been slower on my water today for some reason. I need to kick it into gear, I guess.

I just want to say that I really enjoy being on this team. You all are wonderful, and I can never wait to get on here to see what's going on with you.
Thanks for being such a great team!

Well Wednesday is half way over. Only 2 more days of school then i'm on vacation for a week! :carrot:




Karen: GREAT NSV! BRAVO for you to be able to put those candies back in the bowl and NOT eat them!

Hoping someone here can help me. I have never been one to eat artificial sweeteners. Have read to much about how bad they are for us. I started drinking the south beach strawberry banana drink ( adding twice as much water as it calls for because the stuff is just to darn sweet ). I have been getting headaches for no reason. I found there is aspartame in the drink. I started looking on the web for information on this sweetener and haven't really found any good news. Does anyone here know anything about this sweetener? Thanks, would really like some information.

ksk
I never see big changes lol. Lost about 1/2 an inch everywhere ( the 6 places I measure ) in the last month. That is it, seems hardly worth all the hours I exercise a month does it lol. The exercise is good for me. I can see the toning, I can see the muscles forming. Might sound crazy but I have come to enjoy the videos I do and look forward to them. Nice going putting the candy back. I am not quite ready to have that kind of stuff around. I think I could leave it alone but not sure if it were one of my favorites I could so I keep it away from me lol.

Hi Rennie, :sssh: you don't really see me here.;) Aspartame triggers migraines for my SIL...the kind that puts here in bed for about 12 hours with incredible pain.

rhonda
I have lived with migraines all my life but darn not like these headaches. I have just started getting them and have just started drinking this drink about 2 weeks ago. I was wondering if there could be a correlation. Figures, I find something that tastes great and it is going to kill me lol. Thanks for the info. Think I am going to stop drinking it and see if I stop getting the headaches.

Rennie...I've heard about aspartame causing headaches for alot of people. In fact my MIL told me once that her doctor told her that she shouldnt let her diet coke sit around and sip it through the day that once it starts to get warm its causes her headaches...not sure the science about that but thats what he told her. Have you heard of Stevia? I would research that. I use Splenda which is artificial but made from sugar, I havent ever had an issue but you could also research liquid sucralose (Splenda is sucralose)

Melissa73...yay a snowday!! I tried to start Week 4 of C25K today, I did the first 3 minutes then walked for the 90 seconds and tried to then go for 5 minutes...uh uh...not gonna happen. The 90 seconds wasnt enough recovery time I couldnt catch my breath. I ended up doing basically Week 3 Day 1 again. I think going from 3 minutes as the longest run to 3 minutes being the shortest is just entirely too big of a step and not enough recovery. So, right now I dont know what I'm gonna do except that I'm not giving up!!

Karen....doing the chair I feel it mostly in my knees too. I think the key is to put your weight into your hips and thighs if you can. Its hard!

Okay gotta run again! My little one got a tooth pulled so she needs extra momma time!

Good afternoon ladies...I didn't think I'd ever get back here today. This day has been insane. First off the kids had school early today, well I totally forgot that they started early and they missed the bus. I had to warm the truck up and drive them to school. Then after school we all ran to the Dollar Tree and I realized that Joey started my truck with Kev's keys...his don't have a house key on it...so then I was locked out of my house. I had to go to my SIL's and grab our extra key. Just little silly things today that are annoying, ya know? I did a great upper body workout today...I can feel it already. Tomorrow I have a feeling I'm going to be sore:) The sun is shining here today, and I'm LOVING IT!!! I'm so sick of this cold doom and gloom weather. I'm ready for Spring! I'm just doing some laundry and hanging out the rest of the day. I wanted to ask you all what is harder for you eating or exercise? On TBL last night they were getting into the reason your fat in the first place....it really hit home with me. I know that I need to go and get help for stuff that has happened in my past, but to be honest it scares the heck out of me. The thought of opening up to a stranger and not knowing how they are going to respond is really not something that thrills me. I wonder though if I went to get help if that would solve my binge eating problem. I find it hard to believe that it will, but I've never given it a try so I have no idea. If I knew 100% for sure that going to thearpy would help my eating I would go in a second. I'm just not sure that I'm ready to drag up the past and deal with it. I do know though that I'm not getting any younger, and sooner or later I'm going to have to deal with this. I don't know I just want to feel normal about food...I was watching Oprah this morning about teens getting lap band surgery. They were saying how it makes them control their eating...if they over eat they get sick. I thought for a second that would be wonderful to only be able to eat 3 bites of something and be full. Then I realized just how sick I am...I mean I'm not "overweight" on the charts and I'm thinking about surgery to control my over eating. I know though that I could get back to being obese very quickly...that scares me to death. The only thing keeping me from getting obese again I think is the fear of humilation. I've lost all this weight with my SIL and the thought of me gaining it all back and her not is what stops me from letting my weight gain slip too far. It just really frustrates me because I love to exercise it's just eating that I struggle with...if I could get a grip on my eating I would be a really healthy person. Do any of you have any self help book suggestions for me. Maybe I could start there, and then work my way up to seeing someone??? Okay I'm going to do personals before I upset myself any further.

Tina - I agree with the "No Buffet" rule. We have that too. I have so many friends that make 2 or 3 different things for dinner. That is INSANE! I guess it works for them but my kids have to eat what I serve. Of course I try to make sure that at least one thing is something they love. AND the husband is a whole other story... He is great and supportive but he loves food (like me) and is forever wanting to go out for dinner. It is managable but hard to stay on plan when you go out to eat. We are working to establish a rule of eating out once a week. I think it is going to be helpful in the wallet and the wardrobe!

Melissa: I hear ya on the c25k. I"m not even going to try week 4 yet. i'm going to give it another go on week 3 and build up some stamina. Even if I do it for 3 weeks at least i'm preparing myself for the jump up to 5 minutes.

Tina: I understand about past issues. My biggest issue is that when my mom and dad divorced when I was six, My dad never really had any interest in me or my brothers. He did a little when we were younger and then he got remarried, had to more kids and gave and did everything for them that he didn't do for us. It's like he messed up with us so he erased us and started over and did it right the second time. It really hurts me sometimes but i've always been able to talk about it and cry about it so it's not like it's a buried issue. KWIM? I know it is the lying problem in most of my relationships with men but not sure about the eating!

Shy - that is AWESOME! Look how far you have come. When I first came to 3FC - you were trying to get through one mile. WOW!!!! I have problems with too much aspartame. I know of others that have headaches if they have any at all. DH really doesn't like it and I use it only once in a great while.

Cathy - way to go on 4 fast miles. I really like that workout a lot! It gets my heart rate up and it is a lot of fun :)

Mom23 - I think that viewing this as a lifestyle change really is one of the keys to success. Good job working the party into your plan :)

Kari - 1 lb. down :cheer:

Melissa73 - 46 days - wow - that is fantastic!!!

Utah - I hope your son is feeling better. It is so hard on us when our kids are sick! I still hate it and my kids are 22 and 26 :lol: (yes, I KNOW that I have kids older than some of you) :yikes:

Cat - 3 miles - that is admirable. I jog for 2 minutes with Leslie and I am pooped!

Karen - lol - you are so right! Seems like none of us are content with what we were given. So many women having surgery - some to add, others to subtract. And the rest of us just complaining. I'm actually blessed. Although the girls need a lot of support (especially after breastfeeding to babies, and being overweight so much of my life), and clothes are really hard to find - "
the girls" help me look like I am thinner than I am, which makes me feel great :)

Tina - there are a lot of wonderful counselors out there. Finding a good "fit" is critical.

I used the Weigh Down series 10 years ago. I am currently working through "Faithfully Fit" which focuses on the spiritual component of weight loss.

Laura - I really admire your ability to stay OP while traveling as often as you do. It is difficult! I can usually maintain, but I find it extremely hard to lose weight while traveling.

I hope you all have a POP day! I'm glad our chickies are getting better :) So much flu going around right now. Take care of yourselves and stay strong!

counting
As soon as hubby found out there was aspartame in it he said NO. He is more funny about artificial stuff than I am. This will give him a real reason to keep at me not to drink it ever again lol. I can do plain walking just fine its those walking/aerobic videos that kick my bum lol. I can now do most of the 3 miles ones but my lungs hurt a bit sometimes so I tend to stick with the 2 mile ones.

Melissa
I think it is terrible that parents can't seem to treat their children equal. I had the opposite problem. My children's father had teenagers when we had children. He always has treated his older kids much better than our children. My kids can't stand their brother and sister because of this.

Spider
I have a saying around here lol, this is not Denny's. You don't like it don't eat. Each day I make something someone likes, if someone else doesn't like it that is tuff. Someone else eats what they like some days too.
There are certain times one of them doesn't eat what the rest of us eat and I have to make them something else. My daughter for example can't have tomato products very often, they really bother her ibs. She gets chicken and noodles on those days. My son can't have anything spicy so if I make something spice he eats peanut butter that night.

Tina
The other day hubby was saying he bet I would be glad when we could go to the parks again and the little town we love to walk through. I told him he makes me tired. I just can't walk as slow as he walks. He said something like, you walk to fast where they heck are you going. I said you will never know because you walk so slow I am asleep by the time we get there. It really does make me very physically tired to walk as slow as he does.

I find it very sad, surgery for children to lose weight. No wonder the world is becoming the place it is. No one is responsible for them selfs. Find quick fixes. Wouldn't we be much better off and our future better off for us as parents to teach our children to be responsible for their actions and that includes eating. Teach them the easy way out ( not that surgery is easy by any means ) don't make them responsible. I think surgery is a wonderful option for those that have tried everything and for some reason just can't seem to get the weight off no matter how hard they try. With children what are we teaching them, not to stick with something and get the rewards of getting where we want to be by good old determination and hard work is in a great many cases what we are teaching them. How are they ever going to deal with the real world. Sometimes the only way you get where you want to be is by hard work.

Hun
Thanks for the info. Think I am just going to stick with the natural stuff. I have my tea down to caffeine free and about 6 to 8 carbs for 16 oz. I can live with that. Hope that poor little one of yours feels better soon.

Hey everyone, just wanted to chime in that aspartame gives me headaches too. I use Splenda very sparingly and I've had no problems at all with it. :)

:hug: ~Roni

Diva
Thank you for the information. From all I have just read on the next about splenda. I don't think it is for me either. I will stick with sugar.

There really aren't that many calories or carbs in sugar for me to worry about it. I just happen to have liked the taste of that strawberry/banana drink I found.

Karen, awesome job with the chocolates - you have GREAT willpower! Also, I think I'm going to pick up a copy of the Beck Diet Solution - all your quotes are really interesting.

Rennie, there are conflicting studies about almost any artificial sugar. However, aspartame is an older ingredient (compared to Splenda or sucralose) so there are a ton of studies on it. I know it causes cancer in lab rats, but critics of the study say they gave the rats so much that you would never approximate that in a human. I personally don't eat/drink any artificial sugars (actually, see my latest blog post for an explanation of my rationale as well as one of the studies on the effects of them). Basically, one of the latest study shows that if you eat stuff with artificial sugar instead of regular, you'll gain weight even though you're eating fewer calories. It makes sense. There is a really awesome article here on it that explains it way better than I did: http://mrs-furious.blogspot.com/2008...-stuff-up.html. The problem with diet foods is now that they've been tampered with to be no sugar or low cal, you don't have to budget as hard to fit them into your diet plan, so it's making you eat less healthy. Just my opinion, of course - there are plenty of others who swear by them and think they're amazing.

Tina, while I wouldn't say not to talk to a therapist, I think we're one step ahead of a lot of people just by having this group to chat with. Coming here is kind of like free therapy for me - all of you are so supportive, and it's great to talk through issues here together! Also, I love that you said "this house is no longer a buffet" - what a great line! :)

My NsV (will be back home tomorrow to check my scale): I've gotten up to walking 4.5 MPH on the treadmill while reading/typing on the forum! First day I could barely do 2.5 but I'm getting better. And I spend a lot of time on here so this should really help me get more exercise in. Have a great day everyone!

Good Valentine's Day morning to our great team!

I am still feeling not the greatest. My voice is back but now it is in my lungs, whenever I cough it hurts my whole body and almost :barf: . I was able to manage it at work on Tuesday, but yesterday my assistant teamm mgr started getting a power trip and had me start taking phone calls (my voice was not better yesterday) even though she should have pulled another person to take phone calls. :nono: We'll see how I last at work today. Our manager is out with flu :cry: and half of our team is sick... we are just a big incubation area :dizzy:

I hope everyone has a great v-day. :wave:

Happy Valentines Red team!! Sorry I'm gonna have to run off again this morning but I've still got 48 cupcakes to decorate and 2 exams to study for this morning. Talk about being a slacker! LOL!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic day and I'll be back this afternoon to catch up with everyone!!

Happy Valentine's Day team! Gotta do a quick run by, but just wanted to say good morning! Now gotta get my kiddos moving. Check back after grocery shopping.

Good morning ladies~ Happy Valentine's Day everyone:) Today I'm going to the school to help with the kids parties....I love helping with the parties. The kids are so darn cute at this age, and just are happy to do whatever! Well it helped to talk it out on here yesterday...I still feel a bit out of control, but I'm ready to face this and work on it. I'm going to take it one day at a time and just try my best each day. I know I can do this...I've done so well in the past with me eating. I just need to get into the right mindset again, and stop making excuses. This isn't going to just happen....I have to make it happen. I know how proud of myself I'll be once I get to sticking with it. I used to be so anal about weighing my food, keeping my food journal, calorie cycling...I can do this!!!! My exercise has been OP for awhile now, so now it's time for my eating to follow. So today is going to be my start...I'm going to start keeping track of days OP, and hopefully I make it to where Melissa is day 46:) Even though it's Valentine's Day I can stay OP. I'm making our romantic dinner for 5 tonight;)LOL! I set the table with candles and wine glasses for everyone...they get a kick out of it. A taco dinner with wine glasses...really funny now that I think of it. Whatever though it's our tradition, and the kids look forward to it. My muscles are so sore it's not even funny...whatever my workout is today it's going to be light. I have a really nice 25 min. stretch video that I'm thinking I'll do today. Have a great day ladies, and thank you so much for being such a fantastic team and support system:)

Dk- Once a week eating out is what we aim for also...it usually falls on the weekend. It's too expensive to eat out with 5 people more then once a week;)

Melissa73- My parents divorced when I was just a little over one...my relationship with my dad has not been the most consistent. He remarried also, and I have the best stepmother in the world. They have 2 kids now though and it does make me sad sometimes when I hear about him going to their games, or how they are going on a family vacation. I am happy that my sisters have that, but it still hurts sometimes that I didn't have that. It sucks and I always have this dream of us sitting down to talk this out, but it really scares me. I don't want to hurt his feelings and I know he has a ton of guilt about it. It's just a crappy situation to be in all around. I love my dad though, and hopefully someday we'll both be able to get together and say what we want to each other and move on.

Counting- I'm going to look into that book...thank you~

Rennie- What you said about hard work really hit home with me. I just was telling my sister that nothing just drops into our laps we have to work for it, and here I am thinking of easy fixes to control my eating. Thank you for the eye opener I needed. I don't like to be a hypocrite, and that is exactly what I was doing. I hear ya on slow walking...it tires me out more then a good power walk:)

Laura- That's a pretty cool NSV....I think I'd fall of the treadmill if I was trying to read or type and walk at the same time...I'm a huge klutz!

Andi- I hope you get to feeling better....I'm working on a little something. It feels like my chest is so tight~

Melissa- 48 cupcakes and 2 exams to study for you better get shaking girl!LOL! Good luck with your exams...have a great day~

Happy Valentine's Day :val1::val1::val1::val1::val1::val1::val1::val1:

Hi Kari...have a good one:)

Tina
I like what you are doing for dinner. That is great. Many years ago when I almost died I decided everyday was china day. Since that day when we sit down for dinner we use the china and the crystal and the silver. My kids think that is normal. I remember the first time they went to someone Else's house for dinner ( they had hot dogs and chips ) my daughter came home and told me they must be very very poor, they were using paper plates. I thought I was going to die laughing. You have fun at the school party, I miss those days.

Andi
Oh, you better go to the doc. You could have turned what ever you had into an upper respiratory infection and they are nothing to mess about with. Hope you feel better.

Laura
Those reason you talked about are the very same reasons I never used the stuff. I am just going to stick with sugar. I know it isn't going to kill me. I don't eat diet foods, I don't eat fat free. I just eat normal four basic food group foods and watch what I eat. I think I will stick with this, has worked so far.

Good Morning everyone!!!!!!! I just wanted to pop in and say that I hope that everyone is having a great week :hug: I can not believe that this is the middle of Feb already and is :val1: Well my :bb: is still sick but is doing better! I have not had a lot of energy to exercise but I need to get motivated some how cause my eating is so much better when I have a goal with things. Well I am going to try to put him down for a nap before my brother comes to help move the rest of my house....uugh I have had NO motivation and I am just so tired and will be glad when this is all over :carrot: Have a great day all!!!!!!! :hug:


HAPPY VALENTINES DAY :val1: :val1: :val1: :val1: :val1: :val1: :val1: :val1:

:val1: Happy Valentine's Day! :val1: I hope you all have a great one!

Andi-- I hope you start feeling better soon!

Happy Valentine's Day, team! No chocolates for me today!:p

I am so dissapointed!!! It is my TOM but I am up 6 pounds this weigh in. I am soooo sorry team. I feel like I have let everyone down.

Good afternoon buddies,

Well my NSV for the day is nooo cake and cupcakes and chocolate for me today at shcool. The kids are having their little party as I type and I ate my salad. I have 1more point going towards my blood orange and the rest of my 19 pts are going towards dinner with DBF tonight. We are trying to go to Carrabba's. WE'll see if it's too crowded, DBF is trying to make a reservation but it may be too late!

I am going to go to the gym BEFORE he gets home to earn some ap's so I don't have to tap into too many of my waps' for the week. Always a plan!

Happy Valentines Day!