Melissa--SO glad to hear your hubby is coming home! I know this will relieve some stress for you :hug:

tee--I am starting up a little as well, but I think mostly it is bloating from some salty things I ate yesterday :shrug: oh well. What is the writing diet about?

Theresia--Welcome to the challenge!

Mandey--I like seeing your walking challenges. I tried several months ago to "walk" home to see my family in Ohio. I got more than halfway there then something got spilled on my log sheet and I let it dry, but the ink ran and I couldn't make out my numbers and I never finished. You are inspiring me to maybe try again. I am going home for July 4th so i could try to "walk" there by time to really go. I also relate to doing everything on your own. My hubby is a truck driver, so he is only home 1-2 days a week usually and pretty much everything here falls on my shoulders. It is rough, but we are strong women and we can do it :strong: My kids are 4&6 and it is a little easier now because they can occupy themselves a lot more, and I have 3.5 hours in the mornings while they are both in school.

Sonja--You are well overdo for something good to happen, so I'm sure you're going to rock this time around, we better watch out for ya ;)

Rhonda--when we first moved here hubby could care less about flowerbeds as well! He suddenly stepped up last year and started helping with the heavy work, like hauling in compost, running mass leaves from our trees through the shredder, landscaping timbers and bricks, etc. Now I have him plant shopping with me and he has made some plans of his own for the front yard :o There is hope, your hubby may come around as well once you get started. Try to find manly work to get him involved with. My prayers are with the pup...that is so hard to bond then have them get sick. I hope you have a plan for the ladies night, I know it is something that has thrown you off. I am jealous though that you get to do that night away from the family.

My FIL is a truck driver too, for most of my hubby's life (who is 26 right now)....so we can all relate to that as well.
I am keeping my miles logged in my tracker but also my fitness blog here, so i cant lose my log...i like everything in my computer, so i cant lose it ;) LOL i have papers everywhere and can never find them when i need them....so the laptop is safer, and more portable too ;) for when i actually do go back to GA to visit family. ;) good luck.

Hi everyone,

Looking forward to gearing up for the new challenge ahead.

Melissa - glad to hear that your DH is on the mend now.

Do something good for yourself today...

WTG, Shay! It's one day at a time!+

Hi Sonja! Glad to see you again! Wow, you have been though some ordeals. Hopefully peaceful days are here now!

So happy your DH is on the mend and coming home soon, Melissa. What a trial.:hug:

Anna - I'm also holding onto some weight over last weigh in. Oh well...

I've been pretty good this week - tracking calories in and out and on paper it equals a good loss. But not according to my scale. Josh killed me with a new lower body workout - a cruel warm up with various squats and lunges and difficult core work. Then 120 each of 18 inch step-ups to balance, barbell split lunges, and single leg Romanian deadlifts...I thought I was dying. And I'm still fairly sore/swollen, so know my muscles are holding water.

Originally Posted by Purplefirefly:
tee--I am starting up a little as well, but I think mostly it is bloating from some salty things I ate yesterday :shrug: oh well. What is the writing diet about?

Julia Cameron began a creativity-boosting program called Artist's Way which requires daily journaling. She noticed that when people were doing AW, many of them also lost weight. http://www.theartistsway.com/index.p...4&sub=9&id=240 The basic idea is that when you are journaling daily, you get a lot of your emotional issues on the table so that 1) you can deal with them and 2) you don't carry them with you all day. Once your purge your anger/depression/fears for the day on paper, you have freed yourself from using food to bury them....they are already out there, leaving you nothing to bury and the opportunity to address them.

With all of my issues regarding Meara, I have not been journaling. One, all my spare time is spent researching. Two, I don't want to confront my worst fears. I am happy to bury those feelings, and the associated guilt, reading piles of pediatric neurology journals. Three, Meara's seizures have happened as she wakes, so I am not willing to get up early to journal, thereby leaving her alone in the morning.

However, the scale was moving when I was doing more journaling. I am choosing not to go there.

Originally Posted by onthetee:
In other news, a new book is out called The Green Food Bible, and the author pretty much echos what I say around here all the time: Stop putting money into the pockets of people who are poisoning you.

Great food books for your challenge:

The Writing Diet by Julia Cameron
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
Omnivore's Dilemma by Michale Pollan
Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
What to Eat by Marion Nestle (OK, ANYTHING, by Marion Nestle)
Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to Food by Daniel Imhoff

Remember, you also can buy these at audible.com and put them on your iPods!

Websites to help you with food choices:

http://www.themeatrix.com/
http://www.localharvest.org/

Happy healthy eating!

Can I be like you when I grow up? Seriously. You are my new online hero. I am looking for these books as soon as I get to the library. They should hopefully have at least one of them to read in my podunk town.

Tomorrow is the big day!! My hubby is coming home after 22 days in the hospital. Big changes around here, he'll have to eat a low fat diet which means life in my house just got a whole lot easier for me! He's really looking forward to getting healthy and fit...life looks GOOD!

I did get my house cleaned up today. I've still got loads to do, but its cleaning out cupboards and closets which is something I have to do myself. Time to get rid of all this stuff I keep "just in case" Time to declutter my whole life!

So, Danielle(sugar n spice) went to see Bob this weekend. He did a talk and she says that it changed her life. She says he's very funny and so genuine. Oh and he smells good too! I almost got to talk to him on the phone. I could hear him in the background say "hello sweetheart" and then our connection got lost!! She did get me a signed book though, I cannot wait to get it, I'm so grateful for having such an amazing friend who would include me in her experience.

Life is looking up girls! And its so exciting!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I'm ready for some sunshine! We had snow and 20 degrees!!!

Hi all!!

I figured I should jump on here. :D Im laura. Im a 24 year old sahm with a 2 year old son. :D

Hi!

Melissa that is so awesome that your DH is coming home today!! His change in lifestyle will definitely help you out in your quest as well. My hubby still requests the chips and pop, thankfully I have no desire for either of these so I can stay away from them, but just the fact of having them in the house makes me sick. I hate putting them in my grocery cart next to all of my fresh fruit & veggies. :lol: I wish Bob would make his way up this way. I would love to hear his speech. Sorry you didn't get to talk to him :(

Laura :wave: welcome to the challenge.

Yipes....I just weighed in for the challenge and I'm up to 182lbs! I guess laying around on a hammock (reading chellez's sexy book!) and partying all weekend isn't the best diet plan prior to a weigh in? ;) Oh well, I'll be hitting the gym hard this week and be back on plan. :drill: will NOT be happy about this, but that's okay...I needed a break. I am SO happy this challenge is starting again, I've been missing the accountability of weighing in each week. Hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for the challenge. See ya later, I'm off to finish up chellez's book.

:welcome2: Laura!

Melissa - So glad Hubby is coming home today...and, wants to get healthy! :yay:

I'm just dropping in to day a quick Hello before starting my work day. Hope everyone has a great productve on-plan day.

I'll check back in later to get "personal" with everyone.

Originally Posted by Hun.e.B:
Tomorrow is the big day!! My hubby is coming home after 22 days in the hospital.

yea!

Melissa - I am so glad to hear that your hubby is coming home and that his change in eating will be wonderful for both of you. Now I can start challenging you to hula hoop wars :p

To all the Newbies - I am glad you all seem so exicted for the challange to start. I too am ready to get this thing started.

Hope everyone is doing well. Make sure you post your weight if you haven't already. We don't wnat to lose someone before we even start:D

I was totally beat yesterday, but I got in 50 minutes on the elliptical, so I did get in some exercise this weekend, not to mention I was on my feet all day Saturday with a yard sale and soccer - (DS's team won and he had a goal and an assist - he was very excited).

DH worked a 24 hour shift on Saturday, so I kept thinking that Sunday was Saturday and that I had another day off before going back to work, but Happy Monday to me!

Everyone have a great day. Mine is already going too slow.

Hi All,
I have been back to my old eating habits for about 3 weeks, and guess what? I gained over 3 lbs. Now today is, THE FIRST DAY OF MY HEALTHY NEW LIFESTYLE! I am so sick of struggling to lose weight because I AM SIMPLY NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH TO REACH MY GOAL! I am back and need your help and support.

I am SO excited for this challenge, and I consider my starting weight to be the start of it, even though we don't all know our teams yet. I am about to go post my starting weight, and from here on out, it's time to crack the whip!

I sat last night and planned our dinners for the week, then went to the grocery store (thank goodness they're open till midnight) with a list. I had looked up a new recipe I wanted to try this week, so my list came in handy big time. I don't normally have a list, but I'm very glad I did.

OH, and I had just been talking on the phone with my mother before we went to the store, and I told her how I hate having to cut any fat off my chicken breast, so I spend the extra $$ to buy the Perdue Fit n Easy (99% fat free) chicken breast tenders or thin sliced chicken breast. It's normally $4.99 a pound--sometimes I can find a comparable store brand for $4.49 a pound. Well, last night at my neighborhood Bloom store, they had the Perdue Fit n Easy chicken breast tenders for $1.89/lb :eek: I couldn't believe it! I bought 7 packages and might go back to buy more if I can cram it all in the freezer :dizzy: I saved over $35 on my grocery bill, mostly because of the chicken (red seedless grapes for 99 cents a pound--normally $2.99/lb--helped, too ;) ).

So, we'll be eating a lot of chicken. Which is fine since I'm picky and never cook red meat anyway simply because I don't really like it. I just couldn't get over that sale price. It's amazing what types of things excite me nowadays :p