OK, I have a major shout out to one of my favorite podcasters, Taffy Carlisle Huffington. She set a goal in June 2007 to lose 150 pounds in a year, and she did it!

http://bp2.blogger.com/_ZJkX4-Ro5mQ/...h/IMG_1718.JPG

If you have iTunes, they have a video podcast showing her weight loss of the year. The podcast is Pod Is My Copilot (it is explicit, but the one of Taffy's transformation is not) and the specific episode is vPiMC 22. It is an inspiration.

Parts are in transit ... figure they will show up while my husband is at Scout Camp with DS and I will still be waiting until Friday Morning to run on it (Sigh)

Way to go girl! See think positive, we always seem to think things are worse than they are.

See the Scale Goddess can be your friend once in a while (sometimes it is a fiend, not a friend, but what can you say about a tempermental goddess)

Man, I am fighting the serious "snackies" today. My husband has unfortunately brought his "vacation eating" home with him and the house has too much junk in it for my taste. Most of it isn't vegan so I can't eat it anyway, but seeing someone constantly eating chips, cookies, popcorn, crackers and dips, nachos etc. it hard on my psyche. It makes me focus on food waaaaay too much and I am longing for that hand-to-mouth snacky experience. I keep imagining going to the store to buy snack food that I can eat -- WHICH I DON'T NEED.

Sigh. I guess it is just going to be one of those tough days that feels like an internal struggle every minute. I really hate those with a passion. Today is Day 136 on-plan for me, no binges, no slip-ups, no bad nothing. I don't want to screw it up now!

Kelly -- hang in there, Friday will get here fast and before you know it you'll be back on the elliptical!

Rhonda -- WAY TO GO sticking with your plan, I'm glad the scale finally gave you some sign of encouragement, we all need those little emotional bumps to help us focus!

Nori -- I hope you enjoyed your 2 hours in the gym this morning, I bet it was both a physical and emotional release to get in there and really sweat!

Jaime -- Way to tell the cupcake to go hang, that's just awesome (and funny as ****, too!)

Anna -- thanks for the pizza dough recipe, w00t! Can't wait to try that baby out! Way to go on on no-barf run in the new skirt last night also, yeee haw!

Angie -- Have a WONDERFUL time camping!

Vix and Jill -- keeping my fingers crossed that the Scale Goddess smiles upon you tomrrow (or Monday, whatever your weigh-in day is!)!!!

Hi team, just a quick check in on the second to last day of visiting my family...
I've stayed OP in terms ofeating healthy foods and accounting for everything I've eaten, and I've gotten a fair amount of exercise in. However, I know I have been having far too many calories, so I'll probably have gained 1-2 lbs once the water weight comes off. I get back home late tomorrow night, and I am not going to weigh myself AT ALL until Friday to give the vacation-induced water a chance to leave!

Taffy's weight loss vid:

http://cdn1.libsyn.com/podismycopilo...97ca5cccd3fa8c

Hi guys, boy we really are slacking on the chatting!
Going to post my 160.9 for the week, we need to bring this challenge home!

I know, the chatting has really slowed down. I think a lot of them are plurking. I just didn't enjoy the plurking so much and can't get to the site at my present work location.

Hard to believe only 2 more WIs to post. I will be posting on Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed, I am hoping to see a "1" at the beginning of my number on Wednesday, but without my Elliptical I feel sluggish.

One more reason to really love FRIDAYS!

Well, today I'm back on track and calorie counting. I took a week off counting and other stuff cuz I wasn't feeling much motivated. I wasn't too bad but I wasn't too careful either. Not to mention I did no exercise at all. I figured I need to take a break and get my mental status back on line. So now I'm back. I did post a small loss this week so I'm happy about that Any loss Keeps you going.

Friday night happy hour was a blast. It had been so long since I'd been to one. They had live music and the guys singing were funny and entertaining. I had a few drinks and my favorite at the end was the mudslide. I can't believe I'd never had one before It's my new favorite drink from now on.

My weekend was good on the whole. I'd mentioned I had invited my relatives and cousins for dinner Saturday. All last week both DH and I had been busy cleaning our place and cooking for them. It went pretty well. Everyone enjoyed the food and the conversation kept flowing. They loved our place too Yay!! One thing I was happy about is that they all realized how far we live now. My relatives life in VA (about 2.5 to 3 hours roundtrip from us) and they would always say how we don't visit often etc etc...so this trip was also kinda an eye opener for them I do want to thank Jaime for her idea of No Sugar Added Apple Pie. It was a hit.

Our sunday was pretty much doing nothing except prepping for Breakfast and lunches for the week. We chilled for the rest of the evening as we were still recovering from Saturday and just wanted to do nothing. I read Twilight little bit (half way thru) . I still have to finish reading Phury's book (from Black Dagger Brotherhood Series) I'm still on chapter 2

Jo, I hope you conquered your munchies urge. I hate it when I get it...It was last night for me. On the other hand, 136 days binge free

Kelly, how's the elliptical?

Anna, thanks for sharing the video. That's amazingly inspiring.

Rhonda, that's the spirit. Great you're finding your mojo back

Anna-Thanks for posting that video! I needed some inspiration today.

Kelly- So I'm going to steal your running men idea and see how many 5K's I can do in August. Since it's break time I think it will help to have a little extra motivation.

So I posted a pound loss this week, which is good, but I'm having a hard time with it. I have been OP and binge free for 20 days which is a huge accomplishment, but I really fought it hard this week and to me a pound just doesn't seem to equal the struggles I dealt with this week. It's silly and eventually I will get over it. Guess I need some extra butt kicking this week to get me out of my pity party!

I managed to squeak out a .5 loss for this week. FINALLY went grocery shopping this weekend, so I should be able to get back on track more easily since we won't be eating out almost every night this week! I loaded up on Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, Dreamfields pasta, some new meats to try (pork tenderloin, turkey breast tenderloin, more pork chops--I'm not accustomed to cooking any meat other than chicken breast and turkey burgers, so this is all new to me!), some good lunchmeat and cheese...

I bought some nsa ice cream on Saturday--mistake. It was ALL gone by last night I won't be buying any again anytime soon

Oh, and we bought an umbrella for out new patio furniture set, and we needed an umbrella base for it. Well, we checked Sears, Lowe's, home Depot, Walmart, Target...no one had a base (they all had umbrella's, though )! I was so frustrated! Then this morning, I stopped at the grocery store on my way to work for some cheese for dinner, and they had an umbrella base there. Of all places! It was the last one, and the box was beat up, but I took it! A little can of spray paint can fix if there are any scratches or anything--beats having to pay shipping and handling for a 30-40 pound item ordered online

Good morning!

I posted -1.4 this week, which means I'm actually down -2.2 from last week but I took a freebie since I had seen a gain due to TOM. But hey, 1.4 is 1.4, I'll take it! Now just 0.6 left to lose to make it to 10 lbs lost this challenge!

We went for our planned hike to Crabtree Falls yesterday - it was a gorgeous day, and we were smart to go early as by the time we were headed back down all these families had arrived and the trail was getting crowded (as far as trails go). I got to use my new Camelbak backpack/hydration system for the first time, and I have to say it was awesome - hubby didn't understand why I'd want 2L of water for the hike but sure enough, I drank it all - and I didn't need to pee pretty much all afternoon, my body sure did use every drop of that 2L.

I think Kim had asked about how the Camelbak fared - well yes, my back did get rather sweaty, but I could feel how it was designed to maximize possible airflow between it and me. It wasn't uncomfortable in the least. I also didn't feel like it was a burden at all, and because it fits so closely to the shape of your body (and has a waist and chest strap if needed), there wasn't a problem with it bouncing around. I filled the pouch up the night before and refrigerated it, so it was actually very nice to have cool water back there - it stayed cool the whole hike (4ish hours), even though it was pressed close to my back. There wasn't a single thing I didn't enjoy about it and would definitely recommend it. Actually I'm thinking it would be handy for any sort of out-and-about application during the day, especially if you have kids - easier than carrying a bunch of water bottles around, plus chances are you'll be wanting to carry a bag around anyway!

Anyway, that's it for my product review

Kelly - I'll be rooting for you, I'll keep my fingers crossed for your 1xx WI!

Jen - You know what you need to do. Get back out there, get some exercise, stay on track - you are doing wonderfully and the last thing you want to do is allow your pity party to throw you off track and make you backslide after all you've accomplished!!!

Jill - Congrats on the loss, a loss is a loss! Have fun with all the new groceries, there are a ton of neat recipes out there to try And good for you being smart about the umbrella base - sounds like you sure made the right choice.

Jaime - The camelback sounds so neat. I've been carrying a 700ml bottle of water on my runs and I've been running out. If I someday get into doing a full marathon as I've been thinking of, I'm definitely going to have to look into something like that where I can carry way more water. WTG on the great loss for the week by the way!!

Jill - I'm so with you on not keeping ice cream in the house. This is the reason we never have chocolate chips around here.

So yesterday was my second time doing 18K and I'm very proud that I finished it. I was really not feeling enthusiastic at all about the run as I'm getting a little bit burned out on so much running these days but I pushed myself to do it since I've only got one more long run until race day. My legs were achy for 6K then I got really tired at something like 10 or 12K so the entire thing was a struggle but I did it. I was also feeling sorry for myself because I forgot my Garmin and didn't have that for motivation. When we made it back to the car I said "I'm not dead!" and that about summed it up for me.

Today is a rest day and I'm going to a meeting for a group I'm volunteering with. I'm dragging my butt because I've done none of the things on my to-do list since our last meeting four months ago. I feel like running is taking up so much of my energy right now that my various volunteer positions which I love have been mostly ditched. I'm planning to cut my running back to 3 days a week after the race so I'll hopefully find it easier to find a balance.

Morning gang, congrats on all the losses, whoo hoo!

I'm sad to say I lost nothing this week, I've been 151 every single time I've stepped on the scale (except for after workouts, and those weights don't count). After running I've seen as low as 146.4 on the scale (!!!!) but for my regular morning weigh-ins the scale hasn't budged at all. Grrrrrrrrr!

It was bound to happen, though. Oddly, my "small jeans" got significantly looser this week, yet nothing on the scale. Oh well, the body is a mystery.


Only one more weigh in for me, I can't believe how fast the whole challenge went by!

Good morning, Bluesers! Everyone ready for an on-plan week?

Kim- Congratulations on completing your 18k!
Jaime - Congratulations on your loss!
Jill - Congratulations on your loss and on finding an umbrella stand!
Jennifer - You are so dedicated and doing such a great job of staying on-plan. Those scales will catch up with you soon. Keep going!
Anjuli - Congratulations for getting back on-plan!
Kelly - I have my fingers crossed for you.
Josephine - Congratulations on looser jeans!

Well, after losing nothing for almost two weeks, the scales finally smiled for me. I'm happy to report a 1.8 pound loss. This week, I will focus on exercising daily. I managed 3 days of workout last week. I'm aiming for 6 days this week.

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day.

GO BLUE!

Still in pieces (sigh)

Hopefully, I will have my elliptical back together by the 1st of Aug and I will be on the journey to mucho little running guys. I'd love to have the company!

I did this with Fat Free Fig Newtons. I even bought the single serving packages (the box of 24 single servings packages from Costco). I think I ate them in a week. We just have to learn what we can resist and what we have to just resist buying.

My DS is off to scout camp and he has a Camelpac too. It is the greatest! He will drink on that thing all day long. My DH fills it with ice and water in the morning and then adds water to it at each stop during the day then refills the ice at lunch and dinner. This keeps the water cold, and helps to keep him cool as the ice is in the back of the pac near his back and keeps him cooler. Then we get the added benefit of keeping him hydrated.

The camp has a saying, "A hydrated scout is a happy scout. A dehydrated scout is a dead scout and dead scouts have not fun." Kind of morbid to me, but it works well to keep the kids drinking. At each activity they say there saying and then have to drink some water.

Thanks for the rooting on my "1" for my scale. If I don't get it this week, there is always next week, but I was hoping to get a little closer to my goal for this challenge, and the leading "1" on the scale this week would help.

Everyone have a great POP day and get out there and move some today!