Good morning Friends and Happy New Year!

We spent our New Year's Eve at home with the girls. We played some games on the Wii and watched the ball drop with Dick Clark. Hubby grilled some ribeyes for dinner with fries. And, I had two...two!..pieces of cheese cake. My evening ended with just one margarita.

I am back on plan. I'm doing a SB phase 1.5 and tracking calories on Daily Plate. I also bought a journal and will start writing down my thoughts. On the last season of Biggest Loser, Bob asked a contestant...who had been quite successful at losing a large amount of weight....what had she learned about herself. He was quite concerned that she had not invested time in learning who she is and what brought her to the point of obesity. From my stalled weight loss progress and lack of committment, it would seem that I have much to learn about myself. I've heard that journaling can help me, so I'm giving it a shot.

Work has been over-the-top busy. I'm very ready for things to slow down again. Hopefully, we'll see that point by February. In the meantime, I need to make a schedule with Hubby so that I can get some gym time and make a schedule for meals. No more off-plan quick meals! My plan for today is to organize the pantry and plan some menus. I also have a ton of cleaning to do, so exercise won't be a problem.

Well...enough about me. How is everyone else?

Rhonda.....you sound like me! January is shot timewise for me too. Month end close and year end close. I am also attempting to do some journalling but I am having a difficult time and have made it a goal to at least write one line a day....I just hope I don't rely on the one liners and get into some in depth stuff. Back op today and I am going to check out the new YMCA for locations and schedules.

HI Everyone,
We had an "exciting" NYE last night, went to church, came home and watched Shrek2 and ate a supper of snack foods, watched some TV, and everyone else was asleep by 11, I stayed up and watched the ball drop at Midnight. DD woke up crying this morning because she didn't stay up till midnight.

zinkemomx2: I'll try setting something up in excel. I hope you were able to keep warm during the power outage, we lost power a couple of years ago for 5 days. It was in feb and I was very glad I had a gas stove and water heater. I think the thing that bothered me the worst was going back to work after 3 days off and still not having electricity and hearing people complain about being a day and a half without cable tv.

For all the Journalers, I too need to get back to journaling, but I found that the best way to start was to write down 3 things I was grateful for each day, 3 prayers or wishes for the day and 3 good things that had happened that day.. You can expand on that. I always tried to not repeat the things I was grateful for, that way I was looking for things to be grateful for.

Everyone Else, Have a great New Year.
Bette K

Out of 2008. Glad to see so many of you are already crazy OP troopers. I decided to start tomorrow (the 2nd) I needed a full day of rest, reflection, cleaning and basic mindlessness. But I am so excited to jump on my challenges tomorrow. Gonna start 30DS, C25K and get the calories in check. I'm pumped. Need 50+ to go away quick and stay gone! Life style change for sure, and ready to see what the best of me can do!

Is any one else aching to see what the team they are on? I missed the last challenge so I am in limbo land and couldn't request a side. But Look out, because 2009 is my year!

Hope ya'll have a great New Year's Day! 3 more days and it is game on!

Happy New Year!

This morning was my weigh in, and as expected it was not great news. 182. This is about 15 pounds above my lowest weight several months ago. But I am ready to go! I did my new Biggest Loser DVD this morning that I got for Christmas. Then I took a shower and even shaved my legs! I don't do that very often, but know that doing things like this help me feel better about myself which helps me stay on plan and lose weight! Now I'm ready for a healthy lunch....I think some soup and salad.

Have a great day ladies! Make it a good one!

I'm starting things tomorrow on the 2nd also. That's when I started last year so tomorrow is the new start for me. Gotta put all the cookies and cake in the freezer to be rationed out for DH, DS and Mom. I'm so ready for this new challenge. Hopefully I'll reach goal by the end.

Happy New Year All!

Dee: You're gorgeous! Love the dimples you're showing now!

Rhonda: 10lb goals and a new journal. Sounds like you're getting things in order and are rarin' to go on this challenge. Way to go!

Selina: Hello! I've missed your sunshine-y face!

Hello to all of the new and old faces. Looking forward to being in the challenge with you.
Let's be big losers in 2009!

I am trying to get myself in the right frame of mind. I need to stay positive. this is day 4 of being on plan. I may have gone a bit over last night at the party, but not terribly. I am up to 202.4 today. I went ahead and posted my starting weight. I have been hanging around the same weight for 2 months now. It get depressing. Hopefully this challenge will be just what the doctor ordered.

I need goals:
1. Stay positive
2. 1400-1500 calories/day
3. Drink more water
4. Work out 6 days/week.
5. Stay positive
6. Stick with this plan for 4 weeks.
7. If no progress, figure out a new plan.
8. Cook more at home. I have a lot of good recipes to try.

Okay. Time to rock!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I did alright last night but not great. Tomorrow it's back on plan for me, including a good workout! Just a quickie as I still have family in town and they are taking up a lot of my time. Don't forget to post your starting weights by the 3rd!

Happy new year everyone!! I am so in need of another challenge to start to kick my rear in gear and to motivate me to go to the gym. I have been going, but not as much as I was there for awhile. I did not make it to my goal for 2008, I was 13 pounds shy That's okay, because I know I will get those pounds off within the next few months and lose even more.

My goals for 2009:
*Start Journaling food/exercise again
*Go to bootcamp at least once a week - no excuses (except for maybe hubby not being home with DS)
*Drink 64-80 oz water every day
*1200-1500 calories (or up to 27 WW Points) a day
*No fast food for the month of January and we will take it from there after that!
*Start back up with blogging
last but not least....
*drop another 45 pounds this year!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe NYE!!

Happy New Year!!!

Starting today. Going to do BFL as my eating program the only thing I am tweaking is the free day. I will only have two free meals on my free day. I found that in the past that free day did me in. I am also moving it to Sunday so I will be able to get right back on on Monday's.

Bette-It was hard at first. I kept making the meals about the same size as before. So we had a lot of leftovers. I have gradually learned to trim it down. The amount of money I am saving on food is enormous. I would start with halving the recipes.

Bradley's mom-Congrats on the new baby. Good for you for starting so soon after the baby's birth. I still am holding on the some baby weight and my baby is going to be 17!!

Dixie-you look amazing. What a difference 40lbs makes!!

Good morning, Friends! TGIF!

Yesterday, I organized the pantry and sat down with my vegetarian cookbook and planned some meals. My 12 year old is a vegetarian and Hubby and I have decided that eating some vegetarian meals would be healthy for all of us. I found some yummy recipes that I can't wait to try. Some of you who know me well also know that I'm not much of a cook. Hubby has always done the cooking. But, I've decided to dive in and try the waters. I'll be sure to let you know how the meals turn out. I also went grocery shopping to pick up some fresh veggies. Holy Smokes! Tomatoes are expensive! I had to tell my youngest to stay out of them. That kid loves tomatoes. It's no wonder. I craved fresh tomatoes when I was pregnant with her.I also wanted to pick up a box of clementines as so many of you rave about how delicious they are, but at $7 a box....well, I bought some plain ole tangerines instead.

Enough about me, tell us how you're doing. Having a great on-plan day, I hope.

Thanks every for the positive responses on the progress pictures. Sometimes I swear I can't tell a difference, and other times I can't do anything but stare in the mirror wondering who the heck that chick is?

I was also going to post a reminder about starting weights. Chelle is a stickler for deadlines, so make sure your starting weight is posted before she closes that thread!

When I got to the gym this morning it was closed for holiday hours. 8a-8p today. That kinds ticks me off, it's not a holiday, open the gym already, I need to workout. I ended up driving down to the track at the local college, after 1/2 a lap the automatic timer lights went out....and it was very dark and very empty. So I drove home and set up the treadmill to finish my 3 miles. Somedays I swear it's a conspiracy to keep me fat.

I had a huge NSV yesterday, I went shopping and bought 4 pair of size 10 pants. SIZE 10!!! I haven't worn a 10 since 1992 or 93. I'd still need a size 14 in a dress, due to boobage, but I'm so excited to have pants that will stay on. I ended up calling my mom and texting a co-worker because I really couldn't believe I was in a 10. I thought 10 would be my goal size, since my skinny co-worker (well, she seems skinny to me) wears a size 8. But here I am at a 10 and my weight is still 15 pounds above the healthy range. So, I think maybe a size 8, or even a 6 is my new goal.

I took measurements yesterday for comparison, but I forgot to pick them up on the way out the door this morning, so I'll post my inches lost later.

Dee, I need the 20something and jiggly gym! The gym we just joined is a middle-aged and jiggly/teenage and buff gym - gotta love the community centre. Also, your progress pictures look fantastic, and congrats on the size 10s!

Rhonda - sounds like you are starting 2009 off in a great way - journalling, meal planning, getting OP with a plan that fits you! I really like what you said about learning more about yourself in order to change and maintain that change.

I get something called "Notes from the Universe" in my email every weekday, and this was today's: "Marianne, today, be the person of your dreams. See life through THEIR eyes. Make decisions with THEIR mind. Let every thought, word, and action come from THEIR perspective, as if you had already arrived, and just watch how 2009 warps into the kind of year you talk and laugh about forever and ever and ever..."

2009 is going to be a year of a lot of change for me (not just weight/fitness), so this was an interesting thing to read.... lots of thinking to do!

Happy New Year everyone!