Originally Posted by Doragone:
Good afternoon, my blue ladies,
Still fighting off the tail end of this bug, but believing I'm getting better. I just had to say Idealmuse, I was so inspired to (finally) notice you've lost a total of 119 lbs!!! Very inspirational, and I noted you're training for Ironman competitions too, wow! I feel a little too old with weak knees for that last part, but otherwise, I'm truly inspired by your progress. How long has this taken you? How do you stay motivated? And as others have said, your avatar is gorgeous.

Glad you're almost feeling better Dor... It's no fun being out of commission! To answer your question... The time-line is a little complex. I was 302 in May 2007. I lost 110 or so I think my first year? I got to 186 by mid-July 2008. From July 08-April09 I got lazy and gained 50lbs, and now I've spent all last summer/fall/winter to get back just below where I was... but I'm headed down to goal now. No more rollercoasters. :) Training for the races helps keep me on track and healthy I did some shorter ones last year and the year before, but I like to be challenged. I hear you on the knees! I wasn't sure mine would hold out when I started running but so far so good...

Hey ladies! I hope you're all having a good week. I have read every post, but haven't had time to post myself this week.

I'm going to do my official weigh-in tomorrow since I will be out of town on Saturday and Sunday. I'm going to do my best to eat well this weekend, but it will be hard since I know we will be at restaurants a couple of times, and then a birthday party. I probably will not get a chance to post again this week, so everyone take care!

Isabella, I bought one of those at the thrift store (I think mine was $2), it's probably 15 years old and has never been used. I haven't tried it in 6 months either. I would like to make Greek Yoghurt...

Let me know if you try it!

I used to always make my own yogurt....but it always stayed a bit runny. Hmm, I should try it again!

Trying to repost this in the right place, for some reason it put it next to my old post:dizzy:

Originally Posted by Doragone:
Good afternoon, my blue ladies,
Still fighting off the tail end of this bug, but believing I'm getting better. I just had to say Idealmuse, I was so inspired to (finally) notice you've lost a total of 119 lbs!!! Very inspirational, and I noted you're training for Ironman competitions too, wow! I feel a little too old with weak knees for that last part, but otherwise, I'm truly inspired by your progress. How long has this taken you? How do you stay motivated? And as others have said, your avatar is gorgeous.

Retiredone - Thanks for reminding me not to do too much too soon. I tend to do just that. As someone else noted, you are so close to goal!!! Another inspirational bloser. Sorry about your recent flub-up day, but you're so good about exercising, even in freezing weather (ugh) and with your new yogurt machine, I have no doubts about your future progress. You're awesome.:cp:

Weebles - Congrats on the size 14s being loose!! I'd love to have that be the case, but I haven't earned it yet. How cool your committee not only nurtured and protected you, but were impressed by your discipline to lose the weight. Discipline/disciple/minister - seems pretty consistent to me.:angel:

Nella - Glad your DH is better and that you're "back on the bandwagon". I think I'm getting back on too, in that I haven't been hungry, but once I get better I'll be ravenous, but I've started new habits which I'm hoping will transfer. I'm with you too on the spring weather, much more inspiring to get out and do stuff. :flow2: You're right about the extra calories being protein, that beats fats and oils any day, plus you exercise a lot, so its all good.

Thinner - So good to hear from you again and thanks for the hugs, I find I still need them quite often.:hug:

Bigmid - Its been sunny here too (in Oregon) :sunny: Good luck with the steps:running:

Echo - Where are you sweetie?:shrug:

Shoupfamily - I'm waving at you from here in Roseburg, OR . . . see . . .:wave: Have fun shopping.

Dayoneagain - Great positivity, plus weight loss, woo hoo!!! I'm going to be trying to follow Conquering the Fat Loss Code and this is what she says about eating and exercise:
One question I am often asked is, "When shoud I eat? Before or after I exercise?" First off, if you are diabetic, you should always have a small amount of protein prior to any exercise, be it cardio or weight training. For those who aren't diabetic, do morning cardio on an empty stomach and always eat immediately afterward because you will burn up the meal you are eating. Also, you will get more benefit from these meals if you eat proteins that need to be digested rather than whey based proteins.

Hope that helps.

Selina - Oh yes! I l-o-o-o-ve strawberries and blackberries grow wild here on our acreage. They are soooo good in summer smoothies, plus fiber and low calorie. Yummmm.:T

Babygrant - Sure hope your son is feeling better. I know exactly what you mean about you'd do anything to help him out. I had 4 sons and one daughter to raise - such a busy time of life. . . . key word . . . life. Life is what happens while we're busy making other plans, eh? Take care of yourself too, while you care for him, dear one.:hug:

Well, that's my personals. Hope to be a little more present. Still working on grief issues, but with more clarity and a little more support. Hope to get exercising for both that and weight loss. This group is so inspirational, small as we may be, we're a power to be reckoned with!!!

Dora

Hi, I'm here but gotta go exercise while I can. Kids get out at 1pm today. Hugs! BBL!! :hug:

Just to let you know about my yogurt for those who asked. I made it the other day and it turned out just marvelous. Just like store bought in texture but I think even better tasting. I made it with skim milk powder and used plain yogurt as a starter.

Got in my walk this morning and DH came with me!!!

This is a busy week for me as I'm volunteering at the goodwill centre (hence the bargain I found on the yogurt maker) so I'll leave to make lunch and then take off down the road to the centre. Have a great day, Blue Team.

Good morning Blue Team!

I am taking a freebie this week, my first and hopefully only. I haven't done horribly bad with my calories this week, but my choices for food have been really bad. Not healthy at all, very little fruit and veggies. So I'm going to save myself the embarassment of weighing this week and I'll just give myself 10 days to get back on track and have a nice surprise next sunday!

I planned out todays eating yesterday. I made a bunch of batches of quinoa, millet, amaranth, and oatmeal. Then I froze it! I made a few bags of breakfast which is 1/8 cup quinoa, 1/8 cup millet, 1/8 cup amaranth, and 1/8 cup oatmeal. Each one is about 25 calories each, so even with a sprinkle of brown sugar and 1/2 cup milk it's just under 200 calories and very filling!

I'm trying a soft foods diet because my jaw has been hurting a lot. I'm a bit stumped as to what to eat that won't hurt....but I'll figure it out!

I'm down 1.5 lbs this week, which I'm happy with :)

I have so much to do in the next few weeks it's going to be insane; 16,000 words in essays to write, volunteering two days a week, training for my 3 mile run, job interviews, a family getogether.... I'm hoping that my brain will convert "stress" into "fun" and everything will be ok :twirly:

Hi Ladies!!!
I hope everyone is having a great day so far....Friday again time seems to go by so fast now. I can hardly wait til spring so I can get outside and exercise more. I was on yesterday but I guess I forgot to post. I am at work now so can't stay on long so no personals. I will start over with them from today on. Eating has been good and the pedometer is kind of fun. It is not super accurate as I keep counting my steps then looking at the pedometer. It doesn't count all of them but at least I know that I have done some more than what it tells me so that's better than saying I did more then I actually did. Well off to do some more work.

Woohoo, Bigmid! You will be in Onederland in no time! Imma get a new pedometer this week. I love them. I used one to help me lose first half of my weight and second half has been lots of mixed stuff. I liked it tho because made me want more steps all the time so I was less likely to park close up at stores, etc. Love that! Anything that motivates us every day is great, just like coming here. And I think Imma hafta wait for the Body Bugg. Don't really like a monthly fee either. Anyway back to you, Bigmid. I am so proud of all of us who are still losing and still in the challenge. Way to go!!!! :wl:

dayone, that is super!! I want to lose that much this week! Prolly won't I want to!! There is always next week!!! :goodscale:

babygrant, sorry ur jaw hurts. That's no fun. :( Hope u feel better soon. Those grains sound interesting. :cb:

Isabella, awwww I love that DH went too! If my DH was home more he'd go some but he is NEVER here! Drives me nuts. At least we talk alot while he is out working. He keeps me on his ear most of the time so we at least FEEL like we are in the same room. I almost have him agreeing to taking off weekends, even if he keeps working late on weekdays. Woohoo!!! :dance:

Dora, You are sooo lucky to have berries at ur place. Too fun!! When should I plant berry plants? I should look that up for my state! Are the plants expensive to buy to plant? I reeeally want at least blackberries to grow here. I LOVE them and so do the kids and dh. :hun:

I have done 30 mins of my hour so far today and will finish the rest tonight. :cp: Yay!!! I wake up excited to move more! I am also setting up a basketball session here on Sunday because its the only day we all are together so we are going to try to start that way making room for family activities that are active so it becomes 'normal'. And I'm going to spend alot of time out at the baseball field this season too and walk around instead of sitting the whole time. :running: My parents didn't do active things with us, they worked alot and their parents weren't active either... and I feel the effects every day. I don't want that for my kids. So here's to better habits this year!!! :trampo:

Ok, better run, hiya to all of our Bluezers!! Hope you all have a great nite!! And that we all have an awesome weigh in this weeeeek!!! :dancer:

Hugs!
Selina :hug:

babygrant, I have a migraine today and have had 3 servings of oatmeal (I get nauseated and for some reason I want oatmeal when I have a migraine. It's a weird comfort food thing.)--I am going to have a hard time hitting 1200 calories today...grr.

The good news is, that I'm shocked by my weight ...just the sheer number.

195. That's a whole 5 pounds from the 200 number. And only 6 pounds from 189...

Originally Posted by weebleswobble:
babygrant, I have a migraine today and have had 3 servings of oatmeal (I get nauseated and for some reason I want oatmeal when I have a migraine. It's a weird comfort food thing.)--I am going to have a hard time hitting 1200 calories today...grr.

The good news is, that I'm shocked by my weight ...just the sheer number.

195. That's a whole 5 pounds from the 200 number. And only 6 pounds from 189...

:carrot: :o :carrot: :o That's AWESOME!!!!! Way to go!

It's just amazing, once you get over that hump, how fast it seems to go. I was just getting used to being 50% to goal...now, I realize I am less than 2 pounds from 33% from goal!

Hi it's me again I couldn't wait until work was done today. Wasn't bad until about 2:00pm then it was like are we done yet? Now I am off for the weekend so yeah:carrot::carrot:

Soon2BeFitChick - I hear you the body bug would be awesome and I can even see paying the initial price but then having to pay a monthly fee on top of that....it adds up. I love the pedometer I keep finding myself testing it though...who knew I would count to 10 or 100 so many times in one day...lol I wish I was closer yet to onederland and hit it already with the rest of you as we started this challange about the same weight but I guess as long as it is in the downward trend that's the main thing. I hope to hit onderland by the end of the month. You have done amazing.

weebleswobble - I hope you migraine goes away soon and at least if you have to crave something oatmeal is a good for you food to have. WOW 195 that's awesome Congratulations and only be 33% to goal...WTG

babygrant - Hello

All of my fellow teammates a big hello. Lets blow the red team out of the water again this week.

I hope everyone else is having a great night...talk to you all tomorrow.

Bigmid, you'll get there!

So I decided to weigh in today and I have lost weight from the last weigh in....but not since Monday. :dizzy: So I'm going to save my freebie and weigh in anyways. I have to stay accountable...not run away. Hopefully I'll have a tiny bit more of a loss tommorow.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. All of our snow is gone and it's been between 7 and 10 degrees which feels like paradise! The kids and I are having tons of fun setting up obstacle courses to run through, hop through, skip through...it's great.

Morning it is very beautiful and sunny here this morning (cold at -12) but so sunny. I love it and can't wait til spring.

Weebleswobble - Thanks

babygrant - I love spring in BC it's so pretty. I lived in Chilliwack for years and spring was always so nice. The obstacle course sounds like so much fun and it's great that the whole family gets involved. Congratulations on the loss and for not having to take your freebie now.

Well I weighed myself this morning just in case (as it's TOM tomorrow or monday) and I am down 2lbs....lets just hope it holds. I am very excited now 199 is so close I might just make it by the end of the month.

Have a great day ladies.

Well I w

Awww I LOVE spring too! We plant things and love to watch wildlife, we have a permanent yearly pass to state parks, love it at those...our tomatoe plants are 3 inches tall and just planted the seeds last week! And we love the bright days and the new leaves on trees! So pretty!! And our tallest tree is huge and his name is Gary and he gets hair again soon!! He looks like broc here----> :broc: when he has hair again!!!! We named him after Spongebob's pet snail. Awwww. :snail:

Congrats Weebles!!!! Yay!!!! I am so excited watching you lose because you and I started at a close heaviest weight. I am living thru u right now. I'm eating right and this is the 4 day I've done a solid hour of working out and I'm not losing. :( I am just staying with it anyway! I'm learning to overcome what held me back before.

Here are some things that used to bother me alot and hold me back and now I talk myself thru them and deal with them and keep going. I'd love to hear anything that you all realized you HAD to change to keep losing. Share with me and all of us ..please!!! I need all the help I can get. :hug:

1. I don't like being or feeling sweaty. So if my only time to work out is late morning I won't get to bathe til late at night. I am learning to not care. To ignore it. To say that working out is more important than feeling clean every second. :)

2. I don't like feeling hungry. Ever. But now I am starting to look forward to what I'm going to cook so don't want to ruin it by eating just anything before it's ready. Before, I would just say oh well. I'm eating now. Whatever I can find and I'll still eat dinner OR I won't eat dinner and just eat it for lunch tomorrow because I HAVE to have food NOW!!!! :tantrum: I'm maturing I think. So weird but it's true. Grown ups can wait a bit. :D

3. If I just get on the treadmill while watching TV, time flies by. It's just getting on and pushing the button that is hard. I am ALWAYS glad I did though. Always. So why is it so hard to start? If I think about it and don't want to get on it and make up excuses in my mind of why I don't need to do it now, time passes and I still watched the show but didn't move any and wasted all that time I could've worked out by just sitting there. Now I just get on it!! I even look crazy by yelling at myself all the things that Jillian says to the ppl on TBL. Run! Run! Push thru it! Don't stop! Faster! Do it even though you are tired! Go go go!!!!!! Seriously, someone is gonna commit me one day if they see that. Ha! :drill:

So I'm so happy that I'm learning to deal with feeling sweaty and going hungry a little longer and making myself start moving every day? I want to know what is helping everyone. I need more things to help me move forward into the 180s. I WANT to be there bad. :mad: (Yes, then when I get there Imma want into the 170s, LOL!! :lol:) I can do it, I know I can. I'm more determined than I've EVER been because I want my kids to have a more fit mom. :bb:

Ok, gotta run. Still have 15 mins more to do today and don't want to not get it in before they all get home from baseball!

Hugsss!!
Selina :hug:

Hi I feel great right now, the sun is shining here and I just finished a workout and feel so good about it. I just started doing ea active on the Wii. Tried it a couple times with a friend and now I just did day 1 of the 30 day challange. In 17 min I burned 131 calories so not bad. I will do another round again tonight.

I posted a 2lb loss for this week so that is good too.

Soon2BeFitChick - Good for you for really noticing what you need to do to stay focused on the big picture and get to you goals. I will have to think on this before posting but thank you for putting yours out there. I too hate being hungry but sometimes I have to give in and eat otherwise I start to feel sick. But I know when that time is and when it's just normal hungry. On normal hungry times I do try to tell myself no you have a lunch made already or just wait supper is at 6:00 etc.

I tried out elliptical trainers yesterday with my mom. I would like a treadmill but her knees and back are shot from arthritis so the elliptical would be better. If we get on it will go in front of the TV too so then there is no excuses as I can still be watching TV while doing it. I did a 3min program on it at the store and burned 50 calories in the 3min. So overall calorie burn would be good and it has your arms going as well. The thing that sucks is that I thought I was going to die after the 3min where as I can do 40-60min on the treadmill. Oh well I guess I will have to do 5min at a time 5-6 times a day..lol

Any thoughts on a elliptical would be helpful.

Have a great day ladies.

Selina, I feel the same about you! :)

Thanks weebles!! :hug:

Bigmid, I love the ellipticals. One day Imma get me one! Good luck, I think they are great to have but I don't know much about choosing one. :woops:

I have been on my feet literally since 10am and just now sat down here to post weight. It's almost 6pm! I probably won't be getting on tmill today because still have tons to do, already shopped, cooked, cleaned kitchen, etc all day. I'm still showing 2 lbs higher than 2 wks ago. But thinking back I think I was dehydrated some and also I weighed in at 11am instead of my usual 7am. So I'm taking the loss and not gonna let it bother me. Sorry to not help our team this week. At least I'm still here. I know even a month of maintaining is a greeeeat thing for me so I don't feel bad!!!! :encore:

If I just keep moving more than normal and eat healthier than normal and keep drinking water, then Imma lose soon!!! :dance:

I bought 10 strawberry plant bulbs today!! Oooohhh and different dahlia bulbs. Says they get 4 ft tall! Cool! Hope they turn out prettttty!!! We are growing tomatoes too from seed, but if they dont get strong enough Imma get plants for them. I also got some new hedges because the front flower beds need filling. Got them for half price so happy about that. Bout to go out back with my dh and kids to trim the crepe myrtle trees all across the back and also some of the other bushes need pruning. Oh and also my mom has a bunch of cuttings of her blackberry vines for us so I'll get those when I see her in March. Yay!!! :dancer:

Ok, gotta run, hugsssss!!

Selina :hug:

Ladies, there is a great way to start a garden (flowers or veggies) called wintersowing - you put the seeds out in your yard in plastic containers (like empty milk jugs, 2 liters, etc) with moist dirt. These act as mini-greenhouses, and you don't have to start them on your windowsill. When they sprout, you move them to a shady area of your yard, and then when it gets warmer out, you take the top half of the jug off (you cut the jug in half when you fill it with dirt). This gives you a great head start on your garden and keeps the weeds to a minimum. I am starting my flowers this way (also you can get flowers on your perennials the first year this way sometimes). I'm also starting strawberry from seed, it's a lot cheaper...

Some people even start their tomatoes this way but I like to start them indoors.

I'm a total veggie garden freak if anyone wants advice.

Weeb

p.s. wintersown.org is the web site for wintersowing information