monte yay you!! way to go :)

I havn't had too much trouble lately... the days are fine, i enjoy my food and everything.. no problem. But then the baby goes to bed and it's time to chill before bed.. and that's when it's hard. Snacking in the evening is a hard habit to break. Have been guzzling water like a fool! Results in a million wake ups at night.. but the scale is happy that i'm not snacking. I'm hoping after a couple weeks it wont be as hard!

have a great nite everyone!!

CanadaMel: I'm out in Gunma...I hate the area, but I'm trying to keep positive and remind myself that if things were nice and conveniently close around here, I wouldn't burn nearly as many calories pedaling my little buns off day in and day out.

mountainmomma: I'd love to go to Korea...I'd be terrified to try though, since I speak absolutely no Korean...I taught myself to say hello and count to 10 for one of the units in the 5th grade textbook (it involved greetings and counting around the world) then promptly forgot it all. I envy all of the people who have the balls to just dive into a new place...I studied Japanese for 4 years and was still nervous getting a job here.

I've been going to onsens (bath houses) once or twice a week lately...initially the public nudity was terrifying and embarrassing, but it's starting to almost be reassuring now because all of the perfect-looking tiny Japanese girls...aren't actually as perfect and tiny when they take their clothes off. Most of the kids are actually really good about not being rude about the size difference between me and most of my coworkers (impressive since they're between 5 and 12), and some of my 6th graders even started complaining to me one day that they couldn't wait to have a 'woman shape' like I had. I was completely flabbergasted, as I don't think I have a very feminine shape at all.
They're pretty good with the concept of "everyone's different," surprisingly enough...a few of them had to be told before they realized that I wasn't Japanese because they thought that I'd somehow magicked my way to brown hair and big, hazel eyes with ridiculous long eyelashes. (I'm starting to get sick of people asking me where I "bought" my lashes because they "almost look natural!")

westcoastrosa: It's posts like that that make me want to run...I just don't think I have the attention span for it though. Maybe next time I have some spare cash, I'll invest in a smaller mp3 player, throw on some Apocalyptica, and try to motivate myself with some badassery on cellos...

Montecristo and Burg: Congrats to you both! Losses and awesomely long walks are both fantastic.

Hi guys...unfortunately the lovely packed trains in Tokyo gave me a nice little plague when I went there for training at the beginning of the week...I'm mostly over it now, but the scale and I aren't friends at the moment because this morning it decided to tell me exactly the same number it told me last time I was on it thanks to all of the carbs I ate (well, honestly, mostly drank...I went through 4L of various vitamin/mineral/ion supplement drinks because after one of my friends almost died from losing electrolytes, I'm super paranoid) trying to keep nutrients down for 2 days. I'll be working my butt off until bedtime so that I don't let you lovely ladies down come Sunday.

HI Red Team
It's nice getting to know everyone, I'm trying to get back into better habits one baby step at a time. I'm journaling my food again, and trying to get back into the exercise habit. But it's going slow.
Today I heard that the clinic where my whole family gets their medical care has been closed down. The hospital that owns it came in and said you're all fired. The patients haven't all been notified including us, but a relative was and she told me. Nowe I have to go through all the garbage of finding a new dr, and to top it off DD is sick. I guess if she doesn't feel better than it is the er for us. I'm going to make some calls tomorrow and see if we can't find a new place to go. I don' mean to complain, but it's nice sometimes to have someplace to go and talk things out.

Rainbow smiles Nice to see you back, you always give me a life with your colorful posts!

Mel, nice to see you back as our fearless leader (said in fake Russian accent)

Montecristo, Welcome back

Hotaruchan, mountain mama, Burg, westcoast rosa, Dahlia55, bennaloe, mamamiaa- Hi, it's nice to meet you.

Elizabeth 779 and Shanhat-It's nice seeing you again

And to anyone I missed sorry
Have a great weekend everyone
Bette K

Bette: good luck finding a new Dr! I know it can be such a huge pain in ding someone you like.

I'm doing good. We are visiting family with the new baby this week so I don't have access to my gym. I've been doing silly things around the house to make my own gym- like tricep dips off the back of the couch or pushups off the counter- basically anything to keep the fitness level up while we are out of town.

I love visiting family but I am excited to get home and get my workout routine back! Plus it's hard to say no to my mom's delicious carb heavy meals :)

Bleh...putting in my weight a little early because a bunch of things are closing for the summer this weekend and I doubt that I'll be in my apartment much, if at all. Not a great drop for the first "week" considering that it's really closer to 2, but any progress is good progress, right? Heh...man, I'm going to get kicked out so fast if this keeps up >.<

Keep working hard, ladies!

Bette: Ouch...finding a new doctor is always rough. I'm still fighting with my old insurance company over a walk-in clinic charge from last November when I was between doctors...Good luck to you.

mamamiaa: Kudos to you for being creative about keeping up with your workout routine. I need to start coming up with things to do for strength training that don't involve weights...the heaviest I've found so far are 2 kg (slightly less than 5 lbs), which will work for my 30 DS, but really are pretty useless to me outside of that. The only gym around is waaaay out of my budget (upwards of $120 with the current exchange rate).

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!! I have an extra long weekend (took today off and Monday is a stat holiday) and can't wait to get some rest and relaxation in (with exercise and healthy choices, of course...haha).

I'm feeling good about Sunday's weigh-in and I hope everyone else is too!! Go Red Team!!

Good morning everyone!
Hope you Friday has started off well.

Make choices throughout your day that will lead you towards whatever you ultimate goal is.

Depressing day shopping today! I haven't shopped since I was pregnant- except for maternity clothes.
I'm two sizes bigger than I was last year. I told my husband that I refuse to buy anything more until I lose the weight. I am not buying 16s! :)
It did end up motivating me more, but it was a rough trip.

HOtachuran: I am going to buy some 10lb weights and I think that will help a ton with my home workouts- I feel like I will get more done with them :)

I've been a total loser about posting in this thread this week -- my deadline got pushed back til Tuesday, which means I'll have to work while in NYC this weekend. Joy.

Somehow I lost weight this week, but it's stress weight -- I'm counting on a rebound next week.

LOL, I am soooo stressed.

Hey all!
I randomly went up a bit friday and I stayed under calories on thursday and everything! WEIRD! Still on track, minus a few home made onion rings last night. At least i used whole wheat flour and coconut oi to cook them in! right? hehe
All in all I'm doing good. Have to stop being lazy and go grocery shopping soon.

I need to work on drinking more water on the weekends. At work I am always sipping on my water bottle, but at home I just dont, which is weird! Im chuggaluging now!

rachelWhen i first went to korea-I did it on a whim and survived! i was there within a month of making the decision hehe. I was right in Seoul, where a lot of people at least speak some English, so that was helpful. I quickly learned enough survival korean to get through. I do regret not learning more.

Hi team- hope everyone is having a good Saturday. I started with a run with my neighbor. Now I'm trying t o get the house in order befor the mayhem of school starting on Tuesday.

Mountain mama- I try to have a glass of water in a centralized location and take a sip everytime I walk past.

Shanhat- don't let the stress get to you, breathe.

Mamamiaa- I like shopping at goodwill. Then I don't feel so bad spending $ on clothes that will only fit for a few months and then I re-donate them.

Rainbow- look at al the bike miles you are raking up. Keep up the good work

Hotaruchan- I never went to gunma, but worked with a girl from there when I taught at an IIEEC English camp for kids.

Bette- hope the search for a new doc doesn't take too long. is dd feeling better?

Have a great rest of the day & be sure to post your weight by 6pm central on Sunday.

That's a gold idea Mel! I was thinking of going to Ross dress for less too since its not too much $

Tomorrow is our last full day out of town- I'm kind of excited to get home and get back to our routine AND my gym :)

Good afternoon lovely red ladies!

I had a visit from the whoosh fairy last night so I'm just as happy as can be!

School starts up again in two days, and my goal for the year is to bring all my meals with me. My program sometimes requires 13 hours a day, 6 days a week, so my 7th day is now officially cooking day, to make sure I'm ready to go! Tomorrow I will have chicken, turkey, fish and all that good stuff in and out of the oven all day. Then, my friends and I are having one last celebration which I am making some delicious chicken kabobs for. There is also a 100% chance of booze, so I'll have to be extra mindful earlier in the day.

I hope that everyone is having a great long weekend so far!