Good morning ladies. I'm up early this morning because I have to read in church. I got a good night sleep. No doggie emergencies in the middle of the night for a change. I actually feel kind of human.

I plan to do some major cooking today so I don't have to get stressed this week if I come home late from work. there should be food ready to go. Also, I should have stuff prepared for lunches. We'll see how it goes. Have a good one.

Hi everyone, just a quick check in post. I'm starting to get over the FLU. Still have the cough, so still having a rough time getting much sleep.

I've been busy finishing up the kitchen floor with DH's help. He's really getting good with the tile saw and we will finish today.

The girls are on Spring Break this week and Shelbey left this morning to visit her mom in Las Vegas for a week.

My son gets to fly home for a 2 day visit next weekend. It will be nice to see him again.

Heyyyy Lily!!! Glad to hear your feeling a little better these days! I know you'll have a wonderful time with your son when he visits...enjoy! Wow!!! You are really something girl...back at the home remodelling again!!! Inspirational! It does get to be kind of an obsession once you get started...it's like you can't think of anything else until your done! Totally understand! Yesterday, a few of us here were having what we called a "Lily" day! Ya know...cleaning, cooking, fixin' stuff, organizing...whew! So you see what you started here??? You put us to shame! I, myself, was on the war path yesterday (usually, I'm soooo totally lazy when it comes to housework)! How's your daughter who was sick? I hope she's 100% now! Can you send me some of your [[[energy]]] vibes??? Could use some today!

Have a great day all! Joyce

I'm on a cooking binge. I have a big hunk of lamb on the grill, some brussel sprouts cut up and ready to be roasted and my key lime pie in the fridge. The pie looks amazing and I licked the mixer paddle and the filling tasted good so I think this is a winner. I have to tell you, there are some amazing cooks on the protein power board. They have recipes on there that will blow your mind. People actually work on coming up with stuff that tastes like its high carb version until they get it right-uses ingredients I've never heard of.

Petra: Sounds awesome. Now I'm going to lurk for their recipes!

Where's Crabby? Where's Bouncie?

Azure: I hope you are home and having an AMAZING TIME.

Aud: I think you are having quite the good time with this layoff!

All: Searched for the JJ book at Barnes and Noble last night but they did not have it. Settled for a Kellerman Jr. book which I read and really enjoyed. I think his style is similar to Rober Parker's. Short bursts of dialogue that totally crack you up.

It is another lovely late afternoon here. DH and DD have taken the dogs to the dog park so they can enjoy sniffing others (the dogs do the sniffing not DH and DD). We have a large item trash pick up here tomorrow so all the trashpickers are out pulling everyone's piles apart. I hate that. Take what you want put put everything back in the pile please. BTW: Now I know how BBQ companies stay in business. I have two out there. How wasteful.

Hope everyone is doing well as the weekend draws to a close.

ox
SC

Morning, folks!

S'Calm - thanks so much for that! You're right - I need to get over the automatic OMGWTF reaction to being told I have to do improv. (Give me a script, and a character, and I'm away - I'm ALL about storytelling and getting under the character's skin...but improv, like singing in public, feels much more embarrassing and like I'm exposing MYSELF (and not in that sexy way!), rather than telling a story. In my head.

...er, that probably makes no sense to anyone else, right? No worries.

A couple of folks asked about the Couch-2-5k program. I stumbled across the website a few years ago, and have had it as a vague mental post-it ever since. I found mention of it over in the Exercise threads too, and talked to a lass who'd started a year ago, when she was heavier than me, and who found it totally turned her life around - she LOVES running now, and she lost a shedload of weight!

Anyway, now I'm really trying it. It gently takes you from being a couch potato to being able to run 5k, over a period of 9 weeks (or longer, if you want to stretch out any of the week-long programs), starting off with walking/jogging gently 3 times a week. So far, I'm thinking it looks like being A Good Thing!

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Good for you Faye!!! I'm glad to hear your excitement and I'm sure you'll do great. Don't forget to post a pic (of you running the 5K with your number tag on and everything!)...GO YOU!!! Joyce

Cheers, Joyce!

Forgot to mention: Today is my Weigh-In Day, and I seem to be down another pound. I'd like to have gone down 2lb, but then I DID have a small glass of red wine on Friday night, and a small roast potato on Saturday (threw out 3 roast potatoes and a yorkshire pudding and the carrots, mind...but the crunchy crispy golden skin with its promise of soft, floury goodness sort of mesmerised me, and I'd taken a bite out of one of them before I knew it. Um. And, in breaking news, potatoes are still totally yummy. But I threw the other 3 away, so go me).

....aaanyway, yes - happy to have lost 1lb, and feeling good in today's outfit (the skirt is VERY close to falling off. When it finally does fall off, THAT's when I'm going back to my tailor to get a new skirt made). And I also think that now I've started the C-2-5k thing, I'll be making better progress at reducing inches, and hopefully pounds, faster. Yay!

I do want to do some weights too, though. Not weightlifting at this point - but my upper arms are just HORRIFYING. So I may work in a little bit of my exercise DVD (which has a shedload of 5-minute sequences that you can mix and match) to work on reducing all that hideous flab and starting to build muscle tone.

BAB - Congrats again on another pound lost! Girl...you're on a roll! You really seem to have a healthy attitude towards food and GO YOU on the exercise! I'm so excited for you! Your gonna love it. BTW, don't be afraid of weights...you'd have to pump your vains with viscious amounts of steroids to gain the kind of muscle you see on bodybuilding women. When we (women) lift, we get "toned" or "lean", not bulky. But you are right...start slow and gradually increase the time and/or weights. It's called "progressive overload". This is what stimulates muscle growth. Which, believe it or not, IS WHAT WE WANT. The more muscle we gain, the more potatoes, wine, etc. we can have without it effecting our weight..soooo..GO FOR IT! YEAHHHHH YOU!

I also start my intense weight training today (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle). It's really one of the best books I've read and you can use it in conjunction with a low-carb diet! It's an E-Book, so you can download it and print it out. If your interested, here's where you can find it: www.burnthefat.com. Now that I'm down to the last few pounds, it is becoming really hard for me to lose, so I'm going to try this technique in the book called, carb-cycling on a 3/1 system (3 days low carb/1 day higher carbs (quality carbs like brown rice, oatmeal, etc.). It's really helpful when you reach a stall or your body adjusts to the lower calorie intake. You don't seem to be stalling now, but at the rate your going...you'll be down to the last 20 in no time...at that point, you may hit some stalls. I'll let you know how this goes...I'm also going to be keeping tabs on my fat percentage using a caliper, and yes...tracking my meals thru fitday, so I can keep tabs on my calories/ratios on a weekly basis. Lastly, I will need to eat 5 times/day (every 3 hours) and cut off my last meal a few hours before bedtime. If I do it right, I'm supposed to lose 2lbs/week with no stalls. I've heard from alot of people that this technique is wonderful for breaking stalls and am hoping it will do it for me!

I know it hard for many people to feel my pain as I have less weight to lose than alot of folks here...but let me tell you, unhappiness with one's body, is unhappiness with one's body (whether it be 10 lbs or 100lbs!)....I'm in the same boat! I get frustrated! I get unhappy! I want to break the mirror into six pieces sometimes! Please do realize that you guys truly keep me motivated as I hope I give to you what you've given to me! Much success all and STAY IN THE FIGHT...Summer's just around the Corner...and I want to see nothing but bikini shots this summer as our Avatars! :lol: Have a wonderful day all! Joyce