Good Morning Everyone,

Hope your day isn't as gloomy as it is here in NJ. The fog is so thick here at work (new york), you can't see a block in front of you.

Aunt Flo is visiting so I'm feeling really REALLY tired and grumpy.

But my boss isn't here today so all is not lost LOL

Hugs !

I am having the worst day ever!

Last night I got into a $hit fight with my husband over us having my family for Christmas dinner. We have always gone to one of my brother's for dinner but this year I thought I would like to have it. God knows why I want to have 13 people for dinner!
I have been telling him this for weeks and last night it was like the first time he heard this! OYE....I turned into Carrie

Anyway.....that has put me in a fowl mood today. My hair mousse ran out so my hair sucks.....I forgot my salad dressing for my greek salad, which means I will have to go out at lunch and get some and it is rainy and cold today........and my eczema has flared up (stress) so I look just gorgeous (I have it around my eyes and on my hand).

So enough about me

It can only get better right?.............please say right.

Oh Jane,
Hang in there! I hate fighting with hubby. It makes for just awful feelings. Especially when you know they are just wrong!! Kidding of course. I'm sorry you're having a crummy day. It is most definitely going to get better. Try and relax and chill out a little. It's just one day and maybe have a nice bath with candles when you get home then moisturize to help the eczema go away. Maybe by then dh will be in a better mood to talk. Just try and step back and explain why it's important to you and ask why it matters to him if you have it at your house. You'll be fine and you're gorgeous!!!

I'm doing fine. Getting ready for bed soon. Gotta pack today because tomorrow evening el baby-o and I fly off to California on our first adventure. I'm very excited.

If anyone wants postcards, just send me your address and I'll send you one. I love postcards. It's nice to get non-bill snail mail like Kim said. Well, See you ladies later.

well i am up! not as early as planned. The orginal plan was to get up and awake so by this time I would be at the gym...well i didnt get up so I am getting ready to head to the gym half awake! hopefully by the time I get there I will be awake! I told myself I was going today no matter what! I havent worked out in over 3 months! bad Nicki! I have been in school and just got lazy! still have 5 weeks left in this semester but still going to try to make it to the gym at least 2 days a week!

Good morning!

Jane - I'm sorry to hear about the fight. Boys are dumb. Sometimes I think that if they weren't good for lifting, carrying, and fixing stuff, we wouldn't bother keeping them around

I didn't get to work out at curves yesterday (liability issues) but I did get to see what it's like. It's so much more comfortable than a gym! Just normal women trying to get in shape - no lycra-bound goddesses whose only purpost for existing is to make me feel like a heifer.

To make up for it, my adorable little 57 year old mother who never moves faster than a quick walk - are you ready for this? - jogged from my car to the door of Fred Meyer (a whole 250 feet) and when we left the store we jogged back to the car. It was hysterical.

I tried out the accelerated body sculpting pilates video last night. OMG - that was hard! I'm surprised I'm not sore today. Gonna start doing more of that!

Happy Wednesday, all! (Is that right??? Is it Wenesday already??)

Jane: I hope things get better for you soon! Fights with husbands are never fun.

Jamie: I hope you and El Baby-o have a great trip!! That sounds fun to go on your first adventure together. And, California sounds like a fun place to visit, too -- I've never been there.

Nursenicki: Congratulations on being awake and making it to the gym! I can sleep forever and waking up is very hard to do -- let alone waking up early. I wish I was more of a morning person... I'm just not, though. Great job on making it a priority and doing it!! I'm very impressed!!

I had a good day eating-wise yesterday. I only had two tablespoons of cream all day -- much improved from my who-knows-how-much-but-it's-a-ton amounts of the past week. I stayed under 20 carbs and got lots of veggies in. I'm glad I got back into using Fitday again -- it can be an eye-opener, and it keeps me under 20 carbs and eating right on plan.

I've been walking everyday, but I think I need to add some strength training to my routine. I'm just not sure where to start! I have a resistance band with instructions from awhile ago that I may pull out. I could at least start there???

DH and I went to the mall last night just to look around -- every store has their Christmas decorations out and Christmas music blaring! It seemed a little early for me... Does anyone know -- Do stores up their prices for Christmas? We went to look at Old Navy, and everything seemed SO much more expensive than usual.

Even though I'm happy with my weight loss so far, I know I still have quite a ways to go, and I get disappointed looking at clothes and looking in mirrors... I always look SO much bigger in mirrors outside of those at home! And, everyone else looks so tiny!

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday!!

Take care,
Jina

HI All,

Just quickly checking in - Jane - sorry to hear about dh's hearing problem! I know the feeling after discussing something umpteen times and then getting flack as if it was never talked about - I hate that too. But once the idea sinks in it will be time to kiss and make up!

Ended up out for dinner w/dh after our meeting as eldest ds was babysitting for us (now a rare occasion). Went to a lovely place - passed on the bread - had a yummy ceasar salad (no croutons) and roast chicken with mushrooms (no rice, but more veggies: asparagus, 2 carrots, red pepper and some squash). Followed by a decaf americano, sf vanilla at Starbucks.

TOM is here with a vengeance - I notice flow much heavier since on Atkins - not one of the benefits I guess Eating is more in control now - and back to 186 this am so hopefully the trend is downward - also in ketosis.

Good luck on your trip jamie - have you and baby every flown together? How long is the flight? Hope you have fun!

Star - will have to check out my local Curves - have been putting it off but definitely will do before the New Year as I may consider joining at that time (when my saturday mornings become free again!). It will be hard to get their 3 times a week especially with their limited opening hours - will check out some others nearby to see if they are any better!

Have to try on all my new black velvet clothes for bar mitzvah this weekend - and get dh as my fashion consultant - currently have two tops to choose from - so I must return one of them (okay so I couldn't decide - so shoot me! )

Bright and sunny and warm today (go figure)...rain and thunderstorms expected this evening.

Next week at work is crazy - and I am on a course tomorrow all day, workshop all day Monday (trying to ensure they have carb friendly food?) and maybe at a conference next Tuesday & Wednesday - too busy for my liking!

I did enjoy my days off but it was **** getting up and going to work today - esp since my throat still hurts and dd is home sick as well (huge ugly red tonsils)...she cannot be SICK at this time....her bat mitzvah countdown begins - one month away! Her dad is taking her to dr this pm.

Froufy

It's Wednesday, the sun is shining here and I'm sipping my coffee.

I'm just going to pretend like yesterday never happened. I didn't get up, skip breakfast, then pig out for lunch and eat candy for dinner. It was an awful day for me so I'm moving on and taking my own advice for Froufie yesterday - I am still in control.

Today is a new day, thank heaven.

I'm still stalled and getting more disgusted by the day. I haven't lost a single pound since I changed my goal from 168 to 162. I can't see any possible way to meet my goal but I'm hanging in there. I started my exercise last week and did great until I hit Friday. I only exercised 30 minutes before work. Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues and so far today have none nothing. I felt like I was coming down with a cold or something all weekend though. My cold turned out to be TOM. Since coming off my birth control pills, I don't have cramps or migraines anymore to alert me to TOM. Those are good things but I'm now finding it necessary to keep track on the calendar so I don't get caught unprepared at work. Hopefully after TOM I'll start losing again. It's been a good 3 weeks with no loss. UGH!!!!!

Hello everyone,

I totally forgot about Curves, I'll have to see if there's one in my area ... I've been mostly using the YMCA, but it's totally uncomfortable using the weight training equipment there with all these men trying to be all macho and lifting really heavy weights compared to my puny ones!

Still doing well eating wise ... I'd forgotton how much I love salami and how perfect it is for lunch. I've also been really good these past few days getting lots of water, so I'm happy about that.

All morning I've been running around one of the engineering buildings looking for a material testing machine and I was shuttled between it seems like a million people. 'Go talk to so-and-so on the 3rd floor,' 'Go see so-and-so on the 6th floor,' back to the 3rd floor, back to 6th floor, back and forth and back and forth ... phew! And finally, I get to the possible end of the line, but the guy's not there, so I end up having to send him an email anyway. So in the end, it feels like I didn't really accomplish much in the past few hours!

Supersized! I'm right there with you! This morning I was at 160 again, so I'm wondering if the 159 was a fluke. I've upped my exercise as well. We have to keep in mind that increased exercise may cause us to stall or even gain a little initially while we build up some muscle, but then the increased muscle will increase our metabolism and we'll end up dropping again. I'm trying so hard to stay positive but you're right - this sucks! We'll get through it - promise I often feel like I'm in a battle with my body, but this time I'm gonna win the war.

I checked out Curves once ...was going to go there and the idea isnt out of the question..but I ended up joining the YMCA..at the one here they have what is called Technogym..all the machines are programmed to your individual taste...they set it up when you come in on how much weight, incline, resistance etc. It also keeps track of how many calories you burned, how much weight you have lifted...how many miles etc. ..It was an added fee on top of the monthly membership but that is just a one time fee. it is $30.00 a month which is about equal to all the other gyms around here. I have yet to use the pool, hot tub, sauna...never have time but i am going to make time to pamper myself. But the Y here is old and outdated....hopefully they will get the funding to build a new one soon...i think it is in the works!

I just checked my messages..Princess thanks for the advice on Pilates...I think i am going to check into Belly Dancing...my friend gave me some ideas on tapes for beginners...she started doing it for exercise and now is in a class and performing ...I have always thought it was interesting and pretty sexy ....just always thought I was too big to do it ..but another friend of mine is 350 and she is doing it and loves every minute of it...i just need to find something that I enjoy and stick to it

It's only Wednesday! ARGHHH!
DD and I are heading down to Portland on Friday for an ice-skating competition. We're both so looking forward to it that I'm afraid the week is crawling due to anticipation!
It was a bit slow at work yesterday which made the day go by so S-L-O-W-L-Y. I was hoping it was due to the holiday, but it seems to be starting out that way today too.
Jina, I've always wondered about pre-Xmas pricing too. I bet they do raise prices before so they can offer all those "after-Xmas" sales!
Hope everyone's having a great day, in spite of life's "bumpy places"

Jen

Jingle - (Responding to your post on the Challenge thread)
Your husband sounds like mine. He is really trying to help me in this - this time!
My girls are very lucky so far though with weight...they are half Filipino so they may not have to grow up as I did battling the bulge. My oldest daughter is 7 and she finally has gained some weight this year. She was 45 lbs on her birthday in June - but now weighs 51 and that is good. I was getting worried - but she eats like a pig so it's just her wonderful metabolism. The baby on the other hand is a very picky eater so we need to watch her like a hawk. She loves any kind of sweet or salty items and doesn't really enjoy healthy choices. It's a real struggle - and has been since I stopped nursing her at 7 months. If "Pringles" were only considered a vegetable...we'd have it made!

Ack! I think I'm becoming the princess of articles

Sorry if I'm bombarding you guys. There's just so much info out there!

For all the parents and generally insanely busy people out there, this one's for you.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/paynte...paynter12.html