Just a quick update... :) I'm actually at my office (i have the key! but we all have the key so it's not that special hehe) because i still don't have any internet at my new place yet.

I'm down to 188 somehow and hopefully I'll be in the 170's by this time next week!!

Been trying to make myself eat stuff - I had tuna helper which is surprisingly yummy, and that made for 3 dinners, which ain't too bad! :D Aside from that I'm sticking to OJ, yogurt, microwave popcorn (low cals and yummy), and coke. I know, coke is generally bad, but it helps right now so :P.

Work is going pretty well and is definitely helping. I've still got no furniture and my for-now husband is being a jerk, so I can't get the rest of my stuff until this weekend. I'll probably be there tomorrow night packing some stuff up and whatnot. He's supposed to bring my desk over tomorrow night but we'll see what happens. He's not exactly reliable or trustworthy in my book, if ya know what I mean.

Exercise has sucked but that's because I have nothing. Balance ball, elliptical, weights - all at the house. SUCK! Hopefully I'll get that stuff this weekend and I can finally be moved in. I just want to move into my dang apartment! Sheesh!

Water isn't great either but I'm having a hard time drinking that much. The tummy doesn't enjoy it right now, so I'm slowly increasing water intake. I'm tryin. :)

You guys are awesome and thank you again for all of your support and care! Without you guys this time in my life would suck a lot more than it is right now. :) *hugs to all*

Take care chickies!
~Jess

Morning everyone!

Well, I'm glad to report that I got a decent amount of sleep last night and am feeling a bit better for it today. Or it could just be that it's Thursday and therefore closer to the weekend. Hey, whatever works, right?

I didn't do a whole lot yesterday... washed most of the mound of dishes that had accumulated (I keep waiting for Steve to wash something... I should know by now that doesn't work), edited a story for a friend, then went to bed. Steve did make me dinner though (pierogis), so that was nice.

I took a closer look at my diet over the past few days, and the scale this morning, and I'm not doing as well with food as I should be. I try to eat something healthy for my meals, then I just end up hungry 2 hours later, so I eat again, then an hour later I'm hungry so I eat something else, and the result is I'm eating all freaking day. What I'm eating is mostly healthy--LF cheese, veggies, fruit, maybe a 100-cal pack of something--but I'm eating way too much. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, no matter if it is baby carrots or carrot cake, and I'm getting too many.

So I'm going to plan out my entire daily menu BEFORE I eat rather than just writing it down as I go, and, during the day at least, that's all the food I'm going to have available to me. Because if it's there, I will eat it.

In March I'm going to Boston with a friend I don't see often (the one I went to SF with at the beginning of December), and I want her to say to me, "Wow, you've lost weight."

Menu today:
Breakfast
2 c. coffee w/creamer
1.5 sl. sourdough toast w/Brummel & Brown spread
1/2 c. egg beaters
1 sm. avocado
2 T. salsa

Lunch
1 can Peach Citrus Fresca
1 LC pizza
Baby carrots

Snack
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light French Onion cheese
1 100-cal pack Ritz chips

Dinner
2 Healthy Choice hot dogs on ww buns w/mustard

Dessert
Some random fruit I find in my frig :)

OK, I think that's all I've got at the moment. Have a loverly day, chicks!
Elisha

Eeek! How did I miss posting yesterday? I swear, I got here a few times from work, but apparently never got anything down in all the chaos. When I was on the way home, hubby called from his afternoon appointment and was actually only abouta mile behind me on the highway. We decided to stop off, do some shopping, grab dinner, and have an impromptu "date."

Longhorn for dinner- I saved half the chicken for today's lunch, and part of the rice. Then, Target, where we got him a pair of Dockers for a training class he has coming up, and looked at men's shoes. Didn't like anything there, got a few more items- they have better prices on their Jello, and BBQ sauces & stuff like that than our Publix, so we did some grocery shopping there.

Then, Payless shoes. That's usually where I get my cheap sneakers, and I needed a new pair- my old white canvas ones were really past their prime, and can't be in the house anymore. There were really nice Champion ones- and hubby got me 2 pairs of sneakers- one blue & white which have nicely cushioned soles for walking, and WATP, and a pair of pink & gray ones, which have tapered soles, almost like a dress shoe footprint, for biking, climbing, and sports that need finer movement ability. I'm liking these new sneaks!

Came home and spent some time talking to a good friend, just reconnecting, since we've kinda been missing each other in passing for the last 2 weeks. Somehow 2 hours went by, and then it was bedtime.

Today, semi-busy day at work, with the exit of one of our teammates. More work for me, but more job security, I suppose. Wore my pink sneakers, and got several compliments on them. I guess I looked sporty, or athletic.... :lol3: :lol3: Yeah, world's largest "athlete!" ;)

Water- excellent today. Food- breakfast was apple & cinnamon oatmeal, and diced pears. Lunch was chicken w/ a little bbq sauce, 1/4 citrus rice, 2 cups green beans, and 1/4 cup sugar free strawberry jello. Dinner is still under discussion, but after that biking, going to keep it simple. Exercise- 10 miles on the exercise bike, already completed, in 36:29, in the new sneakers. They really do give you a nice footprint for the pedals- and the rubber soles grip better than the cheapie canvas ones. I know, I'm still trying to justify spending 45 bucks on 2 pairs of sneakers while we have so many other things we need to do.

Tomorrow- WATP, at least the 2 miles, with the weighted balls.

Ok, gotta run...need to deal with dinner before it is time for breakfast!

How's everyone's week? Any exciting weekend plans here?

Friday PM
 

Hi all,
Here's a quickie...posting yesterday...no motivation! Sorry! Food was...eh! Water was ok! DD's school called me at work. She had a fever and needed to be picked up from school, so had to figure that one out with DH. She didn't go to school today,so we stayed home together and layed low!

Food today was better.
B-fast: peppers & onions omlette with some shredded cheese, 1 SF Latte
Lunch: a few chips & 1/2 Zone bar
Snack: SF Latte
Supper, Enchilada Casserole
Water: Doing good so far...about 45 oz. so far

Got in 25 minutes of Pilates with DD this afternoon and have been working on grocery list & meal planning for the next week.

Hope everyone else is doing well. Hugs,
Julie

I finally have internet again! YAAAY!! :D

So food has still kind of sucked. Last night I ordered some yummy Chinese food because I felt like it, dang it, and I haven't been allowed to have Chinese food in about a year. (Yeah, he's THAT controlling. grr!) So I got lemon chicken, prawns, veggie chow mein and some won ton soup, and of course steamed rice. This gives me some good stuff for a few days - actual food for me! :D

This morning I went to Target (pronounce it tar-jay, and you don't feel like it's target) and got new bedside lamps, lightbulbs & some other stuff I needed around the house. I hung all of my curtain rods, which was no small feat (god my arms hurt SO BAD). I also hung a few pics/masks that I have, and cleaned up a bit. Gonna finish some cleaning this evening and get the place ready for my parents, who are helping me move lots of furniture tomorrow.

So food today:

B - some leftover chow mein and a coke.
L - ummmm i didn't have lunch... eek!
D - I'm making crispy fried chicken (From a box) in the oven. YUM. Plus I think I'll add an avocado or some won ton soup.

I also had groceries delivered today. Thank you, safeway.com! hehe! I did get myself some junk food, but I got SMART junk food. (Bear with me, please... please!) Instead of a tub of ice cream, I got 2 boxes of those Dibs thingeys. They're tiny bite sized bits of ice cream, and a serving is TWENTY SIX of them. This is good, because I think I can have about 5 of them and I'm done with ice cream for the day! *lol* So that's a good alternative to normal ice cream for me.

I get my elliptical tomorrow, which means I get to start working out again on Monday. YAY! :D

Since we're moving funiture and whatnot tomorrow, I'll get my workout noooo problem. I have a lot more stuff to purchase, like a table & chair set for my dining room, and area rugs, and a dresser, but that's okay. I'm feeling good and that's the best thing for me right now.

So my goal for the next week is to eat meals, get a routine down (like wake up, work out, go to work, etc.), and move into my new home.

I will come back and give a real update tomorrow, chickies. Take care!
~Jess

Evening, ladies. It has been a busy day, for sure.

Cleaned 3 bathrooms, including a garden tub and a 2 person shower, put things away into the master closets, cleaned off my desk and filed papers, got bills ready to go out, a deposit ready for tomorrow, and a deep cleaning of our bedroom, this office, dusted, and hubby ran the vacuum. I ran out of daylight before I could mop- I find I always find more marks if I do it in daylight, rather than overhead light. So, that'll be for one night this week.

At 8pm, we stopped to make dinner. A repeat of the Chicken Vicious recipe, which is kinda spicy, chinese style. Jess, you'd probably like it. Green beans, and then I tweaked a recipe for asian noodles, cutting out about 1/3 the oil, and replacing the sugar with splenda, and adding garlic to replace what we cut out. Hubby says they were better than PF Chang's noodles. He's usually not a big noodle/starch person, but those were the first thing he finished on his plate.

With all the cleaning, food today wasn't particularly organized- I had pudding and a hard boiled egg for breakfast, 10 dark chocolate m&m's between scrubbing the master bath and moving into the hall bath (too overheated to want to actually eat) and now dinner- so I tried to at least get towards a reasonable # for today. Don't need to think I'm starving & not lose the weight.

Oh- yesterday, I won tickets to a concert near work, for Monday night. Only problem is, that's also our board meeting night, so we probably won't be able to go, or will have to go late. And- that's our 24 night! I'll have to figure out the VCR!

claiming tomorrow as my rest day from exercise, since it is doubtful that there's going to be a free moment until I pass out in bed. Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Morning chickies!

Well, this weekend was decent. Food wasn't spectacular... Friday and Saturday weren't really good at all, actually, but yesterday was good (except for an episode with potato chips at lunch, which I don't really feel too bad about because I didn't have any snacks at all yesterday, which is a major accomplishment for me).
Water hasn't been very good though, and I can feel it. I'll be chugging it today.
Exercise was okay though. Friday I did a measley 10 minutes on the elliptical and felt like I was going to have a heart attack. That just means I need to do it more often, right? Right. So that's the plan. Saturday was 6 hours walking around the mall with my mom, then a cleaning frenzy once I got home, including running up and down two flights of steps doing laundry. Yesterday I did a set of pilates. Not a lot, but at least I did something, and something is better than nothing.

I'm not doing very well at logging my food in my DietPower software these days, so starting today I'm recording it in a small notebook that I can carry with me everywhere I go. Also today I'm starting a new plan. This is going to seem weird and perhaps not like me at all, but I'm doing it anyway. I got this idea from the You: On A Diet book: for breakfast and lunch I am going to have only 1-2 options, which I will eat EVERY day. I figure I'll be sick of it in a couple of days, but once I get past that initial bump it will be good. I really think I let myself have too many choices.
So breakfast is going to be either breakfast Lean Pockets or an English Muffin with an egg and a Laughing Cow Light (LCL) wedge (mmm... the garlic & herb kind is really good with eggs). Lunch is going to be Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice and a piece of fruit (Yes, I realize that still leaves some choice, but not really... bah). For an afternoon snack I'll have a 100-cal pack of Ritz chips or Wheat Thins and another wedge of LCL.

Today:
Breakfast
2 c. coffee w/2 measured T. of creamer each
1 sourdough English muffin
1 egg
1 garlic and herb LCL wedge

Snack
Babybel Light cheese round

Lunch
1 can diet cherry 7-up
LC Baked Chicken
Plum

Snack
100-cal pack Ritz chips
LCL wedge

Dinner
Turkey Italian sausage w/spicy brown mustard
Whole wheat bun
Garlic-spinach soup

OK, power's off, gotta go. Laptops, yay!

E

fast post here- it is 4:16, and I'm only here because of the board meeting that we're having tonight. Starts at 7pm, so it wasn't worth it to drive an hour home, to turn around and drive an hour back DOWN here, do the meeting thing, and then have to drive another hour home. So, fast post here, then a trip to Target to see if this store here has the squishy weighted balls that are sold out at my local store, so mom can have them, too.

Food this weekend was good on saturday, and then erratic on Sunday. since I was cleaning, I was too overheated to think about food at lunchtime, and then next thing you know, it was 8pm, and dinner had passed, so we scrambled to cook, and made chicken vicious again. I was able to tweak the asian noodle recipe to cut out a lot of the oil, and used splenda instead of sugar. Hubby likes them better than the PF changs garlic noodles. :) And he's not really a starch/pasta person, but that's the first thing he finished last night. :)

Exercise- got 10 miles in on Saturday, and nothing on Sunday, bike or WATP. I did some upper body work last night while watching TV, and tonight, the closest thing to cardio that I'll be getting in is the brisk walk in & out of target, and then the meeting tonight. So tomorrow, I already know I have a hot date with the bike when I get in from work. :)

Sorry to be rushing off....hope you're all having great Mondays.

Good Evening! Posting while I'm eating dinner- hubby is busy working, so I figured I'd take a few minutes & make my way in here. Didn't get home until after 10pm last night, just from the meeting. Never even tried to get to the concert. I guess I am more than officially a "fuddy duddy" because on the way home, I was yawning, and exhausted. I crashed at 10:30, and never even woke up in the middle of the night to pee!

This morning, up and out of the house- it was 41 degrees! Brrr! Wind chill was lower, believe me! This is FLORIDA, people! Come on! Julie, MsRD, take that artic frost and lake effect weather back up to MI, wouldya? ;)

Today's HELP
H- over, and still drinking, so excellent
E- 2 miles WATP, done by 6pm, and 8 miles on the bike in 29:04, finished before dinner
L- breakfast- cinnamon & spice oatmeal, constant comment (orange & spice) tea with splenda, 1.5 cups no sugar added pear halves. lunch- boss bought lunch today, so I picked the best option, and left today's for tomorrow- turkey breast melt, minus all the goop, ate 10 of the small fries, gave the rest to Roid. 1 dill pickle, and 2 forkfuls of cole slaw, which I abandoned when I tasted the thick mayo base. Dinner- new concoction I came up with for the leftover plain, cooked chicken. Heated, then coated with a brushing of honey dijon mustard, and then 1/2oz of swiss cheese, sliced thin, laid over it. Nuke until the cheese gets melty. That, and 2 cups of green beans. I probably have room left in my #s for pudding, and might have that while watching House with hubby
P-P today is for pooped! And pondering, since the month is coming to a close.

MsRD- I'm so sorry...here I am whining about 41, and you're at 19 degrees. I think I'd die, I've been out of the cold north for so long. Brrr. Stay warm!

Elisha- how did you like that book? Mom bought it, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Anything compelling to share with us?

Julie- Hope you're not buried under snow, girlie.

Jess- Were you able to get all your furniture moved? All set in place already?

And wherever the rest of the chickies are....come out, come out, wherever you are!

Morning chickies!

I apologize for not being more active this month, both here on the forum and in my real life. Things have gotten a little crazy busy for me, as I've been doing a good deal of freelance editing, trying to set up 2 entire websites, then there's that full-time job I have that's just been ridiculous (for example, right now I'm supposed to be proofing a stack of papers that took me 4 hours just to print. Uh-huh.), plus reading and writing and cleaning and cooking and all of the other stuff I have to do and occasionally trying to relax.
And the next couple of weeks look to be even worse all around, so... ugh. And then in March, the travelling starts.

But most of it is good, with the exception of the job, and once I get through this beginning phase everything will be better than it was. I just have to make it through.

Right now I seriously want to quit my job (yeah, I know, still) because I just have so much other stuff going on and if it weren't for the itty bitty paycheck I get work would be LAST on my priority list. Our yearly raises come out in about 2 weeks, and if they give me stinking 2%... well... see ya. We'll see.

Food has been ok for the past couple of days, but today is really going to test me. Today is our CFO's last day (she's retiring), so we're having a pot luck lunch in her honor. I made a nice healthy salad, so I know there will be something decent to eat, but I know it's going to be tough to resist all of the other goodies.

Water has been ok, but could be much better. Exercise has actually been ok too, as I've fallen into a seeming routine of doing something about every other day. Which isn't great, but it's better than nothing. Usually it's small, like 10 minutes on the elliptical (which is about all I can handle right now) or a set of weights or pilates, but at least it's something, and that's better than nothing.

*sigh*

OK, that's pretty much all I can think to say today. Stress abounds.

I hope you're all doing well.
Elisha

Afternoon, everyone. Stopping by after lunch to get a post in. Today has been a weird day. I feel like I'm just going through the motions today, and not getting anything done. Got a pile of stuff that just keeps moving. I guess I can call it a mental health day, and try to get a lot accomplished tomorrow morning, before the Roid starts in again. :)

Today I'll get to watched Monday's episode of 24 that we missed with the board meeting. And we get to fast forward through the commercials, so woo hoo! Yeah, I know...it's the little things. :D

Today:

H- 5 of my 18oz glasses already, and 1 large mug of tea with splenda
E- definitely some bike time tonight, we'll see how long I go
L- breakfast: apple & cinnamon oatmeal, 1 cup of Post cranberry almond crunch. lunch: 2 small slices of italian bread, 1 cup spaghetti, 2 small meatballs, 1/3 cup homemade sauce. 1 braeburn apple. dinner tonight- chicken breast, and veggies.
P- plan to get on the bike, and then prep bills, since I get paid on Friday, and that way I can mail everything Friday morning. And fix eyebrows. Um...I think that's it.

Ok...I suppose I need to get something accomplished this afternoon. Happy Hump Day!