Morning gang! And welcome to all the new folks!

Sexy -- Congrats on the 4.5 pounds this week, great job!

36 -- it does feel nice to REALLY "take care of yourself" doesn't it? Great job!

Whoopsie -- Congrats on the loss, whoo hoo, and what a nice way to celebrate!

Betsi -- Looks like you've got a great plan, you can do it!

Ok girls - I too need to walk away from the scale... I've weighed in 5 times in the last 7 days! So I'm done! I'm not weighing in again until Monday. The daily fluxs are killing me - so I'm joining the - STAY OFF THE SCALE group!

I didn't exercise last night. My body was TOO tired, and after 15 days straight - it needed the break. I actually think (after talking to a personal trainer) that I'm going to cut back to 6 days a week instead of 7.. she said that I could be doing more harm then good since my body isn't made like an athlete (yet)

I have a ton of work to do - so I'll do personals later! Have a great day!

Hey Everyone Congrats on your losses. I am going to really concentrate on my exercise this week. It paid off last week. I am totally shocked and surprised that I lost 2lbs this week. I am back to what my ticker originally said. 174.8. Keep up the good work

It is so great that you all are doing so incredibly well! Keep up the good work ladies! I did well yesterday actually, kind of suprised myself! Good luck all!

I just had fun pulling out skinny clothes and packing away fatter clothes, whoo hoo! Very motivating. It was like going shopping, I have tons of "new" stuff to wear! And I dug my very smallest stuff to keep trying on as motivation and to stay focused!

Just dropping in for a little "yay me" moment:

I'm wearing a pair of size 16W Capri pants I haven't been able to zip over my baby gut since my first trimester!!!!!!!

Hello everyone~Yesterday wasn't the best of days for me food wise. I could have done a lot worse, but I could have left the sugary carbs alone. Today I am back on the wagon. Food will not conquer or defeat me!!!!!!

To Everyone that lost weight this week C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!!!! Way to go.

It is easy to be obsessed with weighing in every day. We feel good if it says we lost, but if it says we gained a little, it is so easy to feel guilty or start to doubt what we are doing. Numbers can not define who we are. We are sooo much more than that. Keep up the good works and the scale will relent.

Thank you all for your support through this rough divorce. We will have one more court date, then it will be all over. Last night was a tough one for me. Today is better.

Talk to ya all later Pat

Hey everyone!! I need to head out in a few minutes for a nice low key evening with a friend instead of my usual busier Tuesday. Hopefully that'll make it easier to make good choices about dinner. I just wanted to check in before I go.

Congrats on all the good progress so many of you are making. Jo and Karen, love your back to back clothing victories, how fun! I must say my pants are pretty loose these days too. Funny, they are falling apart too - seems like a good omen because it means after I buy a new pair a size smaller I'll have to get rid of these.

Pat, so good to hear you're feeling better today and that your difficulties will soon be behind you. Thanks so much for the encouraging words, so nice to hear how many of us struggle with the scale, and you put it into words so well.

Well I gotta run, so here's a run down of how I'm doing with my plan for the week so far today.

*1600-1800 calories: Only about 520 so far, trying to really stay low so I can leave a margin of error for the rest of the evening. Social dining can be so tough to keep lean, and I'm a bit of an evening snacker, so this should give me a good buffer to finish up the day within my range.
*Morning exercise: Stayed up way late last night so I had a slow start to my morning, but I did it. Did a really great 15 minute Yourself Fitness session and rocked my core, but I kind of lamed my way through my 8 Minute Moves because I was so tired. So glad I gave it a try though, it feels so much better than just blowing it off.
*Walk 5 miles this week: Between a slow morning and a bit of a sore throat from being so sniffly from all the pollen, I decided to skip the 1.5 miles to check out the gym today. I want to look into it at the time of day I expect to be there. If I’m feeling better tomorrow I’ll check it out then. Gonna get in a mile after I sign off here though.
*120 oz water: A total of 112 oz so far, I'm sure it won't be too hard to meet or beat my goal by the end of the day.
*No scale til Friday: I’m really finding this hard to resist, especially in the mornings. I’m in the 5 lb Challenge, and it’s hard not to join everyone in their daily weigh ins. I just know I’ll drive myself batty though, especially since yesterday’s weight was up three pounds from the start of that challenge, making it 8 lbs to lose in a 5 lb challenge! I’ve gotta keep plugging away and making good choices and I should see a budge on Friday.

Thanks everybody for the warm welcoming and warm support.

With me being with Herbal Magic we get astarter kit with lists of foods and amounts of them of what we can eat and thats great, I still have problems planning my meals, I tried doing them daily and I was finding myself thats all I was doing at night and weighing my food, so I've decided to try and plan then weekly and I keep picking the same foods to eat and thats boring.I dont mean to pick the same ones but its hard making sure my 2 starches and 2 fruits are before 4pm. Seems like everything I pick is starch
oh well I'll keep going

On a better note I went in for my first weigh in on my 2nd week of this and I lost another pound tomorrow I go in for my first measuring since the day I started, kinda nervous.

to everybody that lost weight, lost inches, and stayed on track and that excercised.Way to go!!!!!! Keep it up!!!!

I need to excercise more, I walk but I need more hard core excercising..can't believe I'm saying that.

Well better go, I still have to post more and in my daily journal.

Keep your head up high, and remember that there's always tomorrow to do better

Isabel

Isabel, sounds like you are focused on what you need to do, good for you and good luck with the measuring!

Josephine & Karen, I agree w Betsi, wtg to be able to go "shopping" in the closet, I love that and I get rid of the fat clothes as I go, don't want to make it comfortable to put the tonnage back on.

Karryn, that's exactly what I am aiming for right now, just back to my ticker weight....

Have a great day all, I am going for Day 3, completely OP

Morning gang! Today is Day 98 totally on plan for me, yay! I got in my morning run of 5.25 miles and now I am looking at my chore list of the day and planning my meals. I'm planning on having a great day today!

Isabel -- Congrats on the loss, yay! Walking is really wonderful exercise by the way, and serious fitness walking is even tougher. I know fitness walkers who can lay down 10 minute miles -- something I can't do even though I'm a runner. You can really pump up the intensity of your walks.

Betsi -- Way to go with your goals, I think the way you are tracking them will really pay off fr you in the long run! Maybe skip the next 5lb Challenge so you won't have that daily struggle about whether to step on the scale or not. Get some good time in under your belt then you can come back to the challenge when daily weighing doesn't make you feel nutters!

Pat -- hang in there, I know it would be so tempting to stress eat with all you're going through!!

MMavis -- Congrats on Day 3 on plan, whoo hoo!

Whoopsee -- YAYAYA for the pants, whoo hoo!

I just want everyone to have a great day. I am looking forward to my workout today. I am sore from workouts and I am going to do a nice long yoga stretch today. OOOOMMMMMM!

Welcome MommaPossum! Of course you can join! There are no grinches in this group!

BIG HUGE EXCITING NEWS!!!
1. Not only have I stayed off the scale, the desire to weigh myself has waned. I do not feel the gravitational pull towards it.
2. I slept well last night for the first time in a long time! Oh my goodness, what a difference I feel this morning.
3. I went to the beach yesterday, and I did not pack any junk food "for the kids" like I usually do. They had PBJ on whole grain bread, cherries, sugar free cookies and tangerines. Mango juice was our treat! I brought myself leftovers from dinner - sauteed chard, spinach and onions and some turkey.
4. Now this is the biggest news of all.....On our way home from the beach at ~6:00p.m. I was tempted to get the kids a hamburger from wherever. I had the following conversation with myself, "It's late, we won't get home until 6:30, by the time I cook dinner it will be 7:00, etc. etc. etc." Well, we got home, my kids got showered, put pjs on, and by the time they were done, dinner was ready. (: Trader Joe's Chicken broth with alphabet pasta, and a huge salad with grilled salmon (defrosted 2 frozen fillets and grilled them on a skillet) avocado, bell pepper, kidney/garbanzo beans, carrots, and red onion. Tossed with a homemade vinaigrette. My kids were hungry and feasted on this stuff just as they would have chowed down on burgers and fries. Oh, I felt like a rock star! The one thing that did not occur to me until just now was that in the conversation with myself, I did not tell myself how tired I was. Hmmmmm.....Am I beginning to have more energy? Usually, "I'm tired" would be the first thing I would tell myself as a rationalization for why fast food is an option for dinner. This is also quite cool.

To top it all off, after dinner, I logged in all my food for the day and was 2 points under. I was able to have a piece of dark chocolate for dessert.

I am so thrilled for those of you who have been able to go shopping in your own closet! I so look forward to that!!!

Good Morning everyone. Yesterday was a better day eating wise. I was on target. My exercise went to lame excuses. I put the dvd in the player. Told myself I would do my 2 mile walk as soon as that show was over, then the next one, then the next one. Next thing I knew it was 12:30am. The Celtics had won the trophy. I Had not done my walk!!! I will do better today. The dvd is still in the player, ready to go. I am in my exercise garb. I will do my exercises today!

Welcome MammaPossum Glad you are here. Jump in and join in on our chats. A great group, with lots of support.

362638~Sounds like you have it going on!!! CONGRATS on making a healthy choise (can't spell the word)not only for you but for your children also. You are an inspiration!

Have a great day everyone!! And thank you all for your support. Pat