Yay Enygirl! Sounds like you've got a plan!!! You go!

As for me, I'm going to start really watching my portions. They haven't been bad, but they can be better!

Eny~You are an inspiration. Thank you so much!! When the going gets tough the tough get going. You rock girl, you rock on! I will be right there with you. I pledge to you, shaker, and I'm Inspired I will do all my exercises this evening knowing that I am not alone. Thank you!!

MM~T H A N K Y O U!!!! For being here for all of us any time day or night. For creating this message board. You are a light in an other wise dark tunnel. Bless you!!

Catch ya all later after I have done my exercises. Pat

OK, quick check-in I did my 30 min on the treadmill tonite, stayed on plan AND watched my portions!

How we doin' ladies? Hope you all had a great day!

WOW, we are women, hear us roar. Lots of attitude on this thread! LOVE IT!

Ladies, we are gonna rock this!!

I have to get my exercise butt in gear this weekend. My summer class ends next Thursday night, I have to finish my presentation by Monday and I am only working 1/2 a day today because I have to go to the Dr with YS, but life interupts, that's how it is and we all have to be able to work with that.

I love that everyone is feeling better about it, way back when 36 posted she said something about that and basically it was that we tend to go away when things suck and that's exactly when we need to post more, so post lots, but do this for you, don't let the *** drag you down!!

Koko Taylor's "I'm a Woman"

You really have to hear it to appreciate it. I was going to link a youtube video, but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate. Look it up though, if you need some inspiration. It is really powerful.

oh yeah, oh yeah
everything, everything, everything gone be alright
oh yeah

When I was a little girl
Only twelve years old
Couldn't do nothing to save my dog gone soul
My mama told me.
the day I was grown
She says "Sing the blues child, Sing it from now on".

I'm a woman,
oh yeah
I'm a woman, I'm a ball of fire
I'm a woman, I can make love to a crocodile
I'm a woman, I can sing the blues
I'm a woman, I can change old to new
Spell w o man,
Oh yeah
That means I'm grown

I'm a woman, I'm a rushing wind
I'm a woman, I can cut stone with a pen
I'm a woman, I'm a love maker
I'm a woman, you know I'm an earth shaker


I'm a woman, I'm a rushing wind
I'm a woman, I can cut stone with a pin
I'm a woman, I know my stuff
I'm a woman, I ain't never had enough

I'm going down yonder, behind the sun
I'm gonna do something for you, that ain't never been done
I'm gonna hold back the lightning, with the palm of my hand
Shake hands with the devil, make him crawl in the sand

I'm a woman, oh yeah
I'm a woman,
I'm a ball of fire
I'm a woman,
I can make love to a crocodile
I'm a woman,
I'm a love maker
I'm a woman,
you know I'm an earth shaker
OH oh oh oh
I'm a woman

Imagine us, Sicily, 1922, oh wait...

I'm in a mood this morning. Listening to Koko Taylor so early in the morning is bound to have that effect, I think.

I've learned that obstacles often present opportunities for learning, so I have to wonder what I'll have learned when I pass over it (through it, around it, just as long as it's past it). If we have any significant weight to lose, there will be other times when we hit other walls. The scale's not going to move. Despite our best efforts. How about we keep on our food program, keep exercising, and see what else we can do?

Look at the way our clothes fit rather than being fixated on the scale. It's hard for us. We want to be a healthy weight, we want a certain number to flash at us, maybe.

But what we want more than that is to be healthy. To be able to do the things we want to do. To wear cute clothes. To fit in seats, to not feel ostracized or different or, well, fat. It's not a scale number, but it's represented by a scale number.

Some of us want what we've never had before. Others of us want something that we haven't had in a long, long time. What we want is freedom, and it is not limited by, but rather represented by, the number on the scale.

Keep sight of the freedom that's just around the bend. We have to remember that we have to work for it, and it's not going to be easy. We have choices, and we can choose to work toward that freedom or we can choose not to.

Ladies, we're not learning how to be thin. We're learning how to be free.

In the words of some country song that's in my head right now, "How bad do you want it?"

WOW EarthShaker... you are in the groove today!! I really enjoyed your posts, really inspiring and I definately need it today. I feel as if I'm in limbo now... I've had really good luck with South Beach, but am finding that I'm really missing some of the "forbidden" foods and it is really affecting my weight loss. At work we are getting WW at work and I think that it will be good. Core sounds very close to SB, but has allowances for a certain amount of "forbidden" food. The problem is that it's taking forever to get started. Enough of my whining!!

This will be quite a weekend both daughters are showing animals at the fair this weekend. It'll be the first time for my youngest... she is really shy. I hope everything goes well for her... she did great during the other part of the fair where she had to talk to judges.

I'd better get going. This weekend is going to be hard food wise... we'll see how it goes.

Shaker~You rock!! Right said girl. I like cutting stone with a pen.
Eny~You ready to cut stone with a pen!??!!?!!
MM~So glad to have you! I know you will ACE your presentation! Good news from the doctor! I have always been told since a little girl that my attitude would get me into big trouble some day. If I use it for good things maybe the trouble I get into won't be so bad ;-)))). I am ready to roar, but I need to roar for all the right reasons.

I have to get all my exercises done by 3pm. Hit the shower and leave for a Friday evening of cards at my sisters. Catch ya all later Pat

I'm back, I'm inspired, and most (and best) of all I'M DONE FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF! There's a lot of **** going on, yes - but the world doesn't stop for my personal pity-party!

Pat - Let's GET OUT OF THE #180's! Let's HIT OUR GOALS! I CANNOT GIVE UP!!! I worked out (30 day shred) yesterday for the first time in a LONG time! It felt AWESOME! I'm going to stick with it as long as I can... it was a GREAT burn!

I'm working from home today - and DD is on a cleaning schedule right now, so that her room can at least get vaccummed some time this month! AHH 6 year olds! I love her though!

Alright - I ahve to get some work done. I'll check back later!

good morning. i've just finished my exercise for this morning. my wi is monday but i hopped on this morning and have a 1 lb loss so far. i hope it hold true. how is everyone doing with working towards their holiday goal?

Wow! Sounds like everyone is doin good today and in the right frame of mind! Awesome!

Enygirl and Dixiemae ... I hope to be joining you ladies in the 180's real soon! I've seen it twice now in two weeks but haven't been able to make it stick so I'm tweakin' my plan a bit.

It's funny, I'm involved in 3 different challenge threads (will be 4 when the biggest loser challenge gets going) and I can't keep track of where I've posted what goal. And when I'm writing a post (like right now) I tend to forget which thread I'm writing on. LOL Guess I need to jot some notes down on paper til my signature gets activated so I can keep track of what I'm supposed to be doing! Oh well. So I said all that just to say that regarding tweaking my plan I am now trading in half of my iced tea for water during the day and am going to try to incorporate waiting for a true hunger signal (i.e. growling belly) before I eat a meal or snack. Oh, and I think I will start a new blog to keep track of my food. (I had a blog, decided I no longer wanted to post in it and deleted it then thought maybe I would try a journal to track food, but when I went to sign up for a journal it says they're not taking new registrations so I guess I'll blog again.) So, that's my plan. Think I will jot my goals and plan down. I can't keep myself straight otherwise!

Ok was that a run-on post or what? LOL

Have a great day!

Patty, good to see you around! I did very well with WW when I did it. I found it easy and fun, and so encouraging when you have people that are cheering you on in person, too. I had a great leader, but then I got sick and stopped going. I came back, and there was another leader who was no where near dynamic and encouraging, and I lost interest. Have a great weekend! I hope your daughter enjoys herself too. I remember being terribly shy.

MM: Good luck with the end of the semester stuff. I don't miss that sort of pressure. Too much You're right. I tend to go away from everyone when things are bad, and it just feeds the feeling of seperateness and alienation that, well, not so surprisingly, makes things worse. I'm trying to get better at it. I just hate being a downer.

Pat: I think in the original lyrics (I've never seen them transcribed by KT or her crew) that it's actually "cut stone with a pin." But, since I'm a writer, or a wanna be one, anyway, I much prefer the "pen." It's far more fitting.

Eny: Yay! That's a celebration in itself. Hang tough woman. You've been challenged.

Hi bluemommy! Congrats on your pound! As of last Monday, I'm 4 lbs away from my Christmas goal. I think I'll need to adjust it.

Inspired, you and Pat inspired me to join the biggest losers game. That's a new step for me. I have to admit I don't understand the purpose of blogging about your food intake. I understand keeping track of it, and such, but even on a weight loss blog, I guess I would be more interested in reading about their successes and challenges than every bit of food they're ingesting. What I missing? A lot of people do them, so there's something there I just don't understand.

That's great EarthShaker! I think the biggest loser challenge will be fun!

As far as the blogging goes ... I suppose for me it's just a place to keep track of my food so I can "see" how much I'm eating and make adjustments if necessary and doing it via 3 fat chicks is good for me because I can keep all this weight-loss stuff together and in easy reach with just a few clicks of the mouse. I've heard many people say that journaling their food has helped them to lose weight because they looked back and saw how much food they were eating and adjusted from there. I think it could help. Originally when I joined the site I started a blog and was recording my exercise, food intake, some recipes, some thoughts and some scriptures. But I decided it was just too time consuming and I didn't care for the tone of it (I was actually putting a lot of negative energy into it). So I decided to scrap it. But now I'd just like to track my food. I don't suppose it has to be in blog form. I could even do it on my computer and not on the internet. On several of my weight-loss attempts I would track it on little yellow sticky notes (like when I was calorie counting) but then I'd have paper all over the place. (I'm trying to justify doing this digitally now! Haha!) But you're right, reading about someone's food intake is boring. lol I don't know ... Whatever works I guess!

PS. That's one of the reasons I was going to start a journal instead of a blog this time ... who cares what I ate? lol It was more for me than the public ya know?

Earthshaker~ you definitely ROCK my world!! You are a source of inspiration at a time when I need it most.

Eny, MM, Dixie, Inspired, Patty & anybody I might be missing~ What an amazing group of women we have here!! I look forward to reading this thread everyday!!!

A NSV to report...I pulled my smallest pair (that I kept) of "skinny jeans" out of the closet this morning...wanting to see if I could get them on. Not only did I get them on, but I am wearing them, AND I CAN BREATHE in them!! I am excited for Monday's weigh in!!

Inspired, Thanks for the explanation. I understand the importance of journaling food--I just didn't get the blog part of it. I guess it's just the sign of technology

Kate! Wow, what a thing to say. Thank you so much. Congratulations on your NSV. That's a great one. I was in the middle of posting mine when my lap top went kerplunk. I need a new one

I had two NSV's:

Yesterday, I went clothes shopping for the interview, and I found some blouses that I like (and look good in!) since I now have pants I'll fit in. I also bought a pair of work out pants because I really, really needed them. They're a smaller size than I've worn in a long, long time. I know they're stretchy and all of that, but seeing that new size really made a difference for my ego.

Today I had a very fit woman tell me that I rocked the elliptical. She wanted to use it but didn't know how to, so I showed her what I knew. I told her it took me a month to build up to full program length with full resistance, and I started at 10 minutes at half, and wanted to cry at 2 minutes. She told me that she was in awe of how fast I moved, and I just beamed.

It made my day.

And I found my camera cord, so I uploaded pictures of me in May and now in August, and I can't believe the difference. Who knew?