OMG big time motivation just came through a phone call! My sister's best friend called from Ohio and said that she is planning a 10 year anniversary party for my sis and really wants us to come up and be a part of the surprise. All of her hubby's family is going to fly in and hide in hotels the night before and I am going to hide out at my mom's house until the night of the surprise. It will be a cookout and my sis will just think it's an end of summer thing that they have every year. I am SO SO excited but want to be thinner, so it's on now :)

I am not really doing it to impress anyone else or to be thin for everyone to see me...it's more like I want to be healthy for the occaision so I will feel comfortable and not so self-conscious in shorts and a bathing suit, ya know? For once i want to feel comfortable with msyelf...and i want to actually be in the pictures, not just hiding from the cameras all day and night.

They are even having a friend who is a priest come and give them the option of renewing their vows in front of everyone since it's a big anniversary. My sis has been talking about wanting to do that so we think she will be so surprised.

Anyway, I am so motivated now! I have something to look forward to now, if that makes sense.

I really think Purple and JennyRaye are on the right track here of thinking of different things to do INSTEAD of binging on unhealthy food....

If you have an idea just copy the list into a new message and add to it! Let's see how many ideas we can come up with.....so far here are Jenny's and Purple's ideas and a few of my own....Good luck! :D

1. Get on here and post
2. Take a walk
3. Play in the yard with the kids and dog
4. Call a friend
5. FB a friend
6. Write about what I'm really feeling and figure out WHY I'm feeling that way.
7. read a book
8. scrapbook or other crafts
9. clean the house
10. go out to run errands
11. sew, knit, etc.
12. exercise
13. take a long, hot bath and think
14. take a nap
15. Take a bubble bath
16. Give yourself a facial
17. Give yourself a manicure or a pedicure
18. Get your hair cut/colored
19. Get your nails done
20. Clean out a closet / or a drawer
21. Clean out your car !!! :D
22. Search online for new healthy recipes you may want to try
23. Plan a trip or a vacation
24. Learn about something new (Wikipedia is GREAT! LOL!)
25. Go to the local library and check out some movies and/or books
26. Volunteer for some kind of local community service like a soup kitchen, a food drive, the senior center, the local nursing home, etc.
27. Search for a local marathon or half marathon and begin training for it.
28. Set new goals or revise old ones or just assess where you are!
29. Drink some water
30. Play frisbee
31. Look at clothes online that you would LOVE to fit into (my favorite place to go is Victoria's secret and imagining looking like that! LOL!)
32. Work in the garden or start a garden (flower or veggie)
33. Pay the bills (It has to be done!)
34. Create a budget
35. Balance your checkbook
36. Write your spouse/significant other a love letter and hide it in their sock drawer for them to find!
37. Log your food for the day
38. Play hide and seek
39. Play tag
40. Play tag football
41. Play softball or baseball
42. Go bowling
43. Go fishing/hunting



Well...that is a pretty good start I think! Let's see if we can get to 100 ;)

OKay, I have some new ideas...

1. Get on here and post
2. Take a walk
3. Play in the yard with the kids and dog
4. Call a friend
5. FB a friend
6. Write about what I'm really feeling and figure out WHY I'm feeling that way.
7. read a book
8. scrapbook or other crafts
9. clean the house
10. go out to run errands
11. sew, knit, etc.
12. exercise
13. take a long, hot bath and think
14. take a nap
15. Take a bubble bath
16. Give yourself a facial
17. Give yourself a manicure or a pedicure
18. Get your hair cut/colored
19. Get your nails done
20. Clean out a closet / or a drawer
21. Clean out your car !!!
22. Search online for new healthy recipes you may want to try
23. Plan a trip or a vacation
24. Learn about something new (Wikipedia is GREAT! LOL!)
25. Go to the local library and check out some movies and/or books
26. Volunteer for some kind of local community service like a soup kitchen, a food drive, the senior center, the local nursing home, etc.
27. Search for a local marathon or half marathon and begin training for it.
28. Set new goals or revise old ones or just assess where you are!
29. Gardening outside
30. Look up new flowers online and make new garden plans for next year (or this year)
31. Rake the leaves or start pulling weeds, depending on season
32. Get outside with a camera and take nature pictures
33. Dress up the kids or pets and take pictures
34. find somewhere nearby to go hiking

I just wanted to say thanks to you all for being so supportive. :)

1. Get on here and post
2. Take a walk
3. Play in the yard with the kids and dog
4. Call a friend
5. FB a friend
6. Write about what I'm really feeling and figure out WHY I'm feeling that way.
7. read a book
8. scrapbook or other crafts
9. clean the house
10. go out to run errands
11. sew, knit, etc.
12. exercise
13. take a long, hot bath and think
14. take a nap
15. Take a bubble bath
16. Give yourself a facial
17. Give yourself a manicure or a pedicure
18. Get your hair cut/colored
19. Get your nails done
20. Clean out a closet / or a drawer
21. Clean out your car !!!
22. Search online for new healthy recipes you may want to try
23. Plan a trip or a vacation
24. Learn about something new (Wikipedia is GREAT! LOL!)
25. Go to the local library and check out some movies and/or books
26. Volunteer for some kind of local community service like a soup kitchen, a food drive, the senior center, the local nursing home, etc.
27. Search for a local marathon or half marathon and begin training for it.
28. Set new goals or revise old ones or just assess where you are!
29. Drink some water
30. Play frisbee
31. Look at clothes online that you would LOVE to fit into (my favorite place to go is Victoria's secret and imagining looking like that! LOL!)
32. Pay the bills (It has to be done!)
33. Create a budget
34. Balance your checkbook
35. Write your spouse/significant other a love letter and hide it in their sock drawer for them to find!
36. Log your food for the day
37. Play hide and seek
38. Play tag
39. Play tag football
40. Play softball or baseball
41. Go bowling
42. Go fishing/hunting
43. Gardening outside
44. Look up new flowers online and make new garden plans for next year (or this year)
45. Rake the leaves or start pulling weeds, depending on season
46. Get outside with a camera and take nature pictures
47. Dress up the kids or pets and take pictures
48. find somewhere nearby to go hiking
49. Read the Bible (or whatever book that goes with your religion)
50. Meditate
51. Pray

Hope the job loss turns into a great opportunity for whatever is next for you.

One thing is that food is, actually, pleasurable. At least a lot of it. It tastes good. It's a treat. It is something that doesn't make the demands people make. It doesn't judge you. It isn't one more thing you have to do, like the laundry or returning that phone call. It is immediate gratification.
If I'm honest, I do get some payoff from eating. It is easier to focus on what I'm eating than it is to confront the co-worker who makes a sarcastic comment or deal with the feelings of loneliness. The problems come when the consequences of using food outweigh the liabilities. Food doesn't solve the problem. It doesn't make you less lonely or less overworked or employed after a layoff. It's covering up what you really need to do to deal with your life. Sometimes, what you need to do is so daunting, or there isn't anything you can do to solve the problem. How do you get a hug when there's no one to hug you? How do you not worry about your job when the entire economy is falling apart? It is so hard to not eat when the payoff is right there, immediate, in my mouth while the visualization of myself looking a certain way or doing a certain thing feels fuzzy and improbable and a result of endless striving for the rest of my life.

All those things you said about food are true....but there are other things than food that can give you the same feelings....for example...the RIGHT kind of exercise can make you feel accomplished and relieve stresses from work (or lack thereof)...etc. etc. and there are even endorphins released so you can get that fuzzy feeling....now and in the future when your thin and healthy. Don't get me wrong...life CAN suck sometimes. But you gotta make the best of the situation you have. YOU can find any reason to eat...OR you can find other things to do. You have to train yourself to get the feeling you used to get from eating (pleasure or whatever) but get that feeling by doing something else like exercising. Its all in how you look at it....is the glass half full or half empty? It is hard...but that is what we are all here for...to support each other. Just keep pushing....I hear so many people who have succeeded say that they start liking healthier food and they miss working out....my husband works out 5 days a week and has for almost 8 years now. If he has to miss working out several days in a row...he starts feeling really bad....he is really tired and just doesn't function right.

Okay, one of the main things that distracts me from thoughtlessly eating is shopping for deals online. My hands are busy and it's inexpensive because I search until I find cheap deals. I kind of get a thrill from bargain hunting and since I don't get to do alot of that at the local stores (try dragging a 3 year old around on crutches *LOL*), it keeps my hands and mind off the junk food until the urge passes.

For example, here's a deal I found this week:

BrylaneHome(dot)com
- Buy any item (I bought item 1554-05529-1276 for $6.99)
and get a 3-piece bag set free (code BHAMICRO)
- Including shipping, I got the stuff for only $11.98!

Here's pics of the items I'll be getting...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...05529-1276.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...54218_mm-1.jpg
(Sorry, I'm not sure how you do thumbnail images :?:)

I just love checking in on dealcatcher, slickdeals, and fatwallet. My best buy ever was a special at Lane Bryant online where I ended up getting about 15 bras for only $3 each (shipped!). That was awesome.

Anyway, if you're bored... you should give it a try!

Mari--YOu sure got some great deals! I love bargain shopping in the stores but never even thought to do it online! Thanks for suggesting the deal sites, know of any others that are good?

Okay...I have to vent for a minute.....I am on spring break from school....and I'm just having the WORST spring break ever....here is what has happened...

My last day of school was Friday....and I had 9 days off

Well....Friday, Saturday and Sunday the weather was a beautiful sunny to partly cloudy 60-70 degrees...but I couldn't do anything because my daughter AND my hubby had the flu and I had to take care of them...

Alright so they started feeling better Sunday night...

Sometime between Sunday night and Monday a part on the water heater went out and we had no hot water so I couldn't take a shower and get ready to go anywhere on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday......again the weather was a beautiful 70-80 degrees......

Wednesday night (last night) we got the water heater fixed and I was able to take a shower finally last night...

So I get up this morning and it is freezing...it hasn't stopped sleeting/snowing since about 6am!

WTF? AHHHHH!!!!! Just had to vent....sorry and thanks!:D

Mel~vent all ya want to. That was a bum deal!! Hope things get better for you very soon.

Mari~any more good deals like clothes, undies bras?? purses?? You are a bargan shopper for sure.

I don't feel any better today. I can't breath!! I talked to the pharm and she suggested Claritin for my congestion. I have only taken one tablet, it helped me sleep. Right now I am congested to the max and freezing cold. I am going to wrap up in my blanket when I post this. I just want to tell ya my seedlings are going to town. I will need to transplant into bigger containers this weekend!! Yeah, bright hopes that spring is almost here!!!!!! Catch ya all later. BURRRR Pat

:devil::devil: well i just did a devilish thing. i just finished eatting a contian that was about 2/3s full of ben and jerrys chocolate fudge brownie ice cream now that i did it i felt guilty and now that i have admitted it i do not feel so ashamed of myself. did i do it because i did not really eat anything for lunch or because i wanted some of it for the last week i do not know. anyway with that confession off of my chest the last 3 nights i have gone on the eliptoical for about an hour. and i plan to do the same tonight. i have not gotten up in the mornings this week because i am working in a different department and that is really throwing me off. tomorrow i will be back in my normal area so maybe i will get up tomorrow and go for an hour. i will be back later tonight.

Some pamper time for meeeeee!!!
 

Hey girls!

So I was at Wal-Mart the other day....and one of my fav things to do is to walk around the beauty stuff and look for deals. Soooo they had abunch of hair color that was on sale for $2.00 to $3.50.....just simply because the packaging had changed....so I found one I thought I might like to try....I'm currently in the process of dying my hair right NOW!!!!

Crazy right!!! ha ha ha! So anywho....I'm gonna pluck and tweeze my eyebrows (much over due) and tomorrow I'm going to get my nails done!

Maybe I will post a pic tomorrow with the new hair color and nails and all.....YAY!

I'm hoping pampering myself will make me feel great about myself and I will get off my rear and exercise...LOL!

Woot Woot!

I would have taken a quick cold shower and gotten on with the beautiful weather!

awww hope ya feel better soon :hug:

Extra exercise for you, lady! Next time allow yourself a small amount when the craving first hits...or just throw it out so it's not there at all? YOu will overcome it, just hold your head up and keep trotting along.

that is what i normally do but for some reason i did not do that this time, do not worry i already took care of the exercising almost right after i realized what i did. i also plan to really work it off tomorrow i am going to get up and do an hour of exercising before i go to work and when i get home.