Good afternoon chickies

cakeeeeeeeeeee, wbbbbbbbbbb, so happy to see you. Been thinking about you and I had a feeling we would be seeing you soon! I'm glad. You look terrific by the way, looking forward to catching up.

canadianangel, susieQ, and vickielou, wb girls : ). Angel, I see that you completed your physical therapy which is great! Susie, congrats on the loss Nice to see you girls.

merose, Joyra, and JazzyPeggy aboard

MsPerception, wc to yet another new month for us! I think it's awesome that DH is eating healthy with you and his encouragement and support. I absolutely LOVE how you do not cave into those temptations placed on the counter by MIL, wtg!!!!!!!!! Good for you chicky.

Jacqui, NSM, Delphi.......and to all, hi girls

Mystical, that's great! Congrats on starting the daily plate.

Not much new here girls. Getting geared up for our new month. Woke up to another muggy as sin day (though the temps have only been in the 60's), thankgoodness for the a.c (though none in this room). I will be planning my menu for the next few days. Have a great day everyone, chat soon

I am trying to make a menu for myself as well but I am not sure if it good. I am trying to stay with low calories I know allot about nutrition but for me to put it all together in a menu I seem to just go blank and don't know where to start. I want to put together 4 menus so I can just alternate them every week if anyone has any tips please help... Thanks

Mystical: Are you just doing calorie counting or any particular plan like South Beach or what not?

Mystical.....of course we are all different but for me, I work best in baby steps. Planning my menu 2-3 days in advance seems to work best for me instead of going too far ahead, but it may be completely beneficial to another to plan further ahead. My lunchtime menu typically consists of salad (with romaine, tomato, cukes, onions) with some protein in it like h.b eggs or chicken or turkey. I sometimes have a turkey sandwich on a whole wheat pita (with hellmans, l.f mayo or mustard). I like the thin and trim turkey from the deli. I pretty much stick with lean proteins for dinner....like fish, chicken (i get the roast chickens from the market and eat the white meat, no skin) or chicken breast cooked on the grill, turkey, and maybe beef once a week. THey are some of the lowest cal proteins and I like them (except for the lean beef which i limit). I have some veggies or a salad along with it and don't use butter but I use that pam butter flavored cooking spray. F.f it. dress. for my salad. I limit my cheese and eat the kraft f.f yellow american (which i really like but is high in sodium) and use it to make cheese omelettes occassionally for dinner. Now mind you , all this is when I am OP of course : ) . When I am not OP I tend to get lost in carb land.

Mystic, not sure if this is the sort of help you were requesting but I hope it helps in some way. OH I alsooooooo have a few healthy choices, etc in the freezer for back up! I have gotten sick before with TOM or something will come up and i cant cook....they have been life savers for me.

I'm totally up for a July challenge since June completely passed me by! I have time to focus on my goals!!

July Goal - lose 10lbs (this will put me pretty close to hitting ONEderland!)
I'm also gonna make sure I drink a LOT of water this month!!

This really is a great way to keep yourself motivated. So welcome to the new people. July is going to be a good month, lots of people with positive attitude, yay!

FSA- The reward envelopes have been great for me, plus they were fun to decorate lol

NSM and SuzyQ - We will tackle this weekend problem together!

Mystical- I agree with the other girls, it was baby steps for me. I tried to do all my meal planning and it just fell apart. And having a back up like healthy frozen dinners and/or stuff you make in advance and freeze can be real life savers for those times when the day gets away from you and you don't feel like cooking. These ladies have wonderful advice, so any questions you have ask away.

Weight Loss goals are in this list. Exercise goals are in the sister thread--July Exercise Challenge http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=175369. If anyone sees something that they'd like to have changed or edited in their info, please just let me know! I'll continue to add new people as they join in. Good luck to all! You can do it!

FullSteamAhead: Get back on track OP consistently; lose between 6-7 lbs
Sunflowergirl68: Lose 8-10 lbs; drink more water
NewShinyMe: Keep track of water intake; reach the 160's; stay accountable during the weekends
Jelder227: Lose 8-10 lbs
LaurenA: Lose 5 lbs
Lene1974: Drink 64 oz of water daily; lose 5 lbs
Velveteen: Reach 85 kg or less
Delphi: Reach ONEderland; lose 10 lbs
Jacqui_D: Lose 7-10 lbs
JoyinSF: Lose 6-8 lbs
Crazymamaof4: Lose at least 5 lbs; eat even MORE fruits and veggies; try out a new recipe every week; stay POP at least 85% of the time
Jellybellyjess: Lose 7-10 lbs
Susiemartin: Lose 10 lbs to be under 225 lbs
Nellonello: Lose 8 lbs; maintain a 1000-calorie deficit 5 days a week
Linzluv: Lose 15 lbs
Mystical: Lose 8-10 lbs
Robbynmarie_k: Fit into a size 18; reach 48 in waist measurement; maintain a 1000 calorie deficit; reach 220 lbs
Sugarbaby269: Lose 8-10 lbs
Stephanielllll: Lose 8 lbs; drink recommended amount of water
Gekster: Lose 9 lbs; be more accountable on the weekends
Peachykeen62: Lose 8-10 lbs
Merose: Reach "overweight" on BMI chart; lose 9 lbs to reach 185 lbs
Joyra: Lose 10 lbs to reach 145 lbs; lose 10 inches
CakeBatter: Lose 6 lbs to reach 165 lbs; try to eat "clean"
JazzyPeggy: Lose 10 lbs to reach 273 lbs
Ms_Perception: Lose 5 lbs; take a multi-vitamin at least 85% of the time; lose inches, especially around the waist
Canadianangel: Go gluten-free
VickieLou: Lose 15 lbs
SuzyQ: Lose 5 lbs
Wifey: Lose 10 lbs; drink a LOT of water
Ashley4012: Eat no fast food; lose 10 lbs
Annie96: Lose 8 lbs; drink water everyday; do not do mindless munching; measure and prepare food to stay consistent with Fitday journaling

Hm, well I'm not sure why I had two lists up in a row, but I have been having a little bit of trouble with the site today, so I've deleted one of the lists!

SuzyQ, did you want me to add "be accountable on the weekends" to your goal too?

Ashley, !! Glad you've joined us! Good luck!

Annie!! I've added you to the list! Good to have you and good luck!

Welcome to all the newbies!

Alright, Sandye has done it again. I'm tellin' ya'll she is one with the force. So she was all, oooooooooooo, I'm so far ahead of you...this morning, and I was like...that's alright I'll figure something out for our Friday Cleaning Challenge....and I did ladies...Oh yes I did. With that being said we have exhibit A...the mess...


So, I believe that is the equivalent of me pulling Sandye's pigtails and running like ****. I love it girly. You are awesome in every sense of the word. Thanks for continuously putting up with me and pushing me daily. Love ya!

The interesting thing about this, was I realized all the junk I had. Freakin' ten boxes of mac n cheese and all kinds of prepackaged meals. Most of that stuff I can't even eat and yet I put it right back up thinking at the very least a natural disaster could occur and we would have some high calorie stuff to survive on...eh?

At any rate, I'm pumped up for a new month with you awesome ladies. I think I'll go to bed early just so I can get started early. Haha! You ladies have a great evening.

WOW looks like I will be going throught the same thing in a few weeks but not by choice it will be moving day for me. July 24 to be exact. Tomorrow is a holiday so I am hoping we will cook something on the grill and just add some veges. I am so excited to be starting this new adventure in my life. You are a great group of people I am so glad to be here starting my new life tomorrow. YEAH!!!