HI girls....hope you all had a great day today. 3 days left to our week.

Caught up with your news girls. Sandye again congrats and MsP congrats on dropping another 5 lbs. and adding another smiley! wtg girls

To those of you struggling or maybe not having so good days, right on dc, the trick is to not give up! Remember that every new day is a new day and take it one day at a time and try to improve upon the past day etc. Planning meals at least 2 days in advance helps tremendously too. Let's not forget posting!

Boy oh boy, Holidays are easy for me compared to summers...summers a re like one extended holiday for me and thank goodness I have you all here to keep me in line. Even though my goal has been to pretty much maintain through the summer and start with a clean slate in September, that takes eating healthy inbetween or the majority of the time and exercise! Thankfully I have been doing that and I feel super since I increased my workouts again..............ty!!! I encourage posting even when one is having an off day or days (especially then). THe encouragement and support here really helps....you ladies rock!

Delphi, Sandy, cant beleive the kids are back to school already! I think they start in september here. Delphi, glad you got your power back. Oh, I don't live on the beach chicky (it's about a 20-30 min. drive away) but the river is about 10 min. away. I am thankful to be so close though. Keep on shining girl

MsP, great news on the kids liking their teachers! congrats on the new dvd's!

Tummygirlllllllll, tomorrow is you last non vaca day right? I will pop in tomorrow too so will catch you news. Regarding Jacqui, I know it..it's been a long time. We know her pc was going kaput on her, I dont have her number. Is she in the outskirts too and not many internet cafe's etc. ? Hmm, hope to see her soon. I have tried contacting our Lewis but to no avail, hope the chicky is ok. I am sure they will get back to us. Don't you worry about a thing! Enjoy yourself and your new rocking figure in those bathing suits.

Sorry I dont have time for too many personals but I always read your news girls.

I havn't caught you up as to my news in a while. THe shower was great, it was outdoors under a tent by the water. They had brunch and I had a modest amount on my plate but did very well, skipped the fr. toast, bagels, etc. and also skipped the dessert. I did indulge in a lot of champage that night though.

THings have been going good here. Every day seems to be better and better. I am doing well with my meal plans, drinking my water, and ahve been very active (swimming and walking on the beach or route). I just love the summer! I have a few get togethers, parties, things like that coming up so I try very hard to be OP inbetween and even on these times. I am enjoying myself though and the activity helpsssssssss so much, makes me feel good and helps me stay OP. Dh is taking friday off and will be taking a lot of vaca. the next few weeks. We go beach walking when we can or walking in general and are active together so that's good. Doing good on the meal plans and must adhere to thatttttttttt on the vaca days....I will keep you posted.

Im sleepy, going to head down and hang out with DH on the sofa for a bit, I havn't done that for a while. Miss you ladies and really love our team here. Let's keep working on our goals and moving forward. Hope you all have a beautiful night , chat soon.

Good evening girls!

Jewelie~ Oh my goodness--6th grade!! I am not even remotely prepared for when that day comes! It's wonderful that your ds is so excited! As for that pesky pound--you're probably right, extra salt does wicked things! It'll be gone in no time!

JeanneP~ Sorry to hear about the gain, but don't fret it--your body can do all sorts of wacky things--just ask my mom (LateToTheGame) she's been all over the place the last 5 weeks! Up a pound here, down 2 here, back up again the next day--all the while staying OP and exercising. I think it's great you wrote down your plan!! I could definitely use more meal planning, I think I might have to borrow that one from you!

Tummy~ Awww, thanks so much hun! How was that HIIT session? I almost did one tonight, but remembered that I need to rest a day with HIIT plus we had to sign papers for our refi, ...I got a new HRM, the Polar F4--a little cheaper than the F6 (it's all my Target had other than the Sportline ones) but it works beautifully! I've had the chest strap on all afternoon and it's barely noticeable and seems to be pretty accurate to boot! I can't wait to use it tomorrow when I workout! Question for ya, when you wore yours for those first 2 weeks, how did you calculate your daily calorie burn? Did you just start the calorie counting from when you woke up and then reset it the next morning? So, every 24 hrs kinda? I'll do my best to take a couple of pics tomorrow morning and get them posted asap for you my dear! I'm not making any promises, but I'll try. How long will you be gone again? Man...we're gunna miss you!!! Congrats on the loss too hun! Man, seriously, I know keep saying this but holy crow you're blazing through the 180s man! I mean really!!!

dcapulet~ our kiddos get out in May, so pretty early I think. Back in CA we used to start in Sept. and get out in June--but now I think some schools are already started back up, I know my sister is back already.

shasha~ thanks hun! I'm glad I finally got through that stall out too! I saw you asked SG about the C25K--I'm doing it too and I'm using a treadmill. I could do it outside, but I don't for a few reasons--one of which is that it's just easier for me to walk downstairs than to head outside in the heat. Get yourself a good sports bra and that should definitely help. My boobs have gotten much smaller (thank goodness) since I started losing weight, but if they had stuck around I would have shelled out some big bucks on a bra to wrangle them in lemme tell ya! I mean, there's nothing worse than trying to run with zero support (see my Aug 1st exercise entry and you'll see I've done it! ). Running shoe stores have a huge Hope you had a great day at work!

SG~ Thanks girlie!!! I tell ya, I'll probably be hanging around here for a looooong time to come--this is the best group of girls ever!!

Ruth~ thanks so much!! Ya know, with all this talk about you girls not trusting soy, I'm beginning to think I should just not make anything with the tofu! I definitely need to look into it. I think I know what color you're talking about, the nice thing about paint is, if you hate it you can always repaint. Not that it would be much fun, but at least it's not difficult. Good luck picking a color! I'm not good at that sort of thing at all. The colors I pick never turn out like I think they will.

Mystical~ Aww, thanks hun! So, how'd your HIIT go? I'm tellin' ya, you're going to love it! You might hate it at first, but you'll end up loving it! Dinner sounds like it was yummy! I think my family would lose it if I put peppers in a meatloaf! Hubby freaks if I put onions in it! He is definitely a meat and potatoes type of guy and he likes his meatloaf to be basically meat and sauce. Needless to say, he's gone without meatloaf for quite some time Glad you're feeling better today hun and I KNOW you got all of your water in too!

Hotsplashes~ I know what you mean about the 5 lb challenges, I joined one and I won't be doing it again--I'll stick to this group here, there's less pressure! As for your ticker, the butterfly is the ticker for your lbs lost. Once you lose a few more you'll see it move more. If you look at my tickers, you'll see that the ticker moves further the less weight you have to lose--like with my August goal of 5 lbs--it moves quite a bit with every pound lost, but with my other one it only moved a little at a time because there were more pounds between the start wt and the goal wt. Does that make sense?

Delphi~ Thanks darlin! You know I couldn't have done it without you girls!! 'Bow chicka wow, wow' yeah, um...I dunno--5:00 am comes pretty early and I gotta workout! What color did you paint the boys' room? Man, I feel like a slacker! I didn't even think about painting today! Too much other stuff to do, but I want to get the girls room painted as soon as I can--but, it might have to wait...we might have to pinch pennies really tight here soon...ugh...

FSA~ Thanks girlie!!! Again, if it weren't for this group of girls...it never would have happened! Thanks so much for starting us up hun!!! Holidays--now that's gunna be tough for me! I love to bake and oooh, once the cool weather hits all I want to do is bake pumpkin bread and cookies! Ack! I will need tons of will power to keep going that's for sure!

MsP~ Thanks so much sweetie! You tell TOM to back off and leave you alone! He can come to town but he better not make so much as a peep and if he brings any water weight with him that you'll him right back to where he came from!! (oooh, I'm still a little bitter about TOM's latest visit here aren't I? )

Well ladies, it was a good day. The boys came back and were all smiles with tales of the first day of school! Whew! My youngest had to draw a picture for homework and did it right off the bat! My oldest made it through the day in a much better mood and seems way less anxious about everything now. Double whew!

We signed our refi stuff and found out that we might have to pay double the taxes that have been estimated. They don't have record of our homeowners and homestead exemption paperwork being filed. Now, I'm 99% that it was done, but I can't find anything to support it. I also can't remember if I did it or the title company did it...perhaps even my realtor did it...I don't know, but I tore through every piece of paper in all of my file cabinets and can't find a thing. So, please send me good luck vibes on that front--I really, really don't want to pay double the taxes this year--they're high enough as it is!

On a happier note, I exchanged my HRM and got a Polar F4 instead. I like it soooo much better than the other one! So long as I have the chest strap on it reads my HR continuously and I don't have to press any buttons or anything. I was going to play with it tonight, but searching for the paperwork took up a lot of time and of course I had to catch up here and it's nearly time for bed. Oh well...I'll figure it out before my HIIT tomorrow night I'm sure.

Alright girls, I better get out of here--I need to hit the hay if I'm going to get up at 5:00! Hope everyone had a great day!!! See you all tomorrow!!!

We finally picked our colors and got the paint. The bathroom is a goldish with a tinge of green, its called "dry leaf". I hope it looks good, its amazing how the colors can look so different under different lights. The bedroom is called "purple surf". Its a violet/lavender.

I did my exercise earlier, walking/jogging on the treadmill.

Now off to see if I can find a nice painting for the bathroom on ebay!

I'm so irritated, I just had written a bunch of stuff and my cursor moved and loaded another page so I lost everything . I will make it short then because I need to crash. Came home from work, did laundry. Can I just say IT'S ABOUT TIME!! I don't know whats wrong with me. Just because I have tons of clothes, doesn't mean I need to wait that long...lol. I went to the gym today before my kickboxing class to inquire about training sessions. I'm going back on Thursday to sign up for some sessions. I did this a few years ago and had some great success. We'll see how it goes this time around. Kickboxing was fun, dinner was yummy, and now I'm tired. Can't wait to catch up with you lovely ladies tomorrow.

Good Morning Ladies

I will do my best to keep up today as I don't think I'll be doing too much of anything. I feel like a semi, run over me...THEN...put that bad boy in reverse and backed over me again. Whew..talk about being sore. There isn't a portion of my body that doesn't ache. I hurt. But you know, I'll be alright though. That room looks great. I painted it a light lavender and it's gorgeous. Now all I need is some lavender accents for my bed, and it will be complete.

Has anyone noticed that you're spending a lot of time in the mirror lately...urh, and in your birthday suit? Dude, I'm totally diggin' the nakedness these days...even if Darth Scale keeps doing weird things. I'm about ready to pull out the Wii Fit, but given the way I feel and if you correlate soreness with water retention...then it all makes sense this morning. I'm honestly thinking of not weighing everyday...I mean, I don't think I need to, I see the affects of the weight loss daily...but then again, I highly doubt my OCD would let me just stop either. Oh well...

So yesterday our crazymomma, finally hit goal..isn't that exciting. Not only for Sandye but for us as well. I've now seen Jacque and Sandye make it to goal and it's so exciting for me. Not only are you over joyed for these ladies, but you have a renewed hope that the day you can come in here and write that you have made goal, isn't far away at all. It fills and reinvigorates your own personal journey. There IS light at the end of the tunnel and it's how you decide to walk through that tunnel..

I'm so proud of these ladies and I want to take a minute to thank them both and say Because at the end of the day, HOPE is very hard to come by in this day and age, so finding it in the corners of our challenge threads is indeed reassuring to the body and mind. Thank you ladies for being who you are and thank you for giving me HOPE of a leaner more confident me.

Tummy ~ I'm gonna miss ya kiddo and I feel like I've been detached for a few days...almost like missing out on that girls night out before you leave..ya know? I wish ya the best with your travels and we will be right here when ya want to check in from time to time...Have fun darling!

Alright ladies I'm outty yo'.... I have to actually try to get up from this chair and erm, try to do something. You ladies have a great day!

I completely know what you mean!!! I finally am going to catch up today on personals. You miss one day, or even one morning and you get so far behind.

I agree with the kids....Soy/Tofu = YUCKY!!! Although I do drink Soy milk...go figure!!!

I can't believe how early school starts for your kids. I always hated that school would start before labor day and labor day would be so early, that they would start like the 3rd week of August. But this year, it actually starts the last day of August since Labor day is late. Hope the first day is a good one for kids everywhere....and parents too!!

on reaching GOAL!!! You did it!! You rock!!!

to the club....doesn't it feel great!!! All that hard work paid off!!

Well, I'm bummed. My scale showed me UP 2.5 lbs from last week.
I used to weigh everyday but found that if I weigh on Fridays only, I do much better. See what happens is that I usually see a good number on Fridays...even if I go off plan on the weekend, I have a whole week to make the number go down again. I would never weigh early in the week, because I KNOW the number wouldn't be a good since I almost always go off plan on the weekends.

Do what works for you. I love your action plan...it's a good one. Just remember if you have 2 scales, they may not be calibrated the same, so the numbers maybe different. I use only my scale. So when I go to the doctor's office, I know that it will probably be more then what mine says....either way though, I have lost the same amount of weight.

I used to do those 5lb challenges. Actually, won one time. Once you have don't have as much to lose, it's harder to lose so much quickly but there others out there that can. It was fun to watch people do it though.

Don't know about your ticker. That is the weirdest thing. The only thing I would try is maybe pick a different line and the thing that moves...if that makes sense. Hope you figure it out.

Mixing it up is a good thing...although I must admit, I love the Arc Trainer and it is what I usually do for my cardio. Except when I do boot camp. I do what ever the trainer says to do...but that ends next week.

DELPHI

Would love to see pics of the final paint job!!!

Everybody else....have a GREAT day!!!

Jacque ~ I tried to take pictures, and they either looked too dark without flash and too light with flash... but here is the before..



and the after



the picture makes the color look a little darker than it really is though. You can see the white in the pictures turn yellow in the after picture the color is so off... And I know Tummy is gonna give me **** about my Halo calender.

That's how off the color is...my comforter is actually black and grey. But thanks and yes, I love it.

Hi chickies!!

Ms P - Glad to hear both your kids settled in nicely! Always a relief, I'm sure. Congrats on the 5 lbs!! And cleaning in zones is definitely something I need to try for my bedroom, it seems as though my bedroom never gets suitably organized.

cmo4 - I'm terribly nervous about the longer runs as well, they seem awfully impossible at this point but I'm trying not to lose my confidence and enthusiasm. Also, I'm glad to hear you're sticking around and I agree the people here are fantastic! Keep me updated on the new HRM and let me know how many calories you burn during the C25K.

jeannep - Way to go on setting up a plan to get back on track! You can do it!

Tummy - Girl you are a powerhouse of enthusiasm and energy! I love it. Congrats on the loss.. AGAIN. Thanks for the words of encouragement on pacing, sometimes I worry I'm not doing it "right" and then I realize that as long as I'm moving and not hurting myself... I'm in the positive.

shasha - I am outside. I'm very fortunate in that my town has a fantastic park with a track.. even though it's a little tiny town. So I go there and do my jogging. When I get the C25K program accomplished I'm hoping to be confident enough to use the treadmills at the school where I work to do it during the winter... otherwise I'll be spending money on a treadmill which I reallly don't need to be doing. Oooh, how was kickboxing?

ruth - I hear ya on how difficult it can be to pick out paint. I agonize over it and then usually get vetoed by my DH and then we have to find something else we can both agree on.

hotsplashes - Good for you on realizing 5 lbs per week is unrealistic for you... especially at your weight.. good luck with the weigh-in.

Good morning girls!

Ruth~ good luck on finding a cool painting!! Congrats on picking the paint color--I can't wait to see it!

shasha~ Aw man, that stinks! I hate when that happens! Ah well, I'm glad you didn't stay up retyping it all, sometimes you just gotta get some sleep! Glad to hear kickboxing was fun, my friend does it too and loves it! Sometimes I wish I had a gym membership so I could do cool classes like that! As for the laundry--oh honey it never stops here! Just as soon as I do it all, all the laundry baskets are full again! Oh well, at least we have clothes to get dirty right?

Delphi~ amazing how sore painting will make you isn't it? (on top of all the exercise you do too, I can only imagine how sore you must be!) Now I thought you were painting the boys' room yesterday...man, I'm losin' it! It looks great!! Much prettier than the lavender I picked out for our bedroom in our first house--egad that was a nightmare! Once again, you got me all teary and stuff! Oh hun, you have no idea how much of an inspiration YOU are!!! Do you honestly think I could have made it through that stall out if you hadn't set the tone by flyin' through yours unscathed? No way! So thank YOU for being such a fine example! I agree with you 100% seeing everyone reach their goals, strive for more--it's empowering!!! And I couldn't be happier for each and every one of the girls in this group!

Jacque~ thanks hun! Yeah, it feels pretty darn good! Although I'm nowhere near finished losing weight, I still have a ways to go! But, it almost feels like the pressure is off some how...like, I'm not really all that concerned about the scale and I'm just focusing on exercising and eating right...weird huh?

SG~ We'll get through the C25K--I just KNOW it! And ya know what? If you can do the whole program outside, you'll definitely be able to do it on a treadmill--no problem! The treadmill is so much easier on your joints!! Plus the guy at the running store told me that running outside works your hammies and glutes more than running on a treadmill too. Hmm...why am I using my treadmill again? Oh yeah, weather and ease, that's right--man, I'm lazy! I think I might have to do my HIIT outside tonight just to crank it up a notch!

Well girls, I want to say thank you again for all the sweet words yesterday! Like I just mentioned to Jacque, it feel like the pressure to get to my goal is somehow off now. I have set that same 150 lb goal time and time again over the years--first time was 10 years ago for my wedding, I never made it--I think I got down to 155 or so. After that I let loose and lived it up! Ate whatever I wanted (I had been doing low carb), drank, whatever, then I got pg and packed on the pounds...Fast forward to 2 years later and we're talking about trying for our second, here comes the goal again 150...I made it to 170 and got pg. Over and over every time I started a diet I'd say, "I just want to make it to 150 and I'll be happy" and each time I'd fall short and just give up...until THIS time.

This time I came here and I found THIS wonderful group of ladies! This time I decided that a 'diet' was temporary and what I needed was a permanent lifestyle change! This time I stayed focused on eating healthy and exercising (finally!!), changing not only my body but my attitude! This time I didn't let scale fluctuations send me into a tailspin--sure, I cussed and complained about it, but I never fell off the wagon!! Darth Scale would not be victorious this time! Nope! This time I DID IT! I finally got to 150 and am I happy? Heck ya I am! Am I content to stay here? Not a chance!

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to be a 110 lb size 2 or anything but now that I've reached that I've finally lost enough to hit my goal--I've found that I've gained something that I have been missing for far too long. Confidence. Although I may seem super confident and assertive, when it comes to myself and what I can do--I haven't always been so optimistic--remember, the old 'realist/pessimist' self I was talking about last month? Well, now that I'm at goal, I KNOW I can keep going and get down to a more healthy weight. Sitting at 200 lbs, when I set the 150 goal (again), 50 lbs was such a daunting number to me. I couldn't even fathom thinking about losing a pound more. But now, now I KNOW I can lose more! And I KNOW that I can crank up the exercise because I'm strong--not only physically, but emotionally now too! I feel like I can do just about anything I put my mind to (as crazy as that mind is )!

So, anyway, all that to say:

I'm not afraid to put my new goal out there. I am staring that smaller number in the face and saying 'Bring it on!'. I'm goin' for it! I mean, why not? You only go around once right? Why do it half way? I'm in it to win it now baby!!!

And with you ladies in my corner, not only do I know I'll make it...but I KNOW I'll have a heck of a lot of fun getting there!!!!

Okay girls, I'm stepping off my soap box now and heading out. I'm going to see about taking those pics for Tummy before she leaves. Oh, I forgot, down a smidge today too! 149.2! Yay!

Now get out there and have a wonderful day and be sure to...

Drink Your Water!!!

Hi,
I think you all are so wonderful but I cannot keep up. Well I cannot keep up well enough to write individual comments. So please forgive me. I have CRS (can't remember s***) so must write responses out on post its and, well chickies, I just don't have enough post its for you all.

That said - I am grateful to be with you on your journeys just as you are with me on mine. 3fc has made a difference. My one big goal is to come here everyday even if that day has been bad. So far so good.

August Goal: 10 lbs (8.5 lbs to go!)
SW 190.5
CW 189
GW 180.5

Have a great day today.
Ash

morning chickies, happy new day!

Hope everyone had a great day yesterday and if not today is a new day, keep on truckin'. My day went very well except for last night. I got hungry and ended up eating at midnight! I had a small salad....still way past cut off point otherwise it was a good day.

I'm going to get ready now and head over to my parents for a much overdue visit! Can't wait to see them. Doesn't look like I will be doing any swimming today as it's rather cool out though I plan to take a walk with DH this afternoon.

Delphi, your room looks great girl! Jacque, so true what you said about even missing a morning or day and then it being hard to catch up on personals. OH, I love purple too! Sasha, wtg on the kickboxing class and signing up! MY former colleague (girlfreind) used to do that and boy was she in great shape! It's super exercise and a great stress releiver as well. Sandye, I enjoy cooking in the fall too (not in summer)...something about that fresh air! I plan to get some more haddock and bake that as much as I can. Ohhhh, one of the girls had left us with a turkey chili recipe (a ways back) and she would make a batch of it and would last her a week (incidentally she went on to reach goal). She gave me the go ahead to post it and as our weather cools may be a nice time to try it. I will have to find that recipe in a rather old thread though, wish me luck! lol : ). OH your doing terrific....I think you will be just fine...look how much you have done already, either way we will all be here to help one another along during any challenging times along the journey. Tummygirl.......have a great time make sure to let me know about meeting goal so I can put the red there. MsP, ruth, shrinking girl and to all of our girls, a big hello.


I have to run, I will catch you all this afternoon or tonight. Have ag reat day chicks Let's keep on truckin'

Ash-No worries about not doing personals. I do them less than half the time because I have no memory and I'm on dial-up so it takes FOREVER. Just glad to have you here!

Delphi-You're so right how it DEFINTELY helps to personally see women reach their goal just doing what we all know we should: eat right and exercise. It's inspirational and motivating to know "I CAN do this" because my fellow chickies here did it. I know we'll be there in no time!

Sandye-Thanks for your encouraging words to us all. Way to go on setting a new goal. I wonder myself if I will reset my goal once I get there, but it's hard to know until I get there, kwim? Keep on rockin' it!

FSA-Just wanted to mention how glad I am you're posting more often. Your posts are so sweet and uplifting and it's good to see you kicking it up a notch this month! Hope your visit with mom and dad is good.

As for me, I am down a pound this morning and that was a wonderful surprise. I can almost feel TOM breathing down my neck and I was just sure water weight was gonna get me today. I am running away from it as fast as I can, so if water weight comes asking where I am...tell it you don't know!