MsP- As much as working out is great, I love my days off as well. I feel like I am recuperating. Congrats on making wise desert choices.

Fitgirlygirl- Congrats on leaving the 200's!

kim- You are so close to your October goal. I'm sure you can hit those last few lbs by the end of this month.

Tummy- Wow, running in 12 degree weather. Good to hear that you are feeling better. Sorry about your scale. I'm sure once you are completely recovered, the scale will be normal again. I know what you mean about displaced family situation. Me and my parents are the only ones living in CA (rest of family is east coast or India). So my parents have a lot of close friends which have become a second family. We had very fun thanksgivings growing up. Yay for 160! Getting closer and closer to that goal. Have lots of fun tonight.

meowmix- Congrats on your loss. You CAN make your October goal!

nella- I tried to do JM's Boost Metabolism and did about 20 minutes. I liked it a lot, but I live on a third story of an apartment building and I felt bad doing all the jumping around and what not. I hope the next place I feel comfortable doing some of her workouts.

inthemidst- just keep chugging along. You are sooo close to 171.

NSM- Hope your thanksgiving was lots of fun!

ruth- mmm I love yogurt. When i was growing up in India, we made our own yogurt at home too. I swear that stuff had NOTHING on the store bought stuff I buy nowadays.

jessicado- Congrats on getting under 250. I know I was suuuuper happy when I did. As far as your splurge day, don't feel guilty about it. I think we need to do that every now and then to keep our sanity. Back in 2002, I lost a bunch of weight by eating very healthy and working out, with no occasional splurge. I ended up gaining it all back and then some because I deprived myself so much. As long as you don't make a habit out of it, its not going to affect your weight loss in the long term.

skinnylynnie- Welcome to the forum. Just keep posting away, you will love it here.

Cle- I love party shopping. I have been in the mood lately to decorate for halloween. I got some cool stuff from disneyland over the weekend for halloween decorations. Sounds like you are in full party mode now.

Sandye- Oh how cool, I didn't know that you are a photographer. And so close to being back to your goal. You were probably holding on to it because of your cold. So have you been doing the p90x for about a week now?

bigmid- Congrats on losing while you were away on the conference.

jasonslea- Can't wait to see your pic. I'm at work right now and a lot of the pics don't show up because of our firewall. Congrats on your loss!

jen7- So close to your October goal! Congrats.

Gekster- Happy Birthday! Good luck on your goals for this month. I know you can do it with some hard work!

shrinking amy- Whoo hoo on the smaller sizes. Its great to see even if the scale might not show it.

nello- Congrats on being overweight, hehe.

Wow it has taken me forever to finish all this. I keep getting pulled away for stuff. As for me, went to disneyland all day Saturday. It was sooo much fun, albeit expensive. (but thats to expected). I knew there was going to be tons of walking, so I wasn't worried about my workout for that day. I went off my Phase 1 plan though, because I knew I would be burning lots of calories that day and didn't want to lose energy. I ate a waffle for breakfast. For lunch and dinner, I ate protein and veggies, but it was still probably not SB friendly because the food was more oily than allowed. Buuuut, today I weighed in and I'm at 240.8!!! My October goal is 240, so I have .8 to go to meet that. I was supposed to start Phase 2 today, but I'm going to extend Phase 1 until Friday in order to compensate for my Disneyland trip and 2 incidents from last week.

Good afternoon ladies!!!

Tummy~ ooh yeah, you're right--try the pie first then let us know if it's any good! ;) :lol: Ya know, you could always do a crust-less pie. Put the pie 'batter' (for lack of a better word) into ramekins or cupcake tins or heck, just a pie pan that's been sprayed or greased in some fashion (not sure if you use non-stick spray). I mean, it's the pumpkin stuff you want anyway, not the crust--am I right? I usually leave the crust as it is, unless it's a graham cracker one--that's a different story. ;) Yeah, random funks stink! It's one thing to know it's PMS, but to just feel cruddy for no definable reason--ugh! That's why I'm on meds! ;) I felt like that most of the time without them. I was not a pleasant person to live with. Now I am though :D ;)

Jessica~ OMGosh!!! That's so awesome!! :carrot: Ahhh, now that's what I call just rewards for that crazy long TOM!!! You totally deserve that giant swoosh!! Glad you got a new mouse! That's the problem with the wireless setups--one part goes bad and you have to replace the whole deal! We've done that here too. Congrats on the brand new 18's as well! :carrot: Woo hoo! Party at Jessica's house!!! :)

ShrinkingAmy~ awww, that's so sweet of your hubby! Congrats on the fantastic compliment and the size 2's!!!!! Wow, I can't even imagine being a size 2. That's awesome that you're not even worried about the number on the scale anymore! I like to think in terms of size & inches too, but I'm a slave to the scale. ;) One of these days I'm going to kick him to the curb!!

MsP~ :hug: Aww hun, I'm sorry you're feeling like that! And I'm sorry the dang scale is making you feel that way. I'm going to give you the standard lecture: You know that the scale isn't a true indicator of the hard work you're doing. The body fluctuates and those numbers go up and down and all over the place and sometimes there's a good reason (such as my weekend long insanity fueled binge-fest ;)) and other times there's not. You're doing a fantastic job and I am so very proud of you!! Just keep staying OP, exercise and plan those meals!!! The numbers will go down. That dang scale will cooperate with you and show you lower numbers soon. :hug:

Nello~ :woohoo: Congrats on the new BMI!!!!! That's fanfreakin'tastic!!!!!!:carrot: Woo hoo!!! I am so proud of you hun! And here you were worried that with your ankle out of commission that you'd gain! ;) Great job hun!!!

Shari~ here's to hoping your happy hyper mood lasts all day long! :trampo: And good luck on the soda--I used to be a huge coffee drinker so I can relate somewhat--kicking that cold turkey when I get pg with my first was so hard!!!

Gekster~ sorry to hear about the cruddy lecture! It stinks when your teachers bore you to tears.

shasha~ yup, Week One is over with. I thought that maybe today's workout would be easier, that maybe I'd get more reps in--nope. There were some push ups that I could barely do because my abs are getting pummeled with the Ab Ripper X :eek:, but it's all good. Definitely makes you feel alive after you're done that's for sure! Congrats on the loss hun!! I have no doubt that you'll see your October goal!! Glad to hear you had fun at Disneyland!!! :)


Well, not much to report here. Laundry's getting done and the boys are good. Ry got a breathing treatment and instantly stopped coughing every 2 minutes and he sounds much less gunked up. Whew! I got my 3 miles in, and I'm starting to think that I might ditch running--I just don't know if I'll be able to keep running on the treadmill--it's just bores me beyond belief and I really don't like it one little bit. I also don't want to spend money to join some place that has an indoor track just for that, kwim? And let's face it, I'm too much of a wimp to hit the pavement in the ice and snow--period. Sigh...shoot, I don't know. I'll keep it up as long as I can I guess and maybe re-evaluate in a bit.

Just ate my lunch (spicy lentil soup--yum!) and I'm just about to head downstairs and brave the giant wolf spiders and dust bunnies and fill up my new gianormous shelving unit!! :D If you don't hear from me in 24 hrs, send help! :lol:

Okay girls, off to fill up my water bottle and head downstairs! Wish me luck!!!

*Gulp*

Chickies!

I seem to have momentary internet! Holy cow 3 days without internet at all is kind of killing me! I miss my girls here! I'm going to read up on everyone's news after I post but I dunno how long I'm going to have internet so I wanted to post quick and say hi!

Two things: One, I don't know why but my body seems to only like dropping weight all at once... not gradually. So I seem to hold steady at one weight for 7-10 days and then drop 2 lbs. Meanwhile I think I'm not losing anything at all and get discouraged, but sure enough Saturday found me 3 lbs down (woah) and it's stuck around! Woo Hoo!
Two, I went shopping today because I reallly needed a pair of jeans which actually fit me and holy crap... I took a few different size 18's to the dressing room AND THEY WERE TOO BIG. So I went out and picked up some size 16's and THEY TOTALLY FIT!

2.5 more lbs and I'm halfway to goal. Insane!

I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you girls! Internet technician is supposed to be here tomorrow... we haven't had internet OR cable. DH is sure he's suffering more than any other man on earth.

Wish I had time for personals right now, but I don't, so here's a quick check in and fly by!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Thanksgiving for all you Canadians! I had a busy weekend helping my parents business, so I haven't been around. But Happy happy joy joy for weigh in today - 176.4!!!! Wahoo!! Only 6.4 more pounds to reach my mini-goal. I have 2.5 weeks to get there. If I can make it through TOM this month, I think I can do it. I have DH's reunion early in November, and that's when I set the goal to be 170 for, so maybe 3 weeks. I can do that.

Hope everyone has a POP day!!!!

Well, I didn't get back to posting personals right away as we went out to run a load of old clothes to Goodwill (buh-bye old fat pants!!!!) and then I decided to go to the gym. I ran for 20 minutes straight today! I was so proud of myself, but also a little disappointed as the treadmill only said I ran 1.5 miles. I knew it would be a little lower than normal as I reduced the treadmill speed to 4.5 today so I could run longer. Think on Wed I will up it to 4.7 and see what happens. I am hoping by the end of the month to be able to get 2 1/2 miles in 25 minutes to keep up with the C25K plan....but not so sure that is going to happen now! But anyways, my fat ars still ran for 20 minutes straight! :carrot:

JasonLea--Cute hair! Sorry you burnt your scalp though.....isn't it always fun when we decide to get crazy when we are bored?

Nello--that is awesome, congrats!!!

Ms Perception--sorry to hear about the gain....I totally know how you feel! After those 3 weeks of TOm and the scale going up I was such a downer....but everyone here put up with me, so I am sure they will put up with you too! Hope all this nasty water weight leaves you soon.

Shrinking Amy--W2G on the clothes fitting! I used to have all these clothes that were just a little too small that I bought on sale cuz they were cheap...and then after they all piled up I realized it would have been cheaper to just buy a pair at regular price that actually fit me and didn't take up precious closet or storage space, lol. Of course now I am not complaining anymore cuz I am actually fitting in them too. And congrats too on the compliments from the hubby!

Sandye--sorry to hear everyone is sick! Hope you all are feeling well soon. And look at you so close to goal again even being sick--man are you inspiring! If I got sick I'd curl up on the couch with comfort foods....and since comfort foods for me are not celery sticks...I'm sure my scale would not go down like yours is!

Oh, and glad to know I am not the only one who hates running....seriously, people keep telling me I'll grow to love it and it will become an obsession and I'll get a second wind, blah, blah, blah, blah. Hasn't happened yet, but maybe it will (I'll be open minded!). My goal is to maybe run some sort of marathon and once I reach that point, if I am still not finding any joy in it...I am only gonna stick with it for weight loss. Once I get to my maintenance stage I will stick with ellipticals or something, lol.

Tummy -- LMAO at picturing you sprinting on the slippery snow. I fall just walking around on the sleet, so glad you didn't hurt yourself! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy your pumpkin pie! Mmmm..now I can't wait for Thanksgiving to get here, lol.

Gek--Wow...3 pounds in 3 months of not sticking to any plan isn't that bad. Sure you'll have those off in no time!

SG--I knew you had to be smaller than me when you told me I was smaller than you! You totally rock! W2G on those size 16s! I bet you look so much different after wearing your old big pants and now wearing clothes that actually fit, lol. I think your mind needs to catch up with your body.....you are getting skinny!

Shasha--Thanks...Yeah being under 250 was such a mind set for me too. Makes onederland seem so much more feasible. Man are you a busy girl! Vacation , Seattle, Disneyland.....I need to come be friends with you, lol. You are dropping weight so fast now---SB totally is agreeing with you! You are so close to the 230s already and Oct isn't even halfway over!

Kim --Yay to go for being in the 260s!

Shasha - WOW!! Almost to monthly goal! You must feel great! Glad you had a nice time at Disney, you probably walked off most everythign you ate, so I would call it a draw. And yeah JM's are great, luckily I have a one story house, but I have to secure the room for my jumping, lol.

Tummy - You are brave to hit the road with snow and cold. You show 'em who's boss girl!

Sandye - I hear ya on the treadmill - so boring. And wolf spiders are GROSS!!! We have them all over here and they freak me out cause they are HUGE and hairy. My DH gets mad if I kill them, he rescues them and puts them outside. /sigh.

Shrinking Girl - You are indeed shrinking my friend! Keep it up!!!

Kim - Dinner Friday was lovely. I made a yellow curry with brown rice, chicken and asian veggies. Yum yum! 10 pounds down this month already?!? You are a machine girl!! Congrats!!!!

Jess - Wahoo on getting rid of the old "fat" clothes!

I was actually talking to a co-worker about going through my stuff and wanting to get rid of the big stuff so I won't be able to fit in them again. She advised me to wait because DH and I are going to hopefully be in the baby making business soon! A little back story - DH was previously married (I'm the hot, much younger trophy wife, lol) and had a vasectomy a few years after his divorce. Well, then he met me and his whole world got re-arranged, lol. So on Friday we made the first appointment to have his vas. reversed. It's something we have talked about from the beginning, but haven't done too much about, until now. So, if all goes well, his surgery will be no later than January and then we can - ahem - get to business.

Part of my weight loss journey was because I wanted to be in better shape before I am pregnant. So knowing that we are moving forward with his surgery makes me all the more motivated to be at goal by the end of February, which was the original timeline I gave myself. So I know everyone is thinking "hello dum-dum! You're going to kill yourself to lose the weight just to get fat and pregnant?" Yep, but hopefully I won't get (too) fat and I'll surely be in much better health to conceive. Lord knows we'll need all the help we can get.

So anyway, that's my happy tid-bit of info for the week. :)

Just wanted to check in with my peeps!!!! Tom is finally gone and has left a little reminder of his visit. The cravings were awful and I am up to 253. I think I really did catch DH cold. Great. Feeling kinda down. Not really going off plan, but having a few extra carbs. Haven't been able to work out since thursday. Just not in a happy place with DH. So, I need a good kick in the butt to get me going here. I want to be 239 by October 31. That was my plan. can I do it? (fingers crossed) Think so. Throw me some will power dust. Sorry about whining, but I had to let it go somewhere. I know folks out in this world got it much worse......but for me today, right now, I feel like a big mac and fries!!!! But I will refrain and have some protein. Love to all the peeps!!!

New here...but I'd like in on the October challenge!

1. I'd like to lose 5 lbs.
2. Try a new healthy recipe each week.
3. Continue my walks each and add more weights.

The challenges seem to be a great motivater...so good luck to us all!:carrot:

Shasha - way to go! Almost hitting goal is outstanding!

Sandye - I hear you on the hating to run thing... I run at a local runner/walker outdoor course in my neighborhood but I still get bored to tears. C25K is the only thing keeping me going - I like the structure and the intervals are helping time go by for now (I'm only in week 2). I'm going to keep at it and hopefully I'll grow to love running and can suck it up to run in the cold - although I'm not going to hold my breath on that one - I despise cold weather! I do love the sense of accomplishment I have after the run. And I also love that those 35 minutes I'm out on the course is all about me - not my DH or my DD - it's my own personal quiet time.

Shrinking Girl - Congrats on your loss!

Jessica - a 20 min run is not small feat! Way to go!

Nella - Good luck with your plans! How exciting!

KimL - congrats on your loss too. Is it just me or does TOM seem to visit a lot of us at once? Seems like half the board is currently bloated -me included! :)

Jello - tomorrow is a new day!

GivTLC - Welcome!

As for me, things are still good. DH is being super encouraging so that's nice. I pulled out some more of my "too small" clothes, and unfortunatly, most in this bin are still too small - although I was able to get them over my booty so that's a step in the right direction. Food was fine today - no major issues.

It's almost midnight - gotta hit the sack - Have a good night!

Good Morning ladies! Doing a drive by! Have a good one!

Drive by here too. I thought I could do personals, but y'all have been too chatty for me to catch up :gossip:! Anyway, to all you losers, :carrot: to all of you who need it :dust:. I spent three days in Vegas with my oldest friend. Had a blast, walked a lot, ate pretty well except the last night. Had Mexican food and margaritas! So I am up to 171, grr. But the month is young (sort of). Have a wonderful day, chickies! It's raining here!:yay:

Hello all you beautiful ladies! I feel SOOOOO much better today than yesterday. (Can ya tell?) After my whine-fest on here, I read and planned and reasoned that this is indeed a long term change that will have ups and downs, so I got more and more "at peace" as the day went on yesterday. Now, I'm just plugging along and enjoying the journey. And I even had time to add all kinds of smilies to my posts today! That puts a smile on my face. :)

:wave: WELCOME, GivTLC. Look forward to getting to know ya!

SG-That is SO great about the 16's! :dancer: You are rocking this weight loss thing, girl! However your body does it, just roll with it, cuz it's working!!

jellofer-I copy ya on the burger and fries, but stay strong! You're a healthy vibrant person who doesn't need food to fill emotional needs. You are a joy to know and I'm sure you'll come out of this unscathed.

Nella-Best of luck to you and DH as you head toward the baby-making process. Just remember practice makes perfect. ;) LOL

Jessica-Thanks for the encouragement. Yeah, yesterday I lost sight of the big picture for a bit. My brain has re-engaged and I'm all set to keep on being healthy. :yes:

Kim-You're doing fantastic! Congrats! Thanks for the kind words. :hug: You're so right. I'm getting closer to goal and I guess I was too focused on just getting to that number instead of the big picture. Crazy!

Sandye-You're so sweet. Thanks for the "standard lecture"...so true! I was just overreacting to unexpected gains. It's all just part of the process. I was WAY too concerned with reaching a number and forgot to think of it in terms of just living a healthy life. Good thing I could vent here and know you girls understand those crazy feelings we get when the scale is not giving us what we want. Now I can grow from it and next time just take it in stride...maybe! LOL

nellonello- :woohoo: :congrat: :woohoo: Way to go on getting to "overweight"!! I know that was an awesome milestone for me. Just shows the fantastic progress you're making.

Gooooooooooood Morning Chickies!!!!! :carrot:

SG~ Hey you!!! Glad to see your smiling face on my computer monitor this morning!! :) Hope that your get your internet fixed ASAP!! :woohoo: On the fantastic loss!!! You do have a wacky way of doing it, but man is it ever fun to read your loss posts!! :) And congrats on those 16's!!! I have a feeling that you'll start to drop sizes pretty quick now--that's the way it seems to go, it takes forever to drop that first size, then you hit the next one and the next one comes quicker than the last and before you know it, you've dropped 2 or 3 sizes and barely got to wear some of the new clothes you bought! I've got capris that I never wore because I dropped sizes so quickly! That's why I love Goodwill! ;) Hope you have a great day girlie!!! Congrats again!!

Nella~ congrats on the loss hun!!! That's awesome! And yeah, the wolf spiders are crazy big aren't they? I had a huge guy hanging out on the wall watching me workout this morning! :lol: I used to squash them, but after spending a summer doing some macro photography of bugs, I came to fear them a whole lot less so now I typically do the catch and release thing too. The jumping spiders though--those guys are crazy fast and I don't trust 'em! :lol: Oooh, you're gearin' up for some baby makin'!! That's so great!! I'll send you tons of baby dust when the time is right! And for what it's worth, I think you're doing yourself a favor by getting in shape pre-baby! I only managed to do that once and it was my easiest pg! Besides, the good habits you foster now will definitely help you through those 9 months and you won't be quite so eager to down a pint of Ben & Jerry's, kwim?

KimL~ thanks hun! I actually feel pretty good--the phlegm is more of a nuisance than anything else. Brrr, sounds like it's cold up your way! Hope WW was great last night! Congrats on the loss girlie! You're rockin' this month!! :carrot:

Jessica~ :woohoo: Running for 20 mins!!! That's fantastic! I remember how over the moon I was the first time I did it! It's all downhill from here!! You'll be running 30 mins straight in no time!!! And don't worry about the distance--just keep on running and concentrate on time for now, with time your speed will increase and you'll get more miles in. Ya know, it's not that I don't like running, I actually do like it--I'm not in love with it yet, but I'm getting there--it's just that I HATE running on the treadmill. I don't mind doing my HIIT on it, but the distance running...ugh! I really just need to suck it up and get my butt out of bed in the mornings and run outside until I just can't take the cold anymore ya know? It's not like I'm running up North like Tummy, I can do mid 30's right? P'shaw...yeah, we'll see. ;)

Jellofer~ :hug: I'm sorry you're not feeling well and feeling sort of down on top of it. Never, ever apologize for venting/ranting/complaining/whining here! That's what we're here for girlie!! I think you're doing an awesome job--after all, you're not giving in to your desire for a Mickey D's run!! You're coming here, posting and making good choices. Just hang in there, take care of yourself and get well and ride this wave--things will look up again soon and when they do you'll be standing tall patting yourself on the back for staying on track through it all. Here's some :dust: :dust: :dust: for you and since you asked for it, a few :kickbutt: :kickbutt: :kickbutt: for good measure. ;) Need more? Just ask! :D Hang in there girlie and feel better soon!

GivTLC~ :welcome: It's never too late to join in the fun! :D Great goals! I'm a 'new recipe a week' girl too! Check out cookinglight.com, they've got lots of great recipes!! Good luck on your goals this month!! :)

ShrinkingAmy~ Oh I hear ya! I love the structure and I totally agree about that fantastic feeling of accomplishment!!! As a sahm, there are few things that I can start and finish without interruption and it seems that as soon as I do finish something it just gets undone again (clean house, laundry, dishes...). That's one of the reasons I keep picking exercise programs with a specific timeline. 8 Weeks of HIIT, C25K, P90X...I love being able to finish them!! :) And oh yeah, I love my workout time! No one to worry about but myself for a whole hour (well, most of the time anyway)--sounds a little selfish, but oh so necessary for my sanity! :lol:

Cle~ heya girlie!:wave: Have a great day hun!

Mom~ Hey you! Nice to see you posting so early! :) Still can't believe you're making me wait to hear all about Vegas! Hmph! ;) Don't sweat the gain, it'll be gone in a flash! And you won't have to worry about slipping up here! I'll keep you on track!! :rollpin: So long as you keep me on track too! :D Have a great day!!!

MsP~ :yay: So glad you're feeling better today!! You hit the nail on the head hun, it's a journey and sometimes the car runs great, other times you get a nail in a tire and you need to stop and fix it! Just keep on adding gas to the tank and you'll get to where you're going! In the meantime, just kick back, enjoy the scenery and don't forget to stop and take in the local attractions from time to time to keep it interesting! You can skip the giant ball of twine though--it's a yawner! :yawn: :lol: Glad to have ya back girlie!! :hug:

Speaking of being back...

I'm back at GOAL today! :carrot:

Whew! Okay, so now that I've gotten back to where I need to be, I need to stay here!!! No more weekend binges for this girl! No way!!

Got my Plyo in today and finally got around to eating my breakfast so that's taken care of, just HIIT later today and I'm good.

I'm thinking that I need to seriously figure out this whole maintenance calorie thing. I seriously have no idea how many calories I should be eating these days. I've been sitting at around 1500 this week and I think that if I keep that up I'll keep losing. And while I wouldn't mind losing another 5 lbs just to have a 5 lbs buffer, I'm more into toning up now, ya know?

So, anyone have any good websites/books on nutrition they can recommend? Tummy, I'm guessing you do! :D We all know how smart you are about the good food! I think I need to focus on paying more attention to how many grams of protein and carbs I'm getting in vs how many calories and how much fat.

Lastly--Baking Report!!!! :D

I made double chocolate chip mini muffins last night! Mmmmmm!
Of course they're low cal/low fat and because I tried them and felt them share worthy, here's the recipe:

Found the original recipe on eatbetteramerica.com, but tweeked it--so here's my version:

Double Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins~

1 cup of Fiber One original bran cereal
1 1/3 cup non fat milk
1/4 fat free vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup egg beaters (or 1 egg or 2 egg whites)
6 tbsps Suncrystals (or 3/4 cup granulated or packed brown sugar--this is raise the calories a lot though)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dark chocolate baking cocoa (or use regular chocolate, but again, it's higher in calories)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 375, prepare muffin tins (paper cups or non stick spray). Place cereal in ziplock back and crush with rolling pin (or throw it in a food processor).

2. In medium bowl, mix milk and cereal; let stand for 5 mins. Stir in yogurt and eggbeaters/egg. Stir in remaining ingredients except chocolate chips. Stir in chocolate chips.

I use a small scoop to fill my mini muffin tins, one scoop per muffin and I got 48 muffins out of this batch. If I were to make full size muffins I would use 3 of these scoops. I think the scoop is roughly 1 tbsp.

Bake mini muffins for approx 9 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.

It calls for a baking time of 15-20 mins for full size muffins, but I didn't make those. :)

Per mini muffin: 30 calories, .57 gm of fat

So you can down 3 of these babies and still be under 100 cals! I like eating 3 vs. 1 large muffin, makes me feel like I'm splurging! :lol:

Okay, so there ya go! Perfect little treat when you're craving some chocolate--and there's fiber in them so there's a little bonus! Just remember not to go crazy! I mean, there's fiber in them! :lol:

Alrighty ladies, I'll quit :blah: now! Have a great day and I'll catch y'all later!! Don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!
:D

Helllllooooo Chickies!

Man, it's nice to be back at work and having proper internet. Even though it kicked on at home yesterday for a couple of hours, it was still horribly slow and unreliable. Unpleasant! I have days of reading before I catch up to everyone's news, so much has happened and I just cannot express how much I missed you girls! When I saw my 3 lb drop on Saturday I wanted to tell you guys and have you hope with me that it was for real... When the 3 lb loss stuck around... it seemed empty because the only person I could share it with was DH and while he did say "that's great!" it wasn't like sharing it with you guys. You're the best!

Nella Congrats on the loss! You can totally make 170 in 3 weeks!! Also, I can totally relate on losing weight before you get pregnant. I'm doing the same thing and sometimes I even wonder why I'm doing it and then I realize that I'll be better able to manage my weight gain during pregnancy now and much more capable of losing baby weight AFTER delivery than I ever would have been before. I did give away all of my size 20's but I am going to hang on to my 18's and such for a while just because I can see the merit in having something a bit bigger to wear to work post-baby and pre-back to hot bod.

KimL Wow! You sure are showing October who is boss! Look at you losing weight left and right!

Jessicado W-O-W You are amazing me with your progress with the running. I doubt I could have done it at all the way you're doing it but you're making it work. Remember when I ran 20 minutes? I came in and practically demanded everyone applaud and hire a band to follow me around for a week and you just ever so casually did it! Way to go! And you know, I think you're right... my mind does have to catch up. I still find myself wanting to hide in my clothes and I catch myself in the mirror sometimes and realize I don't have the belly I used to and gosh I don't look all sloppy like I used to! Thanks for pointing out that my brain needs some work!

GivTLC Welcome!!

ShrinkingAmy Don't sweat those still too-small clothes.. they'll be sliding easily over your bum and getting buttoned before you know it! Congrats on your other clothes fitting (I think that was you I read about).

LTTG Wooo Hooo! Vegas! I hope you had a great time!

MsP I'm glad to see you're feeling better. It's crazy the ups and downs one can go through on a journey like this. I don't care what anyone else says... weight, exercise and eating are all emotional and usually tied to other things in our lives as well... Such a big change is bound to bring emotional ups and downs... but look at you managing it so well!

idream :D Yeah, I can't figure out what exactly my body does (retain water to replace the weight I'm losing and then give up every friday/saturday?) but I now know the trend and while I will likely complain and moan during the week... I won't REALLY flip out til Sunday rolls around and there is no loss. Congrats on getting back to goal. Maintenance must be quite the transition! The only way I know how to calculate calories needed is by knowing your body fat % and finding out your lean mass and then there is an equation you can plug that information into. I know someone posted a website that does it for you but I'm not at home to have the book mark. Let me know if you still need it or want the other equation to do it yourself and I'll get the information to you... but I'm sure lots of people will be able to help. Also, thanks for the recipe! I've been toying around with the idea of baking again because the cool weather makes me miss it and so I'm happy for recipes! Now all I need is some measured cookie dough scoops and a mini muffin pan and I think I'm ready to try some of the fantastic recipes I've come across.

Ok, looks like I'm caught up (gosh where does my planning time at work go??). Let's see... my news:
1. I bought a treadmill. I couldn't stand the hassle of remembering work out clothes and going over to my in-laws so I caved and got one. It's a beast but I ran on it yesterday and I can't even begin to express how great it was to be at home and do that!
2. Internet should be up again when I get home, unless they need to order something in which case... who knows how long it will be.
3. I am getting my first-ever massage tonight after work! I am so excited. DH always whines when I ask him to massage my shoulders so I've never really had a good massage and I found a woman who only charges 25 bucks per half hour and 45 per and she was recommended by my chiropractor. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!

Okies, that's it. I really do need to get some work done!