Ooops, I just saw this reply. Glad you like that site - sometimes I can't believe it's free! I use google as my home page, and there's a rememberthemilk gadget for iGoogle, so my to-do list is in my face every time I open my browser.

Most people recommend a ratio of 1 cup of dried oats to 4 cups of water. (I like mine thicker so I do a bit less water.) I just cook mine overnight, about 8-10 hours. I've heard that if you do it in a smaller (heat-safe) bowl placed inside the crockpot, it won't stick to the sides as much, but I just put mine right in the crock.... I do get a little "crust" of baked-on oats but it's not too hard to clean up. I do it in my huge crock pot and keep them in the refrigerator... they reheat well in the microwave and it makes breakfast really easy. If you like to add the same stuff to your oatmeal every time, like a sweetener or spices or nuts or dried fruit, you could even add that to the crock pot as they cook.

Welcome back Eny, we all missed you so much. Eny started this challenge last year and then left us to go do something like have a baby. lol. I think it's a great challenge. (I only changed this part, but the other parts will be just like she had them.) Thanks Eny.



I know I'm not going to get everyone's name, but I did get everyone's weight up to this point.

I know we have Breanna, Zoochick, Losing80, and probably some others that have just joined. I am so glad for every single person that joined. I think the more there is, the more support there is, and the more successful we will all be.

I have gotten 27 people's start weights logged in on my worksheet. That's awesome!

Melissa, hope the morning sickness eases up.

Glad to see some of you doing the tag challenge already.

I'm going to be starting my exercise today. I also need to take some time today and plan my menu for the week.

The new season of Biggest Loser starts tomorrow night!!!

Have a great day everyone, I'll be on and off today, since I'm home and not so busy as I was this weekend.

Okay so I got up this morning and made it to the gym! It felt so great and so good until my 30 minutes were up and I realized how out of shape I really am. But I was still excited about the journey to lose all of this weight, I know I can do so it was just the time to start. After I get the first 20 pounds off I really want to start the C25K program again. I really want to feel that runners high again, but with these knees no way am I doing that.

Okay so I’ve had the most... *ahem* “adventurous” training session ever. So I made a split second decision earlier this afternoon that I was going to embark on the C25k challenge. I know I don’t do enough exercise and I thought this would be a great way to get me up and moving, so I decided to just bite the bullet and do it right then. Now the walk I normally do only takes around 15 minutes in all and most of it is up a steep hill so I thought I’d try a different route, one that I know takes much longer but that I’d never done before but had been meaning to try for ages. So I quickly searched for a map of the route, memorised it, downloaded the first podcast of the C25k program, uploaded it onto my ipod, changed into a tracksuit, grabbed the dog and lead and headed out. Now in my eagerness to start this program I hadn’t taken much time to think about the snow and ice outside which covered the ground but upon seeing it I just shrugged and carried on since I didn’t want to give up just because of a bit of snow.

So I plugged my ipod into my ears, switched it on and started walking. I’d only been walking for about fifteen seconds when WHAM I slipped and fell flat on my butt! After pulling myself agonisingly back to my feet I quickly glanced around to make sure no one had seen my embarrassing fall (they hadn’t) and carried on walking. I started the program and it was going okay. I made an effort to run on the grass covered in snow as there is less of a chance that I would fall, although it was awkward having to hold my dog’s lead as well as my ipod when my ear phones kept falling out! Arrrggggh, that was frustrating! Anyway I kept it up, almost slipping countless times until near the end of the podcast when I had been doing so well WHAM I fell again – this time much harder and more painful than before!

At this time I was quite far on my way and wasn’t quite sure where I was. The podcast had just about finished and it seemed I was still ages away from completing the route. I carried on walking and tried to avoid slipping (I was on a country road and it was very icy) until I eventually came to a sign post for where I live which is on a hill. So I carry on up this hill and keep going until I come to a street turning right. Now, I was sure this was the right way so I started walking it but then stopped and doubted myself. I walked back to the turning and decided to keep going “straight” because it just looked more familiar. So I carried on straight and went right, right down a hill until I came out onto a main road with a sign post for the place I live right back up the hill! I’d gone the wrong way! It was that turning I’d almost gone down! Argggghhhh! So there I was trudging back up the hill in the snow wearing a thin tracksuit, manky trainers and with a really nasty cold to top it off – I was frozen especially my ears and fingers.

Anyway I made it back up to the turning I’d saw earlier and started following the road which I could see now was the right road. But it was the longest road to walk down ever! So anyway I finally made it home thank goodness! I think I should probably keep to walking my normal route until the ice melts as that really did not go the way I expected it to! On the positive side I did get a lot of exercise done and I am happy about that, plus I think the dog really enjoyed it. Also the route I tried was really good. Even if I hadn’t of gone wrong it was still quite a long one so I definitely think that as soon as the ice clears I’m going to start using it.

Anyway, just had to share that. Hope everyone’s day has been good!

Beauty - it is way to cold and dangerous out there right now...you should just jog/walk in place at home until it warms up a bit...dang your dedicated....after that first fall after the first 15 seconds I would have went back into the house!

Wow, Beauty, I agree 100% with Melissa! I would have went back in, no let me change that, I wouldn't have even went out! lol

lololol, I know! I've always been like this though. When I get an idea in my head I just go for it and never think about the obstacles/consequences. I'm very impulsive and irrational that way and I am always getting myself into scrapes because of it. I really don't know why I went out - seemed like a good idea at the time, lol! But not to worry, I'll stay inside and do some exercises at home from now on until the ice melts, haha

Welcome back Eny. Glad to see you back at it. I hope everything is going good for you and you family.


well today has been a day of munching and cleaning up the christmas decorations and taking out the tree that kinda stuff. one floor is done and tomorrow I'm going to hit the second floor.

Well so far today has been pretty good, except for the exercising. I started my first day of the C25K program but was only able to finish half due to the idiots that work for the parish cutting grass. I walk/run on a track that is directly behind my house (as in I have a gate going to it from my backyard). Well the workers didn't care who was on the track, they almost ran me over 3 times! I lost count of how many times I had to jump out of the way because they would randomly come half way on the track then turn. People were steadily leaving because of them. Then I have horrible allergies and all the grass they were blowing around caused me major problems with my nose and head. And I was worried about it being too cold to run (the 40's/50's are considered freezing down here lol), the cold was NOTHING compared to having to watch out for huge mowers. I will try Day 1 again on Wednesday.
Food is going good for today though. I had a cheese omelet for breakfast, a PB&J sandwich for lunch, a Special K bar for snack, and I'm having spaghetti for dinner. I know I don't get much vegetables/fruit in, I need to work on that. The problem is my parents don't buy them very often, and I have no job (which means no money) to go buy my own groceries. I can't wait to get a job so that I can afford to go grocery shopping for myself!

Is it too late to join?
Starting Weight: 240lbs
Goal by Valentine's Day: 220lbs
Exercise: 45+ minutes at least 4x a week!

I did an hour of 100 Wii bowling. love the bowling. It is sub zero here and ice every where. I aint walking out there until better weather.

Beauty~be careful out there!! Its too cold and slick to be trying the couch potato to running challenge. You could have hurt yourself badly. Do you have a Walk Away the Pounds dvd? Or a simlar dvd? There are a lot of good ones out there.

I am enjoying the Wii. Still holding at 166.2 Everyone one have a great evening. Glad to see you Eny!!

Well, today is Jan. 4. My company just left and I am thinking about what plan I'm going to go on so I can get a jump start for the year. I have been counting calories, but I think I'm going on Atkins for awhile to clean out the excess carbs from the holidays.

Hey girls. Just got home from bootcamp and am wiped out. Work week started crazy and will probably continue that way. Feel like I'm missing out on all the stuff going on here, but things will slow down and maybe I can keep up!

CJ - I dropped a load of sugar and stuff at work today for the field crews to eat. SO glad to have it out of my house too!

I hope you all are doing well. Will be back in couple days to catch up!

Had a great day today!! I gave my treadmill a good workout today. Tomorrow I am going to rock my Wii. I am thinking about gifting myself a GoWear fit, just not 100% sure yet.

I hope everyone is having a great day!!

Okay so I just heard that my friend is having a birthday night out on 6 Feb in London. She lives far away from me so I won't see her until her birthday which means tha it'll be very noticeable if I've lost loads of weight. This gives me way more incentive to drop the pounds. I set my goal for this challenge to be 12lb by Valentines Day and now I'm really going to work hard to try and reach that goal a week early!!! Oh, I so badly want to be thinner when I go out in London!