No MORE LAZINESS!!!
 

Thank you, MsRD!!! What IS your real name, anyway?????? I've nicknamed you Ms. Ardie!!!!! LOL! OUt of control...that's me! And I have been binging on anything that doesn't crawl around here!!! I made a batch of brownies for work (yea right! ;) and have eaten two of the oooey gooey part from the middle! I couldn't stand myself when I finished them. Yuck!

Tomorrow I walk...no excuses! I get up early, Do WATP with Leslie and ENJOY it!!! I know it's PMS, stress on the homefront and the darker weather in general which is getting to me. I know I need some renewal here and....maybe a challenge to get me going again! Anyone up for it? How about a walk challenge this week? 20 miles by Friday! OK!!! How about food? Who's gonna challenge me in the food arena? I need it...c'mon you chickies...are you chicken? Don't think I can handle it? Someone....PLEASE challenge me!!! I NEED TO DO THIS!!!! 165 by Thanksgiving! That's all I want...that's all I'm asking for...just a few more lbs! I can DO this!!!!

Won't someone PLEASE help a friend out here????

Julie, get your butt in gear, chickie! :) You CAN do it. Now DO IT! :lol: I want to be at 168 by the 23rd, which is only 3 lbs away. WE CAN DO IT! :D

My brain is shut down at the moment. Sorry... *confused* Can't help it. :lol: I had a dream last night/this morning that I had my workout gear on, and I was running, and I was on the trail at the park across the street, but I couldn't go in a straight line. There were weird people and chairs all over and stuff in my way and it made me mad. :lol: But I ran the whole 3 miles of interconnected trails in my dream. When I woke up, my legs hurt like I'd run the whole thing, too. Can I count that as a workout??? :lol:

Got almost all of my holiday cookies done, chickies! Today I've got a double batch of both snickerdoodles and family recipe gingersnaps to do, plus another batch of those espresso thumbprint cookies, and perhaps some more of the shortbread, if I feel like it. Not sure, yet. But definitely the first 3 recipes.

Once I'm all finished, I'm going to snuggle in with a book and relax the rest of my day away. :D

My food yesterday was still low. I had the pesto for breakfast, half of which the dog had, then I forgot what I had for lunch (but it wasn't much), and then I had a half a bowl of stew for dinner and 1 cookie that I shared with the dog. Just not very hungry lately. Must be the cold.

I love you, cold. :lol: Thanks for making weight loss so much easier! :D

Anyway, I'm off to get my butt back in there, cookin', and hopefully take a nap later on! Hope you all have a rad day! :D

Huh?
 

What is going on here? I log on here to find only ONE other post since my post from last night????? Couldn't be!! Where is everyone!!!??? Is everyone MIA???


OK, well food today has been better, but still not great! I did ok throughout the day, except for a few M&M's here and a smidgin more of lunch than I should have...then I came home and there were Cheetos on the counter...a full bag open!!! Right there for me to reach in and grab! And those brownies that I made last night...did I share that with you all??? They were calling my name....Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!

I have really been praying for willpower and some sort of help from a HP/God! Well...so today at work I decided that my boss is that answer to prayer. I swear, really I don't eat all day and the ONE time I put something in my mouth that I shouldn't, he sees me doing it!!! He's tall and skinny and never had a weight issue, I'm sure, but really sweet about all of it! He just gives me that "Dad" look...you know, the one that says "Is this REALLY what you should be doing?" And then today, one of the nurses gave me some peanut M&M's and I put them on my desk (after I ate a couple) and went and did an activity. Well, he strolls through the dining room and says "Hey, what are those green & red things on your desk?" I swear!!!! So I think this is answer to prayer and I just need to be more aware of what I am putting in my mouth and try to resist the temptation, therefore not getting caught!!! LOL!!! It's humiliating, really! Need I say more...geesh...my boss, c'mon!!!

That's it for now! I've got to go eat!! LOL!!

Oh, my. Everybody is absent!! OH NO!!! :lol: Where the heck did you chickies run off to?!

Jaymi, Jennifer, Lisa, hellooooo? Julie hasn't posted since two days ago! AAH!! I'm alone!!! :)

Well, I did my workout. Woo! Feel good, sweaty, and have legs of jello! :D I love that feeling. My cats are being goofballs, running around the house and climbing and bouncing off the walls. The sun is out and it's a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky (yet). I think they're just happy to see sunlight! :lol:

Food last night was pretty good. Went to my parents' place and ended up having some dinner with them. I had a small piece of pot roast, 1/4 potato, and 1/2" carrot (there weren't any left when I got to the stove...) and a blueberry muffin that my mom made. Yum! Talk about comfort food, sheesh! But I didn't eat very much, and so I don't feel too bad about it. Got all of my cookies stored on my rented freezer shelf, so there's one HUGE temptation out of the way. I only make cookies that I like, so it's not a good idea to keep 'em here. :D Watched NCIS with my parents, laughed a bunch, and then we headed home. Watched Law & Order SVU with the hubby and then we crashed in bed. :) It was a nice, comfy night, as far as I'm concerned.

My current workout is Wed, Thurs & Fri, which consists of 25-30 min of elliptical, 4 min weight lifting with 5-lb weights, 10 min stairstepper, 200 situps, and 30 squats w/ 5 lb weights. Takes me about a full hour to do it, but I feel awesome when I'm done.

I calculated the total number of calories burned while I'm at work every day, and I burn about 2160 calories per day at work just from walking around and ringing up merchandise. That's pretty darn spiffy! PLUS, I do my workout on 3 of the 4 days I work, so that adds about 500 extra calories burnt to each day. So I guess I'm burning around 2600 per day that I work. Pretty rad.

OH. I got my bloodwork results back from my doctor regarding the weight loss stuff. Everything is totally normal, only off-center stuff is my cholesterols are really low (which is okay) and I'm still borderline anemic. No big news there. :) I go back to see him on Tuesday next week, at which time I am going to request a weight-loss aid and see what can be done. I'm definitely looking forward to that! :D

Other than that, hubby & I decided that since he's finally got a slow day (busy guy!), I'm coming to meet him about 15 min earlier than normal, and we'll go grab a quick bite somewhere before he drops me at work. Yay!

As for right now, I'm going to sit down & chill out for a little bit before I go snag the hubby. Hope you all have an awesome day, even though I'm the only one here!! :D

Hey people,

I'm here, look!

Well things are going OK for me. I've had a couple of days under 1500 calories and I even got round to my kathy smith kickboxing DVD today. I'm writing an essay tonight so that might be a problem for eating. I'm on 1022 calories after my evening meal (is 8pm) but I could easily get through that a couple more times tonight if I don't watch out!

MSRD argh stress related binging, still not figured out how to avoid that.

Lucy- Look at all those :) Glad it's all going well for you

Dill

hey chickies! I'm missing in action, but this time, it's beyond my control.

Monday night our receptionist here lost her daughter in law to cancer. We're all pulling triple duty as it is, and then we had to split the days and cover 2 hours shifts up front so that she could fly up for the wake and funeral. Plus my DeMonica decided she didn't feel well, so I am doing 4 jobs today. Pant, pant, pant! I need to catch my breath.

This morning when I got to work, I found out that my good friend in Rhode Island lost her father in the wee hours of the morning. She emailed me to tell me, so I came in to that at 7:45 this morning. She used to spend a month or 2 down here (the luxury of being your own design person & having the freedom to roam & still work) in FL over the winters, but with her parent's health, and losing her sister not 6 months ago (also cancer) she's a wreck. I know she needs me around, and I'm so pressed for time to pee that I'm not there for her as much as I should be, and it's weighing on me.

I left another message for the recruiter after hours yesterday, and I haven't heard anything back. I talked to the manager who referred me & he let me know that they were having more meeting this week requiring travel, and to not obsess if I didn't hear something right away. Dang, you know...I don't want to be sitting here in the dark & not make decisions that will affect my employment...like using some of the time off I'd have to use, or lose.

Food- breakfast & lunch have been good, dinners are less than perfect- still at odd times, too early, too late...water sucks, since I don't have time to get up & pee, less goes in. Exercise...back feels better, but I'm not back on track where I need to be. I need to keep all 3 balls in the air, plus juggle everything else. At least I did 2 days of aerobic laundry & cleaning that closet with hubby. Don't know what this weekend will hold- most likely the hall closet where my stuff, plus storage crap is located.

Miss all my chickies! Keep fighting the good fight!

I'm here!
 

I am here in spirit, really!

And Lucy...I DID post yesterday! Maybe you missed that post, huh??? LOL! Sounds like you are keeping busy and staying the course with your eating even with all those sweets around you!

Dill...Glad you are still with us! I wonder what happened to the rest of the crew?

Jennifer...Glad you had a minute to post! You life sounds like you need to take a breath, chickie...I know how you get! Sorry to hear about the deaths you have been experiencing. But glad the back is getting better! Let's get back on track soon, k?

I want to NOT want sweets every day! Today it was 2 mini candy bars at work and one at home! Sigh! I just want those cravings to go away!! :^: Maybe I don't want it bad enough yet!!!!

Today's food was fair to poor! Nothing new! I feel like I shouldn't post because I have nothing good to report these days! No exercise...no time! Work is busy and hectic and today was just another example of never having enough of me go go around!!! Everyone wants a piece of me! UGH!

The weather is warm and foggy and drizzly...feels like Halloween around here! Spooky! Some of the radio stations are playing Christmas music 24/7 and I am so not ready for that!

So...like I said...I feel like I'm dragging myself down into a pit of despair and I don't know how to climb back out! I know that some of it is stress and the extra work load at work and some of it is stuff at home but mostly hormones...I know I'm "hormonal" when I am reading a Pony Pals book to DD and I start to cry!!! LOL!!!

So I think I will just check in when I am feeling better...and I know I will! I usually do after a couple of weeks like this! I just wish I didn't get to this point, ya know?

Hope you chickies have a great rest of the week. Tomorrow is a big fund raiser Spaghetti Supper at work! yee haw! I can hardly contain the excitement!!!! ;) I wonder why I think these things are a good idea when I start planning them?????

Hugs!

Hello All :wave:

I'm baaaacckkkkkkk! Sorry for the absence......DGS has been to ER twice in past 4 days, so have been spending my spare time worrying. He is fine now......and I have 2 more gray hairs!

I got a letter a couple days ago from an old friend of Mom's. She was worried, as she had not heard from Mom in a long time. So, tonight I had to write and tell her that I put Mom in assisted living. That was hard...:(...definitely a 3 cookie letter.

Julie......this is your final warning! :devil: I am hooking the electric fence charger up to the chocolate candy. I don't care if it is your hormones or your workload or your stress levels.....you have come too far to have a candy bar run your life!

Lucy.....an exercise nightmare? I guess that could count as a 'mental workout'. :lol3: I am glad you felt "awesome" after an hours workout.....you should! You are doing great!

Jenn......sorry to hear of all the sadness. It sounds like everyone wants a piece of you about now....don't let it overwhelm you! :grouphug: Take it one at a time......remember that right now there are a lot of people around to help your friend. Later on, folks will return to their routines and that is when she will need you most.

Food, water, exercise have all been so-so. I just have not been concentrating. Guess half a job is better than none at all..:shrug:.....now that just sounds pathetic. Scuse me......gotta go exercise to improve my mental outlook!

Morning chicks. I'm here!

My motivation, however, is not. I think it went on vacation.

My life has been a little crazy of late, and I don't see it getting any better any time soon. I'm quickly starting to realize that just maintaining through the holidays is going to be a difficult task in and of itself, whether I try to lose any additional weight or not. I've never really paid attention to my weight during the holidays, and I've never really paid attention to what I've been eating, so I don't know if I'm a traditional holiday gainer or not. I don't think I really have been in the past, but I suppose when you're used to eating everything you can, eating everything you can during the holidays is just normal, everyday routine (though with cookies instead of chips). And it's a lot easier to maintain my previous weight of 240 or so than it is to maintain 200.

I'm so frustrated right now. I'll get one thing right and the next thing will be completely wrong. This new birth control makes me feel like I'm PMS-ing all the time, which means I've overly emotional all the time and I've got wicked food cravings all the time. The side effects are supposed to wear off the longer you use it, so hopefully this mellows over time, but for now I'm going crazy. I don't have any energy, my back and knees are being tempermental, I have a headache every day, and there is just so much other stuff I could be doing besides exercising. I feel like I need some serious comforting, but I try all of the comforting things I know off--yes, even comfort foods--and none of it makes a bit of difference. My mind is just a big bleh.

So today I have a few things to do, small errands, a few household chores, but I am going to spend the majority of the day doing absolutely nothing. I might watch some movies, I might try to study, I might fill out some grad school applications. Or I might not. I'm not going to attempt to exercise today, unless the urge strikes me (which it most likely will not). I just need to empty my mind for a while and quit worrying about everything.

But the first step is getting these few small things done.

Sorry for the ramble everyone. Hope you're all doing well. There will be questions and quotes again next week.

~Elisha

Well, good news and more good news! :)

Okay, so I was all totally pissed off because it has been 3 WEEKS and nobody had returned my calls from the dietician's office, right? They call this morning. The earliest I can get in is December 4th, which is a Saturday. UGH. At 8am. DOUBLE UGH! But I have to go. :( I'm sad. :lol: But I talked to the lady and she was super nice and apologized for the massive delay, and it'll be a quick appointment, so no biggie there. Yay! :D I'm stoked.

Secondly, hubby is supposed to get his managerial-type raise in January, at the beginning of the month. It should be pretty decent, and allow us to find and rent a really nice house in the area we want and in the decade of housing that we want. :) I feel SO much better about that!

I've decided that I don't want to work as many hours, and that I still want to do customer service type stuff. This -is- Seattle, after all, and DUH, espresso stands. I've been tossing the idea for a while, and I'm definitely considering it more seriously now. I have 4 friends who work espresso stands, and it's out of the way. On an average day of 6 hrs, they make over $300 in tips on top of their minimum wage, and they don't report the tips. RAD. Even if I have to get up early or whatever, I would enjoy that. Plus, I'm a coffee freak and a big-time computer nerd, so it kinda fits in. Not sure. :)

No workout today. My foot is killing me. My toe is throbbing and purple, and that spot on my foot where the broken bone actually IS, is swollen up and in massive pain. So, no workout today. *shrug* I'm on my feet for 8 hrs anyway. That counts! :lol:

OH! I was so mad when I got to work yesterday for that schedule mess-up they made. I had 2 extra days scheduled and in the WRONG hours and all of this crap, I was so mad. Then my manager wasn't even THERE, and we had 8 people in ONE area, and 0 customers, so my sales totally SUCKED. The 4 of us who actually STAY in that department were SO mad. 8 people on a massively slow day of the week, seriously? NO. Not cool. :( So I was all ready to have this talk with my manager, and so I printed out my schedule again before I left last night, and now it's fixed! YAY! I have 3 days off next week, which will be nice. I -am- working that whole weekend after Thanksgiving, but hopefully it'll really help us out here at home. I need xmas shopping $$! :D

Well, I hope you're all having a good, positive day! :D TAKE CARE!

So tired!!!
 

OK chickies! That damn Spaghetti Fund Raiser is over and I am so happy about it! We made almost $200 but with the time and stress and the $ we spent preparing it, it is soooo not worth it! I told my work partner tonight that I didn't want to do any more dinners for fund raisers! She agreed! We are both whipped!

I only walked 4 miles today, but it feels like 40! I worked 12 hours today and most of that was on my feet! I am so old to be doing this kind of thing anymore! My feet are hurting and so is my back! Waaaaahhhhh!

I am proud of myself, however! We had a TON of dessert donated for our supper tonight! I mean trays and trays! Brownies, pies, cheese cakes, layer bars, cookies...the list was endless! I sat down at 4pm and had an egg salad sandwich (because I skipped lunch) and had a piece of cheese cake with it! It was pretty good...but I didn't have any other dessert or food the rest of the night! I am pretty sick of looking at spaghetti. Maybe it will look more appetizing tomorrow! ;) I brought a whole huge bowl of it home! UGH! Oh...and I went to my desk to go get my purse before I left for home and someone left 2 more pans of desserts (brownies and layer bars) on it! They will be there in the morning! :)

I am feeling a little more motivated today and will probably walk tomorrow...if my feet will let me! ;) I got a lead on a new job...I'm keeping it to myself until I know for sure if it's what I really want. It's another Activity Director position, but I bet it doesn't include Medical REcords!!!!! LOLOL!! And, I'm hoping the pay is a little more! ;) I'm due for a raise at the end of the month (it will be 3 years) and I am sooo overdue for one! I'm tired, girls!

Alright chickies...

Lucy...job changes all around! ;)

Elisha...Dang hormones! I hear ya chickie! Keep the chin up and the attitude will follow!

MsRD...thanks for the wake up call! I really needed some prodding! I'll be ok, though I'm sure! Sorry that you have to deal with all the emotions that come along with your Mom's disease! It's a crappy deal, I know. I work with "it" every day and I hate seeing the decline in all my residents! I see families struggle on a daily basis...and the best advice I can give (even if you weren't looking for it) is to "whatever will be will be"! The less you try to control, the easier it is! I'm not saying it's easy...just that you can't control it! And try to remember the good memories of your Mom when she was a different person! I'm sure you do and I'm sure you know all these things, but feel free to vent to me about it anytime! That's what we are here for, right? Each other!

Hugs to all!

Morning chicks!

Motivation level: 5

I actually feel like doing well. I was going to get up and exercise, but I forgot to set my alarm and now I don't have time. It's ok, I needed the sleep. I went to bed at 7:30 last night, how crazy is that? I was planning just to take a short nap, then get up and do a few more things, but I wake up at 2:30am, then go right back to sleep. I do feel better today though, so I guess it's all good.

I'm planning to start my exercise routine again on Sunday, though I'm not sure how well that will work out. Next week is going to be crazy, with the holiday and the wonderful world of retail. I actually have a fabulous schedule next week--Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday off, and I don't have to open or close on Friday (at 5am and midnight, respectively). And I'll probably have the following Sunday off too, if our rotation continues. I think my boss felt bad for giving me crappy shifts all month. However, that means I'll miss out on commission for those few very busy days, but sometimes mental health is just more important.
But anyway, we'll see what happens with the exercise. I plan to dig my treadmill out of the office one day this week. My brother said he would help me fix it, if possible, and then move it to a new home upstairs. Let's hope it works. I really need my treadmill!

And I'm getting my food back on track starting yesterday (sort of). The food I ate yesterday wasn't fabulously healthy, but I only went over my calorie budget by about 37 calories, so I'm counting that as a success, especially considering where I have been recently. And today's food will be healthy, no questions asked. I've already started off with a banana, will have a boca burger before work, lunch will probably be a ham sandwich and some rice cakes, dinner... who knows? I would say a bowl of the beef stew my mom made, but when I plan on having leftovers, they're usually gone before I get home.

I think this week I am going to investigate some low calorie desserts for the holiday season. All of our traditional sweets are yummy, but they're also packed with fat and sugar. And I've got about a billion low-fat/low-cal cookbooks, so I should be able to find something acceptably healthy yet still tasty. I'll let you know what I come up with.

Ok, I'd better get moving. Hope everyone is having a great day!
~Elisha

Down a bunch!! :D Last time I'd done an actual weigh-in was a couple weeks ago, the day of the dr's appointment. I was 175.1 and their scale (with me fully clothed, and after a meal and a workout) was at 179.7, so they said 175 was probably right.

I weighed myself this morning and was overjoyed to see 169.7! WOO!! That's like... a few pounds! :lol:

Anyway, other than that, no workout today as foot is still hurting. I wish it would just freaking HEAL already so I don't have to deal with this! :( Ow!

Hubby's work has a ton of temporary (1 month) positions open for a data-entry type of job, and it'd pay around 18/hr, we think. He's one of the guys hiring for it, so I'm kind of more than guaranteed the job if I want it. I don't know. I am torn, my friends, I am torn. Thinking about quitting this retail stuff and all of the stupid credit-pushing and commission B.S. and doing something with less pressure. I don't care if the sales people aren't high pressure, but when the company behind them is high-pressure, it totally sucks. :(

Other than that, I guess it's time for me to grab some breakfast and get ready to go! :D Hope you chickies have a good day! :D

I am working on a plan...
 

...for the weekend! I am home already today from work! Woo Hoo! Had a quick interview with another Assisted Living Center but I am not willing to give up my weekends and this was an every other weekend position! :( So the interview was quick! I am overloaded where I am now working, but i do have weekends off!

I am making plans for this weekend as we speak! I have some scrapbooking that needs to be journalled and I am going to start my Christmas letter. That should do it!

I need to get off the computer now because my family is "hovering". Will write more later!

Happy Friday! :wave:

Just checkin' in......I think my food would go a lot better if people stopped trying to feed me! Yesterday, my 'right hand gal' brought in huge muffins for coffee break.....soooo good! Today, I arrived at work at 7:30am and found a glazed donut already on my desk....:eek:...yeah, yeah, I know I didn't *have* to eat it, but geez, wouldn't that be rude? :D The rest of the day was pretty good food wise.....hopefully, that made up for it. (We'll find out at weigh-in tomorrow!)

Julie.....ty for the kind words. I really am doing ok with Mom..:)..I know all I can do is make sure she is well cared for......and enjoy the days when she is a little closer to reality than others (and sometimes even those 'other' days can bring a smile) She is on aricept and I really think it is making a difference......she seems to have stabilized mentally in the past few months. She will be here for Thanksgiving dinner.....she loves to see her great-grandkids.

Elisha.....drag that old treadmill in and get is fixed up quick! :tread: This may just be the change you need in your routine to get you kick started! You are doing such a great job on your food...let us know if you find some low-cal desserts!

Lucy.....congratulations on your fabulous loss! That just shows how hard you have been working! :bravo:


Well......got 11 people coming for dinner Thursday,:hungry: so I better start planning! Have a great weekend!