Hi chickadees! Comments later tonight, I promise, along with a long post. Today was a loooong day, and hubby & I have dinner plans for our 8th wedding anniversary, so I'll be missing for a little bit. Gotta do the requisite dinner and cards, and sappy crap like that. LOL! Have a great night!

Oh- Elisha! I love, love, love that dress! :D And I am sure you will look stunning!

Hi! :wave:

Sorry to have been MIA.....I logged on last night, but got interrupted and never got back to post! Did I *ahem* happen to mention that my exercise minutes last week came in at (drum roll please) 210/180!!!! I am nearly dislocating a shoulder patting myself on the back :rofl:

Julie.....Now that you have made your career decision, that should lessen some of the stress in your life! Now you can focus more on your healthy lifestyle plan....you want to be your best on your new career path! :sunny:

Joy......Am I seeing stars?! You are doing great! :cp: I having been doing the 2-mile WATP every day......I have found if I take one day off, the whole program starts to slide.... and am really beginning to feel better.

Elisha.....Oh, girl, you are going to be gorgeous in that wedding gown! And I really liked the pics of your house......so charming!

Betani.....I hear you on the weekend downslides! Just when we think we have those routines down pat, the weekend comes and the schedule goes out the window! Any ideas on how to keep going thru the weekend?

Lisa.....I have been thinking of you and your father and hope all went well. You are such a sweetheart to go and help him through this! :grouphug: Try and keep us posted.

Jennifer.....Happy Anniversary! :cloud9: Have a wonderful evening !

Food has been a little off today, but still came in at 1300 calories. Co-workers sent out for breakfast today, but I graciously declined.....and they listened to me! Exercise has been great.....60 minutes yesterday, if you include the 'brisk' walk with the dog, and another 30 tonight.....water is ok. I really feel like I am beginning to accomplish something here!

Hellooo...

Well, the weigh in every other day thing didn't work. I was up half a pound after two good days, and down a pound after two bad days. I'm going to stick with weighing once a week.

Elisha -- Your house looks cozy. That fireplace will be great for those holiday dinners that you are planning. :)

Not much else to report.

Not much to report tonight. Calories aren't as low as I'd like them to be, but still within "star" range, as long as I don't go overboard tonight. I'm thinking a cordial glass of red wine (maybe 3oz, if that) and 1 Dove Dark piece as my snack tonight. Appx 100 savor-worthy calories.

I got in my library laps at lunch, and I walked to the bank, postbox, and dollar store, (about 20 minutes of exercise), but forwent (is that a word? it is now.) my official "exercise" walk since the About.com walking program declared today a rest day. Combined with the 40 minutes I got yesterday, my challange total so far is 60/200.

I've ordered more beads and watch faces, so I'm hoping that some jewelry-making will keep me away from mindless eating. My cousin-in-law invited me to do 2 craft shows with her next year!

***

TBJ-- Yeah, weighing in too often can be quite confusing. I find 2 per week keeps me in line. I weigh in Sundays and Wednesdays.

MsRD-- Fabulous job with the exercise and calories!!! You are doing awsome, chickie!

Jennifer-- Ohh congrats! My DH and I hit the 8 year mark this coming October. Have a great time!

Elisha-- The dress is stunning, and the house is beautiful! Take it easy and the "grumps" will work their way out of your system.

Julie--

Originally Posted by :
"Well, then you should probalby exercise, Mommy!"

If only you could have recorded that and play it every time you need motivation! How adorable!

Joy-- I haven't read Body Clutter yet. I was hoping to be able to buy it through the library's vendor with the staff discount like I did Sink Reflections, but they're not making it easily available to libraries, and no chance of a discount. I'm going to hold out a little bit longer to see if I can eventually get it through the library, but I'll probably have to shell out full price at her site.

Lisa-- You have a great attitude! That's going to help lots. I'll say a prayer for your dad. Hope everything goes well!

Hiya chickies :wave:

Day 2 - not so good. Started off in the afternoon by getting a scone, compounded by the delish burger patties I made (had to have seconds ughh) and then I could not resist the cookies (ate 3) that DH brought home. Calories came out at 2175, exercise at 50 minutes today.... WATP 2 mile this morning and two 10 minute walks (one to get the scone). Water was good 64 oz. I'm journalling and posting and .... I did not eat after 8pm (three days in a row.... maybe getting to be a habit ???? wishful thinking I guess, they say it takes six weeks to build a habit. So it's a three star day. YAY (no I'm not even getting a quarter star for my eating today... definately a orange day ... not burning red ... I save those for binges but a bright orange/amber light saying caution).

Tomorrow DH & I have our course at 5:30. Dinner will be Wendy's (I'll probably have a salad... I like the oriental chicken one ... but I'll only eat half the dressing.... not sure what the calorie count is for that ... but I'll do some research. I'm not exercising in the morning tomorrow... it will make too long of a day ... but I do plan on 2 fifteen minute walks at work.

Well enough rambling.... I'm off to finish my day, do my bedtime routine and hit the sack.

Hugs to all :grouphug:
Joy.

Morning chicks!

This is going to be a quick post, as I'm still fairly busy at work, and I was late today due to the power flashing and resetting my alarm.

Yesterday was my day off from exercise. I drank 132 oz of water. Calories were at 1932, which is way high. I got attacked by some crackers and cheese when I got home. I'm attributing that to a bad day and lots of stress. This morning the scale says 217.4, which means I'm right back where I started. But if I do well from today through Sunday night, I could still see a loss on Monday morning.
Tonight will be 30 minutes of Yourself!Fitness, and hopefully getting to bed somewhat early. I actually made it to bed around 9.30 last night, and though I didn't get to sleep through the entire night, I did end up sleeping in a little bit (due to aforementioned alarm), and this morning I feel a little better, even if not altogether refreshed.

OK, I’ve gotta run. I promise I will comment at some point!
Have a great day, chicks!
~Elisha

My New Year Goals for 2006
 

Hello.

Well, there's good news and there's bad. I'm taking a second bi-polar med. My primary med, Lamictal, has the side effect of lack of concentration. So I'm taking Strattera, an ADHD med, to offset that side effect. I hate taking meds, even though my (quality of) life depends on them. But my lack of concentration was impacting my ability to study for the bar. I refuse to let bi-polar interfere with my goal of passing the bar, so Strattera it is.

The good news is that Strattera has a side effect, too -- weight loss. :)

***
Betani -- Thanks for the info about weighing in. Next week, I'll try twice a week. Maybe that will keep me motivated, but not confused. :p

Joy -- Yeah, seconds. The ruin of many a green day. ;) But at least you earned some stars. :hug:

Elisha -- Glad to hear that you got some rest.

Pkittsy -- :welcome: Wow, you've faced a lot of challenges recently. Good for you for still working on your goal. There are several of us who are trying to make goal this year... you and I have the same goal. Let's cheer each other on. :cheer:
***

Yesterday was a yellow day. Failure was that I ate two pieces of dessert instead of one. Success was that I snacked on low-cal popcorn rather than Cheetos. Still too much junk in my diet, but without that second piece of dessert, I would have been happy with my eating habits yesterday.

Cheers.

Welcome, Pam! :)

Just call me CrankyPants today....
 

I'm just in one of those funks, and there's a few reasons why, but so many more reasons that I should be positive, and upbeat, and well, I say screw it, and I'm going to be mopey when I get home and take it out on the husband who deserves it.

I'm not as mad as this is going to sound. Anniversary night. Planned this for what, 17 days? Knew it was going to be a bad-food meal, and a yummy time, so breakfast was skipped, lunch was a smaller meal than usual, and I figured we'd head out pretty soon after I got home from work. Oh, no. I get home, and a member of our townhouse board was on the phone with hubby dealing with stupid stuff. Turns out she & her husband are getting divorced, filing bankruptcy, losing a business, having a federal tax lien placed against their house, which they are trying to sell before that, and having to fix quite a few things, like the air conditioner, and replace carpet & tile. They are in their late 40s with twin teenage boys. They have their fair share of problems, so I should not begrudge them time with hubby, working out their issues. Only problem is, this "15 minute" call went on for over an hour. After 6:15, I told hubby I was going upstairs & he could find me when he got off the phone. It took another half hour for this woman to shut up, and at that point, I was tired, cranky, and pissed. So, we forewent (2nd use of that word today? ;) ) dinner because after 8 years, it's not the end of the world if we can't go out on that night, but to have plans for over 2 weeks, and someone blows them at the last minute....grr. Petty, maybe. I wanted to pick up the phone & say "Would you mind if I took my husband back? you are effing up our anniversary evening." Probably not a good idea to do that. But Grr.

Second reason to be cranky- spent the weekend at the new house, cleaning, doing yardwork, moving sod, and freezing our buns off- frost on Saturday night! We came back to the Townhouse on Sunday afternoon, figuring Monday I was off, and could get a bunch of things taken care of. We stopped at storage, picked up towels and linens that I brought back to the townhouse to wash, dry, fold, and have ready. Monday was non-eventful, other than the premier of 24- part 2. Everything in the house stops for 24. Keifer is my future 2nd husband :D. So, we are watching 24 with bated breath, and hubby's cell phone rings. It's 9:45, so we blow it off, thinking we'll check the message once the show is over. Show ends, previews for next week...he gets the phone. I was off, but apparently the sub-contractors were working on our punch list, because the call was from the "Tile Guy" telling us that he was there late Monday, and that he wanted to let us know he had left the garage door unlocked. Oh, Eff Word. The house is an hour away, and we are in pajamas. And we wouldn't be going back up until this Friday evening. Can we risk 4 days of having the house unlocked, and obviously vacant? Throw clothes on, and drive like a bat out of Hades to the house. Figure since we're going up, take the towels that I had washed, so I can put them away. Get there about 11:30 (time to load the Durango, and pee) and then 20 minutes to put stuff away. Leaving to come back, had to get gas, which took another 10 minutes. Got home just before 1am, exhausted. And had to be to work before 8am. I couldn't sleep- fell off after about 10 minutes, but it was fractured sleep, because I just *knew* I was going to oversleep, so my idiotic brain was going to make darned sure that didn't happen. Grr.

Ok, has anyone actually missed these rants & tirades? Vicariously being annoyed through me? ;)

The good stuff- the marks on the tile in the kitchen weren't gouges in the tile, just pencil marks. The plumbing done wrong will be corrected. My tub had a chip in it, which was fixed. And the 2 tiles nearest the tub that were marred were replaced. Woo hoo. Already have stuff stacked by the storage room door to pick up on Friday night to take up- lots of pots, pans, a set of dishes (platinum rimmed WalMart clearance from 2 years ago!) for real meals there, and 2 sets of silverware that we never opened. We've been using our mismatched bachelor plates & utensils, not wanting to unpack & damage the new stuff. And hubby called me to tell me that our bed frame was delivered, so we can put the bed together in the new house this weekend, too. No more sleeping on the air mattress on the floor! Woo Hoo! So, good things too. I just need to stop my whiney butt.

TBJ- cute story! :) And now I'm humming "Gimme, gimme gimme...." by Abba. Evil girl! :devil:

MsRD- bagels...you reminded me that tomorrow we'll be having the devil's breakfast food here, and I need to treat them like landmines. Yummy doughy carbohydrate landmines. Hey, at least you can say you had yours for the antioxidants in the blueberries....right? :^: Awesome job on beating your goal! And the 2 weigh ins- not a good idea this week, since on Mondays I seem to be a little puffy from exertion. I did NOT have a good Monday morning with that one.

Julie, Chickie, I hope things are getting better. You are making choices that will make things better for YOU- no matter what happens with the work thing. I'll make time tonight if you will be around.

Elisha- love the woodwork in the house- hubby is jealous, since I won't let him have "real wood." I'm crossing my fingers for grandma- let us know how she does.

Lisa- same for you & Dad- keep us updated, girl. And try to take care of yourself, too!

Betani- another old married....Don't let YOUR hubby mess up #8 like mine did! :p

Joy- no need for me to be fully moved in- there's always room for any of my fellow chickies! Just head south, and when you feel the hurricane, you're right there! :) And I now have an extra inflatable mattress. You can have the bed when I'm not there ;)

I hope I didn't miss anyone. Pam, welcome again! if I did, it isn't intentional- just trying to type my fingers off and get this posted before 5pm. Tonight should be interesting- hubby's got a lot of work, and I'm still cranky. Might just have to curl up with a good book and ignore everything. OH! that reminds me- I got the Sonoma diet book, and also South Beach 200 recipes, since I had gift cards that were near death/expiration, and I had to use them or lose them. I should have a crapload of recipes to add to that thread soon- some look really good!

Hello all! :wave:

Zowee! Had a great day! calories came in just under 1400 (and that included a hot fudge sundae and I could eat only half!), water was good, exercise good.....and the checkbook at work balanced! Now, if I can just get a few things done around home tonight, it might be a near perfect day!

Betani......Mmmmm....wine and chocolate would be my first choice for a reward! But then, come to think of it, I am never *that* good! Jewelry making sounds like a good way to keep your hands busy and out of the cookie jar.....and if you can make money at the craft shows, then all the better!

Joy.....Three stars! Don't worry about those cookies.....i think you more than worked them off with all that exercise!

Elisha......water was 132-oz? Egad.....that is enough to float a small aircraft carrier!

Pam.....Welcome! You have had quite a year.....with more adventures to come!.....and you still remain focused on your goal! Wow!

TBJ.....I hate to take meds too....which is good, because I don't have to (yet, anyway). It is hard enough for me to remember the daily vitamin and calcium! At least, the new med has a positive side effect!

Jennifer......With all that has been going on with you the past few days, I think you deserve at least a tirade or two! Sheesh! How about a reschedule of the anniversary dinner.....maybe 8 years plus one week anniversary. Looking forward to trying some of your new recipes.....

Morning chicks!

Comments first!

MsRD: GREAT job on a good day! Only half a sundae? How do you do it?

Jennifer: I agree with MsRD—with a day like that, you deserve a rant! Besides, we all need to rant occasionally. God knows I rant often enough. At least things are getting done and coming together.

TBJ: If meds have to have side effects, at least one of them is a good thing. I hope everything evens out for you.

Pam: :welcome2: You’ve made so much progress, and you’re still focused despite the tough year. Keep up the good work and I know you’ll make your goal!

Joy: Look at the bright side—you’re exercising, you’re journaling, you’re drinking your water, you’re not eating after 8pm, and those are all good things. Eating truly is the hardest part, but keep at it, and it will come eventually (at least that is what I keep telling myself).

Betani: Wine and chocolate… yep, sure sounds like a worthy indulgence to me! You’re doing great! Have fun making jewelry!

Julie: Listen to that girl of yours, she knows what she’s talking about! Job stress can easily lead us to overeat, so this shift will be good for your diet.

Lisa: I hope all is going smoothly with your father. We’re keeping you in our thoughts.

Did I miss anyone? If so, you’re off the screen, so you’ll just have to post again!

OK, so what’s going on with me? Yesterday was a good day, 30 minutes of Yourself!Fitness, 105 oz of water, 1222 calories. I wasn’t planning to keep my calories that low… I was planning to eat something else, but then I went to sleep instead. This morning the scale is at 216.6. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are decent today, and dinner should be some chicken stir fry, but that’s open to change. I’ll do another 30 minutes of Y!F and drink lots of water.

There’s house stuff, but let’s just say that Steve and I are both thoroughly pissed off right now, so much so that if we don’t have some sort of definitive answer one way or another by tomorrow, we’re going to a different bank and withdrawing ALL of our accounts, and Steve’s parents are withdrawing their accounts as well (my parents use a different bank). This is ridiculous.

Anyway, that’s about all that’s going on with me. Have a good day, chicks!
~Elisha

Thursday...Noon!
 

I'm home for a few minutes. DD had half day today, so picked her up and babysitter is here. I will try to make comments tonight, but want to tell you where I am...besides HERE! LOL!

It's been a week since I gave any effort to this journey! I know...this is supposed to be a no excuses, get my bootie up and move challenge! But last week just zapped me...totally! I have not been bingeing, but I have not been caring either what I have been putting in my mouth! I have not exercised for a week and I can feel those 3 pounds creeping right back on me! Maybe even more, so...

This weekend I am going up North to my hometown. My Mom & 2 of my sisters still live there. We are all getting together with all 10 of the grandkids (rare occassion) and hanging out by the pool where we will be staying! It will be a fun weekend and will probably consist of bad food (and beverage) choices and not much exercise (I am NOT putting on my swim suit!) but when I get home, I vow to you that I will be getting my patootie back on track!!!! Back on the bike and back to the food scheduling! You have my word! I mean...this is just one of those "bagel bumps"...or more like a HUGE donut bump...but I can get over it!

I will be making out my menu as well as my exercise chart for the rest of the month and into February while I sit by the pool! I'm taking my notebook with me and all of my recipes that I have tucked in a notebook. There's no reason I can't do that, right? And I think I might be getting a really nice set of recipes in the mail by tomorrow morning from a really good friend, so...that will be fun, too!

So...on that note...I need to get going and get back to work! I hope all of you have a great weekend.

Pam! Welcome! You are so inspirational. It's great that you have joined this group. I think it's just what "I" need!

Hugs to everyone!

Microscopic check-in.

Got a cold, or perhaps really bad allergies. It's just in my face right now.

No exercise.

Exponentially increased appetite, for want of being able to taste something.

Water normal for the most part, but should perhaps drink even more.

Routines out the window. Again.

Will be back when I'm a bit better. Need to sleep lots this weekend.

Morning chickies!

Chickies? Where are you chickies?

First of all, before I forget, let me show you this article I found on Discovery Healthy about a "fat tax."

The Fat Tax: A Controversial Tool in War Against Obesity
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter on 01/11/2006

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 11 (HealthDay News) -- In America's ongoing battle of the bulge, one strategy to combat the nation's obesity epidemic has generated more than a decade's worth of attention and controversy.

Read the entire story at

http://health.discovery.com/news/hea...10-001-ai-0000

OK, well, let's see. Yesterday was a good day. Calories came in at 1388, water at 102 oz., exercise at 30 minutes of Y!F. The scale is down to 216.0 this morning. I can definitely put me below 215.6 by Monday morning (215.4 would be a 2-pound loss in 2 weeks).

Food today won't be quite so good, but it won't be bad.

Breakfast:
low-fat granola cereal w/skim milk
1/2 c. coffee w/skim milk
1 mug coffee w/creamer

Lunch: Steve is taking me out to Ruby Tuesday's
Salad bar and either a plain baked potato or some soup

Dinner:
Mom is most likely fixing something unhealthy. She went to the store yesterday and bought fatty pork chops (which we had for dinner last night--I trimmed the fat), popcorn chicken, and frozen pizzas. *sigh* I'm guessing tonight will be the chicken. But, I'll make some veggies, or a salad, and have mostly green stuff with only a few pieces of chicken. After all, this is all about learning how to incorporate these things and still be generally healthy, not about avoiding them altogether, right? I've got to learn to deal with it.

Today is my day off from exercise, and I feel good about that. I like taking Friday's off, because then it really gets me pumped up for the weekend, and it feel like an end to the stress of the work week. (Does that make sense?)
But tomorrow I'll do 30 minutes, and possibly another 15 minutes of strengthening exercises, but I'm not sure. Doing my 30-minute workouts this week has been a challenge, especially last night's (which just seemed to go on and on and on), so I think I will stick with 30 minutes for at least another week rather than increasing my time already. Especially since I know that my first Physical Challenge will be this weekend, and the workouts get harder after the PC's. Ugh. But anyway, instead of doing 45 minutes in one session, I may break it up and do the 30 minutes of aerobics and a separate 15 minute strength routine, either arms or legs or abs or even flexibility. And since I want to start exercising a little in the morning, that may be a good time to do so. I'm going to attempt to work out first thing in the morning over the weekend (though I'm not getting up early to do so), and hopefully that will prepare me a little to do it during the week.

OK, that was a bit of a ramble. Sorry about that. :^:

In other news... Steve talked to the bank. We have to fix the gutters, but that's it. Unless they change their minds again, which would not surprise me in the least. But we're allowed to do it ourselves, which means my dad and brother can help us out, then we'll be good to go. I hope we can get that done this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed.

And now I need to get to work. I've got to get some stuff done today, I've got a bunch of meetings, plus I'm going out to lunch. I'd better get busy!
Have a good one, chicks!
~Elisha