Thanksgiving looms ever closer...

How's everyone hanging in there?

PMS is here, full-tilt. Why on earth am I craving everything fatty and salty I can get my hands on? I swear, I don't have a sweet tooth... I have a FAT TOOTH.

Doing okay, though, eating-wise. I am steering away from temptation with all the practiced self-discipline of a monk. It's hard, but I'm managing. Getting out of bed to exercise this a.m. was a chore...

Three weeks to go, girls! Have a great week!!!

Well did okay this weekend. The eating has been off the hook. I am trying to get that under control. Exercise has been good. I was suppose to take Friday off, but found myself with a few minutes to kill, so I went to the hospital walking track and walked for 25 minutes. Saturday was my day off, and Sunday I walked for about 40 minutes at the Park. So overall I have done pretty good. I worked out 6 out of 7 days. My stomach feels smaller to me, but I think it's just from working out...cause the eating has been atrocious....really. Weigh in is wednesday and i am hoping for some kind of loss...

Today I have brought lean cuisine meal for lunch, Drinking my water. After work I will stop by the park on my way home and walk for an hour. That is if the weather holds.

How was everyone else's weekend?

We are in the middle of a storm here in Western WA and I have developed a leaky roof. In 2 places that I can see. I am pretty sad about it because that means I have to get a new roof. Well my dad is pretty handy so I hope he can give it a quick fix until the summer.

I got in my strength training this weekend!! I have been a little lax on my strenght training the last few weeks and I can tell in my measurements so I decided I need to do it at least 3-4 days per week. Weekends are easier for me to do it when DH is home.

I did really well on eating until I got home and DH had the kids' halloween candy pulled out. Dang him, I did stop at 2 rather than sit a pile in front of me though.

Suz you have much better will power than me! 4 days before TOM I eat like you wouldn't believe.

It moved. The scale moved. Since it's my home scale and I don't trust it as much as my nutritionists' scale, although last week it was exactly the same as hers, I'm gonna say it's down 2 1/2 pounds. It might be more, I did get a couple of readings lower, but the consistient one says 242 and I would rather err or the side of caution. So yeah that's pretty good. Two pounds from my Thanksgiving goal. It's weird I'm finding I get movement after like 5 days, whatever I'll take it. Did pretty well with the food this past weekend if I do say so myself. Got in some decent exercise this weekend.

I just got back from the dentist, and oh my what a darn freaking expense that is. (Were those words too coarse?, if so sorry) It cost me $325 today, $250 2 weeks ago and I'm just starting. He says I need an implant so now I have to go to an oral surgeon, so yeah Jeni I can relate to your roofing problems, not to mention the fact that it was none too comfortable. I HATE unexpected expenses. I'm just not sure we're were gonna come up with the money.

Turkey day is a mere 17 days away. Oh yeah and then the fun really begins with all that stupid temptation, uch why does EVERYTHING have to be about the food???

Keep up the good work everybody.

Fedup: congrats on the weight loss!! but ouch about the denist. I hate going to the dentist!!!!! and I hate unexpected expences too!!!!!
17 days and I have 8 pounds to lose! Well if I don't make it I will be proud of myself anyway!! I cant believe we are all working so hard! I am thinking about cutting a 100 calories more out of my average until Thanksgiving.

Does anyone have a plan yet for keeping their diet up over the holidays? I have 1 birthday party (11-19) Thanksgiving dinner #1 (23) Thanksgiving dinner #2 (11-26) Christmas dinner #1 (12-24)Christmas breakfast and Dinner #2(12-25) christmas dinner#3 (12-27) New years dinner (1-1) Sigh, I hate the holidays anyway, no I love them I really do. but sigh.
I know I will have to keep up on my exercises in order to at least maintain, but is it even possible to lose under these circumstances???

"Fed"up - Awesomeness, the scale moved for you! And you WILL make your goal!! *jiggy jiggy jiggy* But I do feel for you, too, re: the hassle and expense of the dentist. I have been putting it off for a VERY long time because I hate the dentist... so I'm sure that when I finally decide to go, I will have similar woes...

Jeni - hope you're not getting too wet! And no worries, I'm not making my goal, either. We shouldn't be too hard on ourselves... I set my goal RIGHT at the beginning of my "life change" program, and I wasn't sure yet what my body was going to do. And you are a Super Woman for getting all that exercising done while juggling two young ones and a household!! Any loss, as long as it's healthy, is good loss, and we should ALL be very proud of ourselves and our Herculean efforts.

Keeping this up over the holidays is going to be really rough. I work in a law firm, and our clients and various vendors always send lots of food goodies to us. That's where I really need that willpower..!!! My holiday strategy is to keep myself too busy to snack, too full of water to think about food, and to get really good workouts so that I am not tempted to undo all my hard work with one slice of cake!

I think that will be my defensive strategy during the holiday meals: fillup on water before dinner! and I will workout hard before and after!! (at least I will try!)

I found three leaks, which can be repaired easily says my dad!! So as soon as there is a day to get the roof dry enough to stand on DH will be able to fix it (with my dad's help!) My basement also has a foot of water in it, but that happens every year at least once so we don't keep anything important down there.

Good morning everyone.

Just got off the phone with the oral surgeon and made a consult appointment and it's $250, is that insane or what? And that's JUST for the consult. I can't imagine what an implant costs and then a cap and a crown. Sheesh. But I have no choice. The timing couldn't be any worse. This is sooo crappy. Jeni I'm glad your dad and hubby can take care of the roof, wish they could take care of my mouth. I can't help but think I would have taken better care of my teeth if I would have weighed less.

As far as the holidays goes, I'm just gonna wing it and try a heavy dose of will power. I'm just hoping that there are some healthy choices. And will definitely have to increase the exercise.

On Thanksgiving we go to my mom and I will be bringing like 3 dishes so they will be healthy. I'm bringing sugar snap peas sauted with onions and soy sauce, a finely diced cucumber, tomato and onion salad with a lemon oregano dressing and a sliced pineapple, I'll probably bring a pecan pie too, everyone loves that, and I will try very hard to stay away from it, though it's one of my favorites. I've never been in this position before so I don't really know how I'm gonna react. I also won't be hosting any parties because I am VERY bad with leftovers. But that's how I've gotta do it this year.

This is definitely one time of the year I'm glad I don't work in an office. Good luck Rowdybliss dealing with all those goodies. (couldn't the clients send gift certificates for everyone instead of food items - yeah right, didn't think so).

Have a great day everyone.

Fedup: I am so sorry you have to deal with the extra expense. Why oh why do things have to be so expensive??

I skipped my walk last night because of the rain. We usualy get a lot of rain around here, but I think in the last 3 days we have had about 13 inches and it is supposed to keep on coming. I hope it lets up enough to walk tonight.


I told DH that I am going to start getting up early to do pilates and weights. that way I can get them in every day regardless of naptime. But I forgot to set the alarm this morning Oh well I will hopefully get them in this afternoon. I am babysitting so the kids will be very occupied with each other

I slept late today, too... and my plan WAS to get up early and vote before work because I'm completely booked through the remainder of the day. I'm sure that the suffragettes who fought for women's right to vote are in the heavens, weeping.

Being so overscheduled also means that I will not have time to exercise today, but that's fine - if all goes according to plan, I should be able to fit in four more workouts before Sunday. DH played a little havoc with my already-crammed schedule by asking me to sing at a wedding at the last minute on Friday night (he's an organist, and I'm a singer), so that means I'll have to do ANOTHER morning at the gym rather than the evening. I much prefer doing my workouts after work... stress relief, no rush to get everything done, I can work at my own pace. But hey, singing at a wedding is an extra 100 bucks I could use, so I'll gladly get up and do the gym in the a.m.!!

I am trying to behave myself today with food. Slim Fast for breakfast (190 cals), Michelina's Lean Gourmet for lunch (Salisbury steak, only 200 cals!). Dinner will be a challenge because I'll be eating on the run, and we all know how that can be... so I'm going to see if I can grab a salad or something on the run.

I went to the doctor yesterday and, for the first time in my life, my blood pressure was too high. Like, dangerously high, in a hypertensive way. I am not exactly sure why that is, because my blood pressure's always been sort of on the low side... but that's frightening to me. I'm hoping that it's just because I had a really frazzling day at work yesterday, but even if that's all it was, it sure was a wake-up call for me. It is just another thing on my list of many reasons why I'm so glad that I made the important decision to start living healthier.

Hope everyone's having a happy, healthy day!

Hectic, stressful, crazy, all those words lead to high blood pressure! I am usually on the low side too, but on those crazy days It can get way high for me.

Obstacle 1: Huge cravings when going someplace away from home.

Cravings are gone for now thanks to TOM starting; started early this month, lovely.

Obstacle 2: Lack of exercise and motivation to continue to exercise.

Exercise is great thanks to November exercise challenge. 7 days of success!

Obstacle 3: Lack of support from husband who wants and could care less if he eats unhealthy or exercises.

This morning I made him 5 lite sausages (200 cal), cut up small raw orange(45 cal), and 1 hard boiled egg(77 cal). He just looked at me funny and ate it. LOL I looked up his weight and calorie intake to lose weight and told him if he ate 2000 calories per day that he would lose 1 pound a week without exercise. Told him that the mochas he drinks have 600 to 800 calories in them. That is half his calories. Just a little seed I planted what he does with that info is up to him.

Loveandlaugh: My husband likes the idea of losing weight, just not the work. Although he has been walking to work so he is getting in about 40 minutes of exercise each day.


Wed. My last day of work for the week! I don't know why I am excited, It just means it will be even harder to control my food intake! But I don['t have to leave the house for any reason except to possibly to buy milk!

Today was my weigh in day, and I am still maintaining. I am a little bummed, but it was expected. I have been doing great with my workouts, although they could be a little more intense, but I just cant seem to beat the cravings. Last night at work I was so busy that I didn't have time to cook my food, I only got a 10 minute break and there is no microwave, so I ate a couple of things that I had cooked extra, I added the calories and it really wasn't that bad, but it must have been bad enough.

Good afternoon, everyone...

DH works late tonight, and so I am going to treat myself to some nice, long, unhurried "me time" at the gym in the hopes that it will help me get out of this crappy mood I'm in. I've been kind of in the doldrums since my doctor visit on Monday, and I'm hoping to shake it off with that "natural high" I get when I exercise.

I must admit I haven't been making the smartest food choices, either. Not totally awful, but not exactly healthy, either. I'm sure I'll pay the price for it on my weigh-in day...

Hope everyone's feeling more chipper than I am today!

Suz: we need to kick each others butt!! <KICK> now maybe we will both start eating what we need to! When I really start to get moody I take extra B 50 complex vitamins. I am not much of a vitamin popper, (I guess lately I am becoming one) My doctor suggested B 50 complex to help with my migranes as well as mood swings. I try to take them religiously, and when I am not taking them and I start to swing I run and take a double dose, it takes a couple of days, but it does work.

Okay ladies (and any gentlemen?) I think I need an extra dose of encouragement, I am heading to the goals page. I don't know why, maybe because the scale hasn't moved, or maybe because I feel guilty because of the junk that has gone into my body this week.