It's the start of a brand new week for all of us.

Was off plan all last week due to some very stressful things, and am back on as of today, counting calories and exercising my *** off ( literally ).

Hope you all had a successful last week, and if not, this is the time to start again anew. We can all succeed!!!

Oh Thinny, thanks for starting the thread this week. I'm in la la land ... part brooding, part celebrating about maintenance.

Um ... let me see ... I work four evenings starting today. Generally that means I at least walk before I go and I should do weights too (a couple of times) But I'll have to watch my evening eating, especially when I get home at 11 pm.

Hey ya'll,
Well yesturday was my first day on Atkins. I lost 3 lbs overnight! wow! I know It's waterweight but It's still makes me excited. Today Im starting my exercise routine. I plan on running 3 miles. wish me luck!

i've thought about running, but haven't yet found a way to do it that is easy on my rather ample chest. Any ideas?

I was a bit off plan over the weekend but everything is going well; working on that final 5-10 pounds, and shifting more emphasis to strength & flexibility exercises.

The only dangerous thing today is a belated birthday lunch with a co-worker at Souplantation; normally I wouldn't be stressing over this, but this month they're doing an "American BBQ" theme -- which equates to baked beans, macaroni/potato salads, and BBQ chicken foccacia pizza. I hope I can get away with just a small tasting of each dish -- while eating ample amounts of healthy salad & their chicken noodle soup. Oh yea, and planning on a 7.5 mile run tonight.

Well Ive never had the chest problem. But maybe try wearing 2 sports bras instead of one. And just start with light jogging. If It's still a problem you'll get the same benefits from walking with an incline. I try to stay around 4mph when walking It keeps my heart rate up.

I have just never progressed in the running department. But then I got reading more and more about intervals and just getting your heart rate up for aprt of the time. So I walk a little and then jog a little. Over time, it has proved to be more effective than just walking ... but that's an aside.

Strap 'em down Thinny! Whatever type of undergarment keeps them from bouncing will feel much better.

Happy Belated Birthday, Warlock!

I'm just quickly checking in.....very busy getting back to work after a week off. DD comes home this afternoon, too.

I don't even want to think about what my scale said this morning! Very disappointing, but well, after eating out 3 meals a day for 7 days, what should have I expected? I'm really buckling down now!

Well, i got the motivation i needed...not in a good form...but i got it. The mailwoman asked me if i'm pregnant. And i'm NOT. So, there we have it. an outside perspective that thinks i still look fat. Not easy to hear, but good motivation.

I gained back a pound and have to change the ticker back to 140 (is there a sulking smilie?).

The good news is that I bought a calorie content book and found out that I've been grossly underestimating the # of calories I'm consuming. I now have a new notebook and am figuring out the whole day's 1400 (400 less than I have been shooting for) calories in the morning. That way I have a written record of what to eat to stay OP.

I'll see how that goes this week. Oh and DH is now on a diet as well. His immediate goal is to "look like a fat guy in my interview suit, rather than an obese guy". He wants desperately to leave his current job (part of the reason for his rotundity is the stress level at it) and will now diet down to fit into his interview suit. His motivation is sound - though a bit negative. "Each time I overeat I sentence myself to one more day at my present job".

I think it will help me immensely to stay OP when there isn't someone in the room waving ice cream, beer, chips, cookies at me and saying "here, have some, have some!!"

Dagmar

This is a brand new week for me and for that I'm grateful. At the moment I'm not too worried about staying on plan or excersizing. Just in getting my stress under control. But if today is any indication of how the week's going to be, then it's going to be great. I finally was able to get that new car I wanted (a PT Cruiser), my parents took me out to eat (and not a bit of it was healthy) for my birthday (which is tomorrow), and tomorrow one of my best friend's and her husband are going to be taking me out. So far so good.

And it would seem that my anxiety is somewhat under control as well. If you remember last week I said how I had been having chest pains and that so far it had been diagnosed as anxiety. Well, I haven't had any pain for the last couple of days and when I got my blood test back they said everything was normal. Even my cholesterol. Now, I just have to get through the cardiologist appointment with no problems and maybe I can buckle down with the excersizing and dieting.

Happy Birthday Dawnslight!

I've managed to stay OP, even through the weekend. I saw Transformers and I did not get any popcorn or any other snacks. That was such a good movie - when I first heard about it I thought it would be so cheesy and corny. It was great.

My test results from my doctor appointment on Friday have not come in yet. Normally they are super quick, but of course when the tests are important, they take forever. Well, I guess a weekend and a day isn't really forever, but it sure seems that way.

We tested for cholesterol and diabetes. I'm worried about the cholesterol test because my eye doctor noticed some deposits in my eyes, which can be a bad sign. The diabetes test was my doctor's idea and totally unexpected. I can't imagine why she thought I needed it since there is no history of diabetes in my family, I am doing so well with my diet and exercise, and I did not report any symptoms of it, but now, of course, I'm freaked out about it. I went running on Sunday and towards the end of the run I realized everything was blurry. Blurred vision is a symptom of diabetes, so I immediately panicked. But when I finished the run, I realized that my contacts had just slipped out of position.

Hopefully the test results will come back tomorrow and be fine, so that I can relax about them.

Thinnythighs--maybe check out some of the sports bar recommendations in the Exercise forum? I thought everyone knew not to ask a woman if she is pregant...isn't the quote from Dave Barry something like "never ask a woman if she's pregnant unless you actually see a baby emerging from her"? But at least it's motivating you. Years ago, someone asked me if I was pregnant when I wasn't and the only thing it motivated me to do was to stop wearing the dress I was in at the time. I made no changes to my diet or exercise and actually managed to put on another ten to fifteen pounds.

Mudpie--glad to hear your DH is on board. Whatever works, eh?

Thanks for the welcome!
Well today went okay as far as dieting. Im actually pretty proud to say my hubby stoped at a fast food resturant and I didn't order anything. I waited until I got home and cooked up a turkey burger and choc. protein shake so I wouldn't feel left out. I really wanted the fries but didn't have any!
Other than that it wasn't a very good day. I feel like Im so focused on dieting that I can't focus on any thing else. Like the house is getting out of control. And It's making me so stressed! When I get stressed I somehow gain weight. Any one else have this problem??