dorian: heck yeah that dentist just wants more of your money! Plus they're trained to make it all "perfect." But sheesh! Your mouth looks perfectly fine in your avatar.

mortonpixie: your "cleanup" story is too funny!

claire: sorry about the pain, but sounds like you're doing great on being healthy, considering you can't move!

ohtheplaces: woohoo!

krampus: you've got me contemplating false eyelashes. I've never used them, I just imagine I'd be the one where they moved out of place and I looked like a clown all night without knowing.

Today I'm attempting a 20 mile bike ride after work. The longest I've done so far this season is probably less than 10, so it could be interesting. It will be broken up into about three pieces, and the weather isn't overly warm, so I'm optimistic.
Plus I have my bus pass, so in a worst case scenario, I can always load it on the bus to get home.

AH, you guys make me feel better. I seriously do have fairly straight teeth.



And that dentist sucks. It would have been purely aesthetic surgery and after I got it she would have told me to get porcelain veneers and pay her thousands of $$$ to do it!

I called and told them I wasn't coming back and that that dentist is a twat.

ohtheplaces Well done on the whoosh! I bet you feel great, weighing less than you did when you were 19 - awesome!

mortonpixie Hahha clean up in aisle two, genius child! Children are so cute Hope you et your bike ride in this evening! Respect for juggling childcare and exercise so well, I hope I can manage it half as well as you do when I have kids!

dorian Ah I wonder what she'd make of my teeth! I had braces but they still aren't perfect. I seriously wouldn't put yourself through the pain for $6,000 unless you've either noticed it before or they hurt. I hate it when doctors try and convince you to have stuff just so they can make money, happens here sometimes too! Focus on the skinny pretty feeling and don't let her rain on your parade!

FPSJ MMmmmm glad you had a nice meal out. I love restaurants that serve up their food artistically!

I'm starving but have to wait for my bf to get back from decathlon training before I can eat, this might be good for my diet after all!

Edit to say : Dorian - you defo don't need surgery, you have a lovely smile!

Ann - make sure you wear biking shorts (with padding!). The first bike ride I ever went on with my bf was meant to be 70km, and he told me it'd be fine... I made it 60km but I cried from bum pain for the last 10km and jumped on the train back to Vienna as soon as we came through the next town He still takes the piss out of me for that!

Dorian, you have a lovely smile. Don't let that dentist persuade you into getting unnecessary work done. I think society has gotten to fixated on everyone having blindingly bleached/uniformly straightened teeth. Yours are FINE, and even if there were imperfections (that I can't see), someone else who cited Madonna was right on the money.

I have a huge nose. So does Lady Gaga. I hope she never fixes hers so I can continue to have a non-rhinoplasty rolemodel. Whenever someone criticizes my nose (and I have had people say mean things about it TO MY FACE, even in adulthood), I report that having a big schnoz helps me breathe, sing, yell, sleep, and smell, and I'd rather not spend weeks with black eyes and gauze in my nostrils so that I can breathe, sing, yell, sleep, and smell less efficiently through a teeny tiny boring nose!

Imperfections actually ADD to beauty. Without imperfections, we'd all look like dull little Barbie doll clones. Bleh, who wants that?

Dorian5 That's garbage. Cosmetic dentistry is just one more stupid field invented to make people insecure and willing to throw money at practitioners for no reason. If your teeth work and you can chew your food and bite things, you're fine! That being said, I have HORRIBLE crooked/stained teeth because I stopped wearing my retainer and smoked high-tar cigarettes for years, so of course I'd be the one getting defensive about imperfect teeth.

Dorian, everyone else is right... You have a great smile! I had 3 years of braces and my teeth still aren't perfect.

Ann,I hope your bike ride went well and you didn't have to catch the bus back!

Kat, I love your attitude. I have a big (wide) nose but I can't imagine someone actually saying something rude about it to my face. What's wrong with people??

I made it! I think my legs are going to seriously complain tomorrow, and I'm pretty tired tonight, but it was very satisfying. I ended up biking right by my sister's house, although she's out of town, but it was nice to know I can ride to visit her, and even make it back home!

Eh, people don't think sometimes. And sometimes it's couched in neutral language, but it still amounts to the same thing. When you point your finger at someone else's imperfections, there are three other fingers pointing back at you! Nine times out of ten, it's about their own issues rather than yours. Ignore and move on, and try to think compassionately about the person who said it, because something in their life must be really bad if they felt need to say such things. Of course, this is my perspective at my age. Growing up, mockery hurt a lot, and I'm still working through it. I've just about come to a place of acceptance, though.

And speaking of acceptance and reaching goals, I'm back to 116 this morning, so my "spa week" is going well. Just one more pound to reset myself back to maintenance!

I totally agree Kat! I'm glad your spa day is working for you and you're almost back to maintenance!

Hi everyone!

kat Great attitude! What kind of idiot says these things though, really?! You have to wonder. You are completely right about them having their own issues though!

ann Good job! cycling burns some serious calories too I like how far you can go compared with running!

I'm getting visitors this afternoon and evening, woo! One of my friends is coming round, then bf's bro and his gf are coming round for dinner and a film. I looked up the calorie content of my favourite meal from the local Japanese/Asian restaurant (Mango Beef, mmmmm) and it is only 481 calories - score! I thought it'd be way more because it is so delicious Foot is feeling a bit better too!

Have a nice day

ann71 - nice 20 on the bike!! I love cycling - it's so much fun!

dorian5 - you have beautiful teeth. I have been experiencing cracked teeth lately and have had one extraction, 2 to go. I will have implants to replace them, but oh how this has affected me! I pray that you will make the best decision for your teeth.

OhThePlaces & Kat999 - Both of you are gorgeous! I have such a round face and stubby nose, I've often envied you women with the long thin faces.

Claire0412 - way to be proactive and look up the calorie count before you eat there! Gotta have a plan. So glad you have wonderful friends to support you as you heal.

Finally got my bike ride in last night when my last daycare kid left. I got 9 miles in and went at a pretty good clip - took me about 45 minutes. I had a hard day yesterday and did some crying over my sister being mean to me. She's a champion for every cause, but never agrees with me and be quite mean. She can't relate with my lifestyle (kids, tight budge) and I can't relate with hers (married, 2 incomes). Anyway - nothing like a brisk bike ride and a good nights sleep to make things right.

On tap today - get my chores done, then take the kids outside - eat morning snack like a picnic! Sandwiches and watermelon for lunch, not sure what's for supper...something with arm roast and veg...maybe some cous-cous. Then the best part of the day:

THURSDAY NIGHT YOGA PRACTICE!!

Hope you all have a great day!

Ah, thanks everyone. I was feeling insecure yesterday since that dentist told me that my mouth was jacked up, and I had never felt insecure about it before! I should have bit her fingers off when she had them in my mouth, telling me that my teeth weren't perfect. I'm GLAD that they aren't! It just felt like a plastic surgeon talking who was slightly overweight about liposuction prices.

Anyway, I bought new 5lbs hand weights yesterday to start toning my arms. I realize that my biceps are in great shape, but my triceps are like pudding. :/ Doing dips behind my head with them makes the backs of my arms catch on fire after about 10 of them, so I know that's what I need to continue doing. Funny story, I got done with the weights and set them on my bed before jumping in the shower. While in the shower I kept hearing THUD.... THUD... THUD... When I came out I saw my dog (Dorian) had grabbed one and was carrying it around the house like a bone. LOL.

I have been getting in some GREAT runs lately every day, and my boyfriend is even getting some more exercise in lately and eating better, which is excellent. Can't wait to weigh in tomorrow!

---

FatPantsSkinnyJeans - I love Madonna, and her little smile. I hate having a busy day off, my best weekends are when I have nothing to do! Hope you get to relax on you next day off of work!

ann71 - Holy WOW I am SO impressed by your bike ride! That is excellent, and it's gotta feel satisfying to know that you just DOUBLED you longest ride so far this season! Awesome!

krampus - Your teeth in your avatar look perfect! I also smoked -- for 3 years (quit 1 year ago this upcoming Saturday, actually!) and my teeth were so stained, I bought those Crest White Strips and the GoSMILE system and it seemed to help quite a lot. They aren't super white. but I don't look like I was ever a heavy smoker. Anyway, tell me about your dress, I am curious!

claire0412 - Thanks for the kind words -- I LOVE your new avatar, you're gorgeous! I hope your boyfriend got back with food soon after you posted, and I hope it was something super delicious.

kat999 - Thank you for everything you said. I have a very prominent nose and people will mention it to me as well! Usually it's "Are you Jewish or Italian?" -- ugh, neither, I'm just me. If I was catty I would ask something really rude back about something they might be insecure about, but I never do. Guess that would put me on their level. Anyway, CONGRATS on already being back close to 115lbs, you're handling maintenance beautifully! Yay for achieving goals!

mortonpixie - I had SUCH fear of the dentist that I let a broken tooth go for YEARS before I finally (last year) let them go in and fix everything, had to be totally sedated! Which is why that dentist the other day casually talking about "breaking my jaw" got to me so bad -- my file says HIGH FEAR PATIENT. Ugh! Anyway, your day today sounds like FUN -- you deserve it after a rough day yesterday! And I think I might make couscous tonight as well after you mentioned it! YUM!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE, we've got this!

I just want to give everyone a collective and shake some cheerleading pom poms.

Y'all are beautiful, inside and out.

Morning (actually afternoon) everyone! My diet has been a bit iffy this morning already, ahem! There is no fruit in this house whatsoever, and I was a bit hungry so I hobbled to the kitchen and found a muesli bar and two squares of chocolate (after eating muesli with chocolate bits in for breakfast). Still, I've only managed to eat 500 calories today so I suppose it's not too bad. I'll dispatch the boyfriend to the shops when he comes back to check on me, and he can buy fruit and carrot sticks and stuff. Luckily he's hidden the rest of the chocolate from me and I can't find it!! I'm getting really annoyed with having to sit on the sofa all the time, but nearly all my uni work is done so least i'm being productive in some kind of way.

On an unrelated note, my bf's brother and his gf came round to watch films last night. They brought Space Odyssey because we decided it was a classic and we should watch it. OMG, most boring film ever or am I missing the genius? It was so slow moving that we speeded it up to 1.4 x the speed so it would be over quicker!! I liked the question about whether computers are capable of emotions (evil HAL!) but that was about it. Can anyone explain the genius to me?! At the moment it has taken You've Got Mail as the worst film I've ever seen.

Dorian Thanks! So are you! I know what you mean about upper arm exercises, I'm gonna start with them next week (seeing as though I can't do anything else), because my arms are PATHETIC! I can't even do one press up. Terrible because my thighs kick arse, but my arms are so feeble.

mortonpixie Yep, gotta have a plan! My friend brought ice cream though, but it was from the best ice cream salon in Vienna and I didn't eat lunch coz my bf wasn't here to bring it to me so it replaced my lunch calories (eek! I won't do that too often!). On the plus side, I didn't eat the rice that came with my dinner so it was even less than the calories I plugged into mfp.

kat Well done! I knew you'd be back to maintenance in no time!

Ann, great job on the bike ride!

Claire, I have never seen Space Odyssey, but I'll admit that You've Got Mail is a secret guilty pleasure of mine... I can't help it, I have a weird crush on Tom Hanks. I love your new avatar... you're beautiful! Hope you're recovering well.

Morton, sorry about your hard day with your sister. My 3 best friends from high school are all single and work full-time, they can't understand the fact that I'm a SAHM on a tight budget that can't pick up and go with them on trips... it's hard to relate sometimes. I'm glad you were able to take a bike ride. Exercising always helps me feel better after a stressful day too. Enjoy your yoga tonight!

AFM, I had an "off" day yesterday. I packed the babies in the car for an early morning trail walk and when we got there I realized that my jogging stroller had a flat! I felt really hungry all day and ate more than I should have early on. The good news is that I was able to get my parents' to babysit while I hit the gym in the evening and I burned off the extra calories I ate and then some.