Happy Monday ladies! How was all of your weekends? I had a nice laid back one just like planned. It was so nice to just chill all weekend but now this week I need to kick it into double overdrive to get things done for the holidays. Yesterday Cindy took my family to see this awesome house lit for Christmas. It was so cool they had there lights set to the music for a little show. It is really neat to see what people come up with. My husband was a little green with envy I think because this is the time of year he loves to light up the block and this house just made ours look silly. I could see his wheels turning trying to remember some of the things he was seeing. I am scared for next year!!! Well two out of three are at school and I have some picking up to do so I'm off.

Susan great job on passing your exam! I bet you are glad that is over because if you are anything like me we hate waiting! I am sure you can't wait to see what comes next now. Good luck and keep us posted with the new developments. Oh by the way I finally took your advice and posted in the mini goal photo thread. I thought maybe seeing how far I've come would help me focus on the positive a bit more.

Angel it always makes my day when I see your post. We all miss you but know how busy you are. I hope after the holidays it slows down a bit for you. I know how you feel with the 3 week long period. I had that just a month or so ago and was ready to kill someone. I had just started the pill though and needless to say have gone off the thing already. Have a great day and check in with us again soon.

SWC sounds like your friends are not getting that this is really important to you. I know it has to be frustrating especially since they are skinny it sounds like. I would just eat how you know you have to and not worry about there feelings when it comes to that. I mean if they can't see your trying to get healthy thats on them right? I think having a treat day is wonderful and the ticket to not going crazy during the week. Good luck and keep doing what your doing because its working.

Jen I hope your feeling better! Nothing worse then being hungry and not able to eat. At least this hit before Christmas!

Cindy I'll more then likely see you tonight!

Have a great day ladies!

-SWC Congratulations on the 4 lb. loss! You must be feeling soooo good. Keep up the good work! Problem sometimes with friends is that they become threatened with changes....best to downplay your losing and maybe talk about it with a good friend outside the house instead.

Tina, I'm going to go check out the minigoal posting. Glad you did it, you will get lots of encouraging comments, help boost your morale about your occasional lapses.

Hi everyone else!

Hello Everyone! This weekend went pretty well for me, I had some slip ups but I'm ready to get back on track today. Back to healthy eating and exercising! After a few days of not going to workout, I feel guilty so I'm glad to be going back tonight with Tina! I need some real strength this week guys, my mom and I start our cookie baking marathon tomorrow. We make about 12-15 different kinds and we make several dozen of each kind. That's a LOT of cookies. We both give lots away for gifts, but there will still be plenty around to tempt me. I'm going to try and eat very healthy at my meals so that I can have a few cookies here and there. Plus if I keep working out, I hope to just maintain during this. Wish me luck! This is the first holiday season that I'm really going to try and not gain weight. Every other year I have gained several pounds during Dec/Jan. I hope I can stop doing that this year!

Angel- Glad you had a little time to check in! It sounds crazy for you over there. And with the holidays thrown in, it must be rough! And a 3 week period? Hang in there!

Susan- Forgive me for not knowing all the online lingo. I can sort of follow you, but what does DD and DS stand for? I feel silly asking, but I'd like to understand the post...

SWC- Great job on the loss!!! Don't let you friends get to you. I have a little something like that with my mom. I think it's hard for her to let go of the eating that we used to do together. You just have to do what you think is right to make you feel good!

cmom- How are you feeling? Better I hope!

Tina- See you tonight! Looking foreward to a good workout!

Have a great day everyone!

Cindy-DD is dear daughter, DS is dear son, DSIL is dear son-in-law, DGD is dear granddaughter, etc.....in my case its 'darling' or 'dearest' rather than just dear....I do love them so!

Can you chew gum while you bake cookies to keep from eating or tasting? Just an idea!

Good morning ladies! How is everyone doing so far this week? My week is going pretty good. I have been eating good and so far have two cardio and one weight session under my belt. I am really getting back into the swing of things and it feels good. Yesterday I wrapped up gifts and wrote out cards. That is always a good feeling of accomplishment. I am having my family over this weekend and I can't wait to see them all and spend time with them. Have any of you checked out the Biggest Loser challange, it's a new one for the New Year. I signed up for it hoping it will keep me accountable and moving in the right direction. I always find when other people are counting on me I push myself just a bit harder. Anyway not much else going on I just wanted to check in and say HI!!!

Hope you all have a great week!

Hello ladies

Hope everything is well. Just on my way to work and thought i'd come leave a quick message. My official weigh in day isn't till sunday but uncle TOM is on it's way, and i don't like to weigh when uncle TOM comes to visit..

Thanks for encouraging me everyone. When i woke up this morning and weighed myself, i had this slight feeling of, i can do this. and get to goal this time.

Well done with sticking to it Tina30, hope everything goes well with your family. Have a nice time

Thank you LuvVegas and thank you too artmaker!!

2.5 pounds gone and just saying hi to uncle TOM!!

It's so bizarre because i usually hate it when uncle TOM comes and i never have a loss. But this time i'm going to get some off even if it's just a pound WATCH THIS SPACE!!!

O yeah i'm in the 160s!!!!! 8 more pounds till i'm in the 150s and 5 more till i'm at a healthy BMI!!!.

How is everyone doing ??

Hi all, have been super busy at work, and recovering from a REALLY BAD WEEK. I was great through most of last week, then totally crashed. Just too many days of temptation I think. Had five birthday celebrations plus a holiday party, and the sugar short circuited my brain.

Luckily most celebrations and dinners out are over, and I can get back on track....how many times have I said that?!?! I need to stick to it.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Great weight loss SWC! Congratulations....keep it up!

Susan

Hello ladies! I can't believe how time is flying right now. I just wanted to do a quick check in with everyone and see how you all have been doing? Cindy and I took this week off from exercise and I for one am glad we did. I have a little cold thing going on and things are just so hectic the week before Christmas we decided to spend what little free evening time we do have with our familys instead of the ellipticals. Starting next week though I will have to get back on it. Well that is about it for me. I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season!

A very happy holiday season to you as well,Tina, and everyone else. May the coming year be filled with good happenings and positive affirmations, and of course, the last of the weight loss!

Susan

Hello! Sorry I haven't had much time to check in. I think I'm doing a pretty good job of eating well at meals and then having a few cookies for dessert at night. That seems to be working out ok. I'm also not eating 12 cookies at a time which is new for me! I haven't gained anything so far and I'm really excited about that since this is the first year that this has ever happened. I hope and pray this can continue for the rest of the holiday season! Like Tina said, we took some time off exercising and it's been great, but I know I'll have to start it up again next week. It's nice to find a balance between enjoying the holiday goodies, but not going so crazy at breakfast, lunch and dinner too. That's what hapeened in the years past. I hope we can all hold it steady through this time of year and get throught it without doing too much back sliding!

I wish everyone a very Happy Holiday season!!!

Good morning ladies! How are we all doing? I can't believe Christmas came and went already! It goes by in such a whirlwind that it makes my head spin thinking about it. I will admit I have indulged myself but I would not say I went super crazy. I have not weighed myself and don't plan to for a few more days. I just think it would depress me right now and that is not what I want. I am ready to get back to the gym though and get eating healthy. I joined a challange over in the Biggest Loser forum so looking forward to kicking it up and hopefully helping my team win. My kids still have off school until next Thursday so that is really nice. It is just nice to not be on such a tight schedule and they are really enjoying playing with all there new toys. So do any of you have big New Year plans. We just stay home and have old friends and our family over and we play games and have a few cocktails with some yummy dips. Well that is all for me. I just wanted to check in. I have about 20 loads of laundry to get started. Have a great week ladies!

Happy New Year everyone! Been spending this week with my DS, who is in town for a few days before heading back to NY to visit my ex, and then back to CA.
It's been a wonderful vacation for me, and I've really relaxed and just enjoyed life. Now it's time to get back into the groove and moving ahead with all my plans. Hope you all have a very good holiday on Monday.

S.

I wish everyone a healthy, happy New Year!!!

After the festivities are over I have to really get serious again! I think I went a little overboard over the holidays.

Hello ladies! Well the holidays did me in. I have ate everything in site and then some and feel like a blimp. I am so ready to start working out again and eating right. I mean just the portions were enough for a grown man and my tummy has been uneasy for days now. Tommorow I will get to the gym and I will start eating like a normal person again. I am not going to let this get me all down though I am going to lose the extra pounds and move forward. I hope you all had a great holiday! I am looking forward to getting back into regular check-ins with you all. Have a great day ladies!