Hey there! My TOM is almost over, at last, and I'm feeling much less bloaty. The pageant's in a little more than a week and it is all I can think about. I spent the entire day today preparing. Working out, dying my hair, practicing my talent, and a few other things, too. I'm not sure where my weight's at since I haven't weighed in for awhile but on Sunday we'll find out if my hard work has paid off!!

daisi :kickbutt: Here you go ;) Always happy to offer a kick in the pants!

The scales are slowly going down... :cb: I ate really clean yesterday for the first time in ages! I'm doing ok today - according to the plan anyway! :lol: I might need some extra food after the gym, but we'll see how it goes!

One of the miracles of being "Almost There" is that a couple of pounds make sooo much difference. My last fat is front abdomen. Just in the last couple of days I've noticed that I don't feel like a blubberbubble from boobs to hips, ya know?

:rofl: blubberbubble I like it! :rofl:

Yeah I sure can tell the difference in those (14) lbs I put on! :tantrum:

I like the "blubberbubble" name. You gotta call it something! :lol3:

And, SusanB, it takes so looong for those last few pounds to leave us too! We should see some difference, you figure? I too agree, though, that I'm seeing more changes now with a pound lost than I did when I lost several at one time.

Thanks for the kick girls! I'm going to try to clean up the sloppy spots in my routine. It's hard with the summer because I work a full time job and also work at a restaurant 2 nights during the week. On Friday nights I pack my bags & dogs and head up to the lake until Sunday night. This leaves me Tuesday and Wednesday evenings free (or as free as I can be after doing the yardwork, laundry, shopping and trying to clean the house).

I just got word from my gym that they are going to be opening at 6:30 am on 2 mornings so maybe that is my answer. I always did best when I got my exercise out of the way in the morning. It always started my day on a positive note and cleared my head for the events of the day. Now if I can only drag my tired *** out of bed at 6 instead of snoozing until 7, I'll be OK.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Morning workouts can be nice although I often feel so tired afterwards that I take an afternoon cat nap @_@ Still, it is nice having a 24 hour gym here. I love it. I can go at 2 AM if I wanted to!! ...not that I really want to, though.

And more good news... I am down a pound as of this morning!! Whoo!!! I better be after how hard I've been working. I've been working my butt off - literally. Squats, gradual inclines on the treadmill, stairstepper, lunges... I have to get my big bootay into shape so I don't giggle too much next week. The swimsuit part of pageants doesn't bother me much because I'm a lifeguard so people see me in my swimsuit all the time, but it is my weak point so I've got to work hard if I want to win the crown!!

I ran lots yesterday, ate healthily too. My blubberbubble is leaving me. I managed to get some tight-ish office shorts on without looking like a sack of potatoes tied in the middle!!!!!

This morning is kickboxing, then shopping in London for invites and bridesmaids pressies at Tiffany's :eek: Had a mozzarella and spinach omlette for brekky with a banana, hoping to keep up the healthy trend all day :D

lessthansign3 -- I hope we can get to see some pics of the pageant and good luck to you...

2F -- Good for you for clean eating

Today was a fairly clean eating day but I had about 3 glasses of wine with supper so yet again my day is higher calories than I would like...

Ilene~ Thanks for the offer!! Catch up to me in August, so I can fresh start with you all!

Ilene - my eating has never BEEN so clean! :faint: I swear on Saturday, not a "proper" carb passed my lips! :faint: All my carbs were from fruit and veggies! :faint: :faint: I feel like I'm doing Atkins but without the horrible side effects and heart-attacks and bacon! :rofl:

I tell you it's paying off - I'm seeing delts again!!! AND I'm about 7lbs heavier than the last time I saw delts. This can only mean one thing! MORE MUSCLE! :dancer: :woo:

Oh AND I'm WEARING those "city shorts" that were too tight the other week :D :D :D

:dancer:

D'you wanna see my menu for today?! Do ya? Do ya? You do!?

1.5-2ish miles run

Brekky
puffed wheat cereal (this is ok, since it's post workout!) with raspberries and light soya milk

Snack
apple
avocado
strawberries in whipped cottage cheese
few roasted chick peas

weights workout - back and possibly bis

Lunch
stir fried chicken with LOTS of veggies and brown rice

Snack
Quorn sausages with carrots and cucumber

Snack
Quorn sausages, erm, with carrots and cucumber!!

kickboxing

Dinner
salmon fillet with green beans :T

Seeeee..... not too many carbs at all! :D

Oh, and it's working :sssh:

YAY 2F, great menu!! I am back to the basics today too... yesterday, Sunday was good except I had two beers :shrug: but the rest of the actual food was good...Today I'm on the right track again... This morning I went rollerbladding with DD and then to the gym to do legs :strong: It's all good :D!!

:coach: Ninjas don't drink beer, Ilene ;)

I'm SO excited about weigh-in day! I'm down 3.5lbs since last Weds already! :sssh: :eek: which I think is glycogen from my muscles and water, and fat - my caliper readings are down :D :D :D I haven't compromised any strength in the gym, in fact I lifted rather heavy today :D

Ok I'm going to stop gloating! ;)

Where's Lucky? She needs some of my :dust: to rub off on her, perhaps?

MOI a Ninja??? :lol3: ...

:cp: on the weight loss 2F, keep up the great work ... you ARE :strong:

Yeah - you! I suppose you could replace Ninja with "athlete" but Ninja works for me.... :rofl:

Get your wheelbarrows out gals! My legs and tri's feel like I've had an excellent workout. And I've got more concrete chunks to move.
Yesterday I was up to my eyeballs in food. I went to get my 20 lbs box of beans and the lady gave me about 30 lbs of beets (free). I just nicely got started when the lady from our corner store called to say my frozen fruit was in and that she had no room to keep it. I shoved those pails in the freezer and will deal with them today. I did, however, get the beans and beets done. I was standing in the kitchen pretty much from noon until after nine last evening.
I have no way of quantifying the beans or beets I ate as I went along :) Nor how much energy that took. I slept well.
Not knowing that the frozen fruit was coming, I bought cheap seasonal fruit at the grocers in the morning. So I had lots of good eats and (interestingly enough) I think I rounded up to about 1500 cals.
I'm feeling pretty accomplished this morning.
I have more outside work to do today. I think our risk of showers is pretty high. I should maybe get out there this morning.

I've been out of touch for the last couple of weeks...went on a business trip to the California Central Coast.

I was supposed to come back on Monday but we didn't have everything done so we tried to change the flight to Tues/Wed but all were booked til Friday. The whole thing ended up taking til Friday anyway so that worked out OK but I was not looking forward to getting on the scale when I got home. Surprise, surprise, I lost 2#'s while I was gone, woohoo, yay me! And that was with a day of wine tasting (BTW, the most fun ever).

Now the challenge is to get back in the gym habit. I actually put my gym clothes on yesterday, got in the car, drove to the gym, started driving around looking for a parking place, and then realized I was still wearing my flip flops. Note to self: must not day dream about dreamy new boyfriend while getting ready to go to the gym.

Good to hear that everyone is at least close to being on track...

:lol: @ Julia ;)

I realised something last night. I had a WHOLE WEEK of clean eating last week. And I LOST 3LBS! I think there's a correlation... :chin:

Today I am upping my carbs slightly, then tomorrow I am back on the healthy wagon with veggies at every meal etc etc

Good for you 2Frus! Yes, I believe there just might be some correlation.

I've lost a total of 3 pounds in one month, but the going is so slooow that I'm feeling a little down today. This month did include a vacation week where I was not so good and gained about half pound. When I look at my journal I've done pretty well except for my percentages! I will work on this through the next upcoming weeks!

3 lbs in one month is good! We're not very big any more and can't expect the big drops. Three pounds of fat takes up a lot of space on a little person like you Softballmom! You're doin' good ... very good!

Hi! Guess I'm following you around SusanB!!
Thought I'd pop in and see how things are here, looking forward to getting to know you all!!Just a few days and I'll be here with you everyday!
TTFN!

Note to self ... Heinekin and chocolate ice cream will not get me "there"!

I'm off to visit my Mom (76) today. She broke her arm last week and had a follow-up appt yesterday. I'd like to know what's happening.

Heinie + ice cream = :devil: Ninjas don't eat ice cream ;) :lol: Although hot Ninjas might succumb to the odd cornet on a STUPIDLY hot day, say like, today ;)

:hug: for Mom

We watched part of the big golf tournament that was near Liverpool last weekend. England is very hot and dry, eh?

It is sooooo humid here! The 3 H's ... hot, hazy and humid.

Oh you know - a bit like the Arizona desert at the moment! I want my :rain:

Just had an exciting moment, plenty of thunder and lightening but only one tiny drop of rain :cry:

Sorry to hear about your mom breaking her arm Susan. Hope she mends quickly.

Well I'm down one more pound. My pants are fitting better already. We've been exceptionally hot here also. I'm so ready for fall!

Gaylyn

LUCKY OHHHH LUCKY where are you!??!???!??

I am NOT ready for Fall even if it is HHH here too!!! I'd love to live in summer all year except in December for Christmas... Maybe when I retire I will be one of those folks who goes down south for the colder months... The ONLY think I don't like about summer is that I can't run outside the heat makes me sick...

Things are good these days, food is in control and exercise is good...

If we had a max temp limit, I'd be fine. I can do almost anything up to about 32 if there's even the slightest breeze.

Is it usually this quiet around here on weekends?;)

Yes :yes:... :lol:

:wave:

I'm back! My weekend was super-fab! I'll be blogging all about it later on this morning, so feel free to nosy!

Food was pretty terrible, but I didn't binge like I usually do when faced with junk, junk or junk!!! I feel like I didn't eat too badly, even if I did get a (small) Rolo milkshake at Mac D's!!! Although that was lunch!

The weather has really cooled - I am wearing a HUGE sweatshirt that I had to borrow, I was going to give it back today, but I'm too cold! :lol:

I usually pop in on weekends but this one was a doozy. I worked, my neice got married, we had another family thing ... No time for recreational surfing :)

But today .... I'm home alone in the quiet .... ahhhhh!

I really need to chill out and make repairs from the weekend. To my head, my body, my house .... mount laundry:)

I'm not posting it until my official weigh in day on Wednesday, but it looks like I may have removed another pound.

This weekend was an out of town softball tourney, so we had to eat out for all meals. I watched my selections and portions but my calories were about 400 more per day. BUT the scales show a one pound decrease, go figure. Maybe I do need to get my calories up around 1500 to help move the blasted scale.

OK...time to stop being a slug...I have finally found the motivation to get back on track with my eating and exercise!

I had the most horrible weekend...I was surrounded by a bunch of young, hardbodied women in bikinis which made me feel horrible about myself to begin with. To top it off, I was talking with a "friend" who was telling me I was a party pooper. I told him I was a "shell of my former self", and he corrected me to say that I was not the "shell" but the "meat" of my former self. He tried to fix it by back pedaling and saying that I had lost weight since last year but that didn't do anything to make me feel better.

I spent yesterday absolutely hating myself (and him) and now I am so disgusted that I am considering cancelling a date with someone who told me how good I looked 3 weeks ago. I've only put on a pound or two since then, but it feels like 20 and I am afraid he will notice and be turned off!

I don't know why I'm ranting...I've let myself slide and it's my own fault but maybe if I put it in writing I will get my *** moving. I stocked the fridge with high fiber, low fat foods for the week. I didn't get up early enough to work out today but I did my crunches and push ups. Tomorrow is a gym day for sure!

Hope you are all feeling better than I am right now! I am off to eat my turkey on light bread...

Daisy :hug: I can't believe how rude/impolite/immature some people can be :rolleyes: .... You look great and now let's get on the wagon again and start "feeling" great about our accomplishments...

Way to go softballmom for watching your portions in difficult situations, that's half the battle...

I didn't do well and the scale showed a + this morning :tantrum: ... It's not going to be an easy week either DH is on vacation and we have a wedding on the weekend....OY!!

Guess I officially start up with you tomorrow, but I had to tell you that I'm down 3 pounds from last week!
Catch ya all tomorrow.....R U going to start a new thread for August?

Oh my gosh! It is so hot here! Phew!
I'm sure someone will start a new thread for August and I'll see you all there!
Plan for a good month gals.

Thanks for the support Ilene.

Yes...some people just don't know when to keep their big mouths shut :nono: ! I don't know why I let it get to me, but it did.

The good part is that I am taking his insults and using them in a positive way to get myself back in gear!!! I'll show him :boxing:

Eating was spotless yesterday, got a little exercise but not enough. I'm committed to getting to the gym tonight for a long overdue workout!

:dance: HOORAY....I'M BACK!!!! :dance: