Hi Alice and Judi, Just a quick note to say I am home and to wish you a Happy New Years Eve. I look forward to hearing from you both.

Hey ledom,
 

Glad to see you're back. Hope things were alright with your aunt.

I want to wish you and judi a Happy New Year.

Hey Alice,

How was your Christmas? Seems like ages since I have heard from you. My aunt is quite elderly an in a nursing home. My mother felt that this might be her last opportunity to be with her, so that was the tone of the trip. The aunt did seem to be doing well however. I saw a ton of cousins whom I see very seldom. It was a big family occasion with a little sight seeing and shopping thrown in when D and I could manage it. It is so good to be back home.

I am starting my second challenge today. I am so so ready to be back into my routine. I have a carb hangover this a.m. so I'll be easing into working out, I bet by tomorrow I will already feel better.

Hi...
 

How was your Christmas, ledom? Mine was very nice. We got 14" of snow Christmas Day and thankfully didn't have to go anywhere.

That was nice to be able to visit your aunt and having a reunion with family members that you haven't seen in a long time. I'm glad that your aunt was doing well. What did you buy on your shopping trips? Any good jewelry?

I really was awful during the holidays. I haven't been to WW for 2 weeks. I had planned on going today, but we're having some freezing rain and there are a few large hills I have to climb and come down, so I didn't want to chance anything. Hopefully we'll be storm free next week. I do plan on getting back OP tomorrow. We have a few leftovers that we have to get rid of today. I have been tracking my new exercise equipment, and I've got my fingers crossed that it will be delivered sometime today. I know what you mean by carb overload. My stomach is really feeling it.:p

Have you any plans for tonight? We're just going to get some pizza and stay home. We bought a bottle of champagne to toast in the new year, but, that's if we're up. We go to bed around 9-ish, and if one of us wakes up we wake the other one up. If we sleep through it all, we have a bottle of champagne for our anniv. in Feb.

Enjoy the rest of the day....and 2002!

A stranger in the house.....
 

Hello there, Alice, Ledom and Judi!
I'm almost ashamed to admit this, but I've been lurking within your threads for awhile now, and I've just now worked up the "courage" to post. I hope y'all don't mind a new person joining in.
If any of you have ever seen my i.d. on any of the other threads, then you know that I've tried a TON of diets!! Most recently, I've been using Slim Fast. Well, that came to an end with the holidays, and now I'm back to the point where I want to do something that WORKS!! The current choices I'm dallying with are Body for Life and Weight Watchers, and that's part of the reason I'm posting here--between the three of you, I'm hoping for some inspiration.
I've done WW in the past, and did very well on the program, until I hit a plateau and quit journaling. I've slowly gained back almost every-single pound I lost. I think I could do it again if I set my mind to it.
I have not yet read the BfL book, although I plan to go to the library as soon as it reopens after the holiday and check it out. From lurking in the BfL thread, though, that sounds like a great plan. It is actually appealing to me more than WW right now, because when I lost weight before (237--212) I didn't really feel like I was toning at all.
All I know is that I have to do something--SOON. I have reached a point, health-wise and weight-wise, at which I feel I am ready to do this, as my sign-on says, for myself.

4myself
 

we are DELIGHTED to have you join in!!! And another Arkie too! I am from Hot Springs.

Well, I am really happy w/ BFL and I think judi and alice are equally happy with WW. I think that finding a plan that will fit your lifestyle is really important and it sounds like that is what you are in the process of doing.

Welcome to our little oasis.

Hi 4myself!
 

Welcome to our corner of the boards :balloons: We are really happy you joined our little group. I've also tried tons of diets but ledom is right, the key is to find a program that works for you and will be able to do it for life. Whichever program you decide to do, we will be here to support you. We'll be looking forward to your posts.

Happy New Year!!!
 

Alice, did you make it until mid-night last night? I was awake, be it I was in bed w/ my book when the fireworks went off. D had her friends over so I hid out upstairs for the evening. I was just glad to know where she was.

So, the holidays wreak havoc on diets don't they!?!? Are you feeling motivated to get back with it? I am back with it, starting yesterday. I ate on program and did my 20 min of cardio - today was my first strength workout in almost two weeks. I really had to push myself to even get started, but now that it is done I feel so much better. I know I'll be sore tomorrow, I am already sore!

We only got to shop for about 3 hrs. but I did find something to get excited about. We went into a Dillards that was going out of business and had everything on sale. There were racks and racks of swimsuits of all things. I bought an $88 Ralph Lauren suit for $10. I had been wanting a suit that I could take before/after pics in for this next challenge. I wanted one too small that I could shrink into and it is pretty hard to go out and spend big bucks on something that doesn't fit so this just fit the bill. It is really cute though. I tried it on yesterday and you know I can imagine myself actually fitting into it. It is 2 sizes too small and though I can't go out in public now in it yet, it wasn't as bad as I though it might be.

On another diet note. I was with a branch of the family that I don't see very often. It has been a couple of years since I saw some of them and even longer since I saw others. I was astounded when at least a half dozen people commented on how much weight I had lost. You know, I have lost about 50 lbs. since the early 90's, it has just been in such dribs and drabs and probably I've lost 100 lbs. counting the lbs. I've lost and gained back. BUT, it was so gratifying. It has been so slow that I haven't noticed the dramatic difference that people that haven't seen me in 10 years do. So that was a positive and upbeat thing. Of course then they fed us like there was no tomorrow. I did sneak on the scale this a.m. and I'm up 5 lbs.:s: , but you know, I think it'll come right back off. Holidays $#+ when it comes to maintaining your weight.

OK, on to new heights now that the new year has rung in.

I hope all of you and yours have the happiest of years in 2003.

A new year has begun,
 

No, ledom, I did not make it until midnight. DH & I watched a movie and both of us were nodding off. I did hear the grand finale of some fireworks and figured it was past midnight, so turned over and went back to sleep:s: Glad to see you made it to midnight.

I know you will fit into that bathingsuit in no time and you will look fabulous. By next summer we'll be having bathingsuit-o-meters. ;) What a good deal!!! I love a good bargain. When you have you before and after pics, please let us know where we can view them.

That's wonderful how many people noticed how much weight you've lost. :cp: Those 5 lb. will be off in no time. Around the holidays it is hard to keep OP. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself. Have you officially started your next 12 week challenge?
I'm back to eating right starting today. I am afraid to get on the scale to see how much weight I've gained. But, I know that I will be going back to WW next week so the weight will be coming off. My next goal is to have lost 10% of my weight from when I started.

It's now a new year...a fresh start. I know we can all attain our goals.

Have a great day.

Good morning,
 

alice, I started back on Jan. 31. Challenge 2 will go through March 25. The scale was down 2 lbs. this a.m. so maybe I am dealing w/ water weight here as opposed to fat.

Except for working out I was useless yesterday. I have been burrowing in. Watching TV and reading, maybe today I'll get down into the darkroom and do some fun work. Oh yeah, I did grocery shop. I had an especially nice shopping trip because there were so many good sales. Boneless, skinless chicken breast were 1/2 of as were a lot of the other things I bought. That doesn' happen often. Now that I am on this diet I am eating a lot more meat so I stockpiled yesterday.

We have a rainy, snowy mix today so I 'm sure I'll be sticking close to home again.

Hello ladies!

Thanks for the welcome! You know, I feel as though I already know all of you, because I've been reading your posts for so long, and that's not really fair because you all know nothing about me--except, of course, as Ledom pointed out, I am indeed an Arkie, born and bred!
My name is Cheryl. I'll be 27-yrs-old in two weeks (dang, almost 30!). I have trouble remembering a time in those 27 years that I have not been overweight.
I have one "child." Her name is Baby. She's a cat, but I haven't told her that yet :sssh: She's my little girl and I love her.
I have a BA in English & History from Arkansas State U, Jonesboro. That is no guarantee that I'll always spell/type everything properly :o . Bear with me.
My only weight-related goal in 2003 is to drop below 200 lbs. I am absolutely determined to accomplish this goal.

I hope that the three of you all have a very happy, healthy new year!!!

Cheryl

Hello....
 

We had freezing rain overnight then it turned to snow. We got about 3" before it stopped. They are predicting another storm tomorrow and a big one on Monday. Is it ever going to end????
This is the type of weather I'm very grateful that we work out of our house.

I got on the scale this morning to assess the damage. It wasn't all that bad. I gained ALMOST 2 lb. That's according to my scale. We'll see what the WW scale says next week. I am back to journaling and OP as of today.

ledom, that's great you are down 2 lb. I agree, it must be water weight. I think that winter is a time for burrowing in. I'm reading more and trying to get enough energy to clean out a few closets, drawers, etc. Did you get into your darkroom? Good luck on your new challenge!!

Cheryl, well...I'm 54, so you are a spring chicken compared to me. We are all animal lovers on this thread. That's a picture of my baby in my avatar. I'm sure like Baby, she thinks she's human:bb: What kind of cat is Baby? You will accomplish your goal in 2003.

judi, I hope you're having a good time and I also hope you had a great new year.

Take care and have a great day.

Hey Cheryl, great to meet you. If you have been lurking you know we love our animals here. What color is Baby? Our cats have really been lounging w/D and I during vacation. They're so cute.

I did get into the darkroom and clean some last night, I am going to develop this afternoon.

I have to get some food cooked as well. It feels so great to be back on my diet. Alice, this holiday I felt my bad eating was contained within a fairly short time period and that I had a specific plan about how long that period lasted. It wasn't really the best way to spend my week off, but it was christmas, I traveled, and anyway I lost another lb. today so I don't think my sins are really going to stick around. Sounds like you are having the same experience.

D has been dragging me out for an extra hike the last few days too so I believe that is helping as well.

Hey, Ledom and Alice!

My Baby is a solid white mutt-cat with georgous yellow-green eyes, just like her mother's. Even though she's solid white, every now and then she gets this splotch of dark hairs right on the top of her head, like she's been outside and rubbed the underside of a car's oily engine. The splotch comes and goes, and when I first brought her home I tried to wash it off SEVERAL times before I realized that it was supposed to be there. :) I had her mother, Grey, for seven years and Baby is from the last (living) litter of kittens she had. Baby was the kitten no one wanted, so she's the one I wound up with, and, of course, now I wouldn't trade her for anything. You should have seen (or heard, I guess) the struggle I had with my boyfriend (who was my fiance but is now back to just boyfriend status) over her! It took forever to make him realize that the cat and I are a package deal--can't have one without the other!! :lol: Him "letting" me keep the cat in our (future--maybe) home was one of the conditions of me taking him back after I broke up with him. :smug: What can I say? She loves me even on my bad days, and she has never told me that "if I get as big as my sister I'll have to go on a diet." She really is my child, and, in case you can't tell, I could talk about her non-stop.

I called my library here in Newport, and they don't have the Body for Life book. I'm going to run by the library in Wynne this afternoon if I can get there before they close. I know they have it. I would just really like to be able to read it over the week-end, because the Weight Watchers meetings will pick up again next Tuesday, and I'd like to decide which one I want to do before then. I really need to do something!! I had the most awful dream last night that I was taking my "before" measurements and the tape measure wouldn't even fit around the smallest part of my waist :eek:!!! If that isn't a sign that I need to be getting started, then I don't know what is!!

??Where's Judi??

Waiting for another snow storm......
 

We're to get another snow storm tonight into tomorrow morning. They are saying we might get 12"-18". :dizzy:

That's great you are happy to be back on your program, ledom. It's amazing how great you feel once you are back to eating right. I am eating low point foods again, but I find I am getting lax in journaling. It had become second nature to me, but I did not journal during the holidays and now I have to remember to do it. Also, my motivation is starting to wan. I am looking forward to the next WW meeting so that I can become gung-ho again.

The new piece of exercise equipment, Tony Little's Gazelle, arrived yesterday. I did 2/10 min. workouts today. He has different levels, beginner, which is a 10 min. workout, intermediate, a 20 min. workout, and advanced, a 30 min. workout. I thought since I was used to doing a 1/2 hr. walking tape, I could just jump to the intermediate workout. No way! I can feel muscles in my legs and back that I've neve felt before. I really like this equipment.

I envy you for being able to walk outside. It is so cold in our neck of the woods that I don't venture out very much. Have a great afternoon devleoping in your darkroom.

Hey, Cheryl & judi :wave:

Have a great day.