Willbe-that is great that you took the time to make a special cake for her special dietary needs. 450 calories for a regular slice, huh? Like you said, if you have a tiny half a slice sized sliver-that is 225 calories-not too bad...just savor it and make it last!
I will enjoy Raiden's birthday...he is my little sweetheart. jasmine is a Daddy's girl, and Raiden is his momma's boy...We will have a good time at his party tomorrow...in the meantime, Jasmine wants to get out her E-Z Bake Oven and make him a "baby cake."
I just finished my strength training, and have progressed on one of the costumes a bit more. I have hit a few difficult places, but I am taking it in stride...it is nothing that with a few redone stitches and some patience, that I can't handle.
Aphil

Hello all!

Sorry I was being such a baby before. Yes I should investigate that anti-pop-up software - maybe some anti-spammer stuff, too. From looking at the spam I receive daily, one would think I was an impotent, "very-small -sized" (wink wink) man, who is looking for the Fountain of Youth and hot teen-age girls

Willbe and Kina, so sorry to hear of the vehicle troubles! Efficient transportation is so easy to take for granted, when everything is fine...then when we are stuck without a vehicle, or facing huge repair bills, it's so trying.

Willbe, congrats to you for still doing so well! And for your first drop in weight! AND for making that very nice-sounding torte! If you're anxious about how to approach the holiday meal, perhaps have a big green salad at home before you leave, if that is an option? Keep your goals in mind; also how wonderful you felt when you saw the scale difference. And good for you for not listening to the "i'm hungries" and drinking water to drown out that voice!!

Aphil, please give your son a birthday hug from me! Hope his party is a joy for everyone, including you!

I was asked to make the desserts for our Easter gathering, at my sisters. There will be 14 of us, but the only children are mine and Joe's; neither of my bros or my sis will ever have children. And my children are not little anymore, so hopefully there won't be Easter candy around to tempt! I haven't bought anything for them yet; but I will do the same as Aphil and just get a FEW single-serve treats; no bags.

As for the desserts, I'll be making lemon tarts with strawberries; and chocolate cupcakes. I'll do my best to just look forward to the dinner, and savor a lemon tart, as I love that even more than chocolate.

Idealperson, I wish you a safe, sane flight and happy visit with your aunt.

Hi missymont! Hope all is well with you and yours

I got my two new pair of New Balance shoes, with those free gift certificates; they feel SO good! And I see what I want next; a pedometer. I almost have enough for it already! We'll see how close I am to the coveted "10,000 steps".

I visited our local second-hand clothing store (thinking, when I was in there, of Aphil finding the wonderful Tonka sweatshirt for Raiden) and came out with 3 Champion sport bras ( I have no qualms about them being second-hand, as they are in superb condition) for $2 each; and two pairs of shorts for $5.

Now, the big thing will be for me to wear the shorts to work - I know I have confessed that I am very self-conscious of my legs; thick ankles, hidden knees, spidery veins on one part of thigh; the whole nine yards! But I know they have become smaller, and at least firmer. And the tanning has helped. I am so much cooler at work with shorts on (bakeries are warm in winter, and in summer - fuggetaboutit!) So I just have to bite it and wear them and try not to think that everyone is thinking, "gee, she looks normal, except for those big legs"

Tomorrow my husband is going to show me how to change the oil on the motorcycle;and how to check the tire pressure, and oil my chain. I have absolutely no mechanical abilities or desires, but these are things I should know how to do myself. Then he is going to install highway pegs; they are footpegs that are placed higher than where the stock ones are; they're positioned so when one is traveling long distances at a steady speed, one can have the legs placed up a little higher to relieve pressure, and have a welcome position change.

I got my last awaited ordered item for the trip; a black canvas carrying bag that slips over the sissy bar. Now I can lay out everything that I want to take; then try to fit it all on the bike, and see what I have to leave behind

Hello also to Kanola, Nancy, Christine, tryin'hard, jacklyn, and GeorgiaLady!

Lots for me to do tomorrow; and I have my older son to help me with yardwork!! Yay! so I will definitely take advantage of that

Have a great night and a wonderful Saturday!

Your friend,
Holly

Well, the dinner at the inlaws was absolutely delicious and I can't say I did too great. But, instead of dwelling on the things I shouldn't have had, I will instead think of the things I did differently. I didn't take nearly as much as I normally do, even though I still had too much, I only had one slice of cake, instead of sampling everything else my MIL had for her famous buffet smorgasbord (she's a terrific cook), I drank water instead of juice (3 glasses) and when we played cards later in the evening, I only had my water and didn't eat any of the snacks MIL and my little Sammy (the almost 8 year old) ate. I also had just 2 little bites of a chocolate bunny dh was eating instead of having one of my own. Boy were they good. The cake turned out quite nice too. I sent the leftovers home with SIL and her hubby since they liked it soooo much and then I wouldn't have it in my house to tempt me. Made it worth going to the effort to make for her.

Holly: I'm even finding myself getting excited for your trip. How many sleeps now? How long will you be gone? We'll miss your postings while you're away. You'll have lots of reading to do when you get back to catch up.
Congrats on your great finds at the second hand store. I wish I could get so lucky. It all just looks junky to me when I go, but I guess it takes some effort sometimes to look.
Now, about your legs....you are you now matter how they look, and you are a beatiful person (I can tell just by what you write). We're always our worst critics and I bet you think your legs look a whole lot worse than they actually do. But you know, when you're not in front of a mirror, you can't really see them anyway, so just imagine how great your long, thin, tanned, veinless legs look . We put too much value on how we look and how others might accept us if we're not "just right".
I don't know if I told you all this story yet, but in case I didn't, I'll tell it and if you heard it already, just skip down to the next paragraph and just know that I'm going senile and losing my memory in my old age (I'm 38 you know). When I joined Curves a couple of weeks ago, I had a friend of mine signing me up. I had to tell her my weight, and because I was so ashamed, I lied. I told her I was only 180, when in fact I was 200. Later after I got home, my conscience was bothering me that I had lied to her, so I called her and told her. She said to me that I was me no matter what I weighed and she loved me no matter what. Well, I almost started crying.
Some time ago, I invited a lady over for coffee. She had a little 2 year old and was quite lonely and stuck at home. She lived in a fairly wealthy neighborhood and most families had Philippino nannys to care for their children. The nannys had their own little network and she wasn't really a part of that. My husband was doing a renovation to their home and got to talk with her sometimes and mentioned that I was also a stay at home mom and maybe she and I could get together for coffee sometime. I was more than happy to oblige, so I invited her over. Well, the day arrived and this lady was on my doorstep with her little girl. I don't think I was exactly what she was expecting, which might have been a beautiful svelte woman. There was just this look on her face after I opened the door which only lasted a second, but I noticed it. I think my dh is a pretty handsome guy and folks might expect him to have a babe at home, who knows. Now, I don't think I'm ugly or anything, just overweight, but I could tell by the expression on her face that she wasn't expecting this chubby lady. She of course, was petite and pretty, but she quickly covered her surprise and was very gracious, we had a nice time having coffee and visiting, but I never heard from her again. Now, maybe I'm just imagining things, but you know when converse with someone on the phone, you form a mental image and I'm sure she was surprised when she met me. Who knows, maybe I was just paranoid about my weight. Now, I'm not missing the friendship that might have developed since I have some great friends, and if people are going to judge you on your looks they are not worth having as friends. My whole point here is that we need to just accept ourselves, imperfect as we may be. Anyone out there who has the perfect body must have had work done to make it that way.

Anyhow, that's my sermon for tonight. Have a great low cal day tomorrow everyone, and Aphil - have a great time celebrating Raiden's big day!

Well everyone, do you want the bad news, or the good news?
Okay, here is what happened...I got on this morning, and I am still holding at 177...no loss for this week...BUT....here is the good news-I measure myself every 2-3 weeks as well, and record all of my measurements, since I think they are a better judge of progress in fitness than the scale...in the past three weeks I have had a loss of only 2 pounds, but I have lost a HALF INCH off of each of my thighs, and 1/8 of an inch off of each bicep-so while my bicep muscles are noticabely larger, the fatty layer covering them is slowly going away!
Up until now, most of my lost inches have been in my hips, waist, and bust...with only very small losses for my thighs and arms...so needless to say, I am thrilled with such a large difference in my thigh and arm measurements....MOOHOOWAHAHAHAHA!!!! (evil Dracula laghter...)
I have had periods of 5-10 pound losses with hardly any difference in thigh measurement, so this was thrilling to me...all of my exercise is starting to pay off!
So see, Holly-you are not alone...one of my problem areas is my legs as well...I have thicker ankles and heavy thighs....and heavy upper arms...so none of us is perfect-we all have to make do with what we were given, and make it look the best that it can through exercise and proper diet. I have only seen pictures, but Holly you have a beautiful smile, with nice teeth, and abs to DIE FOR! Trust me, those features are what people notice first when they look at you, not your legs.
Well, I am going to get ready to go down to the inlaw's for Raiden's party...everyone have a good day, and a fabulous Easter!
Aphil

Hi all!

Aphil - to you for the loss of inches!!!! Yes, that exercise is PAYING OFF big time!!! Woo Hoo! Keep it up, girlie! You will be the hottie at that reunion yet

And thank you, Aphil and willbe, for the positive reinforcement to me on my leggin's...you're right, I should be confident - "this is me, these are my legs, they get me around, they hold up a 500 pound motorcycle; they let me work on my feet 8 hours a day, they keep up with my huge dog when she bolts; accept them!" The shorts will be ON tomorrow morning, and I bet I'll feel so much cooler, it will be even easier to wear them the next day. Thanks again!

willbe, sounded like you did very well with the holiday dinner!!! congrats to you on that. Something that helps me, when I know I've overdone on calories, but don't want to beat myself up about it, is to think of our journey in a week's time...ok, so we had too much today; we have all week to pare off a little more each day, so it can even out. That helps to take some pressure off; but then we do have to try a little harder each day.

We had a GORGEOUS day here - almost 80 degrees, sun, warm breeze...very unusual for Vermont, this early. We took the motorcycles to my sister's house for the holiday dinner, and bless my mom, she slipped me $100 for spending money for our trip. She might be freaked out by my motorcycling, and the trip, but she had been nothing but positive! I love her alot.

The first thing my brother (13 years younger than I) said, when we pulled up, engines rumbling, was "look at her bad-*ss boots!" I do have a new pair of dingoes, lady engineer-style boots, and they certainly do look "bad-*ss". They're a size 9, which I don't think is too huge, but they LOOK huge! But they grip the pavement, are oil-resistant, and will keep my ankles from breaking if I take a tumble.

Hae a wonderful night, ladies. I am so thankful that we are able to "be" with each other, at least this way, to help and support, commiserate, etc. We rock!

YOU SAID IT HOLLY: This is a great place to just "be". So let's just be, with our ups, our downs, our gains, our losses, our joys, our sorrows, our birthday parties, our biking trips, our school classes, our costumes, our car troubles, etc, etc. It's not just about weight, it's more than that because life is more than that.

It's so great to have you all to share it with!

Today I didn't do so great food wise, but so what. I enjoyed it, tomorrow is a new day, Easter is over, the candy is almost all gone (keep eating kids), I left all my leftovers with my sister so I can't eat them.

How was Raiden's party, Aphil?

How was everyone else's Easter? Ideal, Missymont, Kandola, Kina, and anyone else I missed, please let us know how things are going.

I'm keeping it short tonight, but we'll talk more tomorrow.

By the way, if you are at all interested in organization and housekeeping and just keeping that part of your life in order (I'm an organization nut, even though I'm not always very organized, I like reading about it), check out this website I found: www.flylady.net. It's great!

Take care everyone.

Happy Monday morning everyone!
willbe-I am an organization nut...my hangers in my laundry area are sorted by color...no joke. I'll check that site out!
Holly-great post! I love just being here as well...it is great, since I don't actually have many female friends that I get to see on a regular basis to yack with everyday...my closest female friends I only get to see maybe once a month, and while we hang out and have great fun, they do not share two of the most important parts of my life-which are my commitment to my body, and my costuming and crafting-so it is great to have my two places online that I can go and get support and friendship and feed those two important places in my life.
Raiden's party was great...he had a ball. He actually blew his own candles out...one at a time, but he did it himself, and then clapped for himself-it was really cute. He got a TON of spring and summer clothes, and a few items for this fall/winter-he just got up into a size 3T a month or so ago, and he only had a couple outfits-but I held back, because I knew he would get a lot for his birthday-and I was right! his "granny" (my stepmother) and his Aunt Alicia are famous for getting him tons of cute clothes. He got some adorable toddler Harley Davidson clothes. He also got a Blues Clues water sprinkler for outside and some sand toys for the new sandbox on our swingset-which is great, because Jasmine can play with that as well with him, and Superman pj's with a detachable cape. The pj's were from us, my husband saw them and had to get them for him...we grew up in the era of "Underoos" and I guess that reminded him of his childhood. Do you all remember Underoos? I had Wonder Woman...bright blue panties with stars all over them.
At the party, I saw my sister in law's friend Deanna, who has not seen me since the end of summer...when I was still at 211, or just under it, since I started getting serious again with my body in July....she walked up to me and said "Hey Skinny!" (I am by no means skinny yet, but that felt great!) She told me how great I looked, and then my husband's friend Mike kindof bragged on me a bit, telling everyone how hard I hit the workouts...and how big my upper body muscles are...he told them I was probably stronger than he was!
We also had a great Easter...and my mother in law bought me a very small package of sugar free truffles...which I thought was sweet-and she got everyone else regular candy, but not too much for the kids-just some animal crackers, and some Dum-Dum suckers/lollipops.
Well, I best get moving-I need to work out and get some housework done. It looks like a tornado came through here after this weekend!
Aphil

Good morning, everyone! Happy belated Easter! We were away in Disney World last week, but I've read all the posts and I am so proud of all of you! Any holiday is tough, but for some reason, Easter seems so much harder--it must be all the chocolate!
Vacation was great! I ate a little more than usual (vendor popcorn is one of my BIGGEST downfalls!), but we WALKED, and WALKED and WALKED! I did wear a pedometer one day--it was a fairly calm day with not a lot of back and forth walking from place to place and we still logged 5 miles!
The hard part was the car ride. We drove from CT to FL and I know I've mentioned this before, but when I'm in the car for a long trip, I love to munch! I found great sugar free chocolate mint suckers at the Cracker Barrel--they helped a lot!
Back to the old routine today. Got my regular walk in and will try to limit my calories a little this week to make up for last week.
One thing I noticed at Disney was how many obese people are in wheelchairs and motorized carts. I know I don't know their whole story, but you have to assume that being overweight is a contributing factor. It just makes me so sad. We are doing a wonderful thing, ladies!
It felt so great to have shorts and t-shirts on after such a long winter! Holly--I hear you--my legs are a mess. I have really bad varicose veins in my right leg and I am so self conscious about them. I also have heavy calves. They have a lot more definition than they used to, but they are still heavy. I also have very saggy boobs. I wear an underwire bra, but when I had a tank top on, man--it looks like I can sweep the floor with them! Any suggestions?? I wear a 34 C with the straps as tight as they can go.
How about everyone telling the one (or more) feature that they LIKE about them? I have very nice clavicles--those bones below your neck. Especially when I have a tan--they look good and I didn't even know I had them until I lost the weight!!
Well, great job everyone! Aphil--happy late birthday to Raiden--I love the 2's! They are so much fun! I can't wait to see your red outfit!
Holly--are you getting so excited?? We saw quite a few bikes on the road to FL and I was telling dh all about your trip!
Willbe--one of these days you are going to look back at these first posts and realize how hard you have worked-- you are off to a great start!
Everyone else--have a great day!

Hello everyone! I'm back in action!! Actually I got back from vacation last week but I went easy on the work outs last week, but I'm ready to get started! Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter!

I don't know if anyone remembers but I bought the Body for Life book, book on tape, and journal for my husband. He was planning on starting today. After reviewing all the info, I have decided to join him! I figure it'll be alot easier preparing meals if we are on the same program. Although, the foods are not that much different from what I was eating, just more meals with smaller portions.

I am really excited! I've got to get back to work, just wanted to check in real quick and post! Congrats to all with the losses. Oh yeah.....Holly~ from what I saw of that XMas picture, my suggestion for you would be....when you wear shorts, make sure that are the hip hugging kind, with a little T-shirt that doesn't quite meet. That'll show off that flat little belly of yours and believe me, no one will notice your legs!!! Just kidding of course, but seriously we are all alot harder on ourselves than anyone else, so I'll bet your legs look just fine to anyone else! From your pictures, I think you look great!

Hi again!
I should still be doing my housework, but all these new posts-and I just had to reply!
tryin'hard-the first thing that you should do is make 100% sure that you are wearing the correct bra size. Go online and check around the lingerie places and see if they have the guide to fitting yourself...most women do not, and it truly does affect teh support of the bra. The ribcage band should be pretty snug fitting, the most constricting part of the bra-if it "rides up" the back to your shoulder blades, the bra is either too loose in the bad, or just worn out. If the bra is riding up in teh back, it means your boobs are "going down" in the front! Bras should also always be washed in gentle and dried flat-not put into the dryer-it really breaks them down a lot faster. After you check the fit of the band-try some on in the store, and check a few different cup sizes in the correct band size. In a full coverage bra, if there is "boob" popping out the top, or out under your armpit, or the center front of the bra-between your breasts-is pulled out away from your chest-the cup is too small. The center front should be up against your chest, separating the "two entities."
I also think that it helps to find bras with sturdier straps that DON"T stretch are key if you wear a C cup or above. A and B cups don't have much weight and can wear the cutesy little stretch straps, but for us more endowed girls, if you pull the straps tight as they will go to lift "them" up, then the straps just stretch under the weight of them and they go right back "down" and then your bra is pretty much useless. I also think that underwire offers better support and chaping for larger busts.
Bali is a pretty good brand, and they usually have non-stretch straps, as well as Olga and come in regular and larger sizes...they sell these in nicer stores like Penney's and Elder Beerman, etc. For 38 band sizes and above, Just My Size has great bras-you can get them at about any Wal-Mart. They are supportive with non-stretch straps, and they have lots of styles-from basic to lacy.
I also think that tryin' hard had a great idea, with everyone telling a few things that they like about themselves, instead of always focusing on the negatives...my butt is big, etc.
As far as myself...I like my slender and small hands and wrists...and I like my teeth-they have always been "you must have had braces" straight, and my jawline perfectly aligned-no over/underbite. When I moved up here a couple years ago and changed dentists-I had a checkup before my prior records got to the new dentists office, and he looked and asked me when I had my wisdom teeth out, and I told him that I hadn't. (My other dentist had never mentioned it, and I just assumed that whenever they came in, that I had been one of the lucky ones that had them come in straight.) He asked if I was positive, and I told him yes, and he said that I didn't have any! He said that only a pretty small percentage of people don't have them at all...strange huh? My father doesn't have any either.
Aphil

Thanks for the bra info, Aphil! I did get personally fitted at Victoria Secret, but they may have been a little biased!
Hope everyone had a great day! I concentrated on no BLT's today--bites, licks and tastes!
Holly--how do you make your food last for 30 bites? I barely made it to 20 with my chicken, let alone cooked carrots!!

Yeah...I think Victoria's Secret is biased...they carry bras in d and DD cups, but the bras they sell in those sizes have nothing in them to support you if you ARE that size...skimpy stretch straps that stretch out...a skinny little closure in the back with only 2 hooks...(I prefer 3) and the shimmery stretch satin cups that stretch completely out, and then you end up sagging as much as if you didn't have one on at all! And you spent $40 for the thing on top of that! AAAHHHH!!!
Check out the swebsite called One Hanes Place-they have nice Bali bras there...some with matching undies...
Aphil

Hi Everyone.

Jacklyn: Welcome back from your vacation. I hope you had a good time. I can't imagine sticking too close to a diet while vacationing. I've been avoiding eating out 'cause, unless it's a fast food place that has provided food info (and that's usually too many calories anyway) I just don't know what I'm getting. I've also heard that eating more often, but smaller portions is better for you. I don't know anything about Body for Life, but if it's close to what you already do, then it should work fine.

Aphil: That's some good advice on bra fitting. Our brands are much different in Canada, but I purchased a bra not long ago that is called a "demitasse" bra. It lifts and separates very nicely. I feel very "perky" when I wear it. I prefer a sports bra when I workout. Yesterday I had to wear one of my regular bras as my sports bra was in the wash. I was very bouncy and felt very self concious about it. Back to the sports bra today!

Tryin: Sounds like you also had a great holiday. I've never been to Disney World, but we went to Disneyland October 2001. What a great holiday. We almost cancelled since it was right after 9/11, but the park was very empty and we didn't have to wait for rides much at all. I know what you mean about the walking. What a great idea to wear a pedometer and clock your miles.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I stuck to my calorie limits and felt quite satisfied. I've been working on bringing up my water intake as well. We're having the boys' teachers and their spouses for dinner tonight. We did this for the first time last year and had a blast. I'm making chicken thighs (no skin) baked in BBQ sauce, rice, carrots, brocolli, buns, and for dessert, angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipping cream (I'll skip the whipping cream). Our kids are at a fairly small school (approx. 225 kids) so it's a very close community. We're also having our big fair/auction fundraiser on Saturday. I'm the data entry person meaning I enter all the donated auction items, print up the auction forms, and after the Big Event (that's what it's called) I have to hurry and figure out who got what, and print out receipts so everyone can pay for their purchases and take them home. We usually raise about $15,000 so it's a great fundraiser.

Well...tummy is starting to growl so I better find some breaky.

Have a great day everybody!

Hi everyone!
Willbe-there are some sit down restaurants that provide nutrition info...you can find the info in some calorie books, and on some of their websites...Applebee's has info on their low fat/low calorie items in the fast food nutrition part of this website...Pizza Hut has info on their site...they have some pretty reasonable choices-the key there is to order thin or hand tossed crust instead of pan...the pan crust is a killer-it is dripping with olive oil. A slice of thin and crispy veggie lovers pizza is only 190 calories (out of a medium pizza) so depending on your calories for the day-you can have 2 or 3 slices for dinner...thin and crispy ham pizza is lower in calories as well-I am not sure of the exact amount-you will have to check the site-but I know it is under 200 a slice. Pizza gets fattening when you start getting into the pepperoini and sausage, extra cheese, and the thicker or cheese stuffed crusts-if you eat ham or veggie-and stick to thin crust-it isn't all that bad for you. I have a little "booklet" that I made up, which is basically pages of restaurant nutrition info that I have printed off the computer...I keep it in the drawer, and with a highlighter I have marked the healthier choices, so if Jason suggests getting something out, then I just skim through wherever he wants to go-and the better choices are already marked.
Fazoli's also has their info on their site-and they have a few good choices as well-their minestrone soup, their SMALL sized spaghetti...salads...check that site out as well.
I believe that Chili's also has low fat/lower calorie items on their menu-I will check their site and make sure and get back to you...in places that no info is available-I just use my calorie book and order grilled chicken breast, salad without any cheese on it, shrimp cocktail...items that I can easily look up in my book, and monitor portions on...steering away from skillet type meals, casserole things...you know-things that you cannot tell exactly what is in it...so it is hard to "guess-timate" the calories on.
I have been sewing half the night...well, actually not sewing-but cutting out a zillion pieces of fabric...now I have plenty more ready for the sewing machine.
I am going to be doing abwork today, and then going to class tonight...so my exercise for the day will be about 70 minutes...after being up a lot last night-I will be more than ready for bed this evening!
Well, I best get going-I need to get motivated and get to work on these abs...
Aphil

Well, I am back from my vacationing in Pennsylvania, I have been in seven states this month! I got back last night aroung 4pm and headed right to my WW weigh-in---I was down .6 of a pound. Not much, but at least it is a loss. My aunt had a wonderful Easter buffet and then we had a huge pizza party with some old friends before we left, then a two hour layover at the airport in Minneapolis-so I had a chef salad there. Today at work is a co-workers birthday, so we went to an Italian buffet---my God, will I ever stop!!! Oh well, I have to remember that I joined WW in Jan. 2003 at 209 # and last night I weighed 171! I need to read the past threads here and get back on track....

Aphil...my dad retired from GM also, I bought a new Trail Blazer last year and love it! Test drive one if you are in the market for a new vehicle!
.....have a great day everyone!