:( I didn't get to come back and do personals. oh, well.

WI: -1
Pain: 0/1/6
Activity: 1

Credits: counting calories :yay:, taking vitamins :yay:, making a decent substitution on the sandwich I didn't get for dinner :yay:, NOT eating out of frustration :yay:, seeing C :yay:

C wants to see 5 days of my food tracking, including water. She also gave me a heel lift for the left foot. One of my feet appears to come down further from my torso than the other, but she doesn't know if i that's caused by the tilt in my hips brought on by the curve in my spine, or if the curve in my spine is caused by the tilt in my hips brought on by a difference in my leg lengths. She said we'll try the lift and see if there's any improvement.

Robin: about "might make having to go not so bad" Is there anything you can think of that you liked about going to the gym? I think that as you become a regular there, you'll find a certain sense of cameraderie with the others. It just takes time. At least, I know that's been my experience. Now there are a few different folks who will stop to chat with me, though people aren't yet shouting "Tera!" at my entrance. ;)

ChinaMaine: My sympathies for your brain fog. I can just imagine what a struggle that makes everything else. :yay: for being OP in spite of it!

Yeah, using a word doc (or text file a la Bill) would make all kinds of sense. I can't think of a single reason not to, but my weird brain pouts at the thought and says, "I don' wanna." Does that make any sense? I usually copy posts before hitting the submit button (which is where glitches usually occur).

onebyone: :yay: for competing your print and :woohoo: for completing college! You deserve a HUGE round of applause:

I would love to be able to see your print in person!

Anne: :yay: for figuring out where your extra weight was coming from and pushing through!

Bill: :yay: for using Gerbilina both to get your exercise and to keep out of temptation's way! :lol: about Cherry, Cherry. I'm reasonably certain that if it were about food, you'd have wondered that a long time ago.

Thanks for the tip. Of course the one time you don't take the precaution, you will have wished you had. Murphy warned us, after all. :lol:

Tera~ there are lots and lots of nice things to look at ;) (but Id still rather be sleeping) :lol3:

I just popped in to say a quick hello, we hit the floor running this morning!

Everything is op all the way, I plan to succedd tonight at the baby shower! :cb:

Catch you all tomorrow....have a wonderful friday afternoon!

Im home and I did it :cb: :carrot: :broc: they even had baked brie! :drool:

Im having my tea and Im off to bed :D

Coaches/Buddies I had an awesome bike today. 1h50m and 20 miles, which is an awful average speed, until you figure I did some BIG hills. Got up one I've only managed once before with very little trouble. WOO HOO! Sort of on plan today. Legitimate substitutions, but enough of them that it kind of feels off. Calories are working out, and I'm going to have the last snack of a small handful of salty stuff (probably goldfish crackers) and a beer soon.

Tomorrow is a rest day, which I need. I need to figure out a food plan. I'll pull something together, since I always do better if I have a plan at all, but expecting deviations due to the chaos of the weekend.

Oh yeah, went to the doc today for my physical, and I'm all good. Going for part 2 with the doc #2 next week, and probably part 3 after that as I enter a new demographic, and therefore am eligible for more diagnostic fun.

Bill I was thinking of starting a pool on how long it'll take Gerbilina to lose it's novelty. Hoping it's a long time!! Love that ho hum!

Personally, I think it is probably harder to sit through a 2 hr telecon than to pedal up a 10% grade hill, but different strokes, eh? :)

Tera I'm liking the way your pain numbers are moving. I'm reading it right I hope.

Robin :high: on your shower success!

And since we're personals lite tonight, :wave: to Chris, Jeanie, davidette, ChinaMaine, Kim, onebyone, Trish, Wendy, Candy, CJ and maryblu tonight.


Anne

After almost 2 months I get to go back to work on monday which is my birthday. I am so glad. I have waited for this for 2 months. Yeah. Still no work on dh.

Saturday
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Did gym; CREDIT moi. Ate OP; CREDIT moi.

Dinner included Garlic Mustard - the invasive weed - which we only have once a year when it's small and tender. They are one step more biting than Mustard Greens. Clearly an acquired taste, but one I've grown to like.

Fun thing was to walk to Trader Jo's during lunch - a big deal because I've been putting it off for a while and needed the nuts and raisins. Always a treat walking through that store. Their California Golden Raisins are my fav.


Robin (RobinW) - kudos for planning for the shower and then following your plan, even past the "baked brie!" I have noted that baked brie is showing up a bunch recently, enough that I can't put it in the rare and unusual category to justify snarfing a bit.

Anne (wndranne) - Good grief, a 1h50m bike ride is some great exercise. Kudos. Yep, a two hour telecon is a pain, except for the joy of modern communications I do it on my computer while I work on something that matters.

I'll join the pool about Gerbilina losing her novelty, LOL. I'm there - she's just an OK substitute for a nice walk.


Tera (twilit tera) - Good news about the heal lift; good because every small step seems like moving forward, even if just an experiment.

Kudos for "NOT eating out of frustration." That's a big one. Beck has been useful to me for making me aware of the feelings that go along with eating. When I feel frustration, it does work to take a break and come back with a clearer head. In the past, that break always included food. Now it works to just do something else.


Chris (angelmomma210) - Yay for going back to work - hope your kids remember you.

Readers -

Good Morning
 

Hello Coaches

This is my first Saturday truly off. I have NO CLASSES next week. I am really done. Wow. Everything I make from here on in is gravy, or commercial work. What a weird feeling.

I am heading in to the school today though. I want to take my big print down, repair the 4 small tears and put it away for my grad review meeting on Tuesday. We're selecting from my work and from another classmates as to what piece or two go into the grad show in the school's main gallery. My big print is already wider than any other piece and wider than the space I am allotted. But there's give and take so it's possible.

The farmers' markets start this weekend. I am heading out to the Ottawa Market tomorrow, if it's a sunny day that is, and I am going to begin my next Big Project: painting portraits of the local growers. I'm going to start with this great image of the market manager, Linda, I took last year. I need to build a body of work and eventually, when I am eligible, I want to apply for a city grant and I need work to back it up. And so, what's really happening is I am shifting into another phase. I need to see if I can make my schoolin' pay off.

well, 266.6 today. I think the other thing I'll do this weekend is consume my Structure House book. I was trying to follow this foodplan and I've decided it's not for me. It smacks of being too extreme. well, I think it is too extreme and it triggers me to stay the same somehow. The plan is starve one day (calories below 500) and then the next day eat what you want up to "your" upper limit (there's a calculator to use) 2300-2600 sort of but if you go way over, like I was doing 3300-3600 "it's okay". So you undereat one day overeat the next. It got rid of the water weight like crazy but did nothing else for me really. I'm still wishing:genie: for the magical quick weight loss genie to just take it away. I still want to lose 40lbs for grad. I still want to be a muscle-y hard body. I still want this big tummy to go away.

I think I feel like "I have an extreme weight problem therefore I need to take extreme measures." I have some thinking errors precipitated by a panic to lsoe weight already and a fear that I am simply incapable. I need to work on these attitudes and I need to cultivate some acceptance of what it really takes to do this. Can anyone recommend any books I could read about people who have lost weight and kept it off? I need stories of those who have been there-done that. I need lots of those stories.

And if you've read this far (thanks) two other things are going on. The landlords came and replaced our front door (it didn't need replacing aesthetically speaking, but energy-wise the new one fits way better-landlords pay the heat here) and we were told all the windows will be replaced this year. They've been slowly at it all over the neighbourhood, mostly replacing the windows after tenants move out but now I guess they are just doing it. we had 24hrs notice about the door. I had to shift 3 rubbermaid bins and a shelf out of the work area. This will give you a clue as to what I will have to do in other rooms. So, de-cluttering is now a major priority. I've never been successful at doing it either, just like permanent weight loss. I just sort of shift it all around and it ends up back. I need a real solution here.

And I had a lunch visit with my sister yesterday. Two things: my other sister is selling her house and moving to Key West ASAP as soon as her house is sold and so she wants to relocate my mother ASAP to here, to Ottawa in a high end care facility that has independent living-my mother wants a reg apartment-but there is really no conflict amongst my siblings, or me, with these plans. What they, my brother and sister, want me to do is meet with everyone, all the siblings should get together to be in on the discussions about our mother's future and to let the controlling sibling, the one who's moving, know that there are other's involved here.

I'll tell you coaches, I am NOT interested in being part of a showdown or a "lets put her in her place" type of scenario. I don't see what the problem is here. My mother wants to move. That's usually the problem... and it isn't. There is money to cover the costs of a seniors residence, even a high end one, and my Key West sister has power of attorney to do anything she wants and the means to get it done if we rebel and don't help. After being left out of the loop for over a year is this the way I want to return? Uh, I don't think so. I, sadly, suspect the only reason there would be continuing contact between my local sister and brother is to have me add emotional weight to try to get my Key West sister to... what? Change? Be more inclusive? Hello? Do they not know who she is? Supposedly my brother is calling this meeting and he's going to have to talk to me on the phone. I won't respond to an email. I'm :mad: and hurt. I don't want to make it worse. I was just coming to peace with it all.:( OTOH I am happy my mother is coming to town. It'll be good to have her in my life again. I look forward to it.

Thanks for reading. I had to get it out... Have a great Saturday.

onebyone Check out Thin For Life by Anne Fletcher. Lots of stories of weight loss masters, who lost and kept it off and the types of things they did.

Also, go hang out in the Maintainer's section of this forum. Lots of success stories there, available interactively no less.

Also, check out CNN's Fit Nation special at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2008/fit.nation/

See you tonight.

Anne

Friday Report
 

one by one You’ve finished the print - :yay: It’s huge! :bravo: for being done with school – what a good feeling that must be! Well now that schools over, I guess it’s not surprising that other issues are going to seem more pressing. Would it make sense to take a deep breath over the next couple of weeks and really think about what your priorities are (not your brother’s, your landlord’s or your sister’s)? I’m a fan of lists, because it helps me think through things rather than just reacting. But I think the process of thinking and prioritizing is more important than the method… If you think and prioritize, it’ll all be more manageable for you.

Anne Credit for running Thursday when you were tired! Mommy spa – how cute! :woohoo: for the great Friday bike ride. And credit for reasonable substitutions. Thanks for the book recommendation. I have to drive to NJ and back next week on business and I wanted to get a couple of audio books for the ride. I think I’ll get Fit for Life, and a David Sedaris book. I’m sure I’ll get verklempt hearing Fit for Life, and Sedaris will be a good antidote. :)

Bill So the Gerbilina is a rainy day substitute for walking – brilliant! And food op both Thurs and Fri – credit for ho hum! And you got a nice walk in Friday – wasn’t it gorgeous yesterday? How did you make yourself walk back to work, once you had escaped for lunch?

Tera :yay: for weight being down and pain being a bit down too! Credit for doing all the things that make you healthy – counting calories, vitamins, etc! It’s hard to believe that no one else noticed the spinal curve and tilt of your hips. You have hip pain, you think any doctor would look for alignment issues. Grrrrr… At least you have someone paying attention now! :woohoo:

Robin Credit for being op especially when confronted with baked brie! Just as I was typing your personal a loon started calling – loudly. I think they want me to tell you ‘congrats’. :lol:

angelmomma :woohoo: for going back to work Monday! :crossed: for dh.

Just a quick check in...

WI: -1 NEW LOW
Pain: 0/1/4 (OMG)
Activity: 2

Credits: :swim: :yay:, calorie counting :yay:, vitamins :yay:, choosing 2 healthier dessert options (the first was unavailable and the second I made from scratch) :yay::yay:

Just saying hello,my doggie died after the surgery was over and I am just feeling very sad.They are forcing me to go to work on Monday to a stupid desk/sedentary job.I get an MRI Wed of my knee and it still hurts.Eating is all over the place,from eating nothing until I start to get dizzy and shaky to just eating pure sugar.Wendy

Saturday Report
 

Tera :yay: new low! And your pain is so low [relative to what it’s been for as long as I can remember]. You went swimming – counted calories – making dessert – credit!! I hope you are really enjoying what sounds like a great day!

Wendylan I’m terribly sorry for the loss of your dog. :hug: My thoughts are with you and your family… I’m also sorry about the job, knee pain and your eating. Take care.

:wave: had a good day, made it to the gym and got a good workout in.

100% all the way.

Didnt get anything except deviled eggs done today. I should be able to sneak in a pot of soup in tomorrow after the festivities.

Have a nice evening everyone.

Sunday - Happy Mother's Day
 

Diet Coaches/Buddies - Happy Mother's Day to all you guy with kids, including furbabies.

Took my first bike ride of the season - a good start; CREDIT moi. Rode over to a park having an open house affair where they were giving out small FREE apples. Now that's the sort of FREE I need to encounter more often.

Exercise was helping DW plant a tree - a liftable tree; CREDIT moi. Fortunately, I've worked up my patience setting up the Christmas tree over the years so I was ready for, "needs to tilt back some more," "no, I think it should go six inches this way," and "you're right, it does tilt left, maybe rotate 90 degrees." All's well that ends well.


onebyone - You've got several big things to tackle at once; of course it can feel overwhelming.

First, Congrats again for finishing your three year Arts program. It's a big deal to plan and execute that, despite the normal Sabotaging Thoughts to just chuck it all when it became impossibly tough. Now, it's inspiring to hear you casually state that you're off to make your "commercial" stuff to sell at the farmers' markets. Yep, it's not just commercial, it's professional stuff.

And Kudos for jumping through the hoops to meet up with your sister. Sending you support to continue doing that, despite the hurt and other deep feelings. I've known that sort of stuff in my family's history, and the only solution with family is to just keep going forward. There isn't a good way for other family to make up for pain they've caused in the past - in fact, little likelihood they will ever recognize that the actions they took in their pain were hurtful to you. There's gain for you to talk it out as much as necessary with sympathetic friends, including here, and going to the family meeting to be a stabilizing force. You demonstrate that you are part of the family and that you are bigger than their actions.

The suggestion by Anne (wndranne) to mine the stories over in the Maintenance corner is a good one. Here's the link to the Sticky thread with introductions: Sticky: Welcome / Please Introduce Yourself!

You've got what it takes to pull yourself forward; you've done so in the past. I wish for you that you can feel your own worth as you find your path.


Robin (RobinW) - Kudos for gym and "100% all the way." Deviled eggs lure me to want more deviled eggs; I gotta serve myself and make the platter scarce for rational eating.

Anne (wndranne) - Speaking of books, are you tempted by the bigger Kindle just released by Amazon?

Tera (twilit tera) - Congrats on the new low; love that loss by dribble, dribble, dribble.

Kudos for the dessert choices. And Kudos for, presumably, wearing your new heal lift and new shoes.


Chris (angelmomma210) - Waving. Sending special thoughts on Mother's Day.

ChinaMaine - Ouch for the fatigue; Double Ouch that it came from an attempt to do good for yourself with a garlic pill. Who'd have thunk.

Kudos for doing those core exercises. Yay for "thighs are burning." Methinks improvement in my core is essential for that overall feeling of healthy.

Good luck on your travels next week.


Wendy (Wendylan) - Sending supportive thoughts for the loss of your dog, especially as you feel the loss today on Mother's Day.

Readers -

WI: none (mom’s still asleep where the scale is)
Pain: 0/2/6
Activity: 3

Credits: counting calories :yay:, taking vitamins :yay:, splitting small order of onion rings after looking at the nutrition table, even though it was technically within my budget :yay:

Today is mother’s day and sure to be fraught with temptation. First, I’m making breakfast for her, then I’m cooking up a spaghetti dinner, and finally, my aunt asked if she could bring dessert and remembering that Mom’s favorite was spice cake with coffee frosting, that’s what I asked her for.

I’m going to track everything vigorously and use lots of portion control. I am going to be SO on plan today!

Wendy: I am sorry to hear about your loss.

ChinaMaine: Yikes about your reaction to garlic!

Robin: :yay: for 100% all the way!

Bill: Hooray for FREE apples!

And yes, I am wearing the new shoes still. I hardly think about it these days.