Geez, ya'll went through 3 pages before I could get back! I can't remember everyone who gave me pep talks since my last post, but THANK YOU ALL!

Heather and Kristi - I know I've only been on plan 5 days, but PLEASE don't wait any longer to get back up! I've done so much "Next Week" or "I'll just wait until my TOM is done" or "Well, just wait til after my birthday, Christmas, Easter etc.) I can give you 2500 excuses I've used to put it off just a little longer, and you know what I have to show for it? almost 100 pounds of fat on me! So stick to your guns ladies!

As for my headache - much better today so far. (Well, not counting the 5 younguns screamin and hollerin in my house... lol).

One thing for those of you who say prayers for people, my DF is at the hospital right now with bad abdominal pains. He's thinking kidney stone, but his older brother's gall bladder exploded when he was DF's age, and so we need to make sure what is going on. I'm home with our younguns, goin crazy and trying not to stress eat, while his mom is with him up there, and NO PHONE CALL since they left for the hospital 3 hours ago. :stress:

I am POP as of now, and it's time for my PM snack.

Many hugs,

Evette thank you for sharing with us about your brother. I know that has to be hard on you. Glad you’re able to be there for him.

Sommer hang in there it has to get better. Glad you posting again. It’s also great that you’re planning ahead for your b-day dinner.

Lori that’s great so happy for you. I’d be say wahoooo also

Joan another woohooo for you and a size 7/8 to boot great job.

LeAnn I’m also very happy for you also you’ve worked hard. Have faith and stay strong and you’ll keep those 150’s and move quickly into the140’s.

Lottame your recipe sounds yummy. I’ll have to try it sometime soon.

Patty congrats on losing 10lbs that’s great.

Heather so sorry that you’ve been feeling down. It seems like we can’t ever lose the fact that we will have to watch what we eat and exercise the rest of our lives. You’ve done so great. I want you to reach down into your heart of motivation and tell yourself all the great things that you share with each on of us, when we are down. I hope TO helps you get back on track and you lose those few extra lbs.

Cassi you are so right most of us tend to stay away from the board when were being poop. I think it’s admitting that we have failed again. Thanks for calling us out and bringing it to our attention.

Go Mommy congrats on being POP for 7 days that is great news.

Joan that is a great NSV I can’t wait till I’m off the BP meds also great job.

Jenni glad your headache is better. So sorry about your DF I hope they figure out for sure what is wrong with him and the pain goes away.

There are so many posts it’s hard to get to everyone. That’s the other bad thing when you’re not on the boards that often.

I went to the COD yesterday and was at 190.2, but as of today I’m down to 186.6. I decided to not change my tickler as I plan to get below 185 very soon. I brought an empty slim fast can to my center and asked them to compare it to their meal replacement. Once she did I told her now you know why I’m now going to drink SF instead. I told her about the SF website and how they plan out your meals for you and it’s FREE. She seemed cool with it and just wants me to concentrate harder to get to my first goal and I agree. I’m still working with the trainer and I really am seeing some small results. Off to chat with my DH who just got home from a long day at work.

Good Morning Everybody! :wave:

Thought I would send a quick post before leaving for my trip.

D'Ann - Congrats on being POP for 7 days! I tried viewing your pics, but the page gave me an error. Not sure if anyone else had this problem?

Lori - :wave: I'm here -- in and out. Too hot to eat, and too hot to sit at the computer all day long. Although I will be MIA this weekend, and will post again on Tuesday (maybe Monday night).
Good Luck getting the remainder of your hockey stuff together!! :)

Lisa - I know exactly what you mean about healthy foods costing more money, and using the kids/being home/summer as an excuse. I go back on Aug. 29, and I'm looking forward to it. It was so much easier for me to stay POP when I'm gone out of the house all day, and not going out for lunch with DH.
BUT -- summer IS almost over, so back to reality and weight loss for both of us!! Hang in there, and keep posting!!

Joan - WTG!! That is a GREAT NSV!!!

Jenni - :hug: :hug: to you. Your DF is in my prayers. I hope by the time you hop on and read this that the doctor has figured out what is wrong with him!!

Barb - :wave: Which Slim Fast did you take in, Optima or something else?

Hope everyone has a great POP weekend!

Joan - great news on reducing that BP medicine. Keep up the great work.

Barb - your COD must love you...bringing in the SlimFast can like that. I should do that too, just for a good laugh and to see how they'd react. Cheap entertainment. Hope your PT stuff is going well. I've procrastinated checking into the program at my gym. I'm re-reading my Body for Life book for exercise motivation. I want to eat LAWL style, but feel there is a bit more science to the exercise part and it would be great for my pocketbook if I could figure it out on my own.

Sherry - have a great, safe trip.

I love rhyming quotes and found this one...I think we can all relate:

Good Morning everyone! Happy Friday. I just wanted to give a shout out to each and everyone of you for being there for me! I really appreciate all of you. Thank you.

And on that note....I hope everyone is doing great. I'm a little behind on my reading, so I don't have any personals. I hope everyone is trying their best to be POP. As for me, I'm stuck here at 157 exactly! I want it to move already. 5 days at the same weight is toooooo long for me!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

Good morning all. Day 5 not doing so well. I started day 3 and TOM same day. No weightloss, only gain. I feel so unmotivated. BUT....self pity isn't going to get me any where. Hope everyone else is having a better day. It really helps to come here and see other people doing well.

Morning everyone! I am soooo glad to see that it is Friday already. I do live for my weekends.

Sherry- Have a fun trip!

Thanks Michelle and Katie! I really enjoy doing my blog, it feels so important even if only to me, to keep notes of all the things I've learned so that if I have to later I can return to them and say "Here look see? It wasn't so hard when you knuckled down and did it." Thanks for reading it though. I hope it didn't sound like self-promotion when I mentioned it, I'm just so proud of it. I feel like I'm finally being honest and tolerant with myself.

Yeah the japanese steakhouse I'm going to comes out and cooks the food right there in front of you. They do the onion volcano and flip the eggs around. I wouldn't even know where to begin measuring up the meal, but I'm just going to make the best possible choices and say "Oh well! We'll drink lemon water tomorrow." And be done with it. I think I'm going to skip the miso but eat the salad and all my veggies to fill up on before I get to the other stuff so that I'm not as hungry for the other fat and oil saturated foods and rice. But I am going to enjoy the heck out of it.

Way to go on your victories Joan and Barb! That's pretty fantastic. I'm so proud of you!

This morning I'm back down to 281.4, exactly my pre-vacation weight. Weird! So I weighed in sunday morning at a whopping 288.2, and before my vacation I was 281.4. It also came at the same time as TOM so my hyperventalating didn't last too long. But six days later and I'm back where I want to be, that means that my monday weigh in will break the bottom weight and soar into the 70s like a crazy girl.

I've also started painting watercolor again, tons of it all over my apartment. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it all. Give as gifts perhaps. Everyone should have beautiful watercolor trees in their home. I've also started on my halloween cards. I know it sounds crazy to start doing halloween cards this early, but when you plan to do like 100 of them, you have to start early. I'm hoping to make enough so that I can send some watercolor halloween cards out to any of you who'd like one :-) I'm crazy about gift giving my art.

For everyone who is struggling this summer, don't let it beat you. There's something terrible about the heat and the weird schedule changes and our preset social idea that summers are for relaxing and not caring and not stressing out and eating grilled BBQ food and having fun. And here we are trying to not have a normal summer. Don't fall behind and don't give up. You want what is ahead of you and it might just take a while but you don't have to fight it all alone. We're all here to help pick you up by your bootstraps. It's never all or nothing, ever little change improves your life that much more.

GOOD MORNING LADIES!

Sommer - can you PM me the link to your blog? I'm just too lazy to dig for it. I should have bookmarked it when you posted it. And... Happy Birthday! Enjoy your dinner!

Joan - WTG with your little self! both the nsv victories are awesome!

Sherry - Have a great weekend!

Everyone else, good morning!

As for me, WI at noon today, and then we are going to see Brad Paisley tonight. I am saving my starches for some pre-party tailgating beers!!!!! Until then, I will be a hungry girl today. But I will take my carb blockers tonight and hit the lemon water heavy over the weekend. Hopefully Monday's WI won't be so bad. But, we very rarely go out, so I'm going to "moderately enjoy".

I'm using the low carb one, which is higher in protein then the Optima one & to me it's not that bad tasting. Have fun on your trip:)

Joni Oh I loved it, she couldn't try and talk me out of it, when I was proving I was right and their product couldn't compare. I told them I had bought the Atkin bars and would have switched to them, but they were nasty in flavor. I told them they need to really work on cutting down on the sugar and sodium. Hey I say do the same thing and see what you center tells you. It's kind of hard for them to argue with you:) If you do let us know how it goes. I haven't heard of Body for Life, but I hope it gives you that motivation your looking for. I know it took me many years of not wanting to exercise, not that I do now either, but I need to:) Happy Friday!

Sommer,

You are pulling me out of my lurking bat-cave to tell you how much I enjoyed your blog. You are a great writer with a lot of raw wit. I enjoyed it immensely! Thanks for putting a bright spot on my otherwise trying day.

Happy Friday everyone!

DF has a kidney stone (Thank God it was nothing else!)

Kelly- This is day 6 and I have WI shortly. It's my TOM too, so I'm probably going to have gained as well. It's been 1 week since they first weighed me and so I wore the same outfit. I won't officially have been doing it a week til Sunday AM though.

Hugs to all!

Sorry I have been MIA since my family came in last week it has been run run run this weekend is super busy as well. I have my big test tomorrow wish me luck. I am also leaving monday afternoon (working half day) to go on vacay so I wont be back till Aug 14th. Everyone have a great week or so and I will see ya when i get back!!!