Oh, Lily!

Hello everyone!! I am new to this forum. I have been in Calorie Counting since Jan 07, but it's time to start maintaining now. So now I am going to start uping my calories a little bit and see what happens. I have already noticed that with eating a little more my weight is holding pretty steady, so I will have to reach that sweet spot right? LOL

Lilly- I can't imagine how hard it is for you, my thoughts and prayers are with your family.

Thanks everyone for the support. I called my sister last night to tell her what is happening with Shane. She had gotten the same bad news yesterday morning. Her DD's husband is also being sent overseas and is leaving within 30 days. Her DD is 7 months pregnant and Zach will miss the birth of his baby. Plus, he's leaving behind a 2 yr. old daughter. Just when I thought my family's situation was horrible, I can't imagine what my poor niece is going through. At least Shane doesn't have a wife or kids that he is leaving. This will be the second time Zach was sent and the first time is when Nikki was pregnant before.

I am going to try to not give into emotional eating and to keep this wt. off. Heck, I don't have any clothes to wear if I gained weight. Plus, I need to always remember how much I have improved my health and why it is positively necessary for me not to regain. I foresee a spending splurge in my near future. I want to buy me some more cute things to wear . I'm gonna try and be real active in the school this yr. and take my SD and DD to all the high school basketball, football and softball games. School starts back up on Aug. 9th , so me and the girls have some major shopping to do. I so love to shop.

I find that I usually exercise a lot when I'm stressed , moreso than overeat. I just take off for long walks to help me get stress relief. I plan to continue to do this.

I finally got to pick a bunch of Okra yesterday evening. I'm definitely gonna try the Oven Fried Okra recipe that Robin gave me the link for. It looks really yummy.

Petra, Welcome to our maintainers forum and Congratulations on reaching your goal.

Lily~hugs and prayers that your son will come home safely.

Petra~welcome!!!!

Nothing much going on here. The weather is so humid you can't see the mountains from my office. It hurts to breathe out there. Yuck. I can't wait for the fall.

Lily, I like your strategy for combating emotional eating - high school games, exercise and SHOPPING. You're gonna do just fine. As will your son. I just know it.

Welcome Petra. You have done so well - congratulations. I'm pretty new here myself, just getting my feet wet.

I discovered a great new treat. I've been eating the Danon light and fit 60 calorie yogurts for quite some time now. But, I just started putting them in the freezer. They're YUMMY like that. Much more satisfying and filling for some reason and the best part is, it takes longer to eat.

I did something earlier this morning that I've been reluctant to do for quite some time now. Up until now, I've been doing all my exercise on my own. This morning I joined a gym. There I said it. I just wanted to keep my routine fresh and have some different options. Between the machines and the classes I thought that would make things more interesting.

The only thing is, I'm now having some doubts as to whether or not I joined the RIGHT gym. I joined an all female gym, which I like the idea of - a lot. But now I'm wondering if it's going to have enough hours for me. They don't open til 8:00 and I'm an early riser. And they don't have a pool. So now I'm thinking there's another gym nearby with a pool and they open at 6 am and close at 12 am. But it'll probably be more crowded and there are men there.

I have three days to cancel my other membership and I guess I'll just have to figure it out.

Allison, thanks. Sorry, I think it was you that gave me the Okra recipes and I posted it was Robin.

Robin, WTG on joining a gym. I so want to join a gym. My Dr. is still balking at the idea though. He also says "just walkin" is good enough to keep your wt. off. Which is true, but dang it, I want to be firm. I'm loving swimmin so much that I'm gonna really miss it when it gets too cold to swim. A long time ago, I belonged to Mademoiselle, an all women's fitnes center, and I loved it. Of course, I'm older now and dont care what people think, so I don't think it would bother me a a bit to work out in front of men. I sure wouldn't care if they saw me sweat, after all I wouldn't be there to impress anyone.

Robin, I'd go for the gym with more hrs. and a pool. Ignore the men.

Lily~no problem! I actually hadn't noticed until you brought it up and I went back and looked!!LOL Let me know if it turns out good!

Robin~congrats on joining a gym! I agree--change to the one that has better hours--who cares about the guys! I've been trying to get myself to join a gym as well--and there is one only 2 doors down from my office! I just can't seem to do it, though, so I admire that you were able to!

Lily, so sorry to hear this. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you.

Robin - I vote for the co-ed gym with better hours. Trust me, the guys are only intersted in how they look while working out - they won't even notice you! I have only one gym here (well, besides Curves) and they are not open Sunday, which really annoys me. They do open at 5:30 am though, and stay open til 9 or 10 (which is my bedtime, so I'll not be going then!)

So sorry to hear about Shane, Lilly. I'm sure your heart is breaking. I know mine would be too.
Robin-I'd difinitely go with the gym with better hours. That flexbility will make a huge difference. And having men around makes working out more interesting! AT my gym, I can get on a piece of cardio equipment and look out over the entire gym and see who's doing what. I've learned a lot from watching the guys (and gals) lift weights. Some of the guys are pretty nice to look at too! One guy I've noticed always has perfect form, and I try to emmulate his technique.
Pam

Allison, forgot to ask where in Alaska you're cruising? If it's just SE, then you're not close at all (think San Diego from your area ), but if you come to Whittier/Anchorage, then you're just about an hour south of me.

Pat~we start in Vancouver, go to Ketchikan, Juneau, Sitka and then Seward. As I understand it, we will fly home from Anchorage.

Oh yes, nice trip. Seward is a little further away from here, about 2.5-3 hours, but you'll have a nice bus or train ride to Anchorage, very scenic. I love Sitka. Ketchikan - eh, not so much. Juneau is the capitol, and bigger than any of the other Alaskan cities you'll be at. Should be fun.

Pat~I've actually been to all the cities before (except Seward). My parents took me on a cruise when I was 17 (wow--27 years ago!). I don't remember Ketchikan much--just a visit to a museum and a lot of rain (but this time we'll have fun--we're taking a zip-line challenge over the forest canopy). In Juneau, I remember doing a walking tour and going into some famous saloon and then having a salmon bake--this trip we'll take a whale watching tour and do the salmon bake. I don't think we booked an excursion in Sitka--it's more fun to walk around that town!

Hi ladies, we spent a large portion of the day at the pool . It sure is hot. I'm more tanned than I've been in yrs. I came home and cooked a great dinner. I made 1/2 extra lean beef and 1/2 turkey meat hamburger steaks, Fresh squash sauteed in a little olive oil, fresh green beans, and a big salad with my fresh cucumbers, tomatos and bell peppers. It all tasted fantastic. I ate a small portion of meat, and large portion of the veggies and salad. I just absolutely love having my garden of fresh veggies at my disposal to use every day.

I have decided to wear a sleeveless dress to my nieces wedding next Saturday. I tried it on today and since I'm so tanned, my arms don't look too bad. I haven't worn anything sleevless since high school. My dress is very pale lavender and is A-line with a low square neckline (The neckline matches my swimsuit neckline perfectly) . It came with a sheer long-sleeve jacket, but it's too dang hot for the jacket. I bought it last summer after reaching goal and have ever only worn it one time.

Thanks so much everyone for the support regarding my son. All of you are wonderful and I appreciate your prayers and well wishes for my son and our family.

Allison, I picked some Okra today and plan to try that recipe tomorrow . It sure looks like it would be great. I'm not even gonna tell the men it isn't regular "fried", I doubt they'll know the difference.

SusanB, I just saw your post on last week's thread. I bet the squash was good. I have had so much squash we eat it most every night. I have boiled, baked, gas grilled,grilled on George Foreman, steamed, fried in olive oil, and regular fried it (for DH and DS).

Allison, Ketchikan has "sold out" to the cruise ship industry, and the whole area where they dock (several a day) is just like any other cruise ship town - rows of jewelry stores! I think the zipline is a good choice. I didn't know they had one. I rode one in Costa Rica and it was a blast!