Hi guys,

I'm waaaaaaay behind in my work today and need to get cracking, but I just wanted to pop in and say hi. :wave:

I did a specially designated 'heavy' day at the gym today. The trainer-who-helps came over to spot me during my last 2 sets of squats. He made me increase my weight for my 4th set so I squatted 200lb today! Next Tuesday I'll try all 4 sets at 200 (or higher--he said I should go higher still if someone is around to spot me.). Even so, I feel like a bit of a champ. :cb:

Hope everyone has a nice day.

:high: Baff! You ARE a champ!! Very, very few women can do what you did today. :strong:

Wasn't it just two weeks ago that you were doing ball squats? And last week finding out where the squat cage was? Wow, you've come a long way, baby!

Hi, I hope I can join you all here. I’m not officially at goal yet, but since I’m no longer losing, I can say that I’m maintaining. :) I lurk at several different forums, but I haven’t really had a “home thread” to post in for a while.

A little bit about me: I’m 40, mom to DS15 and DD13. I’m a technology coordinator for a public library system in Mississippi. I started losing weight in September 2005, and two years and two months later I’ve lost 160 lbs. I still would like to lose another 20 – 25 lbs and am still actively trying to lose weight, but it’s very slow going. I am a calorie counter, mainly whole foods, with lots and lots of vegetables.

I’m attending a conference this week up north. It is so incredibly cold….one of the few downsides of losing weight. Two years ago, I skipped the conference even though it is very helpful professionally and I always enjoy it. I knew that the airplane ride would be so incredibly uncomfortable, sitting in the tiny seat, with an embarrassing seat belt extender. And the memory of the look of dread in people’s eyes when they were afraid you were going to be sitting by them. I vowed that year that by the next year’s conference I would have lost enough weight to be comfortable. Last year, I was very happy to see that no extender was needed, the tray table would let down without hitting my stomach. This year was even better. Those seats are almost roomy now! There was a good 12 – 15 inches of seat belt left over. There were several inches on either side of my hips, and the tray cleared with several inches to spare. It was such a good feeling!

Enough about me....:^: I look forward to getting to know you all.

Welcome Tammy!!

Thanks Meg :D I knew you'd be proud!

Tammy! It's about time! :D We are truly honored to have you join us here in Maintainers. :hug:

It sounds like you're in that transition time that a lot of us find ourselves in when we near the end of a loooong weight loss journey. It's kind of a slow change from active weight loss to ... the rest of our lives. And sometimes goal just finds us, even if we're not quite where we thought we wanted to end up (that's what happened to me -- my body said "enough, that's it, no more!")

Your weight loss success story is just phenomenal and we hope you'll share it in the Goal! forum when you're ready. And I know you've struggled with hypothyroidism, which makes it all the more remarkable. But please don't sweat those last pounds. Even if you never lose another pound, don't be surprised if your body continues to change for months. It only gets better from here. :)

Welcome to Maintainers and the rest of the journey. :hug:

:welcome: Tammy! :)
--"And sometimes goal just finds us, even if we're not quite where we thought we wanted to end up" -- that happened to me, too. I wanted to weigh 125 (like I did before I gained weight), but the harder I tried to get there, the more apparent it became that my body didn't want to be there! It's actually amazing how as little as 5 or 10 pounds can change your whole body and make it look completely different.

I'm sure you look great, Tammy, and as we all already know, losing 160 pounds is a huge accomplishment :woohoo:

Welcom Tammy! :balloons: Great job on the weight loss! I am a library director and my prior job was as the Sys Adm for our network (7 libraries) automation system. :book2:

My life this week is busy, and frankly I haven't a clue where the time is going. I did get to the gym last night for a good cardio workout and some leg work (not enough, but .... ). And I slept well last night. I think the time change affected me more than usual, as I woke up way too early both Sunday and Monday. :)

Baff - :strong: I'm impressed! And I saw a women last night doing walking lunges with a barbell, not unusual, but she had a blue plastic thing that fitted the back of her neck and upper back, specifically to hold the bar in place. Anyone ever seen/tried one of these? I wanted to ask her about it, but she was on the other side of the upstairs from where I was on the elliptical. Our gym has sort of loft arrangement for the second story. It's completely open in the middle, to the point that you have to go downstairs, cross the whole gym and up another flight of stairs to get to the other side. By the time I'd finished my cardio, she was gone....

Pat, I'm guessing it's the Manta Ray:

http://www.adfit.com/images/dougohed.jpg

I've never tried one so can't give you a review, but there's tons of info if you google "manta ray squat". :)

I wonder if it belonged to the woman you saw or if it's the gym's ... then you could try it!

Unfortunately I don't have time to catch up on all these posts, but I just had to pop in and say hi and a big warm welcome to Tammy!!!

:welcome3:

They have those blue plastic things at my gym too. I've never used one because Meg told me to use the padded velcro thing (squat pad?) and so that's what I use. :)

I saw a woman at the gym today doing stationary lunges on two of those half ball things. She only had a pair of 10lb dumbbells, but there appeared to be ALOT of work involved in lunging while maintaining balance. I might try that on Thursday as an alt for my usual lunges.

Oh my, that would do wonders for your balance, your core, and oh yeah, your legs. :rofl: (which is exactly where I'd be!) My gym doesn't have these, though my physical therapist Gary does (after 6 months, I'm on a 1st name basis withe the whole staff).

I am working out of town...plus a lot of things going on here..all good...church stuff..insurance up-dates with our agent...family stuff....etc.

I am maintaining and praying for you all!

I will catch up one day ~ Gary

Good morning, all you lovely Maintainers! :coffee2: Sleeping wasn't so great, so we'll give the Internet a whirl. We had school board elections here yesterday, so gotta see who won.

Lily, about diabetic cookbooks -- when DS was diagnosed four years ago, I went out and bought diabetic cookbooks, only to discover that it's pretty much the same way I cook for myself. Controlled carbs, low sugar, whole grains, controlled calories. So I never really used them. SBD might be a good choice for your sister since it tracks diabetic eating pretty closely. Did they put her on an exhange diet? I'm sure it's going to be a huge change for her to transition from the Little Debbies, so it's a good thing that she has you to help. Hopefully she'll get hooked on this new way of eating once she realizes that she feels so much better on it.

Today is going to be a cooking day: Fiber One muffins, the spaghetti squash Alfredo recipe that I posted, ten bean soup, and pot roast for DS. The cold weather makes me crave warm, filling foods. Then I'm going to continue to organize the black hole of my house: the laundry room, where everything gets dumped. I hate clutter!! Time to take a load to Goodwill, which is handily located right next to the gym. :D

Speaking of the gym, this week is a heavy weight/low rep week. Got to say that I'm totally addicted to the feeling of being strong. :strong: I've never been involved with competitive sports (being a lifelong bookworm) so I love being by myself in the gym and only competing against myself. I swear it's a drug! I walk out of there on Cloud Nine after a good workout. How :crazy: is that?? Once in a while I'll stop and give myself a lecture about how I'm a 52 year old mom and need to act my age -- and then ignore it. :lol:

Off to plan the day in Fitday. Have a wonderful day and stay warm!

Hi everybody. :wave:

And a big hearty WELCOME to Tammy. You and your story are so inspiring. You have done such an incredible job with your weight loss. I know your life is so drastically changed by the huge turn around. I always love reading your very well thought out and informative posts. I am so thrilled to have you here in maintenance. I look forward to sharing in the next leg of your journey. :)

Good morning, everyone!!

Lily, I agree with the others that your sister is lucky to have you and your knowledge and experience -- I know you'll be able to help her a lot!

Meg, I hate clutter too but I always have some around!! :lol:

Robin, how's the job going? :)

I had a really tough time sleeping last night for some reason, so I'm super tired this morning. Long day ahead of me, too. I coach an academic team, and we have an away match tonight. Tomorrow we have parent/teacher conferences until 7:00pm (joy), and then Friday night I have a cross country get-together and I'm supposed to go to our last home football game. Saturday, of course, is the state cross country meet all day long. Eek! I want some time to myself!! I love my job, but it's overwhelming me lately.