Yeah, I was waking up around 2 or 3 a.m. and having an energy drink to quell the caffeine cravings enough that I could maybe get back to sleep for a couple of hours. I should be on Shatner's "Weird or What" :lol3:.

And I drank 2 per day and 2 coffees. I can imagine what quaffing Red Bulls (which to me taste like cough medicine :barf:) all day would do to a person. I imagine they would be in some sort of hyper-caffeinated daze and only appear to be productive.

But I am just dragging now and probably will fall asleep at the dentist. They love that I'm so relaxed - they were all truly impressed one year when I fell asleep during root canal - as most of their patients are the opposite.

Tomorrow will be better. My body is quite predicatable in withdrawing from things and I still clearly remember the diet cola experience. At the end of the week I will feel such RELIEF that I'm not throwing these chemicals into my body any more.

Dagmar :tired: :faint:

Good question. When you get the answer, let me know; I do this, too. The only time I tend to be easy on myself is when I'm internally "defending" myself from hurtful comments. So, what's the solution---seek more hurtful comments? Nah--probably not a good solution.

May I take a minute to unload about competitive people at the gym? They irk me. A few months ago, I switched gyms. My old gym had some lovely classes with some great women of various ages---from 18 - 70. We all seemed to have similar goals---e.g., get in shape, get healthier, etc. I had a great rapport with the participants and the instructor. I switched gyms, though, because the current gym's class schedule is so much more convenient for me and the classes are more intense, so I'm getting a great workout. The problem is that the people in my current class (mostly men, and a few women) are so different from the crowd at the old gym. In this class, the people are so competitive and "hard core," even the women (and they're not youngsters---mid 30's to mid 40's). It's as if the goal is not just getting in shape; it's about beating someone else's time or one's own best time. (They even have real competitions every once in a while). It reminds me so much of gym class in high school----and, yes, I was always the last or next-to-last person to finish whatever exercise we were doing. I try my personal best, and believe me I push myself----but not to the point where I feel an injury could occur. (Two people in class already have injuries---one that requires surgery---and they're still doing hardcore routines). But I almost feel looked down on in this class. The others are nice to me, but I sense a patronizing attitude as if "you're not one of us" because I don't have their "balls-to-the-wall" attitude. I wish I could keep this class' schedule and intensity and switch the people :). Anyway, that's my official whine for the day.

Hope everyone has a great 4th!

Lin, I agree, it hurts to grow, to reach a certain level of competency and mastery in something and then, once you've pushed yourself to move onto the next level, to once again be humbled and relegated to a near-beginner. I've experienced this in the gym, in college, in writing courses, on the job. It's growing pains. And also partly because you are the new kid in school in your gym class.

I think that once you become friends with at least one or two other people, you will feel better.

Or you may decide you have a limit to how hard you want to push in a particular area of your life, and there are other things you want to attain mastery in, rather than overachieving in all areas of your life.

But please don't back off from going to the gym at all, though, as that would not be a good outcome.

From your post to me it sounds like the goal at your old gym is health and personal fitness and the goal at the new gym is showing of, even at the risk of injury. If it were me I'd be running back to the old gym. I too am not adept at many physical things but I enjoy them. I do not enjoy being with people who are pushing me by sneering at me. I like support, not competition.

I would pick "Bob", rather than "Jillian", to be my trainer (America's Biggest Loser). I have no use for someone who hectors me and abuses me and tells me I'm not trying hard enough. BAH!

Dagmar :bike:

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! How did you guys do with food and exercise? The 4th isn't a big challenge for me in terms of eating because most of the foods are grilled and I like fruit enough to substitute it for dessert (if the dessert isn't too tempting!)

How true! The positive part is that this has given me renewed empathy for my students who struggle with writing issues (I teach English). It can be so frustrating at times to teach numerous lessons on the same topic, show examples, etc., and still see those same errors in students' writing, but being a part of this gym class has helped me to be even more patient with the students who struggle with writing.



Naw--no chance of that. Actually, there are a couple of nice women there. Their goals are different from mine (they're definitely more self-competitive), but they are encouraging. I have a feeling that the personality of this class is mainly due to the higher male-to-female ratio than in my previous class.


This sums up my preference, exactly.

I'm off to visit my family for a couple of weeks, but I think it will be easy to stay on track. Even though we all like to eat, my sisters like to keep in shape, too, and we're all aware of keeping our weight down.

Everyone have a great day!

4th of July weekend wasn't too bad for me, except for DS14's 24-hour birthday party. Between the vacation and the party/long weekend, my loss target kind of fell to the bottom of the priority list. I am getting my act back together slowly and implementing the first and most important step that helped me lose - 1/3 reduction in portion size. I need to back away from wanting to feel full (as opposed to satiated) after meals. That's all I want to work on this week.

4th of July weekend ended up not bad for me, either. No big plans, so no huge over eating and got my exercise in.

I'm 119.2 this morning, probably in large part due to the fact that I did not time meals well yesterday around my fillings and by the time my face was un-numb it was "too late" to eat a full meal. Many hours were spent headachey and distressed at how HUNGRY I was. Ended up having yogurt and peanut butter, a veggie smoothie that was too disgusting to finish, and my BF made couscous.

First gym in 6 days this AM. I am filled with manic energy.

Back from hot & steamy London feeling very bloated and lumpy. My legs are particularly bad. I don't do well in the heat. I'm concentrating on some of my better features (lovely skin, good hair) until I can shoo away the bloat.

I've got to buckle down. The school holidays start tomorrow (this afternoon - now!) and I often lose the will to live and eat properly towards the end.

Birchie, oh, I know that particular misery. I had an evening earlier this week when I could feel how very tight my skin was over my swollen legs whenever I stood up. There wasn't much slack to enable that slight crease of skin at the top & front of the foot where it joins the leg. It was that sausage casing look. For me, I'm pretty sure it was due to chewing through two consecutive packs of sugarfree gum and sitting at a desk with my legs dangling for hours on end. I keep meaning to try the legs-up-wall yoga pose to see if that helps.

I'm seeing the dark cloud of work lift a little this week but not before the storms of conducting midyear reviews with each of my team members.

Birchie, you were in London?!!!

Did you see the Giant Colin Firth statue?????????

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/enter...-creepy/66918/

Saef - what a mad piece of publicity! (Who on earth is UKTV and what is their drama channel?) No, I didn't see it so that means you have to get over here and take me for a stroll along the Serpentine and then we'll have a cup of tea.

I did manage a hair cut, a couple of business meetings and an overnight stay with friends. It was the most relaxed trip for years, for some reason.

I'm reassured that your legs get like this too. Do your legs actually dangle when you're at your desk? That doesn't sound good. I spend a lot of time with my legs elevated at home but I didn't in London. I did drink loads of water as I felt very dehydrated: I thought this was good but perhaps it was a cause. And I walked, of course, except when I was on the train or the tube. It was a fleeting, 24-hour trip so that won't have helped. Will do legs up the wall and report back. Does it do any more than use gravity, do you think?

Sorry if the above's a bit garbled. I'm on the phone, in bed and quite tired.

Saef - could you put a step under your desk to put your feet on so they won't dangle? That isn't good for you.

add mine to the aching swollen legs around here

hi all :)

haven't been posting much, partly because im running here and there and partly because I have been downright moody and pissy.

Trying to count my blessings because overall, everything is really just fine! Now that im typing this out, im thinking maybe it is simply is a matter of burning the candle at both ends.

i decided to keep a daily blessing chart as a way of reminding myself. but haven't quite followed thru on that yet ;)

interesting occurrence- I finally bought clothing that fits my smaller body (had a severe wardrobe crisis) and now have overeaten- on garbage, on purpose, for the past several days. hmm. self-sabotage?

Hey, KC! :) Don't self sabotage the new clothes.

I have also been burning the candle at both ends for a while, and pretty much crashed a few weeks ago. Since then I've been working my way back up - I've been eating better and exercising for about a month, with the last 12 days being perfectly on point with exercise every day and food being pretty spot on. I am starting to feel better, and am getting back to having some energy to spare instead of feeling worn and rundown all the time.