Welcome to July and what an odd weekend to start it off! The 4th is on Tuesday - so who has to work on Monday? I imagine a lot of people will take the day off (if they can) and make it a four day weekend.

How many barbeques to you have to deal with this weekend? Those can be treacherous - see Anne's thread It's BBQ Season: July 4 Food Strategies for some great tips. We'll cook out on Tuesday but I'll be sure there's plenty that I can eat. And I'm not baking a dessert.

My shoulder rehab is coming right along. I'm almost at the six month mark, when I get the green light to do whatever I want as long as it's not too painful. I've been focusing on building my upper body strength back, though there's still a depressingly long way to go. My benchmarks are pull-ups and push-ups, so I measure my progress by how many I can do. My grand total on pull-ups is currently ZERO! (which drives me since I could hop up and easily do four six months ago, even with the tear) But the rational side of me gives myself little lectures on patience and persistence (which the irrational part likes to ignore )

It finally stopped raining here in Pittsburgh (I hope!) and we're left with a bumper crop of weeds. So I think my holiday weekend is going to be spent pulling weeds and cleaning up outside before the next set of monsoons hits.

So how is everyone else these days? How's summer going? Anyone going on vacation? Check in and tell us what's going on in your world.

Hi! I'm back from vacation. With a few extra pounds. I should change that thing <<<< over there ... hmmm.

We have two social functions this weekend. Then I have one lovely empty day and then I start a temporary full-time position for a few weeks. A routine! Now to just get that routine moving along ... or even planned!

Twas the night before July 4th and all through the house, our creatures are stirring because they're freaked out by fireworks. Especially “the dowager,” our aging mixed breed who, over time, has become terrified of loud noises. Fireworks. Thunder. Cars backfiring. You name it. And the last thing she needs is four friggin' nights of pop, crackle, bang. So, tonight we're both in my home office, with the fan (white noise) running and the radio on. Grrrr.

It's been a bumptuous week. Last Monday we took a lightening hit, which promptly knocked out the cable modem and router and killed the old TV in the guestroom that I used for my workout tapes. But every cloud has a silver lining: we now have a wireless network at our house, which means I can drag the laptop from room to room, which is totally cool. And this morning we replaced the old TV with a new set that can play VCR tape and DVDs, and from the looks of it, could probably serve as command central for the shuttle launch. Lots of plugs and ports in the front; I can hardly wait to figure out what they all do.

I'm glad to have the TV because my workout routines have suffered the same fate as the electronics around here. Phzzzzzzzzzzz. We're in the midst of re-siding and re-roofing, and with workmen showing up at 7 a.m., our days are getting off to riotous starts. So this weekend I bought a stability ball and a set of resistance tubes to keep things going until I can get the gym routine back in place. And I continue to seek out the perfect bike. Until I find my new toy, I’m working on my abs and especially my quads which, I’ve come to realize, are almost useless. How on earth can such major muscles get so weak? Sigh.

Ah SusanB (welcome back! I was just wondering how you were doing), I hear you on the reinstatement of routine. Anything even resembling a routine would be a godsend right now!

Nellie, somewhere along the line I read your happy news. Congratulations!! Didn’t you say the wedding was fairly soon? Have a wonderful time making plans.

PaperClippy – if I haven’t already said it, welcome to the Hoosier state. I wish you better luck than I’ve had at switching to evening workouts. My Y doesn’t hold my water aerobics class in the mornings during the summer, and it has totally thrown me off. It’s almost impossible for me to get there in the evenings.

I hope everyone here has a great holiday tomorrow, and everyone else has a terrific Tuesday.

Today, I'm not so sure. I went into my holidays knowing that I could do whatever I wanted and just come home, jump back on the band wagon and drop down to less than 125 again ... snaps ... at will!
Oh I made noises like I was going to be careful, walk, eat smart (if not quite as smart as usual). But that's not what my heart was thinking. Or it might actually have been my fat head.
Losing weight is easy, Susan, you've done it before. Ya just eat less, eat clean, lift weights and go get your heart rate up each day. Eat, drink, be merry and on the first day you're home, switch hats to Susie Healthenheimer again. Natch ... you'll be 124 in no time flat.
I still was pretty sure about that the second day after we got home. I had a few wobbly qualms on the third day ...
Now it's the fourth day. I think I've walked twice in two weeks. I don't know for sure where my HRM is. Eleven pounds is a lot for someone my size. There's already trouble in denim pedal-pusher land.
I feel weary, sluggish, sad and quite frankly a bit frightened. I've done this once before, right up to 143 lbs.
So it would seem that I haven't got it yet. A true maintainer would not have let 11 lbs slip up. Five, six maybe ... but 11??? And even Ms. True Maintainer would have cut and run at the 9 lbs she came home with and not gained another two here at home.
It's time to have a better look at my hats. The vacation hat needs to be quite a bit more like Healthenheimer's ... and today I need my bike helmet.
I'm going to do some more reading and see if I can't do some thought substitution. Good for bad ... fear for knowledge.

Susan Today is a brand new day and a fresh start. Just by coming here and posting about it, you've drawn a line between what happened over the past few weeks and TODAY. OK, you weigh more than you'd like - but you're right, you know what to do to get back to where you were.

Don't beat yourself up about what a mythical 'true' maintainer would have done! Sorry, ain't no such creature. I assure you that none of us are that perfect and we've all screwed up on vacation.

My advice for you - focus on TODAY. Don't worry about tomorrow or drown in regrets about yesterday. Today is totally within your control and you can make it best day it possibly can be.

Go back to Weightloss 101. Journaling, weighing and measuring, planning - whatever worked for you before. Have great meals prepared and ready to go. Move your body - I guarantee that you'll feel so good that you'll wonder why on earth you stopped.

And make a promise to yourself that you'll come back here tonight and post all about your day.

You can do this, Susan!

Meg - Glad to hear your rehab is going well! You'll be doing pull-ups again before you know it!

Robin - thanks for the welcome! So far I've managed two evening workouts, so we'll see how this week goes (Monday was a work holiday so I got my morning run in).

Susan - The fact that you are here posting on 3FC after your slight regain shows that you are committed to maintaining!

The pounds I put on during the move are coming off. My at home scale is back to reading 126 (first thing in the morning before eating and naked), and the gym scale which is more accurate with the little weights and balances is reading 132.5 (fully dressed after having eaten). And thanks to knee supports I can run at least twice a week again, even though I'm nowhere near as fast as I was last fall. It was so long ago that I got my mile time down to 10:30, and now it's back up around 13. I'm starting to doubt I will ever be able to run a 10 minute mile! My wrist tendonitis is still causing problems too. As soon as I get my new health insurance it's back to the doc for me. I'm hoping that sometime soon I will be able to do some upper body weights again but right now it's too much of a risk for my wrists.

However, I did get a little bit of an upper body workout the other day -- my fiance and I went canoeing! It was pretty tough since it was so windy but it was a lot of fun. We were only out for an hour. The funniest part was that he is so much stronger than me that with him rowing one side and me rowing the other we would start spinning around in circles!

We have a BBQ to go to today. We skipped our usual Saturday night meal out in exchange for making today's BBQ the cheat meal for the week. However, we were not so good about the non-meal treats and went through a little pint of organic full-fat ice cream in two days. Oops! We are thinking of having our wedding next year at an organic dairy farm and when we were visiting it I could not resist the ice cream! Luckily yesterday Ben talked me out of getting cheeseburgers for lunch (and into having a salad instead). I would never have been able to get into a healthy lifestyle without his help.

Good luck to the rest of you on getting through the barbecues! Happy 4th of July!

Susan -- You have to do this and get back on track -- you're one of my inspirations and mentors, after all!

I need to hear that people can go on vacation, gain some, and then take it off, even if it takes a while!

I'm nearing Onederland myself -- as well as 100 pounds lost -- but still need the inspiration of all of you fabulous maintainers!

Paperclippy - just a hint - if you're canoeing, you're paddling, not rowing.

You gals give me hope and inspiration that I'll once again be at a lower weight, and this time I'll have lots more tools to stay there.

Happy 4th!

All together now, join me in a chorus of one of the maintainers' lullabies:

Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

Nobody stays steady at one constant weight year 'round. We all go up and down.

Next, breathe. Just stop whatever you're doing, sit quietly and breathe. Get in touch with yourself -- the self that is calm, capable and confident. The self that knows how to stock a clean kitchen, fix healthy and life-giving meals, journal, log, move and be at peace. Close your eyes. There, do you see her? There she is! She's beautiful.

Hugs to all of you.

Thanks! I'm not maintaining yet, but I needed to hear that!

Hi maintainers,

just a quick word to tell you that I managed sofar!!! After months of hardship I AM GOING ON HOLIDAY TOMORROW!!! I'm going to california for 3 weeks with DD and DS, it is a big adventure, I'm scared and looking forward to it at the same time!!

See you all in about 3 weeks,
Rabbit

Rabbit - you've done GREAT! I know you, along with your DD and DS, will have a wonderful time. Enjoy California.

OK Miss Meg ... I came back. I actually had a good day yesterday. Low cal, low fat. I did some sort of all over weights. It feels ever so much better to have one good day in.
I'm off to work this morning for the first time in over 2 weeks. I couldn't figure out what that funny noise was at 5:20 am. My poor DH had to give me a push out of bed!
The interesting thing for me is that this good day directly corelates to the first day I've actually spent doing a decent amount of reading here ... hmmm.
Wyllen ... I'm honoured. Please have a smoother journey than mine
Robin? I have to clean my kitchen???

Have a good day, all of you and I'll touch base after work!

Californi is the place ya oughta be .... so she loaded up the kids .....

Susan -- Glad to hear you had that first one good day. Please keep us posted! As for a smooth journey, I can't rely on having one, but have to commit to coming back no matter what!

Ja. Shur. You betcha. While wearing your belt.

I must be giddy. It's only about 80 degrees out there, and there's a wonderful breeze. And the best part of all? It's quiet. No fireworks. No cracks, pops or bangs. Now, if only it will stay that way.