Hey ladies,
I've been thinking about you! Internet access at camp is MISERABLE -- dial up, sloooooooooooooooooooow....it's rough. I don't even go on for business type stuff -- I've rediscovered the yellow pages and the phone (that is, when the other ad staff folks aren't using our one line!)

Anyway, camp has been awesome, I love it. Sleeping in a tent is no problem, and being outside constantly is so uplifting. No scales, but I'm home this weekend and of course one of the first things I did was step on this morning. Down 4 lbs! Woo hoo!! None of my clothes are fitting very well, but that's OK. It's just girl scout camp. I've given up shaving and most of my pants are falling off, but it's the last place where I have to worry about appearance. There are no mirrors, anyway.

I miss you guys, though! I haven't really had a chance to read through very many posts, but I am noticing the glaring absence of SuiteJudy and Faerie, at least on the current page. Hope all is well? India and vacations and whatnot?

I'll read up on you later and respond more personally. But first, time to move my ticker!

S

wow that's fantastic 4 pounds off!! congrats

Happy Belated Fourth everyone!
I hope everyone is having a good long weekend. I was just happy to have two days in a row off. I have to work 3-11pm tonight but I'm off tomorrow so not such a raw deal. I had a good break, got to hang out with my parents and talk to my dad until 1am last night, which is always nice. I finally made it out of the 260s and into the bottom of the 250s, so I'm happy about that, lost about 2lbs.

Sunshower: Thanks for the advice on the scale, once I have money again, I will look into getting one from amazon.com. I like the blueberry picking idea, esp if it leads to a fresh blueberry pie (I used to make them with my grandmother). Congrats on losing weight!

Modkittn: Yeah it has been really quiet on here lately, guess everyone must be swamped with work and real world stuff. Sorry you've been having such a rough time lately, with your back and hip. Hope it feels better soon!

Lizzy: Sound like you've having loads of fun. I've been to girl scout camp before, did it for 7 years as a camper, not done it as a counselor though I'm sure that would be fun too. Congrats on losing 4lbs!

HI Everyone!! Happy Monday!! Well I started my first day of weight watchers last Saturday, the end of June, and in one week I lost 3.2 pounds!! Wow!! I think WW might just be my answer!

Congrats on the losses, Jenny & Sonja!

I am back from my vacation... unfortunately I had a great time visiting with friends, and I am so happy for all of them... Everyone seems to really be settling into adulthood nicely, some are with long-term partners, others are doing things like buying houses or starting awesome careers. It was great to see everyone really coming into their own, you know? I also got to see some people who I hadn't seen in ages and I had REALLY missed them, and I hadn't expected to manage to meet up with them - so that was extra wonderful. All in all it was a great trip

The trip home was terrible, though. Ugh. We spent an hour and a half at the border because DH has a special case and they were training one of the people there. So since not many people like DH cross the border, it was a good time for the trainee to encounter this particular situation. An hour and a half later, we are allowed to leave (even though from the instant we walked in they said we were not going to have a problem, everything was in order, but the paperwork needed to be done). UGH. So then we manage to get through the state of NY just fine, but as soon as we're in PA and start approaching Scranton - boom! Traffic. I-81 was a mess due to a couple of bottleneck areas where construction was going on, and we literally spent 2 hours within 10 miles of Scranton. We make the rest of PA okay, pass through WVA and MD just fine, then we hit VA and *torrential downpour.* I was still going 80mph tho because I wanted to get home. Maybe not the smartest thing, in retrospect

Anyway, enough about the bad part! Two very nice good parts: I weighed myself this morning and I'm at 197.0, which means I barely gained anything over the course of 11 days (only about a half pound - yay!), and I got myself a new tattoo! I'm sure I talked about it before (I think we've discussed tattoos here, right?), it's an illustration from a Shel Silverstein poem. I love it It's in its weird itchy healing phase right now and I'm trying to ignore it

That's my brief update, I will be back in full chatting mode soon! Hope everyone had wonderful 4th of July/Canada Day weekends, or if you're overseas I hope you just had a nice time regardless

Thanks!! suitejudy - congrats on maintaining your weight while on vacation, 11 days is a while to be off pattern, so good for you!!!
I am kinda new to all this, but I have seen this word alot, "onederland" ....what exactly does this mean?

Onederland is when you no longer have a 2 at the beginning of your weight It's a big milestone!

Evening all!

I'm sore from my middle back down, which is partly TOM and partly the Hip Hop Abs: Hips, Buns and Thighs workout (which totally kicked my butt today). But I'm glad I did it! Will definetly take me awhile to be able to do the whole video though. Now I'm ravenously hungry and there's no food in the house. So might have to take a mini-trip to the grocery store after work to get some essentials. I hate being broke until Fri and then almost immediately broke again after paying bills.

JennyG: Congrats on losing 3.2lbs! That is amazing.

Suite: Welcome back from vacation! Sorry your trip home was so rough. I'm also anxious about crossing borders due to my DH "special circumstances," though he seems to think it's ok. I just don't want a situation where he's in Canada or deported back to the UK and I'm stuck in the States. Congrats on pretty much no gaining during the your holiday! That is amazing! I went off plan for two days and felt like I gained 10lbs. Which Shel Silverstein poem is about? I loved him as a kid.

Luv: Glad to hear your family reunion went well. Always nice to hear when WW recipes go over well for people not on plan. Congrats on taking off 1lb!

Boy is it quiet in here lately! I guess everyone is off doing their summer things.... Enjoying the season while it lasts. Still, I miss the chatter in here!

Jenn - sounds like you did what you could over vacation. Mine was the same way. Not too bad, not great though. Hm, is Manassas considered NOVA now? It's nearly being swallowed by the DC sprawl, so I guess so. My dad & stepmother live out west of Manassas (if you know where Warrenton is, they're 20 miles west of there - so about 40ish from Manassas), and they are continually worried by the ever-westward progression of DC traffic and workers. What can ya do? Congrats on the loss!!!

Rachel - How'd the grocery shopping go? I'm feeling you on the money front. We didn't necessarily overspend on vacation but we pretty much maxed what I was comfortable spending - so we have enough $$ to buy a tank of gas and one more round of groceries for the next two weeks, and that's it! Lots of nights in for us.... What are you and DH's special circumstances, if you don't mind me asking? I was very nervous of my DH not making it across but everything turned out fine. Hopefully he'll have his permanent residence in a week though....


DH has his interview next Friday for his permanent residence. We have to convince immigration officials that we have a legitimate relationship... which sounds easy enough but you should SEE some of the questions they ask. It's ridiculous. And DH is not the most observant kind of person - he's a phd philosophy guy, his head is in the clouds, how's he supposed to remember what color toothbrush I use? BUt this is the sort of thing he's expected to know! So I'm kind of stressing out about that. We shall see. We have a week left to prepare......

As for the tattoo, it's from the poem "Two Boxes" which is in Where the Sidewalk Ends.

This is the original:


And this is how it turned out:


I am very happy with it. He couldn't do it exactly as it appears in the book because of the size I wanted it... So for instance he had to color in the shoes or else the feet would end up looking like black blobs. There is a second box in the picture not shown above, and I will eventually get him done too... Maybe a goal reward?

Mod - I'm sorry to hear about your gain but it's good to see you say you're going to get right back on track. Good for you! That's the best thing for your mind and your body and I'm sure you'll see those pounds drop off in no time.

Lizzie - Congrats on losing 4 pounds! That's amazing. What exactly do they have you doing at that camp--sprints? Can I join??

Rachel - Congrats to you on your weight loss as well! And woohoo for leaving the 260's behind. It's much nicer in the 250's. 240's will be even better so keep up your hard work.

Jaime - Welcome back. It sounds like you had a fantastic time minus the trip home. Your whole traffic story is the exact story I would have told for my travel back from West Virginia to Philly on Sunday after the 4th. The only difference was that I was going north instead. I-81 totally SUCKED and that rain only made it worse. We hit the downpour 4 separate times. I think it was following us. It was an 8 hour drive on Thursday to get there but 11.5 hours on the way back. Boooo. Awesome news about the tattoo. It's VERY cute. You're braver than me--it's likely to assume I will never have a tattoo. I'm really happy for you for having such a great vacation and not gaining much weight. Your tiny gain is probably just water weight from eating different things.

Jenny - Welcome and congrats on your loss! It feels so good, doesn't it? Onederland for me was like "holy sh^t I can't believe I did it" land.

Jenn - Your 4 year old DD sounds like me when I was 4.. oh, who am I kidding, I never grew out of it. I think we all gain a bit for TOM. I wish WW factored that in. Like one week out of every 4 weeks, you could tell them to up the scale one pound before you step on. If I ruled the world, that's how things work. Then again, if I ruled the world, I don't think I would curse us lovely ladies with TOM to begin with.

Rachel & Jamie - What are these special circumstances your men have? I have my own special circumstance. I have an L1-B visa that allows me to work and live in the US for three more years while showing no "intent". My boyfriend and I live together but when we cross the border, we have to pretend we're friends. If they thought we were together, I would be displaying intent to stay in the US. It stinks. He has to keep all of his official documents and license valid in WV at his parents address since I have to use the Philly address for everything and we can't make anyone suspect anything. It'll be a complete gong show when we get married. If either of you have any advice or tips, throw a girl a bone. Good luck, Jaime, with the relationship interviews. Stupid sham laws. I dread that day although I know it's coming sooner or later.


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I am not sure how WI will go today after the weekend I had and my new workout routine. Plus I treated one holiday like it lasted a whole week. I can’t imagine leaving the 180’s in the dust but I sure would love to. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be 17X pounds. I don’t even care if it’s 179.9. It would just give me an incredible boost. That would be an amazing start to this coming weekend, of course, but I actually think I will have gained this week rather than lost. My body has started to adjust to the new workout routine and I think I will show a gain this week from the combination of new muscle AND a less than stellar food weekend. Of course, I always gear myself up for the worst. Perhaps I did better than I think I did.

My weekend with the DBf's family in WV was great. I love them all so much. They really are my second family. They had a rib cook off on Saturday (death) but I cooked for everyone on Friday. His mom asked me if I would make some bison and turkey burgers. Everyone in his family is aware of my healthy eating (and his now) and they’re really supportive so I thought that was really nice. His mom even looked up a WW version of her éclair cake and made both the full-fat version and the WW version so I could have some without being left out. She also e-mailed me before we left to get an idea of what I eat for breakfast now, what kind of cream I put in my coffee, things like that. And DBf's brother got me a guest pass at the gym he goes to so that I didn't have to miss my Saturday and Sunday workouts. I think the only things that would have really affected me negatively would have been random snacking when I shouldn't have been snacking and drinking beer. BUT it was my first 4th of July so I had to celebrate in kind.

Wish me luck, ladies!

Motivational thought - It's a holiday, not a holiweek or holimonth. Get back on track!

LeeAnne - My husband is from Brazil. We met in Canada while we were both students there. He came to the US on a B-1 visitor's visa last summer, we met with an immigration lawyer, and he said we could actually go ahead and get married with his B-1 (which is usually illegal) and apply for Adjustment of Status, or I-130. We were going to follow the K-1 fiance visa route and had already submitted all the documentation and stuff, but they were going slower than we had anticipated and we were dumb and planned our wedding before we knew he'd have the K-1 in hand. Part of my concern is that getting married while in the US on a B-1 is immigration fraud. He had a 90 day period to stay in the US and he's now been here over a year, and he got married. So it's tricky. The lawyer assured us we will be fine - because we can prove that he entered the U.S. with the intention of leaving before his B-1 stay expired (he had planned on returning to Canada to attend the K-1 interview, but the date ended up being set later than anticipated) and therefore didn't commit immigration fraud. This still kind of leaves open the question of why he did end up staying, and the best we can do is say we went to see a lawyer and he told us we could do Adjustment of Status instead of the other stuff....

I don't know, it's endlessly complicated and I'm very worried about it. It's somewhat reassuring that the immigration lawyer thinks everything's above board, but ultimately it's up to the guy we interview with. I don't envy you your situation, looking at it from the side you're on (before it hits the fan) is incredibly daunting.

It might be worth it to you going to an immigration lawyer and explaining your situation. Usually a 1 hour consultation will answer all your questions, and that should only cost $100-$200. There might be a way that you guys can get engaged and apply for a fiance visa without having to deal with hiding your relationship/address anymore.


Ugh. I hate dealing with this. I will be one happy chickie when it's all out of the way!!


Also, that's very sweet of your bf's mother to make sure everything was all set for you to visit I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and the 170's!

...

How is everyone doing? Been awfully quiet in the chat thread.

Weather is gorgeous today so I'm going to take the opportunity to shoot for a long run tonight. The length of my runs has been suffering as I get faster and more efficient at it - I've been going the same distance as my abilities improve, which means they get shorter and shorter. My previous "long run" route was just over 2 miles, so I'm going to add another mile to that and aim for 3... So I might as well be shooting for 3.1, and just get that 5K status

We ordered pizza last night... Always a good idea in theory, prior to consumption, but never wonderful the day after. I am bloaty and incredibly thirsty, I assume from all the salt. Ugh. Eating has been so on-track I think the pizza kind of shocked my system. I'm sure it'll be better tomorrow, just gotta drink that water.

Hope everyone had wonderful weekends and that it's quiet in here because you are all out being healthy and active

Wow! We have really lost this thread huh?! I'm bringing it back. Just like I'm going to bring back wearing two different colored socks on each foot. Just kidding about that one. It was cool in the 80's but not now

So work has FINALLY calmed down for me. It was really crazy there for a while. I finally have some free time and even took Friday off, which was my birthday (yay!). I started journaling again and planning my meals now that I'm out of the complete stress zone.

I did actually lose a lot of weight this past week. But when I weighed myself the week before I was SUPER bloated (I had a medical problem and it lasted the whole holiday weekend but I couldn't talk to the doctor until the 7th and by then it had calmed down) and so I know most of the reason I weighed so much that week was from that. I've done well so far with my eating and even planned my day for tomorrow. I feel like I SHOULD go back to meetings, but honestly I'm doing pretty good on my own. I'm not right at my goal weight but I'm pretty close and I've been pretty close for a while. I keep saying I want to get back down just below 160 but the motivation hadn't been there for a long time, mostly because I was way too stressed out with work to even think about weight loss efforts. It was hard enough just maintaining.

Jaime - Welcome back!

I would give personal responses but I need to catch up on what everyone has been up to!