Fiona - You are my decluttering (BERP) hero. I am amazed at how much your have been accomplishing, and your difficulty level is set pretty high. I just get to toss everything...you have to go through it and sort it on an artistic level that I can't even imagine. That you've been sticking to it so faithfully is trully amazing. And it is nice to see another on the low carb train!

Flower - I certainly didn't mean to insinuate that you were being cheated...it's just that my Dad and I do a lot of remodelling, so I have an interest it the subject. As for the low carb, I think different people are suited for different diets. Unlike a lot of people who have negative reactions at the beginning and have to adjust to low carb, I feel fabulous from the first meal. Good for you on removing cocoa, that must be hard. How are you doing so far? The good news is the cravings usually die away in 4-5 days once you give up something. So hang in there.

Worth - Excellent job on the elliptical. Three hours is awesome. Congrats on your loss too. Nice job on stumbling into something to improve your mood, and a simple fix too!

Fleur - Another one trying low carb. It's an epidemic! Wishing you the best of luck in your job search.

Amy - Have a blast in Nantucket!

Pretty standard weekend for me. It rained on and off all weekend, so I basically stayed inside curled up on the couch with my pets. I did complete all my goals for the week...stayed completely on plan for induction, exercised at least 20 minutes everyday, and didn't leave dishes in the sink overnight. This next week, adding to that, I plan to add daily yoga and exercising Sydney (my lab mix). She needs to lose some weight, she's at 52 pounds and really shouldn't weigh more than 40. I'm doing a semi- atkins diet for her, lol. She already eats a really good grain free dog food. But I cut her back quite a bit, which normally has the results of her stealing the cat food or else chewing up everything in the house. But I've been adding like 1/2 tsp of bacon grease to her food, and it seems to satisfy her. Plus it is great for her coat. So we'll see how it goes. But she needs the exercise, and it certainly wouldn't hurt me to get a little extra too!

Ugh—I'm BERP-ed out. The weekend's time off wasn't long enough. And yet I can't stop BERP-ing: every room I happen to walk through I get hung up on sorting things into recycle, trash, keep...it's driving me nuts. I need a complete break from this house!!

Fortunately, an opportunity for such a break has arisen. There's gonna be a gathering of Bob's family—his mom, his sis, our niece Margaret, I don't know who else—at Full Circle Farm (FCF) in south-central Pennsylvania over the 4th of July weekend. And Bob says we can leave early, perhaps tomorrow, and have a few days up there alone—yippee!

FCF is not a working farm anymore: it's been turned into a nature preserve by Bob's mom, and she's deeded the property to the two of us. The pleasant & tidy 19th-century (restored) farmhouse is nestled in a tiny valley where all the land from the wooded ridgeline down to the stream, up to the other wooded ridgeline, belongs to us. I've been trying to get Bob to go with me up to the farm (it's just 3-4 hrs away) for months & months, in fact years, but his agoraphobia has stood in the way. He's better now, enough better to be willing to go up there, so I'm jumping at the chance to enter a totally different headspace for a while: very rural, utterly quiet, no internet, nobody calling, hammock on the wide porch, walks in the forest...you get the picture. Maybe I'll only take French-language books with me, just to make things truly alternative. I could do some iPad painting...

Oh, and I made a collage I think y'all will like: it's called "a certain delicacy of intent". =smile=

Hi there!

I'm having a lot of fun in Nantucket! Tonight we're celebrating my birthday, I'll be 38 next month, yikes!

Take care, I hope everyone is well, bye for now.

Amy

Worththeeffort- If you go with a trainer, just let them know your interested in focusing on free weights. I had a free training workout at my gym and they had me do a bunch of other stuff I could easily have done on my own, but didn't show me anything about the free weights. I ended up just teaching myself.

So Monday has come and gone... I so much wanted to see a missed phone call on my phone today, but I didn't get anything. Also no emails. I get so excited about potential jobs, it's a real bummer when you don't hear anything. I know it is just Monday, but it's still difficult.

Also it's run-up to the 4th of July..people get sluggish and distracted...something will come!

2salads: to the group! I am getting ready to start our Ups & Downs Support Group: July 2014 thread. Please look for us and continue to post and tell us a little (or a lot) about yourself. Glad you posted!

Hi I'm giving this a shot. I am 24 turning 25 on Sunday. I am a mother to two boys ages 2 going on 3 and a 1 year old. I just got out of a 5 year old abusive relationship. Now I'm a single mother who is tired of being fat. I am loosing weight but it just seems to not be happening fast enough. I can't wait to be skinny again. I'm so lost on what to do with my life. I been cooped up for 5 years due to my previous relationship situation and now I have no friends and I am soo lost on what to do with my life. What can I do for fun, who do I talk to? etc... I'm scared of having to finally face the world.

Hi,

I've just read your conversation and I identified myself 2 years ago. According to my experience I think that motivation is the most important thing in the whole process of changing habits, weight loss, exercises etc. You can motivate yourself with motivational articles, quotes, pictures, music. When you will motivate yourself, everything is much more easier...

Stay Positive and Good Luck !!!

All the best