melissa
70 days is TERRIFIC. You will see it gets easier every day until one day you are so use to how you are eating. You don't think much about it. To me it doesn't really seem like that big of a deal. I set up how many calories, carbs and fat I am allowed. I stay within those amounts per week. I decided I wanted to try to eat the required amounts of the four basic food groups each day. I just do it. My gosh I eat from the time I get up until the time I go to bed to get everything eaten I have to eat lol. I have tweaked things here and there to allow myself to have the things I really like, ( mountain dew ). To have the things I really don't want to do without ( mountain dew ) and to be able to enjoy my yummy's ( mountain dew ). Hmmmm do we see a pattern there lol. I get at least one can a week. I am not going to do without my DEW so I make sure I stay within those general guide lines I have set for myself. Can't have the DEW if I don't have the carbs left over for it .

I didn't say I had been op to make myself sound better than anyone else. I said it because I want people to understand it really is do able. I eat all the things I love, I just really watch portion sizes. The other day I had 3 servings of m&m's instead of one serving. WELL, that now means I don't get my dew until at least Monday. Everyday I don't get my DEW I will say to myself OH YA you just had to have those m&m's didn't you lol.

Ladies: I hope it is okay to ask it here. As some may recall, I had talked about my mother-in-law's breast cancer coming back. She finished Chemo and had the cancerous lymph node removed last month. The results came back and the surgeon said that the cancer has entered the blood stream. She goes to see her oncologist on Tuesday. Right now, I am a little (a lot) worried. I spent hours and hours last night searching the net. Of course this just scared me. I shouldn't have done this, until we had more answers from the oncologist. She is more like a mom to me than a MIL. My mom passed away about 9 years ago, so this is just tearing me up. So my request is: Could you please say a prayer for her. I do believe in Miracles. I also believe there is a PLAN. Hopefully the plan is for her to be around for a very long time, so please pray for her. Thanks and God Bless!

mom23bc....you will absolutely be in my thoughts and prayers. I'm so sorry to hear about your MIL, I hope that things are caught early enough that treatments are a viable option. I hope you and your entire family find strength through this.

Good morning ladies~ Well yesterday Mattie and I ended up making cookies out of her new cookbook. Well she ate 1 and I ate 6 if them Needless to say I wasn't thrilled with myself. That being said I did still stay within my calorie range so I didn't break my abstinence. I'm onto day 12 today. Mattie is feeling much better and going to school today. I was in such an awful mood yesterday, and I think some of it has to do with getting no time to myself these days. I've had sick kids home for 2 weeks now and I think it's starting to get to me. I usually get all my stuff done while they are at school, and it's just been hard. I know that is why I ate those darn cookies yesterday also, I was feeling crappy, and I thought they would help! I never made the gym...I looked a fright yesterday, but I did workout at home for an hour It was a new bootcamp workout I taped, and boy oh boy did it kick my butt! So I did workout just not at the gym as I planned. I think I'll go tomorrow to the gym. Not much going on this weekend. My SIL and BIL were supposed to come over tomorrow, but they were not feeling the best, so we'll see.

Melissa73- Yesterday must of been the day for kids to drive us nuts, because mine were making me CRAZY! Hope today is better...for both of us!:P

Laura- Congrats on the paper...that is really exciting~

Karen- Hello...hope your doing well! Have a great weekend~

Cat- I bet those boys are loving snow days...my kids go nuts when they have a snow day

Rennie- I can't drink Mountain Dew.....I've tried and I just don't like it! Every now and then Kev will get one though and he is like a wild man with a sugar high I know a lot of people who drink it in the morning like coffee 42 wks OP that is something I can't wait for~ Keep it up

Muse- I'm so sorry about your cat..take care hun~

Melissa, Jen and Andi- Hope you guys are doing good. Have a fantastic weekend~

Mom23BC- Of course I will pray for you MIL! I know what ya mean about being super close with your MIL...my MIL and I are really close and I couldn't imagine having to go through this. Your whole family will be in my prayers. Stay strong for her. Your right though don't go searching the internet until you've talked with her doctor. I think the internet scares us more the informs us! Stay strong hun~ (((HUGS))))

Have a fantastic weekend ladies~

Mom23 - you and your MIL will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Good morning ladies! Well I am feeling good this morning! Woke up at 5:30 and worked out this morning. Got laundry going and vacuumed already. Busy busy... Think we'll be doing some serious cleaning this weekend.... Got to put some of Zachary's clothes on Ebay. Hopefully get that done today. But we'll see.
Muse~ you will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Mom~ of course I will include you and your MIL in my thoughts as prayers as well.
Well I will check back later.

Okay so I just wanted to tell everyone sorry that I have been MIA for over a week. A lot has been going on and my b/f came into town. He is also working with me to take off some pounds and is going to start going to the gym with me so hopefully I will start seeing some action here soon! He is also eating good with me so I will have more days OP! Sorry I missed the weigh in but that wont be happening again! Hope you all are having a great week and just wanted to let you all know what has been going on!

mom
I am a walking proof of a miracle. Will keep her in my prayers.

tina
I drink caffeine free mountain dew. The hubby says it tastes like flat mountain dew lol, he doesn't see the point. I use to drink RC, then Pepsi. Now it is mountain dew lol. Glad everyone is feeling better. I loved when my kids were home. When they started school I loved having time to myself. I totally understand. As long as the cookies fit into your plan don't beat yourself up. Cookies are good for the soul

Kari
It was an early morning all around lol. I was up about the same time you were. All the house work and laundry is done. I am sitting here deciding dinner for everyone. I think they are going to have hamburgers. I am having Salmon. I love them but they are not good enough for my salmon lol. That is one of the things we are going to do while the kids are on spring break. Go through their clothes. Stuff they don't wear is going to get put in the church box.

Utah
Glad things are going well for you. Always more fun to workout with someone.

Hi Ladies just checking in! I finally budged past the spot I was stuck at so my next WI should be pretty good. I am past that 179 that I seriously flirted with for about 3 weeks. Geeez! Seriously! But now I am 177.4 yes!

WOOOHOOO Cecil!!! Way to go!! Way to stay strong and toe the line and knock that bumper number out!! Keep up the GREAT work!!

Mom23BC, of course I will pray for her! My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, and has since made a full recovery. I will pray that your mother-in-law will do the same.

Today I was good for most of the day (lunch was catered but I got a ham and cheese sandwich on thin-sliced bread, took off the cheese, took off half the ham because it was a huge pile, and took off one piece of bread so it was open faced. And I skipped the dessert!). Unfortunately, at a happy hour party I ate a bunch of junk, so I then had a REALLY light dinner so as not to go over my calories. Not at all a good weight loss strategy but for one day it won't kill me.

Tomorrow I am declaring my Biggest Loser Workout Day. I'm going to do nothing but work out and stretch all day long, mixing up what I'm doing. Hopefully this will kick start me into some better habits so I can get back on track.

Just a quick fly-by - hopefully, I will have more time tomorrow.
Laura - congrats on publication - that is AWESOME!

Muse - my thoughts are with you. It is really hard to lose a pet. I still miss all of ours that we have lost. They are very special parts of our lives. You were blessed to have him as long as you did

Shy - you are doing fantastic. But, I agree with you. With calorie counting, it is much easier to stay POP. You just gotta make adjustments for those days when certain foods seem to launch themselves into your mouth with no help at all. The discipline you have learned will serve you well in maintenance. I am proud of you!

Mom, prayers said, and I will continue to pray for your whole family. You are correct. Miracles DO happen. Stay strong, and know that we are here for you

Tina - way to go getting in your workout at home AND staying OP. I think we are our own worst enemies sometimes. 6 cookies wasn't ideal, but you DID stay OP. That is what counts. Like Shy with her M&Ms - sometimes we just stray from our good intentions. But, I think that is what maintenance is like - making those little adjustments when we do stray.

Utah

cecil - AWESOME! You are doing GREAT!

Wishing everyone a POP weekend. Stay strong! It looks like many of us have learned how to make adjustments when we stray from our plans. I think this is FANTASTIC! And, I'm predicting much better scale results this week for our team. Let's finish strong and post great numbers on Monday!

For all of our chickies in the path of the storm - stay warm and safe and let us know how you are doing if you can.

Laurie

Mom23BC, prayers are on the way.

Well team, I haven't checked in a lot lately, and I'm sorry. School is really weighing me down this semester, and I HATE IT! I have research papers, quizzes, exams...BLAH! It's getting old, fast. lol.

As far as eating and exercising goes, I've done wonderfully this week so far, and I plan to have a totally on-plan weekend.

cecil
Nice going. Won't be any time at all and you will be telling us the 160's are on their way.

Laura
I think that is a really good idea one day a week. I have picked Tuesday. I do 1 mile walking/aerobic videos all day long. I think last Tuesday I did 6. Time before that I did 10. Give the body just a little jolt and mixes up what the body is use to.

Tears in my eyes!!!

Thanks ladies for all your prayers and support. You guys are awesome.