Just a quick update before we leave WI went well today better then I was expecting TOM is gone and the weekend is here! Whoo! Ha! I was down 2 lbs from last sat! Yes! Have a great weekend Red Team!

Good afternoon ladies! The weather isn't anything like it's been for the past two days today It's gloomy, but on the positive side it's pretty mild out. My SIL and I went to the gym this afternoon and got in a great cardio workout. Did 30 min. on the ellptical and 45 min. on the treadmill. I was sweating my butt off by the time we were done. Tonight Kev and I are going to dinner with his sister. Looking forward to an adult night out I've already plugged my food in the daily plate...I know exactly what I want to eat for dinner!LOL! I never get anything besides chicken chimis...this place though gives you 3 mini ones and there not covered in cheese, so much lighter then my usual ones. Anyways I'm a couple hundred cals over, but with my exercise my net calories came in on goal. I don't usually go by net calories, but this is my treat meal for the week, so today it's just going to be what it is! Today is day 20 for me. I tell ya I'm feeling soooo good! I lost 1lb this week. I'm happy to see consistent weight loss the last couple of weeks. This exercise and eating OP is really paying off I'm gonna run to Kohls in a bit and look for shirt for Easter. I hope your all having a fantastic day~

Good morning ladies I can't believe I'm up...we didn't get to bed until about 2:30. This medicine I'm on though kinda hops me up Anyways I'm so happy to report that even with eating out last night I maintained my abstinence and today is day 21 for me. Our dinner was really good, and I enjoyed it greatly. Ya know what though I feel good now, like I've had my treat for the weekend and I enjoyed it, but I'm not craving more. I'm sure I'll be taking a nap this afternoon. We got to talking about Vegas last night...OMG I can't wait. We're all going in June for a week That is going to be a GOOD TIME!!! Kev's sister, Kev, and myself are all a bit crazy once let loose. My BIL is a little more laid back, but still really fun to be with. He will balance us out nicely. Kev and his sister though are too funny when they are together. I told my BIL that him and I are in for it....I told him we need to stick togetherLOL! It's going to be a fun time though. We're going to see a Prince tribute show, Kai, the wax museum with the famous people, Freemont street, top of the Rio for witchdoctors I've been seeing pics of these witchdoctors every year when my SIL comes home and it looks delish We will be there for 7 days so lots of time to look around. Anyways that is a great motivator for me to stay OP also, that and the feeling I've been having since being OP I saw this really cute dress yesterday at Kohl's, but it was $68.00. It was 30% off though and then I have a 30% off coupon, so it will end up being $33.32, so I think I'm going to go back and get it. I have one dress that I really like, but I wanted one more for our trip. I have a bunch of cute dressy tank tops though for the rest of the nights. Kev got a few shirts yesterday and I got Joey a pair of jeans on clearence. Joey is growing at a speed I can hardly keep up with. If it wasn't for his older cousins hand me downs, we'd be broke! Well I'm going to go watch a movie on the couch. I'm up, but not really!LOL! Kev won't roll out of bed till about noon I'm sure. Have great Sunday~

Hey everyone-

Tina- I just have to tell you, I think I got your eye infection! LOL It's probably not the same...mine is my outer lid- puffy and red and hurts. I did go to the walk-in clinic yesterday because, well it's my eye! And my dh had staph in his lip last year and infections scare me now. I think it's a bit better today so hopefully short lived.

Haven't been the best this weekend. I'm having an OP day today though so all is not lost And back to the treadmill tomorrow~
Have a great day, everyone!

Just a quick flyby to say that I am back. I will catch up reading everyone's posts later tonight. I hope everyone is doing well! Chicago was lots of fun! I've attached a couple pictures of the river - before and after adding the orange dye. I've never seen so much green!

Oh no Emily...my eye is finally getting better! I don't know what it was I had, but it was not fun. If it doesn't clear up for ya in a few days get back to the doctor.

Counting- Isn't the river cool!! The weather wasn't too bad for ya was it? It was pretty mild Thursday and Friday...yesterday was a bit cooler though. What did ya end up wearing? Glad you had fun~

Tina - glad you are doing better
The weather was great! We still have a lot of snow back (home, so being able to walk about without boots was GREAT! I attached a picture (DH took it while I was line dancing - a new experience for me BTW) that is a bit blurry - but gives an idea of what I wore. I'm the old blond lady in the back Black knit skirt, black sequined sweater, black, gray & silver jacquard jacket, and black and gray beaded kitten heels. It worked perfectly for the cruise. We actually spent a lot of time up on the deck (attached -DH & skyline from the deck)

Count- I'm so glad you had a good time. What I can see of you looks really cute...those shoes look to die for though I have pretty good eye sight when it comes to shoes!LOL! I do love the city, it's just the winters that I don't like

Hi ladies,

Just wanted to say hello. Sorry i've been MIA this week and weekend, but it's been really hectic. I went out Friday night (before weigh in Saturday morning...NOT GOOD). I had a little terriyaki chicken and white rice and then 1 1/2 scorpion bowls. UGH!!! I stayed OP but all that alcohol the night before a weigh in was not good. Mid week I was down to 219.6 but my weigh in only showed 220.8. So I only lost .6. Oh well. I didn't quite make my St. Patty's day goal, but I was close. Well i'm exhausted, I have to write a lesson plan and I have to go to bed. Have a great day and I'll check in tomorrow!

Hey ladies! Well I have been MIA the last few days. Just been crazy busy. We did some spring cleaning yesterday, but I still have so much more to do. I have so MUCH crap!!! LOL. Sounds like everyone else has been busy too. Hopefully I have more time to post tomorrow. I just wanted to post really quick while I had a quick minute. I'll chat with you ladies tomorrow!

I've been MIA for a few days too, so here is my catch up:

Melissa, frozen grapes are the only way I eat them these days... otherwise, I'm home so little they go bad before I can eat them. I LOVE having bags of grapes and wrapped bananas in the freezer - such a nice sweet treat!

Jen, I feel your frustration. Last week I did a great job with both exercising and eating, and yet am still up. GRRRR. Just gotta keep doing the right thing and the scale will have to show it eventually.

Counting, the pictures look cool - thanks for sharing!

Unfortunately, I am up... AGAIN. Today I spent some time looking at my weight graph on DailyPlate, and it seems that I was on a downward trend until January 13, and then started heading upward on January 20. Guess what week I started traveling instead of working in NYC and being able to cook for myself? Though, I'm also wondering if it may be because I am now only weighing myself days after I run. I know running a lot can make your muscles retain water, and I do my big runs on weekends, weighing in on Sundays/Mondays. So maybe if I switch my day to a Tuesday or Wednesday it'd be more accurate? I guess as long as I'm consistent it's fine, but I prefer to weigh in with as little water as possible so I'm getting an accurate reading.

I'm thinking about switching to the Marriott Residence Inn instead of the Westin. I love having the treadmill in my room, but I think my diet is the problem more than my exercise. My only concern is, most of the time I go out to team dinners, so I don't think I could skip out even if I had a kitchen in my hotel. Just need to start being really careful, I think.

On that note, I have been implementing some of the techniques from the Beck Diet Solution, and I love them - hopefully they will help. I like a challenge, so my favorite game has been to purposely tempt myself with food. For example, this morning on the plane they handed out these biscuit-y cookie things. I had one of the two they gave me, but took the other one out of the package and put it on the tray right next to my laptop while I was working. Having it there was such a willpower test, but it felt SO good to say no to it. I did something similar on Friday at a cocktail party: on my plate, I put a bunch of blue cheese dip (high cal) as well as salsa (low cal). Then I went to town with some celery sticks. Guess what? I didn't touch the blue cheese! Hopefully these kinds of mini-competitions with myself will help. Tomorrow's test: on Mondays we always get froyo with our lunch. I am going to eat half and leave the other half sitting on my desk until it is completely melted. NO eating a single spoon scrape more. We'll see how it goes!

Hope everyone is looking forward to a great week ahead.

Seems many of us have been busy this weekend. I am back from cooking and cleaning and running for someone that can't do it for them selfs. One more load of laundry and I am caught up at home too

Hey everyone!

Well, tomorrow I start going to the gym! I'm so nervous...but 2 of the women that my hubby works with go to a cardio class every Monday and Wednesday evening, and so I decided to go with them and check it out. Wish me luck, LOL! I usually only work out in the privacy of my own home.

**what I'm about to say and ask here is TMI LOL*

Okay, for the past couple of weeks, I have been having issues "going". These past few days, though, it's been awful. Haven't gone at ALL. My tummy feels so heavy and uncomfortable, it's really miserable. I took a laxative once last week, and it helped, but nothing since. The scale hasn't moved, and I think it's because I can't...go. I don't know what the deal is--no dietary changes or anything. My mom suggested that I eat more fiber, but it's not helping BUT it's giving me terrible gas, making me even MORE bloated and miserable. Any suggestions?

Hi Ladies!

I'm feeling better. I'm still very congested, but I was able to sing at my rehearsals today. I was in music rehearsals for 4 hours today. Crazy! We're performing The Messiah on Wed. and Thurs. Then I'll be singing in a couple numbers on Easter. I was also asked to speak to the whole congregation at my church on Easter Sunday. The one week I have off from teaching Sunday School and they still get to hear from me.

You all know how I hate the cold! Last night it started hailing here--big chunks of ice. And they stayed on the ground for a bit. It was wild since we rarely get hail here.

I'm going to be gentle on the exercise this week until the chest congestion goes away completely. But I plan to get some walking in.

Tina--You're doing awesome! Treat yourself to the dress. It's a great price and you deserve to look fabulous.

Emily--I hope you eye gets better quickly. My BIL has a staph infection on his face right now and we're worried about him. It's scary stuff.

Counting--It sounds like you had a great time! I love the pix! Thanks for posting them. I'll show my kids the green river tomorrow. They'll like that.

Melissa73--You've done great. Don't be down about a .6 loss. Enjoy St. Patrick's Day!

Kari-Hi!

Laura--You have some great ideas for keeping yourself OP. Are the games from the Beck Diet Solutions book?

Rennie--Welcome back!

Cassie--Load up on Magnesium. You can take capsules, tablets, or powder. Keep taking more until you loosen up. Then you can back off and take a little bit less. Take that dosage every day for a while and you'll be back to normal in no time. My doc told me this when my kids were struggling with regularity. It works really well.

Remember to wear green tomorrow!

For immediate help, I recommend using a glycerin suppository. Its not very pleasant to use, but can help right away. For long term, I have no problems when I eat my steelcut oatmeal for breakfast. I can also recommend magnesium. It works like soap and makes things "slippery" and easier to move. Hope you find relief soon.