Down 5 lbs! So only 32 more to go to reach my Christmas goal.

Wow Moonring, way to go! I am lucky to lose 5 pounds in a month, so I am VERY impressed!!

Eny- I agree that Flylady can be overwhelming, my first trip thru there I ended up stopping because it was too much, now I just go get ideas but I did not sign up for all the email etc. Just pick one thing at a time to get under control.

Pat, my Yankees won last night, but the chances of them making the playoffs are not looking good.

Earthshaker- hope you are back with us soon.

That's kinda the route that I've taken w/ FLy Lady too. Although, I do get the emails. The only one that I really use is the Riley's Challenge for kids. My DD and I are constantly battling about her room - so the little mini challenges that take 15 minutes are really good for us. Plus she likes it when I tell her that "her email" came.

Last night was rough. I went to bed around 11 - which isn't bad, but my kitty is in heat, so she kept me up all night miserable! and then Joe decided at 4 this morning that he was going to start doing stuff around the house. Grr! So I'm pretty tired today!

I've lost some of the water weight from earlier this week - but I'm still stick between the same #3! I need to focus if I'm EVER going to see the #170's let alone #163.6 (my goal). So to revamp here's my plan:

Increase fruit and veggie intake.
Increase Water intake back to min 80 oz a day
Decrease Soda intake (Dt. Coke is my biggest vice!)
Decrease sodium intake
Workout AT LEAST 20 mins (30DS) a day - adding an additional short workout 4 days a week. (hopefully in am - if I can get my butt out of bed on time! )

Ok girls - here's to jumping back onto the wagon! At least I didn't fall off for long this time!!!

Eny~Sounds like a solid plan to me. I have done good with staying away from diet soda. My vice now is Crystal Lite. Much better for me. I need to focus on adding more fruit and veggies also. I love blue berries and yogurt that will be dessert and a fruit with breakfast. Veggies with lunch and dinner. Salt isn't much of a prob either I don't use the salt shaker much, when I do it is fresh ground sea salt. I like sea salt much better than regular table salt. Water is 64 oz a day. I have a path to the bathroom LOL. I am working back up on the work outs. I read that if you work your lower body like running or lots of walking you need to also do some upper body for balance in muscle strength. I will use the 2 upper body workouts and not the lower body. Cause that is where I got into trouble 2 weeks ago. I don't want to go there again!!!!! I think I might give YOAD a try, I have the book around here some where.

MM~Yeah Yankees!!! I believe there is a Cubs game tonight!! I need to check to make sure. My memory doesn't always remember things correctly.

Everyone have a good day. Catch ya all later Pat

I apologize up front for ranting, but I am frustrated to the max and need to get it out of my system. So here I go on my soapbox.

Knowing I need a better balanced nutritional diet I went in search for a diet book. One that would fit my personality. After looking through 136 title listings , reading reviews, reading the authors' yadda, etc and so on I left the site. Granted I knew when I started the search there would be no flashing signs in capital letters with fire works pointing out that this is your ideal diet Pat. But come on now I thought there would be one book that would suit me. I was looking for a GI index or GI load type diet. That was a farce. Now I sit here eating my veggie soup wondering how to handle the carbs I seem to crave. I was thinking about that yesterday how my diet seems to be built around carbs. CAN SOME ONE ON THIS BOARD PLEASE POINT ME IN THE DIRECTION OF A BALANCED DIET LOW IN CARBS!!!!!! Okay I will quit ranting and finish my soup and have mandrin orange slices for dessert. THANK YOU Pat

Pat - i don't know what to say about the carbs thing. I love them - but I don't crave them like I used to...

I accomplished all of my goals for today: water - fruits, veggies - calories AND I WORKED OUT!!!

I have to keep this up! I have to hit the #170's!! (#130 would be GREAT!!!!)

Hey, ladies!

I'm just pooped, but I just got internet back, so I thought I'd pop in a minute. I've missed you!

The past couple of weeks have been crazy, and don't look to be any better any time soon. That's the bad news. The good news is that I've hit a few milestones. I crossed the 300 number and can officially say I don't weigh 300 lbs! I met my Christmas goal of 299 on 8/11. That was such a huge moment for me. I honestly don't know the last time I've been this low. I know I weighed about 250 when I moved to AZ in 1998, but other than that, who knows?

I've also lost 100 lbs. While my highest known weight was 395 (God that looks horrible, just writing it), I know that I topped 400 since the doctor's scale which went up to 400 lbs couldn't weigh me the first time I went into his office. My official 100 lbs isn't for another two or three lbs, but I know that I've done it, and it feels amazing.


I feel like a totally different person now. I've changed my Christmas goal to my goal for Phoenix (Jan 18), so I'll be working on this now. My goal is 260, which is 45 lbs from the day I signed up (7/31). I'd REALLY like to be 250 for that "I lost 150 lbs since the last time I was here," but I have a lot of things coming up, and don't want to be too unrealistic.

But I'm so grateful for you all, and I browsed from my phone whenever I could. I just couldn't reply. I'll answer PMs tomorrow when I have some downtime before bed.

Thank you for being amazing people!

EARTH - OMG - that is AMAZING! I am SO proud of you! Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration for me! #100, out of the #300 - AMAZING!!! You rock girl!

Keep it up - keep me inspired! We'll hit these goals together girly!!

Earthshaker, wow, just wow!

Pat, Have you looked at Suzanne Somers "Somersizing"?
I tried that a few years ago, did well when I stuck with it, not so well when I didn't, but certainly not the programs fault Basically, carbs with carbs, fat with fat, you can have carbs, but no fats with them.

Eny, great job meeting all your days goals!

MM - are you stuck as well? I know I've told everyone I'm fluxing between the same #3... but I've noticed your ticker has been the same for awhile! What do we need to do to get over this hump? I told you my plan yesterday - and I WILL stick to it! Faltering is ok... tripping is alright.. falling flat on your face hurts and sucks, but the key is to ALWAYS GET BACK UP AGAIN!!!!

Pat - Yesterday was good... today is going to be good... I'm going to get past this plateau. How close are you to the #170s? I'm wondering that if I have the motivation and drive to really work if I can catch up and hit #170ville with you still!!!

Earth - I'm in to lose another #38 by Jan 18th. My DD's 7th B-day is the 19th, and I'd LOVE to be at #149 then!!! It's going to take a TON of work on my end!! What do you say? We in this together??? 21 weeks!!!

Eny~I am at 184.4. The scale isn't moving as yet. But I have lost 1/2 pound of last weeks gain. I am hoping for more by Mondays' weigh in. I am getting in more fruits and veggies, but not the recommended amounts. Yesterday I didn't get in all of my water either. Today WILL be better. Yesterday was a funky day. I did 30 min of stepping. My right knee ached badly, now I know why. It has rained off and on all morning. It really affected my arthritic knee. Hopefully today I can do more cardio. Somewhere around here I have YOAD book. If I can't find it I will go to the library. I DESPERATELY NEED TO MAKE CHANGES IN MY FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That will help the scale move downward. Question: "adding additional 4 short workouts a week" Please explain Inquiring minds need to know!! Are you still doing the push ups? I quit doing them last week. Need to get back on the wagon.

MM~4-5 years ago I bought 2 of her books. I got so confused trying to figure out her way of eating, got so lost, I quit before I got very far into the program. I think the books are still at my ex's house. I have YOAD and Fat Smash around here somewhere. FS was to restrictive for me. I think I can make YOAD work if I can find it or borrow from library. What plan are you following?

Shaker~I am soooooooo happy for you. You are doing wonderful good!! Glad you have your service back. I missed you! Keep cutting the stone with your pen. YOU ROCK!!!

Blue S~Where are you?? I am missing you! Please post to let us know how you are doing.

Again, sorry I ranted on yesterday. Yesterday was a pretty good day. Looks like more rain. Catch ya all later Pat

I was paid back on my WI this morning for not paying attention to what I have been eating and not exercising. We start WW at work on Monday so hopefully I can loose the 1.2 lbs I gained last week. I'm so disguisted with myself I have been so motivated these last weeks and I just completely lost it this week.

I'll change my WI back to Monday and I do like Monday WI's better.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Hola everyone!

Earth what an amazing loss you have had!! I am very inspired by your success!!

Eny, I am stuck as well. And pretty much right where you are. My ticker says 184 and I refuse to move it LOL I was 185.4 yesterday and that was down two pounds from the gain I had. A regain that is. The day I joined this challenge I went crazy or something with my food! Suddenly I had no control. I went back up to 187! Today is my official weigh in day but I didn't do it because I had a fast food burger and fries last night somewhat bummed about that. I need more control around family outings.

My new goal is to be 183 next friday!! I am going to go take a look at exercise tv as see what looks good. I really haven't started exercising for real yet. Just taking walks around the neighborhood.Maybe that will push me forward!

I hope everyone else is doing well today and staying op.

Eny - I am so stuck. I am really not enjoying this right now. I go back and forth between 147 & 152, I can't seem to get into the 140's for good.

I think I need to add weights. I do my cardio pretty faithfully, my eating is about 80-90% OP, I think I need to add weights to get more muscle and burn more fat. However, I hate weights. I suck at them, I am never clear on what I should do and so I hate them. Regardless, I have got to figure it out. Suggestions?

Dixie, I have been doing my own low-carb thing, but as I've admitted, I am STUCK, so am open to new ideas.

Anabela & Patty, we were all posting at the same time. Good morning!

Everyone~I went on a hunt for my YOAD book. I found it + another book Body Clutter. I was reading You On A Diet: I found an interesting paragraph. Thinking back about a year I realized this is why I quit taking my depression Medications. I'll quote the Paragraph Asking what do you ladies think about it.

"You think you are doing something right. You are overweight, which causes high blood pressure, so you go on medication to bring your BP down. Or maybe you are depressed about being overweight, and you take an antidepressant to help deal with self-esteem issues.The irony of it all? Many of the drugs used to treat those issues have been shown to make you gain weight. Beta-blockers, one of the drugs most commonly used for hypertension, for instance, have been shown to cause weight gain and decrease metabolic rate by 10%. Several classes of antidepressants, have also been shown to increase body weight, as has insulin. The lesson: Don't automaticially assume that medication-even ones designed to help a specific problem will help your weight loss efforts." "Try addressing weight issues with nutrition and activity levels first, before starting a prescription regimen that may leave you with an increase in the very thing you are trying to decrease. Page 318 Appendix A

Now I am scratching my head in wonderment. I went 6 months without my medications. A bad time to be off the medications, separation, divorce, weight gain, stress, mood swings, financial upheaval, loss of my black lab pet, dealing with the loss of my Mom and so forth. No wonder I am stuck!!!!!!

I am going to follow this diet program for 2 weeks to see where that takes me. I need to finish reading Body Clutter, she (FlyLady) has some very good ideas. I think a journal is a good idea also. More accountability and facing facts will help. Here is to healthy eating. Catch ya all later. Pat