I think that today will be a good day for me.I finally slept good last night,I haven't been sleeping good lately.

Keep up the good work everyone

woo hoo 5 lbs down 5 more to go before V day! I am so glad to see the first pounds come of so fast! I wasnt expecting 5 lbs in less then two weeks!!

How is every one else doing? Good luck everyone!

OK, I'm setting up some goals here. Interesting that I go on vacation actually stay in maintenace range then celebrate that by gaining back above maint. red line. huh.

goal one- get scale as far down into comfort zone as I can before 2/14
goal two- get off my b.u.t.t. (that's what my kids call it) and actually START to weight train. I think I am more successful with running because I leave the house to do it. Strength training has to happen at home. No gym membership for me.
goal three- clean off my desk!!! the clutter is holding me back-

have a great day CCers!

Kitty, I'm with you on the clutter. I'm working on my bedroom/office this week, a little each day. I have a trick for my desk that might help you. Once a day, after email in the morning, usually, I do a quick "swipe" routine: trash and dishes (throw away/put away), put away anything that doesn't belong there (books, loose papers, etc), wipe the desk and or dusty computer parts with a household wipe (I keep them right near my desk), tidy up what's left. Takes a minute or two at most, if done daily, and really helps keep the desk from getting cluttered/dusty. One little spot of sanity goes a long way!

So, I'm still stuck at 182.4. Maybe it's stress, or maybe I need to cut more sugar from my tea, but I'm not ready to do that right now, so I'll just keep on keepin' on, and try to burn more cals with my workouts.

Still working on the stupid van wipers. The motor mount bolts sheared off yesterday, so I had to put the van back together enough to drive to the store, buy new bolts, now I'm waiting for the engine to cool...I have to pull the engine cover and wedge in next to it, so I don't want to catch fire , lol. Guess I could go on out and work on getting the busted bolt ends out of the holes while I'm waiting. I hope today will see the end of this project!

Where's Kali?

Oh, Cheryl, I'm in awe of your motor skills. I hardly know how to lift the hood of the car.

A very good on plan day for me today. Got in my exercise and have calories to spare.

Everyone is doing marvelous, even Kittycat who is back on track with good goals. Have a good day, all.

Hey Girlies!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful evening. I had a pretty darn good day here. Busy as usual. I blew out of work a little early to get to my training session. Normally DH gets the boys on Monday and I go after work but he had to go out of town for the day so I decided the gym was more important than my job. Had an awesome workout. My trainer is really kicking my strength sessions up a notch.

My son requested mac n' cheese for dinner. He rarely asks for something specifically so I made it for the boys. They loved it. I allowed myself 1/4 of a cup. It was yummy and a little difficult not to eat more, but I stayed strong!

Tomorrow we are getting all the carpets cleaned. What a pain. We've been picking up toys and odds/ends all night getting ready for it. Will be nice to have fresh, clean carpet.

Anywho...I'm gonna run for now and catch up on a few things.

Toodles!

Isabella - isn't Jammy a Renaissance woman though? She never fails to surprise me!

Barb- fresh carpet? Nice! I wish we had carpet. I miss it.

Weird. I was sick over the weekend so my calories went down. My weight? Went up.

Just call me Wrong Way Feldman.

You go Barb! I wish I had that type of willpower.

Today was smooth sailing with the food. I haven't exercised yet, but I'm insisting that I hop on the bike for 45 mins and do it before I go to bed.

Scratch that. I'm going to bed. Going to bed guilty at that.

Evening, ladies.

FB, Barb, great to hear from you two busy ladies!

Talked to the BBB today. She's been home for a few days, which is why we haven't heard from her. Think she'll be back on the road tomorrow, so maybe she'll check in.

Today was another nightmare (daymare, whatever) with the van. I did get the busted bolts out without drilling, and got the motor installed, but it took up most of my day, and I didn't get anything else done except a Costco run for groceries. Have a few pieces of van to put back together tomorrow before I can test the wipers, but I'm hopeful that they will work now.

Isabella and FB, thanks for the compliments. I'm afraid I'm not all that, though, just too poor to hire this stuff done, and too single to pass it off to a man, lol.

POP with eating and water today, plus I had a great workout tonight! I was supposed to do LB lifting (squats and such), but just couldn't get enthused about another at-home legs workout with not enough weights. Decided to do the Crossfit WOD and some running and skills practice. Here's what I ended up doing:

Warm-up, 5 mins of jogging, then 2 rounds of:
ROM (range of motion movements/lubing up the joints) and stretching
10 OH (overhead) squats with a stick
10 CF style sit-ups on the swiss ball
10 back extensions on the ball
10 bodyweight/air squats
10 push-ups (on knees, chest to floor)
10 knees to elbows on the floor
10 handstand push-up progressions

Workout:
starting with 30 reps each exercise, then 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5:
virtual shoveling (scaled to 15 lbs)
pull-ups (scaled to jumping pull-ups)

Cooldown:
25 mins jogging, then 10 mins walking

It was a fun workout, and I can tell I'll be feeling it tomorrow. Heck, I'm feeling it already! Okay, lots of yawning and not many brain cells left. Probably a sign I should go to bed!

Morning Ladies
Today was weigh in...I am up 1/2 pound
I had to work in front of the computer all day yesterday so I sat idle
not too much activity going on
I finally got dinner out around 6 ish
I should have skipped on the beer ....
ugh
I will try harder today !
and Jamsk8r go you with your workouts !I will try your routine for sure
when I went to the gym I was doing sets of 12 and resting in between
wish me luck!

Morning, Melinda! Thanks for the encouragement! I'm really enjoying my new workout routine, with lifting, running and crossfit all mixed together. Now I just need to get over my fear of the road bike (or rather, the sore butt that goes with it, since I don't own bike shorts yet), because I think that would help with the fat burn. Something new always seems to help.

The scale gave me some encouragement this morning, finally! Down a pound from the last 4 days, to 181.4! Maybe I'll finally bust through my previous low (181.2) soon?

Ahhhhh, I've been having a case of the doldrums. First time ever. I decided, Sunday night, to write out a new routine for weights - come up with a better schedule and add some new moves in.

Today was back day. It felt heavenly! No pain, can you believe it? Even the numbness is gone.

Jams - that's a helluva workout! Mine doesn't look nearly as impressive -
3 sets each:
Lat Pull Down, wide + narrow grips
Cable Pull Down (I make up names)
Seated Row
Pullovers
Dumbbell Row
Shrugs - I cannot figure what day to throw these on. Some people tell me shoulders, others back. Anyone?
Some machine the trainer's twin taught me. I don't know what it is - she couldn't properly tell me either.

Then 20 minutes of hardcore stair stepper cardio action. I've decided to no longer kill myself with cardio which likely accounts for my slooooowing weight loss. I don't care really, although I complain. My clothes are progressively becoming looser. I could weigh 295 pounds again and wouldn't mind as long as I'm still wearing my size 6 pants.

To try to cheer myself I did a side progress photo for my bodybuilding.com account, which turned out pretty cool (if you ignore the weird pieces of hair ruining the profile)! I'm happy with the way my arms are coming along. I really worried that they'd sag terribly with losing over 140 pounds which is what turned me onto weight training. I guess they droop a little, to be honest - but it's not what I imagined. Cheapest plastic surgery ever .

Thanks for the BBB update Jams. I like that girl!

BTW - you're going to have a sore butt with starting biking, it's the way of things lucky you. Luckily, it doesn't last all that long. I rode millions and gazillions of miles last year and never did get puffer butt bike shorts for comfort. A good saddle helps, as does moving the angle of the current seat to take the pressure off of your bits and pieces.