A quick check in. . . I'm busy busy. Yesterday was a rough day at work. We're having some trouble negotiating my contract since going FT It is really stressful! We went to the movies last night and saw "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - I have read the books and totally enjoyed it!

Lori - I was stuck on the scale for almost THREE weeks. And then I started losing again at a rate of about .5 to 1 lb per week. Then it picked back up. Now I'm thinking I've hit another plateau, but it could be the working out.

I'm doing web dev now in order to have something ready to show my brother later today. We're traveling a couple ours to visit my family and celebrate my oldest neice's and my dad's bdays. (she was born on his 50th bday 8 years ago ). I'm looking forward to seeing my family and swimming in my brother's pool.

Have a great weekend ladies! I'll catch up on Monday!

Good Morning Chickies !!!
It's Sat. late morning, just ran and got my hair cut. DH's grandfater passed away last night, so I'm looking at a crazy couple of days. Thank goodness the family stuff isn't going to start until tomorrow. I have to go to the store get stuff to make in advance for the week and for after the funeral. Then a laundry, the house, and my normal weekend stuff! I may have to check into a clone for myself !!

Kerry, I couldn't remember if it was 2 or 3 weeks you didn't budge on the scales, but I remember it being rough!! So to keep my self motivated I grabbed the tape measure this morning, 1 inch of the waist, 1 inch off the hips and a 1/2 inch off my thighs! Guess things aren't all bad!!!!

Paige, glad your feeling better!! The weather here in PA just absolutly sucks, it's doing that rainy, drizzle thing, it's chilly, grey, and just depressing!

Well I've to get running, I'm starving and have a million and one things to get done today! I'll try to check back later!!!

Hi all,

Lori, I'm sorry about DH grandfather. Sounds like you will be really busy.

Kerry, isn't the negotiation part fun? At least they're not telling you straight out this is what you get, take it or leave it. My jobs have all been that way, then a year or two later, they seek big increases for me so that I'll stay. That's happening again in this job.

I have been stuck in the same zone for about 6 months. I can't get past 189, but then for 6 weeks I ate like a pig and gained 11 pounds. So now I'm back to 196 and going down. I think that part of the reason that I gave up was because I had been stuck for about 3 months. Dumb choice but that's what I did. Now I wish I was at 189.

Things have been good. I've been totally on plan for two weeks and the scale and my clothes have shown that. DH is coming home today after being gone 2 weeks. Do you all see a pattern with that. I was able to be good while he's gone. So now the true test will begin. Regardless, I'm sure glad he's coming home. I really am tired of being alone with my dogs. They don't hold captivating conversations although Kodiak does like to howl at me when I talk to him. BTW, he is doing great after his accident with the abuterol.

Take care everyone and I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Marie

Lori-I'm also sorry to hear about DH grandfather.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try Southbeach. I loaded up on carbs today for my last high carb dinner. I had mashed potatoes, french fries, and 2 rolls. I did workout for 30 minutes today on the elliptical. I'm afraid to weigh though. I've been eating pretty poorly for about 1 1/2 weeks. My next weigh in will be next Sunday. I hope to be back to 151 by then. I've got to get serious. I used to have so much willpower. I don't know what my problem has been here lately. Tomorrow is May 1st, a new month, a fresh commitment, and I will take care of myself! I'm setting a goal to lose an additional 5 pounds this month. Do any of you have goals for the month of May?
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

My scale said 160 this morning!!!!!!!!! I know some of it's fluid retention from all of the junk I've been eating, but it was a real eye opener. I just wanted a starting weight for Southbeach. I'll feel so much better when I get all of this junk out of my system. Wish me luck!

Hi all, just a quick note to say that I lost another pound. I've lost 5 of the 11 pounds that I gained from November. Total weight loss since I started last year is back to 12 pounds. I just really want to lose what I had regained. Then I'll really feel back on track. The only place I'm still struggling is with getting 4 time exercising times a week. I'm at 3 but I really need to up it another day.

DH is home and is really being supportive. This morning for breakfast I asked him what he wanted and he asked what fit into my diet so that I'd stay on track. Such a sweetie. so we had one of my breakfasts and he just had more. It was great.

Another rainy cold day. Hopefully it will dry up a little this afternoon so I can go hiking with DH and the dogs. That's my favorite way to exercise. If not, I have to use the exercycle.

TTYL.
Marie

Hello ladies. Sorry I've been MIA, but the problems I was having at work, got a little worse in some respects. They put everyone on the same schedule, which was fine, but the department manager said that he would prefer that we didn't spend our lunch hours on our comptuers. I can see their point, but I used take 15-20 minutes to check in here and do my daily posting. Now, I have to do it in the evenings, and I often just don't have time. I have a two-hour commute round trip. Then we go for our evening walks for about an hour, then eat and do chores. So, it's going to be hard for me to post everyday. I'll just have to squeeze it in elsewhere though because our forum really keeps me on track.

Lori - I'm sorry to hear about your DH's grandfather. I hope he didn't suffer much. How is your husband doing? Hang in there. We'll be here when you get back.

Kim - You are not alone with your sweet cravings. They are my downfall big time. And not candy, just pastries - cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, etc. And I had come to the conculsion a while back that I am just way better off abstaining completely from them. If I have one bite, it can throw me off for the rest of the day. And I had some birthday cake at work on Friday for one of the girls in the office. I thought if I just took a small piece, I'd be fine. I was sooooo wrong. I have been eating sweets all weekend now. And now I'm going to have to go through the withdrawl again. I was doing so well when I had gotten through the withdrawl and cravings period. I just didnt' eat any of that type of food and I was fine with it. I need to get back to that point. May will be our month. We can do this! No sugary carbs for either of us.

Marie - I'm very glad that Kodiak is doing so well. And congratulations on another pound lost! The other six will be off soon. (I know, not soon enough ) And isn't it so nice when DH actually works with you? Mine is also very supportive. In fact he's trying to lose some weight himself, so we can motivate each other. That helps when one of us doesn't want to walk at night. And right now I'm struggling to get below 190. I would like to be at 180 by the end of May, but I seem to be stuck right here.

Kerry - Good luck on the negotiations. I hope you have a much better week this week. Did you have a good weekend with your family? And what do you do your web dev in? I used to design web sites. I enjoyed doing it, but I got tired of the customers. They wanted the world but didin't want to pay for it.

Paige - I have an appointment with my doctor this week because of my allergies. My allegra prescription says only one a day, but I'm lucky if it lasts 12 hours. So I've been taking two a day. I read an article on taking bee pollen supplements for pollen allergies. I may try that too. Spring is my favorite time of year. But between the pollen in Spring, and the hay and grasses of summer, I really suffer this time of year. I'm afraid I may have to start on the shots, but that is a last resort. I'll let you know how the bee pollen goes.

Judy & Joetta - I hope you have a wonderful week. And I hope everyone has a really teriffic month of May.

Robin

Paige--May is your month to shine Mine, too, I hope! My scale jumped up a few pounds yesterday, due to TOM and to TOM-related sloppy eating last week. It took the glow off my most recent loss, but I'm not changing my ticker until next weekend, 'cuz I do think it's mostly water weight. But like you, I'm determined to have a great month ahead! My goal is to be under 225 by the end of the month. I will have to EPP, and step up my workouts.

Kim, good luck with South Beach! Have you seen a nutritionist? I've read that some people who have really aggressive exercise routines actually lose more weight by taking in a few more calories (especially healthy fats) a day. At any rate, I know you can tame your sweet tooth.

Marie--how nice that you and your hubby passed the first 'test'! And congrats on losing another pound.

Lori, don't you love your tape measure ? I'll be measured this weekend at Curves (monthly assessment), and next week at the doctor, when I can compare to where I was when I first saw her in despair last November. I know these will both give me an emotional boost.

Robin, it's good to hear from you! And when we don't, I'll assume that you've only had time to read and not respond (which happens to me a lot when life is hectic). I hope things get better soon for you at work. Joetta, this goes for you, too!

Speaking of which, I gotta get moving. I won't have time to walk this evening, so I will do my river walk this morning. It's my Curves day, but I don't want to deal with a gym bag today. I'm going to the Wizards-Bulls playoff game tonight--no overpriced, mediocre beer or nachos , just the snacks I pack this morning If I give in, I can't blame it on TOM, just on my own lack of willpower in social situations....I can do it! See you tomorrow.

Have a great day!

judy

I am so tired! The nieces wore me out! Four little girls can exhaust one aunt and uncle in 2 days for sure. I guess they gave me a good workout, but my back sure hurts from picking them up too much We had a good time and enjoyed seeing all of them. I swam a bit but it wasn't sunny enough to work on my tan Of course I ate poorly, but tried not to eat too much of anything. I did manage to still lose a pound. I haven't been to the gym in quite a few days because I've been so busy and out of town. I hope to get back on track this week. DH will hopefully get more on my schedule sometime this week and start looking for a job to last through the summer.

Robin - the web dev I do is mostly by word of mouth and for govt things related to my brother. My brother is a Doctor who wants to be a politician. Right now he is starting a political organization and I am doing the web dev for him. I have a graphic designer I work with and I do all of the programming. I don't love it, but I know how to do it and seem to get asked to do it often. It's ok and it pays.

Marie - Congrats on the LOSS!! That's great the DH is being supportive I hope you two keep up the teamwork.

Judy - Good luck at the game tonight staying on plan. I hope the scale jumps down for you ASAP!

Lori - I am so sorry about DH's grandfather. I hope you see a loss on the scale soon, but that's great about the inches!

Kim - Good luck with South Beach! If it works for you and you really need to kick the carbs - GO FOR IT!!!

Joetta ????????????????

Hope everyone has had a skinny day!! I didn't have to work today so I had the house too myself which never happens. It was kind of nice to drop the kids off at school and know I could do whatever I wanted. So what did I do??? Went to the post office and dry cleaners after dropping the kids off. Then I came home and ate my breakfast and went out to the garage to find the tape measure and ended up cleaning the garage (just what I wanted to do on my day off). Next I headed off to go get curtain rods, flower pots, and a small fountain to set on the patio. When I got home I planted my herbs in the pots and ate lunch. Then I decided it was too late to start sewing the curtains so I took a little nap and woke up in time to watch Dr. Phil and Oprah (which I never get to do). That was how I spent my day off. Now I'm just waiting for DH and the kids to get home.

I've done pretty well staying on plan today, although it would have been really easy to snack while watching TV this afternoon. I had a minigoal today, NO DIET COKE!!!! I've done pretty darn good. I've had 4 16oz bottles of water today and I can tell the difference. Maybe if I can make it today I will be more motivated tomorrow to see if I can keep it going. I'm not giving up diet soda, I just really want to cut back and not drink so much of it.

Tomorrow I have to got to a luncheon with my Principal. Hopefully it won't set me back too many points...I might have to tap into some of those 35 flex points.

Kerry- Glad you had a good time with your family.

Judy- I agree with you. May is our month! Have fun at the game tonight.

Robin- Glad your back!!!! I can't use my computer at work for personal use either. It makes it hard to catch up in the evening...not to mention I have to fight with DH over who gets to use it first.

Marie- It sounds like DH is more supportive about your diet. It really helps when they are on board with you giving you that support.

Kim- Good luck with South Beach. I have several teachers at work that have had a lot of success with this plan.

Lori- Sorry about DH's grandfather. My prayers are with you and your family.

Well the hubby and the kids will be home soon so I had better get something going for dinner tonight. Take care ladies.

It's late Monday, thank you all for the warm wishes! I'm just glad to not have to stare at those 30 plates of assorted cookies!

I had a lose on the scale this morning, 1 & 1/2 lbs, so no complaints here today! I of course at very poorly at dinner, no decent choices and we hadn't at all day!

Lots to catch up on, so I'll try and keep this quick!

Marie, way to go on the loss and keep DH in line !

Paige, I am sooo jealous of your day off, I'ld pay good money to clean something and take a nap!!!! Glad to hear the snacking didn't get to you!

Judy, let us know asap about how the measuring goes! It is such a mental boost after looking at the stupid scale!!! Have a great time at the game!

Robin, looks like the work problems are not over yet! Hang in there!! My mom gets shots for her allergies, and it's a pain to run to the Dr. for the shots, but it's also a blessing too!

Kerry, how's the job negotation going? And how is the Gym? Glad you had a great weekend and do me a favor, hook up a link to your post in the excersice forum, you were given some of the best advice I have ever seen!

Kim, good luck with South Beach, I looked at that, but I just LOVE my breads way too much ! I hope it works for you!

OK, I'm going to get ready for bed, check in with you all tommorrow!!!

Hi all, I hope your Monday went good. I, like Paige, had the day off and it was great. I worked on stained glass for most of the day and I did a little (really little) cleaning. I surfed for a while, then I took a nap. I was wonderful to have my house to myself during the day.

I stayed on plan and have eaten 1000 calories so far so tonight I get to have a small ice cream cone. Mmmm. It should be delicious. I also drank all my water, but I drank a lot of soda and tomorrow is weigh in. So, I have to drink more to flush some of the sodium out of my system. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Robin, I love sweets of all kinds too. I found the only way is to avoid the pastries is to cold turkey them too. They are my weakness. Sorry about the no computer at lunch time. That would really stink. Mostly I come to 3FC in the evening but once in a while I’ll go while at work. I wouldn’t like a limitation on it. It is great when DH is supportive. I think I put him on a diet, though. He’s okay with that since he wants to lose 10 pounds.

Judy, May is our month. I plan to lose and I hope it’ll be a lot. My one year anniversary of starting my diet is at the end of this month, and I’d like to get back to where I was at the beginning of November. That’s my mini-goal. Six pounds in one month is doable. I hope you were able to get your walk in. Hiking is my only liked way of exercising at the moment. Good luck on the measurements.

Kerry, didn’t you know kids are exhausting. I’m glad that you had fun though. Way to go on the pound loss.

Paige, great work on not snacking while watching TV. Home alone and bored (I have to be really bored to watch TV) is a downfall for me. I read your comment about Diet Coke and thought about all the Diet Pepsi I consumed today. It made me shake my head at myself. Good luck with the luncheon.

Lori way to go on the 1.5 pound loss. That’s fabulous. Good luck through this week.

Talk to you all tomorrow.
Marie

LORI!!! Yay! Way to go on the loss!! So you're over the hump and now you're going to start losing again. We're going to make that goal of 140 by May 30th.

Here is the link to the advice I got about exercising: LINK I am still wondering if I will ever lose this pooch under my belly button. I keep trying and working those muscles and DH says it is definitely smaller. I went to the tailor yesterday to have some clothes altered bc they're too big now. She says that she is taking out 2-3 inches of everything. So I guess that is good. I've probably lost more around my hips for sure than my belly. I think I'm going to hit 140 sooner than later, but I am still not happy with the shape of my body. Not really sure what to do about it, but I'm going to continue to work out and try to tone and build muscle. Maybe I'll see what I want eventually.

I didn't win the lottery ladies Sorry! I tried though. Salary negotiations are a pain in the butt and there are some politics involved as well. It will get worked out and they will pay me what they are supposed to it just might take longer than I want. I'm still making more than I was since I'm working 8 more hours a week plus I have benefits so this is a huge step in the right direction. DH & I are talking about taking our trip to Maui in August so we can start trying to get pregnant again in the fall. Since I'm high risk, I don't want to fly at all while pregnant (thinking really positive here that I'll get pregnant before Dec). So I am really excited about all of this salary negotiations aside I also think that I feel more confident trying again because I am in better health and at a better weight. I am also hopeful that I will be able to keep my weight under control while pregnant which I surely would have never done before now.

Alright I'll shut up! I'm working the front desk this morning and it's quiet so I have lots of time to blab. I'm sorry that you ladies can't get on at work. I probably waste too much time on the Internet at my job, but so does my boss so there really aren't any limits around here! Plus being a librarian they can't really restrict my access.

Have a great day ladies!

Good Evening Chickies!!!

Kerry don't feel bad about the lower tummy! That is all me, I have never had a flat enough lower belly to see the bottom part of my six pack. But in due time it gets small enough that I don't much care anymore! I guess that has come with age and a few child bearing stretch marks that I wouldn't care to show off on the lower tummy! But, I will have to admit this is coming real close to beating my longest stretch of steady working out! If I keep up this pace just maybe I'll see a little of the lower abs six pack ! And don't worry about the lottery, I had all intensions of trying again this week! A little secrect I didn't learn until after I was done having kids, you don't have to eat for two! That is such bull, no wonder we look like whales when were done! Just keep eating healthy and moving (walking, biking, and what ever else your doctor allows) In the mean time stick with the weights and cardio, your body will start changing shape! It is sooo wild to see it happen, you almost can't believe it!

Oh and now I'm REALLY JEALOUS! Marie is napping toooo!!!

Ok, tomorrow is my early day so I've got to get some things ready for the morning so we can get out the door on time!!! Check in with you tomorrow!

Hey everybody!! Just a quick post because DH needs to finish a paper for class. I have decided that the worst 4 letter words I know are w-o-r-k and d-i-e-t. They both drive me crazy!!!!! Anyway I spent most of my time catching up since my last post yesterday and that took up my "allotted time" tonight. I'll check back in tomorrow night.