It's kind of lonely here today! Where are all you chickies???? Like I said to Jennifer, I suppose you all have real lives????!!!! OK, just when I figured out all the smilies and where they all are...they go and change them on me! But hey, there are some really cute ones! I see they have a "good scale" but I didn't see an "evil scale"! Love the coffee ones! Too bad I've given that up! I love my coffee, I just wish I didn't love it with so much yummy stuff! I am going to see about getting some SF syrup and buying a Latte machine (or cappicino machine or whatever the heck those things are called!) and make my own SF Latte's. I LOVE them! And I do like really yummy coffee (flavored and strong) with cream and sugar (I can use sweetner, too)

It's a good thing no one is around me right now because I think something died inside my stomach tonight! Yuck!

I wanted to really taste that yummy summer squash tonight but it didn't come out the way I wanted it to! I should have put it ON a pan and baked it instead of IN a dish covered and baked! Oh well...lesson learned! The chicken I made was yummy, but I think it's the BBQ sauce that is getting to me! I added some salsa and allfruit to the BBQ sauce and then baked the chicken with that poured onit. Yum!

I know BBQ sauce has sugar in it. Does that count toward my "no sugar" days? Ah well! Tomorrow is a new day and since Ihaven't heard from Angie or anyone else, I am doing this challenge by myself! So I am starting over again tomorrow...big deal! Who wants to take me on??? Come on...I'm ready for ya!!!

Jennifer-how many miles on that bike this weekend? And have you figured out if it's a boy or a girl? I'm thinking boy since you are so enamored with Him! I think you should call him Gil...(are you ready?)...stands for Greatly (or gastly, or substitute....) In Love!

I need to go to bed. I'm tired (probably from no exercise today!) HA! Will catch you all later tomorrow. Hope your weekend was good, chickies !

WOW!! What a long weekend!

Today's food was less than wonderful, but it's my food-day-off. Last night (Saturday) I had 2 wonderful yummy margaritas hehe! Luckily, they're only around 110 calories each, and we had chips & salsa for dinner. (The salsa had a TON of stuff in it... so it was like a meal on chips! mm-mm!)

Today's food... however... yeah. I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast (omg!? ME?! CEREAL!!?!?!?!?), then we had Chinese for Lunch/Dinner around 4. It wasn't AS healthy as I wish it could have been, but it wasn't horrible, either. I ate WAY too much. *G* But, I did have a huge bowl of ice cream (I couldn't finish it haha!) around 10. Dinner, later on around 3:30... will be something like, um... Top Ramen, I think. I am poor. *G*

Sooo... yep. We didn't get to go on any walks this weekend partly because it was HORRENDOUS weather here, and partly because we hung out with a good friend of ours Saturday night/Sunday morning/afternoon. Both my husband and I are getting a nasty cold (nooo!), so I'm going to sleep as much as I can for the next few days, and keep working out, and keep those vitamins up!

I hope you guys all had a great weekend! Keep up the rad work, ladies. =)

Also -- for those of you (my, there were a few!) who wanted ME to clean their homes... hehe. Ya know, if you get bored with your normal workout... man, go clean your whole house! WOO! I was sweating like a pig, and felt like I'd done three times my normal workout! Wow!

Lucy...I would MUCH rather watch YOU sweat like a pig cleaning MY house than to tackle it myself!!! LOL!!! I seriously doubt that I would ever get as much of a workout cleaning my house as I do riding the bike! I don't enjoy cleaning that much!! What can I say??? I'll tackle one room at a time when the weather is warmer and I can open the windows! But, I am glad you got yours cleaned and a workout to boot! Great job! I read your story about the kitty and left you a comment! Poor thing!

Glad you enjoyed your weekend. That's what they are for, right?!

Hugs!

Good Morning Ladies!

It's another start to another great week... 23 days left in our Spring Fling! How are we all feeling? Good? Strong? Accomplishing our goals? If you're struggling, now's the time to get back on track- 23 days is plenty of time to see results if we stick with it and focus.

Julie- I don't think the BBQ sauce counts as being deviant from your no sugar plan. There are so many foods that have trace amounts of sugar, so short of cutting them out of your diet totally, I would think that you're safe with non-sugar, non-candy items & stuff like that. Heck, fruit has sugar (fructose) if you think about it....

Lucy- you and that ice cream! LOL. I swear, I can't read your foods for the day without getting that craving. Chinese food...that's probably going to be my "bad" meal this month. Hubby and I schedule 1 or 2 meals a month where we go out to eat. I try to make the best choices, but don't get obsessive about it, because, let's face it- 1 bad meal did not make me this fat. 3 bad meals every day for years did. We've got a PF Chang's about 45 minutes away that has the absolute, world's best, gourmet style chinese food- it is sooo incredible.

Ok, before I get myself into a frenzy...lol

Did my 1 mile WATP this morning. Having a so-so hair day, but a good clothes day A nice moleskin (think of the fuzz on a peach) shirt that I bought on clearance about a year ago was too snug around my hips & belly to wear. This morning, I put the shirt on, and it fits...and it's big! I have this shirt in pale green (the one I'm wearing today) aqua, and hibiscus pink, so now I know I can wear all 3 of these. I have some other peachskin shirts (think sandwashed silk) that I was having the same problem with...I might have just expanded my work wardrobe! LOL

Breakfast:
1 apple & cinnamon cottage double
1 oz fat free swiss cheese
1/3 cup smart start
12oz diet coke

I'm midway thru my first water...need to kick that up a little bit more and get back to getting that down before I check in here.

Lunch:
3/4 cup chili
3/4 cup elbow macaroni
sprinkle of skim chedder cheese

And that's it so far. I'm committed to 2 miles of WATP today and tomorrow, since I took Lyn up on her whole "accountability" bit in her journal. SO, when I get home, gotta do the 1 mile again, and then UB Shortcuts. I took the rest of Sunday night off from actuvity & just chilled out with hubby.

I'll peek back in around lunch time....it's going to be a good day today...I can feel it!

I'm subscribed to this thread, but I've not received any notices of new posts for a good while now. I get so caught up in the journals, that I forgot I was missing something. But I'm back now. I've actually see a little loss on the scale, but I'm afaid to even breath the words for fear it'll disappear (or not be real). So until I see it steady for like a week or something, I'm not going to claim it. I'm keeping up with Jennifer "The Mad Biker Woman" and I see some of you in the journals, but I'm back now... so look out. My boring life has just re-entered your house, in your face. The Mad Java Turtle is BACK!

Mary! I knew you were around somewhere! My butt hadn't been cursing loud enough for you to hear me

Ok, done with lunch, finished with 3 24oz glasses of water, and just filled up for a 4th glass. I'm going to float away today if I don't watch it.

I guess that the loan officer I work with is feeling bad. She gave me a gift card for Macy's....now I have to go shopping to spend it Shopping Spree! Who's coming with me?!?!?! I had to look at it twice- it's a hundred bucks!!!!

Back to the grindstone here...I'll check back later on!

Go chickies!

I have been spending most of my time in the journals (which are great), but I really need more accountability and challenge. So, what better than a Spring challenge, right? I know you guys are already well underway with this, but I would like to offer any support I can . A little about me: I am 33 and I have 3 boys. I teach 1/2 day Kindergarten now, but I will be staying home the next school year. I am doing Weight Watchers, which I really like. My husband is doing it with me. He has lost 16 pounds in 3 weeks!! GRRRR.... My husband is an awesome guy. He is the most loving, encouraging man. I count him and my children as my most abundant blessings .

I, like Jennifer here, love to ride my bike, but she leaves me in the dust mileage-wise . I want to lose 20 more pounds. I have chipped away at this weight forever it seems, and I am ready to really get serious! I gained 75 pounds with my last pregnancy! It has been extremely difficult to shed those pounds! My worst struggle is drinking my water and staying away from fast food and sweets. As I have said, all those supersized meals ended up supersizing me!!

So, I hope it's o.k. for me to join in!! I look forward to getting to know you! My goals are: 1. Drink my water. 2. Ride my bike at least 30 min./day. 3. Stay within my Weight Watchers points (not just eating junk, but eating the fruits & veggies too) 4. Speak kindly to myself (no ugly remarks about my body) 5. Get in to a swimsuit (of some sort) this summer.

Hope you guys have a fabulous day!!!

Welcome to the SFC, Lisagirl!

Jennifer - Chinese food isn't ALWAYS bad! =) It's my poision... hehe. If you have a meal of steamed rice with some stir-fry veggies in a low-cal, low-fat water-based sauce, plus a little grilled chicken cut into little slices... it's a really great, healthy, filling meal. =) I make it once a week!! hehe! You're so lucky to get to go out once or twice a month! I really wish we got to... someday soon, we will. But you're right -- one bad meal doesn't make it all wrong -- it takes years... =)

Hikein - I hate cleaning! *lol* but once I force myself to start, then I get mad at the messiness and must destroy it with my super-dusting powers and whatnot. I'm a supercleaner sometimes. *G*

Okay so today is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! *Dies of happiness* The most beautiful blue sky you could imagine, a gentle wind blowing off of the ocean, so there's that yummy salty-air smell in the air... not a cloud in the sky, and it's completely silent!
What a gorgeous day. OH. Did I mention it's ALMOST 75!?

Whoa. For Seattle, that's a litlte... um... RARE. *G*

Today's meals are gonna be good!

B - 1/2 cup ff cottage cheese w/ salt, 1/2 cup canned peaches w/o goo, and a slice of toast w/ chunky peanut butter.
No snacks today!
L - Pasta salad w/ 2 slices of lunchmeat, OR a Carnation Instant Breakfast. I don't know which...
D - Club Salad with chicken, turkey, 2 kinds of cheese, pickles, tomato and salsa instead of salad dressing! YUM.

Workout today:
25 min on bike w/ weights
5 min on stepper w/ weights
4 min of leg-toning stuff
300 situps (I WILL do this today, or no ice cream for me tonight!)
and just maybe, if I have time, balance ball workout. =) I rule.

I haven't lost any weight (actually, I've gained 3 lbs!), but I've noticed a HUGE difference in my body lately! My stomach, back, and waist are MUCH slimmer. My legs are getting smaller, and I definitely have muscle tone showing on the outsides of my legs. I think the fat on the inside of my thighs is dropping, too... but that COULD just be wishful thinking. My face is definitely thinner, and I don't really have any double-chin at all. Woohoo! I think if I just keep this up for a couple more months, you guys, I'll be at a healthy weight again! Even though I haven't measured (I plan on doing this today, actually.. no fun!), and I've actually GAINED 3 lbs... I think it's been 3lbs of muscle. I didn't go crazy with food or anything this weekend, and last week I was really good. I must be... *gasp* achieving my goals. Oh no. What is a girl to do!? Quick, someone discourage me before I freak out and decide I don't have to try hard anymore and roll back into my bad ways! =)

You guys are all doing SO well. I am so proud of you all! No matter what happens, you just get right back up on the proverbial horse, and keep going! You guys are RAD, and I'm totally proud to be part of this group! *big hugs for all*

Wow! Just tell me when and where and I'll be there. Macy's? I've never shopped at Macy's!!! How fun is that? Now you go and get yourself some well-deserved...somethings! Take hubby with you and let him pick something really special out for you! Now, tell me...why did this loan officer do this? Is this the same one who got in your face about some stuff at the end of the month? If it is, well, then she *needed* to give you one!!! LOL!

Sereiously...have a great time shopping! If anyone deserves it...you do! Way to go, Jennifer!!!!!!

Welcome Lisa! Of course it's ok for you to join in...the more the merrier. I think a few have "phased out" the last week or so but there are those of us "die hards" here for the long haul! You goals sound great and attainable! We are glad to have you and get to know you! This has been a great place for accountability...at least for me!
Keep checking in daily and we will try to give you what you need. A great bunch of women hang out here!

Just wanted to let you guys know where I am today! I'm here. Had to run out to do errands today. Grocery shopping and I promised DD McDonalds if she was good...she was! I got the Cobb Salad and at a few of her fries. Then...since she ate everything...I asked if she wanted some icecream! Big mistake! She doesn't eat much of the icecream (loves the cone) and instead of scooping into the trash pile, I ate what she didn't want! It was a small cone, but still...there goes the sugar for the day! Oh well! Onward to tomorrow, eh?

Workout today included 30 minutes on the bike...I just can't seem to get to 8 miles anymore in that amount of time! My legs get tired but my heart rate stays where it needs to stay for a good portion of the ride, so I guess I am getting what I need to get out of it! Then I did weights and toning exercises. I feel like I am slacking these days...and maybe I just need to really kick it into high gear and go for cardio twice a day 3 days a week and once a day the rest of the week with weights/toning on those days! OK...there...that's my plan!
New Plan:
Cardio for 20 minutes or more twice a day--3X/week
Cardio for 20 minutes or more once a day---4X/week with weights/toning
I feel good about that!

Food for the day:
So far...
B-fast: usual oatmeal, pecans, cranberries, raisins, skim milk, splenda
Snack: handful of cashews before lunch (I was sooo hungry and it did tide me over!)
Lunch: Cobb salad at McDonald's, 8-10 French fries, 1/4 cup icecream
Supper: Leftovers and some sort of veggie! Gotta get that fridge cleaned out!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Welcome, Lisa! Glad you joined us- there's more & more room in the group since we've been firming up, and losing this weight. You can't ask for a better group of women- I am amazed every day by their success, and their strength. And, they just plain kick butt!



Lisa- don't even get me started on men & their ability to lose weight. My hubby can sit down & eat a full pound of M&Ms at one sitting. When he needs to lose weight, he cuts those out, and eats salad 2 or 3 times, and woosh- the pants start to hang off him. They sure suck, don't they? Your goals look great- very doable. Welcome again, and make yourself right at home. It's a great group we've got here.

Lucy- don't make me come beat you! LOL. You need to keep up what you are doing...you need to keep challenging yourself, otherwise, you'll start to lose it and it will be harder and harder and harder to get it back. Discouraged yet? And LOL @ the chinese food- nope, you have to have sweet & sour chicken, or honey garlic chicken, and lo mein, and fried egg rolls...mmm. Actually, what I tend to have is the crispy honey chicken, with brown rice, and garlic noodles (lo mein with LOTS of garlic and red chili peppers- it is awesome!)

Julie- yes, it's the same loan officer. I'm stuck with her, at least for the whole next year. LOL- I don't like the crap, but if you're going to bribe me, I guess I'll take it. As far as the ice cream, 1/4 cup isn't the end of the world, but bad Julie. Just kidding. What resistance are you doing on the bike? As long as you're in your target range, heck, 8 miles, or close to it, is good!

I had 6 full 24oz glasses of water- gonna pee myself senseless! LOLOL that's a lot of water! I must have really "sweatted" a lot this weekend because I've had the thirsties. I may be up 200 times tonight at this rate!

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Ok, I'm home, adding this little bit since my darned office shadow was lingering while I was trying to post. Dang, not even a moment's peace, I tell you. One day, I am going to choke her.

All right...time to get changed, and to the WATP tape (so Lyn doesn't yell at me & I get my 2 miles in) and then do the Shortcuts tape for Upper Body. Then, figure out what I'm doing for dinner. I'm a little under my #s from lunch- never added my cheese. Oops!

I'm off to sweat...have a great evening, everyone!

Jennifer - haha! I'm an almond fried chicken, steamed rice (YUM) and mixed veggies kinda girl =) Now I'm starving!! haha!! =) I'm not discouraged quite yet. *G* I'm proud of myself, and my husband is proud of me, and he keeps me going when I'm not in a good mood or when I get down on myself. He even suggested that I try setting a schedule for myself every day, because it'll make me keep doing it every day.

And it works!

I even noticed that I don't really need a snack between breakfast and lunch anymore. Yay for me! And if I do need that snack, I have nice personal-sized bags of popcorn set aside in the cupboard, so I can shut myself up but not FILL up. *G*

Also... water is a lot easier to go down with lemon in it! I'm almost halfway through my third bottle for the day! WOW.

You guys are doing great! Now off to my horrible very long excruciatingly boring tapes... *Snore*

to be here tonight! I'm feeling a little mopey! Don't know why. Somehow DH's mood is affecting mine which hasn't happened in a while, but for some reason he's starting to wear me down this week...and it's only Monday!

Jennifer...we have a Schwinn recumbent bike (thus not butt pain) and I set the resistance quite low in the beginning just to get going. There are probably 10 bars high and I am at 2 bars in the beginning and then crank it up to about 5 bars then 6 then down to 5 then down to 4 then 3. Then I cool down for a minute or two with hardly any resistance. If I were to go up any further than the 6 bars I am at, I would croak!! My heart rate goes up past 150 (which the machine has calculated to be my peak at my age/weight/etc.) when I am at the 6 bars, so I'm pretty sure I'm doing this right. Help me out if you want. I try to keep the rpm's around 70 allthe while I am pedalling! Tell me about how you do it! Do you keep an even pace the whole time or get the resistance up there in the middle of the workout? I am not sure if I am doing this right but it feels right, ya know?
I know I sweat my a** (and under my boobs and back and....) off!!! I have been opening the window a bit cause I hate to sweat! What am I going to do this summer??? I guess I will just have to sweat a bit more.

Lucy & Jennifer---I'm so proud of you both! You guys are just kicking serious butt with this exercise thing! I wish I had a trainer, but since I can't afford one, you two are the best coaches one coudl wish for! Keep me focused and motivated, will ya? It's worked so far! We are all gonna be hot chicks this summer, I tell ya! My goal: Size 12 by the end of the summer! Geesh...did I just say that??? Now I HAVE to be accountable at least to some of you!!! LOL!!! Guess I better get my butt in gear really kick it into high gear, eh? Lots of and good, healthy

Hugs to all...gotta go check out the journals and then do some serious reading tonight!

Good Morning. It's Tuesday...only 3 and a half days until the weekend...lol.

All right...Confession time. Last night after dinner, I thought I was fine. I played computer games (dynomite on msn.com) for a little while but was bored. Hubby was working late downstairs, so I was just relaxing & playing after I did my exercise.

Well, I had a hankering for one of the sugar free peppermint patties that hubby found & bought for me. Usually, I'll have 1 of the 2. Nope- I munched both of them in a hurry. Not small bites to savor as I had been. So, I figured I'd be good. Nope- triggered the need for more sugar. Julie, I have met your demon, and he's got raspbetty filling! On top of the 2 peppermint patties, with a whopping 7g of fat, I had 3 sugar free rapberry filled chocolates. And then 1/2 cup of fat free sugar free chocolate pudding. And then, my system started in on me. Gas pains from the malitol in the candy. Ugh.

I can now guarantee we're not going to have a repeat performance of that. I was miserable most of the night. Even faced the scale this morning to see how much damage was done. There's a loss- like Mary I don't want to say the words out loud for fear that they'll come right back & bring friends. I'm going to obsess all week & check each morning, waiting for the delayed reaction response to the added fat grams & calories. Hubby wants me to stay off the scale until 3/31 or 4/1 when we take the next measurements. But, that's unreasonable as far as damage control is concerned, right?

So far today:

Breakfast:
1 peach cottage double
1/3 cup smart start
1oz fat free swiss cheese
12oz diet coke

Got my first water here with me, sipping between paragraphs. Refocus, refocus, refocus. Stay away from the sugar free candy. Bad sugar. Bad.

Lunch:
3/4 cup ditalini
3/4 cup meat sauce
sprinkle of parmesan cheese

Today after work:
2 miles WATP tape to keep my promise to Lyn.

Dinner: Not planned yet- thinking chicken breast or cube steak, with veggies. Need something more filling than a PBJ sammitch, especially after the cravings/lack of control last night.

Lucy- the lemon in the water is an excellent suggestion. I've got to do that when I'm home to get more water in. At work, I'm spoiled, because we've got the huge water cooler with bottled water, and I'm maybe 15 feet from it, so I pass it 100 times a day, refilling when my glass is empty.

Julie- I'm jealous! Recumbent bike...no butt pain...oh, that would be heavenly. As far as what I'm doing...my dear, sweet, wonderful bike- it has 4 programmed settings where you can put in your age & it calculates your optimal heart rate & rpm's depending on what you want to do. There are 2 fat burning interval workouts (one is 30 mins, the other 60 mins) and 2 cardio which target a higher heart rate. (30/60 mins) Since I am getting my cardio with the WATP (add the ab belt & the exaggerated movements & man, do I pant) I tend to do the fat burning interval one. When I get on it for those 15 minute jaunts, I use the lowest resistance, because I'm not looking to tone my legs so much while on the bike, but to keep the heart rate in that fat burning zone. My target fat burning heart rate is 120-138, and for cardio, it's 155. When I get on for those 15 minute "jaunts" I've got my mp3 player on, and I've got the songs on there that keep me moving...I can slow down the rpms to stay in the fat burning zone on the lowest resistance, or get them up to 100 to push my heart rate to the cardio side at intervals, but to do 30 minutes at the 100+ I'd seriously have a stroke. But I know about the sweat pool under the boobs, and in the thigh/hip fold...when you get up & you know you're going to have to wring yourself out.

Okay, time to get this posted, and see who I missed by taking more than an hour and a half to write this between phone calls & work interrupting my fun!

(((( Chickies! ))))