Hey everybody! Wedding went pretty well, and the reception saturday night was awesome. Got really, -really- tanned Friday in the 110 degree weather, where I was outside in a strapless dress for a long time and I look hot!! WOOHOO!

Saturday, we went to the reception at a friends' house up in the middle of freaking nowhere, which was awesome. My stupid hubby drank way too much, including 2 shots of everclear, and puked his guts out all day Sunday so I had to take care of him. *annoyed* BUT Saturday night, we got to see the Northern Lights, which I've never seen before!! SO CREEPY!!! The sky was vibrating in waves of blues, and then it looked like about 70 little streaks of lime green flew up the sky, and then they'd fade to white and then back to the stars, and then up in white, then up in blue. It was SO BEAUTIFUL!! Totally rad. I'm happy I got to see that!

Either way, today is my one and only resting day before the new job starts tomorrow morning! woohoo!! I've not worked out today, because I am freaking tired and I need a break. We're going on a walk with the dog later, though, so at least it's something.

I've noticed a lot lately that I'm looking really good... not skinny as I'd like to be, but GOOD in general. My arms are slightly tanned (which looks rad hehe!) and my clothes are just fitting me in the right places now. I've got a new workout plan starting tomorrow, because I have a very long day every day, and I'm on my feet for 10 hrs a day starting Wed!!

The NEW plan:
Calories at/under 1000 for the day, higher protein & carb than fat. (Seems to give me more energy and keep my blood sugar even throughout the day).
5 min bike/ellipitical every morning (about 1.5 miles) to get myself warmed up for the day.
5 min upper body/arms every morning
500 situps every day
And that's about it. I'm going to get myself a pedometer for $10 at Walmart here, and try to get over 10,000 steps per day, which seems really low to me. If I can do 10,000 steps per day and eat a fairly healthy diet, which I plan on doing, I will be meeting my goals and beating the issues I've got going, like feeling guilty for eating anything at all. BTW for those of you who hadn't caught my post on the main journals, I have a form of bulemia that I'm trying to deal with in addition to losing weight, and it's ****. (I don't make myself vomit, I do the mental/physical beating n whatnot).

Anyway I went through my closet this morning and I've got a good 10 or so outfits I can wear to work right now, which are all dressy & cute & comfy. If I can lose 1 size (down to a 12 from a 14), I will be able to fit into ALMOST EVERYTHING I own!! WOOHOO!! I tried on a bunch of stuff and things just look better on me, and I look healthier. I think having a bit of color in my skin really helps, because I am so pale and have no color at all... it really makes me look healthier and younger, actually. I'm liking this whole fake-tan thing.

Okay, well... so far today, food has sucked horribly. It's my day off from doing all of this, so I'm not too worried about it. Plus, I've gotten under the 180 mark and off of that plateau, so I'm not going to be mad about it. I have hardly eaten for the past week, I've been so busy, and so I'm going to just not worry about the calories for the day, and just have fun and get my house clean today.

Um, my cat is driving me nuts and keeps eating plastic garbage bags and is pulling plastic wrappers from the garbage cans and being a pain in general... this cat has issues, let's leave it at that. He drinks beer, eats plastic, carries around a felt headband in his mouth all the time. The cat = crazy. (I am constantly pulling chunks of plastic wrap or cellophane from his jaws). Sooo today is a lazy day, but I'm ahppy!!

I hope everybody has had an awesome weekend!! YOU GUYS ROCK!

Ok chickies, just a peek in to report my 2 miles WATP with stretchie completed. Now to figure out dinner, cuz I'm starving!

Have a great night, chickies!

Okay so I went back and read a bunch of stuff from the past posts, as I promised, but I can't think of anything good to say to anybody. It's a hugely braindead day, here.

I got the urge to cook today (as so often happens), so I made a pan of banana bread and a pan of chocolate chip cookie bars (which are going to be distributed to friends and hubby's work). I haven't had any of those, either.

Last night we were both nutritionally empty (from days of extreme heat, not eating enough, working like mad, and drinking every day at night), so I made a big pot of beef stew. Lean chunks of steak cooked in a frying pan (with water, not oil), and a bunch of spices & veggies. I think the entire thing was almost completely fat free, and very low-carb (unless you ate the potato chunks in the stew). It gave me hellish heartburn, but my body feels AWESOME after having eaten a bowl of that stuff. Now I remember why I love stew (although I like chicken better than beef). It's really healthy stuff, too, which makes me happy. PLUS I got my husband to eat a bunch of veggies for dinner!! HAH!!

Food today has, of course, sucked horribly. It was my day off! My calories are around 1300 right now I think, which is HUGE.

Food today -
bowl of stew for breakfast
1 srv corn nuts (leftover from the weekend) (130 cal)
1 srv choc wafer cookies (150 cal) (also leftover from weekend)
1 srv pretzels (100 cal)
6 dilled beans that I made (which are actually negative calorie, I guess, so about 30 cal total?)

Ya know, I swear I've eaten more than that. What did I forget? Well... even if my cals aren't that high, it feels like they are. I've been munching all day long!

Dinner tonight is hot dogs & macaroni and cheese. Day off. Still the day off.

I keep seeing these awesome recipes and making these awesome dishes (where you don't have to buy special ingredients at all or anything!) that are healthy and low-fat, low-cal, everything... and I never post them. Dangit! I am going to set up a recipe section on my website where you can go look at each of the recipes and therefore I won't feel bad for not posting them anymore.

Well, that's about it. Just gonna have a nice quiet evening at home and get some rest for the big day tomorrow! WOOHOO!!

Hi ladies -

No work out today & I'm feeling like SUCH a loser right now I left work and went straight to the mall for my new gym shoes. So I should feel pumped now! I hear that rain is in the forecast for tomorrow but I sure hope not. Its been a good food day today. 2 Special K bars & coffee for breakfast, crackers & string cheese for lunch, grapes, yogurt, and a salad from McDonald's. I'm anxious for my TOM bloating to be over so that I can see where I really am on the scale. This is stressing me out. I feel like all I ever do anymore is lose a few pounds, TOM comes & I get on the scale and get discouraged and then overeat during TOM and end up gaining actual weight, not just TOM bloating. Its like come on now- I know its TOM so why would I get on the scale when I know its going to be higher? Especially if its going to freak me out and cause me to eat more because I'm so depressed. Its such a ridiculously vicious cycle that it would be almost humorous if it wasn't so tragic. So here I am, somewhere between 170 & 175, but assuredly not nearly as close to 170 as I was just over a week ago or so. Okay, enough of that. Time to pick myself up and move on. Wallowing in the misery of what I did during TOM isn't going to help my efforts any. This month I did plot in my planner exactly when I started to feel the bloating & when the cravings started. So hopefully being armed with this information next month will help steer me to a different course. The fact that I'm 35 and still trying to figure this whole TOM / bloating thing out is a fact that I'm choosing to ignore right now

Jaymi - your children are adorable! We really do have to be the best we can be (mothers, wives, etc.) just because we want to be and we know its the right thing to do, and not for any recognition. The appreciation & recognition may or may not come from an outside source but we can get a sense of satisfication from within just by knowing we've done our best. Its not easy - but thinking this way does keep me half-way sane!

Elisha - glad to hear your date went so well! And you did well food-wise too. Double success!

Lisa - I definitely want to see the Bourne Supremacy. I love Matt Damon! Oh and of course the story line looks good too I agree that movies never do the books justice.

Jennifer - You are doing so awesome and I'm so jealous right now! But don't worry, its the good kind of jealousy not the bad kind I'm hoping this funk I'm feeling is only because I didn't work out today and I'll be back with it with the work out tomorrow.

Have a nice evening all!

Gone is the chocolate cake! Gone is the vanilla icecream and gone are the temptations from the house! No more excuses! I'm feeling particularly bloated tonight!

I spent the day at my girlfriends and we finished off my birthday cake with the kids. Had a very small piece and some icecream! It was nice to celebrate with her! She has a new (well, actually it's pretty old-Victorian Era) house and is working on decorating the rooms! She has very unique taste! But I love her, anyway! Her sister came over when I was there and the last time I saw her she was well over 200lbs. Over the last two years she has lost quite a bit of weight just by exercise and changing some of her eating habits. She said it's constant but she doesnt' deprive herself, just exercises every day! Walking mostly...about 3 miles or more a day! So I was inspired!

Food was ok today but stopped at ARby's on the way home and along with my chicken wrap, I ate some jalapeno poppers! I love those things! Figured I'd better get it out of my system today because it's the end of eating like crap! I really wanted a Jamocha shake, too but I was too full!

a broad...way to go on the scale loss! You are doing awesome girl and I will remember that bit of advice during my next PMS attack and try to steer away from the cravings! Keep it up girl!

Lisa...you are going to kick some butt this week and the next because you have what you need now...determination! I'm right there with ya girlfriend!

Jennifer...way to go on the 2 miles tonight and all the miles this weekend! You need to remember to do some little stretches to calves and thighs before and after your workouts, chickie! It will help with the muscle tightness, I promise! And are you warming up and cooling down before and after your workouts? That's important not only for the leg muscles but for your heart!

Lucy...you sound so completely happy! You need to get out more often, girl! Glad you had a fun weekend and good luck *(if I don't get a chance to remember later) with your new job this week! I'm sure it will be fine and you will survive! Where are you going to be working and what are your hours going to be? Working out in the morning is the best thing for me. It does help me with my day (gives me energy) and it really is the only time I have to myself until after 9 and by then I'm not really up to a workout! I'll be looking for those recipes, too!

The rest of you...thank you for all the birthday wishes and good vibes yesterday. It started out to be not a great day but it got better and today was good too! I'm thinking I'm allergic to my husband, though! He just gets under my skin and he doesn't have to DO anything!! What's up with that? I sometimes think women should have wives (and I don't mean to offend anyone here, so don't take that the wrong way!). I just think that we women understand other women so much better than men do...so much easier to live with (and I can attest to that having grown up with 4 sisters!) unless they are PMS'ing or DMS'ing!!!! LOL!!!!

Alright chickies! Here's my goals for the week[U]: (pretty much the same as any other week, but the exercise is going to get kicked up a notch-thanks Elisha!)

1. 60-80 oz. water daily

2. Food-Try to "get" in the Zone and stay there all week. At least a fruit and veggies once a day! I have found that if I am conscious of trying to get in some fruit and veggies daily, the rest falls into place! I have to make brownies tomorrow night for our birthday party at work on Wednesday. I will plan to have ONE brownie and NO icecream (that is going to be soooo hard, but I know I can do it!!) Really! But that's it for the week with sweets! We are also having a "Taco Bar" at work on Wednesday, so I'm going to try to get my boss to bring in lots of extra veggies and if he doesn't, I will--to make Taco Salad! I love it! Yum! I've also got stuff to make up a pot of chili, so I will try to get that made sometime this week!

3. 30 minutes of aerobics every morning 5 times and 3 days of my toning routine before next Monday.

That's it for now. I need to go get some work done around here tonight before I go to bed so it's not staring at me in the morning and then I will have time to workout!!

Hugs to all!
Julie

Evening chicks!

Ok, I copied this from the Motivation board, but I'm posting it here for anyone that wants to join us. Sounds like some of you are already challenging yourselves anyway!

Here's my exercise challenge: 5 days this week, at least 20 minutes doing whatever you normally do, only kick it up a notch. I.E. if you're used to doing 20 minutes do 30, if you usually use 3-pound weights, use 5-pound ones, or do more reps, if you normally walk a 20-minute mile, try for 18-19 minutes. You get the picture. Just for one week, after that if you don't like it you can go back to your current level of exertion. Just one week, 5 days.
I'd like everyone to post their goals so the rest of us can hold you all accountable. Doesn't matter what they are, just so you set some.

My goals are as follows:
1. Keep calories under my daily budget (around 1700 at the moment). I know that doesn't have anything to do with my exercise challenge, but I need to crack down on that too.
2. Since I've been working out 1-2 days a week, 5 days is really kicking it up a notch! I'm going for at least 30 minutes on the stairclimber or treadmill, or a 15-minute walk plus 15 minutes on the stairclimber, or an exercise video (I think the shortest cardio one I have is 25 minutes).
3. Strength training 3-4 days, whether UB or LB, with my cardio or separate.
4. Stretch. I've gotten really bad about it, which is terrible, since I love yoga and pilates and stretching in general. There's no reason I can't do it.

So who's with me?

I just need someone to hold me accountable. I've exercised 2 days this week already, so I'm right on track. Tomorrow will most likely be my day off--long shift at work, then going to Grandma's to help clean her basement, (i.e. take all the appliances she no longer uses and any other nifty stuff I can find. )

Today's exercise was good, but food was not so good. I was really craving fast food, and I don't mean garden salad. But it could have been worse.

Breakfast: coffee with creamer, V8, scrambled egg with peppers, onions, and shredded cheese in a tortilla wrap
Lunch: diet pepsi, 1/2 order of Arby's chicken fingers, 2 cheese sticks, medium order of curly fries
Dinner: diet vanilla pepsi, water, the other half of my chicken and cheese sticks, both of which I shared with Mom.

Calories came in at 1927 today, which is a little high, but since I kicked but on the stairclimber today I still have calories in my daily budget. It'll all work out. Some days I'm way over, some days I'm way under. Just so I'm still losing weight, that's all that matters.

Ok, so about my date, since you're all so very anxious to know. His name's Jerry, he's 26, a grad student at West Virginia University, working on his PhD in aerospace engineering. He's a big smarty pants like me, which is definitely a good thing, and he's also a bit of a dork like me, also a plus. He's got brown hair, clean shaven, about 6'1", I would guess, which is just the perfect height for me to wear heels and still not be taller than him, because I hate that (I'm 5'10", so that's actually kind of hard to find). He's got a quirky sense of humor--bonus points--and he's nearly as much of a smartass as I am (but not quite ). He's very sweet, he opened doors and everything (which is good, because I would have just stood there and waited for him to open them anyway, just because I'm like that). We went to dinner (he paid without question, btw) then sat, talked, and watched a movie. We're going to see the Bourne Supremecy on Wednesday. Anything else you want to know, just ask.

Ok, I'm done fighting with my computer now, I'm going to bed. Have a lovely night ladies!
~Elisha

Another good article from TrueStar Health which talks about why Americans aren't losing weight when it's a mulit billion dollar industry (the diet industry)
Happy reading:
http://www.truestarhealth.com/member...?id=59ml4p1a41

Did 2.5 miles this morning with WATP! Woo Hoo! I'm on my way!

Julie

Hey everyone.. Here is a great article that I thought you all might like:

http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/d...ng_weight.html

Anyways, today is starting off good. I got in my exercises as follows:

60 minutes Denise Austin & Lower body
5 minutes ABS

Last night I got in all of my exercises too!!

60 minutes Denise Austin (upper body)
40 minutes : DA Shrink your Female Fat Zones
20- weights
20- stability ball

Later on I Plan on doing some Step Aerobics or WATP. Water is ok.. Could be better. I only drank 16 oz so far. My breakfast was:
one slice of French toast,
one service low fat sausage,
½ c egg
1/8 cup lite syrup

Total calories: 395 (not bad for me!)

Anyways I got a lot to do today. I have about 4 stores to go to.. Which is funny since we have NO MONEY!! I have already planned dinner tonight. Here is the recipe, can’t remember if I gave it already…

Shortcut Beef Stew
from: Campbell's Kitchen
Prep/Cook Time: 25 min.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into 1" cubes*
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Tomato Soup
1 can Campbell's® Beefy Mushroom Soup
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bag (24 oz.) frozen vegetables for stew (potatoes, carrots, celery)*


* I use stew meat instead.. Too poor to buy that other stuff
* I use canned potatoes and carrots so it can really be a shortcut!

Directions:
HEAT oil in saucepot. Add beef and cook until browned and juices evaporate, stirring often.

ADD soups, Worcestershire and vegetables. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 min. or until vegetables are tender. Serves 4.


Anyways…. I have to get going.. It looks like it’s gonna rain today! I’ll try to check back in later! I WAS gonna leave comments but my computer has froze up on me 4 times already… and I really need to go. I will come back later and leave comments only! I thin that may be my new way of doing this…. Anyway one day I will figure it out! Check you chicks later!

could just curl up under my desk & go to sleep. Hubby worked super-late. He still was cranking out work at 1am, and I couldn’t sleep without him, and with the ca-chinka-chinka of the printer spewing out pages & pages of appraisal reports. I remember seeing 1:42, and then finally drifted off once he came to bed.

I also had a case of the weepies last night. Feeling insecure about the house we’re building, and being able to afford it, and not wanting him to have to work until 1am every night if that’s what it’s going to take. You can tell it’s the week before PMS arrives. I was such a dork.

Of course, I’m suffering today. No morning exercise, unless I can count stumbling to the bathroom, and trying to stand upright in the shower. I’ll get mine in this afternoon. 2 miles, minimum.

The plan for today:

Breakfast
1 strawberry Zone bar
4oz fat free cottage cheese
12oz fully leaded diet coke
24 oz iced earl gray tea (decaf, so it counts!)

Lunch
1 98% fat free tortilla
1/2 cup lean taco meat
1oz skim mexican cheese mix
4oz diced mixed fruit

Afternoon exercise
2 miles WATP, minimum
something else to keep the body moving- dunno yet.

Dinner
3/4 cup whole wheat pasta
2 meatballs with 1/4 cup sauce
1 cucumber, sliced, with rice vinegar
fresh fruit- we’ve got pineapple, honeydew, and apples- I’ll see if I’m still hungry

PMS is approaching, because I got munchy for the first time last night. Might have also been the late night, and being by myself for the better part of the evening. I haven’t eaten out of boredom in 7 months, so I don’t think that’s why I was “hungry.”

I had to cover the fron desk for 45 minutes while the receptionist took lunch- we have to rotate for coverage, since her backup person quit. What fun. So, once every 7 days I have to cover & play receptionist & feign being a people person. The only good thing is that it was raining again, so not a lot of walk in customers. And even better news- my pain in the butt is leaving at 3 today, so I get peace & quiet! Woo Hoo! The last 2 hours will be the best hours of the day!

Julie, great article. Very good reading.

Jaymi, I'm going to check yours out once I'm unattended

Elisha, Jerry sounds very nice. Hope your second, and third, and fourth dates go as well I'm in on the challenge- I just moved up to a tougher tape, and increased the hand weights because the 5 was getting too easy. Time to kick it into high gear- I'm ready!

Evening chickies...
Where are all of you????

Jamie, I liked the article you sent. It has good information in it that is useful and practical. It helps to be reminded of these things, doesn't it? Thank you!

Jennifer, sorry you had a weepy night last night. I was looking for you but you weren't around! Probably crying and feeling sorry for yourself, huh? We all need to do that from time to time! It's ok! You are starting a really, really big journey with your new home, so it's ok to be emotional! And as far as the no exercise goes...your body needed a rest and you gave it one, so don't feel guilty about that! You've been going strong for a long time now! Cut yourself some slack!

OK, so today...as I mentioned earlier, I walked 2.5 miles with Leslie on the WATP. I gave myself 30 minutes, but actually used 40! Tonight later, I am going to put in my pilates video and do some stretching and stuff! I do want to do the weights too tonight but not sure which I should do first! Any suggestions?

Food today was.....(drumroll please!).....[COLOR=Orange]PERFECT!!!!![/COLOR]

B-fast: 1 cup cottage cheese (lowfat) and 3/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 SF/FF vanilla Latte! Yummy! (my little treat to myself once a week!)

Lunch: My pre-measured taco meat & brown rice and 1 cup mixed veggies (broccolli, carrots, calliflower, itallian beans--yum!) They were having a yummy looking cranberry fluff sort of dessert and I REALLY wanted a taste, but I didn't!! I did have about 2 T of mashed potatoes! Yum!

No snack this afternoon! I REALLY wanted some chocolate around 3pm but I just said NO! I could have had some strawberries and a cheese stick but that didn't sound good.

Supper: 2 LF/low carb sun dried tomato tortillas made into a quesidilla with 2 oz. cheddar cheese & 3 oz. deli turkey! I grilled it with canola spray! Yum! Oh and 1/2 cup 1/2% milk!

Water: Drinking it now! I've only had about 35 oz. so far today, so I really need to get cracking on it!

I stopped at Walmart to pick up a few things tonight and went past the icecream aisle! I did get some little sugar free treats for myself...I think the brand is Healthy Snacks (or something like that). Fudge bars with only 12 carbs (NOT net carbs either, but real carbs) I'm going to have one of those later tonight with some sort of protein! Yummy!

I need to get going so I can clean up and work out!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Just a quick hello so y'all don't think I gave up and ran away completely. My four-year-old has been awfully sick - he's had a 103 degree fever since Thursday - goes down temporarily with Motrin and Tylenol and then pops right back up. The doctors have no idea what's wrong - they finally said it must just be a virus of some kind after we spent most of the weekend in the hospital with him while they tortured him with cultures and tests. He is terribly lethargic and keeps falling asleep in odd places, so needless to say, we're a bit worried and busy around here. Had to cancel my vacation/work trip to my mother's. Meanwhile, horrible me has been living off emergency room vending and fast food out of necessity. So, give me a few days to get my little guy back on an even keel and I'll jump back in with y'all.

Good luck, and keep up the healthy eating/drinking/exercising - maybe even throw in a few crunches for me!

Rysa

Oh sweetie! I hope he's feeling better in no time! No fun when little ones are sick, especially in the middle of summer! Give him lots of hugs and kisses from me! Poor baby!

And you, don't you worry about a thing! You take care of sick baby and things will fall into place soon! Hospitals are not a place to try and eat healthy! UGH!

Hugs,
Julie

Evening ladies!

Today was ok. No exercise, as planned, but that's fine. Took a bubble bath and pampered myself instead. Food was ok, came in at 1832, which was about 12 calories over my budget, but I had dinner early and got hungry again, so I ate something. Here's today's food:
Breakfast: coffee with creamer, V8, scrambled egg, lf mayo, cheese on red. cal. wheat toast
Lunch: cucumbers, mini cheddar rice cakes, green tea, black coffee, tortilla wrap with salami, cheese, cucumber, and peppers, pepperidge farm sausalito cookie
Dinner: baked chicken, boiled potatoes, salad with Italian dressing, diet vanilla pepsi
Snack: 1/2 cheese and red pepper quesadilla

Anyway, Six Feet Under is on, and I missed this episode, so I'm really distracted now. I'll post more tomorrow, it's my day off. Have a good night everyone.
~Elisha

Morning chickies...
Just finished my 7 miles in 25 minutes on the bike. I should have pushed myself a little harder but I could barely drag my butt out of bed this morning! I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep! Pretty soon it was 6:15 and I had to get up! GRRRRR! I don't know what woke me up that early this morning!

My plan for the day includes a workout tonight when I get home. I didn't get to my toning routine last night! Couldn't motivate myself!!!!

Food for the day:
B-fast: cottage cheese & strawberies, coffee & low carb creamer
Lunch: Taco Bar at work (I'm making taco salad!)
Birthday party today: I'm allowing myself 1 SMALL brownie (if there are any left after residents get them) or a small scoop of icecream!
Supper: I gotta remember to pull out some pork cutlets from the freezer. I'm going to look for a good recipe tonight and grill them! Some veggies or a salad!


I found a great black bean salsa recipe yesterday that I want to try to make. Maybe will have that tomorrow with some chicken or something! It's got corn, black beans, onion, cilantro, tomatoes, garlic lemon juice! YUM!!!!

That's about it chickies! I'm off to shower my stinkiness!!!

Have a great day! I have more to write about some happenings at work, but I will save it until I find out more info!

Julie