Lisa-Boredom is a killer for me. I hope you survived the weekend.

Dreasam-I’ve always been an emerald kind of person, but I can’t stand to wear any ring that sticks up. I am very active with my hands, and I would be afraid of banging it into something. Diamonds are hard at least, but emeralds are actually kind of fragile. I made our rings, and it sure was a lot cheaper.

Mother of 3-I calorie count. I weigh and measure everything and write it down. It is the only thing that has ever worked long term for me because I have such a distorted view of portion sizes otherwise.

Wyllenn-there is a Latin grocery store here, and they grind their own flours. One that I absolutely love is black bean. It is basically ground up black beans, and I just add water, and put them through my tortilla press. Lots of protein and fiber, and they look cool too. They had some red stuff last time that I didn’t get to get a look at because someone grabbed the last sack ahead of me. I can’t wait to find out what in the world that is made out of. It could be a red bean, except they are basically white inside, maybe some kind of roasted red pepper or even yam I guess. Can’t wait to find out.

Brenda-I can’t wait to try belly dancing. It is on my list of things I’m going to do as a reward for a certain goal. There’s an import place down the street that sells all the fabric, and I already have my pattern ready to go, so it is just a matter of time.

MetaChick-I have a seriously nasty knee. I blew it out at 16 doing something really stupid, had the torn cartilage removed at 19. Was diagnosed with arthritis in it at 30 (actually on my birthday), and had more surgery right after that. They basically sucked out the old torn ligaments, no point in reconstructing them at that point, and then scraped the ends of the bones. I was told I would have to have that done every two years or so, and that I would eventually need to have the knee replaced. That happened to a lot of people who had the old surgery where they just cut out the torn cartilage. That was 15 years ago, and I have had no surgery since. I spent 8 years in a wheel chair because of my weight and a back injury, and when I began to walk again in November 2004, I was very much afraid that I would be in pain again, but I wasn’t. My back hurt, but not my knee. The doctor said that cartilage can regenerate in some people. I may have been off it long enough to have some healing. I know after my original surgery they had me do the exercise bike, because that was found to help. I firmly believe that water aerobics is the key. I can’t wait until I can get back in the pool. It should be sometime next month. I glory in being able to walk now. We don’t own a car, and I walk everywhere. I use a large expedition sized back pack to go to the grocery store on the bus. If my knee can hold my weight, and over 50 pounds of groceries on my back, it’s doing better than I could ever have hoped.

Lilion-Don’t forget to leave yourself some time to breath. You made me tired just reading what you’ve been doing.

Litchick-I don’t think I could get through with any of my exercise if it wasn’t for my mp3 player.

As for me, Today is opening day for the Yankees, so all is right with the world.

Hiya ladies - well I lost another pound this week so am pleased with that! Have set another exercise goal for this month too and started it off with the gym today, my new routine is really hard work tho so will take some getting used to!!

Ammi, Annie hope u are ok?

Em xx

It has been a busy day so far, so no time for personals.

I had as good a weekend as could be expected attending both a wake and a funeral. There were some awkward moments for me since I was closely connected to the grieving family (my step-mother’s father) but personally I didn’t know him very well (we only met a few times). It was good to meet a lot of her relatives and be introduced to people. My family was always really small, and when my dad got remarried all of a sudden it got a whole lot bigger because my stepmother has 5 brothers and a sister. I didn’t eat well at the reception though. The desserts were fantastic and the table I was sitting at had a whole tray of them, and I just kept picking at things. Ugh. Visiting my family is seriously bad for my diet. The one good thing was that I wore makeup both days and it made me feel really pretty. I definitely need to wear makeup more often.

The new thing is that my stepmother really wants me to consider living with her crazy aunt. The aunt lives about 10 miles from where I work in a 3-bedroom house. A few years ago, she was discovered to be living in squalor because she was living alone and slowly losing her eyesight. Since then my stepmother and her brothers have done a lot of work on the house and helped the aunt the best they can from afar, but want to she if they can get local help. I could live with her rent-free for keeping a basic eye on her and making sure she is ok. I have very mixed feelings about this, but I am willing to consider it. Of course those who have been around know the kind of trouble I got in the last time I tried to live with someone working in exchange for rent. But, before I even start to think about it one way or the other I will want to meet the aunt and see the house, so my parents are coming up for the weekend and we will go over there on Saturday. We also need to see how the aunt feels about all this. She very well may not want someone moving in with her, even though she really needs some help. I don’t want to go where I am not wanted.

Other than that I am very determined to get myself back on track as of today, and so far so good. I am heading to the gym in just a few minutes to get in my cardio and then I will probably stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some food for the week.

Sorry everyone! Jill and I both started new weekly threads this morning and I didn't notice until I came in a few minutes ago (Thanks for the heads up, Jill!).

Zelma -- Your post seems to be formatted okay (not anything I did)!

No time for more -- I am too busy today!

motherof3angels: The best tip I can give you is to remember that you know your children better than anyone else. You have been teaching them since they were born, so have faith in your ability to continue to teach them. Each of your children is a different person. What works for one will likely not work for everyone, so be patient with the fact that your three children will end up going three different directions. As you teach your sweet girl, let her teach her brothers. This is an awesome way to learn. I'm going to PM you with some more info, so I don't make everyone read everything I have to say.

Zelma: Thanks, I like to come up with innovative ideas to keep my kids from eating too much candy. The other thing I did was "buy" the candy I did give them, twenty-five cents for every 3 pieces so I could make up for the mistake of buying the bags. This way, they received it, but don't eat it all. We can then give away some and portion out the rest, we like to have a small piece of chocolate after dinner. Happy Birthday! in advance in case I forget later in the week (which I tend to do).

Jill: Oops, don't know what made me think it was your birthday, I think I was very sleepy. Ooh, Chipotle! That's what I had for lunch on Saturday AND Sunday! I went for the first time on Saturday and my Goodness that food was yummy and oh so healthy. Just a little on the HUGE side for portion, but a silver bullet cut in half makes an excellent meal (or shared with a man, wink wink). I love your homemade Bol idea, I should try that, too! May I have your copycat recipe?!?! You can PM it to me!

Lilion: You definitely got your work-out! Definitely a feeling of accomplishment doing all that, huh?

Leelee: Welcome to the list and Congratulations on your weight loss!

Torister: On my plan, what you did last night would have been perfectly OP! That's what I love about my plan. But, I sympathize with backsliding. I've been struggling to stay OP. I'm rather addicted to sodas, candies, etc. These are all allowed for me, but in moderation and I've been having some trouble with moderation.

Catherine: That's actually part of the reason why my hub and I have never gotten "real" rings. I'm far too finicky about my rings because I smack my hands on everything. I decided to do bezel set jewels, but I just don't think I want to spend any money, really on jewelry. My hub and I paid $7 each for our rings. He lost a ton of weight after we got married (I wish I had!) and had to get a new ring, I think that one cost us $12. He's gained weight again, so he's back to wearing the original one. He has his "thin" ring and his "fat" ring.

Emily: Congrats!

As for me, I'm up half a pound this week, which could be due to TOM. I've been snapping like crazy at everyone the last couple of days and I had some ugly pains last night, so I should start today, but I have PCOS, so sometimes I have all the PMS symptoms with no M. I haven't been eating my best, but I haven't been eating my worst, so I suspect my gain is due to TOM. Had lamb chops with salad for dinner last night (Yum!) and then sausage, eggs, and toast for breakfast. My breakfast could have used some more food groups, but we've been eating out so much recently, we had some stuff go bad and didn't realize.

Have a great rest of your day everyone!

Andrea

The Gazelle is here!

It was already assembled because it is pre-owned, but I did have to muscle it up to my second floor apartment. I was worried about the weight capacity, but it seems to hold me up just fine.

So much fun! I love it. I did ten minutes today to get used to it. Besides, today is my strength training day, not a cardio one. The only thing I noticed is that the computer's distance and time are not accurate. Burning 20 calories and only going 0.2 miles? Please.

I'm glad to hear people are doing well, and working each day, every day towards health.

Emily-Congratulations on the loss. I want one too!

Nancy-Not being there and knowing the people involved, or how the housing market is there, I would offer this advice. If you decide to take on this task, make sure your understanding of your responsibilities gets written. That way if people expect you to be responsible for things not in the agreement, you can show them a copy to end the argument. I would also take the money that you would normally be paying for rent and utilities, minus any extra money this living arrangement might cost you, and then put it in a savings account not to be touched, to be used as a down payment on a place of your own. If you look at it that way, as a part time job, then you will be less likely to feel used or put upon if things get difficult.

Sharvanne-the computer on my exercise bike has a way to set your weight on it to give an accurate calorie burn rate. How skinny was the person you bought it from?

Sharvanne--glad to hear you Gazelle holds you! I think we have this fear that if something says it holds upto X pounds, then it will collapse immediately under the weight of someone who is X+1 pounds. However, most htings can hold quite a bit more than what they claim since manufacturers have to err on the side of caution to cover their own butts against lawsuits. If 99% of their machines held 300 pounds safely, but only 95% of them held 350 safely, they'll put 300 as the max on the box So I'm sure you'll be just fine if it hasn't crumpled like a piece of aluminum foil with the first step

dreasam--MAN, my fake Chipotle was good...hands down the BEST lunch I have ever made for myself at work! I'm having it again for lunch today plus sending it to work with Jeff for him to have it for lunch! It does take me some weekend/evening prep time, but it's worth it. Here's what I do: I loosely followed this recipe for my chicken marinade: http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?id=chicken_recipe
Although that recipe was a bit too much work for me, so I used "chile pepper infused" macadamia nut oil instead of the chiles and the vegetable oil, and I just used some frozen chopped white onion instead of red.

I made the marinade, smeared it on the chicken breasts (it says to use 4 breasts, but I only had 3), marinated in the fridge for at least an hour, then tossed them on my Foreman grill and chopped them up once cooked. Then I made my black bean mixture by smashing up half of the beans with a fork (the ones at Chipotle are not just plain whole beans). I found a copycat recipe for their red beans, but it called for 1/2 cup bacon fat, so I nixed that. I drianed and rinsed the beans (since I used canned) and just put them (both mashed and whole) into a shallow pot on the stove and heated with some added chicken broth (maybe 2/3 cup to 2 cans of beans), onion flakes, cumin, a little crushed red pepper, and fat-free butter and let it all mix together. I also prepared ahead of time some brown rice (I would have added some lime juice and cilantro if I'd had any, but I just cooked it with chicken broth instead of water for some flavor), some guacamole (they have a copycat recipe on the site I mentioned for the chicken marinade, but I just used 2 avocados and a packet of guacamole seasoning and added some fat free sour cream), and some chopped romaine lettuce.

Come lunch time, I put rice, beans, and chicken in a bowl and microwaved for a minute, then added the salsa and nuked for another 30 seconds (since Chipotle's salsa is never "straight-out-of-the-fridge" cold ). Then I added some fat free shredded cheddar cheese, some lettuce, and some guacamole and mixed it up--oh, DIVINE!

Nancy--I think you're being very smart about the "living with the crazy aunt" situation. I think a lot of people would have jumped at the opportunity for free rent, but it's good to see you're really thinking it through. Oh, and I agree--wearing makeup makes me feel pretty, too But I just don't have the time/patience to do it every day

emilymay--congrats on the -1!!

Catherine--a Yankess fan, eh? I grew up in CT, so you could pretty much guarantee a public brawl if you went anywhere and stated that you were either a Red Sox or a Yankees fan. I pretty much avoided professional sports, for my own safety

torister--MAN, 7 weeks perfectly on plan--I don't think I've EVER gone that long! I enjoy eating out way too much. And you didn't slip one bit--look at what you ate and how much! I'm sure it's a drastic improvement over what you would have ordered there 2 months ago.

LeeLee--welcome!

Carrie--you can ask anyone here if the scale is always nice or fair, and we'll all just roll our eyes That scale is NOT a measure of our success--it's a measure of how much water we're retaining, how our bodies change practically minute-to-minute...it's great to see you're not too upset about the undeserved gain, because there will be plenty more! BUT, as long as you KNOW it is undeserved, then it will catch up with you in the end. We seem to be able to easily focus on the handful of weeks we undeservingly gain while forgetting about the few weeks mixed in where we had HUGE losses. It will all even out for a general downward slope as we continue

I, too, have bad knees. I played softball from about first grade through some of high school. When I was maybe 17, I was on a women's league, and I got up to bat, hit it down the left line (as always), and started running to first, only to have my knee basically just give out on me. I collapsed halfway to the base, and I haven't really played softball since. I went to doctors who told me there was nothing they could do but give me a super-sexy bright blue spandex brace, which didn't help much. I went to physical therapy for a while, but thay also didn't help much. I just have to be careful and choose low-impact exercises--no running and no stair climbers. Instead, I LOVE using the elliptical--if only I could afford one for home

Yesterday was a good day for me. I didn't eat perfectly, but also not like it was the last time I'd ever eat in my life I think I hit a happy balance, and I will strive for that again today.

Heather - I am able to do bolding and paragraphs if I enter it directly into the response box, but if I copy and paste from Word it doesn't seem to like it. So for the moment, no colours and no copying and pasting. Hubby thinks that I may need to totally throw, then reload everything on my computer. That may be a holiday task.

You know, it's the funniest thing. Before I was banded, my whole attitude was different. I'd throw on the first thing I'd see when I'd open the closet door every morning (unless I was going somewhere remotely important), not even bother with makeup (unless again, I was going somewhere important), maybe shave my legs twice a week if I was lucky, not even plan a meal, but grab whatever I saw when I was hungry or just order out, and when I shopped for food, dumped whatever was on sale or whatever looked good into the cart (though I was already starting on vitamins and had already cut out red meat--go figure).

Since getting banded, though, it's a whole different story. I'm finding myself coordinating and laying out clothes the night before even if I am not planning on being anywhere the next day, putting on a little makeup (except when I have to clean, obviously) and shave on a daily basis, just for the heck of it if nothing else, reading labels when I shop for food ("energy bars" have anywhere from 13 to 18 grams of sugar! Forget those! Now I know where the so called energy comes from *snort*) and actually planning a meal now that I've reached the soft stage, and yes, even finding more fun and creative ways to exercise. It's amazing how one little thing banded around the stomach can change one's whole mind, isn't it?

What was even better was being told yesterday by a total stranger was "My, how pretty you look today!" But the best is going to be my overall health and feeling good about myself as a whole--and living longer!

Hey Good Morning Everyone!
Well after my husband successfully putting our car’s drive shaft and axle back together we took off for Pendleton. We are pretty adventurous folks, so we just packed up and went. We got there late late late on Saturday night. So, Sunday morning we went to check everything out and found out that the entire town was closed on Sunday AND Monday! After being only slightly miffed we headed back west and decided to hang out in Portland for our trip.

On the way we got to stop at Multnomah Falls, it is the second tallest waterfall in the U.S. It was gorgeous, it looked like fairies could just fly out from anywhere at anytime! This is what my daughters decided anyway. When we got to Portland we rented a two king bed suite at a hotel downtown. We could have just stayed there and the girls would have been happy with the trip! As long as there is a pool they are happy. But no, it got better.

We went downtown to find some dinner and I recognized this Greek restaurant called Greek Cuisina, from a batchelorette party I had set up many years back so we went there. It ended up being Family Night upstairs at the place. So they had a belly dancer and then the owner, who spoke very little English, decided Mike and I were the perfect candidates for three different dances! I had soooo much fun. Before the night was over we got to break plates too! We could not have asked for a better time for us or the girls. It was great.

We spent the whole next day at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, otherwise known as OMSI. It was so fun, we attended a planetarium show about the night sky of the Pacific Northwest, and an IMAX, surround theater, show about Hurricane Katrina and its effect on the wetlands of Louisiana. It was really cool. The kids, Mike and I had a great time. Mike even got to spend a little money and buy himself a telescope, he has been waiting for years to make the purchase and they were having a sale on them. So I pushed him to get the good one, you calibrate it using three stars, you don’t even have to know the names of them, then it figures out where it is in comparison. After that you tell it what you want to see and the motorized motor turns it to the part of the night sky it should be at! It is manual too, but the computerized part is really cool for him and the kids.

Anyway, thanks for listening, I am all jazzed that we had a good time. I felt adventurous again.

I just have to say too, that I may have only lost 20 pounds so far, but I was so easily convinced to get up and dance in front of the whole restaurant! I feel so good about myself and I don’t think I really noticed it until this weekend. My eating was pretty good. I only ate until I was hungry and I made good choices. It certainly was not diet food but I felt really good about portions and the like. So I am happy.

It was really good to come home and read all the new posts. I missed you guys!

So here are my personals!!

Carrie- Welcome to 3FC I can’t wait to get to know you!

Jill-that burrito bowl sounds yummy. Good for you for not binging. It is not worth the taste bud time. You just feel bad about yourself as soon as you are done. So GOOD JOB!

Wyllen-I cannot believe we got that far on the March Ex. Thread! We rock soo hard!!! Yeah for all of us.

Zelma-Your formatting looks fine to me. Happy upcoming B-Day to you!!!! As far as Pendleton, well tiny towns, completely closed on the weekends, but we had a great time.
As far as the vegis are concerned, you should just go for it in the pots! My dad is a pro gardener so it runs in the blood for me. But it is easy as pie! We rent a house right now with HUGE garden beds that were here when we got here, but I do it all different ways. I do things with plants that other gardeners say will never work. I just figure, they are wild somewhere on the earth so it can’t be that hard. I seem to be right most of the time.
Containers are a great idea. Buy some big inexpensive black plastic pots. They keep the roots of the plants warmer overnight. Then buy the BEST organic potting soil you can find, in bulk. Then just buy plant starts. Most things from seed take a long time and won’t give you the satisfaction of seeing the immediate results of getting big. Let the pros start them from seed for you. You will be glad you did. You could just start with tomatoes and some sort of squash, if you like it. I think you would be surprised at how successful you would be. Just water more than they tell you to and you will do great.
If you ever need any advice, just let me know. I love the plants! Gardening can really relieve lots of stress too. I hope you are feeling better. I know my two weeks off have made my life a lot easier. And thanks for the compliment on my hard work. The garden already looks great, and spring just sprung around here!

Brenda- Great for you with loving the belly dancing! We were at a Greek place this weekend that had a totally hot belly dancer, so there you go! You are on your way!

Lilion-Whew! You are crazed! Good job on the garden though, I think yard work is really great exercise, so you go girl. You are a really great friend for helping your buddy out like you did. You need a vacation, so have fun on your anniversary, you deserve it.

Lesley- Good for you with the music. I have a much easier time walking with music too. It does help. Good job.

Linda P.- Good for you with the portions, I think that learning what real portions are has become one of my biggest accomplishments. I love the Splenda too!

Carrie-I love that you think that post was longwinded! I hope your knee feels better. If you can manage the stairs you should totally join the gym again. I think any motion toward activity and better eating for life is all good! You are doing great, just ignore the weight gain if your eating is on track. Remember that our big bodies really do not want to give up the ghost, so sometimes they hold on longer than we think they will. I remember when I quit smoking and found out that when you quit cigarettes your metabolism drops significantly for TWO MONTHS, no amount of exercise was helping me lose the last three pounds before a new goal. Two days after my 2 months was up, I lost 9 lbs! So, just stick with it. It will happen.

MissLeeLee- Welcome to 3FC, congrats on your weight loss! How exciting and posting on here too…. A great week for you!

Peggy-It is moments like that the really do keep you on track. When you realize you can go out, live life and still eat well, or keep good portions. Great job!

Catherine-I never would have taken you for a Yankees girl!

Emilymay-Great job on your loss!

Nancy- Really meditate hard on this one. I do not want to discourage you if you find this is something you really want to do, but it could end up being A LOT more work than you are bargaining for. It sounds like there could end up being some caretaking as well. That could pose problems. The cost of rent could be a lot cheaper in the long run. Keep us all updated!

Andrea- I am sorry you feel yucky. Hey, what is PCOS?

Sharvanne-I am glad your gazelle arrived and it works for you! Happy exercising.

Well, I have been on here long enough. To anyone I may have missed sorry, but hooray for the new week!

I will talk to ya’ll later.!!!!

I have a hilariously large chocolate stash in my desk (as opposed to ON my desk - heh heh). It's like this huge bag of 20 dollars worth of this and that chocolate. Kisses, mini caramel or peanut butter cups, icy squares etc. etc. Each day, I have as many as I want. Turns out that's just one, unless I pick chocolate covered almonds that day, and then it may be 3 or 4 for a snack or dessert.

The novelty feels like it's wearing off a little some days. Can you imagine chocolate (or whatever) having no special power ever again? I am beginning to be able to imagine it. And I love it.