I think I'm starting to face some harsh realities about my diet. I'm either going to have to get down to 1500 calories a day to lose or exercise a whole lot more and neither of those options is very appealing right now. If I eat below 1600 a day I'm hungry and who wants to be hungry all the time?

We are interviewing a psychiatrist today at work that I'm really optimistic about. He has a reason to want to be here. Unfortunately, not too many professionals want to live on the gulf coast since Katrina so unless there is a real reason for them to want to be here, you have to be suspicious.

My assistant has been sick the past 2 days. I'm hoping this is not a pattern-just a fluke. I'll give her a little latitude right now but we'll see how it goes.

Hi everyone! Sure got chilly last night, I had to turn the heat on at about 1 a.m. OMGosh! My older son got his cap and gown for graduation yesterday!! It seems like he just started kindergarten a few weeks ago.


Peanut's-I like the story about your son getting to play baseball. It always makes me happy when someone is nice to my boys.

ICU-Hope work gets less crazy for you.

Suki-I bet that 3.5 miles just about cancelled out the snacks you had.

Kitteh-Good luck with your cruise plan! At least you are aware of your calories and can adjust.

WLW-Have a great time tonight!!

Petra-Less calories or more exercise? I don't like those options either! I dread the time when I am going to have to make that choice, I know it is coming. Hope the interview goes well.

Have a great day everyone!!

The work stress is almost over- 2 days until the event. I was at work till past 7:30 (it's 9-5). But I planned ahead and got up early to do a 4 mile run and then walked the 3 miles to work. I absolutely love it when I can get up early and exercise. Since work has gotten crazy, I am "hungrier" than usual. But I've been on plan yesterday and today (so far). My caffeine habit is out of hand right now. I don't know why I drink so much coffee and diet soda because it doesn't make me feel better.

Hi Ya'll! I'm back from my work trip to Georgia. I'm still trying to catch up. Had my liver bloodwork done again yesterday and my liver ultrasound is tomorrow. Here's hoping they find it ok. I'm still very very tired. The extra Vitamin D is not helping at all. But the good news is I lost another 3 pounds while on the road. I was determined to eat well during this trip and I did. I'll keep ya'll up to date on that.

I'll catch up personals later. Good to see ya'll.

Kim-Wow! 3 pounds gone while on a trip?? That's awesome! Hope all the tests turn out fine.

I’ve been very delinquent about posting here lately. I’m still around, still fighting the good fight and actually winning. If things continue, I’ll be just where I want to be before my big vacation mid June!

I’ve had a couple very nice NSV’s worth sharing. Went shopping for a dress for First Communion (I teach religion to 2nd graders at my church). Fit into a size 12! 2 years ago DH gave me a nice rain jacket for Mother’s Day. I was unable to zip it because it was too tight but was too embarrassed to tell him it needed to be returned. I am wearing it now fully zipped with room to spare!

There has been some mention here about being tired of obsessing about weight and food. I started this journey about 18 months ago. I can say I am finally at a place where things concerning food come more natural to me. I don’t worry about when my next meal is coming. My good choices are second nature. Hang in there if you feel all you think about is food. The time will come when it’s not the center of your world.

Petra, Thanks for starting off the new week. Hope your new assistant works out and you get some much deserved time to yourself! You may have to up the exercise a bit, maybe do an extra 15 minutes a day or increase the intensity. Hope you find the right balance to get things moving again!

Annie, Great pictures! Looks like a beautiful day and fun hike! We had to turn on our heat last night too!

Motivated chickie, Pictures that don’t make us cringe are a great victory! Hope things go well with your event this week!

Angelskeep, All of us have lost posts at one time or another. Marie once suggested opening up a word document and then copying and pasting to 3fc. Works for me!

Slroth, So much of losing is a head game! Hope you can get back on track!

Peanutsmom, great story about your son! Our neighborhood had a large number of boys of all ages. It was always nice to see them playing an organized game of waffle ball or street hockey. My son really looked up to the older ones who included everyone!

Becky, It’s what you eat in that 6 minutes that counts! Hope work settles for you soon. Less than a month til Atlanta!

Sukierd, I’ve become a big fan of dark chocolate. 2 pieces in a day shouldn’t derail your plan. Great job getting in a good walk!

Kitteh, Hopefully counting will help you find where you need to cut back a bit. When is your cruise?

WLW, Have fun tonight! Can’t wait to hear about your date!

Wizzie, Traveling and Losing! Way to go! Hope you get good test results.

DD has a band concert tonight. Lots of end of the school year activities going on around here. Just a month of school left. Summer will be here before we know it!

Petra – thanks for getting us started off! I hope things work out with the new psychiatrist. And with your personal assistant! Sorry to hear about the calories or exercise tradeoff coming up… Choose 1 for a month, if you don’t like it, choose the other.

AnnieDrews – congrats on your hike; it sounds wonderful – and looks wonderful. I could see your pics; loved the boulder one!

Motivated Chickie – congrats on a flattering facebook pic – always a victory!

Slroth – how is your food going, back on track?

PeanutsMom – Hi!

Becky – took me a while to figure out He-double-toothpicks, but I got it! Hope today was a good day.

SukieRD – I know all about the Thin Mints; luckily they now seem to be out of season in our neck of the woods. Hopefully they will become extinct where you are too, soon.

KittehMomma – sorry you had a rough weekend foodwise…

WeightlossWanted – sounds like things are going well for you; I’m glad!

Wizzie – I must not have been around to read about your liver troubles; I hope everything is okay.

OnMyWay – the dress and the raincoat are great NSVs!!

Well, I am back from my surgery and am officially in menopause. I feel great; what an amazing thing, to wake up knowing there is no way I can get ovarian or fallopian tube cancer now... I weigh 10 pounds more on Tuesday night than I did on Monday morning -- ack! But I'm assuming that's bloat, etc. Certainly not from eating! So my aim over the next few weeks is to take it easy, drop the 10 pounds, and regain some strength. DH got us a little NetBook to help with my recovery; It's great, I can type from bed! but the keyboard is small so forgive any typos or poor formatting.

I'm "on my way" to bed but just wanted to say...

OnMyWay-So good to see you here! Yippeee on the dress size and the jacket fitting. We have lots going on around here for the end of school, too. Graduation is 2 weeks from friday!

NewLeaf-So thankful your surgery is over and you are recovering. DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE 10 POUNDS!!!! I'm sure it is just fluid from your tissues renewing and recovering. It will come off. Just rest and relax and refresh.

Have a restful night all!

Kim—wow, weight loss on a trip! Very impressive. Keep up the good work. And good luck with your tests. I'm sorry the Vit D isn't helping...I hope they figure out what's up, and I hope it's an easy fix.

Onmyway—wow!! That's great about the dress and the jacket! You will shine at the First Communion. Have fun with the end of the year stuff...it's such a busy time, but most of it is so much fun. And then it's summer. Ahhh.

NewLeaf—so good to hear from you. I was hoping all went well. Glad it did. Enjoy your rest time...before you know it you'll be back up to life at full speed. And how fun to have a new little netbook to play with! Here's to a speedy recovery. And yes, my food is moving back to where it should be. Thanks for asking.

Monday and yesterday were back to decent eating. I am going to have to figure out how to handle the weekends (too much husband time and we had too much fun (beer, wine, food)) or this will be a rollercoaster. I did an official weigh in today and am down 6 lbs in the three and a half weeks I've been posting here. I know the first few come off quickly and I don't expect anything near 2 lbs a week going forward, but I'll take it now! I will finish the week with lots of exercise and good food, and I will make some changes to how I handle the weekend. I have made a giant to do list for work, home, and health, and I am determined to stay focused and productive in all areas. Being a 40 something leaves my brain a little like a sieve...I truly have to write things like “walk” or “yoga” on my to do list or the day gets by and I've actually forgotten. It's one thing to choose to not exercise; it's altogether different to forget!

Have a good day, everyone!

AnnieDrews--I meant to comment on your son's upcoming graduation. I've had two graduate now and it's so bittersweet. Will your son be going off to college or staying nearby? It's so hard to let them go!

Newleaf, Happy to hear things went so well with your surgery. Take it easy and don't fret about the extra few pounds, they will be gone before you know it! Enjoy the new netbook, DH sounds very thoughtful!

slroth, I'm with you on the list thing. We are going in so many different directions it's hard to keep things straight. You will figure out a balance between weekends and weekdays. Maybe a talk with DH about your goals so he can help make better coices on the weekends. Just a thought...

Annie, Graduation is such a bittersweet time. When my DS graduated HS I was so proud of him and what a fine young man he had become. He was so excited about his future, yet it is sad as a parent to let go. Enjoy the festivities, we certainly enjoyed all of the partying that graduation brings!

Hope everyone has a great day. The sun is out here, the birds are chirping, my azaleas look absolutely gorgeous! It's going to be a beautiful day!

Heidi: glad the surgery went well! I love my netbook, but it does take some getting used to : )

last night was a wash, not sure what happened but I never heard from him when he got done work. not sure if it was a miscommunication or if I got stood up. So I had time to cook up a bunch of chicken and make a batch of curried chicken : ) Truthfully, once I get home at night I really don't want to go back out unless it's friday.

insomnia last night so my butt is dragging and I'm going into work an hour late : ( I hope everybody is having an awesome week - happy hump day!

Hi SL! Luckily for me, my son is staying nearby. He has applied to the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma and hopes to hear soon if he is accepted into the music business/production program. If he does not get in there, he will be taking his basic courses at OK State University/OKC branch. I'm thankful not to have to worry about paying for dorms or apts right now.

Hi WLW! Sorry it didn't work out last night, but sounds like you made curried chicken (lemonade) out of lemons! I feel the same way about getting back out after I'm home from work.

Ugh. A well-meaning patient brought home made brownies AND blondies (w/ chocolate chips) in for the entire office this afternoon. Just ugh. This after dodging Scholtzky's sammies and their cookies brought in by the drug rep for lunch. I keep telling myself that is how I got to 191 pounds, but it's tough.

I never told any of you this, but at my heaviest (around 1999-2000), I was 230 pounds. I don't want to head back up that way...