Good morning! Only one more day till the weekend. It's been one of those weeks here at work, and I'm very ready for a break.

Happy - Thanks for the info! I'm not doing too badly in the fruits and veggies department, then. Though I have to admit, in regards to calories, it's sometimes hard to fit in enough fruit without going over my limit. I was really sleepy last night, too. I should have listened to my body and just gone to bed, but instead I stayed up to watch Smallville and Angel. It was kind of nice that Richard and I snuggled up together to watch them, but it's not helping me in the energy department. I'm going to be fighting to stay awake this afternoon, I know it. I really need to get to bed on time tonight. How go the rest of your goals?

This morning was really cool on the treadmill. I suprised the heck out of myself by being able to walk a half mile, run a half mile, walk a half, run a half. Not only did I reach my goal of running a half mile, I did it twice in one session. It felt really good. I think I'm at the point now where I can expect the consistency of a half mile each time I run, which is far ahead of when I thought I'd be able to do it. I know I'm running it very slowly - more a jog than a real run. But speed will come with training, I'm not concerned about that.

Last night was weird.. I was having bad cravings for chocolate and pizza and stuff like that. PMS is getting to me, I think. So I decided I'd go ahead and get something in my range for dinner on the pizza front. I picked up one of those oven baked freschetta things, not bad, and within my calorie range. Not the healthiest food on the planet, but better than just bagging it and ordering Pizza Hut. I know myself well enough to know that if I don't find a way to work with my cravings, I'll eventually cave and go off the deep end. In any case, last night, I was freaking starving. I mean gnaw the leg off the table starving. I don't know why, whether it's PMS, or exercise hitting me, or what. I was doing ok trying to ignore it, but when I came upstairs to clean up and there was one piece of pizza left over, I jumped on it like a starving dog on a pork chop. So I ended up over my calorie limit by about 150 calories, which is not as bad as it could have been. Today I'm upping my calories through the day with healthy stuff a little bit to see if that gets rid of the night time voraciousness. I know the sodium in the pizza is fluffing me up, so I didn't expect any drop this morning.

It's gotten cold, windy and rainy here again today. Hard to stay enthused and motivated when the weather just makes me want to crawl under a comforter and doze off. But... tomorrow is Friday.

I hope eveyone else's week is going well... where is everyone??

Raven, I'm here and kind of lurking because I'm scared to start up. Well, not really, but yes, some, and also because I just don't have the time to respond to everyone individually and feel bad participating in a thread if I don't. But I'm reading the posts and realizing I really want to get this butt whipped into shape. And I love reading your posts! And of course I love the horse talk! Let me think of my whipping tactics (for me, that is) and I'll be joining ya all right soon now!!

By the way, happy, I love that saying in your signature, 'If it's gonna be, it's up to me!!'' How true!!

Good Morning!

I am so glad it's Friday! I will be even happier when the sun shines! It's been cloudy, snowing, sleeting raining........UGH...........I'm ready for summer!

Raven, I'm so glad you are kicking but on the exercise. I am trying the portion control thing and had alot of success with it yesterday. I truly hate feeling deprived of the things I really like. I get tired of making myself eat stuff I don't like because that sends me into the I want something really bad to eat stage. It will all work out.

Jolly, where are you? Doing ok?

Happy, how's the plan going?

Kathy, are you covered up in snow?

Tracy, what's up in your neck of the woods?

Redballoon, how are you?

Hope I didn't miss anyone. If I did line me out

Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!

Good morning!

Red - I wouldn't worry as much about keeping up with everyone else as much as posting what you're doing, what your goals are, and how you plan to meet them. I would hope that this is a place where we can post stuff like that for feedback, advice, encouragement, and a kick in the rear when we're slacking off. Honestly, the focus it takes to eat right, drink water, and work out is enough of a challenge to me sometimes. I try real hard to keep up, but I know sometimes I'm not the best at that at all. I also tend to let my own intolerance of MY behavior and perceived weaknesses bleed over when I'm talking to other people. I tend to ask questions that I would ask of myself if I were in the same frame of mind. Sometimes that doesn't go over too well. In any case .. I don't think anyone here is expecting you to be a social maven. Come on in, kick my butt when I whine! I'll need it!

Hippy - Much agreement on both counts!! I need a weekend, and I need spring!! I was listening to the radio this morning on the drive (swim?) into work, and they mentioned that this January was Georgia's coldest for 111 years. I knew it seemed nastier than previous winters. I just hope the rain doesn't continue through the spring and summer again like it did last year or I'll have to put swim fins on my horses instead of shoes. I too can't just cut out certain categories of food. I get resentful and pissed and blow it completely. I've found that if I just set a calorie range to fall within, log everything at fitday, try to aim for a decent ratio for protein/carbs/fats, things work pretty well. I need something I can do for the rest of my life. THAT I can do. There are some days when the nutritional content might be less than optimal, but... I don't go off plan. Consistency is my key. And on the portions - lord yes I needed help on that one. I couldn't have eyeballed "one serving" of pasta before I started using fitday and measuring if my life had depended on it. I'm still learning, like the fruits and veggies thing. So what is your first goal? Whether that's learning your portions and sticking to them, a scale goal, inches, water, exercise... whatever. Enquiring minds want to know!

Ok... I need to crow just a little. 1) I have successfully (I'm pretty sure) established the 1/2 mile run (jog, whatever) as my baseline. I've been able to do it twice in a row. This morning was a little more difficult, my muscles get fatigued towards the end of the week, but I did it. 2) I blew yesterdays time out of the water and dropped my 2 miles down to 30 minutes 30 seconds. That falls within the 2 miles/30 minutes range, and I am SO tickled with that. It's very exciting to set a reasonable goal and REACH it. 3) (And this is a big one for me.) I believe I have finally started to shift my perspective from purely weight loss to actually being more interested in my achievements physically than numbers on the scale. I think I finally understand that as long as I am running every morning and pushing the goals higher and higher, and meeting those goals as I go, then I would have to eat like a freaking sumo wrestler to NOT lose weight. The fluctuations on the scale, the plateaus, the losses even ... those are just numbers. My primary focus and joy is now reaching those goals with running. I was SO excited this morning when I did less than 31 minutes. And the second part of that is actually loving the exercise, not veiwing it as something I have to do, something I resent, don't like, whatever. I LOVE to run. I always have loved to run. It's just that in using anger as my catalyst, it would burn me out. The negative association was so high. Now, with that little paradign shift I had, running is wonderful and fun and a joy. I feel like a huge load has been lifted off me, and even my boyfriend commented this morning that my whole demeanor is different, and I'm reaching higher goals than I ever did before. Previously, I would come in off that treadmill looking angry and whipped. Now, I come bouncing into the house like I just won the Boston Marathon. Obviously, my attitude is making a big difference here.

Oh. And I dropped a half pound. One more half pound and I'm in the 180s.

Ah yes, one other thing. That hunger issue. Holy cow but I was freaking starving all day yesterday. It was really beginning to get to me. I had planned chicken/rice/green beans for dinner last night but bagged that and got shrimp and had little shrimp burrito things. I ate until I was actually full, and even then it was like it took a little while for that hunger pang thing to die down. Weird indeed to have both things going at the same time - knowing I'm full, but my little hunger sensors haven't caught up with the full feeling yet. How odd. In any case, I did go over my calorie limit by at least 200 yesterday. I figured that was a necessary evil, because the hunger I was feeling was not something that was going to go away. I feel a lot better today, so I'll see how things go as I drop today back into the 1200-1400 range. I'm not sure if it's PMS, the running, or what, but I sure as heck hope it was temporary.

Happy Friday folks!! Hope we hear from our MIA members soon!

Hi Chickies,

Red, I totally agree with Raven about the not worrrying about always posting individually to people - sometimes that alone can fill a book! Hey, as long as we acknowledge each other's presence once in a while - that's enough for me. And sometimes there isn't enough time to respond to everyone, especially if it's just general chatter. I'd rather see people participate than to shy away just because they felt they couldn't be totally involved.

I also agree with Raven and Hippy that trying to be 100% perfect at everything won't last for long. We all have some things we can keep a better focus on - food for you Hippy (me too) and for Raven it's exercise. I think as long as we can give effort to all, every little bit helps, especially when trying to set good habits.

I haven't had a particularly stellar week this week. Still having a bit of trouble with the tooth and residual pain from the abscess and for some reason the last few days I have been especially tired - been getting more sleep in but it never seems like enough. That sort of tired you get before you get sick. And for the last 2 days I've had alot of cramping in my lower abdomen - the kind of intestine twisting gassy stuff (sorry don't mean to be gross). But that has put a damper on exercise when you just want to walk around half doubled over. I can't track it to anything specific I ate, I'm figuring either it's an aftereffect of the antibiotics or just a low grade bug I picked up.

I did start today with some exercise - shoveling 3 inches of snow. We are in the worst month of the year for me, continued cold and snow over and over and over again. But we do need the moisture for the ground and hey it's February - you have to expect that. Weird weather, huh? I think from the midwest to the east we've all been setting records for cold this year.

I'm only semi-following South Beach this week - had some events that made it impossible to stay completely on plan so I've been "sticking my toe in the water" so to say and staying to plan as much as I can (mostly dinner at night). Last night I made chicken breasts "cacciatori" (sp???) style with green beans and green peppers in the pot along with a tossed salad. It was very good but I told my husband it just screamed for a simple carb like hot rolls, rice or pasta which of course I didn't serve. I think it's the first time I ever encountered a "habit" associated to a particular meal - like tomato sauce MUST have a carb. Guess I'd feel the same way if I had a salad with no dressing. Goofy, huh?

Well, I've got a lot to catch up on, better get the old keester in gear. Have a great weekend everyone and congrats Raven on meeting a new goal !!!!!

Oh oh. Two posts in a row????

I have decided that I am going to skip South Beach induction and go right to phase 2. I have already been de-carbing myself since January and I found at the end of this week with absolutely no fruit at all that my system is not happy at all. So I have some nice berries that are allowed on the 3rd week and look forward to a few at breakfast tomorrow. Even 1 fruit serving a day will satisfy me. I did meet the goals of 5 veggies this week. Heck, during induction about all you get is protein and veggies. I did have terrible cravings one night so I tried your trick Raven of a spoon of peanut butter. It actually worked. Except that I took half a spoon and swallowed it and it sort of got stuck going down. Now I understand what gastric bypass patients mean when it happens to them because they didn't chew their food 1,000 times before swallowing. What a terrible feeling. Next time I think I'll have the peanut butter on a piece of celery as recommended. I bought a jar of REAL peanut butter - that's what it said. I think it's all natural. Was pleasantly surprised to find that it's no where near as salty as the JIF or Skippy stuff.

No matter what the "fortune" focus comes out next week, I MUST, HAVE TO, GOT TO, Pull out the cattle prod and zap me, focus on exercise. I was a real slacker this week - sometimes legitimate, often times not. I have mastered food/portion control and water but exercise is my weak spot. Though I did shovel the walk and driveway today from the lovely snow storm we got last night.

Well it's past my bedtime even though it is the weekend and I don't have to get up at 6am. Saturday is going to be busy get all the chores done and Sunday is an outing to the Butterfly Garden that my husband wants to visit and take more pictures. Have a good weekend everyone - be good and be good to yourself.

Good Morning!

Sure is awfully early to be up on a saturday morning! I got Gary and Jordan off and decided to stay up. I have some things to get done before I go to the bank, grocery and so on.

We got a little freezing drizzle last night with a dusting of snow and are suppose to have snow showers all day. Tomorrow we are suppose to have sunshine I don't think we have had any in a week! Sometimes I crave sunshine worse that I do food!

Raven, you are kickin some serious butt girl I would give you a big hug if I could see you because you said something the other day that hit me. I was writing about missing coming here everyday and not having the time and you said I need to take the time. You reminded me how I seem to forget myself because I'm so involved in everyone elses wants and needs. I get overtired and overstressed and just don't focus on myself and my needs. Anyway, thank you so much for helping me to realize that I am not going to be successful if I don't take time for myself. I use to use fitday and loved it. I liked being able to see how much of what I was getting and so on. I decided that it was just too time consuming a stopped doing it. I have some goals and plan to stick to it. I went to fitday yesterday and reset my goals and so on. 1500 calories a day and plenty of water. I haven't got to the exercise part yet but will work on some kind of walking or something. I admit to being a exercise copout! I will be pleased if I can stay in my calorie range, drink water, go to fitday and post here daily.

Anyone have special plans for Valentin's Day? None here. We have never made a big deal out of it. Just a card or something simple, usually a box of chocolates but I think I better pass on those this year!

Jordan lost his class ring, He says it's here and that's the last place I remember seeing it but I can't find it anywhere. He wants us to buy him another one and I'm just not going to do it. Way too expensive and I don't feel like taking the chance that he might lose this one too. I may consider getting him one for his birthday or Christmas but just run out and order one? Not going to happen. Gary lost his wedding band I was so upset. He hasn't had it off since I put it on him. He has lost some weight over the years and it had gotten a little lose, he thinks he pulled it off taking off a pair of work gloves and didn't know it. Our anniversary is in April so I think I will be getting him a new wedding band.

Happy, are you a night owl? I would love to stay up all night and sleep all day but it doesn't fit into my lifestyle!

Where is everyone else? What ever happened to Chach?

Have a great weekend!

Happy weekend, chicklets!!

Happy - I really, really hope that tooth thing clears up for you soon, one way or another. The stress of having an infection in your body is going to wear you down. Your resistance is going to be down, and I'm not surprised you're tired. When my mom had her abscesses, they would always have to lance them, and if the root of the tooth is infected, they would pull it. She ended up having to have two bridges, but finally her mouth was a healthy one again. I think the "natural" peanut butter is thicker and stickier than the Jif or Skippy, so I can see why it would get stuck! I have to admit I really like the honey peanut butter. *sigh* I eat it so seldom I decided I'd just treat myself with what I really like. You know.. I should keep a jar of that at work in case I have days where I have that gnawing hunger. I wonder if that would help? Hmm. It's worth a try. Ok, Happy m'girl. You sound like you're where I was last month. Things are going good on the food and water front, now it's time to focus hard on getting ye olde butt moving. What is it that you want to make your primary form of exercise? Can you commit to just doing it for 5 minutes? (We all know this trick, right? Once you've done 5 minutes, how often do you want to stop?) Make that committment, Happy. Just 5 minutes EVERY day. If you want to stop after 5 minutes, that's fine. You've met your goal, and it's all good. Can you do that? OF COURSE YOU CAN!! ANYone can do 5 minutes! Now get moving. And have a wonderful time at the gardens!! That sounds beautiful! Can you post some of the pictures? That would be awesome.

Hippy - Aw, girl. Way to get me all teary. I'm so glad something I said helped. I know sometimes I come across as a little .. uhm .. intense? That might be the polite way to put it. But I really care. I know how hard it was (and still is, sometimes) for me to be "selfish" enough to claim my own time. But you know, everyone else in the family gets *their* time, we've just trained them to accept that we're always there, and come last in the pecking order, basically. It's hard to get the family to understand that we need OUR time, too. But once they do, and once they see the benefits of it, they almost always come around. A happy mommy is a good mommy. You're right in that fitday can be a little time consuming to set up initially, but once you get the habit going and get most all of your commonly used food items entered in, it only takes just a few minutes to log in, toss in your planned menu, log your exercise, change your weight as it drops, and off you go. Then you have an accurate record of what's going on if the weight loss stalls, or if you're dropping too quickly, or whatever. You can play around with upping the protein or dropping the fat, or tweaking your exercise to see what might be the determining factor THIS time in a plateau. It does take focus, and it does take making this a priority to make it happen. *big hug* You have so much going on, I know it must get hectic. I think that just getting a real handle on food and water is a huge step in the right direction. I can understand not wanting to get Jordan another ring. It seems like, with my kids anyway, that if you go about just replacing everything they've broken or lost as soon as it happens, they never learn how to take care of what they DO have. It's one of those hard life lessons each parent wishes their kids didn't have to learn, but they do. It will be better for him in the long run. My boyfriend offered to take me out to dinner for V-day, and I must have looked at him in absolute horror because he immediately put his hands up and started placating me... "it's ok hon, we don't have to go! I just thought you might want a break, really babe, it's ok..." I'm trying to think of something nice I can do for him that doesn't involve FOOD. Maybe just a nice evening with a massage or something. Who wouldn't like that? I think Chach started her own thread.. I pop in once in a while and say hi and find out how she's doing. I think Lucky posts on it once in a while, too. Traitors!!

Well my dears... It is with a tremendous sigh of relief that I announce my formal leave-taking of the 190s. This morning I weighed in at 189, and I am SO happy. Never, ever, again. Four more pounds to reach my goal for this month, 23 days to do it. Six pounds to reach my stealth goal of 183. I have yet to hit the treadmill today, on the weekends I do an hour each day. Sometimes that's a little hard to get motivated about. I might scale that back to 45 minutes. An hour just seems too darned long, and I don't want to burn out pushing it. Probably no riding today. Very windy here, and it's a cold wind. Makes it really hard to enjoy doing anything outside. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will cooperate. God I'm tired of this winter stuff. I want spring so badly.

I was talking to my BF about my weight loss goals and mentioned that I think this year I really can do this. He commented about how much work I've done in the mental area, and how much more positive my attitude is, and how much that positive attitude seems to be helping me meet my goals. He made the crack that I've probably lost 2 pounds just in my head from all the housecleaning up there. I really think he has a valid point. I just can't put into words sometimes how really good it feels to make promises to myself - realistic, valid promises, and keep them. And in keeping those promises, to see results on the scale, feel the results in my clothes fitting looser, and in the way I can bend over and talk at the same time, bounce up the stairs, and see the physique change in the mirror. The rewards of promises kept are so gratifying.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!! Regardless of the weather!

Hi, I'm new here and just found this thread. I would love some support as I take the bull by the horns and lose this weight that has crippling me for the past several years.

Aw freaking to heck with 45 minutes. I did the full hour and blew the doors off my last hour. I did a full 4 miles, and ran 1.8 of it. In 60:30 minutes. It isn't screaming speed but it is real, substantial improvement. I was walking at 4 mph by the last half mile intervals, and the last time I could do that was many years ago when I was practicing taekwondo for an hour nearly every night. Damn it feels fine.

Enigma! Welcome! If you can stand me, you're more than welcome to join us! Tell us more about you? What do you like to do for exercise? Are you following a specific food plan? How much are you trying to lose? Do you have any goals besides scale related?

hi all

been having some weird problem with logging on..so forgive me for not posting

welcome red balloon

Ugh..i am home and no one will give me five freaking minutws without screaming my name..

sorry..will post again soon

Tracy

Good morning ladies...

Hiyas Tracy, sorry to hear you're having trouble logging on. Hope you can make it here more often, and I'll tell you the same thing I'm saying to Hippy. If you con't put your foot down about your time and your priorities, no one will do it for you.

Well .. I'm down another 2 pounds. That puts me at 187 this morning. Two more pounds to reach my goal of 185 by the end of February, four more to reach my stealth goal of 183. Today I weigh exactly 20 pounds more than I did when I moved here in November of '95. By November of '04, I want to weigh at least 20 pounds LESS than I did when I moved here. Weighing 32 pounds less than when I moved here would be .. Perfect.

I need to ease up on the running. The evil shin splints are here, and if I keep pushing it I'll do permanent damage. I'm not happy about this, but today is going to be UB, then tomorrow is rest day. Tuesday morning hopefully I can run again, it's only a 2 mile day.

I need to work harder on the weekends at getting all my calories in. There are so many distractions that I "forget" to eat. I barely skated in yesterday at 1100 and that's only because I ate more dinner than I should have. Today I really need to make sure to get in more food. *nose wrinkle*

Ok, today... eat breakfast, walk the dogs, clean up the garage (again) and find my weights (I know they're buried under that dust somewhere), do my UB, go riding, go to WalMart, do laundry, clean up the kitchen, vacuum, pretend like life with my BF is wonderful and great (which it really is for the most part, except that part where we might as well be roomates for all the intimacy between us), and get ready for the work week coming up. Oh. And remember to eat. Yeah.

You are one determined chic Raven! Excellent Job Now I need to know how you feel about living in Kentucky!? I need you for my personal trainer Okay now, seriously, I didn't do too bad saturday but yesterday I just blew it. Gary was trying to be nice and wanted to take us out for breakfast, trying to take some cooking and cleaning off of me, I did real well at first with 1 biscuit, a little gravy and 2 slices of beacon, not the best choices but considering everything on the buffet.........anyway, the glazed donut got the best of me. I harped and fussed at myself for the rest of the day and reminded myself what I want to weigh in June so I came home and made a menu for this week. I will do better today.

I was in Wal Mart yesterday and I was looking at a pedometer. I thought it might be kind of interesting to see how many steps I take in a day but I didn't buy it. I was really curious to compare the steps on a day when I don't walk outside or do WATP to a day when I do. I don't know, probably one of those things that I would buy and not use.....imagine that!

I have laundry calling me. Have a great Monday!

Good morning! It's a lovely Monday! *cough*

Hippy - Hmmmmmmmm.... where in Kentucky? It's odd, but you're right about something. I am determined this time. Not frustrated or angry or beating myself up, just determined. I think I've made peace with a LOT this last year, 3FC has helped me do that. I no longer feel the need to hide behind the fat, to use it as protection or a rationalizing factor. I still seek comfort in food once in a while, but I'm slowly redirecting that, too. I wonder if that will ever be completely gone. I have resolved a lot of the anger inside me, and no longer seem to need to eat to pacify the anger. No longer have to punish myself either with food, by starving, or by working out so hard I'm ready to keel over. I realized the difference between anger and determination, between anger and passion, and the difference negative emotions can make vs. positive ones. I've thought about getting a pedometer, but I think for me it would just be another curiousity issue, nothing that would change anything I'm doing anyway. They're cute little doodads.. I think if I walked outside it would be really helpful. Perhaps this spring when the weather starts warming up I might do that. Hippy.. no sense fussing at yourself for something already done. Try to figure out how you could have NOT done it? Should you cease going out till you think you have a handle on it? That's what I did, pure avoidance. If you do think you can go out, drink a LOT of water or eat a bunch of veggies or use some strategy so that you don't feel compelled to give in to something which you know will only make you feel bad. Take a reminder card with you - a picture of a woman in a bikini or something - to remind you of your goals and objectives. ANYthing you can... before you order whatever you're thinking of having, ask yourself "is it worth it?" Is it worth the few moments of gratification to know that you just did something to sabotage your own desires? Which do you want more? The immediate gratification? Or the pride and sense of accomplishment in June when you reach your goal? Am I lecturing here? Sorry.. I don't mean to.

Today was a good morning, even if I ran a little late, again. I had to convince myself that since I hadn't done everything I was supposed to yesterday (I ended up in long, emotional, draining conversation with the boyfriend, which ultimately turned out well, but nonetheless wears me out), I needed to do at least some of it this morning. Struggles invovled NOT running, because it would have been so easy just to hop on that treadmill, just for a minute, just .. walk. Yeah. So, I avoided that pitfall and actually DID clean off the weights set and DID my UB!! Very, very light weights, but I did it. Two sets/12 reps of two exercises each for shoulders/chest/back/arms. I've been saying I was going to add weights back in for a good three weeks now, and this morning I finally did. I think cleaning up the workout area was 95% of the battle. Tomorrow morning I'll try a standard 2 mile treadmill workout and see what happens. I'm going to put wet towels in the freezer before I start so I can wrap my shins with them after I'm done if I need to.

I feel like I'm finally getting back on track again. After the weights are successfully incorporated into my routine again, I'll add in a couple pilates workouts during the week, and I'll be completely in line again. Finally. I don't like pilates really, but the results are so impressive that it's hard to NOT do it. By the time it gets really hot here, I should be able to wear a tank top with my jeans without feeling completely self conscious. Oh, I did manage to squish myself into my size 14 petite (short) jeans, but they were still uncomfortable. I figure another 10 pounds and I should be good to go on those. THAT will be cool.

Alright. Work calls. *argh*

Ooh, so sorry to have been away for a few days. I just needed to really REALLY buckle down, stay off the computer and get my keester back in gear again getting organized and planning - meals, housework, tasks and the to do list. I am starting to realize that I function much better when I take things in little chunks and make progress all around.

I am officially, completely on the South Beach Diet now and am down 2 pounds from last week's weigh in. Some meals are good, some are not - it's a matter of making adjustments to the menu plan and cooking styles to fit the new plan. But I think it's a good diet plan. Sometimes I feel like I'm not getting enough food but I need to sort out the truly hungry from the cravings from the just get used to eating smaller portions bit. Today I wanted potato chips and chocolate and a Big Mac in the worst way but I didn't. There have been times when I've gone down a few pounds on a steady track only to give in to something that doesn't stop at just one something. And I'm trying to avoid that now. My house is de-junked so there isn't much to binge on and that helps. If I absolutely need it, I have SF jello (about the only SF thing I can handle), LF pudding and low-carb ice cream bars. So I don't feel deprived, just want to make sure that it's a deserved treat and not just an i-wanna thing.

Hippy you might like the pedometer. I got one as a bonus gift for completing an exercise challenge a year ago. I found that often if I was near a goal, I'd push it a little harder to exceed it by a few steps. And it's interesting to see how much you actually walk in a day. I have a built in pedometer. If I don't walk enough during the day my leg muscles tighten up and the feet start acting up, so it's a good reminder to keep moving and stretching.

Raven that's good that you are getting back to the weights again. Good to mix it up, especially if the shin splints are acting up. I know it's exciting when you get that motivational click and unlike the scale, the running on the treadmill can see faster results but you have to remember that if you sustain an injury, it can knock you out for longer than if you had tried to reach your goal in smaller steps. Not to mention starting all over again. I have learned this the hard way myself. But now with weights and treadmill and riding, it sounds like you have a very well rounded program. And congrats on your weight loss for the week too!

I just went to the kitchen to get some water and noticed some strange tiny lights on my neighbor's roof. Took me a few minutes to figure out that it's the moonlight shining on the ice in the gutter. We've gotten quite a bit of snow and it's been clear and sunny the last few days. The water in the gutter can't really melt off so during the day it warms up and creates another ice layer at night. My gutters must have at least 10 inches of ice in them. I'm kinda nervous, hoping they don't fall right off the house. And they are making some incredible ice sicles. They drip over the front porch all day long and then freeze to ice on the pavement. My morning routine has been shovellng loose blowing snow and banging the ice off the porch. Can't use salt to melt it as that just busts up the concrete. Where is spring cuz I could really use it