I hope everyone is having a good weekend, I have been SO busy, washing, drying, ironing and packing for our little 'holiday' to my parents' on the Lincolnshire coast. I won't be online 'till next Sunday so I will keep my fingers crossed for everyone to have good losses.
With small children it is so diificult to get enough clean clothes together for a few days break as they get dirty so fast, in under a minute on Aiden, 2 1/2 yrs old, his favourite game is 'find something dirty and wipe it all over myself'!!! we have had peas in ears, gravy, yoghurt and God-knows-what in his hair, you can imagine what his clothes are like!!
I don't have time for replies really, but Zelma, always a pleasure to hear from you and everyone else who is struggling like me at the moment, keep on struggling, never surrender!
I have to put out their dinners and later bath them, then I will put my feet up before bed, watching CSI, bliss.
xxsharon

Good Morning!
I hope every one is having a great morning! I woke up to snow today and a wt.loss! I was down to 330 this morning. Now I will not be counting that on my sig. I am using my wt. numbers I get from my TOPS meetings on tuesday nights but it makes me feel good anyways! I am off to do my workout. Have a great day!

Kayley: WooT! Thats a great group of numbers there!

Hi, everyone.

I know I've had a bad week, but are the posts all out of order or something? (I could actually be losing my mind, but I thought I'd ask anyway.)

I want everyone to know that I have to thank Dogpal for helping me the other day. All of you helped me so much, but when Dogpal said she would stick around and get back on track, she invisibly grabbed my hand and dragged me back on track with her. And you guys helped bring Dogpal back around so I have to thank everyone.

I started counting calories again today and I'm going to stick to it and be very strict about it. I'm not playing around anymore. All those fat-hating jerks out there better get the **** out of my way!

I was sad and hurt by what the doctor did, but now I'm just mad as ****. Even if I did lose all this weight, I wouldn't waste five minutes of my time to go back in that doctor's office and show him. He's a loser. I'm not. I am determined to do this on my own (now I know what you mean, Catherine). I'm never giving anyone my power again.

Thank you guys for being so helpful. I feel like I'm back on track. I need to get my life back in control and be the incredible person that I know I am. I have a lot of work to do. I'm glad I don't have to be on this journey alone!



Watch out!

Afternoon yall....well almost evening lol...

Havent done much today, actually slept till nearly 10:30, THANK YOU SWEET SARA (my youngin lol) been having cravings for bread something awful today, so yup i gave in, but hey tomorrow is another day...anywho, sent DH to the store (hes there now) with a list of nice and healthy foods to eat...

I'm afraid I don't remember who, but the last time I peeked in here someone asked what "Karen na otome no porishii" meant. . . it's Japanese, roughly meaning "And that is the lovely maiden's policy." I'd like to think that I'm going by some policy, you know. . . and it's neat that it has my 'name' in it, LOL.

I'm sorry I haven't been here for a while, sorry for several reasons. But I've been doing ok, weight-wise. I've lost a good 14 pounds since I was last here.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and see how everyone was doing. . .

Haven't had much for cravings lately, excep for some of those yummy lean cuisines. . . I've been eating a lot of them. I wish they were cheaper, but I try to buy them in bulk when they're on sale, LOL. But they're so handy when my time is short, and I space them out among other small meals throughout the day. I've gotten used to the small proportions. I've been staying away from the fast food, and I haven't touched any "real" soda in ages. I also try to stay away from other refined carbs.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to make more regular visits here. Take care!

"I don't know why we put things off. But if I had to guess, I'd say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of rejection… Sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, any decision, because what if you're wrong? "

This is actually a quote off of one of my new favorite shows, but I figured it's very fitting to most of us. Anyhow, bedtime for me, but I'll be back to post tomorrow.

Amazing...we found a frozen yogurt place that sells DELICIOUS fro-yo for 9-10 calories an ounce...fat free. A 6 oz. kiddie cup makes such a yummy snack even on a cold and rainy night...plus we can get 2 fro-yo's for the cost of 1 latte.

Good food weekend so far...awful tummy ache right now but I'll live.

12 days till my bday....14 days till "D-Day" (dress day)

32 has been a really good year...I'm very hopeful for 33.

Had a lovely day with hubby. Went to the markets early in the morning to get our fruit and veg. The variety is wonderful and we have probably halved our fruit and veg costs since going there. We then went to the zoo and had a lovely walk. The temp was hovering around 85F and the sky was clear, so beautiful walking conditions. We came home for an early lunch, then went into the city for a lovely walk and a wander around some shops. Came home to a VERY large bushfire in the national forest behind us. THAT wasn’t a good part of the day, but we went for a walk to see how close it was and it was certainly far enough away for it to not affect us. As long as the wind doesn’t change too much we should be OK. We got some photos of the smoke, and some of the helicopters filling up with water for water bombing. They were filling up at the oval across from the school where I teach, which is only a little way from home. So that was quite a nice walk too. This evening I did my workout on the bike, then did 10 mins on my new home gym. I have a feeling that I am really going to love weight training, which I would NEVER have believed before.

Sadly, house cleaning hasn’t quite taken a priority this weekend, so I’ll have to find time during the week to catch up. But you know what? I don’t really care. I LOVE how I spent the weekend and I’m sure the house will survive a few more days.


Ms Crocket – You are SO right about the pace of the weight loss. I lost quite a bit the first couple of weeks, then it kinda settled at mostly 1kg (2.2lbs) a week. Sometimes less during the first year, as I was still learning about food, and a LOT less now as I get closer to goal and hormones have struck. It is great to see it move down lots, but as long as it moves down – no matter how slowly – that is what counts. You have a great attitude there!

Sharon – I hope you had a lovely ‘holiday’. Any time away is certainly a holiday, so I hope you spent your time relaxing and doing just what you wanted to do. Oh, I also hope that Aiden managed to not find TOO much to rub onto himself. Well, a little soap wouldn’t be bad, but nothing ‘mucky’.

Shelly – I’m sure that it has been mentioned before, but what is TOPS? I’m not sure we have that over here.

Tasha – It is SO wonderful to see that you have your determination back again. It sounds as though you have mentally kicked that doctor’s butt and are ready to face life again. Well done!!! You are certainly not alone with this and we are all here to support you and cheer you on as needed. I am so thrilled to see that inner strength shining through again. I look forward to seeing more of this in your future posts.

Robwen – I can totally relate to craving bread! I don’t crave chocolate, candy, cookies, crisps, cakes (hey! Lots of ‘c’ words there – perhaps we should design a NO “C” FOODS diet), but when TOM is around I SURE do crave bread. My dietician friend said to not fight it and just feed the cravings, as there isn’t much else you can do about them. I’m not sure if it is that time of the month for you, but you may just need to face up to the cravings and eat really well the rest of the time.

Karen – Well done on the 14lbs down. It sounds as though you are sorting out your eating very nicely. That took me a while to get used to. I found it easy to give up treats, but still had a long way to know what to eat and what to try to avoid if I could. I look forward to seeing more posts from you now that you are back.

Julee – Sorry to hear about the tummy ache. Is that from something you ate (not the yoghurt I hope) or some bug or other? I have learnt to LOVE yoghurt in almost any form, so those frozen yoghurts sound delicious! I use yoghurt for my sweet treat a lot of the time, which is a big change from what I used to eat. I’m sure yoghurts are a lot different to how they used to be. I used to find they left an awful aftertaste in my mouth. Now I just can’t get enough of them. I may have to check out our local icecream places to see what varieties they have.
What is “dress day”? I know that you have mentioned the ‘dress’ before, but I can’t remember if you are going to wear it at a special occasion or whether it is simply something that you are determined to fit into. Sorry about my horrible memory.

Oh… I just have to mention a couple of comments I have had lately as they were simply FANTASTIC. I had a little girl (probably about 5 years old) come up to me when I was on playground duty the other day and say something like “You look very different. You are getting SO skinny!” Well, you can imagine how wonderful that made me feel. What a doll! As they say, “Out of the mouths of babes”. It is so great that this is what I am hearing out of the mouths of little kids rather than questions like “Why do you have such a fat tummy?” and all the rest.

The other comment was made by a gentleman who is a manager at an electrical goods and furniture store that we visit quite regularly. He has sold us two or three things and we talked to him quite often for a while there. Well, we hadn’t seen him for over a year and hubby cheekily asked “Have you met my wife?” As he was shaking my hand, I laughed and told him we had met and I had just changed a lot. He was stunned and said that he truly thought that hubby had a found someone else. I thanked him and said I still had a little way to go and he replied with. “Oh no. You are just perfect!” WOW… WOW… WOW!!!!!! I could have floated around that shop for the next few hours. I have NEVER had the word perfect used about me before. I know that I am nowhere near perfect, but I understood that he meant that I looked a fine shape and didn’t need to lose any more weight. It was still a thrill to hear. We talked for a while and he told me about his wife also being on a healthier lifestyle. It was great to chat for a while about something that is SO dear to my life now. Improving your life – what could be a better topic?

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Mine is almost at an end, but I am SO happy about how things have gone that I don’t really mind. I am all organized for work tomorrow, which makes the world of difference.

Take care,

Zelma

Hey Guys!!

Been busy with weekend stuff and getting ready to tackle the house with hubby today! Yuck! I really hate housework!! Ya wouldn't know that I used to be a terrible neat freak! *L*

Just wanted to pop on and share that I lost another 4 lbs this week!! I'm not sure what is up with the tickers as all that were changed it seems aren't showing up! Anyhooooo, I will update it but that means that I am down 60lbs since July 22/05. I am SO proud of myself and that I am ready to take on the world today!!!!!

I'll be back today once the house is liveable again

Brenda

Brenda~ You go girl!!, you are doing fantastic,,

I had another on plan day, I was not very hungry at all yesterday, but I did eat enough. I lost another lb.. that makes 12 total for Phase 1, sooooo Glad that the Sugar Jello incindent did not hender me too much,, ahhhh Live & Learn I reckon,,

Zedaus~ Thanks for noticing I am giving this Life Change some "Serious" Thought.... YOU HAD TWO GREAT COMMENTS TO POST, DOESNT THAT JUST FEEL GREAT , AND YOU FIND YOU JUST CANT "SMILE " ANY BIGGER!

TAKE CARE ALL,

Zelma...Dress Day refers to shopping for a Wedding Dress. I am getting married in November and in 2 weeks my step-mom and my matron-of-honor are coming out for the whole weekend to shop and hang out. I think I know which dress I want...and I am not to the point that I don't care what size I have to buy, because it can be altered. I've done very well on my program and if I keep up my progress then I will be just fine.

Last night we went to a local improv comedy theatre for their Saturday night show. Our friend Owen is in one of their casts and last night was his last show, so we went to support him. He had not seen us in a really long time...so when he saw me before the show he was SO surprised. In fact, the managerof the thatre knows me as well...we have worked together before on some special shows for my teens...and he did not recognize me when I walked in until I gave him my credit card to pay for the tickets. it was kind of nice.

I got up early this morning to take care of a little something so as long as I was up I made breakfast...an egg white, mushroom and fat-free feta cheese frittata (like an omelet but it looks like a pancake) and some polenta that I cooked in Pam on the stove. It was so delicious. It was nice to have a real breakfast on a plate instead of an oatmeal cup for a change. I also found some amazing Chocolate Tea at Trader Joe's...yummmm.

Hopefully I will be able to get another load of stuff to Goodwill today. I wanted to load up the car last night but it was raining. When we get back from Jason's mom's birthday lunch we will do it then.

Enjoy your days!!!

ZedAus
TOPS is like WW but it is nonprofit. It costs $24US a year with a small due a month to help the local club. You can read more at TOPS.org. They do have online membership for people who do not have a club near them. I love the group I am with. Right now we are having a "race to 10", Any one who wanted to play played $1 and the fist that gets to a 10lbs wt. loss wins the pot!

So far today has been well, other than MATH homework, I just overthink MATH, but after I figure it out, I cant believe it WAS that easy,, But oooo the STRESS from it.

I made a TACO BAKE today,, and ohhh my is it ever good.. I tell ya, this is not a diet to me, this is just eating healthy versus eating the bad stuff, I am starting to get the hang of things, I never paid any attention to labels before, and I am astonished at what all I CAN HAVE .... I am loving this.. and I am Resting soo much better, I feel really good...... (now tomorrow I may be flippen out wanting a sugar treat, whoooo knows.. with the ups and downs I get with all the changes... )Doing well with water consumption, I am actually craving water now..
Hope everyone is doing well today, Take Care all.

Ammi-Wow, green gunk, I hope that Darren gets to keep his thumb. All day at the hospital would normally have been a good excuse for take-out, so good for you that you cooked after all that.

Kayley – yes, that was my something blue. I had a pair just like them back in the ‘70’s. I must say the remakes are nicer. They have a better insole, and much better glue. It didn’t help that I have really large feet, they used to be 13’s, and now are size 11. I don’t know what made me think I could hide those boats under my gown for long. Himself had shoe issues as well. He couldn’t find his new black dress shoes, so had to wear brown during the ceremony. Losing all those inches can be so strange can’t it? I’ve lost over 20 inches in both my waist and hips, and 10-12 in my bust. Most women would complain about losing in the bust. I’ve never been really big there, and now I can say I don’t wear a bra out of choice, not because they don’t make a A-B cup in a size 56. I own new bras, but only wear them to church and the doctor.

Garnet-you can vent with us anytime. I always hated Valentine ’s Day too. It used to be second only to Christmas on how hard it was to be alone. You survived, and that is the important thing.

Zed-Yes, I am hanging on to the idea that the summer here is going to be worth all this freezing. Plus, I understand they don’t get hurricanes here. That’s a big plus. I am so happy, that we could be living under a bridge in a fridge box, and I’d still be happy. It is neat that you’ve got a trainer coming to show you how to use your stuff. I always try to bumble through. I also don’t like people watching me. I guess that is why I like water aerobics, except for getting in and out, all you can see is my head, and that’s mostly not fat.

Shelly-you and I are about the same size, I guess. I am also just chomping at the bit to get below 300. it has been a long time.

Tasha-I loved the smiley face waving the rolling pin. I threatened to chase himself down the street with one this morning when I caught him drinking milk out of my good pyrex measuring cup. He didn’t know what it was I guess. You have to have that frame of mind that you are not going to let anyone or anything stand in the way. Back in Florida, if my roommate made an appointment when my water aerobics class was, she had to figure out how to get there herself. That included her knee surgery. I actually left her in pre-op to go to class. That may sound horrible, but I got this way in part because I was too busy taking care of everyone else to take care of myself. Now is my time.

Esmaraude-welcome back. When someone disappears, I always worry that they have given up. It is nice to know that sometimes it is just because you are doing so well.

Brandnewme-Someone told me once that not making a decision is making one, you’ve simply decided not to do it. I avoided making any decision about my weight for a long time, but that just meant I had decided to stay the way I was. That was the easiest thing to do.

Julee-I hope that yogurt isn’t like the stuff from Seinfeld. I think I miss ice cream most of all. I still eat chocolate once a week, and can keep it in the cabinet without bothering it. If I had ice cream in the house, it would always be gone. Every now and then, I got for the low cal stuff, but only get a scoop and eat it at the store.

MsCrocket-My husband comments all the time that I’m feeding him too much for this to be a real diet. Reading labels is seriously eye-opening.

As for me, I made low-fat applesauce pancakes. I’ve got a house full of people watching Olympic hockey and eating pancakes. All my husbands friends have gotten used to the idea that if they don’t want sugar-free koolaid, soy milk or decaf-coffee, they’d better bring their own. I’m going to have them all eating right if I have to drag them all kicking and screaming.