Rayne - thanks for asking about my back, the pain killers are doing a better job today but I am still resting it so that hopefully tomorrow I can get back to my exercising and the housework.

I know what you mean about having to do a load of shopping. We only do a big shop once every two weeks and the amount we have to buy is crazy. You should see the taxi drivers face when he sees how much we have to fit into the trunk of his car I hope you managed to get your shopping done and that the rain held off.

Ziggy - what's your name on Pogo, I'm AmmiUK, just like on here. If you ever fancy a game of Gin when we are both on I am up for it. I normally only play the robots so I haven't got a rating but I am rank 11. It will be fun to play a real person

Wow that's terrible that your mum was so upset about you dating a guy from the Net. Was it that she was really worried about it after hearing the horror stories, or did she just not like the idea of it? I am glad after meeting your hubby though that she came around and that they get on great now. My mum couldn't stand my first husband. He had been married before and had kids, and she just knew that as my first boyfriend he wouldn't treat me like I should be, with the romance and all that. She never liked him, and she was sad for me that it ended in divorce, but she couldn't help but say I told you so. She has never met Daren but she loves him and how he treats me. She even sent him a birthday card this month and in it she thanked him for looking after me and being the kind of husband she always wanted me to have

Woops, another one who fell off the wagon this weekend too. Though at least neither of us, spent the day eating all that we could, we just had meals that we shouldn't have. That's got to count for something.

Xena - there was definitely something in the air this weekend, quite a few of us went off plan with our eating. I hope you enjoyed your pizza though, and now you are back on track so hopefully no harm was done.

Good on you for trying out that DVD. I hear you on the calf pain. I used to get terrible pains in my calves from just walking. As the weight has come off the pain has gone and hopefully you will find the same thing happens for you with regards to the calf pain you get when you exercise

Ingrid - hello and back. I don't think I have seen you here before. I joined in the summer of 2005. What I love about this place is that it's always here for us. We can fall off the wagon, we can disappear for ages, but when we come back we are welcomed back with open arms, and the support is there again to help us with our weight loss journey.

Patti - when I am poorly or laid up Daren will do the cooking but whereas I would do a dinner with vegetables he'll do something quick from the freezer. So when I am laid up for a while I actually crave vegetables. Tonight Daren surprised me by making a lovely chicken and vegetable stew for tea. It was so wonderful having vegetables after 2 days of unhealthier foods. So I can totally understand how you are feeling about looking forward to your healthy food again too. I am glad we have a deal about staying OP until Thanksgiving, we CAN do it

Lori - ther you have it, in a nutshell, the answer to why you have ended up feeling so blah. TOM is just around the corner! You did great doing some of your work out, plus you must have earned some activity points from helping your hubby with the cleaning. Ok so you had a burger, it could be worse though, you could have had a burger, fries and a shake!!! A lot of us have eaten stuff we shouldn't have this weekend, we just have to forget about it and move on. I have said that to myself so much this weekend that I have managed it. I have been 100% OP today, and just hope I don't get too disappointed at tomorrow's WI.

I hope you managed to go to the shop and that you will bake those muffins today.

Sue - I have been thinking for a long time that it would be great to have a smilie that's on a Gazelle Rider. I wish I knew how to make those things because I would do just that There are a lot of us Gazelle Girls on here now and it's wonderful. It's amazing that you do 45 minutes a day on the Gazelle now, it took me ages before I was up to doing more than 30 and when I first started I did 2 lots of 15 minutes. The longest I have ever been on there is an hour. I had a lot of pent up anger I had to work through once and an hour on the rider was brilliant.

Elmay - thanks for telling me the easier way to do those planks, I will have to give it a go when my back is better. I will let you know how I get on. I am trying to strengthen my core but I have to be so careful with some of the exercises, crunches for one, because of having my ostomy.

on losing 7 lbs last week, that's brilliant news It's been too long since I have seen any kind of loss, but it's my own fault. Hopefully now that I am back on track I will see a loss, if not tomorrow because of being naughty this weekend, then definitely next Monday!!

Bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi.... FWIW my 45 minutes on the Gazelle was not all at once. I did 15 minutes this morning before church and then came in afterward and did 30 minutes. LOL I am pretty sure I could not last an hour yikes! I was pretty relieved when the 30 minute timer went off! I have a hard time raising up my heel as they say... it is far easier and more natural to keep my heel down. But it DOES pull the muscle a lot more when I raise it.

LOL yah I can imagine that an hour on that thing would get rid of pent up anger LOL.

I tried the hands free for just a bit but that is HARD LOL and I kept my hands up by the handlebars instead of down at your sides like they say. Have you tried the sideways stuff or however you do it? I just looked at the picture on the box -- there is nothing I see in the instruction manual that shows it but I tried it and I can see that it will be great for my inner thighs which I really need.

Yes, I would love to have a gazelle icon too!!

BTW has anyone heard from Kenya lately? I haven't seen her around here! Maybe we should send a cyber possee??

Welcome back Ingrid..... and Ammi my name in Pogo is ( hold down the laughter) MrsBovineguano....ha ha! I get alot of compliments and laughs out of this name......I've had a busy afternoon outdoors with my husband and nephew picking up pecans....Congrats and way to go on everyones weightloss victories...Not much else going on here...so I'll sign off

Have a great day!

Ammi, sorry, I forgot about your ostemy. Can you do any type of stomach exercises? One of the more grueling ones is to lie on your back and lift your legs up using your stomach muscles. That wouldn't cause you to "crunch" your midsection, but would still give you a workout there!

I have not posted for a while but I have established a routine with the gym working up to 50 minutes on the treadmill four to five days a week. This week a bought a good pair of shoes and i less pain in my ankles and knees when I walk for any legnth of time. I have lost about a pound a week for the past five weeks. This process is so slow but moving inthe right direction. i know there is so much more i can do improve my health but I feel like a few long term changes are more realistic.
Sorry no personals. I hope you each have a good week...

Sue - yes I have tried the sidewards exercise, it's a doozy isn't it. I do that at the end of my work out if my feet are hurting too much. I don't know about you but the ends of my feet end up practically numb by the end of a work out. It's only because of the pain from my feet that I start to watch the clock, otherwise I could 'ride' for ages rather than watch how soon I can get off. Brenda has a similar problem but I haven't heard of anybody else having the same problem other than us. The hands free stuff I enjoy doing, but I must admit that to begin with I kept losing my balance. I am sure you will find it much easier as you get more and more practise.

Oh yes we definitely need a cyber possee. I would love to reign in Violet Swerve, Kenya, Crock, Kimberly, and Catherine just to name a few.

Ziggy - how on earth did you come up with your Pogo name It's certainly one of a kind!! I will add you to my buddy list so I might see you there one day

Elmay - No worries about forgetting about my ostomy, I wish I could forget it sometimes Oh I do crunches, but carefully My worry is more to do with how many times I have had my tummy cut from breast bone to pubic bone. It's weakened the whole area and I am susceptible to getting a hernia. I am not supposed to do any abdominal work, but I HAVE to do if I am ever going to strengthen my back. So I just try everything but very carefully.

Bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

back again and in a better mood this time--yeah! i got to the store and back, hauled in all the groceries and put them away and made my muffins and a fruit salad for the week. maybe i just needed to get moving a little bit. now i just need to carry the containers with the halloween decorations back down to the basement--maybe i'll leave that one for rich. my back is already getting sore and i don't really feel like fighting the boxes down the stairs. it's pretty pathetic though that i packed up all the decorations, but didn't finish the job of putting them away.

the muffins i made are from the receipe thread. i can't remember who's it was, but they are called "all bran muffins". i made them last week with bananas in them and loved them, so this time i tried the apples and cinnamon. i'll have to let you know how they are but they smell great! and as soon as i post this i'm going back in the kitchen to make.....tuna pizza! lavandel--i've been hungry for it ever since you talked about it, so i got the ingredients while i was out. i can't wait to try it!

ammi--glad to hear your feeling better and thanks for being so encouraging about my mood. i think it's passed.....for now anyway. sometimes when tom is around, i feel like this: .

you know, when i had an elliptical, i used to have problems with my toes feeling numb too. i think i was using them too much instead of my whole foot. i would wiggle them when they started to feel funny and try pushing with my heels more. it seemed to help a little.

well, i'm off to make my pizza. hope everyone has a good night and i'll see you tomorrow! lori

Ammi that stew sounds wonderful!

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted in a few weeks, as I've been a bit down in the dumps and haven't really maintained my commitment to myself. However, tomorrow starts a new week and I'm determined to get back on track. I haven't weighed in for a few weeks, so Tuesday will be the day that I find out how much damage I've done to myself. I expect I'll have to change my ticker (in the wrong direction).

I went on a lovely hike this weekend and I finally had a picture of me taken that didn't completely nauseate me, so I'll post it in the pic thread soon. I've never done this before, so I hope the pic doesn't come out too large or too small.

Heather, I'll be adding my minutes soon to the exercise thread!

Have a lovely week, everyone. I'm going to really try to post more often so that I can make it successfully through the upcoming holidays.

Jen - Love the picture of you and your dog on your hike. You both look healthy and happy!


Katt - I love the pictures of your dogs and lambs too. I just love animals. I wish I could have one of everything!!!

Hello girls!!

I just wanted to update a few things and tell you guys about my WONDERFUL weekend!!

I was working for about a week on setting a plan for me to stick to. I went shopping Friday!!

I guess all of you guys went OP because of me! I was so OP that it was awesome! I feel great today!

I wanted to add that I'm a Gazelle girl!
Not exactly, I have this Gazelle thing( trying to find a picture).

I have not used it that much because the little things hurt my feet pretty bad. I'm gonna start though and say that I will do 10 mins a day to start with!