Frogger, my dear, I have been where you are, and still stop to visit that place now and then. Some days I just feel like a huge, ugly blob and what's the point of putting myself through the battle to get fit and lose weight because I'll never make it anyway so somebody hand me a chocolate bar. Yep, know the place well. We all do. If only I could loan you an Irishman... Seriously, though...his words are perfectly applied on days like this. Focus on the solution, not the problem. Do one thing today for your health. Go for a 20 minute walk, drink an extra glass of water, pass up a high-calorie treat, just do one thing. You have to take it one step at a time, and those steps will add up if you keep doing them.

It can take a full year for your body to recover from pregnancy, so let's say it has. Sydney (she is ADORABLE!) is a year old, so it's time for a fresh start now that your body is ready. In other words, put the struggle of the last year of trying to lose weight where it belongs...in the past. Your fresh start begins right now. Not Monday. Spend the weekend doing those little things and making the best possible decisions. Eating out and there is nothing diet-friendly on the menu? Then order something and only eat half.

You CAN do this. You deserve to be happy and comfortable in your own body. Come on...back on the wagon! We're right there with you!

Good early, early, early Sunday morning. Been up off and on since three and will pay later, I'm sure. Actually got some rest yesterday and don't think my body knows what to do with that any more.

I'm looking for that wagon. Hope it didn't go by so fast I missed it. I'm back on prednisone at the moment (didn't go into a bad flair but didn't want to either so started p. at first sign) so am chasing food and getting too darned good at catching it). So I'm taking Wildfire's advice and doing one thing for my health. I think it will be water. I'm enjoying my tea but maybe too much. I think I need water - and celery. And maybe music.

I love the Irishman's advice. Solutions will be my focus. I have been finding some/many/not enough but onward is the only direction.

Avant, Queenlies! Love it that the palace be a-buzz with so many royal personages these days ...

I'm not up to much in the way o' postin' fer awhile ... seems the depression demon's got me 'r somethin' ... when spirit returns from dark journey will be back ...

Hello all!

Frogger---- not to worry, I don't think a single one of us hasn't felt the same way !! And believe it or not, I was just thinking nearly the same thing just a few days ago.... "what's the point?"
But as the other Royals have already said so well, the point is YOU ARE WORTH IT!! ... The good news is that you'll notice results right nearly right away...
You'll feel more energetic....
When you've lost 10% of your extra weight, your knees will have aprx 30-50% less pressure on them.... so it stands to reason that even w/ a 1% loss, your knees will be the first to feel it....
The less your knees hurt the more walking you can fit into your lifestyle which will help tighten up the tummy area....Stair climbing will do that for you too....
But just like Wildfire said, small decisions lead to great results.... one extra glass of water, one smaller portion, one extra trip to put something away, ALL of this leads to feeling better.
In fact, feeling better is something I forget when I get so obsessed w/ the scale and what size I'm wearing....

My suggestion .... pick the easiest thing for you to do... more water, extra veggies instead of fries, etc, etc... and start...
and there you are.. you've begun....

Even if it seems like the Wagon has long gone, there's always another due any second now....

Anagram.... Sorry about the Predisone (Spelling?)...
You sure had a rainy Saturday to cozy through....

Yesterday, DH and I did some Thrift Shop searching and we found a very nice sportsjacket for some more formal work related functions...

Today, he's at work and I'm trying to do 15 minutes at a time but got sidetracked. Nearly threw in the towel to take a nap but put a new crockpot soup together and sauted lots of onions and peppers and am feeling much more virtuous ( sp?)....

Now for a shower and a short trip to the store....
or maybe that nap afterall....

But before I go, Wildfire, FOCUS ON THE SOLUTION is so good I nominate it for Monday's thought of the day too!!

Empress....((((((((((((((((((((((HUG)))))))))))))) ))))))))))))

Anyone for tea??

Amarantha, sorry I didn't see your post yesterday. We were typing at the same time, and I hit "post" and left. Glad you survived the meeting, and I might take you up on that ticket south say about...February when we hit -20C! Cast those demons aside and lounge in the Royal Den for a while. There is a nice quiet armchair in the corner with a cozy wrap and a great book, and of course a personal Towel Boy to turn the pages for you and pour your tea. (It's slow in the spa these days.) When you are feeling up to it, come back to the kitchen and join in the chatter.

Anagram, you did well with the prednisone last time, so here's hoping for a repeat performance! Good to hear you had some well-deserved rest. Sleep can be an elusive thing at times.

Kaylets, the Irishman is a very smart guy, isn't he?

Having a wonderful weekend here. The wedding on Friday was lovely. The bride marched down the aisle to bagpipes with a piper in full Highland dress. It was a small wedding, maybe 60 people or so, but really, really, lovely. Her dress was stunning...corset lacing all down the back, and she is a tiny thing anyway. It was so nice to see family I only see a few times a year, and then last night we had a family dinner at my aunt's house. Today it's just us and have had a quiet day, tomorrow we have a bachelor friend coming for Thanksgiving dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I better rescue tonight's from the oven!

Hello to all...

I'm back!!!! We had a great time at the beach but it's nice to be back too. We walked about 20 miles in 2 days on the boardwalk and we ate really well. Only ate out once for breakfast; everything else was our own healthy food. It was only when we got back that I started eating poorly. For the last 2 days I've eaten with no awareness whatsoever----strange.....

And danged if I'm not 7 pounds above my goal weight. I'm so tired of this and my fear is that these 7 extra pounds will turn into 17 and so on. So YES, Amarantha, I'm with you and will be posting!

Hello all!
Great idea Empress!!

What am I trying to do?? The hardest of the hard.... I'm pulling myself up that wagon step, inch by inch..... still feeling that Chocolate binge wanting to continue....

So that's my CHALLENGE this week....to get beyond the binge... and get clean!

....

Well, after tonight's Thanksgiving dinner, I feel like a stuffed turkey!

I'm with you, Amarantha!

For the next six days I pledge to log my food/water and get intentional exercise in some form every day! Would like to see the scale go downwards, too!

Hi Eydie, welcome back!

Hi Kaylets!

That's 'bout as witty as I get at this time on Monday night!

Huzzah 'n sis boom bah!!! We have a challenge, s!!! Welcome aboard to Wildfire, Kaylets 'n E!!!!! The towel boys are formin' a certificate mailin' committee ready to spring into action as each o' us finisheth her appointed task!!! Huzzah!

My cals were at 1683, Sunday was at 1568, making my average weekly total 1626, right where it should be!!! The good thing about calorie averaging is you can go up and down and still feel successful, but the success of my challenge is both to have a weekly cal average by Saturday night of less than the 1658 AND to be at the goal weight, so I'm also going to up my intensity when I do the long cardio, abs/core, stretch class combo tomorrow before goin' off to the mountains to work. No exercise today as no time and it's also part o' my plateau busting strategy.

My eating was clean also today, K, except for the South Beach 100 cal cookie packs ... these are actually low glycemic, or ostensibly low glycemic, anyhow. Dunno, just had the urge to try 'em as I'm pretty loosely on South Beach Phase II now. It said you should have no more than two packs of these as snacks per day ... I had three and my blood sugar seemed to spike (I didn't test it, though) ... I do not think the ingredients in these cookies are true to the real South Beach diet and I think they are a sell-out ... I gave 'em away. I MUST go back to no sugar eatin' ...

Wildfire!!!! I am not sure of the significance of the Three Bananas, but I am so glad you are aboard!!!!

E, don't worry about the seven pounds ... come back with a challenge plan ... LET'S GO, s ... LET'S BUST OUTTA THIS RUT (for those of us in a rut) ... we can do it.

I'm in - in a most modest way. I'm back to the basic. More water. More water. Oatmeal, Cottage Cheese.

I had a gorge out last night. One of those really lacking in intelligence blowouts that are strictly emotional and out of control. I've been pigging out but not like this. Maybe eating too much but of "better" foods. This was truly immature and out of control. I'm ok with it in a way because I think it brought things sort of to a head. I need to face life as it is and move on and I can do that best if I can get/stay healthy. Ok, some's the prednisone but a lot is just not wanting to face all of reality. It's a fine line sometimes between being negative and seeing reality and remaining upbeat and optimistic. We're working on solutions here, folks, And trying to remain true to our Royal Roots.
So again, it's water, oatmeal, cottage cheese, etc. With an added dash of dignity, selfrespect and courage. There was nothing dignified about last night. Nothing joyful. Nothing helpful - a real wrong direction cataclysm. So, humbly, I turn towards the only direction that will carry me where I need to be. I'm not even looking for the wagon yet but will trudge back to sanity to try to gain strength to catch the wagon at a future time. So my pledge for this week is small "strengthening" steps.

Yes, I'm starting today [tuesday], yesterday was just weird. And unexpected looong work day, but I'm very proud of the fact that I did a 30 min. step video when I finally got home, especially since I wanted to completely blow it off.

My challnge today is staying awake! I had a sleepless night, thinking of all the LITTLE things I have to do at work. So I got up at 5:30 this morning to be there by myself and get some things done, now I'm sleepy. We had to give tours to 1st graders today--I gave 6 tours since it was such a big group, and tomorrow is the board meeting and I have to make lunch for that. Just lots of little details, you know, that I'm responsible for.

I have to go to the market to get fresh stuff too. Haven't ben since we've gotten back from the beach. I feel like I'm living on bread, cheese, and soy stuff and that doesn't make for a very light feeling in the old frame.

KRISPY KREME! Horrors!