Lindy-those damn cheetos, we had a bag here but my husband finished them last night, so I only had like 4 or 5 of them.

Staccie-hope your back gets to feeling better soon.

Mygrits-you probably didnt eat too much. It may just seem like it since you didnt log it.

Neesy- I feel the same way as you do, tired. Probably not as tired as you, but I have no more energy tonight and I havent done my dvd workout.

I did go for a 2 mile walk with the dogs, then brought them home and jumped on my bike and went for a 2 mile ride. I am feeling really tired now. I walked and biked yesterday but I didnt was as far yesterday. I havent dont the 30ds yet. Not sure if I am gonna do it tonight. I may get up and do it in the morning and then again tomorrow night. I planted some flowers today and ran around outside a lot with dogs today. It was really nice out for Michigan weather, nothing like the weather you girls are having in FL. Someone asked what the weather was like here, its been getting up into the high 60's which is like a heat wave here, but still gets down in the 30's at night. Its 42 out now and its 10pm. I say I dont want to do the 30ds tonight but I might surprise myself and get up and do it in a bit, we will see. Night everyone.

Thanks for the well wishes. I am at home now after physio and feel a lot better! It's not serious - it's a joint problem and I have to build up my core strength so it doesn't happen again. I can't remember what he said - I had such a headache - C-joint or something like that. So no disc issues or anything. I missed chatting on here. I had no internet this weekend and tried to access from my phone but it got too confusing.

Excuse my rant....

Well I have become certain on a few things in the past few weeks and need to immediately change my behavior. The first is, I need to get serious about this and make it my first priority. I don't drink alcohol except in social situations - and unfortunately there have been a lot lately where it's been a work thing. Expected to be there and expected to drink and have fun. And it makes me fall off the wagon. First I drink too much and then I eat fast food and eat crappy the next day (convinced eating crappy will make me feel better) and the day after because I am depressed. Second, I can't allow myself treats until I can be in better control of myself. One treat often leads to many more and boom off the wagon I go. It's so much harder on my body to do so good for 5 days and then bad for another 5. So I have a ton of social events coming up this month and I am not drinking - at all. I never drink at home - only when I go out and I don't even like it! It's just what people at work "do" or in my social life. I feel awkward if I don't. But to **** with that! I will drink water and it's not like I need a drink to loosen me up - I am far from shy anyway. So that's my vow. I can have a glass of wine or so when I feel like I have more control over my decisions and body. When I lost all this weight the first time, I did not eat one bad thing for 3 months and I felt awesome. After that, I had some things here and there but never the whole bag or two them! I need to get there again.

Thanks for reading..it felt good to say it. Writing it in my journal doesn't make me feel as accountable!

I am looking forward to doing some slow cardio at the gym tomorrow - my hot physiotherapist recommended light exercise. I haven't seen last Thursday when I hurt myself doing "squats". I will be staying away from those for awhile until things heal and strengthen!

Thanks for reading everyone...glad to be back!

Ok i did the 30ds, yay. I think one of the videos wasnt the whole thing. I think I skipped one of the ab circuits. My knees are really bad after walking and biking so I had to take a couple small breaks, but I did most of it. Staccie, glad to hear its not a disc problem.

There is an infomercial for an ab circle on right now. I wonder if it really works, if it does, I want one. Look pretty cool. K, gonna jump in the shower and get in bed and watch a movie.

Woo hoo, I finally got my signature

Morning ladies:

Can I just say, I love that both Neesy and Tiff are logging their food. Its great, it kinda helps me put my meals in perspective and gives me some ideas.

Stacie- it looks like you gave yourself a good self examination and thats the first step to success. We are here for you, you CAN do it. Its funny, I know this sounds dumb but I LOVE Chick fil a lemonade, I mean seriously, Im obsesessed, I wish I could have a fountain of chick fil a lemonade put in my house...wait...focus Nicole, lol...back to the story, anyway my point is, because I know how much I love it and I still do not have self control to say no to it, I avoid going there no matter what. I mean, my poor daughter loves there chicken nuggets but because mommy has a crazy obsession, she's stuck with Burger King or something. Lol. Good job of analyzing the situation and getting in the right frame of mind. I hope you start to feel better. Keep your head up!

Burgundy - you are SO on fire. The fact that you were tired and talked yourself into working out is awesome. Are you changing your eating habits as well? For some reason I am having a brain fart - what program are you on?

Ok, heres my update from yesterdays meal and this morning:

Yesterday - friendship bread, I completely feel off the band wagon with eating yesterday. I dont know how many calories but A LOT.

Steak - once again, not sure of calories

Skinny Cow vanilla popsicle stick (150 calories) - does it even matter at this point?!

Today:

Birschmuesli (300 calories) - mmm..mmm..mmm. I saw this in another forum and had it and it is absolutely delicious and filling. Its a premade bag of granola, cranberries and walnuts, mixed with 1 container (6 oz.) of fat free vanilla yogurt. This may be a new favorite breakfast item for me!

Went to the gym again today. My legs are better and I did upper body (arms) this morning, along with 10 minutes on the treadmill and 5 minutes on the stair climber, might I add that "Toya" is no longer kicking my butt. I have conquered her! Tomorrow is ALL CARDIO, no weights, then back to legs on Thursday, arms on Friday and ALL CARDIO on Saturday. Yupper, you read right, for 3 weeks now I have been going to the gym 6 days a week for 45 minutes each time, PLUS a 2 mile walk 5 days a week. Wow - I cannot tell you how much energy I have. I mean, I go to bed early now, but I think thats mainly because I wake up at 5 a.m. If anyone is struggling with a regular exercise routine, just stick with it. After being with the gym for a little over a month now, this was by far the best thing I could have done for myself and I definately dont consider it a "chore". I LOVE going to the gym, I look forward to it. ****, I wouldnt be waking up at 630 a.m. on Saturday morning if I didnt like it. Haha.

Ill check in later.

Morning everyone.

I cant tell you how good I feel after lighting the fire again. I have more energy. I was having a hard time sleeping but now that I am walking, biking and doing 30ds, I fall asleep much easier and earlier. So now I am not sleeping half the day away.

Lindy-I am just counting calories(kinda), staying away from junk food. Trying to drink only water, and milk every once in a while.

Just thought I would give everyone a good morning. I have to take my doggies to the vet in a little bit, so I need to get ready but I will more than likely be back later.

So, yesterday I finished up the day with a 6" subway ham sub with tomato, cheese, and light honey mustard. Oh and baked barbq lays. That put me at about 1300 for the day. Then we went to the Anytime Fitness and checked it out, and the dude suckered us in to signing up. So we left, went and got a sub, went grocery shopping and then came back around 8:30. The thing I like most about this gym is the fact that all of the cardio machines have their own TV's with CABLE! I don't have cable at home so I was in heaven watching HGTV and MTV! I burned about 600 calories according to the machines, so I was at a deficit for the day of like 1890 calories. I made this cool little spreadsheet when I go home that calculates my BMR, calories eaten, exercise calories burned, and what my deficit for the day is. I want to fill it in every day and see if the scale is actually doing what the math say it should be doing. If it's not, then I know my metabolism is slower than it should be. I don't really know what I will do then. LOL. I just want to know.

Today so far I have eaten:

1/2 a walmart brand imitation Fiber one bar (70)...I thought it was pretty gross and not worth wasting my calories on, so I chucked the other half.
1 large granny smith apple (100)
1 serving cheetos twisted puffs (160) (I have been craving real chips, so I bought some at the store last night and preportioned them into servings. Well, since I have been dieting they have totally cut back on the cheese on the cheetos and they are NOWHERE near as good as they used to be. How disappointing.)

Ugh, its only 940 and all I want to do is eat eat eat. I guess my low calories last week finally caught up with me and I am making up for it this week.

Lindy, first of all, what the heck is friendship bread. Second, your poor daughter...you depriving her of chick-fil-a...LOL. That had me laughing for real! I am thrilled that you have gotten into a real gym routine. For me, I am glad that I have gotten into the routine of going to the gym, and I enjoy seeing the numbers that I am burning, but I haven't gotten more energy or anything like that. I don't really enjoy my time at the gym either, only the sens of accomplishment afterwards. I definitely enjoy riding my bike though, but that doesn't feel like a real workout to me. I take that back, when the wind is blowing towards you and you are trying to ride, that is a hellava workout! I had to deal with that most of the way back on my 13 mile bike ride! Oh I almost forgot, my new gym gives you a free consultation and creates a workout for you, so tonight we are going at 7 and getting a workout set up for both of us. We might go get a bite to eat and then go back for the biggest loser at 8! So I am going to burn a ton of calories tonight. I guess it will make up for all the calories I will probabaly end up eating today.

Brown Eyed Staccie, I am so glad you are back! Not so glad that you are injured! I have been getting all sorts of weird aches and pains that I really need to get checked out. I am glad it's not serious though for you! It's great that you can analyze yourself too. Many people can't do that, and I suppose that's why there are so many therapists employed in this world.

Burgandy...don't fall for the informercials!!!!! lol.

Tiff - I WISH my gym had the built in TV's. Every other gym in the area has them except mine and mine just did a 1/2 million upgrade so I dont forsee TV's in the near future. OH WELL. I usually just put my Ipod on and that keeps me in the zone, I now actually know all the words to the songs on my Ipod because of them repeating 100 times, lol.

Tiff- friendship bread is something where a person creates this dough, then breaks off a piece and passes it along and so forth and so forth, each person who gets the dough adds to the old dough and then breaks off a piece. Then you "knead" the dough a few times each day to get the air pockets out "or somethin". Haha. Anyway, it is so yummy once its baked. So fresh and tasty and then you cover it with brown sugar, yum..yum. I hope that makes sense? Anyway, its all gone now so I dont have to worry about that. And I gave my bag of cheetos to one of my co-workers so I would stop dipping into them.

Good job at the gym. I know I might be stating the obvious but did you guys know that you burn double the calories lifting weights than you do doing cardio. Dont get me wrong, you still need to do cardio but according to the trainer, I have been burning 500 calories in 35 minutes based on my current workout, whereas before, when I was just doing cardio I was averaging 250 to 300 (on a good day). So cool. And as long as I dont think Im Shera and increase my weights and continue to do 3 reps of 10, I wont bulk up. Oh god, I would look like Chyna (think WWF back in the day)- scary!!!

Tiff- so glad you posted that a Granny Smith apple is 100 calories. I wont be wasting my calories on that. Haha. Im not a big fan of apples (I do eat them though) and to know that 100 calories for one of those would have me pick up something else.

Lindy, We have been doing strength training sporadically (sp?) but haven't had a real routine. But tonight, when we go meet with the gym owner, he is going to set up a weight training and cardio routine for each of us. So I will be weight training soon and reaping the benefits. Lol, that friendship bread sounds like a crazy thing, I'll just have to trust you that it's good.

The granny smiths are really the only kind of apples I like and they stay fresh pretty long, so think they are worth the 100. Plus, I feel like they are pretty filling.

I just don't think I could go to a gym without TV's!!! I like music and all, but I broke my ipod and haven't wanted to spend the money on a new on, but TV is just so much more interesting. I get drawn in and want to stay on the machine longer. When nothing good is on TV, it's so boring. That's why I like my new gym so much. The old gym had like 9 tv's with the same channel on every time, all news channels and like NBC and ABC. But now, I can change the channel on my individual machine and not have to watch the boring crap. HAHA. I think my addiction to TV has gotten worse since I got rid of cable. Oh well, at least now I am working out watching tv instead of sitting on my butt.

Hi girls: just wanted to let you know I am still here sorry I have not been able to get on here lately. I am soo busy. I need to stick with this, I will have to catch up later this evening with all the stuff I have missed. Sorry. I think I am 3 pages behind!! LOL
Hope all is well
I did the two day take off last week and lost 3 pounds, THEN TOM showed up and I put it right back on. I did meal replacement shakes for 3 days and am still at the same exact weight. I am frustrated but going to seriously kick but after vacation. I am leaving on Thursday at 7am.
I started the 30 day shred and still just maintaining. I have only done a few days, I was not feeling well last week. Cramps, really bad. So with all that I am thankful I am the same weight instead of a gain, but non the less I am totally ready for a loss a huge one!! I am doing the 30 day shred up until I leave for vacation, then I am going to try my best to eat as good as I can!!.
Once I am back I will try the two day take off again, meal replacements and then 30 day shred daily!! I am actually excited!!
I will read what has been going on and check back later

Tiff: You look soo pretty and very confident inyour pics! Just wanted to say you look beautiful
Stacie: I hope things are going better for you.
Burgandy; I know it can be VERY stressful when the scale doesn't move, congrats on conquering that! I need to follow whatever you are doing and do the same. Sorry about the late start on the 30ds, but I am totally in!! (ecept for vacation) :0)
Lindy: I have to say you explained the mack daddy sundae so well I am craving one!! LOL It has been years since I went to a theme park, my cousin and I were just talking about going sometime this summer, how funny!
Nessy: I can't believe all the energy that you have with your schedule. I envy you and your motivation!! Keep up the good work.

I just thought I'd mention I actually took a vitamin today and ate breakfast. I can't remember the last time I ate breakfast. I feel great! I worked last night until 3am then I got up at 8am and worked out after breakfast. Totally new schedule thought it was worth a try, I work tonight again and know I will not have time so I thought I would mix it up a little, as the same old same old routine is not working! I ususally watch tv once I get home , all my recorded shows... I am usually up until 4 or 5 in the morning and then sluggish the next day and I hate it so I am just going to watch my shows on my nights off or weekend not in the am hours anymore sleep is more important!! lol

Kity- have fun on your vaca! Be careful! It is so hard to really lose yourself when dieting and being on vacation, especially where your going, I hear they are buffet city! And usually (at least for me), buffets a crap food and I always like to pass but my friend said they have all sorts of top of the line buffets. Ahhhh.....so tempting, please be careful. Good job on the breakfast adn vitamin. I never really believed in "breakfast is the most improtant meal of the day", until I actually incorporated it into my routine. I hated breakfast. But now, I dont over do it at lunch, a big breakfast is much easier to burn off during the day than overeating when I get home from work and going to bed 4 hours later - ya know?

I made a decision about my separation also. Since it is going to be difficult on my daughter I am going to "beef up" our mommy and me time. I usually come home and cook and clean, etc...etc...instead, I am going to leave the cleaning for the weekends, I mean, its less likely to be as messy since its only two of anyway, then when I get home I am going to do more activities with Gabriella. Bike rides, soccer in the yard, maybe even a MarioKart game here or there, that will also help with my tv time (to create less time that is).

Update on my food:

I had half a plum (rotten AGAIN) - 35 calories
1 Can of healthy harvest clam chowder - 160 calories
2 slices of American Cheese - 140 calories

So that leaves me at 635. Man oh man, that birschmuesli was super filling. With that light of a lunch (at least for me), Im still doing well on holding off.

Lindy: I am still catching up....I hope things are ok with you I didn't know you had decided about the seperation. I hope you are doing ok? I thought things were getting better the last I had read on here. I have missed ALOT!! I am sorry. I'll do my homework and check in later. I need to eat lunch It's almost one and I am strving!! Subway think healthy!!

Kity - thanks for your concern. We decided to separate about 2 weeks ago. He is still living in the house until my daughter finishes school, we figure it would be easier for her to cope. Anyway, we are not divorcing, just separating. I am hoping that he (and I) will realize what we have, where we need to improve and try to work it out down the road. We have had so many "lets talk" and then we say were going to change and a couple of days later its back to normal. This has been happening for about 5 months now. I think this will make or break us. We will see.

Thanks again!

Side note:

Add a Kellogs Fiber Plus Bar - 120 calories and might I say, BETTER tasting than the Fiber One Bars. They were on sale so I bought them instead.

I completely splurged today. Ugh.. I had a huge chef salad with turkey... which ended up only being like 400 calories. But then we went to ihop and I got eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, french toast and pancakes!!! WOW. It didn't even seem like much. So... I'm not eating anything else for the rest of the day and I'm hitting the gym hard. I think I'll be there like 2hrs to make up for it. At least I work tomorrow.. which I know I'll be good there. I'll consider today my "cheat day." Hey we all need them.