ICU - like the idea of your exercise plan. Mine has been on the nonspecific side so far (5x a week of 30min+ of cardio - if it's only a walk, it has to be an hour to count, and I try to hike at least 2 hrs every weekend). I'm going to try to be more specific this week and crank it up a notch so I can get off this mini-plateau I'm stuck on!!! Another zucchini idea for you: grate them and make zucchini pancakes - kind of like potato latkes. Serve with salsa.

newleaf - glad the foot is on the mend. You are making great progress!

Welcome, sukierd!

Hi All,

NewLeaf, Hope the foot feels fabulous today. I have been dealing with a foot issue for 6 mos and it is the worst.

ICUWishing, Ok this is what I do with Zucchini - shred it and put it in meatloaf. I use ground turkey or chicken. You can add uncooked oatmeal too. The zucchini makes it very moist.

Dancer, I am not home this week. leave for Boston again on thursday for 3 days. Going to try to eat OP. I like your Zuccchini recipe. Sounds great.

onmyway, I am with you. My vacation derailed my losing streak and I determined to have a good loss this week - even though we are gone again at the end of the week.

sukierd, Sugar is the hardest for me. I have to abstain almost entirely (I allow myself 1 serving of sugar in coffee/day). Welcome!

Wishing you all a gret day, filled with success.

Ash

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! I'm journaling today and walked my 3 miles on the treadmill this morning. I realllly need to keep my focus this month as I know I will slip up on the exercise as soon as school starts up in Sept.(I teach special ed.)

Inthemidst....I tried to be better this morning, my first cup of tea I used sugar, but my second cup I used splenda. )

After my kids' annual physicals we went across to the wonderful bread bakery for a late lunch / snack. My muffin from there and my Starbucks coffee (conveniently located next door) tacked on an unexpected 398 calories!

To ICUWishing's comment earlier -- I need to learn that a small skinny latte (made with skim milk) is just as tasty as a large skinny latte. That would have shaved off 70 calories! Even though it's made with skim milk, I guess it makes sense that the 20oz drink would have about 2 cups of skim milk!

Luckily I did 40 min on the elliptical this morning, and since I've been eating well otherwise, this little side trip puts my calorie count for the day so far at 1124. So, a careful dinner and I should still come in fine.

But, still... not what I had planned...

Yay, I've gotten back to my 4th of July goal, and have started making a dent (again) into my Labor Day goal. 0.6 lbs and I'm back to my pre-vacation weight.

Looking on the positive side, if I consider summer as having started on the boys' last day of school (which I do), then I have lost 4lbs so far this summer so it's not a total bust. They go back on 8/27, so 3 more weeks, and hopefully I can tack a few more pounds lost on there for my summer total...

Newleaf - way to go!

Just got back from an hour-long run - boy am I overheated! Need to cool off before I get on a conf call. Heat aside, I'm so loving that exercising is getting easier the less I weigh - fairly obvious but happy-making nonetheless!

Hope everyone's doing great!

How is everyone doing towards their goals? Does anyone need any help or support? Or does anyone have anything to shout about?

I'm feeling pretty good. I've been counting calories and have been keeping within my range (I'm not even sure what my range is, to be honest, but I've been keeping between 1290 and 1490), and I've exercised 3 of the last 4 days.

I really want to lose this weight... so I am trying to keep that in mind as I make decisions.

My MIL is having a SuperBowl party next Sunday which, first of all, I have no interest in (who wants to watch a repeat of a football game?? I must be missing the allure...) and second of all, will have all sorts of food and drink temptation. I'm not sure how I'm going to play that one yet, but I have visions of begging off and just sending DH and the boys... Not going to happen, though...

Doing good here. I am down a pound so far this week. Yes, I obsess over the scale everyday. My body and especially my feet are protesting all the exercise, but so far I am just pushing through. This morning I pulled out an old video of Billy Blanks Tae Bo for a change from walking.....what was I thinking?! I also released all the morning sugar in the tea.

newleaf...that is a hard one having to go where there will be tons of temptations. Right now I am finding it easier to not overeat if I stay away from places with food, like my kitchen. If you do go, make sure you bring some healthy choices with you and eat before you go if you can.

Sukierd, glad to hear you are doing well. I am right there with you re: checking the scale every day. It's the only way for me to stay true to plan. If I'm not checking it's because I'm in denial... I have 0.2 lbs to go from my vacation weight last week, then I'm ready to enter new territory. Good job dropping the sugar from your tea. I'm not ready to do that with my coffee, but its only 1.5 tsp so I figure it's okay.

Re: the party, luckily my MIL usually has healthy food, but it's the combination with junk, the suggested pizza after, and all the drinks. This isn't like her, to throw this type of party, uggh. I came up with a new one last night -- maybe I'll have a summer cold and can't drink b/c of the pills I'm taking. Or maybe I'll have hurt my back, and also can't have a drink with the painkillers. In the past she has been very hurt by me not eating her food (and that was 20+ years ago and the memory still haunts me!) so I need to tread carefully, although our relationship is much better now. Funny thing is, she has never noticed (??) or mentioned (!!) my recent weight loss, so it's not like I can really point to that as a reason for taking it easy... Ugh.

Hi, everyone! I'm getting back to the "loss level" of discipline after last weekend, and have pulled off 1.5# of the bloat that came from that. Like newleaf, I expect to be heading for new territory shortly. I WANT to keep going ... and I really need to achieve the Labor Day goal, just to prove to myself that I can do it. I have several huge projects at work that are intimidating but realistic, and a mini-goal victory of 154 would be energizing!

newleaf - I hear you loud and clear with the party planning! I've told my share of white lies to avoid the same problems. My most successful one involves "food sensitivities" - that I'll feel awful if I eat "that class of foods". Family members who claim to love you or at least care, will restrain themselves from looking like they deliberately want you to be sick. And most of us who've been eating well for a while actually DO feel like crap if we eat the garbage that the rest of the population is used to, so it's not that much of a lie. Plus ... it's almost a rush to get home from an event like that knowing you kept your wits about you! We have a BBQ after the canoe trip tomorrow that's going to keep me challenged.

sukierd - great job with the pound, and with doing the exercise! Getting into the habit of overpowering the negative "I don't wanna!" thinking is going to propel you to all sorts of successes!

dancer - an HOUR of running? Yow! You go, girl!

I went out and weeded for 40 minutes last night. That counts for lots of bending and stretching - plus a little upper-body stuff from pulling out those deep-rooted tree sprouts. I can feel it in my shoulders. Tonight's activity will include some pool stuff - DS10 has an end-of-season swim team party. All I'm trying to do these days is move just a little more, and to prepare my neck and shoulders for starting up more serious swimming in the fall.

DH (otherwise known as the Head Chef) is intrigued by the idea of "zucchini latkes". If I can keep him from frying them in butter, we should be good to go. LOL! Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions!

ICUWishing, I totally hear you re: the power of making the goal. After a summer of (good) coasting, knowing that we can kick it back into gear and see some results is uplifting. Re: the party, I think I'm going to go with the excuse of having a lot of Advil in my system, irritated stomach lining, etc. After 21 years, it would seem odd if all of a sudden I had food sensitivities...

Good luck dealing with the slightly odd super bowl repeat party, Newleaf! Since I don't find football super compelling, I'd be a little nervous spending a few hours around lots of tempting food. Curious to hear how the advil excuse goes over. Interesting that your MIL hasn't mentioned your very noticeable weight loss. What do you guys think is going on when people don't mention it - are they just being polite/respecting your privacy? There's no way they can't see the difference, right?

Sukierd - you are doing great! And I hear you on the scale obsession - I'm on there every day too!

ICU - girl, you are cranking! That ipod is totally within reach!

I'm down a pound so far this week and by the way the scale was hovering this morning, (fingers crossed) I'm hoping to make it two by the end of the weekend which would take me back to what I weighed in Dec 2003 on our trip to Paris (and I felt pretty good about myself) so I'm looking forward to turning back the clock : )

Hope all are doing well!

DancerInDenver - you are so almost there!!! It'll be like Paris all over again... Someplace I still have never been, but would love to go...

Re: not commenting -- I don't get it. The only thing I can think of is that I have lost this weight before, 4 years ago. Then I put it back on, and she never commented on my weight climbing back up, and now she feels it would be weird to comment that it is gone again?? My mother, on the other hand, commented as the weight went back up, and therefore has felt free to comment as it has come off again? That's all I can think -- like it would be an admission by my MIL that she noticed I had gained weight and thus a faux pas.

Yeah, that's probably it but I always comment when people look better (new haircut, new outfit, weight loss, whatever) and of course I don't comment on their bad hair days, etc. Who knows... It's definitely a sensitive subject though for some people.

Just wanted to say Hi! Back from vacation! Glad to be back!