Afternoon All - big to everyone and to the new folks!

I'm still here - just been posting in the May Day challenge - it was easier to keep up!

I sincerely hope those of you lifting weights keep at it and learn to love it - I sure as heck do!

On my homefront: Today marks the 4 month anniversary into my get healthy journey. I started at 180.6, 37.6% BF. As of this am -down to 149.4 and 21.0%. I was stuffing myself into XL shirts, and 14 pants. Now the medium tops are loose and so are my size 8 jeans!! I'll still wear them since I can't stand to wear any tight/clingy clothing, though!
Surgery went well on 28Mar - won't know for certain for a few more weeks.
Other than that - same old stuff - just waiting on warm weather so I can start enjoying the outdoors! Guess I will wait a bit longer - more snow predicted for tomorrow. *sigh*

Heidi A senior? And them being in their early 40s? How rude. My sister is 53 and completely gray. She wears it with pride! I am not as brave....

Sheila How can ou possibly have anything left in your house to clean?? You are quite the whirlwind!

Ack! Time slipped away from me - gotta run!

2FatCats Your get healthy journey has been incredible; you have been able to change so much, in such a short amount of time. I said it on a different thread but it bears repeating, your strength and dedication are inspirational!

Hello all! So good to see the oldies and newbies posting again.
I have been super busy with work and life in general. I have been reading but just not posting much. Plus, I have been doing my best to stay on plan food wise but the stupid scale will not move and I am beyond frustrated. I cannot get below 166 and I can honestly say that I HATE that number.
I have had to take a break from running on the treadmill. My hip starting hurting and then it moved to my lower back. I don't think the running caused it but once my back starting hurting, I decided I need to go back to lower impact exercise until it feels better.
We got snow here yesterday. Snow mid april. Yuck!

Newleaf - You do not look like a Senior. I am not as brave as you, I color those suckers.

Sum-Good to see you back - looks like your on the right track girl!

Shelia - Good to see you! Congrats on jumping back into the run!

MrsTrying - GO DO THE HOSPITAL or call a clinic that does mammograms, there is a program for women's health that pays for them for women without insurance. Lumps are nothing to mess with and put off having checked out.

Linda - I kinda wish my DH would be gone half the year working. Would not have wished that when my kids were little though. As nice as it sometimes sounds, I am sure that it is hard and you miss him.

If I missed you, I am sorry. Hoping you have a wonderful on plan day!

Hope all my friends have survived the bad storms these past few days. My aunt in foothills outside of Denver got two feet of snow! NEMom I was watching all those storms roll through your area and it looked scary!

Day four of Dukan is going just fine. No cravings -except for texture, I'd like something crunchy! I am going to weigh in on Sunday morning. Hopefully there will be some downward movement! I want to be like 2FatcCats

Newleaf - you do NOT look like a senior! Shame on him. I hope someone cards you the next time you need to buy some wine. That always makes me feel good.

Enjoy the day everyone and stay OP!

Ovulation time; scale stayed the same and I am expecting a gain BUT, my belly fat feels all jiggly and that usually means I am due for a whoosh I better take measurements even if scale won't reward me with a smaller number.

Happy Thursday! It's also International "Louie Louie" Day and National Pet Day!

Vacation was a blast. My two nutty aunts are a riot and we laughed our way around Savannah and Atlanta, GA. We had a binge drinking night (they'd never had chocolate martinis!) and ate some incredibly yummy food. I feel so proud...I didn't gain anything! Woohoo! I noticed a mind-set change in me. I was more interested in walking than riding. A stair climb to the top of a lighthouse was for more than the view, but also a chance for some exercise. I made better choices at restaurants, either smaller portions (like an appetizer and an a la carte side dish) or I left food on the plate (half a lasagne). I'm think I'm actually getting my new lifestyle changes to stick.

I've been gone so long I'm not going to do personals until I have a chance to catch up. I hope you're all truckin' along, sticking to your plans. Welcome to any new folks!

You guys make me
I believe I have done well because, for the most part, I ignored my Inner Meanie the past 4 months - I just didn't let myself think or say 'I can't'. It sounds trite but the power of positive thinking really is amazing!

I just posted in the May Day challenge thread:
Seems like most of us fall prey to self-sabotage (dang inner meanie) - whether in thoughts, actions or words.
Yesterday I found myself feeling guilty that this journey has been a relatively simple and painless process for me. I see other people's struggles and challenges and wonder why am I not struggling, too? It's almost as if I deep in my subconscious I think don't deserve it. Rationally I know that I do (and I know that I have worked dang hard to get here), but those doubts/lack of self-confidence sneak in and get ya when you aren't looking! You wouldn't believe how many internal dialogues I have with my inner meanie. But she's finally learning to listen more and talk less!

I wonder if you marked it on paper every time you had a negative thought - how many would that equal in a day? Not to mention the ones we voice . . . .

Time for lunch - Hope all have a happy day!

Thank you for the wonderful welcomes.

Had spring break with the kids last week. Took them to a water park. They loved it. I enjoyed it so much I want to go back soon. 4 1/2 hours of swimming. I calculated the calories for it and it was just under 3000 to 5000 depending on which swimming I put in. So I am just going with the lower end for that day.

Did 1 hour of zumba on sunday. Felt wonderful but afterwards...Ouch. I had a dream that I had wings and my wings were being pulled out. Turns out my shoulder blades are very sore from doing that hour. Advice from hubby was to lay off the zumba a few days since it was hurting so bad. Think it was the combination of zumba and all the things we did last week that caught up with me. I worked out today and I can still feel the soreness so I didn't give it my all like I usually do.

On tuesday I went to the doctors office. Weight was 308 fully clothed and shoes. Grumble, grumble. My blood pressure med was changed. BP was 149/98. I am really hoping that exercising will help get me off the BP meds eventually. Good news though today. I weighed myself after my workout/shower and I had lost weight. 304. I am so happy to see that scale going down finally.

We are expecting 4-8 inches of snow tonight/tomorrow.

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't been on here since last week, but this week has been spent getting ready for my surgery which is over 4 hours away so I have been on the phone 3-4 hours per day getting my pre-op done and getting all my hospital records ready for surgery. The doctor's office sent me a 26 page pre-op booklet. It says I will spend the night after surgery in the hospital and barring any complications, I will have to spend the next 2 nights in a hotel next to the hospital. I should get to come home on Friday if everything goes well.

Congrats on the great 4 months you have had, 2FatCats! You have really been devoted and it shows in your numbers.

Welcome to you newbies! It is always good to have more join us.

I am proud of all the positive postings I have been reading. Keep up the good work!

Anyone having excess snow, wish i could send you some of this beautiful sunshine and 80 degree weather. The 100's will be here before we know it. I have just finished cooking 6 loaves of freshly-milled homemade wheat bread and 2 loaves of banana nut bread are in the oven. I have to cook 4 more loaves of it tomorrow. DH and I have sold a good bit of produce and eggs so we will deliver it in about 1 hour. I have lost considerably more weight down to 176. Yesterday and today I have had dizzy spells so i called my regular doc. I did take my blood pressure and it was down to 94/52. His nurse told me to check it every day around lunch and only take my meds if it is high. She also told me to slow down on losing the weight until I get my meds regulated. I hope to get down 1 lb to 175 and I will have met my goal for the May Day challenge. I know that I will put some lbs on after surgery as I can't do any exercise. I am not gonna worry about trying to eat low carb the first week as I will be lucky just to keep something down. I will probably start back on MRC after a week or two. DH wants me to stop at 170 for my goal as he doesn't like "my bones sticking out." I will be glad to get to 170 but I will slowly get to 165 so that I make my personal goal weight. He has been very supportive thus far, but I see that going away now. He is concerned about my looks and health.

I would like to put before/after pictures up, but I can't figure it out. Will somebody help me? Thanks in advance,

Can I get a woot, woot?

Day five of Dukan and I am FINALLY in ketosis! Two more days and then I can have something crunchy!

Firegirl, saying prayers for you! Enjoy the recuperation time in the hotel.

Snowangel, sorry about the snow. As a former Yooper, I know it can wear on you. We have family in Carney, Calumet, SSMarie, Escanaba and Manistique. Looking back, I'm glad that we chose to move to the LP. My parents decided to not stay after we were stuck there the winter they closed the bridge!

Hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Anyone know anything about "healing crisis"? I think my body is detoxing with all this clean eating... I remember reading that sometimes people get healing crisis, when some symptoms get worse before they get better because body is trying to dump the toxins faster than it can handle...anyways, I have had horrid week with my eczema. It flared up, bad. I had it inside of my ear canal(s) and it also took over my jaw area. Both of those places I have had eczema before but never as bad as I had it this week. The interesting thing; it flared up for 3-4 days and then started getting better. Usually when I got bouts of eczema it would last for ever...this time it made a fast and furious visit.

Strange...

Otherwise it was a fab week. Lost another 2 pounds

ukemama- glad you made it into ketosis. It took me awhile to get here also but it pays off in the weight loss.

Sum38- glad your bout with eczema didn't last long and that you are getting relief from it. Congrats on the 2 lb loss also. That is awesome!

I made it to the pool for a nice workout today which included my jogging and I met my goal of doing 200 stomach crunchies. I lost another 1/2 lb. down to 175.5 by my scales. I'm getting closer by the day.

Hello Ladies!

It's SATURDAY!!! No work for TWO DAYS!!

It's cold here - so the kids and I are just hanging out at the house this morning. At 2:30 we go to the gym - each of us have a 30 minute personal training session. I will run for 30 minutes before my session while one of the kids does theirs. Then after we all work out, we will go out to dinner at a Japanese steak house - I'll have shrimp and veggies - no oil!

The good news? I weighed in at 148.5 this morning!!!

I've been staying away from the carbs and have SIGNIFICANTLY been watching my wine intake (liquid doughnuts)...and I am working out 5 times a week (either running or going to the gym to hit the elliptical). My goal is to reach 133 by my birthday towards the end of May. If I stay on this path I know I can do it!!!

I feel lazy because I haven't done anything productive yet today...I know the workout will feel good!! The good news - the house is clean because the kids just came back from their Dad's...I will try to keep the clutter clear, but won't deep clean again until next weekend when they go back...my rule - "Never leave a room empty handed!" It really works!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Sheila

I helped DH at our booth at the Farmer's Market today. That was enough exercise for today as we were very busy. We sold out of eggs the first hour, out of homemade breads and all produce except a few heads of romaine and buttercrunch lettuce, a bunch of turnips and one bag of kale. We carried a lot so we considered it a very good day.

Hope everyone else is having a great Saturday as well.

Blessings,

Firegirl Know how you feel...we had flea market day at the Finnish Center. I was either standing and guarding the booth or hauling other needed items all day. Pooped right now But I love every minute of it!