Fruit--So glad everything went so well this past weekend for y'all, except for the rainy day. Those things happen. It rained here today too. I was driving home from my class when my tire went flat. So I sat in my car in the rain for an hour till AAA came and changed it. Then another hour at Costco getting the tire repaired and put back on the car. Two and a half hours gone over one puny nail.
BTW, click on the small picture in the box and a new screen should come up with a larger picture in it. They all worked for me except for the first one, like Pancho.

Pancho--I did that food sensitivity thing for almost 3 months. It is doable! I was off wheat flour, eggs, cows dairy (except for butter), canteloupe, cranberries, beef, and all beans. It is amazing how many other meats are out there. I had ostrich, duck, buffalo, chicken, turkey, cornish hen, pork, and fish. We have a HFS that has breads made w/o wheat, so I had millet bread. I just omitted milk, and so had no cereal, except for oatmeal with splenda and butter. Rice milk is really pretty good, just a little sweeter than cows milk and it resembles skimmed milk. Not bad at all, although I didn't even bother this time. For cheese, I used sheeps cheese and goat cheese. I had lots of meat and veggies with one fruit and one grain each day. Still only lost about 3 pounds in 2 months.

Talking about weight loss, I am at my lowest in the 160's--168. So just 8.5 more pounds to go until I reach a mini-goal. Hope I get there by Oct. I don't know if I'll be doing SB in France in June. I will be at the mercy of the family I will be staying with. Anyway, I now fit into a skirt that I really like that I've had in my closet for months. It always was just a little too tight and uncomfortable. It now fits perfectly. I wore it today, and even got a complement. Way to Go Me!

Gonna be short; I am holding Lane.

Went to Sprouts today to find some stuff for Britt; what a chore! I started talking to a few women there and they ended up praying for Britt right there in the store; it was really nice.

califgirl: welcome; we are glad to have you!

BOB: Glad you got that molar out; ypu s/b feeling better soon.

Jack-K: I hope you get that tube out...it will make all the diff. in the world. I don't know if you've been told to stay away from paraben; it is in cosmetics, lotions, cosmetics......they have actually found it in breast cancer biopsies...jusy an fyi.

cheryl: I could e-mail paper to anyone who would really like to read it; it is 2 1/2 pages long; too long to post on here.

chrisd: glad you finally decided to join Curves; I hope you get the results you are looking for.

Trishaloo: Glad you enjoyed the get-together; it sounds like we missed a great time.

Gator: thx for info. I found some rice milk, crackers, pasta. Cereals are hard to find w/out wheat, corn, gluten, honey, etc but I found a few.

I will check in for WIW; it's my early gym day.

Take care!
Nat

Thanks everyone for the help. Is it ok to have honey bunches of oats with strawberries for breakfast? Also are you supposed to have fruit and like with dinner should you have brown rice or just vegetables? This is what I am unsure about like how many grains you should have per day and how many fruits? Thanks everyone for the help. Tammy

Hi,

Lyn here in Dallas safe and sound. Shirley and Ashley were kind enough to get me to the airport on their way home and I did so appreciate it. (By the way ladies, I made it just fine and the plane was on time believe it or not.) Shirley is such a nice person and she had no problem keeping up and in fact was probably the ring leader at times. Ashley is a lovely person, so kind and helpful and a real knockout in her black outfits and blond hair.

Missy and Terry are just the greatest people. They are so sweet and generous with their time, their home and their family.

Jack-K: As my good friends will tell you, I am a good girl and did not show a thing to get my wonderful beads. I think Missy was amazed at how much fun I had just admiring and playing with them.

Mary: Good job with the little thumbprint pictures. The only problem is the 20 more pounds I need to lose seems to really show up! This will be a good incentive for me to get busy with that goal.

Trish: So good to get to talk to you at noon today and know got home safely.

I am trying to unpack and get settled but I will check in tomorrow to see what is happening on the board. My daughter and her husband will be here tomorrow and I have an appointment for a mammagram, so, it will be a busy day. I guess the partay is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey kids

We got to ride today! The rain held out and we had a cloudy but rain free day! I'm sober (can you believe it!) I drank but we didn't have the time that we had yesterday to get tanked up! I'm pooped so I'll check back in tomorrow!

LYN & TRISH: Glad you made it home safely! It was wonderful to meet you!! I can't wait to do it again!

SHIRLEY, ASHLEY & MARY! Lets get together again soon! I already miss y'all!!!

Ok - see everyone tomorrow!

Missy

Calif- I would guess no on the honey bunches of oats...first of all the word honey..we cant have it. Second, if it is made with enriched flour and i bet it is you cant have it. I usually stick with oatmeal or sometimes i eat the kashi cereal. As far as grains, im not sure about that, your allowed 2-3 starchy carbs a day, like 1/2 cup beans, 1/2 sweet potato, 1/2 starchy veggie, 1 slice stone ground whole wheat bread (STWW). I have found some STWW pita bread that is good and some STWW tortillas that are great. When you eat STWW you will see the carbs are higher but the ingrediants are legal. I eat 1-2 servings of fruit a day. Someone else will have to pitch in on about the fruit, im not sure. I know we shouldnt eat anything that has more than 3 grams of sugar per serving. I dont know if i have actually helped you at all, I hope so. Keep asking and we will keep (trying) answering. lol

Valerie

Well it was back to work for me today, but it’s been pretty quiet here.

Glad to hear all got home safely!

Trish hope your drive was not too bad. Did you hit allot more rain? Thanks again for being so sweet to come by & pick me up & to bring me back home. That was allot more fun than making the drive by myself. It was good to see you again.

Lyn, I enjoyed our walks & as before, you made a great roommate. Enjoyed spending time with you again. And thanks again for the cute bracelets. I have put mine away for next year & plan to wear it again then.

Shirley our needle work time together was fun as was the parade with you. I sure will give you a call before we leave for vacation & this time I’d like to treat you to lunch as I said. Looking forward to seeing you then. Girl you did great keeping up with the rest of us. Don’t sell yourself short. And I also want to say thanks again for the needlepoint piece that I got from you. You do such beautiful work. I am hanging this one right next to the friendship piece you gave me when we first met.

Ashley you look great. Hope the scale isn’t too bad for you in the morning. I’m sure you’ll be back on tract in no time & will succeed in losing that last 10 lbs. Loved your jambalaya girl. It was great & it was great to meet you too.

Missy, so glad to hear that your parade rolled today!! We all knew how much you looked forward to it & hated to see all the rain yesterday. Sorry we couldn’t be there to see it. Bet your house seem quiet after we all left, huh? Terry must be glad all the noise is gone. Please tell Terry how much we appreciate putting up with us! Thanks again for being such a great hostess. You are as much fun as I thought you’d be & truly enjoyed the visit.

I was only able to post a couple of the pics last night. Have to resize each one before I can upload them to the site, so it took a while. I’m thinking I will upload them all to an online album like I did with the WDW marathon pics last year, then I’ll post the link here & on the pic board. That way they will be a good size to see them all.

Deb, it was good to get to talk with you Saturday. Thanks for the coffee and for being so considerate to send all the goodies, even though you couldn’t be here! We miss you & look forward to seeing you back on the board soon. We love you girl & miss you here as well.

Jackie & Narda, sorry the 2 of you couldn't make it either, but hope that in the future we will have another get together & that you will be able to come.

Thought I’d share a little about the trip with all on the board. Missy already shared about the parade Friday night, then we went to eat. I ate too much also. Saturday after Shirley & Ashley got there, we all went to Walmart & we picked up some items we needed to complete our SB meals for Saturday evening. Ashley had brought a wonderful chicken & sausage jambalaya. Shirley brought a WW lasagna. While this warmed up we snacked on some wonderful spinach dip & a 7 layer dip that Missy had prepared with some celery sticks & triscuits. Lyn made Deb’s crustless cheesecake & I did the preparations for a Skinny Crab Quiche & put it in the frig to cook Sunday morning for breakfast. We ate & played a fun game of Phase 10 which Missy taught us.

As Missy & Shirley have already shared, while Missy & Terry, Trish & Ashley went to Norm’s & had a few drinks, Lyn, Shirley & I stayed behind & did some knitting & crocheting & chatted & really did enjoy ourselves.

While Missy & Terry went to load her beads on the float Sunday morning, the rest of us got ready & later all went to the parade in Thibodeaux. Missy & her family always go to these friends house where they have lots of others that all come to watch the parade from their front yard. They even fed us! It was a lovely home along the parade route, so everyone brought lawn chairs & it was like a family afair, visiting, etc while waiting for it to start. This was a really nice parade & they threw LOTS of beads. I had not really planned to catch beads, but soon found myself with all the others catching as much as I could. LOL We caught the parade twice, as they did a loop & doubled back, passing a second time around. They seemed to save the best beads for last & we did our best to catch allot of them.

After the parade we were invited over to Missy’s Dad’s for burgers. I passed on the bread & chips. I think I did pretty good with my eating over all. I did surcome to some items but not too bad as far as the whole weekend goes. I’m afraid that I did have a slice of King Cake with strawberry cream cheese. Missy went to bed pretty early as she had to get up so early Monday morning, but the rest of us stayed up & chatted.

Morning brought rain & even a bit of hail. We all got ready & went back to Missy’s Dad’s house for a wonderful lunch before Trish & I headed for home.

I personally had a blast. We laughed allot & enjoyed each other's company. It was great to renew the friendship with Trish, Lyn, & Shirley. It was also great to finally meet Missy & Ashley.

Lyn & I even did a half an hour of walking Sat & Sunday morning, then because of the threat of rain & the fact that I was hurting so bad from all the activity at the parade, we only got in about 20 minutes of a stroll type walk Monday morning.

I still hurt pretty bad today. I was planning to go to the health club tonight on my way home & do the TM, but DH just called me when he got home and said that they closed early today because of Mardi Gras. I am proud to say that I walked 5 days out of 7 last week & will try for the same this week. Will hit the scale tomorrow am & hope to be able to report a loss. If not, I will try harder this week.

Well I'm off to bed. Will try to check in the am & post for WIW, but if I don't have time in the am, I'll check back tommorrow night.

How cool! Y'alls weekend sounds just wounderful. Thanks for sharing stories and photos. It's almost like being there.

Love and hugs,
Crystle

When it rains.....it pours!!

But I will get to that in a minute. I just want to say that I am so glad that all of you that were able to get together, had such a great time. Wish we all could have made it!!

Okay, this was the weekend from H3LL!! On Saturday morning I noticed that there was blood on the bed where my male Bassethound had been sleeping next to me. I looked him over, and found that it was coming from his penis. I called the vet, and they were able to get him right in. After looking him over, and taking blood tests, and doing a urine culture and X-rays. Not much news. He did have blood in his urine, but also had fresh blood coming from the uretha. They put him on some antibiotics and we went home. Dr called with the blood test results and they didn't show anything, so he said he would call Monday with the culture results.

In the meantime.....Saturday night my phone rings and the female voice at the other end says, "Colleen? This is Amy, Brant's friend, and he just wanted me to call you and let you know that we are at the emergency room in Richland. He had a rodeo that night, and ended up butting heads with his bull. And the bull WON!! He hadn't seen the Dr yet, but wanted you to know what was going on. And I will call you back after he has talked to the Dr." So she did call me back, and told me that he has a broken nose, 10 or so stitches, and had crushed the lower part of his left eye socket, and that they were going to do a CAT SCAN. She told me there was nothing we could do that night, and they didn't know if they were going to keep him or release him. So early Sunday morning Amy called back and said that the C-SCAN showed that his nose was completely crushed, and the eye socket would have to be rebuilt. The Dr. that Brant had seen was turning it over to his associate that had more experience with that kind of trauma. So Brant had to wait and see him before we would know what was going on. So Dh and I headed out for the Tri-Cities, about 165 miles away. When we got there, the Dr had already been there and said there was too much swelling to do anything for a few days, so he could go home, but would have to see someone in Spokane about the reconstructive surgery. We got him home around 7 that night. He spent the night dozing in the recliner trying to keep his head at a 35 degree angle. Monday morning after he tried to get an appointment to see a couple of surgeons, the Dr. from Richland was able to get him in to see a Dr. here, that afternoon. He still has too much swelling so they have set him up for a pre surgery physical on Monday, and then will do his reconstruction on Wednesday. He will be in the hospital over night, and then will have to take it easy for another few days. His nose is totally crushed and they will pack it from the inside and then on the outside. They will put 2 titanium plates in, one verticle on the left side of his nose, and then one horizontal under the eye. He has good mobility of his left eye, and can see okay.

Thank God, it wasn't worse than it was. This was something I have always dreaded, since he started doing rodeos! But he is an adult, and this is something that he has chosen to do. So I live with his choice,and pray for his safety.

Back to my puppy dog.....Dr called on Monday and the culture really didn't show anything either. He then said he wanted us to take Bazal in to have an ultra sound done. He was starting to suspect cancer. We took my baby in this aternoon, and the results were not good. My baby boy has prostate cancer. They also found one lymph node inlarged and suspect that is has already spread. I am just devastated, this is my baby. We have loved him since he was a puppy and he is only 9. I thought the whole reason for having him nuetered was to help prevent this.... I have done nothing but cry all afternoon. They are going to put him on some kind of medication, that is supposed to ****** the growth, but to what degree, we don't know. It differs with each animal. Eventually he will get to where he can't potty, and then we will have let him join my father. My heart is breaking, I don't know what we will do without him.

I hope you will all understand that I probably won't be here as much, for now. I will try to keep up as much as I can, but I have to come to terms with this first. This is my first loss of a pet of my own. As a child, we lost a couple of dogs, but they were more my Mom's dogs, and although it hurt, this is hurting beyond compare.

Goodmorning.
I was so excited about WIW until i read coleen's post. I am so sorry to hear that. I had to put my dog to sleep 6 years ago and it was awful. It put me in premature labor with my son. I feel for you and what you are going through. Your in my prayers.

Well, i am down to 187! Down 2 lbs this week!! I have a dr. appt this morning and she will be sooo happy to see Im back on track. Im actually not worried about my blood test for my diabetes, for the first time! I have now lost 20 lbs in 7 weeks. Not to shabby!!

Gotta go see the dr., check back in later.
Valerie
207/160/187

Good Wednesday Morning: I was at 121# this morning, just coming off TOM, so I can't complain. I got up early to go to the gym, and did my Ab scissor when I got home, so my exercise is already out of the way for the day.

Class was good last night, and I learned an intersting tidbit. My instructor (who is in great shape) is pre-disposed to high cholesterol (via family genes). She used to drink whole milk or 2%, and changed to rice milk, and her cholesterol dropped almost 100 points. There is too much saturated fat in regular milk and none in the rice milk. She said that is the only change she made, and it was "kinda" an experiement. She has been on rice milk since.

Califgirl: I would assume that the Honey Bunches of Oats has too much sugar/honey. If it says 3g or less sugars per serving and it is not enriched, than you can probably have it. You want to limit your starchy carbs to 2-3 in the beginning and start to add more in as you feel comfortable.

Yellow: Glad you are back home safe & sound. Sounds like a great time; welcome back to reality, eh?

Fruit: So glad you were able to ride!!

Sef: Glad you enjoyed your time away. Thanks for all the fun details.

Melf: I loved reading about your wonderful time; thanks for taking the time to share.

It was very considerate of Debbie to send those goodies to you all; I hope you enjoyed them!

Teensy, Teensy, Teensy......OMG!!! So sorry to hear about Brandt; getting a call about a child who has been badly injured has got to be a terrible experience. I will pray for a succesful surgery on Wednesday, and a quick recovery. I am also so very sorry to hear about Brazal!! I hope they can get any pain under control and that he will be able to hang in there for awhile without enduring too much pain. We had to have two dogs put to sleep within 4 months of one another, and it was so very difficult!! There is a site that may help you with your grief, and acceptance of the inevitable, it is called www.petwhispers.com. It is a great site. ((((((((((Hugs)))))))!!

Well, I better run!!

Take care,
Nat

BOB
Yeah! Glad you found the problem!

Chrisd
Have fun at Curves. My cousin loved it.

Pancho
I'd love to read your paper [email protected]

Tammy
Starchy carbs. Depending on how much weight you want to loose and how quick. If you limit yourself to say one starchy carb a day you should loose faster. But if you do that you might start feeling deprived and go off the SB plan. Everyone does things differently. I don't look at this as a diet but the way I'm always going to eat. I'm losing really slow but I'm not feeling like I'm deprived or suffering. So it might take me longer but it's working for me.
You can have brown rice with veggies and a meat for dinner if you want.
I doubt Honey bunches of oats is legal. Honey is not legal.

Fruit
Thanks for the pictures! glad you got to ride in the parade

Teensey
So sorry about your doggy I lost mine last month after 10 years so I know how much it hurts. We might be getting a puppy this week. My son is having a hard time without the dog and wants another one.

Vmoore
That is a great weight loss! Congratulations!

I'm taking my daughter for blood today today. Her good friend was diagnosed with an acute case of mononucleosis so we're testing to see if she's got it too.
No weight loss this week. No gain either

Valerie, thanks for the advice it helps. I knew that cereal tasted to good.
Pancho and Cherylco thanks for the help.

Sorry to hear about your doggy, I have a beagle that I love to pieces and would freak if I lost her.


Just a little info about myself: I am a full-time college student and after this semester only have two years left to become a teacher. I have 3 children 15, 9, and 10(2boys and a girl). I have been married for fifteen years and I am 33 years old! I used to be a size 5 until I had my last two kids back to back and ever since then I have been struggling with diets. I have tried ww, atkins, protein power, grapefruit, and the list goes on..... I am 5"1" and about 50pounds over weight. Glad to see you guys are so friendly here and hope to get to know you all better. My biggest downfall however is exercise and finding the time to motivate myself to want to do it.

Thanks for the help!
Tammy

Dr. appt went well. She was happy with the weight loss and being back on SB.

Hope all is well with everyone and have a great WIW!!

Valerie
207/160/187