Hello All,

Well I had a lovely long moan today to my therapist about the aggro that went on last night with the kids. It was nice to get it all off my chest, and I am feeling less stressed.

Zelma - I didn't sleep well at all last night, but I managed to catch up on some lost sleep today. I think I will have an early night tonight though.

Thank you for telling me the proper name of those hats I was saying about, Legionairre hats. I think it's brilliant that there is a no hat no play policy. It's just a shame that it wasn't around when we were kids.

You were saying to Vicki how you can't help but keep on checking yourself out in shop windows etc. I can't blame you for that....and isn't it just fantastic not to be checking how fat you look, but how thin you are. I will be checking myself out all the time too when I get to that stage

Lori - glad to hear from you, although I am sorry that you are still hanging around for those test results. There is nothing worse than the waiting, by the time the results come back you can convince yourself that you are going to be diagnosed with who knows what!! I pray that whatever the tests show up that it will be easily remedied

I always have MSN on if I am not on here or emailing, so if we do get to chat one day, that's great. But if you are tired, then try to nap as much as you can.

Sheri - it sounds like you are doing so well with your diet, and so organised with it. I haven't checked out that site you mentioned for the walking music, but will do that later. I have to get myself motivated to do something especially when I am not sticking strictly OP.

Kayley - never ever say you have ONLY lost 2 lbs. Even 1 lb is awesome. You are doing so well, and you are obviously feeling so great that you are sticking to the plan and you are seeing all your clothes get too big for you. Sell your 'old' new jeans on Ebay and then get yourself some nice new ones in a smaller size! All that saying no to your mum's baked goods is paying off!!

I am sorry that you have such a low self esteem, but it seems to me that the more weight you lose and the more people compliment you on it, the better your chances of feeling proud of yourself. Keep up the good work!!

Good luck in getting that job working in the school office. That sounds so ideal for you, I just hope you will have plenty of time to study and of course have some fun too! Your psych teacher sounds like she is going to make the class really interesting and exciting. I bet a lot of people will get top marks because of that.

LAnne - I never realised they could do lap band surgery laproscopically, that would make the surgery far more appealing. Even I, the queen of HATING all surgery would consider that.

You are so good saying no to that pizza, and making yourself work out. You sound like you have the right attitude to go all the way to goal. I wish I could get some of your enthusiasm.

Catherine - it's so lovely hearing from you when you get the chance, how did you enjoy your wedding shower? What about your darling, did he enjoy his batchelors party?

Sounds like you still have a lot to deal with other than the wedding itself. I hope all your medicals etc go smoothly. Will your weight work against you when it comes to you proving you won't be a strain on the Canadian health services? I only ask because when it comes to immigration to Australia if you are overweight it works against you. So with me being morbidly obese, Beth being deaf, Caleigh being Dyslexic and Daren without a trade I don't think I will be ever able to go home to live. Good luck with everything anyway.

I love that you are loving feeling like a wife already and that you love it. I hope those feelings last forever.

What do those pre marital classes involve? I hope you will enjoy them and that they don't seem too silly :

Brilliant news about your flight, all that worry was unfounded after all. I bet it was such an amazing feeling fitting so well into that seat and knowing that a couple of years ago that just wouldn't have been possible!

Wyllen - yes I am a chatterbox, terrible isn't it I swear my post about eating food from the bin wasn't 50 years ago though I still have an email to write to you, I will try to get it done on the weekend.

Katie - I know its hard to believe you can do something so big as to lose so much weight. Right now I am having a hard time believing I can even get back on track. Keep coming here though and let all the wonderful posts help to motivate you, and keep you at least trying to stay in control.

Brenda - um, well, um, I can't throw the sweets out, coz they are all gone, well nearly lol. Only ones I don't like are left. I have a few peanuts left, and then the house is empty of any temptation. I think that come Monday I will be ready mind and soul to stay on track 100%.

Oh yuck a sleep apnoea test. A friend of mine is due to have one of them, and they sound just awful. I don't think I could sleep knowing I was being monitored. I hope you get through it all ok.

As for the elasticitiy of skin, or lack of it, I don't know anybody except people I have seen on TV that have had a tummy tuck. One person even had a whole body tuck. It looked so scarey and frightening. I think I could give in and have a tummy tuck, but I don't fancy having everything operated on. I know I have terrible skin when it comes to it being stretched. I got stretch marks just from puberty, then more when I was pregnant, and yet more again as I piled the weight on. So I just know if I lose the 140 lbs plus that I need to lose I will have saggy skin all over the place.

So as somebody who has used a Gazelle and an elliptical, do you get as much benefit from them both. The Gazelle looks too easy, if that's possible. I know I can get them to take my weight, so if you say they help you lose the weight I might just buy one of them until I can move onto an elliptical.

Jill - how are you coping without your darling around? When does he come home. Have you managed to catch up on any sleep yet? How are you doing keeping on track with your food intake?

Felicia - glad to hear that the scale moved down, what loss did it show? Sounds like you are doing well with your exercise. I had to laugh at the WATP DVDs though. I bought one thinking it would be just walking, fast, slow, big steps, small steps etc, but it's way more than that. It's all a bit energetic for me right now. I will get around to it eventually though. As for treadmills, have you thought of playing some really uplifiting music and letting yourself drift off to fantasy land as you walk and walk and walk and walk lol?

I got a definite appt to take Beth to the hospital on Monday after school. I will be glad to finally have the doc look at what could be causing her problems. Fingers crossed and/or prayers would be much appreciated.

Everybody have a great weekend, and I will 'talk' to you all again soon.

Hugs,

Ammi

I'm taking a quick break for lunch during work. It is good to change gears sometimes.

Ammi - My boyfriend's brother, if I remember correctly, got his at a very young age and it was the old style, single channel version and he needed to get an upgrade. He uses cued speech and I have been meaning to get my boyfriend to teach me. I think it is so cool that his whole family can have a conversation across a crowded room – how cool is that!

Work is going OK. It is just such nitty-gritty stuff at this point. I have to make sure that I can justify every balance to the auditors and sometimes I have a hard time remembering myself why something is a certain way! Luckily I am (mostly) good about keeping everything documented – finding it is the problem.

I had my session with my new personal trainer last night. He wants me to see my doctor before actually starting anything, which I can understand. I have an appointment on Monday, but I can’t imagine what else she will say other than “you go girl!” She is very cool – she has never made me feel bad about my weight, she has only ever been supportive if I want to do something.

I got on the elliptical last night and it does seem pretty cool. The motion felt somewhat odd, but I am sure I can get used to it. We will start with sessions once a week where we will work on strength training and I will go and do the elliptical and treadmill by myself. Those treadmills are so cool too. I had never seen one of the fancy ones that can do the incline and everything. The other encouraging thing was that there were a number of plus size women in the gym.

The best news of the day is that Friday is my official weigh-in and I am down four pounds to 339! Having maintained last week that makes it about 2 pounds a week, which is great.

Well, back to the numbers. Hope everyone has a great Friday.

Felicia ~ I bought an elliptical just this week. It is so nice to have one in my upstairs gym. Only thing is I am too sore to use it *L*

Ammi~ I think the elliptical is a much better workout (forgive me Tony Little!) but to start the gazelle is good. Especially if you have space issues. I don't know if I would be willing to have an allover body surgery but I am all for tummy tucks!!!! I am just going to wait until I am finished losing (or close to it) before I go ahead with one. Unless of course they want to take the whole belly

Brenda

Ammi, it AMAZES me how well you keep up with everyone--I didn't even write anything about myself today! You rock, woman! I am glad you are feeling much less stressed--sometimes, all you need is to get things off your chest!

Anyway, Jeff came home last night. I think he missed me even more than I missed him--he was in a really good mood! Last week, I had asked him to drive down to Va Beach with me this weekend (about a 4-hour drive) so I could help my sister with her wedding plans since I like to have his company in the car. He had whined about how he just wanted a weekend where he could stay home and not have to go anywhere, so I said, "Fine, you don't have to go. Stay home, and I'll go by myself." He ended up saying (unhapily) that he would go with me if I really wanted him to. Well, last night, I told him that I was going to my sister's again next weekend, and the friend who was going to go with me ended up saying she wasn't going to, so I said I didn't think I would want to go alone. Without my asking him, he happily offered to go with me. I asked if he was sure since that would mean going 2 weekends in a row, and he said it wasn't a problem, that he wanted to be with me Heck, if he's going to act like this, I think he should go spend the night as his cousins' house more often

Jeff's mother has been out of work for over 2 years due to a back injury she got while working at a printing press. She recently had surgery to fix her back, and the company is FINALLY willing to admit that it was a serious problem, so they are finally settling their legal battle. They sent her a check for the year's pay they owed her, and she will still be getting a rather hefty settlement from them in the future. Well, since she got that year's pay, she sent Jeff $1000 cash and told him to buy himself something and to buy something for me, so we went shopping last night! He bought a Nintendo DS handheld system and 2 games, and he keeps asking me what I want, but I don't know--it's not every day you get to spend money without feeling guilty like you should use it to pay bills or something

I slept like a ROCK last night. I fell asleep on the couch before 9pm, and we were in bed before 10. I think I just slept beter because I knew he was there.

We went to Subway for dinner last night, but I still managed to stay below 2000 calories for the day--yay! I had pizza for lunch today, but I plugged it into my Fitday accordingly (I even chose "thick crust" even though the crust isn't really that thick, but I'd rather over-estimate the calories than under-estimate), and I should still be able to stay below 2000 today, too, so the food is getting back under control

STOP

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