Phew, is it the weekend yet? lol I swear, if its not one thing it's another around here! My youngest dd is giving me aboslute fits about her halloween costume, driving me nuts!!!!! When's my vacation?!?!?

Sorry I haven't been around the last day or so, it's been nutty for me. But, it was great to see alot of you checking in and seeing you're all doing pretty well!!! I don't have time right now to attempt to get to all the personals, too much to get done before dinner time. However, just wanted to give a shout out to Melody and say HI! I'm so glad you are "home" and everyone's adjusting. Sara, Heather, so good to see you gals!!! Everybody else, hang in there and keep up the good work!!!

P.S. Did you guys just love BL last night, or what?!? I absolutely am in total love with Bob!! LOL What an amazing person he is, tickled me to see him get excited about his team winning the weigh in.

♥ Danielle

I asked to be part of your group and then I disappear - how rude! Sorry about that - CRAZY week.

2lbs down this week so far, I'm pretty excited. I weigh 190 and want to get to 130-140. I haven't made time for exercise in a very long time, which is awful.

What a wonderful group of inspiring "losers". I have a super hectic rest of the week and weekend, hopefully next week I will be able to read all posts and get going!!

All the best to you all over the weekend!
Deb

I WANT TO STRESS EAT!!!

I decided to come here first and see if I can get over it. As I said before we lost everything on the computer while we were on the road. Well, it had all the kids school information (we home school and use a great program called A-squared). Well, I had to load it back on today and I couldn't get it and I'm trying to organize and print and UGH.......CALGON TAKE ME AWAY! The two-year old decided not to take a nap today......I'm still searching through the 24' trailer trying to find books and necessities.....I WANT CHOCOLATE!!

Okay, I still want to eat, but I'm feeling a little better after raging. Sorry you all had to see that! LOL

I WILL NOT TURN TO FOOD. I WILL NOT TURN TO FOOD. I WILL NOT TURN TO FOOD.

Melody, sorry you're stressing tonight. Moving can be stressful anyways, and you have done the mother-of-all-moves, so I know no one could blame you! Have your kids always been home schooled? I did one year of it when we transitioned from a move from AZ to CA. Totally not prepared to do it either, but due to circumstances that are an entirely different post (lol) we ended up having to do it. The experience was great, got a lot of support from our "coach" but always felt alittle strange as a lot of what was available seemed to be really religious based. Anyhow, my kids ened up doing really well, scored well on the end of year state exams and all that, so figured I hadn't damaged them too much. LOL. I hope you were able to find all you needed to get going with school and that hopefully the little one will cooperate more tomorrow. . Hang in there hon!

Yay its finally Friday! LOL!! Its been a long week. Plus I had 2 extra kids all day yesterday and they wore me out. I'm glad my girls are older, I forget how much work little ones are! AF showed up last night...yippee me! So that meant the scale moved a tiny bit. down .2...I figure hey...at least its still going in the right direction. And plus, I've not been that great this week, more like not focused. Yes, I've had great days but i could make better choices. And I've been BLTing alot. I need to get back to remembering my goals with each choice I make. I could use a focused weekend too since the last 2 were busts!

Oh and I got both girls' costumes done. I just have to figure out a little hat thing for my littlest one (she's going to be a genie) I'll take pics to show you for sure!

Stacia...good for dh for getting on board and helping out! I'm sorry to hear you've got to have surgury though. I hope that all goes well and you are feeling better very soon! Have a GREAT weekend away!

Sara....I love your enthusiasm!! Dont you just love how new clothes make you feel? For me even just a new tshirt just energizes me! I hope you have some fantastic workouts at the gym!! Those 8 lbs are going to just fly off!!! You can do it!!! I'm right there with you!!!

Melody...when my girls were younger lunch was DEFINETLY a problem, and my girls loved mac n cheese which I love!! And it was so hard for me to make that for them and not have a bite, it was a HUGE victory for me anytime I could do it. I think what helps me is to either have my lunch first so I'm not hungry or to have mine ready to go (prepare it first) so that way when you do sit down, or run for lunch yours is ready and there isnt an excuse to have some of theirs. Did you make it through last night?!!! Ugh! I wish I had checked in last night! I hope it passed and you won! If not put it behind you and move on!! You can do this...food will not make anything better!

Time to get this morning going!!! Have a wonderful day everyone! Remember those goals!! We can do this!!!

Bonnie...Journaling is going to help so much. And not just talking about what you ate. Talking about how you are feeling or when things start bothering you working them out on paper. Some things will be hard to realize and other times you'll be "AHA! well no wonder!" LOL!! Good luck to you with that!! I hope you have a wonderful day today and the sun is shining for you!

Mia...I think a recipe of the week is a great idea, I had suggested awhile back that we try doing a night maybe once a month where we all try the same recipe. I thought it'd be fun! When we do pizzas here we love to make our own. I use a whole wheat pita for the crust and regular toppings and it still only comes up to 500 calores for a whole pizza. I just do a serving size on the back of each topping and lots of veggies.

Danielle...I hope you got those costumes problems resolved. I'm thrilled to be done with ours, well I still have to do mine but it should be easy shmeazy. I havent watched BL yet, I should tonight but I'm THRILLED to hear bob finally won the WI! I knew they were gonna catch up sooner or later!

Welcome back again Deb!! LOl!! I was wondering what happened to you! I hope you have a great weekend, make good choices!! We'll 'see' you when you get back!!

Okay had to tell my lovely ladies. Guess what? Yesterday I went to the gym, although I went to the gym yesterday and my thighs did burn. I did not get tired! I know I was shocked, even the walk home I wasn't tired. Though When I went up the three flights of stairs to my apartment then I got a little tired.

Yesterday was the first time I went on the bike at the gym and I realized I really needed to go on it more, my thighs burned when I was on it!

Mel - you are right new clothes feel great. I felt cute in my new gym clothes!

Danielle - Congrats on the kids doing well on state exams. you must be very proud.

Melody - don't stress eat. Go to the gym, walk around the block, do your videos. I know last night before bed I got so upset I ended up going to bed but I knew I secretly wish we had ice cream in the house.

I realized I forgot to acknowledge...Deb WAY TO GO!!! 2lbs gone!!! Excellent work my friend, keep it up!!!

Sara...you are just cruising with that exercise! And gaining so much energy to keep you going! Way to go!!

I was thinking I didnt know what my problem is I'm so darn tired today...duh...AF!!! Witch!! I hope everyone is having the best day!!

~melissa

Hello Ladies! Hope ya'll are having another fantastic day so far. I totally confused myself between last night and today, thinking today was Saturday. LOL Kids are out of school today so I am so turned around. I couldn't figure out why they all looked at me weird when I was commenting on certain shows not being on tonight....and then my littlest was like, Uhhh mom? Today's only Friday.

Deb, WTG on the weight loss this week!!!! Keep it up!

Sara, great work on the exercise! I need to do it badly, even my body is telling me to. Just can't seem to get up the get-go to do it. Keep it up, those 8lbs will be melting off you in no time!!!

Melissa, I "think" we've averted crisis with costumes. I swear, if this is ANY indication how the teen years are going to be with all teenagers in this house, I'm packin my bags and moving to Montana. You mentioned mac n cheese in your post to Melody today, and darnit if its all I thought about this afternoon. LOL I love that stuff and I've no idea why. Bummer that AF is being a big witch, I certainly relate, that was me last week. Hopefully you'll get that energy back up and back to your old self again. Remember, gotta look better than mama!

Bonnie, I hope you're doing better today. Weight loss is such a mental thing and I truly, truly believe that journaling will help out immensely. I have books and books of my writing and it's saved me on more than one occasion. Its nice having a place to go and tell whatever's on your mind knowing that there is no judgement. Keep thinking of how fantabulous you feel after you work out & eat right!

Mia, hope your able to start your challenges this weekend. I've seen the 6week thing before on another site. Is it something from beachbody.com? Sounds pretty doable if thats what you really want. Good luck.

I totally forgot to weigh in this morning....that whole "it's Saturday" mentality. lol I'll do it tomorrow. I don't feel as if I've lost anything. Probably because I've enjoyed my eating to the fullest and don't feel that "hungry starving" thing anymore. I know that I've been honest with myself and eaten when hungry only, except once. Amazing how much it needs to be in the forefront of my mind right now otherwise I simply "forget".

One thing that I have noticed (dh too) is that my moods have stabalized since I started my new approach. I have not felt that sadness or anxiety that I've carried with me for years. What a relief! I also noticed that when I stopped counting everything, my water too, that I actually drink more water than when I watched every single ounce. Weird, huh?

Have a great weekend, girls!!!

hi how are you? Dani- all i can say is that you are very strong-minded it would be refreshing to get to the point where you dont stress your weight
i think the diet did come from beachbody i think it would help at least push me into the right direction without feeling overwhelmed
sara- congrats on the exercise i need to get my butt in hear
Deb- thumbs up way to go
Mel- .2 is great you must be doing something right
everyone keep up the good work!

Danielle I didnt realize how close you were to your 5% goal!!!! That is awesome woman! I'm so happy that you are doing so great with your new way of life. I'm thinking maybe its a good thing to just miss those scale visits...who needs em! LOL!

~melissa

Good morning Ladies,
I did get a notebook out and start writing I have written quite a few pages already. I jest wanted to share this with everyone it may help me get to understand more .

I am number 8 of 12 children. My mother Only had children to stay on welfare. She was never a good mother she was never their for us . when she would get up in the AM she would leave and leave me home with my 3 younger sisters and 1 younger brother. I had to be the one to scroung up food when theywere hungry and listen to them cry when their was none. We must of moved 30 times in my childhood and it seemed like everytime we got settled and got somethings then my mother would walk off and make us leave everything behind. My mother was very good in mulipation to get people sympathony and she did it sooo well. No one would ever do anything about it.
When we were in school we would eat lunch because we knew that was our one guarenteed meal for the day. when I got older I quiet eating in school because some kids thought it would be fun to tease me . Mostly because I didnt have the up to date clothes. So I quiet eating Lunch so when I did get home I would mix Stuff like peanut butter with Butter and eat it out of a cup. Their was no other food in the house Matter of fact their was No electric or water in our house either. ever since I can remember when I was younger we never had a stable home or the place to keep food.
I can admitt we lived in some of the weirest places. for three whole months we lived in a camp ground in tents and had to take baths in the lake. We lived in a little cracker box camper behind a ladies house for almost 2 years. started off by craming 7 people in one of those things and then my mother moved in a a half torn down house while us children had to stay in the camper.
when I got older I married my husband when I was 1 moth away from 16. from their on I would eat and eat I guess in the fear that I wouldnt have food tomorrow. I would always over eat and from teir on I gained weight and I gained even more weight. Now I need to find out how to make my brain stop . I dont need to over eat. I have been married to my husband for 20 years and I have always had food I guess I have made food my side kick all these years. I did become a closet eater I wouldnt eat alot around other people and then whenI was alone I would eat and eat. It also didnt help that my husband had a job that kept him out of the house in the night time so to pass off the time I would eat mostly stuff like snack cakes and sweets and more sweets.
Now How do I regain my self and tell my self that I dont need to have all this food any more ??

This is jest some of what I have wriiten in my book and their is more that I have to write in it. Thanks to everyone who sits here and reads a piece of my life story their is soo much more that I do have to write.

Congrats to everyone and be back soon.

Wow Bonnie...thats all I can say right now is wow. Did you go deep! I'm sending you a great big hug first of all. I'm so sorry that you had to grow up that way. On so many levels I can relate. I grew up a welfare kid too, we only had 4 kids in our family. But depending on whether or not my mother had a boyfriend she too was pretty inattentive. One of her husbands was extremely abusive, mentally and physically (luckily he never laid a hand on me, my brother and one of my sisters werent so lucky) We never had the things all the other kids in school had. All through school I was a skinny little thing, very shy, very low self esteem. And like you there got to a point where I was so ashamed to be eating free hotlunch I just stopped eating at school. When I graduated and got my own money and my own refridgerator thats when the weight started coming. Going grocery shopping was so fun! I would buy whatever I wanted and I could eat as much of it as I wanted to and didnt have to share. I can see now thats where alot of my problems come from. I have a big problem sharing food, I've even hid food to make sure that I got my share. Its taken me a long time and alot of journaling to realize its okay there is more where it came from! Alot of the way I am today stems back to my childhood and things my mother did. It took me a long time to let that go. I had to sit down and write her a 14 page letter, getting it all out. I never mailed it, but it made me come to peace with it all. And I continue to work on my other issues. Anyway, didnt mean to get all about me, just wanted you to see that you arent alone in all of this. I completely understand where you are coming from. And you are making GREAT strides in your journalling all ready. Its gonna be a journey but its so worth taking it. Congrats to you for being so successful in your marriage and your family after all you've been through. Its just going to get better and better.

Whew! Dont you just love journalling! LOL!

I had a pretty good day yesterday, damn chocolate again! I could blame AF but we all know there is noone putting the stuff in my mouth but me! We did our own pizzas last night and I overate a little bit. But I did really great with my other meals so I suppose it works out. I put the finishing touches on my girls costumes last night, they look so amazing! Cant wait to share them with you!

Tonight we are going to the haunted corn maze. Not sure if I'm going or not, I'd like to but with this bum leg and now there is something wrong with my foot. Ever had the side of your foot where it feels like it needs to pop, well I've popped it a couple of times and it wont go away! Its so painful!! So now I'm a full on gimp! Bum leg on one side, bum foot on the other. You shoulda seem me in the grocery store yesterday!! Oye! I'm gonna need the moterized wheelchair soon! LOL! So, not sure I wanna go running around in a corn field in the dark with scary monsters chasing me! Plus my youngest isnt up for that at all so I may just stay home with her and let dh and the older one go.

Well I'm just a chatty Melissa today arent I!? LOL! I should go out and clean out the garage. I hope everyone has a fantastic day today!!! Be good to yourself!!

~melissa

Thanks Melissa that little piece I wrote wont even cover the first page I written. Took my DD's to my sisters house last night they are helping her get ready for the halloween party she is having tonight . My Oldest called me crying because she Hurt her leg in GYm Thursday and Now it is hurting her again so I will be making a trip to the doctors office tomorrow to see whats up with her leg. Its kinda scarry that is how my sons problems started. I would be realy freaked out if that was to happen to her too. well I guess I better be getting last minute stuff done here. My hubby is on the couch taking a nap before we go. Catch all later.

I hope your dd is okay Bonnie! Let us know if they come up with anything. A nap huh...must be nice! LOL!! Have a great rest of the day!

~melissa

Good Afternoon Ladies,

Wow, I thought for sure I posted yesterday. It was crazy. I know I got on a couple times and read the posts but apparently I had to get off before I actually posted. Ugh.

The bad news is that I did eat a Dove ice cream bar the other night. The good news is that is ALL I ate! LOL AND, I went and checked out CURVES yesterday. I really liked it. I dn't want to spend the money until DH starts working again but it should be good to go in a week or two.

We spent today looking at houses. Housing here is very esxpensive. We looked at one that was really nice, but right on a main road. I'm not thrilled with that. We'll keep looking.

Food has been okay today. Nothing terrible. I need to up the water though now that we're home for the day/evening. I swear I'll find my groove again soon.

Melissa - Did you go to the corn maze? There was an awesome one where we used to live. Hope you had a good time if you decided to go and the leg didn't give you trouble.

Bonnie - Journaling is amazing isn't it? I've been doing some serious reflection the last six months too - trying to figure out why I am the way I am. Who I am. It can be very powerful. I wish you luck in your journey.

Sara - Those workouts are getting better and better eh! Great job!

Deb - WOO HOO on those two pounds!

Danielle - The new approach is going well eh? Excellent. I wouldn't always worry about missing a weigh in - I like to use other factors too!

I better get off here and think about getting some dinner going. Hope you're all having a great weekend.