just a quick fly by - it's been kinda crazy around here for the last two days so I haven't worked out since Tuesday... tomorrow I'm going to up my ante and make up for some of my missed time. Food hasn't been bad - not great - but not terrible... however, my MIL sent me home with two HUGE pieces of Key Lime Pie - grrrr... She know's I'm trying to lose - but so is she and she didn't want the whole thing left at her house! lol. I'm pretty good at leaving stuff alone so maybe DH will eat it before it goes bad!

Hiya ladies! Only a fast check in for now. We are back from the exes this weekend, but have been running nonstop since we got back and I haven't had a chance to even get on. Will probably keep going this rate until this Saturday but at least wanted to check in and say hi. Hope everyone is doing great!

Good morning and Happy Friday Ladies!!!

MsP~ yeah, I'm usually the last one to think about date night--hubby's really good about it now that we can actually leave the kids with people (the girls are crazy attached and shy so it's been a long time coming). Only problem is--we're going out to eat! You know what happens when I eat out... Hopefully I can think about your good example and pre-plan as much as possible and pick a place that has some nutritional info online or something. Wish me luck! Congrats on such a great month so far!

shasha~ seriously, I think they put crack in Halloween candy! I used to go hog wild and buy tons of candy--for us! Funny thing is, when it came to the candy I was going to pass out to kids--I bought the cheapest candy I could find so I wouldn't eat it! I did the same thing this year (lots of suckers and gum--blech!) and I haven't bought anything other than candy corn for the kids (that stuff smells so goooood!). Stay strong hun! If you can, avoid being around the stuff and if you can't just keep reminding yourself of all the effort you've put in to staying on plan!!! You can do it, it's just candy--and you will survive without it!

Roxy~ Mmmm...Baby Ruth! I used to be hard core addicted to those bad boys! See, that's why I buy the candy I don't like--no temptations! I am definitely checking out that site today--didn't get a chance to yesterday. Man alive, you and Jessica and TOM--what's the deal? I've only ever had one TOM crazy long like that and it was my first--3 weeks long, what a way to start my journey as a woman huh? I hope he gets the heck outta dodge and leaves you alone ASAP!!!

Tummy~ I was wondering where you were! Hope you get a chance to chime in today! Have you heard anything from Delphi? I need to stop by FB once in a while and see what's up. It's not like her to just vanish like this--she must be swamped or still sick huh?

sweettooth~ glad to have you aboard! Jump right on in and good luck on your goal this month--it's totally doable!!

helpmelose~ Mmmm...chips and salsa! I swear, if they could come out with a natural, good for you, low cal, low fat tortilla chip--I could live on chips and salsa!! I haven't seen those chips yet, I wonder how much lower in cals/fat they are? Oh, I wanted to mention about the cookie recipe--if you want to lower the cals/fat even more you can sub the butter/margarine in recipes with unsweetened apple sauce or fat free yogurt (plain or vanilla--I use vanilla in most baked goods). With the pumpkin carrot cakes I subbed most of the margarine with yogurt and ended up using only one tbsp of margarine! Most of the time you won't notice a difference at all in texture, although I tend to notice it more when I use apple sauce vs. the yogurt. Have fun at the party!!

Giv~ Oooh, send your hubby to my house!! He can cook for me and beat some sense into my hubby! Glad to hear your son is feeling better! Yeah, we've got a lot of kids out here too--already had to cases of H1N1 on our street alone and ds' teacher is still not feeling 100% after having it. Fun stuff huh? Hope you're just tired, not getting sick--Zicam baby, the tablets, not the nasal stuff (they recalled the nasal stuff), it really cuts down on the severity of the cold--at least for me anyway.

Molly~ aww, sorry to hear about your headaches! Migraines are wicked stuff. My mil gets them and what's interesting is that while some meds have caffeine to help with the headaches, she was told not to eat/drink anything with caffeine in it--she even had to cut out chocolate! Now, not that I'm trying to encourage you to start up a new addiction or anything, but have you tried drinking some coffee or caffeinated tea when a headache comes on? Maybe having a cup of tea in the mornings would help prevent them? And it wouldn't be nearly as unhealthy as soda. I drink one cup of coffee a day and I've read that they actually recommend 2 for those who are trying to lose weight--but I can't handle 2 anymore, I get all crazy jittery! Hope the meds help hun!!

ShrinkingAmy~ I think everyone's crazy busy this month! Sorry to hear about the key lime pie in the house (Mmmm!) tell hubby to get on the stick and eat it!

Jessica~ glad to have you back hun! Hope the visit with your ex went well! Hope you get some down time to relax soon! What is it with this month being crazy busy for everyone! Chat with you soon!


We have paint!!! Well, at least I think we do we got a lot of rain last night, it might be all washed away! He managed to caulk all the remaining trim pieces and put a coat of paint on them well before the rain hit! Whew!! There's still more painting to do, but I can at least breathe easy knowing that the trim is protected now.

Got a little more work done on the basement yesterday--I have an insane amount of fabric and craft stuff down there and it was all over the place! So I managed to organize a lot of it in to groups and even put post its on the boxes and drawers with the contents of each! The big chore is going to be organizing all the fabric!! Geez...it's crazy! But my hope is, once I get it all organized and tidy--that I'll actually be able to sew stuff!!

Down a full pound today! Still no TOM and no signs other than feeling a bit grumpy. Hmph.

I haven't been waking up early to do my workouts this week, I've been putting them off until the afternoon and I really need to stop doing that. I mean, I like not waking up at 5:00, but it's tough to get a workout in with the girls running around.

Speaking of the girls, I hear lots of interesting noises coming from their bedroom...I better go investigate! Hope everyone has a great day and don't forget to...

Drink Your Water!!!

Hey Chickies!

Just a quick drive-by posting before work starts and I'm going until I drop. Still no 199. Yesterday I was up 200.2 and today I'm back at 200.0 which is actually amazing since I was completely unaware of my calorie count yesterday. Started out driving to the conference with my usual green monster smoothie to enjoy when I got there and a protein bar tucked into my purse just in case. It became clear I wasn't going to have time to drink my smoothie when I got there (and it is NOT a road drink, trust me) and so I opened up the protein bar, had a couple of bites and threw it out... so gross. I remember thinking they tasted so good when I started in June... guess I've come a long way towards healthy, real food since then! Sooo I started the conference and at 10 we took a break and I was sooo glad to find a bunch of apples mixed in amongst the donuts and muffins (which totally didn't even appeal to me). Lunch was a brown bag catered thing and I chose chicken breast and found to my delight that it was an actual grilled chicken breast! I took off the top bun and ate it... soooo good. I also ate the chips and was annoyed they weren't baked but needed something more and wasn't about to touch the potato salad OR the huge cookie that was also in the bag. Then, of all things, after lunch we did an activity with m&m's and everyone got their own bag... and again... all I felt was annoyed. The way I saw it, the conference basically encouraged me to eat 2000 calories before dinner but I must have done just fine to be back at 200.0 today so I'm feeling pretty good about myself!
Here's to hoping tomorrow sees 199 but I don't know.. I've got a birthday party tonight, house shopping with my sister tomorrow, another all day class on sunday and spending the night with friends until Monday... all times when I'll have to eat out... here's to good choices, right?

SG-Great job handling you conference yesterday. I'm sure I would not have faired so well. Sounds like a temptation filled weekend, but you sound in a good mind frame to deal with it well. Here's to good choices!

Sandye-I didn't know the trick of subbing yogurt for butter. I've done the applesauce thing a lot. Now I'll try the yogurt and see what I think. I was thinking I'd make some healthy muffins today for the weekend. Yay on the paint and organization happening over there. I have managed to unearth my scrapbooking stuff and was seriously considering getting it ready to actually USE it. It's been a LONG time since I've done any of it and I'd really love to make time for it again. Maybe that time is now since we can't be outside as much!

Amy-Hope DH takes that pie off your hands. I used to think I didn't like Key Lime pie, but I had the yogurt a couple weeks ago and it is now my favorite! So rich and delicious...okay maybe I'm not helping...

jessica-Hey! Hope your time with the ex went smoothly. When ya get a nminute, tell us how it went.

Molly-Gosh, those migraines sound bad. Hope you're able to shake them and move on with normal, healthy living. I have no experience with them, but try Sandye's advice. It sounds reasonable to me.

So, I was thinking about Delphi and wondering what on earth happened to one of our best cheerleaders. I know Tummy said she was out with the flu, but either it is a REALLY bad flu or she's MIA for another reason. I know we all miss her, so i hope she's back on with us soon. That also reminds me that we've been missing FullSteamAhead pretty much all month too. Whatever ahppened to our fearless leader? I know this time of year is hard for people and she had some bad family situations going on, but I hope all is well with both our wonderful challenge-mates and that we see them again soon.
I saw a jump in the scale today, even though I was within my calorie range yesterday. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that I fell into a vat of SALT last night. I made generally healthy meal choices for DH and I, but when it came I had forgotten to factor in sodium. The grilled chicken salad I had was delicious, but I'm quite sure I consumed some outrageous amount of salt/seasoning. I did also sneak a few chips from DS's plate, but it was literally just 3 or 4, so I guess the salt got to me. Plus I don't think I drank nearly enough. Also, TOM reared his ugly head yesterday, so that makes me more sensitive to salt. Well, I'm already drinking lots of water and plan to see all my salt weight leave by tomorrow's weigh-in. Otherwise, it's good day for relaxing and cleaning house today. Maybe even scrapbooking prep!

Sandye - Glad the painting is nearing a close! I know what you mean about the craft/sewing stuff. I have it stuffed everywhere in our house. No TOM yet? Very weird.

Ms. P - Sorry about TOM, the salt always gets me too. I combated it this time by consuming massive amounts of water.

SG - Sometimes the world is just out to get us huh? Good job on resisting the temptations!

Jess - Glad you are back! Fill us in!

Amy - Resist the pie!! Maybe take it to a neighbor if DH doesn't eat it tonight.

Miss Mallee - Sorry about the migraines. Focus on feeling better first, then the workouts.

Well, I was completely ready to go walking/jogging yesterday because it was nice and warm again, but then my boss needed me to finish some work. Ugh. I ended up getting home an hour late, and didn't have enough daylight to walk. Then I had to bake cakes for a fundraiser cake walk. I admit, I did some sampling along the way, but didn't completely blow my calories for the day. Of course I went to bed starving because I had a minimal amount of food for my actual dinner after my samplings, but oh well, today is a new day.

I'm still holding in at 173.0 today. My mini-goal is getting so close, it's time for some last minute workouts!! I will exercise today if it kills me!

Good morning, chickies!
This has been one crazy busy month, full of challenges. I went to Vegas two weeks ago, last weekend we went to visit my brand-new granddaughter, this weekend old friends are spending the night with us. I almost fell the other day but caught myself. In doing so I strained my left glute, quads and whatever else is between my knee and hip. Walking is painful and I had to skip my cardio yesterday. But food-wise I have been on plan (other that one meal in Vegas) and I have worked out all but 5 days this month. So why, why , why am I sitting at 168.8? That is a grand total of .2 for the month.I am oh so discouraged, but I am NOT giving up! I am also oh so bored with my workouts. I tried the C25K, but my knee said "uh uh." Any advice, girls?

I can't go through all of the pages, but wanted to say:

DELPHI ~Hellooooooo, where are you? We all miss you and hope you are just too busy havin' fun.

CLEGlad the party went well. Your mom is so pretty and she does not look 54! I'm 53, so I should know!

MSP ~ Glad your foot is better, and wow! just five pounds to go and you are THERE! Congrats on reaching HEALTHY!

NELLA ~ My husband is a pack rat too, and well, kinda messy! I could fill a dumpster! How nice to get rid of all of that junk. And congrats on your NSV. It is so nice when someone comments on our hard work.

TUMMY ~Holy cow! You are blazing through the 150s, and so close to "normal"!

FITGIRLY ~My husband is the same way. If I ask him to pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk, he comes home with salami and crackers, chips, five (I kid you not) containers of ice cream (he thinks we each need our own). Needless to say, I do not ask him to stop at the store, and I need to make sure we never run out of anything so he doesn't take it upon himself to stop on his own. Men, sheesh. I agree with you about stuffing ourselves silly at holiday time. Why do we do that? I will not be doing that this year! Congrats on your one year anniversary. I love your husband's sense of humor! 15 days? Crikey!

SANDYE ~ Is the basement ready? I'll be there in 11 days! Have you decided where you are going for date night? You know you can do it again while I'm there! Um, 132.6? I'm with your DH "When are you going to stop?" Don't you go getting all boney and such. I WILL tell the chicks if you are out of control, and you don't want all of those rolling pins do you? Ahem, how do you feel? Any nausea or tenderness, hmmm?

MALLEE ~Sorry to hear you are having migraines. It's funny about caffeine, every time I was pregnant and quit drinking coffee, I had terrible headaches for a few days. Hope your medication helps.

GIVETLC ~How nice that your DH walks with you. Mine says he gets enough exercise at work (he doesn't). I need to put my house on a diet too!

SG ~ Oh you are so close! Those NSV are nice, aren't they? Especially from a teenager. Way to go handling the conference. Those M&Ms would have been the fall of me!

SHASHA ~Ooh the chiropractic business would really tick me off!

JELLOFER ~ I have yet to stand in front of my husband naked. Heck, I don't look at myself naked!

Well, I hope I got everyone. I am off today (without pay, yippee) and I plan to blaze through this house. No mercy! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Have some fun!

Morning Ladies,

FitGirlyGirl - Holy that sounded like a nasty string of luck with things breaking, I hope things have improved, I shall keep reading since I'm two days behind, lol. Baby Ruth is not your friend and you'll never regret not eating something, hide them! OMG I'd have a terrible time with that sitting out in plain view like that but you can do it and I hope you got your workout in, that will no doubt improve the mood a bit.

Nella - Bosses! A fundraising cake walk, omg, that is borderline cruel, good job working it into your day though, it's far too easy to just keep eating so bravo!

Helpmelose - I googled sara lee bread, cuz now I'm curious how bread can be made of water, lol. I would imagine that switching to a denser bread, like ezekiel bread or something with sprouted grains, "Silver Hills" makes a line that is great, although more calories is far more "real" and will probably help fill you up and has added benefits of having alot of protien, fiber and complex carbs.

SG - Wow, kids noticing! That's amazing, kids don't notice anything, especially high school students, enjoy all the praise for you hard work my dear, you've earned it. I'd say banana is a fair assessment, what does victory taste like? I remember it tasting a lot like that. Great job at the conference, I hear you on those things, the last one I went too before "retiring" it was like a minefield of crap, but I was still eating crap so it all worked out, lol. Good choices are all we can do and most of the time it seems when we're commited to making them we all do great.

Dcapulet - Howdy!

Sandye - Oh how I love to grocery shop, it's become this treasure hunt and a lot of reading! Dd is getting used to it, she now asks if there's chemicals in it while I'm reading, she's learning, lol. One cookbook is fantastic, it's called the Moosewood Resturant, Low Fat Favorites. It's got nutritional info for all the recipes and so far everything I've tried is fantastic. They do lend themselves to vegitarian fare but there is a chapter for fish and it's pretty easy to meat up a dish if so desired. What I'm finding too is that the ingredients are mostly "normal" stuff, not things you have to go hunting halfway around the world for. And there's like 300+ recipes in the book. Highly recommend this one. Oh a date night, that's fantastic, what a sweetie you've got there, sounds like just the thing for all that ails ya, time to slow down and enjoy. It is great that we get to learn from your maintenance experiements. It just all seemed so far away a few months ago, and now the home stretch is upon us but after all it's just the beginning of chapter 2, I guess. I think she's feeling better and she's been vlogging on gamespot and such but I'm not sure

MsP - How'd you fare at the resturant last night? And my goodness you're only 5 lbs away from goal, this is just so inspiring. How's the foot doing? Thanks for the salt reminder, I've got dinner out on Monday night and I already checked what I'm having online but I fogot to check the salt!

Shasha - Glad the bf is back snooze button and all, lol. Mine is just the same, we have two alarm clocks now, one on each side of the bed, it has created a greater level of peace in the relationship, lol.

Sweethtooth - Welcome, there's never any lateness here, I think that sounds fantastically doable and we'll cheer ya on.

GivTLC - Not only is that sweet of him but he must be a good cook, wow. Be sure to take care of yourself too, we can't have you under the weather too. Oh have fun with the girls, I do love those occasions, friends are just the best, that reminds me I should call one of mine

MissMallee - They might be tylenol #3's if so make sure to eat a lot of fiber and drink that water, they can be cruel to the bowels if you know what I mean. Does she have any idea why you're getting them, I mean a heathly person doesn't just develop that without something going on, stress, lack of sleep, nutrient deficiency, environmental triggers/allergens? Glad you're getting caught up on things though, that will sure help too. Take care.

Amy - Those in-laws, lol, I'm the same way, I try to purge the house when company comes, they take everything home with them, I want nothing left behind.

Jessicado - Hiya chickie, catch up when ya can and hope you're still doing awesome.

LTTG - Well take it easy for sure, those things usually heal fast when we take it easy. The only thing I can think of for cardio would be videos to spice it up. There must be some great calorie burning ones out there that won't tax the knees. I can't recommend one b/c the ones I know are not knee friendly. Someone must have some suggestions b/c we all know where boredom leads.

The last few days have been marvelous minus a lot of trouble falling asleep last night, which usually is a pre-TOM symptom for me so we'll see. It's a bit frustrating but I still managed to get up at 5 and run, and did I run, I got my 2 hours in this morning. And I had joked about listening to an audiobook but there wasn't a good enough beat but I decided to try it and I loved it. It keep my mind off the incredible long time ahead and it was enjoyable. I didn't miss the music at all and since I'm not worried about speed on Fridays who cares anyway. I'm very tired now though, the poor sleep and the sucking every last bit of carb out of my body to do that sure drains ya but exciting nonetheless.

So we've got a family outing planned over here, something we're lacking since dh has been working so much. We're going to stay overnight at a hotel in Edmonton on Monday and eat out, maybe see a movie if there is something kid friendly and play at the waterslides. Going to have to move my workouts around a bit since I won't be in recovery week anymore but it'll be a blast.

Otherwise, all is right with the world and it's a beautiful, happy, glorious day. Hope everyone else is having a marvelous Friday!

Lol, leave it to Mom I was thinking the same thing, but since Mom said it... You got some 'splaining to do!

Nella - **** indeed, I have PCOS, so this sometimes happens to me. He stuck around for over 2 months, nearly 3 once. Damn fool just would not leave.

Tummy - congrats on the weight loss! You might have never seen it before, but you will soon, yay for almost to normal bmi. I’m sorry about the lack of sleep. 2 hours! Dang woman! I sooo wanna be you when I grow up as a runner.

Sweettooth - That is completely doable, especially now that you have found cheerleaders.

Ms. P - I made sure not to get any of my real favs, there are no peanut butter cups in my house - hubby has to eat his at work, lol. I dealt with the baby ruth issue with some organic dark chocolate, mmmm.

GivTLC - we don’t have any kids here to get into it. Hubby is bad about not giving the kids all the same amount, so I wanted to get it ahead of time so we have time to make little treat bags. I’m glad your son is feeling better, I’m sorry you are starting to feel sick, I hope you can fight it off. I hope your girls weekend is a blast and good luck staying OP.

Sandye - It’s ok, I was just telling hubby last night - look at all the progress I’ve made on C25K (I’m on week 4) and I’ve had to do it with TOM almost the entire time, so can you imagine what I’ll be like when he finally leaves. I am at least somewhat used to these crazy ones and under 2 weeks is short for me. The weight loss should help stop the craziness. Congrats on the paint, the organizing, and the pound. I’ll try to send TOM your way, I’m tired of him around here anyhow.

SG - Congrats on doing so well with the food at the conference and shame on them for pushing junk.

LTTG - Mine has gotten everyone individual gallons of ice cream before too. He is getting better about trying to over feed me though. He still tries to over feed everyone else, including the animals (we have fat stray cats living in our yard). He also thinks we need every ingredient in the world. We currently have 5-6 types of olives and 4 types of capers in the fridge and one cabinet (the double door size) full of seasonings, for instance. AGH! I’m sorry about the leg and the cardio issues. I wish I had suggestions, but most of what I do would be hard on your knee.


Stupid TOM still won’t leave and week 4 of C25K is going to take me more than 1 week. I did get my butt to the gym and on the treadmill last night, but I could not do the second 5 minute run, I had to stop at 3 and then a couple minutes later I did another minute. My total run time was only 1 minute short, but I am not counting that as done, so week 4 will take me at least one extra gym trip, but that’s ok because I still did more than I did the last time and so it is progress. I tried a new recipe last night and it was awesome, so I want to share it with you lovely chicks. It is “greek chicken”. I did not put any feta in the main dish - we just each put how much we wanted on top of ours. I had mine with tomato pasta from fibergourmet.com. DH and MIL had no yolk egg noodles and they also loved it. It was very tasty as well as being a really pretty dish.

Greek Chicken

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 33 oz. total for 6 servings)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 can diced tomato
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed (I used a bit extra - we like spinach)
1 lb mushrooms, quartered
1 large onion , sliced into long thin wedges (I used white onion and diced it instead of wedges)
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin (I used minced)
1/2 cup dry red wine
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon oregano, dried (I doubled this since we love oregano around here)
black olives, sliced (I used 25 grams)
green olives, sliced (I used 53 grams)
feta cheese (as I said, we added this individually)

Directions
1 Lightly salt and pepper chicken and fry in oil-slice each breast into 4 or 5 thick slices.
2 You want it only half way cooked.
3 Add tomatoes with juice-spinach and mushrooms.
4 Simmer for 5 minutes.
5 Add onions, garlic and oregano and simmer for 3 minutes.
6 Check to see if chicken is cooked through.
7 If done add wine and olives and heat through.
8 Add half of the feta and remove from heat-toss.
9 Offer remaining feta at the table.

Hello ladies sorry I haven't posted in a while it has been crazy around here. I have been so sick this week. Today is the first day that I have even felt like doing anything. I am hoping that after today I will be able to get back to exercising... I hate being sick especially when I just go my routine down LOL. Oh well things of life right. I had my weigh in today and I am dropping weight again YEAH for the first time I think I just might make my goal for this month wish me luck ladies... Hope you all have a wonderful day.. Cya soon.

FitGirlyGirl-That chicken sounds yummy! Do you happen to have the nutrition info on it? Just wondering.

Ms. P - it was great, I have the macro nutrients on it according to my body bugg - according to it if the amounts I used are counted as 6 serving then the dish without feta or pasta is 347.5 calories, 9.1g fat, 8.2g carb, and 51.2g protein. I got it from http://www.recipezaar.com/Greek-Chicken-9249 and they have a nutrition label, but since they don't list amounts for the olives or feta and they just say 6 chicken breasts and not how many ounces I'm not sure how much good that is. I am thinking that I will try it with tofu at some point, I think it would go well and it would give me a new dish that I could fix when serving vegetarian friends.

OMG! I did 2 minutes straight on maximum resistance on my elliptical and I did it again after doing lower resistence for about 5 minutes, and then I did another minute after a few more minutes on the lower levels - that's 5 minutes total at maximum level. I also did 50 crunches nonstop after I had finished on the elliptical. I totally rock!

Does anyone know any good strength training DVDs? I have some circuit stuff, but I'd like to have something that is only strength training.

Hello Ladies - DH has been on the computer all day so I'm just now getting around to checking in and there's been way too much chit-chat for me to catch up on personals right now - I need to go to bed pretty soon! All is well here, I did W3D3 of C25K today, but I ended up doing it twice back to back - which just about killed me, by the way. I was trying to get in more exercise minutes and I figured I might as well do another run vs work out in my living room since it was BEAUTIFUL out today and DH was home with DD as she napped. Tomorrow we're going to the Lexington Barbque Festival so that will be a whole afternoon of walking around, provided the rain holds off. I need to get back to doing some of my videos though, because I'm actually missing squats and lunges... I can't believe I actually said that!

Good luck this weekend ladies and have fun!