Hi Marie -

Sounds like you have been busy good for you. I took a peek at the scale today and I am down a little from last week . Lets hope I can keep that up for friday's weigh in!

Nikki

Nikki, good for you, not pigging out and still seeing some progress even during this stressful time

Marie, you're continuing to kick butt, too! WATP, toning and weed-whacking on the same day should whip you into shape you want to be in by this time next year. Congratulations on doing so well for so long.

Carol, all this remodeling sounds like hard work! I've mostly lived in rental apartments, so painting the walls is about the extent of my experience. If the home buyers markets continues to "correct" itself, maybe in the next couple of years I'll stop renting.

I had a good cardio workout this morning, and will go to Curves this evening. I'm eating on program and ignoring all the snack bags of chips that were left over from a big meeting last week. I've left a message with this "integrative medicine" doctor's office (their website says that they don't deal with insurance plans, which is unfortunate). I've found the regional OA website, and will also search around for alternatives that aren't about diet plans as much as mutual support support. I will have three-four weeks without travel, visitors or major work events, so I really want to use that time to set some things in motion before the fall craziness starts.

Have a great day, all, and keep up the good work!

judy

Judy - I hope the holistic clinic works for you. OA might be worth a try. I went to TOPS for a while, but it didn't work for me. I think of Curves as a kind of 'group therpy' - we often chat about our ups and downs on the scale and it's been a good source of support for me.

Marie - Welcome back - we missed you! Good for you for staying on track when you were away - wish I could say the same . Your pool must be great with the weather we've been having.

Carol - All that painting, etc. will burn off some extra calories! I hope it shows up as a loss for you on Friday .

Nikki - I'm glad the scale has been kind to you, especially considering the stress you've been going through lately. Hang in there - this too shall pass.

I'm going to need to give myself a kick in the butt to get losing again instead of constantly yo-yoing up and down a pound or two. I'm getting tired of being in this rut and need to do something - not sure what just yet. I don't think I can eat less calories, so the only option is more exercise . The Japanese massage I learned the other day has been soothing for my foot (I do it every night before bed) so I'm hoping to be able to start walking again. I went to the mall this morning and wasn't limping after ten minutes like I usually do, so hopefully this will keep up.

Hello everyone! Well my sister inlaw is moved into my side of the house as of yesterday. We had my daughter, son inlaw and her grandson all moving her things. My friend came to help I burned many calories up and down the stairs, carrying mattresses, boxes and some furniture. At the same time my brother and his son were hanging doors and moldings it was crazy for a few hrs to say the least. But when I think of the way everyone from Hawaii to here helped out and worked together as a big family it felt great. My house is a little overwhelmed looking today but it won't be for only a week. Her carpets come soon, then a final inspector and fire inspector and we are good to go. Hurray! We did it! Stressful at times but it was a calorie burner. Yesterday I did eat healthy until the pizza and wings showed up for dinner but with the calories burned I am not worried. If I haven't lost wt. I surely have lost inches and gained muscle the last week or two. I feel good and at 52 yrs. old I run circles around lots of people. A little hard work never hurt me and I am grateful that I am capable of doing it. So today I will start once again to watch my calories a bit closer. Going to grill some pork chops for dinner tonight.
Penny hope you feel better soon the massage sounds wonderful I think maybe I need one too. Keep up your good efforts and you will gain some more angel wings.
Nikki keep it up your doing well. I hope everything else is settling down for you a bit and adjusting.
Judy wow no trips that is nice for you. Staying around your own place might be kind of fun for a bit. Insurances don't always make sense to what they cover. Sometimes they cover stupid stuff and not what would make sense. If you can afford to try this new idea of yours go for it. Your worth every penny you spend on your health needs. This might be just what you need and if it isn't chalk it up for having a new experience. Nothing explored nothing gained sometimes. Good luck!
Marie my B day was last week. I think you were away in butter land. Glad to have you back. It was in the 90's yesterday and very humid here. We were all doing manual labor with the move and construction not much fun in the heat. That weed wacking and yard work burns some calories away. I wish I had ate better with all my working but I REALLY was very hungry afterwards... Should of had better choices but the pizza and wings served everyone and the little ones too.
Take care a little more painting and touching up after work today then I think its ready for carpeting hurray!

Judy - good on the staying away from snacks. Being home should help you a bit.

Penny - I am glad your foot feels better try not to overdo it.

Carol- All the physical labor is sure to do good.

Nikki

Good morning everyone!!!

It's going to be another hot one here today. The last two days I've contemplated the idea of AC, but I usually hate it so I'm just enduring. I was so hot and tired yesterday evening I was too lazy to get into my swimsuit and cool off. I knew I'd feel better, but just didn't want to. I did cool off in the pool earlier in the the day after 2 hours of weedwacking. BTW, I finally have control over my landscaping again.

Tomorrow is weighin and I don't know how it will go. I've been good, but lately I started retaining water in the evenings. My feet and the such. I don't add salt to much and have been drinking about 125 oz of water per day, but I'm having trouble. So if it's not a good scale day, I will give myself a break. I do HOPE to see a loss since I've been off th scale since the 17th.

I exercised already this morning. Walked 3 miles and did the toning. I think that the morning exercise has really solidified. It's a good thing I changed form after work / p.m. exercise to early morning. With my house hitting 87 degrees in the evening, I'd definitely not exercise.

I think today I'm going to listen to my audiobook and float on the pool in the hot afternoon (after 4 to avoid any chance of sunburn). I'm also working on a new stained glass panel of a wolf. I made one about 2 years ago and gave it to my mother for Christmas. I saw it last week and wanted it back. Since it would be impolite to ask for it I decided to make a new one. The reason I gave her that one was that as much as I loved it, I made the wolf's eye yellow (as per a wolf's picture). Well, the wolf looks just like Kody (my siberian husky boy) and I wanted it with a blue eye. So that's what I'm doing. I got the pattern re-drawn and the contact sheets for the pattern. Today is cutting those out and putting it on the glass (which I bought on Monday). Tomorrow I'll start cutting the glass out. I'm not in a hurry so I'm just enjoying the process.

Judy, thanks for the congrats on keeping going. It meant a lot. I really appreciate you. Good luck on finding support (other than from us chickies). My DH is supportive but that's about it for me. You all are my big support network.

Nikki, glad to hear you had a little loss. Here's hoping for good things tomorrow. I was just reading Dear Abby or Annie's Mailbox (online) and they had a letter about a 23 yo daughter who's caught in her parent's divorce. I almost thought it was written by you. BTW, the nutshell of the advice was to set boundaries, be supportive but not to let either parent bad mouth the other - hence the boundaries. I'm definitely thinking of you.

Penpal, definitely the weather has been too hot. I like hot, but this is even pushing my like for it. Although at the moment I have a sweater on. Just not for long. I sure hope the foot massages help your foot heal. I know I wouldn't be on track if I couldn't exercise. BTW, could you try a different form of exercise for a while to let it rest? Somehting like a recumbant exercycle?

Carol, you sure are active and generous. I bet your SIL really appreciates you. Having other move in with you is not an easy thing. (This is speaking from first hand knowledge of have DS, GF and DGS living with us). I'm very thankful my situation isn't permanent. Yesterday was a bad day with them. Hopefully today will be better.

Well, that's it. TTYL.
Marie

A quick hello from me. I just inhale a large, lovely green salad with chicken, and my stomach is plenty full but my tongue wants more...so I'm sipping mint tea and hoping this goes away until time for my afternoon snack. Didn't get to workout this morning. I use the apartment building's communal laundry, and I do laundry at the crack of dawn to avoid the rush. But I had a huge amount of sheets and towels from all the company, and it took up my exercise time. I'm supposed to see friends at a reception after work, but if they don't show, maybe I'll scoot home in time to do soemthing.

Penny--the little butt-kicking smilies are funny but sad! I hope you're able to move around comfortably soon. I can tell that the neuroma in my left foot is starting up again. I wear this goofy padded ace bandage thing on my foot when this happens, but I'm too vain to wear it in the summer when I'm sporting sandals....

Carol, you are so generous to open your home to your family. I hope everything works out with your SIL. You deserve a spa day or something, after all this manual (and financial, too, I bet) labor.

Nikki, I'm crossing my fingers, too! And hope that the scale gods look favorably upon all of your discipline and conscientiousness.

Marie--I would love to be floating in pool, listening to an audiobook! Hope you're having a good afternoon. Good luck with tomorrow's weigh-in.

Okay, gotta go. I overcommitted on what I could accomplish today, and need to stop and figure out what the best way to spend these next few hours.

bye--judy

Marie sounds like your continuing to do very well thats great. Your a great incentive for all of us. I would love to learn how to do stained glass its so pretty. The wolf with blue eyes sounds nice maybe when its done you can post it. I wanted to swim last night it was so hot but the storm rolled in and I wasn't quick enough to swim ahead of time. We are doing okay with my SIL moving in. She will have her own side soon and for now this works out. Never do I have to pickup after her or anything like that. I am not trying to change my ways too much but to be considerate of her also. There are times I like to do my own thing and I still will do that. In order to have this work we all need our freedom too. I totally agree normally its tough that is why we have to seperate areas to give each other respect of privacy but to help each other also. Sounds good hope it works as well.
Nikki I also read that same article and thought of you wow. To think we are so many miles away and are in touch with the same things. At any rate hope your doing well. I didn't have a loss but no gain and thats good. Because sometimes when I get this active I gain due to muscle etc. and I have been going pretty strong for a couple of weeks. My future son inlaw is coming over the weekend to help me finish up the final touches of the rooms. Carpet is coming tues.. and the furniture will follow. I hope by next weekend to be completed in there. I have to call the inspectors today final and fire. Oh so much junk to do and such little time.
Judy hope your feeling better today. I like mint tea haven't had tea in awhile sounds good. Hope today is a better day for you.
Well yesterdays intake wasn't bad at all. My worst thing I ate was a piece of cheese pizza my sweetest thing a popsicle one half. Didn't count my cals but lets see....just added up around 1400 cals. I am getting better with my intakes. Well more water yesterday would of been better looking back at my day.

Hi everyone -

I only have a few minutes. I am on my way to the boyfriends for the weekend. I need the break. Anyhow, I managed to maintain this week so I am happy with that.

See you all Monday
Nikki

Morning everyone. I lost 2 more pounds. So I survived the trip back home to butter land. My family uses butter like it was water. I'm very, very happy. I was doing the happy dance around the scale. Since Nikki kicked my butt into gear, I've lose 22 pounds. To say the least, I'm thrilled.

Nikki and Carol, great for maintaining. Both of you are under so many stresses that maintaining is wonderful. I definitely eat under stress so you're doing great.

Judy, ahhh, the horrible memories of laundry rooms. I do not envy you. I remember when I got my first washer/dryer - I thought I went to heaven. It always made me mad that I'd put our money into machines that wouldn't work right. We were poor young military people and it was aggravating. Good luck on the exercising and skip the vanity - wear the bandage. I used to be a sandal person but my feet feel better with my orthotics. I just occasionally wear sandals now.

Today it's supposed to be hot, but about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday. My plan is to float again. I already did my exercise and when DH gets up, we're going to take the doggies on a 2 mile walk. So floating sounds good. And I'll work a bit on the stained glass. Boy, do I love vacation from work and not traveling.
Marie

Carol - I don't know where you get all that energy. You're a real inspiraton!

Marie - Congratulations on losing the 2 lbs. despite all the temptations in butter land! . Your stained glass project sounds interesting, maybe you can share some photos of your work sometime.

Judy - Doing all that laundry must have been a workout in itself! Don't be self-conscious about wearing the bandage (although it might be hard to do in sandals). I've gotten to the point where comfort comes first . Lately, I've been putting a cold pack on my foot right away for about 1/2 hour after my walks and it's helping a lot to keep the swelling down. The one I use is Theramed universal and it has built-in velcro straps which keep it on so I can walk about with it on for a while. I don't know if this would work for your neuroma though.

Nikki - I'm glad you managed to maintain this week. Have a nice weekend - you deserve it!

I was relieved that I hadn't gained any this week after our long weekend away where I went a bit overboard with the eating. I've started walking again and managed half an hour today and yesterday. The foot massages and cold packs I'm doing seem to be helping a lot. We went for a nice walk this morning along the river on a new trail near our house. My DH goes there for his morning walks but it's the first time I've been, so I'm hoping to make this a regular thing.

Have a great weekend everybody

Hey, sounds like everyone is doing well, despite heat, parental drama, traveling, folks moving in and other challenges. I'm just happy to have gotten through this week I interviewed some good folks, and it looks like we'll get some badly needed help with all this work, yippee!

Penny, your riverwalk sounds lovely! I'm so glad that your feet are letting you enjoy it. Re the foot brace thing--I wear an odd shoe size (10.5), which is hard to find, and the arthritis in my knees limits me to "sensible" shoes. I have a bit more leeway with sandals, although I have to have ankle straps and rarely wear anything you'd call a heel. So it hurts my heart to think of wearing this ugly bandage with sandals, or worse, wearing closed shoes all year . If the pain comes back in full force, of course, I'll get over it. So far it's been a few mild flare-up that have gone away. I'm not entirely sure of what a neuroma is--sounds like a nerve that's gone haywire or something. At any rate, I'll be back to wearing the dratted bandage every day once it gets too cool for sandals.

Carol, we've been following the saga of the remodleing for a while, now, and I think you owe us photos once it's complete. Good for you, not gaining while there's been all this work and traffic back and forth at your house.

Nikki, I hope you have a relaxing weekend, you deserve it!

Marie, you're putting us all to shame! I will have to ask Nikki for some of those special butt-kicks, they seem to really do the job . Re the laundry room: I've been thinking a lot about becoming a homeowner eventually, but what I mostly want is my own washer and dryer. If I had a rental that had those things, I bet I wouldn't care half so much about the other benefits of owning my own place. Isn't that sad?

I had a mini-binge last night, after having some tortilla chips and a small margarita at the reception. I got home after 9PM, hungry, and ate two helpings of chicken and veggies...AND a berry smoothie...AND a Slim-A-Bear ice-cream-like thing. God knows where I put it all. I woke up with a carb hangover. I still can't figure out what that was about, I guess something inside mutineed after so many days on program. Very annoying. I signed up for FitDay, since it looks like I can use it on my Blackberry. Let's see if having a little electronic journal is more motivating than my spiral notebook.

I'm beginning to ramble, the brain is tired....back later. Have a great weekend!

judy

Niki there is nothing wrong with maintaining its actually I think a good way to know your keeping it off. So congrats to you next week most likely it will be a loss. That is an acomplishment sometimes. Our bodies are adjusting to our new wt. as well.
Marie congrats on your loss. You are doing so well. Yes I think things are going okay due to so many demands at the moment.
I am down .5 today and I will take it. Its small but movement and that is good. So I should do a 1/2 of dance Marie around the scale as well?
Judy those things just happen to us. It is the little devil inside us saying we want it all. Once we start its hard to stop but its over so what today is another day and it will be different and better. Good luck and I am sure it will be a better choice day. They say sometimes over doing on one day cutting back the next couple make you lose. Something with our metabolism I guess. Anyways through ww there use to be something called the Dee Dee's diet. I acutally just looked its in my favorites. For some folks it really works well I guess. Check it out on line thats where it came from just do a search if nothing else its interesting. My future son in law and daughter are coming over to help do the touch ups and paint one wall on sunday. We will have another family day of helping. I am so proud of all my children, my son in laws,hubby and friends from Hawaii to NY everyone has helped with this project and it wasn't all that easy. We are so lucky to have a great support system that is for sure.
Take care all I am taking my sister inlaws Christmas and Halloween decor. and repacking them for storage today. There are so many little boxes etc. I bought 5 bins to start and I am going to get it all downsized and maybe misplace a few junkie things. Oh I am so bad! We are all doing fine yesterday she had dinner ready when I returned home from work. Now that was a treat. Well I am going to take my big loss report and run!

Hi everyone, it's been a good weekend. We drove over the mountain to Costco and bought new tires for my little car. Of course we shopped too. Amazing how much $$$ gets donated to my favorite store.

Yesterday I walked 3 miles (WATP) and then walked Costco (a workout in itself). I made a new recipe that I found in Taste of Home advertisement and it was good. I "lite"ened it up and it was really good. Chicken Cheesy Rice Casserole. It had about 350 calories per serving.

Today I did the 1 mile mile Jog two times and the 1 mile Yoga Walk. Then here I am. We plan to take the doggies hiking so another 1.5-2 miles will be added to my spreadsheet. On Tuesday I'll post July and Total miles.

Thursday is my birthday and that might not be a problem diet wise. DH might not be able to get the night off so I shouldn't overeat. I found a recipe for Chocolate Mousse Cake that I'm going to have DH make. Calorie wise it wasn't too bad and it looked delicious.

Well, that's it for now. No big plans for the day except the hike. It's going to be cool today (high of 76) so I might not even float on the pool. I will work on the stained glass for a little while. I might draw some too.

Well, chat with you later.
Marie

Marie your doing so well with your walking. Maybe when my addition is completed and everything settles down I can also get into it. At this time I can't even get to the treadmill.
Happy B day to you. The cake sounds wonderful too! Remember birthdays are just numbers we are as young as we feel.
I found out how to lose 2lbs quickly but it wasn't much fun. I had that awful tummy bug yesterday. I was so sick I was in bed most of the day except for a couple of hours. Everytime I got up it mad me feel worse and then I had to run to the bathroom. I took today off the boss will have to see a client for me and I am missing a meeting. But oh well I really was awful sick not fun! Today I am better and thought I'd see how much I lost down 2lbs. I knew it would be but that kind of loss isn't one that stays gone. I had a couple of poached eggs and a bagel for breakfast so far so good. We are suppose to be in the high 90's on tues... here. I think if I continue to feel better as the day goes on I will relax in the pool next door. Take a book and float around. Marie Costcos is a really nice store we don't have one here but the kids have one in Hawaii and there is one in Canada too. I have been to both of them and enjoy my shopping time and yeah it doesn't take long to drop a few donations there. Well have a good day. I will becareful of my intake today still since yesterday was only fluids and toast. I am feeling better it must be a 24 hr. thing. Hopefully no one else gets it.