YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You are my hero!!!!
You must feel wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Tardy! You deserve it!!! Keep it up, you are a motiviation for the rest of us. Take care and God Bless.

Ty! Ty! Ty!

I have my heros out here too, lol...Kami, Jen, Pray, and Susie. All of you are my heros too. Because of your successes and struggles I find the strength to keep myself motivated too.

I'm nervous now, lol! I thought...gosh...48 lbs. still to go to reach ONE-derland...then I had to stop myself and say,hey! When this all started it was 121 lbs. to go to see that, so stop yourself right now! But I know the lower I get in weight the harder I'm going to have to work, and I'm scared. So I'm sure I'll be posting quite a bit finding my strength in all of you.

I posted my second short-term goal of 220. That puts my 27 lbs. outside of it. I'd like to see that goal by X-Mas. So we'll see how that goes. Once I get there...omg!!!! My next short-term goal will be...dare I say it...199!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never thought I'd even dream of the day when I would put that number down as a weight-loss goal!

Well I'm off to walk the steps (down 14 flights and then back up). Then I'm walking at lunch so that I get my exercise in for the day...48 lbs...48 lbs...I really want that bad!

Have a great day ladies!

Tardy: You look wonderful girl! I can tell a difference in those pictures. Keep up the good work! You and I weigh the same now. I'm in this race right beside you!

I weighed in last night at TOPS and I had lost a 1/2 a pound. I'll take it! It's been a hard week for me with the IC flare. Thank goodness it went away on Wed. afternoon.

I see my URO on Monday and I'm thinking about asking him about a antidepressent called Elvial (I think I spelled it right). I'm not sure I want to take it; I've heard it can cause weight gain. But it's suppossed to help with the frequency (which is what bothers me the most and if I give into it, I start having pain). I don't know...to many decisions! I just wish I didn't have IC.

I'm going out with a girlfriend tonight. We have tickets to see Rick Springfield (that dates me doesn't it! ) Then we are going out dancing. It's been so long since I've been out like that; I didn't have a thing to wear. I bought something new. It's ok...but I sure wish I was below 200. Wishing won't get me there, so I better get off this computer and get in my daily exercise.

Have a good day everyone.

Susie

Mornin'
I go to TOPS too.I did well with it at first but then I realized I needed more. I go for the weigh ins.i have made some good friends there too. I am not as open because I live in this community with those people. It is better for me to do this. I am more real.
I am still quite sick.It makes it harder to be active and positive but I am trying.
I have had problems with a parent I sit for and today I asked about getting paid.She is 4 weeks behind.She thought she might ask her husband if she could borrow it.It is just so different than how we live. They are married, living together,they both have jobs that make GOOD $$.Our children and paying our living expenses totally come first.
It makes me feel so unvalued.I have given them notice.I cant wait for the end.This has been a big part of me getting right with myself. I tend to keep at things long after I should. Part stubborn...part just not wanting to let others or myself down.
We have a nice weekend planned. I hope this bug goes away.Both kids are going for sleepovers and we are going to a friends cottage.

Susie~ have a great time tonight!! We must be close in age. I had Rick Springfeild posters in my room.

Susie - TY so much! Yes you and I are running the race together now! Up until now I felt like I'd never see 199 again, but now I don't know. Things are finally feeling like I may have a chance! I'm so sorry you haven't been feeling well. Keep researching your choices, maybe there is something else that can work just as well without the weight gain as a side effect. Be nice to find one in the opposite direction. CONGRATS on the weight loss! I love Rick Springfield too, in fact...I wanna be Jesse's Girl! Have a blast tonight and take advantage of the dancing as an opportunity to exercise! Shed a few pounds for both of us!

Holly - Keep trying Holly. I've found many of us are suffering here emotionally and physically. I suffer from Hasimoto's Thyroiditis, so that destroys my metabolism and gives me a goiter (swelling bump) in my neck. All in all it makes weight loss a real struggle for me. Sorry to hear about the problems you're having with one of the parents. Keep strong! Sometimes doing the right thing hurts. You deserve respect for the care you provide them and their child and we all know daycare is much more expensive and not as personal! Have a great weekend and try not to think about any of the bad stuff. It sounds like you deserve a break!

Have a great weekend ladies if I don't talk to you all before then!

Tardy I know you will do this and if you need us we will be here for you.

Holly-hang in there. I have a favorite saying I usually quote my friend Starr-"This too shall pass". Just keep saying that.

Good night and God Bless.

Thanks ladies!
I am feeling rested today. I still didn't get paid but I am NOT going to sweat it. I have done all I can to make this right for me. Now it is about waiting.
I have found this whole weight loss journey of the last 8 weeks to be very emotional. There have been all kinds of things creep up.There have been many ups as well as downs.It isa nice to feel connected and to let stuff go.Thereis a part of me that is very lonely.I am incredibly busy but very little is about me, so doing this has helped me feel more real.

Angel~ I am in that race right with you too.I wuld love to ge to 220 and then onederland!!!! WOW ~ and it IS scary.

Thanks~Pray

Have a glorious day!

Hello Holly. Anne Frank wrote in her diary that even though she was surrounded by family, aunts, uncles, etc. she was still lonely. Sometimes we can be with a lot of people and still be lonely, it may be because we don't connect with any of them, I remember taking painting lessons a few months ago, and I knew the teacher since childhood but knew no one else in the class and it was a small class and there were more or less 4 other ladies and myself and I just felt out of place, why I don't know? Some were divorced so I could not relate to them, some were not that devout in their faith, so I could not relate to them either, so I just didn't feel like I belonged, so you are with little ones all day and you just feel alone in the world and that is understandable, is it possible for you to join a group, like TOPS or Weight Watchers? TOPS would probably be cheaper, but if not you have us and we will be her for you. God Bless you honey.

Thanks Pray!
I go to TOPS but find that we are a small community and I feel very self conscious talking about personal stuff. I like this forum so much better.The weigh ins help to be accountable. We had a lovely weekend. Both kids were at sleepovers(Grandma and Auntie).Hubby and I went to a cottage with my old highschool friends. It turned out to be what I needed.We only get together a couple of times a year but it fulfilled the emptiness I was feeling.Hubby and I enjoyed driving, listening to tunes, stopping here and there.We have only ever been alone 3 times since my son was born 5 1/2 years ago.
My eating wasn't bad, not sure if it was great.I am very hungry today but i am eating healthy.
I ended up at emerg last night because of a bad painful rash I have had since FRi. Apparently I have been into some poison ivy. Can you say ITCHY!
My cold is better.....there is always something,LOL!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a positive OP week.

Holly.. The only time I ever caught poison ivy was when I was 8 months pregnant with my son, talk about a miserable pregnant lady! That was a long time ago, my son is 27 and I still have nightmares of that rash. I think that having a date with your husband is a good thing, sometimes we as parents get so wound up being parents that we forget what life was like before marriage and kids. You and hubby should try and make more dates it would be good for both of you. Glad your cold is better. When I was going to TOPS our group had over 150 members, it was really to big of a group, you tend to get lost in the crowd. It's been a few years since I have been, got real burned out. So I hope you have a blessed evening.

Hi Holly and Pray

It's good to see that you guys have been posting.

I allowed myself to get to busy the past few days and I didn't make time to get here. I miss the board, so I need to make sure I make time for it.

Hope everyone else is doing well out there and I hope we will see everyone back on the board soon.

I know I miss seeing everyone post!

Hi Everyone,
I've been doing very well with my weight loss efforts but I've got some changes coming up that I'm afraid that I'll "get off the wagon".

The first change is that I've been put on a medicine to help me with some of my IC symptoms. It's an antidepressant called Elavil and it is known to cause weight gain. I won't be taking the dosage that they give for depression. It's not for that, it's to help with the "frequency" feeling I get from the IC. I guess it interfers with the nerve activity that causes this feeling. I'm hoping to get a lot of relief from it. I've read good things about it in that formum, but I don't want the weight gain.

I talked to my doctor about it and he said the drug doesn't actually cause the weight gain, but the fact that you feel better so you want to eat.

On the plus side of this is that there are a lot of things I can't eat due to the IC, or they will cause me to have a flare, but I just want the accountability to a group that I won't overeat.

I'm asking for support and for guidence during this.

Also, I start back to school parttime in a month and that's going to cut into my workout time. So far, I've planned a way so that I only miss one of my regular workouts.

I've just done so well this past year and I don't want to gain anything back. I want to keep losing.

Thanks guys for letting me put this in writing and I know that I can count on your help.

Susie

(((hug, Susie))))))

It is worth trying if it helps you feel better. Hopefully with your awareness the weight gain wont happen. You HAVE done so well.Once school starts you might be able to squeeze in your workouts.Change is always so hard(at least for me). One day at a time!!!!

I am feeling well today, over the virus and I had a good sleep. I am still adjusting to that family not being here.I am de stressing I suppose. my eating has really good.I am not getting any extra exercise right now but it will come. Using a pedometer ,I average 9-13000 steps a day just in my daily routine and I do a lOT of heavy gardening.I may get back to Yoga next month.
4 of the kids are at bible school every morning this week. It is very nice for all of us.

Holly,
Thanks for the hugs and the support. You are so right when you say change is hard; even if you are excited about it, it still affects our lives.

I'm glad you are feeling better. And I'm glad that you were able to get rid of one of the stressors in your life.

As for the exercising, it sounds like you are just trying to be aware that you are moving and that's important too.

I think that the reason that most of us have failed time and time again at our weight loss effort is because we try to do to much at once. We try to change to much to soon, or to take on doing to many things differently instead of picking one or two things and then working on those until they have just come to be a part of our lives. That's how we make good changes.

Stick in there girl...I'm right there too!

WE ALL CAN DO THIS!!
Susie