Good Morning Ladies,

Well another morning on the treadmill has gone by and I still felt great throughout my 30 minute run. I just keep thinking that my exercise is some how cancelling out all of the food I am eating. I am hungry 24/7, I even wake up at night hungry. And let's just say that some of the things are not that healthy. I did have my first doctor's appointment on Monday all went well, I really love my doctor she is great. They did an ultrasound but couldn't see anything, she said it was still too early. A little disappointing but the next appointment is the first week in May. I did ask her about the exercise and she said to keep doing what I am doing, just if I feel tired or overly hot to stop. She said some of her patients run right up until 38 weeks so I am going to keep going until I feel like I can do it anymore. She did suggest swimming this summer though so I am going to try and do that.

Ladies you all are doing so great so keep up the great job!

Hi everyone,

Well Sno the rate I'm going I'll be around for awhile yet. Yesterday was better than the day before but not by much and today is going alright but I'm still way over what I normally eat. I guess I'm just having a bad month hormonally speaking. I think I'll try low carb tomorrow and see if it helps. It's snowing here again and definately bringing the mood down alittle as well. On the up side congrats for getting the ball or scale rolling down again. Glad your walking again. It's so hard to take it slow but that is the key to success. All winter I've been fighting a battle with my knee. It starts to get better and then I overdo it and can't do anything for a week or two. If you take it slow and increase very slowly there is less down time. I'm just used to being able to what ever I want and I'm just starting to get the go it slow concept. I want to play golf this summer so that is my goal for staying focused as far as the physio goes.

Sorry for the downer note to this post. I'm sure tomorrow will be a better day and for the rest of today salad, salad and more salad.

Dolly you sound like your doing awesome. If you can keep the exercise up you'll probably gain minimal extra weight. I have a friend who is 16 weeks along and weighs one pound less than her start weight. By the time I was 16 weeks I had gained at least 20 LBS each time I got pregnant.

Cheers,

Nina

Just wanted to pop in and say I am still here My scale is stuck on the same number, but yesterday was the last day of my period, so I think I'll start to see some loss now. (According to my calculations, I should be down almost 2 pounds....we shall see)

However, I have lost 3 inches EACH from my chest, waist & hips Since the beginning of the year! And I tried on a pair of size 22 jeans- they fit! Ok, they are tight and make my tummy bulge out over them.....but still- they fit! They make it over my thighs & they zip! I'm hoping to be in them soon, but I'm in 24s now and I am sooooo thrilled with that!

Hi all!

Having a weird slow and draggy period. Eating is good tho I am tempted. Exercise pretty good--no knee exercises today just walking.

Luxor--super congrats on the inches loss--that is so where it counts! Who cares what the scales say if we are down on inches.

Nina: hang in there--I hate the hormone cravings they are really tough. But so are you! Sorry about the knee--and I can relate--you start feeling good and perky and then the next thing you know you are out for the count. Just stay consistent that is the ticket!

Woohoo! Passed my Easter goal by 1/2 pound today and tomorrow is the end of that challenge. Will definetly stay on track today! Now on to the next goal. 5.5 pounds by April 30. I can do that in just over three weeks. With any luck I will pass that! Who am I kidding. The week before that I will be away at a conference where all meals are provided. Will be hard to count colories, but I will do my best to make good choices.

going out for both lunch and dinner today. The fam was going to go for Chinese today but switched to Perkins for me (aren't they sweet). I am going to get my mom to order a chicken breast of the 55 plus menu for me and will order salads as both of my sides and I already have my own dressing packed. For dinner I am having a steak with baked potato (packed my own fat free sour cream) and a side tossed salad again with my own dressing. I went light on the breakfast. Ate the banana skipped the toast. I can do it!

Nicole- WTG!!!! Congrats on beating your Easter Challange! It sounds like you have a great gameplan for today, I know that makes everything soooooo much easier!

Speaking of gameplan, I am armed with loads of great advice from you ladies about my Vegas trip, so here's hoping that I remember to USE it all We leave tomorrow morning And I have the kiddos all packed and ready to go to grandpa's, and hubby is all packed. I'm not packed yet because I had to do another load of laundry so I'd have clothes LOL I am down to 3 pairs of jeans that fit! Might need to stop at the outlet mall on the way and get new duds

I won't get a chance to WI tomorrow morning and report in so I'm using today's weight. And I am glad to say that the scale is moving again It's down to 267

Hope you all have a great day! And a great week!

Congrats to the ladies that are losing and staying on trach even through the Easter Holidays! What inspiration! We DH and I told the rest of the family about the baby and all weekend long people were telling me to eat eat and eat for the baby. Frustrating and I did cave some, but today I am back on my healthy eating plan. I was so tired that I didn't make it to the gym today. After 3 day with 10 people in my house I felt like I needed to sleep in!

Hey gals,

Sorry I have been MIA lately. I am still here. I will catch up with everyone in a bit... Don't think I am going to make it to goal before May 1st. That would mean dropping 14 pounds in 22 days which might be a bit unreasonable.... But I could make it by June 1st!

Good Morning all,

Congrats to all who are doing so well. I finally got TOM yesterday and feel great today. I gained a bit of water weight and I'm sure some chocolate weight as well but only a little bit. I'm goal setting for the last 4 weeks and have officially until May 25 (my 40th b-day) to reach my goals. My weigh loss goal for May 25 is 10 more lbs which will be officially 40lbs lost before I turn 40. I know I can do this in the next 6 weeks. I will try to post daily during the week to keep on track. It really helps to hear how you're all doing and seems to really keep me on track. So have a great week all.

Cheers,

Nina

I was sitting at the breakfast table today and realized that I didn't even have any Easter candy this past weekend. What a miracle and I didn't even miss it! We didn't have any around the house so oh well. I do have to admit that I had a few chocolate chip cookies though. I had a great workout at the gym this morning. When I first started I felt like I was getting a side stitch and only walked for awhile and then it went away and jogged for 20 more minutes. Having trouble with sleeping lately I keep getting up at 3am and can't go to sleep, I wish the gym was 24hr because I would go then and then come home shower nap and then go to work. Everyone have a happy and healthy day!

Holy Batman bad day yesterday. Last night knowing I had a bad day my attitude started getting really crappy. Had a bad day felt like throwing in the towel. This morning, I did my best to record yesterday in fit day to find out just how bad and then I calculated what I need to do for the rest of the week to compensate. Good thing my week starts on Monday. Turns out the compensation will be dooable.

I was really dissapointed yesterday too. I had the bad day because I had company and eventhough I had preplanned my day, I had to offer the company a snack in the afternoon and well I had some snack too. (Cheese and crackers) That isn't the disappointing part. I am still getting to that... My friend and I went shopping last night. She asked about some pants that I bought this summer when she and I were shopping. I told her they don't fit me anymore. She didn't say anything then. When we were shopping she kept complaining about how shirts looked with her jeans. She then mentioned that her jeans were too big. "I just bought them a month ago and now they are too big." I said, "Oh, why have you lost weight because you are now back at work or since you have been sick?" She said a little of both. I mentioned that all of the clothes she bought when we were shopping in the summer must be too big for her now but she said they still fit. She was wearing baggy boxy clothes this summer the jeans she was wearing yesterday are mens jeans so they look like crap on her but to each his own. I digress. So, I was trying on shirts but I kept saying I have no pants to wear with them unless they were jeans, the pants I was wearing or a navy chords. She kept telling me I could wear them with black or brown pants too. I told her repeatedly what I do have and that I currently have a clothing shortage. I told her that my mom has been driving me nuts because she keeps offering me clothes some of which were mine when I weighed 240 pounds 7 years ago and I gave her so I knew they wouldn't fit. If they fit me when I was much larger why would they fit me now especially since I lost 25 pounds. My friend said "You said your pants didn't fit that you bought this summer, you meant they are too big?" Uhhhh yeah they're too big!!! My answer was, "Well I couldn't even pull the pants I am wearing up this summer." What I felt like saying was, "Hello, I fed you fat free ice cream for dessert. At the restaurant I ate a salad with no dressing and I only ate the lettuce and strawberries (left all the nuts and other garnish crap), I have a kitchen scale on my counter. I was size 18 this summer and a 2X.. ia looking at size 15 and XL today. Are you kidding me" All she said was, "Can you have them altered?". She never asked how or why I lost weight. When we got home from shopping her hubby went out to DQ and bought them each a blizzard (which I think they both inhaled. I have never seen Blizzards disappear so fast. A small blizzard has always been a struggle to finish for me. These were mediums for sure) and I said no thank you.

I think this disappoints me so much because this has been a friend of mine for 16 years. She knows how much I have struggled since the prednisone and how much I want to lose the steroid weight. Of all the people in the world, I thought she would notice. It was a not so subtle reminder of how wrapped up in her own little world she has become. My parent's neighbours just got back from spending 5 months in Arizona and she noticed and commented that I lost weight but the person who is supposed to be my closest friend thought I gained!!! Not a good thing for an emotional eater.

Sorry for this beign so long. I think I needed to get this off my chest and I have no place else to vent it. Hopefully now I can put it behind me and not let it discourage me.

Dolly your doing absolutely amazing. I wish I could say no easter chocolate but with three teens who insist they are not to old for an easter egg hunt what can I do!!! The good thing is it disappears pretty fast. Hope your family gets tired of trying to fatten you up and keep up with the workouts. I'm going to the gym tonight no matter how tired I think I am.

Nicker so sorry you friend lacks sensitivity. Sometimes people feel a little threatened by your positive change and subconsiously try to undermine your self confidence because of their own short fallings or they're just clueless. But no matter what though, you made the changes and should feel great about what you've accomplishe so far. Keep it up.

Cheers all,

Nina

Nicker, I am going with 40 on this one. When I started to lose my weight and lost 35lbs. by closest friend really never said anything to me or motivated me. It was dissappointing to me as well because I thought I could lean on her for support. Instead she just tried to get me to eat fattening foods with her and lots of ice cream as well. I finally understand that she was and still is jealous of my weightloss. I have tried to encourage her because she should lose a lot more than me but she has no interest which is fine with me. I understand though how the lack of support and encouragement can be hard though. You have done fabulous and keep up the work! Yesterday was yesterday and today is a new day!

Good to hear from everyone---I have had the worst period ever--five days of bleeding and pain and bloat. I totally caved on sunday and had a choco feast. working on getting back on track. I guess we have 4 more weeks on this challenge but of course we will have another challenge after this--I need all the help I can get ladies!!

The good news is that I had a long talk with the hubby re; weight and we decided to go on a plan together--he likes south beach because his buddy is on it. So we are going to read it together and start on Sunday--he has agreed to buy no more sweets or bread. I think this will really help me to have an in-house buddy. It can sabotage me so easily when he is chowing down on toast and candy.

Nicker: great job on reaching your goal! I am so proud. You are right conference are really hard--my only successful one was where I researched local restaurants and spent the extra to take myself out to eat foods that were on my plan--I cant handle the buffet with restraint.
As for your friend--sometimes when you change other people cant handle it. Or they take some time to get used to it. It can really hurt when you have invested a lot of time with someone and they cant be happy for you when you succeed. Time will tell is she is really the friend you thought she was or if she was only a binge buddy!!

Luxor--have a great trip--Vegas will be a great break for you. And congrats on the weight loss!

Aimin: thanks for checking in--I missed you! The important thing is to keep on track and keep going! Keep up with us.

Nina: you have been doing so great--congrats on the total 30 lbs weight loss--you must be so happy! And another ten by your birthday--you should give yourself a spa day for your new fabulous bod!! Keep it going and I look forward to your daily posts.

Evening Chicks,

Sno it's great to have a partner especially one you're living with. I bet you'll both do really well on south beach. It's a very healthy low carb plan. Some times half the battle is getting all the challenging food out of the house. I know I can't get rid of all the junk as my family would go into withdrawl but I've cleaned up the cupboards pretty well lately.
This week is going great for me. I'm back at the gym regularly and my knee is improving daily. I was able to use an exercise bick yesterday for the first time in 6 months. I'd really like to be able to do spin classes again and hit the mountain bike trails this summer so my fingers are crossed.
Eating is right back on track and most of the water weight I gain last week is gone.

I've been drinking two cups of green tea each day and added ground flax seed to my soups and salads. I'm taking apple cider vinegar twice a day and a few other weird thing in an attempt to get really get the scale moving. I read a book called Fat Flush Foods and all these things are suppose to help with detox and weight loss. I'll let you know how it goes. I can never seem to stick to any one form of weight loss for more than a month before I get bored and have to try something new. I guess it doesn't matter as long as the weight keeps dropping.

Cheers,

Nina