Good Morning Ladiess,

Just time for a quick note this morning. I got on the scales and it was down 3 pounds this morning!! YEA!!! I'll be back later to write more and see how everyone is doing. Right now I'm going to go !!

Take care and hope everyone has a good day! Karen

Wow, this is a busy group....it's great.

I got to lower my ticker one more lb., slowly but surely. I am now 189 and looking forward to the 170's which I haven't seen in about 3 yrs.

Welcome to all the new members,Openheart, MaryAnn and Big Momma.

Belated Happy Birthday to Lynn (great photos), and Ella, hope your day was GREAT. I will try to post some photos soon.

Cheryl you are doing so good with all the weight you have lost, Congrats. I seem to need more sleep than my dh but usually about 9 hrs.

JoAnne we all have days and feel just as you did, I am glad your not giving up. Diet Rite soft drinks have hardly anything in them even no sodium. My weight can fluctuate up to 3 lbs. real easy.....watch the salt and the hidden sodium in your drinks and food. Do you drink 8 glasses of water??? I try!!!

Karen, I have had the small packs of popcorn but I am just trying to give up night time snacking period. Some nights I do well others I might have a small handfull of pretzels, the mini ones (yes, I know SALT). Your stroller for the dogs is too cute!!!!!

Gosh so many posts that I know I have missed several of you....Sorry but I'll try to get everyone next time.

Everyone have a good week-end, off to clean house and do my 1 mile WTPO DVD.

Phyllis

Congrats on the 3 pounds Karen!!!!

Phyllis

Hah! The sun is FINALLY shining around here, and it was 60 degrees out when I left the house this morning at 7:30. IT felt soooo good, driving in to work needing SUNGLASSES for the first time in I don't KNOW how long... Oh, I'm just LOVING this, ladies...Ella is a happy ole' chick today.

The "formal" gala in celebration of my birthday is Saturday evening at my daughter's house. JUMBO shrimp sciampi over brown rice...(did I spell that right?????), tossed garden salad and fresh strawberries with chocolate redi-whip (wif' a candle in each individual dish )....perfect menu for us fahchiks, eh? I swear, I had a close friend in college whose grandmother spoke Yiddish, and whenever I think of the phrase "fat chicks" it turns into "Fahchiks", which sounds kind of foreign and exotic, don't you think? (Oh, I know that's a piece of totally irrelevant information, but I do SO love both the irreverent AND the irrelevant.... and this, of course, is aimed primarily at our dear Lynn, who probably enjoys playing with the language as much if not more than I do, which isn't to say that others don't, and I hope you do...and hey...isn't this a really GREAT example of a run-on sentence, Lynn???? ) Yep, folks, the sun is shining, my Seasonal Affective Disorder is in remission, and I am finding EVERYTHING (even my own pitiful attempts at humor) absolutely hilarious!!!!

Karen, one of these days, I'm going to go back to your post with the instructions about how to attach pictures, and then I'm GOING TO ATTACH some!!! (As soon as I take some; it never occurred to me to take pictures of my HOUSE before, and really, it's not all that special - but I'll snap a few off if people are interested. As for the garden, I think we might need to wait a few months on that so that things will be in full bloom. Right now, there's a lot of dried up stalks and stems and dead weeds that need cleaning out, which we'll HAVE to do soon <sigh> but in a few month's time, we'll all still be here, and know each other even better, and you all can say, "Oh, look at that pretty Zen garden that Ella and her DH have just allowed to get all overgrown and dilapidated..." That picture of Pike's Peak out your front door is absolutely gorgeous, Karen! But, if you have snow sometimes in July, I'm going to stick to the view out MY front door - the house across the street!!! (It's a perfectly nice house!!! ) Give those Pom-babies a scratch behind the ears for me!

Bobbi! I'm going to go to WalMart this very weekend and look for those Flat Outs!!!! Those little recipes sound absolutely YUMMY!!!! These Massachusetts WalMarts had BETTER have them, too, or I'm going to file a complaint! When I was down at my sister's in NC last summer, she used to buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts frozen in a big jumbo bag made by Tyson Foods. You could do all SORTS of things with them! I looked high and low when I got back home, and couldn't find them anywhere! Of course we can get good steak up here, and the steak they have in the markets down there stinks, but it's still not an even trade-off as far as I'm concerned.

Jay, you stick with it, girl....we'll catch up with the rest of these gals...you just "weight" and see!!!! I'm thinking I'll start weighing in a little less frequently, too....once a month is probably about right. Some days when I get up, I think about jumping on the scale, but so far, I've been able to talk myself out of it.

Well, I'm at work now, and have a lot to get done so that I can skip off at 4:00 without feeling too guilty, so I'd better cut this short.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes...those were so nice to get. Can we post all of our birthdays, maybe, so that we'll all know in advance and can be sure to send baloons or something?

Phyllis, Paula, Cheryl, Theresa, Openheart, Big Momma and Mary Ann...I just love this group of ours!!!!! I want to say something to each of you new friends, and will...we've got all the time in the world, right? Have a wonderful day, all... and enjoy the sunshine if you've got some today. If not, Here's a little from me...

TTFN,

Ella

I'm down another pound this morning. I'm finally past my pre holiday weight. Now if I can be good this weekend and not gain I'll be happy.

I went to the cemetery this morning to celebrate my mom's birthday. She would have 84 today. She passed away 20 years ago this coming July. Every year my daughter and I go to the cemetery and take cupcakes for us to share. I always leave one for my mom on her headstone.

Lynn- What do you think about the boys looking alike?

Cheryl- I love black raspberries. We used to have a bunch of bushes when I was growing up. We would go out and eat them right off the bush. YUM and blackberry cobbler with ice cream. We have some growing on the other side of our fence that I sneak and pick. The neighbors don't bother with them. I think they are wild and they are behind the garage and no one ever goes back there. I just discovered them last year.
My troublesome spots are my bellies. You know the one above the waist line and the one below. Other than those 2 areas I'm not terribly upset with my body. I HATE crunches too! I butt is a little large, but isn't that the style these days? LOL

Karen- WOW 3 pounds. That is great.

Phyllis- Another pound gone!!!

Ella- The is shining here today too. 60s today and tomorrow. The older grandsons are going camping the with Boy Scouts this weekend so I was expecting . It rains every time they camp.
WOW, you are having quite a celebration for your birthday.

Hello again! Karen! Wow! Three pounds! Phyllis! One pound! Paula! One pound! Congratulations, you wonderful people, you! (You GO, girlies!!!) Me n' Jay aren't gonna weigh so often, are we, Jay? Check in with us a month from now, and hopefully, we'll have something to report. (That's if we can stay away from the scale. It's an awful temptation, isn't it? And it's LOVELY if you have a loss, but really, really disgusting when you don't.

DH is getting me a mountain bike for my birthday. I'm also getting HIM one for his, even tho his isn't 'til August. But we thought it would be fun (and healthy) to go bike-riding after work and on weekends...there's a beautiful park less than a mile from our house with a big pond and bike paths and picnic areas. Now that the days are longer, we can go after supper and still be home before dark. (Well, maybe in a couple more weeks....) Anyway, we're going bike shopping tomorrow morning. I can't wait.

TTFN,

Your buddy,

Ella

Hi everyone - I will be back later for congrats and complete catch up. I am off from work today and heading out to walk the dog -- YAY!!!

Ella -- you and I can be the once a month girls -- whether we want to or not LOL. I just bought myself a bike a couple of weeks ago -- so far I haven't tried it yet but certainly looking forward to it. LOL my son is an avid and I mean AVID mountain biker -- so he laughed (not too hard) at my $150 bike - his bikes are in the $2000 and up range -- but he needs that for his racing.

Ok will be back later I know there are congrats in order -- love this group!!!

Hello Girls

Welcome Sharon

Been a busy day for me so far, Still need to go walk a little.
I started at Curves. 8 a.m.
By 9:30 was home from the farmers market with a trunk full of goodies. Well not really full, till I had to carry it all in.

((I did weigh in today At Curves. down 3 pounds!!! Not changing the ticker till Mondays weigh in. Just in case.
I guess I was doing better than I thought. Just need to get some patience!
I am not a patient person about the weight.)) That means I got my first 11 pounds.

spent a while putting it away and cutting veggies for today. My hubby is eating more salads with me. that is a good thing. He could loose about 10-15 himself. (Not that i would tell HIM that)

Spent about 1/2 hr. switching calorie counts from Diet facts.com to fitday.
it is so neat... You can just find your food.. if its there. and Click a link to add it to fitday! I love it. saves me alot of time.
Any way... they have the calories for...get this.. a postage stamp!

Cheryl
Sounds like we have a lot of the same problem areas... accept I don't have the leg problem. Mine are chicken legs. And white as a ghost.


mmmm Black raspberries mmm Love them. I get the frozen berries and put in my yogurt. Its like a dessert. fat free.

Paula
Thats me! Never thought of it that way. Now I have to work extra hard!

Ella
the sun is out here too. still chilly right here by the lake shore. brrr. cold winds. Love that sunshine though!

Ella, a new mountain bike, How lovely. Wish my knees would let me ride one.

well I have to go get on the treadmill.
see ya later.

I posted in another thread and was kindly redirected here so I have copied and pasted the post here as well. I have also started a diet blog so I am really trying hard this time.

Hello
I am hoping to get some ideas and support here. I live in England with my husband and enjoy, reading, cooking, learning new things making ArtistTrading cards and love gardening.
I am 53 and have lots of problems one being a whopping 179.2 pounds I am 5feet 2 inches.
I have tried diets since I was 18 and have always lost weight only to gain it back plus extra.
Now I am in real trouble and need to lose weight. I have osteo arthritis in my lower back, both hips, both knees, both hands and now have Plantar Facsiitis in my left foot. This makes walking really painful all the time, on top of this little lot I have dizzy spells that have no pattern.
I really do need some ideas as I have run out of them and could do with some inspiration.
I know I sound miserable and at the moment I am as I was told I have to lose weight but the Dr. is not being very helpful. I am on a very low income and joining things like WW or other slimming clubs is not within my budget. The dietician comes around to the Health Centre once in three months.

At present I am eating smaller portions and doing my best to exercise by walking. Before you ask I cannot swim and have a terrible fear of the water. I feel like a lost cause at the moment and very fed up as you can probally tell.
Sory to sound so negative and miserable but can anyone offer some ideas and a little encouragement please?
__________________

You can do it!!!! I just know you can!!!! Sorting through all the info out there is time consuming to be sure. Try the book "YOU on a Diet", it has a lot of great information to help you on your way. Also I picked up a cook book today "the 3 HOUR DIET Cookbook" by Jorge Cruise. The pictures look so delicious, the nutrition content of each recipe is packed full of great stuff. The food cravings can be expected to kick in every 3 hours, so if you eat a little bit of the good stuff you can stave off the hungries, feel full, and sail through the day. Go Wulfcwen Go!!!! We're here to watch & cheer your progress.

Hello Ladies!!

Well, it was a busy day here sort of!! I didn;t get done near what I had planned to do BUT do we ever??

Thank you all for the congrats!!! I really like seeing the scale go down but know that next week it may not move at all! It seems like that is the way that it kind of works for me. I'd really love to see that every week!!

I was wondering if any of you have tried to make bread with a salt substitute? I have a bread maker and haven't bought bread from the store in probably 10 years! But Tim really needs to do low sodium for his blood pressure and I am trying to figure out if that would work in the bread maker. Any ideas?

Phyllis-- Congrats on the 1 pound!! That is so great and every pound that comes off makes us closer to our goal. Sometimes it is just so darn hard to be patient!!

Happy belated birthday to you Lynn!! I don't know how I missed that before!! Sorry about that. I hope you had a great day!!

Paula and Cheryl, You are making me so hungry for Blackberries!! I can remember as a very young girl going with my Grandma and picking fresh blackberries out of the garden and she would make the best blackberry cobbler ever!!! Lots of good memories there.

Ella and Jayjay--- that is so neat about the bikes!! I'd love to get one too. But then I would have to find away to put a Bike seat on there for Ginger and Sissy!! I wonder if I could rig up a basket of some kind on the front?? I might have to do some thinking on that one.

Theresa, it sounds like you have had a busy day too! WE had sun here all day today but the wind was still chilly. I filled our bird bath today and had several birds stop in to use it. But I dumped it tonight since it still freezes here overnight. I can't wait for the hummingbirds to come back!! I love watching them! And Congrats to you on the 3 pound loss too!! Doesn't it feel good to see that? I really think that walking can really make the difference.

Sharon Welcome to our little group here. After hearing you and Paula talk about the Red Hats I may just have to do soem checking into that and see what is around here close. You all sound like you have a good time.

Wulfcwen, Glad that you found your way over here. I'm sure that some of the others here will also have some good information for you. Spend some time checking out some of the diet plans here and I'm sure that things will really start working out for you. Just come back often, read and post and post some more! Here is some to hel you get started.

moxiesd. Welcome to you too I know you will be happy that you have come to this place. So much information and support. I'm so glad that I found it. It really helps to have someone to go to and talk about things that others who aren't on this same journey jsut don't understand.

Well, I'm sure that I have probably missed some but I apolgize. I will try to do better in the future. I hope everyone has a good night and a wonderful weekend. Karen

Great having you join our new little group of FABULOUS FIFTY "Golden Girls'!!!

Sharon- my husband is either up most of the night working on some project OR (most often) conked out on the couch by 6:30PM! He slept FIFTEEN HOURS last night and into the morning! I went to sleep at midnight and was up at 5AM. I don't know how anyone could sleep for FIFTEEN HOURS! I get fifteen hours sleep in THREE DAYS! I'm losing weight for MY son's wedding, too! I have this beaded top on my mother-of-the-groom-dress that has tight arms. I bought it smaller so that I would stay motivated to have it fit better. I tried it on yesterday and found that I am making progress! I know what you mean about "distractions" to weight loss. I had an EIGHT-MONTH-LONG plateau that was caused by distraction after distraction I am afraid!! Congratulations on your 73 pounds lost! May you never FIND those pounds ever again!

Wulfcwen- Walking is a GREAT exercise! I lost my first 50 pounds by walking daily. I still walk frequently and have added other exercising, too. I have osteoarthritis, too, mostly in my knees, hips, and shoulders. I have found that staying active, doing yoga and Pilates, and working with my exercise ball all have helped me a lot. Walking helps, too. I stretch and stay hydrated as well as take Arthritis Strength Tylenol as needed. The weather plays a part in how stiff I am when I wake up in the morning. I have trouble sitting or standing in one place for very long, so I tend to keep moving to lessen the ache. I'm eating smaller portions, too. I'm trying to eat really good foods that are nutritious.

Cheryl

Thank you to everyone for the encouraguing comments I will keep coming back and will look through the diets etc as well.

Karen 31 Yes I have made bread with salt substitue in a bread maker, it works fine just use the same amount of substitue as you would salt. I have lowered my blood pressure to normal just by cutting out salt and using salt sub instead.

Cheryl14 I love walking and really wish my huband would as well that way we could go a walk together, but he cannot as his back is too painful after a few minutes walking. I plan to walk on the spot when adverts come on during a programme. I love gardening so that will help as well. I am sorry that you have osteo arthrtis as well it is not much fun is it especially on cold or wet days.

Moxiesd That book sounds good I will have to try and see if I can get it. Eating little and often seems a good way to go I will have to give it a try. I find the evenings are the worst as I 'want' something to eat. I am not hungry I just 'want' it is really silly as I know I am not hungry maybe I should try having a glass of water when that happens.

Good morning, all....day 2 of sunshine here. Yay, yay, and more yay! I have a busy day ahead (again! What happened to restful, relaxing weekends?????) - haf' to drop my car off to have the muffler fixed. I can't complain. I put @ 600 miles a week on that puppy what with my commute and all...and she's three years old. This is the first repair I've had to do. Now, DH will be talking about trading her in before the mileage gets WAY too high, and as usual, I won't want to. (I have a hard time with change... I get attached to my cars and know all their little quirks and ideosyncrasies - just like they know mine - and giving them up is painful.)

And, of course we are going to buy me the mountain bike. AND, hopefully, get in a little ride on it this afternoon. AND do some grocery shopping. AND tonight is the birthday gala at DD's. I sure will be sleeping in tomorrow morning!

Jay! Your son's bikes cost $2,000???? Omigawd!!!! The $150 range sounds about right for me. Of course, I have no intentions of racing mine. I'll consider myself lucky if I can stay upright on the danged thing for an hour or so! And Karen, I'm sure you could get a basket for those adorable little Pom-babies of yours. After all, they make baby-carriers. But I don't know about YOU out there riding a bike where the wolves might chase after you. I think I'd be less worried if you just stuck to your video-walking. Do it for US, Karen! We don't want to lose a Golden Girl!!!!

Welcome, Sharon! Sounds like you fit right in here. Make sure you keep posting, you hear? Our inquiring minds like to know what's going on with everybody!

Congrats on the 3 pound loss, Theresa!!!! Way to GO, girlie!!!! Keep up the good work!!!

Cheryl, Omigosh! You are REALLY dropping those pounds, aren't you??? I don't really have a "challenge", exactly...I mean, no date or event that I'm trying to lose for. I'm just sick of my klutzy self, and would like to age a little more "gracefully", you know? Well, my DS will be back for a visit in June - and I would like to look a little better by then, but he would love me even if I didn't. (I THINK... ) So, the challenge that I'm working on, I guess, is just the challenge of feeling better about myself and getting healthier so that I'll be around for a while to see my grandkids grow.

Paula, that's a lovely tradition that you have on your Mum's birthday. It's wonderful that you keep her so close in memory. She must have been a wonderful mother. I guess we'd all like to think that when we're gone, our children will remember us with that kind of love.

Lynn, I guess you must be busy with those demanding students of yours. I've never taught, but I've had student interns, and they are SO needy....jeesh! But I hope we hear more from you soon!

Hiya Phyllis...hope you're having a good day! I always enjoy reading your posts.

Mary Ann!!!! Ten pounds!!!!!! Wowie Zowie!!!! GREAT job!!!! Keep up the good work!!!!

Hiya Openheart. How's it going? Let us know, girlie!

Welcome, Wulf...sorry to hear about your troubles. I have a pinched nerve in my right leg that makes walking a bit of a challenge, but there are exercises you can do lying down...even sitting....I think you can probably find what you need on the 'net. Don't worry...I won't tell you to swim. I'm not afraid of water, but nobody's going to catch ME in a bathing suit, trust me!!!

Bobbi, Bobbi, Bobbi....I ALWAYS look for your posts!!!!! I need an update, lady!!!! Getting flat outs today, or I will be believe me! We have sun!!!! Did I already mention that???? SUN!!!! Yay!!!!!! (I refuse to look out into our back yard. I just KNOW it's calling me to get out there and clean up the old dead weeds and stuff. UGH!!! I'd rather ride me bicycle, yanno???)

Okay, now that I've bored y'all to tears <yawn> I'm going to eat my Fiber One cereal with blueberries & skim milk, and THEN I have to get moving.

Take good care all, and keep up the great work!!!!

TTFN,

Ella