Hi everyone, not much going on today -- just staying on plan, and planning on tennis class and maybe some light toning tonight.

Yesterday, I was meeting my folks for dinner, and on an impulse I ran to their place (they live one city away, 4.5 miles) instead of driving, that felt good--I also felt GREAT not succumbing to Mom's tempting offer of cheesecake, settling instead for a square of hi-quality dark chocolate.

And yea, all this hair talk is out of my league, haha -- I tell my hair person to do the same thing every time "take off 2 months' worth of hair and give me a low-maintenance look" I am tempted to dye/highlight in July though, got 2 boxes sitting at home waiting to be used

I fell for the temptation of muffins at work today. They were small .... both of them
I'd better go to fitday and see what's up.

"If hunger is not the problem, then eating is not the solution."

I just put this on my fridge - it's great! I'm starting to use it as my mantra whenever I feel the urge to eat from anything but hunger.

Please thank your friend Vicki for me.

Am dogsitting again. Big house with a spa hot tub and a salt water pool. Just steamed and massaged myself for 20 mintues and then floated in the pool to cool down. Skinny dipped last night - AWESOME! And I'm in downtown (almost) Toronto!

Will sleep like a well-fed dog tonite.

Dagmar

Hair: I wish I could come up with a different style too. My problem is that my hair is stick straight, flat, and thin; it requires a lot of blow-drying with a round brush to make it look the way it does in my picture. That Ellen Barkin hair-style looks easy but for my lifeless hair, it would require a lot of product and a lot of blow-drying, probably with at least two different sized round brushes. The other day, I was wondering how much of my life I've wasted blow-drying my hair (and let's not even think about the amount of money spent on hair product). Hand-eye coordination isn't really my thing, so I'm not very good at it. When I leave my stylist, my hair always looks great and she does all sorts of really cool things with it--sometimes similar to the Ellen Barkin style but without the bangs. But after I wash it and style it myself, I'm always back to the same old same old because I'm just so uncoordinated I can only manage the one style. All this product makes my hair really sticky and gross when I work out, cause I sweat so much my hair gets completely soaked through. Sigh...

Planning: I have to admit that I've always been a planner. I was planning out our weekly dinner menus for years before I ever started counting calories. Heck, before my SO and I even lived together, I planned our dinners on the weekends. How do you know what to buy at the grocery store if you don't plan out meals for the week? I pretty much only have ingredients on hand for the things I am going to make that week; there wouldn't be much to eat around here if I didn't plan.

Mudpie: That dogsitting gig sounds awesome (except for the dog part, that is ).

Cuppa: It's true; we're in control. It is helpful to remind myself of that once in a while.

Good morning!

Barbara asks a wonderful question about food shopping. Whenever someone talks about being obsessed with food ... I wonder ... I have always been thinking about what to make next. You pretty much have to plan to feed a family, right?

I have stick straight thin blonde hair. My mom tried for years, when I was little, to put ribbons in it. Correction - one ribbon. No matter what she did it would slip out in about 2 minutes.

I've done perms, any type of product you can imagine, pin curls (yes I'm that old), blow drying, and after 5 minutes it reverts back to stick straight etc.

So about 20 years ago I just gave up and went for the short pixie cut - just like I had for the first 6-7 years of my life. My hair styling takes about 5 minutes from wet from the shower to done. No appliances, minimum product.

With so many other things to do in life, why worry about hair?

Dagmar

Hi guys! Sorry I have been MIA. It's been so busy around here...my head is spinning from all the directions I'm being pulled in!!

Well, I haven't been eating the greatest... but my scale is still at 136 so I'm okay with that. Of course I want it to go down but I can't expect it to if I eat M&Ms for dinner.

I am headed to the Y in a bit to do my cardio!! And then I have a day of running around... I am taking my Girl Scouts camping tonight!! It should be fun fun fun!!

I plan on drinking lots of water and hiking and hopefully not sitting on my butt

BARB-- thanks for that recipe! I will try it. Do you cut the sausage into little pieces??

Lose a pound, gain 3 back. I can't seem to win. I've been running about 5 days a week, which is a considerable increase in the amount of exercise I do, but I go off the diet plan (which is to say, slightly watching what I eat), and I gain, gain, gain again.

I know it's my fault and I should go on an official 'diet', but what I eat isn't so bad, I just overeat in the evenings. I'm no good at keeping track, but I know when I'm doing it and just don't stop myself.

On the plus side, I am getting a nice toned butt and legs.

PS. I just noticed my short term goal ticker and realized there's no way I'm going to lose 8 pounds in the next two weeks. This will make the 3rd time I have to change the ticker title without meeting the goal. I cannot seem to get started no matter how I try. I'm still right around where I was back in April when I joined here, which is the same as in January when I made my failed NY resolution. Why can't I get started??? I've made changes!!

HI sorry I have been MIA were to begin. Micheilan Woman I am built just like you with 33 inch inseam on 5'6" I am 134 today so bettter.

The teeth deal my sister accidentally helped me break out my front teeth when I was 16 so I have been very close with the denitists since then to date 4 caps and 3 root canals and two gumn surgeries for horseing around.

The hair thing, I was in a mood and let my 14 yr old DD cut me bangs, was long lenths to the middle of my back , lt red and wavy/curly. She closed her eyes when she did the first cut !!! Not good told her it definatley was not her thing she should concentrate on school. lol SOOO I have funky bangs thick I am growing out but my face looks alot rounder now. Will facew framing help ???

I sat for LSAT Law School Aptitude Test Monday. That is why I have been busy. 6 hrs total. OF sitting the worst for me and the bumb back and leg. Got through it hope I did well will have results in a mind bending 3 weeks. I am applying for Masters since I am still laid up. Waiting tick tick tick.

Healthwise....started on Nuerotin about 2wks ago. It is like a God send . Was a little speepy dizzy @ first but it is taking almost all the pain away, I feel like i may be heeling up. I can do noramal chores. I am taking it slow and doing exersize !!!!!!! I walked a mile w/ my friend the other night , I was sooo sore the next day but I am gogin to work on keepingit up. My muscles are just so aptrophied. I got in the acciedednt in Augaust 06. Thisis the first thing that has helped. Horrrayyyy!!!!


Question 2 I am internal cleansing / colon cleansing, I am using whole body cleanse. Has anyone else done this??? What where the results?? Do u do it quarterly like suggested?? I started Moday night. I am just starting to see results today. Wondering what is the best? Some have claimed to have lost weight from it.
Q. 3. Who has done fat burners? DO they work? What is the consensus??

Sorry This is so long thanks Angie

Barbara~I guess I've always been a planner as well. Just like you said, how can you know what to get at the grocery store if you don't plan first? I know that a few times I've gone and picked up the basics and then had nothing to fix for dinner!

Midearth~like you I feel that I need to do a real diet just long enough for me to see a result and then I'll stick with things until I get to goal. That's what my brain is telling me anyway. So next week I am doing it! I'm not following any particular plan, but I am cutting out all bread (it makes me crave more bread-like carbs the rest of the day) and I'm eating carrots and celery for lunch. Other than that, I'll be having my normal healthy dinners and breakfasts. I hope that it does the trick! good luck to you!

Tracy~have fun camping!

Angela~the consensus on colon cleansing (for the most part) is that you lose some water weight and that's about it. And the only fat burners are exercise.

Dagmar~I also have a hot tub and salt water pool, but we rarely use them. I can't take an evening swim and expect to sleep well. It's weird but it really wakes me up!

Everyone have a great day! Today is DS's last day of school and he, DD, DH and I are going out to lunch this afternoon. Sunday we'll probably do a movie for Father's Day.

Ok, yesterday didn't pan out as well as I thought, was on-plan until I got home from tennis class, then I felt ravenously hungry and overate 500 calories for the day. Mildly disappointed but not too terribly stressed (only 1/7 of a pound in the grand scheme of things, and I'm sure I still have a calorie deficit for the week, given how I stayed on plan until now.) Next time though, I'll learn to pick healthier stuff to nosh on (I dove for a 2 oz. bag of Kettle chips & a CLIF bar.)

Today is my planned splurge day - going to a have either sushi or indian food for lunch with a friend, and for dinner/happy hour I'm meeting a friend for some wine and light eats -- of course, being careful of what I'm actually eating.

Hope everyone else is having a happy Friday!

Well not having any more problems with chips now I am overeating strawberries and vanilla yogurt....at least it is healthy just need to take it easy on them, I ate about 1 1/2 ponds of strawberries yeasterday.

I don't know about you all but TGIF for me!

I need to rant for a moment. The online diary that I use to log what I eat has some sort of glitch in it that prevents me from finding some of the custom foods I've set up. When I search for them, it just can't find them, even though I can see that they are in there. I've figured out a work-around but it's a gigantic hassle. This has been a problem for at least two weeks. I reported it a week ago and they said they were working on it, but it still isn't fixed. This is so frustrating. I would just switch to something else (like Fitday, which is clearly superior) but I must have close to 500 custom foods set up and I hate the idea of having to set them all up again.

Tracy - I squeeze the sausage meat out of the casing, toss the casings, and then break up the meat as it browns. But you could also just cut it into small pieces (but you definitely don't want whole links of sausage in your soup )

Mudpie - I have the same hair you do, except that mine is bland ash brown (I believe the technical term is "dishwater blonde"). I also can't use any hair clips, etc., because they fall right out. But I'm too vain to do a pixie cut and skip all the styling; it just wouldn't look good on me. I have been able to completely change the texture of my hair using a combination of Bumble & Bumble styling cream and thickening spray. It doesn't make it curly, but it really adds a lot of fullness and it holds into the next day (coloring it also helps add fullness).

Angela 1970: If your title is your birth year, we are within a year of each other too (I'll be 36 next month)

I have noticed you all have the same problem I do with EVERY social event involving food! Maybe that is why there is such a weight crisis! I wish we could just visit friends, celebrate something, etc without a food overload! It makes it so hard to sit there while everyone else is pigging out around you...like you aren't participating or having a good time.

Well, I'm going out for the wkend (swimsuit again ). Maybe that will motivate me to SOP!

OK....so now yesterday I notice that the McD's around here are selling the XLarge (42oz) pop for $0.89, cheaper than the small even. I allow myself a medium diet usually. There is personal responsibility, but jeez, they are just being MEAN. I HATE paying twice as much to get HALF. I dont get suckered in by the "only 10 cents more" stuff, but to actually pay $1.69 for a medium vs $0.89 for a Xlarge pisses me off. I got the XL to see if it was actually possible for me to get the drink, and just drink half. No, it isnt. I drank the whole dang thing - I may be ill from nutrasweet/saccharin overload. Just think if that had been REAL pop. 500 calories for $0.89 and not even solid food.