Hiya chickies....just caught up with all the news. Miss ya all

crazymama.......congratulations on your new outfits girl sounds like you walked away with a bunch of stuff and a great deal indeed! I hope you had a nice time at your fil birthday picnic the other day, happy belated birthday to him. Regarding the divorce...I think those things are always a bit of a shock to the family and can be tough. You hang in there. As for your so called day the other day where you consumed more than you would of liked too.....Sandye, you hang in there chicky! That extra you put will come right off...good for you for going right back to it! You have been doing dynamite and have much to be proud of I hope your having a great day today,,, keep on truckin'.

Late to the game..........ty regarding my dad Also, congratulationssss on the lossssssssss! :con grat:

soulmeetsbody............congratulations as well! wtg! Ty for sharing with us :con grat:

Delphi....hi there girl! Regarding your gaming etc...Late to the game and the other girls said it best. Your intuitive and it is so neat to read your thoughts....ty for sharing with us. I often would say everything in life is a balance, sometimes it's a delicate dance. I'm always striving for it. I think your doing absolutely amazing dear girl........keep on smiling ohhhhhh, Congratulationsssssssssssssssss on having MET GOAL :con grat:

MsPerceptionnnnnn....funny you should mention a burger! lol. Dh is coming back home on friday and I want a burger on the grill that night! lol I have not cooked all week or grilled out! Have a lovely time away, we're going to miss ya. YOur doing incrdible...keep up the awesome work and congrats on the loss as well . :con grat:

Mystical.........congratsssssss on your new home. Wtg on your exercing. We look forward to hearing your news upon your return

Ladies...I am posting this in fear of losing it...brb

JasonsLEa....nice to see you girl. COngrats on losingggggggg...:cheer 2: The fact the scale is inching downward is wonderful. I wish you good luck with the apt. and the position, keep us posted.

Tummygirl............yayyyyy on the 3lb. loss :con grat: Welcome back! IT sounds like you had a great time with the girls...and how nice you got to chat about your programs, etc. and also got some recognition on your wonderful accomplishments! wtg on the run, etc. Have a great day girl

Lookingtobehealthy, congratssssssssss on the loss...anddddddddd on your pretty new dress! :con grat:

Jacquiiiiiiiiii.....hi there chicky! I hope that pc doesn't give you any more trouble! MIss ya lady...........hope you had a great weekend,,, keep on truckin'.

Lewisempire, lene, newshinyme, urock, gekster, glutio, cake.......and many more to mention.............a big hello girls....miss ya all...stay in touch.

to all.

As for my news girls...I have been keeping busy since DH has been away. Fortunately we had good weather all last week and after all that rain in June it felt so nice to be and enjoy the outdoors. I've been a homebody mostly but busy with plants and chores outside and have been utilizing the pool and swimming , doing laps. Caught up with a tan again and caught some rays. I pretty much do chores after or inbetween and then monkey around with my music most nights. My eating has been good........and I can tell you right now the only reason I prob havnt lost is due to the alcohol calories. I do miss cooking and the grill! lol I have been doing great with my water and most nights sip on that all night long....though again I know where my demise is and what I need to do...it's a matter of choices.

I feel a lot better getting my tan back. I did my hair and want to do my mani pedi (I do them myself) before DH gets back. TOday is the first day I woke up to rain and feeling down. I did fine on my own all week and I was okay....for some reason I woke up blue this morning and feeling a bit lonely. Maye it's the weather...and of course I miss my partner.

I fed the bunny again yesterday, lol IT let's me get pretty close before it runs away. My sleeping has been much better and the kitties are not constantly waking me the crack of dawn (except for last night).

My parents are doing well...thank goodness. Mom never made it over here one day to sun with me as Sat. clouded up and sunday they went to a greek picnic. We are on for wed. I guess this is all my news for now girls. Today is cleaning day...i want to get all of that done today so I better get a move on. Thursday I need to go to the market before dh gets back. You should see my fridge! lol....that's good though! MIss ya.....keep up the great work girls....chat soon.

Afternoon Ladies, talk about torture, my internet has been down all morning, nothing like settling into your day, without coffee or internet! Grrr, finally got up and running a minute ago, the joys of county living I tell ya!

Delphi - You are just the taller, bigger boobed version of me down there. By Halloween I think we could totally do sexy nurse or wonder woman but alas, the children, may not be so appropriate. I'm so glad you held out on that stupid scale. I find it helps so much when you know cal in and cal out and you can see your deficit in numbers it just takes that scale awhile to catch it. I was down 3lbs according to my deficit and it didn't show until vacation was over but we can revel in it now that it shows. I'm glad you're enjoying your cardio sessions more, I've quite enjoyed the shorter ones as well and I haven't noticed a difference in the loss rate either. I love randomness, the whole world is that way it just takes an observant person to notice

LTTG - So far no headaches, I think it was just time for it to go, it was more a vehicle for sugar, then atrifical sweetner and I'm trying to not eat that anymore. Shockingly it hasn't been bad at all, I've wanted it but only out of habit. I had totally forgotten that I gave it up pregnant too, well if I can do 9 months then this week should be a cake walk! Thanks for reminding me. Hang in there too, it's infuriating but you'll get there.

Jacqui - You're here! Yay! Missed you sweetie, take care of yourself and catch up when you can.

CMo4 - I don't know what it is but I feel like I've been on week 4 forever, with the sore leg, then vaca I missed a few days and totally was gross and somewhere in the last few days my heart got better and I had to increase the elliptical speed to 8.3 (from 7.3) to get the same heart rate, that's great and all but as you can imagine, brutal! I love those recipes, I have the deceptively delicious cookbook and am a huge fan. Last year my dd had beet chocolate cake for her birthday and yogurt "ice cream" sandwiches and fruit only popsicles. It was so nice to have house full of two year olds without sugar highs. on the evil laugh.

FSA - Thanks for the kind words, and glad you're starting to see some sun out there, nothing can put you off like days of blah. You sound like you're taking some mighty good care of yourself, WTG and enjoy that pool for the rest of us.

The scale teased me today, it showed 189, then went back to 190 even, evil creature. Just a breath away from July goal and early too, last month was a lot of crazy right at the end but then again that was 12lbs instead of 10lbs, duh me. Got my workout in this morning, probably somemore mowing later tonight, we have our dd's 3rd birthday party next monday and I don't want to lose her little friends in the weeds, well maybe not all of them anyway.

One of my friends, who I went to visit last weekend, may come and join us here soon, I'm doing the best peer pressure I can so I'll keep my .

Have an awesome day ladies.

SANDYE ~ "Pureeing my brains out," what a visual! :ROFL: So what else are you using the purees for? I just can't imagine spinach blueberry brownies! Has Abalab returned to her sweet self? She must be getting ready to grow with all that crankiness. Send her to me, I'll straighten (spoil) her out! Glad you're recovered from your temporary gluttony.

DELPHI ~ No, not giving up. Even though my weight loss is teeny, I am feeling better and stronger. :bubbles

JAQUI We've missed you! Hope your computer issues are solved soon. Nothing like a good cuppa and an online computer.


Okay, here is where I am at this point. I've done a lot of reading about losing weight as a "senior" (crikey, that is so strange to say, but true), and though it's not encouraging, it explains a lot about why I'm slow to show results. That's why it's so important for you young chickies to get a handle on the problem now! I swear, I could lose 20 lbs in a week and a half (okay, maybe 3 weeks) in my twenties, and at that time, that's all I needed to lose. I feel that now, for the first time in a looong time, that I will suceed . Just before Sandye got married-almost 10 years ago!-I started Adkins. My weight had crept up to 165, and I was going to see people I had not seen in years. I managed to lose 20 lbs and got down to a size 10 and felt pretty good. If any of you have tried Atkins, you know how difficult it is to maintain. Within three years, I had gained the weight back, and added a little more each year. I have started and given up on diets ever since. It was not until Sandye had such success, (in large part to you chicks, I know!), that I seriously wanted to try again. I was at the point where I thought " Hey, I'm 53, if you don't like the way I look, don't look at me!" Not really, but I just felt hopeless. Her enthusiasm, and great results got me thinking that maybe there WAS something to this exercise thing. Don't tell my DH, but he has been telling me the same thing for years. I just wanted to thank all of you for all the encouragment and support you have shown me, and especially Sandye. I tell ya', she is just the little cheerleader, and I don't know if she
would be so positive and upbeat if it were not for the support she found here with you girls. On a technical note, I did 2.25 miles and 10 minutes on the bike today!

Good Morning Ladies

I'll come back and do personals in a bit. I need to get to my morning cardio. I'm really diggin' these shorter sessions and I feel like I sweat more. Probably wont get my ST in until noon. Man I love my ST'ing days. At any rate, the scale held steady this morning. No loss, no gain, which is weird seeing as I am swollen from head to toe. My big toe looks like someone took an ACME hammer to it...then dropped an anvil on it. Same with my hands, so I was fully expecting a gain this morning. On top of that, I've been having some high calorie days this week. But that's part of the cycle I guess. I've really switched things up radically and I guess it's working to my advantage..even with less exercise. To be honest I think it's the ST. I'm really starting to see definition. The more muscle you have..the more calories you burn eh? Plus the routine I do with Maya, is awesome and works the muscle groups in a different way everytime. At any rate, I have to get out of here and get to it. Oh and Sandye, I sit around for an hour in the morning before I do anything. I check my email, smoke a few cigarettes and just wake up. So sitting around for ten minutes isn't gonna kill ya. I always find it helps if I put my shoes on when I get dressed though. Then I'll turn the Wii on and I'll have maya staring at me. I tell ya what, I'll dress up in my ninja gear, take a picture..that way when you feel like not doing it, you'll know I'll go all Mr. Miagi on you. I loved those movies. I heard they were gonna remake it with Jackie Chan playing Mr. Miagi..but I'm sorry, Jackie Chan is NO Mr. Miagi. I digress. I have to get to it ladies. I'll be back to catch up in a few.

Morning girls!

FSA~ Thanks so much! I'm still hanging on to the added pound, but I'm hoping you're right and that it'll come off here soon! Hurray for great weather and suntans!! Sounds like you've had a lovely week! I bet you're ready for your hubby to be home though huh? Have fun sunning with your mom this weekend and enjoy having your hubby back too!

Tummy~ oooh I can't wait to see your post today! I bet you'll be at or below goal!!! I waffled between the two books and settled on this one because it has calorie counts and stuff--however, I may have to pick that one up too, we'll see. I snuck more purees in for dinner too! Heh, heh, heh!

Jacque~ glad to hear you had a fun week! Don't fret the added lbs, you had a great time and sometimes that means a little over doing it! You're below your goal and looking fabulous hun!!! So just get back on track and I'm sure you'll drop that extra weight before the end of the month!

Mom~ haha, yeah, I laughed when I typed that! I'll be using them for every meal once I figure it out--I don't know if I'll be using all of her recipes, but it's pretty simple to just add purees in to stuff. Like last night I made the kids pasta with broccoli & chicken in Alfredo sauce--it's a mix by Schilling that I make omitting the butter to cut out the fat--anyway, they love it as is (yeah, broccoli is a hit around here, well, for everyone but Ab, but she doesn't eat much of anything!) and so I took a chance and added 1/2 cup of the white puree to it (cauliflower, zucchini & yellow squash) and they were none the wiser! Em even asked for seconds! And what did they get after dinner? Why more Brainy Brownies of course! LOL As for Ab, no. She's still being a heathen and Em's right there with her. I'll gladly send them both to you--I'll even pay shipping! LOL Thanks for all the sweet words, but really, you're the one doing all the work right? I mean, come on woman, you've done a 180 since a month ago!! I couldn't be more proud and you're absolutely right--you WILL succeed!!! I KNOW it!!

Shari~ Congratulations!!! Woo hoo on the panties!! I'm so happy for you! Ahh, there's nothing like moving into a brand new place to perk you up! Congratulations! Now get packin'!!!

Delphi~ Okay, so I want what you're having! I know it doesn't seem like a big thing, but for me to sit around for 10 mins in the morning instead of getting right to my workout--that's bad. I'm the kind of person who procrastinates. BIG time! If I start to put off my morning workouts, I can see it going downhill to not doing them at all. I need to get my cardio in before hubby leaves for work--the girls can't manage the basement stairs yet and it's not really a kid friendly place for them to be right now--and if I blow it off in the morning and say I'll do it at night, well, there's a chance I may blow it off all together. ST'ing is another thing, that I can do while the kids are awake, so that's less of a big deal to me, but it's just the fact that I'm no longer jumping up out of bed to do it--that's what I'm concerned about, kwim? Now, back to wanting what you're having--I want to know exactly what you're doing for your workouts! Purdy please? I'm doing ST'ing from Body for Life and this is actually the end of my 12 program with that (didn't realize that until yesterday!) and I think I want to try to mix things up a bit.


As for me...I'm up a smidge this morning. 155.6 to be exact and while I KNOW it's not fat, I'm starting to get a bit peeved. My rings feel a little less snug today so I know water is leaving me (finally), but...sigh...I dunno. I'm in a poopy mood today. I don't know if it's the scale not moving in the right direction, the fact that I need to clean my insanely messy house by noon (we have an appraiser coming out for a refi), the fact that the kids have been acting bananas, lack of sleep or the rainy weather today, but I'm just plain grumpy! I am, what my husband would call, a Grumpus-A$$.

Delphi~ feel free to don the ninja suit and bust out your nun chucks and go all Mr. Miagi on my arse! I need a brutal to get my head on straight!

I feel like I'm starting to backslide a bit, thinking about sugary treats and snacking mindlessly again...I'm not doing it, but I sure am thinking about it a lot more lately. Maybe it's early onset PMS?

Anyway, I need to snap out of it! I'm too close to my goal to start slacking off now!!!

Okay, well, the house isn't magically being cleaned by a group of enchanted elves so I must go and take care of the cleaning myself. I will check back with you ladies later! Until then, have a wonderful day and be sure to...

Drink Your Water!!

Jacque - Glad you had a good time and how fantastic to see ppl from so long ago and look awesome! That must have felt just great.

LTTG - In my book a senior is over 65, my mom is 55 and would cut me off at the knees is I ever breathed that word to here, lol. I totally agree on the exercise, I know that when I'm done running or my circuit training that I'm pumped right up and proud of myself and feel pretty powerful but when I eat my calories for the day I'm not all excited that I didn't go over, it's just different and the exercise is what keeps me going most days. WTG on that big old bike ride too!

JasonsLea - Yay! Finally, it's all coming together.

Delphi - LOL on Maya staring, I have this awesome mental pic of her glaring at you, like "excuse me did you just turn me on and walk away! How dare you!" Have fun cardioing!

CMo4 - Not quite there yet, I was tempted to use my weight after my run but that would be cheating I was just lamenting about the lack of calorie counts in my book the other day too. I bought it ages ago before I cared and now I would really like them.So it definitely sounds like you need a but maybe even a . Glad to do it and I might need it a bit too, it took me 20 minutes today to get my butt out to run instead of the usual 5 and I'm like you I'm worried about the trend more than anything.

Finished my run this morning and even went for a really nice 5K walk yesterday afternoon but still firm at 190 even. I even weighed after my run which is out of character, I only ever weigh once a day, but it was 188.5! It was nice to see it and that was the motivation, to see it and then to visualize it better.

Still dragging the butt out to run today, but once again got 'er done. I even went to bed at 9:30 and it was still a struggle until I was out of bed. I read something really interesting yesterday in my endless reading about all things diet, exercise and nutrition. It's a book about long term weightloss and cognitive therapy, i.e. the psycology of dieting and permanent weight loss, why we sabatoge ourselves, etc. I only got through the first chapter and a bit but one part really stuck out for me in this big old lull we're all having. And I'm paraphrasing heavily here, it said that each time we make choices to eat food that we don't plan on ahead of time, weakens our resistance to this activity and we are more likely to give in each time until we no longer resist unplanned food at all. But the opposite was also true and that each time we eat only what we plan on (and that can be ice cream if we plan it out ahead of time) our ability to do that activity gets stronger and we get better at doing it until we no longer even think of it but just refuse unplanned food automatically. What struck me was how clear this seemed, I mean it's really something we all know but it just clicked yesterday and I thought I'd share given how challenging it's been lately.

Be back to check in a bit later. My child has been replaced by a small (but adorable) dragon/evil spawn and I need to go attend to her

Sandye ~ Like I did with the cardio, I record a little footage from the upper body work. I'm tellin' ya it's awesome and I can almost guarantee, you can pick it up at gamespot, used for more than half the price. I like the structure of the ST..if I try to do it myself, I'm not gonna push myself. But the way it's done on the MFC, it really pushes me and I keep bumping up the difficulty. Love it love it love it. I understand what your saying about getting up and getting at it though. Perhaps you need a change of pace as well. Try something new in the mornings, or a shorter session...what cha think?

FSA ~ Thanks girly. Sounds like you are well on your way and doing well. Good job for sticking in there even though you miss your beau.

Jacque ~ Hiya darling. How ya been? Good to see you posting though.

Tummy ~ My poor boobs are depleting. I went down in band and cup size but you know, I could care less. I feel great, though I do wonder if I would ever consider breast augmentation. I mean, I want to have some boobs when all is said and done. Just out of sheer curiosity do you guys play any shooters..like call of duty? Oh and wow the 180's...you will be there any day now kiddo, you just keep truckin'

LTTG ~ Well all I can say is for making the choice to do it. I've researched quite a bit about exercise and a lot of it for my grandmother who is nearing 80. But she could easily pass for late 50's. Anywho, I understand our chemical makeup and how our metabolism and other health issues can hinder weight loss, it is challenging the older we get, so I commend you on your efforts and for sticking with it. YOu are definitely an inspiration for me.

Alright ladies, I'm off. Need to get me some food and then some ST. I hope you ladies are off to a great start.

Thank you!!! Well I had been weighing myself only once a week but I had to know what damage I had done while away. So I weighed yesterday morning and was up about 5 lbs...but I knew it was water weight and nothing that a good trip to the bathroom couldn't fix....so I weighed again this morning and I am only up less then 2 lbs. So I am feeling good and I am back in the 120's.

Yeah I did feel wonderful about the whole thing. Another motivation to stay this way...or even better!!! Now I have my 30th yr HS reunion next year so I need to stay on track


Even though I am at work, and shouldn't be on 3FC, I am...just to say hello and try to catch up. How the heck are you doing? How's Canaan?

Delphi - I'm all about FPS games, but they make my dh motion sick, it's kinda funny At the beginning of CD4, there's that submarine level and he got so turned around, he kept spinning and couldn't find the door and finally after three minutes he threw up, I almost peed my pants, I know, I'm sooo supportive! I like CD4 and Modern Warfare and RainbowSix sometimes when I get bored. I have always had a soft spot for the GTA series too, nothing like running over hookers to brighten up your day Dh is more into the RPGs, oblivion, Ultima Online and the such. I don't think boobs stand a chance between weightloss and babies, they're dooommmed!

Jacque - a 30 year reunion OMG, you look entirely fabulously young! Well you're gonna knock em dead and that's a lot of toning time too so you'll look even better.

Tummy ~ OH MY GOSH! Well the call of duty games are my games. Totally stoked about Modern Warfare 2 coming in November..stoked I tell ya. I've played all those games and I still like my RPG's. Oblivion being the latest. I have fallout 3 just haven't got to it given my hiatus and all. If hubby like Oblivion he will LOVE fallout 3. It's made by bethseda, the same developer of Oblivion. Anywho, that is just so cool. Too bad we aren't on the same platform...we could be gaming together. We could share weight loss tips over party chat while we are shootin' mofo's. Too cool.

Jacque ~ Canaan is doing better I think. Just started him back on the continous feeds at night and he did OK, but still got sick. Gonna try again tonight though.

I'm baaaaack!!

I haven't really caught up on anything, and I really doubt I'll have the time. Still soo much going on.

The drive to Maryland was actually rather pleasant. We didn't feel rushed or stressed or anything. We got DH moved into his new room in the basement of someone else's house, procured additional thing he might need for his stay, unpacked some things, saw some friends (and bought chickens for one of said friends), at a lot of crap, and enjoyed our decision with the move.

DH is kind of lonely already, and I just left yesterday! I think it started hitting him on Saturday, and I didn't really get that I was coming back here alone until I was driving myself to the airport after working on his room for 5 hours after he'd gone to work. The best part, though, is that I'm going back next week!!

My interview on Monday went really really well, I think. The interview was with a company that contracts with the government. The contract that the position I'm interviewing for is with the Navy. I met with the on-site head guy for the overall contract and a woman from the group that I'd actually be working with as well as the guy that set things up from the company side. I usually walk out of interviews trying to figure out where I went wrong, but I walked out of there feeling fantastic. I felt smart, on point, bright eyed and bushy tailed, competent and all kinds of great things that say "YOU WANT TO HIRE ME!" They told me that they had a few other people they were trying to get in for interviews, that if they decided to move forward with me, the director of the group I'd be working with would want to meet me, and the guy that set up the interview said I would definitely hear from him.

When I got out of the interview, I had a voicemail from another place up there about an interview. It's for a webmaster type position with a community college, and they only slot they had available was for July 30 at 9:30a. I decided that if I could find a good price on plane tickets, I'd fly back up for the interview there, but my primary goal was in hopes of scoring a second interview with the first place by being available for one.

I got a great deal on plane tickets which was overshadowed by the INSANE prices on rental cars. I called to say I would make the Thursday morning interview, and then I emailed the guy from Job 1 to thank him for the interview and all that good stuff and to let him know I was coming back to town and would be available July 30 in the afternoon or any time on the 31st. Well, my gamble paid off, and he emailed today asking if I could be at the Navy Yard on Thursday afternoon to meet with the group director!!!! Here's hoping all goes perfectly and I can be in the same state as my husband before out 1 year anniversary!!

In food news, I ate sooo much junk all weekend. A drive through here and bad food choices there. I missed my normal WW meeting on Monday, too, but I'm going to swing by a center to get weighed on my way to lunch today. Best way to have sushi for lunch, right? Haha! My morning weigh-in at home today, though, only had me up 1.5 pounds from my lowest weigh-in so far. It means I'm back at 271, but that's way better than 280!!

I have a meeting with the nutritionist on Friday at my doctor's office to discuss parts of the diabetic diet which they want me to try. I'm hoping to get my eating back in control this week, too, even there there is SOOO much left to do around the house.

And the house, it appears, is on the market. There's a sign in the yard, and it shows up on Realtor.com if you search my neighborhood. There aren't any pictures yet, though, so my goal for tonight is to finish the paint touch-ups, get some things set up for pictures (I want to do them myself since I used to take pics for real estate agents and have a fancy schmancy camera), and try to figure out what to do with the rocks that used to form a small flower area in the back yard. Also need to figure out what to do with the stepping stones I was going to put around the A/C unit. While I was gone, my grandmother and my uncle filled the dirt area in with concrete!! They leveled the whole thing with the rest of the concrete patio so there's no more random evil grass area. But it kind of goes against my plan of filling the area with stepping stones, and I have 30 stepping stones that need to go away. For the most part, though, everything else looks great. I need to clean the kitchen again, clean the floors in there and the dining room, clean up the master bath some, move a few things out to the shed, touch up paint in the master bed and bath and my office, and finish painting the floor trim in the dining room where my uncle finished laying the quarter round that's been waiting on me for 3 years! I will totally post a link to the house listing once it has pictures!