Annie- wow, all i can say is *hugs*. you are amazing for fighting.

Rat: Ya, it sure has been an icky year for me. I am really praying that this year will be better starting righhhhhhhht NOW

Cyn: Sorry about your job

Luan: It has been tough but I don't know how I would have survived without God in my life.

So, Update on my Mom. She got her test results back and NO MORE CANCER!!!! I am so, so thankful. I had a Cat scan done and no blood clots were found. I think I may have told you all this. Anyway. Pnuemonia is still thriving and I was prescribed steroids and another type of antibiotic. I was feeling so much better since I got the news about my Mom.

Blessings and hugs everyone,
Annie

Hello Everyone,

My name is Nettie and I'm new here. I've been using a great website called Sparkpeople for a number of months now and love it. Still, it feels a bit too busy and I'm trying to make some new online friends. I thought this group might be a good place to start. :-)

I currently weigh 368 pounds and my ultimate goal is to reach somewhere between 200-175 pounds. My current goal (started 11-1) is to lose 75 pounds by the end of the Summer, with an average of 2 pounds a week, that should take me till around August 1st, 2011 or so. I've lost 5 pounds already this month so I'm right on track.

I am not on any specific program - I eat intuitively, cook most of my meals from scratch, eat a mostly vegetarian and whole-foods diet, drink between 8-12 glasses of water a day (usually around 12 or a bit more), and exercise regularly on my Wii.

So, that's it for me. I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Oh yeah, and if you're on Sparkpeople, please friend me! I use the same name there that I use here.

Call off the search parties, I'm back! lol All these jobs have kept me busy.

Annie- Thanks for the advice! I appreciate any advice I can get. The other consulants are currently suggesting doing cookie parties in December, which I love the idea because I am known around these parts as a cookie baker extrodinar. lol I will be putting on my first show December 4 and my second December 11. Pretty excited! Also, glad to hear about your mother! Hope you get to feeling better soon.

Nettie- Welcome Nettie! And best of luck to you on your journey of a healthier you. You will find that the people on this forum are wonderful! I'm a busy woman and sometimes go for long periods without posting, but they always treat me like an old friend.

Anywho... bit of stressful times, sparks of anger, small medical scares, and a small bit of happiness during my small hiatus.

Mucho anger and stress thanks to work. (I wrote a long post in the general chat section... lol)
Before starting my third job I had to take a physical. I had been sick so I had been taking a good bit of meds to deal with it. While at the doctors office I found I lost another 5 pounds! *Happy Dance!* But the bad news was that day my blood pressure was 133/100 and they were going to say I failed my physical! They agreed to let me come back the next day to get the cold meds out of system to try again.
I was really bummed... I've NEVER failed a physical! That night I cried to my mother, I didn't want yet another ailment. (Arthritis, asthma, and not so great eye sight is bad enough!) Thankfully the next day I went in it was 122/88. Not perfect, but much better and passable.

Welcome to the newbies! Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Annie: I am so glad your mom has no more cancer!!!!!

as for me: its either stress or a cold..either way i am headed off to bed lol

Good morning everyone. Thanks for the warm welcome.

I have a small victory today I'd love to share: I woke up 3 hours earlier than usual as I have a conference to go to today. And, well, I'm NOT a morning person. Still, I got 20 minutes of Wii Tennis and 10 min of stretching. And the best part, I didn't have to make myself do this. I was brushing my teeth, considering what to do next. My body said "work out" and my mind said "yes!"

Off I go to shower...have a great day everyone!

That's awesome, Nettie! It's sadly so easy for me to stop exercising, despite the fact that I know how great I feel after I work out. Getting up and getting it done first thing is helpful to me, because during the day I have way too much time to think of all the reasons why I don't have time to work out later!

Morning all,

Nettie: welcome! glad to have you with us. Sounds like you have a very sound plan to get healthy Looking forward to getting to know you better.

Albino: Wooo hoo for the upcoming parties you are having. I hope that you do fantastic on your new business and just adore it like I like mine! I was thinking about planning a cookie exchange but I will have to put it off for next year due to health issues. That just means I can makie it a doozy right

Cyn: Hi and hugs.

Well, my Dr's partner has been treating me for pnuemonia while my Dr. is on Vacation. He called yesterday around 2ish and said I need to go to the emergency room ASAP as he didn't want me to be all weekend struggling so much to breath. So, they ruled out my heart problems for the Dyspensia that I was having/am having. They did aretery blood tests, ouchie, to see how my oxygen is moving in my blood. They did all kinds of heart and lung tests to rule the major stuff out. The only outcome they can come up with is that It is from my pnuemonia my lungs are swollenish and it is making it hard to take a deep breath but I am moving air in my lungs but the deep breath issue is causing me to try harder and harder to take a deep breath which seems to be cause me to get light headed and panicky so.... long story to an end here, I am on Atavan to calm me down and strict bed rest until I see my Regular Gen Prac. on Tuesday. I did learn that I have somekind of "nodules" in my lungs that I was not told about and they found them last January. I get pissed that they don't tell me what they are finding cause then when a different Dr. starts to talk about it I am stupid and clueless about what he is talking about! So, On Tuesday there are some concerns I am going to discuss with my Gen. Prac. whom I adore but I need to be in the know about my body. One really awesome thing is that I get to change my weight loss tracker. I was back up to 263 and as of yesterday morning I was at 248 so, I'm on my way back down to where I need to be for my best health.

Blessings all,
Annie

Nettie- Gratz on getting up and doing. I need to get active, but I keep making excuses.

Annie- You poor thing, I hope you get better soon. I would be pretty mad to find out my doctor had not bothered with telling me about a condition I had.

oh Annie HUGS!! Here is an interesting and scarey story about Doctors with holding information. My aunt who is a year older then me was having massive chest pains about 3 weeks ago..she went to the ER..they let her go without treating her after being there 2 hours. She was like what???? They told her they couldnt do anything else for her condition..she said what condidtion??!!?? 3 years before she went to the SAME hospital and they found she has an extra circut that sometimes fires at the same time as the other circuts so her heart beat is double!! They never told her that 3 years ago. They were able to go in and burn that part of her heart..THANKFULLY!!

It is so Wrong when Drs with hold telling you something because they didnt think ti was important or forgot..makes me so DAMN mad!!

thealbino1 - Thanks for the welcome! :-) I have had a hard time getting myself to work out this year until I implemented a couple of rules. 1) I get up at 8 AM and do my morning routines. At 9 AM, come **** or high water, I am in the living room working out. No excuses. Period. And, 2) I set my kitchen timer to the minimum about of time I need to work out that day -a) I am not permitted to STOP until the bell rings and b) just cuz the bell rang it doens't mean I have to stop! Most of the time, I don't STOP working out when the bell dings unless I'm super tired that day and my body's begging for relief. So, if my goal is to work out 45 minutes, I usually end up working 1 hour or sometimes more. It helps that my work outs are FUN! Wii Tennis for now, until I get a Wii dance game or something else equally fun. :-)

Cyn, that is awful what happened to your Aunt. Jeez!!!!!!!!

Annie - thanks for the welcome. So glad about your mom! I hope your Tuesday appointment with the Doc goes well.

I had a great day today. Went to Church, then to Walmart for some stuff I needed: Thanksgiving cards for my clients, Burt's Bees moisturizer, contact lense solution, and a few other minor things.

I went to a conference yesterday and caught myself in the mirror as I was washing my hands. I looked well put together - it was a business conference after all, except for my purse. Don't know if any of you watch The Closer. There was an episode in which someone told her that the big purse she carries makes people underestimate her. Well, that is the kind of purse I carried. It is large and heavy. Hung from my shoulder it pulled my blouse askew and make me look unprofessional and frumpy. So, today I got myself a small wallet since I don't need to carry a check book and a newer, smaller purse. They are both my favorite power color - RED. And the bag is classy and beautiful! My next purchase will be a sleek brief case for when I need one to carry papers and such. I declared today FRUMPY NO MORE Day! LOL

I'm excited to start my day tomorrow. I have nothing special going on - just workout, Thanksgiving cooking, cleaning, and laundry but I'm thrilled to start my week with a clean home!!! And to have yet another week to feel grateful for my life and the discipline and committment to which I've dedicated my days.

Nettie- That's a brilliant idea! I'm always making that excuse of "I never find time" to get exercise. I think I should simply try and set those type of rules for myself.
I love those days when you catch yourself in the mirror and you are able to say, "I don't look half bad." I feel like those days are few and far between for me. (But I guess I should suck it up and quit acting like "poor pitful me" and get my act in gear. lol)
I'm a bit odd, instead of a purse I often carry a tote bag. I'm a kid at heart so I use totes because they can be more fun-loving looking. But, all the same, I love to carry a nice wallet. I bought a black leather one and just felt a little more sophisticated. hehe


Made some chili for my co-workers. (After my fit the other day, it's kind of a peace offering. lol) I tried a bit and I am pretty proud of myself. lol It's delicious!
Was going to link to the recipe, but I am not able to yet. I got it off allrecipes.com and it's called Boilermaker Tailgate Chili. I omitted a bunch of different things because I didn't realize I didn't have them in my pantry. lol But it turned out pretty good.
I'm not the best at nutritional labels (any suggestions on where to go to learn more about what's needed or not needed?) but I know that the sodium in this recipe looks to be pretty high. (Over 2000mg) And if that recipe makes 12 servings they are HUGE servings! lol

Off I go to sleep in a few minutes but thought I'd check in and let you know about a new step I'll be taking in the next few weeks.

It has become pretty obvious that I need to do some concerted work on dealing with the internal emotions that lead me to eatc. I found a book online that I have to buy soon. I think it will help so much. It's called "Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse." I was doing a search for books on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Therapy (both recommended to me by a therapist a while back) and this book was on the list of search results. As SOON AS I read the title I started crying. Never has a book title summed up the key internal factor ruling my entier life in two short words - "seeking safety."

There is nothing I won't try in my search for safety - nothing. It's a result of the PTSD I've had since for ever. The best therapist I have ever had diagnosed me with PTSD due to the brutal childhood I endured. And, eventhough I don't have a substance abuse problem, I have a history of using food much the same way an alcoholic uses alcohol. This books is written for clinicians so it may not be the perfect fit...but I'm willing to give it a try.

To sleep now. Wishing you all a great evening and a fabu day tomorrow.

Albino - put that kitchen timer to good use! I promise it's a great tool!!! :-)

Hey all! Stressing here, but surviving. Mostly stressing over launching my business and I am late late late on that. Getting there though! Today I'm stuck coding...

Stressed over Thanksgiving. Some of you might remember me whining about how lazy some of my in-laws are and you know, they are now pressuring me not to do anything so that would mean that my BF and I would have NO food to eat. It is amazing... but we aren't going to Thanksgiving as Aspie BF can't cope with the guest list. It is too many people this year and with the emotional strain of the year, well it just is too much so we are sitting it out. That means more stress from the "Guilt Police" but you know, I can't make him like go and endure it! It just is something that I don't fully get and yes I was feeling insecure about it too, but it isn't the same. So, that is that.

I hope everyone is well. I'll do personals later, just stopping in to say HEY and *HUGS* and *SMOOCH* everyone.

I am suppose to go to Baltimore early next month to see a perspective employer. I am so nervous. First there is the whole flying thing.. yikes. I'm sure we've all worried over that! And then I start wondering if they will not take me seriously because of my weight. I feel like I need to make excuses to them for what I am the way I am. A part of me would really like to come up with a viable excuse for not going and missing out on potentially a great employment opportunity. On top of all of that, I gained almost 2 pounds last week...