Hello Everyone,

I have had a pretty decent weekend as far as eating is concerned. I have stayed within my 1500 calorie range, and today I went shopping for all those snack foods that I can use to replace my evening munchies with, without feeling guilty.

Cyan,
I have no problem at all sending the letter and doing the calling. I have already looking into hotels and I am working with a Health Club to see if we can use their facility to work out the days that we are here together.

Just let me know when we have everyone's letter and I will take it from there.

Have we all figured out what dates are best for us. There is only one problem with a weekend visit. Oprah only tapes her shows on Mon-Wednesday. She tapes two shows on these days to cover the rest of the week. So if we can decide on a time frame and maybe add Monday as the last and final day here, that would be great.

Let me know what everyone decides on.

Thanks

I just finished chatting with you...and you are amazing...keep being the person you are...cause you simply rock

I think the letter is finished, it just needs to be printed and sent...and reservations for tickets are done by phone only...as per her website....she has a phone number to call for reservations which I have included in one of my earlier posts.

Anytime is good for me...so dont worry about me...I think this will be great and lots of fun to do...so count me in.

Today my calorie intake was 1402 and 33 grams of fat, I have exercised for 40 minutes ..cycled and danced and burned off 303 cals...so today was a good day thus far...now the challenge begins...no eating after 8pm...talk to you guys tomorrow


Cyan

A monday would be best for me for the trip. Like reina said maybe we could make it a long weekend--friday, sat, sun, mon?

I was just going through an old diet journal I had and came across some stuff I thought might be helpful...


What is hunger?

* lightheadnesss
*loss of energy
*slight headache
*food tastes wonderful

What is NOT Hunger

*searching to satisfy a craving
*oral need to chew due to anger or anxity
*thirst

In my food journal I listed the time of day, food ate, how my body felt after I ate it, and what my mind said. I also listed any activity I did and the overall mood of the day. I also included some motivational saying to think about during the day. Here are some of my favorites. Maybe we could start a thought for the day?

"You create all that you are"
"Things do not change, we do" Thoreau
"Believe you will have it and you will have it"
"Set a goal. Have every step take you in that direction."
"Habit is overcome by habit"
"Start by doing what's necessary, then do whats possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible" St. Francis

MY FAVORITE
"We are the sum of our choices" Maybe this could be our thought for the next couple of days. Next time we reach for the cookie just think " We are the sum of our choices"

Hey girls. How has everyone's weekend been? Mine has been okay. Yesterday my daughter came downstairs in a panic saying her hands were getting fat. I took a look and sure enough, her fingers were swelling to 3 times their normal size. I started to freak out. I didn't have any Benadryl, so we made a quick trip to Walgreens and got some. It really helped and now her hands are back to normal. I have no idea what caused the swelling though. We spent half the day at the in-laws. Jeff (dear hubby) and I went to the movies and saw Star Trek Nemesis. We really like Star Trek (but we're not Trekkers), we are normal people.
Today was church and dinner at the in-laws. I was able to get some help from the wonderul ladies at church for this week and my upcoming surgery on Tuesday. People are bringing dinner on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I was also able to talk to a couple of ladies who have had the surgery already and they were able to fill me in on what I could expect. Tonight I'm getting a head start on laundry and tomorrow I'm cleaning the whole house so I will have a relaxing environment to recover in.

Cyan, I already copied and pasted the letter so please let me go ahead and be the one to send it. I started editing spelling and such.

Debee, I lilke the one free food a week. However, I need to think really hard about what I want my free food to be. Can it be different each week? Then, I could give myself that treat to look forward to each week. Great idea!.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to crawl into bed tonight and just relax.

See y'all later!

Lisa

Hi everyone! I've had a good weekend and sounds like everyone else has also. It was a blast chatting with LadyRider, Reina, and Taiwain tonite! Lisa, I hate that I seem to miss you everytime. Cyan, it was great chatting with you last nite also! Just makes this all seem even more personal, dont ya think?

Calories today were a little over 1200. Did my AirWalker but only did it for 10 minutes. Tomorrow school begins again, which means ballgame time again. We have ballgames ( in town tho ) tomorrow nite and also Tues nite this week. I hope to get back in time to post tho.

This morning at church, this was in the bulletin, and my first thought was that I should share it here.

A New Year's Prayer

May God make your year a happy one
Not by shielding you from all sorrow and pain
But by strengthening you to bear it as it comes
Not by making your path easy
But by making you sturdy to travel any path
Not by taking hardships from you
But by taking fear from your heart
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine
But by keeping your face light even in shadows
Not by making your life always pleasant
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

I thought that was really meaningful. Hope ya'll enjoyed it also.

Lisa, good luck with your surgery in case I dont get to chat with you before then!! I'll be thinking of you and you are in my prayers. Be careful and dont overdo it when you get home. It's easy to think you feel ok and then do something and realize afterward that you arent quite as strong as you may seem at first. I know you'll do great and once it's all over, you'll be able to get on with your workouts full steam ahead!

Well, gotta run for now. Everyone, have a great Monday! Talk to you soon

MIKI

Lisa...I wish you lots of good energy and a speedy recovery and a text book surgery....I send you an extra big hug for taking the initiative and editing the letter...please do your thing and send it off...cant wait for fall 2003.

Miki...glad you are doing well...and kudos on your for getting on that airwalker.

Debee...the cheat food sounds great..although I am afraid of it because if I get out of control ...it may cause me to binge... I will have to do a taste test to see.

Lisa once again, lots of good energy for your surgery and may your angels guide you through it without a hitch....I will say a prayer for you

Have a great day

Cyan

Happy Monday Everyone.

Lisa, since you are gonna send the letter, here is my address to send the tickets, they may want to send them local. You never know!
Reina Fernandez - 2236 N. Laramie - Chicago, IL 60639

I will start the calling process. My husband was giving me some great ideas, so I am sure you women will be impressed when you get here.

I had a great night, it was so much fun talking to you all this weekend. It sure kept me in shape. Cyan, thanks to you, I got up and did my Taebo!

Lisa, I am sure everything will go fine, you will be in our prayers and like Lady said, we will all be around you in spirit! You won't be alone, when you think you are, just think of us, we will all be holding your hand!


Have a great day everyone!

Reina...yay for you...TaeBo is hard...keep going...I am so proud of you...truly, you inspire me to keep going.

Well my day is just getting started so I will post at the end of the day to tell you how I did calorie wise and exercise wise.

I wish all of you a great day

Cyan

Lisa, I just wanted to write a quick note to wish you the best on Tuesday.

Reina ,thank you for doing all the leg work for the Oprah show.

Cyan, if we pick a cheat food that we get out and not have in the house then we won't binge.

Hi Everyone!
Lisa, Just want to wish you the best tomorrow. We will be right there with you, so try to relax and try to focus on all the months ahead where you will be pain free.

I was telling Bryan all about our plans for Chicago last night when he reminded me we are going to San Francisco the week of Sept 9. I will need to work at least a week before I ask for more time off, I really don't want to miss this most excellent weekend we have planned, so do you think we can ask for tickets the last week of Sept or anytime in October? Will that work for all of you? Sorry I didn't realize this sooner.

Whew! I am psyched! What a great day! Bryan and I and two friends left at 9:30 this morning to ride our motorcycles to Daytona for the day. It was chilly (45 degrees) so we bundled up good, but it warmed up nicely by the time we got there so we had a beautiful ride and got home at 6pm. Lunch was at Wendy's. I had printed out the calorie and fat content of their menue from 3FC, so when we got there I whipped out my little list and ordered the grilled chicken sandwich (310c) with small fries (270c), and small rootbeer (160) for a total of 750 calories. I really wanted water, but it was lots cheaper to buy the combo than buy the sandwich and fries without a drink. I don't like diet coke, so decided the rootbeer was worth the whole 160 cal this time. Breakfast was a cup of home made chicken noodle soup (130). Strange, I know, but it was hot, quick and filling! So I still have lots of calories for dinner - which I had better eat pretty soon or it will be 8 o'clock and I will have lost my window of opportunity. And, here's the best part ... I weighed myself after I got home and I was only 4oz more than I was this morning! YEA!

Have a great evening everyone!

Lady

It was so fun chatting with everyone the other day. Hope we can do it again soon.

Lisa, I wanted to first say that I will be praying for you here for your surgery. Everything will go fine. Take the rest, as much as you need to recuperate. Don't try to exercise too early.

Debee, a cheat food is a good idea. I will admit that I am not really strict on myself with foods. It would seem more like a diet then. I don't like the word diet--first 4 letters? DIE We'd starve to death I prefer to say I am altering my eating habits I am trying to limit myself to store bought (they have little stands everywhere here that sell teas) green tea to 3 times a week. And on the weekends, do to our crazy schedule with church activities and all, I am not as strict on myself, though I don't go overboard. I think one just needs to be careful that they don't often eat their cheat food.

Reina_Mia, so do you like Taebo? sounds like you are doing good keeping within your calorie range. Keep it up.

Cyan, so how did your day go? you are the exercise queen. I like to look at your messages and say, hey I can exercise like that too Kinda challenge myself to do it. How is your mom doing? Take care of yourself. Lifting you up in prayer.

Lady, where in Florida are you? In November we are traveling down to Ocala (where my grandmother used to live) to vist some churches and report our missionary work here. So you drive a motorcycle? How many CC's? We drive moped's/scooters here in Taiwan. Ours is 50cc It was interesting when I was 8.5months pregnant and our car was in the shop. My dh (I am taller than him) would take me to my prenatal appointments on our scooter. Actually, the day I went in for my cesarean section I arrived on scooter. Poor scooter Sounds like you did ok for breakfast and lunch. add some exercise and you are ok.

Miki, did we scare your dh away yesterday when we were chatting with him? Hey, doing your exercise for 10min is better than nothing right? Actually, that's how I started out, doing 10min a day. Did want to start out doing too much and burning myself out. Slowly find time for it. Me, I do exercise while everyone is taking their afternoon naps. I used to go walking after all were ready for bed. They would just wait with dh and he would have to deal with it I like the prayer you posted. We need to pray that God gives us strength as we come up against many things in our lives. Not to take the things away, but strength to make it through. It will make us stronger.

Well, ladies, I did ok yesterday. But, dh ordered pizza for dinner and I had 3 or 4pieces (can't remember ) the pieces were small though I did exercise for 40min (20min. kick and jab; 20min circuit toning) and it felt good!! really sweated. Didn't eat anything after 8pm either. So I stuck with that. So all in all, it was a good day. I am wondering if I should wait til the 15th to weigh myself (my first personal short term goal) or just go ahead do it on Friday/Saturday?

Well, off to get ready for the day.

Hello ya'll!

Well, I did get up early enough this morning to fit in 10 min of AirWalking with plans to do more tonite. BUT, I ended up working til 7 pm, missed Josh's ballgame , had to cook for the family, and now just dont have it in me. It's almost 10 already. I promise I'll do more tomorrow tho.

Sorry this is so short, but this has been a very long day, and I'm ready for some downtime before heading to bed. Ballgame again tomorrow nite but I think I'll get back in time to post a little.

Bye for now..

MIKI

PS....No, Tawain, you didnt scare hubby. I think he actually enjoyed the chat..lol

Today I was bad bad bad...I ate way to many calories and only walked for 20 minutes outside...thats it...and I ate after 8pm...I binged....I ate and ate and ate..I wasnt even hungry...after 8, I had tuna, hardboiled egg, chocolate, pancake with syrup, diet coke...oh the shame I havent binged like this in awhile...I just feel stressed out...anxious...and this is what happened...I honestyly think there wasn't a thing I could have done to have stopped me...my mind was set, I just went into overdrive and ate ate ate...up until then, I was doing fine...I had a good breakfast and then a stir fry...vegetables for dinner...and then my friend brought out the brie with bagette and red wine..well that was the end...and when I got home, I continued the party in my mouth...I have to re-evaluate what went wrong and learn from this experience....this was very demoralizing for me...like a kick in the teeth...very upset and now, I also feel sick to my stomach because I have 2100 cals and 87 grams of fat in me and its too much food...I just feel like crying I am so upset...I feel like a loser...so I have aired out my feelings and now I will move on...tomorrow is another day and I will not binge....I cant afford to sabotage myself this way...I cannot fail.

Later Ladies

Cyan

Hey girls.

Cyan here you go.... KICK!!!!!!! There, now pick yourself up, dust yourself off and remember that you are a strong and wonderful person. No one is perfect! We all have our bad moments.....or nights...or sometimes whole days!! You've learned from this experience and now you are more wise.

LadyRider, your bike ride sounds awesome. That's how my hubby won me over....his motorcycle. We used to just ride for hours not knowing or caring where we were going. Then we got married, I got pregnant and we sold it so we could buy a washer and dryer.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts! I am feeling a little overwhelmed and apprehensive. Got a great deal of cleaning done so I'll feel like my house is in order while I'm unable to do any housework. I check in at 10am and the surgery is at 11am. I will post again as soon as I am feeling up to it. Tomorrow will probably be a pretty rocky day! See y'all later!

Lisa