Hi there!

I've had an okay day, packing, spending time with my guinea pig and fighting off the side effects from a medicine. I think I'm making progress!

Ohio- congratulations on passing your test, way to go! Math can be quite tricky, but good for you for passing, yay!

Melarie- I hope that everything is ok with your health.

Worth the effort- I know that plateaus can be so frustrating, hang in there! I've gained some weight, I've got to get it off, weight can be so tedious! Good for you for working out!

Lil turtle- hugs! I've had mobility issues too. Have you thought about physical therapy? Maybe that could help. After my ankle surgery, I ate more than I needed to and it worked against me, I can relate. Take care.

Worth the effort- Happy Birthday! My birthday is next month. I enjoy shopping too but I do too much of it. Congrats on fitting into a size 20! Yay!


Have a nice evening.

Amy

worththeeffort2 - Happy birthday!!!

Amy, my copay for physical therapy is $30 visit. I'm going to be paying over $200 a month in therapy costs. My brother is an athletic trainer, maybe I will ask him for ideas.

Howdy folks! Not a whole lot to say today. It's my day off from the BERP and also from socializing (yay!), since my niece Margaret and her son Gavin are coming over on Wednesday instead of Sunday.

Bob and I are Formula One fans, so we watched an exciting auto race today. Other than that, the only thing of note is that I worked on the first page of my new art journal. What's an art journal? It's like a regular journal in that you write about your life, thoughts, feelings, etc., but also you do art on the pages. You explore new techniques, try to push the envelope of where you're at creatively, that sort of thing. Most of the pages have both writing and art on them, all woven together, but some pages just have art. My great-niece Grace and I are both starting art journals: she came over yesterday for another session of helping me sort clippings, and we showed each other how we'd decorated the front & back covers of our journals. She'd already filled several pages with visual & verbal info about what she's been up to. She's off to a great start! I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 13, and trying to remember what I was like at 13. She's really a whiz at sorting my clippings, hardly ever needing to ask me "Where does this one go?"

I'm not so bummed out about the BERP anymore. I'm starting to see the baseboards in multiple rooms. Everywhere I look, I'm amazed at the spaces that have opened up. The end is not in sight yet, but I don't feel so overwhelmed. It's easy for me to think of what area to attack next: that's a good feeling. And Bob is excited, too. He's beginning to believe that we really will get our house back.

I'm too tired to do personals, so I'll just say that I'm thinking about all of you, including those who haven't checked in recently. Happy Birthday, Worthy! Size 20 is awesome! Sorry to hear you're frustrated, Trish: just hang in there & stick with your eating plan, and you'll keep losing weight. Comparing our two tickers, it looks like we're at similar points in the journey: not to halfway yet, but getting there. We can do this—we really can!

Anyway... Take care, everyone!

Amy: Glad to hear you're making progress with packing.

Lilturtle: I think it's a great idea for you to talk with your brother. He might have a whole bag of tricks he can share with you.

Fiona: I'm so glad to hear that Bob is starting to come around and be positive about the changes taking place. Congrats on making progress and taking time to feel good about the progress you've made.

Back to work for me today. Yesterday's weather was so perfect. I wish every day would be just like it. My annual performance review is on Wednesday. Even though my job performance is top-notch, my supervisor is mercurial. Her moods are unpredictable and I am in the unfortunate position of "favorite whipping boy." Life is easier when I can stay under the radar but this week, I'll be front-and-center because of my review. Bleh.

This will be really short, as I'm so busy lately. Mood has been good, thankfully, but getting nowhere on the weightloss front. Hope to turn that around this week. Possible severe awkwardness with my mom this coming weekend, but I'm going to ignore, and hope it goes away.

I'll try and get back later for a longer post...my boss is gone this week, so I'm kind of difacto supervisor again...I'd rather be busy than bored at work, but it does cut down on my internet time!

Hi there,

I'll make this a quick post because I need to get back to packing which is a bit overwhelming at the moment. I know I'm making progress but my anxiety level is high, which isn't helped by all of this excessive clutter. I'm a bit nervous about the movers, I've seen great reviews on yelp but I've also seen a D- grade for a moving company with the same name on the BBB website, I don't know if it's the same company.

It feels good to have vented a bit, thank you all for reading.

Take care,

Amy

Hello support buddies! This might be my last post for awhile since we leave for Ireland first thing in the morning. I am busy as heck with appointments and packing and laundry before we leave. Also hope to get my house in some order before we leave since a friend is staying with our dogs there. I am running out of time. It will take us all day and night to get to Ireland due to the 5 hour time difference. I am looking forward to doing nothing but relax once we finally get on the plane! Things seem to be better with my mom, so all should be okay there. I hope we can have some good conversations with my parents while we are there.

Lilturtle: please hang in there! All will be okay and you will start losing weight again if you keep on walking and watch portions. Everyone hits plateaus from time to time. We are all here cheering you on!!! Big hugs to you!

No sleep again last night but this was due to a toothache. I don't have dental insurance. *sigh* It sucks to be poor but not poor enough for medicaid in times like this. On the bright side, my desire to eat is really low even though I am starving.

Another day of the BERP. I'm still working to free up book boxes ("banker's box" size) for the remaining books we're giving to charity. I spent the whole day emptying just one box, since it had a lot of magazines in it that needed to be paged through for clipping images. Clipping is the slowest, and the hardest, part of this project. At the end of a day of clipping, my eyes are so tired I have to lie in the dark for a few hours.

Tonight is the night we put out our recycles: I'm glad we have two big bins on wheels, because this week's BERP-ing filled one to the brim and the other half-full with discarded paper. I feel sorry for the men who have to pick them up and dump their contents in the truck, because paper is so heavy!

I'm too trashed to say any more. Tomorrow I'm going to do something other than clipping, that's for sure. G'night, y'all—I'm wishing for all of you a happy Tuesday!

this has been on my mind..have you heard the results? thinking of you!

Hi Fi, lilturtle, Amy, worth, lost, Monte C., Ohio, Sabrina, and Kathleen, who is winging her way to Ireland

Fi, what a sense of accomplishment you must be feeling each day ( I hope Seeing baseboards is major!

Amy, I hope your anxiety is not bad today about moving. It is a huge upheaval (literally!) isn't it.

lilturtle, very sorry about the toothache, that is the worst pain in my opinion.

Worthy, I hope the mercurial supervisor sets her sights on someone else for a while! we have a front-of-the-house woman like that. She likes me fine when she needs cookies for a personal family party..then the same day she'll say something kinda mean, just to get a laugh. Ugh to people like that.Oh! belated Happy Birthday

Lost, it was good to hear from you!

Monte C., hey enjoy your position at the top

Sabrina, how are you doing?

I finally had the appt. to have my dented car looked at; if the ins. co. agrees, I will be getting a whole new bumper and have my air bag sensor checked/repaired. to the tune of over $700. And not one penny out of my pocket as it was 'the other guys' fault.

I haven't been doing terribly with eating, but I haven't been on the straight and narrow path either, which means I'm not down either. This has happened so often before, I can look okay (in my eyes) at this weight, yet I want to get down in to the 140's!!!

Yes I did, thanks for asking They said it's probably nothing, that there was an abnormality, but they ran a couple of the tests a second time and everything was negative so it was probably just a mild yeast infection or some sort of irritation. I just have to get another one in 6 months.

Man, I need more hobbies or some friends outside of work. I get sooo bored on my days off that I can't wait to go back to work. I'm sitting here counting down the hours until I can start getting ready! Sad that my buddy Alex won't be there for two days though.

Speaking of work though, now that the initial stress of a new job has worn off, I'm eating normally again and I'm not losing like I was those first couple weeks. I'm glad that I'm more comfortable at work, but I could seriously do without the bigger appetite!

I saw a dentist a little bit ago. Got an antibiotic and vicoden. It will have to be pulled later this week.

Nothing worse than being depressed and letting your feelings out only to see that your post was lost.....

I'm so incredibly sad and depressed right now. I'm not seeing any weight loss and no change in the way clothes are fitting. I'm working my butt off in the gym and watching what I eat and I'm getting nothing. Right now I'm so depressed I'm not oging to go to my cycling class because I can never make it through them when I sad and depressed like this. I'd end up quitting halfway through which is just even more depressing, so I'm not going to go. All of this, not seeing results, makes me want to eat, but I know that won't make me feel better. I'll just end up feeling worse. My husband says he loves me just as I am, but I don't love me. I gained all of this weight during a nearly 9 month pregnancy and now I'm just FAT. I don't have a baby to tote around or talk about that can be the reason for why I am the way I am. Nope, I just am. I still have to wear maternity pants because I can't get into a size 16 pants yet and size 18 are so incredibly huge on me I can't wear them comfortably. I'm so mad at myself right now, because it's obviously something I'm doing wrong. Probably still eating too much or the wrong things or whatever. I just don't know what to do anymore. I HATE my job, but every job I've applied to I don't even get an interview. I've prayed for God to find me something, but it's clear I must have to be miserable right now. I hate my body, I hate my job. I just want to be happy, but it seems like it's just not going to happen.

Oh Sabrina I am so sorry you are so sad. You experienced all the downs of being pregnant without being given the joy at the end ... so unfair and wrong.

It is always wonderful when our guys tell us they love us just as we are! and they do. But as long as we don't love ourselves, we won't be content.

I don't have anything useful to say, but I am wishing I could offer something helpful.

lilturtle, sorry about having to lose the tooth, but I hope you get relief with the vicodin.

melarie - Well I guess it is a great thing to look forward to your next day at work, even without your pal

Sabrina: I am so sorry that all of your hard work hasn't paid off yet. That is so incredibly frustrating, I know from experience. Please try not to put yourself down. The negative self-talk only makes things worse. Expect results to come and keep on working hard with food and exercise..... and you WILL get results in time. I am trusting in this myself, too, so BELIEVE along with me that better days are ahead of us! I am in Boston, on my way to Ireland, and hubby plugged in his computer, so I just have a quick chance to write. I am sending HUGS to all of you and hoping that things get better for Sabrina and Trish, and that all is well with everyone else. Trish, so sorry about your tooth. Sounds painful. Glad you saw a dentist and got meds to help you feel better. Hang in there everyone! We are in this TOGETHER!!!!!