Thanks for the bellydancing emoticon Ruthxxx!

I guess I'm OP, but I am all PMS and feeling large. I just saw a recent photo of myself and yuck. I'm all boobs, and my face is round, and even my gut is bulging out! Talk about a motivator. I should hang it on my fridge.

I guess I'll weigh in later this week. I'm on day 13, somethings gotta give!

SAndi

Hey, has anyone seen Jen lately? I haven't and A) I miss her and B) it makes me worry when she doesn't pop her head in.

Good morning.

Yay, it's cloudy today. I've got a peaceful association with clouds and rain. It's because when I was a kid, rain meant we students got to stay inside for recess. That meant coloring books. Which were my favorite medium as a child.

Took my friend to the Indian buffet yesterday. Delicious, again. I paced myself on the nan.

Well, I changed my Halloween goal. It was unrealistic, and that was depressing me. Keeping my December goal the same for now.

Happy day to you all.

Hi y'all! Well, I had kind of a rough weekend. DBF and I have hit a bit of a rough spot and I'm realizing I probably won't finish up my MA paper by Oct. 1, which means I won't graduate until next semester. Despite all that I managed to lose a pound. Maybe it is the no Dr. Pepper thing, since that's really the only sweet I indulge in.

I'm thinking about doing long bike rides on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, since I don't have to be at school until 11:00 on those days. It would also give me a nice chance to clear my mind mid-week.

Goddess J: Debate parties are so much fun. The campus Dems. are holding a big debate party in one of the ballrooms on campus (oops, I'm showing my political stripes ). I went to their primary debate parties and it was just so great to share in the experience of democracy with so many enthusiastic people. I also have friends that make drinking games around the debates. For instance every time a candidate invokes his campaign slogan, or a specific issue someone/everyone has to take a shot. That sounds like fun, but I'm always afraid I'll end up drunk and outraged .

Scale is down a total of 6 pounds so far - 3 of which were retained water I think. I was at the gym at 5:45 AM for cardio and weights. I am glad that's over and out the way - Whew! I sleep in tomorrow and am back in the gym on Thursday for bis and tris.

My boss gave me a box of Michigan Chocolate covered cherries and cherry sour balls. I am proud to say I only ate one of each and then gave the rest to my crew. I have to grocery shop tonight - I'm out of healthy food. Luckily the caf downstairs is serving baked cod and green beans today so lunch won't be too far off plan. I know there is butter all over these beans so they aren't the healthiest choice but they definitely beat the taco salad - complete with fried shell - that they are also serving.

Tiki.

Tiki...water smoter! who cares! 6 pounds! that's amazing and even if it was water that's water you don't have anymore! Be prond and love it! Great job!!!!!!!

Hannah I know that I am really new but I felt your post and hope that things get better for you, hang in there. I like your idea of a debate party. Us Canadians dont even usualy listen to the debate portion of a champaign cause we know they are all lying anyway, so we wait until the last minute and decide which one lied the least. Or maybe that's just me...who knows?

I had a pretty good day today, my boss told me I was an asset, I came home and my daughter told me she loved me, what more can a girl want? tis a good day I think!

Hope you all are doing wonderfully.

Dale

Hannah - You would so love my job. I work for a company that sells web-based political campaign software. We're whores so we're totally bipartisan. Anyway, I get to train campaign staffers how to use the software and they're always calling for support. But the best thing is that I'm always involved in big party shindigs. Of course I'm a HUGE liberal so my boss has to bribe me not to say anything too outrageous when we're at the "other" events but during the primaries I got to hang out with both sides (local parties only) while the results came in. Very fun. The drinking game thing is definatly my style - I wonder how many people would get hurt

Dale - Sounds like you had a great day today!

I ate way too many cookies tonight. The Cute Boyfriend and I started talking finances. I think I used them to fill up the void where my money used to be!!! Darn those evil things!

Hannah, that drinking game sounds funny. "America should go to war when it has to, not when it wants to!" Shlurp. And I like Trixi's Freudian slip of "champaign." Or was that intentional?

Tiki, congrats on the loss.

Good food day yesterday. Husband cooked squash. That stuff is so good. On the one hand, it's a vegetable. On the other hand, it's way unhealthy. But I only had a little bit.

Apparently nuts are good for something. I've been eating a small serving of nuts for the past two days, and it's helped my energy level. If I go w/o animal products, sometimes I feel drained. Guess it's a matter of getting the right protein combination. Tonight, I'll cook some couscous (grain), add some peas, and still eat a few nuts. That ought to do it.

It's thunder-storming. Yay! I love the sound of heavy rain against a window. We have a skylight over our bathtub. It's great to hear the rain and see the grey sky. Maybe I'm weird.

Happy day, everyone.

Trixi- I think this time a lot of Canadians were actually watching the debate since most of the country seemed ticked off at the Liberal party and wanted to see what the other parties were offering. It seemed that everyone in my area was talking about the election, the debate and politics in general and a lot more people went out and voted. I guess the country went with the devil you know versus the devil you don't since the Liberals got in again

Anyhow - back to the dieting stuff I have done pretty good this week and have planned out my menus for the next two days. We are having a chicken stirfry tonight and tomorrow we are having a pasta dish with shrimp.

I am working on journalling and keeping track of my points this week.

Hi all,

Yesterday was a CRAZY day. Moving offices, dealing with major attitudes, cheer practice, renting a saxopone, doing homework - MAN I was so glad to put my head on my pillow last night.

Dinner was on the run - stopped at Quiznos and got a low fat sub on low carb bread. when I finished eating, I felt like I had eaten air pudding BUT I didn't blow my eating plan for the day.

Today I missed breakfast other than one slice of bacon and a string cheese pack. I guess I better go find some food fast before I breakdown and eat my entire bottle of Tums.

Tiki.

Sorry have been AWOL for a few days and maybe for quite a few more. I have been at work the past 5 days. I stayed OP until Yesterday and the stress got to me, I was not too bad but I was not too good either. I am down as of Monday AM 5.5 pounds, but may not be eating too good for awhile, we are in the path of Hurricane Ivan so I don't know what the power status is going to be or in that case our house status as of tomorrow. I will be back in touch and with personals as soon as I can, but with 140 mile an hour winds we are likely to be in trouble for a while.

I hope you ate something good Tiki!

Amyjo- stay safe - hope the hurricane leaves you and your family and your home untouched Check in with us and let us know you are okay when you have the chance.

AmyJo: I've been through a couple of hurricanes during vacations and I've also volunteered during cleanup operations. So knowing what a hurricane can do I've had my thoughts on your part of the country a lot lately. Just wanted to let you know that my thoughts are with you and yours.

'lo.

Not much new to report. As I type, I am eating stir fry from my favorite Thai restaurant. Am only eating half the tofu and 3/4 of the rice.

Baked some vegan penut butter cookies last night. I accidentally put too much baking powder and soda into the bowl. I was trying to remove some of it. But my husband (who was doing the stirring) said not to take it out. He thought it would be fun to have poofy PB cookies. I decided to limit myself to two, and I stuck with the limit.

Other successes were, no soda yesterday and I still drank a glass of water at every meal.

So are we on to Week 2?