Here's a reason to stick with it.....GASP! Compliments! Today, 2 people, at 2 different times, from 2 different departments ....made mention to me that I'm losing weight and LOOK SMALLER!
I'm soooo excited!!! I was going to wait until TOM was done to weigh-in, but I am tempted to peek tomorrow....

A 3rd person just told me that i'm "looking very svelte"!!!! (wow, I can live off these compliments for a MONTH!)

wow lots of post since i was here last

thanks for the warm welcome... this seems like a fun group to be in

no boozehound here but thats due to being stranded living with my mother due to recent divorce... who thinks if you have ONE alcoholic drink in a 6 month period you are becoming a filthy drunk... so I dont get a lot of opportunity

but chocolate... now thats a group I belong in my next 21 day challenge i think is going to be avoiding candy bars from the vending machine at school/work, thats gunna be a tough one for me

Thank you for all the posts and the pictures.
I still continue to notice little things, and if you don't mind I will continue:
Yesterday I walked out from work and realized that a car parked too close to me. It was raining and I got all wet and somewhat dirty from squizing in. It makes me so mad how people don't think.... I remember 4 years ago I visited some friends, parked and when I was leaving them a car parked extremely close. I could not squize one leg inside the car, I had to come and a grab my friend who is 120lb and ask her to unpark the car.

Yesterday's report:
A: Food (3) - Day 2 (Dec. 17) Done
B: H2O (3) - Day 2 (Dec. 17) Done
C: Gym (3) - Day 2 (Dec. 17) Done

legs still hurt from that workout.

Day 1 ----> 1267 calories 1 hr of circuit training


the monkey is back in the tree......

Day one COMPLETE !!

84.5oz plus a little more, but i havnt finished this last bottle and probably wont, but thats ok i made my 60oz so i'm good

ok my siggie is there i just edited it but its not showing up (wasnt showing up before the edit either... whats up with that...

oh and i'm a little miffed that drea didnt come post like i told her too but she did get in her work out today, i talked to her earlier and she wasnt feeling too well, kinda regreting the work out cause she felt crappy prior to that and it did nothing to help... but she did do it... so day one complete for her also

ok weird now my siggie is showing in the above post but still not in the post above that... really really weird

Tayja, The people at 3fc are making changes with the signatures because they're taking up too much room. Now, they're voting on what you want to do with them so go here and vote!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/foru...sprune=-1&f=40

Find the sticky at the top about "signature poll" and read it. I think right now the signatures are appearing once a page or once a thread, something strange like that.

More later.

Day 14 on food done,
Pause day on water.

Too much to do, too little time.

As I understand it siggy's are only one per day per thread. Or that could be only one per day. It's reasonable since some siggys are longer than the persons entry. Some contain five or six trackers and a quote and a name and a husband/ wife/ kids 1,2,3,4,5,etc. They all take up space on servers and also can make sites slow to load. Can't remember how many members there are, 40K odd, but I do know that we have been through at least 3 servers in my time with the site and are now approaching a million posts. And I think that is only in the forums!!! That's an awful lot of memory used in posts and signatures. Something has to give. They could limit the space allowed on signatures and that would probably mean only one tracker and one quote or maybe 2 trackers and nothing else.

Gotta go. Bed calls. Another busy day tomorrow.

Hi all. Just in from the gym and MUST get a story mostly done tonight. So, this is Day 2 on all my challenges, which are!!:

1) Continuing the caffeine reduction -- coffee in the morning, then NONE, only 1 mug of tea allowed the rest of the day.

2) Continuing with the crunches (10 sets of 20 reps) PLUS I am adding at least 5 sets of 10 reps of some other pilates-like exercise. Right now I am doing those breaststroke things (really works your lower back!) and alternate leg and arm raises while on belly, and both legs together and both arms together (like Shad had explained). It all works my lower back. Afterwards I MUST do at least some stretching.

3) And NEW one: journaling what I eat and how I felt at the time AND then on a new page going back and undoing any negative self-talk with pep talks and a bit of more balanced talk, thinking why I pigged out or made bad choices if I think it was and THEN looking ahead to the coming day and the likely challenges I'll face and thinking a bit about what I can do to do well. So there! That's a lot but it's more fun than I thought it would be.

So, as soon as I write the journal I'll be through Day 2!!

Oh yes, and everyone, I wanted to tell you about some great Stickies in the Maintenance Library. Go to the forum searcher and look for it about four main entries above the Weight Watchers stuff. Meg has done a great chapter by chapter breakdown of the book "Thin For Life." There are some really good things in there. She has summarized everything so well, there really is no need to get the book. And, people have replied and added their input on what she has done. Check it out!
Here's the link:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=169

Shad -- Glad to hear from you. I was a bit worried with your short post. I hope you're just busy and nothing else. Good going on the challenges. How can you NOT drink water in all that heat you have down there?!

Tayja -- Congrats on a successful Day 1! And glad to hear freaky is doing well too. Hope she comes in and posts too. Keep up the good work Tayja! Wow, and your mother would probably faint if she met some of us on here! Avoiding the vending machine sounds like it'll be a great challenge for you. They are awful habits, aren't they?

curly -- Ah, excellent. Monkeys should be up in the trees! Glad to hear it. Is your scale still doing good things?

CB -- You make me laugh with that quote in your signature. Make it all sound like the only reason you want to look good is to catch yourself a man!!! Well, that's fine and I don't mean to laugh, but I just kinda had to. Sorry! But you're sure right about sloppiness and uncleanliness detracting from you. I kind of don't really care when I'm riding the train back from the stable, smelling like a horse (and worse) and got mud on my shoes, but maybe I should. ....nah!.....And you just go ahead "noticing little things." It's great and it's going to act as your motivation. I think the worst thing for me would be train seats and airplane seats. They are tiny as it is. I had never thought about parking lots, but yes, getting smaller will mean less chance of some lousy or inconsiderate parker making things difficult for you. I like your observations, but don't be hard on yourself. I don't think you are, but was just worrying a little.

marble -- WOW!!! Congratulations on the compliments!! So glad to hear you are stoked!! Now, DON'T forget them!!

Phys -- Hello again! Glad you're back. I'll have to keep the naked talk going for you. Shall I post the sumo pic of the day for you or a little something more buff? (See photo below for you.) Your new challenge sounds like one of mine. I think it'll definitely help. But I suggest you do something that'll make you go back over the day too. I used to just write it all down but not look back and I don't think it helped so much, unless I looked back over it, at least at the end of the week.

Apple -- Had to laugh about you telling Fish you were "only allowed to cheer for 1 team!!!" Excellent on the no beer. Wow, I'm not even getting thirsty right now! Glad to hear you'll step it up on the exercise. You'll see results, I think. And, I image googled Cowher and it was funny because all the shots were of him yelling or frowning or stomping around waving his fist or something. He does look like quite a character. This thread is a real learning experience for me. Help to keep me up on my own country!

Fish -- Welcome back!!! I missed you! And thanks for the pictures. You look fabulous. You don't look like you CAN lose any more weight! And yes, that room looks cool, like something out of a movie. So glad you had fun. Is that your husband with you there? Sounds like you were really pretty vigilant with eating and exercising. Isn't it nice to not have to groan about having gained so much weight after enjoying yourself? Glad to see you're starting a new challenge with us. Laughing at the Mary Kate/Ashely towel wraps....lol. Good luck on your exercise!

stage -- Ok, clear on the loyalties.. now I'll have to look up these other dudes to see who they are. You'll get me up on the Steelers yet!

jolly -- Good going on the no-caffeine. Sounds like a good idea to break things down into more workable things for a new challenge. I think even if you substitute something for a bad habit, it can help to break the habit and that is a start. You know where your sticking points are, what is one of the chief villains in keeping you from your weight goal. I would start with one of them, or even just a part of one. For example, if you were eating chocolate all day long, maybe say chocolate only in the evening or something like that. Could help. Let us know what you decide!

carla -- Where are you?!! Are you miffed by marble's irreverence? She really is fresh...but then...you kinda had it coming!

Phys, here's a pic for you. Just one of the guys I saw out working on the trains this morning!! They get these poor foreigners to work for dirt cheap 'cause they're here illegally, you know. Out there in the freezing cold with barely a stitch on. He didn't seem bothered. I wasn't either. Now you know why I ride them all the time...er, the trains I mean. I had to cut the photo as it went waaaay lower but I was worried I might get the thread censored!!

*blush/grin*

Nice pic, Red! I wonder if my boyfriend will continue to approve of this wonderful and supportive environment considering all of the competition he may face -- at least a teeny bit in my mind... maybe...

I plan to write all my food down today and then to go back the -following morning- before eating breakfast and think about what I'd like to do differently.
Only writing the food counts 'officially' toward my challenge, but I'd like to add the review in as a habit. I'll let y'all know tomorrow if I made it today!

Well, not such good news from the cheddarhead. . . I had a can of Diet Pepsi yesterday. I don't know if it was PMS, stress, sitting in a meeting too long, or what. . . I had a headache that just would not go away, so I caved and had a can. And I am doing a lot of stress eating again. Not cool.

So, goal one, day one - no caffeine. Goal two still needs to be revised. Sorry all.

SIGH!!! THE FLIPPING SCALE SHOWS NOTHING! grrrrr. TOM is now 3 weeks past due!

Day #8 on exercise challenge.....33 mins. of wts./cardio....then I thought I would upchuck...(cos I'm sooo outta shape). I pushed the cardio harder this AM and had to change into different sweats to walk the dog cos I was so sweaty.

Yesterday, Wednesday, dinner party pause day. So I think today will be Day 1 again for the no wine and no choc challenges. Day 18 water challenge (pause on that too yesterday!). Bad Carla! Don't sloths live in trees too? Maybe I'll meet up with monkey Curly in mine and she'll inspire me.