Good Morning, Good Morning......Happy Middle of the week, half way to WI, day!!

Susie...stopped the minute I read your post and said a prayer for you. All will go well, I can feel it.

Suzy...think positive thoughts, be strong, just say no to the nasty, not-so-good things for you. I know you have the motivation and will power inside you to do this.

Aymee (Ms. Padded Princess), cute alias. Shu wee you have enough on your plate with the wedding. Get re-focused after that. You will be great!

I can actually feel the 9.5 lb loss in the pants I wore to work today. That made me smile this morning when I was getting ready for work. My doggie just looked at me and cocked her head. She is such a character.

Have a beautiful day! Love and hugs...Annie

Annie~how wonderful! Nice to SEE and FEEL the loss!

Susie~ prayers heading your way!

Suzy~ take it one moment at a time, one victory at a time.

Padded Princess~ Enjoy every second of the wedding process and day. It FLYS by.Very exciting for you I am sure.

Well, I sent BOTH my kids off to school today. sob. My son started grade 1 yesterday and my daughter started JK today. He was still very anxious. She was okay.Today is the first time in 6 years I have been alone in my home for more than an hour. It is very quiet.The kids are gone for 7 hours. Madness!
I have been puttering so far but plan to walk in a bit.

Of course you are welcome, LauraLynn. Nice to meet you. I happened to see your "newbie" post and related to missing out on the kids activities. I have two active boys, ages 6 and 9, and often find myself reluctant to participate in certain activities with them too. I am having much trouble with my motivation right now but when on track I try to take a simple, balanced, smaller portion approach to eating. As for workouts, I am attempting to move more by avoiding doing things less like cleaning, walking kids to bus stop, parking further away, etc. I need to lose at least 100 pounds, am 39 years old, and also live in NY in the Hudson Valley area.
Suzy

Hi Laura: It's nice to have you with us. I too want to kick the "doodle" out of the number 200!--I love the way you worded that!!

I am currently watching portion sizes, and no snacking. I also try to balance my carbs with protien (sort of like a dietbetic does). If I have a gain for more than one week, I go back to counting my calories also.

I got to TOPS once a week for the accountability of a weekly weigh-in.

I workout 5-6 times a week. I always do 30 min of cardio (mostly I walk), and I also use weight training. I alternate between using Natulis equipment, free weights and bands. I will train upper body one day, then lower body the next.

I'm looking forward to having you on the board with us. Let us know what we can do to help keep you motivated.

Susie

Welcome Laura,

The more the merrier, we all need a boost now and again. Hey Susie, was the doc very impressed with your weight loss? I bet so!! I am.

Later gaters...annie

Good Morning Ladies,
Thanks so much for the support and encouragement. I had a so-so eating day yesterday but had lots of activity (heavy cleaning) and water. Today will be some more heavy cleaning (steam cleaning the carpets, mopping floors, etc) along with some grocery shopping. Although I'm missing the kids now that school started, I am loving the opportunity to get some real stuff done in the house. I'm trying, ladies, thanks for hanging in there with me. I'm going to get it.
Susie- How was the doctor? I thought about you a lot yesterday and this am. Please let us know how it went.
LauraLynn- Nothing wrong, thanks for concern. Just been doing some real stress eating lately that I am having difficulty controlling. Hope things are ok with your daughter.

THANK YOU LADIES FOR THE PRAYERS! I got a great report! I'm so glad to have that appointment over with. It was the first time I've ever went that everthing looked good. Even my doctor commented on it. He said, "I think things are turing around for you."

He was very, very impressed with my weightloss. By his scales I had lost 49 lbs since my surgery. His nurses were excited about it to and they wouldn't let him look in his chart until he came in to look at me. They said the difference is amazing. It's good to hear that..I mean, I know I'm still overweight, but it's a image booster, let me tell ya!

Now, it's time to work on the next 50. That will get me under 200....can you imagine ladies...under 200...COME ON..WE CAN ALL DO THIS!! WE ARE DOING THIS...DON'T GIVE UP...LET'S KEEP EACH OTHER GOING!! (can you tell I'm pumped today?! )

It's good to see the board so active.

Holly: What in the world did you do with yourself for 7 hours while your kids were gone? I bet you felt lost! But isn't it good to have "me time"?

Suzy: You hung in there and didn't give up. Keep trying, you will succeed.

Annie: Thanks for asking what my doc thought about the weight loss. How are you doing girl? This South Beach thing is really working for you. Keep up the good work!

Laura: You have come to a very good place for support and friendship. This is a good group of ladies. I love it that you said "You are an open book". I really think that's what we need to be, with ourselfs and others. I know a lot of my weight gain has been done privately. Like eating in the bathroom so no one will see? Anyone else ever do that.

So, Laura, feel free to share anything. It can only benefit the rest of us. The is no one answer to this weightloss problem. If there was, we would already be thin!

Ladies, let's have a healthy day!

I need to get to work. I left early for the appt. and my desk exploded while I was gone!

I'll check in later.

Susie

Oh What a Beautiful Day! Just felt like singing.

Today's challenge ladies.....No junk, stay focused, drink water. If you exercise, it is a plus.....wadda ya say? Come on, take a ride with me, just a one day challenge, think about this challenge when you go to eat the wrong things. Drink a glass of water first, see if that changes your mind.

I still have not cheated! I am such shock about that. I couldn't get past the first day lunch in the past two years of TRYING to lose weight. Getting past the first week has helped a bunch. Now I am almost to week 3. Come on ladies, feel my spirit, feel my motivation, as Lord knows I will need yours soon.

Have a marvy day, hugs...Annie

Annie: I took you up on your challenge. I had 2 piecies of candy corn (they were there and I unthinkingly just grapped a couple), so when I went to eat my lunch, I had a mini doughnut packed and I choose to give it away instead of eating it. I had already had the candy corn, so I had to stay focused! Thanks for the challenge.

I think I'll do just fine for the rest of the day. I've got my weigh-in at TOPS tonight. I hope it's good!

How's everyone else doing with Annie's challenge?

Susie

Great Susie.WTG...glad to see a positive effect on you. Goodluck at weigh in tonight. Hope all goes well!!

I just love adolescent boys, NOT!!! As my sweet 6 year old son was getting off the bus , all the grade 8 boys mooed and oinked at me. Delightful.Yes, I have a mirror and I know I am fat but thanks for the reminder anyhow.
I WAS having an okay day. I was up .75 at TOPS weigh in. I expectd it cause I had a bad eating day on Mon and wine on Sun.I will get back on track.
I loved my day to myself yesterday. I mostly puttered and did some gardening. I went for a walk.I enjoyed the quiet!

Welcome Laura~ I have caught up on the posts. I eat lean meats, 2 starchy carbs per day and then fruits and veg. I aim for even portions of carbs,fats and proteins.I try to walk regularily.

Yahoo Susie!

Annie~ let me know when you have a cheese free day challenge!! The no junk is a breeze for me.

Suzy~ my house is getting in order too. Are finding eating well easier with the kids outa the house for most of the day? I think I am.I am struggling too. I know what to do but get discouraged way too easily.I eat in the evening too. I was doing better but have been sliding lately.

Take care ladies!

Susie-Wonderful news from the doc! Experiences like that make it all worthwhile. Very motivating. Keep up the great, great work! Good luck with WI tonight.

Annie-So far today I have taken your challenge to heart. I am at 32 ounces of water, lots of walking, and a small portion leftover whole wheat pasta for lunch (had butter in it so not too great but at least it was a small amt). What I need to do is stay VERY busy. I find that my mind starts rummaging the cabinets and fridge when I sit down and say aah.

Holly- Let's somehow motivate/challenge each other to stay on track. Any ideas?

I really do appreciate coming here each day and checking in with all of you. It definitely makes a difference even if I am not staying on track. I really feel a connection here with all of you. Thanks.
Suzy

Hi,
I had a 1.50 lost at my TOPS weigh-in last night!

It so great to see those scales go down.

I was dreaming a little this morning about this time next year. If I keep on track, this time next year I'll be in a "maintence" mode. I've not been in maintence mode since I was a teenager!

I'm so excited to be working toward that. I can't do it without your help and support. So, I know I'll be here often. Who else is with me?

Went to the movies on Wed. evening with some girlfriends of mine. We do a "chickie" movie night once a month. We saw Princess Diaries 2. Very cute movie. It just made you want to smile

I went out to school yesterday and got my Accounting book. I'm only taking one class this quarter. This book is HUGE! and there's a workbook. I'm a little intimidated let me tell you. I start classes next Thursday.

This weekend we are celebrating with a friend who is turning 50. She looks fabulous at 50! She agreed to a get-together, if there were no black item involved! I had to wrack my brains to do come up with something that would call attention to her 50th b-day and not be depressing. I did a search to see what things happened in 1954 and I found out that on her b-day, 9-11, the first Miss America pagent was televised. So, what I decided to do was to get her a crown (at the Dollar Store) and some fake roses, and I made a sash for her to wear that says "Ms. Birthday Queen 1954". We are going out to dinner with a large group and I'm going to present this to her. I have a list of events that happened in 1954 that I'm going to read and of course the last one will be the info about the Miss America pagent. I hope it turns out cute. My other friends thinks it sounds fun and think she will think it's funny.

Well, I better get to work.

Have a nice day ladies. I'll check in later.Holly: don't let the small gain get you down. Fight back girl! You will loose it next week. (((Huggsss)))

Susie

Happy TGIF Ladies!!!

Another beautiful day in Indy, and for the next 5 days according to the forecast. I can't wait to get outside tomorrow. YEAH!! My son is having his 16th BD party Sat night, boys and girls till 11:30, then the guys are camping out. I fear for a noisy evening. Man can the boys eat too, as it is half of his football team for the HS. Don't know how they will take to my healthy snacks.hehe.

Holly - Kids can be mean. I can remember pumping gas at a gas station and a car load of kids drove by and yelled, "HEY FAT *SS". I cried the rest of the night when I got home. A cheese free day challenge, shu weee, that one will be hard for me. Maybe next week I will throw that one out there for a challenge.

Suzie - Buck up Bucko, jump back on the wagon. A small gain is not too bad. We can do this. I have faith in you. JUST DO IT, baby!!

Susie - Congrats on the big loss this week. How proud you must be, I am proud of you. Doesn't that just motivate you to keep on truckin'? The Ms. America Pagent sound delightful. It would be kewl to make some decorations of red, white and blue, stars, etc. That would be neat for 9/11 as well.

Here's to continued losses. Cheers!! My WI is tomorrow. I feel like I will have a good one! May you all have a terrific weekend, and enjoy life. Keep smilin'

((((hugs)))) Annie

Suzi !I joined in the Halloween challenge this week. Under Misc Clubs thread. So far its not helping. it is almost too busy there.
Do you have any ideas for a challenge? Maybe for each day?
Like~ for Sat~journal everything that goes in your mouth on fitday.com.

Let me know, H