Michelle, I wish I had mentioned this earlier..before you did all of that painting...but, have you tried the edger pads? Between my old house, my Mom's house, my brothers house...etc etc, I've probably painted about 50 rooms. The trim pads are awesome!

http://www.doityourself.com/invt/u635870

Good morning, Bluesers!

Yesterday was my first day with calorie counting. I started off with one of three 1200 calorie days for the week. By last evening, I was starving! I need to take another look at my day and see if I can work in a bit more protein and healthy fats. This morning, I woke up with a terrible headache. I think the headache is because I was hungry. The very very good news is that my 2 pound gain is already gone. Yep, overnight I lost it. It must have been water weight from the sodium. So, this week, I should be able to post a great loss for the team. Go Blue! Today, I get to eat 1400 calories, so we'll see how I feel tonight. I hate to have to increase my daily calories too much as I really want to lose 2 pounds a week. Going by most of the calculators, I have to stay fairly low to lose 2 pounds. We'll see what happens this week.

I better get to work. With sleep in today due to the headache, I'm running a bit behind. Hope everyone has a great on-plan day!

I was getting angst about the math too, and in fact, I was pm'ing Chelle about it on a daily basis for a few days before I had to just let it go. It seems hopeless to police it daily for whatever reason, so like Chelle said, don't stress about it. It seems like it's going to happen regardless. Diva, I know the person who seemed snippy apologized later and said she didn't mean it, it was just some misinterpretation on both sides, right? BTW, your pic on your profile page is beautiful. You should move it up into your signature so everyone sees it! You have amazing hair & I am about bald by comparison, so I am always envious of deliciously thick hair!

Tuesday's question of the day:

How important is drinking water to you? What differences do you notice in your weight loss, appearance, etc, from drinking extra water?

Mornin' Blue Team,

Rhonda: Good question. I go through phases with water and I don't know if it really helps my weight loss, but it does make me feel like a happier and healthier person if I'm drinking at least 2-3L every day. But it totally depends on having a good water bottle - there's a great article on slate.com from a few months back where they tested out a ton of different ones, and I bought the one they ranked highest, which I really like. (Although my roommate makes fun of me for it because it looks like an IV bag...)

Fran & Roni: The exercise challenge math thing is aggravating, but I tend to only look at the last couple of posts above mine. If you know what the number is really supposed to be, maybe you could just use that on your post, and then the next person will subtract from your number. Just a thought, but I couldn't be bothered to read the whole thing and figure it out.


I just went back and looked at my food diary from August thru October of last year, when I successfully lost 10 lb and was feeling great. Definitely helpful, and I need to get back in that mindset because I was so devoted to taking care of myself. I am reintroducing the protein shake into my diet as of today - that was something I used to very good effect back then, even though it's not my favorite thing to eat/drink. I'm a vegan so I make it with sugar-free cappuccino flavor soy milk, mixed with chocolate protein powder. Tastes like a (slightly chalky) mocha milkshake.

Hope everyone is having a great day!

Oh water is a big one for me! If I don't keep up with 48-64oz a day, I get thirsty but interpret it as hunger... and then I snack snack snack! Also, I do it for other benefits - my skin stays clearer, my asthma stays well-managed because I don't get as much inflammation, etc!

So... for those of you who don't know Vancouver... we don't usually get winter. It gets cold, with temperatures between -10C and 8C, rains a lot, gets windy sometimes. We get snow maybe once or a twice, but not much.

Well I woke up to almost six inches this morning!! It's going to be a looooooong, cold commute this morning! Maybe I can get hot chocolate and burn off the calories by shivering?

Have you gotten any exercise today?



fit5.jpg

I try and get at least 72oz each day. I have found that my nails and hair grow faster. My hair even looks better. I usually have VERY dry skin in the winter, but this winter, it hasn't been as bad, not sure if it is the water or just better eating in general, but my bet is on the water.

I also thinks it helps me loss weight. I carry around a 24 oz sports bottle and try to drink constantly. I don't get nearly as hungry with getting the water in daily.

DIVA: I have fixed the math on the exercise challange 2 times (I fixed it that time someone got a little in your face about you asking about the math). I have just had to let it go. The thread is too long for me to go through and try and fix it now so we will just have to accept that we are losing some miles (I know that is hard for someone anal like me)

EVERYONE: I want to extend a personal challange to all the Blue Team Members to get in some extra exercise tonight during TBL. I will get at least 100 minutes in. Let me know what you get tonight!

Have a great POP Day!

I have to work tonight so I'm going to miss it again. Tonight I think I have to do the layouts in our Carseats and Strollers and other matching pieces layouts so I usually get a workout putting them all together. I hope its not tonight though that they want me to do it. It'll take all night. On the other hand if I don't I'll probably end up doing the tedious resets in cosmetics. They are awful.

QOTD: Love H2O!! I drink 3-4 Nalgene bottles a day - so 108oz+. Especially if I have a intense workout.

Rhonda - I'm so happy you saw results already!!! I'm resisting lowering my calories to 1400, but I may start more zig-zagging soon.

Wow, I hope I haven't messed up the exercise thread! I always go back after I hit "post" and make sure someone else didn't post at the same time - but I don't ever look any deeper than that.

Marianne - hope you got to work all safe and sound! Vancouver probably resembles SEA when it snows...a complete chaiotic mess! My commute yesterday was awful. We got more snow yesterday than we did overnight. I'm at home today, so not worried about it though.

I KNOW week 3 is going to be a great week for us!! Maybe we won last week? I didn't see the final numnbers for black yet. It's time for one of my *drops* on the scale. I tend to lose a little for a couple weeks and then loose a nice chuck. I've only managed to lose 3.5 pounds over the past 2 weeks. I'm excited to take measurements on Thursday too!

Regarding working out the TBL - I'm planning on going to the gym when my girls wake up - letting them sleep in today. I may do some stretches/core on the floor later tonight though. But not a big workout.

So I went and looked at the black weigh in thread and they posted some good losses this week - but there were some gains also. It's going to be close between all 3 teams I think!

Where do you work Karen?

I work at Kmart. I left 3 years ago to work for Kohl's. Not sure wh I went back. Its a different store at least. Smaller than my first which isn't a Kmart anymore anyway. If I knew then the benefits they took away from part timers and full timers I might of reconsidered. But it is alot closer to where I live, I get more money, and my old boss I loved was working there now too. At least I'm full time so I still get most of the old benefits.

QOTD: I'm already half way through my second 32 oz. bottle of water today. I usually drink around 110-120 oz. or so each day. At work, I keep a 32 oz. bottle on my desk and I usually finish one bottle before lunch and one bottle after. Then, I'll go through another 32 oz. bottle at the gym. Add in whatever I drink with dinner or my evening snack, and you've got my total for the day. And, miraculously, I'm not spending all day in the bathroom.

Of course, I also drink about 3 cans of Diet Coke and two cups of coffee a day, so that probably counterbalances a lot of my good water drinking!

Okay so I got to work safely! It took almost 30mins longer than usual though! It's still snowing lightly, but it's supposed to RAIN tonight... ugh that's going to be messy. I think I will probably leave work early today, go toboganning for a bit, and then finish my workday from home after DBF goes to work tonight!

Rhonda - Bwahaha I'll be getting plenty of that cartoon's exercise today!

Kelly - I hadn't even thought about what water does for my hair and nails, but now that I think about it, they are both growing better and stronger now that I'm consistent with getting in a lot of water each day! I'll probably be cleaning during TBL tonight, so that'll be some non-exercise-exercise, if that makes sense?

Nori - It sounds like WA is getting more of a dump than BC is, from the news. Hope you stay safe and enjoy it too!

Erin - I am baffled at how you drink so much! I would constantly be in the loo.