I was really hoping to post a loss as well. This week will be better...it has to be..this is getting a little depresing, but it is totally my fault. On a positive note, I ha exercising really well lately...trying to stay consistant.

Good morning, Everyone!

It is so cold today. I've heard that cold weather can make our bodies burn more calores by trying to keep warm....so, bring it on! Yesterday wasnt a great day for staying on-plan. I didnt eat too many calories, but I did eat off-plan foods. I'm really having a hard time getting my head back where it should be. I think part of it may be that Hubby hasn't been planning on-plan menus or cooking on-plan foods and he's not been giving me any fore-warning. The first thing I will do when he wakes up today is ask him what the menu is for the day....then, I will plan for myself if necessary. I'm also itching to get back on the treadmill. My knees don't hurt at all anymore. I just want to go buy my new shoes and get going again, but Hubby is giving me a hard time about listening to the doctor. But, its been since the 18th that I've worked out, so I think I would be safe to try 30 minutes. I think the 2 weeks the doctor specified should start as of the 18th.....right?

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day!

GO BLUE!

I think that only counts if you are naked

Morning Ladies!

Well I feel a lot lighter this morning. I read Amanda's story in the goal forums and had a look at her pictures, and it inspired me in a different way I think. For the past year I've been up and down in weight and switching plans so I decided to make a confessional of all of my excuses and why I need to stop using them. It really got a lot off of my shoulders, hence why I feel lighter You can find it in the chick in control forum or the link is in my signature. I'm warning you, it's long and possibly kind of whiny until the end!

I have about 5 minutes until lunch, which I have to meet Daniel so we can go look at a new apartment we may move into. It's closer to work so hopefully that works out for the both of us! I'm trying to get bills under order so we can afford the move. Ah.... and the holidays are coming... We always run into this situation every 2 years... moving during the crazy months.

I setup my little mini goal for Thanksgiving and I think I can rid myself of the 190s forever if I can read my confession 6 times a day and jump on that treadmill. I'm thinking about looking up a used one for sale and just see if I can swing it with my little paychecks I need it with my crazy time schedule.

Well its really cooled down here! I woke up this morning and it was 37 out here in Virginia. I want my 85 degree weather back Lord! We were going through some unseasonably warm weather there for a few weeks. I think one day in the first week of October it got into the lower 90s. Oh it was great. Now its freezing!

Thankfully we live in an apartment complex and trick or treating is optional for us. We have to put an orange paper on our doors if we plan on passing out candy. I'm so thankful that we don't have any candy in our house this year! Only a little Ben & Jerry's! I know I'm a bad girl! FYI: if you are looking for a little ice cream treat, I noticed that my local grocery store started selling baby sized ben and jerrys. I don't know why... they are about the size of a shot glass. Just a thought.

Well I better get my stuff together for the apartment viewing!

Just stopping in to say Hi!!! It's been super busy around my house, but I'm still alive and plugging away....I exercised for the 1st time today in I don't know how long....it felt GREAT! I just got back from getting my hair cut, which was long overdue, and in a few min. I'm off to parent/teacher conf.....Tonight were going to carve pumpkins, and the kids are at a fevered pitch for tomorrow! Hope you all are doing well Have a great day~

We have had a fall heat wave the last couple of days....16 yesterday and today and 17 tomorrow....so I have been taking advantage of the sunny days and getting out for my walk/jog. I have my afternoons off work, so it is the perfect time to get out!! I missed my morning work-out today, so I am hoping to get it done after the kids get to bed. I have been on track with food so far this week....I don't want to post another '0' next week, so between the increased exercise, and the decreased calories, I should be good to go for Monday!!
It's dress up day at school tomorrow...they call it 'Book Character Day'. I am dressing up as Hermione Granger....cape, scarf, wand, and stuffed cat to sit on my computer.
Happy Halloween everyone!!

Look at you, talking all Canadian!

Hey everyone! I'm back! But just for a sec til after Halloween. LOL.

Hope u all are doing well, I just read these last few posts and will catch up with everyone soon. I only lost one pound this week. But that's one less than b4! Today is day 67 for me I believe. Weird, adds up quick when u stay busy I guess. My good friend Tatiana said I look lots thinner and I'm inspiring her to get back on plan so that made me feel good. On to day 100!!!

Nite! Be back soon, hugs!! Selina

Good morning, Blues.

Accountability time: I am really struggling to get my head straight and back on-plan. I really don't know what is wrong with me and I'm incredibly frustrated with myself. Last night, I lay in bed thinking about this for a long time and I've realized some things. I have been re-committing to this journey every morning, but I havent been dealing with the internal reasons why I let myself get so out-of-shape and heavy. I've been stuffing those feelings back down and ignoring them. But, now, they've raised their ugly heads and won't go away! What are my internal feelings and reasons? I'm not really sure. I know that I am extremely frustrated with my body. I finally got myself committed to exercising and was so very hopeful of becoming the strong healthy person I've dreamed of for so long. Now, my stupid knees have decided to give me problems when they never really bothered me much before I began working out. I catch myself doubting that I can really do this..that I will ever have the strength to actually get under 200 pounds. I start to panic at the thought of having to exercise and watch my eating for the rest of my life. I catch myself wondering,"what is the point? You're not young anymore and you missed your chance to be sexy." I really need to stop this roller coaster and get down to the business of great health and feeling good about myself. So, I went out and bought one of the study books from the First Place program and I will begin this study today. For those of you who are familiar with this program, First Place is a faith based weight loss program. Hopefully, I can get a handle on this weight loss thing and reach my goals. I'm not quitting until I figure this out.

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day. Go Blue!

Happy Halloween ladies With 3 kids I won't be on here today, as they are wound up to a fevered pitch....I am going to the school today to help with the parties, so lot's to do this morning! I'm hoping to find at least 30 min. to get some exercise in today...we'll see! Have a great day ladies~

Morning Chickas!

I'm extremely tired this morning! so I'll probably be short and sweet. Daniel kept me up all night last night watching the Lakers game in our bedroom which didn't go off until about 1 am. So I'm extremely grouchy and today is invoicing. Thankfully I've gotten all but one file done and its not even 10 yet. Thats really good, but then again its winter so things are slowing down work wise around here.

I'm feeling a little down about my apartment situation. To make a long story short, we had to go without a properly functioning AC unit for 2 summers and we just got it fixed by management in August. We are just tired of renting from these people (we've rented from the same management company for 4 years!) So we went and looked at a 3 bedroom apartment on a different property that was so much nicer than the 2 bedroom we have. But we can't afford to move into it... especially when the move in date is 3 days before Christmas! So we're gonna try another place I found last night. If that doesn't work it looks like we have to suffer another year at the apartment we're in.

I had oatmeal this morning for a change...

Well boss is back and I think I'm going to bang my head on the wall til he's gone. TTYL

Happy Halloween everyone!
It’s so sad that we lost so many teammates this week. I think last week was hump week for this challenge. I know it was a slow week for me and I wasn’t as enthusiastic as I was in the beginning. Now that the end is in sight lets all kick it up. We should all be so proud that we’ve taken this challenge on during the Holiday Season. I’m usually throwing in the towel by now and giving up until after New Years. Any little loss will be celebrated when compared to the 10 or more lb gain that I usually end up with!

Rhonda- I’m so sorry you are dealing with an injury but happy to hear that it’s nothing too serious. This is the longest I’ve gone with exercising without an injury. Usually I’ve twisted an ankle or thrown my back out or something. I’m very grateful nothing has happened this time because I know how frustrating it is when you finally have a good habit going and then have to stop. I think you should listen to the doc about the 2 weeks before getting on the treadmill. I don’t think you need to give up exercising though. Why don’t you invest in a rebounder? They're pretty inexpensive as far as equipment goes. I have an Urban Rebounder and it gets my heart rate going much faster than the treadmill. To start out you could just walk in place on it or do some Health Bouncing. Other aerobic activities that are more gentle on the knees are swimming, water aerobics, bike riding or spinning classes, and the elliptical. Here are two fitness videos I found that look good: JB Berns "Rehab Your Body at Home" http://www.amazon.com/Rehab-Your-Bo...e/dp/B0007QC938 and Margaret Richard “Getting Better” http://www.videofitness.com/reviews/richard-gb.php .
Also don’t forget upper body strength training (I once lost a lot of weight just doing that), and you could probably do some abdominal work too. Make sure you do the exercises that the doc gave you to strengthen your knees. Also, how about taking 30 minutes that you would be exercising and use it to do Yoga or even deep breathing and meditation. Doing that a few times a week may help alleviate some of the stress you're feeling and should have health benefits too. Try to stay OP, keep your diet clean, and maybe even reduce the calories by a little until you are back to burning more of them. Congratulations on not giving up and on reevaluating everything.

Chellez- Congratulations to you too for taking a hard look at your life and the excuses that you make. It’s always hard to do that but it should really help. Why don’t you try to commit to just 10-15 minutes of exercise a day. You are one busy chick and I’m sure you are worn out, but a little exercise really helps to boost energy.

Soon to be fit- I miss your long posts. Hope you and all your little pumpkins have a fun night tonight!

On the tree- I didn’t realize there was another homeschooling mom on our team. Seven weeks into this, how could I have missed it?

Azure- Congratulations on being the biggest Blue loser this week!. You are making good progress getting back on track. Thanks for turning it around and sticking with it!

to the rest of you too. This post is too long to respond to everyone but you are all inspiring me to stick with it.

Happy Halloween everyone! Well, I think I had a partial win, partial loss for my Halloween. My goal was to not eat any candy that we bought to hand out to the kids. I definitely succeeded with that goal - it is now almost 10, all of the kids are gone, and I didn't have one bit of candy. And believe me, that is a challenge because we bought all kinds of candy that I love - 3 musketeers, kitkat, snickers, you get the picture. So, I made myself busy all evening - the kids didn't start coming until after we ate dinner around 6:45. So I left the candy handing out to my fiance. I busied myself with cleaning my bathroom, dusting the bedroom, changing the sheets, folding laundry. AND THEN, I put on my workout clothes, did a 30 min cardio workout and 25 minute free weights workout. And here it is 10 and no bit of candy went into my mouth. For that I am proud of myself.

The reason the day was a partial loss is because we had a potluck lunch at work today. I decided a couple of weeks ago when I knew we were having the potluck that I would allow myself to eat whatever I wanted for that one meal. I also decided that even though I would eat whatever I wanted I would only eat one plate and take a small portion of everything I wanted to taste. Well, that worked pretty well - I did eat a couple of small meatballs, a deviled egg, and a roll among some rice, veggies, a slice of turkey and ham, so it wasn't all healthy, but it wasn't all awful either. I got to taste what I wanted and be full but not overstuffed. The bad part came when I decided to allow myself a sweet - because I decided I wasn't going to eat any candy tonight, I told myself I could have a dessert at the potluck. It ended up being 2 desserts - a cupcake and a cookie. I am not too proud of myself for eating 2 desserts, but I suppose it could have been much worse if I had gorged myself on all of the other food that was there instead of eating a sensible plate like I did.

I am just glad that I made it through Halloween without eating half of the candy bowl like I usually do. And I managed to get almost an hour of exercise in - seems like a good day to me. And now I can't wait to start getting ready for Thanksgiving (only 3 weeks from tomorrow wow!) and Christmas. This is my first Christmas in my new house with my fiance, and I have absolutely no Christmas decorations, and I can't wait to start shopping for them. It will have to be a low-budget Christmas because we are getting married next year and I want to save some money, but I will get a few nice things and get a good Christmas base going to grow on in the next years.

Everyone have a great night!

It IS sad . . . Starting to agree with Soul Bliss that our Blue Group isn't gelling for some reason. ()

Just didn't feel the love when I lost 6lbs last Week - (besides new mod chellez's Dancing Carrot - only my bestest LC Bud azure congratulated me.) This weeks BL is az . . . & so far fitin'08 is the only one to mention it!

'Sup with that Blues?

Please believe me when I tell you that I'm not looking for attention/apologies/drama . . just an honest observation here . . . I've got an extremely busy life too,buthoping my comments will serve as perhaps a rallying cry here midway thru TBL Challenge for everyone not to just check in & "blog" about themselves the rest of the way out . . . but to encourage and support what's left of us Bluesies, k?

Sooooooooo, with that said - *deeeeeeeep cleansing breath*

azure!!! Way to ROCK - ROCKtober Girlie! & with midterms to boot!!! AWEsome job!

Happy Hunting with the Apartment Stuff chellez!

My niece & Family drove up for the Treating and I took the night off from the Salt Mine . . . I avoided the candy bowl too, NVaVTFan . . . sent the whole dayung thing home with her & her kids!

Hope you're careful with the knee GirlyGS . . . some good advice right here in the Bluesers Thread! Know what its like to be raring to go . . . felt the same way a couple of weeks after my back surgery.

I'm missing soon2bfitchicks long Posts too fitin'08! Hope everything is a "happy" busy for ya!

LOL @ the "heat wave," dea! Happy Sunbathing! Just read all the Harry Potters over the summer - HUGE Hermione Fan!

Glad you found the time to stop by tina - always look forward to your Posts . . . my lil 10 yr old Tess was a "Monster Bride" - Big Girl 21 yr old Molly came by with new BF - she was decked out in her leopard skin w/ cat ears - Both darling if I do say so myself!

onethetee STILL lol at the " . . . only counts if you're NAKED" observation!

That measley little pound will be gone in NO time lots! Welcome back - I'm in a mood a lot like GirlyGirlS as far as getting my head on straight, ya know?

We CAN do this!



ttyal!

No, we haven't been gelling for a bit. Lately, we seem more like a blog and not chatting much at all. I know I am guilty of not chatting much anymore and I blame that on the fact that I'm struggling...big time..and I'm not feeling very cheerful and encouraging these days. But, I will try again. Yes, we do get very busy with our lives, but let’s try to touch base with each other more. I know it’s not possible to always do the "personals"...and, if you only have time to touch base with us, that is better than not hearing from you at all. But, lets try to become a real team again. After all, we are heading into one of the toughest times for weight loss.

So, how much candy do you have around your place today? We have way too much and its already calling to me. I must confess....I did damage to the M&M's last night, but I'm paying for it this morning. Yuck! I feel sluggish and foggy and my stomach hurts. I can't believe that I used to eat a whole bag of Hershey kisses in one day, drink 5-6 cups of coffee with 2-3 tablespoons of sugar a day, plus much, much more. But, it’s a brand new morning and a brand new month and I'm putting this behind me and moving on. We now have 2 months remaining for 2007 and I still want to accomplish more of a weight loss for the year. So, I will see what I can do in two months....with Thanksgiving, Christmas, our anniversary, a birthday and two business trips all within the next two months.

Fitin2008 - Thank you for your encouraging words. I do need to think outside of the box with my exercise issue. You have given me some things to think about.
Michelle - Hope you find a solution to your apartment situation soon.
Selina - 67 days on-plan..Wow! You are a powerhouse!
NoVaVTFan - Congrats on staying away from the candy bowl! Wish I had shared in your committment last night.

Hope everyone has a great on-plan day!
GO BLUE!