Good evening everyone.

Shane - Glad to hear that it wasn't anything too serious. Going to the hospital would have sucked. It was probably just one of those falls where the shock knocks you out due to surprise or something, but nothing vital is hit or broken. I'll keep my fingers crossed so that you're all set well and all in no time. (And I'll hope for good results on the test as well. Tests suck. )

Jessica - Fingers crossed for you as well. Having pains and not knowing where they come from nor how to treat them must be quite annoying. If it's due to hypothyroidism, will the medication do something against it, though?

Coming back from 7 hours of exams today, I am so totally spent it's not even funny. And I had pizza for lunch. Cry me a river. I'll just adapt my dinner so that my day doesn't go over 1500 calories, that should still do it. I don't want to consider myself on a perpetual diet with forbidden foods, or I'll never hold good and steady for the rest of my life!

Hm, where's my bed. Sweet bed. Though I should exercise a little first. Ack.

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would jump in, introduce myself, and see if I can catch up with everything going on in this thread! Some of you I know...Lily, nice to see your posts, I've missed you! And Robin, thanks for the welcome and the invite! I find myself floundering a bit here at 3FC since I've lost most of my weight. Not really sure if I fit in on the 100lb. club anymore, but not feeling like I totally deserve to be in the maintainer's forum either as I'm still so new at this! Anyway, I reached my WW goal in November and achieved lifetime with them December 22nd. I'm still trying to feel my way around the whole concept of not being obese, and am slowly working towards losing another 10 pounds and my own personal goal as opposed to the WW goal. I was doing well, had dropped to 145 and then the 3 weeks of Christmas hit and I stumbled a bit. I think I'm back in control, but I've definitely learned that it is a lifelong process and I'll never be "done"!

As an early Christmas gift DH purchased a gym membership for me mid-December. Through the whole weight loss process my exercise consisted of walking and/or using an elliptical machine I have at home. I hadn't looked into a membership as I wasn't willing to pay that and the WW fees simultaneously, and all of them around us had hours that weren't conducive to me working out at odd hours like 10:00pm or so. A new place started up, however, that is open 24 hours a day and that's where DH purchased the membership, so that's great!

A nice little NSV popped my way earlier this week which also helped get me back into the groove....you know....one small positive moment is all it takes sometimes! I'm only 5 pounds lighter than I was in early fall when school resumed and I was wearing cropped pants to school every day. On Monday of this week we had a freakish 72* day so I pulled out a pair of those pants only to find that I couldn't keep them up. Tried on several more pair with the same results and finally ended up wearing a pair that were a bit snug in September, but are mildly loose now yet still wearable. Must be the gym membership because the weight isn't that different!

Dinner at my Mom's house tonight, a weekly Thursday ritual. I believe she thinks I'm "CURED" as she has started adding things in to dinner that she knows I don't eat, like a stick of butter or heaping scoop of bacon grease. I'm finding I need to eat something at home before I go to her house for dinner to take the edge off the hunger and give me the willpower to eat only a small portion of what she's serving.

May as well give you all my current challenges in one post! My MIL has not had one positive comment through the entire 16 month, 100 pound transformation. In fact, she would get snippy and change the subject if someone mentioned me or my SIL (who achieved WW lifetime in October). Well, she called me last night to tell me that her work is doing a biggest loser thing starting Monday, so she is joining WW on Saturday...at MY meeting. Yippee. My refuge has now been invaded. I know I should be supportive of her, and verbally I am, but deep down I'm a bit resentful. She basically told me on the phone that she needs to lose maybe 20 pounds (but realistically it's more like 70ish) but doesn't want to change her eating habits or the way she cooks. I feel like she's doomed from the start, and we'll spend the next 5 years hearing how WW is a bunch of crap and doesn't work, blah, blah, blah. Whoa! Listen to me! Too much negativity floating around in my head today!

OK, I'm off my soapbox. Hope everyone has a great day, and that I can keep each of you straight in my head! LOL!

Shane, so sorry to hear about your fall. Hope you feel better soon. That road rash stuff really hurts. I'm sure you set a new high on that test.

Jessica, sorry to hear you are coming down with something and hope you feel better soon. As for the dog, I haven't seen her hitting it severely, just popping it when it was young with a paper and now with a small paddle. I may have misstated that, sorry, I don't think people should hit their animals at all. I haven't noticed marks on the dog or anything like that. Just that it gets very irritated when she paddles it at all and I think this is dangerous with any type of dog, especially Pit's that do have a reputation of defending themselves. I'm mostly afraid that her 8 yr. old or 2 yr. old might hit the dog with the paddle cause that is what they saw mommy do.

Allison, I know that you have labs the same as I do. Have you ever had a need to hit them? Seriously, even with Lucy (my not yet so bright one, LOL), all I have to do is clap my hands and she will quit whatever unruly behavior that she is not supposed to be doing. Then, she'll lay down and look up at me like she is sorry for misbehaving. Of course, then I pet her and praise her for being good.

Allison, I think my neigbor man must be taking his med's as directed now cause he's not causing any problems for now.

I have never eaten Tofu in my life. I don't know how to use it? What would it be used for ? I do see it at the grocery store.

Fun day today for me, I've been on a laundry marathon! Just hanging out and playing on computer between my loads.

I was happy to see my jeans that were snug, fit perfect when I pulled them on this morning. Maybe all this exercise is helping some. Of course, now that I've had them on all day, they are sagging in the butt!


Kelly, I am thrilled to see you join us here in the Maintainers Chat. You have done so awesome and I knew you'd find your way over here soon. Keep posting so everyone can get to know you. This is a great group. Huge congrat's on you meeting your WW lifetime membership goal, that is fantastic. I'm sorry to hear about your MIL joining your WW group. I know I wouldn't want my MIL there and she Has been supportive of my wt loss. I hope you love your new gym membership as much as I do. I also had taken off my wt. with my walking and a little of my elliptical useage. But, man alive, this gym is so much more fun and more motivating than working out at home while the rest of my household vegges out on buttered popcorn and movies.

Hi all,
Lily sorry to hear about all the trouble with your dog, that so sucks living in fear of what is the unknown next time could be. Way to ease up on the exercise, you can't become SUPERWOMAN exerciser or powerlifter in a week yanno.

Kery, good going, pizza, yum you know how to work it in so your not deprived.

Shane, sorry to hear about your road rash on your bike, good thing you don't ride a motorcycle or that could have been a lot worse. You'll do great on your test, you ALWAYS do. Good idea going to buy a helmet, you must always be a SAFETY girl first and foremost. Glad you didn't have to get hauled off by ambulance, way cool a biker offered to pay. Us bikers are very cool individuals, maybe he just wanted to get to know you better kinda fella? Hope you do not have another accident, because if you do, I have two words for you......TRAINING WHEELS! ~Wendalyn

Kelly!!! I know I've "seen" you around these parts before.

Lily~my old Lab is really hard headed and I'm sure I've bopped him a few times when he was really bad. I don't like doing it though--when we got him it was evident that he had been abused (you know--raise your hand and he cowers even though you didn't even intend to cause him harm). More than anything, he might of gotten a swat on the butt when he did something bad--but it's been years since he's been bad. My young Lab, he's 3 now, has never been hit (by me--I did see my DS do it and he got reprimanded for it). The other day when he was supposed to be sitting and waiting for his treat, he got up and stuck his nose in the treat cupboard (a no-no) so he got his head thumped by my finger as a warning. But no, I can't say that I've ever really hit either of them.

As for tofu, I hadn't ever cooked with it although I had eaten it. Here is a wonderful and easy recipe for tofu--Italian Vegetable Pie:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/re...cipe_id=222962

Kelly! You absolutely belong here with us! Trust me, everything you posted about is something that we've all experienced, from clothes to MILs to the gym to Mom's cooking. Stick around -- we're keeping the weight off for life and we're all in it together.

Kelly!! So good to see you here!

I got home and ate WAY too much today, but I feel ok because I managed to do something slightly active tonight, which is REALLY rare these days. It's so weird to go from running about 25 miles a week to falling asleep on my couch by 7 or 8 every night. Anyway, I did my prenatal yoga DVD and it felt really nice. It was just nice to get in touch with my body again for a bit, since pregnancy is kind of making me feel like an alien already! I've ordered a few other prenatal workout videos so I can stay interested, and a friend of mine has decided she wants to start walking so we're going to do that together a few days a week. Yay for staying active even though all I want to do is sleep!! People are already wondering why they never see me running anymore. They'll find out soon!

Thank you for the warm welcome, everyone! I'm sure I'll be right at home here in no time at all! It sounds like you all are doing so well, and the positive atmosphere always boosts my motivation and my mood. I'm still peeved with my MIL, and probably will be (secretly, not to her face!) for awhile, but I'll muddle through without resorting to emotional eating. I'm doing this for me, so she shouldn't be able to affect me. Just gotta follow those words of wisdom from the little engine that could...."I think I can, I think I can....!!!"

Hi, All. One of my goals for 2008 was to post on a weekly basis on the maintenance site, so, truthfully, I'm forcing myself to post tonight.

If you remember, I went on a week long trip to Sedona and came back 6 lbs heavier. I decided the way to lose the weight was to go back to my original weight loss plan until the weight went away. Little did I know that losing that 6 lbs would not be anywhere near easy. I have lost 2 lbs in 2 weeks and am really really frustrated with the slow loss. It evidently wasn't water weight I gained because its definitely not going away. I think my mistake was that I went back to my weight loss plan rather than just returning to my maintenance eating plan and realizing that it was probably the restaurant food that was tied to my weight gain. Now, I'm caught in a bad place. My weight goes up one lb then down one then up one again from day to day. I've tried drinking tons of water, cutting out extra foods that might be the "problem", adding additional exercise and intensity and nothing works! It's very hard.

On the good side, I continually remind myself that I am still 7 lbs below my goal weight and I am DEFINITELY NOT ready to just pack it in. I am still trying to figure out how to get the extra 4-5 lbs off somehow, but I am losing hope. Thank God the weight gain hasn't affected the way my clothes fit. It also really does help that people are still noticing my weight loss. It makes me feel better and more hopeful.

Advice, support, ideas are always welcome! I'm sticking to it because I LOVE the new me even if that individual still has a couple extra lbs. My real concern is that if I can't get off the extra weight now, what's going to stop the weight from continuing to rise and what's going to help me lose weight when I do gain? I can't believe that all this hard work can just go down the tubes and I have no control of getting the extra lbs to go away again! Something just isn't right here somehow.

Goalsuccess, I could have written your post. I'm in the same place with an extra 6 lbs. through the Holidays and I'm trying to do my very best to take it off. Apparently mine was pie, fudge and cookies weight, not Water weight. Like you, I went completely back to my weight loss plan instead of my Maintenance mode. I think that we just have to give it time. I know it took me several weeks to gain 6 lbs. and most likely will take me several weeks to lose 6 lbs. I'm praying for a 2 lb. loss this week, but even 1 lb. would make me happy. I can live with it, if it takes a while. Like you, I can wear all my clothes and I'm not about to throw in the towel. Unlike you, I'm not at all below my goal now, I'm above it.

One thing that I'm doing is just weighing every Sunday morning. The daily weight fluctutations drive me nuts when I'm trying to lose instead of maintain. Also when we are already at a healthy weight it takes us much longer to lose even a few lbs. than when we were at our heavier weight. It looks like you are losing 1 lb. a week now and that is a very good weight loss. I definitely understand the sentiment of wanting all 6 of it off immediately, but as long as it comes off and we look good and feel good about our looks, what difference does it make if it takes a little longer? Now, you remind me of this very same thing when I'm frustrated here pretty soon that mine is taking too long to come off, LOL.

I had a great workout tonite, UBWO and Cardio. I just love, love , love going to the gym. It was even better this time after letting my muscles have a day of rest.

A quick morning post to say: welcome here Kelly. And don't you worry about posting and "fitting in", after all not all of us (including myself) is at goal yet, but maintenance starts from the first pound lost, I suppose. (We don't want to regain any of them, right )

Tough situation with your MIL -- I have such people in my family, they're not easy to deal with -- but I hope things won't go too bad with the WW meeting...

Good Morning all. Not much happening this morning except a trip to the orthodontist. I powerwalked with the dog yesterday and now my knee hurts. I've had knee problems for a long time but it's the first time it's bothered me in quite awhile.

Lily-terrible about the dog next door but be careful.

Shane-youch! please wear a helmet, my ds was hit by a car it pretty much saved him from terrible injury

Allinel-I'll say a little prayer for your mom but she sounds like a fun lady.

Kery-take a little mental break, 7hrs of tests would drain me

LisaMarie-if it helps to know it, being exhausted sounds totally normal. Glad you enjoyed the yoga

Kelly-WELCOME

Gotta go feed the troops.

Just popping in for a quick welcome before I head out to work, I have to be there by 7:15, to Kelly. I'm so glad you came on over to the other side, the maintaining side that is! You most DEFINITELY belong here. I know I feel incredibly fortunate to be amongst a group of people who are up against the same things that I am. Who knew that hitting goal and trying to maintain would bring up a whole new bunch of issues? Well, actually, thanks to 3FC, I'm sure most of us here were aware of it. Anyway, I'm so glad you're here Kelly.

Hello to the rest of the gang. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

top of the morning, everyone!

I'm in a great mood this morning: it's Friday, and the scale shows I'm down enough to warrant a ticker change.

I also have a small NSVl, of a sort. Those of you with kids can relate:

Last night I made spaghetti & meatballs. Spaghetti was whole wheat, which is the only kind we eat around here these days. Meatballs were made with 95% lgb & spinach, and baked. The sauce was partially homemade -- I sauteed some garlic, onions, mushrooms, and diced zucchini, then added some jarred marinara.

When I took it to the table, my 5-year old looked at the zucchini in the sauce and said, "Yay, chickpeas!" When I told him they were pieces of zucchini, he said, "ooh, zucchini, I love zucchini!" He asked about the green stuff in the meatballs, and when I told him it was spinach he said, "mmm, spinach."

Now, how cool is that?

Have a great day, everyone!
Kim

Lisa -- Indeed, it was draining. What surprised me do is that 1) I didn't do worse with food than having pizza, 2) I still exercised half an hour in the evening, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. But I won't complain about that.