HAPPY Saturday all...

Today I have lots planned so that way I will keep my mouth busy!! Being that I am a stress and bordom eater...I will try and not let that happen today!!

Might check in laters..

Hiya Peeps - as Cyn said Happy Saturday to all. I've been to my water aerobics class this morning - it is truly amazing what a difference instructors can do to a workout - I am loving this new class - it tests me so much more than more old personal trainer. It also makes me proud to know how far I've come when I see what I am able to accomplish.

Once again we've been on the social circuit the past 3 days - who was the fool that said that would end with Labor Day. I need to push my water and discover veggies again. I have made the best choices available however they still weren't great. Last night I wore the size 20 jeans to the party - I hadn't seen these friends since starting my journey - that was the first thing out of their mouths - needless to say I was glowing.

Catherine - when will Himself be home? You doing OK?

Rat - when can you return to biking? Is your exercise completely restricted?

Annie - when I'm in this new water class I always envision you teaching it and urging me on.

Debbie - how is DH feeling by now? Hope you don't come down with it.

Julia - Hiya! How's your week going?

Mimi - it is exciting to see your energy. I love that feeling and always wish I could bottle it. Then I kick myself when i fall off the wagon - lots of help here pulling me back on though - this is one strong group of support. Keep up the great work.

Sharon - big hugs to you my friend on the passing of your aunt. Even though it was expected it still hurts. Remember the love and all the wonderful memories.

Christina - I'm so far behind in personals - never worry about them. Just let us know how you are. As you can see, when someone goes missing there is concern. I try to post daily but I always read daily.

Brenda - sorry bout the chocolate. It can't be in my house (along with many other things). I think I would have had to call the police for an intruder coming into my house - can't you hear it now - maam - what does this intruder look like - well sir it is a 12 oz bag of chocolate. They would have been taking me to the funny farm.

CFmama, Bigmomma and HilaryAnne - a belated welcome! I look forward to getting to know you.

Brie - baby steps. Remember slow and steady wins the race.

Anne - thanks for checking in. Great to see you - sounds like you have settled in to your new routine nicely. Are you still going to the fitness center at school?

Jen - how's the headache? Is it sinuses? Please make sure you are eating enough and it is not from too low a calorie level.

Angie - Hiya! Ready for vacation?

Bernice - by now you are heading out - enjoy the cruise! We had a great time in December and are looking forward to the next one in February. What ports are you hitting?

Toni - I'm so excited for you - I think being under 300 is such a milestone for each of us. I had a mental block about it and hovered for about 3 weeks - talk about frustrating. Sounds like you have found a wonderful supportive TOPS group - the group here is much more into social activities - I've never seen anyone lose weight - in fact they bring treats each week - and they are not healthy ones - had to leave that to others.

I'm off to find dressy shoes for a wedding next week - silly me came home with 5 inch heels last week - I had to hold on to both walls to even walk downstairs in them. Tomorrow we will have chili by the pool for my brothers birthday and then we'll be closing it down until April - this is always a sad time for me. Even though we haven't been able to swim for several weeks it forces me to accept that winter is coming - in case you haven't figured it out I don't really like winter.

Move your bodies, drink your water and SMILE.

Hugs to all,
Carol

While I am in awe of how much water you can drink, it worries me. Please be careful when drinking that much water. I honestly think that is a dangerous amount if you are actually drinking 2 gallons a day. Even the 64 ounces that has been the standard for so long has come under scrutiny by the medical and science community.
http://www.livescience.com/health/08...er-intake.html Even though there are no clear evidence to suggest it isn't beneficial to drink more water, there are certain health risks involved with drinking too much. One girl was just posting about how much she was drinking and that she started getting dizzy spells and passing out. Come to find out it was due to all the water she was drinking that flushed her system of the sodium our bodies need.

While I am no doctor or expert I think you should do more research on the health risks on drinking this much water and maybe speak with your doctor to see if you could possibly cause yourself any harm. Even one gallon is still twice the 64oz that was recommended years ago and far more than I can ever consume lol. OK, I'll come down of my now.

As for the calories I would go with the 1800 as well. I am sure many of the ladies will agree with me that you don't want to go too low, or you will have no room to cut back when you start losing weight and have to adjust your calorie intake. You also don't want to lose too fast, or you are more likely to just gain it all back. I started with 1500 but moved up to 1800 and I am still losing, actually lost more the week I upped my calories. If you aren't losing at 1800 then you can adjust it but it's better to start out high and make changes than to start too low and have no calories to work with.

I wish you the best, just stay healthy, make good food choices, move your body and you will lose weight.

Christina, thanks for the concern about the water but I have always been a big water drinker and I don't drink much of anything else except non fat milk and juice on occasion. I get a yearly physical and so far everything has been fine, but I'll keep that in mind. Plus I should add that I do sweat alot and that amount(aprox.) is over a 24 hr. peroid. Of course some days I don't drink near that much, but for the most part I am big on water.

I think your right about 1800 calories to start out. I need to start and stick to eating 5 or 6 small meals a day, but it gets me frustrated because I become so hungry when I do this. It's crazy that I can go all day without eating and not be hungry, but when I eat, I'm starving!!! I know that's my metabolizem at work but I HATE feeling hungry.

Mimi, I wouldn't mind doing wall push ups with you. I used to do this before I showered, in the bathroom. That way no one could see me and think " what the heck???" So let me know, I could always use a partner in crime, you know, gotta kill the bat wings and pick up the girls .

Hoping everyone's having a great weekend.

Hi ladies! I have been scarce this past week -- and next week looks no better. I have a heavy teaching load this term and too much grading -- not to mention the other responsibilities of my job!

But I'm peeking in on this thread and thinking of you!

Anne - love the new avatar!

Greetings my Peeps!

Wow, a few days away from the thread and it took me a while to catch up reading. That's a good thing!

It's been an odd week. Work stress is still there, but I'm dealing with it day by day. The knee has gotten better, but I am keeping the ortho dept on Wed. I still can't go up or down stairs like a normal person. Regular doc thinks it's a meniscus tear.

I found out an old friend died when her hubby sent around an email two days ago. No details, just a notice. It was a weird feeling. I was very close to her 15 years ago, and we just sorta fell out of touch. She was always sickly and going to the hospital because she was HepC positive, so I'm not shocked; just surprised. It makes me sad that I lost touch with her and her family and sad for the loss of her.

I've done well wearing Mr hated CPAP machine until last night. I was tossing and turning and the crazy cat was getting testy at me.. hehe...l finally took my mask off. I didn't realize how close she was sitting against my face because the mask was in the way. I had to keep pushing her away from my face. I'm a wee tired this morning and keep picking cat hairs out of my eyes and nose.

On a positive note, I decided to do something for me. After much research, I finally made a phone call to start up guitar lessons. I'm self taught since I was 10 years old and used to play all the time until the last 10 yrs. My first lesson is Monday! Looking at my 30+ yr old starter guitar, I also decided to treat myself to a new guitar.. I got it on Friday and am psyched! For anyone who is into guitars, it's an acoustic-electric Breedlove with cutout dreadnaught design.

One note to bigmomma, I am echoing Christina about the calories. I bet you could even do 2000 calories and lose comfortably! I'm cautious about the water too because my mother's sodium tanked when she upped her water intake to your level. She also doesn't eat much processed foods that have lots of sodium and wasn't replacing it.

Hugs to all, especially my lurkers!

Luv,
Ratkity

So I guess I have my answer about exercise, b/c I exercised way more this week and dropped 5 lbs! Now mind you, I knew by 10/1 that I had dropped 2 lbs and I suspected even more than that by the 3rd, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the 5lb loss on the scale this am for my official weekly weigh in. This means that I have officially lost 50 lbs from my known highest weight of 299!!

Yesterday we ate supper with friends/family. I did have chips for the first time in a long time. But DH got me a 2 serving bag (30g of carbs) and I ate my hamburger without a bun. I monitored my bs after the chips. It went up to 163 at the 90 minute post meal mark before it started going back down which I didn't feel was too bad. My other 2 meals of the day consisted of leftover chicken divan with broccoli from Fri night - very filling but not much for carbs. And when we got home in time to watch SNL, I did have my little dish of chocolate ff ricotta/ff sour cream with unsweetened whipped cream (my daily treat to myself). I love the erythritol (that finally came in!) from the health food store - it doesn't affect my blood sugar like some of the other sugar alcohols, doesn't have the aftertaste of stevia or sweet & slender (yuck!) and fits into my desire to avoid "artificials" better than Splenda. Win, win, win

And I got a new haircut yesterday which so far I really love. It feels a bit more grown up than my most recent styles (yes I know I'm 36 which means I am grown up, I just don't feel like it most of the time). I will have to post some pics. I've been looking for some "before" pics at my highest weight and some "goal" pics - though I haven't been at my goal weight since college, so I'm not realistically expecting my body to look the same now at that weight as it did then. Gravity has had lots of time to do its work!

So I am excited for another great week. Definitely going to exercise today and as many days as possible this week. I can't believe I signed up for a 50 mile in October challenge (gulp!) but I will do my best!

Hope everyone's Sunday is fun and healthy!

Jen

Jen - congratulations on the 50 pounds released - it is a milestone!

Himself got home last night. I made sure I had everything done because I knew I'd have to unpack, do laundry and re-pack for his trip on Tuesday. He comes home again on Friday for awhile. His traveling is almost as hard on me as when I went too, but not quite. I'll be glad when this round is over. I'm looking forward to my first Monday off in months since I don't have to go back to the doctor. I think I'll sew. I'll so enjoy that.

I am jealous of ratkitty's guitar!
On another note, something weird is happening to me. I am all of a sudden able to walk way longer and farther than the last week or so. I used to walk for about 15 minutes and I would be dead and ready to sit in my recliner for a while. The last two days I have walked 27 minutes and 35 minutes respectively. I haven't been able to do that in years! I wasn't even ready for a nap when I got home either. Just another odd thing to add to my list of things that change when you lose weight. I made chicken veggie soup this morning. I added up all the calories of all the items and weighed the soup when I was done. It turns out to be 16 calories an ounce. That is good because I absolutely love homemade soup and could eat it every day. I can even have bread and butter with it!

Hey, congrats on the second printing! Does this mean it will be available on Amazon and such?

I've gone a few times, but the last couple of days that I've done my walking I've done it at a local park. I only walk usually for my cardio component (with a little jogging) so it's really a better fit. As the weather gets colder I think I'm going to switch my routine around so I can do all (or most) of my workouts at home. Mainly because I can't do the cardio without feeling like I need to wash my hair. And I don't want to have to lug a blowdryer with me as well. Okay, I don't actually own one, but it's a pretty decent distance from the fitness center back into the college and I'm not sure I want to do that with wet hair. The next couple of weeks are going to be a challenge as I have two evening tests on Tuesday, so I won't be doing my lifting 3 times a week anyway. After that we'll see how it goes.

I laughed about you talking about the high heels. I'm not sure that any of mine even fit anymore. I need to take time to go through them and check but I'm pretty sure that I'm out of luck with dress shoes. I had to break down and buy a smaller size of running shoe. Who would have thought that my foot was getting smaller?

Oh, and we'll be closing our pool early this year - just after Thanksgiving (the Canadian one which is next Monday). I'll miss it until we open it next spring.

To everyone else - just a quick as I've got to go bag up the soup I made yesterday (it's in the freezer at the moment) and then find room in the outside freezer for it! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Wow, good job everyone!

I know this sounds a little generic but I don't want to leave anyone out , which I sometimes do by accident when there are lots of post's.

I am envious of the 50lb loss, what an accomplishment. Exercise, no matter how small is HUGE, so lets keep moving

Hey, I want some soup!!!

Jen: Thanks for telling me about the push up challenge. I will go check it out.

Anne: Love your new avatar. You look so much younger!

Chritina: LOL. No frosty for you!

Bigmomma: I was laughing about your son's friend's comments. Too cute.

Carol: You make me smile. I am with you in spirit every time you work out. I have sure been studying and studying my aquafitness book and learning lots of terms. lol. Sorry you have to close your pool for winter. I hear ya on not being ready for it right now.

Heather: Hi there.

Rat: Yipee. Guitar lessons are one of my prizes for weight loss goals. I am so happy for you sweetie pie. So very sorry to hear about your loss. Hugs.

Catherine: I can't wait to hear what you sew. I have been contemplating making some simple (well for most people but not me) curtains for the living room. I will see. lol.

Toni: I love what you said about how walking is easier and easier. I just learned about it in my reading today, well, the actual term for it is "adaptability". It is considered a prize for all of your consistant hard work. Way to go!

Well, Pretty quiet weekend. I have mostly been studying. I did try on some clothes for work, starting a new job tomorrow at a physical therapist office as a secretary. Love that kind of work, hate the hours. If you are prayers please pray for me about it. I am having panic attacks like crazy but soooo need to work for our finances. I was able to get rid of quite a few clothes that are way to big for me. Well, I have them on my spare bed. They are mostly all size 22-24.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I don't know how much I will be around as I have a busy week and it will be lots of hours for me right now. I will be thinking about you all if I can't come say hi until later in the week.

Hugs and blessings,
Annie

Carol, hubby is pretty much done with the cold, and so far, I don't have it. Keep your fingers crossed! Sounds like you got a really good workout at the pool. It's great that with a new trainer, comes a new program to work on.

Heather, nice to see ya!

Ratkity, have fun with the guitar lessons. Maybe come up with an Ode to Bikerchick?

Jen, congrats on the 5lbs gone!!

Catherine, is Himself still in the doghouse for the early morning calls? Glad he got home safe. Have fun sewing.

Toni, YAY on getting out there and taking longer walks without collapsing in the recliner!

Annie,. good luck on the new job! Are you still doing the Netflix one?

Anne, you're face looks so much thinner in the new avatar, very nice!!

Not much going on here. I've gotten a cross stitch going and more yarn to make another afghan. I'm hoping this will keep me fusy at nights so I don't get up and fed the face. Still struggling but tomorrow is a new day!
toodles
Debbie