Way to go Jennifer...I hope you really feel that way. Don't you worry about a thing because in 6 months girl, Leslie will have NOTHING on you!!! Don't let a little thing (like years of carrying around your belly) get you down because now you are taking care of things (and it). You are so worth all the effort you are putting into this! Way to go and keep your chin up and keep us motivated, ok?!!!! It is your JOB, you know!?

((((Jennifer))))) Have a great Thursday!

Morning, everyone! I'm over my little pity party last night, and ready to take on the day.

Velma, WATP is "Walk Away The Pounds", a series of walking tapes from Leslie Sansone. They are all done in the comfort and privacy of your own home. if you click here you can see some of the items. I'm currently doing the 1 & 2 mile tapes for the WATP for abs set. Now, as far as "24", that's a great series in it's 3rd year on Fox. The season is about a 24 hour period in the life of Jack Bauer, an agent in the "Counter Terrorist Unit." It's action-packed, and has more twists & turns than me trying to do that confounded ab tape last night! LOL. Check it out- Tuesday at 9pm- my world stops so I can watch that show.

Cristin, keep it up, chickie- you lost the most on the Valentine's Day challenge, which is a phenomenal #. It's only natural that your body is going to try to stabilize a little bit, and since you were sick, you just need a few days to get everything in order again. Kick butt, girl. You make me so proud of your accomplishments so far!

Lucy, great job on the 1 pound loss, even with the sugar cubes That deserves a gold star...or even better! Drum roll...

Congrats, Lucy!


Julie, Thanks for helping me brush the dust off & set me back on my feet. I appreciate you being here for me, and pulling for me. And 3 pounds....great job, girlie! You get 3 gold stars...LOL

Way to go, Julie!




Ok everyone, I have other awards to give, too, and when you hit 5 & 10 pounds, you can trade up to a new award! I still have some tricks up my sleeve for everyone here!

On to my plan....

Breakfast was:
1 apple & cinnamon cottage double
1 oz fat free cheddar cheese
1/3 cup smart start cereal
12oz diet coke

Already sipping my first 24oz of water.

Lunch is defrosting-
3/4 cup chili
3/4 cup brown rice

We may be looking at a house after work today, so dinner will be delayed- I'll probably just make a sandwich or something else quick & easy. Then, do at least the 1 mile WATP tape before I can sit down & watch Friends. It had better not be a repeat this week. If it is, I suppose I could read through my new class lessons.

Have a wonderful morning and on target Day 4!

So far so good on the challenge, I've upped my water intake to 180 oz a day and intensified my workouts to include the new Firm series I've just purchased. And man, can I just say there is nothing easy about those suckers! I did the Complete Aerobics tape this morning and just about dropped dead. The pay off is that the size 18 Old Navy pants now fit and can be worn in public. Their debut is the movies Saturday night, keep a lookout because I'm sure I'll be on everyone's best dressed list on Monday!

Breakfastatmeal w/soy milk and splenda
Mid-morning Snack: sugar free jello
Lunch: ground turkey breast and steamed broccoli

I have the day off from work tomorrow so I may not be posting until Monday. Have a great weekend challangees!

Jennifer - you are so awesome at supporting everybody. Keep up the good work with the WAPT tapes, and remember your progress. You're doing great just by being here you're showing a commitment to a new and healthy lifestyle (((HUG)))

I did my step class yesterday over lunch and went to Kung Fu last night. Calories were about 1500. That's a little higher than I like, but I did workout twice yestday so I guess it's okay.

Today is my off day for exercise. YAY! I'm always sore after doing step and kung fu on Wednesdays, so Thursday is always a welcome sight. I am doing Kung Fu again tonight. I don't really think of that as working out, because I love it so much.

Water intake is still too low. I keep a bottle on my desk and sip it all day, but I still don't get enough. Guess I'll have to try to focus on it more.

Hope everybody has a great day and many successes!

Hi Chickies,
I am so glad I have found you all! This really seems to be helping. I look forward to this site every morning and can't wait till lunch to catch up some more.
Jennifer, come on girl don't let those tapes get you down. Lets just keep moving forward. Use those tape as your gage. Pull them out every once in a while to see your progress. You might be suprised!
Hey were having a heat wave here today. It might get up to 39 degrees! Wo, Wo! Thanks for all the advice about the water intake thing. I am going to stop by the market on the way home and try your crystal light advice. So far today I have gotten 36 oz down. I now know why you loose more when you drink the water, its from all the exercise walking to the bathroom! . Any ways I feel great because I have been getting my exercise in too. Its amaizing how wonderful we can feel when we get the combination right.
I bought the new scale last night, I think I like to old one better it said I weighed less. Oh well, its all about new starts and feeling good isn't it? I am finding it hard to put myself first before everyone at home but I have to do this for me, right? We must, we must,......
Todays intake:
Morning
Water, Oatmeal, sm glass of fat free milk, 4.0 onces of apple sauce
Lunch
Water, Subway 6 inch veggie sub (yummy)
Dinner ? Cross that bridge when I get to it.
You all have a super day and keep smiling!

I am not a happy camper, this is the second week at ww that I stayed the same. I have walked in the cold and wind, have stopped eating anything I liked, and last night I started doing sit-ups(100). I am only choking down 32ozs of water and thats killing me. I haven't logged on to my challenges because I'm not helping them or me the way I feel. I am only glad to see that you other chicks are doing well. I tried to be upbeat at the ww meeting today but, others noticed that staying the same week after week gets you down. Well, ladies I don't want to get you all down so I'll wish you all the best for the day and sign off

Babs & Mama Mia, thank you for all your encouragements. I'm here to help pull anyone up who needs it, and I know I'm going to need some helping hands along the way. Kinda like a built-in insurance policy.

NClipper....can you tell us more about the program you are following & what you're eating? Are you keeping a food journal? If the weight isn't dropping, there are so many things that it could be. Are you balancing your carbs & protein & fat, or are you favoring 1 particular food group? The walking- how long are you walking? How far? If you're just taking a leisurely stoll, you might not be getting your heart rate up enough to start burning fat.

Don't give up. This is a learning process. You have to keep fine-tuning things until they work for you. Heck, I have the same breakfast every single day, just changing the flavor of the fruit in the cottage double...because it works for me. Not much variety, but it's one less thing I have to think about, and lets me concentrate on the harder things, like not tearing apart the ab tape that ruined my mood yesterday.

If I can be of any help, feel free to email me or send me a personal message- I promise I'm not *that* horrible a person.

Now, back to the rat race for me. I swear, there had better not be many more days like today has been! Sheesh!

Did that just come out of me? Me? Feeling pretty good? Feeling motivated? Oh wow. Where is the real Mary and what have you done with her? I did, however, have to use 4 Flex POINTS yesterday. I didn't total up my POINTS until I got to work last night and found I was over. I'm not real keen on using those Flex POINTS although most WW'ers are militant on the use of POINTS one way or the other (both Flex and Activity). I find it enables me to "cheat" so I just don't mess with them. I don't use the Activity POINTS either.
But I've managed to meet and in some cases exceed my daily water goals and I've exercised two out of the last three days. It feels good. I may not be losing weight yet, but knowing that I can do what I'm supposed to, feels right. If I get another whoosh this month like I did last month I'm going to ignore it. It was just too upsetting. I'm not going to breath a word of it to anyone. Those are Mother Nature's cruel practical jokes. Ever had one? Ouch. Talk about a roller coaster ride.
Wow, how many smilies do you plan on using Mary? Get a life! I just noticed it's nearly bed time and I didn't even clean the bathroom like I said I would. Oh well, it's not like anyones' going to see it until Monday. G'night Chickies! Have a great afternoon and evening. I'll be back in the morning after work.

G'day people! I think I'm the only one in a different time zone (Pacific) so my posts will probably be a bit behind. Well, each day is getting better for me. The more I hang in there, the more stronger I become. I'll admit I almost caved in last night to a curry dish I was making but I resisted, and this morning I felt good! (I usually am not that strong and typically feel a commbination of terrible, guilty,and hopeless the morning after, so this is progress for me.)

I realize there will be times when I am weak but I'm not going to "let one mis-step ruin the dance!" and I think that is key to remember.

Tonight I will take a candlelight Yoga class at the gym for the first time. Hope I can keep up with the Yogi's and don't accidentally catch anything on fire.

I want to thank everyone for their support! Jennifer, you're an angel and if there is anything I can assist with in this challenge please let me know.

Have a great day/evening everyone!

Wow! Thanks a bunch, Jennifer!

I slept in quite a bit today, but OH MAN I feel energized this morning! I haven't even taken my diet pills or vitamins yet, and I'm ready to run a marathon (not literally). I LOVE that part of working out -- the awesome motivation, the mood change, and the energy level altogether.

NClipper -- Hon, don't get too down on yourself. You're probably plateaued, but it happens. I was a couple weeks ago -- I kicked it up a tiny notch and changed on little thing, and now I've skyrocketed back on track. Go over what you're eating, the way you're working out, etc., and see if there's something you could improve on. (Mine was horrible -- my husband and I were eating fried foods at least 3x/week. I decided to drop it to once a week, like on a Friday night or something, and it immediately made a change for me).

In other news, I'm going to try for 30 min on my bike today! I feel awesome, and my abs actually aren't screaming bloody murder like I thought they'd be, so I'm gonna kick my exercise into high gear for today and tomorrow. Today: 30 min on bike, then 200 situps (40 side-style included). And I think I might do the balance ball, since my back has stopped throbbing this morning. We'll see how I'm doing after that major workout I have planned...

Dinner tonight is going to be lemon chicken, fetuccini alfredo and a side salad. Should only take me 20 minutes or so to make, and it's super healthy and yummy.

I think I'm going to nix lunch today because I woke up way too late, and if I ate lunch at 4 (when I'll get munchies), then I won't eat dinner. So maybe lunch today will be a snack of salad, instead.

My bad thing for yesterday: I only had around 20 oz of water. Shame on me. And I had root beer! Today, I'll be drinking as much water as I can!

Keep up the good work, everybody! Everyone is doing a great job and I think it's safe to say we're all proud of each other. =)

Mama Mia - It's great that you're taking time out for yourself. You can't give fully to someone until you're whole and healthy yourself.

NorthernClipper - Don't get discouraged. It could be that you're adding muscle, or that your body is just trying to stabalize. Try doing a different exercise or eating different foods. I know it can be very discouraging, but also look for NSV's. I bet your staminia is better and you probably feel better too.

Mary - It sounds like you're doing great! Good job on slugging all that water. I feel like my eyeballs are floating, but I'm not there yet ((AHHH)).

Velma - your yoga class sounds like it'll be fun. Keep up the good work!

LameDucky - Good job on the exercise. It really does make a difference in how you feel. I'm getting addicted to my workouts. Sometimes I find it hard to take a day off. Yeah, I'm a little weird. LOL

Crimenee- Can you catch that phonetically? If I don't post early in the day...I feel lost! I have been to the Dr., to work, to the Dance academy, the pharmacy, grocery store, bank, cleaned my kitchen, volunteered at the school and did 4 loads of laundry....but dinner still to make. That is the reason it is 4:30 my time and I am just now getting on here! I am sorry gals. I have thought about you today~does that count?

Jennifer- thanks for the words of encouragement. I like the idea of the awards...but how do they work? I am so excited for you in looking at a house! Do you own now, or will this be your first? We have been renting the same dumpy, but large enough for our family, house for 4 1/2 years and I am SO ready to find a place of my own. We have just started looking to see what is out there that we can afford. I am sure you know that song and dance!

Lunalee- I will be on the lookout! Way to go!!! That is so exciting!

Babs- I had the same problem to begin with that you do in getting enough water. I was able to get on top of it by making myself gulp 5-6 times everytime I went to take a drink. When you get used to it, your body will actually start craving that water. Good luck to you. I know how hard it is!

Northern- I am sorry gal...that is really frustrating. Maybe you are changing body composition...or just at a plateaux. I have been doing the same thing, the same weight for a couple weeks, and I am just taking pleasure that I am not gaining! Keep your chin up. It can only stay the same so long! You have to perservere longer than the drought does!

Now, for personal things....My husband found the "before" pictures I had him take 2 years ago before I lost my first 25 and we compared them to the ones we just took the other day. AMAZING DIFFERENCE! I can't believe I ever really looked like that...but I have the pics to prove it, right? The weight difference between the two pics is about 37 lbs. I have about 20-25 left to go to hit my goal weight and I can't wait to see the "after" pics! If you haven't taken pictures yet ladies...I highly encourage you to do that. It is so good to be able to see the difference, even when you can't really see it in the mirror. I had forgotten how far I had come....

I ended last night poorly. Travis, evil man that he is, brought home my favorite...Dark, kitkat bites with a movie. Now of course, I thought that I was going to be able to "just have a few"...NOT! We ate the whole freaking bag!!!! Thankfully it is out of my system though and the rest of my day was perfect. I have also had a great day today...no guilt, great food, all water and I will be doing my WATP tonight after dinner. I know I should do it before, but I can't fit it in. I think we will be going to Applebees tonight for dinner and I will get the Tilapia with mango salsa. It is great and low fat! If I need a snack tonight, it will be my cottage yogurt.

I have told so many people about this site and the wonders it is doing for me. Thank you all!!! Will try to post before bed....

ps- it is now 5:20p....interruptions!!! 5 kids will do that to ya! C-

You betcha, Mary! Just coming off one! What's up with all of it? Mine last a good two weeks (maybe more). You can read my post to see what's up with me! We will stick together and ignore those whooshes!!!

I second that emotion!

Julie

Hey There Chickies...
Well today I managed to go without sugar!!! No snacking on "bad sugars" this afternoon and I am totally proud of myself. I am feeling that old familiar self confidence come back and it feels great! I do want to thank all of you for being so supportive and just being there for me! It really does make a difference because without you, I would have quit this journey!

Cristin, I think your comment to me the other day about not "trying" but just "doing it" made a difference. Trying is a copout! We are women...we can do anything if we set our mind to it! So thank you, that is the kick in the pants I needed. And Jennifer...you of course are my constant motivation. You are my hero! You are kicking butt, girl! I want some of what you have, so can you send it via email???

Northern, don't give up. Keep coming here every day...more than once a day if you have to. I do know how you feel, truly. It has been a long two (or maybe more) weeks for me. I started this journey on Jan 5 and I am only down 3#, but I know that I have to work to make it work. Part of that work is to come here every night and journal. It helps me to feel connected and to be a part of such a special group is so awesome. So keep coming back and keep doing what you are doing and like Jennifer said, tweak what you are doing just a bit and you may find the key to unlock that stubborn scale!!!

Here's the lowdown today. I just remembered that I did have some sugar but it was in the form of flavored cream for my coffee this AM

AM: Two cups coffee with Fr. Vanilla Creamer (about 4 T)
One large apple

Lunch: Bowl (about 1 & 1/2 cups) of chili (leftover from our fundraiser the other night) with shredded cheese--really fills me up!

Supper: Marinated (lowfat zesty itallian dressing) chicken breast (about 3-4oz.), broccolli, one piece of garlic toast, milk, 1/2 cup SF/FF butterscotch pudding.

I find that if I eat a lot of protein at lunch time (breakfast too), I tend to avoid the nasty sugar crave mid afternoon!

Did my journal entry on the journals of 3FC with some introspection there as well if you want to read it! Here's the link:
http://www.3fatchicks.com/journals/c.../9806_0_1_0_M/
I don't know if it will work or not...Jennifer how do you do those links, anyway? You are just a whiz on this website???

Hope you all have a great Friday. I will be posting all weekend, too. That helps me!