Hopefully it went better than you are feeling right now, Raven. My fingers (and toes, and eyes) are crossed. I had my legs crossed too, but then everyone thought I had to go to the bathroom. Hurrah for good days, Red. Hopefully I will be joining you in good days soon.

though, hey, I will report a NSV. We had a pot luck tonight at my part time job. I brought a ton of leftovers home. I was all set to have another generous helping of my dessert, when I was able to brush my teeth, pack up the dessert, and not indulge again.

Have a great day.

Hey there's nothing wrong with scheduling "down" time - you do need some time to recharge the batteries. The problem with most of us is that the down days last for days instead of the intended brief break.

I know myself I do well for days and then a little off plan and I hit the skids and it takes what seems like alot of fighting to get back on again.

Raven, just remember that recruiters expect you to drop your life and rush to their schedule and then they are only interested in you if they can make money off of you. So don't let them influence your moods or make you feel badly - most of them are scoundrels. And working for a living is a #@#(*%$$% as we all know too well. Good luck finding something to tide you through. Just don't give up.

Today's little victory was getting through all of my water. I had too much salt recently and I'm trying to flush it out of my system. I was adding a slice of fresh lemon to the water but then I got the most wretched stomach ache in the afternoon. Guess the acid in the lemon was a no no. Maybe I'll try a slice of orange tomorrow. I find that when it's not hot out - and we're in a bit of a cooler spell now, it's harder to get down all that water. And I did get my crunches in today. Little victories...

Hi everyone! I am here, but I am really in trouble with what I have eaten. I seem to do well in the mornings and then fall appart by afternoon.
I have to reach inside myself and pull out some strength to continue this. I stated this, I want to do this and finish - getting to my goal. But, who am I kidding when I go to a restaurant and order onion rings, which is exactly what I did last night.
I have no excuses, things are not going well but that really isn't an excuse to eat the things that I know are wrong.
Linda

Hey all. Sounds like many of us need to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe we should try another mini challenge (like the 4 days in a row of exercising we did recently?) Only make sure we each set a reward for ourselves, like flowers, a manicure, time for a tub soak with a new book (even if it is from the library) - something that will really treat ourselves - if we succeed. Any ideas? Should we set the same challlenge for all of us, or each give ourselves an individual goal for, say, a week? Or, since May is coming up, set a challenge for the month of May? Ideas, anyone?

Happy, I find that in the warmer months, if I take a water bottle, fill it half full (lid off), and freeze it overnight, then fill it up with water in the morning, I have ice cold water all day, and am more likely to drink it. Helps for me. Derry, be kind to yourself. Accept the stresses you have in your life right now. Acknowledge that this is going to be a difficult time for you. Bad choices are just bad choices. Take one choice at a time, and don't dwell.

On a (small) good note, I did do my run this morning. One step at a time, right?

Have a great day all.

I had two bowls of junky cereal at 11:00 last night. And I've been trying to pay attention to sugar. Oh well, no harm done. Won't have time for a walk today so I'm going to try my best to do my 15 minutes of exercise video tonight. And some sit ups. I think that will be my mini challenge-beer and sit-ups. 60 sit ups every day and 60 more if I have a beer. Which I won't because like I said, there is no beer in the house....
I'm tempted to go out for dinner tonight because my daughter has dance reheasal at 6:00 which would make preparing dinner hard. Hmmm...
I will post again tonight with my successful day of wise food choices and exercise...

Wow, go awol a few days and the posting busts loose!

A mini challenge sounds great. What sort did you have in mind, jolly?

Today has been a bust for me eatingwise. I found myself chomping on a honeybun this morning. So not good. *sigh* Guess I'll just have to work harder tonight at karate..

Anyway, I hope this finds ya'll well. I'm off to check the grill. We finally bought a new one after our old gas grill kicked the bucket. So, we're breaking it in and Q'ing tonight. The chicken'll be healthy, and I'm really looking forward to it Unfortunately, I can't eat before class because I get too hot and tend to feel sick if I've eaten. And I don't get home until after 8-- which is really too late to eat. *blergh*

Take care all,

Good morning all.
I notched another good day yesterday. Exercise, work, eating well, bit of enjoyment (reading a book). The biggest thing for me is the eating, I've realized. Even when I'd been staying away from sugar and/or other junk, I find I'm not making the time to actually cook and that means I'm not getting enough vitamins and minerals in me, just calories. It makes ALL the difference when I cook I have found. I do not want to keep grazing, even if it's on relatively healthy foods like fruit or nuts. For the last two days I've cooked up fresh vegetables (green pepper, tomato, shiitake mushrooms, onion, fresh spinach) in olive oil with an array of Italian spices, (garlic --later will use fresh, marjoram, oregano, parsley, basil), mixed it with a storebough sphaghetti sauce and had that over wholewheat spaghetti. Yum! It's simple and you can throw in whatever vegetables happen to be cheap.
Last night I did similar to have over brown rice today at work (I put things in ziplocs and freeze them to take in). I made a lenti-based stew with pumpkin (was on sale! these are small Japanese-style pumpkins but they taste the same as the big ones) with onion, spinach (using it up), asparagus (also on sale!), boiled all that together till everything was soft along with white and regular pepper, lots of thyme and a touch of marjoram. (I love using all sorts of spices) and it is good! I had a taste while I was packaging it and I am looking forward to lunch today! Doing this and knowing I'm going to have something yummy to look forward to means I can "wait!" and not graze, graze, nibble, nibble. So, that's my report. Sorry for the detail but I thought it could be of some help for someone.

Tanzie -- hope your barbeque was fun. But, were you able to eat at all, having to go to your class? How long have you been doing karate? Stay away from those honeybuns! They are packed with empty calories and just plain old calories! I used to walk 90 minutes to work (fast!) every morning and afterward I'd have a danish. The weight didn't budge. Then I stopped eating that danish and I lost weight. Guess, just when I could have been eating away at the fat stores I was filling up with instantly accessible sugar and white flour so my body didn't have to touch the reserves! I see you're in Mississippi. Never been there myself. How is it? Have you been there all your life?

Apple -- junky cereal, huh?! that used to be my downfall, well, one of them. Keep the beer out of the house! I am cutting it out as well until I start seeing some major changes (downward!) in my body. I haven't been drinking at home for years but the afterwork guzzling has become an all-too-common occurrence these days, expensive, calorie-packed and ruins the next day. And, don't mean to be tough here, Apple, but 60 situps probably burns just a mouthful of beer, unless you're doing them just as punishment! Be careful, the alcohol goes right to your midsection! I know!!

jolly -- a challenge might be nice. I think the goals will have to be individual though or at least something general so that we can tailor them. Hmm. I can think of a few for myself. What about something from now until May? Then do something else for may, too? Anything, really. Your water idea is good. I do the same in the sweltering summer months here though I have absolutely no problem guzzling water. I am losing tons of it in sweat. At work, I will put a 2-liter bottle in the freezer and take it out (when I don't forget!) just when it's slushy and drink that. I love it! Some people say it's bad for your stomach but mine must be like iron! No prob! Good for you for running. That's not a small step. It's big, I think. I like your advice to Derry and, as always, I love your humor (earlier post). Best of luck.

Derry -- You're right. We have these goals and we have to get to them. Too many excuses are no good. Yes, life is very tough for you now. You ARE doing well in the morning, though, right? I would try to look at the whole day though. Onion rings may not be such a bad thing at all if you've been eating well and exercising at other times. Think of your day as a work of art. A bit of indulgence can enhance the picture. Don't focus on that and think it mars the entire look. You may be being too hard on yourself. Like jolly says, too, these are hard times for you and you could be doing soooo much worse so tailor your goals to the times and see if you can't go from there. I find that when I set my sights a little lower than normal I feel freer to try harder, because I don't have to. Like, when I put the pedometer on and say, OK, 10,000 steps, I'm more likely to make it 12 or 14 thou easily. But if I would strap it on and say, go for 15,000 I'd likely not make it or make it and then not do anything the next day. Hang in there. You still well less than I do!

Red, congrats on the good going day yesterday. Your food sounded great and thanks for the particulars. I'm always looking for suggestions and ideas. I have to start learning how to cook with pumpkin - I've seen alot of great recipes. Trouble is, we only get it here fresh in October around halloween. I suppose I could do the canned stuff but it's just not the same and I try to do fresh as much as possible so I can control the salt and sugar, etc.

Derry, I know that it's hard to resist the food given the current situation and so easy to fall into bad patterns right now. So how about if you have to order onion rings, only eat half of them and divy them up as soon as the waitress brings them. If you had one bad item for the day, that's the limit so it will make you think about whether you really wanted whatever at the moment. Hang in there. Be healthy for those around you that need you!

So how was dinner on the grill Tanzie? My favorite kind of cooking. Apple - junky cereal, eh? I had to laugh when I took a close look at the boxes and noticed they removed the word "Sugar" from some of the old standards - like Sugar Pops are now Corn Pops and I'm not even sure what they call Sugar Crisp any more. Like changing the name changed the calorie content. But boy oh boy - could I scarf down a bowl of Sugar Pops right now. Good thing they aren't in the house and tho there might be a box lurking in the cabinet, I'm not going to check!

Jolly, I can't tell you how many bottles I froze forgetting I put them in the freezer. But yours is a good idea. I myself like the mini challenge idea as short term committement is the best i can handle at the moment. And that's precisely what I'm doing - a week's worth of getting my water in which means water at dinner too. Reinforce the good stuff, undo the bad habits. I am always open for a good challenge tho...

OK. So start with a challenge, say starting Monday until the end of April? I know I need a little time to figure out which of my problem areas I want to focus on first. And what reward I will give myself for succeeding. Hmmmmm. Lets see . . .

I am (hopefully) off to the gym. Have a great day all.

Hi guys, ah, heck, didn't go so well today. Going into the office always does that for me. I had too much junk! But, I did have that nice lunch and it did make me feel very well fed! And, I did walk a lot so I guess it wasn't all lost. Still. . .if I just hadn't eaten so much maybe I would see some progress.... oh, when will I get it all together. . .

Happy, pumpkin here is more or less around all year so it is a possibility. The only thing is that pumpkin is a warming food and really heats you up. I don't think I could eat in the summer when it's just tooooo hot! That said, you probably don't live in such a hot place, well, Tenn. is pretty hot, but I doubt like Tokyo. Anyhow, I think you should try the canned pumpkin. It may be better than you think. Do they have any frozen pumpkin? They do here but . . . OK, good going on your water challenge. Whatever it is you need to work on, that's a challenge for you. Good luck.

Jolly, I'll join you of course. Have to think too what I'll do.

I have decided that there are so many things that I need to work on, I am just going to give myself a huge kick in the rear, and say my goal is to lose 4 pounds by the end of the month. I can do this. Then, I can look at individual behaviors I want to change or improve for May. My reward if I lose the pounds will be . . . flowers. I haven't bought myself flowers in awhile, so that would be a nice treat.

Have a great day all.

Hey all. just posting quick so we don't get buried on the next page. Hope everyone is having a good day. Enjoy the weekend!

A little bright spot finally for me. I got a call from the agency today and I start a temp to perm job on Monday. The pay is *really* low, but like I told them, any money is better than no money. It will pay my horse feed, pay for my kids feed and get me more hoof care training. Really, that's about all I care about right now.

Started my period this morning, and between the stress, anxiety, and that - I'm whipped. I didn't run today or yesterday, so I guess I need to pick up the ball I've dropped and run tomorrow.

V designed my new business cards for me, and I printed them out today. I'll start distributing them ASAP. I figure I need 20 horses a week before I can quit and make the same amount I'd be making at this job. I've attached the card layout.. I think she did a really good job.

So my challenge to myself? *chuckle* Honestly I think just putting one foot in front of the other for the last couple months has been enough of a challenge for me. Right now I just want to see if I can get through my running three times a week and that's enough.

I hope everyone is having a great night.

Looks great, Rave. Heh to V. Best of luck!

Ok chickies, the sun is shining, I got up early (8am on a weekend IS early for me) and there's alot to do and be done. I'm feeling pumped. Last weekend I had an excess of salt and it took all week and alot of water to get all that bloat out. Even just 2 pounds makes a big difference.

I have a long list of things that I will get done this weekend, most definitely. Next Friday I'm flying back to pick up my mom and bring her back here for a week. Will spend the weekend there and I already admit that I will SIN with pizza There's no place like Chicago for pizza. So I will have to work extra hard this week to earn that pizza.

A good weekend to all, get busy, drink your water, eat well and feel good about yourselves...



And I love the business card Raven, your daughter is REALLY REALLY talented - she should look into doing web designs.