AMEN!!!! to what Mary said, and I know there are a few more on here doing it on their own too - Leah and Norissa and a few others. The best part is that the ones who do go to the COD still share their awesome knowledge like Katie, Deets and Shennie - everyone is here for the same reason and I think this board is great support!!!!

Mary - Congrats on the loss - looks like you are moving in the right direction and hopefully the bleeding from yesterday is actually TOM - You've made such wonderful progress so far!!!

Norissa - I hope for your sake you have beautiful weather!!! Usually our cold spells don't last too long, so you have a good possibility

Heather, When you mention Savannah's birthday, it reminded me that my DD Mataya turns 5 on the 14th. She wants to have her party at Leo's Place, sort of like Chucky Cheese. I am trying to talk her out of it. We have had too many parties there already. The commotion is unreal, and the kids run off and play the whole time, so the GPs and everyone hardly get to see them. Now that my house is finished it would be nice to do it here. Maybe if we did a Dora theme, with a pinata and all? I also wondered about doing a Victorian themed tea party for her and the rest of the girls in the family. We big girls in the family go to this place called the Sheffield Mansion for tea for birthday parties and stuff. I just don't know. Gotta go feed the troops. Catch you chickies later!!!!

Hello there ladies....

Haven't been around in a while.....it's been one heck of a busy and stressful week. You all seem to be doing great!!!

I weighed in on Tuesday and was down a pound since Saturday- not too bad. I am now .2 away from my first decade.... I've been on the plan for 2 months and have yet to lose 10 pounds and I have 40 more to go before late June. When I dwell on it I get really discouraged and I think that I'm never going to make it. Sorry I'm being such a baby - I'm PMSing hardcore.... I just want to start this month off on the right foot and doing some 'catching up'. I'm just glad that I have a place to vent....

I hope you all have a great OP day!!

-Marisa

Marisa- Sorry things are going slow for you. A decade move is huge, though. Slowly but surely, right?

HeatherCP- I know that it is hard to get to the point that life is seamless. Especially with kids. I really want you to know that I commend you for being foster parents. The world needs more wonderful people like you and your DH. I looked into foster parenting once. I actually was halfway through the application process when I backed out. A friend of mine was taking only drug babies, and really encouraged me to take them as well, since I have so much early childhood education. I still wonder about taking a baby, very conflicted about this. Something inside keeps telling me I am supposed to do this, yet my head keeps saying, "Are you crazy?!" Oh well. I guess I need to think harder about this subject. About meals, the fly lady has a friend named Leanne Ely who is a home economist. She has a website called savingdinner.com. You can print a week of sample menus, complete with a shopping list. I did the low carb ones, and they were easily made LAWL worthy, and very easy. She also has slow cooker menus so that you could come home from work to dinner being ready. I would try this for a few weeks if I were you, before you bag LAWL. You have already had such a great loss. Please don't quit on yourself!! If you need help converting recipes to be lawl friendly, let me know, I would be happy to help.

Hi Everyone!

We had a storm last night that left our house without power this morning. I missed an important meeting becuz I was late for work . What a way to start the day, let me tell you. On the plus side, I am down another lb so the total so far since I did TO last week is 5 lbs. Its SO GOOD to see the scale moving downward again. Now to just keep plugging away.

Norissa - I LOVE Myrtle Beach! I think we will be there for a few days in June, as our family reunion is going to be in Columbia one weekend in June. Since we will be down that way, we are thinking of spending some time in MB either before or after the reunion. The last time we were there we stayed at the Landmark resort, right on the beach. It was great! There is so much to do there too! You will have a ball there, enjoy!

Beanie - What do you mean you hate your pic? You're pretty, and like someone else said, your kind spirit is written all over your face. Have you compared your current picture to any "before" pictures?

Candle - I know its easier said than done, put please try not to get discouraged. I have been there and as a result ended up gaining back all but 15 lbs of my original weight. I am moving downward again, but when I think about how much less I could weigh right now if I'd only hung in there, I am almost sick with remorse. I was finding it extremely difficult to find things that my fam would eat that are on plan, but I kept experimenting and experimenting and sure enough I was able to come up with some goodies. I have a DH and 2 DSs who like to eat. DH is all about burgers, pizza, anything fattening and he is not about to change the way he eats, which was making it a little more difficult for me when dinnertime came, but then I thought about it and there came a point when I could see that unless I stuck to my guns I'd be fat forever. So I told the menfolk that when it came to dinner, they only had 2 choices, eat or don't eat! Sure did! So if DH doesn't want what I've prepared, he has the option of cooking for himself or getting take out. A lot of the things I make for myself and the DSs I can modify so that DH will find them edible. For instance, I make turkey melts often for us. I'll take a slice of light bread, my cheese and turkey, cut the bread in half and build my sandwich, then spray the bread with Pam and then cook it on the Foreman grill until the cheese melts and the bread is browned. For the rest of the fam, the recipe is the same, except they get whole sandwiches instead of halves. I may serve them with soup and salad, or fries and applesauce for them. When I make spaghetti and tacos, I used ground white meat turkey now instead of beef, use approved seasonings and while they have tacos I put my meat over lettuce, and when we have spaghetti now its with whole wheat pasta. The recipes on the at home site look very good, and there are plenty of things out there I am dying to try on the fam. Also, try this...Organize your fridge everyday, putting your OP foods at eye level, and any junk that the rest of the fam will eat on the lower shelves, out of your sight. For me, out of sight is out of mind. That REALLY helps me to stay OP in the evenings and on weekends when I am home. Above all else, look at your ticker! Do you see how far you've come? Don't give up the good fight Take it one day at a time, and remember your chickies are here for you!

Whoa there, got long winded (sorry)! For all you other Chickies out there, here's to a great POP day !

Hey Carmen! 5 lbs is so great!! Good advice to Heather. I want to try the turkey melts too. They sound great. I have the same rule you do. Eat it, or fend for yourself. My DH will buy the stuff and cook naughty things sometimes for him and the kids, but for the most part, he just eats what I make. My poor kids never get treats anymore. Recently at my moms, DS who is six, ate 8 cupcakes. My mom was dumbfounded. I figure he is just getting it while the getting is good.

Katie (aka Hot Mama) - Thanks for the compliment you are so sweet and LOL about the cupcakes! My youngest would do that too if he could - he's a sugar addict. As it is now, they are always dying to get to grandma's because she always has goodies for them. Lately here I've been buying little treats for them to have for dessert, because they've been eating such healthy dinners now.

Katie - 8 cupcakes ... oh my goodness ... was he sick afterwards ?

Carmen - Congrats on the 5lbs !! I am really looking forward to our vacation, we really have no set plans other than to RELAX !!! We are right on the beach ... I am getting real excited !! lol

I live in Myrtle Beach, and let me tell you... You are going to love this town! There is so much to do! Everything is sooo beautiful and the weather if phenomenal!!! I hope you guyz have a great time and if you need any info on how to get around just let me know! I will be your walking/talking tourism guide!!!

I know I am saving all of my books in case I would ever need them again. I also ask for extra food diary's. So I have a few blank purple and now I have 2 gold. I will tuck them away just in case! Hey , do you all know whenever we are totally done with are weight loss,stabilation,and maintence can we still come in and buy the lites or their other products? I dont see why not if we have been a client. They would be making money from the sales.

Anyways, good morning chickies! Been busy today.I have a house I clean on thursdays(extra 75 bucks!!) I was up .5 today but I just think its my body adjusting after the TO. So I was fine with it! Has anyone had the Slim Down meal replacements? OMG I had the chocolate last night and it was fantastic!!! I had to buy the chocolate cause they were out of the vanilla(Ive only tried the strawberry and the vanilla but strawberry was nasty). I havent had the chocolate cause Im not a big chocolate fan inless its a chocolate bar. Since they were out of the other I thought was the heck Ill try it, If I dont like it mu husband will drink them. I am glad I did they were great!!!YUMMY.

Oh I have great news about my daughter science fair project~ They got A blue ribbon!!!!! I was so proud of them. I took the girls out to DQ to celabrate!! I was even a good girl and only had a lite bar and water


Good luck today on being POP. I think its getting a little easier for me to be POP cause of the weather. When its cold ,thats weather for comfort foods and foods you just cant have!!.When its warm and nice you just want to eat healthy(fresh fruit and veggies and grilling meat)pluse gotta look good for shorts!! I am hoping I will wear shorts this summer. I havent for 4 years!!I always think my legs look fat.

Thanks to everyone for keeping me motivated. You all are really great friends even though we have never met!!!Maybe someday we should all meet somewhere that is the middle of where everybody lives and have a big party and meet each other.It would be ALOT of fun with all of us crazy chickies

LOL Thanks Rebeca ...

Actually I do have a question ... do you know if the Build A Bear is open yet ? I am not sure exactly where it is yet, or even if there is more than one

Good morning Chickies! Wow, I'm gonna have to start shooing the kids out the door earlier - It's only 8:30 here and I have 1 1/2 pages of reading to catch up on. What a chatty bunch of hens in the mornings!

HeatherCP, I totally understand where you are coming from. My family lives on the run in the evenings - usually right smack in the middle of the dinner hour, and we are sooooo used to just throwing together something simple that can either cook while we are out, or only takes a few minutes to heat when we get home. With the help of the plan gurus here, I am slowly learning to make cooking changes that are OP. For those nights I just can't manage it, I have some OP frozen meals, or keep reduced fat peanut butter and baby carrots around - I love carrots with PB on them. It doesn't seem so much like I am cooking separate meals for me and the family. I had a major meltdown just a couple weeks into the program, and sat in the car sobbing because I nothing OP in the house that I could make a meal for the entire family on. I ended up running to the corner market, and staring at the frozen dinners for 20 minutes before picking up the best of an icky sounding lot. I managed to make it to the driveway, then just sat in the car and sobbed and sobbed. I was so ready to quit. BUT.... like I said, with the help and support of the folks here, I was able to move past it, and live with it. After all, the end product is what I'm here for!

Repo girl! You LOOK soooo Good!!! I am watching you ticker moving non stop its making me sooo jealous!!! Lol (its the good green eyed kind of monter)

Leah- Thanks for all of the support.. Let me know how you are doing!!!

Moneek_ Keep up the good work! I know how hard it is to manage school, work and all of the other things we have to go through! Its soo hard but keep it up, you are looking sexy girl!

As you guyz can tell i am in a great mood today! Hubby is being great! After all that we went though i think its just a learning process! These little marriage crisis that all couples go though to learn about each other!
Yesterday I did soooo good! Fruits for breakfast..salad for lunch, and dinner I wasnt too hungry i had a cup of green beans with butter and a yogurt! I also got my YMCA membership! I am having aerobics two days a week and the rest of the week i will try to push myself to work out a little! I also have a gazelle at home where i work out when i have a little bit of time!

I am scaping from COD since my home scale is being a B**** to me! Lets see how things goes today and tomorrow and maybe i will stop by then on sat morning!

Thanks for all of the support and the maintance article was GREAT!
It really hit me when it talked about fat being an obstacle for the attraction from opposite sex! I think somehow thats what happened to me!
Thanks for Sharing!

Build a bear is open and its located at Broadway at the Beach (where most attractions are)! Broadway is on 21st Avenue North you cannot miss it!