Great news Dionne!

YOU ROCK!!!!!!! Congrats!

Yeah, Shay - just keep ignoring the Nutella! If you're a creamy PB sort of gal, you'd probably love it. Too much.

I don't think I have ever had a Krispy Kreme donut before. We don't have anything like that around here in rural small town Northern Michigan. But today when I walked into the grocery store the Girl Scouts or somebody was selling them out front. No thank you.

I got some good news today. When I was a member at Curves before getting pregnant I became really good friends with the manager. I stopped in to visit today and had her check my body fat. Since October 24th I have lost 8.4 pounds (not a lot but I'll take it) and 1.9% body fat. I came home and figured out my LMM from before and after and all 8 pounds were pure fat! Whooohoooo!

Oh, I love Panera's soups. The sodium is killer, but I am willing to take the salt weight for a few days for a good soup.



FOOD OR PRODUCT QUESTION:
Get your jar of Nutella or peanut butter. Go ahead. I'll wait. Maybe I'll do a few squats while you are gone.

Ok, now that you are back, what are the ingredients of your spread? It should not be anything other than PEANUTS (or whatever nut...almond, cashew, etc.) and SALT. Anything else is product.

OK, I know it's not healthy! I don't have any in the house, but looked it up online: sugar, modified palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skimmed milk, reduced mineral whey, soy lecithin (an emulsifier), vanillin (an artificial flavor).

QOTD: My weekends aren't all that different than many of my weekdays. Except that if we go out, it is on the weekend. We haven't been going out at all recently though. This wknd DH is on call, so it'll really seem like "regular" days. I workout extra hard on weekends as a rule.

Congrats

DIONNE...WTG on the loss!

I think this is a great Nike commercial!
Warhawk Matt Scott in Nike 'No Excuses' Commercial

Hello Blue Team...
I hope everyone is doing well. I've had an OK week, I think. I went to Missouri last weekend and came back 7lbs heavier. OMG! As of this morning, I am within 1/2lb of last week's weight. So, hopefully, I'll be posting a small loss, or at least, no gain this weekend.
Had I known 24-Hr Fitness had a gym in Missouri, I would've gladly taken workout clothes and tennis shoes. Hmph!

Chelle: Sorry to hear about your fur-kid. And, I'm sorry you're all stressed out. Here are a couple of tips about ear drops. When you put them in, hold the flap of your dog's ear down and massage it a bit. It'll spread the medication and she'll get a lovely ear massage. Then, when she does shake her head, less stuff will fly out. You can also have a towel ready to throw over her head after you've put the drops in and that'll minimize the mess too. As for the allergies, go to Google Images and search for pics of dogs with similar spots. Maybe you can help diagnose your pup's problems and save a bit on the vet bill. Lastly, I don't know how old your fur-kid is, but if it's truly a puppy and you're looking at a lifetime of skin / allergy issues, you might want to look into pet insurance.

Dixie and Fran: for the details on body fat% and ideal weight. The formula and the calculator were very helpful. I'm one of those "never-been-thin / skinny / healthy" girls, so whenever someone asked what weight I was trying to get to, I've just said, I'll know it when I get there. Now I have a real goal in mind and it's not as far away as I thought. By the way, don't know if either of you have seen this. It's a chart that shows body fat% based on gender and age. http://www.weightlossforall.com/fat-...tage-ideal.htm Happy calculating!

zinkemomx2 and Dionne: Z, congratulations on the pure body fat loss and the 8.4lbs lost! D, congratulations on the 5 inches lost last month and the 11 3/4 inches lost over the past 2 months! Great job, ladies!

John: You're the one thing that's not like the others (sing along Sesame Street fans), so I just have to address you personally. So hi there, hey there, ho there! From your ticker, it looks like you're doing 40-45 minutes on the recumbent bike daily to make your 1300-minute goal. I am so impressed! It's all I can do to get through 20 minutes and 4-minute cool down. Way to go!

Well, I had answered this week's QOTD in this same post, but then it was just too long, so look for part 2 just after this novella. Hope everyone has a great weekend and a good weigh-in!


- Sonja

Rhonda, Marianne and Tee: You ask good questions! I won't answer all of the ones I've missed since I'm sure you all have other things to do than read my 4-page post , but I'll answer a few of the most recent ones.

Mon: Is your goal realistic? Honestly, I don't know what healthy looks like on my body. I've always been heavy, or larger than everyone in my own age group when I was in school although I'm only 5'4". I have one old picture of me and I (now) think I look normal in that picture, but I remember distinctly thinking back then that I was fat compared to my thin cousins. So, now, after the body fat% and ideal weight data provided by Dixie and Fran ( again ladies), I feel I have a very realistic goal in mind. Once I get there, I'll decide if it's enough. If I don't get there, I'll look at how far I've come and revel in my accomplishment.

Tue: How important is drinking water to you? Water? Yuck! I drink it because I have to, otherwise my face gets all dry and flaky. Besides my daily Starbucks, I'm trying to drink water only. I know I don't drink enough of it though. Since I'm watching my sodium intake, I'm trying to lighten up on the Propel and diet soda.

Wed: Do you have a morning routine? I work 2nd shift, so I don't get to bed until 3 or 4 in the morning. To get up early enough to go to the gym, I need to be up by 1030am, so I start hitting the snooze bar around 930. When I finally get up, I do the TMI stuff and then weigh myself, brush my teeth, throw on gym clothes and go, munching on some type of breakfast food. Then, home, shower, Starbucks, work. On my days off, I never go to the gym in the mornings because I'm not a morning person.

Thu: What kind of athletic shoes do you wear? I'm not picky about shoes. I just usually find a comfortable pair on sale. I wear them at the gym, at work, etc.

Fri: How do you stay focused on the weekend? My weekend is Fri and Sat. I try to stay busy by running errands, doing laundry, playing online poker and job hunting. I also remind myself that my weigh-in is Sunday!


I'll try to check in more often so that I don't have to subject you all to super-long double posts.


- Sonja

I need some help. Can anyone recommend some good free sites to learn some yoga? I've never done it before but would like to give it a try before I commit to a book or video. I have checked my local library and it seems that 85% of the books and videos are currently checked out. Stupid New Years resolution people, lol.

Thanks

Good thing about weekends: Too busy to snack

Bad thing about weekends: Too busy to work out

Afternoon Everyone

Very busy morning for me since I'm trying to get bedrooms painted.

Just wanted to report that now that Aunt Flow is officially gone I'm down to 196! Who knew I could lose weight!

Well I need to get back to painting before our company shows up!

Have a great on plan weekend, especially with the Super Bowl being tomorrow!

chelle -- is your puppy doing better?

Well she's finished her Panacure for the round worms and I haven't seen any lately. Right now her stomach is having a rough time with the medicine because if she's not constipated she's got diaherra. So we started to see a little blood in her stool. At first I thought something was really wrong but then I saw her straining last night and I put two and two together.

I'm going to take her to Banfield in 2 1/2 weeks so she can get insurance and those doctors can do her check up instead of the money leeches at the other vet.