Hi Nancy!! I hope you are having a GREAT Wednesday!

Hello to you too Mookie!! So great to 'see' you !!!!

Erika....you'll be back to that half marathon in no time!! I know you can do it!!

Love....journalling is almost a must on any weight loss plan! I hope you find some energy! I've got 2 more semesters myself, havent decided if I want to go for my masters or not....I'm burnt out! LOL!!

Ann....you are so right, its so so hard to stay away from the refined flour and sugar, those are my goals as well...but when you love bread and pasta its HARD!!! We'll do it though! I hope you had a wonderful breakfast!

Amber....its women like you that make me wish I could run. I get severe shin splints if I even try and now i've got these knobs on my shins from them. Perhaps when I lose some more weight and its not so much weight bearing down. Although I've seen these very large people on BL the show running!

AF is here this week for me, and she's wiping me out energy wise!! I took a nap this afternoon LOL!! Well I had intended on sitting and watching a movie with my 2 sickies and I fell asleep, guess my body needed it!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day!! Be good to you!!

~melissa

Hi, Everone! Glad the name list helped!
It sounds like everyone is really working their program.
I have to hand it to all you runners!
I get shin splints, too, Melissa,
so walking is my thing. But all you runners, GO!
Keep up the good work, everbody, I think our losses for the week will really add up.

I've had such a good day! (Minus the cheesecakse )

My company had a potluck going away lunch today, so I brought the fixings for a cesar salad. Romaine, croutons, dressing and cheese.

Anyway, I was so proud of myself because I got a bunch of the lettuce, and put it on 2/3 of my plate. And put veggies from the veggie tray on my salad, and some one brought in steamed shrimp so I put that on it and had a very lovely big salad. I put the other tempting looking things in the other 1/3 of the plate, not exactly OP, but I felt it was a good compromise. And I decided I could have a piece of cheese cake, so I got a very small piece and I got a lot of strawberries and blackberries out of the fruit salad and cut them up and put them on it. It was so good. And I am so proud of myself. I know I said that already, but seriously.... I didn't even THINK about the other bad stuff. (ok, maybe a little bit) But for the first time, I'm starting to think before I eat. This splurge is worth the calories to me, this splurge is not. It's empowering to think that I am the master of my own caloric destiny. I never thought about food before, I simply ate what was in front of me...
I'm so glad I have you guys, no one in real life would get it. They'd be like: You ate a salad, so what's the big deal?

Then I ran three miles when I got home I feel bad cause I went running with my roommate We used to be running buddies last summer, but she stopped running in October. So I kept leaving her in the dust today! I didn't mean to, I used to be trailing HER, it was wierd to be the pace setter. She says I almost killed her. hehe as awful as that is, it made me a little happy to be the fit one.

Melissa- shin splints suck. A lot. A WHOLE lot. Running is very high impact, so hopefully, when you have less weight impacting, the shin splints won't be as bad. If not, I guess you'll just have to be a boxer, or cyclist or swimmer or something similarly awesome.


Erica - I'd love to be runner encourager buddies. I talk a big game, but when push comes to shove, I often lack motivation, so it would be great to have an ecourager and maybe the occacional

How was everyone else's day?

Melissa and Tanya - I understand that walking is just as effective as running ... it's all about putting the miles in however you get there. So keep it up!!

Amber - Awesome, I would love to buddy up with you!! BTW you did an amazing job at lunch!!! Such thoughtful choices. You will be at maintenance weight in no time!!

I just had a Droste dark chocolate pastille. On Sonoma it's suggested that if you want it, you can have a piece of dark chocolate a few times a week. So this week in the grocery store I found these tiny round pieces of chocolate, something like <30 calories each, and I decided each day I run I could have one. I did a little choco-meditation eating it .... mmmm!!!

Anyway I should really pack it in for the night ... have a good one everyone!
e.

Hey all! I just wanted to pop in and say hello since I haven't had a chance until now I'm very excited about this challenge, and I can't wait to really get going

Amber, I know I will be thinking "I am the master of my own caloric destiny!" from now on. I had a great day yesterday--ate great, felt great, and when I got home I thought that maybe I should celebrate how great I did with a few Hershey's kisses. Then I decided that although I could if I wanted to, I didn't need to do that to make my day complete.

It is so great to think about how everyone here really knows what I'm going through! Not just for the accountability, but because you all know just how hard it can be.

Good morning Red Team!

Wow, we are all doing so well on our plans!!!

Amber, I would also like to be running buddies! It looks like there are a few of us around here, which is great! We can help keep each other motivated! I also have problems with motivation from time to time. I have a 5K on May 5, so that helps keep me psyched!

Have a great ON PROGRAM day everyone!

Glad you popped in, I hope you are having a great week so far!

Erika, Thanks for the encouragement about walking, I needed that!

Have a great day, everyone.

Morning all you loosers,
Thougth I would pop in for a quick post. I got up this morning and did the WATP walk and jog this morning and the 8 minute Tae bo quickie. I feel great. Not all sluggish like I had been. I am even showered and dressed. Now it's off to the races, with the little ones. I hear them stirring.

So when are we going to start the challenges? I am soo ready. Not sure how weigh in is going to look this week. Had a sweet tooth last night and ended up eating 3/4 of a piece of pound cake. Hadn't even had an urge until now. But I am not going to beat myself up about it. Folks who don't struggle with weight have treats occassionally. I am just going to get back on track today. So far so good.

Amber-Great job at lunch. I am sure my DH gets tired of hearing all of my NSV's but he just doensn't understand how huge they are. Keep up the good work.

Erica-I am reading over Sonoma and thinking about trying it out. I like Fat Smash, but this is along the same lines. Maybe this will jump start the weight loss again.

I will get to the rest of the personals later. I need to get moving with the kids.
Have a fantastic and on plan day!
Love

Hey Love, you got off to a great start today!! No worries about the cake ... it's just like you said, just get back on track.

I have done Wave 1 of Sonoma a few times and each time I've lost between 5 and 8 pounds, so you may also find that it gets the scale moving ... Just ate another express salad for lunch MMMM!

Charity - Awesome, let's have a runner's encouragement group! Wow your 5K is coming up fast!

I had a cancellation this afternoon so unexpectedly I have the whole afternoon ahead of me to do what I want!! So I will finish DD's treasure box stenciling project and then KNIT!! Yay!

Have a great OP day everyone!
e

Good afternoon team!! Hope everything is going great -- and look at all you runners -- I'll get there some day -- but I can walk really fast!!! I think I "could" run if I tried, just to self conscious I guess.

Have a great day red team!!

Tanya....I think you are right, I think we are kicking butt this week!!!

Amber...you did so AWESOME at the potluck!!! Girl that is incredible! And even though you did have some cheesecake you did it smart! See we can still enjoy life we just need to remember portion control and moderation...you proved to us all it can be done, you can enjoy and not blow it!!! Way to go!! And then a 3 mile run....you simply amaze me!!!

Erika...a little bit of chocolate can go a long way, I've come to LOVE dark chocolate and anymore the milk chocolate is way too sweet for me! Way to go on that portion control!! You did great!!! And thanks so much for the walking encouragement, you are so right, just log those miles however you have to!!

Hi Katie....so great to see you!!!

Ann...I couldnt agree with you more!! Its all about our choices. And for me anyway not telling myself that I cant have something. Rather than saying..."Melissa you cant have that" I tell myself "I choose not to have it" Its empowering, puts the control on me not the food. Sometimes the food wins but not always.

Charity....great to see you girl!!!

Love....Way to go on your workout this morning!!! You are amazing!! We are going to start our RED WINS challenge this weekend, on saturday which is the start of Week 2. And then blue and red will be competing against each other in an exercise challenge very soon, as soon as Chellez and I get it put together. So keep your eye out and keep kicking butt!!

Shelby....Tanya and I will be walking with you, and then maybe one day we can run! LOL!!!

Whew! Didnt get to check in this morning, I decided to stay in bed instead! I'm just NOT a morning person, even if its just laying in bed thinking about things I'd rather stay LOL!

I had a really great day yesterday plan wise! I have been thinking about WW lately, seems like someone or something wants me to be thinking about it anyway. But I figured out my points for the day and I dunno yet. I feel like I had a really really good day yesterday, very onplan, yes a couple things I could do different but that was only like 200 calories, and I would have ended up with almost 30 points. Seems kinda restrictive. Still thinking about it though.

Dont forget we are going to start our RED WINS challenge on Saturday, I'll start a new thread for it Friday night or Saturday morning with all the details.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today!! I'm so thrilled with our whole team!! Way to go everyone!! Keep up the great work!! We can do this!! We can win this whole thing!!

Be strong!!

~melissa

1. What would you like us to call you? Kristi
2. What are your Spring into summer goals? To lose around 20 pounds and stop procrastinating!
3. How did you get here? (gaining the weight and deciding to get healthy) I just realized how much more I would be able to life life if I lost weight...it's holding me back,
4. What plan are you using? Semi-low calorie, excercise.
5. What is your favorite exercise routine? Lunges and squats!
6. Favorite weightloss tip? Chew gum! It helps!