Scale did not move for me today! Sort of expected that as I did not plan my food very when for the last few days. But I did have a NSV yesterday. I could walk with the skinny moms and not feel winded. Mind you one skinny mom was winded thats what happens when you smoke.

Hi all:

Another cranky day today -- too much work, too little time, and waaaaaay too little sleep! Still, I've managed to avoid overeating so far and haven't snacked at night -- or 3 am Second PT session this morning -- lots of exercises, nothing too tough so far, but they've told me that it won't stay that way! The most fun thing was, sitting in a chair with my heel on the floor, picking up marbles with my toes and dropping them in a little cup

Debbie, thanks for asking about yoga. My husband got stuck at work, so we rescheduled for Sunday night -- probably better to have some time between yoga and PT, anyway, I'm thinking.

It is a beautiful, sunny day! I wanna go out and play!

Crazy day at my house. the kids were wired today. I have heard people say animals know when earthquakes are going to happen...well I say the kids knew it had happened.
I have only felt one aftershock. It was reallly mild. My son lives less than 30 miles from the epicenter and they have had 6 aftershocks. He is kinda freaking out over it. Its rare to feel them here even though we live on the new madrin fault line.
Debbie_ my daughter is a senior but is staying until dec to graduate.She wants to get her extra hours(30) to be ready to take the CPA. She is going to live at her boyfriend parents house this summer in the college town and work . She is also taking a class this summer. I am just her storage unit!!
She still has her 4.0 as of right now. Im so proud of her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! right now she is curled up on the couch sleeping like a baby!! Its nice to be able to just look at her. She hasnt been home much this school year.

Well hubby jumped the gun today and planted tomatoe plants in the ground. I told him that they wont make it this early......but when he gets something in his head its just better to let him do it. He worked so hard he wore himself out..maybe this bout of mania will be short lived.
debi

Catherine: I so appreciate that you are pretty much where I am. Thank you for always sharing and helping me to feel better about things and especially that I am not alone.

Debbie: Hugs. I am so blessed to have all of you seriously. Wow! I am so happy for you reaching that 70 pounds lost. You are doing so well sweetie. Go Debbie Go!

Julia: Woohoo for walking without getting winded. What a wonderful feeling.

Walrus: I like the sound of your PT. I bet that may be good for your tummy too depending on how high up bring the marbles up with your toes. lol.

Well, I dorked out and didn't go to the gym. I went and took my Dh lunch. After he ate his favorite burger he wanted to take me into his work and show me around. I felt so special going in that huge shop and he was holding my hand all the way. He must have introduced me to everyone in the place. lol. I am amazed at the machines and parts that he makes. I have seen them before but not up close like today. Amazing what they do there. I went in the pain section and saw all the Precore Tredmills and elipticals that they are making when they are just little parts of plastic. lol. We can get a discount on them by 50% but that still makes them about $2000 each! We don't have that kind of money or room in our house for a montster machine like that lol. I saw a lady that is friendly with us and she ran up and hugged me and told me I look so beautiful. She was so impressed by my weight loss. I haven't seen her since 389 pounds. I thanked her and was so surprised because I still look the same to me pretty much and she said she was wondering who Joel was walking around holding hands with that she didn't recognize me. lol. Sweet.

I rented a couple of video games to play on the Wii this weekend. I adore the Cabella's hunting game even though I'm not a hunter in real life so I rented that one and also Mario Party 8 I think. I was shocked at how much it costs to rent those games. 2 games for $14 + tax! I guess it is way better than buying them and not liking them though.

Well, I hope you are all doing well.

Blessings,
Annie

Debi: Wow, what a way to wake up. I didn't know there were fault lines or earthquakes in KY. I've never experienced an earthquake, but I think it might scare me to bits.

Annie: I think you really should speak to that group about your weight loss. You might feel you are still far away from your goal weight, but remember you are much closer to your goal weight than to your starting weight and that is inspiring to me and I know it would inspire the group also. Please, please continue to share your feelings. Your feelings often hit mine right on the money and it is such a comfort to know I am not alone in this. I understand what you mean about feeling you look pretty much the same to yourself. The other day I looked at myself in a full length mirror and thought that 85 lbs lost doesn't even show on me. I really don't know whether it does or not, being so reclusive in the last years people have actually not seen me to enough to comment or notice. After I reach my first 100 lbs lost I'm going to take a picture and compare with the one taken at Christmas time and see if there is any difference I can see. I think (hope) it might be more apparent in photos than that blasted mirror.

Debbie: WTG on being down another 2 lbs. I hope DH wins that karaoke contest.

Julia: Congrats on that nonwinded walk, I look forward to the day I can breathe and walk at the same time.

After a 2 week mini plateau, the scale finally moved down another 2 lbs today so I am happy about that. That under 300 mark is so tantalizingly close, I really can't believe I'm so near already. It seems like I just got started a few weeks ago. I credit all my friends here with making the journey easier for me this time around. Ya'll make the time seem to pass more quickly. Thank you all for your input and kindnesses.

Good evening all,

Well, I did get in the pool this morning (hooray). I decided to see how close I could come to equaling the calories I burn on the treadmill. So for 30 mins solid I swam laps (a combination of fast and slower front crawl, breaststroke, and one lap of butterfly) with a few mins of treading water. I don't seem to pedal fast enough on my treading water to keep my heart rate up, so it's laps for me I suppose. I managed the first 30 mins, but after a short rest I tried it again, but gave up at the 15 min mark. So I suppose I'll do some treadmill work in the morning and follow it with some laps. Then in the afternoon I took a quick 'swim for fun' dip with my mother. It actually felt warmer in the morning than it did in the afternoon, but it's still a lovely day. Tomorrow promises more of the same although Sunday we might get rain. Since we're going to start digging out a new spot for the boysenberries tomorrow I might be glad if the rain stops us working on Sunday though.

Other than that, not much else going on.

Debi - 4 days off in 12 weeks is great. I was reading something recently by John Berardi (many things, but sports nutritionist is one of the hats he wears). He talks about 100% nutritional discipline isn't a requirement. That the difference between 90% and 100% compliance is very little. Of course, he's not talking strictly about diets, but more about nutritional guidelines. I suppose what I take away from that is that you may not hit the eating goals 100% of the time, but you should always hit 90%. I've had a couple of off plan days myself (including one horrible one), and I'll need to try planning for another (a meal in a restaurant that I can't change, that doesn't have many great choices). We do still have to live our lives though. Oh - and an earthquake! Yikes. They are rare around here, although I know we've hade a 4.? since we've lived here (12 years), but I think only the one. Glad you didn't have any damage.

Carol - I've found with the Advil that if it's going to work for you, it will do so in about 20-30 mins. I've given them to other people, and for most it will work. However, there are a few people it doesn't seem to help. Eventually I become known as the person to go to for them wherever I work. Good think that Costco not only sells them, but now Kirkland Lake (their generic manufacturer) puts out them as well. It's Ibuprofen Liquid Capsules. The delivery system seems to be the key. You don't need to wait the usual time for a tablet to break down. Luckily I haven't needed many recently though.

Annie - I think it's easier to look at someone else and see their progress. It's much harder to deal with your own progress. I took pictures recently and compared them to ones 45 pounds heavier, and I really can't see the difference. I can admit to seeing changes in my face, but that's about it. The only time I've seen progress lately is putting something on that I wore at my heaviest weight. It helped a little. And I just saw today's post, so someone else noticing is a great thing. I wonder about that a little, at my goal weight, how much I'll look like me.

Catherine - I usually avoid the issue of how much I've lost. I suspect there's only a few people that know my top weight. I was going to say one, but I probably told the family doctor (even though I was never in to see him at my top weight). I might tell my mother what it was once I'm finished. I think sometimes I avoid telling her how much I have left to go because like you, I don't want her doing the math.

Debbie - thanks for the link. I'm going to email them and check if they deliver to Canada. I know there are people here, but they bulbs are never quite as good as the imports. And congrats on getting back to 70 lbs lost. That's how I feel about 282 - it's the lowest I was before I got ill, and that was probably less than I'd weighed for almost 20 years. So I'm looking forward to hitting that mark again. Maybe even more so than under 300, or 100 pounds lost. The others don't seem quite as important as I was there before.

Julia - walking with the skinny moms and not getting winded is a wonderful NSV. As you continue on you may find eventually that some of them will ask you to slow down. That's what happens to me when I've been walking consistently for a while. I leave other people in my dust. And that's a great feeling.

TheWalrus - from what I understand about PT is that eventually it will have to hurt to be working. Best of luck when you get there. And kudos for not taking out your bad mood with bad food.

Johnnie - plateaus are just horrible, aren't they. I'm glad you got through yours, and hope that you manage to bust that 300 mark without too much trouble.

Well gals, I think that's me for the evening. We just watched this week's Law & Order SVU (very tense) and maybe we'll look for something lighter as our next choice. I'm up (and off) early tomorrow to buy.... dirt. Okay, enriched black soil, but hey, it's still dirt. Take care everyone and hope everybody has a great weekend.

Those earthquakes yesterday FREAKED me out. I slept through the first one but when the 4.5 rated aftershock came, I was using the laptop to do some training for work. I went "wait... this COUCH IS MOVING" It was a weird feeling knowing that stuff was moving but you couldn't do anything about it. UGH!

A friend of mine was in town on Wednesday and Thursday and we took walks around town and chatted. We even went into this place that has a restored old-fashioned soda fountain and had a drink.

Oh.. I'm also down to -18 now! My average loss is now up to -1.33 a week. Looks like this walking outside is helping alot. I had another "no baby" month, so I was sad yesterday. The weird this is that the period came a week early this time. I had a perfect 28 day cycle this month and that never happens. Maybe it's the weight loss? Hubby says it's straightening it's act in preparation for baby making..LOL

Heather dw - i felt the aftershock too - while using the laptop - definetely a strange feeling.

Anne - we're opening tomorrow - I ran into our pool guy at a friends house yesterday - he couldn't believe we aren't open since we are typically first - he actually thought maybe I was buying chemicals from someone else since he hadn't heard from us. It's 42 here this morning - pretty chilly to open but WE WILL. I'm jealous of the heater - I guess until the bill shows up. Enjoy the water.

Johnnie - I'm so proud of you! Great job working through the plateau - can you smell 299? Thank for sharing another spring pic - someday the rest of us will have our own to share - maybe - or else we'll go straight to summer.

Annie - what a touching moment - first with DH holding your hand throughout and then with the big hug of achievement. Have you made a decision if you will speak to the senior group? My trainer is now preparing for an appearance before a group of 4 year olds - the teacher has given him a list of some of the questions they have been asking in the Health and Fitness Unit they have been working through. He said he'll give me a copy of them as they are hilarious and he certainly wouldn't have been prepared to answer. gotta remember who the audience is.

Debi - I bet the tomatoes will do just fine. I think I'm going to try mine in pots this year. I have veggie loving pups that don't care whether they are ripe or not - maybe in pots I can keep a better eye on them.

Julia - what an awesome NSV - are you still grinning?

TheWalrus - that hurts my foot to think about picking up marbles like that. How much PT will you go through?

Julee - how's the eye? Did you try the tea bags someone mentioned?

Debbie - how did the karaoke go last night? I'm going to investigate the bulbs too - have you bought them before? Are they high quality?

70 pounds - wow my friend - that is wonderful. It's amazing how those numbers add up while moving down. 70 pounds - WOW.

Catherine - this week as the comments on my weight loss started I refused to give in to "how much have you lost" questions. I probably never will. While encouraging Annie to share her story it has made me ask if I could do the same thing.

I'm off to swim for awhile - it will be so nice when I can also do it in our own pool. Somehow laundry has again piled up - guess maybe I should address that too. Yesterday was not a great food day although I was not over in calories - didn't eat much and then didn't make a great dinner choice - ate too much pasta out. Need to flush it all out - lotsa water today - what am I talking about - it's lotsa water everyday.

Move your bodies, drink your water and SMILE.

Hugs to all,
Carol

It is snowing here and -12C. That's 10F. I am not happy. I did get to go to the thrift stores yesterday. This morning, I woke up sick. I guess I am still immuno-suppressed. That's starting to get as old as the snow is.

Good morning,
I was able to sleep and wake up in a normal way this morning...no being shaken out of bed at 430.Hopefully the aftershocks have stopped.

I am excited. I lost 2.6 this week after staying the same last week. That puts me at 34.6lbs. off. Its also the 1/4 way to my goal weight. It averages out to 2.8lbs a week. Even though it doesnt seem that way. I seem to loose slow and then drop a bunch overnight.

I am cooking a big meal before daughter goes back to college today. She brought home 20 shirts and sweaters to be hand washed. It took me a long time to do them ...wonder how many calories i burned going up and down the basement steps. Alot of the sweater and tops had to be washed alone.

Its really cool here today.......it rained all night and hubby is grinning from ear to ear about his tomatoe plants getting all that slow steady rain.
have an awesome day
debi

CatherineM: Sorry to hear about being sick (and snowy!) -- but maybe easier than being sick and sunny? Time for some pampering, I'm thinking...

My leg is feeling better and better -- last night I even forgot it was broken and took about ten steps without the cast on -- totally bad, but also happy in a weird way Today is the first day that I went to work without a cane! And I've been carrying my own stuff to the office and home all week, too -- including my 1000-pound laptop, which was the real thorn (it throws me off balance on the stairs, which is a scary space for me anyway). Success!

Sadly, I'm still not progressing as quickly as I need to on my projects, even though I wangled an extra extension More unrelenting editing for me this weekend, instead of playing outdoors...but next week, I'm going to celebrate and go to the knitting store and to my favorite low-cost restaurant for a high-cal but 100% satisfying meal (obviously, planned for in advance!). Can't wait!

I can't celebrate too much about resisting the junk food, though, as although I'm eating mostly healthy food, last night I had my dinner and then two portions of what my husband cooked for his dinner. He made turkey chili and veggie chili when we had friends over, and last night he made mac and cheese and mixed the chili in. Yum. But I didn't realize how unfortunate it was calorie-wise until I went to put it in FitDay. Next time, I'll pass (or ask that he keep the chili separate and just eat that)!

Speaking of my favorite food at the moment, I don't know how into potatoes you all are, but they are a food I adore. I've been buying the Alexia frozen oven wedges and sweet potato fries -- SO delicious! Then I make a dip of light mayo and mustard. It's hot, filling, and gets my carb cravings done for in a non-horrible way. The Alexia potatoes are very simply prepared -- for example, this is the ingredient list for my favorite (other than the sweet potato) style, Oven Fries with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic: "Russet Potatoes, Olive Oil, Sunflower Oil and/or Canola Oil and/or Safflower Oil, Sea Salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Dextrose, Garlic Powder, Rosemary, Black Pepper, Marjoram, Thyme, Natural Rosemary Flavor." Can't do better than that myself! I've been having a turkey wrap (thanks to whomever provided that recipe here -- I'm LOVING them! We add a little roasted red pepper, too, and it's just grand) for lunch and then some potatoes and something protein-y and low cal/low carb/low fat for dinner (like chili).

I'm starting to really look forward to the Biggest Loser Challenge, too, as I think I'll be moving around by then, which will hopefully help me make great strides! Plus, I'll be in Scotland for two weeks at the end of May, which is kind of cheating, as we'll be walking our buns off for 12 days. My big goal right now is to keep that ticker moving so that I can fit in the plane seat for the 8-hour flight without being miserable (and without making my poor husband, who is also not a small person, feel like he's stuck in airplane ****). Wish me luck!

Last night was the death match karaoke contest and JIm came in second. It was so much fun and just a great night. The song he got was "Carwash" and he did pretty well. There were alot of pretty funny songs that some of the guys got like Madonna songs and Mariah Carey and one guy even got "I Touch Myself" (I think that's the name) which he acted out but the big winner was "Billie Jean". The girl that won it did such a great performance and had a really good voice too. She won a karaoke machine.
Jim got a great prize too. It's an "I Sing" MP3. You can make up lyrics, record, sing and use it like an MP3. They also gave out prizes to people who didn't sing, and I won a t-shirt. Better than nothing and usually I'm not lucky at all so it was a nice surprise. I told Jim he gets the t-shirt and I get the MP3.
My son and dil showed up and made it even better.

Julia, YAY for keeping up with the skinny moms! You'll show them that us heavier chicks are in better health than they are.

Walrus, I'm glad you got to reschedule your yoga class. I bet it's fun once you get used to the moves.

Debi, I'm so glad that you have your daughter home. Isn't it great just looking at them and being so proud? She sounds like she's got all her ducks in a row for her life. You should be very proud for raising a great daughter.
YAY on the 2.6 lbs gone!!

Annie, that is so sweet that your hubby wanted to show you around...and show you off!! And what a great NSV on that lady wondering who he was with and then realizing it was you and beautiful you are! Have you checked out the Wii Fit that's coming out next month? It really looks like it could be a workout. They even have yoga on it! It's around $89 but it looks like it's worth it. I'm going to think about investing in one.
If you want to check it out they have it at www.EBgames.com

Johnnie, on the 2 lbs gone forever!!! Keep up the good work. You are doing so well and I'm so proud of you. You'll be out there running circles around people in no time. Look how far you've come already!

Anne, you're very welcome. We've been to those flower fields so I know they are well worth it. That's great on being able to get in the pool now. Just having a pool would be so nice, but with our water, we would have to have it trucked in. Enjoy it and I'm sure you're going to get a summers worth of good work outs.

heather dw, YAY on losing those pounds,....and maybe hubby is right!!

Carol, I haven't bought from they yet, but I know they are of high quality. They have tulip, daffodil, and iris fields and the flowers are just amazing. We are thinking of going next weekend, if the bulbs ever decide to open, and I will take some pics and post them on the picture thread. I'll let you know. They have some gorgeous black ones and some white ones that I think would make such a dramatic look in the garden. There are so many varieties and colors.
I didn't go over calories either yesterday but noticed I ate to much fat....so I'll be right there beside you drinking that water like crazy.
O and have fun when you open your pool. Again, I'm envious of those with those great pools!!

Catherine, sorry about you being sick again....and the snow. Take care.

We got snow again last night. It's all melted now but the snow on the mountains is beautiful. There is still more chances of snow over the whole weekend. It was coming down in humongous flakes and sticking to the cars, but not the ground. So pretty, but yet again, I'm ready for Spring. SPRING....where are you??
Have a great day movin' and groovin'
Debbie

Hello my Peeps!

OMGosh GGG, I thought my dogs were the only crazy critters that loved to eat blueberries (and the bushes) and veggies (both ripe and green). My neighbors have accused me of contracting homeland security to fence in my blueberry bushes.

Catherine, sick and snow?! omgosh.. dryer-warm blankets for you! Healing vibes sent off to you!

I finished rebuilding my basement stairs. I went to take off the nasty carpet and found the DPH (dreaded previous homeowners) had put trailer paneling over the top of too short pine stair treads that had seen better days. I get exercise points for getting all of that off, the extra wood frame (who knows why that was there), the bizillion finish nails, and the 12 x 4" nails they put in every tread. Pulling up the treads had me sweating big time! I even broke a heavy duty pry bar (my fav one of course). But the stairs are done.. w00h00!! They need a quick sanding and some finish, but I'll deal with that another day.

It's a beautiful day out today. I might get a bike ride today. I might as well since my butt is the only thing that doesn't hurt right now.. it might as well join the rest of my body.

Hugs and Luv to all,
Rat

Wow you ladies have been busy in the last 24 hours! I will get caught up later. But need advise on how to record my 3.5 hour meandering walk thru the truck show. I am exhausted. Climbing my butt in and out of trucks. I would like to count it somehow for my tally on the exercise thread.

RatKitty, you crack me up!

Julia, FitDay has all sorts of bizarro exercises listed, and I'll guarantee you that they have "strolling" as an option

We've had to reschedule yoga AGAIN -- this is driving me nuts! We both feel sooooo much better after an hour or so of purposeful movement. Relaxed, happy, and limber. The opposite of how I feel right now!!! Well, ok, I'm not unhappy -- silver lining found!