Yay!!! You guys make me feel so happy and supported. I am really glad that I found this site, so I can talk to other people about my concerns, etc., and not get the standard responses that I tend to get from friends and family (you know, those people who don't give a s&*% about exercising and eat what they want and call eating healthily a "diet" instead of a "lifestyle").

Aphil, I feel motivated! Woo!

Hi everyone...

well it is really late here, but I wanted to try out the new signature and the photo to see if it works.....

WW day tomorrow morning.... 8 hours to be exact!! YIKES!

Must drink some water and cross fingers while sleeping for a positive result!

Kanola,
Good luck at your weigh in! You and Alibee will have to show me how to put my pic up as an avatar like you guys did!
I have been pretty busy-Wal-mart last night, household stuff, and I just finished writing out a 5 page tutorial on how to make a certain costume hat-now I just have to mail it over to England!
Want to knwo the funniest thing? My husband has been begging me for chocolate chip cookies-and not from a tube of cookie dough! I made up a batch last night, and substituted half of the oil in the recipe for unsweetened applesauce. (This can also be done with butter, margerine, or shortening in cookie recipes)
I added up the calories from all of the ingredients and divided it by how many cookies it made, and it turned out to be 90 calories per cookie, rather than 120 the original way! And while he would have noticed it I had subbed all of the oil for sauce, doing half of it he didn't notice at all-and I am not going to tell him!!!
He actually said something to me when I was eating one-"Hey, those aren't No Pudge cookies!" (He makes fun of the No Pudge brand brownie mix I buy occasionally-like I named them myself or something!!)
This is a great tip for making cookies or muffins-and you can use unsweetened applesauce or nonfat vanilla yogurt as a replacement-it keeps it moist without all of the fat, and less calories.
I also omit the margerine and use skim milk when I make packaged dinners, like Tuna Helper or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese-it really brings the calorie/fat count down when you add it all up.
Last night at Wal-Mart, my husband pointed out a new Weider home gym they had just gotten in. We both prefer the stack weights over the resistance bands like Bowflex has, and that is what this was-plus we like Weider products, which are normally at Sears. I normally use free weights/ dumbells-but he likes this type...I may have to go put it in layaway for him for Christmas. It is a stripped down single stack model-only $150, but it has all of the basic exercises, and would fit nicely in our garage-and I could use it as a change of pace now and then. (Jason is not overweight, but he could use a little toning up, it would be great if we could both get back to looking like we did when we started dating! )
Something wonderful happened yesterday also-I got my license renewed right before I came back here-and with an 11 pound loss, I am still in the same size clothes, they are just not as snug-and appearance wise, noone has really noticed anything yet-until I was doing my hair and turned at just the right angle, and saw something I haven't seen in a while! I ran to get my license and went back to the mirror-and compared-Ah yes! There it is...I have cheekbones! (And they are clearly unapparent in my license photo!)
Well, everyone have a fabulous day, eat right, exercise, and do something nice for yourself-paint your nails, put on a sensual smelling body lotion, or take a half hour out to take a bubble bath tonight! You all deserve it!
Aphil

Yo!

I use the applesauce trick in my cookies; actually, what I usually do is double all the ingredients except the butter/oil and egg, then I use a fake egg (egg beaters) instead of the egg and add applesauce to moisten everything up. If you find that the cookies spread too much, a little more flour usually fixes that. Yum!

Oh yeah, about the picture, Aphil -- if you take a normal photo and shrink it, then you can use it in your profile. If you'd like, you can email me a photo of you and I'll shrink it down for ya.

You know, I have noticed that Denise Austin does that miscounting thing that was mentioned a day or two ago-I actually think she does it on purpose to get 2 more out of you-while you are arguing with her, usually you end up doing those last 2 (4)!
Just got finished with abwork, and upper body...oh yeah.
I am going to do my lower body tonight out in the garage after the kids are in bed, I actually have a bun and thigh rocker, and it works well, Ijust don't use it that often, because I don't like to be out in the garage without someone in here with the kids, even when they are in bed-Jason will probably be in here vegging in front of the television.
Aphil

Hello all!

This is me; duh duh late in giving Nancy HUGE high-five for her loss; she so deserves the scale to reflect how on-program she has been doing!!! Yahoo to you, girl!!!!!

Amy, your posts are so good. Remembering a particular hurtful moment that overweightness has caused really makes the moment of "oh, what can it hurt to eat this" pale in comparision. I am thrilled for you to see the difference in your license photo and the present - isn't that cool?!

The pics of your daughter are great; she is so sweet! A real darling. The satin dress was just beautiful. And wow, the cake! Loved the towers, sprinkled with pink sugar crystals!

THANK you for the "hottie" tag! I love it!!! And NOTHING feels as sexy as black leather pants!!(well, nothing that you can wear in public! )

Hi Alison! I can think of many times during the past few months when I was so fixated on what I could/couldn't eat; that seemed to take up so much of my thought. Thank goodness it was only for a couple of days at a time; then I guess I gradually got accustomed to just following in the new habits. Like for me, the best breakfast is just eating the same thing, so I don't have to think about it or tantalize my tastes with something different. For me, that's a half-cup of Kashi with a cup of non-fat yogurt. Sounds boring, but I eat it; and then say to myself "well, I have eaten breakfast; now don't think about food until lunch" and that works for me.

I also have running through my mind something that someone else at the 3FC forum said; not at our thread but another. It was "how can I make friends with the empty feeling in my tummy?"... and I didn't think I could EVER do that; I always equated that empty feeling with more drastic physical feelings; like I was going to be light-headed if I didn't eat soon; or that my stomach was going to cave in! Now I equate that empty feeling with "okay, I'm feeling lighter and leaner, not too-full and sleepy; I'm doing what I should be doing; I can have a sensible snack if I really need to; but will eat sensibly at my next scheduled meal".

Wow, I'm spouting all kinds of stuff!

And yes, you can definitely tell us anything about your concerns, and I don't think any of us would pooh-pooh it, or minimize or trivialize it, as others have done. Probably altogether we've experienced the full gamut of weight-related issues.

By the bye, what is a See's?

Hi t-girl!!! Great to hear from you. You were always so pumped-sounding and inspiring, especially when it came to exercise. We look forward to having you with us again!!!

Hi Kina, how's our elliptical-mileage-accumulating girl? I often think of your SO positive attitude, especially when I feel crabby about something. You must be such a great mom/wife, with that great attitude. You rock!

Hi Kanola!!! Yay, we get to see you and your machine!!! Thanks for the photo! Congrats on the second bike, soon to come! It is so fun to ride with your partner. I am also crossing many fingers for an loss for your weigh-in! Dumb me, I remember you telling me what kind of gear you got, but I forget; is it textile, Cordura?


Gotta go and start supper; if I am the one doing supper, at least I know there will be a big green salad and a steaming bowl of green beans to fill up with! (I'm super lucky that my husband is a better cook than I am; but the meals tend to be a bit heavy on carbs when he cooks; and it's hard to resist those carbs when they are already placed on one's plate!)

Big cyber-hugs to everyone!

Your frienbd, Holly

WHAT IS <a href="http://www.sees.com/home.cfm">SEE'S</a>?!?!?!? Honey, give me your address. When I next go to CA (in October) I am sending you a box. (They are like, the best chocolates ever ever ever.)

I just got some new tapes from overstock.com -- they had Kathy Smith's Fat Burning Breakthrough, and also one of her Timesavers -- Cardio Fat Burning. I just did the FBB one and wow, not only does it kick your *** (excuse the lang but ya know, as the youngin' of the thread I have GOT to be controversial), but it's FUN! I would love to copy it for any of you if you're into step (there are weight training sections but nothing like The Firm), or you can pick up a copy for cheap! It supposed to help get you out of plateaus by going through intensity waves (wave 3 is HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but I like it just because I have so much fun doing it! I found myself today at work dreading a workout, so I am so glad that these were in the mail when I got home -- on days when it's hard to motivate, you need something you know you'll enjoy! And, the coreography isn't very hard (I've been trying to work up to Keli Robert's Ultimate Step but it's taken me a couple times -- the first, I did 12 minutes and then gave up in frustration and did half Firm Cardio, and the second time I did 40 minutes and was too tired to continue trying to fight my body, which is not the most co-ordinated).

Wow, I never thought that I would actually own 11 workout videos and have 5 I've copied from the library. Yikes.

Anyway, I think that I figured out the munchy obsessy thing -- first off, I think that fasting on Monday really messed me up. Also, I've noticed that I do a lot of boredom eating around 9 pm, which I have heard is a hard time for lots of people. Knowing that I'm not the only one who gets the late-night munchies is reassuring, to say the least. I think that it would be smart of me to stock up the house with some lightweight snacky food, so if I start gorging, at least it's on stuff that won't make me feel ill or guilty.

Saying that, thank goodness I finished off the Starbuck's Lowfat Latte Ice Cream. That stuff IS SO GOOOOOOOOOD!

Random tangent: What do you guys do for a living? I'm a programmer. I work for an insurance company (weird for me, since I've always been in the dot com industry prior to this).

Happy Friday and shabbat shalom! (I will teach you all about Judaism! Woo!)

PS: I always notice that I am not hungry after a good workout. Anyone else?

Okay, I'll stop hogging the thread now...

Did somebody say WEEKEND? Isn't that such a wonderful word? It just has a beautiful ring to it...WEEKEND. It just makes the rainest weather sparkle. I am here in Texas and we have some areas under water AGAIN. My backyard has become a small lake. But that is okay it gives me a good reason to just watch the grass GROW.

My son had his first practice of choir afterschool today. It brought back so many memories of my years in choir. Wow it was hard to keep the tears from welling up. How it would be so nice to just take a trip back but then I would miss so much of now. Memories are good enough then. But my poor baby forgot he had practice so he came home on the bus. So here goes SUPER mom to the rescue taking him right back to school! Oh and he came home with his Friday pack (shows me all that he has done for the week) he had all 100s. So I ask "Matthew, all I see are 100s is there a problem?" He says all worried "No." I say "Well all you have are 100s...are you too smart for that school?" He says puzzled "No." So I tell him "You are doing so good. I am VERY proud of you." So then I go over to DH and say "Matthew is so smart he is ready to teach 3rd grade." My kids are so silly.

Did I ever tell you all about our family parade that we do ever so often? I'll have to remember to tell that story. That is my favorite story there are so many though. But I want to get to the thread posts...

Alibee~~~~I don't know about not hungry. Lately I have been so hungry no matter what it is I have just done. I am hoping right now that I don't find out I am expecting not that it wouldn't be a wonderful blessing. It just wouldn't be expected. The dig about that is that I was taking medication for my allergies (remember?). The DR didn't say anything about it conflicting with my birth control. So I didn't think nothing of it until someone asked if I could possibly be pregnant. No that I wouldn't be excited because I would like to add 2 more to our family at some point just not exactly now. Anyway. How awful of you to use that forbidden word...chocolate. I have never heard of the See's either. What company makes them?

Holly~~~~I am LOVING my elliptical machine. Like the kids say "well then marry it if you like it so much!" I tell them "I would if I could but I think there is a law against marrying your exercise machine." They just laugh. I did 8.5 this morning. I will do another 8.5 this evening. I only got on it this morning because I was recording some exercise shows for Mom. You know how they find the skinniest girls to exercise in the back yard. Well I was feeling very F@t while I sat there on the couch watching these skinny little things in their skinny little painted on suits. So I said "Oh yeah well watch me!" So I got off the couch and got on that machine of mine.

Aphil~~~~Applesauce? I had heard of that but I didn't know where to substitute the applesauce. Thanks for clearing that up. I think I will try it. I have been wanting cookies but they are so loaded with But now there is hope. Thank you so much for giving me back my cookies. Now the trick is I have to make them !

Kanola~~~~I shall cross my fingers for you as well. I know you can do it!

T-girl~~~~Welcome back! We have a great family here and you are a great addition. Motivation and support go hand in hand and are always at their highest in here.

Snowey~~~~Knock Knock! You doing okay?

Well I have taken enough of ya'lls time. I shall be off now. I think we are going to find a movie to go see or something.


Kina

Hello all..

Okay, nosey me.. alibee, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you? You said you were the youngin of the group, so I'm curious

Reguarding the applesauce as sub for butter/oil. I do that for my cakes and its not bad at all but, for cookies I'm not fond of it. It makes them too 'cakey' and less like a cookie. Just my 2 cents ...

My weight is so weird lately.. it'll shoot up like 3 pounds or so and then just sit there a few weeks.. then shoot up again.. whats up with the lack of steady gain?? I'm still unhappy with the total gain to this point but since there is not much I can do about the past, I am trying to keep the future gain within reason! I am 22 weeks today.. 18 to go.. this feels like its taking forever! Of course this month is just crawling.. I'm waiting on my doctor's appointment on October 7 (also my 2 year wedding anniversary!) and then a trip to the beach for a few days (courtesy of my dad who is joining us as well).. And, you know how time slows down when you're aniticipating something! I just hope that it speeds back up when I get back from my trip (although i'll then be thinking about coming holidays.. halloween, thanksgiving, christmas!.. always something to look forward to!).. I guess it'll just have to be slow-going til january! Heehee.

Okay, enough babbling here.. I'm off to sleep.. company tomorrow!

Christine

Silence, If you replace all of the oil/butter with applesauce or vanilla yogurt, it does make them cakey, but if you only replace half, and use half of the oil, then it comes out a bit better-you may like that better.
Your weight gain is normal to be jumping and stopping-so don't worry. One week the developement may be more brain/circulatory/or detail oriented (like fingernails forming) and then the next may be a weight gain or lengthening of the child.
Alibee-yes, how old are you? I am sortof still young myself-even though I do all of these old lady sewing stuff. (I am 26)
As far as what I do, I was a licensed hairdresser and cosmetologist before I got with Jason adn had kids, and now I am staying at home, as far as going to work every day, but I do sewing and costuming on the side, and have a volunteer job at www.theForce.net as part of the costuming staff there-pretty much sending information to people wanting to make real looking costumes in an underground fashion, as to avoid cease and desist orders from Lucasfilm! We can't get in trouble for making them and wearing them to conventions and theatres, but we can if we sell them and they find out the source! If you have ever seen people on tv at nerdy sci-fi conventions wearing stuff that looks straight out of the movies, instead of cheap $40 costumes from Spencer gifts-that is what I help do.
I put up a few of my costumes before you got here-I'll put up an address again: www.fansview.com/2002/starwars/sw05a0013.html
Jason and I are in the top 2 pics as an Imperial officer and Queen Amidala.
I also do kids costumes, crafts, quilting, and movie quality adult costumes from other movies, and renaissance/medeival costumes.
Kina-as far as being pregnant-I have never heard of that medicine counteracting bc pills. I know antibiotics can, as well as St. John's Wort, and I know if you are very overweight that your body may process the hormones faster and you have a slightly higher failure rate than if you were at normal rate. Take a test to be sure, but I still think it may be do to all of those miles!
Alibee-(again) we have a private candy company here nearby that has the best chocolate ever-a candy apple is about $15...go to www.debrand.com. Just don't order any-ha ha ha!!!
I had a good day yesterday-we went out for dinner with the kdis, and went to Meijer-I found a spectacular tablecloth in the exact fabric by accident of a fabric in a movie costume-I hadn't even thought of making it before, but when you find the perfect component to make a great one...well, I had to get it, and it WAS 30% off...and we bought Jas Monsters Inc. with her birthday money-if any of you like kid shows, I highly recommend you see it! It was really good-I also loved Shrek, too.
Oh, my Bakers Breakfast cookies came yesterday-and I had one for breakfast. It filled me up like I just overate at a buffet-and that was 2 hours ago, and I am still stuffed! The mocha chocolate chunk flavor is awesome-and only 250 calories for the whole thing!
Aphil

okay, i just assumed i was the youngest -- 25.

Egads,,, I must be the oldest,,,,, But I look and feel young!!!!!




Nancy

Nancy, don't feel bad if you are the oldest...my mom is a hot 46 year old woman-works out every day, wears a size 6, went back to school when she was in her late 30's to become a nurse, and is married to my sexy stepfather (the former bodybuilder) and they just left for Florida yesterday to vacation for the week!
She looks better and has more fun now than she did when my brother and I were growing up!
Keep up that good attitude and making those positive changes in your life and you will be better than you were in your twenties!