This morning I could have cried and quit. This evening it's different I'm back on track and it's all thanks to you. I was upset after weigh-in so I got on my bike and pedaled quickly for 25minutes after supper I went for a quick paced walk with my friend. I came home and measured my waist like my friend said to do and I have lost 1 inch. I surprized myself and have now drank 48ozs of water a personal best. You ladies helped with the encouragement and good vibes.

Jennifer I'll enter my daily diet if you don't mind looking it over and give me your ideas. I would greatly appreciate it.

Lameducklucy your dinner sounds divine. :

jillmommyc your so correct I should have looked at this as no gain not no loss.

babangie when I got angry today I found out how my staminia had changed(it sure improved) I never moved so fast in my life.

hikenin2005 I am changing from walking every nite to some bike riding and some sit ups.

b-tea, water, and oatmeal
l-water,salad and yogurt
d-water, 1/2 cup potatoes, fish

This is a great thread full of great ladies

((( All my wonderful Challenge Chickies! )))

I'm rushed tonight, so I promise in the morning, I'll read everything I skipped- I just wanted to get this posted tonight.

Tonight I did the WATP & Shortcuts for Upper Body. Yeah..with only 1 day off between UB workouts, I felt the wobbles much sooner. During Friends, I did some additional UB work while sitting & watching the show.

We were supposed to go look at a house after work today. Hubby's schedule fell apart, so I went to check it out, and I got stood up by the homeowner. Great...just wonderful- lost an hour in the total driving time there & back home, and wasted a good half hour there knocking on the door, ringing the bell, walking around the outside of the house. Sheesh!That put my workout behind, so I was more rushed than normal.

Water was on target today, Food on target, Exercise on target.

Snack: (needed because of the much later dinner hour)
1 slice light oatmeal bread
1 tsp peanut butter

Dinner:
2 slices light oatmeal bread
2 slices provelone
12 slices 50% reduced fat salami
(open faced sammitches)

Work has been hectic due to so many changes, so I have to be careful & not let things stress me out. If I stress out, I'm only producing hormones & chemicals that will keep my body from burning this fat. I sure don't need it holding on to this excess!

Tomorrow morning- WATP- gonna go for the 2 miles, I think- I need the endorphine high to avoid the poop at work. Not going to use the ab belt, just to let the arms have a break. Breakfast & lunch are planned- nothing thought out yet for dinner, but hubby will be home working most of the day & perhaps I can bribe him into making more sauce. I'm thinking about a Chicken Breast Faux Parmesan, with boneless, skinless chicken breast, a smidge of his wonderful sauce, and few slices of the fat free mozzarella. Thinking about it, anyway.

Another thought I had was a bribe for myself with the water. For the month of March, I'm going to keep a little calendar (I can email one to anyone who wants it) and track my water. If I drink 100 24oz glasses of water during those work days, I get to reward myself with some kind of fitness gadjet- maybe the tension bands for the leg work...maybe a yoga mat to make those floor exercises more palatable.

More in the morning, ladies... You are all incredible- each & every one of you!

Good night friends. I ended up with the bourbon steak at Applebees with steamed veggies and no butter. I had a couple of my husbands onion chips, which i am counting as my carb. I only ate about 1/3 of the steak, so more tomorrow for lunch probably. Water is done and ending the day happy! Can't beat that! Talk to you all in the morning! Cristin

Today was awesome, you guys. I hope everyone else had an awesome day, too. I did the workout, did a long walk at night, ate healthy all day, and found a NEW way to get that water in!!

NClipper - GOOD JOB!! Congrats!! I knew you'd beat that hump! =) *big hug* And awesome about your stamina levels! I'm amazed that I am biking about 10 miles a day, walking 1, and somehow still manage to walk the next day without toppling over. Good job on losing an inch! It's an inch closer to your goal and an inch further from being unhappy. =)

If you guys are sick of PLAIN water (I AM!!) and want something yummy -- LEMONADE!! Go buy a bottle of lemon juice (you need 1 cup for this) and some sugar (or for those of you against sugar, get splenda cuz it's way better than equal or anything else). In a regular juice jug (2 qts), put 1 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar/splenda, and fill it up with ice cold water. Stir it around, and you have SUPER fresh, wonderful, yummy lemonade. And you get all of that vitamin C!

Hope everyone had a great day, and keep up the awesome work you guys! If everyone in the world was as supportive as we all are to each other, there WOULD be world peace!

I made this for my daughter once and she loved it and has been asking for it every since. She's four! I use regular sugar for her, (one cup at a time) but I never have thought to make it for myself with sweetener! Thanks for the thought!

This morning I woke up late and don't have time to do a workout, but will do one tonight, for sure! It has started warming up here in West Mich. and the snow is melting! YEA! I am thinking that if it stays somewhat warm tomorrow, I will do a power walk in the "hood"! I'm kind of getting bored with the bike, even thoughit is a great workout!

I am also going to get some stretchy stuff for resistance exercise. The WATP tapes use them and when I buy them, I will get some stretchy stuff from work (the therapists use them with some of the residents). So thanks for the reminder, Jennifer!

Northern--I am sooooo glad you stuck with yourself and persevered (as Cristin says). It is so worth it to kick the negative feelings ASAP because otherwise it's just a downward spiral and none of us need that.

I'm having my coffee with the new International French Vanilla (low carb) creamer. It does have sugar in it, but also has Splenda which keeps the carbs low!) Gonna have some oatmeal with cranberries this morning and for lunch a chilli dog (we are selling them to use up the leftover chili from our fundraiser! Pathetic, isn't it?) with some veggies. Don't know the plan for supper tonight, but I will need to eat something healthy...any ideas? I had chicken last night! Maybe I will make some of that yummy fish I made a few weeks ago with dill and a salad!

Well, gotta run this morning. STill need to get my shower and DD ready and out the door in 45 minutes! Hope everyone has a great day! Hugs to you all!

Good Morning, everyone! Whew! Another week under our belts...it's been a good morning so far, but it's still early! LOL. I'll be swamped today trying to get some loans closed, but I will try to peek in later.

Velma- I know Cristin is also a west-coaster, but you're in my favorite city- hubby & I went there on our honeymoon. It was wonderful- I'd love to go back one of these days. Maybe when walking up to Alcatraz doesn't make me feel like I'm going to have a stroke

Mary- you are kicking butt, girlie, and I'm super-proud of you. Especially with your night shift, and weird work week.. You rock, girlfriend- Keep it up!

Lucy- That's a great recipe! Also, for an added kick, you can add fruit slices to the lemonade- oranges give it a great flavor. I use the Splenda, myself, and equal, in a pinch.

Cristin- great choice at dinner- that sounds good. As far as the awards, that "URL" that I posted takes you to the picture. You can use that link to set up your avatar (picture) in the User CP here, or you can right click on the picture, and then save it to your computer. Heck, you could print them out & stick them on the fridge, whatever it is that motivates you.

The house thing- we've been in a townhouse the last 10 years, and we've outgrown it- we're looking for a house with a garage, and a bit of a backyard, which is hard to find at a reasonable price in Sourth Florida. So, we keep looking...

Julie- you are doing such a great job with your questions, and soul-searching. 3 pounds is nothing to sneeze at, especially with all the other changes. with the links, here's how to do it.... just remove the extra spaces after the [ and before the ] to make a nice, neat, tidy, named link.

[ URL="http://whatever your link is ] This is what you click on [ /URL ]

what you will see is the middle part, which will be clickable & take you to whatever you linked to. The only reason I know this is because I've been tinkering with web design for a while now- that's actually what the 2 classes I am taking now are in. So look forward to some other neat things from me...like a web-based journal archive that I am doing for one of the assignments.

NClipper- I would be happy to take a look at your meal plans & point out anything I notice. I'm sure the other ladies here can help, too- see if there's something missing, or where things are out of balance. And don't get frustrated....this 6 weeks is a good place to start tweaking & fine tuning- this is a slow, steady process- and we'll all be here with you.

That being said, what are we going to do about April? LOL...anyone need a new Challenge after this?

Today: Did the WATP- 1 mile of it this morning, since I was dragging my butt & didn't get up until 6:30

Breakfast:
1 apple & cinnamon cottage double
1 oz fat free cheddar
1/3 cup smart start
12oz diet coke

I'm nearly through my first 24oz of water today.

Lunch:
3/4 cup chili
3/4 cup brown rice

Yeah, I know it's a repeat performance of yesterday, but it's Friday, and I didn't need to think this morning- I grabbed the standard breakfast, and a pre-measured, already frozen baggie of chili & rice. That's a lifesaver for me- when we make up these big batches, I immediately take the leftovers, measure them & freeze them, so all the thought is taken out of it. I did the same thing with a box of the Smart Start cereal- measured them for the snack size baggies & then put the baggies back in the box- I grab & go...no thought needed

Well, this took much longer to write, because I had at least 10 interruptions...how dare they want me to work when I need to be checking in on things! LOLOL.

Have a great morning- I'll try to get back here for lunch.

Oh, thank God that posted! It was hung up here, then I got a browser error, and then it shut down on me...I was going to cry if I had to re-type all that!!!!

Have a great day, everyone!

Happy Friday Chickies.

Hikein2005-Heres a dinner suggestion. Since we are having a heat wave here in Michigan how about getting the grill out and grill some sordfish! I am gonna stop by the market on the way home over here in east Michigan.

LameDuckway- Thanks for the lemon drink recipe, I will give it a go tonight.

Thanks again to all for the Crystal Light suggestion, the water is going down much easier these days.

Last night we went to the show, my weekness! Oh my, a dark theatre and a box of milk duds. I was bad, very bad, but I have pulled myself together and am right back on the track. We seen the First Fifty Dates, it was cute and it made me laugh. Something I think we all could use more of these days!
Todays Intake:
Am. Instant Oatmeal, Orange, and Fat free Milk
Lunch Low Carb bread, Smoked Turkey Lunchmeat, low fat mao and a bag of carrotts.
Dinner Sordfish, Baked potato and a salad. Yummmmmm.

I will admit I am a bit nervous about the weekend. That is my hardest time to keep it together. I think if I try to stay busy I will be ok. I need to work on my Income taxes, that should take up some time. I will try to sign in at home tomarrow.

Here is something for all of us to think about.

John Pierpont Morgan
The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.

Have a great Friday and I'll check back with ya all later!

Nothing really new to say, but I thought I'd check in. My Great Niece got to come home from the hospital after all. They were going to keep her in the hospital until today. She was out of the woods on her respiratory problem, although a bit jaundiced, but they let her come home. I hear she's a particularly beautiful newborn, but I think the person that told me that was just a little bit biased.
I've just about got my water goal in. I know I've posted this before. But I thought I'd share my water tip. I use a 24 ounce Aquafina bottle (or any brand) and I put three colorful pony tail bands around the bottle. Every time I empty a bottle, I put a pony tail band around my wrist and refill the bottle. Drink a bottle, wear a band. When I'm wearing three bands, I've managed to get in 72 ounces of water (which is my daily water goal). I hope that helps someone. It certainly makes it easier for me to keep track.
I need to do my 8 minute Taebo tape. I'm hoping I can make it through. If I can't, I'll do what I can and try something else. Wish me luck. Am I smilie happy or what? Bye Chickies.

Oooh I wanted to add that I gave the 8 minute Taebo tape a shot. I was holding my own until he got to the jumping jacks. Well, needless to say, women my size don't do jumping jacks (for at least two reasons). But I continued to move, sweat and curse under my breath. But I made it through (sans the jumping jacks). Now I get to clean the bathroom??? Where's the justice in that? Bye again, Chickies. Giving Jennifer the evil eye. She'll know why.

Ok ladies...here it is....DANCING! I know you think I am crazy, but let me explain. I was in the best shape of my life about 8-9 years ago, when I was divorced. Not only was I so busy, working 3 jobs to keep food on the table for my 2 boys, my social life was dancing! In Utah, there are only so many places you can meet men who are worth meeting, and dances seemed to be fairly safe....so I went 2-3 nights a week!

It was great cardio, but I was also toning muscles: stomach, legs, glutes..and the occasional arm and back with the arm motion.

So, my DD comes to me this morning and says she wants to do an exercise tape with me and I am sick of them! So I was trying to be creative because I knew that I needed exercise today anyway...I remembered this great CD my husband put together a couple of years ago for an event we were attending. All upbeat dance music! I put that baby on and Cora and I danced our way through about 20 minutes and it was so fun, I totally forgot I was exercising! Now, she is only 4, but full of all the energy of a little person her age and I figure, if I can keep up with her...I am doing pretty good.

Another thought, I have attended so many aerobic classes in the last 3 years, if I had a little training and could make it through a 45 minute class without dying, I could teach the darn thing....Why not use this music and do my own aerobics class while I am dancing with my little people!?! I had a great 30 minute cardio and it was so fun!

Here is the other thing....If I keep upbeat music during the day, I find that I move faster and dance a little here and there. It can only help!!!

2 years ago when I was on my first kick to lose weight, this was the only exercise I did for 4 months. I was in charge of the 6th grade year end program at my son's school and I taught 30 different groups of kids, about 3 songs each from the last 10 decades. It was a blast, but it was a ton of work. I literally spent about 20 hours a week at the school for 3+ months. It didn't even dawn on me until this morning that that was my exercise and probably the reason I lost 25 lbs. in my 4 months.

So, there is my little piece of inspiration for you this morning! I hope you have as much fun wih it as I did this morning and plan on doing at least 2x per week until I lose the rest of this weight!

Food Plan today: B-cereal with soy milk, S- nuts and cheese, L- 1/2 tuna on rye with carrots and 2 apple wedges, S- yogurt/cottage, D-salmon of some sort before this fillet goes bad! We are having friends over for gamenight so I will just be smart in my snacking tonight. I PROMISE! E- done! and W- 40 oz. down...

Have a great one gals and I will chat later! C-

So, I posted my own first and now I am reading everyone's posts...here are my hurrah's!

Julie-melting snow would make me have to get out! Have fun with that this weekend. I know you are an outdoorsey person anyway. My DH is out showshoeing and geocaching as we "speak"! Great job on all of your hard work this week!

Jenn-Good luck on the house hunt. We are doing the same thing here and running into the same prob we always do, can't afford a house big enough for our family. I am sure that pricing here doesn't compare to there, but it is ridiculous I think! We definitely need a new challenge after April. It will be the countdown to swimsuit weather...maybe we should call it the swimsuit challenge? April 1 to Memorial day is just about the same length of time from V-day to April 1. And, maybe to help everyone feel like they are invited, swimsuit or not, we should call it the Memorial Day challenge. You are so much better at this computer thing than I am and are able to be more consistent as well. I will be your full-time supporter and help out with inspirational stuff if you want, but you just take this ball and run with it my friend! You are the quarterback of our team!

Mama- Great quote! Thanks for the kickstart today.

Hot-Great idea with the hairbands. I have lost track a couple times and that would definitely help with that! I will try it and thank you in advance!

Bye all, time for something to eat and definitely a shower...I stink after my workout this morning! My 14 year old has been giving me the " you are so weird" look all morning. Cristin

Well, yesterday was awesome. I exceeded my water goals (yay!) and did a great job with my workout. But, no working out for me today.

Early this morning, around 1:30, my back flipped out and one of my ribs decided to slip out of place. (This happens often, don't worry). So... given that, I am pretty sore today and want to rest it.

Normally, even if my back was sore, I'd still do the bike, but I need to find a pillow for that seat!! I've bruised my butt!!! hahaha! *G*

Otherwise, I'm still going to have a healthy day today and keep that water intake up, up, up! Maybe I'll go on an extra-long walk tonight with the husband so I don't feel too guilty about not doing my workout today.

Breakfast: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, granola bar, dry roasted peanuts.
Lunch: Not sure yet...
Dinner: Tacos! (an innocent pleasure... so good, but so healthy!)

Hope everyone has an awesome Friday and a great weekend!! =)

Happy Friday to everyone! Everyone is doing so well, it is so encouraging.
In response to everyone's posts:

Jenn-Good luck on the house hunting, I'm sure it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. If you ever are in San Fran again, let's go to lunch (on me). After all, I have to thank you somehow for being the impetus behind my successful future weight loss.

MamaMia-I have a hard time too on weekends so I'm with you on this one! Wouldn't it be great to check back Monday and be able to say we were good? I think a good way to approach the weekend is to really reflect and remember how hard you worked thru the week!
p.s. Wanna trade local weathers?

HotCup-Wow, good job on the Taebo, I commend you. I, too have a hard time with jumping jacks and usually kind of jog around the house when those come up - at least you're still moving right?

JillC-Dancing is a great suggestion. I have a 3-year old and I think she'd get a kick out of that. I think we will do that after I log off here. I have a hard time with doing floor exercises at home because she always trys to climb on my back and then my dog is also trying to lick my face since I'm eye level with him so I think dancing may be the solution.

HikeIn-An alternative low-carb creamer? I'm there. Thanks for the tip!

Northern-Good job on getting back on track. We've definitely all been there. (If not, we all wouldn't be here at this website today!)

Lucy-I think I'll try your recipe with Splenda. Even though Crystal Light is good, I worry about the phenalalanine in it. Especially since my daughter always wants some. Plus, we have a lemon tree outside! p.s. Your motivation is SO contagious.

Luna-Kudos on the water intake. Don't float away, we need you here!
Have a successful weekend.

Babs-Hope you had a relaxing day off. Good going on the Kung Fu-soon you'll be able to snatch many a pebble The yoga class was great, I'm feeling it today. Need to work on my "tree" pose though. I almost toppled over twice.

HappyTX-I'm sure you're doing well out there! We're here for ya'.

Have a wonderful, strong weekend! I may not be back til Monday since we're going to Tahoe. I'm dusting off this snowboard I bought before I had a baby! We'll see if I actually use it though. Cheers to all.

Afternoon, chickies!

2 random thoughts first- On the journal side, I found out if you save those awards to your computer, you can actually post them in your journal entry by using the red arrow, and then you can show them off, or keep them for posterity...LOL

Secondly- I forgot to mention about Crystal light earlier- the Raspberry Ice is my favorite, and now they have a raspberry lemonade one. This makes incredible Faux Italian ice- Freeze it in a rammekin, or small coffee cup, and scrape it with a spoon...it's cool & sweet & refreshing (since we're approaching spring) and has 5 calories- no carbs! Woo Hoo! I'm just a gourmet this week!

Mama Mia- (every time I write your name I want to sing the italian song with "oh, ma, ma...." Mary, help me out with that one!) Weekends have always been the worst time, but now, if you in advance, you can write down your food plan for the 2 days & put it on the fridge. I used to snack mindlessly watching TV, reading, etc, but found that if I know what's happening in advance, I'm less likely to just rummage thru the fridge looking for anything to eat whether I was really hungry, or not.

Julie- Hey, no fair! You have access to stretchy stuff & haven't sent me any???? I need to work out a bribe with you! LOL

Mary- Don't you worry, I'll be cursing you later during the 2 mile WATP tape. Fair is fair. And the jumping jacks- you don't want black eyes??? How about a little duct tape to hold things in place when you do them?

Cristin- Heck Yeah! I don't mind setting things up for the challenges...it's helping me stay focused,since I feel so accountable to everyone here. I appreciate the backup, and would love if you continued with the inspiration & hints.

In fact, everyone, if you have tips, helpful hints, email newsletters that you get, anything that you think would help, please feel free to jump in with this. I may be the quarterback, but I need my entire team here otherwise I'm just a chick with a ball. Maybe I'm just the offensive coordinator, helping call the plays. Man, these smileys are addictive! LOL

Lucy- if you need some extra cushioning, I'd be happy to lend you some. Nah, consider it a gift...you don't need to return it. I'd happily send you some extra tush to make sure you were comfy- it's the selfless thing to do,right?

Velma- You got it, girl! Next time I am out there, you can betcha I will let you know & we can get together. We'll be so darned fit and good looking, everyone will be stopping to stare!

Have a great night....I'll peek in over the weekend between class lessons.