done moving and I have internet again, woohoo! well, not completely done moving. there's still an entire kitchen full of stuff that we have to go through but it's nbd. and yes, heat wave is over. now we live on the bottom floor and the house is mostly shaded so yaaaay. I have a ton of work to do school wise so I'll still be a little absent, just wanted to pop in and say hello! oh, and April, where in VT do you live? I used to live around Albany NY and go to VT a lot because it was so close. and Betsey, we actually plan on moving to Washington someday my hubby was born there in Oak Harbor! his dad is ex-Marine.

Hi everyone!

I hope that you all are doing great! I haven't checked lately. I survived all the birthdays in a row and managed to lose a few lbs while doing it! I'm really proud of myself for that. But, now it's time for vacation. We leave for the beach on Friday. I'm super excited about the vacation, but I'm afraid of gaining because we will be doing a lot of eating out.

Good morning all.

Wheezypi -- Glad that you're move is over and you're happy with the new place. Moving out here to WA was one of the best decisions I ever made -- near family and love the area. I'm way south of Oak Harbor, but it's a gorgeous place -- we go camping up at Deception Pass at least a couple of times a year.

Workinghardatlosing -- congratulations on getting through the wedding string -- and managing to lose some weight as well. Hope that gives you the confidence to know you'll get through vacation as well. You obviously know how to make good choices.

I'm over scheduled today -- which is ridiculous since I'm retired -- but there's a lot to get done. Of course, that's because it's yoga day plus going to the gym and taking my walk. I've also got my annual financial review with the financial planner this afternoon which is more of a formality, but she usually has some interesting piece of advice to offer. And my BIL is having trouble with his TV, so I'm going to take my small one down there to him. And at some point, I need to finish up the *#!))# weeding!

*waves at everyone*

OK, I'm on a weird food kick. It's tuna. I have had some form of tuna for lunch 3 days in a row. Whassup with that?

Hi! Newbie here. I discovered this site last night and I can't believe how encompassing it is! It's really great. I've done some posting and already told a friend about it as well.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.

Lass22

Lass- Hi and welcome!

Betsy- Thanks so much for the support. I was just sitting here dreaming of all the "bad choices" I can make. Especially our first night because we will be in Panama City, which has just about one of everything. But, after that we will be outside of the city and choices for restaurants will be limited. So, after dreaming of our bad choices I decided to log on, and seeing your support helped me remind myself that I need to make the better choices! So, thanks for that!

Lass -- Welcome. It is a great site -- has definitely helped me to keep going on this trek.

Garnet -- Don't know what's with the tuna because I can't stand it. But I think I've had the same lunch or some variation for months now -- a sandwich of some kind on low cal/low carb bread and a salad. Lots of salads. So many salads.

WorkingHard -- glad that helped. I use the Walden Farms salad dressings -- have come to love just about any of them that have the balsamic vinegar in them -- and just take a bottle with me to the restaurant. There's always a salad of some sort, and I just ask for it plain. Some restaurants don't like you to bring in "outside food", so I get out my bottle, dress the salad, and then put it away. Anyway, there are usually some good choices on a menu and it sounds as though you're up for making them. Sounds like you're headed down to seafood country -- broiled instead of fried will make for a great meal and feel like a treat.

Off to the gym today, do yoga first here at home, then to the grocery store, then my walk, then who knows. The family is coming for the weekend, so I need to do some serious cleaning and food prep.

Where is everyone? I haven't posted in a few days because I was the last one to post. Hope this thread doesn't close because I need all the help I can get!

Definitely struggling with staying on plan now -- but I'll get to it as I have a whole lot more to lose!

Hope we get some more action on here!

I'm here!!! I'm doing alright although i just seem to be stuck at 298-299. And today, I've already eaten a cinnamon raisen bagel, a tablespoon of cream cheese, a bratwurst, 1/2 cup of egg potatoe salad and a bunch of carrots/veggies with maybe a 1/2 tablespoon of ranch. I have no idea why my eating is suddenly so extreme today. It's like a battle between my taste buds of "good vs. evil". lol

my husband told me he read a study where people who eat eggs in their breakfast are more likely to lose more weight and keep it off than people who eat bagels. so maybe that's the first place you should try

I've been beyond busy, between finishing up with this moving, Sean starting his supervisor thing, and finishing off my second summer class. I've been eating relatively on plan but I haven't done any sort of traditional exercise in WEEKS. I'm most likely plateauing at the moment, but I'm sure soon we'll be hitting up the gym. Sean should be home more often because he can do a lot of stuff from home from now on, and he won't be so sore after work since he won't be busting his *** so much.

my insomnia has been in full gear lately and I'm having the worst trouble falling asleep and won't be in deep sleep until about 2-3AM. it's killing me since I still need to wake up at 8 to go to school. I think it's the lack of exercise and just too much on the brain.

what's everyone's favorite exercise to do at home? how do you battle being tired and juggling life + exercising?

Glad to see that others are still out there -- miss you all when life gets in the way of posting.

Dreamgyrl -- I'm with you on the binging. I don't know what's going on with me, but it's not good! Hope you're having better luck than I am with getting it under control.

Wheezypi -- Your schedule just wears me out. And insomnia on top of it. I'd be dragging!

I've just done myself in again. I got down to 329 -- was so excited and then I had my nephew birthday party here. So, in the span of 4 days, I've gained 11 pounds. I'm sure a good deal of it is water, but it seems that every time I get down into a new decade, I just go nuts and end up losing the weight 2 or 3 times before I truly leave that decade. What a waste! So, I'm going on very low calorie for several days to get things back in gear. So mad at myself as I know what I'm doing when it happens!

*raises hand and blushes* I'm here. I've been reading and not posting much. Sorry, I'll try to do better.

I'm on week two of eating at maintenance because of being cold and hungry all the time. I am doing much better now. Also, I got my blood work done because of the being cold thing. Some good news! My thyroid is normal, as is my blood sugar, and for the first time in my adult life, my triglycerides. Woot! My cholesterol levels are still a little wonky but they are much better than they used to be.

Betsy, I've had that same problem getting into new decades. Just hang in there and keep at it. This too shall pass. Be careful about under eating in response, though. That has a whole different set of problems as, unfortunately, I am finding out.

Sorry I haven't been around much. I did a 5K last Saturday and had a bad day of eating. Sunday and the rest of the week until now have just been busy. I had to work this week. Sometimes I dont like summer for that reason, I get out of the groove of going to bed on time and getting up on time and leaving the house. Anyway, after my high calorie 5K day I am back down lower than ever. I lost another couple of pounds.

I hope everyone has a wonderful POP day!

Oops! Didn't mean to make anyone feel guilty about not posting -- just missed you all.

Garnet -- The lab results are great!!! It sounds as though you're feeling better as well. You said you were doing maintenance for a couple of weeks, but don't know if having more calories (I'm assuming you're getting more calories during maintenance) is making the difference with the being cold all the time problem. Hope the doctor can figure out what's going on.

Pam -- Wow! Ate too much, ran a 5K and managed to get a couple more pounds off. That's tremendous. Just running the 5K is tremendous as running is one of those things that is never going to happen for me. Too many years of being this big have pretty much shot the knees and hips.

It does help to hear about good things happening as it helps me know that they can! I'm going to get me back on track. I'm a horrible dieter because I'm not sure I ever really give up my bad eating habits. But, normally I just give up and for some reason, this time I keep getting back in the saddle. You'd think that after I got thrown for the 10th time (that would be figuratively thrown), I'd have learned to stop sabotaging myself. So, try it again today. I did better yesterday, but still screwed up at dinner time.

Have a good day all.

Betsy - I wish I could run... actually the other day I ran to catch up with my dad but that was maybe 50 yards... however, I wasnt nealy as out of breath as I figured I would be... LOL... I just walk and my goal each time is to do better than the last... I don't care if I am the last person to cross the line... I am doing it for me!!!

I have found that since I started signing up for 5Ks (one a month is my goal) I tend to want to exercise/walk every day so that I know I can finish the 5K... My next one is August 10 and then not another until September 7... hopefully by then it will be much cooler...