Fi Ahh!! The ever haunting post loss! Geez I hate that! Glad you at least posted a hello. I think 8'pounds isn't much considering what you've been going through.

Karen Thanks for the insight! I think it may be time to take a look around.

Calda The only thing Inhave experienced with losing weight is my cycle is constantly regular. Having PCOS it was normal for me to go 6 months without a menstrual cycle. I'm able to keep track of mine each month no problem. I do remember mine took a little time to get there though so I'm guessing your body is adjusting its hormones out and you should be more regular soon.

Quick post before bed. It's my TOM and I'm dying wanting sugar!! I'm trying really hard to beat the cravings since I know this weekend will consist of some off plan eating. I forced myself to finish a workout even though I was getting a bit light headed. I'm ok I just don't think maybe I should do the really hardcore workouts during TOM so tomorrow will be less harsh. Had some BBQ chicken with sliced cukes and a piece of corn on the cob for dinner tonight. Got some of our plants repotted and have 2 more left to do before we leave Friday. We're testing oit a couple of our watering stakes to see how they do so we know what to expect while we're gone.

So ready for my weekend to start and it's only Monday! I'm just excited to get away for once for Memorial Day instead of having to stay stuck in my house like every year because of all the people thst come the weekend after Harley Week to enjoy Bike Fest. It's too much traffic and riff raff for me to handle. We usually get everything we need Thursday night and stay in Friday to Monday. This will be a nice change!

Off to bed! Be well lovelies!

Quiet day here today. Where is everyone? Hope all is well with you chickies! I'm relaxing after a long day. I'm getting so excited to be leaving town Friday that today it seemed like I couldn't stop staring at the clock.
Had left over BBQ for dinner tonight. Had my workout and my shower and I'm snuggled in bed with one of the cats although it's only 7:30! I'm going to just lay here until I fall asleep.

Take care babes!

hi all

Sam - have you considered that TOM sugar craving could be a lack of vitamin b and/or magnesium due to it being that time -

Calda my cycle is very irregular - I have been on WW since the last week of feb - I have found that my cycle has changed a bit to reflect this

All I gotta say is: eating less, less even than I was already eating, is damn HARD. =sigh=

Karen When my blood was checked last week I was told I'm not deficient in any vitamins. Doubt that is it. But thanks for looking out.

Fi It's so hard!!! But you're doing it my lovely.

This will probably be the last time I post until Tuesday. I'm at work having a slow day and ready to go LOL. When I get off work I have a ton of errands to run to prepare for leaving town in the morning. I'm thinking I might not have much internet access and will be too busy having a good time . I'll be taking lots of pictures and will be back Tuesday to let you know how my weekend was. I hope everyone else has a great weekend! Be safe!

Hello chickens,
Bet you thought that I had gone MIA again!
Well this week has been ridiculously manic...the problem when you don't work is that everyone assumes you have hours of time to spare and expects you to be available. I learnt a hard lesson early on in the week about being taken for a idiot. I ended up dog sitting for a hooligan labrador and driving a "friend" around who not only didn't say thanks, but expects me to be a taxi whenever she needs. I don't mind helping but this friendship is totally one way! Grr.
On the weight loss/healthy eating front I have swum 3 times this week and built up to 34 today. My chest is quite quiet at the moment. I am afraid to say it....don't want to count my chickens!......but things seem to be better on that front....despite the cold hanging on a while.
Fi....everything OK? How is it going with Mike this week?
Everybody else....haven't had a proper menstrual cycle for donkey's years but I can equate with the monthly cravings!!
My Sam is with his Dad for the weekend and I am off to a Christian ladies' meeting with lunch...potential minefield...will report back!!!
Have a great Friday!!!
Donna

I am going to be MIA for the next 10 days so thought I would pop in Say HI

Sam - its good news your not short on vitamins... but not good because then working out cravings gets harder still... With swimsuits for all - have a look at the clearance section - that way you don't spend a fortune of shopping for items and if what your after isn't on sale wait.. they have lots of different sales often

Fiona - You can do this Your are Doing this - I have found I need to Make sure I/m getting enough food though or body goes into starvation mode and shuts down the metabolism (its how I ended up at 330 pounds) ... I take it you track what you eat ? First joining WW was a shock as I had quite high points on the program and found I struggled to reach them and ended up eating a lot more - especially fruit n veg

Does any one use My Fitness Pal - and do they have a calorie calculator - livestrong.com has a calculator if not - am considering using MFP or Livestrong when no longer doing WW (that wont be for a while as its working and seems to be pretty easy to stick too)



Donna Great work on getting in 3 swims - friends, sometimes you wonder if you really need those one sided friends like that, especially if they don't appreciate you! I Bet You are working just not getting paid for it

So off for a holiday for the first time in 15 years going away for more then just a weekend - and we are running away without our two girls they are staying with the husbands parents
I refuse to fall off my WW program will keep using the tools I have learnt - I can just see me keeping a food journal of what we eat etc if I cant get onto my tracker to update it (is this madness or do other people do that too) there is a no count part of the program if you want to use it .. not sure I can do that could try it I suppose ..


on a positive - this week I weighed in and have lost another 2 pounds this week - managed to get 10,000 steps in yesterday (Friday) day before (Thursday) got 12,000 steps - not sure how I got that many on Thursday

I am going to miss you all and not catching up whilst away

Hey all. Not doing well on the diet front. I already stopped Nutrisystem. Not a fan of most of my meals being a protein bar.

I'm stressed out because I'm doing well at some stuff. To most people fear of success doesn't make sense. I'm just used to people thinking of me as a stupid failure. Showing people that I'm actually competent at something makes them expect more out of me. At least that's what is happening in my head.

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend: for some reason, the thought of people all over the coasts of the U.S. walking on the beach and swimming in the surf is really preying on my mind.

It's stupid, 'cause I never go near a beach on a holiday like this. My favorite time of year for going to my currently favored beach, Assateague Nat'l Seashore, is September, even October, when (1) there aren't so many people there, and (2) conditions are ideal: the air temp is perfect, and the ocean is cool, but not too cool, because it's had the whole summer to heat up.

I'm just feeling sorry for myself because I can't walk on the beach. I can hardly walk at all! As for swimming in the surf, you have to have strong legs to do that. You have to be able to stride out through the breaking waves without getting knocked down. In my current state? Ha! No way can I do that.

Good news: I had a terrific day with my great-niece Grace yesterday. She had an orthodontist app't on Friday, our usual (now only every other week =sigh=) time slot. Because of having Monday off from school, she wouldn't have to do her homework on Saturday. Daytime works much better for me than afternoon-into-night anyway, because emotionally, I'm at my best in the morning. Our project for the day was learning all about fountain pens and how to use them: how to fill 'em from an ink bottle, what kind of paper to use, and so on. I gave her a brand-new pen, my own favorite (Lamy Safari), and pads of paper of the top two brands for fountain pens (Clairefontaine & Rhodia). We practiced making friezes (freeform decorative bands) for a while, and were planning to get around to calligraphy-type stuff (fonts, letter forms, making snazzy mailing labels, etc.) but got distracted into just talking—which we love to do. Grace may be 16 while I'm 61, but we're the best of friends. We talked about her future—what she's good at, what she likes to do—and she showed me her PSAT scores, which were online. Hot damn! At her current pace of acquiring knowledge and vocabulary and stuff, she's going to ace the SAT. Which will bring problems in its wake, because her family's right at that middle class level of income where she won't get much financial aid for college, and her parents won't be able to afford a top-ranked school. Oh well, she'll cross that bridge when she gets there.

Tootsie— I hear you about your diet woes, girl. I'm still reeling from the blow of that 8-pound gain, and discouraged by the thought that my high fat, moderate protein, very low carb diet, even when I stick to the straight & narrow, isn't working for me anymore. (I know all the stuff about how to change it up, so please don't give advice, folks.) As for your "fear of success" issue, I know exactly what you're talking about. You didn't ask for specific help with that issue, but I'm noticing you have global issues with self-esteem. Have you considered psychotherapy?

Hi everyone,
Fi your niece sounds wonderful. My aunt was always a close friend to me when I was growing up , despite the 20 year age difference and she is the only one I can really talk to about my Mum as my brother has filed it in a box marked "do not open" as he has done with most emotional issues throughout his whole life. I am so sorry that your walking is so difficult. How frustrating it is when our bodies don't let us be the people we want to be. Sending you wonderful Welsh cwtches.
Tootsie.....I understand ( at least I think I do) your reluctance to succeed ...it is scary. Best we just mooch about on the sidelines being invisible and not reaching our potential. Please believe me when I say that I have spent the majority of my life being torn between wanting to achieve all that I can and then wanting to scuttle back into my (very large) shell. All I can say is that in the last 18 months since working on getting out of that shell and learning how to enjoy life, despite my weight and my physical limitations, although it is hard work, I AM making progress. Cwtches to you too.
Karencat.....where are you holidaying? Have a wonderful time..especially as you and hubby get to be grownups!
Well, my eating has been pretty much on plan this week. It is half term over here so Sam and I have a week off together. He is with his Dad for some of that but we have a few nice days out planned. The weather is beautiful here, warm (for Wales!) and sunny. We are off to a friend's today who has put a pool up in the garden. Tomorrow we are going to Kidwelly Castle ( Wales has many many many amazing castles and a whole lot of history!) and then Wednesday we are off to see my beautiful daughter who is on her first proper clinical placement in her medical training. She has been sent to a place called Weston Super Mare which is by the seaside so if the weather is like this it will be wonderful.
My Welsh exam is in just over a week so I had better get back to it!
Much love,
Donna

I'm a little sad that the ticker site from which I got my ticker with the sailboat going toward the lighthouse seems to be defunct: I can no longer edit that ticker. Ticker Factory has a sailboat and some water choices, but their sailboat is pointed backwards, as if it were heading toward the left. I wrote them about it, multiple times, and never got a reply. They say you're not supposed to sweat the small stuff, but in my experience a whole lot of small stuff can add up to a major pile of big stuff pressing you down. =shrug=

Anyway, LilySlim gave me a nice tropical scene and a gal with long blonde hair who's meditating. That's me. I'm getting blonder all the time, in fact, as silver threads begin to mingle in. I'm a natural blonde: 'never used bleach once, my whole life. Maybe after I'm all silver I'll work up the nerve to go purple, like Sam. Or how 'bout turquoise? That would be fun! =grin=

For those of you who follow my collages: my latest is "eight nipples". (As usual, click on image for a larger version.) Thanks for your support! It means a lot to me. =smile=

Gosh, where IS everybody?

I've been feeling lately that I impose on you guys too much by talking all the time about my rehab, Chi Gung and Chinese medicine, the pain in my legs, my struggles to get the pain relieving med I need from my insurance company, and so on. None of these things have anything to do with weight loss. So last night I went looking for a chronic pain forum on the Web. Boy—not much out there. The few forums I found seemed divided up very narrowly by diagnostic category: fibromyalgia, spinal problems, ankylosing spondylitis, etc. You'd think that pain is pain is pain, but apparently that's not how the forums work. I didn't find one single place that is as warm, well-attended, and supportive as 3FC. None of the people on the pain forums seem to even know each other! They sound so sad, like voices in the wilderness.

So, for better or for worse, here I am. It's not like I don't still have a lot of weight to lose. =sigh=

The good news is that—crossing my fingers and toes—my pain med should arrive tomorrow, or Thursday at the latest.

I hope y'all are all doing well. Check in, why don't ya? =smile=

Hi everyone. Just thought I would give a quick update as I have been MIA for the last couple of weeks. The last 2 weeks have been nothing short of heinous for me and the people I am close to. Last week my colleagues and I lost someone we held very dear, completely unexpected and way too young. Everyone is still reeling, and we still have to get through the funeral, which all seems so surreal. I have not been to the gym in well over a week. I have pulled a big muscle in my back which has taken over a week to heal, and last weekend, I came down with an awful flu/vomiting bug/gross sickness that has seen me miss work and just feel dreadful. I have fallen pretty far off the diet wagon too.

I feel like such a disgrace. I feel like I have lost control of my emotions and myself, and I am petrified I have undone all the hard work I put into losing 17kg in the first place. I start at the gym again tomorrow and I am scared they are going to ask where I have been or ask about the funeral or something. I feel really worn down and out of control, and just generally miserable.

My sister came home on the weekend and we really don't get along. All week she has posted photos on social media of her and my two brothers, and has treated me like I don't exist, which has done wonders for my self esteem. Another family in town treated one of their daughters the same way, we had known them for years and had no idea they had 2 daughters, because she had never been included in anything they did. I felt awful for her at the time, and now being in her position, it hurts so bad.. It is made worse by the fact that my parents think I should just accept it and get over it. It kills me to admit it, but it actually really hurts.

Overall, I just feel lonely, sad and depressed as. I am not sleeping, I feel really disengaged from people and I am not in a happy place. Sorry I haven't been around much lately, I am trying hard to get back on track. I hope you have all had a good couple of weeks. Sorry again!

Calda: That shows more about what kind of person your sis is: not you. My family has pretty much disowned me, so I don't hear from them. It's lonely, but I ask myself, do I really care about what people think, that allow someone to get away with a crime that bad and support him over the innocent girls? Not really. There's right and there's wrong. What he did was wrong, plain and simple. Those girls have to live with his actions the rest of their lives. What's really bad, is that my family makes the girls feel like it was their fault. What in the heck is wrong with people? I don't regret turning him in. I resent the fact that he got essentially a slap on the wrist after confessing. He gets out sometime next year because of "time-served" while he was on trial for 5 years-part of that was under house arrest that they didn't enforce. He wasn't supposed to have Internet access, but he was on Facebook all the time.

Fi: Don't feel bad for sharing what's bugging you. Weight loss is more than just numbers on a scale. It's healing our mental anguish and learning new coping mechanisms as well. I don't imagine that I'd be able to handle that pain on my own, so I don't expect you to. Hoping that everything gets sorted for you soon.