Happy Birthday Linda!!

Oh, I see... up a flight of stairs... well...

Jada, I forbid you to fret every time the scale goes up a pound. Have I told you folks my analogy about a boat in the harbor? Probably you've seen it. Anyway, those are just little waves, Jada! Keep on keeping on.

Lynn, thanks for the accountability thread reminder!

CountingDown, boxing on the Wii!!!? That sounds great!

meowee--has it stopped storming yet? Good grief, you are definitely overdue for a break up there!

The only sewing I liked doing was working with an industrial-type leather sewing machine. This was many years ago in San Francisco. I worked in an exclusive handbag repair shop, and sometimes we had to do things like put a zipper into a handbag or re-sew a seam. Oh, but I also like embroidery! Crochet, knitting, not so much....

My trainer had been asking me to keep a log of my foods and bring it to him. Heh. So I printed out a week of my FitDay complete with the summary overview. He was amazed! Astonished! Said it was really great! I can only imagine what kind of food logs he sometimes gets... He is also thrilled because I appear to have dropped a couple pounds on the gym scale... I'm not calling it until Saturday, though.

I visited Banff many many years ago, and I loved it, too! Stayed in a rental suite in a private home--it had the biggest clawfoot bathtub I had ever seen! Coulda done laps, I swear! Loved that. We visited Lake Louise, and drove up into Jasper Park. I drank glacier water from the Athabasca Glacier. Not recommended, but I was inspired.

Time for me to get back to tax returns...

Jay

Jude - the quilt idea sounds great! I made each of the boys quilts before they were born. DS2's quilt was backed in a velor fabric. He STILL snuggles with it every once in a while. It is almost threadbare. So, I think it sounds like a lovely idea! Though, personally - I would love the leopard print. I'm an animal print person. I covered the wall of my bedroom in giraffe print

Jay - I like embroidery and crewel and beading and cross stitch. Though, I haven't done any this winter. Gotta be in the mood I guess

Linda!

A good day here - good balance Work, came home and worked out with the Wii, then put together a PowerPoint presentation for church, and then a lovely Ash Wednesday service. Alll that followed by some quality time with all of you, and then some Wii sports and a glass of wine

Hope you had a great day as well!

Laurie I do not know how you cram so much into one day. Unless you work a short day. Sometimes makes me tired thinking of it.

I work from 1-9pm so it really splits up the day. I have to get up and get going in the morning if I want to get things done.
I had some serious dental work yesterday and this morning slept till 11am!!

Well that is very unusual but the dentist as nice as he is, is just a huge energy drain. I had to fly around to get ready for work on time. In the morning I have to make lunch and dinner to take with me. I am eating really healthy on this plan but healthy eating sure requires lots of prep and cooking time. I am trying to plan in batches.
Today was taco salad for lunch ( no taco ) and dinner was a salmon rice bowl. All very healthy.

I am going to home to watch Biggest Loser. I figure if you watch enough episodes it should be good for some weight loss!!

I know Jay it is that flight of stairs that is the last straw. If I walked to the gym and back I would not have to do my cardio!!

They have yoga on their program and I went to one a week ago. It is 2 times a week and so going to add that to my program with cardio the other days. I could hardly move after the yoga. Plus I am thinking of getting to the aquasize on Sunday morning. There are 2 back to back so may as well do them both. One is deep water and the other in the shallow end. Just something different.
Think I will go on Sunday. Going to try and get my taxes done Sunday as well. Hopefully DS will not need any of my decorating expertise.

Ah Banff and Jasper. I went to Banff first when I was 12 years old and came from the prairies. I think I took a picture of every mountain I saw. I can remember being downtown Jasper and there was a moose walking calmly down the street on his way through town.

BC is one of the most beautiful places. I love living here. Our warm weather is short though. I may get a trailer when I retire and travel south in winter.
I will come to Las Vegas in the winter to visit you Jada. We can meet for coffee and go line dancing!! It will be a few years yet though.

We could make it a ladies retreat in Palm Springs!! Best outlet shopping in the USA I have been told.

Well have to get back to work....see ya tomorrow......

Yesterday was a day of constantly being force-fed by friends. Trust me, you do not want to hear about what I ate. Believe me it was definitely in the categopry of food-porn.

One more birthday lunch today which I'm almost sure will NOT be any better and then it's over for another year and I can get back on track.

The first thing I did this morning was throw out a cheesecake I made yesterday. Waste of food and money. I thought I would be able to eat just a little each day as a treat, but it wasn't working out that way. I'll have to keep buying individual size treats at a time or not buy at all. I'm obviously not maintaining, but I read on the board that even when you lose your weight you still have to be careful, so I'm learning early that though I feel in control, I could lose it in one day if I'm not careful.
I also heard on talk radio last night that the best way to lose weight is counting calories, so I'll get back to that. They also said that when you do lose weight, do not celebrate with an icecream cone. That's my downfall. When I lose weight, I celebrate by putting it all back on again. How self destructive.
I would love to go to Palm Springs shopping. Las Vegas has tours to California. Friends have invited me in the past, but I never went. Too busy being a single/widow mom. Now I have the time. Las Vegas has a lot of their own factory outlets now, so I haven't had to go to California, but traveling to Palm Springs with the girls sounds great.

Hi Everyone,

Sun is out again. YEAH!! just lifts your spirits, doesn't it, after the grey winter days we've had.

Linda, Hope it was a fun one!!

Jada I don't know if it's the best for everyone, but I count calories. I make a real effort to eat healthy too. Not sure I could have thrownout that cheese cake. It freezes well, ya know. Cut into individual servings and frozen would have been ok.

Jay, if the trainer was impressed with your eating it must be REALLY good. You could give us all tips!

Jude, the quilt sounds like a great idea. if the material you have isn't quite enough you can always buy some more to finish it off.

Laurie, I hope the sewing skill come back. If not i will take the clothes in with me when I go back south and have my sister show me some tips and tricks. I'm looking forward to getting started. The American Girls are a bigger doll and not such small pieces. And I intend to use snaps instead of buttons. If something needs a button look I'll sew a button on top of the snap. Lazy sewer! i could never imagine doing Barbie doll clothes, way too small.

Everyone, make it a good day
Freda

It was actually a cheesecake pie with condensed milk, so I didn't think the condensed milk would freeze well. It was a new recipe for me and I didn't like it anyway. In the old days I would have eaten it anyway, even if I didn't like it. Talk about freezing, it reminds me that now that it's warming up I need to start putting grapes in the freezer.

Jude - I actually work a 9.5-10 hour day most days. I am salaried, so I stay until the work is done. I work through lunch and eat at my desk - except in the spring and summer. I try to take my lunch time to walk the 2 mile path along the lake.
When we gave up watching television in the evening is when I realized how much time I spent mindlessly watching it. I also spent a lot of time online, and while the Internet has lots of great places to go, it is pretty passive entertainment. I've really tried to find activites that are more physically engaging for my evening leisure time. I'm thinking that it will be one key piece of maintenance. Particularly since I have scaled back my workouts to only one a day since hitting my goal.

And, I must admit - I'm enjoying sleeping in the extra half hour to 6 a.m.

Linda - glad you had a nice birthday - I have friends like that too!

Jada - I can vouch for counting calories. I can't imagine using any other plan. And yes - you still have to watch it in maintenance. Most maintainers will tell you that maintenance doesn't look much different than losing - just a few more calories each day.

I reward myself with non-food treats - usually self-indulgence kinds of things - a pedicure, a new book, new clothes, jewelry, a bubble bath, a new piece of workout equipment, etc. I do a lot of 2nd hand shopping for reward clothes and vintage jewelry - things that don't cost a lot, but are new to me and make me feel great. I really think that buying at least one new-to-me piece of clothing that FIT every couple weeks helped motivate me to keep going

Freda - velcro also works well on those little pieces. I think it sounds like a fun project - particularly if you are doing some period clothes. I'm gathering ideas for the future since I think the kids are talking about starting a family once DS1 graduates from seminary.

A good day here in spite of a freezing rain warning for tonight

Today was Wii Fit day, so I got in another 45 minutes of aerobics I set a new record on ski jumping after that - wiped that young whippersnapper (DS2) right out of first place)

All this talk of sewing has me thinking about spring clothes. I'm exited about actually getting to wear some of the stuff I picked up last fall on the summer clearance racks. Something to look forward to!!!

Hope you had a fun "hump day"!

Hi to everyone, I've been so busy. My fifth grade musical on the Constitution went very well today. The kids and the parents had a great time. Now I gety ready for open house at the school Sunday.

Happy belated Birthday Linda, I hope you had a great time.

Have a great Friday.

Hello everybody,
I signed up at fitday.com to keep track of calories. Yesterday was pretty good. Tomorrow I have lunch with friends. I plan to have an omelette. Then I'm visiting another friend. We won't be eating anything.

Lori - glad all your hard work and extra efforts paid off I hope the open house goes well too.

Jada - Fitday was a Godsend for me! It really helped me stay accountable, and since I'm a data junkie, I loved all the information. When I plateaued, it really helped to look back at what and when I ate. Planning for those eating events really does help too! Knowing ahead what you plan to eat keeps you from making choices that you might later regret!
Sounds like you are doing GREAT!


Hello to everyone else! Hope you had a good Friday!

We had no school today, which is always a blessing for me. My phone and email stay quite and I can actually get caught up on projects that take concentration. The garage door was frozen shut when I got home, but thanks to my new muscles, I was able to bang on it enough to break it free from the ice. :

Gotta get bills paid and I'm hoping that my tax return made it into my account today (it was supposed to).

Hey!

Flowingair, a musical on the Constitution? That sounds like it could be fun! Who woulda thought?

Jada--I've been using Fitday for years now. I love it! I have the downloaded version, which has the advantage that it's always on my very own computer, and I can add foods to it. I have a zillion foods in there!

My good news is that I've reached my goal of 3 pounds down--the thing about it is, it's only been 2 weeks, and 3 pounds was my goal for a month! I'm just amazed... who would have thought that I could lose faster by raising my calories? I had tried it in the past and it didn't seem to work... But evidently things change! Should be interesting to see where I am in another 2 weeks. I'm not expecting as fast a drop from this point on, though.

Lauri, you rock with the tough stuff on the garage door!

Jude, I hope you can overcome the disincentive at the gym and get more time in. Gosh, I'd be there every morning if I had your schedule!

Freda, make it a good weekend!

Jay

Congratulations Jay!! You put your trust in your trainer and he didn't let you down.
Countingdown: I hope you had a great day off and your money showed up. That's always a good thing. Thank you for the ideas on celebrating weight loss.
Again, thanks everybody. I put my trust in you and you didn't let me down.

Well my plan when I started this afternoon shift was just that. I wanted to add sometime to my morning so I could have a nice workout at the gym. Without having to worry about time etc.
I need to rethink my priorities. I seem to suddenly have a million things to do. Now in my own defense there are lots of weeks that I have been there 4 times in the week. But then there are the weeks that I get there zero.
I agree with you about Fitday. It is fabulous.

I have set next week as a new page. I am scheduling nothing else. It is funny how hard I can make it sometime. I actually like the gym. I have a routine and have made up a workout book with lots of ideas in it. I am just dragging my butt but I have to get in there and do it if I want the benefits.

Sounds like everyone is having a great week.
Enjoy the weekend. I am glad it is Friday.

Cheers......Jude