Welcome to the group, flower123. Glad you enjoyed my post.

I wore myself out this morning. I rode bike for about 40 minutes, then did a 40 minute walking interval workout. I'm ready for a nap!

My niece Margaret was a no-show for our Friday plans. =pout= I think what probably happened is she got home after work, thought she'd take a quick nap, and was out for the count. I called her cell, which is always near her, three times—no reply. But she's slept through its ringing before. The evening was a bummer for me: expecting to see someone, drink wine with them, get a little loose...and then it didn't happen.

As for my great-niece Grace coming over on Saturday to sort clippings, have dinner, and then play with our art journals, she had to cancel: a critical Girl Scout meeting took precedence. =pout again= Her mother is distinctly cool to me on the phone, too, so it's a bummer when we converse about Grace's schedule: it's like pulling teeth to get information out of her. I'm probably being paranoid, but I feel like I'm this weirdo art person whose social cues and social mores are way distant from hers. Oh well, it's Grace I want to be friends with, not her mother. I've known her mother since she was like 3 years old, and I never have understood what makes her tick. I've been attracted to Grace since even when she was a bratty two-year-old. Funny how chemistry between people can work that way.

Sorry to be so downbeat. My monthly weigh-in is Sunday, and I don't give a flying f*** what the scale says. I'm just focused on the BERP. I intensely, desperately, want for the BERP to be over... but it's not. Weeks to go yet! Arrrggh.... I hope all this effort feels worth it, once the changes are really palpable, and the kittens have arrived and are exploring their new territory. Otherwise, it'll just be a bad memory, something to be well shut of, something I'll never do again—no way, no how. I hope our life never gets that cluttered again, but if it does devolve into that, maybe Bob is just going to have to live with it.

Every collage artist I know is a hopeless magpie, and their houses are full of stacks and stacks of paper and books, and their studios are messy middens like you wouldn't believe. Why am I working so hard to buck the trend and get all my stuff neatly squared away? One simple answer: Bob. He wants an uncluttered house, and I love him deeply, passionately...so I'm going to try my darndest to give him what he wants.

Hey everyone,

I haven't received a call back yet for another interview... Unsure if that's a bad sign, because I can't remember if she said I'd get a call this week or next. Trying to stay positive and not get bummed out.

I finally finished my government class with an A. Started my economics class which is actually interesting.

Went to Joes Crab Shack today and had a lobster and crab steam pot. It was so yummy! Hubby and I got up early today and cleaned the house, went to lunch, then took a long nap before going to mass. Came home and had some wine, ate dinner, and will having another glass here shortly. Ah, the relaxing weekend.

Hey everyone,

I haven't received a call back yet for another interview... Unsure if that's a bad sign, because I can't remember if she said I'd get a call this week or next. Trying to stay positive and not get bummed out.

I finally finished my government class with an A. Started my economics class which is actually interesting.

Went to Joes Crab Shack today and had a lobster and crab steam pot. It was so yummy! Hubby and I got up early today and cleaned the house, went to lunch, then took a long nap before going to mass. Came home and had some wine, ate dinner, and will having another glass here shortly. Ah, the relaxing weekend.

Thanks IBelieveInMe2, seabisquit and worththeeffort2 for the warm welcome. Reading them actually makes me feel welcome. So I DO appreciate it.

I want to shout from the rooftops to those folks who struggle with weight issues. telling them about this place. But of course I cannot tell anyone unless they bring up their weight loss struggle in the moment.

Reading what people post here ispires me. It helps me to be more mindful of eating. And the support is great. I believe that i can settle back into a more secure maintenence routine again. But I am not there after the series of slip ups. Right now its battling that food craving gremlin that woke up when I slipped so many times. Trying to get it back to sleep again

Reading peoples words helps. I have been looking for this community (one like it) for a long time. Dont know why i never found it. Until now. Forgive me if I am repeating mysef. I am just so grateful.

Today wasnt half bad with the eating. While I ate 4 oz of mariaded mozerella balls (excess oil blotted off), it was not high carbs. Except for the cocoa powder which is my downfall. I have to be careful of both carbs and calories. But the cheese slip could have been worse.

Tomorrow is another day. I hope it will not be too hard. My goal now is to get that gremlin back into a sleep state. I think this depression and weight issues area will be a home base for me. I probably will feel most at home here. Thanks again !

a very quick pop in to flower! (yes I am also still recovering from that LONG winter! ) and welcome back to Kathleen

I'm feeling so happy about my mini-vacation this past week. Impulsively, I asked my husband to clean off his mountain bike and put air in the tires on Thursday. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I went for bike rides. Saturday was my longest ride, so far. Even wearing bike shorts (which I bought for a spinning class), I am definitely saddle sore today.

Since the bike shorts are in the laundry--I didn't do a load of wash after getting home again yesterday--and I'm sore, today's workout will be accomplished standing up. I haven't decided yet, if it will be the elliptical or walk/jog intervals but I suspect the latter, since it is a beautiful sunny day. I would burn more calories on the elliptical but I want to be outside enjoying the sunshine and fresh air while we have summer. All too soon, these beautiful days will be ice-bound memories!

Getting outside to exercise everyday for the past three days has done wonders for my mood. I feel so totally normal. No sign of my depression anywhere. I love it!

Back from Ireland and up at the lake for the weekend. I feel super spoiled, but I am loving it all!!! The sunshine is doing wonders for my mood, too. I absolutely LOVE it! Makes me want to get outside and walk, walk, walk! In fact, we just came back from a walk with the pups here at the lake. Food has been better than in Ireland, but I find myself snacking here and there..... on Doritos, my downfall at the lake. I need to improve my snack choices, even here. Looking forward to getting back into our pool and doing laps during this week, amidst appointments and housework. I just need to FORCE myself to STOP and make time for exercise. Otherwise, the days fly by and I don't get it done.

Amy: Happy to hear that you survived the move! I hope you are enjoying your new home!

Fi: Sorry that your plans with both Margaret and Grace fell through. That is a bummer! Sounds like you are plowing forward with the BERP. I am in awe of your determination and the progress you are making!!! I need to do the same at my house. Hubby is so sick and tired of the clutter everywhere. I made a lot of progress with my organizer in my 2nd floor office, which was piled high with STUFF, but now the first floor has become all cluttered again. I won't be working with the organizer again until summer is over and kids are back in school, but I hope to get some things cleared on my own. I am happy that you are taking breaks when necessary, but you continue to move forward and make progress! WAY TO GO!!!

Sabrina: I hope you get the call back for another interview. I know that you are unhappy at your current job, and I hope something right for you will come along soon. Could you call and just say you weren't sure if they were going to call this week or next? The waiting is agonizing, I'm sure. CONGRATS on your A in your government class! That is awesome!!!

Holly: Thanks for the welcome back! How have you been?!?

flower123: So happy that you posted again and really like the group! There is so much support here, which helps in the weight loss journey. I sure hear you regarding the food craving gremlin. I think about food and crave it WAY to often. I need to tame my gremlin and put it to sleep as well. We can do it..... together!!!

Worthy: I am so happy that you enjoyed your mini vacation!!! HOORAY for YOU with all of the bike rides and exercise you are getting in! You inspire me to do better with my own exercise.

Waving HELLO to everyone else!

Hi there!

I'm writing from NYC, I'm heading back to Philly tomorrow. I've had a great weekend with family. I'll be glad to get home! I have had a lot of fun though and I head to Nantucket with family next week.

I am glad that I rejoined WW but the online program with meetings works best for me so I'm hoping to do that. I think I overate a bit this weekend but it wasn't terrible.

Take care. Have a good night.

Amy

First, have you tried popchips? They are so much lower in calories. No, they do not have all that cheesy goodness. But they crunch.
Second, the wild food craving gremlins. Yes. Perhaps we all could create a large orange poppy field like in the wizard of Oz. Where they fell asleep. And then.... well it could be a food gremlin sleeping area. Sugar and peanutbutter are amongst the countless foods that wake my gremlin up. Perhaps orange poppies will get it back to sleep. I am not talking about ingesting opiate poppies of course. But rather sending the gremlin over to the field. Hey, at this point I would try anything.

I'm headed back to work today. My mini-vacation is over. Boo. I have another mini-vacation the first week of July, so I guess I'll survive until then.

Received a link to a blog post from MyFitnessPal that describes how to get the most out of a walking workout. I thought it might be of interest to some folks here. I do a form of the interval walk, described in number 2.

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is doing ok, and staying cool!

I have recently come to realization that I'm so overweight that is is really having a negative inpact on my life. I just hadn't realized just how out of shape I was. I mean I guess I knew theoretically, but I'm so much fitter than other people around me (I know, I know, don't compare yourself to others) that it seemed ok. But then I got on the elliptical after months of inactivity...did 20 minutes at lowest resistance and never even got to 3mph. I was exhausted and felt terrible for quite some time after. That is just ridiculous. Less than year ago I could do a really tough hour long interval workout on the elliptical followed by 40 mintues of yoga with no problem. Anyway, time for drastic measures. So the elliptical workout I can do now isn't much, but at least I'm doing something every day. And I'm restarting the Atkins diet. I did this before when I lost the 70lbs, and it worked really well for me, as I'm really carb sensitive, and I love meat and cheese. I weighed today (it was bad ) and I'm not going to weigh again until the first two weeks of induction are finished. I seem to have gotten my depression and anxiety under control, so it is time to start working getting my body in shape too.

Well, my weigh-in on the 22nd was boring: 272 again. Same as last month. But I don't mind boring. Looking at my graph on the fridge, I see that I'm still on track, following a steady downward line in my weight. Last month's 10-pound loss was unusual. This month's 0-pound loss is unusual. But when you look at them on the graph, they balance each other—if that makes sense. That's why I like weighing just once a month, and also having a graph.

Today I had to return to doing the BERP, which was hard. The only way I can make myself do it is that after I have my breakfast (2-3 cups of coffee w/ cream), I lie down on the green futon and do that slow-breathing exercise. Sometimes I count the breaths, sometimes not, but I do it for about 10 minutes, which is approximately 40-50 breaths. While I make those slooooooow inhales and sloooooooow exhales I picture myself doing whatever is the next step in the BERP—what I plan to start the day's work with. After those 10 minutes, I'm calm, focused, and magically in action—doing exactly what I visualized.

Tomorrow will be easier because it will be the second day of BERP-ing this week. No days off until Saturday, though. I'm working on a tough area: the dining room, which used to be my studio until I filled it up with crap such that I couldn't work in there anymore. Now my collage studio is upstairs in what used to be my writing office, so the dining room needs to become very tidy so either Bob or I can use it as an auxiliary work area. (We have no need for a formal dining room.) At least I got all the unwanted books out of it already, so I have a bunch of empty book boxes where I can stow stuff like my stationery collection. But first I have to get all the loose rubber stamps off the table and find accessible places for them to live—easier said than done!

I'm sorry I'm not writing personal comments. I'm just too overwhelmed by the BERP these days. =sigh= I think I'm going to have to do some more slow breathing, because right now I have no desire to wrestle with those rubber stamps.

Well, my weigh-in on the 22nd was boring: 272 again. Same as last month. But I don't mind boring. Looking at my graph on the fridge, I see that I'm still on track, following a steady downward line in my weight. Last month's 10-pound loss was unusual. This month's 0-pound loss is unusual. But when you look at them on the graph, they balance each other—if that makes sense. That's why I like weighing just once a month, and also having a graph.

Today I had to return to doing the BERP, which was hard. The only way I can make myself do it is that after I have my breakfast (2-3 cups of coffee w/ cream), I lie down on the green futon and do that slow-breathing exercise. Sometimes I count the breaths, sometimes not, but I do it for about 10 minutes, which is approximately 40-50 breaths. While I make those slooooooow inhales and sloooooooow exhales I picture myself doing whatever is the next step in the BERP—what I plan to start the day's work with. After those 10 minutes, I'm calm, focused, and magically in action—doing exactly what I visualized.

Tomorrow will be easier because it will be the second day of BERP-ing this week. No days off until Saturday, though. I'm working on a tough area: the dining room, which used to be my studio until I filled it up with crap such that I couldn't work in there anymore. Now my collage studio is upstairs in what used to be my writing office, so the dining room needs to become very tidy so either Bob or I can use it as an auxiliary work area. (We have no need for a formal dining room.) At least I got all the unwanted books out of it already, so I have a bunch of empty book boxes where I can stow stuff like my stationery collection. But first I have to get all the loose rubber stamps off the table and find accessible places for them to live—easier said than done!

I'm sorry I'm not writing personal comments. I'm just too overwhelmed by the BERP these days. =sigh= I think I'm going to have to do some more slow breathing, because right now I have no desire to wrestle with those rubber stamps.

Oh gosh, I'm worried. The reason why I haven't gotten new photos of the kittens is that they're sick. They have "a respiratory infection," Julie tells me. I hope it's just a cold and not something worse. =furrowed brow=