((( Lucy ))) Poor thing- feel better. Ice that knee...and take it easy for the next week.

Julie, awesome NSV there with the jeans- kick butt girl. Ooooh, huskies- gorgeous dogs!!! Pet them for me...

Just a quick peek in this morning- it's going to be a very busy day.

Did my 1 mile WATP this morning

Breakfast:
1 pineapple cottage double
1 oz fat free cheddar
1/3 cup Smart Start
12oz diet coke

I have to start my first glass of water, but it's here on my desk, calling me..

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

Yes, I need to go grocery shopping tonight after work. Then, I'll look at doing one of the other tapes, to add variety- I want to check out Leslie Sansone's Firm off weight, which has 3 different segments- maybe a 2 mile walk, then a segment? Who knows yet...we'll see how the day goes.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone- the month is almost over & we're heading into March...spring is nearly here!

[QUOTE=lameducklucy]SO. No working out for me this week. My dog just rammed my kneecap, something went POP!, and I hurt a bunch. (I posted the whole story, which is LONG, in the member journals -- take a look there for the story). I'm going to focus on cleaning up the house, this week, instead of doing my workout as normal. If I can do a little every day (with no impact on my bad knee!), then I'll still end up burning calories AND our horribly cluttered apartment will be cleaner! Yay! Sounds like a plan... [QUOTE]

Lameducky...what's up with you??? The back, now the knees. Ya know, if we didn't know any better, we might think this is an excuse not to exercise! But we know better and I like your postive attitude. If you have time, you can come on over and clean my house. I am NOT doing it this week! Just kidding. I have all day today (and it's already 10:30) to clean, laundry and run errands. So I best post and get my butt in gear! You keep motivated this week, ya hear!

It's already 10:30 and I've only gotten one load of laundry folded and breafast eaten and DD fed. She's vegging to her Lion King videos. I've been working on some family photos and playing on the computer. I just told her I would take her to the mall so she could play (play land) after her movies are done and I've showered! So, this will be quick.

Already: 2-16 oz. water, Oatmeal with raisins, pecans (learned that from the Corner bakery last weekend in Chicago...they use cranberries, too) and skim milk. Tummy not feeling so well this morning, though.

Plan:
Snack: apple & PB
Lunch: Some sort of Chinese dish at the mall (probably rice and chicken with steamed veggies)
Snack: cottage cheese (1/2 cup) w/ fruit
Dinner: Dill fish with steamed gr. beans & carrots, 1 c. milk

I'm working on my menu for the week. Have lots of fresh produce, so just need to write it all down. I'm going to make up some cabbage soup today. I love it and it's so good for me and can have it anytime as a snack. I need to do what Jennifer does and freeze small portions of it! Baggies? Maybe I will get some small Ziplock snap containers!

Gotta get in the shower! Hugs to all today! Will check in later tonight with my "actual" food journal!

Hi Everyone,
Hope everyone had a great weekend. You guys are doing so awesome, I'm proud of you! Well, I had a challenging weekend but think I did pretty good in light of all the temptations. I wasn't quite brave enough yet for the snowboarding but settled for being a mimosa-wielding spectator a la the Ski Lodge.

I think I need to take my plan up a notch,

So updated goal:
*Stop when full, try not to use *points* just because I have some left!
*Increase exercise to 6 x/week, Sunday is day off (currently only doing 3 x week)

Sorry, I didn't have time to respond to everyone's comments today, have to watch SIL's kids but please know that I'm rooting for all of you.

p.s. I see there is a fellow "Smiths" fan out there!

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
~Thomas Paine

Sounds like everybody rocked this weekend. I just glanced through the entries, because I'm way behind, but it sounded very positive overall. Great job gals! I need to start logging on once or twice on the weekends. My internet connection at home is hopelessly slow though, so I just get aggrevated with it.

This weekend was okay for me. I didn't do too bad on food, implying that I didn't do too good either . I'm back OP today though, which is what counts. I definitely agree with everybody having a hard time staying on track on the weekends . I did get in my exercise though.

Last week I worked out 5x, weight trained 3x and made it to my Kung Fu class 3x, so it was a good week for exercise. Calories averaged out to about 1500. A little higher than I'd like, but good none the less. Water intake is still way to low, so I'll have to make that a priority. I'll have to try out some of your suggestions for upping the water.

For today I plan to go to my sculpting class over the lunch hour and if I have time I'll try to fit in an aerobic workout after work. I'm usually famished by the time I get off work though and just want to get home and have dinner.

Well good luck and I hope everybody has a great day full of successes!

You are all so inspirational. Congrats on the weight loss and body transformation gals! I have nothing inspirational in my post today except that I am starting over....

I am feeling lost right now. I totally lost the fight this weekend! I really don't know what happened...I planned like I should have, but somehow the plan got tossed out the window and one thing led to another and I had a total fall off the wagon-weekend. So, to pick myself up, I decided to start over completely. I lost 13 last month on the first challenge and I can do at least half of that by our date...I still have 5 1/2 weeks left. I not even going to get on the scale until next week. TOM is here again this week and I don't want to upset myself for no reason. I will weigh mid-next week...by then, things should be back to normal and I will have a new start weight.

Plan for this week:

I started today with the warm water salt flush and will be doing the lemonade cleanse today and tomorrow. So, food will be nothing and water will be huge! I don't exercise on the days I do the cleanse, so I will just get in some light toning during the day.

Wed- start back on my strict eating regime, with supplements and exercise the following 4 days.

Water is always good now, so that is not an issue, but I will not be giving myself a free day until I have lost another 3 lbs. If things go as last time that shouldn't be anymore than about a week.

My trip is only 4 1/2 weeks away and I will control things to lose another 7 lbs by then!!!

You guys are truly my backbone here and I will check in every day to report my successes and troubles. Wish me well friends and I will chat with you later!

Good Monday Chickies,
Sounds like everyone is up and motivated today! Thats good news. Well overall the weekend went well for me too. I cheeted a couple of times (like buttered popcorn during the Sex in the City finale, gee I'm gonna miss that show) but overall it was good and I did not get out of control. However, my water intake was down but I kept an eye on the carbs and calories. Thank goodness Monday is here and I am back on track again.

Todays intake
AM - Instant Oatmeal, apple sauce, water
Noon - Salad with chicken breast, water
Dinner - Small steak, 1/2 baked potatos, steamed califlower and spinich salad greens.

Going back for deep water aerobics tonight. It is quite a workout, I love it! You all have a great day and heres the quote for the day.

"No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change."

~Bill Phillips~

Love the quote! I will add that to my quotes on fridge. It's getting quite overloaded!

Knee is feeling way better today! I kept it in a brace until around 2 last night, and then went right to bed. It's stopped going in the wrong direction, and it's way less sore. I think today will be the day off from working out, but I'll go on a walk with the husband tonight to keep it active and walk off some of the soreness. Then, tomorrow, back to the bike!!

Jennifer - thx for the support. =)
Hikein - haha! Am I the biggest klutz in the world, or what?!

Today's meal plan (revised, as usual)
B - granola bar & 1 hot dog (no bun)
L - tuna melt w/ pickles
D - Tacos!

I hope everyone has a great day!

DD and I went to mall. Just got back. Had chicken, veggies & rice like planned with a diet soda! I had a bite of the eggroll she wanted! She ate like a horse!! A crab rangoon, part of an eggroll, rice, chicken, veggies, more rice and more chicken! Wow! Sure wish I could eat like that and have her little figure!

We went to JC Penney's after she played and I looked at clothes. I am really thinking that I could be in a size 14 by summer, so that's my goal. I wanted to buy a cute aqua shirt that gathered at the bust to go with my size 20 capris but figured I'd be out of the capris by summer, so skipped the shirt and bought DD some much needed jeans instead. I asked DH about budgeting some $ for clothes (the new underwear and bras I desperately need and maybe some cute tops) this next week. I looked at bras and undies while at Penney's. I want a really feminine bra and some lacey panties! We'll see!

Cristin, I am so sorry you are struggling. Been there, sistah! Know the feeling. Please stick with us. You will be feeling better in no time. Don't be so hard on yourself...it was only a couple of days...not like it's the end of the world. Don't punish yourself because you fell off...just get back up and start over. What's this cleansing thing you do and why? Tell me more about it!

Is it TOM time already??? You know what that means...I will soon be following! Darn it! Just when I am on a roll, too! OK, I need to find some kind of supplement for PMS to help with those sugar/chocolate cravings! I need to resist the urge! Someone said magnesium helps, but I tried it and it didn't help me at all. Anyone know anything about this?

Well, gotta go! Will talk later!

I went to my sculpting class today, and suprisingly it's getting to be much easier. i.e. I don't sweat like a pig through the whole class. There are still some moves that I have to modify. There's no way I can do a military push up, I'll stick with the modified for a bit longer. I've also noticed that I'm not dying in my step class anymore. Don't get me wrong, it still kicks my butt, but not as hard . That's a definite NSV.

I'm also noticing that my body is taking on more definition. Less doughy . Looking more like a bunt cake than a sponge cake I mean that in a positive way. My belly has started to go down, which I LOVE, and my legs have gotten slimmer. I'd really like to see my arms slim up though. I definitely want to be able to wear sleeveless shirts this summer. It seems like all the cute clothes are sleeveless. Well that's not going to be a problem this summer!

Well all of you gals are doing fabulous! You definitely keep me motivated. Hope everybody has a successful day. Bye!

Just a quickie- have to get my butt to my evening exercise....but first, my rant for the night.

Today, with 4 days left in the month to do anything, and the last day to close refinances this month, my loan officer finally realizes that we're closing 8 loans this month, instead of our usually 20-25. And comes to me, while I'm on the phone, peeing on fires, and wants to know where the rest of the loans are....

Um, how about you show some fricking interest when I beg you to contact a borrower, or the underwriter, or... pull your head out of your rectum and realize that we lost our problem processor, who was replaced by one who drinks before coming to work, is on about 3 different prescriptions, and who hangs up on me every time I call her. She answers about every 3rd email, and I have no idea what the status is on any of the files she's been working on. So, do I know we're closing 8 loans. Yeah. And my pay is based on a bonus per loan funded, where she gets a $ % of the total amount of the loan. I make money when I close loans....so why wouldn't I want to get as many as possible to close??? Way to be on top of your business, moron.

Anyhow, after getting yelled at for her lack of attention to things I refer to her over & over & over again, I had just about had it. Tomorrow morning, one last round of phone calls on everything that I am trying to get closed, and then I'm dumping it all on her fricking desk.

Okay, I feel better. Grrrr- I soooo wanted to tell her what to do with her loans, and this job, but I can't. Repeat my mantra "We need the benefits..we need the benefits...we need the benefits..stick it out."

After work we hit the grocery store. Woo Hoo! Crystal light was on sale- 2/6.00, so I stocked up on the Raspberry Lemonade one. I think I just talked about that today, or yesterday. Ok, I need to talk about winning the Lotto & see if this is magic, or something

Dinner: quick, after shopping, before exercise
2 slices light oatmeal bread
12 slices 50% reduced fat salami
1/2 cup fat free sugar free chocolate pudding

Now, off to do 1 of the tapes- going to try the first section of the Firm off Weight tape, and if that proves to be too difficult, I'll do the UB Shortcuts workout. And then get to watch CSI Miami

More in the morning when I can read & respond- everyone, have a wonderful Monday night!

Well...talk about falling off the wagon...anyone who feels bad about going of their eating plan will feel better after reading this.

Sunday we went for a cajun mardi gras feast...and i mean feast. i am staying at 1200-1500 calories per day. on this wonderful day i had 2280!!!!!!!!!!! that's almost double!!! i had planned on it being an off day, but i was way off. it was so worth it though! =)

today was much better...1445. i need to do some situps tonight too. i did have half a cannoli and some candy hearts (pms anyone?), but everything else was good. i still haven't had the second half of the shamrock shake...maybe i'll have it tomorrow. yes, that was me velmakelly! and i love the smiths and morrissey!!

thanks for the watp info jennifer...i think i'll check ebay for them. i'm going to try to exercise 1 hour everyday for lent, so the tapes would be nice variety. i love tae bo too.

babsangie - that's awesome you've got definition! i love seeing that more than seeing the scale move. great job!!

have a good night everyone!

karen =)

Julie- Thank you my friend. I really feel better tonight. I have been good all day. The cleanse is supposed to be a dietary track cleanse, but I use it to just regain control over my body. When I get too far away from the strict diet I want to be following, I go back to that. It is how I kicked things off last time, and how I did it this time as well. So LOOK OUT! I am preparing for that 10lb. loss I am itching for! (TOM is only 25 days for me, so I got 2 this month....Lucky me!)

Jenn- You are in a cutthroat business and I do not envy you at all. Sorry that your boss is such a DUH! I hope the rest of your week is betterl...and think of it this way, if you have 20 on the books and only 8 close this month, you will have more next month, right? I realize it doesn't pay the bills today, but at least a nice thought.

To the rest of you girlies....CONGRATS! You made it through the first week and that is always the hardest! My 1st week is this week, so I will give myself a congrats next week! Have a good night and I will check in in the morning! Cristin

Tonight, DH complimented my new haircut and I half heard him call me "skinny". It's hard for me to take a compliment so my new goal is to just say thank you and leave it at that when he compliments me...on anything!

I had on a pair of jeans today that are ancient but one of my favorite pairs. They had been getting quite tight in the Fall/December months and I hated wearing them. Well as I was walking tonight, I noticed that I could feel some "bagginess" in the back of my upper legs (pants) which I don't remember in the past...ever. I have also been noticing (now don't laugh) the shape of my butt is changing! What's up with that??? Now, my butt has always been big...did I say always? Yes, always...as long as I can remember since teen years...a bubble butt, for sure...but it has gotten wider and more jiggly as the years have rolled on. So for some reason (maybe exercise? DUH!) it's changing shape and becoming more "round" again. We have a joke in our family about our butts (several of my siblings have these "bubble butts") calling them (so many) piggies fighting in a sack...when we walk. I am looking forward to the day when there are just two small piggies in the sack...sleeping!!!

OK, so for food today (better than yesterday)

bfast: oatmeal/raisins/pecans/skim milk
1 cupcoffee w/ creamer

snack: wedge of apple with peanut butter on way out of door to mall, just enough to pacify the hunger until I got lunch)

Lunch: bourbon chicken (only ONE serving, not the standard 3 they give you) rice, steamed veggies

Supper: Baked ocean perch seasoned w/ dill and other spices, steamed carrots & gr. beans, 1 cup milk

Snack: Fat Free Fr. Vanilla Cappicino (gas station) with 1/2 coffee...a few handfuls of popcorn!

I can't think of anything else that went into this mouth of mine today other than water! Drank 64 oz, I think! No exercise today. It was "rest day" from exercise for me. Back at it again in the AM.

Tomorrow night I am meeting the girls at a girlfriend's house. We always bring food and have a potluck. I am bringing fruit (melon & grapes probably) and another girl is also working on weight loss and she is bringing veggies & dip! Will have a layered bean dip with corn chips and I don't know what else, but these are the kinds of times I have most difficulty with...when food is just out. Then I just eat to eat! Any ideas for me? I need a goal.

OK, here's the goal for tomorrow:
I will plan to eat my evening meal as if I were home. Protein, veggies and maybe some fruit. Stop when my meal is gone. That's the goal. I WILL do this!

Also back to work tomorrow. Probably lots of goodies around being that it is Fat Tuesday. I will not eat any of that crap tomorrow...or the next day, or the next...I will treat my body with respect and the way it deserves to be treated. I will take care of myself as only I can! Amen!

Have a great Tuesday everyone. Will be back late tomorrow night to check in and probably in the AM if Ihave time after my workout. That's my new bribe. No 3FC until AFTER I work out in the AM.

Group Hug!