Morning chicks!

Well, yesterday wasn't bad. Calories came in at 1734, water was about 80 oz, and still no exercise. The scale is down to 214.4 this morning. And I got to take a bubble bath yesterday.

I'm still tired. I keep trying to get to sleep earlier, and it never quite works out. I think I managed it around 10.30 last night, and then I slept through my alarm this morning. Mom woke me up about 7.15 (my alarm had gone off at 6). I usually leave around 7.30. Bah. And Grandma is coming to stay with us tonight so we can get a somewhat early start in the morning, so I won't be able to sleep in much tomorrow either. Perhaps Sunday.

I must not sleep very well. I almost always I manage 6-7 hours, and most of the time it's closer to 7. How much more sleep does a girl need? I really don't think an extra hour is going to make that much of a difference.

I know that if I start exercising again I will sleep better, and feel better. Starting Sunday, I'm exercising regularly again. No excuses.

And food will be OP. I feel like I am getting better at that. I just want to be generally healthy, eating whole grains and fruit and veggies. And I can do that. If I'm eating healthy foods, the calories will fall into place, right?

Anyway, another crazy day at work. I actually have stuff to do. And if *I* have stuff to do, you know it's busy.

Have a good day, chicks!
~Elisha

Morning, chickies! TGIF- I am so tired! I crashed early last night- was asleep at 10pm, but tossed & turned and I woke up still tired. Hopefully it will be a quiet day here at work. Got a lot of stuff that I can work on getting cleaned up from the girl who left, and then I can get a jump start on next week. Really, I'd like to put my head down on my desk and take a little nap. Yawn! The diet coke hasn't kicked in yet, either, so this might be a foggy day..

Not sure if we're headed to the new house tonight after work, or early tomorrow. I'd like to get up there tonight, even if we can't leave until 8-9pm. I want to bring up some towels, and a few other necessities, since now we can drink the water, and bathe there. I want a nice, relaxing bubble bath in my tub- my first one there in the house. Ahhh, see, THAT sounds so good! A nice long hot relaxing bath, and then curling up for a good night's sleep, with no alarm to ruin things

Breakfast is done- Zone bar, my diet coke, and nearly done with my first 32oz of water, and I am already doing the wee-wee dance- I gotta finish this glass before I can get up & hit the ladies' room. I'll check in at lunch time with updates- I'll have to go out & pick up something- thinking a turkey breast sammitch from subway or something.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Blarg-o-ninny-na-na-foo-foo, the past three days were awful. And I'm up .5 lb. this week.

According to my spreadsheet, I weigh 0.06 lb. more than what I should this week in order to make goal by Elisha's wedding.

I didn't bike on Tuesday and Thursday. I had three red days this week. Ugh, I have no excuse. There is no point analyzing the situation. I have to do something about it.

At least I weighed myself today... I thought the news would be worse. But I held myself accountable, and posted the damage here and in the 10-lb. challenge thread. And I moved my tracker in the honest direction. Blarg blarg blarg blarg blarg.

Phthooey, I need some success. Apparently three days is too long for me to stay OP unless I am rewarded or threatened by the scale. This week, I'm going to weigh myself on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday. Surely the impending weigh-ins will help me stay on track.

So... *deep breath* ... trying to be optimistic... two more days until weigh in. <-- phony smile, but I have to try

Comments: You all rock.

P.S. -- I notice that our group is definitely more motivated this month than last month... we already have 2/3 the posts that we had last month even though we're only halfway through this month. So please don't let my negativity rub off on all of you... keep up the good work.

Happy Friday!

Bad choices. That pretty much sums up today. DH brought home a box of pastries from the bakery yesterday, so I started today out with a custard filled longjohn. Midmorning, coworker volunteered herself for a 'bagel run' to which I VERY CLEARLY said ' no thank you.....full from breakfast....trying to stay OP', and 10 minutes later there was a blueberry bagel on my desk. AUGHHHH! Of course, I ate it....then wasn't hungry for lunch.....then late afternoon was up to my elbow in the candy jar. Dinner was good.....first nutritious thing I ate all day.

On a more positive note, I weighed in this morning to find myself down another pound! That is 3 pounds in the right direction....zounds! Also did 30 minutes WATP last night and also tonight, which brings my total to 150/180! Barring broken limbs, I should be able to make it thru this exercise challenge!

Jennifer.....It must be soooo nice to have your own car back, especially after waiting half a lifetime for Moe and Larry to get it fixed! Let us know how the two official weigh-ins per week works out. I have the basic love/hate relationship with the scale.....and go from weighing every day to not weighing at all, and nothing seems to help the motivation!

Joy.....How dear of you to remind us to take care of ourselves. Really, we are the ones that should know ourselves the best....and know what we need! We just get too busy taking care of everyone else!

Julie.....Sorry about the bad day.......but try to focus on the good things. You got a raise! You deserve it!

Betani.....Hope a little rest has made you feel better. Glad you and DH have cleared the air......communication is so essential, and sometimes so difficult with those closest to us.

Elisha....Any day that includes a bubble bath is a good day!

TBJ......Blast and fie on those nasty good-for-nothing red days! Put them behind you and tomorrow will be green again!

It seems we are all hitting little bumps (bagels?) in the road this week. Time for a mid-course correction.......let's join Elisha and make next week a "No Excuses Week". Nothing will keep us from having a beautiful OP week.....not spouses or coworkers or frustration. We can do it!

It was early Saturday morning on Oahu. TBJ woke up, stretched, and found herself in a lousy mood. She rolled around in bed, and finally decided that sleep would not come back to her, so she reluctantly pushed the comforter aside and stood up.

"What to do about this stinking mood?" TBJ pondered. "Well," she thought to herself, "it is pleasantly cool out this time of day. And I haven't been biking in a while. Yesterday was a green day; maybe I should hop back on the ol' Whoosh-Whoosh and exercise a little."

TBJ pulled out her workout gear. Some bike shorts, a sporty little red shirt, red socks with Santa's on them. She opened the door to her apartment and pushed her bike outside. After setting her iPod to play "ABBA Gold," she donned her earbuds and helmet, and rode away.

As TBJ was riding, she peered out ahead of her. There were some... bumps... in the road. A little concerned, TBJ squinted. Without her glasses, this early in the morning, the bumps looked a little like bagels.

"Bagels?" TBJ thought. "Surely there can't be bagel bumps in the road." But the closer TBJ rode to the bumps, the more the bumps looked like bagels.

A wise-sounding tenor voice came through the earbuds. It was Bjorn, heartthrob of ABBA. He told TBJ of an old Hawai`ian legend: "Back before this road existed, there was an active volcano. It wanted to erupt, but it wanted to be different from all the other local volcanos. (It was probably a middle-child volcano, and wanted the attention it lacked when it was growing up among all its little volcano siblings.) So the volcano did not spew forth lava. Rather, it erupted with bagels. The bagels stuck to the ground, and when construction workers built the road, they paved over the bagels." His story ended, Bjorn's voice faded into the background, and the words to "Mama Mia" were audible again.

"Hm," thought TBJ. "Apparently the bumps in the road really are bagels. Well, no bagel bumps are going to stop me. Or the challenge chickies from 3fc. We'll just have to stomp the bumps into the ground." TBJ shifted into third gear, and pedaled harder. She saw a bagel bump ahead of her in the road. But, feeling determined, she did not slow down. Instead, she steered her bike directly into a bagel bump, and left it behind her.

Hi!

TBJ..... well, I have finally stopped laughing long enough to reply. I loved your TBJ and Whoosh-Whoosh adventure! You have forged a new path thru bagel-bump land, and the 3FC pioneers are right behind you! Nothing can stop us now....the bagels have been defeated (and somewhat flattened), so there is nothing to keep us from attaining the top of Mount OP.....except maybe (can it be?) first we have to traverse the (gasp!) Forest of Stress......pedal faster TBJ.......faster whoosh-whoosh....don't let the evil elves of the Forest catch you!

and sooo off plan it's not funny!

I know this is an accountability challenge, so I'm going to try to be accountable here to all of you! The last 4 days have really sucked and Ihave taken it out on myself with making poor food choices and not exercising!

I've been really struggling with my work situation over the last...well... YEAR!!! And today I really had an epiphany! My struggle has been with more of a "personal" feeling about how it is that I am being effective (or not) in my TWO jobs. And do I want to move on and find something else...in a completley different line of work. This is going to sound really crazy, but in a sermon at church today...the lightbulb went off. Now, mind you...this was after a REALLY BAD WEEK and much discussion about my job with my VERY insightful DH on Saturday morning.

It's a really long story...and I won't bore you with all the sordid details, but let's just say that I am feeling much better about what I am going to choose to do...and I will do it with a different attitude! But I think it will help that I am reliquinshing my Medical REcords job to someone else who doesn't have to head another department (like me). AND...I went into work over the weeknd...put in about 10 hours...and completely (all but one which I will finish on Monday) finished all of 2005's files! I feel very good about that!

But...the down side of this story is that diet and exercise really suffered the last 4 days and I have really lost my motivation. Sooooo...I really have to work hard to find it again! That...and I weighed on Thursday...and there was NO loss! And there probably won't be a loss again this week...<SIGH>!!!!

That's the end of my pity party!

TBJ.....I love your story...it was a bagel bump kind of week, huh?

MsRD...Let's get back on track this week, ok?

Elisha...I hope you got some rest over the weekend. I'm soooo glad I have next Friday off...we are going up to my "hometown" where my Mom and two of my sisters still lilve. All the grandkids (10 of them) will be able to be together, so I am really looking forward to it!

Jen...Hope you enjoyed your bath in your new tub!! Will catch up with you later this week!

Betani...I hope your mental health day was just what you needed. Some days, we all need one!

Lisa & Joy...Whereever you are...chickies...come post!

Hugs to all...I've got laundry to get done!

Just a quickie again, sorry

Wanted to let you all know ... I'm in for "no excuses week" and if anyone's interested I'd like to do another exercise challenge. 150 minutes again.... I didn't quite make it last week, but I have renewed faith in myself.

Oh... I though no-one was posting because I wasn't getting my email saying somebody did... have to check that out... maybe I unsubscribed by mistake.

Okay so do we all have our bagels under control? That's a little like a shiny sink to us FLYers.

Talk soon
Joy

Morning chicks! (Prepare yourselves, this is a long one.)

Well, this weekend was good and bad. Bad for the diet, but good in other ways.

Food Saturday was not healthy. Toast before leaving the house (Grandma brought us salt risen bread, which is just the best toasting bread ever, and hard to come by), then McDonald’s on the way to Pittsburgh, the Olive Garden for lunch with the leftovers for dinner. At least I didn’t snack all day. And no exercise, and only about ½ a glass of water with lunch.
And food yesterday was not good either. Breakfast and lunch were ok, but for dinner I went to a friend’s house—a party with my old cosmetics coworkers—and it was all appetizers, which means I have no idea how much I ate, but I’m sure it was too much. But I did have 40+ oz of water yesterday, and I did exercise, 30 minutes of Yourself!Fitness.
The scale is up to 216.4 this morning. Up 0.6 from last Monday, down 1.0 from January 2nd.
This morning I am back on track, with a healthy lunch and snacks waiting for me. And for dinner, I got out some turkey burgers to thaw, and whole wheat buns, plus some sort of vegetable. I’ll drink water all day (once I finish my coffee, and a Fresca for lunch), and there will be exercise. I told myself that I am not allowed to sit down to read a single page until I have exercised. Period. I think I’m going to exercise right when I get home so that I don’t have to worry about it anymore.
Also this week (at some point) I’m going to start exercising in the mornings, even if it’s only for 5 minutes. I really think it would be good for me to exercise in the mornings, and I’ve got to start somewhere. I was planning on getting up this morning to do it, but I was also planning to get home before midnight last night, but neither one of those things happened. Tonight my goal is to get to bed by 10. I know it’s possible. I just have to do it.
So the game plan for this evening looks like this:
6:15 Get Home (give or take a few minutes)
6:25 Exercise for 30 minutes
7:00 Eat Dinner
7:30 Clean Kitchen—including smoothie maker
8:00 Shower
8:30 Put Away Laundry
9:00 Relax!
10:00 Bedtime!

Let’s hope it actually works out that way.

As I stepped on the scale this morning, I had an epiphany. (Granted, I have had this realization before, but bear with me anyway.) Every week I do well for a few days, then I do bad for a few days and ruin all the progress I have made. If I ever want to lose weight, I have got to stop doing that to myself. I CAN lose weight, without a doubt. I know that to be true. I’ve done it before. I just have to be persistent. I have to want to lose weight more than I want to eat whatever it is or be lazy. And I do. I want that so badly it hurts.

The simple truth is that I’m not losing weight because I’m not doing what I need to be doing. And that is not acceptable.

At this moment I don’t know exactly how I’m going to make myself embrace this concept. I’ve got a lot of ideas, from twice weekly “official” weigh-ins to one-day-at-a-time to setting a weekly calorie budget rather than a daily one. I do know that in general I’m going to eat more vegetables and whole grains and less of the bad, greasy, fatty, processed junk. I’m going home tonight to clean and set up my smoothie maker (no, still haven’t done that). I’m going to make drinking water a priority, with nothing else allowed until my daily water quota is met (except for my 1 morning cup of coffee). I’m going to exercise before I’m allowed to do anything else, either first thing in the morning or first thing when I get home, starting with 30 minutes a day 5 days this week, then gradually increasing to 60 minutes a day. No more excuses. I’m done fooling myself.

So… in other news…

I actually have *good* news about the house. Steve is supposed to meet with our loan officer either tomorrow or Wednesday to set a closing date. We haven’t actually had to do anything to the house. I guess they just felt like giving us a hard time. The last thing they told us was that the one crack in the drywall needed to be fixed. Drywall! But, perhaps it is all finally coming together and we’ll be in our house soon enough. I’m not holding my breath, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

My grandmother has to go to an orthopedic surgeon today for her knees. Apparently she’s formed big knots in them and can barely walk anymore. We’re all sort of hoping they don’t admit her for surgery right away, though it is a possibility, and perhaps that would be better in the long run. A few years ago when she broke her hip, we weren’t sure she’d recover from that. We thought she’d just sort of wither away, and she did for a while. The doctor put her on Prozac, and that helped, but lately she’s been sliding back into melancholy. And her memory is getting worse, and that is sad also. I stopped and show them my engagement ring when I first got it (on the way to having it sized) and again since I got it back, but when we spoke on the phone the other day and I told her we were going wedding dress shopping she asked me who was getting married, and she asked my mom the same thing a few minutes later in the same conversation when Mom mentioned the shopping trip.

OK, changing the subject…

Other good news—I found a wedding dress! The batteries in my camera died after I tried on one dress, so I don’t have pictures of it, but I’ll look it up online and either give you a link or post a picture. It’s not even close to the ones I had picked out, and I wasn’t planning on buying a dress Saturday, but as soon as I put it on I was all “Oh my god, I HAVE to buy this dress!” It’s just the prettiest, most perfect wedding dress ever.
And my mom found and bought a dress too, so neither of us has to worry about that anymore.
Bridesmaids’ dresses, however… yeah, don’t know about those yet. I took my maid of honor, Kyla, with me, because she is the pickiest one in the bunch, and she found a few she liked, but I’m not sure if they come in the color I want. Then again, I’m not really sure what color I want. That’s still debatable.

Anyway, this post is plenty long enough for me already. I may come back and post some comments later, unless today gets insanely busy like it was last week. In any case, have a good day, chicks.
~Elisha

Oy. Backslide weekend. Even if it wasn't really bad, it felt like it was.

Friday, I gave myself permission to indulge at the Chinese buffet. I don't feel guilty about that, and I refuse to do so. Last night I caught myself in some mindless eating again. That, I feel guilty about.

I guess the worst of it is that I didn't keep up my routines over the weekend, so I feel I've lost a lot of ground with my attempt at habit-building. I even forgot to set my alarm this morning and jumped out of bed an hour later than I'm supposed to. It was a good thing DH noticed and woke me!

On my honor, I'm going to do everything in my power to get my star on the calander tonight! (star= 4 bottles of water drunk, exercised for at least 15 minutes, ideally 30-45, eating at scheduled times, and not exceeding 2000 calories)

***

Elisha-- Wow, chickie, you've got lots on your plate! It takes lots of trial and error to find what works for you. Don't dwell on what doesn't work, and you'll have that much more time to keep trying new methods. Congrats on finding the wedding dress! Sometimes clothes just find you, know what I mean?

Joy-- "No excuses week"... That's JUST what I need right now! I think I'm ready to try the exercise challange again, too. Put me down for 200 minutes this week.

Julie-- Chin up, chickie! Don't think about the loss that may or may not come. Just hop right back on the trail!

TBJ-- I loved your story! Huzzah for getting past bagel bumps!


Oops, gotta get back to work!

Hi!

Alright, do you remember those 3 pounds I lost...well they are back. It is due to the bad eating I had this weekend (and a few days before). Funny thing...I usually really beat myself up over stuff like that. This time I have simply started fresh. I'm not perfect, and that's just life. Good news: The past 2 days have been good eating wise. My back is better, but still really tender...I will start walking this week if it continues to heal.

I have a motivation..we are going to the beach in April! Yay!

And, just want to say that my bagels are under control...LOLOL!!! That was a really cool story .

Please remember my father tomorrow. He is having that throat surgery I told you guys about. I will not be posting probably for a little bit. I have to go and stay with him, because he lives alone, and he needs help. DH will have the kids all to himself...yikes!

Well, I am off to bed..I am so very tired. Since I didn't comment, can I just give everybody a big (((HUG)))?? Hope you all have a super day.

Hi everyone

Today, like most Mondays, was on track. (YAY one day in a row - she rolls eyes sarcastically)

Got up and did Hula work out for 30 minutes, and got in my morning coffee walk today. Calories came in at 1392. And.... drum roll please ... I will not eat after 8pm tonight. Water is at 48 oz so far... Looks like its a 3.5 star day

1 star exercise
1 star calories (under 1500)
1 star journalling
1/2 star water ... but it's getting there

Betani I'm doing the star and the habit "thing" too.... I know you're FLYing... have you read "Body Clutter"?

Elisha Glad to hear about the house and the dress .... maybe you can send us pictures of both when you get new batteries???? I sure know what you mean about "getting serious" and staying on track.... I'm trying my darndess (sp) challenges, stars, ... etc etc. I guess when it really gets down to it ... if we want to change our behaviours ... for life ... we need to challenge our beliefs that feed those habits and behaviours. You're a lot younger than me ... I've had forty nine years to get them engrained.... I've been trying to identify what makes me eat ... my worst problem is not being able to control myself when there is something that I like. I cannot eat one or two cookies, I have to eat them until their gone.... same goes with anything. Another area that needs work for me is being tired, I refuse to admit that I'm tired ... instead I grab something to eat (usually after 9pm) that I shouldn't and graze until way too late.... Okay "nuff" rambling... you just got me thinking and then once I start ... I can't stop....

Lisa My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your Dad over the next few days. What a lucky man to have a daughter like you to look after him.

Julie I hope that work is going better for you this week. Sometimes these "problems" just need to be looked at from another perspective. DH's are good at that ... among other things Remember to stick to your guns. Accountability is here chickie, maybe we should write down our food here or PM me with your food journal.... and I'll send you mine (even if I'm not doing well)

MsRD were you doing WATP while I was "Hula ... ing" this morning. I thought I heard you in the back How'z it going?

Jennifer Check in chickie ... need to hear how close you are to moving in so I can plan my next vacation

Well off to watch another installment of "24".

Joy

Just a quick morning check in! Since I have really fallen off the wagon since last Thursday...I am going to get right back on again! I like Lisa's philosophy...no worry! Just do it! YEA!

When I lack in planning, I lack in follow through...and it shows when I button my pants! UGH! I told DD I was going to exercise when I got home from work today. She's so sweet...she was just trying to be nice and not hurt my feelings, I'm sure but she said..."Why? Do you want to get skinny?" And when I said "No, I just want to fit in my pants", she said "Well, you can just get some different ones, can't you?" Out of the mouths of babes! Ya gotta love that! But I did explain that I don't want to buy bigger pants, that I would like to fit into the ones I have now! She said..."Well, then you should probalby exercise, Mommy!" So, I will!

My plan today is to eat a healthy lunch (I'll probably go get a salad for lunch) and I'm making a "lite" meatloaf for supper with some veggies or a salad! There's my plan...in black & white, so now I have NO EXCUSES!

Joy...Glad you had a good monday...the secret now is to string those Mondays into Tuesdays, Weds., Thurs...and then through the weekend. Can we do this???? YES WE CAN!!! (Voices from Bob the Builder haunting me!)

Lisa...I know you aren't checking in for a while...but glad to hear from you! I miss you!

Elisha...Plan, plan, plan! We can never stop doing this! Oh...and your wedding dress...isn't it amazing when we find something that we just LOVE. Gotta have it! I'm sure it's stunning!

Betani...Sounds like all of us lost a lot of ground over the weekend! I hope you got your star yesterday...and are working toward one today!


MsRD, Jennifer...WHERE ARE YOU?????? Accountability chicas!!!!

Gotta run! Gotta get DD to school and off to work!

Morning chicks!

First off, while I’m thinking about it, here’s a link to some pictures of our house. I completely forgot to give you chicks this link! *slaps her forehead*

http://misselishab.tripod.com/our_house/

Keep in mind that the house is a bit of a fixer-upper, so it’s not all sparkly new like Jennifer’s. And there are no palm trees in the yard, either.

And I posted a picture of the dress I got here: http://misselishab.tripod.com/wedding/

Let’s see, what’s going on in my world? Yesterday I did fairly well, or so I thought. Calories came in at 1743, which seems high, but it was still within my budget and the vast majority of my food was healthy. 108 oz of water, 30 minutes of Yourself!Fitness. I actually followed my plan last night and got everything done. I was in bed about 10.15. I was aiming for 10.00, but I’ll take what I can get.
This morning I am stiff and cranky, I still didn’t get enough sleep, I have a headache, I feel dehydrated and bloated at the same time, and the scale is up to 217.2. Grrr….

I don’t know what I’m going to do about this. I’m going to give it another few days on this plan, I’m going to continue exercising and drinking lots of water, and I’m going to aim to get to sleep even earlier. Something has got to budge.

Today is my day off from exercise, and Steve is going to a basketball game. Unless Mom finds something to fix for dinner, I’ll probably end up having some tomato basil soup and some toast. Or some crackers. I got some Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits—man, are they good!

So I’m a little cranky today, and I don’t want to be at work, but I can’t afford not to be, and I just want to go home and curl up in bed and watch movies all day. *sigh*

OK, I’m done being negative for now. Have a good day, chicks.
~Elisha