Soul that is awesome, I haven't heard of a few things that you have listed but if it is working for you that is awesome.
Sxulcmnky- You know there is alot of talk out there on changing your calories from low to high and it changes up the way your body thinks as long as your are still eating healthy on your up calorie days. Great Job!

ya i'm going to do 1600 for 2 weeks or so then when i get to not losing as much i'll go back to 1450 for awhile and so on

Hey everyone!

I got a nice surprise when I weighed this morning. My goal for this challenge was to lose 20 lbs. As of this morning I have lost 22 lbs since the beginning of the challenge. Needless to say I am a happy girl today. Only 20 lbs more and I will be under 200lbs for the first time since high-school (11 years ago)! 1 more lb and I will go from Morbidly Obese to just Severely Obese! A big step in the right direction!

I hope that everyone is having as good a day as I am! Be back later for personals.

Ahill! That is awesome!!! What an accomplishment!

Sally, I think you'll have success doing the higher calories.

Reda, thanks. I know that some of my food is unusual to some people, maybe some people will try a few new things I've mentioned!

Hello ladies!

Soulbliss - I admire you being able to stick with it, on plan, and not falter one single bit. I would be lying if I said I did the same. Though, when I do falter it's normally when TOM is here. I typically can resist any food temptation thrown at me at any other time.... but when TOM is in town - it's a lot harder for me! Congrats on being the biggest loser 2 weeks in a row!!!!!

ahill1979 - Those kinds of surprises are awesome! I love it when that happens! A big huge on already meeting your challenge goal!!!



I would like to say another huge to you ladies for doing so great again this week!!! It's just so stinkin' awesome!!!

Hi everybody,

I'm back from my week long visit with my mom. I brought with me the 3 lbs I lost the week before! Oh well, gotta fix that. I had to take a freebie for the first time b/c I got back late on Monday and didn't want to weigh in at the end of the day (I usually do mornings), especially after a week of eating too much!

Congrats to the team on winning the weigh-in again!!! Way to go! Congrats on the big losses too! Wow!

I have a lot of catch up reading to do and I need to get back on plan. Have a great day!

hsmomx2 - You and your family will be in my prayers. I hope everything works out with your insurance and that the rain has gone away!

Manda - 22 pounds since the challenge started!!! WOW!! That's awesome. You should be very proud of yourself.

hope4me - glad you are back and hoped you had fun. Those 3 pounds won't last long!

michie - Great job on your loss!! It's hard to do when you've been super busy.

Tatiana - I'm jealous you're already working on a veggie garden. We still have snow. I have herbs I started from seed in the window but it will still be a while before we start working outside. The activities you have planned for your husband's vacation sound great. Maybe you could try some new, super healthy recipes while he's home.

Sxulcmnky - Awesome job having a loss on vacation!! You ROCK!!

SoulBliss - You never cease to amaze me. What is seitan?? lol!!!

Have a great day everybody!!

Hey SoulBliss:

I saw you in the Blue chat!!! I've been looking at HRM's, too. I think I've decided on the Polar F4. I work out alone so I'm not worried about interference and it has everything I really want. Mainly calculating HR & calories burned. Have you been shopping HRM's??

I figure that Chellez is busy with work and running the challenge - so I went ahead and made our teams banners for the 3 other weeks we've won the weigh-ins. Feel free to copy these and add them to your signature if you want to.

(I believe you "right-click" the image and select "save as" to save it to your computer. From there I think you upload them to a photo hosting site such as Photobucket and then put them in your siggy from there)

Lemme ask y'all a question.

My doctor's office just pissed me off. I take Wellbutrin for depression and have for yrs. So anyway, when I made my appt I told them I'd prolly need them to call me in a week or 2's worth because I would run out before my April 1st appt. So I call AGAIN today. I've tried for 2 day's to see what the deal is, and the nurse REFUSES to let me speak to me doc and tells me I have to be seen and therefore will not get a refill. Well, this pissed me off because I most certainly am not a drug addict and that's how she was treating me. So I have decided this. I am trying to get off so many prescription med's anyways. My hope is when I lose this weight, I can stop taking the metformin for Diabetes too. I just got the ok to stop the actos. So I am just gonna stop taking it. I mean, I feel fine, I exercise 5 days a week and will do more if need be. I am sick of being a slave to medications.

I was thinking of taking St.John's Wort if I get to feeling down. Does anyone here take that???

Roni, Your doctors office pisses me off too. As someone that has had to take antidepressants before I gotta say that I don't think you should just stop taking it. You might feel fine and happy now but it might not stay that way if you stop taking it abruptly like that. If I were you I would call the doctors office back and tell the nurse that you will have no choice but to stop taking it unless they give you the 1 or 2 weeks worth of medicine to tide you over until the appointment. I hope that you get it worked out. What a jerk that nurse it. Good luck with whatever you decide. I am thinking about you.

Gotta go cook dinner. Hope that you all had a great day. More from me later.

That's just it though, they REFUSE to do that so I am going to be from tonight until April 1st without it. Thirteen day's. I'm gonna go through withdraws and I'll be damned if I'm gonna go through withdraws just to go back on the damn things. Screw it. I was fine before I had Matt, I got post partem (sp) and was depressed because of my divorce and whatnot, but I truly do not believe I have to be on these damn things the rest of my life. Matt is almost 15 yrs old now. it's time to stand on my own 2 feet and stop using this crutch. I mean seriously, if they thought I needed them would they really FORCE me into a withdraw???? Gotta love state healthcare. I think America wants its people hooked on presrciption drugs, **** every other commercial, they are pushing some drug.

Roni, anti-depressants aren't a crutch. If you had diabetes, would you consider insulin to be a crutch? When you are clinically depressed, there are chemical imbalances in your body. Sometimes, these imbalances do improve and you can come off of the medicine. Losing weight and exercising sometimes do help one's body to reverse the imbalance. But, if they never do improve, there is absolutely nothing wrong with taking this medication to help keep things balanced. However, wellbutrin is not a medication that should be abrubtly stopped if possible. This medication should be gradually reduced. The nurse is a jerk. Have you tried talking with the office manager? How about threatening to call the state? Do whatever you have to do to get the medical attention you deserve.

Roni - I agree with what everyone else has been saying. Don't stop your medication abruptly! I was on Lexapro (an anti-anxiety/depression medication) for a few years. I decided I wanted to stop it cold turkey one day out of the blue. I felt just like you feel now... that it was a crutch and I didn't need it. I didn't feel the "withdrawls" for a few days. But when they hit, it was BAD. So, I immediately got back on my meds. When it was time for me to quit, it took me a few months to do so. I'd start by taking 3/4 of my dosage everyday for 2 weeks, then I'd go down to 3/4 the dosage every other day for 2 weeks. Then I'd take 1/2 the dosage every other day for 2 weeks. Then 1/2 of the dosage every 2 days for 2 weeks. Then 1/4 of the dosage every 2 days. Then 1/4 of the dosage every 3 days. It was cerrtainly a gradual process. Your body needs to s-l-o-w-l-y come off of them. If you are wanting to get off of the medicine, I'd recommend talking to your doctor on April 1 and telling him then so that you can discuss your options. I do agree that weight loss is a natural saratonin builder, at least it really helped me.
As for the nurse, yes, DEFINITE jerk. I would certainly report her to someone who is above her in seniority. And, actually - I would think it would go against procedure to knowingly hold off a patient from speaking with the doctor who is about to run out of their precription medication (especially if they can't call in a refill for you). I would call up there and tell her that since you can't get a refill until you see the doctor, that you need an appointment with the doctor before your refill runs out, otherwise they need to get you the 2 weeks worth of meds - because side effects from abruptly stopping a depression medication are horrible!. My husband went through that, where he'd run out of Lexapro (yep, we were both on it) and wouldn't be able to get in with the doctor for a while so the nurse practitioner for the office would see him...and get him a temporary prescription (or give him the samples from the office) maybe your doc's office can do that? Some people who are in the medical field shouldn't be there. Sounds like this nurse is one of them. Do they have more than one nurse that works in that office that you could speak with?
Let us know how it goes!