Girls we all sound so motivated that is a super feeling. I did go out for dinner didn't eat only one piece of Italian bread thought about the second and let it go. I ordered my favorite chicken parm. ate half only touched the spaghetti a bit didn't bring home the leftover pasta only the chicken. No dessert. I feel that I am making some better choices though I did have one little cookie yesterday no chips or things like that though. I wish I were able to get together with all of you how cool would that be. Marie and Nikki your both making great strides congrats to you both. The rest of us are trying and hope to get our loses up there soon. We can only try to make our habits and routine healthy. I think after awhile our minds just no whats better for us and it will become more natural to make the healthy choice without much thought put into it all. I picked up another little book yesterday a .50 how french woman stay thin. It was interesting but I didn't get a super lot out of it. But was checking it out while visiting with my company so not really reading it browsing more than anything. Well my daughters shower is next week on sunday so lots to do at the end of the week for that. I changed the 1/2 of carrot cheese cake to be one round carrot cake and one choc. mousse cake. We will have around 35 guest. She and FSIL put down their travel agency an some people are giving gift cards through there. I think its great and we are giving her the two big gifts she wanted. It will be a good time for all some out of town guest can't make it but thats okay sometimes its hard to have a good time scheduled for everyone. We will see them all at the wedding. I am going to attempt working on the flower girls dresses today just taking them in and adding on some trim to match the big girl dresses. My daughter loved my jewelry from my trip. I need to pick up some black pearls to make some earrings to match the necklace. Kind of a rainy day here but suppose to clear and be warmer. My gym is being remodeled hopefully for the better so on monday I will go to the one they have in the mall. It is only 5 min. from work. Maybe it will end up working out to be more convient for me and I will stay at that one? Girls I haven't in the past been able to hear this good in my left ear for a long time. Thought it was all the loud music over the years as a teenager a loss of hearing. Not anymore ck it out if your having issues it also seemed to clear my sinus problem which the doc said it would. I questioned her as I was kind of plugged up feeling she said oh that should clear right up and wow it did. Should of gone a lot sooner. Marie I am jealous pool??? Have fun! Bear seems to be settling down a bit he is going to get fixed next month. His flea a tick stuff came so bath time for him today. I painted the other day and he has some on his head and ear. Crazy pup! Nikki your going to meet your goal for the graduation hurray! Way to go on new clothes and dragging out old ones which fit nicely. Kind of cool to have a few new thing to wear. I am glad my clothes from last spring are working out well for me. I had purchased a few new things then and glad they are working out. But wouldn't mind getting a few new ones too. Keep it up everyone and keep moving if your make a off the wall choice and cals are a bit high move move move then it won't get yah!

Morning everyone!!!! Last day of the weekend. I sort of have a little headache and all my energy seems to have evaporated. I did take the doggies out to the mountain again for a 2 mile walk. I also did 2 miles WATP but now I'm tired. I think I'll watch NASCAR with DH.

Carol, sounds like you made good choices. I LOVE chic parmesan. Or eggplant parmesan. Or zucchini parmesan. I bet you get the drift.

Well, not much else happening today. I'll chat tomorrow.
Marie

Hi All-


I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had a real nice saturday. Today was a bit hectic as I started the data analysis part of my thesis. I may lose my head yet lol. I am proud of myself I did not overeat even though I was stressed and I stayed within my carbs I have not checked a scale since Friday so I am anxious to see tomorrow how I am doing.

Nikki

Marie hope you feel better. I didn't go over 1500 cals yesterday but my choices weren't the best. Coneys on the grill couple of salt potatoes and baked beans a little ice cream cone and of course my breakfast, lunch was tomatoes, feta and onion with a little chicken. But did I burn calories I cut the raspberries bushes back, pulled weeds , and then I pruned two apple trees one was quite big needed a ladder to use with my 12 ft. pole. It definitly was a work out and my hips feel it today. But how great to burn off some fat. In the end my trees and my trunk will look better and benefit from the event. Hah hah. My company is still here and my SIL's bathroom is nice and bigger than mine. My brother in law is sweet and trying to do some things for my hubby that he sees needs to have attention. Wow its nice to have someone help without having to ask he just does it. He has really missed his little brother and he holds a special respect for him together their fun to watch. You can see the caring for one another without words being exchanged. Well off to work today. Nikki you will do fine on your paper your a smart chick. Good for you having control during stress thats a biggy. Marie relax and have some hot tea listen to some calming music you deserve it. Hope that headache goes away soon. Is it sinus problems? Talk to you all soon. 53 days before my daughters wedding thought that might help me to reach my goal or at least stay on track. This weekend is the big shower around 40 responses back. Busy week! Lots to do!

Morning everyone!!! I'm at work and they've already managed to annoy me. I guess that's what I get for taking Friday off. They like to change things and let me know after the fact. Oh well. Apparently I'm no longer going to Portland on the 10/11. In all honesty, I'm happy about that - but on the flip side, I don't like being told through email that all the plans that were made need to be undone. That part bugs me. C'est la vie.

Carol, you'll have a busy week getting ready for the shower. It'll be fun though. Are you no longer doing SB? Even with all my allergies, I rarely get sinus headaches, infections. It was just an old fashioned headache that went away on it's own. The rest of my day yesterday was pretty nice.

Nikki, data analysis is the fun part (says the database manager...). I'm sure you'll do fine. good luck on the weigh in.

Penny and Judy, hope you're doing good.

I exercised before work. It's the last day of projected nice weather for a while. I'd much rather be outside.
Marie

I'm having a busy Monday morning, so just a quick check in for me. I managed to get a lot more yard work done on the weekend and have weeded and spread the first 20 bags of mulch. The yard is starting to look a lot nicer but still a lot to do - a good way to burn calories though!

My DH wants to lose a few pounds, so that will hopefully inspire me to do the same.

Have a good one!

Oh, it's a gorgeous spring Monday and I do not want to be stuck in the office! At least it's payday, which takes some of the sting out of it .

Hang in there, Nikki, you will do a great job!

Carol, it's so nice to have your BIL around doing large and small things for your family. I bet your SIL in delighted to have a nice new bathroom. I envy all of you having gardens to work in. Of course, if I had one, I'd probably complain about the work... the grass is always greener blah blah blah

I worked out in the fitness room again yesterday, getting over my aversion to being there when there's a lot of other tenants there, too. My DVD player isn't fixable, so I guess I'll have to buy another one. Does anyone know if TiVos or other DVRs are capable of playing DVDs, too? If so, maybe I'll just upgrade to Tivo.

judy

Marie oh work can be stressful. I am trying to make up for being out on friday and Mon., Tues. last week. Just working my way through what I can and taking urgent things first etc. Deep breath for all of us. Maybe a bit of yoga at work. I am still on SB but not as strictly. I had some pasta last night the whole grain barilla oh not so bad. Best I have tried so far a little of that and some chicken I grilled. Today I will make a salad with the chicken for work. Last night for dessert I had a 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries with a little lite cool whip and walnuts, 1 T. of grape nuts. I needed a crunch I guess. Penny way to go with the yard work burning cals. for sure. Judy anytime you'd like to do yard word jump a flight I'll put you up and let yah help with mine. I have to say the spring flowers in my entrance way garden look so pretty this year. I planted some new things last year in the fall always nice to see them in the spring. Well off to work first I need to get some breakfast though. I did try a balance bar yesterday for a midmorning break. It seemed to hold me over for lunch. Take care and keep moving its got to burn some cals. 52 days til the wedding I thought my count down would help me stay on track.

Morning Ladies-

Marie- I spent 6 hours yesterday on the data and got no where HOW is that fun? LOL

Penny - I am glad your hubby is being supportive.

Judy I think tivo can play dvds. I was thinking of getting tivo myself.

Carol- How do those balance bars taste?

As for me I am stil holding onto my weight. No change since Friday I officially weigh in tomorrow. I am hoping it is just stress but I guess maintaing is good. I just want to break the plateau and get down to 153. Next week I am going to add some carbs back to my diet eat the ice cream and rice I was craving. Then May 9 go back on strict atkins style inductin. I am going to try to shake up the metabolism.

Nikki

Morning all. I've had a fun time so far today at work - I've rebooted our internet server at least 8 times. So while it's working - here I am - testing it out. I hope it stays working as I'm getting very irritated at it. I bet the rest of the school district is also.

Judy, I don't know of any TiVO that has DVD capabilities but that doesn't mean there isn't. I have a DVR and one with a DVD wasn't an option. My co-worker has a TiVO and a separate DVD that burns DVDs of the shows recorded on TiVO.

Nikki, but data is fun. Just repeat it enough and you'll believe it. If nothing else you'd have burned a couple calories chanting.

Carol, while you were doing the SB strictly, did you lose any weight? I can't remember as I'm brain dead this morning. Just keep at the good choices and you'll lose more.

Penny, you've done lots of yard work. Our weather is to disintegrate soon (already started). Snow in the forecast for tomorrow night.

BUT....

The pool was up to 72 degrees (maybe just a hair short of that) yesterday and I dove in!!!! I swam in my pool in april. Now, May may be another story. I swam a quarter mile. This morning I walked 1.4 miles on the treadmill and jogged .6. Today being the first of the month meant it was time to increase the jogging. I'm raising it .1 mile every month. I'll be pretty excited when I reach 1 mile of real running. The WATP jogging is exercise but not nearly as hard.

I lost a little bit more for this morning's weigh in. I'm up to 47 pounds lost. May I never find them again.
Marie

Judy - I hope you find a suitable DVD player - I'm not much help in that regard as I'm fairly low tech! I only just found out the difference between MP3 and a DVD as the music for our fashion show didn't work on my player! Luckily, my DH came to the rescue and rushed out to get me a new MP3 player, which is great.

Carol - Your family story is very touching - it's great to hear when families care for each other - even without having to say it in so many words. I hope the work stress has calmed down a bit for you and that you can keep on track for your goal. I'm sure you will look lovely, no matter what you lose. My DH likes the balance bars and he just sent away for a case as they don't have his favorite flavor in the stores. He's a big fan of "The Zone" balance of 40/30/30, so those bars fit right in for his snacks. He's kept off 45 lbs. for about 8 years now but would like to lose 5-10 lbs. The Zone seems to work well for him so I'm going to try to stick to it too while he's on it and see if it helps me get losing again.

Nikki - Good luck with your plan to shake things up to reach your goal. I'm rooting for you!

Marie - I hope you've resolved your tech difficulties at work. If it's not annyoing coworkers it's the darned computers - you don't seem to be able to catch a break! I bet you enjoyed your first swim of the season, let's hope it warms up a bit soon. Congrats on the pound loss - you are doing awesome!

I'm off to my monthly meeting/luncheon today. We're doing a salad bar potluck so hopefully there will be some healthful choices. I'm very stuffed up from the yard work, all that raking seems to have got my allergies going. I never learn - I should wear a mask when doing dusty jobs. The yard is starting to look nice though. It's supposed to start raining again today, so I'm hoping it clears up soon so that I can move some plants around and put in a few annuals.

Hi Ladies-

I had odd results this week. I only lost 1 lb which means lost 10 lbs in 3 weeks. Not to shabby. However, I am noticing my body reshaping and 3 people yesterday said I looked like I lost weight. Here is hoping I can lose this last 8 real soon. Then I will have another 16 to goal. Only 24 til I hit my goal. Crazy considering when I started this journey I had 67 lbs to lose.

Today I start adding in some carbs and begin my experiment. Wish me luck. I am real nervous about this but I heard it can work and I am willing to try it. Worst case it doesnt and I get a week to relax my eating abit.

Nikki your body is probably just adjusting to what you lost. Not a bad thing but a good thing. Better to keep it off than to lose too much to quickly. So continue to do what your doing and eventually it will drop more. Good luck. Also the balance bars aren't so bad I purchased a low carb one yesterday choc. and peanut butter. It hit the spot and stopped me from being over hungry when I got home. It was I think 180 cals. 14 protiens etc. low in sugar.
Marie I did lose and at this pt. trying to keep it off. I figure if I continue to becareful and watch my carbs, bread of course, chips and stuff more should follow. The shower is this weekend so I will hopefully beable to be good til sunday enjoy my day with the family and jump back in monday. I can go back to a few days of phase 1 at anytime to get a jump start again. Just had my oatmeal homemade steel oats, walnuts. I am going to make a chicken, spinach salad for lunch. By the way the Paul Newman Lite Ceasar dressing is very good. The sun is shining today and that makes life so much nicer. To appreciate the little things like my spring flowers etc. Well have a great day and keep moving we can do this

Carol thanks for the support Your chicken spinach salad sounds so yummy.

Nikki

Nikki--ten lbs in three weeks is wonderful . Your body is frantically adjusting, so you are smart to experiment a bit to shake things up.

Penny, a salad bar potluck sounds like fun! I like bring salads to potlucks, they're fun and easy to throw together with a few interesting features like avocados, lentils or shrimp.

Marie, there was a typo in your post. It said "snow." What did you mean to write?

Carol, I like Balance bars and Zone Perfect bars (especially the mint chocolate) but I've had to switch to Larabars and Luna bars to avoid the wheat. Some of the Luna bars are a bit too sweet, but they are fine in a pinch.

Thanks for the word on DVRs. I guess I will go shopping for a DVD player this week. I really miss my workouts and my netflicks. But I'll call my cable compay first to ask about their DVR/HD package, now that I have a spifffy new TV.

I am very proud of myself: I did a light workout before going to work yesterday, and when I came home, instead of turning on Jeopardy (it's college week, anyway, which I don't like as much), I put on workout togs and did 45 minutes of cardio in the fitness center. Just me and four sweaty young men who totally ignored me and ignored each other. So I guess I'm getting over my self-consciousness. I tend to gravitate toward the TV when I get home at 7:30 or 8, then I eat, veg out and go to sleep. So for the next few weeks, I'll try more evening workouts. Or at least until reagular Jeopardy starts up again!

judy