OK, folks -- I've taken matters into my own hands and started the new group for 2002. For those of you who are just joining us, this group was formerly the "To 200 in 2001" club. Since we couldn't come up with a good name for 2002, we're stuck with this one! Welcome to all newbies and all returnees. This is a fun little group of folks who at some point in their journey have had at least 100 pounds to lose. We'd love to get to know you.

First, Exercisebimbo, WAY TO GO on losing those 4+ pounds! (It's 4.something, but I can't remember the something right now.) Woo-hoo! What a great boost to you in the new year!

I had quite the workout yesterday. My VCR DIED on me and in the process ate my BRAND NEW Leslie Sansone 3-mile walk tape. On the bright side, my brother claims he can splice the tape back together so it'll be usable, and he's going to lend us his spare VCR. So instead of my usual video workout, I put on some exercise music (a CD from Shape magazine -- this one was all 80s hits) and danced madly around the house. I terrified the cats, but I worked up quite a sweat -- more than I usually do. Then later in the day, I walked downtown and back, about a mile. So today I'm taking a little break!

Next week I actually have work to do ... a local company hired me for a short-term gig. It'll be nice to make some money again.

Hope everyone is doing well this fine Friday.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/198/174 by August 4

HI Lauren
Sorry i didnt findyou sooner, i was waiting for an email but didnt get one cause you started the new thread. Tomorrow night is my 2nd weigh in
You go girl with that dancin!!!!! ttyt

howdy howdy all!!

Lauren - I had a visual of your cats frantically avoiding your path! Probably as stressed as I would be to have 7 fillings!

Bimbo -You go girl - to WI that is. Be seeing less of you, darlin. I love your commitment to the slinky New Year's gown. Are you back in the pink and ready to exercise?

Kathy -where are you?

I've done well and not so well. Last week and half of this one I've done my floor exercises and journalled and eaten within points for the most part. But I didn't make it to WI, so no good news. The last two days I've eaten JUNK like a maniac. What's up with that? My DH is gone, my boss is gone, my favorite salesguy is gone -leaving me in charge of a teenager, a fulltime business and my own baby girl. Not getting home til after dark and getting up late and missing my chiropractor appointments makes me -what's the word? Unable to focus on the good in life. Grrr. So, I'll be down tomorrow, but not as much as it could have been. Hopefully I'll be able to take a walk on Sunday.

The good news is my boss is returning with his delightful 81 yoa Amish mother. She is a hoot! And she gets to stay for a month! Already got her booked as a guest speaker in my DD's class. She used to own a quilt shop and made a quilt for President Reagan, Daddy Bush and now for Baby Bush. (as you can see, Mr. Clinton didn't make the cut) Her work is exquisite. And she has the most wonderful sense of humor. Always happy and busy and humming. I expect she will wash the office windows inside and out by Tuesday. Such a sweetheart.

My hubby and I spoke again of possibly moving to California. It's a tough decision, specially when he's a contract worker. Not that any of us have better guarantees to our jobs, but at least if he were "permanent" the employer would pick up the moving expenses. But his agent says the employer is very pleased with his work, blah, blah, blah. I just have a tough time imagining raising out daughter in that environment. If she were older, I'd be outta here. I think. We are looking to the Lord for His guidance. So far, my DH says everytime he thinks we should make the move, something happens to dissuade him. Interestingly, the same things are what would fuel the fire for moving, from my perspective. whatever.

Y'all have a great week. Don't know when I can write again.

Hi, everybody. I miss Kathy, too. Where are you??

Bimbo, glad you found us. How's it going? How was the weigh-in? I wish they had a better way of giving us feedback on our progress; the scale is so unreliable.

Dora, you've got lots of stresses right now, what with hubby gone so much and all. That's tough. I hope things let up for you soon, and I hope you can find healthier ways to deal with stress rather than eating junk. (Did you write it down? Baby steps, baby steps.) That's my default behavior, too! Hey, I didn't get to be 274 because I had a well-balanced relationship with food! I prayed that God would help you know what to do with regard to moving. I know He will. And in the meantime, take that bubble bath, read that book, talk to those friends, do those crafts -- whatever keeps you away from the junk and helps you unwind.

I've been doing OK -- the past couple days have been over points, but TOM arrived today so hopefully that will be less of a problem. I've kept up the exercise at least. Did a short-term project that just finished -- it was interesting going back to work for a little while. And good to get paying work again.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/196.5/189 by April 17 (anniversary)

Hi everybody , Happy New Year !

I did try to check in when the message board was down . I'm finally feeling back to normal , such as it is . I had blood work done on Thursday & my liver is on the road to recovery . I do another test in a month . This is the first time in my history that i lost weight during the holiday . I wish it was due to my willpower . Unfortunately my appetite came back full strength , plus . I even gained 2 pounds last week . I took the kiddies to stay with their mom for the long weekend . I've been wanting to paint their room for awhile , but couldn't afford it . Walmart had Disney paint on clearance for $5.00 . I couldn't get the color I wanted , so when i came back home I added color to it . It's sort of a wisteria violet/blue . It looks good & is semi gloss . I hope they like it .
My son Anthony came home from Korea & we had a good visit . I didn't see much of him though . He's now in Sierra Vista , he'll be at Fort Huachuka in Arizona . it's by the borders of Mexico & New Mexico . He loves it . He said the female to male ratio is 6:1 & he was going to an all female rodeo last weekend . Can you imagine ?

Dora that Amish grandma sounds great . Your husband must like where he's at to consider moving there , huh ? It's scarey to move so far from what you're used to .

Well gotta go . Kathy

Kathy, great to see you! An all-female rodeo??? I can imagine! Your poor girl-deprived son! I'm so glad you're feeling better. I always overeat after a long (or short) illness; it's the body's way of refueling. Just keep writing it down, and you'll get it back under control.

I've had a couple good OP days now. I had a blecchy weigh-in at home (up a half pound) but a good one at WW again (down a pound). I can't figure that out; that's the second week in a row this has happened. You'd think in the evening with clothes on I would weigh a lot more, but now there's only about a 2-pound difference. Weird. I'm going to try weighing myself at home tomorrow to see if there's any change.

Had fun clothes shopping yesterday, too. The plus sizes are finally too big! Wheee!

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/197/189 by April 17

Howdy Howdy all!!

Kathy -yeah! you're back! That room color sounds loverly. I bet they love the surprise even more. Might make leaving more fun if they imagine something interesting will happen when they return. Are you full time at work now or do you have to take it easy for awhile?

Lauren - Super yeah on arriving in the Misses department!! Ain't it grand?! Kinda wierd and takes a bit of experimenting to see (for me) what brands fit my big thighs and flabby tummy. Luckily I wear a uniform polo to work with black pants. So, at least I don't have to come up with an office appropriate outfit every day. Hope you tried on at least one super fun outfit.(that didn't make you look like a gorilla!) For the most part, I enjoy my Lands End clothes. Wouldn't you know it? I bought a bunch recently and now they are having a big "overstock" sale. No more!

Exercise Bimbo & Gizzi where'd you go?

Ladies, today is my new beginning. I worked some long hours and spent a bit of money on myself -replaced a very wornout purse with something smaller. Now I have to discipline myself to not stuff the poor thing with junk (or my body, either!) And I found a fun pair of leopard print driving gloves. They are just divine with my leopard trimmed wool coat. And I found the Hard as Nails brand of "Chrome" nail polish in Opal. It looks to die for! One asset I have is nicely shaped nails that are fairly strong. When I put this polish on, it looked like I had fake nails. This was especially interesting cause I recently rented the movie,"To Wong Foo with love. THanks for Everything, Julie Newmar". If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If not, you oughta.
OK, so, new purse, new polish, new journal, new week. Lauren, I intend to write down all of those bites, ugly though the truth may be. You are exactly right about baby steps. Which is what our meeting was about today -consistency and forward progress.
Today I have also made a largish list of stuff to do. My DD and I have made quite a dent in it. One that is left is to fill the new purse! And I focused on the list, not the other many things crying out to be done. So, it feels good to make and see the progress. If we do make that move, we have far to go before we sleep.
Sorry so wordy! Your turn!

Howdy, Dora! WTG on your "new purse, new week" attitude. I can so picture you in your leopard print gloves and coat! Love it!! Sounds like you're starting a new roll. (And NOT the kind that develops around one's middle!) That's great.

Today I'm going to clean the house and then reward myself by walking to the used book store. Like I really need more books.

Oh, this past weekend DH and I went to the clothing consignment shop again, as we usually do on Sundays (it's on the way home from church, and they have very high turnover). I actually bought two size L shirts that FIT. One is by Tommy Halfinger, or however you spell that, so I removed the tag emblazoned on the back. Sorry, but I'm not into being a human billboard for designers. Anyway, I was surprised that they fit well. But the real shocker was a lovely cranberry dress that DH especially loved and wanted me to try on. It was a fitted size 12, so I told him there was no point. He insisted I try it, and would you believe it almost fit???? Another 10 pounds or so, and I'll be there. Amazing. Then, just in case I started to get a swelled head, I tried on another size L shirt -- and I looked like a kielbasa sausage! So you win some, you lose some. Sizing is nuts.

Hope everyone is having a splended Monday, if that's not too much of an oxymoron.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/197.5/189 by April 17

Are you having a tough time getting motivated, folks? Can't figure out why you're eating too much when you think you really want to lose weight? Here's a link I found at Dotti's, and it's great: http://www.ivillage.com/diet/experts...404421,00.html

I think I'm going to try this approach this coming month. Anyone want to join me?

--Lauren

Hi Lauren -

Congratulations to you for your recent success - size 12 - WOW! It doesn't sound like you need much motivation given your recent downward trend. Thanks also for the link. I'll join you in this endeavor. This is something akin to a message board I tried to start many months ago which addressed the relationship between feelings and being overweight. Perhaps that was too Oprahesque?? I'll keep you posted on my progress and look forward to hear about yours.

Swan, you crack me up -- Oprahesque! Too funny. No, I've never thought of you as Oprahesque! You certainly qualify, though, as a person who has approached this journey in a very thoughtful manner, which I've always appreciated. I'll look forward to hearing more about your thoughts as you progress as well.

As for that size 12, I'm not deluding myself. (Most of the time, anyway. ) That was a freak thing. Sure was fun, though.

Onward and downward,

Lauren (just back from a one-hour walk)

Hi Lauren - Something struck me about your encounter with that size 12 fitted dress. Your husband knew that you were pretty close to that size while you didn't. I have long realized that I don't see my body accurately. Once, a boyfriend had to tell me that I had lost weight and I thought that he was crazy until I got on the scale. When I was 135 lbs at 5'2", I was convinced that I was fat. As I look at pictures of those times, I realize that I was just curvy and proportionate. Then at my heaviest weight, I didn't know how big I had gotten until I saw pictures of myself. What is even stranger is that 5 lbs seems to make a huge difference on my frame. When, for instance, I am only (!) 60 lbs overweight I get compliments on my small waist where no one says anything about me when I am 65 lbs overweight. Go figure. Are men more in tune with women's true sizes or are we just clueless? Do you notice changes in the appearance of other people? Unless the change is something drastic, I don't notice. I guess appearance isn't that important to me. Maybe if it were, I wouldn't have gained so much weight.

Take care everyone!

(Just back from the gym where I did an hour of hip hop aerobics and 30 minutes on the treadmill. I'll probably have sore shins tomorrow.)

Swan, very interesting observation. I'm actually developing a decent eye for what might fit me these days. What put me off trying on the dress was that the tag said "12." I was just too influenced by the number rather than by the dress itself.

But I really don't have a good sense of what I look like either, until I see photos. I tend to always think I weigh about 150 or so. So I'm shocked in photos where I look bigger. Or, for that matter, when I got thinner, I still thought I looked about 150. I think something must've imprinted me at that weight.

I'm not good at judging other people's sizes or changes in weight, either.

Hip hop aerobics sounds like a blast.

Down a pound this week on the home scales, which is nice.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
274/195.5/189 by April 17

Hi y'all ,

It seems like everytime I try to go to the message board , they're adjusting it .

I was snowed in this weekend & really blew it big time . I'm so sick of my lack of willpower . I can do it at work . A co-worker threw an armfull of reeses cups on a table right by my desk . They were there for over a week & I didn't eat one . I wanted all of them ! At home I make myself so mad . I've got to do it ! It was alot easier when the kids weren't here . I do love oranges right now , so I bought a bunch last night . If I overeat those I might just get the runs . I can live with that .

Lauren You are doing so good ! Size 12 ! I can only dream of size 12 .

Dora , I can just picture you with your nails , coat & gloves . What about the lipstick ? Any more news about California ?

Ta Ta . Kathy

I planned to weigh in this morning and told myself that I would be ok with a weight of 205 lbs or less. Wouldn't you know it? I weighed in at 205 exactly. I was a little surprised having thought that I was actually less than that. But later today, my monthly nemesis showed up so I am blaming it! Today I ate 25 points, drank 10 glasses of water and rode my stationary bike for 30 minutes.

I have exercised 23 days this month. Part of my New Year's Resolution was to exercise for at least 1/2 hour 6X per week. One week I skipped 2 days, but then added the 30 minutes on another day. Can I keep this up? I'll let you know.

Hip hop aerobics is a blast! I can keep up with the choreography, but Janet Jackson has nothing to worry about. The choreography is quite difficult, especially at tempo. The only reason I keep up as easily is because I've been attending class steadily for 2 years and the instructor gradually made the routines more difficult. Anyway, it can be amusing when newcomers to the class immediately go to the front row and have trouble only to realize that the fat chick in the back corner (ME!) is keeping up when they can't. Perhaps it's slightly mean of me, but I do get a kick out of their incredulous looks. If I were truly mean, I'd start humming Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust'!


Eager to pass that 200 barrier - YET AGAIN (and this time for the last time)!