Good morning! We're back from the beach and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect the whole week. Mel and her DD spent two days with us and now they know the truth about how crazy my family is. The funny thing is, they fit right in.

I did six loads of laundry yesterday and now we have a sand bar in our laundry tub. Makes me feel kind of bad to wipe out half the state of NJ by dragging it home in our beach towels.

I didn't do any exercise the whole week other than walking a few blocks to the beach doing curls with a beach chair (not really - I was too lazy for even curls). The scale was up 2.2 pounds when I got home and I lost 1.2 of that yesterday, so hopefully the other pound will whoosh away today. Eating really was pretty OK and I passed up all the salt water taffy and food porn that the others in my family (not Mel or her DD!) were eating. The only off-track food was a cup of SF ice cream and I didn't even eat the whole thing.

So I'm really looking forward to the gym this morning! A week off was probably a good idea since I've been working out almost nonstop for the past few months. Now I feel refreshed and ready to hit it hard.

I'll try to go back and catch up on last week -- hope everyone is doing well. Did Lisa have her baby?

Good morning Meg et. al.

Waving to let you know I'm still around, actively reading, however infrequently posting on this thread. Sending giant waves of gratitude to all you maintainers on the occasion of my one year anniversary on 3FC. You greatly encourage me by showing that maintaining isn't automatic even after a few years. I retain the thinking bias - held without basis - that it should be easy to maintain after the difficult path of losing.

My challenge for today is to return from the farmers' market with no more fresh fruits and vegetables than will fit in our fridge. Life is good.

Hi Meg - sounds like a great vacation.

Good morning, Bill.

I had a bit of a lapse when my ILs were here. I exercised every day but my eating was atrocious. I was up 4.4 pounds after their visit but now I am back on plan (before it turned into a relapse - thank you Thin for Life).

My daughter starts first grade today. She is such a big girl all of a sudden.

Good morning everyone.

Meg, sounds like you had a fabulous vacation. So glad that you and Mel got to spend some time together. How nice! For the life of me, I can't figure out how on earth you could go away for one week and your only off food, if you can even call it that, is a SF ice cream . I really need to remember this one.

Bill, good luck with your challenge. I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes I wish produce would have a longer life - other times, not so much. It DOES make it interesting to see just how much veggies one could fit in, in a day.

Wardhog, first grade is a biggie. Make sure you take a picture of her with her lunch box and knapsack. I have pics of all my daughters heading out on their first day of 1st grade. Great thing to have.

So sad. Summer is coming to a close. One daughter will be home this week from camp. My older one, she's a division head at a camp, will be back next week. Where did the summer go????????? I'm certainly looking forwarding to seeing them, (and hugging and kissing them), but I am very unhappy that my now favorite season is almost ending.

I think back how I used to loathe the summer and literally count the days til it was over. Now, I am soooo saddened that it's practically gone. Almost with a feeling of dread, that's just how much I enjoy it now.

Nice NSV. While we were away this past weekend, I was standing near the pool and my husband said to me, something to the effect of, he can't get over just how muscular my shoulders and arms are. He also mentioned that he didn't realize what great posture I had. Hubby is definitely enjoying the new me. I feel very grateful that he put up with me all those fat years.

Yes, this is all so very worth it. BIG TIME!!!!

Have a great week everyone.

Good Morning,

Robin, yes it seem summer is almost over. I'm sitting her freezing! We got a rain Saturday and with it came the cool weather. I admit we needed botht he rain and a break from the heat, but never expected this. Went from 90 to 60 in one day. Isn't it great when someone (especially husbands) complement us on the new, fit us? Makes all that hard work worth it!Lilly

Meg, Vacation sounds like fun. and if the only "cheat" you had was some ice cream, girl you are amazing! And is that really a cheat? We have to plan some treats into our diet occasionally. Life is fun!

Wardhog, It's a sad and happy time sending our children off to school. She is oficially a "big" girl now.

Lilly, At least you have the peace of mind knowing that the kids are being taken care of. And no, they don't deserve that!!

Take care, Freda

Hi all,

It feels like I'm back on the wishful thinking weight loss plan, which as we all know is astonishingly useless in actually losing weight. But DS went from 50th percentile at two weeks to 25th percentile at 2 months on his length and weight, so I'm working on getting the quantity and quality of my breast milk up. His doc said this may not be a big deal, since the two week weight is more related to the pregnancy conditions and the two month weight reflects his own little self, but it is a trend that she doesn't want to see continue. We are tracking him closely now. Developmentally he is doing wonderfully, seems to be a happy, smiley baby, who is progressing normally, but we worry about these things.

So I'm trying to eat more food, and healthy food at that, before we resort to any substantial formula supplementation. I'm exercising fairly regularly again, which is nice, but I'm SORE this morning from biking on Saturday. The scale is up, but it should be from just the food quantity and soreness, so hey, two pounds, schmoo pounds. You guys are not going to catch me on the 'no excuses' thread any time soon--I've got a million of 'em, and a couple are completely legitimate.

DD has her first trip to the dentist tomorrow. This should be interesting. Wish me luck.

BTW, my maternity leave to do list is now done. I've decided, for reasons which are long and complex, that I need to buy a new TV and a minivan. But test driving the minivan with an infant is, well, not going to happen, and I'm not sure I can get the TV until I have a car that will fit more than just me and two car seats. It is a secondary TV, and I'm not so concerned about having everything just so, so I'm thinking maybe I'll have it shipped in.

I spoke with Lisa last week, and I don't have any permission to share any news, so I won't. But, I will say that she and her family are doing well, everyone seems very happy, and I'm sure she'll be back around to share her own news when she's rested.

Anne

Welcome back, Meg! Sounds like you had a good vacation!

Anne - You excuses are 100% legitimate. Great job getting back into exercising!

Hi to everyone else!

I wogged with the dog twice this past week! And my knees aren't suffering for it, I think they are improving. I know I'm really out of shape because I am breathing way too hard after each jogging segment, and the segments are pretty short. Once I get a little more comfortable (and my legs stop being sore for two days after each jogging session), I may go back and try C25K again. I am so excited to be able to get some jogging in without destroying my knees! Thank you, synthetic thyroid hormones!

I ate poorly this weekend. It was like my motivation to eat healthy just disappeared. In an effort to improve my planning and eating, I did actually pick out a bunch of recipes for this week, rather than relying on "throwing things together," which I am inevitably too lazy to do. Hopefully I will get in a good amount of exercise too. I'm feeling more motivated now that I know I won't kill my knees.

Welcome back, Meg! I missed you!

Anne, thanks for the message that the family is well. I've been thinking about Lisa a lot this week.

My little guy starts kindergarten this week. He's ready. This will be the first time in 16 years that I don't have a preschooler at home. I am not ready to say goodbye to this stage of my llife, but I guess my readiness is irrelevant. And woosh, they were all in school.....How in the world does that happen?

Jessica~I was thinking I'd need to restart the C25k because I hadn't run for several months, but on Friday at the gym I got on the treadmill and started running--it was easy! I may be able to just go back to regular running as soon as the weather cooperates.

Lisa~you hoo! Hello....you there? Tell us!!!!

Anne~best of luck at the dentist! Whew! While my kids never had a problem with the dentist or hair cutters, my DD had a TANTRUM when we had to get a blood test. I'll never forget having her sit on my lap, my legs wrapped around hers so she couldn't kick the phlebotomist and holding her right arm tight to her chest while the assistant and I both held her left arm for the blood draw. What screaming! I wish I had a video of it to show her now!!!

Robin~yes. Where did the summer go? My DD will be with us for only another 9 days before she leaves for college.

I can't wait to get to the gym this afternoon. What a change for me!

Good morning everyone!

Meg-- sounds like you had a great time at the beach! I love the beach and am jealous of your trip. I would have had way more food issues than you had for sure!

WardHog-- First grade. How exciting. Treasure this time. It goes by too fast. I feel like my little girls were just starting preschool and kindergarten yesterday. I truly do. Now they are off to 9th grade and college this year. How does that happen?!?!

Robin-- that is a great NSV with dh. My dh is still trying to adjust to the new me. Half of the time he is complimenting me on my figure or my eating and the other half he is complaining that I'm too thin or exercising too much. I think it is an adjustment for all of us still.

Hi Bill!
Hi Freda!

Anne-- take good care of yourself and your little one. Of course, his nutrition is more important than your weight right now. Try not to worry about his size but that is easy for me to say!

Paperclippy--- glad you are feeling better and your knees are cooperating too.

midwife-- wow! Another little one starting kindergarten. So sweet!

This is my last week off before I am back at school next week.
We got some hairbrained idea to do some major home renovations so we are having new floors put in. The kitchen and downstairs are torn up. Since we were getting new floors, dh and I took the opportunity to paint the rooms. So, I missed the gym yesterday. Even though I was very active painting, moving furniture, etc., my weight was up this morning. Darn stupid scale.
My older dd came back from London last night. She is trying to sleep off her jet lag while the workers are making tremendous noise-- not really working too well!
Younger dd went to camp yesterday so I still only have one child this week. I need to get used to just having one around as older dd leaves for college in less than 2 weeks. I feel like I will have a hard adjustment but I just don't really know what to expect.
We can't really get into our kitchen for a couple of days so planning/food will be a challenge. I plan on keeping to plan as much as possible regardless.
I hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

Hey, I don't have time to post much (as you can imagine) but I just wanted to let everyone know that my little baby boy is finally here! He was born at 5:31pm on Thursday, 8/7. He weighs 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and measures 21 1/2 inches. We're not getting a lot of sleep, but it's worth it because he's so precious and we're madly in love with him! I'm going to try to post a picture or two, but it may not work because I'm half asleep and don't know what I'm doing!!

Oops, I forgot to tell you his name. He's Henry Clay, and he's a fourth! I thought I would come up with a nickname for him, but he seems like a Henry now. Of course, I still usually call him "The Bean."

Congratulations Lisa!

Congrats Lisa!!!

Congratulations Lisa!! He's precious. Take care of yourself. Those first few weeks can be so draining.