A new month is always so refreshing even when it's in the dead of winter.

We got some fresh snow overnight and the sun is being somewhat shy this morning, but all in all, life in unfolding as it should.

Have a good one, gang.

Oh boy a new month. I love it..... I got to bed at a decent hour last night and am up early for me. Well 9:15. I wish DH worked days instead of nights so we could do that everynight. Eating was okay yesterday but I seemed to want to snack all day. Hope today is better...

Ellen- Good for you on the walking. Have a great lazy day today....

Meowee- Hope we're melting a bit today its 42 here. But its taking the snow off and leaving a driveway full of ice.

Howdy ya'll. I missed a day and let me just say, I didn't eat very well the last two days. Not really over in calories but the wrong foods. But this is a new moment and I'm gonna start from here, right?

Ellen...awesome! I'm praying the things you are getting worked out happen soon and the way you want them. WTG on getting the blood sugar under control.

Toni...I think yesterday was one of those days. My hubby and I both ate the wrong things. Robert was in MAJOR snack mode. He even ate 4 pieces of pie! Agh! We won't talk about my piece and a half.

Meowee...Thank you for starting our new board this month. I hope the sun ended up making an appearance.

((Everybody)) I hope you are having an AWESOME weekend.

God bless,
Crystle

Whoopie I walked on my treadmill.....

Happy Sunday, everyone! I'm just sitting here contemplating what it was that made me get motivated to stick to plan on my 39th birthday. I lost 25 pounds on Sugar Busters back then and I've at least gained that back by now. My UNDIES are getting too small for me. How does that happen?

I'm thinking that back then Kyle was small, Shelley was in elementary school, which is simpler for the whole family and I was at home and we had a lot more money (Derek's job was much better then...some of you may remember we were approved for a mortgage to build a house on the same day Derek found out his company was going out of business).

Differences for me today are much less money and much less time to shop properly. Eating healthy is very expensive. I'm trying to figure out a way to focus. I'm going to try to pretend to be a vampire from Twilight that is on a vegetarian diet and has to focus very hard to not crave human blood. I have to be the same to focus very hard to not crave sweets! It may be an every day, all day problem for me until I get used to it, just like Edward.

On the upside, I have some wonderful tea steeping as we speak. Constant Comment Green tea. I love, love, LOVE Constant Comment tea and I found it in green form at the store the other day. Its so good and cozy on nights up here this time of year.

On the other upside, four weeks in a row with my son coming to church with me and he STILL likes it!! Except he almost burned his fingers lighting a candle for his gramma in heaven and learned he has to wait for me to help him. Shelley is on her second week in a row and is now the pastry chef for the Sunday sweets after service. I'm so happy I cry all through the service, especially during my favorite hymns. I have so missed going to church. I decided to hang out with the Episcopalians when the other hairdresser in town (whom I've incorrectly assumed was mad at me since I started my own place) came in and said the entire congregation loves having us on Christmas Eve and Easter and would love to see us every Sunday. Its very nice and I feel at home. I still don't like holding hands with strangers during the Lord's Prayer, but I'm getting over it.

TTFN

Yep . . . another sunny morning . . . so our resident rodent (Shubenacadie Sam) definitely saw his shadow . . . personally I imagine we will have 8 to 10 weeks more winter . . . oh joy.

January was not a good month for me what with some excruciating back pain, too high blood sugar levels, and no weight loss. February will definitely be better.

Hope we all get our acts together this month, gang . . . keep strong and stay OP.

Good morning ladies,

At least it is almost good. We got our power back Sat afternoon. That the Lord. I was really hating myself for being so cranky for being inconvented. There are so many people without power and water and it may be weeks before they get it back. Boy are we spoiled. We take so many things for granted.

Needless to say, eating was the pits. So back on track today and I made it back to the gym this morning. When I go in the morning (which I love) I don't have time to get in my cardio. So I have decided to do the Leslie Sandsome (not sure that is right) Walk off the Pounds video in the evenings.

Ellen, those video games are addicting. I hope all your situatioons work out like they should and soon. You remind me of my sister when my niece was going through a horrible divorce. She would say she longed for a life with no daily problems and drama.

Mewoee, thanks for getting us going in Feb. I hope you see the sunshine today. It sure helps to make a better disposition.

Toni, it was 55 here yesterdaya nd beautiful. Alot of our snow and ice is melting. I think it is supposed to warm up again this weekend so I hope most of it is gone by then. I am sure sick of this stuff. Get on that today.

Crystal. Boy all I wanted to do was snack when the power was out. There was nothing else to do and my mind only went straight to food. We just have to pick ourselves up and dust off and move on.

Tech, I recently contemplated the same thing. I did so well before, why can't I do it now? I finally came to the conclusion, you have to want it. You have to ask yourself what you want the most. That pice of candy, etc, or to lose weight. I also discovered that I cannot diet. I have to make life changes. If I have to eat off plan, I try to eat smaller portions and I don't beat myself up over it. You are not going to live the rest of your life w/o eating sweets so you have to find a way to have them in moderation. Obviously I have found I am not doing well in that dept. I am an emotional eater and this ice and power thing threw me into food big time. I have to figure out a way to deal with things like that w/o turning to food. I think once you get going and start losing and your underwear gets bigger (ha-ha) you will find some motivation and start liking what you are seeing. I know healthy food is expensive, but so is junk food. Now is a good time to set an example for your kids. Do it together and it will be fun. Good luck.

Off to get some work done. Have a great day.

Hi Girls!
I hope you don't mind if I join your group? I am not "sugarbusting" per say but I am a sugar addict and have cut out anything with sugar, and white flour foods.
Thise foods are my trigger. I have been sugar-free for 20 days now and feel great! No cravings whatsoever, it has been a piece of cake ..(LOL)

OF course the first few days were a bit wonky but hey it was so worth it..

will be back in few to introduce myself; i have an irate 11 month old

So, I am 32 years old, 2 children and a dh, been unhappy with my body ever since I can remember. In HS I weighed 118 lbs , I still felt fat as I wasn't toned at all and I am only 5'1". And my bf took a 25" jeans so of course I always felt like a blimp beside her..
I have IBD and after each bout with prednisone I gained weight. Got up to 150 and maintained. Prednisone again, and up to 170. Maintained that... Had my first ds, got up to 208 while pg, then got down to about 155. Weight slowly started coming on again at some point,,, and when I started at Simply For Life to lose weight I was 178. My highest weight besides pregnancy weight and right after..got down to 159 on that plan but then got pregnant with ds2 so I got up to 198 (funny with each pg I gained exactly 38lbs..) then I lost some but stabilized at 173 . Have been that weight until now, I cut out sugar and white flour and am also counting calories because I also tend to volume eat when I am bored. Am down to 168 right now.
I finally feel free from the wretched claws of sugar! I know it sounds weird to say that only after 5lbs I can tell a difference, but I can.
My lounger pants, which were already comfy-loose, mind you, are now falling down. I think the entire 5lb might have come off my love handles- which were holding up my pants. Bc when I put on my jeans yesterday, I didn't have to "tuck in" my love handles! BONUS! LOL

ONe thing I am stressed out over is ds2's first b-day on Feb 19. He needs a cake; I always make a character cake. I decided I'm not going to this time bc frosting I could eat out of the bowl. Literally. So I will buy a small one. THe thing is, cake is only MY trigger food. Once he and dh have a peice I'm going to be walking by that cake and it will be tough not to wolf down the frosting. But I can't get one of those super-mini cakes bc MIL and FIL will maybe be coming at some point too and surely they will want some? UGH!! WTH do I do?
Frosting is one of my biggest tempations. That and little debbie snackie cakes, you know those ones full of trans fat where you can feel your arteries clog while you're eating it..LOL Those ones..before Christmas I bout 3 of those Vachon mocha cakes the ones that are a whole tray..and I ate it in one sitting (3 times) but an entire family size snackie cake. So as you can see I overindulge with sugar. Thats why I don't even want to taste the cake.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?

NATALIA . . . glad to have you joining us. Also great to hear that your sugar cravings have mostly disappeared. Keep up the good work, Chickie.

Boys...my son just was playing outside in the snow with the neighbors kids and I look outside to see him kneeling by the neighbors driveway with his gloves off. He says, "Mom, is it okay if I'm peeing?" I mean, its not like he was trying to even be discreet, he was in the middle of their driveway aiming toward their house with the windows open! So, I called him home for the day and went over with my snow shovel and brought home his yellow snow and put it in the ditch by my garage. Boys... I told him it doesn't matter how much fun he's having, at age 8 he's too old for peeing in the neighbor's yard. I mean, as a girl, I don't have the convenience of external genitalia, so maybe I'm just jealous. I thought it was mortifying.

Welcome Natalia...are you a hockey fan?

Boy have I been lazy today. I don't know why but I didn't feel like doing a thing and boy I didn't. Eating has been fine. Now I have to figure out something for dinner.

Tech- Wouldn't be great if we could figure out the key to motivation!! I sure would like to know. I got tickled at Kyle peeing outside.

Meowee- Hate ole Phil saw his shadow.... I'm so tired of winter...

Solly- Yippee I'm so glad you got the power back on. Thats so hard to try and live without it. We have a well so our pump won't even let us have water when we have none. Do you have your little doggie home?

Natalia- Boy you're doing great on the sugar. Keep up the good work..... Its good to have you with us.

What a beautiful day. The sun is out and the wind has finally died down. Starting Friday the highs are going to be in the lower 70's. I can hardly wait. Then I'll have no excuses for not walking.

Welcome Natalia! In an earlier post you were talking about being able to tell when you lose 5 pounds. You really can when you are shorter, that's a good thing. Except when you gain. My daughter is about 5 2 and she can change pants sizes with as little as five pounds. I'm 5 7 and can gain or lose 15 to 20 pounds before I change pants sizes. Awesome on getting sugar out of your system.

Toni..I can relate to being lazy. When it's cold I really like motivation.

Solly...I'm so glad your power is back on and life is returning to normal. ((huggzz))

Meowee..praying this is a much better month for you. Does the cold weather have a direct impact on how much pain you have? My mom suffers tremendously in the winter months.

Tech...I couldn't help but laugh about your little boy. I get grossed out easy and would have had a cow also...but I have to say living in the country my boys are very apt to find a spot outside. I have to remind them now that the neighbors have timbered there place it is not longer as private out here as it used to be.. LOL

Ellen...I hope you are having a GREAT week so far.

Mary and Sue where did ya'll go? If you peek in, know that you aren't forgotten.

Bob...Sure miss ya.

Talitha...Are you getting settled into your new routine? I hope you and your little one are doing well.

Time to get moving.

God bless,
Crystle