Morning lovies!

How are we all today? Sorry I wasn't around much over the weekend - had a very busy day Saturday and didn't get online yesterday. It was a good weekend. I had a great time at the food show - I did try some lovely cheese, but they'd sold out by the time I got back there to buy some, so that's not a bad thing considering my weakness for all things cheese! I ended up buying some balsamic vinegar and chipotle chili sauce. No idea what I'm going to do with the chili sauce, but I'm sure I'll come up with something! It tastes like it'll be fantastic with chicken at the very least, so I might throw something together a bit later on.

Daylight Savings finished at the weekend and it's going to take some getting used to. There go my walks in the evening now - it's pitch black by 6:30, and that'll only get worse over the next couple of months. Having said that, my city is apparently the safest city in the country as regards violent crime, but there's no way I'm putting that to the test!

Didn't make it to the gym this morning for only the second time this year. The reason being I lost my bus card, and there's no way I'd be able to walk from the gym to work before my start time, and since my employers are a little bit anal about start times, I wasn't prepared to risk being late. However, I did walk to and from work - 6kms each way, so I don't feel like I haven't exercised. Naturally I find the bus pass within 2 minutes of getting home tonight - why oh why couldn't I find it this morning!

I really really love long weekends, but hate 4 day weeks. Trying to get 5 days work done in 4 is a bit much at times. Still, I've got next week off - even though I made a mess of that as well. It's the school holidays here, so there are going to be kids everywhere. Oh, well. I'll cope.

MJ, good for you for going on those walks! One of my friends had her little girl at 26 weeks and she's absolutely tiny still. She's like a little doll!

Lixxie, hope your wrist's feeling better! Go you with the swimming!

Trazey, your steak sandwich sounds yummy!

Diane, I find I struggle at the weekends as well. For me, it's because my weeks are so structured - I have to be at work at a certain time, take my breaks at a certain time etc - that my weekends are unstructured so much that I snack more than I should.

Everyone else, how are you all doing? Let us know.

Have an awesome day, everyone!

Good Morning! I know I have a busy day ahead, so I wanted to pop in bright and early!

Nicolen--Great job at the food show! We are on vacation next week too AND you guessed it....all of the schools are on Spring Break around here....oh well! What can you do?!

Hi to everyone else! Please pop in and let us know how things are going for you!

I stepped on the scale this am and it wasn't good....TOM is here, so I know that is a lot of it. It's ok, though. I have my healthy lunch packed. My gym clothes are in the car and I even sliced up some lemon to put in my water! I pulled my calendar back out and I have my reward ready and waiting for me....I found this great purple-ish sweater for $4!!!! I cannot wear it until I hit 14 OP days....It's right on the end of my closet, so I keep seeing it and I REALLY want to wear it! Hopefully that will be a good incentive to get going again!

Have a great OP day everyone!

Hi Ladies,

Happy Monday! Good weekend here too, though I wish the weather had been a little dryer on Saturday. I had a great time Friday night over drinks with friends, took my daughter to the mall Satruday and walked while she shopped, and went hiking on Sunday with some friends I don't see that often.

Im on plan perfectly and I am so happy about that, but the damn scale isn't moving and Im frustrated. In fact Satruday I was so busy that eating just didn't figure in. I allow myself 20 carbs a day and Satruday I was at about 6. I thought great, I should see the scale move soon. But NOOOOOO! I walk 30 miles a week and Im not droping at all. Could new muscle growth be masking weight loss?

My goals this week are the same as last week. 20 carbs a day, 64 plus ounces of water and walking at least 5 miles of walking a day.

Good luck to all of you this week! We're all fighting this battle together!

Nicolen- Thanks for asking! It's all better now and I can get back to my workouts. I never gotten around to understand daylight savings, but for it to turn dark at 6:30pm, is quite something! Maybe there's an alternative you can do in the evenings?

MJ- Wow sounds like you're gonna have a fabulous OP day! Hopefully you'll be able to wear the sweater two weeks from now!

Seashell- Great that you're OP! I wish I could say the same for myself, haha! A lot of research says that even with new muscle growth, you still should be seeing some for of weight loss. Maybe your body might be going into starvation mode?

Today was okay for me. Had my dinner not too long ago and waiting for the food to digest before I go do the 30DS. I'm on my final day before I start Level 2! But I might get scared and go back to level one for one or two more days. I'm thinking of upping my weights to 1.5kg this time round though. I hope I'm still in one piece at the end of it.

Food wise today was not too bad. For brekkie I had a serving of the Special K Diet cereal I bought, and I had black pepper chicken with rice for lunch, and dinner was normal chinese fare. Clear soup, omelette, stir fry veggies and tofu. This time round however, I stayed away from the rice. Which feels kind of weird because asian food without rice just doesn't seem right.

I realized that if I eat really slowly, my family thinks I'm eating more than I actually am and won't badger me to eat more. So from now onwards at family dinners, I'm going to eat really, really slowly.

Question: Does anyone else like the Special K Diet series of food? I've just tried their cereal and cereal bars and am in love with both of them. I really don't like muesli, so it has to be cereal for me, but both are really low in calories and sodium, and they taste fantastic! <3 <3

How's everyone else?

Hi Friends! I'm back on-plan. No more excuses. My goal is 60 minutes on the treadmill each day.

Beverlyjoy - I miss you. Hope you are okay.

Nicole - What a day for you with losing the bus pass. I am sure you got some good exercise, just with the walking you did!

Seashell - Sounds like a fun weekend for you. I like what you said that we're all in this together! It is a tough battle on our own.

MJ - TOM can be such a pain!

Rhonda - Good to hear you're on plan! I wondered where Beverlyjoy is, too.

Lixxi - I'll have to try those Special K bars. I'm getting a little tired of the ones I have been eating.


As for me, the weekend was pretty good. It's like you said, Nicole, that they lack structure, so it is harder to remain focused. I made it to the gym on Saturday, so that was a good thing. I lost a pound from last week. It is good to see it go down, but boy is it slow. I feel like I have to fight for every single pound. I wish that I were at 10 pounds down by now, but ...

Have a good week everyone!

Hey everyone!

Halfway through the week - yay! I made it to the gym this morning, so that's gotta be good and had a good workout. Work was work. I'm trying to clear my desk before my break, so it's keeping me busy, but overall we're quiet. Long may that continue, although that'll change once the weather breaks and winter arrives. Given that it's April, that could happen at any time. And we have snow forecast down to 400m in the south...

MJ, ouch about the scale! But keep thinking of that sweater - you'll be wearing it before you know it!

Seashell, remember that the scale is only one way to measure things, and our bodies do do strange things - you may have a big loss coming soon. How are your clothes fitting - have you noticed a difference there? I've been bouncing between 235 and 240 for the last 3 weeks, but I've noticed that many of my clothes are looser, and I've had to throw out a pair of trousers which just fell off me...

Lixxie, because I'm quite far to the south, it tends to get dark here very quickly and very early. Come the winter solstice, the sun won't rise till after 8am and will set around 4:30pm. Having said that, in December/January, the sun will be up around 5am and won't set till around 10pm. Swings and roundabouts. Black pepper chicken sounds yummy - can I please beg the recipe from you?

Rhonda, you're doing so well by not giving up. You'll get there!

Diane, I know, I hate that it's so slow coming off as well. But then I figure that it took a heck of a long time to go on, so I can't expect all the weight to disappear in a couple of months. I'm deliberately not concentrating too much on the scale, but looking at other things as well - how my clothes look and feel, the way my fitness has improved, that sort of thing.

Beverly, how are you doing? How did DH go with his interview?

Everyone else, hi! Hope things are well with you?

Enjoy yourselves!

Good morning, Friends!

Diane - slow and steady wins the race, right? Keep going. Every single pound adds up over the long term.

Seashell - Are you muscles sore? If they are sore, they could be retaining water. How long have you been in a weight loss stall?

MJ - I'm glad to hear that you're going back to your calendar plan. That works so well for you.

As of today, I'm back on Southbeach, phase 1. I really hate ph 1, but I seriously need the sugar detox. I'm hoping to have a nice woosh of weight loss for these first two weeks to give me a nice jump start.

I have a ton of work to get through today, so I better get hopping. Hope everyone has a great on-plan day.

Good morning all! Had a good workout today, but my thighs are really feeling it. I am at work now and as I sit here, I can tell that they're tired. On the advice of a trainer, I rode this other bike at the gym and set the resistance fairly high, then kept biking for 20 minutes. It doesn't seem like a long time, but with the higher resistance, it made me work. Then I did some weights and crunches.

I having lunch with a friend today. That is always a challenge for me, so I have to really be careful.

Rhonda: Good luck with Phase 1, I have heard it is challenging!

Nicole: Glad you got a good workout in! That helps!

Hi all,

Today's a rest day, workout wise, for me. I'm exhausted though! The lack of sleep is really catching up. I'm just popping by to say a big hi and have a great OP day tmr, before I go crash into my bed.

Good night, y'all!

Hi everyone! I was super busy today, so I haven't had time to pop in! Just saying Hi! before I head out to the gym. I'll catch up tomorrow.

Hey guys!

This time tomorrow I'll be on leave. That's a good thought. Unfortunately this time tomorrow I'll probably be battling the crowds at the supermarket. Everyone always goes a bit mad the day before Easter and seem to think that the shops will never open again. Should've taken my wallet to work today. Never mind.

I've decided I'm going to spend Friday doing some spring cleaning. My house probably isn't too bad, but the windows are disgusting, thanks to a 4 legged monster putting his paws on them! So I'm going to wash the bedding, do the windows and get everything nice for the winter. I'm going to make a big pot of soup and put that on first thing. It'll be good to get it all out of the way.

So cold here today - winter is definitely on the way.

Rhonda, good luck with Phase 1 - I've heard it's tough, but I know you can do it!

Diane, go you with the workout! It gives you quite a sense of accomplishment, doesn't it? How was lunch?

Lixxie hope you're well rested now!

MJ, busy lady! Hope you had a good workout!

Everyone else, hi!

Take care all

nicolen- The black pepper chicken is not home-cooked! It's hawker food and hawker food is like, the unhealthiest food ever. In Singapore, food's a big problem 'cause the healthier anything is, the more expensive. I try and throw in one or two times a week to eat healthier, but I lost my job and I just can't afford extra right now.

Diane- Biking with resistance sure is tough! I have a bike at home but I'm not fond of it, preferring running to biking.

Rhonda- Hope work doesn't bog you down! Good luck with the Southbeach!

MJ- Hope your day was good! Have a great OP day tmr!


I just found out that my country's national health promotion board has the calorie count for a ton of local food. When I say local, I really mean local. No where in the world you can find these (maybe the rest of SEAsia), and asian countries generally don't count calories. So it's tough for a chick losing weight to want to count calories when you've got food that you can't find in places like Sparkpeople or Calorie King.

My lunch today was a 744kcal meal, which sucked. Thank god it tasted bad and I only had half of it. My normal lunches are around 300-400kcal, which isn't too bad, but I found some dishes that seem harmless, but actually are 700-900+ kcal!

I was freaking out.

My uncle cooked dinner tonight and I employed the "eat very slowly, seems like you're constantly eating a lot of things" tactic at dinner again today and it worked! Woohoo! No more family members hounding me to eat, eat, eat!

I did the first day of Level Two, 30DS. I wanted to die the first five minutes of it. Like literally, want to die. I was moaning and grunting and I had to keep stopping to take water breaks. Even now my hands are still shaking. Geez. I better be shredded by the time I'm done with the dvd!

Hope everyone else's Wednesdays went well!

Hi everyone! Another busy day, but that's ok, vacation is coming! Right now I am at my ortho appt....waiting. Hope he can do something to fix up my knee, even temporarily!

Boy, yesterday was a busy day. After work, my son had a baseball game. It is a new baseball park and they haven't finished all of the work on it yet, so no bleachers. I forgot my chair, so I stood there and watched. It was a great game, but by the time I got home, I was so tired. Tonight should be a little easier, but then on Thursday, he has a track meet. He is in 3 events, so while he's running from event to event, I'm running (ok... walking) behind. ha! Fun times, though! I just wish there was a magic fairy to do the cooking and cleaning at my house!

Worked out with the trainer this morning. It was a little brutal this time. I have one more session with her that was included in my initial membership. It has been good, but I think the cost will make it tough to continue. I think I can do well on my own.

MJ: Hope your knee can be fixed! Let us know how it goes!

Lixxi: It is interesting to hear what you have to live with by being there. We take it for granted here that we can just get what we need at the grocery store and eat healthy.

Nicole: Sounds like some fun times for you, doing all that cleaning. I need to clean windows too. Ick!!!