OK... it's a new week and I am really going to get back in the game. I'm off to change my tickers; unfortunately 148 is my official WI for today. It sucks that I am going to have to post a gain for the BL challenge but I've used my freebies and it is what it is.

CAT - I agree with earlier posts - I have a hunch some of the supposed gain is related to surgery and will drop off on it's own as swelling reduces. In the meantime, hang in there!

I'm at a mini-goal of sorts - half gone, half to go. (At least for now, may change the goal a la newleaf when I get closer if it doesn't seem like enough)I was lazy yesterday and made it an unplanned rest day which gave me the munchies - so not good. I plan to kick it up a notch this week with more exercise than usual. Anyone else planning any changes this week?

Newleaf, we used to rarely have mosquitoes in our area but then the county sprayed the nearest tarred road and the pests all migrated to our neighborhood. We always have yellowjackets in July and after being bitten twice on Thursday, I despise those guys. Their bite hurts. Anyway, I’m impressed you finished a Sept newsletter already. That sounds like fall is too close.

Presmaggie, did you ever think there would be a time that we’d have trouble eating enough calories? I do know what you mean by that.

CAT, thanks for doing the new thread. I’m sorry that you needed to readjust your ticker. But like so many others have said, you didn’t go crazy and regain the great weight loss. You’re stopping the slip from becoming a real slide. If there is nothing else on this thread we all understand is that slip. So pat yourself on the back that you are back on track. Then look forward to changing that ticker back down. I also live in the desert but I renamed from High Mountain Desert to High Mountain Desert Rain Forest after I’d lived here a while. We have a very low annual precipitation amount, but the endless cloudy days in the fall winter and spring with a few drops of rain seem like when I lived in high precip areas. But this past June we did have lots of rain, very abnormal, and the mosquitoes had a breeding ground. With your comment about the creepy-crawlies, I pictured some of the things I’ve scooped out of my pool. I really don’t like the tarantulas…

Dancer, way to go on the halfway mark. That is a great moment. All downhill from here.

Yesterday I met with the lady who will be our dog-sitter in August, Thanksgiving and in February. She’s an animal behaviorist with 30 years experience. She knew 2 of my dogs from when she worked in the clinic my doggies go to. Anyway, she was literally amazing with them. My huskies were polite and well behaved. I’ve seen videos of the dog whisperer and she basically did that. Very quite with just her posture and quite directions and my dogs did what she said. So we’re also hiring her for animal behavior for a couple husky irritations. She already has me doing a couple things and it made the morning walk a bit frustrating, but other than the bits, there was no tugging by Kody or Blizzard. Kai, the baby was too much of an imp to get it on day one. Basically she said that Kody was the alpha in the family and that DH and I had to get that back. It should be cool once Kody stops looking at me like I’ve betrayed him for making his walk correctly and occasionally sitting during the walk.

Marie

Marie - probably a silly question but have you tried those bright yellow traps for yellow jackets that use an attractant? They pretty much solved the yellow jacket problem for me and we can eat outside without getting divebombed. Sounds like things are going well with the dogs - I love the dog whisperer, isn't he great?

CruiseCat - at least if you change the tickers, you can feel the momentum as you move downwards again. I agree with everyone - I'm sure some of this is still the effects of surgery. Do what you can, but be mindful also that your body is still healing...

DancerInDenver - congrats on the half gone!! That is great!!

PresMaggie - I read that your boys are 5 and 6. As for the current adoption underway, is there a child already identified or is it too early in the process (I know nothing about adoption, so forgive me if these are obvious questions). I think it's wonderful that you are able to take these children in and help change the direction of their lives.

Marie - the reason for doing the newsletter this early is to get it to the printer before the onslaught of teacher print requests that would take precedence over mine; but yes - Fall feel close!

As for doing things differently - well, I forced myself to get on the treadmill today, so that's a start. And I have a weight goal for Labor Day that I'm working toward. I know I am serious (mentally) about losing more weight. I need to get serious physically, too. I eat well, so at least that part of the equation is under control (I have eggplant all set to throw on the grill for a nice, healthy lunch!).

I'm making dinner this afternoon for a local family where the husband (father of 4, ages 1 - 10) was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. It certainly puts everything into perspective...

oh my gosh ... I love the title of this weeks chat thread.
I am so on board. Last week I hit the wall again and just didn't really care about it ... ate mindlessly and paid for it by gaining 3 pounds of the 6 I'd lost.

This is a new week though and I've begun calorie counting and have been successful (in writing everything down) for three days. While I have gone over my calorie limit goal every day ... at least I know where I did it and why (late night TV snacking) ... and even though I exceed my limit, I still ate less than when I was eating mindlessly.

I'm logging everything on livestrong.com (mydailyplate) and so far so good.
Now if I could just get my lazy butt out to exercise more, I'd really be back on track. It's been 103 degrees here the last few days and I have been using the heat as an excuse to not go for a walk.

Alleytd - I'm a huge dailyplate fan too - it really holds you accountable, even if sometimes it's a bit scary!!

Newleaf - way to go on the workouts - I know they're not your favorite : ) Do you listen to music or watch dvds on the elliptical? I find music (which makes me happy while running) isn't enough on the elliptical so I've been watching episodes of Sex and the City on borrowed DVDs. You watch two episodes and you have a decent workout (and a strange desire to go buy designer shoes, but that's a whole different issue : ) ).

Cruise - sorry this weight gain is getting you down. I hope that it will go as quickly as it came.

dancer - congrats on half way to goal!

Marie - my problem with calories is that either I eat some grains and then I'm always craving them, leading to high calorie days or I don't eat any grains and it takes real planning to reach my calorie target. It's amazing how my cravings drop away, though. I don't suggest that everyone should do this, but with my mixed up metabolism, many naturopathic doctors suggest that it's a good plan. We shall see.

newleaf - I guess I haven't been too clear. Our 5 year old son is the one we are in the process of adopting from foster care. He has to live with us for 6 months before we can apply to adopt him. He's been here 4 months, so we have 2 more to go and then we have to wait for the courts, which can be a few months. Adoption proved to be the only way we could have children, so that's the way we had to go.

Alley - everytime you learn something, it's one less thing to cause trouble next time. It will get better.

It's a beautiful day and I'm stuck inside doing my studying. Oh well, it has been somewhat easier than I thought to get back in the "groove" of studying and learning.

Hi Friends!
Another good day here in the midwest. Up early to walk and then went to water aerobics with my neighbor. Was a bit mortified to find one of my son's friends in the guard chair when I got there! I have found my skirted tankini is not the best for water aerobics. The top goes everywhere! Made a quick trip to Kohl's and found a one piece on sale for $35 with an extra 30% off! I love a sale! I'll try it out tomorrow!

DD and I hit the neighborhood pool this afternoon. My back to school paperwork came in the mail today, I'm back to work in just over 3 weeks! The summer is flying by!

Presmaggie, What are you studying? Can't imagine having time to go to school with 2 young ones around!

Cruise, You'll be back in the zone before you know it. Don't get discouraged!

Hope everyone has a nice evening!

Hey All! sorry to have been MIA my sis is in town, and I had two Drs appointments today. I went back to my eye doc and my vision improved to 20/25! Even the Dr is very impressed! I still have the retina distortion {and always will} but Hubby is teasing me that I see better than he does. I go to my regular eye doc {retina specialist} for a checkup next week. If all is well, he will tell the cateract doc to go ahead with the second surgery scheduled for Aug 17th. I'm not really sure why they need his go-ahead but I 'nodded and smiled". Whatever they need.

It seems another week of 'light and easy' but I'm okay with that.

I'm trying not to think about what I've eaten for the past couple days; LOL, call them cheat days and move on!

CruiseCat, you and I can be the 148 buddies! I can't seem to budge from that weight either. I've been there for a month and don't have your excuse of recovering from surgery. I have no excuse--I've been eating too much. I'm good on exercise though. It's hard to find that perfect balance of losing weight and living your life. Some days I'm ready to give up and just stay at this weight, which wouldn't be a bad thing. I'm a 10 and I feel and look pretty good, but I'm so close to my goal. I have no deadline or date that I've imposed so I can take as long as I want, but I'm not ready to give up the fight just yet.

Marie, I would love to have an animal behaviorist meet with our Beagle mix, Lucy. She's a spoiled cry-baby. Just this morning, she was crying to be let out of DS14's bedroom, where she slept on his bed. DH let her out and she just moved to our bed, which is empty because we're both up! Talk about spoiled and lazy!

Penguin - congrats on the vision results!

Losermom - I'm curious - how did you decide on your goal? Is there a specific look you're going for? A size number? It's been so long since I've thought of myself as trim, I'm not even sure how you know when you get there since it's almost always possible to be thinner still. Curious to hear how the rest of you make/made your goal decisions as well....

AlleyTD - is this week going better for you? Exercising in the heat is hard, I totally agree. Could you go somewhere air conditioned to walk, like a mall? Good luck!

DancerInDenver - Re: the elliptical, I listen to music. Sometimes the radio, sometimes my MP3 player. We don't have a TV down in the basement. Sometimes I try to read, but the book has to be really light (in topic, not weight). Although it occured to me last night while thinking about your post - maybe if I got some large print books out of the library, that would help.

PresMaggie - good luck on your grains plan. I don't really eat much rice or bread, but I do have 10-grain hot cereal each morning; that would be hard to give up... I hope it works out for you! That sounds like quite a wrangle, the adoption. But it is great that he can live with you all this time rather than being in limbo.

OnMyWay - you are doing such a great job with exercising -- WTG!!

PatchworkPenguin - I'm glad that your eyes are doing so well!! How annoying, having to go back to your original doctor, I agree...

LoserMom - there will always be natural fluctuation around your weight... So if you stop now, that at least gives you a good reminder that if you see 150 on the scale, you need to redouble your efforts... Time will tell -- do you want your upper boundary to be 150, or 145? (rhetorical question)

DancerInDenver - I chose my goal weight because I've been there before and know how I look. I've been all the way down to 145 and thought I looked great, but it was difficult to maintain. 155 seemed a more natural spot for me. BUT, now at 163, I'm not sure I will be satisfied with how I look at 155 this time around. We shall see. But the one thing I know is -- this will be the LAST time around...

Morning everyone!!! Wow it’s hard to believe summer is half over. Why doesn’t winter go this fast???

Dancer, we do have a yellow jacket trap and it’s DH job to change the bait. It took three weeks of reminding and my 2 bites to get him to do it. Now it’s catching them again. Yeah! On the elliptical, I really like listening to my audiobooks more than music no matter how much I like the music. Perhaps for more of the botox bank account, you might want to find another show or your closet will be overrun with designer shoes.

Newleaf, great point on changing the ticker after a gain. When I’d regained 20 pounds, I didn’t change the ticker, actually I just removed it. I didn’t feel like every lost pound of those 20 counted. I really celebrated with the 1st lose pound after losing the twenty. I made a mistake with that one so I like your wisdom of feeling that downward momentum again. Instead I punished myself. That wasn’t wise.

Alley, Go for your walk in the early morning when it’s the coolest, come home and take a shower and you’re set. And good job logging your foods. I swear by that as the key to my success.

Presmaggie, I must have missed something. What are your studying for? And your children are blessed to have you just like you are to have them. Those 2 months will fly by.

OMW, as a former lifeguard, when you’re on a stand, you can see in the water but definition is nothing. Basically your son’s friend saw you from the neck up and swirls of color from the neck down. You were making too many waves with the aerobic for clarity.

Penguin, I think the dr. routine is a cover one’s a$$ process. If it keeps you safe, than it’s cool. Expensive but cool.

LM, I toured the animal behaviorist’s wildlife rehabilitation center yesterday. It was so awesome. I then told her about the walk and Kodiak’s clear irritation that I changed the game. She said that was normal and that me consistently being the alpha doggie will get him to accept his place in the order and then he won’t be confused. I did feel sorry for him again this a.m. Poor baby but he’s not pulling at all anymore. Two days to good results. So are you ready for my favorite (spoiled, self-centered) quarterback to come to your neighborhood soon? I’m a Packer fan through and through but I will be cheering for the Vikings this fall if #4 is playing. Except when they play the Pack which then I think I’ll go for a hike for confusion about allegiance.

Dancer, can I butt into your question with LM??? Goals weight – I chose a number relatively arbitrarily. Then last week I mentioned to DH that maybe 125 was a better choice than 135 thinking like you, that it’s always possible to lose more. But DH and discussed my brother who lost loads of weight several years ago (kept it off) but I didn’t recognize him. He was so thin that his face looked like Jack Skellington from Nightmare before Christmas. That was DH’s way of saying I was wrong. BTW, dear brother’s face has filled out a little and I will recognize him in 2 weeks. Plus I saw a pic of him on Facebook.

I guess I could turn off my heater before our district’s energy manager shows up in my office and has a fit. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s today. I figure it was 55 and I was cold. Now I’m not and if I can hide the evidence… it’s not helpful his office is next to mine. Back to work and the heater is off…

Marie

Dancer, that's a good question. One that I didn't have the answer to when I started this journey. I picked 140 initially because I was at that weight at the tender age of 19 (27 years ago!). I felt really good about myself and my body at that weight. Also alot of really good things happened to me at that weight and age (met DH and finally was able to decide on a major in college) so I associate that number with good things.

As my weight dropped I thought that that number might be really unrealistic at my age (46) or unattainable but I kept on chugging along. I am happy at this weight, but feel that there is room for improvement with toning. I'm still pretty jiggly around the waist and thighs. Do I need perfection? No, I'm not sure that perfection is worth the sacrifices required. At this point I do think that 135-140 is doable, but I'm unsure if I'm willing to work that hard at it. I tell myself that yes, I do want it, but that cheesecake or chocolate or homemade bread looks better to me right now. I know that I can maintain at this weight but feel that I "should" strive for improvement.

Regarding exercise, I'm pretty committed. I do at least 30 minutes of cardio (stationary bike, walking, running), sometimes 60 minutes 6 days a week. I also do weight training (all-over body on weight machines) 3x a week--my personal favorite. I plan to get back into water aerobics (2x a week) in the fall when it gets too cold to run outdoors.