Wow, we were really chatty last week! I liked it!

I finally had a downward bump on the scale. A pound! I'll take it.

Later this week I'll be going out of town for a mini-vacation, and I really hope it doesn't derail me... But until then, I need to stay on track. Hubby will be out of town early this week, and that's always a challenge for me. Meals are planned, as I did a lot of bulk cooking this weekend, but I will have to stay busy.

Morning ladies,

Gosh, I had intended to pop in over the weekend, thought about it several times, but I see that I didn't follow through.

For the first time in a long time, I have journalled all my days for a whole week now. I usually spend one week just writing it all down and then I start with really checking the calories. That I'm starting with today.

I watched Ruby this morning. This show was about her having a big setback on the scale. In the end, she finally admitted that she wasn't exercising every day nor was she journalling her food. She faced up to self-sabotaging herself. Even not journalling was self-sabotage. Oops, that kind of hits home.

Heather - Sorry for forgetting to do the thread yesterday. Like I said at the first, I thought about it more than once but didn't follow through. Learning from Ruby, be sure to have your journal handy for your mini-vacation.

Gotta get busy. to all!

Terri -- I've been thinking about vacation and have decided it's no reason not to continue to write down everything I eat -- even if I don't stay on target to lose, it will help keep me from going WAY off course!

Heather/Terri: I think that's one reason that I've decided to take my laptop with me on vacation -- with all the family stress (which has already begun -- the curse of email), I want to have the ironclad control over my life that my spreadsheets give me Is it wrong that I'm already dreading Christmas? It used to be my favorite holiday...now...sigh...

It's Monday here -- is it Monday where you are? Meeting a new doctor this afternoon -- mine went into specialty practice so that he could reduce the number of patients he was seeing and thus give them premium care (would have liked to have been one of those patients, but couldn't reasonably pay the premium -- if I had a major medical condition, it might have been worth it), so I've been interviewing docs. This one is my husband's dr, and he likes him a lot, so I've got my fingers crossed!

Surprisingly () not hungry today, so a light lunch, and then going to our local bar for dinner tonight -- they've got Wii bowling on Monday nights -- cracks me up! I think it burns 2 calories an hour more than watching TV -- especially as we bowl while sitting down But they have a roasted octopus dish that's divine, and it's just so nice to hang out with friends on Monday night with a beer, some octopus, and Wii bowling

Hope you all have a great day/week!

Wow where did the weekend go?? I was just saying TGIF..and now its Monday again.
I spent alot of time outside enjoying the wonderful cool weather we had this weekned. We pulled up all the tomatoe plants and cleaned the garden area up all but the eggplant and peppers and cucumbers.(I know Heather you didnt want to hear that.) We didnt have a normal garden season this year in ky, the old timers are saying it was to wet.
We went yesterday to see my wonderful granddaughter and I love every second of being with her. I cant wait till we find out what our next one is going to be.
I am doing great calorie wise but not with exercise..looks like chasing 3 kids age 3 in 3 different directions would be enough exercise but its NOT!! So starting this week I will add in weights and minitramp. My goal for sept will be back up to 1500 min.
Sorry no personal..but I feel so far behind.Hugs to all

Debbie -- I'm not listening about the tomatoes. One (yes, one single one) of our Amish paste tomatoes has blushed, so that's something...

Walrus -- I know EXACTLY what you mean about dreading Christmas. I think at times I have found a healthy happy medium of enjoying some of the holiday treats while not overdoing it, but the stress of wondering IF I will is frustrating in and of itself!

Greetings all! Welcome back to Monday! Hooray for zucchini! Salad or otherwise!

New horse came this weekend. I like her better every minute. She's a sweetheart. I hope she's not pregnant, but we'll find out Thursday. Rode more daringly on Gabe this weekend than ever before. I'm trying to ride at least every other day. The muscles are still sore, because I do more each time. Now if only I hadn't had that ice cream yesterday. But instead of losing my mind today, I packed a good lunch and am back on track.

Christmas? Yes, I guess I have to start facing that too.

Have a good week ladies!

And, phew, today's over I still have some work to do and some knitting -- trying to finish my mom's sweater before I fly out Thursday, if my hands will let me -- but most of the day is done and gone. Had an early dinner at the bar, rather than waiting until Wii time, but it gave us a chance to talk with the chef, who's a friend. Then we wandered around a rose garden for a while (I'm practicing with my new camera before I have to rely on it -- and my skills -- when it matters) before taking a short walk. It was only about half the length (or less) of our regular walks, but it was pretty steamy out, though much cooler than it's been lately, so although I wish we'd gone longer, I didn't wish it enough to push for more time Assuming it doesn't rain, we'll walk to and from the gym tomorrow, which doubles our calories burned for that exercise.

In other news, I can't believe I fly out Thursday. It's too sooooooooooonnnnn!!! Help!

Just a quick fly by. Major behavior change today - it's DH's birthday - normally chock full of goodies. No goodies today - we did go out for dinner - I only wanted half of my steak - NOTE - only wanted! I had strawberries for desert - all after a hard hour with my trainer! Calories were higher than I like but every bite is recorded.

I'll try to catch up tomorrow - HI to all!

Hi ladies,

I'm doing well with my exercise. I'm feeling stronger. Yesterday wasn't so hot with food. I went to a barbeque and drank and ate too much. I'm right back in it today and I swear I feel like today's workout helped me sweat out all the toxins from yesterday's poor choices.

Heather - I feel optimistic about your tomatoes. There's still time! Congrats on the pound lost.

Terri - good going on tracking the food. I know for me it is key to write down everything I eat.

Walrus - I, too, dread the Christmas season. It is about 3-4 weeks of constant testing and I haven't yet had a successful holiday season with my eating. At some point I lose it and have to fight to get back on program. May this season be a healthy one for both of us, with our commitment firmly in place through December.

Debi - I hope you had a good exercise day.

Valerie - I had an off day yesterday too. Good job on getting back on plan.

Carol - Good for you, on not making DH's birthday a feeding frenzy. Isn't it wonderful when you don't even want to overdo it?

I am going to make the zucchini lasagne some time this week. It looks good.

Howdy, LetsTry: I hear you. I think I usually do ok over Christmas -- though this year is going to be a challenge for various familial reasons -- it's that I can't seem to stop wanting the special food after the special food is gone, so I end up dissatisfied. Of course, this year I'll have January 25 to look forward to (my 1-year anniversary) -- I don't expect to have lost 100 pounds like many (most?) people, but maybe 80? Which would be dandy (and more than halfway).

One slightly odd thing happened today -- can't remember whether I mentioned this already (the curse of doing daily updates?), but my doctor went into concierge doctoring, so I had to find a new GP. After a couple of failed starts, I tried my husband's doctor today and really, really liked him and his staff. Phew. The odd thing was that when the very nice nurse weighed me, he started at 150...ummmmm...nope. Just a nice thing to do? Or a nice comment on how "well" I carry my avoirdupois? I'm voting for the former

let'stry -- One of my paste tomatoes is blushing, so I have hope too!!!

Walrus -- for the doc story!

Val -- Good to see you posting!

Carol --

A very quick check-in because I need to get to bed...Green Day was awesome! What fun! And I jumped around and danced a lot, screamed my lungs out and my ears are ringing. I think that totally counts for exercise today!

More later...miss you all!

Heather- my neighbor is just now getting her lincoln tomatoes. She is sharing with us because we shared with her in june and july. We got our tomatoe plants in the ground really early this year..thus the early finish I think. I also got behind in my weeding when hubby was sick. Grass had taken them over and grasshoppers were eating the green tomatoes before they even started turning.

Carol- way to go on only half of steak. I have a really hard time with eating half of my meat..I love meat!!!

lets- I didnt get as much exercise as planned..But I did get a good 30 min walk in.

georgia_ hi..sounds like you had a fun day.

walrus- I dread Christmas also. I dread the shopping more than anything! It use to be my favorite time of the year, but money is so much tighter. My kids are now adults and arent here to help with the prep work but still expect the same treats they have always enjoyed. Maybe its time to do a cooking and baking day and invite them to come and help and then let them take it home.

Val- glad you like your new horse. My daughter has a horse at her boyfriends house. It was a gift to her last summer from him.I was quick inform her if they broke up he would get custody. We live in town and now way to keep a horse around.lol

Teri-way to go on journalling your food.

hugs to everyone else!