I think we're all having a busy fun weekend!

I spent this morning going thru my first week of menus on CPB. Lemme tell ya - this ROCKS! Pam has totally outdone herself compared to earlier this year - the recipes look totally tasty - actually they are - I'm having my first CPB meal right now and already getting STUFFED (only 1/2 way through it).

It's supposed to be 90 degrees out - Jim just left for Marin to do some recording with Shree and he won't be home til this evening...in about 2 hours I'm going to head back to the gym to do my back/hams workout. I was there earlier for cardio and it was PACKED at 8:50 am. I'm guessing that once the 49ers game starts, along with the Giants and A's (if they're playing today) the gym will empty out right quick.

The rest of the day is going to be spent cooking for next week, making some iced tea and sitting down with a good book - I'm going to start "The Kitchen God's Wife" by Amy Tan. I LOVED "The Bonesetter's Daughter" and "The Joy Luck Club".

Just wish I had a way of getting over to Woodside/Portola Valley - then I'd be spending the day with the HORSES for sure!

After Jim comes home we're planning on cruising down to Yumi for our weekly frozen yogurt fix

How's everyone else doing?

Ok, hearing all of the raving about CPB meus has me considering a run of CPB myself!

Still chugging along with C3FC. Have had a trying time for the last two weeks. Work stress has been at an all time high. The first week, it was my nutrition that suffered. The second week, it was my workouts. I got back on track 100% with both elements yesterday, and feel 300% better today. I think the mental break that the weekend brings has helped. I'm surprised that I was able to get back on track this weekend considering the stress I was feeling on Friday, after hearing about a sniper in our area. Not sure if you guys have heard about the 6 random sniper shootings in MD over the past week, but on Friday afternoon, a woman was shot in my town of Fredericksburg, VA, (loading shopping bags into her van), and it has been confirmed that it was linked to the Maryland shootings. Very scary. Especially considering that I don't live in a very big town at all.

Off to the gym for a back/tri's/ab workout. We're in the homestretch, ladies!

I began week 2 today of BFL. All systems are go - I like this program, I feel good and I feel excited at the prospects of doing this challenge. I had a nice treat this morning, my friend is an urban farmer of sorts and gave me 9 fresh eggs. I had 5 scrambled egg whites/one yolk this morning and they were so good. I cooked quite a bit today. I had company for lunch and made only food I could eat. No one noticed they were on a diet. No dessert, but we were full of pork loin, baked potato, curried cabbage, and green beans. No room for anything else.

wcolleen - hope this week goes better for you.

karen - how exciting to be starting a new challenge, good luck!

Hi Ladies!!
I can't believe that it's Sunday night already! I just finished watching that new show on NBC, American Dreams. Love it. Had a lovely free meal tonight of homemade chicken enchiladas and guacamole and right now I'm enjoying a slice of homemade apple pie that a friend made. Love free meals. LVOE them.

I've had an incredibly crazy weekend and I'm sort of sad that tomorrow is Monday. Most of you know that I'm a personal trainer but I also work part-time at a preschool as a one-on-one aide for a 3yr old autistic boy.

Well, I got the notion in my head over the last month or so that our classroom needed a new pet of sorts, something cute, furry and good with kids. So what do I decide on? A pair of rats. Yes, rats. They are great with kids and they love attention and being handled a lot. Now, I've known people who have had them and loved them like dogs and cats, but I haven't actually raised any myself. So I got two little baby sister ratties this weekend. I've decided to keep them at my house until they are older and more used to people.

I had one out yesterday and somehow she escaped into the cold air ventilation of the furnace. Long story short, I freaked out, and was trying to coax her out of the tubing in the garage. That didn't work, I was just about to give up, and went back into the room where the cage was and there she was just sitting there, looking at me! I guess she didn't like the dark cold ventilation tubing. I guess some rat-proofing of our house is in order.

So that's how I spent my afternoon yesterday. They're cute and sweet so far, I really can't wait to introduce them to the kids.

Anyway, it looks like another crazy week to come. My great-aunt died on Thursday, and her calling hours are tomorrow evening and the funeral is on Tuesday. I'll be hitting the gym early both days to get my workout I guess.

Ledom--I've just finished reading Laurie R. King's A Monstrous Regiment of Women. I've lately been into fantasy and mystery. I read a lot, and moderate a book club at http://chicklit.com.

Karen--Great going on CPB. I know you'll rock!!

Alright everyone, have a great night!

On to another week!

Celebrated end of c3 with a meal that made me so sick I couldn't wait to start eating clean again- and it wasn't really anything that was weird! No week off for me, I can actually see some abs, so I really don't want to undo that! Anybody else notice that the longer you do this, the more hypercritical you get and want MORE? I reached what I thought was my goal weight 10 months ago, but with each step forward, I realize how much more there is to do.

Moxiegirl- Your rat stories sound a lot like my hamster experiences. All I can say is no more rodents purposefully brought into this house!

Karen- We have similar taste in books. I've read all of Amy Tan's, and The Kitchen God's Wife was my favorite!

Ledom- Good for you! You sound like you are settling into this well. Remember, it's a lifestyle change! That's never easy. Stick with it, you'll see results.

gotta go- looks like acrazy day ahead!

mel

thanks for those words. I needed to hear that this a.m. Sometimes you just can't help those niggling doubts. You're right about staying away from the scales you guys. Up 2 lbs. from free day 2 days after it is over, but still down from when I started. I thought I handled free day pretty reasonably actually. But pizza w/ black olives caused water retention - doesn't it always? I am putting my faith in this and trying my best not to second guess. Free day? - a whole lotta of food? - how can this work? Those are the niggling little doubts. Today I am going to look at workout equipment. Especially w/ the lowerbody workout I think there is a lot more I could do w/ more weight and a better bench.

Happy Monday - once again thanks for your advice and support. I don't have to look far for motivation.

It's 10:20 a.m., and I still feel like I'm asleep. . . It's a beautiful fall day here -- sunny with crisp air. I don't know why, though, but all I want to do is curl back up in my bed.

Ledom: I wouldn't worry too much about free day. Although I've put my scale away, I've been enjoying free days for 9 weeks now (or maybe 10 -- I always lose track of time), and I can tell by how my clothes are fitting that I'm losing weight/toning up. More importantly, knowing that I have a free day helps me get through any cravings I may be having during the week. I just tell myself that I can wait until Saturday to have whatever it is that I want. So far, it's worked. For example, last Friday I went out to dinner with some friends at an Italian restaurant. Instead of having pasta, I ordered a large veggie salad with grilled shrimp -- I just kept telling myself (1) to enjoy the company and stop obsessing about the food; and (2) if I still wanting pasta, I could eat as much as I wanted in 12 or so hours. I did the same with dessert, and it really helped deal with the food. (As it turned out, I was so busy on Saturday, I didn't even have time to eat badly . . .) I know, though, that if I didn't have free days to look forward to, I would easily cave to all of the temptations we all have around us everyday.

wcolleen: Be safe! It's a very scary situation right now, where you live. I was following the story over the weekend, but haven't heard whether they caught the person or not. I'm sure they will soon, if they haven't already!

Moxiegirl: I've read about pet rats, but can't help shuddering at the thought of those long, hair-less tails. I think we're very anti-rat, here in Chicago.

Re: Amy Tan -- I also enjoy her books, but The Joy Luck Club prompted me to do something that I think I'm still recovering from, mentally -- going on a 1-week trip with just my mom! I had just finished reading The Joy Luck Club, and thought, hey!, wouldn't it be great if my mom and I could bond like in the book. Well, as they say, life isn't like Hollywood makes it out to be. Although we had a fine time, it was a long 7 days for both of us. I call that trip my "Joy Luck folly".

I'll try to check back in later. Hope everyone is doing well. Ciao, Mox

HEY EVERYONE!!!

I have so much to catch up with at work here as yesterday was a public holiday for us, but I just wanted to pop in and say hi and see how you are all going?

I picked up not one but TWO places on the weekend - well a duplex actually. So now I own 3 places. The good thing is that they are already rented out so their is a guaranteed income in place already! Anyway.....

My food went fairly well over the weekend except that my last meal for Friday night went yucky in the hot car on the drive up - yes even in the cooler bag! I think that I need a new cooler bag. The family were in shock when they saw me because they haven't seen me in 2 years. Then they were even in more shock when hubby and I polished off a dozen eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning!

We came back on Saturday night even though it was a 6 hour drive because we wanted to still have sone of the weekend to do our stuff. I also had to cook yesterday and all the baking took me 5 hrs! LUCKILY I love this menu Pam has given me!

Anyway I will post again later I just wanted to say hi!

JC

AACK!! (insert Pauly Shore-type whine here )

I was going to post last night at home - but the internet was running sllllooowwww. Jim was like, why are we paying for DSL if it's so slow...he has a tendancy to forget how annoying dialup service was!

I am REALLY LOVING this new CPB. Yesterday she sent me my new training split - like JC and Mel had observed (if memory serves that is!) the weight training is not as hard and heavy as I've been doing lately - nevertheless I'm feeling the effects big time!

JC - the landlord!! Sheesh, I couldn't do that...I'm way too irresponsible. We actually have a really great landlord at our little place, he really takes care of things. Do they have open houses on Sundays in Oz like they do here - my sister isn't shopping for a house but she enjoys going to open houses and being a 'lookie-loo'. Actually I enjoy that myself but it's not really Jim's cuppa tea. He can't window-shop at stores either - if he goes to the mall it's to BUY something, not just browse!

Mox - do rats that run around the backyard count as pets? It's not like we're in the slums or anything but we do have the occasional roof-rat. At night they're at the bird feeder and Sparky just goes absolutely WILD watching them. It's like premium Kitty Kable TV! Actually I haven't seen them around lately because they seem to attract hungry kitties. Jim and I saw Squeaky (the black-and-white girl kitty who lives in our neighborhood) chase one down a couple of months ago...pretty interesting! Our upstairs neighbor has two snakes - pythons - and feeds them a big white rat once every couple of weeks. I watched once...all I can say is it's over pretty quickly!

Ledom - Let me put in my two cents with Mox about free day. Most of that weight gained on FD is usually water weight - which goes away after a day or so of clean eating. I encourage you to take advantage of your free day - it really works in keeping your nutrition clean the other six days of the week. A really great tip that Susanje gave me in the beginning - make sure you STILL drink all your water on Free Day - that really helps alleviate any free day 'hangover' you might experience. Also, try not to eat 'just because you can'. I've done that quite a few times and always regretted it - by that I mean shoveling in the food even though my tummy was full, just because it was there and it was Free Day. I tell myself now - Safeway isn't going to run out of oatmeal cookies by next Sunday...Round Table Pizza isn't going out of business anytime soon...the food will ALWAYS be there. And if you insist on weighing yourself, for goodness' sake DON'T do it the day after Free Day, else you're just setting yourself up for disaster BIG TIME.

I'm still trying to read "The Kitchen God's Wife" but it's just tough to get a few peaceful reading moments - besides my CPB, I've been doing some pedigree research and that takes a lot of time...

Oh well, back to work! Let's hear from y'all! Susan???

This is from Tom "The Dipping/Running Man" at L&S...he posted this today and I thought it was worth posting here for y'all!
Good stuff, huh?

What a great post, MrsJim. And very timely! I actually had a small obstacle moment yesterday, that -- thankfully -- I was able to overcome. For some reason, I was very sleepy and clumsy yesterday. Anyway, I was getting ready to eat my lunch when I dropped my plate! which fell upside down, of course! Since I'm not sure if the lunchroom floor ever gets cleaned, there was no way I was going to eat the chicken breast, yam, and cabbage I had prepared. Well, my co-workers (all very sympathtic) were chowing down on Mexican, Chinese noodles, etc. Stuff that's bad even on Free Days. I couldn't decide what to eat, and was tempted to go get something bery bery bad. Instead, I found my feet walking to a salad place where I got fresh fruit (carbs), boiled shrimp (protein), and lettuce/snap peas (veggies). With only 2 1/2 weeks to go for my first challenge, I want to be a good as I can be!

Also, I just received the book, Body Revival, from half.com yesterday, and am anxious to start reading it to stay motivated.

Re: rats -- I don't think I've ever seen a cute rat. We have huge ones that run around in the alleys. Yuck! But, we have lots of squirrels here, which some people call rats with tails (and pidgeons are rats with wings . . ), but I like them -- the squirrels, that is. They're the ones that try to eat all of the bird seed and drive the kitties crazy.

JEC: Congrats on the property! I don't think I would be a good landlord/lady -- I can barely take care of my 2 bedroom condo. All I can think of are movies like "Pacific Heights", where unsuspecting landlords get tenants from ****. (Although a lot of my friends have been in the opposite situation, in reality.)

Hope everyone is having a great day. Talk to you tomorrow. Mox

Just a quick intro.

I'm day 16 of BFL and am taking a "gentler approach" this time. I tried it a number of years ago and nearly passed out during cardio and would feel really sick after a work-out. I guess I got a wee bit confused with my "9's" and my "11's".

Eating clean, working out within my limits, using a heart-monitor to keep me up-right during cardio but struggle with the water intake. I know what I need to do but I figure coming clean on this board will motivate me to start drinking some serious water!!!

I tend to be brief in my emails and replies as it takes me a long time to write/type and I do goof my words up. Except my apology in advance.

I look forward to reading about everyones experience.

Jan
***********************

Hello Girls!!

How is everyone.... From all the encouraging posts very good ....

Good stuff for sure Mrs. J. , you are a fountain of information.... and that post hit home with me too... I was feeling set back because I have a sore back which lasted only ONE DAY, imagine, I feel pretty silly when I see the obstacles that some people have gone through....

JEC owning property is a great thing... We only have one with only 2 apartments and they are 2 of the best couples a landlord could ask for.... We have alot of friends that have the tenants from ****... wrecking their places and such... I would hate to see that happen to this building because it used to belong to my mother-in-law and it's a beautiful old building, right downtown withing walking distance to "the" only good Mall in this town...

You know where I feel my weight loss girls? In my hands they feel skinny... I can see the bones and veins and my rings are loose....yippee... I love loose rings....There is nothing that annoys me more than a tight wedding band....

Rats!!!!!!!! no thank you ....... we had squirrels stuck between the rafters in our house one year... they remind me of rats... then a few years later lucky us we had bats.!!!!.... We weren't allowed to kill them by law because they are an endagered species... Well they were extremely endangered when they were in our attic, needless to say..... We no longer have bats.... I hope I have not offended anyone because bats, rats, squirrels are all rodents and they bug me...... Almost every year we have a bees nest that starts by summer's end between the walls, this year was no different, hubby sprayed the opening.... then, I guess they were trying to escape, they were coming into the house... on some days we found over 20 bees .... thank goodness no one has bee allergies.... WE don't even live in the country...LOL.... I'm not a country girl at all give me all the amenities of the city and clean living.... I would not survive on Survivor....LOL

Anyways I'm rambling.... AGAIN..

Later girls....

Hello Jan.... I guess we were posting at the same time.... Welcome...

Nice to meet you Jan!

Lana: yeah it's a good gig to get into. I just got rid of some average tenants and am trying to get their bond at the moment because they left the place in a mess but it doesn't really worry me that much. I feel my weight loss in my hands as well - I have been meaning to get my rings adjusted for ages but keep putting it off in case I lose more weight off my hands. I have actually just stopped biting my nails so now my hands are looking quite petite and pretty, which I am really happy with.

MrsJim: that was a magnificent post wasn't it? I got a lot out of it.

I hope that everyone is cruising along ok - I am doing great and verging on buying the next size down in pants - I might update my photos this week.

JC