God Bless America!!!!

We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We recently started a Topic of the Day.

Monday........Motivation Monday
Tuesday.......Tuesday Tips
Wednesday.....Wednesday Weigh ins and Way to Go !!
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We have found them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears...joys and celebrations.

Please feel free to jump right in with us.
And be sure to check if there is a second page. We don't want anyone to miss any posts.
We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We recently started a Topic of the Day.

WELCOME

Happy FUN FRIDAY everyone !!!!

Sorry I was gone all day yesterday. I only seem to find time to post after midnight.
I just was not willing to reply to everyone and have it be the LAST post of the last thread. LOL
I don't mind short ones being last... but longggg ones.... no way !!! LOL

GEE... I feel like a "celebrity" having our little group offered it's own forum. WOW !!!!
I can see sooo many good things about it. Maybe more 300+ers would find a home they feel comfortable in. We could have a separate exercise room, recipe room, food journal site ... the list goes on and on. Hey... we could even have our own Tony Stewart Fan Club. LOL But the best reason would be to help more 300+ers find a place they could feel comfortable and at home in.

BUT ..... that said.... I still vote no for me.
I LOVE the "home" atmosphere we have developed here.
I LOVE the intimacy we have here. I LOVE the family we have become. For ME ... and me only.... I would not trade what we have HERE for all the fame and fortune of our own forum there.

I DO think it is a good idea if anyone else wants to put the work in that it takes to keep a new thread going. I can't promise I would be a regular there ... but I would try and come visit when I could. I have found my HOME ... and it is HERE.
I don't even feel selfish or guilty for not being willing to move. LOL . I want to help anyone and everyone we can ... but I want to do it from my HOME.... here, snuggled away inside of the Support forum. (thanks Sara for that visual)

I noticed most who want to stay here are old timers ... and most who are excited about change are newcomers. I think that is because they just haven't got that "bond" here... YET. LOL Like I said... maybe this is the time for someone to take this opportunity to start a new forum just for 300+ers....this kind of opportunity doesn't come around everyday. If YOU are up to the challenge... I say.. GO FOR IT !!!
I may be 2cute... but I am also 2old and set in my ways.

Okay... I am going to start another post for my replies. I think that is going to be longgg.

Okay.. now for replies....

Deon... I wrote you a longggg post the night you requested help with raising kids. I came up with several ideas I used on mine. BUT by the time I got it all written ... they closed the site for updating so I lost it ALL. Grrrr So I decided that was a sign that I was supposed to keep my mouth shut.

Mary... Ahhh... a second honeymoon. I never even got a first honeymoon.
Sandy... I am dancing for that 10% Congratulations !!!!!
Aradia.... WELCOME !!! WOW... 56.8 lbs !!! congrats !!!
Just hang in there. I am sure you have overcome many hard times before and you will overcome this one too. Friday is a NEW DAY !!!

Barb... A BIG WELCOME to you too !!!! You have made a great beginning... 22lbs gone and more to come soon. You sound like you have chosen a wise path to follow.
I think my husband wants to go to Atlantic City for vacation this year. He LOVES to gamble. I like it ... but not enough to plan a vacation around it. LOL

Duckie... I liked the words you used to describe our thread. .... "small and intimate". I agree. It doesn't mean we don't want newcomers ... we just want to stay a "specialty shop" and not become a "mall".

Thin.... I liked your life strategy... "Feel... Felt ... Found"
That is sort of like some of what I wrote Deon too. Acknowledge their feelings. We ALL want to be listened to. I compare it to talking to my husband.... he NEVER listens. Grrrrr He will ask me a question ... and then NOT LISTEN to the answer.

Lori... Nice picture in your avatar. It is always sooo nice to have a face to put with a name. I love my hard boiled eggs. LOL My dog usually eats the yolks so I don't worry about the cholesterol. LOL (Hope I am not killing my dog)

JiffyPop... I can't tell you how happy I am to have you join us. I just LOVE to see successful posters.... you offer me HOPE !!! Please tell us how you did it.
I bet you are going to ruin my joy by saying you do the dirty "E" word. (Exercise)

Kat.... {{{ HUGS }}} I am definitely not the best ... but I am still the CUTEST !!!

Michelle... Those dastardly mid terms. Even the smartest students need to take a break now and then. Just peek in and keep us posted on you and Andrew.

Lucky .... I know you are peeking. Come on... that raking will kill you if you don't rest once in a while. How are you doing girl ???

Baylee... I loved your quote. I took it each sentence on it's own. It reminded me of a quote I used to put in my signature....
"Happiness is not found at the end of the road ... it is found along the way"

Sara... I hope you don't mind me stealing your "visual" about staying HERE. I could not have said it any better myself.

Tina...I was hoping you posted BEFORE you saw TONY because I was afraid you would be TOTALLY mesmerized "after" seeing him and forget who we were.
I am sooo HAPPY for you. It could not have happened to a nicer person.
I can't wait to see the smile on your face in your photos.

Okay... Steph, Moongoddess, Jen, Ravyn, J-ann and anyone else I forgot. ...
if you don't post soon I am taking you off my 300+ list.
You don't want that do you???
So get your butts in here and POST !!!

Well.. I hope all of these smilies make it through... otherwise... I will either get knocked off ... or knock off this computer when I lose all of this. LOL
Cross you fingers.

Edited to say I wrote "orange-red" for Tony but it printed blue !!!! ????

I went back to the old thread and found a post from Deon....
Deon... CONGRATULATIONS !!!!
That is AWESOME about losing 5lbs !! Way to go girl !!!
But I have to warn you !!! ....
That light at the end of that tunnel.....
It is a "FREIGHT TRAIN !!!!! LOL
Just kidding.... sort of. LOL

And Kat... I re-read your post... you were right... I was up to my ying yang in toys !!! I even tripped over them TWICE !!!
But as you can see...... I did not sleep well tonight.
Here it is... 3:15 am.

And I wanted to test my new little friend.... I forgot her earlier... plus I had so many smilies I was afraid I would overload the site computer that rejects too much info. LOL .
Isn't she cute !!! Not as cute as me of course... but cute just the same.
She definitely represents me and my progress. LOL

Thumbs up for all the newbies please stick around.
Fun Friday already, I'm off today and I think I will go into town and spend some time with myself.

Tina WOW you are so happy I know.

I can't wait till next Friday to leave on our trip I'll try to get pics. You know I may be too busy

I talked to my brother last night and he actually said he needs to take the baby to see our mother. He hasn't seen her since 1995. I almost cried for joy. He saw the baby yesterday and is suposse to have him this week end.

Well I gotta go for now. need to do some work.
But I will be back later

Boy Chicklets you were sure chatty between lastnight when I left and this a.m when I signed in.

Thanks for all the congrats you gave to me.

Tina: Wow I can see you up there on clound 9, poor Ron, didnt stand a chance next to Tony did he, or at least till you came back to reality...LOL.....what a thrill you must have had, did you drop your hand to his butt?

Deon: 5#'s? Wow, let me dance with you chickee pooh Great work.

Well I gotta run to work now, but will be back later you know!!!

Hope EVERYONE has a wonderful day.

Good Morning Lovely Ladies!
I woke up to a yucky, rainy day and the traffice report on the news was not pleasant. So we are going to wait a little while to head out to Atlantic City --- not to mention that hubby is still sound asleep. However, it can't be that bad of a day because I am off work and leaving for the weekend. I am a little sad to drop the dogs off at the kennel I've had two of my dogs for many, many years and they are fine - they're use to staying at the kennel when we travel, but Charlee, my new little Chihuahua is only 4 months old and this is her first time. I wish I could take her with us, but I guess she has to get use to it sometime. It's only for 3 nights. Next month we are going to FL and she'll have to be there for 9 nights.

Tina - loved ready about your meet with Tony! What a great time!

Wish I had time to write to everyone else, but I should probably go get myself into the shower and finish getting all our stuff together!

Wishing everyone a Wonderful Friday and even better weekend!
Hugs to all!
Barb

YOU HAD BETTER LET ME KNOW IF YOU DO!!! I can be there in 2 hours!! I would love the chance to give you a REAL hug!!
Let hubby gamble, we'll go for a stroll on the boardwalk!

Hmm, fun friday. Well I dont know about fun, but its friday and the beginning of a LONG weekend for me. I work 9 hours today and then 12 Sat and Sun. So if I'm not here, but to jump in and say hey, then dont think I've ran off, lol. Just bare with me, and I'll be my chatty self Monday. Wow, this thread is so full of energy. I dont know if I can keep up. It will take me time to get to know everyone again, and start replying to posts. I just want to thank everyone who has welcomed me, it really means alot. I hope all of you have a wonderful and OP friday. Me, I'm going to grabe the snow shoes and rain coat and head to work. Have a wonderful day.

I figured I'd better post something so 2Cute doesn't remove me from her list.LOL. Welcome to all the newbies. This is a great place. Very supportive and fun. Hope you all stick with us. 2Cute- would you please pm me with Donna's email address, I'd like to send her a message. Kat- I made the pie you posted, except I used sliced bananas in the bottom. Very yummy! Sandy- congrats on the 3.5 lbs this week and the 29.5 lbs total. That's awesome! Tina- what can I say, it sounds like you had an awesome time. Tony sounds like a really nice guy. Can't wait to see the pictures. Michelle- thanks for checking in. I was starting to get worried about you. Pop in more often. Mary- that's great news for your brother. Hope you have a fun day off. As for me, I vote that we leave things as they are. It is very homey and comfortable here. But that's just my opinion. It's a cold, rainy day here. Got my bills paid and the grocery shopping done. Just finishing up on my laundry, then I'm gonna relax until dinner time. I have to work all weekend so I probably won't be on much this weekend, if at all. I'll probably have 2 threads to read by Monday. Oh well. Hope everyone has a great day.
Steph

Hi to all! Am feeling great today. Don't know what I am going to do for fun?? I think I might go rent some movies. I have to take the kids to the pool and find something to do with myself for two hours. I think I will go visit grandparents. That's about like getting teeth pulled, actually I would rather have teeth pulled. They are very grumpy, unhappy people and try as hard as possible to make everyone around them miserable. But they are old. So I forgive them and still visit, they are my grandparents after all.

2 cute- Don't be silly. I would love all the advice you can give. I don't have to use it you know. Don't ever feel you need to keep your mouth closed around me, if I don't like it I don't have to listen to it. Even though I probably will.

Mary- I am so happy for your brother! GOD does still work miracles. And you are a wonderful sister for all the prayers you have given and support to him. That is wonderful.

Barb- I also have chihuahua's. 2 females and they are my best friends. They are also spoiled babies. I feel for you, having to leave them. Ours go everywhere they can with us. We did have to leave them when we on vacation over Christmas, and boy were they mad at us when we got home. They can be so tempramental.

Well gotta go for now ladies. Have a "FUN" Friday!

YAYYYYY!!!! got some great news from the doc's office!

My glucose levels are closer to normal readings, everything else they tested for is IN NORMAL RANGE, and my cholesterol level is...{drum roll}


168!!!!!!!!!!!!

Makes following this good old plan worthwhile, doesn't it? All this good news just made this rainy day brighter!!!

2cute: Thanks for the pic compliment. Actually, it was taken last November and now a bit out of date since I had my hair frosted recently.

Tina: YOU GO GIRL!!!!! So glad to hear you had a great time yesterday...can't wait to see the pics!

Afternoon Lady's

It's a beautiful warm windy day here in Alberta, well it would be alot nicer if there was no wind, Its hard to take a walk if you have to shield your eyes from the dust.

I'm just sitting and muching on some carrots, I was torn between carrots and Bridge Mix and the carrots won, yeah, I've been really trying to make healthier choices lately, but have along way to go to really changing my eating habits again, why is it that sometimes its so easy to diet and other times it's so hard to even get started, I would love to lose 20 lbs by July 1st. I guess I better try harder.

Tina, it sounds like you had a wonderful time, I think Tony might be making a move calling you sweetie, and letting you be the only one to take pictures with him, Your DH better put a tighter hold on you, Tony might race you away in his car. Does he ever say he reconizes you from previous meetings. Or does he call every one sweetie. You are definetly one super fan.

Mary glad everythings working with your brother, sounds like he's a stand up kind of guy, glad to see he's not running away but is fighting for his son, that will be nice for your mother to see her son and grandson.

Barb have a great weekend, is this for a timeshare. I use to work for a time share company, was one of the telemarketers that would get the customers to book, and come see presentations on the resorts, hotels, I have been told off so many times, I hope you enjoy, hey your getting free room and board out of it, not such a bad deal.

Congrats to all the losers this week I hope to join you next week.

Fun Friday, well I have to work till about 7:30 so not much fun, but I think I will rent Harry Potters 2, I think it comes out today, and watch that with my son when I get home, you know the NHL playoffs our on now and theres no chance I'm getting tv for the next 2 months.

Well gotta go and get back to work, talk to ya monday if not sooner

Oprah is about living as an obese women today. Just thought some of you may want to watch. I'll be back tonight... hopefully before 3am.

geez louise ladies!!!! you sure do move quickly around these parts!!!! i tried to post last night, but my laptop decided to go into hibernation, so i just went to bed, too.

the comments about moving to a separate forum are really interesting, especially among those who don't want to change. change can be lots of things, from exciting and wonderful, to scary and upsetting, with everything in the middle. and what's even more interesting, is that we're all trying to change OURSELVES: our eating and exercise habits, the way we relate to food, the way we handle our emotions.

well, i'll just leave that topic and answer your questions about how i managed to do this. the details are posted in such wonderful places like the low carb board and the weight loss surgery board. [see what you've been missing??? just like i've been missing you???!!!]

here's an abridged version: between 1996 and 2001, i was extremely ill. undertreated bronchitis and pneumonia [oh, an overweight woman can't breathe ? must be her weight!!! she couldn't POSSIBLY have pneumonia!!!!!], a nasty infection in my leg that got into my blood stream [septicema]. ballooned from about 375 to 500 pounds [but is it really possible for someone who starts off at 375 to actually BALLOON????]. was in the hospital from august 13, 2001 to september 16 or so, and then to a nursing home until october 6, learning to walk again.

while in the hospital, they decided i had sleep apnea. went on the bipap, and lost 97 pounds between september 2001 and january 2002. 75 pounds of this went in 10 weeks.

and then on january 29, 2002, i had gastric bypass surgery. and believe me, don't think for a second that i recommend it for everyone. all i can say is that it's worked for me. i know people who have had miserable outcomes, and some who have gained all their weight back. and one woman almost died from it. it's not a quick fix; it's not the easy way out.

but the 'head stuff' remains. all that psychology of eating, the emtional aspects of it all...

and 2cute, darlin. yes. unfortunately, i do indeed engage in the E word. quite a shock to my system. sweating is overrated, but that soak in the whirlpool at the gym is a fabulous reward. on some days, it's not quite ENOUGH of a reward, though,.