WELCOME !!!

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
Thursday......Thankful Thursday
Friday........Friday Facials, Fingernails and Fun
Saturday.......Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Sunday.........Soup and Salad Sunday - recipes

We chat on Wednesday and Sunday at 8:30 EST, 7:30 CST.

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

WELCOME!

Good Morning All!
I stopped in to catch up with everyone and I can't have this post sitting here all alone with no messages, so it'll just be a quickie from me...

I have already been to the gym, done a couple loads of laundry, showered...now I just have to get dressed and I am going to the grocery store. Later today I am getting a haircut and going to Kohl's and Target... how exciting my day will be! (not)

Hubby just got a call from his boss (yes, on Sunday) and had to head in to the office for a little while.

Gotta run for now....catch up with you lovely ladies later on!
Barb

WOW... I can be such a dufus.
I came in here last night... started a new thread and moved Jen's post over here too. woke up this morning... and it was gone. What the heck!!!
Then I thought... hmmm ... maybe I moved Jen's post to another thread.
I go back and look ... and sure enough ... after starting the new thread I went back to the old to copy Jen's and I reposted it on the old thread. Yep.. Dufus... with a capitol D. Sorry about that. LOL

Soooo here is what I thought I posted last night
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DARN !!! Here it is 3am and I am STILL awake. Grrrrr
The only good thing about it is.... I can be the first to read Jen's post from Germany. LOL
Jen always seems to be the last to post on the old threads... Jen.. you are allowed to start a new thread.
Well... since she didn't... I thought I would start off February with a new thread for a new month and a new beginning for many.
Here is Jens post from the last page of the last thread... it was to good to miss.

The following was written my Jehari/Jen
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FINALLY!! RESULTS!!!
The cycling is paying off!! I think the plateau is over!! I am down 2 pounds this morning!!

Yesterday went a whole lot better food wise, and I got in 20 minutes on the bike. I was feeling pretty discouraged, but finally seeing the scale budge has me motivated again! After I get done posting, I'm gonna get on that bike!

Barb: I have my fingers crossed for you girl! That's great news! Best of luck to you both!

Thin: How do I get a job like yours?? I'd love to get paid to shop and go to movies!! Sounds awesome!! Sign me up.

Kat: WOW!!! 7 pounds!! That's fantastic!! Good for you!!

A big HELLO to everyone else out there. I'm off to ride the bike now.
Talk at ya later,
Jen

__________________
"Some people dream of success. Others wake up and work hard at it."

Okay you guys... this is twice I have come here after HOURS and no one posted.
I just edited my popcorn recipe and thought I would let you know in case you copied it.

The Super Bowl does not start for hours still... where is everyone.

LOL 2Cute!! 2 Funny!!

Today has been more or less OK. Calories were right on target until I started munching Chex Mix (it's soooo addictive), but I don't think it put me over by too much. The rest of the day I was super duper busy cleaning the whole house. AND I did 30 minutes on the bike today! WOOHOO

I've got lots of running around to do this week, so hopefully that will help me keep my face out of the trough . It's much harder when I'm stuck at home all day. I didn't have anywhere to go today and couldn't even take the kids to the park because of the neverending rain here. Well, I'm all kinds of motivated to stick with the bike. Curious to see what next weeks WI will show. Yeah, right!! As if I can wait that long. I'm a total scale junkie. I'll be on that sucker again in the morning even though I KNOW I shouldn't because it can be so counterproductive.

Nothing else new and fabulous to report today. I'll talk at you gals later,
Jen

I was posting too 2Cute!!!

Hey everyone

I am still so exhausted from this last week! I was planning a relaxing day of cleaning a bit, church and then a small family group to wish my niece a happy 5th birthday. My mom decided to call in a few extra relatives for the occasion, so now I'm not feeling so casual and have been working my tail off getting this house into a semblance of shape. Grrr... I love my mom, but she could have asked me first. Besides, they are coming to talk business with one of my brothers, not because of the birthday party. Anyway, I thought I'd take a bit of a break because I'm feeling worn out already, come here to read and do a bit of posting myself. The house isn't going to be that much more clean with this half an hour I'm giving myself.

I am having WI stress. I know my home scale is wacky as all get out, but I can usually get a basic idea to keep me moving along until I can get to the good scale at Curves. Well, my home scale started giving me the big, nasty E the day after I began the newest job. I wasn't too surprised, because I usually show 5-10 lbs. up when I'm seriously stressed. Then TOM came, so I still wasn't stressed. It's all water weight, right? Well, TOM is about done, I've done about everything I can to alleviate the stress, and the hateful scale still is showing me an E!!! (looking for a primal scream emoticon to place here... ) For anyone else to tell me they have gained 5 or more pounds in a week, I'd tell them they've been smoking too much of the funny stuff, but I've had it happen to myself too many times to not know it is possible. Yeah, I've read all the scientific numbers, and all I can say is blah, blah, blah. Sure, it shouldn't happen, but it can. Makes about as much sense as people who say losing weight is a total numbers game. You burn more than you take in and you automatically lose weight. Ok, so that works for people who have less than 50 lbs. to lose, but it is total bunk if you have been dieting since you were a child!

Now, on to what I'm going to do to get this moving along.

I set up DietPower again for myself last night. I'm torn between journaling my foods today or not, because it really does need a true WI number to work correctly. Still, I have a basic idea of my weight, and even if I'm wrong, it will work itself out within a week. Second, I'm going to quit thinking about drinking all my water and kind of getting there, but not really. I'm going to do it. Third, I'm going to stop waiting to start on another food plan until we have enough money to afford low carbing it. There are other weight loss plans out there. Probably about any one of them will work for me at this point as long as I stick with it. Fourth, I've been slacking on exercise because of the rest of my schedule. Today I'm going to get out and walk. Throughout the next week, I'm going to make sure to leave my needs as a priority. One of the most important of those needs is getting out there and exercising. It helps my mental and physical state of being. I need it. I'm a better mother and wife when I'm feeling good. I'm a better me, and that is what really counts. Fifth, I'm going to make rest a priority as well. I have to be honest with myself, and this time of year I'm a bit delicate. I can't do any of the above without enough rest to let my body recuperate from the strains of the day.

2cute was asking if any of us had read the book excerpt in O, Passing for Thin. Well, that was the article I had to force myself to read, and it took two days to build up the courage. Not everything she had to say made me happy, I have to admit. But it was real. And she did it. I not only want to lose weight, I NEED to lose weight. Today is another Day 1.

*HUGS* to all of you. Time to get back to work!

Andria

Hey ladies, I'm back again. Just a short post for right now as I have to go make dinner. I was going to post a picture on the picture page, but it says the file is too large. Does anyone know how I can make it smaller? I'll be back later.
Steph

Hello ladies. This is the first time today that I have been on the computer.
Thin: I did not find any bargins at super wally. I did my shopping there today and spent $115.00 but some of that was not food stuff.

I cooked taco soup for dinner tonight I used 1/2 lb. each extra lean ground chuck and 1/2 lb. ground turkey.

I also tried a morninstar farms pizza it was real good dh liked it too.

not much going on. son has gone to a super bowl party. He is going to be able to draw unemployment till he finds a job.

I am going to a conference in Natchez MS the 11-15. I will try to take the laptop so I can keep in touch.

Well I better go for now. catch all later.

The heck with the Super Bowl! There's a "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" marathon on Bravo! Love it!

oops commercial's over...gotta go!

Once again I am starting anew. Boy how many times have I said that. But, for some reason, something is different this time. I think I finally have it in me to get this weight off for good. I don't want to be fat anymore. I want to be a healthy mom for my kids. I want to be able to go shopping in a normal store. I don't want to be embarrassed by my size when I pay for my clothes. I want to feel sexy. I can't say any of things are true in my current state, but that is going to change. I know it will be a slow process and I'm okay with that. As long as I know that I'm doing good things for my body, the payoff will be more than just a number on the scale. I have 126 lbs to lose. My first long term goal is to get down to 215 lbs, which is the weight I was at when I got pregnant with my son. That's a loss of 71 lbs. I know I can do this as I know that each and everyone of you can as well. We are in this together and I can't think of a better group of people to go on this journey with. I promise I won't disappear again.
Are you with me?
Steph

Hi ladies,

Gosh, I go away for the weekend and no one misses me!

We had a good weekend with my sister at my step-niece's place. I ended up going on Friday night because all day Friday the weather report was that our area was to get pounded with a winter storm. Up to 15 inches. It was beyond cold. Friday night, we went to a late showing of "Calendar Girls". We were loving it and with about 40 minutes left of the movie, the picture went out. They said it was a bulb in the projector and would take 30 minutes to fix. They gave us a free ticket and the option to wait around to be fixed. We opted to wait. We then decided we wanted something from the concession but it was closed. At almost midnight, the manager came out to say that it was bigger than a bulb and wouldn't be fixed. Bummer that we didn't get to see the end.

Yesterday, we spent a long time in Wal-mart and Sam's Club. The stores were insane because people were in a panic about the winter storm. It was like people we preparing to be snowed-in for a couple of months. Sheesh. We had lunch at a cool, local pool hall that had the best burgers. We only had one and they were small. We decided to use our free ticket and go see "Something's Got to Give". We loved that. This time we made sure we hit the concession stand before the movie started. Food just wasn't good this weekend.

Today, DH called and said it was time to get on the road because it was starting to sleet. So our winter storm of 15 inches is now nothing but some moisture. It will turn to ice tonight and maybe we'll get a few inches tomorrow.

While I'm glad we didn't get all that snow, it irritates me that the weather/news go so overboard with their reports and send the public into a panic.

To recap the weekend: Food = bad Exercise = none Fun = lots!

Tomorrow is a fresh start with both good food and exercise.

I'll try a few replies:

Barb - I am so happy that you have hope for a baby! I'll be praying for you that this works. Looks like you're getting back into the exercise groove.

Thin - Survivor should be really good! I'm excited. Have you been watching any of The Apprentice? Its by the same producer. Its a hoot.

Kat - on your loss! We're doing similar to you with the SBD. We're doing 2 weeks phase 1 and 2 weeks phase 2. We're going back to phase 1 starting tomorrow. I love this eating plan.

Jen - Great job on the bike! Can you order from Collage Video? They have videos for stationary bikes. I have cycling through Vermont and Switzerland. I really like them.

Joyce - for your loss too! Thanks for the clarification on Fast Track. I certainly did not get that from my leader. I may try that along with SBD this week. Although, I don't see how 20 points can be good for anyone that normally eats 30 points or more.

Duckie - I'm sorry to see that you and your DF are having troubles. Its a very difficult decision you have to make. But with lots of prayer and asking for guidance, God will guide you.

2Cute - Sorry for not being here this weekend to post! I read your post about the "fun" person being held captive. I've always thought of you as such a fun person.

Andria - I'm so glad that you said something to your boss. How was your weekend off?

Amanda - Keep us posted on getting going with Body for Life. Thanks for the info on Ikea.

I better get off here. Hello to everyone else! Here's to a fresh start on Monday morning!