Good morning, Chickies~~

Just a quick thread to get us started. Woke up late after a restless night. I think someone slipped regular coffee into my unleaded last night at the restaurant.

Not a whole lot else going on.

Need to grab my shower, but I'll try and pop back in a bit.

Mamacita

PS I mentioned that my doc put me on Topamax. Well, I stepped on the scale this morning and I'm down a POUND AND A HALF!!!!!

Good Morning! DH overslept this morning as well. Which he never does! He got up when my alarm went off. Then DS was not up yet! Nothing major planned today. Just tryin to stay OP. It'll be another out of town weekend. My sister wants to go look for our dresses. Good news my mom has decided to go on the beach so eating at her house should be a lot easier! Well gotta get the crew out! I'll check on ya'll later. Have a great day!

Oh ladies, I have failed. I don't know what my problem is. I just can't do the two weeks. I don't know what to do. I know it seems very easy, but I just LOVE food and can't stop eating sometimes. So yesterday I just let myself eat sweets until I couldn't look at another. Today I'm feeling fresh and everything, but I don't know how long it will last. SO...I'm starting fresh. I will not give up. I will do two weeks if it kills me!!! I'm going to start a journal, and keep pictures of things that inspire me around my desk, take it ONE day at a time.

I just think that you chickies are so strong. I see how well you have all done losing weight and reaching your goals and I'm so happy for all of you. Then I think how I just want to lose 15 measly lbs and can't even survive for 14 days. I just feel like I have no will power. Well the buck stops here!!! I'm going to do this!

Keep up the good work ladies...I'll report back in a few days.

Alli

Good Morning

I am happy to report that I made it through day 2 of my phase I restart. Sometimes it is just so hard when the rest of the family is thin and likes to keep snacks in the house. I've read where some of you have "cleaned" house and gotten rid of all temptations, but that is so hard for me to do with three young kids and a husband that likes to snack, yet is skinny. LOL! Ugh!! Anyway, my snack last night was a popsicle and a tsp. of fat free cool whip. It tasted so good.

Today I start physical therapy. I'm not looking forward to going as I am really, really achy lately from trying to do a bit more...so I hope it doesn't make it hurt a lot more. I am just getting so tired from the pain all the time. My first injection is in November, so I am anxious to see if they will help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. After therapy, I have to stop at Wal-Mart and grab some pumpkins for the pumpkin walk at school, some make-up for the kids' costumes and ingredients to make a few Halloween treats to take to my MIL's house. We always go over there for Halloween, as there aren't too many houses on our street. My daughter and her friends are going to take my sons trick or treating since my DH is working days this shift and I don't think I will be able to take them on a long trek like I've done in the past. I also have to alter their costumes a bit (too long) and might fix my curtains while I have the sewing machine out. The tops just don't stand up right...LOL They are so wide and my curtain rod is a very thin, round one...so the fluffy tops keep falling over. It drives me nutty for some reason.

I hope that everyone has a great day today! I am still waiting for the cooler weather to get here. Geez, I thought it was the end of October. We are going to be close to 90 today again!! I hate this weather so much. This is when I miss the east coast the most!!!!! Grr!

What are you guys doing for Halloween? Anyone dress up? What are the kids going to be? Both of my sons are going to be wizards and my daughter is going to be a vampire (she loves vampires) but her costume is actually really pretty. It is more of a feminine vampire, if there is such a thing. I'll take a photo this weekend of them to share. I plan on making some OP peanut butter cups to throw in the freezer to combat the inevitable chocolate cravings that will come with all the Halloween candy in the house from three kids! Oi!

Mama:Hi there - What is topamax for?
Bamie: I'm glad to hear that your Mom is on SB as well. That will make it much easier when visiting, I'm sure! What are you looking for dresses for? Someone getting married?
Amur: Hang in there, you can do this. I've restarted (hmm, I think this is my 3rd time in a year now) and I always beat myself up because I can't seem to get all the way through 2 weeks either. But I am not ready to give up so I keep trying, so that has to count for something. We can do this - just hang in there and keep coming here for support!

~P

Alli, please don't wait a "few days"! Pop in here every day if you can - just saying Hi and reading other posts will keep you on track. We are NOT ALL losing weight - especially this so-called Super Mod! I've lost very little in the past year or so. If it were easy, we'd all be skinny!

Mamacita, I hate that when your decaf is really leaded! My son manages a restaurant and claims his staff sometimes give leaded to *****y customers who request decaf! I'm sure you don't fall into that caregory though. I'm glad the meds are helping with the weight. Topmax, eh? What problem can I develop so my doc puts me on that?

Bamie, I hate those early morning quick starts. Maybe that's why I wake so early? Have fun looking for dresses. I like shopping with my sister and should do it more often. Be sure to report back with the shopping results.

TXMom, I'm with you on it being hard to resist H. treats! I bought Rice Krispie Squares because I thought I didn't like them. Wrong! 'Nuff said. I hope the physio isn't too difficult and that the injections next month help. Pain is so draining.

Moi: Woke at 5 this morning and lay in bed and spent an hour relaxing/meditating/practicing lines and waiting for the Advil to kick in. I actually had six solid hours of sleep for a change and feel darn good.

The scary story reading at the Library went well last night. All the kids (9 to 12) wanted to check out the book I was using although they all claimed not to be scared. The girls did a lot of giggling and the boys did a lot of BS about not being scared. Kids!

As well as three hours of gardening and barn tidying, Sarah organized the stuff for the dump run for me yesterday. What a girl! She has come a long way since last April. This morning I just took the big garden cart to the road and unloaded. She found about five boxes of wine bottles in the back of the barn. There goes my rep again. She is working midnight shift this week so will do another afternoon for me on Friday!

This morning is Plant the Daffies in the Village Morning. I do have help for this so plan to be done well before noon and perhaps get some more of my own bulbs planted.

After lunch, I'll go to get my Lucy back and will visit all the puppies and Hershy. Hershey is still very involved with her pups and won't mind when I leave but Lucy is fed up with hers and will probably be glad to come home. I'll try to get some more pictures. The little furries are not very good at sitting still and posing! All are sold, by the way, except for the little Miss from Lucy's litter who is looking more and more like a keeper every day. Next week that litter go for shots, chip insertion and evaluation. Then we'll see.

Harry's finally up and about so I'm switching into Nurse Ruthie mode for an hour or so. Then it's off to plant!

Hey! There's a lunar eclipse early this evening! Check it out if you're on the east side of the continent.

Happy Hump Day!

Morning, gals!

Alli and TXMom - I love food too and I love to cook. What really helps me is to prepare a variety of food. And eat lots of veggies! I also try to minimize the snacks that I will be tempted with. My son snacks on fresh fruit most of the time. He also loves the No Sugar Added fudgecicles. He loves it and if I want some I can have it too (on phase 2). We are giving out Tootsie Pops and Sweet Tarts for Halloween. I'm not the least bit tempted by them. He keeps his candy in a special place that I don't constantly walk by.

As to costumes, my son is wearing his wizard costume for the third year in a row. I am going as a celestial sorceress and the costume really looks great even though my stomach is far from flat. Too bad we won't be going to the same party Saturday night but he and DH want to go visit a friend's party and I need to go to one for work.

Me - I'm leaving in 15 minutes for a blood pressure check and then heading to work. Last night was a yummy shrimp stir fry. I used mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli, onions, red peppers and spinach with freshly grated ginger. It was so GOOD! I served it over rice but I ate lots more veggies than rice. I'd never tried spinach in a stir fry but I had some fresh that I needed to use and it was good. I'm back to exercising regularly this week and it feels so great!

Morning, everyone! I love when I can write to everyone!

Mamacita, congrats on the loss and sorry about the coffee...that is so irritating! But you lost 1.5 pounds!

Bamie, I know that makes morning hard...DH is the early waker in our house too, and it's awful when he oversleeps (happens rarely). Enjoy that dress shopping...what fun!

Alli, Phase 1 is definitely hard. You just have to be ready! On one hand, if it's this hard (and trust me, it was for many of us), you may really have an addiction to sweets and want to consider cutting them out of your life for good. On the other hand, with so few pounds to lose, if you really can't give up the sweets, you might consider a program like WW that allows you to have them, but teaches you how to moderate your portion sizes. Just a thought. Personally, once I realized how addicted I was to them, I wanted off and away, forever. I love me without my "drug of choice"...and I love how I feel. But I know some people don't want to live that way. And doing SBD for life is definitely a major commitment and it isn't easy, so if you aren't really wanting it...you'll just be really frustrated, I think. Do what is best for you and your health and know that we'll be behind you all the way! I know you can do whatever you decide!

TX, congrats on day 2!!! I know it can be tough with the family in the house, but if you believe, as I do, that the snack food is actually bad for your family, you'll get it out of the house for their sake and yours. Supplement good snacks like fruit, veggies, triscuits, SBD friendly cereals, make SBD muffins and cookies, etc. My DH has been eating like that for about four or five months with me. He lost 10 pounds initially and has been maintaining since. He eats something off plan every now and then when we eat out, but otherwise he is totally OP. This is how I'll be raising my kids too. I know it can be hard to make a change in your kids' lives when they are used to something else, but it's so worth it. Even if they are skinny, think of their blood chemistry! You can do this! I hope your pain gets better... So sorry you are dealing with that!

Ruth, thanks for the info on the lunar eclipse! I had no idea! Found info here re times and such: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclips...2004Oct28.html

So glad you are getting your Lucy home! How fun!!! And glad you got some sleep and Sarah is taking good care of you! Hope you take it easy with all the bulb planting! Kneeling on cold ground can aggravate my knees...I can't imagine what it could do to you! Just take it easy. Enjoy the puppy reunion, and of course we would love more pics...even of puppies in motion!

Me:
My weight's bouncing around, but it's TOM, so... I did 20 mins on the elliptical today, which was good. I was doing about 140/150 steps per minute, but the machine said my heart rate wasn't even in the cardio zone...either I've gotten too skinny for that rate to be enough, or the machine is broken. I'm guessing the latter...as it's been unreliable in the past. It felt good to work out that hard (once I got up to 170/180)...but the itchies came back. Not as bad, and I was able to ignore them, but the darn things were there. Ugggh! Wish I knew how to make them go away for good!

Have Pilates/Yoga tonight. LOVE that class! It's so good and so relaxing, too. While I'm there, I'm totally able to just fixate on what we are doing and I can let all the other stuff in my mind drain away. That is so great!

DH made the Taco Bake last night--he made it in a 9x13, so it was a bit drier and cheesier than normal (for us). I liked it, though...it was really easy to cut off a thin rectangle to pop in a tortilla. Interesting!

Turns out I don't have as much homework as I thought...but will need to do some reading tonight. Also hope to have a true girly phone call with a dear friend back home as DH will be off washing dishes at a dinner at church. He says last time the dishwasher didn't show up and he was able to figure out how the industrial dishwashing machine worked. All the little old ladies on the committee were properly in awe and promptly made him Head Dishwasher at all events from then on. Must be the engineer in him. Anyways, it'll be nice to be obnoxious and laugh silly with a good friend without the need to censor what I'm saying...
Hope everyone has a great day!

Well Howdy everyone!

Instead of morning its 11.15pm here and I can't sleep (so I sympathise Mamacita). I have been tossing around in bed for ages so I decided to get up and see who was about.. and here you all are!

I forgot that it is halloween - we dont celebrate it here in Australia, but I saw a Simpsons episode tonite about it - good luck with all of the costumes and the trick or treating - that would be awesome fun.. for the kiddies of course

Alli, good luck with sticking to Phase 1.. It is a bit tough especially at first but here at home we are almost at the end of our second week and the cravings for sweets and carbs are barely existent now.. I can do two weeks to be free of my sugar fix cravings.. I know you can too!!! Keep up the positive attitude.

Txmom I agree that it is hard with having to prepare meals for kids.. I only have one - but she eats for 3 All of her stuff is at the very back of the pantry so I dont see it if I immediately open the cupboard looking to graze.. I hope your physical therapy goes well..

Bamie, it sounds great that you mum is going to be doing the beach as well.

Ruth, sounds like you are really busy.. I like gardening as well, but I am battling with two possums that live in our yard for control over the plants.. everytime I plant herbs and vegies, they eat them.. buggers!

I am actually allergic to spinach Barb, but we sometimes use chinese cabbages in our stirfrys and they are very yum..

The closer my trip to Cambodia gets the worse I sleep... I was joking with my friend that I will actually be happy to be on the plane finally so I can get some sleep. Despite being tired I am managing to exercise which is good.

Tomorrow I am off to pick up my travel visa and my tickets arrived yesterday with the postman. All that is left to do i try and buy some clothes to wear - the hardest part of all

Have a great day everyone.
Marianna

Barb, we posted at the same time! Your stirfry sounds great and so does your costume. No worries about your stomach...just think how much smaller it is than it used to be!

I swear the tummy is the last to go...I've lost almost 100 pounds and I still have two little bulges. Ugg!

I decided that I would get in before the mad rush today. I still can't believe how early the rest of you are up and posting. My head is still groggy and I'm half asleep...

Mama - Congrats on the weight loss. Keep it up. Is the Topamax helping the pain, too? What a bonus.


Bamie - Great to hear that your mom is starting SBD. Eating out, especially at someone's home, is always a concern for me. You want to eat right, you get tempted by the foods served and you don't want to offend anyone. It's a difficult balance to strike. Much better, though, if your mom will be cooking SBD way.

Alli - You haven't failed, you have only taken a detour. I don't know who has the saying with their signature her, but it says that you only fail if you don't pick up and start again. Today is a new day...time to start fresh and keep at it. Check in everyday and let us know how your day was and how you are feeling. It will help to be able to share that with others. Take care...

TxMom - I can empathize with you on the skinny people in the house and the snacks that they enjoy. I have the same problem. Our resolve, though, is that, when the groceries (snacks) come into the house, they are to immediately disappear somewhere unknown to me. I am finding now that when I don't even see them in the house, I don't remember that they are even there. I don't know where they go, but the family is careful to make sure that they are well hidden. I have never come across any of the snacks even while cleaning. I guess they know the snacks will be gone if I ever find them.

Ruth - You must be looking forward to have Lucy home again. Will you be keeping the female puppy yourself? Anxious to see pics of the cuties.

Barb - The stir fry sounds delish. I haven't had the time (nor the motivation) to do much cooking lately. I am hoping that I will get more time after next week. I have a bunch more tests next week and appointments with specialists, so hopefully most of the running around will come to an end. I will definitely try the stir fry...I really love stir fries, but have been afraid to make any while on SBD. I don't know why, perhaps just the perception that the sauces have sugar, so they are tabu. Just haven't got the mind set to make them sugar free yet.

Laurie - Keep up the exercise. You are doing awesome with. Of course, don't worry about the weight bouncing around, it will come down by next week. Have a great chat with your girlfriend. Take care.

Me - Tonight it is off to Calgary - DH is working there for a couple of days and I will be running around looking after the final details for our condo.

We had also decided to clear some of our vehicles off our driveway - presently we have 10 cars on the driveway and one in the garage. Two of them will be gone when DS and his girlfriend move this weekend (notice that we are not home to help ), 3 are being sold, one will be moved into the garage when DS gets his junk moved out, we drive one everyday and we use the other to take garbage to the dump. Sooo, that will leave 1 car that the other DS is driving and 1 that we don't drive anymore. Soooo, to get rid of the car we don't drive, we decided we should pawn it off on the daughter. However, it needs some work before we give it to her. Sooooo, added on to my running around in Calgary will be taking the car the DH's brother's shop to get work done. Then it will have to be home on Sunday in time to give out the treats. It will be a busy weekend.

I am down a bit of weight again, but it is coming off slowly. I have started to add a few more starches to my diet this week, so that I won't be losing too much weight. I want to stop much more weight loss in the next week or two since I should be at goal by the end of next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I won't be checking back until next week, unless I am able to get an internet connection in the hotel. Take care everyone, and stay OP as much as possible.

Peggy, thanks, and have a great trip...I hope it's for pleasure? Take gentle care of yourself and know that our prayers and thoughts are with you.

Slow start for me this morning. I'm not sleeping too well at night so I'm sluggish right now. In fact, reading all you brisk posters make my tired ache!

All is well here. Made about 5 batches of carmel corn to take to neighbors, I kinda love Halloween and go all out. This year my husband are "Thing 1 and Thing 2". Our church party is tonight. They are serving pizza, I guess I'll have some cheese from it but not the crust. Having candy around has been a bummer, but I tried to buy stuff I didn't like...............(I love everything). I think the only thing that keeps me on the straight and narrow is the fear of going on phase 1 again.

Ruth, glad you are getting your baby back home. I guess I don't know you too well, why do you switch in to nurse mode for Harry? Sorry if that's too personal.

Mamacita, hopefully your "buzz" will get you through work and then you can go home and crash.

Bamiegurl, have fun at your moms. Eat well!

amur17, don't despair or beat yourself up. Easier to say than do I know. I always tried to OD on sweets thinking that maybe I'd get sick of them, but I never do. Hang in there, post when you are feeling weak.

TxMomof3, good luck with the PT, hopefully you'll start feeling better.

Barb, the shrimp stirfry sounds wonderful, I'll have to do something creative like that, I'm getting bored of my food. It's just easier so I eat it, lazy I know.

beachgal, you are inspiring with your exercise.

artemis, a trip to Cambodia, wow. That should be a real eye opener. When do you leave?

sweetooth, wow close to your goal. So cool for you! Are you doing cartwheels????????/

Morning Chatty Chickies!

Wow you have been busy this morning!

Mama - One of my pet peeves is getting regular coffee when I order decaf. I was at a football game and I ordered decaf and the girl hollered back "do we have decaf?" and some guy in the back said - just give them regular, they won't know the difference. She was embarrased that I heard what they had said and I informed her that some people have health issues and could get very sick - maybe even have a heart attack - from getting too much caffiene.

Alli - sometimes it may help to realize that you may not even touch one bite of the good stuff until you reach your goal. When I quit smoking I took it one craving at a time and I know if I ever have just one cigarette - I'll be a smoker again. Same with sugar for me - I'm ok if I don't have any but if I just have one cookie, one candy, one piece of cake - whatever - I'll eat them all. Don't stop trying! Everyone falls off the wagon every now and then.

Guys - I wanted to address everyone but I have another student at my door so I'll have to run. Everyone have a good day!

Hi all you busy chickies,

Just doing a drive-by today due to a late start. Got everybody out the door this morning, sat down with my reward cuppa coffee and fell straight asleep for an hour! Bad girl!! So now I'm rushing. Did have time to step on the scale and I'm back to my signature weight again. Phew!

Have great on plan days everybody. And for those who are feeling discouraged, just hang in there because the scale does eventually move!

Peggy - I made a very simple sauce. A little chicken broth, a little cornstarch (you could use arrowroot instead), and a little reduced salt soy sauce. You could add the ginger to the sauce but I added it directly in with the vegetables. Let it thicken and it is SOOOO good.

Me - The doctor was thrilled to see that I was down another 8 pounds since my visit last month when she took me off the beta blocker. My blood pressure was also normal. I don't have to come back for 3 months unless I start getting dizzy (low blood pressure) and then she will need to reduce or eliminate my last blood pressure medicine. She expects me to get off them totally soon. I love good visits!