Good morning, gang! for all the birthday wishes yesterday! I made it through my birthday 100% on plan, knowing that I'll want to indulge a bit in Thanksgiving later this week. My special birthday present from DH was - ta dum! - new floor mats for my car. Does that make me feel old or what? Sigh - I guess the days of lingerie, flowers, and sparkly stuff are gone.

It was kind of you all to pretend that I don't look my age, though I have to say - if there's a Fountain of Youth for women in this world, it's got to be weightlifting. With that in mind, I went to the gym yesterday bound and determined to do SOMETHING outrageous to commemorate the occasion - like Mel pulling a truck across the parking lot - but came up blank. So I just did a chest workout with a lot of supersets. Which darn near killed me.

Today's going to be a gigantic grocery shopping, then cooking starts tomorrow and the relatives arrive on Wednesday. Safe journey to all of you who are traveling this week! And remember what I always tell myself - Thanksgiving's just one meal. Even if we indulge at Thanksgiving dinner, it doesn't mean that the whole four-day weekend has to be a bust.

Hi everybody!

I finished my bike event on Saturday very successfully! 111 miles (not a typo!) in just over 7 hours. The first half of the ride was quite pleasant, and the second half was tough. Weirdest thing I saw was a woman doing the race on a unicycle! Stats: average rolling speed was 16 mph, there were 4 water/nature stops along the way, and I burned between 4500 and 6000 calories.

One of the really neat things about this particular century is that it is a Team in Training event, where people race to raise money for leukemia research. Team provides the training, entry fees, transportation etc, and the participants raise funds. It is a relatively painless way for a lot of people to get involved. So I saw all kinds of people. From the uber-fit die-hard cyclists to plus-sized women and men out there pedaling their bikes for a good cause. It maybe sounds kind of patronizing, since many of them have probably been doing it forever and could probably kick my butt on the bike, but I was so proud of these complete strangers for taking on a challenge like that! I would never have thought that I could do something like that when I was larger, and it just serves as a perfect illustration to me that a lot of the limits we put on ourselves are in our own minds.

Anyway, short work week this week thank goodness! I don't anticipate any major challenges for the week ahead since it will all be pretty low-key for us, but that just about ensures that something difficult will sneak in. Everybody dealing with the Thanksgiving dinner ordeal, be strong and follow your plan. So many good plans on that party/dinner thread. You can do it! I can do it, too!

Sounds like you had a great birthday Meg. You deserve it!

Anne

Anne!
How true: a lot of the limits we put on ourselves are in our own minds. Well said.

Mel

Wow Anne, that's a great accomplishment ...

Meg, you had a rare opportunity! You could have bench pressed a truck! Now there would have been an accomplishment to brag about for years I have a Hot Wheels dump truck I'll bring next time I see ya!

I haven't been hauling many trucks lately. Today was leg day, and I barely made what used to be "light" weights for me. My knee injury has localized to a ligament (probably ACL) which is really affecting my hamstring strength The trick is to get a good workout without further injury. I'm not going anywhere near any type of surgeon again this year!

I've been eating super-clean for the last 3-4 weeks. Really clamped down on any little bit of extras and it has helped. I figure I'll hit Thanksgiving dinner down about 3 1/2 pounds from where I've been sitting, so will relax and have a nibble of whatever looks good. Then back on plan Friday.

Time to go stir dinner,
Mel

Good for you Mel! BUT there's only 5 weeks left to the year?!

I really love this time of year. It just seems so invigorating somehow. The air is cool and here on the south section of the west coast, its very pleasant working outside during the day. I am laying the groundwork for putting in a new rose garden this winter.

Anne, Congratulations on your successful bike ride. If your weather in Arizona is anything like its been recently here on the coast, your ride would have had wonderful weather. Of course riding that great a distance, you probably werent looking around at the scenery all that much.

The past couple days I have been going back into really old threads here and reading, and in some cases re-reading many of them. It is such a wonderful source of information -- and very hard to not add things to past discussions. Reading the old posts is very much like Thin for Life in fact, except unedited which seems somehow more real. ONe of the things that struck me was how many people seem to arrive, very actively participate, then just seem to disappear. Of course that is common for such boards, but also abit sad. I wonder what has become of so many who had such interesting things to contribute. I hope they are doing well. Also impressive are all the individuals who have been sharing their wisdom and experience, posting thru thick and thin (no pun intended), over so many months from day one.

Jan

That's a very interesting point Jan, I too miss some great people that contributed so much at some point in time... Then there's the real die hards like moi, who wouldn't know what to do if I stopped sharing this journey. I finally realise it is a constant journey of ups and downs. Unfortunately most who do leave, do so when they are in the down mode and this is probably when they need the help the most and maybe they don't come back because of .... embarassment? maybe? But as you and I well know from reading Fit for Life, most maintainers go down this road several times before actually getting down the a goal weight...

Hopefuly, our long lost friends will come out of lurkdom and share instead... Maybe as a New Year's resolution, eh Lurker Friends??

TTFN, time for bed...

We here are all so proud of YOU for just those reasons! What a role model you are for turning your life around! Seven hours and 111 miles - wow!

Ilene and Jan - I've often wondered too about the people who have disappeared - it's like old friends dropping off the face of the earth. I think it's natural not to post when things aren't going well, but that's when we need support the most. There's really no shame in messing up - like Ilene says, we've all done it a million times or so ourselves (myself included, of course ). I hope some of our old friends can find the time to stop in and just say 'hi', maybe after the holidays are over.

Speaking of holidays, cooking starts here today! I need to plan my meals out and make sure everything's ready, otherwise I'm going to be way too tempted by all the goodies. I try to do my baking right after I've eaten (and brushed my teeth) so that I'm not doing too much 'tasting' (tasting = eating large quantities of cookie dough; yeah, I know about salmonella but it never stopped me in the past! )

DD arrives home tomorrow for the first time since May and I can't wait to see her. Somehow we have to convince the cat that her bedroom isn't the cat boudoir any longer. There may be a major tussle at bedtime over who gets the bed ...

Sorry to hear about your knee, Mel! Mine's been bothering me lately doing impact cardio but never seems to be a problem with squats, lunges, leg press etc. So I've been doing elliptical, crosstrainer and bike for cardio. The bike actually stretches out my knee and makes it feel better - go figure?

Yesterday was back day - today will be bi's and tri's, with legs on the schedule for the day before Thanksgiving. That way, I plan to just prop up my sore legs and enjoy a little bit of everything on Turkey Day - maybe even a medicinal glass of wine.

Hi all,

Have been having a so-so week. I have been struggling with a head cold, which always makes me a lot flakier than usual (which is bad, I am a big flake normally). Found out one of my co-workers has breast cancer too, so I am really praying for her (she has a good attitude about it though, she is a strong lady).

Meg: wine, especially red wine has lots of antioxidents, so you'd be doing your heart and cholestrol good. I know, I never considered the possibility of Salmonella either when I used to indulge in the dough. In university (before WW), I would actually buy tubes of dough and snack on it while studying for exams.

Jan: I have gained and lost and still posted... this year I have gained a better perspective about my eating habits, and have lost again. I know it's hard sometimes to come back. I know someone who wants to go back to WW, but is embarrassed because she gained half of what she lost, I told her they'd be proud of her for going back. I even had a leader who made lifetime in 1983 and came back in 2001 with 100lbs to lose and she lost it and is maintaining now.

Anne: wow! That is just awesome! Congrats!

TTFN

Ali

We are getting ready to leave early tomorrow morning, so tonight is a lot of frantic packing. I had lots of errands to run on the way home from school; one was a quick stop at the grocery store. I picked up chips per my son's request (Baked Ruffles, so it could be worse). I have since eaten 2 big handfuls of them. Not the worst thing, but I feel lousy. I don't actually love Baked Ruffles. If they were not in the house, I would not be craving them. Once again, learning the lesson: don't bring in the bad food! Out of sight, out of mind.

The hotel where we are staying has a pool and fitness center. Plus I know there is a lot of walking to be done in Montreal.

Goal: weigh in next Sunday within my target range (ideally no higher than 1 lb. above goal).

A happy, restful and healthy holiday to all Maintainers and your families.

Meg said: <<Ilene and Jan - I've often wondered too about the people who have disappeared - it's like old friends dropping off the face of the earth. I think it's natural not to post when things aren't going well, but that's when we need support the most. There's really no shame in messing up - like Ilene says, we've all done it a million times or so ourselves (myself included, of course ). I hope some of our old friends can find the time to stop in and just say 'hi', maybe after the holidays are over.>>

I keep thinking of the 5 vs 95%, or, it could just be many have moved on. One of the things about wl is that what works for awhile may stop working (posting here) and we have to find something new that works. If we are lucky, what works keeps working, but this is not always the case.

No matter the reason, I hope some return. The more people that give input, the greater the range of ideas we all get to consider.

Jan

Elana: Enjoy Montréal, I was sorta there last weekend, but I haven't been downtown in ages. I miss some of the stores like Simons and stuff. Yup there is lots of walking to be done and although some of the restaurants have mega portions, a lot don't... plus the food is just awesome there.

Cheers!

Ali

I worked with a gal yesterday who picked at me all day. Isn't too much protein bad for your kidneys? Dressing like a teenager now? Niggly things that shouldn't bother me any more. But they did. I would never be this rude but I wanted to say that I was certainly not going to take fitness advice from her! Yes, markedly overweight.

I sat around for a while feeling kinda outta sorts but as usual a work out did wonders. Back, biceps and abs.

I haven't really run into much negativity. Some ignoring but not negativity. I don't like it.

SusanB -- She sounds just a little bitsy bit ENVIOUS!!! Her loss...