Hi all.

Kelly - I'm thinking of you and hoping that all is well with you in the wake of Dennis.

Judy - I have a surprise for you!

Had a pretty good weekend, although picked up Chinese food to have at the music park Friday night. Our heat wave has returned. We spent some time at the pool yesterday as that was the only way to be outdoors and be comfortable. Other than that, the weekend was quiet.

Have a great day.

Carla

Hi all - I'll have more time later (probably tonight to post) but I figured before I shut down the computer (schoolwork) I'd quickly read the posts.

Carla - what's the surprise????

Today I weighed in one pound less. I was really not very good this week, I have been sick, so I haven't exercised at all. July 4th I went off program, and yesterday we went to a birthday party and I blew it again ( I didnt' have a choice, there really was nothing good to choose, and I was hungry). I was suprised to see the weight change. I will really have to make up for it this week. As I sit here tonight I am hungry, but it's 9pm and I am out of points. So I am drinking my water and resisting the refrigerator. Hopefully I'll make it through.
Good luck everybody else with your weigh-ins!

Haven't been here in two weeks, but nothing to report. I've stayed teh same..which isn't bad. Ive maintained the 8lb loss. So I'm glad about that. This is a busy month for us, so if I can at least maintain I'll be happy!!!

Carla - I hope you've gotten some cool weather. We had 90's at the beginning of the week - temps are down today but the humidity is up - yuck! I can't wait to hear about the surprise!

Rachel - congratulations on the pound down. I hope you made it through resisting the refrigerator. That's a skill I really have to work on.

Chocolatecatz - Congratulations on the maintain - better than I gain anytime especially if it's been busy.

I've had a rough couple of days - not so much foodwise although I have dipped quite a bit into my weekly points allowance. My dear friend's mom passed away on Saturday after fighting lung cancer for over a year. The funeral was Sunday and I was with her basically all day. She is sitting shiva (the week long practice of mourning for Jews) so I've been over to her mom's house (which is about 5 minutes away from me) every day whenever I can.
I can't say that I've eaten more because of it but I have basically abandoned any habit changing behavior aqbout snacking this week and I'm not going to beat myself up about it. My sneak peek this morning was awful but my rings are very tight. I took a no-weigh option on Saturday but will have to face the music this week. I'm not sure when I'll weigh in. My friend is coming from MN for the weekend, arriving on Friday but my usual meeting is very early Sat morning so I'm aiming to go then. My exercise has been so-so. I didn't work out on Sunday but did on Monday. I didn't do anything yesterday but I did a short yoga session this morning to stretch out my back and I hope to do something later this morning after finishing some school work.

Have a great one!
Judy

Carla, Thank you for the thoughts and now I am curious...what is your surprise?...we got home yesterday and the house is good. We did lose some siding but other than that.....My plants didn't even die in the garage. Now we are waiting to see what is going on with the two (three) depressions out there..I was contemplating just leaving the plywood on the windows. I hope it cools off for you soon. I didnt do TOO bad while gone (except for a few times and my aunt got me a cake for my b-day on the 18th) I am still maintaining my losses though and weighed in today I am happy to report a loss of 4lbs this month so far. I didn't work out at all while gone but did get up and walk today as usual. I stayed within my points yesterday and will continue to do so today.

Chocolatecatz...better to maintain than gain I say...keep it up.

Rachel, Keep up the losses! You can do it! (as for the bday party girl, I feel ya!!)

Judy, I am sorry to hear about your friend's loss. At least she has an awesome friend like you to lean on. As for beating yourself up....dont and come on back up here on the wagon...I cleared you a spot next to me. Good luck on the snacking and weigh in.

Well girls, the boys are up and I must get them breakfast and unpack from the evac YUCK! I will be back later! Stay OP!

Hi all.

Judy - First of all, I am so, so sorry about your friends mother. You are being a really good friend to her and right now that is all that matters. Please don't beat yourself up about it. Just get yourself to the meeting on Saturday if you can to keep yourself in the right frame of mind and spend the weekend having fun with your friend. We did have cooler weather yesterday and as far as I can tell it's cool this morning, but it is horribly humid. I had to turn the AC back on this morning just to get the humidity out of the house. We had a bit of rain, but nothing that made any difference. With the work on our street that's going on, it's nothing but dust here. Now for the surprise: I am in my 4th week of working out - the complete package: cardio, weights, and stretching. Have you picked yourself up off the floor yet? I didn't want to tell you until I was well into it, given my track record for sticking with exercise. I'm actually doing Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover. I checked it out of the library several weeks ago and decided to go for it. It's a 12 week program. I had to repeat week 1 as I eased myself into working out the first day and just did 4 days and I'm repeating week 2 right now. Last week I was trying to do my workouts at night and that just doesn't work for me. I'm just too tired. So I'm back to morning workouts this week. I'm doing the bike for cardio since it's been so hot here and since walking is uncomfortable for me right now. I can't say I'm in love with exercise, but I'm making my peace with it. And I definitely love how I feel after I do it, especially the weights and the stretching. It makes me feel so strong. And while I haven't lost any weight, my clothes are fitting better. So there ya go.

Rachel - Congrats on the your loss. You must have done more things right than wrong this past week. Parties are hard. I find if i just take a dib of this and a dab of that I'm satisfied and I haven't done too much damage. Easier said than done, though.

chocolatecatz - A maintain is good, especially when you're busy. Just keep holding steady and the weight will start coming off again.

Kelly - I'm glad to hear that you had only minimal damage. Where did you have to go to ride out the storm? My surprise for Judy isn't any big deal, really. It's just that she and I have a long history of her encouraging me to exercise and me resisting or taking stabs at it and then giving it up.

So far, so good this week. I'm weighing in tomorrow as my rings are tight and I felt a bit bloated this morning. I'm not sure tomorrow will be any better as I worked with my weights today and that, of course, causes some water retention. We'll just have to see. I got Ana all registered for her new school on Monday. We made the decision to start her in first grade again. I hope it's the right decision; I'm still not sure. So it's been a bit emotional again the past couple of days. And now I have to hit the showers. One of the local movie theaters has free movies for kids on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings during the summer and I promised Ana we'd go see "Rugrats in Paris."

Have a great day.

Carla

Carla, that support is awesome...it is great to have someone to "kick you in the hiney" and make you accountable huh? As for the storm, we evacuated to Ft Myers-south Florida, where my aunt and uncle live. Its always a small vacation (although my husband would beg to differ sometimes) but its always nice to come home too. I just wanted to report today that I have walked my 35 min walk this am and plan on keeping busy. I hope ya'll have an OP day and stick strong! Off to do laundry YUCK!

Hi all.

Kelly - Yes, it's been great to have Judy's support and encouragement. It is always good to get home when you've been away. I am always especially grateful to sleep in my own bed again. I suppose that it is hard to truely relax and enjoy being away and seeing family when you're wondering what you're going to come home to. I hope this is it for you this season.

I'm not even recording my weigh in from this week. The scale was up, since we had a late dinner the night before, and it was Mexican food, and most of it was still in my stomach the next morning..... I'm not even going to record this one. I'm sure if I hop on the scale this morning, it will be gone. Anyway, I've had a good couple of days. As I mentioned, we went out for dinner at a Mexican restauarant after Ana's swim meet on Wednesday. I was hoping to stick to a salad, but this place didn't have one on the menu. So, I did the best I could and then got home and recorded it all. I ended up using a bunch of flex points, but I'm pretty proud for counting it all instead of just blowing off the day. Yesterday was the swim team banquet and I did really well - just a bit of this and a bit of that and I skipped some things. I ended up using only one of the activity points that I earned. I'm sleepy this morning for some reason, but I'll still throw my workout clothes on and hop on the bike, etc. The challenges will continue this weekend: we have a picnic on Sunday and will be going to my mom's house one day or the other, but I'll just keep plugging along.

Have a great day and a terrific weekend.

Carla