Good morning, Chickies~~

Good scale news to report...I'm down another pound.

This morning, we begin our master bedroom facelift in earnest. In about 45 mins. hubby and I head over to HD and buy the paint. He'll paint while I attend my writers group meeting today. Hoping to have the project finished by next weekend...just in time for me to be gone the whole weekend! Ain't it always the way things work??

I'm so far behind on my replies to posts...I'm so sorry...I get in here half brain dead from lack of sleep. But I DO remember someone asking me about my knitting group and mentioning Stitch N *****.

Yes, that's our group! We're part of the national bunch of SNB. We meet at a coffee house on Wednesday nights. There's a core of 4 of us and about 8 more who come off and on.

I train my nursing home replacement this coming week. Turns out she's a patient care tech at the same nursing home, so it's not like she's unfamiliar with the place. BUT she's not done a whole lot of sticking. THIS is scary...sending a rookie in to stick all those fragile old people. Let's just pray she's a quick learner. I'm going to try and impress upon her the need for gentleness and hope she pays attention.

I can't begin to express how much I'm looking forward to sleeping all night long! Dh told his boss he wants to be in on the OT at his work, so he's been getting it! That will help make up for my lack of it. Things have a way of working out.

Okay, time for me to run a brush thru my hair and skedaddle. Hope you all have a great day on the Beach!

Good Morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Wheeeeee it's the Weeeeekend!!!!

Mamacita: ooh a room makeover! I love to do those things..What color? DETAILS WOMAN! So glad things will work out for you and you get some much needed sleep! I think I'll stick with needlepoint.. I tried knitting and crochetting and unless tangled rats nests are a hot item, I suck at it. AND CONGRATS ON YOUR LOSS!!!

Today we are gonna do some 'sploring again... Running out to the store to buy Phase 1 items... I'm going back to PH1 come monday... I'm STUCK between 170 and 173.. and setting a goal to get to the 160s!
Have a marvy day you groovy chicks!

Hey chicks! I haven't posted much 'cause I've been in a funk the last few days. Our camping trip that I was so excited about fell through. I spent so long looking and researching and planning our trip and then everyone flaked on me. I've spent the last few days being so pissed that I didn't even want to talk to anyone....all this on top of it being TOM. But now that my funk is lifting I'm going to try to be positive about it and use this weekend as some time to catch up on the ever present pile of work that needs to be done. Maybe we can try to go again next month!

Today I have to take my dog to the vet. Her pad on the bottom of her paw seems to be torn somehow and it must really hurt because she was limping all day yesterday. Not sure how that happened but hopefully we'll be able to get it fixed. Poor baby.

I got my GTXpress in the mail a while ago...I love it. For b'fasts I've been putting the mock french toast in it...and it really tastes like french toast. I also lay some canadian bacon (my new found fav food) on the bottom of the well with some spinach on top and crack and egg over it, then when its done i put the mock hollandaise sauce on it...yummy. This is the coolest appliance ever. So glad I bought it. It has replaced my GF grill on the counter top for now. It came with a recipe book but most of those have to be modified to me SBD friendly and haven't really had time to play around with them yet. I love my new toy !!

Other than that, not much else happening around my beach towel. I weighed myself a few days ago and even with it being TOM and how swollen I was I still weighed exactly the same so I guess that's a good sign. It takes me a few days after its over to lose all swelling so for the next few days I'll just drink tons of water and watch my sodium intake and then weigh in in a few days. Hopefully there will be good news.

mamacita: I love doing projects like that. It's so rewarding to look at a nice newly decorated room. Have fun!

schatzi: have fun exploring your new surroundings today. I'm on p2 but am really only eating fruit so I guess its like a P1.5. I do have some ww lc torillas in the fridge that I may eat. I figure every few days or so I'll eat some rice or something, but I've just been so swollen and bloated that starchy filling food hasn't really appealed to me.....although I did have a few slices of "poor me" pizza on thursday !

Everyone else, have a great day!!

Sounds like fun things are happening this weekend. I am hanging in there on Phase I. My hunger is really under control, so I am really happy about that. I have 2 dinners out this weekend -- an anniversary and a birthday, neither mine -- and I am going to try to stay on track.

Today I'm off to a knitting class. Yippee! That sure keeps my hands busy, well...and my brain busy, too.

Have a great day on the beach, Chickies!

Just popping in for a few minutes before getting the kids some lunch put together. I still have to finish getting them all cleaned up so that we can go grocery shopping and then out to my in-laws house. Even though I don't really want to go out there I am grateful that someone else is going to attempt to entertain my kids (Yay!!! ) and that someone else is going to cook a meal fo rme. I am in a bit of a cooking rut -- I need a days vacation from having to cook for everyone. I made a hint to my dh last night about not cooking in the hopes that he would make/provide dinner. he ended up making himself a bown of cereal and he didn't even ask the kids if they wanted anything or me. And he wonders why I was so grumpy! Men...

I am putting my application together for the YMCA scholarship program. I hope that we qualify for a family membership so that I can use the gym and child care service and so that I can get the kids involved in some activities. It would be so awesome . I'm trying not to get my hopes up but I can't help it. I really need to be working out but gyms here are so expensive and the childcare is extra on top of that. Fingers crossed that it works out well.

Off to fill my water bottle back up and feed the kids.

Hugs-n-love to all you wonderful chickies!!!

It's a great weekend here! And not even too hot yet. Brian had the kickoff for the Marathon Kids program this morning. So I went and jogged over a quarter mile. At least that is some exercise. I never got to the gym yesterday as a coworker upgraded a production server instead of a test one and I had to stay late helping him clean up his mess.

Weight is up a little today. I'm going to try to drink more water and watch what I'm eating. Time to go fix lunch. Talk to everyone later. I'm only on the computer now because I got paged as I walked in the house. Turned out to be a false alarm.

Glad to be here.
I am new this week to the beach website and just started the diet today,(Had to wait to go to the grocery yesterday). So far, so good, today has been wonderful, I almost have a gallon of water in for the day and it is only 1:46 pm, spent most of the day in the bathroom though, hahaha.
I feel like I am such a cheat though. I have spent months on the Atkins approach and now feel like I am totally cheating on my diet, but boy oh boy does it feel good.
Today I have done nothing but loaf around, it is a cool 63 degrees and dreary today, no sun at all, makes me very tired. Once again, I am very glad to be here.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Hi girlies. Just wanted to send a quick note to say I'm alive and well. Hope things get better for those of you who are having a rough time. You all take care, and I'll be on soon.

Hi All,
I went off the deep end yesterday. Back on track today and trying to analyze what happened so I can derail it sooner next time. My gallbladder actually started hurting from the un-accostomed junk and fat, at least I think it was gallbladder on the lower right side? Had a few painkillers left from last month, so slept like a baby.
I really do believe there is something to this carb craving thing. As soon as I had 10 jelly belly jellybeans yesterday I was off and running, like I couldn't get enough refined carbs, bad fats.
I am going to stay on phase 1 another week, try to get a solid clean week in. Today is only day 13. I am a little afraid of phase 2 and adding carbs back in properly, so another week will give me time to get the good carb/good fats book and read up on the right way to do this.
Hope you all have better weekends, sounds like it's starting out slow.
Kim

Hi Kim--

Another gallbladder sufferer here. As your body gets over the cravings for bad fats/carbs and you eat them less and less...it seems your body (at least MY BODY) tolerates them less and less.

Once upon a time I could eat a bowl of regular ice cream and not even blink. Now, gallbladder lets me know it was NOT the thing to do. Same with hotdogs, fatty lunchmeats, excessive amounts of rice or potatoes, they all do the same thing. I get a gnawing pain that lasts for days just below the right side of my ribcage.

I did a gallbladder/liver cleanse a few weeks back that really helped in that department. Once you get onto Phase II, you might want to consider something like it.
PM me if you want details so I don't bore the rest of the crowd. It's nothing extreme or unhealthy, just a very boring diet and I do mean DIET!

Just doing a quick run in to say that the scales were very friendly this morning.. I weighed in 1.7 kilos lighter this week, which is just under 4 pounds... . I just wanted to thank everyone for their support again.. Coming back and rereading the thread during the week was very helpful... here is to another good week comig up.

Well Done Marianna!! fabUlous!!!..
It's either reaaaaly early in some parts of the world or really late..Ok ..so, I'm old and think that 9:30 EST is late..Heehee...
we went for a 5 mile hike around a lake today..poor DH, he looks in shape but this fat broad walked the pants offa him... found a place to put in the kayaks.. and drove about some new developments. Of course the one that appeal to us had homes that are Waaaaay too big... and tooo expensive! I just don't get how young families can afford these 4 bedroom, 4 bath, 3 garage, etc homes..with no backyards.. ! I guess they are all house poor and never go on vacation..or they have high stress, high hour jobs where they can't enjoy it anyway.. Sheesh! But we got some good ideas. Sunday we will tend to the yard.. and DH will drag out his polo shirts and dockers for me to iron up for his first day at his new job... Roast Beast, mashed (dare I say it) potatos, gravy for dinner.. Then DH heads back to Atkins and I head back to Ph 1~

Morning chicks!

Sorry about being MIA. I've been through a grueling past couple of weeks with my new school opening in a different city and trying to move our main campus. Plus as of tomorrow we will have over 100 students starting in all our locations who all need uniforms, criminal background checks, drug screens etc. So I've been too pooped to party with ya'all.

Ellis my weight is still at 210 so I hope that you are doing well without me! The good news is I haven't gained anymore the bad news is I haven't lost any either.

Tomorrow I begin the SBD Phase I just like it is in the book. I need a reality check on eating. Hopefully my schedule will slow to the point where I can make my diet a priority again. I'm off to the grocery store to stock up on SBD goodies.

Let's see to get you caught up on me.

Chicago was great - Lion King was superb! Body Worlds was very gross but DM who is a nurse was in heaven. Stayed OP the whole time! Even watched DM eat Black Forest Chocolate cake in front of me.

I bought a new truck. It's used but it is a one year lease trade in. Just like Dave Ramsey says - let someone else take the loss when it drives off the lot. It is a GMC Envoy SLT, it has all the gadgets, DVD player for DS and XM Satallite radio for me. Naviagation system, leather. I got it for 1/2 of what someone paid for it brand new in 2004. My DF says he's proud of my negotiation skills. DS cried when he took his last ride in the "Cracker", when I got my old truck - a Chevy Tracker - DS couldn't say it right so we called it a cracker. The Tracker always did well in the mountains of snow we get so I hope the new truck does just as well.

No boyfriend yet. Not even any prospects. I've just been too busy.

My old gym went out of business so I joined a new one. I have a new personal trainer who looks kind of mean. We start next week.

That's it for me chicks! I have to read the old posts to get caught up with you all!

Well, I've briefly stepped off the Beach - DS has the flu, and I'm sick-ish, too. Something from the daycare - my brother's kids are sick, too, as is his wife. He's like me - kind of sick, but not as bad as the others. DH is (as usual) totally unaffected. I think it's all the chilis, garlic, and hot sauce - the germs are simply too afraid of him to get him sick! Anyway, I havn't had much of a break, especially feeling sickish too, so I'm eating what I can get my hands on and get down quickly. At least I'd already tossed the majority of my pre-Beach bad stuff, so I'm not too far off - I'm eating more bread than I should, but at least it's ww and/or sourdough - that sort of thing. Haven't gained, but haven't lost either. DS seems to be feeling better today, though still not much appetite, so hopefully he'll be better in time for daycare Tuesday (my first day of classes). When we're well again, I'll go back to ph1 for a few days or a week, then back again to ph2. So far not much in the way of carb cravings, so I guess I haven't messed up too badly.

Hope you all have had a good weekend!