This thread is a sub-set of the 300+ thread.

This is a group of friends dealing with the challenges of having a significant amount of weight to lose and being fit which becomes harder after 40. If you're an old or new friend and not over 40 and feel this is the place to post, jump right in.

Welcome!

Good morning ladies,

Yeah for Friday! I didn't sleep well last night so I'm passing on the exercise this morning. I'll get something done tonight.

I need to do some house cleaning tonight too. For two people, it sure seems like we could keep the house cleaner. I don't want to leave it for tomorrow or Sunday.

I do have to do some work work this weekend. I'll bring it home. Its time to write reviews and do salary adjustments. I need to just sit down and get them done. Its like writing a college paper. I sit and stare for a while - write something, look out the window, do something else, stare at it, write something - just a painful process. It doesn't help that I have seven to write.

Since the weather is supposed to be much better than today, I will try to spend time out at the barn. That is always good for activity.

I need to be doing a bunch of shredding of old financial files. Blech. But I'm trying to overcome my packratness about paper. Its also one of my "preparing to sell" projects so best be getting it done before its spring and I want to be outside even more.

I'm still in complete awe of Lilion's 10 pound loss. I read on one of the other posts that you really hate to exercise and have such a hectic schedule. When I get burned out on all the bike riding or horse working or walking, I go back to doing just pilates in the morning. Something I can do in my pajamas and they do make a difference in muscle base. I would drop everything else and do just that if I could. Maybe in my 50's!

I better get this posted and get ready for work. Jeans day so double yeah!

Have a good OP day!

Good mormomg ladies, not much time this morning, but I had to come and say Wow! Lilion, way to go girl. I am soooo proud for you. pass some of that motivation this way, huh, huh, huh?

Gotta run for now. Have a wonderful day! Ruth

Just letting everyone know I'm checking in. Nothing much to say , and even less time to say it. Hope everyone has a great weekend

Good Morning Ladies!

IT'S FRIDAY!

First, thanks for the nice comments! I was SO excited when I saw that scale! You know, I honestly can't remember the last time I was under 250...I suspect it was at least 7 years ago...can't wait for the next four pounds to go!

The weather has been SO WEIRD here! Sunday it was 70! Monday in the 40's. Wednesday morning there was ice cover on the roads and snow showers...but the high got to 50! Yesterday it was 60+ again. At the moment it's snowing like crazy. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 55! Missouri is known for its rapidly changing weather, but this is the oddest weather I can ever remember. I had thought I might start taking two, 15 minute breaks during the day and walking uptown...but I guess we'll see what the weather brings.

Terri: Our digital cable has little exercise clips you can tune into...I looked over basic pilates...Lordy! They look hard! But you know, Yoga looks easy and I can't do that either! Basically, I just have to stop being so LAZY!

The other day I told DH we should buy a new treadmill...I sold mine at a garage sale about four years ago since I was too fat for it - it had a 250lb limit. But he wants an elipitcal. I tried them at the Y, but I felt so awkward. I feel like my big ole' butt is just swinging wildly from side to side and I might topple over! Do any of you ladies use an eliptical? I'm wondering if it always feels that way at the start...do you get used to it?

My back has been KILLING me! I don't know what I've done, maybe it was all the coughing? It started Wed. hurting just below my bra strap straight thru to my stomach! It also hurts now right between the sholder blades. Taking 4 ibuprophine at a time doesn't even take the edge off. Yesterday I had DH run his hand down it and some place he touched almost put me to my knees with a muscle spasm. I'm no stranger to back pain...I've had enough low back disk problems to get the steroid injections...but this is a new area to hurt. Anyway, I took a muscle relaxer and crashed at 8:30. It hurts again now, but I had about the best nights sleep of my life. Good old cyclobenzaprine! Think I'll do that again tonight and see what Sat. brings. If I still hurt Mon. I guess I'll be hitting the Dr. office again! I'm so tired of Dr's. I already have an ultrasound Mon for the ovarian cyst. And really, what are they going to do besides give me more drugs...I take enough to choke a horse already! Bleah!

Well, must get to work...and get a 2nd cup of coffee today! You ladies have a happy, OP Friday!

HI friends! I have literally just seconds to say HI, and I'm doing pretty well out here so far, but I just caught a glimpse of a 10 pound loss for Thin-Thin-Lily-In and HAVE to say WTG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully I'll catch up with everyone over the weekend. HUGS!

I've been mostly AWOL from 3FC this week -- my stepson, Anthony, moved in with us this week. He (barely) graduated from high school in June and has been kind of bumming around California since. When he was up here at Christmas, he realized this is getting him nowhere and he needs to get his life together. I'm glad he's here -- he's really a good kid -- just needs to grow up (don't we all? ). Anyway, that, plus work, plus just life in general has had me a bit in my own head lately. Glad to be back though .

Lilion: Congratulations on being under 250! Regarding elliptical vs. treadmill. I like the elliptical & I have used it at all different weights. But, some people I know (like my best friend from college) find the elliptical motion to be really awkward and uncomfortable. I find the treadmill a bit more awkward since I'm moving a lot of weight up and down when I walk or run , but everyone is different.

Terri, I know what you mean about writing performance reviews. When I first started in management, we wrote them on the person's anniversary of working for us -- so it was spread out throughout the year. I like that method better because I didn't have more than 2-3 to write at any given time and also I stayed in practice better. Now, we do it once a year all at the same time, and every year I have to try to remember the process I use.

Well, I have a bunch of chores scheduled for today, but tonight I get to go to the (grown-up) movies! One advantage of having the 18 y/o move in is that we have a babysitter for the 3 y/o .

Hope you all have a good OP weekend!

Good Morning Ladies!

Not much to report this Saturday. Got up this morning to DH making pancakes. Sounded like a reasonable change of pace...until I read the nutrition info. Serving size was 1/4 cup and calculated out to 3 pts! So I took a 1/4 measuring cup and made a pancake...TINY. A "normal" size pancake was twice that size - 6 points! Yikes! I'd normally eat at least two of those! But I ate one with 1/8 cup syrup - 7 pts for a teeny weenie breakfast. Then we went to puppy school. Afterwards, we stopped by the Asian market for fish sauce and rice sticks to make pad thai...I got a great recipe from a WW message board I can't wait to try. I have to admit, we also got baklava from the Middle Eastern market...I LOVE it and get it so seldom I figure I can use my flex points on it. DH and I split Chinese food for lunch. This may be a higher point day, but with the flex I think I'm okay. Anyway, it was a international type of day!

I went grocery shopping later on and spent most of my budget! But I got some nice low-point items, yogurt and rice cakes and chicken and tortillas, etc. I got some nice fruit and veggies. So we're ready to cook at home and stay OP this week.

Elmay, I'm not under 250 yet, I've got 4 lbs to go! But I just can't wait! It's been forever since I've been under that number!

We weighed in for our office Show-me Shape up competition. My group of ladies were shocked when the 10 of us came in over a ton...but really, most of us exceed 200 so what did they expect? I suspect I'm the heaviest, but by less than 20 lbs, so I feel pretty good about it! It'll be nice to have fewer cookies and candies around the office. I'm glad so many of us signed up!

Well, I should probably take the dogs out, so I'll go now. Everyone have a good weekend!

I'm so pleased with my journey (with WL, not truckin) today! Just hopped on a scale at the truck stop (one that's pretty accurate I think) and it has me down to 289 - broke another "OH!" and 7 of my 16 pound Valentine's goal are gone - Yippee! Every time I see the scale drop a little more, I just wanna work harder at it... in the past that would have made me feel like I was doing well enough I could start slacking. Hurrah! for changes of attitude!

Lilion, That's GREAT that so many people at work are doing this together. It's so hard when you're the only one, and so much better when people can support each other. Have you seen the CNN thing that Dr. Gupta's doing? They have 3 pairs of people, and at first I thought the two that are married had an advantage over the pair that work together, but I'm not sure anymore. Sometimes you spend more time at work than with your spouse, and the work pair can walk on lunch hours, discuss & plan for evening meals, etc. The last pair are twin brothers who live in different states. I can get CNN on the radio as well as TV, so I'll be interested to see how they do. ANYWAY, you're doing fantastic, and it'll be awesome to break that 250 mark for your 1 year/80 pounds goal! BRAVO!!!

P.S. - I just figured it out - 47 pounds is exactly 25% of my total loss goal!!! I'm a quarter of the way there! Oh, JOY!!!

Hi ladies,

The day is zipping by much too quickly with too little done to show for it. I've worked on paperwork this morning, done some laundry and general house cleaning. I'm not sure it shows much. I really need to shampoo the living room carpet where the dog lays to chew his bone. He's supposed to be on his blanket but lays to where he's just barely on it. Dumb dog.

I spent at least two hours outside with the horses this afternoon. First I tried to catch my old mare. I've been giving her bute (like advil) because she been a little stiff in the front end so was thinking its probably arthritus. Well she feels better. She saw me coming and headed off to the far end of the lot. Then she'd gallop past me back to the other end. She did that about six times which really didn't bother me because it was good to see her feeling like galloping plus it was exercise for her. She finally decided that if I was serious she'd stop. I got her in the round pen to try out my new training aid and for me to see how she'd do in the round pen. Anytime before when I'd try to lunge her, it never went well because she would swing her butt around and face me instead of going in a circle. She is not dumb. However she did well with the trainer to get her to drop her head and she trotted around and around like a good girl. I was thrilled because now I know I can exercise her to offset her tendancy to eat like a pig on the hay. I also worked the two year old geldings in the round pen. It was the first for them to have their head restrained like it was. They both acted like good boys. It was a little nippy outside but I didn't care. It was good to be outside even if it was cool. I think my working outside with the horses and walking the dog so much in the cold has helped me be able to avoid colds.

Speaking of walking the dog. I will tonight. With the coolness, he's also full of it and is very rowdy. We've been out playing frisbee. He loves that except he wants to play tug of war with the frisbee instead of just giving it to me. Wouldn't be bad except for he's the size of a person and its hard to hang on and forget being able to pull it away from him. I just try to hang on until he'll give it up.

Valerie - Good to hear from you on the road. You have such a positive outlook about this journey. Very motivating. I haven't see that on CNN. I might have to try to find it.

Lilion - Doesn't that suck about the pancakes? We use a no sugar added syrup which really is good. That might cut some of the points. How fun about the office challenge. That will help considering all the food you've had at the office lately. I always swear our group would eat roadkill if you put it in the breakroom and said, help yourself.

Elaine - I was wondering where you had gotten to. I'm glad to see you peeking back in. That is good that you're able to take in your stepson and hopefully get his feet back on the right track. You're a good woman!

Okay, I'm outta here for the evening. I might go catch up on the last bit of ironing and vacuum the stairs. Maybe get the shampoo done. Might do that before church tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to get myself a little more organized for the week. So that I'm not giving up my exercise time to pay bills or something else. I'm also trying to do a few loads of laundry during the week so it isn't all to be done on the weekend. That challenge will be to get it all put up and the ironing done right away instead of piling up.

Have a good evening!

Hi girls! Just a quickie. I feel like it's been a long time since I've given you all a "real" post, but tonight isn't the night either.

I did some laundry, changed the sheets, worked a couple of jobs (steakhouse dinner was one. ) and did some paperwork.

Time to put the clean sheets on the bed and hit them.

Later..........

Good morning ladies, Just a quick check in to let you know I am still here. Things are going so so with me. I started doing core this past week and as I said here before, don't think I can make it! I like the concept but not the reality! So back to counting calories!

I hope you are all doing as well as Lilion and Valerie! Way to go girls! See Ya later....Ruth

Good Morning Ladies!

Well, it's Sunday and I'm in the office again! Tomorrow is a holiday, and I'll be in the office then too! And, since I'm on the internet, clearly I'm working hard! I'd say the internet is 80% of the reason I'm so far behind I have to come in on weekends and holidays! But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to stop in and say hi!

Got on the scale at home this morning to a 4 lb SHOCK - UP that is! I'm going to blame it on the Chinese yesterday and be super-duper good until WI and hope it GOES AWAY!

When I went shopping yesterday I bought some frozen waffles - they'll only be 5 pts for 2 - much better than the pancakes when DH wants a change of pace and DS will like them too because he can fix them himself.

Valerie: Congrats on the loss - good for you! You guys be careful on the road - it's so nice you can stop in - gotta love that wireless internet!



Well, best go now. Lots to do, like my time sheets for NOVEMBER - Thank God they pay us even if we don't turn them in on time!

Later Ladies - Onward and Downward!!!

Hello everyone!

Having a lazy Sunday morning here -- watching Nickelodean with Andre . I am looking forward to the day when he wants to watch football with me . I am so tired of SpongeBob, Fairly OddParents, etc...

Anthony watched Andre last night, so Marie & I got to go out! Woo hoo! This is the first time we've gone out in Portland since before June. We went to dinner at a really good Thai place and then to a movie. It was really nice. We went to see Brokeback Mountain which was really good.

Lilion, I've noticed that the scale can vary as much as four pounds, especially if I eat off plan for a day. I think it is water retention because it would be impossible to put on 4 pounds of fat in one meal . Frozen waffles is Andre's favorite breakfast -- I can make them in my sleep .

Ruth, thanks for checking in -- hope things get better soon!

Howdy thinthinker!

Hey Terri! Aren't pets just like kids sometimes? They know they're supposed to be in one place, so they just barely stay there enough to give you a hurt look if you yell at them .

Valerie -- 25% there! Congratulations! It's great you can check in with us when you're on the road. I had a friend who did long haul trucking for a few years -- it sounds very exhausting. Perhaps it's easier with two -- I think she drove solo.

Well, today's agenda is to go to the furniture store and hopefully pick out a couch for our living room, then to the gym to meet with my trainer, and who knows what else . Hope you all have a good OP day!

Just popping in to say I'm still alive too! Had a rough day food wise yesterday. I am trying to keep it under control today! Can you believe I haven't even gotten dressed yet? I am going to jump in the shower when I get off the computer, then get Andrew dressed and his stuff packed. He has no school tomorrow so he is spending the night at my parent's house again tonight! He loves it! We have to drop my car off at the garage today because its starting to run hot. We think it might be the thermostat, plus it needs an oil change too! From there we are going to drop Andrew off, then go to linens n things to get a new trashcan with a lid...the darn dog keeps helping herself to the trash all day long! Darn turd!! The lid we had sprung its spring awhile back! Then we are off to walmart to get some milk and a few things for the week. Then I guess its come home and get stuff ready for work in the morning! I am going to make a meat pie tonight too so John and the boy can have something to eat on my late nights this week.

OK I rambled there a bit....I should get my rear in gear now! Talk at you all later.

MichelleK