Good morning and welcome to March! I am SO ready for some spring and maybe we’ll see some by the end of the month. < -- (that’s my 'March going out like a lamb' smilie)

How’s everyone doing these days? One Anne had a baby and one is going to – the Annes need to swap advice! How are the rest of you?

I’m still stuck in rehab for my shoulder, but it’s coming along as fast as can be expected. All I’m allowed to do on my R side are exercises to get my range of motion back but the L side is allowed to work out and I can do real cardio now. So I did an honest-to-goodness, one-armed back workout on Monday (and feel it today!) By the beginning of April, I’ll be allowed to start strengthening the R side and start my comeback.

Being less active has forced me to seriously buckle down with food and I'm down four pounds for the month. I even baked DS a birthday cake yesterday with nary a bite, lick, or taste - yay! I still have about six pounds that I put on working in the gym to get rid of (doesn't that sound goofy - gaining weight when you go to work in a gym??) so am going to stay FOCUSED this month!

Love to hear from everyone ...

I have to refocus too, it's ridiculous! Exercise is ok but there are days when I work, and when I work it's not routine for me, so I have no plan and by the end of the day I don't feel like exercising anymore... food also goes a bit haywire... So I'm going to have to work on staying on plan for the unplanned days ...

Meg -- My gosh but you seem to be healing quickly, that's what it seems like to me, but I'm sure you're finding the time a bit longish ...

Hi maintainers,

Meg-Glad to hear you are doing OK on the rehab
Ilene-I know what you mean about focus. Things are changing fast around here and i find out that I do not excersize and the food has gone haywire again. Enfin, more routine (new routine) next week. This week is spring break AND XH is moving out.This will be over next week, and I will start working at a new place 9same company but different location) next week or the week after.So that will start me off in a new routine. I am trying very hard not to get sad at XH moving out, and to see this as a new start for me and my children.

I bet I feel a lot better about this after next week or at the end of the month.

Have a great day all,
rabbit

Hi maintainers,

XH moved out yesterday. My family came over to help (2 sisters, 2 BIL and 2 teenagers), and also 2 male frioends helped. We worked from 8.30 till 16.30. Moved XH 5 or 6 truckloads of stuff. I get agoraphobia in the house and garage...it is all so empty ! I'll try to keep it that way. I cannot imagine why anyone would want so much junk, and it was my worst nightmatre that he would leave me with it and return after some time and want an item back. now he has, I would say, everything. Knowing XH, I'll put that at 98%. But it is out, and we are in for a new start.

have a great day all,
rabbit

Rabbit - for a new start and best of luck at the new job. Things are only going to get better for you from now on!

How's the planning for the unplanned going this month, Ilene? I am so with you on planning! My best days are the ones that I plan all my meals in advance and make a giant checklist of things to be done and when (including exercise).

Things are really stepping up in physical therapy and though it hurts, I finally feel like I'm accomplishing something. I can see my range of motion increasing ever-so-slightly every day. I'm now up to two 45-minute sessions of exercises at home every day, plus I'm still trying to work out my right side and legs, plus cardio -- wow, you'd think I should be in awesome shape by the time this is over!

What's everyone got planned for the weekend?

I'm having a bit of a rest today to get some jobs done, I might go out for a run later or I might just take a decadent weekend off after my half marathon last weekend before I get back into training for a couple of 10ks over the next few months. I've got one job done, I've booked a hotel in Berlin for marathon weekend, so everything is now booked and I've just got to train now! I'm also planning to try some new recipes, I've got really enthused by cooking recently and I want to make the most of it!

Please share any great new recipes, Helen!

The marathon must feel so 'real' to you now that you've booked the hotel - how exciting! I am just in awe of your running! You're going to have a whole 3FC cheering section when September rolls around.

Good morning all. It's my getaway day -- we're going to St. Louis tomorrow for a long weekend and an abbreviated spring break. I love St. Louis -- great shopping, good eating, beautiful city. We may go to the symphony Saturday night, and if the weather holds we're going to Shaw's Botanical Gardens, which are simply lovely.

These days the exercise is going splendidly, and the food not quite so splendidly. Actually, I'm eating fairly healthfully but not especially cleanly. I suppose it could be worse, but with spring and all those wonderful summer fruits and veggies around the corner, I'm optimistic about the weeks ahead.

Mini Rant: I happened to notice a NutriSystem TV commercial last night. It was long and it featured brief profiles of a number of people (all women I think) who had lost signficant amounts of weight. Lots of perky music and pictures of lovely waifs being carried into sunsets. All very romantic and romanticized. Not a word about the pitfalls that lay ahead for all of them. You know, I used to watch things like that and swallow it hook, line and sinker. Last night, I found myself getting really angry. I couldn't help but feel that all those happy dieters had been set up for a real fall. Well, let's just hope that some, if not all, of them find their way here.

And with that I gotta go. Oatmeal's waiting for my second breakfast, and turkey chili for lunch. Life is good.

Cheers all.

Have fun! I will be out there next week to see my sister. Have you seen the St. Louis Symphony before? One of my former flute teachers, Mark Sparks, is the principle flutist. I have never seen him in his home symphony before, so I may check out Brahm's Requiem, which is next weekend. I was checking for tickets and the program this weekend sounds interesting.They are starting off with Mozart and moving on to Hindemith, Prokofiev and Martinu- a little bit of everything!

If you go you are to report back!

Have fun in St louis Robin!

Meg - How is the rehab these days ??

General question/concern:

So when I began losing, anyone and everyone felt comfortable commenting on my weight loss. Then, of course, it died off as people got used to it. I have since began to settle into the new body, but I get the feeling that now everyone's just kind of waiting for me to put it all back on! Am I crazy? Paranoid? But I get random looks and comments about "Your still dieting?", or, "Wow, I can't believe you're still skinny". It seems a little strange because I never yo-yoed. I was overweight my whole life and now I'm not.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Good Morning, Good Morning! How is everyone doing?
Helen, congrats on the half-marathon!! Excellent job!

Meg, 45 mins, 2x per day? Wow! That's a lot of shoulder work. Good for you, you'll be back to your old self (with an improved shoulder) in no time. I'm so proud of you for taking those stubborn pounds off while you have been recuperating!!

Hey Ilene! How is the planning going this week? I'm sure you were able to refocus and get right back on track.

Rabbit, Best of luck with all the recent changes in your life You've been through a lot and now you can start with a new beginning - on your own terms! When does the new job start officially?

Robin - Have a great trip. I definitely know what you mean about the annoying diet commercials - we're here because we've learned how to lose weight and keep it off the right way, not by following a fad diet that only sets us up for failure.

Things are going well here. Morning sickness has been horrendous the past week or so and I'm not able to eat any of the things I typically love. Oatmeal, coffee, barley, coffee, carbs in general...oh and did I mention I miss my coffee?? Just the thought of those foods make me so ill. I've been craving orange juice, meat, egg salad, chicken salad, basically anything mayo-based. So strange. Haven't gained any weight yet, I'm only 6 weeks along. I'm kind of relieved the carbs leave me feeling yucky as I ate way too many of them during my first pregnancy.

My sister commented on how every time I talk about being pregnant (yes, I had to tell her) all I do is talk about my weight. It was a real eye-opener for me, because I do hyper-focus on my eating issues and I'm sure it gets tiring to listen to after a while. I'm going to try to focus on being healthy and just enjoy my pregnancy and not be overly paranoid about gaining (a healthy amount of) weight

Hope everyone is well!!

Hi maintainers,

Anne - somehow i missed the news about you being pregnant. Congratulations!!!! And ENJOY the pregnancy. I know you'll sometimes feel horrible, but I also remember it as a special time, being with 2 persons in one body.

Rabbit

Junebug - I know what you mean. After Christmas someone at work said to me "so you've kept it off then" as though I'd have put 90lb or so back on in the space of two weeks! Sadly, the other person at work who did lose a lot of weight did then put it back on again so I guess that's the precedent people are judging me by, but I'm not sure they appreciate the differences between how I've done this and the way they did it, and the fact that I WILL keep this off because I decided to change my life before I realised that doing that would make me lose weight.

Ahem .... and just where is everybody this fine snowy morning? We got off lucky; I don't think there's more than 4 or 5 inches out there. But do we have anyone in Colorado ... or South Dakota ... or Kansas? My sympathies all around; you got clobbered! So now I'm REALLY ready for Spring.

Our trip to St. Louis was terrific. On Friday, the day dawned bright, sunny and warm; would you believe 61 degrees! So we scrambled our plans and spent the morning at the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was wonderful. Lots of spring bulbs and soft color, and many buds just on the verge of opening. We ate well and shopped well, but I'm afraid we never made it to the symphony. The paper carried the symphony schedule for next year, and I hope we can schedule another trip when they're playing. It looks great. For all you baseball fans, the Cardinals' brand new stadium is just about done, although it may be a fight to the finish to open on April 10 as advertised. When we drove by, it looked like there were cartons of light fixtures awaiting installation.

I took my workout clothes, but didn't work out. The so-called fitness facility in our hotel was so dreary I just couldn't make myself go. But I was at the gym bright and early yesterday morning. It felt good.

I've just had my midmorning oatmeal and cottage cheeze, and I'm loaded for bear. So back to work I go.