Howdy all!

This is a group of friendlies enroute to a healthy lifestyle. Join us as we make the journey.

HI, EVERYONE

I'M NEW BUT HAVE BEEN DOING WW SINCE JULY 25TH. I HAVE LOST 15LBS AND WILL LOSE 85LBS MORE. MY GOAL IS LOSE 26 LBS BY DEC 19TH - I WILL BE 41YRS. I'M A MOTHER OF 4 GIRLS (3 ARE TEENAGERS)

HOPE EVERYONE IS AS MOTIVATED BY THIS SITE AS I AM.
PEG

happy wednesday everyone ,

Welcome peg . You're off to a great start . Wow three teenagers , makes me tired thinking about it . I have 2 grown sons & 4 grandkids , & I'm turning 40 on friday (yep , I started young) My boys started way too young as well .

Well , I wasn't going to start my new meeting this week , because I had a horrible week & knew I would gain + I was going from a morning meeting to a pm meeting . I figured i'd go to the drop in on friday & then start next monday . But , I decided to go on this monday anyway . I was feeling sad & knew it'd make me feel better . It had only been 9 days since weigh in & I hadn't been bad the whole time . Guess how much I gained ? 13+ pounds !!! I figured going from am to pm would be an automatic 3 pounds but not 13 pounds . The leader is the same one from my old meeting . She was pleased to see me , but surprised , as I hadn't told her I was switching . I had never gone to my hometown meeting , I have always gone to the saturday one in a much bigger town . I figured I wouldn't know anyone . My sons best friends mom was there . We had never met , but recognized each other . We laughed about our sons childhoods , as they'd been friends since middleschool . It was nice . The leader introduced me & said a bunch of very nice things about me . My son went to the courthouse to file restraining orders , so the kids' mom couldn't take them . The clerk told my son that he has no rights since he hasn't established parentage . She could take them anytime she wants . I got a pile of more legal papers to fill out . I hope they are the right ones . I'm starting to feel like a really bad legal secretary .

Well gotta go . I sure hope my blabbering didn't bore anyone . It helps me though . Ta Ta . Kathy

Hey ladies,

Dora that was a pretty dirty trick starting a new thread but not stopping to say "hi". Get back in here and tell us how you are doing!

Peg, welcome, welcome, welcome! You sure are doing fabulous, I'm jealous! I started around the same time as you and I've only lost 7 pounds although I must admit I've been very distracted about the whole thing. I also haven't been exercising. (Raise your right hand)...I promise to exercise at least 20 minutes every day starting tomorrow. Amen.

Kathleen, don't get discouraged about the weight gain. I lost nearly 40 pounds last year and gained it all back plus 19 pounds more. That's really frustrating! It's hard to keep going sometimes but I'm determined not to give up and I know you haven't either. I wish your son luck on that custody thing. Sometimes things work out the way the should, don't lose hope. You know you're doing everything you can to help him.

Gizzi, Lauren, Marie, and everyone else. Thanks for the advice about my pudgy three year old. We would NEVER discuss it in front of any of the kids. My kids know I'm trying to lose weight but they know that losing weight comes from eating the right things. I know they will never have the same problems as me. They are still young enough so that I can control most of what they eat right now. They all love to play outside and get plenty of exercise.

I'll catch up with you guys later.

Ruby

Howdy all!

Peek-a-boo, Ruby! It's so nice to be missed.

I've been in a bit of a hurry lately. Got a Pampered Chef party coming up and then my dad ends up having surgery on his salivary gland of all things. It was a really nasty infection and who knows what else. His doctor even sent a sample to the CDC ! He's a two hour drive away, but doesn't want his kids to "waste their time" coming to see him. What!? I should wait til he's dying to visit? Anyhow, he seems to be in good spirits -a critical factor since he's a severely depressed guy and not terribly healthy from a lifetime of smoking. Add to all this a surprise drama workshop this weekend and the usual aspects of life and then POOF! my letter-writing time is gone.

Kathy -what in tarnation does one have to do to "establish parentage"? Is he on the birth certificate and is he listed as the parent to contact at school? I am totally confused. Thought we were considered parents by virtue of contributing to the gene pool.
I am NOT buying into that 13# found! I agree with the possible 3 and the one time I did WI at night I had a 6# water gain. So, unless you drank a gallon, ate Chinese all week, wore combat boots and a wet suit under your clothes, the difference has to be their scales. Must be calibrated differently. You know how to work the program. (wish I could stay on it for an entire week!

Peg -many welcome aboards! Wish I could say I'd lost 15# this summer. Or stayed even. Or not gained 16#. Only meself to blame. You are doing great. And 26 total by Dec. ? Totally doable. You go!

Kathy -Hippo Birdee, Two Ewe!! The big 4-oh! That makes you an adult, I think! So, what changes have you noticed since, say, 30?

Gotta run, gals. My house is a disaster (same bat time, same bat channel...) and I am trying to do a small bit while remembering who else to add to my guest list. And I really should use the edger on my yard, but who will care about that? My hubby has had several VERY interesting phone calls this week. Hopefully he will have some firm employment offers soonest!

How is everyone doing this Thursday evening. I am pretty good (except that I just binged a bit) and I did get my exercise in this morning before going to work. I had a great WI this week. I was down 5#. I was so excited. I gained 1 last week, and since I started I had been doing quite well. I really think I should have had a loss last week and that it was water weight and my dinner before the meeting. Then I would say that I also lost this week. It makes me feel better knowing I am not dropping it too fast if I rationalize it that way. Either way, the weight is off and it feels great.

I agree with the comment on needing to taste the sweet stuff. Now if I could only do that when I'm out or bringing it into the house. I think that would help me. I know I don't NEED it but I sure would love to taste it. Then the problem becomes that in addition to tasting it, I want to eat more of it...and I do.

I hate to run so fast, but I need to go and make a few phone calls. I hope to chat more later.

Melissa

Hey all ,

Yep Dora , I am indeed an adult , & according to my mom i've been one a long long .....time . About a week ago my grandson said my mom was going to bake me a cake . Mind you she has baked me only 1 or 2 cakes in 20 years . So I said , "Mom , Christopher said you're baking me a homemade birthday cake ". She said , " he did ? I don't remember saying that". I said , "yeah , he said you were baking me a carrot cake ". I added the last part , cause carrot cake is my fav. My grandson is a little tease at times , but this time it worked to my advantage . My mom said she doesn't bake me a cake because i've been an adult a long long... time . I told her " Vicki is 51 & her mom has made her a marachino cake every year since she was 5 " My sister figured maybe Vicki's mom might adopt us . My mom never did bake much . Her batches of cookie dough never made very many cookies . Then I started making the cookies & got twice as many . She has been known to buy cookie dough from subway , just to eat the dough . I'm sure that's not on the subway diet .

Ruby , you're right about not giving up . I've been going 2 years & have essencially been playing with the same 10 pounds for the last year . But I get so much out of the meetings & i'm 100 pounds healthier than 2 years ago .

Melissa , Good for you ! I'll bet you did actually gain a pound or 2 of water weight last week & actually lost weight . I hate it when I expect a loss & actually gain . But you caught up this week , big time .

Dora I think you & I are on the same diet plane . Too much going on & we know one way to nurture ourselves . I've got 2 packettes of papers about 50 pages thick (for each kid) to hoprfully establish parentage . I guess parentage doesn't have that much to do with DNA in Washington . They'll even charge ex-boyfriends(non father) with child support , if they lived with a mother a certain amount of time . Chris' ex has decided she doesn't like the father of her unborn baby anymore so she tried to claim Chris was the father . She had an ultrasound & is 6 mo. along . She said it was conceived on Easter (I usually celebrate differently) . Do the math , honey , Easter was 4 1/2 months ago . She told Chris she'd rather it be his . Here we have her kids & she wants this one to be his , too . She apparently has no idea that she can take them if she wants . She said she is going to California in a few days to see her mom . Maybe she'll stay .

Well enough of that . Hoppy friday . I'm going shopping cause it's my birthday ! Walmart here I come . kathy

Kathy, happy birthday! And a HUGE congratulations on keeping off 100 pounds. What an accomplishment! Sometimes we need to take some "time off" to maintain for a while (which usually means gaining and losing the same few pounds) before we're ready to start going again. And I actually hear that's healthier. A lot of doctors recommend taking a year off after you lose 50 pounds. The trick is to keep maintaining (rather than gain it all back) -- and then start losing again. I think I'm finally ready to start losing again, after a year and a half of noodling around.

And I agree -- no way did you gain 13 pounds in a week. I don't think that's possible. Maybe you were carrying a bowling ball and didn't know it?

Melissa -- woo-hoo, 5 pounds! Way to go! That's a great example of why an occasional gain shouldn't get us down. The scale just isn't a very reliable barometer on a weekly basis. It's the long term that shows the proof. You're doing so great!

Dora, great to hear from you, as always. An infected salivary gland??? Yikes! How does that happen? I'm sending good thoughts and prayers your dad's way (and for a job for your DH).

I got in 4.5 hours of exercise this week already, so I can take the weekend off -- hooray. I'm going to work up to 5 hours. It really makes a difference in my energy and stress levels. I'm holding water, though -- TOM still hasn't arrived! Argh.

TGIF, everyone, and have a great and HEALTHY weekend. You can do it, and you deserve it.

--Lauren

Hey all ,

Lauren , You are the exercising Queen ! Keep adding to your daily time & you may not have to worry about your T.O.M . Wouldn't that be nice ? I was doing well with my walking until last weeks rain . I had hoped the planters faciaitis would improve with not walking , but no . This weekend has been beautiful , as this week is supposed to be , so I should be able to get walking in . I didn't get to walk during the weekend , as I have the grandkids (dad was at work) . I did mow the lawn , & do some gardening . That was a goodly amount of exercise .

I let the excuse of my birthday seriously derail me & I kind of went on from there . Today was okay & I imagine tomorrow will be too . Hopefully tomorrow nights weigh in won't be too bad .

I noticed that everyone is awol this weekend . I hope you all have been having fun . Dora how is your dad ? Any news on hubby's job prospects ?

I braved it to Trader Joes with the kids , today (I love T.J's). That was a 45 minute drive to get there , which didn't worry me . I'm getting my mommy brain back (travel supplies) . If you enter the city that T.J's is in from a certain direction you get a veiw of the water . Christopher wanted to see the water , so I zig zagged down to it . I hadn't ever been to that paticular area before , & it was neat . We didn't go back the way we came & got all turned around . When that happened when my kids were little , i'd say we weren't lost , we were adventuring . I had really missed that . It's funny the things you miss when your kids grow up . Just grabbing toys , food & drinks & taking off . I'm getting a little taste of that back right now , & loving it . Of course there is the fighting ....

Ta TA . Kathy

Hi everyone , all 2 of us .

Good news , I lost 5.8 of the 13 pounds they said I gained . i doubt if I really lost this week , what with the extra festivities , & may have actually gained . I suspect it was all water , I'm happy non-the-less .

Nothing else new to say . I have to go back to work after a 5 day weekend tomorrow . It will probably be more restful .

Kathy

Kathy, I knew you couldn't really have gained 13 pounds all at once like that. Good for you taking off half of it already!

The group sure has gotten quiet. I figure it's just end-of-summer break and starting back to school. I bet people will come back again after Labor Day.

I'm up a bit this week on my home scales; I'll weigh in tonight at WW for the official number. But I'm in the throes of TOM, so that's to be expected. And I've had a great week program-wise, so I'm not concerned about a small gain.

I'm 99 percent sure I'll be laid off this Friday. It's what I've wanted, and I sure won't miss what this company has become, but I will miss some of the great people who remain there. (Our office has already been reduced by maybe 75 percent since January, so many great people are already gone.) I'm looking forward to having my two favorite months of the year off!

Hope everyone is doing well. Don't forget about us!

--Lauren
279/216.5/199 by Christmas (home scales in the morning)

Howdy all two of you!!

I skipped out on WI to attend a drama workshop. It was great fun learning how to create skits from a "slice of life". In one scenario, several folks (youth, mainly) onstage were assigned to be publishers/editors of a magazine and had to answer audience questions as if we were that person. I was "Cooking" magazine. It was wonderful, dahling!

Kathy - I believe that maybe you had a 5.8# loss for whatever reason. And that's a fabulous week. Way to go!

Lauren -Great attitude. What a relief it will be to get out of that place, huh?! Leaves more time for you to stop and smell the falling leaves.

Hubby is still hoping for employment. Heard him call and talk to a lady about a position in Hauppauge, NY. The fact that he even made the call says something. At least it is with a firm that has an Austin division. Maybe he thinks it could work into getting transferred back someday. The word here is about who's laying off today...

Meantime, my Pampered Chef party is tomorrow. I feel a bit of a heel, in that it'sa light menu. Not like I've been "light" in months. Oh well, they are always great fun. Off I go to look at real estate in NY (ack!) and bake lite peach pie.

Y'all be good!

Hello ladies, I just wanted to say hello and that this has been a crazy week. I don't want to bore you with all the details, but I;m exhausted. I have a few days off from work now which I hope to use productively and I also want to use them to relax. I had WI last night and I was down .5# That is better than being up. I know this coming week is going to be very difficult but I'll take it a day at a time. Well, I will reply to all later b/c I can only make a quick stop here right now. I hope everyone has a good day!

Melissa

Good for you, Melissa! A half a pound in the right direction is nothing to sneeze at.

Dora, thanks for the well wishes. We're continuing to pray for your DH's situation as well. I am indeed getting laid off tomorrow (got the official word), so there we go. I also just had lunch with a bunch of guys I'd love to work with, and they want me to come work with them -- but they're a start-up with no business yet. I'm going to do what I can to help out until they get business -- or until I have to find a paying job. But I told them I want to take some time off first. We'll see how that goes.

This will be my company's 10th layoff this year (in 2001). We're up to having one every two weeks now. Sheesh. I'm just glad I'm getting out while there's still severance.

I was up a bit more than a pound and a half on WW's scales, which is fine because it's TOM and water weight. It'll be gone soon.

The meeting was great. Our leader stood up there with a calendar and asked "When is a good time to lose weight?" We then went through the calendar month by month and found a million reasons why each month wasn't a good one to lose weight. Holidays, parties, events ... the moral of that lesson is that there's no "good" time to lose weight. You just have to do it anyway and work around the obstacles. A good reminder.

Onward and downward,

Lauren
279/219.8/199 by Christmas (WW numbers)

Hurray! I've been working on an attitude readjustment & it finally paid off at the scales. I lost 3 lbs. this week. In spite of my brother's birthday party last Saturday! Of course, the fact that I rode my bike to work twice this week & went mall walking once probably helped too.

I can't believe all the posts since I checked in last time. We're almost sounding like One Life to Live (an older, more rounded version, that is )

Kathy, you have no idea how much I appreciate the paperwork you're going through. My husband is guardian on his mother who's on government assistance & it's one headache after another!

Onward & downward...

Liz