Morning morning!

My run and kickboxing was AMAZING! I felt very proud!!! And very at the same time! Especially as I was running along a HUGE triple/dual carriageway most of the time (on the pavement obviously).

Food managed to be ok, not entirely clean - a couple of treats squeezed in here and there (who can say no to someone buying you a Magnum???).

Oh and I picked up my dress - and it FITS! A lot better than it did last time anyway! It's still a leetle bit of a squeeze but I'm guessing with the magic underwear I bought and a bit more working out it will be perfect Time to throw the scales back in the cupboard!

I'm back on 100% workout this week! I'm off to the gym at lunch, kickboxing tonight etc etc

Morning ladies... I'm off to a new week. I actually completed every planned WT routine last week, and I'm feeling very good about this week. Seems like once the motivation turns to momentum, it makes for perfect weeks. Looking forward to another one this week.

Good job Frus!! I also read your monkey bars NSV, that is awesome! I was never able to do monkey bars as a child either.

I didn't have the cleanest eating weekend Friday, we went out for veggie pizza. The pizza place we go to is noted for having "healthy" pizza. Basically, they use nonfat crust, nonfat sauce and lowfat cheese. We had garlic, mushrooms and eggplant on our pizza. It was good and I ate 2 slices.

Saturday, I went to the gym by myself (which is something I haven't done since I moved here last October) because DF wasn't feeling all too well. I did 25 minutes on the elliptical. I had been avoiding cardio for a bit but I really don't know why. I know I need to do it more often. Anyway, after that we went and ran errands and ended up eating out at a chinese restaurant. The chinese restaurant was good and I ate pretty sensibly. We had lots of leftovers which will be dinner tonight. Sunday, we ended up going on a 3+ mile hike, then decided to split a burrito at Baja Fresh. So lots of eating out but good portion control as well as exercise. This week will be clean eating (once chinese leftovers are finished) and plenty of exercise. Oh and I weighed on the scale today and despite of TOM and eating out (higher salt content), the scale is still firmly on 264

NELIE - Wahoo on the great accomplishment. You are so inspiring. I don't know if I ever hated myself, more of like ignoring myself. Just not paying attention. Last year, I got into a real serious self improvement mode that I call making up for deferred maintanence.

Glad to say that as Mondays go - so goes the week. I got to the gym this morning, a little darker this am on the bike but great weather. Used the Oxygen over 40 workout for inspiration and upped some pounds. The barbell is still awkward but I am going to keep up with that. The UBWO was really good, very thorough. I need to work on my posture some more and holding my abs without holding my breath.

SHAN - Joining you in the "anit irrepsonsible pet owners" club. Makes me crazy especially when I had DD in a carriage, big stupid dogs poking into the carriage and dopier owners saying things like he loves children. Take it easy and relax your arm.

SUSAN - The sugar drop episode could be a fluke. I haven't had any since I started in on the protein at every meal plan.

FRAN - Good for you on getting the mammogram. Your experience is why I don't go in the summer, too humid and too "sticky". My worse experience was when I moved my head the wrong way, left? right? and smashed my jaw into the upper brace. Not bad but really clutzy. And really not going is worse than a little squishing.

Tough week this week, I am the only person out of the three person team in this week. Determined not to miss lunch, not to miss Farmer's Market Monday or stress about it though.

2FRU - You sound like a woman counting down the days. Great.

We went to one of the local fairs in New Hampshire and I so lucked out foodwise. Did about three hours of walking around but best of all found an organic farm stand for lunch. I had packed a protein drink if I had gotten hungry but I was able to enjoy a beautiful fresh salad and vegetable soup. They also had breakfast for the early riser, french toast, fresh fruit and scrambled eggs. I did skip the fried green beans though. It was so nice to be able to really have something tasty and healthy. I totally encouraged them to keep up the efforts. I felt ok to have a small real ice cream - just overall better choices.

Walking to the Farmer's Market this afternoon, turning out to be a beautiful day, temps to reach 85 they say.

Hello everyone - trying to get myself to stop lurking and start posting again - it's been a long time since I've been here, and was feeling a bit intimidated. You see, I've managed to do some major backsliding damage to myself over the past year or so, and am a bit embarassed to admit it.

But, I'm ready to shake that off and get back on track - like Mel's signature says - I don't intend to stay down. I hate having to work so hard to relose the weight that I had off 2 years ago, but this whole experience has taught me a lot, so I won't consider it a total waste.

I did an UBWO today for the first time in a very long time. I felt pretty strong, but know I will be sore tomorrow and that my next workout probably won't be as good. I'm back on BFL, so I'll be alternating upper and lower every other day.

Belated congrats on the hundred Nelie - you must be so proud! Ilene and Mel - good to see you guys are still here. And Tiki, glad you're back as well - you just beat me!

I'll pile onto the engagement bandwagon as well - I got enaged a month ago! Not planning to get married until next Fall at the ealiest, so lots of time to plan.

I'll admit, of course, that this is part of what's motivating me right now - I promised DF, Pete, that by the time we get married I'd be back down to the weight I was when we met. I've actually promised that to myself as well - I deserve better than how I've treated myself over the past year, and not been very happy about it. Not that I was destructive - I just let life get in the way - stopped working out, stopped eating heathily, started eating junk, using work, Pete and anything else as an excuse for why I didn't have time to be better about things.

Anyway, just wanted to say "Hi!" and let you know I plan to be around - this list was SO helpful for me when I was serious about staying fit, and I promise myself I'll stay online so I can stay focused.
Cindy

CINDY- Great to see you back again, I guess a bunch of us are getting back on track.

Not sure what is up with me, just volunteered to head the teacher appreciation lunch - at least it isn't until next May.

Off to take a walk, phone has been all crazy people, one of whom called me back 4 times so far today. If I leave now, I might miss #5.

Hi Cindy! Welcome back. Since it's been so long, I think I can use the banner Congratulations on your engagement. OK, you've done this before, you know how, nos just grab those bootstraps and we'll all help you pull!

Fran-I wish we had farmers' markets here. When I moved here 23 years ago, it was a very rural are with pockets of suburban development. Now it's very suburban, with very infrequent pockets of protected open land, or expensive horse farms. I think there is still one working farm about 3 miles from me that sells corn, strawberries, and pumpkins. Other than that, all that grows around here is grass and McMansions (I don't live in one of them.)

nelie- Congratulations on the # holding despite the eating out. When the Chinese food and TOM leave the house, you should be down another few! You are a testament to perseverance.

shan- how's the shoulder?

Hi softballmom! You sound like you are off to a good start this week

Fru, Fru- your enthusiasm is contagious! Kick 'em high, girl!

I had a good day so far. Legs, some new stuff, trained a client, talked to the new gym owner for a while, then finished my leg workout (haha...just a little rest time there), and home for a very clean lunch. One more client today, and some cardio.

Yesterday I took an 11 mile bike ride and decided I'm not in as good condition aerobically as I thought I was I'll be doing more real biking as long as the weather holds. the recumbent or even spinning just isn't the same.

Mel

MEL - I agree on the bike riding, somehow having to balance as well as pedal makes for a better workout.

Forgot to mention as I was walking home last week I ran into an old volleyball team member from high school. She is now a coach at the high school.

Feeling better this week, I think I was in fact fighting off a cold and now that has passed. Nothing more than a few sneezes and kind of headachey, and then that passed with the help of some Cold-Eeeze, which are basically zinc.

Fru - pray tell, what is a magnum? Here I think it is malt liquor, so surely that could have not been what you indulged in so close to the wedding!

Had a killer ubwo yesterday apparently. It's still with me. Not sure what that was about - I didn't raise any weight, it was my 2nd workout at the new weights. dunno

Will be out of town 3 days this week but am planning to be home each nite, believe it or not. Hope I can keep my cardio from falling off the planet, and with the way my w/t is scheduled, I'll get my last one in tomorrow and not be due for another til Friday, so that will work out real nice! yeah!

Cindy - welcome back!

Mel - you remind me of when I first started hiking. I figured since I could do the elliptical no problem, that I'd be able to hike quite easily. Boy was I wrong. Yesterday, DF and I wanted to do an "easy" hike so we did a 3+ mile hike that we've done a few times with variations (lots of side trails so you can make it what you want). At the end of this "easy" hike, I remembered back to a year ago when this easy hike was anything but an easy hike and I had to take a couple breaks throughout the hike. We didn't take any breaks this time. I was amazed at my improvement

Something else I wanted to mention earlier but I forgot. I was talking to my mom the other day and told her I lost 100 lbs total. She thought I meant since the last time I saw her in July. So she told me it didn't count. Then I told her I had lost 20 lbs since July and she told that was good but that I needed to lose more. I know she doesn't mean to but it did bother me a bit. I know she really wants me to lose a lot of weight for the wedding and she has always encouraged me to lose weight. She understands the weight struggle all too well due to battling her own weight problems since she was a teenager. Oh well I know she means well.

Sorry Nelie, but here's a gigantic FLAME for your mother.



and then some for her mouth.

She means well, but since she's had the same struggle she should know what not to say as well. Losing 100 lbs since July should have her calling your df and not congratulating you. Oh brother................

You have a good attitude about it tho, so to you for maintaining that!

Afternoon all. It's a gorgeous Indian summer day here, and I want to be outside! I picked up a large number of plants from a woman from church yesterday and I need to get them in the ground.

Mel - riding a bike outdoors vs. stationary or spinning is like the difference of running on a treadmill and running outdoors! You use all those propriocepters to keep upright and balanced, plus of course it's mentally more engaging watching for all the obstacles. Great exercise though. Oh, if I could leave work now I could go for a bike ride AND get my plants planted.

Nelie - sorry about your mom. I think Fran took care of her for us! My mom would say things too. It's like when it's your kid the social filter gets, not exactly removed, but loosened. Unless your mom truly has no social skills, she wouldn't say such things to someone outside the family, but somehow it's okay to say it to you. Mine was the same way and not just about weight. Good for you for understanding that she does it out of her love and concern for you.

Hi all, just a quick Monday check in here. Busy day back in the office with lots of people back from vacations.

My arm is still bumming me out a little, sitting at this desk all day just makes me all tight and ornery, I can’t do my chair stretching like I usually do. I’m gonna be missing yoga tonight. It kind of feels weird to not be going to the gym, even though I know I need more rest. Hopefully it will be all better by the end of the week. I felt so lazy this weekend, I slept a lot. Eating wasn’t too bad, since I wasn’t doing much I didn’t have much of an appetite. At least the scale wasn’t punishing me much this morning for my lack of activity.

I’ve downloaded the c25k audio files Pat linked (thanks again Pat!) and plan to take this time away from the gym as an opportunity to try running. I’m not sure if I want to do morning or evening running, I guess I’ll try both and see which feels better.

2Fru – Congrats on the dress fitting. Must feel great!

Nice to see all these people returning! Seems like a lot of you are off to a good start this week. Let’s keep it up.

Hi Everyone,

I had a pretty clean weekend foodwise. Most of my time was spent shopping. I have a high school class reunion coming up at the end of the month and needed to find just the right outfit.

Today I had a great upper body workout with 40 minutes of cycling. I did a little on the elliptical but I still have to be careful since it is a "weight bearing" exercise.

I just returned from my swimming lessons. We worked on freestyle tonight. I did okay with this but just wished I didn't have to put my face in the water so often. My eight year old son was giving me advice on how to do this. Priceless...

Hello hello hello!

For starters... A Magnum is a grown-up ice cream It's quite rich ice cream on a stick covered in quite thick chocolate Mine had minty crunchy bits in the chocolate too My friend's had almonds in the chocolate and he wolfed his in about 10 seconds flat!

Glad to see everyone here and so positive! I love riding outside, but I feel it's slightly cheating sometimes when you find a nice downhill bit - but that's what makes it fun! Especially when you use your drop handlebars! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Oh and Nelie - your Mum sounds like my Mum's Mum. No matter how much you lose, or how long it takes to lose - at least you know it will stay lost. Take pride in that! I've started to tell myself that Granny is bitter and twisted and I tend to ignore most of what she says!!!!

My appetite seems to have dissapeared... Although, you know, if I tell you all I'll suddenly want to eat a horse! I had an omlette for breakfast yesterday (1 egg, a billion egg whites) and then a pumpkin bar pre-gym and didn't have lunch till 3pm!!! Then I only had some melon, a bit of funny tasting mango and an oatmeal cracker with PB on and an apple for my tea! Today I only managed half my veggie omlette for brekky - DF took the rest to work for lunch! I will be fully exploiting this lack of appetite!

Oh and does anyone know if there's a traditional present I should give mum and dad at the wedding? I'm looking at getting them something. I'd like to buy them a clock and get it engraved, but that could end up being a bit pricey!