Good morning, fellow challengers!

Hope all are well and happy and that everyone had a good, healthy weekend. Speaking for myself, my eating was HORRIBLE over the weekend, particularly last night; my mother-in-law had a birthday dinner for DH and so there was a family gathering last night. I am not exactly sure what dinner was... all I know for sure is that it was chicken bits swimming around in about five gallons of a sauce that consisted of cheese, mayonnaise, cans of cream-of-something-or-other and heaven knows what else. She had fresh green beans, but she cooked the dickens out of them so they were limp and lifeless by the time they hit the table... and it was all served over plain white rice. I don't want to sound disparaging of my MIL's cooking - because she really is a nice lady - but it truly made me cringe. I should have pre-eaten before going over there, because I know enough about my in-laws to know that healthy eating is not high up on their list of priorities... so that's a failing on my part. I went over there hungry and I didn't exhibit much control, even for as yucky as the food was.

I'm hoping that all the running around I did over the weekend offset the bad eating I did. We braved the stores and went shopping for stuff for my husband's Christmas tree (he's Christian and I'm Jewish, but we celebrate each other's holidays, so it's all good), and we spent a good bit of time and effort getting that thing together... PLUS I really kicked it into gear at the gym yesterday and did a solid hour of cardio, which felt terrific!

Hope everyone's healthy and doing well! I'll pop back later when I've woken up a little more and have had some more coffee.

Good morning everybody!!!

Wow Rowdy, maybe you can give MIL a couple of cookbooks for the holidays. Sorry you had such a bad meal. But of course there you are at the gym, no matter what. You have unbelivable dedication.

I had a really good weekend foodwise as well as exercise. I stayed way under on my calories and managed to get in a walk both days and lots of my usual other stuff, the sit ups, leg lifts, stretching and dancing. And payback was this morning, my weigh-in day. I am down 5 pounds!!! That's with TOM arriving yesterday. So that's 2 weeks in a row with a 5 pound weight loss. Kinda explains why when I went shopping on Friday I was down another size.
So, yeah I'm pretty excited.

Have a good one everyone.

Suz~ I second the cookbooks for gifts (I love getting them myself I am a terrible cook) Sorry you had such a bad meal. Its nice that you and your hubby celebrate each others holidays!! I had a roommate in college who invited me to all her celebrations, It was totally cool and something I had never done before.

Robin~You are totally awsome!! You are a real inspiration! 5 more pounds!! I am so Happy for you!And Thanks for the kind encouraging words.

I think I am going to Lounge today, I have a lofty exercise goal of 15 minutes, just to feel my heart pumping a little extra, I may try to manage a slow pace for 30 minutes but we'll see once I get on it. Guess what, I FOUND A MUSCLE!! I have a bicep muscle that is as hard as a rock!! I need to work a little harder on my left arm, but I found it !

Waiting for my advil cold stuff to kick in. No I am still not better, but I will be soon, I will be. At least I can get out of bed!

Hey out there skinny friends!!

Suz-you can't be too hard on yourself, you were HUNGRY! And at least you got to the gym afterward, SO PROUD OF YOU! So today, you'll do well. And at least you didn't eat a "trigger" food, LOL, I don't know what it sounds like she served. YUMM-O as Rachael Ray would say.

Jeni-glad to see you sounding more like yourself....how do you think you're going to post something negative/pessimistic about yourself at the END of next week, and get away with it!?! YOU'VE BEEN SICK WOMAN! You can't beat yourself up about being "lazy" and "eating SO badly", what are you going to do?! When you feel better, you'll kick it back up. Or at least you aren't happy about it~ I was in heaven when I fell back into eating burgers, pizza, etc. Being aware is part of it, but also not blaming yourself is important. So there you go, setting a nice small goal of 15 minutes is SOMETHING! Just take care of yourself for right now!

Robin OMG you are BREEZING through the 220s, that was my longest 10 pounds, hopefully this week I'll be saying buh-bye to them (I sneaked on the scale this morning and it said 217-but I felt a little dried out). I love your dedication and your motivation.

JasonsLea-I saw your post from yesterday about killing it through your exercise! What are you doing? Gym? Videos? Either way-WAY TO GO!!!

I should have a good week of exercise, I work Mon-Tues then the weekend. So that leaves me Wed-Th-Fri-Sat AM to get there, and if I'm super motivated I can go between shifts, Tues afternoon. We shall see, no need to push it. Did I tell you gals I'm switching to free weights? I learned some awesome exercises on the Smith Machine and I'm really killing my muscles, where before I could push and pull on tons of machines there but not really feel it like I do with free weights. Lunges, squats, bring it on!

HolyTerror, how did you do this weekend?

Hey I've got an idea-I think I'll go back to the original post and make a list of all the posters/start/goals. Be back soon.

xoxoxoox Michelle

Hi there-did it, got all the names and stats written down- we have 33 people signed up!! Where ARE you all!!??! Don't be afraid- just pop in, say hi, let us know how youre doing! I'll post the complete list later, I need to get some stuff done. Lets figure out the WEED for today:

W- just a constant refill of the glass
E- probably no structured exercise, but moving around the house. Yesterday I tried to do a video with DD but she got frustrated and whiney halfway through it and I had to put cartoons back on. LOL
E- Lets see, had my nice breakfast already, salad for lunch, dinnner ?? Then working midnights, I'll take my soup and a turkey sandwich. Working my long nights also helps keep the water flowing.
D- maybe wrap some christmas presents?

Holy crap... there are really 33 signed up??

Oh, so much to respond to, but the guys are back from NYC today and they're really running me ragged... after I posted this morning, we hit the ground running and I haven't stopped since.

I have enough time for a quick hit of WEED before I dive back into my paperwork, though!

W - 80 oz.
E - hitting the gym, plan to do an hour total cardio/weights
E - 1200 calories, as always
D - Two loads of laundry, at least! Also, I have a goal to not let my bosses keep me late tonight and mess up my gym time. I think they do it to me so often because I let them... and I've gotta nip THAT in the bud.

I will be back tonight!

Thats why I love this board!! The nice helpful kick my butt when I get too hard on myself support. Thank you!
I guess I have been pretty down with the Holidays coming, more money going out the in, I guess. My dad, love him so much, but he keeps stealing our ideas. He asked what are you getting Tommy for christmas, I told him a baby V-smile, what does he do???? he ordered it for him and said here you wrap it from Papa Tom! What are you getting Maki??? a bike (which doubles as her reward for potty training.) So what does he do?? He gave me money to get her the bike she wants. I love him, and it is nice because those are the two big gifts the kids are getting so it frees up some money for other things, but pooh they were our ideas. I am so lucky to have him.

The advil sinus has kicked in so I have been cleaning and sanatizing my house. I hate germs, I hate it even more when my kids are sick. I should own stock in Purell and Lysol and Dial soap!!!!!

Just in case any of us were thinking of laying off the WEED for a while, check this out, I got it in an email from ediets, which I had once looked into. Might make you rethink that W:

Water Intake -From the standpoiint of water intake and fat loss, you want to be in a position where the liver is converting stored fat to energy. The liver has other functions, but this is one of its main jobs. Unfortunately, another of the liver's duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly (more than most people realize).

If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do the work of the kidneys along with its own (lowering its total productivity in the process). The liver then can't metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently. IF you allow this to happen, you're setting yourself up to store fat because you've made the liver less efficient at turning stored body fat to energy. Usually if you multiply .55 times your weight, that should be enough in ounces of water to sufffice. Water is the under rated fat-loss tool.

If you'll excuse me now, I'm off to refill my glass.

Hi Chicks!

Back OP this week after living thru the Week From Heck last week with DH hospitalized . . . all is well now . . . wondering how I figured binge-eating/carb loading helped the medical crisis?

*dusting my bloated, crabby, sluggish body off*

Gonna weigh-in tonight to calculate the damages! Thanking God that DH is back home and back to his ole self - hoping to learn from this experience!

Will be back in the Wee Hours to catch up with everyone's news . . . ttyal!

December 2006 017.jpg

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please no comments on the YOUNG version of Santa, He had the HO HO HO down pretty well!!!:

Robin, Thats exactly what I have heard and why I drink so much water (or at least aim too!)

Aud, I am glad all is well now!! take care and get back OP!!

Aud- good for you for being right back on plan! Hope DH is feeling better, sorry to hear he had to be in the hospital. At least tell me the nurses were nice and that he got good care

Jen-love the Santa pics with the kids!! OMG your little boy is getting so big! He even looks different from the last pics you posted. It goes so fast. Your little redhead is going to be a heartbreaker too. Now if I can just figure out how to post pictures here....hm.

Oh and we actually have 34 members, one just joined today.

My own DH came home from work early today with a tummy ache. It is really going around. Thank goodness I have to work so I don't catch anything. LOL

Be good tonight girls, remember Santa is watching you!

Had an aweful week and i didnt loose a pound. I havent for at least 4 months and im starting to get really upset. I kind of faultered over the weekend. I was in the big xmas play thing at my church but i was only in two scenes so me and all the other people in my two scenes (we were angels ) hung out in the back. And of course everyone brought food. It was sooo tempting and though i did eat some im actually proud of myself cuz i had a little bit and then was done.

If anyone has any idea of why im stuck at this platuea that would be great. I had blood work a week ago and everythings fine there. Ive posted a little about this before but im getting desperate for some answers.
TOM hasnt been around since february, and i gained 35 pounds in less than a year. Now im stuck at 150 and no matter what i cant get past it. Im going to have an MRI in Jan, or Feb but if anyone has any ideas that would be great!

But yeah, so i havent lost any weight but i havent gained so im thankful for that. Hope everyone else is doing good!

100percent? what kind of plan are you following?? What types of exercise?? (sorry if you have posted it before, I am a lame brain today)


Michele if you hit the post reply button (not the quick reply) there is a paperclip symbol if you click on that then you can browse your computer for pics. (there is a size limit, so you may have to resize). then go back to your post, hit that paperclip symbol again and it will show you the attatchments you have just uploaded. Then click on it, then hit post reply, it should work.

Hi everyone - popping in to say hello. I had a difficult weekend food-wise too, Suz. Saturday night, I went to my favorite neighborhood restaurant thinking that I would get one of their fish dishes, which is what I typically order. But, they had a special pasta dish that I could not resist. It had a spicy duck, lamb and tomato sauce on it that was soooooo yummy. At least I didn't eat the entire entree - but that just means the leftover portion is waiting for me in the fridge! Sunday I took my niece to see the Nutcracker and then took her out to dinner, so that was another meal out where I over-indulged a bit. So, I made darned sure to get myself out today for a run - it was a bit rainy here in Chicago, but the thought of the calories consumed during the past 48 hours was enough motivation to get me moving.

Robin, congrats on your fabulous success - two consecutive 5 pound weeks is phenomenal, especially given the holiday season. Next time I eat out, I'll think of you as inspiration and maybe I will be able to resist the call of pasta.