Hi Girls! Hope you are all doing well today. I've been op today too. I haven't hit the exercise part yet. I'm wanting to wait til January 4th for that to kick off my part in the Biggest Loser Contest. I went shopping today too, after I had coffee with my dad. It was good to see him, but always depressing. Long story that I don't really want to go into except to say he's 84 years old. So, it was hard to go shopping. But I behaved. I didn't get any candy like reese's cup and I passed the donuts and the sweet junk from the bakery that's on the reduced price display. For me, that's a nsv even on a good day.

Sharon, Are you feeling better by now? I sure hope so.

to all!

I think you may be on to something with the "perfectionist" theme. It's so easy to feel like a failure if I don't get something totally right. I've far more forgiving of other people sometimes, than I am of myself. Also, it might explain one of hte reasons why going hard-core strict on SBD is a better plan for me than 'modifying' it, which has never been successful.

Debbie- I'm psyched about the BL thing. I'm already down 7 pounds since the Christmas stuffing, and figure my competitive first-week edge is shot, but who cares? However, I haven't started an exercise program yet, mostly because I'm so flamin' TIRED both at the start and end of the day. I figure I'm going to start bench pressing all those lame excuses for starters, and that will be the beginning of my exercise program. (Sandy- What's this, great minds thinking alike? ) But seriously, I know when I start excercising, everything will be better.

Day 3 of Hardcore SBD, challenges so far:
Box of Chocolates received as gift. Solution, Gave them away faster than a HOT potato.
Grilled garlic flatbread that arrived on my salad. Solution, trip to the ladies room garbage can.
Worked thru lunch & boss bought pizza. Solution, said thank you very much... and ate my salad anyway.

Food today:
Pork chop for breakfast
Salad for lunch
Western Omelette for dinner... hmmm, something funny here.

Best wishes for success and the joy that comes with it, Chickees!

Val Your journal entry reached the very depths of my soul. You have such great courage to post it. You are a woman of great valor. I'm sure I can say for all of us, "We're here to do it with you,"

With great affection,

Sandy

My ears were burning. Someone was talking about perfectionists. I think you will find a lot of them around here. How many times have I stopped dieting because I couldn't do it perfectly, or had one small slip. Just being able to stay here, even without losing any weight in a long time, is a huge change for me.

Valerie, hmmm... I think a lot of us have been there, me especially, including a broken ankle (my 'mounting' one too!!!). I hope we can all beat the food/booze/mood swing demons TOGETHER.xxxxxxxxx ps Give Gabe a sloppy kiss for me.
Sandy, so good to see you posting here again, 2009 will be the year to get jobs, lose weight and help each other get them any way we can. Thanks, I'm getting better but still keep feeling weak & tired, TOM arriving at the same time hasn't helped!!lol xxxxxxxxxxxx
Beth, where are you? Hope you are looking after your mum, lol. Tell her I LOVE those Pandora bracelets but has she seen the price of them and charms for them?? CRAZY prices, Daren needn't worry about me buying her any, I'd need a loan to buy just ONE!!!xxxxxxxx
Zelma, hope you're enjoying your holiday with hubby & feeling better/getting well.xxxxx
Carol, have a great New Year, Debbie, Debi too & anyone else I forgot, got no time as I'm baking 'nibbles' for a buffet this afternoon & must not burn them!!!!
xxxxxxsharon

Val _ you really touched me too!! Hugs and im so proud of you for posting it. I am also so happy you are back to putting yourself first. I feel kinda selfish at time ....but its finally time for ME!! I spent years taking care of my family and putting them and hubby first.

My scales are back to .6 up from my lowest. I think its amazing how much better i feel with eating right for just a few days and daily exercise. How had i let myself slide backwards so easily?? I think my biggest downfall the past few weeks had been lack of daily exercise.
Im heading out to start looking for a dress for daughters wedding. Havent a clue what size to even try at first...guess i will take a few sizes and see which one fits. Wish me luck!!!!

hugs and drink that water!!

Val: I am glad you found and posted that entry in your journal!!!

Today should be a short day at work. Maybe get to leave at noon! Yeah. Tomoroow if it does not rain, I told hubby we are going out hiking somewhere. I would love to go to this place call the whole in the rock. Basically you can climb the back and see the whole valley! I think they say it was carved out by water in the early years lol. You can fit about 100 people in it. They have put rail road ties up the back of the montain now for better footing. I know I will be huffing and puffing, but I really wanna try. If it is raining then game time we shall have.

Yesterday while watching the news..my learned the Denver Broncos fired long time coach Mike Shanahan!!!! We are big time Broncos fans and was in shock!! Don't know what is going to happen..lol..I know off topic but I was seriously floored.

ok going off to work..toodles ladies

Cyn, You'll probably find there are a lot of sports fans here. DH & I follow football and baseball closely. We were both shocked last night when he read OUT LOUD from nfl.com. They'll be sorry for it. We've always liked him too. (even though we're die hard NY Giants people) It's just a shame.

Dgramie Have a good time shopping for a dress for your daughter's wedding. It'll be a blast cuz you'll get to wear smaller you couldn't before. That'll motivate you to keep on going! I had dropped 2 sizes in 9 months from my daughter's wedding to my son's wedding when I first came here. My dsd is getting married next May and I can't wait to see what size I'll be then. Good luck and have a wonderful time. If you drink coffee or tea, stop at a cute little cafe for that a coffee or tea as a treat after you have your dress or between shops and stores. Is your daughter going with you?? Either way, I'm excited for you.

Sharon, Hang tough there girl! Hope you have a wonderful New Year too. If you drink tonight, be sure to have a glass of water between each drink. You'll feel better for it tomorrow.

GOOD NEWS! I will be able to draw unemployment while I look for a new job. I found out on line late last night and I am so relieved. It's not a lot, but it's a heck of a lot better than NOTHING!

I know it's only around noon here, but so far so good today being op. I'm saving up for tonight. I'm making salad with buffalo shrimp for a late lunch. I found a 1 pound bag of shrimp for $4 at Aldi's yesterday. I have home made buffalo wing sauce already made. Then DH is going to go out and rent a new to us movie. I'm making sweet and spicy home made meatballs, serving it with brown rice and steamed broccoli. I used to make my meatball sauce with jelled cranberry sauce and chili sauce ....until I looked at the ingredients. Now, I make my own sugar free cranberry sauce and will make my own chili sauce. I bought a can of organic tomato paste so I could get just plain tomato. I'm gonna add a little splenda, minced garlic, onion powder and pepper. I'll heat that and the cranberry sauce together and add it to my already baked home made meatballs and warm it all up. I'm gonna mix the broccoli with the rice, but it on the bottom of a serving platter and place my mini meatballs with cute little tooth picks. On another platter I'll do basic celery and carrots with a little salt and pepper sprinkled on top. Fortunately, we no longer like dip with our veggies. DD has a sugar free bubbly strawberry soda for midnight and we have one bottle of champagne. Remember, that's about 2 bottles of champagne and other alcohol less than past New Year's Eve celebrations.

I've got to start moving around here today. I never got my aprons or laundry finished. I'll check back in later today if I get the chance.

Hi gang,

A quick swing by. Need to go to the store to get some things for tonight, and need to clean some. And I need to get the last 25 minutes of exercise in to hit my 1000 minutes exercise. I wanted to say....I am back at my preholiday weight. It makes me prehappy to know it took about a week to get back, and several of those days were not good eating days. I feel back in the groove (although we are indulging for dinne a bit....we are having 5oz ribeye steaks, twice baked potatoes (from the Cooking Light magazine), and chocolate fondue for dipping strawberries). Yummo!!! And I think we are making mimosas with our champagne. That means I need to be very diligent the rest of the day to ensure I don't go over calories. If I am able to stay at the weight I am at today, I will have lost 7 pounds in December, even with the eating challenges. I am very happy with that!

Off to be a good kid. I think!

Happy New Year all. I look forward to us all being successful in 2009.
Angie

Morning all.

Happy New Year!!!

Carol: Drinking my water, moving my body and smiling. Hugs

Debi: Are you sure you want to buy the dress right now? I bet you will be smaller by your daughter's wedding hon. If you can sew though I guess you can alter it now problem. Have fun.

Cyn: I like Shanahan but not a Broncos fan. Why, cause I'm a die hard Raiders fan. lol. But I do like him and remember when he coached for the Raiders. He is a good man. Have fun on your hike.

Ally: I'm impressed. Tae Bo is harrrrrd.

Jacquie: Hope your skin gets feeling better soon.

Purple: Why can't Rizzie go for the long walks with your DH? Is it cause of his arthritus? Happy New year sweetie.

Jeanne: Hi doll. Hope to see you back soon.

Debbie: I think most overweight/obese people especially women are perfectionists. It is funny because I brought that up last night at my meeting and they all agreed, the women that is. Have fun making the beads. Be careful with all the snow we are supposed to be getting soon.

Toni: Hi and hugs.

Sandy: Great NSV's and congrats on getting the unemployment.

Val: Woo hoo for day 3 op. Thanks for sharing your journal. I had something similar to that in mine in Dec. 2006. Congrats on getting back under 300!

Catherine: I am soooo happy that you stay here no matter what you weigh cause we love you!

Last night at my weight loss group support meeting, we had a quest speaker , the nurse who most of us see when we go into check ups etc. She had WLS about 5 years ago, and she said something I know and have heard but last night it just stuck.

She was telling us about a lady, no names mentioned, that doesn't come to the support meetings and when she comes into the check ups they did a body fat measuring on her in the Bod Pod, for those of you who don't know: it is a wonderful machine, I've done it myself and it narrows down how much of your body is fat percent, muscle, bones, skin etc. Any way, she is within the range of perfect weight for her heigth on the BMI chart and she is more than 50% body fat! I was shocked that someone could have that percentage and be in the right weight range. I asked, "Doesn't she care that she is unhealthy?" The nurse told us she does care but not enough to do something about it.

That stuck home with me. We talked about how we are in charge of our own health. There are no rules that say you can't eat this or that or that you have to exercise a certain amount of time but, if it is important to you then you will do those things. That really struck me and I am going to try to cling to that daily. To remember that I am in charge of my success. It will be hard going and there will be days that I want to give in and give up and maybe days that I do but as long as I can remember I'm in charge then, I can climb back on that wagon any ole time.

Okay since it is the last day of 2008 I have to mention some names that I have been missing: Ratkitten, Battleax, Julecee, Ammi, Beth, Becca, Brenda, Jeanne, Bernice to name the list that is growing. I miss you guys and if you are lurking please pop in and say hello. If I didn't mention you by name and you are missing, please don't think it is a slight. Just a brain slip on my part.

I pray that you all have a safe and very happy New Year.

May God Bless you with Peace, prosperity, Hope, health and love in 2009.

Blessings,
Annie

Angie, Hugs and happy new year sweetie. Have a great night!
Blessings,
Annie

Hope everyone has a Happy and Healthy 2009! I am so happy the holiday's are coming to a end!! Although I had a good weight loss of 4 1/4lb. this week it was so hard with all those tempting goodies. I know I tasted a few to many more than I should have so I was very surprised at the scale today. Here is to a new Happy and Healthy us in 2009.

Annie,
Hugs right back at ya! Is your back better? I hope so.
Erinkman,
Great job on the loss this week!!! I am having a 4th good op day in a row, a first for a while now. The new number at the top of my page is helping.
Everyone Else,
Have a safe and happy new year! Tomorrow is a new day, new year, new chance for health and life.
Toni

on size 16 jeans Dgramie! That's awesome!!