i was just thinking the same thing, amy! kinda makes me sad, we need more people posting! c'mon guys, at least check in once a day!

Hi Everybody. Haven't posted here for a while so thought I'l pop in.

Jillian - Baby X is a doll!! So glad you got some sleep. Maybe this will be a new trend with her and she'll do it more than one night.

Kristen - Congrats on the engagement.

Nicole - I love the post from Twitter. It sort of puts things into a better perspective doesn't it.

Dan - Snap out of it!!

For those I've missed, I'm sorry. I'll try to post here a little more often. Have a good Tuesday everyone.

Amy, I suppose it is slow. I'm motivated to try to shape up and look good for summer though (and my 30 year high school reunion which is in 2 weeks)

Jillian, How wonderful that you got to sleep and exercise and even shower!

Nicole, I do think we have a lot more control over our own personal happiness than we think we do. Often we decide to dwell on past hurts or disappointments instead of putting them aside and embracing the joy of the here and now. Here and now the sun is shining, I'm healthy, and have more food than I really need to eat, a soft bed to sleep in and the company of many lovely people to entertain and amuse me. Life is good.

I just can't wait to exercise again! Being injured is soooo boring! That combined with the constant cloud and rain here is making me sad!
But...still on plan! Hoping for a good loss this week!
Then I am taking Friday off...getting some industrial size garbage bag and just going through my house throwing stuff out! I can't wait!

Well yesterday I stuck to my plan. I didn't get my walk in but at least I ate right and got all my water in. I feel really good today. I brought lots of fruit and veggies to work today for snacks and they seem to hit the spot. I think I am going to try really hard to stick to my food plan this week.

Barbara- Wow a 30 yr reunion sounds like fun. I had a 10 year and then nobody planned a 20 year so I guess nobody will plan a 30 year either. I hope you have fun.

Jillian- Good to hear you got some extra sleep in. hoorah!!

Nicole- Thanks for the twitter. It's easy to get busy and let so many things make a persons day unhappy. Last week when I was at Starbucks, I was given a little pop up card. They were handing them out to everyone. Mine said: Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" I really hit me that day because I was so mad at some of my employees. Anyways it's good to have little reminders sometimes.

Kristin- How long till you are going to be better? Hopefully you will be better for the summer so you can enjoy some outdoor activity. In the meantime, I bet your looking thru bridal magazines eh!

Okay I have to run, talk to you all soon. Sorry to those I missed.

Joan

good morning all. well, i got up at 5am again to workout. yay me! the scale isn't budging, but i'm trying not to focus on that. i'm journaling, eating well, drinking all my water and then some and now exercising. the scale will come. my main concern is getting back into my "bigger" jeans that i never got rid of (i'm thanking myself for that now!) so that's it.

baby X slept from midnight to 5am, so that's good too. it's storming again this morning and is going to be another warm and humid day.

be back later! hope everyone is having a good week.


and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KATIE!!!

That does sound yummy with the ground turkey and stewed tomatoes! And yes, the stewed tomatoes are fine -- if my carb count is a bit high for the day I may substitute diced tomatoes because they're slightly lower, but overall I have no problem with the stewed tomatoes. How I am doing my plan is mainly I'm cutting out wheat and sugar. I have some full fat dairy, but not a lot of it. I have meat (usually grilled, or sometimes browned then cooked in the pressure cooker), but not excessive amounts of it. And I eat a lot of vegetables! I am in love with grilled cauliflower, and I frequently snack on raw zucchini slices. Raw pepper strips are also a favorite. And, of course, the eternal nod to garden salads. Breakfast is usually bacon and eggs, or sausage patties and eggs, and I don't get hungry like I used to. I also have some coconut oil in my coffee. So far, so good

One of the more challenging things for me is getting past a sugar craving -- a lot of people watching their carbs will substitute Splenda for sugar, but I can't because I'm allergic to Splenda (and even if I wasn't I'm not sure I'd want to put that stuff in my body). So the solution so far is to fix myself a "rootbeer float" -- that's a couple TBSP of heavy cream in a glass topped with diet rootbeer. Does the trick for me, although I'm not too keen on the aspartame in the diet soda and, as a result, I limit these treats. Eventually I will replace that with lower carb fruits such as berries, cantaloupe and grapefruit.

I also drink lots of water (in the neighborhood of 150 to 200 oz. daily).

I was doing so good till after work last night. The neighbors asked me to come hang out and have a few beers...and seeing as we are somewhat newbies in town and don't know many people I felt I should go be social...and a few beer turned into 5 or 6 I think...and not even light beer! The scale still showed a small loss today from yesterday but I'm sure I'll pay for the splurge.

Oh well, back on track today...and at least after the beer I didn't snack! Just off to bed I went!

Suzanne - 200 oz of water??? DANG! I pat myself on the back when I can get in 64 oz, and I feel ok about myself when I can get 32 oz in! 200 oz, I might need one of those bag thingies so that I wouldn't wear a path to the restroom!

We went to a funeral yesterday and that was so draining! I was exhausted, and still am, but will still be doing spin class at noon - hopefully it perks me up some.

I started drinking protein shakes for breakfast and have an idea that maybe my DH will like them and I can make them for him for dinner... he gets home really late and really shouldn't be eating when he gets home because I know he's eaten plenty during the day, but its just a habit for him. If I don't cook for him, he will rummage through the cabinets and end up doing more harm than if I just make him a darn salad so that he doesn't rummage. Dan – I know if you are reading you are saying “don’t have bad stuff in the cabinets”, but I really don’t have bad stuff, I just think it’s really unhealthy for him to eat a sandwich and then popcorn, and then ice cream (no matter how low-fat it is), and then eat whatever leftovers the kids didn’t eat! Sometimes I feel as if he thinks he’s starving!!!

Have you tried Stevia as a sweetener? It is an herb, you can even buy it organically. I grew a bunch last summer, and just crush a half of a leaf and add to tea. You can buy it in a powder or liquid. I like it, and have not ever had a reaction to it.

Just a side note about Splenda, I went to a health conference about 18
months ago, and went to the class of a chemist who was talking about toxins
in food. He said that splenda is only one molecule away from being chlorine. That is when I broke up with splenda, LOL.

Hey guys!

Katie- Happy Birthday!!!

Laurie- hello again!!

Barbara- have fun at your reunion! There's no way I am ever going to mine. HS is SOOO over for me!!

Kristin- hang in there! THe weather has GOT to get better! It was miserable for about 2 weeks here in VA,and it's been gorgeous all this week. Hope your ankle is healing well!

Joan- good job with being OP! And kudos to you for packing healthy snacks!

Jillian- congrats on your workout and being OP! THe scale will move!!

Suzanne- good luck with your new plan! And with all that WATER!!!


Well, any of you guys watch Ruby on the Style network? If not, it's really uplifting! It's about a woman who was once over 700lbs, started this weightloss challenge at 477, and has lost over 100lbs. She's soooo sweet too. THe second season airs July 5th.

Anyways,my point is on the wrap up of season One, they showed a motivational tool that I LOVE! She has two glass vases, one with tons of pretty little rocks in, and the other empty. She takes one rock for every pound she loses and puts it into the empty one. I stole that idea and can't wait to implement it.

I went to Michael's and got pretty rocks and two square clear vases. I will upload a picture, but it's super motivating! It's a VISUAL and is good for days we fall off the wagon or just want to see our progress.

Have a great night gusy!!

Wow, I love that idea!

awesome idea, amy! if i knew that the kids would leave it alone, i'd definitely do it!

Ugh, my scale is not moving. But to be fair, I can't exercise and I am trying to quit smoking...I've cut down a lot and this weekend I am done! Friggin waste of money and making me feel like crap all the time. And this time around DF is quitting too so should be much easier if we both do! I wish I could exercise at least to help me get through the quitting...so boring....so tommorrow I am gonna keep busy with some cleaning...major cleaning!