Welcome aboard!
So...how many cats do you have? X

Hi Koshinogi,

I currently have two kittes: Angel and Lilly Bean! Angel is 3 and Lilly Bean is 11. I would like to have more but my boyfriend said two is enough for now.

How many do you have?

Brittany

I joined under the 100lb club but hope it's okay if I chat here. It seems more active.
Koshi- congrats on going to nursing school. I'm a trauma icu nurse and though nursing is not an easy job, it is truely a job that is the hardest job you will ever love. If you ever need help or need to chat I'm here.

I have gained a lot of weight this week and will probably gain more before I can get back on my regular routine on Sunday.

My Mom went into the hospital last week with a very bad infection she contracted during a surgery two weeks earlier. She continued to get worse each day and passed away on Thursday morning.

Between eating on the run when driving to and from the hospital each day a state away, eating in restaurants, many meals with my family from homemade food given by loving family friends and eating sweets because of my grief I've gained a lot. Because I've spent every moment with my family I also haven't been able to exercise.

My mother would not want me to gain back the weight that I have worked so hard and so long to lose. My brothers and their families that live out of state will be leaving on Friday. On Sunday I will be back to working hard to lose what I have regained and finish losing the remaining weight. I know I will have times that the grief will be overwhelming and I will stumble and fall, but I will finish this. <3

Jesslan Rose - so sorry to hear about your mother. My heartfelt sympathy, hugs and prayers for you and your family.

I lost my mother to cancer June of 2013. I know the difficulties of hospital visits and trying to grab a bite to eat. We drove everyday about 100 miles round trip to see my mom in her final weeks when she was in hospice care at my uncle's house. Very draining to say the least.

That's great you want to honor your mom's memory and keep on your plan. Best wishes for you!

Hey Catlady - I have 2 full time cats and 3 part time cats...two live with my family and are Mephit and Cyril both aged 13. I have a cat that I had to leave at my mums when I moved out 14 years ago and she wouldn't allow me to take her with me (kinda thankful cause she is wicked) She has 3 legs and only half a tail, I hand reared her after her mums owner decided to terminate the pregnancy and when we took out the uterus all the kittens were ready to be born in a few days so we looked after them as we couldn't euthanase them. we have 2 other rescues that reside with my mum too.

Equinechick - Welcome to this board and Awsome to meet a fellow nurse! I bet trauma is hard work but exciting! I know from some of my placements how hard they are and Nurses are so undervalued.

Jesslan Rose - So sorry for your loss, my thoughts are with you and we are all here for you even to just get out anything you need too, /hugs

Hey guys!

I just joined Class Pass and I'm taking lots of different classes to try and find a workout I love. So far I've been to CorePower yoga, which is basically hot yoga. It felt great even though I was the worse one there! That didn't put me off, I have a long way to go and yoga is so good for you. I'm trying a barre class tomorrow, so I can eat loads without feeling guilty! Still holding strong at 163 lbs, so hoping all this exercise kick starts a downward trend on the scale soon.

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MumofMany & Catlady - Welcome to the challenge!!

katiam - Wow, that's so great to hear! I bet your body is so relieved to be 50 lbs lighter. My back used to give me a lot of trouble and still does when I'm inactive for a long time. Now I can do most things without it hurting as much. Weight loss is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves, it really does improve life in general.

Koshi - Mmm, I miss British pubs! I'm a sucker for pub grub. Sounds like you had an amazing time!

Minerva - Sorry to hear you're getting sick! In regards to your motivation, what's your plan overall? What's your workout plan and your food plan? I can offer some friendly advice to try and help if you want

equine - Absolutely, feel free to chat wherever you want.

Jesslan - I'm sending huge, huge hugs over to you. You are a fighter, I truly admire your spirit and your determination. What an inspiration. You're absolutely right, do all you can to honor your Mum's memory and to make her proud. Even though it might seem like the hardest thing to do, she'll want you to smile and be happy. We're all cheering for you!!

Sounds like a fun challenge. I just joined. Good luck everyone.

Hi all!

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful one!
Mine was pretty good despite being ill. I was surrounded by my friends and family, and the food was super yummy. I didn't worry overly much about eating too much because 1) I have learned to listen to my body and stop when I am full, and 2) I gave myself some leniency since it is a holiday. In the end, I only gained 6 ounces, so I think I did well.
I still have some lingering symptoms of my cold, but I think I am almost over it. Despite tomorrow being Monday (back to work for me), I am feeling good. I had a bunch of days off for Thanksgiving (I work with children so I get days off sometimes when they do), and I was able to read three books during these few days. I'm a bit obsessive when I am reading; I love books!
Anyways, I am rambling now...here is to a terrific week for everyone!

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Jesslan: I am terribly sorry to hear about your mother. While it is different for everyone, I lost my father about 6 years ago, so I know what it feels like to lose a parent. If you ever need to talk, I am here!

flower1: Welcome and good luck to you too!

Riestrella: Food-wise, the only plan I have had has been to learn how to control the amount of food I eat. I have been able to do that by calorie counting and willpower. It has worked and since I now how much food I want to be consuming, I am not strict with keeping a diary of my food. Exercise is much trickier because I can't seem to maintain any willpower in that regard. I have been trying to find what would work best for me, but I keep giving upon them. I enjoy going to the gym, but its getting there is causing the problem. I think I need to just decide it is what I am doing, like I did with food.
How did your barre class go?

Kat - Thank you for your hugs and prayers for my family! <3 I am so sorry you lost your Mom too. *hugs* I find myself wondering if we will over be able to live with such a huge loss to our lives.

Somehow I think my Mom would find a way to haunt me if I ever gained the weight back, but most of all she would be very sad if I did. So I will honor her memory and finish it for us both. <3

Koshinogi - Thank you for your prayers! <3

Riestrella - Thank you so much for the hugs and your encouragement!

Minerva Moo - Thank you! And thank you for your offer too!! That means a lot to me.

Update: My brothers arrived back at their homes last Friday night. I originally thought I would want to take Saturday (my first day alone in weeks) to eat my way through some of my emotions as I'm very much an emotional eater, but when Saturday arrived I found I was sick of eating sweets, junk food, etc and decided to begin working towards my goal again right away. Luckily I have lost a ton of water weight. I think there is a small possibility I might still make my Christmas goal. If I don't make it or stumble several times between now and then that's okay. The next few months without my Mom will be the hardest I've had to endure since my Husband passed away.

Hi guys!

Just a note: please remember that this challenge is the hardest challenge of the year!! Don't be dissuaded from a healthy lifestyle if you aren't losing, it's HARD this time of year. We've been through halloween candy, Thanksgiving and now the Christmas season is upon us. Don't get down on yourself if you don't lose or if you gain, it's ok!! Try your best and that's all you can do, right? We got this, we're awesome. Go team awesome!!

I'm really enjoying Class pass!

I went to a Soul Sweat dance class and it was awesome! At first it was really slow and I thought "oh no, is it going to be like this all the way through?" but it really picked up and it was really tough! I worked up a nice sweat. I'll definitely go back, the studio was so pretty too - fairy lights, lanterns and Eastern style parasols everywhere! The music was a good blend of modern music and world music too.
On Monday I went to a Athletic Intervals class, it was the weakest class I've been to so far but it was still super tough. The instructor was quite young and it looked like she was just doing the workout with us rather than instructing us and offering corrections. It was a super small class too, which is why it's no longer going to be on the schedule, so I though it would be a good personal trainer session but it wasn't. Again - still worked up a sweat and it was tough!

Today I've got a Yin Yoga class because I wanted to give it a try, apparently it's more traditional yoga where you hold the poses for a lot longer. I have a feeling I might not like it that much since I'm pretty weak so I like to hold my poses for as little time as possible! We'll see. I also have another Barre class booked, another Soul Sweat dance class booked and I just booked a cardio/pilates "blast" at a new studio. So far, I'm loving Class Pass!

While my fitness is definitely UP my food intake is NOT! I think it's probably a combination of Thanksgiving break (since the BF has had a 6 day break and I strangely get more snacky around him) and maybe hormones raging since my period is next week. But I've not been eating that great. Need to definitely have a cleanse and detox a little from all the carbs I've been eating! My weight has gone up to 165/164 lbs in the last couple of days so I really need to get that down. Usually when I just start working out consistently my weight goes up surprisingly, but after a couple of weeks I'll see a big drop before losing regularly again. So I know I'm in a strange limbo period, I just have to make sure that I'm good with food too. I think I'll go back to my food servings plan that I saw so much success with (4 lbs lost in a week!) previously and move forward from there. Water intake has been lacking too.

Weight loss is all about fine tuning your lifestyle isn't it? When one area is great the other can slip. I'll get there! I know I can. I keep catching myself in mirrors and seeing this god awful double chin, I desperately want to be rid of that forever!!

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Minerva - Congrats on listening to your body!! That's definitely a huge key factor to weight loss, it's surprising how slowly down when you eat can make you realise that you really don't need as much as you think. My Mum used to get all angry at us as kids when we didn't finish everything on the plate, so I had this left over mentality to food that I had to finish it all no matter how full I was. It's a habit I'm still trying to break.
It's tough finding an exercise you like. But even a simple brisk walk is better than nothing. What have you tried so far? Barre class was super hard!! But I liked it. My core was so weak that my belly would shake like crazy, how embarrassing!

Jesslan - Wow, I'm not sure what to say to you. I can't believe how much you've gone through in your life. I simply can't imagine how much hardship you've endured. Your attitude and your strength is so inspiring, I really admire you. That's so awesome that you decided to just get right back on track when most of us would crumble, you are incredible! Also, please know that you can adjust your goal weight!