Happy Monday, back to work and what a short weekend. went by so fast.
got a good workout yesterday, we went to the rifle range yesterday to target shoot. Had my target at the 200 yard mark, so every time we had a seize fire
I went out to check it and they don't give you a lot of time so I practacally had to run out there over hills and mounds in dirt and rock.
Every time I got back I was out of breath and heart all pounding. It was loads of fun. didn't really go off the diet too much. Ate lots of arttichokes "they were on sale" and the only time I was kinda bad was at the Mexican Restraint I had a free taco and a huge Hefeneweizer micro brew but it was fun.
so anyway, back to work and hard hitting the diet.
so I made me a bunch of soup to bring into work for my breakfast.
this one is called, the famous Partytime diet chili with zucchini and lots of stewed tomatos. Its spicy and filling yet low cal..
Oh, and I also got myself a huge bottle of Flex Sead oil gel tabs and I eat one or two of them a day. They are good for you.

Good morning! I'm hoping you gals have room for another newbie in your group. In 2001 I belonged to a support group on this site, and since then have added an average of 5 lbs/year. Enough is enough. I am going to lose it all!

My name is Jen, but I see there already is a Jen, so I guess you can call me Joy (middle name). I'm 30 y/o, 5'9", not exactly sure of my weight today, bounces around between 150-155. My goal is 140. Although that is not alot of weight to lose, I am having a terrible time getting motivated and sticking to it. If I don't lose weight soon, none of my clothes will fit. Most fit best when I'm 140-145. I can't afford to buy a whole new wardrobe, let alone do I want to because of 10 stinking lbs!

My goals for this week:
1. Journal what I eat. I tend to binge in the evening after work.
2. Walk, walk, walk. Weather permitting, 7 days outside.
3. Stair stepper inside if it's raining in the evening.
4. Lift weights 3 days this week.

OK, now that it's in writing, I HAVE to do it!

The best thing in a long time...

Oh, yes. That's right. My size 11 pants, which I LIVED in back in 2000... now fit me. So that is my massive happiness for the week. My new goal is to be able to wear these in public at the end of April. That's about 1 size drop, and it's totally doable. SCORE! Old clothes that I love!! SWEET!!!

Granted, they may look horrible because they're way too tight, and my butt is way too big for them... THEY FIT!!!!! No prying the zipper up, my legs have a little room to breathe, and I AM SO FREAKING HAPPY I COULD SPIT!!! !!!!

Other than that... this weekend's food sucked, but that's okay because most of my calories from yesterday didn't stick around long enough to be absorbed. Yeah... gotta love IBS. *gag*

I woke up at the unhumanly hour of 7:30 today, which is a good 3 hrs before my normal waking time... ARGH. And why did I do this? Becuase I drank those two darn bottles of water before I went to sleep last night! AGH!! I swear, my body just can't settle back down after being awake for the tiniest amount of time. Drives me mad.

So, I've done half of my workout so far, and oh, man. My arms are jello. I switched from 1-lb freeweights up to a pair of 3-lb. weights on Friday. Sure, they had the weekend to rest. Now, my arms could fall off & I'd be cool with that. :P I hope I can pick up the cream of wheat packet and tear it open.

Already done with one bottle of water, and I've got 3 to go!!

Food today:

B - Cream of wheat & 1 sliced tomato & 1 bottle of water (plus vitamins)
L - Chicken noodle soup w/ a slice of toast (with raspberry jam on it)
D - Chicken pesto (homemade this time!) w/ salad

After-dinner snack: 1 bag popcorn (fresh made today!)

Workout today:

6 min stepper (on higher resistance and with 3 lb weights -- i was worn out at 2 minutes!)
500 situps (if I can handle 'em. I did 300 Saturday and 200 yesterday. OWWWW)
20 min on the bike
Light cleaning around the house - vacuum, dishes, laundry, etc. Mop floors, too. Icky!

Other than that... what an easy day I've only got 4 tapes, and I have a great day planned out for myself. I know, the chicken noodle soup for lunch isn't the best, but my stomach is really unsettled. Thus the uber-bland food today. I need to let my poor tummy rest itself for awhile before bombarding it with tons of veggies again.

-- Okay, now for the Easter Challenge part. My hands are sore so I just pasted from my normal journal. Bad Jess, I know.

Okay, so... I forgot to note above, we went on a long walk yesterday with the dog, and it was awesome. She saw some of the young salmon flipping around in the pond part of the creek, and she freaked out. They were sunning themselves (not a lot of people know that about 'em -- they like to jump at the top and get warm in the sun. Weird little fishies!), and Josie (the dog) just had to go swimming. It was SO CUTE!!! I wish I'd had a camera. She swam around for a few minutes, then ended up pulling my husband IN the pond with her, and it was just hilarious. His right leg was soaked up to his knee, and we just laughed all the way back to the apartment. I love that dog.

Today... yeah. My stomach is super upset and I was up part of last night in the bathroom (woohoo, fun times.... YEAH, RIGHT.), and ended up staying up until 2, and then still couldn't fall asleep. When I get sick, I get really dehydrated and then fatigued. So, last night, I drank 2 bottles of water before I went to bed, which helped a lot. I'm still icky feeling, but that's okay. I'm keeping the food healthy today, keeping the workout up, and taking it a little easier on myself. My diet is more carb-heavy today than normal, but if I went for veggies & meats today, I'd be sick as a dog.

Ok, sorry the post is so long. I'm just excited and happy and hyper!! YAY!! MONDAY!!! (What the **** is wrong with me?!)

Hope you guys are all having an awesome start to the week!! Keep it positive, chickies, and when you feel the need for cheesecake, chew gum instead. Man, that gum saves my life!!

Dolphin/Joy: Welcome! There is always room for a new chickie here- especially as the weight comes off, we can pack more in here, right? Make yourself at home- I can't say it enough- our chickies here are wonderful!

Chickies!

Lucy- Kick butt girl, with those pants. I'd have worn them all day, stopping to look about 100 times. As it is, I'm making my hubby nuts with "Babe- feel this..." everwhere there's a new hollow, or you can feel bone...I'm such a dork with that, though. If your arms hurt too much to open that packet, you can always chew through the envelope for some added fiber

Jennifer - Hehe! Well.. they don't really stay over my butt if I sit down. Soo... I'll give it another week or two before I cram my butt into 'em again. Haha!! The packet opened for me... just barely. Unzipping the brown sugar was harder

Soo... I wanted a bagel this morning, AFTER I'd eaten my cream of wheat. So I toasted one and put some fake butter goo on it, and I took a couple bits, and spit it out when I saw some weird, undentified black object inside the middle of it. I don't think it was a bug, but I'm okay not knowing. My dog ate it instead. So... 1 bite of bagel extra today. *G* Could have been the whole bagel!! Yay for the weird black thingey!!

I didn't get to do much on my bike... maybe 11 minutes. The pedal that is falling off is not... um... functioning well. I tried, though, I did. I can't WAIT until I get paid on the 15th to get my new exercise machine!! I don't know if I can actually handle a month without any freaking equipment.

Also... after much debate and much reasoning (see actual journal entry for the details & long story), I am going on my OWN lo-carb diet. Not NO carb, because I'd pass out like I did before. So screw that, to be blunt.

I'm allowing myself 1 of 3 choices in the morning, at lunch, and for dinner (After the first 2 weeks), I can have 1/2 cup of pasta (cooked), or half of a potato serving. And that's IT. As I keep losing, I'll up what I'm allowed to have in the carbs at dinner, but not before it. And I'm allowing popcorn in my diet, because I have no nexium and lots of heartburn, and it kills the heartburn. So the popcorn stays!! *Stomps feet*

In other news... Seattle weather, make up your stupid mind!! Either BE 80 and sunny, or BE 55 and rainy!! JUST PICK ONE!!! For pete's sake, I can't keep going 80 and sunny, to rainy and 55, then back to 80 the next day!! It's silly, and I won't stand for it any longer. (I guess that means move, huh? haha!)

Anyway, I hope you guys are having an awesome day!!

Well Lucy...you could live in Michigan where it SNOWED this weekend!!! And I woke up to 30 degree weather....
Just a thought!
Julie

Good afternoon chickies...

Today rocked as far as exercise and food! I did 4 miles (YES, THAT'S F-O-U-R) on the WATP tape! I did the whole thing! I am so proud of myself. I usually get to the last 1.5 mile section and get about 1/4 way through and go to cool down because I'm so tired and can't keep up! But today...I did it all...I'm even getting the steps (the box step, the kick backs, AND the DOUBLE leg lifts) I did them all today. I'm not saying I was totally with Leslie and her group, but I managed to stay moving and doing the steps through all of it! And when I was all done, I thought "Gee, that wasn't too bad!" What? What happened to the real Julie and who is this new person????
Yes, I am proud of myself!

Food today was good so far!
B-fast: 4 mini waffles, 1 T syrup (I measured out 2T, but only had 1/2), 2 sausages
Lunch: Leftover Spahgetti with lots of meat sauce (I didn't actually measure it, but probably 3/4 cup meat sauce...mostly meat), leftover sauteed veggies
Snack: l oz. mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup grapes

For supper will probably do meat & a veggie of some sort! If I get my butt moving, I can probalby whip up a nice meal!

Chickies...you are all doing awesome and you all insprire me!

Good Monday afternoon to everyone. Well, my eating this weekend wasn't as good as I wanted. Celebrated hubby's Bday. But the icecream was no sugar. I think they use Splenda. and it's really quite good.
I haven't ever used a journal don't quite know how to start. Can anyone help? I have always just started dieting. When hubby and I got together about 2 years ago, I drastically change the way I eat and lost about 50lbs. Now, I just feel like I'm stuck. I drive around in my work and had been taking a lo carb protein bar and two pieces of fruit for lunch. I have the hardest time with picking fast food. And I don't like to eat alone so usually eat in the car between patients. Does any one have any good ideas for snacky lunch food that travels well? That sounds silly. I do better if I eat small meals during the day.
Hubby lost his weight at 25 on WW and has stayed around 165-175. And when I eat and dont lose he says just cut back. My ex and I use to frequent buffets. I thought keeping my bs down would help me loose weight. And my A1C test says 7.5 which is good.
Have done 30mins on the elliciptical too. Works pretty good, not as smooth as the one at the gym. thank you discovery channel for the gym pass. Any who better let some one else have the pen a while. Thanks for being there. The posts are such a boost. Luck and Love to all lady

Hello chickies! I really got some exercise in this evening. I went to my son's baseball practice, and there was a shortage of helpers, and I got to be the "runner" for the coach. He hit balls out to the players, and I was one of the runners that ran the bases. I did this for at least 45 minutes. My legs are sooo tired. I was glad to get the movement in. I have been "out of sorts" for about a week now. But, I am glad that we are always allowed to dust ourselves off (as Jennifer says) and start anew. Water was not what it should have been today (Oh, Julie - I promised I know!!!). I weigh in on Tuesdays. Girls, I have a feeling that tomorrow morning is going to be a reality check for this girl .

MoonD - I, too, am a WW lifetime member. After I made LT, I got pregnant and gained 75 pounds. Our goals sound very similar. I look forward to getting to know you!! We can do this again!!

Lucia - good luck with the gardening

Maggi - I love jewelry- earrings are one of my favorites!! what a nice DH to support you like that!! You are set up for SUCCESS!!!!

Julie - Hope you get more rest this evening!! Again, I am proud of you - you are doing terrific!!!! Thanks, chickie for everything

Crystal - And I thought I was the author of the "hectic weekend"!! Hope your day was good!

Jennifer - Yes, my boo-boo is better Thanks! And, I'm sorry you are dragging today. Maybe tonight will be more restful for you as well. Am I going to have to come give you and Julie some Benedryl so you will sleep??? LOL!!!

Cindi - You should see me in the Super Wal-Mart buying groceries with my three boys. My 21 month old flat REFUSES to sit in the seat, and I end up "dragging" the buggy behind me (and the buggy seems to weigh a TON), while I have him on one hip. People give me all kinds of "look at that poor pitiful mommy" looks. One mom the other day pulled me to the side and said, "You need to treat yourself to a nice bubble bath after this trip." What an adventure!!!!

Mel - Glad you are feeling better today. I am proud of you!! You're doing a great job!!

Joy - It sounds like we have similar weights and goals!!! Hopefully we can encourage one another!!!

Lucy - SIZE 11!!!!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!! Hmmm.....isn't it the style to not have your pants cover your butt??? Maybe you are just in style Congratulations!!! Go Lucy!!!!

Well, time for some reading- good night everyone!

All right...we hit the grocery store & got much more than we intended- but some awesome sales. Everything is away, and dinner is done.

Tonight, I was so hungry, and I shouldn't have been...maybe got in a little less water, or did a little more work with those bags. Oh- I got to change the big 5-gallon water-cooler jug today- the guy who usually does it for us is on vacation until the 17th, and was not about to wait, or drink tap water. I did it- no spillage...I'm now "strong like bull." <--man, I think this is my favorite smiley ever! Totally maniacal laughter, often only amusing my own self...

So, dinner was a taco rollup, tweaked a little bit. I got a low fat, skim mexican cheese mix. And reduced fat sour cream...so I really kicked the taco rollup up a few more notches. I also got smaller low-carb tortillas for the next ones- gotta finish up these big ones first- the small ones would let me make 2, and be able to roll them up easier than this big one. Anyhow, I am so full right now- and perfectly within my #s. I think I'll be waiting for this to settle before I do the UB work. I just need to stay awake, so that I get a decent night sleep, and can move my buns in the morning.

Ankle wasn't too bad in the store...just took it slower than normal, and made sure that I didn't get into or out of the car & step wrong. In the morning, I'll try the WATP...just to see...no pressure to do it- don't need to hurt it more if it's not ready. A few days with less exercise is not going to set me back as weeks on end in a cast, or on crutches, all because I pushed it. Logic, for once, over sheer stubbornness.

Hubby bought me a present...but it needs to be delivered. A set of 4 resistance tubes with handles- the 45" long ones- similar to the ab belt, but would let me do a whole lot more that usually you can only do with weight machines & their cables... should let me get more upper body, shoulder & back work, and then I can try to find ways to use it for the legs. In addition to the 2 resistance bands I have ( thanks to a chickie who knows who she is!) and my vinyl dipped weights, that should give me a decent rotation so that nothing gets boring/easy.

Lucy: ewwww! Ptoooie! Gross. Ok, no bagels for me- which is good- no more craving for that! Read your journal re: the plan...looks like you've got a lot of prepping, so things should be easier to follow. Can't wait to see what new equipment you get...see if you get addicted to it like me & the bike. My presssssscious!

(for those new to this challenge- when I got my exercise bike, I couldn't walk past it without getting on & doing a mile...so I started to call it My Presssscious (like the ring from Lord of the Rings) because I'm so attached to it. Uber geek- proving it every day... :lol3

Julie! 4 miles????? Dang, woman! You're putting Lucy to shame! Hey, don't tazer me- I'm kidding...just kidding! (lack of sleep plus giddyness=too many of these s)

awesome job

Ladyrose: As far as journaling, this site is also my first one. What I tend to do is log my food, water, exercise for the day, as well as significant things- significant to me, at least. Stuff at work, things going on in my head, insights, breakthroughs, etc. Some days I'm whiny, other days I'm thrilled to be on target. If you click on the link in my signature, you can read all about the lack of excitement in my life...really, ultimately, it's your journal, and whatever you feel like entering- it's a blank sheet for you to pour your thoughts out on.

Ok chickies...I'll stop my rambling for a little while. Have a great night!

Today was another good one. I saw the scale finally moving doewn. Seems to be a loo problem if you catch my drift. The Dr says because of the sitting etc. Looong story. We will discuss it more at length next month. I need to make am appt.

Welcome to Joy and hope you get those lousy 10 lbs off. I've had many friends with the same problem! good luck!

Lucy~ Congrats on the size 11's!!! Really was nice to read that tonite. Encourages me even more!

Jen~ Glad you went out without further injury!! Hope it's getting better!! According to the scale I lost 4 lbs over the weekend. It really was the Dulcolax. That's why I called the Dr. He said furthewr meds may be necessary. Muscles are getting weaker and need some help. SIGH Always something!

Lisa~ Nice exercising!!! You know you got some when the body "talks" to you!!!

Hi Rose!

Well Chicks......gotta get off the tush and watch some tv. But I want to get some pedals in first. 30 minutes coming up!!! Sweet dreams everyone!!! Sleep tight and have a great Spring Day Tomorrow!

Julie~ Great exercising too! Yes who is this new person?! Could we all be SPRING MOTIVATED!?!?!?

MOrning chickies...I have a few minutes for a quick check in, but I won't have time to get a workout in! I am hoping that I can go out after work tonight for a nice walk, but it's looking kind of cloudy this morning! Too early to tell!

Last night's supper was good. I had a cheeseburger, 1/4 cup + a couple of spoonfuls of baked beans. I think I might have been over a little with all my#'s yesterday, but I did try to stay OP! Water was stellar! over 80 oz.! Yea me!

With all the exercise and food on plan for 3 days in a row...i am thinking that there MIGHT be a loss on the scale this morning. I have to wait until I get to work to see so I will check with you later today!

Have a great Tuesday...it's back to the grind for me today! Lots of Easter stuff this week. Gotta stuff and color those eggs for the big Easter Egg Hunt, both here at home and at work! The residents look forward to it!

Be back later today to check in with food eaten!

It's amazing how time flies..
I have been doing the challenge but not keeping up on the boards so that is one of my goals ..to check out the board at least once a day..there is such a great support effort going on here I'd be silly not to be active.
So here are my goals for the easter challenge


1. Lose weight permanently and get more fit forever!!!
2. Plan weekly menus for the South Beach Diet Phase 1 for my husband and I
3. Exercise daily in the morning-at least 30 minutes of pilates, strength training or aerobics
4. Walk 30 plus minutes everyday ( preferably outside)
4. Drink 64-80 oz.of Water daily
5. Do more things outdoors with my family I want to try frisbee golf
6. Ultimate weight goal for this challenge to be at 140 for a total weight loss of 8 pounds
7 Buy more whole foods and ditch the junk!
8.Take my vitamins everyday.

Start weight loss journey 163
Start of EC 148 / Current EC 146/ 4/30 Goal For EC 140 (I am down 2 so far)
Final WL Goal 130

Keep on being good to yourselves!

A quick check in:

I weighed this morning. Tuesday is my official weigh-in day. And, I stayed exactly the same as last week. I am pleased with that, because I had an off week last week. Plus, TOM I know has me retaining some water.

My plan for today: I have set myself up for success. I have the fridge full of bottled water and veggies. I am going now to fix a big batch of taco meat for some taco salads and roll-ups. Breakfast was good - a roast turkey sandwich on lite wheat bread. Exercise - will probably be the bike today, as I am reading a book. I have made a deal with myself that I will do my reading while I ride, which, to me, is motivating.

I am not working this week because we are on Spring Break!!! Yay! No schedules- except for my workouts of course.

Just a bit of reflection: As I have said, I didn't do well last week with my eating. I have some very dear people in my family experiencing a really hard time right now. I have had a lot of stress dealing with that situation, plus all the responsibilities of working, being a mom of 3, household chores & maintenance, baseball practices..... You all know how that is. And, in the past, an off week meant going off into the sunset eating a cheeseburger and not looking back to my new way of eating. Well, I am different now. I have changed the way I view my body and my eating, and thanks to this wonderful forum, I CAN bounce back. I CAN DO THIS. I CAN, BECAUSE I AM WORTH IT. I CAN BECAUSE NOW I HAVE A SUPPORT SYSTEM. I CAN BECAUSE SAYING CAN'T MEANS GOING BACK TO BEING OVERWEIGHT, TIRED, AND MISERABLE, AND THOSE DAYS ARE GONE, BABY!!!!!

((((((hugs to chickies))))))),
Lisa