Good Morning Everyone! Today is my weigh in day. I'm still crampy and no TOM but I'm going to weigh in anyway. Thanks so much for the blinks. Wouldn't it be cool if they REALLY worked? I like to believe that the power of collective positve thought can make all kinds of wonderful things happen. Tomorrow I may go to a Friday meeting just to see what the Leader is like to see if I want to make Friday my regular day. I haven't lost in the last 2 weeks (stay the same and up .8) so I was really hoping for a loss. I'd at least like to lose a pound to get rid of last week's gain. But even if I don't lose, I'm going to keep at it since I've still got 109 pounds to lose.

Linda, I scale ride too so I understand. And it is ok to whine. I just did it above! Having said that though, you should not let the scale riding affect your mental state or make you adjust what you are doing. It's just an indicator that lets you know what is going on with your body at that particular moment in time. I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes don't see any loss at all until my weigh in day. Maybe you ate something salty yesterday. I can go 3 weeks on Core with no or small loses. That's why I'm always telling everyone that they should give it a month. You are so close to your goal that it is not just going to come off in one or 2 weeks. I understand that you want to see SOME progress. Give it some time and keep being good. Make sure you are drinking enough water. Water is maybe more essential on Core than Flex IMHO. Try to keep being good on Core, Linda, for at least 4 more days.

Angela, way to go! What great motivation for your being back on Core 100%! Keep up the good work.

Kath, I hope you enjoyed your salad. It was VERY sweet of DD to go shop for you. I completely understand DS's desire to work for the computer company if that is what he has been training for. But I also understand how you feel after calling in a favor to get him the job. I hope he doesn't quit Dr. Pepper until he knows the other job is for sure. Thanks for all the information about avocados. I'm going to go back and read more. Mine is greenish black and bumpy but very hard. So I'm going to put it in a paper bag to get it to ripen. In the meantime, I'll choose my recipe!

Sandra, I guess the moral of the story is not to let yourself get too hungry. It doesn't sound like there was anything you could do yesterday to avoid it once things went haywire. I've taken to keeping bars in my purse for emergencies. They cost me points but they help. Once I'm hungry or over-hungry LOOK OUT! I have absolutely no will power. That's part of the reason that I was always messing up on Flex because I was always hungry. Hey, we all mess up once in a while. Don't think you can't or shouldn't give advice just because you slipped. For goodness sake, I weighed 307 when I started and no one told me to be quiet! I know EXACTLY what to do and how to do it. I just haven't always practiced what I preached! I think your advice is wonderful and given from the heart and I wouldn't want you to stop. So...now that you've beaten yourself up black and blue can I give you a hand back up onto the wagon?

Now Melissa, to you and Aaron for your new career adventure! I hope the job negotiations go well and more quickly than the interview part did! I'm very happy for Aaron and hope that you'll be able to be more involved since I know that you are missing your former work with your youth groups. However, I must say since Froufie hasn't been here to back away from the Alfredo sauce! Consider it your celebratory meal. I'm guessing you got up to go to work with a lighter heart this morning.

Well, I can eat breakfast in about 10 minutes. I take Prevacid and have to wait an hour. We had very loud thunderstorms here about 7:00 which woke me up. Not alot of rain but some. We are SO dry. Kathy, I hope they are moving your way. I'm going to exercise after breakfast and then shower for my meeting. I was going to go to the 10:00 one but I think it's the noon one now. Then I'll take Jim out for lunch. I'll be having a beautiful salad. It's only 71 here now but it's supposed to be going up to 93. I'll be swimming all afternoon until dinnertime. Then we'll decide what I'll be cooking. Hope you all have a great day. I'll check in later to let you know my tales of woe or happiness from the scale!

Angela, the girls are adorable! Those pj's are just so cute. You have a real talent. I've been starving this week too. Must be the impending TOM for both of us. Have fun at Walmart and at the birthday party!

G'Morning All!

Vickie - And where was that thunderstorm that United claimed was coming? Not a drop! And my poor DH was almost stuck in Philly overnight. I picked him up at O'Hare at 11p. (Full plane, center seat, big man, not a happy camper) Lots of flights must have been delayed because the airport was mobbed.

Angela, your little angels are beautiful and you're a talented seamstress. You are definitely blessed. And congrats on the weight loss.

Melissa (& Aaron) - Congratulations on the job! It sounds like the rest of the process is more of a formality. You must be so relieved to finally hear the news. Now be careful with all the celebrating! On the recipe, usually you mix the cornstarch with warm water and then add it to the pot. It will mix with the juices and thicken them up a bit. You have to count cornstarch points, but I think it's like 1 for enough to thicken a whole recipe.

Linda, boy you're up early! Now listen - do not let the scale ruin your day or derail your efforts. You've been doing really well and you know that weight fluctuates all over the place. It's hard to do, but try to put it out of your mind and keep going the way you have been. The weight will come off. It really will. If not today, then probably by WI. If you're not happy with this week's WI, you may end up losing big next WI when your body finally decides to let it go. Core works, and if you keep doing the right thing, you will definitely get results. The trick is to stick with it and be consistent. Hang in there.

Sandra, didn't we talk about leaving the past in the past? Don't beat yourself up anymore. Today is a new day and you can do whatever you set your mind to. You know how to succeed. You're an athlete and a champion. You know what to do.

Kathy, you wanna join me in a raindance? It's so dry here too. BTW, at one point in my life I was looking somewhat thin and everyone told me I shouldn't lose any more weight. Finally, after being badgered by a good friend of mine, I walked into her bedroom and stripped down to my underwear. She became very supportive of my weight loss efforts after that.

Everyone else, have a terrific Thursday. Holiday weekend is right around the corner!

Peace.

Terry, you crack me up! Kathy, I think this method sounds very effective. Just be careful that you only do it to your inperson GF's and not us! I'm really hoping to not need surgery but where does all that skin go that once held 150 pounds of fat? Yuck!

Terry, we got a nice rain here this morning. I guess you aren't South!

Terry, that's hilarious! I'd love to see your friend's face when you marched in there and stripped.

Sounds like everyone had some promise of rain, but it fizzled out. We had lightning and thunder here, but not much coming down. However, sounds like we've had more rain than a lot of you.

Today we're going to try a makeshift slip n' slide using plastic tablecloth stuff. Should be interesting, at any rate. You never know what's going to happen around here.

Angela

I just saw the PJ pictures! How cute!

I promise not to post nekkid pictures of myself just to prove that I really DO need to keep losing! Of course, toning at the gym will help out tremendously.

Sounds like a great idea! Is your step class tonight?

Yeppers ... 7:00. I even have new pants!

Vickie - glad you got a little rain. Yep, I'm north, it's humid but no rain.

Oh and for what it's worth, I've lost 100 pounds or so several times and so far, knock on wood, the skin seems to go back nicely. Maybe the trick is to exercise and tone everything. Stretch marks fade but are still there, and that's a little disappointing but certainly not a big deal.

I have flying squirrel arms right now (you know, the kind with wings), which worry me a bit, but I'm doing that Core Secrets workout with the big ball. It has lots of arm exercises, so I'm figuring that the wings will disappear as the sloshiness in the arms does.

So you're all wanting to see me sleeveless now aren't you?

linda, be careful. i got on the scales yesterday morning and my weight was up. i binged all day. just be careful that doesn't happen to you.

angela, what adorable little munchkins! they are little dolls. okay, what did you do to get those smiles?

vickie, you brought a huge smile to my face today with that beautiful message you posted me. thank you so much for your support. i can't tell you what what you said this morning means to me. thank you, dear friend.

kathy, 30's or 40's sound soooo good to me. (actually, the 50's sound good, too.) you're going to get there. i hope i'm in the 80's by then. i have to get over this backward walking. i didn't see the fit on tv but can imagine. that's not a good image is it?

terry, i appreciate your message, too, especially calling me an athlete. that felt good. okay, i'm back on target. (pun intended) you're funny. i can just see you bareing all for your friend.

got to go. it's time to practice. i have pt later today. i promise. i'll be good today.

I had to resort to bathroom humor. I said the absolutely hilarious word, "bottom." There were giggles galore.

Thanks for the compliments guys. Sometimes I think God made children so cute so we wouldn't kill them.

Angela

Hi everyone:

Congratulations, Melissa. Glad all that waiting had a happy ending.

Vickie, I'm pretty sure Haas avocados are the bumpy ones, and it should turn dark when it's ripe.

I've been struggling a bit. I gave in and had some popcorn yesterday and I'm feeling the salt this morning. I've also been off core too many times. Today there was a retirement breakfast I had to go to. I didn't do too badly--just half a bagel with vegetable cream cheese and some fruit and yogurt. I hope it doesn't show too much this weekend. The real problem is that dh and the kids have been getting out later and later in the mornings and I haven't been able to get much exercise in the evenings, either. Only a 20 minute walk this morning. Maybe I'll be able to squeeze another one in tonight.

Loved your underwear story, Terry. The things we have to resort to, sometimes.

So I'm back from weigh in and lunch. I'm happy to report the extremely successful results of the power of positive thoughts (the blinks) and some of my hard work! I lost 2.4 which means that I got rid of my .8 gain from last week plus some! I'm now down 42.8 and I've just weighed in for my 42nd week. I haven't missed a weigh in yet and I'm hanging on by a thread to my 1.0 pound per week average. I'm pretty proud of myself because I've never stuck with anything this long before. I have to admit I'm pretty happy with Core. I'd be happier if I had Terry's average of 3.0+ but I'm not willing to exercise as much as she does so I guess I just need to stop comparing myself, right!

Terry, I am SO very encouraged to hear about the skin recovery. I was hoping that as slow as I'm losing the weight, my skin would be able to recover. I can live with stretch marks.

Sandra, we all care about each other. I'm very happy to hear that you are back on the wagon with us. I hope you enjoy your practice and that PT goes well.

Thanks, Cher! I cannot wait to eat that avocado. I think I'm going to try a salad dressing first. Anything to help me get more veggies in! Can you exercise before they're gone? Maybe they'd get up earlier if they were deprived of your help a couple of mornings? Easy for me to say, huh?!

Kath, nothing like a new outfit to make exercise fun!

I didn't walk on the treadmill this morning because I puttered too long. I'm off to the pool so I can get in some fun exercise in there. Tomorrow it is only supposed to be 79 degrees so I won't be swimming.

BTW, I've decided to keep my highlights. They faded a bit and people keep telling me how great they look. Next time I won't let her do them so light.

Maybe I can start doing that if the schedule doesn't change. Problem is, my dh has a blind spot when it comes to how his own morning schedule affects everyone else. I got the kids up before six this morning but they weren't out the door until 7:30 because he waited for ever to get into the bath, and he always way underestimates how long he's going to take to get himself ready.

I'd love to stay up late like he does, reading and getting grown-up stuff done, too, but I know if I did, I'd never be able to get myself out of bed on time, either.

I'm sure we'll work it out. He's generally very supportive of any health-promoting activities. This is just the second week, and we're still getting used to the schedule.
I was doing all the pick-ups and drop-offs during the week.

I made the rookie mistake of going shopping hungry and now I've been picking like a vulture at roast chicken. (There, ruined your dinners for you. No need to thank me.)
I'm going to go put it away now. I got shrimp for dinner, which won't be so bad. I'm definitely going to try to get that second walk in and I did buy lots of Core stuff. (Yay, payday!) Do you all get any of those little doughnut peaches? I just had to buy some today. They are so cute.

cher, what's a donut peach? i've never heard of that one. you and dh will get your schedule down soon. just keep pushing him.

vickie, congratulations!!!!! i'm not only impressed about your weightloss but also that you've never missed a meeting. that's a big accomplishment right there! congratulations on losing so consistently. i am proud of you.

angela, you're hilarious.