Evening chickadees

Thanks for the great welcome. I've decided to weigh myself in the AM . . . Yikes . . . it's been two weeks so HOPEFULY (crossing my fingers) there should be a little bit of movement . . . then I plan to go for a swim and sit in the hot tub.

Tomorrow there is a yoga class which i am going to try . . . can I count yoga as exercise???

DAY 14 - Water, crunches, eating healthy DONE
Day 8 - 30 min exercise DONE


Red - AWSOME job on the sugar . . .
SweetPea - You should be soooo PROUD, no alcohol


Great job to everyone . . . you are all a WONDERFUL inspiration for me.

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It almost looks like Taranaki too!

It doesn't quite look Taranaki enough for me. Not enough rivers and creeks in foreground. Also doesn't have phantoms peak on the left although this is only visible from certain angles - hence the name Phantoms peak.

Are you sure it is not one of those Washington State or Oregon mountains? eg Mt Hood

You all are toooooooooooooo funny, Red don't worry, I used to be a firefighter in an all male fire department, believe me it would take a whole lot more than a bit of talk about tasers and whatnot to frighten me.

As for the mountain, well actually it's a volcano. A year ago in October I went and stayed with a friend of mines family, he stayed here in the U.S. They spoke no english . . . and the picture you see here was my view every morning as I walked to the molino (mill) to grind the corn into masa, only to return to make fresh tortilla . . . that was my job everyday!! When I retire I am going to buy/build a house here so that I can wake up to this beautiful volcano. Yes, Mexico, about 2 hours east of Mexico city, the name . . .
Popocatepetl . . . often referred to as Popo, it's name means "smoking mountain" as it almost always has some kind of activity going on. Elev. 16,500 ft (5000 m)

http://www.cenapred.unam.mx/popo/Ult...enVolcanI.html

The link is a live pic to the volcano, it's on the opposite side of my pic, but is very pretty. I look at it every morning and sometimes at night.

My dream . . .

Red and Shad, you two try to behave yourselves and if you can't, call me so I can misbehave with you . . .

Misbehaving?
Not us - Red and I always behave like this. But it is nice to know that we were both wrong - me several times.
Thanks for the explanation.

Went to the link, but it is night time over there. Can't see much. I'll have a look later in the afternoon.

Day 6 – exercise, level 3, one pause taken
Day 7 – calories 1200-1500, no pauses taken
Day 7 - food log, level 3, no pauses taken
Day 7 – at least 5 fruit/vegetable servings, level 3, no pauses taken
Day 7 – at least 70 oz water, level 3, no pauses taken

Happy day - the two pounds I gained over the holidays are gone, and two of their pesky little friends left with them! Down four pounds total since January 1. To celebrate, I bought a new scale. My old scale was a digital and only the last number was still working. The other two numbers were just lines. The new one actually shows all three numbers.

Enjoyed the pictures and the mountain lesson. We can only dream of mountains in this area, where the highest location within 100 miles is about 75 feet above sea level.

Red – Great big applause for finishing the sugar challenge. There is NO WAY I could give up sugar for 21 days, so I’m really in awe of your accomplishment. My challenges were a little confusing, so I fixed them up.

Lost – nice to see you’re hanging in there. One more week and you’ll be finished with most of your challenges. Good luck with your weigh-in tomorrow. I’ve done yoga – it absolutely counts as exercise.

Julz– Hang in there. You’re sure to see results next week with those challenges.

Sweet pea – good job putting down the wine list after it was in your hand, and with turning your back on the cookies.

DJ – Lifting weights while watching a movie is a tremendous accomplishment.

Shad – the mountain picture you posted was just beautiful.

Hope everyone has a great Monday. Enjoy the day off to those of you celebrating MLJ day tomorrow.

Day 9 no DP...1 pause left

Hope everyone is doing well!

Morning everyone;

Red, you hang in there on that sugar challeng . . . I am sooooooo proud of you, another sugar challenge . . . question - Do you do honey or is it refined sugar only . . .

Hpnotq - look at all those cows piling up, makes me think of the commercial where they have the cows stacked on top of one another, something about making them easier to find or sticking together . . . I don't remember

Ashley, one week DONE!! Great job, thanks for the yoga info . . . I've never done yoga, but have heard it "calms" you and i need that. I am sure I am hyperactive (can you say A-D-D)

Shad; hmmmmmm, I was going to say: try to behave today, but what fun would that be, the mountain/volcano pics are great . . . fuji does look a lot like popo, maybe they are the same type of volcano

I got up the nerve and faced that scale head on, of course I had a little talk with it first, told it to be kind to me and what not . . .

Goals, same as before, just keep on doing it one day at a time

Thank you ALL for your support and kind words.

Have a Marvelous Monday

1) Drink 8 glasses of water a day (Level 1) DAY 3 COMPLETE
2) Do complete Pilates DVD (Level 3) DAY 0 COMPLETE
3) Treadmill (Level 3) DAY 0 COMPLETE
4) No Sugar (Level 3) DAY 0 COMPLETE

Ok, I have some changes to the rules on mine..... I'm not making excuses, promise. I wrote out my workout "schedule" on a calendar yesterday - and I am taking a day off from all exercises on Sundays (I will still be working as this is the day that I clean our house from top to bottom, do all of our laundry, etc). I am doing that Couch-5k thing from CoolRunning.com - I have completed the first one. So - I will do that every other day (along with weights) - and on the in between days - I will do my regular power-walking on the treadmill.... with Sundays off. So, instead of taking a "pause" each Sunday - I just won't count the day in my "completes".... since it will be a scheduled day off. Does this make sense?

As far as the sugar - well, I just plain screwed that one up yesterday! I didn't COMPLETELY bomb it. My defintion of "sugar" is all refined sugar..... and I had a cup of decaf. coffee last night... I can't drink mine without a little sugar..... so, instead of taking a pause so early in the game, I thought I'd start anew...

Redballoon - I can say that our workout room here on property keeps their thermostat at 69 degrees farenheit, and keeps ceiling fans running.... so, it really was me But, I totally get what you're saying. And - you've got me on my toes now about really paying close attention to what I put in my mouth and how much of it. I will be keeping a food diary on my kitchen counter and will follow the old addage of "before it hits my lips.... write it down!". I bet this will really open my eyes.... you're a wonderful help with this whole thing. And me being a "newbie" (I know my join date says Feb. 2005, but I think I came here 2 times after I joined then.... my re-join date was about 2 weeks ago, and I come here many times a day) I can use all the help I can get - even if it feels like someone stepping on my toes.... I have to know that everyone here is here to HELP ME, not to criticize me....

Sweet Pea - you are doing so good! I can't wait to get on that side of my numbers. It's always been hard for me to stick with something if I don't see immediate results.... way to go!

djstorey - how did you do with the last day of the weekend? Weekends are rough for me. The hubby is home all day, both days. It's easier to just relax and let my temptations take over..... but, you're more than halfway there - I'm sure you can stick with it!

LostBombera - whoohoo for you! Good luck with those scales! I hate the scales right now - someday I hope to have a loving relationship with them. But, right now - they're my enemy and I love defeating them! (*insert Xena:Warrior Princess picture here). OH, I do some yoga sometimes. I'm a sufferer of anxiety - and I find that when I'm having an anxiety attack, yoga really does help to relax me / get my mind off of it. But, it does work your muscles too - and helps with balance. I used to think it was kind of an "L.A." thing to do (ya know, you hear about all of the yuppy celebrities that do it) but, I've grown to really like it! So, where do I sign up to be a yuppy? haha

Ashley - how ya hanging in there? I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do kickboxing - but, I need to lose a few more pounds, I'm afraid that once I got 240 lbs. moving in one direction, that quickly - it'd be hard to stop it..... I'm getting a mental image in my head and it's funny.... I wish everyone else could see it!

Hpnotq - ah....DP... Dr. Pepper - I used to have an absolute obsession with this drink... But, about 6 months ago, I started having heart flutters (which were associated with my weight, and anxiety [which was triggered by Post Partum Depression....OYE!]). So, I decided to cut out all caffeine... and I'm proud to say I haven't had any DP for nearly 6 months (or any caffeine for that matter). I had a sip of my DH's DP a couple of weeks ago, and it tasted like straight sugar, syrup - not at all the way I remembered it tasting. HEY - that's a 21 day challenge that I completed and it became a habit!!!! YAY! haha! Keep it up - you'll be so proud of yourself when you don't want it anymore.... not to mention your body (and teeth) will thank you!

ok, I think that's all for now........... I love all you guys! This forum makes me laugh so much - and helps me to know I'm not the only one in this boat that in itsself is a life saver!

I haven't been posting because I hardly have time....I want to be able to support everyone else too!
But once again, just a fly-by....
No beer: Have to restart, celebrated my brothers birthday last night...
Exercise: Day 5 complete

day 17 - Counting calories - good - 2 pause left

day 16 - Exercise everyday - pause - 0 pauses left

For some reason, my son, (almost 3yr) is just not sleeping lately. I think I got about 5 hours sleep on Saturday night and I only got about 3 1/2 hours last night. By the time I actually had a chance to workout on Sunday, I just didn't have any energy left, so I used my last pause. Luckily, I should still make my challenge though. I'm pretty dedicated during the week, sleep or not, so I should finish that challenge by the end of the week.

Anyway, I DID manage to read everyones posts, but my brain is not working well at the moment, so I'll catch up with you all later, hopefully after a good nights sleep tonight!

Afternoon all,

What with the excitement of the mountains yesterday I almost forgot to post today.

Day 7 done on water and exercise. 1 pause and 3 pauses left respectively.
Day 6 done on food. 2 pauses left.

And if I don't get on with it today will be a pause day on water. Only 2 glasses down so far, 4 to go. Also exercise to go today as well. Food is all planned out so that should be fine.

Slowly catching up on who is posting here. Nice to seem some new and some old (no, not in years - tut tut) faces.

Back later or maybe tomorrow.