Hi all - just checking in real quick - hope you all have a great weekend! We are leaving tomorrow for downstate for a couple days so won't be back in until late sunday nite or possibly Monday. So have a great weekend and try not to eat too much - ok? LOL

See you Monday ..
Love, CJ

Good morning ladies! I am closing this thread now and starting a new one for this week so please go now to the new thread (April 23 thru April 29) ... See you there!

Hello all. I'm new.

A few months ago I started the first truly successful exercise program
of my life, and after a few weeks I could feel myself becoming almost
addicted to it. Well, not exactly, because I still hate exercising, but
at least I could feel that mythological boost from it afterwards, and
"hating it" is a huge improvement from how much I used to despise
exercise.

ANYWAY.... I didn't lose any weight. I did gain some weight when I was
building muscle, and over several weeks I lost a few pounds and came back
to my starting weight, except in a healthier configuration. Sure, sure,
that's progress, but after 2 months of so much effort, I expected my pants
to fit more loosely and they didn't. (I was watching what I ate, no
unhealthy foods, but also no limit on healthy foods, and not many
restrictions during parties and special occasions.) I sacrificed a lot of
time and effort and used up a lot of will-power to do all that exercise, and
I figured it was going to transform my body. How could it not transform
my body?!?! :)

At the beginning of April
I started a strict diet (counting calories, measuring everything) and
keeping up the exercise, and suddenly I'm seeing some success. It's
such a joy to tighten my belt finally. Such a relief. I can do this!
I'm no stranger to dieting and weight loss, and I've even had some success
at keeping it off for a couple of years at a time. But this is my FIRST TIME
combining diet and exercise, and this is my first time trying to go all the
way from FAT to skinny in one big long marathon. But this is really
important to me and nobody is going to discourage me from being ambitious on this.

I've got hunger like an itchy mosquito bite every minute of the day. It's
not unbearable pangs, but it's incredibly distracting. I feel proud of myself
for every minute I resist the urge, but then I feel surprised that I've
accomplished absolutely nothing at work or at home.

I should sign off for now, but I'm looking forward to getting to know some
of you.

Lisa