[happy2bme]

Just reading your posts. It's been another long day at work. Too tired to comment. The good news is that this presentation is next week so I know there is at least an end to things. Eventually. Please God.

[diyana]

Quite a bit of stress yesterday morning...DH found out that his PayPal account got hacked and there were over $3,500 in unauthorized transfers that caused our checking account to be SIGNIFICANTLY overdrawn. Luckily, we had no outstanding checks or autopayments and because it was fraud our bank is going to waive any fees. DH was on the phone with PayPal all morning, but finally got it worked out and by last night, most of the money was already returned to our checking account, and the rest should be returned today. Phew!!

I immediately went and changed all my internet passwords (starting with PayPal of course) to more difficult passwords.

Despite that, I had a good food and exercise day yesterday. I was feeling pretty frustrated that the scale isn't being kind...we'll see what the WW scale shows later today. I was reading posts from the 100-lb club about the workout regimens of some of those women who have been very successful in their weight loss. So I decided to step it up a notch last night so that I can get out of the 220s. I did an hour of cardio, followed by about 10 minutes of abs. Tonight I'll be going to the gym for at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes of cardio followed by my favorite 1/2 hour strength training class.

I got the audio book of "You On a Diet" from the library and I just started listening to it this morning on the way to work. So far, it's got a nice perspective and those docs have a sense of humor and really use some funny analogies.

Happy - I hope the dentist appt went well. Are you giving the presentation or preparing it for someone else? Either way, I'm glad there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck! I hope you have a relaxing, restful weekend planned. You really deserve it.

Laura - How great that your insurance is offering a lifestyle management program and a coach! That's awesome! Hope you enjoy the rest of your boss-free week!

Shad - You're doing so great on the challenge! As for my steps yesterday....I didn't get as many steps done during the day...but my hour long cardio workout at the gym more than made up for it. I'm still getting over 10K steps a day - just gotta keep this up for 6 weeks (at least). Hope you got to annoy the cat and get the other stuff you wanted done.

Ceejay - Sorry to hear that the boss was being nit-picky, but at least he apologized. But I'm glad you're off work today so you can rest and relax. My insurance doesn't pay for Weight Watchers, but my Flexible Spending pre-tax dollars will since I have a prescription from the doc that he wants me to do WW for the treatment of (not prevention - this is key) high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, back pain, pre-diabetes, etc. It's nice to be able to use Flex Spending dollars for WW!

Well, I'm outta here for now...lots to get done today!

Love and big hugs,

[MELODY525]

LAST NIGHT I WAS SICK AS A DOG AND FOR A FEW HOURS I THOUGHT I HAD THE FLU. I DON'T THINK GOD EVER HEARD SO MUCH FROM ME IN ONE NIGHT. STOMACH IS A BIT QUEASY THIS MORNING BUT I FEEL BETTER. NOT DOING ANYTHING TODAY AT ALL THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF IS I HAD A "SOFT-CANNED" SHELF STABLE LASAGNA FROM TRADER JOES. SIMILAR TO NUTRISYSTEM. THEY WERE TEST DRIVING THAT PRODUCT TO SEE IF CUSTOMERS LIKED IT....GUESS I WON'T BE BUYING ANY MORE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY THURSDAY/FRIDAY

MICHELLE~ THINK OF ALL THE STEPS YOU COULD HAVE HAD OVER HERE AT MY PLACE. 8 FLOORS RUNNING UP AND DOWN! I WAS SO SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT PAYPAL. THESE HACKERS SHOULD BE PUT IN JAIL FOR LIFE WHEN THEY ARE CAUGHT FOR ALL THE PANIC THEY CAUSE IN PEOPLE. DANG. HOPE ALL THE MONEY IS BACK NOW

JEANETTE~ HOPE THE BOSS IS IN A BETTER MOOD WHEN YOU GO BACK. SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF THAT GOING ON LATELY. PEOPLE'S NERVES ARE FRAYING ALL OVER THE PLACE. HANG ON TO YOURS!!

LAURA~ NICE TO GET THAT KIND OF SERVICE WITH THE HEALTH COMPANY. HOPE IT HELPS WITH YOUR EXERCISE GOALS ETC. GOOD LUCK. ERIC BANA DOESN'T REALLY DO ANYTHING FOR ME EITHER. SAW HIM IN "THE OTHER BOLELYN GIRL" AND I WASN'T IMPRESSED BUT HE'S GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES. LOL

SHAD~ SEND SOME OF THAT ENERGY OVER THIS WAY PLEASE! AND SOME SUN WHILE YOU ARE AT IT!! I FORGOT ABOUT THE FELLOW JOGGER. NEXT TIME YOU RUN TAKE A ROPE WITH YOU....DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY.

[MELODY525]

HAPPY~ SENDING GOOD THOUGHTS FOR A HAPPY ENDING TO THE PRESENTATION FOR NEXT WEEK. HANG IN THERE

[MELODY525]

my challenge:
188.5 +1
exercise 4/7 days
food choices could have been better
and water wasn't up to par.
all in all it could have been a better week :CRY:

[diyana]

Mel - As for 8 flights of stairs...I don't do stairs that well...just two flights here are work has me sucking wind so bad I worry my co-workers. Luckily, I know my asthma limits, and I can do 2 flights...because I know that the breathing hard will ease up in a few minutes.

[diyana]

Hi Ladies -

I just found this website...you may already know about it...but I figured I'd share it just in case:

http://www.realage.com/recipefinder/

It even has a section called Quick and Easy - a must for me since I don't like to cook.

[Laura705]

Annie - must be off to St. Louis for the wedding!

Ceejay - Glad the boss realizes his behavior and apologizes for it. We have to be mindful that it could be worse! Enjoy your day off.

Happy - Good luck with the presentation, and I hope your stressful week becomes less stressful very soon.

Mel - So sorry you're sick! I hope whatever it was clears out and you feel better soon. Forgot to mention that I'm also getting a flu shot - through work early next month, but it's not the H1N1 shot. I agree, Eric Bana's a good actor, but he just doesn't have the same quality that, say, George Clooney, does. The Biography channel had a bio show on him last night that I caught the end of (while doing some pushups in front of the tv), and it must have been a sexy men theme that night, because right after that was a bio about Daniel Craig. Deep breath. I like him.

Michelle - Sorry (and scary) to hear your paypal account was hacked! I'm glad you got it resolved with them and the bank so quickly. Great job on the exercise. Dang, I meant to dig up my pedometer this morning. Never enough time in the mornings.

Shad - I'm sure it instills confidence when the dentist asks you why a tooth hurts. Unless you know you bit into a cherry pit or whatever, what does he expect you to say? Maybe he finds it entertaining to ask.

Okay, the scale was back up to 188 today, so two weeks into this challenge, I've made no progress on loss. Need to step everything up. Other goals haven't gone well either with respect to lunches from home and no purchased snacks. Need to do some real meal planning and grocery shopping for myself. Bf seems to come home with only lunchmeats most of the time, and yesterday was no different. Oh, and he bought some ground beef and fixins for tacos tonight.

Have a good day ladies!

[diyana]

Laura - I won't know for an hour or so what my official WW weigh in is...but according to my home scale, I haven't made any progress either. Which means to meet my total goal, I'll need to lose 10 lbs in 6 weeks - definitely a lofty goal. At least I'm seeing non-scale victories: pants not as snug, more energy, feel stronger, etc. So we'll see. I know I'm getting a LOT more steps in than I used to thanks to the walking challenge at my work. Hopefully the scale will reflect these non-scale victories today...or at the very least soon. George Clooney - definitely a hunk. I also like Patrick Dempsey. And, this probably sounds weird, but I like Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs) and Josh Gates (of Destination Truth) too. They aren't drop dead gorgeous like Clooney or Dempsey...but they both have a great sense of humor. I'm doing more meal planning and I'll be doing some cooking tomorrow night and over the weekend. Gotta make some zero point veggie soup. I need more zero point food snacks and fillers.

[ceejay52]

No inches lost for me this week but I did lose 1 pound. I'm happy. I really thought that the sodium last night would do me in with the weigh in.

Mel
Ouch on being sick last night. One of my co-workers claimed to be sick Tuesday night but she's always fakeing something. Hope you feel better today. I like your goals.

Michelle
That's a scary thing to have a hacker steel things. Ugh. I need to update my passwords, but then I for get them.

Happy
At least there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Laura,
The added effort will help and maybe with those one on one calls from the insurance company will also.

I woke up around 8.30 a.m. this morning feeling a little groggy. Also had some muscle spasms on my right lower side of my back. It's probably a combination of yesterday's stress. I've found that Myoflex cream and a good message to be very helpful. Today is going to be as easy as possible. I have in mind to clean my bedroom and do laundry but if it doesn't get done so be it. I'm really wanting pizza or fish tonight. I have the do not disturb sign on the door. Some one rang the door bell Tuesday night around 7.45 p.m. but I didn't answer. I'm thinking it was the girls cause the kitchen light was on. When will they ever learn.
I thought my bp would have gone up but when I took it last night it was good 124/77. I was trying to keep my cool yesterday. One time I walked away from him and went to the bathroom and when I came back I didn't say any thing to him for 30 minutes. He hates the silent treatment.

My goals for this week is to
drink more water and cut out some of the dr peppers.(I should cut them out all together) but I need a treat.
exercise 150 minutes for heart health
wear pedometer for 10,000 steps
stay away from fast food.--they are going up in price so that's a good excuse.

[diyana]

Mel - I sure hope you're feeling better today.

Ceejay - Congrats on the weight loss! You go, girlfriend!! That's too bad about the muscle spasms in your back. That sucks. That's good that at least your BP wasn't negatively affected by the stress of the last few days. I like your goals for the week!

Well, ladies, I had a very pleasant surprise at weigh in today. My home scale this morning said 220...but when I weighed in at lunch time, I was 219.2, so I was down 1.6 pounds, despite the prednisone! I'm in the Two Teens!!! And I have begun to step up (pardon the pun) my exercising...so hopefully this downward trend will continue!

My goals for this week are to:
Journal and stay within points EVEN ON THE WEEKENDS - which is so hard for me
Walk at least 10,000 steps per day
Minimum of 25 crunches per day
Look for and make zero and one point soup recipes.

[Shad]

Morning all,

It's Friday again. Where do the weeks go? Another day, another list of things to do. I wonder when I will run out of things to do. Can't see it happening for another century or so.

DS2 was supposed to take possession of his new house today but the owners have requested another week. It seems their conscience might be pricking them. There is a lot of cleaning up to do both inside and outside of the house and they haven't bothered too much about it so far.

Todays list is something along the lines of mowing lawns, painting, cleaning and laundry. That's not all, but it will do to be going on with. Last coat of paint on the walls of the loo. 1st coat of trim on the windows. Grouting comes after that, but I think that will be tomorrows job. That breathe easy paint doesn't exactly smell great. Fortunately it doesn't last long either.

Mel - maybe you ought to drop an e-mail to Trader Joes telling them about the effects of the product. If they are trying to make it a shelf item, then they need to know that in some people, the canning method or the pasta is causing problems. You never know, they may refund the price or give you some goodies to compensate. They often do over here. Sometimes expensive stuff too. My MIL had a carving knife which she used constantly. One night the blade snapped off at the hilt of the handle. She wrote to the knife company and sent them the bits (in the UK would you believe. Wouldn't be allowed to happen in todays world) Anyway they sent her a brand new knife with their apologies that her 40 or 50 year old knife suffered metal fatigue. She certainly didn't expect that.

Happy - presentation next week. will be good to get that off your plate. Hope you don't have to work on it over the weekend.

Ceejay - a pound is good. You are at least moving in the right direction.

Michelle - Well done on the weigh in. That's a good loss especially since you were on medication during the week. We will see you in the 190's very shortly. I can feel it.

Laura - unfortunately losing weight requires such dedication. It can't be given up on either especially after you get to the required goal weight. Nope, we are stuck with this for life, so better make the most of it I guess.

Annies off to St Louis or wherever. No doubt we will have a blow by blow description when she gets back on Sunday or whenever. I hope she has lots of fun.

Time to get on with it. I will be catching up during breaks during the day, so have a good one or a good night or a bad night with a good man, or should that be a good night with a bad man. What am I saying. Mel cover your ears! You and I know nothing about what I am talking about.

[ceejay52]

Michelle
Wanted to congratulate you on those 1.6 pounds lost.

Shad
I need some of your motivation to do some repairs. Guess I could call the land lord to come do it.

I've completed one load of laundry and the next load is ready to go to the dryer. I've also cleaned the bathroom. I was watching Dr Oz today, his new show started this week, and he was talking about how many germs there were in your bathroom. One of the things my boss was nit picking about yesterday was that I cleaned to much.

Off to exercise.

[happy2bme]

stupid presentation. Worked late tonight. Came home, ate and worked some more. Have to get up early to get to work to review and probably change again and again and again

I'll be back eventually.

Didn't read much. Congrats on the great weigh in Michelle - so sorry to hear your account got hacked. Bloody thieves abound.

[happy2bme]

All I can say about the challenge is pffffttt right now. Sorry.