Yeah well, after that dust storm yesterday, there was little else to do but eat and sleep and I did both in great quantities. We're advised not to exercise outdoors until the weekend when the dust should finally settle, so will have to do indoor exercise stuff today. Mind you I did go out and wash down the car and part of the house to get rid of the rotten stuff - mixture of iron ore and ferrous dust plus fertilised dry soil - because it will rust and embed in paint if left.

So back to the drawing board. I do so hate counting, but if I don't look at it and count it, I will eat too many carbs. I know this because I am a carboholic.

Today is not a good day for me emotionally...I'm worried about dog. He's having problems with his gums. They are bleeding and sore and he's having trouble eating. Since he is diabetic and on insulin, we need to make sure he eats...so I'm giving him softer foods. I'm going to call the vet today and see if I can get him in tomorrow. They'll have to put him under anesthesia to examine and clean his teeth and fix his gums. He's such a sweetie. I hate to see him in pain.

I got about 17,500 steps in yesterday, which included an hour on the treadmill. And I did well eating within my points. Hopefully, weigh in today will be good. After work, I plan to go to the gym for 1/2 hour of cardio, 1/2 hour of weights and maybe 1/2 hour of Tai Chi.

Journal and stay within WW points - 3 pauses left - Day 9 completed
Drink 64 ounces of water - 3 pauses left - Day 9 completed
20 minutes (at least) of cardio - 2 pauses left - Day 8 completed
25 crunches - 2 pauses left - Day 8 completed
At least 10000 steps per day - 1 pauses left - Day 5 completed

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Red - I'll have to check into the Paul McKenna book. Or see if the TV special is going to be re-broadcast anytime soon. I looked at V8 juice and it doesn't have cucumber....maybe your drink would be more palatable without it.

Shad - Sorry to hear that you've failed all your challenges...but with having to stay inside due to the dust storm, I can understand. Good on ya' for starting right back up and for adding journaling. We don't get dust storms here, but there are "Ozone Action" days when we have a little smog and the air can be unhealthy for sensitive groups (e.g., asthmatics like me). Of course, a bad smog day here is WAY BETTER than a GOOD DAY in Silicon Valley (where I used to live). Listen to the warnings, and stay indoors. Maybe it's time to rearrange the furniture or chase Sunday around the house? As for journaling...I don't much like it either...but if I don't, things get out of control quickly.

Weigh in went good...not as good as I hoped....but I lost 0.4 lb, so I'll take it. I'm leaving work in 45 minutes to take my doggie to the vet.

Yesterday, stuck to the menu and journalled. Didn't do the scale any good but hey.

1300 Calories or there about per day - Day 1 done
30 minutes solid exercise per day - 3 pauses - Not started yet
1.5 litres of water per day - Day one done
Journal food and water - Day 1 done.

Thereason the exercise isn't done is because my friend who goes walking with me keeps on cancelling because of work so we have struck a compromise. Since it is really getting too hot to walk in the afternoon, we will be doing it at 6.00am instead. She will come here, we'll walk and she can shower here, have a cuppa tea and get off to work by 7.15am. It actually suits me better because I prefer morning exercise to afternoon or evening.

Michelle - 0.4 down is better than o.4 up which is more or less where I am at the moment. Hope the doggy gets better.

Red - another round of alcohol and smoking down. Well done you Great going.

I think it might be siesta time. I am waiting for the plaster to dry in the loo so I can sand and paint and then put the paint pots away. Now won't that be nice. Tiles too. Thats finished at last.

Happy Friday ladies -

I took my dog Doppler to the vet yesterday. She examined him and ran blood tests. She was planning on doing a full dental cleaning today, but the blood test showed he was anemic (from his gums bleeding so much) and that his platelets were very low (which is why his gums were bleeding so much). She said that the low platelet count can be caused by his immune system seeing his platelets as something that shouldn't be there and destroying them, which can sometimes be caused by something a tick excretes into the blood when they bite (and we were just in tick country up north, but we checked the dogs for ticks and didn't see any). All our dogs are on Flea and Tick prevention...but that means that the flea or tick dies when they bite, so they could bite and get their anti-clotting agent into the bloodstream. She said normally they would treat this with antibiotics and steroids, but a side effect of the steroids would be that Doppler's nicely stabilized blood sugar would be thrown all out of whack. So instead she prescribed an immunosuppressant drug so that his platelet count would get back to normal. She said essentially, he has an auto-immune disease right now. But she believes it will clear up in a couple weeks. So antibiotics and immunosuppresants it is for a couple weeks. And she said that we can use Anbesol on his gums to help him be more comfortable. And for awhile, we're supposed to wet his food to make it softer for him to eat (and not as rough against his gums). I'm using low sodium, fat free chicken broth...and he's wolfing it down. He already seems more comfortable and hopefully by the time I get home today, he'll be feeling better.

I didn't get any exercise in yesterday (other than walking 8000 steps over the course of the day) - I'm running low/out of exercise pauses. After the vet appointment, which took awhile, I went to the pharmacy to get the prescriptions. But my eating was good and healthy. I'm planning to go to the gym tonight and this weekend. Other than that, no big plans for the weekend. We're kind of playing it by ear based on the weather. I will get to the gym and make some veggie soup though.

Journal and stay within WW points - 3 pauses left - Day 10 completed
Drink 64 ounces of water - 3 pauses left - Day 10 completed
20 minutes (at least) of cardio - 1 pauses left - Day 8 completed
25 crunches - 1 pauses left - Day 8 completed
At least 10000 steps per day - 0 pauses left - Day 5 completed

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Red - Congrats on completing the no booze, no cigs challenge!

Shad - Glad you have switched your exercise time. They say that those who exercise in the morning lose the most weight because they get their exercise in before life and the hectic day have a chance to throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans. Congrats on finishing the tiling and painting in the loo!

This looks awesome! I'm new to 3FC and I think this may be a great way to get started. Today will be my day 1.

Here are my challenges:

Level 1 - take supplements daily
Level 1 - drink 40 ounces of water (not tea or mixes)
Level 2 - exercise 30 minutes daily

Morning all,

1300 Calories or there about per day - Day 2 done
30 minutes solid exercise per day - 3 pauses - Not started yet
1.5 litres of water per day - Day 2 done
Journal food and water - Day 2 done.

A good day food wise and (so far) sticking to the boring journalling and planning. Oh for the days when I ate what I wanted and did what I wanted and didn't gain weight by just looking at food.

Welcome CanDewIt. Hope you settle in and achieve. I'm not sure how much 40 oz of water actually is but I can tell you that from my time here and watching what I eat, when the 'experts' tell you that you must have 2 litres of water per day, they are advising on the 'norm'. You and only you know how much your body can hold. We had one woman over here die because she managed to swallow 5 litres of water in a short period and basically overloaded the body organs which could not handle the volume. I'm 5.1" and I can not handle 2 litres per day. Besides which, a lot of fluid comes from food - an apple for example is 80% water - so if you are new to this, just watch what is happening to your body and its basic functions to gauge whether there is enough or not.

Michelle - hope Doppler gets better soon. I know Shad had teeth troubles but we just put him under every so often and the vet cleaned them. No way I was getting in that mouth or Gunbo's either. Big dogs have big teeth!!!

Red - keep on keeping on. Are the pants showing any signs of fitting properly yet. My shorts do up and I can get the zip done up without lying on the bed, but it is not a pretty sight I can tell you.

Out of here. We have another dust storm headed our way. I can see it on the horizon now. The western sky is starting to turn orange and it is only 6.31am. DS2 is headed out west for the weekend soon - hope they will be able to breathe out there. Where he is going (Goondiwindi) is a dustbowl at the best of times. Red might have heard of Goondiwindi - famous for a race horse called Gunsynd,otherwise known as the Goondiwindi Grey. And not famous for much else. Have a great day

Day one complete.

40 ounces of water - done
supplements - done
30 minutes of exercise - done (40 of brisk walking)

Thanks Shad! 40 ounces of water isn't much. 1.5 - 2 liters of fluids per day is recommended for me. I'm just trying to focus on getting some plain water in right now. The rest of the fluids tend to come through tea, milk, and so forth.

The postings here really are helpful...both inspiring and supportive.

:

1300 Calories or there about per day - Day 3 done
30 minutes solid exercise per day - 3 pauses - Not started yet
1.5 litres of water per day - Day 3 done
Journal food and water - Day 3 done.

At least the weight is now going the right way. All due to the fact I have gone back to eating to plan rather than adding snacks which are not necessary and just add to the overall disappointment with the scale.

The last dust storm has settled - it was nowhere near as bad as the last one but has deposited a fine coating of dust everywhere. Another day of cleaning up coming up. The dust is very dry and gets into everything. Pain.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday/Sunday

Morning Red - If I am early, then you are even earlier. I was about to go have my shower when you post notification came in.

This last dust storm was little but haze and really NSW copped it much worse than up here in Queensland. Sydney got it real bad. Too bad, how sad.

I think that at the moment I am in the right zone. However I'd better make the most of it since it never lasts. You have to go flat out while the inspiration inspires so to speak. You will no doubt get there yourself. Thanks for the link. I'll go shower and get dressed and come back to read it over breakfast. Computer time is done for the time being.