[HealthyMari]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've kind of been stressing to keep up with healthy eating and exercising for the last two weeks b/c there's been a lot of stuff going on that had kept me out of the house.

I had a big 3-day weekend in LA when I visited my parents and they I've had 2 birthday outings for friends, a St. Pat's Day outing, and I have another b-day outing this weekend plus a day out with my Boy's co-workers. And I have to run the 12K on Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aughhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just been a crazy 2 weeks trying to make room for everything and not eat everything present at the event! I've been doing very well though, just a lot of focusing. Yesterday we went to Pasta Pomodoro (which is a chain, so you might have heard of it) and I didn't eat any of the greasy garlic bread or the pesto/oil dip and I ordered the Healthy Fish dish, which has light oils, no cheese and is grilled salmon on light pasta with tomatoes. It was very good and I stopped when I was full! Gosh, it feels so good to exude the self-control I know is in me somewhere but often lost!

Anyway, good luck to everyone on keeping up their goals this week! The cookies sound good, I will for sure try them soon! And here's to bananas turning yellow!!!!!

-Mari

[NicoleNYC]

Mari, congratulations on keeping up with your healthy habits in the midst of all that's going on. It's hard, isn't it? I think you're doing great! It's real life and there's ALWAYS going to be real life - we just have to learn to "diet" through it. I'm working on that myself.

And best of luck with your 12K!!!

So far I have lost diddly this week. Diddly squat. Harumph. Maybe I'll have a big woosh over the weekend

[Fat in Hong Kong]

Hi Girls,

Well done to those of you who have lost this week. Unfortunately, I've lost zilch, zero, nowt!! ... Not making any excuses ... just haven't been in the right frame of mind to stay on plan. I've had such a terrible week and have consoled myself with you know what! Nick's having a really tough time at work right now and has been very stressed and depressed ... which has made me very stressed and depressed!! And on top of that, my best friend since we both arrived in Hong Kong three years ago, left yesterday to relocate in New Zealand ... I spent last night in tears ... Evertime Nick asked me if I was ok, I started to blubber again!! Her daughter was also my daughter's best friend which means Sophie's feeling pretty sad right now too. Living overseas and having no family around means you get very close and attached to some people ... she was one of the best friends I've ever had and I'm missing her already ... I feel like I've had my right arm cut off ... now that should count for a few pounds right??

Sorry for such a depressing post ... I'm going to pull myself together now and look on the bright side ... life ain't so bad ... I get to go to New Zealand one day for hols ... and they left us a little something behind to remember them ... a hamster!!!! Today is going to be spent scouring Hong Kong for a pet shop that sells hamster supplies ... not an easy task!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nichola

[NicoleNYC]

Oh Nichola, I feel for ya! I swear every time I've made a friend here, she's moved back to wherever she's come from and I'm on my own again It sucks! So I'm sending you lots of feel better vibes That's what a feel better vibe would look like, right?

As for me, I've been OP all week but I've lost not a bit So next week (starting Monday) I'm going to try the Wendie variation of WW. I have noticed myself that when I vary how much I eat over the week I always lose, with this I would plan in advance which days to eat more. And I'm willing to tweak it a bit. I'm also going to finally start exercising again Maybe a little more of that and this and I'll have myself one of these again.

I'm not terribly discouraged. I mean, at least I'm trying and I'm not miserable so the results will come eventually, right? RIGHT?

Nichola, feel better

[Fat in Hong Kong]

Brandy, thanks for sending the good vibes ... I'm feeling much better today ... just needed to vent and get it all out of my system

I feel ready to take the bull by the horns, as the saying goes, and get back on track, so hopefully I might have a loss to report next weigh-in

Good luck to everyone for a good week

Nichola

[ecchs]

Hey ladies!

Wow! Been a while since I posted. Sorry about that!

Weighed in on Saturday and was down one more pound. Slowly but surely I guess. At this rate, I should be at goal in about 9 years. Fantastic. :lol I'm going to do my best to speed up the rate of loss to 1 lb/week versus 1 lb. /month.

Started taking a vitamin supplement and some greens powder everyday along with a shot of Udo's oil and I'm feeling a lot more energetic and alert. Here's to that keeping up!

Nichola...so hard to "lose" friends. You know they're still friends, but when they are so far away, it's really hard to keep in touch, isn' it? ****hug****

Well...I need to dash to bed or I'll start to eat. I'll say hi to the rest of you with a ****hug**** and a ****wave****.

Lorraine

[Fat in Hong Kong]

Hi Girls,

Well, I've had a pretty traumatic weekend ... apart from my friend leaving HK on Friday which was very emotional, I had a bit of a disaster yesterday!! ... Remember I said my friends daughter had given her hamster to Sophie when she left? ... Can you believe it died on Sunday morning?!!!! Needless to say, Sophie was absolutely devastated ... not only has she lost her best friend, she's now lost the hamster. I couldn't believe it. The hammy was already about 2 years old though and I said to my friend that we probably would'nt have it for long ... but I didn't expect it to be only 5 days!!! I looked in the cage yesterday morning and she was outside her little house shaking and cold ... I'd seen the signs before as I'd had several hammy's myself when I was younger. Anyway, took her off to the vet and the poor little thing died just as we arrived. Vet confirmed it was natural causes thank goodness, as I was thinking it was something we'd done ... bit of a coincidence that we'd only had her for 5 days then she died! Sophie was inconsolable and I was in quite a state myself.

Anyway, it just so happens that someone I know at school it trying to find new homes for two hamsters. I'll give you one guess who's going to have them ... Sophie & Tom can both have one each now Sophie's cheered up a bit thank goodness, but I'm left wondering why the **** I let myself in for this in the first place?! Guess I'm a bit of a sucker!

Good news is I'm back on track as of today ... just been a bought yet another slimming magazine to get some inspiration, so I'm off to get a coffee and to put my feet up for half an hour to read the success stories ... if they can do it so can we!!

Nichola

[HealthyMari]

Happy Monday! Look at all the cute smilies you guys are using! I'll have to make sure and do a good job to make my post equally cheery!

Nichola - I'm so sorry that you had a traumatic week. I also moved up on my own with no friends or family nearby, so I feel you. And so sorry about the hamster! But am glad that it's getting resolved and Sophie is doing better. Just hang in there and I'm sure you'll make more friends to be close to....not to mention now you'll get to visit New Zealand! Just trying to see the brighter side of it all!

Lorraine - A pound is a pound is a pound! Good job, that's one less to worry about, so don't gloss it over! It's an accomplishment!

Brandy - Good job on staying OP! That's the hardest to do when you don't see immediate results, so I think you should be proud! It'll pay off in the long run!

Well I had my 12K yesterday and my goal was to simply run the whole time, no matter how slow. I was really nervous about it, especially because I don't run outside very much. It was so funny b/c I had the most horrible nightmares the whole night before! The funniest one was where I dreamt I was running in these big floppy clown shoes! The mind is a funny thing!

Anyway, I did better than that! I ran the whole thing (quite hilly and difficult at times, actually) at just under a 9-minute mile pace...so I finished the 12K in 67 min! I was very excited! My legs are extremely sore today, but it's such a feeling of satisfaction that I don't even care! Oh and the course was absolutely breathtaking!

Have a wonderful day, ladies!
-Mari

[NicoleNYC]

Ok, my o-fficial weigh in: exactly the same. So it looks like I'm on some kind of every-other-week pattern. No fear! That's better than nothing!

Mari, you running girl you (closest I could find to a running smiley)! We are so proud! YAY!!! I'm so impressed!

Nichola, poor hammy - and poor Sophie and Nichola! That is a traumatic weekend but how lucky you've found two more that need homes.

Lorraine, congrats on the - but I'm right there with you. Slooooow. Which, as always, is better than gaining!

Let's hope this is a losing week

[Fat in Hong Kong]

Mari, well done on the run ... I'm very, VERY impressed!! You are a fine example for us all to look up to

Brandy, well done for staying on track ... we all know how difficult it is (me included!!) but I'm sure if we persevere we'll get there in the end

Took possession of the two hammy's this afternoon ... the dog's gone crazy! ... I'm going to have to keep a close eye on that one!! One normal hamster, one tiddly little Russian hamster ... now I can see we're gonna have arguments over who gets which one!! Think we'll be changing their names though ... one's called Bart and the others called Fluff- Bucket!! Their a bit smelly so I'm off to give their cages a good scrub for the first time ... then it's over to the kids!! ... Yeah, right!!

Nichola

[NicoleNYC]

Yay for new hammies! Good luck! I wonder if our dog would even notice them?

I just weighed myself this morning and I'm down so I'm going to update my WI for this week. I know, it's cheating, but I don't care. It's only two days late. I think it's the weight I SHOULD have lost last week anyway

Brandy

[RaffaellaBella]

Hey All! I haven't been getting notifications so I thought the posts may have died down a bit, but as I now see they haven't which I'm happy to see.

I wan't to congratulate all the losers and maintainers, including myself. I haven't the courage to get on the scale since my last big gain so I'm going to wait until Sunday to weigh-in. There is still some time before the Easter challenge ends for me to lose a couple of lbs - at least the seven that I've gained.

Things are basically ok with me. I'm trying to place Lillo in a foster home in upstate New York. Long story - don't want to get into it otherwise I'll start bawling.

I've been babysitting from time to time for my friend so that and OA has been keeping me busy.

Well good luck to everyone this week. Maybe we all be a lb lighter!

Take care,
Raff

[NicoleNYC]

Good luck with your weigh in on Sunday, Raff! How are things going with OA? There's a book out now about a woman who lost a large amount of weight with OA - it's not just about OA but the whole weight loss thing and the before v after conflicts. If I can ever remember the friggin title, I'm going to grab a copy. I read a small bit in a magazine, now ask me if I can remember which one...

And good luck with Lilo. If it's just not working, finding a foster home/breed rescue is best for everyone. It hurts to try so hard and not be the perfect fit (we went through this with a shih tzu female a year ago and it was so hard because she was such a doll but she and our other dog just didn't fit. She now is the world's second most spoiled shih tzu - to a family 1200 miles away from where she started out! I really think she was placed with us so that we could get her with these people because they are just perfect for each other) but breed rescues are so very very careful when screening new families, they will find the perfect fit. Big hugs to you.

[Fat in Hong Kong]

Hi Girls,

How are you all doing? Well, I'm afraid that I've not weighed in this week ... had an extremely busy weekend ... It was the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens which runs from Friday-Sunday, all day every day. It's a really big event here with teams competing from all around the world. It's a fantastic weekend ... even if you're not into rugby! Therefore, my whole weekend has consisted of more unhealthy fast food than you could ever possibly imagine ... and way too much beer!! And what made the event even more special was that England won the cup for the third year running!

I'll try to be good for the rest of the week and weigh-in on Friday as usual.

Nichola

[NicoleNYC]

Nichola, sounds like you had a great weekend, weigh in or not!

I did weigh in and I'm the same as last week - 244 (my cheating mid-week weigh in last week was 244 so I counted it) but as I'm feeling puffy and it's getting near TOM, I'm happy not to have gained. Plus, I am - believe it or not - kinda buzzed to actually be in the lower 240s! I am totally focused on 239!