Jo, well done on your loss :cp:

Raff, sorry to hear about your gain ... the best advice I can give is to try to work out why it happened and put it down to experience, then put it behind you and start afresh this week. I know it's easier said than done, but try not to let it get to you, brush it under the carpet and forget about it. BTW, Good Friday is on 9th April, and Easter Monday is 12th April ... Still 6 weeks to go, so time enough to get back on track and shift some pounds ... Good Luck! :)

Nichola

Thanks for the positive reinforcement Nichola! I needed it. :)

Raff, I would like to direct you to your stats - you are still down 36 pounds which is mighty impressive. And also, ditto everything Nichola said!

Congrats losers!

And I need to change my stats. I did lose my two.

Brandy

Heloooooo out there!

I could use some inspiration, guys! I need someone to pull me together and make me really fired up about weight loss! SOMEBODY GIVE ME A PEP TALK!

Brandy

Brandy, girl, you're doing great! You lost your 2 lbs for last week....now just this week to work on. Don't think about 6 weeks, think just one. All the focus is this week, you have plenty of time to concern yourself with the rest of 'em.

So this week, what are you going to do? You're going to eat enough food to feel satiated, but only GOOD FOOD. Remember your portions and remember your snacks. You're going to get some physical activity in there too, because you remember how much better you feel when you've moved off the couch.

Why are you going to eat well and exercise? Because you'll feel better! Because you are going to work it during your vacations! You're going to be a hottie! You're going to love shopping for outfits to wear because you met your Easter goal and lost that weight and you deserve it! You're going to get those compliments that always feel good! But most of all, you're going to compliment yourself, because you'll know how hard you worked!

Keep it up!
-Mari

P.S. That was as much a pep talk for me as for you! :p

Thanks Mari! Just reading your enthusiastic post has made me feel much better. And I think the GOOD FOOD hint was timely. We have been lazy with the shopping so I've been making do with what's here. I feel icky. I'm not a big believer in fasting or even in "cleansing" diets but sometimes ya just feel yucky on the inside - the idea of a water/fruit/veg fast sounds appealing to me! Just clean me out and start me over! Not that I will, but it does sound nice.

In the meantime, I'm going to have to get myself to the grocery and stock up on real food.

Thanks so much for the pep talk!!!

B

Okay, spreading the love around here :grouphug: sending my positive vibes to you all. And thanks a bunch for the encouraging words.

Love you all!
Raff

Hi Girls,

Hope you all had a good week :) I feel like I've had a pretty good week as far as my food intake is concerned, but unfortunately I'm up 1.5lbs :( ... However, TOM has arrived and I'm feeling a bit like a beached whale right now so I'm putting the gain down to fluid retention ... hope I'm right!! :o Either way I'm not letting it get to me and I'll continue doing what I'm doing and will hopefully see a loss next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Nichola

I'm going to go out on a limb and post my weight early - I'm the same as last week. Not worried as we've done a lot of eating out this week (due to the fact that we are both too lazy to go shopping). Will NOT be making that mistake THIS week.

B

Whew. I've been MIA I tell ya. I had my weigh in and was down 2.4, so I'm at 247.8. But of course, that was the 21st of Feb. I have been so busy with work that I haven't had a chance to make it to a meeting. So I'll keep you all posted.

Looks like everyone is doing well. Keep it up guys!
Lorraine

Oh Lorraine, that's wonderful! Go you!

B

I posted this morning, but it's disappeared :?:

I weighed myself this morning, and I have lost 1lb. That means I am down to 248.

Right, back to my very boring essay on constitutional reform :yikes: :write:

later,
Jo :encore:

Congrats to everyone who made their losses and are keeping up the challenge! Even if this week was not the best (as it wasn't for me) let's keep up the good spirits!

I had a so-so week....I didn't eat any junk, but I only managed 3 sets of sit-ups instead of 5. I just had so much stuff to do most weeknights....and frankly, the weather was just too pretty this weekend to be indoors! Does playing frisbee for about 2 hours this weekend count????? Please?????

Have wonderful week 3, ladies!
-Mari

Jo, congratulations!

Mari, why shouldn't frisbee count?!?! OF COURSE it counts!

I'm in great diet-related spirits. I just spent huge amounts of time "perfecting" my own little WW daily journal thingie in Word so I can print them out as I go - and it's very personalized to me and has all kinds of extraneous info. AND I've WATPed.

Have a great week everyone!!!

B

Hi All! I weighed myself on Sunday and am still at 300. :( What an ugly number - 160 sounds so much better.

Congrats to Jo and Lorraine! And hopefully maintainers will see results next week.

Overall I think we're doing great. We're all in the right place with our foodplans and exercising, now if we could just shut our pie-holes for a bit.... :lol:

Well good luck during the week. I'll be thinking of you all.

Take care,
Raff

Hi Raff! I know what you mean about ugly numbers. I think 147 just looks so much nicer than 247. Gee. Only 100 pounds to go. Is that all :faint:

Brandy

Does anyone have a link to Ali's site? I'm just wondering if she's updated or if her site partner has heard from her. I've changed computers since the last time she posted so I don't have it marked in my favorites anymore.

Also - Kelly and Danielle? Where are you guys?

Brandy

I have it somewhere, and I did check, but she's not added anything since May last year, or whenever it was she reached goal.

I even did a search for her user name on other sites, and came up blank.

Very worrying.

hello ladies!

Let's keep up the good work! I'm having problems doing my sit-ups in an orderly fashion, mostly because I'm tired after my evening runs. I really should just get up 5 min. earlier and do them in the mornings...I'll try it tomorrow.

I hear you about ugly numbers....but just focus and you gals will be there before you know it....just don't lose faith! It's so easy to feel down on numbers....but remember that numbers are numbers, and just think of all the effort you've put in!

I wanted to also let you guys know that I am running my first organized event on Sunday the 28th of this month. It's a 12K with a beautiful course that goes across the Golden Gate Bridge...I'm very excited! (and nervous! I hope I can hang!)

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm keeping my fingers crossed I don't encounter any junk food on my mini-trip this weekend!

Thank you always for your wonderful motivation and good vibes! They mean a lot to me.

-Mari

Mari, your running event - that's so exciting! You should post pics for us!

Jo, it worries me that Ali just disappeared. Hope everything is ok.

How are we all doing on our challenge?

B

Hi Girls,

How's everyone doing on the challenge? I'm pleased to say that I'm back down to 172.5lbs ... but seem to moving nowhere fast!!! :o Hoping to have a better week this week ... somehow don't think I'm going to reach my goal of 10lbs by Easter ... but I guess anythings better than nothing, right? Still, who knows, there's still 4 weeks to go so I suppose it's still possible if I set my mind to it!! :)

I've also been searching for Ali's site, but can't find it ... it really is weird that she just stopped posting, especially after she said she would still be around to help her maintain after reaching her goal ... I can't believe she just disappeard, hope everything's ok. :?:

I'm feeling excited today ... going to see David Bowie in concert tonight ... it's his last gig of his world tour so should be pretty good! :cb: :dance: :dancer: :cp:

Nichola

It is such a worry that she'd just disappear like that.

This is the website: http://www.angelfire.com/al3/hillaryandali/

I just don't know what to think.


I weighed myself this morning, with a loss of a big fat ZERO. Having said that, I'm not in the slightest bit surprised as I wasn't restrained this week.

Have a great time Nichola at the concert, I'm not a Bowie fan but I should imagine he's a top class performer.

Good luck to everyone this week.
Love
Jo

Jo, the concert was great. I'm not a big Bowie fan but Nick was into him in a big way years ago and really wanted to go and see him. I'm glad I went along too ... it was a first class act.

I checked out Ali's website and noticed that her email addy is on there ... has anyone tried to email her lately?

Hope everyone has a good week. :)

Nichola

I e-mailed her hotmail addy yesterday, from her artwork website (it doesn't look like anything has been done with that site either). Will have to wait and see if I get a reply. :(

So the search for Ali is still on. Hope we get (good) news of her soon!

I weighed in this morning - lost the two pounds I should have lost the week before and the one from last week so I'm only one pound behind where I should be - I should be able to catch up by the end!

Brandy

Brandy, well done on the loss ... you're 1 pound behind, but still ahead of me!!! :o :lol: ... let's hope we can both do some catching up :)

Nichola

Hi Guys! Just a short drop in. I'm dead tired and it's going to be a long week. DH is swamped at work, and is grumpy as all get out. Now I know how he must feel most of the time, as usually the tables are turned and I'm the grumpy one! Not much to report on the weight loss front except that I'm trying hard this week to stay OP. In fact, I'm going to bake my breakfast cookies for tomorrow morning right now. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Good for you Mari on the run! I need an "official" event like that to help me out. Need to get my back sorted out first.

Hi everyone else! Hope all is well!
Lorraine

Lorraine, will need more details on this b'fast cookie!

Nichola, I'm sure we'll both catch up by the end.

And did you notice our smiley guys are wearing hats???

Recipe is at: http://www.pcgirl.net/recipes/archives/000729.html

I didn't use the vanilla, or the butter imitation stuff, and all turned out fine. Will try the banana nut next I think.

Lorraine (Happy St. Patrick's Day! :) )

Those sound great - thanks for the link.

Right now I have these friggin apple bananas (harry and david, some kind of hybrid - they look like bananas but are supposed to have an appley/spicy taste?) that just WILL NOT TURN YELLOW. I've had them for a week and they are as green as the day is long. The info that came with them says they should take "a few days" to turn. A few days, a few weeks. I guess it's all the same. Anyway, the point is, they sent a LOT of them and that site has a lot of good looking banana recipies!

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!!!!! :cb: :cb:

-Mari

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 :crossed:

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! :eating2: :mcd: :corn: :burger: :jeno: :cheese: :cookie: :ink: 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 :cry: ... 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?? :lol3:

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!! :rolleyes:

Have a great weekend everyone! :)

Nichola

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 :flow1: 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 :rolleyes: 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 :strong: Maybe a little more of that and this :tread: and I'll have myself one of these :goodscale 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 :grouphug:

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 :^: :crossed:

Good luck to everyone for a good week :)

Nichola

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

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?!!!! :eek: 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 :cry: 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?! :dunno: Guess I'm a bit of a sucker! :rolleyes: :)

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

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! :D

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! :flow1: 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! :bravo:

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! :yes:

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! :dizzy: 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! :sunny: Oh and the course was absolutely breathtaking!

Have a wonderful day, ladies!
-Mari

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 :tread: (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 :sorry: but how lucky you've found two more that need homes.

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

Let's hope this is a losing week :balloons:

Mari, well done on the run ... I'm very, VERY impressed!! :bravo: :cp: 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! :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!! :rolleyes: 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