Hey Ladies... I think Jolly fell asleep on her horse. I know she's been busy this week, so I figured I'd go ahead and put this up here so we can get back on track!!

I'm just about to the point where I'm going to start over next week, at this rate... I never realized how critical to my success 3FC, the journals, and this thread are. Between the financial stress, the returning to work, and trying to jump back into a plan at the same point I was last year after working out and eating right for 6 months... uhm .. I think I need to step back and punt.

So .. here are my weekly goals at this point:

Drink three bottles of water each day while at work.
Stay away from the vending machine.
Do not eat the Wednesday muffin.
Eat two fruits a day.
Ride my horse three times.
Eat breakfast every day.
Eat a well balanced dinner and have ONE slimabear for dessert.
Do one cardio workout.
Do one weights workout.
Go to bed no later than 10:00 pm.
Get up no later than 5:30 am.

Now .. this week hasn't been a total waste. Today was bad.. bad bad bad. I found out I didn't get the raise, though later I found out there are still meetings being held, negotiations being made, etc about the review and raises for everyone in the company. It's just that I'm sinking fast financially, and every pay period they delay this is that much more money I'm behind. It's getting very stressful. So I totally caved, ate fast food for lunch, didn't drink my water - suffered a headache all afternoon because of that. Then got home, drank two glasses of wine while snacking on baguette dipped in olive oil, and then ate a lovely caesar salad with shrimp. I have ridden twice, so that's not bad. I've done my cardio, now I need to do my weights. The bedtime is getting under control slowly. I haven't eaten the muffin (it's in the freezer), and I haven't hit the vending machine. So ... I just have to remind myself that even though I slipped badly today into comfort eating, it's not the end of being OP. It's just the start of another day tomorrow, another day OP.

So c'mon girls! Lets repost our goals and get our motivation back!

Hi Everyone

I'm glad to see that we are back. I was very nervous as I tried to get on this morning but I couldn't. Thought we might have crashed again.

I got Mark a weight bench for Christmas, and I am just waiting to set it up so that we can start using it.

Ok for the goals.
Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Plan my meals and make a list to take to the grocery store with me so I can buy only what is on the list.
Start doing some exercise 4 or 5 times a week
Eat supper before 8:00 pm every night.

I will start with these and then add some more after I get these down.

Raven - I think I need to find a box of Slimabears. Way to go on not eating the muffin, and staying away from the vending machines. You might have had fast food, but that is today and you can start over tomorrow. I am sorry that you don't have your raise already, but I am glad that the company is still in negotiations. I do think that you will get your raise.

I have been trying to get up all week at 5:30 to practice for next week. Haven't been to successful. Raven maybe you need to give me a wake up call. Oh well. I'll have to just do it next week.



Hi to everyone else and I hope they find us.
Have a great night.

Lucky - If Chach is your diet buddy, than I can be your wake up buddy? I think I need one too, sometimes. I'm getting better at going to bed on time - yesterday I made it into bed before 10, which is a big deal. I'm still not waking up on time, though. I guess that just indicates how overtired I was. I hope next week is better, and I can start dragging myself out of bed early enough to get in a short workout. Maybe the panic of knowing you have to be to work will launch you out of bed.

Like Lucky said... no matter how discouraged I was yesterday, today is a new day, and what I ate yesterday is no excuse to repeat the behavior. It's so tempting to slide back into that excuse making and say "well, shoot .. it's already Thursday, this week is shot, why don't I just give up and start fresh next week." That's so ridiculous. I know I can't do that. I ate my cereal for breakfast, I have my water in front of me (now I need to actually drink the stuff - this was so much easier when it was hot out), and I had my banana for snack. I thought of something else this morning I do NOT want to deal with come summer, and that is wearing too much clothing to hide the pudge. It's HOT in the summer, and I want to be able to wear cool, light clothing. Not cover myself in layers hoping no one will notice that I'm fat. Bah. The time to start is NOW, not next week. So there.

Hi ladies i posted on jolly other..then i did a search as I was looking for you LUCKY!!!

I wanted to tell you how much i apprecaited your comments in my journal. Your suport meant a lot to me

Raven i comment in your journal and on jollys but you too..i appreicated your support..msn has 3oo of my emails held hostage..but they promised me they would fix it so forgive me for not e-mailing you back

GNC the company my hubby works for is having a constest about lsoing weight wiht their grapefruit stuf..though i know it does not woerk..amm gonna start again on MOnday...wish me luck

Again Raven i like your plan..nad you will do it!!!

chat ya soon!!

tracy

Hey Tracy! It's ok about the e-mail.. I'm just glad you're ok. I was really worried about you. And honestly, I didn't expect that much chutzpah from you. But I'm really amazed and impressed, girl. It was good to see you finally get righteously angry. You've taken far too much crap, and I just think it's fantastic that you found out you don't need to anymore. OMG, have we created a monster? Next you'll be telling all those snotty employers to take a hike!

I don't know anything about the GNC plan, just be sure it's healthy, ok? Fad diets usually don't amount to much, and you end up still not able to change your lifestyle and keep the weight off even if you do peel off the pounds to begin with. Be careful, please?

Good Morning and Happy Friday to all.

Well I managed to wake up at 5:30 am yesterday morning (only reason is because the dog was getting ill and I wanted to get her outside) That works much better than the alarm!! I was so tired and needed a nap by 10:30am.

Tracy you have to us more often. We were worried about you. How was your Christmas and New years? Since you got your spine, is everything working itself out? So what does the contest winner win at GNC? Good luck on your new start with this. You have all of our total support when ever you need it. Always.

Raven my wakeup and 5 pounds a month buddy. You are not going to have a problem in the summer hun because that is 30 pounds gone by then and you will want to wear the lighter clothes as you will be looking fabulous by then. (we will be wearing lighter clothes ) If you want to move there is a few jobs available here. You'd be back in the deep freeze though.

Jolly how are you doing? We miss you. Now we are waiting to hear about how your week went. Catch us up soon.

Happy how is your week going? Thanks to your fortunes I have been doing pretty good so far this week. Cody wanted to bake some brownies this week (microwave) and I told him he couldn't this week because I am not quite strong enough to say no. Next week! (maybe)

Chachee come on back over.....

Hi Erin glad to see that you found us again. I hope the others are able to find their way back also.

Have a great Friday everyone.

Hey chickies... this from Jolly in an e-mail:

"OK. I still had problems getting on the thread. So, please tell
everyone Jolly is still here. I have not run away or anything. I will
sit down and try to fight my way in over the weekend."

Lucky - Oh that is one of the worst ways to wake up, isn't it?? And you're absolutely right. I will be much lighter then. I just need to keep that thought in the front of my brain and pull it out every time I think about going off plan. And I really .. uhm .. thank you for the invitation, but *shiver* I think I'll stay down here where it's warm!

Happy, Hippy, Chachee, Erin, Brunissen (did I forget anyone?) - come hither and post!

OK. I am awake now

Thanks for restarting our thread, Raven. Like you said, I don't realize how important this thread is to me, and my success. Having you all to talk to throw thick and thin . . . it means a lot.

Tracy, again, I don't go into the journals. Please e me up on everything. I want to know you are ok.

I will try to post more this weekend from home. But, I am really busy through next week, so please forgive me if I don't do more than say hi. i am thinking of all of you.

Hi ladies!

I am here, just also posting on a new thread. I will keep checking in with you guys also here. I miss my buddies.

Tracy, nice to see you back. I hear you have been having some tough times. Hope things get better for you.

Jolly, welcome back also.

I need to scoot, but I am still on track this week and hope to have a loss to post on Monday!

Chach

Let me paste this in before I lose it as far as goals for 2004 go. Then I'll come back and respond to the thread.

I gave some thought to the things I'd like to improve for the next 4 months.

1) Lose weight obviously. My food choices aren't too bad and I have gotten away from refined and processed food for the most part. My problem is portion control. Even too much of a healthy food is too many calories. So keeping to portion control will be one of my "challenges" along with a regular balance of fruit and vegetables.

2) Exercise. I got away from it while I was having a heavy duty semester at school. I have some problems with my feet and if I don't stretch the muscles, they act up. So REGULAR, CONSISTENT exercise is a priority.

3) Finally water. Good for the diet, good for health. Not a problem in the summer when it's warm, but I don't always do as well in the winter. Another focus point for me.

I started on Monday. Each day I pick an item to pay particular attention to. This I hope will help to keep me from starting out gung ho and then losing my resolve within a month. (Another problem of mine).

So far this week except for pizza last night, I've been good. I've managed to get 2 liters of water each day, have been mindful of my food and several times a day turned down what might have been just mindful but harmful slips. As for exercise, it's my weakest point right now but I just went and did it - Walk Away the Pounds one day, Pilates another, weights another. Tonight I am going to try a new video I picked up using the big exercise ball.

I'm hoping to use this challenge to form regular habits again and see a better me in April.

Good to see we all made it back to home base again except that someone has to go lasso Brunissen. Thanks Raven for setting up the thread again. I wanted to ask you, have you picked up a southern drawl? I used to go to Tucker outside of Atlanta quite a bit at my last job and after 3 days I was so embarrassed because I'd just start talking like the rest of the folks in the office. Sounds though like you have a really focused plan. I like the weekly goals. That's less pressure than trying to do everything everyday.

Tracy it's great to have you back in the fold again. I don't know about the grapefruit thing - is that like powered pills or something? I guess what ever you can find that works as long as it's not too bizarre. I want to be like Oprah and have my own cook and personal trainer. How easy would THAT be then?

Gee Lucky, dinner before 8pm? Do you get home really late? When I had to take the train to work and was getting home sometimes as late as 7pm, I found I had to spend most of Sunday making things I could just warm quickly and serve, otherwise we'd have been eating that late too. And it seems when I eat really late, I wake up ravenous the next morning for some reason.

Well lunchtime is over, better get a move on back to work. Hellos to the rest of the crew and have a good weekend everyone. Let's hope we see some losses next week.

Good Morning...Good Morning!!

I was so shocked to see everything was mesed up here. It wasn't a good time because I was highly counting on you guys to help me get back on track!! Now that things are up and running again I have no excuses
I have myself craving junk food again and am suffering from eating alot of carbs and feeling tired and sluggish. I have been drinking water and went and bought all that I need to redo South Beach for 2 weeks to rid myself of cravings. I start out good but screw up somewhere EVERYDAY I know I make my own choices and I have control over this, I just need to work harder.

It sound like 5:30 is everyones wake up time! I'm so use to getting up at 5 or 5:30 that I'm up at the crack of dawn on the weekend. I would just love to sleep in!

Raven, you are so motivated right now! I would love to be able to go out in my own yard this summer and not worry that someone might drive by to see me get in the pool! Sure am glad I live in the country!! With your attitude you will be lookin fine come summertime!!

Tracy, I wasn't aware of what is going on in your life. Hugs to you and hope you are well.

I cant remember what everyone has posted so Jolly, Happy, Chachee, Kathy hope I didn't miss something important and hope al of you are reaching your goals.

Did I miss anyone? Sorry! Talk to you all later

Good morning ladies! I went over to journals and dumped all my winter/cold crankies there. I woke up this morning to snow on the ground, and that does NOT make me happy.

Jolly - I know how busy this week is for you... But I know, too (and I'm blowing your cover here!), that you said by next Tuesday you'd be back on track. So we'll give you that fudge factor. But be ready for some serious kicks come next week, girl!! I hope things go smoothly for you till then, try to get some rest when you can!

Hey Happy - Actually, I have picked up a few words, but no accent. I use ya'll once in a while and my boyfriend cringes. The worst accent for me is Canadian or Alaskan Native. Since I was raised around that kind of speech, if I'm speaking to someone with a prounounced accent, I have to really fight not to fall into it lest they think I'm mocking their accent. It is not intentional at all! You know, eh? I'm finding I have the same problem as you do with water. Summer - great. I can drink water till my eyeballs are floating and I'm fine. Winter. *cringe* It becomes a battle every step of the way. We even have to give our horses electrolytes so they'll drink water in the winter, so I guess it's not just us!! I'm trying to think of ways to get around that. Maybe warm herbal tea or something. There has to be a way to do this without it being a fight every time I pick up a glass of water. And yes.. I'm right up there with having a dietitian, chef, and personal trainer. Not to mention access to a full gym and swimming pool whenever I wanted it. Somehow I think it would make this whole process unbelievably easy.

Hippy! Welcome back! We're here, and we'll motivate you! It seems like this time of year is kind of tough for everyone - wanting to get back on track, knowing how to do it, and just having a real hard time getting from knowing to doing. But if we all stick together and keep pushing each other, I think this year will be a really good one for us!!

Yesterday was better for me, and I'll take it as a success. As Happy said, I don't have too much trouble with WHAT I'm eating, it's how much. And I am back to totally OP at work, which was a big hurdle. The vending machine has lost its appeal for the most part, and I bought two weeks worth of Healthy Choice lunches (they were on sale! 40% off!! I need to go buy another two weeks worth!), plus yogurt and a few of the higher protein, lower carb bars for those emergency fixes rather than running for a snickers bar. I eat a half of one, and feel like at least it's not a total loss. I did go overboard on dinner last night. We had tacos, which when eaten in moderation, are a good meal for me because I prefer to use the soft shells, and I get the low fat low carb ones. I also use no fat refried beans, etc. But ... if you eat THREE of them, no matter how low cal they are, it's going to add up. Duh. Today I don't want to work out, but I will anyway. I don't want to do anything but curl up with a blanket and pillows with a good book on the couch next to my warm fire. But I will. I need to go to walmart and see if they have any more fleece gloves, because I need to go riding today, and my hands are the worst part.

So .. though so far no loss scale-wise, I'll take this week as a victory because I'm getting that much closer to being totally OP again. I have three full weeks to achieve my goal for this month. Imminently doable, but I need to really focus, really prioritize, really make the goals happen. Like Hippy said, this is all up to me.

Happy Saturday everyone! I'll check in later to update on whether I got the exercise and riding and water in! I need to be accountable!

Hey Everyone! I wanted to pop in here quick before the day got away from me again!!! I did my weigh in this morning and I was down 2 lbs I'm ignoring the fact that last week I had wicked wanda and am enjoying the loss Especially since I haven't tracked my bloating in about a year, so there's a chance I wasn't even bloated and that really was my weight
My sister and her maid of honor are on their way over to get the bridal shower and wedding invites flushed out (I'm stamping them all), so I will post more later!
Ok, that was quick... They're here!
Later guys!
E

Oh boy! I am down 2 pounds for the week! Even with my pizza bender on Thursday. And I weighed several times this week with minor fluctuations so I have to believe this is real. I would like to be down 5 more pounds by the end of the month which would put me back to where I was in October.

I now have to admit it had to do with being focused. I watched my portions, ate low fat and healthy (for the most part), drank my water and started exercising again - just 30 minutes a day but was consistent. I'm quite happy. Now to keep it up!

Erin, hope you have those prepasted stamps, otherwise will you be making the yukky face later. Just what did they used to put in that stamp glue?

Raven, I heard that if you can handle tea without the sugar in it, especially green tea that also counts for some of your water intake. I've been trying for about 2 liters a day and that seems to be working out ok, though towards the end of the day it does get kinda blah so I'm trying the tea thing too though at this time I still have to sugar it up a bit.

Hippy, I picked up the South Beach book yesterday. Any tips or do I have to read it all myself? I also picked up Bill Phillips new cookbook. Lots of good stuff in there so that will be the basis for my meals for the week. I always liked Bill's approach to things.

We're going to San Francisco in April and I have yet to find a hotel for 2 days before we move on to Monterey. We have a delightful hotel there, right on the bay - can't wait to open the patio doors and listen to the surf. But we might be sleeping on the sidewalk in SF itself if I don't get hustling.

Hope you all have a good weekend, stay warm and cozy and let's hear some good news on Monday's check in.