Jodi: I know what you mean about taking work home with you. I feel like I’m working 24/7, which means that making healthy choices is always on the back burner, behind all the stuff I have to DO. I wish more of working life was in balance with healthy body life. Career changes are hard, but I know some people who really enjoy real estate. At least you get to move around a bit!

MyChoice: Thanks for explaining IC. Sounds like no fun at all! I imagine that must make it all the more difficult to figure out what to eat, when you have to think about acidity in addition to fat, calories, fiber, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins...makes my head spin! I imagine that drinking enough water must be a big key! Thanks for mentioning the TOPS pledge, especually using food to “dull my senses.” That is a big problem for me. Isn’t that ironic – eating is app about the sense of taste (and smell, I guess), and yet we can use it to dull our senses! Maybe it’s the desire to have so much of one kind of sensory input that our brains don’t have room to think about other things? For me, emotional eating goes hand-in-hand with television. Both seem to dull the senses.

Holly: Mmm, cheese party. Congrats on the pounds lost! Hope you can stave off the cold – vitamins and rest! I am really glad I took time to post yesterday: keeping 3fc in the back of my mind helped my choose zucchini bread over cookies at my meeting. Still sugar, but not quite so much. And zucchini bread counts as a vegetable, right?

Girlie: Congrats on the interview! That is a great feeling. Sounds like your kickboxing class is neat. Good for you for taking on the challenge. I tend to get all shy and self-conscious in classes like that. I think it’s great that you’re doing it. And don’t worry about the skinny girls: you can always rest assured knowing that you could roundhouse kick their little butts! I think learning kickboxing must be so empowering: the idea that you can use your body for your own defense.

My challenge today is to do my planned exercise. So many excuses: I’m tired, I don’t want to have to put on workout clothes just to then get dressed again for my meetings later, I have a headache, I have been out of my mind busy all week so I deserve a “break,” my treadmill arrives tomorrow so I should wait until then, I have other stuff to do, I have a doctor’s appointment and what if exercise somehow skews my test results (I know, these are getting ridiculous), I’m bored with my workout tapes, my favorite workout pants aren’t clean, I’m really really tired. Just so darn many excuses. And they’re always there; it’s not like I will someday magically be rested, have nothing to do, have a ton of fascinating new workout toys. So I’m just going to have to do it. Because it makes me feel good afterward. Because I want to walk up two flights of stairs without being out of breath and embarrassed about that fact. Because I want to feel pleasure in the movements of my own body again. Because the sexy guy in the video takes off his shirt halfway through. Yeah, that’s a good reason.

Good morning,
I had a great night at the scales last night. Down 2.75 lbs. I was really happy about that. Now, it's time to get on the ball and get this remaining weight off. I've been up and down with 4 lbs since October and I'm tired of them...carrying them around...picking them up...putting them down...I want new pounds to play with! So, that's my focus this week. I will loose, so that I"m in a new set of numbers and I have new pounds to POUND!

Spores: Do the video! Seeing the guy take his shirt off half-way through the tape...YEP..sounds like a good reason to me! lol I go to the Y every Sunday to walk and then do my weights. I've had people tell me that don't know how I do it every week. Well...the walking track is above the gym floor and they play a lot of basketball on Sunday's...lots of eye candy to look at! hehehehe!

Girlie: I hope you get the position. Tell us what you will be doing. Don't feel bad about being the "big girl" in class...because if you keep going..you won't be that girl for long!

Holly: How are you feeling? Glad you had your cheese party. But no more partying for you until next week! I have a milkshake party every Thursday when I loose and it tastes so good!

Jodi:How are you doing today?

Debbie: What's going on with you.

If you haven't posted in awhile...come on back and jump in.

I've got to get out the door; time for work.

Susie

I love my DH, I love my DH, I love my DH, I love my DH. I will surround him with thoughts of love!!!
30 minutes and he is outa here. He is one miserable troll this morning. Banging, barking, mean, miserable troll. Dont look at him it might be catching. My tummy is growling but I am in no danger of starving and he is in the kitchen right now.
He is probably unhappy about going to work in this frigid weather. Doesn't make it easier for the rest of us. 25 minutes and counting!

Everyone else seems quite happy, LOL.
I had wee meltdown yesterday over this party tomorrow. DS was asking tough questions about the fam and I dont really know how to answer and be loving to all yet honest. This is new to us. Both kids have done this recently. Need a strategy.

I went and did Grandma's hair and other hair appts last night. It was enjoyable. Got home late had a minor munch fest and went to bed at midnight. I had supper at 5 , I was very hungry at 11.
I was picking up yarn for a SS craft at the dollar store and saw the most delightful, cheerful coffee mug is bright orange, blue, pink and red with funky hearts on it. It was a fun buck to spend. My coffee was particularily tasty this morning!! Weehee!
We are scheduled to the max for the next 3 days.
S and her boys are coming for dinner tonight to celebrate DH's bday. I am making, ham, scallops, salad, carrots, AND chocolate cake , of course. All DH's fav's.
Tomorrow morning at 9 is a hockey game,home for lunch, off to Grandma's to spruce up her hair as requested by the obsessed Mom and Aunt, off to the church for the Tea, then to dinner, home again, pick up the sitter, and DH and I are off to Bayfield to hang out with his friends. Sunday morning is hockey practise,then sunday school, my day to teach, potluck at the church, run the kids home , go back for the annual meeting, come home, make something spectacular for dinner, bath the kids, organize school stuff, read stories and flop in front of the TV to watch Alias.
This mornings agenda includes baking a cake and cleaning the bathrooms( darn toddler boys).Oh, and brilliantly caring for 5 kids!
11 minutes to go!! Man am I hungry, I may sneak in a scoff banana.

Have a glorious day !!

Good morning all.
I feel bad because I haven't had much time to browse and respond lately. Yesterday was hectic for once!

For the first time this whole year, I skipped out on exercise today. I mean, I have planned days off, but today is the first day that I've said - "I'm not going to go". I mean, I did have a good reason...and maybe I'll end up going later, but I'm just so tired right now. It's been a long week having to work at the 2nd job so often. I put in a request to cut my hours there at the grocery store to 12 hours per week max. I'd rather not work at all than bag and push carts out of the parking lot. Hopefully I get this new job and I can just quit. I'll end up working the same amount of hours a week, just not so sporadically, and I'll at least have two definite days off a week.

Arr

Mychoice: Congrats on the loss! Such a great feeling. Yes, a bit of eye candy helps with the workout. A little carrot.

Holly: Wow, you are busy! Must be hard to keep to your plan with so much going on. You're such a rock!

Girlie: Glad to see you, and hang in there! Sometimes listening to our bodies is the most important thing, and if your body wants rest, let it have it. It will be that much easier to do your workout the next time knowing that you gave your body what it needed.

I am excited because my treadmill arrives today! This will be a fun new toy. BF promised to help me assemble it tonight so I can hop right on. Also, I saw my doctor yesterday about some headache issues, and she gave me muscle relaxants to try (she thinks they might be tension headaches leading to muscle spasms). Well, I took one last night, and I had what may be the best sleep of my entire life. When I woke up this morning, I actually felt rested! I was able to get out of bed without a huge horrible struggle, and now I actually don't feel like falling asleep any minute! In fact, I'm not even too keen on laying on the couch. This is pretty amazing to me. I have...ENERGY. Some energy, anyway. Which makes me so much more confident about being able to stick with some exercise. My big concern, of course (can't have good news without mucking it up with worry), is that I must depend on a pill to get enough sleep to have energy. Don't want to be tied to medication. But at least this is a step. If I could get rid of the chronic headaches and constant exhaustion, well, it wouldn't make everything magically easy, but it would remove a couple of huge barriers. So I'm optomistic today.

Wish that treadmill would get here right now! I'm ready to walk across the whole world! From the comfort of my living room, of course.

hello everyone!
TGIF!!! and i really mean it!! another busy week behind me!! i am in for the night just my youngest DS and i here in the quiet warm house. i am feeling positive, much better than earlier this week. i am down 2 lbs, and i exercised 2x this week. very proud of myself, i kept from totally falling apart after a bad weekend last week. this weekend i am focusing on taking care of myself.

spores- can't wait to hear more about the treadmill, you sound so excited!! i hope it is all that and more!! enjoy!!

girlie- you have a tough schedule these days, take some time and pamper yourself this weekend!!

holly- i hope your troll turns back into a prince soon. enjoy your busy weekend! at least the time will fly.

mychoice- congrats on the loss!!! that is fantastic!! you ROCK! keep up the great work!! i know what you mean about the same pounds back and forth, i have been playing with 5 nasty ones for some time now. i just hit below that point this week. we can do this girl! lets keep going!
as far as the career change goes, i really want a more flexible job, not sure how good i'd be at selling houses but it does intrest me a lot. still thinking. the class i am considering starts in march so i have some time to decide. i am going to talk to a real estate broker and see if i can get some questions i have answered first. we'll see how it goes.

well i hope you all have a fab weekend! take care!!

Jodi: Hooray for the pounds lost! I just looked at your tracker and saw that you have knoced out 48 lbs so far -- I am in awe! Good luck with changing careers. I know that can be a big scary thing (I seem to change careers every 2-3 years!), but it is also exciting and fun.

Well, my treadmill arrived! Two (very buff and cute) guys delivered and assembled it this afternoon. It is HUGE. I guess I'm not that great at visualizing spatial relationships, because I thought it would tuck neatly into a corner of my living room. Not so. This thing is taking up half the room! And it's got all kinds of fancy switches and things...the user's manual should be hefty reading. I didn't work out on it per se; just turned it on and played around a bit. I have never been much of a sporty sort, and I'm surprised at how excited I am about this new toy. My goals right now are small: just hop on the thing at no incline and whatever speed is comfortable every other day. Then I'll go from there. It has all kinds of programmable things that will take me a while to figure out. It's just that exercise, which is always a huge challenge for me, just seems so utterly possible now. Convenience makes a big difference. Hm, so much optimism for me today. It's an odd feeling. Me, an optimist. Next thing you know I'll be *gasp* not worrying about every little thing every second of the day. Horrors!

Okay, enough blathering about my treadmill. This can't be very interesting to everyone else. I'm going to shut up and actually use the thing now.

Quiet around here these days. Sounds like everyone's pretty busy. I'm going to go to bed and try desprately not to think about the fact that the local ice cream shop just started offering delivery.

LOl spores~ delivering icecream, really? Yikes!! I think it is wonderful you are so excited about the treadmill. DH's Mom has one in the corner of the basement. They are in Arizona til May. I was thinking of, um, borrowing it.

Jody~ happy to see you!!! Hope your weekend is restful!! Yippee for the positive attitude and lbs lost!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Girlie~ a break is okay. Listen to what your body and your soul needs. Hope you get to relax a bit this weekend!!

Susie rocks, Susuie rocks Susie rocks!!!!!!!!!!!

I went off the cheese plan only once this week!!!!! I did the planned exercise 3Xs. Not bad. Trying to perfect it this week!

Refreshed on Saturday!
Gotta like it!!
Good sleep. I was yawning so much at 9:30 I went to bed and feel asleep immediately. I didn’t even crack a book. Crazy. Slept til 7:30. Lounged in bed til 8. Woohoo.
The boys are gone for hockey.
DH was still grumpy when he got home from work. Boss is not paying him for all the hours he is putting in. Our friends showed up a few minutes later and we bugged him into a good mood. It was kind of him to oblige since it was his Bday dinner and all. Dinner was YUMMY. Out of shear exhaustion from washing pots and pans, LOL, I have started putting a layer of sliced carrots and frozen corn in my scalloped potatoes. It is good and people think I am very clever. *giggle* Lazy and resouceful more like it. I made a salad with baby spinach, mushrooms, yellow pepper and grape tomatoes.The 5 kids ages, 2 1/2,4,5,6& 7 had a blast. They sat in the kitchen. Us adults had a candle lit dinner in the diningroom. Happy Bday was sung , cake was eaten, and life is good!!!!!!!
Grandma and I had a long talk on Thurs. The fam is freaking about her dress, hair etc… She is always elegant and classy.Neither of us think the 100 people at the tea will be there to see if her hair is out of place. I am beyond certain they will come for love, admiration and to honour her.
The gift is how blessed we have all been to have this remarkable woman in our lives. I feel particularily blessed that my kids love and know her and are old enough to remember her when she does pass on.
Time for DD to have a bath, then shower for me. The boys will do the same after hockey. Lunch here and then the festivities begin. We have a sitter coming later tonight and are going to Bayfield to see some of DH’s friends. Nice.

Today I will be thankful for the people in my life I love and cherish.

Holly: Sounds like you had a magnificint dinner. Veggies in the potatoes: clever indeed! Always good to sneak in extra vitamins and make washing up easier. I have a theory that corn and garlic make every dish good. So everything I cook winds up full of it! Good thing my bf cooks most of the time.

Super-busy weekend, but am trying not to pig out. Had to go from 9:00 to 4:00 with no food today, and I was out of my life-saving clif bars. So I stopped at the 7-11 and, good for me, bought a protein bar and banana instead of chips and candy. It was rather nasty, though; good reminder to keep my pantry stocked with the tasty kind. At least it had fiber and my tummy wasn't growling too much!

Time to give myself a little break before diving back into work. I am going to make exercise my reward for doing my work! There's a new concept.

hello everyone!
everyone must be very busy this weekend! i did my usual saturday garbage, shopping, planning etc. nothing exciting. staying in tonight, it is supposed to snow. Dh is taking the kids sledding tomorrow so i will have some just me time. TOM finally came so my fight with food is over for another 3 weeks or so. i treated myself to a new book today. not a bad day overall.

spores- you crack me up!! treating yourself to exercise is fantastic. you must love the new treadmill! that is great. good for you making good choices today!! all the little choices really add up!! thanks for the encouragement, i have been at this for over a year now and am really proud of every lb. gone so far! still mulling the career change idea over it is a scary thought. i have become such a creature of habit. enjoy your treadmill time!!

holly- your dinner sounds great, i'll have to try your veggie idea! good for you getting out tonight with friends, let your hair down girl!! you have has so much stress lately!

hello to everyone else! take care!!

Weeheeeee!
Fun Day!

The party for my Grandma’s 95th Birthday was very elegant. The church ladies had the tables set with green checkered cloths, crystal vases and pink carnations. They had the silver tea services out. The cake was delish. Multilayered white cake,white icing and layers of kiwi,peaches and strawberries. MMMM. It was very nice to see lots of relatives from far and wide.Cousins came for the weekend from BC, Montreal, Georgian Bay........ old friends, neighbours....
I had a great a visit with some dear old friends.
The freaks didn’t even speak to me, LOL.
I brought crafts for the kids so they were occupied.
Dinner was a buffet feast with amazing chicken,meatballs, pasta, salad.........
Home again, home again.... Our sitter came over and we headed out.
Talk about contrast. As we pulled in the driveway at B&L’s a guy walked past with a giant turkey held by the ankles. I nearly peed my pants. So all the country boys were out in their coveralls, beer in hand about to deepfry and 20lb turkey.Snowmobiles and pickup trucks parked in the yard. There were about 20 of us out in the drive shed, wood stove going, darts and foosball being played and MUCH laughter. I laughed soooo hard for the whole time my stomach hurt. At midnight we ate moose steak, deer sausage and deep fryed turkey, beans and mashed potatoes. I was sorry to come home. It was a wonderful night with friends. DH was carefree and hilarious, just like the guy I fell in love with, LOL.
I asked another Dad to pick up DS for hockey practise this morning at 7 so DH could sleep in.I am on coffee #2.Trying to perk up. I need to prep my SS craft and make something for the potluck.

My goal for this week is to not spend as much time in my head! I am going to try to not overthink things. Diet goals will be the same as the last 2 weeks until I get it right. Improving all the time!

Feeling loved and blessed, wishing you the same!

Jodi~ I think I stressed myself out! I guess DS is stressful too. Glad you are relaxing this weekend( well, as much as a Mom ever does). What book are you reading? I just started the Salmon of Reason by Douglas Adams. It was compiled after his death. He is a Fav of mine.

Spores~ I am with you on the garlic! I have meant to plant some every fall and I never get to it. I get it at roadside booths in late summer.

Hello Everyone,
I didn't make it to the board yesterday and I missed all of you. I hate it when my days are crazy and I don't make time for myself. Really puts me in a bad mood and I take it out on my husband.

I did get my hair cut and colored yesterday. It felt great to go to the salon. I go about every 5-6 weeks. I guess because they don't see me but every 5-6 weeks, they really notice that I have lost weight. They all commented on it. I'm glad its noticable and hearing things like that really make me want to continue to work hard on getting this weight off.

Spores: I love the treadmill at the Y. I usually walk on the track with my workout partner, but on Sunday's (if they aren't playing basketball) I hit the treadmill and go at it for 45 min and I usually walk at a speed of 3.5. I didn't start at the rate, no that length of time, so don't try that! Does yours have different preset workouts, like cardio, weightloss? The one I use does and that's what I started with, the weightloss one. I still don't do inclines.

Holly: You are such a party girl! I'm glad you had a great time.

Jodi: You did great this past week. I'm going to get past those familiar pounds this week. I will, I will!

Girlie: It's ok to skip a workout when you are truly tired and I would say you were! I hope you get your new position so you can just work one job.

Breakfast is about ready and then it's time to get ready for church, then the tutor, then the Y and then I'm relaxing!

See you all tomorrow.

Susie

good morning!
i had a good sleep, feeling rested and ready to tackle the day! i was excited to log in here this morning and see i won the diet book give away! i picked dr. phil's book, maybe he can help with my binges. no much else going on really.

holly- your day yesterday sounds like it was fantastic! the 2 party's you went to sound so dramatically different! good for you! so glad you had a good time. i have several books going as usual. nothing too heady! glad you are enjoying yours. hope you have a good day!

my goals this week are to
1) WATP just 1 mile 6 days. i am going back to basics!!
2) pack my lunch for work everyday
3) no night time snacking before bed
4) do one positive thing to pamper myself every day.

hope you all have a great sunday!!

Morning Jodi~ Your egg is lit! What book give away??? Nice you won!!!!! Your goals are great. I might aim for the 1 mile too. Enjoy your day!!!!!

they started giving a book away on here a few weeks ago. there is a link at the very top of the page it says "diet book giveaway" if you post 5 times in a week they automatically put your name in a drawing. good luck with your goals this week!!