good saturday evening all of you beautiful wonderful women!!!
i am feeling great today! i had a great rest and did my puttering around, planned my meals and went to the stores. i had a great saturday! i did the WATP dvd just because i wanted to today. it felt good (i was actually fully awake ROFL). we are staying home again tonight just veggin' in front of the tv. i got a new book today called "fit from within" by victoria moran. i will cozy up later and read.

holly- good for you getting the place all to yourself!! your day sounds fab!! enjoy!

spores- i like subway a lot. they have some really good subs and this awesome fat free sweet onion sauce instead of mayo or regular dressing. i really recommend any of the 6 under 6 subs. a super treat. i started looking at some of the restaurants i eat on line and i was sickened by the amount of fat and cals i was eating. i can't even look at the kentucky fried chicken sign anymore lol. good luck with your choices!

girlie- good for you getting some extra ZZZZ'S you needed it!!

point- welcome!! i hope to see you post often! i totally agree with holly though 500 cals is not enough, you won't be able to function with that little to eat. check out fitday like holly said and make up a good healthy plan for yourself. it is much better to loose the healthy way! good luck!!

to all the rest of you wonderful chicks have a great saturday, do something good for yourself this weekend!!

Was very naughty and hit Chipotle this evening. Over 1500 calories for one burrito...and I ate the whole thing. Ugh. Though I know I should cut it in half (What IS it about portion sizes in this country? The whole American quest for value gone awry?), I find that what I often crave is not just the food itself but sheer volume. Smothering of the senses=smothering of some deeper emotional need. I wonder if a deep sense of deprivation is endemic to our whole culture. Fear of being alone with our deepest selves. If we allowed ourselves to spend a space of time without constant sensory input (food and television for me), are we afriad that we'd look inside and find little there? Or perhaps I'm overanalyzing. Subjecting the poor burrito to armchair psychology.

Point: Welcome. I'm a newbie here too! What part of Europe are you from? Good luck with your quest!

Holly: Oh, good, I'm not a dork for liking ELO! My punker-than-thou friends laugh at me, but hey, they're the ones trying to breast-feed around nipple piercings.

Jodi: Congrats on a great day! I personally find weekends the most difficult, fraught as they are with that time-to-forget-cares-and-have-fun feeling. Good for you exercising for the fun of it -- that's a great feeling.

Off to bed for me. Hardly slept last night (Bf said I woke up screaming things! Nothing like sharing a bed to find out all kinds of better-left-unknown things about yourself!), so I'm looking forward to forty uninterrupted winks. Unless that Chipotle has other designs.

Hi again, tx a lot for a wellcome :)

Spores, I dont think that you are going to far in analyzing (?) the situation. I also use food and TV for drug myself. Maybe you should think about yourself and what is bothering you. I think that will be a process of few months or even years. But I thnik that you are on a good path....

I started digging 3 years ago, and there a lots of sceletons in my closet. After 3 years I am now getting to the point were I will do something. Maybe? :)

I know that 500 kcal is little, but I have tried that before and it's not so bad. Acupunture is helping not to be mad from hunger. It really helps. I know some girls
that made it by acupunture. It's not in acupunture it's in diet, but it helps.

The man is a registered physician so I guess he should know...I went before, and I felt great. Everything is in diet and to eat the thing on the list. It is specific and you cant change it - insted of apple eat a pear or things like that. The key issue is that you have to bring food from home to the office and eat at the certain time. My skin was great and I didnt felt fatique during that diet, i was just lazy and did not prepare the meals on time...so...this time i am gonna stick to it!!!! :):):):):):)

It's Sunday morning, and I am going for the first acupunture treatmant....and after that for shoping and cooking for tomorrow..

Just for info - it's an election day in Croatia (we are the conutry near Austria, we share a see with Italy, and we are a little bit up from the Greece - if you wolud like to see on the map!), we are selecting the president, as you did not so long ago...So...I am gong to vote, of course! I am telling this to you because I think it may be interesting to here something from Europe. If you dont like it - just tell me. Also If anybody would like to correct my big mistakes or explain to me some basic stuff from time to time, I would be happy about it :):):) I know that DH - is a dear husband - wich i dont have....:):):):) Cheers!

Hello,
I can't believe how much I miss, when I miss one day getting to the boards. I had DH get me up a little early this morning so I could read the boards and post before going to church. I've got a lot to do this afternoon and evening and I was afraid I wouldn't get here and after yesterday, I need to get here.

Yesterday was a BAD food day for me. I ate, and ate and ate. I didn't journal eithier. So, I figured out that in order to not let that happen again, I need to : Journal & Get to the boards! I think those two things work well for me because that's when I'm facing my feelings and such and I don't cover it up with food.

Holly: Did you enjoy your time alone? It sounded wonderful!

Girlie: You asked about TOPS. I have found it to be a great help to me. Our meetings are only a half hour long. We usually have a short business meeting and then some sort of 20 min. informational type talk. The weigh-in is so important to me for my accountablility. We also have contests within our group that keeps things interesting. Right now we are divided in two teams, and the first team that loses 10% of their body weight (as a whole) wins. We have some prizes set up for that. It's fun and it's helpful to encourge your team and that keeps oneselfs encouraged. You are correct that it's cheaper than WW. Also, in TOPS you can do your own program. Have you checked out the TOPS website? It will tell you more. It's www.TOPS.org

Jodi: How's the new book you are reading? Tell me about it?

Point & Spores: Welcome! I know everyone is looking forward to having you here with us.

DH just said that it's time for breakfast, so I've got to run. Today I will: Journal, Get to the Board (hey, I've already accomplished one thing!), workout, get my Accounting homework done. Watch Desperate Housewifes....sounds like a balanced day to me!

Have a great day ladies!

Susie

good morning ladies,
i had a very nice evening last night, i made wings and fries for the steelers playoff game (dh is a huge fan) i also made a veggie tray and a fresh fruit platter. i did very well with dinner, 4 wings a few fries and loaded up on fruit and veggies. i am very happy when i can make a compromise like this. i didn't have to snack later either. i wish i could do this more of the time just eat like a "normal" person.
my goals last week were:
1) exercise 4x (30min WATP) i actually did a total of 11 miles over 5 days excellent!
2) stick to the good plan i have laid out. i did stick to the plan all week with a few cheats :(
3) post everyday i posted everydat!!! :D
4) journal all of my food did great until friday!

not a bad week, i am trying to do everything to set myself up for success. i am going to keep the same goals this week and see where it takes me.

mychoice- the book so far is really good. it is one of those books where i have an ah-ha moment every few pages, i am going to go back and highlight certain points for myself because the just really click with me. i was drawn to this book because of the first chapter it is called "accept yourself today" the opening line did it for me it reads: "if you don't accept yourself, you won't live fully, and if you don't live fully, you'll need to get full some other way." this really hit me, the author was a yo-yo dieter, which i am not. but she has so much great insight. the chapters are short just 2-3 pages each, there are 101 chapters. i made it to 12 last night. it is a really good read. not a diet plan just a mental makeover of sorts. sounds like you have a good day planned. enjoy!!

spores- analyze away girl! the couch is always open. as far as the burrito incident goes move on, you can do this. weekends food wise are awful for me, i just love being free from work! hang in there!!!

point- the accupuncture sounds very interesting. good luck with your plan it does sound really strict though. glad you are under a doctors care with it! good for you going out to vote it is so important to voice our opinions.

hope you all have a fantastic day!!

Morning chicks.
I also post on the thread Around the World with 80 Chicks. It is more social than diet.I used to travel quite a bit I love connecting with the women from around the world. This morning some women described what the see outside while eating their breakfast. I realized I hadn’t paid attention to my surroundings lately. So I did.

I do come here every morning to have a coffee and visit with the chicks. The kids watch cartoons first thing so it is quiet in here.My computer is in what we call the library.It is where we keep our books.Sounds fancier than it is is. It is a lovely room, with old fashioned blue floral wallpaper and pine wainscotting, at the back of the house. It has a big picture window( no curtains). It is pretty drab out there right now. I do enjoy all the seasons though. The yard was completely empty when we moved here and they burned stuff in the middle so the ground was scorched. It is all twigs and the ground is snow covered. The bush is behind us, all bare trees and snow. We mostly have birds and squirrels although we do see a deer about once a winter.
Mostly it has made me feel a sense of pride and peace. Our yard has become a nice retreat. I have planted a beautiful hedge and rock gardens. I know in a few months the green will poke out of the ground. This room is the host of my picture gallery, including wedding pics from both sides of the family going back to our Great, great grandparents. That was an enjoyable quest!!Some of the relatives thought I was a nut, other made their own copies.
Yesterday was great. I didn’t exercise. I found the bookkeeping and sitting still that long made me really tired. I went to bed. I had a fantastic sleep. I am enjoying the quiet right now. DH met my Dad and DS at the arena for practise at 7 am. DD is still at the lake. I will get her this aft. I might go for a walk with my Mommy.
I think I will do pot roast for supper. DH’s fav.I could get it in the slow cooker!

Have a blessed day!

Point: 500 calories seems REALLY low (the lowest recommended is 1200), and I'm wondering if kcal is a different counting system? We yanks just can't seem to get on the metric program! So is kcal different than US calories? Glad to hear news from Croatia (used to have some pals from therabouts)! Hooray for voting! Hope your guy (or gal) wins it! Would love to hear how the accupuncture works for you...I've heard mixed things about it.

MyChoice: I'll be with you on the Desprate Housewives watching! My end-of-the-week treat. Arrested Develpment too...I love David Cross!

Jodi: Wow, you had an awesome week. I suppose working on the psychological reasons for our actions is one of the best ways to go about changing them. Just hammering away at doing something without interrogating the complex social/psychological/biological imputus behind it never works for me. I guess the biggest trouble is...great, now that I know this little insight, how to turn it into practical behavior? The book sounds interesting...educating ourselves (like understanding ourselves) is the first step.

Holly: Wish I could keep my books in one room...right now they cover a good deal of the floor in every room (even the kitchen!). :) Lovely idea, to describe what we see at breakfast. I think I'll join...on the days I'm lucky enough to eat breakfast sitting down, I sit at the kitchen table in front of the window overlooking the alley behind my townhouse. Not so glorious as a garden, but it's my own little rectangle of the world. My (very dirty) old Cutlass, neighbors' trash bins and garage doors, pot-holed ashpalt. Collections of sparrows picking among gravel for a morsel, random running children, the occasional odd character moseying back from the grocery store or coffeeshop (my favorite is the guy on a bike who rumages in the dumpster...last week he got a tire!). Cars blasting tejano and bass cruising slowly, or cars with plastic-taped windows gunning it. And right now, puddles of ice slowly receeding, snow-capped wooden fencing, and the brown thrust of determined vines that will glow green and nearly lewd when Spring winks around.

Hello everyone. I'm not feeling too well. I woke up with a slight headache and it's still here at 6pm. I think I just need to eat. I went to bed around 4am and woke up in the early afternoon. I headed to the gym first thing for my 65 mins on the elliptical. It's so "easy" now. I don't get winded and it's not difficult any more. I just have to do it. Oh, the weigh in was good! From 235 to 231.9 this week! This time next week I just want to be out of the 230's! I just have to keep this up.

Sorry no personals for right now. I just feel sort of icky and I haven't had a meal so I'm going to do that. We're having roasted chicken. I am proud of myself because I made homemade potato soup. It's in the crock pot for a couple more hours. DH tasted it and said it's the best soup he's ever had.

I hope I can eat and feel better. I'll be back to chat in the morning.

Girlie

Spores~ you are enjoyable , I must say. I had many,many, many more books but have been slowly whittling them down to absolute favs. I use the library constantly.
In my former life as a downtown , hip, single chick, the view was very much like yours. When I drive through my old neighbourhood I cry every time. I had a lot of wonderful years there.

Jodi~ you are awesome !!! I did pretty well but not outstanding like you!!!! HUGS !! PJ's are underated.

Susie~ hugs,get right back on the old gerbil wheel of healthy living!! You are doing great. Loved Desperate Housewives tonight!!

Girlie~ sorry you are feeling crummy. Your workouts are paying off big time!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

point~ hope you had a good day!

Suzi, Susan, Debbie~ How's it goin'?

Have a peaceful night!!!

Good Morning all!

Holly:
It's funny how we change. I used to be this poetry reading, coffee drinking hip chick too...I mean and that was shortly before I met my husband 7 years ago. I had to start working full time and finish college and I just didn't have time to be social and stuff any longer. While I do miss those days, I like my life now. It's just funny how we change and how our outlooks change as we get older, get married, have kids, etc.

I feel better today. My headache went away after I ate dinner and relaxed.

DH surprised me and went to the gym with me this morning! He got on the elliptical next to me and the poor boy was huffing by five minutes into it...and I was going twice the speed he was. But he made it about 45 minutes until he quit and I was so proud of him! I did my 65 minutes and was so happy he was there with me. He's been going swimming lately and that's good. I would love it if he started going with me.

I just can't wait until this day is over. I'm tired already...I can never get to sleep at a good time on Sunday nights, so I only had a few hours of sleep.

Girlie

This is how my morning went.........DS woke in tears and continued to cry til he left on the bus.( DH commented that DS doesn't act like that when I am not here, may need to "discuss" this) DS was also very emotional at the folks. Cried a lot. He did go play with a friend yesterday aft against my "better judgement" but he was great. You just never know. SIGH.
He woke a 4:45am Sunday so he went to bed at 7 last night and slept til 7. That should help.
I ate cottage cheese on a wrap last night even though I wasn't hungry. ARG! I didn't exercise. I did do some stretches and watch bits and pieces of the Golden Globes.
I had a nice visit at the lake. I haven't been there since the end of the summer. Wow. Busy. When the kids were toddlers I went a couple times a week. Had a hot tub.
I have 2 extra kids today. I will be taking all 5 to storytime. 3 will nap this aft.I will have 8 kids from 3:30- 5.
No other big plans really.
Breaky is done. The kitchen has been hit by the morning rush bomb. Must tidy. We will come straight home for lunch from the library........
Storytime was great. I had my 14 monther with me and then a friend showed up with her 6 monther. I sat with one on each knee for a 1/2 hour gurgling and cuddling. MMMMMMMMMM !!! That made my day.
I just had a pesto wrap with a tofo wiener,mixed lettuce leaves, sprouts and sweet onion dressing and an egg roll for lunch. YUM!
I am ready for a tea. Feeling on the edge of being down today.
I think my hormones are wacky this month. I had PMS symptoms last week, spotted 1 day and then nothing. Need to keep better track of things.

Girlie~ glad you are feeling better. Nice of DH!!!!! Fun!!!
Get some good, restful sleep tonight, okay.

How's it goin' Chicks???????

Later

Girlie: Hope you feel better! Good for you for going to the gym on little sleep! I myself can't even form coherent words on a few hours' sleep. I sometimes miss being young enough to function on no sleep. It is interesting how we change as people as we move into different stages of our lives, and also how our bodies change along with us. Instead of obsessing on how I look, I've been trying to think about how my body can best serve me in the life I live now. I think that we tend to become less active as we get older, as a function of society: the further we move into suburbs, cubicles, television, the more we find ourselves primarily drivers, sitters, watchers. All the things that favor weight. I'm coming to the realization that my body must serve my life, and that my life must serve my body. This is probably something everyone else here realized ages ago, but I'm just catching on! So my plan this week will be to stop thinking of myself as a brain floating in a jar, attached to a demanding, superflous body!

Holly: Thanks :) You're awfully sweet. Every now and then I think I'm going to clean out my books and get rid of at least a few, but about an hour into it I find myself spread on the floor reading bits from different books and realize I'm just a book person. I can't get rid of them! Hm, inability to let go of things...there's a fertile weight-loss-psychology topic! Your garden sounds so beautiful! Sometimes I yearn for a little square of green (my mom's an avid gardener, and I feel so at peace in her yard), but I know I'd also miss the energy of cracked asphalt. Maybe there's a way to have both: the thrum and skitter of urbanity with the pulse and furl of the earth. As Whitman said, "Urge, urge urge...always the procreant urge of the world." I think we feel it in our bodies, this desire to flower, and the extra weight is both an imbalance of systems and at the same time a kind of joining in the joy of excess nature creates. Maybe it's in the language: "losing weight." We don't like loss, barreness. Maybe there's a better term. Gaining muscle? Gaining balance? Gaining Prada sweaters?

Getting philosophical...better move around. I'm not just a floating brain! Body is vital! Interconnectedness! Balance! And all that jazz.

Spores~ the problem is knowing all this health stuff and actually doing it. It IS a balance of body, mind and spirit. For me they never seem to be functioning at the same time. I do good in some areas, flop in others. Lately I've been pretty in tune but still not in a total groove.
I too have a VERY hard time letting go of anything. I have worked hard at this. It gets easier with time.

Hey Holly and Spores - seems like we're the only ones around today!

Spores:
I long for a patch of green myself. Dh and I live in a house with no backyard and two small squares of yard in front with the steps to the porch in the middle. It's a small home and was very affordable so we bought it. We hope to move again within a year or so...into a bigger place, with a yard. I'd love to get lost while digging in the dirt with matching gardner's clogs and gloves hee hee. You know, I have no problem getting up in the morning when I've had little sleep...it's like I'm so out of it that I just do it. The problem is the next day, even if I get 8 hours of sleep tonite, I'll still have trouble waking up tomorrow. I think I function better on about five hours of sleep...I'm so tired that I have to work hard to focus on what I have to get done. I think I'm still in the college mentality and am still weaning off of the all nighter syndrome. And I graduated in 2002!

Holly:
You are right about having to be in tune and get in a groove. I feel like I'm sort of on a groove. With the exercise, I feel I have a routine going and to be honest, I look forward to my time at the gym because I'm still amazed at what my big ol' body can do. It's the eating part that gets me. I probably burn enough calories a day to make up for the extra calories that I might eat, but eventually my body will get used to the burned calories and I'll either have to up the exercise (somehow) or truly account for everything I eat.

Holly: Yes, finding balance is a struggle. I miss doing yoga: it seemed to center me and make working out a much more holistic thing. I think that's my biggest challenge with exercising: it feels too much like a grind. I like exercise that seems to be about more than just burning calories. I need fun, meaning, insight, a deepening of a whole system. Yoga, dance, and NIA work for me pretty well on this, but they require leaving the house, spending money, and facing very flexible, coordinated girls in stylish half-tops. I found this on another thread: www.punkrockaerobics.com. Looks like a blast, and I am anxiously awaiting the DVD. Has anyone around here tried it?

Girlie: Yes, gardening seems like so much fun! I suppose it's possible that someday I will have a real house with an actual yard, but as long as my bf and I keep choosing don't-quit-your-day-job type careers (writing, acting, filmmaking, and composing are guaranteed bank account killers!), I'm going to have to stick with container gardening. Which is neat, actually. I have now managed to keep a houseplant alive for a whole year (I used to kill them in weeks), so I think I just might plant tomatoes in a big trough and stick them on my carport roof! The thing that excites me about gardening is growing my own food. Since my folks eat mostly vegetables, they are able to provide about half of their food all summer from their own backyard. This astounds me. Agricultural processes have become so seperated from consumers, and there's so much suspicious stuff in the food supply. I imagine the sense of pride and security in providing one's own food. And I wonder how that would affect my food choices. I tend to get panicey about food: when I get hungry, my body takes over and acts as if I'm a cavewoman who must stock up on mastadon meat for the next six months. I am well-adapted for living like a monkey. Sadly, in reality I am a writer who stocks up on cheeseburgers for the next six hours. But growing my own food...would that give me more sense of control over my food supply? Would that then reduce the panic of hunger? Would that satisfy the reptile brain that, despite the obvious proximity of at least five grocery stores and ten fast-food joints, I really and truly won't be going hungry? Maybe. That, and gardening, while not technically exercise, is certainly active. Moreso than hunting-and-gathering in my pantry.

Maybe everyone else isn't around because they are not, like me, desprately avoiding their work. Sigh. Time to read yet another paper from a college student who can't tell the difference between "its" and "it's."

Spores:
I love your thoughts, and reading them too...for I too am avoiding work ;)

I agree. I mean, to be honest, I've never been super creative. Aside from some fiction and poetry, my brain just doesn't seem to be able to go past the line of visual creativity created by my own hands. I can't cook very well, can't draw or paint or anything like that. But with gardening, I think it's something that can be done half with creativity and half with logic, plus with the rewards of being able to watch what I've grown, as if it's answering my pleading calls. Something I can spill my heart into like a poem yet get a response back from my own creation!

Plus, it's something that burns calories and uses some thought. And I do feel like I'd get a sense of pride from this...and save money. The two main things I'd like to grow are corn and cucumbers. It would also be wonderful to be able to take a basket of tomatoes to a neighbor for no reason at all.

When I get hungry I feel like you, as in cavewoman, in a sense. I've been known to stuff my face with cheeseburgers or chocolate...but to me maybe I feel like it's fulfilling some sort of urge, like I NEED this cheeseburger and the cheeseburger needs me. But all I end up with is bloating and gas.

This is the simplest yet most difficult concept for me to grasp:

Food is there merely to refuel our bodies and keep us healthy and strong.

And I say "merely" very lightly. That's all food is, to keep us fueled and healthy. Not to keep us full, not to fulfill our every food craving and to make us feel emotions. How and when did food become this happiness factor? Why does food have to taste good? If all we could ever eat was oatmeal, I'm sure no one would be overweight or greedy with food.

I'm really procrastinating now!

Girlie

I'm Baack!!
 

Hey, I sure missed everyone! I haven't caught up on all the news but the few post I read sounds like everyone is doing well. I haven't done too bad on the eating but I have been taking it easy. I was reading about the growing your our food, when I was in my teens my parent did this late 60's back to your roots thing. I remember they didn't have a tractor so they tilled the garden wth a mule. but we grew bushels and bushels of veggies. We canned and froze all kinds of stuff. I thought they we nuts. We moved a nice house in the city to my grandparents farm in north carolina. we only had wood heat. At the time I thought we had dropped off the face of the earth. Now these are some of my fondest memories. Me milking a cow! Making butter. Now I'm just proud of my few veggie I grow each year.


HUGS TO EVERYONE

I Meant post friday!! but I got busy!!
 

Hi you guys



Well, My weigh in went well friday, I had great progress, lost 5 pds for the week, down to 250. So far this week, I am sticking to phase 1, less than a week to go, then phase 2. I have been so cranky maybe it's good I didn't post :dizzy:


Later
Susan

Girlie: Oh, no, don't ever say you're not creative! I am always sad when people say that (it seems to be the most common response to the phrase, "I'm a poet"), because I really believe that everyone is creative. We are creative beings. Maybe writing and painting are the things society deems "creative," but the fact is we all feel the urge to take whatever unique and magical things we have within us and realize them in the world somehow. Gardening, yes, very creative, and I love that idea of something tangible that speaks back to you. (Seems like my writing only speaks back to me in the form of rejection letters!) But everything we do can be creative expression: how we place our hair, the gesture of our hands when we speak, the way we put our bodies into the world, anything. And what we eat, of course! I think of creativity as composting: taking in what the world gives you and subjecting it to your own internal process of fertility, then putting it back into the world. Those binaries: creation and destruction. I keep coming back to: how can I treat my body creatively, not destructively?

Yes, I am with you on the need for cheeseburgers! Funny, what we mean by need. I too struggle with the "food is fuel for the body" concept. Because, really, in our society, it isn't. In fact, most of our "needs" (sustenance, shelter, survival stuff) are overwhelminlgy met. But we keep needing. I think about the people who don't have the luxury of needing they way I think I need: people who struggle for basic survival every day. Why do I "need" differently than they do? Then I think about how many images of food I see every single day, and what kinds of food those images protray, and also all the other advertising/branding that bombards me, and I wonder...are our needs defined by what we perceive as our options? Do I "need" to replace my 35-year-old car because I saw 23 car advertisements today? For me, the pigging-out-on-junk urge often comes down to simple consumption. It's the same whether I'm tearing through a burrito or loading a shopping bag with shoes; whether I'm watching a chunk of television or going beserk on ebay: I want to consume, and in a way that smothers critical thinking, questioning, and stimulation with a feeling of security. We are a consumptive society. We make our needs and they drive us.

Again, great, but how to translate it into mindful actions?

Debbie: Wow, your farming memories sound lovely! What a great experience to have as a youngster. Makes me want to milk a cow!

Sueisme: Congrats on the 5 lbs! You must have had a fabulous week. I think it's amazing that you're down 115 lbs. What an accomplishment. I am in awe.

Okay, I'm gonna shut my big mouth for a bit and cook dinner. Whole wheat pasta and salad. Woo-hoo.

hello everyone
just a quickie tonight, not feeling well. i think i caught the flu from my DS. gotta love kids and their germs. hope you all have a great evening. hopefully i'll be raring to go tomorrow. i'll catch up on the cheeseburger debate and give you all my thoughts.

Hello,
I missed getting here yesterday. I hate it when I don't have time my computer time. It just seems like there aren't enough hours in the day sometimes.

I have been struggling with food for the past couple of days. Just eating second helpings and such. I did ok yesterday..so today I will work on doing the same things that I did yesterday which was a lot of self-talk and journaling. I did go to my workout last night also. I thought about skipping because it's so cold outside and I just didn't want to go back out, but knowing my workout buddy would be there I went....let me tell you..she has saved a lot of workouts for me. This is my hard time of the year to stay motivated. I hate the cold! But I've got to remember that I can use this time to get this extra weight off so when the warm weather comes I can be ready for it.

Sorry that I don't have time for personals this morning. I'm going to try to get some in later on.

Susie

Feelin' a little down.
A combination of things I think.

I have noticed a definite relationship between how well I do with food and exercise and how well DS is doing emotionally,behaviourally. I takes so much energy to deal with his drama in a healthy, constructive way. Add worry to that and I have nothing left at the end of the day. I need to find a proactive way to counteract this now that I am aware of it.
My cycle is mixed up. I had pms symptoms last week. Spotted on Thurs and then nothing.I spotted yesterday. Unusual for me.
I have been thinking about my history with my Mom a bit. DD said on Saturday morning,” I dont like Gramma. I will only play with Grampa”. DH smirked and walked away. I was surprised on 1 level and then on another not. It stirred up a lot of feelings for me. My Mom is very hard to take. Lord knows her heart is in the right place and it took me 30 years to see that but she is pushy and intense, insecure, outspoken, unknowingly hurtful, conceited......she is also loving, kind, generous.... There are years of therapy and issues here. Anyhow, it was, I guess, interesting that my 4 year old daughter came out with that. Part of me felt sad for Mom too because she tries so hard, too hard, to be the perfect Gramma. It would be so nice if she would just be real. Of course, she would have to know who she was first. Sigh.

It was a good, busy, long day, I had 8 kids here for before and after school. 5 kids in between. I took them to storytime, which was nice.Didn’t have time for much else but kids . I made a modified(ground) turkey tetrazini for supper with a salad. YUM!
Laid down with DS and held him. He sobbed and sobbed.
Watched Corner Gas and 24. Barely stayed awake. Went to bed , had a good, deep sleep.
We ended up with snow yesterday. It whipped up to blizzard conditions around 3:30. There was no visability for people coming home from work. DH was late but okay.One Dad came in his tracker to pick up his kids.
My sister and I bought tickets to go see Kalan Porter on Feb 9th. He is the sweety who won Canadian Idol this year. I cant even think it with out giggling. It is soooo dorky but I adore him. I voted for him all along and he is so cute and talented. It is a far cry from the Metallica etc of the past, LOL!!! Feeling kind of middle aged.ROFL!!!!!
I am glad my kids are too young to tease me.Although, DH will make up for it. So far he just laughs and shakes his head.
It is very cold,-27C, sunny and clear. The snow is glistening in the sunrays coming through the trees.

I have 3 kids today. Dh decided to stay home. I hope he will tile. Every one is fed. DS is off to school. I need to eat, shower, wipe up crumbs.....
I will try to WATP this morning, after the baby goes down for his nap.
HUGS CHICKS!!!!!
Have a happy day!

Blotted today
 

Hi


Boy!! I'm I blotted today. Somebody told me that if you drank a lot of water it will help relieve it. I'm going to try it anyway. I brought a pair of new jeans yesterday, size 20, I was a size 28, I am tickled pink. Good thing!! I'm tall, 5'10. I will be happy if I get to a size 12 one of my goals. I hope everybody has a good day :D


Take care
Susan

Jodi: Oh, no, the flu! Hope you feel better. No fun. :(

Mychoice: I am always so in awe of that ability to go out to the gym when it's cold and yucky. That's great that you have a workout partner! Could you share more about how that works for you? Was it hard to find someone who had similar goals/fitness level/schedule? Does that accountability ever backfire? I would love to find a workout partner, but am not sure how to go about it.

Holly: Wow, mother issues, there is a wealth of material for internal digging! Sounds like you have so much on your plate. Hope you have a nice tucked-in day and don't have to go out in the swirling snow!

I am struggling today with how to balance weight-loss priorities and the million other demands in my life. Seems like everyone here has such a good handle on that! My trouble is that it seems like there often just isn't enough time/energy for both. And weight loss goes out the window, because there's no external authority. Paying my rent isn't dependant on getting my workout in! How to make my health a real priority when, ultimately, I don't view myself as an authority figure?

Will be busy this next few days, but hope to have time to post!!

PS: I notice lots of people have that neat chart at the bottom of the posts showing weight goals. How do you do that?

Susan: Size 20, congratulations!! Eight whole sizes...that's amazing. Yes, drinking water will really help with the bloating. The more water you drink, the less you will retain. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but it works. Also, avoid salt as much as possible. Sodium contributes to retaining water, which is the last thing you want! I also find that hot tea helps, but I don't know if there's any scientific basis for that. I just like tea.

Hey Ladies
 

I haven't been around in a while. Lots and lots of stuff going on. Work and more work, Dad in hospital (he's ok, pneumonia 5 weeks post open heart surgery), Grandma visiting from Florida, kids and snow days, etc. All of you know busy, I'm sure. Anyway, my weekend was an eating bust (Grandma cooking) but I am back on track now. I haven't been able to catch up on all the posts I've missed but it seems as though everyone ins still upbeat and doing great. Welcome to a few new friends I see, and congrats on the weight losses and personal goal achievements I see. I'll get more personal with everyone next time.
Suzy

Spores- Saw your post right after I posted mine. Managing life and weight loss is the toughest thing in the world. It takes a lot of time and energy to eat healthy and have a healthy lifestyle. I have incorporated things slowly into my since new year. One thing is- no pressure at all on myself. Another is making my daily tasks count for moving more. No official exercise needed when there is plenty of housework, snow shoveling, etc. to do. I make sure to step in place folding laundry, bend and stretch more dramatically and frequently when picking up. Adopting some of Jodi's prepare ahead foods has helped me a lot. Now when I cook I make double and freeze leftovers for quick meal later on. Make your lifestyle work for your health goals. It is working for me anyway.
Susan- Water, water, water. oh yeah and then some more water.
Holly- I'm sorry you are having a down day. Stress for me is a deal breaker with my goals and DS behaviors are definitely stressful. It is wonderful that you are putting the two together. That's a great step in being able to make a change. Hey I think we might be related because your mom and MIL sound like the same person. My boys avoid her like the plague. HAHA. Hope your day cheers up.
Susie- Great job with the workouts. It will counter the 2nds. Go easy on yourself. You'll get it back.
Jodi- Hope you feel better soon.
Debbie- Good to see you back.
Suzy

Good morning, All.

Last night was a bit of a struggle. I munched too much. I'm trying to work on not munching so much at work, but part of me thinks it's a good thing to much on a snack slowly throughout the day and it will keep me satisfied so I don't overeat. For example, I usually give myself a snack in between breakfast and lunch and another in between lunch and dinner. If I make it something like a bag of pretzels, I can munch on those pretzels all morning.

The problem is when I get home, then I tend to munch all night. I will try to be better tonight. DH has his first night of class for this semester - three nights a week...well, it's only going to be for 16 weeks then he finally gets his master's degree. I can't wait. Anyway, so there will be several nights of making dinner just for me and that's something simple - a sandwich and chips, a Lean Cuisine, a salad, veggieburger, etc.

It was so hard to wake up this morning. I hit snooze and didn't get up until 4.50a but managed to get out of the house by 5am. I always want to get to the gym as early as possible so I have more time in between showering at the gym and then going to work. I typically have about an hour which is nice enough for me to take my time getting dressed and having breakfast as long as I've planned an outfit for work.

I'm going to be fighting being tired all day. I need to have something for lunch with a good amount of protein. I wasn't prepared with breakfast, so my brekkie was this bag of pretzels and I brewed some chai tea. Just a little over an hour to go without munching and I get to have lunch.

It's so weird because I know if I wasn't in this office, kinda bored and rolling my eyes at my work, I wouldn't be thinking about food in the least.

Girlie

Suzy: Yes, incorporating movement is a great idea! Makes doing stuff more fun, too. I once heard someone say, "Obesity is not a disease of overeating, it's a disease of underplanning." Sounds about right to me. Fitting it all in is hard. So I'm focusing on the whole changing-your-lifestyle thing. Not easy, since my lifestyle involves lots of driving, reading, writing. Trying to figure out how to make those sitting activities more active. Kagels, maybe?

Girlie: Good night, girl, 5 am?! I think you deserve kudos for getting out of bed at that ghastly hour! That takes commitment. Congrats to your dh on the master's work. I finished mine last spring, and I know that my poor bf was left to his own devices the entire last semester. Thesis=zombieville. Oh snacking at work. That's the pits. I was a cubicle-dweller for three years, and just gained and gained. Something about sitting there with work to do and no fun distractions and the proximity of a vending machine that just seems to demand ho-hos. And then there's all the magical unexplained food in offices. Cookies by the mailboxes, cake in a conference room. I tried chewing gum, which worked sometimes. Also brushing and flossing after meals so I wouldn't be tempted to snack, but it's kind of weird to floss your teeth while your boss washes her hands at the next sink! I think you'r eon the right track: acknowledge the need to snack, and do it healthfully. Bag of carrots in the fridge, bowl of apples on your desk. At least there's a healthy alternative to the vending machine! For me it comes down to the vacuousness of a life built upon staring at a screen for eight hours every day. It's just not conducive to a dynamic, engaged existance, and the body that goes with it. Office work favors sitting and staring; healthy bodies like moving and shaking. A nutritionist suggested to me once that I set a timer for every two hours, and when it goes off, take a 5-minute activity break: walk around the building or do some squats or something. I don't know how much my boss liked that idea, but it did break the monotony!

Suzy -
I totally think you are on the right track. No pressure - that's a GREAT one. We as human beings put so much pressure on ourselves...so much so that we sit and do nothing because we feel we have so much to do...we just give up. You are great for incorporating moving into our regular activities.

There isn't a day that I don't think about this, but in my WATP 3-mile video, Leslie Sansone (who gets kinda corny sometimes, but I guess sometimes you have to say some silly things to keep the exercisers entertained!) says this: We were not designed to be sedentary creatures. I truly believe this. our bodies are like miraculous machines. A car needs oil; we need water. If a car just sits around and isn't used, the battery will die and the outside will rust. If we just sit around, we gain weight and lose muscle. We must keep ourselves running at moderate speeds, don't get too heavy on the pedal and slow ourselves down when we need to. Replace our tires, polish our interiors and keep ourselves looking good. When our cars are nice and clean, we feel better, don't we?

Okay, not sure where all that came from but hey, I guess it worked!

Spores:
Your post made me realize I'm not getting much fruit in. I totally forgot about the carrot sticks I bought this weekend. I'll be sure to pack some tomorrow, and apples too. Regarding the 5am thing...it gets easier, but I'm still in my old night owl ways. So I often don't get to bed until 11pm or midnight. You wrote that obesity is a disease of the underplanning and that's very true. I mean, to be able to get up and do this every day, I have to pack my bags at night for the gym, and lay out my work clothes and I often have a lunch bag packed at night as well. I know that the moment I fail to plan...the morning I wake up and don't know where my gym clothes are...I'm on my way to fail that day.

Somehow over the summer, I acquired a taste for Oreos. My husband loves them and I managed to never get hooked on cookies. I just never buy them. But my husband would and I could never resist. Bad, bad Oreos. You know what's funny? I have realized that many of the "bad" foods I love right now, like Oreos and chocolate and sugary drinks are the things we never really had when I was a kid. My mother was good and home made our meals every night. She always had a nice balanced menu plus dessert. Not necessarily low fat, but moderate portions. I was always slim back then. We didn't often have Koolaid or cookies. After my parents got divorced, my father had custody of my brother and me, and we spent the next couple years eating ramen noodles, burittos and other frozen entrees. I missed the food that my mom made us, home made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, gizzards and livers, Japanese foods, etc. And that's the stuff that I ate when I got older and had my own money and was able to buy food.

Okay sorry that was another tangent.

But I started talking about Oreos because I'm having a package of these 100-calorie Oreo packs. I tend to want something chocolatey in the afternoons so I packed these. No trans fat and all the flavor of Oreos.

I need to make a fruit salad for dinner. Look at this horrible menu of what i've eaten today:

Breakfast:
pretzels
tea

Snack:
no sugar added rice pudding cup

Lunch:
roasted chicken
a piece of bread

Snack:
Oreo 100 cal pack

Where are the fruits and veggies?! I promise to eat 2-3 servings of veggies at dinner.

Baby steps...

Girlie

Hi Everyone,
Surprised to see me twice in one day? I am surprised to be here! My accouting class was cancelled tonight because our teacher is ill. I'm so excited about having a "free" night. I'm going to go and workout, because I didn't make it a lunch today. I had a lot of errand to run at lunch time.

Holly: I'm not surprised about the "connection" you made. I've found out along this journey that most of my reasons for overeating are linked to things. Thanks for sharing with us. I was ROLF about the music comments you were making...I could say them myself.

Girlie: You are doing great with the exercise...how did you go with balancing the food out? I loved the "car" thing. I might share it at my TOPS meeting this week..is that ok?

Spores:I'm enjoying your posts!

Jodi: I hope you are feeling better lady. Take it easy and get well soon.

Suzy: Hope your dad is doing ok. I'm now hungry after thinking about "Grandma's cooking! lol

Susan: Size 20! I'm so happy for you!

Debbie: It's good to see you again. Stay on plan!

If I forgot anyone..sorry about that..you really are in my thoughts.

Have a nice evening ladies.

Susie

Girlie: The car metaphor is great! We really aren't designed to be sedentary, but we've evolved ourselves out of health! Skyscrapers and highways and elevators and deep fryers are wonderful technological innovations, but they take our bodies out of their natural functions. So I guess the key is to find tha balance: how to take advantage of the society we've built without letting it turn us into blobs. Maybe in 10,000 years we'll evolve into floating brains with fingers, but for now, we're still monkeys. Very clever monkeys.

Mychoice: Ooh, a free evening! A cancelled class is always a treat. Once I was on my way to class just *praying* that it would be cancelled, as I was exhausted and had a ton to do, and when I showed up, I found out that class was indeed cancelled because the teacher's husband had died! I felt so awful! And of course, I used the extra time not to do homework, but to go play.

Dinnertime approaches. I'm making chili. I have no idea if the chili I make is really healthy, but it's the only thing I cook well, so I'm going to pretend it's good for me too. Keep well, all!

Susan~ Congrats an the hard work and the big loss. You are an inspiration!!!!!!

Jodi~ ((((HUGS))))) honey!

Susie~ I have been 90% with the food but a litle something sneaks in every day. The exercise is hit and miss. I did yoga today and shovelled snow for an hour.I still feel dorky about that concert. Sis and I were joking about trying to get back stage. Lol!! Like it was Aerosmith or something, giggle. She figured the sweet 19 year old would be horrified . ROFL!! Can you imagine a very busty, overweight house wife, the same age as his Mother trying to get an autograph...........

Debbie~ (((HUGS))) happy to see you. I love your 60's memory!! I grow enough to eat off of for the season but buy for canning and freezing. I LOVE doing it.Very therapeutic. And let me tell you the peaches and blueberries are very exciting this time of year.

DH did go to work. I had a steamy shower and did yoga and felt good. I got a bunch of housework done and felt better. I have still been fighting a headache all day Arg!
Tomorrow is another day! See ya!

hello everyone,
hope you are all doing good. i am still in between flu like/just crappy feeling. not sick enough to lay down guilt free, but sick enough to want to whine about it. i didn't get up to exercise this morning again. just needed the extra sleep. i did weigh in yesterday, thanks to the flu i finally shed my last holiday pound! january goal of 5 lbs met. that was the hardest 5 lbs i ever had to loose!! someone slap me next time i get a bright idea like giving myself a little "break" over the holidays. i feel like i am really getting back on a good path. it is so hard some days (i know you all can relate). i am still reading my new book, one of the suggestions was to eat just 3 meals a day. this is contrary to everything else i have read lately. all the latest news is to eat 5-6 smaller meals a day so you keep your insulin levels etc. at a normal level. don't get me wrong i like eating the small meal version, except my last snack in the evening was getting bigger and bigger every day. so i'm going to give it a shot. see where it takes me. just like all of the other trial and error pieces of this long running journey.

girlie- good for you taking baby steps, i have a hard time getting in my veggies and fruits too. when i do i feel better all around. great job with the exercise! you just totally rock! need i say anymore? i like the little oreo packs too, the chocolate chip ones are pretty good too. hope your fruit salad was good!

spores- i love reading your posts, you have really raised so many good questions in my mind. thank you for making me think a little. i can totally relate to the weight loss priorities vs. everyday demands issue. i have a very busy life 3 kids (2 of them very active teenagers) full time job (way too stressful) husband, house, my list goes on and on, like yours does i am sure. for me i just looked in the mirror one day (well at a family portrait actually) and i just said to myself who is that? it looked nothing like the person i remembered, from that day in nov '03 i just knew i had to do something. i started making myself the priority. it has been long and slow but i'm going to get there. sometimes i fight with myself over it. i struggle with it, i get a mili-second away from scrapping the whole thing, but ultimately i give in and keep the thought i want to be a healthier me. if you are looking for advice my best is just make one small change at a time, work on it, and then move on to the next thing. find out what fits best in your life and go with it. if tracking every morsel keeps you honest then do that. the bottom line, i have found is that you have to do what is right for your body/ lifestyle. things you can live with. i spent a lot of nonsense time trying to follow other peoples plans and then damning myself for not being able to do it. very counter-productive. hope this helps, you'll get it all worked out. it is all trial and error. for the weight tracker at the bottom of your post just click on any of ours and it will take you to the 3fc thingie where you can make your own. when you are done you will copy the url in the middle box (i think) and then paste it in your signature box. to create a signature go up to the top of this page, click on quick links and go to edit my signature. i hope that made sense i still have a bit of a fever ;-)

holly- i can totally relate on the mother issues. it sounds like you just described mine! hang in there girl! finding the stress that = eating thing is very positive, hope you work out a good solution. have fun at the concert!

mychoice- great job getting to the gym! hope you enjoy your night off.

suzy- glad the meal planning is helping some. hope your dad gets better soon. sending good vibes to you. it's nice you got to visit with grandma. you are so right just adding extra movement in is wonderful.

susieme fantastic! keep up the great work!

debbie- hello! i have good memories of my grandparents and their garden when i was a little girl. i try every year to plant a little something tomatoes etc. it is so nice to have fresh.
well if i missed anyone lets just blame the flu, thinking of you all! have a great night.

Good morning everyone, I just finished up a load of laundry and going to go start getting ready for work. It was good to get back to work yesterday. It was cold but I love being outdoors.
I was reading all the post about snacking. You know how we beat obesity
one step at a time. That was my first step. I very seldom snack. I have real
issues with portion control at mealtime and making good food choices. I eat way too much fast foods, burgers and fries ect. Working on it!

Spores: I love your posts. I am one of those people who can't take a thought from my brain and get it to paper or keyboard without it being all scramble up. I am a rambler in more ways than one.

Everyone have a blessed day. stay op

BIG HUGS TO ALL

Good morning everyone. Guess what this is the second day this week that DH has come with me to the gym! Actually, he went last night to swim and he got up with me this morning. Amazing. He did half an hour on the elliptical with me, and while I finished my 65 minutes he got on the stairstepper. I'm so proud of him! I hope he can keep it up. It would seem so much easier if this was a "group" effort instead of me doing one thing and him doing something else. The problem is, the moment we step in the doors around 7am, he heads to the kitchen and takes a bite of brownie he bought. I told him I'd buy him a smoothie and he said "how about biscuits and gravy?" Men, I tell ya. He has lost over 100 pounds in the past, so I know he can do it again.

Last night I went with chicken again and a ton of green beans. I had a banana smoothie for breakkie and I have carrots to munch on for snack.

Susie,
Yes, you can share the car analogy. I hope it helps someone. GL at your weigh in! I have looked into TOPS but there isn't one around here at a decent time. They are all during the day while I'm at work.

Sores:
Chilli can be a very good, low fat, high fiber meal. Just use lean beef or veggie crumbles and add lots of kidney beans for fiber! Mmmmm...chilli. I like it with a spoon of ff sour cream, a sprinkling of shredded cheddar and sliced green onions! I like shredded carrots in there too.

Holly:
There's nothing like a nice, long, hot steamy shower. Showers and baths are two of my favorite things. Some day I want DH to take me to a nice bed and breakfast that has a huge clawfoot tub. Better yet, i'd like to own one...I'd take baths every day. Our tub is older and a little larger than the standard tubs, but it's still too shallow to immerse yourself (even if I was 50 pounds lighter LOL).

Jodi:
You are so right - you can't follow what other people are doing, you have to find the right combination of things that work for you!

Debbie:
Wow, no snacking! That is awesome that you can do that. I have to eat every couple of hours so I feel satisfied all the time. I mean, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't...but especially while I'm at work, I always feel like I have to munch.

I'm sleepy again today. I fell asleep right after the Biggest Loser...so I was asleep by 8.15p! But DH got home from class around 10pm and the door woke me up last night. I did go right back to sleep, but I think when I have "disturbances" in my sleep, I don't truly rest as well. I was so tired, I only read one page of my novel that I'm starting to read and konked out.

Girlie

SUZI~ ((((HUGS))))) I was thinking about you yesterday and missed posting to you. Glad your Dad is doing better. Such a worry isn't it? Tell Grandma to go low fat, LOL!!! Why does everything a Grandma cooks taste so darn good. I use my G's recipes for a lot of things but hers is always better, mmmmmmmmm.

Spores~ your style and thought process reminds me so much of my BF( not boyfriend, bestfriend) from grade and high school. We lost touch in our 20's but she is now an English Prof and published writer.
I do so much thinking and planning for DH and the kids that I fall to the wayside. I am doing better at it but it has taken a few years to prioritize ME. I felt soooo guilty buying things that I like that are healthy because it wasn't for the whole family.We are on a VERY tight budget.No one asked me to make these sacrifices. I did it on my own. No one cared when I stopped either.

Jodi~ I do fine on 3 meals a day. I do worse if I snack because I cant stop grazing. This is how my day goes:
7am- 12 oz water,coffee,banana, coffee,12 oz water
10am-breaky ( 1 scrambled egg,1 slice ham,alfalfa sprouts, hot sauce on a whole grain wrap)
1ish-lunch ( grilled chicken & salad greens on a wrap, fruit, fresh veggies, sometimes a cookie
2-4- tea
5:30pm- supper 3oz meat, cooked veg, salad,sometimes a starch(1/2 c)

I drink another 5-8 12oz water throughout the day
If I dont munch in the aft or before bed I ROCK and lose weight.

Debbie~ nice that you are liking being at work.It sounds like I job i would love!

Have a great day Girlie, Susie,Susan!

I woke up feeling MUCH better today. Headache is gone.My sinuses are aching from the cold snap. It is soooo dry. Saline and vicks are my friend.

No busses today. DH drove the kids to school. Work was cancelled for him. He is putting up the last row of tile then going to pay bills etc. The baby is sleeping. The 3 year old is playing house. They go home at noon. I am trying to decide how to spend the aft. I have been doing laundry today.I got bunch of housework done yesterday!
Life is pleasantly dull.

Jodi: Thanks for the words. I have been giving this a lot of thought over the past three days, because I've felt like there was literally not enough time to do everything. I had an extra class added to my teaching load at the last minute on Friday (it starts today), and I've had syllabi/lesson plans/grading driving me crazy, and then of course there are all the other Very Important things (goodness, I can't believe you have three kids, that's a wonder!), and it really feels like I HAVE to do certain things, and other things are optional if I have time. And exercise is the latter. But you know, that's not taking responsibility for my choices. I choose to grade essays rather than work out. I choose what kind of life I live. I think we all get caught up in what we think we're supposed to do, what we think we need. This relates back to that emotional "needing" of food. We ultimately make decisions about what we do, what matters, and if we fail to decide and let our choices be dictated by others/culture/whatever, well, that is a decision too. So I'm going to work on awareness of how my every action is a choice. PS: Hope you feel better! I am fighting off a cold myself, and I am such a baby about being sick. Oh, and thanks for the directions on making a chart. Fun!

Debbie: Love your posts too! We're all going through very similar things in very different ways. Writing it out for me is just one way of working through it. I think we use different brain muscles when we write! Working outdoors sounds wonderful. It is almost 60 degrees here and I am sick of being stuck inside!

Girlie: Chili is one of my faves! I think I make it pretty low-fat, high-fiber, but then I go and ruin it with a ton of crackers. I have been trying to find a substitute, but so far nothing is as good. At least they're whole-wheat crackers! That's great that your dh is working out with you. It really does make it easier when the person you live with shares what you're doing. My bf wasn't really into it (he's one of those guys who eats grotesquely and stays skinny, but now that he's getting older he's getting little love handles), but then we got Dance Dance Revolution, and he loves working out. Turn exercise (or anything!) into a video game and he'll do it. I just wish they'd turn other stuff -- like doing taxes and budgeting and cleaning and meal planning -- into video games. I'd get so much done!

Holly: Sounds like all us english professors are thinking along the same lines...guess that's what happens when you live in a book half the time. :) Yes, priortizing oneself is a struggle, I think especially for women. All our cultural cues tell us to priortize others (husbands, children, other family members, even strangers!), and it's hard to re-train yourself to put yourself first. We learn that to be good is to be courteous and generous and compassionate, but we never learn to apply those values to ourselves as well. I'm trying to be as kind to myself as I would be to someone else -- surprising how hard that can be!

Sorry if I missed anybody. Happy day to all.

Just passin' through....
 

Hi, there--

I've been reading your posts because I have a long way to go, and seeing 199 on the scale would be a huge milepost for me. When I've gotten close to that in the past, I've hit a plateau, stayed there forever, and let the weight begin to creep back on. I'm working on figuring out which elements of that have been psychological, and what's because of my diabolical fat cells.

Anyway, I'm happy to find this thread! If anyone is interested in a buddy to send evening (9-10:30 PM Eastern) snack attack email alerts, let me know. Nighttime nibbling has biggest barrier so far to my keeping on message with my eating plan. It would help to have someone say, "Step away from the refrigerator, slowly, with your hands up...." :nono:

Hang in there, ladies!

judy

Hello,
The plan today was to not have seconds of anything and I didn't. It's a step in the right direction to get back on track.

I know I'll be up tomorrow, but I'll just live with it and go on, and then work hard, because next week...I'm going to be down!

I enjoyed my night off last night. I went and walked for an hour at the Y. Usually I'm rushing to get it all in, well, last night I had the extra time, soI took it. My legs felt so strong this morning from that walk.

Holly: I would love to see that Singers face when you get backstage...LOL! I know what you mean. We have a local guy who was on Nashville Star. I spotted him in the mall one time and I know I scared him to death. He was a really nice guy though. He did a benefit concert for his high school and I went. I bought a CD and I was standing in line to get it signed with all these cute, tiny highschool gals. They were just going crazy over him...all I could think was how big I must look compared to them. When I got up to Brent he looked up, smiled, hugged me and said, "Hey, I know you"..he remembered me from the mall! Those little girls were losing it...I was thinking "I still got it!"..lol Have fun at the concert!

Girlie: I'm glad your hubby is going to work out with you. I love it when mine goes with me.

Jodi: I hope you are feeling better soon. Take it easy..and feel free to whine..you need the extra TLC

Spores: Did you ask me about my exercise buddy in an earlier post? Someone did and last night I realized I hadn't answered the question. My buddy and I just got to know each other from being at the Y at the same time, we started making plans to meet and that's how it all got started. She's now a very good friend...I mean very good...I was there when her badies were born 3 years ago and a year ago.

Welcome to our new person. I don't remember your name (sorry), but I just realized I had forgotten to welcome you and went back in to do a quick edit and I can't see your post! Anyway..we are glad to have you. We all started this journey along the way and the only way to get where you want to go is to start out..so Welcome along!

If I didn't mention you my name, please forgive me. I'm running out of time...I've got to get to the Y. See you all on Friday.

Susie