Heh all. Thanks for the welcomes. Yes, Chachee, this is an ample rear to get in gear. It's now 5 a.m. and I've got to get a move on. Just wanted to say heh and I'm determined to do some good today, good for me in a weight way.

Raven, hi there! Yes, weight training revs the appetite like you wouldn't believe. I'm a vegetarian so lots of protein means lots of food and I've just realized I have a dairy allergy so I can't take the whey protein I'd been taking when working out heavy. Couldn't figure it out but finally did. Rash on my hands and crazy itching. Now that I've substituted soy milk for milk it's totally cleared up. Plagued me for years.

The hunger I can take (more or less) but I tell you, that crazed feeling of wanting food is something I can't conquer. Then again, I guess I should just up the calories a bit at those times. It's the binges of 4,000 calories that aren't too good in the long run!! Consistency is everything, isn't it?

Hi Ladies,

Thought I would check in and let you all know how weigh in went. Down 2.2 to a total of 19 lost. Yes, 19 and not 20. Oh well, I'll get em next week! PMS acting up.

I'm really sleepy, so I am going to bed. Just wanted to jump on here and let you all know how it went.

Chach

Hiddy Ho!

Chach, Another loss!! WOOHOO!! I hope you have something wonderful planned for yourself when you hit the 20 pound mark!

Raven I won't hit you, not this time around anyway I think if you can take a break and spend some time with the kids that's wonderful! Just don't crazy on eating okay because then I just might have to get the boot out

Lucky, my brother does still live here. He lived with us when he was younger, before he got married. We have always been real close and when he left I really missed him. I will miss him all over again when he moves out this time but circumstances will be different and I will still get to see him alot.

OHHHHHH Sassy?

Red, how are you?

Hi to Jolly.

Okay, yesterday I was so busy. No walking. Wait a minute Raven!!!!! Don't yell at me! I cleaned and shampood carpets all day yesterday. I ran up and down the stairs I don't know how many times to empty the water. I was moving furniture and bending and squating. Today I feel like I got a good workout. I used bothe arms with the shampooer so today I have sore muscles. My calves are sore....Maybe I should do carpets everyday Eating and water was good.

Gary has to haul a load of buildings today and asked me to ride with him. We don't have alot of time together so I'm going to go with him later this morning. It will take about 4 hours then I'll cook supper and help Jordan with his school project.

Have a great day girls!

Just signing in before hitting the hay. Had a great day for weight management/loss. I am under my calorie limit. Hurrah! I got to the gym and did arms and shoulders (weights) and ran for 5 K. Rode this morning as well (another horse nut here).

OK, just wanted to report in. I am dead tired! and must be up early to finish some work. Good night all!

Chachee, congrats on that 2.2 loss! You're doing it.

Hippy, it sure sounds to me like you got your workout in yesterday too, just not in the gym. Good for you!

'Morning everyone -
Quick check in for me...
Raven, I agree with what everyone said about taking a break. A mini vacation of sorts, mental attitude adjustment break so to say. Just as long as you don't go hog wild AND you get back on plan when the 5 days are over. You know as well as any of us 1) how difficult it is to get back on plan again and 2) it's much easier to use eating as an excuse to support the fact that life sucks sometimes - after all it's going to stink at times whether we smoke/drink/eat poorly or not. So enjoy your time with your kids for the next few days!

Red and Hippy- sounds like you both got yourselves a good workout yesterday. Go girls!

Chachee - yay for you on another loss for the week. You are doing awesome and are quite and inspiration. Keep it up!!!

Jolly, you just have to learn to ignore the temptations of bad eating when you get stressed out. I am finding the same thing with avoiding smoking - am constantly fighting with the "do it" "no, DON'T do it" mentality. It's not going to fix anything and will probably just make things worse. But it's such an ingrained habit to us that we often do things automatically without thinking. Be strong!

Lucky - you still have SNOW up your way? must be a short season for you. Brrrrrr.... At this point I don't even want to see a cold rain. Hope you find some interesting new meals to cook up. It's always nice to try something different, especially if you don't have to worry about pleasing the entire family.

And Sassy, how's the walking coming along these days?

Time for me to head on out to the coal mine so have a good day all....

Good morning all. I did my weight training this morning I still don't like it, but I am doing it. Of course, it did help that I snuck on the scale this morning, and I am continuing to go down. Baby steps.

I went to a really good class at the gym the other day on Body Image and nutrition. A lot of it was focused on how we as women tend to want perfection. We make these lists of "good" foods and "forbidden" foods. If we have anything in the "forbidden" category, we consider ourselves failures, which effects our self esteem. She also talked about getting back in touch with our bodies, and focusing on eating when hungry. Yes, there will be times when we eat for other reasons, but the important thing is to recognize it, acknowledge it, and strive to eat healthy foods when hungry 90% of the time. We did some exercises on negative self talk and how to view ourselves more positively.

Anyway. It was interesting. Between trying to focus on whether or not I am hungry, and looking at those advertisements for English riding breeches (or, as I call them, sausage casings), it is helping me stay better focused.

I hope everyone is having a good day.

Hello everyone. It's a beautiful 72 degree day up here. Oh, can't wait to get off work and go outside.

Hippy: Once I hit 25 pounds my reward is to get nails put back on. That is my 10% goal and it's important to me. I love having nails on, and that is a reward that I will treasure! Plus, hubby likes the "girly" look, so he loves me to have them on. You got some good exercise in! I don't think Raven will yell at you!

Red: Wow, what a workout. Good for you! You have a horsie too? Gosh, all you people have horsies. I'm jealous! I can barely keep up with my son and two beagles!

Happy: How is it being a non-smoker? I know you were struggling, but hopefully that was overcome and you are still smoke free! Great job. Any job prospects?

Jolly: How is the stress eating? Have you added in the weight training?

Okay, my WW leader said something last week that has really stuck with me and I wanted to share it.

We were talking about self-esteem and self-worth. She said that our self-image is not how we see ourselves, it's not how people see us, it's how we THINK people see us. Isn't that so true? For myself, when I look in the mirror I just see someone overweight, not obese at my highest (and probably right now). I see myself thinner. I think people see me as hugely obese and fat. When I walk into a store I think they look at me and say "Gosh, why is she shopping here? She won't fit into anything we have." When, in fact, people probably aren't seeing me that way. I am fitting into an 18 very comfortably right now, and some 16's. Heck, you know what? I could probably shop at Old Navy in the women section and have something fit. (Which has never happened before.)

So, when you are feeling down and feeling like everyone is looking at you the wrong way, remember it may just be how you THINK they are feeling.

Thought I would share.

Chach

Good morning!

Another beautiful, sunny day here with the high temp hitting 86! No rain until next week!

I went with Gary yesterday to haul those buildings. We had a good time just having the time to laugh and cut up.

Food and water was great yesterday. I was gone with him most of the day so didn't get in a walk but I did help him out as much as I could so my muscles got it again. It almost feels good to have sore muscles I feel like I have done something other than nothing.

Today is good old Wal Mart day. A friend of mine is using the exercise ball. Any of you ever tried it? She said it has excellent exercises for your legs and so on. I need some good leg exercises. The top of my legs are so nasty, they really need some toneing.

Well, busy day ahead. Hope all of you have a wonderful Friday.

Hey all. Hurray for Horse Nuts. Mine got his teeth done yesterday, so no ride. Today I will though. Honestly, the stress eating is not as bad as I expected. I am really trying to recognize it, and change it when I can. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But, I have lost 13 pounds lately, so I can't be doing too bad. I am doing weight training regularly. I have to say, I hate every minute of it, but I do it. I can not wait until I have my home to myself again so I can force myself to do the yoga workout as well. It really helps with the sore muscles and flexibility. I have to laugh at myself though. I get that feeling you were talking about, Chachee, when I do weights. I feel like all the "steriod boys" are wondering what the heck the fat chick is doing with weights. I have been getting better about ignoring that little voice.

I do have to admit an oops this morning. I had a crazy night last night with work, and did an overnight at one of the programs. This morning, I went home to take care of the dogs after I worked out, and just could not do breakfast. I just didn't want to stay home any longer. So I did a McDonald's run. And ate enough for 3 I know, I know, 30 lashes with a wet noodle.

Anyway, tgif, and have a great day all.

Good morning everybody,
Glad to see that some of you are getting sun and warm temps. We're rather cool, cloudy and rainy and will be that way for at least the next 5 days. Seems like we always get our "April" showers in May.

Boy I've really been slacking this week. Not really sticking to the food plan and I sure feel it all the way around. That business ends today. I have until Tuesday to finish my project for class, then study for my final exam and I'm done until the end of August! We have a party tomorrow, Mom's day on Sunday so that should kill the weekend quite nicely.

Hippy, I've used an exercise ball for ab exercises and it's very good. I did pick up a video for a wider range of exercises but haven't had the chance to use it yet. Everyone seems to like them tho'.

Chachee, thanks for sharing the WW theme with us. That's so true about the whole mental/perception thing. And sometimes we just mess up our own heads with feelings of inadequacy, don't we?

I'm 17 days into being a non smoker now. I still get the urges a few times a day or in certain situations and I'm told by others that this will go on for around 6 months or so. Sometimes the "pull" is really hard to resist so this is very much a mental thing. I'm trying very hard not to substitute food when a craving hits me. I tried chewing gum but gave up that habit about 15 years ago when I started watching people on the train ride and saw the goofy faces people make chewing gum. It's surprising but you have to learn how to chew gum all over again I'm trying to just stick with water and try and distract myself when the urge hits. The good thing is that it's not as often but I won't say it's any less strong. Hippy all I can suggest is to prepare your self as much as possible when you do decide to quit. I still have this feeling that on my last day I was cheated because I didn't get to smoke much (maybe only about 6 cigarettes) whereas my addiction is saying you should have smoked as many as you could the last day. Silly brain! But I'm doing ok. We still don't know the details of what's going to happen with our jobs but we're hoping to find out soon. I'm looking around, keeping an open mind and not sure what I'm going to do next. I think it's time to change careers - the hard thing is finding one that pays enough money to keep you afloat. I don't intend to be rich, just need enough money to pay the bills and have a few dollars left over instead of living from hand to mouth. We'll see...

Happy Mother's Day to all of you ladies, whether you are mom's to 2 legged or 4 legged "children" and have a good weekend - fun but on plan!!!

ack........arrrrrrrrg........... spitter spatter sputter......... sassy´s back!!! the closer it gets ladies the more flurrious it is. quick rundown of what is running after me...... this weekend friends of ya vadesh luncheon, where i am to make three cakes ( okies i am good at this....I Cook There For I AMMMMMMM ~grinz n winks ) and a half hour in the kitchen tag teaming the dishes for a 100 guests.......now if you all were really really close to me, you would of double blinked and busted out laughing at the very thought of sassy doing dishes. normally Sassy Dont Do Dishes, would rather toss em then wash em ~laughing~ even at family functions my mom would get the........ i love ya but look/ speech / aint happening. my part of the dishwashing was to keep you so entertained while You were doing them that you are finished before you realize i hadnt dipped a dainty hand yet...... worse comes to worse i would be flippin a kitchen towel at you screaming Back....Back you crazed induced woman ~laughing~ extreme maybe, but i would rather wash a thousand potties ........ we all have our quirks and that is number 153 on sassy´s quirk list. ~never innocent..just not doing the blinkin blankin dishes look~ the enigma is how much i love to cook and how much i despise doing dishes. but god loves me so much that he gave man the idea and technology for teflon ( pert near washes itself) and silcon (nothing sticks to that, expensive but worth it) and cooking stones ( hot water and a scrapey thingie) and my beloved dish washer!!! then comes Mothers Day, nuff said there. following weekend my birthday. and not just any birthday like happy a biggie, one of those RRRRRRRRRRRound numbers. i had the cutest lil poems for all my getting up there numbers but am so stuck right now....... 38 and still looks great.......... 39 and mighty fine....... all i gots for ~nodnodnodnodm swallows hard~ for THAT number is....cheese and rice thats 20 twice!! a lil help here ladies...... the weekend after my birthday 3 of my states side guests will be here, and that friday the state ceremony and some sight seeing for them. the Next weekend is the big shin dig wedding ~pant pant pant, i am exhausted typing this~ and 5 england guests. in my house from the 26th of may till the 10th, 11th, 12th of june will be 6 plus the dog. between the goings on, goings outs, groceries, gabbing, and the giggles and the grinz........ is it to late to cancel this?? ~laughing~

my scale was stuck on stupid as you all know, kept dancing with 200 and 202. well i am happy to report that after kicking it beneath the bathroom sink (with all the scarey stuffs that gathers there) in appreciation of being pulled back out into the neon glow........ i am in ONE-DERLAND!! ~long low deep bows.....because i can!!~ barely mind you but there...... at 197 and thats at pms time. so i am calling it 5 and may allow the beast a respite. highly doubtful seems the worser i am to it the better it is to me.......... and i like it that way ~laughing~

i have an hour lieft before i have to leave so look for part two of "sassy where are you" coming to your puter screen soon ~ winks n grinz~

Happy: chewing gum? facial expressions? got sassy to thinkin what great exercise for our faces!! going right out to buy me a pack, extra perk is its a super way to keep our teeth cleaned........ how i came to that conclusion which really isnt pretty) will have to wait till the part two of this chaotic episode........

Raven: if anyone deserves a deviation its you doll! live it , love it, leave it! ~wink~

Cacheeeeeeeeeee.......... my Cueen....thank you for tossing the rope when i needed it most.

Hippy: thank goodness its sunny here, eh....... lets keep singing our theme song........ Oh mister Sun...Sun, mister golden Sun, Please shine down on meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ~grinz n winks~

oh you guys i am sooooooooo running behind........ i adores you all ...i do i do i really dooooooooo!!! look for part 2 to see how much.......

sincerely,
scattered sassy

Oh my gosh, Sassy. YOu are a hoot! I laughed so hard reading your post, I may have burned off a pound or two. Thanks Congratulations on reaching One derland! What an incredible birthday present to give yourself! Who needs poems? YOU ROCK!

I have set a goal to lose an average of 2 pounds a week. I thinkk it is doable if I continue the activity level I have been doing, continue to make healthy food and portion choices, and avoid the stress eating as much as possible. IF I can do that, I can reach One-derland by Christmas. It would be the first time since just after college, and I think that would be an INCREDIBLE gift to myself. So, keep the rear kicks coming.

I am off for the weekend. Getting away from home for awhile, to . . . Mom's??? Wait a minute. What was I thinking? Anyway, I will post again Sunday night. Have a great weekend all.

Happy Mom's Day, ladies!

I'm getting ready to go do some grocery shopping, but wanted to jump on here and post quickly.

Hippy: I have one of those exercise balls, but haven't used it in awhile. I usually use it when I am doing weights to do my abs workout. I need to find it as I am going to start incorporating the weights in June. Glad you had a good time with your hubby.

Happy: I'm so proud of you and being a nonsmoker. I know it must be incredibly hard for you, but maybe you are over the hump?? I'm keeping my fingers crossed and prayers said for you job.

Sassy: Oh, girl, you crack me up. CONGRATS ON BEING IN ONEDERLAND! Oh, that day is coming for me, but probably not until the end of the year. (Unless I can convince the plastic surgeon that a tummy tuck, thigh lypo, arm lypo and a butt lift are part of the breast reduction surgery.) I am going to really enjoy actually being the weight I put on my driver's license! I guess asking you to come up and do my dishes is out of the questions, huh? Although, with hubby gone for another 5 weeks, a nice flip with a kitchen towel might get me too excited!!!

Had a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE eating day yesterday. I am not longer going to say "I had a bad day" when it is merely based on my eating. I got outside to walk with my son, walked the dogs, shopped and found some smaller clothes, so it was not a bad day totally, just eating wise. I ate half a frozen pizza. That was like 20 points alone! Then Mr. Reese came along and invited five of his friend to the party in my mouth. How rude, huh? I guess Mr. Carrot was uninvited! Today, alas is a better day. I weighed in for my challenge and am down another 1.5 to 231 on the home scales. Chipping away at that 20 pound mark!

Hope everyone has a great day and talk to you all later.

Time to grocery shop!

Chach

Oh Chachee, I love your eating story. You are too funny. My eating wasn't stellar this weekend, but it wasn't horrid either. I ended up having pancakes twice today though. My stepdad wanted to cook them for breakfast for mom's day, and I had already asked my dad to make them for supper tonight. So, I feel like a walking IHOP. Oh well. I did make it to the gym. So, we shall see how the scale looks tomorrow.

Good morning!

Chach, you are so funny. I was cracking up about Mr. Carrot not being invited You're getting closer to that 20 pound mark, it won't be long now!

How was everyone's Mother's Day? Mine was excellent. My guys cooked breakfast for me. Bacon and scrambled eggs is what I ordered. NO BREAD!! For supper they grilled steaks and made a salad, NO POTATO for me. They were so sweet to cook what I could have!

I have nowhere to store me scrapbooking items and all of my albums. I just had it piled in the corner and it was really getting on my nerves. I don't know what you all call them but for Mother's Day Jordan got me a Deacon's bench. It beautiful. The bench can be sat on but it raises up for storage, perfect place for my scrapbooking things! There is a back on it with mirrors at the top and 3 hooks for hanging whatever. Anyway, I love it!

I went shopping with a friend of mine Saturday. We went to lunch at TumbleWeed. I had a taco salad, didn't eat the shell and passed on the chips and salsa. I think I might be getting the hang of this again!

Busy day ahead so I better run. Take Care