Rears in Gear for the New Year - May
 

April showers bring May flowers! Rainbows of them! :D

Ask and ye shall receive, Sassy!

I'm better at understanding it than I am speaking it.. 4 years of high school german, and no one to speak it with. Though my kids and I will be studying it soon! Homeschooling can be fun.

Alrighty then, ladies! How went the month of April? Lots of ups and downs, stress, unplanned happenings, trips, victories, and setbacks.

For me? This was an interesting month to say the least. Here is my goals review -

Calories - 1200 - 1400 per day as they have been. Need to get back on track with fitday.com and be consistent. Last month was hit or miss.
Water - 6 bottles or large glasses per day.
Sleep - In bed by 9:30, up by 4:30.
Cardio - 30 minutes on the treadmill Tue, Thu, Sat mornings. I need to hit the 2 mile in 25 minute goal still. Wow... :o It's been a LONG time since I hit the treadmill. Time to start reeling myself back in on that one and get dedicated again.
Pilates - Mon, Wed, Fri mornings.
Weights - Erk. This was an area in which I was STILL not consistent last month. I'm revising the goals a little bit. I'll give myself some flexibility, but I need to do squats/lunges at least twice a week in the evenings, and UB at least twice a week in the evenings. They don't take long, so I need to stop making excuses and just do it.
Riding - ~Continue aiming for 3 times a week. I will use Copper at least 1 day a week to get a substantial posting trot workout and work on my canter. My goal this month will be to do at least 4 laps around the arena in each direction at a posting trot and one complete lap in each direction at a two point canter. Additional goal - remains the same at being able to do a two point trot at least once in each direction around the arena.~ Ok .. that is verbatim last month's goal. I have been spending nearly every night at the stables working with my own horse. I realized that if I didn't commit to training him, I'd never have a trained horse. I will ride as training allows, and hopefully I'll be able to ride Copper that one day a week. As my horse progresses, so shall I.
Scale Victory - I want to drop 5 pounds by 05/31/04, putting me at 167.
Stealth Goal - Hmm. This month.. there is no specific stealth goal. Anything under the 5 pounds would be great and move me closer to what my stealth goal will be next month, which is 155. I suppose if I can lose 8-9 pounds this month (pushy, Marian, pushy!) and do the same next month, that will put me at my two month stealth goal. *lol* Not undoable at all, but it will take what I WAS doing in February and March rather than what I let myself do in April. SLACKER!!! :lol3: Ok, so we'll say my stealth goal is 163. Ambitious.

I think I'm back now, ladies!! I was off in lala land for a while with this horse situation, and this month I do have some challenges ahead of me foodwise. Richard will be out of town for 10 days, and that means the kids and I will have free rein (so to speak) to eat when and what we want. Dangerous. I plan for some meals that will not be within my caloric limit, and to combat that I MUST be rigorous in my working out. So that will be my huge focus this month. Keep really OP on the days that I can, and WORK OUT!!! No excuses. :drill: What do I want, to stay in the 170s for the rest of my life!?! NO! :drill:

Ladies? Goals for this month? Let's hear 'em!

Hello everyone.

I am just popping in to say happy Saturday. I am really going to do some deep thinking about where my goals need to be this month to help myself out of this rut.

My most important goal so far that I have thought about is meal planning. We are still eating supper at 8:00 at night so if I can plan our meals for a week or two and then eat earlier I think I would have the most sucess this month with that.

Ok i must run

Kathy

My Sweet Lovely Ladies!

Chachee here and this is my MISSION MONTH!!! I have a few goals:

Previous goals that are now my new lifestyle:

1. Water, 64 ounces a day
2. Exercise, at least 20 minutes 5 times a week. This goal I exceed. Monday-Friday I get in 60 minutes of exercise, Sat and Sunday 30 minutes. I am working out usually 6 days a week now.
3. WW Points/System is now ingrained in my brain and my new way of eating.

Those three things are now my new lifestyle, so I can't consider them "goals" per sey anymore.

This month's goals are as follows:

1. Challenge weigh in--want to be down 8 more pounds. I do that weigh in for my WW group online. That will put me at 225 on home scales.
2. WW weigh in--drop 8 pounds also. That will put me at 230 on the WW scales.
3. MY BIGGEST CHALLENGE AND GOAL: Only weigh twice a week--once on Sunday mornings and once on Wednesday evenings before going to WW.

My physical challenges are now coming in line, so my needs are now much more mental that I need to address. My addiction to the scales is a big one and I need to keep focusing on that. No more scale stepping 4-5 times a day. No more only validating my losses with the scales. Inches...inches...inches. I would like to be in a size 16 by the end of the month. Actually, there are a pair of jeans I own that I would like to wear when I pick up my hubby in June. I will wear them to the airport and look stunning!

Raven: Stick with us. Only a little bit longer. Great goals. Keep the consistency going and you will be about 8 pounds down, like me.

Happy: I'm keeping my fingers crossed you will fight this demon and be victorious. Lurke away if that helps and find your inner strenght.

Sassy: My scale stepping partner. You are doing so well with it. It's going to keep us on track even more, I think! Happy anniversary.

Hippy: My thoughts and good vibes are going to you this month to kick the cig addiction. This is going to be your first step at being smoke free.

Lucky: Welcome back. Join on in and post often!

Anyone else I missed, welcome and good luck this month!

Chach

Good morning :coffee:

It's raining here again this morning. We didn't have any rain inb March so I knew when it started it would rain alot. After today it's going to be sunny and in the 80's!!

Okay, here's hoping that May will be a better month for me. I weighed this morning and am down 1 pound :D I have screwed up alot lately so I will take this pound and be happy :D My goals for the month will be:

1. Eat healthy
2. Drink water
3. To get off my butt and do some sort of exercise, this is the hardest part for me.
4. See a 4 pound loss at the end of May. Would like to add a few pounds to that but I must be realistic.

Raven, I'm so glad that you are back!

Happy, I'm thinking about you!

Kathy, Hope you get out of that rut. I spend most of my time in one :lol:

Chach, you are so goal oriented, makes me want to get off my butt and be successful!

Sassy, things good on your end?

Here's to a happy Monday!

Hey all. Like the proverbial bad penny, Jolly has turned back up. My goals for this month are 1) Not to slip up on the progress I have made (I am drinking more water as Igave up soda, I am sticking to my menu most days, I am doing my weight workouts) 2) Once I am free of my roommate, start doing the yoga workouts once a week again. 3) Work on portion control - to start, I will use the fitday calorie counter 1-2 times a week.

Otherwise, things are progressing nicely, despite recent . . . distractions. My riding is going well, and if I can just get a handle on the finances, I hope to hit a couple shows under saddle.

Hope all is well with everyone, and cant' wait to catch up.

Happy May Ladies... "May" we all hit our goals this month :rofl: :lol3:

I think this month may be somewhat stressful so all the more reason to set something to focus on. Therefore my goals for the month:

1) Lose 6 pounds by the end of the month getting me to that oh so close but never quite there "onederland"
2) STAY OFF THE CIGARETTES - take each day at a time. Wish I didn't think about them so much during the day.
3) Back to the 2 liters of water quota each day
4) Plan and stick to plan on eating
5) Start regular exercising again - 3 cardio workouts, 2 weight workouts each week.
6) While I'm exercising, figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life and what's on the agenda for my next job... :(

Here's to a successful month for one and all... :bravo:

Good morning super chicks!

Sounds like everyone has a clear idea of what needs to be accomplished this month, may we all be strong enough to stick to our plan! (ha ha Happy, boy that was a stinker, so I had to use it too.) :p

Lucky - Late meals are the norm for us anymore, with all the time spent going to the stables. I absolutely MUST have quick, OP, and kid friendly. And not boring!! Agh... that is getting to be the real problem. All the recipes I find are too much work when I'm already getting home at 9 p.m. I need to work on this too.

Chachee - You're on a roll, woman, keep it up!! :cheer:

Hippy - I'm with you on needing a better month, at least focus-wise. Devil's advocate. You say you want to get off your butt and do SOME sort of exercise. What? When? How often? Where? The best way to get yourself doing something is to plan it, just like your food and water. Make a commitment to a certain time for a certain thing, then just do it for 5 minutes. That's all. Anyone can do something for 5 minutes, right? Walking? A video? Riding a bike? Whatever it is, plan it and commit to it. Ok, I'll shut up now. :o

Jolly - Our bright and shining good luck penny! ;) I'm so glad to see you back. I know how badly stress affects my plan. I hope you can work through your stressors better than I handle mine! :D

Happy - Wow... yes, I'd say you have your hands full this month. Whenever you need to grouse, gripe, vent, or just need someone to give you a virtual hug, please let us know. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts, because definitely that job thing can really bring you down. I hope something else turns up quick, and that you find a direction you really WANT to go in. :grouphug:

Alright. I'm sore today from riding Saturday, which is a good thing. Those inner thighs are getting a workout again now that I have my pony doing a pretty decent trot around the ring. I think he and I have about the same amount of stamina right now. Food was WAY off plan this weekend, starting on Friday. I'm not sure what came over me, it was almost like I'd been so good for so long and then that stress broke and I just decided dammit I was going to eat what I wanted so there. :yikes: I'm feeling much better now. :o Let me say that again... I'm feeling MUCH better now. I really am. The stress of worrying about the Shadow situation is over, the stress about the car will soon be over, and things will be back to a somewhat even keel. And I'm looking forward to a 5 day weekend next week. :D I decided that since Richard was going to be out of town all next week, I'd take some time for myself, too. I can use that time to get the house cleaned up a bit, get the car taken care of, and just relax with no pressure from the boyfriend to be there with him or cook for him or whatever. Not that he demands that stuff anyway, it's more a me thing. I very possibly will have more of those bad eating days since Richard is going to be gone, and that's the time when the kids and I like to go do silly stuff by ourselves. Again, no pressure to be somewhere (home) for him. So we try out neat little restaurants and get strange foods when he's gone. I'm just not going to sweat it. I'm beginning to learn that I can do that kind of stuff as long as I'm prepared to deal with a no loss week (or two) and then I can just get back OP and start losing again. It's kind of nice to not be anxiety riddled about just goofing off foodwise for a small period of time, like a vacation.

Tonight is Machine's lesson, and he's going to be up on Copper tonight, which will work better for him. Hopefully we will be turning Eve out with the mares tonight, too. As soon as she is comfortably settled in with the rest of the herd, we can start thinking about working on the ground, maybe some lunge work to see how she's going to handle it. Then the next step will be under saddle to see if she's going to behave, or freak out and turn into psycho horse. If she is looking good after a few days of Nick and I riding her, then we put Machine up. He's about ready to explode he's so anxious to ride her, but like I told him - my job is to protect him, and what kind of mommy would I be if I put him up on a horse that could really hurt him? He understands, but .. I understand his impatience, too.

It's difficult for me to spend as much time at the stables as I do - which is my passion and joy and just plain time consuming, there's no way around it - and then get home, cook dinner, get organized for work the next day and still be able to get into bed early enough for me to get UP early enough to work out. I have to take a look at this situation and see what I can do. I cannot operate on less than 7 hours of sleep a night, and I'm already pushing that as it is. I need to be realistic and not overdo it, but it frustrates me that I can't get in a morning workout. *ponder* I'll figure this out.

Ok, time to get back to work. Happy Monday, everyone!

YES MAMM, RAVEN MAMM :drill: I'm on it! I walked yesterday for 15 minutes. Let alot of the day slip away so today I will do better planning and shoot for 30. How did Machine's riding lesson go?

Hello Jolly!!! Glad to see you are back and glad to hear things are going well.

Happy, I am so glad that you are hanging in there. I have been doing alot of surfing and reading to better prepare myself for my next attempt at quitting smoking. Maybe focusing on losing the pounds that you want to lose will help keep your mind busy. I don't know, just trying to give you encouragement. You have come a long way.

Hi ya's to Chach, Sassy and Lucky

Has anyone heard from Tracy? She just kind of went away.

Eating was good yesterday. I'm not a big fish eater but I am adding tuna to my meal planning. I don't mind it and I have read that fish has good omega3. I am going to try grilling some fish. We have never had it so it won't hurt to try. Maybe we will love it!

I haven't got to finish planting the garden because of rain. It has been so muddy. I hope I can get in it one day this week and plant some cucumbers and squash. I'm growing lettuce this year. I have never planted it before so I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I hope the rabbits leave me some :lol:

I have a 30 minute walk to take today so I better get going. Here's to a successful day!

Hi people. I'm going to give this another try. I started up a while ago and then just peetered out. I like all the talking that goes on here and will try to keep up.

I've got my goals set for the next month and they are basically to stay on plan and to stay away from sugar. My plan is to stick to a base of 1500 calories with my exercise points giving me 100 extra calories per point. I give my usual exercises points. You'll see as we go along. It worked before and I lost weight when I could stick to it but only managed to stick to it for about a week before I was ravenous. I was eyeing people's food at work and feeling crazed!

Ok, must get back to work here before some shuteye.

Hope to hear from you all.
Good night!

Helloooooooo.................Where is everyone? I'm feeling kind of lonely here :( Are you all having a private party without me :lol:

Welcome back redballoon! I have a commitment problem too but am trying harder this time :D

Okay, I walked yesterday for 30 minutes, ate pretty good and had all of my water. Been working really hard on my commitment issues. I'm trying to keep track of what frustrates me and makes me give up so I can plan to tackle it in a positive way instead of just thinking tomorrow will be a better day.

Raven, excuse my typo from yesterday :dizzy: Yes Ma'am!!! That's much better.

Hope everyone is doing okay.

Hi everyone :wave:

Sorry I haven't posted. Spent ALL night working on my class project as well as the night before and I'm still behind... :( :censored:

I'm doing ok. Sticking to meals, gulping the water but not doing the exercise thing as the classwork is taking WAY more time than I thought. But the good news is, only 1-1/2 more weeks left and then I have the summer to myself :dance: :dance: :dance: Of course I will be busy looking for a job too but I guess that just goes to show you that life (even aggrivation) will always balance itself out.

Red Balloon welcome back. Hippy you asked about Tall Tracy - one of the girls mentioned in her journal that she hears from her VERY occasionally but didn't say any more than that.

Well I have to run into the office today so I'd better get a move on. I'll try and come back later as I have already missed the deadline and lost the points for yesterday's assignment. I don't MEAN to be a slacker :dunno: Happy Hump Day chickies!

Good Morning Everyone,

Well Mark and Cody left this morning for a week. They are going to visit his mother in Ontario. So there is just 3 of us around here. Should be a quiet week.

The weather is suppose to be crappy all week also. It had been beautiful now we are back into winter. Snow all week. No walking to work for the rest of this week.

I got out the old ww cookbook so that I can try a few recipies while the meat and potatoe guys are gone. See what we can come up with.

Hippy you have been the early bird. :D Did you walk by yourself yesterday, or did Jordan go with you? Is your brother still living at your house?

Raven how is everything with your family? How is Eve's Folly doing?

Happy how is everything going for you? Hang in there. You are doing so wonderfully well.

Jolly did everything go ok for you at the end of the month? Or are you looking foreward to the end of this month? Hopefully things work out very quickly.

Chachee you gazelle goddess.... ;) Are you doing ww online also? How do you find it? Hey how is it going trying to stay off the scale?

Sassy how is all with you? Has that cute pooch of yours learned how to get the leash down from its hook and get you to go on 3 walks a day yet? :lol:

Hello Red Balloon. I hope that you can get some motivation from the great group of ladies here that are doing so well.

Hope everyone has a great day. I must run and get ready for work.

Well good morning everyone!

Ok, before I start replying to everyone else and lose my train of thought...

Alright. Here I am, last month was marginal - acceptable, but just barely. This month is NOT starting out well, and I kind of wonder why I thought it would be any different? My daughter's birthday is the first week, then Richard is going to be leaving Saturday and won't be back till late in the evening on Sunday the 16th. After 4 months (essentially) of being nearly perfectly OP with food, water, and exercise, I'm finding that I just cannot bring myself to disregard this opportunity to SLACK OFF! So there. I promise - no huge binges, no ridiculous food fests. Just *normal* whatever that is. And I'm committing to going completely back OP on Monday the 17th. I think I just need a break - I'm taking three days off work to give myself a 5 day weekend, so to speak, and the kids and I can just relax and goof off. The kicker will be... can I get back OP? Last year this happened, too. The problem was, I got back OP and then my dad had his accident. Then any plan went out the window. So I think I can do this, as long as nothing majorly traumatic happens at the same time I'm getting it back together. The timing will be right, because I will have been able to go shopping that weekend to set myself up with all the right foods, etc. I'm probably rationalizing. But regardless, I've thought and asked myself if this is really what I want to do, and the answer keeps coming back YES. I just don't want to blow all my hard work out of the water, so I do need to keep in mind that this is just a temporary break, NOT how I'm going to lose the rest of the fat. *waves hand* Ok, that's that.

Hippy - :lol: Now don't hit me, ok? After giving you all that sound advice about planning and stuff, here I go. Hey, I'm planning. I'm planning to not plan for a week and a half! HA! :lol3: :devil: Actually your walking kind of got me to thinking. When I was driving out of the subdivision this morning it occurred to me that the little main loop would be a great walk for me to do in the mornings. It's got a couple major hills, so I could start by walking it, then start adding running as I could, eventually I'd be running the whole thing. And I'd be doing it outside, which would feel good. Now that my particular pollen problems have gone away, at least! I think I might try that. Have you grilled your fish yet? What did you think?

Red - Welcome back!! How have you been? I find that when I'm pushing the working out hard - especially the weight lifting, the hunger can get hugely intense. It's frustrating for me. I will be working on tweaking the carb/fat/protein ratio to see how that affects the hunger. A lot of folks say up the protein much higher, but I don't respond very well to high levels of protein. I'm sure there's a way to balance it all so that it will work for me, though.

Happy - Yay! A week and a half! Ok, we're on the same timeline here! :D Well, sort of. Hope you get the project done and get a great grade. Hang in there chickie... I know the job thing can suck, but it can also be a great opportunity. Yes, I'm thinking positive.

Lucky - Weeks with people gone can be a great break, even if you love them to pieces!! I have to admit, I'm looking forward to the kids' father being here in GA, that way once in a while I can take a break from being a mom and a dad ALL the time. It's a little cool here too, for the time of year. Nothing like up there though! (Thank God!) Eve's Folly has turned out actually to be Folly's Love. Eve's Folly is her dam, and her sire is Mutakddim. We still call her Eve, though - because that's what everyone has been calling her as her stable name, and it's pretty, and it fits her. She's got stupidly impressive bloodlines, she's a great-granddaughter of Seattle Slew, for crying out loud. But I guess she just doesn't do that running around in circles thing very well. ;) She got nailed by one of the other mares in the pasture yesterday morning, and it was a bit of a scare because it was on the rear of the cannon bone and she wasn't putting any weight on it at all. Scared the wee out of Rosa, and she called the vet. Fortunately about 1/2 hour later she was putting weight on it, so the vet said just bute her up and keep her in a stall (she HATES that) for a couple days. Last night she was doing really well. It's an ugly gash, but she's walking sound, so I'm sure she's going to be fine. We did the cold hose thing and I hand grazed her for an hour or so just to let her stretch while Nick rode Shadow (now officially HER horse) bareback all over the place and let Machine ride her, too. She's having fun again, instead of feeling completely pressured all the time. It was great to watch her laugh and smile and just be happy to be with her horse. Shadow was very tolerant of all the shenanigans, she's such a good girl. I need to get busy ground training Eve badly.. she's ok, but there are a lot of things she needs to work on emotionally. She's 6 this month, but emotionally as a horse she acts more like a 2 year old. *lol* Ask me about the horse... it's like "wind her up and watch her ramble!" Sorry about that.

Ok, so .. yeah. I didn't even get to ride last night because of having to care for Eve. No resentment, I mean that's my job and I love her to death even though we've only had her for a week now. Her whole disposition is just so .. loveable and goofy and she's such a BABY!! :lol: She really does remind me of my son. :dizzy: Always jumping around from one thing to another and not paying attention and silly/happy/goofy all the time. I think they're going to make a wonderful team once we get them both trained.

Right. I guess I should do some work, huh? That's why I'm here, right? *sour face* I need to win the lottery.

Hey, happy Wednesday, everyone!!

Hi All!

I was home with a sick son yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to post. I'll try to catch up.

First, tonight is weigh in. I did scale step this am, so I haven't met my goal this week of staying off the scale. I will be down tonight, but I don't know how much. We will see how the food choices go today and that will help determine what happens. I'm going to be good....I'm going to be good!!!!

Raven: I think it's okay for us to take breaks once in awhile. You have been pushing so hard that it's time for you to breathe a little bit! Sounds like a lot of horse stuff going on. Hopefully you will get some rest while Richard is gone.

Hippy: I try to get tuna in with a salad. It's good because of the protein also. Plus, it fills me up. I also enjoy salmon. Found a new recipe for it. I'll have to share when I find it again.

Happy: Glad school is almost out for you. Any luck on the job front?

Lucky: Wow, house to yourself, huh? Wonderful! I do some WW online, but my official weigh ins are at the meetings. I do the chats sometimes and also use the progress charts and the recipes. Pretty good stuff. I have faltered with the scales, but will pick myself up and try again this week.

Red: Welcome! We always enjoy another "rear" on our group!

Okay, back to work. Have a great day and I might jump on here tonight to give a report on how weigh in went.

Chach

Hi all. Well, I am struggling a bit this week with food. My dad is still here. He says he is waiting for some final appointments for placement, but I don't know. So, I am letting myself get stressed and feeling like I will never have my house to myself again. Sigh. But . . . my exercise is still good. And, I may have come across a good way to keep myself on track. I got a new horse and rider catalog. Seeing all the advertisements for women's breeches, even if I won't need them this year, really helps me say "NO."

Here's to a great week all.

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 :lol: 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 :D

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 :lol: 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! :strong:

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? :yikes: 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 :p 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 :lol: 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 :o I did a McDonald's run. And ate enough for 3 :o 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. :rain:

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! :dance: 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 :D 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 :lol: 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

Hey all! I am off and running this morning. Payroll went relatively well. I just have to see how the weekend went for the on call person. Hopefully well.

My week is off to a good start too. I am down 2 1/2 pounds. Hurrah. I met my goal of 2 pounds a week. I am ecstatic. OK. I wish it were more, but I met my goal. I have added a goal. I have been wanting to start jogging again, but have been afraid of my ankle. I have decided that when I move the bar down (get below 250) I will start the walk/jog program to train for a 5k. I have a friend from college who is like a sister to me who is going to Iraq soon. I guess I want to run for her. Sounds weird, I know. But I guess I feel like if she is going to be off doing Army stuff, I can run. But, that is 6 weeks away. I am also motivated because of my father. He has arthritis, heart condition, an aneurism, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. I watch how he eats, and how he doesn't exercise. With all of that, plus my high family history of diabetes, I feel like I have been very lucky to reach my age without any of these problems. God has given me a chance to get it together, and try to avoid these things.

So, off to start the week. Have a good one all, and enjoy your wonderful MOm's day gift, Hippy.

Hi All!

Jolly: Big congrats on your loss. That's wonderful and right on track with where you want to be. Keep up the awesome work.

Hippy: Glad I could give you a good chuckle. Sounds like you had a wonderful Mother's Day. Great job on the eating choices, too. Something is clicking, isn't it?? Great!

Raven: Just because you are on vacation from work, doesn't give you a vacation from us!!!!! :lol: Hope you are having a great time off and how's about an update???? I'm dying to hear!

Sassy: Hola, Chica!!

Hi Happy and Red!

I need to scoot, but wanted to touch base with you all. Happy Monday!

Chach

Hola chicklets from the land of whocares. :D

I've only had one glass of wine, so I can still type. Dang I'm a cheap drunk in my old age.

Tomorrow I have a temp coming in, hopefully I can train her on what needs to be done relatively quickly (I wonder if I can use the tap with the dressage whip till she gets it right...) and I can scoot out of work early. Obviously so I can skeedaddle off to the stables and go play with the ponies.

Shadow is lame, still .. we're soaking her foot in epsom salts daily to try to get that abscess to break through. Arashi is being amazing... I actually rode the little bugger bareback Sunday! And today was Eve's first "formal" day of groundwork. I need a slightly smaller bit and bridle though. Anyway, we're working on moving her hips away from me and towards me from the ground. Didn't take her too long to get it, either. What an absolute doll of a horse she is. I told Ian tonight too bad, I'm keeping Eve, we'll have to get him another horse. ;) :devil: Yeah. I can afford that.

It's nice having a break. From planning, from worrying, from Richard... :o :D Did I say that? It's nice knowing that if I come home at 10 at night from the stables, no one is going to be annoyed. So .. lets see how the other chickies have been doing...

Sassy - Have kids. :lol3: They can do your dishes for you!

Jolly - 2.5 pounds!? Wooo hoo! Betcha I found them. :^: Sounds like motivation has weaseled its way into your life. That is a very cool thing.

Hippy - Very cool mother's day present!! I'm glad you had such a great day. And that back on track thing is pretty impressive, too!

Chachee - I've been lurking, reading. . . As you can see I have little to report in the way of good eating or working out or drinking. Uhm, unless the wine counts. :dizzy: But I have to say I'm really enjoying the time off from everything. I've actually started sleeping much better now, too.

Stress sucks.

Well my dears... time for me to waddle off to bed. I hope everyone's week got off to a wonderful start!! And tomorrow is another bright and wonderful day. Wheee!

Hi everyone

Just popping in really quick to say hi to everyone. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

We have had a really busy week but hopefully now things will settle down abit.

Have a great day.
Kathy

Hello everyone, glad to hear we're all keeping to plan more or less. And Jolly, a special congratulations on meeting your goal. It sounds like you're the one that's going to break the chain of poor eating habits and start changing the family history. Good for you!!

Chachee, thanks for the hello. I hear you on not lumping the bad eating in with the whole day or the other way around. You made poor choices for eating, for whatever reason, but you had fun otherwise. That's important, because if everything is about eating then what is there to motivate us. I mean, if I can't feel good about new clothes, new sports, a movie, a book, anything not to do with food then how will I move away from the constant use of food to deal with things? Good for you as well!

hippy, good work on the Mother's Day eating. How nice to have someone make food for you. How admirable that you didn't use the day as a day to go hog wild.

Hello to everyone else and power to you.

****

I have not been doing so great. Alas, I broke loose on Sunday night and downed one beer after another. But, it was fun. All I can say is, at least, because I continue to keep a journal of everything I eat and the exercise I do, that I can honestly see what I'm doing.

I used to moan and groan and fling my hands in the air moaning "why me?!? why can't I lose weight?" Well, now I can very calmy say, "Well, this is why and this is why."

Oh right, you mean I can't lose weight while eating three or four thousand calories a day even if I'm exercising alot? Well, jeez that's no fun!

Still, it is so tough. If I limit my calories, I am hungry and well, I guess to lose weight you have to be hungry, right?

Raven, I hear you on the stressfree days. This is what I need. I am so busy. But if I wait for them I'll never be lean. I, by the way, think I'm making great progress with riding. Could be ready for a show in the fall. This would be all the reason to get the fat off. Hope your guy's leg gets better!

Ok, people, wish me luck. I'm going to get to the gym. Just in from riding. Got a lot of work to do and then I'm off again. Just do it!! I really wish Nike hadn't take that phrase. I hate feeling like a commercial for them and I always loved saying that. . ..

Good morning all. Red, I love what you said. Ihave been battling weight, self esteem, etc. all my life. It feels like no matter how good I am in other areas, or what good qualities I have, it is all overshadowed by my weight. If someone asked me to describe myself, it would sound like "I am overweight. I like to readbutIamfat. I train and show horses and dogsbutIamfat. I have really pretty eyesbutIamfat. I am smartbutIamfat. . . . You get the idea. And it also affects the day to day, like you said. My whole day can be bad if I don't eat right. Like that is the only part of my day. I am working really hard to change that. That is one reason why I refuse to do any particular "diet." I am working on enjoying healthier foods and appropriate portion sizes. I know that to lose weight I need to eat less calories than I burn, and to maintain it I need to balance food and exercise. I don't want to set myself up to be a "failure" if I go of the DIET.

So, do you have your own horse? What kind? What kind of riding do you do?

Raven, welcome back from the land of the lurkers. Glad to see you :) Everyone else, hope you are having a great week.

I did my weight workout this morning. I owe a few crunches tonight, as it was busy and I skipped a few. I also realized this morning that if I have any hope of starting jogging again, I need to start stretching regularly. I also need to put a bike on layaway. My stepsister is training for a marathon again, and I like being her training team. I talked to her last night, and if I am able to jog, we are going to run a 5k on Halloween weekend in costume. She is going to be Alice in Wonderland, and I will be the red queen. as people pass me I can wheeze "off with their heads." I think I can, I think I can.

Oh my, this got longer than I realized. I must enjoy the motivation while I can, and prepare for the butt kicks I will need later. Have a great one !

Hi ladies!

Raven: HAVE ONE FOR ME!! Actually, have a bottle for me, okay?? I'm so glad you are sleeping better and relaxing. Sorry to hear about Shadow. How much longer until horsie is better? How many more days of relaxing do you have?? I'm so glad you took some time off!

Jolly: Lift those weight! Give me 30 reps! Heehee. I'm starting my weights back next month. That will give me two good solid months of lifting before my surgery. If you run that 5K, I want pictures! That would be hillarious!

Lucky: Howdy, stranger! How are you??


Red: Okay, so I don't think you need to be hungry to lose weight. The key, that I found lately, is to constantly snack for me--but on good things! If I have my bfast, two morning snacks, lunch, one afternoon snack, dinner, and one snack after dinner then I do a lot better! My snacks are either veggies, fruit, cereal, graham crackers with lite Cool Whip, Skinny Cows, etc. I think it helps keep my metabolism up! (And it doesn't cost you 3-4K calories!)


Happy: It's been 3 days, are you okay?

Hi Hippy!

I did my monthly measurements today. Down another 5.25 inches for a total of 33.25 inches since mid-February. I've lost almost 6 inches off both my waist and hips. Wahoo! Too bad it's not 33 pounds, but it will come in time!!

Weigh in for me tomorrow. It's probably only going to be 0.9 pounds, to put me at 19.9 just to SCREW WITH MY BRAIN! I'm going to hurt someone soon it that scale doesn't jump to the 20's! Grrr..

Chach

Hey Ladies,
Congrats to you losers whether it be pounds, inches, bad relationships or whatever :lol: Chachee I hope you get to that magic number 20 tomorrow. Screw with your brain - boy do I know that feeling :rolleyes: ;)

I have been chained to the computer the last few days finishing up the last of the stuff for my class. And I mean chained - last night I got to bed at 2:30 in the morning and back up at 6:30. But I am done with all I can do. All that's left is just studying for my final on Friday. And then I have a downer kind of day like today where I wonder just what's the purpose of it all? :( I'm knocking myself out with schoolwork, losing my job, what little teeny bit we've saved keeps getting chipped away each day with all the bad news in the economy and overseas affecting the stock market. I don't want to be rich, just stable and even that seems like a pipe dream. Makes you want to grab the wine, the chocolates, the cigarettes and go sit under a tree and watch the clouds drift by just like your life. :dunno: But we don't do that do we? I drowned my sorrows in a half an apple with some peanut butter. I still at least once a day have an incredible urge to smoke. (Prepare well Hippy). When it hits me I just realize I'm looking for an excuse to be bad - just like running for the bad foods when we're stressed out. Doesn't solve anything no matter what your poison of choice might be. Why can't I be addicted to running or powerwalking or brocolli or something like that :rofl:

Raven, enjoy your week of relaxing and kicking back. I expect you to be back in form on the 17th. Chachee, good luck with the weigh in AND all those inches you've lost so far. You are doing VOON-DER-BAR girl - Keep it up :cheer: Hmmm graham crackers and light cool whip? :chin: I have both of those here at home, but the question is, do I need them? :sumo: Although I agree with you, I think the reasonable snacks do help in the long run. I seem to stay more consistent when I'm having snacks. Jolly welcome back - that marathon at Halloween sounds like a whole lotta fun - no trick or treating allowed as you run past the check points I suppose? :D Hey Red, get yee to the gym girl. And maybe try a twist on the Nike phrase as in Just do it (for me) or in my case it's Just Do it (NOW) - it really is a strong motivator. Hi Lucky - has spring found your neck of the woods yet or do you still have the dreaded ***cough, cough *** SNOW :yikes: Geez I hope not. Hippy, glad to hear that you had a nice Mother's Day breakfast. At least it wasn't soggy cereal with marshmallow bits and peanut butter toast made lovingly by those irresistable faces (gee why doesn't Mom ever make us this kind of breakfast? :?:

Well just wanted to check in. I'll be lurking on an off until my final is over on Friday. Thank heavens there's nothing on TV to temp me away because I sure do get distracted easily. Take care!!!

Hi there all. In for the day and have a bit of time for hitting the floor, yes the floor over here. Then up tomorrow early for riding.

First over to you:

jolly, I'm glad if I said something you liked. I feel for you with the self esteem struggle. I don't think I ever voiced it or consciously thought it but yes, I was definitely doing it. But heh, it's no wonder you are saying this. But don't think you're weak or messed up because you do. Our culture, most Western cultures scream this at us from the time we're born and our entire world, the ads, the mags, the TV shows are all screaming it at us. Does anyone really think that knowing everyone is full of it is going to make us feel empowered. No way! It takes a gaddawful lot of guts to look the face in the world and tell it to . . . have a fudge sundae.

But that's really what you got to do, just with a smile. So remember, you're no "failure" if you go off your diet. It's really next to impossible to be a failure. All you are is off your diet, period. Cut the emotional ties that everyone tries to wrap these phrases up in, ensnaring YOU!

Horse stuff, quick, so as not to bore the others. Yes, I have my own horse. She's part Haflinger, which is a cold-blooded pony. She has some other stuff in her, unknown, maybe Quarter. She's a real dominant personality type and a handful to ride AND I love her. I do dressage, which is the last thing I should be doing with her but the level is still low enough so it's just at the level of "good riding."

What a cute idea with the 5K costume. Hope you do it and have a lot of fun!

Chachee: I guess hunger is relative and when I say you've got to be hungry to lose weight I think what to me is hunger may be to others, well, not hunger. As I said, I train with very heavy weights and am really now going for the muscle definition look so I think when you get down to the last 20 lbs or so you're going to have to experience hunger. But you're right that better choices of snacks will definitely hold you for less calories than the junk does. Good advice and something I need to remember!

I really hear you with the scale. This morning I wanted to kick mine. I know it's probably water because I ate a lot of salty popcorn last night but I want big losses EVERY SINGLE day, GD it!! (just kidding of course!)

Let's hope tomorrow evening does not see you hauled into the police station!

happy, good luck on the studying. I definitely know the feeling of being chained to the computer. What are you studying for, by the way?

Don't get pessimistic. Optimism is the ability to keep thinking of what you CAN do, they say. It is about making your reality not sitting back and allowing yourself to become a victim.

You "drowned you sorrows in half an apple with p.b."?!?!? Wow, now that is admirable! Major kudos to you! And smokefree. Way to go! I used to be a smoker, a heavy smoker. Now, I'm a heavy nonsmoker. ha-ha. lame one there. I quit about 15 years ago. Yes, the first four weeks are physically the hardest as your body screams for nicotine. After that it's dangerous for the psychological habits you acquired. My best thing to do was just to say to myself, I'm a nonsmoker. Smoking, having a cig is just no longer an option. There is NOTHING to question. I just did it. But that was after many attempts to quit but I never had that same attitude before. I guess I was just at that point where I could do it. It's so much easier with cigs than food though because it's black and white. If you can ask yourself the questions about food that you seem to be then you can probably do the same with smoking. Use the reasons you used to give for smoking, like, I'm bored, it tastes good, I'm nervous, I'm trying to lose weight and question whether you really believe that you can't come up with a better solution, or, sa in the case of boredom, I would ask, "is smoking really so exciting?" I think what really got to me in the end is that I saw my smoking as controlling me and that got to my pride.

Ok, all, sorry for the long message. Hope you don't think I'm on a soapbox here.

****

As for me, though work kept me away today, yesterday I got to the gym and really did a major workout, chest, back and then a 5K run. And a 20-minute bike ride each way to the gym and back again. Hurrah! Hurrah. Today was not so good eatingwise but I haven't pigged out and I'm hungry now, which I see as a good sign.

Over and out.

Hidey hey folks! Wow... today I slept in. For a big half hour. What is it with me these last couple years? Can't sleep late no matter what. Bah. Ohwell, got all my forums read, swept and mopped the kitchen floor (to include under and behind the refrigerator and inside the pantry!), have done two loads of laundry, fed and walked the dogs, eaten breakfast and had coffee... now what? The weather was SUPPOSED to be sunny and beautiful. Yeah. Liars. :mad: I want a job where I can be wrong nearly all the time and still get paid good money for it. ;)

Red - Hey! Last time we talked, you were co-owner of your halflinger mish-mash and your co-owners were opting out. Did you buy her outright? What is her name? When do we get to see pics? OMG Bored? Of horse talk!? Gah! Blasphemy. Ok, well, maybe I'm just speaking for myself there. ;) We're up from one to three now... I'm a glutton for punishment and financial woes. Horse poor, that's me. But my kids agree, we'd rather be broke with the horses than well off without them. :yes: And wow... the habit controlling you issue. That is something I went through with an entirely different addiction about 7 years ago. That was the first time I realized that I was not the one in control, my addiction was. That was the first time I made a commitment to myself to never let any other addiction, emotion, situation control me, to the best of my ability. That was when my life started to turn around. It's been a long road. I've got a long journey left to go... I don't think it will ever end, but that's ok. I've chosen a different path than the one I was on, and even if it's not perfect, it's MINE. Realizing that something external was controlling me was, like you said, a big blow to my pride. Dressage! Personally I think dressage - at least the low level stuff, like you said - is great for everyone, horses and riders! My daughter wants badly to start into it. I think she and Shadow will be beautiful together. Then my son is big on speed and jumping, sooooo... stadium jumping, anyone? He's not there yet, and Eve certainly isn't, but it wouldn't surprise me if that's the direction he takes. Me? Bah.. who knows. I just want to have fun and train my horse to do cool things.

Happy - :bravo: to you, woman!! You are doing tremendously well in my book! I can relate to the job thing. It's terrifying. I think the unknown is the most horrid part. What will happen? What if ... Like you, I don't want to be rich. I just want to have a home, have my ponies, and be able to pay the bills. Right now I'm making nearly half the income I was making 3 years ago, but I'm grateful to even have that. It's steady, I have benefits, and I'm slowly, agonizingly clawing my way out of the financial black hole I've been in for the last 3 years. Yeah, it would have helped if I hadn't gotten the horses. But there are some things that are worth the price. It was either them or a therapist and anti-depressants. Just try to take a deep breath and remember that things will work out. Maybe not the way you think they should, or want them to, but they will work out. Each day brings the possibility of change, of surprise, of a new beginning. You know that. I understand the fear, the hopeless feeling, the "why bother" syndrome. Because we have to. *huge hug*

Chachee Chickie! - You are such a cool woman. I'm so glad we met, and I'm hoping we get a chance to visit again when I deliver my son to AK this fall. We're hoping all that's wrong with our Shadow-girl (or as my daughter likes to call her, Hikage ;) ) is an abscess. That would be about the most minimal issue - so we're soaking the foot at least once a day - it's hard when you board 40 minutes from the house - and the farrier is coming in two days. He might be able to dig it out if it hasn't busted through by then. Once the pressure is relieved, that's the biggest part. Then depending on the abscess, maybe a little more soaking till it starts to heal, maybe a bell boot to keep yuckies from getting into it, whatever. Like I said, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed it's nothing more serious than that. No swelling, heat, or anything to indicate otherwise, but still... it's like with kids, you worry, you know? More information than you needed? :lol: :o I agree with you that hunger does not necessarily have to be a part of losing weight. As a matter of fact, this is the first time in my life (since I found 3FC) that I realized I was always eating too little in the past to actually lose fat. If I get hungry now, I know it's because I've forgotten to eat for way too long. Tsk. I had to chuckle when I read the part about your scale screwing with your brain. Sometimes I really do believe that. Whatever the weight is, just take a deep breath and keep going. It almost seems that weight loss is directly and negatively proportional to how important that next lower number is. ;)

Jolly - That was a great post. I know I've done that too... I don't think I'm AS bad as I used to be about it, but it's still there. The "if I were slender just think how much better *fill in the blank* would be." It's like being overweight is the great delimiter of life. You gave me some good stuff to think about there. A 5K in October, eh? *ponder* You want to play a game? *blink* I haven't been running for over a month now. I was up to 3 miles, but not at a solid run. I'd gotten to the point where I could run/jog a mile without feeling like I was going to keel over, but ... I'm essentially starting over now. Let me know how the jogging looks, maybe we can set up a challenge together to get ourselves to that 5K run, hm?

Kathy! - Nice of you to pop in and say hi, but how are you doing??? How's the job? Are things better with the boss? How's your daughter doing? Is she riding still? How's the new baby doing? Did you keep him? C'mon, talk to us, girlie!

Hippy, Sassy - :wave:

Today I'm anxiously awaiting the ground training manual I ordered on horse training. It's supposed to be here UPS today... but of course I have no idea WHEN. :hyper: I figure today is clean the house and visit the ponies day, then tomorrow morning early I go grocery shopping, take the kids to the horse supply place, more horsie play time, V's riding lesson, out to dinner with the kids and then to Van Helsing. I've seen it already, I loved it! But that's the kind of movie I tend to enjoy - I know the kids will think it's a great ride, too. Let's see, then the farrier on Friday, so horsie day nearly all day, then maybe off to get V's tongue pierced. Or that might be Saturday... Machine needs his hair cut, I need to pick up dead mice and things, blah... too much to do, thank goodness I'm off work for 5 days!! :dizzy:

Happy Wednesday folks! Hope everyone's week is going smoothly (and a special hug for Happy who is studying for her final like a crazy person).