Good Afternoon Everyone,

I’m just about caught up with work and ready to join in the discussion again. I didn’t check in at all last week, and it took me while to read all the messages. Wow, what a great group!

I didn’t report in last Monday, so my combined weight loss for last week and this week is 4.5 pounds. Two pounds a week is what I’ve been aiming for, so I’m right on target. There was one week in early January that I didn’t lose anything and stayed the same (the week of the big storm), but other than that, I’m doing well.

Reading so many posts all at once, instead of one at a time, the thing that jumps out at me is how we all have our highs and lows, good days and bad days, triumphs and discouragements, and through it all the other members of the Valentinies are there to listen and offer encouragement. I guess that’s why it’s called a Support Group.

Have a good week everyone,
Florafae

P.S: Dena, I really like the logo by your name. I think it’s a good fit.

Just checking in. Busy week last week so no time to talk. I am doing well with my exercise and water goals. I stepped on the scales this morning and was down another pound! Woo-hoo! That's four pounds gone. 3.5 for Vday goal. I have set the goal of being under 200 by my bday in May and, by golly, I'm just stubborn enough to do it!

Congrats to all the other "losers"! Keep up the good work.

Welcome to our newbies as well.

Keep up the good work, ladies. We can do it. Thanks for all the posts. It's very encouraging just to know we are not in this thing by ourselves! Have a great day. Be kind to yourself.

Hi Everyone!

Checking in to say I just came back from the gym, where I spent 30 minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes with the weight machines and "11" minutes on the elliptical!! 30 minute goal on the ellliptical here I come.

Hugs,
Dena

Hey everyone! Sounds like you all are right on track! Cool!

Well, I took a deep breath today and registered to be in Houston's 96.5 radio Biggest Loser challenge. Wish me luck that I get chosen! (Although, we do have four million people here and only eight get to do it.) So we'll see. We'll have to be at Bally's at 7pm to work out with our teams. Two teams of four. No one gets kicked off. We all stay til the end. Winner gets a trip to Florida all paid. Second gets a year at Bally's. I think I would be fine with that one. Dunno about a trip. But I want the membership..lol.

I have done ok this week. I'm sick with a cold and three of my five kids have been sick for days, fever, coughing, sneezing, vomiting (one). Uggh! So needless to say, I barely hit 5,000 steps today (but managed 10K on the other days). I'm out of it. I hate being sick.

Hello Dollar! Nice to meet you. Congrats on your loss!

Florafae, Yay! 4.5 lbs gone! You are doing great!

Skinny, You'll hit that Onederland goal. I'm right with you on it too. I'm aiming for April - 199 lbs. We'll see!

WTG Amy! 9lbs. gone! Great!

Thanks Kandice and Amy for the good advice.

Kandice, how can you stand that scale. I hate them! I'd go nuts watching it bounce around. I do know eventually I'll break down and get one though. But I'll want a good one. A doctor's type.

Mary, keep it up. You are doing very well. I'm not doing a specific diet. Just low fat, average calories, 1500 or less usually. Exercise often. More water, etc. Working ok so far! Hope it doesn't turn on me.

Dena, cool! Up to 11 minutes! Yay!

Well, if I missed anyone, I'm sorry. Just trying to keep up with all of you! We all seem to be moving right along. Before we know it, our thread will be named. Been There, Done That, Now Let's Maintain!

Bye for now!

Wow to everyone!

Amy- 9 lbs! holy moly! you'll surpass your goal! way to go!

Dollar- 3 lbs this week! Excellent!

Flora- Congrats on staying right on track! 4.5 lbs in 2 weeks!

Skinny- every lb is a lb closer to Onederland! you'll get there!

Dena- congrats on the 11 minutes! you must be so happy (motivated!) with your improvement!

Selina- good luck on the biggest loser! I played survivor in college one weekend and I loved it- I was the last 3 too! not the same I know, but the small spinoffs can be so fun! When do you find out?
And the scale- I do hate to see it bounce along, but it's been long enough now that I "know" my bounces- it's usually within 3-4 lbs of each other and then I'll drop. Like this weekend- 172, now I'll go between 172 and 175 for a week or so- never up to 177 or more again. and if I do get up there then I know I have to adjust my eating habits. I'd rather face up to it day by day then wait a week and then be shocked at the end of the week and be stressed- "wow- I gained 5 lbs this week!" I think it gives me more of a true number, just in case if I happen to weigh on a fat day.

Have a great day everyone! (and selina- I love the "been there, LOST FAT (a play on done that), now lets maintain" challenge!)

Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to say hi from sunny Las Vegas (around 60 degrees today). I've been going for my morning walks again now that the weather is better.
And yesterday I did "12" minutes on the elliptical with my usual treadmill/weight machine workout. Maybe today I'll try for 13! Still doing good on my eating plan and water.

Glad to hear we are all doing real well. Keep up the great work, everyone!

Kandice, congrats on your new low!

Selina, I hope you get well soon. Sorry you and your kiddies are sick.

Skinny, congrats on another lb. lost!

Florafae, wow, 4.5 lbs!!!

Dollar, glad to see you back! Good for you for sticking with it with a busy schedule.

Amy, congrats on the 9 lbs.!!

Have a great day, everyone!
Hugs,
Dena

so I changed my ticker (finally!) Today was my third day at 172 and I weighed at curves and I was 176.5 and I'm not going back up, the ticker will hold me accountable- as you ladies do too!

1.5 more lbs to the valentines (and my wedding day) goal! I would love to get there next week!

and next monday I'm going to get my wedding dress altered again because Carrie at Curves told me I had lost 16 lbs since my alteration! but YAY! I want the dress to look like it was made for ME and fit ME perfect!

Morning ladies!
You know I just had to say that no matter how skinny I get I am never going to look like that lady on the side panel in the jeans, lol. When I was in high school and my very fittest (I played basketball and was naturally small) I never looked like that! I only weighed 105 pounds! My thighs always touched though. See how her's don't even touch all the way up? I will never have a body like that and it's okay! That is the problem with this world. Everyone is trying to attain a body like that and if you are not genetically formed that way it's nearly impossible to get a body like that!

Okay, sorry, time to get off my high horse, lol!!! I am doing okay today. I feel down for some reason. Sometimes it feels like my progress is so small and that I have such a LONG way to go. It can get depressing. I know that I am smaller than I was and I feel great about that, but I just have such a long way to go!!!

Amy

SW: 192
CW: 183
GW: 135

Hi guys!

I did 16 minutes on the elliptical today! Plus the usual treadmill and weight machines. And I don't know how but I hurt my knee. So it may be just all treadmill tomorrow. We'll see.

Hope everyone had a great day.
Hugs,
Dena

wow- bonnie! show us pictures! glad you had a good trip. a lb and a half is NOTHING! I hope that's all I gain on the honeymoon (and wedding cake and grooms cake- made of Krispy Kreme doughnuts)

and by the way- Go PATS! I'm a Yank, born and bred! (last year was interesting being my first year down south and the pats and panthers!)

hi to you all,
it's a fabulous friday. it's been another week of no contact. i don't know if am even contacting people or if my messages are going to "lost in space." this is all so new. i have never been on a site like this. i don't know what i'm doing. i hope you are all doing well. isn't life great. i just keep plunking away at the keyboard hoping someone is out there. i love it. we are in this together. on step at a time. with a little help from those who are in the same position. i care about you because your are worth caring about. just because i can't see you doesn't mean you have been forgotten. or who have been there. loving life is a great challange when som many things go one nationally and at the locat level. the news can make things look pretty bleck.

yup- the grooms "cake" is KKs. We're big simpsons fans so we got homer and marge made for a grooms cake topper (with our colors- Marge is carrying a purple and white bouquet) and we're going to make a pyramid of KKs... mmmmm. My fam has never had KKs- it's all DD up there- so they'll be in for a treat!

hold on- let me see if I can find a pic of them... I was so happy with the guy that made them for us.

Hi you all! Glad to see you are all on track! Knowing that keeps me going. ;-) I want to be proud of my accomplishments too when I come to chat!

Bonnie, Glad you had fun on your trip and u didn't gain much at all!! I know you will get back on track now! I have faith in you!

Crafty, I agree. Even tho I can't see you and the others, I still think of you often and hope u are having a good day. I don't forget you since I can't see you. I'm happy to have made friends here. My 'losing' buddies are the best! I'm thankful for you all. :-)

Amy, I know how you feel. I have those days sometimes. Seems like its hard to not eat what every other person around you is eating, drinking more water than they are, exercising more than them, and they are small. I've never been small in my whole life. I gained too much weight the year I turned five and i've yo-yo'd ever since. Big from then on tho. I feel younger now than when I was in high school. I can never say I want to be like I was in school because I'm smaller now! LOL. My thighs have always touched too.. I'm almost there tho, where they won't. I can't wait. At least you were sorta small before and you know how it feels, I don't. So I'm entering a whole new arena. I've never, I mean never, since I've been about 11 bought anything that wasn't XL or bigger. So never since I've been grown. Just getting into a large will be great. Either way, you and I are on a journey. And we need to keep our chins up and our eyes forward and our thoughts positive. We CAN do this!

Dena, you are doing just great on that elliptical. You've gone up so much on minutes!

Kandice, I'm soooo excited for you! It's gonna be a great wedding! Homer and Marge are really really cute too! Smart idea! Hey, when is the wedding again?

I have been sick lately still, can't seem to get over it. My son is sick too, on meds now.. took him to the doc, he has an ear infection too. But even tho I'm sick and taking care of sick ppl too, I'm staying a little above 10,000 steps a day. If any of you count steps too, go to www.americaonthemove.org and sign up. It's neat. After 3 days of logging steps, it sets you a daily goal. Also, you get to choose a virtual trail to walk. Mine is the Lewis and Clark trail. It's fun. I'm with the group walking.about.com. At about.com. Anyway, it makes me even more determined bc I want to surpass my goal every day. So far I have for every day this month. I have gone over my cals a little on 3 different days, but not too bad. I also measured myself and I'm only 1/2 in. away from my valentine's goal. I hit my waist and hip 1 inch off! Yay! But my chest is still .5 away from it... only lost .5 there. One more week!

Well, have a great week everyone! Oh and does anyone else find it hard to drink enough water even when that's all you drink? I'm just not thirsty.

I'll come back when I have more time! This week has been so busy. Uggh!!

selina- wedding = march 5th- 26 more days! so excited- going to make up programs tonight probably. after work I got get fitted again... and I think I'm going to need it taken in again because... drum roll please...

I WEAR SIZE 12 NOW!!

Chris and I went shopping friday night for honeymoon clothes and I found a couple skorts that I liked- thought they'd be "dressy" enough if we went anywhere during the day (we're going to the bahamas with carnival cruise lines)

so anyways, I picked up a size 14 and I said I was going to try on a size 12 too just to see. made chris wait outside the dressing room. I came out and asked him what he thought- he said "they look real good, are those the 14s?" NO! they're 12! he was shocked!

Chris picked up a couple pair of shorts for him and a couple bathing suits.

oh and I almost forgot- when we got home- I was curious as to whether my shorts from last year would fit... looked at the size- 18! I tried them on and could easily pull a couple inches from them. I made Chris take a picture with me holding them out. So when I get the film developed I'll surely post it.

Man it feels so good. When I started Curves I told them my goal was to wear a size 10 or 155 lbs whichever came first... I'm pretty close to GOAL!

hope everyone else is doing great!

(and the eagles put up a good fight for my pats- a lot closer than I expected! we had a pool going at work and I had a 20 point spread (34-14 Pats)- so obviously I lost, oh well)

OMG! Congrats Kandice! Woohoo! I know that feels goooood!

You are doing so well! Keep it up! Yay!! You might need it taken in much more by then! Send us pics, definitely!

I posted a photo on the gallery .. It's under Selina in size 18 shorts... got into them fine, just too snug when sitting. I have no head because I had to take the pic with my webcam. :-)


Gotta run, have a great day everyone!