Hi people. Just want to catch up. Don't have much time though.
Jolly -- how is the new job? Have you started it? I didn't realize you had another job as well. Oh yes, now I remember. So this is in addition that that? Wow, I certainly hope you can do handle it all and that it will help you getting those things you need and want. Remember, you can always quit if it gets to be too much. But maybe in the meantime you can get some extra money together. Good luck.
Chachee -- great attitude despite your slight gain. The walking is great. Again, is this all on the treadmill? or outside? Is it impossible to walk outside where you live. I really can't picture Alaska.
That is wonderful about your husband's promotion! Congratulations to him! What, what was the national award about. Is he in the army? You should be proud!
So, you're a crafter. You must be quite the artist. How did you make the snowman ornaments? Are they also knitted or crocheted or something totally different. I used to do crafts when I was a teen. It was a lot of fun really and kept me busy and that is always good for preventing me from eating, right?! What is pajama craft by the way? Please fill me in.
derry -- how are you? did you get the snow that were expecting? I hope you're OK. I hear Pittsburgh was expecting a lot of snow (and they have the Steelers/Patriots game!) I mailed my dad to see if he was OK. No answer yet. Checked the Pittsuburgh paper. Great way to get local news. What did we ever do without the Net? It is utterly amazing, I can't say it enough.
Everyone else, happy, sassy, rave, jacque, where are you? Come on and chat. We need to get some momentum going here again.
****
Well, I'd like to write more but I must do some work now and then into bed with me. I was able to ride today and had a great ride, alone today, no teacher. It went really really well, I thought. Cold and gray out and some light snow but I'm feeling good and determined to keep on. I didn't eat so well today (been having too much sugar lately) but I don't think it was too bad. Unfortunately, the scale showed about a pound gain from last week. That was a little disappointing but I hadn't really thought I would have lost, not with the weight training I've been doing. Could be muscle weight. In any case, I feel good, feel better and I think my clothes are fitting better and the "overhang" on my pants isn't so bad. It was really getting out of hand there, so much so that I was embarrassed to ride in front of my teacher. I think it's much better. Okay, good night all! Have a good Sunday!
Last edited by redballoon; 01-23-2005 at 06:54 AM.
Hey all. Real quick post before bed. Crazy weekend here. Between the weather, having my family over, and all that entails, I did not make it to the gym this weekend, or to ride my horse. I feel like a slug - but a very very tired slug. Chachee, congrats on hubby's promotion. How wonderful for him and you. Red, I have a full time job supervising group homes for people with developmental disabilities. As of WEdnesday, I will also have a part time job answering phones at a call center. I hope I can keep it up. The hours just feel like a lot, but as you said, I can always quit if it gets too much. I really NEED a part time job for this year, as I am having the LASIK surgery. I WANT to keep a part time job for the next 3 years until my car is paid off. I want ot be able to buy my own house, and the extra job will allow me to get some bills paid off, some money saved, and my credit cleaned up to make it happen. Keep your fingers crossed.
I really need to get my rear in gear. Enough of the overeating. Enough of the not exercising. I will need to really take care of myself to pull this off. Chachee, hopefully I can send Bat back soon.
Replying to some older posts here, as well as new ones. I've been really behind!
Chach, like you were last weekend, I was a gluttonous pig.... ate tons of chocolate and couldn't really control myself at all. I think I undid all the good work I've been doing as well. For me, I think it was a "comfort" emotional thing. We had a big blizzard here, but for some one like Chach in Alaska, that is "nothing"!
Raven, how are things? I have been thinking of you so often. I feel for you, and your back as well!
Red, how are things for you? Happy?
I just caught up on reading a bunch of stuff here, wrote a nice response and some computer "glitch" (not operator error???? ) caused me to lose it all. How annoying.
I have been thinking about lent. I'm not catholic and many catholics I know give up something for lent. My pastor (I'm protestant) once talked about the concept of sacrifice and that giving up something for lent shows how we recognize this and that we all might want to consider giving up something to show our respects, so to speak. At any rate, I started giving up something for lent two years ago and it was really hard. I gave up salt, as that is/was very important to me.
This year, I might choose chocolate!
Linda
Derry, could be an idea. . .giving up something for Lent. . .hmmm... brings back memories of childhood. I was raised Catholic. . . .I don't adhere to any one religion anymore but I could do something for Lent, thinking of all the people who have so much less. . . when does Lent start exactly? Has it already? From Wednesday perhaps? Trying to jog memory.
I certainly know how that "eating tons of chocolate" goes. Though I'm not usually just on a chocolate kick, I can be, or more, just a sweets binge. But, heh, don't sweat it. I just got back from a reception. I wasn't going to go. Have gained weight. Everything's tight. Sick of the same clothes. No money to buy new ones. With barely enough time to go though I decided to stop putting things on hold, just get out there and talk to people! And I did and it was fun, may have gotten a few lines to work too. Yeah, I ate and drank and that drinking caused me to get an ice cream sandwich on the way home, but oh, what the heck. If I would just let go on special occasions it would be OK.
Hmm, this Lent thing. Salt? No, that would be too hard. Sugar again, perhaps. Alcohol, hmmm, affects work too much. .. I'll think about it. Let me know what you decide.
Jolly -- How are you? I sure hope you can do the extra work but always remember that you don't HAVE to. Always think of it as being the money for this or that. That helps me when I'm trying to do yet another bit of work or parttime job. I say, this will pay for the riding lesson this week, or this will pay for the gym dues this month. It really helps.
Last edited by redballoon; 01-24-2005 at 07:47 AM.
I think Lent starts on Ash Wednesday, and it might be Feb. 16th.... so you have time to think. I like the idea of giving up something, in addtion to the religious reasons, thinking of people who have much less. I wonder if we should challenge each other to use Lent as a time period to give up something we love and donate what we would have spent on it to Tsunami Relief? That might be fun! Chocolate is definately "it" for me this year... then on Easter I'll be going wild with all the chocolate that is around here in my kid's Easter baskets, etc. Hmmm..... I'll probably have a chocolate hangover!
I am not much of a drinker and do enjoy an occasional social glass of wine, so giving that up would be way too easy for me. Giving up salt was one of the hardest things I ever did, in fact. I was certainly proud of myself for that. I wondered if I would lose weight when I gave up salt, as sodium makes a person retain fluid, but I didn't lose. I do use "lite" salt in the house, so maybe I just don't have enough (even if I think I do) to retain fluid as I thought?
Chocoate is definately my "drug of choice" it seems. so if Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for me/us, then why not make a sacrifice of my own in recognition of that, as well as in recognition of the sacrifices so many have HAD to make due to this horrible Tsunami. I like it, I'm "in"!
Linda
Looks like you've reasoned it out. Sounds good. I'm not a religious type (but that doesn't mean I have anything against religion, in fact I tend to think I'm a very spiritual person and look at the common ground of all religions, just don't like doing things in the name of one certain one). But, as I mentioned, I was raised Catholic and I can certainly find reasons for sacrifice. I could join you in this in the spirit of it. Let me think about it a bit and get back. I'm too tired now. Must get some sleep.
Last edited by redballoon; 01-24-2005 at 08:01 AM.
Red: I guess I forgot to answer on the walking. I do it on the treadmill during the winter (October-March) and then do it outside the other months. I have a really good route with hills I walk outside. I'll just have to clock it with my car this year to see the exact mileage. With doing over three miles a day now, I'll have to expand on it. The ornaments I made for this year are out of the femo clay and wire. I do white clay for the body, black wire for the arms, orange clay shaped like a carrot for the nose, black clay for the eyes and then throw in all kinds of color for their hats. Last year's ornaments were made of clay also, but were green trees with colored balls all over them. The year before all the ornaments were out of beads. I could probably sell them for about $2.00 each if I ever got the booth I wanted to for the craft show, but I truly just love doing things for other people. I also got two quilt "tops" done this weekend. Still waiting on my hubby to finish up the quilting frame.
Derry: My weekend was better this weekend, how was yours? Damn chocolate. I feel it will always be my achille's heel. Oh well, move on and move forward I always say. Lent, huh? Let me know what you decide on that. I might have to jump on the bandwagon. Hey, I tried the almond crunch WW cereal this weekend. They sell it at Costco now. It's marvelous! A must-try!
Jolly: How is the job going? Surgery is coming up soon, right? Gosh, you must be getting excited about that!
Alrighty, ladies, here is to a good week! I know we can do it!
Hi all. Quick check in from my crazy Monday morning. Eye surgery is 15 days away. I am very excited - and a bit nervous. New part time job starts Wednesday - again, very excited AND a bit nervous.
I really need to have another AHA moment. I was feeling like things were floating around, waiting for me to fish them out and acknowledge them. Right now, however, I feel like I am clutching onto old habits and fears like a toddler with her "blankie." I don't know why. My mind is rushing around so much, that I can't or won't slow down and process what is going on. Not good. I get so worried about the "what ifs" that I don't acknowledge what is.
Anybody have a spare light bulb? The one over my head appears burned out.
For Jolly and anyone else who is struggling. Here is what I sent to a friend this morning.
From one slug to another, I'm saying to myself WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF? You know, when I eat badly, I make excuses. Oh, I ate an unhealthy lunch, so I'll eat unhealthy for dinner. Oh, I had a stressful day and I'm upset, so I'm going to have
chocolate. You know, I'm tired of making excuses for myself.
I guess what I need to acknowledge is that there are going to be tough days, probably more than the good or easy ones. How I choose to deal with those struggles are exactly that...a CHOICE. I've been choosing to be about 50% with this weight loss plan. Why? It's not that I don't want to succeed, it's just that the glutton inside me knows how good food tastes and wants to much to continually eat that way. Why doesn't the inner diva in me fight that glutton and win? We all know diva can kick glutton's ***.
I was thinking that we were in the same place. Kinda at the "Ugh" stage after a bad week. Heck, we can overcome this, we've gone through worse before. It's just a matter of working harder and doing what we know works.
I love being the slug. It's comfortable, relaxing and familiar. I'm going to work on being the diva. Putting myself out there and making myself adhere to the right way to live. Choose to make the right choices, so in a month from now, when I see all my family and friends, they can say "Holy crap, you look awesome.". I gotta....it's my destiny to be healthy and gorgeous and a great role model for everyone I come into contact with. It's just gotta be that way.
I walked over to the fridge here at work and CHOSE my carrots over my yogurt. I CHOSE to fill up my water cup instead of taking a diet soda from the fridge. At lunch, I will CHOOSE the low-fat dressing over the ceasar dressing I had set aside for my salad. Small choices all add up to big changes.
I'm also choosing my new diva name. I'd doing it the same way I was told by a friend that you come up with your drag queen name. You take the name of your childhood pet for your first name, and the street you lived on growing up as your last name. My diva name is:
Muffin Evergreen--gotta love that!!
Any other divas out there with me???
Whew, that was my pep talk for the day. I'm pooped!
Good morning. Feeling a bit under the weather, like I have a cold coming on. Could explain why I felt so vulnerable yesterday. But I'll slug it out today again. Trying to move toward my goals.
Chachee -- Your walking sounds great. It is so easy not to exercise in the winter when it's cold and snowy out, especially in the States, where it's all car-oriented. Good for you for getting on that treadmill! The ornaments sound so cute. I miss doing crafts. It is somehow so comforting to do. And it's great for watching TV by, keeps the hands busy so you can't eat! Good luck to you too on your week. I want to see a loss this Sunday, when I weigh myself. I only had one loss this month and I'm still higher than my starting weight on Jan. 2. Oh well, I have been working out and do feel tighter and stronger so I'm not upset. My clothes most definitely fit better so that's what matters.
OH, and Chachee, I just got to your latest post. I guess I should be calling you Muffin Evergreen! Wow, some name. You know, I heard that same way of making up names but I heard it wasn't for a drag queen name but your porn film name. Now, Muffin Evergreen, now that is a porn star name if I have heard one! You're right, gotta love it!! I like what you're saying about the diva coming to the forefront and fighting the glutton. And the choices, empowering ourselves. Yes, those small choices DO add up to big changes. And yes, I'm tired of the excuses. Yes, it's hard and my life is hard and all that but so what, everyone's is in some way or another, usually in the things they want the most. I've got to just make the choices that lead to what I say I want, or stop all together. Do I want to stop altogether? No. Stop the fence sitting, right?
jollygirl -- Ah, I forgot about your surgery. Yes, that would be making you all a flitter inside. You say you don't know why you're clutching to things but you just answered your own question right there. Of course, it's all the change that's going on in your life, the job, the surgery. Change is one of the most anxiety-generating things around, even when we know it's "good" change. It sounds like you need to do some "settling" exercises, something to help you gain calm. Hmm. Maybe yoga, quiet calm yoga, not power yoga or anything too energizing. Have you tried that? Some of the exercises for concentration are great for learning to seek a calm inside you and use that to respond to all that is happening on the outside causing you to "rush around" and not be able to "slow down." Have you looked into yoga at all?
Hey all. Chachee, I don't know if I like my diva name - Greg Louisa! Not very diva-ish. I hear what you are saying in your post. I finally sat down and did some journaling today. Opened the flood gates a bit. I need to do some more, but it was a start. REd, I have tried yoga, and will do more at the new gym. Tried Tai Chi too. both of them are really hard for me, as I can't quiet my mind to really focus on the movement. My mind starts floating away to problems, things to fix, what I should be doing, what I am having for dinner - you get the idea. Not exactly what the yogi ordered.
Ah well. Off to dinner. Here's to a good day tomorrow.
Whew, workout was tough mentally this morning. Did 2.90 miles. A little less than usual, but had a tough time staying on the treadmill. Glad I got it done, though.
Red: Heck, you can pretty much call me anything and I'll answer to it! I didn't know you were up from your start on Jan. 2. Man, is it really the end of the month? Feels like January really just went somewhere and I missed it. I agree with you on the fence-sitting. That is what I told myself yesterday. Make a decision and stick with it!
Jolly: How is your day going so far? I know you said you hoped today would be better. I was thinking of you last night, figuring you were working your second job and finding no time for just "jolly" time. I hope this all works out for you and you can find the balance between relaxing time and work time. You are so motivated, and I admire that.
Alrighty, ladies, week isn't even half over yet, so we are still right on track for a good week!
Good morning. Just after 5 a.m. here. I want to get to the gym before going in to work this morning. Sounds like a rainy day out there, but it doesn't feel as cold as it's been lately. Thank God.
You know, I was just sitting here thinking that yesterday I was did quite well with the eating. Exercise was good but often it is and I just cancel it out with eating. But yesterday I was sorely tempted but resisted. Didn't even eat a lot of good food just to eat either. Instead I went to bed on nearly an empty stomach, which is something I think I should be doing all the time. It gives me something to look forward to in the morning, with my usual bowl of hot oatmeal/7-Grain cereal made with soymilk and raisins and wheat germ on top. Yum! So, what I was getting to, is that I'm up now and it's like, big deal, so I did well yesterday. I won't see any results of it unless I continue and continue, days on end of doing the same. This is the kind of thinking that then does me in and I sabotage my efforts before I CAN see those results. Either I half consciously decide to "reward" myself and the rewards go way over the top or I get annoyed at the slowness of progress and throw in the towel, and eat out of frustration. SO, I'm thinking I have to find ways of rewarding myself, whether it's those visual rewards we were talking about some months ago, or something that I do that gives me a pat on the back, something, I don't know, but I have to think of it. Somehow I have to connect my goal and the picture of how I will be when I get there with these little daily victories. Otherwise, I can't add them up long enough to get to my goal.
jolly -- how are you? How was the new job? You did start it already, right? Been journaling more, have you? Journaling can really help. I have kept journals for years, often separate ones for different projects in my life, food journal and a riding journal are two but my main one is just me, thoughts, events, feelings. That one I have been neglecting lately but the neglect is on purpose so it's more that I've been avoiding it. Sometimes I just get so sick of myself, my thoughts and emotions that I don't want to hear them anymore and shut them away. Don't know if that's good or not. Writing them down just seems to perpetrate them at times. At other times it really helps as a release. You said you were opening the floodgates so for you right now it sounds like a very good thing to be doing. I understand how hard it is to focus for you. Telling you to quiet your mind when that is your problem doesn't help much in telling you how, does it? I used to do yoga as a kid so I have always felt a personal connection to it, kind of like it was a private thing. The current boom is nice in that a lot of things are being written and there are great books and videos out there but I also think it would be very hard for someone to get into now as a calming practice. I certainly would never want to do it in a gym. There is a yoga class at my gym but to me yoga is a private thing. Perhaps you could try that too, jolly. There is no need to go through a whole routine. Don't think of it as exercise. Think of it as your time to relax. May I suggest learning just one pose, one relaxing pose and doing that whenever you get a chance. A simple one you can do practically anytime without putting on any special clothing. It doesn't matter if you can't calm or focus at first. That's why you practice it, to get better. I can give you suggestions for a good simple pose if you like, though you probably know them already. As Chach said, you are very motivated sounding to me now, what with your two jobs and all, so give yourself some much needed recognition and lie low until you have the energy you need to move on in a bigger way regarding your weight loss. It may not seem like you're doing so great in that area but I think you are inside, which really counts and will manifest itself outside later. Good luck to you jolly!
Muffin!! -- Congrats on getting your walking in. Why was it tough today? 2.9 miles. Great going. Interesting number. Any reason you made it that number instead of going for a round 3? Just curious. Yes, January is nearly over but I am glad for it. It's so cold here (I say with hesitation to someone in Alaska!) and I hate the cold. Then again, getting warmer means we are getting closer to the days of spring when I want to come out of this cocoon of heaviness so I better get cracking! Good luck to you too! No more fence-sitting, right?!
Last edited by redballoon; 01-25-2005 at 03:47 PM.
Hey all. REal quick fly by post. I have to be to work early today, as we I have training to get to, and I am the designated driver. I didn't get online last night as I was doing my taxes. Today is the big day - start the part time job day. At least I was able to sleep last night, which I haven't been able to do in a while. And I WILL get to the gym this morning. I will I will I will.
OK. Sorry that this is all I have time for. I will try to stop in after the training, otherwise it won't be until tomorrow. Sorry. Have a wonderful day all.
) caused me to lose it all. How annoying.
Lent, huh? Let me know what you decide on that. I might have to jump on the bandwagon. Hey, I tried the almond crunch WW cereal this weekend. They sell it at Costco now. It's marvelous! A must-try!
"dive"ing in . . .
You know, I heard that same way of making up names but I heard it wasn't for a drag queen name but your porn film name. Now, Muffin Evergreen, now that is a porn star name if I have heard one! You're right, gotta love it!! I like what you're saying about the diva coming to the forefront and fighting the glutton. And the choices, empowering ourselves. Yes, those small choices DO add up to big changes. And yes, I'm tired of the excuses. Yes, it's hard and my life is hard and all that but so what, everyone's is in some way or another, usually in the things they want the most. I've got to just make the choices that lead to what I say I want, or stop all together. Do I want to stop altogether? No. Stop the fence sitting, right?
