Hope this finds everyone doing well. Please notice my signature and my ticker as I had to change them today due to a 2.5 lb weight loss! YEAH!! I was totally surprised. I expected to be down some but 2.5 is fabulous! That's 7 lbs since the first of Jan. and 4 pounds towards my Easter challenge! YEAH!!!

Eating is going well. Water intake is good. No sweets so far and I spent 60 minutes on the gazelle on Sat. and Sun. I feel like I'm truly back on track now. My Easter challenge is in sight and my bday goal is close behind!

Kandice-you're wedding plans sound so nice! I'm so excited for you! You got a really good deal on those rooms. That's wonderful. Keep us updated on everything.

Florafae-I see that Kandice has already explained the gazelle to you. It was invented by Tony Little. You could put his name in your search engine if you want more info. I inherited mine when I married DH in 2002. I really like it. It allows me to stay home on those nights when I just want to be at home w/o missing a workout. It's pretty neat and I realy enjoy it.

Dena-I think of you often when I'm exercising. You know what they say about great minds! I really like my gazelle. It's low impact but it's a workout. It helps keep me on track while waiting for warm weather so I can do what I love-walk outside!

Diana-Great to see you! I've been wondering if you were going to join us. Glad you're here. How are the jobs going? We have the same challenge goal. I'm sure we'll reach our goal w/flying colors!

Gotta run. Have a great health day!

Hi everyone! just wanted to share my news! I "won" $500 off the LASIK procedure for looking at a drs website down in Charlotte. Anyways, they called me today and told me and I scheduled a consultation and first exam on March 25th. All I need to do afterwards is schedule surgery. I'm excited! Half my life with glasses- it'll be weird to not have to put in contacts or glasses in the morning or to see the alarm clock!

Congrats Skinny! that's excellent! keep it up!
anyone else got news to report?

Hi Everyone!
Just to let you know I've been eating around 1400 cals the last few days, so I'm still on track with the eating and am drinking my 8 glasses of water. I haven't been to the gym the last few days, since it is raining really hard here, and there's been lots of accidents. I know that's not much of an excuse, but I plan to go tomorrow for sure.

Kandice, good luck to you on your lasik surgery. And congrats on winning $500 off. You're going to look like a beautiful bride!

Skinny, congrats to you for losing 7 lbs!! Your gazelle sounds like fun. Keep up the great work, because you are motivating me to stay good.

Amy, good for you for keeping your cals down!

Diana, glad to see you here!

Hugs,
Dena

Hi guys, Im also new here...can I join too! I always set goals for myself, its motivational for me, so im thinking it will REALLY help me if I let other people see my goals

My goal is to lose 8 lbs
Get some exercise in * thats the hard part for me*
Drink water *again..hard for me lol*
Stay in my WW points..NOT go over at all
And "try" to get some me time! I need it to refresh myself lol

"Ive come too far to take orders from a cookie"

~*Randee*~

Hello,
although I'm a week late, I want to jump in right away and join the "Easter Challenge". I have a trip planned in July, and I want to do as many challenges as possible. I have just updated my stats and found out that I did not gain as much as I thought on my break from healthy eating . So let's see how much I loose by Easter.

~Good Luck To ALL

Hope everyone is having a great day! Things here are good. I did 60 minutes on the gazelle last night and exercised w/Richard (Simmons) this morning. Tomorrow morning, Pilates.

Kandice-good news on the lasik! I've considered it before but like you I'm not sure how to act w/o my glasses! I tried contacts for a while but my allergies are too bad and they were dry ALL the time, no matter what. I've had glasses since kindergarten so I guess, for now, I'm just stuck w/them. Anyway, good luck w/the surgery.

Dena-glad things are going well w/your eating and all. I totally understand about not wanting to get out in the rain. That's why I like my gazelle. I can use it when I just don't want to get back out. Of course, that leaves me w/no excuse whatsoever. Hmm...maybe I ought to rethink this whole gazelle thing.

Randee and Tae2tas-welcome to the board! You're at the right place for support and encouragement. Both your goals sound reasonable so I'm sure you'll acheive them w/no problem.You can do it!

Tae@tas-I notice that our journeys are very similar. I weighed 249 when I started turning it around, I'm at 213 right now and my bday goal (May) is to be under 200, or as they call it here "one-derland". We've both come a long way!

I'm going shopping Sat for some clothes. I was running late the other day and asked DH to pick out my outfit. He laid one out on the bed and said-you're going shopping asap. You need more clothes. So, I'm going shopping w/DH approval! Can't get much better than that! I'm hoping to be in a 16 but if not will not be discouraged. Most of my clothes right now are 18 and they hardly touch me anywhere. I'm looking for staple stuff: khaki pants/skirt, blue jean skirt, etc. but I'm still going to enjoy it!

Have a great day. Take care.

Hi Everybody! I hope you all had a great weekend. I am trying to stay unplugged over the weekends in the hopes I can get more done arund the house and be more active. This weekend was very nice so in addition to swimming with my DD we took a couple of nice long walks through our neighborhood as well. I had a good week as far as staying within my WW points. Tomorrow I weigh-in so we shall see if things will reflect positively on the scale.

Kandice that is great news about the LASIK, congrats!

Skinny have fun shopping. It is always a great feeling to get a smaller size!

dena- great job about staying on your cals and drinking water! keep it up and we'll see some numbers from you!

Randee- welcome! drinking water is hard for me too- that's been one of my goals for this challenge- I've been doing pretty good, better than I was at least..

tae- you're so close to being in onederland! keep going! and welcome to the group too!

skinny- your DH want to write an email to Chris and tell him to let me go shopping?! have a great time! tell us about all your new clothes!
When my Miad of Honor comes down, before she leaves back for maine on the 7th, we're going shopping just the 2 of us. She's the last one to fly back, Chris will be working and Christopher will be in school, so that leaves me and her. I'm sure I'll finish up honeymoon clothes and get some special things from victoria secret too. Beth and I have always undies shopped together

Hi Julie! wtg about staying in your points!

have a great night everyone!

Hey ya'll! In a hurry again, which is no fun. :sad: But wanted to say hi! I miss coming in here often. A quick shout out to y'all. Hi Kandice, Bonnie, Skinny, Florafae, Julie, Dena, Randee, Tae, Amy and Diana! Sorry if I missed anyone!

Looks like you all are doing fantastic!

My goal for Easter is 199 lbs. (That's if I weigh around that time, but I also want one inch gone.. like last month, off my waist, chest, and hips.) Last time I weighed was Feb. 13th. I was 213. I think I am about 208 or so now, I hope anyway! Wish me good determination!!

I'm trying to drink more water. But I get too full and all that.. so I dunno. I'm doing ok on eating some days I'm at 1100 some I'm at 1500, but that's good. I'm writing down everything I eat. Helps me keep track and see what may need to change. I got into a pair of size 16s I love. They are so old! I bought them when I was in Junior High School! LOL. So in 2 years, they'll be 20 years old. They don't look it tho bc I never wore them much, I gained shortly after I got them. Anyway, I think I'll be able to wear them for Easter, with a new pink top. Yay!!

Hugs everyone! Take care, and I'll be back in soon, I hope!

Hey.. any ideas on a cheap way to work out on machines at a place that has a place for kids to be? I want to go work out from noon to 2pm every day when most of the kids are at school. I have two toddlers still at home. I have looked at some regular gyms and they are too costly for me right now. I know some churches, community centers and parks have workout rooms...

Send ur thoughts!!
Thanks!

Hi selina! welcome back! 16s?! wow! doing great- by summer you'll be in 14s! (I was right around 190/185 when I tried 14s.)

busy day today so not a lot of chance to write-

last night I made the welcome to NC baskets for my family. I'm putting 1 basket in each room. Has the mag "our state" and a map, and a bunch of mags that I picked up at the Chamber of Commerce about the area. and then I put sodas and chips in the basket too... I still have to print off my "things to do program". I made a "program" with each day- things to do in the area... a crossword puzzle about Chris and me, a list and phone numbers of our favorite restaurants. I hope it all helps them.

going to walmart tonight to finish up the honeymoon essentials- sunscreen, cheap sunglasses for Chris, maybe some of the space savers bags- I've always wanted to try them... fun night!

Thanks Kandice! Now I said that I got into them? LOL. I hadda lay down to zip them then couldn't sit too comfortably. LOL. So that's why I said I can wear them for Easter (a month away). Surely I can fit comfortably in them then right?

I'm bigger in my hips, thighs and rear than anywhere else. I was still wearing 16s when I hit 179.. 9 years ago. So I know when I gained it all back after that that more came back to my hips. It'll be interesting to see when I get into 14s. I hope it's soooooon! I'm shooting for a comfortable 14 by summer. Then a 10 by my birthday Dec. 9th. Do you think that's feasible? I feel like I can bc I'm going by how I've been losing for 8 months now. Plateaus included. ::sigh::

Anyhoo, hugs to you all. I'm still hitting my 15000 a day now. Made a mini goal of 15 k instead of my usual 10k for the last two weeks of Feb., mainly to give myself a boost for my Easter goal. I am feeling really good at this point. I cannot wait to get under 200. I haven't weighed since Feb. 13th. I can't wait to weigh bc I know I've lost just by my clothes.

Oh! And get this! I bought a pair of 18 jeans (good thing I bought them on sale) and haven't worn them. I wore them yesterday and they are loose! That's not good! So now I vow not to buy much of anything (pants esp.) until December. I will just have to walk around in baggy clothes. LOL.

Ok, bye for real! Talk to y'all soon.

HI everybody. Weigh-in went well today I was down 2.25 pounds so I was thrilled.

Selina I go to the YMCA they have a wonderful nursery and are much less expensive than the gym in my area. Community centers are also good choices. Where I live the community centers are managed by the city, maybe to a search on your city gov't page.

Things here are good. I walked 5 miles on the treadmill last night and met my water goals and no sweets for a week and a half! I have to tell you that a friend offered me a butterfinger yesterday-my fave-but I turned her down. Someone on this thread-can't remember who-has the saying-I've come to far to take orders from a candy bar. That's what I thought of yesterday when she offered it to me. I love this place!

Julie-WTG on your exercise and eating habits. Keep up the good work!

Kandice-DH is usually okay w/me shopping-as long as he doesn't have to go with! Actually, he does like to go with sometimes. Go figure. Anyway, I plan on having fun.Your trip w/your maid of honor sounds fun. Enjoy!

Selina-like Zeta, I would suggest checking out your local family YMCA. Ours is $36.00 a month which figures to $9.00 per month per person for my fam. We definitely get out money's worth! As a matter of fact, they're probably losing money on us! Oh, BTW-love that you say good determination instead of good luck. I'm adopting it into my vocabulary.

Zeta-Congrats on your weight loss!! Way to go! I see that we're both members of our local Y. I just love it. Ours has a new fitness room. It holds a program called Fit in 30. You can actually do it for 10, 20, or 30 minutes. Here's the set up. All around the room are different kinds of resistance equipment. Between each machine is a mat for cardio. You start the program, get on the mat and do whatever cardio you want for 30 seconds. The folks I saw were running in place. Then the tape that is playing music for you tells you to switch stations. You go to the resistance machine for 30 seconds and switch again to cardio. You do that all the way around the room for a 10 minutes circuit. Then you repeat twice and that gets you a 30 minute all around work out. One lady there said she lost 3 pounds in one week by doing only that for 3 times a week. I think I'm going to give it a whirl sometime soon. I think it will be fun.

Gotta run. Have a great evening!

Hi Everyone!
Just checking in to say that I had a great day today with my eating. My hubby and I got up early and I got to go with him on one of his service calls today. We went to Laughlin, which is 70 miles from here (and close to the Arizona border.) What a fun trip.

While hubby was repairing and upgrading casino equipment for conterfeiting problems, I walked up and down the boardwalk, about 3 miles. Laughlin's right on the Colorado River, so I enjoyed my walk. Very scenic. Then I played the nickel machines at each hotel. Boy, are there a lot of retired folk that hang out at those hotels! I had a great day, though, and the abundance of rain the last few weeks has made the mountains (normally brown) grassy green with yellow flowers, so the drive to and fro was very pretty.

Well, I'm home now, and have to get dinner ready. Keep up the great work, everyone!
Hugs, Dena