:D Morning Ladies :coffee:. Well I was feeling really good about myself yesterday until..... I was playing butterfly with my baby. She had her wings on and we were "flying" around the family room. My ds was taking pictures of the baby but he also got a picture of me bent over putting on the babies wings :yikes:. Now I'm not stupid I know I'm big but I just don't feel like I'm THAT big. Know what I mean? It really depressed me. I feel like things are going so slow :snail: and I'm never going to get there. I am however feeling better today I just can't look at anymore pictures :lol:.

Angel - trust me wal-mart also gets alot of my money. I spread it out pretty evenly to all stores in my area :lol:. I hope you have alot of fun camping.

Annie - did you have the Japenese hair straightening thing done or was it something else? I know you asked angel but just fyi SAHM means stay at home mom. Have a great one girlie!!!

lookin - glad to hear about kitty :D and so glad you got some answers from your doctor. Reading your post gave me goose bumps because of the way you feel. I feel the same way ;).

clipclop - Great job with brunch yesterday and good luck studying for you 2 test. I just have to say better you than me. I hated school :^:.

hotcup - you talk about what ever you want trust me I'm interested in it all. That's how we get to know you :D.

Talk to you chicks later.

Howdy, howdy, howdy! :wave: (What movie is that saying from?) :o Anywhoo, I am excited as I've got the day off. I've done quite a bit so far. Sent the kids to school (YIPPEE!). Did 1-mile WATP... went and did a bit of grocery shopping, and bought a food scale. For the life of me, I have no idea how to calculate what I see on my plate into ounces. Yes, I'm THAT dumb! HAHA I know. :o

One thing I did differently was eat normally for breakfast this morning. I bought, for the first time, some of those Egg Beaters. Decided to try some scrambled eggs (with bit of scallion, green pepper, and a couple pinches of cheese.) WOW, was that awesome! I don't have to feel guilty when I get a craving for an omelet. :cheer:

Lookin2- Way to go on the 3 pounds! :bravo: The workout equipment sounds great. Wish I had something like that in our building. Would be great to just get away from the desk for awhile.

Clipclop- Sure wish I was where you are. All we've had for the past month here is rain and more :rain: Blah. It's becoming sort of depressing, really. Clouds all day. The sun did come out after a quick downpour last night, and I have to say I didn't mind that as there was this magnificent rainbow you could see right off our deck.

Momx- Don't feel so bad about the pictures. Just know that one day, you'll reach your goal and you won't have to feel bad about it. Keep your chin up high. I know the process of trying to lose weight is slow, but it's the healthy way. Just keep coming back here everyday and keep going. YOU CAN DO IT! :) Also, no Japanese technique. They use the new Matrix system. It stinks, but it sure worked!

Well, I'm off to go clean this palace and finish the laundry. Going to try and do some weight lifting also.

Have a great day everyone. :dancer:

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't posted in a while :( I've been feeling kind of bummed out :( it just feels like it is going to take for ever to loose all this weight :( Just one of those days I guess.

I read some one here was from California so I just wanted to say HI neighbor! I'm from Los Angeles.

Well I just wanted to congratulate all who have lost more weight :)

MoonRay

Momx3 & Moonray ~ Hear you soundin so down, and I feel that way too sometimes. I know what I think I look like when I look in the mirror, and then I see a snapshot of recent and a want to :barf: or :cry: Then I eat and eat and eat until I feel sick, and I lay on the couch and feel worse. It it soooo hard. I am a comfort eater and I would rather just go to bed and sleep away days at a time because I so upset with myself for cheating, or not doing some exercise, or feeling like I let my self down.

There are times when I wish I could just take a knife and shave off my top tummy roll and a little off my thighs and underarms, just like slimming pie crust. It is summer here now in the midwest, and the tanktops and spaghetti strap shirts are all getting pulled out, and I just want to barf when I throw one on to garden and it looks like I have coin purses hanging from my armpits.

Then I realize, some of my weight is genetic, some of it was the choices that I made. Why I want to lose my weight, why I want to be healthy. I want to be able to tie my shoes without having to hold my breath. I want to be able to pick something off the car floor that I have dropped without doing yoga and cramping up and sweating like a pig. Small goals. I want the seatbelt to fit me properly instead of chaffing across my belly and digging into my neck.

I want all of us PICs to be healthy. Whether we maintain or lose, or plateau, or fall off the wagon, cheat a little or a lot, or pass out in an all-you-can-eat buffet, we are together. I can speak for me, but I love you all for who you are and for being there for me, and I am going to be there for you....This feeling too shall pass. It doesn't feel like it, but the best weight loss is the gradual weight loss, and making changes in your lifestyle for the better.

We are all in this together. We have all got each other's backs, and nobody is going to leave anyone hanging because they had a bad day, or a hard day, or their calories were higher than they wanted, or you weren't able to exercise because of other things.

It really is okay. Please, everyone, buckle your seatbelts. We are going to have bumpy rides, but we have each other. All the trials and tribulations, honest ears, and shoulders to cry on, lean on, heck, blow your nose on mine if you need to. It's all right (I've got plenty of shoulder room...got football shoulders from my dad) LOL

Hang tough my devoted PIC divas. baby steps are better than no steps at all.
Stay with us. We can keep each other in check, and don't anyone feel all alone. We are learning from each other and growing from each other, and you gals are absolutely amazing, and growing in members all the time.

It's the little moments that make life big. Celebrate your life. Celebrate the little moments...passing up a piece of cake, or driving past that mcdonalds, or switching to low-fat salad dressing, or choosing a wrap instead of white bread, going for the grilled chix instead of deep-fried.

DONT GIVE UP...cherish those little things that are going to make reaching that goal even more grand.

I'm here every step of the way....we are all are.

Hugs to all :grouphug: :df: :df: :df: :df: :df: :df: :df: :df:

I believe that dragonflies are good luck....so here are a whole bunch.
Have a wonderful Memorial weekend. Look at the little baby steps, not just the mountain you want to climb....WE CAN DO IT

Wow
 

Does that Looking2lose RAWK or what? :cool: Where do you get all that wisdom from? You're wise beyond your years kid ;) . Your post was amazing. I'm so freakin' glad I found this thread. You guys make my day! Thank you Looking2lose and thank all of you for inspiring, motivating and listening to me.

I'm at work and the custodian saw me pacing my "Caged Turtle Circles" here at work (carrying my radio in case I get a call) and brought me a step stool. He's hearing impaired and "signed" to me that I should do steps in front of the radio/tv. What a sweet guy. I think I'll go hit him with something heavy now. :lol:

Mary (being held captive at work for eight hours) But I'll work out at the office gym before I leave for home at Midnight. Go TURTLE GO!!! :D

Hi Everyone! I'm Back!
 

Well it only took me 2 hours to read all the posts from the past week, LOL. Congrats to all the losers. You guys have had such good luck with Tanita scales I'm thinking of going out and getting one too. They seem to be telling everyone something they want to hear.

I missed you guys while I was away and thought of you often. I did pretty well on carbs although when I entered my food into fitday today, boy did I eat a lot of calories! You can actually do okay eating out on a low carb diet. I found that quite a few restaurants actually had low carb items identified on the menu and even if they didn't, and you asked, they were more than willing to accomodate you. I had one day that I kind of "fell off the wagon" and had about 100 grams of carbs. I will have to tell you about this because it will be a surprise about what got me after nearly 3 months of being so good. However, the day after that I literally felt physically ill, like I had the flu or something. I don't think it was psychological either (like from guilt). I think eating trash made me feel sick! So I learned my lesson and got right back on program.

This was a medical conference, as you know, and I have some interesting stuff to tell you that I learned pertaining to diet but first I want to tell you about my little slip. I went to a couple of dinner programs which I don't usually do because they are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies and I usually am bothered by that ethically but this time there were so many great topics at this conference that I had to go to some of these programs in order to fit in everything I wanted to hear. At any rate, when you show up for the program, your salad and your desert are already sitting there in front of you. I managed to pass up cheesecake and lemon souffle that were literally sitting right under my nose. What got me was a mocha mint chip frappacino from starbucks. I took one sip and thought, "oh my gosh, this thing has real sugar in it." I almost threw it out and I probably should have but no, I drank the whole thing. I love coffee. We live and learn.

I went to two really intersting lectures that you guys would be interested in. One was on carbohydrate craving in mood disorders. Some depressed patients, particularly ones with seasonal affective disorder report carbohydrate cravings at a very high rate. They are trying to find the biological markers for this. More interesting, in that same lecture, a researcher from Univ of Penn. told us about an animal model of sugar addiction. Yes, you heard right. He has created a rat model of sugar addiction that looks neurochemically just like any other addictive substance, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, you name it. This is how we study addictions so that we can create better treatments for them in humans. He can get rats to selectively self administer sugar in the exact same way. They also seem to experience withdrawal and cravings, very similar to other addictive substances. So if you think you are addicted to highly refined sugar products, you probably are. Stay tuned!. Also, insulin resistance was a hot topic this year because some of the drugs that we prescribe a lot are causing a big increase in metabolic syndrome in a group of patients who haven't traditionally had this problem before (schizophrenics). We had world famous endocrinologists giving lectures on glucose and insulin metabolism. One of the scarier things mentioned was some preliminary studies that look like hyperinsulinemia may be a precursor to Alzheimer's disease. Again, stay tuned for more data. There was not enough discussion about a need to encourage patients to change their diet which I found disappointing but hopefully that will come with time.

There is more to tell you but I don't want you to have to spend 2 hours reading my post so I'll stop for now. I'm praying I at least didn't gain anything while I was away. I'll let you know tomorrow.

thats really interesting stuff.. when i went to the endocrinolgist even tho i dont have diabetes he said they are treating obesity with a diabetes drug called metformin.. at first it just did away with all my sugar cravings but i think now my body has adjusted to the medication..

but any ways it helps your body control your sugar levels... and Re; the neurotransmitters.. the drugs phen fen worked in a similar fashion by increasing your bodys serotonin levels which in turn killed ur appetite... there is a supplement on the market called 5-htp that will up ur serotonin levels in ur body..

its not a drug (5-htp) but an amino acid that occurs naturally in your body .. tho some of us are just running low..

Oh...my...god... Lookin, if that wasn't what I, myself needed to read tonight, I don't know what was. That post was absolutely AMAZING!! :cp: Thank you so much, my god, I feel as though I'm near tears, and as I was reading it, I swear to God almighty, I had goose bumps. I came on the computer feeling pretty bad tonight (ate too much for din-din but am okay with cal count as it was good stuff, but again ate too much) and layed down. Woke up 2 hours later with a migraine, and thought "I need cake." Instead I came online and read your post. Instantly, my craving for something sweet was gone. Thank you sooooo much EVERYONE again for allowing me to join such a wonderful support group. I sincerely feel lucky to have women like you all around to give me encouragement, answer my questions, make me laugh, and keep me in check.

:grouphug:

Petra- thank you for sharing all of that information. Not only do I get the things I mentioned above, but I'm constantly learning here.

One thing I might mention is a book endorsed on Oprah few weeks ago. It's called "YOU: The Owner's Manual" by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet Oz. I've just started reading it and it's amazing the information they share, and what's even better is that they explain everything with a humorous twist and it's very easy to understand. I've been a nurse for 10 years and I must say I'm even learning things. Very intersting stuff. :)

Anywho, gonna go pop a movie in. Have a super, duper weekend.

Annie - I LOVE your new avatar. Great job on your exercise today.

Petra - Thanks for all the info. I always knew I was addicted to ice cream. If I eat it one day I will just keep eating it every night. For awhile it was ice cream with crushed oreos every single night. I could'nt stop myself I had to have it. Now when I think about it it makes me sick but if I was to eat it tonight I can guarantee I would be eating in tomorrow too.

Hotcup - I hope you enjoyed your step stool. The poor guy was just trying to help :rofl:.

Moon - I'm in Sacramento. I go to Ventura a couple of times a year for my job. I love it down there!!! It's right on the ocean (not that I get to spend much time on the beach) and sooo beautiful.

Lookin - I got on the computer to see if anything was going on right before I was supposed to pick up my son from school and you made me late. I was so overwhelmed by what you wrote. Even now 4 hours later it is still bringing tears to my eyes just to think about it. So right now I'm blowing my nose on your shoulder o.k.

I am so glad I found all of you because I don't know if I could do it on my own. There is noboby in my life that is as heavy as me and would understand what I go through everyday. They don't get that I use humor to cover my pain and even on a good day there is pain because I just don't feel normal. I FEEL NORMAL HERE WITH YOU!! So I want to thank all of you for being here because without you life would be so much more painful.

Good morning everyone. Well, I guess I am paying the price for my indiscretion. I gained 3 lbs. TOM also came to my house which probably isn't helping but I have yet another reminder of why you don't drink mint mocha frappacinos from Starbucks!

If you are wondering what I am doing up at this hour, the dog sitter got up at 5:00 so the dogs decided that I should get up at 5:00 today and pounced on me. As you know, I have 2 big dogs and they are hard to ignore when they pounce.

Curlylocks-welcome to our group. It is nice to have another low carber/good carb person. I have been the only low carber so far. I don't know how much of the older posts you have read but let me introduce myself. My real name is Mary. I am a physician. I am board certified in internal medicine and psychiatry although I mostly practice psychiatry these days which probably explains my previous post a little better. I have developed an interest in addictions although I'm not formally trained in it. I seem to have the personality for it and a lot of the patients have developed medical problems along the way and I am much more comfortable dealing with patients who have both serious medical problems and psychiatric problems than many psychiatrists.

Looking2Lose--thank you for your inspirational words. I also hope your kitty is doing better. My Golden Retriever, Buddy, was diagnosed with cancer almost exactly one year ago. I was devastated because my dogs are like my kids. I ended up taking him down to the Univ. of Penn. where he spent a week and had major surgery which we hope was curative for him. I was fortunate that there was a major veterinary center within driving distance of me and that I had the resources to be able to do that because it wasn't cheap. I also have some medical advice for you to discuss with your doctor. PCOS is one of the conditions associated with hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. You have heard metformin mentioned a couple of times. It is one of the medications that is sometimes used, particularly in PCOS to try to improve insulin sensitivity in patients even before diabetes develops. Chromium picolinate, particularly at relatively high doses, like 400 micrograms a day is another supplement that has been studied in diabetics to try to improve insulin sensitivity and seems to be safe and effective. Of course, talk to your doctor first but that might be another option for you.

Talk to ya'll later.

Good Morning Partners !! Hope you are all enjoying the start to your long weekend.

I am enjoying my morning :coffee2: and thought I would check in with my friends. Looks to be another gorgeous day here.. sun is shining.. birds are singing.. and I am inside doing homework.. :p ahhh well there is always tomorrow !

New food find... you may already have these in the States, but I bought some Cadbury's Thins at the grocery store the other day. They are 100 calories, 5g of fat and only 2 points on WW. They are basically a very thin version of the Cadbury's chocolate bar :T and just big enough to cure that chocolate craving.

MOMX3 ~ pictures.. ya gotta love them...NOT ! We went out for a few work functions and one of my coworkers took pictures.. they are now on a collage hanging in the office.. arggg Great motivator, but not nice to look at in the meantime.

ANNIE ~ love your new blue rose. I saw that episode on Oprah where they talked about that book and had the authors on... it was very informative. Thanks for the recommended read. One of these days I will be able to read books for enjoyment.. right now reading about accounting stuff isn't all that entertaining !

MOONRAY ~ keep your chin up and a smile on your face :) It may take a long time to reach your goal, but enjoy the journey along the way. A few years ago I lost 120 lbs... yet here I am losing most of it again... because i took it too fast.. i dealt with the eating issue.. but not the emotional side.. and as soon as i let my guard down the emotional side took over and i put the weight back on. This time i am going to take it slowly and the weight will come off it will just take a lot longer..but i won't have to do this again so it will all be worth it !

LOOKING2LOSE ~ what can i say.. WOW !! a truly motivational and inspiring post. thank you ... okay group hug :grouphug:

HOTCUPOJAVA ~ sounds like you are getting lots of support at work.. enjoy your step stool :D Keep up the great work that you are doing !

PETRA ~ Welcome Home ! Sounds like your conference went well and you got lots of good information.. thanks for sharing. Sorry to hear about your gain and that dreaded starbucks drink.. but great job staying away from the desserts, the lemon souffle would probably have gotten me !

Okay ladies.. have a wonderful day and take care !!

Captive Audience Again
 

Yup, stuck at work again. AC is making it too cold and my fingers feel stiff.
:( But as soon as I'm done saying hello to all my PIC Chick Divas, I'm going to grab a portable radio and start pacing my "Caged Turtle Circles." Yesterday/last night I ended up with 2.5 miles, but I know that's wrong because most of the mile that I did on the office gym's treadmill didn't showup on my pedometer. But anyway, I'm racking up some mileage here. I guess that's a good thing, yeah, it's a good thing.

I hope you're all enjoying your holiday week end. Looks like the weather will be a bust here in West Virginia. Cloudy and scattered showers. Oh well, a holiday is still a holiday whether it rains or not. I may be getting Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday off if my boss has his way. He doesn't like it when people are close to having maximum vacation and he likes to see it knocked down. Encouraging me to take the days. Whooo hooo... don't gots to tell Da Turtle twice! :lol: Pooh Bear wanted to go camping before it got too hot. Well, we may have our chance, but it may rain on us. Still nice though. Sound of rain on a tent, the smell of rain, camp fire... .ahhhhh deep breath through your nose. Isn't it great to be alive?

No TOPS meeting this week, but I'll weigh in and count that as the official weight for the week. I'll talk to you all soon. Smile... :D

Just a quick note!
 

Howdy Everone on this fine Memorial Day Weekend!!!

I went to WI in this morning. We didn't have a meeting our leader was sick! I LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THought I blew it...because I really didn't get a chance to exercise last week. I am down another 1.5lbs for a total of 11.YIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Anyway, I promised my little sweetheart we would ride bikes so I am off!
Check in later.
Lisa
Wyoming

Yay!
 

Awesome loss. Great job. :cp:

Did I scare everyone off? Seems like everyone went into hiding since I came back. I know its just the weekend. Congrats Lisa. You are doing great! Sorry you are stuck at work Mary but make the most of it. Get some exercise in.

I did get a Tanita scale today and it did give a better number but I will save it for next week. So if it looks like I lost a lot of weight next week, just keep that in mind. It is really neat, it gives you % body fat and body water. It tells me I'm obese, LOL. I suppose that is one of those things I can look forward to seeing change.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend. Mine has been pretty quiet so far. Getting caught up on laundry and stuff like that.