Just checking in quick to say hello. Back from the fair and WORN OUT. The only exercise I got was just walking around the fair (and this was a small one)but the good news is I didn't eat anything unhealthy! I really didn't even want any of it. For lunch I had a Subway veggie on wheat and then later I had fresh pineapple and watermelon for a snack in the afternoon. Hopefully I can keep it up for the rest of the fair season. It will be harder at the bigger fairs but I really think I can do it. I'm thinking I'll have my hair cut and highlighted with the fair food $ that I save.

I'm feeling really down tonight because of some issues with my in-laws that are really getting to me. What it boils down to is that MIL is really upset because my husband always puts his wife and kids first, and last month we happened to inconvenience her when we planned our vacation around our schedules instead of hers, so she has been ignoring and avoiding us ever since. It really hits home on a day like today that is so important to my daughter after she spent her whole summer preparing for these fair shows. I guess I wouldn't care if she ignored me but I don't think it's fair how she's treating my kids. I'm not sure how FIL feels but he wouldn't dare cross MIL. Hubby is upset about it but he's really good at not letting things get him down. I wish I could learn to just let go of things like he does. I tend to brood over things and let them really bother me.

Anyway...hopefully I'll be in a better mood tomorrow and I'll try to catch up and type more. Hope everybody is having a great night!

You did an awesome job at the fair! I forgot there is subway now and that will make it easier to plan when we go. 4-5 points keeps me right on target. Your husband is doing things the way he should-his wife and kids first and it is a shame that MIL uses the kids to get back at you and hubby. It can be stressful. I hope it all straightens out soon for all of you. Other than kids making a shambles out of everything, life is good today. Stayed on target, even though it seemed to be a hungry day for me. Odessa drank all my coffee creamer, the neighbor boy was not nice to my son today-slammed his fingers in the door and threw rocks at him too. He took off pretty quick so I think he knows I am on the warpath. Josh can be really hard to deal with-but still no excuse. Amanda is going through a take off her diapers phase so the tinkle queen has been making havoc through the house. I need a vacation lol.
Melissa

KayElleYou give me couage to go to our county fair in 2 weeks. I won't have any kids with me, so it will be easier to pass up the yummy snacks and stay op. And I will spend the money on something else. Last time I bought 2 rubber ended brooms from a pitch guy and i use them all the time.
MIL is a hard relationship. I am one and I try very hard to stay in my place and not tell my DIL when I think she is doing things wrong. I want my son, whom I adore, to be happy and he won't be if his wife and I don't get along. Luckily I love my DIL, we are very close, but again, I am very careful. We just spent the day with them and it is wonderful to see my son happy. Think of the joy your MIL is missing by not paying attention to her son and his family, because she is being silly.
Laura

Kay, it is very sad what your MIL is doing to your family, I deal with quite a bit of that myself so I understand it is so hard. I can't imagine being your husband though, he is right in the middle of it. Just stay focused on what you're doing and know that you are doing the right thing for your family, and you can't help it if she doesn't agree. Maybe she's feeling left out, and you might invite her over or something? You know her better than I do, but she might the type that if you go on vacation she feels left behind. Or maybe I"m just thinking of my own MIL lol

Melissa, I have the tinkle king in my house...maybe they will get married one day and make us tinkle princes/princesses LOL He takes his diaper off and does more than tinkle on the floor sometimes and usually not just in one neat pile I keep pants on him, but he slips it down the leg hole, little booger.

I did good tonight. Hubby was a sweetie and told MIL behind my back that I am not eating red meat anymore, so she had a turkey burger all set for me. That works for now, but as of Sept. even that will not work for me. I'll be prepared and take my own veggie burgers though, so it will work out. She didn't make salad, which I was really wanting more of. I had the turkey burger with half slice of cheese, mustard, fresh tomato, pickles, and just a bit of slaw to top it off. I also had a few potato chips, but it was that or cookies and pie. Sugar sets me off on a binge, chips don't, so I went with the chips. When I really wanted a cookie I had another little plate of chips and that worked out well. Had I eaten the cookie I would still be eating right now, sugar just triggers that for me.

I came home and di 4 miles on the gazelle and WATP 4 miles and reached my goal of 8 miles. I really wanted to do that because it finished up milestone 3 on my virtual walk and I really wanted to start on 4 tomorrow. That's a short one and if I stay on track will only take me until Tues. to finish, then 5 will take like 2 weeks *sigh* I will be so proud when I get through it.

That's it for tonight...hopefully I can fall asleep now, having an insomniac night and morning will be a struggle.

Theresa

Hi all! Sounds like everyone is doing good this weekend! I think I've done okay, but I am not weighing in the morning(my usual day)TOM came today-10 days late! I feel very BLOATED and heavy
Melissa-I wish I lived closer, I would come over and give you a break! I just saw that you live in Everett, my daughter lives there! We were going to try to come up there on hubby's next days off, but I think we might have finally found a house!! So we will be moving instead The girls start school here on the 29th, so I don't know if we'll make it up any time soon I'm bummed we won't be up, but we have been looking for a house all summer!! We will have to get together when I come up!!
SuzyMc-No gain is GOOD!!
KayElle-I hope things smooth out with your MIL! It's wrong for her to put your kids in the middle and hopefully she will realize that soon!
Theresa-I'm pretty sure I could live without red meat, but I gotta have my chicken! I think I might try just no red meat, and I'm also going to try to cut out white flour/bread and sugar-slowly! I wish I could get the kids off of it all too! I would rather let them have some, than deal with the headaches THEY would cause me!!! We already do a lot more fruit than sugary stuff, so it's not too bad.
Everyones idea's about fair food have been great! Subway is definitely where I'm going before the fair! 6 inch veggie is my fav!!
Hope you all have a great, healthy week!!
Kathy

hey everyone, it's great to see that everyone is sticking with it. for me, the scale was up a pound today, but that was right after my anniversary dinner, including some fried ice cream ha ha, isn't ice cream bad enough, do they have to batter and fry it? but the meal was sushi which i split with dh, so not bad overall.
kayelle, what is it with mils recently? mine has been totally loco and causing so much chaos in the family that i swore up and down to dh i would have nothing to do with her in the future. i hope things work out with yours, but i think in my case, it's a lost cause.

Okay 6:20 AM and I am awake *yawn* really, I am, I swear *yawn*

This is day one of hardcore mommy-gotta-be-on-time schedule and I am hating it already. My little girl starts preK in two weeks and she will have to be there at 8AM. No biggie to most people, but we are night owls and need practice. I got up at 6, checked some email, and did WATP 1 mile...that is a nice wake up, I feel better after doing it, even though my legs are like dragging tree stumps in the morning.

Cadwell, don't worry about the fried ice cream, just get on with it and you will do fine. Give yourself an extra dash of exercise if you feel like it, but otherwise just push it behind you.

Mel, kickboxing! Please tell me how this goes and if it does get any easier. I bought several kickboxing tapes years ago and couldn't do them, they just left me exhausted on the floor and I never even made it through the beginner tapes. The Kathy Smith and Boxout weren't so bad, it was the Tae Bo that I just couldn't do...especially the kicks! Let me know how it goes and maybe you'll inspire me to drag out the old tapes and try again.

Kathy, chicken will be hardest for me as well. Hamburger is not hard at all, it makes me feel puky, and I have never liked steak to begin with. Just getting off the red meat, I have felt so much better every day. I'm wondering if I couldn't keep chicken and still have the same healthy glow. We'll see how good i feel at the end of this month, then see how hard it is to quit chicken again next month and I'll decide. But really, I did it for 7 years and never missed any of it so hopefully I can get there again.

Theresa

Hello All
Today starts a 3rd week for me and I've actually stayed op almost every minute. That is such a change for me cause usually I try to bend the program and basically fool myself. Fitday.com is a great tool for someone like me who opens the fridge 100 times a day. I've got to enter everything honestly so it keeps me in line and op. I don't remember who did the post about Fitday, but whoever it was, thanks so much.
Laura

Well good morning everyone! I will have to check out that fitday.com site. Haven't been there yet. I am going to try and get a walk in today. I am still up a pound from my fiasco and would at least like to be down 1 lb for the week. Feel for you theresa-I remember when I had to have josh ready for the bus at 815a and it was soooo hard. It wasn't because he wasn't up, but at that time, I had to do all his dressing and things still and that was in between all his running around. I was ready for a nap by the time I got him off to school. Not sure what his schedule will be like for this year-he is going to a new school and thankfully it is closer to home. I know one of the things that is keeping me OP is all of you. It is so nice to see others going through what I go through and I feel accountable to you all. I will definately try and get to visit that site today. Can't have too many tools in the arsenal.
melissa

Thanks everyone for the MIL advice. I am feeling some better today. I don't know why I let it bother me so much. My daughter didn't seem to be bothered by it and it certainly wasn't a surprise that they didn't show up. In this case it's not a matter of her feeling left out when we went on vacation....it's all an issue of control and she had made plans for my husband to help them work on a house over the 4th of July holiday. They didn't tell him until a week before and then she was upset because he went ahead and went on vacation with us instead of changing his plans. My son had a full time job for the summer and that was the only week that my husband and my son could both get a week off at the same time. It seems like such a silly thing to be upset over, but MIL is so angry about it that she turned away and acted like she didn't see my husband in the grocery store the other day. My husband and I are both kind of feeling like the fair yesterday was the last straw and we are finished with trying to please her. His whole family situation is so different from mine that I will never get used to it anyway. Sometimes I really have to wonder how he turned out so great.

Had to laugh about the "tinkle queen"...I remember what that was like but it was a looong time ago. Now the only "tinkler" I have to worry about is the dog. He is really a good dog but there are days when I just shake my head. I have cats so I litter trained him when he was a puppy. That would be fine except that, being a boy, his aim isn't always so good. I think a girl dog would be better for litter training...but this little guy is part of the family now so it's like cleaning up after a child.

I also don't eat red meat and haven't for about 8 years now. I still love poultry and fish but I just can't eat beef or pork anymore. I take a lot of teasing about it from my family because I grew up on a cattle & hog farm. My husband and I have actually talked about getting a few calves to raise and sell but he knows I'll get too attached to them and they'll end up being pets like everything else around here. Anyone else tried either Boca Burgers or Gardenburgers? I love them...that's what I always have when everyone else has burgers. I think they're great grilled.

The scale has just been moving soooo sloooow for me lately even though I know I haven't screwed up. I am still noticing changes in the way my clothes fit so I'm not too concerned about it yet. I just would like to see those numbers start to go down faster again. I know the weight will all come off eventually if I keep doing what I'm doing, but I get so impatient.

Great job everybody for sticking with your eating plans and exercising. We are going to have another hot day here but I'm not stressed at all about having to exercise indoors today. I think I better go get started. My sister is bringing her little ones over this afternoon so I want to be done when they get here and then I can get some more exercise chasing after her two year old. That little girl is just busy, busy, busy! I know I will be tired tonight!

Boca and Gardenburgers are yummy!!! I used to have a recipe for chickpea burgers that were even better, tasted a bit more like turkey actually. I'll have to try and dig it out, I know it was mashed chickpeas and oats, can't remember what else was in there, it's been years. Oh, and the soy chicken nuggets....breaded and high in fat, but they are good too.

I havent't had meat or chicken for about 8 years. My husband does tho and it makes preparing meals hard cause he wants it. So basically I make veggies and fish and pasta and I will make a chicken for him sometimes (I wear rubber gloves), and he can grill a burger or steak whenever. I can't even watch him eat the miserable bloody steak. When my kids are around I do make pot roast, cause they love it.
The worse time is going to a restaurant with my meateating friends and they order huge slabs of almost still alive meat and they eat it. So I guess I'm not a vegetarian for good moral reasons, mostly just cause it repulses me. Raising 4 kids I must have made a million burgers, and chicken and roasts. I just can't look at in anymore.
I hope I haven't offfended any meat lovers.
My second son didn't eat meat or chicken for about 10 years. Then he met a girl carnivore and they biked across the US and now he eats meat again cause he says it's the only way he can get enough calories for the strenuous riding they do. I think he likes it too. My other kids all eat meat too, but my oldest grandson has always refused, since he was very little, it has repulsed him. His miserable mother, my ex DIL, makes him stay at the table until he finishes whatever she serves even if it's steak. (My son is now in the court process to get sole custody but that's a whole other topic)
Laura

Ugh that is terrible to do for kids-regardless of what it is. In the nutrition class I took in college, that was one of the things they said never to do cause it can cause all kinds of problems psychologically. I can remember going through that growing up. Sitting there until I finished my dinner. One time I sat for like 4 hours I think. I just didn't want to eat it for whatever reason. Guess you could say I was a stubborn kid. I always ask my kids to 'try' it but never make them eat it or clean their plates cause there are starving kids in India-that was a famous line when I was growing up-or it might have been china. I still sometimes battle that-I am full but there is still food on my plate so I feel like I have to finish it. I am getting better but it is still hard sometimes.
melissa

Hi everyone!

I have been AWOL for a couple days as it was CRAZED around my house this weekend..Oldest daughter has a job... that is a big load off my mind, it pays well (for around here) is full time and has benefits and training too. so she is doing ok. We are even kinda getting along..wanted to kick her Saturday as she cleaned out her room and what she didn't want just left in piles in the room and in the living room.. I figured not to push things and cleaned it up with help from dad, but it took me 5 hours to organize and pack up and toss out. Then I had other house work to do.
Then I get a call from work Sat afternoon and the music disk for printing died.. computer ate it - spent 4 hours there and didn't get home till 7- so hubby bought BBQ.. and I wasn't real good but I wan't too bad either as I passed up the mayo based foods and Garlic bread but I had BBQ pulled pork and salad.. I figure with all the work at home cleaning Sat and Sunday I wasn't too bad and maybe burned a few calories

Today was the first day of school YAY! They are back in school YAY! and except for the insane rush of getting kids in the car and taking them to the school -things went very well,but the first 2 weeks is always a nightmare -Traffic is unreal, They have to sign up a month at a time for lunches and picking and choosing what days they wanted lunch took a while.
Laura and Melissa- I agree with you about the clean your plate issue. I can remember sitting there for hours sometimes because I wouldn't eat something I thought was yucky, didn't want or just wasn't hungry.. and then the times where I got if you don't eat everything or eat that you'll hurt someone's feelings as aunt, grandma, cousin made that chocolate cake,cookies,brownies fried chicken special for you. I am getting better but I have to stop and think what I am eating and why I am eating..
Sorry for going on so long..
I am so happy everyone is making such great strides!
Thank you for the support!
Sandi