WOW! Everyone is doing so good! This is such a great, supportive group!
Curly, Chaps, Mez, Emma, JeanMarie-Great job ladies! Keep it up!
Tina & AppleBloosom-Good luck in your new challenges!
Carla49- Doing the Happy Dance for you being in Onederland!!! I haven't seen that in at least 15 years, maybe more! Can't wait to see it again!
Red-Sending you <<<<more work>>>> vibes! Hope you keep as busy as you want to be!
Day 6 done, onto day 7 for drinking my water and exercise. Onto day 2 of no soda. I did end up going to the store with hubby last night but I bought an orange juice instead of soda-YEAH for me!!! I have already planned to take a large container of ice water and a large container of iced tea to the races and to the fair so I will not be tempted by soda, so I should do pretty good.
Well, kids are out of school today so I have to go find them some work to do since they seem to be so bored!!
lol i think they must put something habit forming in the soda... cuz i bet i drank up to 8 diet sodas day and now after 1 1/2 rounds of this challenge i have no desire for soda
Okay, I actually made it through a late night out with NO flour and NO sugar and that is hard when you have a few beers in you and are hungry and stumble into (was it just a few beers ) the convenience store looking for something to eat. But I did got some nuts and that was taken care of! Hurrah for me! So, it's on to Day 8 and I have a big bunch of grapes waiting for me at work! Yum!
curly -- You're just amazing with having cut out soda so well. Really fantastic. I hope you'll serve as an inspiration for others looking to give up the habit. I am so glad I never got into soda, hated it as a kid, absolutely refused to touch the stuff and I think in my entire life I've probably had only about a glass of it, and those were in Germany mixed with cognac and dark beer! Tastes like prune juice and knocks you flat! Really, seeing how soda is a habit for so many people, I am really glad I never got into it. Good luck on your last week of the challenge! Oh, and great about all those walks you're planning on being on. How wonderful to be helping others while you're helping yourself. And congrats on the non-rubbing thighs! Sounds like you are really getting into shape!
fancyfrog -- on your twin challenge success! That no-soda part sounds like a toughie for you but you are demonstrating real resolve with the planning. And that save! Wow! Great going! I am thrilled to hear you are going to the races (horse? car?) armed with ice water and tea and planning to beat the pull of the soda!
Apple -- Glad to see you over here! Good luck and I hope the challenge works for you. Make it work for you!!
justkeepswimming -- I'm sooo glad to see you back. And yes, starting over is something to be proud of...when the alternative would be giving up and that's the only true failure is giving up. Think of a baby learning to walk. Up and down, up and down, but always just getting up again without much if any thought. It's just something it does...keep at it!! You will get through your days doing what is needed to meet your challenge. But, what exactly is your challenge for the 21 days? Remember, like I just mentioned to someone else, we have to do something here EVERY day, so is it the replacing regular soda with diet and drinking more water? Make the exercise part one of your bonus goals or change it to, say, do, some sort of exercise every day. Don't get too complicated again.
Chaps -- Congratulations on getting through Day 7! Abs of steel, you! Good luck with your recording session. Sounds exciting!
mez -- You will get through the weekend OK!! I know you can do it and I am rooting for you!
gray -- Thanks for the encouragement. Yes, I DO have to push myself through. Really, I've got my head in the sand saying I hate counting calories. I'm going to have to count or at least realize how much food is going into my mouth if I want to be able to measure and see results. Otherwise, it's just the same old thing day in, day out. Like you, I think our bodies program our minds and mouths to get the same amount of calories in to maintain the weight we're at. Our bodies really fear losing fat. It's our survival, after all. Let's push through that survival mechanism and make our bodies realize it'd be better to be light and fleet of foot!
lol to those of you who have started over a few times.. just wanted to say that in the begining... there was a few weeks that RED and I re-started so many times we were having trouble trying to figure out what day we were on... and just this last challenge I had to re-start!
the GREAT thing is that u did re-start!!! and didnt give up!!!
I restarted too. I don't think there's anyone in this thread who hasn't had to, is there? It's just a fact of weight loss, I think. Two steps forward, one step back, ten pounds off, one back on, etc. Just keep at it - the only way to guarantee that you won't lose weight is if you give up.
Chaps, well done getting through day 7!
mez, thanks for the encouragement. On the one hand, I suspect that when my plateau ends I'll lose a bunch, just like I did last time (at 222). I am pretty annoyed that I seem to be stuck again, but I know from my many attempts at weight loss in the past few years that my body fights weight loss like crazy. I had gotten so heavy that I lost really fast at first this time, but now I'm back to what's normal for me. My body likes to hold onto its fat.
justkeepswimming, I love your username, btw. I think your new challenge is very doable, and will make a big difference. A can of regular soda has at least 100 calories - removing 100 calories a day, if you make NO other changes, will still take off 10 or more pounds in a year. That's a very good change to make, IMO.
Apple Blossom, glad to see you here again. Sorry to hear you are having trouble staying motivated. Is there anything we can do to help?
curlylocks, you're past the halfway point - way to go!
Carla, I missed that you got down to 199. Congratulations, that's wonderful!!
fancyfrog, I didn't realize you were doing a no soda challenge, too. That's half of mine, and it was SO hard at first but now I'm feeling really good. Keep it up.
way to go, Red, surviving a tipsy trip to the convenience store and coming out with challenge intact. You should be proud of that. I hear you on the clinging to fat survival mechanism. My body is awfully stubborn about it. I think calorie counting makes a huge difference. It is so easy to just not even think about what you're putting into your mouth. When you force yourself to stop and think about how many calories it is and what effect the snack will have on your diet and calories, it makes resisting easier.
Day 10 done! I got in a short workout today, too, beyond my walking between classes which is a workout all by itself. My classes are pretty far apart, so in the time I have between them I'm walking pretty fast, lugging a bookbag along with me. It sure feels like a workout to me, so I'm counting that as minutes of exercise.
I just want to say THANKS!!! I was walking a thin line today and almost went over my points and NO workout! Then I thought of you guys giving it your BEST and how you deserve better, your encouagment isn't going to waste!! I WON got in 45 of WATP ish workout so 3 miles. Plus I stayed in my points!! Happy Happy Joy Joy ! I owe it all you guys! I know I say that in about every post but it's the HONEST TRUTH! You KEEP me GOING!!! Day 5 A SUCESS!!!
gray eyed girl - Oh do I hear you on ones body holding on to fat!! I wanted to be under 200 by the 10th of this month! I have a wedding to go to. My sister in law's are skinny and LOVE to brag about it! They talk about how hard there @ss is and they do 200 crunches everyday, walk 5 miles everyday, bla bla bla bla blaaaaaaaaaa it wouldn't be so bad if they NICE but they say it because I'm heavy and it all started when I gain and kept the weight from my 1st child. Then the second ... They got back into their size 5 jeans shortly after giving birth. Sorry but I'm so not ready to hear them. I went shopping for clothes today and I can't find a thing that looks good on me. I could just cry! (maybe that is why I wanted to over eat..)
Red - awsome job on dodging that sugar and flour! You know when I was on SB P1 I had nuts for my snacks. I was surprised how well it HIT the SPOT!! I can say that on SBD P1 I NEVER GOT HUNGRY!! If anything I had to make sure I ate. Now that I've added carbs back I'm hungry! lol guess you can't have everything! You have been talking about grapes the last couple post and I picked some up today and they were YUMMY!!! My 1st fruit in a long time!
curlylocks - LOL Oh I know how you feel about that Pop (I'm from Iowa )
When I 1st tried diet A&W rootbeer one would of thought it was no longer going to be made. hehe Your doing great!!
fancyfrog - I know your going to do great! You have a plan of action! I haven't been to a fair in along time. Congrats on another sucessful day!!
justkeepswimming - I had to restart and you know I'm glad I did it made me rethink what I was doing! Your going to do great! P.S. I also like your name.
Hi all, just a very short note. Today has been a rest day. I wasn't sure how it would go, but in fact it wasn't the funeral that did me in, it was having friends staying with me who I no longer feel comfortable with. One of my best friends from my thirties, and I've been feeling tense with her for 6 years since she told me with great pride she was having an affair with her neigbour. I had a sudden shock back then, realizing how different our values were. I did tell her how I felt, and we spent almost no time together for a while, but that fell by the board when she almost died of West Nile. And now I try, but it's not there, even tho she is a very good and loving friend to me. Also her husband is ancient - he was someone else's husband when she got him, 24 years age difference, and now he's doddering. I do like him, but he is so SLOW moving it drives me crazy. So I'm having a quiet vent while they snooze in their separate rooms, before I go to sleep, on my sad little cot.
All of this to say that today is my first day off. I've drunk lots of yummy wine, and may drink some more. So, Red, I guess I am a lush after all. Tomorrow, once this contingent has left, I'm expected at a colleague/friend's cottage two hours drive from here, where I may feel compelled to have my second day off. What can I say, they're French-Canadians, and we all know they like to drink. ***** No need to send me comments about my anti-Québecois racism. It was a joke, which my lovely hosts would laugh at.****
Anyway, I made it to day 10. Today would have been 11, but it wasn't.
Red, doesn't beer count as sugar???? Ha-ha. I didn't realize you were a petite, only 5'. I'm sure it makes it tough, but it also explains how you can live in Japan without feeling humongous. I don't want to spend a lot of time anywhere where I have the biggest feet in the room.
Today I was still in Onederland on my lovely WW scale. But this time I won't change my ticker until Monday, especially since there's more company coming, and a visit to the rather difficult stepmother, so... Since I'm a lush, I'll probably use the grape to help get thru the birthday visit.
Well, it was a little tough. Yearning for sugar (or sleep, more likely) but I got through. Hurrah! Tomorrow is Day 9.
carla -- You lush, you!! Loved your little rant there. Hope you fared the night well on your "sad little cot." You can still stay on board if you use your second day off and then go straight from then on out. What do you think? Or are you going to start over again? Well, I'm a quarter French and I wasn't insulted by your jokes, so don't worry! (which I know you weren't..) So, congrats on Day 10 down. See when you pick up at 11 or back to 1. This is the big question! Beer, sugar? Nah! Beer is like milk, mother's milk or something like that. I'm not a masochist, carla, there are challenges and there is torture... leave me my beer...luckily I don't drink alone...I've got my cats. No, really, it's a big socializing thing here, so much work is done in the Japanese-style pubs and..oh, yeah, whatever...better shut up while I can. As for being petite, well, the big foot comment kinda hit home. I DO have big feet (a sign of beauty in ancient Greece). I also have a big head and a big hands. God, I sound like some kind of ET here or something, some freaky-looking thing like I used to draw in kindergarten. Sigh. No, seriously, I guess I take like a size 9 American shoe, not sure anymore, it's a 25.5 cm or a 26 cm here and the biggest size they make for women is 24.5! So, I have to wait to get something in the States or wear guy's shoes. As for being short, the Japanese are getting taller and taller. Still, the bones are just so different here. Girls are built like sparrows, really. Amazing to me. I'm like a little draft pony, while they're praying mantises or whippet dogs. Well, good luck there and I hope you can stand your guests a little better!
mez -- !! You are a grateful one, aren't you? So sweet really! The credit really goes to YOU though, you know! Great going there! Day 5 in the bag! Yowzah!! And, just ignore those hard-assed sorry sister-in-laws of yours. You've got something they don't and probably never will. You've got a heart so big it would just bust any size jeans, even a 20 or so, let alone a 5. No crying here, you hear me?! You just get out there and do your thing. It's not your fault the clothes our there don't look good on you. Crap designers, I'd say. Well, I just finished some watermelon. Glad to hear my fruit passion is catching! Keep up the good work, okay?
gray -- on Day 10!! And that workout, too. Yes, workouts aren't just done in the gym. I forget this too and don't just move enough normally. Binge exercising, I guess you could call it. Need to be more of a go, go, go type! Well, hang in there. You'll be off that plateau sooner than you know it!
Well, I'm feeling a little "tired" this morning, but the guests have gone and life is returning to normal. My sad cot was actually quite comfortable, and i should admit that I was the one who insisted on sleeping in the living room, since I didn't want them bothered by the cats at 5am. In any case, I have a reprieve in that I could stay home today if I really wanted to. Instead I'll head out this afternoon after a little rest, arriving for dinnertime, and start back after breakfast tomorrow. It's a 2 hour drive.
I was able to reach my New Orleans friend this morning. He and his wife are fine, they did stay for the hurricane, and their only damage was a blown out skylight in the kitchen. In fact they only left because there was no power. He said the morning they left, they had hot showers, cooked breakfast... So they're happily ensconced in Memphis. It seems the French Quarter, as I thought, sustained very little damage. I don't know if they've been water-damaged or looted since, and maybe they don't know either. A happy story from a very unhappy situation. (They didn't know about the other friend, but assumed he was okay and had evacuated after the storm. He has no cellphone, so until he picks up his emails... He may be hunkered down in his Deli, trying to protect it from looters, but I hope not.)
No other messages for now, I think it's time for a restorative siesta. I won't know if today is Day 11 or second rest day, I'll find out tonight. . But I'm still in onederland for now - maybe it'll stick!
Good morning, all. Still dark outside but I'm up and getting the coffee in me to wake up. Before 5 still. This will be my Day 9. Getting to halfway and still have two pause days left. Found some whole grain flatbread yesterday and enjoyed that. Oh, I can sure get the calories in. But, this is a good thing though, I think. My challenge is not about losing weight and I have to remember that. The weight loss will have to be a separate thing and even though I'm not losing weight, I'm also not really trying to and need to remember that, otherwise I think of myself as a failure when I'm not at all. I'm just not wanting to merely lose weight anymore, by starving myself or eating junk. I have done that before. The idea is to be lean AND healthy. More and more, not eating empty calories is becoming so ingrained in me, I think I eventually will be able to limit the calories as well and not eat junk to compensate for my feeling "deprived." This is the ultimate goal, to eat only healthful foods AND limit my calories to a level where I can stay lean even at this height! It really is tough being short with a huge appetite.
carla -- I'm so glad to hear your friends are okay. I hope the one who owns the deli is as well. The friend who stayed will have some story to tell, eh? I never was in New Orleans, had been thinking I wanted to go there. Now, I wonder if things will get right and how many years it will take. Wow. Those poor people. Well carla, I am very happy to hear your weight is staying low. Stay off the scale for a while. This is a rough time for you and since you've gotten under 200 then just enjoy it for awhile, even if the numbers go up again, just because that's what weight does, even if you really haven't gained fat. Well, good luck, and I hope you get another challenge day in and save your rest day. It'll make it easier for you later.
gray -- Great balls of fire!! You have moved!! Congratulations!! The plateau is behind you. Hurrah! Hurrah!!
Last edited by redballoon; 09-03-2005 at 03:52 PM.
Thank you so much for the help in phoning my friend. I have now had 2 e-mails from her. This one read:
"An extrordinary phone call!!!
Yesterday I got called to the phone and there heard a voice I didn't know.
She explained to me about your wanting to get hold of me and how she was
helping. You do manage to get around the internet, don't you?
Thank you for your care. It makes me feel very lucky to have such a wonderful friend.
I am getting David to send these off for me every so often now, so I can keep in touch with everyone."
I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your help. It is an amazing place we have here with all the support and help we can get from every part of the globe and from people we have never met.
Good luck with your 21 day challenge, I hope you all make those goals. Remember failure is not the number of times you fall off the plan or lose sight of the goals, failure comes when you don't pick yourself up, pull yourself together and try again.
I may come back to join in the challenge myself one of these days - when I get the motivation back. In the meantime I am concentrating on maintaining what I have and not going back to where I was.
I'm glad to hear about those who made it through the hurricane safely. My heart goes out to those who lost everything. It is a very sad situation down there and I wish there was more I could do besides send money, but we're just too far away. I went there once, for the SuperBowl. It's a beautiful place, full of culture and history. I hope it can be saved.
I don't like hearing comparisons between Katrina and 9/11. They are totally different. I don't think they CAN be compared.
ANYWAY. I totally forgot to step last night. So I did it this morning and if I remember to do it again tonight I'll consider it 2 days, if not, today will be day one. I also took a walk today, something I haven't done in a long time. Hooray for me! I might even be so bold as to set a weight loss goal for Sept, but I'll see in a few more days. Happy Week-end everyone!
PS-Carla and Red.... I'm with you about the wine and beer. Sometimes it's a necessary (yummy) evil.
Last edited by Apple Blossom; 09-03-2005 at 06:14 PM.
lol i think they must put something habit forming in the soda... cuz i bet i drank up to 8 diet sodas day and now after 1 1/2 rounds of this challenge i have no desire for soda
OH I SO AGREE!! I could drink one after the other! I quit for 2 weeks last year-not as a challenge, just to quit. I know I can do it again. Day 3 is done and I have been drinking SO MUCH water that I haven't been thirsty for anything else. I think my biggest problem is when the weather starts getting cooler I don't want to drink as much water, then I get the craving for soda. I don't know why, soda is just as cold as water
I'm also done with days 7 and 8 for the water/exercise!
Well, I gotta jet! Hope everyone has a happy, healthy night/day!
Everyone is doing so good! This is such a great, supportive group! 
Doing the Happy 
Dance for you being in Onederland!!! I haven't seen that in at least 15 years, maybe more! Can't wait to see it again!
I've got a date with 8!!!
) the convenience store looking for something to eat. But I did got some nuts and that was taken care of! Hurrah for me! So, it's on to Day 8 and I have a big bunch of grapes waiting for me at work! Yum! 
Really, seeing how soda is a habit for so many people, I am really glad I never got into it. Good luck on your last week of the challenge! Oh, and great about all those walks you're planning on being on. How wonderful to be helping others while you're helping yourself. And congrats on the non-rubbing thighs! Sounds like you are really getting into shape! 
I am thrilled to hear you are going to the races (horse? car?) armed with ice water and tea and planning to beat the pull of the soda! 
Good luck and I hope the challenge works for you. 
Make it work for you!! 
Loved your little rant there. Hope you fared the night well on your "sad little cot." 
You just get out there and do your thing. It's not your fault the clothes our there don't look good on you. Crap designers, I'd say. 
. But I'm still in onederland for now - maybe it'll stick!
starting out on Day 9 here....
Great balls of fire!! You have moved!! Congratulations!! The plateau is behind you. Hurrah! Hurrah!! 
I'm with you about the wine and beer. Sometimes it's a necessary (yummy) evil. 
