[redballoon]

* * * * * * *

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all.

Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach.

Check your road and the nature of your battle.

The world you desired can be won.

It exists,

it is real,

it is possible,

it is YOURS."

(Ayn Rand)

* * * * * * *

[redballoon]

.... the way I feel. Come back, come back, my red balloon.....

[happy2bme]

Awww Red. That's pretty forlorn there. I just read a few posts back and you look in need of a good cheerleader of your own. Stop poking that "fat" you see on your body. You are stimulating it to hang around, just as if some pesky person has decided YOU are their new best friend.

I need to send you some fat calipers. Bet they'd read - umm umm nothing to be found on this chick.

I think you need the 21 days be good to myself, say nice things to me spiritual renewal challenge. Stop getting down on yourself girl, you are very inspirational to so many of us.

You'd better listen to me because I'm going to be lurking on you girl!

To the rest of you, be strong and excuse my interuption

[FishWoman]

Yesterday was day 8 (total calories were 1217). I am trying to be so good this week, because I know Saturday will be a pause day (we are going to a friend's wedding). I am also not drinking again this week until saturday. and i think after that, I am going to try to squeeze in a 21-day acohol challenge between the 1st and thanksgiving.

Carla - I understand how you could find fitday annoying. I love it though! My list of custom foods is pretty big. I have to track my calories because otherwise I will pick and eat all day long. Never a lot at one time, but in and out of the kitchen 20 times until i have eaten a jillion (yes, a jillion!) calories.

It quit raining here! Now it is just cold! and I forgot (again) to pull my gloves out of storage. I hope everyone is having a great day!

[friendsforfitness]

Hi everyone,
I have to restart my challenge, my computer got a virus and that's why I haven't been on. I'm at work and don't have much time as usual. We got hit with the hurricane and ended up just fine. Preparing for the hurricane, the hurricane and the after mess is probably what got me side tracked and caused me to miss a couple of days of exercising. I will restart my challenge when my computer gets fixed. In the meantime I will still try to get back on that Gazelle. I hope everyone is doing great.

Lisa

[Apple Blossom]

Hello. I haven't posted for a couple of days. My son is tall enough to reach the space bar and that makes it difficult to type so he is currently pre- occupied.....
RED!! You sound like you are doing better. I think happy2 has a great idea with the pampering challenge. I might steal that idea for myself. And you could do it along with a weight loss thing, since it doesn't have to be anything to do with food. I know exactly how you feel with your frustrations. I just made that desperate plea for help myself a few days before you did. I'm a lot better, I am eating a bit more like a normal person and chipping away at my to-do list. I am still moving along with my challenge (over the caffine hump) but i'm not sure what day I'm on. I think 6.
I'm a big fit day fan too. It's a little time consuming, but I especially like the pie chart of protien/carb/fat. I have trouble getting enough protien, since I'm a veggie Lately I've been throwing tofu into everything.
And I don't weigh or measure anything. I think my estimations are pretty accurate and I try to err on the high side.
I hope everyone else is doing well. I'm going to try real hard to do more cheerleading Even if it means posting twice a day! See ya later!

[mezmerize]

I’m back. My modem got fried and it took the internet company FOREVER to come replace it!!! I made sure they won’t charge me for the days it was down. I was going to go out and buy my own but DH was being cheap!! GRRRRR I missed you guys!!
I’ve not restarted my challenge for a couple reasons. I want to plan more and I’m honestly thinking what is MOST important to me! So time to get serious and think!

Apple – Thanks so much on the ideas of stashing my vitamins.

Red – I’m sorry that work it ****. I’m sure that doesn’t make your challenge easier. But you’re a strong woman, caring woman that saves crickets! Don’t be down on yourself and please if you do decide to take a break come back and post. Please! Please! Red geez I wish I had been online. I’m terrible with words but would of did my best to cheer you up. I happy2bme has a wonderful idea for a challenge!! I know talking to myself in the mirror has helped me get by the days when I’m down. How much better to do something a little extra nice for oneself each and everyday! It just breaths SUNSHINE!!! Red I’m going to plan plan PLAN then restart my challenge and one thing is to going include being good to myself. I know it’s not going to cost much or even anything at all but I truly thing that things need to change. Are you already on a new challenge? If not then I’ll start with you and be there EVERYDAY to get you pass that evil hump your on!! If you’ve already started then I’ll start today!

Fish – LMAO @ Marble - You should have told your doctor that he gained a lot of rude.

[crd43123]

Hello everyone. I am going to try this challenge again. Tommorrow will be day 1. Hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to say hello. Am at work and don't have much time.

[redballoon]

Hi, guys, Thursday morning here. A rainy morning that I'm hoping will turn into a clear or cloudy afternoon so I can get out to my horse. Actually, I will get out to her rain or shine but it would be good if I could ride too. I think I have come down with a chest cold and that was what was pulling me down. I get asthma and have a hard time breathing because my lungs are congested. But I took some medicine and was able to get some sleep last night. I didn't realize how exhausted I was. Well, I did...but I had to keep going. Thanks for your kind words. I am determined again, as you can tell from my Ayn Rand poem (whenever I post that you can tell that my anger at impending defeat is making me reach down real, real deep!) I absolutely love that poem. It is so me (at my best that is.)

happy -- Thanks for coming in. I sure wish you'd hang out here, but I know you're busy with your other thread. Your fat calipers and fat poking made me laugh, even though there IS fat on me, quite a bit. You must remember that I am a shrimp height-wise. And, because I ride horses and my own horse is small, I need to get thin for a number of reasons, not just aesthetics, but also to spare her back and legs. Look at some of these other people on here, if I weighed as little as they do, I'd be a true stick. I know what you're saying about not being down on myself but I'm not really. I'm down about life and all the crap balls it's throwing me. I am very, very good to myself except when the lack of support from my life just makes me break because there's only so much good cheering can do when you're down 10-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Speaking of which, look at your White Sox go!! "...longest game in World Series history, eh?! Anyhow, what often passes for "being nice to yourself" is the easy stuff, the indulging stuff, "allowing myself" sweets and junk and that's really the opposite of being good to myself. The real good stuff takes work. I suppose I should not think of the time and preparation involved in good meals as work (even though it is) and realize that that is the only way to truly be good to myself. Well, thanks for stopping in and I hope you do lurk and come in to say heh more often! You're a true sweetie.

Fish -- You're going strong. Keep it up!

friends -- Welcome back. Hurricanes do have a way of messing things up in people's lives. You hang in there and you'll be back on track in no time!

Apple -- You'll have to build a ledge out under your keyboard to keep your son away, like one of the Princess Anne collars you put on a dog or cat to keep 'em from getting to a bandage or something. It sounds like you're feeling better too, which I'm glad to see. Yes, the pampering sounds all well and good but I am alone and really, everything I do is for myself. Then again, it's all about work and paying the bills and I have no money so my idea of pampering is just not going to do it. I am actually a very self-indulgent type but I think, as you can read above, my whole idea of pampering has to be reworked. Of course, that means that it's not going to feel like pampering to me. I think that is what is at the root of the problem. I hate doing the things that will in the end be good for me. Kind of a Catch-22, isn't it? Pampering to me means doing the things I want to do, but if things I hate to do stand in the way then....well, it's going to take extra ugly-feeling effort to get there. Isn't that what we're all really doing here? I am definitely not down on myself.... Then again, maybe in a way I am, like being ticked that I want things....I hear, be nice to yourself as meaning give up on the things you want...I should just say, accept the fact that I am a very ambitious (in certain areas) person with high standards and I am not willing to accept less and use that as a pep talk to move me on.

I'm mixed on Fitday. There is really very little I can use there because I don't have a brandname stuff here and there is a lot of things that aren't there at all. That said, I can customize them all and put them in if I have all the nutritional info, so I guess I should take the time to do that sometime. Yes, the pie charts are good. I was surprised at all the fat I was eating when I eat too many nuts. I too am a vegetarian so it's easy to get out of balance unless you're real careful with your eating. Beans are the superfood, beans and brown rice, that is what I should be eating much more of! And being in the land of tofu, I can get fresh stuff from the corner shop where they make it. It is so good! And I can bring a container over there and pick up still-warm soymilk in the early morning. Yum! Thanks for saying you'll try to do more cheerleading. I, for one, really need it, and if people take the time to comment on others' efforts, it really helps. I know there's not always time to support others but I hope more people take the time to do so.

mez -- Glad to see you again. I will forgive you because I see it was your modem that kept you from us. Well, I hope you do some fast thinking, because I'm going to start up again on my challenge. I mean, I was really always on Day 1 and just kept restarting...put it that way. So, what I'm saying is, I'm still on Day 1 but I'm aiming to see Day 2 tomorrow! I am changing my challenge and taking off alcohol. I don't drink that much and never drink alone so it doesn't seem right to turn down socializing, which is much-needed in my life, for the sake of a challenge. And, I am going to add something that I had always done on my own that worked for me...it's a calorie count where I give myself extra calories for added exercise. I maintain a base of 1500 calories and then add on allowances for exercise and the calories I say I have expended for the exercise is surely on the low side, so I'll still be losing. I realized that I immediately try to take it easy if I count calories and don't get the exercise in. However, if I don't count calories and just say I'm going to exercise, I overeat and so the end result in either case is that I don't lose weight. I am going to accept the fact that I will feel hungry at times but never voraciously hungry. This is not about maintenance this time. It's about losing weight, but doing it in a healthful way. So, my challenge is no sugar, no white flour, no deep-fried foods, write a food and exercise journal, count calories and tally calories expended for the exercise. I am allowing the other foods back in that I had taken out last time, nuts and cheese, but really must watch that I don't go overboard on them. Also, I am not counting calories for vegetables or fruit because I don't get enough of them and want it to be a psychological "freebie" for me to eat them, reach for them, have visions of them dancing in my head.....

Ok, mez, a "strong, caring woman who saves crickets" sounds like something from a Stephen King novel. I think of Rose Madder and see this woman going home to a roomful of crickets swarming over all these body parts...and okay, stop me! I know what you're saying. You're sweet. Thank you. I'm kind of tired of being the strong woman though, you knokw? I hear that all the time and all it seems to get me is that people think I don't need any support, any compliments, any encouragement. I need help and work and everything just as much as others, but it seems the ones who are good at acting weak and incapable of taking care of themselves are the ones who get all the help and things just become all the worse for me. I have learned though to say I can't do things when of course I could because I know it only leads to the "give 'em a finger, they take the whole hand" scenario. I think though, that because I realize how hard things are for successful people and I am always ready with a sympathetic ear or word, I have a lot of these types around me in my life. I know what "it's lonely at the top" means. And I'm not talking about myself here! Just the people around me. Of course, if I had their money I wouldn't care if I was lonely I think.... Well, mez, I hope you get your challenge worked out real soon. You can always tweak it as you go along. Just do everything in the beginning until you decide what to continue with!

[redballoon]

Ok, just to make that clear and have it in writing. Today is Day 1 AGAIN of my challenge.

crd -- you see, lots of us start over. You can do it!

gray -- you hanging in there?

[carla49]

Well, Red, it seems we're still feeling a little introspective today. Which in my world calls for THE SONG OF THE DAY!! And of course you need to remember that while I'm not tone deaf, when I start singing people around me blanche, dogs whimper, cats hiss.... Nonetheless, here it is: "Welcome to the Hotel California, It's a lovely place..... da-da, da-da, ... you can check in any time you like, BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE." So don't even try to leave us! Resistance is futile!

I like your new challenge. It sounds a little like a WW Core-type regime, with a few extra hurdles because you're vegetarian. But if you do as you say, you can't help but slim down and give little Thunder's back a rest. (What is her name anyway?) Maybe if the diet doesn't work you could just get a Clydesdale for fat days? The atmosphere is getting a lot more serious on this thread all of a sudden, about time if you ask me. I think we may have gotten a little side-tracked picking tough lifestyle challenges (no booze? ) and forgotten sobriety won't necessarily make us thin. Although in my case it will definitely help.

I realized last night that I could chop a lot of calories - like about 500 a day - just by dropping my new-found coffee habit. I don't REALLY like coffee all that much, but with enough cream and sugar (double-double as we Canadin Tim Horton's fans say) it is more like dessert, and of course when it comes to dessert I'm always prepared to make the supreme sacrifice. So I've been sacrificing several times a day, becoming more and more of a caffeine-head and just PURRING as I lap up all that nice sweet creamy coffee. Of course I won't drop the diet coke and pepsi until I'm ready for withdrawal, and I can have my nice half caf skim latte with splenda sweetener every morning. All in all, that should be good for a pound a week.

Today's step count was around 7000 - at lunch I stayed put instead of shopping. And I'm very stiff from my gazelle/step antics yesterday. By tomorrow I may be totally seized up, but I'M NOT WHINING. In spite of what may be a cold. (Actually, I fell asleep on the couch after dinner and slept for 3 hours. Feeling much better now and may not really have a cold at all...)

As I type the tv is on in the background, and I just realized I missed a report on why educated women aren't as happy in the bedroom. Hmmm. I don't need a study as regards this educated woman: no man/no nooky, tired mattress, snooty cats that want to sleep elsewhere and don't like to be touched, reproachful piles of laundry and untidy this and that.... But I digress.

Now that I've bored you all to sleep, it's time to call it a day for today, Day 2. Maybe a little gazelle if I can drag myself into an upright position... Along with 6 other people I'm in a lottery pool for tonight's $40 Million Can (equivalent in US dollars: about $3.42 ), so if I win I will never again accept a day's work, just work out what I've booked. And I could hire a full-time cook/cleaner/catsitter. Ah, this is the stuff that dreams are made of. (RB, old girl, please correct that too, too approximate quote...)

[redballoon]

Carla -- heh there! Just out the door myself but saw your post pop in and wanted to write a quick reply. Love the song! And yes, you are right about letting sobriety get in the way of a serious outlook on life! We just can't let it happen. Priorities, priorities....

My little mare's name is Heidi. I didn't name her and at one point thought I would change her name, but now I think I won't. She is so, so, gentle and extremely stubborn, but a real hard trier at the same time. Luckily for me, she is already part cold-blooded (as in draft horse). Her daddy was a Haflinger (which is a draft pony breed) and her mama was a Paint, likely a Quarter Horse. So, she is small, large-boned and tough but she does know how to protect herself and can shut down and/or buck you off when things are just too hard to understand, as they often are at my level of riding. She's a great teacher. She is very sensitive though and I can see her getting nervous before a ride...she chews nervously on the chain attached to her halter in the wash rack... there now, you have learned more than you wanted to learn about my Heidi love.

I'll write more later! Ciao!

[carla49]

SOS!! WE HAVE LOST OUR MARBLE!!!

Marble! Paging Marble! Where oh where can our Marbleflys be? Has she defected? Is she hiding out somewhere, challengeless?

Does she (sob) love us no more?

Seriously, though, Marble, let us know what's up!

[mezmerize]

crd43123 – That is what we like to hear keep going!

Red – Geez I don’t know how to put in words what I’m feeling! It really stinks not be able to express ones self clearly! I want you to know I’m so with you tomorrow! I haven’t got everything planned and today would have been my start date but my son held a hot piece of pizza under my nose and said he couldn’t finish it. He had just baked it. (small one) and had eaten something while it was cooking and took a couple bites and was full. ( Oh I wish I stop when I’m full) Anyways the reason he told me was not to tempt me but to be reassured I wasn’t mad for wasting food. Something that was handed down to me about finishing my plate as child and starving children….you all know the story. We’ll I told don’t eat when your full or you’ll end up like me. He said your fine and put it in the kitchen. Well I went in there and was going to put it in the frig and somehow I ended up eating it!!! Mindless eating! I think the stress from the week had gotten to me. Sorry for such a long story here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to start my challenge tomorrow. I’ve not got everything planned but will tweak it as I figure it out. Here’s what I KNOW. 1. Going to exercise at least 10 minutes a day. ( I have some great 10 minute workout dvds. 2. Stay on plan. (WW-may do the Wendy WW Plan)
3. Not weight myself til the END of my challenge. That all for right now. Sorry it took so long for me to say it.

carla49 – You sure can give me abs workouts just reading your post has me LOL so hard and the family is sleeping! no man/no nooky!!!! I wish I had read that when I was eating pizza I would of spit it right out and maybe got hold of my senses!!! I also like that song funny! Should be our theme for this tread!

[Apple Blossom]

Whoa quick reply here...
Drank a beer bad bad but I'm still on the caffine & sit ups. Red-what do you do if you mess up on one facet of your challenge? I see your challenge is really like 10 challenges in one. I feel OK about continuing on with the situps and caffine, and starting over with the beer.
Heidi is a nice name for a horse!! I used to live down the road from a farm that raised clydesdales. They are beautiful. I used to slow down as I drove by to look at the foals-so cute! And these weren't typical Budweiser clydesdales, they are a darker brown, much better looking I think. Did you know there is a (foot)race-entry category called clydesdale? It's for heavier runners. I get a kick out of that title.
Carla-did you watch Aly McBeal when it was on? She had a theme song. Not for just one day, for always. To hum when you are feeling down or in need of inspiration.I can't think of one for myself and no, please don't everybody post theirs (unless you really want to) You just reminded me of that.
So much for quick. I need to go to bed! See you tomorrow!