ONEderland is a glorious place for someone who hasn't been there ever in her adult life (me!) It is when my weight will begin with a "1"!!! I think I was less than 200 lbs when I was a junior in high school.....

Ahhhhh I understand now...Gee, can be a ditz sometimes lol..I was there for a few years, and cannot wait to get there again...when the day comes I am at 199 I will truly cry...You will get there toooo:)

You're dang right I will! Nothing will stop me!!

Welcome back, Jill. Congrats on the shirts and the 30 lbs. :) I can understand why the doctor and nurse rolled their eyes, 117 does sound really low. I can remember getting a rain coat from my parents one year, and it was so much smaller than what I needed, I felt like shredding the thing. Buying the smaller sizes now feels almost better than seeing the numbers go down on the scale.

Kylie, put me in the category of someone who'll be in tears when she reaches 199, :lol: It must make you feel good to know how you really were able to plow into the weight loss. I remember that magazine article you posted the link to. I didn't choose a snail on my chart for nothing. :^: It will be interesting to see if we make it to midnight this year, we do sometimes, don't other times, heh heh.

Jen, I would do a Valentine's Day challenge. Can't hurt, even though the Christmas challenge was a bit of a bust for me, ha. I think I'll make mine 10 lbs. I was about 200 lbs in high school, that's probably my lowest in my adult life. Boy, I wouldn't mind doing a little pub hopping, but I have to admit I can barely drink now, one to two beers, a couple of glasses of champagne and I'm ready to dive into bed. Not exactly a party animal!

Diana, you're so cute. Thanks for posting the pic. It's fun to see the faces. My bil had his job outsourced to I think India. He's looking for a job right now (in finance). It can be stressful. The NC move sounds really good to me. I've never been there, but Rob and I have talked about taking a vacation there, I know it's supposed to be beautiful. It will be warmer than Syracuse, that's for sure, ha. (PS I spotted my gingerbread man up on the wall there.)

Hey, Kimberley, where are you?

Rob's been struggling with an ear infection and with his new software these past couple of days, he's been mighty cranky. Today he's in a better mood. Work is really slow, so I admit that I took off early to go to the gym yesterday. They're building a new pool there (I think they call it "an aquatic facility," don't ask me why; maybe they get better funding when they say to investors/donors: "we want to create an aquatic facility" rather than we'd like to build a new pool).

As for goals for the new year, I'm planning on taking classes, volunteering (already signed up for that). Seriously researching my next job move (I'm seeing a counselor right now to help me with that). I'm taking a vacation (which I skipped last year).

Anyhow, I'm writing a book here, ha. Have a good day.

I don't think I'll join in on the V-day challenge. I have never met a goal I set for myself for these challenges, so maybe that should tell me something :p I will, however, set a goal of 250 for myself as my next major benchmark (I was less than 10 pounds away at one point, but I'm up again now), so I'll make a ticker for that in my sig. Ahh, Onederland--I have never been there in my adult life, either. I think I was in middle school last time my weight began with a 1 :dizzy:

Ahh, back to posting multiple times a day...it's great to be back in the office ;)

Kykaree! It's so good to see ya! First Diana pops back in and now you...Wow! Sorry to hear your dad's struggling right now.

Jill, how cool to think something's going to be too small and have it fit! Yowzah! Diana, I would like to get organized this year, too...That and get my hands in non-computer creative projects more often. The time I've spent with my friend Ivana working on a scrapbook for our friend Susie from the coffee shop has really gotten me back into creating things with my hands. That feels good.

The January 26 "Your Diet Magazine" should be out on the stands Friday, 12/30. We'll see, eh? The writer said she was overnighting 5 copies to us, so we should have them Friday. I hope I hope I hope! Otherwise, they'll come Monday.

Bah--yesterday afternoon, my throat started to hurt a little while I was at work. I figured it was just the dry office air, but just in case, I went home and used some Zicam and took some Tylenol. I woke up this morning with a stronger sore throat and a bit of a headache-y feel (sinuses filling up?). Took some more Tylenol and Zicam (and have more in my purse for throughout the day here at work). I really hope it doesn't hit too hard for the weekend since we're driving about 2.5 hours to Jeff's mother's house for New Year's. We're spending Saturday night there and coming home Sunday, but at least I'll have Monday off from work to recuperate. And here I thought I was so lucky to have missed all the colds going around this season--turns out, I'm just a little slow :p

Kimberley, I'll have to try and find that magazine. I wonder if their website might tell us where we can find it? Hmm, I may have to investigate...

My new year's resolutions are all around exercise and work. I want to start doing all the things I never did coz I was too fat, like white water rafting, long hikes, abseiling, rock climbing, all that sort of stuff. I have worked so hard building muscle, now is the time to start using them!

I really want to get more organised at work, and stop cruising and really work on my career development. I made no secret last year that my main aim was to let my career progression cruise whilst I worked on my weight. Despite this, I still managed to get a very competitive promotion!

My other new years resolution is to take up yoga. I feel a bit disconnected with this new body, and I think something like yoga that doesn't involve any equipment, just your own body, will help me get back in touch with who I am and where I am at. I want to shop around and find a teacher and class that I really like.

Jill I do hope your flu symptoms fly away.......miserable having flu.

Good morning....in a bit of a funk today. I weighed in officially--326 lbs. I'm only 14 lbs away from my all time high. I'm also wearing the jeans I wore at my highest weight because the others are REALLY tight.....HUGELY depressing....Alan is bummed about his weight as well--he's up to 241, which really shows on a 5'7" man.

THE GOOD NEWS--we are both ready to do something about it! Alan has signed up with a membership on SparkPeople so he can track everything, plus we are having a "home strategy meeting" tonight. We both want to get fit and healthy. I know we can do this together! Watching Howie and Kimberley get fit together has inspired me! I can't wait to find the magazine with their article and pics in it!

Okay, enough whingeing! (That's whining for us Americans!)

At 42.75 pounds lost, I still had not gone down a pants size. Don't let the clothes get you down--being down ANY amount from your highest is still progress! You're also very lucky to have your husband want to do this with you and to not be competitive about it. Jeff doesn't need to lose weight and doesn't have much interest in eating healthier (although I force it upon him at home via turkey burgers instead of beef, wheat bread products instead of white, brown rice instead of white, 2% American cheese instead of full fat, skim milk instead of whole, etc.), so I don't talk to him about it all very much, but he knows I'm trying. I've recently tasked him with the job of reminding me NOT to get french fries when we eat out--sub a baked potato, veggies, rice...almost anything is better than fat-fried carb sticks! :p

At least he is supportive and not wanting to sabotage you! I often read on here about people who have SO's that try to sabotage their plan because of their own fear that they will leave them. My former husband was that way when I lost 70 lbs....the thing is--I did end up leaving him, but not because I lost weight.

Alan has said that he does not want to turn 50 next November and be in the same (or worse) physical condition. Likewise, I do not want to go through my 40's being obese.

My DH was a saboteur at first. I just ignored him and let him have his hissy fits. He was worried that I was going to let myself down, that losing weight would be too hard and that I would give up. As the weight came down, he started to come on board, and now he is my biggest supporter. I bought some new underwear this week and was showing him, and he just looked at me and said "I can't believe your the same person, you have changed so much".

A far cry from the 54 year old who was acting like a spoilt brat because I wasn't buying cookies and cakes any more!

I never meet the goals either, Jill :p . But I think I'll give it a try here, see if it motivates me to work a little harder. A lot of people I know are sick, it's a nasty flu season, hope you get over it fast.

almost anything is better than fat-fried carb sticks!

heh heh. that's pretty good. I'll try to keep that in mind the next time I'm tempted. Got anything for chocolate?

I've had the same experience with the pants size changing -- 60 lbs and really only maybe a size and a half. I agree with Kimberley that it's great you get to do this with Alan, Jen. Rob doesn't need to lose weight, and he helps, but sometimes I feel like he doesn't always quite get what I'm going through. I do completely believe that the two of you can do it if it's what you want to do. Believe me, I've been through the scale number shock scenario, more than once.

I love your goals, Kylie. I feel like I still have a ways to go before I can seriously tackle some of the activities I'd like to do, but man, I want to bike, and rollerblade, scuba dive. I'll be interested to hear how you like the yoga and how it works for you.

I'll have Rob look for that mag when he gets the paper tomorrow. How cool. You know, Rob and I have a habit of making decorations or at least drawing around holidays, it does feel good to be creative like that. Rob's a much better drawer than I am (despite my years in high school taking arts and crafts, heh heh). we have lots of art supplies, paints, pencils, felt pens, pastels, watercolors, drawing and painting pads. wow, we should hold classes and make some money off it it!

went to the gym this morning (kinda sounds like the beginning of a blues song: I went to the gym this morning, da da da dum....). I get Monday off for New Years :carrot: Gotta go make a to do list to get some stuff done this weekend (other than ringing in the New Year).

Hey y'all.....my sweetie is now on 3FC! He's posting on the 100 lb club (even though he doesn't have 100 lbs to lose!)
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71141