Hi everyone. Just a quick hello for me. I had a long meeting today (3 hrs.) and now have to transcribe my notes! We had a major planning session for our fashion show & tea and got a lot done. The meeting was preceded by a potluck lunch but I did fairly well and resisted the lasagna! Hope everyone is doing well.

Okay, I'm winding down for the evening...and glad that I've purge my kitchen of microwave popcorn, 'cuz a big hot bowl of kettle corn would feel really good right around now....maybe I will have an apple after I write this.

Carol, I'm glad the shower went well! You must have had a lot of fun. Keep little Bear nice and warm! I bet it's not fun to go out nosing around the yard in weather like this.

Nikki, WTG with the South Beach! I tried it once and liked it, but it was hard for me to absolutely say no to all fruit for the first phase of it. The program I've been on more or less the past two years has been similar to South Beach.

Marie, I hope your back is feeling better. Doesn't seem to have slowed you down very much! It's great that you and Penny got to meet. I'll be near Portland in May, I think, maybe we can work out a reunion!

Penny, I'm with you on the "second family." Good friends are the family we choose for ourselves. I spent some time with a few of my "brothers" in Chicago, who I've rarely seen in the past 15 years, but we were able to take up again where we left off.

Suzanne, thanks for the Fat Smash details. I may have to do something similar when I get back from this next trip; even when I don't totally fall off the wagon on the road, it takes me a while to get back into my normal eating patterns. Hey, do you know of a Basque bar in Boise? Turns out I know two people who hang out there.

Time to pay the bills, eat an apple, then sort the laundry. I do laundry as soon as I wake up (before heading to work). I'll have to pack again Wednesday night....ugh, I can't believe that I used to enjoy traveling!

Keep up the great work, ladies!

judy

Hi all - sorry I was missing in action. Seems like this week is already blowing by. I'm also still trying to figure out who everyone is, so if I accidentally answer a wrong question, please forgive.

Nikki - that's awesome that you've lost 5lbs on SB. Way to go, I find if I can just loose a couple of pounds at first, the excitement keeps me on my diet. You go girl!

Marie - sounds like you had a whirlwind weekend of shopping, dining and meeting Penny and husband. How fun - I love Macaroni Grill although I eat way too much bread and olive oil when I go. Boise now has a Cheesecake Factory - oh my gosh!! I took my daughter there a few weeks ago - food was delicious and cheesecakes were incredible. They did have some very healthy choices, non of which I ordered.

Penny - so what kind of an accent do you have? Where were you born? The other day you asked if the Fat Smash Diet was vegetarian - only the first phase which lasts 9 days. The next phase which for me starts tomorrow and lasts 3 weeks I can introduce 3 oz. of chicken, meat, fish back into my diet. I can also add in a 10 oz. cup of coffee! Now that I've gotten over the caffeine headaches, I think I'm going to buy some decaf coffee beans and try to stay away from the "hard stuff." I weigh in tomorrow so I'll be able to see what I've lost.

Carol - have fun with the puppy - they can be challenging, but the rewards are endless.

Marie - I also have 3 dogs - two German Shephards and one Black Lab. As I'm typing this, my black lab is sleeping on my bed, one of my German Shephards is snoring on her bed beside the computer, and the other German Shephard is probably sleeping on the couch in the living room. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Well everyone, I need to get to bed. Have a great day tomorrow.

Suzanne



I've also tried to put the ticker on my posts, but for some reason it's not working. I have - - all right, no one laugh - - Window 98. I know, I know, I am probably one of the only people left on the planet with this old version. I don't know whether that is what the problem is.

Hey Judy - it's probably Bar Gernika. It's a cute little bar downtown and they have the best chorizo in town. There's a whole Basque block includint Bar Gernika and a Basque Museum. Boise has the largest Basque population in the US. They always have street dances in the summer - they love to party.

Suzanne

Morning -

Penny I am impressed that you resisted the Lasagna. Way to go girl.

Suzanne Did you make sure you saved your signature? There are 2 buttons at the bottom of the signature creation screen. Sometimes I preview but forget to save. Just a thought.

Judy I too thought the no fruit would be hard. However, I am on day 10 of phase I and have had no problems sticking to it. I did not even cheat that I know of. Pretty good if you ask me. I am proud of me LOL.

Here is hoping the scale will be nice next Monday again. I am aiming to lose 8-9 lbs in this phase. that would be 3-4 more lbs this week. I can't wait to hit the 150's again and bust my plateau weight of 157 away

Nikki

Girls your all doing so good keep it up. I slipped a bit yesterday and now realize that when I get home a healthy snackk is needed while dinner is getting ready. Cause I got into the munchies before dinner time. Man I hate those little mistakes and now need to make a plan to ensure it all gets fixed up. So I guess either eatting a piece of fruit on my way home or a healthy snack before dinner low in cals etc. That way I won't be so very hungry like the little hungry catipillar in that book who ate through everything. Nikki you keep it up. Marie hope your back is better so you can feel great again. Judy you are a little traveler I am jealous. I love to travel never in the winter months so far. Penny the tea sounded delightful. Suz glad your finding your way back to us. Bear is learning it takes a lot of patience. Oh how I know. But he is now starting to go to the door instead of us always trying to catch the right momment. That will be a blessing. I have been shoving him out by himself a bit and watching from the door. We set back a ways from the road but it is a busy road so I need to be careful as he gets more curious. Take care and today I am not eating til I write things down that will help eliminate the junk I ate before dinner. Its the hubbies treats not mine but I keep them in the house. I did eat a healthy yogurt for my evening snack.

Nikki, I'm proud of you, too! I know I could live without fruit, but mentally I just don't want to add any more major food groups to my forbidden list, which already includes fried foods, most dairy, high-glycemic foods like rice and corn, and anything made with wheat . But you are sticking to what works for you, and I say, go, go, go

Carol, sometimes when I first get home in the evenings I have a little lower-sodium V8 Juice with a dash of hot sauce, and the combination of spicy and filling takes that ravenous edge off 'til I've fixed dinner. A little yogurt is a great choice, too.

Suzanne, Gernika is the place two people have referred me to if I'm ever in Boise. Idaho is one of the few states I've never visited but who knows, all of a sudden I'm talking to folks who know of the same watering hole there...Don't worry about your ticker. You can keep updating your profile in your control panel ("User CP") until you figure it out. It's probably not a Windows problem, but we should let our techie, Marie, answer that one for you.

I am in a bit of a lull. It's the point at which I need to decide what won't get done before I leave the office, and what I absolutely have to focus on or else! I got my laundry done early this morning with enough time for a 20-minute workout. There's exercise facilities in all three hotels I'll be in this trip, plus I'm taking my mini-DVD player. The daily schedules aren't as crazed on this trip, so I will have no excuse not to work out most days. I bought apples, protein bars, almonds, pistachios and protein shake so I'll have good options in a pinch. My weight has been around 226-227 since I got back from Chicago, which is up from my lowest last month. I will not gain more weight on this trip, I will not gain more weight on this trip....

Hope to check in nearly every day! It really helps me to know that you're also dealing with your own struggles, and making it work.

judy

Not a bad day but a bit too much white bread with my spanish rice for dinner. Other than that not too bad. I am going to eat a grapefruit for my evening snack tonight. Just peel it and eat it like an orange yummy! Boy Judy you sure get around huh? This cold wind here is for the birds. In the next county over they got 67" of snow since last week end. Crazy huh/ We got about a foot but thats nothing compared to them The wind blows across our country roads and makes it a bit tricky to drive on. My road being a long strech of country road with not many houses really gets bad but not til your after my house so it misses me mostly. CAN YAH SAY SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can! The shower plans for my daughter are coming along it should be lots of fun. We are looking for a good time. Something she can look back on someday. Well gotta go now take care!

Judy - Good idea to purge your cupboards of no-no foods. I need to do some more of that and stop buying things that I know will cause me to go off track. You're doing great staying on track considering how difficult that is when you travel so much.

Suzanne - You asked what kind of accent I have ummm well it's a bit of a mish-mash of English (where I was born), Australian (where I lived for 7 years and met my hubby, who is Swiss), Canadian (lived there a couple of years) and Oregonian! I've lived in the States for nearly 30 years now, but have never managed to lose my accent. My DH still has a very strong Swiss accent (kind of like German). I hope the Fat Smash diet is working for you. I've cut out coffee too for the past few days. I'm hoping it will help with my recurrent stomach problems. I've been drinking more tea, which I like anyway, but I sure miss my latte every morning!

Nikki - You are doing so great! You'll soon be in the 150's at this rate.

Carol - I've been struggling a bit lately, so I can sympathize with you. Remember "a slip is not a fall". We all slip up but each day gives us a chance to start over. I had to laugh when you wrote about being like the hungry little caterpillar - I remember reading that to my son. Sounds like it's your turn to get some wild weather. Take care out there. I bet your puppy doesn't like going out right now, but that will soon change when spring comes. Your shower plans sound like fun - something to look forward to.

Marie - I hope your back isn't still giving you grief.

I was so busy today I almost forgot to eat!!! Made up for it tonight, though, but I'm still ok calorie wise. I spent several hours ironing out details for our fashion show and tea. I'm sooo tired as I only got about 5 hours sleep last night as I was wound up after a busy day and also made the mistake of drinking some green tea before bed - that stuff must have some caffeine in it! I'm going to take a nice long bath tonight and go to bed early. My DH will be out of town the next couple of weeks so I'll be busy on the phone taking care of the business while he's away.

Hi everyone. Another long day. I babysat for the 3rd night in a row. It's too hard with a sore back and working fulltime. Too bad DS2 doesn't understand when I tell him a need help as he stays in his room and plays computers. I'm a little peeved about that. DH says he's probably irritated that I won't make him dinner and I said I wouldn't until he starts to help.

I did not exercise this morning. Yes you read that right. The alarm went off and I chose to doze during exercise time. It was so decadent!!! I did ride the exercycle 2.5 miles while babysitting (much of it with DGS on my lap so I wasn't a total slug. I got my new DVD set of WATP today so tomorrow I'm going to try that.

My back is slightly better - I have hopes for it to get totally better pretty soon.

Food is going good although tonight I made a decadent dinner. There was one Omaha steak left from my parent's Christmas present so I thawed it yesterday and had it for dinner. It was great!!! DGS kept me company since I didn't invite DS2.

Penny, I'm glad someone else mad ethe green tea mistake. Being caffeine free, I thought I was making a good healthy choice. The caffeine made me so sick - I really thought it was decaffeinated. I can see how it would keep you up.

Carol, your weather sounds delightful. Especially the town with 67 inches of yucky stuff (unless it's on a ski hill). If I were bear I wouldn't go out either.

Judy, I second the idea that you're doing great considering how much you travel. Dieting is the easiest when you can control all aspects. So you rock.

Nikki, how much longer of Phase 1? I agree with Judy on the restriction of fruits. I wouldn't like that.

Suz, Judy is right. It wouldn't be Windows 98 causing the problem. All of the pages are written in html and it's windows de-sensitive. Some browsers have problems with some web pages so if you're using an ancient version of IE or Netscape or whichever you're using, that could be a problem, but I doubt that because we'd see an error or the html on your posts. It's probably the saving, copying and pasting that's causing it, but heck, who knows.

Well, talk with you all later.
Marie

Hi everyone - I just typed a huge long e-mail and then I went to copy/paste my ticker and when I tried to come back to my e-mail, it was gone . . . errrrrr

Sounds like everyone had a good day. Marie I hope your back is feeling better.

I'll write more tomorrow. I finally bought a scale today so tomorrow is weigh in day. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Suzanne

Morning Ladies-

Marie- I am on Phase I until next Monday. I'm glad your back is better today

Judy-Have a safe trip


Carol- That rice sounds divine

Suzanne- I'm pulling for you on thescale today.

Penny- I'm hoping but I am not sure I'll see them soon. Be careful of not eating. I would hate to see you get sick because you forgot to eat. That bath sounds wonderful I don't remember the last time I took a bath.


I am stuck in a rut 2 days at the same weight. I think I am pmsed though so I will take that. If I just keep going the loss will show ... If I just keep going the loss will show. I have to keep repeating that.

Nikki

Hi all, Suzanne, don't try to copy/paste your ticker in the message, you need to go to the control panel and paste it in the signature area. It then adds the signature to all of your posts. Good luck with the scale.

I did 3 miles fast walk from the Walk Slim DVD. I started with the 2 mile but there's something wrong with the DVD so I started over. I really like it and it is more of a workout than the advanced set. Tomorrow I'm going to try the 4 miler. The back is okay, not great, not bad. So now I'm ignoring it.

Nikki, your body will plateau as it adjusts the the quick loss you've already had and if it is pms, that's great. Just don't get discouraged.

I have tomorrow off so that will be nice. I might volunteer to work since almost DIL mother will be at the house all day. I'm thinking not restful so I might save it for a different day.

TTYL.
Marie

Marie - Yes I am trying not to obsess. The pronblem is when I see a loss I get so excited. So I peek at the scale often. It sounds like you won't be off even if you are.



Nikki

Marie - I'm glad your back is a little better be careful not to overdo it till it's all better. Good for you putting your foot down with your DS2 - maybe it would be nice if he'd make dinner for you once in a while! Guys always seem to be asking "what's for dinner?" My guys are the same way. Maybe next time I'll answer "I dunno - I was just going to ask you the same thing!"

Suzanne - I hope Marie's advice helped get you going on the tracker. Here is how I do it: First do your tracker (I think you know how to do this) then copy the code that starts like this:
[url=http://www.3fatchicks.com/weight-tracker/] etc. etc. It's important you only copy the one that says "Use THIS code for the 3 Fat Chicks Forum". Be sure to select and copy all of the code. Then go to User CP then Edit Signature. Scroll down till you see the box that says "Your signature" and paste the code into that box. Don't forget to click the box below it that says "save signature". I hope this helps a bit.

My DH is out of town so I couldn't be bothered to make lunch. I had a turkey Subway sandwich which I enjoyed very much - and not too many calories.