Erin, let somebody around you give you a great big kiss from me! You're so right! This weight isn't going to fall off of us by sitting around wallowing. We need to take the reigns from that crazy woman who has them now and push her over the side! We have to stand back up for ourselves and get energized again. A positive thing for me is that I'm feeling the embers starting to light back up. When my weekend dies down again I'm ready, willing and able to give it till I drop (weight that is..hehehe!) Kudos to you Erin for standing up for the whole group of us who's guilty of this!

Robsia, you look fantastic! Well done! I'm so envious of you, but I'll be there in a few more 10lb. incriments. You deserve all the success because you've earned it. How's the novel coming along? I've been wondering about it. Hope it's hitting the presses very soon!

I've been nursing hubby who has a lung infection and playing hostess. My sister came thursday night with her whole kit and kaboodle and now today my great aunt and uncle will be here. Like I said, when my weekend dies down I'll be ready willing and able to blast off! I can't wait, I'm really excited about it!

Love ya all gals! Have a great weekend!
~Tina

Well, i did send it off to a few agents but got rejections back. I need to get my bottom in gear and send it off to some more. But life is busy right now - I have three Christmas concerts to prepare for at school. Fun, but busy.

GOOD MORNING LADIES!!!:cheer:

So i am happy to report the ticker is already down, even after a little melt down Friday night after writing my "pump you up speech". Like i said we all suffer from moments of weakness, indecision and failure, but unless we put the focus on the positive we will never break this cycle! So got my head together a little bit yesterday and got a lot of work done cleaning up/out kids rooms, laundry and shopping. My goal for this week is to get back on the exercise. I go back to the endocrinologist on Friday and i am planning on not weighing myself again until Friday morning. Don't know if I can hold out that long or not. Only made it 48 hours without weighing this last week. but considering i usually weigh 2-3 times a day that was a huge improvement!:cheer2:

Robsia - hope you hear some good news on the book soon, keep at it! Your success inspires me, you look fabulous! hope you keep popping in to share your success!

Tina - glad to hear I was able to pump you up a little! What a hectic sounding weekend, try to find some me time in there too! Hope hubby is doing better!

Robbin - glad to see I had a good effect on you too! I am really hoping focusing on what i have accomplished and not what i haven't will really bring about some change! I will pray for you and your family as time grows closer, i can not imagine what you are going through i can only guess by what the thought of it does to me. My hubby's going off on a hunting trip for about 5 days and i am dreadding that! So shut my mouth! I have nothing to complain about!!!!!

Michelle- I can not imagine my babies going off to college, i am still coping with going to kindergarten! Glad to see she is looking at something relatively close to home, i was 45 min just far enough the parents wouldn't just pop in but close enough i could run home when i got home sick!!

Stacy - glad to see you are feeling inspired too! I was a little afraid i would offend someone but seems to have had a good effect. Now we got to just practice what we preach!!!!! CONGRATS on breaking the 250 mark!!! I know that dragon fly goes with a happy dance! Hope you are continuing to heal well!

Well girlies, gotta run! Time to get ready for church and a birthday party later and i am still in my jammies, so are the kids!!! Ya'll have a glorious sunday and will chat at ya soon!!!!

Hi ladies,

Erin, Good to hear that the scales are going down for you. I enjoyed the “pump you up speech” also. You’re so right that we have to put the focus on the positive. None of us are perfect, and at some point, we’ll all eat something we shouldn’t or fail to exercise or just get tired of having to watch what we eat. But we still have to get back on track as soon as possible. That is the key between failing and succeeding. I weigh everyday. No way could I wait until Friday to weigh. ;)

Tina, It sounds like you have a busy weekend, being hostess and nurse. Have fun spending time with your family. I’m glad to hear that you are once again feeling lots of motivation and will be ready to jump back on board after the weekend.

Stacy, Even recovering from surgery, you’re getting your cardio in and still losing weight. :carrot: Don’t wallow, I think you’re doing great. You mentioned biggest loser and how it motivates you to work out for hours. It motivates me too, but then we have real life to deal with, work, housework, kids, DH. Maybe if we could concentrate on nothing but weight loss, we could spend hours a day working out. (Well, I probably wouldn’t anyway, but we’ll never know, will we.) Don’t you love adding a dragonfly!

Michelle, 45 minutes away sounds ideal. Not too far to go get her or visit if she needs you, but far enough that she still feels like she’s away from Mom and Dad. Oh, I don’t even want to think about my kids going away to college yet, but all of my friends with older kids joke and say that the teen-age years are God’s way of making you want your kids to grow up and move out. I’m sure they’re just kidding. ;)

Robbin, I need to start thinking about doing some Christmas shopping too. I hope you were able to do plenty of walking to offset any bad eating that happened. I also wanted to tell you that I think you are doing fantastic. I know you have a lot on your mind, thinking about DH leaving in May and I am so impressed that you are still working on being healthy.

Cheryl, Bummer on the scales. I don’t belong to WW, so I weigh in everyday. Of course, my scales fluctuate from day to day, but if I weigh 221 yesterday but today I weigh 222, in my mind, I still weigh 221, it’s just water weight. Just stay on plan, and you will probably be down those last three pounds by next weeks weigh in.

Robsia, You're looking great. Congratulations on being so close to goal.

Nothing new to report. DH and I have been working on removing the carpet from our living room and cleaning the floor underneath. My house is in shambles, since the furniture from that room has been moved to the dining room. We’ve got to get that straightened back out today. The scales are still the same, (unless they changed this morning). I’ve been on plan with food and exercise. I would love to make onederland in January, so I have that goal to keep me on track.

Tammy, glad to hear I could swing a little motivation your way too! I want to get rid of the carpet in my bedroom but not brave enough to take it on myself!! I always get uptight when my house is out of order like that, hope you are coping better than me!

Good evening ladies.

Well i am glad the weekend is over...i just cant seem to keep it together over the weekend...eating lots of things is shouldnt and eating lots more than i should. Time to get back on plan...majorly. :drill: Tomorrow is a new day and i plan to make the best of it. :carrot: I have an apt to get my stitches out and i am hoping doc gives me the 100% ok to workout again.

Goals for the week:
* Drink lots of water.
* Exercise on off days with extra cardio.
* Eat smaller portions!!!!!!!!.

Jtammy_ I love the idea of remodeling and the "after" but the during drives me nuts too...i get so anxious when everything is out of place. But it is so worth it, i bet it will look great. I know you can make it to onederland by/in january...wow, how exciting! :cheer2:

Erin- Good job on the ticker being down. :woohoo: My goal is the same this week...exercise, exercise, exercise. That is great you are stretching the weighing...48 hours is a long time. That is tough on me too....i weigh at least once a day, but as i get closer to weigh in, it really just gets rediculous. :lol3: ha ha.

Tina- Okay, lets blast off and make the absolute best of this week. :goodluck:

Ok ladies. I am officially erasing my memory of this weekend :wizard: Ready to start fresh.

Okay girlies...it's Sunday evening...do you know what tomorrow is!? It's time to take this weight loss effort back to the "next" level. We can do this! We can lose it! If we can't do it, no one can!!

Stacy, glad to see you've set some goals for yourself already for the upcoming week.

Erin, congrats on getting that ticker prepared for the heck it's gonna get this week.

Tammy, you're such an inspiration. You always seem so calm and together. Thanks for coming in and spreading your words of weight loss wisdom!

Robsia, keep working on getting the novel published. Don't slack off on this dream! Besides I can't wait to read the rest of it...I'm dying here! LOL!

Well, girls...I'm pumped, I'm ready for tomorrow. The house is quiet again and I can think straight. Who's ready for some numbers to drop?!!

Check back with y'all tomorrow! Have a great evening!
Tina

Hey girls this is goning to be a quickie but I will try to get back later this afternoon for personals. The boss is outta town so I should have plenty of time.

I so do not understand the scales but I guess none of us do. I work so hard all week and they stay stuck at one number, last week was 220. On weekends I loose my self-control and eat things that are not on plan and you know what, the stupid scales drop. I saw a new low of 217 over the weekend but am up 1 pound to 218, hey I will take it, it matches the ticker.

Well gotta run, have a few things to get done. Check back later.

Erin...Thank you so much for your pep talk. It's just what I needed, plus some self talk on top of it.:D

No time for personals, hope to have time to do that sometime tomorrow. I had a big self talk with myself over the weekend and I also went back and read my food journal...what there was of it. I'm back on track again, and I'm going to be faithful to write everything down I put in my mouth. Figured out the water weight I have is from the popcorn I'm eating at night. So no popcorn or I eat only popcorn I pop in the air popper.

I got a new book from my book club and I highly recommend it. It's call, "Our Lady Of Weight Loss"". Miraculous and motivational musings from the Patron Saint of Permanment Fat Removal. Has chapters like...Our Lady Suffers from Constant Cravings....Our Lady of Self-eSTEM Your Vegetables...Our Lady's Evil Twin. It's buy Janice Taylor and she has a great sense of humor.

Cheryl :turkey:

Ladies - can I jump back in here? I'm a bit embarrassed for being gone for so long, and I have NO idea how everyone is doing, and overwhelmed with the thought of trying to get caught up. So I'm just gonna jump back in, and try to check in more often, if that's alright! I hope you have all been doing great, and losing lots!!

Happy Tuesday!
 

Good morning chickies! How was everyones monday of re-programming? Well, like I posted sunday night, I was hyped and rareing to go but sometimes life is gonna throw you a curve ball and spoil your plans. Sunday night was a terrible night for my daughter that ended us up in the ER for 4 1/2hrs. Her temp was 103.6, she was complaining of being dizzy and couldn't hold her head up. After some x-rays we found out she had a lung infection that was progressing into an early onset of pneumonia. Yikes! So between nursing hubby who was put on antibiotics for lung infection on friday and my daughter I've been thrown a little off. Food intake was great yesterday, water suffered a bit and I didn't get a chance to get down on the elliptical. Not to mention, that I'm starting to feel like crap myself. I'm determined though, I will get on the elliptical today and start chugging my water early.

Robbin, girl I love the results! Keep up whatever it is your doing! I kinda of figured that hovering for a couple of days meant that you were going to have a nice drop. Keep on rockin'!

Michelle, glad you found your determination again on saturday! Way to go!

Cheryl, another one putting her goals back in line! I love it! Your new book sounds like it's alot of fun to read. Would you mind putting in a couple of blurps you think our group would love to hear?

Shyla, jump back in anytime. As you can see a lot of us are pulling ourselves back up. It's been tough going (for me) finding my motivation and determination. But I took a lot of time to think and realized I'd be more miserable if I didnt' stick this out. We're all capable of meeting our goals, just remember that! Glad to see you again girl!:hug:

Well, I'm off to start the day. Just getting up actually. It's 9 am and I think Alyssa and I both needed the rest considering the night before. I gotta try to get some food in the little tike, she has absolutely no appetite, too bad mommy has enough for the both of us! hahaha!

Have a great day ladies, and remember work with what the day presents you. It may not always fall under what you think would be a good schedule, just don't let that be an excuse for you! You have the capabilities to change things! WE ARE A PRIORITY TOO!

TTFN!
~Tina

Well girlies, second day of no scale and no convulsions yet!!:carrot: :carrot: However, i have probably checked my blood sugar about 10 times in the last two days! Just gotta be checking something!!!! I have to say that i have done well with eating as in no sugar but am probably no where close to balancing things the way i should. Lots of protein right now but that gets me through the lack of sugar, fat satisfies the craving as well. I feel thinner today, i have definitely put off some fluid, my rings are so loose! However we have been a good bit colder around here lately so that helps too. We are supposed to be having a bit of bad weather tomorrow, sound like the system that got Michelle has tracked its way over to me. The national weather service has us under a moderate risk of severe weather which makes me a little nervous to say the least.

Stacy - thanks for the encouragement! I like the idea of erasing the weekend and then starting fresh!! I like your goals too, so how are you doing??

Shawn - glad to see you back!!! We all do the drop in drop out so dont' let it worry you

Girlies, i am so sorry to cut off here but my kids are getting WAY OUT OF HAND!!!!!!

Will try to get back to you later but if bad weather moves in computer will be off SORRY TO BAIL MID PERSONALS!!!!!

Doing well today. Made it to the gym, first time in several days. I hope i can undo the damage that my weekend caused. i have been drinking water like crazy and very mindful of my eating so far in the week.

What is good for dinner tomorrow? I am thinking maybe salmon.

Oh, i got my stitches out yesterday. Hooray. :carrot: Feels SO much better. I still didnt get the okay to do upper body, he said give it another week...dang, but that is okay, i just added to my cardio to make up for it, so that works.

Erin- Good job on holding back from that scale. I know it is tough. Did you actually put it out of site...I usually have my son hide it in his room :nono: ....so i am not tempted to sneak a weigh in when i need a break from the scale. I am sorry but that is so funny that now you are testing your blood sugar constantly. :lol3: I do the EXACT same thing but instead of testing blood sugar, i start measuring my waist, biceps, etc...non stop. Too funny. Hope you fair through the storm safely, will have you in my prayers tonight.

Tina- Oh my gosh, your poor baby, 103 temp, i bet you were freaking out. Bless her heart. Sending love and prayers her way for a quick recovery. :getwell: Pneumonia is scary for a grown up, but for her age, that is super scary.

Shyla- I was thinking about you just the other day. So glad to see you again. :hug: You picked a perfect time to jump back in, most of us are just getting back on the bandwagon as well...must have been something in the air.

Cheryl- Your book sounds great. I know what you mean about writing everything down, i am SO bad about that. I think i am being so dilegent, then when i think about it really hard, i think, well i didnt count that sugar free cookie but it was just one cookie, or i didnt count that hand ful of cashews but it was just a couple of bites. I too have GOT TO be more specific :coach: ...its the little nibbles here and there that kill my weigh ins i believe.

Michelle- Good for you for getting back in the game now, :cheer: 2 pounds is nothing, but before you know it, you put it off, put it off and you end up gaining 20...or that is how i do it anyway.

Robin- That is awesome! :bravo: I am really wanting to see a big drop like that before :thanks1:

Ok gals. I am not going to have any splurges til Thanksgiving. I have just got to start seeing that scale move and my past weekend is NOT going to get me there. One pound in 2 weeks is not going to cut it. So only clean eating from now until T-day. :dust:

Hi Girls...I have had a really good day with making good choices on what I put in my mouth and writting it down, plus chugging the water down. Not much in the exercise department, I pulled something behind my left knee coming down the stairs this morning. I'm doing leg lifts while I sit here and type, trying to loosen it up.

Ladies, we need to remember that there are two ways to measure our progress...the scale and a tape measure. If the scales are being stubborn, whip out the tape measure and see how many inches you have lost. Either way is a success for improving our health.

Shawn...Nice to see you back and still plugging away like the rest of us.

Tina...So sorry to here that your hubby and daughter are sick. Thank goodness you caught it in time. Hope you stay well while caring for your family.:hug:

Erin...Looks like you and I are hanging in there. I haven't gone near the scale in the last couple of days, tomorrow is soon enough for me. weigh-in day at WW, haven't decided if I'm stepping on the scale or taking my first pass.:( I have gone back to writting down and planning what I eat, which I have noticed have taken care of the cravings I was having for the last couple of weeks. Lots of veggies/fruits does the trick.

Tina...Here are "The Ten Commandments of Permanent Fat Removal" from the book.

1. Thou shalt honor and believe in thyself.
2. Thou shalt move thy body. Move it and move it some more.
3. Thou shalt never go hungry again. Eat small meals and healthy snacks
throughout the day.
4. Thy shalt stock thy fridge with the right stuff-the fruits and vegetables
of the earth.
5. Thou shalt honestly write it down. If you bite it, you must write it.
6. Thou shalt weigh and measure-thyself and thy food.
7. Thou shalt drink enough Holy Water to frighten Noah and map out all the
restrooms in thy village.
8. Thou shalt not deny thyself a treat or two now and then.
9. Thou shalt not eat out of misery, boredom, anxiety...but should thou
indulge,thou shalt forgive thyself.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's plate.

See you ladies tomorrow.

Cheryl :thanks2:

Hello ladies! Just wanted to check in... Thanks for the warm welcome back! It is good to be back!

During my hiatus, I gained back 5 pounds - which I am actually not upset about. I'm looking at it as "I've still lost 13, and I'm back on track, so will keep moving in the right direction". Cuz, really, 13 lbs is GREAT when you look at the big picture. I'm not having to SQUEEZE into my jeans anymore, etc. I am NOT, however, ready to move my ticker up 5 lbs. What do you guys think? Give it a week or so, and see how low it will go, then adjust it? I'm only on day 2 of eating decent & exercising again, and didn't weigh today, so maybe the scale will move back down fast.... I hope!

I have been trying to stock up on healthy foods - my favorite new thing is frozen black sweet cherries! SOOO yummy! 1/3rd of the entire package is only 110 calories! I fill up a coffee cup with them, and eat them with a spoon (still frozen). You should try it! I've also bought some of the crystal light raspberry lemonade "on the go" packets you just add to a bottled water, and carry those in my purse. Those are good! I've also been drinking diet hot cocoa at night, now that the weather is cooling off. The warmness seems to fill up my belly, too.

I had a really good workout tonight... I turned up my mp3 player music, and really got to moving on the elliptical during some of those songs. After 30 mins, it said I had burned 400 calories! I've never done that! 350 has always been my top, so I was really excited tonight!

TINA - Bless your heart! It's so hard to take care of sick loved ones! I hope you stay well & that everyone feels better real soon! Don't overdo it on exercise if you are starting to feel bad. (Of course, I'm one to talk. LOL - I thought I was getting a sore throat & have been exercising anyway. I'm hoping the exercise will knock it out of my system!)

ERIN - I need to do what you are doing on the eating no sugar deal. Thats the area that I've WAY been overdoing it, and then when you try to stop, you get the cravings. I think that these frozen cherries are really helping though - they are so sweet! And that's a NATURAL sugar, so I don't feel bad about that!

STACY - Yum salmon! I really love it, and need to put it on my menu more often! I'll have to go figure out what your stiches were all about....

CHERYL - Thanks for the "10 commandments". I'm really working on the one about moving your body! Or in my head I am anyway! LOL My DH has been working out like EVERY MORNING for months now, and is looking really good. And I keep thinking that if I worked out that much, imagine how good I'd be looking, too! I looked back at my workout chart since I started (again) about 5 months ago, and I'm pretty consistently doing only 8 workouts/month. 8 out of 30. Imagine if it was 15-20 out of 30! I gotta get there!!!

OK ladies - have a good evening! *hugs*

Good morning ladies, sorry I haven’t posted for a couple of days, I really did not meant to skip, but I got really busy and forgot to. The scales are reading 218 so I have made it back to ticker and am totally happy with that.

Robsia – it is great to see you every now and again and I am so happy that you are so close to your goal. I am sure you will be there soon. I would love to read your book and hope it’s published soon. When it is published do we get an autographed copy? LOL:hug:

Erin – I a cheering for you on not weighing. I couldn’t do it. I am drawn to the scales every morning and evening like a magnet.:carrot:

Tammy – Are you gonna replace the living room carpet with new carpet or leave it at hardwood? I want new carpet really bad but have to get other projects finished first. We are going to redo our kitchen floor, we had put in the snap in hardwood look alike but I hate it and now want tile. LOL hubby wants me to make up my mind.:dizzy:

Michelle – I am so happy to hear you are getting back on track. I know you have gone through a lot and have had good reasons to slack but I really think you will feel better once you get those scales a moving again. I also think your mom would want you to take good care of yourself and what better way to do it than eating right and loosing weight.:hug:

Cheryl – I understand the not keeping your journal up to date. I find that I do really well for a couple of weeks then start slacking off and when I slack there is not loss. We just need to remind ourselves that if we want to loose we have to journal. I love your ten commandments, I am going to copy them and put them on my refrigerator and my desk at work. ;)

Tina – I hope you are feeling better and not coming down with what the rest of your family has. Being sick might show a drop on the scales from lack of eating but that is no way to loose and of course I do not want you to be sick.:(

Stacy – You are doing so well with your exercise. You have had a great reason to not exercise at all and what did you do???? You kept at it just rearranged it to what you could do. Keep at it girl you are doing awesome.:carrot:

Shawn – I am so happy to see you back. Give the ticker a week if you don’t see any downward movement that is enough to satisfy you then move it up but if the scales start moving down again then just leave it, you will catch it.:D

Well Ladies it is time for me to get to work, I will check back later

Evening Ladies...:woohoo:I'm down 2.5 pounds!! I was totally shocked when I stepped on the scales. If you gals knew all the stuff I ate Friday thru Sunday, you would understand why. Looks like the self talk to myself and getting serious about what I put in my mouth, plus journaling is really the key to good health.

Shawn...5 pounds isn't bad at all and you are in the right frame of mind. 13 pounds is GREAT, and that is what we all have to look at, is how far we have come. I'd leave your ticker where it is at. You will be back there in no time.

Stacy...Glad you got the stitched removed. Did you have salmon for dinner? Sounds so yummy. Your doing great on getting your exercising in.:carrot: WTG!

Erin...Saw on the news this morning where you had a pretty bumpy night. Hope no tornados touched down in your area.

Tina...Hope your family is doing better today. Make sure you get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids so your not getting sick. Hugs to your daughter:hug: Hope that her fever broke. That is so scary when they have a temp that high.

Robbin...:congrat: on making it back to your ticker weight. I'm heading in that direction myself.:D

Thought tonight I would post "The Office Manifesto" for those of you who work ouside of the home and have to deal with people who bring donuts and such to work.:devil:

We, the employees of_________________, declare that the state of office eating is heretofore declared out of control. We hereby state the following policy.

HENCEFORTH, healthy options are to be made available at in-house meetings and parties.

HENCEFORTH, the refrigerator that the company so graciously and generously stocks with soda (both diet and regular) shall also house natural fruit juices and bottled water(s).

HENCEFORTH, the vending machine shall make available small packages of fat-free pretzels and baked potatoe chips.

HENCEFORTH, the "take a twenty minute break" policy will be enforced. All employees who have missed lunch and not seen the light of day are hereby required to take a twenty-minute break. It's not healthy to work without a break or to stay inside all day long.

HENCEFORTH, there will be a designated meditation/rest space(s) for employees to take refuge in during their twenty-minute breaks (in case of inclement weather).

HENCEFORTH, no pushers are allowed. If someone says "No, thank you," the pusher shall refrain from saying "Oh, just one piece."

HENCEFORTH, the employer acknowledges that all employees are valued and said employer is thrilled to know that productivity and morale will soar if said employee is healthfully fed, gets air, and rests. ("Oh, my-such an easy solution. Thank you, Our Lady of Weight Loss," says Big Boss.)

signed and dated

Cheryl

Morning Ladies how is everyone today? I am doing really good. The scales are still holding out at 218 but today my hands are really swollen, I cant get my rings off and I think I am retaining water. So hopefully with some extra chuggin today I will see a drop soon.

Cheryl - The office rules are really cute but would never fly here. :?:

Well better get to work.:hug:

Happy Thursday!
 

Howdy chickies! How are things!? I'm happy to report something positive. I've been keenly on plan since yesterday. By keenly, I mean no wavering on food, exercise or water...it's been kept pretty precise. The rest of the week there was an effort, but with the sickness it was half-a$$ed. I remember when I started this whole adventure last January that there was no room for small out-of-balances, and that's the way I need to be again to beat this thing. And I'm happy to report the scale went down 1.5lbs today! Yeah! Just 3.5 more and I'll be back to ticker. I think a big issue for me was seeing my weight creep up rather down and it seemed so far away from ticker that it got me down in a lot of ways. So much so that I lost my determination and motivation. I wanted it really badly, but I felt I screwed up so bad I had excuses of "might as well" and "just as well"...you know those nasty two. It was time to dig deep again pull that effort back up and I think it's beginning to work. I'm feeling more like determined myself again. Yay!

Erin, how ya doing?! Girl, you've got some balls to be able to stay off the scale! I hope all is going to your hearts desire. Glad you're starting to feel the inner (thinner) you again!

Stacy, just burn it up with cardio. Glad your surgeries are healing and that your stitches are out. I know that must of been annoying. Things are starting to get back to normal around here. Alyssa went back to school yesterday, (what a relief!) LOL! Thanks for sending your prayers, much appreciated!

Cheryl, congrats on the 2.5lbs!! Awesome job, way to go! Love the ten commandents. I think we should pin it on everyone else around us so that they'll understand sometimes why we can't endulge with them.

Shyla, I know that five pounds does a lot to our heads, trying to make us believe that it's more substantial than it really is. Lord knows I've wallowed lately because of it. The best thing to remember is that it really isn't that bad and they are easily taken care of with a few good days of committment. I agree with everyone else, keep your ticker in it's spot for a bit. It'll give you some motivation to work harder to get to it faster. I'm trying my best to get back to it, I don't want to live this lie any longer.

Robbin, I'm almost looking forward to the weekend for you. Seems they have become your "second" best friend...hehehe! Your body is on some sort of weird schedule of weight loss. Hanging on till the last possible moment..then Bam! You're down! Keep on chugging!

Have a great evening ladies!
TTFN!
~Tina

Howdy ladies sorry to bail midstream last time, but things were getting violent! They are contentedly watching Wizard of Oz right now, so thought i would steal away and get caught up. I have not weighed yet and only checked my blood sugar once this morning. Eating has been pretty good. Good choices as well as portions. My work load has really taken off and i have let that be my excuse for no exercise but i am definitley more active than i have been. Several late nights and always early mornings!

Now that i have not weighed in several days i am so scared to get on the scale tomorrow morning. I am trying to figure out my warm light clothes cause it is supposed to be cold and i don't want to have to strip in the doctor's office! I will weigh here first though to prevent major breakdown in a public place if it isn't down any. Also i started TOM this afternoon so who knows what that is going to do to my body! We'll see, should make for an interesting day! I will try to update before i leave for the doctor but i don't know if there will be time!

Stacy- glad to hear the healing is going well! Girl you have got to lighten up on yourself!!! You are doing great and 1 pound down is always better than one ounce up!!!

Cheryl - love the quotes from the book!!! Fortunately for me the bad weather stayed to the south of me so just a rainy messy day. Which in some sick way i really like! CONGRATS on the weight loss!!!! I hope the scale is as kind to me tomorrow!

Shawn - 5 pounds will be off in no time! Keep up the good work! The sugar cravings can be awful but splenda can really help. Stevia is another good sweetener but you have to get it in a health food store. The splenda products help with portion control too. Too much of them you only do once!!

Robbin - i stil can't believe i haven't weighed! I really expected convulsions or something like that! But i just have to get teeth brushed get a shower and fix hair without getting on it and the rest of the day is easy! I had someone ask me so now how often are you going to weigh from here on and i said probably go back to daily after friday but with a much better attitude. Who knows probably depends a lot on what the scale shows in the morning. I could probably survive every other day with minimal stress!

Tina - glad to see you are getting the fever back!! How is the family, are you all on the road to healthy again or has the lung bug still got ya'll?? good to see the scale is really starting to move for you again!!!

Well girls too quiet on the western front so need to check on the kidlins!! Hope ya'll have a wonderful night and will try to check in in the am!!

Hello ladies, having a really good week, hoping it will make up for the bad weekend. I am geared up for not having my splurge day tomorrow after weigh in. Hoping to not splurge until :turkey: .

Had a great NSV last night. The kids cooked popcorn, the buttery microwave kind with enough salt and butter to choke a goat. Well i have a rule...no eating after dinner, none, nada, zip. Not even sugar free jello. So here come the kids with their popcorn and a big bowl for me and DH. :corn: I told them thank you, since it was so nice of them to actually bring the parents some. But i didnt eat a bite...i sat there watching tv and let dh eat the WHOLE bowl... :rofl: ha ha ha Nobody noticed that i didnt have a single kernal...boy did i want some too. But i stuck to my guns and it felt so good once that bowl was empty to know, i didnt cave.

Erin- You still havent weighed!?!?! You go girl. :carrot: Good for you. I would be sweat'n it too...i bet the news will be good though...bummer about TOM. make sure you base any changes on YOUR scale though. My docs scale usually has me up 5 more pounds than my home scale. I have heard a lot about Stevia. Does it measure cup for cup of sugar, like splenda? Do you like it better than splenda...i like splinda better than the others but it still has a sort of wang sometimes. I might take a drive out to the health food store and pick up some.

Tina- WTG on the 1.5 down. :cp: Very cool. I know what you mean about in the begining you dont EVER get out of balance. That is when i was losing 3 pounds a week and dropping inches like crazy. I have come to a stall on inches...time to get it going. Glad your darling is back to normal and back in school...i know that is nice break...i am always ready for them to head back, ha ha.

Robbin- Wait, shhhh, what is that i hear? :listen: Oh that is robbins scale getting ready to drop again. I am chugging water right along with you sister. My 13 year old, david, thinks i am nuts. I get excited when i have to go pee, then get even more excited if it is a big pee. Oh my gosh, poor buddy is sure mom has officially lost it. :lol3:

Cheryl- WOW 2.5, :bravo: heck yeah. Wrap it up, I'll take it, that is great, especially after a bad weekend...i can totally relate to those. Your loss gives me hope for my weigh in in the morning, i too was VERY naughty over the weekend. I did have salmon for dinner. Even my six year old LOVED it. I poured canned diced tomatos and shallots over it and wrapped it in aluminum foil and baked/steamed it for 30 minutes :chef: ...delicious with no fat really and a veggie to boot. We also had roasted carrots and asperigus...man those are a good change on the same ol' sides. I did have beets too but me and dh were the only ones that ate them, ha ha. Loved the office manifesto.

Shyla- 5 pounds isnt squat, ;) leave that ticker where it is for a week or two and see where you are. If you have been slurging, i bet the weight will be off in now time. Frozen cherries huh? How did you come up with that? My daughter would LOVE that i bet. She likes frozen blueberries A LOT...so we will have to give the cherries a try. Dont you just love those days when you can burn that ellipitical up? They are few and far between for me, but some days i can just go go go on that thing. The stitches were just where i had some moles/cysts removed, unfortunately they were on my bicep, shoulder, and back, i figured i would have all three removed at the same time but unfornately that cut out my weight training of upper body...so i tried to double up on cardio...but i get to start back my exercises full throttle on saturday. Cant wait. I know what you mean about only getting 8 workouts a month. I really try for 4-5 a week...i would be happy with that...but here lately, i have only had 3 a week. Gotta get back to it...that is when i was losing the big pounds every week.

Ok, gosh this got long quick. Hope my weigh in goes well tomorrow but right now the scales are up pretty high...dang weekend. :mad:

No time for personals, I had a nice long post just about done and I lost it.:tantrum: Happy to report I'm down another 2 pounds.:carrot: At this rate I hope to be back to ticker weight by turkey day. Just hope I can stay in control and not stuff myself.

Congrats to all of you that have stayed the same or had a loss. WTG!!!:carrot: :carrot:

Erin...You go Girl!!! Hope you have a very nice surprise when you weigh.

Cheryl

Erin, you've been so good all week and I wish you all the success on your weigh in tomorrow. Just know that seeing that TOM has reared her ugly head it could throw you off, perhaps quite a bit. Don't get discouraged if you don't get the results you want, blame it on "her" and keep on truckin'! Seems the family is on the mend, and hoping that lung bug is kept under wraps with all the antibiotics that's been floating around here lately. Thanks for asking!

Stacy, woo hoo!! You kept your game face on all the while that popcorn tempted you till the last kernal. Now that's what I'm talking about! Awesome resilience girl, it's great to see some of that beginning will power starting to peak out again. I had to literally "laugh out loud" at your comment to Robbin about getting excited because you have to go pee, especially if it's a long one, you took the words right out of my mouth!!!!

Cheryl, too bad about losing your post. I tell ya nothing is more aggrevating than that. Congrats on another 2 pounds!! That's awesome! You sure are rockin' this week. I'm totally feeding off of your success, keep it up!

Well, just a quick post. I worked out 3 days in a row, and then yesterday I didn't and went to the grocery. I got everything healthy, EXCEPT for a pint of ice cream. Why did I do that?? Of course, I ate the entire thing last night, and then needed something salty, so ate some chips. Arghhhh! After I ate it, I was like "meh - that wasn't even all that great". Arggghhh!! It's just that numb, mindless eating we/I do!

Today is a new day, though, and I have healthy foods to eat, so girls - LET'S DO THIS THING!! *hug*

Mornin girls, just a quick post for right now. I have some things I gotta get done before the boss is back on Monday and I want to get it all done this morning so I can chill this afternoon.

The scales are still holding at 218 but TOM is just around the corner and if I can maintain 218 throughout I will we ESTATIC.:carrot:

Better get to work but will be back.:hug:

Happy Monday!
 

Whoa!! I just found us way over on the 2nd page! We must of had a very busy weekend. I know I kept busy. It's that time of year again for sure! Things are still heading in the right direction as far as my mentallity, but unfortunately I'm retaining. I just don't get enough water down on the weekends. Not even half of what I usually drink, and then of course there is definitely extra sodium on the weekends when you go out to eat. But I guess that's what Mondays are for! LOL!

Shyla, it's tough trying get back into it full swing. Too bad about the little blurp (chips and icecream), but think on the bright side...you're starting to get your groove back. I hope you are still keeping up that exercise! Don't give on yourself, you are too important, more important than those temptations!!

Robbin, how are you doing today? How did the scales treat you over the weekend? Hope you were able to get all that work done before the boss came back today!

Hope everyone is having a great new start to this week!

TTFN!
~Tina

Good morning ladies!
Just a quick hello. I have not been on in a while because i am traveling through india for work. Will be back in the US next week. My first week here went fine as i was staying in a good hotel which had a gym and restaurants, therefore i had control over my food and workouts. The past 4 days though we have been visiting projects in villages, so no hotel gym, and the same darn rice, potatoes, bread and gravy for lunch and diner every single day! I am trying to relax about it and realize this is only going to be a week in my life and no real damage can be done in that time, but by God it is challenging. Hopefully it gets better starting tomorrow when I am back in the Capital city of New Delhi and in a good hotel. I have traveled with my scale byt i don't sare step on it, lol. Though I might today, just out of curiosity. We'll see.
Glad to see everyone is doing well. I will try to catch up on your posts first chance I get but Robbin I am glad you made it to the 210s! I don't know if I am there yet or not! Take care everyone and keep going strong!

Ok a quick fly by for me also. I worked so hard for that 217 and then ruined it last night with a PMS binge and having real smoked sausage and doritos. Yuck that sounds like a nasty combination now but last night it was good. Now I am up to 219 and hating myself for it.

Better get to work. Check back soon.

Hey everyone-
I'm hanging in there...doing my running on the treadmill and t-tapp on off days. In a pretty good routine right now. Hopefully I won't get bored of it too soon as it seems to be working really well for me.

Robbin- don't stress about the doritos and sausage...you *know* it's not a 2 lb fat gain so just move on and today is another day, right? lol Some days we just need what tastes good I think! The trick is only letting it be *one* snack, not a whole week or month of being off track and gaining all out weight back.

Kreen- how cool you are in India!! Especially visiting in the villages. What a life experience! And really, not a bad trade for having to eat potatoes and bread for a week kwim? You'll be fine :)

Great to see you back Shawn!

Tina- way to get right back at it!

Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Happy Tuesday!
 

Okay ladies....question....WHY DO WE INSIST ON CRAVING THINGS THAT MAKE US FEEL LIKE TOTAL CRAP AFTER CONSUMING THEM!?? As you can tell I had a not so great day yesterday. It's a never ending CYCLE! You know what the foods do to you, it's not nutricious, it's not something you've got to have (physically) and it's not like it's something you've never tasted before. But yet, somehow...here we are set on auto pilot, brain is out the window and emotions are in the drivers seat, you just gotta have a "little". ArrgggHHhhh! I'm so fet up with being at a stand still and giving in to the same things that got me to 269lbs. in the first place! Why can't I be stronger, why can't I be more willing, why...why...why?!! This is not a great place to be, half living the new life and half living on the fence. Start the day out great and end it in defeat. The weekends sucks! There's a lot of my problem, I'm going to have to plan them a little more like I used to. Make my family eat what I eat and wait till I finish with the elliptical or treadmill before we get on with our plans. TIME TO PUT ME FIRST AGAIN!

Oops..sorry about the rant girls. Seems I just needed to see that concretely to make it sink in to the thick skull I have here for far too long.

Kreen, I love indian food..I'd be in heaven. But I can see why your a little nervous about it seeing that weightloss is a priority. I feel for ya but you have a great attitude. You go girl...this is just one week outta of the year. You have the rest of it to change it!

Robbin, we are going to have to think of something to keep our heads above water. I feel your frustration girl. It's no wonder that a lot of people never make it completely to goal or maintain it. This world is just set on being fat and feeding it cheap fattening food and then raise the price of fresh produce. There is a way to win this and we can do it!

Emily, way to go girl...that's what I needed to hear. You keeping up your routine is so inspiring to me today. I'm glad you still have some strength to carry on and fight the fight! I'm getting back at slowly...BUT SURELY! I will not give on me this easily!

Well, ladies...so far I have 1 1/2 litres of water gulped and it's only 12.30...yay me! That's the best I have done since last thursday. I went to water aerobics and worked hard, I'm so sore! LOL! I feel so guilty about this past few days that I feel like I should be getting on the elliptical too yet today. Good question would be...will I do it?? LOL! Have a great day and PLEASE keep on truckin', we need some good positive results to be shared in here!

TTFN!
~Tina

Just a quick pop in to say hello. It's been very hectic lately, so not much time to post. Tina, I hear you girl. I've been fighting the lure of cheap fattening foods lately too. I'll have a good day or two, then screw it up, then have another good day or two, then screw it up again. And the scales have sure been reflecting it. Today I weighed 223, the same thing I weighed 3 weeks ago. I sure miss those weeks where I could actually lose 2 lbs. Ahhhh, the good old days.

But we have to hang in there. If we quit now, where will we be? Well, I'd probably surpass my all time high of 346, if I quit. And I'm not going back there. I've just got to do it one day at a time, we'll get there as long as we keep moving forward. And for the first time in forever, the exercise is getting to be the easier/funner part of it. I can't believe I just said that, but I did. I enjoy my exercise, but the food part has been a pain in the @** this week.

Kreen, how exciting! I hope you're having a great time.

Emily, It's great that your routine is working well for you. You are practically on the fringes on onederland already.

Robbin, I agree with Emily. That smoked sausage and doritos couldn't really be two pounds. Sighhhhh, I would love to see that 219 that you're sick of right now. I wish you could send it my way.

Shawn, I'm glad to see you back. Don't you hate those mindless eating moments. :(

Cheryl, Woohoo on the 2 pound loss! :cheer:

Stacey, LOL on the big pee. I love those two and always hope it means a big loss. Sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't for me. :lol:

Erin, are you still avoiding the scale? I may hide mine for a few weeks. I'm getting a little frustrated at the lack of progress.

Michelle, :grouphug: Hope to see you posting again soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of us in the US this week!

Surprise !!!
 

I'm back -- did you miss me? Or maybe the better question would be . . . did you even notice I was missing? Only kiddling -- I know I was missed (at least at first) -- and I know you must all feel that I totally fell off the face of the earth, I've been gone sooooo looooong. The last time I posted was July 27. Wow. I have really missed all of you. :grouphug: Yes I have been busy with that silly old work project but that is really no excuse. I sort of got to the point where I could only stand to be on the computer for so long each day and all the time seemed to get used up doing that junk and it was getting extremely depressing, too. Busy, busy, busy through August and September and then I spent most of October in Ontario. At least I got to spend Thanksgiving with my family for a change. Anyway, the project is 99% over and done with now so I hope I can get back into the swing of things around here. :balloons:

Although I haven't read everything in this new thread in depth, I did scan back to the beginning. Glad to see new faces :welcome2: Hope to get to know all of you in the next little while. Glad to see so many old faces, too :woo: -- but sorry to notice that a few have gone missing. But who knows -- some of the other 'prodigals' may return, too. :D

My good news -- in the almost four months I've been missing I did NOT gain weight. As a matter of fact, I lost a little over ten pounds (at my usual snail speed; but I'm certainly happy with it, all things considered.)

Anyway, old-gang-of-mine, I will be back tomorrow . . . I really, really will. Have a great evening, everybody. Keep moving and shaking. :carrot: We have nowhere to go but down.

Just a quick drop in, lots to do before heading out of town to the inlaws for thanksgiving but let me just say....Tina, you read my mind. I dont know what my deal is...i am SO scared that i am working my way into a funk. Last week was great but only lost a little over a pound and i think that got me down. I should have been happy but i just feel like this weight loss is dragging...what happened to the 3 pound weeks that came so easily? Did okay on the weekend actually, rare for me, until sunday night. I wont even go there. Monday started out great. I was ready to recover and at work the office ordered BBQ, and instead of eating half of my sandwich, i picked at it until it was all gone, and it was a BIG sandwich. I did great today and then my son made homemade macadamia brittle...oh my gosh...i could eat it until it was gone. I keep going back for one more bite...so i have had about 20 of those one more bites. Now tommorrow we are off to the inlaws where there will be no exercise and lots of food. I am getting SO depressed just thinking about it. If i can just maintain i will be insanely happy...but that is looking like a long shot at this point.

I wish us all luck this week with most of us having to deal with family and thanksgiving...gosh that sounds bad, ha ha, but you know what i mean.

Lots of love and encouragement to you all, talk to you when i get back to town.

Well ladies, it's been a long day of fighting my mental battles...A.K.A food cravings and desires. I kept reminding myself of the awful feeling afterwards and so far that has kept me at bay. I had a really good day, kept all in line. Food, water and exercise and feeling pretty positive. Lets hope this sticks!

Tammy, I hear ya girl. We have to keep our spirits up as best we can. It's been a tough go this past while but we have to hang in there. Results don't come in little cookie jars, chip bags or nice hot comfort food. LOL!

Wow, Linda! Look who crawled out of the wood work! Glad to hear things are beginning to clear up for you again. And wow, you've lost through it all. Way to go girl!

Michelle, haven't seen you in a while either. How are you doing?

Stacy, as being smart women you would think that we'd learn after one downfall experience. I guess it's true what they say, food is an addiction too. My gosh it's hard to go without our little friends named sugar, salt and crispy. I think it's harder to overcome a food addiction because we can't go cold turkey, we have to eat to stay alive. It's harder to form a healthy relationship with food when quick, easy, fattening foods are thrown in our face everywhere we go and it's those foods that got us through our days. So obviously it's going to be hard to avoid them and sometimes we feel we can't and that's okay because we get to fix it and try harder the next day. We can beat this, one step, one avoidance at a time!

Have a great night girls, see you tomorrow! Remember, we're a support group...if you're going through a rough spot...don't stay away..Keep posting!
~Tina

Wow Wow Wow :D !!! One day without me checking back in the afternoon and we have exploded. I am so happy to see all of the faces here. Linda you have definately been missed. Actually anyone who hasn't posted for more than a couple of days has been missed. I really do miss anyone and everyone. This group is my life support. Without all of you I would never have made it this far. There is a girl in my office who is now trying to loose and has told me I am her inspiration and she comes to my office everyday to discuss food and weight loss ideas. She has said that without me being there she wouldn't have even been able to start. Well that is how I feel about you ladies. Don't want to put the pressure on but, man, I do depend on all of you to keep me going. I feel like most of you know me better than my close "friends" and family. I have always been totally honest with all of you on my feelings for food and weight. I have never done that with others before. It is so hard to tell someone who is close to you that sees you all of the time exactly how messed up in the head you are when it comes to food. And that is exactly how I look at it. Somewhere along the way in my life my relationship with food became a bad one. Just like people who are in an abusive relationship with another person. They know they need to get out but they are too afraid to do it and sometimes too comfortable with what they know. I feel that is how we are/were. I have abused food for years and years and let it abuse me. But I haven't ever really done anything about it because i was too afraid of failing or because I was too comfortable with what I was eating to change it. For some of us I think we might have inherited it from our parents. I know I did both of my parents have always been heavy. And when I look at what we always ate when I was living at home, its no wonder we all ended up heavy. So just how am I supposed to go to my mom and dad and say "Look, I have an abusive relationship with food. And I think you do too." They would probably put me in the loony bin. And as for my husband. Well I think he knows I have that bad reationship but he just doesn't understand. He has never never had a weight problem. He can put on 10 pounds this week and take it off next week with no problem.

LOL, ok that ended up a little longer than I had intended. Sorry, I guess my point was, I LOVE YOU GIRLS, I really do.:hug:

Good Morning, everybody . . . told you I'd be back today. Thanks for the big welcome back from Michelle (so sorry about your Mother :hug: ), Tina, and Robbin. You don't realize how much you count on a group like this until you don't have it for a bit.

I'm right in there with you when you talk about how open we are with this bunch . . . nobody except my pals on here actually know how much I weigh, or how I feel about it. :grouphug:

I'm also right there with you when you talk about the love/hate relationship we all seem to share with food. Boy I don't know how many times I've wished you could just give up food 'cold-turkey'.

Someday, they really will invent a diet pill that actually does work, but I bet it will only happen when the world's food resources are so depleted that we will need that pill to actually replace all other forms of nutrition in order to keep the population alive. Good thoughts and bad thoughts to that idea -- I'd really miss food, but wouldn't it be great not to have to think about it at all? Just take your nutrition pill once or twice a day and get on about the rest of your life? :shrug: In the meantime, gang -- we are in this together and WE CAN DO IT. :cp:

Anyway, got to run. Need to get in the shower and then off I go to the GYN (oh joy). Since this 63 year old body was trying to have a period at the end of September (talk about a surprise), decided I'd better get things checked out. Probably nothing more serious than all the stress, but better to be sure.

In the meantime, WWI (Wednesday-Weigh-In) was good to me this morning. The FFM (Fairy-Fat-Mother) took away another 1.4 pounds, so it's :woohoo: time for me again.

See you soon, kiddos. Keep up the good moving and shaking. :carrot:

bye bye baby fat!
 

Hiyas,
My name is jamie and I am a mother of 3 ages 1-5 and boyt hey are a handful.. I need to find ME time and really start working on the inside so it shows on the outside. I have no motivation, don't know why, just after the kids came, sleep was soooooooo important. I'm glad I was invited to this thread, I can't wait to get to know all of you and give and recieve words of encouragement on losing the pudge

Welcome Jamie! I hear you!! I have 4 kids ages 2-8. This is the first time in such a long while that I've actually put myself first as far as taking the time to exercise and eat healthfully. I'm so happy that whatever needed to finally clicked and it's happening for me. It's hard...I am so tired some days and some days I don't do much house-work, but oh well. I'm making exercise the main priority and everything else gets done eventually, lol.

Hey Linda! Glad you are back! I don't know if you remember me, but I do remember you-- from this thread and around the boards too. We have Canada in common and I think we have both been around for awhile!

I am really tired tonight. I've been getting up at 6 am to do t-tapp, then today was a running day too. I hardly had any energy the rest of the day. But the scale is looking good for weigh-in tomorrow. Then a friend is hosting an American Thanksgiving for me and a couple other transplant friends. Should be yummy! A little worried for desserts...she is having pumpkin pie, cheesecake and apple crisp! Ack! lol