HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU HARD WORKIN' CHICK!!!!

At some point, lady, you're gonna have to have a day that does not involve doing things for other people. You need a "pamper Melissa day". Every birthday present does not have to happen on your actual birthday. Make sure you do that soon!
Hope you're having a fantastic day!
BTW, I hope you can get some relief for your leg soon. Go to the doctor and let us know how it goes. Do you have a YMCA or recreation center nearby. You may want to consider water aerobics. The water takes something like 80% of the pressure off the joints and muscles. Plus you burn about 50% more calories than land based aerobics. It hurts afterwards the first few times though. So if you do it, take some Advil or Tylenol on the way there. I loved it so much that I still think of doing it a couple of times a month to see if my skin will tolerate it if I go only on occasion. Fun, fun, fun!!

Aqua - Yes the shoes were going to be my reward for getting to 225. They're really cute shoes. I like them. My husband has been talking to me about doing wind sprints. Do you think that maybe I've become his project or something? :shrug: :lol: I'm benefitting a lot from his "coaching".
Yeah, Pilates will kill you the day after. Another one of those "good sores" ;) Just like my legs are today after yesterday's bellydancing. Those danggone lunges!! My leg muscles ache so much today that I can feel with moving when I walk. I can't believe I'm happy about my legs being sore. Oh, but the muscles I'll soon have there. :D
BTW, that's a very sweet little man you're raising. :)

Danielle - You'll just love what the Pilates is going to do for you. It won't take long either. After doing Leslie's dvd, I'm ready to try others now. I'm becoming strong enough. If those roll ups are too hard, put your feet under a chair or the couch. Concentrate on your abdominal muscles as opposed to your back when you pull up. It wil get easier and easier.
I understand about the attention. Another annoying thing about people noticing that you're losing weight is that they have all these opinions on how you should do it. Or how much you should lose. :rolleyes:
It feels good when you go ahead and work out even when you feel yucky, doesn't it?

Hi Sara!! :wave: I hope you had a great day at work! How's the walking going? You'll be slender and toned in no time!

Hi Liz. Congrats on the weight loss lady. :bravo: Oh, how I wish I lived in a city that I didn't need a car order to get around. I would still keep one for the grocery store and, if I need it, the laundry mat. But I would love to have a great transit system. I especially hate driving in the winter. City driving sucks. But I love driving on road trips.
Ok, now I'm going to pick up a some of those low fat Hebrew National hotdogs the next time I go to the grocery store. All of a sudden I'm wanting a hot dog. :)
Yes there is a lot of positive energy on this thread. I feel grateful and blessed to be a part of it.

Trish - I have to go back tomorrow. :cry: I think I'll feel the same way you did today. I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go!!!! :tantrum: Oh, the injustice of it! You know I think my parents owed it to me to have been billionaires and to have given me a trust fund large enough to keep me wealthy my whole life. :mad: Dang it!

Ok, I'd better go. I'm in vacation mode and I've not exercised today. If I don't get to check in later, have a great evening everyone.

Amany- Good to see you! :hug:

I think it's really nice that he is into finding new things to do, like wind sprints. Quite frankly the words "wind" and "sprint" put together scare the H-E- double hockey sticks outta me, but you say you would love to run again, so this might be a very good thing for you. :D

Thanks about the little man. :) When kids say things like that, and you are reminded- wow- someone loves me unconditionally. It feels good all over. Especially when it is an overweight issue. There are days when I have felt absolutely worthless because of my size. Seems trivial when I think of those "moments".

Today's been a great day food & exercise wise. Just this afternoon I was hanging around my pantry "looking" for something to eat, which I promptly ended up talking myself out of...with the saying..."you are what you eat". I just now ran across my horoscope for today and this is what it said:

September 6, 2006
Your powers of communication continue to be strong. Today's physical focus should be on your feet! Yes - wherever you plant your feet indicates the direction in which you will head. The aspect at play asks you to be determined, and to follow through on what you say. It's a great day to pick up an exercise routine you've been talking about, and likewise to really think about the expression "You are what you eat."

Guess I must be in tune huh? :D



BBL....

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes girls!! It means so much to me, my own mother, who lives in the same town as me hasnt bothered to call. My family is downstairs trying to put their surprises together and then we are off to dinner.

I LOVE the water aerobic idea! I think I'm gonna try. I've been swimming with the girls and it didnt really relieve my leg at all but it was better than just walking. The problem is its stemming from my back. I tried to get an appointment today but couldnt ever get through, I'd be on hold for 10, 20 minutes and give up, I'll try again tomorrow!

Liz I'm carrot dancing for you!!!

Okay here come the troops! Have a great evening everyone!

~melissa

I forgot! Danielle, my bed is absolutely WONDERFUL!! No back pain this morning at all! Thats something with this weight, anyone else get back aches if they stay in bed too long? And my heels would hurt to when I first get up. And my arms didnt fall asleep once last night. The bed really made a difference even after just one night. Spinal alignment when sleeping is really important! Okay I'm really going now! LOL!
~melissa

hey everyone couldnt go back to sleep so i thought i would pop in

:rain: :coffee: Good Morning Ladies!:rain: :coffee2:

Sugar-N-Spice- How are you today? Good for you, for avoiding temptation! :carrot:

Hun.e.B- Water aerobics does sound like fun, doesn't it? I love to swim, but I think I have grown to love working out alone. I used to go to a gym all the time (before I had my heart procedure), and they had a step aerobic teacher. She tried to be motivational, but I would be on a piece of equipment and she would get all hyper and in my face and say stuff like "come on girl... feel the burn!!! You can do it!!!!" and it would annoy the crap outta me. For aerobics that was fine, but when I'm sweating on a machine, and yes, indeed I feel the burn, I didn't need her drawing attention to me like that. (she did it to everybody) but, that's not what I joined the the gym for. I told her I couldn't go all fast unless she wanted to call an ambulance when my heart threw itself into a fit. Ahhhh, the good old days. :D I can do all kinds of stuff now.

miafluker - Hi! How are ya today?

Good morning All!!!

Ok, I really need to start to dig in with the exercise with renewed passion. I sort of feel myself winding down and I don't want to. I have another 80 - 100 pounds to lose. Calories and fat to burn! Muscles to tone. Jiggles to tighten!!! I don't know yet if the winding down was due to fatigue and then just being on vacation. Or just laziness. Either way I need a shot in the arm, quick!

This will be the first week in about three weeks that I won't be getting six days in. I didn't exercise Monday or Wednesday. I did exercise this morning and I plan to do more when I get home. I have this horrible fear that I'll stop right here, and fail. I know it's irrational. I know that all I have to do is continue with what I've been doing. Just go through the motions.

Ok, that's enough whining. I know what I need to do, so I'll just have to do it, right? I guess it just makes me feel better to vent a bit. I'm fine. Onward and upward!!

Aqua - I know what you mean about the gym. Those people get on my nerves! What I hate is that the people at my fitness center are always bugging people about recruiting their friends. It's so annoying. Whenever they come over to help at me, they have a motive. So if you tell them that you're not going to do any recruiting for them, they are slow to help you. That's why I was only using my membership for the water aerobics. I have a lifetime membership that I finished paying for about 8 or 9 years ago.
I once took an aerobics class there and there was this hand movement that involved clapping. I was doing the movement except for the clap. Call me strange, but I just don't like clapping while I'm exercising. I always clap too hard and hurt my hands. Plus it's just an annoying distration to me. This woman was going nuts because I wasn't doing the clap.

Melissa - I hope you're able to make an appointment today. All this talk about water aerobics is tempting me to try it again. Maybe my skin will allow me to do it once a week. I would love to go on Fridays after work because it takes a lot more effort for me to make myself exercise on those days.
I'm glad you mentioned the bed because I meant to ask you about it. It sounds luxurious!

Danielle - It feels good to have a good eating and exercise day, doesn't it? It's great knowing that you've done something positive for your health. Keep it up chick!

Mia - I hope you were able to get some rest last night. Sorry no one was awake to play with you. :)

Have a great day everyone. BBL!

Morning All. I am sick sick sick today. I was up most of the night because I couldn't stop coughing. Now this morning I can't breathe and my chest is major congested. It basically sux! On top of that we have ginormous rainstorms since last night. This equals big flooding here.

Mia, hope you finally got some sleep!

Aqua, I had a giggle over picturing you at the gym and some "Howie-wannabe" screaming at you and you basically telling her to go fly a kite. :D I actually don't think I'd do well in a gym setting. Too self conscious I think. Maybe when I don't look and feel huge? See? There I am trying to conform to society's standards without meaning to! Bah!

So girls, I am miserable today. :sad: gonna lay low I think and just take it easy. Now, if I get my heart rate up all I get is lots of coughing and feel like my lungs are gonna explode. So yep, gonna just take it easy and rest. Hopefully later I'll feel like I can workout- tomorrow's weigh in! :eek: gosh I hope I've lost something!lol

Check on ya'll in a bit.

Danielle - If you feel that bad, it might not be a good idea to push yourself. Get some rest. If you're not better by tomorrow, or get worse, go and see your doctor. I hope you feel much better soon.

Amany- Good Morning!!! :)

I am so glad you said you need to dig in with the exercise with renewed passion. We all need to dig deeper and remember that exciting feeling -like we had that first and second week- at some point. I needed to hear someone else say what I was thinking, thank you. I haven't stopped or anything, but you know what I mean. We have to keep telling ourselves it is for life, remember why we do it and that we need to love and embrace it. That avatar of yours is good motivation for me too!

You're not being irrational. You are breaking old patterns. That is why you are consiously reminding yourself to get back in the game. There isn't anything wrong with taking a break for a couple of days. Sometimes we need a break. You know you are in it for real this time, that is why you conscience won't cut you any slack. :)

Sugar-N-Spice- Aw, hon... :hug: Take it easy until you get to feeling better. Do you like chicken broth? I know it's a classic stand by, but it always feels good to me on cold rainy days, especially if I'm sick. It's not so bad for you either.

Yeah, I liked that lady at the gym, she was a nice person... but I felt funny with her all up in my grill - especially when I was on the squat machine. Have you ever tried one of those? I called it "the iron maiden". Every time I looked at it I got the willies. It's the machine you do last because you want to pretend it isn't there. Actually doing it was torture, let alone having someone all "can you feel the burn, can you feel the burn, ....???!!!!! " ACK!!!!!!!!!! I should have said something like " I feel like my thigh mucle is going to come bursting out of my leg and do a happy dance for freedom, does that count as a burn?" ;)

Good morning Ladies!

I am sitting here sipping my yummy coffee and enjoying everybody's posts....except Danielle's! Oh darling....feel better soon! Get lots of rest and drink a ton of water water water. It's the magical elixir, I swear. I used to say that about wine (no joke, if I felt a cold coming on, I'd have a glass of wine), but then I hopped on the scale! :dizzy: And don't push yourself!

I did enjoy your post about the horoscope and standing in front of the pantry. That's so cool! I can't tell you how many times I've been bored and standing in front of the pantry. It's crazy. My dad and I read the Dr. Phil weight loss book, and I have to say.....that's one of his big things.....eating out of boredom. I knew I did it, but when I read the book, my eyes were completely opened. I recalled the numerous times I've eaten fattening snacks just because they were there in front of me and not because I was hungry or even craving them. Nuts. God bless my roommate, he's one of my best friends and I love him to death, but he keeps the WORST food in our house. He loves chips and anything made by Little Debby. :devil: And of course, he's rail thin. Grrrr. Though, he does exercise a lot.

Aqua: I laughed out loud when I pictured you doing the dance with the knee pumping and hand behind the head! I was so tempted to get up and do "the sprinkler" just for you! I'm so glad that you have your little boy to remind you of the beauty of unconditional love. What a cute little goober. But, remember, you are NEVER worthless because of a number on a scale. We are all beautiful, gorgeous, strong, determined women. :carrot:

Melissa: I hope you had a WONDERFUL birthday celebration with your family! And I'm so happy to hear about the new bed. I know exactly what you mean about laying in bed too long and feeling achey. I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a terrible pain in my lower back because I had been laying on my back for so many consecutive hours. Though I know it's partially to do with age, I can't help but think that if I were at a healthy weight, those aches and pains wouldn't be quite so bad. I dunno.....I guess we'll have to wait and see!

And Amanda: We all have the days where we feel like we're just spinning our wheels, but girlpie.....don't you dare give up! You are such an inspiration to all of us and such a goal setter.....you can't give up! We'd never survive without you, lady! Besides, you just got new shoes and you can't let those go to waste. No seriously, you doing such great work and taking such good care of yourself. It's hard when you look at the ultimate goal and think, "I have so far to go." But this isn't about quick results.....this is about a change of lifestyle and mindset.....and baby, you're there! It's not just about losing weight, it's about being healthy.....and you've taken SO many steps in that direction. Your exercise habits are unbelievable and your dedication is amazing. Yeah.....maybe you feel like there's a ways to go in terms of number, but that's the easy part. You've got the mindset.....and that's the hard part! I'm so proud of you and everything you've accomplished thus far, so hang in there! My dad has a saying, actually two that I think are appropriate here: 1) "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time" and 2) "If you have one foot on yesterday and one foot on tomorrow, you're just pi**ing on today." My dad is weird. But insightful.....hahahahaha! :D

Well, I finally got a tape measure and have posted my stats for the challenge! I'm so excited about this....and I think it's great that we're really just competing against ourselves.

Alright ladies, I suppose I should do some work. :(

Liz

iwantnewpants- Hi!!!! :)

I'm having a black coffee right now. I almost never drink it anymore, but I was really in the mood this morning. I love coffee.

heheheheh... I have my tape measure in a little Chinese cup by the computer. Looks so innocent just sitting there... so harmless... just sitting there.... It's mocking me.

lol.. I'm just kidding. I hope my measurements will reflect my work in a positive way though. It's only the first week so I won't let it bug me too much.

Ah, found picture of "the iron maiden". Here she is.

http://www.kbacoach.com/squatmachine.html

and what an actual iron maiden is....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Ma...ture_device%29

Danielle - Sorry your not doing so well today I hope you feel better. :hug:
Aqua I hope you are doing good today. How's your excersize program going?
Amanda My walking is going good, This other lady from downstairs has decided to join Mary and I for our walks. And for an older lady she can walk!!!!
Liz I heard the Dr. Phil book was good But I have yet to read it.
Elycia, Melissa, Mia HunB I hope you ladies are doing good. What have you been up to?

Well I got a call from my Nana last night saying my sister was upset because I was loosing weight and supposibly she is upset about her stomache. My nana says she see's me and that I'm loosing weight and she feels bad, so my moms going to be dying her hair and buying more healthy food. I guess my grandma is going to be giving her my treadmill (I cant have it my apartment is 3 flights up) I feel bad that she feels that way. She's never told me anything. I dont see any changes inches wise, weight yes but inches no. I still think I look the same. more to come later i gotta get to work.

hey guys so far so good today?
yes i finally got a couple of hours of sleep then i recorded some workouts from fit tv for later and i won turbo jam cardio party on ebay last night i also decided i want to get some of the qiuck fix or 10 minute solution videos... well i have news when i weighed earlier this week i saw that i gained 2lbs but i weighed this morning and i lost the 2lbs :carrot: i guess it may have been water weight but i dont care