Hi everyone,

I'm back from vacation (in Norway!!) and like everyone else, broiling in this heat. Good news is I only gained 0.5 # after being away for over 2 weeks. They eat healthy in Norway and I walked a lot. If I can figure out how to post a couple of photos I will. The country is beautiful with lots of mountains, fjords, lakes and waterfalls. Temps were in the 70s. Ahhh

Phantastica - Great loss on your weigh-in this week! We have a special charm for half-way to goal in our club. I think it may be that way for all of TOPs.

Lyn

Hey, welcome back!

Oooh, I would loooove to see pictures. There's a little icon above the text-box where you type the message. It looks like a mountain with a yellow sky. That's the 'insert image' thing, and it should be pretty straight-forward from there. You might need to upload them to a free account, like photobucket.com or something, and link to the pictures from there.

It's been hot here, too.

Hi Ladies,
Welcome back Lyn! Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.
I for one gained a pound last night. But I think it has a lot to do with my dh and some of friends of ours all went to a concert on Saturday and I had to eat out twice. Couldn't really find healthy food choices at the concert. But I will try very hard this coming week to drop it and a few more hopefully. Watch I won't start losing again until after I go back to teaching school.
Congrats Phantasticia for losing again this week. Keep up the good work! I bet it feels wonderful to be have way to goal now.
Well I better close for now. My dh just got home from work. Need to talk to him before we go to a birthday pool party this evening for a 6 year-old friend.
Try to stay cool.
Kerry

Kerry, I feel the pain of eating restaurant food! I've been tracking my food on fitday, and on the days I go to restaurants my calories are waaaay higher, like well over 500 calories higher!

Thank you! I'm *almost* half-way to goal.

I'm finding it very hard to get back to work. Plus, I must have screwed up my back with the 30 hours of traveling (4 flights and lots of airport waits). Yesterday I went to the Dr. and he prescribed a pain killer and when I take it it knocks me out so I'm pretty worthless at work. I kinow, I know, I have no right to complain after the great trip we had. Just call me a whiner today!

The good news is I don't feel like eating in this hot weather. Anyone else feel the same?

Lyn

I was just meeting with a coworker who uses an exercise ball/chair at work for back pain. She says it was $10 and it really helps!

Ha, even the heat doesn't keep me from wanting to eat. We had a nice storm the other night and it's been quite a bit more mild since then (80s-90s instead of 90s-100s).

Hi All... Havent posted in a while.. Sounds like everyone is doing great. I am doing fine here.. My sons wedding is now past and things have settled down. They return from Hawaii today. I am excited to see them. I been house and dog sitting. Cant wait to sleep in my own bed tonite.

I saw Lyns pics of Norway. They were gorgeous. Norway has some rugged beauty, that is for sure. In case your wondering, Lyn is in my group ....Lyn, have you considered a massage? I know a great massage therapist in Batavia. She sure helped me a few times when I needed pain relief and it feels good!
Hope you all have a great week. Keep up the good work... Barb

It's Saturday afternoon - woops actually evening now. Thank goodness it's a lot cooler today. I did some decent walking today and yesterday, but am still feeling tired. Maybe jet lag and the fact that my back is still not totally better. Thanks for the advice. Yes I did see a chiropractor for a while, but didn't really think it helped me much. I know that when I take the time to do yoga stretches it gets better. My DH and I called a couple of massage therapists, but they were not available today.

My DD (Rachel) had the opening night of her comedy improv troupe in Rochester last night. It was great. She wrote one the the skits about a daughter who is traumitized by her dad who tell awful puns. It was a riot and, yes, it is based on fact. My DH is a die-hard punner and we spend a lot of our time moaning at his "jokes".

I went to dinner before the show and was good - ordered a salad with broiled chicken strips. But then the service was so slow that the waitress offered our table free desserts! I couldn't pass it up so had a chocolate mousse. Hopefully I walked it off. Our TOPs club is trying for a "no gain" week this week.

Lyn

How fun that you got to go to Norway! Is it someplace that you have really wanted to go? Do you have family there? I guess I would just never think to go there. I should go to Denmark next time I go to Europe, since I am part Danish. (In more ways than one- you should see my thighs- LOL)

I actually lost 2 pounds this week and FINALLY made it to the 10 pound lost mark (It has taken 7 months). I can't believe it has been that long. It seems like for forevor I have gained and lost the same 2 pounds a million times. Now DH and I are working out together though and we are doing this buddy contest at our chapter and I really like it.
Hope you all have a great week!

Jennie,
Please tell me more about your buddy contest? Sounds like it would be a fun thing to do! Congrats on losing two pounds this week and reaching your ten pound mark! Keep up the good work!
I will find out how well I did this week tomorrow evening. I have to go to an inservice all day tomorrow for school. So I will have to eat whatever they are having prepared for us. I hope it is something I am able to eat. If not, I might just go get a salad from somewhere close to the Confernence center.
Good luck to everyone else this week!
Talk to you all later.
Kerry

WTG, Jennie! And please share the buddy contest! We're doing a Dime Game ... start out with 10 dimes in a bag, if you gain you have to add a dime and if you lose you get to take a dime, when the contest is over whoever has the fewest dimes wins all the others or something. I'm not quite sure how all the rules go.

Lyn, your daughter's skit sounds cute! I bet you were proud.

Good luck, Kar, with weigh-in! I hope they have something reasonably healthy at the in-service.

I lost this week! 2.5 pounds. 5 pounds from half-way to goal weight!

Hi ladies,
I went to TOPS but only sat through the meeting for support. I asked to be excused from weigh-in tonight since I ate something at the in-service that didn't agree with me and made me sick to my stomach and bloated. I only ate a piece of grilled chicken with some gravy on it, steamed vegetable meledly and a salad. So I don't know what made me sick.
Way to go Phantastica with your weight loss this week! Keep up the great job! Hope everyone else has a great week this week.
I am going to try very hard in the coming week to have a great loss. I will be getting ready to go back to school so that should help!
Well I think I am going to go to bed early tonight, since I am still not feeling good. Talk to you all later.
Kerry

Ok so the buddy thing works like this:
The leader paired us up.
We can each get a point for keeping a food journal for the week (max 2 pts)
We can each get a point for each day we exercise at least 20 minutes (max 14 pts)
We can get up to 7 points for contacting eachother (1 pt each time we do it-I know that's a wierd # to have a max for- I think it was just because they didn;t want contact to be worth as much as exercising)
We can each get a point for showing up and staying through the meeting (max 2 pts)
You can each get a point for losing or turtling or if you are KOPS for staying in leeway. You have to take away a point though if you gain. So pretty much you can get 2 points if you both lose, 0 points if one of you loses and one gains because they cancel eachother out, or -2 points if you both gain
And then you can get 5 bonus points if all your other categories add up to 19 or more points
The contest runs for 6 weeks and whichever team wins, they each get a charm.

Speaking of charms, have you guys seen the new link bracelets that you can order? They are in the new magazine and they ROCK! Then, instead of getting charms for milestones, you get links I am gonna order one cause they aren't expensive at all.

WTG Phan on your weight loss!
And no worries about the bloating Kerry, we all have days like that!

Well I found out what was really probably wrong with me. I heard on the radio this morning that my town was under a boil advisary on Sun.-Tuesday and I drank a lot of water from our tap those couple of days. So I was probably sick from the water. I didn't know it or I won't have drank our water and went to buy some bottles of it.
Thanks Jeannie for the buddy contest info. it looks like it would be fun to play. I will have to share it with my leader and see what if she wants to play it as our next contest.
Hope everyone is having a great week! I just got back from a walk with my stepdaughter around the local state lake here in my town.
Take care,
Kerry