Susan, Good job! Let's all keep losing. Did you go on that date yet?

Karynlee, Yogalates probably has some Pilates elements. It's so important to strengthen your core. You will do fine at your WW meeting. We're all in this together. Yes, Chicago has some great restaurants.

Re: buying new clothes. I started with WW because I did not want to spend money on a new wardrobe as I had gotten so fat then. Well...I go to WW and guess what? I had to buy all new clothes! I went from a size 16 to 8-10. You're right, Karynlee, it's so much fun. I like Ross especially because for some reason, some of their clothes on the sale rack are so long and that's right up my alley--I'm 6 feet tall.

Pam, Let us know how you did at WI. I used to dread WI at TOM--I was usually up 3-5 pounds. Now that I'm perimenopausal, I don't even think about TOM and that's great, although I do have hot flashes.

Cold and snowy here...like Pam we're getting hit with the clipper from Canada. They're calling for lake effect storms tomorrow with the lakeshore getting hit this time :(

Pam: I never know what to expect during TOM anymore...sometimes I'm up and others I'm down. No rhyme or reason either. The only thing we can do is continue to journal, exercise, and eat right.

Lisa: Congrats on your loss!! Passing up the brownies, etc. really makes a difference and especially when you get results!

Susan: Woohoo! You're doing great!

KarynLee: You'll be fine on Saturday. I went walking indoors yesterday and last night my calves were complaining--I'd much rather walk outdoors but with the snow/ice it's just not an option right now :(

The organization that I belong to has quite a few chapters with a membership of over 3,000. There are chapters all over and at the meeting we have a board made up of regional presidents, delegates, and elected board members. The board members (5) are elected at the National Convention and the regional representatives are elected by the regions. The official name of the organization is: Deutsch-Amerikaner National Kongress (German American National Congress) or "D.A.N.K." The goal is to preserve the German heritage and to teach the German language to children and adults.

I'll post more after my meeting today.

Hi ladies,

Once again my weight stayed the same, but with TOM occurring I'm pretty happy to maintain since I usually am up 2lbs during this time. I'm hoping for a nice loss next week!

I already went for a nice walk on the indoor track and plan on doing it again later this afternoon. Will be leaving work a little early today, time for my annual mammo.

Melissa it's going to get brutally cold tomorrow and Friday with temps in the single digits but no snow in the forecast until Sunday. I hope you don't get too much snow. I hope you enjoy your time in Chicago, that's an interesting organization. Do you speak German?

karynlee what a great feeling to buy a smaller size jeans you must have been thrilled! I'm not familiar with Ross, I don't think their in my area. I'm going clothes shopping tonight with my son. He starts his new job on Feb 1st and I told him I would buy him some "professional" clothes.

Susan A 1.5lb loss...you go girl :carrot: That's great!

Lisa 2lbs is terrific, you're really doing very well and will be at your next 5lb goal in no time!

Even though my weight has been at a standstill I'm really loving this challenge!

Melissa, Sorry about the weather. Well, it's winter and it had to come sooner or later. Ich spreche Deutsch. I habe Deutsch acht Jahre auf der Universitaet studiert (could not put in an umlaut). D.A.N.K. sounds like a great organization.

Pam, Well, if you're the same during TOM, you should show a loss next week. Something to look forward to!

Pam: I'd much rather stay the same than gain any day!

I was up .4 at WI today but after a large (for me) loss last week it's not really surprising. I just need to stay focused. Pam, I agree the challenge is really helping me out.

I don't speak German but can understand/read a little bit but not enough to say I know it. There are members on the board who are very fluent and occasionally will revert to German and I'll have to pipe up and ask them to translate...they're good about it. The organization is finding that more and more of us want to preserve the heritage but are 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation and don't speak the language.

Lisa: Loosely translated I think, you took German in college? My son took it in high school but didn't really like it.

Melissa, Sorry about the gain, but that's not much. Yes, believe it or not I studied German in high school and in college (8 years). I graduated with a Bachelors degree in German with minors in French and Italian. Unfortunately, I never did much with it because I didn't want to be a teacher, so no one knew which career for me to pursue. It does help me with my opera arias.

I recently joined a local group called Italian Friends. We get together to speak in Italian. I will be traveling to Italy in March, so I thought I'd join to brush up my Italian. Boy, have I forgotten a lot. It's coming back slowly.

TGIF friends.

My sister and I are playing tourists in our own town this weekend. We've got a hotel room booked downtown and we're going to shop, run, use the pool and hit the bars :D It's supposed to snow here tomorrow, with high winds. Hope it's not a repeat of last Friday when we tried to go out for happy hour and were literally rained out.

Date yesterday not a successful one. He's nice enough, just no spark, and I believe in spark. Onward...

It will likely be a bit of a challenge to stay OP on the weekend but I will make the effort. I am surprised and a little disappointed that the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I'd like. I need to settle down and stop weighing myself every day. It's depressing, and unrealistic.

Melissa: Don't sweat the slight gain. You're making great progress.

Pam: It will come.

Lisa: You're smoking girl.

Karynlee: I forgot to mention that belly breathing does wonders for calming the nerves. It reduces the fight-or-flight reflex. Try it; you might be pleasantly surprised.

Have a great weekend ladies. See you here on Monday.

Susan

Susan, I hope you have a great weekend. That sounds like so much fun. Sorry about the date--you're right--gotta have spark.

Good morning! :coffee:

Lisa, I'm gonna say something I'm sure you've never heard before... my goodness, you're TALL, girl!! :lol: Tall, thin and blond - what a rockin' combo! Sure wish I had you around here to help me with some German. We started choir rehearsals again on Tuesday and we're doing a collection of Brahms waltzes. We're singing them in German since the English translation often sounds like nonsense. German is so hard for me! :dizzy: Your Italian Friends group sounds awesome and so does your trip to Italy. Do you go there regularly?

Susan, your weekend with your sis sounds like SO much fun!! Hope you have a great time and that the weather cooperates for you guys. Thanks for the breathing tip... I will make a point to do that since I tend to forget to breathe when I'm nervous. It would be a little embarrassing if I passed out during my lifetime presentation. :o

Hi Pam and Melissa! Hope you're both doing your best to stay warm. It's finally warming up around here. We had a high of 32 yesterday and it felt like summertime - like I could break out my tank tops and flip flops! ;)

Not much going on - it's been a quiet week. Just trying to keep up with the house and the kids. I'm up in weight a little, but I think it's because I've hit my strength training a bit harder this week. That BETTER be the reason, cuz I've been on my best behavior! ;)

Have a great day, girls! :wave:

Good morning! It's blustery here this morning and the lake effect bands have set up--we had about 5" this morning to clear and the roads were slick. The brunt of the storm is supposed to hit this afternoon and last through tomorrow. The warning from the NWS is through 4 pm tomorrow. I'm wondering if I'm even going to make it out of town. I hope if the flight gets cancelled they do it early so that I don't make a wasted trip to the airport.

I didn't have a great day with eating last night...I was searching for something and I know part of it was due to a little stress. I got a letter from my credit union that my name appeared on the list from the Marshalls/TG Maxx compromise. Grrrr. Anyway, they're issuing me a new card and as soon as it arrives they'll close my current one.

Trying to stay warm here and really fighting the urge to NOT go to the Wellness Center at noon today to walk. I know I'll be okay once I get there.

Susan: Have fun playing tourist with your sister! It sounds like fun. I agree, you need to have a "spark" of some sort to start a relationship.

Lisa: Wow, you did take a lot of German! I'm sure it does help you with your singing and you're right about the translations--they don't sound the same in English as they do in German.

KarynLee: 32 sounds wonderful right now! It's 18 here this morning and with the windchills we're below 0! I would agree that your weight is up a little due to the extra strength training. Your muscles tend to hang onto fluid to "repair" the little tears caused by exercise. You're doing great!

I'm off tomorrow and weather permitting on my way to Chicago. Have a good day ladies!

Melissa, I just got a similar letter from my credit union. It just said, though, that my card had been compromised by a "national retailer." I shop at TJ Maxx... I wonder if that's the store they're talking about. Irritating, huh? :mad: Hope it doesn't turn into anything beyond the inconvenience of having to replace my card.

Karynlee, Yes, I am tall. It's fun now, but not when I was growing up. Where do you live? I forget. Yes, I could help you with your German. Actually I like singing in German. Soon, I'll be in a group singing Haydn's The Creation (a great piece). I've been to Italy twice and I'm really looking forward to this trip.

[B]Melissa,/B] I hope you got your walk in. Maybe your flight will be canceled and you won't have to go to the Windy City. Sometimes you get what you wished for. Five inches at once is a lot of snow.

Well, here it's very rainy and cold (not as cold as your place). It's an ugly day.

Melissa and Karynlee, I had not heard about the credit card fiasco. That's terrible.

I have been reading about green tea helping with weight loss. I've been drinking it all week and I really do think it has helped. It's good for other things, too. Have any of you heard of this?

Good morning!

The weather has cleared so my flight is scheduled. We had terrible weather yesterday and had a major pile up on the interstate. Over 30 cars were involved and there was one fatality. The snow was terrible and there were white outs. We got over 10" of snow here in the city and the outlying areas I'm sure got more. It took emergency workers from 1 p.m. until 3 a.m. this morning to get the interstate cleared.

Karynlee: It's probably Target. I'm hoping, like you, that I'll only have to have my card replaced.

Lisa: There's a link on the ABC news channel about the breach. They said it could affect up to 10 million people.

Well ladies, have a great weekend! I'll touch base on Monday.

Melissa, Even more snow? That's awful. Well, have a good trip to Chicago.

Anyone have plans for the weekend? DH and I are going to see a play tonight, Seven Year Itch. Tomorrow I will be working at the church rummage sale all day. Sunday, my crazy shopping GF wants to go shopping (I really don't need to spend more money.) Have a great OP weekend everyone.

Hi ladies,

Hope you all have a nice weekend. DH and I are going out to dinner tonight with the family to celebrate his 50th birthday. Other than that not too much planned. It's really cold here, temp this morning was 1. :fr:

Lisa enjoy the play and shopping with your friend!

Melissa sorry you got all that snow. Safe travels this weekend.

See you next week!