WELCOME BACK ZOE GIRL!!!!! Wow, sounds like you had a great vacation. It must have been so good to see your family. Like Es says, today is Monday, "fresh start" day:smug: (actually anyday of the week can be fresh start day:lol: And like Jen knows I love to say.............."life gets in the way" sometimes. You'll get back on track before you know it! Its really good to have you back.

I'm off to work but just wanted to say hi to my buddies. I'll talk to you's later. Have a great day everyone!

Hugs,
Dianne

HI Ladies,
I have been away on a Woman's Retreat. It was a lot of fun. As you can probably guess I don't have many women to network with at work so I am glad that I have you gals on the net and some special women at my church. We had a lot of fun, but all we did was eat. Also the H2O there tasted terrible, so I wasn't getting my H2O intake. I am sure that I am retaining right now. I am afraid to get on a scale. It is time to get back OP.

COngratulations to all of you who lost this week!! You should be very proud!!

Have a great Monday,
Janie

Hello:D

Janie, where was the retreat? Where do you fellowship? Geezz am I being nosey! It's so hard when you go to a place where it totally throws you off program. They think I'm anti-sociable at work cause I never go out to lunch. They don't even ask me anymore. :rolleyes: Glad to hear you had fun.

Ruth, I miss you :( Hope you can come back to us soon.

Zoe, you did the right thing by coming back. We're here to support eachother no matter what. I haven't been losing or gaining. I'm stuck at 175. I was sick for a week but for some reason I didn't lose anything & I hardly ate for 3 days. At one time this would have made me very upset but not anymore. I did the treadmill today for 30 minutes. Without exercise it seems so much harder to lose. Soon the warm weather will be here & we can all start walking right girls?

Hi Jen, Myra, Terri, Viola, Sandy, Pogo & Dianne. :wave:

Till tomorrow.

Es

Hello my friends :wave: ~ Well, I made it through this horrible and long Monday. What a day!! After being away and then also doing my "starting over" routine, it was some day. But it's almost over. Did you's hear my screams when I got on the scale this morning??? :eek: Anyway, I'm doing okay and back on track. Nothing coming up to sabbotage me....until May anyway. :)

I hope you're all doing well....have a great evening ~ I'm going to rest tonight, off the computer. Nighty night.

Zoe ~ soaking up the "SON" in Texas
220 (heaviest)/195/148-153

Hi everyone!

We had a great relaxing weekend. Joe's on call this week, so now we stick close to home and make no big plans for the coming weekend. Jess, etc., will be here for dinner on Saturday. :D

My Aunt Ginny (my favorite, who's 79, suffering from emphysema) was hospitalized for the last 3 weeks. She's now staying with one of her sons until she can go back to her own place. I don't know if some of you remember, she had 7 sons and 1 daughter, she's my Mom's sister. Anyhow.....I'm going to see her on Wednesday. Her only request is for broccoli-cheese soup. Yikes! Looks like I'll have to suffer ;)....seriously, I'd do absolutely anything for this woman. There's a little deli/bistro near here that I'm going to on Wed. morning to pick up lunch and take to her. She used to teach home economics, has a son who's a chef. Food has always been such a big part of her life, it's something we just always "do" together. And then I'll think about points all the way home .........

Janie, there's nothing worse than bad tasting water! Way back when, my in-laws used to live on a farm in Indiana. The water was awful, had to brush our teeth with bottled water, and that wasn't in vogue in the 70's :lol: Hope the cake didn't do too much damage. Glad you had a good time.

Es, I think it's so great that you exercise. You know, even if you're not 100% OP, exercising is so much more important! You're absolutely doing the right thing. Be proud of yourself!

till tomorrow....
luv,
~Jen

Well, as Dianne says: "life gets in the way". At least that is how I feel at the moment. I just can't seem to get back on track. But I'm trying. I did get all my water in today and I ate decent for a change.

Now I need to get back to excising. I've gained a few pounds back. That is really depressing. Maybe will have lost a few of them by Thursday.

Well I better go, talk to you tomorrow.

Ruth

Hi Es,
You are not being nosey. The retreat was at a Franciscan Retreat outside San Juan Bautista, CA. SJB is a cute little mission town about 2 hours south of the Bay Area. There are wooden plank sidewalks and cute little shops in town. The Retreat is up on a hill with beautiful gardens and hiking trails. My church is Our Savior's Lutheran Church. Like myself, most Californians are transplants from other parts of the country. Most of the people from my church are from the midwest. There were 20 of us at the retreat and I have to say I haven't laughed that much in a long time:lol:

Everyone,
I hope you are all having an OP Tuesday. I'm doing good so far ;)

Hugs,
JanieD

Zoe, I thought I heard someone screaming yesterday morning.:lol:

Janie, it's great to be able to laugh. I love to see someone with a smile on their face. I work with all grumpy women so I rarely see that. I always smile cause I have so much to be greatful for. Sounds like a beautiful place. I bet it was very peaceful too.

Today was such a long day. I have a Tuesday thing. I just don't like Tuesdays, at work anyway.

Ruth, I've been going thru what you're going thru for the past 3 yrs. I haven't given up but I'm always struggling. I still can't figure out why.:rolleyes: You know that "click" everyone talks about? I never heard it.:lol: Exercise is very important. Today I felt a little tired so I only did 20 minutes on the treadmill. Oprah was very informative yesterday. It was about women & heart disease. One of the main things we could do is to be active. I will exercise till I'm an old lady if I'm able. I must have been retaining water today cause all I did was go to the bathroom. Don't stay depressed cause it can keep us in that negative attitude like wanting to give up. You can do this. We all can do this even though there are times when it seem hopeless. Hope tomorrow will be a btter day for you :)

Jen, I hope my niece/goddaughter is the way you are with your Aunt Ginny when I get older. You have a heart of gold my friend.;) Yum, that soup sounds delicious. I never tried it but would like to. Enjoy your time with Aunt Ginny.

Well ladies, have to go watch my soaps.

Till tomorrow:wave:

Es, you are doing the right thing with the exercise. We know what to do, but not all of us actually do it...you do! You'll be around for a long , long time :strong:

Ruth, Es is so right, we've just got to hang in there. You're achieving so much by going after your degrees, you'll be successful in the weight loss battle, I just know it!

Janie, the retreat sounded like it was just wonderful. I haven't been on one in many years, but remember how much I did get out of it. Plus the location! How beautiful that must be, I've read about that area.

:wave: Hi to all.....
luv,
~Jen

Hello my friends....I am here tonight to let you all know that, with all my uplifting words and my "nothing can sabbotage me now" speech, I have yet to get back on track. I am eating without thinking, eating without counting, eating without caring. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME????? I am here to confess this in hopes that something gets triggered in my brain. I really DID feel a renewed spirit on Sunday night for Monday's "starting over" day. I promise you, I really mean it (Lord, I DID FEEL IT.....I WANT to feel it.....) I have prayed through tears, I have felt near tears today just thinking of how BIG I am going to be this spring and summer, I can cry at the fact that I had to wear the same pair of pants to work 2 days in a row because nothing fits me. <sigh>

I hope that you are all doing well and I will be back online tomorrow.

Zoe

HI Ladies,
It was as I expected after my wild weekend in SJB;) I gained 1.5#. That plus the 1.5 I gained the week before is not good:p. Time to flog myself a little and really get back to journaling every single day! It doesn't look like I am going to make goal by Easter either. First I was going to make goal by new year, then by 1/31 then I said Easter so that I could go on vacation with a clear conscience. Now I guess I will try to make goal by swimsuit season. This last 7 lb has been a royal PIA to loose. Actually I think it is psychological:dizzy: I have more trouble with maintenance than loosing so I think my fear of maintaining is making it impossible to attain goal. If I never get there then I don't have to worry about staying there. Right now I could sure use some wise words from Terri. She always knows what to say at these challenging times. Where are you girl:?:

Es,
I am glad that you are exercising. I love it too, although it has been somewhat more difficult with my elbow. I am getting back into aerobics classes, and I still try to walk at least 2 mi everyday.

Jen,
Yes SJB is very beautiful. I would have liked to go hiking but none of the other women wanted to go, and I promised Steve that I wouldn't go hiking by myself. He is very protective, kind of cute don't you think? :love: I ended up going shopping and buying myself 2 new outfits for spring, size 10 :D Not that I could really afford it, but somehow when I am away I seem to forget about the budget:s:


Hi to Myra, Ruth, Zoe, Dianne, Pogo, Sandy and anyone else I may have forgotten.

Hugs,
JanieD

Hi Buds:wave:

What a day!!!! I was so busy at work the hours just flew by. I love it cause tomorrow is Thursday.......yesssss!!!:D

JanieD, I thought it was so sweet what you wrote about Terri that I copied & pasted it to her email. She needs to know how much she's missed so she can get her computer fixed asap!!! Let me ask you a question. Even though you're not where you would like to be how do your clothes fit? Sometimes we have to forget about the scale & go by our clothes. I remember around 2 yrs ago I followed the program faithfully for 1 week & I lost 7 lbs!:eek: I'm sure that will never happen again:rolleyes: I ate low carbs, wrote everything down & drank lots of water. I knew I had lost but I had no idea it was that much. I was on cloud nine. Stick to your aerobics classes or walking, drink lots of water & journal. Try & add more protein this week & I bet you'll lose at least 3 lbs. next week.

Zoe, stop beating yourself up! When we fall we get up & try again. We've all been there. Just don't let this get the best of you. There is no rule that we have to start on Monday. You should start right now. If you haven't had a chance to go food shopping try & go as soon as you can. I always have these foods handy, fruits, veggies(some), light popcorn, low fat yogurt & lean cuisines or smart ones. I know some say they are high in sodium but that's what I buy when I'm having a hard time. My sweets are low fat/light ice cream, usually Breyers cause it's high in calcium & reduced fat cookies or sugar free cookies. Murrays has sugar free 8 cookies for 3 pts. You can do this. I read Self & Fitness magazines to keep me motivated & come here almost everyday. We'll help you thru this.

Well buddies, I'll be back in the morning or after work.

Hope you all wake up tomorrow with a big smile ready for a new day.

Love you all,
Es

Weighed in today. I didn't expect much with all the work and eating out a bit this week, but I actually lost a pound. Didn't quite make up for the gain last week, but I'm getting there.

Es,
Thanks so much for your encouraging words. You are a true friend.

Hugs,
JanieD

Hi girls,

Es, thanks for sharing your stand-bys....it's good to exchange info like that; what one person finds helpful can be a big boon to others. I also stock up on smart ones and lean cuisines (I prefer those) when they're on sale. I had seen a dr. on tv recently who said that the frozen meals are a very good weight loss tool. The portions are measured, so there's no chance of overeating, which is my biggest problem.
As far as the other stuff.....yep, light yogurt, ff popcorn, veggies (love canned green beans and they're so easy to nuke with garlic powder) and fruit. I absolutely cannot bring cookies/candy/baked goods into the house. Whenever I do, it's a disaster.

Janie, you've done well so far, don't get down on yourself. I don't know what size you were in previously, but I would KILL to fit into a size 10....congrats!!!!!

Myra, a pound in the right direction. I know you must be feeling better, and will be back next week. :D good going.

Zoe, keep at it! Switching from vacation mode to the everyday is never easy; getting back OP is the same. You can do it!

This is not an easy task, to consistently make the right choice and face doing it for the rest of our lives. I'm learning to not get discouraged if I have a bad day, but to look forward to the next one. As long as we don't give up!!!

Had the first big exam of the semester, got an 88 on it, same as the first mini-exam. At least I'm consistent :)

Jessica's birthday is next week, they're coming over for dinner on Saturday, so we'll celebrate then. It seems like yesterday that she, my first-born, came into our lives. And now she'll be 28!

HI Dianne, Ruth, Sandy, Viola, Pogo :wave:

Es, enjoy your day off!

luv,
~Jen