Bandit, man--wouldn't you like to yell at the person who left the croissant?
Honestly, that wasn't helpful. However, I'm sending you : for your WI since you've had such a good week. Thanks for writing!! Glad you've gotten in your because in this humid weather I think it's great to get the exercise in.

Everybody, take care--I'm going to go for a swim and then figure out what to do with the rest of my day.

Good luck to us all!
'Judy

God bless all of you for still being here! I thought I'd lost you. Couldn't remember where the Turtle Group was hiding on this board; it really is in a very hidden place. But here you are, still trooping! I am SO impressed with all of you.

Those of you who remember me, I lost a bunch of weight and then gradually gained about half of it back. A little more than half, actually. And I sort of dropped out from the group. (Spot the connection.)

About four months ago, I decided I had to do something. I had been counting, etc., but I just wasn't losing. So one day as I watched my cat, who was always hungry, I realized I needed a "me" in my life -- someone who would say "No, kitty, this is all you get today." So I decided to try a home delivery diet plan, where they send you all your food. After losing 7.5 pounds the first week, I was sold! (No, I haven't continued losing at that rate.) I realized I was eating waaaaaay too much food before and fooling myself into thinking I wasn't. I truly had no concept of what a serving size should be of *anything.*

So this has been very educational and beneficial, if expensive (the major drawback). I plan to keep doing it for as long as we're able.

So that's what I've been up to food-wise. I've lost 28.5 pounds since I re-started 15 weeks ago, which is an outstanding rate for me. If I keep going at this rate, I'll be back in "onederland" in late September, which would make me happier than I can say!

Now that I've found you all again, I'm looking forward to hearing more about how things are going in your life, what's working for you, etc.

Judy, God bless you for remembering Lin and me with each thread. You're such a sweetheart.

Morning all and a very happy Friday to everyone! Welcome back Lauren! Glad that you found something that truly works for your weight-loss! Another hot and humid day here in the mid-west. I went swimming again last night, doing a couple more laps each time I go with a few rests in between laps The scale is way up for me right now but I deserve what I get for the last few weeks of eating off plan... I will be at W/I Saturday morning though for a fresh number to get me re-started with.

I picked Gabbie up from the groomer on my way home last evening, she looks so cute! Kind of like a chubby black sheep... LOL. She needs more exercise too! Two dogs down, one to go, I will groom the last one at home this weekend as she is old and not very tolerant of the whole grooming process.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Princess

Morning, turtles:

Lauren - welcome back & congrats on your weight loss.

Princess - I am sure you wil be back down in no time, good luck tomorrow.

I also am going to w/i tomorrow a.m. since I am working today & have Monday off, so really hoping for a weight loss this week.
I really need to see the scales go down - gets so frustrating with the up/down thing, even though I know it is my own doing when I see a gain.

Anyway, have a great day!

Lauren, Lauren, Lauren!!!! Ohmygod I am so happy to hear from you. Congrats on keeping off so much of your weight! That is a major accomplishment. And kudos for finding something that works for you.
I am so thrilled that you kept looking for us. Yes, we're way at the bottom of the site but we've got some steadfast contributers and we do help each other out. By the way, I'm still in touch with Sonia and she's doing very well. I've missed your good advice,so am very happy to hear from you.
And I do always remember you and Lin on the threads because you two have been so influential to me.

As for me, I'm struggling, but continue to go to WW's. Emotions and a lot of other nonsense like dh bringing food into the house late at night aren't helping so I think I have to get and say the heck with it and concentrate on telling myself no just as you did. Thanks for the words of encouragement and we're so happy that you're back.

Princess, your doggie tales are really fun to read. Hey, you wrote something that I relate to: you said you "deserve" to be way up in weight from the way you've been eating. You see-that's what I mean. Why do we overeat when we know the outcome? And then do we purposely continue our overeating to punish ourselves? What gives with this? Anybody got any input because I have struggled with self-sabotage for forever. I really want to get into onederland and I really mean it!! Now I"ve got to stop this pattern of good weight loss/ gain/loss/gain. I mean is anyone else sick of it????

Bandit, good luck today with your WI and keep on keepin' on!:
Cherry and Ladybug and Slugbug and Chrily, we're sending : to you.
Judy

Bandit, I took so long to write my post that our posts crossed in the mail!
Good luck on your WI tomorrow. Hey, it looks like we are all in the same place and have reached our "fed up" point. That means that some good things are going to happen.
I've gotta remember that I was down 2.6# this week and that is a very good thing!!!
Judy

Please tell Sonia hello for me! Have you heard anything from Lin?

"Fed up point" is a great way to put it, Judy. I think we keep hitting them, and sometimes something "clicks." For me, it was the realization that I needed to shake things up and do something quite different for a while. Then I got excited again.

I also think sometimes deep down we don't really believe we can achieve our goals. So we don't. After years of not losing much of anything, I'd fallen into that trap. It took a week of trying something different before I saw that I really *could* lose weight again. That motivated me to keep on going.

So what would get you excited about losing weight right now?

Hi turtles:

Judy - fed up here for sure. I just think I have been doing this so long & have good results, then bad, then good etc.
I know what I need to do to get results - no mystery for sure.
Just have to keep it going more than 4 days a week. That seems to be my main problem. Good from Mon to Thurs then weekend comes, and usually get side tracked!

I think the Turtles will win!!! You've got me thinking about what we can do to lose weight and you've got me thinking about being accountable and figuring out what I have to do to lose weight.

Bandit, would it help you if you posted your weekend menus here? Would it help if we were more active on the weekend with our posting? Would it help if we started Boot CAmp again and posted new short term goals?

Lauren, I sure will say hi to Sonia for you. I haven't heard from Lin and hope one day she'll chime in here again.

Princess, here's to more laps. Weigh to go!!!! It's been hot here and although I've been gardening, I sure haven't been doing any "real exercise" so guess what I'll be doing today?

I need to record a menu for the day. That will keep me heading in the right direction. My short term goal is 3# down by July 26th. :

We're having a friend over today for a BBQ and tomorrow our kids and some of their friends are coming for a BBQ, so I'll have to plan this carefully.

Judy

Hey ladies, I know its been a VERY long time since my last post. I've had so much happening and just couldnt' get it all together. I started getting sick in March again...same as last year and it just kept getting worse. I am back on my 2 anti-depressants for my panic disorder and I have been having troubles with my arthritis and weight gain and my cholesterol. I even ended up in the emergency room about a mouth ago with chest pains and thought it was my heart. Fact is that my body has been so off, I wasn't eating or drinking and I was dehydrated and having mutliple bad side effects of one of the medicines I was on, plus having problems with my hands going numb. Looks like I have the beginnings of carpal tunnel compliments of my rheumatoid arthritis.
Needless to say, it scared me to death again. I wasn't venturing out of the house and afraid to move. I finally got up the guts to enlist the help of a gal I met at church who manages the dietetic department at the hospital. She's helping me out some and I have lost a few pounds and am on Zocor for my cholesterol...Hopefully that improves and my risks go down.
I just fnished up my one summer class today, so now I have 1 1/2 months to work on me..and my husband's paper work. My littlest girl will be 6 in a couple weeks and my oldest just finished her driver's ed class and has her learner's permit. That's scary.... this has been a summer of milestones I guess.
Well I'd love to hear from you. Now that I have some more spare time, I'll try to keep up with everyone. I really really want to get back in the groove and get healthy and be here for my kids...I don't want to be overweight mom and I don't want to disappoint them any more. I promised that they could help me going shopping over 3 yrs ago for a new wardrobe when I got to goal...I'm sure they gave up on that one.

Talk to you soon...

Chris

Judy, Lauren, Bandit, Princess, and Chrily. It is nice to read all of your posts. They are encouraging to me. I really don't know how i am going to get myself even remotely started on the right track again. One thing i hope will work is that my DH ordered the Wii Fit for me and for him to get some movement and exercise back into our day. I hope it is what we need to get motivated to be healthy.

Morning all and a very happy Monday to everyone! Busy weekend here for me... got lots of yard work and grocery shopping done. I did go to W/I on Saturday morning and stayed for the meeting... I was up 4.2 lbs... HELLO! Wake up call for me. I can gain weight at the drop of a hat! So I recommitted and have been back on track! I did not get in any exercise other then yard work and walking around the farmers market but I am going back to my water aerobics classes on Monday and Wednesday evening and will get in a few evenings of walking in-between. Boy oh boy... there is nothing like gaining 4.2 lbs and seeing the gals face when she sees your number after you step on that scale! UGH!

Judy: How was your weekend?

Bandit: Did you go to the trailer this weekend?

Chris: So glad to see you posting again!

Lauren: Glad to have you back with us... so what diet plan are you currently doing?

Cherry: I hear that he Wii is a wonderful exercise tool!

Princess

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend. We visited my MIL, who lives right on the water. It was so relaxing to watch the huge Great Lakes tankers float by, the sailboats, the ferry ...

I'm just a half pound away from hitting my 30-pound mark since restarting this past spring. That's half of the weight I regained, so I'm excited. I just put a bunch of pairs of pants through the hot water cycle and the dryer in an attempt to make them smaller. It's a good feeling when clothes get too big!

Princess, I'm doing Pure Foods Fresh Start home delivery diet plan. It's expensive, but it's worth every penny to me right now. Nothing else was working, that's for sure!

Cherry, let us know what you think of the Wii Fit! I've been thinking of getting one of those. Have you ever tried it? It looks like a lot of fun!

Chris, panic attacks are NO FUN. I've had them, too. {{HUGS}} Glad to "meet" you!

Judy, your goal looks very do-able -- YOU CAN DO IT!

Bandit, why are weekends more difficult for you? Is it the change in routine? The feeling of being "on vacation"?

Lauren - It is nice to meet you. No i have never gotten to try the Wii Fit. I certainly hope that it will be worth the money we paid for the whole thing. I definately think that it will up my movement through out the day if i use it.

Princess - Just keep on keeping on. You will be back down those 4 pounds in no time at all.

Judy, Chrily, Bandit - Thanks for all the support. We just have to keep moving forward no matter how slow.

Hi all....Lauren nice to meet you too!

What a crazy day! I got a call tonight from my ex-SIL (but she always tells everyone we're still related, she is a great lady). Anyhow, my ex got in a bad accident yesterday. He was drunk and this is his 4th DUI so its a felony. I had to tell my daughter and not sure really what she thinks. She said he needs to quit acting stupid and straighten his life up. I guess he tried to kill himself a while back too and there has been so much going on with him. He kind of disappeared out of my daughter's life lately and was only calling her like once every two or three weeks. So this will likely be a prison term for him again. The first time was from his drinking too and he got sentenced with a felony assault. My SIL says she feel he is severly unstable and depressed ( the alcohol doesn't help in the slightest). The drinking was one of the reasons we divorced. Maybe they can get him the help he needs and force him into treatment. It's all actually a very sad story. He's had an alcohol problem since he was 16. He's lucky he hasn't gotten in deeper than he has so far.

Well enough of that. I didn't do so good eating today, but tomorrow is a new day and I'll be making better choices than I did today.

Night ladies. We can and WILL do this!!!