My Journal to Me - Comments welcome!

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

I know what you are going through, we have all been there. You have come so far in the last year, you should be very proud of that. You have made great changes and you will continue to do so. You are going through a tough time, just remember that tomorrow is a new day and you can start over. Don't beat yourself up.

You know we are here for you anytime. Keep your head up, you are going to get through this slump!

Have a great day :)

[traceycooper]

HI Anna :hug:
Happy Birthday to DD :cheer2:
can you pre-warn me anything? - my DD hits 13 in August..gulp..
Sorry your having a rough few days :hug:
You cant count the birthday cake, you have to have cake on your DD's birthday!!! ;)
I'm sure most of the gain was from when you were away & hopefully it will go now your home.
:cool1: congrats on hitting the 1 year mark:thumbsup2
Feels like i've known you forever ;)
Take care & NO MORE COOKIES!!!!

[CACruisin']

Thank you all. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't come here to vent and feel sorry for myself. Reading everything you have said really does make me feel better. I've screwed up, but I can get back on track (I am trying to keep telling myself this.) You are all probably right about my mixed emotions on DD's birthday too. I hadn't really made that connection, but it definitely is weird to think of myself as the mother of a teenager. She is growng up so fast whether either of us wants her to or not.

I was at a swim meet all weekend with DD13(!) It was good. I only packed healthy snacks and a lot of water. When we decided to go on the cruise we also decided to give up eating out to save money. That meant nothing from the snack bar at the meet and no late afternoon stop at Applebee's on the way home. Not having any temptations forced me to behave all weekend:thumbsup2 and WI monday morning was 161.5. I did slip some yesterday. Obviously there is still no way I can make 154.5 by May 11:mad: , but now my new goal is 159.5 or better by May 11.

I am in "cram" mode for the cruise - like the week before finals in college! Next week I'm sure I will move into full blown panic mode:rotfl2: . I need to keep any temptations out of the house so I don't stress eat.

Tracey, I need to get the kids off to school now, but regarding having a DD13,remind me to tell you a funny story about the swim meet.

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

Good for you for taking healthy snacks to the meet. That is just what you need. Your goal for May 11th looks great. I am sure that you will make it!

Keep up the great work!

Have a good day :)

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, glad you are feeling better. I think having kids that are getting older is a double whammy, since it means not only are our "babies" growing up but so are we! Look on the bright side, in three years dd will have her drivers liscense and she can help ferry her two sisters around! I think your goal of just under 160 is a good one. Remember the big picture, not the few extra pounds this little blip on the Anna Radar caused you not to lose. They'll get off very soon I am sure! I am really excited for you and this cruise. You must be so excited! Great job not eating out, that is always a challenge in more ways than one. Keep it up!

[CACruisin']

Hello my dear WISH friends. I have been so negligent at keeping up with my own journal. I spend far too much time haunting the cruise meet thread while neglecting those that have stood by me through good times and BAD! I really want to rectify this.

Today was so so food wise. I didn't eat anything bad :cool1: , but I also didn't eat enough planned snacks, etc so by dinner time, I was really hungry. I spent the day packing today. I am not in panic mode, but am officially freaking out that I am in single digits!!!! I think it finally hit me that I am really actually going on this cruise after all of these months of planning! OMG!

10a - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12 oz skim milk
2pm - string cheese, 6oz FF mango apricot yogurt
4pm - 1c pirate booty
6:45p - 2c(?) whole wheat spaghetti, 2 turkey meatballs, 1T parmesan, marinara sauce, 2c salad, 10 grape tomatoes, 1T Cilatro dressing, 3(?) glasses red wine (oops!)
64oz water

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jamie - thanks! If I don't have bad snacks available I don't eat them. Unlike you I have no willpower when bad things are offered. So awesome that you keep turning down the cookie lady!

Amy - Definitely having a teenager makes is playing with my mind. But then I have a 3 year old - very schitzophrenic (sp?) :rotfl2: Aakk! DD driving!! So not ready to go there yet! :rotfl2: Today is really the first day that I have been ridiculously excited about the trip. I just keep having that OMG! OMG! OMG! feeling! :banana: I had started packing a couple of weeks ago but then had to basically UNpack and start over again with the Pittsburgh trip. (I couldn't remember what I had taken out of the guest room - packing central - and what was still in there.) Today I finished packing the biggest suitcase. Zipped it up and weighed it - 44 lbs (50 lb is MAX limit). That makes it feel so real!

Ok sorry if I am rambling on quite a bit. I definitely should not have had 3 glasses of wine:rotfl2:

[toystoryduo]

Woohoo! Single digit dancing for Anna's cruise!:cool1: Single digit dancing is one of the best kinds of exercise out there! :yay: Have a great day today!:cloud9:

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

Wow single digits...it is getting close!!! Woo Hoo!!!!
You are doing a great job!!! Keep up the good work

Have a great day :)

[traceycooper]

Wow Anna
I cant believe your cruise is so close!!!
I hope you can post whilst your cruising that would be cool!
I remember when DCL did the 1st panama canal cruise, i followed the thread on the cruise forum the whole lenght of the trip even watched the ship go through the canal on the web cam, it was almost like being there....well almost!!!
Have a great weekend :)

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, completely understandable that the Cruiseline Forum is calling your name! You sail very soon! Maybe you'll have our servers, Mladdin and Ion. I loved those guys, saw a DCL show on the Travel Channel and Ion was in it, made me cry! I am really excited for you. Good luck with the planning! Your food looks good, what is dh going to do for the two weeks you all are gone?

And I had to laugh at your 13 year old and 3 year old comment. I have a friend who has a first grader and a senior in high school (with a middle schooler in the middle). She has some funny moments to share!

[toystoryduo]

Only 5 more days until you're cruisin'!!!!:yay: :woohoo: :banana: :cool1: :dance3: :cheer2:

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

Hope all is well...I am sure you are super busy, your cruise is less than a week away!!! YYEAH!!!

Keep up the great job!

Have a great day :)

[CACruisin']

I've been super busy packing and getting everything lined up for when we are gone. All of DD11's teachers have/are providing HW packets for her to work on. She has a lot of stuff to do before we leave, but it does mean she will have less to do on the ship. She has been doing school stuff everyday including the past two weekends. 3 of 5 of DD13's teachers have/are providing HW packets. I think she will also get a packet from a 4th. The 5th :confused3 ? I've emailed 3 times in the past two weeks and had DD hand carry the email to her last week also. I'll contact the VP tomorrow if I still don't hear anything back. At least then we have done all we can do:confused3 .

WISH status:
I have been drinking my water:banana:
I've eaten really well except for dinner Saturday night. DH waited too long to go to the grocery store so he decided to pick up KFC for dinner:sad2:
Exercise has not happened at all:sad2: I will take the stairs everywhere on the ship and hopefully get in some time in the fitness center and on deck 4 too.
Scale this morning was 160.0:banana: Thank goodness. That is close enough to keep me motivated and remind me to behave this week (and on the cruise too!):banana: I think 159.5 or better by Friday morning is doable.

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy, Jamie - we are definitely excited about doing the single digit dance:dance3: . Now we are starting the "x days from now we will be ..." :banana:

Tracey - me too! I followed the live thread daily and spent the better part of the day watching the ship go through the Canal. That is another trip I would LOVE to do some day. Won't be anytime soon though. I'll have to watch vicariously again next year.

Amy - DH will be busy with work while we are gone. It is a really busy time for him work wise. Wow, your friend has an even bigger age spread than me. It is fun and challenging at the same time - but totally worth it!:love:

[Jaime]

Hi,

I'm sure you'll be at least 159.5 by Friday! Have alot of fun on your cruise!:goodvibes :goodvibes

Wishing you all the best!

[goldcupmom]

Have a WONDERFUL time on the Cruise, Anna!

Don't worry about the kids & homework. 100 years from now it won't matter & you're going to have a fantastic time!

[traceycooper]

OOhh Anna i'm soo excited for you :)
Not long till you will be my side of the pond ;)
Have a fantastic trip!

[Amy&Dan]

Hope dd's teacher provides the homework. If not, you tried! I remember that well with some of ds' teachers. There is always at least one in every bunch :sad2: . Great news on the weigh in! Your goal of under 160 is definitely doable by Friday. Do you sail Saturday? I am going to be thinking about you, I am so happy for you but envious! Thats a lot of wonderful days at sea. What is it with men bringin home KFC? Dh did that recently too. Keep up the good work with water and food, the exercise will happen on the ship as you jog back and forth to the pool bar!:woohoo:

[toystoryduo]

Have a wonderful cruise and have a Happy Mother's Day!:flower3:

[CACruisin']

I'm pretty much done packing, but still need to take care of some other household stuff - I'll sleep once I get on the ship...no, I'll miss castaway cay ... I'll sleep once we get to sea ... that's it I'll sleep on monday. ... :rotfl2: I'm a little punchy, can ya tell?

Ended up getting H/W from all of the teachers -- pretty reasonable for the most part too:banana: . Now to just convince the kids to actually DO the work while on the ship. They have both been working so hard for the past two weeks getting stuff done ahead of time and doubling up on their STAR tests. They really do need a break. The original plan was for them to do HW on the flights tomorrow (today!), but I'm going to just let them read and relax. They need it.

I was 159.5 Thursday morning :banana: :banana: Some of the size 12's even fit pretty nicely. I've packed my workout stuff so we'll see what kind of damage 17 days will do:scared1: .

Thanks everyone for all your support. I probably won't be logging on while I'm away, but I'll definitely be back when we get back to the US.

[keenercam]

Anna -- I am so sorry I didn't get here sooner. I just wanted to WISH you a great trip, sweetie! As for the kids' homework, mine found a really quiet room where there were books & board games and which was always empty, so they did their homework there in just a couple hours one afternoon, to get it over with.
I hope your trip is everything you've dreamed of! I can't wait to hear what you thought of the fitness center and working out on deck 4.

Sending you pixiedust: and :goodvibes for the time of your lives! :hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Anna, have a great trip! We'll see you when you get back, HAVE FUN AND DONT WORRY WHAT YOU EAT, ITS VACATION!!! And great news on being under 160 and in those size 12's :woohoo: !

[CACruisin']

Not to worry Cam & Amy, I just figured out that my hotel has free wireless internet so I can surf the web one more time before I go:banana: :banana: It is midnight in FL but only 9pm CA time:rolleyes1 I know I should go to bed, but I'm so ansy I can't sleep:banana: :banana: :banana:

Finished packing what ended up being an appalling amount of luggage around 2:45am and then dozed/watched survivor until the alarm went off at 4:30am. I did manage to doze a bit on the plane, so that is good. I readjusted some of the luggage after we got to the hotel and discovered that I have packed the labelmaker - I guess I was really too tired when I finished up the packing - who knows what else I've got squirrelled away in all of these bags :crazy:

This really will be my last post until I get back even though I may have DIS withdrawl:grouphug: . I will have internet access hopefully onboard, but it will be for DD's to do H/W research. At whatever it is a minute, I've told them they will have to log onto whatever site they need, select all, copy & paste into a word doc and log out. Read the info offline! I'll look for the quiet place Cam. Thanks for the suggestion. Night all! Off for a trip of a lifetime!

[Amy&Dan]

Anna you rat, I am so jealous! I woke up thinking about you this morning and how excited you must be! Have a wonderful trip (I know you will) and have a bunch of pool bar drinks for me! Glad you brought the lable maker, you never know when you might need one of those! I once accidentally brought a can of lysol instead of my hairspray!

[eeyore25]

HI anna,

I hope you are having a wonderful time!!!

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
just wanted to keep you on page 1 ;)
Hope your having a super time!

[CACruisin']

Hi gals! We made it back last night after +24 hours of travel time. It was an incredible, memorable trip. I'll try and do a mini trip report later in the week. There were great times (great DIS friends, lots of DCL Disney magic), bad times (13-20 foot seas with gale force winds) and downright ugly times (DD3's 4 trips to the health center), but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat!

Scale was 163 this morning - not bad! But I don't know how accurate that is since I know I'm really dehydrated right now. (Flying without bottled water stinks!) I did get to the fitness center once, took the stairs everywhere and I walked Deck 4 on multiple occasions. In Cadiz and Gibraltar we walked tons. In fact my backside was sore the day after we walked down the rock in Gibraltar! We walked a fair amount in Barcelona too.

Need to get back to unpacking, but thanks for keeping me on page 1 and I'll post more later. I'm glad to be back with my WISH buddies!

[toystoryduo]

Welcome Back, Anna!:hug:

I'm glad to hear that you had a great time on your cruise.:goodvibes Looking forward to your trip report!:woohoo:

Have a great day!:goodvibes

[CACruisin']

Just a quick post becuase I am determined to keep up with my journal. Yesterday took DD3 and DD11 to the dr's. Each has double ear infection and DD11 also has a sinus infection. Mind you, DD3 has already been on antibiotics for 10 days for an ear infection. I know I also have a sinus infection and possible ear too, but don't have time to deal with it right now. Maybe tomorrow I will call my PCP who I have never actually met...

Food:
b- too much kettlecorn (waiting at the pharmacy after dr appt)
l - bowl rice krispies & skim milk
d- roast beef sandwich & 12oz skim milk

DD11 is supposed to perform at Disneyland today with her honor choir. I don't think she is going to make it. So sad since they have been practicing all spring for this performance.

I am slowly catching up on journals in no particular order. I need to get back on the WISH track and keep posting, even if my food/water/exercise stink. I must get back on track!

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

Welcome back!!! Glad to hear that you had a good time, despit the weather and all that!

I am sorry to hear that both the girls and you are not feeling well. Make sure that you get to the doctor soon, you don't want to make yourself sicker!

I look forward to reading your report!

Have a great day :)

[toystoryduo]

Sending lots of get well :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: for your family today. I hope everyone is feeling better soon.:grouphug:

Please be sure and take it easy today. :hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, welcome home! I can't wait to read your trip report. Now that I have been on a Disney Cruise, I love cruise reports so much more than I used to. So sorry you are all sick, I really hope dd gets to Disneyland for her concert. That is great you are at 163, thats like less than a five pound gain for that long of a cruise. Amazing and just goes to show you, if you stay active during your vacation, you can still eat very well and not gain a ton of weight. Feel better soon, we missed you!

How did dh do for that long on his own?

[traceycooper]

Welcome home Anna :goodvibes
Glad you had a great trip.
Cant wait to read all about it, hope youve got pics too!

[kmp1191]

Wow, I think I fell off the face of the earth there for a while!! (been stressing out on my journal and haven't been checking on others..:guilty: )
Can't wait to hear about your trip!!! Sorry the kids are sick....hopefully everyone is on the mend and doing better!

Oh, and don't worry, the vacation weight will fall off...you'll make sure of it!!

marie

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

Hope all is well and everyone is back to feeling good!

Have a great day :)

[lovinaz]

Welcome back! You did great on the cruise with such a small gain! Did you get sick of eating??

I hope everyone has finally gotten better, no fun getting sick on vacation!

I bet you are glad to get into a normal routine again. I know after 3 weeks on travel for work I couldn't believe that I actually told someone I was looking forward to cooking my own dinner! That thrill lasted about 2 days...

[CACruisin']

So I seem to be only at a weekly check-in. I really need to get back with the program:sad2: .

Re-entry to the real world has been brutal. DD11 ended up missing school all of last week. By 10am wednesday morning, she was looking completely wiped out. I called the honor choir teacher (they were already at DL for the day) and told her we would not be making it up for the afternoon performance:sad2: . Thursday morning DD11 did go to school in the morning. At 1pm I got a call from the school nurse "please pick up your child, and don't send her to school on Friday" - sigh, bad mommy award for me! DD11 has now missed 3 weeks of school and is drowning in homework! We spent most of the weekend finishing up schoolwork from our trip, but she still has to do all the stuff she missed last week. On top of that she has a bad case of 6th grade-itis!

DH finally convinced DD3 it was time to take her Oceaneer's Club bracelet off last night:rotfl2: . "The teachers said to keep it on!" She is finally healthy again (after 20 days on antibiotics), but I am taking both her and DD11 back to the Dr's on thursday for a recheck. He said he wanted to seem them again if they were not completely better in 10 days. I want to confirm DD3's ears are finally clear and DD11 isn't even close to being completely better. She still crashes and takes a nap every afternoon around 4pm. No wonder she can't get caught up on her homework.

DD13 is quasi-healthy "mom, it is just a cold and I don't have time to go to the dr! I'll go when school is done. " Her well child check up is the 18th. She has finished all of the work she missed except for completing her travel journal for English. She's planning on getting that done (pictures, spell check, recreate missing days entries (!) ) by the end of the week. She started swimming this week with the Sr. Development team. She misses her old coach though. There are nice kids on this team, so hopefully she'll get settled in soon.

I have been bouncing around 160.5 and 163.0. Some days I am really good and others days have involved a lot of chocolate dipped in peanut butter:rolleyes1 . Stress eating about DD11 and TOM are both to blame, I think!

The rest of this week is still crazy busy. Tomorrow I will leave the house at 7:15am and not get back for more than 15-minutes at a time until nearly 10pm. I am also finishing up the very last PTA newsletter :cheer2: this week. I am just trying to survive this week. However, I have been thinking about what I'm going to do going forward for the summer and I have some ideas.

Anna

[CACruisin']

Ok really, this is procrastinating working on the PTA newsletter:rotfl2: . I went back and looked at my New Year's goals and what I have accomplished so far:

1.My goal is to hit my target weight by July 1 and be in solid "maintainance" mode by the end of 2007. My target weight for now is 145. I'll see how I feel when I get there and may go for 135 (my ideal, but I'm not sure it is realistic.)Well, clearly not going to make that! I have lost about 5 lbs since the first of the year - not good, but something. Still need to lose +15 to get to goal.
2. Journal and post my food until I hit target and anytime I "drift" up while in maintainance mode. Sorry this is boring for everyone, but I don't seem to be accountable to just myself.
I've not been consistent here, but it definitely does help me to post my food log. I am determined to get back to this.
3. Exercise at least 3-5X per week, even if it only for 30 minutes each time. Unless someone is deathly ill, I cannot keep making excuses for not doing this. I know that eating alone will not take the weight off for me.
4. Exercise a minimum of 750 minutes a month - this is so I don't wimp out and just do 30 minutes 3X a week
I haven't come close on this one!

I still think all of these goals are attainable, reasonable, and yes, necessary. Now what to do about it.

In the past, I have lost weight in the spring, maintained over the summer and gained in the fall. In 2006, I lost weight in the spring and then maintained for the rest of the year. I did lose a little bit this past spring, but was never really consistent about it. My challenge now will be to not just maintain, but actually LOSE weight this summer. I would like to lose at least 10 lbs this summer to take me into the 140's!:cheer2: This summer should be pretty low key with only one trip planned and one set of houseguests visiting so eating should be pretty much in my control.

The real key is to get in exercise. This has always been hard for me, especially in the summer. The exercise challenges are not doing it for me motivation wise, so I need something else. My new thought is to train for the DL 1/2 marathon Labor Day weekend. That would give the motivation to get out and walk/run on a regular training schedule. I am already doing a sub 16 minute pace now, so I am ok there. It has been +5 years since I have seriously trained for a distance race though. I'm also concerned about the foot I broke 2 years ago. It is fine now and I had no problems when we walked for +5 hours in Gibraltar, I just don't know how it will feel when I train seriously. I talked to DH about it this morning since it will require a time commitment from me (and hence him!) and he was surprisingly supportive.

So what do you think? Am I crazy?

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, no you are not crazy! I think there are several others disers over on the DL board who do that 1/2 marathon. You should totally do that, what a fun way to keep up the exercise. I hear you on the goals, its so hard to do the long term thing. But you are down, not up, and that right there tells me you are more consistent than maybe you give yourself credit to be. You have taken two cruises in the past few months and that travelling thing is killer. But you hung in there. I think losing 10 pounds this summer sounds very attainable. I know you can do it!

I really hope your kids are well again, poor dd12, she has really been through the ringer. And glad your PTA thing is done! Did that, never again! I'll bake cookies, clean up after a function but I never want that hassle of being the one to do a newsletter or any other clerical type thing again! Every time I go by Kinko's it brings back memories :scared1: !

Think about those goals some more and then let us know what your firm plan is. You have come so far, you can achieve your final goal!

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
I think doing the 1/2 marathon is a great idea & one i've been toying with for a while too :)
Hope the kids are doing ok & recovering :hug:
Any chance of seeing some holiday pics?

[toystoryduo]

I say, "Go for it, Anna!" :cheer2: Training for the DL 1/2 marathon sounds like a great way to get your exercise in!:thumbsup2

How is everyone feeling? I hope everyone is feeling better.:goodvibes

Hope you have a great week!:hug:

[kmp1191]

Hey Anna!
Hope the kiddo's are feeling better....what did the dr. say about DD11?? :wizard:
I liked your goals you set....everything is attainable, reasonable, and necessary....can I follow you?
I'm starting to gain my weight back, I'm not working out...(at all), and I'm journaling my food, but it's crap!!

I don't think you're crazy at all....actually, you're inspiring me to get out there and start running again....you and Kimwim....I have got to get moving!!

Good luck to you on your training...I know you're going to do it!!
marie

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, hope things are going well and that dd's are all better now. Have you thought anymore about the 1/2 marathon? You can do it!

[eeyore25]

Hi Anna,

How are the kids feeling? Better?

I say go for the 1/2 marathon. I too, like Tracey have been toying with the idea. I think it would be great for you......

Hope all is well. Keep up the good work, your goals look good.

Have a great day :)

[CACruisin']

Wow, life got a little crazy, but I think the worst is over now (need a fingers crossed smilie).
On thursday (a week ago). I took all three kids to the dr's. Lined 'em up on the exam table:
DD3 - ears good, sinus good, 20 days on anitbiotics and she is fnally better.
DD11 - ears no longer look inflamed, but still have fluid in them, sinus still bad, another 10 days on a different antibiotic this time. A week later, she is definitely better, but still not 100%. May end up taking her back again on Monday.
DD13 - came home from school on Thursday looking like death warmed over "but I'm not sick mom." Called the dr's office and added her to the appt. 101.6 fever (I think maybe you might be sick after all kiddo!), sinus bad. Now she's on 10 days of antibiotics. She is also doing much better, but still has a bad cough. Her well child check up is on the 18th, so she gets a recheck then.
After dropping of perscriptions to be filled, taking kids home, going back out to pick up perscriptions -- drum roll --- I actually got a walk in!:cool1: I walked 1.6 miles! Of course, I was walking to Bunco, so the snacky foods more than negated any benefit from the walk, but it still felt good to get out and walk.

Weekend: Spent most of the day cleaning house and supervising kids homework. My brother was in town for a conference so he came up Saturday night for dinner. We had a nice, but too short, visit.

Monday: finally decided I better drag myself to the dr's. He tells me I have a sinus infection (really? I never would have guessed! :rotfl2: ) So now I am on antibiotics and a mega decongestant. The antibiotics give a nasty metallic taste in my mouth all the time and the decongestant makes me spacey and I can't sleep well -- I'm more than a little cranky this week!:headache:

In the midst of all this I did finish the final PTA newsletter:cool1: :cool1: . I just got back from distributing it to the teachers' boxes.

I also came up with a cool teacher gift for DD's teachers. I put together a basket of different fruits: pineapple, mango, apricots, peaches, finger banana's. I had also bought trail mix, but it didn't really fit in the basket well. Finally I added a chocolate bar for each from a gourmet chocolate place! It looked really cool and they seemed to really like it. DD11 liked it too and wants to do the same for her teachers next week.

Eating wise has been a mixed bag: some healthy stuff, some junk, and just too darn busy to eat anything days. Exercise: nothing since my walk last week. Water: a couple of days have been 100 oz'ers, but others have been 0:scared1:

I am still undecided on the DL 1/2 marathon. My foot feels fine and I was all set to sign up, but after more discussion with DH, I don't think he really is that supportive. I'm not sure what to do.:confused3

Looking forward:
DD3's last day school is today. DD13 finishes her last two finals today and her last day of school is tomorrow. DD11 finishes school on the 22nd. No more excuses for not taking care of myself and my family - exercise and eat right!!

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

You have had a lot going on lately. I hope everyone gets to feeling better soon. Sending all of you some get well :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: .

Those teacher gifts sound perfect! As a former teacher/ current homeschool teacher, I would have loved to receive a gift like that. :love: Great idea, Anna!:thumbsup2

Way to go getting your 1.6 mile walk in! That's great!:goodvibes

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Last night was the last PTA board meeting/party. :banana: :banana: It was a lot of fun and the food was awesome (unfortunately my body rebelled against the rich food later:sad2: ) No exercise unless I count walking to the house (took maybe 5 minutes total!) and all the "arm curls" lifting food to my mouth:rolleyes1 . I did drink a lot of water though, so that's something. So here's the damage:

B: turkey
L: wholewheat toast w/ PB
S: turkey (need to get to the grocery store!)
D: too many proscuito(sp?) wrapped asparagus, bruschetta w/ goat cheese, and artichoke dip followed by a steak kabob & shrimp kabob, 1/2c mushroom risotto, 1c caesar salad, then topped off with 3(!) little amazing desserts! Yikes!
water: 89 oz!

Today hasn't been a whole lot better:
B: wholewheat toast w/ PB
L: ???
D: making grilled chicken w/ green beans and probably some sort of rice

ETA: warning, I am in a seriously snarky mood!
didn't eat lunch
S: PB toast w/ PB - the antibiotics leave a constant metallic taste in my mouth, really cuts the appetite.
D: grilled chicken breast w/ tiny bit of bbq sauce, 2/3c green beans, +1c mashed potatoes made w/ sour cream, whole milk, butter, & garlic! oh and I finished off a bottle of wine - I think I had previously had maybe 1 glass from the bottle. DH was drinking vodka and lemonade so I was on my own with the wine.:scared1:

water: not good, maybe 24 oz?
exercise: nada!

Spent the afternoon on the phone with the insurance company. Remember I have this massive sinus infection and I finally decided to introduce myself to the primary care dr I picked out of the book a year ago - actually, the DO in the practice, primary care dr was not available! Well, when I went to fill the prescription on monday, they would only fill it for 14 pills ( 7 days). The prescription is for 20 pills (10 days). After talking to multiple people at the insurance company, turns out my drug requires preauthorization for more than 14 pills - FDA guidelines are 14 pills! (WTH am I taking?!) I've taken Biaxin before with no problem. This dr prescribed Biaxin XL - apparently it is different? So now the dr has to fax in the preauthorization form. Hopefully it gets approved. If not, I get to pay for it out of pocket! I run out of antibiotics after Monday morning! I can't stop the course of antibiotics midstream. That would be bad. Also, my pharmacy made a substitute on the decongestant. The substitute is a non-formulary drug. (Again, WTH am I taking!?) No body at the pharmacy told me this! I thought I was getting a generic for the brand name drug. (where's the mad smilie when i need it?!) It cost me twice as much on my co-pay. Anyway, that explains the need for wine and the snarky mood!

ETA again: just ate 4 little chocolate chip cookies! Why does DH buy that stuff?

Anna

[traceycooper]

:hug: Hey Anna
Hope your feeling better, that stinks about your medical insurance, it seems whatever kind of insurance we have theres always some hidden catch, small print etc...
Makes me glad we have the NHS!!!

No wonder your feeling snacky, just give yourself time to recover - from the holiday & the infection!!

Hope you have a great weekend & give me a shout next time you have wine to yourself ;)

[kmp1191]

Hey Anna - hang in there.....sinus infections suck!!!
I know what kind of medicine you're taking...I don't know the name of it....but I've taken it before....or maybe something like it. Even water has a metal taste!!

Good luck w/ the insurance company!! I've had to call all of our Dr.'s her in TN to see if they take the insurance from AL!! They do!!!:thumbsup2 Still....I hate dealing w/ the insurance companies....:headache:

Hope you get to feeling better soon...it's ok to be snarky...TRUST ME!!!

marie

[toystoryduo]

How are you feeling, WISH sis?:hug: Hope you're feeling much better and that you were able to get everything straightened out with the insurance company.:goodvibes Have a great week!:cool1:

[CACruisin']

We had a nice lazy weekend for Father's Day - lots of movies, pool time and way, way too much junk food:sad2: . DH is really a junk food junkie so his Father's day ideal: donuts & hot chocolate for breakfast, hotdogs, potato chips with onion dip & brownies for lunch. Dinner was quasi-healthy: grilled steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, and grilled corn.

I took DD13 in for her well child check up Monday morning. She is doing great, but Dr still sees some throat/sinus issues and wants her to continue on the antibiotics for another 10 days. I mentioned that DD11 also has the same cough and I can bring her in that afternoon. He says don't bother and writes her scrip too for another 10 days. For those keeping track she will have had 30 straight days of antibiotics -- one nasty bug we picked up on our trip!

DD11 FINALLY finished the last of her school work!! She still has this week for school, but it is all fun & games stuff. Yesterday was "Game Day" and the class talent show, today is "Greek Day" with toga's and Olympic games and they had to bring in their plant projects. Tomorrow the class takes their plant projects to the county fair. DD was concerned about the pitiful look of her plant - it had an unfortunate bunny encounter! Bunny's really like marigolds, but not nastursiums appparently:rotfl2: . However, her plant looked pretty good compared to a lot of other ones:rotfl2: . One was just dirt with two tiny little sprouts. On Thursday it is Pizza Party and finally 6th grade promotion is on Friday!

DD is now officially 4! We celebrated her birthday on the ship last month so yesterday when we said it's your birthday today, she says "I'm 4 again?" Yes, your 4 again, and this time you'll stay 4.:rotfl2: This morning she told me she's still 4.:rotfl2: glad to hear it.

My antibiotics saga continues unfortnately. I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say I have spent far too much time on the phone and in person at the pharmacy, with the dr's office and the insurance company. Dr says they took care of the paperwork. Pharmacy says they recieved the authorization (and a phone call from the insurance). Insurance has no record of said call or paperwork -- aack! I ended up paying out of pocket for the rest of my antibiotics and have made more phone calls this morning to try and get reimbursed.:mad:

Food yesterday was only slightly better than the weekend. There is too much junk in my house and I have no willpower:sad2:
B: 1/4 donut, brownie
L: 1/2 roast beef sandwich, peach, handful of potato chips (at least I had already thrown out the leftover dip!), 12 oz skim milk
S: cookie dough and more cookie dough :sad2:
D: grilled chicken, asparagus, 1/2c mashed potatoes, 12 oz skim milk, brownie

The scale is holding steady which is part of the problem I think. I'm eating crap and not gaining. I really need to eat healthy and LOSE!

Anna
Anna

[kimwim8]

Hey Anna!

Thank you so much for stopping by my journal and giving me the shove I needed. :hug: Now it's my turn. Get some exercise in there, girl. It'll make you not want to eat the junk food. Trust me. After I sweat a little while, I certainly don't want to eat those calories again. :laughing: (you know I only say this in the most loving way, right? :goodvibes )

For some reason, I didn't realize you had 3 daughters. God bless you, honey. :hug: I was one of 3 girls and all I can say is......God bless you. :hug: :laughing:

Take care, and thanks again for stopping by. (sorry to hear you aren't feeling well...hopefully you're on the mend)

[toystoryduo]

Sending more :wizard: :wizard: for you and the insurance company. I hope everything works out in your favor.:thumbsup2

Sending more get well :wizard: :wizard: as well.

I hope you have a great week! :hug:

[CACruisin']

Just a quick post. My parents are flew in Tuesday night for DD11's 6th grade promotion on Friday. We are having a really nice visit. Last night we had my parents, MIL, SIL for DD's 4th birthday. There was a Rubio's fundraiser for a family that has been gravely ill so we did that instead of grilling carne asada. Food has been so-so.

Tues:
8a- 1c GoLean Crunch w/ 12 oz skim milk
11a- apricot, handful of potato chips (ok, this was just stupid. I ate the apricot and then went LOOKING for something junky to eat:sad2: )
1p - 1/2 ham sandwich on wholewheat, apple
8p - 1/2 turkey sandwich, 12oz skim milk

Weds:
8a - 1c GoLean Crunch w/ 12 oz skim milk
11:30a - too many peanuts, 1/2 turkey sandwich, apple, 12oz skim milk
3pm - more too many peanuts
6pm - Rubios: 2 chicken tacos, chips and salsa, 2 margaritas
7:30pm - small slice chocolate birthday cake, small scoop ice cream

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy- the insurance saga is driving me crazy! I am finally feeling better so at least the medicine is working.
Kim - thanks for the kick in the behind. I need it and you are right. When I am exercising I do eat better. Yep, 3 girls! I grew up with 3 brothers myself so this whole "girl" thing is new territory for me:rotfl2: .

[goldcupmom]

I'm still catching up, Anna! Did I miss the link to your trip report? (No pressure here, but the transatlantic is my dream!)

I hope everyone is on the mend. Sounds like you're beginning to get back in control. Wish I could say the same!

Hope you have a good rest of the week & weekend. Enjoy your parent's visit!

[kmp1191]

Glad you are having fun w/ your family! Enjoy them and don't worry too much about the food....(although aside from the chips and peanuts, I don't think you're doing bad at all!!

Have a great weekend!!
marie

[kimwim8]

Hey Anna! Hope you're having a great time with your family! :goodvibes

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Glad DD had a great b/day
Tell her she is like our queen - she celebrates hers twice too ;)
Glad the antibiotics are working, hope you get refunded the money!
Hope your having a relaxing weekend :)

[toystoryduo]

Hope you had a great weekend!:goodvibes

[traceycooper]

Have a great weekend Anna :)

[CACruisin']

Thanks everyone for stopping by while I went MIA ... again! Last week the kids and I sort of took the week off. DH is busy with work so we have been pretty much on our own. It was so nice to not have the hectic, harried school/scheduled activities routine. DD's did go to swim practice twice. Other than that we had a trip to the library, lots of movies on TiVo, a morning visit & picnic to the tidepools, and a day trip to Disneyland before our passes black out for the summer. Very nice. Not so nice was the CRAP I was eating and the water I was NOT drinking. I realized last night that I was slipping badly and I need to get back on track. So, it is a new month and a new resolve! Scale started out at 162.0 this morning. I WILL be at 158 or better by the end of the month before my family reunion!

Yesterday's damage:
baby ruth candy bar, 12 oz skim milk, many handfuls of cheetos, 4 gummy candy things, 2 slices watermelon - I told you it was bad:scared:

Today's new resolve:
8a - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12 oz skim milk, slice watermelon
50 oz water so far ...

gonna go hunt down a healthy mid morning snack now.

Anna

[toystoryduo]

Sounds like you and the kids had a great, relaxing week last week. :thumbsup2 :cloud9:

Hope you have a safe and Happy 4th!:goodvibes

[CACruisin']

Thanks for stopping in Tracy! It really was a nice week and much needed after the constant running around we have been doing for the last couple of months.

Did ok but not great, until dinner time. The kids were "cooking" and I was stress eating peanuts:scared:

8a - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12 oz skim milk, slice watermelon
11a - 15 cherries
12:30p - salad: 2c lettuce, 1/4c cut up leftover steak, 1/2 tomato, 1T salsa; 6 dortitos
1:30p - 2 gummie candy, 1 saltwater taffy:sad2:
3p - string cheese, 1c grapes
6p - 1c peanuts:sad2:
6:45p - 1c wholewheat pasta, 1/4c marinara sauce, 4 little meatballs, 2c salad w/ 1/3 tomato & 1/2T dressing; 12oz skim milk

86 oz water - had the last 14 oz of water poured and realized at bedtime that the glass was still full - drat!

Exercise: 45 minute beach walk:cool1:

Anna

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Sounds like you had a nice week 'off'
Hope you get back on track - your getting there, so try not to stress ;)
Happy 4th July for tomorrow :)

[kmp1191]

Happy 4th of July Anna!!

Your food looks great! Can you come to my house? And at least you're getting some water in....the only water I've been seeing is when I take a shower!! :confused3

Have a great week & weekend...oh, and don't disappear so much...you might fall to page 2!! :scared1:

marie

[CACruisin']

Ran a bunch of errands and didn''t plan well, so my food was weird today.

7:30a - granola bar (on the way to DD11's swim practice)
10a - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12oz skim milk, 12 cherries
2p - another granola bar (on the way to DD13's swim practice)
6:30p - DH made breakfast burritos: tortilla, scrambled egg, 1/8c cut up potato, 1T cheddar cheese, tiny bit of sausage & too much bacon, salsa
8:30p - made kettle corn for Family movie night after DD4 went to bed (Harry Potter 4 getting ready for #5 next week!)

water: not so good 72 oz

exercise: 50 minute walk!!
I moaned a groaned when the summer swim schedule came out because one DD has practice in the morning and the other in the afternoon, but in fact, it is working out great. DD13's practice is 2hrs so I drop her off and come home or run errands. DD11's practice is 75 minutes - not enough time to go home, but perfect amount of time to get a work out in! Added bonus: I can leave DD4 home with DD13.

Anna

[traceycooper]

Happy 4th July Anna
Glad the swim schedule is working out :goodvibes

[Jaime]

Happy 4th of July! Sorry I've been MIA too. Hope everyone is feeling well now.

Glad to here swim scedule is working out! I was able to get the same time for my dd's for lessons:thumbsup2

Thanks for all the support..it really helps!

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, I am glad everyone is feeling better and that dd is still four years old! When did you go to Disneyland last week? We might have been in line next to each other, who knows? Sounds like that swim schedule will be really good for you. Think of me when you walk on Moonlight Beach!

[CACruisin']

Thanks everyone for stopping by. I'm slowly trying to catch up on other journals. Hopefully I'll be caught up by the weekend.

Lots of eating yesterday, but only really bad at dinner. I did pass on all the chips and dips and cheese and crackers all afternoon. 3 cocktails were required to get through the day with IL's here.:upsidedow


b - 3 pancakes, 1T maple syrup
l - lots of peapods (no dip!!), 1 turkey hot dog on wholewheat bun w/ condiments & saurkraut, 1/2c coleslaw, watermelon slice, corn on the cob (no butter!), 1 small slice lemon raspberry cake
d - :sad2: LF beef hot dog on wholewheat w/ condiments & saurkraut, too many doritos, pineapple slices, rootbeer float

liquids: 12 oz skim milk, 60 (80?) oz water - lost track, 1 large mai tai, 2 large margaritas, 1 can rootbeer

exercise: none other than lots of kitchen prep & clean up for in-law day.

Not sure when/if I will get a walk in today. DD11 has a mini swim meet (only a couple of hours) this afternoon at an inland pool. It is supposed to be almost 100 degrees out there today! (Can I get in and swim with the kids?:rotfl2: ) As soon as we get home from that I have Bunco tonight. I can usually do ok at dinner for bunco, but end up blowing it on the table snacks afterward. My plan is to drink gallons of water and hopefully find some decent choices at Bunco so I don't over do with the table snacks.

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey - it was nice for all of us to have a week "off." It feels like we have been in overdrive for the past two months, getting ready for our trip, the trip itself, and trip recovery. Speaking of the trip, I'm hoping to get a trip report up in the next couple of weeks. It really was fabulous!

Marie - Your house sounds neat, clean and organized. I need you at my house!:) I bought one of those refillable bottles at Target. If I keep that filled up, I drink the water. Oh, and I definitely don't want to be page 2, so I'll try and not disappear again. If only the pounds would disappear ....:rotfl2:

Jaime - good to see you again! That is great DD's swim lessons are at the same time. When my oldest DD turned 13 she moved from the jr to the sr team so practice times are no longer nicely coordinated.

Amy - Glad your back! I thought of you at DL. We were there on Thursday. I think you were probably already on your way home though. We didn't ride Nemo either. No way was I waiting +2 hours for a glammed up sub ride. We'll try again in the fall before our passes expire. The good thing was we didn't have to wait more than 5-10 minutes for any other rides for the first two hours in the park. Everyone else was standing in line for Nemo:rotfl2: ! We/big girls rode Matterhorn, Dumbo, carousel, pinochio, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates, Splash Mountain, and Jungle Cruise all by 10 am! Then we tried to do Space Mountain with FP's but it was shut down so we went to CA, had lunch. Big girls rode that nasty swinging thing in the orange while we waited for our FP time at Soarin'. Did Soarin' twice (love child swap!), Grizzly Rapids twice, played at Brother Bear, had a rootbeer float and headed back to DL. There we did Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain again (child swap) before grabbing a bite to eat and then Big Thunder again (FP), and Small World. We didn't stay for the fireworks though. We were able to get lots of rides in using a combination of FP's and child swap. DD4 even fell asleep for a short nap while the big girls were on space and buzz. It was a good day!

[goldcupmom]

I'm glad the antibiotics are working - & hope the insurance thing works out. I HATE insurance companies!!!!!!!!

It's good you took a week to regroup. I'm sure you & kids all needed it. Traveling is exhausting!!:rolleyes1

Don't worry about the weight. I have the same problem, only want to be down almost twice what you do by the end of the month.

We CAN do this!!

Have fun at BUNCO & BEHAVE!!!!!

[CACruisin']

Quick post to keep me accountable:

b - 1c Honeynut Cheerios, 20 cherries
l- LF hotdog w/ bun & fixin's and saurkraut, 6 cherries
s#1 - 1.2oz almond pack
s#2 - 90 cal granola bar
s#3 - 1c watermelon
d - LF hot dog plain, 1/2c coleslaw, 6 bites DD11's chicken pot pie

80 oz water

no exercise

I had my dates mixed up so Bunco will be next week. Swim meet was good, but hot and longer than planned. DD11 and I ddn't get home until after 8pm and ate dinner around 8:30pm. I did bring snacks for the meet, but I was still starving when I got home. I really wanted to eat anything in sight, but finally left the kitchen to avoid a major binge.

Anna

Anna

[keenercam]

Hi, Anna! I was just thinking about you and wondering how you are. I have been so out of touch here, but hope to catch up on reading journals this weekend.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend! :goodvibes

[CACruisin']

I'm not eating junk and I'm not eating excessivley (except for milk!), but iI need to get back into the habit of eating fruits and veggies. Exercise is finally starting to happen again, but I'm definitely not drinking enough water. The scale is stubbornly stuck on 162:sad2: I also need to stop the "nibbles". What was it Amy called them - BLT's? That is also playing into the scale. Goal for this next week is to drink, drink, drink water!

I'm not going to post the past few days, but here is today:
b - scrambled egg, wholewheat toast w/ .5T cherry spread, 12oz skim milk, 3 slices bacon :sad2:
l - 1/5c honeynut cheerios, 20oz skim milk
s - 4oz chocolate milk shake (made it for the kids, but I finished it off)
d - 4oz steak, 2/3c wholegrain rice w/ lentils mix, 1c brocolli, 24oz skim milk

Anna

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Breakfast sounds yummy!
Wow you managed to get lots of rides in one day!!!
You've got me back on WDW mode now!!
Hope you manage to avoid the nibbles ;)
Whats Bunco night????
Have a great week

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

That's great that you have been eating well and getting your exercise in! Add lots of water this week, and you will be all set to go!:thumbsup2

I hear ya about those BLT's.... I'm going to try and have some veggies and low fat dip on hand for when the BLT cravings strike.

Have a great Monday!:cool1:

[CACruisin']

Really wanted to have a good day today. Started off with a good breakfast even though I had to take DD13 to early morning swim practice (DH slept in). Then without even thinking about it I started munching on pringles at lunch time:mad: . I got so mad at myself I left the kitchen and ended up not eating anything else for lunch until midafternoon. I did get back on track for the rest of the day. My exercise time in the afternoon was pre-empted by the greater need of going to the grocery store. Didn't want to go, but DH has tomorrow off and I didn't want to waste having him home by going to the grocery store tomorrow.

6:30a - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12oz skim milk, plum
11:30a - serving pringles:sad2:
3:30p - 1/2 turkey wholewheat turkey sandwich, 15? cherries
6:30p - serving turkey kielbasa, 1/2c coleslaw, 1c peapods, 12oz skim milk
72oz water

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy & Tracey, thanks for coming by. I find myself unconsiously snacking. I really need to break this very bad habit. I'm not even sure where it came from? If I think about having a snack, I'll have something healthy, but if I am just wandering through the kitchen I'll munch on the kids' junk.

Bunco is a dice game usually played by a group of 12 women - 3 tables of 4. Mostly it is a monthly social evening though with the dice game just going on while we chit chat, but don't tell DH :)

[toystoryduo]

Great job getting back on track yesterday!:thumbsup2

Aren't those deals at Staples wonderful?!?!?:woohoo: I can't wait till this weekend's ad comes out even though we are done shopping for school supplies. (By the way, we got spiral notebooks at Walmart last night for $.10/ each!:woohoo: )

Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

[Amy&Dan]

Anna, way to go getting back on track after the Pringles attack. Lord, I hate those things, they go down way too easily! You are getting back on track, don't know about you but I think it will be way easier to get back into a routine when school starts. Too many distractions with all the kiddies around. Just keep it up, you're doing well. And only three drinks with the inlaws is very impressive! Hope they were nice tall ones.


BLT's: Bites, Licks and Tastes! And old WW leader of mine used to call them that and it always stuck with me.

We were at DL on Thrusday, didn't leave until Saturday. We could have been next to each other who knows how many times! This was the 28th btw, was that the Thursday you were talking about?

[Jaime]

Great job getting back on track:thumbsup2 ...not sure if I would have...I have so much trouble doing that...it's so much easier saying I'll do it tommorrow:sad2:

Have a great week!

[CACruisin']

DH had a holiday yesterday which was nice. We/I took care of stuff around the house in the morning and then after lunch we all went to miniature golf. It was a lot of fun. DD4 kept trying to hit the ball with the edge of the putter aka croquet style. When that didn't work she flipped the club around and went with billiard style using the end of the club:rotfl2: .. Of course, we didn't have the camera with us. DD4 and I left after the one round of golf while DH and the older girls stayed to play bumper boats, laster tag, go carts and more golf :)
b- 1c Honeynut Cheerios, 12oz skim milk, 2/3c grapefruit
l - LF hotdog, wheat bun & fixin's, 1/2c baby carrots
s - 2 bites candy bar, small scoop light ice cream:sad2:
s - 1/4 canteloupe
d - grilled chicken, 1c brocolli, 1/2c rice, 12oz skim milk
4 f/v
water: 76oz

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jaime, it seems like tomorrow never comes right now. I've been slipping off track at least once every day. I'm trying to get through to the next meal withut slipping too badly.:scared1:

Amy, We were at DL together! Small world! You are right - Pringles are evil and yes, they were very tall drinks:upsidedow . I'm enjoying the slower pace of summer (and no homework!), but I do get thrown off of my plans.

[traceycooper]

Bunco sounds fun!!! :goodvibes
I love pringles too...especially with cheese & chive dip ;)
Glad you had a nice day with DH & family :)
I'm sat here trying to think of some good advice to avoid the nibbles but just cant think of any!!!! so i'll just give you a hug instead :hug:

[toystoryduo]

Sounds like you had a great day with the family, Anna!:grouphug:

Hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow!:goodvibes

[CACruisin']

I actually had a good day yesterday. I didn't have time for a decent breakfast before taking DD13 to swim practice so I grabbed a Luna Sunrise Bar - not bad, but 4g fat so won't do that too often. For lunch I counted out the pringles and then put the can away before I started eating them. DH had a work dinner so it was just the kids. I made chicken nachos for them and a modified huevos rancheros for myself (I didn't want to eat the chips).

The tide was in so I couldn't walk on the beach. Instead I walked along the street on the bluffs above and walked up and down the beach access stairs twice. There were 124 steps. Wasn't so bad going down, but quads were feeling it on the way back up each time.

6:30a - Luna Sunrise Bar
8a - plum, 1c cheerios, 12oz skim milk
12:30a - 1/2 chicken sandwich, 15 pringles, 1/4 canteloupe, 12oz skim milk
6p - 1/4c LF refried beans, 1 egg, 1T cheese, 1/4c chopped chicken, salsa and onions, 2/3c cherry tomatoes, 4 tortilla chips w/ nacho fixin's, 12 oz skim milk
3 f/v
97 oz water:thumbsup2
40 min walk/run including 496 steps!

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracey - this cheese and chive dip sounds like something I would really like. Good thing we don't have it here! Thanks for the :hug: . I really tried hard today to not nibble - mostly staying out of the kitchen!:rotfl2: I have Bunco tonight (and yes, it is fun!) so we'll see how I do ...:confused3

Tracy - Thanks for the :grouphug: . We really enjoyed having a family day. That doesn't happen too often.:)

[traceycooper]

Anna you are so lucky to live near the beach, i dream of living near the ocean & being able to walk or jog along the beach.:cloud9:
I loved the beach in Clearwater - maybe one day:love:
Well done for resisting the nibbles!
Have fun at Bunco i hope you win!

[Amy&Dan]

Anna, that is too funny we were at DL together that day. We got there early and stayed until about 4:00 then spent the rest of the day/night at the pool. Small World indeed! I agree, the no homework and slower pace is nice but somehow my routine just suffers. Good job with your eating and walking (near the beach you rat). You did very well, doesn't that feel good when a day comes together like that! Hope Bunko was fun!

[CACruisin']

I had a great 45 minute walk/jog this morning while DD11 was at swim practice. I was able to maintain a 4/1 walk/run for the entire time, even on the hills. I haven't been able to do that in far too long. I'm a little sore this morning, but it is a good sore. Feels like I really am finally getting back into the groove.

After I got home, I stripped the lemon tree. I noticed that a branch had broken from the weight of the fruit and decided to take all the ripe fruit off - 51 lemons and there are still lots of green ones and blooms on the tree - eek! I got 4.5c of juice from 10 lemons. Took about 20 to Bunco to give away. Sent another 15 or so into work with DH this morning. Still have a bunch of lemons though and more to come!

I had drunk 97oz of water before going to Bunco and drank another 16-20 ozs there.

That was the good part of my day .... Food ... I did really well before bunco and had the best intentions, but, well, ...

10:30a - 1/2 serving Dutch Baby, 1/4 canteloupe, 12oz skim milk
12:30p - 1/2 wholewheat ham sandwich, 10 grape tomatoes
5p - +1 cup baby carrots, slice watermelon (I was trying to fill up before Bunco)
7-10p - two glasses of wine, 1/2 corned beef sandwich on sourdough, 1/4c coleslaw, 1c canteloupe, way too many potato chips; table snacks: 1 red vine, 6-7 chocolate almonds, 1/4c trail mix, 2 hard pretzels, 5-6 dried apricots; dessert: large slice chocolate cake w/ whipped cream:sad2: I wasn't stuffed when I came home, but still ate way too much food.

Scale for the past two days has been down. This morning it was back to 162.0 - grrr!

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love it here! Usually in the summer it is foggy/cloudy at the beach. This summer it has been gorgeous!

[toystoryduo]

Way to go getting your exercise in!:thumbsup2 Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

I've just recently started using lemons in my water to add a little flavor. That's cool that you have a lemon tree in your yard!:goodvibes

Hope you have a great weekend!:hug:

[goldcupmom]

Your exercise is AWESOME, Anna! I so wish I lived near a beach like you do......sigh........

Hope you conquer the BLTs and have a GREAT weekend!

[CACruisin']

It was definitely Friday the 13th for food:mad: . DH took DD13 and DD11 to work today so no swim practice (and no walk). It was just DD4 and me at home. She is really good at playing with various different toys in my office so I got a lot of needed paperwork type stuff done. However, I'd get focused on something and not remember to refill my water glass. Food was even worse. DD4 is a thin rail and eats all full fat stuff - has butter on pretty much everything she eats - so when I make her a meal/snack, I make myself something completely different. But since I was making such good progress in the office, I ended up skipping the "make something for me part".

1:30p - 1c honeynut cheerios, 12oz skim milk, 15 cherries
4:30p - multiple handfuls of dry roasted walnuts (maybe a 1c total) - these were on sale. I knew I shouldn't have bought them - they are really good!
7:30p - roasted hot dog, BBQ chips, 2 S'mores - fun, but not healthy!
40 oz water

Anna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy - the lemon tree is fun. We have lemons on the tree almost year round so we can pick one fresh most of the time. I was adding lemon to my water last year and that really seemed to help me get enough in. Thanks for reminding me. I'll add a slice to my water tomorrow!:)

Julie - I wish I had your willpower to get out and walk/exercise! Even with how busy you are, you always seem to work something physical into your day.

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
I put sliced lemons & limes in my diet lemonade today!
Well done for getting the walk/jog in :)

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Hope you had a great weekend! Have a wonderful day today!:hug:

[kmp1191]

Hi Anna!
I'm jealous for 2 reasons....probably more than that, but i'm just naming 2.
1) You get to walk on the beach for exercise.
2) You get fresh lemons whenever you want them! I LOVE squeezing fresh lemons into my water....ICE COLD!!!
Thanks...you reminded me how much water I haven't been drinking lately!

You're doing great with everything - keep it up!!
Check back in with ya after I get settled in Alabama....(after the 24th)

take care!
marie

[Amy&Dan]

Anna you're killing me with the lemon tree thing! Why oh why do I not live in San Diego and have my own lemon tree too? And walks on the beach. I hear you on the Bunco thing, I used to play pokeeno (similar, no dice) and my Lord the way we would all eat and drink. But thats the fun! I didn't think your food looked bad at all. You are doing great, the walking sounds like its really getting back on track for you, good job!

[CACruisin']

Sorry to be MIA for so long. We have had different sets of family & friends in town and have more this week. Next week we'll be off for my family reunion and then the kids and I are going to spend some extra time and visit friends, etc.

With all of that, I don't know how much computer time I will have. Truthfully, I'm not sure what there is to say. I have good exercise days, good food days, or good water days, but can't seem to get all of them to go together at the same time!:mad: Needless to say, the scale is still stuck at 162. This is where I have been since I got back from our cruise two months ago. I know I have fallen off the wagon. I feel like I left myself somewhere in the dust and I don't even know where the wagon went?! Sigh!

Maybe having some time away will help me have a motivational mind change. That is really what I need right now.

Take care everyone. I know that there is no way I could have achieved the 25 lb loss (now only 23!) without all off my WISH friends. I need to take that strength and figure out how to lose another 20 lbs. This is not goodbye, just a break while I'm away. Hopefully I can come back with the motivation I need to get to the next big milestone!

[traceycooper]

Hey Anna
I'll miss you :hug:
I hope the break helps you, take care & see you soon.:hug:

[kmp1191]

Take care Anna....hang in there!
And you know we're here for you when you need us!

marie

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

Please be sure and take good care of you, okay?:hug: We'll miss you!:grouphug:

[Amy&Dan]

Take care Anna, we will indeed miss you. I think a break can be a good thing. Your girls will be back in school soon, take the rest of this time they are off to refocus. Then come back, we can't have WISH without Anna! I hear you on the two months, same weight thing. I think I fell off the same wagon right with you. Just look at the big picture of how much you have lost. The "have done's" are much more positive to think about than the "wish I would have's" when it comes to your weight loss. Hang in there and don't stay away too long!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Where is the slinking back with my head hung low in shame smilie?

I needed to take a break and that was good. I started exercising again in September with great beach walks but got sidetracked by DD4's case of chicken pox(even though she'd had the vaccine!) and then DH's company got bought. Turned September into a crazy month. October just saw my own disgust with my lack of willpower and my too tight pants. The past few days however have really put things back into perspective about what is really important.

As you know, I live in Southern CA. On Monday afternoon, we had to evacuate when the wildfire came within 2 miles of our house. Thankfully, we were able to return home Tuesday night having suffered no damage. However, in the last 3.5 days I have had very little sleep, and lots of time to think while watching the news around the clock. All of the usual things that fill my days have not gotten done. And you know what? That's ok! I realize that maybe they aren't so vastly important after all. I CAN make time to for myself. I need to get back to WISH and committed to healthy living! So I am.

Over the summer I ate healthy things for the most part, just too, too much of everything! I also was really bad about drinking water (back to drinking 1/2gallon of skim milk a day:sad2: ), and have exercised only sporadically. Needless to say, I put on +5 lbs. Definitely the wrong direction to go!! I'll step on the scale tomorrow morning to assess the current damage. I've removed my 25lb clippie:sad2:

So here are my goals:
* Drink 80-100 oz of water EACH and EVERY DAY
* Track my food on fitday - this really helped me in the past recognize just how many calories are in 8-10 glasses of milk, even if it is skim!
* Get out and do SOMETHING for exercise EACH and EVERY DAY - just because I don't have an hour to take a beach walk, doesn't mean I can't exercise for the day. I can always walk up and down the stairs for 15 minutes if necessary.

Exercise will have to be creative for the next few days since the air quality is "unhealthy" and outside activity is strongly discouraged until the smoke clears from the air. I'm thinking maybe I'll scrub the tile floors. We leave footprints in all the ash outside, so I know it is getting tracked inside too - time to clean! I'm also going to wash all the windows inside - and outside after the smoke clears.

So that's it for now. Help keep me on track WISH friends. I've missed you all!

Anna

[traceycooper]

:cool1: yay Anna great to see you back :banana:
Thanks for stopping by my journal too :hug:
The fires have made the news over here too & i was thinking about you, i'm so glad your family & home escaped the blaze, it must be very scary!
Your goals are great & well done for making a start already :goodvibes
You dont need to ''slink back with your head hung low in shame'' you've made a positive choice & its great to have you back :hug:

[toystoryduo]

Welcome Back, Anna!:yay: :woohoo: :banana: :cool1:

I'm so glad you're back and that you and your family are safe. :hug: The company that my DH sub contracts for is based in California and all employees have been told not to come to work. The execs are working from home. It is such a scary situation. I am so glad to hear that you are okay!:hug:

You have made some positive changes over the summer and your goals look great! :cheer2: You CAN accomplish each and every one of them and we'll be cheering you on every step of the way!:cheer2: :grouphug:

So glad you're back WISH sis!:hug: :yay: :woohoo: :banana: :cool1:

Have a great Thursday!:goodvibes

[CACruisin']

Thanks Tracey & Tracy for the encouragement. :thumbsup2

Yesterday was so-so.
1. water - drank 118 oz:thumbsup2

2. track food on fitday - tracked, but not pretty.
b- 6 oz LF yogurt, 4 oz O
l - 2 tostadas: LF beans, taco meat, cheese sprinkle, lettuce, salsa + 1 extra tortilla
s - three sugar cookies
d- turkey sausage, potato salad, asparagus
s - big scoop Ben & Jerry ice cream

The fact that I knew I'd have to record what I was eating did keep me from mindless snacking stuff I would have had otherwise (chips & salsa, chex mix, almonds), but didn't keep me away from the sweets:sad2: . I also realized I need to eat many, many more fruits & veggies.

3. Get out and do SOMETHING for exercise EACH and EVERY DAY - Spent the day putting things away, doing laundry and sweeping ash off the drive, but didn't do any real exercise.

I stepped on the scale this morning - 172.0:sad2: More than I thought. I have now gained back more than half the weight I lost last year - not good! I realize that I have quite bit of work in front of me, but I am determined to do it, one step at a time.

Anna

[toystoryduo]

I like what you said Anna about taking it one step at a time.:goodvibes You have some great goals in place.... you CAN do this!:cheer2:

How are things out in California? We've been praying for everyone out there.:grouphug:

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Hi Tracy, the one step at a time actually comes from your journal title - I've always liked it!:)

Things are slowly returning to normal here. I've done a bunch of laundry and will head to the grocery store today. Everything is covered in ash. Lots of cleaning to be done still. Most people have now been allowed back into their neighborhoods. So sad that many, many people do not have a home to return to. Warning - rant ahead - I've heard on national news complaints about how the fires were handled and it makes me angry. The firefighters did an incredible job! The media doesn't understand that when the Santa Ana winds start to blow, there isn't a whole lot that can be done. The water tenders can't fly - it's too dangerous. The winds were unusual this time in that they kept blowing and even got stronger (instead of dying down like normal) during the night on Sunday. For the first two days of the fires, the firefighters said, "we can't control these fires, we can't fight these fires. We are just trying to get the people out of the way." And that is what they did. With over 500k people evacuated (more than a quarter of the county), everything was handled in an orderly fashion. It is remarkable how few lives were lost. Once the winds started to die down, the firefighters could go on the offensive. Yes, it would have been better to have more water drops at that point, but that is a lesson we can learn for next time. Sorry, off my soap box now...

Did a little better with my goals yesterday.
1. water - drank 108 oz :thumbsup2

2. track food on fitday - tracked; better, but still needs work clearly.
b - scrambled egg w/ turkey sausage, cheddar; whole wheat toast w/ sour cherry spread; hawaiian king roll
l - 2 tostada w/ LF beans, cheddar, salsa + 1 extra tortilla, 1/4c potato salad, leftover asparagus
s- plum, 1 sugar cookie
d - 1.5 c LF split pea soup, 1 serving wheat thins, LF LC wedge, biscuit, cocktail

The snack craving was better today and I only had one cookie and resisted the ice cream all together. I had at least SOME fruits & veggies today, but still need more. I also need to cut back on the bread (sigh). The cocktail however was complete justified and required. The smoke and ash in the air makes the air quality unhealthy. We have been confined inside now since Sunday afternoon. We are all going a little bonkers at this point. The kids have watched the entire Season 2 of Gilmore Girls this week and the "30 minutes a day" rule for computer games has been complete abolished:rotfl2: .

3. Get out and do SOMETHING for exercise EACH and EVERY DAY - I cleaned out and reorganized my closet. I have multiple bags for goodwill, but no real exercise - drats!

[traceycooper]

Hey Anna
i bet that sweeping burnt quiite a few calories!! :goodvibes
isnt it amazing how slow we lose & how quick we gain :confused3
Your on the right track Anna, you've done it before and i know you will do it again:thumbsup2
Good news that some people are getting to go home now.:goodvibes

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

I think the firefighters did an outstanding job!:thumbsup2 They evacuated half a million people and very few lives were lost. It could have been so much worse. :( Is the air quality any better out your way today? I imagine that everyone is getting a bit frustrated being cooped up indoors. Hopefully, it is clearing up or will soon. :goodvibes

Keep up the good work with your goals. :thumbsup2

Have a great week, my friend. So glad you're back!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Busy weekend compounded by internet "issues". I did well on Saturday, but really bad on Sunday. DD12 & DD13 stayed after church. The youth group was setting up a haunted house for the Festival that evening. DH and I decided to go out to lunch with DD4. We split big burger and fries - yum! For dinner we went to the Fall Festival at church. Games for the kids, haunted house, chilli cook off, and bake sale (funny story about the bake sale!) I sampled 10 of the 17 chilli's - some of them were really good. Everyone had a good time. I don't feel bad about Sunday, but unfortunately, the bad habits have rolled into Monday - cake & cookies for breakfast are not ok!!:sad2:

Bake sale story: I made a layer cake for the bake sale. Sunday afternoon, I frosted and decorated the cake then very carefully covered it with foil so nothing touched the frosting. I carefully placed the cake on the passenger seat floor in front and head out to deliver it to church. Headed down the hill and decided not to run the yellow light ... big water bottle on the passenger seat ... water bottle rolls off passenger seat ... smack down on the cake! Cake is totally smashed, at this point however, I don't have time to bake anything else. Little damage control scraping the frosting off the foil and adding extra sprinkles ... pretty pathetic looking cake, but passable.:rotfl2: Of course, DD4 is appalled that we are not planning on eating said cake so I ended up buying the darn thing and bringing it home anyway.

Saturday:
1. Water - 104 oz :thumbsup2
2. track food on fitday - tracked it, I was out running errands in the afternoon and should have brought a snack for myself. I was hungry when I got home and started grazing.
b - 2 eggs, english muffin, slice of ham, 10 oz skim milk
l - 1c lentil soup, 1 serving wheat thins
s - pretzel, fruit snacks, 3 cookies:sad2:
d- chicken breast, 1c whole wheat pasta, brocolli
3. Get out and do SOMETHING for exercise EACH and EVERY DAY - None. I am just not making it a priority. I am definitely having difficulty here - :mad:

Sunday:
1. Water - don't know, not enough!
2. track food on fitday - didn't do it, but here's the damage that I remember:
b - 1c cheerios, 12 oz skim milk
l - 1/2 bacon cheese guacamole burger on whole wheat, lotsa cheddar fries w/ ranch, 2 glasses 7 up
d - 10 small chilli samples, small corn muffin, 2 saltines, glass apple juice, 1/2 pumpkin bite, 1/2 slice cake, cookie
3. Get out and do SOMETHING for exercise EACH and EVERY DAY - still nothing :mad:

[traceycooper]

Bake sale story: I made a layer cake for the bake sale. Sunday afternoon, I frosted and decorated the cake then very carefully covered it with foil so nothing touched the frosting. I carefully placed the cake on the passenger seat floor in front and head out to deliver it to church. Headed down the hill and decided not to run the yellow light ... big water bottle on the passenger seat ... water bottle rolls off passenger seat ... smack down on the cake! Cake is totally smashed, at this point however, I don't have time to bake anything else. Little damage control scraping the frosting off the foil and adding extra sprinkles ... pretty pathetic looking cake, but passable.:rotfl2: Of course, DD4 is appalled that we are not planning on eating said cake so I ended up buying the darn thing and bringing it home anyway.

:rotfl: :lmao:
Hope it tasted good after all that Anna :lmao:

wow 10 of 17 chiili samples!!! I would be doing the bathroom run all night ;)

It takes time to get back on track, hang in there, you'll get there in the end :hug: (lol ...from the woman who is just about to go & have a choc chip muffin for supper ;))

[kmp1191]

Hey Anna!!
Glad you're back....and on track!! You're water intake is amazing!!!! I've got to follow your lead!!!

As for the cake...too funny!!! I've had a few slide off the seat, but then I realized you can buckle them in too!!
Hope it was good!!

marie

[CACruisin']

Tracey - See, I know I like you becuase chocolate muffins are for dinner too!:)
Marie - I thought I was being so good putting the cake on the floor (I've had them slide off the seat too!) - oh well! It never occurred to me to buckle the cake in! :)

I've had computer issues for the past week that have made me hesitant to go into password protected areas. DH thinks he fixed it last night, so hopefully it is ok now.

Water intake has stayed good with close to 100 oz each day:thumbsup2 . STILL no exercise - I've GOT to do something here!:mad: I should have written my food intake int a journal, but I didn't. This is what I can remember:
:scared1: Monday was disasterous involving only cookies and cake until dinner time, when I finally had a real meal.
Tuesday was better, mostly on track except for more cookies.
Wednesday was completely on track until 5pm when I opened the bag of halloween candy - had to have a snickers and a milky way. Then more candy after trick or treating:upsidedow .

Last week after the fires we were still confined to the house since the air quality was so bad. The kids and I baked - a lot! Then they went back to school, and I kept eating the goodies.

For Halloween candy, I am reinstituting a family tradition from when the kids were little. For 24 hours after halloween everyone can eat as much candy as they want. Then at the end of the day, all the remaining candy is put back in the bucket and left for the "Halloween Fairy". The halloween takes away the candy (and it magically appears at DH's office!) and leaves a treat in it's place - book, halloween toy, etc. We'd stopped doing this the past few years, but now that DD4 is old enough to understand the draw of candy, it is time to start doing this again. The older girls understand how it works and focus on eating their favorite candies. DD4 on the other hand was eating three tootsie pops simultaneously - sugar coma!?
Anna

[CACruisin']

Today we all buzzed on sugar ALL day. I didn't even try and keep track of what DD4 ate. Interestingly, by the evening everyone was tired of candy and didn't want to eat any more. And now the Halloween Fairy has done her business! A cute Halloween bear sits in the bucket where the candy was. There is a quart size bag of skittles packets, etc (aka candy I don't like and it won't melt!) hidden away that will be used for after swim meet treats, road trip treats, etc. The rest is in the trash outside!! DH doesn't need it at his office (or his wasteline), and there are no organizations currently accepting donations. I felt bad being so wasteful, but honestly I had to get it out of the house.

Our swim team is hosting a swim meet for the first time this weekend (rescheduled from last weekend because of the fires). I've spent the better part of the past few days and most of last night doing the program for the meet. I finished it about 1:30am, but since I was eating snickers for most of the time, I was still buzzed and didn't fall asleep until around 3am. DH got up at 4am (early flight) and I've been up since. Did a final proofread and took the program to the printer. Of course, someone wanted to "add something" at 7pm tonight - Nope! I was hoping for a sugar crash so I could get some sleep, but so far the sugar high is still in control!:scared1:

Tomorrow will be normal "remember these things? They're called fruits & vegetables." Then we will have one crazy weekend, but all good stuff hopefully. The Santa Ana winds are supposed to kick back up, but not as bad as two weeks ago. It will be nice to have warm weather for the swim meet, but hopefully no more fires.

Completely off topic: When I took the trash out tonight I realized the plumeria tree outside my kitchen door has flowers on it again. What a treat on November 1st! I think it got confused with all the hot weather we've had the past couple of weeks.

I'll hopefully be online tomorrow, but doubt I'll be back until Monday after that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Anna

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Sounds like you have been busy! :goodvibes Is the sugar high gone yet? ;)

I think we will be getting rid of some candy too. Yesterday, my DD5 walks up to me with chocolate all over her shirt and tries to explain how it got there without her eating any candy.:scratchin Hmmmm.... Wonder how that happened? ;) :lmao:

Hope the swim meet goes well and that you have a great weekend!:hug:

[traceycooper]

HI Anna
i didnt get much sleep last night either!!!
At least the candy has gone now!
Hope the fires stay at bay.
We had a big fire on the news today, 5 firefighters thought it was safe to go in & the roof collapsed killing them :(

[CACruisin']

Thanks for the well wishes on the swim meet Tracy. The :wizard: worked and the meet went really well.
Tracey - how awful about the firefighters! We were so lucky with our big fires that so few people died or were hurt. The fires are pretty much out now and the morning fog has returned. Hopefully that means that fire season is just about over now.

Quick recap:
Friday -
1. didn't track, but ate well. I'm really glad I had put the candy in the trash the night before because there were more than a few occasions during the day when I would have dove into the candy otherwise.
2. Drank 100oz water :thumbsup2
3. No formal exercise still:sad2: .But I spent 3 hours at the pool helping with set up for the swim meet: moved carpet strips, loaded/unloaded drinks into coolers, moved said coolers, hung signs, etc.

Saturday -
I was up at 4:45a and we were at the pool right after 6am. Spent the day selling programs, working in the snack bar, etc. Kids swam really well and the meet went very smoothly.:) We got home about 3pm and had about an hour to relax before heading up to Downtown Disney for dinner with some DIS friends from our transatlantic cruise:banana: . We had set this up before the fires and the swim meet got postponed. Even though they were tired, the kids still wanted to go, so they slept in the car each way and we had a good visit at Storytellers Cafe. We made it home about 9pm. I think I was asleep by 9:10pm!
1. food - didn't eat much of anything at the meet - too busy. Ate way, way, way too much at Storytellers. :sad2:
2. water - a few water bottles, and lots of water at the restaurant. I think I was pretty close to 100oz by the end of the day.
3. exercise - standing, walking from 6am to 2:30pm.

Sunday -
Up at 5am (sooooo glad we got an extra hour of sleep for DST!) and back at the pool at 6am. Same drill except I worked in the snack bar instead of sell programs from 7am - 8:20a. Then the kids and I left the pool and went to confirmation class. They have class twice a month and can only miss one class a semester. We are already missing the other November class. It wasn't a conflict until the swim meet got postponed. We were back at the pool about 10am. DD13 had to scratch one event, but otherwise it was ok to be gone. We made it home about 2pm. DD's and DH went to church at 5pm and then youth group. I stayed home with DD4 and ate cookies:rolleyes1 .
1. food: again didn't eat a lot at the meet, and did ok until the cookie incident.
2. water: 50 oz. I knew I wouldn't drink enough today. There just wasn't enough time to tinkle!
3. exercise: standing, etc from 6am - 1:30pm with a break from 8:30 -10 for class.

Monday -
Did household stuff that hadn't gotten done over the weekend.
1. food:
b - 1c GoLean Crunch, 12 oz skim milk
s - apple, 2 cookies (cookies are gone now, by the way!)
l - 1c LF split pea soup, 1 serving triscuits, 1 LF LC wedge
s - plum, granola nut bar
d - whole wheat pasta, marinara sauce w/ turkey sausage, 20 oz skim milk
2. water: 77 oz - I need to work my way back up to 100 oz.
3. exercise: Still hadn't done anything at the end of the day and feeling really disgusted with myself. So while DD4 was in the shower, I walked up and down the stairs. After 5 minutes my legs were burning and I was breathing hard, but at least I did SOMETHING! Boy, am I out of shape!

Scale: I was at 170.5 on Saturday morning, but back up to 172 Tuesday morning. The Saturday binge did me in, I know.

Well, that wasn't exactly a quick recap, but thanks for reading if you made it this far. I feel like I am really getting back on track, albeit slowly. I want to be back below 170 by next week!

Anna

[Amy&Dan]

Anna I am so EXCITED to see you!:banana: ! I have really missed you and was so worried about your family and the fires. So glad your home and all of you are safe.

Welcome back, as you'll see by my journal I haven't done a da*m thing since you left but I am still plugging along!

You can do this, you came back before you gained back all the weight and those pounds that crept back on will be history soon. Again, welcome back, glad the rest was good and love your do some form of exercise every day. Can I borrow that?

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
i feel tired just reading about your weekend!!!
you & your kids must be really dedicated to the swimming!
Maybe i'll see them at the olympics one day :)
I KNOW you'll be under 170 next week ;)

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Sounds like you had a busy weekend. I definitely think setting up and working at the swim meet counts as exercise. :thumbsup2

You'll be back under 170 before you know it! You CAN do it!:cheer2:

Have a great week!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, hope this weekend is a nice relaxing one for you guys! I'll see you around here next week!

Amy

P.S. Next time you go to Moonlight Beach, will you think of me?! Oh, and I'll be at Disneyland on MLK weekend, any chance you guys will be there too?

[CACruisin']

Sorry for going MIA. DH has been working crazy hours and is out of town all of this week so I've been doing the parent thing "solo". I've been eating ok except I often skip breakfast (bad, I know). The scale has been down to 169 for the past couple of days, so that's good. I'm slipping on my water intake too - just so dang busy, I forget to drink. I have gotten some exercise though! I did yardwork for an hour on tuesday and again today for about 3 hours. I'm pooped and I'm sore, so I figure I must have gotten some kind of a workout. We are headed to Palm Springs tomorrow for a swim meet and then will go north from there to have Thanksgiving with my family. I'm really looking forward to having some relaxing time at my folks, and DH can definitely use the downtime too! I'm hoping to catch up on everyone's journals next week. Gotta run again!

Anna

Amy - we let our passes expire :sad1: so no DL trip for us MLK weekend. What fun that you get two trips in year with WDW sandwiched in the middle!:banana:

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Have a wonderful thanksgiving with your family :)

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna,

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and get some down time. Sounds like you totally need it, I hate it when Dh travels, its not easy is it?!

This is our last trip to DL for awhile most likely, just not in the budget anymore to take these trips. So I am going to enjoy it and then hopefully make it back in a few years when the changes to DCA are complete. Sorry I won't see you there that weekend, I was hopeful! Happy Thanksgiving, "see" you next week!:)

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving and some time for rest and relaxation.:grouphug:

[traceycooper]

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving Anna

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, hope Thanksiving was fun and relaxing! Also hope you are having a good week.:)

[CACruisin']

Thanks everyone for keeping me on page 1. I didn't get on the computer at all while we were gone. Before Thanksgiving, we had a great time in Palm Springs for DDs' swim meet. I even got in a bit of exercise(!) I would take DD12 to the pool in the morning and get her all situated. Then, while she was doing team warm ups, I would take the car back to the hotel for DH and walk back to the pool. It was only a bit more than a mile, but at least it was something, and I did it twice. From Palm Springs we went to my parents in N.Cal and had a wonderful time. 2 of my 3 Dbro's and their families were there also. It was pretty much bedlam most of the time (kids: 18mos, 4, 5,5,7,9,12,13), but we all had a really good time. Unfortunately, I came back with a cold that had me feeling lousy most of last week. I'm better now except for a cough that just won't go away. The kids have all bounced back from their colds nicely, of course.:rolleyes:

I'm just trying to maintain some semblance of sanity at this point with regards to my weight. I'm back into the low 170's again(172/3):sad2: That is a 15lb gain from my low last spring and 7 lbs up from where I was at the beginning of the year. :sad2:

I went back and looked at my New Year Resolutions. Clearly didn't make any of them, but they are all still valid so I think I will just reuse them for 2008. Maybe it will be better 2nd time around?:idea:

1.My goal is to hit my target weight by July 1 and be in solid "maintainance" mode by the end of 2008. My target weight for now is 145. I'll see how I feel when I get there and may go for 135 (my ideal, but I'm not sure it is realistic.)
2. Journal and post my food until I hit target and anytime I "drift" up while in maintainance mode. Sorry this is boring for everyone, but I don't seem to be accountable to just myself.
3. Exercise at least 3-5X per week, even if it only for 30 minutes each time. Unless someone is deathly ill, I cannot keep making excuses for not doing this. I know that eating alone will not take the weight off for me.
4. Exercise a minimum of 750 minutes a month - this is so I don't wimp out and just do 30 minutes 3X a week
5. Eat at least 3 fruits & veggies every day.
6. Drink at least 64 oz of water every day.

For the next 4 weeks:
I'd love ... to get back to my year starting weight -166
I'd like ... to get below 170 again (and never see that darn number again!)
I'd hate ... to GAIN anything more!!

This may or may not be realistic, but I do have an incentive. I have to step on the scale for my annual exam the first week of January. :scared1: That thought is keeping me away from my Christmas love - eggnog - right now.

Anna

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
I need to make new resolutions too!!!
Glad you had a great time at your parents in N.Cal
Well done for resisting the eggnog - i've given up until after christmas - THEN i'm right back on that wagon with you ;)

[Amy&Dan]

Anna, your goals sound good and very achievable. I am up too from earlier this year, I was at 33 pounds, now I am at around 21 or 22. Its very discouraging. And um, I think I was really discouraged a year ago too! But then I think about two years ago when I was almost 25 pounds heavier and realize that my goal is rather long in coming, I have had some major bumps and its not gone like I thought, but I am still here and I am still down. You are also down from your highest weight, you have learned a lot, and you haven't given up! So there's some celebrating in there too. I think you can do this, its a tough time of year. Just hang in there and the New Year with all of its possiblities will be here very soon. Don't give up! And get over the lousy cold thing very soon, that stinks. You can do it!:hug: :)

[toystoryduo]

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Anna!:santa: Hope everyone is doing well out in CA!:grouphug:

[traceycooper]

Happy new year Anna :)

[CACruisin']

Happy New Year Everyone!!

New Year and I am determined to get to the "New Me". This me is NOT Overweight!!! Christmas Eve morning I weighed 173 (ugh!) Then it was unstoppable eating for the next 9 days - major ugh!! I knew I was packing on the pounds since my rings are tight. I decided that I would start fresh when we returned from my visiting my parents. Of course, I did insist that we stop for Animal Fries at In and Out Burger last night on our drive home:headache: . DH didn't want burgers, but I told him this was my last bad meal and I wanted those darn fries! This morning the scale was 180.5 :scared: . However, I bunch of that is vacation weight/TOM and I am going with the 173 # for my starting weight for the new year. Now if I am not back to that and the 7.5lbs from vacation are not gone in the next 10 days, I will have to readjust - ugh!!
I did not do well as I hoped in 2007 - up 6 lbs from the start of last year, and up 15 lbs from my "low" last May. That is going to be the kick in the pants I need to get back on track.

Here are my goals for 2008:
1.My goal is to hit my target weight by July 1 and be in solid "maintainance" mode by the end of 2008. My target weight for now is 145. I'll see how I feel when I get there and may go for 135 (my ideal, but I'm not sure it is realistic.)
2. Journal and post my food until I hit target and anytime I "drift" up while in maintainance mode. Sorry this is boring for everyone, but I don't seem to be accountable to just myself.
3. Exercise at least 3-5X per week, even if it only for 30 minutes each time. Unless someone is deathly ill, I cannot keep making excuses for not doing this. I know that eating alone will not take the weight off for me.
4. Exercise a minimum of 750 minutes a month - this is so I don't wimp out and just do 30 minutes 3X a week
5. Eat at least 3 fruits & veggies every day.
6. Drink at least 64 oz of water every day.

So far I have been drinking the water today and will go for a walk later this afternoon. I'm going to have an orange for snack this afternoon and two veggies with dinner. I need to get to the grocery store and restock.

I've not had anything to eat yet today. Bad, I know, but I'm truly not hungry. I've had so much to eat in the last week and a half. This morning I did throw out the leftover chocolate cake and see's candy. Next I'm pouring out the last of the eggnog, if the kids don't finish it tonight.

Amy, Tracey, Tracy, thanks for sticking with me. I REALLY am back for REAL this time. WISH worked for me in 2006. It is going to work for me again in 2008.:cheer2: :flower3: :grouphug:

[CACruisin']

2:30p - 1c carrot sticks (orange was bad :sad1: )
6pm - 1c chicken breast, 2/3c broccoli, 1/2c brown rice, 1/5c salad w/ 1T avocado & NF spritzer, 12 oz skim milk
3 f/v :thumbsup2
(totals: 594 cal, 11g fat, 59g carb, 9g fiber, 62g protein)

112 oz water :thumbsup2

Time got away from me and I didn't get my walk:sad2:
It is going to start raining tomorrow and continue for the next four days - I am going to get wet when I walk, but it doesn't matter. I WILL walk!

I have not eaten very much, but I am really not hungry.

One day down, a lifetime to go ...

[CACruisin']

b - 1c GoLean Crunch cereal, 1/2c blueberries, 12 oz skim milk
l - 4oz LF yogurt, 1/2c peach
s- celery sticks
d - 1 serving Hodgepodge soup, 1/2serving crackers, 8 oz skim milk
(totals: 986 cal, 16g fat, 161g carbs, 19g fiber, 57g protein):thumbsup2
3 f/v :thumbsup2
108 oz water :thumbsup2
I cleaned house all morning (+3 hours) - doesn't count as exercise, but at least I was moving. :sad2:
morning wt: 178.5 - 2# of vacation wt gone:thumbsup2

The kids have to do a family tree with pictures for confirmation class. They did it today in powerpoint with different pages for each of the "branches". DD#1 did my side of the family, and DD#2 did DH's side of the family. I hunted around in photo boxes for pictures of the missing/ more far flung members of the family. This turned into a much bigger project than any of us thought it would be - took all afternoon and most of the evening - but it turned out really nice.

For dinner I modified a family favorite using gr turkey, low fat minestrone soup, and FF baked beans. Everybody liked it, and nobody noticed the changes. It was hard to stick to one serving for me, but I did it.:)

Anna

[keenercam]

Great job, Anna! Your goals look very realistic and your strategies are great. I need to put a bunch of those into place myself.

So glad to see you on track for the new year. I hope it is a wonderful one for you and your family! :hug:

[CACruisin']

b- Curves Granola bar, 8 oz OJ
l - 2c salad w/ avocado, FF dressing
d - 1/2c chicken breast, 1/2c brown rice, 1c broccoli (leftovers)
s - 1 serving cheese, 6 triscuits, 1/2c pineapple
(total: 813 cal, 24g fat, 114g carb, 17g fiber, 40 g protein)
4 f/v:thumbsup2
100 oz water :thumbsup2
8 min ab workout, 8 min buns workout, 10 minutes leg lifts :thumbsup2
still no cardio though :sad2:
morning wt: 177.5 - another lb of vacation wt gone:thumbsup2

I spent all day in the office throwing junk away/putting other stuff away. And I'm still not done. For the past month (or more!) the office has been the "dumping ground" for misc stuff. Now I have to claim my office back. The paper recycle bin is full and I have more to put in it after the trash gets picked up. It will feel good to be more organized, but it is tedious to get there.

I still didn't get out and walk (heck, I didn't ever get out of my PJ's today!). I was feeling low about still not getting in exercise so after I put DD4 to bed, I pulled out the 8 min workout tapes. I did both the abs and the buns, and then did 10 minutes worth of leg lifts while watching the end of a Law & Order rerun.:) That felt good (actually it burned, and I probabaly will be sore tomorrow, but you know what I mean:rotfl2: ). I also found a Walk Away the lbs DVD I bought several months ago. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I did a 40 minute walk at my parents on Sunday, so if I can get some kind of exercise in tomorrow I will still have exercised 3X for the week. Maybe that will motivate me.

On the eating & water, I really feel like I am back on track. I am not having trouble resisting the snacks & temptations for now. I even turned down DH's offer of my beloved eggnog w/ baileys :love: If anything, I am not eating enough. I had the snack after dinner tonight after I realized my calorie intake was only 550. I need to work on getting more protein and fewer carbs, but I'm just not hungry.

Thanks Cam! I am always inspired reading your journal with how you manage to juggle work, family, exercise and healthy living. I strive for that.

Anna

[keenercam]

Anna -- look at you go!! I am so impressed with all you have accomplished and how disciplined you are being. Congratulations, sweetie! :hug:
And thank you for your sweet comment. It is reassuring, especially right now when I am feeling so incredibly overwhelmed. :rolleyes2:

Have you joined any of the exercise challenges for January? Have you checked out sparkpeople? There is a DISBoards group there and we have an exercise challenge going on and you already have SO many minutes racked up, you'd inspire everyone else! :woohoo: Seriously, though, using some kind of website (I really think SP is the BEST) to track your carb/protein/fat intake might be helpful. Man, is it eye-opening. Anyway, that website is totally free but I know it's always hard to make time to use another resource. PM me if you want more info.
Have a great weekend! (Oh, and HUGE KUDOS for resisting the egg nog w/Bailey's. I am so proud of you!)

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Your goals for 2008 look good!:thumbsup2 You can accomplish each and every one of them!:cheer2:

You are off to a great start! Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

Have a great week!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Shoot, lost my post and had to start over again:mad:
Thank you so much for the support, Tracy & Cam! It really, really does help keep me on track when I am feeling down about myself. Cam, I've been using Fitday, but I'll go over and check out sparkpeople. It sounds good. I was doing the exercise challenges before, but got discouraged when I wasn't meeting my goals. I should try that again though. Thanks for the reminder.:)

Saturday:
b - 3 pancakes, 1/4c blueberries, 1/2c yogurt, 2T maple syrup, 8 oz OJ
l - 1.25 serving HodgePodge soup, 1c green beans
d- fried chicken breast, 1/2c corn, 1/2c mashed potato, 1T gravy
s- 1 cubic inch chocolate cake
totals: 1583 cal, 38g fat, 195g carb, 13g fiber, 117g protein
3 f/v:thumbsup2
100oz water :thumbsup2
no exercise:sad2:
forgot to WI - drats!

Sunday:
b - 2/3c GoLean Crunch cereal, 12oz skim milk
l- 1c HodgePodge soup, 1c green beans
d- 1c Healthy request Mexican Chicken Tortilla soup, 2c salad w/ 1/4 avocado, 1/2 tomato, FF dressing
s- 8oz skim milk, 2 cubic inches chocolate cake
totals: 793 cal, 20g, fat, 111g carb, 19g fiber, 50g protein
3 f/v :thumbsup2
100oz water :thumbsup2
no exercise:sad2:
WI:176.5 - another vacation lb gone!

We spent the weekend picking up the house, de-decorating, etc. It started raining Friday and hasn't stopped since. I don't like the wet, but it was nice that it forced us to have a quiet, easy weekend at home.

DH did all the cooking on Saturday. He tries to be healthy, but really doesn't understand what that means. All but one member of his family ranges from overweight to very obese. DH himself has always been thin, but over the years the pounds have gone on and is overweight himself now. I used portion control and adding in some fruits and veggies. DH and DD12 made a wonderful chocolate cake. I was proud of myself for having only one cubic inch.:) Even with the less stellar food choices, I didn't get out of control. My calories were below 1600, and the ratio of fat/carb/protein was 22/47/30%. Sunday I had more control of my food choices and did much better. Actually, my calories were awfully low so added a second "inch" of cake:love: . Not a great choice, but I was happy to at least have the calories available. I do need to add snacks into my day. I'm not hungry so I don't think about it. Hopefully exercise will stimulate my appetite.

Exercise is the one area that didn't happen:guilty: . I got Bob Greene's Total Body makeover book at the library yesterday. Maybe that will help get me going. :guilty:

Anna

[goldcupmom]

You're doing REALLY AWESOME, Anna!

Your goals sound like mine.. I want to hit 145 at or before 7/1, too! Today I'm 172.8.

Hope the rest of your week goes well! I'm SLOWLY getting caught up & back in the groove!

Did you get the awful storms? They're just hitting here, but thankfully mostly drizzle where I am & not snow -but I'd love it if it did!

[CACruisin']

Julie, It started raining here friday night and didn't stop until Monday morning. I think we got almost 3 inches of rain! It is supposed to be nice now for the next week and a half though. :yay: that is great that we have the same goals. You have been doing so well in spite of the holidays and all the other stuff going on. You are a good inspiration for me.:)

b- scrambled egg, 1.5 sausage link
s - curves granola bar, 6oz grapefruit juice
l - 2c lettuce, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 tomato, 1T feta, salad spritzer, 1/2 orange
s- celery, 2t natural PB
d- 1.5 serving pork loin, 1c carrots & broccoli, 1/2c pineapple, 12oz skim milk
totals: 1077 cal, 44g fat, 103g fat, 18g fiber, 72g protein
4 f/v:thumbsup2
102oz water :thumbsup2
exercise: 77 minutes :thumbsup2
42min run/walk (actually ran a total of 16 minutes!)
20min strengthening exercise
15 min stretches/conditioning exercise
WI- 176.0

I ate breakfast with the kids this morning before school. Then I plugged it into fitday and freaked out:scared: . I had been given an "atkin -esque" type menu to try with eggs and bacon as the breakfast. I get the low carb thing, but I cannot wrap my mind around eating that much fat being good under any circumstances! I started adding in fruits/veggies/non-fat items, but of course then the carbs went up. Clearly Atkins is not for me.

I've started reading Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover. So far I really like it. it is a tough program, but it makes logical sense to me. I did the first workout this morning and really, really liked it. We have high surf warnings from the storms, so walked along the boardwalk instead of the beach. It is a little out of the way for me, but I had fun watching the "angry ocean".

The one thing I'm not sure about in Bob Greene's book is he really discourages any type of "dieting" or restricted calories during the program. He stresses conscientious eating/good choices. I'm having a little trouble with that part. It is harder for me to make good choices when I am not watching the calories/fat content. I'm going to have to think about that.

[CACruisin']

b- 3/4c Honey Bunches of Oats w/ almonds, 1/2c blueberries, 12oz skim milk
l - 1c LF split pea soup, 1/2 orange, 8 LF wheat thins, 1 LF LC wedge
s- 6 celery sticks w/ 1t natural PB
d- 1 serving beef roast, 1 sm potato w/ 1T light sour cream, 1c carrots & broccoli, 12oz skim milk, 1/2 Pillsbury ready bake turtle cookie
totals: 1181 cal, 28g fat, 158g carb, 18g fiber, 72g protein
5 f/v:thumbsup2
100oz water
exercise: 65 minutes :thumbsup2
48min run/walk (ran a total of 17.5 minutes)
eta: 17 stretches/conditioning exercise
WI: 175.0

I pumped up the tires on the jogger stroller, loaded DD4 in and headed out. I walked the uphills, ran the down hills and some of the flats (not a lot of flats thoughin my neighborhood though:scared: ) I will do stretches/conditioning exercise tonight after we get back from the youth group parent meeting. ETA: By the time I went to meeting, the grocery store, and put the groceries away it was almost 11pm. I really wanted to just curl up in bed, but I went ahead and did the conditioning anyway. I actually like doing stretches before going to bed, crunches - not so much!

I made some Simply Bake cookies that were in the frig for dessert tonight. I budgetted my calories/fat and could justify eating half a cookie. It was heavenly:cloud9: . Unfortunately they have a FEW walnuts on them so the DD's don't like them:snooty: . If nobody eats them tomorrow I am throwing the rest in the trash. I can justify 1/2 a cookie every once in a while, but not the whole pan of cookies! I hate to waste them, but I cannot continue to keep them in the house with nobody eating them.

The vacation weight it coming off nicely. I know that I won't continue to have daily weight loss, but for now it feels good to have some instant results.

Anna

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

It sounds like you are doing a great job! Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

[CACruisin']

b -ww toast w/ <1T natural PB, 1T cherry butter
s - 1/2c LF cottage cheese w/ pineapple, apple
l- 1c LF split pea soup, 2oz turkey, 1/2 orange
d- 1.5c Carbonara, 2c lettuce w/ .5 tomato, 3 spritz's dressing, 12oz skim milk
totals: 1295 cal, 31g fat, 180g carb, 19g fiber, 70g protein
4 f/v:thumbsup2
103 oz water :thumbsup2
exercise: 70 minutes :thumbsup2
20 min strenghening exercise
15 min stretches/conditioning exercise
35 min jog/walk (15 min total running)
WI: 175.0

I feel like I am finally back on track! I puttered around too much at home this morning so I didn't have time to get a jog/walk in before picking DD4 up from preschool. Instead of saying "oh,well" and not exercising for the day, I took her out in the jogger stroller again on the neighborhood hills. I knew I would have to make it a quick workout before I had to pick up the older two DD's from school, so I really pushed myself to get the running time in.

I finished reading Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover last night. I think it is going to be a good plan for me. It is an exercise program and that is where I have really struggled. I understand better his thoughts on not "dieting" and I think I am on the right path with that too with making healthy choices. As part of the program I sign a contract with myself committing to making exercise a priority for 12 weeks. I think that will be a good motivator for me. You also commit to healthy eating and no alcohol. That part I'm not sure about. No wine/cocktails for valentines, DH's birthday, my birthday, Easter with the inlaws:scared: ? However, the 12 week contract will be done by the time we go to SF (mini vacation as we tagalong on DH's business trip:rolleyes1 )

Anna

[CACruisin']

b - 3/4c Honey Bunches of Oats w/ almonds, 12oz skim milk, 8oz pineapple juice
l - 1c HC Bean & Ham soup, 2oz turkey, apple
s- 1/2c LF cottage cheese w/ pineapple
d - ?? It's Bunco night:confused3 I'm going to really focus on making good choices and/or small portions, if there are not good choices & drinking only water. I just ate the snack now so I won't be so hungry. We'll see ...

I'll post more later

Anna

[goldcupmom]

You're doing GREAT, Anna! Bunco is something I've never played....need to maybe!!

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

How did Bunco night go? Hope you had a great time!:goodvibes

You are off to a great start in 2008!:cheer2: Keep up the good work!:cheer2:

Have a great week!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Hi WISH friends. Sorry to go MIA. I woke up friday with some sort of horrible virus. I actually had to call DH at work to come home. I've only had to do that once before in our whole life, but I was too sick to pick the big girls up from school. (He drops them at school on his way to work.) I had nasty vertigo for a couple of days. First day I couldn't even open my eyes without the whole world spinning - and I haven't had anything to drink since before New Years:rotfl: . After the vertigo left I just felt like I'd been hit by a truck - really drained for a couple of days. I'm feeling better now, but I need to get back on the WISH bandwagon. I've been stress snacking (DD12 and math don't seem to be getting along again!) The scale is stuck at 174 again - grrr!

Need to go take care of the family. More later ....

Anna

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been feeling well. :( I hope you are feeling better soon.:hug: Please remember to take it easy as you get back on the WISH bandwagon. You don't want to do too much too soon.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Quick check in -- too much snacking yesterday and today is the Chargers-Patriots Game! One of DH's DSis is a Chargers season ticket holder and the other DSis lives in Boston. They will actually be AT the game. Die hard fans to go to a game in those temps!! (Can you tell I am really a fair weather football fan :rolleyes1 )

I need to get the kids off to confirmation class this morning and then we are scooting home after church for the game!

Back on track tomorrow, for sure!

[CACruisin']

Me again. The weekend was bad. Our neighbor had a heart attack and died Sunday morning. He was 60, active & healthy! He was playing lacrosse at the time. If that is not enough, one of DD12's classmates died Saturday. Normal, healthy kid ... died of a staph infection. Scary! That has DD12 pretty shook up. In her book, grown ups die, but not kids. I've not been exercising and "balanced meals" are definitely not happening. Grab what I can, when I can. Luckily, most of it is healthy. The last lb of vacation wt final went away. Scale was back to 173.0 this morning - same as Christmas eve morning.

We are going to the neighbor's funeral on Saturday. I'm leaving it up to DD12 if she wants to go to her classmate's funeral on Friday.

I'll be back to WISH next week. This is definitely a grim reminder that you never know what can happen. Right now I need to focus on my family and my kids. I want to be the best healthy me for them and for myself.

[toystoryduo]

Oh Anna,

I am so sorry. :( It is definitely a reminder to us all to cherish each and every day we have. :grouphug:

Please be sure and take good care of you. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and the families as well.:grouphug:

[Amy&Dan]

Oh Anna, I am so sorry about dd's classmate and your neighbor. Life is scary sometimes and we have to all embrace each day. I am really praying for both of those families and yours.

You are doing really well with your food and exercise. I have that Bob Greene book, maybe I need to find it and read it! As I recall, the no drinking thing caused me to stop reading it! Do what you can with that but cocktails and inlaws are just non negotiable in my book. ;)

I hope you are feeling better, that sounded like a very nasty virus. Hope nobody else came down with it.

Keep up your good work, you are really starting 2008 off on a hardworking, positive note!

[CACruisin']

Good morning. It has been an emotionally draining 10 days, but ready or not, I need to get back to WISH again. Clothes are tight. The scale is creeping up again - 175.0 this morning.

I am not going to formally follow Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover plan. I feel too bad when I screw up, and I agree with Amy, inlaws require cocktails:rotfl: . The book did give me some good insight into the exercise side of things though.

Last night I had a healthy dinner (first healthy meal in a long while). This morning has started out well too and I'm drinking the water again (finally!)

b- 3/4c honey nut cheerios, 8 oz skim milk, peach

Question: Should I start a new journal? Will that help me be motivated?:confused3 Let me know what you think!

I'm definitely starting over with the weightloss journey. It is too depressing to say I have only lost a net 10 lbs after almost two years. My new starting weight will be 175.0 (ugh!) and my goals are still the same - 145 by July 1 - Challenging, but doable, I believe. I'm going to go back to putting 5 lb clippies in my sig too. It will be good to see the 30 lb clippie after 5 months of hard work. :)

Thanks everyone for sticking with me while I have stopped and started over the past year. I did so well in 2006 and early 2007, but have really floundered for the past 6-7 months. Your encouragement and advice all along has meant the world to me. :grouphug:

Anna

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

Your goals look good, WISH sis! I know that you CAN do this!:cheer2:

Hope you have a good weekend!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Good day except no exercise.

b- 3/4c honey nut cheerios, 8 oz skim milk, peach
l- 1 slice cheddar, 1 LT LC wedge, 100c pack south beach woven wheat crackers (tiny triscuits), 3/4c broccoli
d- 3 pieces homemade cheese pizza, 3c salad w/ FF dressing 12oz skim milk
96oz water

I could have done without the third piece of pizza, but my calorie count was low.

Need to scoot now and go for a tour at one of the HS's. In our district we can "choose" between 4 HS's. Two are on a lottery system. DD likes 3 of the 4 - argh! I'm also looking at 2-3 Kindergartens for DD4. Too many choices!

Anna

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna,

That's too funny, I have also been thinking about just starting up a new journal. Remember my 30 pound clippie? Well that ship sunk, I can have a 10 pount one but just decided to start over with five pound ones like you. I also want to lose around 30 pounds by July 1! Lets do this together, we can make it happen.

Good luck with the school choices, we are doing the same thing, remember when our moms just took us to the local school, dropped us off and didn't worry about stuff the way we have to?

Have a great weekend, you are off to a great start, food looks good!:thumbsup2

[CACruisin']

Quick post for Friday's food:
b- WW toast w/ 1T natural PB, 1t all fruit jam, 12 oz skim milk
l - skipped
s - 1/3 bag LF popcorn, 1T PB
d- chicken breast, 1c squash w/ marmalade, 1c broccoli, 12 oz skim milk
80 oz water

I dropped DD4 off at preschool, ran a quick errand, and went to a HS tour. The tour was +2hrs - barely got back to pick DD4 up from school in time and missed lunch entirely - but really, really worth it. This was not the HS I thought DD13 would do best at (although it is closest to us - walking distance :banana: ). However, my perception has changed quite a bit. I was really impressed with what I saw and learned today. HS#2 was our top pick, but we will have to look at that again now. HS#3 is great - combines a lot of what she likes from #1 & #2, but it is a +40minute commute in ugly traffic each way -- not really a contender in my book. HS#4 is also a long drive away and doesn't offer anything that HS#1 doesn't have except a better swim team. Decisions, decisions! I love the fact that we have 4 excellent schools to choose from, but it definitely makes life more complicated. DD13 is going to do a pro/con list (a la Rory on gilmore girls:rotfl: ) this weekend. We have two more weeks before she needs to make a decision.

DH has the congestion, fever, etc (aka the flu, but he won't call it that:rolleyes1 ) today and DD12 has a swim meet this afternoon. Thank goodness her part of the meet is only in the afternoon and we only signed up for one day! It is going to be a long weekend...

Amy, we can definitely do this together :thumbsup2

I'll try and get to journals tonight or tommorrow during the superbowl -- between the commercials -- not interested in the football part at all :rotfl2:

Anna

[Amy&Dan]

Oh Anna, I feel your pain! Deciding what school is best is a huge responsibility, and since I have already made one hasty decision, don't want to make another! Thats great you have some really good choices. Your food looks great, keep up that good work!

Tell dh to admit his flu thing, I didn't and it came back to haunt me! And yes, we are going to do this together!!!

[CACruisin']

Saturday:
b- 3/4c cheerios, peach, 12 oz skim milk
l - (didn't really have lunch, just snacks at the meet)
s's - string cheese, apple, protein bar
d- chicken breast, squash w/ marmalade (no butter!), broccoli, 8 oz skim milk
s- big glass of wine:sad2:

Sunday: super bowl food:rolleyes1

Saturday was good foodwise. I brought healthy snacks & lots of water for the swim meet and had a healthy dinner when we got home. On the downside, I am not going to be able to walk for exericise for awhile. After we left the swim meet, I stopped at a roadside stand to advertising avocados. I stepped in a hole & screwed up my ankle pretty badly.:sad2: I couldn't move it without a lot of pain and I could feel it swelling the rest of the drive home. For the rest of the weekend, I iced it and took motrin (and the glass of wine:rolleyes: ). I was afraid I had actually torn something it hurt that much. Today however, it is still swollen, lovely shades of purple, but as long as I keep it wrapped it feels ok. Hopefully it is just a bad sprain.

I treated Sunday as a "free day" and enjoyed all the wrong kinds of food watching the game.

Today I am back on track and drinking tons of water to wash out all the sodium I ingested yesterday. Hopefully I can stay on track. DH is still sick. He has had a cold/cough for almost 3 weeks and Friday he started running a fever and the cough got much worse. He is actually going to the DR this afternoon. In the meantime he stayed home from work (nobody wants him in the office coughing up a lung!) and he is sort of driving me a bit nuts :scared: . I'm not good at Florence Nightengale.

Anna

[toystoryduo]

:hug: Anna,

How's your ankle feeling today? I hope it's feeling better.

I'm sorry to hear that your DH is sick. :( This flu/cold thing that is going around is tough to get rid of and likes to come back just when you think you're getting healthy. Sending some get well :wizard: his way.

Hope you have a good Tuesday!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Thanks for the :wizard: Tracy. I think it's working:) .

b- ww toast w/ 1T almond butter, 1t marmalade, 1/2 grapefruit, 12oz milk
l- ww toast w/ cheddar, apple, chips & dip:sad2: , milk
s- polished off the chips & dip:sad2:
d- baked potato w/ 1T sr crm, 1T cheddar (forgot the broccoli:mad: ), more milk
96 oz water

major carb/dairy fest yesterday. Just stressing about stuff - no problem figuring out what my comfort foods are, is there! DH has bronchitis. Dr took a chest xray also to rule out pneumonia (sp?). Luckily, the rest of us are healthy (knocking on wood here!)

for good news, my ankle continues to feel better - although it looks awful with all the bruising. The swelling has gone down significantly though. I keep it wrapped during theday and I'm taking motrin and now using a heating pad to help circulation (healing) at night. Hopefully, I'll be back to functional soon.

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
hope you sort out a school soon, you are very lucky to have such good choices around you.
The ankle sounds painful, glad its starting to feel better!
Have a good week:)

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna,

That is a major bummer about your ankle. I hope it continues to feel better. Don't try to exercise on it too soon, that could really backfire! Can you swim anywhere? I always remember what my trainer told me about losing weight. That food is about 70-80% of the equation. So you can still lose weight and not exercise for a couple of weeks until you get better. Glad dh went to the doctor and Florence Nightengale probably couldn't be a good nurse to her husband either! Husbands are such babies when you get right down to it!;)

Good luck with flushing out the sodium from superbowl, I am right there with you! Today is a new day thank goodness!

[CACruisin']

Tues:
b - cereal, 1/2 apple
l - RF hot dog w/ the fixin's, 9 tater tots, apple (DH is still home and thought he was being good making lunch:confused3 )
d- 4 pancakes w/ maple syrup, 2 slices bacon, 1 egg, OJ
100 oz water

We always have pancakes on Fat Tuesday ....
The scale this morning was definitely "Fat" Tuesday:mad:

Today:
b- protein bar
l- protein bar
s - costco nibbles: turkey burger (good!), mini chicken taco thing, milk w/ strawberry straw (nasty!)
d- ribs, potato, green beans, 12 oz skim milk
s - low carb, high fiber hot chocolate, 2 1" pcs of dark chocolate w/ almonds w/ dear friend
35 oz water so far, but I'm drinking more ... added 45 oz between 5 & 7pm - eek. I really did feel like I was drowning! Total 80 oz!

took DD4 to school and then ran errands all morning. DD13 is desperate for clothes (stop growing already!). Mervyns is having a "buy 1, get 2 free" of all clearance, and the clearance prices are really good - $24 shirt for $6. I got 24 items for $56! I'll get $14 back for the 6 items that are getting returned. There are 4 more items that I could return, but they are so cheap, I may keep them. Picked DD4 up from school and ran more errands. Picked DD12 & DD13 up from school, had them try on clothes I'd bought and then cleaned house. I'm pooped, but my day is not over yet. Ash Wednesday service is at 7pm (and I still need a shower!), then a dear friend called this morning and just needs to talk so I'm going over there about 8:45pm.

DH is still home today, but going to work tomorrow (Started antibiotics Monday. Here's a bag of cough drops, honey. Have a good day!) thank goodness!

Tracey - so good to see you again. I've missed you! We really are lucky to have good schools. There really aren't any bad choices.

Amy - If DH would stop pulling out the superbowl leftovers for lunch, I'd be in better shape. Soooo much sodium in the last few days!

Anna

[toystoryduo]

Great shopping trip, Anna! :thumbsup2 What is Mervyns? Is it like Target?

[CACruisin']

Tracy, Mervyns is a clothing and housewares dept store. Sort of Sears caliber except no appliances or tools:rotfl2: .

Ok, quick update:
b- protein bar
l- DD4's FR hot dog (she ate the bun and left the hot dog untouched:confused3 )
d- chinese
56 oz water so far, but I'm not done.

Bunco is at my house tonight so I have been cooking/baking/cleaning all day. After all the shopping yesterday my foot was swollen by bedtime. It is throbbing now. I don't even want to know what it looks like.:headache:

Bunco should be fun tonight. I'm doing a "chinese new year" them for dinner:) Then I made a red velvet type cake and brownies for dessert. Luckily I am at such a high stress level, I probably won't eat very much. It is the leftovers I need to be wary of.

Back to the cleaning frenzy and to frost the cake ... I'm planning on getting to journals tomorrow and doing a whole lot of nuttin' else.:rotfl2: Take care WISH friends:grouphug:

[Amy&Dan]

Hey Anna, your food looks good. Red Velvet Cake, YUMMO! My grandmother used to make that and oh my it was tasty. Send me the leftovers honey, I"ll eat them right up! Hope Bunco was fun. Can I just tell you how much I miss Mervyns? We had those here for years, loved them and then they closed them down. Kohls just ran them out I guess. I like Mervyns much better. Ahh, another reason you are lucky to live in San Diego you rat!

Hope this weekend is a nice and relaxing one. I also hope your foot gets better. Stay off of it as much as possible and make dh do all the work!

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
we call your fat tuesday shrove tuesday or pancake day - yours is much more appropriate!! - at least for me! I had 2 pancakes both with ice cream & maple syrup AFTER my dinner!!!
Have a great weekend :)

[toystoryduo]

Your dinner for Bunco tonight sounds delicious!!!:thumbsup2 If you have any leftovers, can you send them my way? ;)

Hope you have a great weekend and I hope your ankle is feeling better soon. :hug:

[CACruisin']

So the last few days have not gone as planned - when does it ever:confused?

Bunco Thursday night was fun and everyone liked the dinner and dessert - yea! Not a lot of leftovers - bigger yea!

Friday was Pajama Mama Day at DD4's school - oops! So much for DIS'ing:surfweb: . Glad I remembered before we actually got to school. Spent the morning with DD4 at school in our matching Minnie red plaid Jammies playing with blocks:laughing: .

Saturday DD4 and I spent the afternoon at a Valentines Princess Tea Party hosted by a fellow DIS'er (hi Kelly!) - lots and lots of funprincess: princess: . Then we met DH and the big girls at Sears and bought a new dishwasher - not nearly as much fun:mad: . By the time we got to Soup Plantation for dinner, DD4 was really tired and primed for a huge meltdown. Luckily we made it through dinner and most of dessert before she blew:scared1: .

Sunday was the usual household stuff along with more HS investigating.

This week will be crazy, but I must get back on track. The scale seems permanently stuck with the possible shift up emminent!:sad2:

Here's the week:
Monday:
* possible walk during DD12's swim practice:thumbsup2 - I'm going to take it slow and see how the ankle does...
* Info night at HS#2
Tuesday: - no walk: no time, and I don't want to push the ankle
* Info tour for kindergarten #2 in the am
* meeting with Asst Principal at HS#2 for DD13 in the pm
* do valentines with DD4
* swim practice for DD13
Wednesday:
* easy walk again in the am
* Info night for HS#1
* Lent class for confirmation class
Thursday:
* tour at HS#3
* Hopefully meeting with Asst Principal at HS#1
* swim practice for both DD12 & DD13
Friday:
* Parent Coffee Meeting at DD4's preschool in am
* swim practice for both DD's in the pm

I can fit in a walk on Monday and Wednesday. I'm hoping I can get something in Thursday too. We'll see.

Tracey - I've never had pancakes with ice cream - YUM!
Tracy & Amy - Ankle is doing better. Pretty swollen by the end of the day, but not really painful if I keep the brace on for support.

Now off to finally get to some other journals .... :surfweb:
Anna

[toystoryduo]

It sounds like you have a busy week ahead....Sending some :wizard: :wizard: your way.

Hope the HS investigating goes well.:goodvibes

Have a great week!:hug:

[CACruisin']

Anyone want a really, really, grouchy 12 year old? I'm listening to her argue with her sister AGAIN! She is just picking fights for no good reason. Maybe because we are spending time with DD13 on the HS thing. We've repeatedly suggested she get involved also since she has to decide on a HS a year from now, but she is not interested - ARGH!!! I'm tired of the Teenage hormones and she isn't even a teenager yet!:headache:

Sorry for the rant....
Food stinks. I just grabbed things as my day rolled on:
b- 3/4c honeynut cheerios, 12oz skim milk
s- granola bar
l- 1c broccoli, 2 handfuls almonds
s- granola bar
d- 1/4c grated cheese
water: 84 oz:thumbsup2
exercise: 40 minute walk:thumbsup2
I took it easy - not a fast pace, but not a leisurely stroll either - no running at all. Ankle felt ok. Hopefully it will still feel ok tomorrow. I haven't taken the brace off yet tonight, so I don't know how swollen it is.

HS#2 info night was interesting. They answered some of the questions we have, but danced around some others. It is interesting to see how the two HS's play up their particular features. These features can be either positives or negatives depending on how you look at it and what is right for your particular child.

Anna

[traceycooper]

Sorry Anna i can only swap for another hormonal 13 yr old DD ;)
Well done for getting the 40 min walk in :)
Hope the HS thing gets sorted out soon, it can take over your life if your not careful!!! ;)

[Amy&Dan]

Anna, I'll take your hormonal kid if you'll take mine! No wonder my mom went back to work when I was this age, she had to get away from me! DD is on the brink at age 11 and then I"ll have two hormonal messes to live with.

Bunco sounds fun, great that everyone ate the food up. I had to laugh at your description of dd's 4 time at Soup Plantation. You have the full gambit of kiddie emotions and needs right now don't you?

This week is going to be great for you Anna, just hang in there and take it one day at a time. And rest that ankle!

[goldcupmom]

Anna, I'll take your 12 yr old if you'll take my 21 yr old!!

(Nah, I knew you wouldn't go for it!)

Hope your week improves. Choosing HS is HARD!!!!

Glad the ankle is doing better. Take is SLOW!!

[toystoryduo]

Sounds like you have a lot going on, Anna.:hug: Just the other day, I was telling my DH that we will have two teenage daughters in the house at the same time. :eek: Just the thought of it scares me! ;) Sending lots of :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: :wizard: your way. :goodvibes

Hope your ankle is feeling better soon. Please be sure and take it easy.:hug:

Have a great week!:hug:

[keenercam]

Oh, Ana! I am so sorry you are dealing with a moody tween. Been there, survived that! ;) It is only marginally better with a 14 year old boy, but I am convinced that allowing them to live through the tween and teen years eventually pays off! :lmao:

Good job on the walk. Sending pixiedust: for your ankle! :hug:

[traceycooper]

Hope you had a good weekend anna :)

[CACruisin']

Thanks for all the offers on DD12:rotfl: . Cam, yours made me laugh out loud. Glad to know it really is worth it to make it to the other side (that there IS an other side and the crazy hormones don't last forever:rotfl2: ).

DD13 selected her HS!:yay: After much deliberation she chose HS#1. Not what I would have thought a month ago, but the more we learned, the more it seemed to be the right choice for her. I'm pleased for her, and she's pleased too. Tomorrow she will have to tell her school friends though. Most of them have selected HS#2. Her good friend from swim team will also chose HS#1 though.

Eating has been so-so. I will eat well, but then find myself stressing and powering through brownies/cake/whatever:mad: . Scale has remained stubbornly stuck. At least I have been getting in the water on a daily basis. Really, I have to get back to exercising. The ankle is still not 100%, but I think it is good enough to do something. I just won't run and make sure I have the brace on.

We have had 4 days off, so DH reformatted my computer. It is running well now, but it did mean I've been offline and gotten way behind. I hoping to get to journals tomorrow when everyone goes back to school:surfweb: .

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Glad the HS decision has been made :) one less thing to stress about ;)
Dont you live near the beach???
I would walk that everyday if i was as lucky enough to live somewhere so cool :)

[toystoryduo]

Hi Anna,

Glad to hear that the high school decision has been made.:goodvibes How did your DD's school friends take the news?

Hope you're having a good week! Take good care of you!:hug:

[Amy&Dan]

Hi Anna, glad dd has made her decision! I think that's great she based it on what was best for her and not just where most of her friends are going. That shows a lot of maturity which is really awesome at that age. I hear you on eating well one day only to get stressed and overeat the next. Consistency is tough sometimes! Great job getting in the water, the exercise will come back when your body is healthy. Ankles need to be well before they can do their job! Hope this week started off on the right foot (no pun ;) ) and that you had a nice, relaxing weekend!

[goldcupmom]

Glad DD made her HS decision. That's so hard!!

Hope this week is going well for you. Keep taking care of the ankle!

[traceycooper]

Hi Anna
Hope life is treating you good :)

[traceycooper]

Happy Easter Anna