Biggest Loser 11 Spring Team Challenge--for Losers and Maintainers

[mikamah]

QOTD Thursday, April 21
There are ~4 weeks left in the challenge and some of us seem to have hit a rough patch. Keeping in mind that healthy living is a marathon and not a sprint, give yourself a pep talk. (If that is too touchy feely, list some of your accomplishments so far this challenge.)

What are you doing to yourself? Don't you remember how good you looked 3 years ago when you stayed focused and lost 40 pounds? Don't you want to wear those clothes you bought then? You can do this. You can get back out of the 200s forever. You have done it before, and know what to do. Don't buy the crap. Write every bite. Don't be afraid of success. You're doing great keeping up with the exercise, the eating can follow. One day at a time. Be like michael, when he want a snack, you make him eat an apple. Eat an apple before you eat anything else when you are hungry. You can do this!!

AFTERNOON TEAMS!


I was up til 3am reading Abby Rike's (BL contestant from Season 8) book. I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing. I didn't go to bed til after 3am. Abby and I have a lot in common and its not just the weight issue. She lost her husband and 2 children in a head on collision just like I did. The book talked about her meeting her husband, their relationship, her struggle when the accident happened and even years later. The book profoundly touched me because many of the things she described I went through myself.

I woke up around 530am with a pounding headache, took some medicine, and went back to bed. If my mom hadn't called i'd probably still be in bed. I'm just not feeling that great today. I started laundry and I've got like 4 or 5 loads to do. So, if I get that accomplished then I'll feel like I did something today.

25 days til Disney!

I was so sad for Abby, but so impressed with how resilient and positive she was. I think you are very much like her, a survivor, positive, and you both deserve so much happiness. I am amazed at your strength.

Ok, just wanted to pop on to say, I probably won't be around much the next couple of days. I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great weigh-in tomorrow.

Don't forget--tomorrow is a WIN day! And pm those HH points to CC.

And as always, include your Team Name when you pm Tracey your weight.

Enjoy your nice, long weekend!!

Great, let me know and we'll plan a walk. We almost went tonigt, but it was a little colder than I expected and kind of windy, so I made dinner early instead. While DH was putting DS to bed I did Leslie Sansone's walk at home on demand.

We took the scouts down john george and sandy beach, and it was freezing. For the moms not the boys. They would have stayed all night. Nice job on the video.

that is very impressive couponing. I'm sure there are lots of tips on the budget board. I've tried it before, but it tends to get left aside when things get busy. $70 dollars makes me think about it again.

And I get to report to my teammates on this great occasion that I have officially reached the 50 pound weight loss mark. Thanks to everyone for keeping me motivated to keep going. I am hoping to be at the 60 pound mark by the time our challenge is done at the end of May.

Take care,
Dave

Congrats Dave!! Will you make the 60 pound mark on your 600th post? Thanks for sharing Caleb's blog. Such a beautiful and strong family you have.

4-22-11 Friday's QOTD:

We are starting the final month of this challenge. Are you close to accomplishing your goal you set at the start? If not what has gotten in your way, and what can you do to fix it? and if Yes what was the key to your success?

I am now where near my goal either. I set a big goal of 20 pounds, but am down about 5-6. So maintaining again. Not what I want or need to be doing. I can stay focused on how good I felt a few years ago. I wasn't at goal, but I was 20 pounds lighter and felt pretty good. I wish I knew what my success was due to then. Following ww faithfully and journalling every day was key.
Like you, Lindsay, I love having the support of everyone here, and knowing this is a lifetime journey, and I will never give up completely again.

Thank you Rose for coaching last week and Lindsay for coaching this week.
Thank you Tracey and CC for all your hard work as weightkeeper and hh coach.

Good friday morning!! I got cancelled from work again. It was my short day, so I figured why not. We are going to meet my sister to see hop at 10:30 this morning. The sun is shining, but it's chilly, so after the movie we may go to a park, get out and enjoy the sunshine. Looks like another rainy day tomorrow.

I ate better yesterday, and journalled it all. I am going to continue journalling, even with Easter. I have had holidays that I have stayed focused and done well.

How did everyone else do for the journalling challenge? I only missed one day, and the second week was better, I only went over my weekly points by 15. Haven't weighed yet today, but i'm off to shower now.

Hello to all that I missed, and hugs to those in need. Keep on trucking!! We can do this!!!

 

[lisah0711]

If I didn't already say this Congratulations to all our superstars and especially to our biggest loser, BigDave10000!

Thanks to Rose for coaching last week and to Lindsay for coaching this week! And thanks to Tracey for being weightkeeper, CC for being HH coach and Connie96 for being WIN! coach!

Don't forget that today is a WIN! day too.

Have to do my measurements tomorrow as DS got up early and no way was I whipping out that tape measure then.

Nancy, that your shoulder gets to feeling better fast!

Dona, I'm so sorry that you were sick for your spring break.

Hi Tia!

LTS, I'll be interested to hear what kind of system that you come up with for couponing. I have a tendency to cut out my coupons and leave them at home. Hope the hips feel better soon.

ScubaD, congrats on your 50 pounds and 500th post! That Caleb is a cute guy and so lucky to have such a caring grandpa.

So kuddos to everyone for still being here and not giving up. 4-22-11 Friday's QOTD:

We are starting the final month of this challenge. Are you close to accomplishing your goal you set at the start? If not what has gotten in your way, and what can you do to fix it? and if Yes what was the key to your success?

You are so right about the bolded part, Coach!

Actually I didn't set a goal for this challenge. I did it on purpose because I feel like I set goals and then don't make them and wanted to set myself up for success to see if that would help. I do weigh less than I did when I started the challenge so I consider that a success. I would like to lose a few more pounds before the end of the challenge too.

I came into the challenge late and as we only have 4weeks left i know i wont reach goal...but i will try to lose something

I did good the first week and weeks 2 and 3 have been horrible like a few other posters stated, i find myself eating horribly and knowing better and feeling horrible afterwards but still doing it! like some bizarre way of self torture...
hoping to continue self reflection and get back on the horse sort of speak and hoping for another challenge come june to join

It takes awhile to figure out what works for you. You're sticking to it and that is the important thing!

Buffy, glad that you had a good time at Disney even if you weren't as OP as you'd hope. If you are going to be off plan Disney is a good place to do it!

Deb, that you can get some rest this week-end and to help you through your busy, busy weeks.

sparks19, you'll be in ONE-derland in no time!

Glad that you survived tax season, Sue! You'll be cruising in no time!

What are you doing to yourself? Don't you remember how good you looked 3 years ago when you stayed focused and lost 40 pounds? Don't you want to wear those clothes you bought then? You can do this. You can get back out of the 200s forever. You have done it before, and know what to do. Don't buy the crap. Write every bite. Don't be afraid of success. You're doing great keeping up with the exercise, the eating can follow. One day at a time. Be like michael, when he want a snack, you make him eat an apple. Eat an apple before you eat anything else when you are hungry. You can do this!!

Wow! You are tough on yourself! You can do it, girl. Forgive yourself for the past. Forget about what you wished that you have done and move on. You can do it!

I was going to get my 10 mile run out of the way this afternoon but it snowed 2 inches last night. Plus everyone seems to have saved their problems for the end of the week so I will run tomorrow and it looks like I will be at the indoor running track for 110 laps.

Have a great day!

 

[Rose&Mike]

I just have a minute. Thanks so much to Lindsay for coaching this week.

And I get to report to my teammates on this great occasion that I have officially reached the 50 pound weight loss mark. Thanks to everyone for keeping me motivated to keep going. I am hoping to be at the 60 pound mark by the time our challenge is done at the end of May.

Take care,
Dave

Congrats Dave!

4-22-11 Friday's QOTD:

We are starting the final month of this challenge. Are you close to accomplishing your goal you set at the start? If not what has gotten in your way, and what can you do to fix it? and if Yes what was the key to your success?

Well, I wanted to keep maintaining and drop a few more pounds--I have two more and then I am completely done, so that's ok. I wanted to do 10 regular pushups--still can't do that. What I really need to work on though is my attitude--I still stress way too much about gaining it all back and I have been doing way too much emotional eating. I need to think about a way to quantify these so I can see if I can see some positive results on both counts. I have had a lot thrown at me this spring and all in all I am pretty proud of myself for sticking it out and not quitting. Thank you all for all of your support.

I didn't run every day, it was really intimidating when big ol' fat me was trying to pick up the pace around the boardwalk. To many skinny girls and couples out there. I tried to walk as much as possible, doubling back and taking the long route when ever possible. We skipped the boat from Epcot every time and walked. And we both picked up the pace as much as we could when it was feasible.
I did not like touring Disney alone. I thought I would enjoy doing my own thing but it was really kind of boring and I was pretty much invisible to other guests. Well that or there is just an infinite amount of rude people out there now.

Anyway, not really looking forward to weigh in tomorrow but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm sorry it was intimidating to run, Buffy. I love to run around BW and out to DHS and back. It's one of my favorite runs. I can see where it would be stressful. I still feel insecure sometimes running--do I look stupid, am I too slow, etc. I will say though that all I ever think when I see ANYBODY running is--excellent, someone else who is taking care of themselves.

I was going to get my 10 mile run out of the way this afternoon but it snowed 2 inches last night. Plus everyone seems to have saved their problems for the end of the week so I will run tomorrow and it looks like I will be at the indoor running track for 110 laps.

Have a great day!

Let's see--tornado warnings or snow, tornado warnings or snow, which do I choose? Mike calls me his little hothouse flower. It was 60 yesterday and I was FREEZING!! Hope it's not too crazy at work today.

What are you doing to yourself? Don't you remember how good you looked 3 years ago when you stayed focused and lost 40 pounds? Don't you want to wear those clothes you bought then? You can do this. You can get back out of the 200s forever. You have done it before, and know what to do. Don't buy the crap. Write every bite. Don't be afraid of success. You're doing great keeping up with the exercise, the eating can follow. One day at a time. Be like michael, when he want a snack, you make him eat an apple. Eat an apple before you eat anything else when you are hungry. You can do this!!

Kathy--I'm adding to this for you. Pretend this is you talking....
Look, girlfriend if you can put in the work and time and effort and complete a 13 mile race then you can surely kick this weight to the curb. For goodness sakes you trained to run during one of the worst winters in recent memory! Anyone who has the stamina and perseverance to work that hard can and WILL find a way to manage their eating. I am so proud of you for all that you have accomplished this spring. Summer is the perfect time to once and for all be done with this. Look at all the healthy food choices available! And think how much fun your race in the fall will be if you are several pounds lighter! You can do it, I know you can!

(So since you did the tough love part, I did the motivational part.)

******
Good morning! I went to the chiropractor this morning. My hip, etc was pretty uncomfortable last night. He showed Mike how to tape my leg and i must say I am enjoying my pink tape a lot more than the blue tape! He thought it was funny that I ordered pink tape. But I was really tired of the 18 inch stripe of tape on my leg not matching anything! So he tortured me some more and gave me a new exercise. The good news is that some of my muscles are much stronger than when we started. Some need some more work and that is probably where the hip soreness and some of the knee pain is coming from. He told me to see how the next several days go and then maybe come in before the race again if things are not feeling good.

He also brought up taking May off from running. Which I am perfectly ok with. I actually brought this up to Mike on Wednesday. I am kind of relieved, actually. So in May I am going to run in the pool and do the bike and lift weights. I will probably take a couple of short runs when we go to WDW at the end of the month because I HAVE to run aroung BW. But they will be short and sweet. He actally asked what we were doing next and Mike said nothing until October. There is a 10k in July, but if I can't do it, I'm ok. I am so sick of things not feeling good. AND I really want to have fun at W&D and not be miserable. So I have to work really hard to keep my cardio up. It makes me a little sad to essentially have to start from scratch, but it should all come back quick--I hope!

DS is home--we had a nice visit last night. I hope everyone has a great day!

 

[pjlla]

Caleb had his first dose of chemo yesterday and I wanted to keep my WISH family updated on his health.

First let me say how proud I am of my daughter and son-in-law. They are doing a great job of caring for Caleb.

All of his tests are coming back with wonderful news. His blood work is perfect, his MRI showed that the cancer had not spread to any other parts of the body, and the doctors continue to have a wonderful outlook on the diagnosis. And he was eating well at home last night when they all got home from the hospital. We could not be more excited for this little guy.

I thought I would include a picture of a proud grandpa with his two guys. Kai is on the left and little Caleb is on the right, my left.

Thanks for all of your support and prayers.

And don't forget to "WIN" on Friday.

Dave

First of all.... adorable picture! The boys are super cute. Second..... so glad to hear the good news about Caleb. He has truly been in my prayers. I keep envisioning a bright light touching him and taking away the tumor. Not sure why that particular vision comes when I am praying, but there you go. I will be sure to keep up the prayers, of course.

So they have determined there were tornadoes in the area last night. I hate night time storms. They are so scary. It's such a pain to go to the basement at night, but you never know when it's going to hit your area. It looks like the tornadoes were just over the river (about 15 miles or less). I have not heard anything about deaths, thank goodness. We had our one remaining old tree cut down last week, thank goodness. It was starting to rot in the middle. I guess there was also hurricane force winds last night. Very scary!

Hope everyone is having a good day. My eating has been awful. I am totally stress/emotional eating. I know what to do, I'm just not doing it. I don't want to sabotage myself. I have worked way too hard. Anyhow, just wanted to come clean. I'm going to attempt to get my act together this afternoon.

Rose..... so sorry about the scary storms. I would have a hard time dealing with that.

SOrry about the eating. I don't have any great words of advise. I've been through moments like that and it is HARD to work your way back to a "normal, healthy" eating pattern. One step at a time is what is needed I suppose. Start by getting one thing back under control.... like your water. Then move on to the journaling and then get breakfast under control.... take a day or two for each small step. Eventually everything will feel better.

Things have been busy. My grandfather has been visiting from Texas at my parents' house and we all noticed that his health had very dramatically declined since we last saw him in September. They took him back to Dallas last week to see his doctor and discovered that he has type 2 diabetes so severe that he needs to have one of his kidneys removed next week. My parents are down there with him and discovered an extremely filthy house! Its clear that he can't be on his own anymore and some decisions have to be made. My family in Dallas doesn't want to look after him and the only people my grandfather wants to live with are my parents. But there are insurance issues. So we'll see what happens. This means that I am now hosting Easter (we were going to my parents) and I need to notify their guests that it will be here instead, plan, and clean! I also need to get a couple little things for my kids' easter baskets since they take after me and are not big fans of candy. I hope everyone is doing well!

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather's health issues. I will pray this weekend for his health and your family's patience during all of this. Hope your Easter dinner is good.

Sorry to all I missed. Another disastrous food night last night though I still haven't used all my weekly points. Ended up at a business lunch yesterday and ate only 1/2 turkey & ham sandwich on white and some kosher dill pickles. Avoided the sandwiches made with all the yummy breads like croissants, asiago bread, multi-grain, and ciabatta. I also avoided all the chips and the 5 varieties of huge fresh-baked cookies.

At Andrew's awards banquet last night, I had salad greens with balsamic vinegar (avoided all the dressings), a piece of lightly breaded chicken breast, a taste of roast beef and some green beans. No mashed potatoes. No brownies. No huge sugar, chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies.

Then, what did I do? I went home and stood at the kitchen island and ate anything I could reach - lite hummus and pita chips, low fat chips, fat free pretzels, 2 oreos. How ridiculous is that? 2 nights in a row!!!! Then I went upstairs and exercised for 30 minutes. It was a stupidly stressful night and I was making myself feel better. I need to re-read that article on emotional eating. I know it is going to be a huge problem for me over the next couple of months.

UGH! work emergency. Back later.

I've done stuff like that before too and I can't always figure out why. A few weeks ago I had a great week.... and then a "planned" splurge at the movies and I kept it under control and was so proud of myself..... but then we got home from the movies and I just kept eating! I wasn't particularly hungry, but I kind of lost control.... and didn't really even enjoy what I was eating. I was pretty mad at myself the next day, but I needed to think about it and journal it and try to do some self-analysis about why it happened and how I can prevent it from happening again. I hope, for you, that talking about it here and thinking about it today will help keep it from happening again in the future.

Sorry, I haven't been posting. Long days at work. Usually go to bed early so I can get up at 5:30 to run. Been averaging about 60 miles per week the last 6 weeks. I also have been doing a good job keeping up with my calories on Lose-it. I have lost 11 pounds since February 1st and have 22 to go.

I do read the thread every couple of days and hope everyone is doing well.

David

I can appreciate the 5:30 am runs. I've been trying to have 4-5 double workout days each week lately and the 5 am alarm is so tough. Today it just didn't happen..... long week, long day yesterday, and headache prompted me to sleep in.... oh well. Sixty miles a week is CRAZY good! And nice job on the weight loss!

Hello BL Buddies!

I haven't posted here in so long or sent a weight to Tigger in a coon's age (oops, showing my Southern roots! ), so I sort of feel like a fraud, but what the heck. I am at the bottom, so nowhere to go but up.

Totally out of control with the eating lately, and not making many workouts, either. All I need to do is read one of Cam's posts, and I realize I need to just "suck it up, Buttercup", because I could have much more on my plate!

Since Lisa (Liesel) was so nice to ask, I'll say my dh had a great time running the Boston Marathon, and truly felt humbled to be able to participate. It was an incredible experience of a lifetime, and I'm so glad he could do it. That said, his training schedule and the races he ran to get ready really put a lot of stress on our family -- we pretty much ceased to have family or couple time, and I found myself single parenting (Kathy -- you are my idol!) more often than not. Plus, his last week of carb and protein loading didn't do much for my diet, because of course I did it right along with him.

I am not eager to go to my WW meeting Saturday morning, because I know I'm going to post a gain 2 weeks in a row. But even knowing that, I seem to be eating everything in sight and not getting near the TM. A swift kick in the pants is clearly needed...

Can't do shoutouts to everyone, but really quick:

Pamela -- Teenagers are clearly sent so we can allow them to leave our nests one day. If they were the sweet babies and toddlers we could never let them go!

Ok, dh is making steak and mashed potatoes for dinner. I'm going to portion, even though I think it's already hopeless for this week...Well, the less I gain this week the less I'll have to take off next week

Congrats to all the Losers and to everyone still hanging in there, it seems like it's a long Challenge this time, but it's a marathon not a sprint!

Maria

I'm SO glad you found your way back here for a few minutes! You are truly missed.

It will be tough to face the music at WW, but it will make for a nice fresh start!

We have attended the start of the BM several times over the past few years, but not this year. We don't have that day off from school, like MA does and the kids are too old to pull out of school too often. My BIL lives about a mile from the start and we used to start the morning off with doughnuts at his house, take the shuttle to the start, watch the races go off, and then go back to his house for a cookout! It made for a fun day.... but no exercise for us! Where along the route were you on Monday??

Anyhow..... glad you made your way back to us.

Get some Powerade zero. I like the fruit punch, grape and orange. I actually drank some orange today. zero calories, zero carbs and it has electrolites.


I finally have a moment to post. The last few days have been a whirlwind to say the least. Monday and Tuesday I worked both jobs leaving the house at 8 AM and returning home at 10 PM. Last night I called Verizon about my Droid dropping calls all of a sudden and was on the phone with them for an hour I finally got to bed around 11, fell asleep around midnight and had to be up at 5 AM for my ride along with a Propane Delivery driver. I got up and it was pouring, thunder and lightning. I put on a bunch of layers as it was in the 30s, added my rainsuit and boots and headed out the door. We started in a driver's meeting then headed out. It was around 8 AM when I found out that the driver I was with works 12 hour shifts Wouldn't you think that would be important information to share with me by my supervisor ahead of time? Thankfully I wasn't working my 2nd job tonight and Lacrosse was cancelled due to the weather. The ride along was fine though riding in a propane truck in a lightning storm adds some excitement. The soupy, muddy roads with an extremely heavy truck adds more excitement. I finally got home at 6 PM. Tomorrow is both jobs again. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the weekend.

On a positive note the Atkins diet is going well and I reached Ketosis this morning. I was down 1.6 lbs this morning. I have been feeling really full so not craving carbs at all

I absolutely DO NOT know how you keep up with it all! I've been working my regular sub job over the past few weeks, mostly every day, and I just CANNOT keep up with other things (like laundry, dusting, vacuuming, etc). Thank goodness for my organized meal plans or we would be eating the crumbs from the bottom of the cracker box and the last moldy onion from the veggie bin for dinner tonight!

I was actually contemplating throwing a few loads of clean laundry in the back of my car and sitting in the parking lot during my break today to fold them! Sounds crazy, but I truly contemplated it! But then I barely had time this morning to eat my breakfast.... no time to shove laundry basket in the trunk!

Glad your carb cravings are gone. Wish mine were. Good luck with Easter dinner. Are you taking the day "off" of Atkins or making other meal arrangements?? I'm going to try and really control my carbs at breakfast, snack, and dinner, but have written my full weekend "plans" and will be allowing one or two dessert splurges and two pieces of Easter candy each day. (We celebrate twice....Saturday with my side and Sunday with DH's side.... so two big meals, two egg hunts, etc... )

PLEASE let me know when you might have a free morning or afternoon this spring/summer.... I want to drive up and take you to lunch!!

Finally got to see the orthopedist today. He says I have Frozen Shoulder.

So on the 29th I am going to have it Manipulated. They put me under and force it to move breaking up the scar tissue then I do PT.

I am glad it is not "surgery" but not looking forward to this either.

Nancy

Nancy..... so sorry about the shoulder. I'm sure it is affecting everything you do (or try to do). I will add you to my prayer list and be sure to be thinking of you on the 29th.

Goodnight Teams!

We had hamburger noodle casserole (family recipe) for dinner. We also watched Toy Story 2 tonight. We didn't watch a Disney movie at all the last two days so I may watch a few tomorrow afternoon.

No exciting plans for tomorrow other then cleaning. I need to call my dr and get in to have my coumidin levels checked (I hate blood draws!). I think I'm also going to get on the treadmill and get a mile in. I've not exercised in oh... I don't remember the last time.

I'm really starting to fall off the wagon again and getting into that mind frame of "I don't want to do this anymore." However, I'm hoping that wearing the new shorts I have will get me motivated. All my old clothes are falling off of me. I even had to go buy new undergarments :lmao.

Everyone have a great day tomorrow

Like I said to Rose.... maybe you need to start picking up those good habits again, one step at a time. For today, be sure to drink all your water. Tomorrow add back in the food journaling. Try to track every bite for a few days (especially over the Easter weekend) and then on Monday maybe you could start by resuming your healthy OP breakfasts.... and Wednesday start adding back in the healthy lunches.... etc, etc, etc. Maybe it won't be so tough that way.

Or.... COLD TURKEY off the junk and overeating! Take the next minute (or hour) to give yourself a pep talk and remind yourself of all of the reasons WHY you started this journey and WHY it is important! And then start fresh.... with the next meal! Don't wait until "later" or "tomorrow" or whenever that "magic" time is for you! Maybe you could buy a new exercise video or some hand weights or a new healthy food to try to help spark the excitement again.

Good luck.

i
morning all! the sun is out! the sun is out! school is off today so no mommy and me class. we're just going to hang out in the morning. i have someone coming over to do some work on the house so i need to be out around 11:30 for about 3 hours. which doesn't sound bad but it is SMACK in the middle of nap time. thomas didn't have much of a nap yesterday either so i'm trying to figure out what to do. i thought i'd go for a drive in the car to get him to sleep but i myself have been so tired lately that the idea of driving around sounds awful. the weather channel says it's supposed to be mid 50s today so maybe i'll just put him in the stroller and walk around maritime college. that way we'll both get some fresh air and i can actually get some exercise in. hopefully he'll fall asleep!

i had a very bad day of eating yesterday. we ordered chinese food and i went nuts! bad bad bad. salt salt salt. i'll need to drink 5 gallons of water to make up for it today. yeesh. tasted so good though. tonight i'm making baked chicken and brown rice with frozen veg. get back on track!

have a great day everyone!

Sorry that the work has to happen during naptime..... I remember that time being VERY precious to me when I had little ones at home!

Tonight's dinner sounds really delicious and healthy and a great way to get back on track. I had to pretty much "give up" Chinese food.... I just cannot control myself around dumplings and lo mein.... and heck... crab rangoon oughtta be a controlled substance!!!

Good Morning I'm off to another double day of work. Guess I've got to get it started if I want to get it done. I probably won't have time to check in again until tomorrow night. I hope everyone has a great weigh in

Thanks for the kind words and good thoughts for weigh-in! I hope you have Easter weekend off!

Good morning, friends. We'll I didn't post at all yesterday, and ended up coming home from walmart with a box of white powdered sugar donuts and frosted cookies and devoured so many of them, and I just couldn't stop. I don't know why. I need to go back and read that emotional eating article again. Sure they tasted good going down, but after it made me sick that I did it. I really haven't been that out of control in a long time. I'm not under any more stress, just a little more aggravation this week with the other scout leader who never returns calls, so we are supposed to have a meeting tonight, but I don't know where. I'm taking the phone numbers of the other boys to work, and if i don't hear from her by lunch, I'll just make a plan. It's frustrating, but not half a box of donuts and cookies frustrating.

I did journal all of them, so that is something. So I'm over my flex points by 10 this week. Lucky tomorrow is a new week. I had started the day off with a short run/walk before work too. Oh well, today is a new day.

A big congrats to all our top losers, maintainers, and all of us still here!!

Have a great day!!!

You did the right thing by journaling them.... now you can put it behind you and move on!

Sorry about the frustration with scouts. Volunteering is tough enough without getting involved with other volunteers who make things tough.

QOTD Thursday, April 21
There are ~4 weeks left in the challenge and some of us seem to have hit a rough patch. Keeping in mind that healthy living is a marathon and not a sprint, give yourself a pep talk. (If that is too touchy feely, list some of your accomplishments so far this challenge.)

"Hey P.... how's it going with the healthy journey? Tough?? How come? Those last few pounds won't get lost? I'm sorry to hear that. But don't perseverate over them. Rather than lament about 2-3 pounds that are sticking around, take time to celebrate the 88 pounds that are gone FOR GOOD! Remember, you are stronger and healthier and slimmer than you have ever been in your entire adult life! That is a reason to celebrate! You wouldn't let a friend get hung up on the last two pounds, so don't do it to yourself. "

We went for a run yesterday. It went ok until the very end. Right before I got in the car, my knee got a nasty pain in it--same place, but it felt really funny and really hurt but only for a second. If it does it again, I guess I will call for another appointment. The race is next Saturday. One minute, I feel--I can do this, it will be fine. The next minute--what am I thinking, between the pain in my heel and the knee why on earth am I even trying this????? May is definitely going to be a rest and recovery month.

QOTD--Ok, Rose, you have been here before with the overeating. You can choose to keep eating a bunch of garbage and then, yes you will gain the weight back. But keep in mind, you are then CHOOSING to gain the weight back. Yep, there is a lot going on, but you have accomplished a lot and you can get through this. Things do not have to be perfect, you just have to do the best that you can. That's all that you can ask of yourself. Cutting back on exercise does not mean you are doomed. It just means you have to really pay attention to what you are eating. Make the best choices that you can today.

Have a great day everyone. My DS comes home late tonight, so I need to clean up around here a little!

Thanks for the great QOTD.

Sorry about the knee pain last night. But sometimes those freak twinges go away as quickly as they arrive. My left foot was really hurting after my time at the Y last night.... very unusual for me. But it only lasted about 30 minutes and I am just fine today. Hopefully your knee twinge will disappear the same way.

And I agree with what you said to yourself..... you don't have to be perfect... you just have to do the BEST you can in whatever situation you are in!!

Good morning, everyone. Life is crazy but I had to stop here to read and get re-charged by friends who understand this journey. I did really well last night. I ate dinner and then nothing else. I have journaled every single bite, too.

I had to get up this morning at 3:30 to drive J. to meet his ride to the airport and then couldn't fall back to sleep until after 5:15. So, I missed my normal WW meeting, but I am going on Saturday. Regardless of how off-plan I might be at any given time, I try to hold myself accountable by stepping on the scale. That in itself is a big achievement for me -- acknowledgment instead of denial.

Have a great day, my friends!

I agree.... that is a big achievement.... for anyone! Nicely said.

Good morning teammates,

The sun should be coming out today, the birds are singing, and the grass is growing. Is it spring time?

Anyway, Caleb is doing great after his first injection of chemo. He has not been sick, as of yet, and the doctors all remain very confident in his prognosis.

And Melissa (DD) has started a blog on CaringBridge to keep everyone up to speed on the goings-on of their little family. If you want to check it out you can visit:

www.caringbridge.org
web site is: calebhancock

Thanks for your concern everyone.

Dave

I'll check out Caleb's link when I am home later. Thanks for sharing it. Glad to hear that chemo #1 is going okay.

Hi everyone.

I am exhausted. This cold has wiped me out. we took a drive today to a wildlife center and drove the 8 mile loop to see all the birds. Saw a number of osprey in nests.

Dh told me I started coughing at 3 this morning and it sounded like I was going to throw up. SO he didn't wake me up but turned so that I wouldn't throw up in his face. Then I rolled over and stopped coughing. I don't remember coughing at all.
Have a happy and healthy day.

Hope you aren't getting sick! The osprey nests sound neat!

Hello all! Long, long, long time no post. Life has gotten insanely crazy, but then who's hasn't, and I find myself away from the computer for a day or two at a time lately, it seems. Then when I come back, I can't even catch up on my email let alone DIS, FB, etc. I will admit I also had a couple of weeks of not so great eating/lossing/etc time in there where I got frustrated as well. Made it easy to not want to take time to come back here. So, I stayed off of the scale for a month or so and just tried to focus on remembering to eat and eat right. When I got back on, I'd broken that no loss streak and gone done about 4. Now I've lost another 3 from there.

Now I'm ready to be back(ish). Still can't promise that I'll make it to the thread everyday, but I will be reporting to finish out the challenge. I'm getting pretty close to the weight goal I set for the challenge, I think, and I really want to focus on getting some exercise back into my routine. Actually, that right there is what I need - a routine. Between Girl Scouts (troop, service unit, and day camp), work (in-home daycare), homeschooling Terra, caring for Miss Deva and everything else that pops up in between I'm still forgetting how to take care of myself and leave time for me. Phil is on board with helping me out more and I'm working on setting up a routine to get it all going in the right direction and less stressful for me. He's going to start taking Deva for an hour or so every few days so that I can take that time to get some of my things under control - make my plans, plan my meals, exercise, file papers, whatever it is I need to do for me (and even just saying that is harder than it sounds, let alone doing it).

See, now I know you didn't miss my babbling typing! Just excuse me as I work though my thoughts through with my fingers and keyboard.

A lot of this, I'll admit, comes from looking through Terra's Disney photobook the other day. Our WDW trip in Sept 09 and then some DL pictures from that Christmas reminded me just how much I put back on both before and during my pregnancy. I want to look like that in our pictures (or even better!) this November, not like this. I want to walk the parks feeling better and not the tiredness I feel by the end of the day now.

So, I hi again, I guess.

Glad you made your way back to the group. Yup.... nothing like an upcoming Disney trip to spur on the weight loss!

AFTERNOON TEAMS!


I was up til 3am reading Abby Rike's (BL contestant from Season 8) book. I couldn't put it down and read the whole thing. I didn't go to bed til after 3am. Abby and I have a lot in common and its not just the weight issue. She lost her husband and 2 children in a head on collision just like I did. The book talked about her meeting her husband, their relationship, her struggle when the accident happened and even years later. The book profoundly touched me because many of the things she described I went through myself.

I woke up around 530am with a pounding headache, took some medicine, and went back to bed. If my mom hadn't called i'd probably still be in bed. I'm just not feeling that great today. I started laundry and I've got like 4 or 5 loads to do. So, if I get that accomplished then I'll feel like I did something today.

25 days til Disney!

What's the title of the book? I'd love to read it. I honestly, honestly, honestly can say that during her first episode of BL I was blown away by her strength to go on with her life after her loss..... just like I'm blown away by your strength and positive attitude about everything, despite your absolutely devastating loss.

Sorry about the headache. I had one yesterday after school (tough day here) and it persisted until I FINALLY took 3 Advil at 6 am (after missing my 5 am workout). But I am better now. Maybe it is spring pollen related for all of us??

Ok, just wanted to pop on to say, I probably won't be around much the next couple of days. I hope everyone has a great weekend and a great weigh-in tomorrow.

Don't forget--tomorrow is a WIN day! And pm those HH points to CC.

And as always, include your Team Name when you pm Tracey your weight.

Miss you! Happy Easter!

Popping in to see if I can catch up. My hip has been really making sitting painful so I have been using the computer time I have doing things I really have to, mostly making our menus for the next 8 weeks, making the grocery list, and some other things I had to get done.

I am trying to learn how to use coupons. My sister and I decided we need to save money so we can travel more so we are learning to coupon together. I tried to use them once when DD was little and it was just too much time and trouble. But now the internet has really made it much easier to find what you need and figure out where to go.

I saved $70 at Target today, but still spent almost $250! But I was buying a bunch of Easter stuff and we were out of paper products so I bought a bunch of TP and paper towels on sale.

I have been eating really well and as of today I have a total loss (from my highest ever) of 40 lbs! Just a few more pounds until my BL goal of 25 since the first of the year.

I didn't think things through very carefully in my menu planning and forgot that Sunday was Easter. I had Ham on the menu for tonight! I couldn't convince my kids that we should have Roast Beef for Easter so we had to find something else for tonight. We ended up with Baked Potatoes (sweet potato for me), salads and a SB Broccoli Cheese soup recipe I have been wanting to try. It went over pretty well with my family-- they prefer a "traditional" meat, starch, veggie on one plate meal so I wasn't sure how they would react. I will probably get the leftover soup all to myself though!

Gonna see if I can sit here long enough to do some reading back.

Sorry the hip is bothering you.

Couponing can be rewarding but tough. I kind of figure, if I can even save just a few $ here and there, I'm happy. I won't be one of those naysayers who claims that there are no coupons for "healthy" foods.... but they are certainly few and far between. That said, I have, in the last few weeks, had coupons for NatureSweet cherry tomatoes, Kashi frozen meals, Hormel pork tenderloin, and Poland Springs water. Let me know how it goes.

Love to hear the soup recipe! My family is finally used to dinners that don't look like traditional "dinners" (you know, the kind we grew up with meat, veggies, and starch on a full plate plus a bread basket on the side!). My biggest breakthrough was the night we had fruit and yogurt parfaits and everyone was happy!

:
My mom just laughs when I apologize to her. I swear she put a curse on me that I would have a DD that was just like me and boy is she seeing her rewards!

My Mom has always told me that when she had trouble with me as a teen that she continually prayed that someday I'd grow up and have a teenage girl of my own to deal with! She got what she wished for..... a near carbon-copy of me (at least, with the attitude)! That said, DD is a far better student and athlete than I was!!

And I get to report to my teammates on this great occasion that I have officially reached the 50 pound weight loss mark. Thanks to everyone for keeping me motivated to keep going. I am hoping to be at the 60 pound mark by the time our challenge is done at the end of May.

Take care,
Dave

YEAH!! 50 pounds gone for good!!

Hello all!!!! I want to say a BIG thank you to Rose for being our coach this week and doing a marvelous job as always. Thank you also to Tracey for being a wonderful weight keeper and to CC who is so diligent with our Healthy Habits. You all rock!!!!!

I will be our coach this week. I am hoping I can motivate myself as well as the rest of you to do the best we can at staying on plan, journaling, and keeping moving!!!!!

I pretty much have fallen off the wagon a month or two ago and now I am looking yet again to climb back on. The great part about this group is that years ago when I would fall off the wagon I would put all the weight back on and just give up. Now due to all of you and your wonderful support and words of encouragement I have only put back on 5-7lbs and not the whole 35 I lost. So kuddos to everyone for still being here and not giving up.

4-22-11 Friday's QOTD:

We are starting the final month of this challenge. Are you close to accomplishing your goal you set at the start? If not what has gotten in your way, and what can you do to fix it? and if Yes what was the key to your success?

Honestly.... I didn't set a particular goal in writing. I was just hoping to lose the 5 I gained over the holidays and maybe..... just maybe, finally lose those stubborn 2-3 pounds and hit my goal. The Christmas weight is gone.... but I just can't seem to shake lose those last few. As of this morning's weigh in I am officially 2.4 pounds from my final goal. And of course, here comes Easter weekend, a school vacation week, and a trip to Disney to throw my eating and exercise all off course. I'll probably gain 5 over the next three weeks and then spend the entire summer challenge trying to lose it!!

I think at this point I finally need to set my final goal at 131 or 132 and just be happy staying there. I refuse to do anything extreme to lose those last few pounds. I am already exercising twice a day 3-5 days (sometimes 6) a week, I've cut out all starchy/fruit carbs for three weeks, I've stayed well within my WW points without deviation for three weeks, I'm drinking 2-3 liters of water every single day, I'm taking my vitamins, getting enough fiber, limiting my artificial sweeteners, getting enough calcium and healthy fats, limiting my caffeine, drinking decaf green tea once or twice a day, etc, etc, etc. I'm out of ideas, so I need to be happy where I am. I think Mother Nature and my advancing age are the things that are in my way now.... and since I cannot control them, I need to learn to be happy here!

I'm back from Disney and just about caught up.

congrats to those making progress
Uplifting thoughts to those going through rough patches
and prayers to everyone

Disney was rougher then I thought it was. DH decided to pick every rich food restaurant out there. Loved Bistro de Paris but man oh man no good choices there!! I just picked something that had the least amount of food on it. We ended up eating there twice, and both times I was in serious stomach pain after. I think it was the truffles and chocolate in the pork and the dessert.
He also picked Raglan Road twice. I ended up getting the chicken both times, I could not focus on the menu because of the noise. He loves the place, I tolerate it. The last place he picked was Brown Derby, I again picked the chicken and barley, it was really good and I think it was a good choice.

I probably drank an entire ocean's worth of water!! I have never been more sick of water in my life!

I didn't run every day, it was really intimidating when big ol' fat me was trying to pick up the pace around the boardwalk. To many skinny girls and couples out there. I tried to walk as much as possible, doubling back and taking the long route when ever possible. We skipped the boat from Epcot every time and walked. And we both picked up the pace as much as we could when it was feasible.
I did not like touring Disney alone. I thought I would enjoy doing my own thing but it was really kind of boring and I was pretty much invisible to other guests. Well that or there is just an infinite amount of rude people out there now.

Anyway, not really looking forward to weigh in tomorrow but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm sorry to hear that your Disney trip wasn't as magical as you would have liked. The eating definitely sounds like it was a challenge. I'm so glad that DD is on board with me for our eating "plan" in a few weeks. We've never been "big" on TS meals at Disney, so it isn't a habit we've gotten into. DD and I have talked about what our "must haves" will be for this trip and other than that we plan to try to maintain our healthy eating the best we can given the circumstances.

I have always wanted the opportunity to spend some time alone at Disney. Sorry that it isn't all it was cracked up to be! But yes, there are an infinite amount of RUDE people in the world... too bad Disney can't keep them out!

I am not close to my goal. I am definitely up a few lbs from where I started. Life threw some curve balls at me, but I have taken the reigns again and I'm on the path to correct my shortfalls and regain my body. Atkins seems to be working pretty well though I'm up a bit this morning. I think lack of sleep my have something to do with that as I haven't even had a nibble off plan since I started on Monday. I'm not going to let it bother me and I'll keep moving forward. I hope to reach my original goals by the end of the challenge, but I know that it might take me longer than the 4 weeks and if that is the case I'm okay with it.

I'm up early again this time for a ride along with a tech. This could be a 10 hour day. At least I know it going in so I'm prepared. I'll have nearly 60 hours in this week between the 2 jobs. I feel horrible that I didn't spend any time with my boys over spring break and thankful that my parents were able to. Hopefully things will settle down a bit soon and the reality is that I may need to give up my job at the restaurant in order to keep my sanity. I will definitely need to be done by fall as my hours at my new job will require overtime and maybe some schedule changes as they stay open until 7 and run a 7 day schedule. I'm okay with working a day on the weekends in the winter as we're usually around. It will be nice to have weekends off over the summer though.

Again....I don't know how you do it.

Hey everyone

I have not stopped in for too long. things have been crazy. Dog was sick for a few days with lots of messes to clean up, trying to find things to entertain a 3 year old while it does nothing but rain, and then the full moon came this house is a mad house when there is a full moon.

So I didn't even weigh in last week... hopefully it's ok that i weigh in this week. I hit a bit of a plateau last week and was stuck at 216. Well first I was down to 217 and then suddenly gained two pounds and it took 4 days to get back down to 217 and then I was stuck at 216 for a WEEK. Now the numbers are moving again and I'm weighing in this week at 214.8 HOORAY. close to 210... next stop ONEDERLAND

I hope you are all doing well. I need to make a better effort to stop in more often instead of these drive by postings lol

Glad the scale is looking good for you!

***I'll be back to "chat" on another post!.................P

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Good friday morning!! I got cancelled from work again. It was my short day, so I figured why not. We are going to meet my sister to see hop at 10:30 this morning. The sun is shining, but it's chilly, so after the movie we may go to a park, get out and enjoy the sunshine. Looks like another rainy day tomorrow.

for getting the day off. Hop was a cute movie, i hope you enjoyed it. We are anticipating a rainy weekend too. enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.

I was going to get my 10 mile run out of the way this afternoon but it snowed 2 inches last night.

oh my now that is reason to complain about the weather. Snow in late april is just unacceptable. I hope your run indoors went ok. My office is nuts today too. FULL MOON????

DS is home--we had a nice visit last night. I hope everyone has a great day!

Glad you had a nice visit. I think it will be great for you to get through the race and than take may off. You will not loose much I promise. You have such a good base set and will still be doing cardio....you will bounce back quickly.

Ok off to go to bed bath and beyond to shop for my secretary's day gift next week. I only have one medical secretary in the office so it shouldnt take long and then I am calling it a day. Dh is getting out early too. He put in a few extra hours this week at the new job so they are letting him out at 415 vs 600 so that is nice. One positive from his first week.

Talk to you later!!!!!

 

[lovetoscrap]

I had to pretty much "give up" Chinese food.... I just cannot control myself around dumplings and lo mein.... and heck... crab rangoon oughtta be a controlled substance!

Chinese food has been my biggest craving! And I am avoiding because it isn't worth it unless I can have what I like, none of which is good for me!

Couponing can be rewarding but tough. I kind of figure, if I can even save just a few $ here and there, I'm happy. I won't be one of those naysayers who claims that there are no coupons for "healthy" foods.... but they are certainly few and far between. That said, I have, in the last few weeks, had coupons for NatureSweet cherry tomatoes, Kashi frozen meals, Hormel pork tenderloin, and Poland Springs water. Let me know how it goes.

I am getting together a list of the things we use that we would benefit from using coupons for. Most of it isn't food, but household products and toiletries. I did have coupons yesterday for boneless chicken, beef, apples, grapes and salad mix. But there are some pretty common things you can get coupons for that you may not think about when you think "healthy" like: cheese, nuts, Crystal Light, frozen veggies, and others. Depending on the plan you follow you can find things that will help. Of course included in my shopping yesterday was about $50 of candy for Easter! But I did have coupons for some of it. . .

lisah0711: I don't have a system yet! My sister is using the seemingly popular Binder method but she emailed me that she thinks it may be too much trouble. I have several small coupon holders from years ago, but yesterday I just used 2 envelopes. One had all the coupons I had gathered and was planning to use and the other was empty and as I put each item in the cart I transferred the coupons for that item into it. So when I got to the checkout it was simple to hand her the coupons for the items I was buying.

I am also recycling because I have stacks of scrap paper that is printed on one side from various things so I am printing the internet coupons on the back. I am going to have to decide if I think this is worth it to start buying the Sunday paper. My sister works in a hospital so she said she just went out to the various waiting area/lounges on Sunday night and took all the coupon inserts she could find! I may have to pay her to send some to me.

mikamah: that $70 savings wasn't strictly coupons, it was also from buying the things that were on sale. But I think that is probably really the most important part. We tend to just go out and buy what we need when we need it. For instance I like expensive razors. I ran out last week and had planned to just pick them up the next time I was at Walmart. But they were on sale at Target and you got a $5 gift card to use on your next purchase. But as my husband pointed out I am not sure what the price of them is at Walmart so maybe I didn't actually save based on what I would have paid there. So I am also trying to make a spreadsheet of "normal" prices so I know if something is really a good deal. I figured out we usually spend $.50 per roll of TP at Costco, but Target had it on sale at about $.42 a roll so I bought it there instead. Since the prices can be so different on different sizes it really helps to break down the price to and easily comparable number, like the cost per ounce or pound. I am TERRIBLE at math so this is going to be a challenge!

Love to hear the soup recipe! My family is finally used to dinners that don't look like traditional "dinners" (you know, the kind we grew up with meat, veggies, and starch on a full plate plus a bread basket on the side!). My biggest breakthrough was the night we had fruit and yogurt parfaits and everyone was happy!

I will post the recipe when I get time on the Recipe Thread. Too funny you mentioned that, I told them last night that since it went over so well next time we need an emergency meal we are having Yogurt Parfaits, remembering when you posted that! My kids loved the idea (they love to make yogurt parfait and smoothie concoctions) but DH would die of starvation before he would eat yogurt.



I got passed the popcorn today just fine. It helps that I bit the inside of my lip and it has a sore on it so I had no desire to eat anything salty. The kids were really being pains today. We have a list of names that we check if a student doesn't have their card to show they are in the PTSA. But we don't really check off the names or verify the name on the card and the kids have figured that out. So we had 3 kids come up one after another using another guy's card. I could see just enough of the name when they flashed it to the other worker that I knew it was someone else but I couldn't let her know before the kids had already taken their popcorn. I had one guy tell me he was someone who's first name could either be a boy or a girl. I checked the name and that little ding went off in my brain that something was wrong. I remembered later who that name belonged to and he was definitely not HER. The best one was right near the end when a young man gave me a rather unique name (pretend it was Sherbet Jones) and I just and said "That is interesting because Sherbet was just here a few minutes ago. Next time try to use the name of someone that won't stick out in my mind since it is so unique!" He didn't get popcorn. So starting next month we will be actually marking each name off the list and if there are any questions they will have to present ID. I am impressed that at least none of the kids I really know have let others use their card or name. They are mostly all good kids, and smart enough to realize I won't fall for it!

We have a quiet Easter planned. It isn't a big deal for us as far as family and meals. The girls will get baskets with more chocolate than they can eat in a year and make themselves sick before breakfast. I have 2 ham steaks we will heat up and no idea what to go with them. We are off of school on Monday so I think it will be room cleaning weekend for the girls, and I will have them bring me all of their clothes so I can go through them and figure out what fits and what doesn't. They have clothes stuffed everywhere and don't even know what they have. I also want to have DH get my boxes of clothes out of the attic so I can go through them and see what may fit now or in the near future.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Weekend!

 

[dumbo_buddy]

seriously guys, i can't stop eating today. you name it, i've eaten it. i met up with a girl i went to GRAMMAR school with today and we took our sons to Wee Play (fun play place for the kids). we had pizza there (i just had half a slice) and then we went to the bakery that is right next door and i ate one and a half HUGE pretzels. like, the big fat ones you get down in manhattan or at a ball park or something. then i came home and killed a bag of cadbury mini eggs.

i can't stop! my girlfriend is coming down from CT tonight for pizza night. we went to HS together and always had pizza every friday night at her parents house and we're keeping up the tradition as much as possible.

it has to stop! i need to tape my mouth shut. trying to chug water at the same time at least. tomorrow will hopefully be a better day. the last few though have been SO bad.

being pregnant is no excuse to be a piggie!

 

[Missoutandabout]

Just a quick check-in since my attention span can't keep up with this thread!

Hope all are well.

I'm being tested this week due to a visit from mom. She's a carboholic: donuts, cake, non-stop junk. Unfortunately this means I've gotta be "bad cop" because if left to her own devices, my mother would feed kiddo a vast assortment of horribly bad food. She doesn't see anything wrong with giving a 4 year old a whole donut for breakfast after she's had a bagel then letting her have candy as a snack whenever she wants. I my mom but eesh.

I'll need to do some sweet-tooth deprogramming once she heads back home. Wish me luck.

 

[tigger813]

Took this week off totally! I got in one workout all week! It's so hard when my normal routine is messed up. I ate strange things at strange times. I'll put in my 5 pound gain and just get rid of it next week! Nothing I can do about it now! Should have a better time next week once everyone is back in school and to work. My workouts will increase and my eating will be much improved despite it being PMS week! And with Easter this weekend it's not going to get better until at least Monday!

Girls are downstairs watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Ash's BFF. I just ordered pizzas and onion rings and fixed myself a drink. Brian is at a farewell dinner for his boss so I'm just doing what I feel like for supper tonight. I've got the living room and dining room picked up. We will have to dust and vacuum later tomorrow before our friends get here. I feel like baking later, I think! Just can't figure out what I want to do!

I'm watching Deathly Hallows Part 1 again! First time I've actually been able to sit and enjoy it! I need to put some podcasts on my iPod so I can listen to them tomorrow. I have one more thing to pick up for Izzie tomorrow for her basket. I got the candy at the British store earlier. I got everything on my list but honey glazed carrots and the mushroom ravioli from TJs. I couldn't find it anywhere!

Well, I need to get the plates and napkins together as the food will be here soon! Enjoy the rest of the night!

TTFN

 

[pjlla]

I
Well, I wanted to keep maintaining and drop a few more pounds--I have two more and then I am completely done, so that's ok. I wanted to do 10 regular pushups--still can't do that. What I really need to work on though is my attitude--I still stress way too much about gaining it all back and I have been doing way too much emotional eating. I need to think about a way to quantify these so I can see if I can see some positive results on both counts. I have had a lot thrown at me this spring and all in all I am pretty proud of myself for sticking it out and not quitting. Thank you all for all of your support.

And thank you right back!!

I'm sorry it was intimidating to run, Buffy. I love to run around BW and out to DHS and back. It's one of my favorite runs. I can see where it would be stressful. I still feel insecure sometimes running--do I look stupid, am I too slow, etc. I will say though that all I ever think when I see ANYBODY running is--excellent, someone else who is taking care of themselves.

I agree...... when I see someone else running I am not critical..... I'm impressed! No matter what they look like! The girl who lead my spinning class earlier this week was no skinny-minnie! In fact, she was a bit round and jiggly.... and pedaled that bike like crazy woman. And is doing 11 triathalons this year~!! How is that for impressive? Obviously looks can be deceiving.... no one should worry about how they LOOK when exercising!

Let's see--tornado warnings or snow, tornado warnings or snow, which do I choose? Mike calls me his little hothouse flower. It was 60 yesterday and I was FREEZING!! Hope it's not too crazy at work today.

It's the lack of fat insulation.... truly. I'm NEVER warm any more! Biggest downside to weight loss probably.


Good morning! I went to the chiropractor this morning. My hip, etc was pretty uncomfortable last night. He showed Mike how to tape my leg and i must say I am enjoying my pink tape a lot more than the blue tape! He thought it was funny that I ordered pink tape. But I was really tired of the 18 inch stripe of tape on my leg not matching anything! So he tortured me some more and gave me a new exercise. The good news is that some of my muscles are much stronger than when we started. Some need some more work and that is probably where the hip soreness and some of the knee pain is coming from. He told me to see how the next several days go and then maybe come in before the race again if things are not feeling good.

He also brought up taking May off from running. Which I am perfectly ok with. I actually brought this up to Mike on Wednesday. I am kind of relieved, actually. So in May I am going to run in the pool and do the bike and lift weights. I will probably take a couple of short runs when we go to WDW at the end of the month because I HAVE to run aroung BW. But they will be short and sweet. He actally asked what we were doing next and Mike said nothing until October. There is a 10k in July, but if I can't do it, I'm ok. I am so sick of things not feeling good. AND I really want to have fun at W&D and not be miserable. So I have to work really hard to keep my cardio up. It makes me a little sad to essentially have to start from scratch, but it should all come back quick--I hope!

DS is home--we had a nice visit last night. I hope everyone has a great day!

Glad to hear you've come to some decisions about letting your leg recover for a while.

Glad also to hear that DS made it home safely. Have a great visit.

Chinese food has been my biggest craving! And I am avoiding because it isn't worth it unless I can have what I like, none of which is good for me!


I am getting together a list of the things we use that we would benefit from using coupons for. Most of it isn't food, but household products and toiletries. I did have coupons yesterday for boneless chicken, beef, apples, grapes and salad mix. But there are some pretty common things you can get coupons for that you may not think about when you think "healthy" like: cheese, nuts, Crystal Light, frozen veggies, and others. Depending on the plan you follow you can find things that will help. Of course included in my shopping yesterday was about $50 of candy for Easter! But I did have coupons for some of it. . .

lisah0711: I don't have a system yet! My sister is using the seemingly popular Binder method but she emailed me that she thinks it may be too much trouble. I have several small coupon holders from years ago, but yesterday I just used 2 envelopes. One had all the coupons I had gathered and was planning to use and the other was empty and as I put each item in the cart I transferred the coupons for that item into it. So when I got to the checkout it was simple to hand her the coupons for the items I was buying.

I am also recycling because I have stacks of scrap paper that is printed on one side from various things so I am printing the internet coupons on the back. I am going to have to decide if I think this is worth it to start buying the Sunday paper. My sister works in a hospital so she said she just went out to the various waiting area/lounges on Sunday night and took all the coupon inserts she could find! I may have to pay her to send some to me.

mikamah: that $70 savings wasn't strictly coupons, it was also from buying the things that were on sale. But I think that is probably really the most important part. We tend to just go out and buy what we need when we need it. For instance I like expensive razors. I ran out last week and had planned to just pick them up the next time I was at Walmart. But they were on sale at Target and you got a $5 gift card to use on your next purchase. But as my husband pointed out I am not sure what the price of them is at Walmart so maybe I didn't actually save based on what I would have paid there. So I am also trying to make a spreadsheet of "normal" prices so I know if something is really a good deal. I figured out we usually spend $.50 per roll of TP at Costco, but Target had it on sale at about $.42 a roll so I bought it there instead. Since the prices can be so different on different sizes it really helps to break down the price to and easily comparable number, like the cost per ounce or pound. I am TERRIBLE at math so this is going to be a challenge!


I will post the recipe when I get time on the Recipe Thread. Too funny you mentioned that, I told them last night that since it went over so well next time we need an emergency meal we are having Yogurt Parfaits, remembering when you posted that! My kids loved the idea (they love to make yogurt parfait and smoothie concoctions) but DH would die of starvation before he would eat yogurt.



I got passed the popcorn today just fine. It helps that I bit the inside of my lip and it has a sore on it so I had no desire to eat anything salty. The kids were really being pains today. We have a list of names that we check if a student doesn't have their card to show they are in the PTSA. But we don't really check off the names or verify the name on the card and the kids have figured that out. So we had 3 kids come up one after another using another guy's card. I could see just enough of the name when they flashed it to the other worker that I knew it was someone else but I couldn't let her know before the kids had already taken their popcorn. I had one guy tell me he was someone who's first name could either be a boy or a girl. I checked the name and that little ding went off in my brain that something was wrong. I remembered later who that name belonged to and he was definitely not HER. The best one was right near the end when a young man gave me a rather unique name (pretend it was Sherbet Jones) and I just and said "That is interesting because Sherbet was just here a few minutes ago. Next time try to use the name of someone that won't stick out in my mind since it is so unique!" He didn't get popcorn. So starting next month we will be actually marking each name off the list and if there are any questions they will have to present ID. I am impressed that at least none of the kids I really know have let others use their card or name. They are mostly all good kids, and smart enough to realize I won't fall for it!

We have a quiet Easter planned. It isn't a big deal for us as far as family and meals. The girls will get baskets with more chocolate than they can eat in a year and make themselves sick before breakfast. I have 2 ham steaks we will heat up and no idea what to go with them. We are off of school on Monday so I think it will be room cleaning weekend for the girls, and I will have them bring me all of their clothes so I can go through them and figure out what fits and what doesn't. They have clothes stuffed everywhere and don't even know what they have. I also want to have DH get my boxes of clothes out of the attic so I can go through them and see what may fit now or in the near future.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Weekend!

Honestly..... imagine cheating over free popcorn!??

I keep my coupons in a small plastic resealable envelope.... and in that I have recycled junk mail envelopes dividing them by category. I don't have many categories because I don't use a lot of coupons and it doesn't take long to look through each category..... but back when I couponed more years ago, I divided them into more specific categories.

I also used to keep a price book (got the idea from Tightwad Gazette) and it was SUPER helpful! If something was a good deal I KNEW it and could buy plenty. Now I rely on my memory most of the time, but heaven know that can be faulty. But with so many places to shop and so many different sizes of containers and ways to count the unit prices, it is tough. For example, when I try to buy cherry tomatoes, one type comes with a unit price by the pound, the next one is a unit price by the ounce, and the next is a unit price by the pint!!! Almost no way to accurately compare them.... and I think the stores want it that way!!

Have a happy Easter! Enjoy your ham. How about baked sweet potatoes and roasted asparagus with it? Or maybe a nice green salad and some brown rice?? OOOoooo... maybe roasted veggies??

seriously guys, i can't stop eating today. you name it, i've eaten it. i met up with a girl i went to GRAMMAR school with today and we took our sons to Wee Play (fun play place for the kids). we had pizza there (i just had half a slice) and then we went to the bakery that is right next door and i ate one and a half HUGE pretzels. like, the big fat ones you get down in manhattan or at a ball park or something. then i came home and killed a bag of cadbury mini eggs.

i can't stop! my girlfriend is coming down from CT tonight for pizza night. we went to HS together and always had pizza every friday night at her parents house and we're keeping up the tradition as much as possible.

it has to stop! i need to tape my mouth shut. trying to chug water at the same time at least. tomorrow will hopefully be a better day. the last few though have been SO bad.

being pregnant is no excuse to be a piggie!

Maybe you are just craving something you're not getting..... salt maybe? After tonight's pizza you can get back on track over the weekend! Be sure your friend takes the pizza leftovers home with her! Is all the chinese food gone???

Just a quick check-in since my attention span can't keep up with this thread!

Hope all are well.

I'm being tested this week due to a visit from mom. She's a carboholic: donuts, cake, non-stop junk. Unfortunately this means I've gotta be "bad cop" because if left to her own devices, my mother would feed kiddo a vast assortment of horribly bad food. She doesn't see anything wrong with giving a 4 year old a whole donut for breakfast after she's had a bagel then letting her have candy as a snack whenever she wants. I my mom but eesh.

I'll need to do some sweet-tooth deprogramming once she heads back home. Wish me luck.

I'm so lucky that my Mom has always been the "healthy" Grammy. They don't see MIL quite as often, but she is definitely the "cookie Grammy"!

Took this week off totally! I got in one workout all week! It's so hard when my normal routine is messed up. I ate strange things at strange times. I'll put in my 5 pound gain and just get rid of it next week! Nothing I can do about it now! Should have a better time next week once everyone is back in school and to work. My workouts will increase and my eating will be much improved despite it being PMS week! And with Easter this weekend it's not going to get better until at least Monday!

Girls are downstairs watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Ash's BFF. I just ordered pizzas and onion rings and fixed myself a drink. Brian is at a farewell dinner for his boss so I'm just doing what I feel like for supper tonight. I've got the living room and dining room picked up. We will have to dust and vacuum later tomorrow before our friends get here. I feel like baking later, I think! Just can't figure out what I want to do!

I'm watching Deathly Hallows Part 1 again! First time I've actually been able to sit and enjoy it! I need to put some podcasts on my iPod so I can listen to them tomorrow. I have one more thing to pick up for Izzie tomorrow for her basket. I got the candy at the British store earlier. I got everything on my list but honey glazed carrots and the mushroom ravioli from TJs. I couldn't find it anywhere!

Well, I need to get the plates and napkins together as the food will be here soon! Enjoy the rest of the night!

TTFN

Enjoy your Easter. I'm sure you will be right back on track on MOnday! I'm sure your week was very hectic. Enjoy your movie tonight.


*****

Well friends.... I am running out of time! I worked today and I am so glad to say that it is officially SCHOOL VACATION!! phew!

Tomorrow morning we are off to my cousin's house in central MA for our Saturday Easter with my side of the family and then off to DSIL's in eastern MA on Sunday for Easter with DH's side of the family. Both days will involve big eating challenges, but I have a "plan" written up for both days that should help me enjoy myself without going nuts! I've spent the last hour or so chopping veggies for the nice fresh salad I'm bringing to both dinners. I was gonna make an angel food cake to bring to my cousin's house, but I have discovered I don't have a mix, so I'm killing the idea. But I already bought and defrosted the strawberries and Cool Whip (I was going to make a light trifle), so not sure what I will do with those now.

I had to sleep in due to a headache this morning and didn't get in my workout and time is running out now. DH is going to get DD at the Y, so I am hopping on the TM for at least 30 minutes before dinner. I've gotta fly.

If I don't have a chance to say it later, HAPPY EASTER! Talk to you all soon!.................P

 

[mikamah]

Wow! You are tough on yourself! You can do it, girl. Forgive yourself for the past. Forget about what you wished that you have done and move on. You can do it!

Thank you, Lisa.

Kathy--I'm adding to this for you. Pretend this is you talking....
Look, girlfriend if you can put in the work and time and effort and complete a 13 mile race then you can surely kick this weight to the curb. For goodness sakes you trained to run during one of the worst winters in recent memory! Anyone who has the stamina and perseverance to work that hard can and WILL find a way to manage their eating. I am so proud of you for all that you have accomplished this spring. Summer is the perfect time to once and for all be done with this. Look at all the healthy food choices available! And think how much fun your race in the fall will be if you are several pounds lighter! You can do it, I know you can!

(So since you did the tough love part, I did the motivational part.)

Thank you, Rose. Reading this brought tears to my eyes. I am proud of myself for setting my mind to train and do the princess. It's hard to describe how good about myself i felt for accomplishing that. Thank you for the reminder. I think taking extra time off this week, and not getting much done around the house as I should have, makes me feel like a slacker. I don't regret one minute I spent with michael, but there were many hours I goofed on online while he played video games when I should have been raking the yard or organizing the basement. I know it's not too late. I still have tonight and tomorrow to be productive. I need to just get up and do it. The eating is the same. I need to cut up the fruit in the fridge and go for that when I'm hungry. I so know what to do, I need to make a plan and follow through on it.

 

[disney1990]

Happy Earth Day to All.

I had to get on the scale twice this morning because I didn't believe it.

I lost a total of 3 pounds (the one I gained last week and 2 more).

Hope everybody else had a good week!

Disney1990
TeamDonald

 

[my3princes]

I survived the week I got out of work at 3:30 and don't have to go back until 8:30 Monday morning. I feel like I'm on vacation Of course I had to scramble and get all the Lacrosse team supplies out of the basement and delivered to the 5 coaches tonight as games start on Monday, but it's done.

My ride along went well today. The tech that I was riding with did take me to a free bbq at lunch. I ate, I had a cheeseburger with no bun and a hot dog with no bun. I totally stayed on track even in front of a room full of men that I didn't know at the time.

I plan to stay on track for Easter. Mom is baking a ham and I'll make some veggies. I plan to fry up some eggs for Chris and I and the rest of the family can have the normal sides.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I need a drink.

My turn for teen girl drama. The conversation went something like this with my 15 year old.

Mom, I've been invited to a party at a French guy's house next week.

Ok. More information please.

That is about it. He is supposed to be really nice and we will watch French Movies and eat French food.

Okay, Still need more information.

What else do you need to know? It is at his house on Friday night. He's married and they invite kids over all the time.

I thought we were talking about a high school kid! So now I need WAAAAAAAY more information.

That is about all I know, but some of the kids in my class are going and I really want to go.

HOW ABOUT WHO THE HECK IS THIS GUY?????

Oh, my French teacher knows him.

So will she be there for this?

No, she is going out of town and won't be here.

And which point I yell to my husband "HEY! DD WANTS TO GO TO A PARTY AT SOME UNKNOWN MAN'S HOUSE TO WATCH MOVIES AND EAT FRENCH FOOD. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS AND NO ADULT WE KNOW WILL BE THERE. YOU THINK WE SHOULD LET HER GO?"

At this point DH and I both started because it was so absurd. DD knows that we are on the overprotective side and I can't believe she would really think we would say yes to this. But to be fair I told her that if the other French teacher from her school was going or if I could talk to her teacher then we would think about it. Nope. Teacher left on vacation today and won't be back until after the party and other teacher doesn't know anything about this.

So of course now we are the meanest parents in the world, and hate her. Now granted, we aren't big on sensitivity so laughing was probably not the best thing to do, but REALLY? She thought we would say yes to this?

And her favorite website has been affected by the Amazon Server crash and been unavailable, but she managed to get a pretty bad virus on her computer anyway so it is unusable. It is going to be a very LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG weekend.

 

[ScubaD]

Just got home from the movies and saw a good show. I am amazed how the photographers captured such great shots. And poor Fang got dissed.

Next movie night we will be joining Johnny Depp as he searches for the Fountain of Youth.

Have a good night all,

Dave

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Evening/Morning Teams!

It's after midnight here and I'm still up. I didn't get anything accomplished today. I just took it easy. Tomorrow is our Grand Opening for the shop so Alan will be busy til early afternoon. I'm going to stay home and get some things done around the house. I think I might see if he wants to go see a movie tomorrow. I also need to decide if I'm going to make something for an Easter get together or if I'm just going to go pick something up from Wally World. I can't wait to see my mom who flies in Sunday night!

Everyone have a great weekend!

 

[tigger813]

Ugh! Been awake since 4 for some unknown reason! Maybe due to lack of working out all week! A bit achy as well. TV won't give me any channels and I don't want to read ahead in Kingdom Keepers. Caught up on my Royal Wedding News and going to try and head back to bed for awhile. Brian was also awake for a bit too!

TTFN

 

[dumbo_buddy]

And which point I yell to my husband "HEY! DD WANTS TO GO TO A PARTY AT SOME UNKNOWN MAN'S HOUSE TO WATCH MOVIES AND EAT FRENCH FOOD. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS AND NO ADULT WE KNOW WILL BE THERE. YOU THINK WE SHOULD LET HER GO?"

At this point DH and I both started because it was so absurd.

OMG sounds like an episode from a sitcom or something!

Evening/Morning Teams!

It's after midnight here and I'm still up. I didn't get anything accomplished today. I just took it easy. Tomorrow is our Grand Opening for the shop so Alan will be busy til early afternoon. I'm going to stay home and get some things done around the house. I think I might see if he wants to go see a movie tomorrow. I also need to decide if I'm going to make something for an Easter get together or if I'm just going to go pick something up from Wally World. I can't wait to see my mom who flies in Sunday night!

Everyone have a great weekend!

good luck on the grand opening!!! and have a great time seeing your mom!

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

:I got passed the popcorn today just fine. It helps that I bit the inside of my lip and it has a sore on it so I had no desire to eat anything salty. The kids were really being pains today.

Wow its amazing what kids will do for popcorn. Good job controlling yourself.

seriously guys, i can't stop eating today. you name it, i've eaten it.

Keep on drinking the water and today is a new day. I hope you had fun visits with your friends.

my mother would feed kiddo a vast assortment of horribly bad food. She doesn't see anything wrong with giving a 4 year old a whole donut for breakfast after she's had a bagel then letting her have candy as a snack whenever she wants. I my mom but eesh.

I'll need to do some sweet-tooth deprogramming once she heads back home. Wish me luck.

I have this same issue with my mom and grandmom. It drives me crazy and I know they are doing it out of love but they just dont get the fact that its not healthy and its teaching the kids horrible habits. Hang in there.

And with Easter this weekend it's not going to get better until at least Monday!

Im kinda saying the same thing. I am trying to do my best today and tomorrow but realize its no use setting myself up for failure. I would rather just start fresh on monday.

Tomorrow morning we are off to my cousin's house in central MA for our Saturday Easter with my side of the family and then off to DSIL's in eastern MA on Sunday for Easter with DH's side of the family.

Have a great time P and happy easter.

I survived the week I got out of work at 3:30 and don't have to go back until 8:30 Monday morning. I feel like I'm on vacation

It is like a mini vacation for you. Glad you got out early and a free lunch is always good too.

My turn for teen girl drama. The conversation went something like this with my 15 year old.

OMG the way the world is now a days who in there right mind would let their teenage daughter go to something like this with that little information. I got a good laugh at it. Maybe there is more to the story that she is not relaying and it is something thier french teacher set up for them to learn the language or have a french dinner but still its odd that the teacher would not be there. Anyway good luck with the weekend. I hope her teenage hormones have calmed down by now.

It's after midnight here and I'm still up. I didn't get anything accomplished today. I just took it easy. Tomorrow is our Grand Opening for the shop so Alan will be busy til early afternoon. I'm going to stay home and get some things done around the house. I think I might see if he wants to go see a movie tomorrow. I also need to decide if I'm going to make something for an Easter get together or if I'm just going to go pick something up from Wally World. I can't wait to see my mom who flies in Sunday night!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Congrats on the Grand opening!!!!!


Sorry I didnt get back on yesterday. We ate dinner at my nana's. It was fish and very yummy but my stomach did not feel so good after. I came home and just laid down and went to sleep. It still is upset today but not as bad.

Its a rainy day here which means tball is now cancelled. Usually I would be bummed but with so much else to do I am pretty thrilled. Plus I was scheduled to work the snack stand and really did not feel like doing it today.

I have my doctor I work for's surprise 50th bday today at 430 and then I will come home to get ready for the EB to come.

brb with the QOTD

 

[mommyof2Pirates]

Saturday 4/23/11 QOTD

What is your favorite Easter or Springtime traditions?