Biggest Loser--SUMMER 2011 Challenge for Losers & Maintainers!

[SettinSail]

it did have a mini yard which is really saying something considering we're in nyc but they want $460k for the house and it's only 1200 sq. ft! it has a little deck and water view. is that worth the big bucks though? don't think so. oh well.

what's everyone making for dinner tonight?

WOAH! That's expensive! I love watching "House Hunters on HGTV and seeing the different prices around the country. You'd get over 3000 s.f. around here for that much and atleast 1/3 acre.

I had my easy dinner of bag lettuce, deli meats and light cheese salad. I also chopped fresh strawberries in too. Tonight is Cook Out No milkshake for me though.

Consistency is a huge struggle for most of us. I did best when I was doing a 100-day exercise challenge. Every time I thought of not working out, I just couldn't bear to break my streak. I did the same kind of self-challenge years ago for doing 100 crunches and 100 pushups each day. Maybe you need to set up a little challenge for yourself?

I love this! I'm going to think about it a little while and decide what I want my challenge to be. I am thinking 100 days of atleast 30 mins of exercise. Surely that will make a difference!

Today has been another successful day (though I did go to McDonald's during lunch and got a snack size McFlurry, I'm still within my points)!

Today at work I was in a preschool classroom. They had the most adorable 18 month old there and he looks exactly like the Gerber baby. I was a one on one aide for a boy who is legally blind today-definitely a new experience, but I think this has been my favorite class so far!

for a succesful day! You are getting a lot of varied experiences in your Summer job. I'm glad it worked out for you after all

I've never been to Moe's. I think my BIL has them near him in CT. Is it like our Chipotle?

Yes, they're very similar. We also have Qdoba and Salasa Fresh here.

I have 9 work days until vacation

So this morning DS was snoozing away and I had to wake him up for daycare where he usually wakes us up. When he opens his eyes and sees me he usually jumps right up, smiles and wants to play. This morning he opened his eyes, saw me, rolled over and went right back to bed

for vacation Mine starts Sunday although I haven't been doing much so far this Summer and feel like it won't be a big change for me

My DS has always been a great sleeper. He slept through the night for the first time at 10 weeks and never looked back. I had read in a baby book this would happen around 8 weeks so I though I had it rough It wasn't until I started hearing about other's babies that I realized how lucky I was.
He would sometimes take 4 hour naps and then sleep again at night! Now DS would sleep until 12 or 1 every day if we let him Can you say LAZY!!!

My laptop died and so did my motivation by the end of the week. Which upsets me because I was doing SO GOOD last week. It seems I always loose my motivation by the end of the week.

I definatly had som issues with stress eating last week. I got a bad grade in my class and as always we are having issues at home with my brother and I get so hopeless I just want to eat. I'm still stressed about both situations and I feel very depressed and hopeless at the moment.

for everything you have going on! Just do the best you can do with the time you have. Put forth your very best effort in all you are doing and no matter what the outcome, you can feel confident that you tried your best The English boys sound like fun

I am bummed. I pulled a muscle in my calf last week and after taking the weekend off tried to do my run at the gym this morning but had to get off the treadmill after 10 minutes. Then walking around at work today I pulled it again. This is the second time I have started the C25K and I am going to have to put it on hold, AGAIN, until my calf heals up. *sigh* I was just getting my momentum going. I am worried this will stall my weight loss.

I had a very on-plan day and finished with one daily point left. I even went to the Y tonight and did 30 minutes on the Precor and 10 on the bike (DH wanted to leave then and it was raining torrentially). I had dinner pretty late and am NOT eating anything else tonight. I am a happy camper.

and finished off 2 hershey bars we brought back from camping.

Shawn- Sorry about ds's retainer. Was it put on in Germany, so you can't even go back to the same ortho? There was a friendly's around the corner from where I live, but I'm very happy it was gone when we moved her, or it would have been much too tempting. Sorry for ds's and the bee sting. Hope it's better in the am with the benadryl and icing.

Keep on keeping on!

Well I just ate an oatmeal creme pie so I "feel your pain" I agree not bringing it in the house in the 1st place is the key for me. I survived 2 years in Germany w/o all this junk so I know it can be done. I'm bad about thinking, hmm, only 170 cals, not so bad, I can have that
We will both choose better next time

The retainer was put on in Germany. I knew we would have to go back to our old Ortho eventually for maintenance. She is making new retainers for him and we'll go back in 2 weeks for them. The cost never ends, $425 today. The bee sting swell is slowly going down.

Ran into a coworker from the restaurant and found out that they closed the doors after service on Saturday night Yesterday was our 19th Wedding anniversary.

Wow, it's interesting how soon they closed after you left. Do you think that was the "final straw"? Happy Anniversary I would say you got married on a hot day but maybe not where you live

I've been thinking about how I'm going to eat and snack when I go back to work in a couple weeks. I'll only be there 5 hours a day but I don't want to set myself up for a big gain!

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

I really can not think of a SINGLE person but I do credit much of my success to the DIS challenges Just hearing what everyone else did to achieve success and seeing all the before/after photos was so motivating

hopefully DS will still enjoy the characters.
************
just did another 5 miles! this time my pace was 14:37 min/miles.

I remember at around that age was when DS was TERRIFIED of characters/Santa/Easter Bunny etc but not all kids get that way.

47 miles Wow, that is phenominal. And your pace pregnant is faster than me! I'm going to claim the old lady excuse though

Mom is going to rehab today. We are trying to get my dad into a day club at the rehab so he can be there with Mom most days. My sister needs to figure out the schedule at rehab and hope Mom will focus on her. If none of their insurance will cover his assistance then I will have to send my sister $200 to help cover the cost for the month.

I am dreading for my parents to get the bill for the hospital last week. I hope it is not too hard on them. I was talking with her today to make sure she understood she did not have to pay it all at one time.

I had a very nice surprise today as my friend emailed me a picture of the gift she is sending home with DH for me, it's a very nice sewing basket from Liberty Dept store in London About 1/2 of our stuff was packed up today, the rest will be put on the shipping container tomorrow and in 3-4 weeks we will be reunited with all of our stuff DH says our landlord is being a real jerk and trying to say we have done some damage to the apt that has been there since we moved in. We have heard all along that landlords there almost always keep your deposit when you move out but we never really quite believed it until now! We are not sure how it will all work out as the company put up the deposit for us. I guess we will see.

Shawn (ran out of smilies)

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Hi everyone..

Nothing much to report here. Spending time with my bestie and trying to stay cool from this nasty heat. We're waiting on the A/C people to get here because something is not working properly and the upstairs is hot as hades. This does not make me happy considering I spent an arm and a leg to have 2 A/C units put in, new duct work, and new insulation this time last year. I'm hoping its going to be an easy fix.

After the A/C people leave we're going to head to Wally World. I need to get some bins to pack some stuff up. Its going to be safer in bins then cardboard boxes. Plus most of it is staying in the bins and not being unpacked.

Then we're going to come home and have our taco night that we didn't get to have last night. Alan had to drive into Oklahoma with the flatbed wrecker and pick someone up. By the time he got home it was 10pm. So we ordered Pizza Hut and he ate some when he got home.

After dinner I think we'll finally get in the pool and do some swimming. We were going to yesterday but with not being sure when Alan was leaving for Oklahoma we just put it off. I wasn't feeling all that great before he left so we actually both just wound up crashing while he was gone.

I'm going to have to start taking my sleeping pills again each night so I'm able to get some rest. I'm so wound up with this move that I've not slept very well for about the last week. I didn't fall asleep til 5 this morning and didn't get up til shortly before 2pm. Yeah that makes for not a very productive day if you ask me.

 

[jaelless]

Jenni - Welcome! We're so glad you found us. It is NEVER too late to start a BL challenge here. You are only competing with yourself and why put off starting by even a day? Often, having a challenge like this and a place to commiserate/celebrate with others is great motivation to stay on track. So, I say, PM your starting weight to donac and stick around. We are a friendly bunch, I promise!

I only have a few moments online right now, but wanted to say thank you for the welcome. It is very appreciated. I have one more night to work and then I will focus on what you suggested and catch up with this thread.

 

[Rose&Mike]

He's nothing but supportive, although he thinks it's hilarious that my new weight loss plan is playing on the internet with a bunch of Disney people.

I'll try to catch up on the last few pages and get to know all of you soon. Thanks again for the warm welcome!

This made me smile. I lost 50 pounds thanks to my Dis friends.

toddler boy hair cut was a success. we didn't have to wait too long, thomas got a lollipop, and they were playing a pirated copy of the new cars 2 movie. really the perfect scenario for a decent haircut

glad it went well Nancy. My tom was nicked at the barbershop around age 2 and haircuts were not much fun for several years after that.

YOU!!!! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have stuck with working out and I would have never done a Disney race, let alone, both the 1/2 and the full! It's you my friend!!!! I'm so very thankful for you!!! Oh, and I probably would have never found the WISH board.

That's so nice!

 

[jaelless]

Welcome Jenni! The Fall challenge will probably start the Friday after Labor Day. That way our weight keeper can have the holiday weekend off. Though it's not definite yet. You are more than welcome to jump in and join us now if you'd like. Introduce yourself and when you get 10 posts you can pm donac your starting weight. Read the first page of the thread and let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for the info, that is what I wanted to know. I really want to try the Fall challenge, I think it will be a lot of fun. I have one more night of work and then I will be able to really read first page instead of scanning it, and also try to catch up a bit on what is happening on this thread. Thank you again for the info and the welcome.

 

[jaelless]

Holy cow this thread moves fast!
Thanks so much for the warm welcome everyone! This just may be the spark I need to get where I want to be!

I had a request to introduce myself... I have a 2 year old son and a wonderful DH. My son (and dog!) are great for getting me outside and running around (as long as it's not 105 like it was all weekend - Ugh!) but I've really never been a big fan of exercise. (I took it to heart when my grandfather said "when you get the urge to exercise, lay down until it goes away" )
Which brings me to Monday's QOTD: The one habit I MUST improve is exercise. I eat reasonably well, although there's always room for improvement. I need to get into some regular exercise routine, both for my weight and for my general health and energy. I'm not getting any younger!
Today's QOTD: I'd have to say my husband. He's nothing but supportive, although he thinks it's hilarious that my new weight loss plan is playing on the internet with a bunch of Disney people.

I'll try to catch up on the last few pages and get to know all of you soon. Thanks again for the warm welcome!

Hi there sounds like you are new here as well. I am just starting out myself. I have a two yr old daughter. That age is so much fun. No kidding about it moving fast. I made one post yesterday and now I am haviing to scan backwards to find it and see if I got responses to reply to. Guess the workout will really be running back and forth to laptop to check if any new posts. Helps so much that this is Disney oriented, makes it so fun.

 

[jaelless]

Good morning, everyone! Sorry I didn't get here before so many of you made your morning visits ( ) but I went to the Y again. Figured I'd go while the motivation is there, right?

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

I would have to say my kids are my motivators for the long term. After I had my son 15 years ago I struggled and lost all the pregnancy weight and then some, I wanted to be able to play with him and watch him grow up. I kind of let that slide in past 3 yrs. Two years ago this coming Sunday I had my daughter and that pregnancy weight has stuck around unfortunately. I have been really trying to get rid of it, but it seems to like hanging onto my body. Having an over 40 metabolism isn't helpiing any either. Anyway back to question, currently it is my daughter who motivates me now. I want to be able to play with her and take her to Disneyworld next year and be able to go on any ride she wants with her. She is super fun and absolutely gorgeous now and I want to see what she grows up to be. Can't really do that if I am not around, so I am wanting to get healthier. Quote ould be her in cutest baby girl voice walking in front of me saying "march, march, march" we aren't military, she got that from Little Einsteins

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

I found an awesome quote today!!!!


"In this world, somehow an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life. And so often we are missing what is truly important because we are on the quest for what is extraordinary. Not understanding that in our ordinary lives, in the ordinary moments of our lives, is really where we can find the most joy. " - Brene Brown

 

[dvccruiser76]

Hi everyone, just popping in briefly. DH took the train to NYC this afternoon for training tomorrow so it's just me and DS. My DH usually puts him to sleep so we'll see how it goes tonight. I brought home a bunch of work, but not sure if I'll touch it or not. If DS does to bed fast enough I may do an hour or two of work then bring him into bed with me for the night. I like to shut my door when I'm home alone so better to have DS right next to me.

Yeah, Neville & Luna definitely weren't a relationship in the book. J.K. Rowling has actually stated that in her head, Neville marries Hannah Abbot and Luna marries Lysander Scamander, the grandson of Newt Scamander. Newt who wrote one of the kids' textbooks "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". I think that the Harry/Ginny relationship in the movies is almost non-existent, but I think that Ron/Hermione is more obvious in the movies, beginning around the third one.

Just got back from my partial C25K. Did the first two runs and then had a terrible stitch and was in desperate need of water. (I actually ran outside for the first time!). I did just over 1.25 miles, so I'm okay with that for being the first time I've done anything in a week and a half. I'll probably try again tomorrow.

1.25 miles is great! Keep up the good work.

I had a very on-plan day and finished with one daily point left. I even went to the Y tonight and did 30 minutes on the Precor and 10 on the bike (DH wanted to leave then and it was raining torrentially). I had dinner pretty late and am NOT eating anything else tonight. I am a happy camper.

I miss the Precor. That was my go to piece of machinery when I was a member at Bally's.

Sue- Can't believe your vacation is almost here!! So exciting. Then mine will follow! Whoo hoo!! Where on the cape do you go? I think we're going to go to falmouth on our second week for a couple days, but not sure where we'll stay. It's the week before labor day, so there's still plenty of options since school starts so many places before labor day. I thought falmouth and we'll bike some of the bike paths, and then take our bikes over to martha's vineyard for a day.


We stay in Yarmouth at the Red Jacket Beach Resort. Right near the Pancake Man If we drive down for the day we'll probably leave before traffic and meet them for breakfast there.

DH and I worked together on a client in Wood's Hole and stayed in Falmouth. I like the Roo Bar if it's still there.

Ds started his new camp this week, a sports mania camp, which was just ok he said. It's all boys, and he said lots of them didn't get along, and didn't follow the rules, so the counselors had to keep stopping the games they were playing. I hope it's better tomorrow for him. I think he was a little sad there were no girls there, but he said since there weren't any girls there, he didn't need to smell good, so he could skip his shower tonight.

HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is too funny

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

My DIS friends of course. It's good to be encouraged and to hear that I'm not the only one when food gets the best of me or my motivation is less than stellar. Thanks guys

I had a request to introduce myself... I have a 2 year old son and a wonderful DH. My son (and dog!) are great for getting me outside and running around (as long as it's not 105 like it was all weekend - Ugh!) but I've really never been a big fan of exercise. (I took it to heart when my grandfather said "when you get the urge to exercise, lay down until it goes away" )

Hi I have a 2 year old DS too! Where do you live?

sue and gretchen and kathy i'm really looking forward to our ADRs. hopefully DS will still enjoy the characters. he always has before but now that he's a little older he's starting to get a little nervous about things. we'll see. we are doing dinners for all the restaurants that i mentioned that we're breakfasts. LTT is dinner. raglan's dinner. oh actually via napoli is a 2pm lunch on our first day. i ate at chefs de france after the princess half. i met a gal from the DIS and we walked around epcot after the race and decided to get a bite there. we got the salad and the cheese plate and lots of champagne! lol! it'll be the first time for DH though and he's been asking to go there for the last few years.

I will await your food suggestions. It all sounds yummy to me. DS was funny on the cruise and kind of weary of the characters. Hopefully when we go if I plan a character meal, he'll get to see them closer and might actually like them. When we took my niece at 3 years old, she only liked the girls (Minnie and Daisy) and didn't want anything to do with the male characters

Your variety sounds delicious! A place near my friends' house makes buffalo chicken pizza and chicken cordon bleu pizza, both of which are great ways to do something different with chicken.

Yum, now you're making me hungry. I had a LC thai spring roll meal b/c it's just me and DS but I have been craving the delicious chicken cordon bleu pizza from Londi's that we had a few weeks ago.

toddler boy hair cut was a success. we didn't have to wait too long, thomas got a lollipop, and they were playing a pirated copy of the new cars 2 movie. really the perfect scenario for a decent haircut i need to get mine done SO badly. i may try for saturday. i haven't gotten my hair highlighted in months and i'm looking awfully raggedy!

Yahoo I need to take Dylan on Friday to freshen up his buzz cut.

Yes, they're very similar. We also have Qdoba and Salasa Fresh here.


We have Qdoba as well. I actually prefer that one over Chipotle.

My DS has always been a great sleeper. He slept through the night for the firstuntil 12 or 1 every day if we let him Can you say LAZY!!!

I'm actually looking forward to it for myself, so I can sleep in for once

After the A/C people leave we're going to head to Wally World. I need to get some bins to pack some stuff up. Its going to be safer in bins then cardboard boxes. Plus most of it is staying in the bins and not being unpacked.

Wally World as in Vacation with Chevy Chase? Is there such a place?

Then we're going to come home and have our taco night that we didn't get to have last night. Alan had to drive into Oklahoma with the flatbed wrecker and pick someone up. By the time he got home it was 10pm. So we ordered Pizza Hut and he ate some when he got home.

Mmmmm... we have a new take out only Pizza Hut that I've been meaning to try. We haven't had a Pizza Hut close by in years, so it'll be a nice treat.

 

[Disneywedding2010]

Lost my train of thought ...

 

[bellebookworm9]

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

Honestly, it's been all of you! You are truly the most supportive bunch of people ever.

hopefully DS will still enjoy the characters. he always has before but now that he's a little older he's starting to get a little nervous about things.

I remember at around that age was when DS was TERRIFIED of characters/Santa/Easter Bunny etc but not all kids get that way.

I believe it was at age 3 that we went to Disney and I was TERRIFIED of Goofy and Tigger-probably because they are just so darn big! I don't think I was ever afraid of Santa/Easter Bunny though.

Thank you for asking, Nancy. She seems to be doing okay this morning. She isn't acting as if she is in pain, just pathetic in the "cone".

Glad to hear that Cali is still doing well. The first time I ever saw a dog with a "cone" around their head, I actually thought he had gotten his head stuck in a lampshade somehow.

Today was pretty on plan-went a few points over. Today I was with the Life Skills kids, who are older (16-21) and higher functioning. They are my new favorite class. Each student works in the community for 2 hours a day, so I accompanied two of them to Tops (a grocery store) where the bagged for two hours. Now, me standing in a grocery store for that amount of time with pretty much nothing to do naturally led to disaster. I bought a huge cinnamon bun loaded with frosting and then washed it down with a Dr. Pepper. But other than that, been very on plan.

This afternoon some of the kids and staff went out to play kickball. At first it was the 4 female staff against the 4 male students, plus one male staff as pitcher. I honestly don't remember who won, but it was fun! I was out there for about 45 minutes and when I put that in WW, it told me it was 11 activity points. Well, then I changed it because we weren't constantly going for all that time, but still 6 points. At one time, it sort of was a game to see how many times I could run between second and third base because the other girls kept kicking fouls. It's not easy to run in jeans-especially when it's hot out!

I made the carrot cake today (finally) and am going to frost it momentarily. Will let everyone know tomorrow how it turns out!

ETA: The bits of batter and frosting I tasted were quite good, so hopefully the finished product will be too! Also, there is a reason I am going to school to be an audiologist and not a pastry chef: although the things I make normally taste very good, they always look very messy! I present to you Mom's 54th birthday cake.

 

[mikamah]

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

As many have said, all my friends here on Wish have made a big difference in my life with all the support I have received, but when I first read this, I thought of LisaH. She reached out to me when my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer 2 years ago, and offered an ear to listen, and an endless supply of love and support through that very difficult time, and we became great friends, and I don't know what I would have done without her to vent to, and cry to. I remember she often reminded me to take care of myself too, or I couldn't take care of the rest of my family. If it wasn't for her pm's I don't know that I would have stuck around here through that tough time, or if I would have found my way back. I am certain, my weight gain through it would have been much worse. We also started the c25k at around the same time, though on opposite ends of the country, it was so nice to have her to share the ups and downs with. She inspired me to think about doing the princess half marathon, and believed in me, even when I had doubts, and it was so wonderful to finally meet her in person that weekend. I hope our paths will cross again at another disney race.
I look at my journey as a healthy living journey, moreso than a weight loss journey now, not just because I'm not losing much weight, but because living a healthy life is important to me. I'd say at 210 pounds right now, with the running and exercise, I'm in better shape than I have been in the past at 180. I am so happy to have all of you here to share my journey with, and am so grateful for all the support through the years.

Great question, Cam. Glad little Cali is doing ok. I can't imagine how that cone must feel for the poor little thing.

I got out of work early and ran/walked 3.4 miles with my friend Karen, and then cut the lawn, went grocery shoppine, and cleaned the house. It feels so good to be productive.

Off to watch a quick show with michael before bed. He did enjoy his camp better today. You harry potter fans will be jealous. His sports camp took a field trip to the other Y Harry Potter camp and played them in a game of Quidditch. The harry potter team won, but they all had a blast.

Have a great evening!!

 

[cclovesdis]

Evening All!

Not sure where I was last night...asleep?

No, probably not. I don't remember sleeping last night. I didn't sleep well last night. Oh well, moving on...

Hoping for a good night's sleep tonight.

Not a bad day today, not a great day. I was pretty much OP, except for the birthday cake I had tonight. Really, though, I had a much smaller slice than I usually would, so it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. It definitely could have been much worse.

I have to go. Nothing big, but I'm out of time. I'll try to check in before I leave for work tomorrow morning.

 

[dumbo_buddy]

As many have said, all my friends here on Wish have made a big difference in my life with all the support I have received, but when I first read this, I thought of LisaH. She reached out to me when my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer 2 years ago, and offered an ear to listen, and an endless supply of love and support through that very difficult time, and we became great friends, and I don't know what I would have done without her to vent to, and cry to. I remember she often reminded me to take care of myself too, or I couldn't take care of the rest of my family. If it wasn't for her pm's I don't know that I would have stuck around here through that tough time, or if I would have found my way back. I am certain, my weight gain through it would have been much worse. We also started the c25k at around the same time, though on opposite ends of the country, it was so nice to have her to share the ups and downs with. She inspired me to think about doing the princess half marathon, and believed in me, even when I had doubts, and it was so wonderful to finally meet her in person that weekend. I hope our paths will cross again at another disney race.
I look at my journey as a healthy living journey, moreso than a weight loss journey now, not just because I'm not losing much weight, but because living a healthy life is important to me. I'd say at 210 pounds right now, with the running and exercise, I'm in better shape than I have been in the past at 180. I am so happy to have all of you here to share my journey with, and am so grateful for all the support through the years.

and that right there folks, is what put this pregnant lady in tears thank you kathy for sharing your story. people poo-poo meeting other people on the internet and yes, of course you have to be careful, but without the internet none of us would have even known each other, let alone be a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen to during tough times.

**************

evening everyone! just signed on to catch up a little but i'm heading into my room soon to do a little relaxing and reading. also, i've eaten probably 800 calories since dinner ended while sitting here watching tv so i need to move away from the food. DH isn't home yet and that's usually what does me in - when he's away i tend to just funnel food into my mouth. gross.

under the disney for families section some guy posted a youtube video montage of his family's recent WDW vacation. i believe the title is "family vacation memories" or something close to that. check it out. it's so cute!

holy lightning batman! shoo! storm's a comin' here in the bronx! time to close some windows.

night!

 

[my3princes]

Good morning, everyone! Sorry I didn't get here before so many of you made your morning visits ( ) but I went to the Y again. Figured I'd go while the motivation is there, right?

QOTD for Tuesday, July 26: Looking back on your journey so far, who is the single most influential person who has helped you either get started or stay motivated and what characteristics, actions or words of that person were most helpful to you?

Initially I wanted to lose weight so that my kids wouldn't be embarassed by me as they grew up. From there Chris stepped up to the plate and he is my champion. We've been on this journey together for nearly 8 years now. When we're good, we're unstoppable, when we struggle we struggle together.

I found an awesome quote today!!!!


"In this world, somehow an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life. And so often we are missing what is truly important because we are on the quest for what is extraordinary. Not understanding that in our ordinary lives, in the ordinary moments of our lives, is really where we can find the most joy. " - Brene Brown

As many of you know, our son Hunter was diagnosed with a brain tumor over a year and a half ago. By the grace of God he is 100% tumorfree today. The day that we received the tumor diagnosis I had clarity for the first time in my life. What was truly important was family and friends and spending quality time together everything else and I mean everything became unimportant. I don't sweat the details anymore, I get along with most everyone and let things slide that would have bugged the crap out of me in the past. I try to enjoy everyday of life and live in the now, not in the distant future. I know this sounds morbid, but try for a moment to imagine life without one of the most important members of your family, and see if you agree. Some of you have been through extreme losses and may understand, for other's it may be enlightening.

 

[glss1/2fll]

Gretchen, the cake looks yuuuummmmy. I've also worked in a life skills class (elementary level) and really enjoyed it. My favorite is the emotional growth center. Very high functioning but occasionally explosive. Makes life interesting!

All this talk about kids and characters reminds me when our eldest had just turned 2 and it was Christmastime. We discoverd he could fly: We were walking in a store and the next thing I know DS had leaped straight up and was in my arms. Santa was coming around the corner! It was too funny. This is also the kid who didn't sleep through the night until his baby brother slept through the night. Yes, over 3 years of interrupted sleep for me. Now he sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. Love the teenage years. And in a this is how pathetic my life is note, with both kids gone I was so excited to be able to vacuum at 8 o'clock this morning! I think it relates to Buffy's quote!

I just finished dinner but think I am still hungry so I may have to eat some string cheese. Tonight is the once a month get together with my girlfriends. Last month I had hot cocoa but if I don't eat something more soon I might be tempted to order a cookie or something else decadent. Not good.

QOTD: You guys. I haven't really talked about it much with my IRL friends. Last year my walking partner only talked about her diet and it drove me a little nutso. I don't want to be that person. So I'm keeping mum.

Need to go take the now hard boiled eggs off the burner. Where's Pamela been lately?

Have a great evening/morning!

 

[keenercam]

************

toddler boy hair cut was a success. we didn't have to wait too long, thomas got a lollipop, and they were playing a pirated copy of the new cars 2 movie. really the perfect scenario for a decent haircut i need to get mine done SO badly. i may try for saturday. i haven't gotten my hair highlighted in months and i'm looking awfully raggedy!

So glad Thomas’ experience was a good one.

YOU!!!! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have stuck with working out and I would have never done a Disney race, let alone, both the 1/2 and the full! It's you my friend!!!! I'm so very thankful for you!!! Oh, and I probably would have never found the WISH board.

Patty, you are so sweet, but I swear I was going to say “My friend, Patty (pjstevens). She trained with me for my 2009 Disney Half marathon even though she didn’t have one scheduled and was very often the only reason I went to the Y in the mornings to work out. She is also the only motivation I had many Saturday mornings to get up at 6 a.m. for a long training walk or run. She has become one of my dearest friends and is certainly one of the most amazing, strong, loyal and sweet people I have ever met in my life.” Love you, my friend!!

WOAH! That's expensive! I love watching "House Hunters on HGTV and seeing the different prices around the country. You'd get over 3000 s.f. around here for that much and atleast 1/3 acre.

I had my easy dinner of bag lettuce, deli meats and light cheese salad. I also chopped fresh strawberries in too. Tonight is Cook Out No milkshake for me though.



I love this! I'm going to think about it a little while and decide what I want my challenge to be. I am thinking 100 days of atleast 30 mins of exercise. Surely that will make a difference!

Shawn – I saw “house hunters” for the first time ever last night (I don’t watch TV) and they were in Huntsville, AL looking at some gorgeous 1-1.5million dollar homes. WOW!!! Your salad sounds delicious. I think the 100 days of 30 minutes of deliberate activity challenge that John Bingham advocated on facebook starting January 1 of this year was the most wonderful thing. It didn’t matter how tired I was. I’d get out a DVD or turn on ONDEMAND to the fitness menu and just do 30 minutes before bed, if I hadn’t knocked it out earlier in the day. It was a great motivator.

Hi everyone..

Nothing much to report here. Spending time with my bestie and trying to stay cool from this nasty heat. We're waiting on the A/C people to get here because something is not working properly and the upstairs is hot as hades. This does not make me happy considering I spent an arm and a leg to have 2 A/C units put in, new duct work, and new insulation this time last year. I'm hoping its going to be an easy fix..

Christina – So glad you are enjoying your visit with your friend! Hope the air conditioning issue got resolved easily and without cost.

I only have a few moments online right now, but wanted to say thank you for the welcome. It is very appreciated. I have one more night to work and then I will focus on what you suggested and catch up with this thread.

Have a good night at work. Can’t wait to hear more from you tomorrow! Kids are an awesome motivator. Not only do we want to be able to keep up with them, but we also want to set a good example for them. Kudos to you for recognizing that and joining us on this very worthwhile journey.

I found an awesome quote today!!!!


"In this world, somehow an ordinary life has become synonymous with a meaningless life. And so often we are missing what is truly important because we are on the quest for what is extraordinary. Not understanding that in our ordinary lives, in the ordinary moments of our lives, is really where we can find the most joy. " - Brene Brown

That is fabulous!! Thank you! I think there is much to be said for living an ordinary live, one day at a time, with kindness toward others and ourselves. Thank you so much for sharing that!

Hi everyone, just popping in briefly. DH took the train to NYC this afternoon for training tomorrow so it's just me and DS.

I miss the Precor. That was my go to piece of machinery when I was a member at Bally's.

I hope you can get a good night’s sleep and that you have a productive evening if you have to get some work done. Yes, the Precor was awesome; 278 calories burned in ½ hour with very little incline and muscles are hurting that I haven’t felt in a while. That is a good thing.

Glad to hear that Cali is still doing well. The first time I ever saw a dog with a "cone" around their head, I actually thought he had gotten his head stuck in a lampshade somehow.

Today was pretty on plan-went a few points over. Today I was with the Life Skills kids, who are older (16-21) and higher functioning. They are my new favorite class. Each student works in the community for 2 hours a day, so I accompanied two of them to Tops (a grocery store) where the bagged for two hours. Now, me standing in a grocery store for that amount of time with pretty much nothing to do naturally led to disaster. I bought a huge cinnamon bun loaded with frosting and then washed it down with a Dr. Pepper. But other than that, been very on plan.

This afternoon some of the kids and staff went out to play kickball. At first it was the 4 female staff against the 4 male students, plus one male staff as pitcher. I honestly don't remember who won, but it was fun! I was out there for about 45 minutes and when I put that in WW, it told me it was 11 activity points. Well, then I changed it because we weren't constantly going for all that time, but still 6 points. At one time, it sort of was a game to see how many times I could run between second and third base because the other girls kept kicking fouls. It's not easy to run in jeans-especially when it's hot out!

I made the carrot cake today (finally) and am going to frost it momentarily. Will let everyone know tomorrow how it turns out!

Your day sounds so wonderful!! I work with special Olympics and it is so great to hear about so many of our athletes taking those courses and learning to hold jobs. Thanks to people like you who help prepare them for those challenges!! Your kickball game sounds like fun. The battle with the cinnamon bun & dr. pepper, not so much. (I’d much rather have salty snacks than sweet. LOL!) Your Mom’s cake looks delicious! I’ll bet she is so touched that you made it for her. Had to laugh thinking of Cali with a lampshade around her neck! LOL! She does look kind of funny:

Though the way she slept last night made me so sad when I saw her this morning. It looks so uncomfortable:

She is my sweet baby!

As many have said, all my friends here on Wish have made a big difference in my life with all the support I have received, but when I first read this, I thought of LisaH. She reached out to me when my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer 2 years ago, and offered an ear to listen, and an endless supply of love and support through that very difficult time, and we became great friends, and I don't know what I would have done without her to vent to, and cry to. I remember she often reminded me to take care of myself too, or I couldn't take care of the rest of my family. If it wasn't for her pm's I don't know that I would have stuck around here through that tough time, or if I would have found my way back. I am certain, my weight gain through it would have been much worse. We also started the c25k at around the same time, though on opposite ends of the country, it was so nice to have her to share the ups and downs with. She inspired me to think about doing the princess half marathon, and believed in me, even when I had doubts, and it was so wonderful to finally meet her in person that weekend. I hope our paths will cross again at another disney race.

Great question, Cam. Glad little Cali is doing ok. I can't imagine how that cone must feel for the poor little thing.

I got out of work early and ran/walked 3.4 miles with my friend Karen, and then cut the lawn, went grocery shoppine, and cleaned the house. It feels so good to be productive.

Kathy- I have gotten to know LisaH a bit over my years here on the WISH boards and I have to agree. She is a very special, generous-spirited person. I am so glad she found you in your time of need and that you were able to build a wonderful friendship. I’m not surprised. You are both very impressive, awesome women! I am glad you got out for a walk today. And very glad Michael had a good day at camp. Thank you for asking about Cali. It seems like this whole thing might be harder on me than her since she is such a trooper and I am such a wimp!

 

[keenercam]

No, probably not. I don't remember sleeping last night. I didn't sleep well last night. Oh well, moving on...

Hoping for a good night's sleep tonight.

Not a bad day today, not a great day. I was pretty much OP, except for the birthday cake I had tonight. Really, though, I had a much smaller slice than I usually would, so it wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. It definitely could have been much worse.

Hey, sweetie!! I hope you can get some good sleep tonight. Kudos to you on the reasonable sized piece of birthday cake. That is some great willpower!

**************

evening everyone! just signed on to catch up a little but i'm heading into my room soon to do a little relaxing and reading. also, i've eaten probably 800 calories since dinner ended while sitting here watching tv so i need to move away from the food. DH isn't home yet and that's usually what does me in - when he's away i tend to just funnel food into my mouth. gross.

Glad you recognized the over-desserting issue. What are you reading? Anything good? I just finished the third book in the "Hunger Games" trilogy. I read all three books in 5 days, I think. I can't stop thinking about them. Wow!

As many of you know, our son Hunter was diagnosed with a brain tumor over a year and a half ago. By the grace of God he is 100% tumorfree today. The day that we received the tumor diagnosis I had clarity for the first time in my life. What was truly important was family and friends and spending quality time together everything else and I mean everything became unimportant. I don't sweat the details anymore, I get along with most everyone and let things slide that would have bugged the crap out of me in the past. I try to enjoy everyday of life and live in the now, not in the distant future. I know this sounds morbid, but try for a moment to imagine life without one of the most important members of your family, and see if you agree. Some of you have been through extreme losses and may understand, for other's it may be enlightening.

Deb - I so agree with you. On January 4, 2005, I wrote "goodbye, I love you" letters to my kids and Howard. I never thought I'd survive my fourth heart surgery scheduled for the next day. Since I did, I'd like to think that I've done a little better than average in cherishing the people in my life. I am so glad I didn't miss all these wonderful moments in their lives. Even the ordinary has become miraculous to me.

All this talk about kids and characters reminds me when our eldest had just turned 2 and it was Christmastime. We discoverd he could fly: We were walking in a store and the next thing I know DS had leaped straight up and was in my arms. Santa was coming around the corner! It was too funny. This is also the kid who didn't sleep through the night until his baby brother slept through the night. Yes, over 3 years of interrupted sleep for me. Now he sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. Love the teenage years. And in a this is how pathetic my life is note, with both kids gone I was so excited to be able to vacuum at 8 o'clock this morning! I think it relates to Buffy's quote!

I just finished dinner but think I am still hungry so I may have to eat some string cheese. Tonight is the once a month get together with my girlfriends. Last month I had hot cocoa but if I don't eat something more soon I might be tempted to order a cookie or something else decadent. Not good.

QOTD: You guys. I haven't really talked about it much with my IRL friends. Last year my walking partner only talked about her diet and it drove me a little nutso. I don't want to be that person. So I'm keeping mum.

Well, you can talk away to us all you want. We LOVE it and we'll talk right back! That is a great strategy - string cheese instead of a cookie. You should be very proud of yourself.

 

[keenercam]

Okay, I might not get back here early tomorrow, so I wanted to post the QOTD for tomorrow now.

QOTD for Wednesday, July 27 (this one is purely for fun): What is the last screensaver/background that showed up on your computer? If you can, share the image here.

 

[my3princes]

Okay, I might not get back here early tomorrow, so I wanted to post the QOTD for tomorrow now.

QOTD for Wednesday, July 27 (this one is purely for fun): What is the last screensaver/background that showed up on your computer? If you can, share the image here.

Cinderella Castle of course