Yes, a new journal!
Back on target, starting now.
Ready, set, GO!

Weight: 200.0

Exercise: LOTS and lots of walking this weekend, also did a lot of packing and moving stuff with the bf.

Food: Not great, but not bad in small quantities.
Friday:
BF: small piece coffee cake, oatmeal cookie
S: banana
Lunch: Chicken sandwich (chicken lunchmeat, slice cheese, mayo), ravioli, canteloupe
Dinner: BF's Gma's roast beef, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, brownie (all in small portions).

Saturday:
BF: cup coffee
Lunch: Subway 6" turkey and ham, veggies, ff honey mustard (I love that it's FF!)
Dinner: cheeseburger, waffle fries, ranch

Sunday:
BF: breakfast bar
Lunch: taco bell, spicy chicken crunchwrap (didn't finish it), soft taco
Snack: 1 slice pizza
Dinner: pizza 4 small slices

Monday:
BF: onion bagel, spray butter (0 cal!), very little cream cheese

That's the weekend and day so far!

So I am back here, ready to make some changes. I have been getting pretty slack in my diet plans. I was doing really well, then I decide that I am doing well and can afford a few extra goodies. Then the progress stops and I don't see results for a long time until I jump start things again. Well that jump start is today!

I will exercise. Even if it's a short 15-20 minute walk. I will wear my pedometer and will increase my steps by taking these walks, and get closer to the 10000 steps I should be taking a day. Since I am sitting most of the time at work, I will aim for 7000 steps for now. It's spring, which means nice weather, and more chances to get out and get moving. So I will.

I will pay more attention to what I am eating. I will allow myself 1 guilty dessert a week, only if i really want it. Most of the time dessert isn't on my mind, cause we rarely had it in the house. The rest of the week, I will stick with fruit, popcorn, yogurt...once again, only when I think about it. Also, I will only use pasta for dinner 2 nights a week instead of 4 or 5. I will try to limit carbs on the other nights. I don't need all the carbs I regularly eat. I will chop up salad tonight and have a side salad with all my dinners. Eat that first, then my actual meal will be smaller. I will keep track of all I eat, so I can look at it and see where I am eating too much, and the wrong foods. If I have to be honest here, I am much more likely to be more honest with myself before putting the junk into my mouth!

Goals:
~I want to reach 190 by the official first day of spring. 8 weeks to lose 10 pounds.
~I want to wear my black pants with red stripes (yes, the ones I bought 3 years ago and have not yet worn) before the end of summer. I don't know how far I have to go to wear them. They are a size 14, I am a 16 now.
~I want to lose inches. The scale might not move because of muscle, but the tape measure will show changes. I will take measurements every 2 weeks, starting tonight! (they will be posted in my "I'm Melting" measurements journal)

I will start a new journal when Summer starts, and make new goals then. As I go along, I will do the same with this journal.

That's all for now:) Sorry it's long, but now I have a plan!

and a GREAT plan it is !!!! :up:

You can do this :cheer:

Welcome to your new journal.

Nice new journal for a nice new start. Good for you with your planning.

The best of luck to you.

Great new journal, you are doing so great. Keep it up.

Hello, Melissa! Great new goals and a fun new journal. You are doing very well and should reach that first day o' spring target easily! Huzzah! :cheer:

Day #2

Weight: 199.4

Exercise: Nothing really, just walking around the store and parking away from the building.

Food:
BF: bagel, little cream cheese
snack: rice cake bites
lunch: 2 ff hot dogs, 2 buns, slice cheese, canteloupe, yogurt
snack: cheddar crackers
snack: broccoli, french onion dip
dinner: made cheddar broccoli soup, pork chop
snack: sf banana pudding made with skim millk

So here I am, day #2. Yesterday was a good day, besides my lack of motivation once I got home. I was really hungry, so I made dinner right away after work and the store. I should have taken a walk, it was beautiful! But that's the plan for tonight. Weight is down since yesterday, another good thing! I did have a lot of snacks, but dinner wasn't huge, so it was more like a big meal spread out through a few hours:) I don't need to do that much snacking though. One before lunch should hold me over, although I will have something tonight after work since I will go for a walk. Get home, clean out my car (what a mess!), snack then go for my walk. Then I can cook and do the chores I need to do.

Not too much else is going on. The weather is beautiful, the BF and I are planning a lot of outdoor activities this weekend. Hopefully it will still be super nice. Or at least not cold and gloomy. It is still April, and in Michigan, that means anything is possible!

Things to be thankful for...
~Living in Michigan and having a tan in April!
~The big window in my office, letting me see lots of sun
~Helpful coworkers
~The smell of fresh cut grass. I don't smell it now, but it's somewhere! :)

Hi MelsaEstel,

Glad you had a great trip and are enjoying the springtime finally having some nice weather! I used to live in michigan when I was young, I just remember going to orchards and picking our own strawberries and playing with horses in grassy fields and walking along creeks teaming with salmon come home to spawn (I think they were salmon).

Spring is the best time to clean the house, I'm thinking this is what I need as well!

Wow. i have been horrible with this! New journal, and I have only been here twice.

So I am back. I joined the Healthy Living Bootcamp this session. I am excited about making new habits and having that accountability. If I mess up, I am out. So I have to keep things moving in order to stay in. And I am going to.

I have been wearing my pedometer since Friday after work, and have walked 5.5 miles, so that's a good thing. I am aiming for 45 miles by June 8th, just about a mile a day. Tonight, since it is raining, I plan on doing my WATP video. Although I have planned it many times. I got lots of sleep, so my being tired can not be an issue. I want to see results this month, no more standing still. It's TOM this week, so I am dealing with those wonderful issues. But I won't let them drive me to eat like a pig.

My personal May goal:
Reach 190.0 by May 31st. About 10 pounds, and it will put me into the upper limit of the "Overweight" category. At 159, I will be at a healthy weight. So there we go!

That's all for now. Gotta get back to work!

Saw your new journal so I thought I'd stop by and say hey! What type of pedometer do you have? I tend to......jiggle.....which tends to throw my pedometer way off. I wish I had never gotten rid of my WATP videos. My sis in law wanted them and then she never touched them. I actually did use them. Well good luck!! Can't wait to stop back by!! ttyl

Thanks for stopping by Kayzzee! My pedometer is the Sportline "electronic pedometer 350". It's small and just clips to my jean pocket, and I like it. I don't notice the jiggling, I have tested it a few times, and it's very true. It was cheap too:) I think it was 10 bucks on sale!

I like the WATP videos, too. Some of them are available on "On Demand" on COmcast and I think other providers offer it, too. I haven't used mine in a long time. I went to the mall and walked around instead of using the video. Does your SIL still have the tapes?

So I haven't been posting my weight the last couple days. It's TOM and I am not happy with the numbers I have been seeing. It's not horrible, but I don't want to see them! 201.6 this morning. I want to get back into the solid 190s, never to see 200 again. I just need to really buckle down.

I know this weekend isn't going to be too good, I am going to 2 baseball games, and I LOVE the nachos there. So I am getting them, and I will enjoy them. I just hope to get enough walking in to battle some of the nachos. :)

I ate like a pig last night. I didn't eat lunch cause I wasn't at all hungry. Then I got home and had leftovers and fruit. Then I wanted dessert. So I heated up brown sugar and some butter, then added bananas and green apples. Kinda a crustless apple pie with bananas. I didn't eat much of that. Then I had a little ice cream. Then another hour later, I made one of those hamburger helper singles. Not a good food night. Tonight the bf will be here, so we will eat dinner, and that will be all for the night. No snacks, no dessert. It's always easier when he's around. I don't think about raiding the fridge. SO that's something I need to work on more.

I joined the bootcamp, like I mentioned above. The first day was good, none of my goals are food related. I need to get other things in line, and just be cautious of my food. Once I make habit of my goals (more walking, less coffee, pop, more water, and taking vitamins) then I can move on and more closely watch foods. I am excited to see how bootcamp goes. BL is just about over. Friday is the last weigh in. I want to be at 199, that would give me a 5 pound loss since it started. That means 5 pounds in 4 months, but it's better than nothing, and definitely better than gaining!

Alright. Work. Blah. :)

Hi, Melissa:

I'm sorry you are having a bad few days. This, unfortunately, happens to us all. That is why it is so good that the Lord always gives us a new day to restart ourselves.

Remember that this losing weight does'nt happen overnight or easily or without effort. But it can be done, and I am convinced that with your attitude you will be back on track in no time.

So do it, kiddo, you know you can.

Yeah my SIL still has the tapes....in Ohio. lolol She said she used them for about a month. lol I liked them, I just got bored with them and she asked if she could have them and I thought I wouldn't miss em as much as I have. I have no treadmill, and I think those tapes were the next best thing. I think I'm gonna have to get those again!! lol

TOM...its no coincidence the initials are a mans name!! jk I will NOT weigh myself during mine. I get too depressed...and then I give up.

I'm embarrassed to pig out in front of the hubby too. I do much better at staying out of things when he's home. And I try not to keep those bad things around. But I do let my kids have sweet from time to time, and generally I get when I know they like and I don't. But there are times!! And then i'll get something like Twizzlers cherry bites. lol And I'll even separate those into serving sized packages....and they're still gone in two days. It just does not work for me to keep those type of things around!

I read over the bootcamp thing! I soooooooo wanna do that next month! Smallfri said she wasn't sure whether or not they would do it next month. But if they do...I AM IN!! Sounds like a really awesome challenge!

Hi Mel,
thought i would stop in and say g'day. Hope you have fun at the baseball games. i always find the food too tempting at places like that but i always up the ante with my workouts to compensate if i know my cals will be bigger than usual.
Keep hanging in there the fight is worth it!
hugs bell :)

I didn't realize how negative my last post was until I re-read it this morning. Everything is all down, poor me, blah blah blah.

So, I need not do that anymore.

Yesterday was a fairly good day. Food was decent, I walked a mile and a half throughout the day (not a ton, but it's a start!). BF was a bagel and cream cheese, cup of coffee, snack was a special k bar, lunch was 1/2 of a bbq chicken calzone leftover from dinner and a pear, dinner was penne pasta with some alfredo sauce, cheese, and chicken. Dessert was 3 cookies (they were little:)). So not horrible. I only had one serving of each, even though I would have enjoyed more pasta!

It's a beautiful day here! Finally! It's been gloomy for a while, except for yesterday morning. So I need to walk outside tonight. I need the sun and the quiet. Then I will go home, make dinner, and sit outside and read. I think I should bring some walking shoes in my car, so if I feel like walking and it's crummy out, I can slip those on and stop at the mall and walk and window shop. No excuses once I get home and start vegging out:)

I had a great night with the bf. I made dinner, we ate, watched tv with my roommate, then went and read in bed (we were like an old married couple, he read his sports book, I read my novel), then we fell asleep before 10:30. It was fantastic. We don't have many nights like that. We're usually on the go all the time. He's had a really stressful couple of weeks, so it was great for him to relax. De-stress. I enjoyed it too.

Other than that, I am just getting ready for the weekend. I want to have some active plans for the weekend, cause I know food isn't going to be great. Well, it will be great, but not diet wise:) I am really looking forward to ball park nachos. They are the best nachos I have ever had. And I get them twice. So I need to have lots of walking to somewhat counteract the treats! No ideas yet, but we'll think of something.

Off to get more work done. Less than 2 hours for me today! Hurry up 4:30!

YAY! I love the new journal!!! Sorry I've been MIA! BUT THE GOOD NEWS, IS THAT I AM BACK! =) Hopefully, back for our "noon" journal readings and such :laugh:

Gosh- I need to catch up with 'yall. Why couldn't you all just FREEZED your lives until I was back???? HUH??? HaHa!

:hug:

Welcome back Rebekah!

I am happy this morning. The scale said 200.0, despite all my crazy eating this week. Thankfully TOM is almost over, so things should calm down. I had been up to almost 202 earlier this week. So I am relieved to be back down. I am really happy to be in this bootcamp challenge as well, it should help out a lot! Set good habits, and get me motivated to do more.

I am a little frustrated with weekend plans. I hate when people give you all the signs that they don't want company (since gas is so expensive, I don't know if you want to drive out...). They were giving us so many excuses, then when BF and I got frustrated enough, we made our own plans that would only keep us there for part of a day and one night instead of all weekend. Then they didn't want that and pretty much begged us to come out. So I don't understand. I want things to be set, clear, and ready to roll. Not all wishy washy!

And that was all the negative from me!

I am leaving my office light off today cause I want to enjoy this sun all I can. So it's strictly the sun that's powering me today! It's great! My office gets so incredibly warm in the morning, since I have the sun blaring through all morning. It's fantastic!

It's going to be a great weekend, I can't wait to get started and enjoy this weather!

I love the sun myself. The guys @ my dad's work get mad because I open up all the blinds making it a little toasty inside, but HELL-O, we're in Florida! :laugh:

Aww, bummer about all the wishy-washy plans; but I think you planned it right, stay for an evening and plan around it. You'll have a blast, and I'll think about you while I'm working!

Other than that, I went through and RE-READ your journal from the past week or so, to catch up... I like your goals! And you can definitely meet them!

Goodluck on your Bootcamp adventure! It's back to DAY one of Bikini Bootcamp for me!

Come on LEGS!

Hi Mel! Lucky you with all that sunshine! I can't wait until our rainy season goes away!

I think you are like me with the negative/positive thing. It's like, I just suddenly realize that I am whining but I didn't intend to get that way. I don't want me to do dat! My husband and I are both trying to be more positive. He was at home the other day and I caught him watching Oprah. Next thing I knew he was ordering "Complaint Free" bracelets where you switch arms every time you catch yourself complaining. They have not arrived yet. I do believe that Like attracts Like and that is why it is important to stay optimistic.

Hope your weekend turned out to be fun!

Linda

Weekend Update

Well the weekend came and went, as it typically does. It was entirely too quick!
We went out to Lansing to go to a baseball game, and to enjoy the much anticipated nachos. They were terrible. The chips were coated in salt. Normally, tortilla chips do have salt, but there was so much that after I touched just one chip, I had to wipe the salt off my fingers. Gross. The meat was flavorless, too. Sad times. The beer was flat too. So we all wrote emails to let the organization know that we were unhappy with the concessions. But...it saved me the ballpark calories on saturday night, none of us got food at all. Saturday we took our time getting up and out, then played putt putt, and I nursed a really sore back. Then we had dinner, and went to the game and the fireworks that followed. We did end up going out after the game to a bar, and I had no intention of drinking. But then I tried something new, liked it, and then people just kept buying them for me. And filling my cup up without my knowing. So I was not sober at the end of the night. It was a lot of fun, a great group of people, good environment, and we just enjoyed ourselves a lot!
Yesterday we came home, went to see Spiderman 3 (It was great!), then we made spaghetti, and watched Shawshank Redemption. It was a nice, relaxing night to end the busy weekend.

And now I am back at work, ready to speed through to Friday afternoon and get next weekend started!

Bootcamp is going well, I am doing my 3 goals really well, except for the vitamins. I forgot to take them with me this weekend, so I missed my allowed 2 days while we were away. I just have to take one tonight when I get home. I don't think I posted my goals here, so they are:
1. Walk at least 30 minutes each day (I walked 6 miles this weekend)
2. I am allowed 1 cup of coffee every day, 1 pop a day on weekends and only 2 total during the week.
3. Take vitamins (one-a-day and vitamin C) 5/7 days.

I lost 1.4 pounds between MOnday and Friday. I didn't weigh in this morning so I don't know what the damage was from the weekend. I will find out tomorrow morning.

That's about all. I hope to be better with posting this week. And with food and exercise.

Rebekah-They were complaining about it being a bit toasty now? What about 2 months from now? haha. I love having all the heat come in from the open windows. I would LOVE if we had windows that opened here at the office, that would make it even better! HOpe your bikini bootcamp is in full force! I will stop in and see how you are doing!

Linda- I really can be all positive/negative. In general I am very positive. But then I get on here, and I use this as a place to vent, and sometimes even the good things come out as a complaint. It's a hard thing to change, but I will keep trying! I have never heard of these bracelets. I know people used to just use a rubber band around their wrist, and snapped it when they complained or swore. How technology has changed :laugh:

Melissa!!!!

I have been a BAD diet buddy! I am back in business though, and am planning to stop by regularly again (like it or not! :) )

It's too bad the concession food was gross...but, sometimes that does help with the calories!

Great job with the weight loss and succeeding at bootcamp!!!

Have a great Monday!

-kristen

Kristen...you have NOT been a bad buddy. Life happens. I haven't been doing the greatest at keeping up with journals, so no worries! I still think we should have our nook to just girl talk:) What do you think? I am glad that you are back in action!

It's Tuesday. I finally weighed in after the weekend. BLah. Up 2.6 pounds! So I have a lot of work ahead of me! I ate fairly well yesterday, ff hotdogs and peaches at lunch, orange roughy and potatoes for dinner, fresh pineapple (or as fresh as we can get in non-tropical Michigan!) for dessert. I walked 1.7 miles yesterday (went to the store twice, I finally found a duvet cover I really like and had to call stores to locate one!).

So the beer definitly got to me this weekend. I wonder how much I would have been up had I weighed Sunday morning or yesterday morning. I had to have lost at least a little since then. So my goal is to be back down to 200 by Friday. There's no more BL, so I don't have that to keep me motivated. I will dive full force into Bootcamp. I still want to reach 195 by the end of May. That means I have 7.6 pounds to go now. Hopefully some of this is still water weight. SO I have to be extra good this week! I WILL go for a walk tonight. All I have to do is some laundry, so I have NO excuse not to. If I come back tomorrow reporting no walk (and I mean outside in the warm sun kinda walk) please let me have it! I need that accountability. I am going to tell the BF, so if he asks when he calls and I say no, I know i am letting him down too. So I will do it! I brought in my hand weights from my car about a week ago. I saw them sitting on my floor last night, so I used the 5 pounders and did some bicep curls and other arm exercises. I need to tone up my arms. So it was good that I did a little. It wasn't much, no more than 3 minutes, but every bit counts! I did 5 or 6 different exercises. So I would like to keep that up, and add my abs video back in. Do thighs too.

Goals:
~Reach 195 by May 31 (23 days to lose 7.6 pounds)
~Tone up body, lose some inches all around

Work week goals:
~Walk outside 3/5 weeknights, weather permitting (it's supposed to rain the next couple of days)
~Arms 3/5 weekdays
~Abs 3/5 weekdays
~Thighs 2/5 weekdays

Weekend goals:
~Walk as much as possible. Wear pedometer, and if it says I have done less than 5 miles, go for a walk on Sunday.
~Watch food carefully.
~Limit portions

I need to review my original goals from my first post here, compare, see where I have followed them, where I have strayed. I am a planner, big time. It's just following them that can be the problem! I am going to set my goals, and print them out, hang them up around the house and my office. So I see them throughout the day, not just here when I log onto DT.

Well, back to work. Maybe the day will speed up soon! :)

Just a quick post. Not much to report.

I am down 1.6 since yesterday, so I am now at 201.
6 pounds in just over 3 weeks. I can do this if I really work at it!

Maybe I will report back later!

Down another 2 pounds since yesterday. Bye bye water weight!

Scale said 199.0, even with wet hair and all! 4 pounds in 3 weeks to make my goal of 195 by May 31!

I am eating my oatmeal for breakfast, then getting on with the day. One more wake up until it's the weekend!

I think I had too much salty stuff last night. I am up 0.8 pounds this morning. Not too bad. It could be worse. But I had a very small bowl of green olives, made potatoes with salt, garlic, onion, and made some fish. Also had a cup of chicken broth, as I have been reading that people who have a bowl of broth based soup before dinner (like my skinny little best friend) eat less and usually weigh less. So I am giving it a whirl. I like it so far, although I don't see myself eating less. I am going to start using a small plate for dinner, and if my food doesn't fit on it, it will be put away for tomorrow.

I was talking to the BF yesterday, and he asked if I was ready to be engaged to him. Of course I am! I know he wants to ask when I least expect it, so I have no idea when it might happen. It's still exciting to hear him talk about it so much.

Well, Friday finally arrived. I am heading down to see the BF. We are hanging out most of the weekend, I am going to a baby shower for his best friend's kid tomorrow afternoon, and then we are going to lunch with his mom and grandmas and maybe even great gma on Sunday. Then we are coming back to my house to make dinner for my parents. We are taking Monday morning off to just sleep in, relax for a while. It's going to be a great weekend!

For now, I need to make some cash, so I should get back to work:)

Have a great weekend, and Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!

Howdy. I've not dropped by in a while. Things seem to be going well with you. Good for you!

So..your BF asks you if he can ask you to marry him....geesh. The conversations we couples have. I had a similar conversation with my wife years ago. She made fun of me about it for about 6 months (her point was that I should ask or not ask...like a real man...hehe).

Keep up the great work, and you will stay under 200 for a while. I'm sending happy, work-out, non emotional-eating vibes your way. Take care, and have a great weekend.

Thanks for the vibes, CFJ!

The weekend was really good. I went to see the BF this weekend. We did a lot of watching sports, and spending time with family. He went golfing with his best friend while I went to a baby shower for his best friend's new baby. So I hung out with the women, heard lots of little Greg stories:) Sunday we saw his mom, both grandmas, his great gma, and my family. We drove back last night to cook my mom and family dinner. Then we both took this morning off and just slept in and relaxed. It was fantastic.

Now I am back at work. Half day since I came in around lunch time. It's great outside. I stopped in and picked up my new glasses this afternoon, so I feel pretty snazzy with those.

I just want to go home already:)
So I am going to push through it, and then I can go home in a couple of hours.

Happy Monday!

Hi Melissa!

Gosh, I feel like I never get to check in with y'all anymore....

Glad you had such a great weekend! And cute new glasses huh?

When I read your stories about you and your bf makes me miss having one... sigh... :)

Well, hope your last few hours of work were pleasant!

Have a great evening!

-kristen

How is it already Thursday? Wow, this week has flown by! Which is awesome, bring on the weekend. I have been really busy and focused at work this week. I love it! Now I am getting plans together for the weekend. There's an annual "Beer Fest" in Frankenmuth, Michigan's "Little Bavaria". We went last summer, and had a blast, so we are going again this weekend. They have a place set up and people from different brewerys come and offer samples of beer, wine, wine coolers...all that stuff. We have to buy tickets, of course, but it's a fun way to try new things. So hopefully it will live up to last year, and stay cheap. I am really stressed about money again right now. My car is a piece of crap, and I can't afford anything right now. I have tons of bills coming in, on top of student loan payments. Gas is outrageous and I have 4 weekends of travelling coming up after this one. So money is tight. Anyone out there have a few grand lying around that they don't need? Looking for a way to lighten your pockets? I am more than willing to help you out! :) haha.

Things have been good. I have been eating a lot again. I made dinner and dessert for mom on Sunday, and ate the last piece of cheesecake monday night. Tuesday I made cookies, and ate 9 of them! Last night I made corn muffins and ate 3 of them. The scale isn't showing a change, so that's good. But tomorrow is weigh in, both for bootcamp and to get a start weight for the next round of biggest loser!

I really need to get exercising again. I keep saying that. I need to do it. I am not going to start making my plans and then just forget about them tomorrow. So I will just aim to make a start.

Ballroom Blitz just came on the radio, it's such a strange song, it makes me smile everytime I hear it. Oooooh Yeeeeeah! :)

Alright. just over an hour of work left for the day. Fire up!

Have a great Thursday!

Hi Mel!

You are doing a lot of the same things I do. I go on a diet and do well for a few weeks and then I seem to be looking for the lost pounds for the next few weeks. How can we help each other avoid losing control (binging) like that? Weight loss is so hard, but what will it take to stay the course? That is the real question for me. It is obviously true that those who don't give up are the real Biggest Losers.

What can we do?

Have a fun weekend!

Linda

Happy Monday!

Thanks for stopping by Linda! I don't know how to stop the binging. It usually isn't an issue for me. Just lately I have felt the need to snack more. I never thought of it as binging. But it is. I just need to keep the junk out of the cupboards. If I can't eat it, I won't! I guess it's just a day to day choice. :)

Well, the weekend was good. Not as much fun as we had last year, but still a good time. Food and drink was interesting. Not the best food choices, wine tasting, beer tasting, and not as much walking as I expected. I still got 4 miles, but I had hoped for at least 6 or 7. Oh well. I just need to make up for it this week.

I hope to have some of this water weight gone by tomorrow! I am up to 202 today. blah. But it won't stay. I won't let it! :)

Portion control is going to be my focus this week. Small plates only, and if it doesn't fit on the plate, it doesn't get eaten. Period. Unless it's a bowl of salad or fruit. That's okay:) No mounding the plate either.

Dinner plans for the week:
Monday:
small steak (grilled on foreman)
potatoes
chinese cole slaw
salad

Tuesday:
small pork chop
cottage cheese
salad (gotta buy more)
green beans

Wednesday:
chicken quesadilla
ff refried beans
sour cream
olives

Thursday:
broiled steak or pork chop
broiled asparagus (need to buy!)
potatoes
salad (or broth based soup)

Friday:
out of town

So there we go! I need to buy some stuff, but that's my plan for the week.

That's all for now.
See you tomorrow!

Hello!

Yesterday was a good day. I stuck to my dinner plan for the most part. Instead of potatoes, I stuck some asparagus on the grill. Oooooooh yummy! I love asparagus, but it's 20 times better charred up a little bit. Soooo good! The steak was great, as was the cole slaw and salad. I just added some cheese and ranch dressing to the salad. Dinner tonight will be great as well, I might add more asparagus to it as well, since I am using the grill for my pork chop tonight.

Some of the weekend is going away, I am still at 201.2, but it's better than yesterday's 202! It will be gone by the weekend. I am making more excuses to get up at work and walk around, and the other day I found myself doing laps around the living room and rest of the house while I waited for dinner to cook. It doesn't matter how I get them, steps are steps! I should do some stairs too. I have to do laundry tonight, so I will add a few flights each time I go up or down.

BF applied for a job near me, it's the next town over. That would be amazing if he was out here and we didn't have to plan every visit. And depend on every weekend. I really hope he gets it. If you are the praying type, please send some prayers this way!

Well, back to work! Have a great day!

It's me again.

Dinner was fantastic, although it was too salty. Phew! But the scale didn't show any difference from yesterday, so it cancelled out the water weight I might have lost yesterday. Instead of the green beans, I made asparagus again. It's just so good! I have enough left to have it 2 more nights, perfect since I am only going to be home 2 more nights this week. And it will go bad over the weekend, so I will just have to eat it. I only have 5-6 sprigs of it at a time, cut in half and grilled, so it seems like a lot more. It's my new favorite. I am going to make the BF try it sometime, he's NOT a veggie fan. I think he might like this.

I got another 1.35 miles yesterday. I am going to aim for 2 today. That puts me at 35.1 miles out of my 45 that I want to do by June 8th. I have over 2 weeks to get 9.9 miles. Piece of cake.

No word on the job front. Hopefully he will be able to contact them soon. Or get a call from them. In the meantime, I need to find something small to do. I remember my grandma used to stuff envelopes. She would get a big box of them and just stuff and seal, then send them back and would get paid for it. WHy can't I find something easy like that? Something that would take an hour or so in the evening, and give me a few extra bucks? I am not looking to get rich, but a little help would be nice. Money is just stressing me out lately, cause the BF is feeling the same strain as I am. I have looked online, but everything sounds like a scam. Ugh.

ALright. Positive thinking! It's a beautiful sunny warm day, the sun is pouring in through my windows. It's a quiet day around the office, the rush jobs I had are done, and it's Wednesday. We have a long weekend coming up which will be fantastic since last weekend was cut short. So yay!

Vitamin water is EVIL!

I tried a bottle of vitamin water yesterday. Tastes like watered down kool-aid. Not the greatest. I tried the one called energy, see if it would give me an extra boost. I drank it before lunch, and I sure did get a boost. But not until about 11pm. I was up until about 3, and I start work at 7:30, after a nice 40 minute drive in. So, I am running on about 3.5 hours of sleep. It's horrible!

The scale has been the same for 3 mornings now. This morning I know I didn't get an accurate reading cause I slept in and only allowed myself 20 minutes to get ready. I usually weigh after my shower, so I am awake and I tend to be down a little from when I first wake up. But, I am still at 201.2. I hope to be down tomorrow. This means I am posting a gain for bootcamp. Ugh.

I am just down today. Lack of sleep is really getting me. So I will be fine and stick with my plans and make it through today, then go to bed early, and then tomorrow will be great. It will be Friday, and that means the start of a long weekend!

I am all rested up today. Sleep was fantastic! So nice! But the scale wasn't nice this morning. I have been at 201.2 the last 3 mornings, it said 201.8 this morning. I thought yesterday was a good day! I guess being so tired didn't help at all. So I posted an overall gain of 0.4 pounds for bootcamp, and now I have more work cut out for me. My start weight for BL is 199.8, so as of now i am up 2 pounds. I thought for sure that the weekend stuff would have been gone by now. Maybe it isn't weekend water. Blah.

Needless to say, I am frustrated again today. BF still hasn't heard anything about that job, money is still tight, weight is not good, motivation is low. BUT...it's a long weekend coming up, and I am not going to worry about any of this stuff the whole time. I am taking the weekend off from life:) Just going to enjoy myself. So that's my plan!

I'll post on Tuesday! Enjoy the weekend!

Hello! The grilled asparagus sounds good. Will have to try it. I like to grill or broil parsnips. I know some people dont like them but adding cooking spray and seasonings they taste amazing. Hope your bf gets the job closer to you. I will say a prayer he does. Sometimes with the scale it doesnt move and it does get upsetting and frustrating but i read that you cannot go by the scale all the time as from time to time we retain water or sodium intake may have been high, menstral cycle, even building muscle. I too am like you when i am trying i want to see results and when i dont i get upset, just keep going, your doing fantastic.

Thanks AngelEyes. I am frustrated, but I know that this will work. It's just going to take a daily reminder!

The weekend was fantastic! Relaxing, but somewhat busy too! Got 6.6 miles of walking in. I didn't worry about food or drink. But I don't think I went overboard. Friday had some mac and cheese and a chopped up hotdog. Saturday we went to a birthday party, so I had some cheese, chips, dip, a burger, a little of most things. All together, I had about 2 plates of food (all day). So it wasn't the best of foods, but I didn't eat too much. I was full though! Sunday was light on food too. BF and I just don't do a lot of eating. Not a bad thing. We had soup and a sandwich for lunch, and made lasagna for dinner. Then we walked to get ice cream, about 2 miles round trip. Yesterday we went to his parents house, and had lunch with them. I had a little of everything again, but there was still room on the plate even when it was full. I was full, and we even had cheesecake. Dinner was leftover lasagna, I only had a little piece, bf was hungry, I wasn't too much. Had some tomato soup later on, and that filled me up nicely. So it wasn't bad. But not great. I almost feel like I didn't eat enough, but I never felt hungry, and when I did, it was usually meal time. The walking helped. A problem was that the BF doesn't drink diet pop, so when I didn't want water, I had a regular pop. I had 3 total, so it's not terrible. But I want to stay away from that. You can only drink so much tap water though! I will buy some diet to have at his place. Some bottled water, too! :)

The next round of boot camp starts today. I am ready to get going, as my goals have been changed. I am keeping my old goals with a minor tweak. Walk minimum of 1 mile each day, pop is the same as before, and vitamins is increased to 6/7 days. I added 3 times a week of my abs video, and 1 time a week of my thighs video (for the first 2 weeks, 2 times a week after that). So that bit of exercise will help. Thighs hurt the first few times, but it is great. And this will help me get into a more regular routine. Gonna start them tonight after work.

I am scared to weigh in tomorrow morning. Blah! I weighed this morning (it was 2 hours later than normal, and I was partially dressed. It was at almost 203! ACK! That WILL change!

Here's to a new week. I am so glad it's a short one!

New Goal:)

I want to be at 195 by June 25, the end of the new round of boot camp. That's my first 10% gone. And it's 5+ pounds, closer to 8 pounds to go. And 4 weeks. I can do this. No more creeping up. No more! I will take care of myself.

I am going to switch up breakfast again, cause the oatmeal, while tasty, hasn't been filling me up like it should, and probably hasn't been the best idea. And I have been gaining again since I bought it. I ate the last of it today. So with that out of the equation, I will go back to buying milk and having a bowl of special k red berries for breakfast. That seemed to fare well. I will keep going with my salad at dinner. I enjoyed that last night. I am going to use my salsa/sour cream dressing, but not as much as I was using. I will make up a container of it, and spread it throughout the week.

I will make a meal plan, that helped last week with dinners. I followed it all but one night, and only changed it because I had a small steak in the fridge that I needed to use before I left for the weekend.

Tuesday night (tonight)
pizza
salad

Wednesday:
petite steak, grilled
grilled asparagus
black beans (trying a new recipe)
salad

Thursday:
pork chop, grilled
steamed cauliflower
salad

Friday:
pork tenderloin
mashed potatoes (just a little, mostly for BF)
veggie for me (carrots?)

Saturday night BF is taking me out cause we haven't had a "date night" in a long time. So we are going to see Pirates of the Caribbean, and go out to eat. I just have to pick the place...Hmmmm. And Olive Garden it is!

Ok. that's all for now. Maybe more later. I am in a planning mood!

Last post for today, I swear!

I want to post food again. So here goes for today so far.

BF: 2 packets instant peaches and cream less sugar oatmeal, made with water
Lunch: sandwich (turkey, bread, ketchup, 1 slice cheese), asparagus, yogurt
snack: string cheese

Not too bad. About 700 calories so far, and I am excited for dinner.
I am out...until tomorrow!

Hello! How is the less sugar oatmeal? I was looking at it in the store but afraid it would taste bad. Your menu and exercise looks good. I want to be under 200 by the end of june. I havent seen under 200 in 5 yrs and cant wait. Your doing so well.

AngelEyes, the less sugar oatmeal is still pretty good! I had both the Brown Sugar and peaches and cream and strawberries and cream. All are pretty good. I looked at the labels at the store last night, you only save 40 calories by getting the less sugar. I didn't look at the other numbers. It's a good way to eliminate a few extra calories, I guess.

So Tuesday is done. I went and tweaked my meal plan since I did some shopping, and didn't look at my list before I froze stuff and thawed others. So that will be updated. I also had pizza last night. I really wanted it, so I had a nice salad before as well as a bottle of water. I figured that before dinner, I had about 700 calories, and the pizza was another 700 plus some for the eggs and dressing on the salad. So I was around 1600 calories for the day. So I didn't feel guilty about the pizza at all.

The scale was back down to 202.2 this morning. So it's coming back down. I just need to keep it moving down! Today was my first BL weigh in, and I already posted a 2.4 pound gain. Blah! So it's gonna be mostly good from here on out. I know there will be rough patches, and TOM will be here this weekend/beginning of next week. So 7.2 pounds to go in 4 weeks.

I did my abs video last night. It's such a good video. I feel it instantly. I am not expecting a flat tummy by summer, but even a strong set of abs will help my back, and the extra muscle will help overall. So it's a win-win situation. So I will keep up with it. I have to since it's part of a goal for boot camp! If I don't do it, I get into trouble! :)

So things are changing. It's going to be a good June:)

It's Thursday already! I love short weeks! 4 days of work is much better than 5! Especially when you get paid for 5! haha. Love it.

So last night was good. I changed my dinner plans again. Well, not really changed, but I got a couple meals mixed up. I had asparagus and cauliflower instead of making the beans. So beans are for tonight. I already have the stuff on the counter, no way for me to forget tonight!
After dinner, I visited my mom, her birthday was tuesday. She had my favorite bread, so I had a small piece. Then when I got home I had some cheesecake and pineapple. I thought for sure I would be up again this morning, but I was down a pound, 201.2 again. So that was fantastic.

I did my abs video again last night. 2 nights in a row. My goal is only 3 nights a week, I am just going to keep going with it. It won't be a weekend thing, but that still leaves 5 days during the week. Tonight I will do my thighs video, fill my once a week quota. It feels good to even do just that little bit.

Plan for today:
go home
thighs video
make dinner (pork chop, salad, black beans)
laundry
clean room (looks like my stuff exploded all over)
clean rest of house where needed.
Sleep!

That's all for now!
Happy Thursday!

Today's food so far:

BF: Life Cereal (YUM!), skim milk
S1: Special K Honey Nut bar
S2: String Cheese
Lunch: leftover pizza, pears, diet cherry coke

I figure I am at about 1100 calories for the day (the 2 pieces of pizza is 700 calories ack!), so dinner will add (pork 300 cal, black beans 200 cal, salad 100 cal) about 600 calories or so. So I am good at around 1700 calories. Not too bad. I will do a lot of burning tonight, my house is a MESS! Well, not so much the house, but my room. I still am packed from last weekend, my laundry from last week is still in the basket in the middle of my room, the clothes I have worn this week are scattered around the floor...it's ugly. I rarely let it get that bad. So up and down the stairs for laundry, and running all around cleaning. I will work up a good sweat! I also plan on doing my thigh video when I get home. It only takes about 12 minutes. Not bad at all.

Alright. Time to get back to work. Just another hour to go!

Hey Melissa,

Oh, my goodness it has been a while since I stopped by! I am glad to see you are doing so well!

Your menu looks great for today! And you will definitely burn a lot doing laundry and walking those stairs... it's amazing how activities like that add up! My wash room is right by my bedroom...so I don't get much of a workout when doing laundry!

Thanks for always stopping by and cheering me on in my journal...even though I have been (regretfully) neglectful to yours!

PS- I noticed Rebekah hasn't been around lately?!...

Have a great Thursday! You are almost out of work! :D

-kristen

Hapy Tuesday!

Things have been going well. I had a great weekend, very relaxing. BF and I had a date night, it's been a few months since we've gotten dressed up (not very dressy, but not jeans and a t-shirt:)) and went out. So that was nice.

Weight was up from the weekend, but only half a pound. And it was gone this morning, so that is good. Just gotta keep it moving. Lose more during the week than I gain on the weekend. Or just stop gaining every weekend. It's a tough thing.

I don't have food planned out yet. I think tonight I will make some ravioli (no sauce), veggies (steamed cauli? salad? grilled asparagus? green beans?). Maybe some cottage cheese, too. and a piece of garlic bread. I am ready for dinner!

I am going to keep on with doing my abs workouts, too. I always feel good when I do them. I like feeling it working even the next day. I have to learn consistancy. I have a hard time getting into routines. But I will get there. I might do thighs again tonight, get it done for the week (for boot camp), and then I can do it again later in the week if I decide to. I have some time to kill this weekend, as the BF starts his second job tomorrow. He's the PA announcer for a baseball team, and has games both Fri and Saturday. Then he has a golf outing on Sunday. So I will have plenty of time to read, exercise, go for a walk, do whatever.

Ok. Time to finish up here at work, then go get things started at home.

"see" you tomorrow!

Another week gone. Wow. I can't believe it's the middle of June already! Time sure is flying!

Well, I did really well last week, lost a few pounds, stayed on track for the most part. Then the weekend came, and it wasn't so good. I am up almost 4 pounds from the end of last week. So time to get moving again. Ugh.

I had to take a penalty for Boot Camp, and I chose to plan and stick to meals for 3 days. So here it is:

Today:
BF: bowl cereal (1/2 cinnamon life, 1/2 cracklin oat bran), skim milk
Snack: Special K bar
Lunch: sandwich (whatever meat I have in fridge), peaches, green beans
dinner: make cheesy veggie soup, grill 1 petite steak, grilled asparagus
dessert: (if I want anything) pineapple

Wednesday:
BF: cereal (same as Tuesday)
Snack: Granola bar
lunch: hot dog, pears, leftover cheesy veggie soup
dinner: homemade mac & cheese with broccoli, pork chop, small salad
dessert: fruit

Thursday:
BF: cereal
Snack: special K bar
Lunch: sandwich, peaches, green beans
dinner: orange roughy, baked in pouch, small salad, baked potato with sour cream and cheese
dessert: fruit

I need to get my workouts done. I missed them over the weekend (hence the penalty for boot camp). I also have to start thighs twice a week per my goals in boot camp. So workouts this week will be:
Tuesday: abs and thighs
Thursday: abs and thighs
Friday: abs
I will be gone all weekend, so I won't get a chance to use my videos at all. So gotta get it all done before then.

Things are still good around here. Had a great weekend with the BF. He really wants to find a job soon. He is miserable back home. His job is super stressful, the people aren't at all appreciative of what he does, they only complain. They have even been writing letters to the newspaper complaining about decisions he made (which by the way were the most logical choices he could make, best for everyone). Plus, he comes home to an empty house every night, so it's really tough on him. Which gets to be stressful for me too. I just want him to be happy at work and home, not just on weekends when we are together.

We are going to visit some friends on the west side this weekend. Should be fun, but I am going to have to fight to be good. We are having cake and making ice cream sundaes for a birthday. Plus, everyone wants to go out to the bars. So I will just have to make good choices. Still have fun, but limit the cake and ice cream and toppings. The bar isn't a problem for me. Drinking just isn't what it used to be. I guess I got my drinking-party style out of my system when I was at school. But we will have a good time.

That's about all. Today is dragging by. The past 3 hours have seemed like an entire day. So I am going to find some way to keep busy, my mind of the clock!

Happy Tuesday!

I changed my ticker to account for the weekend weight. That will be moving soon! Hopefully at least a pound will be gone by tomorrow!

I am so glad it's Wednesday.
The scale is down 2 pounds since yesterday. I still need to get rid of 2 more pounds by Friday to post a small loss in the challenges. But I am happy with the water weight loss this time. I need to be more consistant on weekends, so I don't have to spend my week undoing that damage.

The BF is coming out to visit tonight. I really like when he makes the trip to see me. It's nice to just have a normal night, like most couples. Make dinner, eat, watch a bit of tv, maybe play a card game, then read in bed and go to sleep. Get up and then we go our seperate ways for work. I can't wait to have that on a regular basis!

I suppose that's all for now.

GM Melsa first let me say you sound like a sweet person. I know what you mean aboit feeling hurt not long ago I got a comment that was totally uncalled for. I know why I gain stress and in MY Journal someone posted a very hurtful comment but you know what to heck wth that I am gonna lose this weight things like that just tend to make me work harder. I am not gonna get down on that comment life is full of stress enough . But glad to report my stress is getting better but that is the only comment that was unkind everyone else is so nice. BUt to be honest I started not to come back but to heck with that this is for me and nobody like that is gonna get me down. You have a great day.Audrey

It's Thursday! One more day and then it's the weekend! Yippee!

The scale was down again this morning. Another pound gone. Just one more pound and I will be back to 200. We'll see if I can do it. I have lost 3 pounds this week, but it was water weight from the weekend. I am still glad to have it gone though. And I know I am going to have more catching up after this coming weekend. Hopefully we will be pretty active and a lot of those calories will be burned off. My best friend that we are going to visit is the type of person that can't sit still (and is also almost 6' tall, and weighs about 125). Every minute will be accounted for. It sounds like we are going to a "Bizarre Bizaarre" it's supposed to be like a funky art fair with a farmers market and live music and such. Then it sounds like we are going to Lake Michigan for a while, then back for dinner and dessert, and then probably out to a bar or two, so that could be a good amount of dancing. I hope so!

BF and I had a nice relaxing night. We both needed it. So it was great! Now to just get him a job out this way! He really is willing to try about anything. He likes what he does, but isn't sure if he wants to do it for the rest of his life. So we'll see what happens.

Back to work I must go. Can someone hit the fast forward button to about 5? Today is dragging along!

:)

I must have been better this weekend than I thought:) And that makes me happy. I am up a pound from Friday, but I think that's great considering. It really wasn't that bad. The foods I ate weren't the greatest choices, but I didn't eat a ton of anything. So I guess it was alright overall. Plus we did a decent amount of walking around Grand Rapids.

Tomorrow I am having my parents over for dinner, since I was gone on Father's Day. It was the BF's dad's birthday (and of course dad's day), plus it was his great gma's 102nd b-day. So we chilled with his family. So I am cooking dinner tomorrow. Pork tenderloin, grilled asparagus, mashed potatoes, and salad. Should be yummy.

This coming weekend the BF and I are going to be at my house. So that means we will cook more, and that also means better food. Fresher, not so heavy, much lighter in calories. I like being able to control that. Use low fat/low cal when I can. I love to cook. Last night I made tortellini soup and corn muffins. Tasty. And quick and easy. Dinner was completely done in about 25 minutes (including waiting for the oven to heat up). No ideas for dinner tonight, I need to go shopping. I have lots of frozen stuff, but I need fresh veggies.

That's about all. I took last night and just vegged after dinner was done cooking. I am still packed from the weekend, so that should be tackled tonight, as well as finally getting those clothes put away from the last 2 weeks' laundry!

TIme to get back to working. No more slacking.

Have a great day!

Hello! Glad to see your doing well. I feel bad you received a bad comment. Dont let it get u down. About 5 yrs ago i had a girl on here who criticized me all the time in my own journal and i got to the point where i allowed her to sabatage me so i quit and here i am now heavier and still trying. Dont let anyone set u back or put u down because you are worth it.

Hey Melissa!

I haven't been in for a while....and you seem to be doing great! What a dinner you had the other night. I wish I were more of a cook myself...the tortellini soup sounds fantastic!

Well, have a great Wednesday lady! :D

Ugh. Today is one of those kick myself in the tush kinds of days. I had a bad eating weekend. Too many desserts. But it didn't show up to much on Tuesday morning. Then I just went crazy. Big dinners until I was almost sick-full, then more desserts. Even when I opted for fresh fruit for dessert, I stuffed myself. And the weight is back up. Granted, it's not a huge gain, but a couple pounds at a time adds up. I don't want to get any higher than this ever again. I am sick of it! I want to be confident about how I look without wearing those super duper suck me in kind of underware. They are fantastic, but I don't want to rely on them. I wore one yesterday and looked great. Curvy, but not bulgy. Then I come in today without one, and while I look cute still, I am constantly fidgeting with my shirt, trying to make my stomach look smaller. I still dread being asked when I am due, and I am nowhere near pregnant. I need to do this.

This is the part where I usually pump myself up, make grand plans to get back on track. But I don't know if I can do that today. I am not giving up in any way, but I think that my grand plan this time around is going to be not to make a grand plan. Just to eat smaller portions, make wiser choices, and move more. That's all it should take anyways, right? Less calories in means less fat on the tush. More calories burned means more fat melting away.

I am tired of being the big girl in the group. My bf says he loves me just as I am, he doesn't want me to lose the weight, but he is still supporting me because it's what I want. But last night he told me about a chance we had to go be chaperones for a trip to a water park. he loves water, but I don't want to go because I can't stand to think of me walking around all day in a bathing suit. Not like this.

On that note, I need to get my mind focused. I will not deprive myself, but I must stop when I have had enough. I will not mindlessly snack. I will not sit like a bum when I could get up and do something (well, most of the time! I need chill time too). I will not order the most calorie laden thing on the menu and think I will counter that by having a healthy lunch tomorrow. Each meal will be independant of the other. Good choices NOW, not later.

And there I go making grand plans again! :) I can't help it.

Now I must return to work, get through today, then the weekend begins. I will be gone this weekend, work Monday and Tuesday, then I head out of town again tuesday night until monday morning, just in time for work. So I won't be around much in the next week and a half.

Have a great 4th, to all the State side folks!
And a great weekend to the rest!

Well, I failed this weekend. I really wanted to do well, but I flat out didn't.
Got to BF place Friday and walked to downtown, had pizza and lemonade for dinner (even though I did have him eat almost half of my personal size pizza), then ice cream. Saturday had taco bell for lunch, and dinner at the ballpark, chicken tenders, fries, and sierra mist. Then Sunday we had a sandwich and chips for lunch, then a cookie, then pizza for dinner (we tried for subway, but NOTHING was open downtown Detroit before the Tigers game besides Hockeytown). During the game had a sierra mist, hot cocoa, and a pretzel with cheese. Talk about NOTHING but junk! Sigh.

We went grocery shopping on Saturday, so I do have some fruits and veggies for when I go back tomorrow night. We have stuff to make a lasagna, burgers, nachos. Not great food, but we just eat so much less when I am with him. It's amazing. So I either have him dish up for both of us or let him serve himself first, then I try to get what he does. I am just not used to getting a little at a time. It was always load up before it's all gone. I need to get used to his way of eating. That's part of the reason he's so thin! But hopefully I can keep portions in check and not snack (besides maybe a LITTLE fruit) when he's at games. And get lots of walking in. He lives in a great little town, and he's only 3 blocks from the heart of downtown, so I need to go for a walk, take my camera and just explore.

Here's to good habits and choices the rest of the week!

Good luck, Melissa! You can do it.... and I think you are wise not to deprive yourself too much. I know for me that can put me on a binge quicker than anything. I am losing slowly, but I do eat ice cream sometimes and things like that. I just look for lower sugar ice creams and sometimes lower fat ice creams, but I sometimes eat the regular stuff, too.

I think you're right in that it's just a matter of calories in and calories out, so if you want to eat more on the weekends, maybe working out or starting a walking program would help in that department. I know for me, I got a good pedometer and am keeping track of steps and miles and it really helps me to want to be more active. I had a bad weekend with food, too, but didn't gain I'm sure because of all the steps I had in.... it really helps!

Take care and keep working at it.... I don't think your plans are "grand". They are just what you want them to be and it's all achievable. Have a good 4th of July!!

HI just dropping by to tell ya you didn't fail! Today is a new day. You can reach your goals before the BIG QUESTION is popped. I renewed my wedding vows and it was great motivation I dropped to 136. I was 118 when we married! LOL at least I was thinner. I am struggling now to but I know we can over come. Hubby wants us to renew our vows again in two years on our 20th. wedding anniversary. So I like you really want to get with it! Hope you have a blessed week. Hang in there.

Hey missy! I hope everything is going well for you - I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you during your "down" times. It happens to me on occasion, but it stinks - it feels like nothing will ever work. I know that you are holding steady at your weight right now - perhaps there is something small that can be twerked to fall away from that? More water? 10 more minutes added to your walk? Often times, little things make big differences.

Either way, I'm here for you, rooting you on :) You can so do this!

:hug:

Thanks everyone!

I am back from my week with the BF. Well, it was a week and a half, but I did have to come home and work 2 days. It was fantastic to be with him so long. We have never been together for more than 4 days in a row. So it was nice to have things be somewhat "normal" like most couples have. The bummer was that his great grandma that just turned 102 on Father's day, passed away the morning of the 4th. So most of our time was spent with family dealing with that. She was a great woman, and I was so glad to have met her, if only a few times. So that was a rough end to our week, since the funeral was yesterday. But we kept busy with other things during the week, tried to keep things normal. All in all it worked out really well, I was glad to be able to be with him during that time.

Diet wasn't a priority at all. I didn't eat terribly, but I didn't eat well. I will find out in the morning how I really did. The best thing with him is that we don't snack, and meals aren't huge. And we did a lot of walking, so hopefully it will take a chunk out of that deal. Food was interesting, cause he had baseball games (he's the PA announcer for a local team), so meals were at odd times. We would eat lunch around 12 or 1, then he wouldn't be ready for dinner before we left for his game. So he would eat at the ballpark. I had a hotdog one night, chicken strips and fries a couple nights, ice cream another, picked off his food one night, and even took my own food another night. Hopefully walking up and down the stairs (I counted 49 stairs up to the pressbox) will help that too. I was up and down those stairs at least 2 times most nights. Side note: that would have totally winded me a year ago. But I was fine once I reached the top. Yay!

Now I am back. I need to really get working again. I am ready.
And I am ready to be back here at Diet Talk! It's been a week already! I missed this!

I decided to set another goal.

If I can get myself motivated and moving and eating right, and can lose 5 pounds a month, I can be at goal by about May of 2008. Less than a year. So that's my goal.

Once I weigh in tomorrow, I can have a better idea of when I could be at goal, but it should be 10-11 months from now. Hopefully only 10!

That would give me almost 6 months to lose 30 pounds by Christmas, which will be 2 years for the BF and me. Craziness! I would LOVE to be 170 by then. So we will see how things go.

Welcome back!!!!

I"m sure you can reach your goal by Christmas. Just stick with it.

Hi Melissa and welcome back! Your goal for Christmas sounds very reasonable.... and I've found it really helpful to set goals. It gives you something to reach for so you know when you maybe need to kick it into gear to get there. Just be careful not to beat yourself up if you don't make it.... I used to have a hard time with that.

I'm sorry to hear about your BF's loss, but she must have lived a wonderful long life being 102! That's awesome! I was blessed enough to have my great grandmother in my life until right before my 2nd daughters birth. It was so neat to talk with her about how she was born into no electricity and no cars, etc... things were so different back then.

I'm glad you had a good time, though... I'll bet you did fine on your food.... portions and snacks are a big part of weight gain and it sounds like you did great on both. Take care and welcome back!

Great work on setting new goal!
You can and will reach it and I bet even exceed it!!!

Thanks for stopping by! I love seeing that I have had visitors! :)

I braved the scale this morning. on the 29th (The last time I weighed in) I was 202.2 blah! So after a week and a half of crappy eating, I am actually down 0.8 pounds! I guess all that walking and stairs and not snacking really helped. So that's fantastic! Now to keep going. Under 200 by next Friday is my mini goal:)

Tonight I am going to see the new Harry Potter movie with the BF. I am super excited. I have been waiting for this one for a long time. Yay!

Other than that, I am just ready for the weekend. I really need to go grocery shopping, as I have next to nothing here at work and at home. I really want to find a good, inexpensive grill pan so I can grill meals. We don't have a bbq at the house, so that would be ideal. And my little foreman grill doesn't work too well when I am cooking for more than just myself! :)

But...I must return to work. 2 more hours left for today. It's BEAUTIFUL out today! Finally! I can step outside without sweating and without gasping for breath! Gotta love that!

Have a great evening! Hopefully there will be more action around here tonight and tomorrow! It's too quiet. Maybe everyone is outside enjoying this!

Good morning!
Harry Potter was a little disappointing. As a movie in itself, it was good. But comparing it to the book, it was totally different. And that bums me out. But it was still fun.

The scale is still the same as yesterday, 201.6, which I suppose is only 0.6 less than 2 weeks ago. But that's still good. It's much better than a gain. I am just frustrated with the over 200 battle. But I will bust through it. Today is going to be a good day, even though I am so extremely tired and do not feel well. I have a training meeting this morning. i get to drive 45 minutes, attend an hour long session, then drive another 45 minutes back. But hey. That's 3 hours of my day that I don't have to sit here behind the desk. I'll take it.

Hoping for a good morning tomorrow, both health wise and weight wise. Also hoping for TOM, as it's late. It was expected, as I forgot BC for a week, so that messes things up for a while. But I hate waiting. I know it's just waiting. Nothing else. But it still stresses me out a bit. Blah. I am hoping that today's not-feeling-so-good blahs is part of TOM coming along.

Off to get a little work done, make myself eat a little breakfast to get me going. I really just want to go home and crawl back into bed.

Make a great Thursday! It's almost the weekend again!

Hey girlfriend! I've never read or seen anything Harry Potter - yeah, I know, call me crazy. But nonetheless, I went to the theater and saw Transformers and the place was packed with little Harry Potter fans - it was so funny :laugh: Oh and btw, Transformers, best movie I've seen in a long time! (But shh, Danny doesn't know I went to see it - so I'm going to see it AGAIN with him when he gets into town on Monday night) HAHAHA.. I was tired of waiting!

Keep it up Melissa - I think it's awesome you still managed to loose something without keeping in major check up with your diet & exercise. You go girl! How are you and the BF?

OMG! Bekah! Nothing Harry Potter? You are missing out! :)
I do want to see Transformers, I have not heard a bad thing about it, besides it being a big commercial for GM cars, haha.

The BF and I are great. I counted yesterday, and figured out that he and I will have seen each other 18 days in a row when Monday rolls around. That's crazy! But great. He's doing some major networking, seeing if he can get a job somewhere out here. Once he does, I really doubt it will be long before a very important question is asked. :) So yea, things are great!

So the scale was not so great this morning! 2 pounds gained overnight. Blah. I don't believe it. I am using yesterday's weight for BL weigh in. Food wasn't the best last night, but there's no way I gained 2 pounds. I made burgers last night on the grill, but I stuffed them full of onions and a little cheese, and some worchestershire sauce. FANTASTIC! Wow. I am going to try that combo soon again using chicken or turkey. Mmmmmm. Maybe tonight! Then I made pasta salad, but instead of using mayo, I used sour cream, and instead of the dried up bits of what used to be veggies, I added chopped grape tomatoes and onion and some garlic powder, as well as some canned chicken. It was tasty! For dessert I had fruit, chopped up a peach, 2 plums, strawberries, a banana, and added raspberries and blackberries. Yum! It made a lot, so I had some for breakfast with yogurt, and can have more later. I love summer for the fruit. So, dinner wasn't so terrible, but it wasn't the greatest either. But it tasted Wonderful!

Well, I have a project that my boss wants done by the end of the day, and told me about a couple big things I have to add on (he only told me at the end of the day yesterday!). So back to work I must go so I am not here all night!

Have a great Friday!

Hey Melissa,

The food sounds just delicious. I bought a bunch of fruit today too. Seemed like we have had too much junk food in the house lately so should be a nice healthy weekend, lol.

Keep up the good work.

Hello all!
Well, I am still here, but I am not happy. I was not happy with the scale this morning. Almost 205! Ugh! But I deserved it after the weekend. Saturday lunch was good, but then we went to a baseball game and I had a hot dog and fries and a sierra mist, then we got nachos, which I ate half of. Then I had a chocolate muffin later. Had another muffin for breakfast, then lunch was a calzone and breadsticks. Dinner was a plate of cut up fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, bananas), then BF and I had 2 smores each for dessert. Walking was a minimum, and I didn't drink near enough water. Shame on me. But now it's another new day.

This week my personal goal is to exercise. Here's my plan:
Tonight (Monday): Arms, abs, walk
Tuesday: Arms
Wednesday: Arms, Abs, walk
Thursday: Arms, abs
Friday: Walk (make BF walk somewhere, but NOT stop to get ice cream!)

Also, I will be making sure to eat more fresh fruits and veggies. I love summer with all the fresh produce. I have been doing better than normal lately, but I need to do more. Of the 4 dinners I will prepare this week, 2 will be a salad with some lean protein, one can be pasta and veggies, and the other can be grilled meat and veggies. I will also prepare extra food to bring with me for lunch.
Here's a tentative menu:

Tonight:
Dinner: Salad with grilled chicken, cottage cheese, grilled asparagus

Tomorrow:
BF: fresh fruit, yogurt
Lunch: grilled chicken breast, green beans, string cheese
Snack: special k bar
Dinner: spaghetti, using my no-fat/no-calorie miracle noodles

Wednesday:
BF: fruit, yogurt
Lunch: ham sandwich, baked potato with sour cream
Dinner: salad with grilled chicken breast, veggie, little pasta salad(?)

Thursday:
BF: fruit, yogurt
Lunch: ff hot dogs, green beans with parmesan, pears
Dinner: pork chops, grilled asparagus, cottage cheese

Ok. Now I know what to buy for the week, too:) Double useful.

And now that my list is made, and my plan is all worked out, it's time to seriously get back to work. Deadlines are looming!

Hi Melissa.... sounds as if you had a weekend like I did. lol Although, I think you did better than I did.... I'll have a gain for sure this week, but that's life, right? The trick is to regroup and plan to do better. And you're doing that. Your menu's look great (except for the cottage cheese... blech..lol not my favorite thing...) I think you're doing really good and it's great that you are able to realize where you might have done better and then plan ahead so you can make sure you have a good week!

You've inspired me to get off my bum and make a plan for meals this week! Thanks and have a great week! I'll be right there behind you..... take care!

Good morning! Well, happy early afternoon, I suppose!

Today is a weird day. Gloomy and drizzly one moment, sunny the next. I just want it to rain all day long. I miss my rainy days!

I decided to wear my pedometer today. It's been at least a month since I last used it. But I need to make sure I am walking, moving. My goal for today is 6000 steps. If it isn't raining tonight, I am going to walk, either around the complex here at work, or around the sub at home, or use a walking video if neither of those pan out. I hate using the tapes at home though, cause the floors are very creaky, and my roommate is home all the time now that her daycare is open. And I hate audiences, and even all the floor creaking/squeaking drives me nuts. Maybe I need a portable dvd player, then I could go down in the basement. Ugh. But I will walk tonight, and I will see 6000 steps before I go to bed.

I am also keeping up with water. Well, keeping up is an understatement! I drank 8 bottles of water yesterday, 4 liters!

Gotta get back to work, will come back and edit this (finish typing) in a bit!

Ah, you'll do fine this week. Your weekend was just laden with salt, so the fluids will go with your healthy food choices and lots of water and you will be back down right shortly!!!

Good for you, Melissa! 6,000 steps is about 3 miles, so be kind to yourself. lol I set my goal at 3,000 per day, but then again, I am a lot older and bigger than you are! lol I know what you mean about not wanting an audience.... my mom lives with us and I even feel like that about her watching. But there's no where else to do videos except upstairs and I know she'll come and watch. yuk.... oh well... if it's important enough for us to do them, we'll do them, right? RIGHT!

Good going on the water yesterday, too! I need to work on mine again, too..... thanks for the motivation! I'll go get some more right now!

Take care and good luck with your steps. Have a good night!

Crazy- my weekend was definitly full of salt! Oh man! So I am working on that. I am down about 1.5 pounds since Monday morning. Gotta keep chugging along (and chugging that water!).

DJ- I am thinking that 6000 steps won't happen tonight. I know I can do it, no problem. I could walk all day long. But we'll see what happens. I like your 3000 steps right now ( considering I only have 775 steps after wearing the pedometer for 8.5 hours!). I will not settle for less than 4000 steps. That's final:)
Water is going well, too. Only 1 liter so far, but I am still going. I will finish at least one more bottle (.5 liter) before I leave work, and I always drink at least another liter at home in the evening. When I make dinner, I usually grab 2 waterbottles and keep them near me when I am cooking. It's better to drink than nibble! :)

I have to tweak my menu a bit. Dinner last night wasn't my noodles, I made these chicken and bacon roll up things. It's a chicken breast (thin sliced), with chive cream cheese in the middle (I used light cream cheese), then you roll the chicken around the cheese, and wrap it in slices of bacon (I used turkey bacon). Then it gets baked until the chicken is cooked through. It's quite tasty, as long as you get cheese in the bite, otherwise it's just okay. But here's the rest of my week:

Wednesday:
BF: english muffin, toasted. 1/2 cup egg beaters, slice cheese (egg mcmuffin anyone?), 60 cal yogurt
Lunch: ham sandwich, light pringles, green beans with parmesan
Dinner: salad with grilled chicken breast, steamed carrots and pea pods, cottage cheese
Dessert: no sugar added fudgesicle

Thursday:
BF: fruit, yogurt
Snack (if needed): special k bar or granola bar
Lunch: ff hot dogs (2), pears
Dinner: pork chops, grilled asparagus, cottage cheese

There we go. I might add something to lunch tomorrow, but I don't know what I have to be able to add.

My biggest hurdle this weekend will be the Tiger's game we are going to on Sunday. Its' a bus trip that the BF planned (he works for the recreation department in his town, and they all LOVE bus trips to games since all the stadiums are at least an hour away and it saves a lot of hassle). I love baseball games, but ballpark food is a big temptation for me. And there are NO healthy alternatives. So I will pack a lunch for the BF and I to take on the bus, as well as healthy snacks for afterward. While we are there, I will do my best to only make one trip to the stand, and make the best possible choices.

Ok. I am ready for the next hour and 15 minutes to go by. It's looking beautiful out right now, which means prime walking weather. I really think that I will do some walking here, then go home and make dinner, then go for a walk around the sub. I honestly can't wait. I just need this motivation to stick around through tonight!

Have a fantastic rest of the day!

Hope you had a good night and got in as many steps as you needed to. Just don't be hard on yourself when you don't get in what you set out to do. It averages itself out over the week.... one day might only be 1,500 or so and then another might be 6,000 or so.... it averages out to a good amount of steps and mileage, so go with the flow a little bit, too.

It's good to have a goal so you have something to work towards, but it's not good if you beat yourself up for not meeting them..... somewhere in the middle is great!

Take care and sleep well!

Thanks for the encouragement DJ!
I got 3724 steps, 1.7 miles yesterday. Not too bad. I am not upset about it at all. I was going to walk after work, but it was horribly humid, so I walked around a couple of stores. That's where most of my steps came from. I should just go to the mall next time. Walk completely around the upper level, then walk the lower level. See what that distance is. After a bit of research, the perimeter of the mall is just over a mile. So if I do both levels, I can get a really great walk in. Now to have walking shoes in my car for those days:)

Weight is down again today. I was at 204.8 on Monday morning. This morning I am back to 202.2, still almost 4 pounds heavier than my lowest weight this time around, but still over 14 pounds gone total. I would like to have at least 20 pounds gone total by my 1 year of returning to Diet Talk, which is in October.

Next weekend (the 28th), we are going to a friend's cottage for the weekend. I had hoped to be a decent amount smaller, but I am not. But I WILL still be in the water this year. I am not sitting in the boat roasting in the sun. It will be a great weekend, and I am not going to compare myself to the other girls (who could ALL stand to eat a few more meals, honestly). I am really looking forward to it!

Food last night was good, I think:) Maybe a bit big on portions. I had a salad (dinner plate size), with a bit of cheese, grape tomatoes, onion, 2 small grilled chicken breasts, and some honey mustard dressing. I also had grilled asparagus and some cottage cheese. Later on I had a no sugar added fudgesicle. Yum!

Well, the week is almost over, and I am so ready for it to be!
For now, I must get back to some real work. I'll be back to check journals!

Hi Melissa! I've been gone for a while, just wanted to check in on my buds around here! Good to see you're still fighting the good fight. Just wanted to let you know I've been in here LOL. (My weight hasn't changed in months either.... gack.)

Thanks for stopping by, Nausicaa!

Well, my weight is still the same this morning. I was expecting another drop today, even just a little bit. My roommate is going to Vegas this weekend, so she was out running errands last night. That meant I had the house to workout. So I did. I did a 2 mile WATP video. It was good, I got quite sweaty, and it always feels good. My pedometer didn't pick up half of my steps though, and it only clocked a mile out of the 2 the video is supposed to cover. But it's still great. Dinner was 6 spinach ravioli, and a handful of cheese tortellini with a very little bit of pasta sauce and seasoning. I also had some chopped green and yellow peppers, carrots, and a few grape tomatoes and a dab of spinach dip. Dessert was a bowl of raspberries, blackberries and some grapes. I only drank water, too. About 2.5 liters throughout the day.

It's finally Friday. I just need to make it through the next 8 hours, and then the weekend can begin.

Friday is usually my day to go out for lunch with a coworker, but she's out sick. So I think I will save a few calories and just make a sandwich and stuff around here. Maybe eat quickly and go for a short walk too. We'll see how the day progresses.

That's all for now. Maybe more later!

Hey there Missy! You'd be proud- I watched my first ever Harry Potter movie last night; Sorcerer's Stone, it was really good. I rented 1-3 because I want to watch 4 & then the NEW one with the BF since he likes them too. I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to "types" of movies that I will go and see, but I was very impressed - and I LOVED that I sucked it up and rented them. HP2 tonight! Wahoo!!

Other than that - I love your attitude about the lake/swimsuit deal. I make myself SICK over comparing myself to others - it's just not worth it. You rock!

And WOW on all of those STEPS! :) Keep it up!!!!

Happy Monday to you!

How are you doing, Melissa? I miss seeing your posts. Hope you're just busy and not sick or anything like that!

Have a good week! How's the pedometer going? Hope to see you here soon!

Bekah- Way to jump on the HP wagon! It's great, isn't it? The first movie is so great, everything is new and exciting. The books are even better. How did you like the second movie? It's honestly my least favorite out of all of them, but it's still a good movie. I am about 200 pages short of finishing the new book. I want the book to just keep going, I don't want this to be the end, but I can't wait to find out what happens!

DJ- thanks for stopping by! I am not sick or anything. Just have been busy here at work. Just started a big new project, so that's really taking every spare moment. BLah. But it's keeping me busy and away from the snacks!

Walking is going well, except the last 2 days I haven't had pockets on my work pants, so I haven't worn my pedometer. Between Thursday and Sunday, I clocked 13000 steps (not including the steps it didn't count during my WATP video). So I was pleased with that considering I didn't wear it for half of Saturday, and we didn't do much walking at all saturday and sunday. How are you getting along with your walking goal?


Well, I want the weekend back! It was fun. Got the new HP book, although it didn't get to me until almost 3 in the afternoon! Saw Transformers soon after, and thought it was horrible. One of the worst movies I have seen in a long time. Then we went to a horrible Tigers game. They lost to the Royals. Blah. At least it wasn't the TB/Yankees game, right Bekah? Ouch!

The week is going well so far. I gained a pound over the weekend, but that was expected as food ended up being eaten out more than in. We went out with the BF parents Friday night to a bar (which means only burgers and fries or other fried stuff). Saturday I stayed away from the popcorn at the movie, and dinner was chicken parmesan at the house. Sunday we packed lunch for on the bus, but of course we got something at the ballpark. I ended up with Nachos, although the BF helped me with them. Then after the game, the gang all went out to dinner, and I know that my meal was about 1000 calories by itself. Ugh. I suppose I got in enough walking (walked around downtown both Friday night and saturday to and from the movie theater) to cancel out some of that food. I will be okay with one pound after that.

This coming weekend will be a challenge. We are going to a friends cottage, which means pizza friday night, saturday will be a bbq and random munching, then sunday morning is a buffet brunch at the golf club. I need to pack some good foods to keep me away from the junk. And take lots of water. Last year we took a case of water, but were the only ones to think of it, so it was gone quickly. But we will be active, lots of volleyball, swimming, all that good stuff. So I am just going to enjoy it, but be prepared to avoid the junk.

That's all for now. It's lunchtime! Which means that it's time to read more Harry Potter! What's next for the troubled teen? BTW...Dan Radcliffe turned 18 today or yesterday (kinda weird since HP's birthday is July 31st), and came into something like 41 million dollars. Craziness.

Have a fantastic Tuesday!

Melissa, just a quick note: if you are having problems with your pedometer, and you're putting it in your pocket... they don't work in your pocket, even the expensive ones that say they do. I have three different ones, and none of them work unless they are clipped over my waistband at the midpoint of my leg. I always put mine on my left side but it shouldn't matter.

Good Morning!
I just finished posting on the Red Team's page for the Biggest Loser challenge. I am up over 3 pounds since that started, and it's really frustrating. I want to make this change. I talked to my mom about a week ago, and she was telling me about joining LA Weight Loss, and the success she's had so far (10 pounds in a couple of weeks). Then she was telling me that she's doing this cause she knows that there will be an engagement (mine) within the next year (most likely), and she doesn't want it to happen and then be one of those people who starts dieting then. She wants to get going now and make this happen. Which is awesome, and I am glad that she's doing so well. At the same time, it raises my frustration because I have been trying this since October and as of this morning have lost only 13.5 pounds (I know, there's no ONLY here, I have lost an amazing 13.5 pounds) but I would have liked to have lost closer to 30 or 40 pounds by now. I need to take this frustration and make things happen. I am tired of being fat. I am tired of hiding behind clothes and sweatshirts. I am tired of putting myself in the background because I am not happy with the way I look. I want to feel more confident, I want to be able to wear cute clothes more age appropriate (i want to look 25, not 45 with my clothes). I want to feel sexy in my own skin. I know that a lot of this is mental, and there are some days that I feel great. I have a strut, I feel that I look great in whatever I wear. But most days I just am here, hiding, wishing for a different body.

But wishing isn't going to get me anywhere. I need to make changes. My first step is going to be reading back through my journal from Christmastime. I lost most of my weight between Thanksgiving and New Years. Maybe I will be reminded of things that really helped then. Then I will make a new plan, I will post it here, and each day I will update on how I did. I used to have a treat on Fridays, if I lost weight, then I would allow myself a delicious coffee treat. I might bring that back, but make it Saturday instead of Friday. We will see.
I am off to read. I'll be back soon!

It just started raining, and that is fantastic! I love rainy days. I hope it keeps it up for the rest of the day. ALthough now that I said that, it will stop within the next 5 minutes.

So I looked through my old journals around the holidays. I was working out a few times a week, I was in an aerobics class (which I should look into again), and I was eating better. Salads a couple nights a week, and I was using my protein shakes for breakfast. I still have a lot of the powder. I forget how many calories were in that. I need to compare it to other breakfast options. (Ok. Shake is about 200 calories, my english muffin/egg beaters/cheese is only 230 calories. Shake isn't worth it, I needed a snack soon after!).

I got the phone number for the place that I took the aerobics class through. I really did enjoy that class when I was in it. It was fun to just dance for an hour 2 nights a week, and it met at the school across the street from my house. It couldn't me more convenient. Well, maybe if it was free. So I will call and see when the next session starts. I think that's a good place to start. Pay good money, so I had better get going again. Plus, I am going to keep a pair of walking shoes in my car so I can hit up the mall for a nice 2 mile walk after work.

As for this weekend, I just have to show restraint. I need to pack some good foods, and stay away from the crap that people will be brining. It's that easy.

Alright. That's enough of my morning spent on here. Time to really work, not just look like I am working!

Hey Melissa!

I just wanted to stop in and say hello! I am glad to see you are doing well!!!

I wish I had more time to stop in everyone's journals daily like I used to. And you knwo what else? When I was able to commit that kind of time to diettalk....I was on so much better track! All of the support and influence from y'all really helps!!!!

So, my point was I am going to try to stop in and check on you more! If you don't mind....

Have a great Wednesday! Let me know if start up the aerobics class again...

-kristen

I read your journal all the time, but never posted. I think you are doing a great job maintaining the weight you lost for so long.

I am so impressed when anyone keeps the weigh off. Since I’m a guy I can have a lot more calories in a day, so a slip up will not effect me as much, but women tend to need less calories, and a slip up will effect them even more.

So keeping the weight off is a great accomplishment, and you are still enjoying life, and having the food you want in moderation

Also thanks for all the support you have given me in my journal.

Hi you were exactly where I was mentally yesterday and today I decided to make
a huge change. I made a big post in my journal and I am moving forward.

You can reach your goal it is hard to not overeat and to get up and exercise but
we can do it. We know what to do to be successful. Eat less move more. That's the secret. The hard part is making time to take care of ourselves.

You can do anything you set your mind too. I think you just like me have allowed the
pressures around you to come crashing in. Just chill and take time for you to take care of yourself first and let everything else flow. Your doing great! I wish you well.
Have a blessed week.

Thanks Kristen! I appreciate the encouragement and words of wisdom:)

Big-I am jealous that you are able to still lose weight while eating so many calories! But your workouts sound intense, and I am nowhere near that! It's strange how we all want the same thing, but no two people use the same plans. Wouldn't it be nice if it was all the same? We'd all be healthy. Although you definitly found what works for you!

Suny-It is a hard process, and everyday needs to be a new start for me. I can't cheer about what a good job I did yesterday or I will lose it and feel the need to celebrate, and throw it all out the window:) But we will keep fighting and we WILL get there!


Happy Thursday!
Well, I didn't weigh today, didn't have time.
But now it's the end of the work day, and I am trying to figure out what I will be taking with me for the weekend at the cottage. I don't want to be munching on chips and burgers and brownies and all the other junk people will bring. So I think I will go the burger route one night, and pair it with veggies. Have more veggies and fruit to snack. I need to make this a good weekend. I know we will be doing a bit of drinking, and even though I am not a big drinker, I will be joining in. Have a few drinks over the weekend. Which means that I need to be more careful with everything else. And get some mad exercise in. Lots of swimming is in store for this girl!

So that's the big thing on my mind. Shopping for weekend goodies.
On that note, I need to track down a cooler to borrow. :)

Have a great night! I will be back tomorrow!

Have an awesome weekend at the cottage! You deserve it! :D

Happy Monday!
Well, I survived the weekend. It was a great time, despite the lack of sleep. We didn't get our air mattress full enough the first night (or it has a slow leak somewhere), so sleeping was not good. Same thing the second night, although we slept much better (but still lousy). Spent all weekend outside either sitting around a bonfire, out on the boats, playing volleyball, or chilling around the cottage. Friends came in from all over, Kentucky, Colorado, Texas, so that was fantastic to see them. I didn't drink too much, 5 drinks over the course of the weekend. 2 Friday night, 2 sat afternoon, and 1 sat night. Food was blah. We stopped and got Wendy's on the way (I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, but they only had breaded, and gave me a full sized instead, which I ate 3/4 of), small fry, small frosty and a small diet coke. Then when we got there, pizza arrived, and I had 2 slices and a breadstick. Saturday had eggs, pancakes and hashbrowns for brunch, had a big cheese bagle as a snack, munched on a few doritos and light pringles on the boat, then dinner was a hamburger, peppers, tomatoes, carrots with some veggie dip, munched on pringles at the fire and had a small bagel. Sunday was buffet breakfast, had eggs, 2 links sausage, 1 bacon, and 1 english muffin with butter and peanut butter. Had some peppers and carrots with dip on the boat, then dinner was 1/2 an order of lasagna and breadsticks, and a small salad. So, not good, besides the veggies. I am sure that a good chunk of the weight (about 3 pounds over the weekend) is water weight, I wasn't very good with water, mostly because there were 15 of us, and only one bathroom! So I didn't drink much at all. I really hope to see that gone by midweek. And then NOT have a bad weekend. I will be at the BF house, and we will be cooking. I WILL avoid ballpark food, since I will be going to 1 or 2 games with him while he works.

So here's my new plan for the week. I do much better with a plan, and I will follow it.

Monday:
BF: english muffin, egg beaters, slice ff cheese (230 cal)
snack: granola bar (90 cal)
lunch: leftover lasagna, green beans (500 cal???)
dinner: leftover stuffed shells, salad with veggies (420 for 3 shells+little pasta sauce+salad+dressing ~600 cal?)

Workout: Go for walk around sub.(at least 15 minutes), abs video (7 minutes), arms work (~5 minutes)

The rest of my menu will be posted tomorrow, as I search the cupboards and freezer, and determine my shopping list. Lunches will be sandwhich and veggies, and fruit, or leftover healthy dinners. I think I am going to track calories loosely. Maybe count for the week, and see what my "normal" range is without taking calories into consideration, then next week I can taylor my menu to fall within a certain range. I used to count, and I think I was counting when I lost most of my weight this time around. Maybe I will do the WW points, I still have all my info, the point books and slide counter. We'll see after this week.

I would like to get more organized, planned exercise. I still have to call about the aerobics class. I will do that at lunch today. I will keep on with my water intake, I know that this weekend water is killing me. And the bathroom issue will go away once my body gets used to the elevated amounts. And stays hydrated. I will also get back into the routine of taking my vitamin. Starting now. Done:)

I read Beth's new journal this morning, and it really motivated me. She figured out the reason she was holding back. I don't know my reason, but I want this renewed spirit, the new determination to do this once and for all. I can do this. I will do this. I deserve to do this.
Today is the day (again:)) Tomorrow will be the day. Each day is my day to make a change.

Hey gf - it's hard when you're away to eat right - especially when there are that many people - it's easier to do things like pizzas and buffets! So no worries! As for this new determination - I love it! We should start another challenge going from here until Christmas or something... to really pump us up! We deserve lots of motivation and excitement, don't ya think?!!

Hope you're having a great day at work! And have a good workout tonight!

I am totally down for starting a new challenge. I have a personal challenge to be at 170 by Christmas. That was supposed to be 5 pounds a month for 6 months, but now I have a bit more work to do. So I am going to aim for 180 by Christmas, that's still 5 pounds a month.

What kind of challenge are you thinking? Like we had before, setting goals and getting points for consistancy? Whatever it is, I am in!


Side note:
I have been so frustrated with the scale, I have decided to take measurements again. Track that every month, and maybe I will see results there that the scale ignores. :)

I am down more than a pound today, the scale said 205. So I just gotta keep moving.
Food went as planned yesterday, with the exception being dinner. I didn't have lettuce to have a salad, so I made my tortellini soup instead. It adds a bit more calories, but the big bowl I had was only like 200 calories. Not too bad, and very tasty!
I didn't work out last night. I was still pooped from the weekend. So I chilled for the night, and was in bed at 8 (but I watched 2 hours of Hell's Kitchen since I missed last week's show). It felt great to sleep so long and so well last night. Today will be a workout day. I doubt I will get out to walk, it's supposed to be roasty-toasty outside. Blah. But I will do abs and arms for sure.
I also didn't take too much time to look through the cupboards and fridge. I have some choices, I think I just need to get some fruits and veggies.
Today's food:
BF: english muffin, egg beaters, ff cheese (230 cal)
S: if needed, special k bar (90 cal)
L: tortellini soup, sandwich, fresh fruit (500 cal)
D: grilled chicken, last of the soup (500 cal)
S: fresh fruit (100 cal)

According to fitday, all of the above, including the special k bar is about 1430 calories. The only thing is, I was trying to break apart the soup, and guess how much of each ingredient is in 2 servings that I will eat today. It seems about right.

Now to work. It was really tough to get into office mode yesterday. I will do much better today!
Have a great Tuesday!

You can reach your goal for Christmas!
You just have to do what works for you!
Just like me you know what we need to do in order to reach our goals.
Hang in there it will be a great gift to give yourself for Christmas!!!

Thanks for the cheers, sunymiss! Being 25 pounds smaller by Christmas will be a great gift to myself. It's all I want, really!

It's Wednesday, but I feel like it's Thursday. OH well:)
The scale was down again today, although only 0.4 pounds, I think. Either 0.4 or 0.6, I don't remember which. So we'll just say half a pound. It's better than nothing!

I drank almost 4 liters of water yesterday, so I was definitely being flushed out. Dinner was good, 3 chicken tenders that I cooked up with a little taco sauce stuff (10 cal per 2 tbsp), had a serving of spinach artichoke bites (160 cals), and the last of the tortellini soup. The only thing was that I added quite a bit of asiago cheese on top of the soup. Probably too much. Dessert was a no sugar added fudgesicle. So not bad. I kept food in check, and definitly didn't snack (except for the handful of grape tomatoes while I cooked).

I did very little workout. I went grocery shopping, bought mostly veggies, also am going to try some veggie burgers. Maybe get less fat from those than regular ones. We'll see how they taste. So the shopping got me some walking, plus my cart had a mind of it's own, so I was fighting with that a bit. When I got home, I cooked, then as I was getting ready for bed I did some wall push ups and some "butt-buster pliees", they had a section in Cosmo Style about ballet moves to help tone and lengthen muscle. I always wanted to dance, and have always loved ballet stretches. So I did 2 sets of 20 push ups, and 2 sets of 15 ballet things that I can't spell:) not much, but every little bit helps.

It's supposed to be near 100 degrees, so a walk is a no-go. I still haven't put shoes in my car, so the mall walk probably won't be happening. I am hoping my roomate has to leave for some reason so I can do my WATP video. Or maybe I will just tough up and when she goes in to play on the computer tonight, I will take over the living room. I can't let it bother me if someone sees me working out. It's dumb. But it's how I feel. So hopefully that will work. She's not going to care if I workout. I shouldn't either.

Today's plan:
BF: english muffin, egg beaters, ff cheese (230 cal),
coffee with splenda and creamer
S: if needed, fresh fruit (strawberries, raspberries, green grapes-about 1 cup total) (100 cal)
L: turkey sandwich (230 cal), green beans (1/2 can, no salt added-60 cal), pears (60 cal)

About 600 cal for work

then dinner: salad with chicken, cheese, honey mustard. steamed cauliflower
According to fitday, I am just under 1100 calories, but I know I will end up using more salad dressing, use more cheese than I am supposed to, so that will add a couple hundred more. Sounds good to me! It says my totals are
25% fat 28g
32% carbs 104g
43% protein 111g

Also, Christmas is 20 weeks, 6 days away (146 days) which gives me 1.17 pounds a week to lose to reach 180.
And just cause I was curious, if I was to reach goal exactly one year from today, I need to lose 1.04 pounds a week. Then I would be at 150. A year seems like a long time, but 1 pound a week is so much better than trying to be at goal by new years and seeing that I need to lose 2.5 pounds a week. I can do 1 a week. I will do it. And while every week won't be a success, I can make more weeks sucessful than not. And I will do it!

I just saw this article, and it sounds fantastic! A study was done, and found that instead of exercising for a full hour, men who did a 30 minute session, rested for 20 minutes, then did another 30 minutes burned more fat than those who did a full hour straight through. Here's the article...http://health.yahoo.com/news/177955

Hey Melissa!

You are doing fantastic! Your Christmas goal is totally achievable! I know you are going to do it!

Have a wonderful day!

-kristen

Hey girl great idea setting your goal weight for one year time frame.
A year really isn't a long time when you think about it like this...
I told my tops chapter that the years we have spent heavier are long.
Getting fit and healthy will zoom by in a year and you'll be at goal in no time.

We didn't gain the weight over night so we have to remember we don't
get rid of all of it over night and that we are making permant changes in our lives.
This is not a fad or a passing phase.
We are striving to get fit & healthy.
You are on the right track.

Now as far as the roommate goes does she need to workout?
Maybe you guys could workout together.
If not who cares what the crap she thinks!
You are taking care of you.
You can do it.

Hi Melissa! Sorry I haven't been in here for awhile.... been very busy and having a little family thing going on, too. So computer time has been limited.

You sound like you are doing really well and I think adjusting your goal is a good thing. Sometimes people set goals they aren't going to reach and instead of adjusting to something more doable, they just feel like a failure and get very down on themselves and goal setting.... You are lucky that you can stay away from that mind set and are able to adjust when you need to. I'd say that makes you wise beyond your years... it took me SO long to be able to do that. Good for you!

Take care and have a good week.... I agree with it being too hot to walk outside. It's like that in Ohio, too. Where in Michigan are you? My son and his fiance just moved to Grand Rapids for law school.... just wondered if he's close to where you are.

Good morning! Wow, I feel great! I am on this super sleep schedule, and I usually don't have a schedule. Let me tell you, it's FANTASTIC! I am asleep by 10:30 everynight this week, and get out of bed around 6:15ish. Finally getting almost 8 hours of sleep a night. I am so much more awake in the morning, I have more energy, I am happier. It's great!

Also, the scale was down again today. Another pound and a half since yesterday. 203.0 this morning. That's almost 4 pounds gone since Monday morning. Hopefully there's a little more water to get rid of, then back to the fat burning!

Dinner last night was a little different than planned. Not too much. I had a nice salad with cucumber and grape tomatoes, some shredded cheese, and honey mustard dressing. I was going to put chicken on, but I added too much dressing, so I skipped the extra calories by skipping the chicken. I also steamed cauliflower and topped it with a little butter spray and cheese. Great dinner. The I had a no sugar added fudgesicle a couple hours later. I really wanted to snack, but I decided that I wanted to see the scale drop more. So no snack for me!

I didn't work out again. I will be working out, but I think that my first priority is getting the eating back on track. If I do workout, that's great. If not, it's not a big deal. I called a couple days ago about the aerobics class, and the next one doesn't start until mid september, so I have a while before that gets going. I am going to visit the BF this weekend, and he has baseball games each night (it's the middle of an 8 day homestand). So He'll be gone tomorrow when I get there, so I will be taking my WATP video and doing that while I wait. Then I d