quinnesec

Good Morning!

Day 2 of being back on the wagon and so far, so good. Another beautiful day so I'm going to try to keep my hands busy (and out of my mouth) by working on some more spring cleaning. Nothing planned for today except for my VERY LAST Parent/Teacher Conference!!!! WOOHOO!!! (Insert Happy Dance Here! ) As much as I love the girl and as easy as she has been, I'm SOOOOO ready to be done with the K-12 system! Have to figure out a "grab and go" evening meal so that I don't end up skipping meals like yesterday. What a day! As soon as I would collapse into a chair, someone else would call and need me to do something. If I didn't answer my cell, my house phone rang. What a nightmare!

Hope,
Looks like we both had a good start to our week! I'm with you... no more goofing around... I have to put shorts on soon! (In all of my scarey, Irish whiteness!)

Almeeker and Mern!
Oh no! I've passed on my virus/sniffles/allergies/"just shoot me" symptoms! Hope you both feel better soon. It sucks to feel lousy when the weather is finally starting to warm up. My husband had the same thing as I did, but mine lasted about a week less than his. The only difference was that I flooded myself with tons of liquids, so I guess that would be my best advice.

Time to get my day started. Hope y'all have a great day!

quinn

01gt4.6

This morning I was 180.8
Luv, that would be you.

WeightlossBoo

Thank you! For the past 14 months or so I've had no goals at all, so having something to work everyday is definitely pushing me. Love the little successes, however small!

Hi Hope! Glad to see another familiar face. How are doing? xxx

canary52

Thank you for the sympathy, Amy, and THANK YOU so much for that image of the jambalaya AFTER I ate my sad little breakfast (which was actually quite good and not so sad after all.) Unfortunately, I can picture that jambayla barf too!!! Can we go back to the frosting porn now?

Seriously, how can you even think of coffee with a tummy bug? Tea. Tea, my friend, what you want is peppermint tea, to settle the tummy.

And speaking of tummies, I hear you about keeping the goals, Quinn. But it is not the shorts I am so worried about (I have skinny little twig legs) it is the bathing suit. I am thick around the middle. Twig legs, thick around the middle and ghostly pale. Now that's a picture!!! If that isn't enough to make you barf, then ask Amy to describe jambayla. LOL.

canary52

Hi, Boo, I'm OK, still plugging away. You have come to the right place! This is a great group! They can motivate you (and yes sometimes nauseate you - ONLY KIDDING!!!) like nobody's business!!!

almeeker

Sort of, the best I can stick with it anyway. M-F I try and do 15 minutes in one room upstairs and 15 minutes in one room downstairs. It works in theory because we have 5 rooms on each floor (provided you count the upstairs hallway and stairwell as a "room"), each day of the week has a different pair assigned to it. Plus I try and spend at least 15 minutes in the kitchen (not doing dishes but cleaning other stuff), which needs that at minimum.

If I do one load of laundry/day it seems to keep it in check, so long as "1 load" includes putting one load in the wash machine, one load in the dryer and one load getting folded and put away (it's that last bit that's the fly in the ointment).

On Saturday and Sunday I try and manage 15 minutes on the front porch, 15 minutes in the basement plus I try and clean a cupboard or closet. During the summer, Saturday is usually spent on the yard, and I let the basement and porch go a little (or a lot).

You would think that my house would be spotless, but the 6 kids running around here everyday after school tends to undo all my efforts pretty quickly. But at the very least I'm still making the effort, and for a little while each week every room in the house is passably clean, although never all on the same day, sigh .

For exercise my grand plan is to get up early M-F and workout 30-60 min before the kids get up (4:40 am comes hard and early), but I also have the option during swim season to workout at the gym 2 nights/week while the kids are at practice. Plus they usually have an additional practice with a private coach on either Friday night or Saturday afternoon, sometimes I use that time to swim laps, but other times I lift weights or walk with my workout partner. On Sunday mornings when the weather is nice I walk up to the grocery store to buy my newspapers, round trip its 5K, and sometimes the kids come with me.

I'm really going to have to step up the workouts, I've hit a plateau and my workout partner wants to do a triathlon this summer. I think she's nuts, but I keep pace with her well enough, so I suppose if she can do it, I can at least try.

ToriD1012

ummmm aren't you supposed to push TWO other people besides me??? Luv only makes one. The more you push the better you have to do, and you and I both are due for a good week.

fit4luv

YIKES!!!! You mean I'm getting the steel boot?! Ha!Ha!

I'll have to go back and read posts . . .

What I've done so far today:
* I exercised this a.m. (2 mile walk/DVD) with a blister on the bottom of my foot!

*I drank 32 oz water already.

*I logged my food & exercise so far today.

*So far I'm on track with Food Plan.

I'm trying to be good.

taubele

Ama: I love the "reconnected with the smaller notch on my belt" comment!!! It's the little things

Deborah: Sometimes that wagon just hits a bump in the road and we fall off. That's alright, getting back on is WAY more important than the falling off in the first place. I love all of your goals, do you have chickens?!

April: Super-congrats at being at your lowest weight! You've been steadily losing and that is awesome. Keep it up!

Tori: Sounds like you're off to a good start this week and your attitude seems more chipper! I think you're going to have a killer week.

Mern: Hopefully the entire week won't be like my sucky Monday. My zen is getting tested for sure, but I know that if I can keep focused I'll be okay. You just brush yesterday right off and start anew again today. These things happen to all of us as you know, and we ALL know you can kick butt!!!! Sometimes I swear that allergies and such can trigger us to want weird foods. Our body is all inflamed and abnormal and I think it kicks off a "something is wrong, better stock up!" craving.

Mike: Nice to see your goal list, are you climbing back on the wagon? We'll make room for your big butt (Kidding!!!!)

crazi: Sorry to hear about your border collie. They're such intelligent dogs that I can imagine there really is some embarrassment, but I am sure you will be taking care of her. I hope the vet visits go smoothly and she's her own self again soon!

nobe: Holy moly, and here I was complaining about my crappy Monday!!!! Big hugs for you, I hope you're feeling better soon and that your work situation gets settled in whatever way is best for you. Get some rest and I hope you're able to de-stress and de-illness!

Amy: Stomach bugs are the absolute worst, they always hit me like a mack truck and I'm super-impressed that you've been able to keep your cookies in your stomach. I know I'd be throwing myself a pity party on the couch, so I'm thinking you're a warrior today!

Question for the ladies: I just want to know if this is normal -- I went to buy new underwear/bras yesterday as my old ones are either too big or all stretched out. I had been a 38DD when I started losing weight, then when I got re-fitted I was told I was a 38C. I got re-fitted again yesterday (about 6 months later) and I am now a 36 D -- so uh, the cup went up when the band went down? The fitter said that it sometimes happens in the process of losing inches that the shape of the cup changes too, but I was confused. However, the 36D's do seem to be fitting! Sheesh. What the heck?

Week Goals

Health/Lifestyle Goals
1) Keep calories under 1,500 every day. This includes weekends. Post average. M: 1,810 (Average: 1,810)
2) Exercise 4 hours total this week, and report the type of exercise M: 0 min (Total: 0 min)
3) Calorie deficit of at least 3,500 M: +9 (Total: +9)
4) 80 oz. of water every day, more is better M: 64
5) Take multivitamin every day M: forgot
6) In bed by 11:30 every night, no excuses M: Fell asleep on couch at 10:15, woke up and went to bed at 11:45
7) 25%- 30% protein average for the week M: 25% (Average: 25%)
8) Weight M, W, F and report here. M: 158.3
9) Post what I ate every day

M:
Breakfast: 0% fat greek Yogurt (Raspberry Flavor).
Lunch: Leftover chicken-and-dumplings with carrots and potatoes (1.25 servings)
Dinner: 5.5 oz (uncooked) chicken breast with teriyaki marinade (overnight) on a 100 cal sandwich thin with a slice of white american cheese. Side of corn on the cob (with butter) and some homemade mac-and-cheese. That stuff is calorie dense and I should have avoided it entirely, but I limited myself to half a serving (still 200 cals!).
Snacks: 3 pieces of dark chocolate and 2 servings of tortilla chips

Other Goals
1) Make an effort on my appearance every day M:Smokin'!
2) Get lecture for Thursday class done by Wednesday M: No progress due to lab equipment malfunction
3) Prep for Skype Interview Friday, 1:30 EST AND phone interview, time TBD (Thur or Fri) M: Sent some questions in response to their questions, lol
4) Don't sweat the small stuff M: Did my best
5) Clean out car!!!!! M: No
6) Call my grandmother M: No

Yesterday got a bit away from me. I started out alright, but when I got to work there was a very very annoying equipment malfunction that I needed to deal with that sort of threw me off track for the whole day. I ate lunch late, I did experiments late, and in general I got kind of frazzled. I kept a cool head while at work, but when I got home I got hit by the munchie monster and I indulged with some dark chocolate that we just bought as well as fistfuls of Tostitos. I will say that I didn't grab the bag but I weighed out two servings before stuffing my face, so there's at least that.

BF and I had planned a cookout night on the grill and so we did it, and he begged for a homemade mac and cheese and I indulged him. There is absolutely nothing redeeming in the recipe that I do, so I knew that stuff was dangerous. I weighed out half a portion and boxed it separately to bring out (we have to go to a public place in our complex to use a charcoal grille) and I did end up eating it, it smelled way too good and I think I was still stressy. It was otherwise a lovely night though, and it was nice to eat outside and start the official grilling season as well as have a nice long convo with BF. I just wish the mosquitoes had left us alone!

I prefer nights like that as quiet "date nights" of a sort to going out for dinner and a movie or other things like that. Not only is it cheaper, but I feel like we talk and connect more while things are cooking slowly on the grill. I feel like when we go out to eat that we get absorbed in looking at the menu or talking about frivolous things. Is it just me, or do you all feel that way too? BF and I had a lovely conversation about the future, job prospects, the educational system, and just lots of great topics.

All in all I have mixed thoughts about food yesterday. I just had a snack attack and while I am proud of myself for "controlling" my snacks and cheats by portioning them, I'm upset at myself that I had them at all. I know it was stress that was making me eat, but it's going to be a stressful week and I just have to roll with it and NOT medicate with food. I got contacted for another phone interview this week, so that's TWO that I need to go through (I still hate phone interviews!) but I'm hoping that at least something will pan out on the job front, and that will be a HUGE load off of my mind.

I really need to get working on my lecture but it seems like I'm getting an e-mail a second today. Argh. One thing at a time, right?

~Terri

almeeker

Boo welcome back woman!!!! I tried to give you a shout out yesterday but the stupid internet was not my friend, after it trashed my posts 3 separate times I gave up.

I also want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to nobe, I'm sorry that it sucked. I'm of the opinion that you can celebrate a birthday for a full week, so maybe you can manage a "do-over" sometime this week.

Canary, sorry about the Jambalaya/barf description, it was delicious too, but it may be a while before we can eat it again. Too bad for me because there is about a gallon of it in the fridge, I'm thinking freezer... I'm jealous of your skinny legs, I have thunder thighs and beefy calves, even at goal weight they will be rather thicker than they should. Bathing suit season, ugh. I need to go shopping for some. Right now have 2, but they are too big in the torso and um, too small in the cuppage, this is rather dangerous territory in a family friendly setting...

luv I'm sorry Mike is going to pick on you. Our youngest is nick named "Lovey", and we often shorten it to luv, so I sort of feel like he's picking on one of my baby girls, meanie boy.

Mike, make policies not war, now go rock it pimp daddy and bring home the bike-on, fry it up in a pan...

Quinn, welcome back to the wagon, I would like to say that I kept your seat warm, but that would imply I've been riding on the wagon (as opposed to being drug behind it) and have a big enough butt to warm not only my spot, but yours (which is unfortunately more true than not). I hear you on people dragging you in 6 different directions all at the same time. Wow on the dress shopping, I should call my JCP and see if they are having a sale. Every time I turn around all 3 of ours are bigger and nothing fits, dresses could be the answer...

Mern, sorry about your little binge, but you have your plan and can fix it all, I have faith in you. How is coleslaw high in carbs? Was it ready-made or something? There are lots of good recipes for making it with just vinegar, salt and a little sugar. I'll bet you can use a sugar substitute and still really enjoy it. I have a recipe for freezer slaw, you cook a clear sauce on the stove top (vinegar, water, sugar, salt), then pour it boiling hot over your shredded cabbage, carrots, green peppers and onions, toss it with some poppy and caraway seeds and viola' coleslaw, I make a big batch and then put the rest in the freezer and pull it out occasionally when it goes with dinner. I bet you can replace the sugar with something else, maybe a little stevia extract and get something very yummy. Let me see if I can find it.