Hi Mern

It's a vacation although i will be doing some babysitting. My son and his wife and 2 kids are spending 3 months in Havana - she teaches polictical science and is doing reseach, he took a LOA so the whole family could go. I'm staying with them. We are doing a couple weekends at the ocean. The kids are 6 and 9 so we can have lots of fun.

See you all when I get back, tanned and fit. Mary

Mary ~ I hope you have loads of fun playing!

Darlene ~ About 1st place: The group I attend is uses the "1st Place 4 Health" material. It's really a spiritually based, fitness support/accountability group.

Oh my goodness! I'm so glad that you all got home from your adventuresome walk. I hope that your walking partner is still OK.

Thanks for your tips on veggies. I am gaining some liking to the non-starch veggies. I'm gradually building up a list of likes, thanks to you and others on here. I'm trying to get to the point where I eat them more automatically. I'm finding things out about myself like how I don't care for big, leafy bites of lettuce, but rather like it cut up. Sometimes I feel just like a kid again.

Julie ~ Welcome! I'm over 40 -- and I'm not giving up either. I also use the pedometer to motivate me. Looks like you're on the right track.

Mern ~ I'm getting better with my Veggie Venture. I'm looking at it as an exploration & trying to make it exciting as possible. Such as enjoying the beauty of color with veggies. Now I'm finally thinking at lunch -- what 2 servings of veggies shall I have? Before it took more effort to think that way. I love corn and all the starchy veggies, but the non-starch is still challenging. So when I talk veggies, I'm really thinking non (low)-starch veggies. Thanks for your tips.

Kim ~ Welcome aboard!!! I'm also working on water intake. I'm gradually adding in healthy habits with my goals & this last week water intake is the "new" habit.

Tori ~ So glad that you got a good night's sleep. Is it handcycle that says he thinks of fitness in 3 ways - Rest, Nutrition, Exercise? Or something close to that. I read it not too long ago on FitDay. Anyway, have a great day with all those miles that you're putting in today!

Hope you can quickly figure out your eating dilemma.

Amy ~wooohooooo!!! for your weight loss-- one, two, three . . .GONE!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
My scales touched down to 211.2 today! I'm not yet ready to "lock in" my weight yet though. My eye is on the first 10 lb loss. I'm getting close.

I'll post goals later.

That was really great advice, Quinn!



Terri, I'm so glad you knew you could come here to vent. It really helps so much--I think we've all taken advantage of that great opportunity from time to time. It certainly is understandable that you would not have much time to devote thought to formulating new food and fitness goals right now. And there are certainly times when all of us have a hard time eating right, logging, and exercising all in the same day. Great idea to cook your meats ahead of time to cover several meals. I always make a bunch of baked chicken at a time so I have enough for a few days of lunches and snacks. I think the Zumba exercise is great--and quite effective for those who do it--but I can't stand the music. Like jazz, that Latin music makes me nervous--and I don't know why. LOL on your covering your mouth over my threat to Mike. That man draws out the dirty old lady skank in me for some reason. Wow, kudos on your calories even with the M&M's and tortilla chips! Great that you can do that. I utterly fail on the willpower when it comes to those little gems of yumminess. I saw a program on TV a couple weeks ago where a doctor was talking about how we need to end toxic relationships that we know are beyond repair. I hope BF is at peace. I had to do that once and felt guilty until I talked with a priest about it and he assured me I was OK. Aw, my heart goes out you--I can't begin to imagine the pressure and anxiety you must be under right now. The vicious cycle is pretty much a given with BF's and your job situations. I hope finding out in the next week or so whether you got the job at Smith will give you some relief. Glad you got your pharmacy/secondary insurance problem straightened out and got some much needed sleep. Is there a way that you and BF could take a day to relax this coming weekend--or even half a planned day and let nothing at all interfere with your R&R?

Mike, I'll be sure to wear pointy, steel-tipped boots.

Tori, eat. Going hungry deprives us of energy and makes our body chemistry unstable and in the long run we get hungrier and are more likely to cheat. Not always simple as busy as you are, I know. Big hug to ya!

Mary, your Cuba vacation sounds wonderful! Looking forward to hearing all about that experience. Enjoy!

fit4luv, wonderful that you're gaining a liking to lower carb veggies. Anyway you can like them better is just fine--except dumping a bunch of sugar on them. (just kidding. LOL) I LOVE how you are wondering what 2 veggies to have for lunch! That's real progress!

I gotta go--just realized it's time to leave to go pick up my high school grandkids!

Will catch you all later!

OMG, BAH HA HA HA, ROFLOL, I'm gonna spritz my nickers.

Terri. I truly hope things work out for you, it's so easy to stress out over every imagined problem. I'm sure this lady has misremembered things too, especially when you work in a challenging area. I'm sending you and BF some good old Irish luck.

Mern. Glad you've had a good day, I love some of your food ideas and recipes, I'm collecting them now and someday I may actually start cooking properly. I've got my flaxmeal to make more muffins and will be able to let my sister try them as I just realised they are ok for coeliacs.

Darlene Your hike sounds a bit scary. A few years ago my friend and I went to Budapest for a few days, we weren't prepared for how cold it was and despite not having the proper footwear or clothing, we still decided to hike to the top of the hill to see the view, the path and steps were very steep and totally iced over. We struggled onwards, slipping and sliding, pulling ourselves up by a rail, hand over very cold hand and arrived at the top completely exhausted and frozen. As we stood there, teeth chattering, hands and feet soaking wet a little bus appeared, apparently if we'd walked around the foot of the hill we could have saved ourselves a lot of grief and bruises.

I would also point out that you are honest and capable of admitting when you are wrong. Those are huge points in your favor, especially given your field.

Thanks, but it was probably from skiing on Sunday, chances are some of that will bounce back on to me. I don't know what burns more calories, the physicality of skiing or the shear terror of it, but I'm always down a few pounds following a day on the slopes.

Mine too . I have a funny taco salad story. When I was in high school I made friends with an exchange student name Yumiko, she was from Japan. Somehow we just clicked, anyway one day I called her up and said "let's go get a taco salad". And she was like "okay, that sounds good". I picked her up and we went to a place that made a fantastic chicken taco salad bowl. When our salads arrive she gets this weird look on her face, picks up a piece of the chicken and says to the waiter, "What did you do to the poor octopus?". Talk about lost in translation, apparently "taco" (or there abouts) means "octopus" in Japanese. OMG we laughed until we had to run to the ladies room, and then we laughed some more.

2 words, pimp stick.