*** Supportive Friends -- Looking to Release 50+ Pounds ***

Well, I've been away for the weekend and so many posts and new people - welcome to you all!

@eve - hope the trip to your sister goes ok. It sounds like a nightmarish situation - just remember your own lovely family at home and do the best you can for your niece. and don' t stress eat - come on here and grumble at us if you need to - we'll listen!!

@rdcphone572 - good luck avoiding the chocolate cheesecake. situations like that at work do suck but it sounds like you've handled it well. Don't let them win - you are good at home and that is so much more important! And the NSV - I'll come back to you on that one. I have until Sunday right?

@ron - welcome home - glad the shorts were a success!! Hope you had a good bbq yesterday - we certainly had the weather for it. And congratulations on the loss - great progress, particularly given the last couple of weeks that you've had travel wise.

@magicretreat - stick with it and you've come to the right place here for support.

@jehan - I know the feeling about the weekend. Don't get me wrong - I had a lovely weekend and we also got a lot of decorating done but it came at the expense of much formal exercise. Must get back into the swing of things this week. Well done on getting your workmates involved in the exercise bug - all mine seem to be interested in is the doughnuts and cream cakes bug! But I'm not worrying about them - I'm dedicating time to looking out for my health these days!

@sjo68 - well done with the pushup challenge - 16 is way more than I can manage right now - I hate pushups with a passion and I'm weak with abdominal exercise anyway so it's not a good combination.

@meg - cracking cake! I hope it went down well. Well done for enjoying the weekend and still staying within limits

Well, like I said - a good weekend and lots of painting done - what fun!! Lovely weather here in the UK but feeling slightly unmotivated on the exercise front at the moment. Need to stir myself back into action. Hope everyone had a good Tuesday.

megblackburn- where in Washington are you? I think you mentioned it before but it went right over my head. I am just north of Seattle most of the time but a lot of my weekends are spent on the Kitsap penninsula at our future retirement home.

Welcome to all the new faces.

I will admit that for the last week I have been a part time logger of my eating. I don't know why. I am loggin my exercise, so why not just add the food in while I am already here. Luckily I haven't gained anything, but I haven't lost any either. I do much better when I plan my meals out for the week and I haven't done that. I guess I am going to have to find a way to get my mojo back.

sjo68 - great job on the push up challenge. I also have it on my phone together with the sit-up challenge. I still have to take the initial test and maybe I'll end up doing only 2. 16 is a huuge number for me, so wow.

janeytay01 - yup, weekends will always be my achilles heel. hopefully, in time I'll just consider it an ordinary day and not a day to stuff myself and pig out. At least you had time to finish your painting.

megblackburn - I've been reading your food diary and I'm very impressed and green with envy. You can have your pizza and eat it to, and that's a lovely and yummy cake.

Managed to do my afternoon yesterday and my co-worker also joined me. Anyway, have to pass up on my exercise today, TOM just arrived. So crossing my fingers that I won't go over my calories again for the nth time.

To the new faces, welcome welcome...

Hi everyone

Well, oven is fixed (finally) and so is the computer, that's why I haven't been checking in. I've been slacking and I have no excuses for it. I would still log in on my ipod but not my food, no reason, just didn't. I also haven't been doing anything, the weather's actually been nice so I was outside with the kids, but other than that I just haven't done any excercises. I woke up this morning and decided that was enough of that slump. Back on track with my meals and shakes and I'm going to get in a run tonight and do my wall sit, plank and squat challenge.

Hello to all the new faces

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! Back on track!! I lost track of the date and weighed in a week early - OOPS!! But that is okay I lost 2.5lbs this week!!!!!! Down 9 lbs in 7 weeks!!

Hello everyone,

I wanted to take a minute to jump in and introduce myself. My name is Amy, I've grown up in central Illinois all my life. Last summer I met the most amazing man who has stepped up to the plate and been a father to my amazing son after a terrible relationship with his biological father following a divorce and job change. After he was born I had my gallbladder out and work let me go instead of letting me recoup...So I stayed home with my son for his first 15 months. I'm about to return to work and I have a lot of busy hobbies I've picked up on the side. I love to sew, I make everything from blankets to Civil War Ball gowns and my boyfriend and I dance at Civil War reenactment Dances/Balls all over the state. We do this on the alternate weekends (and sometimes both in the same day) as we travel and pull with our competition pulling trucks. It's a lot of hard work, were maintaining my parents home where we currently live, he works as a diesel mechanic, and we make at least one trip per week of 30+ miles to his parents farm to maintain our trucks and prepare for competitions as well as the side work he does and working on the farm occasionally. When I'm not helping with one of those, I'm typically working on a new ball gown or planting flowers and cleaning the house. Im trying to stay positive about my return to work and not let leaving my son stop me from doing whats best for us financially but its been very hard. I began a diet with my boyfriend around March 8. We started it as a challenge and he obviously took off with it! He joined a competition at work that ends July 4 and the person who lost the most wins $600 dollars. Hes doing great so Im sure he will win. I've lost 11 lbs in the last two months, I should be thrilled with that but it seems like nothing compaired to his 21 lbs. I'm wanting to lose the weight for our wedding next year and to be healthier for myself, my son and in general. Im tired of oversleeping, over eating and just feeling lousy all the time so Ive spent the last 3 days outside gardening, doing yardwork and inspiring myself to do better! I even bought two new bolts of fabric this week to make a new gown for the dance at the Springfield Old Capital one month from today....I hope you guys can help keep me on track, some days I cheat terribly and make excuses for myself like "but I worked in the yard for two hours so its ok":flowerforyou:

Greetings everyone! I am Jane and I have been lurking around the message boards for a few months. February was a decent month. At first I lost 8 lbs. after logging my calories. Then I started 30 day Shred and got lazy logging in my foods. I never finished the entire 30 days. I got to Level 3 day 6 and then got discouraged when the scale refused to budge. I decided that I needed a workout with more cardio. I rode my stationary bike for a day or two. After that exercise pretty much ceased and the cleaner eating did as well. Now I am having such difficulty getting back on track again. I am up to 184 lbs. the lowest I weighed in several years was 154 (which was only last summer). I had been Vegan for 6 years and then stopped last January. I feel like a failure in regards to my health. I have a 3 year old so I am unable to exercise until after she goes to bed. There are so many things about my lifestyle that need to be fixed! I cannot get a handle on the eating. I am enjoying the foods that I haven't had for 6 years. I am hoping to get motivated by interacting with others on MFP. The excuses are wearing out and I'm gaining more and more weight and feeling worse every day. I even deleted my old profile and made a new one because I couldn't take looking at my progress chart (or shall I say lack of progress chart).

Awesome amount lost! I hope to be like you!!

Getting rid of the bad foods is a great start! I need to buy more veggies and fruits!

My mom is sometimes verbally abusive. Sometimes she tells me she'd rather be dead because no one believes that people are constantly monitoring her and stealing stuff from her house (sorry but they didn't put that kind of effort into finding Osama Bin Ladin, so it's a little out there and yes I think it's possibly a mental problem). When she says things like that I take down the treadmill and just run til I feel better. I've lost 3 pounds since starting to use this website and all the running since I moved back last week. This is a very low time for me, but I'm making progress so that keeps me going (still stoked I can have cake if I work out hard enough).

Mental illness is just so difficult to deal with, been there, done that and I really sympathise. Sounds like your Mom may need help and you're probably too close to tell her so - are there family or friends or even her doctor you can discuss it with? Try not to let it get to you, whatever she says is a symptom of brain chemical imbalance, not the real her. I guess too she needs your support whatever she may say.