Today Show Club! (Everyone Always Welcome)

What an exhausting day this has been! Good news is my mom's surgery went very well. We still have one more hurdle tomorrow when they extubate her, but I'm confident that will go well. Hopefully she will be able to go home on Thursday.

Bobbie...you did it again....your love story always makes me cry. What a beautiful relationship you have! I can't wait to here all about your trip...minus the hotel info... :bigsmile: Oh and I thought about you tonight...my sisters and I went to dinner while we waited for visiting hours...and I had the Carribean salad you have been talking about and it was delicious....good thing I had enough calories to cover it!

Tamara......Thanks for pushing us...I am so glad I saw your story....I would have never discovered this site and met some many wonderful people that inspire and keep me going.

Shari....I am so proud of you....I have learned so much from you...especially to have a game plan and when you do fall to analyze and learn from what went wrong and not to dwell in it. I am sure you did very well tonight...you got this girl! Oh and thanks for starting this thread!!

Jessica....what a little busy bee you are with starting homeschooling and still you manage to get your excercise in and come in under calories everyday....I'm so glad you have now graduated to Medium....I can't wait for Medium graduation for me too. :happy:

Deneen...hang in there girl....this too shall pass and tomorrow will be another day...another opportunity to start anew. Eventually everything will fall into place.

Gail....you are doing great too....fill us in on your workouts with your son.

Kim...welcome...and I agree with Deneen...I love your "Reclaiming Kim" It makes so much sense...in a way we are all trying to reclaim a better us.

I know I'm forgetting some of you and it is without intention....I'm just pretty beat.....To everyone that send their well wishes...Thank you!!

WOW tamara- Fit in a nap sometime today. Your schedule is making me sleepy lol. Bringing in healthy food to parties would do much of anything in my husbands family. Its sad really and I dont quite get it. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is way obese in that family with a few teenage girls that arent but hey are teenagers thats why. His aunt died before we were together from diabetes and from pictures she was very much overweight as well so for all of them to be so unhealthy when they know the risk is just amazing to me. To top it off they all drink like crazy. His mom can't go a day without a beer and keeps it stocked which was a big problem when we had to move in wiht her last year. I dont allow drinking of any kind near my kids and so having it in the fridge where the kids could see and think it was normal was not ok with me but what could you do right. THe drinking thing is insane too since His grandpa died from kidney cancer so there is that risk too. They dont like any other women that come into the family so me trying to motivate anyone to be healthy would tunr into me just thinking IM better then them. Yep its all immature. His mom is constantly trying to "lose" weight but that means not eating all day except a few bolgna sandwhiches or cans of beans and massive amonts of protien shakes to where she is vomiting the rest of the night from them. She keeps bugging us to get this colon clense stuff from sams club because she really thinks it will help her lose weight. I mean Im sure it does initially but thats because it makes you poop all day. ANyways this got way long and off track lol I guess my point is that that family is ahopeless cause and no one wants to get healthy. I gave up on my mom and realized she will when she truly is reay. She has diabets (but not from being overwieght, she just over the years became overwieght) and she uses the exuse that shes busy and thats why she eats tv dinners all day. But she is busy she works and does school and does everything in her home she she has two men living her home that really do nothing and she has no back bone lol.


Ok hopefully today is as good as yesterday just not as darn hot lol. I gotta head to the library today because they FINALLY (after a month) have a book i wanted which is good and bad since I will now be reading instead of moving lol I get alittle obsessive when I read. I did check out some pilates on demand and I think I will try one tonight. The other one I watched wasnt bad just the lady was a bit annoying and fake lol

Good Morning - just popping in - swamped today, but have lots to say and lots of thank yous to issue so will check in later.
Weigh in this morning - lost 3 pounds!!!! Course, i had to step on the scale 16 times to get that cuz you can bet your sweet bippy i wasn't getting off until it showed a loss... tee hee hee :bigsmile: (big belly laugh).
Just kidding - my OCD made me check to make sure it read down 3 pounds at least 3 times before I would accept it...
Hope everyone has a great day. I'm off to the hospital with my FIL - we are monitoring a spot on his lung and are meeting with a cancer specialist... Say a prayer for him, please he is a WONDERFUL man and has been through a lot!

Hi Everyone:

Wow, some of your schedules are so busy, I can't believe it! I can't imagine waking up at 3 something in the morning. I already usually head for bed around 830 or 9. I wake up at 6, and want to take a nap by 9. I am hoping energy will pick up, I am sure you can handle those schedule when you are not 149 lbs overweight. When my best friend comes to visit, it wares me out, she has 4 and when they come to visit that means I am cooking and cleaing for 10 people. After 3 days, I am exhausted.

Thanks for the recipe Shari! I envy your schedule today, cozy'ing up on the couch with my boxer and reading a book while listening to the rain outside w/ a fire going is one of my favorite things to do. Snow starts flyin' around here in November that is nice too! I would like to take up snow shoeing possibly, I just can't believe a pair of snow shoes can hold up my body, I may fall into some deep snow! Ha!

One thing I am noticing is that it can be hard to stay motivated when you are depressed. I am really getting nervous that my husband hasn't found a job yet, and our unemployment runs out in 8 weeks. I just wish I could only have to worry about myself and getting myself healthier without having to worry about finances and our personal situation. I sometimes feel like I don't belong anywhere because I don't have a career going right now. I am feeling a bit misplaced.

I have always been career minded, but I also love taking care of my family and children. I love to have a cozy home to call home. A clean home, and a home full of love and laughter. It's just right now things are so tough for us, we don't laugh as much as we use to.

I think I am going to go for a walk later, that usually helps in settling my mind! Don't get me wrong I am so happy about joining this site and thread of all you wonderful ladies. I really think you all will help me get thru all of this! I am very thankful!!

Kim

Just dropping in to say hello and good night!! Hope you all had a great day! I did fairly well with my eating. I was over by just a tiny bit, but not too bad. I went on a nice, brisk walk this evening. I wasn't going to go, but made myself and am glad I did.

Wow Tamara, I don't know how you do it getting up soooo early!! I set my alarm for 5 a.m. to get up and work out, but never do and end up doing it in the evenings!!

Thanks Shari for the recipe.

Thank you all for your daily encouragement!!! This is such a great site!

Tuesday i broke out the old scrub brush and gave the kitchen a good old fashioned hand scrubbing and busted suds and cleaned out the trash cans cleaned out the fridge of out of date items or what i like to call them "science experiments" that the kids call a snack for after school. did a few loads of laundry. my hubby works for the local mixer company and ends up looking like a pile of cement so i have to constantly keep the floors swept due to the concrete dust and clean i hate feeling the lil bit of grit on my bare feet. trying to re-motivate my son to work out with me. he can do more than me and i remind him that mom isn't as young as she used to be to lay off the slow poke comments and toss a soaking wet towel at him which almost always is more of the boomerang effect lol. but i found out that my father has to wear a heart monitor to record his arrhythmia that he was having again after his stent replacements in both legs .

Marcie - glad the surgery went well.. will continue the prayers .

heres to hoping the rest of the week turns out to be a good one.

p.s. i found a unofficial physician's scale at my pharmacy and i haven't lost any noticeable weight as of yet but i know it takes time and more exercise and the right kinds to make a go of it .

when i clean i grb my boom box and pop in a mix cd i burned from my cd collection and a few songs from my i tunes account to clean house to i also play it when I'm playing my mmorpg .
next room to tackle is the living room i have moving the furniture to see if anyone has been hiding things like plates or the odd dropped fork . i increased water intake and multi vitamin intake along with my menial exercise routing.
went grocery shopping and walked around wal-mart for 2 hrs

Good morning everyone. I hope everyone is having a great day. I could not sleep again last night. I had a chance to sleep in, but was up before 5:30. I got up and started cleaning and doing laundry. I had the whole house cleaned and 2 loads of laundry going and was out the door by 7 for my run. I am so proud of my run today. It felt amazing outside this morning and I pushed myself harder than ever this morning. I did 3.3 miles in 31.5 minutes with no walking. I ran/jogged at a steady pace the whole time. I just kept telling myself to run till the song was over. Then the next one would start and I would say oh you like this one so keep running. Once I had done 2 miles, there was no way I was going to stop till I was finished. It was such an amazing feeling. I can't wait to tell my husband about it. When we are finally living in the same place again, we will run together and it will be awesome. We will keep our healthy life style and when we get our first station, then it will be time to start our family. I have so much to look forward to and so many reasons to continue to push myself.

I am so excited about this weekend. We fly out today and I will not be back on until at least Sunday or Monday. I am taking my running shoes because the hotel has a gym, but I am not going to stress if I do not get to run. There are more important things in life sometimes. I hope everyone has a great week/weekend. I will check back in when I can.

Tamara - I will text you when I land and you can let every one know that I made it safely. Next week we will get back to our runs.

Stay strong and positive ladies. I hope all of you have great weigh ins this week. I can't wait to see how every one did when I get back! Now it is time to pack. Talk to you soon.

Hello all,

Just a quick update....it is end of month at work...so I'm busy, busy, busy.

My mom is doing alot better, may be moved out of ICU today and hopefully get to go home tomorrow. Thank you all for your thoughts and concern.

I did W3D1 of C25K yesterday....those 3 minute jogs kicked my butt! I did manage to do 3 repetitions instead of 2. Not knowingly though...I just thought it was 3 instead of 2 :happy:
Now....sit ups and push ups...total failure...have not done them all week... :frown:
I've also decided to change my weigh in days to Friday's. I'm not expecting much this Friday, but I will keep my fingers crossed.

Bobbie...can you tell us what Supermans and the other "s" excercises you mentioned? Maybe I can try to do those instead. Good luck on your trip and we will miss you while you are gone. Can't wait to hear all about it!!

Deneen....I will keep your FIL in my thoughts and prayers. Hang in there!

Well got to run....big shout out to all my girls....Shari, Tamara, Jessica, Gail, Deneen, Kim, Robin, Bobbie....Did I miss anyone? Probably, but I love you all too!!!

Good Afternooon, Everyone - and I do mean everyone!! We have such the amazing thread - I just love it! As Shari said it is so uplifting and therapeutic all at the same time!

There never seems to be enough time to do everything, but now that I've seen "a day in the life of Tamara", I guess I will never complain again. I also must say that Kim has a point - life has to be a heck of a lot easier and a lot less exhausting with 100+ pounds less on my frame - I CAN"T wait for that day!!! You all will see me dancing from wherever it is you are.

So, I don't know if I've ever said too much about myself, so without boring you too much, here's some stats:
I am 42 years old - soon to be 43 (October). I have always struggled with weight but never to the excess that i have in the past few years. I was always known as a happy girl full of smiles and I seem to have lost that in the last few years and I want it back! I'm getting back the happy Deneen - I'm on a mission to regain the sparkle in my eye and the bounce in my step!!!! I have a husband of not quite 7 years. Shortly after we were married (less than a month), I was in a very serious car accident, I was in a wheel chair for a year and a half, and, and, and... won't bore you with the details. I still have some residual effects from it, but I'm sure losing the weight I gained from it and then some would sure help clear some of those issues up.

We have a beautiful daughter together - she will be 3 in November. She is a petite, blonde hair, blue eyed cutie (if I do say so myself). She is full of energy and spit... My mom says she is the picture of me as a child, but I think she is waaaay cuter... She makes me smile every single day and amazes me with all she can pick up on. She also "helps" me "extersize" as she calls it. You've never seen a cuter sight than her imitating me doing a sit up... :laugh: We also have a daughter (my husband's from a previous marriage) who is nearly ten who is not in the best of situations. She may not be blood to me, but she is my special little pumpkin and I love her like my own. She is the most wonderful big sister and is truly a beautiful little girl - inside and out. She is the picture of her Daddy. Ok, how do I put this next part delicately... her mother is.... just not quite right... Well, that's about as nicely as I could put it. Truly, she has been clinically diagnosed as manic, psychotic and the list goes on and on. A court-appointed psychiatrist stated that she was off the charts nuts! She has done terrible things to that child - things that just tear out my heart :sad: and we are working VERY HARD to protect her! That litle story line creates a tremendous amount of financial, emotional and whatever kind of strain you can think of in our lives, but we have to do it - you have to protect a child!

I have the most wonderful mother in the world. She is supportive and loving and is one of the only people that know of my newest attempt to lose weight. She has managed to forge on after losing my father very unexpectedly a few years ago. It has very difficult for her. They had a love and a marriage that we all hope to have. She loved him so very much and each day she gets a little better. She is truly my biggest support and probably my very best friend.

Ok, enough of the sadness and drama. I just wanted to share a little since everyone else has been so forthcoming with their stories and emotions. It's also amazing how so many of us have so much in common - at least I think so.

Bobbie - I don't know how you couldn't see your sparkle - i could see it from here! it is amazing the love you share with your husband - i think we all want that. Because isn't that what it's all about - Love??? no matter the source - love can make all the difference. I look forward to someday hearing your beautiful love story. Thanks for continuing to inspire us and for making Marcie and me cry... Have a WONDERFUL with a capital WONDERFUL weekend!!!!! We will miss you and can't wait to hear all of your joy when you return. :smooched:

Tamara - Whew girl - how DO you do it!??!?! I can imagine being the center of all of our inspiration is a burden - thanks for handling it so gracefully and for always finding the time to touch base and check in and offer words of encouragement - not too mention disbelief - like how in the world you jog for 90 minutes and get up at 3:15!?!?!? YOU ARE AMAZING! And I can't wait to Be that example for people like you have been for me - hugs!:flowerforyou:

Shari - and speaking of inspirations!!!! Girl, you've been through it all and it seems like to me that you've managed to do it all with such grace, poise and dignity. Yay for you! Thanks for keeping us all connected. I'm so glad you were able to enjoy some well-deserved rest and peace this past week and thank you for your honesty. No, I'm not a quilter - but yours sure are beautiful.

Jessica - I'm with Tamara - High Five to you for keeping it all under control. Way to go and hats off to you for continuing to lose weight through all the struggles you have to face. Thanks for your posts - you always have a smile to add. I love your lol's...

Marcie - I am so glad to hear your Mom is doing better. Way to hang in there through all of that. We will all keep our fingers crossed for you on Friday - you've done a great job this week! Thanks for being so considerate of my FIL and offering the kind words.

Gail - Girl - are you for hire? :laugh: My house could use some of the down home scubbing you are giving to yours!!!! Your down on your knees scrubbing should warrant you at LEAST three pounds shed this week. Glad to hear you have a line on a scale - it will be the reinforcement you need to reflect your accomplishments.

Welcome back to Karen and Robin - Looking forward to hearing your stories

SharonJetSet - haven't heard from you in a while.

Kim - So glad to have you here - your stories hit home with me every time - I think we our soul sisters... Our long term goals seem to be a lot alike - here's to inspiring each other to be our best. and here's to reclaimiing us!!!:drinker:

Phew - is anybody else tired?!?!??! Well, at least Bobbie and Jessica won't have to read their books anymore - this little novelette should take care of that reading bug?!??! tee hee hee:laugh:

Well, I got to get back to the actual work they pay me for!
Happy Wednesday - see you on the thread!
Deneen

Wow! Clearly I need to make more of an effort to read this thread daily. Miss a few days and you fall waaaay behind!

I'm not doing great diet-wise. I haven't gained, but I'm getting frustrated about not losing. It's all due to work starting again (I teach 4th grade). I love my school, but the admin can be a bit intense and the workload is overwhelming. I haven't had the energy or time to work out, although I had a really good workout on Sunday.

Last night my husband and I went to my son's Meet the Teacher. He's in a technology magnet program through the district. It's an intensive program and I love it! He loves it too, which is the best part. I got home from work after 5, turned around and left for my son's school. We didn't get home until almost 9 so our evening was completely off.

I am determined to work out tonight. w3 of c25k. Last week I didn't have the energy to work out at all so I do not want that to happen again.

I wish I could respond to posts, but it's a bit overwhelming at this point. I will keep reading and getting to "know" everyone so I can join in more.

tamara- school is going lol Its all pretty easy for her except hadnwriting. I just dont think I have the patience for it and shes a leftie which I know I keep mentioning cuz I hate it. The more I read up about lefties the more it scares me. She just keeps doing this thing were she wont answer the question or like today she was labeling letters and she got them all right the first time except the new lower case we introduced today (she does not know her lowercases, we have always done uppercase) which wasnt a ig deal untill after the twentieth time i told what it was and I knew she knew what it was but wasnt saying then she started to not say the other letters, or I should says start to say it but stop and look at me blankly UGH. I was ready to lose my mind lol. Im hoping she starts to realize getting the wrong answer is not a big deal real fast or else I may not chose to do this again next year. I keep telling her its ok to get it wrong and to just give me what she thinks the answer is, if its wrong Im not gonna beat her Im not gonna send her to time out, she wont get in trouble. Yea *sigh* shes way to stubborn. On a good note she is ooo so excited that our library just gota whole section of childrens books on cd. Not the kinds that come with books but the chapter type books. Shes always loved the magic tree house books ever since we got some of the cds from wendy's. So im ordering her the first set of books on cd. We tried reading them but she wasnt interested in mommy reading them i guess. I got one set to tide her overf till we get the first and she actually was listeningwhile cleaning her room except she came to me (my desk is right at her doorway) and said that a car belonged in Alex's room but she didnt wanna miss the story lol.

Hi gang ,

Tamara- since i don't have a job out of the house i do all the cleaning from getting down on my hands and knees to scrub the floor . i just make the kids to all the up high stuff since I'm afraid of heights( more like falling on my can)

i took a break after doing the kitchen yesterday and got back into it bright and early today. next i tackle the windows
with some dawn and vinegar and water ( the dawn is for outside). i do laundry every day i have a load or 2

but I'm taking extra steps to save me a few extra cals. my sons 16th is Monday so i want to enjoy the cake and ice cream at his party . going to do extra few things to help burn off that because he wants chocolate cake . i may get frozen yogurt instead of ice cream since they like it as well.

going to be busy getting things together for his party on Monday so ill be back after it's over . to pop on and say hello and see how every one is doing .

till Monday everyone have a great labor day week end !!!!!

Was just thinking this morning - hope Shari updates her picture with her new do... Lovely! Bet your guys will be suprised, huh?
Good for you - would lohhooooooovvvve to get my hair done - it's been almost 4 months - yikes! That was the plan for last night, but took the opportunity to get some work done and have a quiet evening with my DH.

It was very nice - it blew my calories, but it was worth it - back at it today with water, water, water - trying to flush out all the yuckies I put in last night... :laugh:

Marcie - yes, I know I owe a picture - just still a smidge embarassed to post it... Am working on that. Maybe I can find one I like from a while back where my hair was still blonde and i was not as overweight as I am now...

Baby steps - maybe that will be my "reward" for reaching the 20-25lb mark - take and post a picture...

Everyone have a great Thursday -
TODAY - I am going to do 50 situps!
Kisses!