@jeanmrob congratulations on your new great niece and what a lovely gesture on your niece's part. I love my Fitbit Charge. I don't have the one with the HR monitor. It hadn't come out yet when I got mine.

@Gramanana: I think the stretching commitment is so important! I use a stretch trainer at the gym and it has really taken away my aches and pains. But, I haven't been to the gym all week and was just thinking how I ache all over today. I need that stretching!

I have been really working on balance. Started in December standing on one-foot whenever I think of it and am just standing like at the kitchen counter or brushing teeth. It is really helping and I can do the slow-hold kicks of Tai Chi better than even my instructors!

Finally feeling better. I think I will wait until tomorrow or Sunday before heading back to the gym though. Still have a cough and is worse when I get overheated.

Oh, I booked my "reward" finally from last month for hitting a goal. Booked one-night in a B&B in Northern KY (one of BedandBreakfast.com's top 10 B&Bs), with reservations at a local fine-dining tavern and tickets to a "Mummy" exhibition in Cincinnati the next day! Maybe a stop at IKEA on the way back to Columbus!

grandmothercharlie wrote: »

Oh, I booked my "reward" finally from last month for hitting a goal. Booked one-night in a B&B in Northern KY (one of BedandBreakfast.com's top 10 B&Bs), with reservations at a local fine-dining tavern and tickets to a "Mummy" exhibition in Cincinnati the next day! Maybe a stop at IKEA on the way back to Columbus!

Hope you get to see the redbuds and dogwoods blooming in Cinncy, I was in Vista there and it is where I met my husband, I lived there for a couple of years. It can be very beautiful in the spring or just flat out rainy. Hope you get the beautiful part.

Jean, I'm sure you'll keep moving because it is habit now. Good luck finding a replacement. Most people love their Fitbits, but personally, I don't have one and pedometers don't really work for me anyway. When I'm out walking, I use RunKeeper on my phone and that does the trick for me.

Jeanrob congrats on the new niece! I have two grandnephews born last year and I made a contract with both mothers that they are REQUIRED to send me a pic at least once a week!! I have a love/hate relationship with technology but texting and phone pics have really helped keep me closer with my far away family. Love facebook for the same reason

I have gone back and forth about saying this and decided I am going to go out on a limb and just do it. After all, I am at the age where I can say what I please right? Here it goes, holding my breath ...........I do not agree with your doctor on the 900 calories. There, said it. After 30 years as a nurse I can honestly say, not that many doctors know all that much about nutrition. If s/he is a barriartic MD, that is one thing. But pcps , well, I will say only this - please look up the dangers of eating too few calories and trying to lose weight. Its so easy for your body to click into starvation mode and then losing becomes almost impossible. Does mfp say you should be eating that little? Personally, I would limit starches, increase fiber, and increase exercise. I PROMISE I will only say it once and am not bringing it up to debate it. I finally decided to bring it up ONLY for this reason. Try it, since your MD told you to, BUT if you find that its impossible for you to stick to, OR you find that you stick to it and your body stops losing (I did this one time and after about 3 months I counted every calorie, every fat gram, exercised like crazy and lost only 3 lbs a month because my body had just snapped into starvation mode and was holding fat! and I only lost 3 lbs a month for a year!) then do NOT feel guilty!!! My only suggestion of to educate, educate, educate yourself about nutrition. There is so much wonderful advice on the internet about health and fitness. Sorry, I know I do tend to run on and please feel free to backlash me. I simply had to let it out!!!

I grew up in Cincinnati and lived there till we moved here 42 years ago. My family is still there, so I go for some holidays, living in Louisville, KY, just 100 miles, it is an easy trip.

just wanted to say...
plus equals

Needs to stop. That is all.
-marilyn/ker

Marilyn - Though nighttime eating is not my particular downfall, as you know, I just am getting back on board after a 3 week "hiatus". It feels so good.

This is the first time I've been able to catch myself so quickly. Usually it has taken months because I hate the feeling of having let myself down - again - - and, as my eating habits deteriorate into downright bingeing, well, what do they say in AA? - "One is too much and a thousand and one is never enough".

What has brought me back is the support I've received here (I've continued to sign in every day) - and at my gym - where they send relentless emails saying "Come back! We miss you!". I told the owner yesterday that the emails had been really helpful in keeping me from giving up completely, and she said, "I know. I used to be a teacher."

So - that's my gratitude for today - thanks to all the teachers in my life who haven't given up on me - no matter what.

DreamOn, welcome back, missed ya I struggle with the food diary, the scan function helps me tremendously with that. Last year about this time, I got lax about logging and ended up putting on about half of what I had lost before getting back here. I am now within 4 lbs of where I was when I dropped out last year, after a little over 3 months back here.

So no matter what it takes, keep your food diary and check in with the gang here. Many of us are losing fairly consistently and some are even maintaining which is the real goal.

A little tip with the recipes, now you can find one on the 'net and quickly edit it in the newest version of the recipe tool, faster than typing everything in. I want them to add the ability to view each others recipes, so we can tell if we even need to add yet another recipe. The copy your friends dairy is worthless without the recipes as far as I am concerned. I have tried that do you want to share this recipe and it just clock out everytime. So that function is worthless as well.

DreamOn, if you google "emoticons in bbcode" you will see some websites that explain how to use them, and some that you can copy and paste ... for example http://www.sympato.ch/smiley2.php

Just for fun, here's a cool one:

bbcode stand for Bulletin Board code, I believe... Kathy

Ladies, when I get time, I'll add some of my slimmed versions of recipes to the new section of our forum. Many of them are super quick to prepare.

Charlie, so far so good. I actually find on the days when the grazing was logged (but not eaten) I might be eating even better, because I'm so conscious of what I'm doing & that every calorie really counts. It also kind of reminds me that a splurge or binge isn't the end of the world - just a bit of effort (and stopping it) can put me right back on track. And on fitbit praise -you're singing to the choir


Sharon - I think getting the recipes up and going in here would be a great idea. The more super quick, the better for me LOL

Wow, it just so happens that I stopped in the gratitude list and I mentioned two things that I just found you talking about here! lol I discovered the ability to import recipes a few months ago and I love that tool!!

There was a time when I considered my lapses as "falling off the wagon" and I would get VERY frustrated with myself, now I am trying something new and we will see how it works. I am working on "the power of three" (started it because journaling is my weakest link and I read that 3 days of journaling a week can be very effective). I have a calendar beside my desk (something about being able to look up at that complete record motivates me) and I have set my goals in threes. On Sunday I wrote that I would do 3 days of light weights, 3 days of yoga, 3 days of journaling, and 3 days of interval training on the bike. I will see how this works for me since I just started it.

And yes I do find that stopping is here is very motivational!!! This is a great group!!

here are a couple of U.S. sites I use, and have not had any nasty messages pop up from Windows or my virus/malware protection software:
http://smileys.on-my-web.com/
http://www.sherv.net/
Enjoy!!!

I'm a little behind because we didn't have internet for a couple of days. But I'm going to look into the emotion bubbles--looks like fun. Thanks.