Good morning everyone. Happy Friday! Sorry I haven't been setting habits/goals for myself lately. It just gets so depressing when I can't meet them. I've been on a roller coaster with my smoking. Some days I do good and other days I fail miserably. There's so much stress going on in my life right now. My husband is battling depression because of his cancer, our finances are a mess with all the medical bills we owe, I've had to take over doing everything inside and outside the home...it gets tough! I feel so alone at times. I've been having trouble sleeping, I wake up several times a night and just lay there thinking about everything. I try not to but that seems easier said than done! Usually when that happens I go outside and smoke but lately I find myself in the kitchen snacking instead of smoking urg! On the bright side though I discovered a way that will hopefully help me with my water intake, flavored water inhancers. We buy bottled water cause our tap water sucks. Each bottle is 16.9 oz so all I need to do is just add the flavor inhancer to it. Now if I can just get my stress level down.
Thanks for letting me vent and talk about things that's bothering me. I'm not looking for sympathy, just needed to vent a little.

As I mentioned in my check in earlier this week, my son has been sick. We ended up in the ER Tuesday night and he has meningitis. We will be in the hospital a couple weeks and I won’t be able to weigh in. Will post again when I’m able.

@raleighgirl09, yes it does kind of feel like your drowning but now I like it! Glad you are feeling better and you are a good grandma to take care of the baby for your son and DIL.

@prowell57, if you are interested in doing IF then starting 12/12 is perfect. That is how I started and then I slowly worked my way up to 17 to 19 hrs. I want to fast longer but at least I’m finally doing clean fasting which is huge for me to give up my precious creamer. I really recommend Gin Stephens's book, Delay, Don’t Deny. She also has FB groups, a blog and a podcast that is great! Here is a link if you want to check her out. http://intermittentfastingstories.com/ I am also so sorry that you and your husband are going through so much right now. Please feel free to vent anytime you need to.

@Katmary71, glad you are feeling better! I’ve never tried Tiger Balm but just looked at their website and think I should pick some up. I would be curious to see if it would help that one little stop in my lower back that likes to hurt all the time.

@mlhopp93, welcome to the Team and congrats on the weight loss. Please feel free to post often or whenever you can. We are a chatty bunch of people and all are welcomed to join in!

@AustinRuadhain, thanks for your support! I wanted to be in the green too and I’m super happy I got there. Thank you also for asking after my pastor. He is doing well except he still has an issue with his vision, and it makes it very difficult for him to read. He was going to a specialist today so hopefully, he will start improving. He is hates being limited in his abilities and we really do need him back to his old self. HaHa!! I just listened to Staying Alive. I’m such a huge fan of the Bee Gees fan. Thanks for that moment of joy!!

@Kpaige428, so sorry that you have been sick and I know that the scale wasn’t what you wanted but it wasn’t up much and you will get that off in no time. Take care of yourself!

@mrmcgrath, heck yeah that shouldn’t be red!! A nice shade of pale green is all it is.

@wwood008, ohhh so sorry to hear about your son! Take care of him and yourself and weigh in when you can.

I started lifting weights this week. Monday, Wednesday and this morning just to get it out the way as not to do it tonight. Not heavy. Today my carb cravings were out the roof. I was wondering if the weight lifting has to do with it. I dont plan on stopping just need to get it under control. Today was over the top with Noodles & Company for lunch and Pho for dinner.

@wwood008 your son and family are in my thoughts.

@TeresaW1020 good job on your loss this week! Wow you're killing it with the workouts, I get out of breath and feel the pain just reading about it 😉. You've got this 👍🏼 Thank you for the link to Gin Stephen, I'll definitely check her out!

@wrknonmedaily oohhh I love Pho. My husband and I enjoy stopping at this little restaurant we discovered. They have the best Pho!
Lifting weights could be the reason for carb cravings, it takes a lot of energy to lift. Most weight lifters I know eat high carbs on their lifting days.

@sunshineplace hi. I worked at a daycare for a while, it is extremely demanding at times but so rewarding at the same time. I was in charge of the 2-3 year olds. It was so fun watching them grow and discover things.

@prowell57 I'm sorry you're dealing with so much right now. Definitely try to congratulate yourself for all you ARE doing, it sounds like you're a lot stronger than you're giving yourself credit for. What kind of water enhancers did you find? Good luck on your goals tomorrow!

@davors19 good job maintaining!

@wwood008 prayers for your son and his recovery.

@TeresaW1020 Your workouts sound pretty hardcore, I know it's common to retain doing new workouts. Those situps sound awesome, you'll have Abs of Steel in no time!

@wrknonmedaily How do you like weights so far? I wish I'd started earlier than I did! Some exercise makes me hungrier, ever since I started the stair treadmill I drool over the waffle restaurant wanting a strawberry waffle and I normally don't even notice it. Luckily I leave my wallet at home! Pho for dinner sounds awesome!

Step Challenge Numbers
2/5 - 3910
2/6 - 11427
2/7 - 13442

I was able to run a mile on Thursday and I didn't die lol. I alternated between walking and jogging half a mile at a time of the treadmill since it was monsooning outside.

Guys, I think I need to drop out. My life is so stressful right now that I'm barely putting one foot in front of the other. I just can't keep up. I'm wishing you all the best on your fitness journeys. Maybe I'll ask to join again if I ever feel like I can do it without letting all of you and myself down.

Want to check in but kind of in a down mood.

Exercises- I'm on track for this week. Two to go today- a run and an upper body workout. It's cold here, like -13c but I'm going to try to go out anyway. I also don't feel very energetic but I will give it a shot. I don't mind the cold but one year my phone wouldn't work in -10, so if my phone dies and I have no music I don't like to run. I have a new phone so here's hoping it will be ok.

Calories- I set a new goal for myself a couple weeks ago and really struggling to meet it this week. Depending what I eat today I will just barely squeak by.

But I checked my weight today and it was up by 2 lbs which really discouraged me though it may just be water or something I don't know. My official weigh in day is tomorrow. But it was hard to see that and not just throw in the towel with the calories. But I have three good meals planned for today so I just need to stick to it- chicken wrap for lunch and/or a chickpea soup if I get it together to make the soup in time. Dinner is roast beef.

Or I might do something totally different and go out and do a bit of shopping to pick me up because my mood is low.

Also I have a crappy meeting on Monday to look forward to. Lol- see I'm just grumpy today.

@mrmcgrath makes sense to me. What about lime green?

@Kpaige428 yeah a cold can knock you back, but you're right once you recover you can get back to where you were pretty quickly.

@AustinRuadhain Staying Alive is a great song! For working out or running I also like the Rocky theme, I Need a Hero, Eye if the Tiger. 80s were the best.

@TeresaW1020 congrats on the loss.

@mlhopp93 welcome!

@Katmary71 glad you're doing a little better. I've had cassava but only on vacation. Sounds like an interesting recipe.

Step catch up:
2/5- 11,725
2/6-6915
2/7-6078