NON WW & WW NEWBIES, OUR NEW LIFE, THE START OF SOMETHING WONDERFUL

@mswatson0777 Do you have any books you highly recommend? I’m so glad that you are feeling better and yayyy on the scale not making your day worse.

@cbabie Sorry that baby got an ear infection. Those are so miserable. I looked up Terri Blackstock and will give her a try! Any of her books you recommend the most?

@theslightedgeforever Hmm maybe our scales need to go into quarantine…or maybe we need to put a mask over the number to protect us. You can get the Shingles vaccine at 55 years old. After seeing how bad it kicked my DH’s butt I don’t know if I want to go through that.


Good morning! Hubby slept for 14 hours and is much better this morning. I spent last evening sorting puzzle pieces from my new monster puzzle and watching shows that DH doesn’t care for, like The Office and the news. Today I need to do my workout and then get some work done before staff meeting tomorrow. We have a new series starting and I need to make a bunch of new graphics for it.

My day is starting off kind of awful. All I want to do is go curl up back in bed under the covers and pretend everything's okay. It didn't help I didn't get much downtime last night. I ended up working on my qualifying exam until after 9pm since I didn't have any energy to do it this weekend and I needed to get an outline to my advisor. And my partner was frustrated since the house and yard are a disaster since I've had no time to help with either. Tonight I'm going to take the dogs for a long walk and relax more since I got so much done last night. Thank goodness I took Friday off. Since the weekend was so awful I feel like I've had no time to become myself again.

@trooworld I'm glad talking with your therapist helped! And I LOVED the Rosie Project! I'm starting Evvie Drake Starts Over and it's pretty good so far! I'm sorry yesterday was so stressful but I'm glad you're one step closer to a new shower!

@theslightedgeforever I'm sorry you're in the same boat as me! It is so frustrating to no longer have multiple desserts a day but still not budge. At least we're being healthier?

@TeresaW1020 I hope you have a productive day today! I am a voracious reader so I've got a ton depending on your genre preference. I've been devouring Sherry Thomas lately. I also really enjoyed "One to Watch" and "Mrs. Everything" by Jennifer Weiner.

@cbabie Happy birthday to the little! I'm so glad she's feeling better!

Hi all..sorry I have been gone so long. We took the gkids back to OK 2 weeks ago. Stayed with dd for a few days, saw my brother & sil, & then came home. Pretty quiet around here, but kinda enjoying it, lol. It is really nice to not have to try & figure out what they will eat. (VERY picky gs, gd is a little better, but still limited) They are starting school at home, so may be back again. Dd is going to give it a try until Labor Day, lol. They say she & ex will probably be WFH until Jan. Other dd & gkids starting in person. All start on the 24th.

Then Monday & the derecho hit. (not sure if all have heard about it..it is like an inland hurricane with winds 80-110 mph over an extended stretch. They say it was about a 100 mile wide stretch that ran from Nebraska to Ohio) Our house & dd's house seem to be OK. The sunflowers are now taller than dh (6'3") so they did not like the wind, but we propped them up & they seem OK. Lucky we have power, parts of the city still don't.

Yesterday, we headed out to the farm to see what damage there. We own about 90 acres where dh grew up. Mostly pasture & timber. It is where we plant the pumpkins. So much destruction all along the 100 mile drive. Corn flattened (almost looked chopped off), trees broken all over, grain bins down. Got to the farm & the 3-sided shed where we store the tractor was gone...pieces of it all over the field. & even more astonishing was the big machine shed that my fil built when he owned the farm was demolished. It had steel I-beams! So many trees damaged there, too. We had sold the house, machine shed, & a few acres when we bought the land, so the shed is not ours.
We have a lot of cleaning up to do! Then we went into town (where we lived up until 3 yrs ago). It looked like a war zone. It is a small town of about 2800 people. They don't think the power will be restored for up to a week.

It hit a number of our cousins with varying amounts of damage. Sorry for going on about it, but I just can't believe all the destruction! So we were out there today, starting to pick up & will be going back tomorrow.

@TeresaW1020 Your dog is adorable!! Hearing how sick your dh was with the shingles shot makes me leery of getting it. We got the original one, but now they say we should get the "new & improved" 2 shot one, which is probably the one he got?

@trooworld Wow..hope your bathroom gets done soon. Sad it has been so slow!!

@gemwolf Your kitchen was beautiful! Lots of work. We need to start painting the trim on our house, but waiting until it cools off.

@mswatson0777 I would've wanted everyone in masks, but probably would not have guts enough to speak up about it, lol.

@theslightedgeforever Did you get any effects from the derecho? Think you are in IL, right? I really hope you missed it.

Sorry not more "personal" but I can't remember all that I read. Thinking of all of you, tho. Keep on keeping on, lol.

@theslightedgeforever Are you psychic? Cause curling up in bed with a book and forgetting the world was exactly what I did last night. My goal for the week ahead is to get back to my basics (and my habit tracker). They way I can at least start to hit my minimums again. How about you?

@gemwolf110 I've been loving at home workouts as well. Well...I shouldn't say loving, but I appreciate that they're there to get me through this.

@RetiredandLovingIt I'm so sorry to hear about the wind damage. I'm glad everyone's okay and I hope people in the town are able to work through all the property damage with minimal impact.

I'm definitely doing better today. I have back to back meetings all day (including a lunch meeting) which is going to be rough, and I have an overwhelming amount of work, but it'll happen one way or another. I did take tomorrow off which I'm extremely grateful for. I'm planning on only doing 1 hour a day on my qualifying exam this weekend so I can focus on relaxation to hopefully tame down the feelings of burnout.

@trooworld man that really sounds like a pain with the drywall and the dog. I’ve been working remotely too and am always hearing dogs and kids and traffic. You need to have a little party when all of this is done…..my decision about my mother- yeah unfortunately it’s the best thing for me.

@TeresaW1020 yeah I haven’t read in ages. That is a tough puzzle! This is the one I’m working on, pic below. Sorry for the size. I dont understand why my pictures are always so big. Anyway I like funny critters in puzzles.

Congrats on finishing the barre! I’ve tried kickboxing, it’s definitely a tough workout……sorry for the booster for shingles, but it’s good to get. My step mother got shingles and she said it was terribly painful. Also it took for a while for the doctors to even figure out what it was.




@theslightedgeforever if I read it’s definitely fluff these days. I could not read American Dirt. I actually bought a couple of books a month ago bc I couldn’t sleep. One of them is Nicholas Sparks…? I think? I read a chapter. Terrible writer lol but might help me sleep. --- hey great on getting in your 6 cups!

@cbabie I hope the little one feels better! Ear aches are no fun.

@mswatson sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Your posts always remind me of being in university and how I used to kill myself trying to get everything done, and I was a perfectionist so it was tough. Sorry this is probably not much comfort.

@gemwolf nice to see you again

Well I have been tracking mostly, but that’s it. Haven’t really been getting my exercise goals, but back to it today. It isn’t much- I’m aiming for 2 hours of movement a day plus mobility. So that is usually 2 walks, plus something else. Today I should be on track. I haven’t biked in about a week, I had to take a break. But I will go out today for about an hour, nothing crazy.

I'll be honest with you guys one of the reason my attn to fitness dropped was bc I have been focussing on other goals to drink less. I think I mentioned that...so bc that was my goal I got a bit more lax around food. I honestly drink too much lol. So I've been working on that since June and it has gotten better but one of the side effects is my motivation to exercise and eat right is less. Which is kind of weird, you would think it would be the opposite, but I've never claimed to be normal lol.

So I am just trying to get on track in small ways, not asking for much.

Hope all is well!

@trooworld Yayyyy your life is almost back to normal again. I know that the first shower you take is going to be a long one! Great advice for the wine spritzers. I love how refreshing they are. I've been using white wine but I have a bottle of red in the fridge and might see how I like that mixed with either a Diet Coke or flavored seltzer.

@its_cleo, Ohhhhh I LOVE that puzzle!! It looks really fun. :grin I think focusing on drinking less is so important. I come from a family where drinking has been a major issue and I had a real battle in my younger years. I now limit any drinking to no more than one day a week and I really try to monitor the amount. So, keep it up and your motivation to exercise and eat better will come back. I for one think you getting 2 hours of movement a day is incredible.

@theslightedgeforever The problem with Shingles which can be very painful is that you can also develop something called Postherpetic Neuralgia which is a real nightmare of pain. My DH’s mother developed that and he watched her living in agony so the vaccine was important for him to get. My fasting has been OK but I need to tighten it up. See below.

@RetiredAndLovingIt Oh goodness, I am so sorry to read about all the damage your area received from the wind. That must have been so scary! I’m glad that you still have your power. I feel for all those who don’t and have to deal with the summer heat. I once went for several days in the summer with no power after a hurricane when I lived in Florida. It was miserable. Yeah, DH got the new Shingle shot and the side effects are bad but so is suffering from Shingles. If you and your DH do get it, I advise you to take turns so you can take care of each other.


Good morning! Well, I didn’t gain any weight this week, which is good, but I only lost 0.2 lbs. So pretty much a bust. There are two factors that I think are happening. One is that I’m still eating too much when I do break my fast. I don’t want to count calories and I don’t want to have to eat a certain diet, but that also means that I can’t go eating as much as I want, and the quality of my food needs to improve. Since moving my mom in I have been cooking a lot more “comfort” like food because that is what she likes. Stuff like hotdogs, casseroles, etc. So, I’m going to clean up our menu and cut out the overly processed dinners. She doesn’t need to eat like that either and she will learn to adapt if she wants me to continue cooking for her. And I have also been drinking wayyyy more coffee and less water than I should. That is something I can easily fix. So, I just need to stay focused. I still have half the month left to reach my Onderland goal and I’m going to do it!!

@mswatson0777 Food was awful on Thursday but I tracked every bite. I wasn't stress eating, I was just eating. Although today I was either yelling at people or wanting to cry so I think hormones have something to do with it. It made me think, do the hormones cause the eating or does the eating cause the hormones? I will be focusing on my water and bumping my calorie burn up to 225.

@trooworld Now I'm going to have to look up The Rosie Project. If Mio makes you guzzle more then use it. Don't ask about my water. It went along with the food the last two days but my movement was kick-@ss today. Soon your bathroom will be done.

@its_cleo Cute puzzle. Yaay on meeting all your goals. Good for you for working on your drinking goal. Sounds like you are progressing. I can't work on all my goals at once so I had to pick and choose. That sounds like what you are doing. When you get in a good place with your drinking goal, then progress on to food. Glad I'm not the only one with gigantic pics. Maybe it's for the older folks on this board. I love Nicholas Sparks but haven't read him in years. He gives me the warm fuzzies. Are any of us normal?

@teresaw1020 Well, you know what is not working which is good so that you can start tweaking it little by little. I still like my comfort foods so I'm learning to eat less of them. Evidently on Thursday I forgot that little piece of info. But I'm trying to add more veggies. Thanks for the shingles info.


So Thursday I'll just give you the horror total: Green Day Went Over 370/238 Movement: rest day

Yellow Day: Went Over 193/164 Intentional Movement: 52+44 min walk

August goals: Green dot day Drink 6 glasses of water Burn 200 cals via movement preplan food

@trooworld Woohoo! for your loss. My goal this week is to meet my water goal every day and up my intentional movement to 225 calories. Happy Anniversary! Enjoy your bath!

Green Day Stayed OP 221/238 Intentional Movement: 51 min walking

August goals: Green Dot day Drink 6 glasses of water Burn 200 cals via movement Preplan food

What's missing from these pictures are the brownies with ice cream we had for dessert.

@its_cleo Thanks! It was delicious. I'm so sorry you fell! That sounds very traumatic. If you are hurting in a day or two, maybe you should go to the doctor just to be safe? Be gentle with yourself.

@theslightedgeforever My water wasn't good yesterday at all. Maybe 25 oz. I hope better today.

Hello everyone. Not too much going on here. I'm going into the office today. I hope it goes by quickly.

COMMITTED.
August goals: get at least 7 1/2 hours of sleep every night, drink 2 (26 oz) bottles of water a day