200+ Hot For Halloween!

I blew up my pink adult sized bouncy ball with a handle and am boucing around my office. It. Is. Awesome.

Jenn: I don't belong to a gym and I started exercising with simple body-weight bearing DVDs. I also walked my gods regularly as it improves both their mood and mine to be outside.

Pam: I'm super-jealous of your fall-icious weekend!! I LOVE fall and apple picking and pumpkin patches and ALL things fall.

Kendal: I your desk and LOVE that you love Halloween as much as I do!!! Yay for your scale being nice to you!!!

Lacey: I'm gonna chase Gabe around the yard with my hand over my face tomorrow and count it as exercise for both of us! Good luck with the healthy eating. I hate days when I can't work out cuz I have to be so much more picky with my food.

Welcome Kelle!!

Kristina: I miss you, are you doing ok??

Nava: I'm glad you are getting one step closer to London. Bummer that you and Joe might be separated for a bit. Me & The Hubbs spent the first 8 months of our marriage on different ends of the country, so it TOTALLY can be done. In the long run, it sounds like it will be a good way for him to get a job with your company.

I've had my food under control all day and logged EVERYTHING I ate. Including these: http://www.dessertfortwo.com/2011/10/pumpkin-biscotti/ - if you like pumpkin, you'll like pumpkin biscotti. I just finished eating mine with a huuuugggeee cup of tea and it was FABULOUS!!! I got the dog walk and the Plyo X workout in. I'm feeling pretty good about my day.

Lacey/Amy, I have bounced around my basement with my pink bouncy ball (from ideeli) and HOLY COW it's way more of a workout on my thighs than I thought it would be! My bf loves bouncing with it too and it cracks me up to see him do it.

Nava, that's great that his program only lasts a year and that you might be able to get him a job with your company afterwards! It'll be tough being apart, but he sounds totally committed to you and the plan to get married and have babies, so that's awesome.

Jenn, I was going to suggest workout videos but would you have enough space for that? Katheryne's running in place workout could work for you though...and if it's nice outside it sounds like you have a lot of room on the ranch to walk! Any chance there's a not too expensive gym in the town where you teach that you could go to before or after work?

Amy, those biscotti look DELICIOUS!! Yum yum YUM! Also, I'm trying a Peas & Thank you recipe for dinner tonight, so thanks again for sharing that with us. I'm doing the Spicy African Peanut Stew...I can't wait to eat it, but, like Kendal, I've been worrying about the crock pot burning my house down while I'm gone. As long as that doesn't happen, I know I'll enjoy the stew because it smelled delicious as soon as I put the ingredients in the pot.

I want a bouncy ball (*bawls*)... It sounds like fun.

Lacey - a normal pair of shoes will last about 200 miles of running or walking. Do you wear them just for ex or all day? If your feet are hurting, it may be smarter to get custom orthotics like Kendal.

Nava - Im proud of Joe for making this change. I wish you the best of luck and hope the separation won't be for long. London sounds so exciting.

Pam - I'm drooling over your dinner. My blackbean burger won't compare.

Jenn - in nice weather, I bike, walk and run outside. In winter, I snowshoe for walks outside. Many of my walks are slower pace 20 min/mile. Even a 30 min mile would get you started. My mom walks outside everyday of the year - she feels guilty if the dog doesn't get a mile a day. She wears one yak trax during the bad weather months. It took 9 weeks of C25K for me to be able to run for 30 min and I could only go 2 miles. Think about C25K for the spring - you could even walk slower then power walk the jog times to build up to 30 min power walk. As for exercise inside - Leslie Sansone walking DVDs can be done in a 3 ft by 3 ft area. At mom's, we flip ottoman and coffee tables up onto the couch for more room. Jillian Micheal's 30 day shred (which I recommend you keep low impact until you build strength up) can be done in 3 ft by 6 ft space (due to planks and push ups). Zumba and P90X DVDs take a bit more room. I have a great weight lifting DVD by Kathy Smith "Lift Weights to Lose Weight" that has 7 workouts (2 upper body, 2 lower body, 2 abs and 1 with stabiliy ball.) Step aerobics takes a 7 by 7 area but is good. Denise Austin has some good walking videos and power band videos for strength training. Good luck and let us know what you decide. Another option might be getting a family member or neighbor to commit to working out several times a week - the accountabilty makes you do it and there is more room. What about a teacher friend doing DVDs before/after school - in a spare class room or the gym? In my youth (20 years ago), I'd workout after work in the therapy gym with other staff members. The hospital let us do it since healthier staff = more productivity and less sick days.

Well I only ran 3 miles. It's freaking hot out. 77 degrees in mid Oct. I should have run this morning and done P90X in afternoon. One more workout to go then I'll be caught up from taking 2 days off.

Thanks for the support ladies. I know deep down that Joe and I can make it through anything... I've just been burned so many times in the past by men that it's hard to have 100% confidence. But again, I'm so crazy proud of him for making this decision.

Finally getting around to shopping tonight. Made a list... hopefully it won't be too expensive.

Victoria - They love it, but she still hates coming out, hates being brushed, hates having her hair trimmed (she had terrible mats when I got her)... I've got the battle wounds to prove it, too.

Nava - Sorry about Joe. That really sucks. Can he not do classes online, as long as his permanent address is in the US?

I totally failed to post my weight, btw. 264.2. I really did read the previous posts, I just feel like poo so I'm pretty out of it. Upset stomach, and I've slept for the last 2 days. I wasn't going to go into work today, but I'm glad I did because it never fails that orders get put in wrong and I have to fix them, and there were quite a few today. I've also got a huge cyst on the back of my arm that hurts like hell. On the plus side, I do get the neighbor's treadmill on payday - she's not using it so he convinced her to sell it to me for $50 (which is $10 less than a monthly membership to the gym for Nerd and I), so that's pretty awesome. Now, to lay down... have a good night, ladies.

Hello ladies! I feel so overwhelmed with trying to keep up with you all, let alone catch up with posting. I promise to do so in the next couple of days...promise!!!

I finally went back to the gym, after 4 days of not systematic workout (intense housekeeping), and it felt so good!

So question, maybe rather a poll: I'm trying to decide whether to go to NJ for Thanksgiving, as I promised last year simply to be able to have it in my house last year, or stay home again happy and relaxed with my own dinner. It is a tradition to always have Thanksgiving in my grandma's house, even though she's no longer alive, and my uncle is trying to uphold that tradition. My mom really wants to go, but wants us all to go with her. My girls don't care either way, although one may be scheduled to work during that week. My sisters, on the other hand, will not be going: One has to work the entire weekend (Walmart is NOT letting her off for Black Friday) and the other has a baby. They will, however, come to my house if I hold it here. So, the poll question is, how long do you continue a family tradition that is no longer relevant to your immediate family?

Thanks, and I promise I'm not disappearing or just coming around for weigh-ins

MTV's. I used to be fat season premiere! I love the trainer that they have on this episode. He is so cool for those boys bc he's so goofy.

Btw, I worked out tonight. Woohoo!

Lacey - a normal pair of shoes will last about 200 miles of running or walking. Do you wear them just for ex or all day? If your feet are hurting, it may be smarter to get custom orthotics like Kendal.

WHAT!? ONLY 200 MILES?!! That puts me about 400 miles overdue for shoes with a race on Sunday. Too late now...I'm not breaking in new shoes at the race, but maybe I'll reward myself with something super cute!!

If they only last about 200 miles, is there a shoe I can buy that will last longer? It's not in the budget (not even the new one) for a pair of running shoes every month...and that's about how often I would need them ever 4-6 weeks.

I had a morning from hell. We woke up at 4ish to Sofie having a particularly rough diarrhea episode on the ONE freaking carpet in our entire house. The poor dog had a lot of blood in her poo so we scrambled to find the list we got when we moved here of emergency vets. Called the emergency vet and explained the situation and they said that it wasn't really an emergency and we should wait until the regular vet clinics open. So we spent the next 4 hours trying to anticipate when the dog needed to go out in order to avoid a repeat of the carpet incident and failed miserably at it. She just gave no notice whatever before she exploded. It was horrible. We did eventually get her to the vet and she got a shot to stop the diarrhea (so far it's worked) and antibiotics. The Hubbs went to work and I came home to be extremely grumpy while teaching Gabe about whatever it was school was about today (I honestly can't remember). I DID take a nap. Now the OTHER dog is puking...FML.

Shenanigans! There's all kinds of stuff going on and I'm so behind! Boo!

Runner's World really is the greatest. I still haven't subscribed to the magazine itself, but I frequent the website. They are full of such awesome advice.

My CamelBak is also the greatest. My back does get super duper sweaty, so I'll be curious to see how that goes after 13.1 miles on Saturday morning. Either way, I'm going to do another short run today and tomorrow just so I have more time logged with the CamelBak on. I'm thinking on Friday I am going to head into our local running/sports store (that is AWESOME) and pick up some BodyGlide and maybe a couple of gels. I'm also wondering if I should eat pre-run? I never have before. Not even on the 12 mile run. I've heard toast and peanut butter or a banana and peanut butter are a good idea. Sarah, I can't imagine how NERVOUS you are! I'm not even doing this in an actual race environment and I've got myself all psyched up about it!

I had to drive to Detroit for a training for work yesterday, and it was seriously the biggest waste of 7 hours of my life. I learned nothing. 2 of the trainers came in and said "So yeah... I don't normally teach this class so you'll have to excuse me while I stumble through this." I hate things like this. If you don't know what you are talking about, DON'T TEACH. Grr.

Kendal, your office looks awesome and adorable. LOVE IT!

Nava, I have major mixed emotions on everything with you and Joe. Its so awesome that you are getting this opportunity (OMG ENGLAND!!!! EXCITING!!!!!), and its really great that he is going back to school, but I can't imagine being that far apart. Would it just be for the year while he is in school? Or do you not know that?

Victoria, I heart you and all of the incredible advice you give around here. Thanks thanks thanks! And I'm totally making that pumpkin dip to take up to the cabin this weekend. Yum yum yum!

Lacey, I totally think you need new shoes. I had an amazing pair of Mizunos that I loved, so I started wearing them at work, and then out of the blue I had the most excrutiating foot pain and it got so bad in the arch of my left foot that I had an entire day where I couldn't move my foot. At all. I went to the store, talked to a shoe guy, got new shoes, and BAM! It was seriously immediately better. I know everyone's situation is different, but I definitely think that's the place to start.

Sarah, I would trust Victoria, but I had thought shoes could go up to 500 miles prior to needing replacement. I thought I rememered reading that between 300-500 is when you should replace. And I don't know of any shoe that lasts longer, which sucks. I know a lot of people buy 2 pairs of shoes at the same time (cuz maybe you get a buy one get one 1/2 off deal or something), and then rotate back and forth between the 2 pairs.

Amy, how are the dogs? What a messy and ridiculous pain that is to be dealing with! I hope for their sake and yours that they are feeling better. That all sounds awful. At least you have a bad@ss bouncy ball to bounce out your aggression!

Pam, get your bootie out of bed in the morning and do some Jillian! Strength training is SO good for you. Your weekend sounds perfectly fally and wonderful. I'm jealous!

Bobbie, I think you have to do whatever is best for your immediate family. At some point you just have to start making your own traditions. I vote you stay home. Have your own Thanksgiving. Chris and I have gotten really good about scheduling alternate holidays... so we pick a separate weekend to do Thanksgiving or Christmas with my family, and that way we don't have to drive to Illinois on the actual holiday weekends. This frees us up to do Christmas eve with his parents, and then Christmas Day we normally spend just the 2 of us. If we ever have kids, then it would be Christmas with just our family. It seems to work well. And if anyone in your family tries to make you feel guilty for this, then screw them.

Okay, one last thing... so on Monday night while watching the Lions kick the Bears bootie (yay!), Chris and I finally went through our closets and got everything that is too big set aside to donate to Goodwill. It ended up being about 5 garbage bags full of clothes. Crazy. Anyway, at one point in time I left the room, and when I came back in, Chris was standing there with his hands on his hips and a big old grin on his face and said "Look baby! I'm a size 14 woman from Banana Republic!" He was wearing a pair of my jeans that were in the donate pile. It was HILARIOUS. The ridiculous thing is, the pants looked amazing on him. They're just your standard bootcut, so they aren't girly looking at all. So funny.

Rain- I love sharing before/after photos and I'm sure everyone here will too!


First pic was Oct 2009 (about 260lb), the second is New Years this year

Rain, heck yeah before and after pics! SO FUN! I actually have been holding off, cuz I wanted to wait til I hit my "goal weight" of 150, (or maybe 145, who knows!) but this is still fun. The before pic is me in December of 2010, right at about 242 pounds. Second is in the end of September at the Detroit Zoo... I think in that pic I was weighing in at 165 or so.

Kendal: HOLY SMOKES! What a huge difference in your face.

Jesi: Anxiously awaiting before shots...I need to post some as well. Maybe even a progress pic.

Kerry: Your weight in your before picture is what I weighed before I got pregnant in 2008. Right now I'm 10 lbs below that. So, we were about the same size...I can't wait to look like your after picture, I WILL accomplish it! Great work, woman. You look incredible.

Keep em coming! You girls are all gorgeous, by the way. So jealous.

Jessi, he could probably find a similar program in the UK, but it's a certification that can't be done online because they have lots of labs and working on machinery and what not.

Kerry, first of all... picture is awesome! Second, I hope it would only be for a year... I think the current idea is he goes to school for the year to get that stuff done, we get married, then hopefully we can find him a job either with my company or an oil company with offices nearby. As it stands, my company won't help him get a visa or anything, but if we were married, they could get him a work visa and help locate a job. And I'm right there with you on the mixed emotions. I feel like I should be jumping for joy at the opportunity, but I've been crying every day instead because I'm so scared to lose Joe. He keeps reassuring me he's not going anywhere, and I suppose it's reassuring that he is reassuring me at all, if that makes sense.

Bleh.