Hello friends !! I assure you my absense is not a bad one. Actually it’s a good one! I’m doing awesome. I have been sticking to my points, busy like crazy and loving every minute of it.

Saturday there was a huge car show in mid-Ohio that we went to and walked around from 10:00 a.m. till about 3:00 p.m. in the nasty heat no less…but some great exercise. Sunday we went and helped my cousin and her husband. They bought some property (wooded) and are going to build, so we helped get it cleared. Cutting down trees, trimming cut trees, clearing the brush, carrying the cut logs…GOOD exercise…that was from 11:30 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. Yesterday I walked one mile at the track at work, then when I got home did my 3 mile WATP DVD. So 4 miles total yesterday in just intentional exercise…

Then today I walked outside, and my neighbor guy was out back when I walked out and he goes ‘You losing weight?? You’re looking good!!’ How AWESOME does that feel??? Especially when it’s unsolicited compliments. Like when people don’t know you’re trying to lose, or whatever, and they notice I haven’t told anyone since I have been back at this strong again, so there’s no feeling on my end that they KNOW and they are just trying to give me a compliment to make me feel good. This is REAL. I’m just like that. If someone knows I’m working on WW and working out, then they compliment me, I feel like it’s a ‘pity’ compliment…know what I mean? That’s just me. My self-esteem is completely low. I feel good about myself at times and most others I would live under a rock if I could. It’s getting better ‘Specially now that I hear a positive from an unbiased person

So, that’s my update for the past few days…I didn’t weigh in last weekend…too busy to even think about it. I think I have trained my brain, at least for the time being to not focus on my numbers. It’s actually like a huge weight off my shoulders. But this weekend I will weigh in and I BETTER be outta the 260’s, or that scale’s gonna be taking a flight.

2nd post for today…had to get this out…I think my mirrors at home are broken. Or at least it should be mandatory for mirrors that are in my house to be labeled with the phrase ‘Objects in mirror are actually larger than they appear‘

We went to Wal-mart tonight…we are potty training Megan right now, so of course we get to Wal-mart and her and I head to the potty. We go in, she does her thing, and we head to wash our hands…all is fine. Then…THEN…I go to the opposite side of the bathroom, across from the sink and mirrors and see the HORRIFIC backsize of me in FULL VIEW. No, I didn’t forget to pull up my pants, it was my back-end in all it’s glory. Then I turned myself around, thinking, it’s just the way I’m standing, NOPE…it was ME. I faced the mirror, tried to re-arrange my clothes so everything laid nicely. DANG!! I HATED what I saw. Now, at home, I feel comfortable…not happy with myself, but comfortable enough to not feel nasty when I head out. After all I’m down close to 40 lbs. at this point. But not now. I feel as big as I was when I was almost 300 lbs. Sucks.

BUT!! One good thing is, although I feel comfortable here in my mirror, that image of myself in the wal-mart mirror is now permanently burned into my brain to the point where I KNOW I cannot slack off because I feel comfortable and have this neurotic thought in my head that ‘I’m not THAT big’…yeah right…now I really have the motivation to get my butt in gear…literally.

Filled my points PERFECTLY again 28/28, earned 4 AP’s with a mile and a half walk at work today, only got in 60 oz. of water, but better than nothing

Elizabeth is trying not to weigh in but once per week for a challenge she’s doing (http://www.minibite.com/zack/diva/) so I’m going to try and do the same…get that awesome feeling of seeing how I did after a full week of not weighing in…I know it’s gonna kill me, as my feet are pretty much permanently attached to the dang thing, but that waiting to see how I did may even stop the discouragement that happens sometimes when there is that odd day when it’s up a tad for no reason…not weighing in may be the kind of ‘wait 9 months to see if it’s a boy or a girl’ kind of anxiousness…who knows…ok…well, maybe not THAT wonderful of an anxious ‘wait and see’ kinda thing, but you get my drift.

Speaking of Elizabeth…please click the link I just posted ^up there^ and check out her site She’s such an amazing cheerleader and support for me lately…I’m so glad I’ve gotten to know her recently…and her site is adorable

Sorry I have been out of commission here…I was literally out of commission here at home. Challenge Day #7 was Father’s Day. I didn’t have my normal daily menu, but I did stay within my points, even able to have a little apple pie & a little vanilla ice cream on top. It was YUMMY but OH SO sweet. I’m not used to that anymore…so a small piece did me just fine. During the day that day I fell asleep at 1:30 p.m. I never take naps…well, I slept for 3 HOURS!!! I should have known something was up then. Then that evening, I got on Lippy as usual, and my normal time on her is 15-20 minutes. I didn’t even make it a full 6 minutes and I was completely tired and weak. I couldn’t even do it!! I tried everything to keep going, mentally and physically and just could NOT. I got into bed that night, slept all night, and woke up at 5:30 a.m. going to try Lippy again and felt very lightheaded, so I got a shower instead and soon as I got out of the shower, the throwing up started Ended up throwing up 3 times yesterday morning, slept most of the day (not soundly, but off and on because of the girls being there with me), and today I’m still a bit tired, but feel 100% better! I got some sort of 24 hour bug…knocked me right down!!

As for the Challenge totals, I started the challenge at 264. By Sunday morning I was 260. I was REALLY hoping to be in the 250’s by Sunday, but 4 lbs. was an awesome loss. Well, as of Monday morning, sick and all, I was back up 3 lbs. So I know it was a fluke thing and am not even thinking about that at all…I sticking with my 4 lb. loss that showed on Sunday morning, because I know the gain was from being sick…and I haven’t even beaten myself up over it…I didn’t eat hardly anything yesterday, the scale was down to 262 this morning, so I AM going to PUSH for 250-something by Week’s end. Having something to shoot for daily and by week’s end has really been helping me stick to it all…the challenge is exactly what I needed to see that I CAN do this if I just stick to it!!!

So, that’s my past few days…Today is my official Challenge Day #1 of week #2 I wanna pull through another full week and see where it leads me

Thank you for all of the comments that you all have left me in the past few days…you all sound like you are doing so well!!!

Mel ~ CONGRATULATIONS on your loss and numbers this week!!!! I”m so happy for you! I cannot WAIT to see those numbers myself…seems like a dream that won’t ever happen at this point, but damn if I’m not gonna do it

Another quick update…today was awesome…I LOVE having family over…most of them I didn’t even know, so it was great getting to know everyone

I stuck with my plan for eating and didn’t budge from it…didn’t even GLANCE at the desserts that were brought in and sitting on the table. I got the girls fed, helped Clint with the grilled food, and made sure everyone was fed, then snuck inside and got my chicken sausage thing that I had gotten for myself and made it (Clint had grilled it for me)…I added a little ketchup and relish on my lite bun, all for 3 points and got 1/2 C. of vegetarian baked beans for 2 more points and a glass of my Crystal Light Raspberry Tea and headed back out with the crowd to eat, no one suspecting my food was any different from theirs…I feel uncomfortable when people ask me ‘Why aren’t you having we WE’RE having???’ or something to that effect, and usually ‘Because I can’t have it’ doesn’t suffice, and I hate having to say out loud that I need to lose weight, or that it’s because I don’t know points, you get the idea…so I got my food all done quietly and enjoyed

The ‘hot dog’ I had gotten for myself is actually called a ‘chicken sausage’, but has no pork…how’s all that for confusing??? It’s made by Casual Gourmet (http://www.cgfoods.com/) and they are Spinach & Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausages. Found them at Sam’s Club. They are 100 cal. each and 4.5 fat, no fiber. Works out to 2 pts. each and SO yummy!!!! I absolutely LOVED them I had enough points to have my meal, then about 6:00 p.m. I had one more chicken sausage on a bun to fill my points and still be done eating by 6:00 p.m. Nothing but water and Crystal Light since

Scale is down today I was SO excited…I won’t post an official weigh-in though until sometime on Monday because I have actually gotten through and succeeded for 7 WHOLE DAYS!!! So I’m waiting to see the final result on Monday from a week of working out and eating right Even if there wasn’t a loss, I’m so proud of myself for sticking with the plan and working out every single day

Just a quick update…it’s 11:30 p.m. we just got home from a baseball game in Cleveland…it was a blast..fireworks afterwards and all, great night

I used 28/28 points today had a 1.5 mile walk at work today (25 minutes) and had just over 6,000 steps recorded on my pedometer…

I think it’s going to take a few days to get my pedometer working correctly. I measured my stride length and put it in the pedometer, and it is showing each step I take pretty close I think, but the miles walked isn’t correct at all…I did over 6,000 steps and yet it only shows that I did 1.6 miles today ALL DAY…I did 1.5 miles in just my walk at work…so I KNOW it’s wrong…I just need to figure out what needs to be changed so that it reads correctly…

We’re having a house full tomorrow, but I already have my food planned out and ready to take it all on Should be a great day

It CAME!!! My new home kit from WW is here I’m SO tickled with it The pedometer rocks !!! By far my favorite I have ever owned I kicked @$$ today working out and eating and got in an amazing amount of water (and had MANY trips to the potty)…

An earlier post is below, and I updated my Challenge page with todays details!!! At the risk of jinxing myself, I’m feeling so pumped once again…I’m LOVING this feeling…it’s like a natural high…yeah, THAT’S what I need…a high…ya’ll that know me, KNOW that could get ugly…but it’s a GREAT thing

I’m going to head to bed…hope you all are feeling this great also!!!!! Nighty-night!!!

I never got a chance to get my page updated last night with Challenge day #3 info…I will do that tonight along with todays Day #4. I filled my points yesterday, got in about 72 oz. of water, but didn’t get any intentional exercise at all unless you count some pretty busy housework. The old ‘I suck at being a morning person’ me kicked in yesterday and slept till the very last possible minute…it happens…I’m not beating myself up over it…I was very busy last night getting our house ready for company we’re having on Saturday…a house full of company, I can’t wait I love having all of our family over So I worked on that till late also and didn’t get on Lippy.

Day #4 - today - seems it’s off to another great start. It is not quite 10:00 a.m. and I have had 24 oz. of water already, did 15 minutes on Lippy this morning (just over 300 calories) and had just under 1/2 of a cantaloupe so far. Lookin good

And…AND!!!! My new NEW NEWWWWW Weight Watcher Home Kit that I ordered this past Saturday is due to be waiting for me at my house when I get home TODAY I’m SO excited!!! All of my WW materials are from 2001. My electronic calculator is about the only thing not quite 5 years old…LOL…I’m SO excited to get my new kit…has a new pedometer and everything YEEHAAAAWWWW Plus I can now check out the ‘Core’ program also…I haven’t ever seen any of the official info on that…just what’s been swimming around the ‘net, so that is gonna be cool too

I will update later on again with all of yesterday and todays numbers Have a great one!!

I updated my food/activity link with today’s points, exercise and water

Next, the shorts. I have to tell you that even though I am overweight, my legs never did get very big…so, I have THEE pair of shorts that I love to wear…except for the fact that they are baggy on my legs, which just about EVERYTHING I buy seems to be…like because I’m big all over my legs should be too, so it’s tough to find a nice pair of fitting bottom-anythings…anyhow, onto the shorts. They are my favorite because they were never tight in my waist but were just tight enough on my hips that they made me look thinner there. I LOVE them. Until today. I have not noticed a change in my clothes at ALL. Until today. TODAY!!! The suckers are BAGGY. They DON’T make my hips look better, because they were BAGGY!!!! SOMETHING IS WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, the Swirl Stix. I first saw these on Dotti’s site, and went to the website to read a bit about them. They only sell them at Sam’s Club. But get this, they are 0 points. Zero, zip, nada…nuttin’…

So tonight I met Clint when he was done with work, and we headed to Sam’s Club. I had actually forgotten all about them till I spotted them in the freezer section. I actually took my WW points slider into the store with me this time (I always forget it) and found a few low-point things…then I spotted them. I had to re-point-calculate them just to be sure, but damn if they aren’t ZERO points!!

They come in a box of 40, 4 different flavors - Hurricane (White Lemon & Strawberry swirl), Paradise Punch (Tropical mixed fruit punch swirl), Cotton Candy (Classic cotton candy flavored swirl), & Orange Dream (Orange & marshmallow flavored swirl). They are Sugar Free, Fat Free, Dairy Free, Peanut free, & nut free. They are only 10 calories per bar and ZERO net carbs !!! They are Classic Italian ice swirl on a stick, and are a creamy frozen popsicle kinda thing. I have only tried the Orange Dream so far, and only because it was so melted by the time we got home, I figured I would taste one. If the other 3 flavors are as yummy as the orange, I’m in HEAVEN. You can’t beat 0 point anything that tastes like this. I am really happy with them. It was like $7.00 for a box of 40, but you figure at one per day, that’s only $7.00 for more than a months worth of an awesome snack

Here’s the link for the site - PhillySwirl.com

Thing is, they are only at Sam’s for a limited time unless Sam’s sees that they are going to sell well…so go and GETCHASUM!!! Here they are:

I created the new page to keep my challenge totals on for the week, and whatever challenge comes after that Click on the food/activity link ^^ up there ^^

I will update that during the day/nightly/whenever I get to it during the day

Hope everyone is doing wonderful!!!