Hi Shannon

You are a strong-willed young man. I cannot get through the day without a little diet cola. I know that I shouldnt. I know that it is bad for me. I know that it contains salts and chemicals that can only harm me and make me retain water. But that is the way that it is.

I do fill a 2 litre bottle with water and make sure that I drink that each day. I know that is less than the amount of water that you are getting through.

On the positive side I didnt get extra drunk on New Years Eve so had no headaches when I went out for my morning walk on New Year's Day. I knew that I had to win somewhere with my lifestyle.

On the other hand clearly you were doing more celebrating on New Years Eve....

"Very drunk" / "couple of beers" - something does not compute. Possibly slightly more than a couple of beers I would suggest.

Take care
Best wishes
Margaret

Hey Margaret!

I think facebook is a good idea. I didn't make many friends in school. I only made one and she became a person who wasn't very well liked by me in later years. She did cocaine and what not and she is back in trouble I believe. I am worried about her, but I know that I won't be contacting anyone from school; however, facebook would be neat. I need to find a way to post my pics on here. Because I am a little thinner than before and am really happy to say I am getting my figure back ... as far as I know ..maybe be because of water weight ...but I am down to 288.0 exactly, which is think is pretty good! I know I can do this and hopefully won't falter again ..

thanks for always being there for me!

love yas always
your friend
always
natalie jo

That's too bad about the weather forecast--but it's England--it could change tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed your walking today, at any rate.

Clementines are awesome! My H says it's like eating candy..lol. I've been buying about 5lbs of them a week, lately.

Yes, I'm sure you'll do just fine in the challenge pts this week. I've no doubt you'll still be here next week.

I read what Wulsk had written in her team's thread. Plateaus happen to nearly all of us at one pt or another. It is virtually impossible to lose every single week. Nothing to get discouraged about unless it drags on and on.

Thanks for visiting.

Natalie Jo

Great news that your weight is down. Congratulations!

I think that you cannot go wrong with those sites because they cost nothing to monitor (and really cheap or free to contact people). I think that they are also very popular. I know quite a lot of people with profiles on those sites and quite a few of my friends' young adult kids are there too which kind of indicates that it works for all age groups. You really cannot go wrong with contacting old friends and relatives as you never know where it may lead.

I am useless with photos but I seem to remember that Amber told Tyly to try using a website in Tyly's diary when Tyly was having problems. I saved the link but havent tried it yet. The link is
Resize Images online
but if you have any problems you need to contact Amber because I have no idea about it.

Kimberly

Walking today was good. I even took my gloves off for 10 minutes around mid-day! I am now just hoping that the forecast is wrong.

I love tons of fruit. We always have some sweet little oranges in the house. I get hubby to take 4 to work each day as part of his lunch.

I agree that it is virtually impossible to lose every single week. Anyone that can manage that has a secret that many of us would love to learn. I freely admit that I do get twitchy if I do not see a loss in a two week window (of being consistently good) - but I do weigh to the tenth of a pound and a couple of ounces does not seem too much to hope for. In the past I have tended to increase my daily mileage if I felt that it was getting stuck which always seems to have worked. It also may explain why I end most days with 30,000 steps on the pedometer. I thought that it was funny in a sweet niaive sort of way that Wulsk was concerned after she lost 4 pounds last week. I thought that it was so sweet that she thought that weight went down on every day that you were good.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Hey if its any consolation..
I have zero cola in my house, well one more cup lol
but I plan to get more...

I haven't had real soda for a while .. too long ..some needed caffiene lol
I always drink tea ...never ending tea lol ...

I drink water too, especially on walking ..but man this zero cola tastes good ..probably a bad habit to start, but I will just leave it for two days that I have the cola or one day ..won't make it all the time ..control when and how much I drink ...

So whats up Margaret?
How are you doing?

always
love yas
natalie jo

Howdy girl ,your doing gr8,how is weight watchers working for ya or did ya try it yet?I love alot of their foods.I use photobucket for downloading and resizing phots,one of the easiest sites yet they even have a size that says AVTAR so you know what size your getting.Have another gr8 day Tammy

PS Thnak you for your ongoing support!!

Glad you had a great walk today. It was sunny and beautiful here, but it's supposed to get really cold in the next few days. Today's high was around 1C.
I hope the weather forecast is wrong for both of us.

Oh, I was going to ask if you are anywhere near the Slough/Windsor area, or if you're closer to London.

Thanks everyone for visiting. I really do love seeing you all here.

Natalie Jo

I used to be addicted to diet coke and used to spend an absolute fortune on it. When our finances changed a few years ago I went to great effort to wean myself off diet cola and change my addiction to Tesco's own make of diet cola (which is a lot cheaper). Now I am addicted to that. I even prefer it to diet coke (I dont have diet coke often as I do not want a more expensive unhealthy addiction if I can help it). Anyway - now that I realise that it is so unhealthy I am trying to wean myself off it and onto water. Every day I have some - often a mouthful at a time at the fridge door. I do it by filling my 2 litre bottle with water every night and putting it in the fridge - then I make sure that I drink it all the next day. I often decant half a litre into an old diet coke bottle and take it with me on my long walk. I need it on the days when I do keep fit (especially aerobics) half way through my walk.

Tammy (niapage) gives some good info on dealing with photos. We could both use help there!

Things are going pretty well. I must admit that the ongoing weight loss is putting me on an ongoing high. I dont know whether yours do the same - but Janice and I find that our hormones make us have "peak and trough" moods. It's really great when you have an ongoing peak. I certainly wish that I had done all this when I was young like you are. Who could have guessed that excessive walking could make all the difference? Who could have guessed that I could ever be officially overweight and not obese either? OK - I am still very near that border (I probably cross it every day when I eat and drink) - but if I can weigh myself the right side of it each day - I am counting it and it is like a dream come true.

Tammy

My plan is to join Weight Watchers when I am somewhere near 140 pounds (I know that my goal weight will be less than that). That way I can make use of them for maintenance. I am pretty sure that if I keep doing what I am doing I can get down to there as I am. What I am going to do is use them to sanity check what I think that my goal weight should be and also to help me to make a soft landing as I get to my goal weight. The thing is that they give you free membership if you get to goal weight with them - even if you only lose about 10 pounds. Then you have to go to about 5 meetings a year (no meeting fee or anything) to keep the free membership going. You have to have your weight on those meetings within about 5 pounds of goal weight or you start having to pay again. If you like you can just turn up and get weighed. I think that could be really useful to keep me remembering to keep my weight near goal weight. Experience tells me that if I do not keep an eye on my weight it will just pile on.

I think that the free membership could be really useful as a way of getting out and meeting people that costs nothing. Also you would get to hear of new weight loss products and ideas.

If you time it right you could get very good value out of the fees that you pay if you do not have too much weight to lose. I know someone who has been at goal weight for over a year and still goes every week because she enjoys it and swears that it keeps her focused.

I currently do a yoga class (until March) on a Tuesday morning which is when the local WW meeting is. I will see what my weight is when those classes finish and then decide when to start WW.

I would have spent an absolute fortune on WW meeting fees if I had joined when I was 294 pounds.

Thanks for the photo info. I really need to get a new photo taken as I have a nice black top that I like. It helps to disguise my tummy. Some people take side views and show the size of their tummy diminishing - but mine was gigantic and is still a lot bigger than I would like. I prefer to hope no-one ever sees me from the side and have a photo from the front!

Kimberly

Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou. I have just seen the new bonus. I think that works out as seven hours of exercise a week make points. I think that I can manage that. I did a Dawn (Bellaryna) and read it the first time as 1 point for every extra 30 minutes (max 20 points) and thought that it meant 15 hours of exercise make points and thought - I can do that!

It is just turned 8 a.m. Thursday morning as I write, hubby has gone to work and it is wet and cold here. I somehow dont think that I will be walking in my sandals today. I do hope the the forecasters are wrong for both of us.
edit
Rain turned to drizzle and dampness and it was dull and damp for the duration of the morning walk. Much better than heavy rain!
It is actually looking bright now (nearly 2pm) - can I be that lucky?
edit again at 4.15pm
Got dull and damp around 3pm so it was drizzling by the time I got out.
Drizzle turned to torrential rain and I am doing my impression of a drowned rat again. I have just popped in for a moment before heading back out to continue with lap 4. Wonderful! I must really want to lose weight to do this!

We are a little closer to London. I spent 4 years working in Slough and know that it is about 13 miles away from here. Slough and Windsor are very close to one another. When I was working we used to often go to the theatre in Winsdor. It is immediately facing the castle. Windsor and Slough are outside the M25 London orbital motorway and we are inside it. I will PM you with more precise details of where I live.

Take care
Love
Margaret

Wednesday 16/01/08

Thankfully it was dry and comparitively bright.

General Data:

Morning walk = 6.3 miles
Round the block = 8 times (on two laps my husband came too)
Extra exercises = none
Weight = 11st 12.6lbs (i.e. 166.6 pounds)
Steps = 30,813
Distance = 11.91 miles
Remembered to take normal vitamin / supplements
Continued my creaming regime – missed one bio-oil massage.

My Food / Drink:

For challenge need to have 25g fibre each day

30.82g eaten

1 banana 3g fibre
3 weetabix, sweetener, 350 ml skimmed milk 5.7g fibre
1 large handful honey Shreddies 2.8g fibre
1 large handful honey Shreddies 2.8g fibre
1 small pear 3.1g fibre
1 small pear 3.1g fibre
1/2 large handful honey Shreddies 1.4g fibre
salmon fillet, 3 new potatoes 2.45g fibre, sweetcorn 2.27g fibre fibre = 4.72
1 large handfuls of raisins 2.8g fibre
1/2 large handfuls of raisins 1.4g fibre
2 litres of cold water
some diet cola

Great food list! Same with the exercise! How many creams do you put on each day? I wish I could get into a good habit with that.

I heard there was something in diet pop (I think aspartame) that turns to formaldahyde in your body. I get some clients who are close to their goal but can never seem to make it past that last 10 pounds, and when they give up diet pop it just seems to push them over that last bump. But I still drink it every now and then, I try to get Diet Rite because there is no aspartame, but I can't justify drinking as many calories as are in a regular pop.

Hello Margaret!
I am glad to know that I am not the only one who reads the challenges wrong! At least I read them wrong to my benefit! LOL
Kimberely is right about the temps. It is suppose to get wickedly cold here on Saturday. They said here in my area we would have a high of ~gulp~ *8F. And that will be while I am still at home. It will only get colder as the day and night wear on.
That is freaking cold!!! And to top it off when it gets that cold outside it gets really really cold at work for me.
Last year we had a cold spell that lasted for nearly a week that was in the single digits. And it went from a -18*f in our ice cream room at work to a -*24f. VERY COLD!
It actually makes you hurt.
Even with all the clothes you have on.
I had my dh take a picture of me in all my gear and I plan to post it tomorrow.
It is amazing to me. 'Cuz the only part of me visible is my eyes!
And even they get cold. It is not unusal for me to have frosty eyelashes.
Sorta like mascara. Except much clumpier! hahaha
I have only one swim class today with a small group of 4-5 year olds. Hopefully all will go well with them as one little girl is extremely frightened of the water. But I am gentle with her. I am hoping that before the session is out that I can at least get her to feel comfortable sitting on the side of the pool.
Well I got to go if I am going to jump into everyone else's diaries.
Hope you have/had a wonderful day!

... Britain's very own silicon valley - or at least it was 20 years ago! (you did say somewhere that you're in computers, didn't you?)

LOL @"I am doing my impression of a drowned rat again."

Your a better and more determind person than i am!
I took one look outside and thought nope im staying warm and dry but i am feeling bad about not going now

Hope you had a good week and you can relax this week knowing you have it in the bag with no extra work!

Take Care
Sarah

Funny. I was telling Margaret via Pm that I spent a month in Slough during the summer of 1989 visiting a pen pal before my last year of high school started. I never knew Slough had that reputation.

Sorry you got caught in the rain again. That is no fun at all, and I give you big kudos for sticking it out.

I see the scale is going down.

Actually, I need to clarify the pts for the bonus. I'll post this in the challenge section as well. You still can get a max of 24pts for exercise as usual for up to 300 minutes. In addition, if you exercise for more than 180 minutes, you'll get 5pts for every 30 min on top of the 24pts. So the max pts for the week with exercise and the bonus is 44pts. 24pts for exercise, and 20pts for the bonus. The max exercise minutes you can get pts for is still 300 minutes.

Thank you everyone for visiting me. It's always great to see you all over here.

I_wannaBthin

I am trying to cut out the diet cola. I am down to no more than 200ml a day most days which is pretty good for someone who used to drink it all the time. There is no choice but to have it in the house as hubby likes to drink it and I cannot prevent him from having access to things that he wants. He is an adult and makes his own choices in life. I would still want it if stressed - but I am so rarely stressed these days.

My creaming is generally as follows:
Daytime moisturiser on face and neck before setting out.
Vaseline on lips morning and night
2 bio-oil (or similar) massages to abdomen. The days are so short at this time of year that the daytime one is virtually always currently omitted.
Body lotion massage to thighs, bum, upper arms
Firming body lotion massage to boobs
Night-time moisturiser on face and neck before bed

I am convinced that it has helped me acquire less loose skin and also get rid of my double chin. I also take the following vitamins for my skin:
omega 3
starflower oil
multivitamin containing zinc
In addition I always make sure that I get my 2 litres of water which benefits the skin among other benefits.

Dawn

I am very pleased that I dont have the temperatures that you are anticipating. I dont think that I could cope. I certainly couldnt cope with your job either - I would spend ALL the time complaining - much much more than you do. I will certainly pop into your diary and see the photo soon - I have missed out on such a lot of your news I know that it will take me ages to catch up on what you have been up to.

It's great that you are back swimming again and I am sure that you will really enjoy helping the little ones learn something that could potentially save their lives (or help them save another life) some day. It should give you a definite feeling of satisfaction in addition to being enjoyable and good exercise for yourself.

Auburn

I certainly was in computers for many years. I had a great career going too before I decided to flush my career down the toilet and become a beach bunny in Greece. There are more things in life than shiny careers and polished CVs. I worked predominantly in that area and central London for many years. It wasnt just the lure of hubby that brought me to this area.

Sarah

Desperation is a great motivator. I have spent more years in obesity (indeed morbid obesity) than most others on this forum and I think that finally seeing light at the end of a long tunnel is a big factor. I am just too frightened of losing momentum.

I have to admit - I can understand anyone who chooses to stay inside and warm and dry.

This week on the challenge should be easy - apart from the weight loss. I reckon that my 5 hours should be done by about 10am Saturday morning. Then it is just a question of seeing if some weight comes off. Frankly I always eat and exercise in a very consistent manner. My weightloss is not nearly so consistent.

Kimberly

Well I am back from Friday morning's long walk now. I am sure you can guess who got wet again. Luckily my coat was up to todays shower so I will only have to change socks and shoes before the afternoon walks.

The scale indeed went down - and is down again today to a new low. Whether that has anything to do with the fact that I had a highly energetic keep fit class and the teacher boosted the aerobic session to 50 minutes promising that we would all burn a lot of calories (my boobs are not built for that kind of jumping!) Then I added a bit extra on my walk so the pedometer is up to 9.58 miles already. Then I have only just weighed myself. Only the churlish would suggest that my weight has been influenced by these factors. I have to admit that it is lower than first thing. However - I have just been on the scales 3 times and 3 times it gave the reading 11st11.4 so that is good enough for me. So that is 165.4 pounds. It might mean that I get a gain next week - but that is the way that these things sometimes happen. If I can regain the territory of a new low today - I am having it!

Thanks for clarifying the points for the bonus - not that I can say that I think that it will influence the amount of exercise I actually do - it will just mean that I fill in the result page right. I have no intention of totalling how many minutes I spend on exercise in the entire week - I just know that I tend to expect myself to do more than a challenge would ever suggest and will happily add things up until I exceed the maximum.

Take care
Love
Margaret