Hi Felici,
I thought I would stop by and have a read - your diary is so great!!! I love popping in to see how you are travelling!! You are doing soo well - good on you - you can do it!!! I was reading a little earlier on that some of our American friends wanted to know what Boxing Day was all about so I thought I would post this little explanation! Keep up the great work and have a great New Years Eve!

BOXING DAY
When is it?
December 26th, Boxing Day takes place on December 26th or the following Monday if December 26 falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
Where did it come from?
Boxing Day began in England, in the middle of the nineteenth century, under Queen Victoria. Boxing Day, also known as St. Stephen's Day, was a way for the upper class to give gifts of cash, or other goods, to those of the lower classes.
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Where is Boxing Day celebrated?
Boxing Day is celebrated in Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Canada.
How is Boxing Day celebrated?
There seems to be two theories on the origin of Boxing Day and why it is celebrated. The first is that centuries ago, on the day after Christmas, members of the merchant class would give boxes containing food and fruit, clothing, and/or money to trades people and servants. The gifts were an expression of gratitude much like when people receive bonuses, from their employer, for a job well done, today. These gifts, given in boxes, gave the holiday it's name, "Boxing Day".
The second thought is that Boxing Day comes from the tradition of opening the alms boxes placed in churches over the Christmas season. The contents thereof which were distributed amongst the poor, by the clergy, the day after Christmas.
Today, Boxing Day is spent with family and friends with lots of food and sharing of friendship and love. Government buildings and small businesses are closed but the malls are open and filled with people exchanging gifts or buying reduced priced Christmas gifts, cards, and decorations.
To keep the tradition of Boxing Day alive, many businesses, organizations, and families donate their time, services, and money to aid Food Banks and provide gifts for the poor, or they may choose to help an individual family that is in need.
What a great extension of the Christmas holiday spirit. You might consider making this holiday a tradition in your family. No matter where you live the simple principle of giving to others less fortunate than yourself can be put into practice.

Hi Melly

I'm guessing your program is going well too. This is a good thing we're doing isn't it?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU TOO!!

I went for a walk tonight with my dog and my daughter. I added an extra loop yesterday and the last new loop tonight. I was trying to walk briskly, and it took 47 minutes. That is pretty good for now. I think I maybe could go a bit faster if I tried to constantly remember to walk as fast as I can. That would be a bit less fun though, so I don’t know if I will at this stage. Maybe later. If I did that a few times it might get me to automatically go a bit faster. Then I would have to find another loop to get 45 minutes!! So far so good.

I think I might start taking glucosamine hydrochloride again tomorrow. I believe I developed a rash to the glucosamine sulphate I was taking and my skin has only just settled down again. I used to be ok on the g. hydrochloride though, and now all the party stuff and special days are over I will give it a try. I really felt that my ankles and knees were more solid while I was taking it and so I’m hoping that if I start taking it again and keep up the weight loss I might be able to exercise a bit more vigorously in a few months time without making my joints hurt. At the moment it doesn’t take much to set one of my knees off. It doesn’t hurt much, but I know the reason it hurts is that it’s wearing out. I don’t want it to seize up altogether. I’m hoping the glucosamine might help rebuild it a little, or at least preserve it.

I watched some TV tonight. It worked out!! I didn’t watch it from interest – just because my husband and daughter wanted me to. Also they were eating special chocolate box chocolates (because I bought them for my son to take to the people he stayed with last night and he didn’t take them). But it was ok. I kind of wanted more food. I ate a yoghurt that I wouldn’t have had if I had been on the computer. However I had already had a few occasions lately where I’ve let myself have extras and I didn’t want to add another one. (Yes, it’s New Year’s Eve – but we’re not at a party this year and not doing New Year things.) Anyway I was thinking to myself that the situation was a bit dodgy but then I remembered that I could have popcorn if I wanted – and that was enough. It was enough to know what I could do that would work. I didn’t want any more then. Too cool. I will put some extra seasonings on my list to make sure I don’t get caught out.

Big New Year’s resolution. I really need to get more organized around the house, and properly work out a plan to involve the children in helping more. I feel pretty confident about my eating now, and about getting a bit of exercise, but I can imagine it will be a whole new challenge to get as much exercise as I want once school goes back, especially once I’m working again. I will be putting in a bit of effort to get as much work as I can so we can save for the trip to New Zealand, so yeah, it all matters.

Breakfast ~9:45 2 weetbix., ½ C tinned peaches, 1 C soya milk. 1 boiled egg, 1 C coffee with 50ml Hi-Lo milk.Lunch ~ 12:30 ~ 2 wholemeal Salada crackers (8 squares), with minimal lite hard cheese, 1 tomato. Snack: 4:15 1 tub apricot diet yoghurt Dinner: 7:15 ~ 1 piece of chicken, onion sauce, 1 C mashed potato, a few peas, broccoli. Snack: 9:45 1 tub apricot yoghurt. Exercise: 7:50 pm 47 min moderate pace.. Water: 2500ml +Yesterday’s Bedtime: 12:30
On plan:33 days Achieved food target: 27 days Exercised: 25 days All goals: 5 days.

And a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all.

Having seen it in here, I am off to bed.

lol sleep well

Love the new av btw

Well I ended up staying up late having a bit of New Year online. That was good except I didn’t sleep in!! I promised my daughter yesterday that I'd take her to the beach today. It was a bit awkward for her to find a friend to come so we just went together, which was nice. I had thought of taking the kids to the beach a bit this summer, or the pool. I thought I could exercise while they played. Then I thought it might be a problem for the kids if I actually got out of my normal clothes. Anyway, that's probably less of an issue for my girl as she's younger. She thinks I am beautiful anyway - not even fat!! I have tried to calmly disabuse her of that idea. Perhaps she just says it because she thinks it's what you should say.

Anyway the beach was wonderful. It always is. We were lucky that the weather's not too warm and lots of people staying at home (after New Year's parties) so not too crowded. We went to Scarborough Beach. I haven't been there for a long time as my husband always wants to take the dog when he goes and we end up at a dog beach. The dog beach is interesting but this was a nice change. The water was a beautiful green like in my dolphin avvie and the sky blue. I love the sound of the beach. The sound of the waves and the way they muffle distant voices. It was easier to get exercised at this beach too. It took a lot of effort just to dodge the waves and stay between the flags. The waves weren't high but the water was pretty turbulent. We were in there for something between 1-2 hours. (We also made a couple of sandcastles.) I thought maybe I was just exercising my legs, but afterwards I felt more like I used to feel when I played a bit of squash - really extended. Not such a red face as with squash though!!

I am not feeling great tonight. T2 Trucker seems to have disappeared. His name’s on the member list, but his diary and all his posts have gone. Even from in my diary. I have been thinking a lot about this, but don’t have much info so I won’t talk about it just yet. I am tired from staying up late last night. I am tired from so much exercise this morning. My hip and shoulder hurt from the waves pushing it in a strange direction. All my muscles are stiff. I think all this has contributed to my strongest pull ever to those damn Cadbury Roses today. It hasn’t actually gone away either. While I was slowly walking with my sore hip tonight I was thinking about the “just one” idea. Also thinking how many times just one chocolate has been the ruination of weeks of careful eating. How it’s “just one”, and then it’s scoff the box (or whatever the container size was), and then it’s better buy another one so know one notices, and then it’s what about the one’s I have to take out of the new box so no one notices. The whole idea makes me sick. I’m not doing it.

Ha ha. That just reminded me of sleeplessinsc. She said she throws out the chocolates her husband gives her when he is not looking! Too cool.


Breakfast ~9:45 2 weetbix., Splenda, 1 C soya milk. 1 boiled egg, 1 C coffee with 50ml Hi-Lo milk.Lunch ~ 12:30 ~ 2 wholemeal Salada crackers (8 squares), with minimal lite hard cheese, 1 tomato. 1 stalk of celery. 1 nectarine. Snack: 5:00 1 C low fat soya milk Dinner: 7:15 ~1/3 C vege soup, main ingredient potato. 2 very small lamb steaks, 2 C salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, black olives, balsamic vinegar. 4 dates. Exercise: 8:05 pm 30 min slow paced walk. Water: 2500ml +Yesterday’s Bedtime: 1:30
On plan:34 days Achieved food target: 28 days Exercised: 26 days All goals: 5 days.

i wish i could go to the beach right now. Buts its winter.. and WAY too cold. i need to find an indoor exercise. lol. i wonder what happened to T2... did you know him?

Happy New Year back at ya! Hope you have a great one!

lol at throwing the chocolates out. I need to do that Currently i just give them to other people

T2 got put on universal invisible for reasons im not sure on. or something like that. Theres some big behind the scenes thing going on im sure.

Hey there! Glad your new year has started off well for you! It's great to hear that...I wish I could go to the beach. Surprisingly, it's quite warm for where I am (40s?) but definitely not beach whether! Hope things continue to go well for you, you're doing great!

Take care!

The beach with your kids? You are such a party animal :P

Thanks for mentioning about T2, I was looking for him and wondering if he had renamed himself and his thread for some reason. I was looking for him in particular because of some of the things he had mentioned, so I hope it's nothing serious.

It's good that sweets are getting too sweet to eat now, right? I have experienced a litle of that myself, lately, but have always been able to fight my way through it and force the candy down my throat

Actually, I have spent several days eating healthy(ish) food with friends who love to make appetizers, so it's always tasty, delicious, and easy to put on because I can come back to it if I want more.

I'm REALLY impressed with your recordkeeping for your meals; I just can't do that yet. It's not that I am embarrassed about what I eat (anymore), it's just so hard to keep track of! How do you track it? Scratch paper? A note after each meal? A good memory?

My body felt a lot better when I woke today. My hip was still a bit sore. I took a couple of nurofen (ibuprofen) with breakfast and felt fine the rest of the day.

Ran out of groceries. I had to modify my standard breakfast and lunch to cope. I don’t think it was enough food. Yesterday was a bit light too, and when it was time for me to cook dinner tonight I felt light headed and just wanted to lie down. This is the third or fourth time this has happened to me since I started this plan. I am getting more sure that the primary cause is lack of food, not lack of sleep or anything else. I slept for 9 hours last night. My snacks don’t seem to fix it properly, but dinner does. At least it doesn't worry me so much now. It is unpleasant though and I can see how it would make the old me grab some quick sugary calories. If it happens again I am going to eat nuts and maybe have a glass of soy milk, instead of my normal snacks, even if it seems like dinner time is too close.

I still haven’t heard anything more about T2. The mods are still quiet about whatever's going on. I'm hoping that's a good sign, because surely if he wasn't going to be here any more they would let us know. Otherwise it's a bit like having a missing person. It was good to have other people start looking for him. I didn’t realize something had happened until it was afternoon here and night in America, a quiet time on the forum, and it felt very strange. Like something out of 1984. I hope you are ok Trucker. I wish you were here.

Breakfast ~9:45 2 weetbix., 1/3 C tinned peaches, 1 C soya milk. A very little low fat cheese on 1 slice of wholemeal toasted. ½ glass tomato juice 1 C coffee with 50ml Hi-Lo milk.Lunch ~ 12:30 ~ 2 wholemeal Salada crackers (8 squares), with 100gm tuna with lemon. 1 stalk of celery, 1 small carrot, about 1/3 capsicum Snack: 4:00 2/3 C Dlish vegetable soup (potato, carrot etc) Dinner: 7:00 ~ 215 gm tinned red salmon, 1 microwaved jacked potato, 100gm tinned corn, 4 slices tinned beetroot, ½ can tinned asparagus. A little light French onion dip, celery, carrot, capsicum, mushroom. Exercise: 7.55 pm 37 min brisk paced walk. Water: 3000ml +Yesterday’s Bedtime: 12:00
On plan:35 days Achieved food target: 29 days Exercised: 27 days All goals: 5 days.

Dropping by to say Hello! i haven't heard anything about T2 either. Have a great day!

Hope you threw those chocolates away! Dont keep temptation around!

happy new years!