Here we go!

Happy weigh-in day!

I got on the scale this morning... covered my eyes... took a deep breath... and squinted down through my fingers... Yes, just as I thought! Over this long food-filled break I have taken, I have definitely lost ground. But things could have been MUCH worse, I know. So I am feeling encouraged. And I hope you are, too.

With this new start, I am trying a different approach. I have set my goal weight at 10 pounds less than my weigh-in today. I am only trying to lose 10 pounds right now. When I get there, then I'll decide what to do about the next 10 pounds.

This last week, as I have been doing my medical transcription work, I have had to chuckle several times over the thoughts the doctor just cannot keep out of his tone of voice... "The patient's weight is up a WHOPPING 33 pounds since his last visit!" I grin, but I can identify with that patient. It is much easier to go up that whopping 33 pounds than down, isn't it! Let's make sure we are moving in the right direction!

Suggestion for this week: Try to make some food substitutions. This is not about starving but about making some healthy changes. Last week when I went to the store, I bought some mangoes, something I don't usually get. Several times since then I have found that one of those cut up and eaten piece by piece at my desk as I work is a really satisfying alternative to snack foods. I am going to try a different fruit next time I am at the store.

Summoning all Losers!

We have here gathered at the chicken coop to discuss our issues!

In the previous post, our Senior Blog Administrator (SBA) has called the meeting to order and appointed the Junior Blog Administrator (JBA) to bring us up to speed by reviewing the minutes from our last general meeting:

"10:15, 10:16, 10:17, 10:18, 10:19, ... adjourned at 10:45."

Thank you, Silly Goose! But why are you in with the chickens?!

New items for today's agenda are requested from the floor. Um, since there is nothing worth mentioning on the floor in this chicken coop ... the Executive decision is to keep moving right along!

Stop and think about it: there are few things in life to match the level of exhaustion provoked by trying to run down the up escalator! Yet we are faced with just such a challenge here as we strive to be winners by losing! The greatest difficulty we encounter on this moving staircase is not actually r/t to the impossibility of achieving our goals so much as to succumbing to fatigue in the process on the way down!

It is my personal observation that incredible momentum can be achieved through a great deal of flapping and squawking! We must be ready to make the feathers fly as we cheer each other on to the bottom step!

And this, dear friends, brings us to a brand new item on the agenda:

It has been suggested that each member in the sidebar be promoted from having squatter's rights to squawker's rights! There has been a lot of clucking over the summer about this.

We know that all chickens in the coop at this point are of true, pure Leghorn brand. Any posts submitted by any of the current members would certainly be up to scratch (should Mama happen to Google the site)! But .... what if a new member turns up with uncouth in their beak?

And then, there is the pecking thing to keep in mind! What if Charlie spends a great deal of time putting together his flap and two point three seconds after he posts, Esmeralda lets loose with a wide stream of chortle that moves Charlie's post clear outta sight?

No good! No good! This worm has too many twists to be swallowed whole! So, for now, your Junior and Senior, Charter Member Blog Administrators will continue to publish the posts but we are asking for submissions! We'd like to put up a new post every Tuesday morning (a goal -- not a promise!) so that with one click in a week the rest can see how the others have weighed in and can read the Flap-'n-Squawk!

Continue to submit your Monday morning weights as usual for posting by Tuesday morning and send along, by email, any submissions for front page posting as well! Suggestions for consideration as to how to make this "Squawkers' Rights" thing happen will also be welcome!

Olympic Medals are Handed Out!

Well everybody, today Barry and Jeanette left for a few days of relaxation and I am inclined to think (since I just turned around and put on a pound right after breaking down into the 150's) that we all might do well with taking a little break!

Actually, Jeanette and I have been discussing some possible changes to the format of our little connection place here, so let's just kick back for a few weeks and then start up again with a will in a month's time. I'm suggesting our next weigh-in day be September 15th. That gives us just over a month to decide what kind of a surprise we want to present on the blog on the 15th!

STOP! DON'T CLICK AWAY YET!
THERE'S ONE MORE THING TO DO:

In order to go out with a bang and come back in with a swoosh, we need predictions! Please submit your hopeful prediction for September 15th in the comment section of this post. No specific numbers! Simply state your prediction of having gained, having lost or having earned the "Elmo Award":

And to close this Olympic round, let's take a look at the scores:

Jeanette: ....Started with ... 187.4 ...... Ended with ... 182.9 ......
Total lost ... 4.5
Carol-Ann: Started with ... 164.7 ...... Ended with ... 160.8 ......
Total lost ... 3.9
Roger: .........Started with ... 233.4 ...... Ended with ... 229.4 ......
Total lost ... 4.0
Pat: ..............Started with ... 160.5 ...... Ended with ... 157.5 ......
Total lost ... 3.0
Andrea: ......Started with ... 186.4 ...... Ended with ... 182.2 ......
Total lost ... 4.2
Michelle: ...Started with ... 213.0 ...... Ended with ... 214.0 ......
Total gain ... 1.0
Elmo: ..........Started with ....... 3.8 ...... Ended with ....... 3.8 .......
Total lost ... 0.0

Three Cheers for the winners of GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE
And because the Gold medalist has been both a Canadian and American citizen at different times of her life, we are all standing at attention while both anthems are played and we are ALL WINNERS!

By a special note of encouragement, Michelle, if you look at our scores you will see that we have all taken turns going up and down! Next time we tally up for our medals you shall have more than one week's worth of points to count!

Congratulations, all! Don't forget to enter your prediction in the comment section! See you in September!

Ideas, anyone?

Well, everyone, what are we going to do? Carol-Ann has not weighed in yet, but she may be like me -- scared to get on the scale today! So far, we have not had any huge gains, just little ones that keep adding up, so I'm hoping we can come up with some ideas that will help all of us get back on track. Perhaps we could compile some of these and post them all together. I'm going to start us off. Andrea and I have a distance to go, and Carol-Ann and Pat are not all that far from their goals, so maybe the approaches need to be different.

1. Set mini-goals of 5 pounds. My last goal was to have the scale give me a number under 180 no matter what time of day I got on it. I met that, but now I will have to work on it again.
2. Come up with strategies that work to divert our attention. For example, I find that chewing gum sometimes helps me forget about chewing on actual food. I once knew a lady who decided that, instead of eating when she shouldn't, she would pray for her children until she forgot about the food. I thought that was very creative and served a very good purpose, as well. That might not work for all of us, but can we think of something helpful like that?
3. Is there a competition we can have going among us that would spur us on? Most weight loss in a month? At least a pound a week? Could we have a rewards section on the sidebar or at the top somewhere where we can earn (or lose??!) stars or points? Maybe several different kinds of little medals for different things, like consistent exercising?
4. How about giving ourselves a non-food reward for reaching our final goal, something we can look forward to? Maybe for reaching significant interim goals, too.

What do you think? We have to push each other somehow, but how? Tell me what you are thinking!

Holiday Binging is Officially Over!

I am hereby notifying myself that my permission to eat extra holiday stuff is over. I am once again on a strict regimen of:
Drink more water.
Eat less. (Note to self -- that means no leftover holiday sweets!)
Move around more.

Tomorrow begins my exercise program of 20 to 30 minutes on the treadmill starting no later than 6:30 a.m. (groan!) and a 15-minute afternoon break for free weights. Yes, there is a price to pay for this. I will have to be more strict about my time. I will have to go to bed earlier, which is very hard for me, the queen of night owls! But I am at the same time unexpectedly excited about starting this new routine. I'm mystified by that at the moment, but I do like to live by plans and lists (that gene is straight from my mother!), so maybe that is part of it.

Weigh-in is tomorrow, everyone! Best wishes!

I Knew the Day Would Come!

Yup! Soon as we decided to post our weights
and drink water and cut down on food intake,
I just KNEW the day would come when we'd start talkin' about exercise!
Go 'way! Leave me 'lone! I'm a couch p'tato, I am!
You can do the treadmill an extra 15 minutes for me!
I shall benefit vicariously.
At the very least, give me some time!
I think better when I'm slouched into sumpthing soft.
I will let you know my plan when something activates a brainwave!

And in response to the comment about red curls: