Hey ePeeps! Finally I am wired again! With the internet that is, not necessarily in energy. This winter has been a rough one--I am so over this weather. Today is our first day in the fifties, finally all the snow and ice will be gone.

Every week has been a new excuse. I am about a month behind in training for the Mini. Ugh! The air was either too arctic, the roads too bad, or like last Saturday I fell, very, very ungracefully, last Saturday. My butt, back, & shoulder started feeling better around mid-week.

I have decided that today is going to be the day that the pendulum begins to sweep upwards again! No more excuses! No more whining!

How I hate Joelle, let me count the ways...rather than list her failures I will just say, I love Carla!

Tonight I finally drug my @$$ to the gym. I am about a week behind in training. But I figure I can get caught up w/ doing some extra cardio.

Tonight was just a get juices flowing kind of night w/o getting shin splints. I did one mile on the treadmill at an incline w/ 2.25 mi on recumbent bike. It was about a 35 min workout.

I didn't realize how much it got my heart pumping until I went to Macy's to pickup my freebies from the makeup counter. My face was red as a beet when I looked in a mirror. On my way in I found the most wonderful purse--I am not at all into name brands; however, this Dooney & Burke purse really caught my eye. That is until I saw the price tag--it was like half a mortgage payment. Yikes!

May the whipping January wind be at your back!

As my life goes, the girls all gung-ho for the weight loss challenge at work didn't last long. They cheated all week. While they sat there and ate chips & candy bars I sucked down yet another bottle of water. Weigh in day comes, I lose 2.5 lbs and they out lose me. The girl on the "super restrictive" diet lost 12 lbs! Despite the fact that she ate out every day of the week (and she did not choose healthy options)

My intention was not intended to offend anyone here that may be on a plan that provides food for you. Those are fine plans (JC, Nutrisystem, etc...)--I was just trying to make the point that she is on a system that gets the drastic gastric bypass results b/c it is so extreme. (Not quite sure that it is the most ethical or healthy plan to pursue). Of course, she has that potential if she abides by it.

Now that I can reflect on my first week I can see that I ate entirely too many processed foods. Although I ate mostly frozen diet meals w/ lotsa veggies, they were mostly canned veggies (mega-sodium). Although I was drinking more water than I had been it was not suffiecient for the sodium I was taking in. Plus, the real pisser was TOM. It is amazing that I even showed a loss now that I think of it.

Training officially started for the mini last week. I have yet to go to the gym once! What a loser! It is so freaking cold here this week I can't bare the thought of getting in and out of my car anymore than I absolutely have to. The temps are "warming" up so I plan to be on track Monday. Sucks that I am a week behind. But it is absolutely no excuse to fall into my old all or nothing ways. I am really excited about swimming laps this year.

Can't wait to hear what all my little movers and shakers have been up to.

Just found out today that the gal heading up the weight loss pool at work is going to see a diet doctor this week. This doctor is known for having weight loss results similar to gastric bypass; however, it is all done through some special kind of food he sells. 

Also, the pool is for 6 mths instead of the 6 wks I thought I originally hear.I don't have a fear of gaining; however, I feel it is very shady that she chose to do this when others are on more conservative plans (quite a few are using WW). 

Go figure, this is a newer person that I did not get a good first impression of--I thought maybe this would be a time that I could get to know her and better appreciate her, whatev! I'm still going forward.

We had our mandatory mtg for training last night. Initially we were told that we could not take advantage of the complimentary fitness club membership until after Jan 11th--last night they said we s/b able to begin tomorrow! It has been snowing here so I am cringing at the thought of swimming at 6 a.m.

Bkay, where are you? I'm looking forward to May!

Today was my first official day at diet/exercise. I think that I did pretty well w/ food and exercise (yes, yet again, I must remind myself that I can't go at full tilt from the get go).

Breakfast: 2 string cheese w/ cup of coffee w/ sweetner

Lunch: beef roll ups w/ cream cheese

Dinner: crab/shrimp pieces rinsed & blotted dry w/ a Tbsp of Mayo & salt & pepper

4 bottles of water

2.15 mi @ a brisk pace at local shopping ctr--my friend that I was walking w/ was going at a pretty good clip, finally I told her that I was going to hafto slow down--I didn't want shin splints my first day out. Sandy says, "I was only trying to keep up with you!" HaHaHa! We both decided we could slow down a bit.

The girls at work have started a 6 wks pool for losing weight. First weigh-in was $5. You pay a dollar for each pound gained (if any) over 6 wks. Greatest percentage lost gets the pot. Now I don't want to be arrogant about this but hello, very few of them have an official plan AND they were already cheating on day one.

I have got to stick to proteins the first 3 days to break my "addiction" to sugar. Then I am doing no sugar/added sugar w/ high protein, high fiber. Eventually I will allow myself to have fruit but probably not the first month.

We are off and running, wish me luck!

Just wanted to stop by and say Hey! I miss you all! Training for Mini will officially begin the first week of Jan 2009. Rather than waiting for Lent this year to give up foods w/ sugar/added sugar I am going to start Jan 1st! I am so excited to have a goal in my near future.

As some of you may recall, every year my employer requires that we do a health assessment involving 30 different types of testing. (It is after a 12 hr fast). Our goal score s/b between zero and negative 20 (w/ negative 20 being a perfect score). Two years ago I scored a -10, last year I scored a -8 and drum roll please.....I scored a -20 (a perfect score) this year. Woohoo! Being overweight by 100+ lbs, it is amazing that I can score that well. My good cholesterol is lower than they want; however, my bad cholesterol & triglycerides are where they should be. Plus my glucose is less than 100.

Obviuosly I think my employer should provide some sort of monetary incentive--unfortunately, they claim that my good health is my reward. Whatev! My boss was saying that his score is perfect too--obviously I had to remind him that I outweigh him by 100 lbs! Some sympathy please!

The computer is definitely dead. It looks like tax time is the soonest I will be getting a replacement (assuming that I have money leftover from replacing all my old steel water pipes w/ plastic, ugh!)

Love to all! Can't wait to hear from you in 2009!

Hey EPeeps!

I am still w/o a computer. I have been using the folks since they have been in town; however, they will be leaving in a couple of days. Hoped that my uncle would be able to take a look at it on Thanksgiving--he fears that it is motherboard related, dang-it.

When I return to work I am going to check w/ a computer whiz--if that doesn't pan out then it may be tax time before I can get a new laptop.

As far a eating is concerned I have pretty much been eating unrestrained, I'm ashamed to admit. I have feared that I may have gained all my weight back. Fortunately, when I stepped on the scales the other day I was at 283, fully clothed, shoed, and it was late at night. I'm thinking when I quit eating for almost 2 wks--due to horrible, painful, swollen tooth (which ended in root canal), I must have shed more weight than I realized.

Our first meeting for Mini training is this Tuesday--I am so ready!

Please send good computer vibes toward the midwest. LOL, Shauna

Hey my friends!

My laptop has been on the fritz for about 6 wks--I feel totally alienated from the people I adore. My folks are in town so I am catching up on hundreds of emails! Yikes!

I miss you all terribly--training will be starting soon. I am so ready to come out of this fog! I am really looking forward to meeting some blogger friends at the Mini this year.

Who else wants to throw down on Vickie (TBL)?

I'll be checking in on all of you! Hugs!