Thank goodness no one we know <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> LOL! We're pretty psyched! Ready to get out of here even if it is just for the evening! Got hubby some clothes for the occasion yesterday so he'll look like quite a stud! I'm crunched and scrubbed and shaved and you name it...so I'm ready to radiate! We got a suite at a motel near the restaurant so we won't ruin the occasion by getting lost! I thought about finishing Passionate Marriage on the ride up or back (it's a 4 hour drive one way) but I think I'll take some of our "other" reading (Mars and Venus in the bedroom, and maybe some others). We're not going to focus on fixing problems on this date...just on having some FUN!!!

Anyway, thanks all for all the tips and support. I feel a little more prepared for this whole dressing up thing and I know I'll wow the H!

Quote for the day -

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.

- Yiddish proverb

<small>[ July 31, 2002, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: hope4future ]</small>

Hey Hope,

O.K. you are making me look bad. I have been putting off working out for too long. Today I am going to do it. I am going to find a gym and join it. Workout begins tomorrow.

Very impressed with your vigor. Are you planning to keep these changes permament or just a 14 day thing?

Hoping to integrate the changes permanently. Maybe not to the extent I'll do it during the 2 weeks...but if I actually see some results in there I'm sure it will motivate me to keep going! I think I keep motivated better in a group setting...so I'm hoping to get a bunch of us motivated and hopefully we can KEEP motivating each other! If there were any type of clubs around here I'd do great...but I'm in the middle of nowhere, just to the left of the boondocks.

H4F

Good for you...

I am a big believer in workouts/exercise as a way to focus and re-charge...

After d-day and especially since my WW left home at the beginning of the year I have developed a routine that works for me and more importantly makes me feel better about myself.

Since 1/1/02 I have lost 13 pounds, through running, biking and light weight training. More significant than the weight loss, though is the loss of two-plus inches off my waist and the addition of muscle and muscle tone.

The hardest part--where you are right now--is the beginning. But just keep at it...discipline is the key and even if you don't feel like doing it on a particular day tell yourself you will just get in a light workout--do something.

You will find yourself getting into a routine that you will not want to break.

Good luck and as they say---Just do it--swoosh.

E

Elad is right. My Dday was 10/01. It had been years since I worked out. Since then I've gone from 270lbs to 195lbs. Added a fair amount of muscle, quit drinking, quit smoking, and actually have turned some of those ladies' heads <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> !

Make it a part of your life! It gets easier.

Gib

<small>[ July 18, 2002, 10:43 AM: Message edited by: Gibby1 ]</small>

Hope4future,

I'm no fitness expert. However if you can work that brisk walk into your morning routine rather than later in the day you will reap much more benefit for the effort. A good 20-30 minute cardio workout, like brisk walking, done early in the day raises your metabolism for the whole day. Versus doing the same in the later day, evening, doesn't give you nearly the results.

Bob Greene wrote a book with Oprah Winfrey that gives some good explanations for why to do things certain ways. He has a newer one out called Get With The Program.

Or you could always just find out that your spouse is cheating on you, and drop 24 pounds in about 6 wks. Worked for me. Although I wouldn't recomend it.

I lost 23-28 pounds during the bad times. Kept it off for 2 years (uh, the duration of the bad times). But I also lifted weights and was in good shape. H came home, I gained it ALL back. I re-lost 10 last year, but this other 15 really likes me <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> .

I walked 40 minutes most of the winter & spring. Added 3X a week gym workouts in June. 20 min on the ellipitcal glider, 10 on stairmaster, another 40 minutes lifting weights, all muscle groups. I can see the difference, but the scale thinks I may have gained. Yeah I know muscle weighs more than fat, but...I've got a little of both right now. 6 weeks is an irritating amount of time not to lose weight.

I did try Atkins for 3 days, with no caffeine either, between the caffeine withdrawl & my blood sugar plummeting, I spent the next 2 days thinking I was near death. Went on the ellitical glider, had to go lay down on a mat for half an hour. "You okay lady". Didn't know whether to ask for an ambulance, pretend I was in a coma...I said "I'm fine, thanks"

I've got 8 weeks until a beach vacation with another couple...I'd like all 15 pounds gone.

I don't drink soda. But I do like beer (oh? high, empty calories, really?). Crystal light lemonade, frozen water bottles help...but, did I mention I like beer <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> ? Especially when the weather is hot, like today's 102?

For me, exercise is the easier part, I don't like to diet. Who am I kidding? I don't like to eat "sensibly".

Well shoot...when you edit the post it doesn't put it back at the top of the list! So I guess I'll have to BUMP it.

Lor, are you saying you like BEER?? LOL!! I don't care for the taste that well, but if you get me with my girlfriends...I can guzzle my share. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="images/icons/tongue.gif" />

O.K. I am posting a little ashamed. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Embarrassed]" src="images/icons/blush.gif" /> I did not fulfill my end of the bargain. I got hung up at work and did not join the gym. So what happens now? LOL <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

So at the risk of looking like a total looser, I will try again today. Got to leave early. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />

Hope, Sally Hanson makes a cream called 'Bikini Zone' that will clear those rasor bumps right up. If you shave that area every day (like I have to), then you need to use this stuff cause it works great. Did you find someone to do your make-up? Look for a Mary Kay consultant in your area, the Timewise Cleanser and Moisturizer is like going to a spa for a facial, and they have all these great new eye and cheek colors out for the season. I like Mary Kay because they teach you how to apply it yourself, they don't just paint you up and send you out. If your husband likes the results, you are going to do this regularly anyway, right? Then you need your own stash for future fun.

I'll have to check out that bikini zone stuff when I go shopping Wednesday. This is getting OWCHIE, but it does seem to be getting better with each shaving.

Thanks for the tips!

Ok girls, I want in on the work out club... as for the mary kay stuff... go to www.marykay.com/lisabarfield there you go! hugs, honey

Haven't posted on MB for months - but still read. Posted a few times as Still Afraid back then. It doesn't really apply anymore so I had to change my name!

I've managed to lose 13 lbs. in the last 2 months easily. But the "eating sensibly" does factor into it! I've tried excersizing programs,but just could never seem to drop the 15 lbs. that really needed to go. I wouldn't recommend the Atkins diet, or any other kind of "diet", but I definitely would recommend cutting back on the carbs. That's all I did. Quit eating pasta and bread all the time and cut out most refined sugar. It was hard the first couple of weeks, but now its really easy. Now that everyone is noticing my weight loss- I don't want to eat that stuff all the time! I think that paying attention to what I eat has also had an impact on the number of calories I take in day to day - although I'm not counting and never would. I still splurge now and then too.

Really, I've just adjusted my diet to included a lot more vegetables and less sugar. Believe me, I love pasta and bread, but I love fitting into a size 6 a hell of a lot better! Sugar free Kool-aid is great, and Crystal Light has a lot of good flavors. When I drink soda I do Pepsi One, or diet Pepsi- IBC makes the best darn diet root beer ever.

I do eat some carbs every day, I try to limit it to one piece of bread, or no more than 2 or 3 of tortillas. The best part is that I haven't cut out any fat (I mean like cheese, avacados, and such). I'm a vegetarian, so I do a lot of soy (tofu, fake chicken, etc.) Soy has a high protein to carb ratio so it works just fine. Obviously, veggies have carbs, but I'm just talking about cutting back in <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> the bread, pasta, sugar categories.

I heard a personal trainer say that if a person just cut half of the carbs out of each meal they ate, they could lose weight easily. I don't consider this a diet at all - just a totally different approach to eating for the rest of my life. I feel so much better - no post-lunch carbohydrate coma's anymore.

Anyway, I hope this offers some tips, and encouragement to anyone who has been tryign to get rid of some weight for a while with no success!

bump for the update :-)

Hey Hope,

I started doing home workouts from the Firm a few years ago so I never have an excuse to not do my workout. They are cardio workouts with weights and are the best ones on the market. You can buy them at www.collagevideo.com. They are just as good as a health club workout. The reason I like them so much is because they are very interesting and they REALLY WORK. Not in losing weight, but in giving you an AWESOME figure. They promise you can see results in 10 workouts and they really deliver on that promise.

That being said, I should add that working out, depending on your age, has less to do with weight loss than diet. For most folks over 35, exercise contributes about 25%, diet 75%. For younger folks with a finely tuned metabolism, it can be 40% exercise and 60% diet. The point is that it is really DIET that contributes the most to weight loss rather than exercise.

For me, I found the greatest success in cutting out refined sugar and flour and all starchy veggies and fruits. I lost 40 pounds in 4 months. Also, when you eat refined carbs, your body retains a great degree of water so when you cut them out, all that retained water just dumps.

Anyway, your hair and the new dress sound gorgeous and I am excited for you!

If you can't get to the makeup counter, why don't you try going to GlamourShots (if they have one in your area) on the big day?

My daughter and I went to one, even though I had had an accident with a post which had given me a black eye and a cut on my eyebrow. They did a good job, even though they weren't able to position me so that the bandage didn't show (so I didn't order the picture). My daughter, on the other hand, looked TERRIFIC! She literally walked on air for the rest of the afternoon!

They will do things with your hair (they don't wash it..just curl and style it) and apply makeup so that you look especially glamorous. Another plus would be that you could have a really wonderful picture of yourself to give your H!

<small>[ July 25, 2002, 11:19 AM: Message edited by: Lady Clueless ]</small>

LOL...well, I highly doubt there is one "in this area". We're lucky to have McDonalds in this area!!! I'm probably 3 hours from anything like that. That's country livin for ya!

I just got the FIRM, I also have Callenetics, I have not started on the FIRM yet. Hurt my knee. It is better now, so I hope i can find the motivation to get working on it

A women's gym is popping up all over "Curves". Is there one of those in your area? There are two within 10 miles of each other in my area. The ones I've seen are small centers, not like the big Bally's and there is one or two in a large metro area.

just checking in on ya!! congrats on the hair, sound great! you must look beautiful. wanted to let you know i ust picked up a dress for my weekend-tomorrow-with my hubby-he's gonna think ive gone batty. its an animal print and pretty tight too! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />

as far as curves-i love it and its not like working out. i live in a very small town and its like getting together with your girlfriends-its fun.

anyway- im off to get ready for our trip-going to cooperstown, ny for a long weekend. cant wait!

Ooooh, the animal print sound SEXY! I looked at some, but never tried any on. I just fell in love with the dress in the catalog and after that all I had on my mind was RED. This one's a beauty though.

That "curves" sounds interesting. If there isn't one around here maybe I could start something up? Anyone have any more information about something like that?