I hit the 75 pound mark!!! 77.6 actually, but who's counting? Oh wait...I am! Haha! :) I was starting to feel like there is no way I'll reach 100 pounds by July 30th. But now I feel that there's a little bit of hope. What, I have like, 23 pounds to go? I can do that. I have one more weigh-in in April. All of May. All of June. And then most of July. I can do this! 100 pounds here I come!

**Dancing around the room**

Yes. I am frustrated. I was just commenting on another blogger friend of mine's blog about how whenever you're about to hit a major mile stone like 25 pounds lost or 30 or 40 or 50, etc. you always are 0.something away. So you may know that I am almost at my 75 pound mark. I had a nice gain last week, and was hoping to hit it this week. I weighed in this morning. Down 74.8. 0.2 away from 75. Are you kidding me?!!!! Next week though. Next week. Heather (my fabulous leader) is going to help keep me in line this week and the 75 pound mark shall officially be hit next week. And in the meantime, I am taking these nasty cookies that are my office at work and throwing them out the window. You know it's a good sign when Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies are making you feel sick. 75 pounds here I come!!! :)

I've been such a slacker lately! I didn't even realize that I haven't updated in so long! Sorry guys! I'm here. I gained 2.6 this past week. Boo!! But I'm not surprised. I completely forgot about my uncle's retirement party on Saturday and didn't save any points to eat anything there. And I couldn't refuse a piece of his cake, so I kind of just said oh well. When I got home, I changed into my gym clothes and got on the treadmill. Until the dumb thing started screeching at me...again! So I hoped off and did Jillian's Cardio Kick-Boxing DVD. And yes, I was hurting the next day. Bad! :) But I managed to clean out our garage. Typically if I work out Saturday or Sunday before my Monday weigh-in, I go up on Monday. So I wasn't surprised to see a gain on the scale. But I'm over it!

I know some of you guys wanted to keep in touch with me, so I'm going to give you my e-mail. I'll still post here, but my work has been nuts lately and I haven't had as much time to check the page as I would like, but I always have time to check my e-mail. So it's: lovejuliet8579@yahoo.com

I've discussed some things with my WW leader lately, and I've come to a decision. I'm going to do my best to run at least some (if not all) of the 5k we're doing in September. And then next year, we're going to run the Flying Pig Marathon. I can do it! Gotta have faith!

And this is me begging, pleading...is anyone from the Cincinnati area, that wants to climb some steps with me? Basically once a week, I was thinking about going somewhere where there is a ton of steps and just walking them. Maybe up and down twice or something. I'm trying to train for the 45 story climb in February and the best way to train is to take to the stairs. So is anyone up for it? I'm basically at work from 12:30-6:30. I would be more than willing to get up early and go somewhere. Let me know if anyone is up for it!

I hope you all are doing well!

As much as i would have loved to, and i only at 0.7 left.... I didnt hit my 50 pound mark.  Instead i went up.  However i'm not going to be mad about this.  I really cannot be.  I've had a rough couple of weeks.  To explain without much detail... i've been having some "female problems" a good month ahead of when i should be having these issues.  Needless to say it lead me to be extremely stressed out as I was assured it should be all good in a couple of days... well i was informed monday that while it still my be giving me problems i'm gonna just have to deal with it for the next 20 days.  Woo f'ng woo.  So yeah... not only that but i didnt get yet another job that i was qualified for.  (shocking) so i turned to some wine and food to try to relieve the pain and frustration.  I also couldnt work out 2 days last week.  But again, I'm really not upset about this... I expected it, I knew it would happen and i really can't be angry... sometimes you need to just take care of yourself even if that means not follow my diet.  I dont weigh in again, well with jenny for 2 weeks due to a wedding next week.  I will be weighing in on Thursday with my trainer & next thursday again, so I'll have some update on that end.

My plan?  Well hey... try my best.  the wedding will be difficult but its a time of celebration for me so whatever again i cant be angry if i drink a little... okay or a little more than a little (its for my boyfriend's best friend).. and eat off program.  but here's the plan:
Today: i stuck to jenny perfect & even had an extra bottle of water... and my trainer kicked my booty
Wednesday:  Spin we must spin & stick to program
Thursday:  Training session, eat well
Friday: Cardio (this is a maybe day but i'm going to try to go)
Saturday: Spin then head down to jersey... where we may have some fun training by my boyfriends other friend who is a trained mixed martial artist who also competes in cage fights.
Sunday: try to get up early & head to hotel gym then wedding
Monday: if i get home in time try Zomba
Tuesday: off day for gym due to other things
Wednesday: Spin
Thursday: Trainer
Friday: cardio
... you get the idea.

Here's hoping that the week and my issues start to get better so that i feel better about diet, etc.  and I'll hopefully hit 50 pounds lost in no time.

Now its time to watch BL (after watching the sox ring ceremony... YAY SOX! hehehe)... i'm intrigued by this "twist" thrown in at the end.

Last week I tried my hardest to keep up with the diet & exercise... determined to hit my 50 pound mark.  I came so close ugghh.  I lost 2.9 pounds to leave me 0.7 away from my 50 pound mark.  Come on man!  0.7?!  Alright fine, I will hit it this week... better yet I will try to break it. 

On a fun note, on sunday I got to wear my 1st ever size 12 jeans.  SWEET!  It was fun to wear them all day, made me feel good... then while wearing them I bought my first pair of work pants that are a size 12.  The pants just make you feel a little better.  I cant wait til I can overhaul the wardrobe to all 12s.  that would be amazing.   

At the gym today I got another compliment.  One of the guys who works out a lot stopped me before my training session and told me "don't stop because it's working".  It was cool to hear yet another compliment from a stranger... i had a tough day so to hear it made me smile.  Then I got into a random convo about The Biggest Loser with the other guy next to me on the bike.... told him who i want to win and we were both obsessed with the show (something tells me that i'm more obsessed though )  To say that my trainer kicked my bootay is like an understatement.  I dont thing that I've sweated that much for a damn long time... I cant even explain how tired and sweaty i am.  Hopefully it helps me on my way to getting above 50 man... and finally hitting 50!!

So of course... my plan for the week!

• Wednesday: Spin & keep on food program
• Thursday: Training session & diet is good
• Friday: Cardio (side note I wasnt able to work out last friday but still did well, so we'll see how well i feel on friday for cardio)
• Saturday: Spin Spin Spin
• Sunday: le Body Pump

Send me happy thoughts so I can hit my 50 mark!

On a lighter side, though maybe not too light.  Like Brittany said, we tend to take things for granted.  I think at times I probably did take my health for granted too... and the fact that I'm losing weight.  It's hard, when people say "oh you're getting so skinny" or "you're doing great"... sometimes it bothers me, i'm not close to my goal weight (well now i'm 19.4 lbs away) and i gained 1.6 this week.  But at those point in time i need to always remind myself to stop & say "thank you" and not get annoyed.  I'm doing good, look where I came from, these people may or may not know the struggles or have to know the struggles.  I really need to learn to be better about that, and I think I was better today.

While working out with my trainer on tuesdays there's always another woman working out with another one of the trainers.  The woman (who's probably not much older than me) is f'ng gorgeous... PERFECT f'ng body .  Good lord i dont think there is any fat on her.  I mean amazing body and just yeah gorgeous.  That fact has always made me wonder why the hell she's with a trainer, but whatever i try not to judge... but really she's gorgeous.  After she was done working out her trainer came over and told me that she said I was looking "smokin".  I'm sorry did perfect body say that about me?  me??  wow... I took that as a big compliment.  Wow maybe I am changing.

Then again I'm getting compliments all the time from my boyfriend who is amazed at my progress.  And it feels good... I'm doing the right thing.  I havent been sick in a long time, my period still sucks big time, but it wasnt as bad as the past.  I'm doing better.  And I have to stop taking that for granted.

I'm with Brittany... time to stop taking things for granted... and also time to head to bed to watch Biggest Loser. 

Have a great night everyone. 


oh and.... GO SOX!

I was at work this afternoon. Had about an hour left and my phone rang. It was my dad. He called and asked me where the fire was on my street. I work at a police department and hadn't heard anything about it, so I started freaking out. The officer on duty at my department called the Police Department where I live and they said they think the calls came in from either 703 or 706. Well, there is no 706. It goes to 707. And 707 is right next door to me. I started flipping out. I have two little cats at home. And I was worried about them. I worry about them on a normal day, not to mention today when I know there is a fire on my street. Since I don't drive, the officer on duty offered to take me home. So he got me here at record speed. There were about 20 fire trucks outside and police cruisers blocking the way. So he drops me off and I ask him nicely if he can walk me down to my house. He did get out of the car, but since he was the only one on duty, he couldn't go down to my house with me. So I looked around and it was the house right next door. The windows and doors are all busted out and the inside of the house is black. Someone said that flames shot out the windows. Had the flames been on the other side of the house, my house would have been on fire too. And my cats wouldn't be alive. We shut them in a room upstairs when we go to work so they don't slip out the door with us. But if the fire would have shot out those other windows, it would have gotten our sun room and easily gone upstairs. I am so relieved and thankful that it wasn't my house. And my house didn't suffer any damage. But at the same time, I feel so bad for my neighbors. Their house is a total loss.

When things happen like this, they really just make you think.It just makes you think about all the little things we take for granted every day. And while this post isn't technically about weight loss, you can relate it to losing weight. Every day so many of us take for granted the fact that we are healthy. There are so many people out there battling fatal illnesses. I know that I used to take my health for granted. On those days when I would order 2 appetizers, a meal, and two desserts from a restaurant. And eat it all and still be hungry. I will never ever take things for granted again. I'm not sure how many of you out there believe in God, but I definitely believe that God was watching over me and watching over my house. I'm so blessed and fortunate that my house didn't suffer any damage and that my cats are alive and safe. And while my neighbor's house was destroyed, it is just that. A house. It can be replaced. They are both lucky to be alive right now. It could have been much worse. Had the fire been today, it could have spread throughout the neighborhood. It is so windy.

I'm rambling. I'm just so thankful right now that I still have my cats and my house.

You know what?  I'm not angry with my weigh in.  Traditionally when I go on vacations I gain 4 pounds, its been proven on a couple of trips.  However this trip to florida (and I'm guessing mainly the time after i got back when I jumped off the wagon) I only gained 1.6 pounds.  And you know what?  I can lose that no problem this week!  I have every bit of confidence that I can at the very least lose a pound of that.  The best part is that it brought me back to 170.2, that makes me want to work harder to get it off and finally hit that 50 pound mark i was so close to.  I know that with my gym schedule this week and no plans on eatting out (there's only i think a bar trip, but i'll be drinking water) I can do this.  Sadly I didnt make it to the gym yesterday, but I will make it this week!  Plus it was great to hear my jenny counselor say "you really didnt do bad"... so yeah it was all the crap I ate once i got back... oops, my own damn fault but you live & learn. 

sooooo.....

The infamous weekly schedule!

• Tomorrow: Training session - stick to program (they have these new little "soupations" or whatever, but their little mini soups to have with dinner, we'll try it)
• Wednesday: Spin!! - stick to program
• Thursday: Training session - stick to program
• Friday: Cardio @ gym (if i can still walk after a week away from intense gym workouts) - stick to program, if eat out have a salad
• Saturday: wake up early & get to Spin (8am is early man & you gotta get there early for a bike) - stick to program, if eat out have a salad
• Sunday: Body Pump!  - stick to program

I normally weigh in with my trainer on Thursday... so hopefully we'll see some loss by then!

So yeah. After my little loss last week, I was expecting a big number. I was hoping for 6 pounds...haha! A girl can dream right? The scale did not let me down however. I lost 4.2. Which puts me at 73 pounds lost total!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! **Screaming and running around the room** I am going to be at 75 pounds down sooner than I expected. I won't be going to weigh-in next week because it's Opening Day (Go Reds!!!) and if I were to lose 2 pounds this week, I would be upset to hit that milestone at a meeting other than my own. So I'm just going to stay on plan and weigh-in on Monday in two weeks and aim for 2 pounds lost between now and then. I can do it!!!

Now, a question. As I stated above, I'm going to the Reds Game on the 31st. Breakfast will be alright. I'll just eat before I leave. Snacks will be no problem. I can take 100 calorie packs and some sliced apples along. The problem is at the stadium. What should I eat? I don't have to worry about the soda or the beer, because I don't drink either. (Well...occasionally soda, but no way will I be drinking it at the ball park). I'll be bringing my own water with me. $4.50 for water? No thanks! The last game I went to, I had a veggie dog with some grilled veggies on top and one of those mini baseball hat sundaes with strawberry topping and counted everything as 20 points. And I ended up gaining weight that week. So this time, I need a plan. And I need to be safe. No way am I screwing up so close to 75 pounds! I figure, if I want ice cream, the ice cream bars have the nutritional information on them. And the Dippin' Dots have nutritional information on their website. As far as actual food goes though. What do you think? Our ballpark has LaRosa's pizza and Skyline Chili. Both of which have nutritional information that is easily accessible. Should I just go with one of those since I'm sure of the nutritional information on them? Here's a rundown of the basic food that they have in the ballpark:

Alley Dogs - Section 401:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdogs, Brats, Big Red Smokeys, Popcorn and Soft Pretzels.

Doggy's Dogs - Section 135:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdogs, Brats, and Big Red Smokeys.

Downtown/High 5/ Crosley Grill - Sections 119, 130, 514:
- Specializing in 1/2 pound Burgers, Grilled Chicken Sandwiches, Chicken Tenders and an assortment of French Fries.

Dugout Dogs - Sections 516 & 525:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdogs, Brats, Big Red Smokeys, Popcorn and Soft Pretzels.

Frank's Franks - Sections 113, 142, 531:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdog, Brats and Big Red Smokey.

Home Run Dogs - Section 105:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdog, Brats, Big Red Smokeys and Popcorn.

Knuxy's Knots - Section 525:
- Featuring Gourmet Pretzels, Kahn's Hotdogs and the Big Red Smokey.

LaRosa's Pizzeria - Sections 113, 133, 518:
- Try a piece of Cincinnati featuring LaRosa's Pizza and Steak Hoagies.

Montgomery Inn - Section 124:
- Cincinnati's own Montgomery Inn Pulled Pork and Chicken. For Dessert try one of our many flavors of Dippin Dots.

Riverfront Dogs - Section 118:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdog, Brats and Big Red Smokeys.

Roebling Dogs - Sections 113 & 135:
- Featuring Kahn's Hotdog, Brats and Big Red Smokeys.

Skyline Chili - Sections 116, 130 & 518:
- Featuring Cincinnati's own Skyline Cheese Coney.

United Dairy Farmers - Sections 117, 133 & 525:
- Try a United Dairy Farmers Chocolate/Vanilla Soft Serve Sundae today. UDF Hard Dip Cups, Ice Cream Bars and the Frosty Malt are also available.

I could go with a grilled chicken sandwich, or something like that. But my worry there is that I will underestimate as far as points go. Heck! I thought I over-estimated the last time and ended up gaining. So what do you? Anyone have any suggestions? All input is greatly appreciated. I am so nervous about eating there so close to the 75 pound mark.

Yeah... I did great in florida, but back home i've jumped so far off the diet wagon.  I'll do great breakfast, lunch, etc but dinner... dinner is like the devil.  Today has been the best day so far though... dinner i just had a salad with grilled chicken.   but you know the chinese food & italian combo sandwhich have been eatten since i got home.  Go me... way to jump off the wagon big time. I've at least been to the gym thurs, fri & for a small amount of time today... if i could have stayed longer i would have but had appointments today.  Tomorrow I'm gonna work out and be on good behavior for easter lunch/dinner later on.  Blah.  I shall prepare myself for a god-awful weigh in on Monday.... but then get right back on track.  So here's my plan:

• Tomorrow: work out for at least an hour... no classes being taught b/c of the holiday.  try so hard to behave during family dinner.
• Monday: stick to program, weigh-in, if i can make it body pump (all depends on how long weigh in is & traffic)
• Tuesday: stick to program, training session
• Wednesday: stick to program, spinning class
• Thursday: stick to program, training session
• Friday: stick to program, cardio after work
• Saturday: stick to program...  spin in the am
• Sunday: stick to program, body pump

Ugh.  I can feel the weight back on.. stupid me.  stupid me.  but hey life could be worse right?  Time to get back on the wagon and get back on track... I have a wedding to go to in less than a month, someones gotta look hot! and that someone is me.  :)

On a happy note i think now that I'm using firefox I may be able to look at people's pages.  woo hoo!

Have a great night & weekend everyone! 

Well to start off... I found a scale here in florida, it wasnt very hard it was in my aunt & uncles bathroom but... It claims i'm 167. Which I hope that the damn thing is just a pound off, not like the one at work which is 6 pounds off. Soooo if this scale is true I've managed to lose 0.6 while down here... but since I have no idea if this is remotely accurate I'm just going to hope it means I stayed the same.

I've been doing good... I'm very proud of myself, really I am. I could have jumped so far off the wagon while I've been here, but I haven't. WOO HOO. If i could just work out besides walking I would be so much happier. we've eatten out basically every night, which is getting hard. I did however think I did very good at Outback on Saturday. For an appetizer I had 3 of the grilled shrimp and a side salad. For a meal I had the Grilled Chicken breast & "steamed green beans". I assumed the whole time I did great, I got the bbq sauce on the side, dressing on the side & i stopped eatting the green beans since it tasted like there was butter. I of course go to the website later when we get back & learn there was butter apparently on the shrimp & chicken too... jerks. Oh well I did what i did. Last night though was the downfall... DOWNFALL!! We basically ate at home all day which was great... my awesome bagel & fruit for breakfast, boca chicken patty for lunch, mucho fruit... lots of water. When then we get out of the mall (we got rained on during the morning trip to the beach so decided that the mall would be good to hide) its suddenly 87 & extremely humid, I'm hungry and getting sick. We had to stop at the grocery store so i try to grab one of their mini pastries... yeah that was stale, so luckily did not eat it... but still really sick b/c I needed food. Stopped at McD's and got a fruit & walnut salad and was all better... but then came home to shrimp, cool I can deal with some shrimpies (cant eat them much at home, boyfriend allergic... but manage to somehow eat 2 wheat thins, 1 piece of pepperoni & 2 small chips. what the hell. okay okay its just cuz i dont feel good.... Behaved at dinner I had my vegan soy burger which i was really worried i would hate, but loved & a salad.

Did i stop there... oh no... there was ice cream. The plan, fine I'll treat myself to no-sugar, no-etc ice cream at this local place. But of course the damn place was out of no-sugar, etc ice cream since they had refrigeration problems... what! I'm trying to be good here, damn you people and your refrigeration problems... did i do the smart thing and just get a scoop of normal ice cream? why? why would i do something that makes sense? I had a small (luckily it was very small for an ice cream place) sundae... vanilla ice cream... peanut butter, mini resse's pieces & whip cream... way to be healthy there crystal.

Today we get back on track... I actually bought a Biggest Loser Calorie book at Target so I'll be looking at that before dinner. The plan is to see if the place has a menu online & judge later how it is. Eatting wise I've been great today... no messing up. I may need some more fruit though, for some reason I am F'ng hungry biotch today. hmm... I'll try more water first. Okay back to reading (I'm now reading "Couldn't Keep it to Myself" by Wally Lamb and the Women of York Correctional Institution - high security prison in CT and its great... 3rd book while here) and watch the Red Sox v. Yankees Spring training game! (damn you colon & tavarez for stinking right now) Hope everyone has a good day!

I have determined that I can no longer be in the same vicinity of anything Reese's. Nope. Saturday I bought some ice cream (along with massive quantities of veggies and fruits, mind you). It was Reese's Cup Ice Cream. So I decided that I had points left for the day and was going to grab a bowl. Without calculating the points first. NEVER AGAIN!!! 12 points for a dang cup of ice cream. Totally not worth it. It was good. But not worth the 12 points! So yeah. No more Reese's anything for me. It tastes good, but it's entirely too high in points to be worth the good taste.

On a side note, I weighed in this morning. My stomach was killing me and I thought for sure that I would be up. Nope. Down 0.4! Butttttttttttttt....that puts me at my second 10% goal!! I will take a picture of my new "trophy" when I get home from work. And now, in 29.3 more pounds, I'll have another trophy. But I'll be at 75 pounds lost before then. I'm tired of being in the 60 pounds lost range. I want to see a 7 in front of that number dangit! 68.8 pounds down now. And if I stay on track and don't go over my points like I have the last few weeks (oops!), I may hit the 75 pound mark in two weeks. At least that's what I'm aiming for. And then that's followed by the 100 pound mark!! And I can't wait! I think I may just have to throw a party and invite all of you to come join me!

Hi everyone!! I'm in Florida! yay! well kinda. I'm really stressing about eatting, etc. I didnt get to work out thursday (my trainer hurt her back very badly and couldnt really do anything) and yesterday we got down here. Its hard, It really is hard. Yesterday though I did okay up until dinner... we went to Cracker Barrel... yeah that so was not my choice! Are you kidding me?! Cracker Barrel... oh yeah thats great for a diet. I did pretty good though, I had a grilled chicken sandwhich & a side salad.... but i was so tired I gave into the biscuit. Stupid me. But I have my pedometer on, luckily because we went outlet shopping (OMG! the deals I got were INSANE!! I got a dress for a black tie wedding i need to go to for $40!) and walked a whole lot. Now because it rained ALL DAY LONG and since I desperately needed sleep (i had been up for about 17 hours by the time i went to bed) I didnt get to get up and walk the beach. Today I haven't been able to walk as much as yesterday, but I'm trying to get it in. Hopefully tomorrow when we head to the beach we can walk the beach and stay a little longer.

But I guess good things now... I've eatten better today (just havent gotten enough water), breakfast was an english muffin (very little margarine on it) and lunch was salad w/grilled chicken (dressing on side). After lunch we finally got to go to the store! Yay healthy food is now in the house! :) so excited about that now. I just had a lot of fruit & a yogurt... and in a bit we're heading to Outback for dinner (ugh... another challenge). Tomorrow I'm sure I'll be much better. I also found these kick ass bagels when i went to the store. Originally my counselor said to try to get WW bagels... but then I found these other bagels... no sugar, no cholestorol, and fat free at 110 calories. We have a winner! I'll let you all know how they are once I try them.

oh and i failed to mention, I'll be able to update A LOT since my aunt & uncle upgraded to wireless! one of the most exciting things since I've gotten here. lol. I hope everyone is doing well! I'm sending sunshine you're way! :)

I am an unhappy camper. A very unhappy camper. Let me start from the beginning and give you the lowdown. I left on Wednesday to go to a conference/training for work. I was fully prepared with my points calculator, my Dining Out Guide, my Complete Food Companion, and a dining out guide with some nutritional information that I printed out for some restaurants in Columbus. My parents went with me. We were supposed to get a huge snow storm on Friday and my mom was afraid to drive in it (I don't drive), so my dad came along too. Now, back to the story.

The good: We stopped at the Jeffersonville Outlet Mall on the way to Columbus and I had a Turkey Philadelphia from Great Steak. I haven't had one in many, many years, and it was darn worth it!

The bad: It used up my whole days worth of points (35). Whoops! But I carried some of the points and put them on Sunday since I usually eat less on Sundays before weigh-in anyways. No biggie. I can deal with that.

The good: We stop at the Lane Bryant Outlet store and I was able to find yoga/weigh-in pants in size 14/16, 18/20, and 22/24, so I have my bases covered. I also got several shirts in a variety of sizes from 18/20 to 22/24.

The bad:I had a small breakdown in the dressing room when I tried on one shirt in size 22/24 because it was tight in the belly. And I felt like despite losing almost 70 pounds, I hadn't made any progress. Shoot. I was wearing some size 22/24 shirts when I was at 361 pounds. Granted, I was squuuuuueeeezing into them. But I was still wearing them. But I got over the breakdown.

The good: When we got to the hotel, I went down to the gym.

The bad: Some dude running 400 miles an hour was on one of the treadmills (okay..so maybe he wasn't running that fast, but it was still faster than my butt can go) and I wasn't about to hop on the other one (which was about 4 inches from the one he was on). So I got on the exercise bike. Good, right? Nope! The bike was taunting me! I did a mile on it and the entire time it was saying (literally, it was telling me out loud) to pedal faster. WTH? I'm going as fast as my little legs can carry me. And to top it off, I only burned 4 calories. 4 calories? I can burn over a hundred using the treadmill for the same amount of time. So boo to that bike!

The good: I took the steps up to my room every time I got the chance. And I didn't get winded once while climbing the four flights of stairs!

The bad: Okay, so there is no bad to that.

The good: I got to eat my sundae from Friendlys.

The bad: They were OUT of Reese's Cups **gasp** so I had to eat a Reese's Pieces sundae which I did not have nutritional information for. Not fair. Not fair at all. And the dang sundae wasn't even that good.

The good: I did really well eating on program and watching what I ate and counting points.....

The bad: Until my dad decided to be mean and drive right back to the hotel after I got done with my training on Thursday. He then decided that once we got in the hallway to head up to the room that he wasn't going back outside and I could order room service if I was hungry. I was pissed. And had I had a room by myself, I probably would have started crying. But I pulled out my Dining Out guide and got a blackened chicken wrap and potato skins. So maybe the potato skins weren't that fantastic, but I had an official points value for them and thought hey! I know these are in my book, so I can't go wrong getting them. Except that they were like potato skins on steroids. They were literally halves of potatoes, so instead of counting them as potato skins, I counted them as full loaded baked potatoes. No biggie.

The good: The conference was informative. I discovered there were lots of things that we (or should I say I?) should be doing that we're not.

The bad: The snow wasn't supposed to start until noon and we started the conference early that day so that we could be out and headed home by the time it started. However, someone forgot to tell the snow that it wasn't supposed to start until noon because it decided to start at 9. So by the time we got out of the conference at 11, the streets were covered. And instead of heading home, we had to pull over and stay in a different hotel for two nights. Two nights of pure hell. I got my own room this time because I needed to be alone. I was upset. Things hadn't gone according to plan. I like being in control. I was out of control with my health and my eating for so long, and just when I know that I really have a grasp on everything, something happens and I wasn't in control. And I couldn't take it. I cried for about three hours straight. And then I got hungry. So I peeked outside and saw a Burger King about a mile across the parking lot. And a Mexican restaurant about half a mile across the parking lot. Hmm. Let's see..it's snowing. Am I really going to trudge through the snow to get to Burger King which is "safe" or am I going to go with something that's not so safe that's closer? Yeah. I went with the Mexican restaurant. I got a kid's meal instead of a regular portion. And since that was our only real choice for food (unless we wanted to trek through 20 inches of snow) I ate there for lunch the next day too. The second time, I decided to get a side portion of rice. A side portion of beans. And a quesadilla. Never, ever again. The side portions were huge!!! I ate it for lunch and dinner and was stuffed until well into the following day. But, they were good!

Anyway, I am home in one piece. I hate snow. I especially hate 20 inches of snow and being stuck in a hotel room. I barely slept most of the time I was gone because I have terrible allergies and I forgot my pillow. **Cries** So needless to say, I was pooped when I got home yesterday. And I slept clear from 10pm last night to 10am this morning. And missed my weigh-in. But I did catch up on sleep! So no weigh-in for me today. I may try to make it in tomorrow depending on how much sleep I get tonight. I hope I'm not getting sick though. I have absolutely no appetite today and my chest is starting to feel congested. Bleck. **Goes to chug her vitamins**

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I almost forgot!! How could I possibly forget to tell everybody?! I talked to my doctor on Thursday morning. My liver and kidneys are functioning great. I was previously diagnosed with fatty liver disease, but since losing weight, my liver is in tip top shape. At least according to the blood tests. Other tests would need to be done to actually look at the liver, but I'll settle for the tip top shape thing for now. My thyroid is back to normal!!! **Squee** On its own without medicine. (Not that I was actually taking the medicine when I was supposed to be taking it, but still!) My cholesterol was great. I am still pre-diabetic (boo!!!) And my doctor ordered me back on Metformin/Glucophage. Thanks, but no thanks! I will NEVER take that medicine again. I don't have enough time to sit in the bathroom for hours getting sick. I just can't do it. But I just had to come share all my news with everybody!