PROVIDA SUPPORT COMMUNITY

                                       

Good Morning fellow POPPERS! I am just POPPIN in for a moment this morning. I see neither of our lovely birthday girls have posted yet. Narina and Fran how are ya’ll doing? Did ya’ll have a wild and crazy birthday? I hope you both get a chance to check in today sweetpeas!

 

I have several appointments and a few errands so I most likely will not be in much today. I will be POPPIN along though and thinking of all of you for motivation and inspiration. I hope you all have a glorious POPPALICIOUS day!

                                           

                                                   {{{{{BIGGEST HUGS}}}}}

 

Hello Sweet Pat! I saw your name at the top of the page. Have a wonderful day sweetheart!  HUGS!

 

 I am ready to see the SUN!   Until it warms up outside.....it sure would be nice to see Sunny!!!!   Where are you girl???  How is it going???  How is the Y going?  How 'bout another cardio challenge between us girls?

Narina-  Girl I miss you!   I can't say that emphatically enough!  I know you are a busy gal both at home and at work.  If all you can do is just POP in and say Hi, I would love to know that you are still with us!  How is the A plan working for you?  TOM might not still visit me but I know that you and I both have another visitor from time to time....good ole "C".  Since I started to notice a problem I began taking 1-docusate sodium and 1-MOM tablet daily with no luck so far.  GRRR!   I don't like to have to get drastic but I will if "C" doesn't leave soon.  Perhaps you were right about the banana's. 

Bobbi-  I don't think I have told you that I love your new picture!  You are lookin' good!

James-  It is snowing here again....have you found your way out of the driveway yet?

Margaret- Hey squirrely!  How are you feeling?  Have you tried your new gingerbread concoction yet?

Bella- How is your finger?  Healing swiftly I hope!  Thanks for being my cheerleader!

Karen- What's cookin'??  How is your tailbone?  We are going to have to wrap you and Bella up in bubble wrap!

Pam-  I thought about it and I LOVE the idea of matching your type to your AVI!!!  That way if you are looking back through your old posts you can kinda figure out how much you weighed at that time!  You are a smart gal!  I like the orangier yellow color, it is much easier to read---and I LOVE reading your posts!  You are always doing just exactly what you should be doing and fighting your way towards your goal....SO INSPIRING!!!

Fran-  Hope you had a happy birthday!  Doesn't it feel great celebrating feeling and looking younger---inside and out!!!

I will try to catch more of you later today....I just wanted to be sure and say hi to these folks because they are the POPer's that got me 19 pounds thinner and wearing pants 2 sizes smaller.  I'm still fighting for that 20 pound AVI.  I was thinking last night about all of the people who have been commenting about my weight loss since the first of the year.  I have only lost a couple of pounds since the first of the year.  I dropped the weight before Christmas.  I know my body has done all of it's changing since the first of the year.  I know this because I changed jobs and was looking for dress clothes to wear rather than scrubs.  I know that those dress clothes no longer fit and I am again searching through my closet for the next size down.  Proof that what you hear is true....even if you are not losing according to the scale you are changing on the inside! 

I gotta get ready for work- I'm out of time--I'll chat more later!

 

 

 

Good morning everyone! Oh my God, I was totally not ignoring you all! I just couldn't get on. Every single time (and I mean EVERY single time) I tried to logon, I got "Service Unavailable"!!! Drove me crazy! Thank you so much for all your birthday wishes! Happy Birthday to Fran!!!! I didn't know your birthday was so close to mine! How much younger you look! How much lovlier you look! And how much better you must feel this year! Here's to a long, healthy life, and God willing, being at goal (or darn near close to it) for next year! I caught up reading all the posts and I will work on personals in a moment. I just wanted to get on and let you all know that I missed you terribly! And I was trying really hard to logon! I'm gonna end up with a super mega long post LOL so bear with me while I type it! I'll post back again a little later. I love you all! And was starting to go through withdrawal! LOL

                                          

YAY! There is our darlin Narina! I sure hope Provida is finished with whatever they were doing. It is soooo frustrating to not be able to login. I am very happy to see you this morning sweetpea! I admit I got a little spooked! I should have known better! Gotta run!

                                    {{{{{BIGGEST HUGS}}}}}

 

Pat… bubble wrap? YAY! Do me… do me first! LMAO!

 

A very, very good morning to you all!

 

As I said before, I was not able to get online.  Everytime I tried, I was getting a service unavailable message L  I am so sorry for that.  I would never leave you all like that!

 

I had a great birthday.  My aunt sent me a very large monetary gift (she’s a doctor and the first highly educated woman of our family, so she’s always had a soft spot for me, following in her footsteps).  I told my husband "Well, here's a down payment on our next vacation"  LOOOOL  Then hubby and I dropped the kids off at Sunday school and we went shopping.  He was looking to buy me a nice piece of jewelry (I told him I would like a diamond ring for my right hand).  But when we looked at the prices, I started getting wishy-washy.  They had nice rings, but they were all in 10 or 14 K gold.  For the same price, we would be able to get 21 K overseas.  So I told him to hold off on getting me anything and wait until we take a trip somewhere overseas.  In the meantime, he did say he would send me to the spa for a massage and whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  I used to go regularly, every 2 weeks, but since the kids have been here, I haven’t even had time to think about it.  My mom was the one that suggested to him, to get me that as my gift.  It was like “Oh yeah!  I forgot!  I used to always go!  I haven’t been there in months!  Great idea”… I love my mom J

 

I got myself lots of new clothes and a few new nightgowns.  You would think that the first time the rack of my closet collapsed and ripped out of the wall, that I would have learned my lesson and eased up on the amount of clothes that I have...but no, I never learn LOL  I'm also keeping my "fat" clothes just in case I get pregnant...then my suits and work clothes and house dresses will fit me okay.  So as it is, I barely have any room in my closet LOL  I also got some stuff for the house.  I also bought my husband some new clothes too. 

 

My birthday is also our legal anniversary.  Although we really count our anniversary as the day we were religiously married (which is June 30^th)…we didn’t get legally married until February 7^th, the following year, on my birthday, in Amsterdam.  So it was a day to celebrate for him too.

 

I was POP all day except for when we had dessert.  My kids cooked dinner for me and they went out and bought ick.  My brother also came over with my neice and a tray of ick.  I will be honest with you.  I had a little of everything.  I didn’t binge like normal.  Then I took all the leftovers to work and let my techs eat it the next day, so I wouldn’t be tempted to keep eating it.  It did not do any damage on the scale when I weighed in yesterday, that’s the good news. 

 

However…(there’s always a however).  I exercised last night AND started preparing for my dinner party tonight (I think I’m gonna have about 10 people tonight including us 6).  So I busted my butt all darn day yesterday, from 5am when I woke up, till 10pm when I collapsed on my bed.  And this morning the scale pretty much flipped me the bird and showed a weight of 204.6  I know it’s just soreness weight, but it’s so discouraging.  The good thing is that I can look at my journals and see that even though I have fluctuated and lost/gained the same few pounds forever…overall, the trend is still heading downward.

  

Okay that is me catching up.  Now I will write my personals!

 

Hi Everyone!

I'm a restarter and so very unhappy with the way I look and feel.  I'm READY to change.  But I know I'll need the support and guidance of ohers taking this journey.  Here's to the future! 

Elle

Bella, I love you honey!  I am so happy that we have become friends.  Here’s to many more years of friendship!  You have been the mother of this thread!  When everyone was too busy or in need of a helping hand, you were there.  I only wish I knew you earlier on, when you first started your journey.  Your success is nothing short of amazing.  If it weren’t for you, I don’t know if I would have kept trying as long as I have.  I thank you for being my friend and for being everyone’s friend!  Your beautiful smile and lovely pictures make my day!  I was wondering about the party.  I’m so glad that it all turned out good in the end.  Of course it would!  They are getting 2 gifts now instead of one.  It will be their birthday all over again when you get that wii.  I am glad you had a good time.  I’m the same way.  I let the slightest thing throw me into a whirlwind of emotions, stress, and anger.  Oh well, what can we do?  We’re highly emotional people…but that is also what makes us loving and compassionate!  So the world will just have to deal with us LOL

 

Pat, thank you so much for your birthday wishes.  Was your daughter’s birthday this weekend as well?  I have missed you too.  I was thinking to email you but yesterday we had a fill in pharmacist and I wanted to make sure he stayed caught up.  He’s a sweetheart of a man and offered to help us out in the day after working all night long in our sister hospital.  One of our pharmacists broke her leg and a tech broke his ankle.  The other tech is on vacation…and a few weeks ago we had a tech that just disappeared…never came back to work (sent a few messages that she was having some eye issues and then we never heard from her again).  So we’re down to practically no staff LOL  You of all people know how pharmacy can be when you have no staff!  I am also suffering the c-word.  It must be the half banana I ate on my birthday LOL  I don’t know about you, but they are like poison for me LOL  I just took my charcoal capsules LOL

Oh, about the Nutri-system.  I did that a few years back.  The food gave me lots of indigestion.  Some things are okay, but until you try all the food and figure out what you like, you might be stuck with food you hate.  Also, it’s all microwave food.  It’s all processed and out of a box.  The just add water type meals, or meals you unwrap and microwave.  It’s like airplane food actually…and I don’t mean first class meals either LOL  When I did it, I was lucky to lose ½ a pound a week.  Of course that may have been my thyroid issues…once I fixed my thyroid, I started this program and never tried the nutria-system again.  Yes, it was very convenient.  If anything I would recommend it for people who travel for work (which is exactly what I was when I was doing it).  It’s probably a better option if someone is extremely overweight…but for someone with only a little weigh to lose like yourself, I don’t think it’ll work fast enough.  Also you have to supplement with our own foods for your snacks in between (and they recommend things like fruit and dairy).  So you still have to grab some of your own food to take with you.

 

Patti, you are one strong lady!  I always admire people that can bake ick and not taste it.  I have to taste everything I make.  That is why I don’t bake that often LOL  About how many cookies you are allowed.  Well I always go by the eggs.  How many egg whites does the recipe call for?  Divide that by 2 (since you’re allowed 2 egg whites)…whatever number you get, that is the number of servings you have in the recipe.  Whatever number of cookies you end up making, then divide that number by your servings number.  Example:

Recipe calls for 12 egg whites.  Divide this by 2 (since we’re allowed 2 egg whites per meal).  That is equal to 6 servings.  Say you end up with 3 dozen cookies (36 cookies).  Divide that 36 by the 6 servings.  So each meal would be 6 cookies for you.  If you had 4 dozen cookies (48 cookies) then you would divide by 6 and then you would be allowed 8 cookies per meal.  Does that help???

 

Gail, way to go on eating out!  That is also my problem, like when I cook, I must taste.  When I go out to eat, I tell myself “This one time won’t hurt”…thus, I never go out to eat either LOL  You’re a strong woman!  Keep it up!  You’ll fly through those avis in no time!  About your scale…I would try a new battery.  If not, then get a new scale. You don’t want to be discouraged.  If you’re losing weight, you also deserve to see what you’re losing!  Not having to take averages!  Why not ask for a new scale as your Valentine’s gift?  It’ll be more useful than the usual ick everyone buys for each other.

 

James, Nancy and Idahoaninnewmexico (cannot remember your name) – Thank you for the birthday wishes!

 

Shelley, thank you darling!  Yes, can you believe, we’re going on 4 years now.  I am so happy to have known you this long!  You’re a big part of this journey for me!  When we’re little old ladies (key word little) we’ll be looking back on these times…probably trying to remember “what did POP stand for?”  LOL  I thank you for being there for me and introducing me to this group.  I’ve made life long friends here.  Also, you are doing FANTASTIC…9.2 pounds!  You always did burn through your avis too!  This time, you’re gonna keep burning until you get to goal!  Keep up with the calcium too!  It’s been said that women who drink milk have smaller waists.  Well, I doubt it’s the milk, but the calcium.  I started taking it religiously since October, and I notice that my waist is much more defined than before.  I do think it helps to lose more weight around the middle!

 

Karen, thank you for your PM and for everything really!  You and Bella have been my rocks around here.  I would never have stuck to this if it weren’t for the two of you.  I would have given up long ago after all the ups and downs I’ve had.  Seeing your success and your smiling pic on your posts everyday makes me keep trying.  I am so happy to have known you all these months.  I am incredibly proud of all you’ve done and how fast you’ve done it.  I look forward to many more years of good health and most especially, many more years of friendship with you!

 

Tim, thank you for your birthday wishes.  I also have the SMART CD’s.  I must say, the only time I listened to them regularly was when I was working in a small bo-dunk town with nothing to do.  I would listen to them at night and also while I walked.  I got down to my lowest weight during those times.  So I believe the CD’s work!  I really do!  I love journaling in general.  I have been up and down with my weight for about 8 months now.  Whenever I start gaining or stalling (which is often) my eating journals make it easy to go back and look up my weights and see which foods I ate when I had a loss.  I restarted on June 25^th at about 225-230 pounds.  So even though it’s taken forever, I’m still more than 20 pounds lighter than when I restarted.  I really believe the journals have helped me out this time.  When I first started years ago, the weight came off quick, so I didn’t journal regularly.  The journaling will really help if you start to stall or slow down in your losses.  So if you start now, you might find them very helpful later on in your journey.

 

Kannie, that is awesome!  I wish I knew someone that owned a farm around here.  We have to eat halal meat (similar to kosher).  However, I have no idea where the halal meat markets get their meat.  I’m a firm believer in buying organic produce, and meat and eggs from FREE animals that are fed VEGAN diets.  The food supply is so tainted and awful in our country.  You are very fortunate to be able to grow your own!  We plan on trying to start a vegetable garden this spring.  It’s been raining cats and dogs around here and its’ all flooded now…of course, come spring/summer we won’t see a drop of rain (sigh).  It’s hard to grow things here if you’re not watering it regularly since our summers are always 100+ degrees everyday.  But we’re going to try!  I might ask your advice when we start, if you don’t mind!  For almost 1 year, we’ve been composting too.  All the food I buy is organic, so we’ve got a good supply of organic compost waiting.  I just hope that it all works out and we’re able to grow a good amount.  Feeding 6 people an organic diet is very expensive LOL

 

Pam, the workout queen!  Now I have “dancing queen” in my head from Abba LOL.  I’m glad you’re losing again. It’s all the stress, I tell you!  Get rid of the stress, get rid of the weight!  Glad to see you’re feeling back to normal now.

 

Donna, congrats on your losses.  You are very close to twotervilee!  We’re here to cheer you on over!  And all the way to onederland eventually!

 

Fran, happy birthday again!  I hope you get that wii soon!  Sorry to hear your stores are  out also!  Well if it’s gonna take a few weeks to get some in, then maybe you can have it as a gift to yourself when you get that 100 pound avi!  You know you’re really close to it now!!!!

 Okay everyone!  I apologize for the enormous post!  Hopefully I can stay caught up now without posting a book!  I will check back in later tonight!  Have a fantastic day!  POP on!!!!!

 

Thanks for all the congrats on the loss.  It is really motivating and is keeping me on track.

Bella - wonderful articles, thanks for sharing. Thanks for the coffee also, I need it today.  I finally got to go back and read posts I missed.  This is a very active, motivated and excited group.  Reading your posts to everyone is one of the reason I decided to join.  You are enthusiastic about the program, have had great success and you don't make excuses.  You are someone to look up to.  Thanks for welcoming me.

Patti - I would be having a melt down facing what your facing.  I actually faced this type of situation before and I felt sick from head to toe till it was over.

Narina - I almost fell into that meal delivery plans trap.  Then I talked to a few people and all said that they were not successful.  So I decided why spend the big bucks when I have the plan that works.  So is your husband in the states now.  The last I talked to you I don't even think you were married yet.  Sounds like life is being good to you right now.

Karen - I would just love to wrap my arms around you and give you a big hug.  Your motivation, determination and way of thinking just motivates me and makes me realize and excuse is just that, and excuse.  Look at you! 

Well I am all out of time for today.  I have to leave to stock up in case I can't get out tomorrow and I have to take all three boys to the walk in clinic.  They have had stuffy noses and a cough but now the baby is showing signs that there is more to it than that and the oldest complained his ear hurt this morning. 

Went for a walk in the snow, its snowing sideways but I kept telling myself I am worth it and its just snow.  LOL!  I prefer walking outside, fresh air. 

Talk to you all later.

 

 

Hello All,

Late posting today.. I want to thank you for wishing me a Happy Birthday.. Even tho it was my birthday I stay POP and didn't even think about ick... It snowing here once again.. Were going to get blasted again...they calling up to a foot of snow here between today and tomorrow. I don't know where we're going to put the new snow at.. there so much out there now no place to shovel too.. so maybe no work tomorrow I'm sure they will closes the schools tomorrow.. I just wanted to pop in and tell you all hi and to stay strong and keep the faith....

Hi everyone - like everybody else, I couldn't post anything.  Glad the site is up and running now.

Karen - thanks so much for the welcome.  You have been such an inspiration to me since I met you in NBU.  You are just looking awesome!  I am looking for the Carrot Cake Deluxe Recipe.  I'll keep looking - it may be in posts that I haven't read yet.  I want to try that one.

Happy Birthday to Narina and Fran!!!!

I won't mention any more names because I just know I will leave somebody out and I don't want to do that!  I will get to know you all eventually - please bear with me!

Well, I better go for now.  

Kim 

Snow... grrrrrr!!!

 

Snow Who said snow?

LMAO

I am expecting between 10 and 12 inches woohoo

James

No snow for us... rain, rain, rain! Flood warnings all around. And better yet... low tonight expected to be 26... slip slidin away, slip slidin awaaay! LMAO

 Well my first post went into cyberspace earlier, so I'll try again!  I forgot who I had responded to, so I'll just post my day so far for now...

I got to the gym today, which was the first time in a few weeks, so I'm kinda sore, but I feel soooooo good for having gone!  I did almost 2.5 miles on the cross trainer/elliptical thingy, and then did weights and abs work (planks! ouch!).  Came home and had my MMS and am now waiting to have lunch in a little bit.  I'm almost halfway through my water for the day, so I'm really having a groovy POP day!  I'm trying to get more things accomplished, laundry, packing (in case we do let go of the house), and I want to get some cooking done...  The girls are still diligently working on their school work, and it's a beautiful rainy day today!  I love when we get any kind of weather here in Vegas! 

So I hope you are all POPping and DROPping, as well, today!  Sorry I am not responding to anyone right now... will try to get to that later!

~Patti

ktwin135:

Kim I bumped this post up for you.

Here are three carb and protein combination foods I made yesterday.  The Carrot Cake Deluxe also has part of a serving of veg A.

The Ginger Bread Toasties are spicy and I love them.  I love oatmeal in the morning so I eat these for breakfast.  I have never ground the oats for the recipe and I cook them up on a regular sheet pan so they turn out like a breakfast bar.  I'm afraid being a Type A that grinding the oats may slow down my metabolism.  However I can say for sure that eating these with the oats in tact does not slow down my losses. 

Ginger Bread Toasties

The Carrot Cake Deluxe is more like a dessert to me.  Because it has the pureed carrots, I only eat these as part of my lunch or dinner.  I use my vita-mix blender for the carrots and just about liquify them.  I also do NOT grind the oats.  This time around I ran out of almond extract so I used half almond and half coconut extract and I liked it even more.  I freeze these up and save it for when I'm feeling the need to indulge!  The good part is that when I first started making them I was eating it more frequently because I was developing the recipe so I could share it on the exchange and it did not slow down my losses at all either.     

Carrot Cake Deluxe 

The Easy Oatmeal Cookies were simple and quick to make.  I made one batch with the cinnamon extract and the other with 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon.  I liked it better with the ground cinnamon.  The texture isn't like "regular" oatmeal cookies, but they were yummy!

Easy Oatmeal Cookies (Oatmeal Cookies 3)

 

the recipe is in the dessert forum

James: I will be thinking of you tomorrow while you are doing this.and this

 BIGGEST LOSER TONIGHT!!!!

It is cold outside and the roads are slick---may as well hop on the treadmill! 

The only thing better about tonight would be if my boys were home.  They are 45 miles away at a basketball game.  They left when the roads were wet but now they are freezing over.  I just texted them and told them to try to find a friend to spend the night with.  I hate worrying so much!

 

 sorry for all you who are having snow woes.... i know how you feel! Spokane got 81 inches of snow last winter and over 1/2 of that was in the span of 3 weeks! this too will pass.... trust me! blame EL NINIO!!!

Kelly

Well, since I couldn't weigh myself this morning, I decided to grab the tape measure and see if I lost any inches. Drumroll please..........my waist is 2  3/4 inches smaller! My hips and chest lost 1 inch. This afternoon we went to our neighbor's house. They had houseguests they wanted us to meet. The table was loaded with ick! I'll tell ya, if I hadn't taken my measurements, I might have caved.  After that, we picked up the mail and one of the envelopes had the results of my last physical. Well, the cholesterol was up along with my LDL. Not good. So I felt even better by not eating any ick. This is definitely a program for life!

I hope all of you are staying pop and feeling well. Bella, how's that finger doing? James, you should probably say nitey nite since you'll be up early doing that shovel dance! It seems like every time you turn around, it's snowing. I think ice is the absolute worst. Pat, I hope your guys stay at their friend's tonight.

Talk to everyone tomorrow!

Gail

one of 2:

James: I will be thinking of you tomorrow while you are doing this.and this

Nancy this is hilarious except it has been me for the last 3 days so it will just be a continuation. I need to know if someone got the number of the truck that has run me over?