TOGETHER INTO 2013

...and portion control.

HOPE

My wish for my blog mates for the beginning of a new year! HOPE! or I would call belief. Whatever lifts up your wings! May you soar! With gratitude I thank you for making me be more aware of my health and my future. I hold all this hope close. It makes me happy. I thank  you.
Have a happy new year! Please let all of your days be the feeling of a new year and what can be!

INCHING MY WAY BACK
1. Just finished my first green drink in over a month.
2. Finished 6 8-oz glasses of water yesterday and I'm halfway there today.
3. Bought no sweets yesterday or today. A friend here has agreed to take phone calls from me when I'm walking into a grocery store and feel vulnerable to reaching for what I shouldn't. So far, this custom-made tactic is helping me.
4. I'm eating a salad for dinner as I wrap this post.

Final Note:
Shall we settle into rag-tag or return to our spit-and-polish beginnings?

ZUMBA

I did a Zumba class last night and no surprise to me -- I don't have any rhythm.  I will say it's alot more fun than a treadmill or elliptical. 

Next will be spinning class

SKYPE MEETING
Kim and I just talked about having a Skype meeting during the first week of January. Will that work for everybody? Remember, you need to set up a (free) Skype account at skype.com. 

Thinking of you on Christmas Eve

HOLIDAY TREATS

I spent the day in the kitchen except for the 1 hour brisk walk.  Should have been 4.  I made chex mix, 2 diffrent cookies and sampled all.  Looking forward to the gym @ 5:30.  Merry Christmas to all.

skype

lesliessc
I will set mom up tonight

Baby Leslie

Hey, this could be any one of us, yes? 

JUST 5 MORE MINUTES

...and I'll get up and brush my teeth, glance in mirror, put on my walking shoes, make good food choices today, get ready for my boys to get home from school, grocery shop and make dinner, smile at my husband, be professional at work, think about the future, be a good daughter and sister, hold up the entire sky and, if necessary, the universe. I promise. Just 5 more minutes...

         I could swear I remember these pj's. Red trim?

AAH
All active bloggers present and accounted for -- yes!
Mom and Colleen? We need you too!
Everybody, please sign up for Skype (signing up is free). Only one of us has to be a paying member in order to enable video conferencing. Read my last-week's post on Skype to get up to speed on what it offers us.
Love,
The Professor

I'm going back to bed again

It's been 8 days of feeling lousy. It has been my downfall for sure. I haven't gotten on the scale. I will do that later. All the holiday cooking - secret fudge recipe being the worst devil on the counter.  I was so good at Thanksgiving.
I did recently find my pink watch which was packed away since Cheeka.
I am glad to see we are back. Awesome on the eliptical sister. And, I would love a zumba report.
Tomorrow I will look into getting skype. The top of my computer says webcam so I'm assuming I don't need anymore equipment. That would be fun.
I am however done my shopping which is awesome. And, forgiving myself for not sending out Christmas cards. It's just been too busy these last couple months.
I am going back to work today out of necessity. But, should be off on Sunday and Monday.
Going back to bed. Have a great day!

We're back!

Had stopped checking until tonight.  The girls are back.   I am still at the 10 pounds down that I was.  Good to get ourselves back on track before Christmas hits.  Kim--amazing on the exercising.  I saw Jane on TV again this week, and she IS amazing.  She's like what--75?  Son Will got home last night.  Looking forward to The Lehmans for Christmas.  MINDFUL EATING!!!!

YEAH, KIM!

GYM

UP TO 19 MINUTES ON ELLIPTICAL.  YEAH FOR ME

JUST A COOKIE

INJURY

I think I may have injured my foot.  Today at the gym my left foot hurts at the bone and it may be that bunion thing. 

Slowed it down to 3.3 miles on the treadmill, which seemed to help.  Up to 18 minutes on the elliptical.

I read that the best exercise is to walk outdoors rather than treadmill or elliptical.

Hope to hear from you.

INVIGORATE

Good morning.  Just came back from a brisk 1 hour walk, literally brisk (35 degrees).  I'm invigorated and feel I could take on the world. 

Invigorate yourself today.  Be courageous and try something new.

Searg

GYM ROUTINE

I'm up to 17 minutes on the elliptical.  It's hard. 

I plan to do my first Zumba class tomorrow

NEW NAME IDEAS
1. The Power of Six
2. The _______ Sextet
3. Sisters Sextet

EGAD #2
Sweets today.

PREPARING TO SKYPE
Egad! If any of you already have experience using Skype, please step forward. In the meantime, follow these instructions to prepare for a video conference call on your computers.

Before anything, make sure your computer monitor has a webcam. Call me if you don't know what that means.

Then, assuming you do have a webcam:

1.  Go to skype.com
2.  Clk on "Set up an Account" -- THERE'S NO COST
3.  Clk on "Download Skype for Windows"
4.  (Going through the set-up prompts, you'll be asked
    whether you want to make Bing your search engine. 
    If not, be sure to check "No.")

Once you've set up your account, send your Skype Account Name to all of us, and if you're using an email address for Skype different from the one we usually use,  send that too.

WE CAN HAVE AS MANY AS 10 ON A SKYPE CONFERENCE CALL. 

COST?
A $4.99 "Day Pass" for video conferencing is available.
I DK yet if we can continue on a "Day Pass" basis.
If we can't, video conferencing usually requires that one of the conferencees be a "Premium" Skype member. If we sign up for a year, it's $4.99/month ($60/year -- or $10 for each of us); if we sign up on a month-to-month basis, it's $9.99/mo ($120/year or $20 for each).

Feedback?

HEAR YE! HEAR YE!
The Blogline is leaving the station again and just starting to gather steam, so hop back aboard. Your one-way ticket will still be honored. And Leanville remains the final destination. The Locomotive Kimgineer is back at the throttle, and the Professor stands ready to greet your shining faces. After a long rest, expect inertia-drag. But if we stick together, it shall be overcome.

Si se puede! Yes we can!

Assuming it's unanimous that we have a virtual meeting soon via Skype, see my next post for instructions.

REPORTING IN

No sweets today. Instead: green tea, oatmeal, blueberries, strawberry protein drink, veggie burger, salad, water. Regarding my "slide," what surprised me the most was not my succumbing to sweets, but rather my skipping salads and drinking less water -- my otherwise go-to, feel-good, daily practices. So today? Just finished a spinach salad and no going to sleep until I finish my 32-oz Nalgene bottle of water. I feel like The Little Engine That Could, wobbly as I anticipate withdrawal but whispering inside, "I think I can, I think I can."

Kim, your going to the gym today? Awe-some!

Note: If there's an exclamation point in my post, be assured that Ms Kim is nearby!

ALWAYS CHOOSE DOOR #1

Thank you Professor for posting.  Door #1 is the obvious choice.  However, we can never lose sight of when one door closes another opens.  In other words ....... Opportunity.

I was at the gym with 2 friends this 5:30AM and the chatter was going and Jane Fonda came up who was recently on the talk show circuit and we talked about her influence on women, fitness, outlook, the burn, etc.

I shared with the girls that you coauthored a book with Jane Fonda and the trip Kevin & I took to the "ranch".  I shared with my friends the dinner out, biker bar, and that Kevin danced with Jane. 

My friend so poetically put quite a life before children.

I successfully (painfully) managed the elliptical today for 16 minutes and will continue to build on this.

                                

                                        Door #1                            Door #2

                           

                                        Water                            Diet Coke

               

WHICH DOOR DO I CHOOSE TODAY? 

HIYA  

"Can we regroup?" I ask myself. Don't know. "Do I want to regroup?" Absolutely.

As with Kim, Thanksgiving marked the beginning of moving off-course for me. To be accurate, it started with pumpkin pie -- an obvious Door #2 item -- in the weeks preceding Thanksgiving. And after Thanksgiving? The latch to the craving gate stayed ajar and the wild emotional eater in me got loose.

Comfort, comfort, comfort, soothe, soothe, soothe. 

My inner dialogue has been going something like this: "Maybe the pie won't matter -- oh, yes it will," but I eat it anyway. "Maybe I'm imagining that my pants are a bit tighter -- oh, no you aren't imagining it," but willfully I eat the cookies (plural) anyway. Anxious and semi-conscious, I check and double check whether the waist fat is back.

So. 

This has to stop. I'm holding on to healthy eating and the leanness I want by my fragile fingernails.

Shall I arrange a Skype meeting with all of us?
If yes, when?

I'M BACK

I'm back in the saddle.  My girlfriend gave me the kick in the ass I needed and I've been at the gym the last 2 days @5:30 AM.  Yes, in the morning.  It feels good and I'm a little sore.

It's not realistic for me to think I'm hitting the gym after a long day at work, especially when it's dark out.  Back at weight watchers tonight too. 

I've been on a slippery slope since Thanksgiving.  I've reflected what happened.

I started drinking diet coke excessively in lieu of water

I stopped weighing myself everyday.

No longer.  Hope to hear from you.