awww....u retiring already??? What is this, FLORIDA???! Jeez people!! where's the party spirit!!??

awww....and here I thought, you were gone to the gym so it would be all quiet in here, so I took the time to go workout myself (aren't ya proud of me?!). Anyhow, I'm BACK!!! Let's PAR-TAY!!!!! [b]Where's the margaritas? [/b] [b]Did someone say cabana boys?? [/b] [b]c'mon people, make some noise!!! [/b] [i][b]sheesh!!!! [/b][/i]

ah! now ya're talkin'!! I KNEW I could count on ya to come up with another gross topic--this time, it's SWEAT!!!!!! Brilliant!

Wha??!! Why are we so embarrased, my dear???!!! Relax! I'll delete it in a day or so!!! Meanwhile, sit back, and languish in the love :)

c'mon girl! Don't be sorry!!! Let's make this place "cheesy" as all get out!!!! Ya gonna start or do ya want me to????? Ok, well, I'll start! [b]Amryk's humor is oh-so-funny; reading her journals makes my day SUNNY"! :)[/b]

Based on Simavision's idea, I've decided to start a cute little fan clun for our cute buddy with a heart of gold!!! Use this forum to talk about Amryk and why you love her so! (how corny, sorry!:roll: )...or any other things you wanna say to her, about her, for her..!

Hey! I didn't know I could reply to this one!!!! Awesome! So now I get a chance to say, THANK YOU VERY, VERY MUCH!!! What a cool idea! And very thoughtful and funny--and ACCURATE for me, Ev!! Paige, that's a very cool compliment---I love it!! You guys are absolutely fun too, and you totally ROCK!!!!!!

I'd like to attach/include a pdf document in my journal---how do I do it? Please let me know. Thanks!

[b]Week 6: Starting weight: 158.2 (2.2 lbs lost) [/b] Saturday June 28th: none Sunday June 29: : none Monday, June 30: 130 mins (30 mins treadmill, 20 mins bike, 20 mins weights, 30 mins exercise dvd, 10 mins abs roller crunches, 10 mins more weights, 10 mins resistance bands) Tuesday, July 1: : 60 mins total (30 mins elliptical, 15 mins bike, 15 mins weights) Wednesday, July 2: 90 mins (30 mins treadmill, 30 mins bike, 30 mins weights) Thursday, July 3: Friday, July 4: Weight on Saturday: Total exercise this week: Weight lost:

We must be on the same page!! This is so weird! Today, I was just thinking about compiling such a list myself!!! I've reached sorta half-way marker in my journey here and thought it'd be instructional and motivational for me to do this sort of thing! That's great that you've made this a challenge--now I'll have even more reason to put that list together!!!

[u][b]CHEEKS: [/b][/u] As far as your challenge goes, how about thinking of an exercise you can do on your own? I've found that relying on an exercise partner is often guarenteed to be our downfall!! If they bail, you'll be left feeling unmotivated than before! The way I've been doing with my morning gym-buddy these days is, I show up on my own--if she's there, good, but if not, I know what I need to do, anyway. So, think of what you have at your disposal and work on your own. If you don't have access to a gym, you can look up countless videos online on youtube and just follow along with those free videos on your computer. If you have a gym, then just tell yourself, you'll go there for just a slow walk on the treadmill...and once you get there, you'll find yourself motivated to do much more! As for the lack of time to do exercises: how about re-structuring your schedule? One quick thing I can think of is perhaps take time away from internet (and fatsecret) and re-allocate that towards working out, even if you start with as little as just 15 mins! Hope this helped. Let us know more specifically where your challenge gets harder to accomplish and we can all brainstorm, and set smaller goals, perhaps?

ok, back to me now ;)LOL! I mean, my problem. I'm getting more concerned about this issue based on what you guys have pointed out. I did get lots of blood tests, incl. sugar, as well as urine analysis done recently. The doctor mentioend that everything is normal--in fact has gotten better. I am yet to see the results, though. So, here're some thoughts: As a life-long vegetarian, I've never had much proteins, except recently, where I get lots of proteins through soy milk, tofu, nuts, a protein mix (that's 20g right there!). So, the question is, could it be possible that up-ing this protein amount is making me more thirsty? Could my kidneys be eliminating the excess proteins or could they be harming me? What tests would I need to do to ensure that my protein content is fine, kidney function is fine, and water content is not harming me? My PMO makes it harder to get an appointment or talk to the doctor easily...I'm hoping you guys give me some focused stuff to ask him about and have him check out, if he hasnt already done so. BTW, I should be getting my lab results tomorrow, so I should be able to look at the numbers and the kinds of tests done then. Thanks!!

Seriously though, I'm content. You guys have provided some great strategies for falling asleep sooner--and I'll start trying the various things this week and let you know how it goes. So, as a follow-up question: [u]How do you manage to wake up early when you don't really need to[/u], i.e, no work, don't need to be anywhere, no appointments etc. Some days when I do manage to miraculously fall asleep by 11 pm, I still find myself unable to wake up early (and sleep on way longer than the 8 hours!). That really throws my sleep-cycle from that day on...so, my question is, what do you tell yourself? what do you do in the morning to stop hitting that snooze and force yourself to GET UP--not just turn to the other side and go back to sleep again!!

LMAO! So the secret is boring sleep-inducing books,chamomile tea, warm shower, sleeping pills--and droning-on types of hubbies! :) OK, I better go shopping for THAT list ;)

well, my concern is that I've been drinking as much as 4 liters on some days (and easily 3 liters on most days). I'm wondering is this is indicative of any problems? Also, I've heard about "water intoxication", i.e., overdrinking of water can cause one to flush out the good electrolytes! So, am I drinking too much water?

Ok here we go: My goal has been to become a "morning person" no matter when, where, or what, i.e., wake up at 6 am..And also to get my workout out done first thing in the morning. Well, I've slowly started to get a little more consistent with mornign workouts, but my challange remains: I still can't wake up at 6 am!!!! In the summer I've been working from home, so don't have 8 am appointments at work, so I tend to sleep in late. I stay up late as well (am too wired at night, and just can't fall asleep)!. So, if I can get some suggestions to combat this problem that'd be great. I'd like to fall asleep by 11 pm at the latest. I don't drink any caffeine at night, and don't eat too late either. So I don't understand why I can't seem to fall asleep early!!! I don't want to take sleeping pills---I just want to get a natural remedy to this issue. If I slept early, I should be able to wake up early too. Anyone else has problem? And if so, what are you doing/have done to deal with this?

Cheeks: WOW!! What an awesome job puttiing together this review/overview!! You truly are a good coordinator! Ok, so, let's brainstorm and think of what we want to do differently with this team-approach. That is, how do we use the different skills people have to help the whole team meet our individual goals. (BTW, you can put me down as a "specialist" too...maybe you and I can join forces :)) ok, [u]so I propose we all review our goals[/u] (thanks to the reminder provided by Cheeks, it's easy to see these now, instead of trying to go back to pg. 1 of the challenge and searching for what the heck our initial goal was!) Next, [u]we can each identify specific challenges [/u]or why the goals haven't worked so far, if that's the case. And perhaps the [u]different resource-people can provide strategic solutions to each problem? [/u]That way we can have the "mass mind", and also, [u]the implementers can crack that whip![/u] And make sure we all do our part---let's aim for a 100% success rate on the goals (at least the short-term ones through the end of this week) Well, what say you guys? Agree, disagree, any different perspectives? I'm totally liking this fresh approach, i.e., team-work, to these challenges!!

wow! this is good stuff!! Thanks! I actually learned new things here!!

So, I'm wondering what's the most water you guys drink in a day? I find lately I keep wanting to drink more, probably because it's summer and hot and probably because I've been working out. But, 4 Liters?? Isn't that a bit much? What does this mean to my weight-loss process? Could it be that the kidneys are flushing out the sodium, carbs, fats? Or is it just the water that I'm losing? The more you drink, the more you pee...so what happens in the duration in between? Does the water carry away all the impurities on its way out? I'm curious..and would love to hear your informed answers (rather than my guesstimated ones!) [b](Sararay, I hope you're reading! I especially want some of that encyclopedic insight :))[i][/i][/b]

Do you guys know how the weightwatchers points translate into calories? At my allowable 22 points, I'm wondering how many calories would that be?