Thanks, Wildchild for the invitation. I work out of town four days a week and have been doing so since February. This was when I started losing weight. Prior to this I worked at home and had WAY too much refrigerator access. While I am here I walk in the mornings before work between 45 minute and an hour and do a light weight work out. At home I am able to do a longer weight work out. I just use dumbbells. I have no scale access while I'm out of town so I don't weigh while I'm here. I find that if I don't get enough sleep I don't lose weight. Today I had grocery store sushi for lunch, I wish I had any kind of idea about the calorie count is in this stuff! I had a few fresh figs for dessert. Lots of water all day. I still have at least 50 pounds to lose. Seems like a long long journey sometimes. I really want to be thin right now! I didn't have any patience with WW, I hate sitting still for meetings! And I don't have the fortitude to go back several times and check out the different meeting leaders to see if one suits me better than another. One thing I have noticed about the WW (and many others as well) frozen meals is that the sodium content is rather high. I have just eliminated cookies, chips, crackers, bread and butter, and all fried foods, as well as ice cream. More vegies and fresh fruit and smaller portions. More exercise. So far so good. BarnMom

Hi Everybody! I can't believe how this week has flown by. Tomorrow is weigh-in day again! Other than more demolition on the kitchen, I haven't been getting my exercise. Actually, I should be doing my step aerobics right now, but here I am instead. The days are getting noticeably shorter, but the temperatures here are still warm. I guess we will be getting remnants of Ivan in the form of rain, rain, rain for the weekend. But I can't complain. My heart goes out to those affected more directly by the recent string of hurricanes. Well, I wore a pair of jeans today that I had not worn for a looong time. They fit, and were not tight. I know that the changes in my diet are really working. Yellowhair--I wonder if we will see Bunny Tracks here. I really love the Skinny Cow fudge bars. My DH is now eating them, too. You know, I have never had problems with my feet. But awhile back when I was trying to take long walks, I started having a problem with my big toe. It felt like it was sprained or something. It was very odd, but it just went away. DH has lots of trouble with his feet. I am sure it is just that we are getting older. Anyway, he has heel spurs, which are bony growths that kinda jab you from the inside. he has other things going on too, and has even been through physical therapy. He says they told him that whenever he is getting pain to quit whatever activity he is doing for awhile. In other words, if it hurts when you do that, don't do that! Kathy--When I first got into gardening and landscaping someone, who was a seasoned gardener, told me that a garden wasn't really yours until you had re-invented it about a million times. Well, they didn't say it quite like that, but that was the general meaning I took from it. I was fretting because the year before I had planted a shrub that I now thought would be in much better spot if I moved it just 4 feet. I wasn't sure it was worth it to go to the trouble. The advice I got was to go for it. I did, and I am still glad I did. And that is still my approach to gardening now. I am always seeing something that needs to be improved and gardening is all about the process. So it sounds like a change will be coming to your garden soon! DeeMarie--Talking about your commute reminded me of when I was doing that. Several years ago, I drove 50 miles one way to work. It took an hour and a half on most days with traffic and all. DH says I used to come home in the worst mood. It is interesting how we get ourselves into these things. I mean the trade-off for a job that you love vs. having more time for activities at home vs a nice paycheck vs whatever. I try not to regret the decisions that I make, but it sure seems that life is all about the trade-offs sometimes. On that note, I will wrap up this longwinded post. Eat healthy!!

Just got the spam...from Sweden. The names were "Lotta" (wife) and "Lars" (husband/researcher). Hmmm...sounds like "lotta liars" to me! Anyway, I am not overweight at all, but do live healthy. The last 13 weeks I was on the "Body for Life" program by EAS...consisting of Myoplex shakes (protein), healthy meals (6 small meals a day), 100+ oz. water a day and exercise. Surprisingly, I lost 10lbs! (went from 112 lbs to 102) I really didn't think I could/needed to lose any weight, but I did. Some people think the 2-3 shakes I had a day was weird, but it provided my body with the nutrients and protein it needed to build/maintain muscle and keep my body from eating the muscle it was trying to build. Before I started this program, I would come in to work and not even eat until 1pm. Some people think that skipping meals will help lose weight...it might not add any extra fat or sugar to your diet, but not eating anything is often worse than eating. Your body will eat away at your muscle and your metabolism will go into starvation mode and hold onto all fat you put into it...thinking it might need it to survive later on. Because of that, I would NOT recommend only eating 3 bananas a day (see some peoples emails above), or 3 of only one anything a day. Perhaps this bread does offer the nutrients your body needs to maintain itself, which is much better than starving it. It would be a great thing to have in the morning rather than skipping breakfast. But I would not make up a diet solely of bread. Also, the person who said "Wheat is very bad for somebody trying to lose weight...even ONE cracker made with wheat can stop weight loss in its tracks" is RIDICULOUS! Maybe if you are sitting on your butt hoping that not eating a few things will be the miracle to help you lose 10 lbs...but in reality, wheat bread, crackers, ect. have more protein, fiber, and nutrients than those without. Your muscles crave protein and nutrients and once you activate and build muscle, you will burn a TON more fat/calories than by just altering your diet a bit. I'm not saying become a musclehead (I am not one at all), I am just saying that wheat is very healthy AND will help you burn fat...lose weight. It's kinda like those people who think if you drink 120 oz. of water in a day you will be retaining a lot of water, but in actuality, if you try this, you will feel much thinner at then end of the day...your shoes won't feel so tight and your wedding ring might even spin around your finger. Try it sometime...ps, the more you do it the less you have to run to the bathroom, your body gets use to it. And finally, why would you think the only recipe that makes sense is the flour, salt & water only one. 2,000 years isn't THAT long ago. Remember the Bible stories and the last supper picture (no, I am NOT a Bible thumper, just making an observation). They had bread back then...and it isn't suprising that they learned to add nuts, dates, raisins, or spices to bread. ...

Hello, Im writing this so others can avoid MY awful experience with this Âjump start 48 Âhour diet, sometimes called the Hollywood Diet. ItÂs Monday now and IÂm almost feeling normal again, but still very weak. Ever have stomach flu? ThatÂs what this was like. Saturday morning, full of determination, I mixed up a batch of the WomanÂs World recipe of the diet. Since it had more protein, it sounded more healthy than the Hollywood version of the Âjump-start recipe. Besides, I donÂt care for papayas or apricots, which may be the source of the bitter tang some users have complained about. It tasted just FINE, and I had my first shake at around 10 am, then went about my usual weekend activity, which was sewing. Not too strenuous. I worked steadily with a big container of water next to me, taking sips off that to keep hydrated as many have recommended. When I got hungry, I drank another fruit shake. Of course I used the toilet a lot more with all this liquid, but IÂd expected that, after all, I was trying to clean out my system. In articles IÂd read about this sort of diet IÂd learned our bowels can hold from 2-7 pounds of wasteÂwhich accounts for most of the Âweight lost in this diet. Of course, once youÂre back on regular food afterwards it all comes back, a little detail the TV infomercials leave out. Around 4pm my dogs came in and began staring at me. Not normal behavior for them. They are very perceptive pooches and their message was clear: ÂAre you feeling bad? They were right. I was feeling woozy, and had a headache, which I attributed to the sudden diet shift. I drank more water and decidedÂafter sewing a long seam up the wrong wayÂthat I needed to compromise on this. My weakness was such that I couldnÂt sit up to sew anymore, so I lay down on the bed and thought things over. As in the Slim Fast diet the idea of having one sensible meal for dinner made sense. So I had one (with some Tylenol) and felt a little better, but not much. I found I was too weak to sit at the sewing machine even then, and my trips to the toilet were becoming more frequent and cramp-ridden. Ditto for my between-runs rests. I dozed the rest of the slow evening, lurching up from bed to deal with bouts of out-and-out diarrhea, cursing myself for being so stupid. I got NO sleep that night, only catching short, shallow dozing between stumbling to the bathroom every 30 to 40 minutes, and groaning with cramp. Throughout all that my little dogs snuggled close, giving what comfort they could. I had chills, then the sweats like a fever victim, terrible cramps, and a thunderous headache that no amount of Tylenol would fix. I kept drinking water, knowing that if I didnÂt keep hydrated IÂd only feel worse. Finally I took a dose of Emetrol for the nausea. Exactly 30 seconds later I was bent over the tub with an uncontrolled case of the heaves, and remained there in abject misery for the next half hour. I crept back to bed, extremely weak, and went back to the chills, cramps, and sweats routine for the rest of the night. In the morning I still had the awful headache, and the shakes kept me from standing upright for more than a couple minutes. The cramps had abated, so I felt certain I was on the down side of the bell curve. I continued drinking water, and in the afternoon managed to keep down a couple finely chewed crackers. I remained bed-ridden the whole of the day. By evening I had dry toast and an egg. So, there it was: the 24-hour give yourself stomach-flu symptoms diet, and, NO, I did NOT lose ANY weight. The only jump-start to my system darn near burned out the battery, leaving me incapacitated for 2 days, weaker but wiser on the third. (And full of gas!) I will mention the one time I did lose weight a couple years back. I reduced my calorie intake to 1000-1200 a day, stopped drinking caffeine and anything fizzy (including diet fizzy drinks) and increased my walking to a mile a day. I lost 30 pounds. ItÂs the same old story, the quick miracle fads just donÂt work. I was able to stick to this one for only 8 hours before my body violently rebelled against the abuse. Had I stuck to it for 48 as the regime calls for IÂd have landed in a hospital with a bunch of health care workers shaking their heads over me, too polite to ask ÂWhat were you THINKING???? So you think about it now. As for meÂIÂm going back to the old routine. ItÂs slower, but more certain and 200% healthier. Pat Elrod