NYJen

Quote: Originally Posted by MelissaH I'm glad you like it, Jen I searched all over the internet for the best Pilates DVD's LOL Those ones were rated best of 2006 by something like Health & Fitness magazine or something (I forget!) My sister's done the Rael Pilates as well and said she really liked them. I hope you get the other half of your gift soon! Oh Melissa, I can't believe you actually researched this. Thank you so much!!! I'm so excited. This TOTALLY made my day. I can't wait to watch these tonight. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

So I'm sitting at my desk, waiting for this boring day to be over when I get an email from the receptionist that I have a package!!!! (I don't think I've ever run over there so fast in my life.) I knew it HAD to be my SS gift because I haven't ordered anything lately. And it IS!!!! It's from MelissaH!!! She got me 3 Pilate DVD's (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.) She's the BEST!!!! Plus, apparently there is another part of the gift coming. I wonder what it is? Thank you so much Melissa. I LOVE it!!!! I've never done pilates before but I've been dying to. I'm going to start tonight. I can't wait. By the way, I took the picture with my camera phone and then texted it to myself at work so I could attach it here. Check me out. How cool is that

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I also forgot to mention why I eat the egg whites with oatmeal. It gives you lots of fiber and protein first thing in the morning. It's a great way to get your body going. So this morning I weighed myself again and my total weight loss now is 11 pounds. (That means I lost only 3 pounds this month - not good.) I'm going to need to kick it up a bit in December. I may cancel my upcoming dinner plans so I can stay on track. I need to do this for me - it's crunch time and I'm serious about losing this weight. How did everyone else do this month?

You can do whatever you want. I'm having both my sisters as my MOH. (Actually my married sister is going to be my Matron of Honor and my unmarried sister is my Maid of Honor.) But seriously, there are no rules. Go for it!!!

AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Lauren, that dress is BEAUTIFUL!!! And it looks PERFECT on you!!!! OMG, it's just STUNNING!!!!

Welcome to the board. You're going to get a lot of info and help here.

We're getting married at the Hilton in April and we're actually changing it up a bit. We're doing our cocktail party first (from 4:00PM to 5:00PM.) We'll be there mingling with our guests and taking pics. (We're not concerned about the whole "bride and groom not seeing each other beforehand" thing.) Then the ceremony will be 5:00PM (really 5:15PM) to 5:30PM. This gives us 5 hours for our reception. We plan to take pics all day. But the posed shots on the beach will be after the ceremony while our guests go enjoy some cocktails and their first course. And not to mention, we're also having a bonfire on the beach at 10:30PM.

Oh, and Jessica - you really should try to eat breakfast. It slows down your metabolism when you miss meals. Plus, your heaviest meals should be earlier in the day. So you have all day to burn off those calories. Maybe invest in cereal bars or something you can heat up quickly in the microwave.

Quote: Originally Posted by chprfan Thanks Jen....I need to go to the store and stock up on some "good" food now. I dont know about breakfast since I am always running out the door but I will try the rest of what you suggested. I heard good things about Green Tea so I will have to pick some up and try it along with LOTS of water!! One other tip - I hard boil all my eggs for the week on Sunday night. This way I don't have to think about it in the mornings. Also, the South Beach diet breakfast wraps are GREAT!!!! Love the Denver style one. YUM!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by chprfan I have a question for you ladies, i have finally gotten back into the routine of going to the gym (step 1), now i need to really focus on the diet (step 2) haha. So what you guys eat for breakfast & lunch....its really hard for me to eat before i go to work, but i know it is important. Also I rarely leave for lunch so need some good ideas for lunches!! Thanks!! Oh, I love this question. Now, I'm no expert but this seems to work for me. First thing you do (before even brushing your teet) is to drink some water. You don't need a whole 8 ounces or anything, but some water. Gets your body started for the day. Then I start out in the morning with a piece of fruit (usually a banana, but grapfruit would be better.) And then wait 30 minutes before eating anything else. Fruit breaks down pretty quickly and gets the metabolism going. Then for breakfast I usually have 3 hard boiled egg whites with a packet of oatmeal (made with water and nooked in the microwave.) That will usually hold me until my first snack (mid-morning) when I have a yogurt. I've been eating the Dannon Activia low-fat strawberry. Love it!!! For lunch, I usually have a veggie burger on a wheat english muffin or a Lean Cusinie Panini. Sometime I go to Subway and get a veggie sandwich on a 6 inch wheat hero. They have really good Light potato chips too. Then two more snacks (mid-afternoon) - first a 100 calorie pack of something (chips a'hoy, pringles, hostess cakes, etc.) The second afternoon snack is either veggies or fruit (cucumbers, celery, carrots or grapes.) Dinner is usually the same as lunch. However these days I've been finishing up my Nurtisystem meals. Once those are gone, I'll probably switch to a light chicken with veggie dinner. Also, I have two cups of green tea a day. Usually with my snacks. It's been linked to helping with weight loss as well as curing some cancers. Plus, it makes you pee a lot. (LOL!!!) And that's it. Also, the key for me is that I eat all my meals at work (between 8:30AM and 5:30PM.) No more food after 5:30PM. I know for some people, they'll be starving by morning, but I think my body is used to it now. Good luck!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by chprfan I have a question for you ladies, i have finally gotten back into the routine of going to the gym (step 1), now i need to really focus on the diet (step 2) haha. So what you guys eat for breakfast & lunch....its really hard for me to eat before i go to work, but i know it is important. Also I rarely leave for lunch so need some good ideas for lunches!! Thanks!! Oh, I love this question. Now, I'm no expert but this seems to work for me. First thing you do (before even brushing your teeth) is to drink some water. You don't need a whole 8 ounces or anything, but some water. Gets your body started for the day. Then I start out in the morning with a piece of fruit (usually a banana, but grapfruit would be better.) And then wait 30 minutes before eating anything else. Fruit breaks down pretty quickly and gets the metabolism going. Then for breakfast I usually have 3 hard boiled egg whites with a packet of oatmeal (made with water and nooked in the microwave.) That will usually hold me until my first snack (mid-morning) when I have a yogurt. I've been eating the Dannon Activia low-fat strawberry. Love it!!! For lunch, I usually have a veggie burger on a wheat english muffin or a Lean Cusinie Panini. Sometime I go to Subway and get a veggie sandwich on a 6 inch wheat hero. They have really good Light potato chips too. Then two more snacks (mid-afternoon) - first a 100 calorie pack of something (chips a'hoy, pringles, hostess cakes, etc.) The second afternoon snack is either veggies or fruit (cucumbers, celery, carrots or grapes.) Dinner is usually the same as lunch. However these days I've been finishing up my Nurtisystem meals. Once those are gone, I'll probably switch to a light chicken with veggie dinner. Also, I have two cups of green tea a day. Usually with my snacks. It's been linked to helping with weight loss as well as curing some cancers. Plus, it makes you pee a lot. (LOL!!!) And that's it. Also, the key for me is that I eat all my meals at work (between 8:30AM and 5:30PM.) No more food after 5:30PM. I know for some people, they'll be starving by morning, but I think my body is used to it now. Good luck!!!

Thanks Amy!!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Nordstroms dresses. Have to check this out.

Quote: Originally Posted by Hopels Jen - don't sweat the turkey day weight gain - I gained a pound also. I'm sure we'll both be back down by next week - maybe even more Kate - congrats on keeping up with it! Your wedding is so close!! I'm so-oo excited for you!!!! Enjoy yourself tonight I still haven't gotten to the gym. We've been living in our realtor's office, because we had a little hiccup with the house, so everyday I think I'll make it after work, we end up spending 2 hours in the realtor's and then I'm exhausted and emotionally spent. I'm off for a few days starting tomorrow, so I will definitely get my butt back in gear! I can't wait until we close on the house - we're getting a treadmill and bowflex (probably)! When it gets closer, you're going to have to give me some tips on what to buy Jen Who cares if you haven't gotten to the gym. You look FANTASTIC!!! Really, I don't think you should lose anymore weight. You look so skinny and perfect in your dress. Just maintain now, that's it. Oooh, I can't wait for you to get your treadmill. It's soooo much better than having to go out to the gym. Saves you a lot of time too.

Quote: Originally Posted by LALA Jen - i'm glad you are inspiring FI. That is great! And don't worry about T-day. You are still down over 10lbs!! I did 50 minutes of cardio today. That puts me at 4 workout days this week. I've been bad about everything else though. Plus my coworkers are taking me out tonight to celebrate the wedding. At least my weight has stayed the same! Thanks Kate - you're very inspiring!!! BTW - just wanted to let you know that because you work out so much, your metabolism is going crazy. Meaning that if you have a couple of bad day with food, it's not really going to do too much damage. So don't worry too much about tonight. Go and have fun.

You guys are so funny.

Ok, for the past 2 days I've stuck to my calorie goal and worked out. I weighed myself this morning (first time in a week.) Looks like I must have done some serious damage over Thanksgiving week. As of this morning, my total weight loss is only 10.5 pounds. And I know I must have lost 1 or 2 pounds in the past couple of days. So I don't even want to know how much damage I had done during Thanksgiving. Yikes. Well the good news is, I'm back on track. I feel better and I'm sticking to it. I have been making plans with friends to get together for dinner so I'm just going to have to watch myself. All the holiday get together's are tough. Last night (I think the hunger was kicking in) and I said to Brendan, "Let's have KFC for dinner tomorrow." He was like, "Ok!!!" Then this morning (after I weighed myself) I told him to forget it. I think he was a little disappointed, but he's so willing to help me stick to this - he's so good. And now, I think he's getting inspired too. He said he's going to start doing crunches too.

Good luck everyone!!!

I'm TOTALLY with you guys!!!! I've been really good with the water. Now that I don't drink diet coke anymore (I'm at 56 days today), I probably drink about 130 ounces of water a day. Plus I've been drinking two cups of green tea a day too. I was on a good schedule of working out 5 days a week. Then Thanksgiving came and I went down to only 3 days a week. I need to get back on track with that. I did however increase my speed on the treadmill so that I'm burning 800 calories in an hour. And I'm going to increase the crunches from 200 to 400 tonight. As for my calories - I've been bad. For about a week now I haven't stuck to my calorie goals. Each day starts out good and then I end up overeating at night. This started a couple days before Thanksgiving and I haven't stopped yet. Today is a new day though. I'm back on track. I WILL NOT eat after dinner but instead I WILL get on the treadmill. Jenn - your fitting pics have completely inspired me. And Kate - you are doing so great with the 5 workouts a week. I need to do that again too.

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Ooh, can I come too I'm always in the mood to go bridezilla on someone. LOL!!! On the positive side, at least they said something first, rather than giving it to you and then playing it off like the ring was fine. Shows at least that they have pride in their products.

Holy Crap!!!!! Jenn, you look AMAZING!!!! Don't lose any more weight now. You look PERFECT!!! Congrats on losing the weight. And GORGEOUS dress!!!!

GORGEOUS!!!! Love the first couple and the last one in the infinity pool. He did a great job and you guys look great!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by lauren c. i didn't want one either and my sister told me tough sh*t. Ha!!! That's funny. When my sister was pregnant with Gretchen, she told us she didn't want a baby shower and we told her "Tough Sh*t!!!" We ended up doing a small dessert party (no gift opening, invited just a few close friends, etc) and I think she was ok with it. After I got engaged, I told my mom and sisters that I didn't want a shower and they said, "ok." They said it a little too relaxed for me. Makes me think they're still planning on doing something. So I followed it up by telling them I didn't want any surprises. And they were like, "ok." Again, too relaxed. So I finally just broke down crying to my mom and told her I didn't want a shower and the thought of it was stressing me out. She calmed me down and said, "Ok, it's your day - whatever you want." I hope that worked. I'm about 4 months away and no one has asked me for my invitation list - so that's a good sign.

Welcome to the forum. Happy planning.