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Kindergarten - congratulations on the weight loss! Two sizes since January? Excellent! I'll bet you'll make a beautiful mother of the groom! And that wedding is nearly here, isn't it? How exciting...

Tell me, where is Albacore Ocean Park? It sounds wonderful.....

Congratulations Kathy!!! 2 sizes!!!!! HOLY S#^|!!!!! I am psyched! You are going to be a fit gorgeous mother of the groom :-). I am glad I have met you on this journey, right from the beginning of this thread. You have been inspiring & caring, I know you have helped me loose weight this time. :-) can't wait to hear about the wedding, maybe you could share a few pictures. Albacore Ocean Park sounds amazing.....I do have a goal of seeing the other coast one day. Hopefully it will be sooner...since my dx I am more aware of my to do list & how you never know how long you have. Not being pessimistic, I just dont want to waste time anymore. Sooo happy for you!!!

Weird thing I posted earlier then logged on later and this thread was not even in my favorites anymore and my post was gone.?? I'm sure I hit something crazy but not sure what I did. Oh well. Anyway I wanted to congratulate Kathy on the two dress size drop. How awesome. Let's keep going ladies:).

Kathy - we're in Central California, but we have a timeshare in Laguna Beach, and are generally there two different weeks during the year. We're always looking for new places to visit, and I'm definitely putting Albacore Ocean Park on the list. Looks like it's about an hour north of where we stay.

Snobird - plateaus suck. Remember, I'm on a liquid fast - 960 calories a day - and last week I GAINED .2 of a pound. I follow the program precisely, never cheat, and get my exercise. Oh well, I figure it will all even out in the long run.

ATeamNana - I posted a huge ol' post on another thread, then hit something, and POOF! It disappeared. I was too tired to retype it. I think I'll just chalk it up to the Keyboard Gnomes.

Blessings, Laguna Beach is beautiful and it would be a nice field trip to Albacore Ocean Park. Snobird, Congrats on losing the weight, I am so jealous!!! My ultimate goal is a size 10. Thank you for the incentive. Hi, to everyone here and have a great Wednesday!!!!

Hi, ATEAMNANA!!!! Yes, cycle 2 gets confusing for me, which is which!! So have decided to make Monday, Wednesday and Friday, carb days. I know it sounds crazy, but I will see if it works or harms.  I am also going to tweak the diet. I am going to eat 5 small meals for 5 days to see how that works.You are doing great, young lady!!!! Just came back from 30 minutes in the gym and then a walk, hopefully this afternoon. We leave Friday for the wedding, loaded with wedding stuff. Can't wait to see friends and family from Pittsburgh, PA and Indiana!!!! We are planning lots of activities for them to do!!! Winery tours, going to a baseball game on Sunday:Oakland A's vs the Yankees, dinner out!!!!  Sorry, to ramble on, I am excited!!!! I wish you all the best weekend ever and I will try to get on here, but if I don't, know that I will be back sometime next week. Oh, we are also going to visit Yosemite while we are up there. We are taking a bus tour on Thursday, May 31st. Love to you all

Snobird, that's very good advice about the water first. I have found that I am quite thirsty on this diet so it makes it easier to drink the required amount. I've been taking yogurt with fruit & a piece of chicken cutlet, 1/2 red pepper to eat while I am working, also a green tea that I drink room temp. I think this will be easy to keep doing as it tastes great, fills me & is low calorie. Soooo much healthier than stopping for a slice of pizza. (although I could go for a slice right about now) lol

Dear Janet, You are so sweet, thank you so much for your happy wishes. When I get a little stressed, I will think of you and just Breathe. You are doing great and I know you will do it. I like the 17 Day diet ,but I am tweaking it a little bit. Eating carbs on Monday, Wed. and Friday and no carbs after 2:00 pm(that is their tip). Thanks to you I am drinking water consistently and it is a habit now!!!! This thread has been so great!!! See you all next week, sometime. You are all Weight Loss Warriors!!!!

ATeamNana. You need to eat more breakfast! Eating within 1/2 hr. of rising gets your metabolism burning fat. If you wait til you get to work your body starts storing fat. Remember how many hours it's been since you last ate the night before. I didn't really start to lose weight until I made a real effort to eat first thing in the AM. I drink my tea at my desk then I eat again at lunch, snack about 2 -3 hrs. later then dinner. Then a walk.

Snobird. I get up around 7 and have to be at work at 8 which is only about 10 blocks from my house. I usually drink my cup of hot water with lemon while I'm getting shower and dressed So I don't go too long without food:) I sometimes eat yogurt or oatmeal at home depending on how late I lay in bed. I can get ready fast. I don't use much make up and have an easy hairstyle so ready and to work is pretty quick:). Kathy I'll find my recipe. It should work well on this diet.

Thank you, Marsha!!!!  Can't wait to try it!!

Finally getting around to checking on everyone tonight. Had work to do which burns calories yeah! The pool guys are coming to open our pool tomorrow so we had to get cover off clean around pool area etc. I will be doing pool laps soon.

I am only working half day tomorrow and am ready for a three day weekend. Anyone have fun plans for the weekend? We only have one cookout and it is here so I will make sure I have food I can eat:). Snobird that sounds like you pack a lot into your mornings. I usually get some of my laundry and such done during lunchtime. Tenaj how are you doing??? Jaycee has not been here in awhile wonder how she is. Plant lover also???

Hi to blessing and Marcia if you pop in!

Beautiful day to start the weekend. Hopefully it stays that way. This is my weekend to get my flower boxes done, all 14 of them. I'm also doing a tomato garden and some lettuce containers. I have a wedding shower on Sat. Then hopefully headed into camp after that til Monday.

Making some tabbouleh salad using quinao leftover from dinner last night.

I'm down 2.5 lbs total for this week. I think the juicing has made the difference. About 18 lbs to go.

Wishing you all a good and healthy weekend.

Hi, Ladies!

Hope Kindergarten had good weather as she drove today to the wedding in Northern CA. We had storms move in this morning, and it's rained up and down the state. Hope it's a wonderful celebration with family and friends and she returns with great stories to tell! 

Tenaj - you would love the "left" coast, as my East Coast uncle calls it. Normally, the weather is gorgeous. Today - snow down to 5,000 feet. And it's still raining here. Oh well, we need it. You're down 9 - 10 pounds? Yippee!!!

Snobird - Size 10 - wooHOO!!! I think I have every size in my closet from 8 to 20. I've been going through my "Donate" box to see if there is anything I can fit into yet! I think you are right about juicing. I know that will be on my meal plan in the future.

ATeamNana - thanks for the low-carb recipe site! I know I will be using it in July! (When I can eat regular food again.) Swimming will be awesome exercise for you! Wish we had a pool....

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Funny - three day weekends don't have much significance when you're retired....it's like every day is a holiday!

Wednesday night was weigh-in at Optifast - I was down another 1.4 pounds. It's a "Very Low Calorie Diet", but I'm losing at a normal rate, so hopefully that will be healthier in the long run. Today I'm down another pound, but I had a few digestive pyrotechnics from the sugar-free cough drops I had last night.  They tend to have that effect.

This week in class we had a guest speaker....someone who wrote a book on changing behaviors and losing weight. I took some notes and will post later.

I HATE to drink water, unless it's 110 degrees out, and I'm outside working for some reason. But the program requires us to drink a GALLON a day!!! So when I make my Optifast shakes and soups, I triple the water that's called for (and add ice to the shakes). Instead of a measly little 8 oz semi-blended drink, I get a nice 32 oz creamy milkshake. I put everything in my VitaMix blender and it adds volume to everything. I have something to eat (piece of protein bar) or drink (shake or soup) every three hours.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, no matter what you do!!!

(And a big shout-out to PlantLover, Jaytee, CookieMonster, rachelvk, vanlex, wonderwoman, and p22nut5 where ever you may be!!!!)

Taboule salad is a Mediterranean chopped salad typically made with cracked wheat. I made mine today with Quinoa instead. It has chopped: celery, cucumber,red onion, tomatoes and feta cheese plus fresh parsley, dried oregano, basil, and black pepper. A dressing made with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. Some people like to add fresh mint but my husband doesn't like mint so I don't add it in.



Made a delicious cocktail today by juicing oranges and pineapple adding rum and coconut flavored seltzer.