Kathybad

I've been sending up my prayers for Renewed and her surgeon today! What an amazing accomplishment in 1 year... love the photos! You are already beautiful... now you're going to be amazing! Lyn... your kindness and thoughtfulness made me cry... in a good way! All I can say is Thank You! I am so happy for you to have a job you really love. I'm sorry that you didn't get the opportunity to take on this new challenge, but God answers prayers in different ways. My family and I thank you! I hold all of you so close to my heart... it is really touching to see that returned! DH and I did our dance lesson last night... what a hoot! It was hillarious, and fun. We can't go next week, as I'm travelling with my new job (already!), but will go the following week. All I really want out of this is to not look like a dork on the dance floor. Happily, I can report that I believe we will do ok... not great, but good enough! I think I might need another fill soon. I've been able to eat a bit more than usual, and have noticed my cal count on TDP is going up, so I think I'll need an adjustment soon. My last fill was back in April, and I've lost about 40 lbs since then. I've got a 10cc band with only 6.25 cc in it, so I've got lots of room to fill if needed. I'm heading out for a run shortly before it rains. I'll check back later to see how Renewed is doing!

Where is everyone! Are we dying out? Hope not! Renewed... best wishes for tomorrow! I'll send prayers for an excellent surgery and a speedy recovery!

Georgia... its a good pain... in the butt! LOL, good for you. Well the run was terrific. DH and DS ran together (both faster than me), so they'd run for awhile and then slow down to walk until I caught up, then take off again. We ran for about 3km. It was really cold... I had a hat, gloves, long sleeves, pants and a runner's coat on. I was comfortable, not too cold, but the extra clothing took a bit to get used to, and breathing in the cold air was different too. Overall it was much harder, but we had a lot of fun. We then took him for his hot chocolate (we promised) and then we all went out for a nice breakfast. All in all, a really nice morning. Tommorrow is my turn to spend with my DD. I'm going to go to school with her, help her on "picture day" and then she has a doctor's appt in the afternoon... so we'll hang out for the day. This way, I get to have one on one time with both kids before work starts.

DH and I have the day off together with our son. He has a neurologist appt later today - nothing major, just his quarterly checkup. Anyways, we are all going to go to the park and run together. This should be fun! Then its off to Starbucks for hot chocolate and coffee! It is very cold out... about -2 C, which is about 28 F. But, off we go! Have a great day everyone!

Oh yeah... when I first got banded I added the protein powder to that soup and my butternut squash soup too. I just finished making the sweet potato soup... DH & my favourite! Easy and yummy! Renewed, I think you should start with the dance lessons... get him to do the thing he doesn't want to do, then go for the trip... afterall, he'll want to do that, and you can put the dancing lessons to good use then! Ok, I have to admit... my lessons are not going to be for anything so cool as salsa dancing... mine is for ballroom dancing! LOL, right now all my DH knows how to do on a dance floor is to hold me and turn in circles. If I want a fancy move... I have to lead! To get him to dance to anything with rhythm would require copius amounts of alcohol and maybe a brain transplant!!!! But at least we get to ballroom dance! Hey... did I mention this was his idea! So I think I'll have to live my Zumba through you guys!

Renewed... if you like spicy, I have a yummy soup recipe. Not much protein, but really tastes great, goes down easily and makes you feel good. I know, not the right thread... oh well: Cajun Sweet Potato Soup 2 tbsp butter or marg or oil 2 onions, chopped 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced (about 2 lbs) 3-4 tbsp Cajun Seasoning (your favourite seasoned blend brand) 4-5 cups chicken broth 1/4 cup lime juice In medium pot, stirfry onions until softened. Add sweet potatoes, seasoning and 4 cups broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Purée the mixture with a hand blender or food processor. Add lime juice and additional broth if desired. Makes 8 servings; 1 cup each Nutrition per Serving Calories 138 Protein 3g Total Fat 3g Carbohydrate 25g Fibre 2g Sodium 578mg

I keep hearing you guys talk about Zumba, so I googled it. Looks fun! Don't think we have it here though. As for dancing... DH and I have a dance lesson (date) on Thurs night. Should be fun... although, he's no dancer!

Quiet day again :biggrin:... oh well. I had my pre-placement physical today... and guess what... they said I was in terrific shape! Imagine that... me! That was nice to hear. My resting heart rate was 62 bpm, and BP of 102/65... I think that's good. LOL Then I spoke to my new boss... apparently I'm already booked into a customer planning meeting being held next Wed & Thur out of town. Cool... I get to have a couple of days away to jump back into the world of work! Well, off to run!

Renewed... so glad you got your date in before surgery! I'm so excited for you, I can't imagine how you feel! Just please remember to take it easy while healing. I know you... you're our "All or Nothing" girl. Please Please remember this surgery is going to take awhile to recover from. So take it easy and don't overexert yourself! Ok, enough mothering from me... I just care about you! I will be glued to your thread on Friday waiting for word from Georgia! Thanks everyone on your well wishes on the job. I've finished my negotiations and have accepted it. I go tomorrow for my physical... funny, I'm actually looking forward to that! The last time I had a physical for a job, I was terrified due to my weight. Now I'm cool with it. So now I'm set to start on Monday. I'm going to need to reset my whole life. I've been off work for 4 months... its going to be culture shock going back and having to get everything done again on our busy schedule. LOL... I've wanted this for a long time, now reality hits! I think I'm going to try getting up early to go for my run at 6am so I won't miss it. Imagine me... running in the morning! AHHHH! But, by the time I get home its too late to run outside, so I know excuses will win everytime. I'm going to look to you guys for some motivation via kicking my butt! I ran today with the dog... man she is slow! I had to drag her most of the way. Don't think I'll be running with her much. Just long walks. Ok, so tonight is celebration time, so I think I'm going to get sushi and DH and I can eat it in the bedroom watching Amazing Race (which I taped for him last night while he was working).

Leslie... glad to have you back!!! Glad also that you had a great weekend... I did some smashing too... pumpkins that is! LOL, the pumpkin patch had a pumpkin slingshot set up, that you could launch small pumpkins or gourds and aim them at the larger pumpkins in the field. I bullseyed a few... lots of fun! Or as my DS said "Ohhh Yeah".

Georgia & All... I know we all think "I've been at this for so long", and don't always see the progress we've made. Well, reality check time.... 1 year ago (for most of us or less...) we were all morbidly obese and the thought of climbing stairs was scary... the thought of running would have been hillarious Less than 4 months ago (again, shorter for many of us) we embarked on this thing called running... and each ran our Day 1 Week 1 session... and again, most of us were SURPRISED we could actually do it Now many of us (and soon all of us) are running for 30+ minutes (45+ and more too) to complete 5k races (and 10k, triathalons and 1/2 marathons). That is like a Quantum Leap from where we were 4 months ago, let alone where we were a year ago! So congratulations to all of us for achieving what we have so far... even if it is just your first week. We have truely conquered our weight issues, even if the scale hasn't complied yet... we've succeeded and time will prove it to the rest of the world. Well done!!!

Georgia... WTG!!!! I knew you could do it! That is an excellent time! I'm so happy for you! You are going to rock this race in Nov. Bea... excellent speed! You're going to be so fast you'll be a blurrr going by! Keep it up. I agree with the NSV... the energy and non-huffing is so great!

Aclubb... :biggrin::tt2::wub::cool2: Congrats! That's an excellent time and way under your target! I felt the same way at the finish line... so happy and stunned that I did it! You're a RUNNER now... no longer a beginner! Ok... drum roll please... I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!! They called this morning to offer it to me and want me to start on Monday! I'm still negotiating the starting salary, but am so excited!!!! Times will still be tough, as the offer is much lower than what I made before, but it is a great job for a great company with a huge future, and its here in London, which means I won't uproot my family! Yeah!!!! Lyn... I hope this means good news for you too! Thanks everyone for your prayers and well wishes! It definately helped.

Lyn... out of the mouth of babes! "there will always be another..." That works for so many things! Well, I guess church wasn't in the books for many of us today :biggrin:. We planned to go to the evening "Life Teen" mass today so that we could go to the pumpkin patch. So we went and had a great time finding pumpkins and wandering through the corn maze... great day. Then we came home and just as we got there my DH got called for more overtime (3-11). I would have gone to church, but my 2 kids are too much to handle by myself in church. I know that sounds really bad, but its true... it takes both DH and I to manage them in a quiet environment. I didn't get a run either! But we did do a 3km walk through the corn maze and ran around for 3h outside! Tomorrow I plan to have a nice long run in the park with the dog.

Lyn... go and try!!! I bet there will be others like you, and they will probably be prepared. If you get there and they say no, then cheer on your buddies at the start, and chalk it up to learning. But don't kick yourself or worry about it! No sense in worrying... that won't fix anything and if you spend all night worrying and then are allowed to run... it will hurt your run. Good luck! Mamato... glad to hear from you! As for loaning out my son... he's still got the rest of the house here to do!!! HAHA We went for a long walk tonight with the kids. The sun was just starting to set and all the trees are changing colours. It was breath taking! Tomorrow is supposed to be very bright and sunny, but cold! So we're heading to a pumpkin patch that has a corn maze, wagon rides, camp fires and lots of activities. Should be lots of fun!

Lyn... LOL! Ok, we'll keep sending our positive thoughts for tomorrow... and our legs! Sugar... its so nice to have you back posting! Thanks. Ok, DH is finally home and we're heading out to the park to see the beautiful fall colours... georgous here in Ontario!!!

Renewed... you definately need a date night before surgery... something reminicent of the 4-wheeler perhaps!!! LOL. Its nice to read all the activity last night and today... we're all alive and active again! DH is working overtime today, so its just me and the kids. Have to share this one... As I've mentioned, my son is developmental, so its hard to explain or reason with him at times and he can get very emotional. He is completely adicted to video games, which we use to help reinforce good behaviour. Today he woke up in a horrible mood and it continued thorugh grocery shopping and when we got home. He usually gets to play games for a little while on Sat before lunch, so when I told him no, he had to be happier and be nice to his sister, he went into his room to sulk. I eventually went in and we talked it through and I let him go downstairs to play. I went down a few minutes later to see how he was and mentioned to him that his games were getting way too messy (all over the floor) and that we'd have to take some time this week to clean up. I hadn't expected him to clean it up, it was just an observation. About 30 min later he came upstairs and told me he needed me to come see something. He usually does that when he's stuck on a game and needs me to read the instructions to get him through. So I went downstairs to help... and what a surprise... he had completely cleaned up his game area. All the games were put away, all the toys were organized and it was perfectly straight. He had a sheepish, proud look on his face. I was so proud, I almost cried. Its not that he can't do this... he has just never taken on the responsibility and the initative to do it without me pushing him. Ok, I know TMI, but I'm just so proud of him I had to share.

Fanny... your plan sounds perfect. Many of us took longer than 1 week to progress through an interval. The key is to listen to your body and breathing to determine when you're ready. Whatever works for you is what is correct. So what's Austrailia like? It's a country I've always wanted to travel too. That and Thailand... which due to its geographic closeness, to Austrailia, I'd visit on the same trip! LOL.

Lyn... Good luck tomorrow on your 1/2 marathon! I will be thinking of you and look forward to your post race report!

YEAH!!! I got off my butt and ran! Since I was inside on the treadmill I decided to use it to its advantage. I trained for speed tonight instead of time. I figured that if I want to increase my speed I'll have to approach it similarly to how we learned to run... through intervals. I generally run at about 4.5 mph and would love to increase that to about 5.0 mph. So I started out and ran for 2 min at 4.5 and then bumped it up to 5.0 and ran as long as I could at that speed, which was 10 min. Then I alternated run vs. fast walk (5.0 vs 4.0) every 90 sec until I reached 30 min. Seemed to work! By midway through the run, I was getting used to the pace. I was always struggling by the 90 sec mark, but continued for the full 30 min. I'm going to keep doing this everytime I run on the treadmill. Each time pushing myself to go as long as I can at that speed before starting the intervals. It felt really good to get back to running!

Thanks everyone! You guys are the best! I needed that kick to get over my pity party. Ok, still no news, but rather than sit around I called a head hunter in Toronto and went in to see him about a few jobs they have right now. I've been resisting opening myself up to other cities (especially Toronto) as I really don't want to move... but if this job doesn't come through, then I don't have a choice. So rather than sit around waiting, I thought I'd just DO something. So I drove in this morning and just got back. 5 hours driving... yuck! Oh well, at least I wasn't sitting by the phone! Georgia... :tt2::frown::smile::w00t::cool2: ... bells and whistles!!!! Congrats! Remember when 90 sec. was really hard! I'm so thrilled for you. You've now inspired me to get off my butt and go run. I can't do it right now cause I have to pick up the kids, but when DH comes home I'm going to run on the treadmill. My goal is 25 min... never ran that long on the treadmill yet. Thank you for motivating me! Another scale victory today... although not really deserved, but I'll take it! I was down 2-1/2 lbs this week, despite my bad habits and stress eating. But I also just finished my TOM, so that probably explains it. I'm now officially 2/3 of the way to goal, and within spitting distance of Onederland and my 100lbs lost. Ok, with that in mind... and using everyones advice... I'm going to keep on running. It really does make me feel great!

Renewed... glad Dylan is feeling better! Too bad you missed the challenge end date... you would have kicked him!!!! Ok... my turn to need help! I haven't run since last Friday, and have no motivation. I've been eating poorly (lots of chocolate!) and just having my own pity party. I'm so stressed over this job, its driving me nuts! I lost patience and called the HR Mgr today and she just had the standard stuff to say... still working on it, but I'm still in the running... I can't stand the waiting, and my family's financial future is waiting on this! Yuck! So I've had absolutely no motivation to do anything at all. I know you guys are all going to say the same thing I'd say to myself... but writing it down to you guys is helping me get over my immobility! Say a prayer for me if you can.

Renewed... Great news! I'm so relieved its not MRSA! Will keep praying for his recovery! Poor little guy! Fanny... my advice... don't worry about your speed! Right now, just worry about increasing your running time. Once you can run 30+ min at whatever speed, then you can start to work on speed. That's what I'm doing. In my first 20 min run, I probably ran at around 6 km/h and now have worked my way up to 8 km/h or better. I didn't start on speed until after I ran my first 5k. Lyn... no I haven't heard anything yet on my job. I spoke to 2 of my references, and they haven't been contacted yet... so don't know where it stands. I'm going to call the HR Mgr on Friday if I haven't heard from them by then. I HATE WAITING!!! It's driving me insane! I've got my fingers crossed and prayers being said for you on your job! Good luck on your run this weekend. Take care of those shin splints! I'm looking forward to the post-race details! BTW, I still use your "Two - Two" when I need it! LOL. So, for your question... here's my list of goals for the next 3 months: Exercise: To run the Resolution Run on Dec 31 with my DH and get a time under 38 min. Lofty goal, but I think I can do it. That would be 6 min faster than my last race. Body: Funny, my first thought was what I wanted to weigh... but I changed my mind to what I wanted to FEEL! I want to be in 1 size smaller. I want to continue to have a huge amount of energy. I want to feel stronger than I do now. I'd like to cross my legs and have the back of my knee rest on my other leg (I'm very close to that now). Life: To be employed, digging my way out of the vast amount of debt we've accumulated while I've been off work! Kind of the obviouse one for me! LOL. Good one Lyn! Let's remember these!

Renewed... glad to hear Dylon is doing better... still in my prayers. Keep me posted. I don't know why the thread is so quiet... scary! I was wondering if everyone went away on vacation! I haven't run since Friday! I've been too busy to run today, so will have to wait until tomorrow! If I'm not careful... I'll forget how! LOL

Renewed... sending prayers and warm thoughts your way!