Okay so we have been having a hard time and the thought has crossed many minds wondering if we are a dying breed. I say no way! I need you all, and I need to keep chatting away if I'm going to get anywhere near that finish line.

In one of the threads here it was suggested by another that we just create one master thread where we can communicate. Make it easier to stay in touch, and is something many of the other monthly groups do to stay in touch.

I know for me that is really important, and something we have never done before.

Please don't leave guys... check in! It doesn't even always have to be about losing weight or whatever. Just tell us all what's going on, whatever it is.

193.8 this morning - a new low! Yay!

Also, yesterday I ran 8 miles, which even AFTER I did it doesn't seem possible.

Whoo hoo - a new low. Congrats.

Running 8 miles - YAY! Running eight miles. eight. Running. Obviously I have difficulty in comprehending this.

Okay, gonna be short since I just typed a big ole long un and lost it.

Hope your holiday is going well,. and that the renovations are proceeding on schedule so you return to a completed job.

Wonder where everyone else is? helloooooooo???????

I'm here. Doing fine. Not much to report. My weight keeps going up and down. Sigh. It's a lot harder losing these last 30 pounds than the first 100.

Morning everyone. I've been having a rough week - not with food, but insomnia. I get it periodically, and it appears this is the week for me. I've slept perhaps 8 or 9 hours in total since Monday morning 6am...and don't feel too good as a result! I guess I will have to give in and take an OTC remedy - and I hate to give in!

Now, how is everyone doing? Shiny - Does your doc have any ideas for shaking things up?Pushing past the plateau?

LilMiss and Ezma - hope your holidays are great.

Angie - Planning your next run?

Jul - How are you doing?

Lori - Are you still swimming?

CKK - What's your status?

Jaime. RSG. Blessed twice. StLouis. - Are you doing ok?

And as for the others long lost - I am thinking of you, and hope you have all reached your goals, are healthy, and happy.

Hi All

Thanks Tap for asking about me. Well I've done liquids for the past week and feel tons better. I did actually eat some grilled veg last night and NO PAIN. So I'll try soft proteins and see how I go.

I just don't have the funds to go get flouro right now as thats in Mexico. My local DR does everything blind so it wouldn't really help.

I think My body is telling me 160lbs is where I should be as I can't lose anymore. I'm a size 10/8 so I',m vert happy with that. I want to concentrate on being healthy now; making sure I'm getting enough Protein, Vits etc. I can work on the Vitamin D again today as it s meant to be warm.

Everyone enjoy your day.

Morning guys. How's it going? Angry here and ready to fight back. I took off 6 pounds while I was on vacation and have managed to put 4 back on. Well, that's just stupid. I can't live on vacation though I'd love to do that. Anyway, recommitting this morning to doing what I did on vacation. Nothing going in the mouth unless it's something I love. Weird, but then it's so me.

Tap - sorry to hear that you aren't sleeping well. That is one of the worst things cause it just feeds on itself. I'll be singing lullabys and counting sheep for you.

Shiny and ckk, so proud of you guys. I can't imagine being so close to my goal. You've worked so hard and done a great job.

Hi all, just checking in, this will have to be short and sweet because I need to leave work. I don't have a computer at home yet, boo hoo. Anyway I want to thank lil miss for the great advice. Shinyhappy, losing 100 pounds is amazing! That is a whole person! I wish i had more time to write right now. I did decide to go through with my fill tomorrow. It will be my last for awhile. I will get 1cc puting me at 5 1/2 CCs total. I'm starting to get hungry only after 3 hours after I eat. I feel I should be safe with this last fill, but after that I will have to be more careful as to whether I really think I need one or not. Anyway I'll check in soon. Everyone take care. And remember we are all sucessful and should be proud of our progress!

Hi All

I've done liquids for the past week and feel tons better. I did actually eat some grilled veg last night and NO PAIN. So I'll try soft Proteins and see how I go.

I think My body is telling me 160lbs is where I should be as I can't lose anymore. I'm a size 10/8 so I',m vert happy with that. I want to concentrate on being healthy now; making sure I'm getting enough Protein, Vits etc. I can work on the Vitamin D again today as it s meant to be warm.

CKK - Glad to hear you are feeling better. If your body is saying 'this is it', then by all means respect it. I don't think we are meant to fight our bodies ALL the time. Maybe for periods during plateaus, but not constantly. So, embrace your size 8, eat healthy and live well.

I took off 6 pounds while I was on vacation and have managed to put 4 back on. Anyway, recommitting this morning to doing what I did on vacation. Nothing going in the mouth unless it's something I love. Weird, but then it's so me.

Tap - sorry to hear that you aren't sleeping well. That is one of the worst things cause it just feeds on itself. I'll be singing lullabys and counting sheep for you.

Thanks Ezma. I've counted flocks of sheep and have done everything except ask DH to knock me on the head and knock me out! ANd here it is Friday morning and I'm still up. I can barely walk, but I'm wide awake. I hate this.:cursing:

Glad to hear you are recommitting - make every mouthful count!

I want to thank lil miss for the great advice. S. I did decide to go through with my fill tomorrow. It will be my last for awhile. I will get 1cc puting me at 5 1/2 CCs total. I'm starting to get hungry only after 3 hours after I eat. I feel I should be safe with this last fill, but after that I will have to be more careful as to whether I really think I need one or not.

Hi JUl. Yes, LilMIss did give some great advice; listen to your body and don't be swayed by the scales or other posters.

OK all I'm going to try to go to sleep - AGAIN!!! Have a great night/evening/day - whatever!

I'm currently training for a half marathon at the end of August. There's a 2 week tapering period just before the race where I don't run much, which means I really only have like 2.5 weeks of serious training yet. YIKES! I do not feel anywhere near ready. lol

Angie - How many miles in a half-marathon?

Just wanted to say hi all, been super busy with a lot of birthdays coming up, plus hubby and I are doing our first garage sale ever - we have 18 years of stuff to go though, lol. It's a lot of work but it's been fun too. It feels good to clean out the closets and get rid of clutter. I hope we make some money at the sale. The sale itself doesn't take place for over a week yet.

I managed to get my "vacation weight" back off, and I'm hovering between 155 - 156 now. It seems like I'll never lose those last few pounds, I just get too hungry. Maybe my body says it's done, lol. Gonna keep swimming though - I have an appointment with my doctor coming up, so I'll go from there.

Thanks for thinking of me Tap! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Take care & God Bless.

Lori :cool2:

Yeah, Lori's here!

I've never had a garage sale but I know many people who have, as well as many who spend their holidays and weekends seeking them out. Both parties agree that the better organized you are the better the sale will be (from clothing on hangers sorted by sizes, to well laid out stuff (not boxes of stuff), good street signage to get the people in, and articles clearly priced and having lots of change on hand. The other thing - if the sale starts at 9 people will start arriving at 8 to get a bargain- getting there while you are trying to set up and offering ridiculously low prices because the sellers are too anxious. If you are anything like me, you can collect a LOT of stuff in 18 years! I move every 3-5 years and I know that each time I move "I think where did all this stuff come from? I didn't move here with it??? "

Have a great weekend everyone!!

For our garage sale (a couple of months ago) we had a lot of success. It was well advertised. It was well organized with everything out on tables or shelves. We had the clothes on hangers as well. I hate looking through boxes of clothes at garage sales. We priced things very low and it paid off in the end because we made more than when we've tried pricing things higher.

If your main goal is to declutter, you could do what we did and advertise that everything must go, so after 11 a.m. (or whenever) any items remaining will be free. That worked really well for us. I didn't want to have to deal with the items that were left over. When all was said and done we had a few 5-7 medium boxes left for the thrift store.

We also live in a fairly poor area, so I was more than happy to let anyone who could use my things have them. We did take a few items back into the house right before 11 a.m. that I wasn't willing to give away for free.

You can also join up with a freecycle group if you have on in your area (The Freecycle Network) and you can advertise a free sale with them for after the garage sale. That's actually where I got the idea.

Garage sales generally start pretty early. We opened our door at 7:00 a.m. and there had been people waiting for about 15 minutes already.

I know you didn't ask for any advice, but there it is anyway. :tongue2:

I saw 188 on the scale this morning! :biggrin:

That makes my loss so far 115 pounds. Now if I can just keep it down here and not end up back in the 190s.

13.1 miles in a half :biggrin:

Thanks Tap and SHM for all your great advice on garage sales, I really appreciate it! I have been trying to organize everything and get things out of boxes, and my hubby tells me "I'm over doing it, I don't need to be so neat. It's not a store". LOL . . . now I can show him your responses, and that I was doing the right thing all along! hehe. :tongue2: I do have the clothes up on hangers (no surprise they are mostly plus sized clothes) but I've got some more in boxes I need to work on. I'm gonna take your advice SHM and start pricing things lower too . . . I think hubby wants to much money for stuff. I agree you can make more in the long run by selling a lot of items for cheaper prices.

We will be putting an ad in the newspaper, plus making lots of signs to guide people into the neighborhood - so we're good there. It's good to know about the people coming early - we were planning on opening at 9am, maybe maybe we'll start at 8am.

Thanks again for the advice! I'm off now to do more organizing, plus we still have more boxes left to open up and sort out yet. The free sale item is a great one too! Hubby and I were thinking that after it's all over, of just giving everything to the GoodWill.

Lori,

I would check the paper and see what the general start time is for garage sales in your area and start then.

As far as the free sale, most of the people who came to that were people who had already come and purchased items and then just came back. I wondered if people would wait and not buy things until after 11, but I think it may have had the opposite effect in that they knew the stuff was going to go, so they came and bought things that they really wanted before someone else took them for free.

We don't have a respectable thrift store here, so I wasn't excited about donating to them. It also saved us the hassle of packing things back up and transporting them there.

It really was a good experience.

I also made cinnamon rolls and let my girls sell them for $1 each at a snack table. One guy bought ten of them. They sold chocolate milk for 75 cents a cup too. We made about 25-30 dollars on that table. Not bad and it gave them something to do.